FAB and BATS shows

Ok so much to write but don't want to bore everyone to death! Had a really busy but very enjoyable weekend doing FAB Hants (looong journey!) and BATS show (10 min journey!) We had decided with Brax running so well to have a crack at the IFCS qualifiers as the smallest height is for dogs under 300mm and Brax is 280mm. Matthew had talked me into entering Brodie into the qualifiers as well as he is classed as a 'mini' height dog (between 12-16") I thought it would be great experience to try some harder courses with more pressure as I didn't do a champ class last year and have entered one coming up.

So the IFCS qualifiers are four runs per show and there is a series of shows. The four runs are agility, snooker, gamblers and jumping. If anybody is really interested they can look at all of our runs on YouTube but here is one run that I have to post as it was just lovely to watch Brax back on form :)



Brax was a superstar and won the jumping and snooker and came 3rd in the agility (5f on a contact!) It was a shame about the 5 faults as her agility run was faster than the winning run by 6 seconds! Brodie really enjoyed running and worked well as I never normally do 4 runs a day with him and I thought that the heat would get to him. His only slightly slow run was the snooker and having a bad back means I'm running slower which I think slows him up a lot as he likes to chase me. He did me proud and got a 3rd in the agility and 3rd in the snooker :)

Brodie ran at BATS the next day and so did Brooke while Brax had a well deserved day off! Brodie did two runs - C6-7Ag and Med Olympia. I was really pleased with his C6-7 run as we did the hard stuff ok and it was my fault that he got a refusal (moved too soon - grrr silly me) and considering I'm crocked up we manged ok. He was tired in the Olympia but tried his best and did a steady clear that earned him 16th place! Not bad out of 150 odd dogs including some of the best in the country. Clever toadlet! This is his C6-7 agility kindly filmed by Paul and Maria. Their beagle Chester was really on form at BATS getting 12th in the Olympia and 6th in C6-7 jumping!! Go Chesterooo!!

Here are some pics that I couldn't put on last week. 

Sparkle and her mate Jess (my ace puppy minder!)

Sparkle playing with Matthew at HJ show-tugging with distractions is coming along nicely!

The sheltie girlies on the common after a game of ball

My gang - Brodie, Bailey and the Sparkler out for a stroll

Brax and Sparkle having a cherry argument :)

Collies and their toys at FAB show - Sparkle is carrying one of the toys that Brax won

Tired girls all curled up - how pretty is Brooke puppy?! Not that we are biased!