Anyone would think working stock was tiring or something..
Monday, June 29, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The next big adventure
After finishing work last week, tuesday I packed (ie overloaded) the car, threw the dogs in the back, and boarded the ferry to Holland. We arrived in the Netherlands early wednesday, and spent the day idling my way through the countryside to near the German border where we stopped at a campsite for the night. Of course I had to remember to drive on the right which would be no problem except for being in a british car which made life interesting. It was beautiful weather for it, although having no air conditioning I was a little worried about the heat in the back of the car for the dogs..thank goodnext for crate fans.
The following day was a long day spent driving through Germany to destination Denmark. The drive should not have been too bad except for roadworks all the way along the autobahn combined with heavy traffic (I dont get what the fuss about the autobahn is, I had little chance to experience the speed!!). The weekend is being spent in Denmark in the company of cattle dog people doing herding.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tatton Park
We spent this past weekend at Tatton Park, near Manchester, for the Newton Heath agility show. Yet again, it was a wonderful weekend out camping with a wonderful group of agility folk. The weather left a little to be desired but for the most part the rain held off, and was managable.
Saturday the majority of the day was spent ring-partying with the other White Rose-ers. When shows are as big as they are over here its a given that the club running the show wont have enough man power to run 8 rings and its expected for competitors to help. I have to say for the most part I actually quite like ring partying, except for having to deal with the ocasional unfriendly competitor. Seems we face the same issues everywhere in the world.
There was actually little agility to be had for me over the weekend.
4 of the rings were very tightly packed together with a narrow walkway between. And the obstacles very close to the ring rope. Not an ideal situation for Mr 'dont like them other dogs around me'. So I chose not to run him in the majority of his runs that were in those rings.. it would put immense pressure on him and even more on me. It really doesnt matter though, I have just as much fun sitting round watching everyone else as I do getting stressed over running. A few friends had very good results over the weekend which is always nice to see!
This weekend really renewed my faith in agility people and the support I got from both people I know and train with, and those Ive never met was unbelievable. Many thanks to them all, it is truly appreciated.
Saturday the majority of the day was spent ring-partying with the other White Rose-ers. When shows are as big as they are over here its a given that the club running the show wont have enough man power to run 8 rings and its expected for competitors to help. I have to say for the most part I actually quite like ring partying, except for having to deal with the ocasional unfriendly competitor. Seems we face the same issues everywhere in the world.
There was actually little agility to be had for me over the weekend.
4 of the rings were very tightly packed together with a narrow walkway between. And the obstacles very close to the ring rope. Not an ideal situation for Mr 'dont like them other dogs around me'. So I chose not to run him in the majority of his runs that were in those rings.. it would put immense pressure on him and even more on me. It really doesnt matter though, I have just as much fun sitting round watching everyone else as I do getting stressed over running. A few friends had very good results over the weekend which is always nice to see!
This weekend really renewed my faith in agility people and the support I got from both people I know and train with, and those Ive never met was unbelievable. Many thanks to them all, it is truly appreciated.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Easy as ABC....maybe.
Wow, Im back home and exhausted after a great weekend of agility.
Back in Aus I was under the impression (as Im sure many others are) that British agility trials are divided exclusively into Border Collie classes and ABC (anything but) classes. When in actual fact the ABC classes are just an extra, special, class that a couple of shows hold in addition to the regular (all breeds) classes, and a very few shows hold qualifying heats for an ABC final.
...That is unless you include this weekend. This weekend was the very first exclusive ABC show, organised by the Weimaraner association.
We were lucky that for the most part the rain held off, and despite the cold weather and Im still coming down off a high. To look at our results you'd think were nothing special, but I am just so proud of how my dogs ran especially after the problems Ive been having with mister feral Tooh at training.
Saturday we started the day with Hollies veterans run. With the jumps on small height she had an absolute blast flying around the course. she is definately enjoying it ten fold now that she doesnt get to do any agility often, and the look of pure joy on her face is worth it even though Im scared she would injure herself if the jumps were any higher. I think she ended up with 3rd place but rosettes (and hence placings) were only awarded for the first 2 places, and to be honest placings just dont matter with her any more, she has proven herself long ago.
Onto Tooheys runs - firstly we had G1-3 jumping where he put in a nice clear (and most importantly focused!) round. Because this was a special show (ie wins dont count towards grade progression) dogs could run the agility and jumping courses twice and the results based off the dogs fastest round. So onto our second round and he put in a super speedy run..until his hopeless handler pulled him off the second last jump. We ended up in 18th place based off our first run, 1 spot out of the placements.
Next was combined G1-7 steeplechase (jumping with no weaves). The course was a super fast flowing course targetted at those with fast ground speed. Well my boy went out there and ran with the best of them. In other words, he flew! Im still in awe as to his ground speed, I just cant explain. And to prove it he finished in 3rd place, behind 2 very impressive dogs. Ok, time to stop blabbering.
Our final class was G1-3 agility. Slightly different story to our other runs but not enough to put a dampner on it..First run I hadnt woken him up and got disracted so I pulled him out at the 3rd obstacle and second time round it was me that hadnt woken up. (I have an excuse - no sleep the night before due to work)
Today continued in much the same fashion. Hollie blitzed (well Blitzed for Hollie anyway) round the veterans course for a 2nd place rosette. I chose not to run Tooheys in agility course and instead focus on the jumping where I could concentrate on running flat out and driving him round the course..its proving to be so much fun!
Our first run in jumping was oh-so-nearly perfect. One of those runs where you come out feeling truly fantastic...almost. He was flying around the course at top speed (fast enough to quite possibly win the class) until his useless handler has the finish line in her sights and pulls him out of the last weavepole. We had alot of very positive feedback on that run though which was enough to stop me critising myself. Second time round he knocked the first pole so I decided to try something different, only problem is I forgot to tell my dog what I was doing and had a major off course.,,he did exactly what he was told.
Good dog.
Back in Aus I was under the impression (as Im sure many others are) that British agility trials are divided exclusively into Border Collie classes and ABC (anything but) classes. When in actual fact the ABC classes are just an extra, special, class that a couple of shows hold in addition to the regular (all breeds) classes, and a very few shows hold qualifying heats for an ABC final.
...That is unless you include this weekend. This weekend was the very first exclusive ABC show, organised by the Weimaraner association.
We were lucky that for the most part the rain held off, and despite the cold weather and Im still coming down off a high. To look at our results you'd think were nothing special, but I am just so proud of how my dogs ran especially after the problems Ive been having with mister feral Tooh at training.
Saturday we started the day with Hollies veterans run. With the jumps on small height she had an absolute blast flying around the course. she is definately enjoying it ten fold now that she doesnt get to do any agility often, and the look of pure joy on her face is worth it even though Im scared she would injure herself if the jumps were any higher. I think she ended up with 3rd place but rosettes (and hence placings) were only awarded for the first 2 places, and to be honest placings just dont matter with her any more, she has proven herself long ago.
Onto Tooheys runs - firstly we had G1-3 jumping where he put in a nice clear (and most importantly focused!) round. Because this was a special show (ie wins dont count towards grade progression) dogs could run the agility and jumping courses twice and the results based off the dogs fastest round. So onto our second round and he put in a super speedy run..until his hopeless handler pulled him off the second last jump. We ended up in 18th place based off our first run, 1 spot out of the placements.
Next was combined G1-7 steeplechase (jumping with no weaves). The course was a super fast flowing course targetted at those with fast ground speed. Well my boy went out there and ran with the best of them. In other words, he flew! Im still in awe as to his ground speed, I just cant explain. And to prove it he finished in 3rd place, behind 2 very impressive dogs. Ok, time to stop blabbering.
Our final class was G1-3 agility. Slightly different story to our other runs but not enough to put a dampner on it..First run I hadnt woken him up and got disracted so I pulled him out at the 3rd obstacle and second time round it was me that hadnt woken up. (I have an excuse - no sleep the night before due to work)
Today continued in much the same fashion. Hollie blitzed (well Blitzed for Hollie anyway) round the veterans course for a 2nd place rosette. I chose not to run Tooheys in agility course and instead focus on the jumping where I could concentrate on running flat out and driving him round the course..its proving to be so much fun!
Our first run in jumping was oh-so-nearly perfect. One of those runs where you come out feeling truly fantastic...almost. He was flying around the course at top speed (fast enough to quite possibly win the class) until his useless handler has the finish line in her sights and pulls him out of the last weavepole. We had alot of very positive feedback on that run though which was enough to stop me critising myself. Second time round he knocked the first pole so I decided to try something different, only problem is I forgot to tell my dog what I was doing and had a major off course.,,he did exactly what he was told.
Good dog.
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