Happy days

Sometimes I just have these days when everything seems so perfect and I couldn't be happier with my dogs.

Yesterday I went to the Honiton v South Devon league match, I just took Ricky and Tia as I thought as Scandal needs so much attention when we are at a show, I will instead just give more attention to T and Rix as they can be a bit overlooked when I have the naughty pup. I have to admit it was lovely to have two such well behaved and easy going dogs, they are such a breeze to have around!

They had 4 runs each, agility, jumping, tunnel fun and agility steeplechase (which had a dw and af). Tia ran at large G5-7 and Ricky ran at anysize G5-7 medium. Ricky hasn't had 4 runs at a show for about 3 years so I was excited to be doing so much with him!!

Tia: agility - trained her contacts, lovely 4offs, had a pole then I didn't cue her with my shoulders for a turn and she went round a jump and than ran off into a tunnel.
jumping - was doing a cracking round until I got LOST!!! What a prat. It was a bit of a tricky course, involving a push through (which we did perfectly - yay!) a couple of pull throughs which we also did, and then I had to send her through a box and recall her round the back of a jump - she did this wide, which put me/her out of position so instead of flicking her into a tunnel, I turned round and sent her down a line of jumps. I just can't believe I couldn't remember the course, it wasn't even like I had any excuse of lots of rings to walk! Tia loved it tho, was a mad girlie and put in two bounce jumps which I was uber pleased with.
tunnel fun - just a pole, was FLYING, loved doing big send outs to the tunnels. Came 7th even with 5f :oD
agility steeplechase - in this run, there was something about it that just made me so relieved I made (imo) the right decision to put Tia through months of rehab, she looked fantastic, even if i do say so myself :oD her confidence was awesome, she was completely bonkers, soooooooooo wild, and attacked every jump like she meant it, she did 2 bounce jumps, which considering the ground was soft, and 18months ago she couldn't bounce jump at all, is amazing. I saw so much enjoyment from my girlie in this, loved working, did everything I asked and just ran her heart out. I won't lie and say Tia is my favourite dog in the world, I do really struggle with her (as a pet) but I know that training her in obedience and agility and then doing the rehab stuff with her has totally transformed our bond, when I am training/working her she has no fears, no spazzy 'herd the cat/sheep/ferret/chickens' moments which rule her life, and we have so much fun. When she comes out the ring with her hollee rollee toy and comes out leaps at me to play with her I smile and think at how far we have come. We still have many moments of 'TIA... WHY IS IT ALWAYS YOU IN TROUBLE!!' but agility is definitely something where we can both forget all those moments that we clash and just have lots of fun. Oh dear this is turning out to be another rambly post, but I am just so chuffed by how she is running, how happy she is and the buzz I get from running her. I think it was the first time I have gone for it, since April 08, instead of running her cautiously as if she is about to break, and it was so good to really get into the courses rather than half working, half watching her!

And then good Mr Ricky, who was a great boy today. I wasn't sure whether to run all 4 classes but decided to as will probably be the last chance we ever get of doing 4 classes, he hasn't been too stiff this week and no lameness or anything like that, also the courses were all 5-7 and of course we are used to doing anysize straight up and down, so I was just a bit excited as to have something to really work!
agility - did stop-go on dogwalk and aframe and he did a lovely run, hard work getting him to turn tightly but he was fab and came 1st beating all the other 5-7s large med and small :-D
jumping - knocked a pole when I dropped my shoulder recalling him through a box but he was really tight and no hesitation from me about which frickin direction I was running in, no way was I getting lost again! Got 3rd in this with 5f.
tunnel fun - super boy did a lovely clear I think this run was his favourite, all the massive send outs to tunnels he was sooo fast! Got 2nd in this.
agility steeplechase - held his contacts, did lovely dog walk then knocked 2 poles, maybe he was tired I am not sure. Ran into 4 off on aframe, I held him there for a couple of secs before releasing. Good boy he tried sooooo hard in his runs, ran his little socks off. He is blooming hard work as when I use the cue arm for Tia she understands it and it doesn't feel like I am fighting her all the way round but with Ricky you have to almost stand in his flight path before he will put a steady stride in! Was so great being able to work him on hard courses, he was so up for it, I wish I hadn't had to retire him at the age of 8 but perhaps it's why at almost 11 (and no doubt with the help of Lowri) he is working faster than ever.

What a pair of good dogs I have, I am looking forward to two KC shows next month and then they are having a bit of a break till March/April time, when hopefully we will be doing quite a few shows, oooh the excitement :o)