Wallingford 2008

I can't believe that a year ago at this show the weather was glorious and I got my first sight of a small ginger boy that would become Which Way Now Tom Tom. The weather today wasn't what you'd call glorious but I think the small and medium handlers got the better deal today as it stayed dry and the sun even came out at about lunchtime and it wasn't as cold as I was expecting.

The show was down to 6 rings which was nice but even though the classes weren't that small there was still a lot of running around to walk and run classes but then again I was finished by 1.30 on the road by 2.45 and home by 5 having been to muck out Fenella and drop Suzi at home.

Both Suzi and Thomas had 4 runs including a brace class where I had to run both of them one after the other and like a fool I thought there would only be about 10 jumps but there was 16 including weaves and 2 tunnels! I decided to run Suzi first as I thought my helper Karen would be able to get hold of her easier than Tom but she had to rugby tackle her as she wanted to come with us. Suzi got a clear but Tom got 5 faults for a refusal as he went all the way round a jump and then off on a sniff but came back quickly and finished well. They both did G1-4 agility and the little minx Suzi got 5 for missing her dogwalk and I worked so hard to ensure she got it. Tom on the other hand was a star and went clear, he ended up 2 out of the places but I know where he lost time which was on the seesaw as he really hesitated plus he went a little wide on a couple of the turns. He also went clear in his G3 agility and ended up 1 out of the places and again I know where we lost time as he got a sniff of something while we were doing a pull through which could have been down to me as I'm finding the sniffing seems to be more when he's a bit confused rather than just the need for a sniff as when this happens he comes back quite quickly. His seesaw in this class was much better and I don't think he could have gone closer to the end without falling off:-)

Poor Dudley didn't have a very good day, we were supposed to be doing pairs with one of Karen's dogs who doesn't really like Duds and always barks and grumbles at him which hasn't been a major problem up til now as he usually just ignores her but today it really worried him and he slunk along towards the rings practically on his belly and I had to carry him after a while as he wouldn't move, he was really shaking and stressed out while we waited for the pairs class to start and as they were faffing about getting started I decided to run him in his agility which was running at the same time. I thought that once we got away from the other dog he would calm down and cheer up and although he seemed to he wasn't happy in the ring and even knocked poles which isn't like him I felt really bad and scratched him from the pairs and took him back to the car to be with the others hoping this would make him feel better. Luckily these were the only runs he had and he was fine after I took him for a walk and he had some ice cream.