We decided to give KCI a miss this year as the format had changed for Novice Cup this year and we decided to do Frittenden and go puppy visiting instead! Bru was on fire at Frittenden and managed to get his last win to Grade 6! It was nice to go to a quiet show and meet some friends!
Spark wasn't right at the show so I pulled her out. She had previously ran into one of our large terracotta pots on the patio while chasing a squirrel, smashed the pot and came running back to me on three legs 😖 Unfortunately our lovely physio was off work so I didn't ask her but after the show I got her seen and she was sore in her shoulders and neck. All fixed now though!
Since then she ran at Pure agility on the Friday and won a class, it was a tricky course but she was really listening!
Spark and the offending pot!!
Some random pics of our doglets last week before Branston came home!
Green feet after field cutting!
Pre puppy arrival I also had a day out in London with Cathy and Annabel to visit the Tower of London, it was amazing to walk round and not too busy due to covid limiting numbers.
Its amazing how close up you can get to the Ravens!
And a couple of random garden pics! My bee log is looking quite full
And some of our home produce!
I've probably waffled on so long that everyone has given up reading this by now!! Anyway here are a couple of photos of Branston before he came home. This is Branston and his brother Strike at 7 weeks out for coffee!
And a little boy with his dinosaur! It has his name and birthdate on it and was given it by Strikes new mummy, what a lovely gift!
He was such a good boy on the way home except being travel sick. He squawked a bit in his crate but generally has been excellent about being in his pen and crate! He loves his food and toys too and Grandma Lian gave him such a lovely puppy pack with lots of nice toys! Toilet training so far is going well, he has done three pees that we missed but two were on the first evening which is understandable. Here is a little compilation of some of the things we have got up to in his first week here ❤
At the end of July we went to Tuffley champ show, Sparks kept up with her almost runs by having two poles in the jumping (but the second fastest time...typical!) and a brain fart in the agility which resulted in a refusal! Bru had a much more successful day winning a C5-7 jumping class which is no mean feat at a champ show and coming 2nd in the Novice cup qualifier! A slightly frustrating second in some ways as Matts plan was to hold the seesaw as he had quick released one at agility club. He held it for over a second and the winner beat him by 0.2! Good criteria but it would have been his last win to go Grade 6!! Here is the run which was so lovely to watch 💛
And this is Brus C5-7J run
The most exciting news is that this Friday we will be picking up a new furry family member!
Meet Branston!!! ❤ One of a litter of four, three boys and a girly. He is the only sable, the rest are all bi blacks. His Daddy is Bru's half brother so its lovely to have the family connection to our other sables!
Cheeky boy!!
We have had so many lovely photos and videos to follow his progress! Its been brilliant being able to see him a few times as well so he gets to know us and vice versa, he really is everything I could wish for!
Last week was a heat wave and it hit 30 degrees on a couple of days! I was trying to start work by 7.30am and finish by 11 before the dogs got too hot. It was perfect weather to have a BBQ and take some garden pics though!
I love the water droplets on this flower!
Our runner beans are slow this year!
Carrot and courgette cake 😋
The sable shelties had a day out at a Hoopers show a couple of weekends ago! They were awesome, Bru won a class with a brilliant run and Brooke came 2nd with me and won with Matt. Although she needs us to run more she really enjoyed racing round now that she is doing less agility. Matt was brave with Bru and did the 3s challenge line in the class that he won and the 5s won in his other run, Bru was excellent but missed a hoop!
Brookes 2nd placed run in assorted
Bru winning assorted hoopers
Spark and I recently did our first champ of the year at RVA this month, she was brilliant and only had a little blip in each run, this was her champ agility...I'm so pleased with her dog walk exit!!
And this weekend we went to Empingham and Agility Club to give Bru a chance at the Novice Crufts Qualifier. Unfortunately they have changed the format so its done as heats at various shows rather than at KCI. Bru managed to win a G5 jumping at Empingham and the Novice Q agility at Agility Club so he has qualified for the semis at KCI next August (which is bonkers as its for Crufts 2023!!)
Brooke did one run at Empingham and really enjoyed herself...possibly too much as she ran off the end of the dog walk and got put back on!
Spark just had a weave blip at Empingham but otherwise did a stunning run. She did champ at Agility club and had an unlucky pole in agility but I was thrilled with her time as she turned the wrong way on a jump and was only 2.3 seconds off the winner! Her jumping was an E but very pleased with the rest of it, some distance skills were needed!
Bru managed to get his last win to go Grade 5 at Pure, it was a lovely run on a massive spread out course that really pushed Matt to get places with a slightly sore back!
Spark also won a jumping class at Pure, clever girly! You can tell how cold it was as I had three layers on while I was running!
Posers with their trophies!
A couple of stills from video of Spark
Bru and Brooke got their Hooperstars Level 2 awards through the post, the rosettes are stunning!
The weekend after we went to JDA and the shelties were running while Spark had a weekend off. Bru was in his 25 days limbo so Matt held some seesaws and I managed to win the C6-7 agility with Brooke bean! Here is our run
And the most appropriate t-shirt for the day 😂
Toad still enjoys watching the action and barking at the ring side!
Spark enjoyed cuddles on her day off!
We finally made it 'out out' into London to watch Andrew Lloyd Webbers new musical Cinderella which was awesome! It was my friend Nicolas Birthday outing that had been postponed a few times due to covid so it was brilliant to finally make it out and the production was amazing! Carrie Hope Fletcher as Cinderella was perfectly cast and the songs were so catchy!
A very rare photo of me in a dress!!
Here goes with some random photos as the last couple of weekends we have been at home. Spark plotting some mischief!!
Bru with his tongue out 😂
We had a lovely take away in the garden with Matts folks, it was very tiring scrounging for fish according to the shelties!
Looks like a three headed sheltie...!
And a very tired little collie!
The grass has grown like mad recently so we bit the bullet and got a petrol mower so we can keep on top of it ourselves...my office looks so smart!
Toad had a bit of a flare up over the last weekend so we used the 'sheltie wagon' that my lovely physio gave us when she upgraded hers! Toad quite enjoyed being in there and at least he could walk for a bit and then have a rest
The longest tomato vine that I have ever seen!
Nice sunny Sunday morning walkies
Update on the peppers...still growing well!
And with the stress of the Euros 2020 (year late) final England v Italy we had a Pimms with our mint in it, very tasty! Unfortunately the football was not as successful as the Pimms 😖
These are our garden tomatoes, a whole load but none ripe yet!
