This weekend we had the first show of the Kelluki Winter series which was held at a new venue in Farnham.  It was great to have a show so close to home and the Kelluki shows are always fun to take part in with lots of our Paws at Play buddies taking part.

My aim for the winter season is to keep testing Pepper's contacts so that I can start the show season next Spring, confident that she knows what she has to do every time she goes in the ring.  I'd also like her to gain more independence around the course, and we're going to need to gain some speed before next year so I'm going to push myself to run as fast as I can.

For Ruby I just want her to have fun!  As long as she leaves the ring with a wagging tail and a cheeky, happy face, then I don't really mind what she does!

Pepper was on another planet - she was so excited I thought she was going to explode!  Our first run was Agility and she leapt from the seesaw without thinking of stopping.  I put her back into her 2 on 2 off position and carried on around the course.  Thankfully the rest was good and she stopped on the remaining contacts.  I used my 'Second Chance' ticket to run this course again and thankfully she stopped on all 3 contacts giving us a clear and eventually winning the round.

The second agility was a bit of a disaster - I didn't really like the course and I never run with confidence when I feel that way so all my fault, but her contacts were fab so I was happy.  The Steeplechase was challenging with two 'wrong end of tunnel' sections - a manoeuvre we struggle with, but we managed to go clear and came second.

Finally we had the Jumping - it was a tough course and I didn't handle it well, so no need to stop for the final prize giving!

Ruby had a lovely day doing the agility Not For Competition (NFC) meaning that I could take a toy into the ring and use it as a training run, giving her lots of rewards for little sections of the course.  She did a lovely clear in the Steeplechase and came fourth, but picked up 5 faults for the Jumping for a refusal at the first jump.  Such a shame as she did a lovely run after taking it when I repositioned her!

We can't make the November show but will look forward to the December show and the rest of the series!

Here they are with their rosettes:

We were lucky enough to have some fantastic pictures taken at the show by Dean from Gemsdale Photography:

We had another little trip to Derbyshire this weekend to attend the latest Adams Show.  I was really pleased that Ian decided to join us as it would have been the first trip on my own in Elvis, and although I'm sure I would have been fine, it was much nicer to have company.

We arrived after 10pm on the Thursday night after the show organisers had gone to bed, but instead of making life difficult for us, it only helped to demonstrate how fab it is having Elvis.  We found a quiet spot out of the way and were set up with drinks in hand within 15 minutes.  In the morning we were easily able to relocate onto our pitch and had the luxury of electric hook up - a rare occurrence at an agility show!  It really couldn't have been easier.

The Friday proved to be a day of 'nearly' good runs with Pepper!  I was feeling the pressure of wanting to get to Grade 5 before the end of the season and was probably trying a bit too hard.  We started off well with a win in the Jumping, but in the two Agility runs we had poles down and on one occasion completely lost connection with Pepper who took the wrong jump for a big fat E.  Meanwhile Ruby was having loads of fun in the Jumping runs and it was great to see her wagging her tail and leaving the ring so happy.

On Friday night we had a lovely visit from my Sister, Sarah, who lives in Coventry.  She came for tea in Elvis and the girls loved seeing her.

On Saturday Pepper managed to get the important Agility win taking us into Grade 5, so I could relax for the rest of the day - possibly a bit too much as this was the only clear round she had!  But Ruby managed a clear in the Graded 1-4 Jumping - her first proper clear in a KC show with a good entry to 12 weaves from a tunnel.  She would have been second but they only placed first giving her a pretty clear round rosette to add to her collection.

We finished the weekend with an impromptu night at one of our favourite spots in a pretty Oxfordshire village.  A campsite next to a lovely pub - perfect!

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls from the weekend.  You can see they were like coiled springs, hardly able to contain themselves waiting for their next agility runs: