A Long Weekend

I'm really excited as this weekend I have a long weekend off work, Sat, Sun and Mon! We haven't got a massive amount planned although me and Conor are planning to go Christmas shopping tomorrow and to the cinema tomorrow evening. We have hired a skip and are going to spend the next few days clearing out the shed and getting rid of lots of junk!

Me and Brian went to agility training last night, it went well but because I didn't have to leave so early as Meg wasn't going I decided to have dinner before I left, not the best idea as I was feeling too full to run around! Brian is improving loads but last night he seemed to not know how to weave. He can do it brilliantly at home but last night he kept missing out every third one. Very odd.

Megan hasn't been very well for a couple of days, an upset tummy (self inflicted due to eating things she shouldn't!), she seems OK today though so hopefully it has passed. We have got a new video camera so hopefully when I get a memory card for it we should have some video's of the dogs to post.

From a good week to a not so good one!!

Well last week we had a great week with lots of training but this week isn't so (for Megan anyway), our little girly is now all grown up as she has come into season today. I contacted our good citizen trainer and our test isn't until 23rd Nov so she should be all done by then and we can still do it. Obviously she wont be at agility on Thursday either so we will have to make an extra effort to do some at York road at the weekend with her.

Megan really is a funny madam, she is currently lying upside down on the sofa, bum in the air, with her eyes really wide open, any second now she will jump off and run around the coffee table as fast as she can (I've seen that look before!) and no doubt when she does Heidi will join in!!!

A Good Week of Training

Today we were supposed to be heading off for Gundog Agility but my friend Karen was coming up for a few days so we didn't go, as it happened she isn't coming now as she has got the lurgy!! Instead we have had a day at home catching up on housework. I took the dogs beds to the laundrette as they were really grubby and don't fit in my washing machine so they are lovely and clean now and smelling nice too.

We have had a good week of training this week, me and Meg had good citizen class on Monday, I managed to get to York Road on Tuesday after work and did some agility with all 3 dogs, Brian and Meg had agility on Thursday and all 3 have done some on Friday and again today at York Road. I took a couple of pictures of Megan jumping today (pictured above). She is really progressing well, we did some weave training too, she is learning channel weaves at her class and v-weaves at home.

I cant believe how dark it's getting already, I've had to put my lamp on in the front room and its only half 4, I guess winter is now definitely here.

Happy 1st Birthday Megan!!!!

Happy Birthday to little Meg and also to her brothers and sister Reno, Zippy, Speedy, Eva and Zippo. I can't believe they are 1 today, the time really does fly by! It seems only yesterday that we were contacting Jo and Jan about getting her. She is a lovely puppy though, very happy and loving, always wanting a cuddle. Her agility training is progressing nicely and she is keen to work which is the main thing. I guess the next big milestone will be when they start competing!!

From this...

(aged 8 weeks)

to this...

...and she is one very pretty little lady!

Its wet, cold and dark...

...and I'm not enjoying it at all and I'm doubting the doggies are either. This morning we managed to avoid the rain on our dark walk on the field, it just started as we were heading back home. I play ball with the dogs in the morning once they have done their business to try and wear them out a little before I go to work. Megan is not usually all that interested in playing ball but this morning she won nearly every time, it seems she likes playing in the dark, strange dog!

Today I set the video camera up as I wanted to see what the monkeys get up to during the day but it only recorded for 10 minutes then stopped so other than them eating the treats I left dotted around there wasn't that much to see.

A Really Good Weekend

We have had lots of fun this weekend, today Me, Conor and my mum & dad took the monsters to the beach at Cleethorpes. They really do have such a great time at the beach. As soon as you let them off their lead they sprint as fast as they can to the water which is usually a good way out. My mum and dad we amazed at how long they stay in the water for as it must be freezing! We stayed for a while and took some photo's of the doggies and then headed back home for some dinner.

On Friday I made a cheesecake for the first time which we had for dessert today and it went down a treat, it was yummy, I might even have another piece in a little while.

I have just been entering some agility shows for the winter, we had intended to go to Dog Vegas and Agility Nuts in Nov & Dec but Agility Nuts is already full so I thought i'd better get going with some entries. I cant get the entry form for Nuts to print at the mo but I have entered Dog Vegas for Dec, Jan & Feb so hopefully we will get in before they are full.

Tomorrow me & Megan are back to Good Citizen class as we missed last week. I cant believe we are on week six already, that means our test is in 4 weeks time! She is pretty good at most things, we just need to practice the controlled walk through a gate, hopefully we will tomorrow night and we have practiced with the garden gate at home.

Megan & Reno

Today me and Megan have been to an agility workshop with Lucy Osborne and Reno was there too. Megan really enjoyed her agility and I'm fairly sure Reno did too! We took the puppies out for a walk after the class with Lucy and her dog Stig so I thought i'd post some of the photos.

My mum and dad are here for the weekend now so we have showed them some agility with all of the dogs too at Stella & Ambrose's house.

A Little Bit Like Camping

We got to our old house on Monday night just after 10pm, I set up my camp bed and sleeping bag in the bedroom and as we had nothing else there it reminded me of camping. I went to sleep pretty much straight away but I got up in the night to go to the bathroom and when I got back I found Megan curled up asleep inside my sleeping bag on the camp bed, never go camping with her!!

The next morning we handed the keys back and I went to do some photo's of a friends kids and was meeting my other friend Karen at lunch time to collect something from her so I had an hour to kill. I took the doggies for their very last walk on Salisbury Plain. They made the most of it, the weather was beautiful as you can see in the picture and they found themselves a muddy puddle to play in and got very wet and mucky. (Something they all love!)

I must admit we have had some really good walks on the plain over the past 4 years and although I was not sad to move, it's a shame we don't have it on our doorstep anymore. You could walk for hours without seeing anyone and the dogs could just run and run, although we do have some nice walks here and we are still exploring and finding new ones.

Tomorrow is agility class for Brian & Megan and on Saturday we have a busy day as me and Megan are going to an agility workshop with our trainer Lucy and Reno is going too so it will be lovely to see him and Natalie again. My mum and dad are also coming for the weekend and should have arrived by the time we get back from agility so lots going on this weekend and no work either, yippee!

Weekend Update

We haven't really done much this weekend at all. We didn't make agility training on Thursday in the end, I just didn't feel up to it and I knew I wouldn't have much enthusiasm so we had a night off.

Today has been a lovely sunny day, the dogs have been out in the garden while I got some dreaded housework and ironing done. We then went for a nice walk and then headed round to Stella and Ambrose's where I had a lovely Sunday dinner and the dogs ran around all crazy in their garden (I'm really not sure where their energy comes from!!!)

When we got back I cut the grass in the back garden, hopefully for the last time this year. The girls helped with the sweeping up and tidying and I took some photo's of them in the garden. They really do amuse me sometimes with how alike they are, look at their expressions in the photo, they are pulling the same face!

Tomorrow night we have to miss Meg's good citizen class as after work we are heading down to our old house for the night as I have to hand the keys back early the next morning. I have had to pack a sleeping bag and camp bed as there is nothing there now but I will definitely be glad to see the back of it!! Hopefully I should be back here by mid afternoon on Tuesday so with the day off we may get a little bit of Agility training in and then Conor is home on Wednesday :o)

I phoned my nan and grandad today to see how they were getting on without Bobby and the good news is they have decided to have a rescue dog. They have always had dogs and without one I think they are a little lost for things to do as they both used to walk Bobby for a good few hours a day. Nan said they couldn't cope with a puppy so they have decided to go for a rescue dog so that it can enjoy a good few years of walks on Cannock Chase and camping holidays away with them which is great!

A Day Off

Today was my day off as I have to work on Saturday this week. I have a horrible cold too which is typical, everyone at work seems to have had it and spread their germs around and now it's my turn to get it!

To make the most of the beautiful sunny day I took the dogs to the beach and I thought the sea air might clear my blocked nose!!! :o) We went to Cleethorpes beach today and the dogs had a good run around and played in the sea. I took my camera but the battery was dead so the pictures were taken on my phone, hence the poor quality.

Tonight is agility training although all the dogs look shattered from their beach adventures so I'm not sure how we will get on. I'll dose up on some cold & flu capsules in a few minutes and hopefully they will get me through the evening.

Cunning Brian

We have had a quiet weekend this weekend, recovering from a horrible week! Yesterday Conor's sister Siobhan and family came up to stay at Stella's and brought their beagle Chrissie. Obviously she got to meet our gang, she is quite shy where she doesn't often meet other dogs and Heidi did her absolute best to make her feel welcome, bowing and trying to get her to play. By the end of the day today Chrissie was playing with Heidi and the others.

We have done a small amount of agility training with the dogs and Chrissie did a little bit too.

Last night Megan was curled up asleep on the sofa in Brian's spot. Very cleverly Brian picked up Megan's duck and quacked it making her get off the sofa to take it off him. He let it go and then while she was distracted he got onto the sofa! He certainly isn't a stupid boy.

Thank Goodness It's Friday

From about 4.30 pm yesterday my day has got worse and worse! I left work yesterday knowing that I have very little time to get home, change, exercise the dogs and get to agility training. I decided to go a different route home that I thought would be quicker and I'd beat the traffic however somewhere I took a wrong turn, got lost and added about 10 minutes to my journey!

Already late I got ready really quickly, ran the dogs on the field and as Conor arrived back about the same time he took Heidi home and me and the other two set off. The A46 at Market Rasen was closed for roadworks so I had to follow a diversion that was 20 miles long (I'm not joking), we eventually got to agility about 20 minutes late, luckily they were running late too so we only missed about 10 mins of Meg's class. Both dogs had a good lesson, Meg did some lovely left and right pin wheels and Brian jumped over a full height jump twice (by mistake, he took the wrong jump twice!)
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We set off home and there was no way I was going on the massive diversion so I drove to where the road was closed as I thought there must be a shorter route that local people would take to get to the other side. There was a sign taking me on an alternative route so I took it, after about 15 minutes of driving there was no sign of a main road. I didn't have a sat nav so I got the map out found a road to take, turned round and went down it. This road brought me out on the other side of the diversion as was only about 2 miles out of the way. Why didn't they signpost this route!!!

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This morning I woke up about 5.15 am as I heard one of the dogs being sick, I turned on the light and saw it was Meg, she had been sick all over the floor and on the foot of the bed. I woke Conor so he could help clean it up, when downstairs to get some flash and boy was I glad I turned on the living room light as she had had diarrhea too, on the living room carpet! Obviously I wasn't cross, she cant help being poorly but all the same its not what you want at 5 am! I didn't go back to bed as I had work anyway so I am now shattered. Meg seems better, Conor said she has slept most of the day but she isn't feeling sorry for herself now.

We had some sad news yesterday, my nan's dog Bobby (pictured left) had to be put to sleep. He had been having problems with his neck for a few weeks and yesterday the vets decided to x-ray him and it turned out he had a cancerous tumour in his neck that had spread to his chest and he also had tumours forming in his mouth. Bobby was a Westie born on 31 Aug 1997, the day Princess Diana died and lived until he was 12 years old. Sleep tight Bobby x