Introducing Roxy!

Well sometimes its just meant to be.... i happened to come across a photo of Cai's mum with two pups on the Internet. One of them a blue merle bitch and the other a sable bitch. I know she is getting on a bit now so this would probably be her last litter and as my next dog was going to be a bitch it got me thinking. So after chatting to Caroline (Cai's breeder) i drove all the way to Wales to pick up my new blue merle puppy.

Only i didnt come home with the blue but somehow ended up with the sable! She's nutty, fast and bossy and love her to bits already. She is super clever and very fast to learn and can already do sit, down, paw, speak, spin right, spin left, put head on floor and touch a target with her nose. Im having so much fun with her and she has been such an easy pup... so far! Hopefully she is my little flyball star of the future.

Stour Valley Agility Show

This was a lovely show last year and had a good selection of classes this year so i was really looking forward to it. Both Chico and Campbell were entered both days but something came up on Saturday so i only made it over on the Sunday.

Campbell only had 2 classes today as i didn't want to waste my money on the combined 1 - 4 border collie helterskelter as he wouldn't be fast enough to make the placings if he had gone clear and i really don't need another clear round rosette! First up he had graded 1 - 3 Agility. This was a nice testing course which i was really looking forward to. He missed his weave entry though and them he got confused when i called him back and back jumped the jump before. I was gutted as he flew round the rest of the course and really felt like he was giving it his all. This is just the kind of course he will win out on, but today was not the day. Next up he had graded 1 - 4 jumping. Again a testing course which i couldn't wait to do. Campbell always does so much better on the harder courses as he turns so tight and saves seconds. He did a fantastic round that really felt like one of his best and we got some lovely compliments when we left the ring. Unfortunately we had 1pole down. Stupidly i went to check my time to find out where we would have come to find out we would have won the class :-( He is so close now to winning out but we just keep missing out for one reason or another!

Chico had three runs today. Combined 1 - 4 helterskelter was first. I got lost but Chico went well! Next up was graded 1 - 3 agility. Annoyingly Chico had the first pole down as he was getting stressed and kept looking at the dog queueing behind him so didn't take off properly. After that he did a perfect round if a little slow in places. Last up he had graded 1 - 4 jumping. It was not really a Chico course as it required too many turns and her hates turning and always goes very wide when i make him. I was determined to get at least one clear this weekend though so just took it slowly and didn't rush him and he did a nice steady clear 4.5 seconds slower than Campbell but still finished 7th. I really don't know how he does it, all his placings to date have been top 10 but he really has some rubbish times!

Ive decided that this will be Chico's last show for a year or so though (other than the odd class) as i find it really hard having both him and Campbell entered as they are so different to handle that i end up messing up my runs. Also Campbell is just about to turn 4 and i feel he will probably only be at his best for another year or two so really want to concentrate on him while he is doing well. Hopefully with a bit more focus he will win me out early next year. Most of his placing in the latter part of the year have been top 10 with many top 5 so i know he has it in him now. I was going to put him up on points but think ill wait a few more months now to see what happens! Also i think Chico could do with a year to mature a bit and will hopefully come back more confident.

Prestbury Park Agility show

A lovely show and our first time camping this year! I'm not entering Chico in all the classes he is able to do anymore as he switches off so quickly so two classes is enough per day.

Saturday

First up Campbell had Grade 1 & 2 agility and he did a cracking round in a very fast time.... with 5 faults on the dog walk! so annoying as he would have had a very high placing with that. Next up Chico had Grade 1 - 4 collie jumping. Now when i entered this a few months ago he was enjoying jumping courses much more than agility. Now that's not the case and this was a very interesting course that i would have loved to run with Campbell but knew Chico would hate. He tried but had one pole down but didn't enjoy all the nagging i had to do to get him round.

Last up they both had Grade 1 agility. Chico went first and did a nice round with just one pole down. Campbell is really on top form right now and did a fantastic round although i did slow him on the dog walk to make sure we got the dreaded contact. I went to check his time to find we were in 1st! we stayed there most of the class but ended up 2nd which I'm really pleased with although i now realise how close he is to winning out!



Sunday

Campbell had Grade 1 & 2 agility. It was a very testing course that not many people were getting round and i wasn't surprised when we ended up with and E! Next he had graded 1 - 3 agility. This was basically the course from the morning but in reverse so again quite testing. We managed to get round this time with 5 on the dog walk and 5 for a missed weave entry. Chico was a bit switched of and did a very slow steady round but went clear in a painfully slow time of 41 seconds. We ended up 10th which surprised me! Last up they both had grade 1 jumping. Campbell got 5 for a missed weave entry and Chico got E'd for jumping the tape round the ring although he did come straight back in and complete the course without any faults in a nice fast time.

Prestbury Park Crufts Flyball Qualifier

Well what an odd day. We went along to give the Crufts qualifier ago. We have not done one before so really just went to see how they do things as all the rules are a bit different and there is not usually much run back room. 8 Teams were entered and there was only one we didnt really want to be drawn against in the first round and that was Wimbledon. Well it was not our lucky day and we were drawn against them! We went into the ring already a bit confused. The judge had said he would allow 2 minutes to warm the dogs up the first time we go into the ring and nothing after that. I sent Cai and the next thing i know a dog from the other side crosses over and crashes into him. Now anyone who knows Cai knows this is not good news for the other dog! Well Cai was such a good boy. He just started hunting for his ball as it had be knocked out of his mouth. He then found it and returned back over the jumps with the other dog chasing him but he didnt touch it.

Crufts flyball is best of 3 and if you win the first 2 you only race 2 legs. We then ran our first leg and Wimbledon's 4th dog crossed the line first. Then in the second leg it looked like our dog crossed the line first but everyone started leaving the ring so i assumed they had been awarded that leg too. It was all very messy and confusing not like BFA at all! When we got out of the ring Wimbledon didn't look very pleased and someone said well done to us and we realise we had actually won as they crossed too early in the first leg so we won both legs outright.



After more confusion in the second round we were awarded the win there too and had qualified for Crufts 2010! The final was against a fast BFA team the Kiddy Monsters who really pushed us and although it was close they took the first two legs so we came 2nd overall which is great for our first Crufts qualifier. For a made up team that never train together we did really well and still cant believe we qualified at our first show. The dogs in the team were Cai, Loki handled by Steph (from the Swifts) Flash and Breeze with Michelle (from The Dream Team) and Magic with Kerina as reserve. Now we just have to wait till March next year and see what happens.