Gillingham show

Great day at Gillingham show - have the rosy, sunkissed cheeks to prove it! 2 great E's early on where Ella gave me 2 perfect sets of 12 weave poles, and 3 classic Ella contacts - 2 handling mistakes on my part caused the E's. So very up for the G4 Agility class - happy to say was clear and fast. With a little panic over the fact that tickets had been mixed up and somehow Ella's ticket had been tarnished with an undeserved 'E', we re-ran for time and did it even better than before. Straight into the lead and there we stayed - 1st place in our first G4 show :-))



Today I am grateful for my extraordinary dog and our very special relationship. Now a G5 partnership!

Prestbury Park

What a lovely venue! It took around an hour and a quarter to get there, but was really lovely so will definitely want to enter next year. We worked a ring for Sue Yeo (Severnside's club chairwoman) with some great camaraderie, leg pulling and general merriment - lots of fun! One of the great things about the show was the fact that there were 4 runs per dog each day. Saturday started with the Team Dash event - 5 for a missed weave entry (handling error on my part), and 5 for a knocked pole - must keep mouth shut whilst Ella is jumping! Agility was next, 3 lovely held contacts, 12 weaves - trouble was in trying to straighten her up for the dog walk I sent her into the tunnel. A shame; as E's go it was a good 'un! Some great work in the collie jumping, just couldn't keep it up towards the end and made another E. Jumping at the end of the day was a good course (Sue Yeo's!) but messed up weaves part way through. Later investigation showed that during the day dogs had dug up the ground around the weaves and they weren't very straight at all. Not a great design of weaves really, Adams Agility don't normally have that issue. Last but not least, my gorgeous Kai-kai gave me a clear in the Any Size - broke his wait on the startline, but responded so well around the rest of the course I didn't have the heart to chastise him much. Never mind, some good things to go forward into Sunday with.

Only managed 3 of my 4 runs today - no exciting news either I'm afraid! Knocked bar in the Agility for 5 faults, but 3 perfect contacts and clean 6 weaves. Pairs jumping, perfect 12 weaves but so excited about that I didn't control her into the jumps that followed - durhh! Nice round otherwise though. Lastly, missed walking the 3-5 Agility so watched a few dogs go round before we had to leave and joined the queue. Didn't handle it as well as I would have liked, but did okay - until the last jump when I relaxed too early and pulled her off the final jump. Oooh could have kicked myself! Not desperately unhappy though - another perfect 12 weave poles. 100% record today - my clever girlie! :-))

Next weekend is Ella's first Grade 4 classes, which should be exciting. My plan this week is to be well rested going into the weekend, as I've been more tired than usual this weekend and I think it's shown in my handling. This years show campaign is nearly at a close so I just need to find some reserves to get me through these last few shows, and then I can rest up and take a little time off.

Today I am enormously grateful for the privilege of competing with two of the best dogs in the world, and doing so alongside such great friends and their precious dogs.

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 :-))

Weave re-training progress report

Now I've been a bit slack in getting the clips onto the computer to share, with the result that I'm not sure of the order we did them in any more! However they have been useful to me as I've been looking at them back and working out our success percentage after each session. Just quietly, I'm very, very pleased with how it's going. Last night at Severnside club training I upped the ante again and put out two sets of six poles. Accurate and fast, just how I want her - so excited! The only distraction that I've been able to find to pull her out of the poles is throwing her toy early, but even then after a couple of tries she realised she had to stay in until she'd finished to earn her reward. I can swing her toy around in circles & squeak a squeaky toy right by her, but she just ignores me until she's done. Seriously impressed.

We're not at 100% yet though, the really tough entries (between 10-12 & 2-12) are still catching her out, but I'm using the first set of 2x2 poles to help her. By angling them just slightly to make the entry more inviting it really helped her to get the idea. Now I just need to work on me and we're ready for competition! I say work on me, because I'm still quite nervous about her actually doing it in the ring. Watching videos back from last weekend, I realise that I turn into a frightened rabbit when we reach the weaves in a course - not at all like the loud and enthusiastic training partner she's had to put up with all week! So the goal this weekend is to treat the weaves in the course just like I would at training. Nice early command, driving towards them, and cheering when she's doing them. We may make mistakes, but without making any mistakes it's difficult for her to distinguish exactly what is correct. And I know longer think to myself, 'we'll get there' as was a favourite saying of everyone's to me. I now believe that we're there :-)

Caerphilly show

Just a quickie - must have tea and then probably up to bed, it's been a long day. But must post some great news - Ella & I won the First Contact Starters Qualifier, which means we're now Grade 3!

I have two of the best dogs and I'm so grateful to my friends Sue, Lel & Martin for supporting me this week with my weave re-training. It's not complete (we still made 2 mistakes in sets of weaves today) as I knew it wasn't when I left today, but we've come a long way in a week. Who knows what next weekend could bring??

Further 2x2 progress reports

At our 6th session on the 2x2's we were training at Martin Tait's venue, and I forgot to bring my video camera away with us! So I was back to record keeping as we went along rather than the luxury of watching the footage back and recording from that.

It's going really, really well and I'm so pleased with our progress. Ella's attitude to the weaves seems to be changing before our very eyes - she's more thoughtful and seems to have a much better understanding of what I want from her in the weaves. We've now taken our weaving show on the road and been to both Martin Tait's outdoor venue and Severnside's indoor venue at Urchinwood Manor. I didn't anticipate any problems at Martin's, but did wonder if the indoor venue might over excite her and cause her to make silly mistakes. So it was great to see that she was still very focused and driven to succeed - just what I'm after!

Our next session will be the 11th time we've worked on the 2x2's and I'm going to move to 6 poles. I intend to really work the arc and rotate the poles slightly if necessary to help her achieve the entries. Later on today I hope we'll get to do a 12th session, and I'm aiming to stick with 6 poles but crank up the distraction of what I'm doing - running, taking off on a tangent, stopping suddenly, playing with a toy - anything to try and get mistakes that we can work through.

Today I'm so grateful for my wonderful dog who is teaching me so much about dog training this week, her great attitude to working with me, and her willingness to try new things. In truth I don't think it's just dog training I'm learning about this week :-)

2x2 Progress

Re-training weaves - day 2's sessions

Re-training Ella's weaves

Too many shows have gone by now where we've had weave problems, and I'm just not prepared to carry on as we are. To give you a percentage, from the shows we've entered this year we only have a 40% success rate for the weaves - that's showing me that we need to re-think. So this week Ella and I are on a re-training journey, using Susan Garrett's 2x2 method. I'll aim to update our blog each day with our progress.

Tuffley Show

Now before I read Susan Garrett's most recent dog training blog entry, I probably would have said Tuffley wasn't very positive as shows go. After all, Ella and I only managed 1 clear round the whole weekend and it wasn't placed as I'd taken my time setting her up for a correct weave approach. But Susan reminded me what I love about my training and most importantly, what I love most about my dog.

So here's the review of our Tuffley weekend. She gave me some great rounds - fast, accurate contacts, great responses to directions, and lots of speed and enthusiasm for her job. A pleasure to watch, never mind run! She also gave me some valuable information about her understanding of her weave poles, and has cemented the belief that I need to re-train in order to get the performance that I'm after. Being disappointed in her is not an option, I'm a better dog trainer than that and we will succeed!

With the exception of this evening I haven't done any training with her all week and we have this weekend off as it's our children's Naming Ceremony on Sunday. So I've focused on making the ceremony perfect for them and let Ella and I relax this week. Next Monday we will begin re-training the weaves with the 2x2's with the help of our friends Lel & possibly Martin & Hazel Tait. Any failures we have next week will be positive ones because they will help define the correct response that I want from her in her weave poles.

So today I'm grateful for my beautiful baby boys, my wonderful husband, family & friends, and my two fantastic dogs. Looking forward to Sunday and sharing our joy over our children with all our family & friends too!

Some thoughts pre-Tuffley show

Have trained my girlie twice this week, and have crystalised some of the thoughts I have about our weaving problem. Basically we're looking at a lack of self-control which stems from the great job I did teaching her that weaves are fun. So here's the deal; I created this problem so I can solve it by injecting some control in front of the weaves. More specifically, I will get her to 'Down' before the weaves and won't let her complete them unless she has complied. Ella has such fantastic self-control in her startlines and contacts, that I must take heart - this problem isn't an eternal thing. She has the brains and the ability to get this right, she might just need a bit of short-term help.

Most importantly, when I set out tomorrow with her I will be setting out with one of the most amazing dogs God ever put breath into. My good thing of this agility weekend will be, as it always is, her.

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be your faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."

Another Lansdown done and dusted

Exhausted! But very pleased by how well another Lansdown show went, it's a real credit to both Severnside & Clifton agility clubs. Had a good day yesterday with a positive G1-2 Agility run (weave issue still there sadly!), and a fabulous (even if I do say so myself!) clear run in the Pedigree team event. Oooh she's good :-) Plus we were shades off winning the G1-2 Jumping at the end of the day, but my dozy dog ran over the last but one jump to the start line to find her toy for a job almost well done! Still, was very proud that Mark Douglas who was judging sought me out afterwards to tell me what a cracking round it was. She is a good girl, if a little dozy at times :-))

Today didn't quite pick off where we left off yesterday evening. Martin watched our rounds and felt she 'bullied' me into letting her do the weaves, so she wasn't controlled enough as she entered them and therefore made mistakes. I'm trying to take comfort from the fact that she now seems to be getting her entries okay, it's just bending back to complete them properly that's the problem now. Back to the drawing board!

However disappointed I might be not to have won a rosette this weekend though, I'm delighted at how many Severnside club members picked up. Notably one of the small Pedigree teams - 4 clear rounds earnt them first place and a place at Crufts 2010!! So we had a lovely pizza party with champagne on Saturday night to celebrate - it felt like a great achievement for the club, even those who aren't exactly small dog happy :-)) Then today, Caroline and Milo only went and won G2 Agility - she was shaking with excitement telling everyone, it was so lovely to see! Also Jan & Ruby went and won the G1 Jumping as well as being placed elsewhere too, Rhi & Jess placed, Rhi & Abbey placed, Helen & Eko won G3 Agility - I'm sure there were others but I'm so tired I can't remember properly!

So today I'm grateful for a lovely sunny weekend for our club show, the good fortune that shone on my friends, and my fantastic fabulous family for supporting me in what I love to do best. Great weekend all round really - roll on next year!!

Thames DTS Agility show

Another great day, although no trophies to show for it I'm afraid. Not that you'd know that from the great big grin plastered all over my face - Ella hit the entries for 3 sets of poles, only coming out of one set at the end which had a tunnel beckoning at the end of them. So very happy as the handling errors I made were small (unlike the runs from last weekend, I won't elaborate further :-)) so I'm upbeat about this season. I have such a great dog!

Anyway think I should probably be headed on up to bed. I'm pleased to report that Callum has managed to wait until 7.00am or after for his bottle these last few nights, but I wouldn't like to say that it's a permanent arrangement just yet - or at least not without touching wood :0)

Plus I spent a very uncomfortable night on Friday with a terrible headache, which was still hanging around on Saturday morning. My back was all kinds of stiff, so after a visit to the osteopath it was decided that I might want to be a bit kinder to my body. After all, it has provided me with the most beautiful little boys not so long ago! So this week my aim is to practise my stretches and when I need to lift anything, to do it carefully. Fingers crossed!

Today I'm glad that Callum was better from his heat rash of yesterday, that I got to spend an hour with Jamie before he went off to bed after getting back from the show, and for Mike who refused to let me stay at home as I had considered with Callum being poorly and my bad night on Friday. He knows what I need more than I do some days, I'm a very lucky girl indeed :-)

Wye Valley

Just back from the most stunning weekend at Wye Valley's show - it's just the most beautiful venue! We've been blessed with sunshine, and after burning at last week's UKA show I'm pleased and proud to say I remembered the suntan lotion and I'm not my normal shade of red after a weekend in the sunshine!

No exciting winning news I'm afraid - Saturday felt a little like a warm up and Ella grew faster with each round. This morning she was a little on the bonkers side and as well as our usual niggles with the weaves, was self-releasing on contacts - almost unheard of!! Silly girl didn't want tea on Saturday night or breakfast Sunday morning, so I think she was running on nerves. I have some tricks up my sleeve to persuade her to eat for the next one - some wet food mixed into her normal ration will probably do the trick. The plus side of her lack of reserve was her speed which although bordering on out of control (!) showed me just what the rest of the season might hold. Fingers crossed anyway!

So just two clear rounds in the jumping today, and slow because of me making her 'Down' in front of the weaves. Working on a training plan which I can fit in around the boys, but should be able to come up with something.

Today I'm grateful for my wonderful if slightly mad (!) agility partner Ella, my fellow Severnside club mates for a fun alfresco dinner on Saturday night together, and my family for coming away to support me in my agility dreams.

UKA Phoenix, Langford

What a lovely day we all had at UKA Phoenix today! The weather was impressively hot - so much so that I have the burnt arms to prove it :-( Never mind, Ella's impressive and 1st placed steeplechase round will comfort me I expect :-) She's really flying and I'm loving every moment. Today I walked courses with belief in myself and my dog and she fully deserved her red ribbon. The weaves let us down in the jumping - me pulling off too soon, must work on it! Then the last class of agility she stopped beautifully on the a-frame & dog walk, but couldn't quite hold herself onto the see-saw - she did try very hard bless her! But of course I had to pop her back onto the end to maintain the criteria I've set her, and after that we left the ring at the judges request.

Several people raised their eyebrows at me blowing the round like that, but I definitely did the right thing. Yes she only missed it by a whisker, and yes she had tried very hard to stop. But she hadn't and if I hadn't corrected it I would have been making a grey area for her, and she trusts me to let her know if she's done a good job or not. I liken it to Martin Tait - he wouldn't tell me I'd handled well just because I'd tried very hard. So when he does offer praise I know I've jolly well earnt it! Correcting me doesn't make me flat or disheartened (well not always!), it makes me try harder because Martin believes in my ability to do better. So I may have missed out on a placing, but my dog is still crystal clear about what I expect from her and she believes in me - just like I do her.

Too often in dog training people want shortcuts and quick fixes. In the short term they might get you where you want to be - in competition for example, but what of the long term damage to your training? Broken startlines in competition begin because handlers accept less than they demand in training. Missed contacts in competition begin because handlers don't correct their dogs for even the slightest deviation from their desired behaviour. Running under single pole competition jumps begin because handlers didn't train with the jumps their dogs would face at a show. That's all well and good if handlers take responsibility for their dogs less than perfect competition performances, but we've all seen dogs berated for 'messing about' and 'playing silly buggers'. And those are the nicer comments!

So I hope that if there's just one thing I can impress upon handlers that train with Sue and I at Daybreak - take responsibility for your own training. Be clear in your own mind about what it is you are training for and do your dog the courtesy of sticking to it so as not to confuse them. Once you know you've proofed your kit then the next thing you have to accept is that if poles come down or your dog takes the wrong course - your handling is responsible. Your dog didn't walk the course - you did. There are lots of different handling systems out there and I'm pretty confident they'll all work if applied correctly. If you mess up, don't beat your dog or yourself up - there'll be other days. Most importantly praise that dog of yours for stepping out with you and giving you the best performance it could with the training you've given it. If there's something a bit lacking, perhaps motivation for the job - come up with a training plan to address it. Remember "nobody fails, they just give up too early" :-)

Today I'm grateful for my 4 great agility partners - Lucy (clear round), Toby (committed but let down by me), Kai (delighted to work for me) & Ella, my wonderful husband who stayed at home with our children so I could have a day off, and the lovely smiles I received from those darling babies when I got home. Not to mention the great friends who I spent the day with, and their wonderful dogs. What a great day!

UK Agility Beckford

Well some success at the UK Agility Easter show yesterday, 2nd in the Beginners Standard Steeplechase, and although unplaced because of faults in the rest of her rounds she worked really well. The bloomin' weaves are letting us down and I'm seriously considering petitioning the Kennel Club & UK Agility to ban them! A photographer caught her in the weaves, although sadly as you'll see if you look at where she is, it's as she's making a mistake through them - durrhh!

Still I'm not too disheartened. Callum was only 7 weeks old yesterday and for our only problem to be the weave poles after such a layoff, I haven't much to complain about. And it was such fun to be back at shows and bumping into people I haven't seen for ages! Not to mention being able to run around with her, rather than what seemed like a very long way behind her!

Plus Hattie & Helen Sharp won another 1st place rosette in their Novice Toy Jumping class, so they're really going to have to start thinking about an extension for all Hattie's winnings :-))

Susan Garrett

Two of my Christmas presents to myself were DVD's of Susan's - one on her 2x2 weave method, and the other on her crate games. I love watching her teach and hope to get on one of her workshops the next time she's over here in the UK.

Both DVD's have inspired me so much that I've ordered yet another set of weaves - this time custom made to Susan's specification on the 2x2's. They should arrive early next week - very excited! The crate games DVD was obviously easier to get on with as both dogs are happy in their crates and I have two in and around the house. However - who knew it could hurt a pregnant woman's back as much as it did!! Bending up and down to reward really took it out of me. Much as Ella was razor sharp in picking up the game (teacher's pet!), I think I'm going to have to postpone those games until my back's in better shape. Bit of a pain, but better to be able to walk afterwards than not!

At least the 2x2's should be a different matter. I can at least be upright, and I don't think throwing her toy should be a problem. Tugging with her might of course, but hopefully she'll be satisfied with shorter bursts. Plus of course the DVD only advocates a few minutes at a time. Just right for a heavily pregnant person!

Took a look at some show schedules for April onwards. Still don't know what's going to happen re. induction or not, so haven't entered anything yet. Should perhaps know in a couple of weeks and that should still be plenty of time to enter. It's got both Mike & I thinking about caravaning with 2 babies and how that might work. Scary stuff!