2011 is slowly on its way out

Well, 2011 is nearing its end and it's a year I shall be glad to say goodbye to for one reason or another. Of course not everything has been bad but it is a year which I wish to move on from.

In September we had to say goodbye to my step-father Eddie.  I think when my mum died back in January he simply lost the will to live without her.  Even though she had been in the nursing home for such a long time she was still here with us.  After the funeral a few of us went for a drink in the Crown which was Eddie's watering hole and we saw him off in a style which he would have liked.  There was only one thing missing and that of course was Eddie.

Eddie was a huge part of my life for thirty years.  He did a lot for me and built the extension on my first cottage out of love.  I will never forget that because at the time I had no money to pay for the labour.  He was a first class brick layer and was respected by many in the trade. He was a very proud man and his work-ethic was second to none.  He adored all my dogs and right to the end could remember the name of every one of them.   I am sure he will be laying bricks wherever he is now with Tina by his side.

Eddie - my step-father. Sleep peacefully, now out of pain.

Seeing him off in style at his favourite haunt, The Crown.   My step sisters Cindy and Angie below with myself and sister Sally and in the middle John Kenward who worked with Eddie.  I hadn't seen John in many years and it was so lovely that he attended the funerals of both my Mum (who he loved and who used to make his sandwiches every day!) and of course Eddie.  Thank you John, it meant a great deal.

Bit weird to post pictures of flowers for a funeral but the picture below shows the flowers from Eddie's brother, Brian and and his wife Barbara.  How lovely that they had the florist make them into a brick and trowel.  Very fitting and a lovely tribute.  Below are my own flowers which I just wanted a photo of as a reminder of the day we said goodbye.

Agility shows have just about finished although we have North Downs indoor show on Saturday. I'm not a great lover of indoor agility shows but this one I do quite like as the venue is very nice and the show is well organised. It's good to catch up with friends in person, for possibly the last time until the new year. It's nice to be able to stay in touch with friends via Facebook but it's still not the same as chatting in person.

Our last few agility shows were fun and Zeki and I got into the champ final of our last championship class of 2011. We ran clear in all three parts and ended up in 3rd place in the final beaten by two great runs, one by Christine and Zev (Zeki's litter brother) getting the reserve CC and the other by Amanda Hampson and Rogue winning the CC. We travelled all the way to Southdowns for one run at the end of September (KC Qualifier for Olympia 2012) but unfortunately picked up 5 faults. It was a nice day out despite the fact that we got caught up in a massive motorcyle protest on the M27 on the way down. It wasn't very nice and at times quite scary as some of the bikers were behaving in a very intimidating fashion. It certainly didn't make me sympathetic to their cause and I speak as someone married to a motorcyle fanatic.

In October Zeki and I travelled to Gloucestershire to try out for the WAO 2012. The day was well organised and the tests were well thought out and extremely challenging. I could only fault one test which was the jumping course at the very end of the day. It was too hard and too biased to one's ability to run at great speed. The course was a borrowed one from one of our own UK judges but for some reason the organisers decided to send us to the opposite end of the tunnel at the start of the course and also added in an extra jump. These two changes made a difficult course too hard. Of course that's just my opinion but I don't think I'm being unfair. In fact I managed to scrape round that course in a very ugly fashion. Overall we didn't do too badly, made some silly mistakes but had a go at the challenges set. We ended up in 3rd position in our height category. Now we have to wait until some time in December to find out if we have qualified. The finals are in Belgium in May next year. Zeki thoroughly enjoyed the day being an 'only' dog. I left my others at home with Andy as I knew it would be a busy day and they wouldn't get much attention.

Zeki was invited to Discover Dogs for the medium ABC competition.  I really enjoyed this experience.  I kind of expected Zeki to take things in her stride and she did.  She was completely at ease with the atmosphere and ran really well.  She came 4th in the jumping and 6th in the agility with the second fastest time but with 5 faults.  I was thrilled with how she ran on the carpet.   She hasn't competed at an event like this before so it was a really nice warm up for her Crufts debut in March 2012.   Leah came for the day as my groom and was really helpful in keeping Zeki nice and calm before she ran.  I didn't want her screaming and barking prior to her run so it was nice to have that help.

Leah suggested I bring Tidey for the day.  I wasn't looking forward to that as I thought it would spoil my nice relaxing day with Zeki but I am so glad I did take her.  I was worried she would be a bit spooky with all the dogs and crowds but she was fantastic.  She was totally chilled walking along the streets of London with big buses whizzing past and she loved the crowded stalls inside the venue.  She was fine with all the dogs and absolutely loved the people and children.  She must have had a hundred cuddles during the day.  She got to pose with the vet from the Dogs Trust for one of their promotional leaflets so hopefully I might get to see that some time.

Here are both my lovely girls playing crate games at Discover Dogs!

Here is the video of Zeki's jumping round (thanks to Bernadette for filming.)  Pop back later to see the agility run which is still slowly uploading onto YouTube and I've lost patience!

Recently I have done a couple of extra training sessions with both Niamh and Zeki at Leah's. As always they have been very challenging but also very enjoyable. I love to do these training days with my girls once the show season has wound down.

During October our old friends Chris and Dave Hurst came to stay for the weekend along with their younger daughter Ellie and their two dogs Ruby and Spider.  It's was so lovely to see them and catch up with everything.   I can't believe where the years have gone as it seems only yesterday that Ellie was a tiny baby at Burridge Agility show.  It is also scary that Ellie's elder sister, Casz, is now studying to be a doctor and we knew her as a tiny tot!   I love this picture of Casz with Poppy when she was about ten weeks or so.  Poppy will be fifteen in April so it shows you how long ago this was taken.

Here are some pictures from their visit with us.  I notice now that Chris and Andy managed to avoid the camera!

Above is Poppy and her litter sister Ruby with myself and Dave.  These two little dogs hadn't seen each other for best part of five years and yet they greeted each other so sweetly.  I do believe they remember.  They are both doing so well for their age.

Tidey 'Tidal Wave' with Ellie

Above Ellie with Spider (who is also a Woodsorrel like Poppy and Ruby) and a gorgeous dog; below with Poppy and Spider 

Below is Ellie with Kizzy being typically stand offish but eventually unable to resist Ellie's charms!

Our visitor Spider making himself at home!

As usual once the season winds down I tend to do longer walks as Autumn progresses. I like to lengthen their daily walks during the off season in order to keep them as fit as possible. Plus I rather like Autumn/Winter walks despite the fact that the dogs get dirty sometimes. Either you have a gorgeous day without the searing heat when it's just a joy to be outside or it's cold, wet and depressing and when you get the dogs back indoors it's a lovely sense of satisfaction that they've had a nice walk but are now tucked up in the warm again. Either way I love walking at this time of year!

Just love these pictures of the sunflower field on part of our walk.  This field used to be for hay but this year, for the first time I can recall, they ploughed it which looked horrible to start with but then these came up and it looked beautiful.  This photo was taken a few weeks back and they have all gone now.  The field has just been deep ploughed so back to being ugly for a while!

Tidey is growing up fast. I have lots to update on her as I haven't been blogging of late. In the meantime, here's a current picture of her together with Niamh and Zeki on our walk yesterday.

If I could choose how a border collie turned out in terms of confirmation, colour and of course most importantly ears then Tidey would be my perfect dog.  That is not to say Niamh isn't perfect also because she is.  She is a much bigger, rangier type and I have come to love that look even though it probably isn't my preference.  I wouldn't change a single thing about my beautiful Niamh.    Tidey has the look of my previous collies, Bess, Abbey and Poppy.  She is quite petite, sharp featured and very intense.  The only thing I would change about Tidey is the naughty spots on her legs.  I'm not a lover of naughty spots and in Tidey's case every single one of them has proved to the purveyor of extreme naughtiness.

More of Tidey in another post, but meantime here is a little video of her instant downs which we work on every day during our walks.

Lastly, a couple of garden photos.  The long border is now just about finished for the season but we are lucky to still have a little bit of colour here and there.   I can't wait for spring as Julie has planted loads of new bulbs.  It will be exciting to see them emerge.

Absolutely lastly for this post, the new addition to our family.  Andy's 'new' BMW which he loves.  We have sold the big VW Transporter as it was really surplus to requirements.  My little Caddy will tow our tiny caravan next season.

 Kizzy, Becky, Murphy and Poppy are very happy cruising round in this motor car.

Back soon with Tidey and Becky updates!

Prestbury Park - final post!

Thanks to Bernadette I have all of Zeki's runs from Prestbury Park champ show on video.  Here are the two qualifying rounds  for Zeki together with the course plans courtesy of the judge Arthur Rodgers.  Excellent courses.

A couple more pictures from Prestbury Park Champ Show

Champ judge: Arthur Rodgers with me and Zeki above and below with

Me and Zeki and Bernadette and Zaz 'Ag.Ch. Obay Itz Got Pizazz'

Zeki wins her second CC!

Well, my next post was going to be an update on my puppy, Tidey .... but Zeki Beeks decided differently!



I drove up to Stoneleigh on Saturday morning for the medium Olympia semi-finals.  We had a good journey and the weather was perfect for agility.

Our invitation run was a simple flowing course which Zeki ran clear in.  I stopped both her seesaw and dog walk in preparation for the semi-final.  She ran well and I was very happy.

I was hoping that the semi-final course would be more technical than the invitation event and it was but only slightly.  I knew I could get round the course but in my heart I also knew that it was highly likely that we wouldn't be fast enough.  We had an early running order and did our best.  Zeki ran clear with a lovely round and I couldn't have been more pleased with her.   I think we stayed in the top ten until about three dogs from the end and then slipped to the dreaded 11th spot.   If I had run a little later in the competition there are a couple of things I would have done differently (a blind turn in one spot and a push off the seesaw rather than front cross after) and those things might have got us in as we were very close to the 10th placed dog.  However, running early I opted for the safer way of doing both.  It's impossible to tell how these competitions will develop as sometimes people get through on 5 faults and so I knew I would be cross with myself if I had taken unnecessary risks.  Oh, hindsight you are a wonderful thing which sadly we don't possess!

I have to be honest and say that I was very disappointed.  Not with my little dog, she ran her heart out for me as she always does.  I was disappointed to be one spot off qualifying.  I was in that mind set where I would rather have been eliminated or be placed much further down.  However, the upside is that there is a tiny chance of being called as reserve should someone have to pull out for some reason.    On the day I was beaten by ten fantastic dogs and handlers and I wish them all the best at Olympia.  Maybe next year ....

I had booked B&B in Cirencester ready for Sunday at Prestbury Park champ show.  I didn't much feel like going but knew I would have to pay for the B&B and so didn't really have any choice.  The B&B was pretty good, it was clean and the people were really friendly.  There was a huge field beside the house where I could walk the dogs round a huge circular path which took about 40 minutes so they were happy little bunnies.

Here they are watching X-Factor.  Niamh is bored by it and Zeki is swearing at the judges because they are so very stupid and talk such rubbish.

I drove into Cirencester and picked up some pasta salad for my supper (and a small bottle of cider!) and watched X-Factor.  It was, of course, utter rubbish but I still have to watch it.  How sad am I?  I didn't sleep too well as the bed was very hard and I kept waking up with dead limbs and aching hips.  Luckily the dogs slept well!

It was only four miles to the venue on Sunday morning so I was able to go into the house and have a lovely continental breakfast.  I arrived at the venue and it was pouring.  I felt like turning round and going home.  I was parked in a spare camping spot next to Becca and there was a huge chestnut tree which Bernadette and I parked under so we were able to keep a bit dry.

I walked a couple of courses for Zeki and also the champ jumping.  It was a really good, tricky course by Arthur Rodgers.  Just as I had hoped and expected.   I had walked the course about three times when Bernadette called out to me, what are you doing?  Yep, once again I had picked my own line and missed out a jump.  How am I going to stop doing this!  Thank you Bernadette.   I re-walked the course.   There was one part where I couldn't make up my mind how to handle (that's what I like about Arthur's courses, choice not just one obvious way of doing things) and I eventually opted to run it one way but it didn't work for me and I wished I had chosen the other way.  It put me off my stride and I couldn't recover so we did the messiest round you've ever seen.  On top of that Zeki ran past the collapsible tunnel on the run home and I just about managed to keep my wits about me and not get eliminated so finished the round with 1 time fault and 5 for a refusal.   I knew I would have to do better in the agility round.  Even our judge commented on my rather awful run!

I liked the agility course and walked it correctly from the outset.  Things are looking good!   Zeki ran the course well and we finished with an unplaced clear.  I hoped that this would be good enough to get us into the final and luckily it was.  We were called out as running #6 in the final!   

We ran both legs of the champ class in the rain but luckily not heavy rain, just persistent heavy drizzle.  Yuk, I hate running in the rain but the ground was excellent and yippee we had rubber contacts.

The course was set up during the lunch hour by the ring party but not checked by Arthur so we couldn't walk it.  When he came back from lunch he checked it and we were able to walk it but not for that long.  It all came as a bit of rush as we had quite a walk back to the car to get our dogs.  I hadn't brought Zeki to the ring because we just didn't know when the final would be running and I didn't want her getting too hot on what turned out to be a glorious day after the rain cleared.

I really liked the course because you had to work all the way round but it had a good fast finish which would be exciting if the dogs were clear to that point.  I walked it about four times (normally I would walk a champ final a lot more than that but there just wasn't time.)  I rushed off to get Zeki and by the time I got back the first dog was running.

I did some tricks outside the ring to get ourselves in the groove and then we were on!   I was nervous but not as nervous as I was at Axstane.  I ran late in that champ final and knew I had a really good chance of winning.  I didn't have that same feeling today although I knew I had a chance I also knew there were some very good dogs to follow us.  

We put in our best round but I have to admit I didn't run it quite as I had planned.  I walked the course to have the dogwalk on my right but at the last minute I had a moment of madness and just got very slightly disorientated.  I knew that I wouldn't have time to put the cross in so I had  to go with the flow and work the dog walk on the other side.  There was a tricky go round after the dog walk and now I had to handle it as a flick away go round, yikes could I do it?  All this was going through my head and I even said out loud "I've done this wrong" as I was running along the dogwalk.  Sometimes I think I am mad.    Anyway we could do it and in fact it was the best way to do it so for once my mistake actually got the right result!   I had another moment of doubt when I was unsure if Zeki had actually taken the tyre, it was cleverly set in the corner before you turned for the run home.  However, my common sense told me to keep running because if she had missed it, it was all over anyway!  Luckily my honest little dog had taken the tyre and so we ran clear!

Here is the video of our run.  Thank you to the nice person who filmed it on Bernadette's video camera. I kept forgetting to take mine to the ring.  It's so nice to have it on video.



We didn't get beaten and so to my absolute shock we had won our second CC!  Oh my God!

On the same day Zeki's younger full sister, Zaz 'Obay Itz Got Pizazz' won her third CC making her Agility Champion.  Well done to Bernadette and Zaz for this fantastic achievement.  Below is a picture of both Zaz and Zeki with their prizes and CC's.  

  

Agility Shows - catch up

At last I have found time to sit at the computer and update the blog!

So, let's start with agility shows (I will do a separate posting for the EO's as I think they warrant their own space :o))

Well, since Tuffley the girls have run well. Zeki got into the champ final at Rugby and had I not faltered to mark my own seesaw (which the judge didn't mark) she possibly would have had the reserve ticket. Instead we came 3rd, a result which I was far from disappointed with bearing in mind the large and strong field at this show. I think Leah might have the run on her video so I will have to nag her at some stage to download it for me! Annoyingly we didn't do well in the Crufts singles class which was the one I really wanted in order to get some more points. I think we have one chance left for this competition.

I found it very stressful running two champs side by side. I have done it often in the past but always with large dogs so running in the same ring over the same course. Here, the two champ classes ran side by side and I had early runs in both. Not pleasant!

We were due to stay up for the Sunday but after a sleepless night at the B&B on Friday after the EO training (which was excellent) I was just not keen on going back. We had an unpleasant experience with a group of drunken builders keeping us awake all night long. So instead I headed home and had a relaxing Sunday instead.

Other shows have been Newlands, KC Festival and a couple of days at Dogs in Need. I thoroughly enjoyed Newlands and really used it for training Zeki in preparation for the EO's. I have mixed feelings about the KC Festival because it is so large and very tiring. In addition two horrible things happened at this year's show which will be very hard to forget.

Firstly, a fellow agility competitor and someone I've known for as long as I can remember had a heart attack after running his dog and despite tremendous effort from the first aiders and medical team died in hospital. Don Nunn was a real character and gave back to agility in so many ways: judging, ring partying, club training and more. I remember when Niamh qualified for Crufts at the KC Festival in 2008, Don also qualified and I cannot remember anyone being so thrilled. I think he came 17th in his very last class, the one he ran before he died. Bless him, what a way to go and I hope that one day his family will take comfort from the fact that he died doing something he enjoyed and was so fiercely passionate about. He will be missed very much by lots of people in the agility world and my thoughts are with his wife Christine and their family.

Secondly, a woman was attacked by her own dog after completing a round of agility. It was a horrendous attack, not just a simple biting. Apart from one other ghastly incident a few years ago, this is probably the worst thing I've seen involving dogs and humans in agility in all the years that I have been involved. I have tremendous respect for the men that helped this woman putting themselves at risk and saving her from further serious injury. Luckily this sort of incident is very rare in our sport but it does make you think very deeply about the hyped up situation we put ourselves and our dogs into each weekend and indeed at training classes.

At the KC show I bought Zeki another deck chair. She now has this indoors and absolutely loves it. Here are some lovely pictures that Hannah took when we were having afternoon tea at the show:

Tidey matches Zeki's new chair!

Zeki and Zaz borrowing Zeki's camping version of the chair!

Tidey wants one too!

and here is Zeki ensconced in her new sitting room arm chair at home:

Agility-wise I was thrilled with the way both my girls ran. Niamh got into the British Open semi-final and all we had to do was run clear to get to Crufts but we had a misunderstanding at the weaves (partly due to me shouting weave instead of saying poles.) I originally changed my verbal cue from 'weave' to 'poles' because it sounds just like 'Niamh'. Whatever came over me I don't know. Zeki and I failed to get into the medium semi-final which was frustrating but not the end of the world. She did some brilliant runs and came away with quite a little haul.

We did a couple of days at Dogs in Need and I wasn't sad not to be camping there. I have attended the show almost every year since it started (I think this was the third one that I've missed) and I am tired with the format. I think the organisers do a fantastic job but I just need to do something a bit different. I was cross with myself that I didn't get Zeki into the champ final all down to a stupid error on my part in the agility round in which we were eliminated. We ran clear in the jumping and came 4th but that's no good with an elimination in the other part!

Last weekend were Surrey and Bridge House, I went to the Sunday show and had a lovely day. I took Poppy along and she had a wonderful time round the rings watching the agility. She was exhausted when we got home. Niamh got an 8th in her agility class and Zeki won an agility class. Their other rounds were good but mistakes by me stopped them running clear.

One of my mistakes which is on video is where I completely miss out a jump and get eliminated. This wasn't because I forgot the course but because I walked the course incorrectly. I do this so often but usually someone tells me or when I'm waiting to run I notice someone running the course differently to how I walked it. This time I ran #1 and so didn't get the benefit of seeing it run properly. I actually did this in the EOQ at the KC Festival and noticed with two dogs to go! That was very lucky as I was placed 17th with Niamh and 2nd with Zeki! I must look at the numbers when I walk courses!

I was just too tired (or is that lazy) to get up early on the Monday to go back again so instead had a lovely day at home in the garden.

Next weekend Zeki has her medium Olympia semi-final followed by Prestbury Park champ show on the Sunday. Fingers crossed for both!

Kizzy has been having a rest from agility as she hasn't been running quite right. She is seeing an excellent osteopath who is getting her back to fitness. She did a little bit of jumping for the first time this week and so far, so good.

Here are some photos and videos:

Zeki in her deck chair in the awning (above) and Tidey and Niamh on their beds (below)

Poppy agility-watching at Bridge House show

Niamh (above) and Zeki (below) with their rosettes and trophies from the KC Festival

Zeki with her first place along with some of her Obay relatives and Skipper, Sonia's rescue sheltie who got his first ever clear round and came 3rd!

The beautiful Naughty Niamh from Newlands and Dogs in Need.

Wonderful photos by Alan Score

Five more great shots of Niamh at the KC Festival by Jodi Lunn

And finally ....... some pictures of Kizzy's enforced holiday from agility. Here she is doing what she loves best .... eating: