Hare & Hounds Autumn Show

Had a lovely day yesterday at H&H, a bit hectic with 12 runs though, and 3 courses to walk first thing. Some very interesting courses, a little different. Zara's first jumping class G4-7 made you think, lots of choices for handling, she ran it brilliantly but I went for the gamble and took the shortest route out of the tunnel, Zara went left, I went right, resulting in her going back in, rest of the run was fab though! We had one clear in jumping but unplaced and a 6th in G4 Agility with a clear. Ruger just couldn't get his head around weaves though, he ran past every set, barked at me and then did them perfectly second time!!!! so no clears. He was very well behaved around the rings, so I was very happy with that. It was a great day for K9 Skool members yesterday. Katie had her first KC show with Barley the Cairn and did 2 lovely runs, 5r in jumping for running past a jump and 5r in agility for jumping off the see-saw, but 2 fantastic runs apart from that. Christine ran Amber for her first KC show too and they were really good, Amber stayed with her, not bad considering Amber is not her dog and Christine thought she would go looking for Helen, I was really pleased with their performance. Helen and Loki got 1st place in Agility, meaning that they go up to Grade 2 at their first KC show!!!!!! Sadly I missed the run :( Ali and Chewie and Dani and Jet both had 5th places and Deb and Lassie had an 8th place. A successful day all round, Well Done everyone!!!!!!

Dig It

Well what a difference at Dig It. I was judging agility so only competed in the jumping and steeplechase. Zara ran one of her runs with 5 faults at the weaves, she got a lovely entry I said good girl and she came out :( rest of the run was lovely. Ruger ran straight past the weaves in both runs, and did a circuit round the tunnel, didn't go in it though and had 2 runs with 5 faults, both for weaves! His second run had a nice stay though, so well pleased with that. I couldn't believe it when I heard Zara's name being called out for 2nd place and then Ruger won the class!!!! The steeplechase course was nice, a proper steeplechase, fast and flowing. Zara went clear I was well pleased as it was a difficult course for her, as she likes tough naggy courses. Ruger shot off the start line so I stood in the middle and directed him more or less from there :) He went clear beating Zara by over 5 seconds. So another 1st and 2nd place. Lin and Ollie had 2 places too, in jumping and steeplechase, a 3rd and 2nd. Sharon and Ryan had a 2nd in agility. Lassie, Jet and Chewie ran some fast rounds, but just unlucky with poles down.

Dog Vegas

It was one of those shows were nothing seemed to go right. The ground was good and the layout fab, but I didn't really enjoy it. I walked Rugers first course G1-3 Agility and it was really good, the judge pitched it just right, not too difficult but not just straight up and down, we could have done well on this. Ruger leapt off the dogwalk contact so I asked the judge and put him back on for an E!!! He ran the rest of it nicely got his A frame contacts and the weaves 2nd time round but I did try distance handling. Rugers best run was 5 faults for weaves in jumping. Zara for some reason got 15 faults for contacts in agility, first time for ages she has been faulted on contacts, she even missed the up contact on the A frame :( so with a pole down too that was 20f, she's not done that for a long time! We had no clears at all probably our worst performance for a long time. Both dogs did some really good work but it was just a strange day. Deb was shocked she had 15 faults in jumping and came 2nd, 10 seconds faster than the dog that won!!!! Need more training, but the exciting news is we have a new indoor venue so we can train all winter :) :)

Love this picture of Ruger taken by Action Packed Photography, although I do need to get him to hit the floor rather than the air when he exits the see saw!