Sunday 28 June 2009

Keston Agility Show

Three runs today for each of the boys. First up Campbell had graded 1 & 2 agility. Stupidly i have wrecked our contacts in the last few weeks so we ended up with 5 on the A frame. I really need to re think how we train contacts and work the contacts in the ring as i hate to ruin a good run by holding him in the 2 on 2 off position. Next up was Chico im still trying to get the excitment & enjoyment back with him so am not putting him in a wait at the beginning and have started running his contacts as he has got very creepy and slow recently. This has been working well but now that he has got his speed back he has started to miss them so i am going to have a go a training him to do running contacts. He missed his dog walk then flew the see saw so i put him back over getting us E'd.

Next up Campbell had combined grade 1 - 3 jumping. He did a nice round to finish clear with one wide turn which cost us a few seconds and a place. Chico also finished clear but was very slow through the weaves and had quite a few wide turns but was only 3 seconds slower than Campbell so he is much quicker over the jumps.

Last up they had grade 1 jumping. I wanted a nice fast up and down course for Chico and got one! i did a running start with him and he got a nice entry into the weaves but i rushed him too much and he ended up comming out early then had a pole. Campbell was amazing. Id got some Pow Wow energy drink to see if it helped him get through the day as he can get very tired and his first run is often his best. Well either it worked or he was very keen as he did a lovely fast round to finish 8th. There was only 1 second between all the top 10 dogs so im very pleased.

Sunday 21 June 2009

Axstane Agility show - Day 2

Three classes for each of them today, two agility an one jumping which made a nice change. First up Chico had combined grade 1 & 2 agility. A nice flowing course but with quite a few areas you could go wrong if you didnt pay attention the whole way round. We did a running start, he tried hard and did some nice tight turns trough the tricky bits then went wide and ran past a jump 3 from the end. Next he had combined grade 1 - 3 agility. A nice course with not too many tricky bits. I did a running start with him as he has been much more keen this weekend and i really want to keep that enthuiusam. He did a nice round and listened to what i was asking but went wide on one turn and found himself on the bottom of the A frame before he could turn onto the see-saw which is what he was ment to be doing! Last up he had graded 1 & 2 jumping. We did a running start again then a nice round but ran wide past one jump. I then got a bit flustred and handled the final sequence wrong and he put a spin in infront of a jump. All baby mistakes though which we can hopefully sort out with more training. I ran all his contacts today and he didnt miss one so maybe thats the way to go with him?

Campbell had combined 1 & 2 agility first. He did a speedy round which really felt like he was going as fast as he could. He ran all his contacts even though he knows he shouldn't but it was going so well i let him get away with it which im sure i will regret at next weeks show! I was really surprided when i went to check my time to find i was 0.5 sec behind the current winner. He ended up 5th which im very pleased with. This is his best agility placing to date and now gives him 66 agility warrant points. Next up was the jumping where he took a pole. Then we waited 5 hours to do his last class as he was in part 2 of the 1 - 3 agility. Shouldn't have bothered as i managed to get us E'd by over handling him and pulling him off a jump.

Saturday 20 June 2009

Axstane Agility Show - Day 1

First up today Campbell had grade 1 - 3 jumping. He really tried hard and felt like he was going as fast as he could with some very tight turns. We waisted a few seconds where he nearly took the wrong jump after the tunnel but called off nicely to finish 18th. I then decided to take him into the practice ring for a minute to work on his contacts as im still not happy with them in the ring. He must be picking up on something i do as he stopped on them all perfectly in the training ring even though i acted like it was for real not just training. Then he had graded 1 & 2 agility. He must have been more tired than i realised as he felt very slow and didnt have as much drive through the weaves as i would have liked but it was a nice clear. I was really surprised to find we had finished 10th!

Next up Chico had grade 1 - 3 jumping he felt much better to run today and didnt stop to sniff or have a look around. I didnt make him wait as im trying to get him excited about agility again and a running start really makes a difference. He did a lovely round with perfect (but painfully slow) weaves but just put in a spin in front of a jump due to bad handling by me so finished with 5 faults. Next up was his graded 1 & 2 agility again i went for a running start and decided to run his contacts as he has always come down quite low on the contact area and not really ever been a jumper. He did a lovely round just running past the see saw due to me not giving him enough help again, sometimes i forget he is not like Campbell. He finished with 5 faults but i was happy as he had put the effort in and felt nice to run. Im now going to start retraining his contacts into running contacts as he is not a dog that likes to break his flow as it makes him start to worry too much. Also his stride naturally takes him low so hopefully he will be able to make the transition without too much problems.

After a long wait Chico had grade 1 - 2 jumping. I really needed to leave him in a wait as the start would not have been easy without one. He was a good boy again and worked nice with a few wide turns, although much much better than he has been recently. He finished clear but with quite a slow time as he is really crawling through the weaves. We were in 27th place until the last dog ran who knocked us out! never mind a clear is good progress so im pleased. Last up Campbell had grade 1 - 2 jumping. It was a nice course that had a few tricky bits which i always like as Campbell is best at tricky courses that require some handling as he is not really a speed dog. He did a nice round but i pushed him to hard into the weaves and he missed the entry.... oh and i hadn't walked the course as i had been chatting!

Cant wait for tomorrow now! Abbie Campbell's girlfriend will be there so im sure there will be a bit of competition between the two of them.

Sunday 7 June 2009

Bluebells

Well i haven't posted any photos for a while so here are some i took in the local bluebell wood earlier this year.