Mixed fortunes to match the weather
5 Comments Published by Gussie on Monday, August 04, 2008 at 8/04/2008 11:59:00 PM.
Scottish Beardie Show
Non-dog-nerds (what are you doing here??) - beardie is short for bearded collie, we weren't at a folk festival. :-)
We spent the 2nd day of our Aberdeenshire holiday at the Sunday of the Bearded Collie Club (Scottish Branch) agility show. It was windy! Intermittently rainy! In a field with really uneven ground! That said, I enjoyed the courses we ran. We're best at competing on cold grey, rainy days - it's how we train most weeks. We even came 3rd in a grade 1 agility class.
Best bit: getting round a twisty-turny jumping class FAST: I walked backwards from the start line so I could push Jake over the third jump, got my turn in just after the tunnel and even (just about) managed a rear cross - only to fluff the weave entry! But check out the wind sock and the scribe's tent flapping in the wind at the start of the course.
Worst bit: I ran into and demolished a whole jump! On a slalom I glanced back to see where Jake was, but kept running forward... crash. Not my most graceful piece of handling... Of course we then went on to complete the difficult parts of the course without a hitch.
Nul points at Granite City agility show
One week later: oh dog, it was too hot, probably in the high 20s (celsius). We're just not used to it. And we were too relaxed at the end of our holiday. I was s l o w. But we learned that isotonic drinks help keep a pup hydrated on a long, hot day. If they weren't chicken flavoured I'd have tried one myself.
Non-dog-nerds (what are you doing here??) - beardie is short for bearded collie, we weren't at a folk festival. :-)
We spent the 2nd day of our Aberdeenshire holiday at the Sunday of the Bearded Collie Club (Scottish Branch) agility show. It was windy! Intermittently rainy! In a field with really uneven ground! That said, I enjoyed the courses we ran. We're best at competing on cold grey, rainy days - it's how we train most weeks. We even came 3rd in a grade 1 agility class.
Best bit: getting round a twisty-turny jumping class FAST: I walked backwards from the start line so I could push Jake over the third jump, got my turn in just after the tunnel and even (just about) managed a rear cross - only to fluff the weave entry! But check out the wind sock and the scribe's tent flapping in the wind at the start of the course.
Worst bit: I ran into and demolished a whole jump! On a slalom I glanced back to see where Jake was, but kept running forward... crash. Not my most graceful piece of handling... Of course we then went on to complete the difficult parts of the course without a hitch.
Nul points at Granite City agility show
One week later: oh dog, it was too hot, probably in the high 20s (celsius). We're just not used to it. And we were too relaxed at the end of our holiday. I was s l o w. But we learned that isotonic drinks help keep a pup hydrated on a long, hot day. If they weren't chicken flavoured I'd have tried one myself.
Labels: Agility shows
That looks amazingly challenging! We are so impressed with your focus.
Thank you! It did take us 4 years to get to this point (we think Jake's 5; he came to us when he was about a year old). :-)
Great run!
I've just started taking agility classes with my youngest boy. Some day we'll look that snazzy, I hope!
Such a nice run! And speedy. Good job!
Thanks, Geerome and Johann. Seems some of our best moments come in otherwise less-than-perfect runs. There's probably a lesson there ...