Adams agility show

We had a busy weekend away at Catton Hall for Adams show and didn't get home until Monday hence the lack of blog updates! The dogs were travelling in style in their new car crate

The poor dogs were definitely ready swop us for new handlers on sunday! We had a cracking graded 6-7 course which had tunnels under A frame and dog walk and required the ability to work your dog at a distance. It also included the weaves and dog walk twice each! I was so proud of Toad as he was one of the few dogs to get round all the tricky bits and he was fast and clear until I pushed him over the start instead of the finish - arrgghhhh!!! I knew there was a chance of that happening and I had meant to be on the other side of the dog walk but he surprised me by working faster than I had anticipated. I was very proud of him working so well despite me!! Brax got a jumping win on the sunday but her and Matthew really got it together on Monday winning the G7 agility and jumping and getting 3rd in the helter skelter. This is a video from my phone of her jumping win on Sunday

Brodie ran like a star in the Graded agility and won by over two seconds, I can't believe he has a second Grade 6 win already! He was going nicely in the jumping and unfortunately I just dropped my arm on a 90 degree turn and he did what he was supposed to and came in to me. It was my fault for trying to front cross before the weaves whereas I should trust that I can rear cross on the weaves (which he did perfectly after he'd been eliminated). He ran well in the helter skelter and was clear but just out of the placings.
There wasn't any videos of Brodie doing agility but I thought I'd video one of his little habits that makes me laugh! He has this funny quirk about rubbing like a cat on the feed bins at work - it always concerns me that he likes the Bakers one best!!

Puppy pictures - awww!!

Matthew and I were sorting out some of our photos the other day and I found some adorable pup pictures! Seeing as I didn't start this blog until they were competing, I thought I'd pop a couple on here (also it may help my case for number 3..!)


Brodie was 10 weeks when we collected him but right from day one he liked sleeping on his back with his feet in the air! This is him relaxing at Brax's first agility show

This is Brodie age 4 months at his first 'Sheltie Camp'

Rugby Show

The dogs were at Rugby show this weekend and Brax was doing both Champ class and the Crufts team qualifier. Rugby is a big show and it has a very high standard of competition as there are a lot of qualifiers but it still manages to retain a nice atmosphere. Although I wasn't there to cheer on the saturday, Brax managed to get through to the champ final but unfortunately got eliminated due to a handler error! Matthew ran Brodie for me on the saturday and they got a 4th in the G1-7 agility - Yay go boys!!

Brodie and Brax did really well on the sunday, no placings but all clear rounds, including on a tricky C6-7 jumping course. I'm loving the challenge of doing some of the trickier courses and seeing how different people handle it. All the Sheltie Club teams did really well in the qualifiers, it was a case of nearly but not quite!

I have been busy today driving round the M25 and M4 to have a new dog tailguard fitted so that the shelties can have the run of the boot! It looks fab and I can't wait for the next few shows to try it out!

More videos!

This is another video of Brodie practising his dog walk contact with Matthew running him.

As a contrast this is Brax practising her 2 on 2 off contact.

Some people have said its weird that our dogs have different styles of contact but I'm a great believer in training each dog as an individual and doing what suits that particular dog. When I'm training other peoples dogs take into account their confidence, drive, stride length and what motivates them amongst other things. One thing is for sure, Brodie and Brax are like chalk and cheese!!

New videos

I have finally got the videos off the camera of Matthew running Brodie over contacts for the first time. He started off a bit unsure but by the end he was flying! Because this video is better quality than my phone, its easier to see how Brodie is changing his striding to get his dog walk contact.

This is another video of Brodie doing the dog walk. Thanks to Lian for lending us her 'hit it' board as its definitely helped Brodie realise exactly where to put his feet!
I will try and put a few more training videos on here and a few runs at shows now I've worked out how to do it!!

Bretford Show - Brodies 1st G6 win!

Bretford show was such a nice day out yesterday! It was fairly small, had good ground and nothing was too far away from the rings. Both dogs had an agility run early in the morning and both managed to win their class! I was really pleased with Brodie as it was a graded 4-7 and he was the fastest clear over all the grades. I really didn't expect to get a Grade 6 win so I'm still a bit shocked but very proud of my wee man!! He did well in the C1-7 agility getting a 3rd on a real up and down course and was also one out the places in the steeplchase. The graded jumping was a more interesting course but I mucked up one of my pull throughs so poor Brodie wants a new sat nav! I was pleased to see how he coped with four runs and he was actually squealing and yapping while I was in the queue for my last class. This year he is so much mentally and physically more mature. He does have a lazy Monday to recover though - I caught him asleep earlier and videod him!
Well done to our friends who did so well at the weekend, Jane and Millie winning Grade 3 agility, Tamar winning Grade 4 agility, Jackie and Ellie winning Grade 1 jumping and also congrats to Helen and Sweep who came 3rd in the SuperDARL finals!

Brodie has got enough points for his AW(G)!!

We had a lovely relaxing sunday. Matthew had done Wellingborough on saturday with Brax and her and Saturn got 4th in the pairs which was a great result, the icing on the cake was that he was home by 11am! We had entered Surrey show on sunday and our first class wasn't until 3.30pm which meant we could have a lazy morning! To me it was the perfect day, no hurry in the morning, nice walk around the common and yummy brunch then off to an agility comp, enjoy three runs and then home for a takeaway :)

Brax amazed us by winning a C4-7 jumping class and she also got a 3rd in C1-7 jumping against some very strong competition! She also amazed us in a not so positive way by doing the worst A frame she has done for ages. More homework needed on that this week I think! She is such a cheeky girlie and does like to keep us on our toes.

The lazy morning seemed to suit Brodie very well as he ran like a star and did three lovely fast clears. He got a 4th in C1-7 agility, a 3rd in C4-7 agility and (I still can't believe it!) 2nd in C4-7 jumping. I was really pleased with how he ran as none of the courses were particularly complicated and in all classes he was less than a second behind the winner. Matthew and I treated ourselves to an ice cream and let the dogs have a wee bit as a well done to them!

This morning I was writing up our warrant books and we realised that Brodie has enough points for his Gold warrant - what a handsome clever sheltie he is!! They have spent most of today fast asleep with their heads on their fav toys - Brax loves her mooey (its a cow!) and Brodie loves his pink bone (he is very in touch with his feminine side!)