Haven’t You Forgotten Something?

L does the Crossdale 10k, which is what we usually do on this weekend of the year, whilst I opt to continue MD’s education in the dog agility world.

I pick a good Crossdale to miss. Bizarrely there are no t-shirts this year. They have run this race for 10 years with a t-shirt and last year they had a special 10th anniversary one. Then in year 11 they drop the t-shirt. That’s not going to be popular.

L does a good time on the tricky cross-country course with that notorious hill to finish but she isn’t pleased. She sounds so like me. I’m very proud of her displeasure; it must be her competitive side coming out.

At the dog show, MD frustratingly has one pole down in each of his three runs. On the last of those, he celebrates the 100th competitive run of his short career by flattening the jump three from home on what would have been decent clear round. So close. That said all his events today were pitched at grades 3-5, whereas last week they were for grades 1-3 and were consequently that bit harder for the 'Pocket Rocket'. He’s done well really.

So 100 runs, of which only 12 have been clear rounds and a fair few have been eliminations but we’re getting there, as last week showed.

Meanwhile on the 545th run of his career, as you can see I keep count, Doggo and I are having disagreements about his contact points again. He nonchalantly skips one of them but carries on regardless, hurdles the long jump and is heading for the finish line when I call him back. Err, excuse me, haven’t you forgotten something? To his embarrassment I make him do the last three obstacles again, correctly.

We have a similar disagreement on his next course but this time when I shout loudly at him, he stops, in the correct place, and the old man achieves the first of his two clears today but unfortunately there are no rosettes to be picked up today.

Once home, L and I celebrate our respective successes and failures by heading off out to find the Dunkirk Inn. Once we find it and discover that we can get its Nottingham beers at our local, we adjourn for a pleasant evening at the Johnson’s instead.

(Sunday 26th September)

Have I Won?

Day two of competition and the brie doesn’t seem to have quite the same effect on MD today but Doggo picks up the baton and has a cracking day. He’s 8th place on one of his jumping courses is our best for a long time and really good at his level. He is three levels above MD. He also picks up another rosette for 16th when we’re pitched up against the ‘professionals’ in grade 7 in a later class which is also highly impressive. Unfortunately he’s also mortified when I again bundle him back onto another contact that he tried to skip. We will relearn this skill.

As regards the ‘pocket rocket’, I decide it’s sh*t or bust today, particularly as we have three jumping courses, from which he can’t get an automatic promotion, and only one agility course. Basically I push him to go faster and so the poles started tumbling. Oh well, so out of sh*t or bust we got the former but it was worth a go.

On one course he’s going so fast, he misjudges the tyre and clips it as he goes through. Well, clip doesn’t really do it justice. He hits it so hard he uproots it and leaves it lying on the ground. I think surely that must have hurt but he doesn’t seem to notice and carries on to complete the course where he grabs his lead and turns around to me, asking ‘Have I won?’. Well, no. I look back at the course where several poles are scattered over the grass and where the judge and two helpers are trying to reassemble the tyre obstacle. Funnily enough, I don’t think we actually got faulted for that. It’s a bit of a grey area I think. We flattened it but he did actually go through it which I think is all the rules require.

We take it slightly easier on his agility course and do better. All the poles stay up but he is again quick. This is despite us wasting precious seconds at the tunnel having a stand up row about who was right about which way to go next.

MD: "Woof".
Me: "Tunnel", pointing at the rather obvious tunnel entrance.
MD: "Woof".
Me: "In the ***** tunnel" and pointing even more furiously.
MD: "Woof Woof".
Me: "In that ***** tunnel NOW".

He relents; we carry on and get 10th!

So six rosettes this weekend, three for each dog and two trophies for MD. It’s been a good trip. Naturally we celebrate by driving into Durham, leave the dogs in the car and go for a curry. Sorry guys.



(Sunday 19th September)