FCI World Agility Championships 2010 Part 4: ZEN

It was our last run. I felt really relaxed as I had nothing to lose; we were in 28th place so the reality is that we could not medal. The course was not difficult at all and I knew there would be too many quick clears.

I did not feel down about it; I just made sure to enjoy it even more. This course was so easy I did not even need to ask for help in deciding how to handle it! (VBG) I went to the start line knowing this would be Zen's last FCI World Championship run. Probably the only thing I did differently was to run her Aframe as I figured we had nothing to lose. My goal was to run the course relaxed and efficient with Zen's typical smooth style.



I promised Zen that after her last run she could have an ENTIRE cup of tea. Zen's favorite treat in the world is tea. She usually shares a cup with us in the evening but only gets what we leave at the bottom. This time she deserved the whole cup to herself. So I brought a Thermos of water from the hotel and made the cup of tea before we ran. After her run we went back to our little room and I let her drink the whole cup. These little dogs don't ask for much do they?



After Zen had her cup of tea and I had a little cry I gave her the biggest hug and told her she was the best little dog in the world. Zen loves her agility and could run agility all day long. What she does not like is the travelling and the commotion at the large venues. She has done 4 FCI World Championships for me and I don't have any doubt that she did it for me. Zen placed in the 2nd in team agility and 4th in team jumping (she was not in individual that year) in 2005. In 2007 she came 3rd in Individual Agility, 2nd in Team jumping and 3rd in team agility. That year her medium team earned the Silver medal. In 2009 Zen ran two clears in her individual runs to come 5th in the world. This year she ran two clears in the individual and came 13th overall. In between she has had 3 litters of puppies and kept me from losing my mind after I lost Hex. I have no right to ask anything more of her and she has earned the right to just chill and run in local shows.



What a star...Thanks Zen.

FCI World Agility Championships 2010 Part 3

Saturday morning began early with small individual agility. I was more nervous watching Nicky with Indy and Suzanne with Unique. Each one had a shot at a medal. They were lying 4th and 6th going into the individual agility. Both dogs has also had double clears in the two team runs with Unique actually winning the team jumping class. Both Unique and Indy are super little dogs with such talented handlers. I am lucky to have matched them up all those years ago.

Here are Indy and Unique's individual jumping runs. I love watching Nicky and Suzanne's individual styles in handling.





Unfortunately Indy was up first and he misread a rear cross picking up a fault. After that Nicky gave up and finished up with an Elimination. That was stressful enough but next up was Suzanne and Unique. Unique has been so close; always at the top but just missing out due to bad luck. He was putting in a foot perfect run when a slight bobble caused him to drop the double. It seemed like the bar came down reluctantly! It was such a shame as the rest of the run was gorgeous and he would have had the silver medal.

Indy and Unique are about 3 years apart in age and have the same Mother. True really made the best babies!

After the stress of watching it was now my turn again!

FCI World Agility Championships 2010 Part 2

On Friday we had our first run. Team Jumping. All three dogs ran well and our team went into 8th place overall with the best combined times but with one fault.

Zen and I ran last and this always seems to be the case for us in team. People have asked me if I run last because Zen and I are more consistent or because I am not nervous at big events. Actually we run last because no one else wants to! I guess the pressure of running at the end after two clears worries some people. One of my former team mates said to me recently that he really wanted to see me run last after both my other teammates have run clear. I think he was implying that I wouldn't be so relaxed at that point. (VBG) Actually I would be just as relaxed as I know that neither my life nor my dog's life depends on that run. Each run is a moment in time that is meant to be enjoyed not worried about. Yes I want to run clear and fast and YES I want to win! But wanting to win and needing to win are two different things.

I take the runs seriously and obsess about how to run the course and how to remember the course. In fact my most nerve-wracking moments are getting the course map and trying to decide how to run the course. I always feel like that is the time I really could use help. I also worry about remembering the course and trying not to fall down! But once I step into the warm up area I let all that go and just try and enjoy the course and my dog. By that time, what will be will be.

All I can say to anyone who is thinking about competing at these events is DO IT! And take every moment into your heart and enjoy it.

Here is Zen in the team jumping.






The next day we had two runs. Individual jumping was first. The course was fairly straight forward and I was happy with how Zen ran. A misplaced front cross confused Zen and caused us a wide turn and almost wrong course. I was concerned about this sequence because it required a front cross followed by a pivot turn. Pivot turns for some reason are difficult for me. These are the times I wish I was more agile myself but I cannot beat myself up about it. I just need to work harder at figuring out other ways of handling the type of sequences that require pivots as it is where I really struggle. Luckily Zen saved me again although that wide turn cost us big time and we finished Individual Jumping in 28th place. I think we could have shaved off 1-2 seconds in that spot so I was slightly annoyed with myself but happy with Zen.



Team Agility was next on Saturday. I was really excited about this one as I felt we had a real shot at a team medal. I kept visualizing running last after two clears! Unfortunately my 2 team-mates made uncharacteristic mistakes and the two eliminations put the team out of the running. I felt good that we had a very positive and encouraging team and we all know that it could be any of us that made the errors. Either way we all looked good out there even with mistakes! My team-mates were so sweet and tried to talk me into joining the team again next year.

Here is Zen in the team agility. I have to encourage the GB supporters as I think they were in shock about the previous two eliminations! (VBG)



This was Zen's only mistake all weekend. Poor little thing!



I am used to seeing her jump more like this!



At the end of the day on Saturday none of our GB teams had made it to the podium. Such is the way of teams! Anything can happen.

Sunday would start early with the small individual agility followed by medium and large. So exciting!

FCI World Agility Championships 2010 Part 1

Another FCI World Agility Championships is over. There is such a long build up to this weekend that is takes me a week or so to get together with my thoughts about our experience.

The day before we left I received a call that I was not expecting. We lost Zen's brother Lucky to Lymphoma. It was so unexpected as Lucky has been doing so well in his fight against the cancer; he had only just come back to running agility in August after undergoing months of chemotherapy. I kept thinking of the special people and dogs we have lost recently to cancer; agility seemed like the last thing I wanted to do at this point. One part of my brain said why bother with something as trivial as agility when there is so much sadness. On the other side my brain said Go for it while you can; life is too short.

Zen had other ideas...She had her pink union jack bag packed and ready to go. I must admit every time I stepped to the startline I said to Zen "Let's do it for Lucky".

A gift for Zen from Lesley; what could be more "Zen" than a pink union jack?


Our World Champ build-up started the weekend before with our "official" team practice. I have never understood why we have the official practice on the weekend before we leave for the champs. It always seems to be too late by that point! Luckily the girls from the medium team got together for a few sessions the month before so that we could work on some European courses. That was so helpful; having Nancy set up courses that we could walk and run together. To me that is the best practice and a great way to get the team working together. It was those sessions with Nancy and the medium team along with a few extra lessons with Lesley that helped me feel confident going into the competition.

The official team practice has the potential to be great as Steve sets some fantastic courses and gives us all good inspiring words of wisdom. For me it is also inspiring to see the each dog/handler team from each height attack the courses in their own particular way. I just wish this session was the month before and that we had more of them. Since we all love attacking these type of european courses we just cannot help ourselves from running each course. This can be a detriment when it is only 3 days before we leave for our journey! After some close calls on injuries (handlers and dogs) we were lucky to go into the competition with all dogs and handlers able to run.

At the official practice we all got a lovely suprise from Lesley! Union Jack Dog beds for all the dogs!



On Tuesday I said Good bye to Zaz and Itzy and left them with Nancy and Andy. Gosh that gets more and more difficult; I hate leaving them. But I knew they would be both spoilt and wrapped in bubblewrap for the week. Nicky and Indy arrived on Tuesday and the evening's entertainment was watching a DVD on Russian Agility training. It was not meant to be a comedy DVD but it kinda was....just saying! Still we learned a few things about their methods of training for our own dogs and about new ways to handle our own students! Lets just say they have little patience for people who "do not listen!".

We had an early morning start to get to the Eurotunnel and start our trip across to Germany. It was one of the easier trips; not too long and fairly straight forward. Dennis drove the entire way and we got to our hotel in enough time to take a walk, unpack and shower before a nice dinner. The hotel we stayed at was gorgeous! The hotel was right on a river and you could walk along the river into the town of Amberg. The rooms were beautiful and the food was good and we were only 20 minutes from the venue. As compared to other years at the WC and EO; this was heaven!

The next day was the team practice at the venue. We were suprised to hear that other countries were able to rent equipment at the venue during the previous two days. While we probably would not have taken advantage of this; it would have been nice to know. We found out during the ride to Germany from Facebook postings of other countries!

Practice was chaotic as usual. Every year I try and go in just to work on getting Zen relaxed in the environment and used to the equipment and surface. Best laid plans and all that; the atmosphere sends her over the edge and she gets a glazed look in her eyes! I just cannot keep her from barking non-stop and after 5 minutes any advantage is gone. Zen is just not a dog that trains well in that type of environment. I walked out of the practice a little discouraged. We just did not feel in sync and as usual I feel like Zen and I are so slow compared with the border collies and younger members on our medium team. Not a good way to start our last world champ experience.



After the practice I walked Zen around for awhile and mentally slapped myself. I had the most gorgeous talented little dog in the world. I was determined to enjoy this experience with her and celebrate our time together. How lucky am I to have had this dog by my side for the last 7.5 years making me look like a good handler and trainer?

I love to hug Zen as she puts up with it with such a look of distain on her face!



After the practice we headed back to the hotel and took a walk into the town of Amberg. Such a cute town; until the Brits got there and posed and abused the local animals...

Zaz and Itz Stour Valley 2010

We competed this past weekend at Stour Valley. It is a nice small (6 rings) relaxing show. Just park me close to the rings and I am a very happy bunny! Add in beautiful weather and nice people and that is the perfect agility show for me. As a bonus Dennis actually came with us on the first day!

I was expecially looking forward to competing with Zaz. Zaz and I have not competed since July except for the Olympia Semi so I knew we would be a little rusty. This was her first show at Grade 6 and luckily there were two Graded 6 classes (rather than grade 6/7 combined) so I was hoping we could get a win towards Grade 7.

We started out the day with our jumping class which just went WRONG. It was like we just could not get ourselves together. So the best thing to do was to sit around and drink coffee, eat breakfast and chill while waiting until our agility classes were ready to run. In the afternoon we got our mojo back and thank goodness the agility classes went much better. Zaz ended up winning 2 agility classes on the Saturday and one on the sunday. 3 wins towards Grade 7 and only one to go! She came close on Sunday to winning the fourth class but ended up 2nd in a tough jumping class.

Itzy had a really good weekend also. We made silly errors in our Graded 5 classes so unfortunately she did not move up to Grade 6 this weekend as I had hoped. But Itz was running like a little Itzy Bitzy bullet! She is the type of dog that is rather steady in training but speeds up in competitions. This makes each run quite a suprise for me! She did get one jumping win and came 2nd to Zaz in a combined 4-7 class which was pretty awesome for my little Itz. What made that 2nd place even more impressive was that she had to run the course twice. The electronic timing did not stop in her first run. This meant that although she ran clear she had to run again from scratch. Running from scratch when timing fails is probably the fairest way to handle the situation. Of course it does not feel fair to the handler (me!)at the time but the alternative (running for time only) is not really fair on the rest of the competitors. This is the 2nd time Itzy has failed to stop the time in her short little career to date! I think the electronic timing is just dazzled by her cuteness and forgets to stop. LOL

Here are Itzy's two runs over the same course. I am not sure if the first or second run is actually quicker. Either way she was so darn cute!



Here is Itzy running the second time. I was worried that she would be slower from being tired as we only had a few dogs in between for her and I to get our breath back. Her startline is getting as naughty as her sister Zaz which means I am consistant in teaching naughty startlines. GGG



Zaz running the same course but just once!



Another agility course from Saturday.



Zen had a good weekend also. I only ran her in one agility class per day just to proof her contacts. On Sunday she did the most perfect contacts and won her class. This was a great way to end her last show before the World Championships.

I still have so much to teach the Zitzy twins. It is hard to believe that they will be 2 years old in December yet I have only been competing with them since June. They still seem so much like babies to me. With past dogs I have felt that they were grown up and mature by two years old. Zen was in her first world championships at just over 2 years old. But not these two! Maybe it is because they turned 18 months (age they can compete) during the middle of the season and so they did not have as many compeitions? Or maybe it is because I am training two of them at the same time? Either way it is so exciting because I feel as if we all can keep improving!

Olympia Semi 2010

I was really looking forward to the Olympia Semi-Finals this year. I was competing on both Friday and Saturday with Zaz and Zen. Zaz had qualified back in July at the Agility Club show. I figured we had a month of competition to fine tune our teamwork but that was not meant to be. It turned out that the Agility Club show in July was Zaz's last competition until the semis arrived this weekend! So although I know my little dog is special; I also knew that our partnership was a little rusty. I had to keep reminding myself that she qualfied by placing in the top 3 of over 150 dogs so she had the potential.

So Zaz and I arrived on Friday morning hoping but not expecting. Thank goodness for the warm-up run as it proved to be a little hit and miss for Zaz and I. Some good things came out of it; her contacts were spot on and she was being very responsive. The warm up gave me a good idea of how she was running. She was not running full out and she was watching me quite a bit as well as barking. I admit that after seeing the final course, I made a decision to run her cautiously in the final. I knew that the course would claim many faults among the 33 dogs that had qualfied.

The good news is that Zaz and I are going to Olympia 2010. I had mixed emotions as the last time I was at this semi-final was when Hex had qualified there for Olympia 2008. I then lost her only one month later. And losing Nanette only one week ago made it hard to get excited about a dog show. So maybe my joy at qualifying was not as strong as it would be otherwise. Don't get me wrong I was happy to qualify and so very proud of my little dog but it was just not as important to me as it should have been. Or maybe that is the way it should be? Maybe we all take this little game we play with our dogs too seriously.

There were two other OBay shelties who qualified to compete in the small semi. Nicky and Indy put in their normal quality run and have also gone through to the Olympia Finals. Elizabeth and Ziga were competing at the semis for the first time and came oh so close to qualifying. A small error put them out of a finalist position but we know they will be back next year to try again!





After the small semi on Friday I spent the night at Nicky's new house about 1 hour away. Nicky had moved into her house last year and, like us, has a hard time leaving her gorgeous new house! I can now see why as she has the most fabulous house with adjacent agility field all set in the middle of a forest! Why would you want to leave? We could walk into the forest and walk for miles right outside her front door. We got back late so I just took the dogs for a quick walk and after only a 5 minute walk came across this beautiful lake. I only had my Iphone so this photo is not great but it gives you an idea of the peacefulness of the area.



Zen was competing the next day in the medium semi-final. I had no expectations for the medium competition because of the large number of border collies and border collie crosses that had qualfied this year. Zen has nothing to prove to me; I know she is the most awesome dog possible! She gives it her all and runs her little legs off for me but I knew it would be down to the course design. A straight forward course with straight lines would be our downfall. I left the showgrounds excited on Friday as the courses on Friday were challenging. These were just the type of courses we needed for Saturday's medium competition.

We arrived on Saturday to another bright and sunny Stoneleigh. The good weather combined with close parking and lots of vendors makes for a great day at any dog show. The warm up went well with Zen getting 4th place. She was running well and I was pleased with her contacts. I was suprised at the simple course but as it was the warm-up I was not overly concerned. Then the final course was set and we walked it over lunch. I walked it and walked it and still could not find any place where Zen and I could shave off any time. It was a very straight forward course and it would just come down to pure speed. I must admit I was very discouraged. I had to take myself away from the course and the other handlers and just sit with Zen and re-group my thoughts. It would have been terrible to go into that ring with my awesome dog already thinking that we were not going to make the top 10. I was tempted to just leave at that point as I do not ever want to run my dog with negative thoughts in my head.

Once I gave myself a good talking to and again realized that it was up to me to enjoy the course not matter what it was. Zen and I could enjoy the course even if we did not qualify. I hope we attacked the course as well as it felt (no video!). I do not think that Zen could have gone any faster.

No video but we did get this fabulous photo from Alan Score of Zen during the semi.



In the end Zen did qualify but only just! She came 9th and the top 10 go through. We very nearly did not make the top 10 but the last few dogs made uncharacteristic errors. Sadly the only other OBay sheltie, Todd, ran a beautiful clear but ended up in the unenviable position of 11th place. Just out of qualifying which was so disappointing for Karen.

It was nice to spend Sunday at home relaxing. Dennis is away in Japan so the dogs and I just put our feet up and chilled out in the garden. Read some books, watched some videos, picked some tomatoes and runner beans and even did a little bit of training with both pups. Ahhh... heaven.

Sad days

Sadly last week we lost a special person in our lives. Dennis' sister Nanette lost her battle with cancer. It is hard to accept that she is gone; her time on this earth was not long enough.

This photo of Dennis with his brother Richard and his sister Nan was only taken 6 weeks ago.

Cherish your family and friends.

Kennel Club Festival and Dogs In Need 2010

Our mega-agility week has past. I had certain expectations of what we would achieve and it just did not turn out as I thought! Certainly not as expected but not in a bad way...

Zaz came in season unexpectedly which put to rest all our plans of getting into the finals and Crufts with Zaz. I was disappointed not to be running Zaz but that is the life of running an intact girl. So how lucky am I that I also had Itzy to run!

Itzy really came into her own during the week of agility. She actually went a little agility crazy but she was such fun to run.



Zen kept up her string of clean fast runs and made it to the British Open Final. She finished up by coming 2nd in the British Open (2nd to a fantastic fast kelpie from France) which sends her to Crufts 2011 for the International Agility representing England.





All the Kennel Club Festival finals were fun to watch. There were quite a few OBay Shelties that made it to the finals but especially note worthy was Daniel and Bailey winning the KC Novice Cup!



Another great OBay win put Zeki into Grade 7! Champ classes next year for Nancy and Zeki!




Dennis stayed with us at the Kennel Club Festival and with 18 rings of agility to get around it was helpful to have him there! Sadly Dennis had to return to work after the KC show. So he drove me to the Dogs In Need show, set up the caravan and left me and the three dogs for the week.

It was even more difficult not to be able to run Zaz at Dogs in Need as there are less runs per dog at this show. Compared to our many many (too many!) runs at the KC Festival, the 2 runs per dog at DIN seemed easy. Of course nothing is easy when all 4 runs happened before 11 am each day. Ha! Still DIN is such a nice show and very relaxed and chilled.

Itz continued to amaze me with her enthusiasm and speed!



I was so excited to find out that Itzy made the Dogs In Need Novice final! Itzy went into the final as the top placed Novice dog and ran last. She put in a great run and we only had one baby mistake where she ran by the see-saw. She had taken the previous jump at an angle and I did not think to worry about her picking up the see-saw. But she is still a baby and it is in these little things that we both need to get experience to start working together as a team. It is for this reason that I was so glad to have the whole week of being able to concentrate on Itzy. I called it the "week of Itzy". LOL Do you remember the old show children's show " The Howdy Doody Show"? For some reason the song stuck in my head and everytime I went to the ring with Itzy I would sing "It's Itzy Bitzy Time" to the theme song tune of "Howdy Doody". Yes I am sad but it cracked me up! This little dog sure knows how to make me laugh.



Although Itzy did not win the Novice finals; the OBay Shelties did us proud again with Daniel and Bailey coming 2nd and Peggy and little Zoe coming 3rd!



In the Small/Medium Champ finals at DIN we had two good results. Nicky and Indy won the small Champ ticket and Karen and Todd won the medium reserve champ ticket. Congratulations to the OBay boys who like to prove that it is not only girlpower. This is Todd's 2nd reserve champ ticket so we know that the Champ ticket cannot be far away!



Zen also made it into the Finals for the Grade 6-7 dogs. She put in another clean fast run and came 2nd to Natasha and Dizzy. I never feel dissappointed coming 2nd to the World Champion and Zen still amazes me with how easy she makes it seem.

Overall there were 7 OBay shelties that made it into the small/medium finals at Dogs In Need!



So the mega-agility week is over. Out of our agility bubble we all emerge; back to reality. Can I go back please?

7 things....

We are back from our mega-agility holiday. Usually I would say we were "agilitied-out" but I actually am not! I could have done more agility but was tired of being in the caravan. I loved running Zen and Itzy and had a great time with both of them. Unfortunately Zaz came in season a week before the Kennel Club show so I could not run her. It was disappointing but it means that she will be out of season for her first Grade 6 show and even better, for her Olympia semi-final. So really she was a most accommodating girl! So the week was all about Itzy! When I walked to the ring with Itzy by my side I would sing to her "It's Itzy-Bitzy time" (yes I am sad that way) as it felt right that I concentrated on her this week. More about our agility week in another post.

As I have been downloading videos I was catching up on blogs that I like to read (I missed them while I was away!) and found that another blogger nominated us to write 7 things you may not know about me or my dogs. I do not usually like these games but this one intrigued me as I have been doing alot of thinking lately. (scarey) I actually had a more difficult time coming about things you may not know about my dogs as I talk about them so much! So here goes:

7 things you may not know about me:

1. I bred my first litter of poodle pups when I was 11 years old and whelped them all on my own on Christmas eve while my parents were at Christmas mass.

2. I spent 8 years in Catholic school and still have terrible handwriting but am very good at spelling.

3. My parents never read a book to me yet I have loved to read since I was a child and even then could finish any book in one day.

4. Met Dennis on a blind date set up by our mothers.

5. Always hated being tall.

6. Used to drink " Long Island Ice Teas" when we went out to nightclubs as teenagers as it was the cheapest way to get drunk quickly. Now I hardly drink at all as I hate the results the next day!

7. For 8 years of catholic school we wore green plaid school uniforms with green knee socks. Once we graduated I swore I would never wear dark green socks again and I have not.

7 things you may not know about my dogs:

1. Pax suffered from seizures as a puppy and I never thought she would live past a year old.

2. Zen does not normally bark in the car when I sing. But if I sing "If you're Happy and you know it" Zen will bark exactly when I get to the part that says "clap your hands".

3. Zen hates having her photo taken.

4. My German Shorthaired pointer, Tess, used to chew on her front dew-claws when she was bored.

5. Joy once "spoke" to a animal communicator. What she said was amazing.

6. My first dog Honey-bun was a poodle that we bought at a pet shop called "Puppy Palace" and we got a discount on her as she had been there for so long.

7. Zen sleeps in a bed on the floor in our bedroom. She jumps up onto our bed every morning at almost exactly 5am just to curl up by our feet.

I am supposed to nominate 15 other bloggers. Rather than nominate specific blogs I will just ask that, if you have a blog, please join in! Let me know if you do join in as I would love to read what interesting answers I know will be coming!

Spookily the photo I put at the top of this post has 7 OBay shelties in it and that was not planned! I just wanted to dress up the blog post with a photo from last week!

Finally got home only to be leaving again! Mega blog post

It seems as if I have been away from home for ages. I have enjoyed all our travels but missed the pups and the house. Jamaica and New York were both too hot but both weddings were beautiful. I hope that both sets of newlyweds have as many happy years together as Dennis and I have. We will be married 22 years this year and obviously I was a child-bride....

This was the view from our Villa in Jamaica. Yes that pool was all for us! Yet sadly I still missed my cottage in England!



The family at Jonathan and Jen's wedding in Jamaica. It was nice to have a family wedding somewhere interesting! We have tried to advertise our lovely garden in England for anymore family weddings. I am not sure our sales efforts worked but it is worth a try!



The family photo at Laura and Chris's wedding. Laura was a beautiful bride.



The European Open has come and gone. I have though alot about why we did not have more success there this year but have decided that I do not want to dwell on excuses. Instead Zen and I will just do more training over the next two months to get physically and mentally ready for the World Champs. What a little star she is and how lucky am I to run this little girl.




After the long trip back from the Czech Republic we got right back into agility again first with the UKA Masters final followed by Agility Club show. It was a long drive (3 hours each way) to the UKA Masters but I really wanted to give it a shot. The prize was money! Unfortunately Zen almost won it but one pole came down and that put us in 2nd place. Boo hoo! Luckily the 3 hour drive was worth it just to see Marilyn and Zavvi get on the podium and come 3rd in their first final. Way to go Marilyn and Zav-lana! You were running like a Russian!

Zavvi on the podium.



Marilyn running like a Russian!



This past weekend was the Agility Club show. It was better than ever because the venue changed to the showgrounds at Ardingly which are only 1/2 hour from me. Such a beautiful showgrounds compared to Newbury (which I hate!). Great walks for the dogs and good toilets; what more can you want from an agility show site? GGG

Saturday's results were mixed. I was disappointed with some of Zen's runs but happy to be a part of the English Shetland Sheepdog Club team. This was the last chance to qualify a team for Crufts 2011 and we did it! For the second time we will have an all-sheltie team at Crufts! And Zen will be the rose amongst the thorn as she is the only girl in the team.



Sunday was a much more successful day result-wise. Team OBay was ROCKING! Zen and her pups all won at least one class on Sunday! I had to get this photo taken since Zen and her girls won a Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6 AND Grade 7 agility class between them! Combined with Zavvi's podium place on Friday; I think that was a good OBay weekend.



From L to R: Yaz, Zen, Zaz, Itz and Zeki

I did not think I would have any video to share but luckily a friend's husband was in the queue and took some video on his camera. Thanks!

Here is Nancy and Zeki winning their Grade 6 agility. One more to go and Zeki will be in Grade 7 and be able to run championship. Zeki is looking great and as one of the smallest dogs in medium she is still holding her own.



To finish this mega post I have to brag about the "Zitzy" twins. Zaz and Itzy were amazing this weekend. Itz won her Grade 4 agility to move up to Grade 5. My special little girl just gives her heart into every run. Zaz won her Grade 5 agility and is now Grade 6! She is such a serious little worker and so much fun to run. Zaz also made my day by qualifying for the Olympia Semi Final. She is still naughty on her start line and I probably should work harder on it. Hehe



We have this next weekend off and for that I am happy! I will be hanging around the house and garden and NOT going anywhere! On Wednesday we leave for almost 2 weeks of agility. The Kennel Club International (with 18 rings of agility) is going to be massive with 3 days of agility followed by Dogs In Need Week with 4 days of agility and finished up with the Royal Canine UKA Final for Zen. Yippee! I am so excited to be running my three girls again!

Lune and Barrow 2010 and hey we are going to the World champs again!

We have just returned from a nice relaxing long week up at Lune and Barrow Agility show in the Lake District. The Lake District is so beautiful and an amazing place for long walks with gorgeous views. The fact that we can do two long weekends of agility as well makes it a perfect holiday for me!

I will have better photos taken by Dennis with the real camera when he sorts through them. But for now these are photos taken with my I-phone!

Itzy posing.



Dennis taking photo of Itzy posing! LOL



We borrowed a Murphy-dog to walk with us up on Gummers How. The shelties love when he comes along and he is the perfect sheltie exercise machine! Everyone needs a Murphy.




Dennis and I arrived on Friday to set up the caravan and began competing on Saturday. Both pups did great but Itzy was the star of the day. She had 3/3 clears and 3 first places to well and truly moveup to Grade 4. The day finished quickly but we were tired already after 9 runs with 3 dogs that day! But back into Nancy's car we went to drive down to the World Championship Try-outs which were on Sunday. After a quick sleep in the B&B Zen and I and Nancy and Niamh competed at the try-outs hoping to get a spot on the team heading to Germany in October.



The courses did not really suit Zen and I as they were quite straight forward courses overall. So I was concerned that we would not make the team as there were quite a few fast border collies in contention also. Luckily Zen pulled if off again and, at the end of the day, we were picked to run medium team and individual for the World Agility Championships 2010 in Germany.

What can I say but that I am in awe of my little Zen. She just helps me along every step of the way. This will be her 6th time competing for Team GB (4x world Champs and 2x European Open). She has qualified for the team everytime we have attended the try-outs. I would run out of words if I tried to describe how amazing this dog is. My little Zen-Star.

Well done to Nancy and Niamh for their first time trying out for the Team GB. I don't think Nancy had the experience that she was hoping for but, at the end of the day, she and Niamh had some good solid runs and they certainly looked like they belonged there.

We stayed up at Lune and Barrow for the rest of the week. The week flew by and it was so nice to have so many runs each day for all three dogs. I think on one day I had 12 runs total! Zaz came into her own at Barrow at her first weekend at Grade 4. She won a Grade 1-7 and this put her up to Grade 5 on her first day competing at Grade 4! We recorded quite a few runs but here are two runs of Zaz and Itz's that I thought were cute. They got 1st and 2nd in this class.





The blog will be quiet now for a few weeks. We are off to wedding and holiday in Jamaica. Then a quick trip from Jamaica up to New York for another wedding. Incredibly as soon as we get back to England Zen and I leave again for the long drive to the Czech Republic for the European Open. It will be a whirlwind three weeks. I am looking forward to returning and enjoying our amazing new house after the EO. We want to finally sit down to relax and enjoy the house and garden!

Girlpower Pups at Thames 2010

Zaz and Itz competed at their second Kennel Club show this past weekend. Thames is a huge show with 13 rings of agility and big classes. The largest class the pups were in had over 240 small dogs and the smallest class had around 70-80 small dogs.

Friday started out with an EO training session for Zen. It was a crazy course designed by one of the EO judges. Zen did well and I felt like we could handle the course. It was a good feeling to run it clean the first time through.

On Saturday I had the opportunity to run 9 courses with all three dogs. I say the "opportunity" because I seem to always end up missing at least 2 walk-throughs and miss running at least one class each day! It is just too much like hard work to keep up with all the announcements and walking back and forth over 13 rings. When it comes down to it I don't mind missing one or two runs with Zen but I wanted to do all the pups runs to give us the ring experience. Gosh I just had a flash of how difficult the KC International Festival with 20 rings will be. Yikes!

Zen had some really good runs all weekend and just topped it off nicely (Thank You Zen!) by qualifying for the 2010 Olympia Semi-final. The pups just constantly amaze me with their confidence and attitude. It is always fun walking the course for the pups and trying to figure out what I need to do differently with each pup. I also have to laugh at myself as I walk the course thinking things like "they can't do that yet!" and "this course is HARD for them". It is so different than when I walk courses for Zen as I feel so confident and connected with her. I am looking forward to that feeling with the pups and I am enjoying the journey with both of them.

Results-wise all three Girlpower pups at Thames did really well. Zaz and Itz racked up a few rosettes and trophies between them. And Karen and Yaz won a class and came second in another. The best part is that all three pups are happy in the ring and continue to show joy in their runs. What could be better?

One of my goals this year is to take a photo of the pups with their rosettes and trophies after each weekend of competition. This way I can keep the photos as mementos rather than keeping all the rosettes and trophies. After moving house I realized how crazy it is keeping them year after year. This way I can keep the photos and donate the trophies and rosettes to be re-used by the charities or schools. I do love to compete and enjoying winning a class (or two or three!) but many times I wish I could donate the trophies back to the clubs to re-use as I know how expensive it must be for the club to offer these trophies. I do love to keep the special trophies and had many a sentimental moment over this past week taking them out of the packing boxes, polishing them and placing each one carefully in their special selected spot. With some trophies and ribbons I could remember every moment of running the course and receiving the trophy. There was one special box that I opened which contained trophies of Hex's last two weekends of competition....I actually opened them, looked at them and then let them go. My memories of her are firmly in my heart and soul and I did not need a box of trophies to help me remember her.

Here are a few of Zaz and Itz's runs at Thames 2010. I did better on the Saturday with asking people to video. By Sunday I seem run out of steam and hate to bother people. It is not easy as we end up having to queue for so long and it is hard to ask someone to wait ringside for the entire time.

I will try and download some more videos tomorrow.

IFCS World Champs 2010 videos-finally!

I should learn that if I do not put my thoughts down right after an event it just ain't gonna happen. Although I would like to write down everything, I will just have to settle with a few thoughts, photos and videos.

This was Zen's 5th time representing Great Britain internationally. I think the girl done pretty good this time with three Bronze medals and some "nearly" runs. Now we look forward to the European Open in July and the World Champ try-outs at the end of the month. I would love Zen to qualify for the 2010 World Champs again as it may be her last time. Competing at these events is not only expensive but it also takes alot of focus and energy. I would not want to do them if I could not give it 100%. Next year may be our year off from any International events and as we focus on the new house, the pups fledgling career and some (non-doggie)travel.



It certainly was nice to have an international event right here in the UK. The travel was so much easier than normal! MEGA well done to the countries who had to fly their dogs into England. The cost of dog flights into England is exorbitant and they showed such dedication in getting here as most had to pay their own way. The Gold medal (figuratively and literally!) goes to the Russian team who DROVE here from Russia and then got lost. Instead of going south west to Clevedon Somerset, they ended going north east to Cleveland! Probably about a 5 hour drive one-way without traffic. I admit we had a little chuckle at this but the Russians really showed us! They wiped the board with medals and outstanding runs; my hat is tipped to them. Plus their agility fashion sense was impeccable with quite a few pink mini-skirts and perfect make-up and hair! I did get a little frustrated with their ability to run like heck and throw in multiple double and triple blind crosses seamlessly. Geesh! "Run like a Russian" has become our little secret motto. Watch out for Marilyn A. and Zav-lana (previously called Zavvi) to hit the rings running like a Russian in a few weeks.

In two years the IFCS World Cup will be in the USA. Zen will definitely NOT be going to that event as I will not fly her across the ocean in cargo. It is a shame as the IFCS heights are great for Zen as the height cut-off is 16" vs the 17" of FCI. This gives Zen (at 15") the advantage of being in the upper limits of the height cut-off. The pups would be at a disadvantage being 13" so they would probably never compete at IFCS. So sadly this may have been my first and last IFCS competition. I really enjoyed the entire atmosphere and was so proud to be a part of a great team. Coming back to reality after these events is always difficult. You spend a few days in a positively charged agility "bubble" and you have the support and backup of your team-mates during that time. It is a great feeling and one I hope to experience a few more times with Zen this year. And, God willing, with the pups in a few years. It can definitely be addictive!

I do not want to go into details of the courses or our placements. Suffice to say that Zen was running great and I loved all the tough courses. The biggest suprise of all was our Snooker run. Considering Zen and I have done Snooker approximately 3 times before in our entire lives, I was pretty well chuffed with the Snooker Bronze medal! The not-so-big suprise was our Gamblers run. Gamblers will never be Zen's strength and sadly it was what prevented us from winning the gold or silver overall medal. Until we actually have proper gamblers courses here in the UK it will just not ever be a priority for us.

Here is our Snooker run.



Our individual Agility run.




Our Biathalon jumping run.



Our Individual Jumping run, which combined with the Individual Agility, gave us the Overall Bronze!



Thanks again to Zen-star for making it look easy for me.

Girlpower Pups first KC show and busy times

It has been non-stop here since the IFCS World Cup. We are trying to get the house and garden in order and move all our stuff over from the previous house. The crazy thing is that I cannot call the previous house the "old house". Instead I have to say the "previous" house because our new house is called "Old House Cottage"! Of course Dennis likes to be cool and call it "OHC". Now be careful and don't confuse that with the house next door which is called "Old House". HA!

I like this blog to be strictly about my dogs. So I debated if I should blog about the house but realized that our house was really bought just for the dogs....We are very lucky they let us live here. here is a little video of the first day we officially moved in.



We have really made a dent in all the boxes and probably just have around 10 big boxes left to sort through. Most of those boxes are still from the house in New York, so I think they can wait a little longer! Painting is nearly done and new flooring gets put in the sitting room this week. Then we can move the furniture into that room and start to hang photos and such. Which, by the way, I have way too many.
Our next big project is getting the garage built and that will go a long way toward making the house easier to live in as we can get the junk back out into the garage!

We have set up our temporary dog run and that also makes it feel more comfortable here. The dogs now have a safe place to hang out when I cannot be outside with them.



We are really starting to feel like OHC is home. Once the agility paddock has grass and my agility equipment is in I may never want to leave! The grass seed is down and we are starting to see little sprouts of green coming up. Unfortunately it may take a month or two before it is strong enough that we can actually do any agility on it.

I still have to sort through Zen's videos from the IFCS World Cup and hope to do that this week. Happily I have been a good girl and I recieved a new video camera as a present from Dennis. It is a small pocket sized Kodak Zi8 and it seems easier to download videos and certainly easier to carry around the showgrounds. Hopefully it will not take me as long now to sort through videos taken on the weekend. I do not know how people get them downloaded and edited so fast! It can take me weeks!
(If anyone has suggestions on how to make the process quicker and what programs to use, please let me know. You can either email me or send me a message on facebook.) Now the only difficult thing is to find people to video ringside. It is hard to organize when the shows are 8-12 rings and there are 100 plus dogs in the class. Hopefully since a few of us now have young dogs out we can trade video duties over the next few months as it will be nice to look back on our first tentative steps in the ring together.

Luckily I managed to get a few rounds of Zaz and Itz's first KC show recorded. We still have a long way to go in training but I am so pleased to be running with these two special little dogs. They can do no wrong in my eyes.

What a week!

I really want to talk about our amazing time at the IFCS World Champs last weekend but I just can't do the videos right now and take the time to sort out my thoughts. Hopefully I will still remember everything in a week or so. Short story is Zen was AMAZING and came away with three medals out of the 13 medals our team won. We were in an agility bubble for 4 days and it was great.

We have gotten in to the new house and all systems are GO with painting, clearing agility paddocks, cleaning, plastering, carpeting ect ect ect! Dennis has been away for the last 4 days so it has been extra work for me. Not that I mind as I am so happy in the new house but, seriously, I am a terrible painter! I did one closet and I think I should not be allowed to hold a paint brush again. Where are you Ann Marie??? I need some closets painted! :-)

So off I go again today to the house loaded with shit in my car that I really should not move with again! The charity shops are getting lots of donations this week. Honestly it is good to move just to clear out your house and de-clutter!

Since Dennis went to the house early this morning, I got some sneaky relaxing time on the internet catching up on my favorite blogs. These "ADS" from Team Small Dog just had me on the floor this morning. Laughter is a great way to start the day! Enjoy!