We have been to Pachesham for their beginners show today and had a fantastic time! The beginners show is much smaller than the Winter League and there was a really friendly atmosphere.

I met up with Philippa and John and their lovely Cockapoo, Bilbo - it was lovely to have some friendly faces there and Philippa was a great help with the girls!

As it was aimed at beginners the classes were Agility I (full course), Agility II (no weaves or see-saw), Jumping and Steeplechase. I had entered them for everything.

1st round was Agility I - I ran both girls NFC to so that we could avoid the seesaw!. Ruby did OK, but as we know, her contacts need some work, but it was good to see how focussed she was before any of the other rounds. Pepper had never done a sequence that had a full height dog walk or A-frame so I wasn't really sure how she would be, but as usual, she was just perfect! No worries on either contacts and did lovely 2o2o on both!!

Next was Agility II - Pepper was first - she was doing brilliantly until she got ahead of me and missed a jump, and when I called her she back jumped so had an immediate E!! All my fault - I felt dreadful! It wasn't much better in Ruby's round - I nearly went the wrong way and caused her to go over the wrong jump so another immediate E!

Round 3 - Steeplechase - Ruby was first and did a bit of freestyling, but when she did focus she did some good work. Pepper was just brilliant - she ran clear and was placed 3rd!

Final round - Jumping - in the beginners Jumping there were 6 weaves but the judge wasn't going to give faults - you could attempt the weaves as many times as you liked but you had to complete all 6 weaves to be counted as a clear round. Ruby went first - she missed the weaves twice but did it perfectly the 3rd time - I pushed her for the rest of the course and she flew! Clear! Then Pepper, who can't officially weave yet, so I was expecting to have to guide her through. As usual, she completely surprised me, I pointed at the weaves and she did all 6 without stopping, flew round the rest of the course so another clear! Ruby was placed 7th and Pepper 5th!

I am so delighted with both of them- they did me proud, but I'm still kicking myself for my poor handling!

3 more rosettes to add to the collection!

Had a great walk with Pip, Stu and Kipper at Farnham Park! The girls always have so much fun running around together and I think they went in every muddy puddle! Thank goodness for the Equafleece coats!

No walk would be complete without a trip to the Oat Sheaf for a well earned drink! 

A nice way to finish off the weekend!

It was great to get back to agility tonight after the Christmas break! I wasn't sure quite how the girls would be after 3 weeks but I was really pleased with both of them.

Pepper did brilliantly in her class completing all of the little courses that we were given. She had a funny five minutes missing the first jump a couple of times but once she got over that she was great!

Ruby was really focussed and did a great job in her class! Her weaves still aren't 100% reliable but they were better than they have been! We did some seesaw work - we've taken Ruby back a few stages as she seems to have become a little wary, so hopefully we can work on it over the coming weeks and build her confidence!

Had a really nice day at Pachesham show! I wasn't sure how good they would be after a long break from training over the Christmas holiday, but they both did me proud!

Ruby was entered for 4 runs - I ran the 2 Agility courses NFC which I will continue to do until she can seesaw. Her contacts are still a big problem but I am going to start training her with a toy instead of treats so that the 'training in the ring' will have more value! I also need to paint my plank so that I can do some work on this at home! The first agility run had 12 x weaves - eek! She missed them on the first attempt, entering after the second pole, but on the second attempt she did all 12 beautifully!

The Jumping round was not great as they both missed the weaves and were E'd, however they did both jump the long jump without a problem even though they haven't seen it at training for a while.

The Steeplechase was brilliant for both of them. It was a really nice flowing course and both girls ran clear with Pepper being placed 7th and Ruby 5th! Brilliant result for both of them but especially Pepper who ran at Medium height for the first time!

Very pround of both of them!  Here they are with their rosettes:

At the Cockapoo Games in August I was lucky enough to win a prize in the raffle to have Ruby and Pepper's paw prints set in silver! The prize had been donated by Helen of Precious Ones, another founder member of CCGB.I chose to have a keyring made so that it will always be with me! It arrived in the post this morning and I'm delighted with it! 

Thank you Helen for making this for me and donating it to the Cockapoo Games as a prize!

Helen has a lovely range of products that includes items for humans as well as pets! 

Have a look at her website:
 
http://www.precious-ones.co.uk/