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.