Otley

Oh what a fab one!! Busy, strange weather, but fab. It's amazing how well the human body can survive on beer, coffee, sweeties, and about 8 hours sleep spread over 3 nights :)
I'd more or less decided not to run Tim at all with being busy, I didn't think it was fair if I couldn't give him enough focus, but then found time to do one run each day after all. And soooo glad I did! It is something of a journey with Tim - specially getting him up to full height jumps - not sure why it's been such a long process but so be it. Anyway, on his run on Saturday he only ducked under the first jump (my fault!) and his run on Sunday he didn't run under any!!!! Yippee!! His contacts were really, really good - I actually sprinted past him on the A-frame and he stopped perfectly! So now it's really just tweaking the steering. The difficulty therein is that sometimes he responds to the slightest twitch of an eyebrow, and other times something else attracts his attention and then it's like trying to turn a supertanker with a thread ... One really good bit of progress is that I've started giving him food rewards rather than a thrown toy/tuggy at the finish, and this is defo helping him focus on me more - on his run on Sunday he even came screeching into a sit at the finish for his treat. His forward drive was really good and he also did some really nice focused tight work on a double-pinwheel-y bit. Both judges he ran under are great handlers and it was v encouraging that they each made a nice positive little comment about him :)
I don't know what happened at Lune/Barrow a couple of weeks ago but somehow Maisie's weaves got broken  :( Specifically, she is getting the entry but then tending to miss the second gap but then carry on after a fashion, though she's clearly not happy with them at all. Her weaves have never been stunningly fast or independent, but they have been at least fairly reliable for quite a while. I can only think that something spooked or maybe hurt her - toe on a peg perhaps?? And this happens at a time when I'm finally feeling really happy with her contact performances!! Arrrrrg! LOL. Anyway, she had a couple of runs each day - two of which we aborted coz the weaves didn't happen (real big shame on one coz she set off like sh*t off a shovel!!) and the other two I practically poked my fingers up her nostrils and (gently!) towed her through the 6 weaves - not ideal but ... the other bits of her runs were pretty good and it was a relief she was more "normal" after being so under par at the Finals last week; she finished with a 6th in a 1-2 comb Agility, and 3rd on a huge gallopy Jumping course - that was a super surprise, especially as I'd woken her from a pleasant afternoon snooze and plonked her blinking in the ring at the final call, ooops! I'm so lucky to have her and, gosh, has she taught me a lot!
So our project for the week, for Weardale next w/e is Operation Mousey Weaves ............
It was fab to spend time with so many friends this w/e and share beers, biccies, sweeties and laughs, great stuff :)