Contacts, contacts..........Eureeka!!!!!!

1 of my favourite shows last weekend. Set in the centre of Bath Racecourse, Lansdown is friendly, relaxed and you have miles of racecourse to walk the dogs. It was a scorcher too, and quite hard keeping the dogs cool and comfortable, so the paddling pool was definitely my best bargain of the year so far.

Lily had a mental blonde moment in the jumping on Saturday, starting brilliantly and then at fence 8 picked up a tunnel that was nowhere near where my shoulders were facing, but it was all she could see, and as she then came out playing and goading me like a puppy I took her out the ring. The Agility was a different story though, and she had a lovely run, ending in 5th place. Her dog walk was a bit slow on the down plank, being extra cautious Lily, but her Seesaw and A frame were brilliant. Stopped dead and didn't self release.

Olli had a clear in jumping, but his agility was short & sweet. Having struggled for months to sort his contacts, and him always doing them perfectly at home and in training, I decided my only option was to give him no chances at all in the ring. If he doesn't stop on the contact he gets removed from the ring. I did it last week at Golden Valley, and Saturday at Lansdown, the 3rd obstacle was the dog walk, Olli ran off the end and I marched him out the ring. So frustrating but I had to stick to my guns.

Sunday he had an Agility run and then in the afternoon an ABC Qualifier, which was a daunting prospect, especially having to take him out the ring again if he missed his contact. Grade 4 agility, he flew across the dog walk and stopped dead!!! I nearly screamed with delight! Seesaw perfect, and finally the A frame, which he normally stops on top and barks at me, slammed his feet down and nailed it!! We were eliminated as I was so thrilled i took the wrong course, but I didn't care. As always with Olli, he takes a while to fully understand what you want, but when he does he is great! ABC qualifier, I was bricking it on the start line, but was still determined to stick to my rules. Olli knew what to do and he nailed his contacts, perfect 2 on 2 off and went clear, ending up 13th out of 230 dogs, a lot of which are higher grades as ABC covers grades 1 to 7. We may not have qualified but I have never been happier.

This weekend Tuffley and 2 novice qualifiers and another ABC. Must not get my expectations too high!