Last one of the year

All the shows for this year have now finished with the final one for us being last Sunday. I look forward to next year with great enthusiasm. Dylan finished with yet another win in the agility. I am so proud of this little dog. He tries so hard for me and when we fail it is my fault and not his. Our next outing is not until middle of Jan and we are bound to be unbeatable (he he) as I will have had a couple of training sessions with Dave Munnings by then, so look out world here we come!!!!
I want to wish all those going to Olympia the very best of luck and above all I hope they enjoy themselves even if not successful. I will hopefully be watching on the telly or live streaming.
To everyone else; have a lovely christmas and a happy new year.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

How I hate the winter. Dark mornings, dark evenings, cold, wind, rain................doom & gloom. Would like to be able to get up the field more but the weather just won't allow it. Today the weather was good but I had too much to do to go - why is it that whenever I am able to go, the weather says 'NO' and when the weather says 'YES' I am unable to for whatever reason.

I have decided that next season things will be different for Taz.
I've noticed that the couple of time he got his weaves, I'd just chucked him at them and hoped for the best, the times he missed; I'd almost baby'd (is this a word?) him which I would never do in training. He got his entries most times and then turned around and came out only for me to put him back in (learnt behaviour?). Next season we will keep going....... hopefully he will soon cotton on and just keep going himself. What ever happens it can't be any worse than what we've got at the moment. He knocks poles like there is no tomorrow and is starting to fly his contacts so I am just going to enjoy him. No pressure any more Taz, we are just out for fun - (apart from your contacts which will ALL be held and should you come off before being released you will be put back on).

I love my dogs! They are such happy people. Always ready for an adventure, always ready to curl up for a cuddle, always pleased to see me :-)

More Red Rosettes for Dyl

We went to a local limit show this weekend and boy did I enjoy myself!! It was great to see my friend Sue again, I haven't seen her in ages although we have talked on the phone (alot!!), but the icing on the cake was my little boy. Not only did he win the jumping but he also won the agility. 2 lovely red rosettes and 2 lovely trophies.
I have been looking back over my blog and it was at this show 12 months ago that Dylan had his first proper clear round and won the class; it makes you realise what a long way he has come in a year!

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I haven't posted for so long! Well so much has happened since my last post that I will just summarize things - Dylan continues to go from strength to strength. In July he was in a class with over 236 dogs in it and to my amazement he won!! He is still only Grade 2 at KC but we haven't done that many KC shows and he has had a couple of unlucky runs - he fell off the dog walk at one show and would definately have won had he managed to stay on - never mind our time will come and I truly believe that now! At UKA (which I have done more than KC) Dylan started the season as beginner in performance and steeplechase. He is now Senior in both and has more than half the points required to go champ in steeplechase (that's quite frightening). Taz also started as beginner in performance and won an agility class which put him up to Novice, in steeplechase he has also gone up a grade from Novice to Senior. I seem to have a huge pile of rosettes home here with lots of trophies.Oh I am very pleased with my little doglets.


There has been another major event in the past few days - Emily and Paul have got marred. It was a wonderful day and even the weather was kind to us. Emily looked absolutely stunning. I was very proud of my little girl, her brother - who scrubbed up very nicley and my husband. In fact I was rather proud of my whole family.

Grade 2 beckons..........

Little bit of updating to do since my last post: Dylan had 7th in the agility and Taz 3rd in jumping at a show in Bristol and the next day we had training in the ring at Feniton and Dylan got 2nd in the jumping (with a pole down) and 1st in the Agility.

We had a show at the end of May - SWAT in which Dylan again did very well. He came 1st in the jumping and even managed a 5th in the Agility with a very messy run. (This meant that Dyl now had 2 jumping wins under his belt so one more win for me with either dog would put us up a grade)

The following weekend we were off to Wales - Wye Valley Show - which my friend Sue said was a really lovely and pretty show. I must admit I like it there too now as Dylan won the agility which means we are now Grade 2!!! Taz was also a star getting all 6 sets of weaves that were in his courses. Really enjoying it alot at the moment - long may it continue; but no doubt they will bring me back down to earth with a bump. We have a UKA show this weekend at Taunton Racecourse - UKA is always more relaxed than K/C so am looking forward to it - hopefully I will have some news to report afterwards.....................................................

Cornwall/Dartmoor Show 24-25/04

The course from hell - it was certainly not a grade 1-2 but Dylan managed a clear and was placed 3rd. Taz was quite spectacular going into washing maching mode - a spin cycle around 2 jumps; he must have completed them at least 3 times and was on his way for his 4th before I said 'just stop!' He looked at me with a look of pure glee on his face as he was having the best time ever! I smoothed him to calm him and then continued on our way. Oh he is such fun to run!!! No results for Taz this weekend but as I said earlier a 3rd for Dyl in the agility and also an 8th in the jumping.

Kernow K9

My first ever results at a KC show. Taz was a very good boy and things are looking a lot brighter for him. His first 2 rounds were very good; he weaved in both and only knocked 1 pole (in the agility). The jumping round was a little messy though - the weaves were obstacle 4 and Taz tried to do them again on the run home. I think this is because I have done sooo much weaving with him over the winter. Our little detour cost us a lot of time but he still managed an 8th. Pole knocking got worse as the weekend went on so back to grids for him.

Dyl had a very very good weekend. All 3 of his agility rounds were good - knocked 1 pole in the first one, broke his stay in the 2nd one, so I took him back and made him start again which got us e'd but he then went on to have the most beautiful round, and in the 3rd agility run; he just missed the A frame cos he jumped long however the rest was stunning. In the jumping he got a 6th, we had a bit of a spin and 1st in another run. I am very pleased with both of them. The future is looking good.

Double for Dyl

You'll never believe it.............we went to a training in the ring day which also has a competition element built in. Taz got all his weaves - oooh it's so much better than it was. He never even looked like he was going to question them. As for Dylan - he won the jumping (Taz - who is known for his speed, had a couple of poles but I checked his time for comparison and Dyl was a second faster!!!) I had the two fastest dogs in the jumping. In the agility, Dylan won again!!!!!! Taz decided that he knew a better course than the one the judge had set, so got 'the big E' but what a little star Dyl was. I didn't check his time for this one so don't know if he was fast or if he just scraped home.
On another subject; I am very pleased with myself. The club decided that we should join the 21st century and have a website. I thought I'd have a play and before I knew it I had made one. I have spent a bit of time tweaking and messing about with it over the past few days but am very happy with the result. Club love it. http://www.tdcs.org.uk/ I made that!!!!!!

Things look promising............

I haven't posted for sooooooooooo long but still haven't much news. I pulled Taz from competition due to the problem with his weaves; I didn't want him practicing the wrong thing over and over again and getting even better at doing it wrong!!!!! We have been working really hard over the winter on this problem and now in training he seems to be able to cope with most things. I entered a small 'limit show' in January and there were 4 rounds each with weaves in them. He got his entry every time and missed 1 pole in the middle only once - so a total of 3 out of 4. This gives me real hope as he would normally have gone to pieces (or is he lulling me into a false sense of security?) Of course I do realise that once we get the weave issue sorted somthing else will go wrong.
Dylan continues to be a delight. His enthusiasm shown no bounds and he is very responsive. He is still a little clingy but this is improving and distance work is becoming a reality. I must admit we haven't done any straight lines for a while , so this will be revisited to see if he can still do them!!!
Competition season starts soon so hopefully will be posting more often - watch this space..........