Dog Tired!

This is Harry after going to Wye Valley on Saturday and doing a training session with Dawn on the Sunday!

....at least I hadn't ironed anything! Ha ha

Our runs on Saturday where dreadful, my handling sent him through tunnels and pulled him off jumps, what a difference a week makes having had 2 x first and 2nd at K9 Kernow, in the mud and rain, to glorious sunshine and just a clear with a spin the wrong way and two E's.......

...any way, this was Mindy's first outdoor show, with loads of distractions, she was a good girl and stayed almost focused and each run she did she improved on (except the teams!)

She gets upset with dogs playing with their toys and then struggles to play with her own, unless no one is playing with theirs then she can tug hard!.....Yes I need to practice more.

If Ian had been with me I would have taken her out the queue, but I had loaded Lara's van with so much stuff, let alone adding another crate!

It was great that both dogs coped with travelling in a strange van with dogs that they didn't really know, although may be that's why Harry wasn't firing on all four cylinders, I hadn't thought of that one, as although Harry looks like a confident dog he is actually a little shy in new situations, he always seems better the second day at a weekend show, unless of course he knows the ground......

Anyway back to Mindy, she was a bit clingy and not running at her usual speed which we had seen in training, circular jumping was clear, I hate these courses same as Helter skelter, I never know why I enter them, I always get lost and feel really slow, she was half second behind Harry who wasn't fast and then turned the wrong way........

2nd run was agility, she was distracted by a black terrier trying to kill it's toy at the side of the ring, so we didn't do a start line wait and off we went, she bubbled in the weaves, I think they where third obstacle and she was still thinking about the toy tugging dog, but I took her back and then she perked up and off we went, beautiful running "A" frame, stopped dog walk contact, the seesaw she ran to the top and waited for it to move, she then got bored and launched off the top, so we re-did it and finished the last three jumps nicely.

3rd run was jumping, nice flowy course just right to get her confidence up except I had to do two cross behinds and knew she needed to be driving forward for them to work, but she did them, still not training speed, but much better and she was able to focus more, she was clear and came 2nd, winning a plate.

Her fourth run was teams, haha, where to put her in the team, knowing she would be hard to catch as she would want to chase the dog in front as it was a baton change....I think it was all a little too much for her (and me), but once I got her facing the right way and under control she was off and having fun....

Then I just have to remind myself she has had 4 weeks of training, due to her accident and we went to this show, with only getting her to jump a circle of jumps on the Thursday previous!

...Here's a strange thing, I remembered when being driven home, Red's first ever KC trophy was a second at supadogs in a jumping class and she won a plate!