Rivi second champ final and the stutter strikes!!!!

Well, the Rivioli was not gonna be left behind at Wyre, and I was so pleased to get her through to the final too. I don't like to leave a dog behind, in any sense. I want to get her through to the finals at much as Zev. Heres the jumping round (the twiddle being entirely my fault - wrong directional cue):-

However, what has been looming and despite my best efforts I have not cracked her aframe performance. Her see-saw is good and her dog walk performance has really come on. This is the agility qualifying round


With the aframe, the stutter has come back affecting this final and the one at Prestbury - it is so so frustrating.....

I am now conscious of it, can you imagine having such a gorgeous dog, that has one performance issue. It is like a loathsome acne spot on one's face!!!! So at Wyre I made the decision to devote from Oct to Dec 11, to retraining the aframe and the dogwalk. I even declined a call up to the semis, for the same reason. We have improved so much performance wise in other aspects I just need to sort this issue out.

No semis. No WAO tryouts. Yes to developing a contact that suits Rivi and enables us enjoy it even more. And who knows a side benefit of being a more successful partnership?

Yahoo its bank holidays galore...and a blip hits

Rivi, Zev and Mr Bigs April/May 20011

Luv the extra bank holidays - means I with the guys more and less guilt trips about having to work. Plus we were crazy and booked four days of agility at Newbury. In the depth of Winter it seemed a good idea. The weeks are hurling along - and crikey, getting to grips with Grade 7 - the season has started so well - with so many rosettes and Zev and me managing to qualify for one of the UKA finals in December. However amongst all this I started to lose my nerve irratically, the busier the ring i.e crowded, the less confident I was. This was the blip that hit. Which is interesting from a behavioural perspective as success should be reinforcing - but no my brain which I always seem to be training to be positive was rebelling .....The blip that hit was:-

"......... at the point of several wins ... went into the agility with Rivi and as she starts to do her poles a dog flew out of its ring.... and made a bee line for Rivi and it was not nice...it knocked my legs in its determination to get Rivi...'lucky I clocked it'....I told it to 'get out' in no uncertain terms.Which it did..... Have the whole incident on video, unfortunately you can't see the handler, as Marc was videoing me and Rivi.... the handler of dog was so gutless as not to even apologise to me and Rivi. Thankfully Rivi is fine, due to my intervention and bravado. Over in a matter of seconds this whole incident. But for me, it stressed me enough to make my stomach hurt on the rerun and really shook me up. I have horrid bruises on my legs where the dog impacted on my legs. Still onwards and forwards - time to bounce back....as they say 'another day, another dollar' and the main thing is my Beautyoli is absolutely fine....

Yahooo it the Easter Holidays....

How lucky am I last weekend Zev's breeder Bernadette kindly video'd my Zev - we won this class. I was so chuffed. Indeed his season has started off almighty well - three wins. This is not a flawless run but it sure was committed and his weave entries are now started to come good. I am thrilled with how my man is starting to become a 'grown up'. We did have some off course runs as I continue to push for that extra edge, but I was totally buzzing:-)



Rivi and me what a mixture, I must admit after our first run I was gutted as she froze on me, and with the bits of training and how she is maturing into a happyoli I was so not expecting it. I was did not know what to think, friends commiserated and the 'jellyfish' people were 'oh a controlled round, not much omph, has she!!!!'

Well did I jack it in - heck no. The rest of our rounds were scrappy, but I was not giving in. Rivi is too beautiful to quit on, and on a good day she is a dream. She is what she is, and I adore the days she is a dream to run. And on the crappy runs she is still none the wiser, all I have to work on is her believing she is awesome. This is only our 5th grade 7 show, we need to get some experience and settle into this level of competition. We ended up with a 12th and a 5th, a great bounce back. Hoping Marc will video her runs over easter:-)

p.s jellyfish people - from Bridget Jones -  a complement with a sting in the tail!
p.p.s it is going to be an interesting season for sure
p.p.p.s Happy Easter Holidays....................

What a weekend....

An epic drive for me although probably for some nothing - 4.5hours of driving to attend my old club show in Fordingbridge. It was a great excuse to see some girlfriends and Saturday night we laughed so much I was nearly crying with laughter. Competing wise my guys were great but I was not the 'jet lagged' feeling stayed with me all day. I was only fit for socialising and eating. Fortunately my guys are very tolerant of my human foibles.

This was Zevs and Mine agility run. He was super and just coming out of the canvas tunnel he turned to look for me and ran around the last jump. What the heck his performance is continuing improve, we did 'pull thrus',  'outs' and everything else I asked. His see-saw is getting scary fast, he virtually skids over it. I may have to look at retaining it so that he has more control over the tilt. People were 'gutted for me' as it was a KC qualifier, but all that mattered was the progress we are making. It was easy with Rivi and Zev I can play with them and they are oblivious, but friends disappointment as they want to see Zev and Rivi at more finals is harder.  A friend texted me and said "I want you to win, more than you want to win".

I do want to win, but I don't want to lose good grace, positive focus and the joy of running.  The wins or qualifications will come. This year I have not thought we ready to hit those heights. Zev and me are so excitable when we start chasing qualifiers next year. Perhaps I am wrong, and I know opportunities should be seized. But how you deal with things is oh so important to me too. There is a fantastic motivational poster at work that says "Attitudes are contagious - Is yours worth catching" (copyrighted) I think it was by corporate impressions .  Such a great tag line and thought provoking too.
Then what a donut moment I had in my last posting saying perhaps I was asking too much. The truth of the matter is I probably don't ask for enough. I am so known for 'babying' my guys. However come September I may be getting to classes twice a week rather than once, where I can train how I want. It is hard to find places to train where you are not being instructed :-)

Then my grapes, the birds have been nicking them!!!!

Intact - before the birds helping themselves

The birds have had grapes for a change!!!!!!!!!!!!!oh well