Saying goodbye to Brodie

This is a post I have been dreading writing. I have just copied my Facebook post so sorry if you have seen it before but this is why I have been slow at updating my blog. I still have cry most days as I miss my beautiful boy so much but memories also make me smile. I have put some of my favourite photos of him on here from the last couple of years, including ones of his last agility and hoopers runs, some daft ones, posh ones and him just being the wonderful little dude that he was

Chandling Ebony Charge AW(G)

10/2/07-27/10/22

Last Thursday our precious boy fell asleep in my arms for the last time after a couple of strokes during the day. Words won't be able to sum up my dog in a million, he was my little tri shadow and my heart is sore and broken after 15.5 years of loving him

Brodie and I dabbled in rally, showing, obedience and found our true passion in agility. He got me from Grade 1 to Grade 7 and took me on some amazing adventures and to things we only had dreamed of He was a regular at demos at the local hospice, entertaining people and enjoying the cuddles afterwards. My stooge dog and wingman for behaviour work and puppy classes as he was so great and calm around other dogs. One of his greatest achievements was being Papa Toad to three beautiful boys

He was a beautiful soul inside and out, we weren't ready to say goodbye to him just yet but for his sake we are glad it was quick. Now reunited with little Bracken, his bestie and his son, run free gorgeous boy xxx

Pondering when to retire a dog?

Poor Sparkle has been lame and has had to see her physio a couple of times over the last week. Her first rib needed to be manipulated and she had muscle spasms in her shoulder and neck. We think it was jumping out of the van that did it, I don't often let her jump out but assumed that because she was landing on grass it would be ok...apparently not! I have decided to give her a proper rest from agility for a month and then build her up again. She hasn't got any shows entered and hates a lot of the winter indoor venues so that makes it easier to rest her! She will be ten at the end of January (my baby can't be that old!!) so I will be careful with bringing her back slowly. 

I'm hoping that she will be fine when I start running her at agility again but it is always at the back of my mind that she is injury prone and getting older! We have always had a gut feeling on when to retire our other dogs. Brax was retired at 11.5 years old when her eyesight started to go, Brodie was retired at 12 as lower height was disappearing and he is a teeny medium so I would never have asked him to jump higher again. Brooke was retired at 10 years old due to the weakness in her shoulder and although she is still running like a nutter we didn't want her to have the impact of jumping. She is now 11.5 and struggling with her eyesight in some situations. Mantrailing and hoopers (in good light!) are great for her! 

We have also found that the longer the older dogs have off agility the harder it is to get them back into condition again. Their muscle tone drops soooo fast! So with Spark I'm going to give myself a kick up the butt to do lots of conditioning work to help on top of her usual walks. Watch this space! 

Massive catch up!

 Matt and Bru went to the European Open champs at the end of July and although I was very sorry not to go with them (Toad is now 15.5 and high maintenance bless him!) they did us proud! 💛 They did four runs in total and had one that was a bit chaotic but the other three had just one tiny mistake in them! The best thing was the weave homework had paid off and in three runs they were brilliant 😁 Contacts were great too!  

While Matt and Bru were in Belgium we had the start of a heat wave here where it hit 40 degrees at times. It was awful and the dogs hated it too. I was starting work at 7am and finishing by 9.30am to get some training done before the worst heat. The ground was really hard and dry too and Spark managed to rip her dew claw off 😔 It has taken ages to heal and I'm still wrapping it up to do agility with her just in case.

When Matt and Bru came home they went to the Kennel Club festival to do the Novice Cup qualifier and they WON it!! This means that they are off to Crufts next year in Novice as well as Champ 😂 We think it is bonkers that a dog can be in both...we really don't understand why they didn't hold the novice semi finals last year for this years Crufts! 

We have had some Wrest Park visits which we have loved. We do a longer walk for the younger three and then a potter for the older two with a coffee!

And some random pics!

My little Pickle is now almost 15 months and soooo handsome!! 

And we are learning how to weave! 

Spark makes herself comfy! 

His jump work is coming on nicely, he has just started jumping 30cm 

These two were awesome at WBSDS!! 

Brooke has been doing some hoopers workshops and loves it! 

And last weekend we tried Mantrailing which she has a natural flair for!! We think her eyes aren't so good any more so its nice to let her do something that relies on her nose instead

Branston Pickle is coming on nicely in his agility work! Just starting to do some dog walks but not the most confident with that yet so I'm taking it slowly. We haven't done Aframe or seesaw yet but have started weaves and touched on most of the various jump and tunnel skills. I am still a bit shocked by his speed! He is quite long and around 40-41cm tall but takes less strides than Sparkle. I have ran them over the same sequence a couple of times and he so far has been quicker! 😮

https://youtube.com/shorts/Lizc-21Ei0Y?feature=share

Branston Pickle is one year old and Agility Club show!!

 I have been useless at updating this again, sorry! At the start of July Branston turned one year old!! ❤ I can't imagine not having him around now, he constantly makes us laugh and is the happiest puppy who loves life! 

I am still doing his weekly videos which are on my YouTube page but this is the most recent one. 

We had the Agility Club show at the Herts showground last weekend which was brilliant as it was only ten mins down the road! Spark and Bru had both qualified for the Finals there, Bru in Novice and Spark in Senior. We were absolutely thrilled that they both came 2nd!! 💛💜 I'm so happy that Spark held it together with the crowd and commentary as well! The course was quite tough and I decided to try a tricky layer with the weaves and she nailed it!! Bru also got through to the champ final after coming 4th in the Agility and 3rd in the jumping! His consistency is improving 😍

Brooke and Toad are doing well despite the recent hot weather. Spark can't cope with photographs so Brodie took her place on the podium which he thoroughly enjoyed!! 

And the next post will be all about Bru's adventures at the Europen Open Championships in Belgium! Look at his posh harness from Tater Togs and his lovely bed and toys from Granny Lian!