Wibble

This weekend was agility at Ribble - nice indoor venue and the closest show to home we've ever been to - only 48 minutes away! (I'm not a journey time nerd, just happened to notice we set off bang on 7am ... ) I love having an excuse to go that way as it's a nice drive over t'Tops. On the way there there was mist in the dips:

.............................. .. Near Wycoller

The show itself was good - small and friendly and the venue in a nice spot. But it was our first indoor show for ages and Maisie was not her usual self, spooked by the environment, and I clumsily misjudged a couple of bits with the courses being more squished together (really they should suit us better) so in both graded classes we got big fat E's!!! Oooops. She also went back a step in confidence over the contacts - getting "stuck" on top of the A-scale both times. She was quite zoomy overall though, and I learnt something when she popped out of the weaves and I put her back through, more relaxed as we were out of the running, and she sped up and did all 12 nicely and happily ... Managed a scrappy clear in the last class but it was 1-3 combined so no place (though not far off one, as it happened - maybe everyone else was having a bad day too?!) So it was a bit of a wibble in the season, but never mind coz it was fun :0)

........................Maisie and her entourage on the exercise field

.......The Boyz!! That Tim thing is turning into a right little beefcake ;o)

Then it was pretty again on the way home. (Pics near Stanbury)

Winning but not winning

Weekend before last we flyballed at Sutton Fields (Cheshire). Same team as the week before but we didn't have our height dog so had to run over full height jumps. So did we do well? Well, we didn't have much hope as our seed time was set with the height dog and we also lost the lovely Flynny as he doesn't do full height. Also, Billy has nearly always run with a height dog before, and when he hasn't he has run out - not that he's physically incapable of full height, and he does it fine in training, but at comps he sussed that he doesn't need to slow hinself down on his way to his precious bally by going over those big jumps, and the box loader is not allowed to nick it out anyway, so has run out up the side instead. He would go back down over the jumps though when the bally was safely in his gob, LOL! Soooo we didn't actually expect to get our four dogs up and down ... but we did!!! Billy never missed a beat all day and he ran so well, as did the rest of the team. However we didn't get into the rosettes :o( Why? Well, even with all the dogs running thier socks off, working well as a team, we were simply up against teams who were physically faster!!.. We did happen to be bottom seed in our division anyway, but this was also based on our faster times set with the height dog, so unless the other teams went into meltdown we just couldn't win. Hmmm, strange sport sometimes! In these circumstances there's kind of nothing to aim for - we couldn't have done any better. So we just had a nice day out with our dogs. Felt a bit flat though.
(Thanks to Iain for the pics)

..............................................What a good boy!

...................................Maisie just goes for the paddling :o)

Go Grasshoppers!

We should've been at High Peak show today but the weather cancelled it as the showground was flooded. Disappointing for us but must be even more so for the organisers who put so much effort into these things. Damn British weather! Actually I think we've been pretty lucky so far this year.

Yesterday Billy was flyballing anyway - at a nice venue (Norfolk Park) in Sheffield. Our team - Greeny Grasshoppers: Dancer, Flynny, Dylan, Billy Woof and Jess, ran really well together and we won our division!! First time we've had a 'first' - a few 'seconds' before but this time we did it :o) & we even got individual trophies as well as rosettes - presented in memory of a dog called Mist - don't know who Mist was but will find out, and I thought sponsoring the trophies was such a nice way to pay tribute to a departed doggy. The park was super and we had some fun walks through the day too.

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At home last night some fireworks were going off in the distance. Billy and Maisie went straight into panic mode, but then something ace happened. Tim went to the door and woofed at the noise and then came back and started some distraction therapy. He chewed Maisie's ankles and prodded her till she gave in and actually played with him and forgot about the noise! & Billy was distracted too as he had to busy himself grumbling at the pups for playing (bless him) and everyone calmed down very quickly. I'm not sure whether this will work when the real firework season comes at full volume but I'm really hopeful that Tim might be a brave and calming influence?? He's also woofed at thunder. Very strange that a boy with such bat ears should be less noise phobic than the others ;o)

Viva Dog Vegas!

Tried to take a pic of Maisie with her pretty rosettes but she shoved her bum into the frame, leaving Tim to blunder in and pose winningly instead :o)

What a great weekend! Maisie had some really nice runs at Dog Vegas (Winterton) and brought home a lovely haul of rosettes - 3rd, 4th, 9th & 2 other clears - she's ever such a clever Mouse! We had a really nice variety of courses, some big gallopy round ones, and the more twisty-turny ones that Maisie does well on results-wise. Her weaves were sooo much better - think she did 12 correctly three times, not always very speedily but more focused than she was and I tried to give her a bit more space and trust she'd do them without me bugging her too much. And then once she popped out at number 11 but that was just because the judge happened to step towards her at that moment and she had a bit of a wibble. Contacts seem better than they were but still not great. I couldn't quite bring myself to just run her down them "sod it" style, but she didn't dither as much as she was doing and seems to be gradually gaining confidence. In one round (the one where she got 3rd) she really thundered up and across the dogwalk like a good 'un! She also got so speedy she surprised me into rear crosses twice!! And I surprised myself with an unplanned bionic sprint round the top end of a flat tunnel - thanks Brenda for planting the daft idea ;o)

It was super watching the Finals in the evenings - very exciting, especially watching our clever clubmates - Go White Rose! Also there was a divine Welsh Sheepdog called Cai who it was great to watch and later meet.

On Sunday Billy had his turn and flyballed at Drax. Had to leave early so don't actually know yet what place our team got but anyway he ran well and enthusiastically as ever. We had a new Starter team with us too and they did ever so well.

Tim had a nice time socialising and being fussed by humans and humped by male dogs - must get him a less pink lead?! ;o) He was sooo cute with one little dog we met - a tiny 15-year old Papillion, not in the best of health. I thought he might be too big and rough but the Pap's mum said she'd be fine and could stand up for herself, so I carefully let him meet her and he laid himself down flat with his chin on a paw, and then just nosed her very gently and she snuggled up to him. I wish I'd had a camera. So maybe he's not a complete oaf after all!

& elsewhere ... at 'Northern Week' Helen and Skip got that second, closely followed by a third, Jumping win, so it's bye-bye from grade one to them. Big congratulations you two, now go get grade two!!!!!

West Lakes

What a spiffing weekend! The West Lakes venue (at Haverigg) is just superb - right on the edge of the dunes/beach and backed by stunning mountaineous scenery.

The weather was warm and sunny on Saturday and we drank Pimm's and sat on the grass and ring partying was a pleasure. Maisie did two runs and got 2 places! 15th in gr1 Jumping and 11th in gr1 Agility. The agility course was nice and involved some twiddly bits. Had it not being for Maisie trying to break the land un-speed record for the slowest weaves ever (I'm not complaining too much - at least she did 12!!) we might've even had a higher place.

Saturday evening involved a lovely walk on the beach with Jules and the girlies, and then unwinding over the show quiz with brandy and Bailey's - well, you have to keep warm when camping :o) Through the night the rain started and never really stopped all day on Sunday - and it was that particularly WET type of rain. Luckily Maisie is not fazed in the slightest by rain and she ran better for it being a bit cooler, and she got 7th in the Jumping!! It was such a Maisie-course - packed full of potential for front crosses, so I probably covered twice the distance she did LOL, she likes to make me run. It's really fun doing more "handling" courses with her when the weather's cooler and she's motivated. Loved it!
We hung around and squelched some more and then ran the Agility in the afternoon - well, Maisie was really giddy!! That is so unusual for the last run of the weekend and, though we made a hash of the course, it was great!
Both of the boys were less than chuffed at the weather. Even Tim's enthusiasm was dampened, and in the afternoon I got Billy out of the car and he just stood there, head down, a picture of abject misery, and he would not budge. I carried him to the long grass for a wee and then he stomped huffily straight back to the car and was going nowhere else, thank you very much.
The we came home and got dry and everyone had their fave things for dinner :o)
What a lovely show, can't wait till next year ...

Buzzing

LOVED training Tim tonight, not sure why particularly except that it just felt good. We've still a load of stuff to work on but each time we're both just getting it and understanding each other a bit more. He did some nice box work, is sending on and looking for his next jump, and is sending a little way to both types of tunnel. Also he did the A-scale off-lead for the first time and did it soooo well - going over confidently and enthusiastically running into his 2o2o and managing it more often than not, though at least trying to stop every time, LOL! He also did it in combination with wrapping round a jump either end of it too. We've not done much with the weaves yet and probably need to really put more effort into those now too. I'm starting to believe he might actually be ready for the pre-comp class at the first show he's foolishly entered for (NAWS Oct). I was a bit worried I'd taken on more than I should in such a speedy boy, but I feel like he's proving to be exactly what I wanted and needed in a "next" dog and I'm really enjoying his work ethic. I get a thrill from how he works on and drives through turns, etc. whilst still having steerability! Good ginger boy Tim :0)

Whilst we were setting up I ran Maisie over the A-scale about 8 times and did 12 weaves once. I think that's her optimum amount of training. She'll always be my bestest super-duper little fluffy angel girly ():-)

Catching up

Last weekend we were at Scunthorpe agility show just for one day - Maisie did some nice runs, including a good clear in G1 jumping even though it was late in a hot afternoon. I abandoned her contacts again in the agility - in trying to get her zoooming over - it worked and she missed them and then I felt a bit annoyed with myself as there were hardly any clears and she could've had a good place had I worked her steadily and 'safely' ....... ho hum. With hindsight it was the right thing to do - bigger picture and all that :o)

Oh, the week before that Billy flyballed on the Wirral. Good day, team came second. Unfortunately the low-flying planes really worried Maisie and that's taking some getting over.

This last Friday Billy ran at the British flyball champs near Daventry. The team didn't fare too well in their division (5th) but he was such a good lad and loved the frenzied atmosphere, and he got a lovely rosette for the wall anyway. Not sure who was most over-excited - the dogs or the flyballing humans ... I got thinking and felt proud of Billy's progress in the past year or so, from agility hooligan to competing well at national level, albeit in a different doggy sport.

Photo with kind permission of Sunnyside photography

Then we came home via Delinquent Dogz and Maisie had a couple of runs on Sat aft, then 3 on Sunday. She got 3rd in Jumping on Sat which was nice, and she ran beautifully in the flick-flack class - an 'open' class so no place, but pretty speedy for her. We like flick-flacks :0) Then another clear and good happy runs, plus more positive 'freestyle!' contacts on Sunday. She's such a little superstar.

Tim is coming along nicely and he makes me giggle. He had a poorly tummy a couple of weeks ago, but bounced back quickly and his daft big tail never stopped wagging even when he must've been feeling pretty rotten. Agility training is fun though challenging (for me probably more than him) and we're getting there ... He's a lot smarter than he sometimes seems ;o) The best thing is we've made some more strides in him not bogging off to say HELLO to other people/dogs when off lead. I can now take him on exercise fields at shows, with his cage ball on a tuggy, and feel relaxed that he's probably not going to harass anyone, unless he's extremely tempted e.g. by a ball and collie being thrown right in front of his nose LOL. He's also finally got the hang of retrieving said toy so that's a good way of burning up some of that gingery energy. He looks soooo angelic when he sleeps:
ZZZZZZZ

West Lakes for agility this weekend - looking forward to that one ...

Different Achievements

(pic taken at Barrow by Laura Sivell)

Saturday we were at Delinquent Dogz. I've decided we need a radical change to speed Maisie over those pesky contacts so have decided to forget about whether she actually hits the down contact for now and just race her over them and make it huuuuge fun. So I did and she did and it was!!! It means effectively throwing runs for now but so be it. She does seem to mostly hit the down of the A-frame in her stride pattern anyway though she tends to bound over it on the dogwalk. We'll worry about how to put it back together in a bit :o) It was so super to see her barely dithering at all on the A-frame even thought the judge was close by and she galloped on laughing her head off as I ran on making silly noises.

On Sunday we went to a lovely fun dog show at Ogden. It raised loads of money for the Dog's Trust - good stuff. All three of the hairy gang got some very good placings. The judge said young Tim has superb structure, movement and temperament, and he even knew what a Welsh Sheepdog was :o) He even beat some proper posh pedigree doggies (from a Skye Terrier to an Italian Spinone) to come second in the 'breed' class, bless him! And to my amazement he went on to take Best In Show!!!! So in one afternoon he got his first ever rosette and then some more then probably the biggest meringue-iest rosette he'll ever earn in his life, plus a smashing big trophy to keep! Might be a wee while before he gets any for agility ...

Here he is looking all posh and proud:

& here he is looking more like Tim :o) & coz they're proper gorgeous too:

Billy won the Obedience - hahahahaha! I shouldn't laugh, he is such a Good Boy.