Poor Little Fool!

Colin took two days off work so he can come with me to the Summer Open Agility Show at Ely. It was a three long days agility show located in a nice flat field. We left home very early to avoid the traffic but we were not allow in too early, so have to hang about in the service station on the motorway.

The weather wasn't too kind to us on Thursday and Friday. It was stormy, rainy and feel like hurricane inside the caravan! There is a rubber waste factory nearby the venue on fire as well. It has been on fire nearly a week before the show but for some reasons, they didn't put it off. When the wind blows towards the venue, the smell was unberable, otherwise is ok.

Sing was a good little boy. He ran mostly clear in all his class, other than a jumping class that he refused to go around one jump. It is very werid act from him, he nevers ring shy since I competed with him. He is an outgoing boy, nothing should freak him but I cannot understand why he would not go around the jump! Only then I found out there were dogs fighting outside the ring and the jump was set next to the rope, so it could be it? We only have one graded class for Sing on Friday, eventhough he went clear but no places for him. I never thought we will managed any place for Saturday and Sunday as they are all combined 6-7 classes but how wrong was I? He surprised me with a 2nd in the Combined 6-7 Agility on Saturday, and his time was very close to the winner. I cannot believe we got a place so I missed the presentation! Again, on Sunday, he got a 3d in the Combined 6-7 Agility and I missed the presentation again. I never dream we will get a place until someone told me my name have been called for prizes! This is our thrid Grade 6 show and I am really happy with our results. I started to think the challenging 6-7 courses suit him well.

Well, poor little fool Saturn is getting better and faster, unfortunately I let him down again and again this weekend. He was so close to win out of Grade 5 TWICE but I did something stupid to get an elimination and a fault but he has the fastest time of all, so I am really pleased with that. On Friday, it was the Graded Agility, there were no clear round in our Grade, Saturn were the 3rd from last to go. We were queing but the sky turned really grey and dark, just at we were on the start line, it pours! It really pours! My plan was to put him on a wait but definitely not on this condition, so we set off together. Due to the heavy rain, he actually got caught in the cloth tunnel so I could catch him and send him to the correct tunnel (as most dogs got eliminated from the tunnel). It was a fast start, so either way, the handler has to be behind the cloth tunnel and when the dog came out from the cloth tunnel, they saw the right hand side of the tunnel but the dog needs to take the left tunnel. Due to the heavy rain, Colin cannot use the camera, so no video to explain the course. Anyway, we did really well on that part, he listened to me and we did all the other bits beautifully. Also, due to the strong wind, there is no DW in the course, so I only have A Frame and See-Saw to worry about. He did the SS and A Frame beautifully and as we did the last two jumps, I pulled him too early and he back jump it, so we got eliminated!! Arrrrggghhhh ... I really want to kill myself! Then, on Sunday, at the Combined 4-5 Agility, he works beautifully, I cannot complain about the speed and the way he ran the course but I wish I have hold on a second longer on the DW, we would have gone clear! Eventhough we were faulted but he has the fastest time. Again, I am very please with him. I think he is coming back from his old confidence self. We need to train harder on the contacts in the winter.

We have two Eukanuba mini/mixi pairs heat this weekend, Friday and Sunday. The Friday course was a fast flowy one, I never thought we could squueze in a place as we saw so many top hanlders and their fast dogs on the line. Saturn and Brax managed a 10th, that is a great surprised to me and Matt. We were really pleased with our dogs. On the Sunday heat, the course was a little tricky, for the big dog section, there is a jump set in an off angle, I never thought we would have problem with that but apparently many dogs got caught in that jump. It was the small dog to start first in this run, Brax wasn't with Matt to start with, so they got a 5 for refusal on the tunnel. They then carried on and finished the course perfectly. I never thought with a 5 faults could get us a place so I didn't run with my full power and Saturn got caught in the off angle jump and I wasn't fast enough to change my handling so he back jump the jump to get elimination. I have to say a big sorry to Matthew and Bracken for my bad attitude, I should have work harder. It turned out to be, only 5 clear rounds and with the 5 faults Brax got, we should been placed if Saturn didn't get eliminated. Bad me!!

Our video camera is not working well this weekend. It got rain on last year at KC Festival, it has been very good that it is kinda still working for a year since the rain but not this weekened, so not many videos and not good quality. Colin cannot see the image sometimes so he has to point the camera the direction we ran, hopefully he still captured the run.

here are a couple of our runs: