Great Weekend

Started the weekend off at Lune agility show on Saturday, nice and local is always a bonus. Mawgan has improved as although she still will not stay the short pause at the start means that she is not knocking the first pole!! She did 3 good runs just missing the contacts in the agility classes, I got us E'd in one jumping class as I forgot the course and told her to go the wrong way aaargh! Zara was great, just a few poles and a stunning jumping run, but just clipped the second to last pole to get 14th place, if clear she would have won the class by nearly 1 second, I was so happy with her time, as I hadn't expected her to be competitive at Grade 3, but she has proved me wrong. Ruger enjoyed meeting new people and was very well behaved.
On Sunday we went to the BSD Club of GB with Ruger, he was entered in Junior as there was no puppy class, he was very good (although he did tell the judge what a bad handler I am when I stood on his paw) and it was a lovely surprise when he was awarded 1st prize, he also got Best Puppy in Breed which is his first trophy, a silver tankard, the only problem with that is he wants beer in it!!!
Overall a very successful weekend, I am so proud of my lovely dogs. I will post some pictures when I can find my camera.

Best Puppy

Last Saturday Ruger was a star at Darlington, getting Best Puppy in Breed and Reserve Best Dog (not as grand as it sounds as he was the only puppy in his class!!!!!) the main thing for us was that the judge commented on how good his temperament is, that means alot, and I am so pleased with the way he behaved in the ring.

Ruger's First Breed Show

Some good news about the Guide Dogs Open Day from last week is that apart from raising a good amount of money for this worthy cause, 6 needy dogs were rehomed by the Dog Wardens who had a stand there, fantastic, and also guide Dogs have recruited some much needed volunteer puppy walkers.

Yesterday Ruger had his first show at Richmond Champ Show. He was so good and stood nicely for inspection, but his handler (who could that be?) forgot that although agility is about speed showing isn't, so I sprinted round the ring with Ruger bouncing up and down, it was so much fun, I was given a second chance and the judge was so nice about it. We came 2nd (out of 2 entries) but well done to Jan and Caper, he is stunning and went on to get Best in Breed and the dog CC, well deserved.

Today I set off to Wigan Alsatian for a day of agility with the girls, but after walking the courses I was in two minds as to if I would run as it was so muddy , I had plenty of tine to decide as I had high running orders, however the show committee made the difficult but right decision to cancel the show due to safety.

Guide Dogs Open Day

We have had a fantastic day, at the new Guide Dog Training Centre in Manchester. They asked if we (K9 Skool) could do an agility display, so I asked how many people at training would like to take part and found we had a good team. It was good to see a mixture of breeds taking part, Alfie (Lab), Penny (GSDxLab), Kenzie (Lab), Whistler (WSD), Zara (GSDx), Molly (Weimeraner), Candy (Boxer), Archie (Cocker), Charlie (Springer), Charlie (Cocker), Raddlie & Saffie (Min. Schnauzers) and Mawgan (GSDx Groenendael), all the dogs ran well with a large crowd, we thought it was going to be quieter, but it was all good practice for those who compete! Simon kept the crowd entertained on the mike, I don't know how he does it. Thanks everyone for a lovely day and also to our ring party Ali, Christopher, Judy, Sarah and Tayler. There were lots of lovely dogs and cute puppies, I hope that Guide Dogs raised lots of money, their new training centre is fantastic, especially the enrichment areas for the dogs to exercise and have fun in.

LLancaiach Fun Dog Show

For the bank holiday we headed down to South Wales to visit Simon's parents and the Barking Mad Dog Show, in aid of Hope Rescue at Llancaiach Fawr, what a lovely weekend, good weather and a lovely show with a good friendly atmosphere. In previous years this was a small show with have a go agility, and we always enjoyed it, this year BHC agility put on a limited show, so 50 agility dogs were there and hundreds of other dogs. My first class of the day was agility, Mawgan broke her stay so I left the ring, little Zara did a lovely clear round and took 2nd place. Then I took Ruger into his first ever class, best puppy under 12 months, there were about 70 puppies in the class, and some real cuties (especially a cute fluffy little GSD) so I was very happy that Ruger was picked out for the final 15 and then took 2nd place. Zara was picked out for the final 15 in prettiest bitch and best crossbreed but unfortunately didn't get placed (even though she was the best LOL). In jumping again Mawgan broke the stay and I took her out, Zara didn't let me down and went clear, no place this time but lovely round. Then for the steeplechase, the challenge was to remember how to get round the tunnels in the middle, it was a very clever course, not actually difficult but you had to concentrate. Breakthrough of the year Mawgan gave me a 2 second stay, I didn't push for too much but she didn't move until I released her, I was so pleased with her, and then she went clear and came 5th. Zara ran very well but got distracted in the corner added in a stride and took out the wing (at least it wasn't a pole), so I pushed her for speed and she actually cleared everything else with pressure, so she is getting more accuracy. It was a lovely day apart from all three dogs getting places, they really enjoyed the day out it was a good socialisation opportunity for Ruger and he was so well behaved in the ring, I fell more confident with him for Richmond show next week.

Well the time is going so fast, yesterday was Mawgan's 5th Birthday, she's still very puppyish, although her ears are not as big as in these pictures. She has had a couple of clear rounds in agility in the last month getting 27th in Jumping at Caerphilly and having a runoff for 10th place at Hereford (which we lost because I called her round a jump instead of over it, funny she was listening to me that time!!) We are now on a zero tolerance regime for stays, as she flies off at 100 mph at shows and we get E'd on the first couple of jumps, hopefully she is getting the message as I am stopping her and leaving the ring if she ignores my stay command. "No stay/no play"

Zara is running very well and is getting more clears in Grade 3 as the courses suit her more, at Hereford she had 3 out of 4 clears, then one refusal which was my fault! But she got all her contacts and weave entries and didn't knock one pole:)

Ruger is still growing and has started ringcraft classes, this is new to me and Simon, but is good fun and socialisation for Ruger (and us), he is so full of character and likes to make sure everyone knows that he has arrived, work in progress. He has his first show next month at Richmond and then the following week at Darlington.

What happened to June?

What a busy month with getting my assignments in to college, working and a holiday. Started the month with a holiday to France to visit the Somme area, to see Simon's Great Grandfather's grave. Its a beautiful area but a sad place with all the war memorials.

One of the highlights was a visit to Belgium to visit Strike, who is Ruger's dad, as we had not met him before, he is stunning and just so full of personality. His owners Claire and Gaston showed us around their town of Mons, with Strike and Chiraze (Ruger's mum) who now lives with them, his sister Biper also lives with them and she is as gorgeous as Ruger.

We had a few agility shows in June and both Mawgan and Zara are running well, just unlucky with Zara with the odd pole falling but she's getting better, Mawgan is just too fast so makes mistakes, its frustrating as at training she is steady and accurate but changes in the ring, if I could get a stay it would be easier, but she won't stay after being attacked on the startline, so I have to live with it, her rare clears normally get placed. Zara ran what I thought was a nice steady clear at Newton Heath in Graded 1 & 2 Agility, I couldn't believe it when she won the class 5 seconds ahead of the second dog taking us into Grade 3!!! At Dashin Dogs Zara also managed two thirds in G2 Agility at our last show at G2.

Ruger is growing and is looking really good, we are looking now to enter him into a show or 2 once he's 6 months old, never shown before so it will be interesting.