WBSDS Agility Show

What a busy weekend that was! Four runs a day with each dog and I found it exhausting especially on Sunday when Andy was judging and I had to walk his doglets as well as run my girls.

I don't dislike Newbury as the ground is reasonable but the shows there are huge and it takes forever to walk from one end of the rings to the other. Now that I have two different sized dogs I found my rings scattered all over. It's quite stressful keeping an eye on all the rings watching for classes to close and be ready for walking etc.

Anyway, my girls were just brilliant. I am so pleased with both of them as they are focused and keen and such fun. Niamh is finding her feet nicely in G7 and I was thrilled to get 3rd in G7 jumping on Saturday. We didn't film any of Niamh's runs but unbeknown to me Becca got this round on film. Thank you Becca, it's nice to have a video of a good round. We got a couple of other reasonable places and I let Andy run Niamh in her open jumping class and she ran well getting 12th place on a quick course.



This weekend we had some great courses for both dogs. They both had to deal with pull throughs, push throughs, discrimination and weave entries. It was really good to run over trickier courses.

Zeki is gaining in confidence with each round, let alone each new show. She was a clever girl and won two classes (both C3-5) and got 7th in an open class which I really didn't expect. Andy filmed that round which is great but I wish I had her Saturday jumping win on tape as that was brilliant. It was quite a hard course with push throughs and two collapsible tunnels (well actually one but done twice!) Our friend Caroline King was the judge of this class and I absolutely loved the course! Thank you Caroline for giving us a decent challenge! Having had no collapsible tunnels last weekend after all my training efforts the week before I was delighted that there was one in each of Zeki's rounds this weekend. She didn't run past a single one, so hurrah for the clicker again!

I was very disciplined this weekend, as Zeki is on freebie runs having won into G5 at Wallingford last weekend, and elected to train my agility rounds. I still ran them the same for Zeki but I just didn't release her two stop contacts and she passed the test each time by not self-releasing. Good little girl! I know that Christine is finding that Zev's confidence is growing with each passing show and I can report the same for his sister. It's a lovely feeling for sure!



Kizzy had her first outdoor show of the season. For some reason she ran past the weaves in two of her classes but then did a lovely round in her 6/7 jumping coming 8th. Not bad considering how ring rusty she and Andy are. She was on course for a really good run in her 6/7 agility but ran between the tunnel and A-Frame instead of picking up the tunnel. Was a real shame.

Andy judged on the Sunday of the show so he was able to do a little bit with Kizzy in his ring on the Saturday evening when he was setting his courses. She ran really well and it seemed to give her confidence. Andy needs to do more training with her and in different places but unfortunately at the moment he is just too busy. Maybe I can train her ;o)

On that subject I will be doing some of Kizzy's runs this weekend as Andy has had a small procedure on his leg and has six stitches. He isn't allowed to run for at least ten days. It's a real shame as it's Kizzy's first championship class on Monday at Vyne. We are still in negotiations as to whether I will be allowed to run her in this class! Watch this space.

Clever little Zeki with her prizes from WBDSD 2010

Happy Birthday Becky - ten today!

Happy Birthday to our Becky - ten years young today!

Another fun weekend

Another fun but tiring weekend been and gone! This weekend was Wallingford show for us. We were booked to camp but decided it was a bit cold plus Andy thought it would be a good idea to catch up on some work and spend Sunday with Al working on the studio. Haven't done any photos on that recently but things are progressing and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Will take some pictures and do an update later in the week.

This meant driving back and forth to Newbury but I decided it was worth it. It was Zeki's first G4 show and so I was keen to try to move her up another grade as I want more challenging courses for us to run. I am very pleased to say that we achieved this goal on our first day when she won G4/5 agility. I haven't got this round on video but I was really thrilled with her. It was the best round we've done to date and I knew we couldn't have done it better. It was a slightly trickier course than we were running in the G1-3 and I really enjoyed the challenge of a start which had several ways of handling and a pull through right at the end. Good stuff! We also got 5th in G4/5 jumping and 2nd in the medium pairs with Karen and Todd.

Not such a good day with NN. She worked beautifully her G7 jumping only to be piloted over the wrong jump three from the finish (not that she knew!) and then she had one of her funny little spooky turns in the G7 agility. She was running really well but something unnerved her and she ended up falling off the see saw at speed. I put her over it again and she was fine but still looking over her shoulder at something outside the ring. She was very sniffy this weekend and whatever she was sniffing was spooking her. I resolved to get her out round the rings with a pot of food come Sunday!

Karen and Todd had a fantastic day winning both their G7 jumping and agility and getting the 2nd place in the pairs.

Here are some pictures of our wonderful little shelties and their Saturday haul:





Back we went again on Sunday morning. I decided to take little Pops with me on Sunday. She had stayed at home with Andy on Saturday and had a lovely day out in the garden but I knew she wanted to come with me on Sunday morning so she did! She had a wonderful day with a long session out by the rings killing her chippie chipmunk and a nice walk with just me and her. She was exhausted when she got home. Perfect.

I decided to have each dog out individually on Sunday and after Poppy had her time I took Niamh out with a pot of sausage. She was a bit spooky but we went to the edge of the ring where she had been frightened and played games and did tricks. She got over it and was fine for the rest of the show. She worked so well in David Isbister's lovely G7 agility and like a fool I charged at a fast weave entry (down hill) and she slipped into the second gap. Stupid handler, lovely dog. I managed to make amends in the G7 jumping where we came 3rd. She worked beautifully in both her rounds so I felt much better. I so love my Naughty Niamh and feel very upset when she is unhappy. She's such a bright funny girl and it's horrible to see her miserable.

Then it was Zeki's turn and she was awful. Screaming at the ring and lunging. I was terrified she would slip her collar. I can't use her little agility harness for walking round the rings as she can back out of it, so I decided to buy her a new harness just for socialising round the rings. I had realised that I only take her to the ring when it's her turn as she is such a handful and I need to do more work with her but chicken out of it as I'm afraid she'll get loose. She can't get loose now as she has one of these! It fits her really well and I feel very confident. It's a shame this style don't come in the same lovely colours as the original harnesses made by these people but I still managed to get pink and black! I like it because you can unclip the collar as well as the bit that goes round their tummies. It fits her much better than the original style of fleece harness where she was between sizes. This new style is almost tailor-made as they come in three sections and your dog is fitted with each element to make sure of a snug fit. Very good!

Little Zeki; what can I say. She was a star coming 2nd in G4/5 agility and then 2nd in the team Dash with our team mates Karen, Jenny and Rosie. We were beaten only by a large dog team. I was so proud of Zeki running clear in her first team; thank you girls for letting me run first.

I really enjoyed the agility class that she came 2nd in as there was some handling and it was a bit different from most of the classes we have run. It was great that Karen filmed it for me.



I can't wait for the next show!

I am also looking forward to seeing little Kizzle running. She's only done one show so far this year. She and Andy are rather rusty as they haven't competed, apart from this one show, since last September. Andy has very limited time to train at the moment due to work commitments, college and the studio build. On top of this the garden is starting to come to life so things are very busy for him. I think I might have to do a little training with Kizzle to get her back to her peak! Don't mention this to Andy, I will just sneak up the garden with her and pretend I'm throwing the ball which is part of her fitness regime as she is a rather lazy little girl on her walks most of the time!

More Zeki from UKA

Thank you Gran'ma for filming Zeki's other two rounds from UKA last Friday. I think I was rather lucky to win the jumping class as I would have marked me 5 for a refusal but the judge must have been feeling generous!

Training

I had a good clear up in the agility area yesterday, mainly removing dead twigs etc. from the oak trees and the weeping willow. It's back breaking and rather tedious but it looks a lot better now. I was aided by five little doglets and hindered by one! Kizzy is a nightmare, she constantly brings her ball to me and drops it right in the middle of pile of twigs and stuff that I've raked up and then barks at me to throw it. She brings it back so quickly and so it's a race to get stuff raked and into the wheelbarrow before she gets back. The others are content to run around with their toys in their mouths just chasing and playing.

Zeki makes me laugh so much. When she was younger I did a lot of work with her to stop her chasing things and this meant she wasn't allowed to chase a broom or the rake which she dearly loves to do. She hasn't forgotten this training and to stop herself from chasing the rake she takes her frisbee under the nearest fir tree or shrub and kills it. It's hilarious as all you can hear is her shaking and killing her toy amongst dead leaves and debris under a bush. I must film it one day as it's so funny. Niamh spends most of her time hiding behind the oak tree waiting to pounce and shake her ball at whoever comes running past. Poppy races around with Kizzy and Becky and Murphy just bounce around watching the others. All good fun.

Anyway, Andy set me up a pattern with some of the things I want to work on. At last the equipment is back out. It's been under cover for many weeks due to the bad weather. Since we've been here this has been the first winter that I've been unable to train all the way through. There is one area of ground that has been particularly hard hit. It's covered more with moss than grass due to the oak tree roots and lack of light and hasn't coped at all well with the snow, rain and freezing temperatures but at last it has started to firm up and gradually show some growth.


Obviously I want to work on collapsible tunnels and so far so good. We will have to wait and see what happens when we come across one in the ring. I am very lucky to be able to practise this sort of thing at home. The collapsible tunnel often causes problems with young dogs as you see when you judge lower grade classes and it's a hard thing to resolve when you can't practise it. We are very guilty at our club of not using the collapsible tunnel enough. We tend not to use it because we like to train lots of different sequences and it's not practical to keep turning the collapsible tunnel as it has to be pegged. We must make more effort to use it and the tyre and the long jump (the last two tend not to get used because we have different height dogs in the classes.)

We also worked on push throughs (coming along) and the dreaded cross behind the weaves. We made some good progress on this and I want to continue this as it is something I am not good at with any of my dogs. I am also working on it with NN.

Once I have done my main chore today which is to stock up the caravan (oh and a load of stuff for Andy in the office) then I will go and do some more training with Zeki and also some with Niamh as we didn't have class last night as Leah has gone away to Shaun and Tace's wedding. I hope they have a wonderful day and will be very happy together.

Meantime here are some pictures from our lovely evening walk yesterday. It was glorious but very cold!

Racing each other

Kizzy & Zeki (above) and Poppy (below) munching on the yellow sprouting broccoli, their favourite snack!

Little Pops with Zeki's ears in the corner (she gets in everywhere!)

Zeki

Poppy

The Naughty Niamh

Oops, don't seem to have taken any individual shots of Andy's three!

Zeki at UKA

Here is a lovely picture of Zeki that Vicki took last Friday at UKA. Thank you Vicki, it's a lovely shot. You can see pictures of Vicki's dogs on her own blog; she takes some stunning pictures of her dogs, if only I were that talented, sigh!

Training & Pods

We had a tough training session last night, working on tunnel/dog walk discrimination. It was very hard and quite a few of us struggled. Niamh was really good but Zeki just couldn't cope. She had done similar at Leah's last week with a lot of success so perhaps I was a little over confident. That said last night was up several degrees in difficulty. The pattern below shows some of the sequences we worked on. The black numbers were just some short drills getting the dogs to discriminate between the two tunnel entrances and the dog walk. The red numbers were the longer sequences we did.


Zeki was choosing the tunnel every time over the dog walk. Having thought about it afterwards that is most likely because I spent time in the garden yesterday working on the collapsible tunnel so she was probably very tunnel-focused by the time training arrived last night. On our last sequence we actually ran clear, this was the sequence #1 - #17 in solid red circles.

I think I mentioned in an earlier posting that she had run past the collapsible tunnel twice at the weekend. This is my fault as I haven't trained this obstacle enough. So yesterday we had our first session. I set up the tunnel with a cone about 10 yards away and just did about 20 repetitions sending Zeki out round her cone and into the tunnel. I had placed her food pot about 15 yards on from the tunnel and put a piece of food on the lid so that she got immediate reward. I clicked the moment she committed to the tunnel and then she would drive out to her pot. I will repeat this today on the other hand before I start to introduce movement from me. Right now I just want her doing it independently with lots of reward.

We put the collapsible tunnel out at club last night and even though it was slightly offset she went out to it and picked it up successfully each time. I rewarded the first attempt with food and then just marked each time she picked it up and let her carry on to the next obstacle which is a reward in itself to her these days. It used not to be but she is becoming much more driven and finding obstacles rewarding which is exactly how it should be. Now I am hoping to see the collapsible in her classes at the weekend. What's the betting there won't be any :o)

Then disaster struck! The naughty little sheltie was breaking her start line. Oh my god, I can't cope with that. When I say breaking, what I mean is that she was moving forwards; sometimes shuffling on her bottom still in a sit (very clever!) and other times getting up and moving towards the first obstacle. I really struggled to get her to stay put. So, another thing to train today. She is barking like crazy on the start line which I like as it shows that she is keen to get on with her job. Andy mentioned that she appeared to have gone up a gear last night and that the start line behaviour is associated with her stronger desire to get on with the exciting stuff. I think he is right and whilst I am delighted about her attitude I have to sort my start line. I cannot function without a reliable wait at the start. Those who know me well will feel my fear or alternatively they will laugh their heads off!

Last of all Zeki now has a new depodit box. In normal terms that is a new soft crate. This strange terminology is Bill's fault as she coined the phrase when Zeki was a puppy. We have always called the sheltie's soft crates their "pods". So one day when I popped Zeki into her pod Jackie fell around laughing (don't you just hate people who laugh at their own jokes) and said "Oh look, Zeki has been depodited", i.e. a take on deposited. Oh well I thought it was funny and we've stuck with it!

I bought Zeki a new pod for the car because she is rather noisy on the way to our walk. I also use this at training between her runs, again because she is rather noisy. It was a good size except a little low for her. So that small pod now belongs to little Itzy Bay. Karen had a nice pod for Todd (that rhymes) but thought it a little too small. Last night I took my slightly bigger pod for Zeki which is rather too big and Karen and I decided to swap. So now all the shelties are happily depodited in the appropriate pods. I am sure you will find this interesting which is why I shared it. I am in a strange mood today!

Zeki in her new Depodit Box

Zeki at UKA last Friday

Thanks to Karen for this video from her iPhone. This was Zeki's steeple chase class which she won. The most pleasing thing for me is to see how she has speeded up and is looking much more confident.



As an aside I cannot wait to get my iPhone. I have loved the Blackberry but now I want to try the iPhone. My contract expires mid May so that's when I'll be upgrading!

My lovely long weekend - Day Three

I arrived at Shuttleworth really early on the Sunday morning and managed to secure some good parking. Leah, Jay, Vicky and Natalie parked with me and we had a nice little spot backing on to a tree. We didn't have far to walk to the rings which was good as it's big show and with two dogs to run it was nice to be close to the car.

Another beautiful day although not as warm as the previous two. The air was colder and there was quite a cutting wind. Better for the dogs though. I really enjoyed this show, it was lovely to be with my friends and have coffee together and go and watch each other run. We hadn't really done much of that at Scunthorpe due to the champ class which kind of takes over everything.

Everyone did well with good placings for Kai, Molly, Hex and Stihl. Niamh and I had one clear round but due to a wrong turn we didn't get placed. Our other two rounds were good but each contained a pilot error. I was pleased that Niamh stood up on the start line in her jumping round as it meant I could correct her. I ran back and she sat before I reached her. It did the trick as she sat really still in her final class of the day. Bless her little heart. She is so keen on the start line that she is actually starting to shake. I can't knock that enthusiasm for sure but I need to keep the start line wait strong. I need to do some positive training on start line waits with NN!

Zeki also had three runs. Her first was her last G3 agility class and I am so delighted that she won it. She really ran well in the class and won by 2 seconds. This could have been a bigger margin but there was a huge run across half the ring between #15 and #16. Instead of just moving through the gap, I phaffed about and we had a twirl but luckily managed to stay on track. Good dog; bad handler syndrome strikes again!

I have found another area requiring training as Zeki ran by the collapsible tunnel in both of her following classes. To be fair I just left her to it in the first one because we'd already been eliminated but in the next class I made a point of pausing but she still did it. She runs outside the tunnel rather than cutting in to me. So, that is homework for this week. She really moved up a gear in her jumping class and the reason we got eliminated was because she just ignored a rear cross and carried on up the line instead of changing direction with me. I think this is a good thing as long as I'm aware!

Then it was the longish drive home from Shuttleworth. Jason being the kind soul he is bought me a cappuccino for the journey and it helped to keep me awake. I was very very tired when I arrived home at 7.00 pm but very very very happy. I had the best time with my wonderful dogs and lovely friends.

Here are my two clever girls after their long weekend.

My lovely long weekend - Day Two

Saturday morning came very early for me. I got up at 3.00 am and was on the road by 3.50 am. Andy very kindly got up and let the dogs out whilst I got showered and dressed. He also fed Niamh and Zeki who must have thought Christmas had come for them! I decided to leave Poppy at home for this trip as it would mean a lot of time in the car for her.

It's a long drive to Scunthorpe for sure. It was made bearable as Becca and I accidentally met up on the A1. She had camped at Shuttleworth and so didn't have quite as far to drive as me. We took it in turns leading so that we both had a chance to relax about the speed cameras that appear along the A1. We arrived at the venue at about 7.20 am. I took the girls for a walk and then went off to walk Niamh's first ever champ course. I was very excited and quite nervous too.

It was a good thing that this particular show is for large dogs only. I don't suppose Zeki was too impressed but it did mean I could focus totally on Niamh for the day and I am glad of that.

The judge had set a quirky jumping course and it took a lot of victims. Luckily I wasn't one of them and we managed to go clear. The agility course was also quite tricky and I have to say my knees were like jelly whilst I was getting ready to run. It's two years since I retired Poppy from championship classes and although I hadn't forgotten what it's like to run in one I was very nervous. I truly don't know how I managed to run two dogs in champ classes when Abbey and Poppy were at their best. Anyway I managed to control my nerves and run clear. Niamh was such a good girl, completely honest as always despite one or two little errors from her handler!

Our two clear rounds got us into the final. I am so proud of Niamh for this achievement, getting into the champ final at her first ever championship show. She is such a wonderful dog and I so love running her. My friends were so supportive including the ones that weren't even at the show and I got lots of good luck texts which was really nice.

Before the final I ran Niamh in the crufts qualifier. Sadly my mind was so much on the agility round of the champ class at that point that I put her over a jump instead of taking her to the weaves. This was a bit disappointing as she was running the course really nicely up until that point. Hey ho!

I decided not to run her in her two other classes as she was quite tired and we still had the champ final to run. I also decided it was best if I kept my focus in one ring!

The course went up and we walked it. It was a very nice course but a little too quick for us. There wasn't a huge amount of handling involved it really was about speed and accuracy. There was one tricky part where you had to send your dog from the weaves out and around to the long jump but I wasn't worried about that as I trust Niamh on this particular maneuver. She did me proud on the whole course and especially on that difficult bit and I even managed to tell her what a good girl she was as she did it. That caused a few people to laugh but I always do that when my dogs do something clever so it's just habit :o) We ran as fast as we could but having watched David and the amazing Dobby run first and go clear we kind of knew we wouldn't be quite in that league. That didn't stop me trying though and I was so proud to finish 6th overall out of a strong field and at our very first champ experience. Becca kindly filmed the round, thank you!



Once the show had finished off we went to Newmarket where I had booked B&B for Saturday night. This meant a 40 minute drive in the morning to Shuttleworth and day 3 of our wonderful weekend! It was a lovely place and I would thoroughly recommend it. I was made very welcome and the accommodation was brilliant.

My lovely long weekend - Day One

What a lovely weekend I have had. It was actually a long weekend as it started on Friday. I took myself and my three girls off to a UKA show at a beautiful venue near Reading. It's right beside the Thames and just a lovely place to be.




It was a great fun day out and my main focus was Zeki. I've been working on her start line set up and UKA is a great place to relax and strengthen performance in all sorts of areas. The start line is really coming along and I've gone back to my little set up routine where she sits facing me and then I ask her to go between my legs and either come to side or heel depending on which side I want to lead out. Before I leave her I ask for a nose touch on the palm of my hand which she has to reach up to do. It is really helping to get her focused and ready to run. Much better! I just wish I could achieve something similar with the NN! Her start lines are a little on the edge at the moment!

I know that the classes are tiny at UKA, especially on a Friday, but the thing that pleased me was we found some consistency. Zeki was clear in all three of her classes and won all of them. Poor Niamh, I let her down as I just couldn't remember her courses and didn't even walk one of them properly so I elected to train that round! Some of the courses for Niamh were run over the same jump layouts that Zeki had run in but with the numbers in different places and this isn't good for my brain.


I had a thoroughly enjoyable day with Karen, Rosie and Bernadette and enjoyed watching all three of them run their young dogs in a competition for the first time. Needless to say they all did really well. UKA is a fantastic environment for young dogs and we are very lucky to have it.


Poppy had a lovely day with some time out around the rings and also pestering us throughout lunch.

A neglected blog and lots to catch up with

Well, I have neglected the blog somewhat so I think it is time for a decent update on lots of different things but where to begin!

The studio build is moving along at a good pace considering the little time we have to spend on it. We being the royal we of course ;o) Yesterday Al did the first fix of electrics as all the insulation has been fitted with help from Michael. I think the plan is that this week Michael will make a start on the plaster boarding and get as far as he can so that Al can hopefully do the final fix electrics next weekend. Not sure how much Michael will be able to fit in though because they have a very important event due to happen this week - the birth of their first baby so we are wishing Ellen and Michael all the luck in the world and we look forward to meeting the new arrival very soon.









Since my last update, Poppy has been back to the vet. The specialist referred us back to Nico our own vet which is good because it's more affordable and Poppy loves it there. She is back on steroids for a couple of weeks and this is in conjunction with her new inhaler. She has one more day of steroids and then we have to go with the inhaler by itself for two weeks before going back to Nico to re-assess things. The coughing is definitely less so I hope it is working. The shock of the cost of the inhaler - yikes, £77 and then the prescription £75 which is just one month's worth of drug. Obviously we hope to get her on a lower dose if we can get it under control and I am going to try to source the drug on the internet. Nico has given me all the details and will write me a prescription when I need it. I didn't have to ask he suggested we go down that route as it's so expensive. He is such a practical and excellent vet. I know I keep saying this but it's so important to have a great vet when you have lots of animals and want to be involved in their treatment.

As already posted, today is Poppy's thirteenth birthday and she is looking amazing for her age. She is like a little spring lamb at the moment and really enjoying her walks especially as the shooting is winding down a bit. She is extremely naughty and rolls in fox muck almost every walk but I don't care as long as she's enjoying herself. The only slightly irritating thing is that when we head for home she tends to come into heel and rub her head on my leg which isn't nice as I end up covered as well as her! Bad little doglet! I took her round the rings at the Easter show on Sunday and she loved it. She was out with me for well over an hour with her little chipmunk. She kept presenting it to people to kick for her and then when she got fed up with that she was mugging people for food. Nearly everyone stopped and found something for her in their pocket. She has become very greedy in her old age! I love it!

Agility shows - are now really starting properly. We were very lucky at the weekend in that John Ward and the rest of the committee managed to get the show transferred inside. It must be a logistical nightmare for them but they did it and we all had a great time. Without that effort it would have been cancelled as the ground outside was water logged. I know it's nicer to be outside on grass but I'd rather have an indoor show than none at all so thank you to all the people involved.

Thank you to my wonderful doglets who made my weekend very special. Zeki won three Easter Eggs getting two first places and one second place. She worked like a dream and at last I'm starting to feel we are becoming a team. I can't wait to run her again. Our confidence is really starting to grow and we're beginning to perform as we can in training. Yippee. On Saturday I did both of Zeki's runs but only a couple with Niamh. My back was very painful on Saturday and I was unable to run very well. I had one of those heated belts on (kindly given to me by Elspeth) and that really helped. Leah ran Niamh in her jumping classes and got one clear and one elimination which was unfortunate. I ran in the KC qualifier but we had a pole down, even without it we wouldn't have been fast enough as the course was very quick and there were some megga runs. I felt a lot better by Sunday and decided to run my dogs. I'm glad I did as Niamh and I managed a clear in the G7 agility and I was delighted to get 7th place. It was quite a tricky course and I really enjoyed it.

Zeki and me at the Easter show - photos by Bernadette!

Kizzy and Andy competed for the first time since last September at the Easter Show. Andy really enjoyed running her again but they are a little ring rusty to say the least! Kizzy pulled off a couple of tunnels which was a shame because she was going great guns in both rounds that she did this. I think they just need ring practise to get back into the groove.

Leah got a superb clear round with Murphy in the G6 jumping coming 10th. They had a bit of a glitch on the last of three pull throughs otherwise the round was perfect. Is this the first of many; or is it Murphy's clear round for 2010 - watch this space!

Here is Zeki Beeks with her weekend haul. What a clever little girl!

Zeki with her trophies, rosettes and Easter Eggs from the Easter Celebration Show.
1st Graded 1-5 Agility (she was the fastest dog overall); 2nd Combined 1-3 Agility and
1st Graded 1-5 Jumping

The above photo was taken this Tuesday morning and note all three eggs are untouched. Andy will be the lucky recipient of this chocolate as it is a banned substance for me. I am in to week four of my healthier eating regime (trying not to call it a DIET). So far so good, a way to go but I'm getting there and feeling better for it. It's annoying that my stupid back is playing up. I think I'm going to have to go back for the facet joint injections. Haven't had them for about five years and that seems to be the longest I can go without the pain starting to come back. Damn nuisance.

Last weekend (I'm going backwards here!) we went to Downland show and had a lovely day as it was nice and sunny. It was a small/medium show so just Zeki running; we didn't win anything but both her rounds were good with just silly mistakes. We then had a nice walk on Ashdown Forest with Karen and her gang. Andy went to Newbury that day to judge the first of the UKA Masters series. He really enjoyed it as the standard was very good. It was exciting because the overall winner of each of the four height categories won £100 cash. I think I might enter one with Niamh if I am free when they are taking place. The only thing that was annoying was that it was a small KC Olympia qualifier at Downland and Kizzy had to miss out!

I really must do a training update. That will be next!

Happy Birthday Poppy

Happy Birthday to my lovely little Poppy who is 13 today.
She is the sweetest little dog in the whole wide world and I am so lucky to have her.
Not that I am at all biased ;o)