Agility Sprites Blog

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T13:18:00.000-08:00

Wow, 2011 just flew by!

Well....the first part did. I hit a brick wall in September where a number of events within the space of a week turned my life upside down and back to front (and not in the fun rollercoaster way).

I am not the sort of person to talk about 'negative' feelings, I don't often cry and I keep the things that mean a lot to me very close to my chest. I don't like to think of people watching or judging me, I admire people who can be more open when they are feeling low - I'd probably cause myself a lot less trouble if I just opened up.

I spoke to only a handful of people about September's series of events and how they were effecting me and I thank those people for their support, time and understanding (you know who you are). By mid October and a 'Ctrl-Alt-Del' later things were looking up again and following Hex's season and successful mating the world started wizzing by again. Now I'm in a new house with my long suffering boyfriend (of nearly 8 years) with my furry family and little furry cupcakes on the way. I am VERY happy... but am wary that things can NOT possibly continue to go that well for me so I am watching my steps and my back!

As a club, we are really growing in members and in abilities and achievements. At the Christmas Meal we reflected on the highlights of 2011; it really has been a good year for us and the compliments I have had from people on my members handling, enthusiasm, helpfulness ringside and the general vibe we give off has been fantastic and as I said at the meal; all reflects well on ME, so thank you : )

I am really looking forward to seeing the 'class of 2011', continue to grow and achieve and the 'class of 2012' make their debuts.

I have decided this year to cut back on the amount of shows I do and stick to the ones I enjoy. I hope to have Hex back in action by Mid-End of May and want to ensure that we have FUN! I am also doing more judging this year, I usually do one or two appointments a year, I have taken on more with a mind to raise our profile, cut my costs and give back to the sport, especially as I know that with the new KC ruling on judging family members, shows are going to find it more difficult to cover some classes.

So that's what I 'm up to this year. But what will you be up to? Set yourself some goals, they don't have to be big, just think about what's important to you for example my goals are:

- To take Stitch to Champ level
- Qualify Stitch for a Semi &/or Final
- Bring Hex back up to full fitness by mid year and start where we left off
- To have more fun and put less pressure on myself at shows

If there is a goal you would like to discuss with me, if you would like help setting your goals, just let me know. I am here to help.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and a fun and successful 2012.

xXx

I will leave you with some pictures of the Christmas meal taken by Anthony (Thanks Ant):

Anthony Clarke @ A-SIT

2011-11-16T10:40:00.000-08:00

Everybody was really looking forward to this and the feedback I've had was fantastic.

4 out of the 16 people booked in have only ever trained with me and it was a strange feeling handing them over and watching them train with someone else, but I was very proud of the work they did and knew they were in good hands!

For me there was no stand out performance, everyone did brilliantly. But there was alot of excitement around Sarah's Narla and Anne's Chas. I also think that Julie did SO well considering how poorly she had been in the week.

I congratulate everyone on their hard work, I thank Anthony and Sian for a fun day and am very grateful for the sun shining so late in October!

BHC Show

2011-11-16T10:06:00.000-08:00

Weird one for me, just one run with Kif all day gave me a chance to catch up with and watch friends but I was mainly there to support Mum and Stitch on the anniversary of the show he came out at last year; which really is a reminder of just how much this incredible young dog has achieved.

Unfortunately the Agility win Mum has been craving was still just out of reach, with a handler oversight one obstacle from the end, but a stonking run over a difficult course and still one to be proud of and they made up for it later in the day.

Results:
Stitch - 1st, G6-7 Jumping
Stitch - 2nd, C1-7 Jumping
Kif - Clear, G5 Jumping (he was 5th, but they only placed to 4th - story of Kif's life!)

Chippenham Champ Show

2011-11-03T03:48:00.000-07:00

A scorching hot weekend at the start of October (yes this is late!!) caught us all by surprise.

With no Hex to run I had fun running Stitch. Olly made his debut with Marley and had a couple of near misses but overall we were pleased that he ran just as he does in training (bring on 2012!). Molly's Ben also chose this show to start running as he does in training - good things to come next year!

Results:
Stitch - 5th, C4-7 Jumping
Gill & Kassey - 5th, C1-3 Jumping
Anthony & Amy - Clear, G1 Jumping

Honiton/South Devon Show

2011-10-31T12:05:00.000-07:00

I was really looking forward to this show, it was the last one of the year I had entered with Hex, because of her impending season and I intended to just go for it.....unfortunately Hex had the same idea! I've just watched the videos back to remind me of what happened that weekend and O dear, what a mess! She wasn't paying attention to me, at all, no respect, just one crazy red head! But she had fun.

Lots of A-SITters at the show too, these are the results I can remember, sorry to anyone I've missed out:

Gill & Kassey - 1st, G3 Agility winning them up to Grade 4!
Mum & Stitch - 2nd, C1-7 Jumping
Alex & Sonny - 5th, G1 Agility
Alex & Sonny - 5th, G1 Jumping
Kif - 7th, G5-7 Jumping
Rosie & Freddie - 2 x Clears
Michelle & Bel - Got their first Clear Round in G1 Agility (and just one place out of the placings)

Bromsgrove & Blackdown

2011-10-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

Bromsgrove Results:

Stitch - 2nd, C4-7 Jumping
Stitch - 3rd, C1-7 Agility
Stitch - 4th, C4-7 Jumping
Hex - 7th, G6 Agility
Hex - 5th, Pro Plan Final

Hex was 1 second off the win, but watching the video back, she did everything I asked of her, I don't think we could have done any better - she was fabulous.

And elsewhere @Blackdown:

Alex & Sonny - 5th, G1 Agility
Alex & Sonny - 2 x Clear Rounds
Sadie & Carmen - Clear Round

Olympia or bust.

2011-09-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

People not updating their blogs for weeks at a time seems to be a running theme at the moment, I follow a couple of blogs and nearly all of them have been abandoned until recently, I put this down to the intense end we all have at the end of the season which leaves us with very little time.
So I do apologise for slacking, but I also point out that I'm not the only one!!!

So the Olympia Semis... a distant memory from September. I had so many near misses on the qualifiers, at least 3 5-fault runs with a qualifying time, but it was not meant to be and it allowed me to focus my attention on Mum who had managed to qualify right at the start of the season with Stitch. I was so proud to be there as her Groom, she looked an image in purple in her new A-SIT 'Experiment 626' polo shirt (thank you Sew What!) and smart black trousers, Stitch looked pretty smart to following a tidy up from Jo.

We arrived in plenty of time and watched the end of the Junior event before the warm-up was set up for the Mediums. To be honest it wasn't a very challenging course, but we figured 'well it is a warm-up' and Stitch did a nice clear finishing 7th or 8th.
Disappointingly the actual Semi Final wasn't much more challenging, although there were traps there, if you got the dog on the right line there were a number of straight lines which really favoured the collies, the only real trap came at the end trying to get your dog in the correct end of the tunnel, but because the jump before the tunnel was a panel jump, the dogs didn't see the wrong-end trap and not ONE dog fell into it. Mum did another nice clear with only one slight hiccup and finished 15th out of 36 - the top 10 qualified. NEVER have I heard of a clear at an Olympia semi not going through to the Final, but in the mediums this year there were 21 out of 36 dogs clear.

Obviously I was gutted for Mum and she was upset, but she really kept her nerve and to get 2 clears under that kind of pressure is really impressive and I was very proud, we weren't even sure how Stitch would cope with the environment; despite being a Grade 6 we must remember that he is only very young and that this is only his first season competing.

Here are the vids from the Semi's; the warm up followed by the Semi:

The following day we were at Prestbury and Stitch came 7th in the C1-7 Jumping and Hex came 11th in the G6 Jumping even with 1 naughty wide turn before the tunnel and a face plant on the jump after that! lol. We also got to try out one of the more difficult weave entrances we've been practicing check it out:

Gillingham

2011-09-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

Anne & Chas - 1st, C1-3 Agility - Taking them into Grade 3!
Anne & Chas - 5th, C1-4 Jumping
Gail & Stitch - 4th, 5-7 Jumping
Kif - 2nd, G5 Jumping (he likes to keep surprising us)
Hex - 8th, G6 Agility
Anthony & Amy - 2 x Clears

A special mention must go to Helen who put in two fantastic runs with Ben, they only got a refusal in each, in one they were just a nose length away from their first clear and the run was otherwise smooth and impressive.

A wet but fun weekend.

Dashin Dogs

2011-09-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

O man - another month late blog!

Gonna start with the results this time:

Rosie & Freddie had wicked week at groups the Monday before, so great things were expected and great things were delivered! In the 3 days they were there they collected a 1st, 2 x 3rds and 3 x Clear Rounds!

Stitch and Mum went home with 2 x 1sts, a 6th & a 7th and were part of the SWAT Squatties team running in the Team Dash Final and they came 2nd even against a number of all collie teams.

Hex was still trying to find her feet in G6 and went home with a 5th & a 7th.....and a lot of near misses!

We were really lucky with the weather this year with the only spot of rain being when we got there on the Thursday, Friday was the quiet half day, Saturday was the day of the Team Dash Final and the SWAT Squatties kicked butt!

I think it was Saturday which was 'A night with Nigel'; drinks and entertainment in the marquee, which meant that Sunday was a bit of a messy blur for me : sMonday was our day off so we enjoyed a day at Chester Zoo and a trip to the cinema to see the Inbetweeners. Then we were back into competition Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.We left the last ever Dashin Dogs on Thursday evening and we were all knackered... except Hex! She just got more and more mental as the week went on as I got more and more tired - crazy ginger.

We had a couple of days off before going on to Dordale where Mum & Stitch picked up a 2nd and a 3rd

KC International Festival

2011-09-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

A show of many highs and lows which to save time and to catch you up I will bullet point. Starting with the lows so we can finish on the highs (although you can miss the lows if you'd rather).

Lows
*The biggest low of the show was the loss of Don Nunn, a big character in the agility world who sadly lost his life following a clear round in the 6-7 Jumping. Did I know Don? Not really, we'd nattered at Valgray prize givings and he'd judged me from time to time. But I find when people die it's the people which they leave behind that I end up really feeling for and Don left behind his wife, his friends, his dogs and his Club members who went to collect his placed rosette with his dog. Really mind boggling that a person can leave this world in the time between a run and a prize giving.
*A dog dislocated it's hip on a tyre. So to all those 'tyres are safe/what happened to Hex was a fluke/ she wasn't seriously injured' people - I say I TOLD YOU SO! But I also hope that the dogs makes a full and speedy recovery
*Stitch missed out on the British Open by 2 teeny weeny points.

Highs
* Hex coped really well with her first Grade 6 runs, to start with she seemed a bit lost on the more open courses, everything is so tight in Grades 4-5, so she lost confidence in the big gaps on the G6 courses, but by the end of the weekend we got it together and she never looked out of place we had a couple of close but no cigar runs.
*Club friend Jo with her spaniel Fluke qualified for the Novice Final at Crufts next year. I am so pleased for her and can't wait to go cheer her on.
* Stitch went home with a 2nd, 11th & 12th at arguably the biggest, most competitive show of the year
* Jo and I enjoyed an evenings entertainment at the Feroda Camp, complete with our beanbags and an Amy Winehouse tribute from Neil Ellis.

And that's all I remember right now! I can't believe it's been a month! I have been so busy and feel awful about my short and sh*tty update but I guess it's better than nothing...maybe?

I'll leave you with mine and Mum's favorite runs of the week:

The calm before the storm

2011-08-06T23:56:00.000-07:00

When we looked at our show calendar in August we had our 2 favorites booked; KC Festival & Dashin Dogs, but nothing else - in fact we had 2 weeks off at the start of the month! Now one week off is fine, we need time to pack, train and see our loved ones, but 2 weeks off?! That's crazy talk mid season so we looked further afield than we usually do and decided to make the trip up to the Agility Club Show in Ardingly and whilst we were there spend some quality time with my Uncle Mark who kindly provided us (Mum, myself, Hex & Stitch) with accomadation in Brighton (Well, Hove actually) : )

The weekend didn't start off as planned, we set off late, got stuck in traffic, tried to avoid traffic, got lost and inevitably got stuck in more traffic! But when we got there we were greated with a scrummy meal and the dogs settled right in (Stitch a little too much so).

Being only 30mins from the showground we got to have a relaxed to start the morning with toast and jam and head on out to day parking at a 'sensible' time, Uncle Mark in tow....well actually leading the way in a car you could probably only fit a Pug in.

My first day was an unlucky one, faulted (IMO wrongly) in my Olympia Qualifier, but with a qualifying time and poles in the jumping. Mum had a great first day with Stitch, winning the G6 Jumping (2 down 2 to go!). Mark had brought his camera to the show (posh camera) and despite being new to the sport managed to take some amazing pictures of our dogs and really capture their spirit and enthusiasm, taking really good pictures of Agility isn't easy and you usually have to pay the experts through the nose for your perfect shot but we got loads and are so very, very grateful. Here are just a few.

The second day I continued my unlucky run and Mum joined me, Stitch fell over and missed a jump recovering but to Mum's delight he seemed to fit right in with the G6's and was making some of the tricky bits of course look easy. Hex fell off a dogwalk in the morning, I got lost in the afternoon but managed to pull of a wide clear and my favorite run of the weekend was the last one but Hex couldn't find the last tunnel entrance, but I loved the course when I walked it and when I ran it so shared it anyway:

Even without any ribbons I had a fantastic time, it was so relaxing just having the 2 dogs and nice to have a supporter with us, especially one that fitted in so well to the scene and took an interest in the science of the sport. The weather was also glorious.

Unfortunately we did have to miss the SWAT Summer show though, with so much holiday booked in August it was impossible for both Mum and I to get any more time off work but Alex and Sarah went out to represent and boy did they! Here are the week's results:

Gail & Stitch - 1st, G6 Jumping
Alex & Sonny - 2nd, G1-2 Jumping
Alex & Sonny - 2nd, G1-2 Agility
Alex & Sonny - 5th, G1-2 Agility
Alex & Sonny - 3 x Clear Rounds on top of all those places!
Sarah & Ru - 4th, G1-2 Jumping
Sarah & Narla - Clear, G1-2 Jumping - Narla's first CR! Yay!

So now the crazy month of August begins, trying to plan, set-up and fit a week's worth of lessons into 3 days, trying to get Hex prepared for her first Grade 6 show (her first class will be the British Open!) and get packed for the time away. Thank you everyone for your flexibility with lessons.

In other exciting news, Hex's coat is falling out in handfuls, which means we should be about 8 weeks from her breeding season - I am very excited, but also scared, I just want everything to be right. I will starting up another blog or FB Page for everybody to keep updated as things develop and by things I hopefully mean PUPPIES!

There be Dragons!

2011-07-24T13:10:00.000-07:00

YAY CAERPHILLY TIME! There's not a lot not to like about this show and I look forward to it every year. This year didn't disappoint even with a new venue.

I didn't have the best time, Hex had another collision, worse than her long jump incident and this time with a tyre, my 'stop-go' contacts have fast become running contacts - Hex's decision, not mine! So that needs to be fixed and I just couldn't handle to save my life! No excuses, just rubbish.

But I did get to see a lot of A-SIT runs and I was so proud of everybody, I had a number of compliments come my way from people who had seen the A-SITters at work and wanted to let me know how well they were handling and I received a lovely comment about what a great team we had... and we really did - Anthony (& Amy), Sarah (& Ru), Sadie (& Carmen) and Alex (& Sonny) all competed in their first team as the 'A-SIT Apples' and made quick change-overs and ran nice runs, only a spaniel sniff and a pole away from the 4 clears they needed to be in the places.

Michelle was at her first show with Whistler & Bel and both dogs ran really well. Helen also had her first competitive runs with Ben and he was focused and happy to be in the ring. And there were some of the much sort after Dragon Trophies brought back to Somerset....

Results:

Gail & Stitch - Dragon! 1st, G6 Jumping
Gill & Kassey - Dragon! 1st, G2 Agility (taking her up to Grade 3!)
Gill & Mollyanna - Dragon! 1st, G2 Jumping
Anthony & Amy - 6th, G1 Jumping
Hex - Clear, G5 Jumping
Kif - 3 x Clears
Anne & Chas- Clear, G2 Agility
Sarah & Ru - Clear
Alex & Sonny - 2x Clears
Sadie & Carmen - Clear, G1 Jumping

And @ South Devon:
Karen & Mollie - 6th, 1-3 Steeplechase
Karen & Mollie - 9th, G3 Jumping

Sherborne Vale

2011-07-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

I had a special treat this weekend - my brother came to the show! Paul used to do agility, in fact he used to do it rather well but traded dogs in for motor sports in his teens. Paul has been involved with a couple of A-SIT events and is Pimpin' my Mower, but this is the first show he has been to in YEARS! It was great to have him there to support Sprite, Hex & Stitch (or as he calls them - Pirate Pete, Stink Weasel & Turd). Hex was particulary happy to have 'Unkie Paul' there - she was so full of herself in the queue and stood on his feet when she could which she usually saves for me. Stitch also enjoyed someone who could match up to his tugging needs and Sprite was just happy to have some of his pork roll! : )

The day well, didn't start off too well. Stitch clipped a long jump in the jumping and would have won the class otherwise and in the Agility we ran at the beginning and nobody was straightening the collapsable tunnel so it spat him out past a jump 2 from the end - wicked run otherwise, and someone was there straightening the tunnel from then on! I made a comment at the end of the day to the judge - couldn't help myself, I felt robbed.

Hex also had a bad start - I nearly pulled her from competition after her first 2 runs - in the agility she was much as she was last Sunday - really wide, not listening, missed a weave entrance, just not with it at all and in the Steeplechase she ran so flat and also under a jump. But we dogged on and I ran her in the Jumping and with only one wide turn she won the class! I then ran her in the lucky dip and she just had the one pole, but this was def her best run of the day - she attacked the course and wrapped wings and hung on my every direction, despite the pole and the fact she had won a different class, this was my favorite run of the day - nice to have her back! Toni saw her run flat in the steeplechase and also saw her Lucky Dip and gave me a huge thumbs up when I came out the Lucky dip as she knew how bummed i'd been earlier in the day. Paul said it was like watching two different dogs but I'm glad he got to see the real Hex- lets hope shes got whatever it was out of her system for good this time!

Results:

Stitch - 1st, C1-7 Steeplechase
Stitch - 1st, C1-7 Lucky Dip
Hex - 1st, C3-5 Jumping
Alex & Sonny - 4th, G1 Agility

Mum gets back late Wednesday/early Thursday; I look forward to having her back and life returning to normal... well it's never 'normal' in the Skinner house but you know what I mean!

Diamond Performance

2011-07-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday at Diamond Dogs was AMAZING!

6 Clear rounds out of 6 runs and 4 of those were wins, including Hex's win up to Grade 6! The whole day was unbelievable, just wow.

Both dogs had amazing contacts, solid waits and speeded their way around their courses. The only course I didn't feel confident on was the Olympia Qualifier and it was just that word 'Qualifier'! 327 dogs ran that course and I was one of only 28 to go clear. The start was fantastic, but I didn't handle my contacts naturally and there was a part before the second tunnel where we had a detour, I was just trying to go clear but now that I'm in Grade 6 I need to handle more ambitiously, 'just going clear' is not going to cut it... although the courses are obviously going to be getting much harder and I'm going to need those clears for mine and Hex's confidence - catch 22.

I know Hex isn't quite ready for what Grade 6 has to hold - I haven't quite put enough work in and we have a lot to tidy up, tighten up and speed up but I just had it in my heart that this is what I wanted to achieve before her pups later this year and whilst I feel daunted for us, I also feel a huge weight has been lifted.

It was so nice to focus on my own dogs, not only did I get to focus on my own dogs and courses but I had the support of Rosie all day and she really took alot of the pressure and stress off. Little things like having someone to take your bag and jacket for you on the startline (especially when you're juggling Stitch and his many accessories!) makes a huge difference. I am sad that Mum missed this weekend, but grateful for the opportunity to work the Stitchy Bug, he really is an amazing dog.

Sunday I was lacking sleep - it wasn't a great day, stupid mistakes were made like Hex missing the last jump in one run?! - When has that ever happened - weird. I knew I should have stayed at home, nothing was ever going to top Saturday but it was great to see the A-SITters doing well and see proud smiling faces on handlers and wagging tails on the woofs.

RESULTS... and lots of them!:

@ Diamond:
Stitch - 1st x 4! (2 Agility & 2 Jumping wins)
Hex - 1st, G5 Agility - Taking her up to G6!
Hex - 7th, G5 Jumping
Hex - 8th, C3-5 Olympia Qualifier Agility
Alex & Sonny - 7th, G1 Jumping
Alex & Sonny - 1st, G1 Jumping
Alex & Sonny - 4th, G1 Agility
Alex & Sonny - Clear, G1 Jumping
Sarah & Ru - 5th, G1 Agility
Sarah & Ru - 6th, G1 Jumping
Sarah & Ru - 6th, G1 Agility
Sarah & Ru - 8th, G1 Agility
Anthony & Amy - Clear, G1 Jumping
Anne & Chas - Clear, G2 Jumping
Rosie & Freddie - 3 x Clears

Elsewhere:
Karen & Mollie - 9th, G3 Steeplechase

So here at last is the details of Hex's treatment at the SMART Clinic thus far

2011-07-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

Angela has put me to shame with her regular Mindy updates so I have finally put the time aside for an update but I'm afraid limited for time, it's not very detailed. As everybody now knows Hex took 'a bit of a tumble' at Thames Show in June and here it is for those of you that haven't seen it:

I knew it was bad when I turned around to see her flipping, but when I got to her she seemed fine, barking and bouncing and telling me to get on with it! So I pieced the long jump back together and jumped her over it to make sure she wasn't mentally scarred too. When I got out of the ring I kept her out and about to let her muscles warm down, keeping a careful eye on her, when we got back to the caravan she had cuddles and then I watched the play back of the video and saw just what she had done to her neck -eep! I was worried, sad and in shock, I knew despite having what seemed like a perfectly fine dog laying next to me that all was not going to be okay.

Our vets confirmed stiffness in her neck and were happy to refer her to the SMART Clinic, who have worked wonders with Kif and many other dogs we know.

Hex had her first SMART appointment on June 22nd, Lowri gave her a thorough look over and her neck wasn't the only problem because as she had twisted after the neck impact she had wrenched and pulled her belly, armpit, legs and back so it would seem that the only part of her that wasn't ouchy was her tail which she kept wagging. She got twisted, stretched and pulled and didn't resist at all, she then had acupuncture, which again she just stood and took and last but not least she had her first go on the water treadmill - this was the bit I had been dreading, Hex HATES water and this was a strange box which would fill up once she was in it and she wouldn't be able to escape, but once again, she just got on with it. The water started filling up around her, she just held up her front right leg for as long as possible and then gave up and let it join her others under water. Then we started the treadmill and she immediately got the hang of it.

I was obviously gutted that she had more damage than we had at first thought, but I was relieved that I had caught it early enough that SMART were happy they could fix it and that Hex could still compete providing I didn't train her imbetween time and did her homework physio exercises (or as we call the Hexercises) religiously.

So we have kept up our Hexcercises and SMART visits and Hex has turned everything to a real routine. She loves it at SMART just look at her little face.

Hex is back on form and since visiting SMART she has won up to Grade 6 and won another Jumping class as well as collecting other top 10 places, her jumping action is cleaner than it has ever been. She has also had to accidents since the long jump - a collision with a tyre and a fall off a dog walk and thanks to her new flexibility walked/bounced away from both with no damage done. I am however now ALWAYS carrying arnica on me just in case!

What I love about SMART is that they know agility. They asked me what her weave action was, what grade she was, what speed she travelled at and what sort of courses she was running on - they knew my dogs body and movement better than me! I would recommend them to anybody who has any doubt about their dog's fitness and/or performance. www.smartvetwales.co.uk

Tuffley

2011-07-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

Usually I love Tuffley - the venue is beautiful, the show well run, nothing is too far from anything and the exercise area is HUGE - it seemed even bigger after the postage stamp of grass Lansdown offered us last week. But I was tired, fed up and run down and not being able to train Hex in the week when we are trying to fine tune things is denting my confidence and ability to walk courses for her, I also have her injury playing on my mind so alot buzzing around my head.

Saturday started as I thought it would - utter shite. But then if you have that negative frame of mind what else can you expect? The first jump was a spread and Hex crashed it (as did most dogs as there was a dip before it) but it made we worry - I had a power nap in the afternoon and tried to wake up with a new frame of mind, my rounds improved and I came 13th in the Olympia qualifier with only one expensive mistake - whoops!

Sunday was a new day and watching the Champ classes was inspiring - I decided to just attack everything, which landed me flat on my @rse in my first run - I still managed to get up and go clear but was fractions of a second out of the places and I think that was the time I spent on the floor! Hex got her own back though because she fell on her face later in the day and we came 3rd... without her nose dive we would have won the class taking us to G6! O Well, I was just happy to get a trophy especially at a Champ show, the trophies at Tuffley were so beautiful, giant diamonds! - Here's Hex with hers : )

Mum's weekend was the other way round, she had a fantastic start to the week and finished on a low, her mushy brain came from thoughts of going away and packing for France. As I type this she is currently on a ferry to France surrounded by Glasto hippies on their way back to Jersey singing songs of love, Jesus and Sandy lol.

Results:

Stitch & Gail - 1st, G5 Agility
Stitch & Gail - 4th, C1-7 Agility
Kif & Gail - 2 x Clears
Hex - 13th, C3-5 Agility
Hex - 3rd, G5 Agility
Hex - 2x Clears
Anthony & Amy - 2 x Clears (In the combined 1-4 Jumping they were 1 of only 2 Grade1s to go clear!)

Diamond Dogs to look forward to now... well we will see...I have more dogs to manage, less help and more to cope with in the week - it's going to be a tough one!

Lansdown

2011-07-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

So no surprise - I have left blogging to the last minute before my next show and still haven't done a post detailing Hex's SMART treatment (which will follow...eventually).

The A-SITters were out in force at Lansdown and I think it's fair to say that the British weather was at it's most British with wind and drizzle all day Saturday and glorious sun all day Sunday (once the fog had cleared).

I must say, I did over-do it at this show and must remind myself that there is only so much I can do in a day and that my dogs must come first; I ended up in agony Saturday night with my back and I am so SO grateful that Tamzin Grimes was there to save the day and fix me up in time for Sunday and another day of team morale - it was lovely to sit down that day and enjoy Anne's bakery goods as a Club.

Results:

Hex - 5th, G5 Agility
Kif - 2 x Clears
Gail & Stitch - 1st, G5 Agility (winning into Grade 6!)
Gail & Stitch - 1st, G5 Jumping
Rosie & Freddie - Clear, G1 Agility (the first of many to come we hope!)
Rosie & Freddie - 3rd, G1 Jumping
Gill & Kassey - 2nd, G2 Agility
Anthony & Amy - Clear, G1 Jumping
Anne & Chas - Clear, G1-7 ABC Olympia Course. There were 101 dogs in this class and only 12 went Clear so we are so proud of Chas for being one of them.

A special congrats to Molly & Ben for surviving their first show and showing a lot of promise and a Good Luck message to Helen & Lily at their first show tomorrow.

Golden Valley - The ups and downs

2011-06-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

I really should write up my blogs when I get home from a show - I can't believe Golden Valley is already a distant memory... well Sunday is, Saturday has pretty much gone from my head altogether!

I love the idea of Golden Valley - Nice venue (although Kif hates it), near a Strawberry Farm (yum yum), camping not too far from the rings and always lots of friends there but I always leave feeling slightly disappointed - I never seem to meet my goals, I miss out on seeing people because I'm running from ring to ring and I usually eat to many Strawberries! This year the only exception was I ate just enough Strawberries :)

Saturday saw Mum collecting places with Stitch, Anthony having some near misses with Amy and me mucking things up for both of my dogs - well that's how I remember it anyway. Barrie James set an Agility sequence I have worked on a couple of times in training with Hex and I couldn't pull it off in the ring - I look forward to setting it up in training sometime and sending the vid to Barrie just to prove we CAN do it!

Sunday was a much better day with Hex and I getting our act together, Kif having fun in the teams and The SWAT Squatties team qualifying for the Team Dash Final! But I still left frustrated, Hex put in some really good runs, particularly her last run but at this show they just weren't up to the speed set. I would do a run, be pleased with how I ran, be so proud of how Hex handled and then look in the score tent to see where we were in the places and be disappointed instantly, which is so silly when I was beaming with pride and excitement before the score tent. I need to remember my personal goals and just be happy to achieve them and stop comparing my young dog to other more experienced dogs while we are still getting our act together.

Results:

Gail & Stitch - 5th, C1-7 Agility
Gail & Stitch - 3rd, C4-7 Jumping
Hex - 8th, C3-5 Agility (+ 2xClears)
Kif - 2xClears
Alex & Sonny - 2xClears
'SWAT Squatties' - 1st, Team Dash. The medium team consisted of Stitch and his 4-legged SWAT friends Doug, Fluke & Chip. They beat even the large dogs by 3 seconds!

@ Barnstaple
Karen & Mollie - 5th, G3 Agility

Thames

2011-06-19T13:51:00.000-07:00

I'm a week behind blogging - so naughty because I remember at the time I felt like I had lots to say about Thames which is why I put off writing about it because I didn't have the time... but now it seems like a distant blurry memory. Things I remember:

- Hex having just a pole down in the Olympia Qualifier : (
- Getting very wet... but not as wet as Packington
- Hex taking a nasty tumble - won't easily forget that! But she seems fine and I await an appointment with the SMART clinic on Wednesday to give her the all clear.
- Stitch having his first runs since his operation. Both Mum and I watched him very closely; he was fine.
- A wicked night out at the entertainment with a fantastic live band. (Maybe it was all the wine and dancing which has made the weekend a blurry memory?!)

Results:

Hex - 13th, Combined 5-7 Jumping
Kif - Clears...can't remember how many.... sorry Kif!
Stitch - 1st, Combined 3-5 Jumping
Stitch - 2nd, 3-5 Jumping
Stitch - 6th, Combined 3-5 Agility.

Sorry for the vague update, Golden Valley update to follow... hopefully in more detail once I've run the videos off!

Just the 3 of us, we can make it if we try!

2011-06-07T13:55:00.000-07:00

Mum had/has the lurgy so it was off to Wye Valley by myself; not usually a problem but I was SO tired and had such a rubbish day at Packington on Monday, I felt I could do with the extra support. There were no Veterans for Sprite so I set off with just Hex & Kif in tow and things started with how I left off on Monday - I got given the perfect 'Kif' course and was doing a fast fantastic clear on an extremely confusing course... so confusing I missed out part of the course and E'd myself! I walked a course wrong for Hex and by lunch time I'd had enough of myself - I had a moan down the phone to Mum, and a power-nap and woke up with a I'm here to have fun, so sod it, let's just have fun attitude and with that came our first clear of the weekend - Hex in the Combined 1-7 Jumping woohoo! We ended up 2nd.

The show had such a lovely holiday feel about it with gorgeous weather and walk, you couldn't help but relax when you let yourself. Saturday evening a couple of us wondered down the local pub for some eats and drinks and then came back for more drinks and snacks.

So feeling much more relaxed I started Sunday with a new frame of mind, although the weather had turned sour, I was not going to let it dampen my spirits! Hex started the day with a lovely clear in the combined 3-5 Agility, went to check my time and woah there - I was in the lead! Not for long though, Lynne swooped round only a queues length of dogs behind me and trumped my time, but she remained 1st and I remained 2nd and we bothy qualified for the ProPlan Final in September. Kif was running his best, especially in the Brace, I just sent Hex wide of a jump, but they were both flying and Abi provided the most awesome change over - Hex associates Abi with super fun crazy times... so a bit of a shock for her when Abi stopped her fun and let Kif go : )
Kif had another course which seemed to be designed just for him and everyone that saw it remarked on his confidence and corners - I love this dog's corners when he's happy - he beat Hex's time again too! So I finished the weekend still tired, but once again feeling full of pride and confidence, which can only mean one thing....... This coming weekend we'll do CR@P!

RESULTS:

@Wye Valley

Hex - 2nd, C1-7 Jumping
Hex - 2nd, C3-5 Agility
Hex - 5th, G4&5 Jumping
Kif - 4th, G4&5 Jumping

@Carn Brea

Karen & Mollie, 2nd G3 Jumping
Karen & Mollie, 3rd C1-3 Steeplechase

Every dog has it's day

2011-06-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

Where do I begin? Friday & Saturday I was on top of the world, I felt I could achieve anything, Sunday was a reality check...Monday I came back to earth with a wet bump.

I always like to end my blogs on a positive note, but that just wasn't how the weekend panned out, so feel free to stop reading after Saturday if you don't want to join my self loathing pity party ; )

Friday:
So my competitive weekend actually started on Friday for a change, I went to help set up some tents at the SWAT show and Jo talked me into bringing my dogs along for the Dairin's Challenge qualifier. This was an event where you could have as many goes at the course as you liked at the fastest 20 Clears would take place in the Final Saturday night - The Catch - The course was a 'Dairin special', hard to remember and difficult to run, expect the unexpected! Jo had talked me into bringing my guys because the course had been running for 2 hours and only 3 dogs had gone Clear! So I took in Kif first, he was my best chance of getting round a course like this, but he back jumped number 2 in his first go, the rest he did clear and to be honest, made the course flow and feel nice. I thought I'd give him a rest and let Hex have a blast before getting him out to try again. Hex's run was nowhere near as clean as Kif's BUT to my surprise sheonly had 5 faults - just one pole! I was in shock, I now had 2 dogs that could potentially do a clear, but I was advised that I could only take one dog through - so which one to choose? Well rumour had it that the final would be a bit more of a blast (turns out that rumour was started by Dairin himself - sneeky!), so I went for Hex, who ended up being the 5th dog to go clear, she qualified 5th overall - her first final! And to be surrounded by Grade 6-7 dogs, I felt so proud!

Saturday
I gave Mum Kif for the weekend because she was without Stitch so I only had Hex to run and we had a day of 5 faults, having said that her corners and her response and contacts were so quick and accurate, I couldn't have been happier with her and was excited about her first final in the evening... until I walked the course and realised it was not the rumoured blast. I walked the course over and over and all I could think was 'why, o why didn't I have a second go at the qualifier and put Kif through?!' I don't think I walked the course once without saying 'I want Kif' and I walked that course ALOT! But I shouldn't have doubted the Red Baby, I panicked and pushed her out of the weaves early and over Jump 3 before correcting the weave, but then I took a deep breath, took her back to the end of the weaves and ran the course from there until the end as if nothing had gone wrong and she did that CLEAR, not just clear, but clean, tight, accurate, I left the ring buzzing with what we had acheived and thinking 'if we can do that then we can do anything we put our minds too'.

Sunday
O Sunday, why did you have to go and ruin that Saturday buzz? He had some results Sunday, but Hex was nowhere near as responsive as she had been the day before. She wasn't listening, she was wide and even turned the wrong way after one jump - so frustrating. I really thought that one of my Clears would be out of the places but I had actually gone into the lead!... only to be beaten by Mum & Kif! Yes you read that right, I'd talked Mum into running Kif that day and she went and beat me and with Kif of all dogs, I really underestimated that dog, what a star! - He provided some rather good banter material that day turning Mum into 'Skinner Winner' and me into 'Skinner first loser' - Thanks Dairin!

Monday
With the SWAT show behind us and rather knackered Jo and I headed off to Birmingham for Packington Show to be abused by the weather and test our love for the sport.
I don't know what was up with me, I released Hex from her dogwalk WAY to early in the Olympia qualifiers - the pressure just got to me, I pulled Kif off a jump too early in his jumping and I took my eyes off Hex in her jumping - timing just seemed to be a issue for me which was a pain because my dogs were giving it their all. I really let them down and would have been in tears if it hadn't been for Jo helping me focus on the positives of each run (which was basically everything apart from the one mistake I made in each).
We survived the whole day, unlike a huge number of the day runners who had left by lunch and Jo went home with a 5th in the C1-7 H/Skelter with Meddler against some of the best mediums in the country!.... I went home with a new Keyring (well I couldn't go home empty handed!)

Trying to go back to the positive, I leave you our best acheivements from the weekend; The Dairin's Challenge courses (as best as my memory serves me) and of course RESULTS:

Results:

Gail & Kif - 1st, G5 Jumping
Hex - 2nd G5 Jumping
Hex - 10th, C1-7 Jumping
Hex - Qualifying 5th Overall for Dairin's Challenge
Sprite - 2 x Clears, Anysize Jumping
Sarah & Ru - Clear, C1-7 Jumping
Alex & Sonny - Clear, C1-7 Jumping
Anne & Chas - 3rd, C1-4 Agility

I must also say a special thank you to Helen & Anthony who weren't even running dogs on Sunday but were there all day to help run our ring and learnt lots of jobs, we had a couple of no-show helpers and without Helen & Anthony's help, running Ring 2 would have been nearly impossible. Thank you!

Worcester

2011-06-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

This was a long time ago now. I know I've been really rubbish at blogging recently, but any spare time I've had I've been sleeping, catching up on TV and training.

I don't remember much of the day other than I was really tired so needed a good power nap at lunch, O and I was really poorly and Jo came with me because Mum was playing 'House Wife' at home.

Results:

Hex - 4th, G4 Jumping
Hex - 5th, C3-5 Agility (Purina ProPlan Qualifier, top 2 qualified - doh!)
Stitch - 5th, C1-7 Jumping

I really let Stitch down in the Agility, I reckon we'd have ended the show as a Grade 6 if I hadn't under-worked the A-Frame up. As it was, it's a good thing I didn't win; Stitch needed surgery the next week and is out of action now for a couple of weeks, it wouldn't be the best thing if after a long break that he be up against the Grade 6s! Get well soon Stitchy Bug!

A-SIT's Field Day @ Blackdown

2011-05-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

Never have I had so many A-SIT members at a show, it felt like a school trip as I showed the new batch of newbies the ropes,. All the excitement of being out of the class room but with the need to at least pretend you've learnt something ; )

Blackdown was an odd show, I can see what the club was aiming at by splitting the classes as they did, but it did make for a long day and if they use the same class set up in September, I don't think I'll be going. I just hope that it hasn't put anybody off who was attending their first or second show, it is not the norm to have that many classes. Having said that, the rosettes and trophies were nice (although I personally didn't get any) and the new venue was good... although very exposed and windy!

I think the day really went to Anne with her 'Rottelier', Chas. I don't know anybody who has won their very first class ever and if I hadn't jinxed her before her last run, I reckon she would have had 4 out of 4 Clear rounds. I was one very proud trainer. Not to be out done, Gill followed up by winning the Combined 1-2 Agility with Kassey at her second show ever so they both won up to Grade 2.

It was so great to see everbody enjoying the work and time that they had put into their dogs and to see the dogs beaming with pride and joy as they finished their runs, not understanding what clear rounds or faults were, just enjoying the new experience and moment with their handlers.

There used to be an agility magazine published with the front page each month reading 'Agility is Fun', it kind of became an on-going joke phrase when we were out in horrific weather, or having the worst elimination of our lives, or just having a shite day in general, but d'ya know what - Agility really IS fun. I had pinned my hopes on Hex that day and walked some courses I really liked for her, but we went home with 3 x 5s and an E, even when a class was restarted and we got the chance to re-do it, I still fluffed it - (I guess that's what you get for going out drinking before a show!), yes I was disappointed, but Hex was having the best time and loved all the fuss she got from the A-SITters (I think she thought I had brought her an entourage complete with cuddles and sweeties and even Sea Jerky from Helen!) and with everyone including my dog having such a good time, I couldn't help but catch the feel good vibes and look forward to more A-SIT days out.

Results:

@Blackdown

Anne & Chas - 1st, G1 Agility (Winning up to Grade 2 at their first show with their first run!)
Anne & Chas - 3rd, C1-2 Agility
Anne & Chas - Clear, C1-3 Tunnels & Spreads Fun Class
Gill & Kassey - 1st, C1-2 Agility (Winning up to Grade 2 at their 2nd show!)
Alex & Sonny - 8th, G1 Jumping
Sadie & Carmen - 12th, G1 Jumping (another 1st show success!)
Gail & Stitch - 1st, G4 Agility
Gail & Stitch - 1st, G4 Jumping
Lesley & Kif - Clear, G5 Jumping

A Royal Weekend!

2011-05-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

So because we'd planned to chase qulaifiers, we've entered a number of shows further afield... Which is how we ended up at Shrewsbury this weekend instead of Dordale with everybody else but going that extra disctance was so SO worth it!

I'd spent the week working on Hex's wing wraps, as you might have read a couple of months ago I started giving her earlier verbal queues, well I've now decided to give her earlier body queues too because my body was conflicting what my mouth was saying. I can't believe the improvement I've been seeing already, I even let Mum get the video camera out again... although not in time for our win into Grade 5 : )

Stitch also got to put what he'd practiced in the week to work, I've come down hard on Mum's pull throughs and we practiced tunnel traps over and over and good job too, because the medium judges were out to get the medium dogs with many a trap and pull through! In fact we generally found the courses more challenging than down south, particulary the 5-7 courses which Kif was on and which totally played in our favour, despite him hating that show ground (too many skips that people bang around the rings and flags too, O and big rustling trees - o Kif) he did really well much to my surprise. There were a couple of runs I didn't think I'd even get him off the start line, but he was brave when it counted.

Then on Monday we had the North Somerset show with 3 members making their KC Show debuts infront of the general public! I know we do agility 'for fun' and I know people say 'O I'll just be happy if they do their best' but everybody has their own personal goals for their dogs and I so wanted all my guys to get what they wanted and knew that it would only be nerves that stood in their way and so in turn I was nervous for them, but I need not have been.

Both Alex & Anthony came incredibly close to a clear with their first runs, just 2 obstacles to go and both dogs did what many did and went in the wrong side of the weaves with just one jump to go and then they grew and grew in confidence with each run, as did Gill with her dogs. I am already getting nervous for the people making their debuts this weekend, I not only want them to get the performance they want out of their dogs, but also to enjoy themselves at the show and enjoy the company and support of other A-SIT members - I really do feel lucky to have such a fun and friendly bunch, so don't be strangers, especially not to Rosie - she's bringing a new picnic set!!!

Videos from the weekend are available on the youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AgilitySprites

Results were as follows:

@ Shrewsbury

Gail & Stitch - 1st, C4-5 Agility
Gail & Stitch - 1st, C1-4 Agility
Lesley & Sprite - Clear, Anysize Jumping
Lesley & Kif - 4th, G5-7 Jumping
Lesley & Kif - 5th, G5-7 Jumping
Lesley & Hex - 6th, G4-5 Agility
Lesley & Hex - 1st, G4-5 Agility (taking us up to Grade 5!)

@ Cornwall

Karen & Mollie - 7th, G3 Agility

@ North Somerset

Alex & Sonny - 7th, C1-2 Jumping
Alex & Sonny - 4th, G1-2 Jumping
Anthony & Amy - 8th, C1-2 Jumping
Gail & Stitch - 2nd, C4-7 Jumping
Gail & Stitch - 1st, G4-7 Jumping
Gail & Stitch - 1st, G4-7 Agility
Lesley & Hex - 8th, C3-4 Jumping
Lesley & Hex - Clear, (5th & they only placed to 4th!), G3-4 Jumping

Easter Weekend

2011-04-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

Mum got back from France at 2am Friday morning, we left for Kernow K9 Show in Cornwall at 5am, so it was agreed that I would run Stitch on Friday while Mum caught up with her sleep, having said that she was too excited to sleep but still too tired to run Stitch to the best of her ability so I still got to keep my runs with him and we had great fun winning the 1-4 Agility.
Hex had a pole in her Olympia Qualifiers but overall she was running nicely.

On Saturday Mum had her Olympia Qualifier with Stitch, having not run or trained him for over 2 weeks, we were all a tad nervous, but knew that if he could just go clear he should have the speed to take him through and sure enough with a lovely clear (and some quick release contacts) he came 2nd and as the top 2 dogs go through he will be off to the semi finals in September where 32 dogs which have qualified throughout the year will go up against each other to become the 10 dogs which will compete at Olympia 2011.
Here is his qualifying round, if you've trained this week you will recognize the course:

Sunday was Hex's day, she didn't have a pole down all day she did once nice clear, just 0.3 seconds off the win (vid below) and one messy clear, she was very close to pulling off a very difficult course but we had some communication issues with just two obstacles to go much like Mum did in the jumping (vid also below)!

I'm extremely grateful that Karen filmed Hex's agility run, it's the only run of her we got on film because I've told Mum for the time being I'd rather not be filmed. I believe there are 2 reasons you have your runs filmed; 1 - To look back and say 'yay me' and share that with other people, 2 - To learn from your mistakes. At the moment I know I'm not handling to the best of my ability so I'm not proud of my runs and I know the mistakes which are being made and why, I just haven't had time to work on them. Having said that I wish I'd had my jumping run on film, it was the most in tune I've felt with Hex EVER, Karen offered to film and I declined dammit!

Not much mention of Kif because he went lame on the last day and no mention of Sprite because I left him at home with Phee for company. I have decided that I will not be running Sprite over medium height any longer. Although he can still jump that high, I know that he is struggling to find them with his one diminishing eye and I don't want him to see a jump last minute and then fail to clear it. He will now only be running over small height in 'Anysize' classes. This saddens me but I know it is for the best.

Kernow K9 is a fantastic show, one of my favorites of the year (despite having broken my elbow there the previous year). I finished the weekend feeling so very lucky to have such supportive friends & family around me and such a wonderful pack of dogs, I love my furry family. On Easter Monday Hex went for an Easter walk and picnic with my friend Vicky and four Children between the age of 3-9, I was so proud of her; she did waits for them while they threw her toy, jumped park benches for their entertainment, she let lots of sticky fingers cuddle her and didn't eat any of the jam sandwiches! Matt also mowed the field for me that day, giving himself an almighty blister on the palm of his hand - seriously huge and disgusting but he pushed through and finished the job, I am one lucky lady.

Results @ Kernow:

- Lesley & Stitch - 1st, G1-4 Agility (winning up to Grade 5)
- Lesley & Hex - 6th, G4-5 Jumping
- Lesley & Hex - 7th, G4-5 Jumping
- Lesley & Hex - 5th, Combined 4-5 Agility
- Lesley & Kif - 2x Clears in G5 Jumping
- Gail & Stitch - 2nd, Combined 1-7 Agility (qualifying for the Olympia Semi-finals)
- Gail & Stitch - 1st, Combined 1-4 Agility
- Karen & Mollie - 5th, G2 Jumping
- Karen & Mollie - 1st, G2 Jumping
- Karen & Mollie - 2nd, G1-2 Jumping

I'm looking forward to my next blog with lots of A-SIT members making their debuts on Bank Holiday Monday.

Wallingford

2011-04-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

I am trying to think of a time when I have ever felt less prepared for a show...there have been times (they usually involve a late night and a hangover), but never have I been to a show and not trained any of the dogs for weeks before. Hex hadn't trained for over 3 weeks due to her season, Kif doesn't train too much these days and the last time I worked Stitch properly was when Mum was last in France.

Matt came along to support me because I had 5 courses to walk 1st thing Saturday with 3 different dogs, so lots to remember and think about. Hex was MENTAL Saturday morning and spent the day having poles down, Stitch was fantastic but my timing was off , I felt I'd just about got the hang of him by the end of the day, Kif had fun.

Sunday was a different story for Stitch, he seemed less driven for his solo runs although managed a place in the jumping. Hex had the misfortune of having an 8.30am run in the pairs and then nothing until 2.30pm, when she was just as mental as the day before, but got it together for her last run and came 3rd in Grade 4 agility and Kif managed a Clear in Grade 5 Jumping. Sprite had a clear in the anysize on Saturday but got a little lost on Sunday, we also collected our Valgray Veteran Dog of the year award - very proud of my little pirate.

I also took part in 2 teams. Kif was in the large SWAT team and the team just had the one pole, Buell and Kif showed their true colours and really made Trudy and myself run (I'm still hurting now!) and Daz & Toni also had to run, but they're used to that pace with Raq & Boo. I imagine the team had a pretty impressive time but I didn't go and check (as tempted as I was).
Stitch was on the SWAT Squatties Team and again, SWAT have another strong team - watch this space!

Wallingford had a great atmosphere and fab weather, and we had the most superb camping spot thanks to Claire. Last year I was a spectator with a broken elbow so it was nice to take part in this show again and certainly will again next year - they have some really nice trophies and really generous rosettes to go for.

Results:
Lesley & Stitch - 2nd, G4-5 Jumping
Lesley & Hex - 3rd, G4 Agility
Lesley & Kif - Clear, G5 Jumping
Lesley & Sprite - Clear , Anysize DogGames
Sprite - Valgrays Veteran Dog of the Year (3rd year running)
Club friends Jo & Meddler - 1st, G3 Agility (winning into G4 at Meddler's first KC Show)

"What a difference a day makes" - by Gail

2011-04-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

The weekend just gone has very much been a prime example that you can have high hopes one day....have them effectively dashed....lose confidence and convince yourself that nothing good will come of another day in the ring only to find that things turn full circle again and you have, quite unexpectedly, the day you sought initially and all is well once more.

Indeed one of the great things about agility as a sport is that, except for the select elite-semi-pros out there, for the regular folk it is a great equalizer. The highs and lows come and go as regularly as clockwork (even for those who have "been at it for a while")... but that's what keeps you coming back for more.

So the next time you find yourself asking yourself whether you should have even bothered to have got up, let alone have ventured to training/a show etc. The answer is a resounding YES for it could be that this is your day to shine and even if it doesn't involve a clear round,a rosette or an award it is a day to enjoy that wonderful partnership that is you and your dog...for when it "clicks" it's the best feeling in the world.

@Wye Valley Small/Medium Show

Jeannette & Tess - Clear Round, 1-3 Circular Jumping

Gail & Stitch - 10th, 4-7 Circular Jumping

@Carn Brae

Karen & Mollie - 3rd,1-2 Jumping

Karen &Mollie - 7th, 1-2 Large Steeplechase

Karen & Mollie - 1st, 1-2 Agility (winning into Grade 3)

Gail & Stitch - 1st, 1-4 Medium Jumping

Gail & Stitch - 1st, 1-7 Medium Steeplechase

Gail & Kif -Clear round 4-5 Jumping

Gail & Kif- Clear round 4-5 Steeplechase

Fun Competition

2011-03-27T14:47:00.000-07:00

What a lovely day! Fantastic weather and food and most importantly fantastic dogs!

Results:

Pre-Comp Agility:

1st - Gill & Mollyanna

2nd - Molly & Ben

Competition Agility:

1st - Kelly & Spud

Trophy Agility:

1st - Gail & Stitch

Pre-Comp Jumping:

1st - Sadie & Carmen

2nd - Diana & Ruby

Competition Jumping:

1st - Anthony & Amy

Clear - Sarah & Ru

Clear - Jeannette & Tess

Trophy Jumping:

1st - Karen & Molly

So congratulations to all rosette winners but also well done to everybody who went out there and gave it a good go, some of whom it was the first time they've tested their nerves and dogs in a competition environment.

Competition Days are hard work but always worth it and wouldn't be possible without the help and support of friends and club members. Special thanks obviously to Mike for judging and Mum for helping me set up last night and get everything together, thanks to Mel for scoring for us; the day wouldn't have run half as quickly and smoothly without you, thanks to the Skinner Men; I can't believe we got them BOTH at the field! - Paul did a grand job of timing and Dad made sure there was always hot water at hand for tea and coffee. I'm sure everyone will agree that we had the best spread of food and that was all thanks to Anthony & Helen's Cakes and Alex's Quiche.

Now lets bring on the real deal!

Results, Results, Results!

2011-03-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

I know I've been a bad blogger, but any spare time I've had I've been cramming in revision and baking for Red Nose Day and it's so tempting when you get on the computer to get carried away on Facebook or YouTube so I've been avoiding it although I have videos I want to sort out and photos I'd like to share.
So although there's lots I'd like to talk about - the fun time we had at Crufts, Anthony Clarke coming to A-SIT, Red Nose Day, Hex's Birthday, the upcoming Fun Comp etc. - I'm going to concentrate on the good results we've had this weekend and at Crufts... this was in order to keep things short but there's actually quite a lot to type off!

So well done to all involved in the following results:

@Crufts
Barbara & Dex - 2nd, Postgrad
Jacqui & Izzy - 3rd, Obedience Inter Regionals and 2nd in the Team Event

@Barnstaple
Mum & Stitch - 2nd, 4-7 Agility
Mum & Stitch - 1st, 4-7 Jumping
Karen & Mollie - 3rd, 1-2 Agility
Karen & Mollie - 4th 1-2 Helter Skelter

@Yeovil
Jeannette & Tess - Clear (Just out the placings at 5th), Small Jumping

@UKA Cornwall
Hex - 1st, Novice Steeplechase
Alex & Sonny - 2nd, Beginners Jumping
Alex & Sonny - Clear, Beginners Steeplechase
Sarah & Ru - Clear (5th & they placed to 4th), Beginners Steeplechase
Sarah & Ru - Clear, Beginners Steeplechase II

A really positive and exciting start to the season.

Blackdown

2011-02-22T11:16:00.000-08:00

I had been really excited about Blackdown all month until the night before, when I was feeling tired and like I really didn't fancy the early start - this feeling didn't change when I got up at 5.40am. I was annoyed with myself for not being as excited as I had been earlier in the week.

It meant I was running on a really short fuse all day but I was really lucky to have some great company around to perk me up. I got to meet the Engelbrecht's new addition - Wink (so cute!), caught up with Jane and Jill who I haven't seen in what seems like an age and got to spend time at lunch nattering with Mel, Neil & Colin; Colin has so many interesting stories about the work he does with his beardies, it was great to hear some.

So what did we go home with? Well I was really pleased with Hex's corners, still room for improvement, but such progress from last month, unfortunately I took a risk I felt I needed to make in order to get myself ahead of Hex, just 3 obstacles from the end and it didn't pay off. But here's the vid of her corners:

In her Agility she misjudged the 2nd bounce and ended up underneath jump 4, this threw me for the rest of the run so we just focused on solid contacts and 2 good wind wraps.

Hex came 2nd in the Large Steeplechase and Stitch came 2nd in the Medium Steeplechase. Here's the vids:

They were really unlucky not to win the Agility, Mum is still kicking herself, she pulled him off the last jump after a really fast tight run - have a look for yourself:

Take a look again at Stitch's double bounce - outstanding control and use of his muscles:

Also we must congratulate Mel & Lucas on their 3rd in G3 Agility, I am so pleased for Mel that the hard work she is putting into Lucas is paying off.

Vogue!

2011-02-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

Well being the diva she is, Hex decided to starve herself for 2 days the weekend before her photo shoot, we thought she must have heard that the camera adds 10lbs, but then she got quite sick and just 48hrs before the shoot she was in the vets for some jabs and medicine to fix her, luckily these worked within a couple of hours and she was ready for her first bit of promo work!

I wasn’t really sure of what to expect – all I’d been told was to bring some of her stuff (bedding, bowl etc to make her feel at home) and a hi-viz jacket so they could dress her as a builder, this would also entail wearing a hard hat so we got practicing with next door’s riding hat balancing a solid hat on her head (thank you Lucy for your hat!). We got there nice and early and met the photographer, he showed me the brief which was that Hex was to be photographed in each room to form a tour of the ‘Hex’s Home’ (still not sure if the brochure is for handouts or the internet but I will let you know when I see the end product). Any ways then we met the Taylor Wimpey reps and an Ad company rep and proceeded to the show home. First we shot in the Kitchen, Hex was a little natural, she was so comfortable with her new found friends and the house, and pulled all the poses required to make the Kitchen/diner look like it was her Kitchen/diner where she ate breakfast every day. Then we shot in the living room, the photographer said it would look nice if she could put her front legs and head over the arm of the sofa whilst laying down, I said if he gave me a minute I could teach her that position – She did it straight away! It’s such an unnatural position for a dog, she kept wanted to rise into a sit but she got the shot and we then had other shots of her ‘watching tv’ and also head on paws curled up on the sofa all of which she did no problem, she then had a drink and got some fresh air before going up to the bedroom. I taught her a ‘flat’ command a long time ago and she remembered it – hopefully she looked chilled out/asleep and not dead! And then we did some of her just lying on the bed, a couple of the shots had to be re-photographed without the throw on the bed because she blended in so well with it.

Then we had the hardest shots – outside. Kids were out of school now and playing football behind us which Hex thought was interesting AND one of the little treasures thought it would be a great idea to shout ‘cheese!’ – Which made Hex VERY interested in what they had to offer her, but she stayed seated and we started trying to balance a hard hat on her.... no chance – unlike a child’s riding hat, the width of a hard hat is just not suitable for a dog. So we decided to put it next to her and try and place her foot on it, the hat was slippy for a paw, but she again, learnt this new position and held it as long as she could – so cute. At this point she’d been photographed for nearly an hour and a half, I could see she was flagging, she was very sniffy and lacked focus so although she sat in front of a door for a final shot, she struggled to look interested – I hope we got at least one without her frowning!

I’m really looking forward to seeing the end result and was so pleased with her that I am currently looking into what I can do to get her more modelling work, I wasn’t sure she’d 100% enjoy modelling but she totally saw it as work and was very eager to please not just me but the other 4 people involved – she’s such an attention seeker! Easy, breezy, beautiful; Covergirl.

Each day learn something new, and just as important, relearn something old

2011-02-10T13:10:00.000-08:00

It’s a bit late for New Year’s resolutions but in the sleepless nights I’ve been having recently I’ve been thinking about my goals and aspirations for this year and the deadlines set by the start of the show season and Hex’s future litter and I realise that if I’m going to make G6 before August I have some serious work to!

Hex has sped up in the last 6 months and I’m glad, I’ve been pushing for the speed and I’ve got it but I’ve lost our effective turns. Hex is definitely fast enough to win a class, but she’s not fast enough that she can afford a wide turn and still win a higher graded class. Over the past couple of months I’ve been helping her stride and learn when to bounce as well as speeding up her contacts and pushing for more difficult weave entrances, but wide corners are still getting the better of us.

I know that I haven’t had the time to do anywhere near as much I’d like to but it’s difficult when you haven’t got someone about to watch you, there’s a risk you’ll fall in to bad habits and not even realise you’d done anything wrong. As far as I was concerned I had put all the ground work in, she knew it all, why isn’t she doing it now?! I’d been working on deceleration with Anthony Clarke with some great results, but I can’t always be there to decel and this is when I’m still having problems. But what else could I do with a dog that barks non-stop at me? I’ve been saying to myself she can’t hear me, so what is the point on me commanding her when she’s just going to drown me out? But as the April show season looms I have been forced to make some decisions and my decision is that she should LISTEN!

I have been running my thoughts through with Mum, Sarah, Abi and Toni and I am so grateful for having these people around me, sometimes it just helpful to talk your thoughts through and justify them, if you can’t justify them then there’s something wrong.

Both Toni and Abi have brought to my attention that when things aren’t going to plan I have a habit of using commands out of context and that my timing has become pretty poor. So now that I’ve decided to revert back to my original verbal commands, it was time to re-cap my Hex dictionary. This didn’t take long as it was pretty much a case of going back to basics and relearning what we already knew and did, a group lesson last night and a private lesson with Toni this morning confirmed this – it’s not Hex which is the problem, she knows it all and has retained everything I taught her, it’s bloody me which is the problem!

Last night I made a real effort to use my verbal commands in a course situation (I think I walked the course 8 times and was saying the commands aloud to help them sink in), I only used the wrong command a couple of times when I ran it but my timing was still out. This morning out of a group situation Toni set a number of sequences to test Hex’s ability and see how much work we would really need to put into this, I had given Toni my Hex dictionary and before each exercise we made sure I knew what I was going to say and when I was going to say it, everything we set Hex did right (unless I panicked), it was so great to feel in control of her turns again – reverse turns, shoulder turns, decel turns, rear cross turns and turns around a pin wheel. I swear we just went through the lesson going ‘can she do that?’ – ‘yup’, ‘okay but can she do that now?’ – ‘yep’, ‘okay but you can tighten that up by doing this’ – ‘So I can! Awesome!’. Toni did a grand job of keeping me calm and consistent (thanks Toni!) and I was really, really pleased with the results. I cannot believe that we have had it there all along and I’ve just been throwing it away by not practicing and making excuses for us. Hex actually got faster when I cued her with her directions and I could hear myself think and command which could only mean one thing – Hex wasn’t barking as much as usual, so she must have been thinking or maybe it’s that she’s not as frustrated with me so she doesn’t feel the need to swear at me all the time? Only time will tell but I really am pleased with the progress we have made this week and my new year’s resolution is to keep up the good work! – Ensure that I stay consistent, don’t praise her for my faults, stick to my dictionary and set time and special exercises aside to achieve my primary objective which at the moment is tighten up our corners to shave our times down.

I read a Chinese proverb recently ‘Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back’, I have dropped back and it’s time to start rowing again.

Hex and Stitch pull off “double” at Blackdown Limit Show

2011-01-31T14:46:00.001-08:00

As Lesley is always blogging about her shows I (Gail) thought it only right that I did the same for this show (especially as I ventured alone AND stole her dog) I have to admit that it was with the excitement of a giddy schoolgirl that I headed off to bed on Saturday evening...you know the feeling ..the realization that you won’t need an alarm clock as you are going to be fidgeting and fussing and generally packing your bag, your van and your (in my case) stash of pain medication in your head and that wobbly feeling in the pit of your stomach is going to have you heading along the landing in the wee (no pun intended) small hours ...well it’s something to do as you toss and turn through the night.

Anyway all packed and prepared I headed off down the motorway to Junction 26 with Hex and Stitch in tow...The seeds of doubt were appearing already in the mind of Hex as to where I had put her mummy but she seemed happy enough to join me in my car (we would surely meet up with her at the ringside) Stitch on the other hand was bouncing around and giving it his best wakey wakey whines and barks...like you really need that in your ear at the crack of dawn.

Once there I walked my first course..Stitch in the 4-7 Medium Jumping. I phoned Lesley before I ran him for a quick confidence boost. It was horrendous!! There were weird angles tight turns traps and you weaved twice. The sort of course I LOVED in my heydays but not with my little guy at his 3^rd ever show. I can’t remember her words of wisdom but they must have worked as he careered around it like a mad thing and it was only when I didn’t hear the Judge clap that I realized something was up...He had missed the last pole of the weaves the 1^st time through them and I hadn’t noticed...but I didn’t care he had done all the tough stuff.

Next run was “fire pants” herself.. the gobby redhead who answers to Hex...well she could answer to it if she wasn’t barking so darn LOUD!! I will never forget queuing with her...she was SO confident as we moved down the line that Lesley was going to turn up at the last moment. She fixed her eyes and her radar ears on the door and had that quizzical “Mummy??” look in her face right up until the moment I slipped her lead off and she just went “Ok you’ll do”. It was exactly the same course as Stitch’s but the angles and spacing for the larger dogs made things tighter and trappier but she fired around it beautifully and I knew if I am honest that she was unlikely to be beaten. It felt amazing. The score sheet provided conformation. She had indeed won. She had made my day already ..anything after that would just be icing on the cake.

Next run was the Large 4 & 5 Agility. For this I had my orders...hold her contacts and make her wait for the release word. It’s a toughie for me that one for, as a rule, I cannot keep my “competitive edge” in check. But it is to my credit (even though I do say so myself) that I not only managed to do it for Hex but also for my little Stitch too. Ok, so I mucked up the SAME snake of jumps with both of them TOO but on the whole I was still very proud of myself as it was very much a 1^st for my competitive “inner demon”.

Lastly was the “Fun Jumping” which was the same for all sizes of the 4-7 dogs. It was a sheer BLAST. Both Stitch and Hex thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They both went clear...Stitch being lucky enough to win his Medium class and Hex coming 5^th against some pretty fast Grade 6-7 dogs so I was thrilled. What a fabulous end to the day. Two firsts. Unbelievable.

I went to Birmingham & all I got was this lousy vet bed

2011-01-25T15:04:00.000-08:00

First show of the year! No Veterans for Sprite and no Kif because the show was indoors (he’s such a fraidy cat), so just Hex to play with. I must thank Mike for car sharing with me; I wouldn’t have travelled all that way for one dog if it hadn’t been for Mike sharing the petrol cost. So, the first show of the season and with a young dog and indoors; I wasn’t sure what to expect...

My first class was the G4-5 Jumping and guess what ending came up?! For anybody that was training the more complex ending of this week’s A-SIT course, it was indeed that ending. All week I have been telling you all to think about whether you play it safe as I did every time it cropped up last year or do you take the risk? So I was asking MYSELF that very question – the course was a complete blast up until that point so the round really was going to be won or lost with those last three jumps. I had practiced both ways with Hex Friday & Saturday and she had only managed to get the risky but quicker way right once or twice. But I decided after some persuasion from Mike & Abi that the risk was worth it – in it to win it and all that. Then Mike & I sat up in the balcony and watched dog after dog get it wrong, we both agreed I should abort the risk. Then when I joined the queue with Hex Abi asked me what I had decided to do and I was back to umm-ing and ahh-ing until I decided with about two dogs to go that I would play it safe only if I was clear to that point. Hex had pole 16 down so the risk was ON and she pulled it off beautifully, nice and tight, fast and accurate she completed the course in 24.061 seconds with just the 5 faults from the pole.

The G1-4 Agility was another blast and she missed the up of the seesaw, she just didn't see it so shot past it, but her contacts were the fastest they have been and she was so accurate – I wish we’d gotten the run on film, firstly to find out what happened at the seesaw and secondly to admire her contacts over and over. My last class was the G4 Agility; I took a risk which didn't pay off - my timing was a bit off throughout the whole run. But O-Well, Hex had fun and the parts we did right were breath taking so I was very proud of her. So I thought I’d treat her to some new fancy vet bed for her crate, she wasn’t that impressed, we’d walked past the shop a couple of times and she’d had a good sniff of some treats and toys but I got her bedding – she looked at me as if to say ‘is that it?, but I wanted yummies!’ – ‘Yes, Hex but I wanted a rosette’. Hopefully next time I’ll get my rosettes and she’ll get her yummies!

Back in Business

2011-01-18T14:07:00.000-08:00

Well lessons are back in full swing at A-SIT and boy are we busy, luckily the field is draining well and I have seen some very fancy footwear on your feet over the past couple of weeks – very nice!

Special mentions this week go Jeannette & Tess for coming back with a vengeance after a long break, Mum reports that they are better than ever, Helen & Lily are also on top form, pushing themselves to perfect new moves. Both Gill & Mollyanna and Alex & Sonny managed a complex layering sequence and I don’t know what’s got into Karen’s Barney – he was on fire this week, working independently but also in tune with Karen. Good work guys.

The Skinners have also being doing some work with our dogs, ticking off some winter training plan aims. Stitch has mastered a rear cross on the weaves and I have been trying to encourage Hex to think about where she can bounce and to do so where possible. She was fantastic , she clipped a couple of poles so there’s still more work to be done there, but I didn’t want to push her too hard. You might find it rather funny that she can’t bark and bounce at the same time! I thought I could hear myself commanding more than I usual and then pointed at why, she just didn’t have time to open her mouth. She has her first show of the year this Sunday, lets hope she’s a good girl and not quite as mental as she was at training on Wednesday night – Crazy Baby.

Christmas Time

2011-01-03T13:02:00.000-08:00

Last blog 28^th November.... whoops!

So what happened in December? Well as you all know Sarah broke her ankle, but she is behaving herself and resting-up and taking care of her injury so fingers crossed she will be running again by the end of 2011.

17 of us tucked into a yummy Christmas Meal at the Fox & Goose Pub. The food was really good, the company great and the plan is to go there again next year. I also had a lovely surprise in the form of a huge bouquet of purple & yellow flowers, very pretty- Thank you! : )

Many a lesson was called off due to snow and ice, leaving me feeling frustrated at letting people down... but also keeping me in the warm.

Christmas came and went. Thank you everyone for my cards and giftys. The cards decorated my room and I had a lovely day with my family and poorly boyfriend. I genuinely love Christmas, it’s my favourite time of year and could only be bettered with more Agility. This year the Christmas UKA show was cancelled due to snow BUT I was lucky enough to get a text to say that two spots had come up on an Anthony Clarke Course Analysis afternoon so Mum and I whisked those up. Hex worked like a dream out of the8 dogs there she was the only one not to get eliminated on the first course – she just had the last but one jump down (a spread). I got a lot out of the afternoon – I’d had things in my winter training plan which I wanted to cover, which apparently Hex can already do! and Anthony had me handle a section of the course a way that I NEVER would have walked it and it knocked a second off my time as Hex sped round Clear at our 2^nd go at the course, it’s given me something to think about anyway. I left feeling very proud of both Hex and Mum and Stitch.

Now to burn off the calories! I joined the SWAT lot for a walk and cakes and the Little Orchard lot for a walk and Pub visit over the holidays, although maybe the cakes and drink undid the good work of the walks. Maybe next year we’ll have an A-SIT walk?

So 2011 is now upon us. I have a lot to look forward to this year – A crackin’ young dog in Hex, an evolving Kif and more runs with my old man. A-SIT have a number of dogs coming out in 2011 and I’m looking forward to helping them develop and take their first steps in the competitive ring. O and if all goes to plan Hex babies late in the year and potentially a house move! Busy, busy, busy.... no change there then!

Happy New Year everyone! Wishing you all the best for the year ahead, a happy, healthy, successful 2011.

Lesley x

I’ll leave you with some pictures from the Christmas Meal, thanks Jeannette for taking them.

Ice Ice Baby!

2010-11-28T13:57:00.000-08:00

Well this week has been an odd and challenging week. I got to teach in the snow for the first time on Friday, on Saturday I had to cancel all my lessons with dogs jumping large and was unable to use the contact equipment until 11.30am and then today when I arrived at the field at 1pm to take Groups the ground and A-Frame were still frozen! That late in the afternoon - Crazy! So last minute course alterations had to be made.

But even with the disappointment of cancelled lessons, the challenges of adapting lessons to fit around what we could do and the freezing cold (literally!), I think everyone enjoyed themselves, particularly the Group members today who also got to join in with the piglet herding.

Achievements this week came from:

Anthony & Amy – who finished their lesson with a clear over a technical sequence which required perfect timing and who also (touch wood) seem to have mastered perfect speedy weaves! And I’m not just saying this cause Anthony was kind enough to bring me a hot chocolate in the icey cold – Well done Anthony & Thank you.

Maggie & Saffy and Rosie & Freddie – who got their first Clear Rounds over an entire course in Groups today. Great progress guys – Well done!

I know we’ve had a great week, but I would like it to warm up a bit now so that the large dogs can join in the fun!

Last KC Show of the season : (

2010-11-17T14:18:00.000-08:00

Off we headed to Dartmoor at stupid o’clock in the morning unaware of the eventful day which was to ensue.

Sprite had a run today, I wasn’t sure how his one eye would cope with running indoors in dim lighting, but as it was the lighting wasn’t too bad. He was doing a grand job until he landed funny on a jump near the end and twisted the wrong way.... unfortunetly he then couldn’t find me again so just jumped what he could see in the meantime – whoops!

Hex had a good show, but I really must stick to my guns – I’ve spent the last 3 works working on queuing her before corners and speeding up her contacts and in the jumping I wimped out on queuing her so she didn’t see jump 3 until it was too late and demolished it. And in the agility she was doing a lovely round – her A-Frame was the quickest it has ever been, but I sent her wide after it and then as she did the dogwalk, the round felt like a winning one so I panicked and over-worked the contact. If I’d just relaxed and run it was we’d been practicing I’d like to think we would have gone home with a trophy.

Stitch was at his second show and his first indoor show. Having won up at his last show he was also put into the 4-7 COMBINED classes! Mum knows she let him down in the agility – pulling out some ‘disco moves’ instead of handling moves that Stitch might recognise ; ) But he was confident and he flying and his contacts were fantastic. Clever boy!

In the jumping though Mum was fab, I walked the course with her and she talked me through what she had planned and told me that she would be putting her new independent weaves to use so I know that (unlike me) she did stick to her plans and did a cracking clear.

Results:

Hex – 4^th Grade 4 Agility

Gail & Stitch – 2^nd Combined 4-7 Jumping

Sarah & Elliot – Concussion! There’s a link to Sarah’s blog in the top right hand corner of this page if you want to see the video of the amazing flying Sarah. Hope you’re feeling better now hun and sorry my Hex headbutted you too! : s

Despite the wet and mud the show had a great vibe to it and so many of our SWAT friends were doing well – especially Mike & Rio who won the Grade 5 agility by 3 seconds taking him up to Grade 6! What a way to end the season!

As there is only one show left for us this year (and it’s a UKA – booooo!) I hope to be updating the blog with achievements of the up and coming A-SIT members not yet in competition. I have two special mentions this week. Firstly I want to say congrats to Olly & Marley – in the last group they pulled off their first clear round over a FULL course and they only went and did the same thing this week in training. Olly is completely new to Agility and has only been training for 7 months, if he can do a clear over one of MY courses this early on, next year competing in grade 1 should be fun! My second mention is Molly & Ben, Molly is our only A-SIT junior and in just 6 lessons and with the homework she has been putting in, she has taken a shy spaniel which wanted to glue itself to the seating area into a waggy spaniel who is happily completing sequences and progressing quickly with their 2o2o contacts. Keep up the good work guys!

All Stitch-ed up at BHC Show!

2010-10-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

Finally after much hard work and training Stitch was ready for his first show so we packed him into the van on Sunday feeling excited and with Mum feeling a wee bit nervous – Stitch was oblivious that the day would be any different.

His first run was the Graded 1-4 Agility and he was CLEAR, he ran cautiously, kind of ‘am I really allowed to play this time’ around the course, and Mum worked his contacts but he still won the class by 15 seconds! In his next two runs he was much more confident, in fact a little too confident because he wasn’t thinking about his weaves so rushed them and made mistakes. But we are still very proud of Stitch Grade 4 after only 32 seconds on grade 3!

Hex – 2^nd in Grade 4 Jumping

I let Hex down in her other classes with my crappy timing, but she was flying!

Kif - 3^rd in Grade 5 Jumping

I feel he would of had a really good place in the Combined 5-7 class, it’s was a fantastic course by Barrie James, but Kif ignore my ‘here’ and the arm telling him to jump and decided to do the weaves so we were E’d at Jump 3, but the rest of the course was a dream and worth a mention.

Sarah & Jemma came 11^th in the Combined 1-4 Jumping. Speedy Jem, Well done!

Honiton/Devon Dogs

2010-10-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

I think I’ve come to the point in the season where things start getting worse instead of better, it’s certainly time to slow down and embrace the upcoming break.

I consistently let Kif down and Hex was just mental and kept having poles (really enjoying her first G4 show!) – I’ve said this over and over but I need to spend more time with both Hex and Kif getting my timing sorted again, they're both so different and I'm so busy teaching, I don't have time for my own guys - it's not fair to leave them in the van all day and just get them out for 30mins at the end of the day when I'm knackered. I need to sort out a new routine! But along with the motivation to sort my life out we did go home with some pretty ribbons:

Me & Kif with Mike & Rio - 3^rd 1 -7 Pairs

Hex – 5^th G4 Agility

Sprite – Clear Anysize Jumping

Jane & Boot – 7^th G3 Agility

Well done to Jo as well cleaning up in the medium classes with Fluke

It is well and truly October – the weather today was really yucky, but the dogs were fab, lets hope we don’t get this wet every weekend.

Everyone should now have an email about the Xmas Meal – let me know if you’re going to be there. And I think we are literally days away from having access to embroidered merchandise!

Where was I? - Oh yeah - Blackdown

2010-09-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

This will learn me for leaving blogging to until the end of the week – I’m struggling to remember what went on!

I was really looking forward to Blackdown, with lots of A-SITters there and a number of SWATties there too, I thought it would be a good fun day out – only one problem – my back gave out.
I was stiff and sore after the Fun Day at the field and by Sunday I was just in pain! It was Hex’s last show as G3 so I really wanted to run it and gave it my best shot.

Sprite’s run was first thing, he did a lovely clear, only a slight deviation when I thought he was looking forward... but with only one eye, he was actually looking left – whoops! Blackdown only do clear rounds for veterans, they say that offering places encourages people to push their old dogs too hard – whatever! So he got a clear round rosette.

Poor Kif – he is so in tune with my body – so when I can’t move properly, he can’t run properly. I also missed walking one of his courses. Every time one of my dogs made a mistake, even if it was just a pole, I was making a quick dash to the finish line – I didn’t need to be running around any longer than I had to. But we did manage a 3rd in the Rescue Tunnel Fun class.

Hex cam 7th in G3 Jumping with me, but that was right at the start of the day, one of the courses was one big blast, I knew I’d never make the finish, so I asked Mum to step in – needless to say she jumped at the chance and did a very speedy clear so came 2nd in the G3 Agility. Although got a lot of stick for not ‘working’ Hex’s contacts – bad Mummy!

So A-SITters went home with the following rosettes under their arms:

Sprite
Clear – Veteran ‘Clear Round Only’ Jumping

Kif
3rd – Rescue Tunnel Fun

Hex
7th – G3 Jumping
2nd – G3 Agility (with Mum)

Emily & Alfie at their first proper KC Show
2nd – G1 Jumping

Sarah & Jemma
2nd – G2 Agility
3rd – G2 Agility

Well done everybody!

I taught my last evening lesson of the year tonight and am now going through the process of trying to find everyone regular day slots for the winter – which is proving challenging!
Also on the verge of sorting our Christmas meal (either the 12th or 13th of Dec – pencil it in!) and embroidered club wear.
Now off to bed, more lessons tomorrow then Honiton/Devon Dogs this weekend for the last camping show of the year.

A-SIT Fun Competition Day

2010-09-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

The sun was shining! Hip hip hip hooray!

I don’t know about everybody else, but I had a great day today! It was so nice to see so many people and their dogs relaxing at the field, and very exciting to see some of the new up and coming dogs strutting their stuff and doing their Mum’s & Dad’s proud. And so many personal goals achieved too; dogs that didn’t go home with any rosettes but achieved targets like running a whole course, running in front of other dogs, NEARLY getting clear rounds – so many near misses. But this is definitely something I would like to do again next year – so we can say ‘maybe next time’!

So here are the results:

Pre-Comp Agility:

1^st – Gail & Stitch

2^nd – Anthony & Amy

Competition Agility:

1^st – Sarah.L & Ru

2^nd – Jeannette & Tess

Trophy Dogs Agility:

1^st – Sarah.C & Jemma

Clear Round – Jane & Boot

Pre Comp Jumping:

1^st – Mum & Stitch

2^nd – Sadie & Carmen

Competition Jumping:

1^st – Alex & Sonny

2^nd... Everybody else got E’d!

Trophy Dogs Jumping:

1^st – Mike & Rio

2^nd – Jane & Boot

Well done everybody! And some special thanks to Sam for judging, Mum for her help with the paper work, Sarah, Mike & Abi for their ring partying and my fella Matt for timing.

Thanks Eveyone!

Gillingham

2010-09-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

I only spent the one day at Gillingham, but that was fine cause I still got to take some pretty ribbons home! And it was great to have my Mum back again... even if it did mean we had Stitch noise pollution ; ) ...which we’ll forgive him for when he’s competing – less than 5 weeks now!

Hex came 4th in G3 Agility (Club friends Mel & Lucas came 3rd – Well done to them!)
Hex was mental in her other runs and had 1 pole down in the jumping and an ‘up yours mummy’ E in the other agility – b*tch!

Kif cam 5th in the G5 Jumping – which I never would of expected at a champ show – very proud of him - it felt like I was running a 'normal' dog : )

Sprite had his first run since his op and he loved it – I mucked it up which is annoying because I was on his good side the whole may round until I said ‘go’ when I meant ‘here’, but I was very nervous about running him and I’m just pleased he was having a good time!

Jill had her first KC show with Jonah and he did her very proud, no ribbon yet, but not far off. He had killer contacts and some really smooth runs – next season he will be one to watch out for!

I FINALLY got time to have a sports massage from Tamzin Grimes at Body Mechanics – If you’re ever at a show and she’s working – book a slot! Seriously amazing job she did on my back. So I left the show happy, relaxed and ache free.

Not long now until the fun show (you A-SITters play nice with the Little Orchard group!) and then Blackdown where we have a number of A-SITters competing – exciting stuff!

(Ooo and I've started looking at Christmas Menus for our Dinner *dribble dribble*)

Just a quick catch up.

2010-09-07T09:21:00.000-07:00

I was at Prestbury Park this weekend, it’s a great show with a great venue and some really beautiful trophies... which I just missed out on 3 times!!!

Kif had a 4^th with the SWAT Dashin’ Dogs Team. He ran the fastest he ever has teamed up with Raq, Boo & Buell – Good Times!

Hex had a 4^th in the G3 Jumping & G3 Agility, unfortunately I can’t blame her for our lack of trophy, my handling was a little panicky and she did everything I said – I was just wrong. And my timing is still off with Kif, he got a couple of Clears in the G5 classes but he wasn’t fast enough because I wasn’t smooth enough – my poor dogs!

HUGE Congratulations to Jo with her SWAT Spaniel Fluke, for winning G4 Agility and going G5, I saw the winning round and WOW – you go girl!

Karen & Molly have been busy bunnies elsewhere over the past couple of weeks, well done for:

3^rd in 1-2 Jumping @ Bovey tracey

1^st in 1-2 jumping @ Cornwall

4^th 1-2 Steeplechase @ Tarka

And a 4^th in the 1-2 Helter Skelterand 3^rd in the 1-2 Jumping @ Dartmoor plus the cup for highest placed members large dog on the day.

Gillingham this Saturday and then the Fun Show – Rossettes have been ordered and courses planned so we’re good to go!

Dashin' Dogs!

2010-08-28T04:03:00.000-07:00

So I struggled to sum up the 3 day KC Festival – How am I supposed to sum up Dashin’ Dogs?!

Dashin’s Dogs is one of my favourite shows of the year and once again my other half, Matt joined me, much happier this time as we were in a caravan, not a tent this time J

We set up in the pouring rain on Thursday and it was pretty darn windy too! “If the caravan’s a rockin’, don’t come a knockin”?.... Well everyone’s caravans were rockin’ and no-one dare go out of theirs to go a knockin’!

Friday

Competition started, we were eased in with a half day of competition and reduced runs.

Hex opened her week with... you’ve guessed it – 5 faults! Not cool! And then another 5 faults – surely not!! I said to myself before we left for DD that I couldn’t take a WHOLE week of just 5 faults and as pleased as I was with how she was handling, and she really was handling well, I couldn’t believe our luck – why couldn’t those poles just stay up?!

Kif on the other hand had a fantastic start to the week – 14^th in the Combined 3-5 Jumping! The biggest class of the day and he was up there in the places.

Saturday

I shouldn’t of b*tched about 5 faults – today was the day of 10 faults from Hex – grizzle grizzle.

A 6^th in Veteran jumping from Sprite.

Sprite has slowed down a tad which was to be expected, running half blind. But he was still super speedy, his main time was lost when he lost me, this was either when he came out of a tunnel, if I did a reverse turn or on tight corners when I was on his blindside. Later on in the week he mistook the judge for me following a tunnel, but generally he would either get E’d by just doing what he could see or would lose time going wide or hesitating while he found me. But we’re adapting our partnership to cope and hoping for courses when Sprite’s on my right! We did get a couple more clears throughout the week, but only in the anysize classes where younger, faster dogs just kept pushing us out of the places.

Sunday

Things started looking up!

Hex gained a 5^th in the G3 Agility. Unfortunately I was handling like a numpty. I had stupidly started a count down of how many days I had left competing this year to go grade 4 and was also walking my agility courses thinking ‘this is the most important course of the day, I NEED this’. So my mind was in conflict – did I walk my courses ‘safe’ and concentrate on just keeping every pole up, or did I walk it to win it and take risks? When running courses – should I work my contacts assuming the fatal pole would fall or do quick releases to gain time, but lose consistency? I was totally over-thinking and when in the ring I was unable to breathe and my limbs were visibly shaking – what was wrong with me putting all this pressure on myself and a young dog?

Kif managed a Clear in the G5 Jumping but my timing was off with him all week, I cost him so many places, either miss timing manoeuvres or sending him wide and costing him time

Monday

The day off. A day of stinking weather to sit around wishing we were running. I got serious Cabin fever!

Tuesday

Another Clear with Kif and an entertaining run with him in which a small ‘hurricane’ hit whilst he was in the ring, everything we approached blew down and we were dodging wings left right and centre, if I hadn’t bodged his weave entry I think we might of got a nice place... mainly from the time we saved not having to actually jump 4 obstacles! Nothing with Hex though – Back to our 5 faulting ways – so frustrating! Also a rather surprising refusal. She nipped under a jump to get to some weaves, she just didn’t see the jump, whipped her round to try again, she did it again! She just wasn’t seeing the jump, so I set her in a wait and she did it... but all the poles stayed up – so this got me doing more dangerous thinking – when we made mistakes – were the poles staying up cause I was handling differently, or were they staying up cause she knew she’d gone wrong so therefore was running with less throttle? Or was it all just a happy coincidence? I never managed to answer this question because on

Wednesday

She got a 10^th in G3 Jumping (really rubbish course walking from me!) and a 2^nd in G3 Agility! – Yes another 2^nd, her fifth one – so close but yet so far and she was leading the class for so long *sigh* and we were only off by something like 0.221 of a second.

Matt dedicated today to agility (he had spent most of the week being sensible and hiding in the caravan with a book... and cooking me yummy meals), but Wednesday he made a vow to watch every run of mine and he was true to his word he became my lucky mascot and kept control of the ninjas (don’t ask!), as a thank you I gave him the last run of the day with Hex – The Flick-Flack challenge; Now as most of you know a flick-flack, or ‘snake’ is not the easiest of exercises for a ‘newbie’ to master and the course consisted of 4 snakes made up of 4 jumps each. Matt has probably only mucked around at the field with Hex twice, but he took his instructions and did SUCH a good job. All the SWATties gathered round to watch and he did himself and Hex very proud, he just sent her wide round number 2 so she missed it out, but he picked her straight up for number 3 and continued to do the rest of the course fast, tight, and clear – if he hadn’t made that initial mistake I’m sure he would of made top 5 but it was not to be which is a shame. I wish I’d recorded it, it was a thing of beauty... unlike Kif’s G5-7 Flick Flack challenge – Yvonne Goode set a wicked course, I arsed up infront of the tunnel, managed to save it after Kif span and barked at me a number of times and then bodged my way round the rest of the course, I wasn’t even sure when I’d finished if I’d completed the course correctly – but I had and he came 12^th... no thanks to me!

Thursday

FINALLY it all came together!

After my success with Matt watching the previous day I insisted that he come watch at least Hex’s runs on the Thursday (superstitious, me?!), armed with a clover (just a 3 leaf one – don’t ask, the weather made us all a little crazy).

Hex’s first run of the day was G3 Agility in ring 1, it really wasn’t a Hexy course, minimum distances, on a steep slope, and her first run of the day, which is usually the most mental. I was queuing up with Matt and voicing my thoughts, I told him I’d walked the start to play it safe and that I apologised if it looked a bit messy, he said ‘I thought you were in it to win it?’, to which I replied ‘I am! But I need to go clear’, but the seed of doubt was planted and now a decision had to be made with 4 dogs to go... and I’m VERY indecisive, out of the blue I say to Matt ‘pull her, or push her?’ referring to the safe (pull) or the risky (push) option – I expected him to just pick one, not really knowing what I wasn’t talking about, but he asked me what I meant so I explained so he answered ‘ it’s your last day, go for it, PUSH!’, I looked at what I was going to be asking Hex to do, the pole before the A-frame was a huge risk, I was worried she either wouldn’t see it (like so many others), or would smoosh it (like most of the others)..... ‘mmmm, okay’ I answered, but decided not to watch anymore dogs running incase my mind was changed back.

So I pushed, and was in total shock as she cleared all the jumps leading out AND the risky jump before the A-Frame, sh*t, now I’m on the wrong side, a quick rear cross fixed that and into the weaves, wow that was a speedy see-saw, now when I walked this course I didn’t think I could get there but.... hey yeah, I’ve got time, across the face of the tunnel I whip and on to the dog walk, wow she’s moving – O man, down hill minimum box work with an A-Frame trap, the familiar sound of a toenail on a pole – it’s still standing! Don’t rush her, a wide turn – 2 jumps to go – Clear! ‘O wow, wow, really nice’ said the scrimer to the scorer behind her. Poo, I thought, that means I’m in the lead which means poo, I’m going to come 2^nd again. I didn’t tell Matt what was going through my head, just that I was pleased with all but the wide turn and thanks for his help.

Later on in the day we ran Marie Douglas’s Agility and went into 3^rd (we ended up 4th), I waited till I was alone and went down to check Ring 1, my ticket wasn’t on top, O well, I thought, 2^nd again, let’s see what that wide turn cost me, I flicked on to my ticket in 2^nd place – HEY! Wait a second! My time was faster than the dog on the top of the pile by half a second! – I pointed this out to the scorer, she corrected her error – I was back in the lead and there I stayed!!! Winning the class by just under half a second. Matt and the SWATties came to my presentation as did Hex (I always take my dogs up to collect their prize if the win), although she wasn’t that impressed to be ringside in her ‘posh’ clothes, with no work to be done teehee.

Dashin’ Dogs have their announcements on tanoy and over the radio, lots of people heard and congratulated me, but it still didn’t sink in until I was home – We’d finally after so many near misses, achieved our first goal – to win up to G4. : )

Phew, now I might actually start running like a normal person again! I have some new bits and bobs I’d like to work on with Hex, so must find the time before our first run at G4 – Devon Dogs/Honiton – Bring it on!

Away from the rings I had a great show, with great company, Abi and I enjoyed some entertaining walks, Matt & I enjoyed some fun nights in and out with the SWATties, celebrating their many successes. Alot of you know Mike & Rio – he gained enough points to go Grade 5 and won a fair few trophies along the way – we drank to that!

The weather wasn’t great, but I don’t think I spoke to anyone who didn’t enjoy their time there.

I’m just sorry that there are no videos to view, but here's my Baby looking beautiful with her win out trophy.

While the Lel's away the A-sitters still play!!

2010-08-22T13:10:00.000-07:00

Hello A-sit folk. Somehow I have managed to "glean" the password of Sprite's Blog in Lesleys absence. This is handy as..... I thought I would like to report on how i am finding it.. being her right hand woman....wing man,general dogsbody or whatever it is that i am whilst she is away hopefully adding to her points/rosette tally for this agility season.

Where to start?? Well first and foremost I would like to thank everybody for...still turning up...JUST kidding there guys. I have to say that although I was the one who started agility in the Skinner household so many years ago, spending long hours training and coaching Lesley and her brother Paul, I haven't ever really seen myself as a regular trainer. It's been Lesley who has inspired me (that's another way of saying nagging...but in a GOOD way!!) to get the Kennel Club Approved Instructor qualification so that I can step forward and have confidence to share my experience with people and coach partnerships in the sport I have had such passion for over the years.

This break of Lesleys' is a golden opportunity for me to pick up the reins on some pretty impressive up and coming woofs and their human counterparts.It's looking good folks. Contacts are being touched,weaves are being negoitated and I have seen some of the most impressive directional controlwork over the last week. Lesley appears to be shaping you into some great handlers and you are working hard both in the lessons and with the homework being set. Remember it pays dividends guys so keep up the good work. Hopefully when I hand you all back to her she will see that nothing has slipped...that's a hint by the way not to drop me in it by saying "left" to your dog when you actually mean "right" ...I will never hear the end of it ok :-)

Well I better get off to bed - another set of lessons tomorrow night. Thank you once again everybody for making me feel so welcome and not glaring at me too hard when I say "can you just do that one again".She will be back very soon but you have made me feel very valued also.

Gail

International KC Festival.... British Weather

2010-08-16T15:14:00.000-07:00

So on Thursday I headed off to my first International KC Festival, where do I start?!

The show was huge, really, really HUGE. There were people camped only rows away from me that I didn’t see until I went to leave. There were 17 rings, 18 if you include the practice ring!

When I took Hex down through the caravans for her first run she was her usual mental self, bouncing back and forth tugging her lead, then as the caravans cleared to reveal the rings she dropped her lead and just stood there open mouthed and looked at me as if to say ‘woah!’. I laughed out loud at her, scruffed her head and headed off to our first run.

Hex worked so well at this show, she was really driving on when on the straight and responding beautifully to my shoulders and arms, even when it got to slippery for me to run to where I usually would, she listened to her ‘go go’s’ and followed the line that my arm sent her in. Unfortunately though, she was still clipping the odd pole and when she picked her feet up, I let her down; the competition at the show was soooo hot, I was aiming for the tightest turns and twice, I called her off route too soon. She did however manage to go clear and come 20th in the qualifier and the course was the stinkiest I have ever run with her, I was so nervous I just aimed her at each jump and didn’t work any corners and she was still fab. All I had to do was go clear in the jumping round to qualify for the final – I have never been so nervous with her and it got the better of me, I swung around from jump 2 to 3 so quick she didn’t see it and picked up on the long jump – it happened so quickly I wasn’t even sure she had missed it so carried on and got E’d, but the rest of the run was clear and accurate – I just spent the rest of the show kicking myself. Kif was a speed demon and had 2 out of 4 clears, he was running his fastest, but unfortunately for him, at the KC fest he still wasn’t quite quick enough.

There were no veteran classes for Sprite so I brought him a ‘Dog Tornado’ to play with, it’s a treat based toy he has to learn how to operate in order to obtain the treats – he is supposed to use logic to locate and obtain the treats – he is just enjoying bashing it at the moment : )

Thunder, lightning and rain kept crossing the show ground the whole weekend, but it didn’t seem to dampen the atmosphere until a collie got spooked in one of the storms and did a runner, everyone rallied together to search for him, fortunately he turned up 8 miles away and was returned to his daddy the next morning.

I would really recommend the KC Festival, I wouldn’t want to run anymore than 2 dogs at it and I advise that if you are camping then you should volunteer to help for a day, it drastically improves where you are situated for the rest of the weekend and you get a T-Shirt, lunch and raffle entry.

I’ll leave you with some of Hex’s highlights:

Pick your ruddy feet up!

2010-08-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of blog, I’ve had some time off from shows and haven’t had any texts or emails with anyone else’s results so nothing to write!

I was at Lansdown on Sunday and had a great day. My chum Clare came to watch her first dog show and my guys put on a good show for her. Kif did 2 lovely clears, so tight and so fast, I was certain he was in for a place in the Gr5 Jumping, but not quite fast enough and I knew he didn’t stand a chance in the 3-7 Circular Jumping bless him. Hex decided that after her break she was going to come back... and do exactly what she was doing before – a pole in each, but she was running like a dream and it did give me a chance to work her contacts and they were speedy and solid – loved it!

Elsewhere Jane got a 3^rd in ‘Snakes & Ladders’ jumping with Welly & a 2^nd in the Snooker with Boot.

Tomorrow, I’m leaving for my first KC Festival – not sure what to expect, seems to be a love it or hate it event but I’m excited anyway especially after how Hex ran tonight at SWAT.

While I’m away I’ll be planning the courses for the fun competition which is just over a month away and lessons for Mum to take whilst in my absence. Exciting stuff and lots of newbies to play with – Welcome All : )

Boot does it again!

2010-08-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

Well done to Jane and Boot for winning the Grade3 Agility at the Limit show this weekend.
The previous week Jane had lots of clears but was just out the placings, this week he was back on top. Congrats! : )

Meddle not in the affairs of the dragon; for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

2010-07-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

For those of you who wonder what on earth dragons have to do with Agility; we were at Caerphilly show this weekend and Caerphilly Show = Dragon trophies! Much sort after Dragon trophies.

I have won trophies at Caerphilly before, but only in sponsored classes, so never a dragon and I was determined to win one this year and name him Borris! .... But it was not to be. Hex decided to remain consistent and clip just one pole in a majority of her classes , Sprite was out of action and when Kif wasn’t being special needs – I was! We did have some good results though:

Hex

15^th – C3-5 Dog Vegas Qualifier

Kif

4^th – G5 Jumping (Just 0.3secs off a Dragon!) Video to follow

Sarah & Jemma

4^th C1-2 First Contact Agility- Qualifying her for her first Agility Final!!!

Sarah & Jemma had about as many ‘if only’ rounds as I did with Hex this weekend

Sarah & Elliot

2^nd – Grade 2 Jumping = DRAGON! Sarah has named her Dragon Fred

Jane & Boot

9^th – G3 Agility. Not an easy course – Well done!

Borris, I will be coming for you next year!!!

South Devon

2010-07-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

Two years running this has been one of my favourite shows of the year, but this year was different.

I don’t want to dwell on it too much as the day has been and gone and thanks to pep talks from Karen, Ang, Mike, Toni & Daz (and a call to France) I made it through the day and didn’t leave at 10.30 when I had planned to after my first couple of runs.

I felt completely overwhelmed emotionally from Sprite’s deteriorating health and spent the morning on the verge of tears and making stupid mistakes with Hex. Ironically Sprite’s runs were the best of the day, he had a 3^rd & a 5^th even with tunnel vision and stiffening limbs.

And that’s all the news really. We’re looking into getting Sprite different meds but it looks like this really will be his last year in competition and after over 11 years competing in the ring with him I am finding it very difficult to come to terms with, we’ll just have to see how the next couple of months pan out.

Burtle Demo

2010-07-17T12:31:00.000-07:00

Can't believe we pulled this one off! Hardly any dogs, even less people and we still managed to entertain Burtle... even if it was only for 16mins of the 30 we were allocated : s

I know that Spud & Tess were put off by having the A-Frame first - unfortunately the overhanging tree meant I couldn't have a jump before it as had been planned but Kelly & Jeannette both stuck with it and finished their runs really well all things considered. Chas was a good boy and so was Welly, poor Sprite is still struggling to see properly, he only lost the tunnel 2 jumps before the end and he still had fun, but seeing him this way is really upsetting me - I don't think I will be entering anymore shows with him.

Hex, Boot & Rio put in some lovely clears.

A-SIT cleaned up in the show's competitions:
Charley (Kelly's Daughter) & Spud won Best Fancy Dress as Little Red Riding Hood with Spud dressed as the wolf in Granny's clothing - so cute!
Anne's Chas won most Handsome Dog
Hex won Best Trick with her elephant stand trick... only we did it on an overturned metal dog bowl and passed it off as tap dancing - teehee!)

Thank you so much to everyone that took part, special thanks to Matt (The Muscles) & Mandy (MC) who didn't even have a dog to play with and also to Kelly & Jane for the extra work they put in at the field. EVERYONES help made the equipment moving really smooth. Thanks to Burtle Church for having us and to Richard for the use of his trailer.

Cornwall & Diamond Dogs

2010-07-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

Cornwall

Up at 4.30am in the morning Matt & I travelled south to possibly the only place in the country where it was raining and for what? – More ruddy poles!!!

Hex had a pole in both jumpings and fell off the dog walk in the agility – whoops!

Sprite still wasn’t 100% - He did a lovely clear round up until the end – He thought he had finished, but he actually had 2 more jumps to do. When I asked him to do the last ones he was confused and thought he’d gone wrong, I think he’s seeing in a sort of tunnel vision, he’s aware of what’s in front of him but doesn’t seem to know what’s around him. He went in the wrong end of the tunnel in the agility but had fund.

Kif had 2 clear rounds – just out the placings in each.

So not a great day.

Bit of a better day at Diamond dogs, although I made some silly mistakes.

Kif got a clear

Hex got a 6^th

I did get to try out some of my ‘new moves’ in the jumping and considering she’s only got to practice them twice she did one VERY nice turn – thanks Baby!

Well done to Jane for 4x Clears with Boot & achieving her Agility Warrant Bronze!

Sprite had a really nice walk Abi & Kim and their dogs so he’d didn’t miss out even though he didn’t have any runs.

Now I have a Demo to organise for Saturday and lessons to finishing planning for Little Orchard.

It’s Thursday! – When did that happen?!

2010-07-07T23:30:00.000-07:00

Tuffley shows seems a bit of a blur now so I am straining my grey cells to remember what happened.

Results:

Hex
9th CSJ 3-5 Qualifier
Kif
3 x Clears

Sarah & Elliot
28th C1-4 Jumping
Sarah & Jemma
2x Clears

Hex was being a clumsy b*tch again – a pole in everything Saturday and not even my ‘keep ‘em up’ yellow trousers could keep all the poles up Sunday but she did put in an okay run in the CSJ – Probably was the most wide and ‘novice’ run I’ve put in, in a while, I could feel my arms flaying and preyed the poles stayed up which they did.

I left Tuffley feeling rather blue. I had a great time camping, tucking into a BBQ, sharing cake and catching up with people ringside but my heart just wasn’t in it and I missed Sprite (who is still not 100%). Little things were upsetting me and it was hard to cover it up. But I felt much better after a private lesson with Anthony on Monday morning, I won’t bore you with the details but I feel much better about myself and inspired to do some new exercises with Hex. It’s so difficult to find time for your own dogs when you’re teaching all the time – especially in the weather we’ve had; it’s too hot to leave a dog in the car & I’m completely drained. But I MUST find time or my dogs will go to waste.

Stitch is back to his terrierish self... although he is still supposed to be ‘taking it easy’. He’s on holiday in France at the moment with Mum, Dad & Phee – I hope they have a fantabulous time!

Beware – Seconditis is contagious!

2010-06-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

Sarah diagnosed herself with ‘seconditis’ after receiving her third 2nd in Agility early this month. This weekend I got two 2nds in agility taking my total to four, that’s four times I have almost been able to taste Grade 4 with Hex. The win has got to be near – surely? I have more than enough points to go up, but Hex deserves the win so I’m going to hold on.

All in all I enjoyed Lansdown, although I had to be talked into staying on Sunday because I was feeling so drained after Saturday. Saturday was just hard work and I felt so guilty I couldn’t do more to help on Ring 1, or more to assist fellow A-SITters but I was camped SO far away and there was just too much to do! The heat also got to me and to Kif and the ring party on the team ring were appalling (with the exception of Jayne, who was the only person who made sense!). You are told teams are priority and that you must run in order and yet we managed to have 3 teams infront of us for 50 minutes (no wonder Sarah and I couldn’t get back to Ring 1 to assist!)– someone explain how that works? We were advised to stand in the shade, which we did and the longer we did the more teams pushed infront, so when we went to claim our place in the queue, the caller lays into members off our team – if I had seen her do this she would of got a mouth full back from me – I was NOT in the mood! And I’m sorry that Kelly & Emily had to see one of the more ugly sides of agility. If the teams were run in order as they should have been in the first place none of this would have been a problem. The SWAT team I was in last week also had a run in with a useless ring party, I know these people are volunteers but they are volunteering to do a job – so do it right and refrain from being rude and abusive! Rant over.

So how did we get on?

Hex
2nd – G3 Agility
2nd – G3 Agility
Kif
10th G4 Jumping

Sarah & Jemma
8th – G1 Jumping

Jane & Boot
3rd - Crufts Team with Diamond Dogs
4th G2 Agility
And I’m sure she had something else too – will update when I know!

And club friends Mel & Lucas got 2 x 2nds! What a star!

Looking forward to starting groups today, lets hope there’s a bit of a breeze blowing!

Busy busy busy

2010-06-22T14:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry, this is going to be a short one, but I if I don’t write this in the short time I have now, then before I know it we’ll have more to report from Lansdown and I’ll get behind myself!

Golden Valley was a lovely show as usual, held at Top Barn, which is a lovely show ground but for some reason doesn’t seem all that lucky for me, Hex had another demolition week, I missed one of Kif’s runs and he hates the fact they keep half a rattley noisy lorry by 4 of the rings so runs down that end of the show ground I might as well miss anyway! And Sprite was a good boy, but unfortunately is being joined in the Veteran/Anysize classes by new younger veterans who are just that bit quicker and more mobile than he is.
I have some great videos but no time to edit them or convert them for sharing, so will add them eventually! I also have most of Sarah’s vids which I must convert for her! No rest for the wicked!

I got to try out my new caravan which was great- can’t wait to redecorate and make it my own.

Results:

@Golden Valley
Kif
2x Clear Rounds (too hot and noisy for speedy Kif to show his face)
Hex
6th C3-4 Jumping (My last run of the weekend and I played it safe to keep the poles up, which meant that in the end I was actually happier with some of the rounds where she clipped poles)
Sprite
7th Anysize Jumping

Sarah & Jemma
5th C1-2 Jumping

@ Barnstaple
Jo & Charlie
Their 1st Clear round in the C1-7 Steeplechase!!

Karen & Molly
5th C1-2 Jumping
Clear – C1-7 Steeplechase

@UKA Aldon
Jane & Boot
1st Gamblers
2nd Agility
7th Jumping

Elsewhere
Barbara & Dex
Best in Show!
You may think this isn’t agility related, but Pedigree Boxer Dex started agility this month to boost his confidence and trust in Barbara so that he would hold his head and tail high in the show ring (which he previously hadn’t been) – So this is still an A-SIT result – Well done handsome fella!

So that’s all to report that I’m aware of, let me know if you have any other news. This week we have a fun course set at the field, next week we have our first A-SIT group lessons and I’m also in the process of planning us another fun competition for September and our July Demo. Ooo and I have a newsy newsletter to produce. There just aren’t enough hours in the day!

A-SIT do it AGAIN!

2010-06-14T15:22:00.000-07:00

@Thames
Hex
4th G3 Agility
6th C1-4 Jumping
11th C3-5 Agility (Olympia Qualifier)

Sprite
14th Veteran Jumping

Sarah & Jemma
2nd C1-2 Agility
4th G1-2 Agility
11th C1-2 Jumping
Sarah & Elliot
17th G1-2 Agility

Jo & her SWAT dog, Fluke
A 2nd, 3rd, 7th & 14th

@Wyre Lancs Agility Club Show
Jane & Boot
1st Jumping
3rd Agility
4th Agility
1st Agility!!! Boot has won in to Grade 3 – Woohoo!!!

@Carn Brea
Karen & Molly
2nd C1-2 Jumping
6th Gr1 Agility
Karen’s next show will be at Grade 2 following progression by points – well done!

Once again I am a very VERY proud trainer : )
On a separate note; judges that set courses where they cannot see when a dog puts 4 feet on a contact should not be judging a CSJ qualifier! And certainly should not fault what they cannot see! That is all I will say on the matter – Sarah, Mum, Nat, Matt and most people at Thames have heard MORE than enough.

Go Team!

2010-06-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday’s demonstration was a success, the audience enjoyed themselves, the dogs enjoyed themselves and I hope you all did too.

Chas won the overall competition and Tess, Alfie, Kif & Sprite won the races at the end.

Thank you to everybody that helped set up, especially Jeannette, Sarah, Tasha, Mum & Matt who did all the loading and unloading with me at the field.

Here's the Vid:

Wye Valley-Why me?!

2010-06-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

Despite the heat Hex still kept up the speed she’s gained along with the clumsy. She has become a 5 fault wonder and when she managed to keep poles up she fluffed things she knows perfectly well how to do; weaves and the seesaw would you believe?! She is MENTAL atm which is fine, I’m loving the speed, but we are going to have to do grid work at the new speed and I’ll be cracking out the wooden poles in training. The most disappointing run for me was the team – Raq, Boo & Kif all did amazing clears and Hex, our last dog took out 3 jumps – it’s one thing fluffing our runs but when she mucks up a team and there was nothing I could do about it, it leaves a bitter feeling no matter how much you love the dog.
Next week at least I won’t have Mum going into the tent and looking at times and letting me know ‘you would of won that’ or ‘wow, that was an expensive mistake’. As exciting and encouraging as it is to know where you would have been, it’s also sickening and sometimes not worth dwelling on.

There were no runs for Sprite this weekend, but Kif had some goodun’s I could kick myself over some stupid handling errors though, forgetting to throw an arm out, not working a weave entry, sending him wide – he’s a different dog at the mo and I’m still adjusting, but that’s no excuse – I’m just not focused and I’m letting mistakes happen and letting him down when he’s giving me his all. Kif did manage to get a 3rd in Grade 4 Jumping though and with a wide turn in the wrong direction (I will add the vid soon), without the wrong turn we would of had 2nd, but we couldn’t of touched 1st. I’d love to get a 1st with Kif by the end of the year, he’s getting a fair amount of 3rds now and he did once have a 2nd so it’s there.

Outside of the competing we had a really nice show. We went swimming in the river... well kind of, all the dogs did except Hex who can’t really swim, she can sink, bounce and float but just doesn’t seem to understand swimming. We had a good laugh with the SWAT lot in the evening and a wicked takeaway, which went late into the night and was only cut short when some locals set off fireworks right next to the showground!!! Madness then ensued and everyone checked their dogs were where they should be and the whole campsite echoed with howling, crying, barking dogs. If I’d been in the excercise area with mine I know I would of lost both Sprite and Kif, lucky for me my 4 were tucked up in bed, but others weren’t so lucky; 4 dogs went missing and a search party of around 80 people scoured the showground for them, thankfully they were all found, but it could of been much MUCH worse, we were next to a river and not far from a main road.

Elsewhere at Carn Brea Karen and Molly had:
3rd in Comb Agility
6th in Comb Jumping
Well done guys, really pleased Molly’s contacts are sticking

And A-SIT member Sarah and her team won their flyball division today – multi talented dogs she has!

We have the demo on Wednesday and I’m excited and nervous... but more excited ; )

SWAT Show

2010-05-31T01:46:00.000-07:00

As a rule, I never do well at a show when I’m helping, so joint ring managering with my Mum you would have thought would doom me for failure... how very wrong I was!

A-SIT got the following results:

Kif
3rd G4 Jumping
7th G3-5 Jumping
12th G1-7 Jumping

Hex
2nd!!!! G3 Agility (soooo close!)
3rd G3 Jumping
19th G3 Jumping (due to a trip Hex took to the tunnel before listening to her Mummy!)

Sprite
1st Veteran Jumping

Sarah & Elliot
2nd G1 Jumping (Yay Mr.E!)
8th G1 Agility (Elliot’s first EVER clear in Agility after much hard work from Sarah on his contacts and weaves – great to see some results)

Sarah & Jemma
3rd G1 Jumping (a fraction of a second behind Elliot!)
Sarah has also decided to take Jemma up to Grade 2 on points so when she does get her Agility win, she’ll be a Grade 3.

Jane & Boot
3x Clears in various Jumping classes
UKA Phoenix show last week they also got a 4th

Karen & Molly
3rd G1 Jumping
5th G1 Agility
4th G1 Agility
4th Gr1 Jumping

So a really REALLY great show as a club for us and very proud to have you kitted out in club colours, especially when Sarah & Karen collected 4th, 3rd and 2nd in the same class!

Kif is jumping like a ‘normal’ dog. Hex was examined on site by the SMART Clinic and her recent pole hitting is due to a tight quad and back – all muscular which can be fixed with special stretches over the next week. Sprite was strutting his stuff in the Veteran ring. I am one very happy handler and trainer.

Thank you to SWAT for such a great show and to everyone that spared time to help on our ring.

And on a completely different note – Happy Birthday to Kelly (Spud's Mummy) for this weekend!

I've decided not to go to Packington today as I have way too much to do before I go away tomorrow, so I'm going to set about organising the A-SIT demonstration day, sorting out some lesson plans for Mum and I'll see you all in a week’s time! x

The sun was shining on Kif today : )

2010-05-22T13:51:00.000-07:00

Not so much on Hex – I need to spend some more time on my own dogs as well as other peoples! It’s so hard finding the time, but she is a young dog and she confirmed today that she needs it. I went all the way up to Luton for the Olympia Qualifier, I was up at 4.20am and had a 3 hour drive and all to watch Little Miss Hex continue to flaunt about the agility ring like she owns the place. A pole in each run again (2 in the agility), wide turns, and just a genuine ‘bitchy’ feel to her. Even chilling out ring side she wouldn’t look at me when I asked her to. Princess Hex was in her own little world – she needs to come back down to earth and FAST!

As for Kif, well I could just hug and squeeze him! (If he’d let me.... which I don’t think he would).

I couldn’t believe when I got my running orders that we’d entered him in the NBC 4-7 Comb Jumping against 288 other Collie/Collie Crosses..... ‘Why?!’ I asked myself – but the course was a shitter and he was fab, continuing his good stride work he followed every line of my body (even when I sent him wide twice—whoops!). At the prize giving I was listening to all the dogs called before me and I was certain Kif couldn’t of completed a course faster than them – but some handling risks we made paid off – 17th overall – against some of the top dogs around – 288 of them!!! Ahh AMAZING! And then to top it off he came 7th in the Grade 4 Jumping. Kif doesn’t like the heat and he was by no means moving his fastest but he wasn’t measuring or hanging about in the air so we can definitely work with this – come on Kifley-Koo!

Unlucky...

2010-05-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

They say that things tend to come in 3s; well, Hex had a pole in the jumping, a pole in the agility and I lost my van keys!!! They came out of my pocket in the exercise area and I didn't realise until I was back at the van! Luckily as it had been a sunny day I had left the back of the van open so the dogs could still be let out, so the only panic was - how do I get home?!
It's in situations like this that Agility people really do shine. I went to the secretary's tent and had an announcement put out and a set of keys was handed in!.... not mine though. Abi helped me double check my van and make a quick trip round the exercise area, Sarah and Natalie spent in total (2 trips) approx an hour and 20mins with me walking up and down the length of the HUGE exercise area and eventually the lost was found, but I had 4 offers, including one from a complete stranger to help me get my dogs home and an offer from Nat to take me back up to retrieve my van. I am so SO grateful, if it wasn't for all the fantastically supportive friends (& strangers) I had around me, I would of been in melt-down.

Unfortunately my last runs of the day did suffer though - my mind wasn't with it. I ended up on the wrong side of the line home with Sprite and sent him the wrong way and I wasn't in the right place to work Kif's contacts. Kif did however put in one fab run - his first of the day, he came 28th in the Comb 3-5 Jumping. 28th, you say - pah! But I was soooo pleased with this run, he was up against 280 other dogs and this wasn't a 'Kiffy' course, there was a big straight line across two side of the ring on the way home - and for the first time EVER in the ring, Kif ran the line 'properly', no silly steps, no extra high jumps and no measuring he was FAB. Very VERY pleased.

Hex's poles were due to me rushing and nagging her round corners, but what elsedid she expect after last week? I need to be on this dogs case if she's going to keep choosing her own course! I did some work today at the field to work on her trusting me when I get in front of a jump at speed that I'm not going to get in her landing space and I was pleased with the results. Lets see if we can pick our feet up on Saturday!!!

More Good Results

2010-05-11T07:35:00.000-07:00

Well not for Hex who decided 3 times to turn a deaf ear and pick her own course. If I had been more on the ball I probably could have saved her mistakes - I think it may have officially been our first ‘off’ day, which is odd because the bits before the eliminations felt amazing - 2 of the E’s were two obstacles from the end!!

But dogs that did listen to their Mummies at Blackdown were:

Sprite
Clear in the Anysize Jumping (This class was a clear rounds only class, no places given. So he did the best he could)

Kif
7th 4-5Comb Jumping
12th 3-4Comb Jumping

Sarah & Elliot
4th 1-3Comb Helter Skelter
Sarah & Jemma
3rd 1-3 Graded Agility

Karen & Mollie
6th 1-2Comb Jumping
9th 1-3Comb Jumping

Jeannette & Tess
3rd in the Small Gr1-3 Graded Agility even with 5 faults (pole down), but places were only given to 2nd so for the third time they have just missed out on a numbered rosette. Next time Girls!

Elsewhere Jane & Boot achieved three 4ths! And would have won the Agility if Jane hadn’t knocked over the last Jump!

Jo & Charlie also had their first show at Blackdown and they were fab, the only real mistakes made were around the weaves which Jo is working on with Charlie at home. Watch this space!

North Somerset Show

2010-05-03T13:36:00.000-07:00

I thoroughly enjoyed judging today, I had a great ring party and some good classes and I was really really pleased with how my courses ran and with the positive feedback I received. So often you miss watching your friends run but for an entire day I got a front row seat!

Inbetween the wind, rain and hail, I somehow managed to get sun burnt! With the weather changing every 30mins, so did my outfit and layers, but I was very proud to be wearing my A-SIT zip-up today because everyone did so well and it was so great to see everyone in their gear as well, representing! Even the dogs were wearing our club colours today, Jeannette and her American friends have made Tess and Pixie the coolest little coats complete with club logo – they looked fantastic, I hope to get my hands on a picture of them soon to share for anyone who missed them.

Anyways on with the important stuff, the results!:

Sarah & Jemma:
2nd – Gr1 Agility (it won’t be long until the red ribbon is in her grasp!)
7th – Combined 1-2 Jumping

Jane & Boot:
6th - Combined 1-2 Jumping

Jeannette & Tess (at their first KC Show):
Clear in Gr1-3 Jumping (They actually finished 7th overall, but unfortunately placed rosettes were only to 6th).

Sarah & Elliot and Jane & Welly also deserve a special mention because these are two very excitable dogs who coped extremely well with the atmosphere that this show provides and the increased nerves that handlers let off from being in front of a public crowd and running in my classes!
Elliot did his waits and Welly got his weave entries and did some beautiful sequences within my courses.

Shrewsbury

2010-05-03T13:35:00.001-07:00

With my arm improving all the time, I felt my handling was nearly back on form, but I still gave Mum Kif’s Agility runs cause she agreed to come to the show with me last minute to help me set up my tent and keep me company! Saturday was an extremely frustrating day for me with Hex – she had a pole down in the Jumping, but more frustrating she barrel rolled off the side of the see-saw in the Dog Vegas Qualifier, a silly baby mistake which possibly cost her first place – gutted! Sprite seemed back to his spritely self and he was in a really good mood all show, frolicking in the exercise area and sneaking into the tent. Another triumph this weekend was Kif’s contacts – After re-training Kif’s contacts over and over again over the years to try and make him comfortable on them, we have finally decided to go back to the method we feel happiest with (Stop/Go 2o2o) and for the first time in a long time he actually got them in the ring!

So these are the results:

Sprite:
5th – Anysize Jumping
7th – Anysize Jumping

Kif:
14th – Gr3-5 Dog Vegas Agility Qualifier
And other clears with were SO close to being in the places!

Hex:
7th – Gr3 Jumping
14th Gr3 Agility

And now here are the vids (sorry some of Kif's are missed but Mum's still getting the hang of the new camera!):

Cornwall/Dartmoor Weekend 24th & 25th April

2010-05-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so with one thing and another, I have been a very bad blogger so I’m going to blog so individual shows to bring us up to date.

So lets start with the Cornwall/Dartmoor weekend. My first show back since fracturing my arm and at the same venue I did the damage!! I was very wary about running and had to walk and plan my courses very carefully to use my left arm as little as possible. I was also unable to run Kif because Kif requires my arms a lot more than Hex & Sprite do, so Mum kept Kif for another weekend. It was also the first show where I‘ve run Sprite and started to feel he’s getting older (I know he’s over 12 years old now, but he’s never felt like it before), he struggled with corners and was stiffer after his runs then he’s been before. O and Hex and shredded her stopper pads digging in the back garden so she was running with her front feet strapped up for the first time, her contacts were visibly slower and her pads were obviously causing her some discomfort so as soon as I saw a paw on the contact, I released her, it just means I’m going to have to reinforce her stop contacts when her footsies are better. All the same we had the following results:

Hex:
6th – Gr 3 Agility
10th – Gr 3 Jumping
4th – Gr3 Agility

Sprite:
8th – Anysize Jumping

Mum & Kif:
8th – Gr4 Jumping

Karen & Mollie:
3rd - Gr1 Jumping
7th - Gr1-2 Jumping
1st - Members only 1-7 Steeplechase

Jo & Fluke also got a 1st and a 3rd and club friends from SWAT, Toni, Daz, Tash & Abi all went home with trophies so there was lots to celebrate.

Here are a couple of Hex’s vids and Kif's 8th

Wallingford

2010-04-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful sunny weekend. Shame I had to spend it standing around watching other people enjoy (or curse at) my dogs. But I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

The most fun I had watching was the laser knockout pairs. Mum ran Kif and Hex was run by her breeder, Lisa. I was so nervous for Hex, it was the first time she’s done pairs and the first time Lisa has ever run her but you wouldn’t of known she wasn’t Lisa’s dog! Unfortunately as they got further and further through the rounds I suggested they speed up their baton change and in doing so Lisa missed Hex’s collar. Watch and enjoy....

The team was also great fun, Sam took Hex in this one, but in me putting her last in the team, she worked up a full head of steam by the time it was her go and I have NEVER seen her move so fast – poor Sam had practiced with Hex at the field on Friday and her behaviour in the ring caught us quite by surprise neither of us expected her to react to team this way. You’ll see from the video I took- I was physically shaking!

Outside the fun events we got the following places:

Hex & Mum
Gr3 Jumping: 11th on Saturday, 18th on Sunday

Kif & Mum
Gr4 Jumping: 11th

I did manage to collect one rosette for myself though, the Annual Valgray awards are presented at Wallingford and Sprite was the Valgray Veteran Dog of the Year again.

On a less doggy note, I forgot to include in the newsletter:
Congratulations to Emily & Colin (& their furry Alfie) on the birth of their second child, little Freddie Macpherson, who has already completed a number of Clear Rounds at our field from inside Emily.

Cornwall/Dartmoor this weekend for me and WBSDS for other A-SITters, fingers crossed for some nice weather and good results!

What a ‘Crackin’ Weekend!

2010-04-06T03:09:00.000-07:00

Well we’ve had A-Sitters all over the place this weekend!

Well done to:
Sarah & Jemma at Dog Vegas for:
20th in Gr1-2 Agility (even with faults – speedy Jem!)
4th in Gr1-4 Jumping
and 2nd in Gr1-4 Agility! So close to going Gr2 she can almost taste it!
Elliot also made great progress with his waits and weaves so a congrats is also deserved there!

Jane and Welly at the Easter UKA show got:
4th in the Steeplechase!
So pleased for them especially considering the drama last week!

And I was at the Kernow K9 Show in Cornwall.
Hex got an 8th in the Gr3 Jumping
and 2nd in the Gr3 Agility
Kif has now qualified for Grade 5!

Unfortunately the other news from Kernow is that I ended up in A&E and I have fractured my elbow. Long story short – I tripped over a tunnel whilst doing a front cross with Sprite. I have an appointment with the fracture clinic tomorrow morning to re-assess the damage and recovery period but it’s looking to be at least a month. Whilst I am unable to compete or drive, I do still hope to attend shows with Mum and other guest handlers stepping in for my furries. I also would like to continue to teach albeit with some assistance from Mum. I am understandably upset – first show of the season and I write myself off – I feel like a bit of a prat but I’m trying to smile through it and appreciate the support I’ve received so far.

If you want to see the damage as it happened go to the Jayphotos website and check out the Veteran Jumping from Sat - they just happened to be photographing dogs coming out of the tunnel on that course *rolls eyes*.

See you all at the field soon! x

Good News

2010-03-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

Jane has asked me to let you all know that Welly is back at home with his Mummy! She grateful for the support she has received and I'm sure Welly is too... but apparently he's not talking to Jane and the moment.

See you all soon xxx

Get Well Soon Welly Pippin!

2010-03-29T11:57:00.000-07:00

With love from all your friends at A-Sit.

Jane we're all thinking of you. If anyone would like to leave Jane (or Welly) a message you can do so here by adding a comment to this post.

Jane will be speaking to the vets tomorrow morning, so we'll know more then.

Please, PLEASE, make sure you are aware of what foods/substances are harmful to your dogs and keep them well out of reach. Jane actually was aware, but Welly is a crafty one and the Fruit Cake proved too tempting.

Pre-Comp day at the A-Sit field

2010-03-28T09:52:00.000-07:00

What an amazing day! The rain held off and all our furry ones were on form, even when their handlers weren’t ....having said that the two people with hangovers got the best overall results!

The day commenced with a chat about life at shows and what to expect, I hope everyone liked their handouts, I’ll try and get the information on the website at some point so that it is easily accessible to all.

I then got to take the first group lesson I’ve taken for 3 years! It was great to see everyone trying out new moves in front of each other and this got everyone talking.

Then we had our first competition and the expected nerves got the better of some. The results were as follows:

1st – Jo & Charlie (5faults)
2nd – Kelly & Spud (5faults)
3rd – Anne & Chas (5faults)

Then we had a coffee break (thank you so much to Mum for sorting out refreshments) and our first presentation.

The jumping class was for some people the first time they have walked a course by themselves and everyone did a great job, and an even better job the second time. The places for this class were based on the best of 2 runs. And the results?...:

1st – Jo & Charlie (Clear)
2nd – Gail & Stitch (5faults)
3rd – Kelly & Spud (5faults)

Then for a last minute bit off fun and to try the dogs in rings next to each other we ran a team relay, complete with a baton change. And I think even with the couple of dogs who decided that telling off the other team was a tactic, we still had a blast doing this and hopefully my guys won’t hesitate to find themselves pairs partners or put together a team when the opportunity arises.

The winning relay team was:

Jeannette & Tess/Anne & Chas/Jill & Jonah

Well done to everybody, everybody achieved something to today, whether it was wait starts, avoiding tempting contact equipment, competing in front of other people and dogs or achieving their first clear round. I had a great day and am very, very proud. The day has brought a real sense of team morale to our club and I can’t wait to see my guys at shows together.

A special thank you for Sam for coming to Judge and to Mum for her help with putting the day together and missing a trip to the Mother-in-Law’s to be there!

I have a week off this week but then evening lessons will commence and the show season BEGINS!!! Bring it on!

I also owe a delayed congrats to Sarah and Jemma for their 6th in the Graded Agility class they did last week – Congratulations Sarah.

Happy Birthday Baby!!!

2010-03-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

Little Miss Hex is 2 Today and I cannot believe where the time has gone!!

A Show, A Show!!

2010-02-28T12:40:00.000-08:00

Okay, not really; it was an interclub match between LEADS and SWAT (at the new LEADS venue which I REALLY like) but there were still some results to be had.

Hex came 1st in the 3- 5 Agility and 3rd in the 3-5 Jumping and Jo with her SWAT dog, Fluke, won both the 3-5 Jumping and Steeplechase!

SWAT lost the overall match which was a shame, I felt that we had most of the best runs on the day and we dominated the majority of the rounds, it was only one bad jumping round really which left us behind and unable to catch up.

I was really looking forward to seeing 3 of the SWAT pre-comp dogs; Doug, Archie and Lucas and they did not disappoint! It’s going to be a really exciting season for all 3. Lucas even managed to scale the 5ft 7” gallery wall and topped it with a perfect ‘stop’ contact position at the top – Looney Tune!

Home match in on the 14th March – I reckon THIS time we WILL do it!

Other recent results from A-SITters:

14/02/10 UKA Valentines Show
Jane & Boot: 6th in Beginners Jumping

14/02/10 Agility Nuts Show
Sarah & Jemma: 4th in the Helter Skelter
Sarah & Elliot: 1st in the Helter Skelter!!!! Well done Mr.E!

21/02/10 UKA Show
Jane & Boot: 5th in Beginners Agility

Keep the results coming in guys : )

A-Sit - A year on

2010-02-24T14:02:00.000-08:00

I have had some ‘subtle’ encouragement (thank you Sarah and Mum!) to make a blog entry on how training has been going on at the A-Sit field, because apparently birthday entries are not enough and my ‘but there are no shows on’ argument is not enough.

Mum has reminded me that I started A-Sit on 1 February last year so as well as giving me justification to purchase a novelty item for the field for you all to enjoy next week (teehee!), it also seemed like the right time for a progress report so that’s what I thought I do, although for simplicity I’ll only report on events following the new year to save my grey cells.

So where to start? Let’s go alphabetically!

Emily & Alfie

Emily is now (correct me if I’m wrong) 7 months pregnant and despite saying that she feels that she’s running in quick sand she still looks like she covers ground quicker than me! Alfie is being a true Gent and is very understanding that his Mummy can’t always get where she wants to on a course but they still strive for perfection and have produced some really good work over the past couple of weeks, and her baby-to-be has already participated in it’s first clear round at our field – awwww, our youngest member.

Gail & Stitch

O how the tables have turned! Teaching Mum is a surreal experience for me but a great opportunity for me to pay her back for all the help she’s given me and all jip too! It was an unspoken conclusion that both of us came to that I teach Mum as any other client, she books in her 30min slot and works on the same exercises as the other dogs at Stitch’s level and she gets the same amount of stick and sarcasm for her short comings. It is no secret that my Mum’s mind is willing but her body is not, complications following an operation have left her unable to handle dogs the way she would like to. She is also handling a medium dog for the first time – not easy having only run large dogs since 1995! Stitch’s directional control is his strong point at the moment, Mum is fast gaining her ‘remote control’ and what we’re working on now is his ‘go-ons’ – the pieces are all coming together, but please, if anyone hears her say ‘go’ when Stitch is taking a corner –slap her wrist!

Gill & Charlie

Charlie is young handsome, physically solid BOXER. He had some “issues” when he 1st came to us mainly because Charlie tends to remind you of the most playful teenager in the World he just doesn’t know when to stop. This bull in a china shop has no worries when it comes to agility he just throws himself at it at 100 miles an hour ...but getting him to “take a breath” and actually establish a thought process without spontaneously combusting has had us all alternatively in stitches and reaching for the valium!!! He is without a doubt an amazing example of his breed, fearless and full of fun. Watching him mature and begin to take agility in his stride(and following the numbers!!) is a continuing thrill. This is the dog that has given my mum the biggest shock of all as she has never really seen the fascination with them yet would happy snap him up in a heartbeat for agility as he could set the ABC (Anything but collies)world on fire.

Jane, Boot & Welly

Boot is a gentleman and Jane will be the first to admit that he is a very honest and forgiving dog when Jane mis-walks a course but we have been working hard on Jane’s handling and ensuring that she walks a course right first time because there’s no second chance in competition! Boot went up into Grade 2 last year, we’re aiming for Grade 3 this year along with a good result at the Final in June she’s qualified for.

Welly on the other hand can stitch Jane up a treat he is an explosion of energy. Welly has started competing this year and if we can keep Jane calm and in turn keep Welly focused, we’ll be well away! There’s nothing more to say because it really is all there!

Jeannette & Tess

There is one dog that my Dad asks after every week and that is Tess, it’s a terrier thing I think, but what’s great is that every week I can tell him good things about the work Jeannette and Tess have been doing. Tess has really got the hang of this agility thing and was my first newbie to come out and the end of last year, I can’t wait to hear about and see more of her competing this year.

Jennifer & Dora

What an exciting new edition we have! Jennifer has only just started with us and Dora is her first agility dog, Dora is keen and driven and already after only a couple of lessons she is working on nicely and Jennifer is doing her homework because we also have some nice directions developing. Watch this space!

Jill & Jonah

Jonah has just this week started looking at medium jumps (he will eventually be jumping large) and we’ve gone ‘over the top’ (of the dog walk and a-frame) this week too. Jonah responds really well to Jill’s body language, he is a quick learner, quick on his feet too, he is also eager to please and he looks so handsome doing his agility : )

Jo & Charlie

Charlie is Jo’s first Collie, Charlie actually belongs to Jo’s friend Wendy but watching these two work together you wouldn’t know it! Charlie seems to get faster and more confident every week. We are currently concentrating on contacts and weaves because Jo and Charlie seem to have sequences down packed. Then it will be off to their first show! Jo also runs a spaniel, Fluke, who handles completely differently to Charlie, I can’t believe how well Jo copes switching between dogs, and handling styles – I find it difficult to remember my dogs name sometimes when I’ve just run a different one.

Karen & Molly

Karen and I go way back and Molly is the latest addition to her pack. Karen lives in Devon and came down for a special extended lesson to fine tune her handling in order to bring out the best in this cracking Collie. Karen is very good at doing her homework and came prepared with an idea of what she wanted to get out of the lesson and was open to suggestions and was quick to adapt to the changes made. I will continue to watch Molly develop and travel up the grades, it won’t be long until she’ll be up against me and Hex in grade 3! Although with the speed Molly is picking up she will need a wait start! Karen left the field that day in tune with her dog and making the most out of her course – take a look for yourself (and bear in mind that this was at the end of a long day for both of them):

(Other)Karen & Chester

Really glad to see Chester back after his Christmas break and to hear that he was a good boy over Christmas with one exception which Karen informs me was hubby’s fault. As my current client base is 100% female I can say – Men! *rolls eyes*.
Chester was really pleased to see his agility equipment again and to be tearing around and using his noggin’ and Karen has finally ditched the wellies. Over the coming months we’re going to continue to work on channelling Chester’ behaviour and helping his agility become more fluid and controlled.

Kelly & Spud

I have a real soft spot for Spud, he reminds me so much of my Kif. And he is very lucky to have a Mummy like Kelly because she is far more patient with him then I have been in the past with Kif. Spud is a fantastic, fast, responsive Collie... he just wants to keep it a secret! Spud is currently doing full courses with jumps on medium and with a lowered dog walk and he is almost competition ready but there is one thing holding him back and that is his confidence, as soon as anyone comes near the field, he falls apart so we are slowly going to work on adding an audience to his agility including other dogs and fingers crossed he will get off on the atmosphere we can create but it will take time and Kelly knows this. Kelly also has the most amazing running shoes ever!

Maggie & Saffy

All three of us have a lot of fun when Saffy comes to play! Saffy is a typical Spaniel in the springy mental kind of way and she loves her agility. Maggy has taken really well to handling and is just starting to walk sequences for herself. We’re working on our weaves at the moment and on getting Saffy to recover after she has received her reward, because whether it’s a toy or a treat Saffy gets a bit of a one track mind and loses focus on what she’s actually doing to get the reward – but that’s Spaniels for you ; )

Sarah, Jemma & Elliot

Last but not least guys! Sarah came to me with Jemma who I used to teach in groups at Clifton and Elliot her youngster.
Jemma is a beautiful Collie and we have worked on perfecting contacts, keeping poles up and ensuring Sarah walks courses to get the most efficient lines for her dog. I will also be watching Sarah closely this season to see what goes wrong at shows because at the field she is perfecting grade 5 courses but in competitions grade 1 classes are going amiss.
With Mr.E we are working on jumping style, contacts and weaves. Elliot has the makings of a winner, infact he won a class just the other day but he can let his enthusiasm get the better of him. Sarah is using a slightly different method on contacts to the one that I use as it is the method she has used thus far with him, we will continue to follow this route and add pressure and excitement at the field before we try contacts in the ring. This week we have built Elliot’s weaves up to 6 poles and I’m hoping we can start looking at entries from another piece of equipment when he becomes a little more consistent and of course work up to 12 weaves. Exciting times to follow!

Happy Birthdayish Little Man!

2010-02-14T06:11:00.000-08:00

We adopted Sprite in 1998, he was approximately 6 months old which made his Birthday sometime in February, we call the 14th February his Birthdayish.

He is now half my age, so I have known him nearly half my life. I love him very very much.

For his Birthdayish he has a new dog tag, he has received lots of cuddles, we will be taking a trip to the beach when it's abit quieter and I will of course be entering him in as many Veteran Classes as I can this year (so not much different from last year then!)

Happy 50th Birthday Mum!

2010-02-08T12:48:00.000-08:00

This isn't really agility related, but with no shows on, what else am I supposed to write about?

Mum's Party has been and gone and she will hit the big 50 tomorrow. We had a really great night with a room packed full of friends and family and food. It was nice to see agility folks all scrubbed up, out of our fleeces and into shiny shoes instead of muddy runners - how on earth did we tell each other apart without our dogs by our sides and our club logos on?! Saying that, Angela's dogs did make the journey, they just weren't allowed in the venue ; )

Anyways I know a few of you were interested to see the cake(s), so above is a picture.

Each part of the paw was a different flavour; Fruit, Carrot, Victoria, Chocolate & Coffee. My Uncle Mark did a grand job, the cakes were delicious (I have to thank Elaine Snook & Bob & Igne for sorting us out with the miniature equipment). Mum's face was a treat when she saw it and there is still some left to enjoy tomorrow.... and the rest of the week for that matter!

Blackdown Show to beat the Winter Blues

2009-12-08T11:21:00.000-08:00

It was another cold wet and muddy day but wow did I enjoy myself!
Hex had her first 1st, winning the Grade 3 Agility by 2 seconds and then proceeding to gain a 6th in the 1-3 Jumping and a 2nd in the Grade 3 Jumping. She was simply fantastic all day. See attached Video:

I also got to watch Sarah run her guys and she had a 10th with Jemma in the Grade 1-7 Helter Skelter and a 14th with Elliot in the same class. For her vids go to her blog (link in the top right corner of this page). Well done guys!

Please note I have now added Jeannette’s video to the Conquest Farm Blog (Below).

Hope everyone likes the countdown to Christmas I’ve added to the blog and that you’re all feeling well and truly on top of your Christmas preparations. It’s been really great to see a number of you treating yourselves to an early Christmas gift in the form of running shoes, everyone’s been coping really well with the change in the weather and ground – keep up the good work and energy!

Conquest Farm

2009-11-29T14:14:00.000-08:00

Hex didn’t have a great day today, she was firing on all fours and the rest but came out the weaves early twice and fell off the dog walk once, I’m glad she keen, but really Mrs - focus! She did have one clear but turned the wrong way after a jump and it cost her time so no place for The Baby.
We also got asked to leave the queue for a class today by a member of the ring party because of Hex’s ‘running commentary’, so I took myself outside in the wet and mud (where she continued to cheer) and that’s when I realised how rude this person had been; I’ve paid the same entry fee as everyone else, she wasn’t upsetting anyone in the queue, in fact she was helping excite the dog behind her and I heard a number of dogs barking in the same manner that Hex does throughout the day and they weren’t banished, it put dampener on an otherwise fab day. And I wouldn’t change or swap my baby for anything. Rant over.

Now on with the fab day! I had three people representing today; Emily and Alfie who did a grand job, unfortunately for Emily poor Alfie decided today to forget how to weave! But he didn’t know he’d gone wrong and he thoroughly enjoyed himself and the bits that went well, went very well. Jane and Boot who got a 5th in the Large 1-2 Jumping, the run was beautifully handled by Jane. Jeannette and Tess had their first show ever got and got 5th in the Small 1-2 Agility, placings were only to 4th, but who cares – what an achievement especially when you consider that Tess has never run in front of other dogs before or indoors... or even on anyone else’s equipment. Jeannette handled Tess’s original doubts in the Jumping with patience and professionalism and helped show Tess that it was just the same as at the field – only dryer! As a result Tess went from strength to strength with each run and finished the day with her clear, I was so proud.

Blackdown next week and I’ll be keeping an eye on Sarah and her guys ; )

Exams and Photographs

2009-11-08T10:05:00.000-08:00

Well the results are in and Mum passed the Agility Club Instructors seminar so she is now an Agility Club Approved Instructor! She was only 5 marks off the 1st Class pass, but she’s not disappointed, she knew she made some mistakes in her first exam following a serious attack of the nerves, and that’s what cost her. She thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and so did Hex who went up as her demo dog, I’m really proud of how both of them coped with the long days and the information overload and no, we still won’t channel weave!

The photo day on the 7th November was a huge success with every place booked, we were SO lucky with the weather, with only 2 brief rain showers and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. Thank you everyone for your patience, this is the first time I have ever tried to organise anything like this or tried to take a lesson with more than just training on the brain, and it was obviously frustrating for me not being able to be my usual hands on self with the dogs cause of my injury. I hope that everyone gets some great pictures out of the day, knowing Carol’s work, you won’t be disappointed – I did get to have a sneaky peak at a few on her computer before we left and the bright sunshine on the field with the dramatic stormy backdrop has worked really well. Thanks obviously to Carol as well for coming all the way down to visit us and getting down in the wet and mud to achieve what are going to be some really interesting shots.
The pictures should be up on her website tomorrow (9/11/09), there’s a link on my links page, her number is on her website if you have any queries.

Hex’s first indoor show is this Saturday, hopefully she’ll be a good girly because I have a special treat for her Sunday; a training session with Anthony Clarke.

Happy Hex

2009-10-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

Hex had a good weekend; after 3 weeks off with a virus she finally got to do some agility!

We were at the SWAT vs LEADS interclub match, Hex was 1 of the 5 dogs representing SWAT’s grade 3-5s and she won both the Agility & the Helter Skelter, she also came 5th in the Jumping. I was really pleased with her especially when I left her no space to take a jump in the jumping and she still cleared it and recovered.

I felt really ill all day with a stinking cold developing, but I still had a fantastic day, it was really well organised and there were some great courses, but what I enjoyed most was actually getting to sit down and watch everyone. We spend so much time at shows rushing around trying to sort out our own runs and walk our own courses that usually it’s only by chance that you pass a ring when a friend is queuing and get to watch them.

Unfortunately the results weren’t in SWAT’s favour but we still have the away match in a couple of weeks and I’m sure we can pull it back!

I am a bad blogger - How long has it been?

2009-10-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hex’s first show at Bromsgrove seems like such a long time ago now! But she was such a good girly.
She was a bit taken back by actually being allowed a go but still managed a 20th in Gr3-4 Jumping (her 2nd run ever!).
Other than that it was just silly puppy mistakes; getting over excited and misjudging jumps, and going under first jumps in a bid to get to me asap! But she worked like a dream and I am very proud of her. Sprite had a 6th in the Anysize and Kif came home with a couple of clear rounds, as did Phee. As for everyone else, I must send my apologies; I spent most of the weekend in a daze, I didn’t really take in all that much and even tried to send Kif the wrong way in one of his classes! Feel free to fill me in!
Below are all of Hex’s runs from Bromsgrove. I think you’ll agree that some of the courses were a lot to ask for a baby’s first show!

Round 1 = Gr3-4 Agility: A silly handling mistake by me following a last minute change of plan.
Round 2 = Gr3-4 Jumping: 20th Place : D
Round 3 = Gr1-7 Agility
Round 4 = 1-7 Jumping: Jumping very green
Round 5 = Gr3 Agility: Silly me setting her so close to jump 1, really really pleased with the rest though, lots of dogs struggled with the weave entrance - not The Baby!

Then we had the final big show of the season! Devon Dogs/Honiton and I don’t think one person I know had a bad show!

*Jane & Boot had another 1st in Gr1 Agility, good job they’re moving up – leave some trophies for the other Gr1’s!
*Jo & Fluke won the Gr3-5 combined Agility taking Fluke up to Grade 4!
*Sam & Billy won the Gr2 Agility. Billy is a spotty Grade 3 now, so he’ll also be leaving the Grade 2 trophies for the Grade 2s!
*Mike & Rio had an amazing run in the Gr3 Agility and came 2nd

In fact SWAT pretty much owned the prize givings with places for Daz, Toni, Trudy, Natalie, Kim and Martin as well.

As for my woofs, well Kif had a very good show with a 4th in the Gr4-5 Jumping with one of the trickiest courses I have put him on and an 18th in the 1-7 COMBINED Collie Sprint! Sprite only had the one run and in protest he decided not to listen to me and travel the entire length of the course to pick out a random jump that he felt needed to be done but which of course got us eliminated! Hex came out all guns blazing at this show and was MENTAL. She did manage to complete an extremely challenging 3-5 jumping course with only a pole down and came 10th in the Grade 3 Agility – Her first Point!

So lessons have changed to Fridays & Saturdays from this week; I’ll look forward to having the evenings to myself for a bit (although what I will do with them, who knows?!) and my Fridays & Saturdays are now pretty packed. I have entered a few more shows for the winter, details on the right of this page. And that’s about all the news I have... I think? I’m still having a blonde week.

Ooo I know what else, something rare and magical happened this week; I have an agility person on my team at work now! (Hi Caroline!). For those of you that have tried to discuss agility, or even just normal doggy things with your work colleagues, you will understand how rare it is to find someone who a) cares or b) understands. I feel very privileged : )

I leave the country for one week...

2009-09-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

... and O, the drama!

Unbeknown to me as I merrily sunned myself Phee was in and out of the vets for tests under general antithetic (not good with her heart) – she developed some symptoms which caused Mum a great deal of concern and £450 later we await the results – could this mean that she may return the agility scene if a proper diagnosis can be found and treated? Only time will tell... She must have read my previous post and thought ‘no way José!’
Kif managed to do a runner the morning of the show Mum was taking him to but he found his way home (phew!) and Stitch was a pin to the bowling ball that is Billy (don’t worry he was a rubber, bouncy pin and is unscathed).

And now for the drama which comes in sparkly spotlights; Prestbury Park show Results (report from Mum who was there, of course!):

*Mum & Kif with our friend Diane & Fraze came 9th in the pairs together (Diane also cleaned up around Gr3 with Fraze with a number of places including a win up to Gr4 with the youngster).
*Mum felt Phee was up for running the pairs (and the vets okayed it) with Jo & Fluke; following a re-run Phee only had the 1 pole down and Fluke did a flying Clear – go the spaniels!
* Jo & Fluke had a 2nd and a 4th
*Sam & Billy had a 2nd in Jumping even with his on-going tendonitis (currently being treated by the amazing SMART clinic)
*Sam also borrowed Sprite who had a whale of a time and did a stonking clear for her on the Sunday and then proceeded to help himself to a tripe stick out of the treat box that they put near the finish line for the anysize dogs – honestly, I ask you?!
*Mike & Rio won the Gr3 Jumping
*But top of the class; Jane & Boot won Gr1 Agility taking her up to Gr2! Not only that but she also had a 2nd in Gr1 Jumping and a 5th & 7th the previous day. Boot is 9 years old! – Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?!

Well done guys! – I’ll go on holiday more often ; )

P.S: Stitch has had his KC Name confirmed, he is..... Experiment Six Two Six

Monkstone Phoenix

2009-08-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

Phee turns 5 in December, we will of owned her for 4 years and in that time as most of you know we have had a number of ups and downs (for her full story refer to her page on my website).
For her 5th birthday I will be retiring her from competitive agility. This is not a decision I have made easily, and is one that I have been mulling over all of this year but at the LEADS fun day I watched Mum run her over small height and her love and lust for the sport had gone, she was verging on struggling and this made my mind up for me.

Phee can be a fantastic agility dog, she used to have the fastest weaves I have ever seen on a Spaniel, her directional control is that of a Collie, but because of her health she cannot perform all of the time – she needs the right course on the right day in the right conditions, when she is feeling fine and the days that Phee feels ‘fine’ are now becoming less and less and when we reflect that the vets didn’t think she would make 2, we consider ourselves lucky that she can soldier on as she does.

Every time I thought that I had made Phee’s retirement decision she would put in another stonking round and my aspirations for her reaching Grade 5 were back, but the guilt I feel when she goes down and can’t do herself proud outweighs this and I said to myself at Dashin’ Dogs- ‘no more’. It’s not fair to put the pressure on her when she would be equally happy just hanging out at the shows, being naughty, cheering on the others, having tummy tickles and sharing ice-creams.

Typing this is making it very real and is very hard for me, a lot harder than I thought it would be; I love this little dog to bits and if she hadn’t had the start in life that she did, I have no doubt that she would excel at the sport she loves – the frustration, disappointment and remorse surrounding this decision are overwhelming but it is the right decision to make, I am sure.
Will I enter her in the odd anysize class next year? – who knows? Will I continue to let her play on the equipment in the field? – I most certainly will! – Whatever she wants to do, I will make sure she gets the chance to do it but I want her to have the choice.

So if you see Phee at the field or out and about at shows please take the time to make her feel as special as she is, she needs to know that she doesn’t have to jump jumps and climb contacts to make us smile. Love you Phee-wee x

A BIG THANKYOU!

2009-08-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

To everyone who brought a raffle ticket for the Many Tears raffle – THANKYOU! In total Mum and I sold an impressive £130.00 worth of tickets. Good luck to everyone with a ticket, I expect you to invite me if you win any of the holidays ; )

Dashin' Dogs

2009-08-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

So we got there Thursday late afternoon and pitched the tent with great difficulty due to the wind, thankfully everyone chipped in to help each other; we needed 3 people to set up my tent and we needed 5 people to tame Sam’s!

As usual, the week consisted of some dodgy toilets, stupidly long queues for the shower, one day of unbearable weather (80mph winds... not fun in a tent) and an ever deflating air bed! But what is great about weeklong shows is the team morale – we can all look back and laugh now at what we tolerated but on the plus side we enjoyed cocktails at the Keating’s, a wicked Chinese takeaway, a dodgy training DVD, a fab walk on our day off and spending some quality time with our dogs as well as the agility itself of course. Big disappointment of the week was that the Bingo was cancelled as the Marquee was unusable as a result of the strong winds!

My dogs had a fantastic holiday, and Mum’s Stitch took really well to camping although he was a little terror around the rings screaming ‘I wanna do that!’ at the top of his lungs non-stop! Our camping neighbours took great joy in watching Stitch tear around our make shift garden carrying numerous items he stole (socks, pants, cookies, poo-bags, hairbrush) with Matt and myself hot at his heels.

As for the results it wasn’t a great week for me; Phee spent half the week ill and I pulled her out of the ring most runs. The thing with Phee is that you never know what you’re dealing with until she does the first jump and she can vary from hour to hour so it was always worth a try (last year at this show she won up to G4) she got her act together in the last two days but decided to put her best performances in when she was in the combined classes against short collies or speedier spaniels (no chance), on the graded classes she thought it would be more fun to gain 5 faults. I’m sure a blind judge robbed us on a trophy in the graded 3-5 agility on the last day by missing the foot she put on her dogwalk contact 1 obstacle from the end. Grrrrr.
Kif just wasn’t fast enough this year – he took great pride in collecting a clear round rosette in every colour the show had to offer but unfortunately was not fast enough for the places, he’s only 3 and I know he has the capability to speed up if he’d just relax, open up and jump the jumps at the right height!.... Maybe next year?
Good old Sprite brought home some top 5 places but struggled with some of the tighter corners set in the ‘anysize’ classes and again, the competition was just so tough this year so no 1st places.

Sam & Billy went up to Grade 3 and I lost count of the number of places they went home with!
Mike & Rio had a number of top 10 places
A number of my friends at SWAT travelled up the grades, most having their best results hung over (shame that didn’t work for me or ‘Ant-y Abi’)

We will definitely be attending Dashin’ Dogs next year although hopefully in a caravan!

The Skinner Pack has a new member!

2009-08-16T03:50:00.000-07:00

Mum saw a dog on Many Tears Rescue 2 months ago which she fell in love with, by the time she had weighed up the pros and cons and built up the courage to ask Dad, it was too late, he was gone and she regretted resisting for the amount of time she did.
She had quietly been keeping an eye on the Many Tears site should another pop up that caught her eye and who should pop up but the little fella that got her broody for another in the first place! He had been returned to Many Tears for ‘an unprovoked attack’ (he is 16 weeks old, so make of that what you will). This time Mum didn’t waste any time and told Dad that he didn’t have to think about what to get her for her 50th any longer.
Next thing I know I’m travelling up the M5 all the dogs in tow for a meet and great and bring him home. Never have we been so unprepared for a new dog – Mum fresh out of hospital and as for supplies, well we only had half a pack of puppy pads left over from Hex – all of her other puppy things had been given away to other puppies in need. So I had to stop at Pets at Home on the way back and take him in for a collar and bed fitting and then finally I took him home 14/08/09.
Mum has named him Stitch, he is a Collie (Dad) X JR Terrier (Mum) and he is to be her project to work on while I am at shows, he will go to France with her when the time comes and I think he will make a cracking little dog for her – he has SO much character and is already terrorising my guys and my Mum’s socks!

(I apologise for my inability to edit videos - this was my first attempt)

Off to Dashin’ Dogs on Thursday and so much to do! Job applications to complete, a van to pack, lesson plans to hand over to Mum, a suitcase to pack for Bulgaria (for when I get back from Dashin’ Dogs) and a puppy to watch.

It’s all go go go!

And finally congratulations to the newbies who are now happily going ‘over the top’ (have mastered the Dog Walk and A-Frame); Tila, Tilly, Spud & Collie Charlie WELL DONE!

2009-08-10T12:35:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a super fine week we have had.

I have really enjoyed teaching in the new field this week, it’s got a really good vibe about it and all the dogs seem to like it too with some great improvements coming in particular from Tess, Collie Charlie & Tila

For those of you concerned about about the sheep next door, be re-assured; a whole week of lessons and only one dog took an interest in them and it wasn’t a collie.....it was the Dalmatian! Billy cleared the fencing in a single bound, had a frolic with the sheep and then helped clear the ram’s rear of poop (I’m sorry, but that’s the nicest way to put it) before being manually retrieved – quite the sight to behold!

As most of you know, I was at a fun show this weekend running Hex in a competition environment for the first time. Her first run was in agility and was clear and gained her 2nd place! She had 10 faults in the jumping and a 5R in the steeplechase but she was such a pleasure to run, she felt great (once I’ve worked out how to work the video programme we brought the other month, I’ll try and post the video). I’m now at the edge of my seat waiting for the 19th September when she comes out for real and am continuing to switch between being excited and nervous but I have booked her into ‘Mucky Pups’ in Clevedon to be made prettiful so at least if my nerves stuff it up for her she’ll look damn fine! ; )

My other dogs had a good day too; Kif came 5th in the Jumping. Sprite was running ‘not for competition’ over a lower height (as there weren’t enough veterans to warrant a veteran course) and he really enjoyed tearing around even if it was just for fun, he didn’t know (although he was a bit sore this morning). Mum had fun running Phee (also ‘NFC’ on a lower height because she was feeling the heat). So a good day had by all. I also got to see a good friend of mine and Mum’s running her collie, Molly, who is gaining speed and confidence each time I see her – Karen I hope to see you at more shows next year!

No show this coming weekend as I am saving the guy’s legs for the week long Dashin’ Dogs show next week. Bring it on!

2009-08-02T12:41:00.000-07:00

Well I was never gonna have as good of a day as I did last weekend (2x 1st’s with Sprite & a 2nd with Kif) but it doesn’t hurt to try!

The show at Blackdown was lovely and well organised but unfortunately due to bad weather we weren’t in the field originally planned for the show, instead we were in a field covered in designer highland cattle poo! Phee had a typical spaniel day so no joy there (again! – come on Phee!), Sprite had fun in the anysize jumping but took an extra jump 3 obstacles from the end (trying to get his monies worth) and Kif did 2 fantastic clear rounds (G3-4 Jumping & G4-7 steeplechase) but was just out the placings time wise, which I should be disappointed with but actually was not at all because post-injury Kif is running more and more like pre-injury Kif and is now only slowing down and measuring on straight runs where I think he has time to think and worry about hurting himself again.

I may not have matched last week’s results but Sam did with another win from spotty dog Billy. I hope she remembered to take him up to the prize giving again to collect his trophy – it’s fantastic to see people’s faces when they see a Dalmatian has beaten their Collies – but Billy’s not just any Dalmatian!

Mike won the G3 jumping with Rio : )

I saw some more happy SWAT members around the show with placed rosettes; although they’ll have to forgive me for not noting what they were.

Diane Graves also got a 3rd in the G3 Agility with Frase who seems to be speeding up each time I see him!

And now I have an exciting week ahead of me with lessons in the NEW field commencing from Tuesday and a fun interclub competition which Hex will get to play in on Sunday!

2009-08-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

I have finally started a Blog!

I think I'm going to be a rubbish blogger but I wanted to make an attempt at recording and sharing my results and doggy doings as well as sharing the successes of my friends and people who train with me at A-SIT (Agility Sprites in Training).

So wish me luck and feel free to give me advice on how to work a blog!