Saturday

22/01/11

Today was Agility Addicts Show. The first one we have been to for absolutely ages and it was really nice to be back competing again. Unfortunately Lily is still in season so she had to stay at home so it was just Ruby and Milo, who was competing for the first time.

Ruby was first in the ring. It seemed to be quite a complicated jumping course and I wasn't sure how well we would do but Ruby surprised me and jumped clear. She did everything I asked and I was able to handle her exactly how I planned. Actually that is not really unusual with Ruby as she is always really good at following my cues, the problem is more often that I get it wrong and she does what I say. We got a clear round but were just outside the places.

Next was Milo's agility runs. He did really well. We did get eliminated but it was because I didn't make sure I got close enough to the tunnel to pick him up so he got a bit confused about which jump to do next. Once I got him back we carried on and everything went smoothly until we got to the sea-saw. He loves the contact equipment and in spite of me yelling sea-saw he shot straight up it and into space. Thankfully he landed well and the judge told me to put him back on it again to make sure he hadn't frightened himself too much. He went straight back on but much slower this time and did it properly. Although we were eliminated I was really pleased with how he ran. He went where I said most of the time and going over strange equipment didn't seem to bother him at all. On the next run we corrected the previous mistakes but did something else wrong so got eliminated again. He did do the sea-saw properly though.

Next was Ruby's agility runs and as we are still working on her dog walk phobia I decided to do them not for competition and just do a couple of jumps and then the dog walk and leave the ring. She was a little unsure but didn't get too stressed out about it. We will keep working on it and hopefully will get over it again.

Finally was Milo's jumping run and it was a very nice course with several changes of side but each one was at the tunnel which made it quite easy. His first run was fantastic, he did went exactly what I said and got a clear round. Not bad for his first ever competition. He was 6th but unfortunately the places only went to 5th, but I am still really pleased with him.

Milo was measured as well and I really was not sure if he would be small or medium. He is so close to the cut off point for small but luckily the measures decided he was just small enough to be small. I am glad about this as he is quite a stocky dog and he would struggle to jump the medium height jumps. I just have to hope he doesn't grow at all in the next year.



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