Going visiting!

What a busy couple of days Sparkle has had since coming home! Yesterday I took her and Brooke puppy to Jenni's so that Brooke could have her hair done and Sparkle could meet Rommy and Kizzy the kitten. The three dogs had a play in the garden when I got there and Sparkle was very inquistive and loved Rommy! While Brooke was being pampered I took Spark puppy to Pets at Home in Dunstable for an outing. We did some shopping and while her tag was being engraved she was allowed to sit on the counter and get treats and fuss! We practiced our sit and down on the counter and she was very unfazed by it all :)

Once we got back to Jenni's the dogs had a roam around in the garden. This is Brooke puppy looking lovely and fluffy after her bath!

This is Rommy and Sparkle - she is wearing her new tag!

I have been desperate to meet Jenni's kitten Kizzy who is a Maine Coon cross and she is gorgeous! Brooke thought she would mother her and wouldn't leave her alone (in a nice way!)

Her colour doesn't come out on pictures well but she is a striking blue tabby with gingers bits in her coat. She wasn't bothered by Brookes attention at all!

In fact, they feel asleep looking at each other!! If you click the pictures you can make them bigger :)

Its a hard life!! Sparkle fell asleep on the towel by the door as she was tired after going out in the car.

Had to wake up for a little scratch though - look at that cheeky face!!

Favourite toys so far is are a fluffy tuggy with a ball on the end, a mini tennis ball and Kong Wubba.

After all that playing, a nice cosy lap next to Brax is needed! Excuse the state of my trousers - I had just been out walking!

Brackens 8th Birthday and meet Sparkle!!

We have had a very exciting weekend! Yesterday our gorgeous ickle Bracken was 8 years old :) So what did we do? Certainly no agility as the snow is still lying and the shows were cancelled.We woke the dogs up at stupid o'clock and went for a walk across the fields. Only managed to pose for a couple ofs picture as too cold to hang around!

So after our early morning walk we got in the car and went on a snowy road trip up North :)

Look what we got! Meet Sparkle - she is a Border Collie puppy and is just GORGEOUS!!

We had started thinking about adding the fourth (and final for a long while I hasten to add) puppy to the pack. Matthews two ginger girlies are six years apart in age and we got Brooke 2 years ago when Brax was six. Brodie has just turned six and with Brooke now 2 it seemed like a great time! We also had decided that next doglet would probably not be a sheltie. I will always love and have shelties but Brooke is too young to keep a daughter from at the moment. Its really Baileys fault - the lovely collie who comes to stay and does training. We thought about many different breeds but just kept coming back to our pastoral hairies! 

Anyway having seen an advert for BC puppies I couldn't resist contacting the breeder to ask if there were any little girlies left. She replied saying there was and sent me this picture - well we HAD to go and meet 'splodgy bum'!! So getting the ok saturday night that the roads were fine round the breeders off we went yesterday on a serious road trip! The puppies were great - so curious and bold and very cuddly! There are six in total, four boys and two girls, all just beautiful. We met Mum, Dad and Granny who were all stunning and very friendly. 

We had a loooong drive home but little'un was fantastic and slept most of the way. This is her having a hug from Matthew before we set off! We had a lot of time to think about her name and were torn between Sparkle and Sprite. I have discovered that apart from being the bestest hubby in the world Matthew is uber talented at naming animals!! He pointed out that Sprite sounded way too much like right in agility so we thought Sparkle really suited her! Her posh name is Reivermorada Fiery Angel so that kind fits with Sparkle!

 When we got home she had a play and some food and then claimed Brackens bed (its actually a cat bed!) She slept really well and I woke her up at 2am for toilet visit. I took her outside to where Matthew had cleaned some snow off the grass in the garden and she pooped, peed and went back to sleep! Clever puppy!

She is very playful, loving tuggies of any description but is particularly taken with the smallest tennis ball we have - she will bounce up the hallway and bring it back which is so sweet!

Its hard work being a puppy!!

Here are a couple of pics from earlier in the week of Brodie playing in the lounge doing balance stuff - the girls were not as good at posing this time!!

Brooke is 2!!

Happy 2nd Birthday to Brooke and her brother Sonic!! I can't believe that our little sable girly is 2 already - where did that time go? She has matured into a beautiful, clever girl who we totally adore. Thanks to Lian and of course Sing and Samber for our precious puppy :)

I just love this picture of Brooke - Lian's t-shirt says it all really!!

Just a selection of photos of Miss Brooke growing up - they all seem to be from the 'big pants' stage before she had her season. The Bridget Jones knickers appear to be making a comeback though!!

This was the three girls after being at AJAXS on friday - we were very wedged on the sofa. Fortunately Brodie doesn't care about the sofa as he gets too hot!

These are Brookes two nieces Rae and Tula having a play at AJAXS - this was before they got muddy!! They are soooo cute - Tula looks like Brax did as a puppy.

This is my friend Cathy riding Max pony a week ago. I have been unable to ride as I've damaged a ligament in my knee. I can just about run around with it strapped up but walking in deep mud and riding a wide pony are the two things that aggravate it. My wonderful osteopath banned me from riding for 5 weeks but I have lovely friends who have been enjoying riding Max for me :)

 Little Diva is doing well too - she has been getting some haylage as the wet weather has made the field very boggy. She prefers standing on it to eating it though! She is a good girly and loves cuddles.

AJAXS show

I made it to Ajaxs show on friday with Dolly spaniel and Brodie. The weather was lovely and I ran in trainers -ground was brilliant! Because of my knee I just did two runs with Dolly so we could practice weaves and contacts in the ring. She was a little superstar!! I held all three contacts in agility and she got her weaves and came 3rd overall!! Unfortunately her run clashed with other peoples so no video of it. She did a lovely run in jumping, didn't quite get her weaves (12 with a tricky entry) but the rest of her course was stunning so very pleased! I need to find a way to reward her NFC, she LOVES food but thats obviously out and she isn't allowed to tug as she is a working gundog. When she stayed at my house this weekend she kept bringing me pairs of socks from the spare room so I may donate a pair and try getting her to play with them!

I didn't run Brodie toad on friday as I wanted to save my knee for Saturday. One of my clients boyfriend ran him in steeplechase as his Christmas pressi from her was to have lessons learning how to handle a dog in agility. He has done such a good job learning with Brax and Brodie that I thought he could have a couple of runs with Brodie. For anyone who knows Brodie it was a big deal as he has only ever competed with me and Matthew. Well my little man sat on the start line looking back at me but as soon as he was released he FLEW round!! Totally took all of us (including Mike) by surprise! Although they didn't get it together in the first run, they got a well deserved 2nd in their second run! I am a very proud Mum :)

Lots of my J9-ers were there on friday and it was great to be able to cheer them on. Here is the list of results  - so also a very proud trainer! (I admit I copied and pasted them from my facebook page)

Chester-1st senior jumping and agility
Bobby-2nd champ steeplechase
Dolly-3rd beg agility
Tutti-3rd beg steeplechase
Tia-2nd senior steeplechase
Rommy-2nd beg jumping and steeplechase, 3rd and a clear beg steeplechase
Brodie-2nd steeplechase with Mike
Ripley-lovely contacts NFC

Matthew and I went on Saturday and it was a bit of a wash out! The mud just overnight was incredible. I only did two runs with Dolly - she loves wet and mud (has flippers instead of paws!) and Matthew did a couple of NFC runs with Brooke. She did a lovely stopped dog walk in the ring for the first time. Her first attempt was a bit slow but good second time round. The only run that video'd ok was Brooke doing S/C. Think my phone got a bit wet!



She went on well ahead of Matthew and did some really nice work. Shame about the pole, she just took off way too early. Unfortunately once she has had a pole she slows down and jumps like a fairy!! Dolly did jumping and agility again. Stunning contacts and got her weaves nicely in the agility run but needed two attempts in jumping. Very pleased for a baby dog! Will try and run her NFC next weekend to reward with socks!! Brodie and Brax didn't run on saturday due to the weather - Brax wouldn't even walk in the mud!!

A day in the life of Mr Toad

Hi everyone, my name is Brodie (aka Toad) and I am hijacking Mummy's blog to tell you about what I get up to on a normal day.

First thing in the morning, Mummy usually has to wake me up as I do love my bedroom a lot. That is why I get called Toad as lots of people call me a lazy little Toad - how rude!! My favourite way of sleeping is on my back with my paws in the air - its a hard life being handsome!

Once we are all up we go across the fields or round the common. I like the fields best as I get to do lots of sniffing. The ginger whingers pose for photos and run around lots but I prefer sniffing and minding my own business. The only time Brooke puppy stops is for a photo shoot - she is a poser.

Sometimes we go to Mummy's agility field first and then do walks like today but sometimes we do walkies for other dogs first. Mummy borrows Dolly the chocolate coated spaniel to do agility with - I love Dolly as I can fit my nose down her nice Spaniel ears :)

Mummy lets us run around while she sets up the courses and puts them away. I love chasing my ball but only when the ginger whingers aren't there to beat me up. We all get separate time during the week so we get to do things without the others there. The ginger whingers like being at home with Daddy but I love my Mummy time :)

After helping put things away, we go off to walk some doggies. I like going with Jessie as I get to do lots of sniffs but I also walk with lots of others. This is me walking with Freddy - he doesn't like other doggies so he wears a basket on his nose. I am a good boy though and being a wimp I give lots of other worried doggies confidence. 

Sometimes we walk for a few hours so what with that and ball chasing I need to put my feet up again! We like snuggling up on bed for a while. I always sleep on Mummy's feet :)  I will be a tired sheltie this weekend as Mummy says we are going to a agility party- how exciting!!

Sunny weather and Sheltie Show

The sun has dared to make an appearance today. It wasn't particularly warm but definitely bright and dry - enough to make me very happy! I think the doglets and ponies liked having the sun on their backs as well.

Little Brax out on a walk today - her coat is really coming in now.

Brodie 'mouse hunting' in the field! I have a funny video of him somewhere that I'll have to find. He is quite effective - he has put up a mouse before from the fence line :) 

Toad on walkies today - particularly shiny at the moment after a recent bath (thank you Jenni!)

I don't have any Brooke pics from today as she didn't stand still long enough and they are all blurry! The shelties say a big thank you to their auntie Sarah who bought them toys - this was Brooke after playing with hers this afternoon. She didn't even make it into her  bed!!

It was the first agility show of the year for Brodie yesterday, the annual Sheltie limited show. He only did one class as Matthew and I help run the show and can't run dogs and help easily. Brodie had great fun doing pairs with his handsome mate Rommy. They both did well on a tricky course and had a great time! Here is a video of their whizz round. Congratulations to Jenni and Rommy for their Steeplechase win as well, he has come back so well after and back injury from being run into by another dog. Definitely a pair to watch this season!! Well done to everyone else who got placed yesterday - it was lovely to catch up with so many friends and their doglets :)

This is Brodie having a rare lap with Matthew after sheltie show - he must have been tired cos he doesn't 'do' laps!!

Sorry if you are bored by now! We actually got round to setting up a course on saturday and did some course running with Brooke. We were testing her dog walk (both run and stop) in a course and she was 100% every time. She is very strong on her verbal commands which is fortunate as unlike Brax, Matthew can't get as near to her! Matthew is testing fast releases on the seesaw and dog walk (when she is doing a 'stop' not a 'run'  on the dog walk obviously!) and she is being a very good girly. 

As with many Brooke videos - please turn the volume down before watching!!