Since I last wrote on here, I had mentioned Phoebe had to have an Op. She is looking better, however I am still having to be very careful with her. Aka lots of small feeds throughout the day and not much exercise. She is doing better, however looking a bit thin and still not back to her self yet, which upsets me. I have this weekend off, so have made sure I have spent some more time with her. She will continue to stay at home and not come to shows for the next month or more, I do not want her to experience any stress of any kind for a while now.
Two weekends ago now, we had the England World Team Try-Outs. Due to Phoebe's Op, surprisingly I went there not too bothered how I did. So for the first time I ran in a class which mattered (haven't ran in many classes which matter too much yet)I wasn't nervous, due to not being too bothered of my result, of course I wanted Rodney to run well. There were a few hiccups on the day, regarding FCI rules not being followed correctly, which annoyed a large number of the competitors, but on the whole it was a good day. The first round was the jumping, I dummied towards the end of the course and due to Rodney not understanding dummies (because I do not teach/ use them, well try not to) he ran past a jump, then I forgot the rule "don't get E'd if you have faults, carry on" so I put Rod over another jump and got E'd... tut. Never mind, like I said, I wasn't overly bothered. Next round was the 1st of 3 agility rounds. I liked the course because it was quite easy and I thought we'd get around without too much hassle. We did, finishing 4th, just and I mean just behind Dave and Dobby, Linda and Kizzy and Greg with Detox. So finishing 4th we managed a few points, then all of a sudden, I had changed my tune and wanted to do well lol. 3rd round (2nd agility) again a pretty easy course, I pushed Rodney verbally and I mean verbally for the first time, he did a good round and finished 2nd, 0.02 behind Dave and Dobby :). So, even more points. For the final round (the 3rd agility) we went into the final lieing 3rd, behind Dave and Dobby winning it and Lee with Bold laying 2nd. All I had to do was go around with 5 faults or less to get on the team... you can see where this is going... I didn't. For some reason, I thought I was marked on my see-saw (even though it was perfect, why I thought I was marked is beyond me now, I think I must of thought I saw Nic's (Nic Jones was the judge for the day) hand go up... but it didn't.) So because I thought I had faults, I stopped trying, like I always do tut. We then got 5 before the weaves, then Rodney wouldn't go up the dog walk, maybe cos I wasn't concentrating.... who knows, he went a bit weird and looked scared. Granted he still wasn't even two and a half, it was soooo hot it was a joke and I had asked him to concentrate properly for four runs. He was by far the youngest dog in the competition. I was a bit gutted afterwards, after being so close. However lets be honest, its prob a good thing, he isn't ready for the world champs, hes too young. I do feel a lot more confident about trying him out next year though :).
The weekend after the Try-Outs, we had Tuffley. I got a bit sun burnt due to being silly and not realising how hot it was and I didn't wear any sun screen. Rodney ran or right, however all weekend I had it in my head he wasn't fast enough and I didn't try properly in any classes, I must get over this because he IS fast enough if I run him correctly.
Here below is Rodney in the CSJ Agility (Sat)...4th, 0.3 behind Lindsey Cheshire and Tia who won....
Here is Rodney again in the CSJ Agility (Sun)... 5th, Ant Clarke and Gass won...
Rodney did a nice run in the Champ Jumping, until the last fence where he ran around the back of the jump, and instead of saving it and just getting a 5R, I let him back jump and got him E'd tut... once again not thinking on my feet. Lee Windeatt and Bold won the Championship, Bold's 5th ticket now :), 2nd this year... here is the run below...
Lee and Shy also made the final, finishing 3rd :).
Like I said this weekend, we had a weekend off. To be fair I have been pretty bored, have mainly been cleaning the house, doing washing and horrible things like that. Weird but I am actually looking forward to work tomorrow.
Next weekend Lucy and I are off to Rugby, Pie's first champ :). There is Champ, Cruft singles (where I still need a few more points) Olympia (which again I still need) and Crufts team... so loads to attempt to do well in :S. I am actually going to run Rodney like I want to win this weekend, no more messing about!
After Rugby, I have Weardale show (Lucy forgot to enter, so isn't coming) then we have Agility Club the weekend after. Then (need to think of another word for "then") the weekend after that Lucy and I are off to Luxembourg for their Agility By Night three day show... I am very excited. My second show abroad, and Rodneys first.
xoxo
Ps... Here is a picture of Pie (Lucy's dog) and I when I was looking after him for Tuffley weekend... He didnt get a mention in this blog, due to us not getting any clears :P.
