My little puppy is 6 today!! How did that happen? I thought seeing as I was snowed off today that I could update my blog which seemed like a better idea than doing any housework!
She is such a pretty, goofy little girly and I love her to the moon and back! 💜 Looking forward to seeing what this year brings for us. I haven't done any training with her apart from some contacts and grids in my field so here is an old video of us playing in the sunshine instead!
We have had snowy walks the last couple of days and the doglets have been having fun out walking while I've been off work. Poor Brax has had a pancreatic flare up so has been staying inside in the warm.
Brodie modelling his equafleece onsie...perfect for keeping the mud off but he does look funny!
The shaded sables had great fun at their Grandmas yesterday training with Nicola Garrett! Brooke was far more on the ball than last time (I'm not as exciting as her Daddy!) and little Bru got to try his dog walk and Aframe in a new place for the first time. Here are a couple of videos of them!
Bracken enjoyed coming in for some cuddles with everyone and I got some funny pics of Spark who was very cross about not working!!
Brooke and Brodie had post this week! Brooke was 4th and Brodie was 5th in the Lower Height League 2018!! The rosettes are stunning!
And these two were unimpressed by their 49p jumpers from Aldi!!!
We have been really lucky with the weather up until now in January. We have even got some training with our own dogs in! This is the gang waiting for Matthew while he was in the post office. Notice the colour coding, everyone has their own colour to avoid confusion!
A couple of cute snuggly pics! They are loving our sofas, even Brodie who has never been a snuggler has decided that being on the sofa is pretty good, despite having Bru curling up with him!
We went to M&M's show at the weekend and these two did really well! Brooke bean won her jumping and Brodie won the steeplechase. Bru and Spark did some brilliant nfc work and Spark had a really good 'almost' run in the jumping with me just pushing her round the wrong side of a jump. Brodie had a play on the contacts and did really well...in fact he was a little bit too excited!! We have entered the next show and hopefully by then Bru will be ready to try weaves and some contacts in the ring...eeek!
We have had a lovely time over Christmas and New Year, lots of time to chill out and recover from the nasty bug we had. I went off exploring some new walks and this one is only ten mins from our house! I walked all the way up and round the ancient woods and back, it was peaceful and so pretty!
The dogs have been really chilled out and enjoyed having us at home...here are a few cute snuggling pics 😍
Brodie and I went to a rally seminar at the weekend as a lot of the signs and regs have changed for 2019. As I teach and compete I thought I should make sure I was up to date with the changes. Toad really enjoyed the practical session and working through the new signs!
I have been getting the doglets fit again after their winter break (2-3 weeks for some of them but a very unfit collie having had 6 weeks off!) We have built up their jump heights gradually and Bru has started Aframes and almost cracked upright weaves!! Here is a little video of what we have been getting up to...
We have also been thinking of some goals for our doglets this year. Due to the jump heights staying the same until 2020 we won't be running Bru at full height so we aim to have him in the ring doing jumping classes at lower height. It would be great to start some contacts in the ring nfc with him and also go for the UKA Beginners steeplechase qualifier! Brodie is at the age where every run is a bonus so the only goal I can think of is getting those pesky last 4 points to go champ in UKA steeplechase! Brooke is the same really, anything she does agility wise is a bonus 😊 It would be great for her to nail some dog walks in the ring though. My main goal for Spark is to get the last few points needed to go champ at UKA and attempt some Masters classes. I would also love to make it to a champ final!!! Also to carry on working on her fears and confidence in the ring. My friend is going to take some photos of her working on thursday so fingers crossed it goes ok
The shelties had fun at M&M's show each getting a competitive run and the two gingers also got an NFC run. Brooke came 2nd in her jumping run but managed to fall over in a tunnel and put her rib out! Poor girly has had three weeks off but is now ready to go for 2019! Mr Toad won his jumping and Bru won the C1-7 steeplechase with the fastest time over all heights...look at the little ginger go!!
Look at what one of my lovely clients gave me! It was very yummy 😋
As Spark was in season and injured and Brooke was injured, Brodie got to step in on a Nicola Garrett training day! He hasn't done contacts for ages and I didn't know what he would do but he loved it! NOt bad considering he is almost 12!
Bru went to his Christmas party and played games, he wasn't very impressed at wearing his jumper!
Little Brax has been poorly over Christmas and had a pancreatic flare up which has mean little sleep for us but she is on the mend now luckily. She is back doing little walks again and keeping her food down.
The gang all dressed up in their Christmas outfits! ❤
And little ginger snuggles!
For the first time ever I made my own Christmas cake! It is huge and tastes quite alcoholic!! Thanks to my Mum for being my Christmas cake guru!
I got this lovely painting of Toad from a friend to go with Brax who I had done earlier in the year for Matthew. Hannah is so talented and captures them so well!
Sparkle and her fav brown thing!
The older shelties looking a bit put out in their Christmas jumpers!!
The three younger shelties competed at Pachesham independent show last weekend and wow they did so well! Brooke and Toad did their two runs competitively and we NFC'd two of Bru's runs but decided that the 1-3 steeplechase was so flowing that he could have a go for competition. He was such a clever boy and won it! So this is his very first sofa picture! 💛
Brodie came 2nd in the jumping and Brooke won her jumping! She also came 6th in the agility with a naughty 5f on the dog walk. My winter project is to get good dog walk training done with her and Bru! My Christmas pressi from Matt is a dog walk plank for the garden and I have got him a set of weaves 😂 At least we can do some more training at home that way. Bru's weaves are coming on nicely but he still goes too fast so we are going to do some 2x2's to make hi think more and run less!
Now its December \I can post a pic of my Christmas cake! It is my first try at this (thanks Mum for the tips...if its half as good as yours I'll be happy!!)
The fleeces are out for some morning walks as well, it has been mild the last week but we woke up to frost today
And our advent calendar was delivered by Matt's Mum, the shelties always like to have a good sniff!
Little Bru is growing into such a handsome man! He won't stand still so this is as close to stacked as we get!
Matt and I love running the sheltie show, its always great fun and we love seeing all the dogs and handlers having a good catch up! This year was no exception, we had bigger entries than the last couple of years and our great judge Phil set some super courses. We are generally so busy running around making sure everything is going smoothly that we don't compete our dogs in much other than pairs. We decided not to enter Bru as despite being 18 months if we hold off until next year he can start in Grade 2 which will be nice 😊 This year we loaned out Bean and Toad to other people except for pairs which I did with them. Brodie ran so well for the judges partner even though he had never met her properly!! He is such a dude! (They went clear but had to run NFC due to the KC rules)
Bean ran for her Auntie Jenni and came 4th in steeplechase!! Super amazing, especially considering she has never run for anyone else in the ring! Jenni also won steeplechase with Bean and Toads boy Squidge and came 2nd in jumping with their best merlie mate Rommy! Such clever shelties ❤
Unfortunately in lesson this week Spark pulled up lame. Luckily our wonderful physio fitted her in straight away and she has torn a tricep muscle. She has to have three weeks off work and lead walks...she is not impressed at all bless her!
