SWAT

We set off Friday lunchtime to the new SWAT show, and I for 1 was really excited. It was our first weekend show for 3 weeks and I love being away in the caravan, and also it was our first weekend away with Twiggy so I was looking forward to seeing how she coped.

The ground was pretty bad, not the show organisers fault but it was a cause for concern. Deep cracks in the ground due to being irrigated by the farmer, and then no rain, so everyone was a bit iffy. I ran Lily in the Grade 1-7 jumping and she was flying until near the end and she crashed a pole. Looking at the video and listening to Rog & Fern afterwards, it seemed her foot got stuck in a crack as she took off, so she twisted and dragged her back leg.

We then spent the next hour debating as to whether to continue, and missed 2 classes. I decided that my dogs are tough. Lily was fine, not at all bothered or lame from her incident, and Olli spent 2 winters running flat out over ploughed fields and rough terrain picking up pheasants, so we carried on and decided to stay. Lily was a complete mad cow in the agility. I think spending a few hours doing nothing whilst we were debating, gave her too much energy and she forgot I was in the ring! I took her out half way round. Daft bitch was making her own course! Olli missed his weaves in his jumping so he had 5 faults and I was beginning to think we should've gone home after all. Olli had just a Grade 1-7 jumping to do, so I didn't expect too much out of 200 dogs, but he did a lovely round, went clear and ended up 17th. Lily had a Grade 5 jumping course, and I figured if she wont listen to me I just wont speak! Did the whole run without saying a word and it was like clockwork. She watched my body, focused on the job and we won it by over a second!! Her first Grade 5 trophy!!

Sunday, Olli did a lovely running contact on dogwalk and A frame in his agility run.................which is not what I have trained, but he went clear and ended up a very respectable 6th!! Not bad for a spaniel, but I really must keep my criteria of stopping 2 on 2 off or he will never learn. Lilys agility was a fab course and we were totally nailing it with my silent approach until 2 obstacles from the end. Tunnel entrance right on dog walk and I over handled it so she took the tunnel. Bugger! I was so sure she would get the dog walk. Never mind, the rest was brilliant, and she then went on to get another trophy, 3rd in the jumping to finish the weekend.

Twiggy was gobsmacked by the whole event when we got there, but I walked her around loads, rewarded her meeting people, even had her playing tuggy with me right by the ringside! She grows in confidence by the day, and I just love her to bits. There is a bright spark inside this frightened little girl, and it is starting to shine through. A long road ahead, but so rewarding.

Really looking forward to the future. Lily aiming high, Olli too and now Twiggy. Life is good.

Introducing Twiggy.

I didn't expect to be writing a Blog this year about any new arrival, and I certainly never thought any new arrival would be a rescue, but then part of the fun of life is not knowing whats around the corner.

Meet Twiggy, Twiglet, previously Twix from Many Tears rescue.

I look at Many Tears site almost daily, and I "Ahhhh" and "Bless them" a lot as I work my way down the endless list of dogs needing a forever home, but last week I stopped dead on a picture of Twix. Initially because she looked so much like Ferns Cove, but then something just reached out from those eyes and went straight to my heart. I did nothing but 2 days later she was still haunting me. Before I realised I was completing an adoption form, speaking to people miles up North and at 3am yesterday morning, Rog and I set off to Brighouse West Yorkshire.

She is my dream dog. Obviously not taking the place of Lily, Olli or any of the others but it feels like she was born to be mine. We have a long road ahead, getting to know each other and encouraging her confidence and personality to shine through, but she certainly has found her forever home and you will be seeing a lot more of her and her progress.

Life is a mystery, and events over the last week have made me realise even more to grasp it and live it to the full. Its not a rehearsal, its a live show and every minute is precious.

Huge thanks to Many Tears and to the Mitchell family who fostered her for a month and have given her the love and courage to blossom. They are amazing people who will always be friends of ours now.

What an amazing week!!!

Agility trivial info.

I was a bit bored today so I decided to use my mileage tracker to work out how many miles we have & will travel in total, just to agility shows this year.

So its early in the season as we didn't compete over winter, and so far we have clocked up 1207 miles, with the caravan and in the new van Rex. Between now and the end of August we will be travelling 3,804 miles around the UK!! I am not going to work out how much I spend on entries or camping costs, nor the amount spent on booze and rubbish food on these weekends, but at the current rate of diesel, and my vans MPG its around £618 of fuel alone! It would also be interesting to see how many miles we walk and run at the shows. Some of them are so spread out I probably walk 10 miles a day to and from the caravan! Add to that the amount spent on dogs leads, toys, treats just because you have to buy them, and the running shoes, shorts, waterproofs and colour coordinated polo shirts, fencing for the garden, poo bags, vetbed, ........ the list is endless. I think this year I should get a rebate on my council tax as we wont be living in our house more than 4 days a week for the next 5 months!!!

I do love agility so much.

Out of my league!

Last weekend we had our 1st 3 day show, UKA Saturday & Sunday followed by Vyne on Monday. Lily was entered in the Masters Tournament on Sunday, and it was her first show at Champ. When I was stood in the queue for the Masters I noticed that most of the people in the same queue were either Grade 7 handlers, Olympia or Crufts winners, even some had been to World champs. I was pooing myself!!! Lee Gibson set the courses and judged, and it was a brilliant but tricky, trappy course, the type I had never run before. Lily did obstacles 1 to 7 brilliantly but fell for the tunnel trap and we were eliminated. However she completed the rest of the course too and I was more than happy. I had to run back to the caravan and grab Olli, run back whilst the ring party and judge waited patiently, and run Olli in the Novice jumping. Knackered before I started, he did a lovely clear round and won it!!! His first Jumping win and it was perfect. I then ran Lily in her first Champ agility and she was 4th! Brilliant end to the UKA weekend.

Monday at Vyne KC show, it was Lils first Grade 5 show and Olli had an ABC Olympia qualifier. Lily went clear in both jumping classes, no help from me in the 2nd one! Good that she is so genuine. Olli decided that it was far too exciting to stop on contacts so did a Superman impression off the seesaw in his ABC class and I took him out of the ring. He has 2 more chances to qualify over the next 2 months, and as Lily pinged her dogwalk contact too (Most unusual!!) we are busy training contacts for the next few weeks!!

Lily ended up being placed 21st in 1 jumping and 9th in the other. Initially I was a bit disappointed at 21st place, until it dawned on me that not only was it her first grade 5 show but there were 220 dogs in that class. She beat 199 other dogs! Sometimes you need to reflect and put things in perspective. Her 9th was a class of 100 dogs too so I am pretty pleased with my girl. Its only the start of the season after all.

A weekend off this week and out to celebrate Rogers birthday with friends Saturday. Lots of training to be done and look forward to our next show next week.