Monday 6 June 2011

Dartford & Keston Shows

It was hard work getting ready for this show due to puppy paraphernalia and loading our stuff into the new caravan.

The venue is not far away at all but our journey took twice as long as it should due to the wretched tolls at the Darford Crossing which are always busy from lunch time onwards on Fridays. Why they can't lift the barriers when the queue backs up so far I don't understand. Originally the tolls were going to be dropped once the bridge was paid for but obviously that didn't happen!

We got set up and Tidey began a new adventure which she took in her stride. I can't begin to say how good this little puppy is. She just accepts whatever comes her way and gets on with enjoying herself. She woke up a little earlier than at home but that's quite understandable bearing in mind that she is sharing a small space with two humans and six dogs. She woke up at about 6.10 am each morning. She continues to be really good about toileting and gets on with her business just outside the wind breaks on the extender lead. She is so easy. We set up her play pen inside the wind breaks and she was very content in that space as we had our deck chairs beside her and the other dogs were close by on their pins. It got a bit chilly at times so we covered her little bed with a blanket so she was very cosy.

At night time she slept in a soft crate on the bunk above my bed. Niamh slept beneath my bed, Poppy in a bed in the door well and Zeki slept in bed with me! Kizzy slept on the end of Andy's bed and Becky and Murphy on quilts on the floor beside him. We were all very cosy and slept well.








Above and below - Tidey in the new caravan


There is a puppy in there somewhere!

Naughty Niamh in her new caravan bed

Tidey had a wonderful weekend meeting lots of new people and receiving some nice new toys! She loves toys and gets very excited each time she comes across a new one.

Agility-wise it was a very mixed bag for me. On Saturday I was disappointed that I pulled off a jump too quickly and caused Niamh to drop a pole in the KCQ but delighted that Zeki won her agility class and came 3rd in her jumping. Kizzy ran well especially considering her first run was at 5.40 pm and both she and Andy had switched off somewhat! It was a shame that she cut behind Andy in her agility run and shot up a tunnel as the rest of the round was lovely. Bad little Kizzle. She redeemed herself on Sunday by getting 2nd in her agility class.

Sunday for me was hopeless with Niamh, completely lost our mo-jo. The only round I was happy with was her jumping class which she ran brilliantly but unfortunately we were E'd as she picked up the second weave pole. I ignored that and carried on as I wanted a positive run to end our rather disappointing weekend. Zeki was brilliant but I let her down in all three of her classes. She was running so well in all of them but a single stupid mistake in each of them meant we had no results to show for Sunday. Below are some videos of our good and bad runs from the weekend:





Overall we really enjoyed the weekend but I must work to get back in tune with Niamh. I can't bear it when we aren't running well together. I think Niamh is suffering a bit from puppy-itis and I am very tuned to Zeki at the moment. This is good for the forthcoming EO's but I am determined not to waste my beautiful Niamh so I need to get my act together quick!

On a serious note, an agility person suffered a heart attack at the show yesterday. It was very upsetting. Several agility people came to his aid and a small team formed to perform CPR until the emergency crew arrived. He was very poorly and at times it seemed he wouldn't survive but thanks to the efforts of those people he was taken to hospital by the ambulance and I understand he is making progress in the right direction. Brings my poor agility performance into perspective for sure.

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