National Dog Show 2011

I left Auckland on Wednesday morning to head off early to Nationals in Fielding. I bought my first every house at auction the night before (both scary and exciting!) so my head was a bit all over the place. The drive down was bit yuk - wintery and windy and cold!

We arrived in Palmy to the motel I was sharing with Nicki and her three shepherds to find a very wet and cold Nicki - she had been out doing tracking with Reicher.

Thursday was nice - wandering around the Mansfield arena watching everything that was going on - it was the prelude obedience (off site - I didnt go watch that) and the prelude breed inside that Nicki was doing with her youngest GSD Indie. Nice to just wander and not have too much to do.... except for spend some money of course!

Mansfield Arena

Nicki breed showing Indie

Friday was the first day of agility, unfortunately they moved the agility from outside Mansfield stadium to the Fielding club grounds. It was a bit of a pity because it didnt really feel like we were part of the national show, and the grounds felt fine on Sunday when we were there for AD / Finals!

Brody ran in Intermediate, Novice and jumpers. He had a good run in intermediate except for Brody contacts (leaping off the top!), but kind of fast. He went clear in Jumpers C which was great as we are only a few away from JD, but not super fast. I managed to watch some agility, but missed most of the obedience I wanted to see!

Chace posing at the agility grounds

Saturday was a very busy and somewhat stressful day. Brody's health has been a bit up and down lately - no seizures since Christmas which is awesome, but since then skin and shoulder issues. So I was really worried all day about how he was. We ran Novice (I didnt know I entered it and didnt walk the course) and knocked a rail, and Jumpers C (clear but slow). Went and watched some breed and obedience, and then got back to agility only to have drama with Nicki - she just got bcak from breed showing and had four GSD's to run right away. So I got my intro to shepherds - I had to take each one to the ring from the crates in the car for Nicki to run. I think I scared the judge a bit when Reicher hauled me to the ring and almost pulled me onto my face! Then the drama of trying to get one in and one out and of the crate with three dogs in...... Fun!! Also Nick almost had an asthma attack, then when I was taking the last dog back to the crate when Nicki was all done there were BC's running all around the ute, with Reicher and Tess in one crate going nuts, and I was meant to open that crate and get Indie in. Needless to say I decided NOT to open the crate! I didnt want any GSD eating BC incidents!!!

Brody with best buddy Reicher.... that is until Brody decided it would be a good idea to hump him!!! Really not a good idea!

Paws N Music

Saturday night was the Paws N Music event, and both Nick and I were pretty nervous!!! My first routine was the HWTM - little star.

This was me completely out of my comfort zone, as Brody's not too keen on heelwork, and I'm not a dancer, and definitely not good being all delicate and girly! Unfortunately Brody got distracted by someone eating something that smelt REALLY

GOOD off the the side of the ring, and apparently I didnt have enough heelwork in to score very high. Its a bit of a pity because I think that although there was not as much heelwork, it was better choreographed and more entertaining than many of the other HWTM routines. But it didnt score well - we got 4th. The next routine was our starters freestyle - Brody was a bit tired and laggy, but hit most of his moves. We got third behind Kate and Irma.

Nicki did really well with Reicher - 4th in Elementary with her werewolf routine, and first in HWTM with the routine that I choreographed! Stoked for her!!!!

After the prizegiving all the kiddies came up to see the dogs, and as per normal Brody was VERY popular! We had a good play with all the kids, and jumped over (or on top of) a few of them!

I got back into the car after prizegiving to find a puppy surrounded in sequins..... Silly me had put Brody's beautiful sequined bandana too close to the crate, and forgot to give her a chew, so I think she is going to have gold sparky poos for a few days, little bugger! And after the hours of sewing!!!

Sunday morning we had AD at the Mansfield grounds, I was a little disappointed because both Brody and I managed to completely stuff it up - completely demo'd the second jump! It was a bit disappointing because theres hardly any AD's this year, and I am trying really hard to get ADX with Brody this year. Then we had lots of fun watching all the breed show, parade of winners, and Test C obedience. I took Chace for a few circuits of the stadium to get her used to the strange noises and surfaces.... and to tire her out!

Then Nicki went back to the unit to eat a whole lot of junk food, and drive home Monday morning, another crap weather day! Raining and windy.

All in all another great Nationals, a bit disappointed with some of our performances, but Brody is happy and seizure free, and thats the main thing. I always love watching all the events, like the Breed showing (still dont get it though!) and the YKC (there are some SUCH awesome young handlers!) and it was great to see the South Island girls!!

Looking forward to next year.... hopefully Chace might be on the scene then too!!!

Brody and Chace posing on the ride home - North end of the Dessert Road

Agility weekend away

This weekend Brody and I went on an agility mission to Cambridge and Hamilton. We went down with Debbie and Bailey, and met up with Matilda with Hiska, and Tonka with Molly and Jazz, also Darren and Adam.

Saturday started with a very early morning drive - we left at 5.30am! We arrived at Cambridge far to early, despite the Mystery creek Field days traffic. And surprisingly the weather was actually great, despite a bad

forecast.

Brody and I ran in Jumpers C (knocked a rail because I didnt time it right, and Brody's pacing was wrong), Starters (placing yay!), Novice (missed an up contact), and our first ever AD.

I was really happy with our attempt at AD, as we got much further that I thought. My only goal was to get the see saw, which we did. It was really only me mucking up the cross over that blew it.... But check out the video.

Saturday night Debbie and I drove to Hamilton, and stayed in a great little dog friendly motel (the Abbey travel Lodge) with Tonka and Matilda and all the dogs.

Sunday at WAG was more like the forecast..... very wet and muddy, so not all the pleasant! Tonka started the day in great form - getting the last ADX she needed with Molly to get ADX gold! Wow.

Despite the weather and a tired Brody we managed to get two more ribbons - in Jumpers C and Starters. All in all a great agility weekend.

GC's got talent.... Results!

Well apparently Brody and I have got Talent - we won the most talented teachers award! Yay!

Look out Nationals and NDTA here we come

Whangarei Championship Show

This weekend we drove up to Whangarei for the WDTA obedience and agility championship show.

We drove up on the Friday, and stayed in a cute little cabin at Alpha Holiday park.. which I would definitely recommend, very dog friendly.

I stupidly entered everything I could, which was a bit too much! We entered Special Beginners for obedience, and Novice, Starters, and Jumpers C for Agility.... on both Saturday and Sunday!

So first up was obedience, which was very nerve racking.... as it was only the second ever

Specials we had entered, and we have been working so hard with Jan lately! And he did the best every heelwork he has every done in the ring, his off lead was a bit sloppy, but we havent trained off lead. A good recall, and he stuck his stays! Yay I was so happy that we saw some progress! And Michelle was the steward, which was very cool (she is a great steward!).

So we actually won Special Beginners, which means that we are now officially out of Elementary for Paws n Music AND obedience! Two out of three, I only need to get out of elementary for agility now, and I will have achieved all of my goals for dog training for the year.

Agility was good, he is still making progress... two of the runs he was great, and I made a handling mistake which meant we didnt get a clear round, and the other rounds he was tired and played up. But it was a big weekend.

Then to top it off, 5 minutes before I was about to drive off, they drew the raffle, and I won a huge Christmas ham!

Wow, so a great weekend all around . I am rather tired though, and so is Brody!

Weekend doggy events

This weekend we had two interesting doggy events. On Saturday night we performed a demonstration with other Choredography dogs at a Ceroc Dance party, that was fundraising for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The dance was being held in

Edgewater College, in the school hall... which unfortunately meant slippery wooden floors. And also swarms of people sitting around the edge of the hall. This was really NOT ideal for dancing dogs!!

Although some dogs (i.e. Brody) coped better that others, it was fair to say that the performance was not great! They all slipped everywhere, Moss was freaked out by the loud microphone noise, and Honey just could NOT figure out what that weird slippery floor thing was!

For a bit of entertainment, take a look at the video that Hsin-Yi made of the night.

On Sunday Brody and I ventured, yet again to Ardmore in the ongoing battle I like to call obedience. We went out with Debbie and her dogs Bailey and Tia, and for once Brody actually behaved relatively well in the ring!! It was the Manakau Obedience Championship show, and we entered Elementary. I'm very proud to say, that Brody got second!! Yay, progress!! My goal is for him to graduate out of Elementary this year, only one win to go!

I will post a pic of him soon with his pretty ribbon :-)

2009 Eukanuba Nationals - Fielding

Last Wednesday Brody and I embarked on a great adventure - our first Nationals. We left in convey with Michelle, Jan, and Janna in two campervans, and made it to Fielding a mere seven hours later.

To our great joy we were to be camping in the event centre's carpark for the week, without power. On the plus side there were half decent toilets and showers pretty close, and the centre where it was all heppening was literally 100m away!

After setting up, and getting settled in it was down to buisness. On the Thursday the first of our group, Michelle was competing with Bodie in the Obedience curtain raiser event. He did very well, despite being a little over prepaired by Jan, with some pretty good heelwork and a nice recall and retrieve. Pity it was out in the carpark with a cone boundry rope!

Then I had my first glimpse into the strange world of Breed shows..... We ventured into the centre, and started wandering. After visiting the stalls, and checking out all the food stalls, I settled down to watch the breed shows. After a week I still dont really know how it works, it was definately an experience. The thing that got me the most was the amount of dogs that peed and pooped in the ring! And also the crazy costumes they were put in to keep their fur nice between shows... And I though obedience people were weird! (Just kidding).

Then came Friday.... The big day!! Friday night the Paws 'N Music event was held in the main

ring, in the centre. Scary! Michelle and I were competing with Brody and Moss, and Jan was judging, so a big day for our group. After a day of nerves it was time for the big event. The show started at 7pm, and I was 7th in the elementary group. Over 500 tickets had been pre-sold, and two big grandstands were full. I was SSOOOO nervous!

But it went great, despite some dubious practice in the corridor beforehand.

My new imporved part of the routine (with human props Kelly and Michelle) went great, he was totally focused! Just a little coughing incident, and a few bits that were not as well timed as I would like, but he hit all his tricks. Michelle and Moss's routine was in Novice, and she was competing against Chelsea Mariner, with a very different type of routine. And it went great, and Moss mostly behaved.

And then the prizegiving..... So nervous! My main goal was that Brody get all his tricks, and I would like to place. And then we won!!!! Yay I was SO happy! ANd to make it better, Ngaire with Risky got third (another Choredography dog). And Michelle and Moss won Novice! What a great night, Jan was so proud!

And of course, true to form, Brody slipped his collar and bolted... running through the crowds to dash into the mens bathroom. He came back, eventually!

So Brody is the New Zealand Elementary Paws 'N Music Champion for 2009!!

Friday was a very nervous day for Michelle (and

Jan) as she was also competing in Novice with Bodie inside. He was great, did very well, great retrieve, and stuck his stays.

I also was lucky enough to meet another of Brody's sister Fusion. She definately takes off her mum, very husky looking. She also ran in agility later in the week.

Saturday was a nervous day for Jan, as she was cometing in Test B with Onyx, who is a pretty young dog, in a very competitive grade.

He did great though, just a bit of a short send away. We also watched the junior handler competitions in the evening, which were heaps of fun. It was great to see so many young handlers doing so well. And having heaps of fun.

Sunday was Janna's day, competing in the big Test C with True. He definately did Janna proud, with some beautiful heelwork, and he seemed to have fun!

Sunday was all the Best in Breed and other big competitions, which again was interesting to watch! Kelly (the prop in my routine) was competing for best young handler, to win a trip to compete in Crufts. And lots of the other winners did a parade, which was nice to see. Pity that they didnt want any Paws 'N Music demos. Oh well. Then came the big news..... Snow everywhere and the desert road closed! Dramas! Sunday night Brody and I checked into the local holiday park, as the others were leaving in the morning.

Monday and Tuesday were the agility competitions, and it was very cool to see the big centre all changed around for agility. We competed in Starters and Novice on Monday, and we achieved my goal - a clear round! I was stoked, he was pretty fast, and did his weaves first time. Novice wasnt so good, he was getting really tired. He got all his contacts, but didnt want to weave, so we just ran and had fun.

On Monday we ran Jumpers in the morning before we left, and we were both super tired, so just had fun. Then we

had to drive home, which was somewhat of a mission due to all the snow! We had to go National park, as the Desert road was closed. But that was kind of cool as Brody had his first ever romp in the snow.

Then we got home, and blobbed out! Two very tired people.... Well one human and a dog.