EMDAC – Mixed Fortunes

Kim

Kim has ruined her reputation for consistency, if nothing else. She couldn’t have shown any less enthusiasm this weekend! She was placed 9th in Primary Agility on Thursday but I can’t even remember running the class so it can’t have been a great run, and it only got worse. We didn’t get another clear round until Saturday afternoon, when I got lost on the Clockwork Tunnels course but she was going at such a steady pace (read: a leisurely amble!) that I had time to correct and we got another 9th. Finally on Sunday I wasn’t even going to run her in the Open Wicked Weaves, figuring we had no chance against Graduate and Masters dogs, but in the end I gave her a go and she actually went clear although I could probably have run a snail faster. That she finished 2nd was a bit mindboggling! The dog that beat her is a Masters Maxi dog (currently working successfully at Grade 6 for those who only work at KC!) so I was really pleased. Weaves are not Kim’s strongest suit but she negotiated a set of 12 four times over a tough course without fault which is why she was placed so highly. Almost everyone else in the class was E’d.

By Sunday I was actually beginning to wonder if there was something physically wrong with her! The heart murmur issue is always on my mind and she had gone lame early last week after running into the side of the car, so I did wonder if she just wasn’t feeling well. However, when she was out walking she was sound as a bell and was happy in herself, eating well, no coughing, plenty of barking(!) so I wasn’t sure about it being her heart or some other illness. In some ways it was a relief on Sunday morning when she kicked into Kim-gear on the Primary Agility and ran well (albeit we got E’d, but my fault, not hers!), but in other ways it was incredibly frustrating as it’s obviously a mental issue she has — or maybe that I have?! — as it crops up every 3-6 months. Hopefully we’ll find a way out of it before Midland Counties in 3 weeks!

Dylan

As much as I expected Kim to do well this weekend, I did not expect to get anything from Dylan. He has been working very well in training recently but we hadn’t yet transferred that to the ring, and so I was looking at this as an extended training weekend for him. Lots of held contacts, proofing waits, encouraging speed, and confidence boosting if and when we got E’d. Taking it easy and no pressure, basically.

Was I in for a surprise … ! Apparently Dylan and I were working much more in sync this weekend than Kim and I. First time for everything! It really felt like we understood each other on course and were working on the same page rather than reading from different books, although that didn’t exactly work every time and we definitely didn’t have clear rounds in everything. Our best run and equally best placing was a 9th in Introductory Helter Skelter, a very fast, open course. He also placed 10th and 11th in the various Introductory Jumping classes, and another 11th from Power and Speed.

Intro Jumping run (10th place): http://www.undermybed.co.uk/images/emdac190708.wmv
Very wide from 5-6 (shouldn’t have babied the turn!) and a real *faceplant* coming out of the FT, not really visible on the video but it looked painful! He was 2 seconds off the winner and this was by no means his best run, no where near running flat out and he actually stuttered a few times into turns (FHS!)

We still have a lot of work to do on contacts, they were creepy again but it is improving. A few more sessions with the stride regulator and hopefully he’ll be striding down more confidently. We did go clear in an agility class on Friday where I (relatively) quick-released his contacts, only to learn the timer hadn’t started. (3rd time and counting …) So we re-ran and made a complete shambles of it, so I held all the contacts and finished way out of the placings. We also got a clear in the agility on Sunday but with held contacts so I knew we had no chance. Jet, on the other hand, had a storming run and came 3rd!

There is still room for bags of improvement, there were only a few moments where he was really extending into jumps and touching something near to top speed. Generally I was just pleased that he improved on almost every run, and his very last run of the weekend was probably his best in terms of speed, extension and confidence, which meant we got E’d but still happy. We didn’t have complete focus for every run — there are still some distractables! — but he actually broke his wait for one which was a bit of a shock! Speaking of waits, I got strict after that and although I thought he had perfect waits afterwards, the video proves otherwise!

Sneaky Creepy Naughty Wait: http://www.undermybed.co.uk/images/badwait.wmv

It’s a good job he makes me laugh, he looks so pleased with his attempt at being sly!

The only worry is that with these near-top-10 placings, Dylan might now be in the top-50 of the Intro Jumping League which would qualify him for automatic promotion next season to Primary. It will depend on how the other dogs in the tables have done, but with my calculations he’ll go in at about 45th and I really do not want him in Primary next year! We’ll cross that bridge when the points go up from this weekend, fingers crossed …

Mollie

Who would be without the Mol? She only managed 1 clear round this year, but she was only doing 3 classes, and came 17th out of 58 despite stopping telling me off a few times around the course. Here’s her video from Veterans Jumping on the first day, with me getting her a 5R on the last fence. Oops!

http://www.undermybed.co.uk/images/molliejumping.wmv

She has also discovered the new love of her life. It’s even better than flyball! Or at least better than a tennis ball, and I never expected to say that about Mollie.

Dash’n’Splash: http://www.undermybed.co.uk/images/dashnsplash.wmv

We did get her out in the end. Her fastest retrieve was 10.84s which wasn’t good enough to get placed, but she was the oldest dog there!

[NB: Katie at http://www.jetpops.co.uk/ has some more of the course plans available]