WARNING..... turn down your speakers!!!!!!!

What a fantastic weekend. firstly I must appologise to Amy and I promise there will be more of her Week away with Mary Ray shortly.

Saturday we had a really fun day at the flyball, although it was overcast it was extremly hot, and for the first time ever I saw a tired Ronny, not only did they manage a respectable 3rd place in the 4th Division but Ronny also won the ABC singles, Maisy and Ronny came 2nd in the pairs with Smartie & Dylan coming 3rd, so it was a great day out. below is a clip of Ronny & Maisy in their Pairs

But Yesterday was the best day so far, Jo & I had decided to go to Emdac Agility in Melton Mowbray for a change with no pressure as it isn't a KC show. Jo had an amazing day with her dogs Keisha taking 2 x 1st places and a 2nd and 4th, Ronny taking 1st in the jumping and little Kody taking a 4th too, her van looked like a rosette factory when she left!! also it looks like Ronny may have gone to the top of the Clever dogs ABC leaderboard so he might be at the final later in the year. Maisy and I had a great day too, firstly she had a brilliant run in the power and speed, we had great control over all the contacts followed by a really fast jumping round but just dropping a pole, then we had another jumping round where I mucked up the end! and then we had our first clear in the agility, it was a lovely round, with no weaves, we finished 9th and have a lovely pink rosette to show for it, we also had a clear in the next jumping class, but it was a bit of a mess so we were outside the placings. here is a clip of Maisy's agility.

in the lunch break we decided to have a go at Cleverdogs, and this is our first attempt, we got quite a good time even though we had to have 2 attempts at the weaves, I think we might also be in the final!!! I was a bit sneaky though as I managed to persuade Jo to put Ronny in ABC at least he won't be against Maisy LOL method in my madness. here is a clip so you get an idea of what's involved.

I am going to keep going to the EMDAC shows whenever possible, they are really good for building confidence, in the lower classes there are no weaves and I found that even theough for Misy she still got the thrill of queueing and her excitement levels were as much as at a normal show, I was able to be much more relaxed and it showed through in her rounds. I am a very proud mummy today.

Summers Progress

This week Amy & Summer are on a course with Mary Ray, the week started off with a dinner for everyone cooked by Dave and an informal meet and greet. The week consists of Obedience in the mornings followed by agility in the afternoons. On Monday Summer was a little bit lethargic, probably due to having been at an agility show all weekend and the fireworks which woke them up the previous night, but yesterday and today Amy has reported she is back to her cheeky self and has been doing "lovely" retrieves and they just need to work on maintaining concentration throughout the heelwork, and they have both been enjoying their agility classes.

My Other daughter Claire flew off to Morocco at 4 this morning on a 3 week bus trip accross the country, she has already text me to say they arrived safely and it is scorching hot!! so hopefully a few pictures from Morocco to follow too.

The Bandits are racing at Daventry this Saturday and I am at Emdac in Melton Mowbray on Sunday subject to my ankle holding out, especially as Steve and I are going to a Ball on Saturday night... no dancing for me LOL

Long Weekend

This weekend we were in Worcester at Golden Valley Agility show, Maisy, Dylan and Summer were entered in lots of classes. Maisy was on great form, hardly having any poles and really listening although contacts and weaves need much more practice, it is so annoying as she is rock solid at home but the excitement of the show just makes her into a little demon. Summer had a couple of lovely rounds and a great clear in the team dash, she is improving steadily and is a real pleasure to watch, Dylan was just his usual self, head up and enjoying a trot around in the sunshine!! I think he was more spaniel than collie much to Amy's horror... Sunday Morning Amy, Clare, Jo and I were entered in the team dash with Charlie, Ronny, Maisy and Dylan, it was a really great round, Clare started and went clear, followed by Ronny Maisy and Dylan all notching only 5 faults each, it was exillarating and great fun. during the afternoon I managed to get in Maisy's way as she flew out of a tunnel, at the time I thought that's going to hurt tomorrow! and just carried on. but after running another class and packing the caravan, driving it to Daventry ready for Amy and Summers course I couldn't put any weight on it at all, after a trip to casualty and 2 Xrays the doctors decided it was a bad sprain and I should rest it for a week!!! I'll have to take it one day at a time to see how much I can do on it, luckily we have flyball on Saturday so not much running required..
This week I'll try to keep you posted on Amy and Sumers progress at Mary Rays course, last year she had a great time and it looks set to be another fabby week, Amy was really looking forward to spending some quality time away with her dogs so more news to follow.

Maisy's latest video

This is Maisy and I , I think the pole came down when I spoke to her so she dropped her feet and you can see by my bent forward body language I pushed her out of the weaves as she sped up, but all in all I am really pleased with our progress, I really feel in control most of the time, we do occasionally have a round where I don't think Maisy even notices I'm there, but things are deffinitely feeling better.

Summer goes clear

Yesterday Summer was a little star getting her first clear round in agility, although it wasn't fast enough for placings it was a great start to the weekend. what a little star, Photo's to follow. hopefully now she has grown so much in confidence placings won't be far away.

Good job she's pretty!!!

We have had a very VERY wet weekend, Flyball on Saturday and agility today. Yesterday the Brickyard Boomerangs won division 5 winning all 5 races, our other team only had 1 win but we had some good training which will hopefully stand us in good stead for the future, Summer was not on form and decided she couldn't really be bothered to run in the rain, she might get dirty!!! until the last race when Amy got her clicker out and suddenly Summer remembered - little minx..

Today we woke to driving rain, and it didn't stop all day. Maisy and I had some great moments, She was really listening and when I got my body language right Maisy didn't put a foot wrong, it really felt good today and I was really dissapointed when the show had no choice but to cancel for safety reasons just before a really nice jumping round. Clare and Charlie had 2 fantastic rounds today, Charles was in sprinter mode and pulled a very worthy 5th place in agility.

Amy didn't come out today in favor of shopping!!! guess what new pink wellies and a new pink coat for Summer...Oh Dear...

Qualifiers ans all sorts..

Firstly I have to congratulate the Brickyard Babies on Qualifying for the flyball at Crufts 2010, they managed to win every race in super style, you really looked polished in the ring well done. not forgetting Ben who ran Maisy, Ben has never done flyball before and was thrown in at the deep end, but proved what a Star he is.

Sunday Clare and I met up with Kathryn & Ian at PADS in Derbyshire for Agility - Maisy was a bit manic in the first round so I decided to really work her contacts in the next, unfortunately the judge took exception to my training in the ring!! which actually is understandable, if we all did it the day would go on forever! but it was a good exercise as in the next class she held her contacts really nicely coming out with a few poles here and there, lastly was a nice jumping course which again we had a few poles and 5 at the weaves.

Jo has agreed to come over once a week to give me a bit of handling help, Ronny has a similar style to Maisy so she really understands the issues I keep having. Last night she set up some tricky jumping sequences which in the past would have left both Maisy & I going mad, Jo really helped me to use my arms in the right way to get some really nice results, we rounded up with a small course which was really fun, she left me with some homework which will hopefully help me for Sundays competition. Lastly I have decided to lay of alcohol for the rest of June!!!!! I know!!! OMG.. but I need to get fitter if i'm going to help Maisy get her clear, she really deserves it so lets see how it goes.