Tunbridge Wells

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

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

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!

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....

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

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

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

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

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

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

A couple of photos fo the trnedy bandage!

Poor Cadders :(

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

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

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

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

Scotland!

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


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


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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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