Suprelorin..

We were meant to be at BCCGB pup of the year today with D but decided some time ago we'd have a day off instead.

After much deliberation on who to get neutered when I decided to try D with the Suprelorin implant. The jury is still out on what we're doing with Inca. Originally I was going to stop showing at the end of this month, and although I've not entered any more I think I'll see how we do to the end of March.

I ordered last week and today we took him to have it done. I did feel slightly guilty when I saw the size of needle, especially as our vet had a bit of trouble getting it through his skin, but he was a good boy and didnt even flinch - probably something to do with mum having peperami.

There is a bit of a mixed debate as to whether dogs with Suprelorin should be shown, although theres nothing official to say they shouldnt be. One side effect is that their balls shrink up to 1/4 of their original size (can't say I've measured his, lol). Some people say it effects their coat. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what effect is has on him. Showing isn't my prority, and I could always return him to the ring when its worn off.

At least I wont have to put up with the screaming banshee that kept trying to dig under the kitchen door when Incas next in season ;)

UKA EAWs..

Saturday we headed off to Snetterston for the next installment of the East Anglian Winter Series. No videos though as I left Si at home as hes been working funny hours for the past week. The weather had been awful all night, pouring with rain and blowing a gale, yet I was safe in the knowledge that we'd be inside so the wettest I'd get was running back and forth to the car and taking the dogs out for a pee. I couldnt have been more wrong. When I arrived I discovered they'd put up a ring OUSIDE! Of course I'd come completely inappropriately dressed with jeans that reached the floor and so started getting wet from the bottom up before I'd even run.

Diesel seemed particulaly lary and only managed one clear all day. That said, it was only little mistakes and overall I was really pleased with how he was running - I could have just done with less of the gob! His clear made up for it all as he came 2nd by 0.5 seconds. Not a hard course by any means but it started spread-12 weaves which caught a lot of dogs out.

Inca was having a bouncy blonde day. Very up for it, but very la-la and easily distracted. Same jumping start for her and she crashed into the spread and messed up her weaves. Did the rest of the course lovely though, lol. I trained her power & speed (I missed walking the course, oops!) and then ran her senior agility. She did a cracking run including a very impressive running dog walk contact (if only I had trained it like that!) and ended up 2nd, behind Nancy Faris's G6 dog, Shaka.

Pippas first run was champ jumping in the outside ring in the pouring rain. As soon as I took her coat off she was spinning in circles. I thought this meant the terrierist had taken over but she was a good girl and did a really good run given the conditions. However, they called me back when I'd finished and said the timer hadnt gone off so I needed to run it again..Argh! Thankfully we went clear again and ended up winning it. I trained her P&S and then ran her agility - she flew her a-frame, Grr! Champ SC was right at the end over a very flowy course so I decided to really push her (and me) on it.

Overall it one of those days that I guitily know I didnt enjoy as much as I should of. I didnt leave until gone 5.30pm so didnt get home till after 6.30pm. First thing I did was get straight in the bath - I was frozen and rather soggy!

Samples..

Yumove

I recieved my free sample of Yumove in the post today (30 tablets), which I think got slightly held up by the post (and I've since bought a pot, but nevermind)

When Mish was diagnosed with arthritis in her hips and elbows I started researching into joint suppliments again. Previously I fed all our lot Joint Aid and have done for ages but there are certainly a lot more joint products available on the market now.

I'd seen Yumove at the KC Festival back in August and it was highly recommended to me by a few friends who have tried it so I thought I would give it a go now we were coming to the end of our current supply of joint aid. It was on offer at the show we were at on Saturday so I bit the bullet and bought a pot of 300.

Its too soon to comment on how well its working, but all my lot love it and its certainly easier feeding the tablets direct than mixing it into their feed. I just wish all tablets were that easy to give!


Food 4 Dogs

As part of my arthritis research I've also been looking into different foods to feed that are meant to be beneficial. My theory is it cant hurt! One thats supposed to work wonders is gullet as it contains a natural source of chondroitin sulfate. Neither of the companies (landywoods and the dog food company) I usually use stock it but Food 4 Dogs does, although I've not ordered from them before.

I took advantage of their Raw Taster Pack which costs just £10 and has free delivery. It incudes a variety of minces; wild rabbit, pork, chicken, kidney variety, ox cheek variety, rabbit variety, and a small sample of their diced wild rabbit (bone in). To make matters even better the £10 fully refundable when you place your first order.

I must say I was impressed. I arrived by DHL on my selected day in a little polystyrene (which was handy for taking frozen dog food to the kennels). They do a few things my usual suppliers dont so I'll certainly be ordering from them again from time to time. Now I've just got to decide what to order next ;)

Scotland..

Friday morning we bundled Pip, Mishka and Rex into the van and dropped them off with Sarah at the kennels. As always Pip was keen as ever to go in, but then stood at the gate of the exercise pen yelling her head off once she realised she was staying, bless! We then went home, loaded the car and headed off on our journey up north. All 7 hours of it - Lovely! Thankfully I had my Mexican meal as my incentive and it was nice to arrive with plenty of time before bed rather than our usual tradition of arriving in the early hours of the next day.

Saturday we headed off to the Working and Pastoral Breeds of Scotland. Judith Gregory was judging so I was quite excited to see how Inca would do - Inca is her type and shes said good things about her before..of course there is that small thing called the competition but I knew we had a chance at least. Diesel was in the ring first in Yearling. He wasn't too bad on the move, but was a little distracted by the men in yellow jackets dorking with the vents above us. Again, strong competition but I was happy on how he'd done. It was a long wait for Incas class - 22 entries in it too. A couple classes before I started getting her ready and trying to get that coat of hers straight. For once I was happy with it and just as we headed towards the ring I noticed she was dropping her shoulder. Only slighty, but if I could see it then so could everyone else - especially the judge. I actually asked Heather, her breeder, to look at her move. Don't exactly know why as I knew she wasn't right - just needed someone else to confirm it I guess. So we didn't even make the ring. I was gutted! Frustratingly by the time we got to the car she seemed fine so I'm almost convinced she was just stiff from lying in her crate. Still, retail therapy and another meal out followed.

Sunday we headed off to Scottish Border Collie club. They changed it this year so rather than have the 2 rings they just had one..it seemed to go on forever! Diesel was again up first. its held in a sports hall and the flooring is terrible for making dogs fly their tails simply because it bounces and the noise it makes as you run round. Diesel was no exception and flew his tail most of the way round the ring. Grr! He settled down by his Novice class and managed to win that. Inca seemed perfectly fine, although I was at this point completely paranoid, so I kept getting her out and trotting her up and down the car park, lol. She moved well and got shortlisted to the final 7 but sadly didn't make the final cut.

So, um...yeah. still a bit gutted about that one. Our next show is West Of England BCC and Inca is dropping her coat so heavily I'm beginning to wonder if she'll have any left. Also wish the judges were the other way round but hey ho..

Sleep tight Tigger..

One of our cats, Tigger, was sadly pts today. It all happened very suddenly so came as a bit of shock. We noticed recently that he was loosing a bit of weight so we started giving him an extra meal. Then on Monday I noticed he was having difficulty swallowing so booked him in to see the vet the following day. She couldn't physically find anything (other than the obvious weight loss and throat discomfort) so she decided to try antibiotics and antiinflammatories first and hope it was just a simple throat infection. When we got back we separated him from the others so we could keep an eye on exactly what he was eating and drinking. Despite having a full bladder he didn't go to the loo, but started dripping urine. Obviously this was a lot more serious than we thought.

We took him back today and they took some blood. We waited in the consult room whilst they did the bloods. Tigger had a good explore and demanded attention off everyone as usual - he loves his fuss. Sadly the results came back and levels of creatinine, urea etc were through the roof (one was higher than their machine could read).! He had chronic renal failure which he'd obviously hidden well. We could have put him on a drip, pumped him full of diuretics and hoped for a few more weeks/months but with the levels he had the chances of it making much difference were slim. I wasn't prepared to put him through that.

So, the heartbreaking decision was made to let him go and we said our final goodbyes - sleep tight Tigz.

And so I've spent the rest of the day wondering if I did the right thing, if I should have tried, if we could have caught it sooner. Ultimately I know at the stage he was at there really was nothing that could be done.


RIP Tigger 24th Sept 2001 - 4th November 2009



Tigger and his brother Garfield as kittens. We adopted them just after we moved into our first house. I was only meant to have one but when the lady offered us two how could I resist? They were farm kittens and hadn't had much handling. The first day home they caused trouble by finding a gap under the kitchen units and climbing up the hot water pipes - trouble from day 1!


Especially when he thought we weren't looking


He and his brother have always had a strong bond..they had a bit of a reputation, lol


Although Tigger has been just as accepting with everyone


No matter how small they are..



Few more - HERE

RIP Tigger 24th Sept 2001 - 4th November 2009

Bob Sharpe Agility Workshop...

I went up to Grantham today for one of Bob Sharpes workshops. Today focused on handling techniques over purely jumping equipment (no weaves), although there was also practice ring for us to use as we pleased whilst the other dogs were working (if we weren't too busy watching that is). I was a little bit skeptical as D had been placed in the advanced group, but Lesley quite rightly pointed out that I would probably get more out of that group.

I did feel a little out of my depth when I walked the first course as it was quite tricky but I knew D would attack it with his usual gung-ho enthusiasm regardless of what I thought. It was something Pip would love but I had no idea what the best way to handle D would be. With Pippa I can usually get in front of her for front crosses, and she certainly runs better when I'm ahead. With Inca I would do flick-flack push-thru as shes got the drive towards the next jump and the nimbleness on the ground. With D I opted for playing it safe (I value my legs, lol) and went for front crosses which worked but definitely pushed him wide in a couple places. My positioning for my recall start also caused him to be quite wide also. Bob got my to try it the other way, which I've not done much with D, which was definitely tighter and, when I got my positioning right, much easier for me (less running, lol).

The next couple of courses focused on this sequence during various different parts of the course and using the different ways to handle them. One course in particular the whole thing could be handled from the middle jump using the flick-flack-push-thru method provided you could push your dog on enough to get into position at the far wing. Diesel coped really well. We had a couple refusals throughout the day but that was down to me thinking he was committed to the jump and then moving, when really he wasn't quite there. That said, he was driving on much better so his confidence is definitely on the up.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day and both me and D were suitably knackered by the end of our session. I've booked a couple more training days with D in December which I'm already looking forward to. The first is focused on contacts/weaves which should be good =D.

Brancaster again..

I had to go up to Rudham today to help move some agility equipment, so I decided to go back to Brancaster with the dogs first. We did a good couple of hours again, walking along the sea front first and then back along the dunes. The dunes were apparently the best thing since sliced bread as all three (mainly led on by Pip!) had great fun tearing about. It was like one bit obstacle course for Pip and I swear she covers twice the distance the collies do on their walks with all her toing and froing, lol.









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