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! 

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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!