On 27th Nov we entered 4 classes at the Crooked Oak UKA show. For those who haven't been to Crooked Oak shows before, it's a great place to start if you're new to competing as it's such a friendly, fun and supportive environment. You can enter at your measured height, select height (one lower than your measured) or NFC (not for competition). NFC is a great way to just get some ring experience and train your dog in a new environment with new distractions, we've also entered NFC in the past as a warm-up before our other group classes.
Firstly, a hats off to all the team organising and running the event as thanks to Storm Arwen, there was no power. The start & finish lines were working on a battery but all times and results etc had to be worked out manually with pen & paper which is very time consuming and takes a great deal of concentration. It was also incredibly cold, obviously catering was off and we were pushed for time with daylight but everyone did an amazing job and it all ran smoothly.
We entered 4 classes - (Grade 1) Beginner's Jumping, Beginner's Agility, Beginner's Steeplechase 1 and Beginner's Steeplechase 2. I chose to enter Noddy in the select class this time, so he jumped the 250 height rather than his measured 300 height. Due to work and the dark nights, we'd only had one official training class with our club in over 2 months and I was also aware that since the lockdown break, Noddy's jump style/timing has gone a little crazy. He can take off really early, especially if there's a large gap between obstacles, he flies through the air, at full stretch, almost over extending and way higher than he needs to but this means he can come back down too early and knock poles. He can also land badly and potentially hurt himself so we'll be doing some grid work and are focusing on some tailored conditioning exercises and proprioception to get his style and timing back on track. Because of all this, I entered him in the select class so the courses would be exactly the same but the poles would be slightly lower for him. Of course, he still flew over the jumps with huge scope but his take off timing was much better and he didn't knock any poles, which compared to our last agility show (Kennel Club), was a great improvement.
Our first class of the day was Beginner's Jumping, this is a course made up of jumps, tunnels and weave poles. No contact equipment. There was a large area between a lot of these obstacles so I was a little worried about Noddy's timing but he actually jumped really well. He didn't knock any poles but we were eliminated as for some reason, he took a right, away from me after taking a jump but tightly wrapped round the pole and took the jump again so we were out. Most of the time it's handler error but just occasionally it can be the dog and in this case we really don't know why he did that but these things happen, they're not robots and they can easily get distracted or confused. He was straight back on track again though, continuing to jump well, he just came out of his weaves a little early before taking the final jump. His weave entry was amazing though which has been a big personal goal for us, he jumped really well and had fun so overall it was a good run and a great chance to warm up.
Our second class was Beginner's Agility, this is a course including all equipment. Jumps, tunnels, weaves and contact equipment, dog walk, A-frame and see-saw. This was our first win of the day and the one I'm most proud of. For us, a clear round in agility is amazing, especially after a break from training and a really long time out of the show ring. Noddy's contacts are generally good most of the time but it's an added risk compared to jumping and steeplechase courses. Weave poles are also a huge risk, especially a full set of 12. Me being on the right of the weaves is our preference, being on the left is still very much a working progress but to our advantage they were set on our stronger side in this course. Whatever side I'm on though, we've been doing a lot of work on the entry, trying to make it smooth from one obstacle to the next and Noddy having more independence. Previously in shows I've had to slow him down or even pause him to line him up for a clean entry, he'd often miss the first pole and go in on the second but on this day he was on fire. He ran from the tunnel, over the following jump and ran straight in to an independent weave entry, at the correct point, without slowing down or needing much guidance from me and he completed the FULL SET! Yes, that's what they're supposed to do but as I said earlier, weaves take a painstakingly long time to perfect and for us, that was a huge personal goal. It feels so good when you see months of hard work and training pay off and I was so so happy with this run. He left the weaves and completed the rest of the course clear, gaining us our first red rosette of the day.
After a fairly short break we were up again, this time for the first of two Beginner's Steeplechase courses. Steeplechase is a course made up of just jumps and tunnels.. That may sound nice but the lack of weaves and contact equipment is made up for with repetitive, circling courses which can be confusing and directional cues are often very important as there can be trick lines where your dog would naturally run forward but you need them to instead take an obstacle to the side. I love steeplechase runs as they're usually nice flowing but it can be a challenge remembering which lap you're on and how many times you've been through that same tunnel and at what point you need to move on. A second red rosette was bagged though, with Noddy jumping clear yet again and me managing to remember my route - not only are these shows great learning for your dog but they're a great learning curve for handlers too.
Our fourth and final run of the day was the second Beginner's Steeplechase. Again, this was a course that circled twice in the centre so remembering which lap we were on was a top priority. I could tell Noddy was tiring by this point as I was running quite far ahead of him and he's usually very fast for a little dog but he gave it 110% as he always does and pushed himself round to the finish line. Clear again, I was over the moon and we received our third red rosette of the day.
Noddy got a lamb's horn marrow from the stall upstairs as a treat for being so amazing and had a good cool down walk and some stretches before we packed up to head home after a long day. Safe to say the following day was mostly spent snoozing! I'd forgotten what a clear round felt like as we've only done one show since a very long lockdown break and we were eliminated in all three classes there, although they were 'good eliminations' and Noddy ran really well, it's been a while since we've had a clear show run. Nothing beats training and running with your dog though, whatever the result it's all about fun and enjoyment. The clears and rosettes are just a bonus but I wanted to log this day as it was a credit to all our training over the past couple of years and it was a reminder to "trust your dog" which my coaches tell me all the time..
