Dogs Unleashed

A much quieter show than I had anticipated, although there did seem to be more people there on Sunday. My sources tell me that it is planned to become an annual event, and so perhaps next year there will be more people around (word of mouth?) and it might feel like the big show I expected.

No photos as my camera is back with Kodak (DON’T get me started!) and no videos either.

Saturday

Flyball went well, if a bit hectic! We had all three of our dogs running in 2 teams in the same Division, so I was all over the place with where I needed to be. Thankfully I have understanding team-mates, and as I only got 1 light for an early change all weekend I think I did rather well! (Incidentally, it was Dylan into Skye and practising those switch-backs must have worked, because I asked him to turn around and re-run as he crossed the line and he did, even switching balls at the box. We won that leg as the other team had a light too!)

Dyl’s team came 3rd, Kim and Mollie didn’t get anything but they both ran incredibly well all day. I wasn’t expecting Kim to be able to keep going as she has lost some fitness and it was very warm, but she raced consistently and perfectly all day. We really thought Mollie would suffer under the heat, but she didn’t slow over the day so we were really chuffed with both of them. It can’t get much hotter than it did this weekend, and they both coped brilliantly.

Sunday

Kim was in Novice Plus classes all day (Combined Novice, Graduate and Masters), so I wasn’t expecting much. The courses were all quite reasonable actually, except for the Wicked Weaves were I got to obstacle 13 and then went and scratched her from the class. I saw some great runs around the course later by some good dogs and handlers, but it was way beyond my handling skills, and I wasn’t willing to risk Kim being demotivated.

Anyway, she broke her wait in the Jumping and I had a small but calm argument with her about that, and made her wait again 2 jumps in until I was where I had wanted to be. Then she did a lovely round, but got E’d right at the end, oops! I made a hash of Novice Plus Agility, and I’m a bit gutted about my panic as Kim would have been 5th otherwise. Novice Plus Jumping was a very twisty kind of course, but I had a feeling that if I got it right, it would flow and guess what? It did! We went clear but weren’t super fast, the end of a long day and we were both hot and tired.

Dylan … arg, where do I start? How can we go from being brilliant to being utterly discordant and shambolic in one afternoon?

The brilliant, to begin with. Introductory Wicked Weaves, and a fairly straightforward course (2 sets of 6 weaves to be completed three times on simple entries, so not particularly wicked!) Dylan broke his wait a fraction early, but I may have cued him unintentionally, I’m not quite sure. We had a cracking run anyway and finished 2nd, half a second behind the winner but as Dylan turned from 8-9 like a coasting 747 (my fault, should have handled it from the top) I’m pretty happy with that! Actually, I really am pleased he didn’t win it, as that would have given us our 2 wins to move up to Primary Jumping, and since he’s currently on course to qualify for the Intro Finals I’d rather stay where we are!

We also had a decent run in the Agility, his Aframe and Seesaw were lovely and fast – he overshot the Aframe slightly but he did stop and wait and I don’t want to discourage the speed at this point. Dogwalk was reasonable, he’s not slamming on the breaks anymore and he looks much more confident, but there just isn’t much drive. It’s better than it was. Anyway, the second to last jump was severely offset on minimum spacing, and I was just too late with my cue and we got E’d. Intro Jumping was a lovely course, but Dylan got slightly (!) distracted by some people who were watching in the top corner, and went for a bit of a detour before remembering he was actually doing agility and had to concentrate. He finished really nicely though, driving through the last 6 obstacles beautifully. He only finished 2s behind super-fast Jetly too, despite the detour!

And then the appallingly shambolic. Circular Jumping, and I’d put Dylan back twice for creeping on the line before we’d even started. As I gave him the ok, I turned to look and he ran straight under the first jump – because he had crept so far forward I think he’d forgotten there even was a jump 2″ in front of his nose. I took him back again, and he then refused to jump the first jump … eventually got him over it and at that point I should have left the ring. I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to carry on, maybe the heat was finally getting to me! He drifted over the course, paused for a look around, listened but completely lacked motivation or any kind of momentum.

So, of course, instead of coming away thinking about the three relatively good runs we had, I’m obsessively combing over the final terrible one. I know he lost focus and motivation because I used an angry voice when he broke his wait for the 3rd time, but I forget how soft he is. He has been running like a confident, driven dog, and I treated him like I would have treated Mollie, when I should know that he’s a complete wimp. On the other hand, I do feel like Dyl is taking advantage because he knows there is no retribution when he misbehaves. I could remove him from the ring when he breaks his wait, but I have a dog who is just beginning to get his head into this game, finally starting to step up a gear or two and really love what he’s doing. I really do not want to lose that … but then again, I suppose if he really does love it, removing him from the ring really is the best option.

Oh well.

Major congrats to:

• Vicki and Pippa for their Primary Jumping win
• Katie and Jet for their Intro Agility 1st, Intro Jumping 1st, and 2nd in Intro Circular Jumping … cakes on Tuesday!
• Emma and Bailey for their 7th in Intro Wicked Weaves
• Sarah and Floss for their 3rd in Veteran Agility
• Jane and George, and Helen and Chip, for their clear rounds, both incredibly well deserved!

Rotherham next weekend, and then the four-day EMDAC. Busy weekends ahead!