What's With All The Rain?!

We have just got back from our last weekend at Bakewell. I'm kind of glad as the weather for the past few weekends has really spoilt it a bit although I know there isn't much I can do about that! It rained really heavily all last night and continued this morning and by about 11 this morning the ground was just soaked through and I had seen several handers go flying in the ring and come out covered in mud so I decided to pack up and leave early for home. The dogs had had 1 run each and I was just getting worried they may hurt themselves as they don't slow down even when it's wet.

We have had a good weekend really though, yesterday my mum and dad came up and managed to see a couple of the girls runs and dad videoed 2 which are below, Kody had already had his runs by the time they arrived as they were early for once! He had 2 really good runs yesterday I just couldn't call him off a jump after the tunnel, it was just too temping and we got the wrong end of the tunnel in the other but I was pleased with him. (Picture was taken by Grace & Alex at Shuttleworth-thank you again, its lovely!)

They had a practice ring running this weekend so I decided to spend some time in there with Meg to work on her A Fame contact and I have discovered when she does it as a single obstacle she does it perfectly (which confused me at first) but when it is put into a sequence she has a lot more speed and so isn't putting in enough strides on the down so is missing it. I am going to persevere with it though as I think it will be better in the long run, it just needs a lot more time putting into it than we have been doing. Although she did actually get it yesterday in her agility class.

One thing is for sure, Meg is speeding up in the ring, she has caught me out a couple of time lately when i've not expected it and she has shot off and then gone off course, her weaves have come along well and she is much quicker through them too. She has had a lot of classes lately with only 5 faults for something minor so hopefully we'll iron out those faults soon!

Clever Puppies at Vegas!

We have been at Bakewell again this weekend this time for Dog Vegas. It was a 3 day show but it felt so long and with the weather not being great I decided to come home this morning and i'm glad I did as the wind was so bad it made the journey back a very long one!

The dogs have had some good almost clears and some terrible messy runs too. One thing we need to put in our training plan is a tunnel under the A-Frame. they are all a bit tunnel mad and I expected them all to pick the tunnel yet to my surprise non of them did.

Meg and her brothers were in the team dash this weekend and they were fab, they all flew round brilliantly with just 5f for a pole down. We were so chuffed to come away in 3rd place!!! They really are clever puppies!

(The rosette she got was so big it wouldn't fit on her collar so I had to put her in an old flyball harness so she could show it off!)

Theddlethorpe

Above is our team run at High Peak at the weekend. Thanks Jackie for sending it to me.

Today should have been hydro day for the doggies but anne called this morning to cancel as she was poorly so we headed off to Theddlethorpe for the morning instead. When we got there Brian, Heidi & Megan started screaming as loud as possible in the van as they knew where we were, poor Kody had no idea what was going on as he has only been there once before!

The dogs seemed to have a really great time, they all got very wet and it was interesting to see how Heidi's confidence in the water has improved since she learnt to swim, she wouldn't come out! They all had a really good run around on the sand then they all got dried off and we headed home. Need to clean the van out tomorrow afternoon now, it's full of sand!

When I asked Brian to move closer to the Mali's for his photo, this was his response ...

High Peak

This weekend we were at High Peak Show in Bakewell. It was a lovely venue and apart from the weather was a lovely show too. (Good job as we are there for the next 2 weekends!)

The dogs tried hard this weekend but lots of bad handling by me let us down and we had some weave issues too.

Megan did have 1 clear which she saved for her run in the team dash with her brothers. It was brilliant fun and we are all excited to be doing it again next week! Megan had a very naughty agility run yesterday where she really just messed around and did her own thing but her main problem this week has been weaves from a straight on entry, she just isnt steadying herself enough so she gets the entry but then pops out so thats our thing to practice this week. (I guess a fault of practicing so many difficult entries and not many straight on ones)

Heidi was a good girl in all but 1 class where I ended up taking her out of the ring. After that she did have some nice runs, her common error this weekend was 3 poles but im sure a lot of that was down to me. Her run in the Adams derby qualifier was nice, she completed all her contacts and actually got to move onto the jumping so I was really chuffed but where the jumps were so very tightly placed she had 3 poles down.

Kody has continued to try hard too, we had a really horrid agility course on Saturday and got E'd by the 4th obstacle. He did have a nice agility run yesterday knocking a pole and I tried to rear cross his weaves which pulled him out (our homework this week!)

Brian spent most of his time hanging out in the caravan as it was raining alot although he did enjoy some walks, a cuddle with Jackie and a treat or two from the Pawstrading stand :)

Is 5 Days Going To Be Enough?

This week I have been hard at work with Meg and her A-Frame contact. I had realised after doing a few shows that ours was too high so when she landed over the top she had enough time to get in her strides however at shows she was putting in the same amount of effort but landing much further down (usually just above the contact patch) and then jumping off. I lowered ours last week but didn't really have much time to train it but it did quickly become obvious that this was why she was missing as she instantly did at home.

I reverted back to putting the training aids back on on Monday and stuck with 2 for Monday and yesterday,  today I have reduced it to 1 and we are having about 90% success. I am really hoping that by this weekend we have it sorted, I know she is still missing her dog walk a lot but at least if she is getting her A-Frame we can be trying it in various locations while we then concentrate on the Dog Walk. I guess though we'll have to wait and see. Below is a clip from today.

This weekend we are off to High  Peak Show at Bakewell and I'm super excited as Megan is running in a team with her brothers, Zippy, Reno & Speedy. The team is 'The Kronik Kidz (I think), named after their dad Ronny (Bonvivant Kronik)

Godmanchester Good & Bad

We have just got back from our first camping show of the year and I can honestly say I much prefer to camp! It is so much more relaxing, especially for the dogs who can spend time in the 'garden' rather than in the van all the time.

Well the good...that had to be the doggies, they have worked sooo hard this weekend and their runs have showed it. No clears (first show where we haven't had one though) but lots of positives. Heidi impresses me more every time she runs, she has only had 1 'mental' run this weekend and that was her first one yesterday where she fell off the dog walk, slipped in the weaves and fell after a jump. I stopped her and did tell her off or she would have hurt herself but after that she has been so good. Today she had a fab agility run just coming out of the weaves on the last one which was the obstacle before the end, so had been clear until that point. Im just pleased she is calming down and listening more. Good girly :)

Meg really does make me smile, she has tried really hard too this weekend. I had decided she wasn't going to run in any agility classes until I had sorted the A-frame problem (which I now know what it is and how to fix) but there were rubber contacts and both Heidi and Kody fell off the Dog Walk yesterday so I thought id let her have 1 run just for experience sake. As it happens she was fine. She ran the whole course well only picking up 10 faults for the two missed contacts. She had a great jumping class yesterday too just picking up 5 faults for running past the side of a jump where I had tried to cut a corner to get ahead (Bad mummy). Her weaves have been excellent all weekend, no faults in them at all!

Kody has tried so hard too, just went into the wrong end of the tunnel yesterday in a class, fell off the side of the dog walk in another and in his agility today when I went to run the course they had taken out the dog walk and put in a tunnel and changed it a bit and I hadn't realised so I think he sensed my lack of confidence in what we were doing so he got a bit frustrated and jumped a jump the wrong way, but he was a very good boy.

The bad...the only thing that spoilt the show was the venue, not the venue itself it was lovely with nice off site walks for the dogs to enjoy which weren't overcrowded with others from the show but the fact that it was used for a car boot sale this morning. That might not sound too bad but there were cars and people totally surrounding the caravan meaning every time I went to run a dog I had to lock the caravan and van and the dogs didn't settle in the garden at all. It was much quieter ringside. That ruined it for me and if it is at the same venue next year I won't be going.

All in all though a thumbs up for this weekend!

Kody's Swimming Video

The dogs have all been to hydro again this morning and are now all shattered and sleeping soundly. Heidi has figured out that if Anne goes to grab the ball she doesn't have to swim to the end and turns around and waits for it to be thrown the other way, little madam is too clever for her own good.

Kody has improved loads again today, he really launches himself off the ramp into the water. I have put a quick clip of him below having a swim today, its not great as I still need to be quite close to him but you can see he isn't terrified any more!

This weekend is our first camping show, we are off to Godmanchester. I'm hoping its warmer than last year although it is at a different venue this time. The van is going to the garage tomorrow morning to get new brakes and the caravan is being serviced tomorrow afternoon so we should be all ready to head off early on Friday afternoon.

Weekend Walks & Weave Training

This weekend we had a week off from agility shows, we didn't make it to club on Thursday either as I was feeling a bit under the weather. Instead we have had a nice chilled out few days at home. My mum and dad came up yesterday and stayed until today so we have been into Lincoln and went out for dinner at Brayford Wharf today which was nice.

We took the doggies out for a very long walk this morning and they are absolutely shattered. They just wanted to run and run! They all got pretty wet and muddy (Brian the most-he had to be hosed down when we got back!) and then they have chilled out in the garden for a while.

When my mum and dad left I decided to do a bit of weave training with them. I have been having trouble getting Megan to pick up her entry at shows lately, she only seems to be getting it first time about 1 run per day, she was spot on today with them although where she is so tired she didn't put much effort into getting any speed through them! She didn't come out at the end today either which is another problem we have been having, i'm guessing it's something i'm doing at shows that pulls her out but I just don't realise.

Kody needed some work on his entries too, not that he cant get them, they are very good but he just isn't confident enough in the ring with me to get the more difficult ones and I do find myself moving to make it easier on the second attempt so i'm going to try and stop doing that in the ring and let him work it out for himself as I know he can.

Heidi has had excellent weaves lately so just a bit of practice with her, you might wonder why she doesn't seem to have as many goes in the video below, she did actually have the same but I hadn't noticed the video had fallen over and also she did snap 4 poles today so we stopped before we had non left! This week I will hopefully sort us out some wooden ones.

Brian also had a quick go at the end as he does enjoy to weave if nothing else!