Cadbury and Friends

It had to happen one day I suppose!

2009-05-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

As has already been mentioned via the agility forum my lovely Fleet went Grade 6 - I will try and take a photo of the trophy as its really quite unusual but the crystal kind of blocks just flash back at me when I take a photo of them!

The lovely Dave and Viv Robinson asked me to go and judge at Waldridge Fell and kindly said we could go early and stay longer so that made it worth taking a little holidy as its a loooong way to the take the caravan, so when people have asked did I go there to try and qualify for the KC Novice I was like ermmmm no I came here to judge on the other day and did not even request which day just said I did not mind what day I judged. I have to admit that Fleet and I have not had it very together for a while but we always forgave each other and he always came out grinning and tugging on his lead - I think I kind of got into sync more with Cadders and also with training Kaiser as well Fleet does not even attend a class now.

We seemed to get more into sync at Shrewsbury and he did some lovely runs the best of which was holding the lead in G5 Agility for a while (with me biting my finger nails saying noooooo!) and we ended up 3rd phew!

At Tunbridge I did a nice controlled round with controlled stops and waits on the contacts in the KC Novice on quite a straightforward course and we were 3 secs behind the winner coming 18th and I knew that was all time spent on the contacts - since it was brought in this was one class like many people I would like to do well in - only trouble is that doing well could mean a little too well and I just did not think the combination of Fleet and I were G6 material - he did win 8 Novice Jumpings under the old system but for some strange reason G5 courses started out as something like G8 more often than not and it really dented our confidence (pull through after pull through!) - he did win a G5 Jumping at Tunbridge last year and if he had won 2 more jumpings then so be it but I did say that the KC Novice was the only Agility Class I would want him to win and actualy running the little Cadbury dude in the 6/7 classes has given me a bit more confidence and I have been trying to run a little faster!

So I watched some lovely runs at Waldridge and thought I could not touch them for time and thought "hey I will go for it and see what kind of place I could get" so the result was 1st - mixed emotions but I am very proud of Fleet and he has taught me a huge amount and hey we get to go to the KC Novice Olympia Semis in September.

Dennis kindly got the run on video (well apart from the bit's where he lost Fleet or I - chuckle!) and I really don't remember teaching Fleet a running dog walk contact!! In G6 what will be will be - he is my first large dog to get to Senior/G6 and I am proud of him!

Better give Cadbury a little mention - his most recent and best place was a 2nd in 4-7 Agility at Cippenham - with our lovely friend Karen with the everso lovely and talented Todd in 1st place - goooo Toddster :)

Sorry I have not had much time or inspiration to blog - I do enjoy reading all the blogs so please keep blogging!

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

2009-04-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

Oh dear I am a baaaaaad blogger! I do like to read everyone else's when I get a moment tho!

Alan Score took a lovely photo of Cadbury so I thought I would add to that to that Blog - thanks Alan :)

I have been enjoying being back at shows and Cad has been being a little star even surprising me - I kind of thought he would never get placed in 6-7 combined - and he has now had a few places and these are not little shows either! One was on the course talked about on Nancy's blog at WBSDS - phew that was a hard one for my brain - I was pleased to get 3rd (behind 2 Grade 7 BC's) but funny I was even more pleased to get 3rd in the 6-7 Jumping on the same day that the lovely Don Curtis judged as it had some handling areas but also some blasty bits too.

Kaiser's training has been going ok - sorry no video - although a couple of his siblings came out a few days after their 18 month birthday I have not entered Kaiser as I knew he was not ready and did not want to a. feel I should run him and allow bad habit's to develop and b. undo the good work I am trying to put in and c. I don't want him to catch sight of the dog in the next ring running and dash off to herd it - he won't hurt the dog but could scare it and I would hate that and also would hate for him to ruin someones good round! So I am leaving him for a few more months and will see how training goes. I know 18 months is when everyone wants their dog in the ring but for me there is plenty of time and there is no great hurry really.

Fleet has had some lameness - a sort of sprain in his wrist so has been resting - he is not impressed - he also recently had his 8th birthday - sharing his birthday with our mate Karen :)

He really is such a lovely dog - we have goony moments between us sometimes in agility but actually I really don't care!!

Little Jaf has had awful problems with his eyes - he does not produce tears and it has affected his eyesight - there is an Op but it hardly ever works and is such a lot to put him through - he is trying some more eye stuff but the Vet is not sure it will work - I do feel for the little chap as it can't be nice for him :( Foggy is fine - coming up 12 and barky and sweet as ever! A photo of Jaf and Fog together - they have always got on really well and both were younger in this photo!

Have fun with your dogs!

Tagged and another update....

2009-01-27T16:07:00.001-08:00

Ok I got tagged by a couple of people - see I do still read the blogs I just have not had the enthusiasm to update my own!

So this was the photo that came up by following the instructions - Cad as a puppy! Yes I know he looked like a poodle there but I like how he looks now - it's all part of his character!

Ok so where have I been and what have I been up to since I last blogged - loads of dull personal life stuff to sort out which is just too dull to blog about but also some much nicer personal stuff too which has kept me focussed and while blogging I would just like to say a huge thanks to the friends who have been there for me in recent times - you know who you are and I really do appreciate it :) Now all I need to do is sell two houses and buy another before the agility seasons starts - haha yeah right like that is going to happen!

Ok onto the Agility, November saw 3 shows - North Downs - just classes for Fleet there and I was everso busy helping so no clears but as ever he was a good boy :) Then the next day down to Devon for a couple of days - I like to go to Dartmoor show and combine it with a visit to my Mum so thats what me and the dogs did - it's only 2 runs but there is a nice warm cafe and loads of people to chat to - and again no clears for Fleet - I seem a bit more in tune with Cads these days and actually I don't very often train Fleet and only train Cad once a week - Cads was a little star bless him - he won the Medium Combined 4-7 Agility which gave him his 2nd win towards Grade 7 and also came 3rd in Medium Combined 4-7 Jumping.

Had a lovely time visting my Mum but boy where there some floods when I was driving home......lucky the van is quite high up as one flooded road I had to drive through the water was rather high! Went and saw James Bond just after that too - I do rather have a soft spot for Daniel Craig - chuckle!

Newton Heath is a nice show but a looooong way! I really do find indoor shows so much more social - a load of us sat on the wall and just chatted loads and watched agaility - Fab! Now a little theme is developing here.....no clears for Fleet !! I blame the handler! Cads was a good boy - just one clear but came 3rd in Medium Graded 5-7 Jumping.

The Agility Club AGM - I have not taken a photo of Cadbury with his trophy for winning the Medium Grade 5 Section - really I must it's such a stunning trophy - Virginia put one in the Voice - nice photo of Cad and the trophy but I looked weird sort of insane grin! (no please don't go back to the Agility Voice and have another look!) a few of us went out for a meal after - which was yummy!

No Shows in December but Amanda and I did go to Olympia to help on the KC Stand and so got to watch Agility too - it was Novice day and we had a very enjoyable day :)

Then Christmas came and went - I worked at Christmas - yep even Christmas Day.....well someone has to take 999 calls even that day of the year and I prefer to let people with little kids be off work and I take my time off in the summer! Just after Christmas we went for a walk with 30 dogs (and I think 8 people!) and then a nice meal - then I got the flu lurgeee thing and then a chest infection - deep joy!

Only entered one show in January and that was Wilmslow - always a nice show and back "oop norf" at Myerscough - the theme for Fleet contined....no clears but he did some nice bits - Cad was a god boy - I pulled him off the side of the dog walk in the KC Medium - bad handler! He came 2nd in Medium Graded 6-7 Agility so was really pleased about that.

Have been having fun training Kaiser, he is a real challenge but actually I find when I have to work very hard to achieve something it does make it more worthwhile.........in the end!

Went for a lovely meal with friends the other day - mentioning this as the pub had a funny name it was called "The Golden Retriever" !!

Think I am up to date now, apologies for lack of updates - everyone keep blogging as I do like to read the blogs and I will try and pop back and update when I have the inspiration!

Have fun with your dogs, Lorna x

Popping back.....

2008-11-06T04:13:00.001-08:00

Thought I would pop back and put a little update on the blog...I say little and then the keyboard will run away with me...! I keep reading everyone elses blogs and for various reasons have not updated my own....bad bad blogger!

KC Fest - enjoyed judging and competed with Cad, Fleet and also some runs with Joyce Hazel's little tri BC Jovi - if my memory is right I think the only place I got was with Jovi - a 5th with a messy clear.

DIN - some pants weather but Fleet and Cads ran well, Cad had a 2nd in Agility and also qualified for the 5-6 Medium Final - coming 5th in the Final

Dashin Dogs - judged there too - and only competed for 2 days - Cads won his last Grade 5 Agility and got a 2nd in Jumping.

Summer at Ely - got a few places here - Cad came 1st in TYOL, also popped (haha) up to the Dog Vegas Final with Fleet - he got E-d at a really tricky part but was pleased with how he ran the rest.

Letchworth - did 2 days at this show and got a few places - including a 2nd with Joyce's Jovi.

Trent Park - no places here but Fleet and Cads ran well :)

Wrexham and Oswestry were cancelled due to bad weather :(

Prestbury Park - I think this one was nearly cancelled due to bad weather but actually dried out very well and was at the most beautiful venue - got a few places including a 3rd with Cad :)

Bromsgrove - again a show I really like - got a few places here including a 7th with JaiJai which I was really pleased about as he does not go clear very often!

Dashin Dogs - Cadbury got his first win at Grade 6 (Graded 6-7 Agility) yay for the little brown scruffy dog - very proud of him :) Cad also had a 3rd. Got a few other places with the other dogs including a 3rd in Grade 5 Agility with Fleety :)

Dashin was the last weekend of the Voice Points and I now know that Cadbury has won the Medium Grade 5 Section in the Voice and by quite a margin I am so very proud of him :)

Lune Valley - just a small trip mmmm a lovely show and venue though (indoors yay I like indoor shows!) Cad got a 2nd in 6/7 Combined Agility so well pleased with that place and I got a few other places too.

Downland - just recently judged at Downland in the morning and enjoyed that and then had a nice time chatting to people and watching agility in the afternoon!

Phew that's up to date I think - sorry it's just a list but did not want to make it war and peace!

I do have a photo of Cad in the DIN Final - I must scan that as it's a nice one.

Bye for now, Lorna x

Last Catch up!

2008-08-07T04:16:00.000-07:00

Ok having a rest from packing as off to the KC festival in a little while - am on a little tour - Roger does the start and the end as he has to come back for work.

Right quick re-cap - I have had mixed emotions about updating - someone at a show took the $%£& and said that Blogs were just somewhere that people bragged.....and I knew my next posting was about my little fluffy star going Grade 6........Sue put well done on the forum and so many people said well done and that was really sweet. I love all the blogs - photos, courses, videos and reading about what all our agility friends have got up to so I will still Blog and if my dogs do ok I will put it in the Blog and if anyone does not like that well don't read the Blogs !!!

Ok Lune and Barrow - I had fingers crossed for nice weather but it did not really work - we had a good break even though the weather could have been nicer - at least it was a "proper" showground so when it rained there were roadways and the ground drained well.

I judged the first day - Large 1-2 Agility - I did not know that many of the people in the class but it was still enjoyable and an Fab Springer Spaniel won the class :) Then I had Small 1-7 Jumping - Bernadette and Hex won this class - then it was Lazer Pairs with Carlos as the other judge ....mmm well some of the people seemed a bit dippy and did not even understand "indicate to show you are ready" so through the wind and rain we got there in the end!

I had decided that I would just run Cadbury how I know he can and see what happens - if he went Grade 6 then so be it....that's not bragging honest and I do know that the standard of Mediums at Grade 6 and 7 is a real different ball game. He already had 2 jumping wins so a jumping or an agility would move us up.

Well he got a 2nd in 4/5 Jumping and then a 2nd in Graded 1-7 Agility and a 7th in 4-7 Combined Agility (Dave Hutchinsons course that Bernadette talked about on her blog with the tunnel under the dog walk), then we got the win - a 1st in Graded 1-7 Agility - bless him he did a lovely run and the judge was Michael Bye who always sets nice courses (no I am not just saying that cos I won!!).

Fleet had a week of 5-fault-itis - and only one decent clear a 6th in Grade 5 Agility. Ripley had great fun in the Veterans and got some great places.

Roger got a 3rd, 4th and 6th with JaiJai - wow thats good for them they don't go clear very often! Josie had a 9th.

Next Show Wellingborough........The Saturday was Euk day so a bit more busy and on the Saturday Cad got a 3rd in 5-7 Combined Agility - really pleased with that - bless him. Roger got a 4th with JaiJai - wow they are getting consistant - Rena would have been very proud :) Josie got contacts too and a lower place in agility :) Rip got 3rd and 4th in Anysize - I am not telling him he is 12 and a bit :)

Next Stop Rugby.....Cadbury was due to due Crufts Team with Rosie and Disney, Alan and Jude, and Susie and Lucy - but while we were up at the Lakes along with Martin and Dillon when they were at Lansdown the Team Qualified - so well done to them. We were still abel to run for competition whcih was nice - Susie and Lucy were resting up for the EO so Disney, Cad, Jude and Dillon ran and we all went clear and came 1st yay. Cad also got a 1st in Medium 1-7 Graded Agility. Rip has places in Anysize - Fog still does these classes as well but he is not so fast but really it's not about the places as the look on their faces when they go and run is Fab :)

Next stop Newlands Show.....well this was one of the things that took up a lot of my time and prevented me from Blogging (yes I know I nip on and off the forum but Blogging takes memory and brainpower!) I was the Show Sec for the first time and also somehow kept all the jobs I did in previous years hmmmmm! To say I was proud that my dogs worked ok is an understatement as I really felt they got so little of my time - Cad got 1st in 4-5 Agility, 2nd in 3-5 Jumping and 3rd in 4-5 Jumping yay gooo fluffy! Fleet had 3 clears bl;ess him but messy in all of them....this was probably as I was trying to rush and he and I get flustered - the blips put us out of the places in the jumping but he got 12th in the Grade 5 Agility.

Now this next one seemed a good idea but I was cream crackered! I had entered Chipping Norton the day after Newlands - actually it was very relaxing - 4 rings and run by nice people - one funny incident with a judge who had a paddy (not with me!) and there was lots of time to watch other peoples runs while sitting around the rings. Cad was an angel - he had a very hard 1-7 Agility and he got to number 16 clear and then jumped it the wrong way (it was hard!) and missed a pull through int he jumping and did get one place a 9th in Jump and Go - weird class - a time jumping course that if you are clear you get to do the untimed agility. Fleet got 9th in 4/5 Agility and Rip got 7th in a tricky Anysize.

Really I should add some photos......as all this text must be getting dull......I did take a few on my phone in the Lake District.....but have not downloaded them yet!

Next Stop Derby Show - Fleet was in the Adams Derby Final (Novice Power and Speed) and I also I hate Newbury so off to Melton Mowbray we went - OMG it was soooooooooooo hot! I think the hottest I have ever been at a show! Fleet was ok in his final - got round the agility bit ok but then took the wrong jump in the jumping - the jumping is normally speedy but it was quite a handling course with a tricky weave entry - Pat Brown won and made it look easy!

Roger was at work on the Saturday so I could to run his dogs - there was a heat of the Adamsn Derby and I got all 3 dogs onto the power bit so was pleased about that - only one clear int he jumping was Fleet and he was running NFC ! JaiJai did a fab 4-5 Graded Agility with just one pole - there were only a few clears and he came 5th! Fleet got 9th in the Novice KC and 9th in 4-5 Jumping. Cad was running well despite the heat (not sure about me!) and was doing a lovely agility and then just had a run-by - he had a coupel fo jumping courses that were almost 4 straight lines - bless him he tried but he does not have the length of leg or turn of speed to compete against the bigger dogs on these kind of courses. He did a lovely run a 4-5 Jumping and I watched others go and was very surprised that we came 1st - I thought they looked quicker than us and the course had a few bits to work but no majoyr traps as such. Rip got 3rd and 4th in the Anysize again and Fog also got a place (10th).

Yay nearly up to date now....! Next stop Burridge -a show on a Friday - weird! Friday is my day to ty and catch up on stuff at hoem but this show was sooo local - 20 mins down the road! One ring and very laid back - I only had two runs with Fleet - no places but he did some nice bits. Roger had taken the day off to go and he got no clears :( ! Back to Burridge on my own on Saturday as Roger was at work - Cads missed the weave entry in the 1-5 Agility - he went to the number - he has never done that before! Went clear in the KC Medium but with some very good dogs there he was just out of the places. Our friend Joyce was in hospital (is out now) so she had very kindly said that I could do a couple of runs with her speedy medium collie Jovi - that dog is awesome! I had run Jovi once at training a few weeks back but only over 5 things so were did our best but we not used to each other - her best run was 1-5 agility with just a missed weave entry (as Cad did that too it must be me!). Fleet did pairs with Matt and Buddy and I was very proud that they came 6th.

oooo nearly there.......on Sunday we went to Aylesbury. The ground was rather bumpy and the weather a bit pants too! Bless him I think the ground did affect little Cad as he is not a pole knocker and whizzed round two courses only to have one pole in each. His last run was in a ring where I think the ground was a bit more even and he got a 2nd in Jumping (3-5 Graded). Rip won the Anysize Jumping - bless him it was an interesting course and he whizzed round it! Foggy came 10th. Roger did two runs each with Josie and JiaJai with no clears and I think he was then determined to go clear and got them both clear round 4-5 Graded Agility - JaiJai did what I think was the best round ever and came 2nd - the dog that won is a brilliant dog already Grade 5 and Josie a little behind JaiJai on time but still clear and came 3rd :) No places for Fleet and he did slip on a corner on one run so I checked him and came out - luckily he seems fine.

Right that is me all caugh up sorrreeeee for being so bad at updating and sorrree that there is no photos. Now off on an Agility Tour so will promise to try and update more often when I get back!

Good Luck to all our Agility Friends - especialy those in Semis or Finals. Lorna x

I am the baddest Blogger!

2008-07-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

Ok not quite but I have been sooo bad at updating recently......various reasons really, been very busy at work as I have been working on a project, then I am Show Sec for Newlands Show which is this Saturday, making sure I spend enough time with the dogs etc etc!

I will do a little recap....Axstane...nothing that exciting to report from here - Cad only had one class as a Grade 5 where he was not competing against G6/7's not really sure thats very fair....saying that the one run he had just aganst 5's was 5-7 Graded and we threw that as if I wanted to do the KC Fest Novice thing (which I know I will balls up now!) then he had to stay in G5 for that weekend. A nice lady with a little Pap had asked me to do Mini/Mixi with her with Cad and they actually make a very sweet pair - they came 14th so that was cool - it was just bizarre running Cad on a course that had small and medium jumps very near each other and I was proud to stop him doing any small jumps!

Ok will do the Lake District ten days at Lune and Barrow in the next post.....(or maybe get some zzzzzz!!)

Wyre/Thames

2008-06-13T05:12:00.000-07:00

Well I went to Wyre and Roger went to Thames !! Last year we both went to Wyre as Rip was in the Veteran Jumping Final (he came 2nd in it bless him) and we both thought it was a lovely show in a idylic part of the country so I wanted to go again and as I don't work on Friday I could spend Friday travelling up. Roger sort of (haha!) works on Friday and also he had to work on the Saturday so really it was way too far for him to drive up after work on the Saturday so....Sue, Duessa and I stayed at a posh BnB.

At Thames Roger had entered 3 classes on the Saturday in case he got finished work early - he did get there in time to do one class but it was a hard course for JaiJai (he tells me!) and he got E-d. On the Sunday he was paired up with a French lady who was coming over from France for the weekend - Josie was with her Merle collie and they came 17th in the Chum Pairs and also Roger got a 9th in Grade 4 Jumping with Josie.

Wyre...a lovely show - 4 runs for the large dogs - Fleet had all 3-5's - 2 combined and 2 graded each day - people have said that it's not fair on the Grade 3's to run in combined 3-5 but actually the 3's seem to do very well and I know of 3 grade 3 dogs that won combined 3-5's over the weekend :) I know Mediums is not quite the same but Cad used to beat Grade 5's when he was running at grade 3 :)

Fleet only had one clear and he got 6th in 3-5 combined Jumping - he seemed to have 5-fault-itis! Rip did a lovely run in Veteran Jumping and came 5th.

I had got this far into the year with Cads and he was still Grade 5 so I had two more weeks to stay in Grade 5 if I wanted to compete at DIN and the KC Festival as a "Novice" so this was what I decided I wanted to do - have fun but not worry too much about places - bless him with a very held dog walk contact he came 3rd in Medium 4-5 Agility and worked well in his other classes. We had a Medium 1-7 Jumping and I quite liked the course it had the course and thought it would be fun to try out a few things that I would do in training but perhaps not be brave enough to do in the ring - Cad whizzed round and then Sue told me I was in the lead??? Bug would have of course beaten Cad but she had a pole down, Nooooooo I can't be in the lead in 1-7 (Cads needs either one jumping or one agility to take him to Grade 6......) class closing in 2 mins.....2 more dogs appeared one a collie that I know is not at all speedy and a black terrier I did not know - well thankfully the black terrier (a lovely dog I now know is called Morph - what a cool name!) beat us and I was very pleased to come 2nd.

Poor Cad he must be the only dog that has an umambitious handler! One more weekend and then he can go up a grade if he really has to.....I know he does not have the speed or length of leg up against the speedy mediums but we shall continue to have fun :)

This post includes a few more of Ians photos (Cad) - thanks Ian :) and some photos that Sue took (Fleet and Rip) - thanks Sue :)

Pads

2008-06-13T04:55:00.000-07:00

Pads is a nice show run by a friendly group of people. Also there are a good seltection of classes and the dogs get quite a few runs. Roger and I had been asked to ring manage for our friend Don Nunn who was judging - this was interesting in that the ring party was made up of people given a one hour to slot to help many of whom did not turn up and I know a lot of them were there but I could nto be bothered with the hassle of chasing round after them. Yes I know their one hour slot might not have been at a good time for them but they could have come along at another time during the day....grrr moan over! So Many Thanks to some friends especially Joy and Linda who both helped loads which really made our life a lot easier.

I have made some lovely friends competing in the Medium Classes, one thing thats really nice is that we all can offer advice to each other when walking the course, have got to know each other and the dogs, can commiserate when things don't go to plan and celebrate when things do - of course we have these friends at our own clubs but these are people spread all over the country which for me is the really nice part of this. One of these nice people Mike who has a lovely Medium Blue Border Collie called Gemma has a friend called Ian who comes along to a lot of the shows and Ian has started to take photos of the dogs competing so here is one of Cads:-

My dogs did really well on the Saturday:- Cad got 2nd in Medium 3-5 Graded Agility (the Grade 5 bit) and 4th in Medium 3-5 Combined Jumping. Fleet got 5th in 3-5 Combined Jumping and a 10th in 3-5 Combined Agility and also got through a few round of the knockout running with Matt and Buddy - we only needed to get through one more round to qualify but maybe it's best that we didn't as it means that Matt can still run in the next heat with Tasha and Sue! It was really nice that the Veterans had two runs - a Veteran Jumping (Rip came 5th) and an Anysize Jumping (Rip came 5th and Fog came 8th).

We went out for a nice meal with Don and Christine on the Saturday evening at a local pub that we have been to before.

On the Sunday Cads had one messy clear in a really tricky agility - he really did not want to go back up the course and do a jump as he had spied the see-saw and really wanted to do that - cheeky little chap! The rest of my runs with Fleet and Cads had some good bits just not clear. Fog went clear in Anysize (he only does anysize now as the higher jumps in Veteran he can't manage...:(...) Rip got 7th in Anysize and 9th in Veteran Jumping.

I keep getting behind!

2008-06-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

Oh dear I am have such good intentions and then they fall by the wayside! I will try and do a quick re-cap of what we have been up to.

Mad Weekend - it seemed like a good idea on the weekend of 17th/18th May to go to Ribble for their one day (inside!) show and then nip (haha) across to Dog Vegas for the Sunday - Roger was working on the Saturday and he wanted to compete on the Sunday and that was the only show just about within reach....phew it was a lot of driving though!

At Ribble Cads got a 2nd in 4/5 Agility and a 3rd in 1-7 Helter Skelter, Fleet got a 3rd in 5-7 Jumping and I got clears with Josie and JaiJai just out of the places (JaiJai's runs were taken very steady due to the plastic poles!) and Rip did a lovely run in a clear round only Anysize. I nearly left JaiJai behind...long story...!

Dog Vegas was ok - nice to have 4 runs with Cads however they were all 5-7 combined and small in number and the standard was very good with speedy legged G7 and Ag Ch collies there - bless him he did lovely clears in the jumpings and was 1 and 2 out of the places. Fleet came 4th in 3-5 Agility - afterwards I found out it was a Dog Vegas Qualifier and the first 4 qualify for a final in August - with shows and travelling I am not sure we can attend but its nice to qualify. Rip had a place in Anysize. Roger had no clears but his dogs did some good bits.

hmmmm Supadogs...well there has already been lots of postings on the weather/river overflowing....it is a flood plain so it was only really a matter of time and after two nights in the caravan with hardly any sleep due to rain and high winds I was actually glad to get home to walls made of bricks...much as I luv my caravan! Roger was working the first day and so I had his two to run...I got a 9th in Grade 4 Jumping with Josie and an 11th in Grade 5 Jumping with Fleet and JaiJai did an awesome run in 3/4 Agility just spoiled by going into the second weave. On the Sunday Fleet got a 20th in a large in number 4/5 Jumping. Rip and Fog had clears in Vets/Anysize.

I cancelled 2 days leave and went back to work - the weather was not that nice and I would rather save the leave to take at another time.

Phew I thinks that's it I have caught up - need to do a separate posting on Pads Show.

Tunbridge Wells

2008-05-22T04:11:00.000-07:00

We drove each day as Roger was judging on the Sunday and I did not fancy having to pack away after he had finished judging and take the caravan back to storage on the way home.

On the Saturday Fleet had a nice clear in Grade 5 Jumping and came 6th. He also had a messy clear in the Chum Team but some of our Team mates were not clear. Fleet came 11th in the KC Novice which I was pleased about as he worked it nicely and had to wait for me to catch up on the contacts! No clears again for Roger and his two.

On the Sunday I had three early runs - Rip had Veteran Jumping and came 6th, Foggy had a clear in Anysize, and Fleets Team were drawn quite early in the Crufts Team and we all went clear - Pia and Maisie, Sue and Millie, Nigel and Shaya and Me and Fleet. We kept popping back to see how far we had been knocked down and we hadn't the class was closed and we had won the Crufts Team - wow so pleased and off to Crufts we go - March 2009 seems a loooong way away!

Fleet did a stunning run in Grade 5 Jumping - even having to do 6 weaves on the other side which is not his strong point and if he is clear I don't tend to try but the course meant you really had to so we gave it a go. My wow and amazement continued as he went into the lead and stayed there - 1st. Yay what a Superstar Fleety- I was very proud of him :) To bring us down to earth Fleet had a messy clear in 3-5 Jumping stopping dead in his tracks at one point cos I was trying to switch behind and came 22nd! Fleet had a Grade 5 Agility which I decided not to do - I had done almost the same course with Cad for the KC Medium and the ring was like half as wide again as a normal ring - just the sort of course to make Fleet spin/bark/come back to me.

Cad missed the weaves in the Kc Medium - it was a hard entry and I thought I would let him see if he could find it and he missed out a jump in the 4-5 Jumping.

Here is a photo of Fleet with his trophies from Tunbridge and also Shrewsbury - I really tried to get a close up of the Shrewsbury one which was sooo cool and had a dog weaving inside the block of crystal.

Roger had a small breakthough in that for a change he was entered in Agility with Josie he has been on and off trying to re-train her contacts as they were so awful - she had a nice clear in Grade 4 Agility - the contacts were a little too slow ofr a place but at least she got them and he worked them well to the floor and praised her before releasing.

Vyne

2008-05-22T03:52:00.001-07:00

Just a short post on Vyne - still trying to catch up on the last few weeks!

It was lovely to be back running Cads but I feel a bit rusty with him. Bless him he did three clear rounds - a messy 1-7 KC, a messy 5-6 Agility and a nice clear on a flowing 4-5 Jumping - he was just out of the places in the Jumping and here is a photo kindly taken by Arthur of Cad in the jumping

Fleet did a clear on a nice Grade 5 Jumping but it was a rather up and down course and he was just out of the places. He did a lovely run on 3-5 Jumping and I got 3 reverses in that I did not think I could so was well pleased with that and then we had the last pole down. He was a goon in his Grade 5 Agility.

It was Rips Birthday - he was 12 and he got placed in the Anysize and Foggy also went clear.

Roger had some nice runs including a messy clear with Josie but no places.

Shrewsbury

2008-05-16T13:48:00.000-07:00

Fiona kindly saved me a camping space as I had Cad at the Vets in the morning and I was worried I would get there late and be parked in the back of beyond, I had a good journey there and it was a nice spot to camp with only a short walk to the rings - Ta Fiona :)

This was Cads first show back after the ear-ole issues....well even though the Vet said he was fine I ran him like a pansy in the first run thinking oh gawd if I whizz him through the weaves or anywhere and he knocks his ear I will feel awful....so he ran a nice steady clear round looking at me a bit bemused on the way round and was just out of the places. In the next run I thought lets just try and run as normal and he was whizzing round and then .....he got blown off the dog walk! He landed on his feet and seemed fine - thank gawd! He did a lovely run in the KC Medium Class till jump 18....and an E in a jumping class and the pairs. It was nice to be back running him again though :)

Now a funny story about Ruby - Kaisers Mum - due to van trouble Mark was not at the show but Ruby was due to do pairs with Sue and Merc so Marie brought her along but as she was judging that day so kindly said I could run her - Mark had said he was not 100% sure she would go with me but it was worth a try as she is always seems pleased to see me - I had 6/7 Agility first and she did jump 1, 2 and then ran away! Luckily only down to the side of the ring where Marie was judging. We did chuckle that an Ag Ch that loves agility really does love her Dad more than agility...but she did run nicely with Marie on the Sunday :)

Fleet was a star in 5-7 Graded Agility for some reason he whizzed round without looking back once and I released him as soon as he stopped on the contacts and then thought I would check my time only to find he was in the lead....argh anyone who knows me knows that I really done want Fleet Senior/Grade 6 as his handler is much too dippy and also he seems to get easily confused on stuff thats too tricky. It was a Graded Class with the grades running in order 5..6..7 and the 7's had started to run and he was still in the lead....eeek....luckily a Grade 5 then came along and beat him phew! We were very pleased to be 2nd :)

Fleet had the Adams Derby to compete in and it really was not power and speed and was renamed by me as power and pull through.....I can become a bit determined sometimes and think I will not let this darn course beat me.....one of the pull throughs was not pretty but I was very pleased to come 3rd and Qualify for the Adams Derby Final in July.

On the Sunday Tom Hadaway was judging and kindly said I could run his dog Panic as she is not registered in his name - I have never run her before and she was fab - she is Grade 4 but knocking on the door to win out with jumping wins - we came 5th in Grade 4-5 Combined Jumping and then scarily had to run in Tom's Graded 4-5 Jumping - she was awesome and flew round until one jump to go and I thought she was with me but she flew ahead over the start instead of going over the finish doh!

Roger had no JaiJai clears but he did nice bits in some. Josie got a 7th in Grade 4 Jumping and a 6th in Grade 4-5 Combined Jumping (ooops I beat him with Panic!)

Some photos taken by Mike Fairlamb on Sues camera - Oi Mike none of My Dogs! I have included one of Sues Pixie(dora) as she won Grade 4-5 Combined Agility so up to Grade 5 they went.

Catching up....again!

2008-05-15T16:28:00.001-07:00

Ok I have been a bad blogger (again!) there just do not seem to be enough hours in the day and each time I think ah I must update the blog my brain is tired!

I will do a little re-cap fo what we have been up to.......

WBSDS another little show of 12 rings! Still no Cads to run and I do miss running the little furry chap. Fleet did some lovely runs on some well thought out courses with just a 5r (Fran Walton and David Isbisters courses), Fleet did have a nice clear on a course I did not think I could do (Ian Balchins) it was just one part that I thought I could not do and yippee we managed it - hard to describe but a snake that you came at with the handler left behind (or rather me left behind some faster on their legs peeps got in front!) and there was a pull through at the end of the snake - Fleet had a run off which he won and came 8th. Fog and Rip had fun in the clear round only anysize classes.....it's a good job I luv those pesky old things as with Wallingford and WBSDS it worked out £15 on 6 clear round only classes for them - I know they don't care if there are no rosettes on offer but I prefer it! Roger got a 2nd with Josie in 4-5 Graded Jumping - it was an erm...interesting course so it suited them well.

Cads ear....well things seem to be doing ok, he was sedated to have the stitches out and he was so happy to finally have the bucket off his head! I think the ear is still a bit tender but the Vet said that is to be expected but fingers crossed the Op has worked.

Kaiser is loving going to shows and has got to meet some of this brothers and sisters, seen his Mum Ruby and big half bro Puck and big half sister too.

Shrewsbury, Vyne and Tunbridge to follow and hopefully some photos!

Wallingford and a Cadders update....

2008-04-25T15:15:00.001-07:00

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 :(

2008-04-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-04-14T16:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-10T01:58:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

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 :)

Easter in Cornwall

2008-03-31T17:27:00.000-07:00

I am about a week late in my updates....ah well nevermind!

Roger and I had both been invited to judge in Cornwall at the 3 day K9 Kernow Show.

We travelled down on Thursday - the show was Friday (Roger judged), Saturday (I judged) and Sunday and then we travelled back on Monday. It made a nice break and the weather was not too bad at all compared to some other parts of the country.

I enjoyed my judging I had Large Combined 1 & 2 Jumping, Large Grade 3 Jumping and Pay on the Day Medium Pairs. The day I judged it did not rain at all which I was most happy about, it was cold but I was wrapped up well. On the other days there were a few showers and even a bit of hail.

This was Kaisers first time in the caravan and he seemed to enjoy it:-

The fleece is supposed to cover the seats.......but had been re-designed by Kaiser! The Showground in Wadebridge was a lovely if slightly windy place to stay it was brilliant for walking the dogs as there is such huge areas to walk that people are not all on top of each other.

How did the dogs do...well they did just fine bless em - Fleety got a 6th in G5 Jumping, Cadbury got 3rd in Medium 5-7 Combined Jumping (well pleased with that one) and a 2nd in Pay on the Day Take Your Own Line, JaiJai got 3rd in Grade 4 Jumping and Roger was kicking himself as he had a pole down in 4/5 Combined Agility and he checked his time and he was a bit ahead of the winner but of course it might have taken a little longer to keep the pole up.

The show had 2 runs a dog and also a pay on the day - I don't normally do Pay on the Day's but thought it would be good experience for Cads so I did a steeplechase as well as the aforementioned TYOL.

On the Saturday evening a group of 9 of us went into Wadebridge for an Indian meal which was really nice.

The tow back took a while as the A303 was clogged up but as least we were in no hurry and at least it was not after a days competing and packing up, we got back to caravan storage and I was sooo pleased that we finally got our old space back - the dippy man gave it to someone else in error and we had been in an awkward space for the last two shows of last year and all winter.

A couple more photos, Cadbury seems to be saying "oh yawn stop taking my photo" either that or "is it dinner time yet?" !!

Mid Downs and Chippenham

2008-03-25T03:26:00.000-07:00

Was not impressed these shows were two days running! We do ring party at Mid Downs so had to be there all day from helping the judge to tweak his course to packing the ring away.....and then Chippenham small/medium show was the anniversary of Cads competing for one year and I had offered a lift to a club member who does not travel that far so even though tired out after the long day of ring partying at Mid Downs then had another long cold day at Chippenham....ah well whinge over perhaps they won't be on consecutive days next year!

Mid Downs - Fleety got a 16th after a run off that he won in the 3-5 Jumping - his first run was quite messy in parts so it was nice to have another go and do a much better clear :) He was going lovely in the 4-5 Agility and then near-ish to the end ran past the cloth tunnel. Cadbury did a clear on an interesting but also speedy Jumping (4-7 I think) but was just out of the places and his agility was a very interesting course....I hear there were only 4 clears in the whole class....I was proud to have got to jump 12 clear before he popped an extra jump - it was 5-7 and the Supadog Qualifier - set at more like Grade 8 ;) !!

Chippenham - another early start and picked Lindsay and Pip up along the way - Cads and Pip had a run on first and then runs last in the rings...first run was 4-5 Graded Agility - I had already decided I would hold my contacts and Cads came a respectable 3rd with held contacts - Pip came 1st in that class and as he is in a class I teach at North Downs I was really pleased for them. One annoying bit was that when they did the presentation although they wrote Cads as 3rd they only gave places to 2nd doh! I got in the wrong place for the 4-5 jumping and got Cads E'd and we had a clear in both the 1-7 Steeplechase which was messy in parts and a lovely run in the 1-7 agility but I think Cads thought he had finished after the second to last jump and ground to a halt and took what seemed like ages to then jump the last jump - he was just out of the places with both these clears so I was pleased knowing their were places we could have saved time.

No video......I really must get some more video of Cads as have not had any of him for ages.

A photo of Cads that I have always liked when he was little :)

Time goes by.....

2008-03-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

Well time has flown by and I have been a bad blogger - there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day!

I will do a quick resume.....

My dogs all saw the Chiro a few weeks back and were all given a clean bill of health so that was good.

Crufts - I went on Thursday to be groom for Sue and Bug who were in the mini maxi pairs with Jaf's Sister Ruby - they did really well but were sadly not clear. Sue and I were there again on Friday for the Medium Crufts Team - Bug was in the Team (with Jude, Disney and Mouse) and Cadbury was their reserve - we did not need to run but Cads seemed to enjoy Crufts - Jude was clear, Bug had 5 and sadly Disney and Mouse were both E'd so they did not go through to the final. Sue and I walked miles and miles around the shops and bought a few things....I got toys/treats/a nice mat...can't remember what else now! Also managed to watch some of the agility.

Went for a lovely walk at Wittering Beach and yummy pub lunch with fellow bloggers Karen, Lisa, Bernadette and non-bloggers Mandy and Polly - it was a belated birthday walk for Todd who Cadbury really loves - see Karens Blog for Photos - there were 16 dogs and they all seemed to have a great time, Lisa made a lovely cake for the dogs and they all seemed to enjoy - Jaf and Cadbury certainly did!

Kaiser is now 5 months old and I can't believe he has been here for that many months already - bless him he is teething right now.

Newton Heath

2008-02-28T16:01:00.001-08:00

Ok madly got up at 3.15am and set off at 3.50....it only(!) takes 3.5 hours at that time in the morning funnily enough the motorway is rather clear!

I always like to get to shows with lots of time to spare to walk the dogs - I had taken 6 dogs with me leaving the oldies Fog and Rip at home as Roger would be in and out all day so I had a busy day with walking them, running them, Kaiser being old enough to go in and have a look round...oh and then having to find enough energy to drive home again! It is rather dull travelling such a long way on your own (well with the dogs but they are all akip!)

Roger was working again - he has to work 2 Saturdays a month with his silly job - it used to be one but has gone up to two as you can imagine he is not that happy about that! In years gone by it used to be me working some weekends...ah well I get to run the lovely JaiJai and Josie the strange merle!

Back to the show...there were only 2 runs per dog - one jumping and agility - Josie and Jaf were only doing jumping. There was a pay on the day class for charity split into various sections so I thought I would put Fleet, Cads, Josie and JaiJai into it - so I had 13 runs!

Fleet:- he came 8th in Grade 5 Jumping with one messy bit, his G5 Agility was soooo funny he had gone lovely and was clear only 4 things to go and then he came round a jump the opposite way to which I thought he would and trying to think on my feet got me left behind and then he got but ran the aframe and then came back to see where I was and put a foot back on the bottom of the aframe I started to laugh which did not help! His POD Class was 5-7 Graded TFO hmmmm too hard for Fleet with well strange switch behinds which he does not like on the first bit with no forward momentum so we got a 5r and left.....laughing!

Cadbury:- he came 3rd in Medium 4/5 Combined Jumping - I really liked this course and there were some interesting handling bits so we really went for it and I was pleased to come 3rd with 2 speedy leggy terriers above us, his agility we missed the weave entry and then it all went a bit wrong and we left laughing....this laughing was becoming a theme....perhaps it was mild hysteria after the early morning start! Cads POD was 1-7 Medium Helter Skelter we whizzed round as fast as we could but I did not think we would be quick enough for a place but Cads came 6th so I was really pleased :)

Jaf:- he had just the one run - Small 4/5 jumping - he did a really lovely clear round for him as he can be very unconfident and slows down or stops and get all worried at shows (hence we gave up with the see-saw and he just does one jumping class) I checked his time and he was the first one out of the places which for little Jaf is brill as he only occasionally gets a place.

JaiJai:- oh dear what can I say about him he was off his head - I think he finds indoor shows a bit exciting - he did a few nice bits in each run including getting all his contacts quite nicely but no clears and his Grade 4 Jumping was a very testing tight course and really too much for him.

Josie:- she should have been able to get round the above mentioned Grade 4 Jumping course but she seemed rather excited and barked a bit and whizzed off the wrong way and kicked off a few poles I think she sees me as a bit of fun and running with her Dad is more serious! In the POD 1-4 Graded Helter Skelter she listened well, whizzed round and kept the poles up and came 4th :)

Kaiser had a fab day - saw 2 of his black brothers Draco and Flash and was so excited to see all the people and dogs he is such a happy little dog!

Then the dreaded bit the long drive home......I had delegated Fleet to drive but he did not look keen on the idea so it was down to me ;) stopped for 2 breaks on the way back and shared KFC with the dogs. Had a nice day but was flippin knackered when I got home late in the evening!

Cadders is going to Crufts....

2008-02-28T15:36:00.000-08:00

He is to be a reserve for a Medium Crufts Team, hopefully all the dogs and handlers in the Team will be fine but it's good to have a reserve and I am very proud that Cadbury is their reserve.

The Team is Rosie and Disney, Alan and Jude, Sue and Bug and Toni and Mouse

Thanks to Rosie for all her liaising and Good Luck to the Team :o)

When looking through my photos I found this one from a few weeks back in the garden which made me laugh, I can see Cads and Kaiser saying "right let's herd Fleet"

A few photos :)

2008-02-16T14:39:00.001-08:00

A few weeks back Kaiser and I were at Pets at Home and I noticed they were doing a photo competition the following week so thought we would get some photos done. Bless him he was so sweet - we queued behind adult dogs that did not know how to sit or lay down or stay still and yet Kaiser managed just fine. A week later we went back to choose the photo to go into their compeition, I don't expect him to do any good in that as of course I luv him dearly but he is not cute in the eyes of others like some of the fluffy pups that were there. I bought a couple of the photos although I am not sure if he looks a bit startled - the photographer got the dogs attention by barking at them! So with the usual thanks to the photographer for allowing me to scan and upload the photo (I did ask him - he looked bemused and thought I was mad but said it was fine!)

It's Cads Blog so I thought I would add a photo of him I really like - this was from the DIN Medium Novice Final back last August where bless the little furry chap he came 4th. Amanda kindly bought me this photo (so thanks to her and also the DIN Professional Photographer) and it really is such a good action shot - I think it has a funny mark on it where it was scanned - it's not on the original!

Waldridge Fell....

2008-02-16T14:12:00.000-08:00

On Friday the 8th February we set off "up north", Roger had the day off work and was attending his first show of the year (my third..:o)) Duessa had kindly been our booking secretary and booked us a nice pub to stay at - it was a pub where we have eaten when at Northern Week and Sue has stayed there before so knew it was dog friendly.

We had a good trip up in nice weather and had a nice evening at the pub and the dogs were all very well behaved - Kaiser and Sue's merlie pup Bear had a play in her room, Kaiser was so much bigger and a bit rough so sweet Cadders came in for a play and he and Bear played lovely.

We were staying apx 40 miles from the show so had an early start and we were very lucky with the weather as the sun shone all day - its not a show or venue that Roger and I had been to before and I understand in previous years there has been heavy rain or snow and its been very bleak there. It was a nice indoor school with plenty of room for 3 rings.

Cads classes were Medium Combined 3-7 - agility, jumping and another jumping, he has not done that many runs up against grade 6 and 7 dogs so I thought it would be interesting to see how we got on. He had the agility run first which was an interesting course (see below - click on it to make it bigger) while queuing I watched a kelpie cross do a stunning run and thought no time for any hesitations if I wanted to try and get a place so we went for it and ran all the contacts - he did them fine running all the way to the floor I just did not make him stop. I was very pleased with the run and watched a few more people go thinking they would have been quicker than us but thought it would be nice to see Cads time. As is the northern way the score tables were hiding somewhere (found the one for this ring in the cafe!) and I was very surprised to find out that Cads was laying and stayed 2nd. The speedy kelpie cross won and was a good few secs ahead of us but even though it was not a huge show entries wise for Cads to have come 2nd in a 3-7 was brilliant.

Cads also went clear in both his jumping classes and was just out of the places in them both.

Fleet bless him also had 3/3 clears :) The Large dog classes were Graded 1-7 (agility, jumping and another jumping) We had a messy agility run so that put him out of the places, and in Pete Jennings jumping really we should have had a 5r and I stopped trying but we ended up with a clear again at Grade 5 you can't be messy or waste time so he was out of the places. In his last run another jumping he did a lovely run with one small place were we lost a smidgeon of time and I was very surprised and pleased that he came 3rd.

Roger had no clear rounds.....Josie is still only doing jumping but at least had 2 runs - she had one messy run with faults and in the other just had a 5r. JaiJai did ok with a nice wait on the start line in 2 classes (which he did not have last year) but alas no clears.

Sue had a good day with 1st and 2nd with Bug in Jumping - what a good Buggarty and a 2nd with Merc in Jumping.

So then the long drive home broken up with a nice meal with Sue and Duessa.

Kaiser in the Garden today

2008-02-10T13:07:00.000-08:00

I had been meaning to try and put some video of Kaiser on the Blog and kept not getting round to it - then I had this idea I could video him on my own....wrong! So an assistant in the form of Roger was needed! The first bit is me trying on my own - I was not going to put any music on but I kept laughing!

He is such a happy pup, loves playing with his Wubba toy (its the second one since I got him, had to get a new one as the first one was looking tatty) he will be 4 months old next week.

Music by none other than the...Kaiser Chiefs :)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ribble and Welcome to Baby Bear

2008-01-28T16:52:00.000-08:00

Ribble was a nice show - I had a lovely uneventful journey there which after the week before was a relief! Even though I might try the "up north" mad trip in a day after it actually went ok the previous week but I already had a dog friendly BnB booked with deposit paid so went up the afternoon before.

Roger only had a couple of runs and as most of our dogs were not competing he stayed home as it is not a very nice venue for the non-competing dogs - no proper exercise area as such as the fields they can use are usually under water.

The pairs......mmmm well the least said about that the better! It was a dippy judge who really has not competed much for a while and it was supposed to be 1-7 and it was more like 7..! There were nearly 200 pairs entered and there were I think only 3 double clears and someone I know came 17th with 15 faults....

Josie and JaiJai were entered together as it was Josies first show back after her spay - she seemed fine but did not seem jump fit knocking a few poles down so it will be good for her and Roger to get back to training. Sue kindly volunteered to run JaiJai and I set off first with Josie who got an E and then we eventually got back to the box....well could I catch the darn merle NO! It seemed like ages and JaiJai is the kind of dog to get in a tizz and he did set off with Sue but only did two jumps and then came back to me! I forgot Josie has to go second as she does not do a changeover well...

Fleet was with Tatts and we were going ok and then I was dippy and got Fleet a 5r and then I was pleased he did the 7 weaves to nowhere and relaxed slightly so he popped an extra jump!

The only other run that Josie and JaiJai had was combined 1-4 Jumping - Josie flew round lovely and just had 2 poles down. JaiJai was going great guns but at the tricky bit right near the end I could not stop him going straight on out of the pipe tunnel.

Fleets Grade 5 Agility was an interesting course and the start really needed a good recall, Fleet and I have worked on recalls all through the Autumn and Winter and he did a lovely wait and then lovely holds on the contacts and came 6th.

The Grade 5 Jumping really was a bizarre course and it did not appeal to me at all and so not surprisingly Fleet and I went wrong. Really pleased that Matt and Buddy came 3rd in this course. Buddy is a handsome blue/tri smooth collie with one ear up and one ear down.

I really enjoyed watching Iain Frasers Chum course (sorry not Chum anymore KC Olympia Grade 6/7!). It was an interesting course which looked to have been really well thought out. Forum Fiona did a course plan and I think it looked pretty spot on.

I really missed Cadbury and Kaiser pup and the other dogs as that was the first night I had been away from Kaiser since he came home.

Sue White does not have her own Blog (nag nag come on Sue everyone has one these days!) but today she got her new pup Bear so I thought I would post a couple of photos of Bear to welcome him to her household and to the mad world of Agility!

I really must try and get some video done for the Blog - some of Kaiser playing and looking cute and also I have been spurred on to try and do the 2 jumps exercises with Cadbury as demonstrated by Bernadette and Lisa - I worry I may fall over tho!

Kaiser Puplett :)

2008-01-20T14:39:00.000-08:00

Well Kaiser is now 14 weeks old. He and I have continued our little adventures together along with his first trip to a show (schhhh only went in the car park!)

He is such a cheeky little character and always full of beans - he has done the occasional walk (on lead) with the other dogs and it seems he might be another Fleet-maniac....most of our dogs are mad about Fleet....weird!

I have done a little bit of clicker training with him and he is getting qood on sits and downs.

Here are various recent photos. I must try and remember he has big ears and to make sure I get all of them into the photo!!

First Show of the Year

2008-01-20T09:51:00.000-08:00

Well I have been to my first show of the year - Wilmslow at Myerscough. I had a dog friendly BnB booked and set off just after lunch. Took the route to avoid the A34 which always seems to get jammed where it meets the M40 on a Friday afternoon, so went M4, off at J15 and then A417 between Swindon and Gloucester where I would get onto the M5 and head northwards.

Little Kaiser was coming along for the ride and I took Cadbury, Fleet, Rip and JaiJai. There were no classes for small dogs, Rip was going as he had Veterans and I was not sure about jumping Foggy without him having done any jumps for such a long time as he can then misjudge so he was not entered and Josie was still having time off after her spay.

Anyway back to the journey! Well it started to snow, and was settling in the fields but not the road so no real problem there and then the traffic on the dual carriageway stopped....and an hour and a half went by and we moved about 50 yards and the temperature was dropping - it was 5 degrees when I stopped and was now minus 2....the dogs and I were warm enough as I of course had the heating on the van.

The snow was now settling on the road and getting thicker and thicker. The radio was not saying much about the traffic so I thought I would ring Gloucester Police - well people ring Surrey Police who I work for!! They advised there was 12 miles of queuing traffic behind a jack knifed lorry and that the traffic was going nowhere for many hours.

Well my one criteria for going to northern shows is that I won't go if it snows as I just hate driving in snow and ice. So I rang and cancelled the BnB and came off at a tiny side road by a pub and went in there to ask how much further to the nearest junction where I could turn round and the kind lady in the pub explained a quick route on the now very heavily covered in snow side roads where I could get back on the other side of the dual carriageway and head home - so 6 hours after I left home I got back home and the snow was localised to that area so certain friends did not believe me and all I took was one photo:-

Some friends drive all the way up to Myerscough and back in a day and they are about 40 mins nearer than me so I thought I would set my alarm and give it a go....

So at 3.30am on the Saturday morning questioning my sanity I set off - lovely clear rounds, no traffic and no SNOW!

It only took me 3.5 hours to get there and I had a nice day at the show as did Kaiser who got to meet Flash his black brother.

At the show my only clear rounds were a 7th in the Veteran Jumping with Ripley - he flew bless him and had a great time and whizzed through the 6 weaves, and Cads who came 1st in the 4-5 combined Jumping - he did a lovely run so I was very pleased with this result - there were only 19 in the class so it did not feel such a big achievement as say winning a class of a couple of hundred with one of the big dogs but bless him he can only beat those that are in it! That is his first win towards winning out of Grade 5. Just baby and handler errors in the other 2 classes Cad was in - he did some nice bits though.

Fleet did some nice bits including a 2 jump recall in 2 of his classes - he and I have worked hard on this over the winter as we went for quite a few years with no wait and I thought we would give it one last go and yippee we are getting there.

Some random photos of Cads and his 1st Place Trophy and Rosette - I will post again with some newer photos of Kaiser :)

Actually Cads does not look at all impressed!!

Growing up!

2008-01-02T16:52:00.000-08:00

That's Kaiser not me I am not growing up yet that's dull !

Well Kaiser is going to be 12 weeks old on Saturday. He has had both his jabs and was so sweet at the Vets even on the second visit wagging his tail so fast even though the vet was going to jab him :)

Kaiser and I have visited lots of places and Thank You to Helen and Nellie-Bean (a lovely Fleety Niece) for the reminders on their Blog of things to do to socialise a pup, a few places we have been to are Pets at Home (a few times - well a boy can never have enough toys and treats!), Tesco, our local shop, down the road to visit the house with the Christmas lights, the garden centre nearby, we have watched traffic and kids playing ball and making lots of noise so hopefully all this has been a good learning time for Kaiser and he has taken it all in his stride. A little chuckle he has been out in the Smart Car for most of the trips - I can fit a cage in the back and its a good car for him to see whats going on around him as we have travelled about.

Cadbury continues to think his new best mate is brilliant except.....when he grabs his ear and won't let go! Cads is learning to be a little more assertive to let Kaiser know that he does not like that kind of game and I make sure that Kaiser is not allowed to annoy him.

Our elderly neighbour has been poorly recently (they are both in their 70's) so I have not seen them much - I saw Joan and was asking after her husband Joe and had Kaiser with me out the front of the house and they did not know I had a pup and Joan said that Joe who has been housebound had noticed I always seemed to be in the back garden!

Christmas and New Year were ok - nothing very exciting happened - at work some sad and mad stuff but that's normal! I was working Christmas Day, Boxing day, New Years Eve (only till 6pm) and New Years Day so not much of a Holiday for me - I tend not to ask for the time off as feel its more important for my colleagues with children to be allowed the time off. Roger visited some of his family and my Mum and Sister visited us on Christmas evening. I think my 2 nicest pressies were a lovely soft lilac FatFace scarf from Claudine and a lovely purple Kipling bag from Sue.

We had lots of fireworks round here on New Years Eve and I am glad we stayed home with the dogs - only Josie and Rip are very worried - the rest of the dogs look a bit concerned at the very loud bangs. So it was Jools Holland on the TV up loud to try and drown out the fireworks!

Its been nice to be able to do some different things - we have been to dinner with friends, I went for a girls night out to a friends and we had a takeaway and I went for a lovely long walk with Sue and Duessa at the Lookout.

I Hope everyone is well and that you are all having a good time with your families and dogs.

Kaiser now has "proper" Kelpie ears :)

I know he is a scruffy Muffin but I do like this photo of Cads

Happy Christmas

2007-12-24T15:49:00.001-08:00

Been soooo busy here! I will try and cover each bit at a time!

Blue the foster dog is still looking for a home - sadly his new home did not work out :(

Kaiser is coming along lovely - he is cute and cheeky all rolled into one!

Went to watch at Olympia on Senior (6/7) day - Amanda and I go each year to watch/shop! I just don't tire of the excitement of watching the agility there and have loved watching all the videos back of the agility that night and also the small/Medium/ABC and Novice ones too - so thanks to everyone for the links! To those who did well - yay! To those who would have liked to have done better - well done for being there and I am sure you will all be out there trying to qualify again!

Nigel and Donna's 15 year old lurcher Bear went missing last week and it must have been such an awful time for them - after being missing for quite a few days today she was thankfully found and was ok - we went searching on Sunday and I kept willing her to appear on the horizon (sadly she didn't) but with lots of people out searching and putting up posters and spreading the word I am sure it all helped for her to be found today - I stood in the corridor at work on the phone to Donna in tears when she rang to say Bear had been found and she is not even my dog!

Here she is having a well earned snooze tonight at Claudine and Carlo's house - it was so lovely to be able to see her when I dropped their Christmas pressies round.

Further down our road is a house locally famous for its Christmas lights - I stopped on the way home today to try and take some photos - the photos are not that good as they are on my phone and in the dark but you get the idea! They raise money for charity and last year they were runners up in a nationwide competition for people who decorate their houses!

I would like to wish everyone we know - humans and canines a Very Happy Christmas and a Fab New Year Lorna x

Kaiser :)

2007-12-14T14:39:00.000-08:00

Well its been a few days now and Kaiser is just fab. Of course all puppies involve lots of work for watching them so they don't get into trouble and for housetraining and plus there is lots of playing to be done so it's an exciting but tiring time!

The other dogs are getting used to him and Kaiser and Cadbury have had some great playing sessions.

He had two trips to training both for our last nights of term with end of of term jovialities - he gots lots of hugs from people and seemed to be taking everything in.

The garden has been frozen solid so at first he looked a bit like "eeek I don't want to get my feet cold" but once he got used to it he was fine.

(that sock has a tennis ball in - its not that I have left my socks lying about honest!)

He went to the Vets to have his first jab today and that went ok - the Vet said he thought he was lovely and they do have one other Kelpie on their books but am not sure who that one belongs to.

Kaiser is cute and cheeky all rolled into one, he is a very bold puppy which is lovely so Mark and Marie have done a good job before he came home to us.

He has such a cute puppy sit!

And ooops only had him a few days and lost his head!!!!!

I must take some photos outside (with the digi camera rather than my phone!) but it has just been sooooo cold!

Newton Heath, Wyre, Foster dog, Rugby and Kaiser!

2007-12-09T14:02:00.000-08:00

Phew thats a lot of subjects to cover!

Ok Newton Heath first - a nice but very hectic show, just two runs for Mediums but Cads bless him wanted three! So we had a run-off chuckle! He had a run-off for 3rd and 4th in Medium Combined 4-5 Jumping and won the run-off. Also he came 2nd in Medium Graded 4-5 Agiliy. Bless him little Jaf came 6th in Combined 4-5 Jumping. No clears for the rest of the dogs but they all did some nice bits.

Wyre - just me at Wyre as Roger stayed home to look after Josie (who is fine now thank goodness!) The only place was Cads got 2nd in Medium Combined 3-5 Agility, he was going lovely in the KC Olympia 1-7 and then with 3 things to go went back up the a-frame - he was in good company as quite a few did that and his jumping course was 4-5 but set at about grade 8 - so we had fun but an E. No clears from JaiJai or Fleet - best runs being a lovely run each with just 5 faults. JaiJai is such fun to run but boy do you have to think quickly!

Yayyyyyyy Blue the Foster Dog has a new home - Cathy and Steve who train at North Downs with us now have Blue living with them - its a lovely place for him to be so fingers crossed things work out ok.

Rugby for me is the start of the festive season - the car park had tarmac wow! This does not sound much but normally it had a foot of mud and you take most of it home in the van! Cads runs were 1-7 and he did a messy clear in the jumping, in the agility I nearly ran into a jump! Cads was still clear despite me and only just out of the places. The course was in the shape of an M so rather up and down. Roger was still resting Josie so stayed home and I ran JaiJai - he was a bit mad in his agility and was doing fab in the jumping with just one pole down then I got out of position doh! Fleets agility was an interesting course and he worked it well but....I nearly went up the a-frame!! I did a reverse just before the a-frame and then as I turned I had not quite gone wide enough so had to put my hands out and onto the a-frame to stop myself running into it!! Fleet got 12th in one of the parts of 1-7 Jumping so I was pleased about that in that kind of company - he is Grade 5 and there were good Grade 7 and 6 dogs called out before they got to his name :)

Today I picked Kaiser up - I am typing this quickly while he had a quick nap! He is adorable - I promise to take some photos as soon as I get a a chance. He has been introduced to the rest of our mob - Cadbury really likes him and they have been playing - Josie and Rip are the ones that have to be kept away from pups - funny that they are both Rogers dogs!!

So an exciting and busy time ahead - I don't have a show for over a month now and it will be nice to chill out with the dogs and get them all used to Kaiser and get him used to loads of things while he is growing up.

I hope all the blog readers are well and having fun with their dogs.

Time just flies by!

2007-11-30T02:12:00.000-08:00

Well we still have the foster dog....Blue is finally on Agilitynet so hopefully he will get a nice forever home soon :) He has got more barmy the longer he has been with us - is that our influence or just that he is coming out of his shell !! Blue and JaiJai play and play - as Josie has been spayed she has been resting so its been nice for the 2 youngsters to play.

I went up to the Agility Club AGM for Cadbury and I to be presented with his huge trophy for coming 1st in the Medium Grade 3 section....to say I am proud of him is an understatement! It was espcially nice as I did not realise at first that the trophy was engraved I just wanted to get it in the box before I dropped it!

New posh dinner bowl - chuckle!!

It was nice to catch up with people I had not seen for a while at the AGM - there was not enough time to chat to everyone though! A little group of us did go out for a nice meal afterwards. Well Done to all our friends who did so well too - Joy and Teal, Bernadette and Hex, Paula and Suzi, Sue with Bug and Merc, Jenny and Stella and everyone else who got an award!

Josie was spayed and things did not go very well......darn merlie thing!! Actually it was not her fault her external stiches were fine but the internal ones did not hold and she had to go back and be re-operated on - it was quite a scary time and thankfully she is on the mend now - running around with a bucket on her head and wearing a t-shirt to cover her tummy!

Nearly time to get Kaiser - exciting stuff! Heres a photo Marie sent me recently (thanks Marie x)

Off to Wyre in a little while - just me and some of the dogs - Roger is staying home to look after Josie - I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Kaiser Five Week old visit and Blue Foster Kelpie

2007-11-23T17:28:00.001-08:00

So after the trip back from Newton Heath the next day for me its a little trip to Wales!! (apx 280 miles round trip - I go back to work for a rest - I did over 800 miles driving that weekend zzzzzz!)

Kaiser is growing up sooooooooo lovely and the whole litter are just so much fun to watch. This is my favourite photo of Kaiser so far (thanks Marie x):-

There is a Blue Kelpie with the original name of....Blue that needs a new home - he is only 8-9 months old and was found as a stray in West Wales and he had been being fostered and it was not working out so I was asked to give him a ride as he was near to where Kaiser is and the Kelpie Welfare lady lives near me - she is already fostering some other dogs so Blue has ended up being fostered for the time being here with us - he is learning house manners and lots of other stuff but he is a really fab dog and I must say I am soooo proud of my dogs the way they have adapted to having a foster dog in the house - I hope he finds a forever home soon. If anyone reading the blog knows somone looking for a dog like this please get in touch!Bluey:-

Newton Heath November

2007-11-23T16:58:00.000-08:00

A short trip (ha ha!) up the M6 to go to Newton Heath - we always stay over the night before and I have tried various places - some too noisy/too near a busy road/insecure parking/strange owners/2 dog limit etc! So we stayed at a farm BnB - the same place we stayed for Lune Valley in October - it was ok....but it was cold so nearly all the dogs came in (a couple go in large fabric crates) and the room was freezing cold! So I might try somewhere else next time!!

Onto the show - poor Roger did not have a great day JaiJai was rather hyped up and had no clears and Josie also had no clears but at least she got 2 jumping runs to do while she is still being re-trained to do contacts - but is being spayed soon so will have a good break before she re-starts.

Little Cadders was a star-let - I am still working on his stops on the contacts and was very pleased with how he ran the 4-5 graded agility and he came 2nd, in the 4-5 combined jumping he did another good run and ended up having a run off for 3rd and 4th - he won the run off so 3rd we came. This show only put on 2 runs for smalls and mediums so it was nice to have a run off - one to get another go at the same course but also to give us an extra run as the big dogs all got 3 runs.

Littler Jaf is just going to do jumping now as it was not worth stressing him over the see-saw - I bought a see-saw (ages ago) and I had worked on getting his confidence up and it worked for a short time and then he does the darn thing at a show a bit fast and then scares himself and we are back to square one again... I was very proud that Jaf came 6th in the small combined 4-5 Jumping - he does not get many places so this makes it even more special when he does :)

Fleet was a bit of a goon....just small things wrong in each run but also did some nice bits too. No runs for the oldies at this show - good job really as it was a manic show - loads of people there who I had not seen at this venue before - I guess like us they did not want to get bored in the winter!

As Cads and Jaf were the stars a photo of them.....it was from ages and ages ago when we were moving house and yes that really is Cadbury - it was the 2nd and last time he had his face shaved and had a bath and blow dry he has been au natural since then which is not to everyones taste but of course I like it! He has still never had his body hair cut and I am sort of used to people asking what breed he is!!

Catching up again!

2007-11-23T01:10:00.000-08:00

Sorreeeeee I have been a bad blogger again! We have a foster dog at the moment (long story) and this and the rest of the dogs and work have been taking up a lot of my time.

Dartmoor:- we went to stay with my Mum for the weekend which was nice as she lives near Honiton and I don't get to see her very often. No great success at the show - little Jaf was the only one to get a clear round! Cadbury popped an extra jump in the jumping and in the agility got confused by an a-frame with a pipe tunnel tightly wrapped round with the dog having a choice of pipe/a-frame/pipe - lots of dogs went wrong in all of the heights...

JaiJai had the obligatory pole down with a very fast time in his jumping class, Fleet had a day of if onlys - in the jumping it was only weaves and jump to finish after having done the rest lovely as I switched behind the weaves he came out....and in the agility he refused the pipe with only a few jumps to go and he had done the a-frame handling area lovely.

My Mum:-

I'll add more later about Kaiser at 5 weeks, the foster dog and Newton Heath.

New header

2007-11-13T16:40:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Lucy Clifton for making me the new header of Cadders and to Dennis and Lynn for the lovely photos in the header.

Tuffley Ltd and a visit to meet Kaiser pup!

2007-11-13T16:13:00.000-08:00

I have been a bad blogger and been busy with other stuff!

So to catch up I went to Tuffley Ltd Show which was combined for large dogs Grade 1-2 and 3-5 and we had Jumping, Agility and Helter Skelter. I have not entered this show for a couple of years and thought I would enter in the hope that Ruby would have pups for me to go and visit as it was sort of in the right direction!
Roger was at work and so I had JaiJai and Josie to run too :)

Fleety was a star and won the Jumping and the helter skelter - people at the show did say I would be banned if I won the agility as well.....but a handler error put paid to that!

Josie had a clear in the helter skelter but was not quick enough for a place and JaiJai was fab, he is fun to run, its edge of your seat stuff! In the jumping he was a second and a half quicker than Fleet and had the last pole down.

So then if was off to see Kaiser pup he was 3 weeks old and the whole litter were lovely and it was brilliant to meet them, photos are nice but not as nice as seeing them in the fur. They were all really active for their age and on their second day of mushy food and they were funny the way some of them ended up covered in it!

I am going back to see the pups again when they are 5 weeks old.

Downland

2007-10-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

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.....

2007-10-14T16:12:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-12T00:17:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-08T01:47:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-05T02:55:00.000-07:00

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

Derby and Paws in the Park

2007-09-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a story of two shows....weird as it may seem Roger went to Paws in the Park for a day and I went to Derby and then he joined me. This came about as Derby had been re-scheduled from the end of July and only the original competitors could attend - Roger was only entered on the Sunday at the original Derby Show as he was judging the Power and Speed and Gamblers Finals at the Agility Club Show.

Derby was Friday afternoon, all day Saturday and Sunday morning. On Friday it was really windy Cadbury was a bit mad in the wind and got an E in his agility class and got a 2nd in Medium 4-5 Jumping. Poor little Jaf got blown off the dog walk....he seems fine - perhaps in hindsight I should not have run him but I had not seen any other dogs have a problem and later heard of one other dog that got blown off (a sheltie who was also fine). Fleet got a 6th in Grade 5 Agility and a 9th in Grade 5 Jumping.

Saturday was the final of the Adams Derby (a Novice Power and Speed - well for Grade 4 & 5) - Fleet had qualified for the second year and there was one part of the course that worried me and I was right as that was where Fleet had a goony moment (span and barked at me!) he had not got very near to the next jump so did not get faulted and before and after the goony moment worked lovely and came 6th. Last year he came 10th so at least we improved!

Cadbury did a stonking run in Medium 3-5 Agility, I ran right near the start and hoped he might get a good place but there were quite a few dogs there that have beaten him before some of whom were in the DIN Final and beat him there so I wandered over near the end of the class and he had come 1st! I was really surprised and pleased and also glad that he was still running his last grade 4's so it did not win him up to grade 6...that may happen but I would like him to get a bit more experience.

Saturday evening Roger arrived from Paws in the Park - a happy chap as JaiJai had come 2nd in 1-4 Helter Skelter and 11th in 3-5 Agility and Josie came 5th in the other part of 1-4 Helter Skelter.

On Sunday I judged and was finished by lunchtime. I enjoyed my judging and found it interesting seeing the different ways that people tackled various parts of the course. Quite a few people said they enjoyed the courses which always makes it feel worthwhile.

We left quite early and when we got back to where we store our caravan someone else was in our space which was a right pain!

At Derby I saw our friends John and Kate Wykes who I have not seen all year, they have Fleets Dad Tip, big Sister Fly, Brother Jaff and little half Sister Meg so it was lovely to catch up with them and watch their dogs run and get places. They also used to own Fleets Great Grandad and below is a photo of him - Robbie or posh name "Red Robbie of Dalmain"

Bromsgrove

2007-09-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

I always like Bromsgrove Show - its in a lovely setting and the people who run the show are all really nice.

Cads was a good little chap and got 3rd in 1-4 Agility and Jumping. He also did lovely clears in the Graded 3-4 Jumping and Agility but they only placed to 1st in the Grade 4 and he would have been 2nd in both classes.

My next job is to work a bit on Cads turns, this is not something I have worked that much on as as I wanted him to have as much go as possible as he is really quite a small Medium dog so needed lots of zippyness!

The other dogs did ok best results being that Fleet had a 5th in G5 Jumping, Josie a 9th in a very tricky 1-7 Jumping, Jaf did a nice clear in a 5-7 Jumping, Rip and Fog both had anysize places, no clears for JaiJai but he did not some bits.

Our training had been cancelled since before Dashin Dogs due to F&M in our area and we were allowed back to the venue last week - it was nice to be back and see everyone and do some training with the dogs - luckily they have allowed training to continue with the most recent F&M outbreak.

I am afriad we have no recent photos or video - below is a photo taken by our friend Lynn Sheridan of Cadbury weaving - I luv the ears!

Gillingham

2007-09-11T15:56:00.000-07:00

It was Rogers turn for the Trophies today :)

JaiJai came 2nd in Grade 3 Jumping AND Josie came 2nd in Grade 4 Jumping - I think Roger must have liked that Judges courses.

Cads had Medium 4-7 Agility and Jumping and they were both set at the top end of this scale - the jumping we went wrong near the start but the agility I did all the tricky bits and then mucked up an easy bit.....doh!
In the Veteran Jumping Rip came 5th and sweet little Foggy came 8th.

Fleet did a nice run on an interesting Grade 5 Jumping and just had one 5R.

A photo of Josie and JaiJai (in Hamsterley Forest) as they both had trophies today!

Chippenham

2007-09-11T15:20:00.001-07:00

We had a nice weekend, it was a nice short distance to tow the caravan after Northern Week (only 80-ish miles each way). Roger was working on Saturday so I had all the dogs to run so I had a busy day.
Very proud of the talented Mr Ripley who came 1st in Anysize Jumping, he was Novice when he retired from full height at the end of last year so for him to beat the dogs that retired at Senior and Advanced level who would have always been faster is no mean feat.
Cadbury came 2nd in Medium 4-5 Jumping - he was in a sheltie sandwich as a sheltie came 1st and 3rd!!

Fleet did for him a stunning run in Grade 5 Agility - he was leading till last and final call and I was having kittens as I say Fleet is 50% pure brilliance 50% goon so Grade 5 really is high enogh for him! Luckily Mark Douglas beat us into 2nd right at the end with his young Kelpie Puck - Puck had only been in Grade 5 for one week!

Josie and I don't always run very well as a team as I don't train her and I only run her once a month when her dad is working and also she is only doing jumping at the moment while Roger works on her contacts, she did a lovely run in the Genesis 3-5 Jumping and came 10th :)

Saturday evening saw Roger whizzing down from work and meeting a group of us at a nice pub for our Friend Don's 60th Birthday Dinner, we had a really nice night and a lovely meal.

A photo of Fleet in the Caravan

Such a busy time of year!

2007-09-05T04:37:00.000-07:00

The View from the exercise area at Northern Week

Just catching up now as I have been sooooooo busy! We went to Northern Week in County Durham - I say its a week but its a bit more like 2 weekends as the show is Saturday/Sunday/Monday then Tuesday and Wednesday are days off and then agility again on Thursday and Friday and a half day on Saturday.

Its 300 miles to Northern Week and its always a towing journey I do not enjoy, it just seems to go on and on....I do all the towing as Roger (bless him!) just can't tow in a straight line and more often than not due to his work drives up in his work vehicle after I have left but this year we went together in our van which is nicer having company on such a long journey.

Cadburys classes did not have very high entries but there were some very good dogs there chasing the places (they never go down very far with the rosettes and always seem to round down - we do know this when we enter though as have been going for many years). A very nice lady called Jayne Spriggs has a stunning collie that when it goes clear is unbeatable at the level we were running (nearly all 1-4 classes) I know Jayne was doing her last runs at Grade 4. Also there were a few other very good medium collies and a black kelpie type dog.

Cadbury was a good boy and got round some quite tricky courses - he managed 1st places x 5 - so I was very proud of him. I was especially pleased with Cads run in the TFO where he did 26 obstacles (I was running out of breath by then!) they placed to 2nd and in 2nd place was Amanda Hampsons lovely Toller Minx and she did 28 obstacles. For all of the Medium classes there was a real team spirit with us all watching each others runs and being pleased for others when it went well and commiserating when it didn't :o)

I really like watching the Champ Class and Lisa and Chi came up for this - Chi did some stunning runs and it was such a shame that in the Final he took the start jump again on the way past. There were some excellent runs in the Final with our friend Sue having Merc and Bug in the final., Bug had a small error and Merc did a lovely clear and would have been 3rd or 4th.

JaiJai was a bit of a mad boy all week - he managed 2 clears and got a 3rd and 4th in Agility, Josie had an 11th and 12th in Jumping, Fleet had a 5th in Jumping and Rip a 2nd and 4th in Anysize. No places for Fog and Jaf but they did some nice runs.

On the first day off we went to Hamsterley Forest - a few friends had said it was a nice place to go and walk and you can follow a colour coded walk to save the worry of getting lost! http://www.forestry.gov.uk//website/recreation.nsf/LUWebDocsByKey/EnglandDurhamCountyNoForestHamsterleyHamsterleyForestVisitorCentre!OpenDocument We followed the Orange Walk and took our time letting the dogs go in and out of the streams for a paddle. Cadbury and Jaf in Hamsterley Forest.

On the second day off we went via Richmond across to Hawes - the scenery as you drive along is so stunning I have to remember to keep my eyes on the road! I said I would not buy any more Jack Wolfskins fleeces (I have a wardrobe full of them) but there was a nice one....no paw prints on it but it needed a new home!

At the show we went to the Quiz and had a alcohol and snack fuelled evening and the big group we sat with split into smaller groups - our Teams came 1st, 2nd and joint 3rd and we all gave our prize money to a dog charity :o)

We went to Trent Park - no great sucess there - Cadbury did a lovely run in his Agility and then went back over the start instead of the finish and did a clear on a very speedy jumping but was just out of the places. Fleet was on the only one getting a place - he came 7th in the Mini/Mixi pairs running with a lovely little Sheltie called Dodger.

I went back to work for a rest zzzzzzz!

Front Cover Star!

2007-08-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

Cadbury is on the Front Cover of the Agility Eye :)

Sam a girl I know from a Border Collie Forum asked if I had any photos of my dogs doing Agility and not just collies as her Mum was doing a new cover for the Agility Eye. I have some Fab ones that Lynn Sheridan took so I checked Lynn did not mind and sent a few to Sam and then many months later the Eye has a new cover with Cadbury in the corner and JaiJai jumping across the front!

The photo shows the July issue but it did not come out till the August issue as the printers got flooded.

It will be lovely for our copy of the Eye to arrive each month and to see Cads and JaiJai!

Dashin and DIN

2007-08-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well we had a great if tiring time at Dashin and DIN. I judged for a day at Dashin which I really enjoyed and lots of people said they liked my courses which always makes it more worthwhile!

Cadbury was a good little chap at Dashin he gained 1st x 2 (one Jumping one Agility -the Agility win taking him up to Grade 5), 2nd x 3, 3rd x 4, and a 4th.

We were helping out so took hardly any videos - luckily Roger got Cads Jumping win

My Montage 8/22/07
The rest of the dogs all got a few places across the Dashin days except Jaf who had a sore toe so was resting! The best places for the other dogs were Josie 5th, JaiJai 7th, Fleet 5th x 2, Fog 2nd in Veteran Pairs and Rip 6th in Veterans.

Roger went home at the end of Dashin as he had to go back to work, he took the oldies Fog and Rip with him as no classes fro them at DIN and also Jaf who was still resting his toe and I went onto DIN.

Blimey there were a lot of Medium Dogs at DIN compared to any other show this year!

Cadburys Classes were all Combined 1-5 and there were up to 130 dogs in the classes and 4 of our 8 runs were qualifiers for the DIN Medium 1-5 Final - I did not have high hopes to do well against so many good dogs but Cadbury was a good boy and had a 9th, 6th, 10th, 12th and 15th and also a 4th in Medium Pairs.

His 3 places in the qualifiers put him in 4th place out of the 15 dogs that qualified and in the final he did a lovely clear round and came 4th - I was sooooo proud of him. Amanda bought me a lovely photo of him and I kept proudly showing it to everyone!

Thanks to Dennis for the photo of Cadbury in the Final :)

Mark Douglas videoed the Final at DIN so hopefully I will be able to get a copy.

I enjoyed running Fleet, JaiJai and Josie at DIN. I think the weaves had to be re-pegged after each of JaiJai's runs as he is such a whirlwind through them - he had no clears but lots of stunning bits. Fleet had a 10th, 12th and a 5th on a very hard jumping course which started jump pull though and I went the long way round jump one so did no pull through chuckle!! I only had 4 runs at DIN with Josie as she is allergic to contacts at the moment - we managed a 17th with a detour on the course!

Returned home to loads of washing and was worn out, have been letting the dogs especially little Cads just chill for a couple of days with no training and just gentle walks.

Well Done to everyone else who did brilliantly with their dogs - I tend to think that good results are a sign of a good partnership between dog and handler.

Off on Holidays (again!)

2007-08-05T01:10:00.001-07:00

Well it does not seem that long since we went to the Lake District for a week and now we are off on holiday again!

We should have gone already going up to High Peak on the way to Dashin Dogs but High Peaks was cancelled due to flooded ground, to be honest that one made me a little cross as they cancelled very early "just in case there was more rain" and more rain was not expected and now we have a heatwave!!

On a more serious note and of course a huge amount more important than Agility there has been F&M found local-ish to where we live - I hope its able to be dealt with in the best possible way.

So off to Dashin Dogs shortly, the competitions are Mon/Tue/Wed and Thursday is a day off, then competing again Friday, Saturday, Sunday and then on Monday I am off to Ipswich for DIN with some of the dogs and Roger is coming home as he has to work, he chooses Dashin over DIN as for his dogs the classes are better (and I get more holiday from work!). He is taking the 2 old chaps (Rip and Fog) home with him as they have no classes at DIN and its less dogs for me to share my time over but blimey I will miss them!

At Dashin I am Judging on the Tuesday so I am looking forward to that, and on Wednesday evening there is the Final of the Lazer Pairs and then on Thursday morning the Final of the Team Dash - I like watching Finals :)

We are due to help out a bit at Dashin, ring managing one day and helping another day as well as the Judging, Emma and Nigel who run the show are really nice and they do look after the people who help.

Good Luck and have fun to all our agility blogger friends in the meantime. See some of you at DIN.

A photo of Cadbury when he was younger.

Happy 2nd Birthday Cadbury!

2007-07-30T16:35:00.001-07:00

Wow the little man is 2 today - the time has just flown by - blimey he was small in that picture - I could not get him to stay still so tied him to a bench to take his photo on one of his first ever walks!

I love the little furry scruffy chap to bits he really is so cute and so comical and the fact that he also enjoys his agility is a bonus.

He is currently asleep on my feet under the computer chair - bless him. They broke the chocolate mould after this one was born and I am very lucky that he is my little chocolate dream.

Another Cancelled Agility Show

2007-07-27T14:23:00.000-07:00

What a shame Derby Show is cancelled. I was looking forward to Judging and had spent some time planning my courses, this was the 3rd time they had asked me - the previous 2 years I had reasons I could not Judge there and this year I said Yes and show is cancelled due to a flooded venue - which of course is the most sensible decision for the club to make.

Also Fleet was due to be in the Adams Derby Final (for those who have not seen it a Power and Speed for Large "Novice" Dogs) and not being the sort of person to qualify for loads of finals I was really looking forward to this and was very proud of Fleet that he qualified. Maybe the Final will be re-scheduled :) Photo below is Fleet in the Final last year (he came 10th with one goony moment!)

I have loads of things to catch up on at home and will take the dogs for some nice long walks. Roger is at the Agility Club Show on Saturday - I had entered JaiJai and Josie there for him as he is due to Judge the Finals of the Easter Celebration Gamblers and Power and Speed. He will just go and run JaiJai as Josie has been in season the last few weeks. I was asked on Thursday evening if I would like to go and spend the weekend ring managing at the Agility Club Show as someone who was due to couldn't as they had a back back, I declined as going and watching other people run their dogs when I would like to run mine just did not appeal!

Digit the Smart Car

2007-07-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

This is not really Cadbury related but he has been in my car! In fact I can fit a cage in the boot area big enough to hold both poodles - but its really not big enough for my collies!

Where I work at Police HQ the parking is very difficult with cars everywhere and not enough spaces and so having a very small car seemed a good idea so about 4 years ago I bought a Smart Car. These cars have to have a name (it says so on the websites I visited!) so mine is called Digit, getting the name as his colour is called numeric blue as he is covered with numbers.

Today Digit had to go to the garage to have a service, MOT and a few other bits done - blimey the bill was £696 !!! Ah but Digit is worth it as it is much easier to park at work and he gets me safely to work from Farnham to Guildford every day! Here is Digit:-

Newlands Part Two

2007-07-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

Yippeeee the Show was able to go ahead, the main field was rested for the rest of Friday and all day Saturday with no vehicles driving on it and we only had a little more rain and it dried out really well. On Saturday we even carried all the Premier equipment from the hard standing to the 7 rings to save the ground from their 4x4's.

I help in the Secretaries area in the barn and do nearly all the announcements- I used to get cross that people made very poor attempts at the dogs names so I got the job!

Very pleased for our Blogger friends that did well especially Nancy and Niamh with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd and going up into Grade 6, Bernadette with Hex and Zen getting 1sts and other places and Lisa and Chi with a 2nd and Karen and Corrie with a 3rd and Lian and Saturn for 5th x 2.

Roger got 7th in Grade 3 Agility with JaiJai so he was pleased.

My dogs did not get to see me that much and I felt bad about this and it was rather a surprise to me that I did ok with them, a couple of courses I did not walk and others I only whizzed round once as I just happened to be nearby.

This was Cadburys first show in Grade 4 - it did not really make a difference to his Sunday classes as they were Jumping and Agility Combined 3-5 - he did a lovely run in the Jumping and came 2nd - the Agility I was a little unsure how to handle the part after the weaves as I had rushed to do the run and was last to go and had no-one to watch and I think I made him pop out the last weave so I just took my own line to the finish.

Rip bless him came 2nd in Veteran Jumping and and little red boy Fog came 6th. Jaf had a nice clear in the 3-5 Small Jumping.

Fleet was a very good big red dog with no "goony" moments - he came 7th in Grade 5 Jumping and just knocked a pole in his agility and he came....1st in the Grade 5 Helter Skelter - it really was not a Fleety course - lots of switch behinds and call over jumps which can turn him into a barking spinning dog - I was very proud of him :) He last won a class in July 2006 (a Novice Jumping). The course is below as best as I can remember it (thanks Lian yep just click on the course to make it bigger!)

All the organisers were very tired and I sat at work on Monday (luckily its my short day at work!) willing my shift to end so I could go home and chill out! We normally train on a Monday, but not the night after the show so it was nice to spend an evening at home.

Busy time and Newlands Part One

2007-07-24T16:04:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy time recently with the preparations for Newlands Show. We were doomed with the weather and it was a very difficult decision to have to cancel firstly the camping and then the first day of the show, but by doing this we did manage to have the Sunday of the show.

Above is Foggy wondering why his Veteran Jumping course was looking a bit wet! No animal was harmed in the taking of the photo (i.e. he stood in the puddle of his own free will..!!)

Above is rain water pouring into the barn - while the men had to lift the fridges onto pallets to keep them out of the water and they put straw bales up against the door to try and stop the water!

To continue in part two!

Rugby

2007-07-17T01:48:00.000-07:00

Was a nice show with great weather. I really enjoyed the courses - not meaning that I got loads of clears or places just that I stood on the start line and felt we could get round!

Fleet got a 4th in a part of 1-5 Jumping (with a twizzle), Cadbury had a 4th in 1-5 Agility on the Saturday and a Clear in a speedy 1-5 Jumping. Sunday Cadbury came 3rd in 1-5 Jumping and had a messy clear in 1-7 Agility. The trophies are really fab at Rugby "Majestic Crystal" so it was brill that Cadbury took a Rugby Trophy home with him (I must take some photos of Cadbury and his rosettes/trophies). Rip got a place in Anysize. Roger had no clears but his dogs worked ok.

What was really nice was that all the rings had finished by the Champ Final so loads of people were able to sit round the ring and watch. The Small CC was won by Nicky and her ickle OBay Sheltie Indy and Bernadette and Zen winning the Medium CC - an Obay double - I joked to Bernadette that she should breed large dogs to get the treble!

Mark Douglas and the lovely Ruby won the large CC and we celebrated with them and others till very late zzzzzzz

Below is the 1-5 Medium Jumping (as best I can remember) that Cadbury came 3rd in - it was a really interesting course. If anyone knows how I can make the course bigger please tell me!

Wellingborough/St Edwards

2007-07-08T15:12:00.000-07:00

Wellingborough was a nice show - they are a friendly bunch and they play music over the PA all day, no places for Cads but he did some good bits just making baby errors. Fleet had a 6th in 1-7 Tunnel vision (what a fun course!) and a 9th in 3-5 Agility. Rip got 3rd in Anysize and Fog 4th. I ran Josie and JaiJai who did not go clear but both did some nice bits.

St Edwards - Blimey it was hot today - strange UK weather - its either raining or hot!

The Mediums had 4 runs which was really nice but......3 of the runs clashed badly and with not huge numbers it was then very hot and hectic! Cadbury got a 4th in Medium 1-3 Combined Agility, he seemed a bit worried on the up plank of the dogwalk for some reason and kept stopping, he is not a worrier normally so it was a bit weird but he seemd ok on the dog walk in his other class later. He also got a 3rd in Medium 3-5 Combined Agility - really pleased with this run as Simon Chandler set a course needing some handling and what I planned worked ok! Then an E in the next jumping run at a confusing bit of the course for us both!! On the 3rd run in a row Cadbury went on strike in the weaves!

Roger had a star red dog as he got a 3rd in Grade 3 Agility with JaiJai and with Josie 16th in G4-5 Jumping.

I had fun in the Anysize as I had 3 dogs entered and took them all to the ring (and groom Roger!) normally I just have 2 (Rip and Fog) but so Jaf did not feel left out as there were no small dog classes I entered him as I knew he would not be taking a place from dogs who normally run in anysize but for him he did a really nice clear and Rip came 2nd and Fog came 13th.

Tonight I was sat wondering how many points Cadbury had towards his Silver Agility Warrant (although I have not yet sent off for the Bronze which he got enough points for at the end of May) so I added up the points and am very proud of him as he now has enough points for his Silver Agility Warrant - bless him :)

Barrow

2007-07-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

Barrow started on Friday at 10am (what a nice time for a show to start!), there had been very heavy rain over the Thursday night but the ground at the showground had held up well.

Friday - there were some really nice courses today - not easy peasy or anything just that all the ones I ran in seemed about right for the level - Cadbury got 3rd in Medium 1-4 Combined Jumping, and 7th in Medium Combined 1-7 Jumping. Fleet got 7th in 4-5 Agility and Josie got 4th in 1-4 Combined Collie Jumping.

Saturday - today it was raining on and off , Cadbury got 5th in a speedy 1-3 Graded Jumping and 8th in 1-7 Combined Agility (Judge Peter Elms - he likes poodles!), Josie was 2nd in 3-4 Graded Jumping, little Jaf bless him does not normally have to run in the rain but he was in pairs with a nice brown poodle called Lucy and he did a nice run and they came 6th.

Sunday - I did most of my runs in the morning and Cadbury came 2nd in Medium 1-4 Graded Agility, Rip came 1st in Veteran Jumping and Foggy came 4th. JaiJai came 1st in Combined 1-4 dogs (out of an entry of 251 dogs and yippee he kept all the plastic poles up!), Josie came 6th and 7th in Jumpings (a theme here her contacts are very naughty!).

At Lunchtime the rain started very heavily and did not stop - mid afternoon I decided to pack the caravan away and not do my last runs as the rain got heavier and the ground could just not drain away quick enough. Sadly they then announced a lady who went off to hospital in the morning had died and the rest of the show was cancelled.

So apart from the sad ending we really enjoyed our week in the Lake District it was lovely to have some agility and some time to explore and Roger and I were really pleased with our dogs who all worked really well.

This is a photo of the view from the showground

The holiday bit!

2007-07-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

So Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were days off so we went exploring!

Tuesday we went to the Lakes and to a very pretty village called Grasmere, my favourite shop in the world is in this village as its a shop that only sells Jack Wolfskin things, we also found a brilliant walk for the dogs, heres Josie with some lovely scenery.

On Wednesday Roger, Claudine and Carlos wanted to go and climb a mountain - I am awful at climbing mountains so I said I would stay with the dogs so they took Rip, Betty and Jag and the other 8 dogs stayed with me.....at the Venue on the Wednesday all for charity they had training sessions with various people, I did not book to go on any but had a little wander round to have a watch and in the afternoon once the mountainers were back there was some fun competions and I had a go in a couple of these. The Mountain they climbed was called Inglebrough Hill and it was 723 metres high and here is Rip at the top.

On Thursday Claudine, Carlos, Roger and I went to White Scar Caves at Ingleton, these were fascinating and went about 1/2 a mile underground and there was a guide to take you, here is a silly photo of us before we went in

Roger and I then went round the very pretty village of Ingleton and had lunch before taking the dogs for a lovely walk along a river.

Well not much about Cadbury in this post! Barrow report to follow!

Lune Valley

2007-07-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

Well we arrived back ok from the North, blimey it seemed a long way to tow (and I do all the towing!), but not as far as Bernadette and Dennis had to tow to Scotland! I am glad we went for 10 days as it made the long tow seem worth it! It was just under 300 miles each way....

So the first weekend was Lune Valley - we arrived the Friday evening and found a nice spot to camp next to a hedge and by a walk through to the rings the space was a really good size and when you are there for so long is really nice. The weather was not too bad we had a few hours of drizzly rain each day but compared to what some other parts of the country had we felt we were very lucky!

Saturday - Roger got a 4th in Large Grade 4 Agility with JaiJai which was really nice as they had not had a clear round for a while as JaiJai has been getting faster and less accurate! Josie had a 9th in Grade 4 Jumping.

Cadbury got a 2nd in Medium Graded 1-5 Agility, Rip a 3rd in Veteran Jumping, Fleet a 15th in Grade 5 Jumping and in a tricky Grade 5 Agility a 14th with 5 faults for a missed a-frame. Fleet ran NFC in the Adams Derby as he has already qualified and did a stunning run which a friend on the scoretable later told me would have put him 2nd, not sure if it was due to us running NFC or because I always enjoy Doris Stokoes courses.

Sunday - Roger had a fab day Josie had Grade 4 Jumpings x 2 and she came 2nd twice! Both times beaten by one of Jaqui Tarns dogs.

Cadbury got 3rd in Medium Combined 1-5 Agility. Fleet an 11th in a 1-5 Combined Agility.

Today was Rogers Birthday and we had a BBQ with Claudine and Carlos - there was a bit of drizzle but Carlos is an expert with his Gas BBQ and carried on cooking under a brolly!

Monday - today was Josies 3rd Birthday and Roger was a beaming chap as Josie got 1st in Grade 4 Jumping.

Cadbury got a 3rd in 1-3 Combined Agility and Fleet got a 4th in a class called Lucky Dip Pairs - I had heard about this class but not having been before had not run in it, Graham Pennington who was quite a character in the North and who was from Lune Valley Club (and helped to start the Agility Eye Magazine) liked people to get to know each other so you enter as an individual and then get paired up - Fleet was paired with Sarah Bell and Buddy - we do know Sarah and Buddy who is a gorgeous tri-colour (like a sealight) Sarah had to go back to work so her hubby Mike ran Buddy.

More to follow on what we did on the days off and a Video below of the Lucky Dip Pairs (sorry I am too impatient to wait for the image!)

Holidays.....

2007-06-21T15:20:00.000-07:00

We are off to the Lake District for 10 days tomorrow in the caravan, I am really looking forward to it. There are back to back weekend shows at the same Venue - Lune Valley is Saturday, Sunday and Monday and then there are 3 days off and we are going exploring and then Barrow is a 1/2 day Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Good Luck to ALL our Agility Friends at any shows they are going to - hope you all have a Fab time with your dogs.

Here is a little video of Cadbury back at WBSD Show in April.

Oldies Final

2007-06-20T17:21:00.001-07:00

Stepping back a week or so on the 9th/10th June we took a trip North to the Wyre show held in the lovely countryside at Cartmel - we normally always do Thames but this year Ripley had qualified for the "It Barks" Veteran Jumping Final - our friend Sue White had also qualified her dog Flea and had asked Roger if he would like to be in the final with Flea as Sue had Champ Classes and Euk Qualifiers at Thames and she was able to nominate a surrogate handler - Roger jumped at the chance to do this as he has always loved Flea. Also on the video is our friend Nigel and his oldie Fly.

Rip came 2nd and Flea came 3rd in the Final so we were very proud of them. Nigel and Fly won the non BC/WSD Final.

Even without a final to compete in next year I would very much like to go to the Wyre show again - there really is no comparision the beautiful venue of Cartmel racecourse versus Newbury by the side of the M4/A34....!!

Cadbury Ad

2007-06-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

This Cadbury Ad really made me laugh - its a Canadian one and I found it on YouTube

Axstane

2007-06-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

Just been to Axstane for 2 days it was a nice show but quite busy to try and keep an eye on all the Grades/sizes in the 7 rings (and watch lots of agility and get to chat to lots of people!)

On Saturday Cadbury just had one clear - 6th in Medium 1-5 Jumping - in the 1-7 Agility he popped over the wrong jump and in the 1-5 Agility he doubled in the weave poles but coped with really well with the 3 pull throughs.

We had a breakthrough on Saturday - little Jaf my Apricot Poodle (aged 4 - photo above) has been worried over the see-saw for a long time and in the Small 1-5 Agility he did a lovely run with a really confident see-saw and out of 133 dogs came 8th - he has had a few placings in Jumping but this is the first placing he has ever had in agility and I was very proud of him :)

On Sunday Roger came along too and he got 8th with Josie in Grade 4 Jumping and naughty contacts in 3-4 Agility (1 out of 3) so we tried an experiment with me running her in 4-5 Agility and her contacts were much better (2 out of 3!) - more work needed Mr Brown ;)

Cadbury was a bit wild in his 1-5 Jumping but did manage a messy clear and came 7th, he did a nice clear in 1-5 Agility with a reminding hold on all the contacts as he has been getting a little cheeky running them when he should stop and came 5th. We got an E in 3-7 Jumping 2 jumps from home he popped over the back of the start jump but he ran lovely.

Jaf had a lovely clear in Small 1-5 Jumping but was just out of the places, in the Agility he remembered he was scared of the see-saw and it took a bit of coaxing to persuade him it would not eat him!

No clears from Fleet but he did some nice bits in all 3 of his runs. Foggy - bless him - got 6th in Anysize.

Really pleased for Nancy and Niamh on their win in G5 Jumping and for Sue White and Merc who were 2nd in the Gamblers so qualified for the Final.

Watched Britains got Talent on TV - not sure how the Opera chap won - I liked the monkey chap and the 2 little girls!

RVA Today

2007-06-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

Well we had an early start and today we went off to RVA at Peterborough - just me as Roger was at work, the show is held with the East of England Country Show - the Agility is held in a corner of the show (5 rings). Bless him little Cads went clear in all 3 of his runs - he came 5th in Medium Grade 1-3 Combined Agility, 2nd in Medium Grade 1-3 Combined Jumping and was just out of the places in the 1-7 Medium Helter Skelter.

Cadburys friend Fleet came 2nd in 1-7 Large Helter Pt2 - with his Friend Merc and our friend Sue White taking 1st, Fleet was also 4th in the Genesis 3-5 Jumping. I also ran Rogers dogs Josie and JaiJai who ran ok but did not go clear, and little Jaf only had one run and ran well but got e'd in the pull through.

The weather forecast was not good but luckily Sue and I had finished all our runs before there was a rain shower. I had a look round the main show and bought a nice container to put dog treats in and also a couple of storage units for the bathroom.

Introduction

2007-06-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

Cadbury is a Toy Poodle (dob 29.07.05) he grew a bit big really but I luv him to bits and no not just due to him being ok at agility but because he is a really sweet and entertaining dog to live with - he seems to have lots of fans which is lovely - his trademark look is that he has never had a haircut so looks like a rasta dog! I also have 2 Border Collies Foggy (aged 10) and Fleet (aged 6) and a Miniature Poodle called Jaf (aged 4). All of the dogs compete in Agility and I live with my other half Roger and he has 3 collies.

Hello

2007-06-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well everyone else seemed to have Blogs so I thought I would join in!