EO 2008: the trip to Germany day 1

I tried to get some photos of my own without Dennis; they are pretty amateur but hey they help me remember! This is Hex waiting at the Ferry port on her newly sewn Union Jack dog bed. Lisa made the dog beds as we wanted the dogs to be patriotic also.

I thought I better start writing about our adventures before I forget. Time heals all wounds and all that! I will start by saying this trip was very interesting; take that as you want. You would think I would have learned from Norway; but I actually thought this trip would be easier. It was only in Germany; in theory only 4 hours from the French Ferry port of Calais. A piece of cake journey, right? Hmmmmm....

Initially we got a fright and were told that we all had to get on the coach in Daventry at some un-godly hour on Thursday morning. Holy toledo; Daventry is 3 hours NORTH of me and we should be headed 1.5 hours south to the Dover Ferry port. That just did not make sense! Why would we want to add 6 hours of travel time on the departure day and 6 hours on the arrival day? After much emails back and forth; finally the week before we were told we could meet in Dover. Phew! Why are the little things so stressful sometimes?

For future reference for fellow competitors; there is a lovely multistory car park at Dover where you can leave the car for around 6 pounds per day. That is much cheaper than paying for 2 tanks of petrol to get back and forth to Daventry.

I picked up Andy at his house and off we went to Dover. I felt really sad for Andy as he was not sure he should be leaving Nancy alone as she had just lost her special dog Abbey. Nancy bravely convinced Andy to go; but I know she was on his mind the entire trip.

There were 2 coaches taking us to Germany.This is what coach #1 looked like. Do these look like medal-winning handlers to you? Some of those guys had already been on the coach for 3 hours; I was glad we got on in Dover!



We had 15 dogs in each coach. The seats are removed on one side of the back of the coach and replaced with dog crates. I guess it is a good way to travel with many dogs but it is not great for the dogs who are cooped up in small crates. Also it is quite a palava trying to get the dogs out of the crates each time we stop.



So everyone onto the bus and across on the ferry to France. Once we are in France; the journey by car would have been just about 4 hours. By coach it was more like 7 hours. Dennis and Sonia had left in our car on a much earlier ferry and were in the hotel before our coach even landed in France! They had a much nicer journey than we did. And ,according to Dennis, Sonia was a great traveller and just fell asleep immediately as soon as she got into the car. She must have been very trusting of Dennis' driving ability!

So the drive to the hotel was not exactly smooth. The coach manager was relying only on an address in the sat nav. I guess he didn't feel the need to check before hand or maybe have a map...just-in-case... So, of course, we got lost! Back and forth up streets trying to find the hotel. I cannot remember how long we were lost but it felt forever especially knowing that Dennis got there with no problems. This was soon to be seen as typical for this coach company. We got lost ALOT.

Once we got into the hotel; we quickly walked the dogs and unpacked and then headed out into town. Luckily Dennis had already done a walk around the town so he knew where some restaurants were. I am so glad we went out that night to eat out of the hotel as it turned out to be the ONLY night we were able to do this. We found what looked like a typical German restaurant and went in with 13 people and scared the waitress to death! I do not think she was expecting 13 English speaking very-hungry and tired customers on a Thursday night.



The funniest thing that night was all of us pouring over the German menus and trying to figure out what everything was! Of course, no one remembered to bring a german phrase book and only 3 people had any semblance of an idea about German! I was afraid I was going to end up eating cow brains or something! Plus we had two vegetarians who were worried they would get meat. We started to muddle through and just as we were about to order...the waitress says "Oh Do you want an ENGLISH menu?" HAHAHAHAHA

I ended up eating schnitzel which was yum yum and Dennis had sauerbrauten! Food like mom used to make!

Video of Hex in the Small Final at EO 2008

Here is a video of Hex's final run. If you want to see the course diagram, the courses are on the official EO site. Here is the link to the small final course diagram.



Ahhh isn't she so cute! Below here she is with her trophy.

European Open Agility 2008

How proud am I? Two Obay shelties on the podium for the small championships at the European Open Agility 2008! Hex and I came THIRD and Suzanne and Unique came FIRST!

What a trip we had. I need days to recover and have lot to write about but for now am just enjoying sleeping late today!

Thanks so everyone who watched the dogs for us this weekend (Tony, Karen and Tim and Marion) and thanks to Nancy for lending us Andy for the weekend! He was a star. And Dennis and Sonia who were fantastic grooms! I was lucky to have TWO grooms and I think both are exhausted beyond belief!

World Dog Show Stockholm 2008

This post is going to have to be fairly short! I cannot believe I haven't had a chance to sit down and write about the World Dog show that we went to last week. I am starting to get nervous about leaving for Germany and the European Open Agility in two days so can only think about that right now!

Dennis and I flew to Stockholm Sweden last weekend to see the World Dog Show 2008. It was a nice chance to just get away for a weekend without dogs but yet to be with dogs! hahaha. Mostly we went to see Johanna compete with Soda and Spooky in Freestyle and with Hob-b in breed.

Sweden is very expensive but we got a great deal on flights and car rental. And Johanna (of course) knew someone in Stockholm where we could stay. The family we stayed with was very hospitable and it was really nice staying in a "real" swedish home!

The World dog show itself was a little disappointing to me. It was no where as posh as Crufts and the standard of dogs showing there was not as great (in my eyes). I did not really see any dogs that I FLIPPED for. I was hoping to see something that looked special or had something that caught my eye for future breeding programs. But, alas, no I will be sticking with my own plans for now!

Here is Dennis sitting next to the Best in Show car! Did the Best in Show actually win it?? I don't know! Everything, of course, was blue and yellow (the swedish flag colours). Why is Dennis dressed like that? Ask Johanna!



Hob-b showed like a little trooper. She did not get anywhere in the placings and received a "Very good" ribbon. Out of nearly 40 bitches he only gave 7 excellent ribbons. He actually gave quite a few "blue" ribbons which are a lower grade than excellent (pink) and very good (red). And even gave a few "yellows". The grading goes like this: excellent (pink), very good (red), good (blue) and then yellow. I forget what yellow means but basically it is not a good ribbon to receive!

Here is a blurry photo of her! Isn't she just adorable!



The shopping at the World Dog show was no where as good as I expected either. Bummer as I was so ready to spend spend spend! After Johanna showed Hob-b and we checked out the shopping; there was not much to do other than watch the Freestyle (dog dancing). There was some really good teams there and some pretty poor teams. It was mostly Swedish teams; so not really a great "international" compeition. Johanna and two other Danes were the only other country represented I think. Johanna, of course, was great! It was so nice to finally meet Soda. She is, well...a border collie! And not a Pikkupaimenen border collie so I am a bit biased against her! haha But I liked her anyway although I would rather have Wizz (the lovely Pikkupaimenen BC) live with me anyday! Soda is so young but she looked really good out in the main ring. And she still looked like a puppy out there which I liked; she was not a polished machine at only 15 months; she was still bouncy and a bit silly as a 15 month old border collie should be!

I have no photos of Johanna other than her waiting in the queue to get into the venue. Did we wait in the queue with the hundreds of other people? No of course not, Johanna had her own devious plans to get in quickly! But if I told you I would have to kill you!



All in all, I remember why I do not like breed showing! Kind of boring, lots of grooming just to stand around looking like you don't care in the ring. Having someone tell you your dog is too small, too big ect ect. Ya know...I don't care! haha!

How is this for doggie transportation and grooming table all-in-one?



We did do some sightseeing and went into Stockholm for 2 days. The old town was lovely and we did a tour on a horse and carriage which was nice. It gave a nice overview of the city. I still prefer more rural holidays; but for a short city break it was nice. We learned lots about Sweden and need to come back again.

Funny signs were displayed in one plaza. They were signs from around the world and made Dennis laugh.



This was actually the fire extinguisher on the boat ride we took. I have no idea what "skum" means in swedish but am sure Johanna will tell me!



And finally the obligatory photo of me standing like a dork in some pretty square in some city somewhere!



Actually it is a square in Stockholm but it looks like it could be anywhere in Europe doesn't it?

ect ect

The European Open is in two weeks! Hex and I still have lots to practice but I feel that she is more than ready. Bring it on!

Over the week up in the Lakes I made the final decision NOT to try-out for the World Championships this year with either dog. I had been pretty sure I was not going to try-out with Zen as I really did not want to fly her in cargo again. But I was so tempted to try-out with Hex as I could fly her in cabin if we drove out of England to France or Holland.

But at the end of the day, not matter how we tried to work it out, it was going to cost anywhere from 1000 pounds to 2000 pounds ($2000 to $4000). This is just something I was not prepared to do for a few agility runs no matter how important they are. Next year it is in Austria and the following year it is in Denmark; both drivable from England. So I will focus my energy on those World Champs and just support the British team this year hoping that there will be one or two other OBay Shelties on both the british team and the danish team again. It was a very hard decision for many reasons. Zen is now 5 and at her prime. Hex is just 3 and running so well. It would have been so cool to have TWO dogs qualify! And I just love competing at the worlds; the atmosphere is great.....I will miss it this year! But life goes on and I am hoping the European Open fills the void for me!

So the agility while we were up in the Lakes was really enjoyable. Some different types of courses to enjoy. There were a few "themes" to some of the courses; things we do not often see down south in the small and medium classes.

We didn't get video on the first weekend; Dennis mostly took photos. How is this one? Notice he doesn't get many good photos of my dog! Just other people's dogs! Arghh!



As for the courses; one theme was pulling thru two jumps to get to another obstacle. Not a pull thru but a go between; kind of a thread the needle type thing!

Like this



and This



And tunnel wrapped under A-Frame like this (Ok-you can see this on the video)



and This (didn't like this one as it made a really bad angle for the little dogs to scramble up)


Here a video of three different courses; I found it interesting because Zen and Hex ran the same course (just over different heights).

The Lake District Agility Shows ect ect

I haven't posted recently so I have lots to catch up on. We just got back last night from the World Dog Show in Stockholm Sweden and before that we were away for 10 days in the Lake District. We are so lucky to be able to travel so easily from England!

This morning after starting to catch up on laundry and house-cleaning I headed out to the stores to re-stock our fridge and freezer! Unfortunately the electricity went out while we were in Sweden and defrosted the whole lot. So we lost everything in the fridge and freezer. What a pain as I had just stocked up on some chicken and steak for our next weekend away. Everything had to be chucked out as it looks like the fridge was out for days. Our electric does funny things sometimes and one little blip and the whole circuit goes out. After shopping I went to pick up Jordan who was on holiday with Sonia and Bob while we were in Sweden. She is such a good dog and fit in so well with their lot of shelties. I think she enjoyed her weekend away!

The weather got pretty ugly today with lots of wind and heavy rain so I cancelled my lessons and have decided to sit down and catch up on the blog.

Dennis and I went up to the Lake District for the first time. I entered the Lune and Barrow agility shows; this was great as Lune was the first weekend and Barrow was the following weekend. Each show had 3 days of agility and each day had 3-4 runs. So I had 6 whole days of agility with 6-8 runs each day. Fabulous! The week in between we stayed on at the showgrounds and this is fantastic as then we do not have to move the caravan and re-pack. So 10 days in the caravan with 4 dogs and we actually enjoyed it!

Here is a photo of the showgrounds. The show grounds were really good and it was a nice well organized show. I intend to definitely go back next year; I just don't want to say how great it was or then everyone will want to go and camping is limited!



The weather was not great; this was the only downfall of the show. We tried not to let the weather stop us from exploring the region as it is main reason why we went to this show. On the first day we arrived to great weather and we took a walk right from the show grounds. You can walk right out of the showgrounds onto a canal path (The Lancaster Canal?) and then we tried to do a circular walk. We intended to make it a short walk but it grew longer and longer! I do like these walks where you do not really know where you are headed but you feel very accomplished at the end when you make it back safe and sound!

Here is me and the dogs heading out with the showgrounds in the background. Even Jordan came on this walk! Bless her! She is 12 1/2 years old and really did well on this trip with us.



Since we were "Up North" we saw lots of stone walls. They are just beautiful and one day I want a house with my own stone wall! Instead of stiles, they sometimes have stone steps built into the walls that cross public footpaths. Three steps and the perfect photo op.



After that first day the weather got pretty bad. Luckily the showgrounds drained really well and there was no mud. (remember Scotland last year?!) I am really protective of my dogs so I skipped a few runs when the rain started going sideways. Then the wind picked up and sadly the show committee decided to cancel the last half of Sundays show. I think this was a very smart move on their part; there is no need to risk anyone getting hurt. Quite a few caravan awnings blew down and got destroyed. Luckily Dennis had the smarts to roll-up our awning and our awning was spared. It is quite cozy yet scary sitting in the caravan all snuggled up while the wind and rain goes crazy outside!

Monday was better although still a little wet. The grounds were good and not slippery. I was really pleased to have so many runs over both weekends; it gave us a great opportunity to get back in the swing of running. Even with so many runs; I cannot say I tired of running at all. The runs were nicely spaced out and the caravan was not far from the rings. Really a fab show for us.

During the week between Lune and Barrow; we explored as much as we could with the rain. We had a really good walk around Lake Buttermere (Thanks to Tim's advice!) and that day was not too rainy. The walk was not too strenuous although the drive there was a little hairy as the roads around the lakes are really narrow and hilly.




The weather was pretty bad on the other 2 free days but we tried a few walks anyway. We found a walk that looked good only about 1/2 hour away near Ambleside. The description of the walk looked fairly easy but unfortunately we missed the part towards the end where it said "steep descent"! So we got up the hill (which wasn't easy!) where the wind and rain was coming down really hard only to find that the other side was really really steep! So back the way we came; still it was a good walk although a little scary at times!

Here is one of the few photos of both Dennis and I. We only took Hex and Zen on this walk as we thought it would be too much for the old girls. This was a smart move as they never could have scrambled up the rocks.



Overcast but still pretty!



The last day of walking was rainy to begin and then the weather improved. Dennis wanted to go out on this rock (which was high up!) for a photo with the dogs. No way would I let all the dogs out on this rock; but he took Pax. I must admit it is a great photo but I do hate heights!



I have to go thru the videos and will post a few later. The courses were really fun as lots of them had something different for us. They do things differently up north! I like having courses with something interesting in it. The only bad part of many of the agility courses was how so many of the courses had only 6 weaves. Oh that and plastic poles! Darn plastic poles fall way too easily! HA! Only one dodgy call from one judge but I will blog about that later!

Overall Hex and Zen did well at both shows. Zen probably had a better overall clear run average but Hex had better placements. This will happen more and more as the border collies are starting to dominate the medium class but that is OK as I like Zen just the way she is!

More later!

The end of an Era: Good-bye to Dasher

Last week we lost a very special little sheltie called Dasher. He was one of those special four pups out of my first ever sheltie litter. Dash was litter brother to Joy, Bell and Brandi and the last of the four to pass onto the Rainbow Bridge. It is so hard to believe that those 4 shelties are gone; I am so lucky to have had a litter as special as that first one.

Here is a photo of Joy and Dash with their mother Holly. They were only around 6 months old. Joy is on the left, Holly in the middle and Dash on the right.



Here is later photo of Joy and Dasher from an agility trial in 1997. They must have both won first prizes but it is not the prizes that matter now. When I think of that day now I remember the amazing feeling I had running Joy on the day. What great memories! It was so nice trialing the littermates together and watching them each develop their own unique personalities.



Dash was not only a link to my special girl Joy but also a link to my amazing rescue German shorthaired Pointer Tess. Tess brought Eleanor and I together when Eleanor was fostering Tess for Eastern GSP Rescue. I not only adopted Tess and but also made a great friend in Eleanor. Because of our friendship; I was so happy when Eleanor asked me for a sheltie as I knew what a special home Dash would have with her. Dasher starting a love of shelties for Eleanor and I am proud to say that she is almost as much of a "sheltie person" as she is a "German Shorthair Person"!

I do not think that Eleanor would mind me posting her words about Dash.

O'Bay Dunstanburgh Dasher

UDCX CDX AX MXJ NAP OJP EAC-V EJC TN-N, Can/Bah/ASCA CD
May 4, 1992 – June 23, 2008

I said goodbye to my faithful Dash today. He could no longer keep anything down and he was not drinking either. He had become confused, too. I took him to the vet’s this afternoon and he seemed to know that it was time to go see his pal, Sage, and his siblings. He was not nervous at my vet’s and he lay on the table quietly and slipped away peacefully and easily.


He was 16-years, one month and 19 days old, the oldest dog I have ever owned. He arrived at my house almost exactly 16-years ago, my first Sheltie, three lbs of adorable fluff. He grew to weigh 17 lbs, a calm, determined soul, master of all he surveyed, at least in his own mind! He was never sick in his life and he lived happily and contentedly until he could not live anymore.

Dash never liked competing as much as he enjoyed meeting people. That being said, he was my first MXJ agility dog and only my 2nd CDX dog. He was the first dog I took to an obedience tournament. He traveled with me to the Bahamas and Canada for dog shows and to Illinois and New Hampshire for dog camp. He loved going to Maine, to Cambridge and to Sherborn and would sit up in his crate in the car miles and miles before we arrived and start to bark and whine. He had the most incredible sense of where he was. He never met a person he did not like. I have many snapshots of him sitting with various friends and relatives.

He was a devoted dog, following me from room to room, upstairs and downstairs. He would bark nonstop if I left him alone anywhere but in his own house or car. (This habit drove my brother crazy! He loved my late Sage and they were great buddies. He never really bonded with another dog after she died, although he would play with Presto on occasion. He had a terrific life. I knew this weekend that his time was running out. Presto ran his heart out all weekend and someone even asked me if Presto were Dash.

Thanks to all who helped make his life so special – those of you who were and our my friends, his admirers, those who comforted me as he aged, those who were his teachers and his babysitters when I was away. And to Bernadette who, all those years ago, told me Shelties and Shorthairs would be a perfect mix and she was right! I am pretty sad right now, but I know I was lucky to have him for so long. My dogs make my life complete and along with the joy comes the sorrow, but I would not have it any other way. He lives on in his two cousins, Presto and Ozma.

Eleanor

Eleanor sent me some photo of Dash in his later years. I love this photo of him on a sailboat with Eleanor's sister and niece. He was such a family dog; the perfect companion as shelties should be. Dash will always have a special place in my heart as the one puppy who, no matter how long in between our visits (even years!), would remember me with such enthusiasm and joy! Good-bye Dash, you will be missed.

Off to the Lake District

We leave tomorrow at early o'clock to head off with the dogs and the caravan to the Lake District. The same time last year we headed off to Scotland only to encounter 7 days of rain and mud! Hopefully this trip will be less wet! I bathed and groomed the 4 dogs today; hoping that since they will live in the caravan with us for 10 days that they will smell nice and clean. Let us hope they stay that way!

I am still going through photos from Thames last week. Here are some funny ones from when Nancy ran Zen. As you can see Nancy had a discussion with Zen (or did Zen have a discussion with Nancy?) which was a good thing. Zen held most of her start-lines for me the rest of that weekend. Good Nancy and Good Zen!




Sometimes photos show even more detail than video. I like this series of photos of Zen out of the chute. This is actually the spot where Zen went off course and you can see how she came out of the chute expecting to go left and by the time she corrected to go right she was already past the next jump.






I thought these two photos (although not in perfect focus) were funny as they showed the Nancy pointy finger (for which I think I deserve royalties); although it didn't quite work here as you can see Zen is in full extension over this jump! I think Nancy did not actually wag the finger quite enough. Just pointing is no good; there must be some severe wagging of the finger also.




Nancy did well with Zen considering Zen has been running on extra jet fuel since she has gotten back from maternity leave. I think the stream-lined no hair Zen is a little extra fast! Unfortunately there was a little family pride riding on this run as last year at the same show Andy ran Zen and won the class with her. Oh Nancy you must do better in order to preserve the pride of girl-power!

Here are some photos of the pups from Thames.

This is handsome Zev.



Ziga (who is a spitting image of Oz)



And this photo of Zeki I found so cute; she has Zen's extra long tongue!



And here are two funny photos. The first is a very bad dog; I am not saying who owns this very bad dog!



And I don't know why Dennis took this photos but he laughs everytime he looks at it.

Very Special English Agility Championship Tradition

Well in the good ole' USA when someone finishes their MACH they are showered with gifts from their admiring friends. There is much celebration and dancing. Sometimes there are parties that go WAY overboard that involve singing and poems. I won't get into that here....but some people know what I am talking about (terry and annmarie!?)

In Merry Old England there is a very ancient tradition (in case you didn't know: England is much older than the USA) that involves cabbage. I could tell you why you get cabbage when you finish your dog's agility championship but then I would have to kill you. You will have to figure it out yourself.

Thames photos

I wanted Dennis to get this photo of Hex, Zen and Henry (Helen's JRT) because they all train with Lesley Olden. But Helen, we really need to train YOU to take photos. Dennis must have taken at least 30 photos of this and in most of them YOU were talking! Between Zen barking and Helen talking; 90% of the photos were bad! hahahaha

This one ain't great but it was the best of the worst. I will look for a better one later to give to Lesley. I thought it was pretty cool that both medium and small championship tickets AND the reserve small championship ticket were won by handlers and dogs that train with the "famous" Lesley Olden. :-) Lesley doesn't give her self enough credit as being a really great instructor.



I have more photos from Thames to post later; including evidence of Nancy severely (yes severely!) pointing at Zen and MAKING her stay on the start line! Will miracles ever cease?

One of the best Agility weekends evah!

Off we went on Friday to the Thames Agility Show. We had a great camping spot thanks to Nandy and that always makes the weekend better! I am such a grump if I have to walk miles to the rings; as I am sure most people are. The forecast was looking good and it was another championship show. What could be better? Oh and I got to see three of Zen's young pups; Ziga, Zev and Zeki. They had a nice play together and I was so happy to see Ziga as I had not seen him for a few weeks.

On Saturday night I wanted to celebrate Hex's Agility Championship; so we had cake (decorated by Dennis!), Champagne and Pimms. The lovely tablecloth is actually a fleece blanket that Johanna gave to me for Hex's Championship. (Yes the wicked Hex's personal logo is skull and crossbones!) Hex helped me cut the cake and sampled a bit for herself.



I was really really surprised by this present! Karen made me a "Mach Bar"!!! As most people read in my previous posts, in the US they take the last bar of the course after they finish their Agility Championship (aka MACH) and then do a victory lap around the course. Then people sign the bar as a memento. Karen was so so sweet and took one of her own jump bars and painted and decorated it for me! She had people sign it for me and they all were a little puzzled as no one had heard of it before! I am so touched and will treasure it always! I finally have a Mach bar! Thank you to everyone for making Hex's championship something special.



The only thing I didn't get to do was run around a course while holding it. And I didn't have enough champagne or Pimms to risk running around the courses Saturday night. Hmmmm maybe I should bring it to another show? :-)

The weekend only got better on Sunday. It was the champ day for smalls and mediums. I was very relaxed about running since Hex finished her championship at Hinkley and Zen won the ticket at Nottingham. This championship day was just a bonus. Well the girls did what I was really wanting: THEY BOTH WON THE CHAMP TICKET! Hex won her small Champ final and Zen won the medium champ final! I do not know if anyone else in the UK has ever won two champ tickets on the same day; but I felt very proud of both girls. GIRLPOWER!

I have pulled them out of the Champ classes for the next few shows as I do not feel the need to collect tickets. 8 tickets to date for Zen and 4 for Hex is pretty darn good for now! I will just enjoy watching the champs for the time being.



And here is some video from the Thames show 2008.

Ahhh the Mouse has grown up!

After a great weekend of agility; I arrive home to find an email with this photo! What a great way to end a perfect weekend! Life is good.

Isn't she cute?

Great laugh for the morning!

Great Agility Training Video

Terry and Mach Keeper

Most of you will now know Terry as the new owner of the Lil'Mouse now known as Zinna. Well she is also a very active agility competitor in the USA and has now finished her 2nd MACH (Master Agility Champion). Terry and Keeper finished their Mach a few weekends ago in the rain and mud. I have yet to see the video; but have heard that it was pretty dire conditions. So it was lucky they got around both courses clean (or not really clean!) I think you can see the state of dress on that day which give you an idea of the weather that day! How the heck did Terry run in that outfit??



In the US when a dog finished their Mach everyone around the ring claps and cheers as the owner grabs the last bar and runs around with the dog doing a victory lap. It is nice this as there is a little excitement! The bar is kept by the person and everyone at the show (and later) signs the bar with their congratulations. This is nice momento to keep.

Here you can see Terry's friends with a sign they had made up in advance; I guess hoping that Terry would finish that day. Or did they carry the sign around for weeks? :-) To get a Mach the dog must have completed 20 QQs(double qualifying runs or running clear in both agility and jumping on the same dog). So once the dog completes it's 19th QQ, at the next show people hang around the ring to see if it runs it's 20 QQ. This could go on for weeks depending how consistent the dog is! I imagine it gets very stressful waiting for that 20th QQ if they keep messing up! How long can you carry a bottle of champagne around without wanting to drink it?? (ps Dennis didn't even have a bottle ready last week for Hex as he didn't want to jinx us; or that was his excuse anyway!)

You can see the bar in this photo on the table waiting to be signed and the huge rosettes hanging on the tent.



Keeper is a rescue from Long Island Shetland Sheepdog Rescue; a group that I helped found back around 9 years ago (is it that long??). So it is an extra special Championship. I believe that Keeper is the second MACH for Long Island Sheltie Rescue.

SO big belated congratulations to Terry and Mach Keeper. And promises to Johanna to get the latest info up on One if she sends me good photos! :-)

Agility Champion Hex!

I am so proud of my little girl Hex who is now officially the Champion I always knew she was. Thanks again to Dennis for videoing and putting together this video. He is handy to bring along as he had the video downloaded and put together by the next day at the show!

I always feel a bit down after completing a major goal and I don't know why. But I just love the journey that Hex and I have taken. We have so much more to accomplish; she has only just turned 3 years old. How I adore this wicked little dog!

Hopefully the weather at Thames next weekend will be good and we can celebrate with cake and champagne. Please stop by if you are there on Friday night.

Here she is: AGILITY CHAMPION OBay Truly Wicked