The highs and lows of Agility at the British Agility Championships

We entered the British Agility Championships to try some challenging courses but also as it is only twenty mins from us. We were not disappointed with the challenging courses! They were so much fun to run and tested so many skills. The first run was on the Friday afternoon and was a fast blasty speedstakes for all levels. Sparkle ran really well for Matt and was 7th despite stacking it in a tunnel and having a photographer in the ring! Brooke and me had a very messy clear but it was a good confidence booster for both of us.



The first agility round was a cool course! Really testing, especially the weave entry but fun and fast!

Spark and Matt had a fantastic run on this course and won it!!! Brooke and I didn't do so well as we got eliminated on jump 3 but I know that winter training is going to be more pull thru skills!

The first jumping course was really tricky with a hard weave exit with the long jump very close! Matt and Spark had 5r in the weaves as she overshot the entry but the rest was lovely. Brooke and me had a few refusals but we actually didn't get eliminated until the pull thru on 16! 

The agility on the sunday was my favourite course! Almost 200m long and a lot of running proved to be my downfall with a sore back but Matt and Spark did really well again and came 4th! Although we think she maybe should have been 3rd as one of the dogs ahead of her got 5f marked on the seesaw but was logged onto the computer as clear. Spark saw the photographer in this run and was a bit slower on the second half of this course but was brave enough to get the weave entry with her sitting there.

After this it all went a bit downhill! The second jumping was tricky and unfortunately Spark saw the photographers in the ring sitting by number 8 and bolted out. Matt got her back in and she managed to do a little bit at the end but was pretty stressed out. Brooke and I got eliminated on the pull thru at 5!! There is a theme here!! 

So two good placings meant that Spark was through to the Sunday evening final and the course was epic!! Over 200m and really tricky but looked amazing to run. We had a word with the photographers before the final and asked for them not to take photos but sadly the woman sitting by number two clicked her camera anyway in her lap and Spark froze and bolted 😢 I am wondering if it was a case of trigger stacking as she had coped so well for two days and the third day seemed too much. Plus she was tired anyway and the atmosphere was electric. To say we are gutted is an understatement. I have the UKA Finals coming up so I'm debating whether to even bother going. To see her paralysed by fear is dreadful. I will continue to try and gently work her through it and appreciate all the kind words of support from people