This is our third time at Charleville-Mézière!
Our first time was when we were in grade 1, at the agility by night, the second time in grade 2, and this time in grade 3!

Now, I’m disappointed by our performance this weekend. We are almost always disqualified on the same error: our inability to do outs properly.

Otherwise, a nice competition, nice courses, nice peoples and in special guest: the sun!

05/04/2025

The judge was Hervé Chaillou from France.

Disqualified because I had to help her on the out after the A-frame.

Disqualified on at the out after the long jump. She doesn’t do it properly whenever she needs to put in a little effort.

Again, out, missing it and disqualified. We also never succeeded in finishing the weave pole, and we are not the only ones; this is incredibly difficult for the dogs. My theory is that they somehow feel like they are going into the tunnel that is near, and they get out at some point.

06/05/2025

The judge was Vincent Montaigné from France.

The second jump was an out, and guess what? She didn’t do it properly. Yes, I don’t show it well because I need to run forward to handle the long jump.
This was the third time in a row that we were disqualified for the same mistake, this time on the second jump. I was really disappointed and annoyed; the rest of the run was a mess and a collection of failure.

At least she did a two-out sequence and succeeded.

This time, she failed to do the In, again on the second jump. The thing is, I’m not the only one building frustration; Kaïa is also questioning what she did wrong.

We failed to handle the weave pole, she happily ran into the tunnel, and I completely failed to correct it. Other than that, we cleared the rest of the course nicely, and she even managed to do a difficult out.

This time, we are disqualified on a tunnel discrimination. This is more normal, I guess. Nice weave pole entry!

The judge was Marleen Haeneefstingels from Belgium.

14/03/2025

The first jumping was a mess, and we failed so many things.

The agility was a bit messy but better and it’s our first grade 3 were we are not disqualified. It’s something…

15/03/2025

That was a hell of a jumping, I got 2 miracles at the end of the hall, where she took both jumps (almost) only with verbal commands. But I was too late to help her clear the dead jump and she took it.

Believe it or not, this is one of my favorite courses of the weekend. It’s very challenging and requires a lot of precision and control to send your dog in the right direction. Of course, you have to do this with the dog being accelerated by the tunnels.

16/03/2025

This seesaw! Amazing control.
There is a lot of good behavior, I also noted that she controls her speed right before entering the weave pole.

We are disqualified on the last jump, I forgot to call her before pushing forward. I pushed forward and she obliged.

I said nothing about the tire… She did not take the tire…

08/02/2025

The judge was Hugo Santos from Portugal.

This is a weekend with four perfect weave poles!

We kick off the weekend with a challenging agility. We succeeded in some parts of it, and I got confused by a sequence that looked like a repetition but was not. I’m also happy that she understood that she needed to take the second jump as the position was not so obvious for the dog.

I’m disappointed by my performance on the jumping. It was too much run for me.
Some parts are good (the weave pole <3), but I was late on many difficulties, that killed everything.

09/02/2025

The judge was Gilles Welfringer from Luxembourg using Zsuzsa Veres (Portugal) course.
I was lazy and took the “in” option after the fourth jump, the “tunnel” command, throwing my dog in the tunnel in front of her. And she happily complied.
Don’t be lazy…

The judge was Hugo Santos from Portugal.
The Lux Winter Cup finale!
Just after the beautiful catwalk, I pushed her way too much on the “out” and that led to an impossible position. It’s still a fun run that highlights weaknesses to work on.

24/01/2025

The judge was Jeremy Manno from Belgium.
We did it! First run, first success, first place, and we get the last signatures to move to agility grade 3.

Almost one year apart, Jeremy Manno signed us up for grade 2 at Thalfang. This time, he signed us up for grade 3!

I was disqualified for jumping. There is nothing to say; I think I was still in the previous run.

25/01/2025

The judge was Jeremy Manno from Belgium.
For our first Jumping in grade 3 (excluding opens), this was quite a challenge. I was also quite a bit stressed by the change. I know it’s not rational since it’s not the first time we run at this level. It was a little bit messy.

Agility was better, the stress was gone, and I was more focused. We were disqualified for three refusals on a difficult weave pole entry, but the rest of the course was good.

26/01/2025

The judge was Jeremy Manno from Belgium.
Agility was full of “outs” and it’s one of our weaknesses. I have a really hard time negotiating them and it’s destroying the tempo of the run.

Jumping was a little better. I forgot to connect with her before the wall, and she took what was in front of her, guessing the course on three obstacles. I’m really happy that she finished the weave pole even if I was running in another direction!

18/01/2025

The judge was Jörg Zenner, from Germany.
I felt alone beside the 4th jump. I handled this jump poorly and she was just in front of the tunnel, my body aiming right at it!

Agility was fun and fast with many double tunnels. We finish faultlessly and in third place on the podium!
I’m proud of this run.

19/01/2025

The judge was Patrick Tunders, from the Netherlands.
On the jumping, we are disqualified by 3 refusals. Kaïa failed to take an S-turn before a tunnel and the line was borderline dangerous, I was worried and looked for too long. My sweater got stuck on the weave pole and I was late for the next jump.

On the agility, the big question was: can Kaïa run on the catwalk without me? We tried and failed.