As usual I'm behind with this! February was a busy month with the Team GB tryouts and amazingly it was a very dry month and I actually managed to teach in my own field which is a rarity through winter. Bru racked up four E's in the four Team GB tryout runs but he showed some amazing skills that he didn't have this time last year. The best bit was that he managed some insane weaves but then did something daft on the same course like running past the start jump as in the video below!!
Two weeks later was Crufts and Bru was in Novice Cup and Champ...very random but for some reason the KC didn't hold the Novice Cup at Crufts last year so it had rolled over to this year. Bru was absolutely amazing and loved the atmosphere! He won the Novice Cup overall!!! 💛🎉🎉 He was second in the jumping with a very scary moment where he turned the wrong way and 2nd in the agility with a held seesaw. I love this photo of him with his posh sparkly harness and lead on from Tater Togs!
Onto the Sunday and champ day! Matt had a whoopsie on the jumping where Bru ran all the way round a jump so saved the E but got faults. There were so many clears that he knew he would have to go for it in the agility round and wow he did a stunning run and finished 4th!! All the videos are on my YouTube channel but here is his agility round 💛
He made it into the Final and was running first! The turn off the dog walk proved very tricky for a lot of the dogs and unfortunately Bru did a cracking dog walk and Matt then said go instead of right so Bru shot round the side of the third jump. Then it all went a bit wrong but so proud of them getting there and running on TV right before best in show!!! Hopefully they will be back in the future!
To finish Bru's news 😂 we also went to champ at Wyre show last weekend. His Dad got him E'd in the agility round on a technical course but they went on to win the jumping round again some very fast spaniels! We don't think Bru runs that well on sand compared to grass as he doesn't train on it as much so we were very surprised and had already left when we found out he had stayed in first!
When we were at Wyre we met up with Branstons Dad Kuri and his sister Sidr. Kuri is such a sweet dog and has lots of things in common with Pickle. We even managed to get them sitting and posing for a photo!
Pickles agility training is going well, he is now sequencing dog walks, Aframes and weaves but still hasn't got a finished seesaw due to the wet weather! All of his weekly videos are on a playlist on my YouTube channel as its nice to keep a record of what he has done at what age. None of our dogs have had a seesaw before 20 months so its obviously a theme 😂 I have had people ask what I do when with my puppies but I might do a separate post about that.
He has turned into a handsome boy...I am biased! We had his hip scores back really quickly and they are 3:3 so lovely and even ❤ His coat is getting darker and his nose lighter! He is still the sweetest boy, a tad overexcited at times but I'd rather he was full on and confident! At our latest agility lesson we had a girl collie in season and he worked like usual, played tug, didn't go off sniffing at all and stayed really focused so can't ask for more! Our latest weekly video is below
Branston thought Crufts was the best day out! He loved walking round and meeting people and seeing the other dogs. We also got to meet up with our friends Rowena and Nigel and their shelties Toes and Dougal! Look what a gorgeous quartet they are and no doubting which one is Pickle with that tail!! 😂
Brooke Bean loved her Crufts walkies as well (second right in the above pic) We recently got a blood test and vet check done as she has just turned 12 and we wanted to make sure she was doing ok. Her sight isn't great in the bright sun or dark but her liver/kidneys were all good. We have retired her from hoopers as I was worried about her catching the hoops and not being as confident. She is a natural at using her nose so I have booked her on to a series of scentwork workshops and am really looking forward to learning more!
