Crufts

Deece qualified for the Novice Cup final at the KC Festival last year. This meant that he was invited to the final at Crufts, where there was one agility and one jumping run, with the results to be combined. Because Deece has such long legs, I did want to go to Stoneleigh to do some training on carpet beforehand, however the long journey, cost of fuel and other commitments made it unfeasible in the end. We would just have to wing it. On the Big Day there was a strip of carpet in the collecting ring to warm up on, and I was really grateful that Deece at least got to have a little try on that. The first round in the morning was the agility, and Deece did struggle, he was so out of kilter that nothing about the run felt particularly good. However, bless his cotton socks, he managed to go clear and ended up in third place. I was so pleased that he seemed happy and confident despite the intense atmosphere; he took it all in his stride. In the afternoon we had part two, the jumping round, we ran in reverse order so he ran third from the end. I really liked the course. I tried to run it sympathetically to the conditions, just trying to give him the best lines and minimise slipping. He seemed to have found his feet, and was an absolute star. (Thank goodness for all that co-ordination and balance foundation work!)



These fantastic photos were taken by Ian Watts.
The official coverage is here: and thanks to Lorna Peachy for videoing from the stand, but for some reason it won't load (will try again later). Thanks also to Duessa for being a fab groom and Matt and Natasha for their support :-))
I felt for Matthew Goodliffe, who had two stonking runs but Quincy just clipped a couple of poles. However, he did win the novice finals at Olympia! Not too shabby for the start of Quincy's agility career! They are looking fab and I'm sure there are great things ahead for them.
Back to the Crufts ring, and we were called back for the presentation, although not told where we had ended up..... I couldn’t believe it when I realised that Deece had won both the jumping round and the overall competition, I am so proud of my special little guy. Clever Deece.

March update

Well I have a bit of catching up to do!
No sooner had I written , ‘I hope the weather stays good enough so that I can do some training’, then of course, it snowed. LOL.




The beginning of the year has been very, very busy. Lots and lots of work trying to earn enough to make ends meet, so I am looking forward to a couple of holidays, I feel I have really earned them this year! One will be in the north east of England, with my very good and fabulous friend Karen Cole. I stayed there last year and LOVED it. It is a good place to stay with dogs, there is an onsite dog walking field, and the most beautiful walking areas all around. They carried out loads of refurbishment last year so everything is new and clean. Quite a handy location for some shows too! The couple who took over Hillcrest Park last year http://www.hillcrestpark.co.uk/ are really lovely, so helpful and really nice. Can’t wait!
I have been very lucky to have had a couple of training sessions with Natasha Wise, Matt Goodliffe and Toni Dawkins, and one with Dawn Weaver. There are a couple of things I need to work on (OK OK, a lot of things, and some major work!), but I am really enjoying spending time with my dogs, I think they are amazing, and just such good fun to be with. Since losing Becky I realised that the time we have with them is so very short, and I just want to treasure and make the most of every moment.
I have had problems with my shoulder for a long time now, I even had to go to the doctor about it as it got so bad the pain was keeping me awake at night (I was put on a course of anti-inflammatory painkillers, which of course helped while I was on them, but didn’t fix the problem). It was only when I took Zazzy and Deece to Stuart McGregor http://www.mcgregor-ba.com/McGregor_Body_Adjustment for one of their regular check-ups, and had him look at my shoulder while I was there, that it was finally set on the road to recovery. I really am so very impressed with the work that he does, a while back he sorted out my Achilles tendons too. Funny how I can find the time and money to have my dogs checked out, but not myself, and it was me that needed it most! I have been told not to lift anything while it is healing, not easy when there is equipment etc. to me moved around!

Well the razzmatazz, glitz and noise of Olympia has faded into a distant memory, and it is time to look forward to the summer season. Time to get back to training! I feel very lucky to have such a lot of good trainers available down here in south east England, although venues are hard to come by and very expensive (I really do wish I could afford to have some space and equipment of my own for training). December and January have both been incredibly hectic months, I have a lot of change going on at work (yes, I’m now even more over-worked and under-paid!), plus new ventures in other parts of my life (all very good and exciting!). We had quite a long break from training over Christmas, and only started back in the second half of January. I would like to thank Shaun Young, Amanda Rogers and Matthew Goodliffe who are my main trainers at North Downs DTC (and also to congratulate all North Downs members for winning the premier league in the Agility Club points league. How fantastic is that?!) I also feel very lucky to have got some training with Toni Dawkins and Natasha Wise this winter. Thanks to them and all my friends for all your help! I really appreciate it. I have been hoping to get some video of how the training is going but have not yet found a willing volunteer to hold the camera! Now is the time to really have a think about what I can improve, in readiness for the start of the season. I have a very long list! But I find it all exciting and am feeling very motivated. We have had a very kind winter (weather wise) so far, I hope it continues long enough to work through my list! (Our first deadline is Crufts....)
I have started with some weave training. The new weave width, standardising the gaps between poles to 600mm, came into force Jan 1st 2012. I am really pleased about this, the wider weave spacing seems much kinder to our dogs, especially when they are trying to get those difficult flat weave entries. However, the weaves are noticeably longer as a piece of equipment now, both for transportation and as part of a course! I have agreed to a number of judging appointments this year, and am getting down to some serious course designing. I hate watching dogs stutter round tight, cramped courses, especially the younger dogs, and want to design courses that are a pleasure to watch dogs run round, as well as courses that are interesting for the handler to work. I do have one short bit of video of Zazzy doing some weave training, here it is.

Pictures of Zazzy at Olympia

Just love these pictures taken by Ian Watts

Olympia!!

Olympia has the most amazing atmosphere, and it was fantastic to qualify to be there. In the past Zazzy has been overwhelmed by big occasions, and I said beforehand that if I could keep her happy and confident, then I would consider the day to be a success. Zazzy was brilliant, she ran really well, after a little wobble to start with, she seemed to relax and enjoy her day, so I was very happy. However, I underestimated how easy it would be for her to pick up the wrong end of the tunnel, so we got eliminated. I was very disappointed with myself for that mistake, but still, overall we had a great experience.


To end the year on a high, Zazzy won the Agility Club points league for large grade 5, clever Zazzy :-)

We had a fantastic day out at the UKA Grand Finals at 'The Hand' Equestrian Centre, Bath. It was a well organised and very enjoyable event. There was a lovely atmosphere, great people, and Deece was adopted as an honoury sheltie for the day! I was really pleased with Deece, he had three runs and was brilliant. Clear in the first two, but not quite in the final LOL.

North Downs show

It's a beautiful sunny day, so rare in November, and it's a terrible shame that I feel too ill to fully appreciate it! I have got the cold that is going round all my friends and colleagues, the annoying thing is that after over a week of it, it just seems to be getting worse and worse. Bit of a set back, I am impatient to get on with my own training, but the slightest exertion leaves me wheezing and weak, I have lost my voice, and I feel exhausted and can't think straight. Everything is on hold until I get over it, but with Deece's final next weekend, time is running out! I did still go to the North Downs show, it is my club and I wanted to help. Luckily I was given jobs where I could sit down! It was lovely to catch up with people, well the ones that risked getting close enough to talk to LOL. Unable to run, and with the dogs unable to hear me, we didn't manage to do anything great in the competitions. Deece really enjoyed the noisy environs of the indoor school, but Zazzy got flatter with each run. Thanks to Karen for videoing this run, Deece's 4,5 jumping.