Oswestry

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Ruth Turner

Wowie!! Well let’s cut to the chase… we won! We won Grade 1 Agility! Which puts us in Grade 2!

ARRRRGHHHHHHHHH!

Well, don’t get too excited, 3/4 runs were fantastic eliminations are usual!

Oswestry. A showground I have been to be before. I was surprised to see only 4 rings as last time the Shrewsbury/Oswestry Show had 6 rings jam packed in. 4 was amazing! So spread out with a great big area to sit and relax on while watching some agility.

The weather was an odd mixture of glorious sunshine and cool clouds with bitter winds. I spent half of the day in a vest top and half of it in my hoody!

First course of the day was Grade 1-3 Agility. It was a nice course when walking and I had two options, hang back and rear cross a serpentine or run and push to get ahead for a stronger serp. I went for the run! Well the first thing I found out was that running in football boots on rock hard ground is like running in high heels! At least the faster I ran the more they dug in so I didn’t end up A over T somehow. I’d left my agility trainers at home so it was studs or nothing all day.

We went for a very nervous wait and I managed to step over Guinness and then released. It felt cautious and steady and then I pushed on and serped (technical term) the middle of the three jumps nicely then rear crossed for a nice line into the tunnel. 12 weaves and I paced along with him and we got them! Run run, catch up, a pivot and then dog walk, finish, ahh!! I was sure we must have done something wrong. I was convinced we weren’t clear. I couldn’t believe. I asked Ash and he said he thought so, the judge clapped. I let myself celebrate!

For the rest of the morning we were waiting and waiting for the results at lunch time. I was hopeful. The odds were in our favour. But I couldn’t celebrate early. I didn’t want to set myself up for disappointment. I walked the Combined 1-3 Agility and Combined 1-3 Jumping and had some time to sit and look through them. Onto Agility and Gill Vann with her Shepherd was in front of me so I had quite a nice relaxing queue, giving her lots of space. With nothing to lose (hopefully) I pushed our wait and Guinness jumped up and went over the first jump. I called him back, thanked the judge and off we went. What a messy run. Not bad but not great. He only did 11 weaves on both attempts and then missed a jump later on. I had taken up enough of the judge’s time so we just went on and got out, but he did stay on his Aframe contact well while I caught up.

Combined 1-3 Jumping was another lovely course. Another serpentine, good job we’ve been practising them, and I went on the attack. Guinness broke his wait after I hesitantly left him but didn’t take the first jump and I popped him back and then ran off with confidence. I must get my start line head in gear! Off we went at speed and I pushed our serp and didn’t connect with him enough over the middle jump, nor give very clear arms, so he missed it. Never mind, the rest was good with a nice distance into the tunnel, 6 weaves into nothing and finish. “A good elimination” as Lou described it!

Lunch time finally and as the presentations started to be handed out the Judge from G1-3 Agility, of course, was to be the last to present. We did some shopping (picked up a reflective windscreen shield and a new Frisbee), had some chips and a coffee and were ready and waiting! Grade 1 Agility… 2nd place was announced… it wasn’t me… 1st place… IT WAS ME!

Judge Sharon Chapman grinned as I ran over and said “Lovely run”! I was so exciting I don’t think I really thanked her properly or told her how much I enjoyed the course. Luckily I saw her on facebook afterwards. Thanks Sharon!

Final class of the day G1-2 Jumping and I was on cloud nine. Another choice of pushing it and running or hanging back, let’s push it! (Even in my high heel football boots). Another broken wait from Guinness and he circled the first jump and went off barking. “It’s okay” said the Judge, Doc Docherty. I got him back and we started with a wait. I could tell Guinness was in one of those moods and he turned off the weaves barking at me (video footage shows I didn’t send him in very strongly either). Only 11 weaves again but we’d taken enough time so we ran on. Pushing for the outside line and sprinting we made it with only 1 knocked pole (better than expected). Pin wheel and two rear crosses and not a bad run at all. The Judge clapped and shouted “Some cracking stuff there!”
What a great guy! I also saw him lifting up the cloth tunnel for a previous competitor whose dog had been nervous to go through. G1-2s are handlers and/or dogs that potentially have never competed before. This could have been their first ever show and that is exactly the experience they need! I cannot credit Doc enough for how he was with us!

Day finished! We were off to a BBQ in Whitchurch that evening and with some time to kill we stopped in Ellesmere to have a walk alongside the mere.

Amazing amazing day!! Finished off with good food and company.

We Won Out!!!

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Ruth Turner

Ahhhhh! We won G1 Agility! We are now GRADE 2!!!! Woooooooooooooooooooo!!

I’ll blog about it soon.

Http://www.youtube.com/middnight

Are We Ready?

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Ruth Turner

I can’t believe how quickly Oswestry is creeping up on us!

Only a week on Saturday!

Are we ready?!

I don’t feel Not ready, but I don’t feel particularly ready.

I do know one thing, that I need to relax and be confident. Be confident for our waits. Be confident for our weaves. And have fun! Think about each run and each small step, not the big picture.

Take a Little Positive from Every Adventure

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Ruth Turner

Success. The topic of this Dog Agility Blogger Action Day. Success is broad, it covers so much. Success that your dog is fit and healthy. Success that your dog managed to queue without being upset by another dog. Success that your dog came out of that run safely, free from injury. Success that you remembered the course!

The first thing I think about when I think of success, is taking a success from every run. Whenever I write blogs about our shows, (especially when I write about our many Eliminations), I always try to find a positive from every run. Something that we did well. Something that was an improvement. That is my success. It was a success to complete 12 weaves poles. It was a success to get a good stop dog walk contact. It was a success that Guinness waited on the start line. It was a success that we did a nice tight wing wrap. It was a success that we queued calmly.

But success proceeds much further than each individual run. Each show. Each result. Success comes in training. What is your success rate?! How many times was that behaviour completed correctly? It’s an important tool for dog training programs. Did your dog sit when asked 9/10 times. A success rate of 90%!

Dog agility is a human-selfish sport. If we never did agility again and instead allowed our dogs a good run through the woods twice a day, would they miss the agility? I reckon not. Although agility gives us the drive to train our dogs and the means to physically and mentally stimulate them, that can be done without agility. Therefore the biggest success for me is that my dog is fit, healthy and happy. Every time we do a training session, every show we visit and every run we do, I have succeeded if Guinness is happy.

However winning is definitely a very favourable success as well!

Read about what other agility bloggers consider Success as they upload their posts throughout the day: http://dogagilityblogevents.wordpress.com/success/

Can You Dig It June 2014

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Ruth Turner

This weekend I sacrificed a day at Sutton Weaves UKA to work on my APDT assignments, a good decision as it needs to be done soon, plus I had Dig It’s Club Competition on Friday night and Can You Dig It today.

I offered to Judge as they were struggling to find people and got off lightly, only needing to do Intermediate and Advanced Agility, which ran the same course.

I was judging in the afternoon so we started the morning straight away with Intermediate Jumping. I had plenty of time to get Guinness warmed up and we were the first to the ring, Guinness tugging nicely. It turned out there were only three of us entered in Large Intermediate so I had no worries with queuing. Into the ring with some great tugging and I unclipped his lead and he kept tugging.

We’re struggling with letting go of the toy once he is tugging at the moment, which makes a change! I love Guinness, when we “solve” one “problem” he always throws something else at me. Never a dull moment!

He went into a down and release the toy and then I moved into the start position I wanted and called him to in between my feet. My perfect start line! (Although a quicker drop of the toy would be better). It was a nice simple Jumping course with only 8 jumps and some tight handling as well as blasty sections. The first 3 jumps to the tunnel were a tricky spacing and angle and Guinness bombed over number 3 and knocked the wing and jump flying. Unfortunately we had to go back over that jump twice more so I just aimed Guinness at the pole and he found his way in between the wings. What I should have done is popped Guinness in a down, stood the jump back up and then carried on quickly towards the finish, rather than aiming him at a skew-whiff wing and pole just for the sake of continuing the course. Onto the weaves and Guinness missed him entry a few times and then popped out at number 11. He is turning and looking towards me at 11 and not finding the final gap! Ahh, more training needed on 14+ poles! We had some nice distance pivot work and a tight front cross on a 180 though. And let’s not forget about our fabulous wait!

Our second run went in a similar fashion, same weave issue.

At this point the sun was really beating down and I was very pleased that I had recently bought a second hand cool coat, it was a life safer today.

We jumped into Beginners Agility for a couple of NFC runs. The queue was fairly small again and Guinness was happily tugging once we were inside the ring and then I unclipped his lead and he continued tugging. For one run I held his collar, revved him up and then asked for a down as I let go. Nailed it! This is our back up for when he wont tug or choose to come around my legs to a down.

He had a fast run, avoiding contacts with some wing wraps and straight line blasts.
(I’ve stepped away from contacts completely while we work more on our foundation behaviours at home such as nose touch and back foot target).

Time for brunch and to get ready for judging.

I loved my course on paper and it set out in real life quite nicely, taking a little bit of small tweaking before I was finally happy. We got cracking and quickly moved through the heights. With low entries there were only a handful of clears, the biggest problem being 17-18, avoiding the dog walk. However I received some nice comments and I think the course was suitable for the level.

I was due to follow on with Steeplechase for Medium-Small dogs, and I was looking forward to laying out a fun steeplechase course, however as we were heading for an early finish and a lot of people had gone home we decided to do all heights in Ring 2. Hurrah I was finished!

I grabbed Guinness and ran him around my agility course (very naughty as we did the contacts) and met the same issue at the weaves. We managed all 12 on a third attempt and the course ran smoothly. We struggled a little with the flick flack and I hung back at 14, sending him from behind and over the wing and then the rest ran well.

Into Steeplechase and Guinness wasn’t quite right, I think he was hot and still feeling a little rushed. I should have taken him for a walk and a real warm up before running him around my agility course. He ran off at the start line and I eventually got him back. I don’t think the Judge marked a refusal and I left him for a nice long wait. We set off fast around a speedy steeplechase course, knocked a pole or two and then were caught out, Guinness went off over a jump to the side instead of heading to the tunnel. A bit of deja vu from Anglesey again, this time Guinness peeling off to the side away from me rather than coming across me to turn.

Eliminations galore! Oh well, what a fun show. What great waits!! Argh. Why can’t we have that confidence and attitude at other shows. I feel like we are taking a step in the right direction however. I’ve been doing lot of games with Guinness from Absolute Dogs training and it is helping, plus the work we’ve been doing with collar grabs is also making the whole start line experience much better.

Next show is Oswestry in a few weeks! Eek!