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.
We were at our previous club's, Barking Mad, summer show this weekend. We said we would help out so we ended up being very busy all weekend. The show went very smoothly and swiftly so it was definitely worth it. We had Zazu running in his first proper classes at grade 3, Doople at grade 4 for the last time (at grade 4), Shadow at grade 6 and Winnie doing anysize.
Shadow was up first in grade 6-7 jumping. Shadow got off to a flying start, she was really motoring. I pulled her between two jumps nicely and round the jump. She flew into the weaves but missed the last pole. The pull through slalom was a bit much for her as she was still excited. I should have run the other way, pushing her away through the gaps. Next up was graded 6-7 agility. We started with a large box which we negotiated well. The weave entry was tricky but we managed, albeit slowly picking up pace as she went. A lovely running contact at the end which she was doing well all weekend. We ended up 1st! This was our third win at grade 6 so we only need one more to go up to grade 7. Next was graded 1-7 agility. This was a little simpler than before but a similar course. Shadow started a bit slow but was flying out of the first tunnel and up the dog walk, another lovely running contact. She was listening well and I was really pleased with the round. We finished 2nd, 0.019s behind first place! Ouch! Finally we had combined grade 5-7 jumping. Shadow was getting a little tired but was still running well. Until the weaves. She got a smell of something at the start and lost concentration the whole way through, basically walking. She missed the last couple of weaves but ran OK afterwards.
Sunday was a very busy day as we were helping on a ring for most of the day. We started off running in the Jewlnick Agility Pairs with +Susi Cooper and Doople. Both dogs ran really well over the agility course and we ended up 5th, which is great considering that all heights are classified together. Sorry to Ruth and Alan as they finished 6th, but placings only went to 5th! Shadow's first individual run was graded 1-7 jumping. She started a little slowly but picked up. She was running away from me really well and I could get into different positions than a lot of people, which I think gained me a lot of time. We then lost it all with a wide turn but nevermind! We finished out of the placings but only 0.7s behind the winner. Next was graded 6-7 jumping. Shadow started quite slowly but it was because Susi was standing at the side of the ring filming. Shadow was looking at her as we ran past, then we came back past again with Shadow still looking. She was still running away nicely so we had some good bits. Next was combined grade 5-7 agility. She was a bit slow through the weaves and almost went in the wrong side of the tunnel, but carried on. I messed up after the A-frame and got on the wrong side of her but still worked her from behind and it wasn't that slow in the end. Another good runing contact and a clear round, but no placing. Shadow finished up with graded 6-7 agility. This was a very fast course so we weren't too hopeful, but still ran it well. We had a dog-walk jump to finish, which is something that we miss every time! I worked the contact extra hard to make sure we got , which she did. I worked it a little too well though and she stopped at the bottom looking at me rather than running! We did finish 2nd though so it rounded off a really strong weekend for us.
Doople's first run of the weekend was graded 3-5 jumping. She backed jumped the third jump and then was running quite steadily. There were some long straight lines but she could have run faster. It was a warm day and as we already know, Doople doesn't like the heat. Next up I ran her in the combined grade 1-4 jumping. She was again quite steady and not driving like she does at training. She missed the weaves like she often does in the heat. She thinks that the weaves involve too much thinking so can't really be bothered. Finally she had graded 3-5 agility. She ran better here but again messed up the weaves.
Her first run on Sunday was in the pairs agility with Shadow where they ended up in 5th place. Next up was the graded 3-5 agility. She ran this one very nicely, still a little slow but with nice tight turns. She ended with a clear round. I ran ran her next in the graded 3-5 jumping. She ran at a good pace, not quickly but steady. She had good tight turns and managed the weaves again. We ended up with a clear round. Doople finished the weekend with combined grade 1-4 agility. This was a very long fast course, not really Doople's cup of tea. she did manage it all the way round until the dog walk jump to finish Susi didn't work the contact and Doople jumped it! Ah well, still a steady round.
Winnie was running at anysize this weekend to help build her confidence. She was running over small jumps. Saturday's run started slowly but she still did everything. After a couple of tunnels she picked up the pace and finished down the final straight nicely. On Sunday again she started her run a bit steadily picking up in the middle. She wasn't keen when I asked her to turn but when quickly down the final stretch again. We'll be keeping her at anysize for a while until she's really going for it all the way around. As long as she's enjoying it then we're happy.
Zazu was running in his first proper height (medium) classes this weekend. He was only in one jumping class each day just to see how he gets on. On Saturday, he started down the open stretch nicely and into the two tunnels. We did a couple more jumps then he saw the tunnels again and was off! After a couple of attempts I got him back over the jumps and we finished well. He's starting to flatten out when jumping, especially when running straight and chasing me. On Sunday, the course was a little trickier with 12 weaves. He got a little distracted by the scorers tent but didn't run off. He picked the weaves up second time, managed half and the second half. He ran out well after the tunnel but didn't quite make it back in for the jump, but still really pleased with how he ran.
We have a few weeks off now with a wedding and other things. One more show at Letchworth and then off the Hungary for the International Mixedbreed Championship Agility.
Back to Keysoe this week for our club show, Barking Mad Indoor show. We had a busy Friday night again helping with the set up, but it's worth it come Saturday. I was running Shadow (small G6) and Storm (large G3), while +Susi Cooper was running Doople (small G3).
First up for the day we had Storm running in grade 1-7 jumping. This was a relatively tough course, especially for the lower grades, and showed with the relatively low number of clear rounds across all the grades. We both ran a really nice, clean round and it was so satisfying running a complicated course successfully. The fruits of our labour was a second place! Across all the grade we were fourth fastest which is brilliant. After this we had two agility rounds. We have decided to start training contacts in the ring, so making sure we stop at every contact, rerunning the obstacle as necessary, and praising lots when she's in position. So that meant that we weren't going to get any clear rounds in agility. Hopefully after a few shows of this she should start to act the same at a show as she does in training. After a few contact obstacles she was beginning to stop at the bottom. The last jumping round, grade 3-5 jumping, was interesting to see how Storm was listening and reacting to my body movement. The downside was my timing was wrong! I turned too soon a few times and pulled her off the jumps, but I'm pleased that she reacted the way that she did. We had a good day overall and ended with a 2nd place.
Next up we have Shadow. We started with a relatively simple grade 6-7 jumping. She ran nicely and we went clear, but as it was quite straight we just didn't have the legs on the faster dogs. The next grade 6-7 agility was trickier. Unfortunately, we missed the A-frame contact and also the weave entry. I needed to give her a nicer run into the weaves. We did manage the complicated jumping section that most others failed at so all was not lost. The grade 5-7 agility round was tough. And keeping true with a theme at the shows for this year, we were eliminated after the first jump! There were some good bits (tunnel under dog walk) and some bad bits (tunnel under A-frame). The last round we had was grade 1-7 jumping. This was a different course to the large grade 1-7 jumping, but was equally as challenging, not helped by the fact that we didn't manage to walk it! I gave it a go any way and we ended up with a first place, not bad! It was a good end to the day with Shadow.
Last but not least was Doople. Doople also ran very nicely today. First for her was the grade 3-5 agility where she ran forward well, we'll gloss over the debatable dog walk contact! Doople did get a fourth place overall, any placing with Doople is always a good run. In the grade 3-4 agility that followed she did catch Susi out by running faster than expected. Unfortunately, Doople promptly forgot how to weave. She ran straight past them a couple of times with out noticing. The grade 3-5 jumping had a similar problem. Both sets of weaves were right hand weaves. By that I mean that the dog is on the right hand side of the handler. The dog always needs to enter the weaves with the first pole at their left shoulder. This is something that we need to work on, but Doople is always far more confident with these at training. The last class was the grade 1-7 jumping, the same class that we managed not walk for Shadow. I ended up running this as Susi thought that I ran Shadow in it well before, so I did. We worked well together, especially considering I haven't run Doople for a long time. The only problem we had was again the weaves. This time it was more my fault as I haven't practised with Doople. She ran everything else really well though. Doople ended the fay with a fourth place.
We always like going to the Barking Mad shows. The show is well run and the courses are always a challenge, which is what we're after. All dogs ran very well all day so we were both very happy by the end, albeit tired! The day ended with us loading a truck with three rings worth of equipment, what fun!
Just got back from Zazu's weekly class. He did 2 runs with good contacts and a nice see saw, once he realised he was supposed to do it. His jumping needs some work as he rather bunny hops at the moment. It may be due to me not running fast enough, but hopefully as he/we get better his speed outside of agility will transfer to jumping and his jumps will start to be smoother (I hope).
Our first show of 2013 and it's time once again for our club show held at The College Equestrian Centre in Keysoe, Bedfordshire. I was running Shadow (small G6) and Storm (large G3) while +Susi Cooper was running Doople (small G3).
As it's our club show we are often very busy helping out as well as running dogs. The show is excellently run by Den and Niki Keeler. It starts on Friday night when we turn up to set everything up. The rings need to be marked out, agility equipment set up, rosettes and trophies organised among many other things. We just help with the simple tasks!
On to the agility. Now if I said "we enjoyed ourselves" it may be a give away that we didn't do so well, so I wont say it. Storm started the day off with grade 1-7 agility. It wasn't the best of starts to the day as she missed the first jump. After that she was OK apart from missing the A-frame contact. If you read my post about our training day on New Years Day this wont be a surprise. But to give Storm credit, we followed it with an 8th place in grade 3-5 agility which was quite a tricky course for us. So I was was pleased with that. The two jumping courses we had afterwards highlighted a few areas where both myself and Storm need to improve. Storm needs to work in close proximity better and also learn not just to jump what ever is in front of her. This comes from having run at grade 1 for a while where the course are normally straight forward. Also we both need to practice slaloms. So, 3 E's and 1 clear, we've had better days.
Shadow was in one of those moods where she was very vocal with me. We started the day off slightly better than with Storm by getting eliminated on jump #2 by jumping jump #3 backwards instead. The latter part of Shadows run was much better, apart from staring at the camera lady half way round. The next agility round started nicely but we had a difference in opinion after the A-frame which again got us eliminated. Shadow wanted to do the jump ahead and I wanted to go into the weaves the opposite direction. The grade 5-7 jumping round was nice but it was a relatively simple course. The last grade 1-7 agility was OK apart from the flying contacts. So in a similar vain to Storm, 3 E's and 1 clear.
Doople seemed a little bit off today and didn't seem to be running with the same confidence she normally has. Needless to say she had the same number of clear rounds as I did with both Storm and Shadow put together! In the first agility round Doople missed and then back jumped but could have run forward better. She was also hesitant on the see-saw. The next jumping round again a bit hesitant but this time with the weaves. The next jumping round was a clear round where Doople ran nicely and seem a lot more enthusiastic. The final agility round was also clear but Doople was hesitant on the dog walk and said hello to the judge half way through, although still finished the weaves. Doople weaves were quite good today as she picked them all up and only made a mistake in one round.
We also had a chance to run Winnie and Zazu in the training ring. We ran Winnie of medium jumps and she enjoyed herself, even if she did seem a little distracted. With Zazu we did some more training on the dog walk and A-frame to get him used to different environments. He needed help getting on the dog walk first time but after that was picking it up nicely and was also stopping well. We still need to work on the release as he doesn't drive away. This wasn't helped by the improvised touch point we used: an empty treat bag. He would run down, eat the treat then carry the treat bag over the next jump. A neat trick but not quite what we were after!
After a muddy day we went back with a single rosette, Storm with 8th in the grade 3-5 agility. We aren't at a show next weekend but will hopefully be training instead.
