South Durham DAC

Saturday was very hectic. Much like last year I knew we were going to have to leave early and I really didn’t want to miss Kim’s agility classes again. To be honest, it would have probably been a faster journey to Lune Valley at Myerscough and therefore I could have stayed later, but I really like South Durham. It’s a very friendly show, the organisers and judges are lovely and the whole atmosphere is of a laid-back and relaxed competition. It’s definitely gaining in popularity anyway because the class sizes were bigger than last year and there were a couple of people there who live further South than us. It’s a bit quirky too; last year when we were queuing we were offered Quality Street chocolates, and this year chocolate biscuits were handed around amongst the queues. I also know that the judges get fish and chips for lunch, as one poor guy has to go and order fish and chips 40 times. Can’t imagine what they think in the chippy!

Dylan and I ran his Pairs first with Katie and Jet on a lovely straightforward course, no weaves, just a blast round. Jet had a cracking clear but I forgot Dylan’s out command and he pull-thru’d and carried on before I could call him back, otherwise we’d have been clear! First run of the day though, can’t complain. He was much more focussed and forward going than at Lincoln last week, which was also a big plus!

Kim ran her Medium Combined 1-7 Agility next. It was a nice course, fairly flowing and no horribly difficult bits. I had a feeling Kim was going to run enthusiastically as she had been playing with Cat’s Marley a moment before, but I wasn’t expecting her to be quite so fast. She set off like a rocket and I have no idea how we weren’t faulted or E’d! It was a real skin of your teeth round but we went clear, incredibly messy with so much time wasted, but looking at the results later it turned out Kim had came 6th (although they only placed to 5th). She beat quite a few Grade 6/7 dogs and all the other Grade 1-5 dogs despite wasting so much time, and was only .5s off 5th anyway so I was really pleased with that.

Dylan then ran his Graded 1-4 Jumping, which went a bit downhill. The first line went completely wrong as he broke his wait, but we got back on track at jump 9 and he did the rest very competently … until the stretch, which he smashed into again. Even the judge winced! He looked to limp in the first steps afterwards but I think it was the shock as he was fine as I pulled him up for a check. He obviously missed his weave entry after that, but we gave the last 2 obstacles another shot and he finished fine and walked away happy. Hitting the stretch is just Dylan being a bit lazy I think, he can clear it without trying but he’s dropping his legs too early. He has done it a few times so I’ll work on it in training.

Dylan also ran his Graded 1-4 Agility. Typically, Dylan did worse on the two classes where he had most chance of being placed! It went pretty badly, Dylan developed his fairy-head midcourse, but I was to blame. He nailed his weave entry and I said “good boy”, which pulled him out. It just went downhill from there really.

Earlier in the day, a friend asked me if Kim was running in the Pairs. I hadn’t entered her because Emma and Bailey weren’t going, and the rest of our Medium friends were at Lune Valley. Anyway, Julie’s partner hadn’t been able to make it so we ran with her dog Ron, who is in Grade 7 which was a bit intimidating! They actually had a cracking clear but we wasted time in the changeover as Ron ran in front of Kim and Kim tried to eat him. Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration but I couldn’t let her go until Ron was completely out of the way, and that put us out of the placings.

Nice long break for lunch, tripped off to Yarm to buy some food. We spent ages chatting to Cat, who was just fab and managed to take some photos of Kim and Dylan for me — I finally have some shots of Dylan doing agility! We also tried to take a group pic of Katie’s gang, my two and Cat’s two. The photo does not reflect the sheer chaos! Note Kim is sat front center, where she positioned herself. Photohog.

Kim ran her Combined 1-3 Agility next, which was a lovely straightforward course. I didn’t push Kim for speed as I knew if we went clear we’d be in with a shot for the placings, so we had quite a steady run. Her seesaw contact was a bit suspect from my angle but I think she got half a paw on there and it kept us safe, thankfully! She really wanted to bomb the rest of the course but I couldn’t get in front of her or keep up so we finished in safe time. Clear though, and as it turned out we were over 12 seconds in front of the next dog. Kim came 1st and so now she’s into Grade 4!

Bouyed up by that news, Dylan ran his Combined 1-3 Jumping and had a lovely clear on a very simple course. I knew we weren’t going to get placed as he wasn’t running at full speed, but it was a nice run nonetheless, nice and tight on the turn. I shuttled him off to run the Combined 1-3 Agility straight after, which was the same course as the Medium 1-7 Agility that Kim had run earlier (and therefore probably pitched on the more difficult end of 1-3). He had a cracking run, his contacts looked great and he weaved brilliantly, until jump 10 when I stood completely in the wrong place. I know he hates jumping into me, so he dodged out and then came under the pole. Took him around again and got into the right spot this time, and he finished flawlessly. Gutted! From watching the other dogs I think he would have actually been placed somewhere around the top-10 so really disappointed in myself. Still, it was my fault and not his so I know what I have to do.

We then had to leave, so Kim didn’t get chance to run her Combined 1-3 Jumping. Which is a shame, because all the judges had been setting lovely courses, very appropriate to levels etc. It was strange looking at the courses though, there was a definite difference to the courses we got at Lincoln last weekend. The tyre was used in almost every class at South Durham, compared to the box pull-thru’s which cropped up in almost every class at Lincoln.

So pleased with both the dogs. Couple of well dones: Katie & Poppy for their 25th in Combined 1-3 Agility and Katie & Jet for their 21st in the super-competitive Combined 1-3 Jumping. Anne & Kafka for their various Grade 5 placings on some very interesting courses! Jeremy & Rosie for their placings, and Diane and Silvia for not getting E’d! We also saw Sam and Dash of April Magic but sadly didn’t get much chance to chat, although I saw Dash run a couple of times and he is looking fab. South Durham is definitely still on the diary for next year.

All (but one) photos provided by Cat Clark of the modern love, with huge thanks. Report from Doncaster flyball going up later this week.