WBSDS show and Brooke off lead!!

With Sparkly being out with her torn hamstring I had a quieter couple of days at WBSDS which is a nice close show. I had Dolly and Brodie running on Saturday and only Brodie on the Sunday. It was good to see a few of the J9-ers running too! They all did me proud with good placings and lovely runs :-)

Dolly was really on the ball in her C3-5 jumping run and (touch wood!) we seemed to have cracked the weave issues as she managed them well. She came 7th out of 68 dogs despite a sniff so I'm pleased with her times too! Her contacts in the agility were nice but she self released on the seesaw so got put back on. Brodie was totally nuts! Unfortunately in both of his agility runs there were tunnels lurking under contacts which proved to be our downfall...homework! He was clear in both of his jumping runs, just out of the places in one and crazy and off on one in the other!! Here is the slightly more controlled run :-) At the age of 9 he has really got to grips with ketckers too!



The other exciting news is that Brooke came to the show and really enjoyed pottering around and chatting to her friends. She loved watching the action!

After almost four months of rehab and a year since she was allowed off her lead, Brooke had a little run across the garden on Friday. Might not seem like much but it made us very emotional! Her physio was happy with how she looks so we are allowed to double the distance.

Brodie and Brax had a nice walk yesterday with Brodies best mate Rommy, son Squidge and their mum Jenni. We went over to Jenni's and walked round the fields there which was lovely...shelties are such posers! 

Sparkle is still on lead walks and wearing a thundershirt or body wrap to make her more aware of her body as Sally physio would like her to do some agility training in it. She looks funny wearing it tho!

Yes Spark, I am laughing at you! :-D

Introducing Dino!

No we haven't got another puppy! Dolly's owner has a young working cocker called Dino that I went to pick up with her last year and he is now 8 months old. Unlike Dolly and Dixie he isn't going to go shooting but mostly do flyball with a bit of agility thrown in and she would love Matt and I to do some agility bits with him. He is a natural, a really quick learner and loves to do everything 100mph!

He still can't pose like a sheltie!

Here is a video of him doing a few puppy agility bits...his baby flyball work has really helped his agility work and vice versa :-)

A mixed bag!

So far the start of April has been a bit up and down. We had the ESSC Rally training day on the 2nd April and I took Toad and Brooke bean. Brooke thought it was an amazing day out seeing all the shelties especially her friend Rommy and son Squidge! She managed quite a lot of the exercises in the morning including some lovely trot work. Here is a short video of her doing some heelwork :-D

Toad as usual was a superstar! He worked on some of the harder Level 5 exercises including a retrieve and a angled recall over a jump (that apparently doesn't look like a jump as Toad struggled with this!) We are looking forward to doing some more Level 3 competitions this year. This was him in his crate at the workshop...Toad in the hole!! 

Brax and Spark missed out on the workshop so they had a nice fields walk instead.

The weather has been improving so I have been able to do more teaching. The dogs love joining me in the field and we can usually fit in some balance work which they love!  

I had Brodie and Brooke booked in to see our lovely physio on Friday for a routine check over. Luckily Brodie only had one tight spot and the great news is that Brooke is now allowed to do 30 mins walk three times a day! And...in a couple of weeks time she is allowed to go off her lead and do a couple of recalls Exciting but very scary!! *gulp*

 Spark had her usual Dan lesson on Tuesday and I wasn't 100% happy with how she was working. She had a couple of poles and some unusually wide turns and when I watched the video back in slow motion I could see she was dropping a hind leg a bit over her jumps. Nothing hideous but just not right...glad I am a paranoid owner as when the physio checked her over she found a wonky pelvis, sore back and torn hamstring. I felt like such a bad mummy :-( Spark loves to work bless her and doesn't give much away when she is sore. She is on lead walks, bio-mag therapy twice a day and stretches.

So at the weekend the only dog that could play agility in the field was Brax!! She took full advantage of being an only dog and even stole Sparkles toy to play with :-D

 I love this pic of Mr and Mrs! Toad had been snuffling in long grass!