Westglen - Top Lodge's Competition Season starts!

The first competition of the season for Top Lodge is always Westglen - held in Stourbridge. Early morning start and first in the ring was Kath with Amber in the Advanced Heelwork To Music for the first Crufts 2015 Semi Final Qualifiers of the year.  The class was so big it had to be spli into two.

A nicely focussed Amber and Kath danced to Celtic Kitten from Celtic Tiger by Ronan Hardiman.

A very happy Amber and Kath managed a bit of a smile too!

Amber worked well and was placed 2nd in the class with a huge score of 28.10 - gaining a full 10 points from one of the judges for Musical Interpretation.

The two classes for Advanced HTM were split with Intermediate HTM in between.  And Lesley took to the floor with Dewy.

 He worked very well to Boney M's "Rasputin"

 Well Done Lesley and Dewy - winning the class!

The following class was the second half of Advanced HTM with Kath this time competing with Denby and performing to "Creative" by Leon Jackson.

He had great focus and good positioning and he won the class! 

Well done Denby - but only two dogs can qualify for the Crufts 2015 Semi Finals so the two classes were "merged" and as Amber's score was higher than Denby's - she had the Westglen Qualifier.

 Karen also competed with Fly to the music "Roxanne".

Fly is always very enthusiastic when she works.

And of course Karen always works enthusiastically too!!! 

Hamish was the next Top Lodge Dog to work, but Lesley and he just trained in the competition environment, something that is quite hard to replicate in daily training!

 He always enjoys a game of tuggy.

 And he loves his "Body Pops" too!!

After lunch it was time for Spice to take to the ring in the Advanced Freestyle Crufts 2015 Semi Final Qualifier.  Love this photo - has Kath borrowed Spice's face???

 Fast and furious routine to The Dance Fight from Puss In Boots.

Push that barrel Spice!

Huge jumps from a little dog!!  Spice did very well being placed second and gaining a very early qualifier! 

Dewy was next into the ring for Intermediate Freestyle - ready for action in his routine with Lesley to the music "The Night They Invented Champagne"

Dewy worked the best he has ever worked - the routine flowed without any hiccups from the champagne!

And Dewy and Lesley won their class!

On the Sunday - Dewy and Lesley went on to win another Intermediate Heelwork To Music and placed second in the Intermediate Freestyle making Dewy a double Advanced Dog.  

Congratulations to the Top Lodge Team - two Crufts Qualifiers , 4 wins and 2 second places!! A brilliant weekend of results!!

Top Lodge Dogs selected for the European Championships 2014

Open European Heelwork to Music Championships

14^th to 16^th November 2014

Stuttgart, Germany.

Louth and District are pleased to announce the selected members of the Team  from GB going to Germany this year.  There were more high quality applicants than places this year so apologies to those who did not make it.  The decisions were not easy.

Heelwork Team  (In alphabetical order)

Handler	Dog’s KC name	Breed	Pet name
Lucy Creek	Harriot Skiffle King	Border Collie	Skiffle
Kath Hardman	Stillmoor Lady in Red	Border Collie	Amber
Kath Hardman	Stillmoor Extra Special	Border Collie	Denby
Karen Sykes	Iatka Spring Spangle	WSD	Fly
1st Reserve Nicci Hindson	Ravestar Scarlet Dancer	WSD	Nala
2nd Reserve Helen Dennis	Goddess Spring of Jucando	WSD	Maia

Freestyle Team  (In alphabetical order)

Handler	Dog’s KC name	Breed	Pet name
Lucy Creek	Dialynne Making Waves	Beagle	Teasel
Kath Hardman	September Spice	Crossbreed	Spice
Nicci Hindson	Ravestar Scarlet Dancer	WSD	Nala
Christina Oxtoby	Legacy’s Eze Ezekiel	Border Collie	Eze
1st Reserve Lucy Creek	Harriot Skiffle King	Border Collie	Skiffle
2nd Reserve Kath Hardman	Stillmoor Extra Special	Border Collie	Denby

Lesley Neville will be the Team Co-ordinator in Germany.

Good Luck to them all.

A Day at the Great Swiss Mountain Dog AGM

Kath had been invited to talk and give a demonstration at the Great Swiss Mountain Dog AGM in February 2013, however, heavy snow cancelled the meeting but the organisers Sheila Tickle and Cynthia Bailey re-arranged the "booking" for 2014's AGM.

Amber at the ready for showing Heelwork To Music to the "Swissie" owners.

After a short break after the AGM, Kath introduced the sport to those gathered.  TheSwiss Mountain dogs are so big but Kath soon showed the owners that even weaving through the handlers legs was quite possible.

She explained how teaching movements such as 360 degree turns and weaves would help keep these very heavy dogs supple and fit.

The handlers also found out that they need to stretch and turn too - not a sport for those not wanting to get involved with their dogs.

The temperament of the dogs was wonderful all calm and interacting very nicely.

All too soon the time was over.

Certificates of attendance signed and given out.

And a little more time to talk to each other since this was the AGM members had travelled quite some distance to attend.

Thank you to Cynthia and Sheila for the lovely meal and your hospitality to both Kath, David and her dogs.

Top Lodge at Crufts 2014

The Top Lodge Team had three of the top ten dogs competing in the HTM Finals at Crufts 2014

The competition took place at on the Friday 7th March late morning. Both Karen and Kath took advantage of the empty arena at 7:00am that morning to get the dogs more accustomed with the space, the astro turf floor covering and the general atmosphere.     Karen's Fly and Kath's Amber are both regular finalists and they both looked very excited and happy to be in this special arena.

Kath's youngest dog Denby (Stillmoor Extra Special) was drawn first in the running order

Not an easy draw for his first time in the ring as it is hard to calculate just when entry into the Arena will be due to the other activities running over - or going too quickly! 

But Kath's experience helped him through the routine and of course being first to compete - he was in first place but not for too long!

Kath was very happy with how he coped with the experience - he kept quite good focus on her but was slightly distracted a couple of times by the painted marks on the Astroturf where the agility/flyball equipment was to placed in the following competition.

Denby finally finished in 9th place but with experience now for the next time!!

 Karen was next into the ring with Fly (Iatka Spring Spangle). 

Performing to a Michael Buble number - It Had Better Be Tonight", they thoroughly enjoyed their special time together in the Main Arena.

It's been a tough time for this team recently with Fly having to fight cancer in the summer but she has recovered and Karen was so pleased that she had made it not only through the Crufts Semi Final but also being able to perform once again on that "hallowed turf"! 

 Fly and Karen finished in a very happy 10th place.

The final dog to compete was Kath's Amber (Stillmoor Lady In Red). 

It was good feeling for Kath to be there this year as in 2013 Kath withdrew Amber from the competition due to a bad tummy upset.  So it was with relief that Kath walked out into the Arena with the routine she had prepared in 2013!  

They worked well together until Amber had a slip on the Astroturf - which led to her being a little too vocal!  But they finished the competition in 8th place.

Kath having two dogs in the final was very grateful to the third Top Lodge Member Lesley who helped her with the two dogs backstage during competing and costume changed!

Spice Invited to Birthday Parties

Spice has been a busy girl in 2014 being invited to dance at three separate Birthday Parties.

The first was in a Care Home near London for a 49 year old resident's celebrations.

The second was for Royalty - in the centre of London - the three year old loved Spice.  A busy day and a busy party with Disney Characters, Fairy Ballerinas, Magician, Face Painting and an Aerialist but it was Spice who got the party started!

And the third was in an hotel near Weybridge for an 8 year old - 28 children at this party.  

Thanks for the invitations.