Southern River Dog Club Trial

Last night we had the SR Dog Club trial with the company of thunder and lightning but thankfully only a very light amount of rain near the end. Certainly freaked some dogs out though - luckily Raven wasn't one of them. Far as she's concerned the sky is NOT allowed to make such rude rumblings and she'd be the first one there barking at it in reprimand. If anything she gets a bit more excited than usual. Our first run in Open Agility started well - 1st half was good, stayed on table - good girl and then got pinged for the down end of contact - I was too slow to see and by the time I got in the right spot she had pulled into the wrong end of tunnel *sigh*and then she had the precociousness to take an off course jump on the way to the see saw after I had clearly said COME! More like yelled than said really. So she had to put her little body back on the A Frame chill out for a few seconds in the 2 on 2 off position while I reminded her I was the one who knew where we were going. Then we finished the last 2 obstacles fine. Masters Agility was much better - she listened well did her contacts nice and we went clear for a very close 2nd place. Her time 35.71 - 1st place 35.23. We could have perhaps saved some time getting into the off entry tunnel - I left that call a bit late and she came almost to a complete stop as she looked at me to say 'well where then?' when I said Come. Other than that it was very nice. Open Jumping was a sublime run - I'd seen Yvonne's Ceilydh (Welsh for Kay-lee) run clean and very fast so I thought right we're going to push for speed on this one. She responded fantastically and I pushed myself for speed and was every where I needed to be for her. On the home stretch we dropped the 3rd last bar - which was a shame we were a whole second faster than Ceilydh. Nevermind I was really pleased with her run - the striding between those last bars was a bit unusual and if I had just taken the pedal off the accelerator for a fraction she may have cleared them - but then would she have been the fastest as well? Hard to tell.
Masters Jumping she got called a name by me as in "You are such a little mole" when she decided that 'come' (yelled quite loudly and several times) meant 'hang on let me just do this OFF COURSE jump and then I'll get back to you'. And then she knocked a bar off which I spoke to her quite sternly about as we reset it and continued on our way. So 1 out of 4 clear - but I am glad it was the Master Agility that was the one that was clear - it's been a while since we had a clear in that class.
One more trial left in the year now - the Dobe Club on December 10th.

Third Last Trial of Year

Well last night was the West Coast Rottie Club Trial and there were some EXCELLENT courses to run in both Masters and Open. Raven and I ran in Open Agility first and she did a blitzing round doing a complete running contact off the dog walk - to win 1st place - 33.23 seconds on a 57 second course. Next up was Masters Agility and we got round that beautifully until the third last bar which she dropped! I just said "Bloody hell" and kept on to the finish. She knew what she'd done...Open Jumping up next and a very smooth flowing course. I gave her a crap angle onto a series of jumps and being the dog that she is she dug in to correct her path to get over the jumps - instead of a nice straight line though she ended up zigzagging which cost us time. She still came 2nd though so I was well pleased with her efforts. Masters Jumping and she dropped a bar on a rear cross - which in all respects was due to me not being brave enough to do the lead out I wanted so we didn't HAVE to rear cross! Still she knows enough about rear crosses to keep her feet up so we stopped, replaced the bar and left the ring. So 2 clear 2 with bars down - much better than the last trial so happy with that.

Mostly not agility related...

I know this is not strictly an agility/dog/training related post at all but just had to share my latest on the best books out there that I have read recently.
#1 Peter Hamilton's latest Sci Fi - Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained -these are an edge of your seat read with a rather inspirational look into the future - I like the sound of "Rejuvenation", I'd like some of that please!
#2 David Pelzer's series which I have read out of order - I read A Child Called It and A Man Named Dave - still haven't read The Lost Boy yet and I saw in Dymocks yesterday there are a couple more out. There is a kind of slightly macabre fascination for what happened to him (true story of childhood abuse) and you share with him his sense wanting an answer of what makes any mother do that to her child. It sounds like it is all very real and very depressingly sad it does however has just as many moments of his triumphs in there so it does not remain dark all the time.
#3 Jasper Fforde's series - which I have read through completely once and am looking forward to going back to the series - The Eyre Affair, The Well of Lost Plots, Lost in a Good Book and Something Rotten - focus is on a character named Thursday Next. I now have his next instalment - similar universe brand new characters - The Big Over Easy. I shall let you know how it goes.
#4 Tour De Force written by Daniel Coyle and about Lance Armstrong's 2004 Tour De France campaign - I have had an interest in Lance ever since I read - Its Not About the Bike and Every Second Counts - the stories that talk about his cancer and his bike racing and his recovery. He is an intriguing person who certainly has an approach to life that is amazingly disciplined. He is certainly inspiring to read about. I have only just started this one and it has already grabbed me.
#5 I guess I can make this dog/training/agility related - one of the best books to come out on the subject of training is actually a recount of the training of a very nutty Border Collie named Buzz. Called Shaping Success and written by Susan Garrett who is currently competing in the USDAA Nationals as I write this. She tells the story of the incredible journey she had coming to terms with Mr Buzz's breakneck attitude for everything - how she got him to learn some control, taught him restraint and how immensely frustrating yet ultimately exhilerating it was to have an agility dog like Buzz. Along the way she gives detailed exercises of what she did with Buzz to train certain behaviours. Very clear and very easy to follow.

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Sunday Afternoon Frolick

First November Evening Agility Trial

Well tonight's efforts were marginally better than Northern Suburbs a couple of weeks ago but no clear rounds despite this. We were in Open Agility first up and after judge Gail had a bit of a chuckle at her seesaw SLIDE we got called a fault on that. Then she missed her dogwalk contact - so she and I stopped, I told her to get on that contact and to wait. We then proceeded - she of course also had to knock the very last bar on the line home. Masters Agility we were doing fine until she was a slack ass again and knocked a bar around half way through the course - thus we left the ring. Masters Jumping - she knocked the very FIRST bar, I looked at the judge and went "Well that was quick!" and told Raven to lay down while I replaced the bar. I then asked the judge if I could have another go - a non counting round of course and we did. She took a jump the wrong way and I let her take the wrong jump on the way out at the end. Open Jumping felt like an excellent run - we were working really well , she came speeding out of a bendy tunnel and I threw in a "Steady" command to warn her for the last four jumps home. She cleared the first one out the tunnel and I kept running - as we were going over the 2nd last jump I hear "awwww" from the crown and "FAULT" from the judge as the bar from the first jump out the tunnel finally dropped. I had to turn around and look cos I hadn't seen any jumps drop! She had literally gone "jump, jump and as she was taking off for the third jump the first bar dropped!" It was a ripper run though and an unlucky fault as I really felt she had cleared that bar. An altogether unsuccessful night I must say. Three more trials to go this year and I think we shall work very heavily on our contacts and bar work again.
Some great runs though seen by Sue H and Nifty in only his 2nd Open trial - he took 1st place very easily in Open Agility, Gina O Keefe and Indie ran a very nice Masters Agility to win first place there, Amanda and Sonny took 1st place in Masters Jumping with a very speedy run and Jules with her Scottish BC Samroc took 1st place in Open Jumping.

A Pictorial Representation

Here I present a photo of Raven (aka pretty damn amazing dog) and some of her winnings from the State and National Titles weekends - we got a heap of lovely sashes, some beautiful State trophies in wood and some very classy glass trophies from the Nationals. Plus some blankets, a sports bag and cash. I felt it only fitting to do a pictorial display of her efforts those weekends - she performed her little heart out for me.

Cypher report

Yay I got my tunnel today! An early Christmas present from my parents - yes they think I'm crazy! It was delivered from Queensland and sitting on my doorstep when I got home from work. On to the backyard dog exercises from the Clean Run magazine. I haven't got any decent pics of it yet but plan to get them this weekend. Very impressed with Cypher's weaving this week - he still double foots them which is fine by me - doesn't seem to be slowing him down much. Here is a pic.

Yes I know my weave poles leave alot to be desired - that's next on my wish list - a decent set of 12 baby weave poles. I have posted a pic of him taken in the show pose with him all bathed and brushed and looking handsome - he was 10 months there - he turns 13 months tomorrow.

Guess I should get around to taking some more recent ones soon. Think I will start biking him this weekend. I've got to start training him to behave properly in the show ring somehow. He has got most of it - he knows he needs to stand still while the judge goes over him and he is not hard to set up or stack for the ring . Good at standing and watching. What we need to get through to him is the gaiting part - he has overcome his desire to race around the ring at a 100miles an hour we just need to figure out that he is working now and to move with purpose. We think biking will help with that. He has all the elements of a very nice show dog - great attitude and temperament, lovely angles, nice coat and completely animated expression with a sweet face. It would be a shame not to show him!

A Note about the Raven

Raven is an intensely driven Border Collie girl who at 5 years of age is just starting to get it all together in the agility ring. She has given me many highs - winning at major events like the Western Classic and our State Agility Titles plus many first places at trials around the metro and country areas. We also had a weekend of success at this year's Nationals here in Perth - winning three classes and coming 2nd in the highly competitive Open Jumping Final. We got our Open titles last year (with a little help from our friend Robyn Evans of Winpara Border Collies) after a number of years(yes you read that right - "years") of trialling in the Open class. Our control issues are being whittled away however our bar knocking issues are something that will be with us for life and I believe this is due to my lack of knowledge when it came to teaching the basics. I will never give up trying to solve this issue. Never having owned an absolute speed freak before,Raven has taught me so much about agility and has allowed me to experience what the ultimate agility team of dog and handler can be like.Thanks Ravies - you're the best and I love you to bits. Let's go have fun in Masters now! Below is a list of her more notable achievements:
1st Place 2002 Western Classic Novice Agility
1st Place 2005 Western Classic Open Agility
1st Place 2006 Western Classic Open Agility
1st Place 2005 National Qualifying Trial 1 - Master Agility
1st Place 2005 National Qualifying Trial 1 - Open Agility
1st Place 2005 National Qualifying Trial 2 - Open Agility
3rd Place 2005 National Qualifying Trial 3 - Open Jumping
2nd Place 2005 NATIONAL FINAL Open Jumping
1st Place 2005 Rockingham Dog Club Trial - Master Agility AND Master Jumping
1st Place 2005 State Qualifying Trial - Open Agility
3rd Place 2005 State Qualifying Trial - Master Jumping
2nd Place 2005 State Qualifying Trial - Open Jumping
3rd Place 2005 STATE FINAL - Master Jumping
3rd Place 2005 STATE FINAL - Open Jumping
Qualified equal 3rd out of 6 for WA State Team 2005
Member of 2005 3rd Place WA State Team at Nationals

Training Log

All the "professionals" recommend you keep a training journal when starting a dog in agility. Guess I haven't been too disciplined about that but since I'm bored and not ready for bed I thought I'd compile a list of all the skills Cypher has at the age of 12 months - all agility related I guess but some could be transferred to obedience eventually. Let's see:
1) He knows the word WAIT and will wait before coming out of his kennel, out of the house to get in the car, before he gets out of the car, before going through the sliding door to the backyard, in front of a jump, a tunnel, a tyre, a table, dogwalk and the weaves.
2) He will wait in a sit or a down and will move between those 2 positions from a signal from me at up to 20 meters away.
3) The word OKAY to him can mean one of several things - OK to go and eat, OK to move forward to my side, OK to do an obstacle, OK to release off a contact, OK to let go of tugtoy, OK to run and get tugtoy, OK to come and play tug with me. OK to go through a door or get out the car.
4) The word CONTACT when said in open space with no visible target means a fold back down, chin on the ground between front 2 paws,
5) when said (not always) whilst on down plank of dog walk means do a drop at the bottom of contact with bum and two rear paws on contact, front two paws on grass with chin on the ground. Automatic wait for release word of OK.
6) Knows the words sit and down.
7) Will sit or down on the table.
8) Turns to his left on the word 'SPIN' and to his right on the word 'TURN'.
9) On the word CLOSE comes to heel to whatever side my shoulder is turned towards him on.
10) Can do 12 weavers from either side with me far behind or with him or just slightly ahead. Working on a recall with me at one end a couple of meters away and him left just a meter away from the start. I can be on either side of weavers.
11) The word OUT means run away laterally from me dependent on which body cue - ie I lift my arm and hand out on my right hand side and he moves away from my right and vice versa for left.
12) Will recall on COME 8 out of 10 times, will give eye contact on hearing his name.

There's probably more but I can't think of it right now...here's a pic of him on the table.

The Rules...whenever

ANKC Agility is overdue a rule change - so at the end of last year and the start of this year every State in Australia made submissions for rule changes - the big one being a change of heights and more height categories to give longevity in the sport to our large dogs and to give the mini and toy breeds a chance to have a go. These submissions all went before a conference of all state delegates in January this year. It is now nearly November - and we still don't have our new rules. Latest news is that they will not come in till July 1st 2006. This is a huge disappointment for many competitors. Unfortunately it came down to a few people who caused this to happen. There has been a lot of traffic on the agility lists here in Australia about this - and there are many frustrated people out there. All we can do now is sit tight, hope that the motion that passed at the conference to not bring them in till July next year can be rescinded or ammended or whatever the hell they do to motions to get them changed so that our large dogs can enjoy the sport longer and our tiny dogs can enjoy competing...such is life when you're involved ina a big organisation I guess. Patience is required...

Cypher's Hips and Elbows...Lookin' Good!

Heydiho!
Cypher got his hips and elbows x-rayed for scoring around the end of the school holidays and I sent them off to a Dr Wyburn in Margaret River for scoring - I got the scores sent back to me in a very timely fashion. His elbows were perfect 0:0 and his hips were 1:4 - a very low score so this is one happy Cypher owner! This gives his hips the Australian Grade of 1 and International Grade B. Woohoo! If anyone wishes to use him later on at stud he certainly meets the health criteria most breeders would set. He has also, quite some time ago now, had blood taken for testing for CL (Ceroid Lipofuscinosis - a storage disease) and CEA (Collie Eye Anomaly) and he has resulted in Clears and Normals for both. So for what are considered the most common health issues in the BC he is free of them.

Right must go and tell all dog friends who appreciate a good hip score!

The Sunday After...

Monday 24th October 2005

Well Raven brought me back down to earth with a thud at yesterday’s very small trial (100 entries over in 2 hours!!) up at Carine in the afternoon. She kept her insanity under wraps right up until she crossed the start line of her first run in Open Agility. It was a straight run of 3 jumps and you then had to pull them through for a threadle. She decided to keep going after jump 3 despite the very firm verbal to “Come” and nearly caused us an off course. Then she decided to finish it off – she did the threadle jump and went straight in the wrong end of the tunnel – so after that it was “you are going to give me 2 0n 20ff girl!” on all the contacts – needless to say she did every contact at a flying run and did the next couple of obstacles while I was still standing by the contact waiting for her 2o2o position – she did a nice handstand on the table so she didn’t fall off at least but she seriously shouldn’t have been going that fast off a seesaw anyway! She popped the weavers despite me facing her and giving her the strong command to weave at the end (I had noticed several dogs had popped the weavers and made sure I was very clear about her doing all the weaves but she still popped them to go to the tunnel – cow!). So needless to say I called her back to redo the seesaw and redo the A Frame and made her wait. It wasn’t a pretty run by any stretch of the imagination and she was quite aware of my displeasure with her LOL!! Thankfully by the time we got in the Master Agility ring she had reigned in some of her insanity and gave me a beautiful run with a completely running contact on the dog walk which the judge called us for unluckily – I had a look on the video someone took and it was quite clear that she got it there. Never mind eventually our judges will get round to appreciating running contacts. I was happy with her run. Open Jumping we ran clear for 3rd place and Master jumping we knocked the 3rd bar and left the ring – so 2 out of 4 runs were pretty good. Just wondering if she is now in the mode of needs lots of runs to get any kind of sanity. We shall see at her next trial in a couple of weeks.
I took Cypher with me and in between runs and at the beginning and in the afternoon at the end and we practiced doing 12 weave poles in many different ways and he was fantastic, very enthusiastic and getting quicker all the time. Very pleased with his weave pole progress.

The National Agility Trials

Monday 17th October - aka Recovery Day
Well it's all over red rover - Perth has held it's very first Agility Nationals and it is all said and done. I am very chuffed with how it all went and the comments I have heard from everyone have been highly positive and very impressed. Please to say also (not that I'm biased) that Border Collies took 5 out of the 6 finals and of those 5 finals 3 of them come from show bred Border Collie lines. The other 2 were a rescue BC and the other was a working BC from Blue Moon Border Collies in the ACT.

I was worried I'd be on a bit of a downer now that it's all over but having today to relax and recover and just reflect and digest all that went on has made me realised I am glad that it is all over but that I certainly had a ball and that the whole thing lived up to and even exceeeded my expectations. Tim took some fantastic photos of so many dogs and he got some great ones of the Raven that I will cherish for a very long time.

This being our first time competing in such a highly acknowledged and competitive event I was content with just making a final. To win 3 events, come 3rd in another event and to come 2nd in a Final was far more than I ever expected and to say I was thrilled would be an understatement. Raven excelled this weekend and it seems the more runs she got to do the better she went. I was so proud of my little speed freak...and I was especially proud to have other handlers who I considered particularly good, come up and comment about her to me. This event has definitely confirmed for me that I will be there next year in June in Sydney and will be especially pleased to run her and Cypher.

We only have 5 trials left in the year now and all of them will be a bit like a country trial after such a weekend but she loves this game so much I will try and keep my handling up to her demanding standards!

GSDA West Coast Challenge Double Header Trial

GSDA Double Header Trial Sun Oct 9th Trial 1 (MORNING) - Trial #38 for the year. Well that theory I have about her being better in the afternoon after she's got the little bit of mania out of her system in the morning was blown out of the water today. First run up was Masters Jumping - we had a tiny wobble to get her over a jump however she did run clear and won 2nd Place Master Jumping! Next run up was Open Agility -It was a nice flowing course and I had a ball and so did she, we blitzed this course and won 1st Place Open Agility. Next run up Open Jumping - no wobbles this time and we absolutely nailed it - tiny flaw in my front cross meant she had to brake quite hard to get around me which may have cause us to fall back into 2nd place by 1.5 seconds. No matter I was happy she won 2nd Place Open Jumping - 3 out of 4 runs all clear! Masters Agility course was very hard for the fast dogs and she took a jump from the wrong side - but I hadn't really expected to go clear so again I was happy she kept every single bar up.

Trial #39 GSDA Afternoon Trial - Absolutely NO clear rounds here this afternoon. However I take responsibility for 3 out of theose 4 runs - I caused refusals to happen on both Masters Jumping and Open Jumping and also Open Agility - she kept her bars up in all three and my handling didn't come up to her standards again. Masters Agility - well that was my 2nd heartbreak for the weekend (afterthe Open Agility State Final). It was a lovely course and I went for broke - we have all our titles and I have complete confidence in her bars now so I pushed her for speed to see if she had any more gears to move up. I ran with her from the start instead of leading out and we had a ball! I handled her really well all the way and she raised her speed several levels and we were on the home stretch - just the weaves and a single bar to go. She just taps that last bar as we cross the finish line - ARGH!!!!! The judge had the decencey (or perhaps indecency!) to come and tell me she was his fastest dog by about 10 seconds on that course ARGHH!!!!!! As much as that last bar hurt I could not take anything away from the run - it was an absolute thrill and great to know how she responds to me upping the speed ante on her. Good to find this out before the Nationals next weekend!

WA State Agility and Jumping Titles

Trial #36 Morning Qualifying Trial for State Finals - Sat Oct 8th. What an absolute star! Our first run of the day was in Masters Jumping and given the number of rear crosses required I kept my mouth shut and hung back alot and we went clear!! Raven gained her JDM title with a 3rd place WOOHOO!!! The run also gave us a spot in the 10 dog final in the evening. Quite surprised by how high up she was as we were playing it very safe and she felt very slow for a Raven LOL!! Now we just run for the absolute maximum speed now! Our next run up was Open Agility - this one she also blitzed and won 1st place Open Agility beating alot more dogs than usual as we have a number of Eastern States competitors here for Nationals next week. This also gained her a spot in the Open Agility Final. In Masters Agility unfortunately she had a bar down so we stopped, reset the bar and left and in Open Jumping she was in too much of a hurry on the home stretch and flattened out over the 2nd last bar.
Trial #36 Afternoon Qualifying Trial for State Finals - Sat Oct 8th. Again Raven was the star! This time we managed a clear in Open Jumping for a 3rd place and a spot in the 10 dog final, and she did it again in Open Agility going even faster than the morning's run to win 1st Place Open Agility - it was looking great for that final! Unfortunately we had a bar down again in Masters Agility and we copped a refusal in Masters Jumping because I turned her off a jump (deliberately to correct her line to the next obstacle) however she kept her bars up in 3 out of 4 runs so VERY happy with that!

State Title Finals - Sat Evening Oct 8th: Well we qualified for 3 out of 4 finals so I was elated with her regardless of how she did in the finals. Open Agility was the most heart breaking for us - a very BAD count on the table (no timer) by the judge had Raven jumping off just as he said GO and he called her for it - video shows her 5 second count on the table was about 7 seconds at least - very unfair and so unfair for her that I was absolutely seething and we blitzed the rest of the course as I handled like a hell cat and she rose to my indignation at her treatment. In the end I was so proud of her I didn't give a toss about the judge. Open Jumping and Masters Jumping she was an absolute star and did absolutely everything I asked of her and gave me more.We were the only WA Pair to go clear in Masters Jumping and my mistake in being on the wrong side at one point cost us dearly and all we managed was a 3rd. In Open Jumping we were the highest placed WA pair again and this time I was up to her standards and we didn't put a foot or paw wrong to gain 3rd Place. This was around 8.30pm in the evening and after such a long day to be keeping her bars up and still be the absolute speed freak she was I was throughly impressed with her.I did indeed take the best dog home that night and I feel incredibly lucky to have a dog like Raven.

Raven at Perth Royal 2005

Monday September 25th 2005
Trial #35 - PERTH ROYAL SHOW.. Well I had hoped we might be able to break our Royal jinx this year but not to be unfortunately. However considering last years performance compared to this year I was absolutely impressed with our improvement. We did some good work out there and I am sure Raven and I will crack the Royal in the future. Masters Agility was first and after micromanaging her through some very tough bits and finding myself on the wrong side of her once, we were on the home stretch when a tricky threadle was the last challenge and unfortunately she took the 2nd part of it the wrong way - other than that we would have made it! Open Agility she took the bar of the spread down in a hurry to turn back to me as she knew that after the spread there was nothing (course was nested to Masters), Masters Jumping she took an off course that I just did not see coming! Other than that the run was fantastic and I was very impressed with her distance work. Open Jumping, our last course of the day and Raven very uncharacteristically, went past a jump that I had front crossed to turn her onto - she flew by me in the smallest gap, it astonished me really! So a bit of the fluke faults happening - a couple of handler errors as well - but she and I really enjoyed ourselves today. She kept just about every single bar up, did great contacts, held her table nicely, and I got the best lead outs ever this year. So much to be pleased about but heaps to work on as well. Below are some great Royal photos taken by Tim.

Perth Royal Teams Run Off

Raven on her flying way around a jumping course.




























PERTH ROYAL SHOW - TEAMS EVENT 23/09 (Jasper above - 1/2 brother to Tag)
Well today was one of the most exhausting (yet fun at the same time!) days I've ever had at the Show! Raven is in a 4 dog team named THREE'S A CROWD (yes ok I know 4 dogs and threes a crowd doesn't compute but the "Three" refers to number of handlers - sometimes we're also known as Two's Company because it is just Robyn and myself), and thanks to several factors today I ended up running 3 out of the 4 dogs in this team! Plus the agility and the jumping were TWO rounds each! 16 rounds in total for one four dog team and I ran 12 of them! The team - Raven, Saffi (CH WINPARA ICEE RED ADX JDX), Tag (CH WINPARA SECRET OBSESSION ADX JDX) and Deb Hyde's Jasper (OB CH BRYNBANK DANGEROS LIASON ADX JDX). Tag has NEVER run with me in a trial and at best we've had about 4 practices together at training, however I had to end up running him for 3 out of 4 runs! Luckily Robyn made it back from the Breed ring for 1 of the runs and ran him clear, and I managed a clear in Jumping with him, however we had more than a couple off courses in our other runs! I ran Jasper for the 1st run in Agility and he did very well, we had one wrong tunnel entry and one bar down and that was it - Deb ran him the other 3 runs with only a bar down in 2, and a couple of missed weavers in the other. Raven was a star pretty much all day apart from her very first run where she was more than a little amped up by the crowd and just couldn't wait till the judge said go on the table! She got called for a slightly suspect colour on the dog walk in her next run and in jumping she was an absolute star - I over handled her in one area (must keep mouth shut!) and caused her to take a bar down and in the last run of the day we both were in sync and ran a clear and very fast round. I am very pleased and proud to say that Threes A Crowd made the cut this year and got into the finals with the top 6 teams for both Agility and Jumping. More than a little surprised about the jumping since poor Saffi is having difficulty with the spread jumps of late due to middle aged spread creeping up on her! But she tries her heart out for me and that is something I will always be proud of with her.
Saffi is directly below and her son Tag is underneath.

Gosnells Dog Club Agility Jinx

Trial #34 September 10th Gosnells Dog Club - Again another clubs' grounds that we never manage to go clear on! There was no fixing that jinx today! The positives of our runs were that she kept all her bars up in both agility runs and did really nice contacts (I have included a pic below) the negatives (which we wiil not focus on!) are that she dropped a bar in both Open Jumping and Masters Jumping and she popped the last weave in Open Agility. The biggest negative was me! running the Masters Agility course and not even realising till we got to the end that I had missed about 5 obstacles out! Luckily we stuffed up before that anyway but I'd have been a bit annoyed with myself if we'd done everything clear and I thought we'd done the whole course! LOL!!! Dearie me sometimes I wonder if I am ever going to meet Raven's demanding high standards as her handler! LOL!! I take solace in the fact that we really haven't had a trial like this since way back in July - 2 months ago actually! Still have not figured out why I remembered the course a different way!

A Team of Two

Trial #33 September 3rd Rockingham Dog Club -Today was an all round awesome trial. To be honest we have competed at these grounds on a number of occasions now and not gone clear and I was not expecting any greatness today - how wrong I was! After submitting our top ten cards for the National Team selection I was delighted to find out at the announcement before the trial that Raven and I have been selected to represent WA at the Nationals in October! She shared 3rd spot amongst 6 dogs! This was an achievement that I really thought could not be done at the start of the year so to say I was proud of my little girl would be an understatement!

Our day was capped off by another historic moment for us in our Agility careers - Raven took out 1st PLACE MASTERS AGILITY AND 1st PLACE MASTERS JUMPING today! And our runs were very close to being perfect and felt extremely smooth. That gave us leg #6 of our JDM and I was absolutely over the moon with my girl and her efforts today! That JDM inches ever nearer! I felt today that we were the best team we could be - she was in sync with me and I was in sync with her - she did her job and I did mine and we both did them well. Such a great day deserves some pictures so I have posted some below - thanks go to Darryl Bourne and Tim Abidin for these great shots.