Axtane Agility show

Axtane has always been a fairly lucky show for me. It was the show that Pax won out of starters! So I always get a good feeling going to that show!

It was strange beginning as almost all the small classes were on at one time. To make matters a little more stressful one of the judges told her ring party not to let anyone check in late. Which in theory is fine, but when small dogs have three smallish size classes to run at the same time (one being pairs and realize that needs to take priority) it would be nice to have a little flexibility! I really do not think anyone was looking to run late, it was just hard to hit all the rings at the same time!

The funny thing was that I did make all my small dog classes on time but then FORGOT that Zen had a jumping class for me to walk and then run. We caught that one at the last minute before it closed, watched three dogs run and went to the line trying to quickly figure out the course. Zen, bless her, did her best to help me out and went on to get 3rd in that class. Zen also got 2nd in both her agility classes AND 2nd in the Mini/Mixi pairs!! We are partnering with a tiny adorable little poodle who is probably one of the smallest of the smalls. Considering Zen is probably one of the smallest of the mediums I think it is cool that we did so well!

But really this was Hex's day! She ran 100% clear in all her runs and got 2nd in the Grade 6,7 jumping and 1st in the Eukaneuba Agility Challenge. What a doll she is. As usual I didn't think she was running very fast! HA! With two first in two Eukaneuba shows she may have a good chance at being at Crufts in 2008. We won't know until the end of the year but hopefully......

No videos for Axtane as Dennis was not there. I left him home to do garden work! And with all the small and medium classes on so early it would have been too stressful for Lisa and I to also think about videoing.

Sunday I decided to skip Axtane and spend the day with Dennis. We went with Lisa and Tony and their friend Steve to the Country Game Fair at Parham House in Storrington.
It is so interesting seeing all the country folk out showing off their talents. I am not into guns and hunting but these people take it very seriously as a way of life. I have to give them credit for that. There were quite a few displays of gundog work and training and that is always interesting. I find that gundog people have a different attitude towards training sometimes but in general they all were fairly gentle with their dogs. There was the usual herding dog display and that is always fun to watch. People think these dogs are robots but I like to see the shepherd pull the mike away from their mouths and yell at their dogs "would you lie down dammit" hahaha. Even their well trained working dogs don't listen all the time!

The best part of the day was one of the Falconry and Birds of Prey display. Thanks to Steve's enthusiasm I joined him and Lisa to sit up close in the arena while one of the displays was going on. This particular display was with the Eagle Owl. The "bird Man" had us all first sit on the ground and then later lay on the ground looking up while the owl flew over us. WOW! What a feeling! The first time he had us sitting with our backs to the owl while he called it towards him. You could not hear or sense the Owl flying towards you and right over your head until it practically touched you with it's wings. That is how quiet it glides and why it is such a good hunter of prey! It was amazing. The second time he had us lay on the ground on our backs looking up at the sky. Then he had the owl fly right over our faces so that we could imagine how the mice felt as the owl swooped in to hunt them. Wicked! I could really get into owls (but that is not a hint for people to start buying me owl things!) as I find them so interesting to look at as long as I forget that they eat little animals!

We are off to Scotland on Thursday! I have my fingers crossed that it doesn't rain because the only other two times we were in Scotland it rained!