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
Spend Sunday at K9 sports at Littleport, the aim was to concentrate on NFC's to work on Rommys waits and A frame and dogwalk stop position. First off was the beginners jumping which was going to be for wait practice. He did some lovely waits in there and definitely need to be really going to try and be strong with them at shows now, no springing even if he does fly off over the first jump. Being able to practise in the ring with them really did help with him though because he really did a lovely wait. We haven't really done all that much with dog walks since Rommys been better what with retraining the A frame and everything. His stop position at the end has always been good at training but he just tends to forget at shows with all the major excitement so really wanted to work on that and make him get it. So we did the beginners agility NFC to do dog walks and a frames. We did 3 A frames the first one I'm pretty sure he missed (my eyes find it really hard keeping up with him) and then the two after he got, they were a bit high but his first few always are at training so I'm happy with that. Managed to get in a couple of dog walks as well, first one he did what he normally does and flew and then the second one was perfect! Great! Really happy with his mornings work there!
After his morning of NFC's he had a nice long break to chill in the car. We were planning on doing Split pairs with Rhoda and Brodie but poor Toad had a really unlucky day and hurt his foot/leg and was lame. Hope you feel better soon Brodie! Lucky Rhoda managed to borrow an amazing little poodle called Tia who's nearly 13! You really wouldn't guess shes 13 because shes pretty speedy! I had a bit of a near clash of runs with pairs with a the novice steeplechase but I ended up lucky and managed to get into the ring first to have a go at our first Novice. I have to say Rommy was nothing but WILD. His rest in the car had clearly charged his batteries because our wait practice was out the window BAD Jenni! but there was no way he would ever have waited because he was just a complete nutcase, I don't think hes EVER gone that fast at a show before! Of course he got E'd but I really couldn't help but laugh at him because he was just a complete fruit cake. Maybe resting in the car for that long wasn't such a good idea? One thing that was a great idea was doing that Novice before the Pairs because he had got the crazy out of his system, luckily I was running second so I had a bit of time to get my breathe back. Rommy was running over Toy height as well so I knew it was going to be a challenge but he did a lovely Clear and so did Tia! GO TEAM! I am so happy with how he worked! We were running second and whenever we've tried to run him second before he was just too distracted with the other dog but he was just a star! He even got his weaves with a tunnel sitting right at the end which has always been tricky for him so I was just so happy! lol! Sorry I'm rambling. Haven't got any videos but I found some cute puppy piccys instead :D .
Wasn't entirely sure we'd be seeing you this year but here you are. Unfortunately Mr sunshine gave me some sunburn on the one day it actually cloudy?! :( Oh well i guess it'll go brown eventually. To be honest this is prob going to be a bit of a downer of a post but oh well, not entirely sure anyone even reads these things anyways lol. So had a completely rubbish week, a bit ironic considering the lovely weather but it always seems to do that. After the Rommys injury again last week, finally getting better and then the head of some pretty shit family news rears its head. All the rubbish things really do seems to come at once I guess, because the rest of the week has been pretty much of a downer since then. I mean not as rubbish as the weekends news but you know... just little things being continuously crappy. I really do try to stay positive but I can honestly say some times its A LOT easier than others.
I honestly am that crazy dog lady, Rommy really has saved the day(or should i say week) hes just such a little star, just a real clown. His face really does make me laugh. Even when hes insisted on finding something to roll in on nearly every walk this week with all the fresh horse poo around everywhere.
Do not fear as he had a bath this afternoon with a very lovely smelling shampoo so hes not all nice and clean. More importantly his yeti feet have been banished and hes all neat again. Finally. We also did some really quick weave entry practice in the garden yesterday and he really was a superstar, was getting entries all over the place, he did need some help in bits but he just worked so hard considering weaves are prob his least fave bit of equipment. didn't get any video because I couldn't be bothered after a VERY tricky afternoon of work, Instead just a quick clip from a very sunny Tuesday training. bloggers being rubbish so here's the link
Not much to update on the Kizzy monster other than shes getting more adult hairy now and shes still a completely lunatic. Not long now till she can be spayed so at least then she can run wild outside instead of trying to jump into the toilet.
So finally got round to starting to teach Rommy 'BANG!' today, after a lot of shouting about it he seems to have got the idea now. Might want to turn the speakers down a bit, trick training is a very noisy activity if your Rommy :)
So shuttleworth turned out to be pretty rubbish, I don't know what it is about that venue but Rommy always gets injured there which is a shame because its nice and close. Oh well, he's still got JDA there in May so maybe we can get through that one health. So anyways lets get back to what this is actually about, cloth tunnels. As you might know or guessed that that this time it was a cloth tunnel that messed mr Rommys back up again this time. My god he's so breakable! It was in one of his jumping runs, he broke his wait (naughty boy) and went down the line of jumps like a bat out of hell into the cloth tunnel. I'm pretty sure the thing wasn't pegged right and it was winding so the cloth was kind of folded over. So Rommy flew in there so bloody fast got himself all caught up in it and ended up twisting himself completely around, poor boy has no luck. He seemed to look alright after but if nothing else I know what hes like and I knew he had to have something messed up. So thanks to his physio Rommy we got to see her on Monday and back on his stretches and no agility for a week :(.
So I'm odviously I'm really angry about cloth tunnels at the moment, and I'm really really wanting the things to be banned. There has been alot of story's and videos around of dogs getting hurt in tunnels and even a dog having to be pts from an accident in one. it really worries me what actually needs to happen before the kc see how potentially dangerous they are. Not even the entries to them just how dangerous they are on there own coming into them at speed. I mean I know to us this is a sport and there's always a risk in doing it because i know freak accidents do always happen, but I think a specific peice of equipment that is just hurting dogs so much is just ridiculous, and something definitely needs to be done. To me there's a risk in everything we do in life but doesn't mean I'd go jump off a cliff, yes I MIGHT be ok but the chances are I won't be. Sorry rant over now
Well this blogging thing is quite addictive isn't it? Hello me again. Went to training today and got lots of videos. Watching them back I think I've actually learnt a lot from from seeing what the hell I'm doing or more to the point what I'm not really doing. I need to stop saying 'Here!' as much when I'm not completely sure what else to say. I'm pretty sure his 'left' and 'right' will work if I can ever remember which is which at speed... not something I'm good at. Pretty sure its my Dyslexic brain catching up to me and I totally go blank. I also need to actually listen and do what I'm being told how to make something better. I mean I am listening... I really am but I'm actually not doing it, even though my brain thinks it is.... Maybe I need to pause and absorb it for 2 secs, I DUNNO. I really do need to get used to thinking better at speed because its really not that easy and Rommys not even mega fast. I'm really not sure who all those super fast collie people cope! One other thing I learnt is that Rommy really is amazing for putting up with me and he really does try so hard even when I'm kinda not helping him lol. He makes improvements every week, his A frames are just getting better all the time, his waits in the last week getting a bit better after Bretford and hes also starting to get a bit tighter :). SO anyways heres a really long video from today... sorry its a bit long.
