First of all, I have to apologize for my lack of blogging.  It was a crazy week (that’s crazy in a good way!) and it just didn’t work out to have internet time.  I will try to catch up on everything since mid-week.

 

Thursday started off with a trip to the venue where we were quickly ushered to the vet check.  It was the same vet as at IFCS and luckily he found Rio’s heart-beat this year (he joked last year that she didn’t have one.  Poor Ri!)  We then had a 24 minute practice (yes, they go right to the minute and then chase you off) in the main indoor ring and then 24 minutes in one of the two outdoor rings.  It was so windy for our outdoor practice that at one point, when Recess was trying to run, the broad, the wall and another jump completely blew over (and let me tell you, when the wall comes down, there are a LOT of pieces to pick up!).  Even the teeter was blowing so much that it was stuck in the horizontal position!  They told us afterwards, that if the wind continued for the competition days, they’d change the weight of the teeter.  Luckily, it never came to that!

Rio loving the rubberized equipment

 

Back at the hotel on Thursday afternoon, I met up with Charlotte who had arrived from Moncton.  Sadly, Christine wasn’t with her as planned, due to a missed connection to Halifax.  It was great to do a little catching up with Char! 

 

We then hopped on the bus and headed back to the venue for the very brief (yea!) opening ceremonies where all the countries paraded into the ring.  Rio and I were selected to carry the Canadian flag J 

 
Team Canada!

Back at the hotel, Charlotte, Rio & I went for yet another walk through the “public footpaths” to the sea.  I have no idea how Char kept her eyes open!!  Maybe it was due to her enthusiasm for taking pictures of the cows on the path?  (Anyone ever seen a dwarf-legged cow?)

Rio & the matching red & white cow


This poor cow had half-sized legs!
 

Friday morning arrived way too quickly!  We arrived at the venue and were very pleased to find out that everyone got their own copies of course maps!  Yea! 

 

The way this competition worked was that there were three rings and each country was divided into a group.  Each group had 12 minutes to walk the course before rotating to the next ring for another 12 minute walk through.  I ended up walking Snooker, Team Standard and then Individual Standard and then was quickly on the line to run Snooker!  I’ve had to have three courses in my head before, but never such technical courses.  Thank goodness for Charlotte for filling my Tim’s mug with coffee to keep my brain sharp!

Team Snooker strategy planning on the bus to the venue

 

The Snooker course only had three reds but the time was only 45 seconds.  I had a slight handling blunder on the first red (Lesson #1:  Do not point toward the back of the arena where there are no jumps or obstacles for that matter, and keep repeating “Go Jump!  Go Jump!” while blocking your dogs view of any jump.) and ended up being one jump away from a perfect Snooker run when time ran out.  We still managed to finish 5^th in the class.  Team Standard was next.  We had a clean run and an individual placing of 4^th.  Our Team finished 5^th for that round.  We had a great run in the individual Standard, but unfortunately earned 5 faults for knocking the broad jump. 

 

The morning courses went by SO quickly!  The event was so well run that we kept finishing early! 

 

The afternoon was three jumpers courses:  Individual, Biathlon and Team.  Rio and I only ran in the Individual Jumpers and I was very thankful that I didn’t have to have 3 jumpers courses in my head at the same time!! 

 

We had a beautiful opening in the ind. Jumpers, but Rio missed her weave entry—twice!  Ugh!  I was so peeved with her and me that I accidentally put her over the backside of a jump on the homestretch.  My first ever “E” on a jumpers course.  I wasn’t very happy with myself and ended up playing the scenario over and over in my head all night (which really doesn’t make for a good night’s sleep!)

Enjoying a pint after competition
 

Saturday morning, I ended up walking/running three courses in a row again!  My poor brain (and also my poor hair—my hot water disappeared in the shower that morning after I had soaped my head—wasn’t my best hair day)!  Ri had a fabulous Individual Standard, but decided once again that pole #2 made a much better entry than pole one!  (She is going to have to sit down and watch that DVD that someone made up on 2x2 weaves before we head to Regionals!!!).  On the individual Jumpers course, for some reason the jumps were not in the same place as when I walked the course and an off course tunnel, which I never even saw as an off course possibility, sucked Rio right in.  Agh!  Another “E” in jumpers???  Guess Rio’s reign as Jumpers Queen is over…?  LOL  In the team Standard, we had a lovely run finishing 3^rd in the 650mm class and our team of Recess, Slice & Rio finished in 2^nd for that round.

Kim/Recess, Anneli/Slice & Me/Rio
 

In the afternoon, we ran Gamblers.  We were given 32 seconds for the opening.  There were no mini gambles but if you did all three tunnels and all three contacts, you were given 10 bonus points.  The final gamble was a really tight one with only 12 seconds to complete.  I knew I had to be on approach to jump number 1 of the gamble when the 32s whistle blew in order to have a hope of completing it, but sadly, we had a wrong turn out of the chute and we ended up not being in position.  We got the gamble, but over time.  Only three of the 650mm (26”) dogs got the gamble in time.  We finished 4^th in that class and ended up being 4^th overall for the combined Snooker/Gamblers games title.  I don’t really like standing just off the podium, but I guess I’ll take 4^th in the World for now….  J

 

Saturday night my best-est World Agility supporter, Anne, took me out to dinner in Cheddar (Anne, originally from Ottawa, now lives in London.  She’s cheered me on at IFCS in Belgium, FCI in Finland and both IFCS and WAO in England.  She has never owned a dog, but can probably tell you the snooker rules better than I could!  LOL).  Turns out that I got lucky getting a ride back to the hotel with Anne since the bus broke down!  Thank you to Charlotte & Christine for taking Rio on a bus/cab adventure back to the hotel!  Since we hadn’t had enough exercise that day, Christine, Charlotte, Kim, Recess & Rio went on yet another walk.  The locals just didn’t get how much fun it is to do self timed photos and offered to take pictures for us.  I think we’ve left a lot of West Huntspill-ians shaking their heads at those bizarre Canadians!

One of several shots using the camera's timer!

 
Funny looking gargoyles at the local church


Happy Canadians taking the Public Footpaths to the pub

Sunday’s events were the finals for the Individual Pentathlon, Four Dog Team Relay and Biathlon.  Due to our little mishaps in the Individual Jumpers rounds, we didn’t get to play in the Individual Speedstakes.  We had a great time cheering though!!  Great agility!  Great courses!  In fact the whole event was top notch.  The volunteers were AMAZING!!  The security was great, the set-up was well thought out, things ran on time (if not early!), the judges were friendly, the equipment high quality and the courses were soooooo much fun to run!!  The organizers of the WAO really outdid themselves!!

 

Sunday night was another relaxed dinner at the Huntspill Arms pub where I think we may be considered locals now….?  Rio thinks being a pub dog is awesome J

One last night at the pub

Rio at the Huntspill Arms Pub

Monday morning we got up really early and Charlotte, Kim, Recess, Rio and I did a final walk.  Guess what?  After two years, I finally saw the tide in!!!  Yea!  The bus ride to Heathrow was uneventful and the check in at the airport was super easy.  I have NEVER had such great service with a dog before!!!  Even the security people were friendly and chatty and apologized profusely when they had to “seize” the bottle of water I’d forgotten about (bad me!). We then all headed our separate ways except for Charlotte and Christine who were flying with me and then on to the Maritimes.  I had an empty seat beside me, so Charlotte and I had a great time catching up the whole trip home J.   In the Ottawa airport, the customs officer took pity on me and didn’t make me stand in the long line to have my rabies certificate checked.  I didn’t even have to pay anything!!!  (In Toronto they usually charge me a fee to check my rabies cert.).

Matthew:  The best Air Canada baggage guy ever!

 

Rio came out of her crate happy.  What a fantastic traveller she is!!!  I can’t say enough about my wonderful red girl who has taken me on so many fantastic adventures.  She really is the best!

 

A HUGE thank you:

To my family for taking good care of things while I was away.  It’s so wonderful to know that I don’t need to worry about anything on the home front while I’m competing. 

To my great friends for their support, encouraging messages and good wishes!  Rio & I are lucky to have you as friends. 

To my sponsors, especially All Dog Sports Club and Omega Alpha, for the financial help!  You have no idea how much your support made our journey so much easier!

And to the Team Canada Coach & Management for donating their time.  You made everything run so smoothly!
 

What a great trip, great memories, great people and great support.  Thanks everyone!

I'm sitting here in the pub/lobby (the only place where there's wireless access) with my cup of tea and actually have a great connection!  It seems as though if no one else has logged on to the wireless, it works great for me

We are just back from the venue and a two hour practice.  Miss Rio took a little bit to get her going, but in the end had a very good practice and her contacts were awesome on the rubber (she's been sliding her teeter and dogwalk recently, so I wasn't sure she'd make it all the way down to a 2on 2off when she couldn't slide).

Our Canadian crating area at the venue.  For some reason the "Moose Crossing" sign never got put up....  Not sure why?


Our TTL inspired artwork in the crating stalls

Tonight is a team dinner at the pub in town...  How many times can I eat in the same restaurant??  Good thing they have a very varied menu! 

Rio's favourite local pub.  Okay, its the only local pub!

Now I just need Charlotte to hurry up and get here! 

Today started out with another long walk to the sea to visit the sheep and the cows and then a trip through the farmers pastures and over the stiles (Rio is improving on negotiating these!). We love our walks through the countryside!! Rio is discovering a love for sheep—she is now actually liking the sheep MORE than their droppings! Maybe she is a Border Collie after all?

Recess & Rio learning that they have the power to move the flock!

Yesterday was a “free day”, so after Rio & Recess’ walk, we joined most of the gang for a taxi ride to a nearby town for some shopping and then a trip to a Cider mill. Then it was another walk to the sea for Rio & Recess and a trip to the pub for dinner. I’m loving the “Public Paths” that wind their way between walled yards and through farmers fields. Its so much fun exploring J . You don’t even need to go on a road to get to the pub which is about 1.5km away! You never know what will be on the other side of the stiles. We’ve shared our walks with many a cow and sheep (and yes, I’m very thankful that I brought boots!).


One of the many stiles linking field to field.  Most were also over large stinky water ditches.  Don't fall in Rio!

Today we head to the venue for the first time. From the WAO pictures posted on Facebook, it looks as though things are completely under control. Can’t wait to check it out. Team Canada has a two hour practice slot today and then a couple of shorter practices in both the indoor and outdoor rings tomorrow.

So far everything is going great and we are raring to get into the agility ring!

I've uploaded some photos to Facebook...  Hopefully everyone can view these...https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150250699855767.374393.633720766&saved#!/media/set/?set=a.10150250699855767.374393.633720766&saved#!/photo.php?fbid=10150250711665767&set=a.10150250699855767.374393.633720766&type=1&theater

Our fancy 2 star hotel... 
This is from the day we arrived.  We never saw a puddle after that!

Rio & Recess had a VERY easy check in at the tiny Air Canada Cargo center in Ottawa. It was much more civilized and relaxing than the year before at the monstrous Cargo building in Toronto.

Entertaining ourselves with photos at the Air Canada Cargo building.  Recess & Rio are both happily chowing down on their stuffed kongs

Our flight to London was uneventful until right before we got off—they announced that there was an altercation on the plane and that the police would be boarding and escorting someone off. Turns out it was a very young mother who allegedly wouldn’t wake her young child who was sleeping on the floor when the seat belt sign came on. Two police officers escorted her off carrying sippy cups, toys and a diaper bag!

While waiting for Lucie Robertson, who flew in from Montreal, we had a good English breakfast at the same airport restaurant as the year before J . After meeting up with Lucie at the Heathrow terminal, we found our bus and headed to Animal Reception. We are all currently waiting for our dogs to be cleared. They‘ve told us our paperwork was all good, but so far we have been sitting here almost two hours… They say our dogs will be cleared soon! They just took my credit card and charged me 350 pounds tax on Rio. She’s one expensive dog today! Apparently we can get the tax money back once we prove that our dogs have left the country.

All the Canadian dogs that came through Animal Reception at Heathrow (Britt, Recess, Dune, Rio & Fia)


Rio came out of "quarantine" happy and relaxed!  She travels so well!

I think I’m ready for a nap shortly!

Sadly, the internet connection at the hotel is no better than last year.  It is an exercise in frustration to upload blog posts.  I will try my best to keep the updates coming when the internet connection is working.

Kim, John and I are currently waiting to board our flight to London.  Love the free wireless in the Ottawa airport! 

Wait!  Bording!  See you in the UK!

Rio and I are extremely happy that we have been chosen to represent Canada at the first World Agility Open  this coming May!

We are so very, very thankful to have so many generous people help us on our quest to represent Canada at the World level!

Omega Alpha is very generously helping with the costs of Rio's flights as well as supplying us with some of our favourite supplements!  Rio says she will never fly again without her Kong filled with EZ Rest soaked kibble!

The Ottawa Valley Border Collie Club has once again awarded us one of their grants.  Thanks for being so supportive!

Many thanks to Clean Run, the Adrenaline Dog Store , Bark & Fitz Barrhaven , DOGSport Magazine , Handmade Jammies by Elise Bonder, Greenhawk Equestrian , Tri-Natural Products Inc. & Fromm Four Star Nutritionals , Shake-A-Paw Dog Training, TLC Grooming , Omega Alpha  and Sasha's Blend   for their very kind product donations for our fundraising raffle tables and a big thank you to Jennifer Laird & Absolute Agility  for letting me host the raffles at their Winter AAC trials.  Jennifer—You are fantastic at supporting Canadian Agility.  Thank you!!

A huge thank you to my very first agility school, All Dog Sports Club, for their generous grant. 

Another thanks goes to all the businesses helping me with my t-shirt campaign:  Adrenaline Dog Store , Dream Fields , Absolute Agility , Canine Athletica/Cedarview Animal Hospital , Gus's Custom Creations and Greenbank & Rideau Animal Hospitals .  T-shirts should be available soon!

Yea!  I'm back on line!  After my last blog post, I wasn't able to connect my computer to the internet until now

Thanks to the volcanic ash, we were given one last day in Somerset to enjoy the sunshine and relax a bit.  We took Cypher, Recess and Rio down to the inlet and let them have a romp along the coast.  We wandered through a pasture of cows and a huge flock of sheep on the road.  Cypher helped out at one point sending a lost baby back to the flock....

In the afternoon, Shona organized a mini bus to take us to the town of Cheddar.  Most of the gang went and toured the caves and museums, but since I was feeling a bit cheap, I opted to stay out in the sunshine and do a walking tour of the town with Kim.  We enjoyed a huge block of cheese and a couple of mini baguettes for lunch and then headed up the very narrow road through the gorge in search of a walking path.  Walking along the narrow road with cars wizzing by honestly wasn't for the faint of heart!  We eventually found the path that would lead us up to the top of the cliffs.  With each passing rendition of the story, Kim increases the number of stairs that we climbed, but it was A LOT!  Our legs had already taken a beating from the sprint courses the day before, so by the time we made it back down, we had a bad case of jelly legs   The views were definitely worth it and the beer & cider at the bottom tasted even better!


A few sheep on the road


Cypher, Rio & Recess on our morning walk



A self portrait of myself & Kim resting at the top of the cliffs.  What a fantastic view!

Dinner was once again at our favourite pub, the Huntspill Arms where they were starting to treat us like the locals.

Tuesday, the ash had cleared and our flight was confirmed, so after a quick breakfast of toast we headed to the airport.  We arrived a bit late due to traffic, but still managed to get the dogs checked in at cargo.  The check in at the airport was painless and I managed to squeeze in three in-flight movies.  Kim's husband John picked us up and we eventually found the Air Canada cargo bay (how can such a big building hide?).  We were told that our dogs had arrived, but couldn't be released until Ag Can and Customs paperwork had been signed and yet ANOTHER bill paid.  Two hours later, all paperwork was done and we were ushered into the cargo area to pick up our dogs, but where were the dogs????   The folks in the cargo area were a little confused as to where to find the dogs and when we finally found someone who knew where they were, we were told that we'd get them in half an hour!  By this point, the poor pups had been crated for 14.5 hours and their humans were pretty darn crabby.  Tracy had a little 'chat' with a manager and suddenly our dogs appeared   Rio hopped out of the crate, wagging her tail and very happy to relieve herself.  Her crate was really wet, but I think it was due to the fact that they had kept trying to give her water through the bars of her crate.  Just after 9pm (almost 4 hours after we had landed), we were on the road to Ancaster to pick up my car at Kim's place.

Bed at Aunt Nancy's house in Burlington had never felt so good....     An easy drive home in the gorgeous sunshine and now I'm very eager to go and pick Kyra up from school, see Dave and see Pipe & Rio (who I'm assuming are hanging out with Dick at the farm, since they didn't greet me at the door!  I'm really hoping that they didn't run away!).

What a FABULOUS adventure with a FABULOUS group of people!  Tracy and Nina did a great job of getting us where we needed to be and the rest of the gang made the trip extremely fun.  I don't think I'll be taking a dog back to the UK anytime soon, but that may change when I'm not so sleep deprived

Thanks to everyone for your blog & facebook comments and your emails.  Hopefully tonight I'll finally have a chance to read them! 


Watch out for sheep crushed by rocks?

 Yes! I am still alive! I apologize for the lack of blogging. Internet service here is a little on the frustrating side!

Competition is now over and I have a few minutes to do some catch up(okay, its actually 5am English time and I can't sleep!).

I think last update was from Thursday. So much has happened since then! On Thursday night, we enjoyed the “Gala” dinner at the venue although the Canadian team left before dessert so that we could be back at the hotel before 10:30 in order to prepare for the next day. The short speeches at the gala were entertaining, especially when we kept being re-told that this event “wasn’t about the dog but about the human athlete”! Ha ha ha J


The Dutch Team won the award for best dressed!  Not really sure how Tulip-Head got herself into the pic....

Competition began early on Friday morning after the opening ceremonies. Our two Canadian Teams were named: Canada 1 consisted of two Maxi dogs, Rio & Feature, and one Mini dog, Ping Pong. Canada 2 was made up of one Midi dog, Recess, and two Toy dogs, Blitz & Minnie. The team jumpers course was the first event and it proved to be a challenging one that ate up most of the competition with off courses!!! It will definitely be a course that I will have to set up again some time. Only the two Russian teams made it through with no eliminations and after the event, Canada 1, even though we had one ‘E’, was still in third with Canada 2, not too far behind.


Team Canada "mustering" for the Opening ceremonies

The next event was the all-round Snooker event or “Individual” Snooker. Rio and I had a great plan and were ready to rock the course, but it wasn’t to be L We never even made it to the second red! Thankfully the course was kinder to many of the other Canadians and Chris & Susan made the podium. Having a not-so-great Snooker run, really rattled me but we got focused again for the all-round/Individual Standard. Rio had a beautiful run, but was called for a dog walk contact. I can’t ever remember her missing a dog walk contact! Guess I’ve been getting a little too relaxed on those L




Feature's victory lap with Encore for finishing first in the Individual Standard.  Gotta love the disco lights!  (I have yet to figure out why a horse arena had such elaborate dance lighting!!)


Kim & Nina hanging out in front of one of three crating stalls.  It was a bit chilly most mornings.  I believe the dogs were actually sort of happy to have their Back on Track coats!

Saturday began with Biathalon Jumpers. Once again it was a pretty technical course, but Rio and I made it through nicely with a clean round. All-round Gamblers was next and I figured I had a good course and could make a good run for the podium, but once again, Miss Rio-I-Can-Do-No-Wrong & I had another setback when on the approach to the final gamble, I pulled back and caused her to run by the first jump of the gamble. Grrr.   Team Standard was next and my teammates went before me and ran two flawless runs. It was a pretty straightforward course but Rio knocked a bar. When we came back to that spot on the second loop around, I didn’t adjust my handling for the ground bar and she turned waaaaay too tight and took an off course chute. AAAAAAGGGGHHHH. My first ‘E’ at Worlds L At least they don’t do the courtesy clap like they do at FCI. Despite that, the Canada 1 team only fell to 4^th place, but were quite a bit behind Canada 2, who had three clean runs, and moved up to third place! J

Saturday night, after the awards ceremony for Lucie & Nitro’s Gamble medal, I went out to dinner with my friend Anne, who came from London for the weekend. Anne is one of my oldest friends and one of my greatest World even supporters, having come to cheer me on in both Belgium and Finland despite not really being an agility enthusiast!


Anne hanging out in front of her trailer at the Vacation Park

Sunday morning had me in a totally different headspace then I’d ever been in before. I was having a hard time walking courses and trusting my handling and my dog. I have never been in the position of having bad runs at a big event (I know, I know. Poor me.) and I knew I needed to get over it and move on. I had to tell myself that I could get through the courses and that we did deserve to be here.

All of Sunday’s events had us running in placement order, so the whole day was fully of excitement as you got close to the last dogs in each height category.

The day began with yet another jumpers course—all round/individual. As the previous mornings, the jumpers course was very kind to us. Rio had a very fun run and I was thrilled to find out that we’d earned ourselves a Bronze medal! Jumpers has never been our strong class. Yes, we can get around a course easily, but usually we are a bit behind in the power department. Perhaps all of Rio’s winter core & leg strength exercises paid off?? I’m embarrassed to say that I had pretty much written off the thought of getting onto the podium after the events from the day before, so that made the run extra sweet! 

Fellow red dog owner Kim also had a beautiful Jumpers run and earned herself her first Worlds medal with a second place finish!

Three dog team relay was next and Canada 1 and Canada 2 were running back to back. We had been practicing our baton exchanges in the warm up area because the relay called for a reverse baton exchange. As Kayl took the hand-off of the baton from me in the warm up, she excitedly yelled “GO!!!!!!” We decided that *may* send Rio blasting off onto the course so we told her she had to come up with something else. Susan & Feature were to run first and then accept the baton from Kayl before she took off on course. At the handoff, instead of a “go” or “ok”, Susan accepted the baton with a “Spank it!”. Of course on the next exchange, Kayl, who may have been a little excited, took the hand off with a very loud “SPANK IT!”, which had the whole audience roaring (the venue is so small that you can hear every noise and every comment made on the field).


View from the top row of seating.  As you can see, spectators are VERY close!

All three teams after us (Canada 2 and the two Russian teams) had beautiful team runs, which earned Canada 2 a spot on the podium! Canada 1 finished just off the podium in 4^th place.

The final event of the competition was the second part of the Biathlon completion—a standard round. Once again, the course ate up a lot of the competitors. Rio was in the ring early, so I had no idea how others were fairing. Rio flew around the course (with me making sure she hit the yellow’s this time!) and I sprinted to catch up. It was definitely a runners course and we all know how I like to run! LOL We had a clean round that left us on a high again and a great feeling of being a team. Our efforts in the combined Jumpers/Standard earned us a SILVER in Biathalon!!!

The closing ceremonies had a few Canadians on the podium (Lucie & Nitro, Kayl & Ping, Kim & Recess, Ken & Blitz, Marie Pierre & Minnie and myself and Ri) but mainly we all learned to hum along to the Russian National anthem (those Russians are agility machines!!!)

It was a late night at the hotel and then back to the room to pack for a potential departure. 4:15 am we found out that our flight was cancelled due to ash, so we all went gladly back to bed. We will stay at the hotel until the ash clears. Right now the BBC says it should be tomorrow and as of 4am this morning, we are booked on a Tuesday flight. The dogs have yet to be confirmed but I’m sure they will once the cargo office opens!

Today, I’m going to go for a big English breakfast finally going to take a really, really long walk and not worry about any time schedules!

　
Sharing course maps.  Each country is only given three course maps for all twelve handlers!