Happy New Year!

Hi there- happy New Year!
I can't believe it's now 2013; 2012 went by too fast! Although it was such an eventful year with the Olympics in my hometown, I have loved every minute of it. I began the year with Crufts, the biggest dog show in the WORLD. Although I didn't go myself, the humans went on both the Saturday and Sunday and had an incredible time. They even saw Ashleigh & Pudsey- before they'd won Britain's Got Talent- performing in the Young Kennel Club ring! Then, during National Microchipping Month, I took part in my town's 'Dog Olympics'... And won the agility competition! My humans were very proud of me and I was so pleased- I had never won anything before that! The month after, it was the opening of the London 2012 Olympics; man, that was one awesome event! Okay, so maybe I didn't see any of the events up close but I watched pretty much everything on TV (whilst chewing rawhide and snoozing in my bed...)- well done Team GB! After an eventful summer, it was then time for London's biggest dog show, Discover Dogs, and for me to compete in a grooming competition there. Discover Dogs is definitely one of the highlights of my year as it never fails to be exciting! To round 2012 off, my human had a feature in the Young Kennel Club magazine, Fetch, which I was included in- how cool is that?!
Thank you for helping make my 2012 as epic as it was and I can't really believe that my blog is 2 years old now!
 Here's to a great 2013!
Talk soon, Jasper x

Dog Olympics!

Hi there!

Last Sunday, I took part in a Dog Olympics to raise money for two charities in celebration of London 2012! At 12pm, I arrived at a park nearby me to take part in two activities: Agility and Best Trick! Last July, I took a break from Agility and haven't yet got back into it and my last Agility competition was last September so I haven't competed in a while! My first competition, Best Trick, was at 2:50pm so while we waited for our go, the humans and I watched the other competitions and had a look at all of the stools. At the Tombola, the human entered and won a manicure! She was very pleased though I wasn't too happy as manicures aren't my thing... The humans also bought hot dogs but they weren't for me- grrr... Apart from my two competitions, there were seven others that doggies took part in! There was: Scurry Run, where you ran and jumped over hay bales for small and large dogs; Limbo, where doggies were tested to see how low they could go (!) for small and large; Musical Hoops, where the human had to get their dog into a hoop as fast as they could when the music stopped; Marathon Stay, where doggies had to wait for as long as possible (difficult or what?!) and Waggiest Tail. 

After watching a few very comical competitions, it time for me to get in the arena and perform my best trick! The human kept changing which trick I was going to perform but finally decided on Rollover. So, in we went! Man, there were a LOT of people and doggies watching! And it just so happened that one of the doggies watching was small, white, fluffy and irresistible! All the doggies competing took a spot in the arena and got ready to perform their trick. I was second up, after a doggie that performed ROLLOVER! The human didn't know what to do as our trick had been performed! She then decided that it would have to be Twist. The entire audience's eyes were fixed on me as they called out my name. The human got my treat ready and commanded Twist. But no, I decided not to follow her command. After all, why should I? She wasn't going to give me a sausage! I found it very humorous as she burst out laughing. Woops, maybe I should've just follow her command but when she tried again, I just look to the side and then back at her! Ha ha, I wasn't having any of it! The judges then said 'last try' so on the fourth go, I finally spun round! The judges then watched the other doggies and decided on their winner. The human joked that maybe we should just leave the arena early! Unsurprisingly, we didn't win! Oops... The human wasn't fussed though as she predicted that I was going to do that! Well done to Brandy and Kathleen for their Best Trick entry which was of a few tricks including Brandy wrapping himself in a blanket! It was very good. 

After the Best Trick, the human and I quickly got back to the Agility to compete. The course was a few jumps, hoop jump, another jump, dog walk, weaves and tunnel. The Qualifier allowed me to have a practise round and then the timed round. In the practise go, I did quite well but the human was doing silly handling! So it all counted on this time round. 3...2...1...GO! And I was off. Jump, jump, jump, hoop, jump, walk, tunnel, weave, tunnel, finish! Man, it was over quick. The human and I were the last to compete in the hour, so we waited to find out our result. The fastest doggie from each hour of the day was put through to the Doggie Olympics Final to win the big trophy. The competitors from the hour stood and listened out for the results. 'The winner of the hour is... Jasper!' Wooo! We had won the hour and were through to the final with a time of 19 seconds! I had won my first trophy!

As we competed in the last hour, it was straight onto the final. There were lots of great doggies in the final so it was going to be a challenge! This time even more people were watching as it was the winner's round- aah! The first dog was called up, then the second, then the third and then after more doggies, it was my go! We entered the Agility arena and the human set me up at the starting line. 3...2...1...GO! We were off for the second time! The course was the same as before but this time I was up against the best. I jumped over the jumps as quick as I could and sprinted up, across and down the dog walk onto the weaves. Weave, weave, weave, weave, go go go! I sped through the tunnel and across the final line! We had finished the course with an even quicker time than the previous go by a few seconds! But, was it good enough? We were soon to find out.

'The winner of the Doggie Olympics Agility Final is... Jasper!'

 YEY! We had won! Before Sunday, I'd never won a thing! The Agility host and one of the stewards came for a photo and handed us the biggest Agility trophy. Wooooo! It was a great feeling winning and all this week the humans have been calling me 'Champion'. Ah, it's great. Thank you so much to all the organisers, stewards and everyone who helped out and went along. It was an AWESOME day!

As a conclusion to the day, all the winners of all the competitions were invited into the arena to be considered for winning Dog of the Day. Dogs of all different ages and breeds walked along proudly with their humans while all the judges studied us. Eventually, the judges decided on Digby! The humans knew the owners and I had played with him earlier on. Everyone was pleased that he won; as well as winning the large breeds' Limbo, they came third in another competition and had tried hard all day. Well done Digby! Thanks again to the Vets for organising it and thanks to all the stewards. It was such a fun day and fingers crossed they run a Doggie Sports Day next year! Here's to 2013! Talk soon, Jasper x