Winter is here :(

It really feels like winter is here now, digging out thick coats, loads of layers and woolly socks! Max has had his first clip of the year and I gave his tail a good brush through this morning - this is what it looked like after I had finished!!

Brax has definitely been feeling the cold more recently as anyone who sits down for long enough acquires a furry lap warmer!! I was going through some photos recently and found this great one of Brodie on holiday last year - I wonder what he is thinking about?! (Click to enlarge and see the silly expression on his face!!)


Oh and a big well done to our friend Jackie and her young spaniel George who have qualified for the Agility Club Starters Challenge 2011 - what a good year they have had!

New videos and puppy pics

We felt a bit lost this last weekend as it was our first non agility weekend for ages. We took the dogs for a really long walk instead which cheered them up a bit! We have been doing some fun games with them in the flat just to keep them mentally and physically ticking over. Here are a couple of videos of Brodie doing some gridwork up the hallway! In the first video he isn't very confident of his footing or particularly fast. After a couple more goes, I took another video and he is much more confident and therefore faster (unf this video wouldn't load on here - grr!). I think work like this is so good for their coordination and motivation - he thinks its great fun!




Last week Jenni brought her 9 week old sheltie puppy Rommy up to visit us at work - he is soooo cute!! He met Brodie and Brax and thought Brodie was far less scary! Rommy and Brodie are cousins as they are both grandsons of the lovely Blenmerrow Barnaby. Rommy made himself at home in Brax's bed and had a good chew on her rawhide!



This last video is of Sykes who is an English Springer Spaniel. He is a show dog and has qualified for Crufts next year. As a younger dog he did a lot of obedience and foundation agility work in his private lessons with me, mainly to help with his coordination for showing. However, we discovered he loved the baby agility work so his owner has just started proper agility lessons now that Sykes is over a year old. This is a short video of him in his 2nd ever agility lesson - it also highlights the importance of a wait! He is an incredibly powerful, driven springer and I love the way he can already work his striding out over a line of jumps.

Well done Tasha and Dizzy!!

What an exciting weekend for two of my favourite sports - Great Britain have done so well!! The eventing team won gold and an individual silver at the world equestrian games and have got silver medals in dressage as well. Natasha Wise and the phenomenal Dizzy have done it again for British agility - MEDIUM WORLD CHAMPIONS for the second year in a row!! Her runs are on U-tube and are just amazing. Not forgetting all the other GB competitors, including Dave Munnings and Dobby who came 2nd in the large individual event!

On a more down to earth note(!), we went to a relaxed agility competition just a mile up the road at the Herts showground yesterday. Brax didn't do any runs as the grass was very long and she was in danger of disappearing under it!! Brodie only did one run in C1-7 jumping and came 2nd but we got soooo wet that we didn't stay for the agility. We were however, cheering on our friends including Megan and Hattie, Sue and Dab and one of my saturday class regulars Chester the beagle who was doing his very first show! They all did really well - Megan got numerous places and a win with Hattie qualifying her for 'Starter dog of the Year' finals next year. Paul and Chester did so well for their first show only 5 faults in each run and fabulous weaves in both classes. I think he is the fastest, most focused Beagle I have ever seen - watch out for them competing next year! :)


Matthew also got talked into doing the 'have a go' agility with my friend Kates terrier Dougal. He is a flyball dog so I think Matt was a bit surprised when he let Dougal go and he did most of the obstacles by himself! By the time we got home we were drenched and it took ages to dry the dogs off - Brax was sooo happy to be snuggling on the sofa for the afternoon!

End of Agility Season :(

Everyone should have a helpful sheltie!!
Last weekend we had our last KC agility show for ages at Hare n Hounds. The weather was kind to us and the dogs had a great time. Matthew ran Brodie for me as I (as usual) didn't compete until the sunday. I think its fair to say that the depth of talent in the medium classes was immense!! Hare n Hounds is a relatively small show so all of the classes bar one are combined 1-7 or 4-7 with only one graded agility class. Brodie was up against Steven Richardson's Sweep, Cathy Shaws amazing Toller, Adam Wildman and his Kelpie Zoom, Sue White and Bug and Gary Cummings with Ellie so altogether a very strong bunch of grade 7 dogs, not to mention the ones I don't know! I was thrilled with Brodie getting a 4th with Matthew in a C1-7 which he repeated with me on Sunday (on a easy course with no weaves!). He also got a 3rd in C4-7 agility and would have won the graded agility if he had been in any grade but 7!! Those fast dogs on easy courses meant we were 5th, out of the placings but still very proud of my wee man!!



Brax was great and got a couple of wins and numerous places although possibly wasn't on full power. We are going to get them checked out by the physio now that the main agility season is over just to give them an MOT! Our winter training is going to concentrate on some groundwork exercises to get them spatially aware and using their brains as well as their muscles! The video is Brodie learning to co-ordinate walking backwards over a pole, perfect training for wet days!

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.