Halfway through the season!

I have been very bad at blogging recently. Not that I have lost interest but I haven't had time to scratch my A*^$!! 2 businesses to do year ends, VAT quarter, training, competing , spending 1 to 1 time with Twiggy to build her confidence, and to add to that a heap of orders coming in for Agility equipment! Not complaining about that, but means painting, sanding and now "plastic welding" are also on my day to day chores. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

Twiggy is growing with confidence daily, and in fact her naughty spots are becoming quite prominent! She is a joy though and I am so pleased she found me. She has learnt a lot of basics now and some good agility foundations too. She is fast and funny so will be keeping everyone updated with her progress. Cove is doing amazingly well, starting on small sequences and is showing great potential. Dave is also becoming almost controlled around other dogs so we look forward to his first agility run in the not too distant future.

Lily & Olli have had a mixed few weeks. Olli is becoming a seriously good agility

spaniel, although still pushing his contacts we have had some lovely places over the last few weeks and we are getting there. Lily has also been top 10 placed in the last few Grade 5 agility runs but has been a bit wide and unbalanced and slightly crazy on some runs so have removed her from the ring.

Last night I went to a new trainer just to have a fresh look, new opinion on me and my dogs. Very interesting, and obviously all Olli and Lils problems are my fault! I really need to up my game as a handler as I am letting them down. Lots to work on but I am determined to improve and get both dogs in to the top 5 placings consistently, before the end of the season. Both dogs have just 1 more chance to qualify for Olympia but to be honest I am more concerned about running them well, having fun and getting us back as a team. Qualifiers can always wait til next year.

Last weekend we did have our first ever Team run with good friends Dan & Sarah and their dogs Magic & Thai. It was a bit of fun and we just thought we would do it for a few shows and have a blast. Imagine the excitement and adrenalin rush when we were 1 of only 5 teams to go clear, and won it by 8 seconds!! Haven't stopped grinning since. All 4 dogs so evenly matched, and it was almost faultless. Lily had 1 wide turn, so did Magic, Thai rattled a pole, only Olli seemed to be spot on, but we qualified for the big final in August so Dashing Dogs here we come!!!

I am so addicted to this sport, and so looking forward to the rest of the season!