A video, finally! Just a short series of clips from Dylan at training this morning. He’s really only cruising here, as we were mainly working on getting him used to running as a mid-pack dog and having dogs changing into him both ways for Rotherham next weekend.

Click here to see a short video of Dylan flyballing.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get some videos of him at Rotherham where he might hit something near top gear!

We set off very early on Saturday morning for the BAA Finals Weekend. Kim had qualified for the Grand Prix Primary Jumping Final on Monday, and I wanted to get some last points in for her in the hopes of being promoted in Agility as well as Jumping next season. Dylan was there for the experience again, I have to admit I didn’t really want him to get placed in anything because I wanted him to stay Introductory for another year! We all had a fab weekend, the show was a bit quieter than last year but the classes were still big and the competition was still good, and it was nice not having to fight for the best camping spots!

Dylan

Dylan had a weekend of 5 fault runs, but he is still improving so much every time we compete. We’re still sorting out our start line routines and he made a couple of baby mistakes that should be easy enough to fix.

On Saturday he had a so-so run in the Agility, and went clear but with held contacts we didn’t get anything. The Snakes and Ladders course was nice but I thought the shortcut was too difficult for him, there was a very sharp angle to the Aframe and with our creepy contact issue I wasn’t going to risk it. He set off nicely but then decided to try and bounce the jump-stretch and splattered himself in the middle of the stretch instead. Oops! We kept going and he had a lovely run, probably our best so far apart from the 5 faults, and looking at his time he again would have been up in the top-10 even though we took the long way around. Clever boy! He grazed his paw as well when he paddled the stretch and so now he has a lovely bald patch to show for it.

Video: http://www.undermybed.co.uk/images/baafinals01.wmv

The Helter Skelter was a fair run but we got E’d, not too fussed as it was my fault and he worked nicely. Finally the Introductory Jumping Qualifier, it was a hard course and but somehow we went clear and then somehow we came 10th which meant somehow my little baby dog had qualified for the Grand Prix Introductory Jumping Final! We actually had a daft little spin after the second tunnel which meant we dropped 3s or so off the time.

Video: http://www.undermybed.co.uk/images/baafinals02.wmv

Somehow we also qualified for the Starters CleverDogs Final, which was a big shock! We ran our CleverDogs Qualifying time back in March at Carlton Towers, the one and only time Dylan has done CleverDogs. He didn’t get much chance to do any more as we drew Kafka (Cories Affka) in round one, and my inexperienced little boy was unsurprisingly outclassed by a Grade 5, Olympia qualified Kelpie! What was surprising was that he kept pace with Kafka until the tunnel where I pulled him off the entry and had to resend him, and then he only finished a hurdle behind at the flyball. Maybe Dylan is faster than I thought! We lost the second leg too and so ended our CleverDogs career, we had fun and in the end came 5th out of the 8 finalists.

Sunday and Monday offered 4 Open classes each, but when I entered I decided not to enter all 8 classes with both dogs because it would have been too much for me to walk and run first thing in a morning. So I entered Kim in 1 Jumping and 1 Agility each day, and Dylan in 2 Jumping on Sunday and 1 Agility and 1 Jumping on Monday.

Dylan’s second Jumping class on Sunday was harder than the first and to be honest I wasn’t sure he’d get around. The weave entry and exit wasn’t the easiest and there were plenty of places to make mistakes. Anyway, he nailed his weaves as he did all weekend, and although his run wasn’t super fast it was clean and clear until the last fence. I don’t know what happened, but he refused and I was absolutely gutted! He would have been up in the top-10 easily. He ran in the same class as Kim for the other Jumping, and we had a refusal at the weaves (my fault!).

On Monday I walked his courses and by the time I’d got to number 8 on the Jumping I’d decided not to run him in it. It was a very UYOA course, constantly naggy and I couldn’t find a smooth way to handle it at all, and I wasn’t willing to knock Dylan’s confidence by trying something so hard with him. His agility was a really nice Open course, but I lost his attention whilst we were setting up and it all went downhill really.

The Grand Prix Jumping Finals were on Monday afternoon. At Finals Weekend all the other rings run in the morning only and then are shut down whilst the Finals run so everyone can watch. We walked the course and I didn’t think it was much of a Dylan course, although I thought we could probably get round. I would have liked to see 6 weaves instead of 12 as I thought the weave entry and exit were really tough for Intro dogs, 6 weaves would have made both entry and exit a lot easier.

Dylan and I ran 5th out of the 20 and we were ok until the weaves. Dylan missed the entry, I think due to a mixture of inexperience and bad handling on my part, and the suddenly realised there were a lot of people watching him! My poor shy boy found that a bit offputting and we ended up making a right hash of the weaves and got E’d in the end. He finished the course beautifully though and did the flick flack perfectly.

My prediction was right about the 12 weaves though, as we weren’t the only ones to make a mistake there. Mabel (Bekkis Masquerage), the hot favourite, also missed the weave entry, and a lot of the other dogs either popped out or missed the entry. Dylan ended up with the 20th rosette but I’m still very proud of him for getting to the Finals at all.

Apparently he really likes rosettes with writing on the tails because that’s what he got all weekend!

Kim

We had a bit of a rubbish day on Saturday, mainly because I wanted to at least go clear in the Primary Agility Qualifier and either just get points or, ideally, qualify. No such luck! Kim missed her dogwalk contact. We had a nice run in the Primary Jumping Qualifier and somehow we came 4th, which was a bit surprising! Equally surprising was her 10th in Snakes and Ladders; we took the shortest route but we had a bit of framegazing on the Aframe and we basically walked around the course at a snails pace. I can only presume nobody else took the shortcut successfully!

Kim came back to a bit of form on Sunday and went clear in both Open classes. Finally a clear in agility, whoo! She finished up 19th in the Open Agility and 12th in the Open Jumping (out of 170+ dogs), not too shabby. Monday was definitely our day though, my dog finally got her crazy back.

I loved James Denton’s Open Agility course, it was exactly the kind of thing Kim likes, a straightforward opening sequence and then plenty of wide open spaces for her to stretch her legs in. She set off well, but after jump 4 it was like the switch was flicked and I got my crazy little dog back with all the running in her legs. She finished up flying, and came 10th in the end, beating a lot of good dogs including her friendly rival Moss.

Video: http://www.undermybed.co.uk/images/baafinals03.wmv

Open Jumping was her last run before the Grand Prix Jumping Finals in the afternoon. I’d been working ring party on Ring 2 for 90mins in the morning so I knew we had to run clear under 20 seconds to be in with any chance of a placing, it was a big, open and fast course that the Graduate and Masters dogs were blasting. We had a bit of a slow start but finished up nicely in 20.88, I didn’t think we’d be quick enough and I was right! We got a rosette for 28th in the end, but there were 72 clears!

Video: http://www.undermybed.co.uk/images/baafinals04.wmv

Finally we had the Grand Prix Primary Jumping Finals in the afternoon, and I think running Dylan first took the pressure off Kim and I quite a bit. I walked it the course on my own, and then with Maria who runs Kip, another Medium, and then with Sylvia who runs Molly, a Maxi. We all wanted a wait start to get us into position but I didn’t think I’d get it with Kim, so I walked it two different ways depending on whether we got that wait or not.

I missed most of the Maxi dogs running as I was behind the scribe tent trying to keep Kim cool and relaxed. I knew that Kafka had gone clear as well as a few others, so the pressure was off as I didn’t think we could beat the Maxi’s! As the last few dogs were going I booked in, found out I was going first which somehow didn’t surprise me! I normally hate going first in the Mediums, I always feel rushed to get on the line and go but I’d promised myself I wouldn’t do that this year. I took my time winding Kim up and playing with her, and I actually didn’t feel nervous for once. Maybe I’m getting my head around this Finals lark! Set her up and she bounced straight back up as soon as I stepped away but that’s a good sign normally, so I put her back. She held her wait!

As soon as she set off I knew we were in for a good run. She was fast and responsive and I really did have my girl back, and we were clear until the final turn on the home straight. I was too far behind and panicked, shouted left too early and she spun to check with me before taking the jump, but it didn’t get marked as a refusal and she was clear!

(http://www.undermybed.co.uk/images/jumpingfinals.wmv)

I’m still smiling now, I took her off to play and didn’t watch the rest of the dogs run because I didn’t care if they all went clear and fast and beat us! As it turned out none of the other Mediums went clear so we knew Kim was on for a placing, it would just be which one. Nobody gets to see the results until they’re announced at the presentation so I was more nervous than I had been waiting to run! I was walking about at the back of the hall with Kim to try and keep her quiet and me calm, which wasn’t easy as they didn’t read out our names for 5th, 4th or 3rd! Eventually she got her 2nd, and we went up to collect our trophy and rosette. The wonderful Kafka came 1st.

I have to congratulate everyone else who was there and did brilliantly as well. Vicki and Pippa (Ruffs Kyria Kalli AW(S)) came 4th in the Introductory Agility Final, and 3rd in the Introductory Jumping Final. Our fellow Primary Medium Rasha Beagle (Bonwillan Dizzy Blonde) came 2nd in the Primary Agility Final (go the Mediums!), and Sylvia’s fab little Molly (Molly Coddled) was still in the top-10 of the Primary Jumping Final with 5 faults, she had a cracking run, so unlucky to miss the weave entry! Jean’s lovely little Cav Emma (Baby Boo) also ran her socks off in the Primary Jumping Final despite being exhausted and came 4th, as well as winning the Primary Mini Dog of the Year. Speaking of, we were all rooting for Anne and Moss (May Be Moss) to win the Primary Medium Dog of the Year but she was pipped at the last minute by somebody else, so disappointed on her behalf! Hopefully she can take home the Novice Medium next year. Leah Rumsey also qualified for the Junior Handler Finals, shame she wasn’t there but flyballing at Drax … maybe next year!

Finally, a big congrats to Alice and Sammy who won out of Grade 1 at Dog Vegas on Friday, they won’t be in Grade 2 for long!

As many of you will have heard already, Kim was diagnosed with a heart murmur at the vets during her routine annual checkup and boosters. I didn’t post about it immediately because it took me a while to get my head around the idea that my beautiful girly could no longer claim to be in perfect physical health. I realise I can’t wrap her in cotton wool but I was already thinking maybe now was the time to stop pushing her at agility and flyball and let her pick her own pace, at least until she’s fully tested and we know the full story.

Kim though, with her normal attitude, apparently doesn’t care or doesn’t listen to warnings about her health (or anything else, for that matter!) and told me not to dare think about retiring her just yet.

Our first run of the day was Combined 1-4 Agility, nice course with a few fiddley bits but basically exactly what I’d been hoping for when I’d chosen to enter a show with 1-4 classes. (Kim and I tend to do better on trickier courses). We had a lovely run but I thought we’d missed our dogwalk contact — still do, actually! — plus we had several wide turns and Kim was definitely not firing on all cylinders so I was pleased just to get a clear. I thought it was a good start to the day and we’d really have our chance later in the 1-2 Agility! When I actually went to check the results to get my time for Kim’s AW points I nearly burst into tears, her time was 4 seconds clear of the dog in second place and she won me into Grade 3 by beating not only Grade 1 and 2 dogs, but Grade 3 and 4 dogs as well.

Here’s the video from her 1-4 Agility.

http://www.undermybed.co.uk/images/otley14agility.wmv
OR go to http://uk.youtube.com/user/kayanem

We then went on to win the Combined 1-2 Jumping with a “fairyhead” run (as Emma calls it!), and the Combined 1-2 Agility with 5 faults (knocked a pole on the spread). In our final run of the day, when Kim was freaked out by the thunder and only half-listening to me, she still managed a 3rd in the Combined 1-4 Jumping.

Dylan met his baby sister Kai again, who is just stunning; the photo doesn’t show how huge they both are! Emma and Bailey were also doing their first Medium 3-5 classes. Bails had a particularly awesome run in the 3-5 Jumping but her clear didn’t count as the course had the cloth tunnel taken out mid-way through the class as it was getting too wet, so Emma had to re-run and got E’d. Looking at the final times and Bailey’s original time, she would have been 3rd … not a bad start Ems! A few other friends also had some good placings, so all in all a really fab day.

Final note though, on the Agility Warrant points added in from today Kim now has 196 points … so close to being Return of the Kim AW(B)! We aren’t doing another KC show until the end of August at Northern Week, but hopefully we’ll be able to get those last few points there.

The Crazy Cannons always put on a good tournament but we’re not usually very successful! Kim has a 2nd rosette from about 2 years ago and that’s it, which is a shame because the pink and black rosettes look very swish! We got our act together this year and the Owlers had a fantastic day. It definitely helped that unlike the rest of the country, we were all absolutely frozen and never saw any sunlight. Mollie and Dylan were very appreciative!

Mollie was in Division 7, back with her old team Night Owlers. They came 2nd in the end and had a great day’s racing, and finally broke the magic 22 seconds to hit 21.73 — when I was handling! My mum slipped and hurt her knee, and as she was due to run Murphy in the second half of Div 1 later, I said I’d run Mollie for the final 3 races. Mollie also picked up her Graduate award, in a lovely frame that Jane organised. Thank you guys!

Kim was running in Div 4 with her normal team, but down to 4 dogs and with a bit of a switched round line-up! We had Jet down from Barneys and Lolly up from Nights, and with old pro’s Kim and Buffy. They all ran really well, 13″ jumps all day and Kim was so consistent! I’m very proud of her, she ran just under 5 seconds all day in a 7 team division. We ran around 20 seconds all day so plenty of points, about 350-400 I think, which is a nice addition to our goal this year to reach 10,000 points. Sadly I think we’re losing speedy Jet to become a permanent Barney addition, although we do get gorgeous Brooke in the swap so not too bad!

Dylan was running in Starters again, and his Little Owlers team were brilliant. Dylan’s box was still pretty bad but he didn’t make any serious mistakes and we did get a couple of practise runs with the cone in and showed everyone what a cracking turn he can have! His turn makes all the difference, I think if we can get his turn sorted he’ll be running sub-5 second times which will suit him nicely. Just one problem - Dylan is just like his dad and likes running as lead dog, I think someone should tell him that I can’t do the lights! He really shifted up a gear running first, less for him to think about and he focussed a lot faster. We definitely had an improvement since last time though, and he kept going consistently all day, just a bit quicker when he was lead dog. I’m more concerned about my dogs running consistent times than throwing up an odd faster one, it plays havoc with seed times and means they can’t settle in a team properly. I’d be thrilled if Dylan somehow pulled off a 4.3 but it would hardly be very good for whatever team he was in! I think the team ran a 23.?? in the end, so not too bad considering we weren’t running changeovers or starts!

I was also scribing for Barneys so didn’t get a moment’s rest all day, and I mean that quite literally! When I was actually running a dog I was helping with one of the other teams, so I was absolutely exhausted when we got back last night. I wasn’t the only one either, as mum normally just has Mollie to run and then helps out, but she had the additional task yesterday of running Brooke and Murphy! James is off on his stag weekend and mum started off running Brooke for the first couple of races, and then swapped to running Murphy. Her first time running either dog and in Div 1, and her changeovers were absolutely perfect!

Photos from Sunnyside Photography http://www.sunnyside-photo.co.uk/