Orlaith and Eabha...
Viggo...
Monday, 1 September 2008
Ryecroft Farm
Well, what a FANTASTIC weekend we had at Ryecroft Farm. It's only an hour from home and all our teams were running on Sunday but we decided to take the caravans down Saturday afternoon and have a bit of time to chill out which was very nice. We had only booked 2 camping spaces so I stayed with Trish (thanks Trish!). The weather was as good as it's been in ages so it was all very civilised, sitting out enjoying the late afternoon sunshine with a glass of wine. After several more bottles of wine, on account of the fact it was Bridget's birthday (Happy Birthday B!), Gemma finally joined us about 12.30am (she had been working the late shift) and we stayed up and chatted into the early hours and eventually fell into bed...knowing we were running in Div 1 at 8.30 in the morning!!
The alarm went of at 7.00 as usual but it was 7.30 before we woke up properly and then jumped out of bed and dashed around getting dogs walked and fed before racing started. Most tournament organisers run the fastest divisions on the Sunday as they were doing this weekend; the thinking being that they'll get through the racing quicker and have an earlier finish for people having a long way to travel home. However, most tournaments run the days' divisions in reverse order...starting with the lowest and finishing with the highest. I don't know why but this weekend they did it the other way round starting with Div 1 and going down to Div 5 . I actually think this is a good idea, it often happens that Div 1 is the last division to go into the ring after a whole weekends racing and you end up running on the worst ground, especially if it's been wet and the runs and box areas start to get cut up, this sort of churned up/slippy ground obviously affects the faster dogs more.
Anyway, our schedule for the day was...Div 1 with the Speed Demonz (Dylan, Bailey, Lexie, Mist)...Div 2 with the Demon Racers (Mac, Frost, Faith, Teal)...Div 3 ring party, Div 4 off and finishing in Div 5 with the Demon Pawz (Pip, Drake, Dottie, Ethan, Spud) so quite a busy one!
We were all suprisingly spritely considering the late night and the teams all ran brilliantly, better than we could have hoped for with all 3 teams achieving new fastest times!! The Speed Demonz WON divsion 1 (woo hoo!!) and did it with some style, unbeaten all day and a fastest time of 17.48...we finally broke the 17.50 barrier!! This was also the fastest time of the weekend. The Demon Racers came 4th in Division 2, their first time up in Div 2 and they ran a fastest time of 19.01 (oh so close to the sub 19.00 I'm sure they're capable of!! lol)...not bad for a team fielding the mad midget cocker!! I was most pleased with Tealey this weekend because she actually ran for Gemma in the afternoon as I took over running Mac start dog (for some reason Gemma seemed to be asleep on the start this weekend!! lol). Although I did commit the cardinal start dog sin with Mac (getting two consecutive false starts)....TWICE!!! (oh the shame!). This is however, the first time Teal has run for someone else and she ran brilliantly all day (clever cocker!!). The Demon Pawz were top seed in Div 5 and didn't disappoint as they also won the division (yay!!) totally smashing their seed time by running 19.82!! This now gives us 3 sub 20.00 sec teams...fantastic!! I must also mention the help that we had from Steve and Bridget on the line for us, first class assistance as usual, and also Manda who was quickly volunteered to run Dottie in the afternoon, when Gemma had to leave for work, and did a brilliant job with a dog that isn't the easiest in the world to run that's for sure!!
The day was made complete by the phone call I received from Joy in the afternoon to say that Teal had won combined Grade 6/7 agility down at Trent Park so had got her last agilty win needed to go Grade 7 (Advanced)...absolutely chuffed to bits for Joy, Becca and Tealey...grade 7 before she's 3 years old...now that's not bad going is it? Well done girls!
It was a long and busy day but a very enjoyable one and we all left for home tired but very very happy and looking forward to next weekend with great anticipation. Keeping fingers crossed for a few dry days so that the Penny farm venue will be able to dry out in time for next weekend's tournament.
The alarm went of at 7.00 as usual but it was 7.30 before we woke up properly and then jumped out of bed and dashed around getting dogs walked and fed before racing started. Most tournament organisers run the fastest divisions on the Sunday as they were doing this weekend; the thinking being that they'll get through the racing quicker and have an earlier finish for people having a long way to travel home. However, most tournaments run the days' divisions in reverse order...starting with the lowest and finishing with the highest. I don't know why but this weekend they did it the other way round starting with Div 1 and going down to Div 5 . I actually think this is a good idea, it often happens that Div 1 is the last division to go into the ring after a whole weekends racing and you end up running on the worst ground, especially if it's been wet and the runs and box areas start to get cut up, this sort of churned up/slippy ground obviously affects the faster dogs more.
Anyway, our schedule for the day was...Div 1 with the Speed Demonz (Dylan, Bailey, Lexie, Mist)...Div 2 with the Demon Racers (Mac, Frost, Faith, Teal)...Div 3 ring party, Div 4 off and finishing in Div 5 with the Demon Pawz (Pip, Drake, Dottie, Ethan, Spud) so quite a busy one!
We were all suprisingly spritely considering the late night and the teams all ran brilliantly, better than we could have hoped for with all 3 teams achieving new fastest times!! The Speed Demonz WON divsion 1 (woo hoo!!) and did it with some style, unbeaten all day and a fastest time of 17.48...we finally broke the 17.50 barrier!! This was also the fastest time of the weekend. The Demon Racers came 4th in Division 2, their first time up in Div 2 and they ran a fastest time of 19.01 (oh so close to the sub 19.00 I'm sure they're capable of!! lol)...not bad for a team fielding the mad midget cocker!! I was most pleased with Tealey this weekend because she actually ran for Gemma in the afternoon as I took over running Mac start dog (for some reason Gemma seemed to be asleep on the start this weekend!! lol). Although I did commit the cardinal start dog sin with Mac (getting two consecutive false starts)....TWICE!!! (oh the shame!). This is however, the first time Teal has run for someone else and she ran brilliantly all day (clever cocker!!). The Demon Pawz were top seed in Div 5 and didn't disappoint as they also won the division (yay!!) totally smashing their seed time by running 19.82!! This now gives us 3 sub 20.00 sec teams...fantastic!! I must also mention the help that we had from Steve and Bridget on the line for us, first class assistance as usual, and also Manda who was quickly volunteered to run Dottie in the afternoon, when Gemma had to leave for work, and did a brilliant job with a dog that isn't the easiest in the world to run that's for sure!!
The day was made complete by the phone call I received from Joy in the afternoon to say that Teal had won combined Grade 6/7 agility down at Trent Park so had got her last agilty win needed to go Grade 7 (Advanced)...absolutely chuffed to bits for Joy, Becca and Tealey...grade 7 before she's 3 years old...now that's not bad going is it? Well done girls!
It was a long and busy day but a very enjoyable one and we all left for home tired but very very happy and looking forward to next weekend with great anticipation. Keeping fingers crossed for a few dry days so that the Penny farm venue will be able to dry out in time for next weekend's tournament.
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Rainy Days...
Another wet miserable morning here in Lancashire (sigh) so the pups went out to toilet and came straight back in to play in the kitchen and I thought I'd snap a few pics of them, they're now all around 5 months old...
Eabha
thought she'd help with the dishes...
Viggo, starting to look all grown up now
although I don't think he's quite realised that he can't fit in Squirrel's bed any more (bless him lol)
and it all just seemed to be too much for Orlaith...
she had to have another nap...
Eabha
thought she'd help with the dishes...
Viggo, starting to look all grown up now
although I don't think he's quite realised that he can't fit in Squirrel's bed any more (bless him lol)
and it all just seemed to be too much for Orlaith...
she had to have another nap...
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
BBC change their minds again!
Well, the BBC changed their minds and broadcast the piece on the British Champs last night at 7.30pm...there are a few fleeting glances of us (in the pale pink) but it's a nice little piece, shows how fast and exciting the sport is!
You can watch it HERE for the next 7 days on the BBC iplayer...
the flyball story is about 10 mins in to the program.
You can watch it HERE for the next 7 days on the BBC iplayer...
the flyball story is about 10 mins in to the program.
Scottish Kennel Club
Well, we had a really fun weekend up at Edinburgh, we got so-so results and several 'if only' moments in both the agility and showing but the weather was fab and the company great and it made a nice change to do something a bit different.
I worked all day and Joy and Becca travelled up from Oxford in the afternoon (traffic nightmare!) so we didn't leave 'til after 6pm, the journey took a little over 4 hours (towing the caravan) but when we arrived at the site the grumpy old git on the gate wouldn't let us on, said it was too late! We had to drop the caravan legs and sleep in the carpark 'til it was light enough to move in the morning. Joy and I got up and moved the caravan and left 'sleeping beauty' (Becca) in bed! lol At least it was a lovely sunny day, made us feel a bit better about it all.
I was making my competition agility debut with Bailey and although we got e'd in all our runs I was happy with how we went, just going to be a case of tweaking my timing here and there with him although bizarrely he had the first pole down in every run, something he doesn't normally do in training, I don't know whether it's the tension and excitement causing him to want to race me off the start?? We ran in the Graded 1-3 agility and 1-4 jumping, both were quite trappy courses for novice dogs/handlers, especially with a dog as keen as Bai! lol Joy and Teal had a lovely run in the G6/7 agility which was a testy blast of a course only to be e'd at obstacle 18 as Teal took the jump the wrong side (very frustrating), she also got e'd at 18 in the jumping as she slipped past the jump and also managed to get e'd with Becca at obstacle 19, slipping a weave in the C6/7 jumping (something she never does) but Becca got clears with the lovely one-eyed Wiz in both jumping classes to come home with a 3rd and a 5th in her first G7 classes. Becca also managed to win the YKC with Teal so has now qualified both her and Wiz for Crufts...ooh...which one to take...the dilemma!! lol
Sorry no agility pics...I took my camera but was just rubbish! Never seemed to remember to pick it up.
I had entered Squirrel for the breed on Saturday but the thoughtless little terrier came in season so I couldn't show her! Another £23 down the drain, such is life with dogs! lol
We had a nice if somewhat busy day which we had to finish off by taking all the dogs entered for the breed the next day, down the road to Paul's work (grooming parlour) to bath, dry and trim. I hadn't had time to do any of mine before we left and with the bad weather we'd had at home all week they were pretty filthy, especially Daz who has a coat like sponge!! (it's always at this point that I remember why I don't show her very much!), we did at least manage to make it back just before grumpy closed the gates at midnight! lol
Sunday morning was again a nice day if a little breezy but the ground under the marquess had not dried out enough to use so all the judging was to take place in the big hall (same as last year!)...I did think it was such a shame they had gone to the expense and effort of putting up all these huge marquees only for them to be left empty all weekend. The hall was absolute mayhem with all the rings and grooming areas on top of each other, crates and grooming tables crammed in anywhere and everywhere and all breeds on top of each other. The noise and bustle was complete chaos and we had to get in with 7 dogs and all our gear! I nearly missed my first two classes because of it, with Spark and Dylan and bless them, both boys behaved superbly and went really well, Spark came 2nd in junior and although there were only 2 in his class I was really pleased with how he went and he got lots of nice comments from people. Dyl also came 3rd out of 3 but again he went really well and managed to concentrate and keep his tail nice and low on the move, I thought all the noise and excitement might have got him going but he was fine so that's him now qualified for Crufts next year at least. Eth was in a large and strong Limit dog class (think it may have been the biggest class of the day actually) and although he went really well he didn't get placed.
I forgot to mention that the little girl that has one of Bond and Lori's pups from earlier this year (Erin Logie) was camped opposite us with her parents, Erin was competing in the agility, obedience and junior handling (a real allrounder!) and they had asked whether they could borrow a dog for the junior handling on Sunday so on Sat evening she had a little 5 min practice with Dottie in the camping area and was going to take Dottie in the next day. Erin arrived at the BC ring to collect Dottie 15 mins or so before the junior judging was due to start; I was in the ring with Eth in limit dog and Joy and Becca had gone back to the caravan with Dyl and Spark so Erin took over with Ethan while I went and got Dot out and gave her a quick brush over...I swear Eth is nearly as big as Erin and she just looked so cute with him in that big class of dogs in her pink suit, wish I'd had time to get a pic ;) Anyway, I took Eth back and away she went with Dottie only to return some 20 mins later with a big beaming grin and a 1st rosette! They had won the junior handling class! Not bad considering they just met and testament to Dottie's super temperament and training and Erin's confident and competent handling, was so pleased for them :)
Kitten was next in in puppy bitch, her last puppy class and she did look rather dinky without her coat so I asked Julia to take her in (she just looks smaller than ever next to me!)..poor Julia...Kitten was v naughty, although I could't' help giggling as she kept bouncing off all fours in front of Julia, god knows what she was doing...BAD PUPPY! lol It was a real shame because she got placed 4th (reserve) and I'm sure would have placed higher if she'd behaved herself a bit better. Thanks Julia for your patience with the little minx!
Joy was in the next class (Junior) with Wren who was making her showring debut and she went beautifully to come 5th (VHC) in a very strong class. She then also came 3rd in Novice (or debutant whatever it was called...can't remember). Dazzle was in post grad, she really hasn't been shown much and it showed, she was definitley not comfortable with all the noise and bustle and everyone being so close and just never settled in the ring and backed away when being gone over which was such a shame although she did move out beautifully, I think the best she's ever gone, it was obvious the judge rated her and it did cost her as she was given 3rd place. A nice result and a qualifier for her but a little dissapointing, more ring practice needed for Daz I think so she's more confident out of her comfort zone. Dot went really nicely in Limit bitch and was placed 5th (VHC) which seems to be the story of Dot's life! lol
That was us done so we took all the dogs back to the caravan and had a potter round the stalls then watched the group and BIS judging...we managed to pick the group winners in all 3 groups and my favourite (the Newfoundland) won BIS while Joy's fave (the Basenji) took the reserve so we were pleased all round. We snapped some pics of the dogs back at the caravan afterwards but the light had started to go so they're not the best...
Kitten - Locheil Let's Pretend at Bryning
Dazzle - Bryning Sparkle n' Shine
Spark - Bryning Bright Spark
Wren - Bryning Goldfinch
Dylan - Bryning Truly Magic
Dottie - Locheil Crazy Chic at Bryning
Ethan - Locheil the Future's Bright at bryning
I worked all day and Joy and Becca travelled up from Oxford in the afternoon (traffic nightmare!) so we didn't leave 'til after 6pm, the journey took a little over 4 hours (towing the caravan) but when we arrived at the site the grumpy old git on the gate wouldn't let us on, said it was too late! We had to drop the caravan legs and sleep in the carpark 'til it was light enough to move in the morning. Joy and I got up and moved the caravan and left 'sleeping beauty' (Becca) in bed! lol At least it was a lovely sunny day, made us feel a bit better about it all.
I was making my competition agility debut with Bailey and although we got e'd in all our runs I was happy with how we went, just going to be a case of tweaking my timing here and there with him although bizarrely he had the first pole down in every run, something he doesn't normally do in training, I don't know whether it's the tension and excitement causing him to want to race me off the start?? We ran in the Graded 1-3 agility and 1-4 jumping, both were quite trappy courses for novice dogs/handlers, especially with a dog as keen as Bai! lol Joy and Teal had a lovely run in the G6/7 agility which was a testy blast of a course only to be e'd at obstacle 18 as Teal took the jump the wrong side (very frustrating), she also got e'd at 18 in the jumping as she slipped past the jump and also managed to get e'd with Becca at obstacle 19, slipping a weave in the C6/7 jumping (something she never does) but Becca got clears with the lovely one-eyed Wiz in both jumping classes to come home with a 3rd and a 5th in her first G7 classes. Becca also managed to win the YKC with Teal so has now qualified both her and Wiz for Crufts...ooh...which one to take...the dilemma!! lol
Sorry no agility pics...I took my camera but was just rubbish! Never seemed to remember to pick it up.
I had entered Squirrel for the breed on Saturday but the thoughtless little terrier came in season so I couldn't show her! Another £23 down the drain, such is life with dogs! lol
We had a nice if somewhat busy day which we had to finish off by taking all the dogs entered for the breed the next day, down the road to Paul's work (grooming parlour) to bath, dry and trim. I hadn't had time to do any of mine before we left and with the bad weather we'd had at home all week they were pretty filthy, especially Daz who has a coat like sponge!! (it's always at this point that I remember why I don't show her very much!), we did at least manage to make it back just before grumpy closed the gates at midnight! lol
Sunday morning was again a nice day if a little breezy but the ground under the marquess had not dried out enough to use so all the judging was to take place in the big hall (same as last year!)...I did think it was such a shame they had gone to the expense and effort of putting up all these huge marquees only for them to be left empty all weekend. The hall was absolute mayhem with all the rings and grooming areas on top of each other, crates and grooming tables crammed in anywhere and everywhere and all breeds on top of each other. The noise and bustle was complete chaos and we had to get in with 7 dogs and all our gear! I nearly missed my first two classes because of it, with Spark and Dylan and bless them, both boys behaved superbly and went really well, Spark came 2nd in junior and although there were only 2 in his class I was really pleased with how he went and he got lots of nice comments from people. Dyl also came 3rd out of 3 but again he went really well and managed to concentrate and keep his tail nice and low on the move, I thought all the noise and excitement might have got him going but he was fine so that's him now qualified for Crufts next year at least. Eth was in a large and strong Limit dog class (think it may have been the biggest class of the day actually) and although he went really well he didn't get placed.
I forgot to mention that the little girl that has one of Bond and Lori's pups from earlier this year (Erin Logie) was camped opposite us with her parents, Erin was competing in the agility, obedience and junior handling (a real allrounder!) and they had asked whether they could borrow a dog for the junior handling on Sunday so on Sat evening she had a little 5 min practice with Dottie in the camping area and was going to take Dottie in the next day. Erin arrived at the BC ring to collect Dottie 15 mins or so before the junior judging was due to start; I was in the ring with Eth in limit dog and Joy and Becca had gone back to the caravan with Dyl and Spark so Erin took over with Ethan while I went and got Dot out and gave her a quick brush over...I swear Eth is nearly as big as Erin and she just looked so cute with him in that big class of dogs in her pink suit, wish I'd had time to get a pic ;) Anyway, I took Eth back and away she went with Dottie only to return some 20 mins later with a big beaming grin and a 1st rosette! They had won the junior handling class! Not bad considering they just met and testament to Dottie's super temperament and training and Erin's confident and competent handling, was so pleased for them :)
Kitten was next in in puppy bitch, her last puppy class and she did look rather dinky without her coat so I asked Julia to take her in (she just looks smaller than ever next to me!)..poor Julia...Kitten was v naughty, although I could't' help giggling as she kept bouncing off all fours in front of Julia, god knows what she was doing...BAD PUPPY! lol It was a real shame because she got placed 4th (reserve) and I'm sure would have placed higher if she'd behaved herself a bit better. Thanks Julia for your patience with the little minx!
Joy was in the next class (Junior) with Wren who was making her showring debut and she went beautifully to come 5th (VHC) in a very strong class. She then also came 3rd in Novice (or debutant whatever it was called...can't remember). Dazzle was in post grad, she really hasn't been shown much and it showed, she was definitley not comfortable with all the noise and bustle and everyone being so close and just never settled in the ring and backed away when being gone over which was such a shame although she did move out beautifully, I think the best she's ever gone, it was obvious the judge rated her and it did cost her as she was given 3rd place. A nice result and a qualifier for her but a little dissapointing, more ring practice needed for Daz I think so she's more confident out of her comfort zone. Dot went really nicely in Limit bitch and was placed 5th (VHC) which seems to be the story of Dot's life! lol
That was us done so we took all the dogs back to the caravan and had a potter round the stalls then watched the group and BIS judging...we managed to pick the group winners in all 3 groups and my favourite (the Newfoundland) won BIS while Joy's fave (the Basenji) took the reserve so we were pleased all round. We snapped some pics of the dogs back at the caravan afterwards but the light had started to go so they're not the best...
Kitten - Locheil Let's Pretend at Bryning
Dazzle - Bryning Sparkle n' Shine
Spark - Bryning Bright Spark
Wren - Bryning Goldfinch
Dylan - Bryning Truly Magic
Dottie - Locheil Crazy Chic at Bryning
Ethan - Locheil the Future's Bright at bryning
Friday, 22 August 2008
BBC reschedule...
Due to the great success of the British Team at the Olympics the BBC Production Team on 'The One Show' have rescheduled the feature on the Britsh Flyball Champs to Thursday 28th August instead. BBC 1 7pm.
(I mean, as if the Olympics is more important??!! lol)
(I mean, as if the Olympics is more important??!! lol)
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Photos from the Champs...
...courtesy of Hazell and Emma from Tyne Tailwaggers! (thanks guys!) :))
Too many to upload here so go take a look at the ’Photo Gallery on our flyball team website.
Too many to upload here so go take a look at the ’Photo Gallery on our flyball team website.
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