Our Little Champion

Well, we went to the DARL Finals :) On Saturday morning I saw 4am from the wrong side, setting off to the East of England Showground near Peterborough – as it turned out the journey wasn’t that and only took just over 2h.
On arrival I found a nice shady spot behind a big hedge, but was soon moved by an officious carpark bod - into the only shaft of sunlight. Some people really shouldn’t be allowed a high-viz jacket & badge … Anyway, we moved back into the shade PDQ. Found the Finals ring which was in front of a big grandstand! The whole show (Just Dogs Live) was quite huge with streets of trade stands, display rings, a champ posing show, and RVA agility show. I’d been asked to liaise with the gundog display team and the police to check if/when they would be using gunshot in their displays … thankfully they had been asked not to after all, big Pheeew.
In the morning we had a “warm-up” Jumping run – same course for all G1-7, then the main event was the Agility Finals in the aft. The day was soooooo hot – hottest day of a hot summer … and unfortunately Maisie never really settled, what with the extreme heat, along with lots of background noises, she was distracted and our runs weren’t great. I was a bit disappointed for (not with) her coz she’s been running so very well & joyfully lately and on a different day would’ve right enjoyed both courses. Nonetheless it was an amazing day and an honour to take part. There was a super atmosphere with everyone supporting one another. The standard across the grades was fantastic and I believe there was almost full attendance across the grades – quite something with it being a national league. There was one dog & handler who’d qualified in our grade but the poor dog had suffered a sudden spinal paralysis a few months ago. His owner bravely told his ongoing recovery story and then presented our rosettes – very tear-jerky but fab. All of those dogs there had been unwanted/unloved/abused/thrown away at some point in their lives, and no doubt many had/have "issues", and yet you couldn’t see a happier, more adored bunch of dogs and their humans.

Everyone got a lovely rosette for taking part, "winners" on the day or not, and I think we all came home feeling we’d been part of something very special.

The previous couple of weeks had been difficult for our family, with Dad being poorly. Thankfully he came home from hospital and got a whole lot better last week. At one point I wasn’t sure we’d make the Finals at all so to be able to go, knowing he was so much better was extra wonderful. He always calls Maisie ‘Our Little Champion’ and he’s right, she so is :)

Huuuge thanks to Jules for coming to support us and share the day and taking some fab jumpy pics and having a good day agility-ing into the bargain! :D

Came home via Sheffield, picking up a dog guard for the Landy I’d bought on Ebay. Got chatting with the sellers and met their two huge snarly GSDs – they mentioned they’re planning on breeding from their bitch, not because they even want a puppy but “because she needs her temperament calming down” and they weren’t going to have any health checks “coz they’re too expensive.” How deeply depressing.