Ruffs Dog Blog..

Paddy

2012-01-09T15:38:00.002Z

Back in October we took on a foster dog, a deaf collie called Paddy. He apparently wasnt coping with being deaf but the truth was the people he'd been with hadnt known how to communicate with him. He was a typical young collie - energetic, bright, playful and tons of fun.

He had great fun just learning to be a dog with our 5. Inca was smitten with him, Pip enjoyed chasing him and being chased and Blaze enjoyed the rough and tumble of having another young energetic dog in the house. As previously mentioned he raced at Grizedale and Beacon Hill at CaniX with Blaze and loved it. Hes also had a couple of runs with the others on the scooter.

Last Saturday he went off to his forever home down in Swindon. Hes got another collie for company and will get to continue with the canicross runs.

I wont lie, no matter how wonderful the home I always find it very hard when foster dogs go off. Thankfully I know its harder on me than it is them and I do take great pleasure in hearing how they're getting on and seeing photos.

A bit of a catch up…

2011-11-13T21:35:00.001Z

The weekend after Bagshot CaniX we were up north for the 3 day Hare n Hounds show. I’ve not done any of their outdoor shows before, but I love their winter series and I really like the amount of thought and effort they put into their shows; they’re always friendly, welcoming and have a great atmosphere. It was a very all or nothing weekend. Inca won out of Grade 5, Blaze won out of Grade 2 (winning a C1-4 jumping and a c1-3 agility), D had a very close 3rd in G6 agility (he and Inca were leading both G5 and G6 for ¾ of the class!), Pip had a 4th in C5-7 jumping and got a 3rd in pairs with Si and Blaze. The dogs were running well….my handler skills not so much, lol. I think Blaze needs a special mention for coming 5th in a C1-7 agility class. The only non G6/7 dog in the placings, beaten only by G7/Agility Champions.

The first weekend in October was hot. We were over in Wales at Pembry for 2 days of CaniX. Due to the heat they thankfully brought the start forward by an hour and a half so we were out running by 9am. With Rex still out on injury and Diesel not going to appreciate the manic mass starts, I decided to run Blaze and Pippa both days. They ran their socks off. I tried to stop at each water station to let them drink but Blaze hates people being in front of him and was adamant he didn’t need a drink. It was a quick course and we finished in a time of 25:53.98 on day 1 and 26:04.35 on day 2, ending up 6th overall. It was close racing. I loved this venue; I loved the uppy downy forest trails and it was right next to the beach – perfect for beach walks afterwards.

The following weekend I took part in my first Parkrun (http://www.parkrun.com/home) with a friend and her beagle, Lola . These are free 5km events held all round the country. They’re free to enter, but in return you are expected to help occasionally – that’s what keeps these events running. The site states they welcome dog runners and links to the CaniX site. I emailed the Kings Lynn event organisers to check and they said they did, as long as we started right at the back and ideally runners should be running under their own steam with the dogs next to them…not quite CaniX where they should ideally pull! But if I can run better on my own then I should be able to run better as I team too. So I decided to run just one dog. Originally I was going to take Pip, but then I decided that perhaps running on his own would do Blazes confidence a favour if he is distracted by the running then the kids and people in the park shouldn’t be quite so scary. Hopefully. Hes never run on his own, and I’ve never run with just one dog. It was fast 3 laps of the park, including a bit where you ran round a lamp-post and then ran back on yourself. He was a bit baffled by it all at the start, but once we started running the screaming started and he wanted to be at the front. He was a little unsure when doubling back past other runners, and equally slowed down a little on the last lap when everyone upped the pace simply because he was a little unsure of people passing him – I’m not used to him not raring almost as much when he finishes as when he started. We finished 26:56 which wasn’t too bad for a first attempt.

The day after we headed up to fineshades to do a 10km run there, with Si on the bike. We had a few navigational issues (we got lost!) so we didn’t quite make 10km but we did do 9.29km in 57mins 56 secs with plenty of energy to spare. I was determined to do 10km so later in the week I dusted off the treadmill and ran at a steady pace of 6.2mph for an hour. Running was starting to feel easier and as each run finished I was already looking forward to the next one.

Then we were over to Shrewsbury for the TAG agility show; Incas last G5 and Blazes last G2. A lovely weekend with good company, some great weather and some hard but fun courses that had everyone giggling and cheering (or for some G6+7 handlers moaning!). I love running Pip over those kind of courses and we had so much fun. She went clear in both the hard courses, but was just one out of the places in both. Blaze ran his socks off going clear in all but one class the entire weekend, and winning all 3 of his classes on Saturday. Its not the wins we’re most proud of but the fact hes coming out of his shell at agility competitions much more consistently, the fact that he might spook at something, but instead of shutting down hes bouncing back quicker. Inca waited all weekend for her one clear round, ending up 2nd in a fast C3-5 jumping class. That’s Inca for you, lol.

Last weekend I had planned to do Parkrun again, but I came down with a dreaded cold and was feeling rotten. I was determined to make Grizedale CaniX so I was good and rested. Grizedale was 6.1km each day and I still had Rex out on injury. And it was wet on Saturday so I decided to give Paddy a go with Blaze. He was a bit excitable when dogs were overtaking and desperately wanted to catch them up. On Sunday he was much better, and much more settled, although he did manage to “pull” a boyfriend part way round the course…in the form of Vickis dog Draven, a ridgeback. She said it’s the only course hes ever a) actually pulled round and b ) been out of breath at the end. LOL. I wont lie. I found it exceedingly tough. I ran round with my poo bag pouch stuffed with poo bags and tissues!

Last weekend we had just a one day CaniX event over at Beacon Hill. It was run by Innerwolf and they did a rally good event for their first organised CaniX event. Hopefully they’ll run some more in this direction now. Donna has her first CaniX event, but Lola wasn’t quite 100% so I loaned her Rex to run with. Not the greatest puller (he is 9 and a half!) but he is steady and easy to run with. I was running Paddy and Blaze and was still suffering with the after effects of my cold. I’ve definitely not felt on form since Pembry. The first mile of the course was uphill. I’ll freely admit I’m rubbish at pushing myself. Paddy was also a little unsure of all the general public on the course and slowed each time we approached people head on, especially the bikers! Still, great venue and really enjoyed it..especially the little coffee van. He had a proper coffee machine and the warm pain au chocolat was greatly appreciated at the end!

Meanwhile Pippa was off with Steph and Betsy at the TD Rally Trial down in Bury St Edmunds. She got TWO aces and got awarded her Award of Excellent. What a great team those two are proving to be..but as always I miss my little mischief maker!

CaniX Bagshot

2011-09-19T23:36:00.002+01:00

On Sunday last week I wasn’t happy with Rexs gait. Although he wasn’t limping he was walking with his right hind leg twisted inwards slightly. Originally I decided to rest him but the more I watched him walk the more “what ifs” entered my mind. So I took him to visit Jayne on Monday who had a good feel. His hamstring was tense and tight and he was a little reluctant to extend it fully. I mentioned we were already booked in to see Karen, so she suggested we rest him with anti-inflams and see how he was after Karen released all the tension in that area. It could just be muscular or the tightness could be a symptom of another underlying condition.

On Thursday morning Karen worked her magic on him and by Thursday afternoon we had to shut him in the kitchen as he was bouncing around the lounge, obviously feeling much better. So we’re keeping him limited to lead walks at the moment but hes back to his usual self otherwise.

It did of course mean we had a bit of a switch about for the canix teams this weekend.

Saturday saw Pip and Blaze make their debut (aka Team SmallDog). I had done a couple of runs with them last week. They don’t have the weight behind them of the bigger dogs but they more than make up for it with their enthusiasm. It was a 5.9km course, different to the course back in April. No major obstacles except for a rocky downhill section, an area of long grass and some narrow paths that made it tricky to overtake. But there major hills (although it was uppy and downy in places) and no hoards of mountain bikers. Pip and Blaze ran well, although Blaze was a little put off at some of the more barky dogs and poor Pip managed to get kicked in the face (accidently) by another runner. Thankfully she wasn’t phased by that. We finished in 30:40.48, in 3rd place.

Sunday I decided to run Blaze and D. I had no idea how D would react to the environment, but we were the last 2-dog female to run so I kept him out the way of the start chaos until it was our turn to go. He took it all in his stride although I did shorten the line when passing the other dogs. We had one issue overtaking someone near the start. I’m not going to go into full details on here but they obviously didn’t want us to overtake so let their line go full (which had been slack) as we passed saying “go on, go on, go on” and so one of their dogs pinged out towards mine as they reached the end of the bungee. I do wish people would be more courteous and less competitive for the dogs sakes. Theres a lady with a greyhound that I really admire who actually stops and turns her dog away from vocal passing dogs as she doesn’t want her dog to be put into the position of having conflict; as a result hes a relaxed and happy dog rather than a worrier. Anyway, we had a slightly slower time of 30:54.33 on Sunday, again ending up 3rd.

CaniX Fineshades

2011-09-11T22:55:00.000+01:00

Originally this weekend I had planned to do the Agility Nuts show, but CaniX announced a one day event at Finshades, Corby just after I entered. This is the most local CaniX event to us so I decided I would instead do one day of each.

It was nice to have a bit of a lay in as we didn’t need to leave the house until 8.30. The race briefing wasn’t until 10am and it was just over an hours drive. The kids and short course set off at 10.15am followed by us 5km runners just after 10.30am.

Somehow I ended up at right at the back again but this time I was against a different group of 2-dog females. Although it wasn’t sunny, it was humid and both myself and Team Spanner certainly felt the heat. Rex rather sensibly stuck to a rather energy efficient trot, and once Blaze was over the initial excitement of the start even he slowed so he wasn’t pulling too much. The course was just over 5 km and consisted of mostly track – far from the obstacles that we had to contend with at Kielder or the muddy bogs of Mugdock. I do believe this effected the dogs running too; they much prefer the narrow forrest trails (as do I if I’m honest). But, aside for stopping to let them drink at the marshal point, and that final steep hill I managed to run it all. We finished in 29:39.58 and managed to win the 2-dog female category. Quite a bit slower than our time back in March but the weather at the march event was much more forgiving.

As we’re doing a lot more of the CaniX events this season, I decided to play about with the combinations of dogs I run at the events. This past week I’ve been running D, Blaze and Pip, with Inca off and Rex with Si and the bike (when Si has come). I don’t want Rex running even t after event so I took Blaze and Pip out for a run this evening (aka Team Noisy), while Inca was off lead and D was with Si on the bike. Theres the possibility that D will make his CaniX debut later in the season when it gets a bit cooler. Hes loving the training runs, I just need to get his confidence up when running with other dogs he doesn’t know.

This coming weekend its two 6km CaniX runs down in Bagshot. I guess I’ll need to see how the weather is, but I’m probably going to substitute Pip for Rex on one of the days. At least you’ll be able to hear us coming!

Mugdock CaniX

2011-09-07T23:30:00.000+01:00

After last weekend, I wont lie, I ached. 3 runs including two 6km ones of hills and mud over “one of CaniXs most challenging courses” (said by Richard himself) probably isn’t the best way to break yourself back into running, lol. But throwing myself in at the deep end is usually my style and it was great fun. My lack of fitness and training showed but my enthusiasm and love for CaniX had been reignited. I was already excited for the following weekend at Mugdock Country Park.

We travelled up to Dumbarton, near Glasgow, on Friday afternoon ready for the weekends racing. It rained and rained again overnight and the start area was already squelchy so it was fairly obvious it was going to be a seriously muddy course. Due to the narrow start we set off at interval starts. The Xtreme females were the last group to be set off. I was behind Karen and her two collies with Emily behind me. The inov8s and seal skins were a god send. How I didn’t fall over I don’t know but Blaze loved the mud and loved being behind Karens collies. It was a much faster course than last week, it was only 5km and had a couple of short inclines but on the whole the mud was the biggest obstacle..well, that and keeping the spanners out of the water! We managed to finish in 28:50.62 which although was 3rd (and last) in my category wasn’t too bad looking at the overall female results. Karen won our category on 26:47.28 with Emily less than half a second behind her. The winning 1 dog female did it in 29:00.08.

Sunday was a drier day and we were actually welcomed on arrival by sun!.The ground underfoot was still muddy but more sticky than the squelchy it had been the previous day. We were drawn to start last of the Xtreme females, which last season was my favourite place to start but for some reason on Sunday, for whatever reason, didn’t like it. I really enjoyed the first half of the course but for whatever reason we didn’t seem to be working as well as a team. Rex has a certain speed he likes me to run at and under that speed he just trots along without pulling, which is what he did for most of the course unless we were going downhill. There were also a lot more public about. I have no problem with this, but I just wish they were as courteous about sharing the tracks as we were. On several occasions we got joined by off-lead dogs and once a child even came running up (which his parents found amusing and just laughed!). As a result we finished with a slightly slower time of 30:15.62 but on the plus side I felt so much better than the previous week.

On Monday I even took the dogs out for a 5.5km run around Shouldham. Si took Rex on the bike and I ran with Pip, Diesel and Blaze, with Inca off lead. I want to start alternating which dogs run with me.

We’re at Fineshades this coming weekend so hopefully we can put in a better performance then. My fitness is definitely improving.

Blaze screaming his head off at the start

Just after the start - look at him go - he loves it

Crazy spanners

Rex rolling in the pool at the end

We took them for a swim in the lake to cool off. Rex was determined to bring this "stick" back with him

As usual they're still full of energy...unlike me lol

More pics on the Mugdock CaniX Set

Kielder CaniX

2011-08-30T01:11:00.000+01:00

This weekend saw us head up (for 5 hours, 285 miles!) for 3 days of running at Kielder Water – the start of the CaniX season (and yes there was a perfectly good 4-day agility show 40 mins from our house lol).

I really enjoyed CaniX last season. The original plan was for me to work on my fitness over the summer and make a strong comeback this season. Well that didn’t happen. After falling over at Bagshot CaniX I managed a repeat performance on my next training run resulting in a very sore ankle and a huge graze on my arm. I had a family wedding to go to at the beginning of June so I stopped CaniX training before I added any more scars to my collection…and somehow I just never got back around to doing any runs. Oops! Thankfully despite my lack of fitness, the dogs are fitter than ever at the moment…although I’m not sure that’s always a plus ;-)

I was ridiculously excited about the CaniX Kielder night run as I haven’t done one before. We were all kitted out with high vis jackets, head torches and light up dog collars. It wasn’t perhaps quite as dark as I’d hoped but given the terrain, mozzies, mud and rain I was actually rather thankful. It was a 3km course with a mass start and I opted to run Rex and Pip – “the safe option” – and I was so glad I did.

The Sunday and Monday course was a 6km run with hills, mud, muddy hills and more mud. The start was done in 30 second waves split into 3 or 4 categories. It was certainly the most challenging CaniX course I’ve done, but also the most fun. I loved dodging the trees, squelching through the mud and clambering over fallen trees. It definitely felt more of an adventure than the usual open trails we usually follow. That said, I ended up spending as much effort slowing and steadying the dogs as I did running. I ran Rex and Blaze on both the 6km days and if Blaze had his way we’d have run the whole thing at 500mph. I certainly felt we ran the Monday run better but we did have serious issues getting tangled. We had only just set off before getting ourselves right in a muddle and I ended up stopping on the first corner (whilst everyone else vanished into the distance) and sorting out the spanners…easier said than done when they’re bouncing about like lunatics, lol.

Still, great start to the season and both me and the dogs enjoyed every minute of it. We’re off to Mugdock near Glasgow next weekend. This season is definitely going to be “the tale of Vickis fitness” ;-)

Crazy Spanners at the start on the Sunday 6km race - if only I was as enthusastic about running lol

Read to go at the start on Monday

Blaze attracts some unwanted attention during the mass start

Rex drops back

..and tries to bail by leaping over Blaze

which only ends up in us all getting rather tangled

so I had to stop right at the start to sort them out...typical!

But we got round in the end =)

A bit of a catch up..

2011-08-30T00:07:00.000+01:00

Its been rather a while since I last updated the blog – almost 3 months to be precise! And I never did get around to posting about LAE or our Easter agility show either. Sadly (or luckly depending on what way you look at it) I don’t share Nats brilliance for recollecting events several weeks/months on so I’ll try and summarise what we’ve been upto.

Sadly our caravan was declared out-of-action before we got a chance to use it this season. It wasn’t worth repairing so we’ve done fewer shows, either more local ones we can day trip to or ones where we’ve stayed at a premier inn or Travelodge nearby. I don’t miss all the packing and setting up but I do miss having my own “base” to chill out in with the dogs. As a consequence we’ve don’t far fewer shows, and even some of the shoes we have entered we’ve not gone to. Its most unlike me to have weekends off during the summer. I’ve been able to take the dogs to flyball training and teach some clicker workshops for the club I work for.

Agility wise, Blaze started competing at LAE back in April. Much to our surprise he had a great first weekend gaining a 2nd in G1 agility with Si. The following weekend at Vegas he got his first jumping win and at Norfolk he got a 2nd in a C1-4 jumping class with me handling him. He is a little certain in the show environment and certainly doent have the confidence he usually has to attack the courses. We’ve been using some of the Dorwest Herb products with him which seem to have helped, but as usual hes kept us on our toes. Nothing seems to work consistently but I’m sure he’ll get there in the end. He won into G2 at RVA and also qualified for the JDL Team Final in July. Unfortunately it was a bit too much for him and he got slightly distracted by the crowd, much to my amusement…but not so much to my husbands, lol.

As for my lot..Inca won into G5 at Dog Vegas at Easter. I still remember that run as if it was yesterday and I really don’t think she could have run it better. It really blew me away. Shes by no means consistent but I enjoy running her however well we do.

Diesel has been running well. We’ve had a few 2nds and 3rds which I am still surprised about. Part of me dreaded getting into G6 as I didn’t feel we had the potential to go anywhere. Whilst he might not be the fastest he can cope well on the more technical courses (if his mum gets her handling right!) so over the right course its anyones game. The closest we got was the “hard course” at DV. The G6 winner had time faults and only a couple of G7s got round it. We got round within the time (*just!*) but I over cued a turn and he dropped a pole. These kind of runs give me hope.

Pip has spent most of the season doing allsorts/anysize. I had hoped to do contact work at the UKA Nationals but the lack of caravan meant this wasn’t meant to be. I don’t want to risk her throwing herself off the agility equipment so her G7 comeback has just been in jumping classes but she proved shes more than capable winning a C6+7 jumping class at DV in July. Shes one amazing girl!

Garrity DTC Clicker Workshop

2011-05-30T00:11:00.000+01:00

I’m very behind on the blog again. So much so that I cant even remember what results we got at the last few shows so I’m going to have to sit down and go through my record books and catch up.

Last weekend I taught a clicker workshop for the club I work for, Garrity DTC. It was very well attended and everyone enjoyed themselves, so much so that we’ve already got another booked for the 17th July and the places are filling up fast already.

All dogs in the beginner group hadn’t done much clicker work before but both handlers & dogs were keen and they picked it up really quickly. We did some basic work focusing on lead work, targetting, obediencey stuff, some basic tricks and proprioception (body awareness). It was great fun, especially as 4 out of the dogs were beagles - great fun!

In the intermediate/advanced group we worked on progressing them on targeting, attention work & gait in heelwork, polishing off some obediencey bits, sending around an object and some retrieve & hold work.

A few pics:

Betsys foster pup showing how to loose leash walk using the clicker

Jessie doing some backend work

Murphy doing a hand touch

Jessie & Jake learning left & right

Dexter doing figure-8s

Daisy showing big dogs can do backend work too

Pip came with me as my official demo girl – showing the aim of the finished exercise and doing a little demo of what we’d be working on next to progress it all further. She also showed off her freetime skills, always a crowd pleaser.

Free time with a waste paper basket - handstand

Free time with a waste paper basket - cock leg

Free time with a waste paper basket - front feet on

Free time with a waste paper basket - balance on

Free time with a waste paper basket - front end whilst holding a loo roll

Free time with a waste paper basket - putting rubbish away

So a huge huge well done to everyone who attended. Thank you all for making it such an enjoyable day - you were all such a pleasure to teach. We also managed to raise £37 from cake sales to go to Betsys charities; AHT & Staffy Rescue.

Let there be cake!

Hopefully the workshop on the 17th will be just as sucessful. I'm looking forward to it already.

Bagshot CaniX

2011-04-10T23:53:00.000+01:00

Last weekend we had off from competing, although we did have an Alistair Bray contact training day on Sunday. Si worked Blaze and I ran both Inca and Diesel. We worked on getting them to power over the contact without losing speed towards the end, and also tested Ds release. I'm really pleased with how they all did and there are several areas I want to focus on working on.

I also did a couple CaniX training runs in preparation for this weekend. I did a short 3.5km run with Blaze and Rex last Sat and then on Sunday after agility I did a longer 5.76km run with Blaze, Rex and Pippa with Si on the bike ahead. We got absolutely soaked as the heavens opened just after we set of. But we managed to complete it in 28.07 mins - probably due to the incentive to get dry again ;-)

This weekend we were down to Surrey for the 2 day CaniX event at Bagshot. This is the last CaniX event of the season for me and I'm a little disappointed its come to the end so quickly as both myself and the dogs have really enjoyed it. I certainly feel just we've just got together in both confidence and fitness although we'll keep up the early morning/late evening runs through the summer months. That said, I completely understand why the season runs Sept-May as it was rather warm this weekend. As a result they shortened the course to 5.6km rather than the original 7.6km. Teams were also urged to pull their dogs if they were worried about them in the heat and run without the dog - certain heavy coated breeds like Malamutes obviously weren’t going to cope at all. I love how CaniX is so focused on the dogs welfare - if dogs start to flag and run behind the handlers then they get pulled out as obviously the dogs, for whatever reason, don’t want to run. They had big bowls of water scattered around the course with the marshals and it was great seeing people queuing to let their dogs drink rather than pushing them on.

Saturday was probably the warmer of the two days, although it was nice in the dappled shade of the forest some of the narrower trails didn’t seem to have much air. Rex and Blaze were really hyped and Blaze was screaming with excitement on the start line. The course was hilly in places but not as bad as I was expecting, and the last run along the hedgerow including some ducking and weaving of fallen trees. We managed to finish in 30:38.35 and ended up winning our category. As the results of the 2 days are combined the pressure was on.

Sunday I was at the front of the 2 dog females and behind the 2 dog males. I knew I couldn’t catch them and it was a bit odd as for several stretches of the course I couldn’t see anyone ahead of me so I didn’t get the pull of the dogs to catch up quite as much. That said we ran at a much more even pace...until I went for a bit of a tumble down a hill. I usually let myself go down the hills but on this occasion I felt my foot catch a tree root and before I knew it I was falling...and there was nothing I could do about it. I landed on my right hand, grazed my right knee, left arm, right shoulder and got dirt all over my face (still no idea exactly how!) and all in front of a group of mountain bikers taking a break. I got up as quickly as I could and pretended no one had seen me LOL. Thankfully it wasn’t too far from the end so I pushed on and finished - the dogs were more frustrated at me slowing them down lol. Unfortunately my hand was beginning to swell up so we ended up getting an ice pack from Richard. Despite my fall we finished in 30:12.45 and won our category again for the 2nd day, and winning the combined results. I also got given an "Up & Running" goodie bag for "The Most Spectacular Fall"...how embarrassing!

Still, despite the aches and the bruises it was a great end to the CaniX season for us and I'm already looking forward to next season, and our next training run. We'll be working on our fitness over the summer. I never thought I would start enjoying training runs as much as I do now I run with dogs. Beats running on your own, or on the treadmill any day!

Just after the start on Day2 - look at Blaze go! He certainly puts his all into pulling.

Near the finishline on Day1. I was determined that the guy behind wasnt going to overtake (even if he did probably beat me anyway due to the interval starts..and despite it not actually mattering as hes not in my category anyway). Blaze still as enthusastic as when he started.

Blaze & Rex cooling off at the end

Blaze & Rex

More photos HERE

Photo time..

2011-03-29T19:00:00.000+01:00

Its been a while since I took pics out on a walk, mainly because I've been walking the dogs in two groups; Pippa & Blaze (so I can work on his recall/retrieve) and then Rex & the collies.

Blaze is coming along in leaps and bounds. He'll do tricks for the ball - I've taught him "left" & "right", "round" (circle round behind me on the right) and "out". Although I should confess that "out" he actually picked up from following Diesel so I cant take full credit for it really ;-)

I'll be glad when I can take them all out as one group again but I'm happy with blazes progress.

Fineshades CaniX

2011-03-27T20:52:00.002+01:00

It made a change this weekend to have a CaniX event under an hours drive from our house. This one day event was held at Fineshades in Corby and I entered Rex and Baze (although I really couldn’t remember who I’d entered). It was a 5.4km course on a mix of off road track, grassy trails and woodland paths.

Thankfully I was more prepared for the interval starts. It was quite a narrow start and I was at the back of the “Xtreame Women” (those running with 2 dogs). I much preferred this as I had extra incentive to catch people up. I’m terrible at running to my full potential as I get bored. I ran without my GPS watch today as I tend to get fixated with how far I have left, what pace I’m going at etc and I wanted to just enjoy it. It certainly seemed to help, although I knew there was a nasty hill near the end and every upwards incline I felt myself wondering if this was the end ; did I need to pace myself or could I use up my reserve and push on? One things for sure, I really don’t do hills. Where we live it really is as flat as a pancake.

I tried to let myself go a bit more today, especially on the downhill sections meaning that I could push on up the uphills. It seemed to work and the dogs ran better. Blaze always responds well to “Go go go” but Rex does seem to get a little bored & distracted when I can’t keep the pace up. Today I obviously ran better as he was focused right to the end. Also assisted by the fact that a couple of times we were behind people who were enthusiastically motivating their dogs which my two found very exciting.

As usual Rex was straight into the paddling pool at the end. He loves his water and was having a good old roll to make sure he got well and truly soaked. Blaze wasn’t quite so enthusiastic about the water. He loves ditches, rivers and the sea but really doesn’t understand this paddling pool lark.

So, we took the others for a walk and had a drink at the café before the presentations. We finished in a respectable 25:26.42 and in 2nd place for our category. The winner was 25:19.19 and 3rd was 26:05.60 so it was very close. I’m finally getting the hang of interval starts….but I need to be at the back ;-) I knew who I needed to catch up and the fact they could still be slightly ahead but their time would be slower. Competitive much lol

CaniX don’t give rosettes, instead they get prizes donated by their sponsors. Today for 2nd place we got a bag of CSJ food, a bag of Poppets and a bag of Dem Bones. We also got some Innerwolf goodies including a pot of paw wax.

Our next CaniX event is down in Bagshot in 2 weeks time. It’s a 2 day event and they told us today that the course is 7.4km (4.6 miles) rather than the usual 5km. I might need to rethink my teams as I’ve got Rex and Pip entered on Day 1 and Rex and Blaze entered on day 2…but I’m not convinced Rex will be as enthusiastic about running that far 2 days in a row. Being down in Surrey I’m pretty sure they’ll be hills and from the pictures it looks like we also run through a ford…help lol.

Ant Clarke, Vegas & BCCoGB...

2011-03-27T20:28:00.000+01:00

Last weekend was rather hectic as, in my usual style, I crammed in as much as possible and as a result was completely exhausted by the end of it.

Friday we were up in Scunthorpe for a training day with Ant Clarke, organised by Bob Sharpe. Si and Blaze were in the morning session and I was working D in the afternoon. Blaze did really well and coped really well with the environment, strange people and dogs. Its been great seeing the confidence in this team develop; Si has become more confident as a handler, he has become more confident in Blaze and his ability and Blaze has become more confident in himself and is really coming along in leaps and bounds. The afternoon session was about our body positioning and making sure the dog took the cleanest line for the course. We walked a set course and ran it how we thought best. We then critiqued ourselves before running it again. Ant then broke the course down into several shorter separate sequences and tailored the advice depending on the issues each individual dog & handler were having.

Vegas

Saturday we had Dog Vegas at Grantham. Si had Blaze in the Grade 0 classes and somehow I found my excitement and attention all on Blaze, just as I felt all Ds first shows were all about him…except I don’t run Blaze lol. We took Pip and Blaze up to the practice ring whilst on small first. Pip was completely full of it but I made sure she got and stopped on her contacts…eventually. Si took the ball in for blaze and did all the contacts, a few jumps and a full set of full weaves. He was a little star and certainly up a gear; his weaves were so quick!

The G4-7 jumping was rather naggy and despite two attempts with each I didn’t manage to get either round clear – more about my bad handling than the dogs lol. Thankfully the agility made up for it. I ran the first NFC to train contacts. Both got them so I ran the next one. D had lovely contacts but at the end of the flick flack, 4 from the end, he took a detour to sniff at a big lump of horse poo losing a lot of time. Inca did a lovely run ending up 2nd and winning some money. Tea was on her ;-) In the HS I had a pole with D but he ran it really well and I really pushed him on. Incas course should have been right up her street but she was too distracted by a little dog tied up to the next ring. No idea who she thought it was, lol.

Blaze was a bit all or nothing. In both his agility runs he was determined to cut behind Si to do the a-frame. I can only assume Si stepped in to release him and then went right of the dog walk which pulled him towards the a-frame but its not clear in the videos so who knows. For some reason while we were queuing he spooked at some kids that were running around the rings. He then decided to woof and howl randomly at random people and random things. Si got him focused, or so he thought, and set him up for his jumping run. He did a lovely wait and was halfway round the course when he decided to howl at the judge, Kath Norton (who had also been at the training day with Ant also). Blaze then carried on and finished the rest of the course. So everyone laughed especially when Sam Chapman pointed out that I’d recorded the whole thing on camera. Welcome to the world of public humiliation ;-)

BCCoGB

Sunday we had The Border Collie Club of GB agility show at Newark. This year it was just for Large dogs only and I was actually rather looking forward to it being rather less hectic than the previous day. I had a couple classes to walk first thing but it was a while before I was actually in the ring which gave us a chance to take the others for a nice amble around the exercise area. I do appreciate having a decent sized area to walk the dogs away from the rings.

Inca was first in for her G4-5 agility. Unfortunately she self released her a-frame into the wrong end of the tunnel but she was really up for it, happy and fast so I couldn’t really ask for much more. She got all her contacts, did her weaves and generally just had a blast. She continued this enthusiasm in both Andrews courses; the C1-4 agility and the G4-5 Jumping. She ended up 7th in both despite the agility being out of 313 dogs!

Diesels only clear of the day was in the G4-5 agility and was a bit messy. The middle section towards the dog walk was fairly tight and there were several other jumps which I knew he could take. So I left him on the flick-flack and ran to beat him but he eyed up the start and I managed to call him off it, just. We got round clear and he ended up 2nd (by 0.3!) behind Jayne and Dolly. Sadly that was it for us in terms of clears. I handled the C5-7 Agility badly, after getting lost, and tried to cross behind on the weaves before he was committed into them so pulled him off. And in the jumping I pulled him off a jump and caused him to knock a pole. Oops!

So, that was Ds last G5 show. Our next is LAE where he is G6. I have mixed feelings for this season but I’m hoping Inca keeps her enthusiasm as its entirely possible this season could become all about her =)

Toni Dawkins Training

Our mad agility weekend didn’t end there as on Monday we had another training day with Toni Dawkins at Racingredd.

Si was in the 9-11am group so I dropped him off. Evidently the dogs in the group were at a more basic level than Blaze and both Toni & Wendy agreed that Blaze wasn’t pushed to his full potential so he was invited back later to the group with D and me. Although this was aimed at G4-7 the sequences could be broken down to make it easier if need be. That said Blaze coped really well and I think it did him good to be pushed that little bit more, especially in a group environment. We focused on turns, weaves & contacts and as usual I really enjoyed it. I didn’t come back with quite the lengthy notes that I did last time but I certainly came back with lots of food for thought. Although I have a lot of areas I want to improve with the dogs I must admit that the main area is me. I’ve picked up some bad habits (like funny things I do with me hands) and I really need to sort these out!

Stagbars..

2011-03-15T22:20:00.000Z

Usually I use Crufts to stock up the necessities such as wormer, frontline , thornit and this year was no exception. Last year we bought a couple years supply of Drontal so this year we were stocking up on Frontline & Panacur suspension.

I also bought some Stagbars. Rex, Diesel and Blaze are pretty serious chewers. There was a time when I could buy pressed rawhide, give it to the dogs and there would still be some a few days later. Not any more. If I give them rawhide then they sit and demolish it until its either finished, or (in the case of the large Mishka sized ones) I take it off them. The same can be said for raw knucklebones although the consumption does take a bit longer.

Although I knew antler was made of bone I was quite surprised it didn’t smell at all. All the dogs have been having a good chew, although Inca and Pip waited until someone else had chewed it for a bit. One piece is already down to a few inches but they have all been chewing mainly on that one since Friday and it has lasted for hours and hours.

Crufts 2011

2011-03-13T19:48:00.001Z

Originally I hadn’t intended to go to Crufts this year. We’ve been every year with a dog (or two) since 2007 when Pippa first attended for a Good Citizen demo, and the past 3 years I’ve been showing. But the opportunity arose to apply for the CaniX Crufts selection and I thought “why not?”, especially as it was doing something completely different. I decided on “Team Spanner” as they don’t actively compete at anything else (well not yet anyway in
Blazes case). We got selected so off to Crufts we went.

I’ll admit it felt slightly strange to be taking the dogs I usually compete with to the kennels on Thursday afternoon, and I was beginning to wonder if I’d made the right choice. Was the environment going to be too much for Blaze? Would all the waiting around be too much for Rex? And would Rexs whingeing be too much for me?

Thankfully I needn’t have worried. Both dogs surprised me and took it all in their stride (aside from Blaze taking an instant dislike to the pug posters, lol). Perhaps Rex was a little overwhelmed with everything, or perhaps he realised he couldn’t compete with all the noise ; either way he was quiet & relaxed despite all the waiting (which there was a lot of!). I took Rex and Blaze into the NEC just after 11am and we had the CaniX briefing in the collecting ring at 12. The race was scheduled for 1pm so we waited for that to start and arranged ourselves in numerical bib order. It was rather hectic in our limited space. The dogs were hyped and ready to run; some were a bit too hyped, others it overwhelmed them. I was very thankful for having 2 steady dogs withe who weren't overly fussed about the unusal and slightly chaotic environment. The main arena was running behind and it took a lot longer than expected. Holding onto two excited dogs in Xback harnesses on a bungee line isn’t the easiest of tasks and I was trying my best not to get myself or anyone else tied in knots. Thankfully we were all in the same boat.

Eventually we entered into the main arena. They had interval starts so they could introduce each runner and say a little bit about the dogs. I was bib 50 so there were quite a few before we were up. Time passed quickly as I was busy trying to keep them from getting tangled up. I also needed to attach the neckline at the appropriate moment, but not too soon or we’d all be in knots. And then before we knew it we were on the start. I couldn’t really hear what Eileen was saying but I heard the familiar “3…2…1..Go”

On the big screen - Si was helping so didnt get to take many pics

running into the arena

It was a bit tricky to negotiate Rex & Blaze around the main arena, through the corridor and out the glass doors. They were both a little uncertain until we got outside. The route itself is only 2km and is basically just a lap of the lake, but you still have the public on the paths. As a consequence I felt I couldn’t let my line go to full length as I was too worried about getting tangled up so it felt like I was holding the dogs back as much as I was running with them. That said they had an absolute blast. It was great as each time I overtook someone I could say “Go Go Go” and Blaze would really motor forward. Before I knew it the race was over and the finish was right by the lake where they could all have a dip. Needless to say mine didn’t hesitate, I was just grateful they hadnt done it part way round the course, lol. AND, wet dogs are certainly one way of parting the crowds at Crufts ;-) I’ve never seen people get out of my way so fast LOL.

Rex waiting in the collection ring

Blaze waiting

Straight after we finished we went back to the collecting ring to wait for the presentation. They only place 1st-3rd so I’ve no idea where we actually came until the results go up on the website. In our category it was won by a lady with 2 shepherds, 2nd was the lady with 2 malamutes and 3rd was a lady with 2 shepherds. We then had to wait to go back into the main arena for the CaniX parade. They call out the unplaced runners, then 3rds and 2nds in groups and finally the winners individually. I think Blaze thought we were going again lol.

Another competitor waiting in the collecting ring

A few of the others

I'll admit I thought we'd get more time to wander around. Thankfully I bought all my frontline & wormer in the morning when I went to collect my bib from the CaniX stand. I had planned to wander around and see the agility and BC judging and take lots of photos but we really never left the CaniX gathering in the collecting ring. It wasn’t until almost 4 that we managed to get some lunch and we actually ate it on the way back in the car. All exhausted but happy.

Hare’n’Hounds March

2011-03-13T18:49:00.001Z

Last Sunday we travelled up for the March instalment of the Hare’n’Hounds shows, and our last Hare’n’Hounds show for some time as the next conflicts with a training day, and during the summer season they’ll always be a show closer. It is a bit of trek.

It was a very mixed day in terms of results. I didn’t manage a single clear with Inca, always making some small silly mistake somewhere or another. But she was up for it and running well. When she did make a mistake she was happy to be corrected and carry on. In the final agility I actually had to stop her and get her into a down-wait as she was just bouncing about taking everything in her sight, lol.

Diesel was particularly lary and our first run was somewhat of a mess; he was difficult to handle, a little on the stubborn side and we had several poles as he really wasn’t thinking about what he was doing. Thankfully he got it together after that, but sadly I didn’t. I changed how I handled a course part way round on a couple courses. It something I always say people shouldn’t do and I know I always regret it. That didn’t stop me from doing it. Twice! I was gutted as he was flying in his last agility and we were a few jumps from the end but I pulled him off a jump. I carried on as 5f vs E didn’t really matter (especially as it was my mistake). I never learn but I really felt that was his best run of the day.

But we did have a stonking round in a rather tricky course. The second jump needed to be taken from round the back. You could either go to the right and pull of a jump or go to the left and pull off the dog walk – both were just as tempting. I did a very short recall keeping him right on the end of my finger and didn’t give him a chance to gawp. I thought we’d take the pole but we didn’t. He did a great run but I wasn’t confident that it was overly fast, especially as the current leading dog completed it in 30.something. I was shocked to discover D did it in 28.889 and ended up winning it. Eeek!.

Pippa also made her allsorts comeback. It was a very tricky twisty course that took me several walks to remember – definitely your usual allsorts course. As soon as I took her into the ring she went crazy spinning in circles. She flew round but I underestimated her speed coming out of a tunnel so she went round a jump but she was having so much fun.

Various..

2011-02-24T14:29:00.000Z

I’m a bit behind at updating the blog but I better get on top of it before I forget everything completely.

The last weekend in January saw us travelling down to Swindon for the Cani-X event at Lydiard Park. Thankfully no snow or ice this time and it remained nice and dry. The route was a circuit of the grounds of Lydiard house & park, nice and straightforward with no horrid hills to contend with. It was my first experience of interval starts which I found somewhat hectic, but understandable in some venues where the paths are narrow especially at the startline. There is a random draw for bib numbers and you must run in this order. This means lots of hanging about at the start with lots of hyped up dogs with your own hyped up dogs attached to your waist and you trying desperately trying not to let them get tangled up. It was a bit chaotic to say the least.

On the Saturday I ran Rex & Pip. They ran well except for a pit stop for Pip to go for a poo. Why she couldn’t have gone when I walked and walked her before the race I don’t kow. We ended up with a time of 22:41.72 which wasn’t bad considering Rexs determination to go in the late and any passing ditches. On Sunday I ran Blaze and Rex and finished in 22:02.96. Blaze is fine with overtaking dogs and being overtaking but hes still a little unsure of passing passerby dogs I guess because the approach is head on. The other thing I struggled with was getting the dogs to run across open fields. We usually follow a path or track so the dogs know to run straight. Some of the route was marked across open grounds and didn’t follow a path as such and both teams were a little unsure of what way to go. We ended up 4th overall – typical as the prizes go to 3rd. but there were some cracking teams. On the first day a lady with two Malamutes ran in 17.something – crazy!

Our next show was then the Hare’n’Hounds Valentines weekend. Saturday was a write off with the exception of Incas very last run in G4 agility where she came 3rd. Although D was running well he didn’t seem to respond to my hand signals as well as usual. I came to the conclusion this was to do with the black wrist splint that I was wearing on my left hand thanks to spraining my wrist at Center Parks the week earlier. Either he couldn’t see my hand signals as well or I was being more cautious in using my hand (or a combination of both) but we had several classes where he randomly went the wrong way, and in the others it was some bad handling decisions on my part. Thankfully Sunday was better. I ran (albeit rather cautiously) without the splint and D managed 4th in G5 agility, 2nd in G5 jumping and 11th in C1-7 BC Jumping.

Last weekend it was the final instalment of the East Anglian Winter Series and also Blazes first show. I ran both my gamblers classes NFC and trained my contacts, but I decided to run both agilitys rather than do NFC like I usually do. D was in first and did a cracking run and ended up winning it. This gave him the points he needed to go Senior =) Inca also did a great run and won her Senior..but I was a bit annoyed with myself to discover she actually needed games points rather than agility. Oops, lol. D also managed a 3rd in Senior SC over a very fast course.
Si had Blaze entered in Beginners Steeplechase and Nursery Agility. He ran both NFC and took in a toy to keep him motivated as Blaze can get a little distracted. However, he surprised us both and did 2 lovely waits, stopped in 2o2o on both his contacts and didn’t run out of the ring or get freaked out. He did go off sniffing in the agility as he lost momentum but Si got him focused again and they completed the course. He definitely lacked confidence in the SC as was much more cautious than normal but we’re both over the moon with how he did and it’s the experience more than anything for him.

Hes got a Grade 0 vegas show at Grantham next month before his Grade 1 debut in April. I’m nervous and excited for them at the same time =D

Toni Dawkins Training Day(s)

2011-01-20T16:56:00.007Z

On Friday afternoon I headed over to Newborough for a training session with D and Toni Dawkins. I’ve done a couple with her before but was surprised when I looked back that the last time I did one was back when I was in G2 with Pip. I guess I didnt get as much out of it then as obviously I was in a lower grade, and I was also much more inexperienced as a handler and a trainer.

I really feel some training days are about being pushed out of your comfort zone – pushing your dog that little bit further than you usually would do and maybe trying things you might not necessarily usually think to try. Others I feel are more for the experience of being there and practicing the exercises. Toni, however, is one of the few trainers I could quite happily go to with or without a dog and take in just as much either way. I actually came away and made notes!

Admittedly a lot of what we did was going back to basics – teaching the dog when to apply power and when to adjust for the turns – and the importance of being quiet on the turns vs being loud for “go ons” regardless of position. And of course the importance of only rewarding turns that we are happy with. We also touched upon working at distance and proofing contacts and weaves so once the dog has entered or begun the contact/weaves they continue irrespective of what the handler is doing – her example was you should be able to run the opposite way to them and they should still drive with as much speed to the end…I think we need a bit of work on that ;-)

We also tried a new turn that she picked up from Europe which was used instead of a pivot when pulling round a wing, and was basically using a form of a blind turn instead. It was amazing how much tighter *all* the dogs were and how they then powered out of the turn. I’m not a fan of blind turns - I like to keep an eye on my dog, I know I’d get my body language all wrong and I loathe my dog crossing behind me when I don’t want them to which I think it would encourage (again all related to my bad body language rather than the turn technique). That said, I know some people who use them very effectively and make them look so easy. At the end of the day if we want our dogs to do as well as possible, especially as dogs age, then we do need to change and adjust our techniques.

I certainly came away with lots of things I want to try and work on with D.

Monday we were back again. Si and Blaze were in the young dog class and due to a cancellation I got the opportunity to work Pip in the following class. Although it was Si who was working Blaze I actually really liked seeing how she does her foundation training. She teaches her waits completely separate to begin with and uses a cone or jump wing to gain distance and speed. They did lots of drive training, again going back to the foundations of when to use power & speed and when to anticipate a turn, especially for wing wraps. Unfortunately I missed the contact section as I was swimming Inca and Rex.

With Pippas training session, which I did over small, it was about pushing me out of my comfort zone – getting her to drive ahead and me pushing her from behind instead of being ahead. She does very much run to my speed rather than power ahead, and because shes not into toys as much as food I’ve not done as much work as I should getting her to power away from me (mainly because if I use food for her to drive to she’ll pinch it before I get there and if I use targets she’s still looking for me for the reward). So we used a food bowl (guarded by Toni) to get her to focus ahead. I really need to do more of this with her, but I also need to train another body rather than doing it on my own. Well..initially anyway. I've still not made up my mind about Pip and agility despite the specialist saying it was absolutely fine for her to continue with. I've entered a few all-sorts classes but I've not started planning a G7 comeback just yet.

So, LOTS of food for thought. A lot of it is pretty obvious and basic stuff but I know we all need reminding from time to time as we tend to stay in our own comfort zones.

Bob Sharpe Training day & Ribble

2011-01-20T16:05:00.005Z

Saturday we were back at Snetterton for a weave and contact workshop with Bob Sharpe. Blaze was absolutely full of it, although he did finally get it together by the end of the session(typical spaniel). D was up for it and the session focused more on getting me to push him that little bit further. As usual, D always tries his best =D

Saturday evening I headed off towards Accrington picking up Wendy and her gang along the way. It was all arranged a bit last minute but worked out really well even if I did end up leaving a lot later than planned (no thanks to getting a chip in my windscreen on the way back from Bobs session).

Sunday we arrived at Ribble, welcomed by very wet and muddy car park and it seemed to do nothing but rain all day. Diesel had 3 classes ; C3-5 Jumping, G5 Jumping and G5 agility. Inca had just two; C1-4 jumping and G1-4 jumping.

Inca was in first in the C1-4 jumping. A straight blast follwed by a sharpe turn into the weaves and a bit of handling needed at the end. In theory I thought she would love it, but I managed to pull her out of the weaves when I crossed behind (follwed by a very dramatic leg crash and tumble). Still, there were only 9 clears so she still ended up with a place (15th I think). Her G1-4 Jumping wasn’t until much later but the course was lovely; nice and open with plenty of room to stretch her legs. We’d seen Wendys Brissie fly round in just over 26 secs and go into the lead for G3 but I wasn’t sure how we’d do. I know Brissie can beat D and Inca is usually slower than D so I was expecting somewhere around the 27 mark. Inca loved it, she ran her little socks off finishing just over 25 secs and going into the lead of G4. We both managed to hold onto the win so Brissie won G3, and Inca won G4 - woohoo!

Diesels first class was C5-7 Jumping. I was having a few issues remembering the course first thing but relaxed somewhat when I realised it was the combined class rather than the graded. It felt like it would flow so I was surprised with the lack of clears in the class. In fact there were only 12 out of over 200 G5-7 dogs! A lot of dogs took the spread at the start – a lot of dogs couldn’t cope with the diagonal line their handlers set them up at, not helped by the fact it was also on a hill. For this reason I wimped out and set him straight. We got past the spread but we had a pole at the first wing wrap. I then ended up being in completely the wrong place for the rest of the course. Oops! His G5 Jumping just wasn’t up my street – wing wrap after wing-wrap and I went in very half hearted – so needless to say we had several poles. Finally D had his G5. It was actually a really nice course but I knew we’d have the top pole down, and we did. But he did some lovely held contacts and worked the rest of the course really nicely (including a tunnel under the a-frame and scoop into the weaves) so I was still really pleased to end on a high.

So results wise it was rather surprising. I certainly didn’t think Inca would get a G4 win so soon, but equally I am pleased that we’re beginning to focus this new gear of hers in the right direction. As for D, I’m sure we’ll get it together soon.

Communication Workshop with Alistair Bray

2011-01-09T22:25:00.000Z

Today we headed over to Block Fen for a communication workshop with Alistair Bray, run by Cambridgeshire Canine Centre. This focused body language, verbal control as well as the dogs conceptions of what they must do in a given scenario (Alistairs example was when a handler says left when they really mean right yet the dog does it anyway). I've not trained with Alistair before but its always good for a fresh set of eyes to make you try things differently and I certainly really enjoyed today (huge thank you Alistair and Ellen!).

I worked D and Si worked Blaze. I'm pretty sure most of our dogs exceeded our expectations in more than one exercise. We did one where there was a straight line of jumps into the tunnel but the handler had to cross behind each jump yet at the same time ensure the dog was driving forward. That kind of thing is right up Incas street but not so much D as he pays so much attention to what I am doing, however, he really surprised me. Blaze worked really well too, especially for a baby (wel..once he had done enough laps of the field, much to Sis embarrassment, lol). I do love Ds attitude towards work - he (usually) always tries his hardest to get things right. I think I was just slightly gutted I hadn't taken Pip as she would have loved today.

As I know D is really tuned into my body language. More than often enough I don't need to say anything for him to respond to me as long as I'm clear in what I want. In the same way, he responds well to verbal if I'm clear enough and give enough notice (something which I'm not so good at). I know I lack confidence in our abilities, not because I lack confidence in his, but because I lack confidence in my own abilities as a handler. I guess that's why G6 with him scares me. I've been there before (albeit in medium) so its not like I cant cope, and I don't doubt Ds ability to cope...but maybe "we" cant cope?? or maybe, as usual, I am just worrying unnecessarily. I think thats probably more the case, lol.

The next one in Feb is a Power & Speed workshop. From what Alistair said today its mostly focused on grid work - aiming for the dog to take the fastest line and to understand where to apply power without adding extra strides. Having done a fair bit of grid work with Wendy I am actually rather excited about this. I certainly remember one session where D was absolutely determined that he could bounce everything, when really he really couldn't. It could be interesting ;-)

Wilmslow

2011-01-09T21:39:00.002Z

Wilmslow was a lot of firsts for us; it was our first show of the year, our first show since D and Inca were neutered/spayed, Ds first G5 show and Incas G4 show. They were both absolutely wild but then they have also had somewhat of an extended winter break due to op recovery and also the weather.

Our first course was the G4&5 Agility - a course that certainly needed handling. The start consisted of a wide open stretch between the first and second jump (which was taken round the back) before heading into the weaves. Ideally I'd have done a long recall and worked them on my left but the a-frame trap would have been too alluring for both of mine. D was in first and threw me by not looking at the a-frame at all when I expected but then gawping at it after the pull-thru. Somehow I called him off it and we worked the rest of the course nicely. He ended up 2nd in that by 0.374….a bit too close to G6 for my liking but I was super pleased. Inca set off like a rocket but popped out the weaves and was adamant the tunnel in the corner should be taken instead of the pull-thru. That said, she did the best set of contacts she's ever done in the ring so I came out beaming despite it.

Next was C3-5 Agility judged by Rosie Pearson. Inca was in Pt1 and D Pt2, both were over the same course. Again, it was a course that needed to be handled - lots of pull offs, traps and I really wasn't sure about the spread after the flat tunnel. I didn't expect to get very far with either - in fact I expected both to get e'd after jump2. But Inca amazed me and absolutely FLEW round. She felt great; her contacts were great, her weaves were great, she was responsive and she was loving it. I couldn't believe it when we got round clear. Not only that but she went into the lead (which led to me having a huge panic as I then worried that I should have left her in G3 etc etc), thankfully we ended up 3rd in the end but there really wasn't much in it at all. I just wanted to have fun with D and push him that little bit more on this course as I know I tend to play it safe sometimes. Again he worked it beautifully and felt great but I nagged him 3rd obstacle from the end and caused him to roll a pole. I was gutted. But when I saw his time I was pleased. He had the fasted time of the class when we left and was over 2 seconds faster than Inca (including faster than the winner of the previous part)..part of me wished I had just shut my mouth, part of me is pleased as I really don't want to move into G6 just yet. BUT I was over the moon with how he'd done in terms of working the course.

Finally it was G4-5 Jumping. A deceptive course that looked easy but caught a lot of dogs out - including both mine - but it was a good run and they got to stretch their legs and have a blast after the first bit. The start wasn't ideal - the first jump was so close to the netting you couldn't get a run up to the first jump and behind the netting was the queue. D dropped a pole in the box (again me not him) and I rushed Inca in the weaves (also again) so she skipped the last pole. It was a shame as it was right up her street…but still she had a blast.

So, mixed results but such a good start to the year. Each time D moves up a grade I feel slightly anxious that we'll be out of our depth. Each time he proves me wrong and shows me not only is he comfortable and competitive at that level he also shows me he has so much more to give. The same goes for Inca - I was in two minds about moving her up but her 3rd just proves it was the right decision. I really want to focus on putting the time and energy on her this year that I have the others. She's so much more confident now, she's so keen and now we've just got to pull it altogether.

I'm really excited to see what the season ahead lies in store for us =D

Cannock Chase CaniX

2010-12-21T18:35:00.001Z

We finally had our first CaniX run at the weekend. We were meant to do the one at Sherwood Forest a couple weeks ago but the snow (2 foot of it!) put a stop to that, and I thought we might be in for a repeat performance given the forecast predictions last week but thankfully it wasn’t as bad as they thought.

Of course with the collies out of action this meant some last minute team juggling and a Team Spanner training run at Shouldham last weekend. I came back with aching muscles I didn’t think could ache. It definitely uses different muscles than normal running...although that could also be to do with the fact I giggled my way round the forest because I was going at 500mph and no ability to stop, lol. So I eventually settled on running Rex and Pip on Sat and then Rex and Blaze on Sunday. I had no idea what blaze would think of it, but then to be fair I didn’t know what any of my lot would think to being over taken and overtaking others.

Friday I checked the CaniX twitter page before we left. They’d had a thin layer of snow but nothing much so we headed over to Rugeley. Saturday dawned with no more snow overnight so we headed off to Cannock Chase – just a stones throw from the hotel we were staying at. It started to snow a little but I didn’t think much of it – well, except for the fact we were all nuts, lol.

Usually they start runners off at 10/15 sec intervals but due to the conditions, and the fact there weren’t that many of us, they did group starts. The short course and juniors went first, followed by the males and then finally the females.

The course was very picturesque but the snow and ice did pose a few problems. The ground was solid and quite rutted in places but the fresh snow made it all look level. The other issue was downhill – I’d have loved to have taken advantage of gravity but it was slippy so I chickened out and ended up steadying the dogs and walking down (&p) the steeper slopes. Rex was also adamant we should visit all the lakes and ponds. You have to cross a little stream part way round and it has stone stepping stones. I was carefully trying to cross them without slipping on the ice while Rex was lying down in the water trying to pull me in!

By the time we finished it was snowing much more heavily, although I can’t say I really noticed at the time. Pippa ran really well pulling pretty much the whole way round. Rex had a few snowball feet issues that we had to take care of, and he gets bored when I can’t keep him in a gallop (ie up hills) so he tends to start sniffing. I think we need to work on my own fitness. I can run miles on the treadmill but this is a very different type of workout.

After we took the others for a walk and grabbed a hot chocolate and a bite to eat from the cafe. I’d aggravated my sore muscles again so wasn’t feeling overly confident about the next day. I’d spent so much time ensuring the dogs were properly warmed up I hadn’t really ensured that I was properly warmed up and stretched. Lesson learnt there.

Sunday was the arrival about Team Spanner (with trimmed and paw waxed feet). I had originally been excited about this team as Blaze really does pull in harness and it in turn winds Rex up, however, given the conditions I was now convinced I was going to break something. Blaze doesn’t understand “Steady” and the more I tried to slow him the more he tried to pull so I shut up in the end. It was hard on the legs as I felt I was fighting back equally as much as I was running. They ran well together and I did have to give in a bit on the downhills and go with it, but my brain only let me go so far. I lost my oomph by the end and ended up walking the final incline. We saw a lot more public on the paths the second day (and a lot more off lead dogs!). Blaze wasnt overly confident in passing and slowed into a trot until the coast was clear. He also didnt like sleds the kids had, but got over these things well.

Again, we took the others for a walk, went to the cafe and then went back for the results. They combine the results of the two days and award prizes for the different categories (age, no dogs, male/female etc) according to the overall time. We ended up 2nd in our category on Saturday and won it on Sunday, ending up 1st overall (the lady who beat me had to swap into a one dog team so i wont be getting cocky, lol). We ended up woth lots of CSJ goodies; treats, herbs and food. For me, it wasn’t about the places. It was just taking part. I’m really looking forward to our next one, to finding out how the different dogs run and work together. Its certainly a good way to keep both them and me fit!

Healing..

2010-12-08T18:09:00.000Z

D had other ideas about keeping the e-collar on last night. It took him 2 seconds to break..bloody dog, lol. I do have a Pro-Collar but thats not much use as he still be able to reach it. I had visions of having to stay up to keep an eye on it as he was being a right pain. But I ended up using a saftey pin on a pair of Sis old boxers and letting D sleep on the bed. That way I woke if he started trying to fuss at it.

Incas little incisions are healing up nicely, especially considering she'd liked the top one. She was being sneaky and put her head up her t-shirt to get at it.

Showing both wounds healing nicely

Couldnt keep the t-shirt up, support Inca and take the photo so I'm afraid it slipped down. But it does give you an idea of how small the incisions are (not to mention how well both could be healing if she'd left the other alone, lol. Its not bad just more of a scab due to her fussing it)

Chickens..

2010-12-08T17:39:00.000Z

I gave the dogs Nics dispatched cockerels this afternoon. D was going to get his for breakfast but as I was swimming Rex and Blaze I decided to wait as I knew those two would protest too much at being left out. As there were 3 chickens they needed to share, so I needed to keep an eye on them so I could rotate them round.

I initially gave one each to Pip, Inca and D.

D initially took his down the side of the house but I made him move so I could keep an eye on him. I had no idea what any of them would do with these feathery things. So he settled in the corner and dug right in.

Inca stood looking rather bewildered at the chicken. You can almost hear her saying "what on earth am I meant to do with that Mum?"

Unsurprisingly Pippa knew exactly what to do. She was first to get into the gooses egg when I first gave them those. Not much gets past her when it comes to food. After carrying it across the garden (which was rather comical given it was almost as big as she) she started plucking it with great enthusiasm.

Inca eventually got the idea and started plucking hers too

When Pip got about halfway through Blaze then got the rest, which of course he took to eat in the privacy of the bushes.

Rex had some of Incas and of course was on standby to eat any bits that the others didn't want - the heads, the feet, the wings - nothing gets wasted when it comes to Rex. And actually theres actually quite a lot in the wings if you can be bothered to pluck all the feathers off. He also went round at the end to check all the fat had been removed from the ends of the feathers. He did this by chewing the ends of the feathers that had fat on and then spitting them out. Nice, lol.

D..

2010-12-07T22:05:00.002Z

Today it was Ds turn to take a trip to the vets. I did feel rather bad when he got all bouncy and excited at the prospect of going out this morning. He trotted happily into the vets, bounced onto the scales (19.6kg) and trundled happily off with Jayne for his premeds. What he didn’t know, bless him.

He was a little late going in to theatre so I didn’t pick him up until 4.50pm. Apparently he’d been milking it – no surprise there then, lol. He refused point blank to walk out of the vets and instead did a funny bum shuffle scoot, stopping every few seconds to ensure everyone’s attention was on him. The vets we use is at the back of a pet shop so we had to walk all the way through the store to get to the car. It was a long walk, especially as I had to explain to every other person that he wasn’t dying of anal gland trouble, he’d actually just been castrated. Needless to say hes not a happy bunny, especially as hes now wearing a cone. Hes since had his tea and is now curled up at my feet feeling rather sorry for himself.

Hopefully tomorrow he’ll forgive me when he sees his breakfast. Nic, a friend of mine took on 6 chicks not so long ago. Sadly 5 turned out to be male so they were dispatched today and she kindly gave me 3 for the dogs. Not quite sure what they’ll make of these feathery things. They’re quite used to whole rabbit so I'm sure they'll work it out.

D..

2010-12-05T22:54:00.002Z

Inca and Blaze made short work of Mr Octopus recently and Diesel was *NOT* impressed as it was his favorite toy. We've had several now and each time eventually Rex or Inca decide to pull his stuffing out. So I refused to buy another. However, today I saw a big fuzzy ball (bauble?) dog toy which honks and has crinkly bits and, most importantly, its huge so I knew D would just love it. So I decided to spend some of his Alpha money on it and got it for him.

Think you could say he approved

Incas Spay..

2010-12-05T22:42:00.000Z

On Friday morning I took Inca over to Norwich for her keyhole spay (ovariectomy). As it wasn’t being done my regular vets I took her for a consult a couple weeks ago to check suitability. They like to check dogs over 2/3 aren’t too fat, thankfully this isn’t something I need to worry about with Inca. Shes only a dinky 13.3kg. I met the vet, Tom, and he went through the procedure with me and checked Inca over. I know of a couple people who have had their dogs done at the same practice with great success. The procedure is less invasive than the traditional spay, and there is far less post op pain as the vet cuts and cauterizes the ovarian ligament rather than tears it.

I dropped her off at 9.30am and, rather than go all the way back home, I took Pip, D and Blaze for a snowy walk around Sheringham. They’d had their first snow and it was all fresh and lovely (unlike the icy stuff ours back home had turned into). I received a call at 1pm to say she was waking up nicely so I headed back to the practice to pick her up at 2pm.

She was rather groggy but after she slept off the GA it really was like she was back to her normal self. Shes got two small incisions on her tummy and she has no stitches or anything to worry about. The one just off the midline is slightly swollen but apparently that’s very common. It’s a lot more red in the pic as I’d just removed the dressing. She’s not been impressed with being left at home when we take the others out . She was fussing at them a little earlier so shes now sporting Rexs sexy Taz t-shirt from when he had his lump removed.

Snow?!

2010-12-01T15:58:00.000Z

We’ve had no fresh snow since Monday evening, but what we had still hasn’t melted. It is more ice than snow now, but the dogs still love it and they’re still coming back nice and clean. We’ve been making do with walks up the field rather than our usual trips to the beach and woods. Thankfully the dogs don’t mind, even if I do find the same route rather boring.

Mad dogs and...

2010-11-29T22:38:00.000Z

As I've mentioned before we feed our dogs BARF. They usually have two meals a day; one consisting of veg, offal and mince and the other some description of meaty bone. Generally, they eat their RMBs out in the garden and each dog has their own little space where they like to eat. Even in the snow theres no exception.

Inca likes to eat hers right by the back door. Possibly because it means less far to venture before she can eat, possibly because its all the nearer for coming back in...or perhaps secretly she wants to be first in line for seconds.

Diesel likes to take his down the side of the house where he can eat alone, also ensuring no one else gets a look in. He always eats every meal as if its his last, and he always runs to the back door when hes finished in the hope for more.

Rex eats his next to the washing line, right in the middle of the garden. No idea why.

Pippa usually eats hers on the triangle of gravel near the BBQ far away from everyone else so she can keep an eye everyone else. If she gets disturbed (like when people randomly take photos of her eating, or if someone finishes before she does) then she eats near the arbour, simply so she can jump out of the way with her food if need be.

Blaze likes to hide undercover in the hope that no one sees him. It also means that when he pinches everyone elses chews he has a place to hide them. Unfortunately for him everyone knows exactly where it is - he just hasnt quite worked that out yet.

Snow..

2010-11-29T21:24:00.000Z

Every time I’ve opened the door today theres been a fresh layer of snow. Apparently for spaniels this is just as exciting every time and requires them to run full pelt round the garden several times. Admittedly we’ve not had much, but enough to grind everything to a halt and cause general snowy havoc.

Agility and hydro ended up cancelled this morning so we took them for a walk around the field. It was lovely and sunny when we started, but by the end of our walk the sky darkened and the snow started again.

Just another sunny snowy morning

Somewhere mid walk I managed to loose the ball..twice. Inca took it out on the chuck it stick. She was adamant that if she sniffed and dug at it enough it would produce a tennis ball. Sadly it doesnt work like that. Mum needs throwing lessons.

The terrible two

Do equafleece do sponsorship? lol

The collie eating beagle terrierist

Blaze catching up

Just another ~~sunny~~ snowy morning

More HERE

And yesterdays morning walk HERE

Hare N Hounds

2010-11-27T23:13:00.001Z

Yesterday evening we headed up to Richmond ready for todays Hare N Hounds show. We arrived to find a slight covering of snow, but it started snowing again just before we went to bed so I knew we were in for more. As expected, it did and I had to dig out the car. I couldnt find anything to say the show had been cancelled as we were staying just a short distance from the venue we set off anyway (along with a small procession of other people staying in the same Travelodge).

We arrived and the show was going ahead. Both dogs had 5 runs each and they had a nice mix of overlapping and separate classes. They both had the G3-4 agility first both with R/Os under 40 starting with Inca. The course was horrid; horrid angles off stuff & horrid angles on. Inca ran it much better than expected. I wanted to ensure I pushed her out before the dog walk to straighten the approach but she sailed over the finish. I’d much rather that than she fell off so I carried on and kept her happy – it resulted in a much better angle anyway, lol. I had another agility class later in the same ring so focused on getting and holding Ds contacts and getting into position with him in the 2o2o position. There was a huge cheer when we finished as we were the first to get round. I didn’t think we’d get a decent place, but there were only a handful of clears in G4 and so little in the G3s that they were placing with 10faults – bonkers. So, rather unexpectedly D ended up winning it. Eeek! (Perhaps Dyl had words with D about only having a 2 show stop at G4)

Inca and D were then both in the G1-7 jumping. Inca should have loved the course but decided a push-thru was in order despite it being a ridiculously small gap. Guess that’s what happens when you practice push-thrus before a show, lol. D made a much better run of it, bouncing it in several places as it was deceptively spaced. Somehow ending up 6th.

The C1-7 BC Agility was a straight forward course, the aim for me was to work on contacts for the afternoon agility classes. Inca ran it really well but misjudged the long jump and knocked the last slat. D made a good clean run with fabby contacts. Despite his held contacts he came 7th in that also.

Diesels G4 Jumping was a twisty course, the type that you have a small panic about when you try to walk it in the middle of a crowd but actually flows really well. I thought our run felt awkward. I planned to layer one of the jumps in the middle and ended up handling it completely differently to how I had walked it. However, it looked smoother than it felt and he did well ending up 2nd just 0.something behind the winner.

Incas course was perfect for her; a blast where she was doing the work rather than I. But I was a little dubious that she’d do another push-thru on the flick-flack. Thankfully she didn’t and she whipped round in just over 17 secs ending up 2nd.

Finally it was their last agility classes. Incas was a lovely course where she got to stretch her legs. She was absolutely flying round, got her a-frame and the dog walk, got the weaves..but then in an error of my judgement I pushed her too much at the end and she bailed awkwardly off the side of the see-saw ending up with 5f. BUT she still finished in 32 secs (which would have put her 2nd) and even with 5 she still ended up being placed. I’m so happy with how shes running!

Ds course was very similar to Incas, just the removal of the tunnel and the addition of a jump. Personally I think it was his best run all day but I did something funny with my hands as he was going over the jump after the dog walk and he rolled the pole. I think I was paranoid about him seeing the see-saw so dropped my arm to pull him in but the poor boy hadn’t landed yet. Well…I tried not to nag him over the jump, lol. Again, he ended up placed with fasted 5.

So, that’s our last agility show of the year. And what a way to end. I’m really pleased with how Inca is coming along. I’m in two minds to move her into G4 for next season on points. She can cope with the naggy courses and shes had several top 10 places in both jumping and agility recently. Not something I would have believed if you told me this time last year! As for D, well I’m over the moon with him. I had hoped we’d have slightly longer in G4, but I certainly wont feel out of my depth with him in G5. He always tries his hardest and when we do go wrong…well its always me!

Cold

2010-11-26T13:25:00.001Z

Despite all the weather warnings forecasting snow, we’ve yet to actually have any (well..unless you count the 5 flakes that were on my van last night, lol). We have, however, been having some hard frosts. This does mean it takes me about half an hour to get into and defrost my van, but it also means the dogs have been coming back clean from their morning walks, which is always a welcomed blessing at this time of year.

D when we went out this morning, the grass showing exactly how frosty it was. D doesnt mind the cold; its the heat, in particular humidity he doesnt like.

As usual, D with a tennis ball in his mouth. He likes to carry things, if I dont probide an item he finds his own and its usually rubbish. Yuk!

D watching Pip

Pip is not a big fan of the cold. Shes even less of a fan of the wet. And god-forbid it be cold AND wet because then shes really unhappy and wont venture far from my feet, giving her best poor neglected Dogs Trust ad look. So although she refused point blank to go out to the loo first thing this morning, she was happy enough on her walk wearing her snuggly equafleece.

But of course she did have to let everyone know there were places she'd rather be..like on the sofa in the lounge in front of the fire

more pics HERE

Brancaster again..

2010-11-21T20:45:00.000Z

We had a day off today so we took the dogs for a run on the beach for a couple hours before popping into town.

Not quite as nice as last time, but we enjoyed it all the same

As always Pip made sure the nearby seagulls vacated the beach first

She also found some balloons to play with which were just as much fun, lol

Rexs feet have thankfully heeled now so he came with us, as was evident from the whinging all the way on the van journey - I was tempted to make him walk lol

We were joined by a little gobby border terrier which ran miles from its owners to join us. Thankfully I had 2 balls to keep everyone occupied as it was in everyones face and I knew Inca wasnt going to appreciate that. When the kid in charge of him eventually appeared we got our lot to sit while the kid (& eventually one of the parents) chased the little dog round as he didnt want to be caught...hmmm..

D was far too interested in beating everyone up with the ball in his mouth

more pics HERE

Wilmslow

2010-11-21T20:27:00.000Z

It is a bit of trek to Preston but Nat (Ds breeder) very kindly offered me and Veronica a place to stay. The original plan was that me and V would meet up at Blackpool beach and take the dogs for a run, and then we’d go on to Nats and we’d all go for a meal. However, last week Vs van decided it wouldn’t play and it really looked like she wasn’t going to be able to make it. I knew V trainied with Bob and used Christine East (chiro) so I figured she couldn’t be that far out of my way, so I offered her a lift. Si was staying home anyway, so I’d just take the collies and leave the other 3 here. It was all arranged very last minute but it all worked out just fine.

So Friday morning I set out in the fog stopping at Veronicas on the way. We stopped at The-Worst-Services-In-The-World^TM which we promptly left from, and instead found a pub for some soup and a hot drink. It was a lovely sunny afternoon in Preston. We arrived at the beach at 4pm so the light was drawing in – not great for pics so I left the camera in the car. The tide was way out but we strolled up to the water and walked back in the moonlight. It was lovely! We got to Nats just after 6pm. After a chat & some cocker puppy cuddles we headed to the nearby pub for dinner (Thanks again Nat for letting us stay!).

Thankfully we didn’t have to get up too early the next day as Nat lives just a stones throw from Myerscough. I was especially excited as it was Ds first G4 show! I had the C3-5 Agility to walk first and both dogs were in the same part. I wanted to be strict with myself and hold Ds contacts as he was in the graded agility after this class. He did a lovely run with just a pole down – my fault as I nagged him as he was going over it. But he stopped on both his a-frames and was lovely and drivey. Inca was in shortly after and sadly had a pole down near the end as I was in her way on the flick-flack…notice a common theme?! Lol.

Next was Inca in the G3 jumping. A very fast course flowy course that I knew she would love provided we could get it right. She ran really well, and although I wimped out from layering the flick-flack I managed to get where I needed to be. She ended up 3^rd out of 170ish dogs entered. Go Inca!

Diesel was in the G4&5 Agility next. A really nice course and I was looking forward to doing a course that wasn’t straight lines! However, he cut behind me on the second jump so we got E’d right near the start. Still no idea why but I took him back and he did it all perfectly (sods law!), but it did mean I held his contacts again which is never a bad thing. He was then in his final class, G4-5 Jumping. A couple bits that needed handling but a nice flowy bit in the middle where they could stretch their legs. It was deceptively spaced on the straights; most dogs, including D, bounced down the line. He did a really lovely run but had the pole down after the flat tunnel – again my fault as I called as he was going over it – I never learn! BUT timewise he was just over 24 secs which would have put him 3^rd so I’m glad not to feel outclassed on the faster courses.

Incas final class was the G3 agility. It was in the heated building and the ring was much more open and spacious than the two in the back building. I knew she’d love this course, although I was slightly miffed there were no weaves as she’d been weaving lovely (makes a change!). As expected all the tunnels wound her up. We did have a scary moment when she almost charged into the tunnel again after the a-frame. I went from “inca come, inca come” to “INCA COME HERE” which managed to pull her off it, just! We got round clear and ended up 8^th despite it being a ridiculously fast course and her wasting time at that tunnel. There were lots of fast clears and I really didn’t think we’d get a decent place.

Results wise it was a bit backwards from what I’m used to. Again, I was over the moon with both dogs – just little mistakes but super pleased with their contacts (especially Ds). Inca proved again she is more than capable to hold her own in G3. Shes keen & eager, and so much more confident than she was last season. I’m hoping now shes in G3 on her own I can concentrate on just her in those classes, rather than concentrating on D which I’ll admit to feeling like I’ve been doing more frequently than I should. As for D, I’m excited to see how we do in G4 next season. We have our last agility show of the year next Saturday, and they’re having the whole of Dec off from agility shows. That’s unheard of for me!

Well done to V and Ice with their 10^th in the Jumping, and Kite for her clear also!

Brancaster..

2010-11-17T13:37:00.001Z

Yesterday I took Pip, Inca, D and Blaze up to Brancaster before my afternoon classes over in Rudham. Rex stayed home as he grazed one of his pads, which of course he then fussed and made worse. I didnt want to add sand into the equation too.

The beach was beautiful; the dunes were still covered in frost, the air was calm and the sun was shining. We practically had the place to ourselves and the dogs had a great time charging about. I can cope with cold sunny winter mornings. Its the dark, damp wet ones I'm not so fond of.

Talking Dogs Rally

2010-11-15T10:13:00.009Z

Yesterday was Pips first TD Rally Trial. We’d entered one earlier in the year but we unfortunately didn’t make it. I decided it would be a good thing for us to do together after her surgery to get us doing something as a team. For that very reason I only entered her as I wanted to concentrate purely on her.

Nic and I went together, leaving just after before 10. It was held at a school down in Essex and we arrived a little before 12. She had her young GSD x Ollie in his last puppy class. The trial was held outdoors on tarmac. I joked on the way that at least they didn’t have to lie down in damp grass but as we got nearer the venue it started to rain and I was in two minds whether to work Pip or not. She hates getting wet & cold!

Olly did a fabulous round. He was a little distracted with a dog playing with a ball in the adjoining field and the whistles of a sports game in a little further over but for the most part he was really attentive and he worked the round really well. Nic did a great job of handling him, deciding to miss out a station when he was struggling rather than continue to nag him. And to think the young lad was handed into rescue as they said he was “untrainable”.

I walked the course which was actually rather nice and the rain eased up so I decided to give it a go with Pip. There was only one down and near the beginning too so while they had the break I got her out armed with lots of treats to see what I could and couldn’t get out of her and practice in the small area next to where the trial was being held. I wasn’t going to make her do anything she didn’t want to but hopefully with enough praise (treats!) she’d still enjoy it.

At first she didn’t even want to sit on the path but with the persuasion of cheese and sausage she gave in. We eventually got a down too. I decided to keep her Hurrta coat on but of course I was questioning if I should just let her get wet as then she wouldn’t mind getting wet so much, or if the coat would make her feel restricted etc. I cant say I’ve ever worked her in a coat, lol.

Eventually our turn came. When I’d walked the course I was worried about particular puddles but by the time we were in it was one big one! Pip set off quite happily and did the down so I praised her loads for that. Unfortunately the end half the course had quite a few sits and as she’d done several already she lost the will slightly. The first one we struggled with was the stop-walk round. Cant say I’ve ever struggled with that one with her, but I took one pace and she stood. I retried and I got half way round her and she stood again. We carried on as I didn’t want to nag at her. I didn’t blame her for not wanting to sit in that! We had a few other no sitting moments but we got round and I gave her loads of praise (and pretty much all the treats I’d got left). I put her back in the car and immediately felt bad. She hadn’t enjoyed it, despite me trying to make it fun, she’d done it because I’d asked her to..and I shouldn’t of.

Nic somehow ended up as Gate Steward and I watched a few rounds or chatted in the hall whilst we waited for the others to finished. The spirit of the trial was good despite the rain and the handlers all knew their dogs limitations in the conditions; no one was getting angry or annoyed with their dogs and everyone made extra effort to keep it fun for them. A few, like myself, came out a little frustrated with themselves thinking perhaps they should have rewarded more during the course or done something slightly different. It got all of us questioning our abilities and decision making skills as handlers rather than putting any pressure on the dogs which is really what its all about.

David and Samson were there also, working right near the end. They’ve only been to one Rally class so I had helped him walk the course. I think it was only one sign he couldn’t decipher. Samson did a fabby round despite the conditions. I think it was starting to resemble a swimming pool by this point. A small handler error cost the team a rosette but David simply didn’t know. (If you’re reading this, huge huge well done to both of you!)

Janet did a fabulous job of judging all day in the rain. It pretty much rained from when start to finish – and literally because as soon as that last dog finished it stopped. Typical! We helped collect the stations and then went in for the presentations.

The positivity, despite the conditions, coming from the handlers really paid off and it certainly showed in the results. Although I’ve not been to previous trials it was great to hear how the different dogs have progressed and we all cheered when one got his first NQ round.

Pip ended up with an Oustanding. Cant remember her score… 183 comes to mind (although I could have made that up, lol). I have mixed feelings about this rosette, mainly because I’m silly and over think everything. I’m happy we at long last did something together after months of restrictions on her part due to her surgery. She did so amazingly well considering the conditions I asked her to work in. But on the other hand I’m sad that she didn’t enjoy it as much as she should of and a big part of me feels I shouldn’t have asked her to. We lost marks not because she did something wrong, not because of my bad handling mistakes (for a change!) but simply because my little babygirl didn’t want to sit on the wet puddles on the cold concrete. Thankfully though, dogs are dogs and as much as I might be beating myself up about it, Pip really couldn’t care less.

But as always we live and learn. We’ll be back next year, in the dry, when its long forgotten. And if conditions ever deteriorate as much as they did yesterday I’ll leave Pip in the car and just support everyone else.

EAWS

2010-11-15T10:10:00.000Z

I was really happy with how both dogs were working today. I did both power & speed and agility NFC with both Inca and D so I could work on their contacts. D self released his first dog walk but behaved after that and did the rest nicely. He was high as a kite but then hes not been over a dog walk or aframe since Hare N Hounds thanks to the gales we've had here recently. Inca was also full of it and we took about 3 attempts at the dog walk to get a decent 2o2o. She was just going over the a-frame and I was expected to hear the whistle when we were joined by the dog from the next ring which had squeezed under the metal barrier fencing and proceeded to run up and down the a-frame several times. Eeek! thankfully she wasn’t phased and we got extra time so could finish the course.

Inca ran both jumping/steeplechases really well. We had to pull through a gap between a jump and a tunnel entrance in the jumping and the tunnel was too alluring, even if she did have to crash into me to get there. I wasn’t sure how she would do in the SC but she was lovely and smooth and ended up winning it. Go Inca!

D went clear in both his Jumping and SC classes ending up 3rd and 4th respectively after some cracking dogs. I will confess to having a few "mum where am I going please?" moments lol.

So again I returned with high spirits. Really pleased with how they're both working and looking forward to his first G4 show next weekend.

Scotland Part 2…

2010-11-07T20:48:00.000Z

We arrived at Wauchope Cottages a little after 6pm after stopping to pick up a few groceries. It was our 3rd visit to Wauchope, and our 2nd this year as we went for 10 days back at the end April/start of May (I’ll admit with what happened with Mish and then Pip soon after our trip didn’t get much blog time). This time we stayed in Heatherbank, which belongs to one of Joy & Alans friends after they sold it on. There was more than enough space for us two and our little tribe of 5.

One side of Heatherbank from the back garden. We stayed in Wolfelee last time, and Hill View the first time

The other side

The back garden (well some of it)

The cottages from the front

We had a lovely relaxing peaceful break, which was exactly what we all needed. We didn’t have to rush for anything, we didn’t have any appointments to keep and we didn’t have any mobile signal or internet. Its amazing how many hours of the day you suddenly have ;-) We spent our evenings in cooking, reading and playing Fable. And…not a firework heard all week…bliss! I did, however, manage to spend the whole holiday full of cold and feeling a bit under the weather but I stoked myself up with cold & flu meds (& probably deforested half of Scotland for my tissues) and got out none-the-less.

For me this trip was also a milestone in Pippas recovery. When we first booked the trip I wasn’t sure if Pip would be able to do all the walks, and the plan was always to see how she went and play it by ear so to speak. I’m still not convinced Pip knows she was ever ill. Admittedly we didn’t walk quite as far as we did earlier in the year (it’s a bit hard when it gets dark so damn early!) but we walked for a few hours each day, either direct from the cottage door in Wauchope forest or nearby forest walks in Craik, Newcastleton and once around the Philiphaugh Estate. We were lucky with the weather and, for the most part, it remained dry although damp underfoot. We certainly made good use of their dog shower.

Needless to stay the week went FAR too quickly. Hopefully we'll be back again soon.

Pippa on the walk near the cottage on the last day. The weather was pretty overcast most of the time so not great for photos, especially when you're deep in the forest - its always pitch black!

Rex at the waterfall at Craik forest. Its one of my favorite walks and we always seem to go there twice (doing different routes)

Blaze

D and Blaze enjoying the water

Inca bouncing on Rex

Inca looking rather photogenic...even if I am a bit bias

We saw a lot of deer during our trip. D has a nose like a spaniel and really picks up a scent but thankfully doesn't like to venture too far from Mum. Pip vanished into the undergrowth on a couple of occasions but she worries too much about being left. Inca, being Little Miss Perfect, worries too much about getting told off even when deer streak across the path in front of us. The same cant be said for the spaniels so Rex stayed mainly on lead and Blaze was usually off unless D indicated there were smelly things lurking in the undergrowth.

I had planned to do a few runs whilst in Scotland but my cold put a stop to that. But we did use the walking belt with Rex so I could be handsfree (and Blaze if needed). This pic was taken by the cottages after Si made the mistake of saying CaniX was easy ;-) The running isn't too bad...its the stopping with these two!

Hare N Hounds & Scotland Part 1…

2010-11-07T00:41:00.003Z

Usually the first weekend in November sees us head up to Edinburgh for the WPBoS & SBCC Champ shows but as we’re not going this year we decided to spend a weeks holiday in the Borders instead…and of course I found someway of tying in an agility show too.

So, Friday evening we headed up the A1 to Scotch Corner ready for the Hare N hounds agility show at Richmond Equestrian Centre the next day. I did one of their shows last year and really enjoyed it, even if it is a bit far from home. This time it proved to be an excellent choice of stop gap breaking up the rather monotonous journey up the A1.

The first course I walked was the G3 agility. I’ll admit I thought it was the G3-4 as it was quite tightly spaced and consisted of several flick flacks, wing wraps and a 90 degree angle onto and off the aframe with no alternative way to handle it. Somehow I had running orders for both dogs under 20. Inca was up first and I wanted to make sure she got & stopped on her contacts. She ran it much better than I anticipated ending up with just 5r for the weaves, which admittedly was my fault as I put in a front cross which resulted in me blocking them. I was convinced D was going to knock a pole (I was bound to nag him at the wrong time at some point) so I was going to concentrate on his contacts. Well that went out the window as my competitiveness kicked in the further we got round the course, lol. It didn’t feel particularly fast or smooth but his time said otherwise and he won the class by several seconds!

The G3-4 agility was much more open, spacious & flowy. Sadly my bad handling got Inca E’d as she sailed over the back of the long jump instead of the dog walk after the first tunnel. I should have seen that coming! I crossed behind the dog walk with D which had the added bonus of avoiding the judge (after a near collision when running Inca!). I also crossed behind at the weaves as a lot of dogs were loosing momentum at the end and taking out the spread. I was quite surprised to learn that he was 0.0something off the winning time in G4. Although it does confirm just how rubbish I am at judging dogs times from how fast they look!

Inca and D were in different parts for the C1-7 jumping. Incas was a fast course but she ran past the weaves, probably in spite for me getting in her way after the flat tunnel resulting in a small collision. Ds needed a touch more handling..and I failed miserably on that. He ran it really well but I didn’t pull him in enough near the end and he missed a jump.

Lastly it was the G3 jumping. Inca was in early and I ended up handling the whole thing from behind – not quite where I’d intended to be! I didn’t think D could beat her but he knocked off half a second which was the difference between 1st and 5th place. Go D!

So that was Ds last G3 show. I never imagined he’d win 3 classes at the same show! I did have mixed feelings but mainly I felt super proud of him (and slightly frustrated at myself for not holding contacts...again!). We finished just after 3pm, and from there it was just a couple hours drive to Wauchope Cottages…

CaniX

2010-10-24T23:30:00.000+01:00

I've wanted to get into CaniX for as long as I can remember. A few years ago Si bought me a Hands Free Lead from the Training Lines website to use with Pip. It was only £20 but it did the job and we bought a second line for it so I could use it with 2 dogs. I did a few runs with when I was training for the London Marathon back in 2007 (which I did for Hearing Dogs) but I'll admit it never really got used much. I was drooling over the CaniX stuff at Crufts earlier in the year. The want to run is always there, I'm just not very good at the actually getting out and doing it part. We very almost took Inca and D to get them measured but I couldn't justify the expense given how much I used the other belt. I needed to prove to myself I would actually use it.

Just over month or so ago I decided to start running with the dogs in an attempt to keep fit over the winter months, so I dug out the belt and their fleece harnesses and hit the trails of Shouldham. I've been running there a couple times a week ever since. After a few runs I decided that I'd use some of the insurance money we didnt think we'd see again to buy a 2 dog CaniX set. It was certainly worth every penny!

The old belt was thin and the metal attachments at the front clattered if the line wasn't kept taught. It also had the tendency to ride up so I spent most of the run holding it or yanking it down. The new belt is lovely and padded, because of how its made the pressure comes from the sides so is more spread out over the back strap, and the leg attachments hold the belt on your hips (even if it does feel more than a bit strange at first) so theres no pressure on the lower back. I'll admit the second run I removed them and tried running without but I regretted it for the whole run. I also really like the xback harnesses; the attachment point is much further down the back spreading the pressure out more evenly. Some traditional mid back attachments can cause pressure on the bottom of the neck which isnt ideal (and obviously I'm now somewhat paranoid about any extra neck pressure!)

Rex and D run really well together; Rex is powerful but lacks steering, D isn't convinced about pulling but listens to his mum - the pulling part we can work on. Rex, left to his own devices, would charge off after every rabbit, squirrel and pheasant in the nearby vicinity.

Originally I was going to run with just D and Rex. I completely dismissed running with Pippa but after reading about someone else using it as part of their own dogs rehabilitation I suddenly realised it makes perfect sense; its much more controlled than when shes tearing about off lead normally and another great way to build her fitness back. So I ended up investing in another xback for Inca and a EuroShort Harness for Pippa (shes not quite built for an xback).

The first run I did with her was a short circuit with Rex and Pip. They ran well as a team and Pip not only kept up but pulled pretty much the whole way round - she was nuts. Sadly the Inca and Diesel team didn't work out quite as well. Inca didn't like the clattering of the last belt so I hoped she'd approve of this new one. She still wasn't convinced. She ran ahead at first but then tried to run to heel which resulted in D running just in front of my feet - not ideal!

So today Si came with me with his bike. The original plan was to let her see him ride off, run with her pulling, reward and repeat whilst building up the distance he was ahead. Sadly, Si was having bike issues so it ended up with him being slightly in front of me for 3/4 of a circuit and then not only me over taking him but him having to push the bike back to the car. Oops! Thankfully it did the trick as Inca was happy and bouncy and ran ahead with Rex even when we overtook Si. I did the second circuit on my own with D and Pip, who decided she needed to howl at everything that moved in the forest and repeatedly bounce on poor D. Obviously I wasn't running fast enough, lol.

I'm hoping to enter the Sherwood Pines CaniX in December but I'm still clueless as to who to pair with who. Obviously it will be someone with Rex, but we'll just have to see how training goes over the coming weeks as to who this someone will be.

Ready steady.... Rex was unimpressed with having his phototaken and wanted to get on with it

Inca and Rex

Inca and D

Pip showing off her new harness. She didnt really need another, but I needed one that felt different so she learns she can pull in that now I need to teach her shes not meant to pull in her regular one (now she cant wear a collar)

Pip and D

Dog Vegas

2010-10-24T23:00:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we went to Dog Vegas at UK Arena near Grantham. At their winter shows you get 5 runs; 2 runs over the same agility and jumping courses (best overall run for each counts) and then an additional run over a helter skelter/tunnel class. With the smaller classes it pretty much means you're straight back in the ring and with the larger classes it means you're stuck in the queue for what seems like eternity, especially when you have 2 dogs! BUT I do like the fact you can run NFC and train in the ring which is exactly why I entered. I also like having 2 goes at a course as I'll try different ways to handle the same course.

I'm really pleased how both dogs are running at the moment. I know I keep saying it but I'm over the moon with Inca. I've been so close to giving up with her on several occasions over the past couple years simply as I've felt like shes not been enjoying it as much as she should. But shes definitely loving it right now and shes sooo up for training. Although shes never going to be Miss Consistent, shes showed me she can cope with the harder courses just as well as the easier ones, and shes also showed me she has the potential to kick Ds butt - shes so much more nimble than he and shes had a secret gear shes been hiding all along..who knew! But we do have so much to work on - her contacts for one. And so I did both agility runs NFC and took in a toy. I did the course as numbered but put her back on her contacts if she broke and redid the contact if needed. She not only felt good, she felt great! She did a fab jumping run earlier over a naggy course. Sadly I didn't realise she had missed the last weave but she was fast, responsive and up for it. In the HS she was flying but I'd come straight from the jumping and there was too many circles for my poor head so I did one jump too many. Sorry Inc!

With D I handled the jumping badly so got him E'd in that twice. When Inca made the exact same mistake I realised it was obviously I that was at fault so changed how I handled it. She got it right in her next run - go figure! D was clear in the HS. It was a tightly spaced course so I didn't think we had a chance but he ran it clean, was tight and thought hard about his pacing, bless him. And somehow despite not feeling that quick he ended up 4th with less than a second in it too. I also did both his agility runs NFC making sure he got and held his contacts. He was smooth and felt good. I do think I need to do some see-saw work over the winter. He has lovely drivey-to-the-end see-saws that I've always run but we've had a few too close too the fine line of pushing it for my liking so we might have to go back and do some 2o2o training over the winter.

I came home really happy and positive having got out of the show exactly what I intended. I'd quite happily run all my runs NFC lol =D

Weave!

2010-10-21T18:16:00.001+01:00

After hydro this afternoon I went into the garden to scoop the poo. D managed to find a ball and kept bouncing on everyone, me included, trying to entice them to play. Eventually I gave in so made him do some freetime every time he brought the ball back. After offering me a variety of his usual tricks he then took himself off and did the weaves by the side of the house...and Blaze followed. Ok so he skipped a few but he did most of them!

I got D to do a few more and each time Blaze followed trying his best to weave too. So I popped D away and did a few with Blaze. Initially he skipped a couple, either in the middle or the end. So I thought we'd try a different approach and try and back chain it. So I sent him in the middle of the weaves, making sure he was going in on the correct right side, and then praised for him completing them. When he did it right a couple times I added a couple more and built it up that way. It wasn't long before he was doing all 12.

So, our weaves will be going away now. Hes picked up the idea of moving from v-weaves to uprights really quickly. Si can work on entries and proofing at training, so theres no need for us to work on these at home. I'd actually set up the v-weaves for him and the uprights for Inca but I cant say we've really used them much recently. Blaze had an attempt at uprights on Wednesday at training with Wendy, and although he obviously knew what they were for and tried bouncing through, he wasn't quite there so we used the v-weaves.

Excuse the quality and the amaturishness. Its taken on my iphone which I had to prop up against the drain and I was on my own...obviously need to clicker train the dogs to be my camera crew ;-)

Blaze & Agility

2010-10-20T15:15:00.002+01:00

Also showing off Wendys new Contactacoated dog walk

Blaze (and Si, lol) are certainly coming along in leaps and bounds, and its been great watching them develop as a team together. A few weeks ago Blaze really wasn't sure about the DW or AF, mainly because he would still freak out about being held by the collar. But hes turned a corner an it now happily clambering over them all on his own (possibly something to do with him suddenly running to the top and rolling a ball down time and time again whilst me and Nic were trying to put up the one at training last week after I said "He wont go up it, he doesn't like them"). He gets the idea of touching but hasnt quite put the two and two together yet. Early days though. His weaves are really great and defiantly the thing he is best at. Hes almost on uprights already and absolutely loves doing them.

I think the main thing I love more than anything is the difference in Blaze himself. The little dog that came into our home terrirfied of everything, that hid behind the sofa because of the TV, now bounces down to the agility field because he wants to work, because he enjoys it, because he is enjoying life. And its a great feeling that we've been a part of that transformation (even if there is tons more work to be done) =D

TAG

2010-10-17T21:56:00.001+01:00

TAG don't usually do an October show but I have really enjoyed their Easter show the past couple years. I really love the fact they offer G3 a choice of 4 classes as they do a mix of graded and combined split 1-3, 3 or 3-5. I was a little disappointed to discover I'd only entered Inca into the 1-3 classes so she only had a couple runs each day. I obviously entered when I thought she couldn't cope with the harder classes - I got that a bit wrong..again!

Me and D made a few silly mistakes this weekend but on the whole he was running really well; driving on ahead nicely, listening well, being responsive and more than anything - he felt good to run. We certainly had no disastrous runs and he tackled the harder courses just as well as the easier ones. He could, however, do with a better handler. I know I cost him some places and I came out of the ring cross with myself on more than a couple of occasions for doing stupid things.

The winning moment - D going over the last jump in g3 agility on Sat

But somehow we managed to win 2 G3 agilities. The first was on Sat. It was a straightforward up and down G1-2 type course. I didn't think we'd have a chance over a course like that but we were first to run and had an agonising wait until the class closed. I was expecting to come at least 2nd again, but somehow we managed to hold on to it. Then on Sunday he did it again, over a more usual g3 type of course. If I'm honest I was more worried about staying upright as it was slippy due to the earlier frost. Again we ran early in the class and as we just cruised around I went off and didn't think much of it. It was only when I popped in later in in the class that I found out he was in the lead. And so we had that agonising wait all over again, I was just gutted our little Bloggies battery had died so we didn't catch them on video. Si did get the C1-3 run on his iPhone. It ran a lot better than it walked but the top line of jumps were really offset but D ran it really well although i did wimp out of the push-thru at the end. He ended up 3rd in that. He got another 3rd in the G3-5 Jumping on Sunday over a tricker course that I really enjoyed.

Just noticed where he sets off for jumpNo8..the muppet

Inca ran really well this weekend. She did every set of weaves, and quickly too. Sadly we seem to have lost her contacts now but, if I'm honest, I'm just pleased she running as well as she is; shes really enjoying it and I'm enjoying running her. She managed a couple of places - a 4th in the C1-3 jumping on Sat and a 13th in the G3 jumping on Sunday. In the combined class she was just 0.569 secs behind Ds above run and I'm confident she would have kicked his butt had I not been so far behind her at the end as she was flying. I ended up doing a rear cross and scooping her round to get the jump in the top right corner then pulling her round the wing towards me (the long route) when i had planned to do a push thru. In the G3 on Sunday there was a light turn after the flat tunnel to a jump to the left of it and she came out and didn't see it so we wasted lots of time. I tried handling it differently with D and although I got into position I didn't wait enough for him to take the jump so pushed him through the gap to the next one...doh!

So, I'm over the moon with both dogs. I'm so pleased with how well Inca is running and I'm looking forward to G4 with D. He also got enough points for his AW(S) on Saturday so it was fitting that he should do that and win into G4 on the same day =D

The handsome lad himself in the exercise area (of course I'm not bias at all, lol)

Blaze and Pip showing off their new coats

Pip would really like to keep it on forever and ever - she doesn't do cold

Howling her head off - something I've missed on our walks

Inca on the DW

More HERE

EAWs & RVA

2010-10-17T20:58:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday we were back at Snetterton for the next installment of the EAWS. Again I trained both Ds agility and games runs. He was a bit distracted in the agility by the fact Wendy was judging LOL. Unfortunately I changed how I handled his jumping last minute and so pulled him off a jump. However, he did a super steeplechase run and came 2nd by 0.0something (for a change). Inca was running really well. FLEW round the jumping and won it. I ran her games run NFC and her SC was amazing, responsive & tight but the end was a long run between a jump and a tunnel and it was inevitable that she would take one of them.

Sunday we were just up the road at RVA at Peterborough Showground. The G3 classes were just shy of 200 dogs in each. D was first in the C1-7 jumping. The course had one horrid bit which consisted of 3 jumps in parallel with pull-thrus between each, but after the first jump there was a long jump which resulted in me not being able to get anywhere near where I needed for the second pull-thru. In my panic I also "steadied" him before the long jump and the poor boy tried to wing wrap the long jump and (obviously) failed, bless him, knocking the last slat. Inca messed up her weaves several times so I missed out the pull-thrus and carried on round the rest of the course with her.

The G3 jumping was a blast of a course. Sadly I nagged D as he was going over a jump so he had a pole, but Inca FLEW round. She not only beat Ds time (despite the pole on the ground) she ended up 7th. Go Stinky! She also managed a steady clear in the g3 agility ending up 13th. Not bad considering the class sizes. I somehow managed to pull D through 2 jumps and send him up the dog walk the wrong way. Pretty sure I was the only one who did that one, lol. But he was running well and had fab contacts.

We took Blaze for a walk around the show ground and he seemed to get better each time he went he came out. He wasn't sure about all the racket made by the merry-go round but I'm sure a few months ago he wouldn't have gone any where near any of it. I'm so pleased with how he is doing considering how spooky he was when we first got him.

Shouldham..

2010-10-08T14:10:00.000+01:00

I've been for 2 more runs with D and Rex at Shouldham. The first was Tuesday morning and we did the red route which we managed to finish in just under 20 minutes. The boys were running well and Rex was pacing himself slightly better. According to the forestry.gov website its 2.5 miles but I have a feeling its much nearer the 2 mark. Still, its a good starting point.

I had planned to take my GPS watch and track my mileage and speed on thursday but I couldnt find the charger so I'll have to do that next week. Thursday morning we were back and I did the red route, then some of the yellow and then, due to a directionally dyslexic moment after some of the smaller forest trails we headed off away from the car instead of towards..so yes it was a bit longer than planned.

After a few mins rest back at the car (for me!) we headed back out with Inca and Blaze for a normal walk. I wish Rex and D felt half as knackered as I did but then a constant running pace is actually more restrained than a normal walk where they charge about at 300mph - they were full of it. My lot love the smaller forest trails as much as I do and love racing each other up and down the tracks.

According to Rex and Blaze a walk isnt a proper walk unless water is involved

More HERE

Norfolk..

2010-10-03T21:29:00.001+01:00

This weekend we were at Norfolk, held at the ever-so-familiar World Horse Welfare venue (formerly ILPH) at Snetteron. We were meant to be camping in the caravan but decided against it given the torrential rain we were having on Friday. I'm glad we didn't as we were finished before lunch on both days.

Saturday was by far our most successful day results wise. Diesels graded agility was first. I decided to run his contacts and he did a cracking round in just over 25 secs going into the lead. It was an straight forward course so I wasn't sure if we would hold on to it. We did for ages...but he ended 2nd, by just 0.2! In the C1-3 he broke his wait but I was too late in making the decision (or actually realising, lol) so carried on. Somehow we got round but it felt messy. He gawped at a jump midway round the course, he was gobby and generally wasn't listening and I came out kicking myself for having not put him back. However, he ended up 3rd, just 0.4 secs off the winner! his final class was the G3 jumping. A very fast course so I knew we didn't have much chance in that. D went clear and was lying 4th when we left, he ended up 6th in the end.

Inca was running really well. She took 3 attempts at the weaves in the G3 agility. She did a lovely run in the G3 jumping but sadly had a pole down and then in the C1-3 agility she went clear, ending up 6th.

Sunday was a crash down to earth. Inca was very much up for it, even playing tuggy on the start line which is unheard of for her. But she was possibly a little too wound up and kept running past the weaves first try. Her best run was the G3-5 jumping. It was a very tricky course and I almost didn't run her, but shes done well in naggy senior/champ classes at UKA recently and not been phased so I decided to see what she'd make of it. Sadly she knocked the 2nd pole, but she flew round the rest AND she weaved! She ended up 10th in that despite the faults as there were hardly any clears.

D was running really well but my handling let him down. I was actually quite excited about the G3-5 as normally it would be right up our street but he had a pole early (funny spacing). We ran quite early in the class and the tunnel hadn't been pegged (as we discovered when we reached it). I know we had faults already but I was so thrown by the tunnel that I didn't get where I wanted to be so didn't work the course as I planned. In the final agility I rushed him in the weaves and he skipped the last one. We carried on but I held his contacts..he felt lovely. I was as pleased with that run as I was the 2nd and 3rd the previous day =D

So...mixed results but I'm so very pleased with how they're both running at the moment. Inca is enjoying it, shes jumping & handling really well and her contacts are getting notably quicker. Its just those pesky weaves that are holding her back at the moment! Diesel always tries his best, its just me that needs sorting out!

Various..

2010-09-30T17:04:00.000+01:00

Blaze

Blaze is doing really well especially considering a couple months ago he'd never lived indoors before. Its easy to take for granted the everyday sights and sounds that can be considered as scary; the TV, the washing machine, the hoover, doorways, cupboard doors..the list goes on. So mainly its all been about getting him used to everything and doing some confidence building. We had him in a crate overnight at first to assist with toilet training, but hes been out with the others for the last few weeks and has been good as gold.

Training wise we've not done much with him as our main priority is building confidence first. Hes been going to hydrotherapy, and has started agility classes with Si. Blaze has also been doing a few little bits with the clicker and has learnt/is learning - sit, down, stand, dig, twist left & right, roll over, elephant trick, walk back, target work and some wobble board work. Si is hopefully starting obedience classes with him next week.

Blaze is really good off lead and likes to keep an eye on where we are. Hes great at flushing out pheasants too! He does, however, tend to wander off with toys rather than bringing them back (like the other week at agility when he kept depositing it in the middle of the tunnel!) and in the exercise areas he will happily go off to join another collie family, so both of these are work in progress.

Its strange as although hes really only been with us a short while, its already hard to imagine our life before him.

Pippa

Pippa is continuing to do really well. She got rather depressed on her 8 weeks crate rest but now shes out walking shes snapped out of it and is back to being a pain in the butt. The specialists said she can go off lead 2 months after shes doing "normal walks" on lead which is a little vague to say the least, but we've been letting her off for short sessions. Shes been so wound up and has almost been over the baby gates on several occasions, not to mention squeezing past and then rushing up the stairs! So, before she did herself some serious damage, we decided to start building up her off lead walks gradually making sure she gets a proper walk as a warm up/cool down. Shes a little coiled spring at the moment and we do seem to spend half our time nagging at her and telling her not to do things (mainly when she gets the zoomies which she does several times a day and it usually results with her being shut back in the kitchen). The rest of the time we spend laughing at her, especially when she comes tearing into the lounge, and after a lap of honour she throws herself on the bed before looking rather sheepish as she might get told off again.

I'm still not sure about her future with agility. Although the specialists at AHT said there was no reason I couldn't do agility with her, I do go from being adamant that she wont ever do it again to feeling like she needs to channel her energy into something productive. I thought I could get away with obedience and clicker work but I don't think this will be enough for her. I was doing some heelwork with her the other day and not only was she yipping with excitement she was also nipping the backs of my legs! I guess we'll just have to see how she is when shes finally allowed off lead with the others.

Right now I am just happy she is doing so well, and happy to be involved in part of the recovery process.

Rex

Just before KCI Rex was in at the vets to have a lump removed. It was a fatty lump that he'd had for a while behind his left foreleg. If it had been elsewhere I probably would have left it, but I was concerned that if it got much bigger that it would irritate his movement so the decision was made to have it out.

A few weeks later another lump appeared this time in his mouth. We kept an eye on it hoping it was a foreign object but when there was no change in a week we took him to have that out and it sent away. The poor boy had such a swollen face when he came home but it didn't stop him from eating. The vet was a little worried it might be something nasty. The cheek is a difficult place to get good margins as theres not much you can take out. Thankfully it came back as a sialocele (a salivary gland cyst) so hes on antibiotics and painkillers but he is otherwise fine.

Running

I started running with the dogs as I want to get fitter. I took Inca and D out to shouldham the first time. They wanted to run by my side originally and when I did get them running ahead Inca kept stopping and nearly killing me. She then decided she didn't like the karabiner clattering on the running belt so I was trying to encourage her at the same time. She ended up off lead in the end, lol.

So today I went to Shouldham and tried Rex and D. What a difference! Rex really powers on, where as Inca and D set out fast and then slowed. And because Rex was powering on D was too. I'm not sure Id ever dare run with Rex on his own - hed drag me into the bushes after every pheasant, squirrel or rabbit we came across, lol, so Ds job is official supervisor. They know "Go go go" to speed up, we just need to work on the slowing down and steering!

Photos

Brancaster Today
Shouldham with Murphy & Gem
Agility at Wendys
Brancaster 6th Sept
Brancaster 31st Aug

The Alpha Agility Final...

2010-09-26T22:34:00.008+01:00

This weekend we headed off to Malvern for the Alpha Agility Final held at The Malvern Autumn Show, The Three Counties Showground.

Diesel qualified for this final back last October, at Spalding, when he was just 19 months old. A total of 9 Alpha heats run throughout the year with 5 dogs qualifying at each event resulting in 45 finalists, of those I think 41 made the event.

I must admit when I arrived in the morning I felt totally overwhelmed, not to mention outclassed. They had a 3 C1-5 classes and I had just entered D so I could concentrate on him and use it as a warm up to the afternoons final. There were several familiar faces such as Corriedhu Lace (now G6 and 1 more win to G7) and Jo Chambers with Rumble Tumble & Twirl so I was beginning to think we didn't have a chance in the regular classes never mind the final!

There was just the one ring and I was slightly hung up by the fact the jumps wings almost as tall as me, not that D noticed. His first class was jumping and he ran it well. However, I rushed him to the weaves and he raced me so missed the entry. However, he worked the rest of it brilliantly still managing to end up 7th. Fastest 5 I think. Grr! The next class was steeplechase. A very flowing easy course but D misjudged the spacing to the second jump and knocked a pole. He spent the rest of the run being a bit over cautious but thankfully not measuring so I just ignored it and hoped he'd sort himself out. The last run was "Touch n Go" (basically power & speed). The past few weekends I've done UKA shows so I could get some contact work in, and I really appreciated the opportunity to hold his contacts in the given environment - there was quite a crowd by this point. He had lovely drivey contacts and stopped in the 2o2o at the end of both the dog walk and the a-frame. The speed section also gave me the opportunity to release & praise before setting him up for the speed. He worked the speed nicely and nipped in nicely for the pull through but he really gawped at the a-frame and I went from "Dee come, Dee come" to "DIESEL COME HERE NOW" lol. So we did waste some valuable time but ended up 8th overall.

There was a bit of a wait until the final (3 hours!) and this was held in the main ring after the falconry display (when the damn bird eventually came out of the trees, lol). The course was set up quickly, and after walking it briefly we were underway. I was 19th to run. I cant say I paid much attention to those running before me. I was too wrapped up in my own little world. I wouldn't have said it was a particularly tricky course. My main concern was that the dogwalk-tunnel-a-frame sequence meant the judge had to RUN beside the dog from the DW and I really wasn't sure what D would make of this. The weaves were also at a tight angle off the a-frame with a rather alluring jump at the bottom. All I could hope for was a clean clear so whilst we were waiting in the collecting area I promised D a hog roast burger if he went clear. Obviously that was the way to go as somehow we made it round despite him getting stuck in the flat tunnel (lots off "ooohs" from the crowd) and me almost loosing him at the end. It didn't look as messy as it felt but he gawped at the tunnel after the weaves, I managed to pull him off but forgot to steady the wing wrap so we had a wiiiide turn. But it took us into 2nd place. I didn't think we'd hold it. There were loads of dogs, including Lace, still to run. But we watched with my heart in my mouth as dog after dog went wrong somewhere. In the end there were only 4 clears...I was over the moon as we'd held on to 2nd!!

So we came home with £25 prize money, a big rosette, an alpha dog bowl, a leather lead, an alpha towel, a big bag of alpha food (not to mention several small ones from the morning). No idea what I'm going to get D with his money yet but I'm still shocked with came 2nd! Well done D!

KCI, DIN, Summer Show,BAA Finals & Letchworth..

2010-09-05T21:20:00.005+01:00

The Kennel Club festival already seems like many moons ago and if I'm honest it already seems somewhat of a haze. They had some ridiculously large classes (one of Ds had 300 in it!). Despite the rain and the storms we had fun and I was surprised to come away with a couple of the places we did. Even Inca managed a 16th in one of her jumping classes.

Diesel was such a good lad at DIN . The only thing he did "wrong" all week was knock a pole in one of his jumping classes. It was actually my fault as I nagged at him as he was going over the jump so he tried to turn mid jump. However, he was a star for just making it round that course - less than half the places were clears and the rest were placed with time faults! He qualified for the final (along with his brother Rush) and managed another clear in that, ending up 9th although they only placed 5 out of the 30 G3 dogs that qualified. I did, however, feel he was a bit flat - although given the ordeal with Pumpkin that was probably more to do with my mood than anything to do with him.

We only did the Friday morning of the summer show, and I was back home just after 10am! D had 3 classes and was in first 20 in 2. He did a lovely run in the C1-3 Jumping and a clean run in the C3-4 Agility. He was running really well but another of my infamous naggage errors cost us a pole in the G3 agility so I threw the rest of the round. It felt a bit wrong to leave as he was winning the jumping but they were only half way through the class and with 200+ dogs I was pretty sure we'd end up quite far down the places. I was shocked when Ellen text to tell me that we'd come 2nd! (and he got a 16th in the combined agility too)

That afternoon we headed over to Asfordby for the BAA Finals weekend. Diesel certainly seemed to be on form this weekend. On Saturday D had 5 runs, and Inca 3. He won the jumping and the triple A, and came 6th in the steeplechase and 2nd in the helter skelter. He was storming in the agility but in my hurry I released his dog walk too early and he strode over it. Sunday was a bit of a write off. We got ed in the jumping and had a pole down in the agility. However, Inca flew round the jumping and ended up winning it (even beating Twig!) In the afternoon D had the primary agility finals. Given D is generally stronger at agility than jumping I was fairly hopeful that we could do quite well. However, it was not meant to be. Steve Retter set a monster of a course with 101 traps and a nasty pull-thru-wing-wrap-pull-thru right at the end. It actually ran nicer than it looked but I was so paranoid about D taking the weaves again after the solid tunnel that I hung too far back and couldn't get into position for the end and I pulled him off the jump. D showed he was quite capable by doing it perfectly when I carried on. Oops! The primary course was harder than both the graduate+ and novice courses and this was shown by the fact only 3 out of the 20 finalists got round clear, and a further 6 got round with faults! Monday morning was a day of silly mistakes. He came 3rd in the agility but had a pole in the jumping. I managed to pull Inca off a jump but she somehow managed to come 8th. We then had the Primary Jumping finals which had a much more appropriate course. D was drawn 13th and first Maxi to run. He ran well and we went clear but all eyes were on Twig. He didn't let down and bounced his way round the course so we all knew he was the clear winner. It was then between D and Ritz who are quite evenly matched over this type of course - they ended up being just 0.3 seconds apart! so D ended up with 2nd place, albeit just! After the final presentations they did the presentations for Dog Of The Year - D got the Maxi Primary DoTY and Pip (somehow) managed to hang on to Graduate Mini DoTY...although the little madam did manage to break Ds trophy 2 seconds before receiving her own. AND she was adamant she needed to snog Steve LOL

So thats my last BAA show for a while. I cut down on UKA shows this season so I could chase BAA points for DoTY, but I realised at the Nationals what I could be getting out of him. So I am going to focus on training contacts over the winter in preparation for next season. I knew the EMDAC shows were changing venue, and Tailwaggers (as much as I loved those shows last year) no longer have Novice level classes of their own so it makes sense to make this transition now - traveling to Alsager for one dog in Novice+ is a bit daft, not to mention expensive! I digress..

This weekend we were at Huntindon Racecourse for the 3 day Letchworth show. The theme this weekend was for the first run of the day D would behave like he'd never done agility in his life. So yes, he got taken out. We did, however, have some great results including a 3rd in G3 jumping on Friday (and not much in it at all), a 15th in the C3-5 agility on Sat and a 7th (yes 7th) in the C3-5 agility on Sunday....yes we did better over the harder courses mainly because I shut up and let him get on with it =S He did a lovely run in the G3 on Saturday but had a pole down (no thanks to me and my nagging...again!) and was 0.something of the winning time. Stuupid handler! Inca did really well - I'd entered her in just 2 classes a day. She managed 3 sets of weaves, a clear in the C1-4 HS and was generally running really well.

So now we have a few weekends of UKA Shows so I can train his contacts in preparation for his next final. Its a bit scary that we've so few KC shows left this year!

Farewell Precious Pumpkin..

2010-08-26T12:02:00.004+01:00

Sadly during our week at Dogs In Need we said goodbye to Pumpkin.

I say sadly because it certainly wasn’t the happy ending we’d all been hoping for. We had a rather serious incident in the exercise area at Dogs In Need where D and Inca ran for the ball at the same time, as they have many times before. They growled at each other as they went to grab it, but Inca being rather sensitive at the moment (shes due in season) rather dramatically threw herself on the ground in submission in front of D. This of course had us both giggling at her being so daft but in the next second Pumpkin, who had been playing chase with Blaze, charged in and grabbed her by the scruff. It was awful - she shook her like a toy and then clamped on to her ear/head and refused to let go. We eventually prized her off, and thankfully by some miracle Inca came away with just minor scrapes and bruises.

And so I knew I had to return Pumpkin. I couldn’t risk that happening again, and I kept thinking “what if I’d been on my own”. We were very lucky. I felt awful for Pumpkin, especially after reading her medical history where she’d had to have a GA on her first day at the Mayhew as she sliced her paws trying to escape the kennel.

So on Thursday I made the journey to London to take Pumpkin back. When I arrived at the centre I took her for a final walk before going in. I cried my way through the meeting discussing how she’d been with us, what happened etc so they could decide what the next best step to take would be. It was tough because this wasn’t the Pumpkin that we knew and loved.

Later that afternoon I received the call from Dan to say that they decided to end Pumpkins suffering and she had been PTS. I felt sick.

On their Facebook Site they wrote:

Due to a serious incident in her foster home and taking into account previous unpredictable behaviours, we have today brought her life to an...... end. We believe we have tried many and varied avenues to correct and rehabilitate her behaviour but now understand that we would not have been able to responsibly find her a forever home. Please remember, as we do, the fantastic time she has spent in her two amazing foster homes over the last year and the wonderful adventures and enjoyment she experienced, much better than spending those months in a kennel environment. She is now at peace.

I do agree that this was the responsible thing to do considering all her issues and previous unpredictability but had I known this was going to be the outcome then I would have waited with her to make her final moments less stressful. She was screaming in the kennels when I left and I think that will haunt me for a long time. Perhaps they didnt know when I left or perhaps they did it to make it easier on me.. I also got the impression in the meeting that there had been a similar incident before that I hadn’t been told about. If that is the case, had I known I wouldn’t have taken her on as I wouldn’t endanger my own lot… needless to say I feel so many things about this whole experience.

Pumpkin has been very much part of our lives and our family for the past few months. She wasn’t the easiest of dogs to live with due to her separation anxiety but she had come so far and was doing so well. She was always such an affectionate, happy, bouncy & playful dog. She always made us laugh at the silly things she did like rolling on chews or burying toys in the bookcase. She loved her walks, especially the beach – the sand gave her zoomies and she liked to try and catch the waves.

Its been strange coming home without her. It all seems that little bit too calm and that little bit too quiet without her bouncing around the living room with Blaze. I do believe that sometimes they’re too damaged and I do believe that the past year in and out of kennels hasn’t helped, despite everyone trying their best. But I do wonder if things could have ended so differently..

Rest In Peace our precious sweet Pumpkin…

Introducing Blaze..

2010-08-09T22:57:00.004+01:00

I've been seriously slack on the blog as of late. I'll try and keep it better updated from now on. I'm sure I've missed out several places from UKA Nationals - but as I dont collect the rosettes I wont know until the results come up on their website. Ooops!

Anyway, I better introduce Blaze.

Hes a 9 month old failed gundog from Many Tears, and is Sis dog. We have Sheila to thank for this addition as we were setting up at EMDAC when I received a text asked if we'd seen the little working cocker on the Many Tears site. She actually meant the dog above, but Si has been after a golden working cocker for ages (I just ha vent been convinced I wanted another spaniel in the house). So, Si went home and rang them up, organised the home check and next thing you know we're driving this lot to Wales the following tuesday for intros and bringing this little lad home.

Hes obviously just been left pretty much to his own devices. He wasnt used to being in a house, and kept hiding behind the sofa from the TV, bless him. But hes coming along in leaps and bounds. He was very quiet for the first few days (not surprising when he'd also been neutered the day before he came home) but gradually started coming out of his shell. Hes now proving to be an absolute nutter =D

He and Pumpkin are like two peas in a pod. Its all play play play for them.

He LOVES his toys (after initially being terrified that they might kill him) although has yet to perfect the art of actually bringing them back, lol

This past weekend at Scunthorpe was the first time I let him off lead. I was worried he might take off if he spooked, but he surprised me and stuck with the collies, and we were even able to call him off other dogs =D

EMDAC, Adams & UKA Nationals

2010-08-09T22:51:00.003+01:00

EMDAC Midsummer Madness

Thursday we left early so that we could set up without being in so much of a mad panic before the evening ‘floodlit agility’ classes began. However, it took us much longer than anticipated due to the wind and we spent more time hanging onto the awning than actually putting it up. We finally got ours up when I spotted Leanne and her Aunt and Uncle practically taking off with their trailer tent so I ended up getting suitably soaked and helping them.

The ‘Floodlit Agility’ classes were meant to run from 6 until 10pm. However, they seriously overran and my last run was just after 11.30pm, and when I left the class was still running– Madness Indeed!

I managed to pull Pips entries for this show and instead decided to run Inca in Primary Jumping. She was fab, winning 3 classes and getting a 2nd and a 3rd in a couple others. Diesel started off well, but we had a bad day on Saturday when he was seriously distracted. He was very drifty and in one class air scented and ran along the netting as if he was looking for someone or something – hes never been that bad before and I really didn’t know what to do! Tracys dog Deefer did exactly the same, and was so bad she pulled him from the other classes that day. We later discovered that one of the caravans nearest the rings had a bitch in season and the rings were directly down wind. Bloody boys!

Thankfully we got it together on Sunday (and the caravan with the bitch in season had thankfully gone). D got a 5th in the HS class first thing, and then went on to win both the primary jumping and primary agility classes. We then had The Bitish Open Champ final which he qualified for at the June show. The final consisted of an agility round and a jumping round with the results combined. Both courses were aimed at Novice level and I was confident that neither were beyond our capabilities. He did good run in the agility ending up clear, ending up joint 4th with Bob Scotts Lottie, much to my surprise. The jumping had a very blasty start and I’m afraid I wimped out pulling him around the wing of the box towards me rather than layering it as I had intended and pushing him in, but he ran it well and went clear again. Gemma with Focus who had won the agility had gone clear so it was obvious she had won it, Rob with Chloe went clear and sadly Dylan got 5f right near the end also so it was all down to Bob and Lottie. She did a lovely super tight run and Bob handled it beautifully. We ended up 6th in the jumping, resulting in us coming 4th overall. Not bad for our first final, and I think our biggest downfall was simply lack of experience..not to mention my lack of guts, lol. Still, I’m looking forward to the finals weekend next month, although I have a feeling I’ll still bottle out and opt to play it safe when I have the option to, lol.

Inca, Diesel and Pumpkin hiding from the rain in the awning at EMDAC

Adams

This was another show that I’d entered mainly because it had nice graded classes for Pip back when she was in grade 6. I was a bit gutted when my entries came through that Inca was entered into Anysize, but then I had entered it before we went to Scotland back in April. I was even more gutted when I found out that someone who hadn’t entered at all phoned the show sec the week previous to the show and got in, camping and all.

I had a bit of a panic as we were leaving the caravan storage place. I realised I had nothing to say I had actually booked camping. My intention was to do Adams and go straight onto the UKA Nationals, but I know I can be rather blonde and just because I intended to do it doesn’t actually mean it got done. We carried on regardless, and I was desperately trying to log in to SimplyCanine to check. I eventually got in but that said nothing, and I couldn’t get the show schedule to download so I couldn’t phone to check either. Argh!

We were almost at the venue when I had another recollection – I was sure this was the show that the schedule tells you not to follow the sat nav due to a small bridge, but as I couldn’t get the schedule I had no way of double checking and no way of finding an alternative route. Well, you guessed it we found the bridge. The road it was on was far too narrow to turn the caravan around in but there was thankfully a small gate enterance so we unhitched and pushed it back (one advantage of our tiny caravan!) I was then terrified that because I was right about that, I was also right about not having camping.

When we got there and they confirmed my name – I don’t think I’ve ever been so grateful to hear my name. I swear I hadn’t I would have burst into tears, lol.
Saturday was a frustrating day of 5 faults with Diesel. In the Adams derby the first obstacle was a full width spread and he took off far too early to clear it. In the jumping he did a cracking run but knocked the 3rd pole from the end, and in the agility I cued a pull-thru far to late and the poor boy tried to wrap the wing from mid air. Inca did a cracking run in the Anysize and ended up 4th.

Sunday Diesel and I managed to get it together and he ended up 2nd (by 0.2 secs) in the G3-5 Jumping, 4th in the agility and 4th in the other jumping. He was running well, but I know hes got more to give and I’ll admit to playing it safe and not pushing him on as much as I should. I was pleased to discover he had 3rd fastest time overall. He was faster than the G5 winner, and would have been 2nd in G4 (who had the fastest time overall). Incas Anysize course was basically the same as the G4-5 Jumping with a flat tunnel instead of the weaves – a lot more naggy than most anysize! Still, she did another lovely run and again ended up 4th.

Mondays classes consisted of two G1-7 classes for each height – one jumping and one agility. Sadly there wasn’t an Anysize class but it was a lot easier to keep track of, especially with just two rings. The jumping was a very straight forward blast and I didn’t think we’d hold on to a place so I was surprised when he ended up 5th. D did another cracking run in the agility but for some reason ran past the weaves. Grr!

So then it was packing up & off to The Nationals..

The Nationals

The aim of this week was to get some serious contact work in. The plan was to do all my agility runs NFC and train them, mixing up going in with a toy and going in without. I mainly worked the courses as they were set, just breaking off and rewarding the good bits and redoing contacts I felt necessary (which really wasn’t many). This really worked for Diesel and he showed me he has indeed got another gear – he was really driving to the end, stopping dead as he should and powering on like I know he can. I know I’m at fault for pushing too many of his contacts recently. He can get away with them at BAA due to the no training policy and then at the KC shows I do get to I get too competitive (& admittedly I lack confidence myself) so I don’t hold half as many as I should or always put him back when he breaks/self releases. However, I’ve seen the potential if I do put in the work which has only confirmed my decision not to do BAA next year and concentrate on UKA and KC. I digress..
Originally I didn’t intend to enter the Nationals again but did a late entry with Diesel. It was a lovely open course the only main trap being a jump after the tunnel that you had to pull them past into the weaves. I opted to go for a steady clear hoping that I could get in with a steady run rather than break his contacts so early on. I’m pleased to say it worked and out of the 60+ dogs that entered we came 12th and qualified for Round 2.

Round 2 was another big spacious course with a touch more handing in a few places. He did a lovely dog walk and skidded down the downplank giving me heart failure in the process. In my bid to ensure he got the right tunnel entrance I went a bit too close so didn’t get ahead as much as Id have liked but I did manage to get in position to push him round the jump following the seesaw. He gawped at the jump following the tunnel despite my “D..D..Dees” as he went through so I ended up yelling a harsh “Diesel” to pull him off it, something which I probably should have done in the first place but I was worried about the dogwalk. The rest felt lovely and I was over the moon that we’d gone clear. I wasn’t sure if it was enough to get into the final as there were some super crazy maxi dogs but we actually ended up 7th. I was over the moon!

And so the whole week became about the final, although we did manage to pick up several places along the way and Inca won into Champ steeplechase. The arrival of Si and Blaze on Saturday lunchtime distracted me so I didn’t work myself up into the same frenzy that Ihad done on the Thursday. Again the course was open, the main area of concern for the large dogs being the a-frame,-tunnel (under the dog walk)– jump-weave section of the course which became more apparent the more dogs that ran. Diesels run was, if I’m honest, a bit disappointing. Hes always been a bit more cautious when the dog walk has the tunnel under it and he felt slow on both his DW and his a-frame (probably not helped by the fact he fell off the DW in his agility class in the morning). After seeing several dogs miss the weave entry due to handlers rushing them I decided I’d wrong arm them to steady them. BIG MISTAKE! He read it as a scoop and turned towards the start jump, some distance off. I managed to call him off but this then resulted in him coming in at almost a right angle into the weaves and I didn’t think he’d get it. Somehow he did and we got round. Clear. We came 4th in the end, which I am over the moon with considering the dogs we were against.

Pumpkin and Sid at UKA Nationals (Thanks to Leanne for the pic)

A bit of an update:

2010-07-07T13:17:00.004+01:00

Pippa

Pippa continues to amaze me. I still cant figure out how a dog who has had such serious surgery can be so 'normal'. This has meant that its getting more and more difficult for us to keep her quiet. Somehow she always knows when we sneak out the back door to take the others for a walk and always lets us, and probably half the village, know exacty how unimpressed she is. We're still having issues with her going to the loo on a lead. Shes always hated it and is one of these dogs that will run to the furthest corner of a field to go to the loo. As a concequence shes holding it as long as possible, so for the first few days this resulted in me stoaking her up with pow wow so she *had* to go figuring that she'd get used to it. Several bottles later and we're no further forward, although I have clicker trained her to drink on command...so how come I cant get her to toilet on command?! The wound is healing up nicely and the stitches have been dissolving. Once the hair grows back I'm not sure it will actually be that noticable. Shes already looking slightly less freckly as shes got some fuzz starting to come through on her chest.

Pumpkin

Pumpkin is our most recent foster. I went down with Sheila to pick her up from The Mayhew in London on the 10th June - 4 weeks ago tomorrow! This was when the pippa saga started so I'm afraid I've not got around to introducing her on here yet.

Shes been with The Mayhew since August last year and is only a younster so its such a shame shes been with them for so long. Thankfully shes had several foster placements, but shes still not found that perfect forever home.

Shes a big bouncy playful pup really. Shes clean in the house, shes good in the car and she loves her walks. In the house shes usually found sprawled out snoozing (& snoring) her head off. She has a senstive side and we're working on building her confidence. If shes not sure about something/someone then her reaction is to woof, although shes loads more confident when shes with the others.

She was quite anxious the first few days and followed us from room to room - we soon found out she can clear the dog gates in one bounce so she ended up sleeping on a dog bed in our room initially. However, shes now so much more settled and now sleeps downstairs in the kitchen with Rex and, touch wood, hasnt jumped a dog gate since. Shes taken the show environment all in her stride and is more than happy to wait in the van with or without companions. Shes met and made friends with several friends dogs, although is unsure of the more eyey dogs at shows.

Training wise I've started doing some clicker work with her at home which she is starting to pick up. She comes to agility and has a little play on the equipment. She has her fair share of blonde moments but she certainly enjoys herself.

If you think you could offer Pumpkin her perfect forever home, please contact The Mayhew

Scotland & Beachside

We had a fab holiday in Scotland back in April with Pip, Ted, Inca and Diesel. Rex drew the short straw and kept Mishka company in the kennels. We stayed at Wauchope Cottages again and this time stayed in Wolfelee. Rather than waffle on about all the fabulous walks I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

We came back, collected Mish and Rex and then headed off to the BAA Beachside show. It was horrendously windy for most of the week but it was great to have the beach on our doorstep.

Agility

The last show I updated about on the blog was Thatcham back at the beginning of April. Needless to say we've been to quite a few since then! Pippa won G6 jumping and agility at Dog Vegas mid May winning into G7. Sadly we've yet to actually compete in G7 as her first G7 show was the same week she had her op.

Diesel has been going from strength to strength. Its usually silly mistakes that we make, and usually more on my part than his. There are two main area that need work in the ring; contacts (which we need to proof) & me pushing him on (hes got another gear in there!). But regardless of this I am super happy with how well hes doing. We've had some great results, including a couple g3 agility 2nds, and the main thing is I just love running him.

Inca has been making the odd appearance in Allsorts and has had a few 1sts and a few 2nds (and a few Es, lol). She got the all clear a while back to do full size again so her first full height show will be this coming weekend. I'm excited to be running her again!

Hydrotherapy..

2010-07-06T14:03:00.003+01:00

I will do a proper update soon I promise. Pip is doing really well - thank you everyone who has messaged or asked after her x

Anyway, I took the video camera to Newborough Dogs yesterday and got some footage of my lot swimming. It shows off their very different swimming styles ;-)

The road to recovery...

2010-06-23T10:02:00.004+01:00

A week ago today we rushed Pip off to AHT (It is really only a week? I swear its been the longest week of my life!). However, this also means tomorrow it will have been a week since she had the surgery! Yay!

Monday afternoon we went back over to AHT to collect her. Anita talked us through the recovery process, showed us the MRI images and answered any questions that we had. Its strict rest for 8 weeks with check-ups at 1 month and 2 months. Provided everything is ok at the 2 month mark she can start having 5 minute lead walks which will then be built up 5 mins at a time each week. When her walks are back to her normal level on lead, its another 2 months before she can go off lead. It all sounds horrendous but actually it doesnt sound as bad as I feared. Shes on various tablets to; one every 8 hours, and two others twice a day. Thanksfully the routine shes on is 8am, 4pm and midnight - much better than the diazepam tablet she had to have at 4AM last week!

Its her MRI that I still cant get over. I knew there was some compression, but didnt realise how much until they showed us the images. Even Anita said they still cant get over the fact she was still walking, not to mention showing no other neurological symptoms. It does explain why they pushed for surgery being the better option when I spoke to them. At the time I really wished I could have spoken to them face to face to go over my options, but I'm now actually glad I didnt see that image then.

She is doign really well though. We've had a few complaints about the crate and shes adamant that when she goes out to the loo she should be sunbathing on the arbour so I've been guarding it with my life.

I still cant get over how lucky we've been. There was a dalmation at AHT a few kennels up from us that was in for the same problem, although the disc was slightly lower down on the spine. They'd been in for 2 weeks and the poor thing still couldnt walk. I've been thinking about that dalmation a lot, and I hope he/she gets well soon x

Coming home...

2010-06-21T11:41:00.003+01:00

I recieved a call from the vets on the morning of Friday 16th, the day after her surgery, to update me on how she was. Not only was she bright, alert and eating she was actually up about about WALKING - much to everyones suprise, including the vets! The other thing that made me smile, was they said they were having to judge how much things hurt by how waggy her tail was; if something hurt then her tail would wag less. Bless her!

On Saturday afternoon we went to visit her, really not knowing what to expect. I imagined her being kept in one of those small dog hospital cages being kept pretty confined hooked up to a drip etc. However, she was already off the drip, off the methadone and was in a small kennel with padding on the floor. She was very happy to see us, although made sure she kept an eye on passing nurses just in case they might feed her. The incision to remove the disc was actually made on the front of her neck, but was stitched up beautifully with burried stitches. She was sporting a rather fetching naked chest - I didnt realise how freckly she was, lol. Sadly we didnt get to talk to a vet due to it being the weekend, but the nurse was able to answer our questions regarding what kind of preperations we need for when she gets home. Taking a look round at the other patients as we left, I couldnt help but guiltily feel we were one of the luckier ones.

The vets have been updating us daily on how shes been doing. This morning Anita said they've got no worries with her so she can go home today. We've got an appointment booked this afternoon so we can go and have a chat with her then. I've been busy sorting out everything out for when she gets back - I really didnt think it would be this soon!!

A long few days...

2010-06-17T23:55:00.002+01:00

Yesterday morning at 5.30am Pip started whimpering whilst still lying on the sofa – she was obviously uncomfortable. She’d had her diazepam at 4am and was due her tramadol and carprodyl at 8am. However, half an hour of whimpering later I phoned Jayne who was on call. She said to bring her other meds forward and call her back at 8am. Thankfully this enabled her to drift back off to sleep again. At 8am we spoke with Jayne again and it was agreed that we’d pop Pip back in at 9.30am for a check-up as I needed to collect some more carprodyl anyway.

Pip seemed a lot more perky than the day before so Jayne decided to see how she went during the course of the day. We stopped by tesco for some groceries on the way back and just as we were leaving Pip started screaming again – she hadn’t done anything as had been lying in her crate. Jayne was a little worried Pip may have got herself worked up in the van so we took her home and got her settled. On a couple of occasions she yelped but nothing as bad as the screams day before. Until lunchtime..

Pip was lying on my lap on the sofa and started screaming again. This time I was 100% sure she hadn’t even moved. I called Jayne back and it was agreed we’d get her referred over to AHT in Newmarket. Whilst Jayne was making the arrangements, Pip had 2 more screaming sessions. It was awful; she was lying motionless, completely afraid to move and was having what looked like muscle spasms in her neck.

Jayne got back to us quickly and said we could go straight to AHT and take her in as an emergency. The worst bit was getting her in the car as I had to move her =( Its only an hour away but that journey took forever.

We didn’t have a long wait when we got there and the vet dealing with Pip did a very thorough exam testing all her reflexes but not putting her through anything more than absolute necessary. The reflexes all responded normally which was a good sign. So Pip was scheduled for an MRI, spinal tap, bloods, electrodiagnostics and possibly imaging of the chest and abdomen as it was possible the pain was actually a secondary problem. There was no point starting some tests there and then as she’d need another GA to do the rest the following day and which they did would depend on the lab results. So we left, knowing she was in the best place to both find out the cause, and to keep her comfy overnight.

The following day I received a call at 10. They were be starting a little later than hoped as the MRI was booked but they would be taking her in shortly. The afternoon took forever. I received a call just before 3pm to say that the MRI showed she’d actually slipped a disc quite high up. I was devastated. Due to the normal reflexes I wasn’t mentally prepared for that and really hoped it was something responsive to steroidal treatment. Even the vet said she was surprised as she wasn’t presenting with any of the usual neurological symptoms that you’d expect (trust pip!). However, she did say calcification had taken place in the area so something hadn’t been quite right for a while. The two main options were to give her a high dose of painkillers/steroids and rest her (but if bits broke off she could become paralysed), or for her to undergo an invasive and intensive (& expensive) operation straight from the MRI. In those few moments I had to make one of the hardest decisions of my life and decide her future from the few facts I’d managed to absorb from that conversation. I was numb. I wanted more time. Both options carried serious risks (especially given the proximity of the spinal cord), but given the location and the extent of the damage it was decided that we’d go for the operation despite the fact shes going to be in there for at least a week, and need strict crate rest for months and months.. I know shes going to hate being kept confined for so long – shes always been such an active little dog. I really hope it was the right choice. I really hope she can forgive me.

It was a very anxious wait and the afternoon felt like eternity. We eventually heard back just before 8pm. The surgery had gone well and she’d just woken up. Phew! Anita said they’d removed a lot of disc material from the site so she would now be much more comfortable in the long run but there was a lot of cord manipulation involved so she was going to get worse before she’d get better and its likely tomorrow she’ll be unable to walk.

I’ve spent all afternoon/evening wondering if I’ve made the right decision, if theres anything else I could have done, if this could have been prevented, and also wondering about the months to come. But I’m trying to stay positive. Hopefully now we’re at least on the road to recovery, even if it be a very long one.

Get well soon Pip x

Pippa..

2010-06-15T22:28:00.004+01:00

Poor Pippa has been rather poorly recently. But no one has any idea why!

Last Wednesday I took her and the others to see Christine East, our McTimoney Chiro. She had a few minor issues including some shoulder tension but nothing major. Took them home after and rested them and she was perfectly normal.

The next day Sheila and I took my lot to meet Pumpkin (who I will update about later). After meeting her ourselves I took D and Pip in to meet her. Pip just sat in the middle of the exercise room, ears down and refused to move. I simply assumed she thought she was being left in kennels as that's what she does, but I did note it unusual that she yelped a couple times when D tried to play with her (although to be fair he bruised her ear once so thought it might be something similar). When we got home I got her out the van and she yelped again as she came into the house. Something wasn't right - she was tensed right up and it felt almost like her muscles in her back/shoulder was knotted.

So I spoke to Christine asking if it could be some kind of odd reaction. She said she'd never had anything like it but to bring her back first thing anyway and she'd have a look. Wendy kindly had a look at her too and gave me some metacam to make her more comfy until the following day. She was rather stiff in the morning but seemed to be more like her normal self. I took her back to see Christine who said her upper back and shoulders was incredibly tight, but she didnt yelp when being gone over. I got her home and she seemed a lot brighter and her movement was more free again. However, she started rolling round on the rug in the lounge and then yelped and tensed right up again and started shaking. That told me it was something a little more serious than we first thought.

We saw the vet that afternoon. Clare was surprised at how tight her back was, but as her reflexes were all normal it seemed to be muscular. So we were given carprodyl tablets and advised to give her strict rest. Pip was alright Saturday morning, but really needed convincing to eat her tea in the evening which is *very* unlike her. Sunday morning she didn't want to move for fear that something would hurt, wouldn't eat and soiled her bed. We went back to the vets. They gave her vetergesic and a pain killer injection which really helped to relax her. She had a good nights sleep and seemed to improve a great deal the following day.

Sadly this morning she trundled out to the loo after having her breakfast. I was busy washing the bowls and then wondered where she was. Normally she would have taken herself straight back to bed. I went outside and there she was; stood, motionless in the garden afraid to move and shaking again. I carried her inside and she yelped when I picked her up, something which she hadnt done before. I called the vets and made an appointment. I left her in the kitchen while I got changed. When I came back down she was in exactly the same position, afraid to move, motionless with the exception of that waggy tail of hers, bless her. I tell you my heart broke, and even now my eyes well just thinking about her like that.

I opened the van door when we got to the vets and she was screaming in pain. It was awful. They decided to sedate her for xrays, take bloods and her temperature. Even then she would go from screaming one minute, to standing tensed but with that tail still wagging - even with a thermometer up her butt, bless her. They gave her vetergesic again, along with a shot of diazepam. They said if the xrays were inconclusive then we'd most likely be referred to The Grove as they were worried it could be meningitis. It was a long wait, but we eventually heard back early afternoon. Her bloods and temp were all normal. The xrays only showed one questionable spacing but it was on the edge of one of the xrays so it was more likely to be nothing at all, and certainly wouldn't result in the kind of pain that she was obviously in. It was then that Jayne started asking me about if she had beagle in her, as she'd had a beagle come in with a rare painful condition some time ago. She couldn't remember the name but wondered if it could be a possibility. It turns out she was talking about Beagle Pain Syndrome which is a type of sterile meningitis. The more I read, the more it seemed to fit symptom wise and I felt really positive as it had such a quick response to the right meds.

We collected Pip a few hours later and Jayne went thought the xrays with us. She had sadly ruled out BPS as both her temp and white count were normal, and they'd be elevated if she had it - argh! I felt like were were back to square one. So we were sent home with tramadol, diazepam and carprodyl. She wants to see how she is tomorrow and if no improvement then we will be refered.

I cant help feel that we're just treating the symptoms rather than the cause. Surely shes going to act/feel slightly better on these meds, but does that mean it will be like earlier in the week when she seems to get better, then gets worse? I'm tempted to ask for a referral anyway.

As it is, shes currently snoozing away on the sofa. I guess we will just have to see what tomorrow brings.

Huge huge thanks to everyone for the FB messages, emails, texts, calls etc. I really do appreciate it xx

Ted..

2010-06-01T18:17:00.003+01:00

We waved Ted off to his new home his afternoon. The couple adopting him are lovely and he is going to get spoilt rotten. He'll get to do agility too so hopefully we'll be able to see him at some future shows =D

On a personal level it was a lot easier than I thought, I was convinced I would be in floods of tears when he went but it all just felt so right. We are going to miss him terribly though, afterall we fostered him for almost 5 months (We've had him since early Jan) and he did so much with us. He is such a character; loves his cuddles, howls at the ice cream van, loves playing tug with D and snuggling up with Pip, he loves chasing birds and scavenging for disgusting dead fishy things on the beach. I'll confess we really did think about keeping him. He settled in so well with us, and had such a happy biddable nature. But, we got him to foster and a big part of the process is not just loving the dog as if your own, but loving them enough to let them go. Hopefully now we'll be able to go through the same process with another dog and help another in need.

I will always remember my first foster dog, Ted

Run free Mish...

2010-05-26T23:15:00.007+01:00

A week ago today we sadly had to give sleep to our dear Mishka.

The previous Tuesday Mishka had started limping on her front left leg, the one that she had the toe amputated from last year. She’d been in kennels over the weekend so initially I thought she had maybe overdone it, especially considering her arthritis. So we restricted her to the kitchen where she could rest. When she was no better the following morning we took her into the vets and got some anti inflammatories. Despite strict rest over the weekend she was still no better by Monday so we took her back in and booked her in for xrays. Unfortunately she deteriorated on that leg and it was obviously becoming increasingly more painful to walk on; she’d hold it up when standing and if she stood on it awkwardly she would yelp in pain.

We’d agreed after the last op that we wouldn’t put her through any more major surgery – it just wasn’t fair. Somehow we both knew she wasn’t coming back from this. So the Tuesday evening we spoilt her rotten. She had a whole container of pork ribs from tesco for her tea (her favourite), followed by a rawhide covered tripe chew later on. We sat on the lounge floor playing with her and the honking banana toy she loved so much for most of the evening (she’d thankfully adapted by playing only whilst lying down).
We dropped her off at the vets just before half nine. She greeted Clare, the vet, with her usual wiggly bum and trundled off happily (though obviously slightly hobbly) with her. When they rang me late morning I knew it was the call I was dreading. The bone density of the inflamed toe had changed, and there were also possibly changes in another – the cancer was back. So, the kindest thing was to let her go whilst still under the sedation. I wish I could have been with her when she went, but I knew it wasn’t fair to make her wait.

And so my beautiful gentle giant is gone, just over the age of 7. We had her for just over 5 years, and although we’ve been through so much heartache what with her and her ops shes been worth every tear shed and every penny spent (not to mention having to delay our wedding by 4 years to fund all her cruciate ops!!). I’d certainly do it all over again at the drop of a hat. She was a special girl and we were amazingly lucky to share our lvies with her. Despite all her vet trips she always went in happy. She'd yelp if it hurt but never growl. She was a wimp when it came to the washing machine; it was always out to get her apparently. In her mind she was a lap dog and if you sat on the lounge floor she'd be squashing you in an instant. She'd rub against visitors just like a cat, and we always had to warn new people that the following 'Grrs' and 'Woos' were happy sounds...

Every now and then for a brief moment I forget; I come home through the front door and expect her to be there to greet me with her usual “woo-woo”, I let the dogs out to the loo and wait for her to plod round the corner to come back in, I catch a glimpse of Rex out of the corner of my eye and for a brief moment I register him as her. And then I realise shes gone and my heartbreaks all over again. I know with time it will eventually get easier, but we will always miss her.

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge...

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food and water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing: they miss someone very special to them; who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. The bright eyes are intent; the eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to break away from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. YOU have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown

Mishka
16/01/03 -19/05/10

She had the occasional dabble at agility in the garden

She had her daft moments

her energetic moments (especially after baths)

her snow eating moments

and her terrier eating moments.

She was always amazingly good with puppies

whether they came for a brief visit

or came to stay

She was good with older visitors

even the funny looking ones wearing clothes

She did a lot of hydro, got us soaked everytime and wanted to grab the blaster when we dried her.

She enjoyed her last and final holiday at Beachside earlier this month

Where she chased the waves when the sea sucked them in

and ran away from them when they came to shore (she hated geting wet!)

Run free at rainbow bridge Mosh xxx

TAG & Thatcham

2010-04-15T14:06:00.001+01:00

I'm not sure 2 weekends could differ any more when it came to the weather, especially in just the space of a week!

I really deliberated what show to do over Easter - there was so much choice what with UKA, Dog Vegas and TAG. Sadly I left it too long so the camping filled up at DV (which had better classes for Pip) so that sealed the deal with me going to TAG. They had a great choice for G3 Large; 4 runs a day and a choice of 5 or so different classes. Sadly, it wasnt so great for Pip; 2 combined classes and just one graded agility.

On Thursday we packed up early and left home at lunchtime. We got stuck for an hour before even getting onto the A14 so it wasn't the best start...especially when it turned out to be just for hedge trimming (what numpty schedules hedge trimming during the Easter rush?). We finally got there in the pouring rain and got suitably soaked setting up the awning and windbreak. It wasn't the best sign when we had to unhitch our little caravan and push it in (with some help) to our space as my van wasn't gripping the already rather soggy ground. We were just about to put the kettle on after all our hard work when we discovered our gas lighter didn't work and we didn't have any matches. So we ended up walking to the nearest shop, which just so happened to have a Chinese takeaway next door. See..theres a silver lining to every cloud ;-)

Friday started and I really wasn't convinced that the ground would last all 4 days. It became increasingly slippy, and the pathways between the rings were getting more and more churned up. On Saturday morning the gates were closed and signs announced the start would be delayed. The show organisers had been rather clever in that they roped off extra rings, so the rings and walkways were alternated each day to give them a chance to recover. This worked surprisingly well and somehow the show managed to continue all 4 days, although the fairer weather near the end certainly helped.

I was really pleased with Pips performance over the duration of the show. I knew we didn't have a chance in the combined classes, but she did some really good work. She even managed a 4th in one of the combined classes (and guess what..they placed to 3rd, lol). Agility wise she was running well but those pesky contacts were our biggest downfall. On 2 occasions we had the fastest time by quite a margin but 5f which was rather frustrating. however, we did manage to get it together on Fridays course in the pouring rain. I couldnt run due to the ground conditions so it felt really slow. It had several traps and a sendout to a tunnel which caught a lot of dogs out. I didnt think we'd get placed, but when I went in to check at the end of the class we'd actually WON! One more to G7!

Diesel was actually quite consistent throughout the show, mainly baby mistakes on both our parts like wong end of tunnels, pulling/pushing him of jumps etc. I was really happy with how he was working, although from Saturday onwards he started being a bit creepy on his contacts, especially his a-frame so we have some work to do there. The classes were of a fair size and there was some strong competition but we managed an 8th, a 10th, a couple 12ths, as well as a few others.

Pip playing chase with Tally, another Bryning.

Ted and D having a game in the exercise area

We had a short week as we were then off to Thatcham on Thursday evening, at the new venue in Mapledurham. It was very picturesque; right next to the thames and enclosed by hills.

I do love venues with decent walks, and each day after the classes had finished (and I'd had a bit of rest, lol) we took all 4 dogs up the bridle track for a ramble up the hill, where the above photo was taken from. There were some woods that you could walk round to the left, or you could walk around the field and then back down the hill again.

Pip and D charging back down the bridle path - look at that dust!

The whole bottom section of the field was like one big rabbit warren. Ted spent most of his time with his head down the holes...so needless to say we didnt let him off!

My main aim for the weekend was to do some contact training with both Pip and D, so the majority of their agility/games runs were done NFC. In both Ds jumping runs on Fri and Sat we got E'd on the same problem; a box at the end. We've been practicing this all winter with Bob Sharpe and the smoothest and quickest way to handle it is usually to push them in the gap at the end. I tried this Friday but managed to pull him off the jump. So saturday I opted for the-round-the-wing option, but again somehow managed to pull him off. I went to training today, and guess what we did it right almost every time. No idea what I did in the ring, but I'll have to get Si to record it the next time I have it in the ring as I must be doing something different.

The highlight of the weekend was getting Inca back in the ring. It wasnt really planned, but after speaking to Wendy I was going to run her just in Casual Jumping over medium jumps. However, I decided to do both and take a toy into Casual Agility and break it down and reward her, very much like training a youngster really, and we'd see how it went on a day to day basis. Well, I was over the moon with her keenness and enthusiasm; she really wanted to be there! All her classes had 6 weaves and she did them all. He best run IMO was actually the one she did on Sunday (and got E'd in for doing an extra jump) but she really flew round that course, and flew through those weaves. I've started entering her into allsorts at some other shows, and we'll just see how it goes. I have loads I want to write about, but I'll leave that for an Inca special post ;-)

Inca hard at work between runs!

This photo was taken in one Pips steeplechase runs. No idea why she is jumping so uneconomically high, she is usually quite tight, but it was a fast course.

There are a few more pics HERE

We're doing a tour of the country this coming weekend; starting off with a wedding down in Surrey/Hampshire on Saturday, up to a show in Alsager on Sunday and then off up to Scotland on Monday. We then come back and have less than 24hrs before heading off to Great Yarmouth for the Beachside week show....so it might be a while 'til my next post!

A bit of a catch-up...(part 2)

2010-04-12T22:36:00.000+01:00

So, I started this entry ages ago (back in March!) meaning to update it, but never got around to it. I'll never catch up now so I'll just do what I can remember! We've done a couple more BAA shows/training days but I'll be damned if I can remember what we did. Lesson learnt - dont get behind on the blog!

Crufts

Wednesday was the big preparation for Crufts; washing dogs, grooming dogs, packing, dropping dogs off at kennels etc etc. For some reason even the preperation for Crufts seems so much more hard work than any other show.

As usual we stayed at the Premier Inn right next to the NEC. We arrived in time for a relaxing dinner, and it meant we had a short drive to the NEC. I always buy the drop off pass (for just an extra £2) as I hate the long walk from the car park as it just gets ridiculously busy. So Si dropped me off and I took both dogs, my bag and Incas crate and got us set up at our benches whilst Si parked the car and brought Diesels crate and the grooming table on the trolley.

I always moan about how they don't let breed exhibitors our until 4pm, but realistically I don't think I've ever got out before 5. I always have so many people I want to catch up with, so many stalls I want to visit, and various things I want to watch but somehow I end up spending most of my time in or at the collie ring.

I had Diesel and Inca entered into 2 classes each; Yearling and Good Citizen for D and Post Graduate and Good Citizen for Inca. All the classes were quite large but the biggest of ours was Diesels Yearling class with 28 entries (1 abs). We were in the ring for what felt like eternity but, aside from a few fidgets, he was a good boy and well. I almost died of shock when the judge shortlisted us. However, we were shortlisted with 10 or so others and we didn't make the final line up. I was still pleased though.

Inca was in a slightly smaller class with 24 entries (2 abs) but it was clear from the start that the Locheils weren't getting the places. I'd watched Incas full sister (from a repeat mating) Bonnie in one of the puppy classes and the judge didn't give so much as a second glance. I think Inca read my frustration like a book as she seemed to want to be in that ring was much as I did. She moved well enough but she just didnt seem to have her usual spark, although she did enjoy all the attention and cuddles outside the ring!

We had a short break before the Good Citizen classes, but as always I can never relax until all my classes are out the way. Inca was in first and the judge went over and moved the unseen dogs, but then just glanced over the seen dogs (which made up the majority of the class) before pulling out dogs for shortlisting. I'm not sure how you can remember what a given dog moves like, or is built like after judging that many dogs but there you go. Needless to say we didn't get anywhere in that class either. Thankfully Diesel had a little more luck. He had 16 entered in his class and I was hopeful given the judge certainly seemed interested in him. However, its open to dogs of all ages, the only requirement that they have their Good Citizen Bronze at a minimum. She pulled out 1-3rd but seemed to hover over D. I was over the moon when she pulled us out 4th (and some what surprised at the same time!).

More on Flickr

We watched the Dog CC (Huge Congrats again to Nat and Spark for the RCC) and then went for a wander round the stalls with D. I'd come prepared with a shopping list with all the usuals such as wormer & frontline but we did also buy nail clippers (& blades), toys, shampoo, treats etc. Eventually when the rush to leave had quietened down, we finally made our way back home. We were exhausted but I cant say the same for Diesel and Inca!

EMDAC

So, Saturday it was then off to UK Arena for the last ever EMDAC show at that venue. I'm a little sad to see it go, but the venue confirmed the right decision had been made by fencing off all the outside space so we couldnt exercise our dogs anywhere except the indoor school, which was such a shame on such a sunny day!

I was first in the ring with Pip in Novice + Jumping, her first run as Graduate. The course was straight forward and fast but somehow we made it feel awkward and unsmooth. We went clear and ended up 2nd. It went from bad to worse in her agility. A straight line start of 2 jumps followed by the see-saw should have been simple and straight forward. However, she eyed up a tunnel so veered right before the see-saw and tried to do it at such an angle she bailed and came off halfway rather awkwardly. Thankfully we got it together for the Novice + Up & Under in the afternoon. Another flowy course with one trap where you had to pull them past 2 jumps without taking either. Thankfully it ran well and felt good, and we ended up winning it. Her Triple A agility went better than expected with a super quick smooth run but with 5 faults. I had expected 15 ;-)

Diesel was hyped up. I much prefer to take him for a good run first thing to take the edge off his gobiness but couldnt with the limited space we'd been allowed by the venue. Primary Jumping was another straight forward course but I almost went the wrong way. I just thought I'd recovered when I didnt push him on enough for a tunnel so we got a refusal. Apart from that he ran really well, hes certainly getting more and more confident with working away from me in the ring, and I am getting more confident in him too. Primary agility still had the a-frame on the lowered height, I went to push him on and he missed it completely. As a result I made sure he got them in the triple a agility. Although he went clear I didnt think it was fast but apparently only 2 people had gone clear and we'd won it! Finally it was Up & Under. A fast course with a few traps and tightly spaced in placed. I was convinced I'd loose him somewhere or at the very least we'd have a pole down, so I made sure I worked the course. He did a lovely run, ending up 2nd to Rob and Chloe (well done!).

BCCoGB

Again I had entered both; Inca and D doing breed, and Pip and D doing agility. Last year the breed was held indoors, with the agility rings right outside. It was rather hectic keeping an eye on everything at times, but it was manageable. This year, upon arrival we were directed in the opposite direction. Originally I assumed they were just diverting us around the back of the showground, but it turned out they were actually at opposite ends! We were allowed to bring the car around and park inbetween, but it was still come fair treck between the two. As for hearing what was going on, that was impossible.

So, I spent the day running up and down the showground trying to walk courses, show dogs and run courses. As a result I really felt like I let my dogs down by not being able to give my full attention to any one thing.

This was more apparent with Pips runs; I have enough trouble remembering G6 courses without going off and showing a dog in a breed class inbetween walking the course and running her. The jumping course was right up her street and I got almost to the end but then, for the life of me, could not remember what way round I was meant to be doing a jump and in that slight hesitation Pip took herself off and did a tunnel. Oops! Her agility class couldnt have been any worse. It was lovely and flowy and *should* have been perfect for her. However, I'd been in the ring with D and had to make them hold the class open for me. I ran over, got Pip and went straight in. We got E'd at the second jump, but continued. Pip flew her a-frame and crashed into the back of my legs and sent me flying..in my show clothes! LOL! We did manage to get a clear in the 1-7 but it was a fast course and we're just not that quick!

Thankfully Diesels runs weer much easier to remember, although I did miss walking one. I screwed up his jumping but we managed to go clear in both his C1-4 agility and his G3 agility, ending up 10th and 15th respectively.

Showing wise, D got V.H.C in Yearling although was a bit laggy on the move. He mvoed better in Novice and looked as if he was going to do quite well but then freaked out at the judge. I was mortified and really couldnt understand why, especially considering the same judge had just gone over him. He was due in working dog under the same judge but I pulled him from that just in case. I did, however, go back in for the agility stakes class held at lunchtime and took in some food. I dont usually bait him as he drools big time, but I wanted to make sure he hadnt been spooked. I was in discussions with the bitch ring steward as I was also due in with Inca AND meant to be running Pips agility. She had kindly phoned the agility show sec and got them to hold the class open for me, but as a result I wasnt paying attention to what we were doing for moving the dog. I made a right mess of it but Diesel moved lovely. We got shortlisted and we got moved again and again. Finally after what seemed like our umpteenth lap of the ring she pulled us out first. I was over the moon as there were some good dogs in that class, including a show champ! At this point, Nat kindly grabbed D for the write up while I went to the agility. Sadly, I didnt get to watch the bitch stakes class, but was over the moon to find out Nat won it with Faith. Go Team Bryning!

After doing Pips agility I was straight in the ring with Inca, in quite a large class too. Sadly, I hadnt had any time to get her ready and Si had done the best job that he could. As soon as we entered the ring the judge wanted to go over and move us as he was doing it numerically and we were late, so she wasnt settled. Needless to say we got chucked out, but she did go on to get 3rd in Working and 1st in AOC.

The biggest achievement of the day was D winning the Chirakamoor Versatility Challenge for the best BC in both showing and agility. He got a whole stash including 2 sheilds, a big rosette, a bag of treats, and a stuffed huge leopard which he has been carrying around the house ever since, lol.

Birthday Boy...

2010-03-25T23:10:00.003Z

I will catch up with the blog at some point I promise, but I've been busy this week with my OU assignment which, as always, I left right 'til the last minute. Several nights past 3am later and its all done..phew!

Anyway, today it just so happens to be Diesels 2nd birthday (and my birthday too). So I took my bike up to Shouldam with D, Pip and Ted all in harness and braved the mud for a couple hours. It was hard work but it was worth it as we all had fun.

Of course I took lots more but as always they are HERE

He did of course get a few pressies. I bought him an octopus (after regretting not buying him one at Crufts). Its only the medium one, but it makes a honking noise, the legs crinkle and every other leg has a small sqeeker. He really doesnt understand why they dont all squeek, lol. He also got a honking banana, which Mish has taken a fancy too, and a postmans leg. So much for me not celebrating dogs birthdays...and I'm sure they all got more than enough stuff from Crufts but oh well. Perhaps next year I should ask for dog toys for MY birthday ;-)

A bit of a catchup...(part 1)

2010-03-20T22:44:00.002Z

I've been a bad blogger as of late, and need to do a serious catch-up. Since my last post we've been to the chiro, done a Bob Sharpe Training day at Megagility, been to Tailwaggers, done Crufts, done the last EMDAC at UK Arena, and been on another Bob Sharpe training day but this time at Jaynes. So its going to be a long one...

Chiro Visit

So the Thursday before Crufts did a trip up to Lincoln to visit Christine East, our McTimoney Chiro, taking with me Inca, Pippa, Diesel and Scout. It was our first visit back since Incas official diagnosis and it was good to have a chat with someone a bit more knowledgeable about these sorts of issues and 'sports dogs'. Christine said that boney deposits are actually quite common in some dogs, and although it can be as a result of RSI, it can also just be one of these things that happens in a specific dog for no particular reason at all. She said there was no real reason why Inca couldn't continue on with agility, provided we monitor her closely. Good news for a change! As for her visit, slight stiffness in her shoulders but nothing major. She has lost some flexibility in the metacarpals in the offending leg and she showed me a few things that I can do to help. D and Pip both had checkups. Ds lower spine was slightly out (curving upwards to be different) and Pip had one bone misaligned in her neck, but these are only minor things. Scout was a bit stiff in his back legs and his pelvis was slightly out but again nothing major.

Megagility Workshop with Bob Sharpe

That Saturday it was up to Grantham for another Bob Sharpe training day. It was a follow on from the last day held at Megagility, and this time I had a session with both D and Pip. D has certainly come a long way since last last workshop there, although we've still got plenty to work on. I do feel a lot of what we need is more experience and confidence as a partnership; I'm not always sure what the best way to tackle a specific course with him is, whereas with Pip I know her strengths and weaknesses. That said, I don't want to always fall into playing it safe so its good to push ourselves out of our usual comfort zones. I know I need to be clearer with my signals and its obvious when I run Pip that I give her clearer signals simply because I'm more confident in 'us'. Still, its all work in progress.

Tailwaggers

After it was across to Alsager for the next installment of the Tailwaggers series on the following day. It actually worked out quite well as it was only about an hour and a half from the training day which split the journey nicely. It was odd to see the venue not surrounded by ice and snow!

First run with D was power & speed. It was a fairly straight forward course so I opted for practicing my renewed handling skills from the day before. I did a 3 jump wait at the start, which I then worked off my arm change. D was super, and those turns were much tighter, although I didn't push for speed as I was worried about poles given that it was his first run. We ended up 2nd (by 0.01 secs!).

Tunnel Troubles was up next. A straight-forward yet confusing course of tunnel avoidance. I was completely convinced that D would fly into the first tunnel he clocked his eyes onto. He didn't, but he had a pole down half way through (down to me commanding whilst he was in the air) and then I dropped by guard and he flew into the last tunnel. Huge congrats to Leanne and Dyl for not only getting round, but winning it too!

Primary Agility was very spaced out course, starting and ending on the same jump and involving completing the dog walk twice as well as the a-frame, see-saw and 6 weaves (I'm not complaining, it was nice to have a 'proper' course!). He ran it really well, although we had a slight hairy moment in the top corner. He glanced at a jump and headed off towards it so I called to get his attention. The plan was then to flick him round the top of the jump but the angle he was now coming in at was towards me. I then got completely confused with my rights and lefts and made a right hash of any body language or commands to help him. Thankfully we managed to recover, albeit rather messily.

Lastly it was Primary Jumping, over a difficult course for primary, which I was excited about tackling; I love a challenge. Sadly a late command on my part resulted in a pole down early in the course. Near the end D eyed a jump which I managed to pull him off but as a result pushed him round the back of where we wanted to be.

Pip was rather full of it and bounced her way in and out of the venue. Her first run in P&S was awful; jumping contacts and I almost took out the judge (accidental I promise). Thankfully she made up for it later by doing a cracking Agility run, with running contacts, which felt fast and smooth and ended up 1st.

Tunnel Troubles was run over the same course. I knew she would howl her head off at every turn, but I also knew she would ignore those tunnels. Her second win!

Lastly was Jumping, a twist course that should have been right up her street. For the most past she handled lovely but we had an argument about going into a tunnel which then completely threw me (and my position) for the end. We got E'd on a pull-thru as I couldn't get into the right place.

Still, over the moon with both of them. After a lot of debating I decided to move Pip up to Graduate for the next BAA show as she had more that enough wins in both agility and jumping.

(Next part will be Crufts, EMDAC W2 and Bobs recent training day)

Last weeks RuffDogs 52 weeks pic:

2010-03-01T22:06:00.002Z

I've not been doing specific posts for my 52 weeks for dogs photos mainly as I've been posting them on here anyway. However, I felt this one deserved its own little post as it came out just how I wanted it =D (makes a change!)

This weeks theme was "eyes". I knew what I wanted; a shot using daylight that didnt include my reflection.

I then decided it would rather awsome to try and capture Diesels reflection so I tried lots of different angles with him outside and her looking out the dining room doors. Getting the focus just-so was a nightmare, especially when trying to time it with Inca looking at D (not me) and D looking at Inca (or vaguely in her direction) rather than running off round the garden.

I tried getting more outside eye detail but generally that meant loosing some of the clarity of the reflection itself. I love the reflection of her eyelashes. I just wish we had patio doors rather than french ones!

Still mission accomplished...eventually ;-)

The two '52 Weeks' sets can be seen on Flickr:
RuffDogs 52 Week Challenge
52 Weeks For Dogs

Beachside and GSD Club of UK Ob Show..

2010-02-28T18:33:00.005Z

Beachside

Another early start yesterday for the next in the Beachside winter series. I do love this venue as it has a lovely big area to exercise the dogs and you can walk for miles along the embankment. The weather wasnt exactly kind to us mostly alternating between drizzle and downpours. We did have a couple of sunny spells though. it was raining when I left so I made the decision to leave the non competing dogs with Si at home. It wouldnt have been much fun spending most of the day in the car.

Pip was full of it as usual. She did a super Novice+ Jumping run with some really neat turns and the speedy non barking weaves I know she can do. She ended up 2nd in that so I was over the moon. The SC was the same course for all levels and pretty straight forward. She ended up 5th (placed to 4th) which came of no suprise given that its against all heights. In the agility she popped out the weaves and then we had a disagreement at a jump resulting in getting E'd. In 'Beat the Judge' she got rather wound up after having 2 do the a-frame twice and so we had some naughty contacts!

Diesels jumping course was not our cup of tea. A widly spaced box at the start resulted in a wide turn and a pole early on. He did a lovely set of 12 weaves but I put an extra command in at a jump and confused him so we had a stutter. In the agility he did some cracking contacts, but I rushed him on the weaves so he popped out in his hurry to go on. Completely my fault again, oops! In the SC he did a cracking run; I'm pretty sure there wasnt much we could have improved on. He ended up 4th in that. Finally it was 'Beat The Judge'. He flew round but we had another pole down where we had to do a figure-8 over 2 jumps. We were way off the judges picked time anyway.

Before heading home I managed to enjoy some of the sunshine so took them for a walk along the embankment.

More HERE

GSD Club of UK Ob Show

I really couldn't decide whether or not to go to this show. Even when the alarm went off this morning I was still in 2 minds. We've not done any formal obedience training for months, and I'm not particularly fond of the venue; its dark, cold and smelly for a beagle terrierist. The last time we went she found a treat in the ring!

I decided to go anyway. I'd entered both her and D in Novice and Pip was drawn 9th in Part 1. I hate being drawn near the end of the R/Os as you never know how many people are actually going to turn up. As it was there were a couple missing so we got to work quite early.

She did a very mediocre round IMO. She was attentive and waggy in the heelwork but she did drift in and out in a few places and wasn't quite as focused as I'd like (although there was no sniffing!). She did a good retrieve but the final exercise was recall and she anticipated it loosing 2. So I asked if I could turn it into training so I could redo but the judge questioned me saying it was a good round so I left it as it was. We lost 7.5 in total which put us into the lead. I was a bit surprised on the marking as I've done better with much higher marks lost so I can only assume she was a fairly easy marker, but it would probably mean loads of 1s and 2s. Stays were nice and early at 10.30. The stay ring is always by the door in the first hall and its always very cold and drafty. I managed to grab a spot on the opposite wall which was more sheltered. We did the sit stay & quite a few dogs broke. Then it was time for the down..Pippa was not impressed; it took me ages to get her into the down. I assumed once she was there she would settle, but she broke part way through - shes never broken at Open before, and only had a change of position at exemptions when we first started. I can only assume she wasn't impressed with the cold concrete floor. I cant say I blame her, I wouldn't have wanted to lie on it either. But I did come away annoyed with myself for not redoing that recall, lol.

So, I did some training around the rings with D and then left. Poor D didn't actually make it into the ring, but there was quite a wait and I was only going to train it anyway. I wanted to do recall, retrieve and a few good steps of heelwork and leave it at that. We've got a lot more practising before I let him work the full round.

And so my love/hate relationship continues... I love training it, I love working out hot to get my dogs to do things and I love getting the best out of my dogs. However, I hate the extreme control element I feel from competative obedience and I hate the pressure I put on myself.

I'm not going to waste my time conditioning Pippa to do stays on a cold concrete floor - whens she ever going to realistically need that? I'm exactly the same when it comes to rain (not that D cares about either of these things - hes got far too much poofiness!).

Brancaster...

2010-02-25T18:26:00.000Z

Took the dogs to Brancaster again after hydro at Donnas. I was all prepared for getting soaked in the rain, but we had a few moments of sunshine which made a nice change. Sadly it didnt last long!

More HERE

Hydro, Newton Heath, Tailwaggers and a tour of the UK..

2010-02-22T12:25:00.006Z

Friday morning was rather hectic as I had, as usual, left everything to the last minute despite having the evening before off due to the snow. At lunch time I headed off to hydro and swam Inca, Diesel, Rex and Ted. All the snow we'd received on Thursday evening had pretty much all gone our end, however, it was still very much present at Newborough. I got my van IN fine, but got it stuck in the mud/slush trying to get OUT and had to get Mark to push me out. How embarrassing! (although I was slightly relieved he couldn't get it out either, lol)

Its amazing how they all swim so differently; Diesel is slow and steady, Inca spends the whole swim splashing so she can catch the water (and so wears herself out quite quickly), Rex is very powerful in the water and likes to follow Mark around the pool (usually with a toy clenched in his mouth..Rexs mouth that is not Marks, lol), Pip spends the whole swim squeaking but wagging her tail at the same time, Ted really wasn't sure about the whole experience at first but came out of himself when he realised its actually quite fun, Mosh hates the idea and needs lots of convincing to actually get in but once in shes another slow and steady one. I'm waiting for it to warm up a bit before she goes again - as much as the swim and heat of the pool helps her, being sat in the van when its cold doesn't.

We use two pools at the moment; Paddling Paws which is run by the Donna who also runs the dog club I work for (sadly its a bit far from us but I usually tie it in with a beach walk), and Newborough Dogs Canine Hydrotherapy Centre which is about 30 mins from us but charge just £5 per dog.

I eventually left at about 3.30 and made my way towards Preston to stay with Nat (Ds breeder) and her mum. Being a bit of blonde donut I managed to text her house phone rather than her mobile so scared the living day lights out of her when she opened the front door to take her rubbish out. Oops!

It was great to have a catch up, have parson puppy cuddles and see Ds sister Orlaith as well as all the others. How I didnt sneak a few extra dogs back in my van I dont know ;-)

Newton Heath

Saturday I went off to Myerscough College, which, rather conveniently, is about 10-15 mins from Nat house. With just 2 runs per dog I hoped it would be a short day. Sadly, it wasn't as both Pips classes followed Diesels and there were about 300 or so dogs in his class. Thankfully there were more than enough people to chat to and actually it was quite nice being able to have a natter without worrying about what I was meant to be doing etc. I really must thank Leanne for being my official coat holder for the day (and Maxine on Sunday)

I managed to muck up both the jumping classes for my dogs. I pulled Diesel from the last weave, which I am convinced was more my fault than his. As a result I decided to put in a front cross before the weaves with Pip (which I just wouldn't have managed with D) but my positioning wasn't great so I pushed her passed the 1st pole. Argh!

Thankfully the agility runs were better. My main aim for this weekend was to get Diesels contacts sorted. I've been running them at comps recently and so hes been pushing them. I could have kicked myself at the last UKA when he won the agility and then blew his dog walk in the P&S because before I went in I had originally planned to do NFC and train it. I want to make sure we hang on to the wonderful drivey 2o2o I know he can do. Thankfully I did hold those contacts as we got E'd near the end at the box. I was coming down the left and needed to flick him round to the right. He did go right but took a different jump.

Pippa didn't seem her usual self around the courses. She was tearing about in the exercise area as normal, but inside she just didn't seem overly impressed. As I said I made her miss her weave entry in the jumping, which was a shame because it was a pretty straight forward course. She did an okay run in the agility, which was the type that usually would have been right up her street; nice and tricky, but dropped her nose down at one point for a sniff. She ended up coming 3rd, just over a second between her and first so it was a bit frustrating as I know usually shes capable of much more.

We finished just after 4.30pm and so I took the dogs up to Beacon Fell (as recommended by Nat) for a run. We walked for about an hour, but I was worried about not being able to find the car so headed back as the light faded. I could have stayed up there for hours. I love my walks almost as much as the dogs do!

I met a local couple with their 2 dogs at the summit and the dogs had a fab time running in circles and getting filthy while we had a chat. Ted wasnt to impressed about not being able to join in, but I didnt dare let him off as he wanted to take himself off even with me attached!

(taken on my little camera)

more HERE

Tailwaggers

(taken on my phone)

I tried, rather unsuccessfully, to sneak out of the house without waking everyone up to set off to Tailwaggers down in Alsager. There was a slight dusting of snow when I left but the nearer to Alsager I got the deeper the snow became. The smaller roads were rather dodgy to say the least and my van and I had a few disagreements about which way we should be going despite me driving about 2mph! Thankfully I knew if worst came to worst there was a premier inn right near the venue that I could always stop over at, but thankfully it wasn't needed.

Diesel again worked really well all day. I made sure he got and stopped on his dog walk in the agility. We had a pole down later but he ran well. Even with 5 faults he still ended up 5th (and got another PINK rosette, hes going to get a complex!). the jumping was quite a tricky course for Primary but nothing that he wasn't capable. Unfortunately he popped out halfway through the weaves, no idea why, but I do wonder if maybe I did something, maybe I was pushing him too much?? Besides that he did a really fab run, again ending up placed (6th) despite the 5 faults. There weren't many clears! In the afternoon we managed to get it together. I handled the Triple A agility all wrong. I had planned to front cross before the a-frame but wimped out resulting in me having to flick him away from me after the next jump not once, not twice but THREE times. I'm sure we could have been a lot tighter if I had, but he managed to win that anyway. His final class was primary up & under, consisting of just jumps and tunnels. I was convinced we were going to get E'd right at the start as it consisted of 2 jumps and a tunnel in a straight line, only you didn't do that tunnel and had to pull them off and send them into another tunnel. Somehow we managed to get round clear and ended up winning that too, followed by Dylan who came 2nd (Well done!)

For some reason Pippa was a completely different dog and back to being FULL of it. She FLEW round the agility course, running all her contacts and howling her head off along the way. She ended up winning that, and beating the big dogs too. The Novice Jumping was a really twisty course; the type that are usually perfect for us provided I can get it right. Again, plenty of howling but we got round clear and ended up winning that too. Sadly we didn't have the same luck in the afternoon. The Triple A Agility just wound her up more and more, and I swear she would have jumped off the a-frame from the top if she thought she could get away with it! The Up & Under course was actually IMO easier than the primary and should have been a real blast for us. She was working out really well and flying so I was pushing her more and more. Unfortunately I got lazy and didn't go far enough for one of the jumps so she ran past it. Oops!

Huge congrats to Leanne & Dylan and Emma & Bailey for their agility wins.

I finally left about 4.30pm, stopping at my Dads in Oakington for a roast and a film before eventually returning home. Totally exhausted, but I never do things by halves ;-)

Hare n Hounds..good handler, bad handler

2010-02-16T17:19:00.004Z

On Friday night I drove up to Harrowgate ready for the Hare N Hounds show at Richmond Equestrian Centre. It should have been a straight run up the A1 but there was an accident so we got diverted off along the A606 towards Oakham - nightmare! I eventually arrived just after 11pm. I still had about 45 mins left to drive to get to the show, and as judging started at 8am(!) so it was an early start. I really flet like I hadnt slept.

Diesel ran well but sadly I let him down. He was rather wild in his first class and it was a tightly spaced jumping course. I swear we did each jump about 3 times too many, lol. In his agility classes it was silly mistakes; a missed contact, a refusal, and admittedly I accidental tried to kill him on one course too when we had a small *ahem* collision ;-) The best run of the day was the C1-7 jumping. Sadly I had walked the wrong course so was totally confused where I was going. He made a really good run, I got my turns in where I wanted but misjudged the spacing of 2 jumps and so lost him over a jump. Gutted, but he was a good boy. I need to get my act together and proof those contacts in competition tho, as hes started pushing them due to me pushing him a few too many times (Bad handler!)

Pips classes were all combined so it was more for experience than any chance of getting anywhere. Her first course was right up her street, but she decided to pretent she'd never done agility before and came off the see-saw sideways. I'm always thrown when she does something so utterly stupid. I carried on and she howled her way around the course at me. Although her other agility class was much better, she broke her wait so we got E'd right at the start as I put her back (good handler). She did go clear in both her jumping classes, although she didnt give her all in either run. I was really pleased in how we tackled the 1-7, but she went off to investigate a pile of light coloured sand near the end (which I'm convinced she thought was horse poop) so we lost some valuable time.

Ted did lots of work in the exercise area and around the rings. I will admit that I was slightly dissapointed that none of the classes had weaves, apparently they couldnt peg them down on the surface (shame I wasnt running Inca!). But we still had fun, despite the lack of rosettes =D

Talking Dogs Rally..

2010-02-16T15:39:00.002Z

Talking Dogs Rally

Last Thursday I went on a Talking Dogs Rally workshop with Pip. I went to their judging workshop 1 back in Jan with a couple friends, Nic and Sheila. It was our first experience in Rally so maybe not the best way round to do it; the scoring section was a bit overwhelming! However, we had fun and certainly found it insightful. We're going to go back

So Thursday I arrived bright and early with Pip. We were straight into it and worked on a couple Level 1 courses. Its a lot less formal than competitive obedience, but still technical in its own way, especially when it comes to trials and points! We then were split into 2 groups and each worked together to design a course, and we then did both courses after lunch. Pam then set up a level 2 course outside, whilst Becky set up the level 1 and level 2 bonus stations inside and we all worked at each. The greatest achievement was getting Pip to do a figure of 8 OFF LEAD around 4 food bowls with kibble (or cheese when it as Pams course) in them!

There are photos from the day on the TalkingDogsRally Facebook page - HERE

The funny thing was I had a message from Nat after posting a link to the pics on facebook to say that the black&white collie in the pics is a Bryning (Spark/Kes. Talk about a small world!

Brancaster..

2010-02-16T15:18:00.003Z

I went to Donnas yesterday to take Rex, Inca, Diesel and Pip to Hydro. Afterwards I stopped at Brancaster to give them a run. Poor stinky wasnt impressed about being left in the van =( Hopefully it wont be too long until she can start having some fun off lead again, even if it will initially be without the others.

It was cold and grey, but it doesnt bother them. They're far too busy having fun. Being half term it was busier than usual, but that meant there were lots more dogs for them to play with. The tide was out so there were lots of shallows and lots of seaguls for Ted to chase. I'll admit when he first shot off I didnt expect it as they were some fair distance away. I started to worry as he dissapearred into the distance! Thankfully (and this is the only time I will say it, lol) he also has the 'spaniel scream' when hes gets really excited so they all took off long before he got to them and he so gave up and returned. I kept a closer eye on him after that and kept him occupied with a toy.

they can fly too

Admiring the sea

More HERE

Birthday Girl..

2010-02-14T21:07:00.003Z

Its Pips birthday today. Shes 6! I cant quite believe it as it seems only yesterday that we drove her back home. She screamed her head off all the way and has been causing trouble ever since ;-)

Podgy Pippa-pup

I always say I'm not doing presents but somehow she ended up with not one, but two new beds (a cat cosy and a pink house for the car) and a couple packs of fish skins. They also all had a bonio rawhide today.

She adores this bed as she really likes to snuggle. I even have her snapped upside down

But shes not impressed that I've been telling everyone her age

Nom!

Unfortunately Ted is also just the right size to fit into it and appreciates it just as much as she does...perhaps I'll have to get another ;-)

ZZzzzz..

Brancaster..

2010-02-10T10:08:00.003Z

I the dogs for a run at Brancaster Beach yesterday after agility training, taking advantage of the lovely sunshine. I wanted to go Monday but I was suffering with a migrane for most of the day. After about an hour and a half on the beach the sky suddenly turned black and the temperature dropped so we made our way back to the car. I'm glad we did as I'd just got in when the heavens opened with quite heavy snow/sleet - I hadnt even been wearing a coat on the beach!

Still, the dogs enjoyed themselves and got a good run. its one of the few places I trust Ted off as its so open. Hes usually too pre-occupied chasing the others to worry about going off hunting. As always we met a fair few dogs. Last time Pip had an absolute blast with 3 Irish Wolfhounds (she loves big dogs that are up for a game of chase!). This time it was Diesels turn to find a friend and he had a great game with a lurcher. i'm sure those two could have run and run for hours!

Ready to go..

Charge!!

Having fun

they can fly too

Admiring the sea

Double trouble!!!

More HERE

EAWS and MBCC..

2010-02-08T18:53:00.003Z

EAWS

Saturday was an early start and off with Wendy to the last instalment of the East Anglian UKA winter series.Its was a very frosty misty morning when we left but it turned into a really beautiful sunny day (until it got all misty again anyway).

Diesel was first in for Beginners Agility. initially I was going to run NFC and train his contacts but the course was such a blast I decided to run it. He did a stonking run, doing his little wingy frustrated noise that he does when his legs aren't going as fast as he wants them to despite him doing 110mph. Admittedly he pushed his contacts BUT they had the speed that he has in training. When hes up a gear and goes that fast my heart always skips a beat over the dog walk as I'm convinced hes going too fast, lol. Anyway, he ended up winning it and finally getting those 2 agility points we needed to progress to novice.

In P&S he was *completely* wound up after playing with 'his girlfirend' Fig in the queue (According to D queues are for making lady friends...although to be fair for some bizarre reason on Sat he was equally willing to go either way and especially likes Bridgets JJ). He was leaping about like a crazed beast so needless to say we didnt reach the speed section.

In his jumping we missed walking the course as I'd been helping Wendy with the measuring over lunch (for our entire lunch break!). Thankfully Amelia let us walking between heights and it was a pretty straight forward course. Unfortunately for some unknown reason D couldn't get the weave entry and I think it was 3rd time lucky by the time he did get it right.

Finally Novice SC which was right at the end of the day. The course was quite tricky to remember, although ran quite straight-forward. there was just one bit near the end which I wasn't sure how to handle; I could have pulled him towards me round the wing, or pushed him away from me provided I could get there. I decided to try pushing him as that's what I would have opted for trying first in training. Unfortunately it didn't work. I didn't cue it early enough and I couldn't get there fast enough due to my positioning after the final tunnel.

Pippa was her usual all or nothing self. I trained both her Agility and P&S runs and in both she was completely wild. Champ jumping was a typical fiddly Pippa course (again provided we could get it right). It started off basically flick flack push through which felt a bit messy but we managed to get round and ended up winning it. Champ SC was at the end of the day. Both Wendy and I missed walking the course as we'd been walking the Novice. By the time we got there, although judging hadn't started yet they'd said we'd had more than enough time. I get the feeling they wanted to go home! Thankfully the course wasn't too tricky, just with one trappy section where there was quite a run past a number of jump faces to the end sequence. Thankfully I somehow managed to remember the course, but the beagle terrierist went off sniffing right near the end. Amusingly we actually ended up winning it as no one else managed to go clear. Not that she deserved it (although perhaps I do for remembering where I was going!)

I also ran one of Wendys dogs Tishi. Shes being a host dog at the IFCS in May so Wendy thought it would be a good opportunity to get her some experience with running for other people. I ran her in Champ Jumping, Dave did Champ P&S and Alison did Champ Agility. She actually ran very similar to Pip, with the exception for the speed through the tunnels which I wasn't prepared for initially (so she had a quick visit to mum whilst I caught up).

Huge congrats to Brissie for his first win!

After it was back home to wash D and then headed off to Britby for the MBCC the following day. Thankfully as Inca wasnt doing agility I was able to wash her on Friday. There was no chance of being able to keep D clean at an agility show!

MBCC

Again we managed to stay just a couple mins away from the venue so we got to enjoy a cooked breakfast before judging starting at 9am.

Diesel managed to get Res(4th) in his yearling class (3rd and above qualifies for Crufts 2011!). Hes out of coat at the moment, though thankfully not quite as bald as he was at this time last year.

I had to send Si off to start getting Inca ready as in the bitch ring they were already on Post Grad. Thankfully I *just* had enough time to get Incas coat ready although I would have preferred if it wasn't quite such a rush. I wasn't sure how she'd do as I'd entered her in Limit (before all this trouble with her wrist). If I'd had my way I'd probably have dropped her back down into Post Grad. Shes not exactly done a lot since Dec! As it was she went really well and genuinely seemed happy and bouncy to be doing something (especially involving attention on her). She went really well and moved beautifully, and at that nice pace I was pushing for last year. We'd been ordered numerically and I was surprised when the judged pulled me out for the shortlist. Unfortunately she kept pulling people out and ended up with 8 or 9 in total, and we didn't make the final cut. Still, it was a strong class of 18 so I was still pleased with that result.

I had a short wait before the working classes and it was really neck and neck as to who I would get back in the ring with first. They were really getting through the classes and didn't stop for lunch. It actually ended up being the same time so I had to get the dog ring to wait for me whilst I went in with Inca. Again, she moved and showed herself off. It was only a small class but I thougth the bitch from the open class might win it. However, to my sup rise Inca managed to win. So a quick exchange of dogs and into the dog ring with D. Again only a small class but D managed to come 2nd.

It wasn't very late so we decided to stick around and watch the dog and bitch challenges. Sometimes when we've got further to go back home and its getting late I admit we'll leave almost as soon as I'm done, or just watch one. They did the Bitch CC first, then the dog. By this point I was feeling the cold so decided to load up the car and let the dogs out to the loo before heading back.

We were just about to leave (as ignition on, waiting for sat nav, lol) when a kind soul (thank you!!) knocked on my window to ask if I was no 10 as they were about to do Best Working Dog in Show. I didn't realise they did it and because Inca was beaten in Limit knew she wasn't needed for the challenge. I ended up grabbing Inca and running all the way back to the ring in my trainers. As soon as we got in the dog judge came over to go over Inca. She was very bouncy and excited from the run from the car so was a right fidget. Thankfully she settled and went on to beat the dog to be awarded Best Working Dog in Show. The trophy was a memorial cane (Si joked that they obviously heard about her recent injury, lol). I'm just dreading the photos with me in my white trainers...ahaha!

Happy smiley Inca looking cheeky (She was busy offering bows and all sorts while the judge was going over the others)

Inca hard at work between classes

New Layout..

2010-02-02T21:48:00.002Z

I've been playing with different layouts since before the new year. I had an autumn one and an snowy one but somehow I never quite liked them enough to bother using them. This one I made last week and finally got around to uploading it and getting it to work with blogspot today (something which I never quite got round to doing properly on the last one). It will still need a few bits tweaking but it makes a nice change.

I've signed up to doing Race For Life again this year with a few others from Racingredd.

If there are any other blogspot users that would like a layout perhaps I could do you one in return for a sponsorship donation?

Somewhere new..

2010-02-01T16:52:00.002Z

Mondays are usually one of the days that I usually take the dogs for a longer run somewhere. Unfortunately I really wasnt feeling up to taking them to the beach or Shouldham on my own so we took them up the road to next village, Friday Bridge, and parked down Laddus Drove. We walked along Laddus Bank, past Common Farm and the allotments to the Orchards in Upwell before heading back as Si had a meeting, so probably just under 5 miles.

The orchards at Upwell

Along Laddus Bank back to the car

Stags Holt Wind Farm

Pippa pouncing on D

The hairy beast himself

Ted

More HERE

Change of plans..

2010-01-31T22:52:00.004Z

Training Day

Yesterday Wendy picked me up and we headed towards Jaynes for another of Bobs training days. This time I was meant to be doing one session with Pip and the other with D, whilst Wendy did one with Scout and the other with Brissie. However, we had a call on the way to say it was cancelled due to the weather (again!). There had been a slight scattering of snow overnight with us but apparently there had been more their way and the ground was pretty solid from the hard frost so the decision had been made to cancel. So we decided that we'd take the dogs for a run and then head home.

As it was we'd somehow managed to pull over right next to a track when we got the call so it wasnt like we had to go far. Wendy had all of her dogs whilst I had Pip and D. Pip thought Mocca (podengo) and Brissie (laekenois) were great fun, although she was a bit confused with which collie to stalk, lol. Pip loves having a game of chase and loves to be chased too.

We got back to the van and there was another message saying that they would go ahead with one session starting at 1pm, so we stopped for a bite and made our way there.

I decided to just work D in the session as I think we both could do with the experience. I was really pleased with how well he was working, although I cant say my performance was anywhere near as good. I've managed to get away with using one arm/shoulder signals for flick flacks with Pip, and with D so far, but Bob suggested it might be easier for D long term if I use 2 to give a clearer signal. I'm always open for suggestios but this of course meant I was too busy concentrating on what my arms were doing and not when/where I was giving my commands so I failed miserably at the pull-trus we then started working on. Oops! Anyway, I really enjoyed it even if I was a little dissapointed at not being able to work Pip too.

Hydro

I started swimming Inca in the hope it will help get her fit again without putting too much stress on her carpal joint. Rex has been going too as he loves the water. Mish suffers with stiffness more after being cold/damp so I am waiting for the weather to improve slightly before she returns to the pool.

Ideally I'd like to swim her twice a week but our local pool has unfortunately put up their prices. Last week I took them to the pool run by the club I work for. Sadly its about 30 miles away so again a bit too far to do twice a week but its not too far from the beach walk I usually do with the others so fine for once a week if I can tie it in.

I picked up a leaflet recently about a new pool thats opened not too far from us. There were advertising £5 introductory swims on Sundays in Jan so we booked them in for a swim today to check out the facilities. Its a greyhound kennel and pool was purposefully built to help improve the fitness of their own dogs. They basically said if we can come between 10am-1pm then we can swim for just £5 as thats when they swim their own dogs and they'll already be someone in a wet suit. On fridays they swim their 'oldies' so they increase the pool temperature slightly.

So, thats good news for us and should mean that I can take Inca a couple times a week for swims. The new one is certainly easier for us but if I can tie in the club one with a beach walk then I will.

Todays walk

I had hoped to go somewhere to take the dogs for a longer run today but I'm full of cold and really not feeling well so we took them up the field and then walked back along the old canal path.

Both Pip and D occasionally kick up dirt with their back legs after peeing.

Playing chase

Ted looking for birds to chase

D looking cheeky, and nicely covered in mud

More HERE

52 Weeks For Dogs..

2010-01-27T20:13:00.003Z

This year I am doing both “52 weeks for dogs” and the “Ruffdogs 52 week challenge”. Essentially this just means submitting a photo taken each week but the two groups do have different criteria.

For 52 weeks for dogs I had to choose a subject for the duration of the year. Collies had sadly been capped so I decided to do Pip. With Ruffdogs you can use different subjects each week but they do set themes every other week for a bit more of a challenge. So far I have submitted different photos for each group each week, but this week I decided to do the same, therefore combining Pip as my subject and the Ruffdogs theme: “a colour”.

Some of my favourite photos of Pip have been in the woodland surrounded by the warm glow of the autumn sun. Sadly I can’t rewind the seasons, but I decided that I would try and do something based on browns/golds.

And so, somehow this ended up with me crawling around on the floor in the dark playing around with different lighting effects using various household items, camera propped up on an Argos catalogue (I dont have fancy lighting equipment). Pip didn’t mind. She knew it meant lots of treats.

This particular photo wasn’t one that I had intended to use but when I saw it on my computer I knew immediately it would be the one I’d submit. I love the colours, the lighting effect, the shadows, the informality, her expression.

The two sets can be seen on Flickr:
RuffDogs 52 Week Challenge
52 Weeks For Dogs

New Friends?

2010-01-26T16:10:00.005Z

The field up the road is one of our default walks if I don't take them elsewhere that day, so although we don't walk up there every day we usually walk up there several times a week, and I have been doing so for the last 5 (almost 6) years. There are 2 main areas; a big grassy area and then an old orchard, both with a path around the outside. I usually do a couple of figures of 8s around both, especially as D and Pip *love* chasing each other through the trees.

On Sunday as we were approaching we saw a white escort van with 3 men hammering something into the long grass. It did strike us as odd as the path we use is purposefully blocked so as not to allow vehicles down it. The only way to get a vehicle into the field is going down a farm track in a neighbouring field and then coming down the side of the orchard opposite (which involves cutting over grown branches!). We carried on our usual walk, avoiding the area they were in until they left. It turned out they had been hammering in 2 metal stakes with chains attached. That could only mean one thing..horses! Sure enough, on the way home we passed 2 men marching 2 horses towards the field, along with 3 more men in a van. Needless to stay I didn't stop to ask questions. However, it did make me worried that I wouldn't be able to run our dogs up there offlead any more.

As I took D, Pip, Ted and Rex to Brancaster yesterday, today has been the first opportunity to see how both horses and dogs would react to each other. Although my lot are fine with horses in fenced fields, and Inca and D have both worked sheep in the past, I wasn't sure how they would be with these tethered horses or indeed how these particular horses would react to dogs. So, we took Pip, D and Ted up the field after agility. Both were a little uncertain and approached cautiously but curiosity got the better of both horse and dog. After a quick sniff they all carried on as usual, so I'm pretty sure they wont be a problem. The only issue I am going to have will be stopping D from eating all the horse sh*t! horrid dog!

Needless to say Ted stayed on his flexi

D approaching cautiously..until he lost all interest in the horses when he discovered their mess! (yuk!)

Pip. The markings on this one are utterly cute - black eyelashes on the left eye and white eyelashes on the right

D doing his best collie impression stalking Pippa in the orchard

Which he then ruins by bouncing about like an idiot and play bowing trying to get her to play

More HERE

Ted and Stinky..

2010-01-22T22:28:00.004Z

Ted

I cant believe we've had Ted 2 week today. In some ways it seems like yesterday, in others it feels like hes always been here.

We took him to my dads house on Wednesday evening as I thought it would be interesting to see how he reacted somewhere on his own. He slept under the table while we ate dinner, he got fed fresh roast beef by my dad in the kitchen afterwards, he slept upside down on the sofa while my dad snored his head off next to him. This being my dad who doesn't usually like dogs, and Ted the little man that no one seems to want. TBH I think they seem the perfect match ;-) I daresay Ted was probably better behaved than any of my hooligans would have been (although I don't really like to admit it lol).

Ted chewing on a rawhide in the lounge

At the beach

More HERE

Inca

As I mentioned Inca had her xrays sent off to The Grove at the end of last week. The report came back midweek and they have concluded that the lump is a bone spur that's formed due to a RSI injury in her carpal joint. Its likely, especially given that Inca isn't exactly an OTT collie, that something in her wrist isnt quite working as it should which is why the lump has formed. Either way they recommended 4-6 weeks strict rest and then start building up her exercise. They then said it will be a case of seeing what shes happy doing.

Technically theres no reason she cant continue doing some agility once shes built up her fitness provided theres no lameness when shes done it (or seen whilst building her fitness up), but it will mean what and how much she does is toned down and she will be monitored closely. I'm not concerned what she does as long as shes happy and comfortable: shes a pet first and foremost and that means her health and well being come first! I want to give her a complete break from agility for 6 months or so and just concentrate on gradually building back her fitness and seeing how she copes with that. So, time will tell but thankfully shes a dog equally happy to relax on the sofa all day.

Sheringham..

2010-01-17T22:12:00.004Z

No shows this weekend so we decided to take Pip, Diesel and Ted to Sheringham today for one of our longer walks. We originally had planned to do this walk over the xmas break but the weather was against us. We've not been to Sheringham for ages and we were a little dissapointed to discover that they're currently in the processing of felling quite a lot of the trees so there are lots of detours from the normal route. It did, however, make for a more interesting walk as obviously there were lots of new bits to explore. What can I say..I love my walks as much as the dogs do ;-)

The beach and cliffs

Pippa in the woodland. I love these colours!

Diesel having fun on the beach. It is a pebble one but they're not sharpe, just hard work (not that D is put off, or Pip for that matter)

I had hoped Ted could have an off lead run on the beach as I knew it would be enclosed by the sea on one side and the cliffs on the other but there were crabs *everywhere* and apparently these are a bit of a delecacy to him...yuk!

He still got to run around on the extendable with Incas (purple) harness

More HERE