A Lovely Surprise!

Yesterday I took Patsy to a Fun Agility Day at "The Patch".  Shona has been handling Patsy recently, so I haven't done a competition round since last October.

Anyway there were two lovely courses created for the Agility Grade 1-3 classes, and much to my delight we managed to finish the second round without collecting an elimination along the way.

At the end of the day, I was even more delighted to get a prize - a FIRST prize, as apparently we won!

Our first first!!

Then another surprise back home. My eldest daughter came round and cooked a delicious dinner for us all for Mother's Day.  A lovely end to a great day out with friends.

(Shhhh - don't mention how few were actually in the class!!  ;)  )

Now Some Channel Weaves for Finn

I started channel weaves with Finn a couple of weeks ago, and used a ball to encourage him to run through.  I also had an assistant run with him on the lead, so that diversions out of the channel could be quickly corrected.

Then for practicing alone, I set him in a "Wait" at the entrance to the weaves and called him through.  It didn't take long for him to pick the idea up.  Finally I added a jump at each end, with the idea that they help line him up for the channel weaves and also give him a target straight ahead afterwards.

This video shows how he can now run a small loop of jumps with channel weaves included:

Next I hope to angle the entry and exit jumps, and move them out a bit, before finally being able (hopefully) to send him to the weaves on their own.  Only after all this will I start to pull the poles inwards.... or at least that is my current idea!

I suspect this is his smug "I'm a clever boy!" face.  LOL  

CRUFTS - A Grand Finale!

What a week away we had!

There were so many from Castlereagh DDTC staying in the hotel on Saturday night that we had tables pushed together...

.... and our little Patsy coped remarkably well with all the bustle of Crufts....

... and hotel rooms.

Clare and Taz were delighted to pick up a 5th place in YKC Obedience.

(Both are rather photogenic don't you think....)

My excitement for the week was the acquisition of a new set of wheels, with tractor tyres that will hopefully take me through the fields and trees at home.... (Kindly delivered to the hotel carpark by Horizon Mobility.)

And in Crufts next day I managed to meet up with a couple of other wheelers. Victoria and Pauline both do agility using wheels. It was good say Hi face to face after our various online FB chats. 

Part way through Sunday, Patsy got a bit over heated, so Tim and I took her for a walk outside.  Beautiful day, and surprisingly nice grounds at the NEC!

Then it was all excitement as the girls got their T-shirts on ready for the YKC Team event.

I couldn't get any decent photos of the action, but this one shows  just how well Patsy was listening at the start.  Only 5 faults for one error on the weaves.  So a good round.

At the prize giving all the teams were brought in.  And I just happened to snap the winning team.  I just love the variety of dogs in this team.  :D

Our team came 5th!  Well done Clare, Illona, Shona, Katie and Jenny and the dogs too!

Yay to my wee Patsy!  (Here sporting a trendy wet blanket to cool her down!)

Then back to the car to re-pack every thing around my new wheels.

And we hit the road for home.

PS  Next morning  - we learned that Lucy and Molly had in fact WON the "Friends for Life" competition...

BIG Congratulations to Lucy and Molly.  What a lovely end to the week!

The Crufts Adventure!

All buzz and go!  Ferry crossing Tues night!

And an amazing sunrise as we left the ferry at early o'clock.

A detour to collect a hire scooter. (Horizon Aztec... possible purchase)

Early start on Thursday morning.  Shona (yellow) and Clare (white) are competing with Patsy and Taz.  Rebecca and Amy are their able YKC assistants.

All lights and a very crowded ring for the YKC Agility competition.

Wee Taz did well, but found the artificial grass disconcerting.

Taz on the see-saw.

I was worried Patsy would just freeze, but she scampered round and went really well, flying through tunnels, over obstacles and all was going well.... until she forgot how to do the weave poles....

A flying finish at the end - so not bad for a wee dog that's never seen the limelight before!

Team event still to come on Sunday.  Meanwhile Tim and I toured the halls to find the Malamute benches and found Peri chilling between classes.

After we left, Peri's home-bred bitch Poison won Best Bitch, and also collected Reserve Best of Breed.  

Good days.