Christmas fun :-)

We had a lovely Christmas time and felt very spoilt with all the lovely pressis we received! Our physio Sally gave the dogs a toy each which caused a lot of excitement, even though Brooke couldn't play with her toy it made a nice pillow! 

Sparkle then stole it once Brooke was back in her pen-nice teeth!

Meanwhile Brodie had his sights firmly set on the squeaky penguin!!

Our little tree is very dinky but pretty...I got a cute sheltie ornament to hang on it from Squidge's Mum :-)

And for those of you wondering what the inside of the edible baubles looked like-he is one. They were soooo yummy! Thanks Amy!

Meal almost ready...

Brodie wondering if there is any ham for him!

After all the excitement in the morning, the afternoon consisted of napping!

As we didn't take enough crates when we stayed at Matts mums Brodie slept on the bed...smug boy!

Sparkle only joined him in the morning...she was a good girl and stayed on her vetbed!

Thanks to everyone for our lovely presents and cards, we really appreciated them. I also managed to catch up with some very special friends running up to Christmas which was such a treat xx

Let the rehab commence!!

It is exceptionally mild this December, hardly a frost in sight and a lot of rain! This was one of our rare sunny morning walks...these two are such pros at having their photo taken :-)

I have had a busy few weeks teaching workshops at my venue and for friends but last week I flew up to Edinburgh for the day to visit my Dad who was in hospital after a hip op. I met up with my sister and we had fun looking round the Christmas Market. It has been so mild that the ice rink pictured behind my sister had started to melt!!

Being incredibly talented, Amy had made gingerbread baubles with chocolate drops inside-two of my fav things!! And so tasty!!

The two older dogs are now on their agility holidays after being treated by our lovely physio. Sparkle has not done much agility as it has been too wet and muddy! We have a Rally competition coming up and Brodie, Brax and Spark are competing so will need to practice!!

There has been a lot of people posting photos of their dogs that they have edited using a cool app...have to say I had a go and was very pleased with how this picture of Toad turned out! I love how it has captured the shine on his coat

So the big news...

Brooke has seen the physio and she doesn't think there is an issue with starting her off with some teeny tiny walks and static exercises on her wobble cushion. So far she has managed to walk nicely almost round the perimeter of the garden (I time her so we don't overdo it!) The grass is long which helps slow her down and think about where she is putting her feet.

Brooke is such a special girly and so good that she is allowed into the coffee shop where I work. Here she is trying to get me to give her cake :-D and below her first go doing her exercises which involve standing with her front feet on wobble cushion amongst other things.

And please keep your fingers and toes crossed that she can get back to running around! 

Getting festive :-)

Not the best pic but the Christmas tree and decorations have gone up. Brookes pen is decorated as well and the tinsel matches her vetbed and Santa Paws stocking!

Brooke is doing well, she seems to be moving ok despite looking stiff but then that is to be expected as she doesn't use her muscles at all. She has a month of rest left before she can't start rehab work. She is such a good patient luckily! I have heard a few stories from people whose dogs have recovered well and gone back to agility so there is hope yet. This is my normal morning coffee session! Brooke getting biomag therapy and Sparkle the other side

The weather has been wet and windy and very mild for December. I have been so busy working that I have been doing six day weeks as have had a lot of workshops to teach at the weekends. I am looking forward to a lie in! I have had some lovely dog walks despite the weather :-)

I totally adore this photo!! Sparkle can't believe the shelties-she says she is working with amateurs!! 

Sunrise on the field and Sparkle almost getting blown away!!

Rosette recycling, some training and way too much rain...

I can't believe how much rain we have had recently! At least the forecast says snow this weekend which makes a change :-) My two love walking in the rain whereas Brax is not so keen bless her. I think she is too low to the ground! I braved walking in a local park today and it confirmed why I normally avoid this particular park...its full of idiots who have boisterous dogs with no recall (not the dogs fault at all) Luckily we managed to avoid most of the idiots and even found a nice log to pose on for an Autumn picture.

Little Bean is doing well. She had an appointment with the physio who found that she was sore across her shoulders so she got lasered and I have to massage her every day. Her favourite time of the day is sofa snuggles with Matthew.

I have taken pics of the rosettes each of the dogs have won this year...not as a brag but we donate them to Matts Mum who recycles them for the kids at her gym class. I am posting the pics as a record more than anything and I am proud of how they have done this year as we didn't compete loads.

Brodies collection

Brax and her collection (she did very few shows!)

Sparkles first year of competing-mostly agility but a couple of Rally and showing show ones in there too :-) The first place in Rally was probably her most amazing achievement!!

This little chap is called Dino and is Dolly's new little brother! He has come to stay with me a couple of times and is such a little dude. Nothing bothers him and he has a great attitude to learning stuff. Hoping he will do some agility in the future!

Brodie had a great time but got very muddy doing his agility lesson this week, unfortunately the day after his Auntie Jenni had groomed him beautifully! 

Sparkle had the all clear from the physio which means she is back off her agility break-yippee!! I did a bit of wing wrap/tunnel discrimination today and she hasn't forgotten. I have a busy few days...Spark is going to a contacts and weaves workshop with Naarah Cuddy tomorrow, Brodie and Brax are doing a sheltie Rally workshop on Saturday and Sparkle has a Nicky Garrett workshop on Monday! Here is a clip of me working her and filming today so its not great quality.

Random pics and a Brooke update

This photo really cracks me up-Sparkles tongue is so funny and Brodies ears are so cute and so is Bracken!

Brodie got wet on a evening walk (in the dark-boo!) He ended up wearing Sparkles cow coat and wow he is so handsome he can pull anything off!

The younger two love their sofa cuddles! Brooke is only allowed on the sofa supervised and isnt allowed to jump off. She generally likes it there so much that she doesn't want to get off!

Brooke is doing well at being rested, she is such a good girly. I am worried that she has a boring life but she seems to cope ok. I'm not sure how her leg is healing as she isn't allowed to walk anywhere until January. I try and take her places to sit and watch things-she is a curious Bean!

I also scatter food in teh grass for her in various places and she loves playing that game! You can see her hair is growing in well :-)

Mr Toad had agility on Tuesday as Sparkle is still on her months rest. Here is the little dude shouting at me for his turn!

And here is a video of what we did. He is getting good at the Euro turns and really loving his agility. Can't believe he is almost nine!

I have been doing a lot of balance and strengthening work with the dogs both in the field and at home as they love it! It is good rainy day stuff as well and boy have we had some rain recently! Balancing shelties...

And Miss Twinkle toes doing some cavaletti!

Interclub success and winter training starts!

Brax and Brodie ran for Letchworth at the Interclub match which was a competition between Letchworth, Bats and Wellingborough. I was really pleased with how Brodie ran the agility and he managed to win it! Less said about his jumping run the better but I knew he was going to be cheeky as he was barking on teh startline! Brax did two allsorts runs and came 3rd in both of them to the same two collies! She was amazing! 

I was supposed to be competing the three mediums at Bretford on the Sunday but what with Spark being in season and Dolly having a cut pad I only took Brodie which turned out to be a waste of time! There was very limited walking between heights so I missed walking the jumping and messed that up but walked the agility and missed running it! Disaster! Brodie had a fun day out tho :-) Dolly has been taking Sparks place in our Dan lessons and has been a very good girl, we have lots to work on over winter but she is getting much more confident with being sent to do things while I run off!

These two crack me up-how serious do they look about posing! Sparkle has got a new harness as her old one finally broke which is such a shame as she had it from 7 months old.

This is Bean post brush looking gorgeous in the Autumn grass. She enjoys looking for food I have scattered in the grass and keeps her busy!

Sparkle is still in season and is being lead walked. We have been working on some of her tricks including bowing which she is getting very good at! She looks a bit frizzy in these pics as she had been out in the rain for a while!

Brodie is loving all his agility and Rally work at the moment! He got confused walking past this board at Rally on Monday night and thought he might offer his stopped contact position-funny boy!! :-D

Demo's and Rest

Lots of people have kindly asked how Miss Brooke (should that be Mrs Brooke?!) is getting on. She is being a very good patient considering how dull her life must be, despite our best attempts to cheer her up! Her favourite thing is to sofa snuggle with Matthew in the evenings. You can tell its getting colder as Bracken is only interested in laps as a source of heat! 

The older two shelties did a demo for a hospice on Wednesday this week and Sparkle did one for Age Concern on Monday. They really enjoyed showing off their tricks and as ever Brax enjoyed the biscuit crumbs :-) The pic below is the pair of them walking in St Albans squirrel hunting!

At the weekend we ran the ESSC Sheltie Agility show and it was a brilliant success thanks to a few hardcore helpers. It is amazing the number of people who will sit and watch you run backwards and forwards and not lift a finger to help! It is generally the same people that help every year and we are so grateful as otherwise the ring would have ground to a halt. Our dogs really enjoyed having a run! Bracken was brilliant getting a 3rd in 4-7 jumping, a 4th in agility and winning the Best Veteran trophy! Brodie came 3rd in 4-7 jumping and n2nd with his mate Rommy in pairs so a good day all round!

On Tuesday evening I discovered Miss Sparkle had come into season. She had done a lesson on Tuesday morning and ran nicely but she is now on her winter break for a month of not doing agility. She is a terrible flirt so poor Brodie is not getting any peace! Here is a pic from their last day running round the field together.

Mr Toad in lesson on Tuesday-he is just so much fun!!

And this is Sparkle running her last sequence for a while-boo hoo!