I realise that it has been a long time since I have blogged anything here ... sorry about that. We have had a good summer, with lots of good agility and even the odd clear round, but not enough to get that final win we needed. Today though was the day! Wet and a horrid wet drizzly rain most of the day creating the curly look I love on Dylan, but even he was cold!
Today we won an agility, in fact we won a combined graded 6 & 7 agility non the less with a fab run. I didn't ask Dylan for tight turns in the slippy mud and I was able to get ahead throughout the run, so it felt slow (apparently it didn't look slow though). He really listened on the DW and got a great contact (not sure what I said to him, but he definitely got it! Superb flick into the weaves which I was really chuffed with and home for a clear round which I celebrated, because a clear in agility has been a while. And we won in 30.4sec.

We also won a jumping today, which was a difficult course to remember for some reason, but I did! Another jumping clear as well and yesterday we had 4th place in jumping CG6-7. So a good weekend, albeit wet and cold today!

Thank you Dog Vegas - nice venue Ramsey and a lovely way for me to finish off the summer.

We're home now and we've both had a bath (not together) so Dylan still has his curly look but is not muddy!

This is Saturday's haul - a clear round in the all sizes and grades steeplechase for the Jayne Bray Memorial fund - very happy with that as up until them my direction for Dylan had been pants! Then our last run of the day was an agility run which was clear and we won and we did it in the time, so it counts towards grade 7 ... just one more grade 7 agility to win to go up to grade 7.

Then we had the final of the Barking Mad winter series. A course set by Malcolm Jones, who apparently is not a push over for courses (and knows how to wear a bright pink shirt too!!). I wasn't too nervous for my run as I really did not think I had a chance of winning against grade 7 dogs. We went clear (see video below) even with Dylan biting me for instructions after his excellent run down the DW. Thank you Jackie Brett and John Gilbert for all the fab training. I was so proud to win with the only clear round, which as John said "counts for a lot". The glass trophy is beautiful and has a hologram of a dog jumping through a tyre. It is an amazing feeling winning a final, especially when you didn't think you would.

Sunday brought another jumping win at grade 6 on what I thought was a nice course, but there wasn't that many clear rounds which surprised me.  Unfortunately the rest of the runs were not so good. One agility Dylan decided his spaniel nose should kick in and he ran out of the ring. The last agility run went well except Dylan's angle onto the DW plus a light drizzle created a slippy moment and Dylan jumped off .. better that than hurt himself. The rest of that course ran well!

I had a lovely weekend and enjoyed the company of Samantha with Jenson and met some new people who allowed me to have a go running a collie ... wow so fast and my brain cannot work that quickly. Looking forward to holidays and KCI followed by West Lakes.

Jumping win : see video below - Duncan missed the beginning where I got a fab wait to be ahead of Dylan for the hard turns & Yes he bit me after the second to last fence because I didn't tell him where to go next. In fact I changed the way I ran that bit having watched a few other dogs - got away with it and won with over a second to spare.

We also had a team run on Saturday, which was good but we got 10 faults, not helped by Dylan's DW, although I did think Lily got hers even though she received 5 faults from the judge (check out the video below)

Saturday had an Olympia run with a course I really liked. Unfortunately Dylan jumped off the DW so I put him back on. Loved the rest of the run - great weave entry and good A frame running contact. (see video below).

Enjoyed Mandy's company at the show & it was lovely having Duncan and Luke cheering me on (well Duncan as Luke was playing with friends)

I drove two hours to get to Lincolnshire Showground today and after my first three runs I was beginning to wonder why I had bothered. We had had two relatively easy courses which I should have nailed easily, but failed because I didn't work every fence (laziness on my part). Then a hard Olympia Qualifier which I just did not get right.
The final graded 6, 7 agility round was by the same judge as the Olympia Q and just as hard - but I had more time to walk it this time (over lunch). I walked it loads, making sure I had thought of everything including where I wanted to be next. I also knew that I wanted a solid DW contact given that I didn't really get one the previous run and there being a tunnel underneath.
It ran beautifully - everything to plan. I suppose I could have been quicker on the DW, but other than that I felt everything had worked very well and I had got to places I wasn't sure I would, like through the gap between 13 & 14, so I could run down the right hand side of the next three fences to get in a better turn for the last part.
At the end the judge Laura Richardson complemented my run & I grinned a lot!
I took Joe and Dylan for a walk afterwards and rewarded Dylan with some ball play (can't really call it fetch as I have to walk up to him to retrieve the ball!!). Once done I wandered back to the ring to get my time and found that I had won grade 6, but with time faults ... only 0.468s. I was elated and gutted at the same time, but then realised that I had won against all the other grade 6 dogs so I am delighted. We can do it and will do it again when the course time is not so tight. Speaking to Laura I said thank you and she again complemented my run saying it was a shame not to have happened in the course time. Her course time had been set because she had run her grade 7 ten year old dog round in 40 seconds so 45 seconds seemed reasonable.
I went to collect the rosette and plate early as I had a two hour drive home, but not before shaking the hand of the judge at ringside. The plate now has been engraved with Dylan's KC name and I am very proud and feel more confident that if I work every inch I can indeed beat other grade 6 dogs.

Dylan after training at Faldo. It was a warm night, but with the shade in the field, it was comfortable enough to train in. There were five of us in the medium class, which runs alongside the small class run by John. That gives us lots of distractions. Jackie decided that Millie (with Daisy) and I (with Dylan) should do a few courses differently to challenge us. This is good for me as I prefer to work out what I am doing without watching others run, although sometimes it takes a few goes.

Our first run we all did as a warm up run. Jackie had asked us to round the left hand wing of jump 4 so we were asking the dog to run past the tunnel to jump 5. I had no problems with this. In fact it didn't occur to me there was an issue with the tunnel at all! I put in a full 360 degree turn. I wonder if I could have done a blind turn instead?

Next course (2) was set differently for Millie and I. Everyone else got 1, 2, weaves. We had to do 1, 2, 3 and to the other end of the weaves. My issue was that I couldn't work out which side of the weaves Dylan should have gone in until Jackie told me. Otherwise there was no issue and it worked well.

Two exercises along the snake ... one as a snake (Purple Light Circles) and one as two pull ins (Dark Green Squares). As a snake now problems as Dylan does those really well at a fast speed. As pull ins ... the first time was pants as I tried turning my whole body. Then I remembered "grab hands" from Toni Dawkins session, so I used my right hand to grab and draw the line to the next jump. Beautiful tight turns and quick - easy!! Good A frame contacts today as well.

Last run was Dark Red Circles: tunnel, jump, Seesaw and jump, calling away from the A frame. I sent Dylan to the tunnel (as requested by Jackie) and then ran - he followed me to the seesaw. Dylan is still having some issue with the seesaw as although he got the contact he decided to come off the side towards me. The second time I had a treat ready and stopped him as I do for the DW to keep him on the seesaw.

All in all a good session, frying my brain which I like. Good to try some of the new techniques which seemed to work. I wish I had the confidence to try blind turns. I guess that will come. Thank you Jackie for a great session as always.

It was hot hot hot today, which for a black dog is not ideal. However I felt chilled and really enjoyed today.

We had four runs starting with C6-7 Agility designed by Kim Taylor with 76 dogs running. We got an elimination because Dylan pinged the DW contact sideways and I put him back on! The rest of the run was fab though.

I tried layering jump 9 when doing 7 to 8 and again at 12, 13, 14. Dylan gave me a look but I kept my hand out and ran level with him and gave him loads of praise. I haven't tried this before so I was very pleased with him.

Best run was the jumping and we just missed the places with a time of 32.56s, so 16th I think. I tried the "grab hands" technique at 8 and 9 drawing a tighter turn for Dylan which seemed to work. From 10 I put in a turn down to 11 and 12 so I could fit in another turn between 13 and 14 (tight I know, but I managed). I needed to be quicker and more decisive as Dylan twiddled between 14 & 15, but took 16 flicking right (again I needed to be more decisive there too as we had a little twiddle).

Very pleased to have tried a new technique successfully, but it still requires so much brain power!!

Nice course, flowed well. I slipped at jump 2, pulling my bum muscle (ouch!). Dylan was a bit concerned after that and kept looking at me, so I encouraged and praised all the way around, but took the wrong side on 10, keeping Dylan on my left instead of doing a blind turn, so he shot past 11.

Really happy with the run though, except my bottom now hurts!! (Thanks to Samantha for the pain killers later - oh and well down for a great (was it 5th) place in this qualifier ... Jenson could be going to Crufts at this rate!)

Last run of the day for me was the Helter Skelter. I was expecting Dylan to fly round, but the heat had clearly got to him because I had to slow right down! So despite my bum hurting I did encourage Dylan round to a slow time of 29.918s, which actually was 17th out of 118 dogs, so not too bad!

Tried a hand grab from 9 to the tunnel, but it didn't work, just confused Dylan as I suppose my body had turned, an arm out would have been fine!, Lovely exit from the tunnel to 11 and super snake, no time lost there!

All in all a lovely day. Samantha's company was lovely, as was Rachel (several rosettes for her and Obi) and Tania too. Also saw some lovely runs from my club members :-)  I should have some video to load soon as Rachel kindly

Today Dylan and I went to a group training session with Toni Dawkins, organised by Amanda Pigg. Not too far for me to travel but there were others that had driven over an hour. I would say we had about 2.5 - 3hrs of training with several different points covered, including individual correction during practice.

Five obstacles with a number of options. Some people wanted to work on independent weaves. After our first attempt where Dylan came out of the last weave :-( we then worked the course with Toni at the end of the weaves with a reward. The idea was that we could peel away from the weaves but the dog finishes the weaves before being directed to the next obstacle. In fact I was quick enough to get between the tunnel and fence 4 anyway, but independent weaves seems like a good option. Dylan liked Toni and would happily play tug with her :-)

Next was a "blind turn" after the tunnel to direct the dog over 4 but at a angle which minimised the distance between 4 and 5. For me that was okay as I have been trying that with tunnels in my normal training and in competitions as well. What I learnt was that the dog looks for the cheek and comes to that side of you regardless of which arm is out, so turning you head slightly towards the side you want the dog is important.

The third part was driving Dylan on at the last fence with "GO" command and a toy to go to (Toni with a toy in this case). This is what I need to do with tunnels in actual fact ... if I am behind Dylan I want him to drive forward anyway unless I say so, so have a toy in front to drive Dylan on even when I am behind him.

Toni asked me what kind of contacts Dylan did on the A frame. My answer was that he doesn't stop! If he doesn't stop we'll do a running contact then she said. A piece of guttering was placed across the A frame above the contact, which will help Dylan lengthen his stride onto the contact. Toni told me to run to the tunnel entrance and we'd see what he did. A perfect running contact apparently!

"Grab hands" means reach behind you with the appropriate hand and pretend you're grabbing the dog and pulling him along the line you want. If the dog is behind you so should your hand be. So grab hands were used from the tunnel to fence 3 (from either side as you can grab over a fence as well) and then again at fence 6 to grab the dog to complete a tight turn around the wing closest to fence 7. I choose to grab Dylan with me right hand  going into fence 3, arm out form 4 and 5 (straight line though) and then reach and grab with the left hand to draw the dog around fence 6 and then run in the direction to complete the course.  This grabbing manoeuvre is different from anything I have done before and is simple enough for me to remember - effective as well to create a tighter turn on 6.

One chap showed us how if fence 7 jumped the other way you could use a grab hands over fence 7 to draw the dog around 7 after 6. Very effective and without the need to "push" the dog through the gap - the dog just went there anyway because the grab hand was drawing the way. Very clever and effective. Needs practice though :-)

I thought this was the trickiest course we did. I wasn't sure what Dylan would do on the contact. Anyway he is supposed to stop and Toni encouraged me to keep correcting him to 2 on 2 off, until he gets it, which he clearly doesn't at the moment. I had planned to put a turn in after 2, but Dylan was way too fast and overshot the jump before a turn. I need a "steady" command to help him know something is coming - that actually worked a treat, although still work to do. I guess if I can get a stop on the DW then getting in the right place would be most helpful.

The second part of the course was no issue, grab hand (right hand) over jump 5 and fo me a pivot on 7 to bring Dylan in as tight as possible. That worked beautifully :-) Other options for the turn on 7 are a turn so the dog runs between you and the fence wing OR a sort of squatting position with bum against fence 7 wing roughly where the number 7 is and facing away from the fence. The dog then goes around you and you draw the dog with your right hand (blind turn type of effect).  I didn't try this as I am happy with my pivots for now and this created a tight turn anyway. There was much hilarity with the squatting position for obvious reasons and some people made it work well :-)

My thanks to Toni for a great lesson (and much patience) and to Amanda Pigg for organising it for us. I look forward to the next one.

Back to Axstane Agility Show today to enjoy four runs and the company of Samantha and Jenson. We did manage one clear round in the jumping although it wasn't quick and a bit scrappy. Dylan had a definite problem with the seesaw which started yesterday and meant that in the first run he wouldn't go on it - a second try and lots of praise seemed to appease him and his second agility run was much better. The best thing about today though was watching the Champ final which included a number of people I knew, so I really enjoyed watching them compete. We have a long way to go to make Grade 7 and be eligible for Champ, but we will get there eventually.
The photo is of Dylan with his clear round rosette, Joe, who enjoyed playing on the PawsOnIt garden agility equipment and of course the excellent Jenson, who did rather well today winning an agility and getting 10th place in the Crufts ABC qualifier. Well done Sam!

Axtane Agility Show today (and tomorrow) - just two runs: an agility qualifier for Olympia Mediums and a graded 4,5,6,7 Jumping. So two nice courses compared with the difficult 6/7 courses I have been having!
Left is the Olympia Qualifier agility course. We had a great start, but Dylan faltered at the tunnel entrance (I am guessing this may have been 5 faults maybe). Great run along the back straight, turn into the weave. I ran with the A frame on my right, but probably didn't work the contact properly (another 5 faults). By now Dylan is watching me two closely and jumped up after the cloth tunnel as I clearly was not running fast enough. In retrospect (a wonderful thing!) I would have run with the A frame on my right and put in a turn in front of 18, so I ran down the outside of the cloth tunnel - I would have been ahead of Dylan than!

What can I say about the jumping? We had waiting all day for this course. I liked the course and thought we could do well. Great start all the way to 8, where I had planned to send Dylan left to 9. He was right next to the jump, committed I thought, "Back" I shouted and presumably started turning as well and would you believe it pulled Dylan off the jump!! That was the end of that really, because he started jumping up and being silly. Never mind - another day tomorrow!

The best thing about today was meeting up with Samantha and Jenson, enjoying a lovely cake with Sam and watching Jenson trying to goad Dylan

I decided not to camp at the Thames show even though it is at Newbury Ground, which is about 1 hour 20 minutes drive on a good day. Actually I am glad as it gives me an evening at home eating Chinese!
Anyway we had three runs today - the best of which was the CG6-7 Crufts Agility Qualifier which was first thing this morning. I liked the course and the only bit I was worried about was going across the half box 5 to 6 - everything else seemed straight forward. It walked easily first time. The queue wasn't too long so I didn't wait too long before joining it, warmed Dylan up using some of the techniques I have been shown and away we went. Dylan was perfect. Great contacts - a little slow down the DW but I would rather have that than jump off ... did that bit in silence and that works better than talking - Dylan definitely watches my body and if I slow down so does he.
I didn't check the time until they were writing up the results and didn't really expect a place, but a time of 40.855s (5 secs behind the winner) put me in 9th place and gives me 2 points towards the Crufts Qualifier. Whether I can get any more remains unknown at this time!!