Paws in the Park

Tenterden put on a good show, well organised with lovely judges and they even managed to get the weather sorted out but I don't like the Hop Farm as a venue and have decided not to do any more shows held there which is a shame as it's so close to home but having to walk miles to the rings, the refreshments and even the exercise and the fact that they charge the earth but can't keep the loos stocked with loo roll really doesn't make for an enjoyable and relaxing weekend. This was nothing to do with Tenterden, I hasten to add, who I think did a great job under not that easy circumstances.

Agility wise - it was Dudley's last grade 5 show and I was hoping to finish on a high but on Saturday he got 10 faults in his agility over an interesting course and wasn't helped by me saying tyre instead of weaves thus getting him 5 for going in the wrong side of the weaves, they other 5 were him leaping off the dog walk. As the weather had really warmed up by the time his jumping was due to take place I didn't run him and took him to have a go a terrier racing instead which he's done before but not out of the traps. I think he enjoyed it much more than he would have the jumping :) Sunday although sunny was a bit cooler so he didn't seem to mind running even with a long wait between his jumping and agility, in his jumping he knocked a pole which is unusual for him but did run nicely and didn't try to bite me which was nice, however, in his agility although he went clear he incurred 1 time fault which I'm sure we wouldn't have got if he hadn't grabbed my ankle quite so much, still he finised 2nd but they only placed to 1st so no rosette. Suzi was very naughty over the weekend and her wicked sense of humour took over a bit as she managed to get all her contacts but on Saturday completely ignored the fact that I was calling her and moving in the opposite direction and shot into a tunnel at the wrong end getting a big E, she did redeem herself a bit and got a clear in the helter skelter. I pulled both small dogs out of the 3-5 jumping, Suzi at jump 4 because she was walking and Tom because I felt that it was a bit too naggy and would probably have blown his mind at that time of the day. On Sunday she was doing a cracking round in her jumping then went over a jump that I wasn't pointing or looking at to get another E but did do a nice agility round but just a bit too slow for a place, I think the dog walk was a bit springy as she started up it at speed then slowed right down, quite a few dogs did this and we all agreed that it moved as they went up it. Large dogs are obviously not as sensitive :)

Now to Thomas, as it's his blog I suppose he should get a mention! Well this weekend will not be remembered as his finest hour, although parts of every run had some excellent moments, as out of 4 runs he got 4 Es. He seemed very distracted and not at all as relaxed as normal and the fact that we had to queue for quite a while before most of his runs didn't help. He did get all his contacts though which was lovely especially after the inconsistency of Duds and Suzi but everything else seemed to go to pot a bit, I'm wondering if he picked up on me being a bit stressed out with all the walking backwards and forwards as I couldn't always hear the PA and they didn't often repeat the message so most of the time you only heard the 'calling to the end' or the 'closing in 5 minutes' bit but you didn't know what class or what ring.

Talking of the PA, in this world or wireless and digital etc why are most of the PAs so rubbish, you either can't hear them or they boom out so loud that they are distorted and why can't people repeat the message as usually by the time you realise that the tinny little squeak is the PA you've missed two thirds of it and have to wander round asking people if they heard it and keep bumping into people asking the same thing so you then have to walk the 10-15 minutes to your ring to find out that it was nothing to do with your class. Even the one that you can listen to over the radio isn't much good if they don't repeat the message plus in my car you have to have the engine switched on for the radio to work so it's no good anyway.

Blimey it's lucky we're near the end of the season if something as simple as the PA starts to send me off on what could end up as a continous rant :)