Wow Wow Wow ... we have just got back from 4 days at The Summer Agility Show at Littleport near Ely - a lovely venue and enjoyed the camping there too. The weekend started on Friday with a 2nd in combined grade 4-5 jumping ... yes we are finally competing at Grade 4 now .. so 2nd place was excellent. Really enjoying the challenge of the more twisty courses where you actually have to fully concentrate for the whole course to get it right!

The 2 agility courses on Friday were challenging and we were E-ed but I was happy with Dylan's performance ... mine needed work!!

Saturday some improvement for agility as we got 5 faults for the dog walk contact (as usual), but that was all and the second agility the last part was a blast round the outside & I couldn't keep up so fell over at the last fence and Dylan turned to check I was ok so we got 5 faults. When the judge asked me if I was okay I said "No" he was worried I had hurt myself - only irritation that I had thrown away a good run - no faults up until the last fence!!

The jumping I was really looking forward to until I saw the course - way too hard for grade 4 & 5 - we gave it a go and some bits were brilliant, but it was too hard for both of us) & many other competitors too).

Sunday was the best day ... first of all a jumping course ... lots of challenge but I had got my moves in my head and knew what to do. Remembered to let Dylan pick up his own weaves (which he did brilliantly) & was able to correct him on the one iffy bit were I made a choice which would save one possible error but created another - clear round and fast ... my first win at Grade 4 and in a combined grade 4-5 jumping!!

Next was an agility ... not too hard, but a tyre and dog walk start ... wasn't even sure Dylan would wait at a tyre - let alone go through the thing once I had walked past it ... but he did ... ran the dog walk and didn't look to see if he had got the contact or not ... weave next and then A frame followed by jumps, tunnel, more jumps with a turn, seesaw - back from there push onto a long jump, out left to a jump and come over another, push onto to another jump and then a three jump snake, pull round to the last jump - perfect & the judge clapped so a clear round to boot ... I waited with Duncan & Pam having looked at my time ... currently lying first but lots of dogs to go yet! Spaniels are quick too ... several clear rounds ... I checked again when all dogs were done & .... wow I was still in the lead clear by 2 seconds ... another win .... an AGILITY win at grade 4 ... so that means in 25 days I go up to grade 5 .... a mixture of excitement, amazement and "I'm not sure I'm ready" all came to mind ... but it was a combined grade 4-5 course and Dylan & I beat everyone else!

After that another agility but this time pulled him off the dog walk too soon, otherwise another fast run. And today (Monday) Dylan decided that tunnels were not his thing and came out ... so random. Never mind, perhaps he was tired! Love my dog!!

So here we go to Grade 5 at the end of September ... I have achieved my plan which was to get to grade 5 by the end of 2012 ... and some!!

We are back from 10 days away at Kennel Club International Agility Festival (KC Int) and Dogs In Need Agility Show (DINAS) - lots of runs all at Grade 3 as our promotion to Grade 4 doesn't click into place until next weekend!

Lots of challenging courses with between 75 and 110 competitors which is far more than I usually get at most shows in the medium classes. But Grade 3 is the starter class for many new dogs with experienced handlers. I was generally pleased with Dylan's runs, although his contacts (dog walk particularly) were consistently off ... something to work on over the winter period to change that I think.

At KC Int we were in the novice cup qualifying rounds (ie dogs graded 3, 4 or 5) which included 1 agility run and one jumping round. Our agility round was okay but Dylan missed both A-frame contact and Dog Walk contact. However I was really pleased with his weave entry and the rest of the course. We came away with 10 faults and a good time. The jumping run was amazing. I walked it thinking "This is challenging, but I'll give it a go" - I worked Dylan really hard and the concentration from both of us was amazing and in sink for a change!! I knew we wouldn't win but I knew our time was good ... we came 4th.

This meant we got 47 points for the forth place & it turned out we got points for out agility run too and came 8th overall for the novice cup. 15 dogs run in the final so we ran 7th. The final was in the main ring with an announcer & everything!! I was soooooo nervous, although managed to hold it together for the first three obstacles! The course was hard with a seesaw & dog walk quite close together - something we haven't practised in training & is very challenging for a young dog!! My plan was to maintain the wait I have cultivated with Dylan and then do my best! I thought I had memorised the course, but as you can see I didn't - in fact everything went out of my head after the turn to the dog walk! - but that would have just been 5 faults ... Dylan's error despite me calling him was to attempt the dog walk again!!

Did you notice that Dylan actually managed his contacts here .. typical that I should mess it up elsewhere!!!

For the rest of the 3 days at the Festival we managed a 3rd in Grade 3 jumping & 4th in combined grade 1-3 jumping.

On the Monday we travelled to Ipswich for DINAS which is a holiday with dogs. We get 2 runs a day and a day off on the Thursday (when the finals are going on). There are lots of dogs so lots of competition & all our runs were just Grade 3 medium dogs ... and 70-80 in each class, which is great. Lots of international competition too as for KC Int. Dylan's contacts were still off, and some of the courses were challenging. However we did manage a 4th on a jumping and also a surprised 9th on an agility where we got 5 faults - for the up on the A-frame I think, as I got in Dylan's way and he went in from the side. It was a hard course but the twists and turns seem to suit Dylan when I am concentrating!!

The last day was way too hot and for Dylan 32 degrees is too much. I can only described Dylan as "flattening" as he ran as he knocked poles down all over the place and struggled to listen!

So during the 2 shows we gained some points towards our agility warrant (through Kennel Club) ... you get points for a clear round and a place ... and you have to get a quarter of the points from agility rounds rather than jumping (you also get twice as many points for agility as you do jumping). We now have over 400 points which means we can apply for Agility Warrent Silver and then use these letters after our name - AW(S)

Back from the first Barking Mad KC Agility show in Keysoe. Lovely venue (apart from long grass).

Lots of grade 3-5 agility runs for us to do - still as grade 3 at the moment. These are so much harder than anything we have done before. They are harder even than the grade 1-7 runs we do!!

For 2 days Dylan was faulting on the dog walk contact again, much to my frustration. It was difficult to stay positive actually. Even the jumping runs were proving hard as well. Anyway on Sunday I changed my own attitude and perception & decided this was all about learning and doing our best whatever happened .... so Dylan got all his contacts and was brilliant. We made other mistakes, but things that I am not certain how to do ... like a pull in between 2 fences, which is hard! The last run was a graded 1-7 jumping ... nice course, but you would need to be fast in Grade 3 to get a place as there are always lots of grade 3s. We got our first clear of the three days and won 2nd place!

So we have training tonight and I want to look at pull in's with my trainer to work out what I need to focus on to help Dylan get it right!

Pleasing weekend in the end, lots of learning to walk, plan, remember & run more difficult courses than we are used to, with lots of success on parts of courses!! A rosette to boot at the end!