Newton Heath

Let’s gloss over Dylan’s first run, except to say that if you are queuing, have your damn dog with you, especially if the queue is only three people long and you are two of those people. Congrats to Julie and Winnie for winning it though, go the Beardie/Lurchers!

The Graded 1-3 Agility was a really nasty little course. It was the same for the 1-4 Small/Medium classes, and included two contact call-offs and a horrible box push-out and around. Not my kind of thing at all, but Dylan did a nice run, not really flat out at all but he did a really lovely dogwalk. He did get marked on the down contact and I genuinely don’t know whether he hit it or not; I tried to front cross at the bottom and pushed him sideways, and although he did his 2o2o stop, I’m not sure he had any paws in the yellow. Not his fault anyway, and it was almost-fast and was confident.

Lady Jane made an appearance too, because Myerscough is light, clean and airy, and she likes the crowds and the noise. The classes were 5-7 but the gamble partly paid off, and we had a cracking smooth Jumping course, just offset by the painfully difficult Agility. She was really happy to be there, so I still happy with the semi-retirement thing.

Kim and I watched everyone getting E’d or faulted on the Jumping, and Kim showed those whippersnappers what an old lady can do. Shame her handler is spacially challenged! We got a big 5R as I pulled her off a jump way too early, so we looped back around and then came 2nd, with a time that would have comfortably put us 2nd in the Grade 6, and with the second knocked off for the loop, we’d have been in the G7 placings too. This really makes me smile, because Kim runs at cruising speed these days, just chilling in middle gear and laughing at me the whole way around, and still clocks up faster times than dogs running flat out at half her age. For a long time it bothered me that I had failed her with regards to training, and that she never got the Grade 7 label I knew she deserved. I guess I’m just happy to take her line on things these days; she knows she’s more awesome than everyone, and I know she is too.

All the other three rings had packed up by the time came for Kim’s agility, but I guess we can’t be first to leave all the time! The agility involved a little bit of coaxing on the call-offs, but Kim raced through all the straights and made up more than enough time. I promptly forgot the ending, had to make it up and wasted what felt like hours improvising slowly and wildly. We got around though, clear and easy, and Kim came 2nd again. I’m more than happy with that! Staying in Grade 5 means I can stay away from 5-7 or 6-7 classes, and let her have a blast in 3-5s.

Kim also had an interesting end to her Agility run. The big white horse barriers (double bar, about 4-5ft high) were marking out the edge of the run. I’d seen a couple of dogs over the course of the day jump the last jump and then continue to jump through the center of the two bars to leave the ring, mainly when the walkway area was clear of dogs and people. Kim jumped the last jump, and then tried to jump the whole thing. She nearly made it, bailed at the last second and somehow pinged back through the centre hole as it was tipping. It landed on her head … she is such a drama queen, with the screaming and the hobbling and the “much sympathy required” signs.

Within two minutes she was being gobby and muscling in on Pippa’s snapshot moment – Kim was originally stood three foot to the left, until she saw the shutter going down …