UKA D5 Agility

I say this every time, but I really hate Winterton Showground. It’s beautiful and flat and has such nice well kept grounds to run on, but it’s always blowing a gale. ALWAYS. I seriously considered pulling Dylan from a couple of classes at lunchtime, when numbers/poles/jump wings/long jumps were being blown around. Thoughtful judge in Ring 2 took down the dogwalk for Power and Speed due to the weather, but nice judge in Ring 1 elected to leave it in … I did run in Ring 1, but I ran NFC to ensure I could reward Dyl.

We placed 3rd in the Senior Jumping class, very unexpected! The course was nice, challenging but well spaced and with plenty of room to move. Dylan breezed around, very relaxed and happy and jumping fluently, but I didn’t think he’d be fast enough. The Senior Maxi classes were small (16-20 dogs) but the standard was high as there were some international-level handlers there for the Masters. So 3rd was nice!

We Q’d in Steeplechase I & II, and Power and Speed, but didn’t get placed. Well, I’m doubtful but we might have placed in Steeplechase I, I didn’t actually hang around for the results but he definitely Q’d. We were well beaten in the other classes, but I was happy with how Dylan ran. He remained relaxed, jumping smoothly, and stayed very happy all day. There were a few moments where he combined his speed and his relaxed jumping and looked properly good out there, so hopefully it’ll all come together for Lincoln.

I elected to go NFC and train Senior Agility, to try and improve Dylan’s dogwalk. He did three dogwalks, each one an improvement on the one before, but none were particularly fast. I’m not sure if this was as much to do with aforementioned gale force winds as anything, so I’m not going to dwell on it.

I wish I’d got Rio measured whilst we were there, I’m beginning to wonder if she might be Standard. Although she’s pretty chunky compared to Dylan, she’s not particularly tall, and even if she is Maxi it would be useful to get her measured. Maybe next time.

Speaking of which, I’m pretty sure Dylan needs 4 more points to move up in Steeplechase. We just need two more clear rounds, how exciting! Still plenty of work to do in Performance, as usual.

[ETA: D5 Results went up very quickly! Turns out Dylan got 3rd in his Steeplechase I class, which gives him the magic 8pts he needed to get to 48. Champ next time, scary!]