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Late last week my brother let me know that he and his wife would be competing with their three dogs at a local event - the Iconix Summer Fiesta. Fiesta it might have been, but summer was a real misnomer. Although it was sunny when we arrived, I'd already been warned of the strong wind and how cold it was. Although we did sit outside with hot drinks, when we had lunch it was definitely worth walking back up the hill to sit in the car! The stall that was selling DryRobes must have made a killing - when I arrived around 11 a.m. I could see their stall over the far side of one of the arenas with racks of clothing outside. By the time I walked past them after lunch (about 2.30 p.m.) they were packing up because they'd sold out completely so somebody must have made a fair profit yesterday.
The family's three dogs are Echo, a springer spaniel and the star of the show at Grade 7. Her older brother, Rollo - I think he's about grade 4, and the youngest dog is a sable german shepherd, Trooper who's currently at grade 2. These events are always fun but at one point I was seriously considering putting in my ear plugs (I had my 'gig' bag with me) to deal with (1) the rubbish music they were playing and (2) the dogs barking.
I'd missed a couple of their runs by the time I got there at 11 a.m., so the first I saw was Trooper. He was e'd (eliminated) after the first fence but they carried on for practice.
Echo was up next, also eliminated - behind one of the tunnels was a tire and she refused three times.
I didn't get enough of Rollo to put together a set - by this time, I was thinking of getting somewhere warmer for a while so off to the car we went with a carvery in a roll (and very good it was too).
After lunch both Trooper and Echo managed clear rounds - and both came in the top 10 in their classes. The classes were both around 100 dogs, so not a bad result for them.
Apart from the fact that I managed to reset the date on my camera after lunch - still haven't figured out what I knocked/touched yet, the day went pretty well. The ISO was creeping up during the day, starting at 200 and ending up at 1250.
I saw quite a few dogs that impressed me - particularly the smaller dogs and their jumping. Echo is small, but some of these were tiny.
And I'm always fascinated as the dogs go through the weaving poles and their expressions!
And today is, apparently, National Dog Day! All of these were taken with the 40-150 f4. A lot of them are up to 50% crops because I could obviously only get so close.
The family's three dogs are Echo, a springer spaniel and the star of the show at Grade 7. Her older brother, Rollo - I think he's about grade 4, and the youngest dog is a sable german shepherd, Trooper who's currently at grade 2. These events are always fun but at one point I was seriously considering putting in my ear plugs (I had my 'gig' bag with me) to deal with (1) the rubbish music they were playing and (2) the dogs barking.
I'd missed a couple of their runs by the time I got there at 11 a.m., so the first I saw was Trooper. He was e'd (eliminated) after the first fence but they carried on for practice.
Echo was up next, also eliminated - behind one of the tunnels was a tire and she refused three times.
I didn't get enough of Rollo to put together a set - by this time, I was thinking of getting somewhere warmer for a while so off to the car we went with a carvery in a roll (and very good it was too).
After lunch both Trooper and Echo managed clear rounds - and both came in the top 10 in their classes. The classes were both around 100 dogs, so not a bad result for them.
Apart from the fact that I managed to reset the date on my camera after lunch - still haven't figured out what I knocked/touched yet, the day went pretty well. The ISO was creeping up during the day, starting at 200 and ending up at 1250.
I saw quite a few dogs that impressed me - particularly the smaller dogs and their jumping. Echo is small, but some of these were tiny.
And I'm always fascinated as the dogs go through the weaving poles and their expressions!
And today is, apparently, National Dog Day! All of these were taken with the 40-150 f4. A lot of them are up to 50% crops because I could obviously only get so close.
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