Showing 81 posts tagged with "pippa"
I've been a bad blogger as of late, and need to do a serious catch-up. Since my last post we've been to the chiro, done a Bob Sharpe Training day at Megagility, been to Tailwaggers, done Crufts, done the last EMDAC at UK Arena, and been on another Bob Sharpe training day but this time at Jaynes. So its going to be a long one...
Chiro Visit
So the Thursday before Crufts did a trip up to Lincoln to visit Christine East, our McTimoney Chiro, taking with me Inca, Pippa, Diesel and Scout. It was our first visit back since Incas official diagnosis and it was good to have a chat with someone a bit more knowledgeable about these sorts of issues and 'sports dogs'. Christine said that boney deposits are actually quite common in some dogs, and although it can be as a result of RSI, it can also just be one of these things that happens in a specific dog for no particular reason at all. She said there was no real reason why Inca couldn't continue on with agility, provided we monitor her closely. Good news for a change! As for her visit, slight stiffness in her shoulders but nothing major. She has lost some flexibility in the metacarpals in the offending leg and she showed me a few things that I can do to help. D and Pip both had checkups. Ds lower spine was slightly out (curving upwards to be different) and Pip had one bone misaligned in her neck, but these are only minor things. Scout was a bit stiff in his back legs and his pelvis was slightly out but again nothing major.
Megagility Workshop with Bob Sharpe
That Saturday it was up to Grantham for another Bob Sharpe training day. It was a follow on from the last day held at Megagility, and this time I had a session with both D and Pip. D has certainly come a long way since last last workshop there, although we've still got plenty to work on. I do feel a lot of what we need is more experience and confidence as a partnership; I'm not always sure what the best way to tackle a specific course with him is, whereas with Pip I know her strengths and weaknesses. That said, I don't want to always fall into playing it safe so its good to push ourselves out of our usual comfort zones. I know I need to be clearer with my signals and its obvious when I run Pip that I give her clearer signals simply because I'm more confident in 'us'. Still, its all work in progress.
Tailwaggers
After it was across to Alsager for the next installment of the Tailwaggers series on the following day. It actually worked out quite well as it was only about an hour and a half from the training day which split the journey nicely. It was odd to see the venue not surrounded by ice and snow!
First run with D was power & speed. It was a fairly straight forward course so I opted for practicing my renewed handling skills from the day before. I did a 3 jump wait at the start, which I then worked off my arm change. D was super, and those turns were much tighter, although I didn't push for speed as I was worried about poles given that it was his first run. We ended up 2nd (by 0.01 secs!).
Tunnel Troubles was up next. A straight-forward yet confusing course of tunnel avoidance. I was completely convinced that D would fly into the first tunnel he clocked his eyes onto. He didn't, but he had a pole down half way through (down to me commanding whilst he was in the air) and then I dropped by guard and he flew into the last tunnel. Huge congrats to Leanne and Dyl for not only getting round, but winning it too!
Primary Agility was very spaced out course, starting and ending on the same jump and involving completing the dog walk twice as well as the a-frame, see-saw and 6 weaves (I'm not complaining, it was nice to have a 'proper' course!). He ran it really well, although we had a slight hairy moment in the top corner. He glanced at a jump and headed off towards it so I called to get his attention. The plan was then to flick him round the top of the jump but the angle he was now coming in at was towards me. I then got completely confused with my rights and lefts and made a right hash of any body language or commands to help him. Thankfully we managed to recover, albeit rather messily.
Lastly it was Primary Jumping, over a difficult course for primary, which I was excited about tackling; I love a challenge. Sadly a late command on my part resulted in a pole down early in the course. Near the end D eyed a jump which I managed to pull him off but as a result pushed him round the back of where we wanted to be.
Pip was rather full of it and bounced her way in and out of the venue. Her first run in P&S was awful; jumping contacts and I almost took out the judge (accidental I promise). Thankfully she made up for it later by doing a cracking Agility run, with running contacts, which felt fast and smooth and ended up 1st.
Tunnel Troubles was run over the same course. I knew she would howl her head off at every turn, but I also knew she would ignore those tunnels. Her second win!
Lastly was Jumping, a twist course that should have been right up her street. For the most past she handled lovely but we had an argument about going into a tunnel which then completely threw me (and my position) for the end. We got E'd on a pull-thru as I couldn't get into the right place.
Still, over the moon with both of them. After a lot of debating I decided to move Pip up to Graduate for the next BAA show as she had more that enough wins in both agility and jumping.
(Next part will be Crufts, EMDAC W2 and Bobs recent training day)
Chiro Visit
So the Thursday before Crufts did a trip up to Lincoln to visit Christine East, our McTimoney Chiro, taking with me Inca, Pippa, Diesel and Scout. It was our first visit back since Incas official diagnosis and it was good to have a chat with someone a bit more knowledgeable about these sorts of issues and 'sports dogs'. Christine said that boney deposits are actually quite common in some dogs, and although it can be as a result of RSI, it can also just be one of these things that happens in a specific dog for no particular reason at all. She said there was no real reason why Inca couldn't continue on with agility, provided we monitor her closely. Good news for a change! As for her visit, slight stiffness in her shoulders but nothing major. She has lost some flexibility in the metacarpals in the offending leg and she showed me a few things that I can do to help. D and Pip both had checkups. Ds lower spine was slightly out (curving upwards to be different) and Pip had one bone misaligned in her neck, but these are only minor things. Scout was a bit stiff in his back legs and his pelvis was slightly out but again nothing major.
Megagility Workshop with Bob Sharpe
That Saturday it was up to Grantham for another Bob Sharpe training day. It was a follow on from the last day held at Megagility, and this time I had a session with both D and Pip. D has certainly come a long way since last last workshop there, although we've still got plenty to work on. I do feel a lot of what we need is more experience and confidence as a partnership; I'm not always sure what the best way to tackle a specific course with him is, whereas with Pip I know her strengths and weaknesses. That said, I don't want to always fall into playing it safe so its good to push ourselves out of our usual comfort zones. I know I need to be clearer with my signals and its obvious when I run Pip that I give her clearer signals simply because I'm more confident in 'us'. Still, its all work in progress.
Tailwaggers
After it was across to Alsager for the next installment of the Tailwaggers series on the following day. It actually worked out quite well as it was only about an hour and a half from the training day which split the journey nicely. It was odd to see the venue not surrounded by ice and snow!
First run with D was power & speed. It was a fairly straight forward course so I opted for practicing my renewed handling skills from the day before. I did a 3 jump wait at the start, which I then worked off my arm change. D was super, and those turns were much tighter, although I didn't push for speed as I was worried about poles given that it was his first run. We ended up 2nd (by 0.01 secs!).
Tunnel Troubles was up next. A straight-forward yet confusing course of tunnel avoidance. I was completely convinced that D would fly into the first tunnel he clocked his eyes onto. He didn't, but he had a pole down half way through (down to me commanding whilst he was in the air) and then I dropped by guard and he flew into the last tunnel. Huge congrats to Leanne and Dyl for not only getting round, but winning it too!
Primary Agility was very spaced out course, starting and ending on the same jump and involving completing the dog walk twice as well as the a-frame, see-saw and 6 weaves (I'm not complaining, it was nice to have a 'proper' course!). He ran it really well, although we had a slight hairy moment in the top corner. He glanced at a jump and headed off towards it so I called to get his attention. The plan was then to flick him round the top of the jump but the angle he was now coming in at was towards me. I then got completely confused with my rights and lefts and made a right hash of any body language or commands to help him. Thankfully we managed to recover, albeit rather messily.
Lastly it was Primary Jumping, over a difficult course for primary, which I was excited about tackling; I love a challenge. Sadly a late command on my part resulted in a pole down early in the course. Near the end D eyed a jump which I managed to pull him off but as a result pushed him round the back of where we wanted to be.
Pip was rather full of it and bounced her way in and out of the venue. Her first run in P&S was awful; jumping contacts and I almost took out the judge (accidental I promise). Thankfully she made up for it later by doing a cracking Agility run, with running contacts, which felt fast and smooth and ended up 1st.
Tunnel Troubles was run over the same course. I knew she would howl her head off at every turn, but I also knew she would ignore those tunnels. Her second win!
Lastly was Jumping, a twist course that should have been right up her street. For the most past she handled lovely but we had an argument about going into a tunnel which then completely threw me (and my position) for the end. We got E'd on a pull-thru as I couldn't get into the right place.
Still, over the moon with both of them. After a lot of debating I decided to move Pip up to Graduate for the next BAA show as she had more that enough wins in both agility and jumping.
(Next part will be Crufts, EMDAC W2 and Bobs recent training day)
Beachside
Another early start yesterday for the next in the Beachside winter series. I do love this venue as it has a lovely big area to exercise the dogs and you can walk for miles along the embankment. The weather wasnt exactly kind to us mostly alternating between drizzle and downpours. We did have a couple of sunny spells though. it was raining when I left so I made the decision to leave the non competing dogs with Si at home. It wouldnt have been much fun spending most of the day in the car.
Pip was full of it as usual. She did a super Novice+ Jumping run with some really neat turns and the speedy non barking weaves I know she can do. She ended up 2nd in that so I was over the moon. The SC was the same course for all levels and pretty straight forward. She ended up 5th (placed to 4th) which came of no suprise given that its against all heights. In the agility she popped out the weaves and then we had a disagreement at a jump resulting in getting E'd. In 'Beat the Judge' she got rather wound up after having 2 do the a-frame twice and so we had some naughty contacts!
Diesels jumping course was not our cup of tea. A widly spaced box at the start resulted in a wide turn and a pole early on. He did a lovely set of 12 weaves but I put an extra command in at a jump and confused him so we had a stutter. In the agility he did some cracking contacts, but I rushed him on the weaves so he popped out in his hurry to go on. Completely my fault again, oops! In the SC he did a cracking run; I'm pretty sure there wasnt much we could have improved on. He ended up 4th in that. Finally it was 'Beat The Judge'. He flew round but we had another pole down where we had to do a figure-8 over 2 jumps. We were way off the judges picked time anyway.
Before heading home I managed to enjoy some of the sunshine so took them for a walk along the embankment.
More HERE
GSD Club of UK Ob Show
I really couldn't decide whether or not to go to this show. Even when the alarm went off this morning I was still in 2 minds. We've not done any formal obedience training for months, and I'm not particularly fond of the venue; its dark, cold and smelly for a beagle terrierist. The last time we went she found a treat in the ring!
I decided to go anyway. I'd entered both her and D in Novice and Pip was drawn 9th in Part 1. I hate being drawn near the end of the R/Os as you never know how many people are actually going to turn up. As it was there were a couple missing so we got to work quite early.
She did a very mediocre round IMO. She was attentive and waggy in the heelwork but she did drift in and out in a few places and wasn't quite as focused as I'd like (although there was no sniffing!). She did a good retrieve but the final exercise was recall and she anticipated it loosing 2. So I asked if I could turn it into training so I could redo but the judge questioned me saying it was a good round so I left it as it was. We lost 7.5 in total which put us into the lead. I was a bit surprised on the marking as I've done better with much higher marks lost so I can only assume she was a fairly easy marker, but it would probably mean loads of 1s and 2s. Stays were nice and early at 10.30. The stay ring is always by the door in the first hall and its always very cold and drafty. I managed to grab a spot on the opposite wall which was more sheltered. We did the sit stay & quite a few dogs broke. Then it was time for the down..Pippa was not impressed; it took me ages to get her into the down. I assumed once she was there she would settle, but she broke part way through - shes never broken at Open before, and only had a change of position at exemptions when we first started. I can only assume she wasn't impressed with the cold concrete floor. I cant say I blame her, I wouldn't have wanted to lie on it either. But I did come away annoyed with myself for not redoing that recall, lol.
So, I did some training around the rings with D and then left. Poor D didn't actually make it into the ring, but there was quite a wait and I was only going to train it anyway. I wanted to do recall, retrieve and a few good steps of heelwork and leave it at that. We've got a lot more practising before I let him work the full round.
And so my love/hate relationship continues... I love training it, I love working out hot to get my dogs to do things and I love getting the best out of my dogs. However, I hate the extreme control element I feel from competative obedience and I hate the pressure I put on myself.
I'm not going to waste my time conditioning Pippa to do stays on a cold concrete floor - whens she ever going to realistically need that? I'm exactly the same when it comes to rain (not that D cares about either of these things - hes got far too much poofiness!).
Another early start yesterday for the next in the Beachside winter series. I do love this venue as it has a lovely big area to exercise the dogs and you can walk for miles along the embankment. The weather wasnt exactly kind to us mostly alternating between drizzle and downpours. We did have a couple of sunny spells though. it was raining when I left so I made the decision to leave the non competing dogs with Si at home. It wouldnt have been much fun spending most of the day in the car.
Pip was full of it as usual. She did a super Novice+ Jumping run with some really neat turns and the speedy non barking weaves I know she can do. She ended up 2nd in that so I was over the moon. The SC was the same course for all levels and pretty straight forward. She ended up 5th (placed to 4th) which came of no suprise given that its against all heights. In the agility she popped out the weaves and then we had a disagreement at a jump resulting in getting E'd. In 'Beat the Judge' she got rather wound up after having 2 do the a-frame twice and so we had some naughty contacts!
Diesels jumping course was not our cup of tea. A widly spaced box at the start resulted in a wide turn and a pole early on. He did a lovely set of 12 weaves but I put an extra command in at a jump and confused him so we had a stutter. In the agility he did some cracking contacts, but I rushed him on the weaves so he popped out in his hurry to go on. Completely my fault again, oops! In the SC he did a cracking run; I'm pretty sure there wasnt much we could have improved on. He ended up 4th in that. Finally it was 'Beat The Judge'. He flew round but we had another pole down where we had to do a figure-8 over 2 jumps. We were way off the judges picked time anyway.
Before heading home I managed to enjoy some of the sunshine so took them for a walk along the embankment.
More HERE
GSD Club of UK Ob Show
I really couldn't decide whether or not to go to this show. Even when the alarm went off this morning I was still in 2 minds. We've not done any formal obedience training for months, and I'm not particularly fond of the venue; its dark, cold and smelly for a beagle terrierist. The last time we went she found a treat in the ring!
I decided to go anyway. I'd entered both her and D in Novice and Pip was drawn 9th in Part 1. I hate being drawn near the end of the R/Os as you never know how many people are actually going to turn up. As it was there were a couple missing so we got to work quite early.
She did a very mediocre round IMO. She was attentive and waggy in the heelwork but she did drift in and out in a few places and wasn't quite as focused as I'd like (although there was no sniffing!). She did a good retrieve but the final exercise was recall and she anticipated it loosing 2. So I asked if I could turn it into training so I could redo but the judge questioned me saying it was a good round so I left it as it was. We lost 7.5 in total which put us into the lead. I was a bit surprised on the marking as I've done better with much higher marks lost so I can only assume she was a fairly easy marker, but it would probably mean loads of 1s and 2s. Stays were nice and early at 10.30. The stay ring is always by the door in the first hall and its always very cold and drafty. I managed to grab a spot on the opposite wall which was more sheltered. We did the sit stay & quite a few dogs broke. Then it was time for the down..Pippa was not impressed; it took me ages to get her into the down. I assumed once she was there she would settle, but she broke part way through - shes never broken at Open before, and only had a change of position at exemptions when we first started. I can only assume she wasn't impressed with the cold concrete floor. I cant say I blame her, I wouldn't have wanted to lie on it either. But I did come away annoyed with myself for not redoing that recall, lol.
So, I did some training around the rings with D and then left. Poor D didn't actually make it into the ring, but there was quite a wait and I was only going to train it anyway. I wanted to do recall, retrieve and a few good steps of heelwork and leave it at that. We've got a lot more practising before I let him work the full round.
And so my love/hate relationship continues... I love training it, I love working out hot to get my dogs to do things and I love getting the best out of my dogs. However, I hate the extreme control element I feel from competative obedience and I hate the pressure I put on myself.
I'm not going to waste my time conditioning Pippa to do stays on a cold concrete floor - whens she ever going to realistically need that? I'm exactly the same when it comes to rain (not that D cares about either of these things - hes got far too much poofiness!).
Friday morning was rather hectic as I had, as usual, left everything to the last minute despite having the evening before off due to the snow. At lunch time I headed off to hydro and swam Inca, Diesel, Rex and Ted. All the snow we'd received on Thursday evening had pretty much all gone our end, however, it was still very much present at Newborough. I got my van IN fine, but got it stuck in the mud/slush trying to get OUT and had to get Mark to push me out. How embarrassing! (although I was slightly relieved he couldn't get it out either, lol)
Its amazing how they all swim so differently; Diesel is slow and steady, Inca spends the whole swim splashing so she can catch the water (and so wears herself out quite quickly), Rex is very powerful in the water and likes to follow Mark around the pool (usually with a toy clenched in his mouth..Rexs mouth that is not Marks, lol), Pip spends the whole swim squeaking but wagging her tail at the same time, Ted really wasn't sure about the whole experience at first but came out of himself when he realised its actually quite fun, Mosh hates the idea and needs lots of convincing to actually get in but once in shes another slow and steady one. I'm waiting for it to warm up a bit before she goes again - as much as the swim and heat of the pool helps her, being sat in the van when its cold doesn't.
We use two pools at the moment; Paddling Paws which is run by the Donna who also runs the dog club I work for (sadly its a bit far from us but I usually tie it in with a beach walk), and Newborough Dogs Canine Hydrotherapy Centre which is about 30 mins from us but charge just £5 per dog.
I eventually left at about 3.30 and made my way towards Preston to stay with Nat (Ds breeder) and her mum. Being a bit of blonde donut I managed to text her house phone rather than her mobile so scared the living day lights out of her when she opened the front door to take her rubbish out. Oops!
It was great to have a catch up, have parson puppy cuddles and see Ds sister Orlaith as well as all the others. How I didnt sneak a few extra dogs back in my van I dont know ;-)
Newton Heath
Saturday I went off to Myerscough College, which, rather conveniently, is about 10-15 mins from Nat house. With just 2 runs per dog I hoped it would be a short day. Sadly, it wasn't as both Pips classes followed Diesels and there were about 300 or so dogs in his class. Thankfully there were more than enough people to chat to and actually it was quite nice being able to have a natter without worrying about what I was meant to be doing etc. I really must thank Leanne for being my official coat holder for the day (and Maxine on Sunday)
I managed to muck up both the jumping classes for my dogs. I pulled Diesel from the last weave, which I am convinced was more my fault than his. As a result I decided to put in a front cross before the weaves with Pip (which I just wouldn't have managed with D) but my positioning wasn't great so I pushed her passed the 1st pole. Argh!
Thankfully the agility runs were better. My main aim for this weekend was to get Diesels contacts sorted. I've been running them at comps recently and so hes been pushing them. I could have kicked myself at the last UKA when he won the agility and then blew his dog walk in the P&S because before I went in I had originally planned to do NFC and train it. I want to make sure we hang on to the wonderful drivey 2o2o I know he can do. Thankfully I did hold those contacts as we got E'd near the end at the box. I was coming down the left and needed to flick him round to the right. He did go right but took a different jump.
Pippa didn't seem her usual self around the courses. She was tearing about in the exercise area as normal, but inside she just didn't seem overly impressed. As I said I made her miss her weave entry in the jumping, which was a shame because it was a pretty straight forward course. She did an okay run in the agility, which was the type that usually would have been right up her street; nice and tricky, but dropped her nose down at one point for a sniff. She ended up coming 3rd, just over a second between her and first so it was a bit frustrating as I know usually shes capable of much more.
We finished just after 4.30pm and so I took the dogs up to Beacon Fell (as recommended by Nat) for a run. We walked for about an hour, but I was worried about not being able to find the car so headed back as the light faded. I could have stayed up there for hours. I love my walks almost as much as the dogs do!
I met a local couple with their 2 dogs at the summit and the dogs had a fab time running in circles and getting filthy while we had a chat. Ted wasnt to impressed about not being able to join in, but I didnt dare let him off as he wanted to take himself off even with me attached!
(taken on my little camera)
more HERE
Tailwaggers
(taken on my phone)
I tried, rather unsuccessfully, to sneak out of the house without waking everyone up to set off to Tailwaggers down in Alsager. There was a slight dusting of snow when I left but the nearer to Alsager I got the deeper the snow became. The smaller roads were rather dodgy to say the least and my van and I had a few disagreements about which way we should be going despite me driving about 2mph! Thankfully I knew if worst came to worst there was a premier inn right near the venue that I could always stop over at, but thankfully it wasn't needed.
Diesel again worked really well all day. I made sure he got and stopped on his dog walk in the agility. We had a pole down later but he ran well. Even with 5 faults he still ended up 5th (and got another PINK rosette, hes going to get a complex!). the jumping was quite a tricky course for Primary but nothing that he wasn't capable. Unfortunately he popped out halfway through the weaves, no idea why, but I do wonder if maybe I did something, maybe I was pushing him too much?? Besides that he did a really fab run, again ending up placed (6th) despite the 5 faults. There weren't many clears! In the afternoon we managed to get it together. I handled the Triple A agility all wrong. I had planned to front cross before the a-frame but wimped out resulting in me having to flick him away from me after the next jump not once, not twice but THREE times. I'm sure we could have been a lot tighter if I had, but he managed to win that anyway. His final class was primary up & under, consisting of just jumps and tunnels. I was convinced we were going to get E'd right at the start as it consisted of 2 jumps and a tunnel in a straight line, only you didn't do that tunnel and had to pull them off and send them into another tunnel. Somehow we managed to get round clear and ended up winning that too, followed by Dylan who came 2nd (Well done!)
For some reason Pippa was a completely different dog and back to being FULL of it. She FLEW round the agility course, running all her contacts and howling her head off along the way. She ended up winning that, and beating the big dogs too. The Novice Jumping was a really twisty course; the type that are usually perfect for us provided I can get it right. Again, plenty of howling but we got round clear and ended up winning that too. Sadly we didn't have the same luck in the afternoon. The Triple A Agility just wound her up more and more, and I swear she would have jumped off the a-frame from the top if she thought she could get away with it! The Up & Under course was actually IMO easier than the primary and should have been a real blast for us. She was working out really well and flying so I was pushing her more and more. Unfortunately I got lazy and didn't go far enough for one of the jumps so she ran past it. Oops!
Huge congrats to Leanne & Dylan and Emma & Bailey for their agility wins.
I finally left about 4.30pm, stopping at my Dads in Oakington for a roast and a film before eventually returning home. Totally exhausted, but I never do things by halves ;-)
Its amazing how they all swim so differently; Diesel is slow and steady, Inca spends the whole swim splashing so she can catch the water (and so wears herself out quite quickly), Rex is very powerful in the water and likes to follow Mark around the pool (usually with a toy clenched in his mouth..Rexs mouth that is not Marks, lol), Pip spends the whole swim squeaking but wagging her tail at the same time, Ted really wasn't sure about the whole experience at first but came out of himself when he realised its actually quite fun, Mosh hates the idea and needs lots of convincing to actually get in but once in shes another slow and steady one. I'm waiting for it to warm up a bit before she goes again - as much as the swim and heat of the pool helps her, being sat in the van when its cold doesn't.
We use two pools at the moment; Paddling Paws which is run by the Donna who also runs the dog club I work for (sadly its a bit far from us but I usually tie it in with a beach walk), and Newborough Dogs Canine Hydrotherapy Centre which is about 30 mins from us but charge just £5 per dog.
I eventually left at about 3.30 and made my way towards Preston to stay with Nat (Ds breeder) and her mum. Being a bit of blonde donut I managed to text her house phone rather than her mobile so scared the living day lights out of her when she opened the front door to take her rubbish out. Oops!
It was great to have a catch up, have parson puppy cuddles and see Ds sister Orlaith as well as all the others. How I didnt sneak a few extra dogs back in my van I dont know ;-)
Newton Heath
Saturday I went off to Myerscough College, which, rather conveniently, is about 10-15 mins from Nat house. With just 2 runs per dog I hoped it would be a short day. Sadly, it wasn't as both Pips classes followed Diesels and there were about 300 or so dogs in his class. Thankfully there were more than enough people to chat to and actually it was quite nice being able to have a natter without worrying about what I was meant to be doing etc. I really must thank Leanne for being my official coat holder for the day (and Maxine on Sunday)
I managed to muck up both the jumping classes for my dogs. I pulled Diesel from the last weave, which I am convinced was more my fault than his. As a result I decided to put in a front cross before the weaves with Pip (which I just wouldn't have managed with D) but my positioning wasn't great so I pushed her passed the 1st pole. Argh!
Thankfully the agility runs were better. My main aim for this weekend was to get Diesels contacts sorted. I've been running them at comps recently and so hes been pushing them. I could have kicked myself at the last UKA when he won the agility and then blew his dog walk in the P&S because before I went in I had originally planned to do NFC and train it. I want to make sure we hang on to the wonderful drivey 2o2o I know he can do. Thankfully I did hold those contacts as we got E'd near the end at the box. I was coming down the left and needed to flick him round to the right. He did go right but took a different jump.
Pippa didn't seem her usual self around the courses. She was tearing about in the exercise area as normal, but inside she just didn't seem overly impressed. As I said I made her miss her weave entry in the jumping, which was a shame because it was a pretty straight forward course. She did an okay run in the agility, which was the type that usually would have been right up her street; nice and tricky, but dropped her nose down at one point for a sniff. She ended up coming 3rd, just over a second between her and first so it was a bit frustrating as I know usually shes capable of much more.
We finished just after 4.30pm and so I took the dogs up to Beacon Fell (as recommended by Nat) for a run. We walked for about an hour, but I was worried about not being able to find the car so headed back as the light faded. I could have stayed up there for hours. I love my walks almost as much as the dogs do!
I met a local couple with their 2 dogs at the summit and the dogs had a fab time running in circles and getting filthy while we had a chat. Ted wasnt to impressed about not being able to join in, but I didnt dare let him off as he wanted to take himself off even with me attached!
(taken on my little camera)
more HERE
Tailwaggers
(taken on my phone)
I tried, rather unsuccessfully, to sneak out of the house without waking everyone up to set off to Tailwaggers down in Alsager. There was a slight dusting of snow when I left but the nearer to Alsager I got the deeper the snow became. The smaller roads were rather dodgy to say the least and my van and I had a few disagreements about which way we should be going despite me driving about 2mph! Thankfully I knew if worst came to worst there was a premier inn right near the venue that I could always stop over at, but thankfully it wasn't needed.
Diesel again worked really well all day. I made sure he got and stopped on his dog walk in the agility. We had a pole down later but he ran well. Even with 5 faults he still ended up 5th (and got another PINK rosette, hes going to get a complex!). the jumping was quite a tricky course for Primary but nothing that he wasn't capable. Unfortunately he popped out halfway through the weaves, no idea why, but I do wonder if maybe I did something, maybe I was pushing him too much?? Besides that he did a really fab run, again ending up placed (6th) despite the 5 faults. There weren't many clears! In the afternoon we managed to get it together. I handled the Triple A agility all wrong. I had planned to front cross before the a-frame but wimped out resulting in me having to flick him away from me after the next jump not once, not twice but THREE times. I'm sure we could have been a lot tighter if I had, but he managed to win that anyway. His final class was primary up & under, consisting of just jumps and tunnels. I was convinced we were going to get E'd right at the start as it consisted of 2 jumps and a tunnel in a straight line, only you didn't do that tunnel and had to pull them off and send them into another tunnel. Somehow we managed to get round clear and ended up winning that too, followed by Dylan who came 2nd (Well done!)
For some reason Pippa was a completely different dog and back to being FULL of it. She FLEW round the agility course, running all her contacts and howling her head off along the way. She ended up winning that, and beating the big dogs too. The Novice Jumping was a really twisty course; the type that are usually perfect for us provided I can get it right. Again, plenty of howling but we got round clear and ended up winning that too. Sadly we didn't have the same luck in the afternoon. The Triple A Agility just wound her up more and more, and I swear she would have jumped off the a-frame from the top if she thought she could get away with it! The Up & Under course was actually IMO easier than the primary and should have been a real blast for us. She was working out really well and flying so I was pushing her more and more. Unfortunately I got lazy and didn't go far enough for one of the jumps so she ran past it. Oops!
Huge congrats to Leanne & Dylan and Emma & Bailey for their agility wins.
I finally left about 4.30pm, stopping at my Dads in Oakington for a roast and a film before eventually returning home. Totally exhausted, but I never do things by halves ;-)
On Friday night I drove up to Harrowgate ready for the Hare N Hounds show at Richmond Equestrian Centre. It should have been a straight run up the A1 but there was an accident so we got diverted off along the A606 towards Oakham - nightmare! I eventually arrived just after 11pm. I still had about 45 mins left to drive to get to the show, and as judging started at 8am(!) so it was an early start. I really flet like I hadnt slept.
Diesel ran well but sadly I let him down. He was rather wild in his first class and it was a tightly spaced jumping course. I swear we did each jump about 3 times too many, lol. In his agility classes it was silly mistakes; a missed contact, a refusal, and admittedly I accidental tried to kill him on one course too when we had a small *ahem* collision ;-) The best run of the day was the C1-7 jumping. Sadly I had walked the wrong course so was totally confused where I was going. He made a really good run, I got my turns in where I wanted but misjudged the spacing of 2 jumps and so lost him over a jump. Gutted, but he was a good boy. I need to get my act together and proof those contacts in competition tho, as hes started pushing them due to me pushing him a few too many times (Bad handler!)
Pips classes were all combined so it was more for experience than any chance of getting anywhere. Her first course was right up her street, but she decided to pretent she'd never done agility before and came off the see-saw sideways. I'm always thrown when she does something so utterly stupid. I carried on and she howled her way around the course at me. Although her other agility class was much better, she broke her wait so we got E'd right at the start as I put her back (good handler). She did go clear in both her jumping classes, although she didnt give her all in either run. I was really pleased in how we tackled the 1-7, but she went off to investigate a pile of light coloured sand near the end (which I'm convinced she thought was horse poop) so we lost some valuable time.
Ted did lots of work in the exercise area and around the rings. I will admit that I was slightly dissapointed that none of the classes had weaves, apparently they couldnt peg them down on the surface (shame I wasnt running Inca!). But we still had fun, despite the lack of rosettes =D
Diesel ran well but sadly I let him down. He was rather wild in his first class and it was a tightly spaced jumping course. I swear we did each jump about 3 times too many, lol. In his agility classes it was silly mistakes; a missed contact, a refusal, and admittedly I accidental tried to kill him on one course too when we had a small *ahem* collision ;-) The best run of the day was the C1-7 jumping. Sadly I had walked the wrong course so was totally confused where I was going. He made a really good run, I got my turns in where I wanted but misjudged the spacing of 2 jumps and so lost him over a jump. Gutted, but he was a good boy. I need to get my act together and proof those contacts in competition tho, as hes started pushing them due to me pushing him a few too many times (Bad handler!)
Pips classes were all combined so it was more for experience than any chance of getting anywhere. Her first course was right up her street, but she decided to pretent she'd never done agility before and came off the see-saw sideways. I'm always thrown when she does something so utterly stupid. I carried on and she howled her way around the course at me. Although her other agility class was much better, she broke her wait so we got E'd right at the start as I put her back (good handler). She did go clear in both her jumping classes, although she didnt give her all in either run. I was really pleased in how we tackled the 1-7, but she went off to investigate a pile of light coloured sand near the end (which I'm convinced she thought was horse poop) so we lost some valuable time.
Ted did lots of work in the exercise area and around the rings. I will admit that I was slightly dissapointed that none of the classes had weaves, apparently they couldnt peg them down on the surface (shame I wasnt running Inca!). But we still had fun, despite the lack of rosettes =D
Talking Dogs Rally
Last Thursday I went on a Talking Dogs Rally workshop with Pip. I went to their judging workshop 1 back in Jan with a couple friends, Nic and Sheila. It was our first experience in Rally so maybe not the best way round to do it; the scoring section was a bit overwhelming! However, we had fun and certainly found it insightful. We're going to go back
So Thursday I arrived bright and early with Pip. We were straight into it and worked on a couple Level 1 courses. Its a lot less formal than competitive obedience, but still technical in its own way, especially when it comes to trials and points! We then were split into 2 groups and each worked together to design a course, and we then did both courses after lunch. Pam then set up a level 2 course outside, whilst Becky set up the level 1 and level 2 bonus stations inside and we all worked at each. The greatest achievement was getting Pip to do a figure of 8 OFF LEAD around 4 food bowls with kibble (or cheese when it as Pams course) in them!
There are photos from the day on the TalkingDogsRally Facebook page - HERE
The funny thing was I had a message from Nat after posting a link to the pics on facebook to say that the black&white collie in the pics is a Bryning (Spark/Kes. Talk about a small world!
Last Thursday I went on a Talking Dogs Rally workshop with Pip. I went to their judging workshop 1 back in Jan with a couple friends, Nic and Sheila. It was our first experience in Rally so maybe not the best way round to do it; the scoring section was a bit overwhelming! However, we had fun and certainly found it insightful. We're going to go back
So Thursday I arrived bright and early with Pip. We were straight into it and worked on a couple Level 1 courses. Its a lot less formal than competitive obedience, but still technical in its own way, especially when it comes to trials and points! We then were split into 2 groups and each worked together to design a course, and we then did both courses after lunch. Pam then set up a level 2 course outside, whilst Becky set up the level 1 and level 2 bonus stations inside and we all worked at each. The greatest achievement was getting Pip to do a figure of 8 OFF LEAD around 4 food bowls with kibble (or cheese when it as Pams course) in them!
There are photos from the day on the TalkingDogsRally Facebook page - HERE
The funny thing was I had a message from Nat after posting a link to the pics on facebook to say that the black&white collie in the pics is a Bryning (Spark/Kes. Talk about a small world!
