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.
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!
SundaySticking 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! :-))
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