Crufts 2011 Part 3 Championship

Well here I am sitting at home on another beautiful day. I am grateful that this flu seems to have past the worst and I am on the mend. As much as I would have loved to do the UKA show today, I am playing it safe and staying home to keep recovering. I think I would have been OK running (well maybe sauntering or ambling) around the ring but not sure I would have had the energy to drive the 2 hours back and forth to Newbury.

It would have a been a good show to do as it had a Masters Class and I could use the ring practice right now with Zaz. Also they were going to have the rubber contact equipment and I need to get practice that with Zaz. But there are worse things than missing an agility show; so I stayed home and tortured the shelties with baths and grooming.

So now I will finish writing about my Crufts 2011!

Saturday was our day off and I had thought I might go back to the NEC to watch the International agility. I thought about it but decided to stay back at the B&B, have a full breakfast and take the dog for a long walk instead. I really didn't need to watch any more agility.

I love having a full English breakfast at the B&B yet most of the time we have to leave so early we miss breakfast. So it was a treat to get up late and have a leisurely full breakfast. Afterwards I took Zaz and Zen for a long walk and we all cleared our heads and stretched our legs.

I have always known that Zaz is so similar to Zen but it really hit me this weekend: Zaz is definitely Zen's mini-me! This photo was taken with my mobile while sitting and reading on my bed in the room. I just happened to look down and see these two lying identically at my feet. They even turned their heads the same way when I spoke to them. How cute are they?


Sunday was the Championship day. I am not being melodramatic when I say this; it is actually what I believe. This will probably be Zen's last championship at Crufts. This year I am hoping to have one last litter from Zen and so it is unlikely we will do any championships classes with her. The following year she will be getting up there in age and I will be busy focusing on the pups; Zen will slowly be retiring. (sob) Yet strangely I do not feel bad about this. Zen has done so much in her career and I enjoyed every minute with her.

I was looking forward to some challenging Crufts Championship courses.....but unfortunately the courses we ran were not "Zen" courses. Zen is a little sheltie girl running against much bigger faster border collies; so we need courses that are difficult in order to get anywhere. The courses were fun to run, no doubt Zen enjoyed herself! But a challenging course is what we needed in order to place any higher in the class. These courses had no opportunity for the other dogs to go wrong or for Zen to shave off anytime on turns. They were all straight fast lines. As usual, different courses suit different dogs and handlers and these were not the courses for us.

Even so Zen looked good and still made the Final in the evening. She ran her little socks off and came 5th in the final.And gosh-darn they only showed the top 4 (AND the handlers with mistakes!) on TV that night. Booo-hiss!

Crufts Champ Jumping.


Crufts Champ Agility


Championship Final


So another Crufts over for Zen. Zen-star did pretty good; she was 7/7 clear runs, Winner of the British Open and made it to the finals in both team and champ. Not too shabby for the two old girls! LOL

Our focus now for the next 2 months is the WAO. I have lots of plans for the summer but it will all depend on Zen's timings. AND I may have another new addition to our doggie family; watch this space!

Crufts Part 2: ESSC Sheltie team

The Friday of Crufts was our Medium Team day. It was nice being able to run team at Crufts; twice before we have qualified and not been able to go for one reason or another.

We were running for the English Shetland Sheepdog Club. There is nothing better than a team of shelties and I think it was quite an achievement for our team to qualify. Thanks to Lian for organizing the shirts for the team even though ,sadly, we had to pay for the shirts ourselves. I do think it would have been nice for the club to sponsor us considering we were representing them. Most teams had club sponsored shirts and some even had jackets for their dogs.

Lian gave us all lovely gifts! A fantastic coffee mug with photos of all the team members.


And a bag of chocolates with the dog's photos on the wrappers! I hated to have to eat the chocolates but I made the sacrifice! I did save a few until I got home but sadly they are eaten now also....LOL



There is one "semi final" team run in the morning. Out of the 8 teams that compete only 4 make it through to the "final" in the afternoon. What a let down it would have been to make it to Crufts and potentially have only one run! Luckily in teams anything can happen! We all had good runs and no one got eliminated which in teams is usually the goal! LOL We made it through to the afternoon final!



It was a tough team course with a straight tunnel at the beginning and the end. Well done girls for some great runs.



Then came the "final".



I think we looked really good as a team. Lian had some issues with Saturn but it can happen to anyone. Probably in hindsight we should not have had Lian run last as it is alot of pressure. It is difficult in a team of 4 with a baton change to get the order right. I was especially impressed with Lisa and Tyler for putting in two fantastic clear rounds at their first Crufts! They looked like pros. Thanks to Eleanor, Lian and Lisa for being good team-mates.



This is a photo of the entire team including the 2 reserves. I think Becky with Ellie were very glad they didn't have to run and just got to enjoy being a team supporter! I can see now that choosing the reserves can be just as important as choosing the team; it is not easy putting together a team when everyone is so spread out geographically.

I don't think I will be doing a sheltie team again but I enjoyed it this year. I think everyone knows that I am PASSIONATE about shelties so it is a tough think for me to start pulling away from a "sheltie" club. But, let's be honest, I have never felt that the ESSC has been supportive of my dogs (in fact quite the opposite with the whole American vs English sheltie debates) so it actually feels strange running "for" them. So I think I will skip teams this year unless I find a nice team of small dogs that wants one of my shelties! I could offer myself to the highest bidder? Anyone who will actually give me a shirt? I am really pretty easily bought. LOL

I would like to do Mini/Mixi this year instead if I can organize some of these OBay handlers to join in! The trouble is finding shows with qualifiers that everyone is going to.

I will end this post with a fuzzy photo that makes me laugh. How could I resist? Zaz had her Crufts debut.....she was fantastic with the entire atmosphere and I am looking forward to qualfiying her for Crufts 2012. I know she will love the atmosphere in the main ring.(I am sure this photo is considered sacrilege to the breed people but I think she is the BEST!)

Crufts 2011 Part 1

I was going to put together a long three part post-Crufts blog post detailing the three days we competed.....but that was before I was hit with the super Crufts Danish flu. Damn this flu has knocked me for a loop. The worst part of it is the constant headache and lack of energy for anything including doing things on the computer.

So it will have to be a condensed post-Crufts play by play. Zen did well. The end. LOL

Zen competed 3 of the 4 days at Crufts. I can honestly say it was too long for the both of us. I am glad we had the Saturday off and we stayed back at the B&B to relax and just get out in the sunshine. Crufts is amazing and it is a privilege to have qualified to compete. Unfortunately is just too crowded and the lack of air and light gets to me after the second day. I also have had just about enough of some of the "breed" people who seem to have a lack of common cleanliness (can't pick up after their dogs and let their dogs pee everywhere) and common courtesy (run over other people's dogs with their damn trolleys).

I took this photo of a fellow competitor because I thought it was funny and cute. But this is how I felt after 2 days at Crufts and wish I could have lay down on the floor but not sure I would have been able to get up again!



Thursday was the British Open at Crufts. Zen qualified for this event back in August at the KC International Festival. I was very proud of her for qualifying at the Festival. To qualify she needed to be in the top 15 of nearly 125 medium dogs after 2 rounds to make the final. Once in the final it was a clean slate and the top British dog qualified for the British Open at Crufts. As Zen was competing against most of the top dogs that day; I had no expectations. Luckily, in our favor, it was a tough international type course and dog after dog had faults. At the end of the final Zen was only beaten by the French dog and so she was top British dog and came 2nd overall. On that weekend in August the French dog and handler were amazingly fast so, again, I had no expectations for Crufts.

Yet again Zen surprised me and won the British Open Jumping, Agility and Overall! This is her second year in a row winning the British Open at Crufts. She ran really well and although I felt her slipping on the first run after that she seemed to get her feet under her for the rest of the weekend. The French dog and handler did not seem to be able to do this and surprisingly they struggled in their runs.



These videos make me laugh as they are taken from the Crufts TV and so you can hear the commentary that I didn't hear on the day. I love the Crufts internet live streaming TV as I was getting messages from people congratulating me even before I was out of the ring! How cool was that.

Oh and even better Zen made the "real" TV that night! Her entire run was broadcast during the Crufts show on More 4. Woo-hoo! The small things that make us happy! LOL

Here is her British Open Jumping.


And her British Open Agility.


Here is Zen with her ribbons. I know there must be good photos out there somewhere of her with her trophies but for the second year in a row Dennis stayed home. So no good photos! Dennis has to come next year when Zaz and Itz get to Crufts for the first time as I need better photos!

Zaz and Itz do good!

Zaz and Itz have started the 2011 agility season off well.



First I found out that Itzy won a trophy for the English Shetland Sheepdog club Working section. She won the trophy for the best Novice dog of 2010! Not bad considering she only competed for 4 months last year.

Itzy is now recovering from her spay; so no agility for Itz for awhile. She doesn't think she should slow down at all but I think 6 weeks off training will be good for her. I will concentrate on her fitness and I know she will come back even stronger.

Then we had our first competition for 2011. Mid-Downs is the show where we all get there and start walking courses thinking...."damn I haven't done this in months!" Everyone is rusty and I know my legs felt like lead after my first run.

I was really pleased with Zaz's win in this class. I remember Zen winning the same class during her first season of competition in 2005. (That was when Zen was running as a mini). This win qualifies her for the Pro-plan stakes final in September!





I am hoping to get Crufts videos and photos up this weekend. We had a great Crufts. As usual it was exhausting and exhilerating at the same time. Unfortunately I am suffering from what I call the "Crufts Danish Flu". So my energy levels are not great and just when I think I am feeling better it comes back again...Yuck I hate being sick! Thank to the Crazy Danes for leaving their flu behind yet again!

WAO Try-outs 2011

Here is Zaz with her celebratory sheltie cupcake! I won't say I bullied Leah into making it but I think I wore her down with my requests!



So as you can probably guess Zaz did good!

There is a new "World" Agility competition being started by Greg D. et. al after the success of the IFCS World Champs last year. The WAO (World Agility Open Championships) is a really interesting idea and I was glad to be able to try-out with both Zen and Zaz.

After Zen competed at the IFCS World Champs, the European Open and the FCI World Championships last year I decided not to do anymore International competitions with her. Luckily the WAO is here in the UK so I thought it would be a good one for the both of us. I especially thought it was a good opportunity for me to do some interesting courses with Zaz as I really want to get Zaz ready to participate in the EO and the FCI World Champs this year. We have lots of work to do to get up to scratch but I know that she has the potential if I just get off my butt and do more training.

The WAO is using the same height classifications as the IFCS. These are really good heights for Zen as the height cut-off and jump height is 15.75 inches. Since Zen is 15" this puts her nearer the top of the jump height and gives her a much lower jump than the FCI jump height of 18". I love to see her jump the lower heights as she looks so much more comfortable. There are no jump height classifications that will please everyone for different reasons. There will always be dogs at a disadvantage either because they are jumping a higher height or because they are competing against much bigger dogs. For once Zen is at the advantage with this height division so I am happy! LOL

Unfortunately Zaz is at the Disadvantage for the WAO. At 13.5" tall she is jumping nearly 2.5" over her normal jump height and competing against dogs that are 2.5 inches taller than her. Now Zaz is a great height for FCI because she is at the top of the small jump height. So two different dogs with two different ideal agility organizations. Variety is the spice of life!

I decided to give Zaz a try even though I knew the jump height would be difficult for her. Not difficult because she could not do it but difficult because she would be unaccustomed to it. I have to admit I did not do much training at that height to get ready and that was my fault. I was just being lazy.

I had been really focused and ready for the try-outs when they were originally scheduled back in November. Then they were cancelled due to the big snow storm that hit the UK. The try-outs were rescheduled for January and I have to admit that (like most of us) there was not much training for me in November,December and January. Added to that we had just returned from our trip to New York; so we were definitely not at the top of our game!

As with the previous IFCS experience, I found these WAO try-outs to be a good experience. Very well organized and a good atmosphere. For the life of me, I do not know how the ring party and the judges dealt with the cold arena! We all were able to chill out in the enclosed warm cafe area that overlooked the main ring but the area/ring was FREEZING!

We stayed at a nice B&B for the weekend. The only issue was that because we booked the room late we ended up in the attic room! But it was clean and dogs were allowed.
We had a little heater in the room for extra heat and Zaz obviously thought it was a sun bed!



Zen just chills out in any hotel room she stays in. She must be the laziest sheltie in the world.



So onto the competition. It was broken down into a Biathlon (agility and jumping) and a Pentathlon. The overall winner of each event would be guaranteed a spot on the team. Since I am pretty late in writing this post; I cannot remember all the details; but basically Zaz ended up winning the Biathlon and this guaranteed her a spot on the team! She had some difficulty with the jumpheight; I did not feel that she was running at full speed and she crashed a double and dropped a few bars. But overall I was pleased with her as I did not ever feel as if there was something she could not do. She had a little hiccup with her see-saw and it is something that we need to work on: getting her on a larger variety of see-saws.

What I did have trouble with was running the two dogs back to back. Unfortunately we had to run in the order drawn and there were quite a few absentees which put Zaz and Zen running one after another in quite a few rounds. I did NOT enjoy this and do not know how some of our UK handlers do this weekend after weekend. These were large spread out courses and even though they did not rush me into the ring; I still found that I "hit a wall" about 1/2 way through my second run each time. I wasn't even out of breath; I just felt my legs give up and I felt as if I could not run anymore. My mouth stopped working and I just could not give clear directions. Not good!

Here are two of Zaz's runs. I was not focused enough to have my runs taped on Saturday but remembered my camera on Sunday. Thanks to Jay for taping and for his commentary!





So Zaz was automatically on the team. Zen and I had some issues during the weekend and we did not get an automatic qualification. Luckily I received a letter the following week offering Zen a spot on the team! I accepted with the caveat that I run each dog in two different events; I did not want a repeat of the weekend running the dogs back to back. So Zen will be running in the Pentathlon and Zaz will be running in the Biathlon. I am really looking forward to being part of this new venture and so excited to have Zaz in her very first International competition!

Happy Belated 11th Birthday!

Back in January Halo and Presto turned 11 years old. It is hard to believe that the "twins" are 11. (l to r: Presto, Jordan, Halo)

They were Jordan's two pups born by c-section. Boy oh boy that was one long night. After waiting for Jordan to deliver we finally rushed her to the vet at some ungodly hour in the morning convinced that the puppy in the canal had died. Little Jordan just would never have been able to whelp the two pups that weighed almost 1 pound each! Those were two big puppies! We were so happy when the vet came out and said he had TWO live pups.

They were two great pups; easy going and happy. A litter of two is so simple. Both Halo and Presto have Jordan's loving sweet temperament. I miss that happy Jordan very much.

Here is Presto at 11 years old looking angelic!


And Halo at 11 still competing and loving life.

OBay Training Day 2011

This past weekend I organized another Obay training day with Lesley Olden. It is a nice chance for me to see some of the pups all together. One day I would love to do a day and/or weekend with ALL the OBay pups but I think that may be a impossible task. First we would have to organize everyone and second we would have to find a place far far away where no one can hear us. Maybe one day; I can dream!

If nothing else it gives me a good photo opportunity!



(L to R) Todd, Yazz, Ziga, Zeki, Itz, Zaz and Zev.

The dogs are all at slightly different levels in training so Lesley sets us up simple sequences that she can time as we try different ways of handling. This helps to see what is the quickest way for our own individual dogs rather than comparing dog to dog. Here is the jumping sequence tried a few different ways.

Christine and Zev



Karen and Todd



Nancy and Zeki



Me and the Itz



During the second half I worked with Zaz.



And Karen worked with Yazz.



It was a shame that the only pup I did not get on video was Ziga. It was hard to video as well as keep The Zitzy twins quiet! We also missed not having Zavvi (Zaz, Itz and yaz's litter sister) with us as Marilyn had a family emergency. Hopefully we can all get together again. Christine's husband Marc stepped in to take Marilyn's spot and trained his poodle Mr.Big. I am happy to note that Mr. Big was probably noisier than the shelties! Hurrah!

It was a really good day followed by a yummy pub lunch. I am thankful to Lesley for letting us come to her nice warm school and putting up with the noisy crew.

I am especially grateful for all the wonderful caring owners that share their lives with my OBay pups.

Olympia Agility Finals 2010 Part 2: ZAZ-Star!

We were all worried about the snow but luckily it held off and we got to London with no problems. Rock on Olympia 2010 Small Dog Final!


I felt so confident about running Zaz; no expectations other than going out and showing everyone how special she was. I have never been a fan of the "I am just going to enjoy myself" mantra. I feel like I enjoy every run with my dog and I think I used to say this to give an excuse just in case things went wrong. So you will never hear those words come out of my mouth! But be assured.. I do enjoy it and enjoy it more when the runs go well. LOL Yet please remember that having the best run is not dependent on winning; it is dependent on knowing that my dog and I did the best run that we were capable of on that day.

Olympia is special to most UK agility people. The Christmas atmosphere, the shopping, the crowds and the energy all add to the excitement. I was happy to be going again with a dog that I knew would enjoy the atmosphere. The last time I was that thrilled to be at Olympia was in 2007 when Hex went for her first and only time. Now I can say that 2010 was the last time I was thrilled to be at Olympia and hopefully I will be able to say that again in 2011, 2012 and on until I decide that agility no longer gives me that feeling of excitement.

We arrived at Olympia early (no big surprise as I am early to everything!) and walked Zaz around. She came upon this bronze statue of a boar (why it was there I have no idea!) She had a slight hissy fit and decided that this boar was very scary and woo woo woo-d at it. I had a talk with the boar and told Zaz that it was a friendly bronze boar after which she was happy to pose next to it. Later that night she went past a bronze cheetah and decided it was not as nice as the boar and it seems as if we need to find a Bronze Animal zoo in order to desensitize her to bronze animal statues.



Please note that Zaz had on both her special borrowed Christmas collar AND her special "ZAZ" harness. That girl does dress to impress!

The marketing geniuses at Olympia thought of a way to get us all to buy Olympia shirts. They made special shirts for the Dog Agility finals! How adorable they were with a special Olympia dog logo and all the dogs names on the back. I was tempted so so so very tempted....but you will all be shocked to know that I resisted and did not buy one for myself. I cannot tell you how many dog agility polo shirts I have and never ever wear. So instead I bought one for Johanna as a christmas present! She should be proud anyway as all three Obay shelties competing at Olympia that week were sired by either Monty or Tazz so it was as if she was there with us all anyway!



So Olympia involves alot of waiting around for short bursts of intense excitement. The first up was our pairs run. It is the "warm-up" round and the only time the dogs will have access to the arena, the crowds and the equipment before the final which will then be 6 hours later. Yes it is all a bit insane and everytime I wonder "is this worth it?" only to be saying "Wow" after we leave the arena.

Amazingly Zaz and I ended up being paired with Nicky (Miss Cool) and Indy (the pocket rocket). Two OBay shelties as a pair! yay! Now I needed to have a chat with Miss Cool before we ran and I TOLD her to pull herself together and take this seriously! I expected a double clear and wouldn't be happy otherwise. hahaha

Nicky pulled herself together and put in a cracking run. I was so busy watching it I almost forgot to go the the line to get ready. Seriously! The guy getting us to the line started looking around and calling for me because I looked too relaxed and he didn't think I was the next to run. LOL It is a strange pairs run as we don't hand off a baton; we just need to watch the other dog clear the finish jump and try and go as quickly as possible without leaving too early. This may seem as a strange way to do pairs but there is a reason. Most of the dogs competing do not know each other and having two strange dogs hyped up for agility in a small area while passing off a baton is just a recipe for dog fight.

So Zaz and I took off and I was just so happy she ran so well. She hesitated on the see saw but otherwise ran really well. It was a good omen for the evening final. Although Zaz and Indy were the fastest double clear they still ended up in 2nd place. This was because they used a different scoring method for the pairs runs. They did time plus faults which put us in 2nd behind a faster team who had 5 faults.

Here are the two cuties. (Indy and Zaz)




So now the long wait for the final. Hanging out in the "competitors lounge" which is basically a bar with some tables and chairs right next to the door and the horse stables...all very glamorous. (not) I was glad that Nicky, Mark and Marc came with us for a walk to the local park followed by some pizza to kill some time. We walked the dogs down to the park but I got worried by all the salt on the sidewalks due to the snow. So after the walk I made Nicky and Mark wash Indy and Mr. Bigs feet. No one can say that I was out to nobble the competition!

BTW here is Mr Big. Isn't he the cutest? Mr (not-so) Big also just started competing this year along with Zaz and Itzy and he has done so well already!



So now the finals are almost happening. I was almost too relaxed and finally went out of the glamorous competitors lounge and put my earphones in to listen to some inspiration. I played Zaz's special song "Soul Sisters" over and over until I felt excited again!

I was happy with Zaz's position in the running order. She was running 4th as she had qualified in 7th place. No pressure on us; we just needed to put in our best round on the day. I need to DO my best; not TRY my best and Zaz just needed to run her little legs off!

I let Zaz do something I don't normally do. I let her watch the dog before her run and get over the top excited. I figured what the hell! There was no control needed on this course; just speed so let's rev her up. LOL Zaz did her normal scooting forward on the startline. I started giggling to myself when I heard the crowd laughing. I knew the camera man had focused on Zaz and she was now plastered on the big overhead screen scooting forward like she was on rollerskates. That's my girl!

The collapsed tunnel to an extended flat pinwheel after the dog walk was my nightmare sequence. I knew that Zaz would start to pull in after the collapsed tunnel as I would be getting further and further behind. Until you are out there on that huge Olympia course it is hard to understand just how FAR those distances are! Bloody hell it was not a course made for old women over 40! Ha! When she picked up that jump I just so excited! So excited I threw in a blind cross after the weaves just to have fun. LOL

Zaz ended up in 2nd place and I couldn't have been more thrilled. She ran her little legs off and I ran without falling down! Result!






So sorry for the delay in finishing our Olympia posts but Christmas got in the way! Here are some photos from the champagne reception after the finals. Don't tell anyone but I borrowed the Champagne glass as a memento of Zaz's day. It will stand next the the glass that I borrowed after Zen won Olympia in 2005. Hopefully one day I can add to my "borrowed" collection and add another one for Zaz or Itz.

Zaz and her Olympia 2010 runner up trophy.

Me and my girl.

All 10 Olympia 2010 small finalists.

Top 3 places.

Olympia Agility Finals 2010 Part 1

So many people think of Olympia as the most prestigious agility final in the UK. Certainly we all work so very hard to get there and the qualifying process does bring the best of the best to the finals at Olympia. In order to qualify Zen and Zaz competed in classes of around 160 dogs and needed to come in the top 3 to qualify. There were approx 12 qualifiers during the year which gave us 36 dogs for the semi-final in August. Those 36 dogs will then compete over one course and the top 10 qualify for Olympia.

Yet Olympia Dog Agility Finals take place at the Olympia London International HORSE show. It is a show that is all about the horses and dog agility is a sort of side show to entertain the crowd.It is exciting to be there but it is also a long day for both the dogs and the competitors. In the small and medium finals we have a warm-up run (speed jumping for mediums and pairs for smalls) at around 1:00 pm and then we have to wait until 7:30 pm for the final event. Top this off with having to travel into London and it makes for a long day.

Each time I attend I have to tell myself that the 30 seconds in the ring make it all worthwhile! It is exciting competing in front of the crowds and having your small moment in the limelight. On the other hand no matter how hard the judge tries there is only so much he can do with his courses. I think the Kennel Club has around 15-20 minutes total in the ring each time. This includes time to set out the course, walk the course and run 10 dog/handler teams around the course AND give out awards! The poor judges barely have a chance to walk their own course to check it out before the first dog is on the line. The ring crew is like a well oiled machine! They have the equipment pulled on a trailer out in the middle of the ring and the equipment out in no time flat. The competitors have to start walking the course before everything is actually set out and even before the judge tweaks the course. We have a few seconds to check the angles and then the first dog needs to be on the line.

Here is some photos of the ring with the horse jumps and the crowds. You can see how large the ring is.




Because of this the judge has to keep the course fairly simple. In addition the course has to be spread out so that all the crowd can see. AND the jumps are extra wide so that they are easier to see. All this adds up to a fast course suited more towards the bigger dogs and the faster handlers. I think there are some dogs and handlers that are just suited to Olympia. I do struggle with the uneven ground and the distances but I was so pleased this year that I was NOT struggling for breath at the end! (no sarcastic comments that I wasn't running fast enough! LOL) Thank you Sussex Bootcamps for getting me fitter this year! No I will never win a race and even when I think I am running it looks like I am barely breaking out of a trot...but at least I was not out of breath this time and my legs did not give out at the end.

Thursday we packed up the car and off we went into London with Zen. I had it in my head that this could very well be Zen's last Olympia. Mixed feelings about that really because I love showing her there but she does not love being there. It is crowded and noisy and Zen is not a city dog. But I was pleasantly surprised this year that Zen actually seemed to enjoy herself! It is still probably her last time at Olympia as we have plans for next year which will limit her chances at the qualifiers. And realistically Olympia with the large spread out courses do not suit Zen's strong points. I felt as if she struggled with the jumps this year and this worries me. I will continue to work on her fitness over the winter to see if it is something physical or just my worrying too much.

In the morning speed jumping Zen came 4th. In the evening final she did something she has probably never done before...she missed her dog walk contact! Probably my fault as I released her early. Ever since Zen fell off her dog walk at the beginning of the year her dog walks have not been as fast as before and I knew this would effect our times even more at Olympia. In the end it really did not matter as it would have only made the difference in one placing. She ended up 5th and without the 5 faults she only would have been 4th.

Here are Zen's videos. I still think she looks so small compared to those jumps and was not flowing as she can.





After the event we all go up for champagne and photos. Unfortunately we didn't have the good camera but I had to pose with Zen anyway. She looked so happy and actually enjoyed her day at Olympia. So much that she was flirting with some boys at the champagne reception! That's my Zen!





We are getting ready to leave for New York tomorrow early so I am not sure I will get Part 2 (ZAZ at Olympia) done before I leave. First I have some packing to do!

New Garage and Snow pups 2010

The builders left last week and our garage is nearly done. It still needs some finishing work but the weather has been so cold that they could not finish everything. Hopefully we will get a break from the cold so that they can come back sooner rather than later.

Here is the garage from the front. This is Dennis' part of the garage!


Getting this garage built has been a good start for us in the new house. We have plans for an extension and originally thought we would start on the extension next year. Now we have revised that and have decided to give ourselves a break next year and plan the extension for 2012. It would be nice to have a shiny new kitchen but it is more important that we just enjoy this beautiful house as it is for now. We are finishing off smaller projects right now and those really add up. A new front gate, a few new windows, finish fencing the agility paddock and new boiler are the next steps for this year and after that a well deserved rest.


We still need to finish off the fencing but we put some temporary fencing up so that I can do some lessons and also train my own dogs finally! Monday I actually went out and trained all three dogs for the first time in a long time. This was good timing as the snow started yesterday and has not stopped! Snow in November in England is very unusual; I don't think it has ever happened since we arrived in 2001.

This photo shows the garage from the bottom of the agility paddock. It is a nice distance from the house and now we have loads of parking.


This is my little "doggie room". I finally have my dog sink up and running which makes sheltie bathing less back breaking. I have a place to store my training bits and pieces and a place to make tea! I even have a toilet; what more could I want?


This is the view from my little doggie room.


I know it is not the indoor training venue that I would love but I am very happy with my little room and my lovely agility paddock. It is big enough to set up courses but not so big that mowing is impossible. The ground drains well and the grass/weeds seem to hold up to the dogs running. Hopefully I can continue to do some training during the winter barring anymore snow storms!

By the way, no one can say my husband doesn't know exactly what to get me for our anniversary....my new agility tyre! It was a difficult tyre to buy as they haven't used frame tyres in England for a long time. I wanted a frame tyre because that is what they use in other countries and I like to train my dogs on it right from the start.








After a cold snow day there is nothing better than a fire in our new woodburner! We love it!

Discover Dogs 2010

Discover Dogs takes place at Earls Court in London. It is mostly a promotional event for The Kennel Club where they showcase all the breeds and some of the doggie activities such as agility, flyball and freestyle. It is a nice event for the public with mega shopping opportunities.

In agility they invite the small and medium dogs who are going to Olympia in December. It is a good warm up for the dogs and for me it was a good opportunity to see how Zaz dealt with travelling in London and doing agility surrounded by crowds of spectators. The venues are not the same though as Olympia takes place on a sand/dirt surface and is a huge oversize ring whereas Discover Dogs agility takes place on astroturf in a small ring.

I had a really nice day out with Zen and Zaz. I was really pleased with how Zaz dealt with the crowds and noises of London and how she worked in the agility ring. She is such a pleasure to be with!

Dennis was going to come with me and I am sure I would have loads of photos if he did! But unfortunately the heating in our house was acting up and he had to stay home to wait for the plumber. Luckily Karen was going with Todd so I caught a lift with them. Karen was very brave to drive through London and we got there quickly in the morning although the ride home in Sunday night London traffic was not so pleasant!

The courses were not difficult as this was more about a display for the audience and I think the small ring makes it difficult to be creative. So it was all about speed and not losing your head in the excitement!

Zaz came 3rd in the jumping and 2nd in the agility. This put her 2nd overall. I was very proud of my little girl; she could not have done better. Zen came 4th in the jumping and 3rd in the agility and this put her 2nd overall. If we can do this well or better at Olympia I would be chuffed to bits!



Some video. I do love my new little video camera. It is as small as my phone and takes really good video which is easy to download. Thanks to Nancy and Jay for videoing for me.

Zaz jumping.


Zaz agility. Gotta laugh at Dave who says at the end "I didn't know you could run that fast dear". haha Oh and he got Zaz's name correct! For once she was OBay Itz Got Pizzazz and not OBay Itz Got Pizza! Thanks Dave you are a star!



Zen agility.


It was really fantastic to have 2 days of agility this past weekend; I have missed it!

Next weekend is my birthday and our 22nd anniversary and Dennis gave me my present today. So more about that later with photos. I bet you can guess what it is?

North Downs Agility 2010 with video!

North Downs is a lovely local indoor show that has become even better with addition of more small and medium classes! I was so excited to be running all the girls again and I had 3 runs for each. Nine runs in all. Since I have not been posting many videos of the girls lately I thought I would try and post a video of each pup's run even the ones with errors. Who knows maybe it will help someone out there to see that we all make mistakes?

First here is Zaz's winning Grade 6/7 run. It is hard to believe that Pax won into Grade 7 (aka Advanced) in 2004, Zen won into Grade 7 in 2005 and Hex won into Grade 7 in 2007 so it has been quite awhile since I had the "pressure" of trying to get that last win to get into Champ classes. I was happy with how we handled this course and even happier with our "Funny Turn" at the #7 jump after the tunnel. I have been wanting to add some European-type blind turns into our training and this is the first time we tried one in competition.



Obviously I had one major goal in mind for this show. To win Zaz into Grade 7. And we did it! The funny thing is that now I remember how important it is to be complete about my Goal setting....Out of 6 runs with Zaz and Itzy I only had ONE clear and it was the one clear that won Zaz into grade 7! HAHA I must remember to add more to my goals because I seem to only get EXACTLY what I ask for. From now on my goals will include 100% clear 1st place runs with both girls! Ask and you shall receive.

Zaz put in two more good runs but with some small miscalculations on my part. She tries so hard and we just need time and practice. In her 3-7 agility I miscalculated her speed down the middle after the Aframe and just could not get there to show her the jump before the dogwalk and she ended up taking it from the wrong side. I am not sure if a double rear cross would have worked either; it is just one of those sequences that you would have to run a few times to see what worked. I was really pleased with how she handled the Aframe even with me peeling off to try and beat her up the line of jumps.



In her jumping we made the mistake at the same place that most people did. I still think the way I handled with with Zaz was the right way for her but she just back jumped due to inexperience. Then it just went all wrong as Zaz was correctly telling me!



Itzy was a little star and I feel that she is still going up a gear. This show was her first Grade 6 show and I felt as if she belonged in Grade 6. In her first run (in the 6/7 that Zaz won) I didn't see the back of the long jump as an off course possibility. Itzy showed me it was a possibility and that helped me when running Zaz after Itzy!




In Itzy's jumping I tried a funny turn and it went all wrong! I couldn't get either pup around this course. Hmmm.. With both dogs I went wrong at #9 and #12 (jump before weaves should be from the other side).



In her 3-7 agility she just miscalculated the weave entrance but otherwise was lovely. So all in all I was really pleased with her and feel as if we will have a great season together next year.



I can't forget Zen. Sometimes I feel that now she is just coming along for the ride but she feels differently. Zen ran 2 beautiful clears in agility with a 1st and 2nd place! In one of the classes Zen got 1st, Todd (Zen's nephew) came 3rd and Zeki (Zen's daughter) came 4th! Unfortunately a border collie snuck in there for 2nd place just messing up our potential sweep! Must try harder!

We had such a lovely day at this show and I was just ridiculously happy to be running Zaz and Itzy. They are such fun: my two little "Soul Sisters". Thanks girls!

I have now finished baking the cupcakes to take to class tonight to celebrate Zaz's win. So more about Discover Dogs 2010 show with video tomorrow!

Denmark Trip 2010 Part 3

So we spent the last two days at the Silvia training day. Silvia put up some great courses to run and I have already set them up in my own agility field. It was good to watch everyone running them but, of course, the whole time I was wishing I had my dogs there with me!

I took lots of video but as they were not my dogs I don't feel right posting them. But I did think this video clip was too funny not to post. Silvia had everyone working on their "cik/cap" turns (tight wing wrap turns) in the way she recommended. I thought I would video the three shelties there who were either one of my own or sired by Monty. How strange that the noise increased exponentially when three shelties were out on the floor at the same time? LOL



The only disappointing part of the training day was the flooring. It was a beautiful venue; light and bright and open. A training venue we would all LOVE to have. Unfortunately this lovely venue was let down by the flooring as it was was carpet over concrete. Not something I would want to run my dogs on.

It was a good two days not only listening to Silvia's ideas on handling but also seeing how each handler worked on the courses. I loved the variety of handling and the variety of dogs working. What works for one team may be different for another team and that is what I love about agility. No rules; just knowing your own dog and your own strengths and abilities.

I really enjoyed the week in Demark just hanging out and talking shelties and dog training! Thanks for inviting me Johanna!

Denmark Trip 2010 Part 2

Only in Denmark. Crazy Danes!



Although it even came in pink, I didn't buy the lamp! LOL But I did buy this fab individual coffee press/travel mug. What a great idea and the coffee stays hot. Now I can make individual cups of coffee when I don't want to share my special flavoured coffees with Dennis.



People just kept torturing me with puppies; yet no one would let me buy one! LOL Here is Luna again now with Etta (litter sister to Dutchess). Etta is owned by Kirsten. Kirsten is a fabulous trainer and at 10 months old Etta already has obedience titles and is so well trained.



Yes another cutie! Pieya is a Monty daughter out of Monty's first litter sired in Denmark. Monty has produced so many nice puppies for the people smart enough to use him; for that reason alone it was worth letting him go to Denmark all those years ago. It is amazing to think that Monty had three pups (from 3 different mothers) at the World Champs this year and many up and coming up with promise.



We took a walk on the beach with Johanna and Marianne and a bunch of shelties (and one Spooky border collie). And I thought I had a noisy bunch! It was good to see Monty again. I cannot believe he will be 12 soon! He still does little bits of agility occassionally and he can still perform his studly duties. Go Monty!
By the way notice that Luna does not get involved in the mayhem with all those hooligan sheltie boys. haha



So finally we went to the Silvia Trkman training days. The first day was a trick training evening and Johanna and I just went to spectate. The building was lovely to look at; big and bright. But damn it was COLD and sitting to watch a tricks class generated little heat. Very interesting class with lots of ideas on more tricks to teach the pups. I guess because I agree with Silvia's ideas about starting pups on tricks to teach body awareness I already do alot of the work. But it is good to come back with a few more ideas that I had not thought of! Again there were some really nice dogs at this training and it was fun to watch people work through their training. I think a trick training class is hard as a one day event as some behaviors will take alot longer to perfect but everyone made a good start.



So the next two days would be the agility training days. Our class took place from 4pm-8pm so we had the days free to visit and shop which was great. The bad part about it was that it got really COLD at night! Not bad for the participants as they were running and training their dogs but for me just sitting and watching it as COLD! Did I say it was cold?

More later....