So her third show came along and I walked her first class which was a huge agility course. I looked at it and felt exhausted at the thought of attempting to run Grace and wondered if her agility career could end here - we'd had a go and maybe she was quite happy living her life just being Grace!
But, I wasn't ready to give up without a fight - and I was so pleased in the end. It was a really spread out European style course which sort of traveled from one side of the ring to the other and back again, with tunnels strategically placed to help the dogs drive on, and Grace loved it. She did nearly everything I asked of her, seamlessly bypassing the middle of the course and the weaves and she finished as happy and as bouncy as how she started which is all I'm aiming for, and she actually did about 13 obstacles.
Then it was time for her jumping classes. Well - in the queue we bumped into the lovely Helen and Colin with their gorgeous greyhound cross Milo - Grace's partner in crime! They had such a lovely time playing like only sighthounds can eg pretend they aren't on leads and run round in circles at 100 mph, that we ended up causing chaos in seconds, she slipped her collar and I had to rugby tackle her to stop her doing zoomies around the rings! So when it was her turn to compete she was still a tad giddy and ended up doing zoomies anyway (video to follow!). I'd told the ring party that we couldn't do the weaves and I was taking my own line, so they kindly told the judge for me. Of course, it was pointed out to me later that I'd forgot to mention that we couldn't do jumps or tunnels either!! But to me the fact she was happy and enthusiastic is a huge step forward. Naturally I would have liked her to do one or two more jumps then she did........!!
I thought I was going to miss her last jumping class as it was at the end of the day and all my other dogs needed a walk, so the walk came first which included Grace disappearing into the woods at 100 mph - strangely followed by her partner in crime again, Milo! So by the time I got to the ring I was about the last person left to run and I thought Grace would be exhausted. It was a lovely course for her - straight up and down to tunnels and ........ she was brilliant (only those of you in the sighthound world will probably understand!) She actually drove on ahead of me. She only did about half a dozen jumps and 3 tunnels but to me it felt as great a high as though we'd won!
Loads to work on but it seems those 30 seconds at a time of training are working.
Thank you Helen for filming - I'm still grinning!