KC FESTIVAL
We are back from our agility holiday, feeling tired but relaxed! Bracken had an amazing three days at the KC international Festival. She got faster and better the more she did so managed to collect quite a few placings, including one amazing jumping win. She also qualified for the final of the novice cup where the top four dogs qualify for Crufts. Brax decided that after the commentator was saying how nice she was that she would run past the A-frame!! Poor Matthew was gutted although she did end up 5th despite her detour! Big congratulations to Jane, Jacqui and Helen who all made it to the Starters Cup finals and did really well in that scary main ring!!

It was a huge venue with 20 rings and unfortunately Brodie seemed to find it a bit much and I think I probably did as well! He did get three nice jumping clears and was literally one out of the placings in two of them. Not bad considering there was between 60 and 100 dogs in each class. All of Brodies agility classes were in the same ring and that particular ring seemed to spook him - not sure why! He even ran past the A-frame in one class which is most unlike him (unless he'd been talking to Brax!) I think it goes to show that if the handler is tense then the dog senses it - poor Mr Toad!

PEMBROKE COUNTY SHOW
We spent two days at Pembroke after visiting my aunt and uncle in Carmarthen. It was lovely to catch up with them and my cousin and we went out for a lovely meal and good chat! The weather was kind to us the first day although it rained solid on the wednesday. Brax got a first on both days and a 3rd in a very competitve steeplechase. Despite being open to the public and part of the attractions, Brodie was much braver and did four lovely clears so I was really proud of him. Shame was that the same dog beat Brodie into 2nd place four times (only just!) and they only placed to 1st!! Such is life!!

DASHING DOGS
We spent Fri-Sunday at Dashing dogs in Cheshire after a day off in Shrewsbury relaxing! On the friday there was two jumping classes and Brodie got a 2nd in the graded 1-3 jumping, he also went clear in the 3-5 combined and was just out of the places. On the saturday they was four classes and Brodie got a 2nd (g3-5 agility) two 3rds (c1-4 helter-skelter and g1-3 agility) and a 5th in c3-4 jumping. On the sunday he got a 2nd in g1-3 jumping and 5th in c3-4 agility. Clever boy!!

Brax did very well and won her 3-5 agility and g5-7 jumping on the saturday and also got a 2nd in the c4-5 agility. On the sunday she won her g5-7 agility and her c4-5 jumping and came 2nd in the 3-5 jumping. We worked out that she has now won into grade 6 twice on jumping wins and 4 times on agility wins!! Next weekend she is out of the 25 days and into scary grade 6!!

I got some photos of Brodie I ordered recently so thought I'd pop them on the blog. Also pics of their rosettes from pembroke and dashing dogs. They are very tired puppies now!

Just to prove that our generally polite shelties can be quite rude, I thought I'd pop on a picture of each of them in their normal state while at home!!

All four of us weren't quite on the ball yesterday at Milton Keynes! The two mistakes in my agility and jumping runs were def my fault whereas judging by the video of Matt and Brax the probs he had appeared to be Brax taking her own line again! Its not a surprise really with the jumping course as there were so many tunnels to go through!!

Both dogs did their only clears in their 1-7 jumping classes. Brodie was just out of the placings but Brax managed a very good 8th in a strong class. A big well done to Jane and Jackie who both got great placings and to Miranda who got 1st and 2nd in the 5-7 agility. Go shelties!!

Brodie has got his certificate back from the Kennel Club today so he is now officially Chandling Ebony Charge AW(B)!! Ok, he has a long way to go before reaching the dizzy heights of the gold award like Brax has but I'm so proud of him in his first season of competing!! :-)

Thought I'd pop on a pic of Brodie trying to decide which new toy to play with, while Brax thought she'd curl up on a pile of my socks that had just been washed-nice!

BRAX HAS GONE GRADE 6!!!

We were at JDA show at the weekend and not being too biased as JDA is our club but I think its the nicest show I've been to all year! It was a lovely showground that fortunately drained well on saturday after the rain. It was a big show without feeling too big and losing a friendly feel. Well done James and Dave and all the other team members who made is such a success. Also big thanks to Matthew and Lisa who spend all weekend in the secretarys tent sorting the paperwork and still managed some cracking runs with their dogs!

Brax did well on the saturday with a 5th in C4-7 jumping, 4th in C3-5 agility and 2nd in the G3-5 agility. On the sunday she did a cracking run in the very competitive C4-7 jumping and as I was ring party on that ring I got to watch. Imagine the disappointment when we found worked out that she would have to do a run off for 6th/7th place. Well, she went in there and did it faster the second time round to get 6th place! Then I was too busy to watch her C3-5 agility but clever Brax won it!! We are so proud of her as it was the last class of a long weekend.

Brodie only competed on the sunday and I admit I was quite nervous at the thought of having to tackle some 3-5 classes for the first time. At least I have been walking them with Matthew all season so I knew what to expect. Fortunately our first class was a C1-3 jumping that was straightforward and a bit of a blast. I was thrilled to come 5th as there were 47 in the class including some very fast spaniels that seemed about twice Brodies size!! We then tackled the G3-5 jumping which had a fairly tight course time and were thrilled to go clear as there seemed to be sooooo many twiddly bits!! It turns out that although there were a few clears in grade 3, only two of us were within the course time and we came 2nd - clever boy!!

Brodie's C3-5 agility was a nice but trappy course and we had done all the hard bits so I was a bit gutted when the judge freaked him out by racing up behind me while he was on the A frame to check he got the contact. He then went over the jump and onto the see-saw but fell off it whilst trying to keep one eye on the judge. He was OK after and finished the rest of the course well so we do need to practise having people running behind him. She was a nice judge and came over after his run to feed him a sweetie!

He went straight into Richard Brains G3-5 agility course (I love Richards courses as they are always quirky!) and did a very nice clear but was slow on the see-saw understandably so we were the only unplaced clear. If he'd been quarter of a second faster he would have been 4th but I can't complain as he tackled all four courses with enthusiam and to get three clears was better than expected!

I just have to say a massive well done to a couple of people after the weekend. Firstly well done to Megan and Hattie who had an amazing 7 clear rounds out of 8 runs and came away from JDA with three 3rds and a 4th. Clever Hattie!! Also Brodie says big congratulations to his lil' bro Sizzle and Lian who won a Beginners steeplechase at UKA. Its a brilliant win as Sizzle is only 16 months old and it was his first show-yay Sizz!!