Hare 'n' Hounds Easter Show

Imagine a sea of mud, stretching as far as the eye can see …

Well, it started ok on Friday. A little cold, a little damp, but nice. The weekend didn’t start all that fortuitously when I ran the Combined 1-3 Jumping, Dyl popped the last 2 weave poles (setting a trend for the weekend there) and then I completely forgot where I was going. The only word to describe it was shambles, frankly. Dylan then ran with Cat in Junior Agility, and was a freaked out little puppy … well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. He likes Cat, and got around the course, but really couldn’t understand why he was running with her when me and Katie and everyone were stood right there.

Happily, improvement was made! Doc’s Graded 1-4 Agility was lovely, and Dyl went clear but chose to creep his dogwalk. Still, stayed in the weaves and steadied for his wrap at the end nicely! We came 6th in a surprising turn of events, I didn’t think Dylan was particularly fast but it turned out there were fewer clears than expected – possibly due to the ground, which was (unknowingly) setting the theme for the next 3 days. Dylan also ran with Cat in Junior Jumping, and apart from being an airy fairy, he was much better.

Graded 1-4 Jumping was a nice course, but not really suited to Dylan; it would have been perfect for Kim! Some tight spacings and some slightly awkward turns for the longer striding dogs, but we scraped around and came 8th. We finished up with a good run in the final class of the day, the Combined 1-3, really lovely dogwalk but a little creepy on the Aframe and seesaw. The dogwalk obviously made up for it though, as we came 6th again! Very pleased, it was a good result in a big class.

We went to Tracy’s Quiz, and when we emerged some hours later, poorer and perhaps a little tipsy, the world had turned and the ground was increasingly resembling a swamp land. It didn’t get any better, and the show organisers wisely chose to cancel Saturday’s classes. A handful of people went home (Emma!) but I actually think most people stayed, which was nice. We had a relaxing Saturday, and may have danced when the sun came out at 5pm. In the short hours before sunset, the sun worked it’s magic and we were cautiously optimistic about Sunday.*

*Ok, Katie was very optimistic, and Cat and I were patiently sceptical. It balances out.

Cat went home Sunday morning, which we were sad about but it did mean I couldn’t traumatise Dyl with any more Junior classes. We ran the Combined 1-3 Agility and Dylan again freaked out at the dogwalk, but after watching 90% of the dogs in the class do the same, I was hopeful for the rest of the day. We spoke to the very lovely judge who said he could see the dogwalk was clearly a problem, but by the time the pattern had been established, it was too late to change things. It was solid, not bouncing or rocking, and the approach was straightforward. It wasn’t slippy or hot/cold underfoot, so we have no idea why all the dogs slammed on the brakes on the up-plank, but they did! Anyway, we were clear, but the dogwalk shenanigans cost us too much time and we finished 6th.

Lovely dogwalk in the Grade 3 Agility, which was the same equipment as the C1-3. The course was nice but I think we got E’d … for some reason this course is a complete blank, I’m pretty sure we got E’d but I haven’t a clue how, where or why! The Grade 3 Jumping was a lovely course, consisting just of jumps and tunnels but just the right amount of challenge vs. go. Dylan was running nicely but I fell over a jump wing and completely confused the poor lad, so we got another big E. I don’t think I did the course justice! Katie and Jet definitely did though, since they came 2nd.

Finally, Doc’s Combined 1-3 Jumping, a nice smooth course with a very fast line right around the outside of the ring. I figured we had no chance, much too fast a course, but we gave it a good shot and Dyl worked the wing wrap at the end really nicely. Surprisingly we finished up 3rd! We’ve never even placed higher than 6th in Jumping, so that was a lovely surprise.

Monday morning dawned bright and chirpy with a very chilly breeze! Graded 1-3 Agility up first, last chance to chase the win, and we blew it on the second obstacle by popping the last 2 weave poles! Bit gutted as Dyl did a lovely run, beautiful contacts including a lovely fast, confident dogwalk. Must work on the weave popping!

Graded 1-3 Jumping was a course I loved, really big open spaces and a flowing course, but with some unusual challenges which made the handlers really work from beginning to work. We stood and watched quite a lot of the class, which made for interesting viewing! I only saw 1 person flick their dog to the right of 6 and then bring them down the outside of the tunnel, which had been my plan from when we walked it originally. Sticking to the plan worked, because Dyl’s run was absolutely awesome. He was eating up the ground, lovely and extended and smooth in his jumping, nailed the weaves and turning tight when necessary. We had just one break in the flow, coming over 15 at the end, where he broke stride and stepped in towards the final jump. He came back onto line when I called, but then he broke stride again, checked in with me, and then committed to 16. He was moving forward constantly, and we probably wasted 0.5s at most through a lack of momentum, but it felt like a lifetime! We finished 3rd, but only fractions seperated us from 1st/2nd. It’s the only time that I have ever felt we were chasing 1st, I was absolutely buzzing after we’d run!

Combined 3-4 Agility was a wicked little course, including a brush fence and a wall (I love this stuff, please can we have more!) but it was the best agility run Dylan did all weekend … except for popping the last 2 weave poles again. Arg! I was in raptures over his dogwalk, I think I might be dreaming about it for the next month. Was a bit worried about the increasingly gale force winds, but he kept balanced throughout, never flinched at the “unusual” obstacles and he bounced the corner going into the dogwalk. Shame about the big E, but I’m still very proud of that run!

Combined 3-4 Jumping was a boring little jump/tunnel course, no weaves or much of a challenge, especially compared to the lovely G1-3 earlier. We toodled around it, clear but uninspired, and finished up 17th.

I didn’t think about it at the time, but I realise now that I never walked a course this weekend and worried about Dylan being able to handle it, I just trusted him. It was also nice being up North, because although a lot of the names in the results were familiar to me, I didn’t know anyone well enough to go out and compete specifically to beat them. It was all about getting Dylan to run as best he could, about me attacking the courses and both of us just relaxing and having a blast. Which we did!