Depressing start as the great British weather decided to make up for the drought by chucking more rain at us than we really needed. Right up until the last possible minute, we were determined to go to WSBDS as we had not done the show before, and Olli had an ABC qualifier. Not just rain, but strong winds finally decided me to stay home. It just wasnt going to be safe or sensible to travel 125 miles with the caravan, Fern and all my precious dogs, so we stayed home. Fern & I were pretty fed up, but as the weekend progressed we realised we had made the right decision. The second day of the show was cancelled as the ground was flooded, and it wasnt safe for the dogs to continue, so a brave but wise decision made by the show. We were happy at home after all and had a chilled weekend with the dogs.
The following weekend we had booked to go to Vyne for the day, Bank Holiday Monday, and it would be Twiggy & Coves first show at their new grades, so even though the forecast wasnt good, we travelled to Newbury, leaving at 5am and at least the journey was ok. The day was wet. Miserable and cold but we caught up with a few friends, and the dogs were happy to be competing. Fern ran Cove first in the Grade 5 jumping, and although a very testing course, he made it look easy and only one dog did it faster, so at their first Grade 5 show, 2nd place in jumping! Twiggy was also her usual consistent self and managed a nice clear in Grade 4 jumping, but an even better run in the agility and was 6th!! Fern then ran Lily in the Grade 6 agility and did a stunning run coming 7th overall. Lily still came looking for me at the end, but it was so nice to watch her run for a change, and Fern handled her well. Olli didnt quite get it all together in any course, so although some good bits, he was starting to get frustrated with me and it made me think about what to do for the rest of the season. Poor genuine funny Olli has hit a bit of a brick wall, competing in Grade 6 without basic foundation training, and its starting to show. I made the decision to do some re training with him and take him out of the G6/7 classes for the rest of this season. Its not fair on him when I havent trained him properly.
The following weekend was meant to be a one day local show for us, and yes you guessed it, rain meant the show was cancelled. I have decided at this point not to look at just how much I have lost in entry money. The weather is depressing enough without adding financial losses to the mood! I also feel for the show organisers, who put so much in to staging a competition and if it cant go on it must be soul destroying. So another weekend at home, working on building eqpt and just fun training with the dogs.
We did however go to Silverstone on the Friday for Roger to drive an Aston Martin around the track, an experience day I had bought him for Christmas. It was good fun, and believe it or not it stayed bright & dry!!
The weekend after that (20th/21st May) was Devon County Show, and we were part of the display group for Devon Dogs. Georges first chance to do agility in a ring with crowds watching, and all the noise that goes with a huge Agricultural show. He did really well, and managed to focus on me and the task. The weather was.....damp but had a few clear spells.
It was also Ferns 21st Birthday and we had a big party on the Saturday. Friends from all areas and all circles came, and all in fancy dress. Brilliant night, BBQ, drinks, music and we were still dancing at 4am in the kitchen. Rain managed to stay off until about 11pm so not too bad.
The last weekend in May we had nothing booked anyway, so another weekend at home with the dogs, drinks with friends and more work on eqpt and starting to build with excitement for the first weekend in June and away to Hinckley for a 3 day show....................
Well, the journey to Hinckley was very good, and we set up camp with all our friends, and had a group dinner of Chilli & Spag Bol, thanks to Claire, and including Sharon & Chris from ooop North. Twiggy was as always totally beside herself with excitement meeting her foster family again, and we had a great evening. Saturday morning we awoke to a fairly cloudy dull day, but at least it was dry. Lily & I were in tune and she had 2 lovely clears on some great testing courses. Twiggy was great fun and also had some great runs, and Cove was looking very good. All had ribbons by the end of the day and we settled for another evening with our group, enjoying a gorgeous curry and all the trimmings thanks to Jill :-)
Surprise surprise it started to rain as the evening drew to a close, so we snuggled up fairly early to bed, and looking forward to the Olympia qualifiers on the Sunday. At 6am all three of us nearly jumped out of our skins as a loud crash woke us. The rain had continued all night and a huge pool had gathered in the roof of our awning. It had finally crashed under the strain, smashing a chair that was under it and crashing a pole into the side of the caravan. Disaster! 2 dents in our wonderful pride and joy Walter, and a wrecked unusable awning. It took us an hour to re arrange our fencing, van etc as we packed the awning away, and I was close to tears as we walked up with Fern & Cove to run in the qualifier. Gutted then wasnt the word, as we stopped to discuss our damage with some friends, Fern carried on to the ring and as no dogs were on the line she went straight in. We missed her run and I was ready to give up and cry myself into a ball, but she was clear, and Cove did everything right and by lunchtime it was confirmed. 3rd place out of 240ish dogs and Fern was off to the semis with Cove in September!!! So glad I had packed that bottle of bubbly :-)
658 miles added.
So thats it, all up to date now and just 3 more days until we leave for Thames Champ show and yet more qualifiers...............and the forecast is rain. Oh and I apologise, but thats about as short a summary of the last 6 weeks as I can do, and I have cut it down twice!!
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