Kenzie's First Title and a holiday in Sydney

Well its been a while since my last blog post - not a lot been happening in the training department - we have been spending time at the park throwing the ball and aside from training twice a week at club (agility and obedience) Kenzie has really just been growing up and having fun. Life is one big party.

Back in early November I had some hair brain idea that I would take the girls for a trip to Sydney in December and enter the double Dances with Dogs comp with both of them. I thought it might make a nice introduction to the trial ring for Kenzie and thought I might just be add a title to Ness which no other dog in the state has. Kenzie was to tag along for the ride with no expectations attached.

We flew over last Wednesday afternoon to stay with Nic, her partner Bren and her two wonderful dogs - Soaks and Jedi. Wednesday was a getting to know you afternoon and both the girls coped well with the flight over. Kenzie wasn't so keen on Soaks and kept putting her in her place whenever she looked at her.

Thursday morning bright and early we drove over to the Animal Referral Hospital in Strathfield and dropped Kenzie off there for the day so she could have her worn tooth sealed. Kenzie weighed in at 14.37 kg and Ness was her usual 17.3 kg. With Kenzie in safe hands the rest of the day was spent lazing around at Nic's trying not to stress to much. Back in the evening to pick Kenzie up, and the vet said she was very well behaved and if I didn't want her she would take her any day of the week. By the time we got home Kenzie was ready for dinner and a ball game.

Friday morning - woofenpup from DOL came around with her kelpie Abbey and her baby finish lappie Demi - well that was a turning point and a half. Abbey and Soaks decided to play chasy in the yard and Kenzie joined in their mad game and after that Soaks and Kenzie were best of mates. Mitch another finish lappie showed up Friday afternoon and the girls didn't stop playing for 9 hours straight. Kenzie was besotted by him and even seemed to like Mitch's idea of a game which usually involved trying to hump.

Saturday we took all the dogs out to a DOL meet at Erskine Park for a few hours. It was nice to meet all the people especially a few BC people who I have known through the BC thread. I spent my morning throwing the ball for Kenzie in the hope that when we showed up for the competition on Sunday she would have good positive associations with the place.

Sunday was back to Erskine Park bright and early for the double Dances with Dog comp. Silly me had both of them entered in everything so I had 8 routines for the day.

Lisa (PAX from Ozobedience) and Vickie and her daughter came out to watch, as did Jane with Kenzie's half brother Twitch. Was really nice to meet everybody and it was just a shame that I didn't have more time to spend saying hi as I was slightly preoccupied with the days trialling.

Ness was up first in Heelwork to Music. Well she didn't do as badly as I thought - no qualifier but she was the first dog in the ring for the day and the first place getter in starters. Kenzie - well I took her out of her crate, into the room, took her lead off and first thing she does is shoot off out the door. Eeeek I was thinking what the hell have I got myself in for. I retrieved her and revved her up and ran out onto the floor. She was majorly skittish and about 30 seconds into the music I gave up all idea of trying to work through the routine and we just messed around and I tried my best to get her happy and able to work. Well by the end of the routine her tail was wagging and she was at least not trying to leave.

Short time later we were back in the ring for the freestyle. Kenzie was in first to her music "Step in Time" out of Mary Poppins. I had no idea what to expect from her but it was like having my normal backyard Kenzie. She was absolutely full of herself - cheekie/bouncey and happy. Well to my surprise she not only qualified for her first leg of her dances with dogs freestyle starters title but came third. Go Kenzie :). Ness then came out and put in a half decent routine to Surfin USA for her first qualifier.

Onto the afternoon trial - I had considered scratching both girls from HTM. It was extremely hot and I wasn't sure how they would go. In the end I decided to put them both in anyway and just see. Ness was up first again and while she put together some good bits I think not really having a solid plan in mind for her routine cost me a qualification. Ah well she gave me 100% so that is all I can ask for. Now to Kenzie - well after the disaster of her first routine it was like I had a different dog in the ring. She came out all guns blazing and for the nervy dog I had in the morning there were only small signs of any of that and that was only as we were waiting. Once in the ring it was as if she owned it. I got some wonderful stuff out of her. She was pushy, tail wagging, eyes bright and giving me everything she had. Boy was I surprised to find she had not only qualified but won the class as she was the only dog to qualify in heelwork to music starters. Not bad for only her first ANKC competition in anything.

Back into the ring for the freestyle. Kenzie first and she put together a nice performance again for fourth place, her second starters leg and therefore her DWDF.S title. That made her the first and only SA dog with a DWD title as well as the very first DWD title for her breeder. It was also her very first ANKC title.

So Kenzie is now known as Winpara Dream Chaser DWDF.S.

Unfortunately Ness who put in a much better afternoon performance in her freestyle missed out on her title and a qualifier by 1 point. Ah well she gave me everything she had and it might just give me an excuse for a return trip sometime in the new year.

I will post the videos of the girls performances in a separate blog post.

Monday was spent recovering from the weekend with a couple of nice walks around the local park and then off to Hills training monday night. Met with a number of Ozobedience list members including Dianne, Ann and Sandy. I took my two into the pre-trialling class where they were doing start peg work. Kenzie was good until she took 2 paces off the peg and then freaked at the strange person in the ring. Looks like we still have a way to go before we can get into a trial ring. Ness did her usual Ness at the peg so got a few ideas on working with her.

Tuesday we had more walks and Mitch, Soaks and Kenz spent the day playing before we flew out again Tuesday evening. Think both girls were pleased to be home and Ness was back to appreciating that she could actually get some seriously uninterrupted sleep.