Blown Away

It’s the usual sort of day at today’s dog show. MD’s first two runs are both 90% excellent 10% awful. So we weren’t clear. Alongside this is the usual assurance performance from Doggo. He goes clear.

The weather keeps things interesting. Howling a gale most of time with occasional sunny spells between the rain showers. I don’t think it’s quite so bad in Nottingham where L goes for a ‘long one’, a 50 minute training run on the park or about a mile and half she says. She’s too modest.

Back at the show, in MD’s fourth run of five, we were well on our way to a cracking clear round when a gust of wind collapsed the third from last jump right in front of him before he could take it. I deftly manoeuvred him through the gap where the jump had once been, thereby avoiding any faults but then as he powered along the dog walk, the penultimate obstacle, another strong gust blew him sideways off it and practically into my arms. Although I failed to catch him. Whoops.

After I’d pieced him back together, I turned to the judge, fully expecting that the second incident, if not the first, was well worth a rerun. The judge didn’t agree.

She did ask if I would like another go and of course I said yes but she didn’t mean a full rerun. She meant just the dog walk. What’s the point in that? Fuming.

Then I notice for the next competition in her ring, she removes the dog walk from the course and puts a tunnel in instead. Fuming even more now.

MD’s fine by the way, he does bounce quite well and he went even better on his final run. In that we got as far as the last obstacle, the wall, before it went pear shaped and he decided to go around it. He’s done walls before so I was a bit bemused by that. It did look brand new though; perhaps it was a bit too white for him.

After we leave I drop in at my parents’ to hand over a late Father’s Day present before we head home, where we stay in and prepare for tomorrow’s bike ride.

(Saturday 22^nd June)