Another Competition

Yesterday KT and I went to our third agility competition. What a lovely day it was, it rained all day long! Only as we were driving home did the skies clear and the sun came out to blind me on the way home.

On the whole I think we did OK. Don't think we were disqualified, but no clear round yet. The steeplechase, first thing in the morning went nearly to perfection, everything I asked KT to do she did, I even managed a difficult switching of sides, which very nearly went wrong, but we managed it OK. KT unfortunately clipped a jump, if it wasn't for that we would have been OK. OH well, we will keep trying, won't we KT?

The Agility course we did in the afternoon. KT did the dog walk to perfection, to think that there was a time I thought she would never do it again. We nearly messed up the see-saw, it started to pivot, then went back, and I saw KT thinking of a quick way out, fortunately it did topple and we managed it OK. The rest seemed to go horribly wrong, she refused a right jump, left the weaves early, missed another jump, and I had to call her back. Oh well, somebody said yesterday that it's hard work running a champion dog (this wasn't meant about KT!). I suppose that agility works on various levels.

It's interesting to see the variety of people who try agility. There are the octogenarians, lot's of golden age women, some youngsters. Everyone does agility for different reasons. KT and I just do it for the fun. KT seems to want to wonder off at times, typical Setter instinct. What I find interesting is that the only time KT comes close to walking by my heel is when we are doing agility.

On the whole, I think agility has helped KT and me to understand that we are a team, and that KT can't just do what she wants all of the time. I was speaking to a lady yesterday who was running an English Setter, and she was saying how hard it was to take him out for a walk in the country, Setters like to range, and if you don't teach them early on to keep an eye on you at all times you run into trouble.

When KT was young, I would hide from her if she disappeared. It was quite funny in a way, I could just hide behind a tree, lie down in the grass, and she would come back looking really worried. Where has he gone now? I would just step out and pretend nothing had happened. Today, I can't hide from her anymore, although I do try when she gets distracted. She finds me every time!