UKA this weekend at Just Minis Agility Club

Hex, Zen and I went to the Just Minis UKA show this weekend. I got a funny reaction when I first got there. When I got out of the car and walked to the rings people kept asking me "WHY was I there?" haha I tried not to take it too personally! Well... the reason is that although there was also a KC show this weekend, it was miles away. So I decided to stay local and support the Just Minis club. Plus I do like the UKA shows because, at the higher levels, I am finding the courses just that little more difficult and challenging.

And this is what we need! I don't need to run straight up and down courses that some judges put up to be "nice". It has nothing to do with running clear or not or winning or not. It is because I need to work on difficult sequences to see if we can do them! And if we cannot do them...well we need to go home and work on them! I can bitch and moan with the best of them when I walk a course but it is because I like to psych myself up and not take the course for granted. The more I worry about a certain section of a course, the harder I work on handling it! This is why I am always the last person left walking the course until they kick me off. HA!

The Just Minis show was really nice as it was small and compact! Since we had 8 runs each day (4 with each dog) it was nice to have the car parked close and not have to walk miles back and forth to get the dogs before each run. The weather was HOT HOT HOT! Gosh I certainly don't miss that hot weather that we used to always train and run in back in New York. YUCK! I will take good ole rainy cool England for agility anytime! Give me the wind of Newbury and the cold rain at Ardingly over the hot humid sunny weather of the Tri-state NY/NJ/PA anytime! And don't remind me I said that when I am moaning about the rain at our next agility trial...

We had some really good courses to run this weekend. I loved the two jumping courses that we had on Sunday. They were really difficult! Yeah! Hex and I almost got thru the senior jumping but I had a brain freeze at a certain section. Hex is running so FAST lately that I have no time to think. Hurrah! But I was pleased with her run and was able to go back and rework that section and did eventually get it right. (too bad we can't have do-overs). Zen ran the champ jumping under the same judge. It was very similar to the senior course. She ran great and we ran clear with first place. I HAD to do a few front crosses on that course. They don't come naturally to me; I would rather handle her from behind. But these courses needed a few front crosses. They weren't perfect but we did them.

The only course that I said "No" to was the last steeplechase course of the weekend. It was HOT by that time and I was tired. The course was HUGE and involved two straight side by side tunnels and uphill straight line finishes. No thanks! Not for me! If only I could have brought in a subsitute long legged fast running man (hey dennis) to run for me! So Lisa and I left on a good note and went home for a BBQ!

As for results....

• Zen finished her UKA Championship and Win Championship. Titles are CAP and WCAP. They somehow don't carry the excitement of her KC Agility Championship but, hey, a championship is a championship!



• Zen, Hex and Chi all won their respective Royal Canin Agility qualifier classes. It was the same course for each level. Chi and Zen and Hex were all tenths of seconds apart in times. Chi was the fastest of them all! Go Chi, the stud man!



• Although she isn't running her OBay sheltie yet (well Todd is only 4 months old!) Karen won TWO of her Royal Canin Agility qualifiers. She won both with her little poodle and with her BC. We mention her on this blog because she is a Budding OBay Sheltie handler.(note new term "BOSH") hahaha And we can mention her husband Chris, who won HIS Royal Canin agility qualifier because he is the husband of a Budding OBay Sheltie Handler.



• Hex also moved up from Novice on Saturday to Senior on Sunday. She ran really well all weekend. But not as good as Zen who ran 3 out of 4 clears on Saturday and 3 out of 3 on Sunday. Go Zen!



• Lisa had a good weekend also. Billy ran one run in senior jumping and ran clear. This moved him up to the Champ level which was Lisa's goal for him. Go Billy! OK he is not an OBay sheltie but we call him an honorary OBay. Well more often we call him Billy the Bastard but that is another story..... Lisa also ran Chi and they had some great runs and I think won two classes each day.

We arrived home early on Sunday and were able to sit out and enjoy the nice evening on the deck. Dennis and Tony barbequed for us and we had a relaxing evening. Oh and I got to drink some yummy Toasted Almond mixed drinks in my new 1st place UKA glasses! Much better than spending hours driving home from Shuttleworth show....now you see why I didn't go to Shuttleworth??

And to end this very long post...look what Dennis worked on for me this weekend!