Dashin Dogs

What a brill weekend. Gorgeous weather, lovely venue, great people.

Tia - 4 runs, 4 eliminations, but they were just the best eliminations, I was as happy as if we had won! We had sooo much fun. She was crazy, she got more mad with each run (I think there were several "cripes, I'm actually doing agility" moments for her) so by the last run, my timing just got totally fuddudled, I handled her wrong and she was just bark-bark-bark so I did let out a TIA! but then we got back on track and she was just super after that, so much fun, wild, was giving it her all, loving every minute of it, and I am so grateful to my lovely little dog for trusting me enough to come back to doing agility even though 18 months ago it was so painful for her. I have really missed running her, we have a UKA show next month and then I will give her the rest of the year off, and start building her up again in Jan/Feb time, I am hopeful she will be able to do one or two classes at a couple of shows a month, maybe even a couple of champ classes, I get such a buzz from running her, just loved this weekend, although my handling is mega ropey, timing is all out, Tia is Miss Fizzy Beans! If we are able to do a bit more practising, maybe this will improve!

Rix was uber naughty on Saturday and leapt off his aframe in anysize agility, however he made up for it Sunday by coming 1st in Veteran Jumping with Lee, they totally stormed it, probably one of the best Veterans courses Rix (and Lee!) has ever worked, he was stunning! I ran him in anysize jumping first thing in the morning and came 2nd, this was despite me almost crashing into a jump, I could see I was running straight towards this jump but just didn't get out the way until I literally had to stop, what an idiot, I blame any alcohol still in my system!! Luckily Rix was oblivious to his stupid handler pratting about and carried on doing his stuff, what a good boy.

Imogen and Honey were ssssuper, and got 1st in Gr 1-3 Agility, 1st in Gr 1-2 Agility, and two thirds and a 5th in agility and jumping. I am so proud of them, still have only been training for 9 months and have won out of grade 1 and qualified for YKC ADOTY at Crufts.

I am still amazed that I have just done Tia's first grade 7 classes, when only 6 months ago it looked as if it would stay a distant dream. I am on such a high, all the patience, endless trips to SMART, the physio exercises, and building her up to be super fit, has been worth it, the guilt I had from making Tia train and compete when she was in pain has now gone, as I realise that everyone in life makes mistakes, we had tried our best to get Tia treated, but had failed to get correct diagnosis, until going to SMART, and I have done everything in my power to get Tia's health and fitness back up to a level where I know she is strong enough to do agility. Tia will always be my "drives me nuts" dog, she is a pain to live with and is a strange little dog at the best of times, however I do feel that when she does agility, she loses all the fears that she has when she's at home or out on walks, and becomes a confident, happy dog who just loves to run.

Here is a video of 3 of our runs. Thanks Garth for filming. Not bad ;-) Tia's 4th run was juniors which I didn't get on film, but Tia and Imogen definitely had fun!