Axstane

I love Axstane show normally but this year didn't enjoy it as much partly because it was so cold and partly because the show ground has really deteriorated. There are pot holes everywhere (from rabbits I think) but more worryingly there is litter everywhere including glass and other unsavoury items.

We arrived quite early on the Friday to get set up and ready to help them build the rings. Andy, Al and Dan did this whilst I chilled with the doglets. It was good to see Tel and Bill and we all got together for Friday evening to watch the football. Bit of a let down to say the least. Nat and Tracey brought pizzas with them so no cooking. Great.

On Saturday morning we had a bit of a lie in as there was nothing for either of our dogs to do first thing. Although this was nice, I kind of lose my focus when I haven't got anything to walk. Then of course everything came at once. I had all three of Niamh's courses to walk at the same time and frankly I made a mess of two of them but did get a clear in the agility. I think I got a place but not sure where as I forgot to collect my rosette. All three courses were quite tricky and it was too much for my brain!

Zeki was a good girl and we got a clear in the helter skelter but no place. However, she amazed me in the KC Olympia qualifier. I do these as an extra run for her with no expectation whatsoever (for this year, watch out next year though!) Zeki was having none of that and did a really good round in which we were placed 3rd behind Sian and Jazzy and Carol and Marli. This is our best result to date and I am so happy even though we missed qualifying by just the one place. We were 2 seconds behind Sian and just fractions behind Carol. This makes me feel really positive that we are making good progress.

Here is a video of her run taken on our brand new video camera. It's amazing, so tiny but the quality is great. You can put it in your pocket, so much easier than lugging a big camera around which I can't be bothered to do any more. Plus the best thing about it is that although it's described as red it isn't, it is PINK. Perfect. I haven't figured out how to edit anything yet so this is just a basic download from the camera. More reading up to do!



We had another lie in on Sunday as nothing much for us to do. Andy walked the champ class at medium height ready for Kizzy's run. Kizzy was running well this weekend and got a few placings but she was a BAD sheltie in her champ jumping. The course was pretty tricky and she and Andy actually got round the pattern really well. However, Kizzy shot up a tunnel right at the start of the course which got them eliminated. Oh well.

I missed walking one of Niamh's courses so just trained the run but she did a lovely run in her Graded 7 jumping and came 4th. I loved the course as the dogs could really open up and run but it wasn't an advantage to people could run fast. The obstacles came up naturally for the dogs to take and so you could cut corners. Thank you Stuart Carter for a really fun course. Here is the lovely but Naughty Niamh in action.



I only ran Zeki in one of her classes as both her others were right at the end of the day and we were so cold we just wanted to get home. I'm glad we did leave early as it meant we had time to clean out the caravan ready for our trip up to Lune Valley and Barrow.

Last but not least, yet another whirlwind at Axstane. We see these every year at this venue and this year was no different except we were lucky that nobody got hurt when a medium sized marquee was lifted right over the top of the main marquee and landed at the entrance to the first row of rings. The wind held the marquee in the air for a few moments and so people were able to scatter and thank god no-one or any dogs were hurt. Very scary.