Zara's Results

Zara had a couple of shows at the end of March. Springers once again was a lovely show, and Zara ran well but we were unlucky with the second to last pole in what was a good agility run. Last class of the day was Quantum Leap and Zara listened to me, it was hard work remembering where to go next, but it was fun and Zara got first place.
The following Saturday was Delinquent Dogz, again a lovely show and Zara had a 3rd place in agility, I am so pleased with the way she is running.
Sunday I passed the KC Course Building Seminar, so now can judge at KC shows.
Last weekend I went on an agility instructors course with Mike & Claire Bacon, in Bristol. It was really good and I have come away with some new ideas for training especially with the weaves and see saw.
The picture above is of Mawgan after a swim today, I think that someone told her that hydrotherapy is good for hip dysplasia LOL

Crufts 2011

What a day at Crufts it was hectic, but a great day. Ruger got Best Puppy in Breed. He wasn't sure if he liked Crufts or not, all the fuss and attention was great but there were a lot of scary stuffed dogs (lifesize) on the stands, which he had to bark at!!! That's all over now for another year.
Mawgan is enjoying her lower height agility and is not showing any signs of pain or discomfort, which is great. Zara is doing well at training and keeping poles up, so fingers crossed for Springers at the weekend. Its great to be heading back into the show season, but strange entering one dog, although Ruger is entered in a couple of shows for August.

Mawgan Retires

Mawgan saw the vet last week and it looks as though she has the start of Hip Dysplasia or CDRM so I have decided to retire her from competition. We are not having her xrayed as we can't do anything if we get confirmation, so it seems a waste of time putting her through the anaesthetic. I will still train her on a lower height but her main issue is at competitions, as she is 100 miles an hour into the course and jumps off contacts, so is likely to get hurt or cause damage, at training she is steady. The good thing is she has no pain or real symptons, we just knew that she isn't right. She has started 2 homeopathic remedies which should help her later on, and hopefully slow the onset, I can't stand the thought of losing her to CDRM as anyone who has knowledge of this cruel condition will understand. The good news is that by retiring her she should have a long and happy life.

Ruger is getting ready for Crufts next week, he is in the special puppy dog class on Friday and then is on the Discover Dogs stand on Sunday.

Updates at last!!!!!

I can't believe how long it is since I have been on here. Not much agility news we have been to 2 shows this year with no clears, which is a bit disheartening, although last week a letter arrived and it was a rosette for Zara who had 13th in Combined 1-4 jumping at Ribble, she must have had 5 faults, I hadn't checked the results as I was told that I had been E'd (couldn't work out why as it was a good round with one pole down) but obviously not. So nice of Ribble DATC to send out the rosette.
I am debating about retiring Mawgan as I am not happy with her back end, will be seeing vet at the end of the month for a second opinion, when he is back from an op.
The little Ruger is now 1 year and 2 weeks old, where has the time gone? He's so gorgeous and mental. He has a lump on his side where he's knocked it, the vet has said to keep him quiet for a week Yeh OK! I was so looking forward to training him yesterday as he had his first proper session last week with Lee Gibson and he is such a natural and loves it too, great.
No shows now until Springers at the end of March, but then April starts with a vengence with the WBSDS. I am holding off entries until the vet has seen Mawgan and also I have too much college work to do, before I go to Huddersfield Uni in April, its starting to be hard work but not long left.
Some good results for K9 Skool members Maureen and Archie won out of Grade 1 at their first ever KC show at Wilmslow, and past member Louise and Saffie got their last win to make Grade 7 last weekend at Hare & Hounds.
I don't know if this will work but I have been introduced to Vokis in college tonight:

http://vhss-d.oddcast.com/vhss_editors/voki_player.swf?doc=http://vhss-d.oddcast.com/php/vhss_editors/getvoki/chsm=62921141b18772667b1dc0297acc9dde%26sc=3397020

Not done alot since the last posting, we were at Wilmslow agility show last week but no clears. Zara was mental in the first agility round as she hadn't competed for 6 weeks, she enjoyed her run although she pretended I wasn't there, and ran her own course, after that she did 2 lovely runs but was unlucky with poles again. I was pleased with Mawgan as she gave a one second stay just enough that she doesn't knock the first pole, once she got past that first 2 jumps her control was lovely, we may get another clear one day!!!

Yesterday I passed the Judges Rules and Regulations exam, so I am looking forward to the course design and judging assessment early next year.

Well looking forward to Wyre next weekend, last show of the year, hopefully the weather won't be too bad, so it can go ahead.

Quiet Month

Not really alot has happened in the last month, we have had no shows to report on, quite boring really!!

For halloween we went to Lee Gibson's for training, that was really good, it was very noisy with lots of barking collies so very much like a show. My reason for training in a class was to work on Mawgan's stay and sure enough as soon as I removed her lead she was away at 100 mph like being at a show, great, I worked with her stays and using a clicker was eventually successful enough to get past the first jump before releasing her, if I could do that at a show I would be happy. I also worked Zara a little and as always was very pleased with her performance, she did some tight turns and only knocked a couple of poles, mainly after exiting the tunnel and I wanted more speed, gives me something to work on her turns were ace. After training Lee put on a buffet and some of us had brought lanterns, see the piccie of Ruger with his.

I must mention that although I haven't been to any shows for what seems like years there were excellent results at Hare and Hounds this weekend, on Saturday Jules and Jette won Grade 1 Jumping and on Sunday Kirsty and Tim won their first placing 3rd in Grade 2 Agility with Kirsty's Maisie coming 2nd in same class.

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.