Trent Park

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!

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!

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!!!

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!!

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!!

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!!

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!