Oh my goodness we had such an amazing time away! The scenery was incredible and the we had so many lovely walks. I will just post a load of pictures as they say it all!
Sunrise from our cottage on the first morning
View from Dodd, our cottage is across Bassenthwaite lake and it is the little white cluster of cottages in the centre of the photo
These are all taken at Buttermere which was one of our favourite walks
Have to do the dogs on logs pose!
Whinlatter forest, the colours of the trees were amazing!
Stone circle outside Keswick
Drying off after a soggy walk...the collie is a wimp!
Bargain buy of the year...a bed from Aldi! They all want to get in it and look very smug when its there turn :-) They have even shared the bed which is unheard of in our house...possibly because Spark was bothered by fireworks?
Toad prefers having it to himself though! He saw the physio this week as he wasn't quite right on his turns at sheltie show. Sure enough he had a tight spot on his back which was lasered and manipulated. Probably from falling over in the tunnel bless him. He has to take it easy for a week but hoping I can train him before the UKA Finals at the end of the month!
The doglets have been wearing their poppies for Remembrance Day. Red ones for the human lives that were tragically lost in war and the purple ones for the animals who lost their lives.
It has been very chilly this week for the first time. Poor Brooke and Spark have both shed their coats post season and are looking very smooth and cold! Brooke in particular looks very naked!
Brooke went to agility lesson today and enjoyed putting together a baby sequence :-) I forgot how quick she can go and didn't move very fast! I am also very wary of her breaking but need to get on with it as she seemed fine!
So it seems as I'm working Brooke lots it is only fair that Matt gets to have a go with Sparkler. I let him run her at a fun unaffliated show which was all steeplechase runs (no contacts or weaves) and he could reward her in the ring if she wasn't confident. As it turned out he only rewarded one run nfc as she ran very nicely for him! They ended up with two 1sts and a 2nd (she took a pole but the rest was lovely!) So pleased that she ran so well for him :-)
Spark also met her half sister Niya. They have the same Dad...look at those gorgeous ears!!
I love this time of year, the pretty trees and sunsets, we have been lucky that it has stayed so warm and dry! The dogs have been enjoying their walks and playing in the field too. I just wish I was better at catching sunsets on my phone!
I went to visit a friends collie puppies last week. No we aren't having one but it did make me puppy broody! Hoping that we can have another litter from these two lovelies again as their boys are super! No firm plans yet but watch this space :-)
The Kennel Club have FINALLY banned the use of the cloth tunnel here. Brilliant news as I have always hated the stupid thing. This pic is now a rarity!!
We had Sheltie show this weekend. It was great fun and very noisy!! The shelties had a fab time and it was nice to see everyone again. We had loads of help this year and it seemed to go really smoothly which was a relief! On a personal note Toad was fab and slightly potty but came 3rd in the jumping and won pairs with his bestie Rommy :-D His boy Squidge did great too winning two classes! Little Brax had a run too but decided the tunnels were too slippy for her little paws bless her. Toad unfortunately was too tired to pose for his sofa pic!
It is now a year since Brookes surgery to cut her biceps tendon. We have taken it very slowly and she is loving being able to do some little bits of agility again! She is a super little dog who has such zest for life especially considering what a tough 18 months she has had. Here is her most recent video :-)
Sparkle and I went on a workshop with Tori Self on Saturday. She is from America and has been very successful with her dog Rev. It was great fun to have a different perspective on running a course and some new ideas. Tori was great in not forcing us to handle in a set way but working out what was most comfortable for us as a partnership. Sparkly amazed me, I started off feeling self conscious and awkward (normal for me in public!) but everyone was so lovely and I started to handle less like a numpty! Cat who hosted the workshop was fantastic quietly taking photos of the dogs working and Spark coped with it really well and didn't show any signs of shutting down. Cat's pics (Dinobark Digital) are beautiful! It was very touching to have two people from the afternoon message me and say how great Spark looked, so kind and made me have a little happy cry thinking about how far we have come and what adventures we still have to share.
Autumn feels like it is here properly now although at the moment the weather is being kind! The trees are turning and the sunrises have been beautiful... its lovely out on the fields in the mornings.
The dogs coats have been used for the first time this week as they played in the field. The purple thing by Sparks foot is a popped balloon that she found in the field and thought was the BEST toy!
Shelties are such natural posers! Having some of their brekkie in my pocket helped!
Bean did Rally on Monday night as she is now Level 3 which means she needs to learn the harder L3/L4 exercises and work off lead. She was a bit chilly as she has blown her coat but liked lying on the step! She still has to learn the food bowls and jump exercise...I feel the food bowls will be harder than the jump!!
J9 doglets did well at Dog Vegas! Brodie and Brookes pup Squidge won two G3 jumpings, his house mate Rommy won a couple of G7 jumpings and Bailey Lab went Grade two in style winning four classes! Brodie won a jumping and Sparkly won agility making her Grade 7 :-D So much to work on over winter but will have great fun getting ready to tackle some champs next year!
Goodness me where has the time gone since I last updated the blog?! I can't even remember what we have been up to! Here is a cute picture while I work out what we have been doing!
My Mum has been down to stay, we had a lovely time and lots of nice walks including a visit to Stevington Gardens which was stunning.
Bailey collie has been to stay, he always fits in so well with our little pack :-)
We have been to a couple of shows, Brax and Sparkle have been running so well! (Brodie has had a bit of time off due to a tight hamstring) Spark managed to get her 1st agility win towards G7 at Prestbury Park, woohoo! Little Brax jumping LHO managed a very respectable 2nd in C4-7J and 5th in C4-7 agility! Yes she did contacts!! :-D
Southam show was good but very cold! Spark won the C5-7 jumping but we messed up the C1-7 jumping which was very British and not our cup of tea. Brax on the other hand won it at Lower height! We also got to cheer on Squidge (Braxway Ready to Rockit) who managed an awesome 2nd in the C1-7! This is just the cutest pictures with the cutest trophies!!
This is Brax winning the C5-7 jumping :-)
Its feeling much more like Autumn at the moment and the sunrises are beautiful. This was last Monday on our morning walk round the common.
We also celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary! I was very spoilt and got twenty roses and a gorgeous eternity ring!
Doglets were ace a Hawbridge! Brax did a run in champ jumping and won it, was a very long spread out course but she still made Matt race around :-) Sparkly did the Dog Central Beginners qualifier and won the agility run but got 10f for a refusal and pole in the jumping so no qualifying this year but hopefully we can get it together next year!
The older two were in the Masters on Monday. Brax went clear in the jumping but ran into side of the tunnel in the agility as it was an awkward tunnel entrance (she has done that many times in her career!) so Matt ended up taking her out. Brodie had the back pole of the spread in the jumping but was clear in the agility and I think finished 3rd overall but we left before the results came out. Here is Toads jumping run...
He had been at the vets with a anal gland issue during the week and had been sedated and had samples taken as the vet wasn't happy with what she could feel and thought it may be something nasty. Luckily he just had an infection which has cleared up quickly! Really scared us though, so relieved that he is ok. Good reminder to enjoy the time we spend with our doglets, who cares if we get E'd on an agility course if they are healthy and having fun.
Talking of E's Spark, Toad and I got E'd in all of our runs at Letchworth! They both did some really nice work though and Sparkly did a couple of awesome dog walks and waits in the practice ring. I have been having a problem with her stressing on the start line since a dog kicked off behind her. Being able to go in the practice ring and do some waits was so good :-) Little Brax ran in anysize and flew round...they only gave out clear round rosettes but she would have been 11th out of 124 dogs of all heights!!
My two doglets and I went to Adams on Saturday. Matt was supposed to be running Brax but had taken one look at the weather forecast and decided not to go. As it turns out apart from a little shower in the morning it was lovely! Sparkle worked amazingly, winning two jumping classes and qualifying for a finals (this weekend so not going as haven't entered show!) She had only 5f in her agility run on the sodding aframe...the rest of it was perfect! So Aframe homework for us. She has always shortened her stride coming over the top since she banged her stifles so think its a matter of confidence. I need to retrain it over winter so she gets deeper hits. Her dog walk and seesaw were stunning and she was perfect in her weaves in all of her runs :-)
We had a nice time at Matts mums in the garden on Sunday, my two 'helped' watering the plants and the gingers were very happy sunbathing. What a gorgeous trio!
Meanwhile someone had too much fun with the hose...
It has been really hot over the last couple of days so have been doing early walkies and just hanging out in the field during the day. These two are quite weird haha!
Up to 30 degrees today so the pool was the place to be :-)
Sadly Brookes Hoopers workshop has been cancelled as there wasn't enough interest. I will look around for another workshop she can do, even if it is agility puppy foundation stuff!
