Downland

Well as it was a long cold day but enjoyable and nice to catch up with people and also be able to easily watch two rings.

The best bit was that JaiJai came 1st in Grade 3 Jumping to phrase what Dennis Mc said "You won that with a f...... twizzle" he he ! Well it was a little bit tricky for a grade 3 with a speedy weave entry, a pull through and some other handling areas. JaiJai having won out of Grade 3 a few weeks back at Lune Valley as there are not many shows at this time of year it was Roger and JaiJais last Grade 3 so nice to go out with a bang.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Fleet had a 9th in 4/5 Down and Out.....he would have done better as we got to the same bit as quite a few others but I was a bit slow getting back to the finish jump cos I was getting tired after so many obstacles! Had a real if only in the 4/5 Jumping as Fleet ran by the pipe tunnel which was the last obstacle, am sure it was my fault as I should have stood my ground and we just had a 5r in the 4/5 jumping.

Roger had a clear with Josie in 4/5 Jumping but she had one very wide bit and it was a speedy course so no time for being wide.

Its Cadburys blog but he had no runs but he did come in and have a bark at the collies going round!

Nice to see wins from Arthur and young Glynn in the Grade 3 Down and Out if I remember correctly they did 34 obstacles and Shaun with Grace won the 4/5 Down and Out doing one more obstacle than Fleet and getting back to the finish jump rapidly too!

A Lovely Weekend

Well we had no shows to go to and I had a lovely weekend. My weekend is normally 3 days as I don't work on Friday but I was on a course at work on Thursday and Friday (Accredited Closure - don't ask yawn!) hmmmm ah well it gives me a day off to take at another time :)

Saturday was spent doing lots of tidying/cleaning and re-organising things that we have not had much time to do due to being away at shows and I took my dogs for a lovely walk on Kingsley Common - this is between Bordon and Alton and near to where I used to live and the dogs love it there and its sooo peaceful (I will have to make a resolution to remember to take some photos!)

Sunday we had a training morning at Polly's with Nancy and it was fab - I worked Fleet and Josie worked Roger ;) Thanks Nancy I have lots to take away and practice :)

Sunday evening we went to the cinema with Claudine and Carlos - sometimes the films we see can be more boys films with everyone killing people and me hiding behind my coat but this one was fab - we saw Stardust and it really was a lovely film.

So.....although I really do love taking my gang to agility shows its also lovely to just chill and catch up on things.

Not much in this posting about Cadbury well he had a bit of a trim to his face not my best effort at topiary but its the one bit he does get trimmed otherwise his fur would grow into his mouth and eyes and also he would have a goatee!

Marie sent me the most lovely photo of Kaiser at 6 days old - it made my heart melt!

Caerphilly Show

Off to Wales I went for the weekend of 13th-14th October - Wales seems a long way but the roads there were all major ones and it was only just into Wales (Monmouth) so it was a really quick towing journey - it did however cost £10.20 with a van to get over the bridge into Wales but it was free to leave!

I will admit to being a bit worried about camping so late in the year but the weather was lovely! The camping was a bit spread out and not exagerating we must have been camped 15 minutes walk from the rings - not so bad with a large dog class but not so good with a medium dog class! So I drove down and parked in day parking as it was much closer - small moan in that day parkers don't actually pay as such whereas campers do! Also we were helping on Sunday.

Onto the Agility...!! I had been really looking forward to doing a Team Dash with Cadbury never having done one before (was due to at High Peak but the show was cancelled) and it was a nice course and he did a lovely clear (video of the Team run on Lian's Blog), Lian and Saturn did a lovely clear, Sue and Bug and Jan and Sal had a fault - but it was good fun doing a team :)

On Saturday Cadbury came 2nd in 4-7 Graded Jumping (the Grade 5 bit), we had a very interesting 4-7 Combined Agility which required control at the end of the dog walk which cost us a bit of time but at least we got clear rather than E'd and came 6th, bless him to make it 4/4 clear (including the team) he also went clear in 1-7 Jumping but it was a bit of a blast and he was just outside the places. On Sunday he did a barmy clear in 1-7 Agility - he did make me laugh as he kept rushing off to try and do the wrong thing with a big grin on his face...so we lost too much time on that one! We so nearly got round 5-7 Graded Agility which took lots of brain power but he popped back into the pipe tunnel near the end (Andy Brown said he was working lovely and that made my day) and lastly he came 5th in 1-5 Combined Jumping on a speedy course.

Roger was very pleased that Josie came 4th in a part of 3-5 Jumping - no other clears and no clears from JaiJai.

Fleet came 6th in a part of 3-5 Jumping (with a goony moment!) and also did a stunning run in the Team - doing Teams with Fleet make me nervous as he can be a bit unpredictable and I don't mind what the rest of the Team do just please don't let it be me that lets them down!

Fog and Rip had places in Anysize and little Jaf did 2 clears in Jumping (he is just going to do jumping now - no more scary see-saws for him!)

The Show venue was within walking distance of Monmouth so we walked and ate fish and chips by the river on Saturday evening and then Roger went to the show marque to watch the Rugby and I went back to see the dogs.

No more camping shows which is a little sad as I like staying in the caravan but it will be nice to not have so many shows from now on, as much as I love the shows its also nice to be able to catch up with things at home and do other stuff with the dogs.

Some Exciting News.....

Not really a post about agility, not really a post about Cadbury either (but I think he will love this....well I hope so..!) my new puppy has been born.

In the early hours of Saturday morning Ruby (Ag Ch Cories Ruby Tuesday) gave birth to 9 (yes 9..!) puppies, I had waited a long time for this to happen as I asked Mark when I first met Ruby (I think at her first show) if he ever bred from her would he consider letting me have a pup, he said yes and Ruby a good while later went on to have a litter of pups, I felt at that time it was the wrong time for me to get a large dog as I wanted to get another smaller dog as a friend for Jaf and hence along came Cadbury.

I am so glad I got Cadbury and not just because he has been fun to run at agility but it has been brilliant for little Jaf and they are great mates and they play together (Jaf does not play with anyone else!) and they curl up and sleep by each other.

So.........when Mark said he was going to breed from Ruby again I was thrilled, yes in the meantime she has been an agility star but I have always liked her for her personality and temperament and have since got to know quite a few of her last litter and they are all lovely.

I had set my heart on a boy kelpie the same colour as Ruby (red and tan) and bless her she had just the one red and tan boy, the rest of the litter were a mix of colours as Ruby's husband for this litter was a black dog imported from Australia.

Marie sent texts through the night as each puppy was born :) and some photos a few hours later. (Thanks Marie x)

I refused to let myself get excited until the puppies had been born, you never really know what will happen and actually when I got a text from Marie to say Ruby was in labour all I could think about was please let her be ok and have an easy time.

I have gone through many pet names along the way and have finally chosen Kaiser, so he can be Kai as a short name, some said you can't call an Australian Kelpie a German name but the Kaiser Chiefs sang Ruby's song!

Cadbury has played with Puck and Tink (Mark and Maries youngsters from Ruby's last litter) when he and they were younger and he loves all the Kelpies he meets - hopefully he will love Kaiser and I will of course have to make sure that Cadbury, Fleet, Fog and Jaf don't feel left out.

A photo of Kaiser at a few hours old with his Mum Ruby giving him a sweet look

Stour Valley

A nice day with great weather at a lovely venue.

There were some interesting courses some of which I was glad I was not in!!

Cadbury did Mini/Mixi pairs with a sweet little Cavalier and they came 5th, in the 4-5 Jumping he missed the weave entry and places went to 6th and there were only 5 clears and Cads was the quickest 5 faults so he came 6th, in the 4-5 Agility we are doing training rounds so the poor wee chap can gain some more experience in case he has to go up a grade and he did a lovely run with good stops on all the contacts and came 3rd.

There was a pay on the day small/medium Agility Open to all Grades - I don't very often enter pay on the days - but our friend Carlos was judging it and I wanted to test some things I had been practising, Cads did a stunning clear and I was sooo pleased with him and he came 3rd.

Fleet was a bit of a goon and in his agility span about a bit, and in the jumping do a lovely run...until....the second to last jump and he ran by it...doh!

Josie did a lovely neat run and came 5th in 4/5 combined Jumping so Roger was pleased.

JaiJai was a bit mad and in his agility missed the up and down on the a-frame and in his jumping had one pole - both runs with the obligitary stunning time!

Little Jaf did a run in small 4/5 Jumping - he had one small hesitation which he did not get faulted for and apart from that he did a nice clear round.

It was an enjoyable weekend but it was a lot of driving (all by me!) so to finally get home and have a good rest was fab :)

The photo is a lovely one that Dennis took at the presentation of the DIN Finals - I did not know he was taking the photo and I think it sums up how I feel about Cadbury!

Lune Valley

During the Winter once a month we make a mad trip "up north" to an indoor venue near Lancaster. Yes its a long way....but I always enjoy the shows there as its very socialable being able to watch lots of agility and chat to people, however with 6 indoor rings it is also very noisy! (chuckle maybe thats lots of people chatting plus all the dogs barking!)

I had booked a BnB at a Farm and we set off Friday lunchtime and as usual with the Friday rush it seemed to take forever to get there and along the way I start to question my sanity!

Anyway onto the show - there were 4 classes per dog (fleet, Cad and JaiJai did 4 - Josie and Jaf just jumping so 2 runs) which was really good and also an Anysize Jumping, it made it hectic though and we still never got round to taking any video!

JaiJai was a star boy and after getting some of his fizz out of his system in his 2 jumping runs that were not clear he then went clear in his 2 agility runs and......he won them both!! So he came 1st in 1-4 Graded Agility and 1st in Combined 1-3 Agility - so thats him well and truly out of Grade 3 then!

Josie is still just doing Jumping at the moment and due to this quite often only gets 1 run so it was nice that she had 2 - she had a pole down in 4/5 Jumping and came 5th in 1-4 Graded Jumping.

Ripley had a lovely run in anysize and ended up having a run off for 1st Place which we won - I did not run Foggy as he had been slightly lame the week before.

Cadbury - I never shout at Cadbury - ok I don't really shout at any of my dogs - but I think I needed to raise my voice a little only cos it was sooooo noisy and I don't think the sweet little chap heard - he popped an extra jump in 4/5 Jumping and ran by the last jump which was at a funny angle in the 1-7 agility. He did a nice clear in 1-7 Jumping but it was a very fast course and he was just outside the places. In 4/5 Agility with only 16 dogs entered I worked my contacts (well dog walk and see saw - he ran the a-frame!) and we came 2nd.

Fleety - well for me today Fleety was a star - he can be such a goon always throwing something in that I don't expect....but not today - he came 2nd in 4-5 Combined Jumping and 2nd in 5-7 Graded Jumping and 3rd in 5-7 Graded Agility.

Jaf - have not really run Jaf that much lately as he had a poorly toe - he seems fine now and did 2 jumping runs - a clear in 1-7 Jumping and with just 5 in the weaves in 4/5 Jumping.

So all in all we had a fab day and were very proud of our gang! Sue had a good day with her dogs with various good places and had a 1st in Jumping with Pixie-dora.

The journey home is always a bit easier if the show has gone well but its still a long way! zzzzz

A Lovely photo of JaiJai taken by Lynn Sheridan not at Lune but back at Tunbridge Wells.

Southdowns - Judging

I am playing catch up here as have got a bit left behind!

An early start to go and Judge at Southdowns - one frustrating bit was that there was some temporary traffic lights 5 mins from the show and at 7am-ish we were sat at the lights in a Q for about 20 mins argh! I hate having to hurry to sort out my course (hence prefer to judge at a weekend show!), luckily we had left in plenty of time and I had enough time to fine tune the course,they actually delayed judging as so many competitors got caught up there.

Below is the course (more of less!) that I used for small 3-5 Combined and Large 3-5 (2 parts), lots of people said they enjoyed the courses even people who did not go clear and for me that always makes it worthwhile. One unfortunate part was that it poured with rain for about the first hour and that was then the smalls were running and some of them were not happy about the weather with one dog running back to its car and one refusing to get off the start-line!


The last class I had was Large Combined 4-5 Jumping, I was pleased with how this ran, most of the faults across both classes were due to the plastic jump poles and in this class a few handlers did not realise that if they ran down the left of the last 2 jumps unless they had a good direction command or were up with the dog some dogs came at the last jump at an angle and ran by, most people saw this and crossed behind the last 2 if they could not be there but it was a shame to see a few good runs spolit by a run by at the last :(


Roger did ok with Josie and JaiJai in Joyce Hazels part of 3-5 Jumping coming 5th with JaiJai and 10th with Josie.

Funny for the day - walked Fleet at lunchtime and he ran off with someones ball on a rope and would not come back....its a bit of a pet hate of mine when people throw toys in a small area - I know I should have a bit more control of Fleet in this situation and its something I am always working on but when a ball sails past his nose for him its very tempting!

It was a long day with nearly maximum number of dogs entered (435) so it was nice to get home and have a rest!

Dashin

Spending the spare time checking my wap phone for WC updates off to Dashin I went it was a nice friendly show with 5 rings and Sue and I were able to watch a lot of each others runs which was nice.

Must mention Sue dogs results as little Bug Superstar had 3 runs and won them all ! Also Sues young merlie Pixie-Dora won her 3rd jumping class taking her up to Grade 4 with Merc getting a win and places too :)

It was Cadburys first day competing at Grade 5 and as he has been running his contacts really fast and getting them fine but not even thinking about stopping I decided it was time for a little bit of control and got him to do nice controlled stops with lots of praise on the dog walk and a-frame and he came 5th (3-5 Agility), his 3-5 jumping course was a blast and he ran his little socks off and came 4th

Roger was at work so I ran JaiJai who I really enjoy running but he is a bit mad and as I don't train him I don't really get to grips with him - his best run was in Grade 3 Agility where he did a stunning run 2 secs ahead of the leading time but missed the up on the dog walk.

I also ran Josie who I think ran the best for me she has ever done - she had 3 jumping runs (phew no contacts!) and did a lovely 4/5 Jumping clear just knocked out of the places at the end, the other 4/5 jumping we had one 5r (my fault) and she had 1-4 Flick Flack which was great fun a snake of jumps into a pipe another snake into another pipe and then another snake of jumps! Josie came 3rd.

The old boys Rip and Fog had Veteran Jumping - they both did lovely runs Rip came 2nd and Fog 7th. Fleet had a goony agility and in the jumpings a 5r in each but lots of nice bits.

Little Jaf was still resting his bad toe (good job I had enough dogs to run!!) -he scrabbles at the bars of the cage as you get him out of the van and for the 3rd time this year he had hurt his claw, his claws were not too long but his groomer says it can be something poodles do!

Rip had the best placing today so here is a photo of him taken by our friend Lynn Sheridan doing Anysize at Supadogs