Kennel Club Festival and Dogs In Need 2010

Our mega-agility week has past. I had certain expectations of what we would achieve and it just did not turn out as I thought! Certainly not as expected but not in a bad way...

Zaz came in season unexpectedly which put to rest all our plans of getting into the finals and Crufts with Zaz. I was disappointed not to be running Zaz but that is the life of running an intact girl. So how lucky am I that I also had Itzy to run!

Itzy really came into her own during the week of agility. She actually went a little agility crazy but she was such fun to run.



Zen kept up her string of clean fast runs and made it to the British Open Final. She finished up by coming 2nd in the British Open (2nd to a fantastic fast kelpie from France) which sends her to Crufts 2011 for the International Agility representing England.





All the Kennel Club Festival finals were fun to watch. There were quite a few OBay Shelties that made it to the finals but especially note worthy was Daniel and Bailey winning the KC Novice Cup!



Another great OBay win put Zeki into Grade 7! Champ classes next year for Nancy and Zeki!




Dennis stayed with us at the Kennel Club Festival and with 18 rings of agility to get around it was helpful to have him there! Sadly Dennis had to return to work after the KC show. So he drove me to the Dogs In Need show, set up the caravan and left me and the three dogs for the week.

It was even more difficult not to be able to run Zaz at Dogs in Need as there are less runs per dog at this show. Compared to our many many (too many!) runs at the KC Festival, the 2 runs per dog at DIN seemed easy. Of course nothing is easy when all 4 runs happened before 11 am each day. Ha! Still DIN is such a nice show and very relaxed and chilled.

Itz continued to amaze me with her enthusiasm and speed!



I was so excited to find out that Itzy made the Dogs In Need Novice final! Itzy went into the final as the top placed Novice dog and ran last. She put in a great run and we only had one baby mistake where she ran by the see-saw. She had taken the previous jump at an angle and I did not think to worry about her picking up the see-saw. But she is still a baby and it is in these little things that we both need to get experience to start working together as a team. It is for this reason that I was so glad to have the whole week of being able to concentrate on Itzy. I called it the "week of Itzy". LOL Do you remember the old show children's show " The Howdy Doody Show"? For some reason the song stuck in my head and everytime I went to the ring with Itzy I would sing "It's Itzy Bitzy Time" to the theme song tune of "Howdy Doody". Yes I am sad but it cracked me up! This little dog sure knows how to make me laugh.



Although Itzy did not win the Novice finals; the OBay Shelties did us proud again with Daniel and Bailey coming 2nd and Peggy and little Zoe coming 3rd!



In the Small/Medium Champ finals at DIN we had two good results. Nicky and Indy won the small Champ ticket and Karen and Todd won the medium reserve champ ticket. Congratulations to the OBay boys who like to prove that it is not only girlpower. This is Todd's 2nd reserve champ ticket so we know that the Champ ticket cannot be far away!



Zen also made it into the Finals for the Grade 6-7 dogs. She put in another clean fast run and came 2nd to Natasha and Dizzy. I never feel dissappointed coming 2nd to the World Champion and Zen still amazes me with how easy she makes it seem.

Overall there were 7 OBay shelties that made it into the small/medium finals at Dogs In Need!



So the mega-agility week is over. Out of our agility bubble we all emerge; back to reality. Can I go back please?

7 things....

We are back from our mega-agility holiday. Usually I would say we were "agilitied-out" but I actually am not! I could have done more agility but was tired of being in the caravan. I loved running Zen and Itzy and had a great time with both of them. Unfortunately Zaz came in season a week before the Kennel Club show so I could not run her. It was disappointing but it means that she will be out of season for her first Grade 6 show and even better, for her Olympia semi-final. So really she was a most accommodating girl! So the week was all about Itzy! When I walked to the ring with Itzy by my side I would sing to her "It's Itzy-Bitzy time" (yes I am sad that way) as it felt right that I concentrated on her this week. More about our agility week in another post.

As I have been downloading videos I was catching up on blogs that I like to read (I missed them while I was away!) and found that another blogger nominated us to write 7 things you may not know about me or my dogs. I do not usually like these games but this one intrigued me as I have been doing alot of thinking lately. (scarey) I actually had a more difficult time coming about things you may not know about my dogs as I talk about them so much! So here goes:

7 things you may not know about me:

1. I bred my first litter of poodle pups when I was 11 years old and whelped them all on my own on Christmas eve while my parents were at Christmas mass.

2. I spent 8 years in Catholic school and still have terrible handwriting but am very good at spelling.

3. My parents never read a book to me yet I have loved to read since I was a child and even then could finish any book in one day.

4. Met Dennis on a blind date set up by our mothers.

5. Always hated being tall.

6. Used to drink " Long Island Ice Teas" when we went out to nightclubs as teenagers as it was the cheapest way to get drunk quickly. Now I hardly drink at all as I hate the results the next day!

7. For 8 years of catholic school we wore green plaid school uniforms with green knee socks. Once we graduated I swore I would never wear dark green socks again and I have not.

7 things you may not know about my dogs:

1. Pax suffered from seizures as a puppy and I never thought she would live past a year old.

2. Zen does not normally bark in the car when I sing. But if I sing "If you're Happy and you know it" Zen will bark exactly when I get to the part that says "clap your hands".

3. Zen hates having her photo taken.

4. My German Shorthaired pointer, Tess, used to chew on her front dew-claws when she was bored.

5. Joy once "spoke" to a animal communicator. What she said was amazing.

6. My first dog Honey-bun was a poodle that we bought at a pet shop called "Puppy Palace" and we got a discount on her as she had been there for so long.

7. Zen sleeps in a bed on the floor in our bedroom. She jumps up onto our bed every morning at almost exactly 5am just to curl up by our feet.

I am supposed to nominate 15 other bloggers. Rather than nominate specific blogs I will just ask that, if you have a blog, please join in! Let me know if you do join in as I would love to read what interesting answers I know will be coming!

Spookily the photo I put at the top of this post has 7 OBay shelties in it and that was not planned! I just wanted to dress up the blog post with a photo from last week!

Finally got home only to be leaving again! Mega blog post

It seems as if I have been away from home for ages. I have enjoyed all our travels but missed the pups and the house. Jamaica and New York were both too hot but both weddings were beautiful. I hope that both sets of newlyweds have as many happy years together as Dennis and I have. We will be married 22 years this year and obviously I was a child-bride....

This was the view from our Villa in Jamaica. Yes that pool was all for us! Yet sadly I still missed my cottage in England!



The family at Jonathan and Jen's wedding in Jamaica. It was nice to have a family wedding somewhere interesting! We have tried to advertise our lovely garden in England for anymore family weddings. I am not sure our sales efforts worked but it is worth a try!



The family photo at Laura and Chris's wedding. Laura was a beautiful bride.



The European Open has come and gone. I have though alot about why we did not have more success there this year but have decided that I do not want to dwell on excuses. Instead Zen and I will just do more training over the next two months to get physically and mentally ready for the World Champs. What a little star she is and how lucky am I to run this little girl.




After the long trip back from the Czech Republic we got right back into agility again first with the UKA Masters final followed by Agility Club show. It was a long drive (3 hours each way) to the UKA Masters but I really wanted to give it a shot. The prize was money! Unfortunately Zen almost won it but one pole came down and that put us in 2nd place. Boo hoo! Luckily the 3 hour drive was worth it just to see Marilyn and Zavvi get on the podium and come 3rd in their first final. Way to go Marilyn and Zav-lana! You were running like a Russian!

Zavvi on the podium.



Marilyn running like a Russian!



This past weekend was the Agility Club show. It was better than ever because the venue changed to the showgrounds at Ardingly which are only 1/2 hour from me. Such a beautiful showgrounds compared to Newbury (which I hate!). Great walks for the dogs and good toilets; what more can you want from an agility show site? GGG

Saturday's results were mixed. I was disappointed with some of Zen's runs but happy to be a part of the English Shetland Sheepdog Club team. This was the last chance to qualify a team for Crufts 2011 and we did it! For the second time we will have an all-sheltie team at Crufts! And Zen will be the rose amongst the thorn as she is the only girl in the team.



Sunday was a much more successful day result-wise. Team OBay was ROCKING! Zen and her pups all won at least one class on Sunday! I had to get this photo taken since Zen and her girls won a Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6 AND Grade 7 agility class between them! Combined with Zavvi's podium place on Friday; I think that was a good OBay weekend.



From L to R: Yaz, Zen, Zaz, Itz and Zeki

I did not think I would have any video to share but luckily a friend's husband was in the queue and took some video on his camera. Thanks!

Here is Nancy and Zeki winning their Grade 6 agility. One more to go and Zeki will be in Grade 7 and be able to run championship. Zeki is looking great and as one of the smallest dogs in medium she is still holding her own.



To finish this mega post I have to brag about the "Zitzy" twins. Zaz and Itzy were amazing this weekend. Itz won her Grade 4 agility to move up to Grade 5. My special little girl just gives her heart into every run. Zaz won her Grade 5 agility and is now Grade 6! She is such a serious little worker and so much fun to run. Zaz also made my day by qualifying for the Olympia Semi Final. She is still naughty on her start line and I probably should work harder on it. Hehe



We have this next weekend off and for that I am happy! I will be hanging around the house and garden and NOT going anywhere! On Wednesday we leave for almost 2 weeks of agility. The Kennel Club International (with 18 rings of agility) is going to be massive with 3 days of agility followed by Dogs In Need Week with 4 days of agility and finished up with the Royal Canine UKA Final for Zen. Yippee! I am so excited to be running my three girls again!