Round Up of 2012

Well I got my wish, Zara eneded the year in Grade 4, we moved up on points which I am glad about, as she is running much better on the higher grade courses, as they suit her. She is getting a higher proportion of clears now. I got Ruger in the ring, first KC show being Wye Valley where he showed lots of promise. He had his first KC clear at Hare & Hounds in September, it was unplaced but I held him on the contacts for a long time, and his weave entry was wide, but he got it :) He had plenty of rosettes at Dig It, FAB and Delinquent Dogz for clears with places and some 1sts too. Once we both get our acts together he will be fab!!! Mawgan is fit and happy, not missing agility at all, and her back end has not got any worse :)

Caerphilly, SWAT & Brecon Shows

Wow Zara has been amazing. At Caerphilly she had 3 clears with a 13th in Grade 3 Jumping, I was so pleased with her, she doesn't go clear very often, although we didn't quite get a dragon SWAT was totally amazing, Sunday was disasterous but I was ill and shouldn't really have gone, and the show got cancelled partway through, due to torrential rain. We should have camped but managed to find a lovely B&B that allowed 3 dogs in the rooms, and had a paddock fully fenced in and set aside for dogs. Monday I judged and met some lovely people, some who were ring party, and watched some great runs, the day flew by so fast. Tuesday Ruger almost had a clear, I put him back when he broke his stay and he then ran a fantastic clear (after being E'd). Zara was fantastic with 3 clears out of 4 runs, just one pesky pole, but she had 8th in Grade 3 Agility. She then went on to get 3 out of 3 clears on Wednesday, sadly just not fast enough to be placed, although not far out :) At Brecon yesterday Zara was leading Grade 3 Agility for quite some time and then at the end got pushed out to 3rd, I was so happy with her, she also had a clear in Combined 3&4 Agility. In the jumping both Zara and Ruger had 5 faults in the weaves :( shame as both good runs up to there, Ruger was clear until weave no 10 when he ducked out as apparently I moved slightly towards him, he's getting better as he has had a few runs now with just 5f.

Another Dig It Show

Sadly Wigan Alsatian got cancelled so another weekend off, I think I have had more shows cancelled this year than I have competed at. The Fab show at Dig It was FAB. Not only because of our results, it was well organised and friendly. My first run on Saturday was newbie steeplechase with the little mali, he did a lovely run nice and smooth and clear to the last but one, when I didn't push him to the left so he went round the last jump, so 5R, not to worry it was a lovely run. Zara pretended that she had never been trained in agility in both of her first 2 classes. Ruger ran a lovely jumping but I got us E'd because I stood in his way after he did a lovely front cross so he couldn't jump the correct jump. I had words with Zara after lunch so she decided that she would listen and did a lovely clear in newbie agility to win the class. Ruger's last agility class went haywire as he decided that a twig with leaves on it was a tuggy after jump 4!!!! He then couldn't concentrate as he was looking for toys :( On Sunday Deb had entered with Lassie and went in the ring for newbie steeplechase she fell over partway round, but went on to win the class Lassie's first red rosette :) In newbie jumping I fell over so Ruger stopped to make sure I was ok, he then went clear and won the class Ruger's first red rosette:) (in agility) Do we need a new technique to win? Zara was great with an unlucky pole in steeplechase, but 2 lovely clears in jumping and agility to win both classes. She ran so well, it was good to see after her lameness, although standard height does suit her more than large. Jules was there Sunday with Jette and Flynn who both flew round their courses, Jette winning the steeplechase and Flynn having a fun time.

Wye Valley

Well the big day - Ruger's first KC show. Started with Grade 3 agility, missed out the last weave of 12 so E'd, but in all it was a good run, he stayed and got his contacts (except the see saw, where I don't ask for a wait and it was one of the light aluminium ones which took him by surprise) he did some nice distance work, so I was happy with the little Mali. Grade 3 jumping was next, it looked complicated when walking, but ran better than it looked. Ruger went for the wrong end of the tunnel so got his now seems like favourite E!! he then went clear including weaves for the rest of the course, again with some fantastic distance work. Combined 1-7 agility was our worst run of the day, from both of us, funny enough we didn't get e'd but managed 15 faults and 10 time faults, but no E :) Sunday was the wettest day of the weekend and I judged all day. Really enjoyed this, starting with the Juniors under 12 and over 12 jumping, there are some fantastic young handlers out there. I then judged Large Grade 1 jumping and Large Grade 3 jumping, it was lovely to see the standard of the new dogs and both dogs and humans enjoying the experience. I have noticed alot more motivational handlers lately, who are appreciating thier dogs efforts, praising the good bits and not dwelling on the mistakes. Monday we had 2 classes, Speed and Power was an E in the speed section as Ruger is not easy to turn at full speed lol but he got some of the more difficult bits. Last class was Large ABC Sprint, we were clear from 1 to 15 but Ruger took a little detour past no 16 to ask a scary scout to leave the ring, typical Mali, so easily spooked, so we got 5R then cleared the rest of the course. Overall I was happy with Ruger out of 5 runs we had 3 x E, a 5R and a 25F, when he grows up he'll be alright. Zara did not compete this weekend due to being on anti-inflammatories for lameness. Vet could not find anything so she is being rested and maybe x-rays next week to try to diagnose what's happening. Finger's crossed its nothing serious.

Can You Dig It? Day 2

Another successful day for Zara 2nd Internediate Agility, 3rd Intermediate Jumping and 4th in the pairs with Sharon and Ryan. Ruger stayed consistent with E's in Intermediate Agility and Jumping. He had a good run in Helter Skelter, his weave entry was fab but pole no 10 bounced in his face, which for a delicate little Mali is a huge deal, he thought it wanted to kill him, I asked him to enter the weaves again which he did and completed all 12, I was really pleased with him. Shockingly he knocked a pole so had 10 faults, what a result no E!!!!!!! Lovely show can't wait for July

Dig It Show

We went to the Dig It UKA show, our first time at UKA and had a great time. Ruger was consistent with 5 x E :( I was really pleased with alot of his performance as he got all his contacts the only problems were the weaves and turning him into the correct jumps, difficult at his speed. Zara was good, although surprisingly had placings with faults, not something you get at Large Grade 3, the classes were alot smaller than we would have had at KC, so I was taken by surprise when they called our names out at the presentations. She got the following places in the UKA classes: 2nd Novice agility 3rd (Q) not sure which class 4th Novice steeplechase For the Dig It pay on the day classes (she ran lovely for these with clear rounds) 1st agility 1st jumping 3rd in the pairs with Maureen and Archie (double clear) Ruger ran the pay on the day classes too, and kept up with the E's, however the weaves entries were really difficult and he didn;t get get any faults on them yay!!!!

What else can go wrong?

I've been looking forward to the WBSDS show for ages, really like this show. On Tuesday night at training Zara went lame, she wasn't bad, but I knew she wasn't right, so we left early to travel straight to Wales. The M6 was shut so a nice detour round Stafford got us back on further down. Our junction to get off the M5 was closed sending us on another detour round Gloucester!!! We got to Wales at 215am aaargh!!!!! Next day it rained and rained and rained. Zara was still slightly lame. Thursday was training at Mike's, Zara was still lame, no apparent reason, so rest for her and Ruger did a 2 hour training session. He was very good just losing interest for the last 15 minutes so we stopped. He is amazing his drive is so high, he doesn't give up. We worked on checking his pace going into the weaves, as he rarely misses an entry, even at his speed but is too fast for pole 2 to 3. He also did some nice independent contacts, without me speaking yay. Friday Zara was still lame, still happy and leaping around, but not agility fit:( It was still raining too. We decided not to risk Zara at Newbury so would not go. Sadly Sunday the show was cancelled. Its really sad for the committee to have to make that decision, but they are so right to put the dogs and handlers welfare first, but so disappointing for the people who have worked so hard to put the show together and for the competitors. Saturday we headed over to Caerphilly and had an hours training session with Ruger practicing the exercises we had learnt on Thursday. Good thing is he has now used rubber contacts, I thought he would freak out, but the a-frame didn't bother him, although he got partway up the dogwalk and jumped off, as his little delicate feet didn't feel right :) After 2 weeks of rest Zara is now fit and ready to go for training tonight. We have 3 shows to look forward to this Friday, Saturday and Sunday for both dogs. Last weekend the GB team won GOLD at the Belgian Shepherd Dog World Championships in the agility, an amazing acheivement, well done!!!!!!!