Ok so I have been a bad blogger...

Such a long time since I blogged so must get off my butt and add some updates.

My dogs have been working well although Detour has had time off for foot injuries. He still is doing very little agility wise but what I do know is that I do not have a naturally skilled jumper on my hands. He puppy boings over jumps instead of a nice stretched arc. I am not worried as Boo used to do that and fixed himself eventually. With the jumping foundation work i know about now I can help D figure out how to gather that body together to jump proficienly. He is a year old now and an absolute sweetheart.

Miss Hoaxey is actually feeling pretty fab... at training this week, I think she was actually, dare i say it, the most consistent dog! She has started to get better at shows aswell, we had our first two wins towards G7 last week and the week previously. I was probably the most proud of that first win as our best achievment so far as she worked really nicely, quick but listening and neat stopped contacts and still won by a few seconds. We are so lucky in mediums (not counting G7) that we can stop our contacts and still get good places. I think in Large G6 classes you mostly can't? I certainly remember all of Boos wins in the old Intermediate classes were absolute guns blazing runs and won by maybe 0.3 of a second or so.

However saying that a few assumptions around rings are driving me crazy.

A/ It is easy to win in mediums. Ok, so in the lower levels if you have a decent dog you will win up quite quickly, the classes are smaller therefore there will be fewer competitive clears so you do have a better chance of winning up. Once you hit G7 there are more dogs with running contacts than in large and the courses... hmmm

B/ If you have a medium BC you have it easy, have you tried running one? No airtime= no thinking time.On top of this a lot of medium courses are built without thought of the BCs in them. Some of it is so tight that it is below legal distances and off courses can happen in a bounce stride.

C/ There are just a few good medium dogs in the country... So not counting the ones that are still working their way up through the grades (watch this space for possible storming mediums out next year from Tracy Flower, Lauren L and Sian Illingworth to name a few). We have the current world champions Tash & Diz to compete against- (what other heights can say that)? Toni & Minx, (who won into senior at old Large heights), Sian & Jazzy, Helen and that amazing Kelpie, Heather Mcleans BC, Stuart Miltons two quick BCs, Jo Frasers very fast tiny collie, Neat nippy OBay shelties etc etc etc. I am sure I have forgotten some amazing ones but this isnt just a few ay?

Anyway, I am proud to have a medium and can honestly say I have worked just as hard, if not harder in some ways than I had to with a large dog.