This comp was the end of our winter racing but also the start of our summer season… which felt a bit weird!

The second event in our small series of “fun events” with options targeted primarily at the next generation of dogs, with a bit of fun thrown in for the more seasoned racers.

With our sights set on 2 full little league teams at the 4th event, we used this event to test some LL pairings. Texan paired with Storm worked hard on ball carriage (Tex) and controlled box turns (Storm). They both aced it and even started putting in some lose passes. Our other LLP were Bella and Tutti. Theses guys hadn’t had much time to practise together so they started with lose passes and tightened up throughout the day, ending the day racing perfectly as a solid pair to win their division, nailing themselves new PBs to boot!

Frank and Rosie were playing in LLS, and everything was about building success. Frank can be a bit sensitive and has had a couple of setbacks, but today he was solid and confident earning himself a shiny new PB and winning his division with 8 clean heats… next stop pairs/team and passing. Rosie had an empty lane on her first race which allowed us to continue what we’ve been working on in training – go down 4 jumps, collect ball, return to handler – and she nailed it. Her 2nd race and, OMG, there was a dog in the other lane that needed to be chased and played with. With support from the whole team and our judge, we jumped the start sequence to allow Rosie to go out ahead and complete successfully in this race too. This chaser is learning to race… just the brain explodes every so often.

Our other young dog that played today was Cuba, paired with the amazing Harper. Cuba is new to passing and sometimes forgets that she needs to pull into the jumps on the way down but by backing off the passes, giving her space to adjust herself, this pair successfully completed several clean heats and Cuba bagged herself a new PB as well!

With some of our other seasoned racing dogs we started some prep for the World Cup in June, with Vegas and Kylo working hard on passing as well as transitioning to the newer box and we think they did OK… taking (what we believe is) a UK record of 7.04s for pairs, running over 10″ (Kylo’s correct height), as well as the div 1 win. Against this crazy duo we had Quest & Prime who were also working on passing again, confidence for Quest to take Prime and confidence for Prime to run in the pack. Lots of spat balls meant very few clean heats but they did put out a 7.53s time with much more to come.

We had a great day over at Holly Lodge at the fantastically run Tails We Win competition.

CANINES 1st in Division 1

Our last outing before Crufts, the team were looking really good and pulling out some super exciting times.

CATAPULTS 1st in Division 3

Minor blip when Wendy had a quick visit to the blood bin. Ellen stepped in to handle Quest on lights, managed to get a roller, and demonstrated just how far Quest has come to take it all in her stride.

CANNONS 1st in Division 5
CROSSBOWS 2nd in Division 5

These two were battling it out all day, with two head to head races, and a little bit of banter.

Plus an amazing PC session for the CADETS and COLTS, who are getting ready for taking on little league with style.

Another great day of racing against a great set of teams. Of course fuelled by great cake and coffee (thanks to Holly Lodge cafe). Big thanks to all involved!!

Next stop Crufts!!!!

Super proud of our team yesterday. The dogs and handlers looked slick in the ring, working together to get the best out of everybody. Seeded bottom in some divs and way off the times, consistency and solidarity helped us win those divisions.

Canines went out to practice our crufts lineups but to also put a time up towards the World Cup and managed to run many sub-15 times, ending just 0.04s off our own club record with much more in the tank for a warmer day. Winning div 1 was the icing on the cake!

Catapults saw Wally come back to play after the recent arrival of his new baby brother and he aces it in start, anchor and the pack with his new handler. Big shout out to Anita for handling him so well!

Cannons and Crossbows went out to enjoy their racing, working on different combinations to win their heats.

Another big shoutout to Channing and Bailey who joined Tails We Win to play and looked incredible. That little bounce and tail wag showed how happy he was.

I’m so proud that we can churn out so many good dogs and how we handle ourselves in the ring.

Congratulations to Tristan for gaining his Pilot Officer award (10,000 points) and Lord for earning his Cadet Superior award (5,000 points).

We ended the day by bringing home a present for ourselves in the form of a new box… we are looking forward to seeing what our dogs can do on a faster box.