Yes we are all still alive!!

Thought I would do a quick post on the blog just to show that we are all still alive!! Its been ages since I last posted, and you get out of the habit of blogging very quickly!!

I don't have time to put full details of our August adventures on here, so briefly........

KC International

My fave show of this trip by far! Smudge was a little star and got lots of 2nd places whilst we were there. But I am proudest of his 7th in the KC Novice Cup Ag 3-7. If only I had managed to go clear in the jumping we would have made the final! Unfortunately a missed weave entry meant that it didn't happen :-( Never mind - next year we will have even more experience behind us (hopefully!)

Paul and Scooby did well and collected quite a few placings, the highest being a 2nd in G1-3 Agility. He also ran in the Novice Cup for Jersey, which he thoroughly enjoyed. The jumping was a disaster, but the agility was in the main ring and luckily he held it together to put in a decent clear. Lisa giving him a pep talk on the start line may have had something to do with it!! We need to borrow her more often :-)

Maisie thoroughly enjoyed herself and also managed to collect some placings, although she definetely struggles with speed against the Novice dogs. But she enjoys herself and I enjoy spending that time with her so we will keep going until she tells me she wants to stop!!

Congratulations to all our friends who did well at the Festival, but particularly Lisa and Chi who won the British Open - go go Lisa and Chi!!

Next we were off to DIN. For Smudge the week started badly with a strange weave problem developing out of nowhere!! However he did some absolutely stunning parts of some courses so all in all I was really pleased with him. The potential is there! This bad start meant he only had one 2nd place in the Novice final qualifiers and one placing just isn't enough! Typically he decided to start going clear again on the non qualifying days and picked up lots of rosettes and trophys on the last two days. I think he did it on purpose! Ha!

Paul and Scooby had the same problem, getting one qualifying placing and all his others on the non qualifying days! I think it was a joint plan!

The real surprise though was Maisie, who made it to the Small G3-4 final! I had mixed feelings about this as she doesn't handle finals well, mainly because as soon as I feel any kind of stress at all, she feels it too and it brings on her shaker syndrome again. I even wondered about running her at all. After lots of thought we did run and enjoyed it, but she definetely felt off balance (even with me trying to remain calm) so I felt bad afterwards for running her. She finished with 5 faults as she missed her dog walk contact, but I was just pleased she felt confident enough to get on it! Maisies condition is so strange that I often find it hard to know what to do for the best, and not knowing anyone else with an affected dog makes it even harder! The only thing I can do is try to listen to everything she is trying to tell me and play it one step at a time. Karen suggested to me that she probably enjoyed managing to overcome difficult tasks for her, which I suppose is right. I just hate the thought that she might be doing things just to please me.

We then had five days off, which we spent in West Sussex, a beautiful part of the country. Lots of walks for the dogs on the South Downs (which we got lost on - don't ask!) and lots of catching up with friends for us, and nice meals! We also spent some time training with Bernadette, who helped us with contacts (as usual - one day I will crack them - I hope!!) and getting some distance between Smudge and I. She also gave Mannix a few lessons, which has now spurred Paul on. He has a renewed enthusiasm since we came back, with a clear idea of what he wants to achieve - long may it continue!! We also went to Sues sand school and joined in with one of Lisas lessons, which was great fun - if a little wet!!

Finally we headed up to Ely for our last show. And I really am not going to write much about this, as the memory alone is too much!! For lots of reasons I didn't enjoy this show, and this combined with tiredness for us all meant it wasn't a success at all! The least said about our runs the better (ahem)!! As our friend Julie says - we had some 'stunning eliminations'!! I like the idea that eliminations can be 'stunning' a lot!!

We are now busily sorting our house out ready for our planned move next year. It is surprising how much rubbish you can accumulate, and I want to try to get rid of it all before the end of the year! I don't want to be packing and sorting at the same time. I also have lots to work on over the winter training wise, so better get cracking!