After our disasters of yesterday we do the Adams Derby first to practice our contacts before we let everyone down in the team run. Contacts perfect in that and clear on the jumping part. We are two seconds off the winner which isn't bad but not good enough for a rosette.
Feeling very sexually frustrated and I text L to tell her so. I've been unable to get at her since Monday for various reasons. She seems worried that I'm surrounded by women at the dog show. Women, yes but not that kind of women. She says they'll be a babe attached to a collie somewhere. She can't be serious, not babes by the normal definition. My babe's at home, or rather she's not, she tells me she's at the cinema watching a gay romance.
We are one of the last to do the team run and no team has yet put all four dogs round clear. So we more or less just have to walk the dogs round to win, as long as we are clear and inside the time limit. Our first dog goes clear, despite being interfered with by a loose dog from another ring. Doggo and I run second. Relief as we go clear too. Unfortunately our third dog is eliminated.
Then they tell us we have to re-run, partly because of the interference but mainly because our third dog didn't go across the final hurdle that stops the timing gear. That's a bit unfair, on other teams, surely it's our own fault that we didn't jump the final hurdle. If you were having a bad run, you could do that deliberately just to get a re-run.
On the re-run, out first dog gets five faults, which puts the pressure on us because it's no longer a case of just being clear, we need speed too. In trying to get a bit of pace out of Doggo, it all goes pear shaped and we are eliminated. Our other two dogs don't fare much better.
We have two more runs. We do an excellent run on the jumping course until he jumps straight though the third-to-last pole. He never really took off. It was a shame because we'd done all the tricky bits. Our time would have been good enough to get us something.
Then on an agility course that has walls, brush jumps, tyres and all sorts of weird stuff. He refuses to jump the gate jump, probably because he's such a wimp, he's used to be lifted over these things when we're out walking. So no rosettes again but still generally pleased with Doggo's performance.
Derby lose in style again, letting in five at Arsenal. I'm not sure if that is an encouraging sign or not. It's less than we let in at Liverpool and I don’t think we’ll be the last team to be mauled there this season. The papers though, will make a meal of it but they don't know Derby. It's less than a year since we let in five at Colchester and six at Coventry but that didn't make the national press. Heavy defeats at Liverpool and Arsenal don’t even come close in the embarrassment stakes. Anyway enough of these meaningless games, we’ve got a proper match up against Bolton to win next week.
Leeds win again. Please stop it; it's getting boring now.
England's women's team concede three second half goals in their quarter-final against the USA and go out of the World Cup.
Tim Henman retires in style, winning the Davis Cup doubles with Jamie Murray to give Great Britain a 3-0 win over Croatia. A bit lucky really as for a variety of reason none of Croatia's top three players played in the match.
I manage to escape early from the dog show and rush home. I have some vital business to take care of, with L, and for once the time to do the job properly.
Once that matter has been well and truly taken care of, we head into town for a few beers, leaving Doggo at home to rest. He doesn't look too disappointed at being dumped. We go in the Napier for the first time in ages, Ringwood Bitter. Then move across the road to the Poacher, where we kind of get stuck, three pints of excellent XXXB is the reason.
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