Happy 2023!

I can't believe we are into a new year already! I decided to try and update this and am currently trying to type with a Pickle putting his head on my typing arm...not helpful!! We had a lovely break over Christmas and New Year. We saw Matts folks on Christmas Day and then went north to see Amy in her new house in Northumberland which was very exciting with the added bonus of seeing my Mum there as well! Unfortunately the weather wasn't so good so we didn't explore many walks but it was nice to think about all the exploring we can do next time! Although we had a super festive break it was very sad being the first one without Toad 💙 We miss him so much and he always loved Christmas and all the socialising.

I love this photo and didn't realise until it was bigger that both dogs are shaking!

Brooke Bean is going to be 12 in March and we think her eye sight is getting a bit worse in bright sun. She is still very lively and full of herself but we might get her bloods checked at the vets soon as she is drinking more than usual. She is still obsessed with sitting in things!! 💚

My little Christmas helper! He put his trick training to good use tidying away wrapping paper 😂

How is my puppy now 18 months?! ❤ I'm biased but I adore him, he is cuddly, clever, funny and so much fun to hang out with! He isn't ring ready for agility but we almost have upright weaves so we might be able to do some jumping runs at some point. His contacts training has basically stopped as the weather is so terrible and my field is a bog 😕 We are having a load of fun with trick training and doing the odd bits of agility here and there though! He had his hips x-rayed last week so fingers crossed for good results.

We are trying to step up Bru's training a bit after his winter break. Matt made it to a Beyond Grade 7 workshop this week and Bru was awesome! 💛 He just needs some more practice course running (Matt that is not Bru!) before the Team GB Pre Selection Qualifier in February.

And what can I say about my Sparkalina?! 💜 She has come back from her shoulder/rib injury all guns blazing and is so keen and ready to work. She even had the all clear from her physio today, no niggles at all (a rarity!) I ran her in Pickles training session this week and she nailed all the discrimination and had the best time. She is obviously not ready to retire just yet! 

We made it to Wrest Park on New Years Eve for a lovely dry wander round

And a couple of Pickle action pics! Plus his most recent weekly video. They are all on a playlist on my YouTube channel if anyone wants to see an Ickle Pickle! 

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! 💕

Back to work...and shows!

Look how beautiful these two are!! 💚💙 we had a lovely few days off work together and for a change the weather was nice so we enjoyed some long walks in the spring sunshine!

Bru also got his rosette for comping 3rd in an online hoopers competition! His hoopers and distance work has really helped his agility 💛

Unfortunately poor Brooke has had a sad tale to tell...or should that be tail? Its a long story but she we noticed she must have been chewing on her tail when we weren't watching her and she had made it red raw. The vets gave us antibiotics but inevitably we knew that she was going to need a partial tail amputation as the tip had gone black 😢 The scary thing is that the vet thought it had been caused by some hair wrapped round the tail bone cutting off the circulation! The operation went well and she has been a model patient as usual!

Windswept walkies!! 

Some of our tomato seedlings have been moved to bigger pots, four varieties this year!! 

Less windy sunny walk! 

Brookes tail bandaged up

I started work on the 29th March and it was so nice to be back, the bonus was that the weather has been beautiful! 

This weekend Bru actually competed at a couple of shows!! Even the roadtrip was fun!! 

These two did me proud at their first Grade 3 show by winning a jumping and an agility! It was a 1-3 show so the older dogs couldn't compete but it was so well organised and it was nice that I could watch from a distance. 

The bonus of Covid shows is that as the turnaround is really quick we were home by midday for a cuppa in the garden!!

And to top off his KC show results Bru went and qualified for the UKA Dogeria Challenge at UKA so is off to the Grand Finals in October!!! I didn't get to go and watch but saw the course plans online in the morning and thought they looked lovely.

Bru also got his Hoopers Stars Level 1 award which is an online set of exercises that you film and submit in your own time. Brooke had one more to do when her tail issue cropped up! The rosette is gorgeous!! 

I have been continuing to do jump work in the garden with them and got some cool stills from videos

And having a training session with Spark, good to test the skills in bigger spaces!! 

Gridwork and wet walkies

 I have been struggling to fit in work with the winter weather this week, it seems to be a never ending round of doing admin and shuffling people around. I hate having to cancel people! The positives from this are that I can spend more time walking my dogs and hanging out with them which is good for the soul ❤ 

I haven't managed to do much agility recently with our dogs (Bru has been out of action but he did do some hoopers this week) I have done some gridwork with the girls and its given me a kick up the butt to do it more often as it has so many benefits. Here is a little compilation

And some distance work with Spark as the ground has been too soggy for handlers to run around much!

I know I am particularly geeky but I could watch dogs doing grids all day, coming from a horsey background I know how much a rider can influence jump style and take off fir a horse whereas our agility dogs have to work it out for themselves! Well set up grids make such a difference to their confidence and technique

Some random pics from the last couple of weeks!

The first time ever that Bru has actually stayed on his back for tummy tickles! 

It was time to dig out the waterproof onesies! 

Sables and leaves are a tricky photo combination...thank goodness he has white on him!

Apart from making Christmas cake I also baked some ginger cookies today... I seem to have made masses though!

Out on our walk past the village pond today we saw the rock snake that people have been adding to!

The older two managed a clean dry pavement walk today! 

Whereas the younger two had a muddy field walk!