Caerphilly

As promised here are a couple of pic's of the trophies we won at Tuffley, these pictures don't do them too much justice as they were bigger than they seem, hopefully they'll have them on offer again next year so I can win some more!





Well Caerphilly is our local show, no bridge to contend with, and only 25 miles away, great venue and some good company, nice to be at a show after missing Rugby, though from what I hear i didn't miss too much.
Puck as usual struggled to contain himself on most of the courses, got to get some form of a wait! He had a couple of nearly's but not quite's, his one clear ( of the month no doubt!) was in grade 6 jumping which he finished third- great considering he had a spin near the end.
Ruby was on this weekend superlative and peerless, of 6 runs she won 4 classes, she was on form in both agility and jumping and her average winning margin was about a second ( or 2 and a half in the agility) her agility win was one of those wonder runs where everything comes together and she flows around a course- she can if she want's save that form for this weekend at the Agility club show .
here's the dragon brood she and puck won at the weekend




We also won the quiz, so another few quid in the kitty to go towards us buying more kit for our club.
Started training Draco on Monday and he is ,at the moment ,a bit of an airhead, wanting to bounce up and down, but he is very different from my other kelpies as he is so sleek and flexible at this age, he will certainly test my skills to get him ready to compete. Best and most promising of the pups is Molli as , when she works she is very much like her mum, and will be a prospect in the future.
Oh and Draco started cocking his leg this week, woo-hoo teenage hormones here we come!

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

Pictures- at last

DRACO

Well Marie was away to play in Scotland for the weekend with Beryl, her smooth collie for the weekend. She came home the bridesmaid again though! Beryl's big failing is her movement at the moment and again it let her down in Edinburgh, eventually coming second to the bitch that won Crufts and went on to win BOB for the day making that dog up to a CH. Though Marie complained that the other dog doesn't move so well either and there was a suspect looking 'patch' on the other dog! Ho hum, she'll just have to try again...........and again!
Ruby came into season the weekend of dashin dogs, so no training for her last week - for once her seasons have landed at the right time, so a whole season of competing for her! She's 6 next week, I can hardly believe it, but , like me, she's still young at heart. Here she is in a rare moment for her, that is, not avidly gazing at the hamster!

As the wife was away Puck could come in and spend some quality time with his dad, and hopefully watch my old decrepit cat, Les move from his basket occasionally! Puck trained very well last week, but as usual, we get it together on our 2nd run, not our 1st go! He was on a mission though and nipped me a couple of times, I love it when he does well , and just wish to show him how I feel about it, unfortunately Puck see's this as a chance to "eat" dad!! , Ruby punches me in the unmentionables, Puck tries to maul me........is it something I've done??

I must admit though, I am getting mightily BORED with just training..... and it's taking the edge off my desire to do agility, 6-7 month's of just training is taking it's toll and my concentration is deteriorating and I'm not doing my dogs justice- I need competition now, and still none till Wallingford, though I think I've cocked up the entries - I wanted to enter the brace, but when I entered quickly on ISS the option just didn't seem to come up- so I think I missed it, I think running Ruby and Puck together would have been interesting. Also not doing the laser pairs as Ms White is off after easier pickings up North! Also don't think I'll be getting a chance to be in the Power and Speed final as the heat at DD was cancelled, and I'm judging on the day in question at Supadogs!............Not a happy bunny!
Judging this weekend at wye valley small/medium show, should be fun as I've got teams and 6-7 jumping (my fav) I do like making these little dogs run and stretch out on courses!
Took some pics of the pups at the weekend, not as good as Marie's, but great for me!
This is Molly , speed demon, needs more socialisation as everything new needs to be barked at !! Still hoping for a home, yet another reason to get to more shows, for people to see her in the flesh!


Draco is growing fast and is such a handsome litte fella, he idolises Puck, but Puck won't have anything to do with him, though he does like Belle! These pics dont do his coat any justice, it is about 3 inches long over his back .....when you consider that Kelpies coats are about 1 inch long! I'm hoping he won't suffer too much when (if!!!) it ever gets sunny and warm.