Agility training day

I have just gotten back from a fantastic training day with Toni Dawkins. We had a wonderful morning which I really got alot out of. After our last attempt at a training day ending with me in tears (dont ask!), I am sooo chuffed with how the monster dog did today. When we first arrived Tooheys was quite stressy but relaxed fairly quickly and was more focussed than he has been, fast and tried his little butt off for me. Although the same cant be said for me at times.

My highlight today was creating a very very tight line on a snake (serpentine/flick-flack/whatever) with no time wasted and no confusion on the dogs part. What I really need to practice now is cueing turns properly (I tend to over-drive the dog forward or turn too early) and standing up straight - yes, I have been working on that one for years and still not there yet! Meanwhile our broken weaves seem to have fixed themselves - they are almost fast and close to independent - but our dogwalk contacts have proven to be less proofed than I thought. More work needed there.

To anyone who gets the opportunity to get to a training session with Toni, and hasnt yet, I highly reccomend it. She is brilliant at evaluating handling to ensure the dog takes the fastest line and you get the most out of any dog. As well as being very encouraging to the handler. Looking forward to the next one now!

Otley

This weekend we travelled north for our first agility show in a while - Otley. We had an absolutely fab weekend and it was wonderful to catch up with friends we havent seen in a while. And just as wonderful to watch them do well!

As for our results? well I have a sneaking suspicion you need to run a full course to get any results...ho hum.. but Im quite happy regardless. We didnt run at all on saturday as we had early classes and Tooheys was incredibly stressed by the show environment when we got there. I just didnt think it was worthwhile pushing him.

But after getting to run with lots of friends dogs over the weekend he had relaxed enough by sunday afternoon to do our runs (or sections of our runs at least..). He was right on form with his jumping, exhileratingly so, but for a dog that has spent the past 6 months with rock-solid start line stays and dogwalk contacts in training, he miraculously seemed to lose both the minute he stepped back into the ring..aghh. Back to the drawing board, again.

Destination: Bratislava

What do you do with a free weekend? Find cheap flights and disappear for a few days is what. Which is how a friend from work and I came to find ourselves in Slovakia these past few days. We had a lovely time in Bratislava (the capital) and Trencin (a much smaller town) making the most of the very hot weather. What a shock on returning to London to go from 39 to 16 degrees!

For those who want a puppy fix

Since not much has been happening at this end the past few weeks, here some pics of Hollies grandpups back home to fill this space..