Monthly Archives: October 2009
Stocksbridge
Stocksbridge on Saturday, and it seems like such a long time since we lasted visited this tournament. I suppose it is a long time, actually. Stocksbridge is always the tournament that marks the start of the winter season, because it’s cold and you arrive and leave in the dark. I’m perhaps a bit weird, and love that.
Dylan was such a good boy. He’s maintaining his form from Rotherham, and although I don’t think he was as fast, he did run very very well. Just one minor issue on the box, but he seemed to figure out the mistake and revert back to turning reasonably well. We had little Bailey in our team, who stepped up like the true pro she is and just kicked some height dog tail.
I don’t think I gave Kim quite the attention she deserved; she ran her heart out and loved every second, like she always does indoors, but I was rushing about like an idiot after Dylan’s division so didn’t have time to get her ready to race, and then our team lineup changed so often during the day I didn’t really get to appreciate just how good she was. Mollie was on the same team and they were both just fabsome, Their team came 1st anyway, and did it pretty comfortably. The last race was a bit tight though – 2 legs down and we brought it back, somehow!
During my super busy day, I was also Vice Captain for Barneys, and spent way too much time in fits of giggles (there is nothing funnier than a Whippet on a slippy floor trying to chase three tennis balls going in different directions). We also ringpartied in the morning, and spent a good portion of Div 5 cheering for some friends making their flyballing debut.
We’ll be back next month, maybe to collect a few awards too? Points are starting to catch up, slowly but surely, and we have a couple of dogs who are creeping closer to their next certificates (I’m thinking about a little brown fiesty girl, in particular).
Choose a Dog
Stolen from manymuddypaws, but I thought it was a cute idea. Of course, CKC/AKC groups mean almost nothing to me, so I altered it slightly for the UK.
IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE A DOG FROM EACH KC “GROUP,” WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
Hound Group – Whippet
This was easy. I love Beagles, so they came a reasonably close 2nd, but Whippets hands down every time. Gorgeous, fantastic personalities, superfast and super athletic. What’s not to love? I can see a Whippet in my future.
Gundog Group – Large Munsterlander
Gundogs aren’t really my thing, so this was a difficult choice. I do love the attitude to Flat Coat Retrievers, I think they’re such happy dogs, and I like the Hungarian Viszlas and the Pointers as they’re just so graceful to watch. But there’s something really appealing about the Munsterlanders, maybe a combination of the looks and the personality? Love them.
Terrier Group – Parson Jack Russell
Most difficult choice. I love Staffies, I don’t have enough praise for them. I also really like Manchester Terriers, they’ve got some attitude and some speed. But PJT wins for sheer terrierness. If you’re going to get a terrier, get the most terrierish terrier of them all.
Utility Group – Dalmation
Easy choice. Saw some fantastically fast Standard Poodles in flyball this past weekend running 4.5s, and I always melt at Shiba Inus (attitude dogs!) but I lovelovelove Dalmations. It’s one of those breeds that would be perfect for agility and flyball, and I’m always slightly bemused as to why there aren’t more of them doing it. They’ve got speed, athleticism and incredibly working drive, and yes, they’re hard to train but the pay off would be worth it. If I had 15 acres and a house twice the size of this I’d snap up the opportunity for a Dal.
Working Group – Rottweiler.
I wobbled between Rottie and Dobe, but Rottie wins. A super fit and super healthy Rottie is stunning, and they have lovable down to a tee.
Pastoral Group – Australian Shepherd
So many breeds tied for 2nd, but I would always pick an Aussie. Future!Pup currently has Aussie in the breed line.
Toy Group – Papillion
Italian Greyhound was right up there, but they’re so delicate and fragile. Papillions are big dogs in small bodies, and I’ve never met one who thought he was less than awesome. They’re too small for me to ever own, but I can admire them from afar.
Rotherham Flyball
Days like this remind me why I do flyball.
I was pretty excited about Dylan’s team anyway, they’re a fab fast bunch of dogs who were on a very comfortable seed time, and both Dylan and Skye love running over 12″. Perfect conditions! Anyway, the last race against Marnicks was down to the wire stuff, they’d run the same times as us during the day (we both ended up with a fastest time of 19.81) and we’d both won the same amount of races, so we were both battling for 2nd place. We had to wait for confirmation from the ring party twice, because it was so tight and we couldn’t call the winners. Last race of the day, when it was dark and the marquee spotlights were lighting up the lanes, and the whole place was screaming the dogs home.
It is such an adrenelin rush. I love agility, and I come away happier from competitions, feeling as though at least one run went well, or we did something good. But I’ve never come out of an agility ring buzzing the way I can at flyball; you don’t have to win, and you don’t even have to be running a dog. Boxloading, scribing, team captain, ring party, spectator … once teams are racing, everyone comes away smiling. Good racing is good racing, and it gets into your bones.
There doesn’t seem to be so much of it around at the moment, everyone is hung up on points or team times or singles times or box work. I’m guilty of it. You forget about just racing, just giving up your heart and soul to win. But we remembered this time, and I was so proud of Dylan this weekend, because he gave everything he had, and he hasn’t done that before. It didn’t matter than his turns were kind of quirky, because he was turning and it was fast, and it didn’t matter that he tried to bite my face off, because he was so hyped and so excited about flyball. (I say it doesn’t matter, but we are going to work on both those things. I need my face and Dyl needs his joints).
Kim and Mollie also had some good racing. Kim’s team Barking Owlers finished 1st and Kim was storming all day. She appreciated her time going lead dog, especially against Mollie, and says thank you to Captain Katie for letting her do it! Mollie was fantastic in the Eagle Owlers, but I didn’t get to see her run a whole lot, because Barking and Eagles were in the same division so it was rather difficult!
To top it off we all got plenty of awards. Dylan and his best redheaded girl Skye got their FDG (3000 points), Chip got his FDI (1000pts) and Stripe got his FDA (5000pts), Moo and Jet got their FD-Silver (10,000pts) and George got his FD-Platinum (25,000pts).
Finally, major props to Rotherham. I know they were worried about making the step from one marquee to two, but they pulled it off perfectly.
Agility Training
Dylan was a good boy at training this week. I sometimes feel like we’re working on things and we’re making very little progress, but then sometimes it’s like everything clicks and it all makes sense and works. That’s always a good day!
He did a beautiful steady-up for a wing wrap, and then nailed a really tough weave entry with no questions for either of us. He also worked really hard to stay on his contacts, and I was able to layer in obstacles between us when he was working his Aframe. He broke once, but only took a step before he realised what he’d done, and – even better – happily bounced back to fix it.
Having said all that, there are still things we need to work on!
My current list is as follows:
Pull-thrus (and related) Wing Wraps
Contacts (must proof more whilst maintaining speed and enthusiasm)
Encouraging drive and speed and confidence, always!
He does make me laugh though; he can tell when he’s done something especially good, and he trots around with his toy looking so smug and pleased with himself. It’s super funny and super cute since Dylan doesn’t normally act so full of himself. More please!