A big wide world...

Brooke had her first proper off lead walk across the fields last week! I took her by herself in case she went mad but she just trotted along behind me and occasionally stop for a sniff. She was very good and a little overwhelmed by it!

Brooke had Brodies space at Rally class this week as we have a competition at the weekend! Very excited and a bit nervous as not sure how much attention I will get from Brooke bean :-)

Brodie wasn't talking to me after letting his wife steal his space at class...and I took spaniels to his agility lesson. Hope he forgives me once he gets to do two days of agility and a day of Rally at the weekend!

Spark has pretty much finished her season so is back on proper off lead walks again...she is very happy about it :-) We did have some sun this week...

and quite a lot of rain!

Thanks to everyone who has asked about little Brax. She is getting better slowly, eating much better and no sickness or bad tummy in the last couple of weeks. Hoping now to get some weight on her and get her fitter again. I love this pic of Matt and his ginger girls!

Good news for Brooke!

Here are a couple of pics that Matt took of my two at UKA a couple of weeks ago, I love how happy Toad is! The fact that Spark coped with having her pic taken (she hates it!) is brilliant!

Couldn't resist a posing pic of my handsome boy <3 p="">

Brooke is soooo photogenic! Good news for our little Bean, Sally physio has given her the all clear to start more off lead work, some cavaletti and low grid work!! It is amazing to think how far she has come. She might even get back in the ring this season doing what she loves best :-)

I put together this little video charting her progress at hydrotherapy since Jan..what a difference!



Brax is feeling better too, she seems to be eating ok now that we put her on digestive enzymes. Fingers crossed we can put some weight on her now.

Sparkle had a great time at Godmanchester show. She is in G5 limbo so it was nice just to practice her seesaw position in her two agility runs. She managed to win both of them and come 2nd in the steeplechase! It was lovely having my Mum along to watch as she got videos as well! Brodie wasn't so lucky as his sat nav was rubbish!

Sparkly goes Grade 6!!!

This week has been my yearly agility holiday! I love doing JDA show and tend to do Quadpaws at the start of the week as well. Its the most agility my doglets ever do in a week...four days tires us all out! Brodie and Sparkle got off to a cracking start at Quadpaws, they did six classes for competition and got six wins! So pleased with how they worked! One of Brodies wins was with Matt running him, was lovely to see how much fun they had :-) The other great thing about Quadpaws was being able to watch Squidge puppy in the ring for the first time...he was amazing! Focused and fast like he is at training...he loves his agility!

Here is a video of Brodie winning run with Matt...

JDA was great run, I had my two and Dolly running. Dolly had to be put back on some contacts but managed a lovely clear in the C3-5 jumping. Toad ran so well again and got a 2nd in the agility and one out of the placings in his jumping. He qualified for the Finals but sadly couldn't go as I was working. His best mate Rommy came 2nd though which was fab! Sparkalina was a bit angry on the first day as all her runs were last in the ring. Her first run was crazy but she won the other two...C4-7 jumping and G5 agility making her Grade 6. Very spookily it was 6 years to the day that Brodie had won into Grade 6 too!!!

I took all of the doglets as Matt was working and Brooke thoroughly enjoyed walking round the rings!

Brooke is still doing hydro every couple of weeks and she loves it. She looked amazing this time, really stretching her bad leg out nicely. Her running in straight lines is coming along well too :-D 

The one that is causing us concern at the moment is this little munckin. She is off her food and being sick now and then. Despite numerous tests the vets are baffled as her blood results are clear for everything. Its so sad seeing her not enjoying her food as she is normally such a greedy little dog. As a result she has no energy and isn't enjoying her walks either.

Off on a non doggy tangent but they decorated this tree in the village for a childrens charity...isn't it pretty?!

Adams and my Birthday Bonsai!

It was my birthday last week and I got well and truly spoilt! One of my pressi's was Bertie the bonsai from one of my friends. I am going to attempt to keep him alive for as long as possible as my track record with plants is not good! He is a Buddhist pine which is a type of Yew.

I took the medium crew to Adams agility for a day out and they did so well! Dolly was a little star winning her jumping class and her agility (with faults) so she is Grade 4 with two jumping wins! Brodie did a stonking couple of clears but was one out of the placings in each. Love my boy! Spark had an amazing run in the agility but got E'd on a jumping bit. Her contacts were great! She won a jumping class too and would have won the other jumping except for a pole. I think she is still building strength after time off with her hamstring injury.

 Brooke bean has been looking better this week and has had a couple of straight line runs off lead. She loves putting her feet up after a busy day!

As I had no lesson this week I took my lot to the field to do a bit with them (not Brax as she is still getting over being poorly)

Sparkly did some nice work, I have been running her in leg wraps to help her be more aware of her feet when jumping but they also make contacts easier to see!

Bluebells and Cheese!

 Matt has been practising with his camera, we had some beautiful bluebells in the garden and he got these shots of the doglets

I know there are two of Toad but he is so handsome and I couldn't decide! :-D Sadly little Brax hasn't been very well again. The antibiotics don't seem to be helping so need to go back to the vets :-(

Bailey collie came to stay over the past week and he is such a lovely house guest. My dogs all love him and he is so sweet. This pic cracks me up! He wouldn't drop his ball and my shelties were very uncooperative!

On Saturday we went to Hatton Agility Festival. Toad did Rally (his second Level 3) and was amazing...I however was not...I walked straight past a sign so got NQ'd! Brodie was non the wiser and thought it was great fun but was confused about where the jumps were! He did get to do agility later and was very very excited, one messy clear and a wild E in the agility!

Spark worked really nicely and won the C4-7 helter skelter :-) She won CHEESE! I am a huge cheese fan and her prize had a slate cheese board and crackers too. Unfortunately it was very hot and my car battery was flat so it took a while to come home so not sure what state my cheese will be in! 

Spark did her first competitive agilities in the ring and her contacts were lovely (particularly considering wooden contacts in one ring and aluminium in the other!) We got E'd in both for failing to go round a jump and both times I cued it badly! She had the fastest time in the 5-7 jumping but just a pole down. Love this pic that one of my Instagram friends took of Spark concentrating on her seesaw!!

Birthdays and FAB Kent

As Matt and his Mum share their birthday we have had a nice weekend off having a couple of treats! The first was that Matt had booked to take his Mum to The Grove near Watford for high tea...it was amazing! You can have as many different types of tea as you want and they were served in quirky teapots authentic to the country of origin. Matt and his Mum were more adventurous than me!!

 The sandwiches, cakes and scones were so good and we couldn't eat them all so took some home!

On Saturday we went to FAB show in Kent, Brax did the two IFCS qualifiers (snooker and jumping) and won both! Bless her, she was loving doing some agility again :-) Brodie won his senior steeplechase and Sparkle did some lovely nfc work coming back from her injury. Good day all round :-)

My two were watching a bird! Brax is the best poser :-) She was at the vets yesterday after being a bit off her food and having a gurgly tummy for the past day or two. She is on antibiotics as vet things he thinks she had gastroenteritis a while back and gets secondary pancreatitis that flares up. Hopefully the antibiotics will sort it. 

WBSDS show and Brooke off lead!!

With Sparkly being out with her torn hamstring I had a quieter couple of days at WBSDS which is a nice close show. I had Dolly and Brodie running on Saturday and only Brodie on the Sunday. It was good to see a few of the J9-ers running too! They all did me proud with good placings and lovely runs :-)

Dolly was really on the ball in her C3-5 jumping run and (touch wood!) we seemed to have cracked the weave issues as she managed them well. She came 7th out of 68 dogs despite a sniff so I'm pleased with her times too! Her contacts in the agility were nice but she self released on the seesaw so got put back on. Brodie was totally nuts! Unfortunately in both of his agility runs there were tunnels lurking under contacts which proved to be our downfall...homework! He was clear in both of his jumping runs, just out of the places in one and crazy and off on one in the other!! Here is the slightly more controlled run :-) At the age of 9 he has really got to grips with ketckers too!



The other exciting news is that Brooke came to the show and really enjoyed pottering around and chatting to her friends. She loved watching the action!

After almost four months of rehab and a year since she was allowed off her lead, Brooke had a little run across the garden on Friday. Might not seem like much but it made us very emotional! Her physio was happy with how she looks so we are allowed to double the distance.

Brodie and Brax had a nice walk yesterday with Brodies best mate Rommy, son Squidge and their mum Jenni. We went over to Jenni's and walked round the fields there which was lovely...shelties are such posers! 

Sparkle is still on lead walks and wearing a thundershirt or body wrap to make her more aware of her body as Sally physio would like her to do some agility training in it. She looks funny wearing it tho!

Yes Spark, I am laughing at you! :-D