Fun with Heidi

Me, Conor and Heidi have had a fantastic afternoon today, we took Heidi to flyball in Brigg. I have been in contact with them this week about taking her and their teams train on a Saturday so today we left the other two at home and concentrated on Heidi.

It was a real success, she had a fantastic time and even though she had only had a few goes at it in the past at our old club she remembered what to do and by the end was doing the jumps and triggering the box by herself and running back to Conor. I loaded the box so that she wasn't running to a stranger and she just loved it and was really quick too. We will definitely be taking her again.

After the training everyone let their dogs have a run around together so we let Heidi join in and she played brilliantly with them all (there must have been 20 dogs) so a great afternoon for us. There is no training next week but we are really looking forward to the following Saturday already!

Megan Passed!!!

Megan passed her Bronze Good Citizen this evening and here she is with her rosette. She did very well and completed all her exercises without having to re-do any which was good, she was one of only 4 to do the stay first time although everyone passed in the end.

If our instructor gets enough people to run a second Silver class in the new year that isn't a Thursday (it clashes with agility) then I intend to do it with Megan so fingers crossed!

Well done Megan x

Meeting Meg

We have had a busy couple of days, on Friday me and the doggies headed down to my mum and dad's for the day. The weather was for a change sunny so me and mum took them out for a good long walk around the fields at Etching Hill. The picture is of mum and the three of them. They ran around all crazy for ages and then on the walk back they must have been tired as not one of them pulled on their lead!

Whilst we were at mums I took the opportunity to visit my nan and grandad and to meet their new addition, Meg. They decided after Bobby died to get a rescue dog and so they have now got another Westie called Meg. They don't know a great deal about her other than she is about 5 or 6 and had been taken to the rescue centre by a breeder who no longer had any use for her.
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She is a lovely dog, she loves cuddles and just wants lots of affection, she will fit right in with them as they go walking lots and are at home all day so she will always have company. She has been to the groomers and had her hair cut too as she was all matted when they got her. Anyway here are a couple of pictures of her and I have put a couple more at the bottom.

I found a few photos on my phone yesterday that I hadn't added, mostly of Brian and Megan in mums garden over the summer but there are a few of Heidi and some others so I have put them on the bottom too, sorry about the quality of some, as I said they were taken on my phone!

Finally He Gets It!

Brian and the See-Saw is what I'm referring to!

Brian has always had a See-Saw phobia, I'm not entirely sure why as he has never had a bad experience on it but he either jumps off mid air or generally refuses to go on it.

Since we have been going to our new club every time he has had to go on the see-saw there has been me one side and Lucy the other making a really big fuss of him and giving him treats and his favorite, a bum rub!

Tonight we were moving to the back of the arena and had to pass the see-saw to get to the start and Brian ran up it, steadied himself and waited at the bottom for a fuss! We then went on to do our course which involved the see-saw and he did the same again so I think we may finally have cracked it! (The picture is of a dreaded see-saw moment at a UKA show earlier in the year-a few seconds later he flew off it mid air!)

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Megan had a good class tonight, after missing 3 weeks I wasn't sure how well it would go but she remembered her dog walk contact, is progressing nicely with her channel weaves (we were doing entries from further back tonight) and she did some good jumping so all in all a good nights training really.

CaniX

Today me and the dogs had a go at CaniX. I had thought about having a go at a little while back but having had no chance to train I didn't bother. Now with a bit more time on my hands I decided to give it a go. Today I ran with both of the girls attached to me for about 30mins. Brian came along too but he just did his own thing, running along with us off lead.

It was hard to start off with as they both pulled loads but after a few mins Megan settled into a good pace and didn't pull quite so hard, Heidi on the other hand pulled from start to finish! I used their flyball harnesses and a lead each and attached them to a webbing belt but by the end the belt had really dug into me so I have got my sewing kit out today and lined it with fleece so it shouldn't dig in so much tomorrow when we go.

I had a really good time, I don't think I could ever imagine me saying that about running but it was fun and the girls really loved it. They were really tired from it though, 5 minutes after getting back they were asleep and have only woken up every now and then for a couple of minutes since, I dont think I have ever seen them this tired! I am hoping to enter the starters event on 20 Dec on Cannock Chase near Rugeley which is where my mum and Dad live. I will only be doing it with one dog though, just not sure which one yet, I'll see how we get on over the next few weeks.

Last night was Good Citizen class for Meg and she did very well, remembering everything so hopefully all will be well next week. Unfortunately the Silver course is run on a Thursday so we wont be able to go unless they get enough people to run a second class.

I have been starting to look at Agility competitions for next year so I can start to plan where we will go, (locally anyway) hence the dogs diary is looking a little more full, although it's a long way off yet so lots may change between now and then and we will probably end up going somewhere completely different.

Bath Time!!!

Today we decided to bath Megan. Now that her season has finished we hoped that it would help Brian to stop following her round like a lovesick puppy. I don't think she had ever had a bath before but she really enjoyed it, she got shampoo'd and showered and tried to drink the bath water.

Heidi had watched Megan in the bath and when I was drying her Heidi tried to get in so I bathed her too! She really likes the bath and had a massive smile for the whole time.

As the girls had been done we thought we may as well do Brian too, he is a bit more awkward though as he really doesn't like getting in the bath. He is ok once he is in but hates getting in because when he was little if you were running a bath and not watching him he would jump in it. One day he jumped into a bath with only hot water in and burnt himself and so now doesn't like to get in.

All the dogs are all soft now and smelling nice, shame it doesn't last long!

(Sorry about the poor quality pictures, i'm not sure what happened!)

Megan & Pudsey

Megan absolutely loves Teddy bears and given the opportunity she will pinch one of mine to carry around with her and bizarrely she doesn't shred them like she does with other stuffed toys (except her duck), she just carries them around and loves them.

This week in town I saw a Pudsey Bear for sale for Children in Need so I got her one and she loves him, she has stopped pinching my brown bear in a morning now and carries Pudsey around instead.

Megan's season is over now so we can get back to normal, she will be back at Good Citizen class on Monday as it's our last one before our test the following week. If she passes, which I'm confident she will, I want to do her Silver with her too as long as it's not run on agility night. I have also got some contact details of a dog swimming place near us so I'm going to give them a ring this week to try and sort out some swimming for our little monsters.

1 Down 4 To Go!!!

I am counting down the days until Friday as I handed my notice in today and only have to last until Friday!!! I really don't like my job at all, I haven't since I started it, I have to work long hours for terrible pay and it wasn't worth the effort. I left the Army to give the dogs a better life and they weren't getting it.

I do have another job to go to, I should hopefully start in a few weeks,i'm just waiting for a start date. It's only 3 days a week on earlies or lates but earning about what I am at the moment and I can do overtime teaching kids to swim which pays really well so hopefully I will get a few extra hours doing that. I am looking forward to spending time with the dogs and getting some training in whilst i've got days off. I am going to work on my fitness so hopefully it will help me for agility next year and with working at a gym i'll have no excuse really!!!

Fireworks

I had forgotten it was bonfire night tonight, we got to agility and it turns out it was cancelled although me and 3 others didn't get that message. We stayed for about 20 mins and did a small amount of practice but as the others had been there for an hour already they were ready to go so we headed back home.

The fireworks are going off really loudly and they are really close, Heidi freaks out with them and is hiding under the bed in the spare room. Brian and Megan have been out in the garden watching them, they are not bothered at all, Megan has done the occasional 'woof' at the really big bangs but thats it.

Agility with Brian

Tonight is our agility class and after another day of not being at work because of my dam tooth I'm determined not to let it completely ruin my week so we are going. It's only an hour with Brian as Megan is still in season so with some painkillers before I go I'm sure I'll be fine.

Below is a video of me and Brian at our very first competition which was earlier this year, its funny how when you look back you realise just how far you have come, my handling is not that bad anymore although there is still lots of room for improvement and you might notice Brian is jumping full height which just proves he can! As you will hear, I've worked out how to add music now too.

Teething Problems

Well we got plenty done over the weekend, me and Conor finished our Christmas shopping, we got the utility room plaster boarded and we did some clearing of the shed.

This week hasn't been so great though, over the weekend I had started to get a little toothache but yesterday morning it was really painfull. As we haven't been here that long we are not registered at a dentist so I had to go all the way to Boston to see an emergency dentist. My wisdom tooth is coming through but there isn't room for it and it is a little infected. I've got some antibiotics and painkillers and have now managed to register with a dentist in Immingham which is a bit nearer and am going to see them on the 26th so they can look at taking out my tooth. I have taken a sick day today as it really is too painful to be at work with it, I'm hoping it will feel better tomorrow.

Below is a video of the dogs that I did on the video camera this morning on the field, it isn't of anything too exciting but I wanted to use the camera, it's just the girls stalking Brian really!!!

I have had a play around with it and merged videos together to make one but I cant seem to get music in the background, I'll keep playing with it though.