Fun at the Dog Barn!

Our doglets had loads of fun doing some training at the dog barn at the weekend. Lian had hired it so it was great that Brooke puppy worked so well with her Grandma around! Rather than waffle on about it I will let you see how much fun we had :)



The only thing that concerned me was Brodie's apparent dislike of the dog walk-he was very unsure going in one direction only! Luckily I had booked the barn again for my class yesterday so I took Brodie too and did a lot of rewarding his dog walks and he was much better!

Rain, rain go away...

We have had so much rain for months now, it does make everything take twice as long! Fortunately my field was fine after a whole day of teaching yesterday but I have had to cancel classes today due to constant rain. I'm excited about next week as it involves a visit to the dog barn to train some of my competing people and their doglets! I am also very lucky in that my friend Helen (who owns Sparkles boyfriend Trek) has an indoor venue and we try and have a training session there once a week. I have taken Dolly dog as well as mine and she is coming on really well with her weaves despite not having done much training at all over winter.

Here is a little video of her-I love her floppy spaniel ears in the weaves!



The big news is that Jenni and Rommy have qualified for Crufts!! They will be taking part in the YKC Senior Jumping so we are all looking forward to cheering them on! :D Jenni and I went to Leamington so she could run him on their Crufts carpet to see how he ran. He coped really well with it and it was lovely to be inside out of the rain!

Over the next few weeks the doglets are going to be busy. Sparkle has workshops with Toni Dawkins and Natasha Wise as well as her weekly lesson with Uncle Dan. I'm dreading her coming into season as she hasn't had one yet and is bound to soon. I will hopefully take a understudy in the form of Dolly to all these agility parties instead if she does decide to have bad timing! The shelties are all doing fun ESSC related things for the next couple of weekends before the show season starts. All I can say is-roll on Spring!! :)

Happy Birthday Mr Toad!!

Happy 7th Birthday to my special boy :) I can't believe that he is 7, he really doesn't act his age at all and totally entertains us with his goofy antics and happy sunshiny personality!! I love him to bits and am so lucky to have shared so many wonderful years with him. I couldn't have wished for a better first agility partner-his enthusiasm and desire to please are fantastic and I am thrilled that we have been on such an exciting agility journey together. At the moment he is in his favourite place-curled up on my feet :)

A special mention for another special doglet, Mitch the greyhound has had his metal plates removed from his leg after breaking it but unfortunately got an infection which he is doing his best to fight off. Get well soon Mitch from all of us xx

This is Brodie having a run round on his birthday! I don't normally run that badly, I pulled something in my back mucking out and am really sore today :( 

I also 'ran' a little sequence with Sparkly pants. Again, my lack of movement didn't help her out much but she was a good girly. Her and Brooke had been playing chase with a cage ball for 25 mins before this so she was a bit tired. Slower Sparkle helped my timing, lol!! 

Sparkle's 1st Birthday!!

Can you believe that my little Sparkly is ONE?! Where did that time go? I was looking back finding puppy pictures and she was such a cute fluffy puppy-I know I'm biased!

From this ickle poopy she has blossomed into this beautiful girly...

She celebrated her birthday by doing some dog walk plank work and getting soaked on a long walk! Saturday we spent a lot of time inside so she ended up getting some of her birthday treats and might have overdone it-oops :( Yesterday we went to a Dave Munnings training day and she was just not quite 'with it' I put it down to her brewing a season as Brooke has just had one but it turns out she had awful runs and her tummy is still not great this morning. Poor girly, I feel so bad that I blamed her hormones! She is totally different to Brodie though as he just won't jump if he feels bad. 

All the shelties have done a bit of agility this week. Matt had a 1-1 with Dan yesterday and worked both girls so he has homework too. Brodie got to do a bit at the end of Dave's training and loved it! He is my comfy slippers :)

Next on the list is to do some more obedience practice! I have got as far as bringing the dumbell out of the car...

Eek...Obedience!!

Uh oh, we have entered an obedience show in Februaury! I do like doing a bit of everything with the doglets and seeing as we are on the ESSC Working Section (sheltie club) committee its nice to see the obedience shelties strutting their stuff. They are such amazing versatile little dogs and throw themselves into any activity you want. Ours are hilarious doing obedience training, Brooke spits the dumbell out and wants it thrown rather than presenting it nicely, Brax tries to get BETWEEN Matts legs instead of in finish position at the side of him and Brodie is a lazy toad and lies down in his sit stays-we will be the entertainment I'm sure!! Its a shame that its a sheltie only show as I would love to do a bit with Sparkle as its a nice way to get them working in a ring with a judge and steward. The shelties have all won out of Pre-Beginners so they have the retrieve to do as well-must find the dumbells!!

Here is Brooke doing some heelwork with Matthew back when it was sunny. He has been told many times that she is perfect for obedience and should do more-she is awesome at agility though so it might have to be a retirement hobby for her!



The other slightly scary thing is that I have entered Brodie and Brooke in showing classes! Brodie has been in the ring lots so I'm not worried about him as he will love showing off. Brooke has never been taught to stand let alone be gone over by a judge so LOTS of practice to do! I had a little practice this morning and she was typical Brooke, took it all in her stride and posed beautifully. I just need someone with a camera and I'll be fine!

First attempts at standing her-I had to stack her rather than free stand her to get her feet in the right position-she does have lovely angulation in her hind legs-sod the showing, look at that power for agility!!

Pretty girlie, despite having wild ear hair which will need minor trimming (shush don't tell Matt!)

Brodie had a bit of a bad tummy earlier in the week so he had his butt hair and tail plaited up (thanks to my ace groomer Jenni for the tip!!) It shows his hind legs better-he looks a bit sad as his tummy hurt :( He isn't stacked properly in this picture but he is very four square normally. He needs a ear hair tidy too!

Here is Brodie in action doing some gridwork this week and loving it!! Flying fuzzball!! :D

Sparkle and I went to a 'Injury prevention in agility dogs' worskhop on saturday. It was very interesting as it was run by my Sally Medcalf my dog physio. Sparkle was a good puppy and concentrated very well though all the exercises. Here she is doing a sensory labyrinth with a balance harness on-you can tell how hard we are both concentrating!! She slept soooo well after, bless her x

Canine conditioning and a visit to the dog barn

Wow what a busy weekend!! On saturday I took my two doglets for the second in a series of canine conditioning classes with Gail Baker. It is something that I feel very strongly about and am always aware of, even when training various people who never plan on competing. You wouldn't expect to drag yourself off the sofa and do an assault course once a week with no warm up and a very basic fitness level...yet we think our poor dogs can!! I have to say that the people I train are awesome and most can be found in the car park before a lesson walking their dogs round and doing stretches. Most of the competing dogs regularly see a veterinary physio (who competes in agility herself) a couple of times a year as well.

Brodie and Sparkle were really good and got another batch of homework, it is amazing how much better they have got at the exercises over the few weeks between sessions. Sparkle can now beg! (Well with the help of primula cheese!) Her leg lifts are much better now, this picture was taken at the first session, Miss wobbly pants!

Yesterday we went to the Dog Barn in Banbury as I was teaching a couple of Brooke's nieces as well as some of the owners other dogs. It was great fun and wow those pups are talented! Our girlies had a go each and really enjoyed themselves. Poor Matt was very rusty having not worked either girl properly since the beginning of Dec but they got it together and started to look like a team again. This was Matthew running diddle ginger!

Sparkle worked well, it is such a great venue and I love the fact that she has now worked in nine different venues on equipment and just got on with it. She even seemed to be ok with Matt restraining her :) She did get chased and bowled over by a sheltie in the exercise field which I was pleased about as it was about time she was on the receiving end of it!! She is great around other dogs and people but its nice for her not to be too bold all the time. This was her sucking up to the shelties :)

Mummy-I got beaten up!!

And when she got hold of a ball she went and sat on various peoples feet with it!! Daft pup!

 Mr Toad has been on his holidays at Auntie Jenni's house. It sounds like he is having such a good time with them and his mate Rommy. He is probably enjoying not being beaten up by all the girls! I have missed him like crazy but its better that he doesn't get stressed about Brooke. Jenni has been great sending me pics of him! Here he is all muddy and happy on a walk with his best mate Rommy-super handsome boys :) It is giving Jenni practice at having two shelties too...!

Puppies on hold...

Brooke has decided to come into season finally after being poorly over Christmas. Unfortunately it is too late for puppies this time as they would be here while we are in Holland competing. Anyway, our puppy owners to be have been very understanding so fingers crossed for Autumn beanie babies! Toad is being a very good boy at the moment but will heading off for a couple of nights sleep over at Auntie Jenni's house next weekend. He'll have great fun I'm sure :)

The shelties saw a squirrel, or possibly two as Brooke is looking in a different tree! I have moved my equipment to the other side of the field I rent as it has been so muddy recently. There are chickens wandering around in the trees which provided a lot of entertainment for Brodie!

Sparkle is upset as her favourite Octopus toy got binned this week due to his innards falling out! Last play with 'Octo'-happy face!

And all sad as Octo was not there the next morning...

We haven't started our agility training in earnest again as I was so busy last week but this week hoping to do some gridwork with the doglets and borrow Dolly to start her back training again. Hopefully I can get some videos with any luck!