Monday 26 January 2009

This is Brax almost asleep on my lap at work last week. She could sleep on a washing line! At home Bracken is probably the laziest dog I know but she is so full of herself when she is doing any training.

Bracken could turn her paw to most things, she has been placed in obedience and always loved Heelwork to Music although Matthew is not as keen! I have taken her to do training demos out and about and she demos tricks in my training classes with loads of enthusiasm. I might steal her from Matthew for some HTM....

I have added a short clip of Brodie at agility training recently. He is getting to grips with weaves within a course now and we are trying to practice as much as possible before our first KC show in March. He had a nice break over Christmas so we are back to doing a couple of training sessions a week. As you can tell by the photo, Brodie has such a hard life!

Thursday 22 January 2009

I have been trying to stick to my New Years resolution of doing a bit of running to get fit after all the Christmas chocolate! I have found an ideal running partner in Brodie who happily trots along next to me but Brax has decided that staying at home next the radiator is much better! Its hard to get motivated after being at work all day but I'm trying to go at least three times a week. I don't want to get half way round an agility course and collapse!!

Brodie and I had a good practice session yesterday at work doing a few pull throughs. He can concentrate for about 15 mins and then his brain turns to mush! Its a bit muddy to run courses so I'm trying to sneak in some quick waeve practice when I can as well. Brodie has taken a while for the weaves to 'click' so now I need to work on making it more tricky by trying to get away from him. He can be a bit of a velcro dog!

Monday 19 January 2009


Another hairy family member is my pony Max (posh name Glenbanchor Treshnish-its a mouthful I know!). He's a Highland pony who I bought a few years ago from a lady in the Highlands. Max is a lovely pony, very cheeky but he's so sweet he gets away with it! I mainly enjoy hacking him out and schooling but we have taken done dressage, jumping, sponsored rides, showing and TREC events. I didn't know it when I bought him but he was born on my 18th birthday!
I have owned Shelties since I was 13 years old and this gorgeous girl was my 13th Birthday present (still the best pressie ever!). Bramble was a fantastic dog who had a local fan club and was even allowed to come on school trips and go into all the local shops. She was 12 when we got Bracken but she taught her some manners and also how to get her own way! Bramble never competed to any level but we had fun dabbling in agility and obedience training. Sadly we lost her at 14 but we wouldn't be without a sheltie now, they are such a lovely breed.
This is Bracken (posh name Mountland Made In Heaven) chilling out at an agility show last year! She is three years old and absolutely loves doing agility with my husband Matthew. She is a bit of a diva and is either brilliant or terrible but we have been working hard on getting her to be more consistent. Brax did so well at her first season of agility, coming third in the Agility Club Starters Challenge Finals, getting up to Grade 3 and gaining her Agility Warrant Silver. Not bad considering she is only just over 11 inches high!!


This is Brodie (Chandling Ebony Charge is his registered name). He is almost two years old and is a real sweetie. Brodie is a true allrounder having won breed show classes, obedience and his first agility class (UKA) in his first year competing. This year we are looking forward to doing some KC agility shows and hopefully following in Brackens paw prints! I also enjoy teaching Brodie a few tricks and he has just mastered 'beg' and is very proud of himself!

This is my Mum with our two shelties, Brodie and Bracken. I took this while we were walking last year on a rare sunny day! It was a beautiful walk through the pine forests and the heather and the dogs enjoyed all the new smells!