Autumn approaches....

What a season we have had this year! Zazzy won her fourth G6 agility class at the Dogs In Need show, and is now grade 7. She has also qualified to go to Olympia. Clever Zazzy :-)
Deece qualified for the Novice Cup final at the Kennel Club International Agility Festival with the highest score, and then went on to qualify to run at Crufts. He has also qualified to run in the UKA steeplechase final at the beginning of December. We still have plenty to work on, and I am hoping that he will start next year in novice so he can have a go at trying to qualify for the novice Olympia final, although he took me my surprise by winning his agility class last weekend, so now he is in grade 5! Eeeek I don't want him to be clever again until the Olympia qualifiers, which start next spring!

Lake District June 2011

View from Haystacks



On teh way to Grisedale Pike

Stopping for a drink on the way up Grisedale Pike

View from CatBells, near Keswick

Whinlatter Forest - the inscription reads 'Nature's peace will flow into you like sunshine flows into trees'

Looking back to the Lune Valley showground from Farleton Fell (walked there from the show on a day off)

Zazzy looking out towards the sea from Farleton Fell

Catch up - Deece

Deece continues to be the loviest dog. He is still quite goofy and gullumphs around making me laugh all the time. We are not going clear around many courses! Mostly just a pole, recently he has had quite a few faults in the weaves (I think the weave bases at that show were spaced more narrowly than most). Some of the courses have had very tight spacings all the way round. Here is one video of him, you can see how many bounces he puts in, and just the one pole!

Having said we haven't gone clear that often, he has had four jumping wins so has now moved up to g4! He is doing some lovely bits and I am really pleased with him.

Catch up - Zazzy

I haven't written about how the season is going for ages, so here goes. The shows started for us in April, although I am not doing as many competitions as I have done in past years (due to rocketing fuel prices and a frozen salary), and have also been judging rather than competing at some of them. Just as the vet said, it took at least six to nine months for Zazzy's hormones to settle down after her op, but here we are a year later, she is sooooo much happier.
At her first show of the season she had a jumping win and a second in agility at grade 5. She has gone on to get 10 wins and 11 seconds which, along with her other top 10 places, has taken her to the top of her league in the Agility Club points system, despite missing the first 6 months! Clever Zazzy has qualified for both novice Olympia semi final days, and at the Thames show not only won her Olympia qualifier but came second in the CSJ novice qualifier. Unfortunately, due to work committments, we will not be able to make the CSJ final though which is disappointing.
So Zazzy moved up to grade 6, and I thought that would be the end of the trophies, but to my surprise and delight on her first day at g6 she won her agility. On her second day she had another win and a second. On her third day she had a second and a third. Unfortunately I only have a video of that third place (thanks to Lorna for filming) - I had been scriming all day and my timing was late throughout the run (great dog shame about the handler...), in fact towards the end I momentarily forgot my handling plans and made something up.... clever Zazzy for going clear despite me LOL.

At this point the bubble did finally burst. Zazzy went acutely lame for a few hours, however thorough examinations by Dave Munnings (osteopath) and Donna Cordon-Stacy (vet) only found a small mark on her toe, our best guess is that is was a wasp or bee sting! Anyway, I didn't run her at Tuffley and she had a week off agility. The following Sunday we had a day out to Chipping Norton and Zazzy won her third g6 agility. Then she broke a toe nail right down to the quick so that was Rugby out and another week off! The following weekend she broke into my friend's picnic and stole and ate a pack of half a dozen cooked chicken drunsticks. OMG I was so worried, but she was absolutely fine (didn't want to run her for a few days though, to be safe she had another week off!). Last weekend was the Agility Club show, I was judging Sunday and got food poisoning Saturday.... I will try and blog separately about judging, and also the fab holiday we had in the Lake District, but that is the shows up to date, no shows this weekend and oh I really hope that's our run of bad luck over!!

Becky

I have been trying to put together a video tribute to Becky, but it seems my operating system is too old to cope with editing software! However with a bit of help from my friends I hope to have one soon...

Why love a dog?

Why do some people form such a deep attachment to dogs and/or other animals? I came across a really interesting and well written article today that suggests our connection with animals is ancient and has been an important and significant driving force, defining the path of human evolution. Have a look at this: http://patshipman.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/New-Scientist.pdf
This article suggests that the human-animal link makes sense of three of the most important leaps in human development – tool-making, language and domestication. It explains how developing an understanding of prey and predators was required to develop and make the most of tool-making skills. Prehistoric art from 50,000 years ago shows that understanding animals was the most important thing to the people that depicted them, and observing animals, compiling and sharing information was a strong impetus to developing language and communication. It suggests that the first domesticated thing was the dog, the earliest known dog skull is estimated to be 32,000 years old. Domesticated dogs may have provided hunting assistance, protection, and possibly even transport, and could live on animal remains that were not so desireable to humans (meaty bones and tripe!). In addition, domestic animals could be seen as a mobile source of wealth and personal power (and continue to be seen as such on the streets of cities today!). It is easy to see how important, beneficial and valued it would be to develop an understanding of how to keep them alive and well, of being able to communicate with them and control them, and of understanding how to change their genomes to enhance or diminish certain traits. All these things may have driven human evolutionary success and development. We probably owe dogs a great deal more than we realise! Food for thought.

RIP Becky (aka Squecky, aka Wildkap Wannabe) 3.3.00 - 5.5.11

I have not felt like blogging for quite a while.

In the beginning of May, less than a week after finding two lumps, Beckys lymph system was overpowered by cancer (multicentric lymphosarcoma). Within a few days she was unable to eat, struggling to drink, and fighting for every breath. By the time I knew what was going on, it was too late to even take her somewhere nice for a last walk, as she was too ill to walk far. I couldn't leave her side that last week, being torn apart as I watched her fade away so quickly.

It was the worst week of my life by far.

RIP Becky I miss you so much

Becky always gave every bit of her spirit and soul in everything I asked of her, all she ever asked in return was to be near me.

It breaks my heart that she did not have the many happy golden years that she deserved, that I expected her to have.

The evening she died I wrote this for her:

How quickly time slips away

We were having such fun only yesterday

Plenty of time for our lives to be totally entwined and united

Not as much time as was taken for granted

Not enough time in forever to make this feel right

Part of my soul, part of my shadow, is lost tonight



Becky (aka Squecky, aka Wildkap Wannabe) 3.3.00 - 5.5.11

Now, some six weeks on, I still think about her (and therefore cry) many times every day. However, I realise that the reason it hurts so much to loose my Golden Girl, and the reason that loosing her has left such a huge hole, is because of the enormous amount of life and great and good things that she brought into my life. I am grateful for every single day that I had her there with me.
My other dogs have pulled me back to functioning in the real and present world, and I realise how lucky I am to have them, how precious every moment is. I think I appreciate them more than ever now. I feel the need to enjoy every moment I can with them. After all, the only thing we can be certain of, is that we have the moment that we are in.