CHDC Show 28 June

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!

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

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

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!

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

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...

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!"