Supadogs success in the mud!

Well another major show cancelled at least at this one I got a couple of days agility . An early start on Friday resulted in a trouble free arrival at the show in the morning. First run was pucks in the 4-7 agility and a clear round, hugely wide in places , but listening and working for me- resulted in a creditable 12th place, his other 6-7 agility was a bit wild so an inglorious E ensued , I may as well just chart what else he did at the show, he had a beautiful run in a lovely (lynne shore) grade 6 jumping course only one wee hiccup resulted in his best ever jumping run as he powered round into third place!The Sunday was pant's and great in turns, no clears but a few fun runs. We also fell foul to a dog-walk -tunnel issue again!
Ruby was a bit stiff and a little unfit- noted whilst out on walks, so I wasn't expecting too much early on, and our objective for the week was to try and go to the Supadog final in october- we've been once before and loved it so wanted to get there again as I felt it was the best finals we've been to!
I started her on the 6-7 agility course first , I hobbled round!
Editors note;- My sore knee is now not the only ailment as my left calf/achilles is extremely painful- so strappings have been implemented, they alleviated the pain (alongside the pain killers) so long as nothing went wrong- as soon as a mistake was made the adrenalin dissipated so quickly i could only hobble round to the end.
Back to the action- Ruby flowed round the 6-7 agility course and did most of the work and finished with a lovely clear round.
I was feeling lucky and the leg was holding up ok, so I chanced my arm at the supadog qualifier, a 'do-able' course only having issues at the long run to the end of the dog walk, so again she was going great guns and it was only at the long run up to the end of the dog walk that the knee/left leg issue came up, she picked up on it and waited for me whilst coming down the dog-walk so she slowed up dramatically!, but she made it and i had to finish her on the course remotely as I hobbled round- another clear round, watched by wee Dan Burton who tootled off to see my time, coming back to tell me I was leading both classes , which we held on to and won both!! WOW what could this dog do if she had Contacts like Pucks! But objective achieved- qualification at the Supadog final's in Peterborough in October . In the afternoon she ran beautifully in the grade 7 jumping, i got lost a bit near the end so we finished in a creditable 3rd! This was the same course as the grade 6 ( ran separately) and Ruby's time was beaten by Pucks! So food for thought there! Nigel and his grade 6 and 7 dogs ( cougar and Zico) finished 4th in both these classes and both the younger dogs beat their dam's times!
Very sore ankle/calf on the sunday, good runs though, Ruby knocked the last pole in a huge grade 6-7 jumping, and won in fine form the grade 7 jumping- pics of her run here-



One thing marie noted in these pics was my hair-do - ( or lack of!) and that I'd been separated at birth with Wolverine from X-men- have a look and see - I don't think his body is anywhere as fit as mine, and see - even he uses pointy fingers!




Marie took some wonderful pics of draco at the show, as he was trooping around looking handsome as usual!


She also took these lovely pics whilst out on a walk last week

Portugal & Worcester

Ah the wondrous life of a jetsetter! This week saw me trooping off to Lisbon in Portugal as a delegate at the European Wound Management Association conference, also I had to take some customers with me and look after them whilst they attended the conference as well, free drink and food! Well the drink was OK -I am a lightweight when it comes down to booze - so though it is free I didn't partake much as I worry about the day after! The food is as usual horrible- so I don't eat very much when I go away, but I make up for it when I come home!
It rained all the time! so no sunny weather for me! So took some photo's whilst I was there and of the tram we were on for an hour or two. Couple of things to note about Lisbon- don't drive there- it's mad! They should ban cars from the small city streets as they are an eyesore and dangerous, and Portuguese is a language I cannot get my head around- I am good with many languages but this one escapes me- I just get the feeling that along with lot's of sibilant "esses" ( S ) I get the feeling I am being grunted at lot's !

Up early ( though not early enough) for Worcester show, missed walking all the early courses- though should have as the 6-7 jumping was tricky- being pull through heaven , and one that the dogs had no fun or let up from the handlers! - needless to say 2 e's ensued! Got to run blossom again this weekend, in the Olympia qualifer, we were belting along when she decided the dog walk had to be done again! By now my knee-leg sydrome was taking effect and I was hobbling about. Ran ruby , puck and amber in the agility and 3 e's again - Puck did best, but my lack of movement cost us. Ruby then ran me in the other 6-7 jumping and we won!!!! Not sure how but the adrenalin kicked in and she worked her sock's off for me! Blossom ran in the 3-5 jumping and had a great run, me slowing her up for the weaves ( she only does left at the moment) but we came 2nd! losing to the fast wee poodle than won a blast of a 1-7 jumping, it must've been fast as the poodle can only be in grade 3,4, or 5!
Massive pain now in my knee and achilles tendon- of to the doc's this week to try and sort it out, and then off to Hop farm and Supadogs.
Forgot to say, judged at Beacon last week, what a great show to judge at , the beacon people looked after me fantastically, especially Dave Howard and Fiona Vaughan! Both my courses won in fine fashion by Beacon members Jackie and Fiona! look forward to going again next year- though this time to compete!

Getting to play!

Well I actually got to get out and play with my dogs at The vyne championship show on the bank holiday! Marie had gone to Shrewsbury where she had judged and she got to play with Ruby - to no avail though as she could not attain any clears all weekend. It was just me who went to newbury so I had the choice of which of Marie's dogs to take- and I settled on Blossom the sheltie- mainly because her runs were in the afternoon.
I think it showed in my runs with Ruby just how rusty I am just now. Ruby had a wide pull in at the champ agility round, I overcompensated and tried to get her over the jump quicker than I should have, so a pole came down, IMO though I felt her contacts were spot on, in the jumping round I changed my mind and pulled her off a jump and it was down hill from there on! Loved the champ courses though, great fun to be competing against all those folks again! For some reason ruby was entered in the ABC qualifier! Walking the course in the morning I quickly realised I was correct not to take Tink (Marie's kelpie) as the course was not for the quick and inexperienced! Ruby was run steadily round it with my version of held contacts and for some reason won the class, I think there was only 10 clear rounds in total from over 300 ABC dogs entered!)
Ruby's Olympia qualifier went well until she decided she couldn't possibly go into the correct tunnel entrance! All in all for her she did not miss any contacts- and I did not feel that she would miss any! So very pleased with her.
Puck only had 2 courses, his first big grade 6 courses, the grade 6 agility I knew was not for him, but in places he coped well, and had a lovely fast weave entry, In the Olympia qualifer he was Awesome! Lvely contacts and a hard weave entry, but fell for the same trap ruby had, wrong end of the tunnel, we need to work at dogwalk- tunnel combinations! as although he's getting the contact, there's no stopping him from going straight into the tunnel! Very pleased as well with his performances though!
Then came blossom two jumping runs followed by an agility run. Her failing for me is the weaves and marie has been trying hard to get consistency from Blossoms weaves, in the first run she popped out at the 10th pole, but was flying, same for the other jumping run, except this time her entry was too fast and although she got the entry, she went straight to the 3rd pole! Need less to say I was very very pleased with her performances with me, remember I do NOT train Blossom at all ( Not allowed!) and it was the first time she had run with me since october ( the day the pups were born!)
Onwards to the agility, we were down as one of the last in the class, i decided to get the contacts for marie and work them with the commands marie uses for her, Off she blasted and she was up for it! Lovely A frame, brinkmanship on the see saw as usual! and then a big long run to the dog walk ( her biggest issue when running with me) so I worked it and patiently waited her to have the 2on 2off position, and then off to the weaves, and what a good girl she was, nearly did the missing the second pole thingy, but pulled it out of the bag and stayed in the weaves, last obstacle was then the tyre ( which she does run around, but good wee lassie that she was she went through it! I waited for the class to finish - not too long to wait, into the tent I went and she won the class- and straight up to grade 5 ! Can't wait for the next time to go play with her again!
My knee and foot suffered though- and here I am today still hobbling about thankfully this weekend is a judging appointment at beacon, so no runs till Worcester, and we all get to go as the van'll be back on the road!

Its not only dogs we have I have a cat as well called les ( or fat-les to his friends) he's 14 now and struggling a bit from a life of being pampered and pestered by lots and lots of dogs, I adore him though despite being crotchety and a bit smelly! too fat to clean himself nowadays, and he blushes easily and I can't get him to keep his eyes open when having his piccy taken!

Puck's theme

well if any song could be closely identified with Puck it is this , if you've seen Puck, how muscled up he is and how he strut's about and how he tackles agility can identify this song with him! But I will quantify - he likes the girlies, unlike the village people!

Tragedy and boredom

Apologies to the many few who bother to read this stuff, but we've been caught up in so many things recently I don't quite know where to begin.
i'll start with the tragedy, the passing of our Big smooth collie "Io" he was such a regal dog, calm and considered in all that he did. Of all our dogs he was the one we 'worked' the least, and was more of a family pet than a worker. He did show successfully, and had qualified for Crufts, he was trained to a high standard in agility, being very keen and quick for a smooth collie and he absolutely adored to do the contacts, always getting them (wish I could say that for the others). He had trouble with the weaves as his back end could not keep up with his front and he ended up tripping over ! His problem came with the dangly bits between his legs ( he was entire) he'd rather run off for a pee than do most anything else, - he marked a lot! So he was agility retired and lord of all of our pack gently rearing the pups and telling them what they could and could not do. He succumbed to Fibrocartilaginous Embolic Myelopathy, a condition we were totally ignorant to , here is a link to a deeper understanding to the condition

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_fibrocartilaginous_embolism.html

(apologies - you'll have to cut and paste the link as I cant get the hyperlink to work)

It is a terrible thing , and the fact that it affects young dog's is a horrific thing. I do miss him as does our pack - they are leaderless now - such a dignified dog, just thinking of him now leaves me choked up, run free big fella, and mark as many posts as you want.
Well all that cost the GDP of a small third world country, so the van is off road untill it finds the money to fix itself!
I went for the one day to wallingford show, puck ran well in some challenging courses, though was a bit off his head and his weaving problems have resurfaced with a vengeance! Ruby ran well - I held my nerve and held her contacts in the agility, and she came a creditable 5th! In the jumping my knee and foot came up trumps and I was in so much pain I couldn't run properly, and in this with dad hobbling around she came 5th- in the grade 7 agility we missed a jump out as she ran past it out of the collapsible, with a comical look on her face that said ' it was that jump- wasn't it dad!" After that I was a jelly and couldn't run her as I was laughing so much.
WBSDSBWSDW show we didn't go to due to the van, and Marie has gone to Shrewsbury to judge and run dogs- she has ruby with her so well se what she can do with her!
Am I missing agility, a wee bit , but not overly- my joint's are enjoying the rest- maybe a win or two will cure this lethargy! Vyne and a champ on Monday- hopefully well do alright as I am going to go

Monty Python tribute - YMCA

Found this whilst trawling around for Puck's theme music, which I'll post directly after this. Thought this was a hoot as it fits in with our 'flying circus' theme!