Ok, so Gillingham, prob not my best show this year so far. I was basically CRAP! I knew the dogs were working too well at Northern Week and something would have to bring me back down to earth, Gillingham it was.
So Phoebe, can safely say as usual we didnt have a clear round lol, the closest we got was in one of the 6/7 agilitys, she did a nice run however stopped 4 off on her A-frame, so I corrected then continued with the run. In the Crufts Singles, there was none of the usual quick collies, im mainly speaking about Dizzy and Minx, so I thought ooooo I could actually win this (I also really liked the course for Phoebe) so I went into win, however ran out of breath and she did a wrong jump, ok slightly annoying, however shes really starting to run well, finally at almost 6 years old!
Rodney... Saturday, in the agility, it was 3-5, I thought wayhay ill win this easily... that was not the case and I should never think like that again!!! It was just a crap run, he was wide and slow, then cos I basically just wanted to get out of the ring cos I wasnt happy with the run, I sent Rod up the A-frame, not sure if I said anything and he actually missed... what is wrong with me? Why must I keep making these silly mistakes? I know with my contacts even if ive gone wrong, I must continue to work them, but I didnt. Of course after this run I was veryyy angry with myself for letting Rods down again. I didnt see the A-frame however I am presuming he jumped, which is not good enough. However like I keep getting told, since hes been out thats only his second A-frame he had done incorrectly, so I really shouldnt complain. In the jumping, he didnt listen to a steady before the weaves, then after the weaves there was another, and he really didnt listen, so I corrected and continued. A few people asked why I did this because I was still clear, however I really dont want to allow too many bad turns in the ring, you dont allow missed weaves or missed/ incorrect contacts, so why allow bad turns?
On the Sunday I came back to Gillingham with a lot better positive attitude. In the jumping with Rods I ran off too earlier on a turn and should of got 5R, then had another stupidly wide turn because I couldnt get there in time due to the last jump I had ran off on, basically it was a crap run, however I wanted to work the end, so Rod would come out of the ring happy and I could praise loads. Somehow he managed a 3rd lol, he hadnt got marked where we thought he should of had a 5R. In the agility, it was an ok run, apart from me being a bit crap, he did however fly his see-saw, I didnt correct cos I wasnt sure at the time. Again not much I can say, apart from I know this is my main weakness and trust me I will be working on it. The only problem at the moment is due to the fact we've really only just got back from Northern Week, im trying to give the dogs a bit of time off, where I really need to train, but well of course im not. After 5 fivers and Norfolk, dogs can have a bit of time off then I can get back training properly ready to come out fighting next year.
So I was pretty crap and didnt get any new videos of Rodney :( however Lucy Clifton and I are going to 5 fivers the following weekend, then Norfolk, so we are sure to get some there :).
Also Rod did actually run at quite a good speed on Sunday, so do I think hes going to be good and fast enough to do well in gr7... yes, yes I do. I think peoples opinions of him by this time next year will change, hes a good little dog we'll show you :)
xoxo
Wednesday 16 September 2009
Dashin Dogs and Northern Week
So… Dashin Dogs and Northern Week.
Lets start by saying both dogs were fantastic… this may not come out of my mouth again for some time, so lets run with it :D
Dashin Dogs. Phoebe actually ran really well, however we kept having one pole or running past the last fence in too many classes to mention, it was a shame, however I was pleased with her and her contacts were getting faster cos I was training all her runs (they were getting faster cos she was actually starting to understand her position again.)
Rodney… well he was just brilliant!!! He had 7 wins and a few other places, all week he only had 2 poles and flew one see-saw (so I corrected of course) how good is that? For a pup of 19 months old, to go to a week (6 days competing show) and only have 2 poles, perfect A-frames, Dog Walks and Weaves. The only thing that started to show was his waits weren’t quite as good, I never allowed him to break any, however they were getting pushy and I was releasing too early to prevent him breaking, thinking about it now, I shouldn’t of done that, but we all make mistakes I guess. I think it was 4 agility wins and 3 jumping, which atleast shows hes fast enough to win jumpings and its not just his contacts which are saving him time, its his turns too. Some will say well there was only 70 odd dogs in the grade 4’s so it was easy to win, however… I always compared his time to the grade 3’s in the class, so it made it almost 300 dogs I was comparing him too each time and when he was still beating all of there times he also won afew 4/5 combined classes, so again he was also beating not just grade 3’s and 4’s but 5’s as well.
I really enjoyed Dashin and the ground was no where near as bad as everyone made out, cant remember all the results, however… Lennon (Rods litter bro) and Jon when gr2 by winning 1 /2agility. Lucy Oneil and Rue won a gr5 agility, and I think John Cook and Mac won 2/3 jumping classes (I have to say again.. how much of a fantastic dog I think he is… I want him, Mac not John this is.)
We then drove from Dashin Dogs to Northern week, should have been a 3 hour drive, took 6 and half due to traffic… erghhhh it was horrible! Then when we arrived the weather was sooo crap, I couldn’t even cope, awning did NOT go up! On the plus side, the showers were fantastic, so hot and you could go in them whenever you liked… *cough* unlike Dashin where they only got opened from like 5-7pm everyday, you had to que for atleast an hour, usually in the rain until you got in them, then they were too hot, or usually too cold and there was like no power.. just crap!
We then did like Dashin 3 days competing, 2 days off then another 3 days competing. Rod was ok for the first day, won an agility, however on the 2nd and 3rd days, he was really weird (prob tired, I don’t blame him, I know I was) he just didnt run right, he went a bit flat (therefore slow) and just wasn’t right, we had our first clear in an agility class which we didn’t win :O I think it was safe to say Ploddy Roddy walked around. However like Lee said to me after “That will teach you, and there is a lesson to be learnt… basically don’t do it again.” Ive prob confused you now. The reason he said this was because, we both know Rodney runs to my mood and how I run him. You get some dogs which basically run the same speed whatever you do, Rodney is not one of these dogs. If I don’t go in the ring 100% confident about the course and what im doing, Rod picks up on this and will not run right. So basically my lesson was, run like a girl and not going into the ring confident, I will continue to get silly places like 2nd’s, where I have no1 to blame but myself. So after that I think I gave him a couple of runs off, trained him the next day in Lee’s training group, so I could give him some confidence (and maybe a bit for myself) by playing with him with his toy in the ring. He then had a day off and came back for the next 3 days competiting absolutely brilliant :D He then won both the gr4 agility and the 1-7 combined agility. He didn’t just win the combined, he won it by 1.1 seconds, I know there wasn’t lots of that good handlers and dogs left at Northern week, however there were a few, so I was still very pleased. Then I think on the last day he won another gr4 agility and the rest of his runs were pretty good. Only mistakes, apart from having me handling him, were he came out of one set of weaves cos I decided to test him and run off to the right and he came with me dohh! Then he had a few poles and a couple of places in 1-7 jumping classes.
Phoebe also did very well…. She finally went grade 7 WOOHOOO!! I have wanted one win with her for agesss… anything I needed, and she managed to get 5 wins!! Typical!! I knew I should of gone up north last year!
On the whole Northern Week was a really fun good week, they had Bingo… which is always a winner with me, I got to teach Lee how to play which was interesting. Alison and Gunner won grade 3 agility, her 2nd clear ever I think :D I saw Toni and Beep do quite a few runs, she is looking so much better, she won a grade 3 agility, by 2 seconds I think, it just shows you can not write dogs off because they don’t come out a hundard miles an hour (something else Lee has to keep telling me regarding Rods.) People still think Rodney is slow and crap, I think/ hope these people will have to eat there words once he finds his feet, I don’t think anyone really realizes, Rod has just turned 20 months old 5 days ago, give the little lad a break! Back onto results… Sarah Stokoe and Chance won the large Champ Ticket :D I ran Dylon in champ, went clear in the jumping (1 of 12, out of 62 that were in it.) Then got E’d in the agility grrrr I was so angry with myself, just shows you actually really do need a wait (Dylon does not have one lol.) I also ran Indistorm Tom Boy (Pete Jennings young dog) one of Rodneys half brothers, both out of Dylon.) In my opinion he is potentially the best dog in the country, he is just fantastic, I would have him right now no questions asked.
I did find a few things weird about Northern week, the main was one was you could do whatever you like… whatever goess… I couldn’t even cope for the first couple of days. Aka I wasn’t sent any running orders… doesn’t matter, just turn up whenever to run. You could enter classes on the day, and the worst thing I couldn’t deal with was the fact the judges were allowed to change the order of classes in there rings eg In ring 2 it would be, small 1-4 jumping, medium 1-4 jumping, large 1-7 jumping, then medium 1-7 jumping, you think ok im in large and medium 1-7, I can have a lie in, no no nooooo… 8am over the tannoy… “Ring plan change, we will now be doing the large 1-7 jumping, then poss medium 1-7, if you have a look on the ring it will tell you the new order.” Sorry what….?? Are they allowed to do this? I have no idea, however not many people seemed to mind, it was just the norm so I was told, by the end of the week I was almost going with the flow.
Here is a pic of Rod will all his rosettes and trophys from both shows...
And Phoebe with hers... not quite so impressive, however I dont think shes ever won more than two classes at one given show lol, so I thought I'd better mark this by taking a picture...
Now for the good pics, Sammie asked me to do something about her slugs on her face, sorry I mean eyebrows, so here we have a before and after shot...
One more funny pic from my phone, here is Sammie after she banned her funny bone on the window, doesnt she look funny :P...
Ok things to work on… everything with Phoebe lol… aww no, poor Phoebs, mainly me not doing so many dumbies with her and weave entries. Rodney, See-saws and Waits, I forgot to say, he also flew another see-saw at Northern week tut, so I have been working on them this week, they are loads better, however something I will continue to have to work on for the next month I reckon.
So this weekend we have Gillingham, Rodneys first grade 5 :S… scary! Im also running Dylon in champ again, going to attempt to get to the final this time.
xoxo
Lets start by saying both dogs were fantastic… this may not come out of my mouth again for some time, so lets run with it :D
Dashin Dogs. Phoebe actually ran really well, however we kept having one pole or running past the last fence in too many classes to mention, it was a shame, however I was pleased with her and her contacts were getting faster cos I was training all her runs (they were getting faster cos she was actually starting to understand her position again.)
Rodney… well he was just brilliant!!! He had 7 wins and a few other places, all week he only had 2 poles and flew one see-saw (so I corrected of course) how good is that? For a pup of 19 months old, to go to a week (6 days competing show) and only have 2 poles, perfect A-frames, Dog Walks and Weaves. The only thing that started to show was his waits weren’t quite as good, I never allowed him to break any, however they were getting pushy and I was releasing too early to prevent him breaking, thinking about it now, I shouldn’t of done that, but we all make mistakes I guess. I think it was 4 agility wins and 3 jumping, which atleast shows hes fast enough to win jumpings and its not just his contacts which are saving him time, its his turns too. Some will say well there was only 70 odd dogs in the grade 4’s so it was easy to win, however… I always compared his time to the grade 3’s in the class, so it made it almost 300 dogs I was comparing him too each time and when he was still beating all of there times he also won afew 4/5 combined classes, so again he was also beating not just grade 3’s and 4’s but 5’s as well.
I really enjoyed Dashin and the ground was no where near as bad as everyone made out, cant remember all the results, however… Lennon (Rods litter bro) and Jon when gr2 by winning 1 /2agility. Lucy Oneil and Rue won a gr5 agility, and I think John Cook and Mac won 2/3 jumping classes (I have to say again.. how much of a fantastic dog I think he is… I want him, Mac not John this is.)
We then drove from Dashin Dogs to Northern week, should have been a 3 hour drive, took 6 and half due to traffic… erghhhh it was horrible! Then when we arrived the weather was sooo crap, I couldn’t even cope, awning did NOT go up! On the plus side, the showers were fantastic, so hot and you could go in them whenever you liked… *cough* unlike Dashin where they only got opened from like 5-7pm everyday, you had to que for atleast an hour, usually in the rain until you got in them, then they were too hot, or usually too cold and there was like no power.. just crap!
We then did like Dashin 3 days competing, 2 days off then another 3 days competing. Rod was ok for the first day, won an agility, however on the 2nd and 3rd days, he was really weird (prob tired, I don’t blame him, I know I was) he just didnt run right, he went a bit flat (therefore slow) and just wasn’t right, we had our first clear in an agility class which we didn’t win :O I think it was safe to say Ploddy Roddy walked around. However like Lee said to me after “That will teach you, and there is a lesson to be learnt… basically don’t do it again.” Ive prob confused you now. The reason he said this was because, we both know Rodney runs to my mood and how I run him. You get some dogs which basically run the same speed whatever you do, Rodney is not one of these dogs. If I don’t go in the ring 100% confident about the course and what im doing, Rod picks up on this and will not run right. So basically my lesson was, run like a girl and not going into the ring confident, I will continue to get silly places like 2nd’s, where I have no1 to blame but myself. So after that I think I gave him a couple of runs off, trained him the next day in Lee’s training group, so I could give him some confidence (and maybe a bit for myself) by playing with him with his toy in the ring. He then had a day off and came back for the next 3 days competiting absolutely brilliant :D He then won both the gr4 agility and the 1-7 combined agility. He didn’t just win the combined, he won it by 1.1 seconds, I know there wasn’t lots of that good handlers and dogs left at Northern week, however there were a few, so I was still very pleased. Then I think on the last day he won another gr4 agility and the rest of his runs were pretty good. Only mistakes, apart from having me handling him, were he came out of one set of weaves cos I decided to test him and run off to the right and he came with me dohh! Then he had a few poles and a couple of places in 1-7 jumping classes.
Phoebe also did very well…. She finally went grade 7 WOOHOOO!! I have wanted one win with her for agesss… anything I needed, and she managed to get 5 wins!! Typical!! I knew I should of gone up north last year!
On the whole Northern Week was a really fun good week, they had Bingo… which is always a winner with me, I got to teach Lee how to play which was interesting. Alison and Gunner won grade 3 agility, her 2nd clear ever I think :D I saw Toni and Beep do quite a few runs, she is looking so much better, she won a grade 3 agility, by 2 seconds I think, it just shows you can not write dogs off because they don’t come out a hundard miles an hour (something else Lee has to keep telling me regarding Rods.) People still think Rodney is slow and crap, I think/ hope these people will have to eat there words once he finds his feet, I don’t think anyone really realizes, Rod has just turned 20 months old 5 days ago, give the little lad a break! Back onto results… Sarah Stokoe and Chance won the large Champ Ticket :D I ran Dylon in champ, went clear in the jumping (1 of 12, out of 62 that were in it.) Then got E’d in the agility grrrr I was so angry with myself, just shows you actually really do need a wait (Dylon does not have one lol.) I also ran Indistorm Tom Boy (Pete Jennings young dog) one of Rodneys half brothers, both out of Dylon.) In my opinion he is potentially the best dog in the country, he is just fantastic, I would have him right now no questions asked.
I did find a few things weird about Northern week, the main was one was you could do whatever you like… whatever goess… I couldn’t even cope for the first couple of days. Aka I wasn’t sent any running orders… doesn’t matter, just turn up whenever to run. You could enter classes on the day, and the worst thing I couldn’t deal with was the fact the judges were allowed to change the order of classes in there rings eg In ring 2 it would be, small 1-4 jumping, medium 1-4 jumping, large 1-7 jumping, then medium 1-7 jumping, you think ok im in large and medium 1-7, I can have a lie in, no no nooooo… 8am over the tannoy… “Ring plan change, we will now be doing the large 1-7 jumping, then poss medium 1-7, if you have a look on the ring it will tell you the new order.” Sorry what….?? Are they allowed to do this? I have no idea, however not many people seemed to mind, it was just the norm so I was told, by the end of the week I was almost going with the flow.
Here is a pic of Rod will all his rosettes and trophys from both shows...
And Phoebe with hers... not quite so impressive, however I dont think shes ever won more than two classes at one given show lol, so I thought I'd better mark this by taking a picture...
Now for the good pics, Sammie asked me to do something about her slugs on her face, sorry I mean eyebrows, so here we have a before and after shot...
One more funny pic from my phone, here is Sammie after she banned her funny bone on the window, doesnt she look funny :P...
Ok things to work on… everything with Phoebe lol… aww no, poor Phoebs, mainly me not doing so many dumbies with her and weave entries. Rodney, See-saws and Waits, I forgot to say, he also flew another see-saw at Northern week tut, so I have been working on them this week, they are loads better, however something I will continue to have to work on for the next month I reckon.
So this weekend we have Gillingham, Rodneys first grade 5 :S… scary! Im also running Dylon in champ again, going to attempt to get to the final this time.
xoxo
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