Saturday was flyball day, as per usual for this weekend. We only had two teams in but both were 6-dog teams, which I hate, but as we had some dogs coming back from injury etc it was really the only option.
Kim and Mollie both ran very well, Kim back to her usual self and being her usual Kim-of-all-trades, running in every position, even lead! We were a bit off on the start (0.09) but not too shabby to say we haven’t done it in forever. Think we finished 3rd. Or 4th, I can’t remember.
Dylan did not have a good day, and I ended up pulling him from racing. There was nowhere for me to keep him away from other dogs and so he spent the whole time getting more and more stressed and unhappy, and that was before we’d even got in the ring. Once we were in the ring, we had a minimum-distance type runback (about 70-80ft?) with crowds down both sides, and there was just too much going on. Really disappointed and frustrated with the situation (not with Dylan!) but there was no other option.
Sunday was agility day. Lovely lovely courses all day and loads of room to let Dylan chill and relax before his runs. Because Dyl’s classes were small, I was able to warm him up off lead and then walk him into the ring lead-less, which keeps his stress levels low, and it worked brilliantly because he ran fantastically all day. Super happy and super keen and smooth, perfect. We got a scrappy clear in the Novice Plus Agility but finished 2nd, and then had a nice clear with some wide turns in the N+Jumping and finished 4th, just out of the rosettes.
Fantastic Wicked Weaves course that Dyl and I rocked, except for the refusal on jump 12. I pulled him off too soon and I was kicking myself as we’d have been pushing for first or at least second, but oh well!
Kim was in her first Veteran classes, she wasn’t fully convinced by the Micro height but kicked up the gears in every run. She absolutely loved it, and we promptly got E’d in every class apart from the Circular Jumping where we came 2nd. Mollie picked up a 4th in the same class, and had a couple of high 5f placings as well in her other classes. Love running my old ladies, they’re so much fun.
Photos will be added to this post once my computer stops being a complete arse.
I love that Hare’n'Hounds are theming all their winter shows, it’s fun and cute and apparently traumatising for Jet, but it’s such a nice touch for already awesome shows.
Jet had a very tough course for first thing in the morning with her Grade 3 Agility, lots of flick-flacks and pull-thrus in the smallest ring, and a tunnel-weave-Aframe into nowhere that I knew was going to be a bit of a problem for us. Jet (like Dylan) needs to be raced along her contacts to get the best out of her, and it just wasn’t possible to do so for the Aframe in this class. I lost her at jump 6 when she picked up the tunnel way too early, but she actually ran the class really well and I was very happy with her!
Dylan also had a very tough course first, his Graded 4-7 Jumping class. Although I knew this was going to be Dylan’s first Grade 5 show, but I hadn’t actually thought about the splits, and he had tough classes all day with the Grade 7 dogs. Dylan tried so hard in the Jumping, I lost him at the pull-thru before the weaves, but he really worked his socks off.
Jet was back in for her G3-4 Agility, which was a really beautiful course in the biggest ring, so very open and with lots of room to run. It was also the ring where the judge had a cloak on, and the scribe was wearing a Halloween bobble headband. Jet has issues with people wearing hats, but the first thing to freak her out was a Halloween poster on the wall. So I didn’t actually know if she was going to run, and I spent all my time reassuring her instead of the usual pre-run routine. Once we set off, she was absolutely fine, but I was all over the place with my handling, nearly collided with the judge* and then I didn’t get her weave command in early enough.
I then whisked Jet off to run her ABC Agility, which was in the same ring as the Grade 3 Agility and had a very similar course. Jet had a lovely run and our only clear of the day, although her contacts were too slow and that really pushed us out of the placings. She finished 7th overall, so not too shabby!
Jet had her nice ABC, and with hindsight, I should have entered Dylan in the Border Collie Jumping rather than the Open, but at least we drew Part 1 of the C1-7 Jumping which had by far the smoother course. Dylan had a slightly lazy run, wasn’t really stretching or driving on as well as he has been lately, but he went clear and actually finished 12th, and beat some Grade 6/7 dogs to do so. I think he was the 3rd Grade 5 dog, which was a very good result.
Jet had her final run in the Grade 3 Jumping, and flew around but just rolled a pole on one of the straights. Can’t complain because it was a really smooth, nice run, and I caused the pole. We really felt to be working more as a team by the end of the day, and I know Jet had fun because she tried to rag on my arm when we were done.
Dylan had his two agility classes to finish, and I was a bit concerned as he hadn’t really run as well as he could in the Jumping, and I want to keep hold of that madcap enthusiasm he’s been showing recently. Thankfully it call came flooding back in the C4-5 Agility, which was in the big ring and was a really wide open course, lots of space and room whilst being challenging enough for the dogs. Perfectly pitched! Dylan and I lost the plot immediately, obviously, when faced with a nice course. I don’t think we’ve ever made such a shambles of a run! Dylan had beautiful fast contacts, and I’ve genuinely never seen him power into his jumping as well. Shame we were all over the place! I finished up happy and so did Dylan, and I think the very stunning Flatcoat in front of us won the class.
Final run was Graded 5-7 Agility, and Dyl and I showed off our inexperience at this level. We went clear, but it was not at all pretty. Beautiful fast contacts though! Somehow we finished 4th regardless, which I’m happy with. Based on this weekend, I think Dylan could win out of Grade 5 this winter, but I think we would both be overfaced in Grade 6 at the moment, we aren’t ready to move up. The tight spacings and multiple potential obstacles meant Dylan spent a lot of time dithering between jumps, and I wasn’t clear enough or fast enough with my cues to get him where he needed to be.
*Not my fault! Judges should not assume everyone is going to handle the dogwalk from the same side! Because I was trying to avoid the judge, I couldn’t get to where I needed to be and Jet got 5R.
Thursday. Thursday … happened. EMDAC always run the Thursday classes in the evening, usually starting around 5pm and finishing around 8:30-9. It’s usually fantastic, running on cool summer evenings and under the floodlights. It started so well …
I elected to run Kim NFC in Introductory for Thursday. I can take a toy in Intro classes, and they are smooth, fast, flowing courses, which I thought would be a good way to see if I could get Kim running again. She was a little surprised in Agility when I got the toy out, and so we made a bit of a mess but had a lot of fun, which was the intention! Intro Jumping was a super-fast up-and-down thing, and Kim just went out and crushed the course. She ran like a 5yr old, proved to me she is physically fine, and loved it.
Dylan threw in some good runs, ran well in the Novice Plus Agility and finished 2nd, just behind Lottie.
And then it started to rain. Dylan finished his last run at 11:15pm, and I know some people didn’t run until 11:45. And the craziest thing? Nobody really complained. We have clearly lost the plot, us agility people.
Friday was a better day, only occasional rain and done by 5pm. Mollie had her first run and got E’d, which was hilarious and I apologise unreservedly to the judges for making such a hash of their lovely courses all weekend.
Kim was back in Novice and although occasionally loping around at cruising speed, she ran with more enthusiasm and speed than she has for a long time. She pulled off a 2nd in Novice Medium Helter Skelter anyway, and generally just made me smile.
Friday was split classes by height, so Kim and Dylan were running over the same courses without being in direct competition. Dyl did a smooth but not astonishing run in the Novice Maxi Agility, and came 1st – the course was difficult but nowhere near impossible, so I was surprised no-one else got around! Still, first win towards Graduate Agility, go Dylan! Kim got 5f in the same class for a refusal, my fault as usual and it was a shame as she’d have been well up there.
Kim was 2nd in the Jumping and then 2nd in the Up-and-Under too, what a good girly! Dylan was 2nd to Tri-Dylan in the Jumping, just like Kim (!) and just wasn’t fast enough in the Up-and-Under (think we were 4th overall?).
Novice Triple-A was a bit uninspired and I wasn’t much feeling it, so went in and held all Dylan’s contacts, and then got him E’d. Oops. Kim ran it fantastically though, until I pulled her off the last straight and got 5f. Oops againn!
Saturday was slightly crazy, both dogs were running the same courses again but with split results, but Kim just upped her game. Her run in Novice Medium Agility was blitzing, I was so shocked I burst out laughing and then got her 5f for a refusal. Oops! Dylan got E’d, but he had a really nice run, I just made a mess of it.
The Novice Jumping course was horrendous, all call-offs and tight spacings, and I knew I had no chance of getting Dylan around. I figured we’d try the first bit and then see what we could do, which resulted in an E, of course! Scratched Kim straight off, she would have hated it.
Novice Triple-A was a lovely course, really suited both my dogs. Kim was running clear until she got to the final jump-weave-jump combi, where she steadied for the weave entry and then spotted her lead and ran straight past the poles and over the final jump. Pure naughtiness, but I should have been watching for it!
Dylan also ran it beautifully, and then did the same as Kim and popped his last 2 poles in the weaves to get his lead. Arg! The lovely Rae Blythe, who was judging, came over and spoke to me afterwards though to say what a shame it was, because he really did run it fantastically.
Steeplechase to finish, super-fast course that both dogs enjoyed, although I think they were both a bit confused! Dylan was 2nd and Kim was 3rd.
We were back to combined height classes on Sunday, which turned out to be a low to high day; I walked Dylan out of the Novice Agility, because he was being such an idiot. It was a shame as he did a lovely dogwalk, but he was floating about like a complete idiot and ignoring me, so out he went. Fetched Kim for the same course, and she whipped through and won it by nearly a second. Kim = awesome.
Novice Jumping was an interesting course, really spread out and using every corner of the ring, but still really nice. Kim was slow to start and then picked up, Dylan ran it ok but not fantastic. Dylan was 2nd, Kim 4th – I really though Kim was faster!
Kim was 4th again in the Helter Skelter, but she was easing up a bit by then. Dylan did a beautiful run, and then skipped the last jump to get his lead. Arg!
The British Open Championship was in the afternoon. The Agility was a bit of a killer course, but I felt moderately confident that Dylan could handle all the tricky sections, and he did. In fact, he did an amazing run, blew me and everyone else away, and finished 3rd. I nearly died! He beat some really good dogs that we can’t touch usually, so I was so pleased.
The Jumping round was a straight speed course, a few traps but nothing truly horrifying. Dylan’s run was amazing, he was sharp and tight and then he ran past the last two jumps to get his lead. I nearly cried. Brought him back around to collect the 5f rather than the E, but that was our hopes dashed. I felt like such an idiot too, I should have asked the lead person to leave his lead outside the ring. We finished 10th overall, and I think we’d have been pushing for top-5 if we’d gone clear in the Jumping. I’m still a little disappointed but Dylan stepped up three gears for me and so I’m still proud of him.
Finished off by running both dogs in the Time Gamblers, placed 6th (Kim) and 7th because they were both too fast. Heh, can’t complain about that! Had it been a normal class they’d have placed 1st (Dyl) and 2nd, which is kind of awesome.
