Agility Update

Well I have been to a lot of shows since my last post - Dundee, Kingdom of Fife, Woodside, Fair City and SKC.

It has been a mixed bag with both Barney and Pebbles but that is what I expected given that we did no training from August through to January and then since then it has been very limited. I have started back training fortnightly with Kenny but training at home doing my 'homework' has not really been possible. I think the main problem this causes is a reduced level of understanding between handler and dog. I am not running each dog as well as I used to and they are not as sure about what I mean. Still at least we are still able to enjoy the shows and hopefully as Mia gets older I will be able to do more training in the garden - or maybe not!!!

As I cannot remember any runs in detail I will summarise each show. Dundee was very much getting back into it. The main struggle here was my lack of fitness and my inability to run! And then I managed to tweak my calf muscle in the last run on Saturday so I only did 2 runs on the Sunday. Still there were a few solid runs and a few disasters! I was quite happy though and we enjoyed a great weekend weather wise and family wise.

Then it was onto Kingdom of Fife which was a great show, I really liked the new venue in St Andrews despite the baltic weather conditions. This show was much better in terms of handling and flow. I was able to run a bit better and Pebbles really seemed to be tuned in. Barney was his usual erratic self but I love running him because in many ways he is easier to run than Pebbles because at least he will run ahead. All I can remember from this show is that Barney placed in agility on Saturday and Pebbles got a 3rd in agility and a 2nd in agility so really pleased.

Next up was Woodside and the first champ show of the year. Again we enjoyed baltic weather conditions! Barney did not qualify for the champ final which is no surprise! But Pebbles did with 2 clear rounds so I was really pleased. We managed to get 5 faults in the final so finished 5th and last!! It was a good course she just didn't push out round the wing of a jump but stopped and barked at me as soon as I stopped - nothing new!! This is probably Pebbles' biggest fault. She will not move if I stop but we are working on it!! Again I cannot remember much detail but think Pebbles placed in agility on Sunday.

Then onto one of our favourite shows of the year - Fair City. It is such an amazing location and the weather was a bit kinder than last year's torrential rain! I really can't remember much from this show (one of the side effects of having a baby seems to be memory failure!!). I think it was pretty mixed with Pebbles winning an agility (really good round) and placing in a jumping and agility. Barney got placed in a jumping but managed to get eliminated in all rounds on Sunday. And this is when he started to run past all cloth tunnels. Who knows why - Barney has some very funny quirks. And since then he has run past every cloth tunnel!

Yes, he ran past every cloth tunnel at SKC so not a good day for Barney! Pebbles managed to qualify for the Champ final again with 2 clear rounds - the jumping round was very messy but clear which is the main thing! We ran 3rd of 11 in the final on what was a really good course with a few testers to make you think. I decided that since we were 5 seconds off the pace in the agility qualifying that we had to go for it and for the first time in a champ final I just went for it to see what would happen, normally I am too nervous and end up handling really tight. This back-fired though and because I am starting to be able to run a lot better as I get fitter again I sent Pebbles over a jump then turned to run back to the dog walk but I was too quick and went too far away from her so she came round the wrong side of me and forced me to go down the wrong side of the dog walk - not good! I managed to rescue it at the other end but it was very messy and then as Pebbles cam out of the first tunnel I positioned myself towards the next tunnel but must have been too far away from her and she went into the weave at the wrong end. She then cruised round the rest of the course beautifully which I really enjoyed. So I have learnt from this show that I need to stay closer to Pebbles until she has committed to each obstacle. That is, let her work in front, not behind - yes, as Kenny has told me hundreds of times in training!! I just need to do it in the competition ring!

That brings us to the week before Avon show which is the annual outing with Gran! It is going to be the girls on tour - Mia, Gran and myself! I think Malcolm is really looking forward to a break and some 'me' time not to mention time on the golf course and his snazzy new road bike.