We had our usual Rocket and Extraset teams in this weekend, the last chance to run these combinations of dogs to get times for the Champs!! The weather was horrid but the few bright spells meant racing wasn't cancelled :) Both teams were in Div 2 (I know, Extraset, in Div 2!!! - crazy stuff!!!), Rockets 2nd seed and Extraset 6th.
Rockets ran really well and really gelled, they managed two new best times, 17.98 with Elliot in and Diefer out and then in the next race a 17.93 without Elliot - just got to hope we can keep it up for the Champs!! They managed to win all their races until the last one which was close, and we took to five legs, sadly on the last leg Elliot manged to take off into the first jump meaning he was very off balance for the rest of his run!! This put them into 2nd place :) Elliot wasn't running his best this
weekend, he was taking off ridiculously early for the first jump and jumping them all quite high (I was letting him go from a foot further forward though, whether this had an effect or not I don't know, and
whether this was due to him running slower or merlin running faster I also don't know?). He was also being really annoying in the line up - he seems to get worse each week!! His tuggy was OK this week though, I only had to really persuade him to play on a few occasions!! It will be interesting to
see how he runs this weekend as Nat is running him-see if he is just naughty for me!!!
We all thought Extraset were going to have it tough but as per usual for this team, they had luck on their side and only lost two of their races, one of which was against Rockets! They finished 3rd with a best time of 19.01 (had Rockets won their last race they would have been 1st and Extraset 2nd) :) Jem managed a best time of 4.38 which makes me a very happy mummy :) She did however do quite a few 4.7s because she seemed to have to run at least twice for almost every leg due to my rubbish starts and numerous lights and the other teams not doing much better either!!!
All in all a good weekends racing for all teams, with Missiles coming 3rd in their division and Ballistics winning Div 1!
Friday, 22 July 2011
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Barbury Castle
Well, this certainly was an eventful weekend!! As it was Nat's birthday and not too far away we decided to take the caravan - after attempting to leave numerous times (very long story) we arrived at about half 9 Friday night. The venue was lovely, a lovely big camping field and massive exercise area, it was just such a shame the ring was 1.25miles from it!!!
Saturday was a quiet day for us in terms of racing, just the missiles in division 7 who did well and came 4th. Nat and I went for a wander round the show with Asher and Jem which, after deciding to walk there (we didn't realise quite HOW far it was!!), turned about to be a 2 and a half hour wander!!! We then had a lovely 4hr nap in the afternoon to make up for our lack of sleep Fri night and our expected lack of sleep Sat night!! Elliot & Laika then had a nice walk round the point to point course before we cooked tea - the second eventful thing for our weekend - our caravan nearly set on fire, someone came to chat to us when there was a loud bang and apparently flames coming out our water heater!! After turning off our gas Carol & Mark kindly lent us their cooker for us to finish cooking our tea before we headed out to celebrate Nat's birthday :)
Sunday was manic, with three teams in three of the four divisions! With the ring so far away from the caravan we didn't manage to get back at all during the day but luckily we had taken money so could buy lunch at the show! The ground was running really slow and consequently none of the dogs ran their best. Extraset managed a best time of 19.09 and won division 3 - I was naughty in the afternoon and didn't move Jem far enough away from the rings to stop her barking between races and so she was noticeably slower in the second race. Apart from that she ran really well, although probably spent very little time looking where she was going!!! Rockets only managed a best time of 18.33 and finished 2nd - they had won all their races until the last one, but so had that team, it was brilliant close racing and we took it to five legs, loosing the last leg on 0.08s!!! Elliot was being a prat for some reason and really would not stand still so my changeovers were quite late as I couldn't judge what he was going to do, or even look at where Merlin was as he was being such a fidget!! I did realise on one of the races that some of the confusion may have been that when Carol calls Merlin she calls "merleeeeee" which of course sounds very much like "eeeeeeee" and when she didn't call Merlin till I had released Elliot he stood stock still. As this wasn't a very practical solution I then ended up just having to lift Elliot over into position and only put him down just before I let him go - worked OK but it is not something I want to have to do all the time!! I tried him coming back to a second ball and it didn't seem to make much difference to his time, he was maybe a fraction quicker to start with but he soon decided not to spit the first ball for the second and so just kept getting hit on the head with it!! I have therefore decided to go back to the tug, work with what I have got for now and then work better on improving it over the winter.
I shall leave you to read Nat's blog for how Asher got on in his first run back after his injury (when she gets round to writing it!:p) but will say that Ballistics managed another new best time of 16.63 :)
Saturday was a quiet day for us in terms of racing, just the missiles in division 7 who did well and came 4th. Nat and I went for a wander round the show with Asher and Jem which, after deciding to walk there (we didn't realise quite HOW far it was!!), turned about to be a 2 and a half hour wander!!! We then had a lovely 4hr nap in the afternoon to make up for our lack of sleep Fri night and our expected lack of sleep Sat night!! Elliot & Laika then had a nice walk round the point to point course before we cooked tea - the second eventful thing for our weekend - our caravan nearly set on fire, someone came to chat to us when there was a loud bang and apparently flames coming out our water heater!! After turning off our gas Carol & Mark kindly lent us their cooker for us to finish cooking our tea before we headed out to celebrate Nat's birthday :)
Sunday was manic, with three teams in three of the four divisions! With the ring so far away from the caravan we didn't manage to get back at all during the day but luckily we had taken money so could buy lunch at the show! The ground was running really slow and consequently none of the dogs ran their best. Extraset managed a best time of 19.09 and won division 3 - I was naughty in the afternoon and didn't move Jem far enough away from the rings to stop her barking between races and so she was noticeably slower in the second race. Apart from that she ran really well, although probably spent very little time looking where she was going!!! Rockets only managed a best time of 18.33 and finished 2nd - they had won all their races until the last one, but so had that team, it was brilliant close racing and we took it to five legs, loosing the last leg on 0.08s!!! Elliot was being a prat for some reason and really would not stand still so my changeovers were quite late as I couldn't judge what he was going to do, or even look at where Merlin was as he was being such a fidget!! I did realise on one of the races that some of the confusion may have been that when Carol calls Merlin she calls "merleeeeee" which of course sounds very much like "eeeeeeee" and when she didn't call Merlin till I had released Elliot he stood stock still. As this wasn't a very practical solution I then ended up just having to lift Elliot over into position and only put him down just before I let him go - worked OK but it is not something I want to have to do all the time!! I tried him coming back to a second ball and it didn't seem to make much difference to his time, he was maybe a fraction quicker to start with but he soon decided not to spit the first ball for the second and so just kept getting hit on the head with it!! I have therefore decided to go back to the tug, work with what I have got for now and then work better on improving it over the winter.
I shall leave you to read Nat's blog for how Asher got on in his first run back after his injury (when she gets round to writing it!:p) but will say that Ballistics managed another new best time of 16.63 :)
Monday, 4 July 2011
Basingstoke
Have been put to shame by Nat as I still haven't written about the Basingstoke competition 3 weeks ago!!!
I wasn't originally planning on going to this competition as I was on call at uni on the Sat night but as it turned out I wasn't called in so I decided rather than Nat go on her own for the day with my dog I might as well join her!!
Sadly Extraset were on the Saturday so Jem didn't get to run, Ballistics were however kind enough to let her do some warm ups with them so she didn't feel completely left out and she had a great time cheering them on from the sidelines :)
As for Elliot, what can I say, my changeovers have got much better and from what I remember I think I only got one light and wasn't that late for many either :) I think there are two main reasons for this, one is that I now put my lead down for where I am letting go from so I am not just guessing where to go from the next time and the other is that I have finally devised a way of getting Elliot to stand still when I am about to release him!! He was really rubbish in terms of coming back to his tug and consequently I have been working more on the second ball with him. I am planning to test which is quicker this weekend at Barbury Castle - I have realised the reason he was speeding up once over the jumps when I was using the second ball was because this was the point at which I stood still and he could see the second ball so I am planning on doing this earlier now!!
Hopefully I will update a bit quicker after this weekend, but I can't promise!!!
I wasn't originally planning on going to this competition as I was on call at uni on the Sat night but as it turned out I wasn't called in so I decided rather than Nat go on her own for the day with my dog I might as well join her!!
Sadly Extraset were on the Saturday so Jem didn't get to run, Ballistics were however kind enough to let her do some warm ups with them so she didn't feel completely left out and she had a great time cheering them on from the sidelines :)
As for Elliot, what can I say, my changeovers have got much better and from what I remember I think I only got one light and wasn't that late for many either :) I think there are two main reasons for this, one is that I now put my lead down for where I am letting go from so I am not just guessing where to go from the next time and the other is that I have finally devised a way of getting Elliot to stand still when I am about to release him!! He was really rubbish in terms of coming back to his tug and consequently I have been working more on the second ball with him. I am planning to test which is quicker this weekend at Barbury Castle - I have realised the reason he was speeding up once over the jumps when I was using the second ball was because this was the point at which I stood still and he could see the second ball so I am planning on doing this earlier now!!
Hopefully I will update a bit quicker after this weekend, but I can't promise!!!
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