Stockbridge Week

Ok I'm going to try and be fairly brief as it was a very busy week and to be quite honest I can't remember everything!

First Weekend

Missiles and ballistics ran Saturday. Missiles were missing Sky due to injury so struggled a bit within their division but still managed to come 4th. Ballistics were missing Piper so had a 1st team of Lacy, Asher, Rosie and Luna. Without Piper our times suffered and our best was 17.63secs. We lost to Shooting Stars and Lightening Strikes and came 3rd. With having the Shooting Star lights we were able to see individual dog times. We've got these all recorded, Sarah has them somewhere *edit to say* Sarah has now sent me all the times but my computer is too damn old to open the file, i'll do a separate post on it!! From memory I think Lacy's fastest was 4.31 with an average of i think 4.42, she's very consistent. Ashers fastest was 3.76 and average 3.91. Rosie had a fastest of 4.49 and average of i think 4.7something. Luna had a fastest of 4.52 and again an average of 4.7ish.



Sunday we had Rockets and Extraset running. Rockets were Diefer, Elliot, Smartie and Bunty. Same old problem with rockets which was consistency, they seem to be able to hit the odd sub 19 time and then can't keep it up for the rest of the day and are comfortable around low to mid 19s. Diefer seemed to be back on form and was running 4.2s. Elliot ran probably the best I've seen him, he had a best time of 4.5something and averaged around 4.7. Smartie had a best time of around 4.6 and averaged i think 4.82. Bunty had a best time 0f 5.1something but averaged around 5.5. They did a best time of 18.88 and came 5th.



Extraset were Jemma, Sonny, Perry and Jamie. This is our lovely little consistent team apart from Katie running Sonny and still in the process of learning changeovers. They were just a bit unlucky that some of the races didn't go their way but as always they hit low 20s all day and had a best time of 20.05secs. They came 5th. Jemma was hitting some fab times, I believe her best was 4.43 and she averaged 4.5-4.6. Sonny had a best of around 4.7 and averaged i think 4.89secs. Perry was consistent as ever at 5.3-5.4secs and Jamie had a best time of 5.2 and averaged about 5.4. Excuse the video skills lol:

The Inbetweeny Bit

During our week between competitions we did some pretty fun stuff. Midweek we had fancy dress pairs which was hilarious. You had to run the dogs as a pair then the humans had to go 1 at a time up the flyball lane, down a glass of wine, shout "I love flyball" and come back. It was very funny. Me and Sarah dressed as ladybirds and managed to win our division with Asher and Elliot. The boys must have found it very exciting as they ran extra well, I had 2 people come up and tell me they saw Asher run a 3.6, I wish I'd seen it! The rest of our team were also quite successful with Mark and June with Smartie and Rosie coming 2nd in another division and Carol and Mark with Luna and Fraggle!! won the other division!

We also took part in a bit of fun agility where I tried running Jemma and Elliot, E wasn't too bothered but Jemma wasn't impressed although I was surprised she did it at all as she is such a mummy's girl!

Our plan for the week was to also push on a bit with the puppies training as they are all now over a year old (time flys!). I'm really pleased with how they are all coming on, Shani and Loki have had lots of work put in to their boxwork at home and it really showed. It was Shani's 1st time on our box (Nick had made a dummy 1 to practice at home) and she was doing 4 feet turns with ball within about 15mins. Carol has also been working on Merlin but as he is her mums dog hasn't had as much time as she would like, with just a few minutes each day by the end of the week he was also doing 4feet turns with ball. Loki's turn is looking brilliant, here is a vid of Merlin and Loki. I will try get 1 of Shani plus Moss and Ruby (who are also making good progress) soon.

The rest of the week consisted of walking the dogs, partying, lots of alcohol, lots of food and 2 trips to A+E!

Second Weekend

It was just the Missiles on Saturday. Fraggle decided after his amazing performance in pairs that he was done for the week and couldn't really be arsed! This resulted in a very comical performance which greatly entertained the crowd but not so much his owner! They still won 1 race and came 4th!

We were supposed to have the other 3 teams Sunday but unfortunately Jemma became ill and wasn't able to race, this meant we didn't have enough dogs and had to withdraw the Extraset. Sarah kindly also withdrew Elliot so that the remaining 6 dogs could run as the rockets. With having 6 dogs the Rockets never really gelled and were never going to be fast enough for division 2 so we just rotated the racing so it was fair for all the dogs. I got to run Jamie which was great fun as I haven't ran a little dog for years, I might have to get myself a handbag dog, I think they suit me! Unfortunately the team came last and managed a best time of 19.40secs.

Ballistics were the same team although we did have Elliot join us for some warmups. We've been on at Carol for a while now about how exciting she needs to be for Luna so that she comes back quicker and so after various discussions through the week Carol put everything in to running her. This made such a difference and Luna managed to clock a few late 4.3s and 4.4s, she also seemed to be starting to race the other lane. We were thinking how great this was, especially when we managed 17.43secs until disaster struck. We came out in the afternoon and in red lane Luna was coming back though the finish line and continuing to race the other dog in to their runback area. It wasn't agressive and she had the ball in her mouth the whole time but she was running at high speed. We were stumped, didn't see that 1 coming! So our last race in red was against an NFC Jets, they kindly let us run our team 1st so that Luna would do it right and she was fine. Unfortunately as many of you would of seen this problem carried over to haunt us at the Champs but I just wanted to show how recently it started. Despite this we came 2nd and were really pleased with the time as I wouldn't expect that time without Piper.

Hmmm so that wasn't exactly brief but nevermind, I guess I remembered more than I thought! Coming next... Champs!

Agility Videos

Just thought I'd post a couple of videos kindly taken by Lel and posted by Sarah. First one is of Thames so you can see what I mean by how bad he was! Second one is of him being speedy and relatively controlled around the collie sprint at Caerphilly, just a shame about the poles!

Caerphilly Agility

Well it went better than Thames, not that that would be difficult!

Saturday 1st agility went jump-weave to start, he got the entry but missed a pole and then just kept going over the next jump so got E'd. I brought him back and he was fine but I was too far behind to bring him round a wing properly so he went on to the dogwalk at a funny angle and fell off it. Redid the dogwalk and he completed the rest of the course really nicely.

Jumping was a fairly challenging course that I knew wouldn't lend itself well to ashers pole knocking however it was probably the smoothest he's worked a jumping course. He listened and was pretty tight on the turns but had 3 poles. He also messed up weaves again, got entry but missed a pole so I got him e'd by putting him back over the jump again and in to the weaves and then they were soo good, how annoying!

Last agility was really frustrating as it was made for Asher, all spread out and contacts breaking up jumps so less chance of pole knocking. Start again went jump-weave and again got entry but going too fast to do anymore, brought him back and fantastic weaves followed by a cracking run with just a messy bit after the weaves where I didn't work it from being annoyed about said weaves! His contacts were fab and he flew round so pleased about the rest of it especially as apparently I actually handled lol!

Sunday I took out a different dog, the crazy, insane side made an appearance. Agility was pretty disasterous, he didn't stop on the dog walk as there was a tunnel after it and he got marked on his up contact for dogwalk and aframe, he did however get his weaves! He screamed the whole way round and was generally a bit of an arse.

Next was 1-4 collie sprint which really was a sprint. He was a really good boy in this and flew round it but had 3 poles :(. Had to check the time as there were lots of fast clears. Winners time was 16.525secs, Asher did it in 16.358secs so was really pleased about that. There will hopefully be a video of this coming on in the next few days.

Should really have stopped there but took him in the 1-2jumping. Ahh he was so bad! Broke his wait, why I didn't put him back is beyond me! And then the rest of it was all over the place, got e'd for going back in a tunnel, got his weaves and then wouldn't go on down a long straight to the finish. This is something we really need to work on as it affected us a couple of times over the weekend. And it seems completely silly that he will power on ahead when you start a course but not when were driving to the finish.

So weaves were a bit better but I still find it very very frustrating as yet again at training last week I physically could not get him to miss them no matter what I was doing. And I really don't want to start going backwards by stopping him before the weaves in competition. Overall though he was much better, Saturday particularly I enjoyed running him as he looked like he might actually know what he was doing despite the silly mistakes. Ooh and I think this week at training we might be proofing waits, I DO NOT approve of him breaking his wait!

Chilterns

Missiles and extraset ran Saturday, I unfortunately couldn't be there to see them but apparently they both ran well and had close racing which resulted in them both finishing fourth. The only change to the teams being Sonny swapping with Elliot in the Extraset.

Rockets were 4th seed in division 2 and had a team of Diefer, Elliot, Smartie and Bunty. The 1st race we lost on lights but did a best time of 19.00secs. After that we narrowly lost races on speed and another 1 on lights. They did however manage to win the last race which somehow resulted in them finishing 4th!

Ballistics were 5th seed in division 1 (still on the 18.12 seed time). Unfortunately Lacy wasn't able to run so we had a team of Piper, Asher, Rosie and Luna. Again we were great in the morning, won the 1st 2 races against Jet Stream and High Flyers with a best time of 17.42secs. In the afternoon we had similar problems as at Frimley and struggled to hit the times which resulted in a few lights but less than last week which I think is mainly due to the order we ran in. Lots more stamina work required! We won against Bandits and Dream team but by the time we raced Jets we just didn't have the speed left in the tank although 1 of the legs did result in a tie so you can tell how close it was! Still we were all thrilled to finish 2nd after some great racing.

Asher was a good boy but didn't feel like he was quite 'on it' and his box turn was a bit all over the place. I think I need to get back in to his fitness routine as I have been a bit laxxed since getting back from Euro's. Less than 4 weeks until Champs, better start getting him ready!

Frimley - Birthday weekend

Thought I'd better quickly update this as we're at Chilterns this weekend and don't want to get behind again!

So 4 teams and no Louise, scary times! Missiles ran Saturday in division 6 which was 1 above where they should of been as they were on a seed time with Jive in the team. They actually did really well and managed a best time of 24.09secs, they won 2 races but unfortunately only came 5th.

Ballistics were 1st on in Div 1 on Sunday. I was really looking forward to it as we had the full 1st team and a fairly new combination of Piper, Luna, Lacy and Asher. We won the 1st race and did a time of 17.43secs. 2nd race was against Bassetts, it was very very close, Asher just couldn't quite catch up lizzy but they had a best time of 17.36secs and we had a best time of 17.38secs so very exciting racing! In the afternoon things went a bit to pot with more lights than a rave. All 3 races went to 5 legs and we should have won them all comfortably but managed to lose them all! A couple of the dogs seemed to tire alot, I suppose this was due to a number of factors as it was hot, they had ran a lot of legs and they hadn't run over 12" in a while but it was a bit disappointing to have been so good in the morning and so different in the afternoon so we will have to work on fitness and consistency. Hopefully that will come as the team gels. So we had the 2nd fastest time of the day and came last lol! Well chuffed with the time though!

Rockets were in div 2. The team was Diefer, Smartie, Sonny, Rosie and Bunty. Again we had problems with consistency, lots of lights and lates. On the plus side Diefer did blue lane and looked really good. The team won 2 races and did a best time of I think 19.26secs, they came 5th.

Extraset were in div 3. They were Jemma, Elliot, Perry, Jamie and Jive. This team ran brilliantly. Really consistent and.... Jemma did red lane :-) :-D all day and looked super speedy, what a clever girl! The others also ran well, they had a best time of 20.24secs, they only lost 1 race and managed to win the division!

So overall a fun weekend at Frimley, with good points and things to work on. Had fun Saturday night for my birthday celebrations even if my team did try to get me to drink a disgusting concoction of all the alcohol they could find, it even had curdled pina colada on the top... nice!

European Flyball Championships 2010

Hmmmm well where to start...

Firstly we nearly never made it at all. The short story is that I had major problems with my car the day before we were due to leave which meant I had no car to drive! We ended up having to hire a car and change the time of the ferry so that we had time to pick up and pack said hire car. It was a huge relief when we finally made it to the venue in Belgium late Wednesday evening.

Racing started on Friday with the lower divisions in temperatures of around I think 36 degrees, I literally felt like I was melting! Saturday was slightly cooler and we spent most of the day supporting the other british teams entered (as we did on friday). Friday and Saturday evening were good fun with everyone in good spirits and lots of Belgian beer.

Sunday soon came around with Asher racing with High Flyers in Division 1. The rest of the team were Maizie, Floss, Millie, Tanner and Badger although it was a great shame that Badger wasn't able to compete due to him still recuperating from his injury. I thought the team gelled well together and I really enjoyed doing changeovers on Maizie although I don't think my starts were so good! In speed trials we managed a fantastic best time of 16.62secs which put us as 2nd seed for the double elimination. We won our 1st two double elimination races putting us in to the semi-finals but unfortunately lost to Jolly Jumpers (who had broken the European record with 16.12secs earlier in the day). Our last race was against K-otic Flyers who we had beaten in the previous race. By this point in the day they were just a little too much for us and we lost but still came a fantastic 3rd in the division which meant we got on to the podium. Jolly Jumpers won with K-otics coming 2nd. I thought all the dogs ran well. I was really proud of Asher he tried so hard in every one of the 8 races and I have never seen him so tired as he was afterwards!

I thought the racing format was brilliant, racing was so exciting! The support between all the british teams was great. I also really enjoyed watching all the other european teams and how they did things, it was all very interesting. Overall a fantastic experience.

Big thanks to High Flyers for letting Asher run with them and making me part of the team. Thanks to Katie for putting up with my panic on the tuesday, keeping me company for the looong journey, bringing our good mate Tim and generally being a fab holiday buddy. Thanks to Jeanette for having Asher on the Saturday so that he could relax in the van rather than stressing himself out being tied up and to Nat for lending us the tent! Finally thanx to all the british teams who were around the ring supporting us.

Ooh and congratulations Jolly Jumpers :-)

Here is a vid of some teams competing, we are in the 1st clip, Asher is 2nd dog:

Ahh I'm soooo behind!

Very sorry for those few people who read the blog that I have got so far behind! So here's a quick update.

Thames agility was a bit of a disaster. Asher decided that he couldn't possibly weave and I think missed every entry. Gutted is not the word, weaves are usually something I feel pretty confident with, lets hope it was just a bad weekend. Contacts were pretty good but none of his runs felt all that good. He had 1 ok run each day, both in agility. On the Saturday he missed the weaves and then fell off the dog walk but he worked the course well. On Sunday he missed the weaves and came inside a jump but that was because I wasn't in the right place due to him missing the weaves!! The rest he worked nicely. The other runs aren't even worth talking about lol!

On 20th June we were back at hearing dogs but this time for a show held by bandits instead of mutts. We just had ballistics in div 2 consisting of Piper, Asher, Lacy and Bunty. We had to swap the order a few times to try and get it to work. We found the best order to be as above but then Bunty started running out on her way up. We somehow managed a best time of 18.12secs, won 2 races and came 4th.

On 26th June I went up to Stevenage to practise with High Flyers before the Euro's, training went well and Asher seemed to gel with the team which was good. I was a bit worried about him changing box but he coped well only fumbling a couple of times.

I'll write a separate post for the other stuff!