Yay snow has gone!

Finally we are snow-less again! I have just walked the shelties to the field for a run around as I haven't been there for two weeks and I wanted to check the state of it. Its only a 20 min walk which gives the doglets a nice warm up before running around. I didn't do anything today except play and take some pics. Here are the three posers trying to avoid sitting in the mud! It makes me laugh as Brooke always looks like a giant in photos and she really isn't - she just sits up so straight and has a long neck!! Talking of size, Dolly and Jenni's Rommy got measured on saturday and are both medium-yay!!

We went to our sheltie committee meeting on sunday - I'm sorting out claim forms for the annual performance trophies so please send me your points as in some cases you don't need many to win a lovely trophy. Please if anyone is a ESSC member and has got placed in G1-2 agility send me points as I have no claims again! Pass the word on to your sheltie friends :) Details are on the working section website.

Lian was at the meeting and gave us a lovely pressi! I have had so much fun creating courses with my mini agility kit! Before I teach I always scribble a plan down on paper but this makes it much easier to move things around-thanks Lian!! (And its in J9 colours!)

After such a busy weekend the shelties are tired...

Bored of snow now...

I think I can safely say that everyone is bored with having snow now-possibly with the exception of the dogs who think its fab!!Agility training has been non existent but at least the dogs are enjoying racing around on the fields.We didn't get to our show last weekend which was a shame but very sensible to postpone given the weather conditions.

Matthew and I have been very good and tried to do some form of proprioception work with each doglet separately every evening. The funniest one is Brax! Brodie and Brooke have done a fair amount in their lives but little Brax is incredibly clumsy and throws herself into everything at high speed. She really hasn't done as much shaping as the other two and gets very cross trying to work out what you want. She will throw all of her tricks at you and then lie down and stare at you! We are training her contact with a new command and the hind leg work has definitely sped her up-she is becoming far more aware of what she is doing. The first video is Brax on the contact trainer. The second video is Bracken doing some box work - excuse the narration! She LOVES to work but needs to calm down and think things through a bit more :)

Quick update for those of you who are not on Facebook and don't get to see all my pics. Little Diva is settling in well and is loving running around with her mates in the snow! Our friend from the yard took some amazing photos of her the other day - here are a couple of my snow baby :)

And I can't miss out Mr Max - here he is having a good roll. Snow is good for keeping grey ponies clean!!

Snow again...

I'm really hoping that the weather forecast is totally wrong but they are promising about 10cm of snow for us tomorrow!! We had snow on monday and it still hasn't gone, the day time temperatures are struggling to get above zero. Its been a fab week to be a dog walker as the roads are clear and the dogs are loving their snowy walks so much! Bad week to be an agility trainer though-field is out of action this week so if we do make it to a show who knows how crazy Brooke and Dolly are going to be?!!

I have updated the dogs pages on my website with some more photos - thanks to Lian who took many of the amazing pics. I am trying to do a page on sheltie coat colour so if anyone has photos that I could use please let me know! If you want to see what I have done so far click the link on the left :)

Diva baby!

Where to start?!! I have had a very busy first week back at work and loved every minute of it. I really missed teaching agility and seeing all of my walking dogs over the holidays and its nice to get back into a routine again. It was lovely to be able to run our own dogs as well :)

Horse alert - if you want to get to the dog news, skip this bit!!

Little Diva arrived finally on Monday. She walked off the lorry and followed her new best mate Coco (Kates   yearling) out the field very calmly. The next day Diva's brother Rio arrived so there are three of them in total in the field. They are all so pretty to look at (Rio is VERY pretty despite being a boy!) Coco is pure Spanish and a rare colour called Grulla which is black dun, Rio is part spanish and silver bay with a blonde mane, chocolate coloured legs and a chestnut body. Diva is an Azteca (Spanish x Quarter horse ) and is bay but possibly dun as she has a dorsal stripe. I won't really know until her (very hairy) foal coat sheds out. Diva is being a really good girly and will pick all her feet up, be brushed all over and happily lead, not bad for 6.5 months! Thanks have to go to Karen who bred her and Rio and has done an amazing job with them :)

'Helping' with the poo picking!

Coco and Diva - best mates already :)

The shelties have done a fair bit of training over the last week, mainly as it has dried out and I feel like a human again after being so ill. Brax was amazing on saturday, she walked to the field with Matthew, ran around chasing Brooke for half an hour while we set stuff up, did a half hour training session as a 'school master' for a first time handler, ran around again and walked home! She is doing so well on her medication and its nice to see her so feisty again!

I did a bit of work with Brodie but mainly short sequences and lots of quick rewards. He is tugging really well in the field now and goes crazy which is brilliant! I'm so proud of my little boy. I never thought he'd tug outside the house after a dog had a serious go at him while he was playing years ago in a training class. He will tug like a maniac at home but only where he feels really confident outside. I always had a hang up about him not tugging and having to use a food bag but it got us to Grade 7 so I'm not really complaining! Its just nice that he is now brave enough to tug again. His speed has increased a lot over the past few months and I'm looking forward to starting the show season with my little toad!

I love this picture of my Mum eating yoghurt and Brooke waiting for the pot! As you can see, Brax adores my Mum :)

After setting all my J9'ers proprioception homework for the Christmas period, I thought I'd better do some with my guys as well!

I have taken a few videos of Brooke training recently so will post those next time. Her and Dolly have their first ever  proper non UKA show in a couple of weeks time - eeek!!

Happy New Year!

We have had a lovely time over the past few days - my Mum and sister came to stay over New Year which was great! They came with their dog Tresca and all four got on really well (might as well have four if you already have three, lol!) We had some nice but slightly soggy dog walks over the past few days and even made it to the field to do a bit of grid work today :) The shelties were WILD!! This is Brooke puppy curled up on the sofa after a long walk. She still has the most amazing amount of butt fuzz!! My Mum and sis have gone now which is really sad, I wished they lived close enough to see them more often than 2-3 times a year :( We just have to make the most of the times we do see each other.

The big news is that little Diva passed her vetting and will be coming down to Hertfordshire on saturday! Thanks so much to Karen and Ray for letting me have her - she is a total poppet!! She was so good for the vet and didn't put a foot wrong. She is now 6.5 months old and is a lovely rich bay colour. I'm just relieved that she is not grey!! I'll put some more photos on blog when she has moved in. She will be living with her half brother and an yearling spanish filly so the three babies will have fun playing together :)

I hope that everyone reading this has a great 2013! I think its going to be an exciting year for many reasons and I can't wait for the weather to improve and the show season to start! I have done some New Years goal setting for myself but I won't bore you with it here, only to say that most of it involves agility and for once doesn't involve diets!!