I was just running Zen and Zaz this weekend as we needed work to get ready for the WAO. Itzy got to stay home with Dennis and help around the garden. I am looking forward to getting out and running with her again but I just cannot concentrate on 3 dogs at one show. Itzy's time will come; no worries about that!
My goal for this show was to not have to go to another show (BATS) in two weeks time. I guess that sounds like a strange goal! I do not love going to show after show every Saturday and Sunday; I am enjoying my new house and garden too much. So I really wanted a weekend free after the WAO. That next show was BATS and it had a Small Olympia Qualifier. If I could qualilfy at Beacon or Tun Wells; I could stay home and not go to BATS. Beacon was done and a mistake in the Olympia Qualifier meant we had one more chance at Tun Wells or else I had to go to BATS. I just kept thinking of that drive up the M1 motorway to Bats and I was inspired to win! LOL
For those who do not understand how we qualify for Olympia: There are approx 10 shows during the year which are Olympia Qualifiers and the top 3 in those classes go through to the Olympia Semi in September. Out of the 30 dogs that make it to the Semi, 10 finally get through to Olympia. The qualifiers are dotted around the country to try and make it fair so obviously we don't get to all the qualifiers. So when we have a qualifier we try really hard! It is not easy as there were 160 small dogs in the Beacon qualifier and 213 dogs in the qualifier at Tun Wells!
I am happy to report that WE DID NOT HAVE TO GO TO BATS! LOL Zaz won the Olympia Qualifier at Tun Wells (out of 213 dogs!) Bless her little heart; she had such a good weekend. I don't have that run on video but here is her other run (Crufts Singles) in which she came 2nd. It was back to reality on Sunday with more "english" type courses. Variety is good so I hope we start to see more of a mixture this year.
Zaz now has two really good places in the Crufts singles so I am hoping that is enough to get us into the Crufts Singles next year. I am not sure if we have any other Singles qualfiers coming up as we are doing some travelling and missing some shows. As opposed to the Olympia Qualfiers which are top 3 in the class; the Crufts Singles are a cumulative qualfier. So the more qualifiers you attend and collect points in the better chance you have. Two good placings could be beat by 5 lower placings in the point scale so you cannot afford to be complacent. It is good that each event has different ways of qualifying so that everyone has a chance.
So everything looks like it is going well. The agility shows are fun, dogs are healthy, house is great and pup is on the way......hmmmm things never go perfectly do they?
Sadly there won't be a black and white girl puppy joining us this year.The lovely girl puppy that was meant to be mine has not stopped growing. I have been breeding shelties long enough to know this is always a concern but I had high hopes due to seeing previous litters from the mum. My hopes for a little bi-black girlie was just not going to happen. In some ways she made it easy; it was not even a doubt that this girl was going to be BIG. Shelties are hard to breed; over and undersize pups are always an issue in any litter. They don't breed true and you can only make guesses about the size from previous experience, height and weigh charts and alot of finger crossing.
I am disappointed as otherwise it was such a lovely litter from a lovely bitch and a great breeder. This big girl had another home waiting, just in case, so I made the decision to let her go.(sigh) I am told she will have a great home with an obedience trainer and will be loved greatly. I decided not to fly out this week to Denmark as planned because I didn't want to break my heart by seeing the pup in person. I know that things happen for a reason and I am hoping there will be a reason born here sometime in the months to come. It is all up to Zen now.....
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