UKA Staverton & Dog Vegas

What a long weekend! Thank goodness it's a Bank Holiday otherwise I don't know how we'd have done it, we didn't get home until midnight last night after being stuck in traffic on the motorway back from Scunthorpe. However I'm still glad we went all that way, there's something special about the first final with your dog, even when things don't go to plan!

Anyway, Staverton first on the Saturday - not a great day as I was very wound up about what was to come on the Sunday, and could have done much better than I did. A last minute 'E' in the Gamblers was disappointing, but it was miles better than the last one I tried to do so I'm definitely going to enter more of those - it was quite good fun. Jumping was next and just turned off a fraction too early and brought Ella inside a jump wing, so another 'E', but heartened by a lovely 12 weaves later in the course - can't now imagine what her coming out of the last 2 poles looks like which is fabulous! Picked myself up after that and gave myself bit of a shake - thanks to Sue James for listening to my woes and reminding me how much I love my sport and really how good Ella & I are at it. So went into our Steeplechase course properly and did a cracking clear - 1st place and 6 points off Senior, happy days! Agility was right at the end of the day, but worth waiting for as it was a nice course to run. Sadly missing lunch earlier in the day had left me a little light-headed and I gave Ella's weave command far, far too late - 5 for skipping the 2nd pole but beautiful for the rest of the 12 poles after that.

Dog Vegas started well - I had strict instructions from Martin Tait about holding contacts as now Ella's won out of Grade 3 there's no need to push them. Lovely clear with 6 weaves out of a tunnel and no worries on her entry, plus me crossing behind which was great. The lovely blue & silver 8th place rosette was nice too :-)) In the next agility round Ella was high as a kite (I later found she needed to go to the toilet - good reminder before Final!) and I thought I would test her dog walk contact by quick releasing on the A-frame that came before. As expected she released herself so I was able to correct her, and she then was more careful to remember her criteria on the see-saw, and finished the round with a fast entry into 6 weaves. G3-5 Jumping was next and what I would describe as our first 'grown up' course, although nothing that Martin wouldn't set me as a quick warm up! Clear till the weaves where I think I ended up in her way and 5 for skipping the 2nd pole. She went back in beautifully to complete the 12 poles, so I was very pleased.

The Final course was a nice course which I felt would really suit Ella, and I'm really pleased with how I stayed calm & focused leading up to the start of it. I walked it straight after the judge had finished setting it and decided what I would need to do. I planned to be brave and let her pick up the see-saw out of the tunnel by herself and layer the jump off of it for a front cross. When I walked it the tunnel should have shot them out straight so that picking it up would have been no problem - sadly after I'd walked it the angle was changed slightly, so I ended up with a very eager Ella running directly to me instead!



Looking back (and esp. from this camera angle) I'm not sure if:

a) My original handling decision would have been correct
b) Did I tell her her command for see-saw early enough (or at all!)?
c) As I wasn't moving as she entered the tunnel would she have still come out looking for me anyway?
d) Would it have worked but I wasn't on the correct line I needed to be on?

Whilst I'm disappointed, I'm not going to jump off a bridge anytime soon - mistakes are opportunities to learn, and this isn't Ella's last final. Does my dog know or care frankly (!) that we didn't win? She had her enthusiastic game of tuggy at the end of her job as she always does, and she did everything I asked of her so she had no complaints from me about anything she did. I learnt that I can cope with the pressure of a final and still run my dog as I should, and that I'm brave about the handling choices I make - albeit it for the worse in this instance! Next time I think I'll probably opt for the safe option rather than the spectacular, unless I have a 2nd opinion on it from Martin Tait first! :-))

Today I'm grateful for having a wonderful dog to compete with, a great big snuggly one to welcome me when I return to the van, my dog agility van itself, Jan Sage & Lexi winning G1 Agility whilst we were up at Dog Vegas and going G2!, my parents for looking after my darling children whilst we were away, and last but by no means least, my loving, supportive husband for going all that way with me - and for always being right by my side whenever I need him.

KC International Festival

Friday
Quite the biggest show I have ever been to - agility rings as far as the eye could see! We arrived at the show on Friday morning with only 15 minutes to walk our courses, and both Lel and I were quite overwhelmed by the magnitude of the place. I managed to walk two of the three courses I had to run for the day (the Novice Cup ones which I wanted to focus on), and then I really started to work myself up into a bit of a tiz! The courses themselves were great - just the sort of thing Ella and I could get our teeth into. Unfortunately each class had 12 weave poles - something which I admit I was a bit nervous about. I was right to be a bit worried - she hit her entries fast but clear; in one class she managed to stay in despite knocking herself in the face with the 2nd pole bless her! But in each class she came out two poles from the end, excitement proving too much for my clever girl. I had feared my proofing of 12 weave poles wasn't complete - she showed me that I need to invest a bit more time to make them foolproof. That was disappointing, but worse was how badly I handled the rest of two of the courses - nerves just throwing me out. I redeemed myself in my final class of the day - the Novice Cup Agility, where despite her coming out at the last pole and needing to re-do them, I worked the rest of the course much better and didn't get her E'd. Small relief, but I'm lucky to have a forgiving dog who's always up for trying again, so no permanent damage.

Saturday
Saturday morning came and we set off with much more time to spare and as a result it was a much calmer atmosphere in the Osmond camp! Also I had made the decision not to run classes where there were 12 weave poles as I don't want any more failures until I'm in a position to reward/ correct as appropriate - the competition ring just isn't the place for that. So I was really pleased that 2 out of my 3 classes for the day had 6 weave poles. What I'm about to write next fills me with pride and pleasure - in Ella's Grade 3 Agility class of 234 dogs, she went clear and straight into the lead with a whole second to spare - despite me almost messing up the end by trying to put in a pull through where there wasn't one! Bursting with excitement and feeling a bit sick frankly, we went over to do our Grade 3 Jumping class. I hadn't managed to walk it and had Lel (who had run it earlier with Hattie) talking me through the course with only 1 dog in front of me in the queue! Deep breath then and fingers crossed - straight round with winged heels, clean set of weaves at such speed (!) - into the lead there too!!

Our final placings were:
Grade 3 Agility Large Part 2, judged by Linda Hutchinson (234 dogs) - 1st!
Grade 3 Jumping Large Part 1, judged by Cathy Keith (238 dogs) - 2nd!

Sunday
Sticking with my decision not to put her at a set of 12 poles, I only had a jumping class to run before we left at 11am this morning (getting back for babies). Another stunning round, marred only by her slipping in the weave poles and not being able to bend back in correctly after her entry. Lel commented that the judge seemed to be shaking his head in disappointment at her mistake, as that was her only mistake of the run - it was another first class performance from my first class dog.

Today I am grateful to my agility friends for their unwavering belief in my abilities as a handler, my family for their constant support of my agility dreams, and for my wonderful, fabulous, talented Ella. We're now a Grade 4 partnership! :-))

Leading up to our 1st KC Festival..

Lovely weekend off with our little family which was just what I needed before the approaching festival. Ella's wins ought to have given me a lot of confidence going into the weekend, but I have to say I'm perhaps more nervous than ever! I know my gorgeous little girl can do it now, I have complete faith in every obstacle I send her at - including those weave poles! Just wish I could say the same about me! Life as a mum to two little boys is exhausting some days, and summoning up enough energy to be a worthy agility partner to Ella is hard going. Especially when she's clearly raring to go - it makes me very jealous :-)) Still, Martin Tait is over for our Daybreak competition group this evening so I anticipate a good session to buoy me up before Friday.

Now we've won into Grade 3 we're no longer eligible for the Starters Cup at the festival, so instead are in the Novice which is grades 3-5. What I need to remember is that this is effectively Ella & I's first year of competition and we have nothing to prove to anyone - we can come back next year with winning aims. This year is about getting back into the swing of competition and we're already being quite successful. This festival is about continuing the great work we've been doing in the ring, and investing in our relationship. Any wins will be a bonus, but they're not what we step into the ring for.

Today I'm grateful for my fantastic agility partner Ella, who's right beside me as I follow my agility dreams :-)

Blackdown Open show

Great day! Not only did Ella nail two sets of 6 poles, she also won Large Jumping G1-2 and Large Jumping Combined 1-3. Ridiculously large grin plastered all over my face - I have such a great dog :-))

UKA Nationals week

Not much to report as I only went up on Thursday for the day and did the majority of the runs as NFC (not for competition). The reason for this was to proof Ella's weaves in the ring - I'm delighted to say she had 2 successes straight off, and was most surprised to find her toy in front of her as her reward :-) What I did find though was repeating them made her a bit cross! I realised afterwards that I only repeat the weaves in competition when she's gone wrong. Something to bear in mind in the future - in our 2nd round I should have just done a couple and then carried on. As a result of carrying on we had a few failures, which were down to her getting frustrated. Still, not a major concern and she managed 3rd in the Novice steeplechase later on. She wasn't really going for it which I think may have been to do with wanting to get it right as she felt like she'd been wrong earlier. She's such a teacher's pet :-))

Tonight I'm grateful for my parents for having the boys overnight last night which allowed Mike & I to go out to the cinema and have a lazy lie in this morning. Bliss :-))