Massive catch up!

 Matt and Bru went to the European Open champs at the end of July and although I was very sorry not to go with them (Toad is now 15.5 and high maintenance bless him!) they did us proud! 💛 They did four runs in total and had one that was a bit chaotic but the other three had just one tiny mistake in them! The best thing was the weave homework had paid off and in three runs they were brilliant 😁 Contacts were great too!  

While Matt and Bru were in Belgium we had the start of a heat wave here where it hit 40 degrees at times. It was awful and the dogs hated it too. I was starting work at 7am and finishing by 9.30am to get some training done before the worst heat. The ground was really hard and dry too and Spark managed to rip her dew claw off 😔 It has taken ages to heal and I'm still wrapping it up to do agility with her just in case.

When Matt and Bru came home they went to the Kennel Club festival to do the Novice Cup qualifier and they WON it!! This means that they are off to Crufts next year in Novice as well as Champ 😂 We think it is bonkers that a dog can be in both...we really don't understand why they didn't hold the novice semi finals last year for this years Crufts! 

We have had some Wrest Park visits which we have loved. We do a longer walk for the younger three and then a potter for the older two with a coffee!

And some random pics!

My little Pickle is now almost 15 months and soooo handsome!! 

And we are learning how to weave! 

Spark makes herself comfy! 

His jump work is coming on nicely, he has just started jumping 30cm 

These two were awesome at WBSDS!! 

Brooke has been doing some hoopers workshops and loves it! 

And last weekend we tried Mantrailing which she has a natural flair for!! We think her eyes aren't so good any more so its nice to let her do something that relies on her nose instead

Branston Pickle is coming on nicely in his agility work! Just starting to do some dog walks but not the most confident with that yet so I'm taking it slowly. We haven't done Aframe or seesaw yet but have started weaves and touched on most of the various jump and tunnel skills. I am still a bit shocked by his speed! He is quite long and around 40-41cm tall but takes less strides than Sparkle. I have ran them over the same sequence a couple of times and he so far has been quicker! 😮

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Branston Pickle is one year old and Agility Club show!!

 I have been useless at updating this again, sorry! At the start of July Branston turned one year old!! ❤ I can't imagine not having him around now, he constantly makes us laugh and is the happiest puppy who loves life! 

I am still doing his weekly videos which are on my YouTube page but this is the most recent one. 

We had the Agility Club show at the Herts showground last weekend which was brilliant as it was only ten mins down the road! Spark and Bru had both qualified for the Finals there, Bru in Novice and Spark in Senior. We were absolutely thrilled that they both came 2nd!! 💛💜 I'm so happy that Spark held it together with the crowd and commentary as well! The course was quite tough and I decided to try a tricky layer with the weaves and she nailed it!! Bru also got through to the champ final after coming 4th in the Agility and 3rd in the jumping! His consistency is improving 😍

Brooke and Toad are doing well despite the recent hot weather. Spark can't cope with photographs so Brodie took her place on the podium which he thoroughly enjoyed!! 

And the next post will be all about Bru's adventures at the Europen Open Championships in Belgium! Look at his posh harness from Tater Togs and his lovely bed and toys from Granny Lian! 

Bru wins small champ ticket at Axstane!!

 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!

Yearly pic of my favourite Petunia!

Spark and some of the pots this year 

Bru qualifies for Olympia! And puppy camp exploits!

 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! 

Bru is on Team GB for the European Open Championships!!

I'm so so proud of these two!! Bru and Matt have made it onto Team GB for the European Open Championships in Belgium in July!! 💛 The hard work starts with weave bootcamp commencing this week, he still struggles with weave entries and exits so we have been doing short sessions in the garden to help him understand it better.

At the start of April I took Branston Pickle for a weekend break in Wales to catch up with my family and celebrate my lovely sisters 40th birthday (a month early but nice to be sooner!) Here are a couple of holiday snaps, it was fab to catch up with everyone and also have a semi surprise party with a fabulous cake made by my very talented friend Julie (from Julies Cake Company in St Albans) 

We have also done our first couple of shows on the year, we had a brilliant time at Kelluki! Brooke bean got to play hoopers and even managed to win a couple of veteran classes! Bru and Spark had fun playing agility on some cool courses. Here is Brus winning agility run

Branston has been practising watching the dogs in the ring quietly

Spark had a very successful weekend at Wallingford show, she won the G7 jumping and came 4th in the agility! 

This is her winning jumping run!

Unfortunately Bru did lovely runs apart from the weaves...hence the weave bootcamp this week!! 😂

In other news I got my new jumps for the field, they are amazing and perfect for young dogs as they go so low and are very pretty!

Branston is almost ten months old now and is doing more in the way of agility training. He is so enthusiastic and keen to lean ❤ He did a puppy camp a couple of weeks ago and worked so hard! It was lovely to see his Granny Lian and sister too!

Our garden is still fenced off as our fences are still not repaired from all the storms 😕 It is our neighbours fence and we have even offered to pay to fix it but she wants to sort it herself. In the meantime we have a tiny patch of grass that is ok for the dogs but are trying to make the most of it.

We found some bluebells the other day on our walk!

Branston passed his Level 1 Hooperstars and has done all his Level 2 exercises so fingers crossed he passes! He is started to really understand looking for the hoops!

And the cutest little puppy pic! Oakley is only 9 weeks old in this photo and so gorgeous! He explored my field and then crashed out in the coffee shop! 💕