The good and the bad...

Well we've only got one more show to do this year, and 2 more finals.
Everything kind of went a bit pear shaped after June... having no lesson since May is definitely showing, my handling has gone t*ts up! We didn't have a clear after Weardale until DIN where Scannie won G4 jumping.

We only competed 1 day of KC Fest as Scan escaped out of the garden, ransacked someones caravan/bbq/other food source, burning her nose and getting the worlds biggest belly in the process, was really sick, and took a few days to recover from it, poor girl.
Edited to add a nice pic taken by Cat Clark :)


We had the DV final at the end of August. Scandal was superb, Lee was judging and having won a couple of Lee's semis/finals I was keen to win this with Scandal ;) well she flew round, and then Char = wally, panicked at the end instead of holding my ground just ran at the last jump, and Scandal ran round the penultimate jump, a wall, which she'd never seen before. She crossed the line in 33, the winner was 34. Was really chuffed with her, she was soooo good, I just couldn't quite hold my nerve.

The weekend just gone we had the Olympia semis, didn't get off to a good start as Scandal hated the big wings, running round jump no 3 like it was going to eat her and doing a huge jump over the next (the joint aid jump), she then ran awkwardly and kinda fell up the aframe, somewhere over the course she managed to split her dew claw. I vet wrapped it, and she then decided she would act like a frog and could only walk in leaps, so that had to come off for the final, luckily it wasn't a bad split but of course poor Princess I just wanted to wrap her in cotton wool :)

In the final Scan was great, just me again not holding my nerve, I walked the course and just lost every ounce of faith that I had, normally I walk a course and even if it is hard, I am excited about running it but all the excitement just melted away leaving me dreading it and not looking forward to running it, I have never not looked forward to running Scandal. After the weaves I didn't pick Scandal up correctly so she didn't have a clue where she was going, and got a refusal at the next jump. A 5 would've got us in but she made sure we didn't by taking a pole... she's only taken one possibly 2 poles in the last 2 months of competing so I guess fate just has a way of making sure :)

I was really gutted, and actually cried like a right baby about it that evening... not the fact we didn't qualify, but the fact that the last 2 weekends I have let Scandal down sooooo much, and made her look absolutely rubbish, when in fact she is not. However looking on the bright side, it has taken all of the pressure off as I can now give her 3 months rest, and don't need to worry about keeping her in peak condition when the hours are short, and I won't be getting home from work until it is dark. I am still not happy about her hind leg so hopefully we will be able to work on this over the winter so she will be fully weight bearing on it next year. And of course next year she will be more mentally mature, and I won't have the thought of a massive final bearing down on me in the next 3 months which I am sure would not have the greatest effect on either me or Scandal!

Hopefully I will update this again soon when I have more time... just very rarely on the PC now I have internet on my phone, I can check my emails on the go and so don't go on anything else!
Ohhh one last piccie of my Princess :)

Rugby, Weardale

Oh dear getting behind again...
Scandal's first grade 4 was Rugby and she was great getting a 3rd in G4 agility, was really pleased with her. Felt like we were starting to click.
Tia managed a 4th in grade 7 agility, bless her as there were 120 dogs in the class.

Weardale and Scandalbeans qualified for the Olympia semis with a 2nd :-) YAYYYYY!!! Out of 260 dogs in the class. She also had a 2nd in the G4 jumping.

This weekend I was a bit crazy and decided we'd do Ag Club on Sat as Imogen had Starter and Junior Finals, but I really wanted to do Derby as it had an Olympia qual... Imogen had a 3rd in the Junior Final but Honey is being soooooo difficult just does not want to know... yet a couple of weeks ago she was flying, and probably will be in another couple of weeks, damn spaniel, give me a collie any day :-)

Our day did not go well yesterday with Scandal missing her dog walk in the 3-5, much to my horror. I know it was my fault as I was not clear enough telling her it was a run, but she still should not have jumped it anyway, grrr. We redid the down plank ok, then she went in her weaves and came out at the 3rd, so we left.

Into the practice ring we went, and she couldn't do the dog walk in there either... 1 way, towards the tunnel... the other way was fine, Grrrrr. She could do both by the end of all the millions of sessions we had tho ;-)

Then in the jumping she had a lovely run but bobbled in the weaves 2 jumps from home, but we carried on as no point making a big deal of it.

Today in the Olympia I said "go" after the aframe instead of right, and she did, again we carried on. Then her dog walk, as she went up it, she lost her balance, nearly fell off, got her stride completely wrong and pretty well missed the contact again... hard as I wanted to say "good girl for trying to stay on" but at the same time please can you try and get the contact anyway ;) Gary the judge let us redo it and she did it perfect this time.

Jumping she was lovely just had a pole but worked soooo nicely.

Then the agility, the dog walk was near the end and 2 jumps on sharp angle after it, all I wanted her to do was a nice running dog walk didn't care about the jumps after it, so put her toy out of the ring by the score tent in a straight line with the dw, she did a stunning run and then we did a "go go go" to her ball, she did a perfect contact so I was really happy :) apart from the judge did ask why we didn't want to finish, I don't think he quite realised how important I thought it was to reward Scandal for doing a brill contact and abandoning the last 2 jumps :)) but anyways I am happy.

Honey was a bit better, 1st in G5 jumping and 2nd in Junior U12s, Tia got a 4th with 5f fastest time, she and Imogen are working so much better now.

Week off next weekend, then KC fest, woohoo :)

Tuffley

Just a short(ish) post as nothing too exciting happened.

On the Sat, Scandal's first run, she won 1-4 jumping, it was a pretty fast course and I didn't say too much to her, just left her to it and put the directionals in at the right places, she was a good bean. Her bro Chilli came 3rd :)

Grade 3 jumping she did some crazy bounce work all lovely, came out of the 10th pole on 12 weaves, again i have been ready for her to do this so we 'happy Char'd' it back to the start and she was fine, rest was lovely.

KC 3-5 ag (may as well write E on my ticket before I've even booked in). Was having an absolutely blistering run, then scrambled up the dog walk as went on wide, re-corrected her stride to do a perfect running dog walk, and I was so stunned that for the snake which followed I said "right" but didn't turn my shoulders so she ran round the 2nd jump, what a twit I am, my brain just can't react fast enough, it's faulty, wish I could swap it for a better version!

Today in her CSJ agility she felt quite floaty, weaves were a bit steady, she fluffed her aframe contact although got it fine, but she did a 'ahhh' moment where she went up it with a bit too much momentum and then had too long a stride on the way down. Then took the pole after the dog walk, I need to do a lot more control work after the dog walk, but seeing as she won't even do a RC in training at the moment I think it will have to wait. Then at the end again my brain had gone into the faulty section and I couldn't remember her wing wrap commands, so we re-did the sequence... oops. Oh and to top it off she did the worlds slowest seesaw. Yay.

In the G3 agility it was Graham Taylors, 'interesting' but I loved it. Scandal worked the first part fantastically, almost sliding seesaw (which i held), tight turns, perfect aframe, then wing wrap to weaves she almost went back up the aframe instead of the weaves, found them at the last moment, took herself out round the first pole and as I was miles infront couldn't quite get the entry and went in the 2nd. So we redid and she was lovely, then did the next bit lovvely and we did a stop dog walk, for no particular reason other than we need to do more of them, and it wasn't miles speedy but she ran all the way into position. Then went in the wrong end of the tunnel which was last obstacle.. hmm going to have to work on this as she's done it twice now, found the wrong end of a tunnel (instead of staying on my line, flicking away).

Then the Alpha 1-3 agility, I'd decided to train it as we are away for the final, well Scandal was lovely did a nice stop on her seesaw, I didn't say much to her on the jumps just let her find her line as she was trying sooo hard to keep the jumps up, perfect aframe, then did the best stop dog walk shes done, back feet right on the last inch of the contact :) and a lovely go on to finish, she finished 5th, so I was really happy with her.

Absolutely adore running her, she is the best little girl in the world. I even cooked her an omelette tonight as she was so good :O

Imogen has been at Dashin Dogs this weekend with Honey and Tia, and has done brilliantly, Honey winning 4 classes and a 2nd, and Tia having a 1st and 2nd in juniors! Yayyyy :)

x

GT UKA

Running a week behind! I entered the Saturday of GT but somehow forgot to enter Scandal in the Sunday of Lansdown, even tho I entered Ricky and Tia lol??

Had 4 runs at UKA but only ran 3 of them, as the gamblers still had at least 1.5hrs to go and we were all hot and bothered and home seemed much nicer than melting.

Ohh and I got Scandal measured, my friend Laura's dog Be was measured standard and we both decided Scan was smaller than Be, so I wasn't worried... hmm I think I should have been! Cut off for standard is 500mm... Scandal was measured as... 499mm :O so she got in by the tiniest of margins... I can't believe she's 20"... especially as people told me last year she'd be medium, lol!

Decided before I'd even got to the show that I was going to do all 3 runs NFC as I think Scandal needed a confidence boost. I managed to miss walking all 3 of my classes, the only one I walked was gamblers which I never ran, ahhhhh, scatty head on! Well I didn't actually arrive until 8.45, which explains why I missed the first one, but the other 2 I was just being ditzy.

First run was jumping, and I rewarded her wait at the start, then rewarded her weaves. Her weaves felt slower than usual but hey we're ignoring that, she did them, that's all I care about :) then did a nice bit next, but tried to bounce a jump on a wide 90 degree angle and crashed through it, she looked a bit suprised so I called her to me and gave her a stroke before we carried on - made me feel better anyway!

Next was steeplechase, rewarded her wait again, and sort of made up my own course so Scandal wouldn't have to do lots of bounces, but she bounced instead in 2 places where the jumps must have been at least 8 paces apart :O crazy long stride. I did 3 wing wraps with her and rewarded her on 2 of them, the 3rd one we did coming out of a tunnel, I said 'cik' and she really digged in and turned sharply, so I was happy.

Last run was agility, again rewarded the wait, did perfect aframe, then 3 jumps, perfect running dog walk, tunnel, and I rewarded at this point, then jump weaves, rewarded after the weaves, then couple of jumps seesaw - which she got but didn't hold position, so we re-did the sequence of jumps-seesaw and she got it nicely.

Hmm more seesaw work, although I did realise that we didn't do any on the one day we trained last week, oops. I'm pleased with her weaves being good, and of course it was really nice to be able to reward her dog walk, as I haven't rewarded any since our last UKA show. Such a good Scandalbean, she tried so hard!

Newton Heath

Thought I better write another post otherwise Dan will be moaning... ohhh wait, he already is :P

Here is the video of Thames and Newton Heath


Scandal seemed to have gone up a gear at this show - although by the end of it had gone down a gear - more on that later.

First day was great - she won the G3 jumping with a really flowing run, steadied nicely for a pull through, did weaves that were almost fast, and tried really hard. We also had a 3rd in G3 agility with a held seesaw. I screwed up the wing wrap before the dog walk hence she went up the dog walk really slowly as she wasn't sure if she was right or not. Ohhh I'm an idiot!

Then it all started to go downhill on the Sunday. Her 3-5 Olympia agility went 3 jumps, dog walk, jump, pull through. I was so impressed with her speedily running down her dog walk that I was a fraction late with her wing wrap command, and then bent down, rather than standing up straight with high stop arm, so she ignored me and went round. Then did a perfect seesaw, then went in to the tunnel after which they had to turn right. I said "Scan scan scan" shoulders facing right way etc, but nooo, she completely ignored me and took a jump that wasn't even near, at which point I got cross and said "SCANDAL, NO" pretty loudly. She was alright after that and did speed back up again, but I was cross with myself for getting cross with her.

Her C3-5 jumping I cued her for a turn after 2, which she went to do, then flicked off, now this annoyed me as Tia does this but I've made a real effort to do loads of work with Scan so she doesn't do this, anyway so we had an almighty wide turn where she nearly took the wrong jump, then did 3 more jumps and she knocked this damn jump that she'd wanted to take in the first place down... then her weaves.... arghh. She's been trying SO hard on her weaves and has been perfect in them barring her first ever run at Hinckely. So she skipped a weave pole... cue horrified Char... wtf do I do when she misses a weave pole? (I am rubbish if I don't have a backup plan).

So I sent her back in from where I was stood, which was a 90 degree angle for Scandal to get... she missed it. I sent her in again, and she missed it again. So I sent her in straight, and she paid me back for this by walking through them and then stopping at the 6th pole... excuse me while I just die of embarrassment.

After that I decided that I'd have to really grit my teeth and stop pratting around as I sooo want her to get confident and of course she isn't going to if I'm not positive.

Her final run was G3 agility and started jump-weave. She came out of the 10th weave pole, think her confidence was given a big dent in the above jumping class. Put her in again (happy Char) and she flew through them, and then did a lovely rest of the round, incl a perfect running dog walk so I was happy. So a really great run apart from the weaves. I am not worried about the weaves, I know it will come back, I just have to make sure I am not shocked or suprised when she does it, and handle it a lot better, grrrr I need a slap!!

Thames

Ok I'm a bit behind, but never mind.

Thames, Scandals 2nd show, she was lovely, had some great runs, on the Sat in the G3 jumping she ran past the last jump, it was on an angle and I thought she'd pick it up and she didn't. Then got a clear and a 3rd in G3 agility, slowww seesaw due to me handling like an idiot!!

Then we had a lovely round in the 3-5 combined agility which was a CSJ qualifier, and won it by 0.6!!! So out of grade 3... hmmm a bit soon, I only went for it coz it was a qualifier and they are exciting!

The next day in the G3 agility she was having a gorgeous run, felt like she meant business :D did a rather scary aframe but I didn't correct her as could see she really didn't mean to do it (and this proved correct with her doing a perfect af in the next run), and then did a getting-faster set of weaves, and then went into the wrong end of the tunnel. I could have helped her into the right side, but she must have just decided the entrance she could see was the best. I then tested her seesaw and she flew off it, well didn't fly off, but came off a bit soon, so we re-did it and she did the same thing again, oops.

In the 3-5 Olympia, I messed up and she took a pole, did a lovely aframe, and then launched down the plank of the dog walk instead of putting a stride in. She got the contact but I don't want her doing a dog walk like that so we re-did the down plank and she did exactly the same thing, so we did it again and she was ok. And another slow seesaw to finish.

The 1-4 jumping was next and she was gr8, ran early and then we left, and found out when we got home she won it - yay for Scandal :D she felt really floaty in this run and not trying... but she must have been trying if she won - I struggle with her striding, it's soooooo long and effortless, that it's not mad scrabbly like Rickys which is what I'm used to, and so feels really slow. And I'm not pushing her at all, I'm just trying to get in the right place, say the right commands, and that's hard enough :D

Love the baby dog :) x

Hinckley

How exciting, what a lovely show, I've never been before but will definitely be back again, was such a friendly show, thought the tannoy woman was great :)

First Ant's run with Ruby in Leah's 6-7 agility - loved this course! Ant and Ruby made it look so easy, like a walk in the park.


Tia... 4 classes, I just ran her in 2, didn't even enter her in Champ as knew my mind wouldn't be on her this weekend. She ran ok, my handling was as usual dreadful, but Tia did nice contacts and... hmm thats about it.

Honey was entered on the Sunday and as Indy was at her grans I ran Honey... last time I ran Honey at Wye Valley she went like a slug so I can't say I was particularly looking forward to running her, however she was very good, she's still a lot faster for Indy, but at least she didn't insist on facing the back of the score tent this time!


Scandal baby beans... ohhhhh she's my princess!

She was sooooo good, I am so pleased with her. Very exasperated at myself for handling like such a dork so much of the time. Ok so a quick (long) run down of her runs... first run g3 jumping - not really focussed, neither of us were, I was still cross that she'd bitten me in the queue, not hard but enough to hurt, I didn't really know what to do with her as she wouldn't focus whilst I was walking her around and couldn't get her to calm down like I could the past few UKA shows. She ran round I think 3 or 4 jumps and couldn't find the lines for the jumps at all, also missed her weaves. Then the runs just got better, graded 3/4 agility she was fab... but again I was an idiot, we'd done the dog walk, and the weaves, and were clear up until no 14 which was the aframe. Straight line after the aframe = frame... go. What do I say? Frame. GO GO GO GO GO. And Scandal did. Straight over the apex and I think only got 1 paw on the aframe on the way down. Apart from wanting the floor to swallow me up we quickly re did the contact, and she then completed the course nicely, I am sooooo so cross with myself for saying this as it's precisely why I don't - she'll take her stride too deep. However looking back on the vid it's almost like she was expecting the next plank to be a dog walk type, as she didn't drop down over the aframe at all.

3rd run, CSJ 3-5 agility, I did a stop on her dogwalk which she did, with a nice nose touch at the end, then due to my crappy handling she ran past a jump, aframe a little cautious and high (altho she got the contact) but anything's better than the previous attempt. Nice weave entry which she straightened herself for, and nice seesaw. Went over the last jump and she went off SNIFFING!!! Someone had left a treat on the floor, which she was very pleased with herself for finding.

Sunday
Dog Vegas 3-5 agility - loved Matt Goodliffe's course, did a lovely running dog walk and I was so impressed I forgot to tell her where to go afterwards so she did a wide turn after the jump, then seesaw, hmm well she almost got 1 paw on the floor before I released her :D then nice aframe, slightly wide snake but I was v pleased she didn't run out the ring to get her toy as I'd seen lots of dogs do, thinkin they'd finished! Nice weaves, wide wing wrap, and nice straight bits to finish. OMG was I excited when we did OUR FIRST CLEAR :D woop! She got a 2nd, wow, what a star, I am so pleased with her, and sooooooo relieved we didn't win, as I desperately don't want to be out of G3. We also qualified for the Dog Vegas 3-5 Final - yayyy clever Beans!

G3 jumping - Scandal was so much more focussed, came out wide after the tunnel so I just said 'poles' and she brought herself back in and wrapped round the first weave pole, you can't really see from the vid how wide she was but I was so pleased that she found them, I'm determined to let her find them herself and not help her too much. Did a wideish turn after a snake, then a nice go on to finish and another CLEAR!! She got a 3rd in this, what a great baby.

Novice Olympia 3-5 agility - loved Graeme's course, thought it was just right. I didn't help Scandal enough for directions when she came out the flat tunnel and she turned the wrong way, I haven't done this nearly enough and really ought to practice it a bit more as think I've set it up in training like... twice in the last 6 months. Seesaw I dorked about on and hesitated, so Scandal hesistated, and then realised I was hesitating and ran forward for the next bit, which was followed by a left turn, so I turned soooo late, and Scandal tried so so hard to get over the jump, but knocked it, again I am uber cross with myself for handling so badly as she hates knocking poles. Rest of it was nice, bit wide, but Scandal being good trying very hard to listen and understand what the hell I am doing. Nice running dogwalk-tyre to finish.

I can't believe how amazing she has been, after the 1st run, I got my ass in gear and had (more) control over her around the rings, so she went into the ring focussed on me rather than what was going on in the neighbouring rings. So, we walk around with food up until the dog on the line goes in, then I take her lead off and we play tug, or rather she goes bananas ragging the tug... but again seems to work - will try various things in the coming months and see what works best for her. She is so much fun to work and tries so hard, really pleased all her weaves were perfect apart from her 1st run, yes they are still not fast, but she's able to do the correct action for the most part, which considering she couldn't/wouldn't last month is a big improvement. Love that she listens so intently and doesn't do her own thing. I just need to be a lot more decisive and actually move into the correct position QUICKLY rather than gawping at her. Oh and maintain criteria for the seesaw, and practice running past it, rather than waiting for her to do it. Just didn't want her flying off it at her first show, as she is a woos and would spend the next 6 shows crawling up it, lol.

Wow, this has to be the worlds longest blog post. Can you tell I'm a bit happy? :D