I cant believe we have got to the end of the Agility Season already, It seems like the pups have only just got into their stride!. We have booked a couple of local limited shows to give the pups more experience over the winter, but unless we book Rugby, thats it now till the spring!!. Flyball too comes to an end this weekend, how will we fill our weekends now!! Lol.
The weekend before last we went to the Bromsgrove show, Jon had his first grade 2 classes, and Won the grade 2 Jumping!!.
Mika had 3 courses, but they were all quite technical and The poor Mee Moo man just aint ready for that yet!!, still he did some good work in each of them and it showed me just what we have to work on over the winter!. Unfortunately we forgot to take the camcorder to this show, shame as Mika did the best "steady" ever, followed by a brilliant "wrap" around the wing!.

Last weekend we traveled down to Devon, for a two day show, the weather was stunning and we had a great time, made even more special as we got to see our good friends Kate and David.... and meet their new puppy Tailor!
Mika worked Great on the Saturday and got a 2nd in the Agility, and a 3rd in the 1-7 steeplechase,  I was so chuffed with him, but disappointed we did not film it as im sure he was running the fastest he has ever gone!
Lenny had so many "nearly" rounds again both him and Jon are working really well, but they seem to be cursed with "one pole syndrome"!
We are going to raise the height of the training jumps slightly over the winter along with some jumping exercises and grid work, and hope that by next season we will have sussed it!!.
Here is a small video of a couple of their rounds, Still gutted we didn't video the steelechase

Here are a couple of videos of a few of the runs from our 2 week holiday. We had a great time and so much happened, but Ive just not got the time to write a big blog! ( Corrie is on soon!) Lol
As usual some of the best runs were not Videoed which is a shame, as Woody was brill I really wish I had more of his runs on film. Mika too improved in leaps and bounds, however we hardly have any videos of him running on the last few days, as it was so cold and windy that Jon went on strike and holed up in the caravan!

                             


What a blast we had this weekend!
We arrived at the Flyball Championships on the Friday afternoon, and knowing we were not even starting to race till sunday lunch time we got straight down to the serious business of relaxing!.
The sun shone all weekend the drink flowed and the company was great fun. We made the most of the entertainment Friday and Saturday night partying into the early hours I even taught the club all the moves to 5,6,7,8 by steps which we put into practice on the dancefloor, we had such a laugh and that was only the holiday part of our weekend!!............
There were 32 Division's each consisting of 6 teams competing over the course of the weekend and with 3 rings running simultaneously it made for a very busy but very exciting time!.
Teams are placed into divisions according to their "seed time" I.E the fastest recorded time each team has raced in the previous few weeks. Having recently set a new British record of 16.70 our team the Bassett Hotdogs were to be competing in division one, seeded 1st and there was alot of expectation from everybody that we would try and smash our record again! However we decided that the Champs were really not the place to take chances and our aim for the day was to play it safe, not push our passes and to do just enough each time without taking risks.
Sunday morning dawned and I realized that today was the day! the nerves started to rise, but a baileys coffee for breakfast soon put pay to that and I was just excited to get in the ring and give it our best!
The atmosphere  was amazing! division 1 was run on its own, with the other rings taking a break and everybody crowded around to watch cheering and willing on there favorite teams.  All the teams In division one were close on seed times and were packed with very talented dogs and handlers so we knew we were in for a great days racing!.
We had 3 sets of races in the morning.  And we won all three. I had a bit of a panic in the first race when i set Woody up 2 feet further back than usual yet he still got a light!  But we just moved him back another couple of feet and all was well from then on!
I think the results were:

Bassett Hotdogs V Molten Magnets 3-1 
Bassett Hotdogs V Cleveland Comets  3-0
Bassett Hotdogs V Shooting Stars 3-0

OMG how we got through that afternoon till our next set of races ill never know! we were so excited. we sat around chatting and passing the time each of us lapsing into periods of quiet when we were either reliving the morning or day dreaming of the possible outcome of the later races!!
Finally it was our turn in the ring again the mood ringside was electric and I was so very proud to be a part of it. We had two sets of races in the afternoon against the 2nd and 3rd seeded teams in the country so we knew it was going to be tough, but we stuck to our mornings strategy and it paid off!!
I think the results were:

Bassett Hotdogs V Live Wires 3-1
Bassett Hotdogs V High Flyers 3-1


When Lizzie came over the finnish line on the last race the crowd exploded it took us all a moment to realize what had happened WE HAD WON!!! We were the New British Champions!!!! What a Buzz.
I really didnt think anything could top that feeling! - that was until the prize giving! Oh My God we were all so close to tears! the crowd were cheering, our club were chanting BASSETTS, BASSETTS, and then they started playing Queens "we are the champion's"  Then there was an almightly roar as Anne collected the Trophy Im sure by now even Mr Woodles eyes were "fillin up"!!! Lol




Here is a Video of our last run of the day!  It wasnt our fastest of the day but boy was it the most memorable!!!
Followed by a Video of the Presentation

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Here is a video of one of woodles more hairy moments!, as i said earlier we were ment to be holding our passes and playing safe, however in this race he slipped out of my hands and just missed getting a light by a whisker! I love the response of our friends watching the passes! swear box please!! Lol







                WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!

                    

                                        Well done to the Bassett Hotdogs
                                                       Jo and Maisy
                                                    Anne and Rupee
                                                     Vicky and Tess
                                                     Dave and Lizzie
                                                      Me and Woody
                                                Wendy our Box loader

                         The Bassett Allsorts Club members
                                 

I just want to say how honored I feel to be a member of such a great club, and how lucky I feel to be in the Hotdog team we have 5 amazing dogs and handlers and I know there will be many more great moments to share!.

                 Breaking News
Jon got his first clear round in Kennel club agility, and picked up a 3rd place in the 1-3 Jumping!!

The pups worked well again this weekend, and we had a great time despite the rain on saturday!
Im putting Sundays video on first today as It shows Jon getting his first clear round, I am so pleased for him!, and even more so because it wasnt a straight forward course, but required some smooth handling particularly on the snake to pull through! So well Done Jon!!.
As you can see from the video, They lost a lot of time 3-4 and still managed 3rd!



On the Saturday MIka ran lovely, I was really chuffed with his run in the 3-5 agility, as it was a teqnical course and didnt think we would cope very well... How wrong I was, apart from one knocked pole he ran great!.
Mika got a 3rd in the Helter skelter how we got round in the rain without falling over I dont know it was so slippery!




Here are Lens Saturday runs.  I dont know why its showing in a tiny box . Hopefully  it Might right its self but if not if you double click on in it should open on a new page!!

Here is the video of the pups we shot at the show this weekend, no clears from either but some great runs and we are so pleased with their progress, Mika is continuing to speed up and Jon is starting to relax into it and enjoy Lenny. Unfortunately Jon forgot to bring the camcorder down to his Sunday runs, which is a shame because they were some of the best work they have done so far!

We woke up this morning to the rain hammering down and were in two minds whether to bother going to the show today, but Im glad we did as the boys were great.

I only entered Dylon in one class the 1-7 Jumping, yet he aced it! There were a couple of places in the course that I could practice my new method of tighter turns (thanks Laura!) and he was such a good boy. 1st for my Mr Dylbert yey!

Woody was entered in the 4-5 agility and he too was great, he is improving in leaps and bounds although I dont even pretend to have any control over him in the ring!!.

Saffie did a lovely fast round in the Anysize jumping but just clipped a pole.

I was really pleased with Mika today his jumping style is improving and he is gaining loads of confidence. We got a 2nd in the 1-3 jumping and that was with a massively wide turn around the outside of a box!. He was great in the agility too, although he could not get his footing on the wet slippery dog walk and fell/jumped off the top plank, however I put him back over it and he completed it fine, if a little slower than usual, so I hope it has not put him off!.

Jon and Lenny worked well again although much to Jon's frustration still no clear rounds. I try to tell him that he is handling well and Len is doing brill, but he wont believe me till he has that trophy in his hands!

I had the chance to watch 2 of Dylons pups run today that I have not seen for ages, Jeff Holloway's Harry from the same litter as Woody, and Dave Jolly's pup from the repeat mating, both dogs are lovely and are both doing great in the ring.

Here is the video of the pups today, wish we had videoed Dylon and Woody as well, but hindsight is a wonderful thing!

With great excitement we packed up the caravan, and headed off to the Pups first Kennel Club show.
Bretfords was a lovely show, quite small -  with only between 100-160 in each class and very relaxing considering we were so nervous!!.
Bretfords was a grade 1 - 3 open show, which ment there were no classes for Woody and Dylon, but this ment we could concentrate on the pups.
I was very pleased with Mika, he worked better than I thought he would, he has started to work on ahead of me and his speed and confidence is really starting to show its self. He is still quite babyish and needs lots of work, particularly on jumping style, turns, and See-saw but all in all im very happy with his debut!.
He picked up a 1st a 2nd and a 5th! yey go the Mee Moo man!!


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Jon and Lenny worked really well. From a bystanders point of view, Lennon is working well and the partnership is really starting to come together. However Jon is a perfectionist and wont be happy till he gets that first clear round!!, even though friends and complete strangers were coming up to him and telling him how stunning lennon looks, he wont quite believe it till he gets that rosette  in his hand!



All in all we had a great time, and the Pups loved every minute of it. Im still not happy with their jumping style, as they still often "hunch up" over the jumps, but they both are now jumping better  on the parts of the courses that they can judge easily so im sure with more practice they will stretch out.
Turning Mika is going to be my project for the summer! he has the turning circle of a barge!, and reminds me so much of Saffie at his age!.

Jon took this photo at the end of the weekend!, god I need a diet! when did my face get so chubby!!

Took Woody to a flyball show today, it was so hot yet as usual he put in 100% and we had a great day. Our team Bassett Hotdogs won division 1, and we managed our best ever seed  time of 16.79. with many other runs also sub 17!
For winning we had a team photo taken and made into keyrings, as my last team photo was so shocking, I made a big thing of doing my hair etc, only to find that when the presentation came round the photo looked like I was cupping my chest with my tongue stuck out like some weird pervert! I give up!

I decided to take the pups to a local UKA show today for a bit of last minute practice before they are old enough to compete at Kennel club shows next week, We had a great day,  and all the dogs worked well. Jon had gone to visit his dad so I got to run Saffie and Lenny as well!
Below is a video of some of todays runs.
First up in the video was saffie who is now 12 years old and ran in casual which is as I call it "the old git class"! she ran lovely and picked up a 2nd.
Next was Dylon who just missed out on a place due to the massive wide turn 7-8 (he spotted the tunnel).
Then on to Woodles who is jumping lovely now and just pulled off an offset jump but was such a good boy.
Next up was Lennon I cut out the end of his steeplechase run, as after he knocked the pole I didnt work the end and Jon might tell me off if he sees that!! he is gaining in speed with every run we do, though getting wider with it!!! (something to work on over the summer!)
Lastly Was my Mika, he came 4th in the steeplechase even with that massive turn at the end, unfortunately Laura my video-er was chatting and missed the start!


Laura was at the show today with Rodney Mika and Lennons litter mate, she is attempting running contacts and has devised her own method which so far seems to be working great! you can see them working here http://laurachudleigh.blogspot.com/

We took the Pups to a UKA show yesterday, UKA allows dogs to compete in some classes at 16 months, these classes are Nursery Agility (which is run at lower height and does not contain weaves or seesaw) and Beginners steeple chase which is a flowing course containing only jumps and tunnels.
The Pups were great!. We only took them to give them some practice in the ring, but Lennon ended up winning a class and qualifying for a final in August!.
We were so pleased with them, and the exciting thing is they both have so much more to give! as neither were running at their usual speed and were both putting in strides that wernt necessary.
Here are some Videos of the pups yesterday.

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 Woody was excellent too and had the fastest time in Agility but just clipped one pole, and Dylon picked up a second in Champ jumping.

Last weekend we took woody to his first flyball show and he was fantastic!, his teams managed a 1st in starters and a 2nd in Div 1, not bad for his first attempt!!!!!!
Here are some of my favorite photos and a video of him strutting his stuff!










The pups are 16 months now and so we decided to put their jumps up to full height and introduce the seesaw. The jumps posed no problems although they still need to adjust to the new height, but Lennon absolutely hated the seesaw!!, we have spent the last two weeks working on it and have managed to get him happy and confident on it ..................... Pwheww
Here is a video we shot today  not sure why I have to convert my high quality avi videos into wmv to get youtube to upload them but its really starting to annoy me as the vids end up distorted, jumpy, slow and stretched! It may make me and Jon look tall and thinner, but the dogs look a funny shape! :-(


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We had a lovely relaxing show in cornwall last weekend, the sun was shining and all was good, Dylon although not nearly as fast as he used to be, managed a couple of good places and Woody made his first apperance in full height competition in a year, and was really good he is still taking a couple of poles in each class, but is really trying now and I am daring to hope we might actually get there!!!!
Didnt take much video, but did capture the 2 following runs. First is Dylon, doing a lovely round in what I thorght was quite a tricky grade 7 course. The second clip is Woody in a grade 4 agility, i used it as a training run so all contacts are held, but I was really pleased with him.

The pups loved their holiday here is a couple of pics

 

We set up a nice easy course for the pups yesterday to get them used to working a whole course, they are improving in leaps and bounds, I still have a lot to work on  with their contacts, and they have not even met the see saw yet, but Im really hopeful that by July they will be ready to compete. Have put a video together of some of the work we did, though dont know why it looks all squished up, cant complain though it makes me look almost skinny!!!! Lol

Have not done a video lately so put this together today, Mostly mika as jon hates me filming him as he thinks it Jinxes him!! Lol.
They are both coming along nicely and are loving it!. 3 months till first show!, There is so much I still need to do with them!.
Woody is officially a flyball dog!, we have entered his first show for May, and the club we belong to have hinted that they may want him for their top team!.

Took the boys training today, so here is a short video of the bits we recorded!.
We have been concentrating on their weaves which are speeding up with every session. They both seem to love weaving - what good boys!.
I have started training the contacts again this week, we have not done any for a well over a month but they seem to remember what to do, we just need to speed them up now!.
Lenny is flying!, he is so powerful, although the video doesnt do him justice, as it was filmed at the end of the lesson, and he was knackered!.




We took advantage of the sunshine yesterday and took the dogs for a lovely walk in the pewsey Vales, here are a few photos.

Took this small video on my mobile today, so not great quality sorry!. I was trying to work lennon and film at the same time, so body language went out the window, all credit to him for getting on with it and listening to verbal only!. We started weave training last week, and as you can see both are starting to get the hang of it they are much faster still onlead, but im sure it will only be a matter of time till they are zooming through............... I hope!!!! Lol. Most of the video is Lennon, as I only thought to try recording it at the end of Mikas session, though the last set of weaves are my mika.
Woody continues to excel at flyball, hes a natural and im so proud of him.
Not sure what to do about Dylon yet, we are entered in the championship class at crufts, but im not sure if he will be running, I trained him a few days ago, and he went lame, On malipulation I found a lump in his muscle on his back leg, so I think he has pulled a muscle or worse still a ligament!, He is sound again now, but the lump although reduced is still there.

Here is a video of training this weekend, With Mika I am concentrating on directional commands, I like my dogs to really understand what left and right means as They are usually working 2 or 3 jumps ahead of me!, Hes such a good boy, bless him, he really seems to have cottoned on!!, though as he gains speed he is starting to knock more poles!. Which brings me onto Lenny, who is still knocking alot of poles at small height, so as an experiment we did a round on the slightly higher medium height,............... what a difference it made, He was excellent, however as the pups are not a year old till january, I really dont want to be jumping him at medium height yet, so we have put jumping work on the back burner, and are working on his contacts.
Woody's jumping is improving!. we are still jumping medium height but he actually is thinking about what he is doing!, He seems to have taken his speed down a bit, and is actually concentrate on where he is going!!!!, he is still knocking a pole or two on each round, but this is a vast improvement, He is such a great worker, I really hope we can get him back to full height and in the ring soon!!!! (mind you we need to sort those turns out), he has been speeding round on mini height for so long he has the turning circle of an oil tanker!!! Lol

Here is some video of the pups at training, but I nearly gave up trying to post it!, for some reason it just wasnt uploading, managed to finally get up a basic version, but still cant add soundtrack, and the quality is sooooo ropey!. We have been teaching the pups to "snake" this week, both from behind and in front, they are both so quick to learn, what good boys!
I love watching the videos back, it really helps me see whats going wrong, for a start if i stop calling his name when he should be working away he might stop looking at me!!!!! Doh