we were sooooooo close last year a 4th and a 5th :-(
never in my wildest dreams did i think we would come home with a whole family of them !!!!! and all of them won by Mr Dooley
1st in the grade 4 agility even more of a surprise he is now grade 5 Mr Dooley !!!
i very nearly messed it up for him as you will see! my bad arms i expect !!!! i nearly sent him round the back of the jump instead of over it so for revenge he went left instead of right that nearly fooled me !!!!!
well the judge didn't mark it as a refusal and the judges decision is final !!!!
so off to grade 5 we go ;-)
then a 3rd in the grade 4 jumping i so do not give this dog enough credit !!!!! for the rubbish he has to put up with from me !!!!!
a clear round in the circular jumping we were the last in the ring and to be fair to him i had just run all the way back from the caravan and it was me that was a bit puffed before we started !!!!!!!!!
3 clear rounds on Saturday i was impressed
on Sunday there was no videos as Claire was judging i was in 2 of her classes umm i was nearly as nervous as she was !!!
Dooley was clear in her grade 4/5 jumping and her 1-4 collie dash
they were lovely courses she should be well proud of her self i know i was :-)
i am rubbish at being there for the presentations i never expect to win any thing but i was hanging around chatting ha ! imagine my surprise when Dooley was called out 2nd poor Claire her face i think she thought i might kiss her !!!!!!!! she was lucky we didn't win LOL !!!!!!!!!
Dooley ended his weekend with a naughty A frame in the 3-5 agility but hey how could i be cross ?
and then there was the Chilli bean
she is still having her mental moment and is just going a bit to fast and is failing to listen !!!!! i am not so good at getting the timing right with her when she goes up a gear bit more practice needed !!
Chilli's agility run
yep your right i couldn't run fast enough !!!!!!!! so i ended up pulling her in too soon !
its all there just needs a bit of fine tuning !!!!!!!!!! for her damn site more than fine tuning need for me !!!!!!
in the circular jumping i raced her a bit too hard at the beginning and so she took a pole
but i am well impressed with her scoop in the tunnel :-)
all in all we had a cracking weekend camped laughed a lot had some nice runs and had some not so good runs made some new friends cleared the air with some old ones
got to run both my dogs round Neil Ellis course for him to check his spacing that was fun I enjoyed that ;-)
we will be back there again next year i love this show
hours and hours in the traffic then it tipped it down with rain when we got there , the caravan sprang a leak luckily it did it on the way there so were able to fix it quite quickly
our results were not as good as we could have hoped for bit too hot for Mr Dooley who did have 3 clear rounds over the weekend just not quick enough to get in the places
i am really proud of him for getting round the 4-7 agility course which had rubber contacts which he was not loving in the slightest the look on his face was priceless as he got half way up the up ramp of the dog walk but bless his heart he didn't bale off the side :-)
Miss Chilli was just ever so slightly off her head !!!!!!!! but did some really good bits so still pleased
some beautiful photos thanks Chell i never get photos just vids so these are very welcome
a fantastic weekend with some very funny moments and rather a lot of cider made for an excellent weekend
some of the dogs good bits :-) with a few bad bits added in for good measure to keep me grounded !!!!!
so she was naughty at the beginning (my bad arms i expect !!!!!!!!) but a weave entry to die for :-)
dooley does grade 4567 agility with his funny feet on LOL !!!!!!!!!
crikey i have been missing for agessssssssssssssssssssss !!!!!!!
missing for all of June and now we are in to July!!!
we stepped out of the Kc shows through June as there was local uka shows too poor to travel when there i a show at the end of the road !!!!
well we didn't do too badly ! both the dogs were really up for it ! the weather for just dogs was beautiful :-)
we had loads of fun won a load of prizes had a go at teams and generally had some fun :-)
the following weekend was sands Saturday was lovey :-) Sunday shall we say was not !!!!!!!!!!!!
it was good for us all to have fun with no pressure we played fun game and laughed a lot !!!
and then chilli
the following weekend was Lansdown still odd weather rain cloud fog on Saturday, heat wave on Sunday !!!!!!
Chilli it seems works better in the heat Dooley prefers it cooler
on Saturday we didn't manage a clear round all day but we made up for it Sunday
both dogs clear in the grade 4 jumping
Mr D not in the places but still a lovley round :-)
no clears in the agility far too hot for Mr D Chilli going far too fast !!!!!!!! to get weaves !
then we were in trouble !!!!!!!!!!as we drove the caravan home with the hand brake on a little bit !!!!!!!! oops !!!! expensive mistake that i wont be making again !!!!!
So on to this last weekend
off to Tuffley we go, only for 1 day as I couldn't have the Friday off:-(
defo on the list of shows that i will do next year
lovely place lovely rosettes lovely venue and lovely weather.
went with Claire as Martin still fixing the caravan :-(
today we had 2 jumping classes and the Olympia agility qualifier
both the dogs went clear in the agility :-)
contacts all got by Mr D !!! that in its self was a small miracle!!!!
then Chilli beans turn
I think she is mental !!!! she loves it so :-)
I had bad arms to start then they kind of settled down!!!! she stopped on all of her contacts and weaved like a dream, we had to turn back on our selves at the end of the weaves ? i have never done that with her she took it in her stride i got in her way but she still managed to get the jump see saw then home stonking clear round even if i say so myself !!!!!!!!!
it was all happening at this show no messing about the grade 1-4 jumping was happening in the next ring Dooley had a clear round but not a very fast one he is so not good in the heat
Chilli however it seems goes even faster when its hot and so was going to fast to get the weaves .
no sooner had we finished that then the grade 4/5 jumping had started so off we go at this rate we will be finished by lunch time
Dooley up first again yaaaahoooo we got a lovely pull through and he went on to prove us wrong there was more than one one way to run that course as he surprised us all by flicking a completely different way round the top jump of the box LoL !!!!!!!!!!!then the dreaded weaves struck and out he popped !!!!!!
Chilli bean next can she still hear me ??? yes !!!! lovely pull through :-)in fact lovely clear round
the results at the end of the day were
Dooley clear round in the agility finishing 14th :-) and a clear clear round in the 1-4 jumping
2 out of 3 rounds clear
Chilli clear round in the agility finishing 3rd and a clear in the grade 4 jumping finishing 3rd
2 out of 3 rounds clear
that in it's self was a most excellent result
however that's not the end of it ..............................................................
.
...
WE ARE OFF TO OLYMPIA SEMIS YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
very very clever Chilli Bean !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On Sunday we crammed the van full of dogs and headed of to Carn Brae did you know if you shove 7 dogs and 3 people in to the van its not that expensive J
So there we were at the crack of dawn Camellia , Pinto &Florence, Claire Wren, JC,& Kai , Me Dooley and Chilli heading off on the million odd miles to Cornwall !
We get there early as we drive faster than the RAC man says we will !!!! But it does mean we have a nice parking space by the agility ring just in case it rains
I have noting to do 1st thing so I get to mooch around and chat play with dogs in the field and do filming ! J OH yes this week we have videos !!!!!!!!!
Well after hours of waiting it was grade 3 jumping ,Dooley was up 1st it was all going well when it was discovered we cant count ? out of the weaves he came why ? that’s the million dollar question ? did I say go ? possible did I move away ? quite likely ! you decide ! we have been over it and over it and I’m still not sure, the only thing I am fairly sure of it would be my fault!!
1st set of home work noted
Next up Chilli-bean I am a bit unsure of how to handle this will she go through the tyre ??she should do ? or do I run with her ad hope her directional’s are up to scratch as I will be handling from behind ??? right up to the point its our turn I’m not sure which would be best !
We decide on lead out there is only one way to find out if we have trained this tyre enough off I go I lead out I turn I move over just a tad so I can clearly see her and her me through the middle of the tyre wait till she is looking at me say go ! guess what right underneath !!!!!!!!!!! so there is my answer NOT trained that enough !!!!!!!!!!!!so I then sent her on with out me result through the tyre and my directional’s were good
2nd set of home work noted
Then came steeplechase I so got in chilli's way causing her to knock a pole
Had a chat with Toni about why and she suggested that I handle the top differently with Dooley which I did and he ran it beautifully but in all the amazement of me getting something right with out having the chance to walk it (pattern developing here !!!!!!!!!) I forgot to call him as he went through the tunnel so he shot out the tunnel and over the wrong jump !! I made sure he didn’t know that as it was completely my fault so as far as he is concerned he had a stonking clear round !!!!!!!!!!!!
3rd set of home work noted
Lastly agility
Chilli was up first she was doing a beautiful round till I thought I knew better than her and asked her to steady and caused her to knock a pole bit more faith required on my side I fancy !!!!!!!
4th set of home work noted
Last up Mr Dooley lovely dog walk naughty A frame really really naughty weaves ???????????? what was that all about the entry was the hardest bit and he got that ?
5th set of home work noted
Keeping me on my toes that’s what that is all about! they cant be letting me think it's easy!!
Last weekend was Blackdown Show at windy Taunton race course
I am late in writing this up again !!! as have no videos L I hate not having videos they are so useful for various different reasons !
Some times if I am luck I can re -live my moments of triumph!!!!!!
But
Mostly I can watch to see where it went wrong and what it was I actually did to make it go wrong !
I could have done with the video of Dooley’s 1st agility round it might have helped me ?? Did I have the right dog or had I collected one with cloth ears by mistake ???????
As I gave the caller my number she said some what curtly O you beat me last week !!! well there wasn’t much chance of it happening again in that round !
We missed contacts knocked the 1st pole down ! Dooley never knock poles ????!!!!! it was such a disaster that by the end I had totally given up ran towards the end just to finish and Dooley put in the most smooth snake line to finish that I hadn’t even seen when I walked the course !
AHHHHHH !!!!! was he still in there some where????????? ;-)
We carried on to do the tunnels and spread course where I finally felt like we had found each other again he put in a beautiful round powered in and out of the tunnels and ole big gob here spoilt it by shouting go at him just as he was jumping the spread and yep you guessed it he dropped a back leg and down came the pole…. BOO to me !!!!!!
Then came the call out that the agility had to be rerun as it had got so windy that the dog walk had to be removed so dogs back I to van and agility course re walked it was more like a steeplechase with obstacles this time still we got another go as every one had to re run it
Which we did no one was around when we did it I went the wrong side of the A frame and had to scoop Dooley round was not sure that he got the contact but there was no one to ask
I then got chilli out to run the tunnel and spreads after queuing for ages Claire came over and said have you walked the jumping ?????????????? what jumping ??????it was so windy that I hadn’t heard the call out for the course to be walked Too late now it was just about to start !just as well it was in a ring on its own I could walk round the outside and try to work out what was where later Right tunnel and spread for Chilli bean I have no idea what she is going to make of this as I have never done any thing like it with her before
Well she was mental off like a rocket powering through tunnel to tunnel but still listening to me so turns were nice and tight no speaking to her as she went over the spread !!!!!!!! a perfect clear round J
After walking round and round the jumping ring and having some lunch decide it was time to give it a go Chilli was up first and I set her up just lovely to take the 2nd jump and the wing wrap over the 3rd jump and in to weaves !!! shame that wasn’t the right course !!!!! the rest of the course she did beautifully even the tyre finish !
Next up Dooley we had had a walk over lunch and were I think a bit more together again I forget how he likes to be social and is happy to wonder around the ground saying hello to people before he runs he feels happier this time and the performance he put in proved it,
We then walked the grade 3 agility there was a bit of a hoo ha going on in the ring as there was a tyre that had to be used twice ! in not a good place !in the end it was moved it was now as the dogs came out of the tunnel umm still not sure how I was going to handle this Dooley would be ok but the angel was sharp for Chilli she would be fair motoring by the time she came out of that tunnel and is lacking in experience on how to get her self out of trouble ???? UMMM ???
Any how Dooley is drawn 1st so lets see how it runs I sent him in to the tunnel moved across the ring and was ready to pick him up as he came out of the tunnel I saw his body twist as he changed direction to make the turn and get through the tyre it left me in a good position to be over to the a frame ready for the last bit of the course he was clear and it felt like a good run I was pleased with him But there was no way chilli was going to be able to do the tyre like that !
I spoke to Toni about it and It was decided I would wait by the tyre on the inside as she came out of the tunnel so she was more or less straight by the time she was hopefully jumping through it if she was to miss it we would just carry on with out doing it ………..which is how we did it clever girl right through it like a dart no hesitation what so ever J through the cloth tunnel she is becoming an expert at these ! over jump then right back on her self to next jump then a frame I must admit to for the 1st time really in the agility ring I gave her an almighty push come on then hurry up I called to her as I was leaving her towards the A frame she was squeaking any way but it almost became hysterical!!!!!!!!!as she powered on to catch me hahahahahahahah! I do love her so she is such a funny girl J and a lovely clear round for her J
Well to my surprise
Dooley had ended up 5th in the re run of his agility again too windy to hear the results Bobbie had collected my rosette for me ;-)
Chilli won the tunnels and spread by over a second
Then imagine my surprise when Dooley won Jumping and I hadn’t even walked the course ! but believe me when i say I am not going to make a habit of it far too stressful !!!!!!!!!!
Then to compete the day my name was called out 3rd in the agility but not the dogs which one I had to ask as there was no way I could have guessed which one it was Dooley I had pushed round really quite hard Chilli I had babied though the tyre but given a push to over the jumps to A frame just to see what happened
Well I was surprised Dooley was 3rd and Chilli was 1st
Chilli’s time was 25.891 and Dooley was 27.498 you have no idea how much that excites me and yet scares me all at the same time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Blimey where has the time gone ??? have I been too busy kind of but mainly my work computer has been broken rather a lot and that’s where I write most of my blog !!!!
I shall now be racking my brains to try to remember what has happened in the last few weeks????
Firstly we headed off to Newbury with Sarah and Dan , Chilli’s 1st BIG show she didn’t care..... why would she? they had jumps and agility equipment !!!!!!!!!!
She was a bit off her head found it all very exciting she went round the steeplechase like a rocket finally having a look back to see where I was after she got to the other end of the ring and the other side of the tunnel ! OO !! there I am still waiting for miss cloth ears to listen to me and come back and do jump number 3 !!! which she did and then completed the course beautifully
Agility round for Dooley on the Saturday was awful not sure why he was just not feeling the love got me told off by the judge :P
Then I took chilli in it was all going beautifully till we arrived at number 13 !!!!!!!!!!!!that would be what we had forgotten all about then !!!! the cloth tunnel ! OMG we had forgotten all about that !!!!!!!! I tried running it like a normal tunnel but she went as far as she thought she could go then came back out the previously nasty judge held it open for her to go through which she did I said thank you and went to leave the ring.. Oh please carry on he said......... MEN !!!!!no logic in them !!!!! any way we did and finished the course with out putting a foot wrong
Guess what we will be training this week ??????????
the classes were split Chilli in one Dooley in the other, guess who had cloth tunnels in their classes for the rest of the weekend? Yep that would be Chilli then so no prizes for her then
Dooley got his act together and finished 9th in the grade 3 jumping J
Dooley had some lovely runs on Sunday just clipped the last piece of the long jump in one class
But surpassed him self by coming 4th in the Agility it was a very big class that went on for days !!!!!!
The following weekend after training the cloth tunnel in the back garden with the help of a large piece of vet bed for added weight
We packed up the caravan and headed off to a very sunny Cornwall for the Easter weekend
It cooled down a little bit for the Friday which was nice as it was far too ht on Thursday for jumping
On Friday
Dooley finished 19th in the 3-5 agility was well pleased with that there were 289 dogs in that class I got a bit close to one of the jumps for Chilli and the I made the weave entry a bit too hard for her !
In the grade 2-3 jumping Dooley finished 7th , Chilli got the cloth tunnel I was so pleased with her we forgot about the rest of the course LOL
Dooley came 11th in the grade 3 jumping
I think the day belongs to Dooley today J
On Saturday I think Mr Dooley was a bit tired he had a pole in the jumping forgot how to count in the grade 3 jumping and popped out at number 10 in the weaves though to be honest it was probably my fault He then had a stonking round in the 3-4 jumping but clipped the last part of the long jump L
Chilli for got how to jump through a tyre to start the grade 3 jumping this weeks home work then ! she then lost her mind completely in the grade 3-4 jumping and we spent about a week trying to get through 12 weaves ???????
But to put her self back in the good books she came 4th in the grade 3 agility J
On Sunday
The dogs only had 2 runs each in the jumping I managed to cock it up for both dogs ! for got to call Dooley in and he missed a jump after the tunnel and pointed at a jump that I didn’t want chilli to take so of course she did ! DUH !!!!!! but she did lovely send on weaves afterwards that may be I would have been to scared to try if we were clear so every cloud and all that !
In the agility Chilli clipped the 2nd jump and had the pole down my fault shoulders facing the wrong way the rest was lovely J
Dooley finished 5th even though he was naughty boy and I thought he had missed his end of dog walk so walked out behind him as he motored over the last 2 jumps so I couldn’t put him back on
It got me thinking if he can finish 5th when I walk out of the ring... what could he do if I stopped fanning around and concentrated on the job in hand ???????????ummmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!
Only 3 days at work this week whooooooooooooooop whoooooooooooooooooop
On Friday morning I headed off to Sarah and Dan’s for the day what a beautiful place they live in
Dan made us up a course which we ran with and trained with Dooley in the morning we wont talk about the mishap L as I am still very embarrassed
we had a look at the wedding on the telly cos its part of our history so I guess we should know what other people are talking about in years to come LoL and had some lunch they have proper white bread J it was lovely (god I wish I was thin already !)
after lunch we took the rest of the dogs up to run the course and train some bits and teach chilli how to jump the wall J
then Sarah and I went off for a wander down the blue bell woods then off to tesco to get pudding loads of pudding while we left Dan to cook a bbq
which was soooooooooo scrummy as was the fruity cider
in the morning we headed off to wadebridge not such nice weather this weekend in fact its freezing !!!!!!!!
we all parked up where we had camped last weekend its nice to be surrounded by friends
grade 3 jumping is first
chilli is on first she bounced the pin wheel and put her self out of line for the next jump and by doing so went round it but she did the most fantastic weaves out of straight tunnel J
Dooley next I bottled and did a wing wrap instead of a snake line as it would have been a hard angle bet he would have got it ?!?!? will never know now will I? He finished 4thJ
Then
Agility grade 3
Dooley first this time we have added up his points over lunch he can move up to grade 4 but not before I give it adman good go of running him properly this weekend
He did a foot perfect round tight turns motored through his weaves wasn’t naughty on his contacts :p
Un like miss chilli who crossed right in front of me to get up the dog walk instead of going through the weaves naughty girl
I went and looked at tunnel fun it didn’t look like fun to me I think I would have either died through not being able to breathe or I would have slipped over on the damp grass and broken my leg again ! so we bottled it !!!!!!!!!!!
It was all a bit of a distraction really as I had sneaked a peek at Dooley‘s time and he was leading the agility class but it hadn’t finished and you know what they say its not over till its over !!!!!!!!!!!!
Waiting was over presentation was taking place my heart was in my mouth
YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he did it no need to move him up on points he is capable of doing it all by him self !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He has faith in me, why would I doubt him ? he may not be the zoomiest collie in the world (well until he spies a Belgian shepherd !!!!!!!!!!!!)
But he is neat he is honest and he listens to me all it took was for me to believe in him J)))
Staying at Bobbies caravan tonight we drunk a bottle of fizz to our dogs as Dylan had surpassed him self again today I’m glad I am leaving them behind they wont be in grade 3 for long I don’t fancy !!!!!!
We giggled like school kids way in to the night the perfect end to a perfect day
I didn’t have any early runs at all today which doesn’t explain why I was up soooooo early !!!!!!!! dogs walked given their breakfast showered tidied up still nothing to do for hours
Not very nice weather today BUT its not raining yet ?
We start the day eventually by running the steeplechase some one tell me why do they always put these on a hill????
Chilli is first goes off like a rocket starts to turn towards the wrong jump there was no skill in me getting her back just in time it was just luck she goes like a rocket !!!! we think she is clear but not sure if she has been marked ?...............she finished 2nd !
Dooley next he is flying today he must have had a comfy nights sleep lovely clear for him ……………….he finished 7th
I am lucky Bobbie has no more runs till the very end of the day so she says she will queue for me its miles long
Chilli first again she seems a little bit calmer hahahahahah! She does the most lovely round tight turns lovely contacts beautiful weaves bit creepy on the see saw but again that I am sure is my fault I don’t want her bailing out the side a clear round how perfect
The we have Dooley’s interpretation of the same round !!!!!!!!!!!!!!naughty naughty Dog walk !!!!!!! guess what this weeks training is going to be
Both the dogs get a big fat E in the jumping
We have some lunch do some chatting then it rains like you have no idea !!!!!!!!!! Bobbie knows the result from the agility she asked if I wanted to know I replied is it more than just a clear ? that’s all I wanted to know at the time now she wont tell me !!!!!!!!
They are reading out the results we are huddled in the trophy dog food tent its throwing it down I cant believe hw far they have got without calling her name 6th No 5th No 4th must be 4th we are good at 4th No 3rd No 2nd No !!!!!!!!!!!now I think she didn’t even get a clear round !!!!!!!! they call out our names and I promptly burst in to tears LOL...........god i am such a girl
Run out of the tent and there they are waiting for me in the rain to get my trophy and my rosette !!!!!!!!!!!! now that’s what you call a fantastic trainer !!!!!! standing in the pouring rain waiting to see me collect a rosette :-)
I think I floated around for the rest of the day we stayed to watch Bobbie and Dan clear up in the jumping packed the caravan up and floated home
Who would ever of thought it BOTH of my lovely dogs winning in to grade 4 on their own merits in the same weekend !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Will it ever get better ummmm ? may be??may be not ?
but if it doesn’t I will never love them any more or any less because to me they are just perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!
