Waldridge Fell

I love this venue - almost on the beach at Redcar, sandy soil so it doesn't bog down even when it's wet (which it wasn't) - but there is always a chill North Sea wind!!
Although I had booked camping I chose to drive each day, parking on the camping plot saved for me by Kirsty and Helen (nice to be with friends).
On Saturday Bryn was over the moon with excitement - all these people to say hello to! And he did - out of the ring to work the crowds walking the next door course - 3 times!!!! I was absolutely despondent. I managed to complete 2 rounds (yes, a show with 5 runs for the dogs) but they were slow as he was looking elsewhere all the time, totally unfocused. Still he managed two clear rounds - 29th (ha! ha!) in the KC Novice Stakes (3-5 combined agility) and out of the places in the Large 3 to 5 Jumping. These 'harder' courses definitely suit him better than the 1 to 3 courses.
Amber was also off her head - in Amber it takes the form of being snappy around other dogs, and getting dangerously under my feet. We completed a couple of courses but pulled out of the others. If it hadn't been for seeing loads of people I haven't seen for a while, and enjoying the sunshine, I would probably have come home early. Not my best day.....
I nearly didn't go on Sunday. But Jules persuaded me to give it another try, and I'm glad I did. I decided to concentrate on Bryn, which meant Amber got pulled from her classes as soon as anything went wrong. Actually this worked better for her than fighting her the whole way round the rest of the course. But no places.....even at a show that was generous with rosettes.
I had worked out my strategy with Bryn - a mixture of aversion therapy and high rewards, so with the help of lots of people, some of whom I didn't know at all, I 'prepared' Bryn to go into the ring. Just one person refused to help when asked, and unfortunately this was the one person Bryn wanted to get to more than anyone - and was standing alongside the ring when I took him into his first class. As I took off his lead he shot off to try to find this person, couldn't in the crowds ringside, but stayed inside the ring and came back to me pretty quickly - the aversion therapy and rewards for playing with me had already begun to work. So, not a complete disaster. We set off together, were doing quite well when I took the wrong course (I'd just been in with Amber on the 6/7 course just before, and worked the combination of jumps from that course instead - doh!)
Each ring we went into got better and better - lots of rewarded tricks in the queue, lots of focus onto me. He went clear in Jen Lewis' Large 1 to 3 Jumping, but was just out of the rosettes because he was still a little distracted in the ring. His best round was Helen Taylor's 3 to 5 Agility where he really worked the course - except that I was slack on the weave entry and pulled him to the second gap instead of the first. So 5 faults, but a very nice run. In fact, I was complimented on his 'excellent running contacts' by a very well known handler (I do 2o2o.....but with an instant release)
By the end of the day I was a lot happier. I know that there is a lot more work to do still to break the 'meet and greet' habit and get him obsessed with the agility and me instead, but he responded so well. Many thanks to Kathryn Tasker and Niki Keeler for their advice with this, and to my friends for their practical help and support.