Show news for 2009
31/10/09 TUNBRIDGE WELLS AND DISTRICT C.S. Ardingly
Contents |
WOW!!!! SAFFIE QUALIFIES FOR CRUFTS
What an end to the season! It was our dreaded YKC class, full of others way more advanced than me and Saff, but she managed it! It wasn't her best round ever, but it was in a venue she hates and she really did do her best! The rest made mistakes here and there but Saffie worked hard in all the exercises, not giving much away across the board, giving us our third 1st place in as many weeks!! This has qualified Saffie for Crufts 2010 and made me very very happy!! She is such a special girl! That was our last show for 2009 and what a way to finish!!!
04/10/09 THURROCK DTS. Essex
WOW!!!! WE WON AGAIN!!!!
Saffie did her stays and I knew that was it- an opportunity! We worked very hard and it paid off- 1st again! This is Saffie's second beginner win (in only 2 weeks) qualifying both Saffie and I as "Novice only" meaning neither Saf's or any of my future dogs, will be able to work in the lower classes again! Poor Fergus.
Saffie's round was excellent- consistent and precise!
03/10/09 ELM PARK DTC, Essex
We broke our stays!!! Noo.. so disappointed.
The Judge was so impressed with Saffie that she mentioned her in her write-up even though we weren't placed!
A second bitch whose work was a pleasure to watch is 324 Cloverice Serenity at Serenedrift. Goldie. Another stay breaker whose handler brought her into the ring and created one of the best training rounds I have seen in a long time. Real training combined with genuinely rewarding play. Many congratulations. I will watch your inevitable progress with interest.
12/09/09- SOMEWHERE IN Essex
We didn't go this show Saffie had done her bit!!!
12/09/09 THAMES DTC- Slough
WOW!!!! FAB NEWS- WE WON!!!!!
Saffie actually won the class today!!! She got 1st!!! She was wonderful with faultless attention!! As we were doing two rounds I did one in the morning and trained it, then the other, our beginner, in the afternoon! It worked!!
Saffie's critique:
1st. Miss Rebecca and Cloverice Serenity at Serenedrift. GR. B. A breath of fresh air blew into the ring when Rebecca and 4 year old Saffie came in. This young lady worked her socks off keeping her lovely Goldie happy and motivated. A pleasure to watch and judge. Congratulations and Good Luck for the future. Keep up the good work.
31/8/2009 ST EDWARDS DTC- London
"Everything must be perfect"
I still couldn't walk well so I took treats to work her. Clever Saffie knew there was no treats actually in the ring so didn't bother working! Interesting to know though as many people use treats at shows but I have always found that dogs loose interest in the ring where you cannot take the treats..
She did the stays though
22/08/09 and 23/08/09 DITTON DTC- Kent
I have had an injury this time and cannot go!!
08/08/09 BILLINGSHURST DTC- home town!!
YKC class time again!!
Woohoo she was first!! Then she broke her stays. Silly, silly girl!! We didn't want to go to Crufts anyway!!
Her round incidentally, was the best ever!
Where it all goes wrong!
02/08/09 HALSTEAD DTC- Essex
Too far to go!
01/08/09 WITHAM & DISTRICT DTS- Essex
"Enjoying the journey"
Forgot to bring money to get back through the toll today so we detoured through London. Saffie saw canary wharf and other sights. What a well travelled pooch.
Her novice round was so-so and she broke her beginner stays so again she trained the beginner. The Judge seemed to know us and thought she was wonderful. He said about how much she had improved and wanted to see us win. He also pointed out to the other handlers around the ring that this is how a dog should work in the ring!! (how embarrassing))!!
26/07/09 NORTH WEST KENT DTC Open- Kent
Saffie is now working two rounds......
Novice is one up from beginners and should be used for training purposes. The novice class contains all the handlers who have had a dog which has qualified into novice at some point in their (the owners) lives. So therefore a lot of good handlers!
Her novice round was awful. I forgot to book into her beginners round (due to the stress of the novice- I am sure) so we trained it. She was super when it was trained.
25/07/09 POTTERS BAR DTC. London.
"Pointless"
Three hours it took to get home this day!!! Three hours. The M25 was blocked both ways so we just waited. The show was quite pointless too. The Judge had a misunderstanding with the steward before we went in to it did not set us up for a good round.
19/07/09 ANDOVER & DISTRICT DTS. Hampshire
We did not attend this show as Saffie had a tail relapse problem! She is okay now though.
18/07/09 SOUTH EASTERN DTC . Near Croydon.
Over boiled
I helped out at this show and had Saffie in the car for part of the morning. She had obviously got her self very wound up as control did not really come into the round. She worked hard though and it's nice to see her so happy. The recall lost us most of the mark and then a little jumping on the heel on lead through excitement lost us the rest. Had it not have been for those things we would of had a nice placing. Something to work on this week.
11/07/09 and 12/07/09 EASTLEIGH AND WINCHESTER DTC. Hampshire
Tried our best
I went to this show with little hope after last week. Maybe Saffie is bored of obedience. But she pulled it off. Another stunning performance earning us a 6th place on the Saturday. She was so keen that she slipped on the retrieve and did a full roll over- of course loosing us valuable points- but still a crowd pleaser.
Saffie's critique:
6th CLOVERICE SERENITY AT SERENEDRIFT GR
Nothing serene about this lovely goldie, so very keen, skidded and fell over in the retrieve, lightening pace in the recall, slightly crashing into present, but you did a clear retrieve in the r/o, my notes say, fantastic attention, good handler with lovely play between exercises, keep that attitude that you have as you will need it when you go through the classes. Very well done.
The round on Sunday was another long drawn out affair. She did it though. Her score wasn't took bad but she had a very urgent scratch in the down stay and then an apparent prior commitment as she decided she would try and leave the ring!! No placing that day!
05/07/09 CIPPENHAM DTC. Slough
I don't want to go to Crufts- said Saffie
The turn of the increasingly disappointing YKC class! Today was no exception- Saffie worked the worse she has ever done and literally would not do anything!! It was the same venue as a few weeks ago when we had the motor bikes and I think she was worried about where the motorbikes were hiding- or she just did not feel like it today! Not sure!
28/06/09 S.A.T.S. Surrey
Wooohooo
A placing! hottest day of the year- good round- great stays and a 3rd place for Saffie. Long may it continue!!
3rd: Miss Rebecca and CLOVERICE SERENITY AT SERENEDRIFT (G RET). HOL 0.5 HF 0.75 REC 0.5 RET 0.5. Lost 2.25. I loved this Goldie's enthusiasm to work. The heelwork was excellent and enjoyable to watch. The present of the recall was the most exuberant of the day. Loads of potential. Good luck with her.
27/06/09 WARLINGHAM DTC. Surrey
Too much
Saffie found it all too much today- too much heat and too much heelwork!
She did the stays though!
21/06/09 SURREY DTS. Berks
Not today
Saffie did not really want to work today. She hung on in there, but when it came to going past the dirt motorcycle race, which was next to our ring (literally meters way) with a race very much under way- Saffie made the executive decision that she would not walk past that side of the ring and would switch to the other side of me just to be out of harms way should any motorcycles get loose and come after her (thanks, Saf)!! You can't blame her really! Who would of thought a motorcycle race run in the same venue as a dog show was a good idea!!
20/06/09 BASINGSTOKE AND DISTRICT DTC. Hampshire
Touching glory
Boy did we work hard today! And what a stunning round Saffie produced putting us in the lead for the day!!! 1st- amazing I thought- 1st!!!!! Our excitement, joy, elation was not to last. At the very end of the day stays commenced. We got through our sit fine, but in the down she got up!! She moved!! Away fluttered our first place... not today said Saff's.
The Judge was full of complements and was a wonderful inspiration. Incidentally he judged the obedience championship at Crufts 2008- so he really knows what he is talking about! I just hope Saffie can reproduce her efforts on another occasion!
14/06/09 FINDON DTC. West Sussex
New problem!
Get there and rush in the ring was today's plan. Except it really didn't work!! Saffie has a new problem in her heel on lead where she looks away and today she spend most of that exercise looking away. She stays on my leg- but looks round. It has come about through other dogs nipping her or shocking her when in heel work so she has become very vary.
She lost 4 marks today on heel on lead and 1 and a half for the rest of the round...had it not have been for them 4 marks we would have been placed highly!
Heel free she is fine and loves it!
I was told to check her (not harshly) when she looked away because she knows what to do--just a few checks made her not want to even be near me!!..so I knew instantly that was not the answer.
It taken a bit of time... but just praising her when she is doing it right and ignoring/stopping when she is doing it wrong seems to be working. Although it has not fixed the problem I hope to overcome it this way. She has lost trust me.. now I have to rebuild it.
Our trainer Janet did exceedingly well at this show, with her Josie winning an "A" and a 3rd in novice and Bob also getting a placing in novice.
07/06/09 PETERSFIELD & DISTRICT DTC. Hampshire.
Super
Another perfect round from Saffie but again she broke her stays- putting her at the bottom of the league table!! Her tail is much better now.
17/05/09 CULVERSTONE & DISTRICT DTC. Kent
Super
I brought Fergus along as an incentive.. as Saffie gets very jealous if Fergus works and she doesn't! She did a perfect round, I could not of asked for better. But then she broke her stays again!!
Carolyn ans Solly won their second novice and are now into "A"!!
Our trainer Janet also won a novice class with Josie and was placed in novice with Bob.
16/05/09 CULVERSTONE & DISTRICT DTC. Kent
Didn't work out
Saffie just did not feel it this round and her tail is still bothering her.
10/05/09 SOUTHERN BORDER COLLIE CLUB. Maidstone
Not today
In the morning Saffie woke up with "dead tail" which is where her tail is limp. Fergus had it a few weeks ago and was really distressed but Saffie did not seem to be bothered so I took her in the ring. She hung on in there for the round but stopped a few times to bite it, would not sit and was generally upset about it her tail in the ring.
09/05/09 HAMPTON & DTC. Staines
Stunning
Our first southern show of the year. It was held at a farm with a horse show in the next field. The rings were in a very rutted field which made heelwork interesting! Everything seemed to go right at this show ending with Saffie showing off her stunning heel free!! We only lots 3/4 of a point on it! Her heel on lead, lost her 2 marks as we are not so good at that and she also got distracted by a send away marker in the other ring. Unfortunately she broke her stays (which is a big no no!!!) so ended up with a rosette for 8th place! Saffie and I were exceedingly happy with her round.
Rhia from our Sunday training class got a 3rd with Jim in her A class on his second outing in that class!
04/05/09 BOXGROVE COMPANION DOG SHOW. Chichester
Just a bit of training
All the dogs went to this show. My mum and sister wanted to go to this show for a change! It was not me asking them to come along it was the other way round!
With Saffie we just went for some extra ring training. She was reasonable in her round. Some bits of brilliance and others where I need to somehow work on her enthusiasm/attention. I was going to do a training round, but Saffie had hurt her paw somehow so I did not want her bouncing on it too much. She was about 5th with a few more to run when we left.
Molly and Fergus entered their classes and behaved well. There was minimal barking from Molly and no disagreement with Fergus about where he thinks he should stand. Unfortunately no placings in their classes. I do think that Molly is not looking her best these days. I do only enter her in veteran and only because she enjoys it!
Molly and my sister did get a 5th in Junior handler.
With Ferg, I thought the judge liked him- but...obviously not as much as I thought! He looked nice though, despite his hair being in all directions (I blame the wind!).
What was lovely and made our day, was that we bumped into Serenedrift Toffee Apple (Lexi), pictures of which can be seen in the Diary.
03/05/09 RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP OBEDIENCE SHOW. Near Warwick
Disappointing!!
This was one of our YKC qualifiers. Saffie entered and did some good heelwork at points. Unfortunately she "legged it" during the recall..loosing us 4 marks...THEN anticipated the retrieve (which she does on occasion)..another 4 marks gone!
All we needed, was for us not to loose more than 10....but we lost 14!!. At least Saf enjoyed herself! Retrieve is her favourite exercise EVER you know! Whether we can find 5 more YKC Crufts qualifying shows to go to this year may be pushing it- unless we feel like going to outer Mongolia!! We ran off for 5th place and got 6th!!- not a qualifying entry.
The most annoying thing about the YKC is that kids do not have to work their own dogs. So quite a few of the kids in the line up had super star dogs that work the top classes. That's hard to beat.
Our critique by the judge:
6th 273 Cloverice Serenity at Serendrift Goldie b. with Rebecca also loosing 14½ and the run off by a small margin. I think this dogs Kennel Name is a bit of a misnomer as she is a really exuberant Goldie who literally throws herself wholeheartedly into all the exercises. I do hope she settles as she could be brilliant. Most of the faults in all the exercises were caused by over enthusiasm bits and pieces of crabbing, drifting and a wat on both sets of heelwork and handler didn’t walk straight in HF. Anticipation in both recall and retrieve. Jump present in recall with readjustment to sit in front and cf and also anticipated to finish in retrieve.
26/04/09 WELKS. Malvern
Such a shame!
Fergus was shown here, he looked great and behaved.... reasonably!!! (just difficult towards the end..)
The judge liked him a lot but felt that his teeth were not right for her, which she said was such a real shame!! I'm glad she liked him and he did not look totally out of place in the show ring!! Unfortunately we cannot change his teeth!- So we will just have to see how it goes there. I have only have one other show planned with him this year- as Saffie is fairly busy!
Easter Weekend
The dog was fine its a shame about the handler!
Saffie and I went on a mini break to Sherwood Forest in aid of...relaxing and of course ring training! Saf enjoyed her camping trip but has most defiantly come to the conclusion that she very much a house dog and does not appreciate roughing it!!
13/04/09 MIDLANDS BORDER COLLIE CLUB. Notts
Woohoo no rain today....(yet, the clouds were threatening). Right..Saffs was whisked into the ring pronto today. She worked a lot better than she on the previous two occasions. I unfortunately made another costly mistake.. as Safs came racing in on the recall she bashed into me.. I fell back...all chaos broke loose and down the toilet went 4 marks... just for moving!!
That again could of been another placing in the cards I threw away!
12/04/09 SHEFFIELD GSD SOCIETY. Notts
and as for the next show..
It was still raining. I got in fairly early to work, but found that Saf had peeked on her earlier toilet break from the car..so was not as good as she could have been.
Her turns were pretty bad (she did not seem to care) and she lacked that oh so familiar OTT-ness which makes Saf famous. The judge and steward both liked her and spoke of how she'd fair in the above classes (as did other judges over the weekend).
However, with other little odds and ends.. which again, apparently were my fault (the dog was fine said the Judge), Saf found herself at the back end of cards. Frustratingly, it was not until 4pm when we found out we probably could of left some hours before if the scores were written up!
I now am positive that when everything comes together she will do better. It is just learning how to put those things together which it what I need to work on!
10/04/09 NOTTINGHAM SHERWOOD FORESTERS KENNEL ASSOCIATION. Notts
As for this show ..it did not go well from the start!
We were late, it was raining, we waited to work outside the ring for 45 minutes before being told they were going to lunch. soaking wet we went back to the car for an hour. Then I lost Saf's dumbbell..in that time they decided it was Saf's turn to work, we had to rush around to buy another dumbbell and..as for work.. pwha! Never said Safs!!
What I have learnt from this somewhat chaotic weekend is that I have a lot to learn.
A dog show for Saf's requires a whole sequence of events which I need to perfect. Including my own ringcraft!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<------ Number one thing to perfect.
My wish list
I want Saff to enjoy more in the ring herself as she does in training....I want to make her heelwork position stronger and her enthusiasm greater.
But how?
05/04/09 COMPANION DOG SHOW, Herts
Fabulous
Everyone went along to this one. I wanted to see how Saffie was doing in readiness for next weekend. Needless to say she was fabulous.
The obedience classes catered for the more inexperienced dogs, with 3 classes below Safs class! Due to the entry requirements there was a big gap in the classes, so Saf again, had to go in with the big boys and boy didn't she do well!! She did fab in her "novice" class and got 5th (ran off for 4th with 4 others)!!!!! Novice is the class higher than she usually works... but in saying that she has not started working Beginner yet..so really its two classes higher than her normal class!! She really was fab today and the Judge thought she had so much potential!
Molly and Fergus did not do so well, I was pretty convinced that the judge thought they were the same dog throughout the show..but never mind. He was not keen on them for what ever reason, I thought they looked grand and it's nice to have Molly smelling nice, matt free and silky smooth again!
Luckily, I did not spend a long time grooming Ferg before the show..because he found this nice patch of mud which was a lot more fun!!!
07/03/09 CRUFTS
We did not qualify any dogs this year. It is quite an experience for any dog (ask Molly!) and I did not think Saf's was ready quite yet. Ferg, did not get out to many Champ shows to qualify last year.. we may go to a few next year... but we will see!
Congrats to Carolyn with Solly (Papillon) from our Sunday training... she did well with Solly and contributed to the South of England team winning the inter-regional obedience competition.
A huge congrats to fellow young competitor Daniel Thompson with "Mills on Wheels" who got third in his obedience class and won the trophy for getting the most points (placing at show= points) at shows last year!!! We did meet at lots of shows!
I am going to try to qualify Saf's in obedience.... I have done it once with molly so I should be able to do it again (as they say). I think she will be ready next year!! As I am over 18 I have to go in with the "clever" dogs..which are a bit above Safs...but we will have a go!
28/02/09 ROMFORD & DISTRICT CANINE SOCIETY.
We did not go to this show. Fergus came down with a raging ear infection and persistent his rolling, itching and general comfortableness.. for an hour or so..made his head swell up. He was very unwell and only wanted hugs. Poor boy. It has cleared up now (two weeks on) but he was quite poorly with it.
22/02/09 SOUTHERN GOLDEN RETRIEVER CHAMPIONSHIP SHOW. Guildford
Fergus and Saffie attended.
I could see Ferg was not looking his best compared to the rest.. he was looking a little on the skinny side and the judge did not place us.
Saf did well, all of the timing of the rounds (in obedience) were delayed due to road conditions so I ended up bringing Saf in too early and she had to wait...not something you want really for an obedience round. Saf was good though, in her collie like accuracy she did a nice round with her signature bad present. (Still not fixed that!)
The Judge was not so keen, and for what ever reason..(she did not like her head position?) gave us a mark loss of 7. Which I thought was high. She got 6th place in the end out of 25 or so. It was a beginners round and ordinarily I would be ecstatic about that.. but on watching the competition work (to get some ideas/tips)... I didn't see one work better than Saf's. Oh well. It is a certain amount down to personal choice. Saf doesn't work like a ordinary Goldie (she trains with umpteen collies).. and that was obviously what the judge was looking for.. there is always next time!
My beautiful Safs and her close heelwork position shown perfectly second from the left! Sorry about the blur!
25/01/09 CHICHESTER AND DISTRICT CANINE SOCIETY. Bognor Regis
We didn't do brilliantly well today with a 5th and a 5th. But a least the Judge chose to place us over other dogs in the ring who were left out of the placings. Ferg to me, is the best thing since sliced bread!!- But you always think that of your own dogs, don't you!
11/01/09 SOUTHAMPTON & DISTRICT CANINE SOCIETY. Southampton.
Southampton is actually quite far away!! Needless to say we had a good time. Fergus got a 5th and 4th in the ring. He decided he was sacred of the judges hat which was rather annoying because we had so many people admire him. It was worth the trip, even if it was just for all the complements! We went for a very long walk in the New Forest which Fergus thought was brilliant.
03/01/09 SOUTH WEST ESSEX CANINE ASSOCIATION. Essex.
Fergus attended. The placings were rather disappointing. He was placed in his Puppy class 5th and 1st in his Novice class as there was no one else in the class. I don't know what happened in his Puppy class, but he just started to moult uncontrollably. He was even jumping up catching his hair which was floating around! But today he had stopped moulting! The judge obviously liked something about him by seeing through the cloud of hair and placing us!