Maisie arrives in grade 2 ...

... at Lune with a load of E's!!! heehee. But today she pulled one off on an Agility run and got a 4th!! So maybe G2 isn't such a bad place after all :o) She also did her only Jumping run of the w/e today and did a really nice one, shame she just tipped the first pole but she attacked the course really well, especially considering it was hot and at the end of a long weekend.
Tim ... oh Tim!! Some nice bits again, a minor snog with a polepicker, some crap bits, lots of ginger grins. Love that baby dog!
On Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting Ruger pup - oh he's lovely!  http://agilityshepherds.blogspot.com/
The show at Lune was a lot different to last year due to some roads being laid through the showground. The (nine) rings were much more spread out and quite a long trek from camping; also it didn't seem to have quite the same atmosphere. Still nice though and the walk along the canal is ace. I was a reluctant bingo virgin at Saturday night's entertainment but then won £25 so bingo rocks!!! Had hoped to stay up for the week but sometimes life gets in the way of agiity. Hoping to get back up later in the week anyway for Barrow show.

Good vs evil!

Maisie Mouse with her prizes from last week:

Ahhh, look at me, what a clever and cute 'ickle girly I am!

GEROFF MY TROPHY GINGERPIG!!!

 & back to angelic pwetty pwincess mode :) 

Weekend off this week! Vicarious victory though as Jules and Jette got a 5th at Newton Heath yesterday, yippee! ETA: & then a 2nd on Sunday!!! Coooool! :o)

We're all ready(ish) for the great Lune/Barrow expedition next week :-)

A bit of fun

Cartmel

We arrived late on Friday eve into Cartmel village which is small and pretty, lots of cottage garden flowers, and the priory bells were ringing. Wyre members met us in the square and pointed us to our camping, the racecourse venue is literally in the village. Our plot was idyllic, right on the bank of the stream! Even more perfect, the stream ran down to the ring area and so Maisie was able to sploosh her way to her runs :)

Saturday was hot and sunny. Maisie and I were e’d both runs – the second one because, just in time, Maisie spotted a dangerous monster lurking in the tunnel and anchored on, narrowly avoided being eaten by it (that’s what she told me so it must be true!) On Sunday, a cooler, wetter day and our last in grade 1 (boohoo) we fared better with a 2nd (another trophy, what is going on?!) in g1 agility, and 9th in 1-2 agility :) Then she did more splooshing and playing.

Tim had a couple of runs each day and a go in the practice ring. He seems to be getting over his stagefright and did some nice stuff, in one only ducking under 1 jump!! He was more confident and happeee, good lad. We met a lady with Welsh sheepdogs. Tim had a mad play with her 10 m.o. boy – interesting how in tune their body language was. He was short-coated and so you could clearly see the difference in structure from BCs. They all seem to have the funny skunky tail! She said how late they are to mature and I agree! It was Tim’s ‘official’ 2nd birthday on Sunday, but he’s still a baby pupster. He had nice playtimes with other dogs too and a walk with fave girlfriend Belle and her bally.

Even Billy Woof got to participate as there was a fun scurry. He had a few goes and it was ace! He also came to the pub on Saturday night to watch England – the pub had a world cup marquee in their pretty beer garden – real ale, Pimm’s, great atmosphere, bliss! Billy bummed crisps and was fussed and happy in his role as guide dog for the drunk :)

The primary school had a yummy cake stall at the show, and there was a charity plant sale, tombola, a cricket match, and wonderful hot showers. We never did find out why there are multi-coloured sheep lurking all over Cartmel village but they are very nice anyway!……

Exciting stuff

Just had this comment from the BFA webboard emailed to me, re: Monday's racing. It really was thrilling!!!

OMG - I have to say - Div 1 multi-breed was not only my first experience of MB racing (and I loved it, and so did ---!) but it was some of the very BEST racing I have seen in the 4 years I've been involved in this sport. Close just doesn't do it justice - you couldn't get a hair between them in many cases. The crosses were the type that make you draw breath in expectation of someone getting a light, and as for the very last race of the division - went to 5 legs and I don't mind admitting there was a lump in my throat and a tear in my eyes as I was watching this. Wasn't even my team but my GOD it was amazing.

Ah, summer evenings ............ 

 

 

People said nice things

Ths weekend we were at DV at Bakewell. Great venue, so nice to have wonderful walks, river paddling for doggies, an interesting town and even a farmer's market with oodles of yummy free samples, all right next to the showground! The weather wasn't kind though - rainy one day, cold and windy the other! Hungover from last weekend's dream results, Miss Mouse and I were very average! Just one rosette for a jumping clear. She did some lovely bits nonetheless and had a good time.
Tim was back on much better form on Saturday - did a couple of runs and they were respectable - no off-bogging and he worked happily and went over a lot of jumps. He was especially good on a very tight 1-4 jumping course that I was really unsure about running him round - really focused in that one. By Sunday he went off into Timland again, should've really quit whilst we were ahead! Probably no more runs for the next month now so back to concentrating on happy training. It's all there with him, he's so able, we just need to bring it out fully in the rings and that'll take as long as it takes :o) 
On Monday Billy flyballed at Ryecroft Farm (Cheshire) in the Multibreed comp. I must say it was a great day's racing and we were just pipped into 2nd in the last leg of the last race of the day. Very, very exciting and the whole team did so well. We got our fastest time down to 19.15.


The nice things people said ... Well each dog had something nice said about them that made me go awwww!...
Maisie: A lady came to give her a cuddle whilst we were queuing for a run and said she'd seen her earlier and wasn't she pretty and that she looked like "an explosion in a fur factory!" Such a delightfully apt description! :o) And she's had so many lovely congrats and kind words about winning out last week.
Tim: Well, perhaps not so complimentary but very funny ... On his last run he'd lost the plot and ran under two jumps and bogged off on a mad gallop, then plopped himself down for a good old ear scratch right in the middle of the ring! The judge just laughed and said something to the effect of: Not only is he bonkers, he's also got fleas!! Bless him for not being snotty and making us feel worse than we already did!
Billy: Our div judge gave him a lovely compliement and said that she thought we were going to pull it back in the last race. Very kind again.


This aft Tim had his boosters and was a good lad. Compared to the annual horror of Billy & Maisie having their kennel cough drops up their noses, he just stood there waggily and tried to lick the vet whilst she did it, then went in for a full-on snogfest afterwards! He's a little challenging in some ways, but in others he's so sweet and easy.