Dashin Dogs

Dashin Dogs = lovely show, amazing organisation, showground is basic and the ground isn’t great but the judges set some fab courses and the rosettes and trophies are stunning (I got to peek at Katie and Jet‘s hoard).

Kim

Such an up and down weekend. Saturday was a write-off; messy 5f runs with little drive, stopping on the dogwalk etc. We finished with a clear in the G5-7 Jumping, and it was slooooow, but we came 3rd anyway.

Sunday started with a flash of my old girl, racing and running something like she used to in the G3-5 Agility. Unfortunately she has an idiot for a handler who pushed her past the tunnel entry, getting 5f in the process. Kim would have won the Grade 5 and been 3rd in the Grade 6 if she had been clear, but as it was she came 3rd.

A boring boring slow run in the G3-5 Jumping, just knocking off a consistent clear but again she came 3rd. Neither of us really loved it; it was a mildly cheerful jog around the park, not a sprint for the finishing post. We had fun, but there was something missing.

Her last run was slow and clear, a steady gentle lope in the C4-5 Jumping. I think she was 8th in the end, the first time she’s ever been out of the placings with a clear round.

That final run and the eventual confirmed result reaffirmed my decision to retire her, and High Peak is becoming ever more “official” in my mind. She’ll pop out occasionally for a blast, maybe 1 run a day, but I won’t keep asking her to do this when she doesn’t want to. She still has the same enthusiasm for flyball and physically is fine as far as we know, and my heart is just saying that her heart isn’t in this anymore. She’s doing it for me, and that’s not Kim. She should only do things for herself.

Dylan

The boy. Where do we even start?!

The classes were huge, so I can forgive him a little bit. It averaged out at around 210 dogs in the Grade 3 classes, sometimes a little bit less but sometimes a little bit more. But damn, he was switched off on Saturday. He drifted around the Graded 3-4 to go clear, but there are no words for how little drive he showed. Somehow he came 13th, and I can only assume no-one else went clear, but he still wasn’t far off the winner and if he’d been running as he can, we’d have walked into the top-5.

Same again in the agility, boring slow clear, 17th.

He finally stepped up in the Jumping classes on Sunday, and set off like a tank in the Graded 1-3. He was distracted mid-way around and we lost our pace slightly, but he still felt fast and fun and forward. This was actually the most disheartening run of the weekend for me; I thought we’d had a good run but we were still 3s off 1st and way off the placings (they placed to 25th).

I rushed the Grade 3 Jumping (P1) and this was the smallest class of the weekend. Again he set off like a bomb, but maintained it throughout … shame we took 2 extra obstacles in the wrong direction, oops!

I know he’s not running as fast as he does in training, and so I know there is still work to do. I came home and reminded myself that this is not going to be easy, the competition is too fierce and there is no room for mistakes like there is with Kim.

I don’t think I’m being unrealistic to think that maybe, one day, we can escape Grade 3. Maybe half the class will be unable to attend due to a freak cattle incident on the motorway at Dog Vegas this weekend!