Went to an open show on the 15th. I'd borrowed a puppy for the day, so I had Bobby in the first Pap class and Elton in Open, then Ria in AVNSC Gundog Open (just the one AVNSC class today).

Both boys won their classes, but the judge absolutely fell in love with Bobby, thought he was stunning - so he had BP, BOB, Group 4 and won the Puppy Group! Meanwhile, Ria beat a mature English Setter and won Best AVNSC & BPAVNSC!

So it was a successful day, though rather stressful when Ria's class missed clashing with the toy group by a whisker - to the point I actually came out of the group to show Ria, then had to leave her with mum to dash back when it took slightly longer than anticipated! To mum's relief I got back just in time!

Nothing in either group for Ria, and nothing in BPIS for Bobby - but all in all not a bad day!

Went to agility on the 19th which was fun, did some shaping with cones and stools, some waits and releases and some one jump work.

Last weekend was South Western Gundog - Kooiker classes! Ria had 2nd of 3 - beaten by her big brother (older litter) and beating a nice, mature (if out of coat!) bitch - and BP. Judge gave her a good look in BPIS but nothing, and then she came 2nd in the Puppy Stakes :-) (same judge) That was her last show as a minor puppy - she was 9 months on Wednesday, where has that gone!

Took her to obedience on Monday for the first time in a while - a friends girl hadn't been happy the previous week but there was no-one there she could play with, so we wondered if having Ria there may help. I was actually very pleased with Ria, she was much better than last time - albeit it was hard work for me, as I had to keep her focus on me almost all the time. She did some lovely heelwork with food in my hand, despite having the big GSD behind her! It was all going so well...and then a whippet went for her :-( which ruined that! Compounded when we went out to find the Spinone that chased her in the summer! Arrrgh, always happens to her.

Agility on Wednesday was fun - besides the fact when the lurcher (who looks just a whippet) walked in she went into meltdown! We moved between various stations - rocker board, ladder, cones, jump bumps, part of the dog walk etc - and on the whole she was fab :-) Except she was a bit jumpy and reactive in certain areas, and when we were doing jump bumps and another dog suddenly erupted barking - she jumped out of her skin and lost the plot for a bit! At the end we did both tunnels, rigid one was fine, but as I thought she may she wasn't keen on the collapsible. When I take Solei back to agility in November (different club) I'm going to see if I can borrow it because he also finds it scary, and neither of them see it enough to really get used to it - so hopefully an intense week crash course will make progress!

Elton is having a dental today, so I hardly had any sleep last night and I can't wait for it to be over!