Cadbury, Sparrow, Merlin, Swift and Me
If you read my previous blog about the Beachside Finals you'll know that this week I have been competing at Waxham Sands, a beautiful, yet windswept venue, where you definitely know you are right next door to the North Sea! This was Merlin's first show at Graduate level, while Sparrow was still Novice. I knew... Continue Reading →
For the third year running I qualified for the Beachside Finals at Waxham Sands. This year I had Merlin and Sparrow running, both in Novice grade but different heights. Beachside is the show where the journey began for us back in 2013 when Merlin started competing. I always feel at home with the Beachside team.... Continue Reading →
Tuesday night means Broads night, which has got to be just about the best evening of the week. Heck, we even had coconut tarts to munch on between classes! Two smaller courses had been set up to test us, each one having enough sneaky traps and variants to keep us busy. As there was a... Continue Reading →
Merlin has had a funny fortnight, what with his tummy troubles, and his confidence has dropped, but we are improving again, he is feeling better and getting back his agility mojo. On Saturday we went to Agility Ability at Euston park, a beautiful venue even if the ground is not ideal for running on. The... Continue Reading →
Easter weekend and time for the first big Kennel Club show of the year. I woke excited but then the nerves kicked in and by the time I was at the showground I had managed to knock my confidence by stressing about the day ahead. Not a great start and my tension fed straight down... Continue Reading →
Running contacts are not an easy thing to teach, but I am determined to succeed with little Sparrow. We have gone from flat work to now being on a full-size dogwalk set at a low height. Sparrow has been doing good, but on our Wednesday session I was concerned she was over-reaching at the contact,... Continue Reading →
This week at Broads we were working on various sequences. The first was a series of jumps that could be done in a variety of ways, and the trainers certainly found some inventive layouts! I have been working hard on my body language for Ketschkers. In all honesty in has taken me two years to... Continue Reading →
What a fab way to spend a Monday afternoon, training with the amazing Helen Anderson! Both Merlin and Sparrow had their turns. Sparrow is working on tunnel avoidance and it was clear her issue was understanding turning away from the tunnel. We worked at breaking down the exercise and we achieved some success, but have... Continue Reading →
We had T&A at the weekend. Merlin was back after his grazed paw the month before, and we had two of our trainers judging classes, which is both fun and slightly nerve-wracking. Team Stats Merlin: Clears 1. Faults 0. Eliminations 3. Sparrow: Clears 2. Faults 0. Eliminations 2. Cadbury: Clears 0. Faults 0. Eliminations 1.... Continue Reading →
The sun was shining down on us at DBDT this weekend. Despite a bit of a dodgy sciatica, I managed some great runs with the dogs, coming away with two clears for Merlin and a first placing for Sparrow Merlin's Runs Merlin is back in action after a grazed paw meant he had to... Continue Reading →
Team Jackson 