Barking Mad Show - Aug 2014

We went to our old club's show this weekend, the RDDTC Barking Mad show near Peterborough. We were helping out for quite a lot of it so it was a busy weekend. We had Doople running her first grade 6 show, Shadow running at grade 6 and Zazu at grade 3.

Greg and Zazu getting ready

The weekend started on Thursday as we went down early to help set up. It was nice and friendly so we always like helping out there. The weather over the weekend was typically British, hot sun followed by rain followed by hot sun and rain, and that was just Saturday!

On to the dogs.

Shadow ran most of her runs really well with a lot of drive. Unfortunately I wasn't quite up to her standard this weekend with no clear rounds on Friday or Saturday. I made silly mistakes like not waiting for her so she would take the wrong jump; getting in her way for weave entries so she couldn't see them early enough; too close to cross behind the A-frame. All annoying little things that show I'm a little out of practice. I got it together for Sunday but Shadow was a little tired by this point. We did get three clear rounds though.

We also entered the weave challenge, which was 8 sets of six weaves and 3 tunnels, no jumps or anything else, all to raise money for a dog cancer research charity. It was fun and Shadow was quite good, we missed one entry but got the rest. She was a little confused why we kept doing so many. It was a very amusing class to watch and everyone enjoyed it.

Zazu only had two runs each day as he still isn't quite there to concentrate for many more. He was running very nicely though. The main things we need to work on are weaves and contacts. He needs more confidence in the weaves and also with the equipment. He didn't miss his contacts but he can be a bit slow. His jumping was very good though, he has come a long way. We got some placings, we came 1st in 3-5 jumping, even with slow weaves. He flew round the rest of the course. We also got a 2nd another jumping run. We got 5 faults on the weaves as he missed the last two but ran the rest lovely, a little wide but I can work with that.

Doople only had one run a day as she doesn't like the heat. She ran all three lovely though. She knocked a pole on her first jumping run but ran well. We got a 2nd in the rain on Saturday, even with me falling over and nearly taking out the last jump! She also went clear on the Sunday in agility.

We had a fun weekend. We have lots to take away and work on. Weaves and contacts with Zazu, my timing and weaves entries with Shadow. Really pleased that Zazu got his first, hopefully of many, win at a Kennel Club show.