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!!
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!!
RSS Feed