More videos!

This is another video of Brodie practising his dog walk contact with Matthew running him.

As a contrast this is Brax practising her 2 on 2 off contact.

Some people have said its weird that our dogs have different styles of contact but I'm a great believer in training each dog as an individual and doing what suits that particular dog. When I'm training other peoples dogs take into account their confidence, drive, stride length and what motivates them amongst other things. One thing is for sure, Brodie and Brax are like chalk and cheese!!

New videos

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!

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)!!

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!)

Watford and Lansdown

During the week, we panicked when we realised that Matthew was competing Brodie for the first time over agility equipment at Lansdown and he had never ran him on it before! Fortunately we managed to take the dogs to the arena where I work (which is great as its always set up and ready to go and the surface is fabulous!) and have a quick practice. I have got some good videos but I'm waiting for Matthew to show me how to put them on the computer!

Anyway, Brodie did a couple of runs at Lansdown and went clear in both although Matthew said he was a bit 'dreamy' which I think he does when he is stressed. It probably relates to the incident at Axstane but he did run better in his agility. Brax was a superstar and got 2nd in Grade 7 jumping!



We had a great time at Watford show yesterday although the temperature must have hit 30 degrees easily. I have to say that without Brodies cool coat, I doubt he would have run as it makes such a difference. It was the first time I was running him as a Grade 6 and I loved being able to do more challenging courses. He was a wee superstar in both the agilitys (G4-7 and C6-7) and managed to get 3rd in both of them!! I need to learn to trust him more as the weave entry was tricky in the C6-7 and he would have done it better if I hadn't tried to help him so much! He did go clear in the jumping as well and was one out of the placings so just to get three clears made me so proud of him. I also discovered that running in bare feet really suits me!! I spent a lot of time as a kid running around outside without shoes on and it made me more confident of my footing - I know I'm weird!!

Brax and Matthew had a fantastic day at Watford. She got a 3rd in the jumping and won BOTH her agility runs!! All that contact work is starting to pay off :) She is most definitely solar powered though and goes so much faster in hotter weather. At least Brackens victories made up for Englands sorry defeat in the football.

Well done to Megan and Hattie with 4th and 6th in the agility and jumping, Jackie with George and Ellie who got 1st and 3rd in the agility, Tamar who won an agility and Diane and Riley who won the Grade 2 jumping. I missed Jane running Millie and Robbie but I saw the video and I just have to say his weaves are cracking now :) Sorry if I've missed anyone out but the heat is frying my brain!

At least my pony is good at keeping cool!

Axstane

The dogs did well at Axstane last weekend despite the bizarre weather which meant I ended up wearing four layers, a winter coat and gloves! Brax had a champ jumping first and did really well to only get 5 faults. She did a lovely run in the agility and ended up clear and making it through to the champ final. There were only FIVE small dogs that got through and unfortunately Brax got 5 faults in the weaves. Amy and her sheltie Fudge won it with a cracking run.

Brodie had a faulty sat nav at Axstane as I was not handling well and kept forgetting to call him off things early enough! He got two E's but I managed to navigate him round the graded agility to get 2nd which I was really pleased with. He had been upset earlier in the day by a nasty border terrier who decided to have a go at him while the owner wasn't paying attention and then he had to put up with a loose dog in the ring while he was running, so he wasn't really on form.

Our shelties are magazine stars!!

Brodie and Brax are featured in this months Your Dog magazine in a article about Shelties. I did an interview over the phone a couple of months ago and didn't expect it to ever be in black and white. As my Mum said, I come across as a bit of a sheltie fan!!

They stay with Matthew sometimes if he is working from home and that means I feel a bit lost without them at work. So to fill the staff room void, we sometimes let a boarding dog come and spend lunch with us! Yesterday we had an adorable Bulldog puppy keeping us entertained by learning how to get biscuits out of a Kong toy!