Getting fit!

We have been trying to build up the dogs fitness gradually after so much time off training over the winter. Lots of long walks and some proprioception work has helped a lot. The show season has started but we are only doing a couple of runs per show with each dog. Brax did her first show of the year yesterday at Newbury. She was a really good girly getting a 2nd in the agility and the sun was out which helps her a lot :)


Brodie had one jumping run before the pairs but same as last weekend first run of the day resulted in an elimination!! I think he is so excited to be doing agility and I haven't quite got my brain working fast enough yet!
Matthew and I did the Split pairs which means both dogs run over toy height. One dogs does agility (Brodie cos of running contacts) and one does a jumping course (Brax). Our two went like rockets having never done pairs together before and finished 3rd overall. Not bad considering that the two pairs that beat us were blooming fast standard dogs!! Clever shelties, very proud of them both.

Happy Birthday Bracken!!!

Our little Brax is 6 years old today! Where did the time go?! She certainly doesn't act her age but she has gone quite grey round her face in the last year. I still remember the first time I saw her - what a cheeky wee puppy! She stole our hearts straight away :) This is the first time we met her


This is a pic of Brax today curled up on my lap at work - she has a lot of feline traits and curling up on any free lap is one of them!!

March photos

Here is Brodie with his prizes from the weekend. (He should have a 3rd rosette but Jackie kindly said she'd pick it up for me.) I really recommend the UKA shows at Mapledurham, its a lovely venue and very relaxed atmosphere - great day out!


Max went out without a rug for the first time today as its soooo sunny and warm. Here is a pic of him looking clean (!) with his best buddy Dice.

UKA Mapledurham

Firstly Brodie and I went to our first outdoor show of the year yesterday. We had a brilliant time despite getting totally soaked! The show was a UKA show at Mapledurham and it was a great venue right by the Thames. Brodie did three classes, the steeplechase I totally messed up but we won the agility and the jumping - yay Toad!! He worked really well considering how wet it was. It was lovely to catch up with loads of people I haven't seen since last years show season and also have a few people that I train there as well. Its such a great feeling when you see people you know doing so well and you know how much effort they have put into training their dog. Well done to Caroline and Bobby who won 2 classes over the weekend and came away with places in almost every class!! Bobby is a Lab x Staff who is FAST! She is great fun to train as she tries sooooo hard and would work all day given the chance :)

Crufts 2011

Brax went to Crufts on thursday to compete in the Mini/Mixi pairs with her handsome partner Saturn. Lian and Matthew have been doing the pairs competitions with Saturn and Brax for a couple of years now and they make a great team! Here is a clip of their run that earned them 4th place! (Thanks to Lian for the clip!)
Brax and Saturn pairs 2011

Here are the two of them posing with their rosettes! For more photos please see Lians blog as she has some great pics of the teams as well.


The ESSC had qualified a medium team for Crufts as well and they did us proud in the team event on friday, getting 2nd in the qualifiers and 3rd in the finals!! Well done to Lisa, Bernadette, Lian and Eleanor and their shelties for showing everyone how amazing these dogs are :)

We really enjoyed watching all of the action at Crufts and of course we had to do a bit of shopping as well! Its great to visit so many dog shops under one (huge!) roof. We came away with some cosy new beds for the dogs and some treats. We also managed to see Caroline from Galen therapy who kindly gave Brax a warm up massage before her pairs competition. Brax did have a minor wobbly moment in the arena as she saw herself on the big screen that hangs above the arena. Hence Matthew doing a running start with her to take her mind off it!!

Brax and Saturn - aren't they photogenic?!

Meet Ash!

No not a puppy quite yet!! (Fingers crossed not long to go though - watch this space!!! :D) The photo is of Megan (who owns Hattie the terrier) and her new pony Ash who is an Arab x Dartmoor. He is only a baby and until a few days ago was totally wild as he was herded up from a hill in Dartmoor destined for slaughter. Megan has worked really hard to get him used to her and he has gone from running away from every human to being stroked due to her hard work and patience. He loves his pink food bucket! Ash really has landed on his feet being owned by such a lovely person who is sooooo dedicated to all her animals. You can follow his progress on her blog Ash's diary


Below is one of the pics that I took of Matthew and Brax for their England team profiles. I think its so cute of Brax on the end of the seesaw :)

Multiple Congratulations!

So many of our friends have had such amazing agility results over the past couple of days that I had to mention them here! Huge well done to Maria and Chester who won the Barking Mad Medium 1-2 Final (Chester has not even been doing agility for a year yet!) also Tania and Willow who won the Small 3-5 final and Kim and Benny who won Best large Gundog!!

Brodie and I went to the Sheltie Agility Show yesterday and had a fab time catching up with all our friends. Brodie was a bit away with the fairies and managed a 5th and an E! We got the hard stuff right and then I handled like a muppet and sent him into the wrong end of the tunnel! I really enjoyed watching all the shelties doing agility and doing so well at it. In particular, Kerry Murray and her young dog Quidditch who was best Medium Novice, Cat Harvey and Blue (Best Medium Senior) and Amy Lawson and Fudge (Best Small Senior). All of them did such consistently good runs. Massive congratulations to Jane Emmett and fantastic little Robbie who won two of the biggest classes of the day - C1-3 helterskelter and C3-5 jumping, no stopping you now!! :D