We've never been to Dinnington before, but it was a nice venue and it was pretty easy to find. Jet was racing third in the ring, so a bit more of a leisurely start to the morning. We were racing in div.1 with Norah, Brooke, Jet and Murphy - George still out due to injury. Those 4 had run 18.56 at Drax, on pretty good ground, but Julie had convinced us that we had to go in and give it our all. Christine ran Brooke and her changes were cracking - her and James seemed to get the Brooke-catching down to a tee. Jet ran ok in the morning, she didn't seem to be completely herself but it wasn't helped that her ball was put in the wrong side a few times! Easy mistake to make I suppose though, and she got back into her stride. Luckily, we only had 2 in the morning but it was getting quite hot and the rings were on a fair hill. We didn't seem to have really got it together!
When I got Jet out for a wee over lunchtime, she did some quick boxwork as Jane had it out for George. She was fab, throwing herself on and off as usual, and I think this really helped as in the afternoon she was fabulous - like a different dog. I was really pleased with her and the runback was clear for her so she was really chasing me back. After two losses in the morning, we managed to win one against demons and took Tyne to a nailbiting five legs - just a light for us in the last leg. We also took a few legs off Brigg too! We managed a best time of 18.57s in the afternoon, so not bad at all as the teams we took legs off had been doing 18.1/20s in the morning, so we know there's more in us yet! We ended up 6th, but it was fantastic racing.
I also captained Barking. It was Lucy, Chip, Buddy, Buffy and Stripe in a seven team div and initially seeded sixth on 22.19. I wasn't sure how they'd fair as it was a lot of racing to ask any of them to do, and it was a hot day, but we were going to give it a go. First race in, I told them we were against the top seeds and were going to have to really push it and scream their dogs back...Buddy was out for this one. Well they all ran fabulously and did 20.84 over 14"!! We lost two in the morning, but went on to win another 4 and they were around mid21 all day - maybe mid22 with no Lucy at the end of the day. A lot of other teams must have been running quicker as there were a few high 20s times - all very close to the 20.50 division breakout. They came a fabulous 2nd in the end, I was dead pleased cos they were all amazing!!!
At Drax I'd been eyeing up Rotherham's new box, made by a team member of theirs. An interesting twist on the hybrid idea (
http://www.rotherhamrocketsflyballteam.com/d-style-true-hybrid-box.html) and when Kath said Jet could have a go whenever she liked, I decided to take them up on it. When Barking has finished, I got her back out of the car (with a quick warm up) and took her to Rotherham's camp. I did a few "go box" with just the jump in, and she got a few "wow"s - lol - the on/off motion is second nature to her she does so much chute work, really driving off to the ball. Then we had 3/4 with the ball in and Kath released her while I chased her off. Finally we did it without the jump and she turned just the same. She was fantastic, and she got lots of lovely comments, it made me realise that maybe I should stop being so harsh about her turn - it is fairly good, especially for on a boomerang, and it was nice to try her on a more upright shaped box.
