Agility Club (Rodneys 2nd show)

I know I know, I said Weardale was going to be Rods 2nd show however after looking at the weather forecast, and the show organisers advising against camping at the show, I decided an 11 hour round trip to basically just have a bash at the novice chum wasnt worth it. So instead I went out drinking in Swindon for the weekend... lifes tough sometimes :-P!

Anyway after Rugby and my missed A-frame, you can guess what ive been training lol. I also drove down to Kent for an evening to do some training with Lee, he teaches me so much everytime we train together, I have no idea how anyone gets around an agility course, without training with someone good like him on a regular basis.

The Friday before Agility Club I was really ill, I took the day off work and laid in bed all day feeling sorry for myself, somehow got myself together and drove down to the show (30mins down the road, I was camping)I went over Carole Harris'for the evening, didnt even drink... just proves how ill I was! Sat morning I attempted to walk my Novice Chum, the only class I really wanted to win, had to have a few breaks inbetween cos of dizzyness. It was pretty hard for a 3-5, after walking it with Lee I felt alot more confident. I personally felt the run was practically perfect, well apart from the weave entry we missed. As I turned around I was literally pointed at the 2nd weave, a more experienced dog wouldnt of had a problem, but I guess I should give him a break, being his 2nd show and all lol. Here is the run below... kindly videoed my Lucy Clifton...



We also had a jumping, which was so easy, I decided it couldnt go wrong... that will teach me! I decided for some reason to cross behind a flat tunnel, which wasnt the thing to do. I also decided to cross behind before telling Rod to go in it, so I basically got him 5 faults.. tut! Rest of the run was ok though. This very same course Tash and Jive (Rodneys Sister) did a STUNNING run, until Tash let her jump the wrong jump just before the end, I am pretty sure they would of won it! Here it is...



Rods last run of the day was the pairs which we did with Sammie and Dylon (Rodneys Dad)Rod did a nice clear, afew turns werent perfect and it wasnt amazingly fast, but it was acceptable. Sammie however got us E'd... :-P Here are our runs...



Phoebe had no good rounds on the Sat, however luckly had one good one on Sunday, where she came 3rd.

Rods grade 3 agility on Sunday I really liked, was a lovely lovely course! I however didnt call in time coming out of the tunnel and he saw the dog walk and thought wayhay another go, so I got us E'd. Contacts once again were perfect. The camera dies just after the see-saw, however in this run, I decide to correct the see-saw, cos I thought he had flown it slightly, dont get me wrong, I dont think it was enough for a judge to mark, how many judges mark any form of see-saws? However I want my contacts to be perfect, therefore I will be a 100% consistant in the ring. After watching my video back, I believe it was a perfect see-saw and I see no reason for my correction in the ring... damn it! Anyway here is the video... I actually think he is starting to look a wee bit faster :)



Unfortunatly by the time Rods 3-5 jumping had come along, Lucy had gone home so it didnt get videoed. Was another good run though, however he came 9th, abit of a rubbish place I know... only 0.9 behind the winner (Leah and Hex)so I wont complain too much.

For some reason this has been one of the best shows. So many funny things happened I dont have time to write them all. I will however mention some of the Paul Oldfield ones! (If you dont know Paul, I doublt you will find any of this funny... sorry)
1) He won the SMALL CHAMPIONSHIP TICKET with Scout! Which now makes the dog AG CH! The jumping run was amazing to watch. Soooo funny... I have never seen Paul work a course so hard, he almost got E'd but saved it, had no idea the old man could move so fast. I missed both the agility and final rounds :( There was however a large turnout cos everyone knew Paul was in them (I dont think the small final has ever had such a large audience :-P.) I have also never seen Lee laugh so much and/or so hard!
2) In the Large Crufts Singles, he was saying to Lee how you should be practically in the tunnel as you do a reverse for a certain bit of the course. Paul however took this too literally, ended up with a leg wedged in it, falling backwards, how he didnt end up totally ass over tit I have nooooooo idea. Lucy and I were laughing soooo hard it hurt, for some reason, we couldnt see anyone else laughing though, o well lol!
3) Paul was doing a really nice clear in the Chum, Lee had advised him that at number 19 a "spinning blind" would work nicely... erm... Paul was very excited that he was going clear (there hadnt been too many) he got to it, wasnt committed and got a 5R... tut... he straight away pointed the blame to Lee of course!

This weekend was also good because, some how or another Lucy Clifton won a class... she hadnt even walked the course, and.. she had a really wide snake thing. Only 3 more to go :D! Her team (Thames) also qualified for Crufts.. yay!
Tash and Maddie won the large ticket, I think thats there 4th :)

We are at Tenterden next weekend, Rods last weekend running at grade 3, lets hope the weather is nice.

xoxo