Mrs Spaniel "Mulls" it over on holiday & at the Flyball Champs!

Karran

Karran

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Mrs Spaniel has had an exciting August! So its a good excuse for Spaniel Photo Spam!

Firstly at the start of the Month we drove to Mull. Last year one of my friends was sadly diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 34 (ladies please keep checking them out!)
After a torrid time of chemo, radiotherapy and a lumpectomy she happily got the all clear and to celebrate we booked a gorgeous cottage on the isle of Mull for a walking holiday.
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A lot of firsts for my little City-dog - She's never been in the car this long, nor on a ferry but behaved better than expected.
She met highland cows for the first time and sheep again (on lead before anyone wonders!)

We had lots of lovely walks
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Had a beach to ourselves!
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and went to Balamory!
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We got the ferry to Staffa - she wasn't too keen on this smaller boat - think she definitely looks seasick!
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We were at home for a week, then shot up to Glossop to meet my Godparents pre Flyball Champs for lots more walking and a stay in the stocks!
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TBC......
 
So it had been many years since our club had qualified for the UK flyball champs and for all but one of my team we were making our debut performance!

There were a lot of pre-event nerves. Mrs Spaniel prefers to go last as she worries about things in her line of vision. The dogs she normally changes onto - one only starting open racing this May and gets a little stage fright and the other dog, is incredibly hard to judge the change over correctly, it varies anything from 43 and a half foot to 32 foot.... (hides face in hands....)

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She herself has been a funny thing this year and gone from a solid 5.3 dog to one taking 5.7 seconds and on several occasions deciding it was easier to run back via the side of the jumps, which earned her a good telling off!

So we had no idea what to expect, especially as it was a tight division with about half second between us (top seed) and the 6th place team... One of our team confessed she'd been up since 3am with nerves and was visibly shaking....
We pulled it out of the bag and won the first race 3-1 and settled a few nerves!
Handler error from me (I let go, far, far, far too early) cost us the 2nd race 3-2 and a spat ball again meant we lost the other race 3-2.

Afternoon racing came around and we were into our groove by then!
Link to pro photo gallery....
http://galleries.flyballphotos.co.uk/gallery/1469038/album/5428597/photo/974060607
http://galleries.flyballphotos.co.uk/gallery/1469038/album/5428597/photo/974061299
http://galleries.flyballphotos.co.uk/gallery/1469038/album/5428597/photo/974061393
http://galleries.flyballphotos.co.uk/gallery/1469038/album/5428597/photo/974061901
(we're both good at looking gormless)
http://galleries.flyballphotos.co.uk/gallery/1469038/album/5428597/photo/974062587



Ending up with a magical 3rd place!! We are over the moon as a team!
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This weekend we have attended our last outdoor competition of the year and my once solid 5.3 dog with a PB of 5.1 absolutely smashed it - with two 4.7's, one 4.8 and a 4.9 result!

Now I need to figure out how to keep this improved level of fitness - meanwhile she is off on her 3rd holiday of the year staying over with my flyball captain whilst in the morning I go out to see my Mother get married!!
 
Gorgeous dog, great photos and what a wonderful time she is having. Congratualtions to your mother, I hope you all have a wonderful day.
 
Fabulous photos and looks like a lovely holiday.

Well done at Champs! Fizz was meant to have her first comp back since champs this weekend but we pulled with the KC in our division to be safe so Sutton will be our last outdoor. We have weather issues which effect consistency :rolleyes3: I’m finding frisbee (we’re in a toss and fetch league) is helping with Fizz’s fitness as she’s doing more, shorter sprints.

Have a wonderful time at the wedding :D
 
Amazing report and pics. Congratulations on the new and improved go faster edition Mrs Spaniel :D
 
I love Mull and must get back soon. I'd love the link to the cottage where you stayed please. Looks fab! So sorry to hear about your friend - what a shock for her especially at such a young age :( I hope she is feeling positive about the future now she has the all clear.

Well done at the flyball and congrats to your mum :)

Lovely photos. Really enjoyed them so thanks for sharing.
 
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