Mixed weekend and a lesson learned :-(

This weekend we were at Lansdown show. Always a lovely show, and with the added bonus of watching the Omnipro Starters cup final on the Saturday, and seeing some of the top handlers in the country in the Crufts classes on the Sunday. A friend of mines husband was in the Starters final with a young dog, his first agility dog, and he had a foot perfect round. He came across the finish and dropped to his knees and hugged his dog. Brought tears to my eyes and still does writing this! So lovely to see so much genuine love for his dog, and as an added bonus he won the cup!! Too many people don't seem to appreciate their dogs. Fern & I stood and watched some of the grade 6/7 jumping on Saturday with another friend of mine, and we were amazed how many top handlers don't reward or play with their dogs as they come out the ring. The higher up the grades you go the less people seem to praise their dogs. Now before anyone starts going off on one, I am not saying all higher grade handlers, as I know their are plenty that do, but a lot don't. Maybe they should remember that the dogs got them to those grades, and the dog gives its all in every run, not realising its gone wrong, and the reason it has gone wrong is because its been given the wrong signal by its handler or been trained incorrectly. Dogs don't have the emotional capabilities that we have. They cant decide to do it wrong to wind you up, or to just be naughty for the hell of it. It is always our fault. I also saw a few people around the rings being very harsh and berating their dogs for lunging at others, or barking and misbehaving. If they don't have the ability to work with their dogs issues properly, then remove them from the situation! On the plus side, we watched Dawn Weaver run one of her beardies (sorry I think it was Breezer?) in the Crufts singles and she missed her weave entry and Dawn laughed and said something along the lines of "never mind darling, lets try that again" and was still smiling and rewarding her as she left the ring. 
Anyway, that's my rant over for now.
Our dogs this weekend? Well Twiggy was a little star, having a blast and getting the weaves beautifully in her runs. No clears but she had the best fun and so did I running her. Its all coming together now and as long as she continues to be happy, that's all I care about. Her day will come.
Olli did some great stuff getting just 5 in the G5 agility, and 5 in the ABC qualifier because he just didn't recognise the wall as a jump at the end and I was too far behind him to help! Probably only ever seen a wall twice before so that's just unlucky. He had fun though in true Olli style.
Lily had a fantastic run in the 6/7 jumping. We were E'd because i was sooooo late with my "in" command on a fast pull though, she didn't have a chance, but the rest was beautiful. Then as she was nearing the end of another brilliant agility run something went wrong, Lily seized up and my heart stopped. She tried to complete the last few obstacles but in pain and I was devastated. I walked her slowly out and straight to an animal chirpractor who was on site. She said she was very tight across her shoulders, so gave her some gentle massage and we returned to the caravan, me nearly in tears. I was so worried all night but although she was a bit slow to get up Sunday morning she was soon looking near normal, and although I missed running her on Sunday I was so glad to see that twinkle in her eye. It seems now that she jarred her shoulder, it went into spasm across her neck and like us she had a crick in her neck brought on by attempting to turn right in mid air after another late call from me. It was a cold wind and she hadn't done anything for a few hours, so my lesson learned, to warm Lily up a lot more than I did on Saturday. Chiropractor visit today, and all clear. She is bouncing off the walls so I know she feels fine, thank god :-))
Cove came home with 2 more trophies!!! His 2nd Grade 2 show and a 2nd & a 3rd in jumping. Really consistent boy and showing more confidence in every run. Fern has taken over as chief duster and polisher now!! 
Others in our group came home with trophies too so a very successful weekend. 
Georgie had a lot of fun, sometimes too much fun watching the rings but he does come back to me and his toy very quickly so I think we can work on that. I love his enthusiasm and drive so I don't want to stop it, just steer it in the right direction! He even managed to do some waits and real proofing, in the middle of all the rings. Even when  Schnauzer walked past and nearly pinched Georges toy which I had thrown a few feet away, George held his wait!!!! Mind you the look on his face was priceless!!! Love him lots.  198 miles added.

A few photos of Cove, his cousin Phaze and his half brother/cousin Tatty, enjoying a game in the lovely long grass around the race course. :-)