Dog Vegas at Grantham

It was only at 9pm on Thursday night that I realised that I was supposed to have driven down to the show earlier in the day, as competition started at 8.30am on Friday morning - not Saturday!! Panic!! I had been planning to go shopping for food and fuel on Friday morning then drive in a leisurely way to Grantham and take my time setting up the camper and garden etc etc etc.... Thank heavens for 24 hour supermarkets and garages! A late night and very early morning start, and, with the help of some friends, I was camped on my spot, garden up, and courses walked before 8am!!
Friday saw some nice clear rounds from Bryn, but nothing spectacular as I held the contacts to retrain myself not to release too early. It has taken far too much work to get such brilliant contacts from Bryn to allow my timing to ruin them.
A really early night on Friday - in bed by 8.30pm as I was so shattered, and so were the dogs. Got up again at about 11 to let the dogs out for a late night toilet break and....couldn't open the camper door! I hadn't heard the rain - the canopy had filled and been pulled down at one side against the door. More panic as I wondered if it was broken - how would I drive home with a broken canopy on the side? Anyway, one good push, and torrent of water and all was well. I made sure that I lowered one end before I returned to bed so that any further water would run off.
Saturday was a disappointing day. Bryn was rolling at least one pole in each class, and my handling was less than perfect. Was there something I was doing wrong? Was he hiding an injury? Was it just the wet grass on top of the concrete hard ground? The Saturday courses were all dumbed down - boring - except the final one which was pitched at about Grade 5 and great fun to run.
Sunday showed a much better Bryn and a worse me. Despite some of the most interesting courses I have seen for some time, I just couldn't raise my game at all......until our last run of the day. Graded 4 to 7 Agility, set at about Grade 7 according to the top handlers (and my opinion as well) and certainly more difficult than the same judge's 5 to 7 Agility that preceded it. Apart from a hesitation from Bryn at the penultimate fence (he was tempted to leave the ring and chase the equipment wagon that was driving past), and a couple of slightly wide turns, we went clear and came 3rd!! Over the moon, I packed up and drove home. Just 5 more points to go to his Agility Warrant as well......wonder if we can do that in the next couple of shows? Hope so.