Thursday, July 15, 2010
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.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Crash Tackle.avi
Don't pay too much attention to Selby's run - it wasn't very good. Watch the bottom right of the screen for the great crash tackle of the 4 yr old pitch invader! This was taken when we traveled up to Geraldton recently
Happenings Since Nationals - and Amos' Jumping Title!
Since the Nationals we have had a few trials - both in and out of the ring! Selby continues to knock just 1 bar in most jumping courses but has really found some drive which is exciting. Her jumping at Northern Suburbs was oh so close - just went round the broad as she was travelling so fast. Sadly in her Agility runs she has decided that she doesn't like contacts and regularly jumps off of them. This doesn't happen in training so is quite hard to fix. We have been working really hard and with some extra training on Monday nights she is starting to get it again.
The ACWA trial saw her get her 2nd pass in Novice Agility and 1st place YAY - her morning run was a lot better, she just missed the contact. The pass was a bit shaky but she got it so I am stoked :) Now we just need 1 more in Jumping and Agility to get titles
Unfortunately a mishap in the newly paved and supposedly safer backyard led to a cracked claw. She spent a day at the vet sedated where they cut it off and she once again became a buckethead! Poor thing did not take kindly to the forced rest that was imposed. Sadly she has had to miss the last 2 trials but thankfully we were able to get her entries refunded which helped a lot with the vet bills. No trial this weekend so she will have to wait an extra weekend - can't wait to see how she goes at Rockingham - possibly will have to deal with a loopy excitable dog but should be fun. We go on from there to a few days in Margaret River which will be great.
Amos - Amos' owner Andrea is working offshore for a few months so he is on a little 'holiday' with friends and loving it! I get visitation rights for training and trials which is great - I miss having him around (except for the snoring)
He is such a great little dog to run but struggles with Double Header trials and tends to sleep most of the afternoon. At Northern Suburbs he took out 1st place in the morning Novice Jumping - a great trial to win as he came away with a massive bag of dog food which will keep both dogs going for quite some time. We thought he got his title when he went clear in the afternoon. Sadly (and my fault for kicking him in the head as he came through the tunnel) he missed out by 0.4 seconds.
We made up for it at Gosnells the next week with a fantastic run to get his Novice Jumping Title, backed up with another clear round in the afternoon just to prove it wasn't a fluke.
So Amos won the 'which dog will get a title first' race and will now have to start tackling the Excellent courses - not sure about him but will be interesting to see if I'm ready for that! Hopefully Selby will join him there soon.
Videos coming soon
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