Tuesday 19 April 2011

Wallingford, 16th/17th April 2011

First show of the season! Was very excited to be packing up the caravan on Friday ready to leave, full of hopes for what the weekend might bring despite a rather disastrous training session on the Thursday evening. I was rather hoping that poor rehearsal, good show might hold true in this instance!

Luckily for the most part this seemed to be the case. One of my more annoying faults as a handler, is remembering a full course, something that I'm sure has a lot to do with my nerves. Whilst I know just what a great dog I am lucky enough to run, knowing that brings its own pressure as I don't want to get it wrong for her. I'm pleased to say that for the most part I didn't let Ella down, and although some of the runs were a bit shaky in parts, we did some good work. Watching back the video I am delighted with how fast she is covering the ground and the speed with which she achieves her contacts and weaves.





Overall it was a good weekend of agility, but of course it's not the only reason people get so addicted to our sport. As you'll see the video clips include several runs from friends; it's also about the friendships that get forged whilst we're all enjoying training and competing with our dogs. Running your dog with a hangover from the night before is quite a normal occurrence! ;o)

I'm also pleased to report that Kai & Diva ran in the Anysize class on Sunday - Kai running a lovely clear, and Diva showing some great potential for the future. Both were rewarded for their efforts with a yummy tripe stick - think Diva could get quite excited about this agility game ;o)

Today I'm grateful for family & friends :o)

Saturday 9 April 2011

Moving day

This year has been one of great change, so it hardly came as a surprise when we were told that the barn adjacent to our training field is finally ready for conversion. I would like to thank everyone who offered suggestions and leads for a new field, it was touching to have such support on hand. As a result is wasn't very long at all before we found ourselves being shown around Pool Farm in Kingston Seymour. We now have a great new field, enclosed on all sides, larger than previously, and with hard standing for car parking right alongside the field. Thanks must go to Sara Bingham for sourcing the field thanks to her friendship with Margaret Bush our new landlady. We're delighted with our new venue and can't wait to start teaching! :)


Today I'm grateful for the many willing helpers who were there to support Sue & I as we made the rather emotional move from our old venue to the new.