agility is not my life but my life involves agility

I was a little bit behind my schedule last week. I was busy cleaning and tidying the caravan for Axstane but decided to travel each day so Colin could stayed at home to watch the football and support England on Friday. I am not a great football fan but I agreed to support England provided Colin buy me a nice pizza! Hehehe ... while he was getting excited shouting and screaming for England, I concentrate eating my yummy pizza! Well, I didn't missed much of the game anyway, it turned out to be a very disappointed game! To make me stay to watch the second half of the game, Colin has to buy me a nice cake too! Can you imagine with all those pizza and cake, how am I going to run the next day? Anyway, I am not complaining as the pizza and cake are really yummy!

I didn't realise travelling to Axstane isn't that bad, we got there just slightly after an hour. I had two classes first thing in the morning, the DFS Crufts Agility Challenge and DFS Crufts Small/Mixi Pairs. Both classes are quite nice to run. The judging starts at 8:30. By the time I've got Sizzle to the Agility Challenge ring, I was amazed there were already 5 or 6 shelties there waiting to run! It was so funny that we have about 10 shelties in the queue with no other breed in between!

Sizzle was running ok in the Agility Challenge, he went clear but no speed. I do not know why. He hasn't show any sign of discomfort before. We weren't quite connect on Saturday. I wanted to turn him left the jump before the DW to give him more space and not losing any momentum but he decided to turn right. Luckily I was able to straighten him to go up the DW. Phew! I have been practicing the left and right with him a lot but I still cannot see why he still turn right when I said "left"!! 

Then, we have to run straight to the DFS Small/Mixi pairs. This is the first heat of the year. Sizzle is pairing with Smo and Saturn is pairing with Brax. This is the first time that I have to walk the Mixi and the Small courses. Saturn is the Mixi and Sizzle is the Small. I am sure I will get confuse one day. Luckily the Small/Mixi pairs course looks flowy so I managed to do the Mixi and the Small bit right! Both pairs ran well. I am rather please with Sizzle as this is the first time he ran in the pairs. There is a bit that I dare not do a pull through eventhough it was quite a good gap, I am worried I will send him over the wrong jump, so I decided to do a front cross, that slow him down as I was a little behind to do the front cross. Also, the snake, he nearly didn't take the jump but he was a good boy, he knew his job well. Saturn was very happy and ran well in the pairs too. 

Then, we have Sizzle in the G6,7 Jumping. It was a tricky challenging course. We ran clear but not fast enough for a placing!

After that, we have quite about three hours wait before I ran Saturn in his Jumping. He ran very well but I mishandled and sent him into the wrong end of the tunnel, absolutely my fault! 

I have entered Sizzle in the DFS Crufts Circular Knockout. I thought it was a good one to put a young dog in as it is a fast course. I realised I was wrong after talking to my guru, it could be harmful to the young one if there is an aggressive dog running together ... I was having two minds, to run or not to run. I didn't walk the course like I want to run my dog, I just briefly walk the course once for each side. When the class started, I was quite twitchy, I decided to have Sizzle out and watch who is us running against. If the other dog is the one I know, I will run or else I will pass. Our first K/O was against another sheltie, Poppy is very good, so I decided to run. Sizzle ran very well and we got through to the second round. I was a bit unlucky in the second round because I was sent to queue in the wrong queue. Normally if I have to run in the pairs or K/O, I always watch a couple of dogs in front of me to remind me the course, so I have been watching the dogs in front of me to remember which way I should go but as I step in, they told me I was in the wrong queue. Bummer! I don't even remember the course on the other side. We were against Fudge, a very fast and nice Cairn Terrier, so any wrong foot/paw, we will be out. You've got it! I lost where I was going after Sizzle came out from the tunnel, I wasn't sure to jump 2 jumps ahead then turn or 1 jump then turn so I sent him to take 2 jumps! Hahaha ... I was actually quite happy to be knocked out, at least I have got Sizzle experienced to run in a K/O with some nice dogs. That's enough for us for now. We might do it one day but not in the near future.

some of our runs from Axstane:

We didn't go back to Axstane on Sunday eventhough we have entered. I think I need a break and the dogs need a break from agility too. We have been doing a lot of agility for the last few weekends. We have a nice long lie-in, I didn't get out of bed until 9am! Then, we took the dogs out for a good long walk. After lunch, we spent the whole day in the garden doing the much needed gardening, well, at the same time playing with the dogs.

the boys enjoying the sun in the garden:

Sing loves his frisbee:

Sizzle is learning:

Saturn always have his beautiful "saturn" walk:

and yes, my life involves agility!

recalling the see-saw:

 

reaching for the ham:

Sizzle: I am nearly there!!

mmm ... yummy

that's better!

I have been moving the equipments around again. I lower the A Frame to its lowest height to retrain Saturn's contact. I am not given up on him, I just wanted to take time and do the right thing. I have gone back to the very beginning. It may take me a long time but I am in no rush. I have my manners minder out to get him to focus to run down to the bottom and at the same time to look ahead and not me. I also put a long jump on the peak to teach him to jump over the peak. Saturn has always creep at the peak of the A Frame, so I need to break the creep. I have been doing that as a separate thing to the target at the bottom. He got a little confused when we started it as I click each time he jump over the long jump. He wasn't sure where to stop but he soon learned. I didn't use the clicker on the peak for too long as I don't want him to get more confused.

the long jump on the peak is a stepping stone:

you can see how happy he is at the bottom, he carries on with the speed and stop at 2o/2o:

he is looking at the manners minder in front and awaiting for my release word:

this is us practicing on the AFrame:

I decided to see the doctor yesterday about my foot. I hurt the ball of my foot nearly a year ago. I think I was running (either in agility or playing with the dogs last year), I probably ran on a rock/stone or anything hard. I never thought seriously about it. I was hoping it will heal on its own. The pain comes and goes at times. It gets very painful lately so I made an appointment to see my GP yesterday. Well, what can I say? I went to see him and explain to him about the pain. He examine my foot, then he turned and tapping away on the computer. I thought he is going to prescribe me with some medicine, in fact, he was searching on the web for more info. That's really scarry! How can I trust a doctor who needs to refer to the web? :(

agility and football

I don't know where all these times go ... I seems to struggle to catch up with my blog! I am always busy with small little things ... 

The past week seems to flash by in blur. I was worried about my caravan. I found this company on the Internet and have the guy came to the house to look at the "damage" and give me a quote. I was rather happy with the price and for some reason, I trusted him so much and let him tow away my caravan! Is only after I spoke to others, they said: how come you trust this guy to let him tow away your caravan? Then, it hit me! I started to worry about my caravan and started ringing this guy. Well, for some reason, he didn't pick up the call, that got me worried even more. I rang the office and they didn't know anything about it. I nearly fainted! ... anyway, I got to talk this guy at last and arranged to pick up the caravan on my way back from Thames on Sunday. Then, Sunday morning, he rang me to say he is unable to access to his workshop, the industrial park has a big security gate, so I have to wait until Monday.

To cut the story short. I've got my caravan back on Monday. I am very happy with his work on the bodywork which I had damaged. It looks like nothing has happened to the caravan before, a very good job indeed. I also have the caravan service at the same time but I am not too happy with the mess they left inside my caravan. I left the floor mat to cover the original carpet but there is a dirty big foot print on the mat and the fridge door fell off. I can only guess the caravan was tow in a high speed as I found the nut from the fridge door on the carpet!

I had a silly feeling that there is something not right about the caravan but not until I have tested it, so I cannot tell. We were supposed to take the caravan to Axstane today but Colin wanted to watch England playing football. We have no TV in our caravan, the best solution is to stay at home and travel each day. He did suggested we go to the pub to watch it but I do not want to leave the dogs in the caravan for that length of time we are in the pub! So, we have to wait for another week to test the caravan is function properly.

Other than the caravan problem, our garden needs some work done. The weeds are growing so quick and the lawn needs mowing every week! Arrrggghhh ... If I am not walking the dogs, I am in the garden doing little jobs; if I am not at training, I am in the garden mowing the lawn! I wanted a big garden but I hate a big garden too!

I cannot believe I have no time to read blogs, update my blog ... where all the times gone?

I have entered Thames on both days but only managed to go on Sunday. I finished all my runs with Sizzle by 9:30am! I didn't run Sing because he is not looking too good, so he is on the rest again. We stayed to watch the Medium and Small Championship. It was relaxing and good fun. Matt & Brax were in the Small Champ, they were awesome. They did a lovely fast round in the Final and got their 1st Reserved Ticket! WOW! Such fantastic news! Huge Congratulations to them! You can read all about it on their blog.

Roger set up a nice Comb 1-7 KC Olympia course, I cannot believe I once again messed up the pull through! Arrrrggghhh ... WHEN am I going to learn this pull through? I am getting very frustrated with myself. I know it is all my body language to send the wrong signal to poor Sizzle.

Then, we ran in the G6,7 Agility. It was a handling tricky course. Not many dogs go clear in that course. There are a couple of kinda pull through the gaps in the course, after my failure in the pull through in the KC Olympia, I haven't got much hope doing this course but I keep reminding myself, treat every run like you are going to win it. This is the only way I motivate myself. Sizzle ran beautifully, I knew I cannot push him to go fast due to the traps. Other than the two "pull through" gaps, I was also worried about the jump after DW. There is the tunnel right in front of the DW, that is Sizzle's favourite! I do not want to call him off too early just in case he missed his contact but he was a good boy that morning, he listened and he responded well. And boy! His See-Saw was good too. There is only one slight mistake, when he came out from the green tunnel, I push him too far/too much that he needed to collect himself to find the weave entry, Bless him! BAD mummy. On the good side, I am so please to know he understands the weave entry!

Then, I did badly in the Jumping with Saturn and Sizzle. For some reason, that morning, every courses we ran, got at least a pull through.  With an awkward start, I cannot position myself in the right place to send the dog but Saturn pick up the first tunnel (red) well but I was so far behind that my body sent him the wrong jump. Poor Saturn has a crash into the spread! With Sizzle, I was lucky that I managed to push him into the red tunnel and didn't get a refusal for that but we had a little miscommunication on the black tunnel! I was pleased with the two boys on the weave to the jump part. I know I need to learn the pull through to be able to get them to jump the last jump the correct way!

here is the video:

I have been practicing some weave entries with the boys this week, I picked up this Wild Weavers from Bud Houston's blog. Both Saturn and Sizzle did really well the first time I tried it, then I moved the two jumps in the middle to make it a little difficult. Saturn is a good weaver and he has no problem but Sizzle struggled. To my surprised he was good at the flat entry on the 90degree but not the on the other side that he has to wrap around the first weave pole. Then, after I got him to wrap around the first pole, he now messed up the flat entry!! Boooooooooo ...

Right, more football tonight, hopefully England will do better this time!

Come On England

Come On England

that's the way to keep the ball out!

Happy 1st Birthday to Zap

Happy 1st Birthday to this Precious little boy

look out for his grown up photos on his own blog

licks from daddy Sing and mama Gem xxx

Birthdays

Saturn and I had a wonderful birthday weekend surrounded by shelties (we have more than 14 shelties at one time in my little camping garden!) and agility! What can be better than that? Saturn got a 4th place in the Comb 6-7 Jumping on his birthday (4th June), just behind 3 Border Collies! Ain't bad, hei? The icing on the cake was Sizzle gained his Final win towards Grade 7 on Saturday, my official birthday date! My BEST birthday present ever! 

 Sizzle with his Final win towards Grade 7

A lot of people are confusing by my birthday(s)! Well, I was born on the 4th of June but then back in those old golden age time (that how old I am!), my grand-father went to register me a day later, so 5th of June has become my Official birthday. I am so lucky that I can choose whichever day to suit me, or I can have both days as my birthdays! I vote 4th, so I can celebrate with Saturn!

Sorry for the poor quality of this picture. Here is me with Saturn and our birthday cake

I took the caravan and the shelties to JDA show at Littleport on Thursday. I haven't have a good start of the day, I nearly got hit by a BMW on M25 that morning. The BMW was whizzing like crazy and I was driving carefully on my lane and thank God, we were safe. I pulled over to South Mimms service station to stretch my legs and let the dogs out for toilet. Then, I remembered I haven't got my caravan key with me! Ooops! I got panic! Luckily my 2nd nephew who is staying with me has been very kind to jump on the train to bring me the key. A big Thank You to Boon.

We got to Littleport around 11am. Without the caravan key, there is nothing much I can do but Boon arrived with my key an hour later so I was all set up before other campers turned up. I was very lucky to be able to camp with so many shelties and their handlers. Eventhough Colin won't be able to join me until Friday evening but I was feeling safe and happy to camp with friends.

I was so happy to see Tig-let again. She has become very friendly with me this weekend. Sally was camping two doors/caravans from us, so Tig-let always found her way to visit us. It was very funny to watch her trying hard to tease Sing to play with her. Also, I found I have mistaken her to Sing from a distance. When Tig was wandered around outside my garden, I thought that was Sing on the loose (that doesn't sound like Sing as he is always behaving himself), so I've got panic. I kept calling "Sing, Sing ..." but she totally ignored me and I didn't even realised Sing was actually stood beside me wandering why I keep calling his name! But from close, they look quite different.

Tig enjoying the sun in our garden

I love JDA, it is such a nice relaxing show. Thanks to James and Lisa for putting on a nice show at a nice Leisure Centre. I've really enjoyed this weekend. All the courses I have ran were brilliant. They weren't any easy fast course but needed handling and flow nicely if you get it right. I've entered Sizzle in 3 classes each day, a Jumping class for Saturn and an Agility class for Sing. I managed Friday just fine without Colin being my groom, I missed his filming though. I would like to watch back my runs to see my mistakes for improvement and also to see some of my good handling to boost my confidence.

Friday - no video

From my memory, Sizzle went clear (they placed up to 3rd and he was just one place out of placing) in the Combined 6-7 Agility. It was a tricky course and I was very pleased with myself to go clear in that course. Then, I've got him eliminated in the Graded 6,7 Agility. It was a handling course but we didn't quite managed the "handling" bit and once we went off course, I fell into pieces and went horribly wrong! We then went clear in the Combined 6-7 Jumping, also just one placed out of the placing.

I ran Sing in the Graded 6,7 Agility. We got eliminated too! It was the same course I ran with Sizzle later and we went wrong in the same place!

Saturn seems to put up a gear this weekend. He was very happy. He got 4th in the Combined 6-7 Jumping, just behind 3 Border Collies. I am so happy with him.

Saturday

I was glad to have Colin back to being my groom and our cameraman.

Sizzle was first up at the Combined 6-7 Agility. Graham Burgess put in a very tricky course, obstacle discrimination. Tunnel next to DW. I like the challenge! Sizzle was running as Grade 6 and I do need some challenging courses to proof our training. Sizzle handled really well with the obstacle discrimination part, the dog has to take the Tunnel the first time then DW the second time. Sizzle wasn't even hesitate at all. When I was walking the course, I only have one mind, with a running contact, there is only one way to walk it, that is to trust your dog to go up the DW and ran with him. I saw so many handlers tried to be on the other side of the DW, tried to block the tunnel entrance and scoop the dog up the DW. I cannot do that as I will be stuck behind and there is no way I can smoother the run if I tried to block the tunnel as the next obstacle after the DW is the jump on the right. I stick with my instinct and I glad I did. Sizzle handled the beginning beautifully, I cannot ask for more for a baby like him but of course I pulled him off the DW too early. My timing was wrong and he missed the DW contact. Then I got stuck behind and didn't managed to do a front cross before the 2nd tunnel and he went into the wrong end of the tunnel. And guess what? We still can't do the pull through! Arrrrggghhh ... Just a little note, I saw so many people tried to block the tunnel next to the DW, that didn't work for all, some got it ok but most of them missed the DW anyway.

My 2nd run was Sing's Graded 6,7 Agility. This was a nice course but there is a trap near the end, it was a See-Saw into the straight Tunnel, then a pull through/push through a jump, into the other tunnel and spread to finish. I tried to draw the diagram:

Sing ran well until the SS-Tunnel, I tried to do a front cross then push through but it didn't work, he went straight into the next tunnel! This course has caught so many dogs, most of them just did Tunnel-Tunnel to get eliminated. I ran Sizzle over the same course, this time instead of doing a front cross push through, I stayed back and did a deep pull through. The gap between the straight tunnel and the jump was very tight. I saw many people did pull through and the dog went back into the straight tunnel again. Sizzle and I went clear and we won that class. This is the Final win that take him up to Grade 7. You can see Colin must have been shaking watching us as his camera wasn't steady.

Then we have our Combined 6-7 Jumping. The beginning was quite challenging for the dogs that has no wait. The judge's briefing was that the dog is not allow past the start beam. I tried to draw the diagram of the course, scale not according, just my own draft:

I thought Saturn ran very well in that class apart from him nearly taking the spread instead of the tunnel. He did went into the Tunnel though but lost time. That cost us a place! Then, Sizzle ran in the same course but he missed the last pole. I redo once, again his missed the last pole so I carried on.

Sunday

I am still not used to 3 days of agility. I get very tired and exhausted. My first run of Combined 6-7 Agility with Sizzle didn't go as planned. Firstly, he went into the tunnel instead of turning right after the DW, so we got eliminated straightaway. Then, I went off course and he missed the weave entry and at the end I lost everything, so it was a disaster run.

Then, it was Sing's Graded 6,7 Agility. Due to lack of practice, poor Sing missed the DW contact, otherwise good. Sizzle ran over the same course later and won that class.

Good Saturn has been a very good boy this weekend, he got a 4th in the Combined 6-7 Jumping. Sizzle also ran over the same course but again I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, that led him to miss the weave entry.

this is Saturn's Jumping rounds from Saturday & Sunday: 

I have compiled this little video of Sizzle from Grade 3 to Grade 7:

 these lots taking him to his G7 journey

another 500 miles of craziness!

We had yet another crazy long weekend! Colin has to take Friday off work to travel with me to Derbyshire.  We left home just after 6am to avoid the traffic on M25 and M1, we had an hour stop somewhere on M1 and got to Dog Vegas around 11:30, after all, it was an easy journey.

This is our first time camping at Bakewell showground. It was suggested to me by many agility friends that this showground is lovely so we decided to withdraw from Nottingham and camp at Dog Vegas. Bakewell showground indeed is lovely, the scenery is so beautiful, you have miles and miles of walking area where you can walk your dogs; also there is only 100 yards between the showground and the town centre, so it is very convenient.

I've entered the boys at Dog Vegas on Saturday and Monday; then Nottingham on Sunday. There is the Crufts Team qualifier at Nottingham on Sunday, Sizzle is in the Team, the plan is to leave the caravan at Dog Vegas and drive up to Nottingham on Sunday.

Sizzle has 4 runs on Saturday, two Agility and two Jumping. He won the first Agility (G4-7), this is his first G6 win. Then, we messed up the second agility. It was G1-7, I never thought he will miss the weave entry but I knew it was my fault. I let him find the entry where the angle wasn't quite obvious to him. Otherwise, it was lovely. After lunch, he had two Jumping, he got 2nd in one and 3rd in the other. Saturday's weather was wet, eventhough the rain wasn't too heavy but the ground is slippery, at the very last jumping course, I dare not push, I am worry that I may slip on the ground and also there is a wall that we need to do twice. We never have a wall at training and so far, he been only jump over a wall once. The angle of the wall is about 45 degree, so I was afraid that he might not jump over it. Hey, I am a worrier, he has no problem at all!

Sizzle with his winnings

Saturn surprised me with his first Jumping win after so many weeks/months of eliminations! This is also his first G6 win! I guess he is getting himself an early birthday present! 

 f

After a good Saturday, Sunday suddenly became a disaster day. I've got a phone call from one of our team-mates that he has been unwell, so he is not able to run for the Team. We haven't have a reserve, so the Small Team is not able to run. I still want to go to Nottingham knowing we are not going to run as I am the Team Captain and I like to be there to be able to support the Medium Team. We got to Nottingham very early and it was gale force wind all day. I have entered Sizzle and Saturn in the individual classes but only ran Sizzle in the Agility and a Jumping. The reason I want to run the Agility because the course was challenging,  there were a couple of pull through and I really are not sure if I can make it clear and I was right, I got eliminated at the first pull through! Then, the Medium Team was on, unfortunately they didn't qualified this time. I think the high wind must have set the shelties off as each one of them has a fault! The Small Team decided to run as NFC (Nor For Competition) so we can train in the ring. By 11am, the wind has become unbearable (to me), I decided we should go back to the caravan at Dog Vegas. We got  back to Bakewell at around 2:30pm, more bad news. As I have left my awning and it got ripped off in the high wind and  all the metal poles has broken and it left a few scratch mark on the caravan too! I was most upset!

I was so stressed that I turned into comfort eating! You cannot believe that I have ate 1.5 tin of Chili Con Carne, two burgers and a sausage with two big bowl of rice! Of course, I feel so sick afterward and I fell asleep just before 8pm! Such a tough life!

I was hoping I will do better on Monday, Sizzle has three runs, an Agility and two Jumping. I messed up our only Agility run! Arrrrgggghhhh ... Sizzle was going so well. He was really good boy, even I feel good running with him. We whizzed around until the See-Saw. I guess I was running hard (after a big meal the night before!) and suddenly came to a stop (I wanted to stop with Sizzle at the See-Saw to make sure he is tipping the SS), I heard my knee go crack! Sh*t! I was hoping he will GO ON but poor Sizzle took the long jump and thought we have finished! I guess this is my fault. At home, I set up a jump-SS-jump sequence to practice the SS, so I guess he will not go on after one jump! Poor little man! It was such a shamed that he missed the last jump, that was really a good round.

After our first run (before 9am), I have ages to wait for my other runs. I am not a patient kinda person. I have even packed up the caravan and still waiting to do my 2nd run. At the end, I decided to enter a Pay On the Day with Sing. I haven't run Sing for a while and I would like to give him a little run. After I entered Sing, I went back to enter Sizzle and Saturn too. Crazy! Just as the judge set the course for my POD Combined 5-7 Agility course, Saturn's first jumping course is up for walking! Arrrggghhh ...

Anyway, I walked the POD then Saturn's Jumping course. The POD is a combined class for Small & Medium, they combined the results together into one. They decided to start the Small so Sizzle is up first. It was a challenging course, probably the best course I have ran so far this weekend.  I wasn't sure if we will go clear as I find it hard to remember the course but Sizzle ran very well. He was the first one to go and clear. Then, I ran Sing, he gave me a shock! He was all over the place. He was so hyper and crazy, he was fast but he wasn't listen too well, so got eliminated! Then, I ran Saturn. I treated this as a training round to train his contact. Hey, for the first time in long time that he actually did all his contact nicely, he wasn't very fast over the contacts but definitely no hesitation going into position. I was so happy! I gave him a big piece of beef after that! That really make my day. I hope he will stay that way. To my surprised Sizzle won the POD by 3 seconds! 

After lunch, we had our Jumping rounds. I never thought Sizzle will win a Jumping class as there were a few very fast small dogs there but he won it, not just one class but two Jumping classes! WooHoo! We are now 3/4 way to Grade 7! We need another Agility win now.

Luckily the traffic was good on the way home on Monday evening. We didn't finish until 5pm, so we left Bakewell  just before 6pm and got home around 9:30 with a 45min stop. So far, we made a 500 miles round trip again! 

I try to recover from exhaustion but I don't think I am getting a proper rest as I am off again early tomorrow to Littleport! Another three days show! 

Sadie

It always make me feel so happy to receive emails and photos from my puppy's owners. I love seeing them grow and enjoy sharing their little stories ...

Sadie has grown into a beautiful young lady

Like her daddy Sing, she won't leave Chris alone while she is doing her gardening, so Chris has now become an expert of one hand gardening and one hand playing tugging/throwing tennis ball for Sadie!

She is a joy to her family, she is good with children as well as the neighbour's cat Honey:

I can't wait to seeing her again in August!

what a lovely HOT weekend

Is roasting here! Yes, I am complaining! It is too hot for me! I haven't have a good night sleep for a few nights. I have been toss and turn, the heat is constantly giving me headache! I wish I have a swamp cooler like the dogs! 

Sizzle & Sing still dislike their swamp cooler, so I thought I will put them on when we go out walking to make sure they get used to it. I purposely took them out late morning on Friday so I can put the swamp cooler on.

the boys displayed their swamp cooler

As it was so HOT, the boys just wouldn't want to get out from the water! The funny thing was, I never thought Saturn will swim in the pond. I guess it was too hot so he actually jump in the pond and join Sing and Sizzle for a good swim before I can remove the swamp cooler so silly boy swimming with the heavy swamp cooler!!!

Samber's coat is looking lovely now, she is a little madam, taking her out has become a nightmare as she likes to roll in the fox poo!!! Arrrggghhh ...

Temperature seems to increase everyday, Saturday we went to BATS. I have never been to this show before. The venue was nice, we had a nice enclosure walk for the dogs. It was a big show, 10 rings and there were more than 200 dogs in the small KC Olympia class! And there were about 100 dogs in Sizzle's other classes, so you can imagine we have a long wait!

We still got to get there early as I have classes to walk. I didn't run Sing at all. I only ran Saturn in one Jumping class. Sizzle's Comb 5-7 Agility was first thing but our running order was towards the end of class so we have to wait. I really wish I could run early as the heat was increasing fast! I sat by the ringside watching the other dogs ran, it was a tough course, lot of traps. It took me a long time to register the course in my head!

this is the comb 5-7 Agility, 

I draft the course so scale may not be right but just gave you an idea about the course:

A lot of dogs got eliminated from #5(tunnel) to #6(weave). All the dogs wanted to take the jump in front of the tunnel. When I put Sizzle on the startline, I was worried that he will take the jump too, if he does come through the gap, I was worried that he will go up the DW again instead of the weave. I told myself I need to work hard on it. I was very happy that I stood my ground to call him through the gap and took his eyes off the DW, I knew I can run smoother by not stopping too long but PHEW, I clear that area! The other trap was from the see-saw to the tunnel. The jump in front of the see-saw was really close to the see-saw. That was my biggest worried! You all know I have re-trained the see-saw and I need proofing in the ring. I was very confused on that Saturday morning. I wanted to have an easy sequence up to the see-saw so I can be sure we both did good. I walked the see-saw in a recall manner and hope to catch him if he flew off or even try a front cross and flip him into the tunnel but I have a bad feeling about it. I knew I need to trust him to give me a good see-saw. I also walked crossing behind (my last option) the see-saw which give me better position and to get his attention to turn his head to the tunnel instead of the jump in front. Hey, all in all, I feel really good about this course. I managed to cross behind the see-saw and he ran all the way up to the see-saw with no hesitation! What can I ask more? I was so happy! I was over the moon! All my hard work has paid off, that counts! Even better, we went clear! WooHoo! Coming 3rd is VERY GOOD for me, just behind two top handlers and heyho! My first clear round with Sizzle after so many weekends of eliminations!!! I feel good! REALLY GOOD!

Then, I have a long wait for my other classes. Two of Sizzle and one with Saturn, all happened at once!

Sizzle's KC Olympia course was another challenging course. The DW-Tunnel-Jump sequence got a lot of dogs eliminated and faulted. I saw many handlers/dogs crossing behind the tunnel and when the dogs came out, the exit is pointing to the start jump, they can't see the handler, they went back to the tunnel again or they were about to go over the start jump and got refusal. I've heard there aren't many clear rounds in the Medium class. There were more than 200+ dogs in Sizzle class. I wanted to beat Sizzle to the tunnel so I ran like hell. I wans't too happy with the long jump-spread-DW, I think I am asking too much from my young dog to stretch then turn to find the DW entry. The DW entry was a bit slight angle. I knew Sizzle likes DW so I trust him to find the entry but there is a small chance he will miss the entry. I guess I was running like hell  to beat him to the tunnel exit and he wanted to chase me and he missed his stride and miss the DW contact. Other than he missed the DW, I really think our DW-Tunnel-Jump sequence was perfect. Then, SS-Cloth Tunnel-Jump(PT)-Jump. I wanted to do a front cross after the SS this time so I will be on the other side of the cloth tunnel but I didn't get a chance. I was at the same level with him, so I didn't get my front cross. With a front cross that will give me a better line to do the pull through. I did walked the other way if I can't do the front cross, I will take a longer route to swing him instead of pull through. I think his directional commands confused him, I told him to turn LEFT, he turned right! This is not the first time and it did happened a few times, so I need to make sure we strengthen our directional command. Also, we need to work harder on the PT as well. Other wise I am happy and his see-saw was definitely good. Our last run was the Comb 5-7 Jumping. I knew the tunnel is a trap and yes, the tunnel caught us! Hahaha ...

Yesterday was very hot too but we went to visit a livery yard then went to Tilgate Park to meet up with Colin's family. It was good fun to picnic in the park. The shelties behaved beautifully. They were all off lead, lie down/sitting around us. They did wondered off the cock the their legs but never far and definitely no trouble. There were so many families with young children around playing football and running about. These didn't bother them at all. They were content and happy to stick around us. I am so proud of them all.

 Sizzle meeting Honey

 yes, we do like to make fun of Seagull

Sizzle and his swamp cooler

Well, I do not know what's wrong with Sizzle but he is definitely not happy yesterday and today at training (his tummy is ok, toilet is good and is eating well). It was cloudy and humid this morning. I think the temperature was between 18c to 20c. It was really muggy, there wasn't any breeze at all. Eventhough it wasn't sunny but I tried the Swamp Cooler on him, that made him even more unhappy. Sizzle does not like to wear coat or heavy harness let alone this heavy wet swamp cooler. This swamp cooler didn't make the dog wet but I didn't wring out the excess so there is water dripping, I need to do a better job. Saturn doesn't mind but Sing gets uncomfortable with it too. This Swamp Cooler really keeps the dog cool, I can feel the body isn't hot, now is the job to get the dogs get used to it. The weather forecast for this weekend is 28c! Yak! I don't think we are able to cope with that sort of heat!

 

Sizzle, wobble, heat

I continue to train Sizzle and his "wobble" everyday (2-3 short sessions a day) this week. He has been very good on it at home, I added front cross, blind turn and hanging behind, he works well running all the way up and stop at the end waiting for my "ok" word (release command). Now, I need proofing from different places.

We went to Club training today, I always find Wednesday afternoon very hard to cope. 1pm is not my best time to train! It wasn't sunny today, the weather was a little bit weird, sun in, sun out, cloudy most of the time but the air was very humid. I cannot deal with heat, it gave me headache! It was about 21c yesterday, today was between 21c-25c. I need pain killers yesterday and today to be able to cope the weather!

Sizzle is just like me, he doesn't work well in the heat either! At training today, he was very tired and slow. I tried hard to encourage him for speed but he isn't his usual speed. He did two good see-saw though. I was very please with it. It was some jumping sequence in the beginning, then into the tunnel and a jump before the see-saw, that gave him some speed to run up the see-saw. He did great, he ran all the way to the end and wait. I reward him with clicker & treat, then released. We did that sequence twice, both time he did great. I should have stop there and then but I was stupid. At the end of the class, I asked permission to do one more see-saw before going home. He was exhausted and creep on the see-saw. It was painful to watch!

I was very upset about myself and beginning to worry that I have "damage" all my training yet once again! This evening, when the air is a bit cooler, I have Sizzle out in the garden. To me he looks confused! His first attempt wasn't good. He ran all the way to the end but in slow motion! I then decided to do one recall and  a couple jumping on the side and leave it. Then, an hour later, we went out to do a couple of see-saw, he was good so I stop. An hour later, we went out again, this time I have "road killed" (his new toy) instead of treat, heyho, he was so excited, he released himself before my "ok" but I did heard the bang on the floor before he released himself. This is good but not for now, I am not risking another quick release so I have the clicker & treat out again, he did stop to wait for my release word. I don't want to over do it today, we will see what happen tomorrow.

We have Club training tomorrow morning, hopefully the weather didn't get too hot. I bought him a Swamp Cooler made by Ruffwear. I have not try it on him yet as the weather has been so wet and cool but I guess it is time for this swamp cooler. I wish they have one for human though!

I recently clear up our old sand pit and replaced by a decking. The shelties love it! You can find Sing lying on the decking in the morning enjoying a bit of morning sunshine. Sing and Saturn are so funny, they think this decking is the agility table. If I am training one of the dogs, I get the others to lie down and stay. I reward them each time they did the down stay. Normally Saturn and Sizzle will break the stay if I set them up on the patio or grass when I train Sing but not when they are on the decking. Sizzle beginning to have a good stay  (on the decking only though) now if I work Saturn and Sing.

a little bit of crazy and another bit of relaxing & fun weekend

We had a mixed weekend. Saturday was all crazy. I have entered Worcester, God knows the venue was 3 hours drive away from home and it was the 8:30am starts. I have two classes to walk, this mean I need to get there before 8am so I can walk the dogs (yes, new rule. I have to walk Saturn as he keeps running away from Colin!) then walk my classes. I had booked the Holiday Inn Express at Droitwich M5 but after reading the rules carefully, this hotel charge £10/dog, this mean I have to put at least £30 on top of the room rate. After enjoying a dog stays free at Walsall the weekend before, paying £30 seems a lot of money. I decided to cancel this booking. I probably made such a stupid mistake to cancel the booking because we then have to wake up at 4am on Saturday morning and drove crazily to Holt Heath! Or I should choose to stay at home instead of going! Sizzle has his usual "periodically" stomach problem on Thursday but then he bounced back on Friday (it appears to me like a 24hours bug because he generally bounced back 24hours later). I was debating whether to go or not because I only have Sizzle to run. After some encouragement from Colin, we are going!

The early morning drive wasn't too bad, the Sat Nav took us through Central London, the 3 hours journey becomes 2.5 hours journey so we got there 7:15am! That give me extra time to walk my dogs. Saturn enjoyed my company, he was so happy running around the beautiful exercise area. We had a big but hilly exercise area. I was too lazy to walk down the hill because climbing back is hard for early morning!

The ground where they set up the rings were brilliant. All flat and nicely cut short grass. Weather was so good, a bit too good for me, HOT! I don't do heat so I was suffering. I need pain killers to take away my headache.

My runs with Sizzle weren't very successful, we had 2 clears round out of 3 runs but he wasn't working in his usual speed. I do not know was it the heat or his tummy but he was alright that Saturday morning, had his breakfast and ran around with Sing and Saturn.

Our first run was the Comb 1-7 Jumping. It was a nice easy flowing course but as I have mentioned earlier, Sizzle wasn't stretch out like he normally do. I knew we got into placing but I didn't go and check. I was worried about Saturn running away from Colin, so I stayed in the car with him more. The tannoy only used for calling out for classes, so I have missed all the presentations.

Our 2nd run was the Comb 6-7 Jumping. Marie set up a very challenging course, two tunnels together. I work the tunnels well the first time but I forgot to go all the way up with him to flip him into the 2nd tunnel when coming back (how dare I expect a baby dog to do the tunnel on its own? But I will practice that though!) and we got eliminated but I was very please with that run. I thought he worked really well.

It was a long wait for our last run, the Comb 1-7 KC Olympia. His running order was towards the end of class so we have to wait. I saw some awesome runs, fast and sharp. I knew Sizzle and I cannot beat the time to squeeze into placing especially with the See-Saw start. I have been re-train his see-saw last week, maybe in a bad way so he learned to creep to the end. He definitely knows that I want him to stay on the see-saw til it tip, so he want to be careful but to me that was an awful see-saw performance (it was painful for me to watch)! After that run, I told myself, I am going to sort this darn see-saw issue!

 

 

I was too tired to drive home after my runs, so Colin got to drive, WooHoo for him! I can't be bother to complain as I fell asleep soon he started driving!

 

On Sunday morning, I set up my new rubber chip see-saw and started working with Sizzle (and Saturn & Sing). I did a few 3-5 minutes session with him, I started with some basic like recalling to get him run all the way to the end of the plank, then drop the plank for a big bang. I click & treat when he run all the way up to the end and then another click & treat when I drop the plank for the bang. I did that 3 times. Then, I got him to jump on from the side to learn the bang, 3 times each side. I left it there. A couple of hours later, we got into the garden, we did one recall then I tried to run with him all the way and he was a good boy, he stayed on until I released him. We did that 3-4 times and left it there. Another two hours later, I got him out and did some more, running up with him and each time he was really good. I did more yesterday and today. I started to add front cross and stay behind. I am hoping he will have better performance this weekend. We will see but for the time being, I will continue to practice everyday. I am not going to let this see-saw issue put us off.

 

 

We were quite ambitious to have a BBQ on Sunday. Got a few very close friends and family around for relaxing time. Weather wasn't promising but we all have an enjoyable time. The shelties love to have people around and we have a little football game. Sing was the Goalkeeper, Sizzle be the Defender and I was the Striker! We have so much fun!