ESSC AGM and more Hoopers

Busy weekend doing a Hoopers workshop on the Saturday and we had the ESSC Working Section AGM on the Sunday. Brooke absolutely loved playing at Hoopers and was very excited! Matt and I both handled her and whereas he was running with her I was trying to send her more. She adapted to our handling styles really well! Here she is having some fun with Matt :-)



I want to do more with Sparkly and Toad as well as it improves your agility handling, helps the dog understand distance work and or course directional cues without having a do any jumping! I remember Natasha Wise saying once that a dog only has so many jumps in them and I rarely train mine at their full height. Also all of my dogs have to jump various heights at different organisations so adjusting their height in training is good practice. Anyway, I have gone off on a tangent!

Looks at these two, aren't they adorable?!

Sad news about our little Brax, she has been diagnosed with kidney failure :-( She already had thyroid issues, a hernia and a cataract bless her! We have changed her food to one that is low in phosphorus and she is eating better now. My Mum is coming down at the end of March which is very exciting and will cheer Brax up loads as she loves her Nanna!

The ESSC AGM went ok, as usual there wasn't many people there which was a shame. Look at this new trophy that someone has donated for Rally! Its handmade and so lovely!

Brodie got to pose with his rosettes for coming 3rd in the Grade 7 agility league last year and 1st in the Level 3 Rally league, what a dude!! 

Hoopers fun and spaniel training!

I borrowed Dino for a Sian Illingworth workshop last week, he was brilliant as it was a new venue with new dogs but he worked really nicely and just got on with it! He still jumps flat in a straight line so that is something we need to work on but loads of time yet :-)  Think he will be much in demand by his flyball team!

I managed to have a play with Dolly for the first time in ages! She was really keen and did super jump and weave work, shame she seems to have forgotten what stopping on a contact is!! We have a show in a couple of weeks time so I'm going to steal her for lesson tomorrow and hope that we can do some dog walks! Matt took this lovely picture of her working :-)

And my super hubby has made me ten Hoopers to practice with! Brooke is off on another Hoopers workshop this weekend, really looking forward to it and her boy Squidge is having a go as well. Its such a new sport here but really will take off I hope. Toad had his first go and loved it! 

My best boy is 10 this week!!

This dog is truly my dog in a million! He melts my heart and is my little shadow, my first 'proper' agility dog who has taken me from Grade 1 up to Grade 7 and on some amazing adventures along the way! He can turn his paw to anything and has won in the show ring, at obedience, rally (when his daft Mum can get it right!) and of course at agility. At the bottom of this post is a video of him having fun this week, still loving his agility going into double figures :-) Love my Mr Toad to bits!! Happy Birthday for Friday handsome boy xx

Bracken is very put out that the weather has got colder again. She is spending lots of time wearing what is known as 'her old lady jumper'! 

Brooke Bean is having a very exciting week! She got to play at Grandma Lians wonderful indoor agility barn (see video below) and then shared a Dan lesson on Tuesday.

She also went to our local ESSC meeting at the weekend with Brodie and loved doing some rally work and balance games. Here is Matthew and Brooke playing wobble cushions!

This munchkin had fun at Lians on Monday and we got to practice our stopped dog walk in a new place. I tried to run the course with a running contact but failed (I'm crap at running on sand!) so then tried the stop. Video below shows the run first and then the stop. Spark was a bit offish and has started her season so is now on her agility holidays for a month. We will keep going with lots of fitness work in the meantime!

All three dogs having fun! Toad ran the whole course and the others just did bits :-) Here are the highlights!

Early shows, contact decisions and Sparkle is 4!

While the girls aren't in season (they are due in the next few weeks) I thought we would get some early shows in. Also it is a perfect opportunity to get Brooke doing some anysize runs on a nice surface. I am so excited about how she is coming along! She has been running for me as she gets a bit bonkers with Matthew and I have done most of her rehab training. Instead Matt has been running Sparkly in some jumping runs to keep his hand in. Its lovely that she runs so well for him as she is a quirky little madam! I can't believe my precious little girly is 4 this week!

Here is a video of Brookes anysize run, I hadn't walked the course so we winged it!!

Spark has been doing some nice work learning a stopped dog walk (she already stops her seesaw) So far she hasn't confused her run and stop command. I haven't tried it in the ring yet but think it will come in very handy. Here is her attempts from last week :-) She still has brake failure occasionally!! 

and this is her practising her running dog walk with various run ups...

We have mostly had miserable weather and rain this week so I have found a couple of nice dry photos instead!