Dania Cup 2011 Part 2

Here is the view of the three ring Dania Cup 2011. The little tents around the rings belong to the competitors. They get there early to stake out their spots; the best ones being along the front so that you can sit in the shade or out of the rain and still watch. These tents went three rows deep; this is one of the biggest shows in Denmark. This is quite a contrast to the UK show I was at this past weekend. The Kennel Club International Festival here in England was 17 rings.



I love how they all have the same size tents and are SO neat in how they line them up. So very cute!

I really enjoyed my week in Denmark competing at the Dania Cup. The courses were exciting and it was fun to have so many runs per day. We had 2 runs at our level (Class 3 for Zaz and Itz) plus one open class per day. I would love to go into detail on all the courses but I keep running out of time. If you want to see the courses and results you can just go to the website at DANIA CUP 2011

The class 3 courses were very testing and fun! We had judges from many different countries including the two World Champ judges for this year. That alone made the trip worthwhile for me. It gave me confidence that we could do it!

The open classes are generally slightly easier as they are for class 1,2 and 3 dogs. The open class results helped to qualify you for the end of the week final. There were some complicated rules to get into the final but at the end both Zaz and Itz qualified for the finals on Saturday.

Here is Zaz in her open class on the first day. That was her only clear for the first two days as we seemed to need a few courses under our belt to get our rhythm together.



On the Monday I was disappointed as we had 3 runs with no clears for either dog. Just tiny mistakes but so frustrating. Finally on Tuesday, the third day of competition, Zaz got a clear in her Grade 3 agility which gave us her first Agility Championship Certificate! In Denmark they have a separate Jumping and Agility Championship title. They need 3 championship certificates to become a champion. The titles are Agility Champion and Jumping (Spring) Champion.

Here is Zaz in her Class 3 agility on Tuesday getting her first Championship certificate in another country!



The prize giving was at the end of each day. Everyone would sit around with their chairs and drinks to cheer on their respective country wins. The funny thing is that the prizes were not what we are used to! They did give medals out for 1st,2nd and 3rd but do not do rosettes, ribbons or trophies. Each person (usually placed 1st-6th) get a trip up to a "prize" table. On this table can be an assortment of things: dog toys, dog treats, vouchers for vendors, beer, wine, human toiletries, clothing ect! Basically anything could be up there! The 1st placed person picked first and then the rest choose in order of their placings. By the end you could be walking away with a bottle of skin lotion or bug spray! It was funny to see the men walking away with all sorts of face lotions!

This shows everyone hanging around waiting for prize giving.



Some crazy Norwegian lady! She wore this shirt to every prize giving. The Norwegians are amazing agility handlers; I love to watch them. At the European Open this year they really stood out for me again.



I wasn't so brave in dressing up but I did bring up the big Union Jack flag (thanks to Ian Watts) which in itself was quite a feat. I almost managed to kill someone with that flag because I couldn't control it!



While giving these types of prizes rather than trophies/rosettes may seem strange to us in the UK I can really see the benefits. While I love to get my beautiful trophies; in reality how many can I keep? At the Dania Cup I kept trying to collect the vouchers for a certain vendor and at the end of the week I had enough vouchers to get a lovely dog bed for free AND a free photo of my dog. I know that it might be disappointing to place 4th in a big class and walk away with bug spray but do the trophies really mean that much anyway? I like having something useful! My dogs got loads of extra dog treats, toys and leads plus I won bottles of salmon oil (very expensive!), a dog bed, photos and various toiletries. Oh and I won 3 bottles of champagne for winning some open classes. The more alcoholic team members chose cases of beer or cider whenever they won anything!

For winning a Championship Certificate they gave a special prize. You won a shirt! Since Zaz won 2 championship agility certificates and 2 championship jumping certificates I could have had 4 shirts made up. Instead I got a pink shirt that said "Winner of the Agility & Jumping certificates". I love that shirt but really didn't need another shirt so instead Dennis got a Dania Cup 2011 shirt. Again something functional that he will enjoy often. Dennis will probably wear his Dania Cup shirt more than I will wear mine. I have a closet full of Team GB shirts that I never wear either.




For the next agility and jumping certificate wins I had another shirt made up. I went for the lime green shirt and asked for pink lettering (of course!). I didn't quite expect her to use the FLUORESCENT pink lettering! Wow this is one bright shirt! I am not sure I will ever wear this shirt but wore it on our last night out for dinner with friends at the Dania cup. Hmmm maybe I will wear it for our party when Zaz finishes her Agility Championship here in England. That will give us something to look forward to. LOL



After 3 days of agility there was a day off on Wednesday. A nice relaxing day and the one day of rain! We were lucky with the weather and there was only one morning where I didn't run 2 of my classes due to the weather. I was disappointed that this show did not use the rubber coated contact equipment as I was expecting. I think we assume that all European agility shows use the rubber equipment but that is not the case. So as in the UK, I will skip a class if I think it could be unsafe for my dog. The equipment was generally good and I really liked the magnetic breakaway tyre. The tyre just gave way if the dog hit it. The judging was easy; they did not fault it as long as the dog went through the tyre.



I think I skipped the first runs on Thursday (class 3 agility) but Zaz went on to win the Class 3 Jumping Certificate later on in the day.



Friday was our best day! Zaz won both the jumping and agility championship certificates and won the open agility. Little Itzy got a 6th place in the Class 3 agility. I was really proud of Itzy all week. She had some issues with the wall jump which cost us some clear rounds but overall ran really well and constantly amazes me with what she knows! When I put more time into her training she will only get better and better.

Here is Itz in her agility class 3 on Friday.



And Zaz in her agility class 3 on Friday.



We had a fantastic time in Denmark. Dennis and I had hoped to go back next year but have just found out that the week show in 2012 will be non-KC affiliated. This makes it less attractive as they will not be awarding Championship certificates. I think because of this they also will have less competitors from other countries and will not get the world champ judges. For me it was being able to compete against some really good small dogs from other countries under tough courses in a more relaxed atmosphere that made the show so attractive. I hope to get back to Denmark again to finish Zaz's Agility and Jumping Championships but it might not be next year.

I have also decided not to tryout for the EO next year as it is in Sweden. This would be another long expensive drive. Instead I would like to find a show like the Dania Cup where I can enjoy a few days of good agility in a relaxed friendly atmosphere. So I am on the lookout for another good show in a different country next year. If anyone has any good ideas let me know? A 3 day or longer show would be best because by the time we pay for fuel,hotels and entries it is more cost effective to have more days of competing.

I am going to try and catch up by talking about the European Open next. I must get the blog caught up so that I can concentrate on writing on more important matters: PUPPIES!

Dania Cup 2011 Part 1

Last month we went back to Denmark to compete at the Dania Cup 2011 agility show. In Denmark they have a week-long agility show during July that moves every year to a different part of Denmark in a 3 year cycle. This year it was called the Dania Cup and was near Naevsted Denmark. In 2004 I attended the Jutlandia Cup which was in the more western part of Denmark.

Things have changed quite a bit for me since 2004. Back then I was running my lovely Pax and came to Denmark to pick up a hopefully pregnant True (Zen's mom). Pax's best placement that week was a 4th place and I was thrilled with that! True went on to produce a singleton puppy that year called "One".

Now fast forward to 2011. I ran Zaz and Itzy at the Dania Cup and was there to pick up a hopefully pregnant Zen. Zaz won numerous first places and both Zaz and Itz made it to the end of the week Final! I already know that Zen is pregnant with more than one puppy so we are improving in both agility and breeding on our last attempt in Denmark!

From 2004:

Tazz and True. This combination produced the singleton One on their first try and then went on to produce Hex, Indy and Max. I wish I had repeated this breeding again...


4th Place for me and Pax. These courses were so foreign to us and it took me all week to get a clear round!



On that trip I got to see Unique for the first time since he left us as a puppy at 8 weeks. Here he is at 1 year old with his mom True on the left and dad Monty on the right. This breeding also produced Zen. This was one amazing breeding and encouraged many sheltie breeders in Denmark and Sweden to start using Monty.



Now back to 2011 and it was fantastic for me to see so many shelties running that are related to my dogs through Monty or One. I saw both children and grand-children of Monty! My little Monty, who almost did not come with me to England, has now really left his mark on the sheltie world. I was so glad to see him again this year and hope that it is not the last time I see him as he is now 12.5 years old. I also got to meet some grand-children of True: my little couch potato who produced the most amazingly smart and crazy pups.

In my Class 3 classes I was often beat by shelties related to Monty! HA! Don't these people realize they should have let me win as payment to me for their pups? LOL

Zaz getting 2nd to a swedish Monty daughter.



Zaz narrowly winning the class to another Monty daughter!



The happy couple of 2011: Zen and Carson. Say a prayer that all 6 pups are healthy happy and gorgeous and that there are a few little black girls for me to choose from!



More about the Dania Cup 2011 with video soon!

Itzy is now Grade 7!

Three weeks ago Itzy had her 3rd win towards the 4 wins she needed to go Grade 7. Two weeks ago before Thames I started thinking (and saying) maybe I would like NOT to get her 4th win until the KC Festival in August. That way she could compete at the KC Festival in all her Graded 6 classes. I have never done this before as I am usually so focused on getting them up to Grade 7 and want to get there as soon as possible. For my dogs (small/medium) I feel there is no reason to keep them in the lower grades; the courses rarely change from 5-7. We get alot of combined classes and there is no huge increase in challenge from grade 5 through 7.

I don't know what came over me thinking I wanted to hold Itzy back other than I just wanted to stretch out her time at Grade 6. Well that was the KISS OF DEATH! LOL As soon as I started talking about NOT winning Itzy decided she could NOT complete any course properly and could definitely NOT do a see-saw. She started running around jumps and basically going nuts.

I do think some of her issues that weekend were due to how she felt mentally and physically after being blown off the dog walk the previous weekend. I have since had Itzy treated and have been working on her strength and balance on the Fit Ball and wobble cushion. I have also changed how I am training her see-saw and changing how I am rewarding her on the see-saw. All of this seems to be working and, fingers crossed, I think we are improving. The see-saw has always been a weakness for Itzy and I am glad to now have a new plan of action. I also told Itzy that she could do whatever she wanted; if she wanted to win another class I would gladly take it!

This past weekend Itzy did not get alot of attention and we missed most of our runs. On the Saturday I only did one run with her due to the weather. In that run she did a LOVELY see saw! I was so excited I pulled her past the next obstacle but was thrilled with the run. Sunday was the Championship day and I was totally focused on Zaz. I do not do well splitting my attention between dogs. The Championship class ran smoothly and was done just after lunch. I was on a high from winning with Zaz so I was in no hurry to leave. I could have floated around for hours until they put the equipment away! LOL So I decided to stick around for Itzy's last class which was running at the end of the day.

I had visions of running the course and packing up to leave right after running but Itzy had other ideas! The course was a funny one with some strange angles on jumps and a loooooong run across the top of the course missing out obstacles. I did not expect to go clear and really didn't take the course seriously; I just thought it was another chance to get her on the see saw.

Itzy did a great run but you will have to imagine it because I did not get it on video. Nor did I get any fancy photos; just a photo taken on my mobile phone of her with her trophy. Itzy says videos and fancy photos are for wimps; she is hard core tough!

Zaz's 2nd Championship Ticket! Axtane 2011

After 15 years of playing in agility I have had a first this weekend...I felt physically sick before a run! I do hope this will not be a common occurrence but it is all good as the results were positive!

It is hard to believe that Axtane last year was only the 3rd weekend of competition for Zaz and Itz. What a difference a year makes and what fun times these two pups are giving me. Even more unbelievable to me was that it was 9 years ago in 2002 at this very show that Pax won out of Starters!

So the small/medium championships were on Sunday. I was entered on Saturday also but due to the chance of rain I woke up in the morning uncertain if I should get up and go. Dennis is away in Japan and I was bored without him so I decided to go to the show and see how it was when I got there. I arrived and it was sunny and calm so I hurried up and walked the Small Crufts Challenge and ran Itz followed by Zaz. Itz did her see saw and I was happy! Zaz ran a nice clear and I was happy as I knew that would give us points towards the Small Crufts Challenge class (it is a class run a Crufts that requires an accumulation of points at certain shows during the year). I decided not to wait around for any of my other classes and left before the rain started. I used the opportunity of a free afternoon to hit the shops on the way home. Sadly I bought nothing more exciting than a new folding chair and a retro bubble umbrella!

Sunday I got to the show early because Zaz was drawn as #1 in the small champ jumping. I liked the course and felt as if Zaz and I ran it really well. We came 3rd in this run and I can honestly say I don't know how we could have run it better! I could have turned her left after 6 but I thought turning her right kept the flow better even though it was a longer path. It felt good to run the jumping early so, for once, I could sit ringside and watch the rest of the small dogs and see the medium dogs run the same course.



After the jumping we had two Obays that had run clear. Zaz in the small class and Zeki in the medium

Now came the Champ agility. Zaz went clear again and won the agility! It was nice to run again on rubber coated equipment and I really appreciate the clubs that are hiring rubber equipment.I did not have to worry about letting Zaz approach the dogwalk at an angle and I could concentrate on getting into position for the sequence from 3-5.



Zeki had a nice agility run also in the medium. You can see her Axtane champ runs on Nancy's blog post. This put both Zaz and Zeki into the Champ final!

I had another early run in the champ agility; so I was again able to sit ringside and watch the last of the smalls and all the medium dogs run. I had a nice cuppa and ate my lunch. All seemed good! They set up the Championship final course and we had 15 minutes to walk it. Both Zaz and Zeki had ended up in the penultimate position in the running order. A great place to be! You had the chance to see how the dogs before you fared and yet knew that you had one potentially faster dog running after you.

I started to walk the finals course and suddenly felt as if I had to sit down. My legs had gone to jelly! What was happening? I thought the course was one that we could do and imagined it would be a course that would be won on speed and turns. I did not think there would be many faults. Of course I was concerned about the final two jumps and when you see the video you will understand why. I asked Nancy's opinion as she knows how I have trained Zaz and what we can and cannot do. I spotted Lesley and dragged her over and asked her to quickly give her opinion about the last two jumps. I figured we had a safe option and a quick option. I decided to go for the quick option as I knew that there were quite a few dogs in the class that could beat us on speed. Then I started worrying that I was too concentrated on those last two jumps and I needed to focus on the entire course. By then it was time to get Zaz and get ready and I was starting to feel sick!

Now, contrary to popular opinion, I am not the most confident person. I tend not to show my nervousness before I run a course because I have learned that it doesn't help to give in to the nerves. Even when I am nervous I will not discuss it as most "mental management" gurus will tell you that it does not help to keep repeating this. Instead I repeat certain words and comments to both myself and people around me. Words that help me feel relaxed and confident. Most importantly I love my dogs and I love doing agility with them and I do not ever want this game to be so important to me that it is stressful.

So why, on this day before this run did I feel like I was going to be sick? I have heard people say they felt like this before a run and thought they were exaggerating. Well, actually, I now know they were not lying! I walked Zaz around and around while we were waiting to run; not to warm her up but to try and not lose my lunch!

I had a vague idea of what the other teams before me had done. I knew one of the faster dogs had gone clear and that I had a fast dog to yet run after me. So there was no room for error; we just had to go for it. yet as I stepped to the line all I could think was "please don't let my legs give out!".



We did it! We ran clear and we ran it the best we could. As I sat on the ground outside the ring I just kept hugging Zaz as we watched the last dog run. I had no idea at that point if we were in the lead and when the last dog finished I waited to hear the results. Someone checked for me and they said they thought Zaz had won. I couldn't believe it so I made them check again! They confirmed it and I couldn't stop hugging Zaz even though she hated it. I am amazed that my little girl now has 2 Championship tickets and needs only one more to become an Agility Champion. She is such a special dog to me for so many reasons and I am so happy to be playing this game with her.

At that point I realized that Zeki could also win in the medium champs and I just had a vision at that moment that she would. Since Zaz was fed up with me hugging her I sat ringside to watch the medium champ final. Up came this years medium Crufts champion and she was putting in a foot perfect extremely fast run. She had the win in the bag with only two jumps to go when all of a sudden they got a refusal at the second to last jump! I looked over to see Nancy's face and I think she just about passed out at that moment when she realized that, actually, she and Zeki could now have a chance at winning. If anyone needed the saying "Keep Calm and Carry On" at that point it was Nancy.

Well they did it. They put in the best run they could and at the end of the class Zeki had won the Medium Championship Final!



Amazingly this is not the first time we have had two OBays winning the tickets on the same day. Zen and Indy have won the Medium and small championship tickets on the same day at 3 or 4 shows during their careers. Zen and Hex had won a medium and small ticket on the same day as well. These were all True pups. Now the next generation have done the same....two of Zen's babies (True's grandpups) have won the small/medium tickets on the same day. I hope this is good omen for the last litter of Zen puppies that are being made as I type!



Well the day couldn't get any better could it? Stay tuned for Itzy news!

Hopefully our blog posts will increase soon...

I just loved the look in Zen's eyes in this photo. It is her naughty look because she knows I want to flip her into the tunnel and she would rather not go all the way down the contact.


So I always blog more when I have puppies. It is the puppy training that I most love to talk about and think about. So posts should increase in August because Zen is off being bred as I type. I want you all to keep your fingers crossed that she makes me a litter of many little girls from which to choose!

I am missing Zen like crazy; the house seems so empty and quiet with only Zaz and Itzy. We took this photo of Zen with her two WAO medals before she left on her journey. My gorgeous girl!



We have had three weekends in a row of agility shows. Cippenham was only one day and we enjoyed the slightly smaller show with a late start! Zaz ran well and Itzy came second in her graded class. I felt as if it was one of my best runs with Itzy to date, a run where I felt Itz and I were totally connected. I love that!

The following weekend we had Hinkley on Saturday followed by Keston on Sunday. It is hard to believe that Dartford and Keston were Zaz and Itz's first shows last year! They have now been competing for one year! No more excuses, huh? LOL Hinkley was a championship show and I had great hopes. Unfortunately it was not meant to be as we got eliminated in champ jumping when Zaz ran past the collapsed tunnel; a baby mistake. Still she won the champ agility and the Crufts singles so all in all a good day for Zaz. Not a great day for Itz when she was blown off the top of the dogwalk in a freak gust of wind. My poor Itz! She took quite a tumble landing on her back. I felt sick but kept her going on the course to try and keep her from thinking about it too much. I had her checked out by Tace (our WAO team massage therapist) and she seemed OK. I thought I was shook up more than she was.

Here is Zaz in her Champ agility run.



Keston was a more local show the next day and I was looking forward to it because Dennis was coming with us. When Dennis comes to the shows Itzy wins! And she did it again winning Small 1-7 and getting her third win towards Grade 7. One more win for Itz and she will be in Grade 7.

I asked Andy if he wanted to run Zen in agility because I was going to let Johanna run her in Demark in July at the Dania Cup. This is the 2nd time Andy has run Zen and the 2nd time he won the class with her. Little did I know that should would be going to Denmark sooner than I thought as she came in season the next day!



This past weekend was Thames Champ show. Usually Thames has good sunny hot weather but that was not the case this year. Itz did not have a good weekend as on Saturday she decided that she could no longer do a see-saw. This was out of the blue but I wondered if it was a result of her fall off the dogwalk at Hinkley. I felt awful that either she was sore or she was worried. I took her to see the doggie osteopath for a treatment just in case. Saturday was not a great day for me and the girls and I was felt down and worried about Itz.

On Sunday the weather was horrendous and we did our champ final run in heavy rain. I went through two raincoats that day as each one got soaked through.I skipped many of our runs on Sunday due to the rain but really wanted a shot at the championship with Zaz. Here she is in the champ agility qualifier. My hat started coming off while Zaz was on the Aframe which is why my hands are flying all around the place! It finally came off and luckily Zaz did not try to retrieve it. I was more worried about the state of my hair under the hat than finishing the run!



I felt really worried about running Zaz in the rain and have such mixed feelings about having done so. I am only human and the lure of the champ final really pushed me to do that last run. Yet my heart was not in it for many reasons; so in hindsight I should have pulled out of the final. Easier said than done...

So three weekends of agility shows are past and, as usual, I did not keep up with taking photos of trophies and rosettes. So here is Zaz and Itz's stash of trophies and rosettes for Cippenham, Hinkley, Keston and Thames. What good girlies they are.

WAO 2011 Part 3 Small Fast Kick Yer Ass

Well I have really been dragging out the report on the WAO! Gosh I hope I get all my details correct as I am starting to forget.

Saturday was a little better for us! This Pentathlon Jumping was another of my favorite runs. Imagine that? It is amazing how my clear runs are my favorite.



Zen came 2nd in that class with a fantastic time!

On Saturday we had the second part of the games classes: Gamblers. Now Zen is not a great Gamblers dog by any stretch of the imagination! It is not something we train although something I would like to train in the future with other dogs. Zen, at 8 years old, is not going to suddenly start being able to work away from me. But I knew that if we could accumulate enough points in the opening we had a chance.

Well she did it. We came 4th in the Gamblers which put us 3rd (BRONZE MEDAL) for the Overall Games classes. That's my girl! My goal was to come away from this weekend with a medal and we did it. I was starting to let go of my disappointment from the previous day.


At the end of Saturday the English team had 3 overall medals. Gold, Silver and Bronze!

On Sunday we had the Pentathlon speedstakes which was the final run for the Pentathlon. I knew we had no chance at a medal in the Overall Pentathlon so I would just be running the speedstakes for a class placement. I really enjoyed this course and I thought Zen ran it well. After the turn off the aframe into the tunnel I felt something wrong with Zen. It may not look like it on the video but I was surprised that Zen did not beat me out of the tunnel to the next jump. I felt as if something happened in the tunnel but was not sure.



Zen came 2nd in that run! If you listen closely you can hear Leah yelling my motto for this competition. Small fast kick yer ass!



After her run while walking her to cool down I just felt something was wrong with her gait but I thought I was over-reacting. I walked her around and finally put her away to rest and tried to forget about it. Unfortunately when I went back an hour later to take her out for prize giving she was lame on her front leg.....I was devastated and just wanted to pack her up and take her home.

Thank God that we had Tace A. available to treat our dogs for any injuries and Peter Van D.available as our vet. Both Tace and Peter were so helpful and Zen was treated immediately. She had a injury to her right wrist so we started icing and metacam right away. I was nearly in tears as I could not believe that Zen was in pain after just running her little heart out for me... This was my dog who has never in 8 years been injured in agility. And now she gets an injury in her last big event! Was she telling me it was good that she will be retired or that she was not happy about this retirement malarkey?

This photo was not taken during that run but at our official practice on the Thursday. Could she have hurt her wrist coming out of that tunnel and then aggravated it turning into the tunnel on that last run?



Now the next run of the day was the Team Pentathlon Relay. We had the greatest team lined up for that run. All four of them could handle the pressure of a team relay that would decide if our team came away with Team GOLD.

Sometime during that morning I had realized (doh!) that Zen was possibly going to get a TEAM GOLD medal! OMG what a way to end her career. I put the pressure on Lee and Jo and told them they were going to win this team relay for Zen! And you know what? They did it!!! Dave and Rusty, Gary and Ellie, Jo and Bitzy, Lee and Bonnie ran that Team Relay with grace under pressure and won! This put our team as OVERALL GOLD! Zen finally got her Gold medal!



Thanks to the entire TEAM ENGLAND for being great competitors and teammates.

WAO 2011 Part 2

Girl Power!



This was one of my favorite runs. It was our first team run. All 3 in the team ran clear and we won this round!



Our other run on the first day was the Snooker run. I found it very funny but fantastic that Zen ended up with a Bronze Medal in Games! I actually like Games but doing them once a year does not encourage us to practice for them. LOL This is Zen's Snooker run; we ended up in 4th in Snooker because I did not go for the 7-7-7 combination. I decided to play it safe and went for 7-7-5 and hoped that would be enough to help us get on the podium for the Overall Games. I am still not sure if I should have tried it as, of course, it would have been the difference between a bronze and a gold medal. That is the interesting part of games; trying to be strategic in addition to knowing your dog's strengths and weaknesses. I know that Zen can only be run past so many obstacles before she would decide that enough is enough! LOL



So after the first day we had many highs and lows. Zen had 4 runs that day and Zaz had one run. Zaz's first run was her Biathlon jumping. I knew that sequence at the top of the ring would be an issue as I saw dog after dog do the same thing. I would have preferred to have been able to get a front cross in but just could not get there. Many people tried and it pushed their dogs into the other end of the tunnel. Or if they tried to sprint off after the weaves it caused the dogs to cross jump the long jump. Obviously this is a sequence I need to practice! sigh.. Otherwise I was so happy with how she handled the course.



Zaz is very different from Zen and I obviously feel so much more comfortable running Zen. Running Zaz is still a new experience in many ways. I found these two photo from the photographer at the WAO and was amazed again to see the similarities between Zen and Zaz.




More later...

WAO 2011 part 1

My post about the WAO is very late. I wish I could be better about documenting our journey immediately after the event. Unfortunately it seems that I need downtime after a big competition before putting my thoughts into writing. I always have mixed feelings; never sure if I am happy or sad that it is over and never sure if I am thrilled or disappointed about our performances!

So I wait before I look at videos and by that time I have lost the impetus to put together a detailed post. I am thinking that for the European Open I would like to try and put together my posts on the day but that might just be a little ambitious. Dennis isn't even coming and so photos and videos might be sporadic as it is!

The World Agility Open Championships (WAO) 2011 was a fantastic event. The time and effort put into every detail was obvious to us all. As with the IFCS last year, there was a great atmosphere and awesome (yes AWESOME) volunteers working very hard every day. The courses were fun and challenging and I enjoyed them all.Zen and Zaz were great fun to run as always. Zen placed in the top 3 in almost every class.


The only thing that prevented us getting onto the podium in the pentathlon was my ridiculous errors. I am not even talking about handling errors as I could forgive myself for those (and often do!). The errors that happened to me that weekend were ones that I have nightmares about: I forgot the courses! I guess my two worse nightmares going into any big competition are forgetting the course and falling down. Well now I have gotten one of those over with and I hope never to repeat it!

Looking back I now understand why I forgot the courses but that doesn't stop me from feeling like an idiot and worrying that this may become a problem. A problem both in reality and a problem in my mental attitude. I read enough about Positive Mental Imaging to know that I almost should not even be writing this paragraph! Yet I do think it helps me and others reading this post to put my fears in writing and then get some help in getting over it! And maybe it will help others who have similar problems.

Do I have an answer to this problem? No not really but I will keep working on it and I will not let it get me down. How can I forget that my dogs have no idea when it goes wrong; they give me their all on every run and I am so grateful to have them by my side.



I thought I would start by showing you my two worst runs of the weekend; the run where I get lost and have to stop on course and the run where I sent my dog over the wrong jump when I forgot the course. My thought is that I need to watch them and then let them go forever.

This was our first run at the WAO. I was really positive about this course; I loved it and was looking forward to running it. What I did not count on was forgetting the course. In hindsight I understand why this happened but that doesn't help after the fact!


The great part about the WAO is that we get ALOT of runs. The worst part of the WAO is that we have to walk ALOT of courses. This is fine at the normal weekend show especially as we do not get complicated courses at our normal everyday show. In addition you may have the luxury of watching many dogs run before you go into the ring. At the WAO we walked 3 difficult courses in a 1/2 hour period and then immediately ran the 1st course we walked. So after walking the 3rd course I needed to get my dog and go run the 1st course without being able to watch. I was not ready for this mentally as it did not occur to me that this would happen. This was a failing on my part in my preparation both mentally and physically. Hopefully if we get a chance to do the WAO again I will not let this happen again.

I was really down after this run. It was our 2nd pentathlon run of the day and again it was the 1st run in the afternoon after a rotation of walking 3 courses. Can you see the common thread? I had gotten lost on the first run of the morning as well. What was wrong with me? I felt as if I was too old for this sport. Not only is my body falling apart and I am having difficulty running but now my brain is gone! I don't think I have ever felt this low about agility.



I am the first person to say "It is just agility" and I do not get upset about those little things that happen in the ring. Yet I do agility because I love it; I love working with my dogs and figuring out challenges. So when reality hits and I start doubting that I will be able to continue....that does make me sad. Thank you to those who understand that; who commiserate as well as trying to help me get over it.

So no more talk about getting lost on course. I do need to work on running more complicated courses on a regular basis. Zaz and I have alot of work to do over the next few weeks before the Dania cup and the European Open. I am glad to have a game plan in my head; now I just need to implement it!

More about WAO 2011 later!

Tunbridge Wells, Crufts, Olympia and puppy news

So Saturday was Beacon Agility Show and Sunday was Tunbridge Wells Agility Show. Although it was a long drive up and down to Beacon; I really enjoyed the day. Thankfully Tun Wells show is only 45 minutes away and at one of my favorite venues: South of England Showgrounds. It is a nice venue with great walks for the dogs afterwards on their cross-country course. There is no motorway noise and there are trees dotted around for shade. What more can you want?

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.....

Beacon Champ show 2011

We are back from the World Agility Open Championships 2011 (WAO). WOW what a great event and I am going to work hard to be able to go again next year with Zaz. Before I go into more about the WAO I wanted to catch up on the the weekends prior to the WAO.

First in my excitement about Zaz's 1st champ ticket at Vyne I forgot to do the obligatory trophy photo for Vyne. I am trying to do this after every show but sometimes just run out of time. These are not the most creative photos and they are taken with my little video camera but they are just meant to be a special reminder of each show. The rosettes and trophies will eventually be put away in a box and/or recycled; the photos will last a little longer! I like to get better quality photo from Dennis but sometimes it is just inconvenient to do the photos when he is around.


Beacon and Tunbridge Wells shows are run on the same weekend. On Saturday Beacon is a small/medium only show and Tunbridge Wells has no classes for smalls and mediums on Saturday. On Sunday Beacon is a Large dog only show and Tunbridge Wells holds classes for all sizes. So it works well on paper...the only catch is the distance between the two shows!

Beacon is in the north of Birmingham so it is on the edge of being able to do in one day.(3 hours) Instead I drove up on the Friday to stay in a B&B so I did not have to get up at 4 am to drive up on Saturday. We drove up late so we were able to have the whole day home and just used the B&B to crash for the night. At only £25 per night it is worth staying just to not have to be up at the crack of dawn.

Beacon show is one of my favorite shows. It is held at sport field so the grounds are good and it is only 4 rings so we can park close to all the rings. This makes Bernadette VERY HAPPY! Have I mentioned before how much I hate being parked miles away from the rings? LOL Also having a show dedicated to smalls and medium dogs also makes me happy; not that I am prejudiced against big dogs but well.....just saying I like my smalls and mediums. Just saying...

Beacon is also a championship show. So it was Zaz's second chance at a ticket. Sadly we didn't win the ticket this time but I was chuffed to bits with Zaz and Zen's runs. We had a new champ judge for Beacon; Lee Gibson was judging his first champ classes. I was looking forward to the courses because I knew the Lee has been exposed to a more "international" flavour of courses. He didn't disappoint and I was thrilled that all the courses were on the difficult side. Not only were the jumping and agility rounds difficult but he kept the final just as difficult. I LOVED it! We had to work all rounds and the final was so exciting.

Here is Zaz in the agility qualifier round.



Zen was entered in the champs because she was competing in the WAO the following weekend. So it was nice to have some handling courses to get us tuned up as a team. I was so happy that both Zen and Zaz made it into the final. Both girls did really well in the agility and jumping qualifier rounds so Zaz was running 2nd to last and Zen was running last.

First up was the small dog final. There were alot of faults and eliminations in the final rounds but then up came Helen and her poodle (running 3rd to last) putting in a faultless fast round. I watched that round and knew that if we had any chance we needed to go for it. So we did but my over excitement caused Zaz to miss out a jump. Watching the video back I know what I did to cause it so it was my fault totally. She never even saw the jump I wanted her to take the back of so she locked on the next jump she saw. I was not disappointed because I was thrilled with the rest of the run. After Zaz ran there was one dog left to go. Nicky and Indy put in a fantastic run to just win out over Helen by a nano-second! It was such a great final and I was proud that Zaz and I were sandwiched between those two great teams. I cannot be complacent as Zaz and I still have work to do to become as polished as Nicky and Indy and Helen and her adorable poodles. This is what makes it fun!



I needed to trust Zaz's weave poles more to have run that section smoothly and in my rush to get to the next off set jump I forgot to change arms to bring her in after the go-round. Listen closely and you will hear my videographer say "pants" which is an English term meaning SH*T or DAMN! Now you all have a new swear word you can use in the USA and not get eliminated for cursing on course! LOL Yes my English friends can you believe they will eliminate you for swearing on course in the US?

Then is was Zen's turn. My little Zen-star ran her little legs off. We ended up in 2nd place to get the Reserve Championship Ticket. Not bad for the old girls (me and Zen!)



Itzy did not come to the shows this weekend; instead she stayed home and kept Dennis company. I find it exhausting running 3 dogs and not sure how everyone else does it!



It was a long drive back home to get up early the next day for Tunbridge Wells. The nice part is that Tun Wells show is only 45 minutes from home. Yay!

Zaz's First Championship Ticket! Vyne 2011

Two weeks ago Zaz followed in her mother Zen's pawprints and won her first Championship ticket in her FIRST Championship class! Anything I could write would be inadequate in describing how I feel about Zaz and what she has done for me. Instead I will let you enjoy the video.

Champ jumping


Champ Agility


Champ Final


We leave in two days for Zaz's first big event. The World Agility Open Championships 2011. I am grateful for this opportunity to show off my two special girls Zen and her daughter Zaz. This will be Zen's last big event as she will be bred this summer; so I will be cherishing every moment and just enjoying her awesomeness. I thought I would share this special good luck card made by our friend Sonia. I have similar cards for almost all of Zen's international competitions. Each one is kept in Zen's scrapbook as a memory of that event. Now Zaz can have her own scrapbook and we can start with this special card.

Itz's Great Adventures 2011

So Itzy is now in Grade 6 and her first graded classes were at the Lincoln show. I was really happy with how she ran and that she can be competitive in Grade 6. She achieved two 2nd places at that show. Now it is just finding Grade 6 classes for her. The majority of shows put on combined Grade 6/7 for the smalls and mediums. The quandary I am in is that I want to do the Championship Shows and shows with Qualifiers for Zaz but I need the Graded 6 shows for Itz. Unfortunately they often do not go together.

Her second shows at Grade 6 were over the Easter Weekend. Although I really do not like the Newbury showgrounds I drove out on the Easter Friday to the WBSDS show because they had a Grade 6 class for smalls. Itzy ran really well but a small error got us Eliminated. I try really hard with Itz not to let her know when things go wrong; we just go on as if she was correct. So if you see me run a class and wonder why I am acting like we went clear even though you saw a fault, don't feel the need to tell me! LOL

Itzy had one Grade 6 agility class on the Easter Saturday but we had a knocked bar. Again I was so pleased with how she ran. On the Sunday she was sh*t hot and happily won her first Grade 6 class! I felt like a starter handler all over again worrying which dogs were left to run and if anyone would knock her out of 1st place! LOL Hopefully I have got that out of my system now and what will be will be for the Itz. I am not worried how fast she gets out of Grade 6 but only focused on both of us running happily. Itzy is actually suprising me with some of the skills she has because I don't remember teaching them to her! She is still behind Zaz in alot of training but I am OK with that. This is why it is so nice to have the two pups together; I am not in so much of a rush with Itz.



Here is how Itzy plays with her rosettes. Actually it is one of Zen's rosettes as I wouldn't let her play with her first Grade 6 1st place ribbon! She bounces up and down with it but, of course, since we were trying to video it she became camera shy.



The following weekend we had a long 4 day weekend due to the Royal Wedding on the Friday and the Bank Holiday on the Monday. I was tempted to do some shows but decided instead to stay home and spend time with Dennis and friends. Once the show season starts in full swing those relaxing non-agility weekends become scarce. I am trying to plan a few one day agility weekends rather than spend both days away but it is easy to get carried away with entering shows. Luckily because our entry fees are so low; I can easily just decide not to go on the day without stressing about losing the entry fee.

On the Bank Holiday Monday we headed out to Newbury Showgrounds (again!) for the one day Vyne Championship show. This was to be Zaz's first Championship class. (more about that later!) But even better there was a Grade 5-6 and Grade 6 agility for Itz. We were rushing around for the Championships classes so I missed walking Itz's Grade 5-6 class. Even so I was pleased with how she ran! She came in 4th out of 51 dogs in this class.



Then came out Grade 6 class! And she won it! This time I did not watch and check the other teams but waited to let Dennis check after the class was closed. Yes Dennis was there again to see his Itzy Bitzy win! (which is why we have lots of video!) Poor Dennis is now going to feel obligated to come to every show were there are Graded classes for Itzy!


So Itzy is now half way to Grade 7. I do not think she has another Graded class now until June. But it looks like our goal of Grade 7 by the end of the summer is very achievable! Go The Itz!!

Easter Celebration: Team OBay

I am already getting behind on trying to keep up with documenting all the agility shows this season. Luckily today is the Friday of the Royal Wedding which means this is ANOTHER 4 day weekend! So while Dennis golfs this morning; I will download some videos. I love my new little video camera (Kodak Zi8) which makes videoing and downloading so easy. No more time consuming editing and carrying around a big camera and case. It is smaller than my IPhone! The downside of this video camera is the viewing screen which can be difficult to see in the bright daylight. This is a small price to pay for the convenience and ease of use.

I am going agility-less for the first 3 days of this holiday weekend and going to the Vyne agility on Monday. Monday will be Zaz's first Championship class!

Easter Celebration has always been one of my favorite shows. Who wouldn't love an agility show that gives you chocolate Easter eggs for prizes? Happily Dennis came along on the Sunday to the agility show. He wanted to make sure he got the chocolate eggs that he preferred and also to make sure I was handling Itzy properly. He has threatened to start interviewing for a new Itzy handler. I have news about the Itz from this show but that will need a stand-alone post!

On Sunday we got lucky and ALL our runs were in one ring! It felt so nice to be able to sit around the ring and enjoy watching all the OBay pups run. I am so proud of them all.

So this is a mega video post! With Dennis at the show for the day I was able to get video of almost all the OBay pups and I thought it would be good to see all the pups running the same course. Don't concentrate on any mistakes; just enjoy them all having fun and maybe turn down the sound on your computer! LOL

Zev-man


Zeki-beeks


The Todd-ster


Momma Zen


Yazz-oooo


The Itz


Za-Za-Za Zaz

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!

European Open Agility Tryouts 2011

It felt strange leaving on Friday for a "try-out" for an International event and not bringing Zen. I will admit to feeling quite emotional about leaving her behind. Now we move onto the next generation and Zen's daughters Zaz and Zeki were now trying out for the European Open Agility Championships for the first time.

Since we sold our caravan last year this season is all about trying to find clean, reasonable Bed and Breakfast accommodation that allows all the dogs. I have found Facebook and the Agility Forum great resources for this and we booked a B&B that was recommended to me from the Forum. We drove up Friday night so that we would be fresh for Saturday's try-outs and I was lucky to catch a ride with Nancy. It is much nicer than driving that far alone. Dennis stayed home with Zen and worked in the garden getting us ready to start planting veggies this year. God help us as we don't know what we are doing!

The B&B was an interesting place. We were slightly worried as the person that recommended it said the accommodation was in a "summer house". As we drove up the the main house we noticed a little wooden "shed" with a porch. I was so worried that that was the summerhouse! Nancy and I were already starting to think that we maybe needed to do a quick get-away and were planning our escape just in case. I knocked on the door to the main house and was greeted by a flock of young boys and I had visions of "Lord of the Flies". I was getting more worried by the second! Added to that there were screams from the many peacocks roaming around the grounds and the dogs were going crazy. Hmmmm....I was starting to miss my caravan!

Luckily the boy walked past the wooden shed and down a path to a big wooden "summer house". It was actually nice, clean and surrounded by grass so that we could exercise the dogs. The room was good although the shower room was small; overall a good find albeit a strange place at first! I need to start to keep lists of these B&Bs because it can be so difficult to find the right place to stay. Once I have been there I feels comfortable knowing what to expect for the next time.

We arrived at the Lincoln Showgrounds on Saturday morning. It is a fantastic venue for an Agility show; I wish it was not so far away for us to go to for more shows. The EO try-outs were in conjunction with the Lincoln Agility show but the ring was off to the side so it felt more private. I was really looking forward to working Zaz on some difficult courses and I was not disappointed as the courses all day were fantastic. I just love a course that you have to work hard at the entire time. I won't say Zaz and I handled every course perfectly but we gave it a good try and loved the challenges.

The first course was jumpers. It was a tight course and I felt like I was trying to control Zaz too much. We got through 3/4 of the course and the rubber band broke and I just could not get Zaz off an off course jump. If I had layered a jump and/or used a directional I think it would have worked but hindsight is easy! You will be able to find the off course; just listen to where my Zaz Zaz ZAZ get louder. LOL Not one of our best runs for sure!



The second run was agility. This run didn't go so well! The start included a tight wrap turn off a jump onto the dog walk with a tunnel under it. This trap caught many good teams and gave me a good training plan for this week. I have trained dogwalk tunnel discrimination but obviously not as well as I thought!



By the third run I was feeling desperate. Not because I was desperate to go to the EO but because I knew my little Zaz was better than this. I was at the point where I just wanted to prove to myself that I could get a clear round. I will admit I was also thinking I wish I had Zen with me as she helps me out on tough courses!

Thank God we finally got a clear on this third round! I was happy with most of the run except for the push through from 3 to 4. Something more to work on this week!



So now I was excited for the final agility round. The course was changed and the dog walk was moved for this round. In the first two agility rounds the majority of the dogs (even those who had never been on rubber contacts) handled the rubber/aluminum dog walk really well. The rubber contact equipment was a pleasure to run the dogs on; I loved the lack of noise as the dogs traversed the rubber equipment.

The final round began with the large dogs running first. This was good for us as it was the larger class and we could watch 60 dogs run the course before it was our turn. Smalls were running last.

Then disaster struck! Dog after dog balked severely on the dog walk. Confident experienced dogs were crawling up the dogwalk plank or hitting the deck expecting the dog walk to move. Some dogs fell/jumped off. This was so sad to watch and no one could understand why this was happening. We all tried to understand why. Could it be the supports were not placed properly? Could it be the vibration because the supports were not pegged? Could it be the sun shining on the up plank or aluminum supports which blinded the dog or made it appear slatless? These dogs were obviously convinced it was the see-saw.

I was getting more and more nervous for Zaz. She is a young dog with running contacts and I did not want to risk her being injured and/or having her confidence shattered. It was my job to keep her safe and confident no matter what. Sometimes we cannot help it when bad things happen but this time I knew it was happening and at least I could do something about it.The final straw was watching 3 confident experienced medium dogs (2 who had been world/eo dogs before and had run on rubber equipment many times) do the exact same thing. I did what I felt was necessary for Zaz and I; I pulled her from the last round.

I was sad to have to do this; I am competitive enough to have wanted to be chosen for the team. Yet I was happy to have made that decision; my dogs come first and I would have been devastated to have done anything to knock Zaz's confidence and trust in me when I had another option. I had no excuse as I had just watched the large and medium dogs. I could understand the large and medium handlers thinking that "their" dogs would not have any trouble. After all they had just run two rounds with the same equipment and the dogs were fine. I had the "luxury" of watching and my decision was made.

The good thing was that the course was set so that the dogwalk was towards the end of the run and I planned an exit strategy. The course was correct up until 2nd tunnel where I then took 3 jumps out of the ring. This is why you hear my video person questioning was I going to do it! LOL



So the day was over. We were staying on for the next days regular agility show at the same venue. So at least I felt like the trip was not wasted.

We started packing up all our stuff. Why is that i start out the weekend with a nice organized car and after one day my "stuff" seems to explode and double in size? When I heard the announcement that they were going to officially announce the team I wandered over to cheer for the new Team GB. I was officially gob-smacked to hear my name called as a wild card; I truly did not expect it. I cannot compete at any of these events without thinking of Hex. Sometimes I even wonder if I should continue to compete at these events as it never seems to get easier to stop missing her. I felt very emotional at that moment not because I was picked but because I was so proud of my little dog Zaz. I am strangely glad that Zaz is so different from Hex as I do not need to ever worry about comparing them.

So Zaz has now been chosen for her first International event in another country. I have no idea how we are getting to Austria and worry about the cost and the long trip but bizarrely still want to go.

The day was made even better when we heard that Zaz's big sister Zeki was chosen for the medium team. Zen is such a fantastic dog that she needed to send two of her children in her place!

Team GB medium



Team GB small



More about the Lincoln show and Itzy Bitzy later!

If you are still reading this....please send money. This agility stuff is expensive!

Oh and here is another teaser. Wonder what breed they are?

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.....