Love my Boys!!

My boys did me so proud this weekend!! Brodie had his turn on saturday as we went to a UKA show at Prested Hall. We did three runs and I swear he got faster the more he did! I've been careful with only doing two runs at our two shows so far this year but thought I'd try three. Agility was up first and he ran very enthusiastically and I didn't get there in time for a push out but contacts and tricky weave entry were all solid so v pleased - great dog, shame about the handler!! Power and speed was next and he ran his little socks off winning the speed section by 5 seconds. The last two jumps were through a box and had to be layered as you couldn't squeeze through the gap. I just told him go and kept my arm out and he was great :)  I tried to get Brodie to pose with his rozzie but was too busy chewing his rawhide!! Steeplechase was last and again, little man was so fast that I didn't quite get there and we got a refusal but so pleased as up the last line of jumps he was taking one stride where he would have taken two. His confidence in jumping midi height is so obvious. We have a KC show coming up so it will be interesting to see how he does over the higher jumps. 5cms is quite a lot extra to jump when you aren't very big!!

I have to say well done to Heidi and Jenson (JR) who had two nearly brilliant runs. Only his third show but clever boy got his weaves in every class :) Unfortunately his jumping run was spoilt by someone playing with a squeaky ball right behind the scrimer so Jenson did a detour. Almost clear in the steepechase as well so getting closer to that clear every time - keep up the good work! I have to also say well done to Jane and Robbie dog who did the double at Wallingford and won his agility and jumping. He also won agility last weekend so is going grade 4 in style - sheltie power!!

Anyone just interested in dogs I suggest you stop reading now...

Anyway, onto dressage! On sunday Maxi pony and I hitched a lift with my instructor Kate and her gorgeous andalusian mare Speedi (also Max's girlfirend!) to do a dressage test. My first time in about 4 years doing dressage and I was soooo nervous compared to agility. It was worse than doing a champ final!! This is Max and Speedi sharing hay with Max sticking his head through the jockey door of the trailer!

The problem with doing horse competitions is the amount of time to get ready! Lots of cleaning and scrubbing (especially with a grey!) whereas with the dogs you throw on dog clothes and pop the dogs in the car and you're off...

Anyway, suitably smart and dressage test remembered off we went... and WON!! Can't believe it as didn't expect it at all and really enjoyed riding my test. Kate took a video and I'm smiling trotting round and didn't need oxygen at the end!! What a clever pony - love him!! The professional photographer took lots of pics so when they are online I may have to by one or two :)

To be honest, the best thing was that five of us from our yard went and we all had such a fun, relaxing time. Horses enjoyed it too and it was a gorgeous sunny morning. All five of us managed to go home with a rosette so well done to Kate and Speedi (who also won their class), Heidi and Slipi, Claire and Finn and Hazel and Bridie. The photo below was kindly taken by Kate and is L-R Claire, Hazel and me. If you click on it, it comes up bigger.

Spring yet??!

We had such lovely warm weather and now its turned cold and wet again. Better not complain as we have a hose pipe ban so could really use the rain! The poor horses and plants don't know whether they are coming or going. In the woods we ride through, the bluebells have come out which is so early. I'll try and take the dogs up there for some photos soon as they make a lovely back drop. Max was a naked pony for a few days and enjoyed having the sun on his back - this week he is back in rugs again. We have been entered a dressage competition for this weekend for the first time in ages. He loves his jumping but isn't so keen on dressage but his schooling has been coming along so well that I thought he deserved the chance to strut his stuff! Might try and do some jumping with him as well this year and incredibly he can do veteran classes at showing from May. He doesn't act his age though ;-) As he is getting older he is going fleabitten (horsey term for coloured 'spots' coming through his white coat) which in a dog I would call 'naughty spots' - very apt in Max's case!! He is not actually naughty but just very mischievous - he makes me laugh, especially when he grabs peoples zips and undoes them!!

This crazy bundle of fur is Brooke and our house guest Jamie (a pap) asleep on the sofa. Brax was on my lap as well so it was very snuggly - Brodie gets too hot so can't be doing with sofa snuggles! We were supposed to be going to Spring at Shuttleworth on the sunday but for various reason decided to give it a miss and went for a long walk and pub lunch instead with my friend and her two dogs. All six dogs had a brilliant time and really enjoyed walking together - they were shattered when they got home. Its nice to know ours welcome house guests so readily, it will make it much easier for when dog number 4 comes along :)

The 3 B's came into London with me during the week to visit an old school friend of mine. We have known each other since we did chemistry together at Standard Grade! Its nice to catch up with old friends as I live soooo far away from where I grew up. The sign of a great friend is when you haven't seen each other for a couple of years and still chat solidly for hours like it was last week you last saw them!! Wendy has a gorgeous garden in Ealing and a lovely flat that is just like a wee cottage inside. The dogs enjoyed her tranquil garden and I couldn't resist taking a photo of them posing (before stinky puppy decided to roll in something - grr!!) We had a lovely walk to a park and the dogs had a good time watching the kids in the play park while we had a coffee. I was really proud of them and how they coped with the hustle and bustle of the park.

Easter and training

Well I can safely say that Brodie looked NOTHING like this after our training session yesterday!! Matt and I shared a lesson at Dan's with Caroline - sorry no videos as the weather was appalling. It was great to be training Brodie, it makes my day playing agility with him :-) It was also good for him to train on grass. Everywhere I normally would train him is indoor school or astroturf, which although lovely, flat and mud free doesn't prepare the dogs correctly for running on grass at the majority of shows. Brodie shared his lesson with Bobby (his lab x staff girlfriend) and they both worked really well - Dan gave me some great tips and we really enjoyed it. I do need to trust in my training more and I know I'm guilty of helping Brodie too much sometimes. Training is the place to try new stuff so now I have to be brave enough to try it in competition! I trust Brodie totally but do lack confidence in my ability to get my handling/timing right. Its so good to have a fresh perspective on things as there is always something new to learn in agility.

Brax stayed at home while we were training as she doesn't like doing anything in rain - even agility! We were going to do Easter UKA but because of the weather decided there was little point in wasting petrol money if she wouldn't enjoy it. Brodie and Brooke on the other hand love working whatever the weather whereas Brax is solar powered and likes at least 30 degree blazing sunshine!! Here is a video of her training last year, please turn the volume down as there is a 15 week old Brooke screaming in the background! In the video Brax is doing 2o/2o on the dog walk and 4 off on the A-frame but we are retraining her to running contacts as a project. She sometimes reverts still so its very true that what they learn first they learn best.

Anyway on to Miss Brooke. She was a superstar puppy in her lesson at Dan's! She shared with Caroline's younger dog (possibly sheltie cross) Ripley. I love this little dog - great drive and enthusiam so mediums better watch out cos he is FAST!! They had been in a puppy class together before and spent a bit of time barking at each other so it did them good to share a lesson. This time they were much more focussed and there was no barking at all. It was a great, session and Brooke and Ripley worked really well and there was lots of take away and work on. Brooke managed to string together seven obstacles (jumps and tunnels) and do some front crosses on 180's which she finds hard (herdy puppy!) Dan wanted to see them do a dog walk plank off a chair as well which made Matt and I panic initially as we hadn't bought the manners minder cos of the rain. We used a target instead and bingo - perfect running contact! Nice to know she remembered her criteria - clever girly.

I should stop waffling as I could go on about the shelties all day! The picture below is for my Mum. I originally started this blog for her as she lives in Aberdeenshire (where I grew up) and it meant she could keep up to date with our news. Anyway, I told her I was making Easter Nests and unfortunately they are all gone now but I thought I'd prove I did!! ;-) I didn't think they would travel to Meikle Wartle very well in the post so we thought we might have to eat them...

Socialising never stops...

We love taking the dogs new places - they really have to be take anywhere dogs and we never miss an opportunity to take them somewhere new! Brodie and Brax have been all over Britain on trains (including the Tube), walked round the parks in London, gone on boats, on buses, up munroes in Scotland, on beaches, down caves in the Peak District, done demos in local hospices and day centres and in numerous hotels on agility weekends away. We take it for granted that they will cope with any situation and they take everything in their stride and generally they do. Brooke hasn't been on so many adventures yet so if we have a free weekend we do try to do something a bit imaginative with her. She has been doing demos since 11 weeks old so working in a strange place and being applauded is fine with her! and she has gone on three long road trips to Peak district and to visit my Dad in Scotland where she LOVED the beach!!

However, this weekend we stayed closer to home and took all the dogs into Hemel town centre. They often go to St Albans market on a saturday but we thought Hemel would be a bit different. They loved being spoken to by lots of people and especially liked a man on a motorised shopmobility scooter who had been eating a pasty :) This is Brodie looking very serious being a bear!

I practised Brookes downs, waits and 'watch' while Matt was in the shops. She was a little star and nothing phased her, even taking a lift was fine. I love having 'take anywhere' dogs! Today a friend and I had coffee out on Harpenden High Street. I only took Brooke and she had her little Kelpie pup with her - they got lots of attention while learning to sit quietly. Did't take any pics as too busy eating cake!! We also did some jump work in the garden yesterday but I can't load the videos yet - I will try and put them on during the week.

NADS UKA and Miss Brax is 7!!

Wow what a gorgeous weekend, the weather was perfect and in fact it would be great if it was like this all year round! As Matthew and I agreed it is good agility weather as not tooo hot, not raining and not too much wind :) Quite impressed that it was so good at Newbury. I have a hang up about competing there after Brodie got blown off the dog walk a couple of years ago at a KC show (pre rubber contacts). Thanks to Lian so much for these pics of Brodie, I LOVE them, especially the look of concentration he has in the weaves!

Anyway, it was a lovely show last year and I really wanted to go again, mainly as UKA shows are so perfect for taking baby dogs round the rings and the exercise area is huge and not manic (bordering on dangerous!) like it can be at some shows. Well princess Brooke had a great day out! She absolutely loved being a social butterfly and did some lovely dead toy work and tugging in the exercise area. At lunchtime we took her down to a practice jump and Matthew worked on sending her to a dead toy, wing wraps and rear crosses on wing wraps. She lost attention once when she saw a sheltie but apart from that was focussed so to be honest it was worth going to Newbury for that!! She is such a clever wee girly, love her!! This is Brooke practising a rear cross on a wing wrap.

This is Brooke puppy racing Matthew to a dead toy

We only entered two classes with Brodie and Brax just to get them into the swing of competing again. Brax did Masters agility and jumping and ended up 4th overall which was great! The jump heights at UKA are so much better for our two as they are both so dinky for their height catergory. Brax got 5f on her weaves in the agility but Matt did admit that he should have helped her a bit more! She loved running again and was her normal solar powered little self :) Videos of her runs on our YouTube page or I'll bore you all to death! It was her 7th Birthday so instead I have found a cute puppy picture of her - she was tiny! She is such an amazing little dog, she has taken Matthew from Grade 1 to 7, won a RCC and competed for England. All that though is icing on the cake as she has been the best little companion through some tough times - we love her to bits!

Anyway back to NADS! Brodie had his two runs later in the day and was such a good boy :) Warming him up correctly makes such a big difference to his runs. First was Novice Agility and he ran clear and although he was a little high on his dogwalk (video on youtube) due to lack of homework, he was so much happier in the new spaced weaves so really pleased and he had a blast! He ended up 3rd which I was so pleased with as the dog that won is a grade 7 collie and the course was straight lines! He did his Novice Steeplechase course later on in the day and came 2nd to the same dog which I'm amazed at as he generally needs his running contacts and weaves to make up some time. So thrilled with how he is working and he def finds the jump heights easier afte his back issues during winter. Here is the video of his steeplechase run - I just love running him! :)

Have to say big well done to Amy and Fudge and Marilyn and Tia for winning the Masters and also Kate, Heidi, Caroline and Helen who also did so well with their dogs - great day out all round!

Brooke and Sonic - One Year Old!!!

Happy Birthday to princess Brooke and her handsome brother Sonic!! I can't believe that they are already a year old, it only seems like yesterday that we met Brooke at 3 weeks old and they looked like little hamsters! They have grown into such happy bouncy puppies and we are so grateful to Lian for our girly. Also thanks to Lian and Colin for all her lovely pressi's and their Birthday cakes - she has been well and truly spoilt!

Other news is that I went to my first show of the year at AJAXS UKA. Brodie and I had a day out with my friend Jenni and her sheltie Rommy. I was really unsure about how Brodie would run as I have the all clear from the physio but we haven't done any training really all winter and the last time he saw an Aframe was in Sept at a competition!

Bless the boys, Brodie was a little bit wild to say the least!! I only did two runs with him, one agility and one steeplechase and he came 2nd in both, clever boy. We actually got 5f for his dog walk in agility - think I may have said tunnel before he left the dog walk (oops!) but he was FAST which I was pleased about. In fact he was 9 seconds faster than the winner and 4 seconds ahead of 3rd so at least he was enthusiastic! I just LOVE running my boy - he tries so hard :-)

Jenni and Rommy did really well for their second ever show and the first time Rommy has ever run on grass. They came 3rd in the steeplchase and did lovely contacts in nursery agility. Watch out Grade 1 mediums - here comes Rommy!! We had a great day out and really enjoyed seeing people for the first time in ages. Brodie and Rommy are both social butterflies so they had fun too! It was lovely to see Brooke's daddy Sing compete on his 10th birthday in casual agility and win it - I have told Brooke to watch it and take notes!!

Sunny weather!

We have been tearing ourselves away from the Crufts coverage to get outside in this lovely weather! We had a long walk yesterday and unfortunately newly bathed Brooke puppy decided that she would not only jump in a muddy puddle at high speed but also roll in something nasty :( I think she may have inherited this trait from her mum! Here is a picture of our not very ladylike puppy after her bath and before the puddle incident!!

Well done to all our friends competing at Crufts! There were some amazing runs and it was excellent to see so many shelties doing so well. Bernadette and Zaz, Nancy and Zeki and Amy with Fudge all had fantastic runs - sheltie power!! I could sit and watch great handling all day :-) It did feel weird not going to Crufts this year but at least we could watch it live again.

What is obvious is that takes a lot of hard work, practice and dedication to get to that level. I know that our older two are grade 7 but have hardly had any training all winter (Brodie cos of his back) I think it does them good to have a bit of time out but without equipment and being a 60 mile round trip to our club doesn't help. Hopefully this will be remedied in the next couple of months - watch this space..!