Teenage Brooke!

Our little princess is being a bit of a teenager at the moment! Nothing really naughty but just pushing the boundaries with Bracken in particular and seeing what she can get away with (like knocking the lid of the food bin when no one is looking and helping herself!!) She was a pickle at school on tuesday as well - very excited about her toy to the point that her brain stopped working! I probably hadn't helped as I'd had a manic day and they hadn't had as much free running as normal. Also Brooke and I met Matthew there as he had driven straight from work so that was SO exciting for her before she even started class!!

She was excellent at running in straight lines but was very 'herdy' doing an exercise with two sets of wings (no jumps) at 180 degrees. She just kept running round the edge!! I think a lot of it is that she is totally unlike the other two and likes to work further away and we have also done a lot of straight line 'go on' stuff with her. My first sheltie was also very herdy and would constantly circle us on family walks - Brodie and Brax just aren't like that at all. Brooke however is like a mini collie on walks (rounding us up, stalking the others, lying down and then racing off) and seems to handle like one in agility which is something new for us!! She has the speed but now we need to control :)

Tired puppy after class!

Brooke is 10 months old!

Happy 10 month birthday to Brooke and her handsome brother Sonic - wow they seem so grown up now! She is a real madam, cheeky and bouncy and gets away with murder with the other two by being faster than them and sneaky - just as I'm typing this she has dive bombed Brodie while he was looking away and pinched his bone, poor boy!

Festive Training!

We spent New Year in Wales with my Auntie and her family including my cousin. We had such a nice time and it was so lovely to catch up with them! The dogs were spoilt and really enjoyed the walks despite the infamous Welsh rain :) Thanks to my Auntie for having us to stay and cooking soooo many yummy things!

Between Christmas and New Year we managed to squeeze in a bit of training with all three dogs. Brodie hadn't done anything in four months so he was only doing Brooke height jumps and tunnels and a couple of dog walks. He was very keen!! He ran well but still isn't extending his stride as confidently as I know he can. Brodie is shorter in length than Brooke but we were amazed to see that she takes one stride on some of the grids where Brodie takes two. Considering she is def 'small' height at the moment (and hasn't grown for weeks) she has an amazing stride and amount of power, controlling it is the challenge!!

Brodie doing jumps and tunnels

Brodie first time on dog walk in four months - he gets the contact nicely but we need to work on his forward focus a bit. I could tell he was a bit hesitant, bless him!

Little Brax had a go at some running contacts and her re-training from a 2o/2o is coming along nicely. Here is a video on low dog walk.

Brooke was brilliant putting jumps and tunnels together, bearing in mind that we only have been training her on equipment about once a month. It really keeps her fresh and raring to go though :) This is her second time on 'jumps' and although she almost trips over the second one, she is figuring it out!

Brookes first time on low dog walk.

Thanks to my fab Mum who stood in the cold and took all the videos of the dogs - love you!

Brooke is starting class again tomorrow night which is great as it is the next one on from her pre-agility puppy class. Lots of handling which she is ready for without the 'big' equiment. She loves to learn and is such a bouncy, sweet girly :)

We are both back to work and busy again. I have to say a big well done to my clever class that I taught yesterday. I missed working with them for the past couple of weeks and it was so nice to teach them yesterday - all the dogs worked so well! This season is looking promising for the competition group!!

Christmas 2011

We have had a lovely busy Christmas and so much going on that I will do a separate New Year post! I thought I'd be quieter running up to Christmas but I was as busy as ever and work carried on between Christmas and New Year. I have such lovely clients and am so lucky to be doing what I do!

Matthew was off work for a couple of weeks which made me and the shelties very happy! We spent Christmas and Boxing day at his Mums and had a lovely time. One of my friends gave the shelties some fun Christmas fancy dress items - here is Brodie in his beard!

Here is Brooke with her new toy from Matthews Mum on Christmas Day

My Mum flew down to see us on Boxing day - yay!! Brooke definitely remembered her and Brax was delighted to have her fav person to snuggle up on the sofa with :)

We did manage to squeeze in a bit of training with all three dogs between Christmas and New Year. Running contacts for Brax, baby stuff for Brooke and Brodies first run for four months. More in next post...

Brooke 9 months and Merry Christmas!!

Brooke and her handsome brother Sonic are now 9 months old! She is such a happy, bouncy beautiful young lady and we are so lucky to have her. She has had a very exciting week as we have a lovely Lab called Alfie staying with us which Brooke has found soooo exciting! We haven't done much with her agility wise recently apart from teaching her to go round the coffee table from a distance!

Matthew was poorly last friday so his shelties thought that they would make him feel better! Its funny how dogs have a sixth sense about it. Brodie had been out with me helping Mr Mitch the greyhound get used to other dogs - Mitch coped really well considering Mitch was worried by Brodie last time they met. It was lovely to see them walk so well together :)

Brooke had a 1-1 agility session today with Dan Shaw and LOVED every minute! She did her first ever jumps (only 4" high!), tunnels and bendy grids amongst other things. The half hour was plenty but she worked so well through the whole session considering she was in a new environment. I meant to take videos but was too busy watching!

I have to say a massive WELL DONE to Lian with Brodie's brother Sizzle who have been picked to represent England at the World Agility Open Champs next year (the one Brax did this year) and also to Jackie Scott with her lovely Cocker Mr George who won Grade 5 agility recently - go George!!

Lastly I'd love to wish all my friends and their lovely dogs a very Merry Christmas and great 2012!

Feeling Christmassy!!

After feeling not at all Christmassy I have got into the Christmas spirit a bit more this week. Decorations are up, cards are sent, some pressi's wrapped and I've had some lovely evenings out with great friends and family. My Mother In Law had booked tickets to see the Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House, something I have never seen and always wanted to!

Well it was brilliant! Beautiful to watch and amazing music, such a treat! I'm so lucky to have a lovely Mum in Law who appreciates culture more than her son does! ;)

At St Pancras station they had built a Christmas tree out of Lego!

The dogs have had a busy week - Brooke met a sable boy sheltie called Alfie yesterday on the common and after being a bit hesitant she ran around with him for ages. Her new trick that Matthew has been working on it getting an instant 'down' at a distance, something that she enjoys doing, even in mud! It nice that she seems a bit less of a princess than Brax who won't do anything in bad weather!

Brodie is still getting better - he has been off his lead when its just him and Brax as she is kind to him! I leave him on if Brooke is off so they don't whack into each other :) Here he is looking handsome in the winter sun, my wee sweetie!

Agility withdrawal...

I have been missing doing agility a lot, especially as Brodie and I should have been at the UKA National Finals. The good news is that he is seeming better and can do his stretching exercises much easier now so we are on track to get back doing some agility in the new year. I was missing agility so much that I ran Brax at training last week (rare as she is Matthews dog) and I have the bruises to show for it!! She was soooo excited that she nipped me a couple of times after runs, cheeky girl! I didn't mind as she ran beautifully (that and Matt has always let her do it, grr!!) and we had so much fun :) Usually in winter she runs like a snail but this year she is much brighter - I think that being out walking a lot more during the day and not shut in a cold, dark staff room may have something to do with it!

Brooke pups is now 8.5 months old and is gorgeous and crazy! Love her to bits!! She is turning into a snuggle monster and loves laps. The two sable girlies are very similar in a lot of ways and have started playing much more. They are both unusual as well in that they hardly have any white hairs on the tip of their tail. In fact, both of them have black tips to their tail. Brookes coat is getting darker in places but its hard to get a good pic of it!

The two older dogs went to Rommy's house for a get together and watched him do the weaves in his garden which he did beautifully! Brax had a go as well but Brodie had to content himself with watering the garden! I love the pic above as it has all three common sheltie colours and they all look so sweet! :)