We were getting set for Hinckley last week when we had a call from my sister to say that her son Sam had taken very ill and she was taking him into Pembury hospital. I met her there and by the time I got there Sam was fighting for his life. They managed to stabilise him and then a retrieval team from St Thomas's hospital in London was sent down to transfer him to the Evelina children's hospital which is attached to St Thomas's. My sister went with him in the ambulance and I took her best friend up by car. We couldn't follow the ambulance very far as it was on a blue light and we soon lost it. He was diagnosed with meningitis and that's just been confirmed as the more serious bacterial type. He is still very unwell but has turned a corner and just last night was brought back to Pembury. We had to go to Hinckley as Andy was judging the championship class but I was ready to drive back if needed. Luckily I didn't have to do that as Dan and Mac stayed with Sally as did my step-mother. We kept in touch by phone and text so I knew what was happening all the time. It was a very scary time for everyone especially Sam and his mum.
Hinckley, as usual, was wonderful and we were really lucky to have gorgeous weather. The championship class went really well and the finals were very exciting. Our mate Mand won the large dog final with her lovely boy Jag, she was running last and held her nerve to produce a stunning round; the medium final was won by non other than Kizzy's mum 'Zen' with Bernadette front crossing as if her life depended on it (tee hee!!) and the small final by Dawn Weaver with her lovely poodle Chelsea. What a weekend for Zen, winning the Supa Dogs final on Friday and then the champ class at Hinckley. Kizzy Hudson you have much to live up to! Lisa and Chi didn't quite make the final but had a fantastic run in the agility heat, winning the class. Bernadette and Lisa came and joined us for a drink and nibbles before their long (but no doubt happy) journey home!
I had some good and bad runs. Niamh and her partner did a good pairs run with Tik just taking one pole down which was a real shame. Poppy was clear in her pairs and Murphy did a stunning round but doubled up right at the end of the weaves. The rest of the couse he did brilliantly, darn dog, he does something different every time just to keep Andy on his toes!
I made a huge effort to get more involved with Niamh rather than holding off her as I need to do more with Poppy. It definitely seemed to work and the round I was most proud of was the Novice Agility G3-5 on Sunday which we were leading for quite a while. I did everything I planned when I walked it and didn't chicken out of any of my crosses or push aways. We ended up in fourth place but only by fractions of a second, I think the winner was on 28.4x and then the next three places were all on 28.8 something including Naughty Niamh! Very encouraging. Here is a video clip of her best runs, apart from my bad handling of the snake combination in the first round!
Sadly we blew our novice Olympia class (again!). I was a little late with a call and she took herself to the weave poles. I'm actually happy about this because she is starting to find stuff for herself if I'm late with a call or make the wrong signal. Whereas she used to grind to a halt if she didn't know what I wanted, she's started to take control and that's good. Now I need to get my act together!
None of our dogs got too much attention on Saturday due to Andy judging and me scribing for most of the day. I hate that aspect of judging/working on a ring. However, we made it up to them on Sunday and they all had a great day. Kizzle didn't actually do too badly on the Saturday as she got to spend some time out and about being the youngster!
Abbey isn't too well at the moment. She isn't eating well and is very fussy. I have a horrible feeling her kidneys are starting to play up. She's off to see Jim tomorrow for her jab so I'll have a chat with him.
Mum is much the same and has good days and bad days. Yesterday I went in and gave her room a good clean. She was actually quite jolly and we sat and watched Neighbours together. She loves that show (anyone who knows me will realise how hard that is for me as I loathe soaps!) She cannot get rid of the C.Diff bug and that is making her very tired and I would think at times very miserable.
That's about it for now. Off to Thames for the weekend all being well!
Glad you managed to have some fun on Sunday after all your hard work on Sat - when we were having all the fun :)
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