Wilmslow Nov 2013: Unexpected Results

I always forget how much Dylan really loves running at Myerscough. It certainly helped that we were running on Adams equipment, so no aluminium contacts for him to worry about (just heavy seesaws, but the tipping point is standardised in the new year so I’m not worried about that).

C6-7 Agility was pretty straightforward, but we missed the dogwalk contact. 5f and a respectable time, even though my handling was pretty shocking.

G6-7 Agility was a course I liked, bit more of a challenge and something to think about! Stupid course time of 38s, which I knew we wouldn’t get. It was a fun course to run though, Dylan ran a lovely clean round with beautiful weave entries, just stuttered into the double and then the final jump. We finished in 38.500s – 0.500 faults then – but 4th place because apparently everyone else found this course really hard? We could maybe have shaved off 0.500 somewhere, but I doubt it.

I’m trying not to moan about course times too much, but the winner of the G6 was 34s (3rd was 37s). Dylan was the slowest “clean” run, but outside course time, everyone else had 5faults (but there were a LOT of dogs over course time in addition to their 5f). Winner of the G7 was 29s, but it was Petnat By Jingo, the rest of the G7’s were around 34s.

Final run was G6-7 Jumping, same judge as the G6-7 Agility. I was really disappointed in this course, didn’t think it was anywhere near as nice as the Agility. There was a horrible long jump followed by a tight pull through, which I heard a few people muttering about. I hate this trend as it doesn’t test anything except the physical ability of the dog – there’s no training or handling involved. You can’t pre-cue a turn on the long jump, the dog has to jump extended. It’s also one of the most painful obstacles for a dog to hit.

Oddly enough, that wasn’t my biggest concern in the end. This class was in the little arena, and with it being at the end of the day, when I walked in with Dylan, it was dark. Only the central strip of lights were on, and the edges of the arena were in heavy shadows. Dylan ran clear, but set off very strongly and then started getting more and more cautious. I mentioned that I think his eyesight is deteriorating, and with hindsight, I shouldn’t have run him in that low-light situation. Kicking myself because he ran so well earlier in the day.

We’re at Wyre again in December, and I have my fingers crossed that all his classes are in the main arena. I did say Wyre would be his last show but Wilmslow are back at Myerscough again in January, with Adams equipment, and since he enjoyed himself so much this weekend I am considering entering him. We’ll see.