Well it hardly seems like five minutes since I bought Hector home for the first time, he was that tiny that for a good couple of months he fitted in a cat carrier and yet here we were at his first ever competition, and yes I was more than a little excited.  Hec learnt a lot of his agility foundations in my living room; turns were practiced round cones; waits were practiced with the carefully engineered distractions of my other dogs (well that's what I like to think of them as); his contacts were trained and proofed on a contact trainer and after finding that I had enough room for six weaves in the living room he learnt to weave there too.  We supplemented that with whatever training we could squeeze in before classes started, but those 5-10 minutes each week at the agility field soon started to add up.  Along with agility training, Hector learnt lots of tricks, some obedience exercises and practiced how to run as fast as he possibly could on walks and obviously get himself fit.  So that was it we were ready for our first competition, Hec handled the noisy atmosphere without a care in the world; all his foundations were solid, he waited on the start line, listened to all his commands, his contacts were perfect 2 on 2 offs and he even managed to weave!  We didn't manage any clear rounds mainly because we are still a new partnership and I am learning where he might need an extra bit of help but to say I am pleased with his debut is an understatement, I can't wait for his next competition.

Running five dogs in competitions was exhausting, especially when one of them is Rufus who seems to require so much more energy than anybody else!  Nancy gets better with each competition, and thrives on the noisy atmosphere of indoor arenas, sadly this is the opposite to Connie who finds the whole atmosphere very stressful.  Connie did a lovely run in her first jumping course but found the enclosed environment difficult to focus in for her other runs.  Still we have a plan to help Connie cope inside so hopefully at Connie's next show she'll be back on form.  Although Connie and Nancy are both at a similar stage in their agility careers and have trained together since they started their agility foundations, they are both very different dogs who have different needs, so need to be trained and handled differently.  Please always remember that your dog is an individual and so what might be appropriate for somebody else's dog, may not be right for your dog.

I remember saying to Ann when we first started up the club, that wouldn't it be fantastic if one day we'd have handlers/dogs trained by us that were competing.  Well a few of you have already made your debuts in unaffiliated shows or anysize classes, and now we have several of you entering your first grade 1 show.  I guess I'd better start thinking up some new hopes/plans, as that one is firmly ticked off the list.  And we've got lots more agility debuts to look forward to over the next coming season.     

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One year on from our last visit to South Durham and what a lot has changed - both good and bad.  The previous year I had nervously stepped into the ring with Nancy for the first time; a year on with a bit more experience under her belt she collected a 2nd and 3rd place in grade 3.  Connie is now old enough to compete too and also managed to gain a 2nd place.  Both Nancy and Connie narrowly missed out on winning by hundredths of a second but we're more than happy with that as both the young girls still have so much more to learn and work on for now and they both need to build up their confidence so the nice flowing courses that they "should" get in grade 3 are perfect for them.

Sadly Winnie was missing her partner in crime Whisky since his retirement, although he did come and queue with her just for old times sake.  Winnie is my comfy pair of slippers when it comes to agility, we just seem to get each other and she makes me so proud.  We managed 2 out of 3 clears including a 4th place, and I'm sure we'd have managed 3 out of 3 clears if Winnie's handler hadn't had a brain fart at obstacle number 17 and directed her over the wrong jump!  Gertie was back on form after some time off with an injury and managed a 1st and 4th, it's great to have her back competing especially as she's nearly 9 years old now and I always worry that any injury might be an injury that she doesn't get over so I'm especially enjoying every mad, noisy run we have together.

Glen and Rufus are probably our most difficult dogs to run, not that they both aren't talented or good at agility, but they both seem to be the most unpredictable - each of them have been known to like throwing you a curve ball every so often, still at least they keep us on our toes and if we do manage to get them round a course clear it always feels well deserved if we end up gaining a placing with them.  Sadly neither of them managed any clear rounds but they did work fantastic and Rufus even managed a 7th place with 5 faults.

I managed to leave the fitness app on my phone switched on all day while at the show and reached a new high as far as my daily step count was concerned, 22338 steps 16.02 km walked, no wonder I feel shattered when I get home from a show.  So apologies to everyone in our classes on Sunday if we seemed a little weary.

We're really trying to make sure that you and your dog have a really solid set of foundation skills as far as agility is concerned, so excuse the fact that we keep nagging at all of you to get your commands right - that commands are clear and are said in a nice voice; to make sure your contacts are solid; that you don't use your dogs name all the way round the course but only when you need their attention and most importantly that you build that relationship with your dog - your agility partner, so when you step on that start line of a course your dog is working with you.  You won't go clear on every single course but if your dog is working with you and having fun, then at least you haven't got to worry about whether your dog will stay with you in the ring or will they go chasing the dog in the next ring; will they sniff the floor looking for rabbit poo or will they go and investigate that nice smelling catering van just on the edge of the field.   Your foundation skills are so important, there will always other skills and techniques to learn but if your foundations are solid they're what you will fall back on time and time again, the nuts and bolts of your agility.  Some of our previous agility dogs had gaps in their foundation skills and we are really trying to make sure that you all don't have to battle with those gaps in your foundation skills too.              

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Well it's been a long time since our last blog update; apologises but with classes becoming busier and busier; weekends away at competitions and that thing called "life" getting in the way there barely seemed any time for sleeping and eating let alone writing blog posts.

We are still absolutely loving teaching classes and I know we say it all the time but you are all doing fantastic, each week when we plan courses we wonder if we've been too ambitious in what we are asking you to do and then you make it look easy.  It's so exciting watching you all progress and seeing handlers and dogs being bitten by the agility bug.  Our puppy group are amazing and what a mix of breeds, I don't think I've met a Dutch Shepherd before but I could happily steal Effie ;-)

We've been away at shows for several weekends recently.  The youngsters Connie and Nancy are really settling into competition life now, still lots to work on with both of them but they are showing how much potential they both have.  Sadly the last couple of shows Whisky hasn't been able to compete due to an injury that is under investigation by the vet and at the last show Gertie decided to join her best buddy in the invalid corner as she wasn't jumping properly (hopefully she's on the mend now).

It hardly seems possible that we are approaching the club's first birthday, where has that time gone?  We still have so many plans and ideas when time allows!  We also think we should do something to celebrate our 1st birthday, so if you have any ideas let us know.

As time marches on our dogs and us don't get any younger and sadly I had to say goodbye to the eldest member of my pack a few weeks ago.  Stanley had been my constant shadow for the past 13 years, he was the kind of dog that thought you really needed his company in whatever you were doing which meant that actually going out and not taking Stan with you was similar to escaping from Alcatraz as every door had to be double bolted to foil his latest bid for freedom.  So as me and my pack adjust to life without Stan around, give your hound(s) an extra big cuddle as they really are with us for far to short a time.  Run free at Rainbow Bridge Stanley xx 

On Friday we headed off for our first weekend show of the season. The weather on Friday was glorious I was merrily wondering if I'd packed enough vest tops and should I pack my shorts; I cheerfully flung my thermals back in my wardrobe and frantically searched the house for sun tan cream. Well the weather gods certainly had a good chuckle as we woke up Saturday morning to rain, high winds and generally freezing conditions.

As it's the start of the season we both felt a bit rusty but we both had some good runs and some not so good ones, pilot errors! All the dogs were looking really good from our older more experienced dogs who showed they still haven't lost any speed or enthusiasm to the younger ones who at times showed their inexperience but also showed how much potential they have with a bit more ring craft under their belts.  Ruth and Morse competed on Sunday in the Anysize classes and did really well, they're nearly ready to make their Grade 1 debut!

As expected when you take away three dogs that have never been camping before we had several garden breakouts. Although the prize for the best escape has to go to Grace, who not only escaped the garden fencing but then appeared to be struck by temporary ear failure and couldnt hear any recall commands as she merrily danced her way through the camping area. And then as Ann opened the gate to go and fetch Grace, Connie, Whisky and Glen made a bid for freedom too and headed off to the exercise area too :-D Sighthounds are the naughtiest creatures on this planet, as Rufus proved when he couldn't stay on the exercise area but had to find a small gap in the fence and take himself off for a few laps of the neighbouring field just because I wasn't paying 100% attention to his antics.

Good luck to Caroline and Rex who had heading off to Lincoln this weekend for their first taste of competing.

Well, I woke up at 5 am on the morning of our training day and the snow was blowing horizontally past the window.  What to do!  We had our new puppy classes starting that day plus both our other classes were full.  The weather app on my phone said light rain at 10 (with a heavy rain shower at 12) then a nice afternoon with sun.  So after many texts to Julie we decided to go ahead.

The puppy class started and boy have we got some wonderful dogs and handlers in there.  I feel emotional even thinking about them.  I think the one that stood out the most was a miniature poodle, Pepper.  A very unusual colour with a bit of tri, she had a pretty clipped coat and a ribbon in her hair and......... trotted in the muddy field as though she owned the place!   She then did everything her young owner asked her and never once battered an eyelid at the steadily increasingly bad weather!  She wasn't fazed by anything and ran through tunnels, round wings and through wide channel weaves, working beautifully for a game of tug and treats.  Also teamed up with the poodle was a springerdoodle and what a happy dog she was. Really fit and athletic and ready to take on the world and really in tune with her owner who had obviously put a lot of work in.

Then in the other group we had the younger dogs of about 6-9 months, with younger dogs antics!  They did so well as none of them had worked in such an exciting setting before and it did cause a few zoomies round the field, but they settled down and did lovely puppy fun stuff.  Fitz the border collie went through a tunnel the first time of seeing one, Darcy the cockapoo had a lovely wait and then through the tunnel really boldly to her young owner and both dogs were learning to come back and play tug. The little Tibetan Terrier was slightly nervous of the tunnel but he did manage to take titbits placed on the tunnel floor and all these dogs were really happy to trot along a very slightly raised plank and easily went into the 2o2o position, plus they all ran through the wide channel weaves. 

In fact, looking back (it was quite hard to see it at the time as by now it was absolutely pouring down) all these young dogs actually did a lot of work and worked really hard, so well done.

By now, our waterproofs weren't waterproof anymore! A few people couldn't come to the foundation group so we cancelled that class and hoped the rain would stop later on in the day for our last class.  In the meantime we slopped around the fields with our own dogs, who never seem to notice the weather anyway and then the rain stopped!  We had half an hour to spare before the last class came so Julie trained Gertie and I trained Glen.  With Glen being my middle dog and never needing much attention he always seems to get the least training, and I knew I only had time for one dog, so I gave it all to Glen, whilst Julie gave her time to Gertie and we just had fun with them but did some hard stuff.   Glen now seems my easiest dog, although he seems to have forgotten his contact position. 

Then the last class came and the sun came out!!  What can we say.  I know we say nearly every week how good they were, but they are just getting better and better.  To be able to set up a course, put the numbers out and see our handlers run large and quite tricky sequences  - which also includes contacts in those sequences now - is such a rewarding feeling.  Especially for one dog Badger who is really nervous and is coming on in leaps and bounds but still has a fear of people in fluorescent coats.  It wasn't until after the class had finished that we remembered that, which is just as well as I was lit up like a christmas tree with a spare fluorescent coat I'd changed into half way through the day.  And not only did Badger not notice the coat he was willingly taking titbits off me and playing ball!  

And of course there is Rex with his one eye who thinks nothing of it, and in just a few short weeks, we can see the makings of a great agility dog, aided by his handler of course!  He really listens to his handler, is in tune with her and drives on beautifully.  There is so much potential there.

And Bertie the Scottie is still coming along nicely and even though he does get distracted very easily he makes up for it by all the things he can do.  His favourite is the seesaw.    And Ruth with Morse - they have come such a long way and Ruth's handling is looking really impressive.  And Dottie  is really starting to drive on to her tunnels more and given the right instructions, will do anything her handler wants and would work for her all day.

Then the day still wasn't finished!  We had a 1-2-1 with a lurcher who was in one of our group lessons last month, but really couldn't concentrate and was getting too excited, so we are starting him off in a calmer situation.  His owners so want to help this dog and we do too.   They have obviously been working hard with him - after typical sighthound zoomies, he listened and was much better behaved and managed jump, tunnel, jump, jump back in tunnel and over the first jump again - and if you've never had a sighthound you don't know what an achievement that is!

Then as the sun wasn't quite down, we even managed to train our own dogs.  Where we got the energy from I don't know, but we actually trained them all and even though we didn't train them for long, we trained them well.  Both Connie and Nancy our young dogs that are nearly ready for competing, actually look and feel like agility dogs now.   Roll on next week!

Connie and Nancy have both recently made their agility debuts; for both dogs this was quite an achievement but for completely different reasons.  Both Connie and Nancy are rescue dogs who seemed to come with their own training challenges.  Whilst Connie wants to work and is extremely driven, she can be nervous and has been known to have moments when she just can't cope with any failures in training - she just wants to get things right.  Nancy on the other hand seems to take most things in her stride but she is a bit of a free spirit who is not the most biddable dog in this world.  For Connie competitions are quite a stressful environment with lots of things that worry her from people coming behind her to to collect the lead, to children working on the ring party.  For Nancy the big challenge is can she actually concentrate for a whole thirty odd seconds on me, and not want to race off and chase other dogs or say hello to all her adoring public :-)  Well both girls did us proud, Connie coped with all the things that worry her and once she got the idea that she was actually going to get to play agility was dragging Ann to the rings for her turn and Nancy actually managed to focus for all her runs and even managed a couple of clear rounds.  We're looking forward to future shows with these two youngsters as I'm sure they'll just get better and better.