Wallingford and a Cadders update....

Well Saturday at Wallingford was very very cold and seemed to go on forever!

Roger was on call for work and managed to do his 5 individual runs before he got called away to work - only leaving the Team where Josie and JaiJai both had to run in the same team - bless him Bill had a go at running JaiJai never having run him before and he did one jump and then came to me and Josie, Josie was actually a bit mad and took the wrong jump! Roger did manage one messy clear with Josie prior to going to work and got 12th in 3/4 Jumping.

Fleet decided all weekend that he would just go clear in Teams and pairs :) Lovely clear in the pairs knockout but our partner had a pole down - really we were quite unlucky to go out with 5 faults as people ahead of us were getting through with loads of faults including E's. Fleet also did a lovely clear in his Team but a couple of others had faults. He had faults in his Grade 5 Agility and Jumping - some me and some him - it's nice to share :) On Sunday Fleets only run was Large/Medium pairs - again a lovely clear then our partner did go clear but had a long deviation which put us just out of the places. Roger with Josie was due to run in this class with Cad but he got a surrogate partner and they came 9th. JaiJai and little Jaf shared the faults of 5 each. Jaf had a clear in his Team on Saturday and a clear in 4/5 Jumping on Sunday.

Ripley had a lovely clear in Anysize and Fog had the first pole down - it was a clear round only class which is not my favourite but the boys don't mind!

I did miss running Cadbury - on the dryer warmer Sunday he did have a walk round the rings at lunchtime. Funny that a few people thought his dressing was some kind of fashion statement!

Cadbury of course had his first Op and then a week later a middle part of his wound was not mending as well as it should so he had a 2nd Op and this was when they wrapped his head in a trendy bandage! He had that on for 5 days and is now just back to wearing the bucket which he hates but he really must as he could rip his ear so easily with a back claw. I must say it's been truly awful - 2 operations and such a sad Cadders and he still has stitches in his ear - hopefully these will be out next Tuesday. Also trying to ensure a rather bouncy Kelpie pup does not leap about near him has been hard work!

A couple of photos fo the trnedy bandage!

Poor Cadders :(

Cadbury has been getting an ear infection just in one ear on and off for a while - he had various drops and the infection still came back each time. We changed Vets when we moved as of course you think you must be at the closest in case of an emergency but I found that I saw a different Vet each time and for sorting out this kind of problem this was not working out.

Our old Vet (a one man practice) is only apx 20 mins from where we live now so I had made an appointment to see Jim the Vet about the ear issue..... He decided that he would take Cadbury in and look at his ear better while he was under anaesthetic, he did discuss that he might need to do a re-section on the ear if he felt that would hopefully sort the problem out.

So that is what happened last Friday and oh poor Cadbury did look sorry for himself with a bucket on and a very sore ear :( He seems a little happier now and the Vet has checked the ear today and is happy with how it is progressing. Fingers crossed the Op will sort the ear problem out once and for all!

I could not take a photo of the actual wound it looks yuck but a photo of sad looking Cadbury with the bucket on.......

Scotland!

I thought I would treat myself to a little holiday in Scotland with of course an agility show thrown in! I had only been to one Scottish show before and that was Dundee 3 years before when Roger and I both went. Roger was judging at Downland Show and also gets less time off work than me (well there has to be a perk in staying working at the same place for a long time!) so he kindly said I could take JaiJai.


Sue and Duessa were sharing a van and I had arranged to meet them at Stafford Services and then we were going on-convoy! I had taken the younger red boys Fleet and JaiJai, the doodles Jaf and Cadbury and young Kaiser. The journey up was ok till just past Carlisle and then I got a warning light come on doh! So stopped rung the garage, rung the RAC who came out and put their diagnostics thing on it and they could find nothing wrong - they liaised with the Renault garage who said it was fine to continue so off we set again. Luckily we had been able to wait for the RAC at a very nice services called Annandale Water where there was a nice dog walking area. We went straight to the Venue which was 1 mile from the Hotel and gave dogs another run there before we booked into the hotel.


There must have been about 30 agility people staying at the hotel so that was nice. I did not really have the energy after the long drive and seeing to the dogs to stay up late at the bar though! (ooops must be getting old!)


The next day after a nice early breakfast we arrived nice and early at the show which is set in a lovely park, there were 6 rings which I understand is quite big for a Scottish show. This was Fleets 7th Birthday and he came 5th in the 4/5 Jumping, JaiJai did his usual speedy round with one pole down! Fleet did a clear in G5 Agility and with held contacts and a twizzly bit he was just outside the places, Fleet and JaiJai did some good bits in their other runs just not clear.


Cad did a lovely run in 1-5 Agility with beautiful stops on the contacts and came 2nd, had a clear and just out of the places in 5-7 combined jumping and came 1st in Graded 5-7 Jumping (that's 2 jumpings towards G6 now). Little Jaf only gets entered in one run at day at shows and his class was very near the end in a ring of small/medium classes which rather went on - it was about 6.30pm when he got his one and only run of the day and it was starting to get chilly, he actually ran really well and sped down the last line (to get back to his cosy bed in the van probably!) and I was gobsmacked to find that in that class which was small graded 5-7 jumping Jaf had come 1st ! He maybe Grade 5 but he is there due to his previous novice places rather than having won up the grades - not sure he is impressed with having his photo taken with the trophy!

I was very proud of both my doodles and of course the red dogs too, Kaiser has a great time watching and going for walks in the park and meeting lots of people and dogs :)

Saturday had been a long day so it was nice to get back to the hotel and relax and have a nice meal. Sunday morning we woke up to a dusting of snow, not too much really and we all thought it would soon go.....we were all wrong!

We arrived at the venue and it was not too bad.......well you could still see the grass through the snow!

The organisers thought they would wait an hour and see what the weather did.....well the snow came down thick and fast and they had no choice but to cancel it just would not have been safe to consider starting the show
So this brought an abrupt end to my little holiday - I was due to stay the Sunday night and then spend Monday travelling back and visiting places, I was worried if there was more snow I might not get home the next day so as I was back at the Hotel by 10am having managed to get up the hill out of the venue
the hotel kindly let me book out a night early so I started to make my way home, there was no hurry and I wanted to visit a few places along the way. I was running solo on the way back as the others were not due to stay the extra night so were on their way home already.

The roads were not too bad mostly clear with some of the fast lanes snowy in places and I did see a snow plough on the M74...! I picked a route that included all dual carriageways and motorways as some locals at the show said some of the smaller roads on higher ground might be bad in the snow. My first stop was Strathclyde Country Park - no snow there at all....sorry no photos as I walked all 5 dogs and not knowing where I was I needed my brain in gear, the dogs had a lovely dash about for a good while to wear them out for the next leg of the journey.

Next stop still in Scotland but only just and I am a bit of a saddo but I went to the Gretna Shopping Outlet - I just luv it there and have been I think 5 times now (having popped there when I have stayed with the lovely Aldersons a couple of times). Now I really like a bargain but only if it is something I actually need! I got some Karrimor waterproof trainers down to £19.99 from £69.99 and also a waterproof jacket (can't remember what make but it was a cut down price too!), they also have a Cadbury Shop there so I bought a sneaker bag with a Cadbury Theme!

I stopped a couple more times on the way home for the dogs and me to have a break but it was nice to get home after such a long journey!

Spring at Thing day two

So off we set for day two. I still cannot believe how hot it was almost like a mini heatwave!

Iain Fraser set some really interesting courses today and I had two of them with Cadbury, in the Agility he knocked the last bit of the long jump and in the jumping after having been going round lovely I got lost right near the end...doh! Nice dog - shame about the handler! Also had a time fault and out and he had his cheeky head on and went straight on near the start of the course.

Ripley came 6th in Anysize - bless him he will be 12 in a few weeks and he does still enjoy the anysize classes, Fog ran too and back jumped but he had fun :)

Jaf only had one class and my runs started to clash so I decided not to run him as I hate to keep a ring waiting or be late if I can help it - so Roger decided he would run him - he did try and run Jaf once before where Jaf did one jump and ran to me but off he went on his own and said they did very well and that Jaf was speedy - had a 5R and missed a weave.

Fleet had a 1-7 NBC Class (Nothing but Collie) - we had a really goony run and I would have marked my see-saw however the Judge came and told me that I was clear but the clock had not stopped so I could run again for time. This we did and got a good stop on every contact and he came 21st out of apx 300 so I was pleased with that. Fleet did a lovely run in G5 Jumping and just went into the wrong end of the pipe tunnel. Fleet did a nice clear in G5 Agility after the cheeky contacts of the original NBC run I held my contacts and had a twizzly bit and he was just out of the places.

JaiJai seems to be specialising in the fastest 5 fault runs but he is lovely to watch! Josie had a clear in G4 Jumping and came 8th.

Almost caught up with the Blog now! Hope all the other bloggers and blog readers are having fun with their dogs. x

Spring at Thing day one.....and my favourite walk

Well the show got that nickname from a few of us as it changed venues and show names a few times over the years...

The weather reports were awful and I was not really sure if I would go.....I heard they towed caravans onto the venue on the Friday....I was due to drive there each day as the camping at this venue is silly I camped there once and got there about the time you were allowed to and was camped soooo far away I needed a taxi to the rings!

Roger was working on the Saturday so I had JaiJai (ah he is lovely!), Josie, Fleet and Cadbury to run - I left the oldies at home and also little Jaf. Jaf hates mud and rain and the oldies had anysize but I did not want to take Rip and Fog and them sit in the van a lot of the day in possibly bad weather and then choose not to run them anway if the ground was bad (Rip is 12 in a few weeks and Fog 11 in June) Roger was in and out all day at home anyway :) The day parking was a long walk but at least it was on hard standing - there were a few light showers but the rings held up very well the areas around the rings got a bit muddy. Kaiser had a great time walking around the show.

The weave entry in the G4 Jumping was interesting (same as the one for the KC Novice thing at the Fest last August) - JaiJai was clear till then.....and Josie had a pole then missed the weave entry. JaiJai had a very speedy run with one pole down in G4 Agility. Josie was clear but a little out of the places in the helter skelter, JaiJai had 2 poles down, Fleet had a pilot error. Fleet was doing a lovely G5 Agility and then ran into the weave poles - sort of headbutted them...doh! Grade 5 Jumping he had one pole down.

Cadders had a pole down in the Medium Helter Skelter - it seemed to knock the wind out of him as he was flying before then so I brought him to check he was ok (which he seemed to be - I think he just sort of trippled over it!). In his agility I tried a few different things some worked some did not but I was pleased with him. The jumping run was last and it was cold and I was fed up and we went wrong near the start - I thought I would just stay and watch Sue run Bug and then head for home...then there was an awful dog fight - well an attack rather than a fight where a dog left the start line and grabbed hold of another dog - it was truly awful and it still makes me feel a bit strange writing about it now. The darn terrier would not let go of the other dog but eventually did (or was forced to) and apart from being shocked and bruised the other dog was ok the handler of the attacked dog did get bitten on the hand though......it was truly awful the worst thing I have ever seen at a show and I drove home in a bit of a daze.....

Not a very exciting post so I will finish with a few photos of my favourite walk - Bourne Woods near Farnham Surrey - never muddy as its sandy and it's like another world soo peaceful - they actually film things there sometimes - offhand can't remember what though! Sometimes in the week I can walk for a couple of hours and not see anyone - bliss!



Sorry about the bit of plantlife in the way! No Kaiser in the photo as he does not come along to our very long walks yet :)