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.

A Billy Woof Drama

“THERE WAS A SPIDER IN MY BED!!!”
“But Billy, that was almost a week ago now, sweetheart”
“DON’T CARE, IT MIGHT STILL BE THERE, I AM NOT GETTING IN THAT BED!!!”
“OK Billy, you just lay down on the rug there then.”
“OH NOOOO, I SAW IT AGAIN, IT MOVED!!!!!!! I HAVE TO GET ON THE SOFA OUT OF THE WAY, IT’S DDDDANGEROUS!!!”
*Billy reclines on sofa, Tim spots an opportunity and snuggles into Billy’s bed*
“WOOFWOOFWOOF, GRRRR, GERROUT OF MY BED TIM, HOW DARE YOU!!!”
*I give up … *
:o)

Weardale

Last Friday the weather was horrific! Never stopped raining heavily for a second all day. The Weardale show organisers bravely went ahead with the weekend though and, despite the minor flooding in the gateway to the camping field, the show was great!!
Maisie went through the 75 KC points mark which means we could go up to grade 2 on points, though not doing, so it doesn't actually mean anything really but it was a nice milestone to aim for and reach.
She ran really well, probably because the weather was a bit cooler than of late, and she got an 8th in the agility on Saturday.
The venue was lovely - really scenic. I believe there would've been a nice walk along the riverbank, had it not been in high flood ... maybe next time! There were Champ classes on the Sunday - just awesome to watch, wow!!! & Helen brought her yummy birthday cheesecake which we ate till we felt sick :o)

Soggy weather

Last weekend we were at Wirral. The venue was lovely - a country park with woodland walks. Maisie managed two clears, but her best moment - inventing the plastic chair jump - earned her a "judge's special" rosette. Teehee!

Today the boys properly played together for the first time!! They had a mad old chase around in the long wet grass. Billy is very tolerant but he doesn't actively give his friendship very easily, so Tim must now be firmly accepted. Billy had flyball training tonight and he loved it but unfortunately we were rained off halfway through. Hope the rain backs off for the weekend ...

Tim had another good session at training last night - we sort of managed a flick-flack and a star and some other little sequences and he went over the dogwalk for the first time and he was even anticipating his check on the down contact, good ginger thing! He is sooo different to handle to Maisie - feels not so much like a different breed as a different species. Help!!!

Barrow

The carefully made plans of this weekend went wonky when the car broke down in a major way meaning poor Billy missed his flyball on Sunday :o(

Maisie had her agility at Barrow though and was mostly a good girly as usual. She did what felt like a nice fast agility run for her though it was an unplaced clear, then later got a 12th place on what was a much slower run with a long pause for admiring the scenery from the top of the A-frame. Hey ho! Mostly good I say because she was really out for the laughs - flinging herself down for a mad roll on the grass in the middle of one run, having a footspa on the startline in another, and then - well, err, this one was my fault - mis-timing a front cross and flapping my hand into a wing knocking it over, doh! She's doing really well though and I think we're becoming a more confident, if sometimes chaotic, partnership :o)

Really nice time overall and some fab performances from Sara and Tilly - 3rd in grade 1 jumping!! & another good place in a 1-3 class, and Helen & Lucy had some brilliant bits including one fantastic sooooo nearly clear, till the last pole came down - arrrrg!