Its crazy to think that at the start of July Branston Piccalilli turned 2 years old! He has grown into such a handsome boy ❤ always cuddly, happy, up for learning new things and absolutely loves life! He has come on so well with his agility recently, unlike our previous dogs he has competed at KC shows before the age of 2 and managed two placed clears out of 12 runs in total. He has developed a habit of running past jump 2 and then going on to do the course beautifully so many of the Eliminations are due to that 😂 I'm hoping he might grow out of it!!
Here is his latest weekly video...loads of skills coming on nicely and even managed to blind a dog walk which was a bit scary but nice to have a trainer there to tell me what he was doing! Next thing to tackle is blinding the end of the weaves as he hasn't done much of that.
Matt had his first UKA judging appointment last weekend which he enjoyed although the pressure was on with it being a Beginners steeplechase qualifier! Ours had fun testing the courses out as they didn't compete as I was scriming for Matt. I take my hat off to anyone who judges as I couldn't do it! I love the course design aspect but wouldn't like the pressure!
As usual I'm behind with this! February was a busy month with the Team GB tryouts and amazingly it was a very dry month and I actually managed to teach in my own field which is a rarity through winter. Bru racked up four E's in the four Team GB tryout runs but he showed some amazing skills that he didn't have this time last year. The best bit was that he managed some insane weaves but then did something daft on the same course like running past the start jump as in the video below!!
Two weeks later was Crufts and Bru was in Novice Cup and Champ...very random but for some reason the KC didn't hold the Novice Cup at Crufts last year so it had rolled over to this year. Bru was absolutely amazing and loved the atmosphere! He won the Novice Cup overall!!! 💛🎉🎉 He was second in the jumping with a very scary moment where he turned the wrong way and 2nd in the agility with a held seesaw. I love this photo of him with his posh sparkly harness and lead on from Tater Togs!
Onto the Sunday and champ day! Matt had a whoopsie on the jumping where Bru ran all the way round a jump so saved the E but got faults. There were so many clears that he knew he would have to go for it in the agility round and wow he did a stunning run and finished 4th!! All the videos are on my YouTube channel but here is his agility round 💛
He made it into the Final and was running first! The turn off the dog walk proved very tricky for a lot of the dogs and unfortunately Bru did a cracking dog walk and Matt then said go instead of right so Bru shot round the side of the third jump. Then it all went a bit wrong but so proud of them getting there and running on TV right before best in show!!! Hopefully they will be back in the future!
To finish Bru's news 😂 we also went to champ at Wyre show last weekend. His Dad got him E'd in the agility round on a technical course but they went on to win the jumping round again some very fast spaniels! We don't think Bru runs that well on sand compared to grass as he doesn't train on it as much so we were very surprised and had already left when we found out he had stayed in first!
When we were at Wyre we met up with Branstons Dad Kuri and his sister Sidr. Kuri is such a sweet dog and has lots of things in common with Pickle. We even managed to get them sitting and posing for a photo!
Pickles agility training is going well, he is now sequencing dog walks, Aframes and weaves but still hasn't got a finished seesaw due to the wet weather! All of his weekly videos are on a playlist on my YouTube channel as its nice to keep a record of what he has done at what age. None of our dogs have had a seesaw before 20 months so its obviously a theme 😂 I have had people ask what I do when with my puppies but I might do a separate post about that.
He has turned into a handsome boy...I am biased! We had his hip scores back really quickly and they are 3:3 so lovely and even ❤ His coat is getting darker and his nose lighter! He is still the sweetest boy, a tad overexcited at times but I'd rather he was full on and confident! At our latest agility lesson we had a girl collie in season and he worked like usual, played tug, didn't go off sniffing at all and stayed really focused so can't ask for more! Our latest weekly video is below
Branston thought Crufts was the best day out! He loved walking round and meeting people and seeing the other dogs. We also got to meet up with our friends Rowena and Nigel and their shelties Toes and Dougal! Look what a gorgeous quartet they are and no doubting which one is Pickle with that tail!! 😂
Brooke Bean loved her Crufts walkies as well (second right in the above pic) We recently got a blood test and vet check done as she has just turned 12 and we wanted to make sure she was doing ok. Her sight isn't great in the bright sun or dark but her liver/kidneys were all good. We have retired her from hoopers as I was worried about her catching the hoops and not being as confident. She is a natural at using her nose so I have booked her on to a series of scentwork workshops and am really looking forward to learning more!
Sparkle bear had a run at Wyre in the champ agility and it reminded me that she really isn't keen on running inside when its noisy! 💜🙈 The positives are that she ran, did stunning contacts and a cool layer. The rest didn't quite go to plan but she tried hard! Her handler was useless and didn't cue her tunnel turns at all! Now she is ten I am trying to keep her happy and fit to keep running this year, luckily as she is top end medium so I don't think she will struggle. We have also done our first hoopers show 😁 My friend Jo-Ann put on her first Javawolf Hoopers Show and we went along for a girls day out and had a great time! I tried the distance options and she did me proud and even won her assorted class and won me a wolf 🐺
My blog recently is full of Bru doing clever things so why not post one more! 💛 We did champ at Axstane on Saturday, Bru had faults in the weaves in the agility round and came 2nd in the jumping which put him 5th to run in his first champ final! Matt knew he had to go for it as there were so many good dogs in the final 20 and he did a fantastic run and held the lead. I don't think I have ever been so nervous!!! I'm so proud of them that I could burst! It qualifies them for the Championship class at Crufts next year too 🎉🏆
Bru also came 2nd in the jumping with a hairy moment on Number 2!!
Spark had an unfortunate pole in the jumping and missed her dog walk in the champ agility but her time would have put her 3rd which I'm thrilled about as it wasn't her sort of course really! 💜 The best thing was that neither her nor I got stage fright which seems to have happened in champ most previous years! Something has gone wrong and then one or both of us falls apart and we end up leaving the ring in a hurry. This years goal was not to do that so that was a personal win!!
The weather has been super hot this week. We had 32 degrees last Friday so spent most of the day in the shade in the garden and doing some freework. The shelties enjoyed sleeping under the tree over the pond!
One of Matts goals for this year with Bru was to qualify for the (not) Olympia Semi Final where the top ten dogs go through to do agility at Olympia Horse Show! It is so tough to qualify for as only the top three in each heat qualify and then you have to get through the semi final. But not only did he qualify but he won it despite Bru turning the wrong way on a jump (handler error!) 💛
Spark didn't have a qualifier in her height but she did win her agility run! 💜 At the age of 9.5 she is feeling so cool to run and I wouldn't go as far as comfy slippers but she is more predictable!
As it was the Queens Platinum Jubilee weekend the rosettes were very appropriate!
Brodie and Bean are doing well at the moment. Brodie is a little bit stiff but at 15.5 that is to be expected! 💙 He can't be on supplements due to his pancreatitis so we are careful to manage his exercise but he still enjoys two 15-20 min walks a day.
Brooke is loving doing bits of hoopers and at any other time is generally the laziest dog we have ever owned! When she does work she is a barky mad whirlwind though!! 💚 Here she is doing some hoopers recently
Branston Pickle is now 11.5 months old! ❤ He is cuddly, funny and loves to learn! We had great fun on a puppy camp with Dan and Dave a couple of weeks ago and his sister Sidr was in his group so it was good for him to focus with the excitement of her and his Grandma Lian there! It was tricky stuff but he was great and worked so well! All of Branstons weekly videos are on my YouTube page on a playlist if anyone wants to catch up with what he has been doing!
This is more of a note to myself for the records so feel free to skip this paragraph! So far Bran has worked on loose lefts/rights, wing wraps and starting those as rear crosses. We have done wrapped rounds, just started push round slices, threadle wraps and slices and wrong end of tunnel/tight tunnel turns. We have put our mat on a plank a couple of times and he seems to be getting the hang of it!
So the past two weekends we did two Kelluki visits, the first was to do Hoopers with the three shelties and last weekend was for some agility. The Hoopers show turned out to be a bit fraught for us as we had three dogs running in a group of eight and as the ground had been wet we couldn't park really close to the rings (totally understandable) We had turned up in good time to warm the dogs up but we hadn't banked on our group starting to run much earlier than expected so we ended up on the back foot for the entire show and running around juggling dogs which was stressful to say the least! We have decided that two in a group is a limit or it isn't enjoyable!! Bru did so much cool work but no clears this time, Brodie loved having four runs got two clears (one was 2nd place!) And Brooke Bean at her first hoopers show had one teeny blip in each class but still ended up with a 2nd place! She loved it!!
Here is one of each of the shelties runs...
Bru 💛 Hard to see but he missed a hoop!
Brodie 💙 2nd in this run
Brooke 💚 2nd despite going the wrong side of a barrel
I need to do a sofa picture with all their lovely rosettes and trophies but its hard when you don't get them on the day anymore! We haven't got any more hoopers shows booked but it is definitely something that the shelties enjoy! We are hoping to get to some more workshops over the winter.
We also got round to sorting some of the garden out although the green bin is constantly too full! This was the last harvest of tomatoes and courgettes.
And harvesting our runner beans for next year...I always think that they look like the magic beans from Jack and the Beanstalk!
My little field helper missing her toy, this photo makes me laugh!
Unfortunately Bru managed to pull some of his dew claw off 😔 It is healing well underneath but we decided that Kelluki agility would be a bad idea given the ground may be bumpy and muddy. He was absolutely furious to be taken to a party and not get to play!!
The two girls enjoyed their agility day out though! It also meant that we were only there for a couple of hours unlike most of the day
Brooke came 3rd in this G6-7 jumping, it was such a hard course to remember for some reason, particularly with only 5 mins to walk it!
And Spark was a good girly 💜 one pole in the first agility (such a fun course!) she won the second agility (again really flowing course) and we got E'd in the jumping but I was thrilled with being able to leave her in the weaves! Here is a compilation of her runs
She was a tired puppy after!!
On Sunday Bru had a workshop with Walter at Pure which is a new indoor astroturf venue. Bru worked so well and he was fine working with his nail wrapped up.
This was him doing the whole course
I couldn't work yesterday or today as the weather has been really wet this week, Toad has enjoyed having his Mama at home!
And I baked vegan molasses cookies...they are yummy!
And a still from a video but I thought it was a cool action shot!
Bru did his first Beyond Grade 7 workshop with Dan this week, he has always been in the younger dog group but he got bumped up a group! He coped really well with it and they managed the whole course at the end with only a little blip at the weaves as Matt got in his way 😂💛 Here is a compilation of what they did
We have a hoopers show this weekend so hope that the weather stays dry, we have had so much rain recently! The roads round us have been flooded over the weekend, they looked like rivers 😮 It suddenly feels colder and is getting dark so early.
The doglets waiting for Matt outside the village shops...collie vs shelties!
Bru's first Aframe photo from the show!
It finally stopped raining on Monday lunchtime and Bean and I enjoyed sitting out in the sun with a cuppa
My two have been really snuggly and cute over the last couple of days. Toad has discovered the sofa and Spark has even decided that she can share a bed with him!!
Little Rupert finally won into Grade 3 at Kelluki! He had three runs, two agility and a jumping and he went clear in all three! He won two and can 2nd (by 0.3 seconds!) in the other run! He was ready to win up earlier this year but obviously with the Covid situation there hasn't been any KC shows until now. Here is a video of his winning run 💛
Auntie Brooke did well too winning a grade 7 agility with a held dog walk...we were a bit surprised!!
Sparkle was flying but I made silly mistakes and got a refusal in two runs as a consequence! 💜
They were very tired after the show!
Brodie has had another pancreatitis flare up and Bru is so sweet looking after him...he loves his big brother!
We are so impressed by how Kelluki have managed to go ahead with shows in a covid compliant way and we have still been able to have fun! So important when you have a young dog like Bru who is needing the ring experience. We have been there a few times to do independent agility shows but also our very first hoopers show! Brodie had been feeling better running up to it so I decided to give him a run and see how he went. He was really excited to be back in the ring again!! Here he is winning senior barrels 💙
And the boys with their prizes!! Kelluki do such lovely trophies!
And I couldn't resist buying these professional photos of the boys in action!
The girls had fun doing an agility workshop instead of competing at hoopers (although Brooke is entered into the next hoopers show...eeek!) This is Brooke bean being very clever...her send to the weaves was amazing! 💚
Sparkle even managed to watch some of the action quietly which is rare!
