Agility tourist: Fun agility meeting

Rekku and I are on a five star romantic just-the-two-of-us holiday. In other words we miss our human boys terribly while they are on a five star father & son holiday and try to fill our days with fun stuff so we would not miss them so much.

So we did some agility :)

On Saturday we travelled by train to Bassersdorf, outside of Zurich, to stay with Bettina and Mike (whom I was introduced to by two agility loving friends from Singapore when we moved to Switzerland).On Sunday we attended the all-day "agility meeting" Bettina's club KV Embrach - or to be exact, the fun agility division of it - organises every summer. It was an unofficial agility competition and a wonderful event - and a lot of fun!

The day started with a Gamblers class. First went beginners, then the advanced, and then us oldies. Four medium oldie dogs had signed up, but two of them could not make it to the competition. So it was just Rekku and Chilli, an Australian cattle dog who in all honestly looked more like an oldie.. Rekku, to my amazement, was like a young puppy in action and a true competition pro using all non-active time resting well. (And why not? Bettina had kindly prepared a tent, dog bed, picnic blanket, water and a towel for Rekku. *****!)

Rekku in between his warm-up and first run of the day. 

We did well in our Gamblers run. We focused on collecting the points from each obstacle (rather than rushing it and losing points due to missed contacts etc.) and even managed to do the joker, which was a pole that the dog needed to go around while the handler stayed behind a yellow line. Easy for a herding dog - so I was especially proud Rekku did it :)

We won Chilli with our solid point collection - not speed..

The next run was Open, or in other words agility. Oldies were again grouped with advanced, which meant the course was somewhat challenging. Well maybe it had not been if we would have been active with our agility hobby recently but the fact that we had not even practiced for so many months meant that I sucked. Yep, I FORGOT THE COURSE. Rarely happens, and I found it quite embarrassing.. I actually had to stop Rekku so I could think (who nicely sat down to wait while I thought about the next obstacle and which side to jump from). Towards the end of the course Rekku also dropped a bar, so I was pretty sure Chilli would get her/his turn being first. But no, we won! I did not see Chilli run (because I was cooling off Rekku) but she/he was disqualified. So we were on the podium alone..

Gamblers - Oldie - medium

Open - Oldie - medium

Rekku with his two prizes (gem stones) and sponsor's bags (and the toy he dug out from a bag on the podium, non-squeaky and still he likes it - he must have an understanding it is his prize!).

After the prize giving there was once more class, called Clear Run. It was like Jumpers, but there was no time taking, and the jumps were lower (as it was the end of the day). The whole meaning was to run a clear run, and everyone who did, got a ribbon. Afterwards people were free to go home, shortening the day for many competitors. Rekku, my super fit oldie, seemed good to go also for the last run, so we did. And got a clear run despite of me AGAIN - but only for a split second - forgetting the course.

After the last run. What a fun day doing agility!

During the day there were several things going on; a professional photographer was there taking loads of pictures that the competitors could then order prints or other products from, some companies were selling clothes and dog food, and on the side there was a fun run of 60m that was clocked and fastest (and slowest) were given prizes. Rekku and I missed the actual timed run, but got to do it on our own. Rekku did a nice sit & stay, waiting for me to walk the 60 meters with his favourite squeaky squirrel before calling him over. He ran, but not quite his fastest I think.

Rekku still jumping his "normal" medium height :)

I blogged before the weekend about Rekku being itchy from all the sun, swimming and activity. At times I caught him "eating himself" or scratching himself , and as I was helping out during beginners courses and could not be beside him stopping him, I put a towel around his neck to stop him - he looked like a boxer:

After the competition on Sunday we went on a relaxing walk with Bettina, Mike and their four Scottish terriers. We walked by the river Rhein in beautiful scenery and the dogs had such a good time. I have a feeling this is not the last time we will be visiting B&M and the four "black ones" ;)