British Agility Champs and Discover Dogs

What a crazy weekend! On friday afternoon we went to the British Agility Championships (BAC) which are only up the road from us and we ran Bru and Brooke in the Grand National which is basically a 1-7 steeplechase with an aframe for all the dogs entered at over the weekend. I admit I was worried about whether Brooke would stay with me given that Matt and Bru had been drawn to run two dogs after us and their Grandma Lian was in the same class as well! I shouldn't have worried as Brooke was excellent, she ran so well and I was thrilled that she listened. Sadly though I missed Bru's run but I could tell he was clear from the crowd watching and he ended up finishing in 4th (out of 70 plus dogs!) behind three of the top smalls in Britain!! He was knocked off the podium by his big brother Sirius 😂

Brookes run



Brus run



On Saturday I went to Discover Dogs to cheer on Jenni and Braxway boy Squidge in the medium ABC semifinal for Crufts and Matt went back to the BAC to run Brooke and Bru. Squidge did sooo well coping with the atmosphere at DD, it was so loud that you couldn't hold a conversation with someone next to you! 😮 He didn't qualify but ran really well given the crazy environment and i have no doubt they will be back next year!

Matt did well at BAC, he missed walking Brus jumping so they got E'd for three refusals and had weave issues again in the agility but apparently his contacts were lovely which was one of the reasons for entering him! He has only been doing contacts in the ring for the last month so lovely to see he was confident! Brooke excelled herself totally. She got E'd in the jumping but Matt admits it was his fault!! Her agility was fantastic and she came 5th, she is so happy doing her stopped dog walk again 💚 she just went wrong as it was a tough weave entry.



Day 2 of BAC and I wasn't running, we had an agreement that if Matt and Brooke had done ok then I would let him keep running. I also felt very ill and couldn't have run anyway! Brooke did a lovely agility run again doing a cracking 2 second dog walk but was a bit cheeky about a tunnel and also had a pole so 10f in total...what a cool course though! She was wild in her jumping and decided that there was one pull thru too many 😂



Bru had fun in his runs, his agility had lovely contacts again but he was E'd on three refusals! He only got 10f in his jumping but did most of the course so well and almost got his weaves!



After the weekend we were absolutely shattered but definitely worth it to have such good courses to run on for the dogs. Such a shame that Spark can't cope with the photographers in the ring after what happened there last year as the courses would have been right up her street! I did get her happily playing in the venue so that felt like a little win 💜

Southam, WBSDS and a new van!!

So my poor old Skoda was due its MOT soon and wasn't going to pass so we decided that after ten years mostly faithful service and 173,000 miles that we take the plunge and become white van drivers! It is really nice to drive and in the long term will be much better for the dogs. At the moment the crates are all tied in with bungees but eventually we will crate it out properly.

Matt has also started a new job in the last month so everything has been a bit hectic recently! Brax has been a bit disgusted by the change in weather as it has started to get a bit chilly now. The leaves are changing in the garden and we have been picking the last bits of our veg. We have had so many tomatoes, runner beans, spinach and lettuce plus I just picked a good crop of green chillies! 

The doglets have been enjoying the last of the sunny days and pottering around the field as they are stuck with me more since Matt started his new job. Here are a few of the recent doglet pics and one of the lizard I found under my tunnel! 

Miss Sparkle is recovering well from her spay and just starting to do a bit more off lead which she is very excited about! 

We went to Southam and WBSDS shows recently and the dogs were brilliant! Bru did his first proper agility runs at Southam and he won this one with faults in his weaves! 

The trophies were really lovely so I was thrilled that Brodie won his jumping class and got a cool trophy too! 💙

The weekend after we went to WBSDS. Bru failed to get weaves again so more work needed there over winter! Brooke did an awesome agility run with her new retrained stopped dog walk and still came 2nd! Brodie won a jumping class and their son Squidge won his agility so a proper family photo was needed! How gorgeous are they?! 😍 Squidge has qualified for Discover Dogs next weekend so I can't wait to go and cheer them on in the ABC event! 

Here are Toad and Brookes runs! Chances are that this is Toads last KC run outdoors ever as he is coming to the end of his career so what a way to go out with a bang! He is still so enthusiastic and happy doing his agility at 12.5 years old and I feel honoured to still be running with him x