New agility season starts! Shrewsbury Agility

So this photo really has nothing to do with this post but I just found it while clearing out boxes of old photos. How cute was Jordan? We had the last of our boxes delivered from New York....almost 10 years later. It was quite emotional looking through these two huge boxes of old photos and memories. I will slowly start to scan some of these special photos. It did remind me how nice it is to have photos you can HOLD in your hands rather than just view on a screen.

I don't know why I entered Shrewsbury! It must have happened sometime during the cold agility-less winter when I was anxious to get back competing. So I found myself getting up at "way too early" o'clock and packing up all 3 dogs to go up to Shrewbury. I am glad I had the foresight to only enter one day and to catch a ride with Nancy. I like when someone else drives especially on the drive back when we are all tired.

Zaz and Itz liked Nancy's extra big car cages and the sign was appropriate.




My plan this year is to only enter the pups in most shows. I just cannot run 3 dogs in multiple classes and I need to concentrate on Zaz and Itz. Zen is just so easy to run and I know I will miss running her. The difficulty is that I have to run the pups differently and my timing is off because Zen is so forgiving.

Until the WAO is over I will continue to enter Zen because she is competing for England at the WAO. After that she will be shown sparingly until she is bred for the last time.

So Shrewbury was a lovely show. It felt strange running outside in big rings again and having to do all the walking back and forth to the car. I was exhausted! The courses were a nice mix; some fast and flowing and some more challenging. I really enjoy running Itz in fast courses and running Zaz and Zen in challenging courses. Itz needs some fast courses to learn to open up and feel confident. I am feeling really positive about her this season and the courses this weekend suited her. Zaz feels amazing to run and we just need to hold it together for an entire course; she is so responsive but will tell me off if I am not clear enough for her.

Sadly no video from this show; we had too many classes to run! I had at least two classes were I was queueing up for over 1/2 hour only to hear another of my rings was calling to the end. Ran over to those rings only to find another queue of over 1/2 hour! Arghhh! This is the part of agility I don't miss! I wish there was a way to keep to smaller queues but with an 11 ring show and 3-4 runs per dog it must be hard for the show committee and ring parties to organize. Luckily the weather was glorious and you just couldn't get too bothered on such a beautiful day.

Result-wise it was not the greatest show for us; but I enjoyed all the runs. Zaz came second in a Grade 7 agility and Itz came 3rd in a Grade 6 agility. I am hoping we can find more Grade 6 classes for Itz this year as I would love to get her into Grade 7 by mid-season.

We were not entered on Sunday and I was glad for that. 9 runs on Saturday just about did me in. Monday was to be our 25th anniversary from our first date (a blind date!). I arrived home after the show to find that Dennis bought me a wonderful 25th anniversary present. I had been looking for a nice big bird bath forever and Dennis found one!



Of course the photo needed some shelties to dress it up!

Just so Zen does not feel left out. I found her sitting in the middle of the pergola sun bathing all on her own. I wish she would do some weeding while she is out there as I cannot get a handle on all the plants and flowers in the perennial beds!



And a little teaser.....a possibility.....