Thursday, July 15, 2010

Selby's 1st run in Excellent Jumping

Mikeshe

A Day of Highs and Lows



Last Sunday was a day of emotional highs and lows with my beloved pets.
We set of early for the days trial in Rockingham and as it was raining hard I wasn't too concerned when Mikeshe (my cat) wasn't waiting on the front porch for breakfast - if she's not there it normally means she is in the roof taking cover, she's certainly never far away. Anyway - car packed ready for trial and a road trip with friends to Margaret River, dogs loaded, no Amos this weekend as he wasn't coming away with me but I did have Maverick in tow as he had been staying with us and was off to Jules' place for a few days.

It was a wet and wild morning but managed to stay fairly nice during the trial. Selby's day got off to a brilliant start when in her 1st run of the day she got her Novice Jumping Title!!!! WOOOHOOO!!! I thought she had been called for a refusal early on and lost a bit of touch with her coming through the tunnel so was surprised to hear 'clear' called at the end, but hey, we got there and I was stoked! (and she came 1st Yippee)

Contacts remain a problem in the ring so we blew both agility rounds but gave Excellent Jumping a go in the afternoon. This was probably one of the best courses I have run with Selby and she just got one refusal and dropped the last bar so I was really happy. In the Open it was just 1 refusal! Overall a really good day....

And then it got bad ....

Just after my last run I picked up a missed call from my flatmate. Sadly it was to tell me that Mikeshe had been run over and killed. I just couldn't believe it. She is the world's most timid cat and never ventures more than a few feet from the front door - I have certainly never seen her near a road!! I was absolutely gutted. I have had Miki for 10 years and whilst she was shy around other people she has been just the loveliest cat with me (and she could fetch better than any dog I have ever owned)It was really hard to continue on my trip south for the week and having to rely on my flatmate to bury her was really difficult.

I have just arrived home from my trip and it's going to take a long time to get used to not being greeted at the door by my beautiful kitty :( I have Maverick back for a few days and between him and Selby am sure to get plenty of cuddles but I'm just really going to miss my favourite putty cat

Monday, July 5, 2010

Selby Learns the Seesaw



With 2 passes in Novice Agility it is time to learn the seesaw. I was a bit worried about teaching this to Selby as I didn't know if she would like it. No need to have worried - she LOVES it! This video is of only the 3rd time I have had her on it and so far I am really happy with how it is going. If the seesaw is set up and I am not paying attention Selby runs out and just does it on her own!! As much as I don't want her taking off and doing her own thing, I am stoked that she likes it so much :)
So far we just have it on 1/2 height and it will stay there until I am really happy with her speed and end, then we'll start raising the level. Will be quite happy if she stays in Novice just a while longer so we can perfect it, I don't want to rush what is looking like being a great piece of equipment for us.