Brodie, Brax and Brooke puppy

Brodie and Max news

2012-02-15T18:08:00.008Z

Sorry for the lack of blog updates - I've had a mad few days! Unfortunately Maxi pony had colic at the weekend which was very stressful as he wasn't drinking :( Vet said that she had seen loads of colics due to dehydration. The temperature went down to -15 at the yard and the buckets were freezing five mins after filling them. Max had been in more than normal so that meant more hay which didn't help with the dehydration. Thanks to all my amazing friends who helped me lunge him and brought hot drinks to keep me going! Also tip for anyone having the same problem - my friend Heidi adds peppermint tea to their water - worked for Max!

Thanks to Holly for taking these beautiful pics of Max - I just LOVE the one of his eye :)

The other news is that my Brodie boy is now 5! I can't believe that its so long ago that I picked him up, brought him home and from the minute I met him I know he was going to be MY dog. I was on the lookout for a tri boy sheltie with a white nose preferably and it was meant to be! He is a proper Mummy's boy and such a lovely little dog to have around, perfect with nervous or aggressive dogs and loves puppies and children. He has tried his hardest for me at everything we have competed at. Brodie is truly a dog in a million, taking me on an amazing journey from my first proper agility competition in Grade 1 up to the dizzy heights of Grade 7 and a RCC!! I owe him so much - I know he'd settle for a lamb bone :) Love my boy!

Snow day!

2012-02-06T00:15:00.010Z

We have had a chilly but fun weekend! The pic above was taken on market day in town and Brodie and Brax are distracted watching a kid having a tantrum but Brooke just sat staring and waiting for Matthew to come back - proper Daddy's girl!

She is a VERY grown up girl now as she helped me in a behavioural session for the first time. Brodie and Brax have been helping Mitch the greyhound get used to relaxing around dogs as he used to just scream, spin and leap around lunging at any dog that wasn't a greyhound. Mitch is a very loving, big huggy boy who if he hadn't found his forever home with Sarah and Simon would probably still be in kennels now being overlooked. Wow he has fallen on his feet - they have put in soooo much work with him and I'm very proud of all of them! He got to the stage of walking with Brodie and Brax without reacting at all. They are both very good as they know when they are being 'stooge' dogs, having helped me with aggressive dogs for years. It was time to introduce Mitch to little Brooke and I did expect a few fireworks as she has never seen such a tall dog, or one that is muzzled and being a puppy she can be quite bouncy and silly! Well they surprised and amazed me!! She got out of the car, threw a few beautiful calming signals in his direction, he did the same back and we had a lovely walk together. So proud of both dogs and they did seem to get confidence off each other. It was quite magical to watch :)

Yesterday evening the snow came down so today Brooke had her first snowy walk. She LOVED it and charged around like a nutter!! Here are a few pics from our walk.

Brax gets snowballs really badly :( I'm not sure if its because she is spayed and has a different coat texture to the other two. My first sheltie Bramble was the same as Brax but Brodie and Brooke seem ok. It does make Brax angry about the snow, even with her coat on! Has anyone got any good ideas on how to prevent this?

Brodie only has a little collection of snowballs!

Tired sable girls!!

Snuggly Brooke - snow is tiring!!

Frosty walk photos

2012-02-01T18:06:00.007Z

Two tired shelties after training last night - what a cute pair!

On the field this morning - Brax doing her 'I'm cold hurry up and stop taking photos' face!

My handsome Brodie toad

Brodie and Brooke having a sniff - put picture on here to show how much tail and trousers Brooke has got now!

Cute Brax 'praying' for some food!

Brodie and Brooke both went training last night (different places!) and wee Brax got to stay home snuggled up by the radiator! She didn't look in the least bit upset about being left :)

Obviously I didn't see Brooky wooky at school but Matt says she was a good girly and much more tuned in this week and tugging like a looney. All the dogs had at least an hour and half walking during the day including lots of running so Brooke was much calmer.

Brodie worked in class for the first time since Sept and had a great time -he finds the new width weaves hard to get a rhythm in but I'm sure it'll come with time. He ran at small height and was doing some lovely tight turns which we had lost during his injury. It made me smile all the way home knowing that he had a fab time and is enjoying his agility so much :D

Brooke redeems herself!!

2012-01-29T19:28:00.002Z

Brooke has redeemed herself after being very teenage and getting up to mischief! She is just so adorable and cute that even when she is taking the lid of the food bin its hard not to laugh at her!! After the brain blowing excitement of class on tuesday we decided that another 1-1 with Dan was required to get her to focus in a less intense environment. She was still distracted (sure she is brewing a season as she is being a dreadful tart!) but got her working head on and did some lovely bits. Being a horse rider its a bit like judging how much warm up each horse needs before competing - too little and the session is not productive, too much and their wee brains are fried!! Brodie and Brax are good examples - Brodie needs very little walking/mental work before doing agility training as he gets mentally tired quite quickly. Brax on the other hand needs a fair amount or she is crazy! I think before class for Brooke I need to do some attention and focus work as well as having free running during the day!

Anyway, I'm off on a tangent! Brooke did a bit of her 'herdy' behaviour but coped well with doing staircases, stars and a line of three jumps to a tunnel. Here is a video of her in action - bless her :) Blink and you may miss it!!

Teenage Brooke!

2012-01-27T11:53:00.004Z

Our little princess is being a bit of a teenager at the moment! Nothing really naughty but just pushing the boundaries with Bracken in particular and seeing what she can get away with (like knocking the lid of the food bin when no one is looking and helping herself!!) She was a pickle at school on tuesday as well - very excited about her toy to the point that her brain stopped working! I probably hadn't helped as I'd had a manic day and they hadn't had as much free running as normal. Also Brooke and I met Matthew there as he had driven straight from work so that was SO exciting for her before she even started class!!

She was excellent at running in straight lines but was very 'herdy' doing an exercise with two sets of wings (no jumps) at 180 degrees. She just kept running round the edge!! I think a lot of it is that she is totally unlike the other two and likes to work further away and we have also done a lot of straight line 'go on' stuff with her. My first sheltie was also very herdy and would constantly circle us on family walks - Brodie and Brax just aren't like that at all. Brooke however is like a mini collie on walks (rounding us up, stalking the others, lying down and then racing off) and seems to handle like one in agility which is something new for us!! She has the speed but now we need to control :)

Tired puppy after class!

Brooke is 10 months old!

2012-01-19T11:30:00.003Z

Happy 10 month birthday to Brooke and her handsome brother Sonic - wow they seem so grown up now! She is a real madam, cheeky and bouncy and gets away with murder with the other two by being faster than them and sneaky - just as I'm typing this she has dive bombed Brodie while he was looking away and pinched his bone, poor boy!

Festive Training!

2012-01-09T10:17:00.002Z

We spent New Year in Wales with my Auntie and her family including my cousin. We had such a nice time and it was so lovely to catch up with them! The dogs were spoilt and really enjoyed the walks despite the infamous Welsh rain :) Thanks to my Auntie for having us to stay and cooking soooo many yummy things!

Between Christmas and New Year we managed to squeeze in a bit of training with all three dogs. Brodie hadn't done anything in four months so he was only doing Brooke height jumps and tunnels and a couple of dog walks. He was very keen!! He ran well but still isn't extending his stride as confidently as I know he can. Brodie is shorter in length than Brooke but we were amazed to see that she takes one stride on some of the grids where Brodie takes two. Considering she is def 'small' height at the moment (and hasn't grown for weeks) she has an amazing stride and amount of power, controlling it is the challenge!!

Brodie doing jumps and tunnels

Brodie first time on dog walk in four months - he gets the contact nicely but we need to work on his forward focus a bit. I could tell he was a bit hesitant, bless him!

Little Brax had a go at some running contacts and her re-training from a 2o/2o is coming along nicely. Here is a video on low dog walk.

Brooke was brilliant putting jumps and tunnels together, bearing in mind that we only have been training her on equipment about once a month. It really keeps her fresh and raring to go though :) This is her second time on 'jumps' and although she almost trips over the second one, she is figuring it out!

Brookes first time on low dog walk.

Thanks to my fab Mum who stood in the cold and took all the videos of the dogs - love you!

Brooke is starting class again tomorrow night which is great as it is the next one on from her pre-agility puppy class. Lots of handling which she is ready for without the 'big' equiment. She loves to learn and is such a bouncy, sweet girly :)

We are both back to work and busy again. I have to say a big well done to my clever class that I taught yesterday. I missed working with them for the past couple of weeks and it was so nice to teach them yesterday - all the dogs worked so well! This season is looking promising for the competition group!!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-03T15:32:00.007Z

We have had a lovely busy Christmas and so much going on that I will do a separate New Year post! I thought I'd be quieter running up to Christmas but I was as busy as ever and work carried on between Christmas and New Year. I have such lovely clients and am so lucky to be doing what I do!

Matthew was off work for a couple of weeks which made me and the shelties very happy! We spent Christmas and Boxing day at his Mums and had a lovely time. One of my friends gave the shelties some fun Christmas fancy dress items - here is Brodie in his beard!

Here is Brooke with her new toy from Matthews Mum on Christmas Day

My Mum flew down to see us on Boxing day - yay!! Brooke definitely remembered her and Brax was delighted to have her fav person to snuggle up on the sofa with :)

We did manage to squeeze in a bit of training with all three dogs between Christmas and New Year. Running contacts for Brax, baby stuff for Brooke and Brodies first run for four months. More in next post...

Brooke 9 months and Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-22T21:25:00.008Z

Brooke and her handsome brother Sonic are now 9 months old! She is such a happy, bouncy beautiful young lady and we are so lucky to have her. She has had a very exciting week as we have a lovely Lab called Alfie staying with us which Brooke has found soooo exciting! We haven't done much with her agility wise recently apart from teaching her to go round the coffee table from a distance!

Matthew was poorly last friday so his shelties thought that they would make him feel better! Its funny how dogs have a sixth sense about it. Brodie had been out with me helping Mr Mitch the greyhound get used to other dogs - Mitch coped really well considering Mitch was worried by Brodie last time they met. It was lovely to see them walk so well together :)

Brooke had a 1-1 agility session today with Dan Shaw and LOVED every minute! She did her first ever jumps (only 4" high!), tunnels and bendy grids amongst other things. The half hour was plenty but she worked so well through the whole session considering she was in a new environment. I meant to take videos but was too busy watching!

I have to say a massive WELL DONE to Lian with Brodie's brother Sizzle who have been picked to represent England at the World Agility Open Champs next year (the one Brax did this year) and also to Jackie Scott with her lovely Cocker Mr George who won Grade 5 agility recently - go George!!

Lastly I'd love to wish all my friends and their lovely dogs a very Merry Christmas and great 2012!

Feeling Christmassy!!

2011-12-15T12:05:00.005Z

After feeling not at all Christmassy I have got into the Christmas spirit a bit more this week. Decorations are up, cards are sent, some pressi's wrapped and I've had some lovely evenings out with great friends and family. My Mother In Law had booked tickets to see the Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House, something I have never seen and always wanted to!

Well it was brilliant! Beautiful to watch and amazing music, such a treat! I'm so lucky to have a lovely Mum in Law who appreciates culture more than her son does! ;)

At St Pancras station they had built a Christmas tree out of Lego!

The dogs have had a busy week - Brooke met a sable boy sheltie called Alfie yesterday on the common and after being a bit hesitant she ran around with him for ages. Her new trick that Matthew has been working on it getting an instant 'down' at a distance, something that she enjoys doing, even in mud! It nice that she seems a bit less of a princess than Brax who won't do anything in bad weather!

Brodie is still getting better - he has been off his lead when its just him and Brax as she is kind to him! I leave him on if Brooke is off so they don't whack into each other :) Here he is looking handsome in the winter sun, my wee sweetie!

Agility withdrawal...

2011-12-07T15:41:00.005Z

I have been missing doing agility a lot, especially as Brodie and I should have been at the UKA National Finals. The good news is that he is seeming better and can do his stretching exercises much easier now so we are on track to get back doing some agility in the new year. I was missing agility so much that I ran Brax at training last week (rare as she is Matthews dog) and I have the bruises to show for it!! She was soooo excited that she nipped me a couple of times after runs, cheeky girl! I didn't mind as she ran beautifully (that and Matt has always let her do it, grr!!) and we had so much fun :) Usually in winter she runs like a snail but this year she is much brighter - I think that being out walking a lot more during the day and not shut in a cold, dark staff room may have something to do with it!

Brooke pups is now 8.5 months old and is gorgeous and crazy! Love her to bits!! She is turning into a snuggle monster and loves laps. The two sable girlies are very similar in a lot of ways and have started playing much more. They are both unusual as well in that they hardly have any white hairs on the tip of their tail. In fact, both of them have black tips to their tail. Brookes coat is getting darker in places but its hard to get a good pic of it!

The two older dogs went to Rommy's house for a get together and watched him do the weaves in his garden which he did beautifully! Brax had a go as well but Brodie had to content himself with watering the garden! I love the pic above as it has all three common sheltie colours and they all look so sweet! :)

Sheltie Obedience Training Day

2011-11-28T11:46:00.005Z

Matthew and I had such an enjoyable day yesterday at the Obedience training day organised by the ESSC working section. I really think that even if agility is our main hobby, it is so good for the dogs do some obedience work, especially around new dogs and in a different environment. Agility is just obedience at speed with a few obstacles after all! Our trainer Domini was really enthusiastic and didn't once make us feel inadequate because we don't generally compete at obedience. She was very into motivation and rewards to create drive and desire to work - just like agility really!!

We worked all three of ours and they all did so well at the different exercises. We did stays, distance control, heelwork, retrieves and sendaways/recalls. Brooke pups got lots of lovely comments from the obedience people and bless her she did so well for an 8 month old pup. She even did her first sendaway :) She didn't get distracted at all and couldn't take her eyes off Matthew. I worked Brodie and we both worked Brax and they had great fun too! There were so many lovely shelties there and it was great to see how enthusiastic they were no matter what level they work at. Domini really broke exercises down if the dog was struggling by shaping behaviours with a clicker - this helped a lot of the younger dogs with retrieves in particular. Matthew got to work one of Domini's collies at the end which was interesting as he is sooo used to little dogs! They all slept well when they got home!

Brooke is 8 months old!!

2011-11-21T18:20:00.002Z

Our little bundle of fun Brooke is now 8 months old and it only seems like yest that we picked her up! We had great fun on saturday as she did a puppy training day with Leah Gardner in Kent and there were two other sheltie puppies present - her brother Sonic and little Shark. It was a lovely class and it was really fun and informative :) They worked through waits, recalls, ladder work, tunnels and had lots of play. The video below is from Lian and was filmed by Colin

There are a few short videos on my YouTube page of the exercises but they are not as good as Colins video!! Brooke has still only done the basics but its so nice to see that her waits are solid and her speed is improving as she gets more confident. Her tugging is better and less polite as well! She is an amazing little puppy and we love her to bits :)

On a sad note, Brodie and I can't take part in the UKA national finals. The dogs had an physio appointment with Caroline from Galen and she confirmed my fears that Brodie wasn't right :( Brooke had side slammed him a few times during the summer, once taking him off his feet and they were playing rough together in the house as well. It is amazing how much damage dogs can do to each other in free play. I've never been a fan of dogs bundling each other like nutters but whereas Brax will tell Brooke off, Brodie is so sweet that he doesn't! Coupled with Brodie being a small medium (and jumping 9cm higher than his back at KC shows) despite not doing many shows this year he had obviously managed to sustain an injury to his neck and also was found to be tight through his back, shoulders have a tilted pelvis. Poor boy, I could have cried :( Anyway, Caroline being the star she is worked wonders and we also have some exercises to do. He is moving more freely already and cocking his leg better again. He can also now turn his head to the right!!

The signs that something wasn't right were

- being reluctant to do heelwork in obedience (he couldn't turn his head right and look up)

- coming out of the weaves (especially the narrower ones, wider spacing seemed ok)

- turning left when I gave him a right command (this happened in the Champ final where he won his RCC!!)

- not trotting on walks but trying to canter or pace

- not cocking his leg properly

- measuring slightly on KC sized spread jumps

- grumpy when being groomed (not like Brodie at all)

- going 'flat' at competitions and lacking power

Looking back I think that there were issues brewing in August and the worst moments came at Letchworth. I put it down to him being tired from being in the tent and competing but I pulled him out of several classes. Still, I could kick myself that I didn't get him looked at sooner. In the future I will keep a closer eye on him. I do wonder whether he is prone to injuries after falling off the dog walk a couple of years ago. I'm not going to do any agility training with him until Jan and will spend Dec building up his fitness. Brax on the other hand passed with flying colours, bit tight in a couple of spots but normal agility dog wear and tear. We have done much more warming her up this year and it has paid off :)

Brooke Videos

2011-11-15T19:30:00.002Z

I've been so hectic that I am blogging late again! Its great to be so busy though and I feel so lucky to spend everyday doing something I love and seeing all my fab clients, both human and canine!! I am really impressed by the hard work and dedication that some people have to their animals. We are privileged to share our lives with them and can all learn a lot from spending time with them, no matter what the species (ok, possibly not goldfish although they are very therapeutic to watch!!) One of the most amazing people I know is a lovely lady called Sarah who with her husband Simon take on retired and sometimes elderly greyhounds. They have four hounds at the moment that vary in age and have a few issues that most people wouldn't be able to deal with. One of them is nervously aggressive to anything that doesn't resemble a greyhound / lurcher type and they have put in SO much work to help him overcome his issues. Put it like this, if I came back to earth as a dog I'd want to live with them - they are possibly the most dedicated, selfless people that I have ever been lucky enough to know. If only all owners were so good...

It really makes me think about whether there should be a test to pass before owning an animal. For example, the number of people recently who I've seen walking round our village with their dogs off lead on the pavement of a busy road is ridiculous. I narrowly missed running over a terrier this evening which is what prompted this rant. I don't know whether these people think they are clever or amazing dog trainers but actually IT'S ILLEGAL (and stupid) to have your dog off the lead on a public highway. Is it worth the risk?? My dogs are well trained but I wouldn't do something that potentially is fatal to my dogs! The poor terrier I almost hit got grabbed by its owner and then smacked - poor dog probably wanted to push her in the road :(

Anyway, I rarely rant on the blog so I do apologise! Anyway, here are a couple of videos of Miss Brooke taken this week. We realised that we hadn't done handstands for a long time so here are a few of the attempts

This a a short video of Brooke doing her running contact on the raised plank for the second time ever. Her striding ok, she gets the contact with all four feet but I would prefer her back feet to be a little bit more split if I was being fussy. What I was pleased about was that she did about 10 reps and only missed once which was better than I thought she would do. She is thinking about it a bit now rather than chucking herself around like a nutter!!

Family Reunion!

2011-11-08T15:51:00.013Z

On saturday we went to visit Lian and her shelties, including Brooke's brother Sonic. We had a lovely time and the dogs were so worn out by the time we got home that they slept all the way through the firework display on the common!

We decided to take the train to see Lian as its good for the dogs and quite an adventure :) It involved train to St Pancras International, tube to Victoria and overground again to Mitcham. Brax doesn't particularly enjoy going on the train but got better each time. Brodie LOVES going on the train but isn't keen on escalators (he doesn't understand why he is moving!) and Brooke loves all of it!!

We had a lovely time seeing Lian, Colin and all the shelties. Brooke met her little half brother Scampi and his sisters Fly and Sweep. Beautiful puppies and we had so much fun playing with them! Brooke was fascinated with them and played very gently with them as did Brodie. Brax just steered clear! This is Brooke and Sweep - how cute!!!

Brooke also got the chance to run around like a nutter with her brother Sonic! In the video you can see their Daddy Sing watching them and Sizzle who is Brodies brother. Please excuse Brax yapping in the video!

Lian managed to take some lovely photos of the dogs - I've put the one of all three of them on the blog heading - thanks Lian! There are some great action shots on Lians blog as well. This is Sonic and Brooke with Sing, what great smiles! Sing has a poorly paw so we all hope it gets better soon.

Here are Brodie and Brooke chilling out on the train
This is me and the woofs at St Pancras - couldn't get them all looking at the camera!

This is Brookes little brother Scampi - he is adorable and wow does he have attitude!!

This is little Sweep having a cuddle on my lap-she is a very pretty girly.

This is Fly who is a very playful pup, she fell asleep on their food toy!

Brax was worn out barking all day so fell asleep on me all evening - bless her!

Brodie snuggled up in his bed when we got home

and Brooke puppy claimed her spot on 'her' sofa!!

Brooke Balance and Coordination Workshop

2011-11-01T14:31:00.007Z

Brooke went to her first winter workshop on saturday, Balance and Coordination by Hannah Banks. It was very well run and informative and the dogs really enjoyed themselves - thanks Hannah! As an observer it was obvious how their confidence and balance got better and they started to think things through rather than dashing into everything at 100mph. I'm going to do some of the exercises with Brax too as she isn't that well balanced and goes at everything like a bull in a china shop :)

Brooke doing the wobble board, you can see that she worked out to sit in the centre as that was where she was most stable - clever pup

Brooke getting the hang of walking through the ladder SLOWLY! Slower the better for exercises like this as they can't use their momentum to cheat and jump through

We also have been proofing her waits now that she understands what is required of her. Lots of rewards for not moving while me and Matthew jump around like lunatics! :) She is really getting to grips with it, even with distractions.

I'm loving the fact that its now November and the sun is out, its mild and fairly dry at the moment. I took this pic along the canal as the leaves were so striking.

Brodie and Brooke at St Albans market waiting for Matthew - look at that ear fuzz on Brooke!!

Sleeping beauties!! Awww :)

Brooke taking over the sofa

Look what clever Brodie got in the post!

Rommy came to play!

2011-10-27T19:29:00.006+01:00

Yesterday Rommy the handsome blue merle sheltie came round for a walk and general sheltie party! Brooke loved seeing him again and chasing him around in the field :) She is such a cheeky girlie!

Here are some pics - not great quality as on my phone. Rommy is a lovely marked merle, he is related to Brodie through Blenmerrow Barnaby.

Rommy and the ginger girls - Brax looks headless!!

Brodie had enough partying by this stage, bless him!

Obedience Show

2011-10-24T15:15:00.003+01:00

Its very rare that the Burdett shelties do obedience shows but I think its great for them to do for a change - very different from agility in so many ways but attention and focus with distractions around is vital in both. Motivation and the dog WANTING to work with you is important in both and its great groundwork for a young dog to get ring experience with judges, stewards, dogs barking, etc

Brodie and Brax have done bits of obedience before but it was Brooke's first time in the ring and we hadn't done masses of work on her stays so she didn't do them. Her heelwork was lovely despite the odd distraction and she held her wait and even managed the finish! What a superstar puppy :) Love her! She didn't get placed but she got her first ever rosette. The judge gave her a special rosette for her lovely heelwork and for showing so much potential at 7 months - you might say we were a bit proud of her! Here is her test - sorry about the video shaking, I was quite nervous for them!

Brodie and Brax did really well too, Brax got a 6th in Pre Beginners, 2nd in Beginners and Brodie came 4th in Beginners (only 0.4 marks behind Brax!) Very pleased with how they worked, particularly Brodie as he had a chunk of hair taken out of him by a show dog on the way into the venue :( No apology from owner and although Brodie was a bit worried at the time, he worked nicely in the tests. In Novice he did well in his test but lay down in his sit stay as I think he was quite tired by then. We are doing an obedience training day with all three of them in a few weeks time which will be interesting!!

Talking of training days, we have some fab agility ones booked up for wee Brooke! Coordination, balance, motivation, drive and basic obstacles are some of the things we'll be focussing on. I'll try and keep the blog up to date as to how we get on.
These cute pics were taken by my sister on holiday - thanks Amy!!

Brooke 7 months already!

2011-10-19T16:30:00.010+01:00

Our gorgeous pup has turned 7 months today - I can't believe it as it only seems like yesterday when we met her for the first time. She is such a beautiful young lady, great attitude to work and so very affectionate. She has recently discovered the joy of sitting on laps when its cold and will really snuggle up! We just love her to bits and can't imagine life without her :)

We have been away for the last week in the Peak District and also celebrated my Mums 60th Birthday in style with a big party! Despite my Mum feeling under the weather, she had a great time and we all enjoyed catching up with people that we hadn't seen for ages. There was about 40 people in total and the shelties and Tresca (my sisters dog) had fun mingling with people and hoovering up the food that was dropped!! The picture below was taken just before all the guests arrived - what a wonderful team of people that hosted the party and organised food.

The rest of the week we spent doing some lovely walks and some included walking to dog friendly pubs! We stayed at Wheeldon Trees farm which is very dog friendly and the owners Martin and Deborah are lovely and so helpful. The cottages are fantastic and there are enclosed dog paddocks as well as the fab walks. Also every cottage has an enclosed patio or garden area.

Here are a few pics from our holiday, Brodie's face is hilarious on the photo below :)

Watch out Britains got talent...

2011-10-03T10:44:00.002+01:00

What a talented puppy! For fun I had taught Brooke to put her back feet on a small pile of videos which she was quick to learn. Then inspired by Silvia Trkman's puppy trick training, I thought we could turn it into a handstand. Well, Brooke decided to skip about 5 stages and got it straight away! She cracks us up though as she is so serious about working :) Here are the 3 short videos of her attempts at handstands

And much quicker to get it in this clip

Obviously she is young so we have kept the training very short and sweet as with everything at the mo but she loves it. We did another demo at an old peoples home on friday and she was a star. The other two really enjoy doing the demos as well and payment for them came in the form of ginger biscuits! Agility wise we have nothing else planned so can concentrate on Brooke training, keeping Brodie ticking over and retraining Brax's contacts - watch this space!!

Our 5th Anniversary!

2011-09-28T15:50:00.004+01:00

Last week was our 5th Wedding Anniversary and I just have to say how lucky I am to have such a wonderful husband who has been so supportive of me in general but also in my new buisness venture. He is also my best buddy to bounce ideas off, have a laugh with and its so nice to see so much more of each other - life is definitely too short!! (Still wondering why I didn't do this sooner?!) It is also so lovely to be able to share a hobby with someone who understands the highs and lows, helps with training issues and shares your excitment at a good clear round! It seems like only yesterday that we got married yet I can't remember not being with Matthew, I guess he has put up with me for 11 years now! :)

Anyway, I got very exciting pressi's from Matthew, a new crate, a slow cooker and a Manners Minder which I have wanted for a while! For those of you not in the know, a Manners Minder is a remote controlled dog treat dispenser so it is excellent for teaching the dog independent behaviours. Already Brooke has been going up the hallway over her little jump bumps to it - what a great game!! I haven't got any videos of her with the Manners Minder yet but here is a clip of her going over the jump bumps to her ball.

We also managed to get her up to the arena to do a tunnel somewhere other than puppy class. Here she is racing through a slightly bend tunnel for the first time.

I have to say a huge WELL DONE to Paul and Maria with Chester the Beagle as he has now won into Grade 5!!! What an amazing first season they have had going from Grade 1 up to 5 in as many months and winning the Agility Club Starters Cup along the way! Very proud of you all for all your hard work and dedication :)

Brooke 6 months Birthday!

2011-09-20T15:55:00.003+01:00

Brooke celebrated her half birthday with a lovely walk in the morning, a big biscuit at lunch and a fun time at school in the evening!

Here are the shelties on their early morning walk
Brooke had fun at school again and I finally managed to take some little videos of her. (I must explain that Matthew is wearing smart trousers and trainers because he had just driven from his work in Kent and hasn't got time to go home first! ) The first video is her doing turns off lead and from watching this back I think we'll do obedience if agility doesn't work out - what a trot!!

This video is Brooke practising her elephant trick but as with all behaviour, its very different with distractions present. She is tentative and unsure as her box is a lot smaller and she doesn't normally have 6 dogs watching her! Bless her she manages ok with a bit of help from Matthew.

The last video is Brooke going through the straight pipe tunnel which she loves!

Brooke photos

2011-09-16T11:53:00.006+01:00

Here are a few pics of Brooke puppy out on a walk this morning. We went without the others to get her a little more confident about meeting other dogs and she was very good - even wanted to play chase with a HUGE pointer! The photos also show what a huge amount of hair she is developing round her neck and chest! The pics below are her practising her 'waits' - what a cute expression :)

Brooke almost 6 months!

2011-09-14T14:36:00.004+01:00

Brooke is now attending school on a monday nights! She has had two lessons and is doing really well. Its a group of seven dogs of all sizes from a Russian Black Terrier to a tiny JRT! We were lucky to find a puppy class which is all positive and that is geared towards developing foundation agility skills. So far Brooke has done targetting, restrained recalls to front and side, directional commands whilst walking round cones, walking over weave poles on the ground, waits and LOADS of play! She was much less distracted the second week and was much more attentive to Matthew. I'll try and get some video next week.

At home we have been doing our homework but also working on wobble cushion and being a bear to help her balance. Today for the first time I was sending her away to a target up the hall over jump bumps (which in our house are wrapping paper cardboard tubes cut in half!) and she seems to get to grips with the game and her striding quickly.
Here is a video of her being a bear - she is such a gorgeous girly and soooo serious about her trick!

She fell asleep on Matthews lap after school and she had her tongue sticking out! I managed to take her pic when she was just waking up - ahhh bless!
Brodie and Brax deserve a mention as we did agility at the weekend and they both won their jumping classes at AJAXS UKA show. My friends Kate and Heidi came and ran their dogs for the first time and did really well. When you have been competing for ages, you do forget how nerve racking it is the first few times you get in the ring. Think they may get the bug though..! We have only got a couple of shows left this season but we have some ace training sessions lined up for Miss Brooke :)

Holiday Part 2 - England

2011-09-07T10:37:00.012+01:00

I have been very late with catching up on the blog as we were away over the weekend at Letchworth show. Anyway, back to holiday!

After staying in Scotland with my Dad we travelled down to Durham and spent a couple of days exploring the area. We really enjoyed going to the Beamish outdoor museum which allows dogs except in the buildings. Brooke saw pigs, chickens, horses, other dogs and loads of people, she also got to ride on the trams!
On the friday we went to Preston as we had planned to go to Wyre Agility Show on the saturday and sunday but they were very sensible and cancelled it after a huge amount of rain on the friday. We decided to go to Blackpool and explore a bit and we found a lovely big park with putting (Matthew won again!) and the dogs had a great time :)

On the sunday we did champ at Wyre in the rain. They had saved a ring for champ but the conditions were still not great - footie boots were def needed. Brodie did a clear in the jumping qualifier with a dodgy turn (I said right and he went left!) and Brax went clear despite hating the conditions! In the agility qualifier, Brax did a nice clear again and after a flying start, Brodie failed came out the middle of his weaves. Watching it in slow motion on the video I think he lost his footing a bit and didn't turn tight enough. Any, after that I handled like a numpty and got a refusal as well! Brax made it through to the final and ended up 4th, not bad as it was such a long way round on mud for such a small sheltie!!

After Wyre, we did the monday at Northern Week. It was in a massive field and had a huge exercise area which meant that little Brooke had the chance to run around after her ball like a looney! The champ agility course was good but quite challenging in that it forced you into handling in a certain way in places but both dogs ran well, despite Brax flying off the dog walk - grr! Brodie almost goes airbourne over the Aframe which worried me a bit! The qualifying rounds are on Youtube. Brax ran well in the jumping qualifier as well until racing up the last straight and running INTO the wall. I think she was chasing Matthew and missed her stride. She used to take a lot of poles until we started grid work with her but she hasn't done it for ages. Brodie did another clear run in the jumping to put us into the final. Brax also got through as so many dogs had been eliminated.

The final was probably slightly harder than the qualifying rounds which is unusual in champ as often it is more of a blast in the champs I've done. The tunnel under the Aframe caught out loads of dogs but so did the start. The push through meant that you started the serpentine behind the dog but then needed to be the other side of the dog walk. I went for the legging it and sending him out option and to be honest was just pleased to go clear. I had a hairy moment when her turned left instead of right again but managed to save it! Brax had a refusal and ended up 4th. Imagine my shock when I found out that Brodie had got the RESERVE CC!!! Steven Richardson and Libby won the ticket making her Ag Champion so lots of hugging all round! I am so proud of my little Mr Toad, going from a nervous grade 1 up to a reserve ticket, he really is my dog in a million :D :D :D His brother Sizzle had won the Reserve Ticket at Kingdom of Fife two weeks earlier - what clever boys!

He really is my dog of a lifetime and he has achieved so much considering I got him to show and do some fun agility with! Love him to bits! Here he is posing with his posh rosette and ticketAfter three days of being on cloud nine we had to get organised to go to Letchworth 3 day show which is our club show so we were ring managing and helping. I think agility wise that the dogs were tired after holidays and also we stayed in a tent so none of us slept like normal except for wee Brooke! Brodie had some lovely runs on the first couple of days including getting 7th in the EO qualifier and one out of the placings in a couple of other agility runs. I know when I am helping that I don't warm the dogs up as much as normal and I think I made some silly mistakes when running. In the pairs on sunday Brodie just wouldn't run at all and kept looking at the judge. It reminded me that dogs are great levellers and have moments and we should never take consistent runs for granted! He is a quirky little dog who used to do this a lot but hasn't done it all year. Turns out that he had a sore tummy and wouldn't eat or even walk later that day - what a bad mummy :( I felt bad for making him run and should have realised but I was rushing around, poor boy. Fortunately he seems better now - he has a chicken allergy and someone had fed him treats without me checking what they were first so think those were the culprit. (No videos from Letchworth as didn't watch each other run) Here he is feeling much better on a walk this weekLittle Brooke had great fun at the show, helping me call and meeting lots of other dogs. We bought them new beds and the fav is a big blue bone shaped bed which the two girls love.
We also got Brooke's new harness through the post - big grown up girly now. Its really padded but best of all it fits - yay! I like the design as it has a loop on the back that is good for winding her up for restrained recalls. She started school this week and did really well - more of that in another post.

Holiday Part 1 - Scotland!

2011-08-30T18:37:00.014+01:00

We have had such a busy, fun 10 days that I don't know where to start!! We travelled up to see my Dad a week last friday and then went on to Dundee show on the saturday and sunday. Dundee is half way between my Mum and Dads so it was a good opportunity for my Mum and sis to come and see some agility. Thanks to them for driving to spend the day with us - it was lovely weather and we had a good catch up! (No videos for sat as too busy talking!) Agility wise we had a bad day as Brodie struggled with the weaves in both classes coming out half way which is very unlike him. I found he was quite tight across his back so missed the last class and gave him a good massage that night which seemed to help. Brax decided she was allergic to contacts again but at least we had the best picnic ever that my Mum had packed!! They had Tresca with them and it was her first time in a show envrionment and she was such a good girl, taking in all the sights.
Brax really loved having her 'nanna' to snuggle up with!

On the sunday we had Champ and both of us made it through to the finals! Brodie ended up 5th and Brax ended up 4th so very proud of the shelties :) Neither of them were miles behind the reserve time so they did well. Well done to Lian, Sipzie and Sizzle won had numerous wins at Dundee, super shelties!

Brax Dundee Champ Final (nice contacts to make up for saturday!)

Brodie Dundee Champ Final - his weaves were still a bit slow but he ran well.

Brooke also had a lot of fun at Dundee playing in the lovely country park with Matthew, in this video she is 23 weeks old.

After all that running around we went back to my Dads for a couple of days and had some lovely meals and relaxing walks on the beach. On the Monday we took the dogs into Edinburgh on the train and walked round the city, also watched bits of the festival on the Royal Mile.
Matthew and shelties in the gardens

Me and the woofs on the Royal Mile next to a 'tardis'!!
Brooke had a nice sleep on the pavement while we ate lunch - awwww bless!When we got back to my Dads they all crashed out in his kitchen - Brooke stole Peppers bed, Brax took the aga spot and Brodie was a gentleman and had the floor :)We went for a trip round Dirleton castle on the Tuesday and the gardens were amazing for the time of year. After that we had a lovely pub lunch and then walked the dogs along the coast back to my Dads (Brooke got carried for some of it!) Later on we went to North Berwick and although it was windy, the sun was out. Photo should have been nice but Brooke got bored!!

Think thats Part 1 done - more news later!

Quiet weekend and Max update

2011-08-15T13:03:00.006+01:00

We did no agility shows this weekend again, its been nice this year doing less shows and being picky about the ones we do, partly as we are just enjoying spending time at home and walking the dogs! We have done some training instead at home, contacts for Brax (more on this at a later date!), turns for Brodie using cones and Brooke learning faster downs and playing on the common with distractions. Luckily we have had good weather for our weekend off!

I had a lovely surprise parcel come through the post last week from Max's old owner Bee who sent me a letter and some photos of Max pony when he was a bit younger. I realised that I had neglected to post about Max recently as the dogs were giving me plenty to write about!

Here is a Max update, especially for those pony fans and of course Bee! Max is a Highland pony and like most grey horses, was born dark and has gradually gone dappled and then white. When I first got Max he was dark dappled and had black legs, now he is pure white and likes mud a lot! Max is also very special as he was born on my 18th Birthday so each year we go for a birthday hack and he gets a special treat - his fav thing is def food! He is a very affectionate pony and has converted a lot of people into being Highland fans as they are not common down here. (Both Max and I moved here from Scotland btw) He is a wonderful pony to ride and excellent at turning his hoof to anything. Together we have done jumping, dressage, side saddle, working hunter, showing and sponsored rides - he is a dude!! Max has also learnt a couple of tricks and his fav is to bow for a carrot! I'll try and get a video of him - he takes it very seriously! I haven't competed him for the last year, mainly due to lack of time and transport but we have weekly lessons and hack out a lot. He does enjoy going through the jumping woods as well :)

The photo below was taken by a photographer at a show a couple of years ago - bad quality I know but I haven't got a scanner! It also shows how Max's dapples have disappeared in the last couple of years. This was a ridden mountain and moorland class that he won :) Clever Max pony!

Brooke 20 weeks - Proprioception work

2011-08-09T17:14:00.002+01:00

We have had a weekend off doing agility as my Mum was down visiting. We had a fab time and Brooke thought that 'nanna' was VERY exciting!! She has lost three out of four of her canine teeth now and is starting to look like a mini adult rather than a puppy. Brooke has learnt a new trick this week which is walking backwards over or onto something.

If only we had know about this fun foundation training when Brax and Brodie were pups. For a start Brax would be less clumsy! :) Exercises like these help the puppy learn proprioception or 'the ability to know where their limbs are in relation to other objects' She is very good and fast at going forwards but we want her to THINK about what she is doing and be able think through a task slowly and use her legs independently. As you can see from these two videos she enjoys this work!

The pole and wobble cushion are not too high (still below her hocks) as we don't want to strain her joints or muscles and we are encouraging her to use her back end as she is quite a long puppy! When she was on the wobble cushion, Matthew managed to get her 'being a bear' briefly which helps with her core stability as well as her balance. She is such a superstar puppy!! :)

Brooke 19 weeks

2011-08-02T14:58:00.003+01:00

Our gorgeous girly is now 19 weeks old and is looking like a mini adult now rather than a fluffy puppy! Its hard to take photos of her as she isn't still very often but I managed to get one! She was standing still so Brodie could lick her legs - the two of them are real play mates now and she adores him :)

Now she has lost her puppy coat on most of her body and her adult coat has come through a lovely rich colour. There isn't much hair there yet so she looks lanky but its growing steadily. Her tail is the most amazing black and cream colour and attracts a lot of attention! Brooke is bigger than Brax now and has lost most of her puppy teeth at the front. I don't want to jinx it but so far her ears have stayed perfectly tipped without any help...

Here is Brooke and Brodie playing - the squeaking in the background is Brax desperately trying to get some attention bless her! (She doesn't 'do' rough games!)

Agility Club Show

2011-08-01T15:31:00.002+01:00

We only went to the Agility Club show on saturday as we had entered champ and teams each. Brax was an absolute superstar and went clear in both champ rounds and again in the final to finish 4th. The sun was out so the solar powered sheltie was happy :D Little Brooke really enjoyed going to another agility party and meeting lots of shelties! She is now 19 weeks old and just a bit under 12" so has now overtaken Brax in height (just!). I'll try and post some Brooke pictures later in the week.

Brodie didn't fair quite so well as he didn't quite get his weave entry in the jumping and even looking at the video I can't why he went wrong but I'm assuming I was in slightly the wrong place. There were only 7 people that didn't get E'd in the medium jumping so I'm pleased that we got round the rest of it! In the Agility round there was a jump that they had to take the back of right next to the dog walk and I knew I'd have issues! I had managed to pull him off and round at Hinckley but I just wasn't there this time and we got E'd. Amanda had set lovely courses that we really enjoyed running and Brodie and I had fun! I'm not going to post all the videos as they are on my YouTube page but here is Brax in the champ final.

We also did the team events and having done the champ agility I ran over and did teams straight off. Our ESSC medium team ran well and only one dog has done team events before so the other three coped well. Brodie had a very uncharacteristic run past a jump but I think he'd done the Aframe faster than I expected (normally if I rear cross it he is a bit slower) and I just wasn't there. Suppose I'm going to have to take up sprint training!! They ran well as a team and fingers crossed we can all get to the shows next year. Well done team mates! (Brax ran in the small ESSC team and the video for this is on Lians blog)

I was gutted that I couldn't stay into the evening and watch all my friends in the Starters Challenge Finals and be there to support them as I know how nerve wracking it is! I was over the moon when I received a text saying that Paul and Chester the beagle had WON THE MEDIUM FINAL!!! I'm still so excited!! Paul and Maria really deserve it as they put a lot of work into training Chester and he is enjoying his agility so much. He is also enjoying showing people how amazing Beagles can be at agility :D I have pinched a video to put on here and I defy anyone watching not to smile as Chester howls on the A frame - its his party piece!!

Brooke and Rommy play date :)

2011-07-28T12:54:00.004+01:00

Brooke went round to play at someones house yesterday! She absolutely LOVED Rommy who is a very handsome blue merle sheltie who is almost one. They played great chase games round the garden but it was the naughty lil minx chasing Rommy in HIS garden!!

I am having slight issues finding a harness that sits well on Brooke at the moment. She is currently in Brodies Rogz puppy one which isn't great (partly as its blue and everyone thinks she is a boy!) but at least its not tight round her 'armpits' like the green one was getting. I've also tried an ezy-dog one on her but as she is quite narrow across her chest it slips from side to side too much. I'm sure its just a lanky stage she is going through but any ideas gratefully received for a long narrow puppy!!

UKA Thames and Brooke 18 weeks

2011-07-25T15:38:00.004+01:00

We had a fantastic weekend relaxing on the Saturday and going for a nice dog walk and on the Sunday we went to Thames Valley UKA show. Brax and Brodie were on form and they do love the slightly lower jump heights at UKA. Brodie was a wee superstar and won all three of his classes - agility, jumping and steeplechase!! I was so pleased with how he ran and it also qualifies him for the Tug-e-Nuff Performance Challenge at the UKA Grand Finals in December!! Clever sheltie, I'm so proud of him :)

Brax won her jumping class and came third in her Gamblers. Its funny watching the videos as Brodie struggles to find his stride in the wider weave poles but Brax loves them and goes much faster! Here are a couple of videos of each dog. We only took four videos as we kept clashing with each others runs!

Its the first time that Brodie had run on the aluminium equipment and he has a 'moment' on the dog walk and then was fine on the seesaw!

Congratulations to Jane and Robbie and Jackie and George who both won their Steeplechase classes on their first attempts at a higher level!! (Also thanks to both doggies for making friends with Brooke!) Well done to Helen and young Toby who got a 2nd and a 3rd in the agility and jumping :)

Brooke had great fun being out round the rings making friends with lots of dogs. Two dogs that she particularly liked were both blue merle shelties. One was a young merle dog who she really wanted to play with - he was very handsome! This was her after her busy day

I finally managed to video her on her wobble cushion. She is all lanky and leggy at the moment so organising her legs is an issue!! You can see in the video as well that she has suddenly lost all her puppy coat and looks really slinky and smooth.

Rugby and 'In the Box!'

2011-07-18T17:00:00.002+01:00

The dogs and I went off to the local hospice to do another demo last week and again I was amazed and so proud of how well they coped, especially little Brooke. She took great delight in showing off her 'In the Box' trick which the patients loved. She also retrieved her little ball from under peoples chairs and that earned her a round of applause! Here is a video taken a couple of weeks ago of her box trick. Since then she has lost loads of puppy fuzz and has some lovely rich coloured adult coat coming through.

We went to Rugby at the weekend and had some nice runs but the weather was awful on the Saturday so no videos! Brax did two clear rounds in the champ but didn't make it into the final, prob due to getting slowed up in the very wet cloth tunnel. The bigger dogs managed to push through slightly easier but it was a shame for the real lightweights! She did some lovely contacts and considering she doesn't 'do' rain she was a good girl :) She got 9th in a huge C6-7 jumping class on Sunday despite the weather.

Brodie ran clear three out of four times over the weekend and was just out of the placings again in a couple of classes. I'm actually most pleased with the one I mucked up (silly handler!) as I managed to layer weaves from miles away - clever Brodie! Brooke came rounds the rings with us again and enjoyed taking it all in and watching the action.

Well done to Jackie and her lovely spaniel Mr George who won into Grade 4 at Rugby!! Also congrats to Caroline and Bobby for their 4th in a big jumping class :)

East Lothian

2011-07-15T23:09:00.006+01:00

We had an exciting adventure up to Scotland last week with Lian and five shelties! My Dad only lives a few miles from the showground so it was an ideal opportunity to visit him as well. We had a lovely, busy weekend and it was also the pups first big road trip and they did really well. They also had soooo much fun playing on the beach and in my Dads lovely garden. Matthew was racing the pups on the beach and he can't get away from them, they are faster then him now! Thanks to Lian for the fab pics.

Lian has put some gorgeous photos she took on her blog There are some great action pics of the dogs racing around and the pups playing :)

On the saturday all three of us had champ class up first. Unfortunately the bloke who does the show processing had messed Matthew's tickets up and had entered him and Brodie into the small champ!!! This meant that he had to run 4th instead of 16 and Brax and him were not warmed up and flustered :( resulting in an E.

Brodie and I then ran the same course and got E'd in the same place!!! I just totally forgot to engage my brain and tell him to come to my side. Poor Brodie looks really confused in the video - bad Mummy!

We both did G5-7 agility before Champ Agility and Brax was 3rd and Brodie was one out of the placings. This happened to us in both the graded agility runs on saturday and sunday 4th but placed to 3rd! I was really pleased looking at the grade 6 times though as he would have won by a good margin in both runs.

Brax and Brodie both ran clear in the Champ Agility. It was a good course, testing but flowing and the dogs enjoyed it! I had to slow Brodie down to run the left side of the dog walk but I was pleased with his rear cross towards the crowd - he wouldn't have happily done that last year :)

On the saturday we left early and went back to Gullane to let the dogs play. It absolutely poured with rain so we met up with Lian, Yvonne and her Mum to have a meal and good chat! It was so nice to catch up properly in the dry and have a lovely meal.

On the Sunday we went to walk the first course and discovered tunnel under Aframe and Dog walk and a TABLE!!! The judge had specified that she didn't want a pause on it but the dog to jump on and off cleanly. Fortunately all three shelties were impeccable on the table! Brax had a cheeky detour in a tunnel but an otherwise good run, Brodie did a nice run (4th again but placed to 3rd!)but I slowed him up to get the dog walk. Lians Sizzle, Brodies lil brother had a brilliant run apart from an unlucky E. All runs are on my YouTube page. It was such a fun course to try though.

Last run of the day was the jumping which all three dogs did a lovely clear in. Great fun blast for the dogs and a nice way to end our Scottish agility adventure! I only caught half of Brax's run :(

The puppies were so well behaved all weekend and had so much fun beating each other up! Being 16 weeks we took them out round the rings to get used to the atmosphere and they were brilliant. The only time Brooke got a bit gobby was when Matthew was running Brax - very jealous! She tugged and played round the rings happily though which was great. She is easily distracted by Sonic but this got better over the weekend and she got her usual focus back on us. She is now spitting out baby teeth all over the place - poor lil gummy bear!! Last video is of Brodie getting the girls to chase him in my Dads garden - he is such a tease!

Brooke 15 weeks

2011-07-03T20:56:00.007+01:00

Brooke had her first training session at the agility arena today. We didn't do much as it was very hot but she had a great time!! I was really pleased with how she wasn't fazed at all by the barking dogs in the kennels or Brax whinging for her turn! Brooke did restrained recalls through jump wings (no poles on ground) as well as sending her on to her tuggy toy through the wings. We did a straight tunnel a few times which she loved, here is a short clip of her doing a tunnel

We also propped the see saw on a jump wing and fed her while she gently wobbled on the low end. This didn't bother her at all, mainly I think as she loves her wobble cushion at home. We kept it short and sweet and although she seemed keen to do more, I held her in the shade while Brax had a run round with Matthew. Brooke voiced her opinion about this so in this video clip of Brax running round, it may be best to turn the sound down!!

After Brax had run round, she was really hot and panting quite hard. Normally is VERY rare to see Brax pant, even after doing a run on a hot day at a competition but this picture made me laugh - what a long tongue!!!

Brooke's ears are starting to threaten going bolt upright this week! Her right one stuck up a bit and went down again, sure sign that she is starting to teeth. Poor girly :( She has also had a growth spurt this week and looks a bit lanky again. Still not quite as big as Brax but catching up! We have been doing a couple of new tricks this week like walking backwards, roll over, retrieve and leave it to add to sit, down, wait and standing on things like small boxes and her wobble cushion. I am hoping to video these at some stage.
Brooke is such happy little puppy and we couldn't imagine being without her now. She is such a special girlie and she makes us constantly smile at her antics! Brooke has decided that Brodie is the best big brother ever and spends ages chasing around with him and licking his face! He is very patient with her and lets her take anything off him, big wimp that he is. We took all three of them on a lovely walk early yesterday morning and Brooke met some more dogs. At the moment we are letting her walk for about 15-20 mins and then carrying her as I'm always paranoid about overdoing it. She was tired after being a social butterfly and slept solid for a couple of hours having loud twitchy dreams :)

Brooke 14 weeks

2011-06-27T10:31:00.005+01:00

We had no agility this last weekend which was probably a good thing as it is sooooo hot at the moment!! I went to Hickstead Derby yesterday to watch the showjumping which was amazing but I did get very burnt. On Saturday Matthew and I took Brooke round St Albans market again but this was the first time she had walked round. We lost count of how many people said she looked like a fox cub! She was a good girl and was quite brave about people giving her fuss.

Brooke is now only an inch smaller than Brax but is longer. She has an amazing 'halo' of sticking up hair that really shows up in sunlight! Brooke loves the other two but she thinks Brodie is a great big brother! He tends to be the one to play with her and race around :)

Huge Congratulations to Ruth and little Jamie who got a 1st and a 3rd in Steeplechase at the weekend and a 2nd in jumping!! A brilliant result and well deserved as they have both worked really hard :) Also big Well Done to Maria and Chester who got 2 x 2nds and a 6th at their first show as a Grade 3 last weekend!!

Brooke 13 weeks, oh and some agility!

2011-06-20T18:29:00.006+01:00

I have been a bit lax posting about agility what with our little Brooke constantly entertaining us! She is now 13 weeks old and is so much fun to play with - it amazes me how much she want to learn and she takes everything in like a lil sponge! She is soooo food motivated so we are trying to reward lots of behaviours with toys. Progress today, she had a really good tug with me right next to the school buses dropping the kids off :)
She was hilarious yesterday as we gave Brax an empty Burns bag to play with as usual and Brooke thought it was some alien life form! We did get it on video but you'll have to turn the sound down as we laugh as the way through!!

Brooke went in the bag voluntarily after Brax was finished and didn't want to come out - I think cloth tunnels will not be an issue!

Agility wise we went to Axstane and didn't last long the first day due to the weather. The runs we did are on YouTube We had a mixed weekend! Brodie only did one run on Saturday and it was the KC Olympia C1-7. We had 5 faults on the dog walk as I was an idiot and told him tunnel while he was still on the down plank. Poor dog hasn't got a hope! Looking at his time it was nice to see that he would have come 6th. Brax did a lovely run with Saturn in the Mini/Mixi pairs and they came 11th. She also ran well in the jumping, we were laughing at the video as she is the same colour orange as the equipment!!

On the Sunday we had champ and Brax got E'd in the jumping first thing as Matthew got slightly ahead of her and she ducked behind him and took the wrong jump - quirky lil girly! Brodie ran OK in the jumping apart from spotting Matthew on a turn and getting a refusal! We both did champ agility and I got E'd on obstacle 18, totally my fault, I flicked him the wrong side of a jump. Again we had a fault on the dog walk which is unlike Brodie so I'm putting it down to an increase in confidence and therefore speed. Bit of homework as no shows for few weekends.
I have to mention our lovely trainer Lisa and her sheltie Tyler who did their first Champ class and got through to the final and also came 3rd in the jumping round :) Also congratulations to Nancy and Bernadette with their OBay shelties who took the small and medium tickets with some cracking runs - I bet Zen was very proud of her kids!

Brax had a lovely run in C4-7 jumping and ended up a respectable 6th out of 90+. Brodie got a 6th in the Celebration Connection so here is a pic with their rosettes. The firsts and trophies in the pic are from JDA where we won the pairs, I just hadn't got round to a photo until now!

Here are a couple of pics of the dogs out in the wind!

Brooke 12 weeks

2011-06-11T18:29:00.007+01:00

Lil Brooke pup has had a very exciting week! I had been asked to do a dog trick training demo at a local hospice and although only Brax had been before, I thought I would risk taking all three shelties. Brooke came out for the first 5 mins of my demo and demonstrated how even young dogs can learn so easily if you make it exciting and rewarding for them. I admit that I had no idea how she would react to being in a room full of strangers watching her but wow did she impress me!!! She happily demonstrated sit, down, roll, paw and putting her feet on her little box (her new fav trick!) and she was incredibly focused on me the whole time. What a proud Sheltie Mum I am! :D She then got to sit on everyones lap for a hug before falling asleep in her crate while the older two did their bit. Brooke made a lot of very poorly people happy - animals are amazing therapy.

Yesterday she came with me to a friends house for a takeaway/DVD night. She met the three resident terriers, guinea pigs and cats and behaved herself really well apart from falling asleep on the sofa and try to stretch out and push us off!!

Today we went to the common for a play and this afternoon we went to a Discovery Day on a local common which also had a fun dog show. We thought it would be a good opportunity to socialise Brooke with other dogs without Brodie and Brax being there.

Brodie thinks that puppies are tiring!!

Hinckley Videos

2011-06-09T06:24:00.002+01:00

We have never been to Hinckley show before and it was a really nice size (five rings) and you could see all the best handlers working their dogs. I love watching great partnerships working a tricky course, its so interesting seeing how people approach different courses.

It was Brodie and my secong attempt at Champ and he did me proud getting clear rounds in both the jumping and agility rounds so we made it to the FINAL!!! Thats one ambition ticked off the list :D
Brax also went clear in both rounds so both shelties were in the final!

The jumping was a fairly flowing course and it ran really well - here is Brax strutting her stuff on the champ jumping course

In the agility round I walked the course and liked it apart from the turns off all three contacts. I wasn't sure that I could turn Brodie after his running contacts round the back of the jumps after the dog walk and Aframe. It was messy but we went clear and I'm pleased with how he worked

In the final, Brax went like a rocket and then missed the second weave pole :( It was a shame as there was only about three or four clears in the small. We are delighted that Amy Lawson won her third ticket with Fudge making her Ag Ch Millieon To One. Sheltie power!!
Brodie ran a bit slow in the final but went clear bless him. It was the first time for ages that he has been in a ring with such a big crowd watching and I know that nerves affect both of us. I handled like an idiot as my legs felt like jelly! There is a moment before he goes into the weaves that he almost stares at the judge but he got his brain in gear after that! Unlike smalls, there was loads of fast clears in medium and it was won by Tasha and amazing Dizzy.

One thing we did notice was that both our dogs struggled with the see saw a bit. Not sure whether it was lack of rubber contacts or a different weight.

Brooke 11 weeks

2011-06-05T17:42:00.008+01:00

Our little princess has reached the grand age of 11 weeks already! She has had a very busy week as we have been at JDA and Hinckley agility shows. (More of that in another post) She has been very laid back about meeting new people and playing ball and tug in different situations. We have started walking her out and about now as she has had both of her jabs. I found an old harness that Brax had as a youngster as she occasionally goes silly and races around on her lead in circles and I don't want her to hurt her neck. This is her relaxing at JDA - she is sooo cute!

Brooke has also been off her lead lots over the fields, both with and without the older two dogs as we don't want her to be reliant on them but to listen to us instead. She loves bouncing along next to Matthew, a Daddy's girly already! After using the little red harness for a week, we decided to try Brax's old green harness on her. Its much more padded and it just about fits on the smallest settings so it has growing space. Lian gave us a pretty pink and green lead so now Brooke is very colour coordinated!!

Today we went along the High Street to Sainsburys and waited outside while Matthew went shopping so Brooke could meet people. She was a bit tentative to start with as I guess she is used to meeting people in our arms but we met some lovely people who really got down to her level and spent time saying hello. She loved watching the trolleys!!

Then we went to the yard in the rain to feed Max and Brooke was fascinated by the rain! I guess she hasn't seen much of it!! :)

WAO videos finally!

2011-06-05T17:26:00.002+01:00

We have finally got round to putting our videos on the computer! We also are now on U Tube - Burdettshelties :)

Matthew and Brax in round 1 of the Individual Pentathalon. Shame about the weave entry, they ended up 9th in this round.

Pentathalon Round 2, Brax loved this course and they were 5th. You can tell how much she enjoys the wider weave pole spacings. You'll have to excuse the shaking - I was VERY nervous watching them!!

Pentathalon Round 3, Brax's first course in the main arena. She loved the atmosphere and the cheering! She came 3rd in this round so they got on the podium!

Pentathalon Round 4, Brax started a bit slow but still managed to come 4th.

Pentathalon Round 5 - Speedstakes. She went like a rocket to start with!! Shame about the contact and then she missed a jump resulting in elimination. She was very excited by such a large crowd!!

Brooke 10 weeks already!

2011-05-30T14:34:00.005+01:00

We have had so much fun taking wee Brooke out and about. In the photo above you can just about see her exploring Matthews Mums garden. (Its hard to get pics of her awake as she moves so fast!!) She had her second jab at the vets on saturday and enjoyed being fed large amounts of liver :) Matthew and I took her into St Albans again on saturday but this time without the other two shelties. She was a very good girl being fussed over by numerous people and then she promptly fell asleep when we stopped to have a coffee!

On sunday we went to Herts County show which is a perfect place to socialise a puppy. She is still being carried due to just having her jabs and plus there was a lots of dogs around (plus food on the floor that Brax felt the need to hoover!) My friend Annabel held her while we went off to get food and she fell asleep in Annabel's arms! It was lovely seeing five shelties walking round the show as well - Brodie thought he was in heaven!

About time I wrote some agility news!! HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Paul and Maria Bell with their beagle Chester who won into G3 and the qualified for the Starters Challenge Final at only their third KC show ever!! Also massive WELL DONE to Sue Proctor and her fab Working Cocker Dudley who WON G1 agility at Cippenham, their first KC show of the year. I'm very proud of you all!! :D

Brooke on the train!

2011-05-24T15:51:00.006+01:00

We had a lovely weekend going into St Albans on the train with all three shelties to walk round the market and do some socialising! She was a very good girly and took everything including the train journey in her stride. We lost count of how many people stopped us to cuddle the shelties - 7 people asked if Brodie and Brax were Brookes mum and dad! Matthew and I even managed to stop for a nice coffee to sit and watch the world go by!

On Sunday we went to sheltie camp which is run by the ESSC Working Section. Matthew and I were teaching agility so we failed to get any pictures but I was so impressed with the standard the dogs we trained. It was great to see everyone having a go even if they had never tried it before. Brooke had great fun playing with her brother Sonic all day! It was a good chance to socialise the pups and thanks to Lian for looking after her while we were busy. There are some amazing pictures on Lians blog including some very cute puppy pics!

Here are a couple of photos from the WAO that people have kindly sent of Brax and Matt

Brooke pupdate

2011-05-19T10:41:00.004+01:00

As I type Brooke is busy chewing up a toilet roll to get the treat out :) She is such a fun puppy, really inquisitive and quick to learn. In the last couple of days she has been
- carried round the common and sat on a bench to watch cricket
- been passed round everyone in the gallery at agility training
- met the horses and loads of people at the yard where I keep Max
- been for several rides in the car
- been to visit the staff at the kennels and watch me train (while someone held her)
- said hello to children coming out of school

As well as all the socialising we have been getting her used to settling herself in her crate when she is tired. She likes going in there when she is getting sleepy and will scratch at the door to go in if the door is shut - how cute!! :) So far she is being really good at her toileting outside (I don't want to speak too soon!)

We have also been playing loads with her - she is a tug monster and will hang off anything, 'killing' it and doing little growls. To begin with she would only tug inside and outside our house but as she gets used to new places she is starting to tug in new situations as well. We have been doing fun stuff with the clicker and she is pretty reliable at sit, down, come and paw in any situation. We have been playing with roll and spin which she likes doing. All credit to Lian who did such a great job preparing her for the big wide world as Brooke takes everything in her stride. She is utterly adorable!

Yesterday we gave her one of the dog games toys with some food in, she worked it out almost straight away!

Introducing Brooke!!

2011-05-17T12:03:00.005+01:00

After the World Agility Open Champs we picked up little Brooke, the newest addition to the Burdett household. She is absolutely lovely and has settled in so well making herself at home straight away! Brodie and Brax spent yesterday with her before we took her home and they are being really good with her. Brooke was bred by Lian Knight and she is keeping Brookes brother Sonic. Its so nice that they will get to see lots of each other :)

This is Brooke just after we arrived home

Her posh name is Licosateria Mai Rising Star and we already think she is a little star :) She has been really well socialised and takes everything in her stride - thanks to Lian for letting us have such a gorgeous girly!!

Matthew and the girls last night (yes he is sitting in a dog bed!!)

Getting sleepy watching the world go by!

World Agility Open Championships

2011-05-17T11:50:00.003+01:00

WOW TEAM ENGLAND!!!! What an amazing experience. Being there in the stands watching some of the best agility dogs and handlers in the world and screaming and cheering for our team until we were hoarse!! The England team members did so well coming away with so many medals and we felt lucky to be a part of it and cheer on our friends!

Brax was a superstar and in her pentathalon events she was 3rd, 4th, 5th and 9th. Unfortunately an elimination in the last event - speedstakes meant she finished in 7th overall but so pleased with her doing so well against the best small (300mm) dogs in the world. Marilyn with her gorgeous little sheltie Tia finished 2nd with five clear rounds - go England!! Brax loved the atmoshpere in the main arena and seemed to go faster the more cheering there was!! I can't believe how nervous I was watching Matt and Brax but so very proud of them both. I'll post the videos and put them on the website once I learn how to get them off the video camera :)

Nervous and excited!

2011-05-10T16:26:00.005+01:00

The World Agility Open Championships are this weekend! Good Luck to the England Team including little Brax who has just been traumatised by having a bath to tidy her up a bit :) Brodie and I are going along as groom and fan club, I'm sure we'll be busy! I'm looking forward to seeing all the amazing dogs and handlers from around the world. I will video Brax's runs and put them on my website (address left)

Brodie and I had fun yesterday going for a nice walk with Megan and Hattie. We took them down to the river and Brodie had a great time - he is such a water baby!

Brodie and I did our first Champ class at the weekend at Beacon and got eliminated in both rounds - we had fun though!! The courses Lee Gibson set were amazing and we managed some of the tricky bits well so I was really pleased with my wee man! He did a lovely run in the C6-7 Crufts singles and finished about 15th out of 80 odd which I was pleased with as there were so many fast mediums there :D

Brax back into training :)

2011-05-03T17:14:00.004+01:00

Vet has given us the all clear and Brax is fit and raring to go again!! We have started doing bits with her in the house and building up the walking again. Here are a few videos of her doing the different types of exercises was have been practising in preparation for the WAO champs which are only next week - arrgghh!!!

Gridwork (progressive bounce grid)

Balance work - exercises on her wobble cushion. Turn the sound down as I get giggles at her half way through!

Contact work to reinforce her final postion.

Here is a photo that Matthew took of Brooke puppy during his visit at the weekend - not long to go now! Isn't she just beautiful?! She already tugs like crazy and loves her toys :)

Bretford Show and Big Changes!!

2011-04-30T14:06:00.001+01:00

This blog is a bit late but we have had a bit of a stressful week thanks to Brax coming down with gastroenteritis :( She had a long stay at the vets and has come home on four different types of liquid to be syringed down her throat throughout the day - not easy with such a small wriggly dog!! The vet doesn't know what caused it and all the tests including blood came back clear - we think it maybe something she ate. She can be a scavenger but generally she has cast iron guts!

Brodie on the other hand has been feeling fine and is fit and raring to go at the moment. Good thing too as he has his first champ classes coming up soon - yay!!! I'm really looking forward to trying a really testing course - watch this space :) Brodie did a couple of good runs at Bretford show he came 3rd in the C6-7 jumping and WON the grade 7 agility. I was so proud of him as there were some incredibly good G7 dogs there. Thanks to Paul Bell who shot this video of Brodie - well done to his Beagle Chester who is now Grade 2 due to 3 fab wins at Bretford :)

Other important news is that I have taken the hard decision to become self employed. I have been working at the kennels for seven years and felt it was time for a new challenge. I going to dust off my brain cells and do a diploma in canine massage whilst carrying on with some training (agility and other), behavioural consultations and dog walking. I'm really looking forward to seeing what 2011 brings!

Which brings me on to some more exciting news!! Brodie and Brax will be joined by another small furry after the World Champs, Matthew and I just can't wait!! Matthew is off today doing a puppy visit to see our newest addition while I get to practice my aim with a syringe full of probiotics :-D (Hopefully some photos to follow assuming Matthew can stop playing puppies long enough to take a couple!!) Thanks so much to her breeder Lian Knight for doing such a good job socialising her, also many thanks to Lian for taking some wonderful pics of my two when we went to visit.

Wallingford video and Well Dones!!

2011-04-26T16:39:00.004+01:00

This is Brodie's run in the C6-7 agility at Wallingford where he came 4th. I'm really pleased about how he did as it wasn't a course where there was an advantage to having a running contact. The jumps following both the A frame and dog walk were on at least 180 degree turns. I know that Brodie tends to be striding higher on the contact than I would like if there is a turn (obvious in this video!) so that is something I need to work on. I probably turned him a bit tight as I didn't want him to go straight on over the jump after the dog walk! Brodies seesaw was fab though and this is something I've done a lot of work on over the winter. He was a bit slow to the tunnel but the queue was directly behind it and he is never very brave running towards dogs.

We were at Bretford show on Sunday - more about this in another post but some major congrats are in order! Well done to Jane and sheltie Robbie for winning his jumping by an amazing 10 seconds! Also massive well done to Jackie and George who won into Grade 3!

Congrats to Paul and Maria and their lovely Beagle Chester who is destined for great things! After only two KC shows he already has three jumping and an agility win!! Going Grade 2 in style :) One of them was a C1-3 jumping! They have done such a fab job with Chester and are a real pleasure to teach. All their hard work is paying off - Chester is loving his agility to the point that he howls on his contacts!!

Wallingford Show

2011-04-18T13:22:00.003+01:00

We went to our first KC show of the year on sunday, Wallingford at Newbury. It couldn't have been better weather and it was a very nice show. We had only entered the dogs in two classes each (C6-7 jumping and agility) which meant we were done by early afternoon! Brax had a good run in her jumping and finished 7th (just out of the placings) and unfortunately was a naughty girly in her agility. She decided that the end of the dog walk looked like a long jump!! More contact homework I think...

Brodie was a wee superstar and came 4th in both the jumping and agility. He has never been as speedy in jumping generally but yesterday I had issues keeping up! His times were decent and considering the jumping course had a couple of straight lines, he was just under 6 seconds behind the amazing Dizzy!! (She won the jumping and agility) I was very proud of how he worked, love him!!

Puppy Hugs and Sheltie Gathering!!

2011-04-11T13:18:00.008+01:00

Matthew,me and the shelties had a fab day yesterday! The weather was glorious and more like mid summer than early April :) We went to see Lian, Colin and all their lovely Shelties, including 3 week old puppies, awwwww!!! We were spolit with a lovely breakfast, lots of puppy hugs and a brilliant walk on the common. I think that Brodie would happily have stayed in the water all day, hehe! Lian took some fantastic pics of the seven shelties (see her blog) out walking, including some great action shots.

The puppies are just adorable and we had so much fun watching them. They have so much to explore in their play pen and are getting quite speedy now! Brodie and Brax didn't seem to notice them really. Uncle Saturn is really sweet as he likes to see where they are! Here are a few pics
Matthew, Samber and wee girly

Tired Puppies!

Happy Brodie

Brax combining sunbathing and puppy-sitting!

Asleep after tummy tickles!!

Out on the Common (aren't Brodie and Sizzle similar?! Brodie is closer!)

Team Training & Mothers Day

2011-04-07T20:23:00.006+01:00

We went to the last team training session on Saturday before the WAO champs. It was a really productive session and Brax really enjoyed herself. She is definitely solar powered as the hotter it is the happier she is and the faster she goes! Her contacts were good and the one thing she really struggled with was a hard weave entry out of a straight tunnel. (Homework!) The team also got their team kit so here is a sneak preview of Brax in her fab coat!

Sunday and Monday I spent with my Mum and sister Amy up in Aberdeenshire (don't get me started on Easyjet though - grrrr!) I had a great time and was totally spoilt :) Its hard when your family are a long way away but you appreciate time spent with them even more. I saw Amy's new workshop (she is a saddler), ate far too much, had lots of dog walks and we also played some crazy golf in Aberdeen! Here are a few pics
Tresca and her toy

Crazy Golf!

Visit to Tolquhon castle - site of childhood hide and seek!!

Getting fit!

2011-03-28T16:02:00.002+01:00

We have been trying to build up the dogs fitness gradually after so much time off training over the winter. Lots of long walks and some proprioception work has helped a lot. The show season has started but we are only doing a couple of runs per show with each dog. Brax did her first show of the year yesterday at Newbury. She was a really good girly getting a 2nd in the agility and the sun was out which helps her a lot :)

Brodie had one jumping run before the pairs but same as last weekend first run of the day resulted in an elimination!! I think he is so excited to be doing agility and I haven't quite got my brain working fast enough yet!
Matthew and I did the Split pairs which means both dogs run over toy height. One dogs does agility (Brodie cos of running contacts) and one does a jumping course (Brax). Our two went like rockets having never done pairs together before and finished 3rd overall. Not bad considering that the two pairs that beat us were blooming fast standard dogs!! Clever shelties, very proud of them both.

Happy Birthday Bracken!!!

2011-03-24T18:58:00.004Z

Our little Brax is 6 years old today! Where did the time go?! She certainly doesn't act her age but she has gone quite grey round her face in the last year. I still remember the first time I saw her - what a cheeky wee puppy! She stole our hearts straight away :) This is the first time we met her

This is a pic of Brax today curled up on my lap at work - she has a lot of feline traits and curling up on any free lap is one of them!!

March photos

2011-03-21T11:23:00.005Z

Here is Brodie with his prizes from the weekend. (He should have a 3rd rosette but Jackie kindly said she'd pick it up for me.) I really recommend the UKA shows at Mapledurham, its a lovely venue and very relaxed atmosphere - great day out!

Max went out without a rug for the first time today as its soooo sunny and warm. Here is a pic of him looking clean (!) with his best buddy Dice.

UKA Mapledurham

2011-03-19T17:53:00.003Z

Firstly Brodie and I went to our first outdoor show of the year yesterday. We had a brilliant time despite getting totally soaked! The show was a UKA show at Mapledurham and it was a great venue right by the Thames. Brodie did three classes, the steeplechase I totally messed up but we won the agility and the jumping - yay Toad!! He worked really well considering how wet it was. It was lovely to catch up with loads of people I haven't seen since last years show season and also have a few people that I train there as well. Its such a great feeling when you see people you know doing so well and you know how much effort they have put into training their dog. Well done to Caroline and Bobby who won 2 classes over the weekend and came away with places in almost every class!! Bobby is a Lab x Staff who is FAST! She is great fun to train as she tries sooooo hard and would work all day given the chance :)

Crufts 2011

2011-03-14T12:40:00.004Z

Brax went to Crufts on thursday to compete in the Mini/Mixi pairs with her handsome partner Saturn. Lian and Matthew have been doing the pairs competitions with Saturn and Brax for a couple of years now and they make a great team! Here is a clip of their run that earned them 4th place! (Thanks to Lian for the clip!)
Brax and Saturn pairs 2011

Here are the two of them posing with their rosettes! For more photos please see Lians blog as she has some great pics of the teams as well.

The ESSC had qualified a medium team for Crufts as well and they did us proud in the team event on friday, getting 2nd in the qualifiers and 3rd in the finals!! Well done to Lisa, Bernadette, Lian and Eleanor and their shelties for showing everyone how amazing these dogs are :)

We really enjoyed watching all of the action at Crufts and of course we had to do a bit of shopping as well! Its great to visit so many dog shops under one (huge!) roof. We came away with some cosy new beds for the dogs and some treats. We also managed to see Caroline from Galen therapy who kindly gave Brax a warm up massage before her pairs competition. Brax did have a minor wobbly moment in the arena as she saw herself on the big screen that hangs above the arena. Hence Matthew doing a running start with her to take her mind off it!!

Brax and Saturn - aren't they photogenic?!

Meet Ash!

2011-03-08T19:07:00.004Z

No not a puppy quite yet!! (Fingers crossed not long to go though - watch this space!!! :D) The photo is of Megan (who owns Hattie the terrier) and her new pony Ash who is an Arab x Dartmoor. He is only a baby and until a few days ago was totally wild as he was herded up from a hill in Dartmoor destined for slaughter. Megan has worked really hard to get him used to her and he has gone from running away from every human to being stroked due to her hard work and patience. He loves his pink food bucket! Ash really has landed on his feet being owned by such a lovely person who is sooooo dedicated to all her animals. You can follow his progress on her blog Ash's diary

Below is one of the pics that I took of Matthew and Brax for their England team profiles. I think its so cute of Brax on the end of the seesaw :)

Multiple Congratulations!

2011-03-07T17:30:00.004Z

So many of our friends have had such amazing agility results over the past couple of days that I had to mention them here! Huge well done to Maria and Chester who won the Barking Mad Medium 1-2 Final (Chester has not even been doing agility for a year yet!) also Tania and Willow who won the Small 3-5 final and Kim and Benny who won Best large Gundog!!

Brodie and I went to the Sheltie Agility Show yesterday and had a fab time catching up with all our friends. Brodie was a bit away with the fairies and managed a 5th and an E! We got the hard stuff right and then I handled like a muppet and sent him into the wrong end of the tunnel! I really enjoyed watching all the shelties doing agility and doing so well at it. In particular, Kerry Murray and her young dog Quidditch who was best Medium Novice, Cat Harvey and Blue (Best Medium Senior) and Amy Lawson and Fudge (Best Small Senior). All of them did such consistently good runs. Massive congratulations to Jane Emmett and fantastic little Robbie who won two of the biggest classes of the day - C1-3 helterskelter and C3-5 jumping, no stopping you now!! :D

Stupid weather - grrr!!!!!

2011-02-28T19:01:00.002Z

I'm sure everyone is feeling the same about this awful weather :( It seems to be constantly raining at the moment and everything is knee deep in mud. I took the poor shelties out for a walk today although it was actually dry when I left home, (surprisingly!) when I'd been out for about 30 mins it started to sleet and I'd not put Brax's coat on poor girl. She was so miserable and spent ages shivering when she got home. Brodie on the other hand is a tough cookie and doesn't care what the weather is doing!

We went to Lee Windeatt's training day at the kennels yesterday and it was glorious weather for the morning session but unfortunately chucked it down all afternoon so Brax worked at half speed again. I learnt a lot by watching and it gave me some ideas that I want to try with Brodie.

I was very proud of our shelties at Letchworth competition night as Brax was awarded Small agility dog 2010 and Brodie won Medium agility dog 2010!! Heres a pic of them looking sleepy with their lovely trophies!

I was also a very proud trainer as Paul and Maria who own Chester the Beagle have qualified him for the Barking Mad Medium G1/2 final next saturday!! What a start to his competition career!! :)

Team Training - Brax

2011-02-21T12:10:00.002Z

We went to the WAO team training yesterday. Brax did alright at the exercises but it has highlighted a few areas we need to work on. Her stamina and general fitness isn't great at the moment and she found it hard working in the mud. She doesn't walk in mud given the choice let alone run around in it, what a diva!! She has stopped dead in the ring before and refused to move so I was impressed Matt got any work out of her at all :) Brax also still appeared to be a bit tentative when she was running so there may still be some 'niggles' that need sorting out. She has got another physio appointment booked for the week of Crufts. She is competing in the Mini/Mixi pairs with her handsome partner Saturn, go the shelties!!

Here is the only video I got from training before my batteries died!

Brodie didn't miss out on having some agility fun, we went to a Dave Munnings training day and learnt lots. Brodie worked well and we did a lot of work on serpetines - I think we may have conquered our fear of pull throughs!! :)

Wishing Well!

2011-02-14T12:13:00.002Z

We were very kindly loaned the wishing well by some friends this week so Megan and I took the opportunity to run our dogs over it! We also used it in classes and it was interesting to see which dogs accepted it and jumped without question and which were nervous of it. I guess from their point of view its not only a wall that also has a roof but its very narrow compared to a normal jump.

Here is a video of Megan and her fab dog Hattie

Here is me and Brodie having a run round (not quite a run in my case as I've had a bad back!)

Brodie's 4th Birthday!!

2011-02-12T06:44:00.002Z

On thursday Brodie was 4 years old! I have been so busy that I haven't had time to update the blog. I don't know where the time has gone, it only seems like yesterday that we brought him home. He has given us four years of fun - he is such a happy, funny wee dog. He constantly entertains us and is so, so affectionate. He is my little superstar and I love him to bits :)

Sheltie Working Section AGM

2011-02-07T13:15:00.005Z

We went to the ESSC Working section AGM yesterday. The section exists to encourage people to work with their shelties in obedience, agility, HTM and working trials. At the AGM the annual awards are given out, based on points for placings throughout the year. We are very proud to say that for the second year running Brax has won the Tony Seys Sheltie of the Year trophy!! She also won the Night Shadow award for Agility shelties. Here is a pic of Brax with the Tony Seys Award.

I'm also very proud of Brodie who won the Rosemary Seys trophy (runner up to sheltie of the year) and he was also runner up in the Night Shadow agility award. Unfortunately there are no pics of him with either trophy as they haven't been returned yet :( Instead here is a pic of him with his new toy which he thinks is much better!!

Here is one I missed! I really need to learn to take better pics of my dogs!!

Sheltie check up

2011-01-31T16:40:00.003Z

Today the shelties had a visit from Caroline who is a Galen myotherapist. She came to check them over for any tight/sore spots, then give them a massage and laser treatment. Finally she gave me some exercises to work on to improve their ability to stretch, balance and work on their spatial awareness.

Brax went first and Caroline found some tight patches on her back which were quickly worked out. The other place she was particularly tight were her hamstrings. Brax is a funny little dog as she does spend most of the winter hunched up and wishing she could hibernate!

When Caroline worked on Brodie it came as a bit of a shock when she said he was really tight through his neck, abdominals, stiff all along his back and he was tender round his hindquarters. He wasn't keen on her massaging him there but he did eventually relax. Poor boy :( It was also really apparent during the stretching exercises that he struggled to extend his neck forward. Imagine how that impacts on him when he jumps as he loses ability to balance himself. Lots of homework to do!!

Weave practice for Brax

2011-01-24T13:04:00.004Z

Yesterday we took the shelties to the arena and worked Brax through some of her weave exercises that she has been set for her WAO 'homework'. She was a good little girly and worked well but the exercises did highlight some weaker points that we need to work on. Unlike the majority of dogs nowadays, Brax was trained to weave using the old lure with food method! (Mainly because at the time we didn't know any different and didn't have access to channels or V weaves.) She has built up independence in the weaves but still struggles to find the entry if Matthew doesn't help her. More homework needed!!

I had a operation to remove a cyst from my eye this week and I had most of the week off to recover. I am NOT good at taking it easy!! Apart from walking the dogs and reading out of my good eye I also worked on more proprioception exercises with the dogs. It so much fun to give them a prop and click them for different behaviours!! Brodie struggled with the wobble cushion at first but can now beg on it! Gorgeous boy! :)

Gridwork and Wobble Cushion

2011-01-17T14:00:00.004Z

Brax and I went to a gridwork training day yesterday with Gemma Hanekom. It was so interesting watching not only Brax but all the other dogs working on the different exercises. Brax was a good girl and had fun doing the exercises. She was very confident on the bendy grid (jumping tight and wrapping wings has never been too hard for her) but she did struggle a bit to work out her striding on a straight line grid. Once she had a stride regulator she found it easier so this is something we can work on. I found it fascinating watching the different dogs working through the grid and Gemma was great at building their confidence. Its funny watching dogs doing grids after so many years of doing them on horses!!

The other thing we have been playing with this week is getting the dogs to practice balancing on a wobble cushion and do tricks on it like sit, beg, spin, twist and paw. Brax is hilarious - sometimes she looks quite sea sick!!

Brax is on the England Team!!

2011-01-10T10:31:00.004Z

Words cannot describe how proud I am of Matthew and wee Bracken for winning the Pentathalon Competition at the WAO tryouts this weekend!! This means they win an automatic place on the England Team. The World Agility Open Championships have biathalon, pentathalon and games events so it will be real edge of seat stuff!! Unfortunately I wasn't there to support Matthew over the weekend as I had to work but they managed six clear rounds on tricky courses. Actually she did get time faults on one course for tumbling in the cloth tunnel so the first stop before embarking on any training programme is for her to see the physio and check she is in good shape!

I still can't believe that our little crazy ball of fluff is going to represent England, we can't stop grinning :)
Well done to everyone else, especially Marilyn and Tia and Bernadette with Zaz who also qualified - great to have lots of shelties competing and showing everyone what these amazing dogs can do!

Training days

2011-01-08T20:23:00.004Z

Rommy is now 5 months old and came into work with Jenni for the last three days, as you can see he found it very tiring! He had great fun and enjoyed being with my two in the staff room - it was nice having a sheltie of each colour!

The weather has been dreadful this week and its hard to get motivated to get outside at this time of year! To get my butt in gear, I have booked some training days with some fantastic trainers - I want to learn some new exercises and know how to work on my dogs weak points. The first one is gridwork for Bracken - I can't wait!

On that note, we have some training days coming up at the kennels that are being held on our arena. If anyone is interested either facebook me or phone Little Revel End Kennels . The first training day is Lee Windeatt on 27th Feb. The arena has a crufts all weather grass surface and can be hired as well. Its booking up for Crufts already. Its going to be hard to concentrate on my work while fab people like Dawn Weaver are working their dogs in the arena!! :)

2011 already!

2011-01-04T17:50:00.002Z

Happy New Year to all! We have got through the Christmas rush and enjoyed seeing friends and family but I may scream if I see snow in the next month or two!! Working outside is great in summer but you make up for it by having a hard time in winter. At least it inspires you to do everything faster to keep warm! I do get chilly when I'm training outside so have resorted to as many layers as I can get on and running around like a nutter :)

Obviously I couldn't do much training when the snow was on the ground so I'm trying to catch up now by doing the odd five mins here and there with our two. The dogs are loving being able to work again and they are running so well after their time off, unfortunately the same couldn't be said for me! I'm a bit unfit after Christmas so New Years resolution is to keep a bit fitter so I don't let my canine partners down!

I must say a well done to Ellie who is Brodie's wee half sister who recently got a 3rd place at a show and looked so proud of her rosette, awwww!!

Snow puppies

2010-12-20T14:29:00.005Z

We have had a HUGE load of snow over the weekend which makes everything take twice as long to do but is sooo pretty and Christmassy! Brodie is a real snow puppy and would run around in it chasing snowballs all day, he really doesn't seem to feel the cold. Brax on the other hand is a real diva about the snow and refuses to go to the loo unless she is REALLY desperate! She has been a bit better since she has her Hurtta coat on which stops the snowballs on her tummy - awwww!

After a snowy walk, Brax likes nothing better than curling up with her 'mooey'!!

Naked pony!

2010-12-13T13:20:00.003Z

I've spent the morning clipping Max pony's thick winter coat off - what a huge amount of hair!! He resembled a yak!! He is a very good boy to clip fortunately but it is still a huge job.

The shelties are still recovering from their holiday I think! They took over our sofa yesterday and made themselves comfy :)

Somerset Holiday

2010-12-12T13:53:00.006Z

We are back after spending a week in Somerset. We had a fantastic time doing a lot of walking, eating out and drinking cider! :) It was probably the best place to be in the country weather wise as although we had some beautiful frosts, we escaped the snow!

We visited Bath and Cheddar during our holiday and the dogs really enjoyed going down the caves in Cheddar. It was nice to go to a place where the dogs could go into all the pubs and attractions. They are very good at lying under tables in pubs! We did some spectacular walks including one with the thickest frost I've ever seen.

We went for a walk round Bath and although we didn't see much from the hill, it was very atmospheric! Here is a pic of Matt and the small ginger one by Sham castle (so called as it is just a wall, not an actual castle!)

Here are a couple of pics from our walk round Cheddar gorge. If you look closely, you can see a couple of Exmoor ponies grazing.

We were meant to be doing agility last weekend but it was cancelled because so many competitors couldn't get there because of the heavy snow. We had decided to try out for the England squad for the World Agility Open Champs that are being held next year in May. The heights suit our two shelties well, particularly Brax who will actually be at the top of her height catergory for a change!! Brodie and I entered to gain some experience of doing some more technical courses and to stop me getting ring rusty! The event has been postponed to Jan which means I can't go :( but hopefully Matthew and Brax will still have a try.

Sheltie Visitor :)

2010-12-01T18:24:00.004Z

Jenni bought Rommy round last Monday to visit and go for a walk with my dogs to practice his recall. He was a little superstar and really loved going out for a 'big dog' walk with other shelties! He also had great fun playing in my flat with lots of toys - awwww!

Brax took great pleasure in telling him off about playing with her toys while Brodie decided Rommy was the scariest thing he'd ever seen and just wanted to sit on my feet - he is the biggest wimp ever!! Wait until we get a puppy next year - he won't know whats hit him!! :)

Rommy got tired after a while and was trying so hard not to fall asleep! He also came to visit Max and Megans pony Al at the yard and he took it in his stride. He is growing into such a handsome boy!

Agility Club Annual Awards

2010-11-29T10:58:00.005Z

Yesterday we went up to the Kennel Club building to collect our awards from the Agility Club. Bracken won the Small Grade 6 catergory and Brodie won Medium Grade 3 (Brax won small grade 3 last year so its family tradition!) They had to have baths so they looked smart enough in their photos that are taken for the Agility Voice magazine!

I am so proud of our shelties, they really are amazing little dogs and I feel priviledged to be owned by them! Next year we will be doing less KC agility and possibly more UKA so the agility club awards won't be on the cards. So it really was a once in a lifetime moment to receive such a lovely award.

Seriously hairy shelties!

2010-11-22T13:10:00.005Z

I have been having a serious sheltie tidy up this weekend by trying to get some of their dead undercoat out. It can take ages but fortunately our two are very good about being brushed. Here is Brodie with his pile of hair from one grooming session! Anybody want to knit a sheltie jumper?!

This time of year the dogs are always more into having cuddles as they like the extra heat I think. If you sit still for long enough, Brax will snuggle on your lap like a cat! They both managed to have a lap at the same time the other day!

Brax Training

2010-11-15T13:23:00.003Z

The main aim for Brax's training was to get her A frame contacts more solid and get her striding better over grids as she is not the most confident about knowing where to put her feet! We spent time earlier in the year retraining Bracken to do a 4 off A frame. She can do a perfect 2on/2off dog walk but always found it hard on the A frame so we thought a 4 off would suit her size and shape better. A few people have asked whether she jumps contacts as she is so small and the answer is YES! Sometimes she looks like she needs a parachute!! Here is a video of her doing her 4 off A frame.

The other thing we worked on was her gridwork. She has almost always refused to bounce jumps (not put a stride in at all) and pops in an uncomfortable little stride that is not necessary. Obviously it not only wastes time but can't be good for her physically as she has to jump in a very bizarre way!

The only way we could get her to bounce through the grid was if Matthew was moving alongside her. Obviously this isn't ideal as she should be able to do it as a recall but its something to work on. What I think we need is to attend a gridwork training day to get her confidence up, any suggestions gratefully received!

Both of our dogs are jumping slightly smaller heights than normal on the videos as they are both competing in a qualifier in a few weeks time that has different jump heights to KC shows. More on this later...
A massive WELL DONE is due to Maria, Paul and Chester the fab beagle who competed at Barking Mad last week and came away with a 1st and a 2nd and their second ever show! The cakes at training were great! :)

Brodie Training

2010-11-15T13:06:00.003Z

We took the shelties to the kennels yesterday to do a bit of training as we have been finding it difficult to get to group training - we seem to be chasing our tails at the moment! We had a couple of goals to work on with each dog, both needed practice on contacts with tunnels underneath but Brodie needed some tricky weave entries and Brax needed some A frame contacts and gridwork.

Here are a couple of videos of Brodie running. The first is trying to get him more independent finding weaves entries at 90 degree angles. The first time he does the weaves I help him quite a lot but the second time I let him go off more by himself. You can see on the video that he is more hesistant without his mummy there!

The second video is us just having a run round, practising a couple of crosses but mainly to speed up his seesaw which was done with the help of cheese! I also worked Brodie doing obstacle discrimmination with the tunnel wrapped round one end of the A frame. He did have a couple of times where he got it wrong but generally was better when I only gave him a verbal command and hung back to let him make the decision.

Lazy Days!

2010-11-08T17:54:00.003Z

I can't believe that it has rained so much over the last week, as a result Max pony is now stabled at night and I have been washing muddy clothes like crazy! Fortunately now we have an artificial grass arena at work to train on I don't get muddy paws on me at work :) We are starting to get lots of people hiring the arena for winter training and Crufts practice - it is fabulous and in all this crap weather it hasn't been waterlogged at all, not even the hint of a puddle!!

I had a run round with Brodie earlier in the week and worked on tricky weave entries and going round the back of jumps, next on the list is practising tunnels under contacts in case we get brave enough to enter any champ classes next year! With Brax we have been working hard on gridwork as she is not that confident of her striding and will always pop in an extra stride if shes not sure. Here are a couple of videos of her doing rainy day gridwork - the first one is her first attempt and she squeezes in an extra stride and the second video is her being braver on her second attempt!

Tired Shelties!

2010-11-01T12:33:00.007Z

My Mum came to visit me last week for a couple of days and we had so much fun spending some quality time together. We did some nice dog walks and had happy but tired shelties as a consequence :) In fact, they decided to make themselves at home on my Mums bed!

On one of our walks we found what looked like a huge dock leaf that was the same size as Brax!

We also went to a local Butterfly centre and had a very interesting morning wandering around. I made my Mum have her pic taken with a giant ant, hehe!

This is me posing by a giant garden fork!

Brax does Obedience!!

2010-10-25T10:31:00.006+01:00

Brax had a very exciting saturday, going off with Matthew to compete at obedience. Yes you did read that correctly - Brax doing obedience!! The venue was the Championship breed show at Stonleigh and we had entered her in Pre-Beginners and Beginners. She has done a tiny bit before but certainly not at such a big show. In typical Brax style she got stuck into learning how to retreive her tiny dumbell and bring it back. On the day she was let down a bit in her heelwork in pre-beginners as there was lots of crumbs on the floor that were tempting! She only lost 1/2 a mark in her recall and her stays were perfect so she came 5th overall. In her beginners she did her retreive very well and did better on her heelwork and ended up 6th overall. One lady came 1st - 5th with her five shelties that compete a lot so we thought Brax had done very well!! Here she is with her rosettes.

Exciting news is that my Mum is coming to visit me this week. I can't wait to see her and the shelties will be beside themselves! She lives up in Aberdeenshire and they have already had snow so I'm hoping she doesn't bring any with her! Here are a couple of pics from my Mums where I grew up. The mountain is called Bennachie and it has some lovely dog walks when its not snowy!

Winter is here :(

2010-10-18T15:57:00.008+01:00

It really feels like winter is here now, digging out thick coats, loads of layers and woolly socks! Max has had his first clip of the year and I gave his tail a good brush through this morning - this is what it looked like after I had finished!!

Brax has definitely been feeling the cold more recently as anyone who sits down for long enough acquires a furry lap warmer!! I was going through some photos recently and found this great one of Brodie on holiday last year - I wonder what he is thinking about?! (Click to enlarge and see the silly expression on his face!!)

Oh and a big well done to our friend Jackie and her young spaniel George who have qualified for the Agility Club Starters Challenge 2011 - what a good year they have had!

New videos and puppy pics

2010-10-11T14:21:00.006+01:00

We felt a bit lost this last weekend as it was our first non agility weekend for ages. We took the dogs for a really long walk instead which cheered them up a bit! We have been doing some fun games with them in the flat just to keep them mentally and physically ticking over. Here are a couple of videos of Brodie doing some gridwork up the hallway! In the first video he isn't very confident of his footing or particularly fast. After a couple more goes, I took another video and he is much more confident and therefore faster (unf this video wouldn't load on here - grr!). I think work like this is so good for their coordination and motivation - he thinks its great fun!

Last week Jenni brought her 9 week old sheltie puppy Rommy up to visit us at work - he is soooo cute!! He met Brodie and Brax and thought Brodie was far less scary! Rommy and Brodie are cousins as they are both grandsons of the lovely Blenmerrow Barnaby. Rommy made himself at home in Brax's bed and had a good chew on her rawhide!

This last video is of Sykes who is an English Springer Spaniel. He is a show dog and has qualified for Crufts next year. As a younger dog he did a lot of obedience and foundation agility work in his private lessons with me, mainly to help with his coordination for showing. However, we discovered he loved the baby agility work so his owner has just started proper agility lessons now that Sykes is over a year old. This is a short video of him in his 2nd ever agility lesson - it also highlights the importance of a wait! He is an incredibly powerful, driven springer and I love the way he can already work his striding out over a line of jumps.

Well done Tasha and Dizzy!!

2010-10-04T11:09:00.005+01:00

What an exciting weekend for two of my favourite sports - Great Britain have done so well!! The eventing team won gold and an individual silver at the world equestrian games and have got silver medals in dressage as well. Natasha Wise and the phenomenal Dizzy have done it again for British agility - MEDIUM WORLD CHAMPIONS for the second year in a row!! Her runs are on U-tube and are just amazing. Not forgetting all the other GB competitors, including Dave Munnings and Dobby who came 2nd in the large individual event!

On a more down to earth note(!), we went to a relaxed agility competition just a mile up the road at the Herts showground yesterday. Brax didn't do any runs as the grass was very long and she was in danger of disappearing under it!! Brodie only did one run in C1-7 jumping and came 2nd but we got soooo wet that we didn't stay for the agility. We were however, cheering on our friends including Megan and Hattie, Sue and Dab and one of my saturday class regulars Chester the beagle who was doing his very first show! They all did really well - Megan got numerous places and a win with Hattie qualifying her for 'Starter dog of the Year' finals next year. Paul and Chester did so well for their first show only 5 faults in each run and fabulous weaves in both classes. I think he is the fastest, most focused Beagle I have ever seen - watch out for them competing next year! :)

Matthew also got talked into doing the 'have a go' agility with my friend Kates terrier Dougal. He is a flyball dog so I think Matt was a bit surprised when he let Dougal go and he did most of the obstacles by himself! By the time we got home we were drenched and it took ages to dry the dogs off - Brax was sooo happy to be snuggling on the sofa for the afternoon!

End of Agility Season :(

2010-09-29T19:13:00.004+01:00

Everyone should have a helpful sheltie!!
Last weekend we had our last KC agility show for ages at Hare n Hounds. The weather was kind to us and the dogs had a great time. Matthew ran Brodie for me as I (as usual) didn't compete until the sunday. I think its fair to say that the depth of talent in the medium classes was immense!! Hare n Hounds is a relatively small show so all of the classes bar one are combined 1-7 or 4-7 with only one graded agility class. Brodie was up against Steven Richardson's Sweep, Cathy Shaws amazing Toller, Adam Wildman and his Kelpie Zoom, Sue White and Bug and Gary Cummings with Ellie so altogether a very strong bunch of grade 7 dogs, not to mention the ones I don't know! I was thrilled with Brodie getting a 4th with Matthew in a C1-7 which he repeated with me on Sunday (on a easy course with no weaves!). He also got a 3rd in C4-7 agility and would have won the graded agility if he had been in any grade but 7!! Those fast dogs on easy courses meant we were 5th, out of the placings but still very proud of my wee man!!

Brax was great and got a couple of wins and numerous places although possibly wasn't on full power. We are going to get them checked out by the physio now that the main agility season is over just to give them an MOT! Our winter training is going to concentrate on some groundwork exercises to get them spatially aware and using their brains as well as their muscles! The video is Brodie learning to co-ordinate walking backwards over a pole, perfect training for wet days!

Trent Park

2010-09-20T17:53:00.008+01:00

We had a flying visit to Trent Park show yesterday as we left at 10.30am to pick my Dad up from the airport. We had a lovely time with my Dad going bowling (I was hopeless and got totally thrashed!) eating lots and catching up!

Matthew and I both did pairs at the show but with not each other! I ran with Megan and Hattie and Matthew ran with Lian and Saturn. It was only the third time I've done pairs but it was great fun and Brodie and Hattie went clear! I managed to run the graded 5-7 agility quickly before I left. Brodie was still on rocket fuel after Burnham last week and managed to go clear on what I thought was quite a fast and not too technical course. Anyway we dashed off and was very surprised to hear later from Megan that Brodie had won G6!! It was his last weekend in Grade 6 so I'm glad he is goin into Grade 7 in style :)

I took some funny photos of my animals recently and thought I'd pop them on here as they make me laugh! The photos above of Brodie were taken by my friend Jenni at work. She is getting in practice taking sheltie pics as in a couple of weeks she is picking up an adorable blue merle boy puppy - awwww!!

I haven't clipped Max yet but he is getting to the woolly thelwell pony stage so think I'll be digging out rugs soon!

Relaxing Sunday!

2010-09-13T11:39:00.003+01:00

It was my idea of a perfect day yesterday! We went to agility at Burnham show in the morning (9am start) and had done all three of Brodies runs by 10.30am! We then came home and went for a lovely dog walk. We took the dogs across our village common and there was a huge 'do' on which turned out to be a celebration of our village being 900 years old. There were horse and carriages, a stage with bands playing, guess the weight of the bull and some cricket as well as all the normal village fete things!! Later in the afternoon Matthew walked the dogs while I rode Max pony and we did some serious blackberry picking!! It was lovely and warm so it was nice being outside for most of the day.

Bracken did well in her C4-7 agility and came 4th. Brodie came away with no clear rounds but mostly because he was faster than normal and it threw me a bit! Also, he missed his first contact of the season :( He was going so fast into the dog walk in the C1-7 agility that he didn't stride it right and missed the down contact. He would have come 4th if he had got it and there were some fast dogs there so I'm pleased with his new found turn of speed - I just have to control it now!! Here is Brodie curled up on Brax's 'mooey' after his busy day!

Holiday catch up!

2010-09-06T12:48:00.008+01:00

We had a great time away but it seems so long ago now. We saw my Mum and sister and my Aunt, Uncle and cousin in Wales as it was my Aunt and Uncles 40th Wedding Anniversary. We had a lovely time staying with them and wished it could have been longer but we packed lots in to the time we spent there. We probably haven't eaten so well in ages either, especially my Aunties home made ice cream! We had a family meal out on Sunday and I took this pic of my Mum and Amy which I think is cool! They had their dog Tresca with them and all the dogs seemed to be quite happy with each other.

We had a fab walk on the beach at Ferryside and then an AMAZING steak and stilton pie at the Ferry Cabin (well worth a visit!) The dogs had so much fun on the beach and Brodie did his usual getting soaked and filthy!

On Tuesday we went to Dashin Dogs in Cheshire and did three days of agility. Brodie was a really good boy and ran well, getting placings in combined 6-7 classes as well as getting his final Grade 6 win! The standard of competition was very high in all three sizes and we had some fantastic courses. Brax did really well in her jumping and gradually got better on her contacts. As they organise their show really well, most days we were done competing by 3pm which meant we could explore Chester a bit and relax. We had a great meal out on night that did a 'pudding platter' to share and it looked so good that I had to take a pic of it!

From Dashin dogs we went on to Summer Open show at Ely and again the dogs did well, both getting placings. Brax in particular was really on form and got some good places considering that most of the top small dogs were there for the DFS events. Brax was so tired one night tho that she curled up on my jumper and went to sleep!

Since we have been back, we had our club show Letchworth over the weekend. I could only go on Sunday, when Matthew and I were ring managing. It surprises me so much how many people do agility yet so few people help. It seems that some competitors don't realise that shows rely on people to volunteer to help or the shows couldn't be run in the first place. People who help often give up runs with their own dogs to ensure everything goes smoothly and even if everyone did an odd hour here and there it would take the pressure off the regular helpers. Sorry rant over now!! Anyway, I did manage a couple of runs with Brodie and amazingly he won the C6-7 agility. Brax also ran in the pairs with Lian and Saturn and they were fab and won by two seconds!! Here is a pic of the shelties with their Dashin dogs, Summer Open and Letchworth goodies.

Brodie has won into Grade 7!!!

2010-08-31T19:51:00.002+01:00

This will be a short update after our mega agility holiday as I need to sort out videos and pics. We went to Dashin Dogs for three days and then onto the Summer Open show. The dogs worked really well and Brodie got his last Grade 6 win on a tricky 6-7 course at Dashin Dogs. I can't believe he has only been Grade 6 for 5 weeks!! He will be Grade 7 in time for the end of the season so we will get some training in over winter and who knows, maybe try our hand (or paw) at a couple of champ classes next year?! Quick well dones to Megan and Hattie who won into Grade 2 at Summer Open and also Lisa and Dylan who won into Grade 4. Both very well deserved wins!! Proper update soon...

Hare n Hounds adventure!!

2010-08-17T19:39:00.002+01:00

We had decided after doing the KC Festival last year that we would try a different show this year that wasn't quite as big and stressful. Hare n Hounds was a lovely show (although it was a long way to go) it was worth it for a 2 min walk between the rings and the car, a real ale tent and a relaxing atmosphere!!
Brax did really well and got six wins and numerous placings! Here is a video of her winning a C1-7 jumping class. Brodie got 8th on this course as well.

All of the classes were C1-7 or C4-7 apart from one graded class on the sunday. Brodie did well to get three placings considering he was up against 3 agility champions (and 3 fast collies) in all of his classes!! Considering the courses were relatively flowing and not too taxing, I was most pleased by the fact that Brodie was one out of the places 5 times and the majority of the time he was the fastest clear that wasn't a Grade 7. This is Brodie doing a C1-7 agility and me being a bit rusty after a couple of weeks off - looking back at the video I didn't give him enough warning about the turn before the weaves!

Big congratulations must go to all our friends who did so well at the KC Festival, in particular Jackie and Mr George who have qualified for the Starters Cup at Discover Dogs :)

Weekend off!!

2010-08-10T06:45:00.002+01:00

We have had a relaxing weekend without doing agility but it did feel weird on Sunday not to be getting up early! We decided to go off to the cinema after taking the dogs for a nice walk. I had a fab day yesterday, catching up with an old school friend. We had a meal out and did a couple of nice dog walks, including one to the local pub as the weather was lovely :)

What was really obvious was that the shelties were far more unsettled than normal as they hadn't been out at a 'party' all weekend! Oh well, they'll be busy enough in the coming weeks!!

Brodie gets 3rd G6 win!!

2010-08-02T13:29:00.003+01:00

Wow we have been chasing our tails this weekend! On saturday Matthew took the dogs to the Agility Club show in Ardingly. Brax was a good girl and managed to get through to the Champ final but unfortunately flew her dog walk contact. Back to the contact school for little Miss B! However, we did realise that she has made it to final of every champ except one so at least she is relatively consistent!

The big news is that the Medium ESSC team has QUALIFIED FOR CRUFTS!!! The team was made up of Lian and Sing, Lisa and Tyler, Bernadette and Zen and Eleanor and Smo. What a great team!! Unfortunatley the smalls didn't qualify but I'm sure the meduims will do us Sheltie fans proud :D

I drove round the M25 on saturday to get to the show in time for the Starters Challenge which Brodie had qualified for last year. He started really well and was the fastest dog until the point that he fell off the seesaw! Awww poor Toad had a wimpy moment as the seesaw was pointing towards the crowd and it just spooked him. I made him go back on it and he was fine although he went into the wrong end of the tunnel as you can see him on Lians video looking at the crowd. He came 2nd in the final last year but was really affected afterwards and wouldn't run at all the next day. In fact it took over a month to get him running properly. I was hoping that the same wasn't going to happen this year and I'm pleased to say he was brilliant on sunday so major relief! Whereas many people struggle with contacts or weave entries, I know that Brodie is far more likely to spook at a judge running too close or someones dog barking at the ringside.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=docWjOlPRA0

We went back to Catton Hall on sunday to the Derbyshire show. Brodie was really on form, winning his graded 5-7 agility, getting 3rd in graded 5-7 jumping and a 4th in graded 4-7 jumping. That means that Brodie has now got 3 of his wins towards grade 7!! Although the show was in the same place as last weekend, the classes were much bigger with almost 50 in grade 6 mediums so I'm very proud of Brodie as there were some very good dogs there. Brax did a lovely agility run and then just missed her dog walk contact again (conact school asap!!) She did some fast clears in some other classes but missed out on a place. We are having a weekend off next weekend before the manic august and sept shows start! I think the dogs deserve a well earned rest too!

Adams agility show

2010-07-28T17:00:00.003+01:00

We had a busy weekend away at Catton Hall for Adams show and didn't get home until Monday hence the lack of blog updates! The dogs were travelling in style in their new car crate

The poor dogs were definitely ready swop us for new handlers on sunday! We had a cracking graded 6-7 course which had tunnels under A frame and dog walk and required the ability to work your dog at a distance. It also included the weaves and dog walk twice each! I was so proud of Toad as he was one of the few dogs to get round all the tricky bits and he was fast and clear until I pushed him over the start instead of the finish - arrgghhhh!!! I knew there was a chance of that happening and I had meant to be on the other side of the dog walk but he surprised me by working faster than I had anticipated. I was very proud of him working so well despite me!! Brax got a jumping win on the sunday but her and Matthew really got it together on Monday winning the G7 agility and jumping and getting 3rd in the helter skelter. This is a video from my phone of her jumping win on Sunday

Brodie ran like a star in the Graded agility and won by over two seconds, I can't believe he has a second Grade 6 win already! He was going nicely in the jumping and unfortunately I just dropped my arm on a 90 degree turn and he did what he was supposed to and came in to me. It was my fault for trying to front cross before the weaves whereas I should trust that I can rear cross on the weaves (which he did perfectly after he'd been eliminated). He ran well in the helter skelter and was clear but just out of the placings.
There wasn't any videos of Brodie doing agility but I thought I'd video one of his little habits that makes me laugh! He has this funny quirk about rubbing like a cat on the feed bins at work - it always concerns me that he likes the Bakers one best!!

Puppy pictures - awww!!

2010-07-21T20:00:00.007+01:00

Matthew and I were sorting out some of our photos the other day and I found some adorable pup pictures! Seeing as I didn't start this blog until they were competing, I thought I'd pop a couple on here (also it may help my case for number 3..!)

Brodie was 10 weeks when we collected him but right from day one he liked sleeping on his back with his feet in the air! This is him relaxing at Brax's first agility show

This is Brodie age 4 months at his first 'Sheltie Camp'

Rugby Show

2010-07-19T16:58:00.003+01:00

The dogs were at Rugby show this weekend and Brax was doing both Champ class and the Crufts team qualifier. Rugby is a big show and it has a very high standard of competition as there are a lot of qualifiers but it still manages to retain a nice atmosphere. Although I wasn't there to cheer on the saturday, Brax managed to get through to the champ final but unfortunately got eliminated due to a handler error! Matthew ran Brodie for me on the saturday and they got a 4th in the G1-7 agility - Yay go boys!!

Brodie and Brax did really well on the sunday, no placings but all clear rounds, including on a tricky C6-7 jumping course. I'm loving the challenge of doing some of the trickier courses and seeing how different people handle it. All the Sheltie Club teams did really well in the qualifiers, it was a case of nearly but not quite!

I have been busy today driving round the M25 and M4 to have a new dog tailguard fitted so that the shelties can have the run of the boot! It looks fab and I can't wait for the next few shows to try it out!

New videos

2010-07-15T06:42:00.003+01:00

I have finally got the videos off the camera of Matthew running Brodie over contacts for the first time. He started off a bit unsure but by the end he was flying! Because this video is better quality than my phone, its easier to see how Brodie is changing his striding to get his dog walk contact.

This is another video of Brodie doing the dog walk. Thanks to Lian for lending us her 'hit it' board as its definitely helped Brodie realise exactly where to put his feet!
I will try and put a few more training videos on here and a few runs at shows now I've worked out how to do it!!

Bretford Show - Brodies 1st G6 win!

2010-07-12T18:18:00.002+01:00

Bretford show was such a nice day out yesterday! It was fairly small, had good ground and nothing was too far away from the rings. Both dogs had an agility run early in the morning and both managed to win their class! I was really pleased with Brodie as it was a graded 4-7 and he was the fastest clear over all the grades. I really didn't expect to get a Grade 6 win so I'm still a bit shocked but very proud of my wee man!! He did well in the C1-7 agility getting a 3rd on a real up and down course and was also one out the places in the steeplchase. The graded jumping was a more interesting course but I mucked up one of my pull throughs so poor Brodie wants a new sat nav! I was pleased to see how he coped with four runs and he was actually squealing and yapping while I was in the queue for my last class. This year he is so much mentally and physically more mature. He does have a lazy Monday to recover though - I caught him asleep earlier and videod him!
Well done to our friends who did so well at the weekend, Jane and Millie winning Grade 3 agility, Tamar winning Grade 4 agility, Jackie and Ellie winning Grade 1 jumping and also congrats to Helen and Sweep who came 3rd in the SuperDARL finals!

Brodie has got enough points for his AW(G)!!

2010-07-05T18:01:00.007+01:00

We had a lovely relaxing sunday. Matthew had done Wellingborough on saturday with Brax and her and Saturn got 4th in the pairs which was a great result, the icing on the cake was that he was home by 11am! We had entered Surrey show on sunday and our first class wasn't until 3.30pm which meant we could have a lazy morning! To me it was the perfect day, no hurry in the morning, nice walk around the common and yummy brunch then off to an agility comp, enjoy three runs and then home for a takeaway :)

Brax amazed us by winning a C4-7 jumping class and she also got a 3rd in C1-7 jumping against some very strong competition! She also amazed us in a not so positive way by doing the worst A frame she has done for ages. More homework needed on that this week I think! She is such a cheeky girlie and does like to keep us on our toes.

The lazy morning seemed to suit Brodie very well as he ran like a star and did three lovely fast clears. He got a 4th in C1-7 agility, a 3rd in C4-7 agility and (I still can't believe it!) 2nd in C4-7 jumping. I was really pleased with how he ran as none of the courses were particularly complicated and in all classes he was less than a second behind the winner. Matthew and I treated ourselves to an ice cream and let the dogs have a wee bit as a well done to them!

This morning I was writing up our warrant books and we realised that Brodie has enough points for his Gold warrant - what a handsome clever sheltie he is!! They have spent most of today fast asleep with their heads on their fav toys - Brax loves her mooey (its a cow!) and Brodie loves his pink bone (he is very in touch with his feminine side!)