Just as I am thinking I should give up as it's just not fair on my clever dogs ;-)

I have continued to be slack with the blog as I can’t get my videos to upload properly on the computer and prefer to have some video to add in to each blog. This weekend we forgot the video camera entirely anyway!!

I was told off for my last blog entry as I missed one of Magic’s wins L Magic also won Combined 3/ 4 Jumping at Kernow J There were so many wins I knew I had forgotten something!

Last weekend we went to Blackdown Show, new venue, so a bit bigger and MUCH windier!! The classes seemed a little on the slow side, some of the callers seemed to have an odd idea about what they were calling up to and whether or not they were letting people join the queue – not letting in someone who was 90 something but letting in people that were 190 odd 2 seconds later (and no they weren’t helpers). As a result of this we ended up with 3 grade 3 classes and 2 grade 6 classes running at the same time so 7 runs had to be fitted in at the same time! So it wasn’t appreciated when I then got chastised by a ring party member for being late and not having run either of my dogs in a class that should have been open for around 45 minutes as there were 50 odd in it and had only been open for 20 minutes with no call out that I had heard, I rushed to get my dogs, messed up my runs as I was upset and then proceeded to watch the class be left open for a further 15+ minutes!

Meanwhile Dan was having a better time in the Agility ring and had a lovely clear which he eventually won J So another Grade 3 win under their belt. In fact it was a combined 3/ 4 class again. So that was 3 jumping wins and 2 agility wins for Magic at Grade 3 J and she has proved herself capable of winning Grade 4 twice over as well. Dan is planning on working on his timing and cueing with Magic before his first Grade 4 show at SWAT so here’s hoping they do well there too J

I enjoyed running both my Agility classes; Cruze was clear in the 5-7 Agility and somehow came 4^th – I have absolutely no idea how we managed that as he was a bit exuberant and I was completely lost and also got a fit of giggles half way round as he was just being so funny and I was shouting all sorts of commands at him! From one jump to another I managed to fit in ‘go, back, left, right, here’!!! Poor dog!!!! He does so well to put up with me!! So we wasted a few seconds there – mind you we wouldn’t of made up enough time to beat the winner; Stuart and Tess had a foot perfect, smooth round to win that class. Thai ran it absolutely beautifully, until I ran out of breath for the last turn and pull in and lost him over a jump instead of going up the A-frame. Another consequence of having to run a dog, run back get the next dog and there be no queue/or a queue of 1 or 2 dogs only. So lesson learnt there – I cannot run my dogs unless I follow the set up I am used to; therefore I will not be wasting my runs and running while upset/annoyed/rushed – too hot/too cold/ a bit tired/ a little grumpy ;-) hahahahaha!! I wonder how many runs I would manage over a whole season!

I then waited for several hours for my Grade 6 Agility – and messed up both!! By which point I was more than ready to go home!! Well done to Dani and Lily who very comfortably won that class J 6 and a ¼!!

I have struggled over the last few weekends with no run going how I had hoped, and it does get hard when agility means so much to you and you just can't get it right, but I just have to look at the boys' faces and realise that they were very happy with their runs and that is what really matters.

Dan had another really nice run in the Grade 3 Agility Magic is looking so confident at the moment and they look a good partnership – I wonder how far they will go this season?? Unfortunately Magic was a bit too fast over the seesaw and forgot that it was meant to hit the floor before she left it!

Yesterday was Carn Brae – and the special mention goes to Cruze – never one to let me down – if we both hit it right on the same day on the same course J Mr Cruze has his first grade 6 win J He ran beautifully, nice contacts (I was really pleased with his DW), good turns, a nice rear cross/flick round the outside of a wing into weaves which not long ago Cruze would have ended up outside the ring whilst conducting a turn like that!! So I think I have to officially stop calling him my baby – he is not my ‘tester dog’ for courses that I hope to do well in with Thai, he is my amazing Grade 6 boy with 1 win towards Grade 7 and I shall be treating him as such from now on.

No show next weekend L What will we do??!! I think we should probably use it as a welcome break as our next free weekend will be the 20^th August! 7 straight weekends of camping and competing at the larger shows starts with SWAT on Bank Holiday May weekend.

I am hoping I can use this fortnight to continue to work on my turns and handling style and you never know I may emerge as a calm and confident handler in 2 weeks time, who doesn’t lose the plot half way round a course, if not I will still have 2 of the best dogs in the world who love to spend their time with me playing their favourite game.