Packington Update

On Sunday Amy and I were at Packington agility show, I had grade 1 jumping first as I was drawn 2nd, Maisy was good as usual but took a couple of poles, I don't know why, probably because of me! Ellen had a good clear to finish 3rd, we also had another jumping and an agility Maisy was taken out of the agility at the 2nd obstacle (the A Frame) for jumping the contact, and I have decided as soon as she stops listening I'm going to take her out, really for my own benefit as this only results in her ignoring me more and more around the course and as a result I get cross which is not good for either of us, and she took another pole or two in the last jumping. Summer had a lovely clear round in the 1-3 jumping and had a brilliant day getting all her weave entrances independently of Amy which is great progress. On Monday Amy took both the girls on her own and had a brilliant day gaining a 6th in jumping and an 8th in Agility just proving how many seconds she is saving by taking the weaves on her own WELL DONE, Amy also ran Maisy really well as you can see form the video's below, kindly captured by Ellen. Rupert now has his own blog because I seem to have so much to write about him (little monkey) the link can be found below.

Just a couple of Well dones....
Jo with Ronny & Keisha both going grade 6 WOW fantastic
Also to Jo with the other mali's I'm sure people will soon get bored of you taking home all the trophies and rosettes!!! Way to go X
and Sara and Jess the labrador getting a lovely clear round at Packington on Sunday taking her into 15th place - it only gets better.

Weekend Update

Amy and her friends had a brilliant weekend albeit most of it was spent drinking Pims in the sunshine! her Disney themed night out went well and looked like great fun from the photo's. Maisy and I attended BATS agility show on Saturday, the first class was Agility I was lucky enough to be 3rd in the queue so not much time for Maisy to get over excited by it all, unfortunately it didn't go to plan and Maisy flew all her contact points ending up with me leaving the ring before the end of the course, I didn't see any point in continuing, the round felt like we had gone 4 steps backwards!! to say I was disappointed would have been an understatement, Maisy on the other hand was oblivious to any wrong doing and happily played with her lead!! I decided to go straight into the 1-4 NBC jumping class, it was the same judge as last week so the course was set at the higher end which normally would not be an issue! again although Maisy was listening she took a pole and then entered the weaves at the 2nd pole! so all that was left was the grade 1 jumping. The sun was shining with not a cloud to be seen I was drawn 65th and the judge had said the first 30 dogs before lunch so I decided to watch those 30 dogs to get a feel for where they made mistakes, then I noticed there were no dogs on the line so managed to get Maisy in early, I'm not sure what happened I probably rushed her from the car to the line too quickly although I had made sure she had a quick stretch and the toilet! still we arrived at the line and the start went well then she took the pole before the weaves and again entered the 2nd weave! she continued the remainder of the round well and I even managed to get my Pre-curve in before the last line of jumps to the finish. Another day with no clears! I will admit I came home very despondent, no matter how well I seem to do in training I just cant get it together at shows, I do feel I let my dog down although in reality Maisy couldn't care less, we have a great relationship and yesterday afternoon proved that as I managed an hour sunbathing in the garden while the dogs were playing in the water, all the time Maisy was sleeping by my side in the shade of my chair, so next weekend we do it all again, this time Amy will be with me to keep things in perspective and I will try to remember I do this for fun, no pressure.

This week has been fairly busy again, on Monday I got Ruperts optigen results back showing him clear for CEA, although I knew he would never contract the disease it was important to know if he was clear or a carrier for potential matings, and I am thrilled with the result, this means if he should prove to be a good enough example of the breed and his hip score is acceptable he will be able to stand at stud to approved bitches (approved by Sheila that is).

My eldest daughter Claire has finally finished her degree, it has been a hard 3 years for her and over the past few weeks she has been revising solidly, so it was really nice for her to get the exams over and done with, she can now enjoy the summer ready to begin her teaching course next year, starting with Amy's birthday party this weekend! she has organised a Disney themed night out, and has decided to go as Mini Mouse, I'm hoping it won't get too messy! but then again you are only 20 once.. so long as they tidy up after themselves!?!

Maisy and I are off on our own to BATS agility show on Saturday, we're still chasing that illusive jumping win, Maisy is on such good form at the moment and had a brilliant training session on Tuesday holding fabby contacts and really listening to my commands! fingers crossed I don't let her down again, not that she cares she thinks I'm brilliant just taking her to the show and letting her loose on the equipment is all the fun she needs.

May Sunshine

Despite the weather forecasters telling us to watch out for rain and more rain we had a lovely weekend of sunshine, albeit a little chilly in the shade. On Saturday Amy and I took the girls to Leamington's Agility show, where we met up with the usual agility crowd. Amy and Summer had a brilliant day gaining 2 clear rounds in the Jumping classes, her weave training has proved successful with Summer sighting the entrance perfectly saving her a good few seconds, with a bit more confidence she will start to speed up through to the end, but this advantage took her into 2nd place behind an elated Ellen and Hamish which finally takes them into Grade 2, and I must say it was one of the nicest rounds I have watched with Ellen really starting to trust her boy and taking the risks she needs to gain those all important milliseconds - well done. Maisy and I also had a great day, no clears but a silly mistake by me in the jumping taking me into the completely wrong position! and a trip by Maisy in the Agility making her fall into a jump, and a silly pole in the 1-7 jumping but she was on form, listening and really working her socks off so I'm not complaining. Anne had a lovely clear round in the 1-7 jumping her handling has come on leaps and bounds both Crafty & Gloria were looking Fab.

Jo & Keisha are off to the world Champs today, we all have everything crossed for you and look forward to getting the updates.

More Training

Last night I decided to take Maisy to the paddock instead of going to class, I had set quite a difficult course out with contacts into tunnels and a fast line of jumps into the weaves, all of which she took in her stride, she was really trying to get it right which let me see clearly where my handling errors were, she waited for her release command on all the contacts which was really nice as we have been stuggling with that one! so fingers crossed for the weekend and hopefully no naughty poles will be there. When I got home I decided to take Rupert out for a walk in the evening sun, I have been training lead work as it's something I haven't been very vigilant with, with the others, he had a little run accross the corn field and then was put on his lead, he was a little star and not once did he take up the slack, we enjoyed a pull free walk with plenty of time to watch the bunnies nibbling the sping grass before they realised Rupert was in fact a dog staring at them and not a lamb! This morning I found an old photo of Ben, he must be about 2 years old, he looks so fit and healthy and you can see by his eyes how focused he was, it's a bit sad to see him now, a young dog in an old body, at only 8 years old when he should be at his best, hopefully this year Amy will manage to get him fit enough to have a go at a few allsorts classes, it's a shame to leave him in the caravan garden when the thing he loves to do the most is a few yards away, the trouble is even though he is very obedient as soon as he sees Agility he turns into a pulling machine! so it takes two of us just to get him to the ring!! Bless him..

So Many Darians!

On Saturday Amy & Kathryn went off to Stafford for the Dogstable qualifier, they had a great result with Amy winning and Kathryn coming a close 2nd, so a great result for the girls, yesterday Amy was back for the handling where she came 2nd to a very experienced handler, no qualifier this time, she'll have to try again later in the year. Then is was down to the Main event DARIAN DAY - we are really lucky that the breeder of Summer and Rupert holds an annual Darian Day, where all the owners of Darians are invited to a picnic, The sun shone all day and all the dogs young and old had a really lovely time, nearly all of Ruperts brothers and sisters were there and it was a real treat to watch them all playing together whilst their older aunts and uncles kept a watchful eye on them and of course great, great granny Abi overseeing the proceedings from a safe distance. Rupert was exhausted by the time we got home and slept soundly for a couple of hours and then in true Rupert style suddenly woke up ready to start all over again!
Lots of training this week as we are back on the agility circuit starting this Saturday with Leamington, hopefully we will stay on form keeping the improvement up, but only time will tell, Amy & Summer had a great training day with Alistair Bray last week so hopefully we will see a bit more confidence from them in the ring.

May Bank Holiday

On Saturday Amy and I attended the Border Collie Breed council open day, Rupert was having his blood taken for DNA testing hopefully we will get the results in a few weeks, and we took the others along to take part in the companion dog show, I was asked to steward for the obedience while Amy showed the dogs, the results for the day are as follows:
Maisy - Best Rescue -6th
Maisy - Scurry - 1st
Maisy & Summer - 3rd best brace
Ben - Advanced obedience - 2nd
on Sunday I had a day off, well I say that, but it was only a day off from the dogs! I had plenty of housework to catch up on and Amy attended Rugby obedience show, where she was really pleased with her training rounds, Summer and Amy seem to have lost a bit of confidence in the obedience ring so it was nice for her to come home pleased with a very happy Summer. and. Yestersay Amy attended a weave training morning with Alistair Bray, which they both really enjoyed and seemed to get a lot out of, I'm looking forward to her showing me what she learnt.
Well done to those who attended Dordale especially to Jo & Keisha who have finally got that last win taking them into Grade 5 and to Ellen & Hamish 2 more secondes to add to your collection!!!! and even more importantly to Ann & Crafty who got their first place in grade one a 7th we are absolutely over the moon, you must have kept yourself calm and in control - well done X