Saturday, July 24, 2010

Arrow Lake and Country Park

When I am in the area I walk my dogs in the early morning in Arrow Country Park. This is a massive park, with a huge lake (where the Redditch Racecourse used to be once upon a time) that is used for sailing and watersports, as well as for fishing and supporting colonies of wild water birds. Around the lake are surfaced cycle and walking tracks as well as bridleways and woodland and meadow walks. There are big open lawned areas, just made for ball games. Every town should have an Arrow Park!
Even in the early morning you meet quite a lot of people - cyclists, joggers, walkers, and of course other dog owners. We get chatting and discover that we even know some of the same people through agility shows and clubs!
Such a shame that there is occasionally someone to spoil all this. This morning it was the owner of two aggressive, ambushing terriers. The dogs appeared from nowhere - no owner in sight - andd came flying up to my dogs, who were on leads to keep them out of the water (relatives don't appreciate dity dogs returrning to their clean house - lol!)The dogs were growling and snarling as they rushed at us, one head on and the other flanking. I called oout 'Please call your dogs' and a woman appeared just as the dogs started their second rush. I told her again to call her dogs, and she uttered those immortal words 'They're friendly' Grrrr! Oh no they are not! I told her to get her dogs under control - mine were starting to get agitated as the dogs rushed at us again, still snarling. She did nothing, so I waved my hand at the nearest dog at told it to 'Go away - you horrible dog!' That upset her and she stormed off, yelling something at me - mission accomplished, we carried on with our walk without her aggressive dogs tormenting us. Just because they are small, doesn't make them less nasty.
Luckily we then met some lovely people, with well behaved terriers and spaniels and labradors and collies, all of whom played nicely with my dogs, who went home with laughing faces and lolling tongues.;

Monday, July 19, 2010

As a trainer...

As a trainer, it is always good to watch dogs that you have trained - now or in the past - doing well. Even when people have moved to other clubs, and maybe forgotten their beginnings, it is still nice to watch the potential that you had spotted early on being realised. It is even nicer, of course, when they have chosen to stay with you as a trainer, and you can celebrate their successes fully. And at our club we have certainly had our share of success recently......and consequently lots of excuses for cake eating! Lol!! Well done all of you - whether it is winning out of Grade 1 or being placed in a Champ class!

Monday, July 12, 2010

High Peak


Bakewell Showground is in such a beautiful setting! But, a not-so-good start on arrival on Friday as the dogs fell out with each other and Bryn ended up at the vets with a punctured face. £48 lighter in the pocket, and a dog on antibiotics, we got back and carried on setting up. The vet said he could compete so we did.
Saturday was soo hot and humid, and that and the meds took their toll I think, as Bryn worked really well but rolled several poles. I'm glad I took the decision not to enter the POTD class.
A wonderful evening laughing and chatting with friends began to take away some of the stresses of the past week. Sunday was cooler to start - we even had jackets on!! It warmed up again as the day progressed though. Bryn was on form and came 6th in the Grade 4 agility - would have been better if I had trusted him more and not turned him wide to avoid a trap at one point. The Grade 4/5 Agility was an even better run, with a fabulous layering to the weaves - except I dropped my arm and he (correctly) took that as a signal to pull off. Whoops!! My fault! I missed walking the Grade 4/5 Jumping though the judge gave me a minute before the class began to walk the first - complicated - ten obstacles. So, that part was foot-perfect from us both, and then fell apart as I got my positioning wrong for the last bit - duh! But it was nice to have several people during the day telling me how much Bryn and I had improved since they last saw us a couple of months ago, and how much faster he was as well! Good boy Bryn!!