Next and last show in August was Letchworth which was at huntingdon racecourse. Id never been there before as last year the show was at Shuttleworth college. I was really suprised how nice it was the exercise area was right in the middle of the race track with a nice little lake/pond in the middle. Really nice. Where the rings were was also really nice and flat, it was a bit of a walk from the car park but still really nice.
I had entered all 3 days of Letchworth with Rommy so I knew I had lots of time to practise our contacts in a show environment. Hes been getting so much better but theres always room for improvement because sometimes hes just so wild he just cant slow down enough. bless him. The first run was G 3-5 jumping which went Rommy ran well but I left him too soon on a 180 from a long jump over to a normal jump and he pull off the long jump I thought hed get a refusal for it but for some reason he didnt and just wasted loads of time but ended up in 2nd place!
I had heard there was a practise ring there on the friday which i thought would be perfect, unfortunately when it came for our go there was a massive gust of wind and my little man got blown off the dogwalk :(. Its never happened to him before so we were both really shaken up by it. I was really worried hed hurt himself but luckily our amazing physio Sally was at the show to check over him and said he was fine. So we went in for our agility which I really didnt expect anything from him given his accident and i thought his confidence was knocked a bit so I just wanted him to have fun. He was definitely slower than normal and more clingy but he went clear and got a 3rd place. SOOO proud of him.
The rest of the weekend we spent working on contacts, he got a place (cant remember which) in a helter skelter class and our last run of the weekend was pairs with Chantal and Savannah. Rommy and Sav are both nuts and had never run together beforeso we didnt really know what theyd do but they were amazing we had a bit of a bad batton change but they got a double clear and got 2nd place! Clever little shelties!! They loved it!
Im getting good at all this catching up stuff. I'll have more for you soon little blog. Then we can get onto the fun of winter training :D
Hello little blog! I know.... Im not very good at catching up with everything but here we go. Lets give it a shot.
So all the way back in August we did the Kennel Club International at Rockingham Castle. I had entered Rommy into the Novice Cup qualifiers on the Friday in the vain hope we might go clear. In maybe one round, never mind two. As well as that Id entered into some normal classes on the saturday.
So anyway, Day 1 Friday. Our first class was the Novice Cup Agility. It was a nice course but I just went in to it with the main aim of just making sure Rommy his dog walk. So to my suprise my little man went and did a cracking run and went CLEAR! Stopped his dog walk just like hes supposed to! Ive been holding all in normal runs this year just to make a point to him really. The first clear round he'd had in an agility since May! lol! I was sooo pleased with him, it was such a suprise to me and that really just made my day... I really didnt care what he did for the rest of the day after that. It was a massive class with over 100 dogs in but my the little dude only went and got 6th!! SO pleased with him. We then had a to wait a really long time to do the Novice Cup Jumping and it was a really nice fast flowy course. He was such a little star and went clear AGAIN! I handled like an idiot at one point and stood right in his way and made him do a REALLY wide turn around me but he came 6th again and there was less than a second between him and 1st place!! We had a double clear! there werent many at all so I knew we might have even have got lucky enough to make it through to the Novice Cup Final in the big ring on the saturday but I needed to make sure and then came a VERY long wait to get the combined results but we did it and we qualified for the final the next day! EEEK! I was so proud of him to get us there. I knew the top 4 would go crufts but considering I didnt think we'd get as far as we had I really excited to go in the main ring. So onto day 2! I was SOOOOO nervous by the next morning our morning runs hadnt gone well, I think Rommy was just really tired from being so clever the day before to be honest. I didnt get to walk the course until lunch and we would run just after lunch. There was some definite trappy bits around!! Thanks to Rhoda for helping me walk the course and for the moral support otherwise id have been a nervous wreck LOL! So the time finally came and Rommy was soooo gobby and pushy on the startline and I had to set him up twice! Cheeky! But off we went, it was going so well and then we got E'd. I sent him over the wrong jump :(. My shoulders were all wrong. Oh well. We tried our best and had a great time doing it!
Thanks to Lian for filming :)
So things ive learnt from this years KCI - Rommy LOVES a crowd and finals in big rings really arent so scary and i shouldnt get so nervous because its acutally really fun :) after all its only agility, right?
So I haven't really been in the blogging mood lately with stuff that's been going on but I really miss it and I haven't updated in so long. So much has happened! Will do it in a few different posts otherwise this one will be a monster and if anyone actually reads this thing then I'd prob bore you all do death if you ever got to the end lol. So all the way back in the first weekend of August I had been planning on going to Barking Mad summer show but instead I decided that we really did need to practise Rommys contacts before our big KCI adventure the next weekend so I had entered our first FAB show in Oxfordshire! It only took 45 mins to get to which was great and it was a super relaxed day with only 2 rings and both were netted. I really really happy about the netted rings as our aim was for NFC contacts so he couldn't get distracted and sod off. The only downside to the show was I had to do A LOT of waiting around but it was all worth it in the end. We did two NFC agilities and 1 steeplechase course just got a blast. His NFC runs were ace! We even had a set up with a tunnel right at the end of the dog walk which is Rommys nemesis when it comes to stopping on contacts. Why would you stop when there's a tunnel of run sitting right there? But he was a complete dude and did some amazing work, just like the ones he does in training. YAY finally! After that the only competition run we did of the day was the steeplechase, it was American style with an A frame. I handled like a prat and almost fell over, it was such a comical run that we even got the judge laughing HAHA. Even with it being a super sloppy run that it was he still got himself a 2nd so pretty damn good. I was just happy that I didn't break anything and couldn't help being finishing the run laughing at ourselves. Definitely going to be trying more FAB shows next year for some practise runs, really nice and chilled out shows. Loved seeing all the tiny dogs getting to run on micro aswell :)
We qualified for the starters challenge over a year ago at Wellingborough 2012 and Ive been sooo nervous about it ever since and it was finally the day over the weekend! We were lucky to have Rhoda come along with us which was great for the support and definitely kept me from worrying so much. Thank you!! Im very lucky to train with people who have qualified themselves so got lots of bits of advice but oh my god I was nervous. Its seems to be a J9 thing to do well in the starters after Rhoda and Matthew both having done it and done well with Brax and Brodie as well as Paul and Chester winning it a couple of years ago! So I really wanted to do reasonably ok. We also had Chantal and Savannah the lovely tri sheltie bitch who is great in the final as well so it was really nice having someone else we knew in it too!
We finally got to the show after having to take a bit of a detour going the wrong way around the M25 because of an accident, first up was sheltie team. Rommy wasn't in it but Rhoda and Toad were with some other great shelties! I always love watching shelties run (obviously lol) so it was really nice getting to see a whole team of them :). They had 15f in the end so didnt qualify for crufts but I enjoyed watching them anyway. Maybe Rommy will get to have a go one day!
I'd entered Rommy in a couple of classes 3-5 agility and 4-6 jumping in the day as I knew the starters wouldnt be till late afternoon/evening. I know he needs to run some of the crazy off before he settles for some good runs. Unluckily enough the only 2 runs were on at exactly the same time and even though it was expected to rain it was blazing hot so by the second run his brain was gone. He ran the jumping first which was a really fast flowing course with quite a few trappy bits and a pretty tricky weave entry. My only really aim was to just send him in the weaves and hope he got them and he did! was so pleased I forgot I had to pull him off a jump after and got him E'd lol. Ooops oh well, he was a good boy bless him! The agility wasnt good but he did a lovely seesaw and the first time doing his running aframe to weaves in the ring and he got it perfectly so not all bad :)
We had A LOT of waiting to do after that as the final wasnt on till 6-6:30ish but I got to see champ! I have definitely been living under a rock somewhere because I hadnt seen Champ before in person and it was great! so many amazing dogs and handlers. the courses looked reaallllyyyyyy hard but it was really great to watch :D. I was really pleased in the end that a sheltie won the medium ticket! go shelties :D. One downside to watching the champ was the size of the crowd and it got me really worried about the starters. It did look like it was going to rain by then so I was still hoping a lot of people would leave and not bother staying to watch.
So after a lot of waiting it was raining and the starters was on, it was a really nice startery course and Rommy was on 5th and I was just really hope he didnt run out the ring... Turns out he didnt (YAY!) but he didnt go clear. He missed his weave entry because he was too busy looking at the judge in bright pink hahaha. Silly puppy lol. But I didnt give up! I kept running like everyone had told me too and as there was only 2 clears he ended up 4th! Bless him he tried so hard and he really did love the crowd. I think he thought he had a fan club lol.
For being such a good boy I bought him a hoof. Hes only ever had a hoof once before but i thought he deserved one and omg he loves it! He wont leave it anyone for fear of me steeling it lol. Wow it stink! :)
So last weekend we were at Billingshurst 50th anniversary show at Cranleigh showground. It was a ridiculously hot day but I was one of the lucky ones that wasn't in the ring first so I got there at a leisurely time of 9:15. Even luckier got to park under a massive tree in the shade which actually stayed shady for the majority of the day. So first class up was C1-4 Agility which was a really nice course, really nice and flowing. If I had to pick anything that wasn't so great it was the weaves were REALLY close to the edge of the ring and a photographer. We didn't have for a while so I hard a nice load of time to get Rommy ready. He has really surprised me these last couple of weeks how well hes coped with the heat, as long as he has his swamp coat on and stays in the cool car between runs hes been his normally nutty self in the ring. One thing I was kind of hoping I might see a bit of a difference with was his focus this weekend because hes been on Calm and Focus powder for about a month now and 4 days before the show I also changed him onto Burns Alert for working dogs so I was hoping having both together would make a difference and to my surprise I actually think it did! So we finally had our run in the agility, it was a nice straight line (I got a wait :D) into the tunnel and then onto the dogwalk so the plan was I could get ahead to help Rommy remember to stop and it worked! He wasnt expecting it so pretty much fell off the end because he was going too fast BUT he immediately tried to put himself back on! SO HAPPY! Considering this is all I've been wanting him to do for months it definitely made my day... after that he had a few issues with weaves missing them and then really wasn't very sure of himself in them. But after that he went on to do some amazing contacts, flew his aframe and did it perfectly and then straight onto the seesaw and did his 2o2o again.... yes it was a bit to the side but I'm really not going to be too picky at the mo then he had a bit of a slip on the last 3 jumps but he was fine and I was just SO pleased with his contacts.
Videos thanks to Rhoda and Matthew :)
Next was the c1-4 Jumping which was a bit of an weird course... nice but I thought it was a bit tough on baby dogs!.... dunno if you can tell in the video but the first line(ish) of jumps are all at really odd angles and for fast dogs it was really hard! SO anyways... Rommys run it was great apart from the weaves, he just didn't slow himself down enough for them but on the upside he was a lot better in them than he was in the agility. But again he worked so hard in it and really focused and I got a wait which I REALLY needed!
Last run was a really nice 3-5 Agility. Unlucky for us it was really soon after the jumping so he didn't get time to cool off properly. Don't have a video of him in this but his seesaw wasn't as great as the first one BUT then I managed to get ahead of him on the dogwalk again and he really slowed down and thought about what he was meant to be doing and got his position perfectly! After that he seemed to have got his confidence with weaves a bit and got them and popped out at the 10th pole because he saw the tunnel trap sitting there for him but put him back in and he did them fine and even let me front cross out (hes only just started letting me do it in training) but then after this we came completely unstuck. Rommy was just too hot and even ran past the a frame to finish :( managed to get him back for the a frame which he got another great contact and last 3 jumps which he did really well and finished. Definitely lesson learnt with letting him cool down enough between runs! Bad Jenni! But he was such a star, I was so pleased with him. No clears or places but I really don't care if he works so well. It turned out to be a really nice show :).
Nothing to go to this weekend. Really glad I've for the weekend off after all this bloody hot weather. We really are winter beings Rommy and I. Next show is Agility Club for Starters Challenge Final! EEK! getting kinda nervous now but hopefully it wont be too bad! Wish us luck!
SO havent been on here in a while. Had some pretty shit family stuff going on so really havent even thought about the whole bloggy thing. But anyways here I am again with a few things to update on.
Rommy has accidently won into grade 4 at JDA... I say accidently because I was planning on getting him E'd in the run. He didnt stop his dogwalk like he should (more about that later) so I was going to put him back on again but Rommy decided he wanted his clear round and to go grade 4 so he went and finished the course... on his own. Leaving me standing like a numpty at the bottom of the dogwalk. Naughty boy. Needless to say he went and won it by 8 seconds. Blimey. He did pretty well at the rest of JDA getting 2nd C1-3 steeplecase behind a super fast collie, 4th and 5th in some pretty big C3-5 jumping classes. I E'd him in the rest of his agilities because of his insane dogwalk. We did Bitz n Bobz with the same crazy dogwalk issues but he got a 2nd in a jumping.
SO those crazy dog walks. Pretty sure that the problem is mostly the crazy dog, If anyone has seen Rommy around agility he is completely insane and actually getting pretty uncontrollable lately. I've just started him on some herbal stuff to hopefully calm him down a bit. I KNOW he knows the difference between his running aframe and stopping his dog walk and seesaw, I KNOW he does. I really dont even care if he runs the dw and gets the contact because its really not the point. So I'm now in the process of making him really obsessed with his stopping postition which is going pretty well. So with any luck with all the homework we've been doing and with his herbal stuff we might actually be able to get our dog walk properly at somepoint soon at a show.
In general hes been working really well though and his A frames have been really good, still trying to get his confidence up on it but he definitely enjoys doing them! :)
Ive been meaning to update ALL week but its been one of those funny weeks where everything a bit BLAH. BUT as ever, I can always depend of agility and my wierd little blue and furries to put my in a good mood lol. SO last weekend we went off to GT UKA at Newbury, we had some really lovely weather and I wanted to have a go at the Nug-e-nuff and to practise contacts and to also give a Novice Steeplechase a go.
I got there nice and early to walk the beginners Tug-e-nuff agility, It was sooooo busy, its definitely the biggest UKA ive ever been too, It was more like a KC because of there being a champ on at the same showground on the bank holiday monday. So I walked the agility and was a bit worried about how hilly it was there, espesially with the A frame going right up the hill to begin with. Rommy always tends to be quite high on his running A frame on his first couple of goes before really getting his confidence to really jump the apex well. I felt that the uphill might just make him be just out of the contact, although there was the upside that it was a straight line from the start onto the frame so I hoped the speed would carry him in. What I'm really aiming for at the moment is him just getting all his contacts in the ring. Im not all that bothered about going clear right now, I really just want him getting his critria from training into the ring with his waits and contacts. the rest of the course was quite nice so I was looking forward to having a go.
ANYWAYS We had ALOT of waiting around to do before actually getting to run the agility because the midis were in the ring last after about a billion maxis. In the meantime I thought we'd have a go at Novice Steeplechase 2, it was a really nice fast course, but my main aim was to make sure I got a wait at the start, I set Rommy up as far back as I could get him lol he was really reved up but I managed to get a wait to the first jump which was actually a really long way as it was set up so far back. YAY for a nice wait :D. He went clear and was nice and speedy and he managed a 1st!I was really suprised as I saw some really quick cockers go. Clever Rommy.
We still had quite a while to wait around for the agility STILL, walked the jumping before id even got to the agility lol, but that was a nice course too, but it was still on the hill and it was 12 weaves going down the hill which i knew would be tricky. Anyways finally got to do the agility and bloody hell Rommy was INSANE. Got a reasonable wait again (YAY) and much to my suprise he went shooting off down the line and got a lovely Aframe contact, I think i was so suprised he went shooting off over the wrong jump and got E'd lol. He was just wild the rest of the way around but he got the best dogwalk contact hes ever done at a show, unfortunately he had a bit of a dodgey Seesaw but a lot of dogs were having a problem with it as it was going downhill and i think it must have felt abit funny or something. Really happy with the run anyways.
After lunch we had the jumping, and managed to get a little wait again which i was really pleased about. As i had expected he had issues with the weaves going down hill but he got them in the end and the rest of the course he did was lovely so really can't complain because he really tried hard!
Havent got any videos as i went on my own and didnt know anyone so here a picture of Rommy and his lovely trophy
Onto bank holiday monday and the weather was so nice and summery. We went up to Rhodas feild with some others to have some fun at having a go at a Masters jumping course and one of the EO try out courses. I was expecting them to be REALLY hard... and they were. Really enjoyed having a go at them though, Rommy seems to actually really like courses where you have to nag him abit more, really makes him work. I was so happy with him because on his first try he actually went clear on the Masters jumping! haha! What a dude, Heres a video courtesy of Rhoda of his second go at the course where he got E'd but oh well lol.
We then had ago at the EO tryouts agility course. OH MY GOD it was sooooo hard! never got around clear but we had fun anyways. Rommy was even lucky enough to have a go running with Paul and then again with Matthew which is the first time hes run for anyone else and he actually LOVED it, he didnt stop wagging his tail. It normally takes ALOT to get Rommys tail going. Maybe Im not just as fun as them? lol. Oh well, hes stuck with him but he did absolutely love getting a go with someone different. Heres Rommy having a go at the course with me lol. the youtube thing wont work again so here a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K8p4gD5Ep8
So thats about it for agility but I managed to get a video of how Rommy and Kizzy actually playing, theyre REALLY rough. Kizzy nearly always starts it like she did here and she actually lost her first baby tooth while doing this lol. Not that she noticed because she was way to busy winding Rommy up while he was waiting to go out for a walk. Does anyone elses cats and dogs play so rough? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XV2btFxc0o
