Stupid weather - grrr!!!!!

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

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!

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!!

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

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

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

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! :)