I decided to enter this show with Pepper - it was a combined Grade 1 - 7 show but was the only other show that I could attend in October so I decided to give it a go and see how we got on!

As usual, it was very friendly and although there were clearly some experienced handlers there, there were also plenty who were more like me and Pepper!

When I left home it was pouring with rain, with the added attraction of thunder and lightning - I nearly didn't go - but by the time I got to Leatherhead it had stopped and for the majority of the day it was quite warm.   There were even times when it was raining on one side of the school and not the other - thankfully our side was dry!

We started with Agility I - I was already stressing about remembering the course, and it was quite tricky but after walking it several times I was confident that I had it.  When we came to run it Pepper was hyper excited and jumped off every contact!  I completely forgot the course as she was being so naughty!  I really can't remember much detail about it other than I was glad when it was over!

Next was Agility II - tricky course again, but quite flowing.  We set off and she again jumped off the A-frame! I ran her back over it and she jumped off again!  I tried to get her onto the bottom in a '2 on 2 off' position but she just barked at me and kept jumping up and down on the spot!  I managed to get her into position and tried to carry on, but on the dog walk she did exactly the same thing!  I decided to calmly leave the ring!  I really don't know what has got into her - she's so excitable!

We carried on to do the Jumping and Steeplechase but picked up faults in both - in the Jumping she ran round the back of a tunnel instead of through it!  The judge was stood behind it so I'm not sure if she wanted to go and say hello or just got confused. 

So another day to put down to experience!  We have  a lot of work to do before we can confidently tackle courses like that and more than anything it has highlighted the need to crack the contacts!  The other thing we need to do is get more drive through the weaves and be more confident with 12 weaves.

Pepper and I went to the first Scrambles show on Saturday! The weather was very kind to us and it was really friendly, but sadly our performance wasn't quite so positive!

Our first run was Jumping - Pepper started off really well, she was flying, but half way round I pulled her off a jump she was supposed to take so we got 5 faults!  I was so worried about her taking the wrong course that I got the course wrong!

Second was the first Agility - she was very excited and leapt off every contact - oops! 

The second Agility wasn't much better, but she did do a lovely 12 weaves!  I really must work harder on her contacts and stop letting her get away with leaping off the end!

Final run was the Steeplechase - the course wasn't very nice and I wasn't really looking forward to running it.  Once again Pepper set off at a great speed but got so far ahead of me that towards the end she looked back for me and back jumped!  Oh, well!  A good reminder that we can't win rosettes every time we go to a show and some clear pointers of things to work on!

Three weeks ago we had some professional pictures taken at The Picture Company in Farnborough. The photographer was really nice and took loads of pictures.  I wasn't sure how they were going to come out but was really pleased when I went to see them on Saturday.  Here is a gallery of the results - click on the first image: