Magic learns the foundations of agility and is a future flyball star

Thursday and the Pachesham pups Are Go!!! A milestone lesson as they were exposed to the foundations of agility. Any pup who hasn't got them is not going to have an agility career. Magic was a bit distracted by the surface of the indoor school and by the need to scent mark everything including my legs. NOT the foundations of agility (lol). However he did show some promising speed and capability when he did get himself focused. He tends to want to run round jumps and isn't yet seeing a sequence but it's early days yet and it's coming.

On Saturday there was no agility so we went to flyball training. This was Magic's second lesson. Ray decided to put Rupert in the class with open lanes and Magic in the class with netting. As we've got 2 dogs and I need to interpret for Jordan we decided we'd do both dogs separately and start with Rup in the open lane.

After Rupert performed reliably but without his agility drive, Guy decided to try Magic in open lanes and work backward. He did argue that he was a Bryning after all and maybe Ray was a bit unambitious for a Bryning...!!! Magic had absolutely no problem working in open lanes so was promoted to the open lane class. By the end of the class Magic was a star, not only runing to retrieve all the way up and down the open lane but also triggering the box. Watching him and knowing it was only his second hour of flyball, he made it look a bit well...easy. He's trying his best to look like Dad when he turns and needs to work on that!!!

We also worked on Jordan getting him to run when the dogs have the ball. We need to get him to work them up a bit more and run back faster. Unfortunately my hand gave in and I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle either of our dogs for the foreseeable future. It's a shame that we have the clash between agility and flyball commitments but I must get Magic into a starters when he is a year old. And get photos when we go in 2 weeks and Magic turns 1.

...Meanwhile Rup continues to race to the box but lovingly chomps on the tennis ball running back. If this was a match he'd be runing back to get the next dog's ball!!!! He has been known to run with 3 balls in his mouth.

Agility as it used to be

On Sunday we decided to check out the WAG agility shows in Whitstable. They're run by the Croxfords and promise to be agility as it used to be - small, friendly. It seemed to be just what we needed to get Rup gonig in indoor conditions so we made the hour and a half hour journey to Kent. Another cold, foggy morning...!

Amanda Pigg was judging so the weather was lovely and, when we arrived the tide at Minas Bay was out. So all 3 boys decided to spend some quality time on the beach before course walking. Magic took one look at the seagulls and was racing them to France, but eventually recalled. He then decided to catch up with them down under. I was freezing but all 3 soon waded back in and got soaked and I hadn't brought a change of clothes for J.

The courses were lovely and due to the small size of the event it was possible to really input into J and Rup re the weaves. Finally in the jumping they got it and did 12 weaves without faults. Shame J forgot to line Rup up at an angle at the start and got E'd. They did a lovely helter skelter and came 6th over all - all heights.

We rounded off the day with fish and chips at a pub on Minas Bay.

If this was how agility used to be why did it change?

Tennis Ball Week

It's been a real week. Our first weekend of indoor shows.

It all started Friday when Rupert accidentally(?!!!) chomped a tennis ball in half and chewed one half. It was eventually(!!!) removed from him but a great deal of it was missing. Some was found in the garden, some wasn't.

The next morning was a cold winter morning with fog everywhere. We drove south to Weald show. Rupert was clearly not his usual focused self. He barked and barked. He flew see-saws; came off the dog walk twice; jumped from the top of the A-frame. I decided he couldn't cope with the background noise at indoor shows and decided to give him skull cap and and valerian the next day at Warnham and keep him outside as long as possible. I also realised that with the noise of the indoor school he can't hear Jordan's little voice and Jordan is unaware that he needs to be much, much louder indoors.

The next day wasn't much better. Rup barked and barked, came off the dog walk (again!!!!) and knocked me over. Nearly got a clear in the jumping with J but lost focus in the weaves and shot out and into the tunnel. Got so loony he ran the 1-7 helter skelter on his own - well J followed as fast as he could - luckily Rup went the right way and they won.

The next morning Rup was gagging and sicked up tennis ball all over my pillow - don't ask why there!! He panted and panted so off we went to the vet. £200 later the vet could find no more tennis ball. But she told us to monitor him. The next day more ball came out.

We went to Pachesham on Thursday. Well, Rup seemed OK. He was a bliss to handle. Did beautiful wait starts for the first time in his life. Not himself at all. Back to the vet....!!!! Who could not understand why I thought it was odd that he did sit stays at the start and didn't charge off with his usual bat outa hell starts. However she did say the loopy behaviour was more akin to stuck tennis ball.

Meanwhile the Pachesham pups are seriously go!!!! Magic is doing well. He can loose focus when he has women on the brain, or scent but when focused is showing nice drive. I must take some photos of him. He is confident on the wobble board; getting the hang of the dog walk and contacts. Like Rupert he doesn't like to work away from me as he needs hand signals and lip patterns but the aim is to teach him from the start to go on unless told otherwise. He still has a tendancy to take short cuts to his reward.

Magic's First Flyball training

As we weren't doing any agility this weekend we rejoined the Wimbledon Whizzers on Wimbledon Common for flyball this morning. It was Magic's first trianing session. We arrived early to walk the dogs and as I was getting the dogs out of the car a black lab-cross ran out of the car park and onto the busy south circular. I rapidly shut the cockers back in, slammed the boot down and told J to stay with the car. By the time I got onto the South Circular to try and get the dog off it was badly spooked and was runnig in a blind panic. I manged to get it off by throwing sausages as it was so badly stressed it was not coming near me. Thankfully a hunky rugby player from the Harlequins came to assist and we managed to drive it into Asda, where it cowered in the bushes by the delivery vans. It was not at all safe.

While I rushed back for my car ...and Jordan. The hunk called the dog warden. After I got back he departed (shame!!!) leaving us with the dog. We sat very calmly hoping the dog would relax and stay where it was and that seemed to work and I was able to approach it. It had a collar but no tag (fume!!!) and would not let me touch it. After about 30 mins the owner came, who'd lost it out jogging and took the dog off without even waiting for the dog warden (fume!!!). Yeah I gave my lecture about no tag and getting it checked as it may have been hit....!!!

Well by then we'd missed the first 25 mins of flyball and I was a nervous wreck. J wasn't much better.

We put Rup in the beginners with Magic to take him back to basics to give him more focus and try to stop him merrily chomping on the ball after he has got it out of the box and get him to run back with his agility speed and drive and not do lallying having a good chomp. Well he only chomped his way through one ball so that's progress.

The star was Magic. We only expected him to learn to pick up a ball and run to us. He was however soon running down the lane, picking up the ball and running with great speed after us. NOT only that he was picking the ball up with a fast, natural turn, just like his father. Ray was really impressed, especially, as he pointed out, he may be his father's son but he has never watched Drake do his famous swimmer's turns but seems to want to do them. (I wonder what Nat does with her pups before they leave the Bryning kitchen (lol)!!!) I can't wait till he's older and we can really begin to unlock his full potential.

Flyball finished and we drove to Wycombe to pick up some cabinets to put all our trophies and medals in. We've finally finished and a large GandT is called for!!!!

The Last outside show of 2008

Well it is over. UKA Waverunners is our last outside show this year. It was a lovely day - well after the fog and mist cleared - with glorious sunshine. Apps Court by the Thames in Walton is a lovely venue.

We went out on a high with J winning the time fault and out and the steeplechase on Sunday. The steeplechase win was by 10 seconds!!!!! (But weaves, sit stays and Rup's potty moments remain problems we need to sort out during the winter.)

The good news is that the Disabled Handlers gold League closes on 30th September and Jordan is a runway winner, having (sadly) beaten Marion and Fizz, the Pap.

Rup and I ran in the pairs with Emma and Flo. We've trained together since our dogs started in agility and always wanted to get the mad cocker and springer together as a pair. Well we did it. We were outclassed as the other midi pairs were higher grades than us. But fluke, we won!!! The course was designed for Rup a lot of ground to cover, which he did in a stonking clear round with no potty moments. Flo did really well too with an unfortuante pole down.

So no more shows until the indoor shows start in October. We'll miss camping and the outdoors. I can't say the sunshine as we didn't get much this year.

Next time we are outside Magic will be competing in nursery/pawsability/all sorts jumping. He's enjoying his training and I'll post some photos over the next few months. The plan is for him to make his debut in the fun run at C-Side in March.

More Fame for Rupert Goes Vertical

In July Steve Collins' fantastic photo of Rupert doing Dash n Splash "Rupert Goes Vertical" http://momofoto.carbonmade.com/projects/2093511#7 was the front cover for Dogs Today, the UK's biggest selling Dog Magazine. A week later it was on the cover of the programme at the Cold Wet Nose show. (....It's also on Steve Collins' business card!!)

A few days ago Steve emailed me to ask if I would release the model as the Nikon World Magazine want to do a feature on the photo in the forthcoming Autumn issue. http://www.nikonworld.com/ I duly released the model and signed for him as he is under 18!!! Then came the news via Steve's web page that the photo is also being considered for entry into the prestigous 3rd Fédération Internationale de l’Art Photographique Club’s World Cup in Paris later this year alongside another one of Steve's photos “Big Mick”.

Another of Steve's doggy photos of a would be carriage dog ‘When I Grow Up’ - has just been placed runnner-up in the Dog Photographer Of The Year 2008 Competition - Dogs At Work category and we'll be able to view it at Discover Dogs at Earls Court.

Steve is an absolutely incredible dog sport photographer. The guy amazes me. He stands above the crowd at events like Dash n Splash and has the split second timing to get incredible photos of the dogs hitting the water and all the power and energy. Then there is an almighty splash and Steve gets soaked but somehow his camera stays dry and the splash and water drops are encaptured in his photos. Do check out his web page.

Scrambles - A Year On

The September Scrambles show last year was our first agility show. We ended up with 8 E's - including 2 for leaving the ring to sample picnics and to survey the refreshment tent.

This year Scrambles wasn't our best show. All 3 of us made silly mistakes that cost us dear - a pole in the steeplechase because of my body language; missed weave enteries and Jordan's loss of confidence with weaves and slight panic about hearing the whistle in power and speed. It was unfortunate that weaves in the Royal Canin Agility were just before the last jump so Rupert seeing the finish acellerated, realised he had weaves and went in at the second pole. Shame as our time was the fastest and we lost a qualifying place in the RC Agility. Sunday's agility had the weaves after the start. Again Rup charged off like a bat out of hell at the start and realised he had weaves and, again, went in the second pole. Jordan lost confidence with the weaves in the jumping. But Rup weaved beautifully in snooker and we came 3rd. I realise I need to rethink how I do snooker. I asked the judge and scribe to give me waves instead of a whistle. According to the ring manager they need to wave a lot more!!! They said I was too busy running like a bat outa hell to see them!!! I didn't realise I'd faulted and finished the course. We'd have come 2nd if I'd gone straight to the finish. So folks, if you see us doing any of the whistle games please stand round the ring and wave like fury when the whistle sounds and I may see you in the nano second I'm not controling the mad dog. Our day ended with a 3rd in the steeplechase for Jordan - only points of seconds separated the first 3.

Well, it has been a good year. Only one more show to go before the end of September and we'll find out whether Jordan has won the gold Disabled Handler's League. I have to say I was willing Marion and Fizz to win and am really pelased they have beaten me. But it looks like Jordan is gonig to win it.