Woohoo!  Clever Pepper has won into Grade 4 at the Adams Show in Derbyshire!

I had some holiday to use before the end of the year so decided to head off to a week day show to see how we would do!

I'd never been to Adams before but had had really good feedback from my agility friends.  I headed off on the Monday nigh with Pepper, extremely disorganised due to work being crazy, and thinking that I would have to cut my trip short to go back to work early.

I arrived in the dark and tried to find my camping pitch - thankfully the lovely people that were camping nearby came out and helped, so before long we were set up and the wine was open!

The following morning I headed off to walk my first course and was delighted to find two friends, David and Mike who I know from local shows.  The first course was OK and thinking that I wasn't going to be able to stay for the second day, I was piling pressure on myself to win and progress to G4!  We ran the course, but she missed the last weave pole and we were eliminated for her taking the next jump!  We won the first  jumping, but were eliminated for the second jumping for missing a weave again - very unusual!  So that left us with a Combined 1-7 agility - and another elimination.

Huge disappointment!  Between runs I was dashing back to the campervan to get on top of my work and thankfully but the end of the day, thinks had settled down and I knew that I was going to be able to stay for the second day.

I felt much more relaxed the following day, and knew that I would be able to focus more on Pepper and less on work.  We headed off for the first agility - clear - and we won - by 11 seconds!!!

We went on to win the two jumping runs as well, but were not clear in the Combined 1-7 agility! But who cares - we had won and would be G4 in 25 days!!  I really enjoyed the show and will definitely go back.  And it was fantastic to have the help and support of David and Mike for the 2 days!

Here is Pepper with her haul of rosettes and trophies:

The Agility Club Show was held at Ardingly last weekend which included the Starters Final that Pepper and I had qualified for last September.  I had normal runs to take part in during the day, and there was a practice ring which gave me a chance to test Pepper's contacts before the big event that would be held after all of the other classes had finished. 

She was pretty excitable as usual, but I'm gradually starting to have confidence that she understands what is required, however we were E'd for our Combined 3-5 Agility because I hadn't realised that she missed a weave pole - so annoying as the rest of the run was fab!  We managed a 3rd for our Graded 1-3 Jumping - she ran this perfectly and exactly how I had planned when I walked the course!  And then we had our team event with Sally & Taya, Emma & Star and Jo & Quiz.  We were running 3rd in the team, taking over from Sally - we set off and she ran straight off the bottom of the A-frame without even looking at me or thinking about stopping!!  I had to put her back as I couldn't let her get away with that and it had me worried for the final later in the day.  The rest of the run was great and she did stop on the Dog Walk and Seesaw - I think the team event creates more excitement as we have another dog and handler running towards us, and I run with her from the start, so completely different than when we do an individual run.  It's great fun though and I'm really glad that I've had the chance to do it this year.

Eventually the time came for the finals to start!  Here's a list of my fellow competitors that had qualified to take part:

We had all changed into our Agility Club polo shirts and were able to walk the course which was really nice and flowing.  The audience had gathered and there were people sat all around the ring - I was lucky to have the support of my Paws at Play friends.  The small dogs ran first and we were next.  I knew most of the other finalists in the Medium section and we were all feeling overwhelmed by the event but being supportive of each other and willing everyone to do well.

Mike and Buddy went first and set a good time of around 38 seconds with a fantastic clear round.  He stayed in first place until Shanice and Mia ran an amazing clear in a time around 33 seconds.  I was running 11th out of 13 and eventually it was our turn.  It's strange how you step onto the start line and immediately become unaware of everything else around you.  Pepper clipped the first jump - I heard it rattle in the cups but thankfully it didn't fall!  I quick released her A-frame as soon as her paws hit the contact but thankfully this didn't unsettle her for the rest of the run and she hit her contacts perfectly on the Dog Walk and Seesaw.  I had a momentary loss of memory just after the weaves and nearly went round the end of the course again, but thankfully remembered that all I had to do was run straight ahead over the last two jumps!  Fantastic, we were clear!!

The final result was:

1st - Shanice and Mia
2nd - Helen and Pepper
3rd - Mike and Buddy 3rd

What an amazing experience and what an amazing little dog Pepper is!  She continually amazes me at how she takes everything in her stride!

I would also like to thank our fantastic trainer, Michelle Hewitt, for her support and guidance - I'm so lucky to have had such a brilliant mentor to guide me and am thankful for the strong foundations that she established with us from day one that are allowing us to achieve results like this now!

Here is a picture of us with the judge, Barrie James, and a video of our run: