Wonderful Weekend

SATURDAY Well, we started the weekend with a mini Crufts practise session with Boo, Storm and Tyke- Sassy sadly couldnt make it but I wanted to practise some courses and contacts. I was generally very pleased with Boo. his waits, contacts and weaves are all good and he is listening well to me. I just am practsing working him steadily ad clear which is all you need for the teams. We followed this with an Agility Lesson from my Mum. We go there once a month and work Una (Heather), Jinx (Sophie Macbeth) and Hoax for an hour. This week we did weave entries with Channels, a mini course with recalled and sendaway contacts with some snakes and turns then some straight line weaves and some rear crosses. I was so pleased with Hoax, she seems to have mostly cracked her weaving, bar the odd hiccup, he sendaways, wing wraps, rear crosses, fans etc all worked just neatly! Her contacts were nice aswell. The biggest issue at the moment is distinction between the seesaw and the dogwalk. I have always had different verbal cues for each but she just isnt realising what she is heading onto. Her DW when she knows what it is is lovely, SS the same. But she flies the seesaw then 2nd time realising what it is a a little shaken she creeps it. DW she creeps then bails off the up as she cant figure out why it isnt tipping! Aarggh! Well lots of DW then SS reps I think!

SUNDAY Good day today, both Hoax and Boo worked so well. Boo had 3 clears from 3 runs which is totally what I wanted- not the fastest ever but then I wasnt puching for speed, just consistency. He still managed a 3rd and a 4th though in the Jumping and Steeplechase. the surface also made Boo slip quite a bit which is extra good practise for Crufts! Hoax was a little star. She balked a few times at the DW in the Agility (SS issues again) so I helped her with that as soon as she realised it didnt tip she ran straight into nose target position. The rest of the course was foot perfect- she worked her turns and sent round the fans so well! Jumping started very well and except messing up in the weaves this time- she worked the rest of the course as a Clear Round! Her straight lines and turns were even fab. I walked out the ring pleased with her but worrying a little about her weaving- I thought we'd cracked that! Final run was the Steeplechase. Don set a flat out straight up M shape course using tunnels and a fan for the turns. I think some people over handled this so I just worked the whole course with a few rear crosses. She flew round clear! We had some nice bounce strides where needed and a few neat turns on her fan. I was so happy with her and she loved it- we both finished the day grinning. I had to leave early as I was shattered but was over the moon to get a text from yvette saying Hoax had won her class!!! Whoohoo! Times were hard to gauge as it is all run on manual timing. Timekeepers changed between classes and sizes so I can't realistically compare Hoax and Boos times as I know manual timerkeepers can be out by a few seconds depending on when/ where they stand/ press the button etc. It just felt great and thats enough!

All in all, both dogs had lovely, secure waits. Good contacts and not one pole or off course Elimination in all six runs x I Love my dogs!