Lincoln Agility show 2011

The European Open tryouts were held in conjunction with the Lincoln Agility Show. I do not usually travel this far for an agility show but I might do it again. What a nice show in a great showgrounds. We were blessed with good weather and good parking as well so maybe that made me slightly biased!

On Saturday I was preoccupied with Zaz but I did run Itz in two of her classes. I really wanted to run her at this show because she had TWO graded 6 classes each day. She had a great jumpers run but came in second. She also had a super agility run but had one jump bar down. I have to admit to being disappointed because they were her graded 6 classes and finding a graded 6 class is tough for the smalls down south. Usually the classes are combined 6/7 and this makes it tough to get a win.

Sunday we went back to Lincoln and I was able to run Zaz and Itz in all their classes. Itz had another good Grade 6 jumping run but again ended up in second. She then went into her Grade 6 agility which was a nice tricky course so I was looking forward to it. We almost did it! I was so happy with how she ran this course but we just had a silly bobble at the end. I still came off this course in a high that she ran so well. I am so looking forward to running Itz this year; we still have some training to do but when I see her so happy running it gives me such a great feeling.



Zaz had three clear runs on Sunday. She just felt so easy to run on Sunday compared to the day before at the EO try-outs. This shows me that we need more exposure with the tougher courses and also more chances for me to start to trust her more on difficult sequences.

I was especially pleased with this run and this was an European Open tryout qualifier for 2012! We need to do qualfiers for the tryouts for the European Open! LOL It seems a little overkill but we have more dogs wanting to tryout for the EO than for the FCI World Champs. This is due to the non-pedigree aspect of the FCI World Championships.



Zaz came 2nd in this run behind her Uncle Indy run by Nicky G. I am sadly used to coming second behind Nicky; good thing I still like her.

So Lincoln is definitely a show I would go back to. Good showgrounds, results posted for all to see and a generally friendly atmosphere. Slight problems with scheduling for the smalls and mediums but hopefully they will learn from that for next year.

This photo is not great and slightly blurry but I am determined to try and get photos of the pups with their trophies and rosettes at every show this year. This way I don't feel bad when I have to "recycle" the rosettes and trophies at the end of the year.



I am really blessed to be running Zaz and Itz this year. They are each special and unique dogs in their own right. I have goals for both pups but that does not mean I don't enjoy every run with them. We have loads of training to do and that is what makes it fun for me!

And yes yes we are still working on Zaz's startline......hmmph!