UKA Scrambles and spelling mistakes....

Ok, embarrassing things first.....

I was told I have lots of spelling mistakes in my blog. I want to apologise for those. I don't always re-read what I wrote, as I am sometimes in a hurry (most of the time in fact) beside, my keyboard is rather knackered and some letters don't work well (good excuse, don't you think???)

Maybe I should put a disclaimer, like: "all spelling mistakes made on purpose to see if you pay attention..." ;-)

Anyway, back to Agility....

We went to the UKA Scrambles show over the weekend. We were soooo lucky with the weather, though the Friday started a bit grim and grey....
We actually didn't want to go, but then through change in plans, dog related, as usual, we decided to go after all.

There were nice courses. But I felt completely unprepared. Being watched by my trainer didn't help either. Think that what "stage fright" must be like ;-)

We got eliminated in the Steeplechase, as I got so worked up about the "Snake" (FlickFlack for any northerners who might read this) in the course that I started getting hysterical when approaching it... Not like me really. Anyway, things fell apart then...

The Agility class was in the afternoon and though we got a clear, Max was very, very slow... I was wondering if he was tired or if he needed more motivation.... Or if he shouldn't have had the run around over lunch... To our surprise we found out that the round though slow, was not only clear, but a 6th place in the end.

Saturday was amazing. I had 3 runs and 3 clears.... of which were 2 places... In the Jumping I came 3rd (my first ever 3rd place with Max) and a 7th in the RC Qualifier Agility. The Agility course was rather tricky, as it was the same course for Beginners up to Champs.... There were 8 clear rounds in the Beginners classes....

Funny enough, I had a conversation with my daughter ring side, that I won't bring a cake to training (to celebrate) unless I have 1st, 2nd or 3rd place.... There you go, get the baking tray out again ;-)

Sunday it seems Max and I were tired... I didn't get it together. I couldn't even memorise the courses. I walked the Power and Speed and immediately had forgotten the course. When we ran it, I just ran according to what I thought was right... nd we went clear. Got another one in the Agility....

The highlight of the day though was my daughter having her first ever clear round and it even turned out to be a 3rd place... You should have seen her face. She was glowing... Sometimes I wish you could somehow capture those feelings and get them out when you feel low.... She was so happy. She managed 2 places over the weekend.... She was very proud and so was I. :-)

Alan was so nice to take a picture of Max in action and he sent it to me by email! Thanks Alan. The first ever Agility picture I have of Max....

More training days and the start of the season.

For a while I felt a bit like deflated tyre.... It seems that the fun was out of Agility somehow and motivation was difficult.

Now I had 3 training days and it seems things don't look so doom and gloom anymore.

The last training day was with David Munnings. I had Luke in the morning class and Max in the afternoon class.
I enjoyed both classes, though strange enough it seems that Luke went totally flat after about half the time. It seems when he has a walk in the morning he is less ready to work or too tired to work, which is surprising, as he seems to be able to run for hours...

But with Luke and Agility it is still early days. I wanted to enter him in some Any Size classes this season, but might change my mind now, as he didn't work very well on the Saturday. But as I said, early days.

Compared to that, it really is a joy to work with Max, very responsive, very eager, very bright. Not saying Luke is not, but he always seem to have his own agenda and sometimes doing fun stuff for himself (like sniffing the ground) takes over. If I didn't know better I'd think he is a Spaniel or Sprollie.

But back to Max. We worked on turns, distance control and contacts. And I was very happy to see that Max can easily keep up with the higher Grade dogs, the problem really is myself as I m lacking the experience of a higher grade handler.

But it gave me a good confidence boost to see him working so well.
I got a few ideas how to improve his contacts and of course to think more about my handling. Not sure I will succeed with that though :-/

On Sunday I had my first ever judging appointment at the Waverunners UKA show. I was soooooo nervous. Saw myself eliminating people who went clear, because I forgot the course. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep at night.

When we arrived, the course was already set up (lucky me) and it just needed a bit straightening up.
I had a rather nice ring manager who was very helpful.

My children were stars as well, my daughter scrimed and the boys were doing other jobs at the ring. Helping tirelessly.

Judging was great fun as it gave me a good opportunity to watch other people run their dogs and watch their handling.

I think it all went very well (though weird when you have to judge your trainer :-O ) I didn't get any complains and looking at the dogs, they seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

At the end of the day my feet, back and legs were aching and I was very tired and happy to go home. I got a lovely judges gift from Renee, thanks :)

My dogs though were glad when the day were over an they could have a run around and enjoy themselves too. Poor dogs being stuck in the car all day.

I booked quite a few shows and hope the weather will be kind this year and Max and I will manage to work together and improve our relationship.
Now I am looking forward to the season and to all the shows I booked....

Training Day

I have been to a training day yesterday. We were so lucky as the weather was glorious. It actually got quite warm around midday.

The training day was with Natasha Wise and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We trained some tight turns, which in theory I seem to understand now, not sure the practice will get any better. Then we did contacts and weaves. It was quite interesting to get her idea how to make Max's contacts more reliable and faster, as he sometimes creeps down the dog walk or even waits just before the contact zone. So I think some contact work needs to be done. It was amazing to see how he speeds up in the weaves, when somebody was holding a tuggy toy for him. Couldn't believe his speed. So now need to find somebody at training to motivate him with a toy, while I run next to him.

All good fun anyway.
Next weekend we had planned to go to the Agility Addicts show, which I had entered weeks and weeks ago. Unfortunately, though entered really early, we didn't get in. Next time I better enter before the schedule comes out ;-)
So next weekend needs reconsidering...

At the moment I have little Hugo here.... (I know, excuse the name) he is 5 month old, black and white collie and looking for a new home.


He was a bit big for his boots when he arrived, but now learnt that he is not the king of the castle... Let's hope I can find him a lovely new home with lots of exciting stuff going one. He is still very puppyish for being 5 month old. He enjoys to go out with my lot. A typical curious and cheeky puppy :)

Agility Addicts Christmas Show

Yesterday we went to the Agility Addicts Christmas Show. Until the last minute I wasn't sure if we were going. It was so cold and getting up early when we are all off on holiday is not my favourite past time. But as Chadiga and I were awake anyway we thought we just do it then.
The roads were empty early in the morning and we managed to get there in 2.5 hours....
Though we missed the Fancy Dress competition and were not able to walk the jumping course, but at least we were in time for all our classes....

And what can I say, Max was on top form. We had 4 runs and 4 clear rounds. We got 2 places, a 12th in the jumping and a 9th in the Agility Christmas contacts.....
A clear round in the Agility and Max even managed to go clear in the pairs. Unfortunately our pair partner, Chadiga, got lost on the course and got eliminated ;)

The whole day was great fun and I didn't regret going. Though it was weird, when I go to shows down south, you always see the same familiar faces. Now I hardly knew anybody....

That was our last show for this year...
Max really came a long way this year and gvce me lots of fun when working with him.

Now I just have to figure out, how to speed him up. (There you go, ambition got me now ;-) )
We get placings, but are usually between 6 and 10 seconds slower than the winning dog.

Any ideas how to speed Max up??? It probably would help if I ran faster, but don't think that will happen any time soon.
He works ahead nicely, so no complains there either...

Any suggestions welcomed :)

Thanks and a happy new year to you all!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year everybody!

Just recovering from a very heavy flu, been in bed for 4 days (oh the joy!).

I hope that everybody will have some lovely days coming up.

Enjoy yourselves and I hope you all will have a peaceful and quiet time.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Today

It was cold, windy, rained an awful lot. The streets were flooded. Amazing how quickly roads can turn into streams.
Nevertheless I went to the Anju simulated Christmas show. Not that many people turned up, probably due to the weather.
Still, it was great fun. Max was good, but decided to run his contacts, so I had to let him do his A Frame again, which gave us an "E". The course was lovely. Not too easy, not too difficult.
As Chadiga was down with the flu, I decided to take Luke along for a little training. He is not doing Agility for so long so I really just wanted to put him in a different environment to practice.
And I was amazed. He approached the contact equipment on his own accord. Though his contacts are not very good at the moment, he didn't shy away from any of the equipment and did them all well, except for the weaves, which he doesn't know well enough to do them on his own. And he was running on medium height, s he doesn't do full height jumps yet.

In the jumping class Max was great in the first run. Luke was absolutely unfocused. Stopped and sniffed and said hello to the judge (Wendy).
So before the next run we did some focus work and he did really well. We managed a clear round! Yeah. Due to the lack of people we even managed to turn it into a 3rd place. Well done Luke. Your first ever place! And he even won a trophy, a cute squeaky toy.

In Max's second round I waited with him at the start to get him going a bit with a "ready, ready, ready". And off he went and was 2 seconds faster than before, unfortunately he knocked a pole. Never mind!

It was great fun, but I was happy when I could go home, very cold and wet.

Decided now to enter Luke in March's C Side show in the run for fun class. Let's see how it goes!

Halfway through December already, nearly.

I don't know where the year has gone. I can't believe it is nearly the new year already.
This year was quite mixed with ups and downs.
The dogs are doing fine. I decided to give Luke a break from sheepdog training, as he is just too full on and he gets worse. Think we need some more obedience before we continue. But he is doing very well at his Agilitytraining.
He is the sort of dog who is always everywhere with his nose and his brain, but never where he is suppose to be. So I have to really focus him on "work". Lately he started playing up a bit, obviously Testosterone is kicking in. This seems to be the time for the "snip". I have no intention to breed anyway, so why make life harder for him and myself. Particularly as Luke likes the girls sooo much ;-)
SO in 2 weeks time, just before Christmas he is booked in....

A few weeks ago Chadiga and I went to the simulated show from Anju. It was lots of fun and eventually Max managed a clear round... Well done MAx!
He is still too slow for placings though. He went to the vet this week for his rabies jab and weighed in with 20.7kg. So I think he has to loose a kilo or 2. Though he is quite leggy and doesn't look fat, rather muscled... Let's see how it goes.
Beside that, it is definitely my handling slowing him down.
Other than that I am very happy with him. He is responsive, keen and we have lots of fun together :)

Tomorrow we are at another Anju show, today is my last day of work for this year (doesn't that sound good??? ;-) )
and we aare heading for Christmas. So far I was able to avoid all the stressed shoppers and I hope I will continue to do so.

I am looking forward to a quiet time with the children and the dogs. Let's hope the weather stays dry....