Caerphilly - very good and very bad weekend!!!

SATURDAY

Combined 1-2 Agility
Jemma - She ran really nicely in this but her contacts felt a little slow, I think after her performance in her last agility I was worried she wouldn't stop but she did and she managed to do the six weaves (2nd obstacle) first time, but all in all she finished 4th, 0.856 seconds off the winner - I should have pushed her contacts but I was happy with her, and we have qualified for the First Contact Finals bless her

Elliot - he also managed the weaves but his contacts were a bit rubbish and he kept stopping on the ground just after the actual contact!! I then didn't work him across a box enough and he went back up the dog walk, oopsies!!!

Graded 1-2 Jumping
Jemma - she worked this really really nicely but as is typical for her she messed up the 12 weaves - she got them second time though!!

Elliot - I was very ginger with him in this round, I didn't really push it too much as I was worried he would have poles down but he did some AMAZINGLY tight wing wraps and tight corners!! Anyway, yay for Mr E - he won me a dragon and finished 2nd, 1.363 seconds behind the winner so I am glad I didn't push him as he probably would have had poles and I don't think we could have made up that time!!

Team Dash
Jemma - She went first and I cut across a corner too early so she ran inside a jump, she did the rest clear though :)

Elliot - He ran 3rd with Lel and bless him was a little bit hyper and he knocked quite a few poles!!

Graded 1-2 Agility
Elliot - Poor little boy didn't manage the 12 weaves (2nd obstacle) but he did the rest of the course really nicely, he just knocked a pole where I turned him in too tight on it and was then in his way, his contacts were much better though.

Jemma - Well I don't really know what to write about this round, everyone at the show heard about it far too much I am sure!! Jem flew round this course nice and clear and consequently I released her from the seesaw reasonably early and then powered her home over the last two jumps, sadly this meant she knocked the 2nd to last pole which in itself is just annoying because I know this happenes when I do this, however the reason that everyone heard about this round was because Jemmas time was 32.960 and the winner of Grade 2 did it in 35.217 - 2.257 seconds slower!!!!!!!! So we could now be grade 3 if I hadn't been stupid and pushed her - muppet!!!! Ironically though if we had still been grade one she would have come second as their winner did it in 31.225!!

SUNDAY

Combined 1-2 Agility
Jemma - What was wrong with her I don't know, she didn't manage her weaves first time (nothing unusual there!!) but then on the second and third attempt she was just being naughty so I downed her and then just sent her over the last two jumps (missing out a big chunk of the course) as she knows better, she can do weaves from a sit!!

Elliot - His contacts were really naughty (well not as bad as they used to be!) and he had no intention of stopping, he didn't jump though, just ran off them!! He didn't manage the 12 weaves either but did all the rest of the course nicely!!

Combined 1-4 Collie Sprint
I had decided with both dogs that I would just really power it round this course because it was a special class and so we wouldn't get points and as it was a 1-4 on just a big long run I knew we wouldn't stand much chance of a place so I just wanted to push them and see what happened!!

Elliot - He felt a bit slow in this but that was probably because I was running less distance than him and due to the pushing he knocked two poles, he was just over 2 seconds slower than the winner anyway and would have been just out of the placings so I am glad I pushed him as it gives me more of an idea of how much I can push him and the poles will stay up!!

Jemma - She ran really nicely in this bless her but she managed to knock the last pole - not aware it was because of anything I did but it was a shame as the judge had already started clapping when it fell!! She was over 3 seconds slower than the winner though bless her so it would have just been a clear round!!

Graded 1-2 Jumping
Jemma - She ran this beutifully, even managing the six weaves first time, but sadly as I crossed behind her on the jump after the weaves she turned to see where I was going and knocked the pole - the only fault of the round, I would have likeld to have compared her time to the winners but as this was the last class of the day we left instead, which may well have been a good thing knowing my luck!!

Elliot - Another round I feel bad about, because of what had happened with Jem I decided to front cross before the weaves, however I was not far enough over and as I turned to point him towards the weaves there in front of me was the tunnel - oopsies!! So Mr E went up the tunnel, back down it, then up it again and then down the side and finally into the weaves which he did really nicely and then we just hammered it home and all the poles stayed up :)

So all in all I was a little disappoint with what went wrong this weekend as it was either my fault or weaves most of the time! I don't mind too much about Jem's clumsy poles as she didn't mean to do that, but as for her weaves -ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I don't know what else we can do about them - I am sure Lel will have more ideas though (no pressure :P), the other things I want to work on after this weekend are back crosses and poles staying up when I am powering it :) I am a little sad too because this is my last agility weekend until 17th Sept!! :( We are at flyball for the next 3 weekends though :)