Agility Beagles

We are back!

2010-04-25T13:56:00.002+02:00

Wow, that is has to take me being sick and in bed for a week and another to come, to find time for my blog is a real shame.

I never uploaded the Austria pics or wrote something about our awesome trip to the AWC 2009 :( For that I must apologise profusely!

Here we are, so many months later, and I almost think it's impossible to catch up now...

So, for now, I will just start posting again, and hopefully *MAKE* time to slowly write something about the lost months.

Sorry for being MIA for so long, I hope you're all still out there and that we'll catch up with each other real soon.

Me & the agility Beagles, Emma & Levi, currently on a loooong break...

5 Months behind...

2009-10-05T21:33:00.002+02:00

Oh my, I haven't posted in 5 months! Shame on me!!! It's been such a busy year, but with so many highs, I will have to do another catch-up session soon.

For now, what you've missed, in short... was our National SA Championships end of May, where we had an international judge, Alen Marekovic from Croatia judge some of our rounds which also formed part of our final qualifiers for AWC. Emma was Reserve SA Champion, coming second to awesome cross-breed Benji, winning it for the 3rd year in a row. Emma was the Top qualifier in Medium for AWC. Along with her two Pyrenean Shepherd teammates, brother and sister, Chippy & Lollie, they made history by being the first ever Medium team to represent SA at AWC. More about that later...

In June we had a 6 Champ Show weekend in PE (Port Elizabeth), the town where I lived for the first 17 years of my life. Levi was the star of the weekend, taking home 5 QCs, the most won by any dog on the weekend, and also being overall Medium winner for the weekend. Emma came 3rd overall.

Chinzi qualified up to the Top Grade in PE and also won her very first Contact Agility QC amongst some really tough competition. Needless to say, it was a very memorable weekend of competition.

We travelled to the SADAA Nationals held in Knysna at the beginning of July, and here little Emma once again showed what she can do, by becoming the National Mini Winner for 2009!

August was slightly quiet, except for the KUSA Nationals held in Bloem, where Chinzi's Flyball Team, the Boland Flyers, won the Nationals in a time of 18.66sec. She also became a Flyball Champion that weekend. The rest of the month was taken up with loads of preparation for the AWC in Dornbirn, Austria.

The highlight of the year by far, was our AWC trip to Austria, starting off 12 September... and most certainly, MUCH MORE ABOUT THAT LATER! :)

It was just an amazing and wonderful experience all around, what a beautiful country and AWESOME display of agility!

More later, with pics, I promise!

The day after we got back, we went on a loooong (1000km one-way) road trip to Bloemfontein (crazy I know!) for another SADAA Regional Competition. My little BC Chinzi was so happy to have mom home, she won 4 of the 8 Gold medals she competed for, and Levi won 2 of the others... making our total in the Midi group 6 from 8! What a highlight! :) Emma was very happy to be back on home soil and again, for the 3rd time in a row, won overall Mini dog at Regionals. She also won a Gold, 2 Silver and a Bronze. Chinzi was also part of the winning Flyball team, running a time of 18.34 in very hot conditions, as well as taking home another Silver medal and being 2nd overall in Midi. Levi took 3rd spot overall, with 2 Golds and a Bronze.

That's all for now, let me go sort those pics, so I can start uploading the good stuff! :)

Playing catch-up... PART 3

2009-05-04T15:26:00.005+02:00

Hopefully this is the last of the catch-up posts so I can start updating regularly from now onwards again. :)

We had 2 Non-Champ shows on the weekend of 18,19 April, with some mixed results. Both shows definitely marked the start of our winter show season, with the Sunday show definitely a WET one! We got drenched!

Saturday Chinzi had two 5-fault rounds, but ran good times. On Sunday she qualified in Contact, now only needing one more to move up to Top Grade! In Non-Contact we had a very tight and short distance to weave-entry so we missed it, something to train in the weeks to come! :)

The Beagles were average, each with a DQ on Saturday, Levi a clear round winning Non-Contact and Emma coming 2nd in Contact with a knocked bar. On Sunday they both ran good times in Contact, but with faults, Levi winning at 5m/s and Emma 2nd at 4.4m/s, very fast for her! In Non-Contact we had the same weave entry as Chinzi in Grade 2 and Emma took it BEAUTIFULLY, also managing a win at 4m/s, great for her! Levi missed the entry twice and came 3rd.

The weekend thereafter we went on a road-trip to Graaff-Reinet for the SADAA Regional Trials. It was so much fun with friend Rozanne and her Yorkie Rolo being our travelling partners. We arrived on the Thursday already and went for a fantastic walk in the mountains the Friday, photos to be posted later! The weather was cool & drizzly most of the time, but we and the dogs enjoyed it immensely.

Competition started on Saturday and although my boy Levi didn't win any medals he had the best performance overall he's ever had at an RT, remember, having to compete with 49cm BCs over 55cm jumps! He came 5th overall in his Midi group totalling 14 dogs of which about 11 were BCs. He ran the fastest time in Agility once (unfortunately missing a contact) and the 2nd fastest in Agility once (also missing a contact), so not getting placed, but to beat BCs, one of which is Chinzi's gradmother who was in SA team to win AWC a few years ago, that takes some doing! I was SO SO SO proud of my boy! He only had one unfortunate DQ because of being spooked by thunder & flags just before he had to run and he just couldn't listen to mommy and try to be safe at the same time. :( Still his best overall performance ever and one to be proud of.

Emma won mini overall, grateful for that, as we've come 2nd and 3rd many times before, but never managed to win it. She also won a Gold and a Silver in Jumping during the weekend. Along with two Jack-Russels, she was also in the mini team who came 1st.

Chinzi also had an awesome weekend with one Q each in Agility and Jumping 2, and mostly 5-faulter rounds for the rest, dropping a bar here and there. Along with her Boland Flyers Teammates, she won the Flyball to bring home another Gold medal. The team's best time for the weekend was 19.5sec, not their best ever, but still not a bad time.

Between Emma & Chinzi, they brought home 125kg of Montego Classic, our sponsors for the weekend. Thankfully I took a trailer!!! LOL! :)

Playing catch-up… PART 2

2009-05-04T14:34:00.009+02:00

KA & Liesbeek Championship shows, Top-Grades only, took place on 28 Feb and 1 March in Constantia. Levi having achieved his dual-championship in November last year, I decided to focus on Emma who needs the QCs. At KA, she unfortunately knocked a pole in the Contact round, still coming first, but unfortunately just missing out on that so needed QC! Levi ran brilliantly to win the Non-Contact QC, his 4th in this discipline, also being the fastest dog on the day. Chinzi did some flyball and enjoyed herself thoroughly, screaming at everyone from sheer excitement!

Liesbeek saw little Emma run a stunning Contact round, winning once again, BUT with very steep course times set, she had 3 time faults, having her miss out on the QC once more. :-( Levi again the fastest on the day, had a dreaded refusal due to a horrible handling error from his mom, having him come 2nd in the Non-Contact this time, but still no QC as the 1st dog going clear also had time faults.

Next up was the 3rd AWC qualifier… and the nerves were shot! Contact up first… Emma missed one! Running faster than normally, that’s probably why. Levi, my all-or-nothing boy again DQ’d and shock horror, Chinzi too! She got stuck in the chute tunnel and when she came out was so rattled that she popped out the rigid tunnel a few obstacles later too and me not at all expecting that ran to layer a straight and she came over the long jump before I could send her back into the tunnel, OOPS! Non-Contact went MUCH better, with all clears from my crowd, only Emma incurring a few time faults.

Chinzi definitely seemed to be back on track with a much better jumping style than end of January and taking less poles, prospects were looking good! We had a fun demo in Dog Jumping on the Sunday, and Chinzi won the Top Grade round there as well. Photo of her with her Cup! Mom’s proud girl!

I have NO idea what got into Emma, but she ran like lighting that day, 4 fast rounds without once slowing down & also starting them fast! Very unlike my girl, but boy was I proud! Just SO wish she would perform like that always & mostly when it counts, as the potential is there! But the feminine mood swings just seems to be our biggest obstacle to overcome. Any ideas???

We had our Yearly Dog Jumping Prize Giving that Friday, and Emma won the Mini Top Grade League for the year, see her with her Cup:

14th February arrived, Valetine’s day, but most importantly, the FINAL AWC qualifier…

In Non-Contact Emma ran the course clear, but had a few time faults, mom messed up Levi’s weave entry to have us end with 5 faults and well Chinzi… mom made a horrible error, as she was AT HER BEST, but we unfortunately have a DQ recorded.

My boy proved to be like a red wine, getting better with time… he ran a STUNNING Contact round, to win his closest competitor normally by 3 seconds! He also won this round in Medium Nationally, being a second faster than the next competitor. SO SO SO proud of my boy! For the first time Emma also ran clear WITHOUT any time faults. Chinzi was also brilliant on a rather easy flowing course with one or 2 tricky parts, but if that bar just didn’t fall!

Final Results came out and for SA Champs (less steep course times and open to ALL dogs, without pedigree)… Levi is 4th, Emma 5th in Medium of 25 dogs and Chinzi 17th in Large from 100 dogs. For AWC (breed registered dogs only) Emma is lying 1st in Medium and Chinzi 10th in Large.

So we will be driving up to Pietermaritzburg (1600km away) for the FINALS end of May. Now it’s train train train, until then.

A LOAD off my shoulders when those qualifying rounds were over… whew, a little bit of relaxing, finally… after 9 weekends of competion in a row, getting up at 5am in the mornings, I finally could sleep in for a change, and it was so enjoyable!

So after a weekend’s rest, we had the GSD Open Show on the 22nd of March and perhaps we were a little too relaxed, as this was one of our ‘not-so-good’ shows. Chinzi had a horrible Contact round, missing Contacts and knocking poles to tally her faults at 25! She still won the round, shocking! Emma ran well in Contact, but jumped to the side of the dogwalk, getting a missed contact… of which I’m not completely convinced, but nevertheless would not have made any difference to her 2nd place. Levi decided to play 1 year old Beagle and ran around like a lunatic on the course not listening to one command from me whatsoever. I ended up carrying him off after his 3rd off-course, deciding he provided enough entertainment for the crowds for one day. LOL!

Non-Contact went much better with Chinzi just losing out on a Q by knocing the 2nd last pole! :-( Mom not wanting to push her already 5m/s speed, stopped running too soon and she knocked as she slightly turned her head back to look where I was. So my fault! Levi redeemed himself with a stunning Non-Contact round, 2seconds faster than his biggest rival. :-) Little Emma had had enough of the hot day in the sun and in her leisurely jog, knocked a pole.

We then had a Championship Show boy did we have good results.

Chinzi won her first QC (Qualifying Certificate) in Dog Jumping, after running a 19.22 seconds with her team in Flyball to come 1st there as well. Levi beat another big rival by 1 second to win his 5th Non-Contact QC. Chinzi had a magnificant day also qualifying in Non-Contact with a beautiful 5m/s round.

Time for another break...

Playing catch-up… PART 1

2009-05-04T14:33:00.003+02:00

I guess it’s time to play catch-up! I have not been away, just extremely busy!

So since I’ve last written, so much has happened. Let’s start where I left off in Jan. after our Stilbaai trip…

The SA Champs and AWC Qualifying Rounds kicked off on 24 January, and only having done one full course the week before with my BC Chinzi after her tendon injury, I was extremely nervous!

To my delight, she performed extremely well for a young dog who had only been competing for 2 months and then were off for 4 months. Apart from knocking a few poles, 2 in the Contact round and one in Non-Contact, she ran beautifully, getting all her Contacts and making the high set course times of 4m/s for Contact and 4.5m/s for Non-Contact fairly easily with seconds to spare.

The Beagles, well, they were themselves… Levi DQ’ing in the Contact round, but having a brilliant fast clear round in Non-Contact. Emma had 2 clear rounds, but both with some time-faults.

The courses were fair, nothing too challenging though. The second round on the 31st of January was an absolute nightmare and actually great examples of extremely poor course design. There were horrible angles and handlers had to run around the dogwalk ramps and all sorts which made for very uncomfortable handling. Chinzi once again surprised me, and although she missed her dogwalk and A-frame contact due to very tight turns thereafter with traps staring her in the face straight ahead, and one knocked pole, she excelled in the Non-Contact round to win this one Nationally! :)

With the ‘running around the dogwalk downramp’… for the first time in a very long time, I managed to DQ Emma as the flip out the tunnel didn’t work so well & she went back into it. :( At least Levi responded beatifully and although he very weirdly knocked a pole, something he NEVER does, he otherwise had a good Contact round but sadly due to a bad handling error on my part, DQ’d on a serpentine in the Non-Contact round. :(

The first two rounds were over, and we had a month break before the next two, to catch our breath, train and prepare some more & then finally have our last 2 chances on qualifying.

On the 6th of Feb, I took to the road again, fetching my dear little Kooikerhondje puppy from Mosselby, yup, I got her! :) It was a rather scary experience, as the day arrived there, she didn’t want to have anything to do with me and I doubted whether I picked the right pup some weeks before, as her littermates now were the ones interested in playing with me! Well, Saturday morning, she suddenly changed around and came running up to me, from then onwards we have been inseperable! She’s a stunning little dog with loads of drive & speed, so we can only hope this will transfer to the agility ring at a later stage. For now we are doing tricks, chasing Beagles, playing tug and having all sorts of puppy fun!

So I missed a show on the 7th, coming back with my pup, but most certainly worth it! On the 8th we had an Open Show where I could relax a little and work on what had been bugging. Highlights of this day was Chinzi qualifying in Non-Contact with a beautiful 5m/s clear round and Levi winning Top Grade Non-Contact also running over 5m/s.

The week thereafter we had our club’s Open Show and sadly Chinzi had the most stunning Contact round, knocking the very last bar to just lose out on a qualification! :( She did however manage another qualification in Non-Contact, this time running at 5.7m/s! WOW girl!

Emma had two clear rounds, unfortunately only getting her a 2nd and a 4th placing, Levi DQ’ing in Contact but again having a wonderful 4.8m/s victory in Non-Contact. My boy is getting better and better and faster and faster, YAY!

Chinzi & Levi were the two fastest dogs on the day, so mom was delighted!

Neverending weekends of agility continued into 21/22 Feb when we had our SADAA Regional Trials. Levi stunned me this weekend by winning two medals in Agility, one Silver and one Bronze. Remember, in SADAA we jump different heights, IFCS categories, so my poor 42.8cm boy has to compete with 49cm Border Collies! This to me was an incredible achievement on his part!!! Not only does he very seldom go clear in Agility (Contact) rounds, he also beat quite a few of his much taller BC counterparts on time! All this jumping over 55cm jumps instead of the FCI 45cm jumps he’s more used to. My boy amazed me! Emma was her little consistent self, never featuring in the medals, but still performing well enough to come 2nd overall in the Mini category!

Chinzi did not have such a good weekend… only qualifying in Agility once with a brilliant round, having a few knocked bars in the other rounds, just keeping us out the qualifications.

Before I continue with the Champ Shows and last AWC qualifiers, let me take a break first…

Stilbaai Weekend

2009-01-16T11:56:00.005+02:00

On the 10th of January, we all went on a road trip to see Kooikerhondjes in Mosselbay. After our visit to the breeder and litter, we stopped over at Stilbaai, where the beack walk and swimming was tremendous fun for all the dogs.

Leiv busy with his hole...

Chinzi swimming...

Dogs on the horizon...

Levi, admiring his work...

Chinzi, asking for more swimming...

The Kooiker litter...

"My" girl...

Should I get her, or shouldn't I... THAT is the question?! :)

New Year's Beach Walk

2009-01-16T10:17:00.006+02:00

We went for an early morning beach walk with some friends on New Year's day... it was also brown BC Jessie's birthday, she turned 6. Here are some pics from the beach & also on the field where we had breakfast afterwards.

Table Mountain

Levi seeing a bird floating...

It's MY seaweed!

Chinzi swimming...

Emma enjoying a back scratch...

Chinzi

Emma - caffeine junkie

Emma's work - don't leave car doors open with Beagles around!

Three brown BC friends, Jessie the b'day girl on the left

Beagles

My family

The gang, not posing...

The gang, posing...

Summer walks

2008-12-21T22:07:00.012+02:00

Here are some photos taken on our latest summer evening walks...

Why so few of Levi and so many of Emma you ask? Well, Levi is mostly on his own mission and does not like posing for photos, it is very difficult to get him to sit/stand still for long enough. :)

This tree must have been very inetersting...

Three hoorays for our BC sister Chinzi who is finally sprinting again after 3 months of rehab after she severed two toe tendons on her right hind leg!!! She will also be having her 2nd birthday tomorrow, happy b'day Chinz!!! We love you to bits! Beagle licks & kisses.

Some Photos

2008-12-01T15:15:00.007+02:00

KUSA weekend on 15, 16 November in Malmesbury...

Emma with all her rosettes

Boland Show (black & yellow) - 3rd in Contact, 2nd in Non-Contact

HHKC (blue & white) - 2nd in Contact, 2nd in DJ

BRVKC (black & pink) - 2nd in DJ, 3rd in Contact & Non-Contact

The other rosettes are 2nd places for two of the Dog Jumping National rounds and the last one a 2nd place for Overall National Dog Jumping Placing over the weekend.

She also came Second Overall in Agility (Contact & Non-Contact combined) for the 3 shows, but recieved no rosette/prize for that.

See why I call her my little miss "consistent" :)

Levi with his 3 first place rosettes, all QC's towards Championship status, which saw him become a Contact and Non-Contact champion on the same weekend!

With my boy, it's all or nothing! :) The blue rosette was his last QC needed in Contact to make him a Champion and the two pink ones he won in the same show, both disciplines, becoming a Non-Contact Champion as well.

SADAA weekend, Boland Regional Trials on 22 & 23 November in Malmesbury

My boy managed one3rd place with a bronze medal, but I am very proud of him having very fast BC's as competition over 55cm jump heights. He also ran a very fast Jumping round which saw him only a second off the best BC's times. Unfortunately he knocked a bar there, which made him move down to 10th place. Along with his team mates Dylan (Linda) and Ivan (Hannes), we won the midi/maxi team event, therefore the 1st place rosette! :)

Emma was consistant once again, running some very good times in extremely hot conditions. She managed 5 placings from 6 rounds, coming 4th with a clear round the last Jumping round of the weekend.

Her placings included her first ever Gold medal, a Silver and a Bronze, with another two 3rd placings without medals. Along with her mini team mates who both won the National Event in their size categories, she won the mini Team Event. They were Tiger (Ansie) and Garro (Marlize).

LEVI BECAME A DUAL AGILITY CHAMPION!

2008-11-17T20:03:00.001+02:00

NEWSFLASH - This past weekend Levi won 3 Qualifying Certificates, two in Contact and one in Non-Contact to become a Champion in both disciplines! Needless to say, I was ECSTATIC, and still is!!!

The saddest part about all this, is that I only have one of his 3 brilliant rounds on video. :(

Emma also fared very well with 3 clear rounds, 2 x 5faulters and one DQ. She came 2nd overall and Levi 3rd.

Summary of results:

Show 1 - Contact - Emma 3rd, Levi DQ / Non-Contact - Emma 2nd Clear & Levi DQ
Show 2 - Contact - Levi 1st (QC), Emma 2nd Clear / Non-Contact - Emma&Levi DQ
Show 3 - Contact - Levi 1st (QC), Emma 3rd / Non-Contact - Levi 1st (QC), Emma 3rd Clear

It was a very hot weekend in Malmesbury and I wet Emma with ice water before each run, which seemed to have helped. She performed better than expected given her history of going extremely slow when it's hot. She even ran one Contact round so fast, her time was only 4 sec slower than Levi's! Now that takes some doing! :)

I am very very happy with both doggies' performances and look forward to another weekend of 6 rounds each coming up. This time it will be under SADAA (IFCS) so Levi will have to jump 55cm instead of only 45cm, so not expecting him to do so well with BC's as competition, but we are still going to go out there and have some fun.

Emma qualified for the Nationals this coming weekend, but she is up against some very stiff competition, so not hoping for any miracles, also just going out to have fun and do our best.

Here are some rounds from the weekend...

Emma's Contact Round Clear, 2nd to Levi...

Levi's Contact Round where he became a Contact Champion...

So sad that I didn't get the Sunday's Contact round, as that was really a good round, as well as the Non-Contact one, but my "camera man" at the time had some technical difficulties. :)

Thanks to Chantal for recording these two clips.

2 from 3 for Emma on one day!

2008-11-02T19:19:00.002+02:00

Emma stole the show at our Champ show yesterday when she won 2 QCs! She beat very strong competition in the Contact to win the QC, her first in this discipline and MUCH to my surprise! Levi DQ'd due to my "too-slow" handling AGAIN! Emma also won the Dog Jumping QC, her 3rd in this discipline, but unfortunately two under the same judge, so she doesn't qualify as a Champion quite yet. Nonetheless, it was an Emma day. :) In Non-Contact Levi ran as fast as he's probably ever done, but unfortunately we DQ'd on a tunnel. Emma stepped in a thorn again and refused a jump, whereafter I DQ'd her to take the thorn out first, but thereafter she also ran a beautiful round.

I recieved Emma's Non-Contact Champion Certificate from KUSA on Friday, so photo's of my little Champion will follow soon. It's also her 4th birthday tomorrow, but more about that later. :)

Getting up to date...

2008-10-30T18:02:00.001+02:00

We had 3 shows/trials during the while I've been MIA... :) Not having very good results, but here's a short summary of what went down over the last couple of weeks...

We had an Open Show on 11 October on our grounds where Emma normally finds the bird poo more interesting than the agility obstacles... however, she was the only dog to not get disqualified in the Contact round, so got a first place there, albeit with two missed contacts! :-o She had a refusal, turning back in front of a tunnel to visit some bird-poo, as well as a knocked bar in her Non-Contact round, but still coming 2nd there. Levi had two DQ's on this day, very naugthy running off in the first round, but at least working in the second, although we made a mistake.

Next show was a Club Trial on 18 October in 30 degree Stellenbosch heat, and Levi having to jump 55cm as SADAA falls under IFCS not FCI. He however made me very proud by getting his last qualification in Agility 2, winning the midi group and moving up to Grade 3. In Jumping he also managed a clear round, but unfortunately only getting a 3rd place due to having to run against much taller BCs. Little Em ran clear in Agility, but in the Jumping round she refused a tunnel as the dog before her peed insided it and the blistering heat made the tunnel fumes too much for her! LOL! They washed it out and was allowed a re-run, but by that time she was so tired from having to almost run it for the 3rd time, she just said, why on earth do you want me to do this AGAIN, no no way! :) Of course I couldn't blame her. Was just disappointing at the time, but quite funny afterwards.

On Friday 24 October, we had a Championship, top grade only show. It was lovely and cool by the time evening arrived as we had a very hot day of flyball behind us. Levi caught me SO off guard by taking off like a rocket, that I was just too far behind him from the word GO to even think of catching up... we managed about 8 obstacles when he took the wrong jump after the dogwalk and we DQ'd. ALL the other mediums had faults, and Emma ran last, just having to run clear within time to win the coveted QC. The time was set quite high, and the only dog having gone clear, and more or less same speed as Emma normally, had 1 time fault, so off we went, all out! Being evening cool weather, Emma was MOVING and unfortunately so much that we missed the dogwalk contact, so thereafter we pushed for time even more, as we had nothing to lose. She then missed the A-frame contact as well, but ran the fastest time of the day and still came 2nd. Not too bad under the circumstances. :) In the Non-Contact, a very complicated course, I made a bad error with Levi, resulting in another DQ. I also took my eyes off Emma for a second and we also DQ'd. Well, it was fun nonetheless and we just WISH we could have more evening trials in summer, it was LOVELY, especially for the Beagles, working much faster than at any other time in the day. Anyway, I guess we can only dream...

The 26th came and we had another Club Trial... not one to speak much about... thorns made both my Beagles refuse to run the Jumping run, after which the ring was moved to another field. I made a handling error with Levi, resulting in a DQ and Emma again missed 2 contacts, but still managed a 1st place in that round.

So as you can see, not very good results over the last few weeks, lets hold thumbs this will change in the next few weeks. :)

Beagling Champion!

2008-10-06T10:00:00.013+02:00

Levi - Western Cape Beagling Champion 2008

Attending only 3 of 7 Drag Hunts this season, due to Agility priorities clashing, Levi still managed to snatch the title from the other hounds. It was an exciting last run as there were 4 hounds with total points tally lying very close.

Here are some pics of the outing, thanks to Nico Nel.

Levi with his "grandpa" Mike! Mike owns Indy, 7 year-in-a-row Beagling Champion and Levi's father. Levi proudly following in his dad's footsteps.

Action...

Levi leaving the pack behind...

Laying the drag...

Off they go...

Drinking & Swimming in the dam halfway...

Scenery...

Emma coming round the corner with the leaders...

Levi leading the pack...

Another QC for Levi!

2008-09-28T12:44:00.004+02:00

We had another champ show yesterday, and my boy had 2 clear rounds. The first in contact, where he won his second QC, so one more to go to become champion! :)

The second clear round in non-contact was a bit slower than competitor, Jack Russel Garro, who took the QC.

Levi really worked well and we enjoyed the challenging courses. Unfortunately once again, no video.

Emma was disappointing, as she was not interested in running at all. She was very very slow and only picked up on the last stretch of all her runs. It was really very frustrating. I am not sure whether to take her out of competition for a while or not, as I suspect she's getting bored again. It's also going to be summer soon, and she has never performed when it's hot, so will have to see. For now I'm definitely not going to take her to training, I will only train with Levi. Me & my boy will have to start pushing if we want to beat the fast dogs' times. Mantis (mini Aussie) who is really fast, will also be back in competition from the next show onwards, as she was busy with a litter of pups she had about 8 weeks ago. So, exciting and challenging times ahead! :)

Well, will keep you posted.

For now, I'm enjoying the AWC from million miles away, watching the live results update as they happen... also enjoyed some video clips, until there were some hassles and now, no more clips. :(

Really want to go as a supporter next year! Very exciting!!!

From Highs to Lows

2008-09-23T11:08:00.007+02:00

After the high of the GSD champ show where all doggies did well and Emma became a champion, to the lows of Chinzi injuring her leg very badly last week. She will be out for quite a few months, but more on her blog http://www.chinzigotops.blogspot.com/

The Beagles performed well at the last two shows, the first being Breede Rivier where it was raining and the Agility was cancelled. We only had a jumping run in the rain, which was a very very difficult and challenging course. Emma managed to run clear and win it, with Levi getting one refusal at a very tricky section, but still coming 2nd on the day.

This past weekend saw us running at the Bulldog Champ show, where Emma initially didn't feel like running and had a very poor performance in the Agility round, incurring 15 course faults, very unlike her, as well as time faults, but still managing a 3rd place. Levi was running extremely well, but a handling error caused us to DQ on a tunnel with 3 jumps to go! The Jumping run went a lot better with Levi only missing his Championship status CC by 0.57 seconds to Garro, a Jack Russel who represented SA at the IFCS World Champ event earlier this year. We had a donut just before a tunnel near the end of the course, and that was probably what cost us the QC. Well, tomorrow is another day with more chances. :) Emma redeemed herself magnificantly by only ending 2 seconds behind Levi in 4th place, with another fast Sheltie in between them coming 3rd. Chinzi was sorely missed at this event and all was done with a lump in my throat.

On Sunday we went Beagling and had loads of fun. Levi again won 4 of the 5 drags easily. Once the scent was dragged up a very steep hill, and him being agility fit, creamed that race by winning the rest of the pack by miles! The photo where he is alone in the picture is of this specific drag where he was so far ahead, not even another dog was in the picture! :)

Thanks to Mario Fourie for the photos.

EMMA IS A CHAMPION!

2008-09-10T08:47:00.004+02:00

- NEWSFLASH - My little Emma became my first ever Champion -

This past weekend has been the best of my Agility Career so far! We started off Saturday with a Fun Day Fundraiser for our friend Linda who will be attending the FCI AWC in Finland with her Brittany, Dylan, later this month. We had loads of fun playing Agility Games and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

Sunday came the big Champ Show... really expensive entry fees and the nerves were on the go in full force. Lucky for me, Chinzi's flyball event which always starts the day off, alleviates most of the pressure somewhat as it's so fast and hectic that there's no chance to be stressed and the adrenalin starts pumping. Once again Chinzi's team won the event with a time of 19.09 seconds... still trying our best to break the 19sec barrier, but hopefully soon soon!

On to the Agility where we ran Contact first. It was Levi's first time out in Grade 3 (top grade) in the Contact discipline. The course started of quite open and flowing, but had a few twists and turns in the middle. First I ran with Emma, and she ran a beautiful clear round, quite fast for her standards, even though I slowed her down a tad on the contacts to make sure, she still managed 4.3 m/s. Next I ran Levi, and although it wasn't our most flowing round ever, we made it round, also clear and in a time 2 seconds faster than Emma, managing 4.5 m/s to win the QC, Levi's first ever in Contact! Mom was ecstatic and now the day was made, nothing else mattered, this was enough to keep me smiling the whole day and the next week!

BC sister Chinzi was next up in Contact Grade 1, and she ran a quite slow-ish round to her standards, only managing 4.3 m/s, but also gaining a Qualification and a 1st place. On to the Dog Jumping, where Chinzi having to face the "Doberman Jump" for the first time ever, got a bit of a fright and ran round them... unfortunately giving us a refusal fault which meant, no Jump-off for Chinzi, but other than that, we had a good round. Emma had to run the same course and went clear, so later it would be her and a few little ones in the Jump-off for the Dog Jumping QC.

Non-Contact arrived and me and Chinzi had a horrible round in a icy and very strong wind, which blew a jump over while we were running, Chinz also popped out the weaves too early and knocked two bars, but funnily enough, we still managed a 3rd place. Not one to be proud of, but I guess the icy and windy conditions influenced the other competitors as well.

Jumping Run-off saw Emma beat little speedster Lizzie by 0.1 seconds, to win the QC! Her second in the Dog Jumping discipline.

Finally, the last huge event of the day, Non-Contact 3... it was a course with quite a tricky section after the weavepoles and it took some real hard thinking and planning to figure out how to be prepared for this. This time, Levi was up first... both Beagles standing on 2 QC's in this discipline each, and with them having a 1st and 2nd place finish in the Contact, the chances were pretty good for either of them walking away with the honours of becoming my first ever champion. Levi was up first... we negotiated the really tricky part quite well, to my great surprise, and sped on to the rest of the course... down a straight with a sharp turn coming up towards a tunnel, but with a jump straight ahead, NOT to be taken... mom suddenly scared that Levi might carry on straight over the jump, turned a TAD too early, making him veer past the last jump he should have taken, straight into the tunnel, resulting in a very unfortunate elimination for us, as he was going like a rocket and well on his way to his 2nd QC of the day. Emma was next up... and now it was ALL or NOTHING... lucky for me the icy conditions always make my girl run faster, and she went like a rocket! The tricky section we negotiated to perfection and was probably the tightest on the day! She responded beautifully to finish with a speed of 4.4m/s, probably her fastest ever on a course of this difficulty. She was 5 seconds faster than then next dog with a clear round and SHE WON THE QC! My girl became the first Beagle in South Africa to become a Non-Contact Agility Champion! My day couldn't have been any better. Such a sweet result, for such a sweet dog, and so well deserved. EMMA, MY CHAMPION! :) I am so so so proud of my little Beagle girl!

It was a day well worth the money spent. Not only did we receive the most beautiful trophies for placings, in total my 3 doggies received roundabout 32kg of dog food, which also is the stuff I feed, so it was a bonus! Chinzi's flyball prize was Frontline for 2 months for all 3 of them, so mommy was smiling all the way!

Photos of the stars and the trophies will be posted soon!

Very unfortunate, but I do not have any video clips of these rounds.

Two weekends... playing catch-up

2008-08-27T08:16:00.003+02:00

Over the last two weekends, we had two non-champ shows, Liesbeek on the 17th and Belgian on the 24th. We didn't have such a good day on the first, although Emma ran two clear rounds to receive a 1st place in Contact and a 3rd place in Non-Contact, Levi missed a contact and DQ'd in his non-contact run. The Belgian show went much better and Levi was a star! He won both Contact and Non-Contact rounds with fast clear rounds, with Emma 3nd in both runs.

Thanks to Keegan for the clip of Levi's Non-Contact run.

Success in Bloem!

2008-08-14T08:15:00.006+02:00

Thursday the 7th saw us taking on the long 1000km journey to Bloemfontein. The car was packed and the excitement high as the doggies knew, something was up! Our trip started off with some road trouble, when we rode over something, not even 100km from home and had to change one of the brand new tyres! It was 5:30am in the morning, and luckily an angel truck driver stopped to help us. Soon back on the road again, but without a proper spare, as the tyre was too damaged to fix, we continued to Bloem. Nowhere could we find a replacement tyre in the size we needed, so with fingers crossed that nothing else would go wrong, we continued driving. Luckily we made it to Bloem safe and sound, and immediately had the tyre replaced once we arrived.

Now the weekend filled with Agility fun could begin.

Friday saw mixed results, as Emma ran clear in Non-Contact, but missed a contact in both her contact rounds. She managed 3 second places in those first 3 rounds to current SA champ Benji. The fourth brought elation when she ran a clear Non-Contact round to win her second CC! Our fast competition, Benji and Levi, both made mistakes and the honours went to my girl! Levi worked very well, but mommy's bad handling saw us DQ in both our contact and non-contact rounds, not a very good start to the weekend for my boy, but watch this space!

BC sister Chinzi qualified in both her first two runs, Contact 1 and Non-Contact 1, beating her litter sister Ich, but not on speed! Some work to be done there girl. :)

She knocked a bar in her next Contact round and had an unfortunate DQ in the next Non-Contact round.

Saturday arrived with all of us very tired, but still enjoying all the action. We started the day off by going to the Boeremark for the Dog Jumping Interprovincial Competition. Unfortunately being only 2 handlers from our Province, we didn't have a full Mini team, and although Ansie with Tiger and me with Emma both had 2 clear rounds, our team did not feature in the results. Our stand-in teammate, Spy with Sam from PE, did very well for such a young team.

Chinzi DQ'd in her first round, but her second round was a stunning fast clear one, where she actually outran her dad, SA and World Champ, Chi, by 0.2 seconds! Mom was ecstatic, to say the least! We're on our way to big things! The Beagles obviously cheered for their BC sister! :)

Back at the Agility venue, our champ shows continued, Levi and Chinzi both qualified in Contact, Chinzi to move up to Grade 2. Emma ran clear in the Dog Jumping, but we had a slow round in the jump-off. Chinzi competed against 30 of the top dogs in the country to run her first round clear and qualify for the jump-off. No pressure when her aunt Ostara, who will also be representing SA at the FCI World Champs in Finland this year, ran a magnificant blitzing fast clear round and her dad Chi waiting in the wings for his turn. With a wicked weave-entry, Chinzi stunned me by going clear! Her dad running straight after her, beat her time by just over half a second, but she still managed to get a 3rd placing, and probably attaining the best result of her short jumping career so far. This was the sweetest result and one to be remembered and celebrated for a long time to come.

Sunday morning... two runs left each... starting off with Non-Contact 3... no pressure...
Emma ran first... clear... but with the course time set very high, probably not without time faults... Benji made a mistake and DQ'd on a tunnel... Levi to go, no pressure...
LEVI ran CLEAR to win his second CC! What a nice surprise my boy! It was a twisty, turny, really hard course and Levi took a few wide turns, barking at mom shouting at him to turn back, but eventually we managed it and oh was it sweet! :)

To top it all off, he later also ran clear in Contact grade 2, to obtain his last qualification and finally move up to grade 3. I was so proud of my boy, who had such a horrible start with 4 DQs on Friday, to end on such a high note.

Emma lost out on the overall trophy by one point to Benji. Still a good effort for my girl, well done Em! Unfortunately not much video was taken, and I was so busy that I didn't take much photos either, but will upload as soon as I get a few from other people.

One of Levi's rounds:

After prize giving, we attended another SADAA Club Trial, and with all doggies really tired, they actually did very well. The atmosphere was very relaxed, and with only about 20 dogs on a lazy Sunday afternoon, Levi worked like a dream, only JUST missing his dogwalk contact, but going clear in Jumping. Emma ran clear in Agility 3, didn't run her in Jumping as her card is already full, she couldn't really achieve anything it being a Club Trial. Chinzi also missed one contact, but qualified in Jumping 1. Nice way to end a looong and tiring weekend. Well done to my jumping kids! Woof-woof for all the Q's and CC's! :)

OTT Club Trial 3 August

2008-08-06T08:02:00.003+02:00

We had fun at the Club Trial on Sunday. Levi once again had a very good day and was the star of the family, managing two clear rounds. The first was in Jumping 3 and the second was in Agility 2, to gain another qualification. He now only needs one more to move up to SADAA Agility grade 3.

Chinzi had a good run in Jumping 1, a very difficult grade 1 course, only making one small mistake. In Agility her mom's handling resulted in a disqualification.

Emma ran a nice fast and clear Jumping 3 round, of which the clip is below. Unfortunately she missed one contact in her Agility run, still managing first place though.

Levi's day!

2008-07-28T20:32:00.002+02:00

Saturday was Levi's day! I'm so proud of my boy. He ran two beautiful clear and very fast rounds. The first was in Contact Grade 2 to gain a qualification with the most stunning weave-pole entry... and the second run was in Non-Contact Grade 3, at a speed of 5.1m/s! He was my star of the day! Unfortunately I have no video of his runs. :(

Emma had an OK day, mommy made a bad handling error which caused us to disqualify in the Dog Jumping event. In Contact Grade 3 she still managed a win, although on a straight we were going so fast that she sent a bar flying! :) In Non-Contact her clear round only managed a 3rd place, as Beagle brother Levi obviously took the honours of first place there.

BC sister Chinzi had a 5-faulter day, knocking a bar in each of her 3 rounds sadly. Looking on the bright side, she worked very well, had brilliant contacts and lovely weave-pole entries, all at lightning fast speeds. She still managed a 3rd place in Contact 1 and a 1st in Non-Contact 1.

Well done to my 3 jumping kids! It was a very enjoyable show, and they did me proud.

Now I'm lying sick in bed, but hopefully will recover by the weekend in time for our next trial on Sunday.

Oh, and Chinzi also obtained her FDX (Flyball Dog Excellent) status on Saturday, but more about that on her own blog.

Big woofs and wags from the Beagles.

Emma with her medals and overall rosette.

2008-07-25T21:50:00.000+02:00

Knysna 2008!

2008-07-09T11:45:00.002+02:00

We travelled to Knysna for the Southern Cape Regional Trials over the past weekend. Again, it was our Border Collie "sister" Chinzi's first Regionals, so our mom concentrated on her a bit more than on us poor Beagles, but we still had fun and did her proud.

Levi didn't have too good a weekend, but it was mostly mommy's bad handling that saw 6 disqualifications from our 8 rounds, and two Agility rounds with missed contacts. My boy, you worked well under the circumstances and I'm sorry we couldn't have more time on the course, but mom will make it up to you, I promise!

There was lots of distractions for the dogs, as it was held at show grounds where they were having the annual Oyster Festival. Kites flying in the wind made Levi sometimes run away, tail between his legs, and loud music from the stage also didn't help, but I think they did well overcoming all the obstacles, still giving their best and a performance to be proud of, all around.

Emma was the usual steady star, receiving two silver medals, one for Agility and one for Jumping. She had 2 other stunning clear Jumping rounds but unfortunately was placed 4th. She had another 3rd and 4th placing in Agility with faults. Overall she still managed to secure a second place for the weekend and received a beautiful rosette for it. Photos to follow soon! We are having floods and non-stop rain, so haven't had a chance to pose for some sunny photos yet. :)

We also did not have someone to video us, so no rounds of Emma's weekend sadly. :(

Here is one of Levi's Agility rounds, unfortunately with naughty missed contacts! :)

Now go read about our BC sister's AMAZING weekend on her blog http://www.chinzigotops.blogspot.com/ !!!

Some photos of us sniffing at stops on the way home...

CHDC Show 28 June

2008-06-30T09:00:00.004+02:00

The 28'th of June saw the Agility debut of our Border Collie "sister" Chinzi. Obviously she stole the limelight on the day, so read more about it on her blog http://www.chinzigotops.blogspot.com/

Us Beagles didn't do badly, Emma came 2nd in Dog Jumping with a fast clear round, as well as winning the Contact grade 3. Levi had some faults in his Contact grade 2 round, but worked very well, winning the Non-Contact 3 in a nice time, with Emma in 2nd.

Thanks to Keagan for the video clip of Levi's Non-Contact Round:

Oudtshoorn!

2008-06-19T10:19:00.004+02:00

On the weekend we travelled to Oudtshoorn for two KUSA champ shows. We were warned about the icy conditions that can be found there at this time of year, so we were well prepared. In the end we had such lovely weather and the gloves and hot water bottles were not even needed!

We jumped in 27 degrees on Saturday, almost a little too hot for little Emma, who prefers the cool weather! :)

Having to have 5 dogs and also 5 handlers in a category for a CC (champion certificate) to be awarded, I had to let a friend run Emma on Saturday in the Jumping. Naturally she couldn't understand why mommy left her, so she came looking for me, but after a good few chases, she went back into the ring completing the course with Ansie.

This all proved to be well worth the exercise, as on Sunday Ansie celebrated winning Emma's first Non-Contact CC ever! Well done you two!

Levi obtained his third qualifcation in Contact Grade 1 on Saturday to finally move to Grade 2, unfortunately the rest of his rounds did not go too well, but we learnt a lot!

See video of his Contact Q, still awaiting the clip from Emma's CC, which was not taken on my camera, to be uploaded later.

Thanks to Keegan for manning the camera throughout the weekend.

Emma had a very good weekend, winning the Contact Grade 3 both times, but sadly there were only four dogs, so she could not be awarded any CC's in that category. She also ran clear in both Dog Jumping rounds, one clip attached. She was part of the Western Province Team who won the Cumar Trophy for Dog Jumping, team mates: Lizzie, Nica, Tammy (all with Stephen), Jonti (Dee) and Tiger (Ansie).

Club Trial

2008-06-10T10:09:00.000+02:00

On Sunday 8 June we had a Club Trial, and Levi was at his absolute best! Mom made a handling error in Agility resulting in an unfortunate disqualification, but in Jumping he ran a stunning clear round to come 3rd in the Midi category, jumping 55cm heights, just 2 seconds behind Australian Shepherd Scsi and 4 seconds behind very very fast Border Collie Storm who had an absolute oustanding, world-class round. It was an amazing achievement for my short-legged boy! Go Levi, you make me proud.

Emma also had a very fast clear Jumping round, only 2 seconds behind Garro, a very fast JRT, whom she's normally 6 to 8 seconds behind in time. So all in all, we had a great trial!

Unfortunately no pics or videos from the day.

SA Champ Videos

2008-06-05T22:43:00.005+02:00

Each dog ran four rounds, two Jumping and two Agility. Levi had his best run in round 2, Agility, coming a very close 3rd for that particular course. Emma had her best run in round 3, Jumping. Here they are:

Huge thanks to Werner and Marisa Coertzen for the photos and video. Excuse the "squashing", it was taken on widescreen, but when uploaded to Blogger it seems to go back to being "square".

Levi's first CC!

2008-06-05T19:50:00.004+02:00

My boy has won his first Jumping (non-contact) CC (champion certificate)! He did so by beating the current medium SA champion on time this past Sunday. I was over the moon. I think he is the first Beagle to ever win an agility CC in South Africa. Levi, I am proud of you!

SA Champs 2008

2008-06-03T15:15:00.008+02:00

The Pedigree SA Champs 2008 held in the Good Hope Centre this past weekend was most definitely an event to remember. The first time every me and my dogs competed indoors, and I'm happy to report that they both exceeded my expectations.

We started off with a practise round, and all the dogs were slipping a lot. The more we ran on the carpet however, the more they seemed to adapt, wonderful creatures!

I think my nerves got the better of me in the first round, and my bad handling saw Emma and Levi disqualified in the Jumping run. Both worked very well, so I didn't have too much to complain about and Levi was flying!

The second round, Agility, Levi surprised me by having a very fast clear round, claiming 3rd place in that round, only split seconds behind the first two. Emma's round was a bit disappointing as she missed her A-frame contact and had a run-by the dogwalk, very unlike her.

By now my nerves had settle a bit, and running in front of a big crowd, indoors, and having the best handlers in the country with years and years of experience watch you, seemed less intimidating. The Round 3 Jumping was a lovely open and fast course. Emma went first and ran a steady clear. Levi ran like a champion and was on his way to a first place when mom made a bad handling error just before the last jump, which made him run past it and jump it from the wrong side. It happened so fast, it was just too late to make it right! What a disappointment, as he would have ended overall fourth if it wasn't for that, but boy did we have fun! At least that showed me he has it in him to beat the best.

At this point there was no catching up to the leaders with one Agility round to go, so we just went out to have fun. Emma ran steady again, but missed her contact on the dog-walk which was the second last obstacle, also a pity. Levi worked well again, but had one refusal and a missed A-frame contact. He ended on 18 points and Emma on 16, to claim 6th and 7th position overall.

It was an amazing experience, one I will never ever forget. I also got to see a lot of my Border Collie Chinzi's relatives in action... her dad Chi, her uncle Zildjian and her amazingly fast and absolutely brilliant aunt, Ostara. It was a treat indeed. Chi won the Large category to become the SA Champion for 2008 and Ostara ended in the Top 3 to represent the SA Team at the World Champs in Finland. Chinzi's grandmother and great-grandmoter, Jay-Anne and Sasha-Anne, also competed and did really well.

Chinzi was the youngest dog in the Flyball event which I will report more on in her blog at http://www.chinzigotops.blogspot.com/

In the end, the medium handlers decided not to go the the AWC this year, so there was no medium team chosen. Emma did end 2nd of the eligible dogs however, and would have been chosen if there would have been a team.

After a tiring but wonderful two days' competition, we moved outdoors for the Championship Show on Sunday. More about that, as well as some video clips of the SA Champ rounds to follow soon.

Some news...

2008-05-19T21:28:00.008+02:00

So much has happened since we came back from the PE trip, but it's just been so busy, the blog stayed behind.

The first weekend back we had a promotion for the SA Champs at the Waterfront, and the ground was very sandy and slippery. Emma won the Contact round and Levi won the Non-Contact round, with Emma in 2nd place, so I was very happy. Beagles rule! :) Luckily the Beagles seemed fine afterwards, only me had some sore muscles from all the slipping and sliding on the poor surface. At least I think the crowds enjoyed the display and hopefully we will have lots of spectators at our big event at the end of this month.

We then had a trial last weekend and Levi once again won the Grade 3 Jumping, Emma coming 2nd in the Grade 3 Agility. Levi seems to finally having settled on course a little, not disqualifying so much anymore. Although he had faults in his Agility round, he worked well and fast. Emma was a little sniffy in her Jumping round as it had been raining, and Beagle noses especially works well on wet grounds!

This weekend past however, I am ecstatic to report that Levi finally qualified once again in Agility Grade 1, first time in a long time! He also ran well in the Jumping, only leaving the weaves for a while to bark at the judge who was standing real close, so he came 3rd, but his time was very competitive still, so I was pleased with the result.

"Now it's counting down the days until the SA Champs on 30 and 31 May! Mommy's nerves are already starting, and it's still 11 sleeps away! Grandma's 4 month old Maltese cross will be staying with us from tomorrow until the night before the Competition, so we're just hoping having a playful puppy around for a week won't tire us out too much so we will have enough energy to compete at our best. Well, that's all for now folks. The Beagles will be back!"

Success in PE!

2008-04-29T13:48:00.016+02:00

We had a very eventful weekend, starting off with the looong road trip on Friday, after which we were very tired. Saturday saw us competing in cloudy conditions with some wind in the afternoon. Sunday was near perfect weather.

Emma competed in the highest Grade for Jumping and Agility, Grade 3 and Levi in Agility 2 and Jumping 3. Emma started off slow-ish, but picked up speed nicely towards the end of the weekend giving her fastest performance in her last Contact run on Sunday afternoon. Levi once again had a problem with the higher SADAA tyre, running underneath it every time, but doing it the second time at least, every run.

Levi had one very good Contact run on Saturday, getting all his contacts and with wonderfull speed, but unfortunately he knocked the very first jump, so just lost out on a qualification. He managed two 3rd placings.

Emma was a SUPERSTAR with 7 out of 8 clear rounds over the entire weekend, to end tied top Mini Dog on points, but then over-all speed was looked at, she just lost out and came 2nd. Still a wonderfull achievement for my little girl! The doggie who won had 6 clear rounds, but because they drop the scores of your two worst rounds, and him being a little faster than Emma, he walked away with the tropy, still very well deserved.

I am VERY pleased to report that Levi won his first ever medal (medals only awarded in Grade 3), bronze in Jumping, missed his QC towards Champion by half a second. Still a wonderfull achievement competing against Border Collies and Aussies in the Top Grade 3 Midi category.

Emma was consistent with her precision clear rounds, unfortunately many times just losing out on a podium placing, getting fourth because of her speed. She received 2 medals, one silver and one bronze.

Here we are catching a snooze in the car on the long trip back home.

Thanks to Nadine Shortland for the action photos and Wessel for the video of Levi's round.

Trip coming up...

2008-04-24T22:00:00.009+02:00

We had a bath today for the long trip starting tomorrow. The trailer's packed with all the 'stuff' and our beds are nicely made in the back of the car. Guess we're not sooo looking forward to the 800km drive tomorrow, but can't wait for the 8 Agility runs over the weekend!

We haven't had time for much tricks lately, but Emma made a mini breakthrough, getting the forward figure eight through my legs right! Hopefully we can start making some video clips soon... just have to add a couple of more tricks first.

Highs and Lows...

2008-04-20T19:54:00.009+02:00

This past weekend was one of amazement, records, but also disappointments here and there. Levi who has about a 50% disqualification record, ran 5 runs in a row without disqualifying once! That is a record! Unfortunately we had some difficult weave entries and had faults in every round, so that was a little disappointing, but we'll look on the bright side and remember the good, no disqualifications! Well done Levi my boy!

Emma was her good old consistent self, and except for mommy making a few handling errors, she ran fast and clear most of the time. She's edging closer and closer to the top dogs' times! Keep it up Emma!

The Beagles' Border Collie sister, celebrated the weekend in astonishing fashion, with obtaining her second qualification in only her fourth competing round! Way to go Chinzi, and may this be only the beginning of GREAT things to come!

AWC Qualifying Trial Videos

2008-04-16T13:01:00.004+02:00

Here is Emma and Levi in action in the 3rd Trial's Jumping run...

It's official... SA Champs, here we come!

2008-04-16T08:56:00.002+02:00

The final results from the whole country, after all four AWC Qualifying Trials, have been announced. Emma came fifth overall in the medium category, and Levi joint seventh! So both my Beagle kids will be competing at the SA Champs this year and the AWC Finals in order to try to make the SA team for Finland. The event will be held at the Good Hope Centre in Cape Town, so lucky for us, no travel this year. You can see more about the event at www.dogzcool.com

Please hold thumbs for us, as we'll be trying our Beagle best! :)

I'll be posting clips of the best rounds from Emma and Levi during this year's AWC Qualifying trials soon.

AWC Trials...

2008-04-12T10:38:00.004+02:00

Last year, my dogs were still very young, and it was a wonder that Emma made the top 10 and was invited to go compete at the SA Champs. This year, I was hoping to do a little better, but in the first 2 trials (we only have 4) Levi disqualified in both contact and non-contact runs, so I didn't have much hope for him making it.

He however pulled through in Trial 3 with 2 very good rounds, to go from 0 to 18 points! Emma, litte "Miss Consistent", at that stage stood on 24 points. Trial 4 was nerve-wrecking as Levi had to score points to still stand a chance of making the top 10. When he DQ'd in his contact run, I wasn't very hopefull, but he pulled through with a stunning non-contact run, the video clip below, to end on a total of 26 points, which should be enough to earn him a 7th place overall. Emma is lying 5th, but we will be hearing the final verdict this coming week, after the last round was run in KZN.

At the beach...

2008-04-12T09:48:00.005+02:00

...September 2005, Levi's first visit to the sea, and oh how he loved it!

We love walking on the beach, as there's sea on the one side and bush on the other, so really not too easy for the Beagles to disappear. This is where we learnt to come back when called, no roads close by, and easiest place for mommy to practise the "Beagle recall".