This weekend we went to our first Kennel Club show of 2014, the RVA Indoor Small/Medium Show. It was busy with people and dogs but lovely and (relatively) quite due to the lack of large dogs. It's amazing how much of the noise id from excited collies! We took Shadow at grade 6, Doople at grade 5 and Zazu at grade 3.
Shadow waiting patiently
First up was Shadow in the graded 6-7 jumping. We were a little wide going into a slalom as the tunnel was quite a draw, but the rest of the round was lovely. She flew through the weaves and we had really tight turns. The fruits of our labour was a 3rd place. Next up was the combined 5-7 agility. We had good weaves and contacts, she was working away well which makes life so much easier. We finished clear, quite a way off but still a good round. After lunch we ran in the pairs with Miranda and Wizz. It was a fast course we were looking forward to. Miranda went first but unfortunately Wizz missed to the last two weaves. Shadow ran well, we nearly missed the first whilst waiting, and we got a bit confused at the end, but still good.
Shadow with her rosette, she doesn't look much different than before her run
Finally we had graded 6-7 agility. This was quite a fast and tricky course with lots traps everywhere. Shadow ran really nicely in this, again working away so that I could get where I needed to be. We had a greate dog walk contact and really tight turn over the next jump which took her well away from the traps. A long stretch of running and a bit of improvisation meant we finished in 2nd place, only 0.5s off 1st. It was a really good day with her.
Doople only had two runs and they were both at the same time. First she had graded 4-5 agility. We had a wide start as Doople wanted to go up the dog walk rather than listen, but we picked and she ran well after that, good weaves and turns. We ended up in 3rd place. Her net round was graded 4-5 jumping. She was driving forward well so I could layer a few jumps. She picked up the weaves after I crossed behind the jump which I'm really pleased with. We ended up that round in 4th place.
Zazu started the day with grade 3 agility. He was very distracted during the round for some reason. He enjoyed himself, but just forgot to listen sometimes! Next up was grade 1-3 agility. This was a simpler course, he stopped on his contact well and ran a bit. He decided to miss the A-frame and run off in a different direction, but you can't have everything now! Last up was grade 3 jumping. He drove forward quite well so I could leave him to do bits and he managed his weaves this time. We ended up clear but we were a bit slow.
All in all it was a successful day but also a lot of fun. Our next show will be outside over Easter, hopefully without the snow this year!
