update on agility news

Finally, some agility news ...

UKA Scrambles (Fri 4th & Sat 5th April)
Both Sing and Saturn did very well. This was our 2nd time at UKA. The first time was nearly 2 years ago, me competing with Sing at GT!! Sing & Saturn were competing at the Beginners level, I am glad that Saturn got to do some simple flowing course, which he much needed to build up his speed. He was a real good boy.

Results:

Friday

Saturn

Steeplechase - 1st

Agility - 1st

Jumping - e'd (HA!)

Sing

Steeplechase - 3rd

Agility - 5 faults on the DW

Jumping - 1st

Saturday

Saturn

Steeplechase - 1st

Agility - 2nd

Jumping - 2nd

Sing

Steeplechase - 2nd

Agility - 3rd

Jumping - 3rd

Sorry no videos for Friday, Colin was at work and I was on my own!! I was very nervous when I have to take the all dogs on my own but the parking was very nice, close to rings. I will have to search through the video camera for some runs for the past few weekends.

Sheltie Agility Show (Sun 13th April)

I was so much looking forward to it and determined to win the Best Novice Trophy. It is a very nice trophy which every sheltie lovers would dream of! Unfortunately it was not my day. I'd received a bad news from my family the day before, so I wasn't up for enjoying myself but seeing so many agility friends made me feel better at some point.

Sing got a 2nd in the Novice Jumping and we've got a nice tea cup and Saturn got a 3rd in the 1-4 Jumping. Andy and Nancy put up some very nice handling courses, I wish I was mentally well enough to handle the courses. Videos to follow ...

Wallingford (Sun 20th April)
Certainly Saturn didn't do well at Wallingford. He started to hesitate again on the A Frame, at one class, he actually freeze on top of the A Frame, unfortunately there is no video to find out the answer but someone did say to me it could be the judge was standing too close to the A Frame but I don't think that would worried Saturn. He got a a 5th in the Grade 3 Agility (?).

Sing had a couple of places in the Agility classes and went clear in the Jumping.

The day passed in blur!!

WBSDS (Sat 26th & Sun 27th April)
The boys did ok. Saturn yet was another naughty sheltie!! We have friends came to visit us on Saturday with their show shelties and Saturn took fancy on the girls, can't remember which girl but he was crazy, real crazy that he could not concentrate. I tried very hard to get his attention back but his mind just drifted off. Unfortunately I have three dogs to run and I have four classes first thing in the morning, so there is no time for me to fool about, especially Saturn and Skye were both in the same class and you have to run according to your running order. I was so much hoping Saturn will do well in the graded jumping, and YES, he disappointed me!! He didn't even look at me at the start line and after he took off, he just shot in a straightline and would not listen to me at all!!! After we came out from the ring, I have to kindly tell my friend to "go away" when Saturn is in the other ring. Luckily I got his attention back (not fully but at least 80%) and he got a 4th in the Agility. Not a smooth round, his turn was wide and he hesitate on the A Frame a little. We then have to wait for few hours before his Jumping. He was much better in the morning but I worried about the 7 weaves and lost time in that, so he got 6th in the Jumping. Yes, funnily, on Saturday, the Agility and Jumping have 7 weaves!!! On Sunday, Saturn was much happier, no girls to chase, so he better pay attention to me. He and Sing were in the same classes, all the classes were 1-4 combined/graded. The Comibined Agility was the first thing, he started off fine until the A Frame, he didn't miss the contact but run through it and I decided to put him back, and that probably was my big mistake by putting him back. The judge told me to put him on the target point instead of doing the whole A Frame, so when came to the graded class, he actually freeze on top of the A Frame again. I was very frustrated at that point. I asked the judge if I could redo the A Frame and she was kind enough to let do that but bad Saturn hesitate and came down slowly, so I have to pick him up to do the last jump. We both were unhappy so at the end of the day, our jumping round was messy and got a 10th.

Sing was a good boy at both days. He is not a fast boy, so he only have clear rounds on Saturday. We did a tricky handly combined 4-7 agiltiy course. I really like that course (by Graeme MacGregor) but Sing got 5 on the DW. Most dogs got e'd in that class. I'll post the video for this later.

On Sunday, Sing got his beautiful running contact and got 3rd in the Combined agility and 2nd in the graded agility and clear in the jumping. More videos later.

I like this photo of Sing weaving by Nick Ridley