Another Year Gone!

And what a year it's been! 2009 has seen both me and Conor leave our jobs and move from Hampshire to Lincolnshire in an attempt to give our dogs a better life, something I think we have achieved even if neither one of us are doing the jobs we would have liked, still these things take time and our dogs are every bit worth the effort!

This year I began to compete in Agility with Brian. Brian is absolutely the best baby boy in the world, he is so happy (although he has the odd grumpy moment!) he tries his hardest and is just a pleasure to do things with. He has improved in his agility massively since we started to go to training with Lucy and in competition he has got a number of clear rounds and even a 2nd place!Next year I Intend to continue to run him in anysize, I want him to enjoy his agility as he does now and certainly don't want to injure him. After seeing how much he enjoyed his flyball yesterday I have every intention of continuing to do that with him too. So a busy year for me and the little man.

Heidi has had an up and down year, she had a bad experience at Crufts but has since begun to mature nicely, she is much happier and loves to play with other dogs. Conor & Heidi got their Bronze Good Citizen award and did some competing at smaller agility shows this year but when we moved we gave her a break from shows to allow her to settle. I think it worked as she does have her odd mad barking moment but nothing like she used too! Heidi will be my biggest challenge next year I think, we have decided that I will be running her in Agility and Flyball as Conor works away alot. She will be starting her agility training in the new year and continuing with her flyball as we have been. With her speed and enthusiasm she has the potential to do very well in both activities but Heidi is 100% a daddy's girl so the change over to me handling her is going to take some hard work on both parts but we will get there and I'm very much looking forward to running her.

As for little Moo (Megan), she is still a lovely, happy puppy, incredibly stubborn and a real little madam! Megan was our first dog to have a go at herding, something she was a natural at and thoroughly enjoyed but as we have no sheep it's not something we can take any further for now. We have done a large amount of foundation training and Megan began her agility training properly when we moved and I am amazed at how well she has done and how quickly she picks things up. This year she got her Bronze Good Citizen and I have high hopes for this little lady. I have entered her into her first agility show, Dog Vegas in Feb at Grade 0, med height, just so I can see where we are at but I'm hoping she will be ready to be competing properly by the summer.

Well I think that's it from us this year, if 2010 is half as good as 2009 we will be a very happy mummy and daddy indeed! Thank you dogs for making each day worthwhile. Happy New Year Everyone!

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Flyball Fun

We have had a busy couple of days really, on Monday morning we were up early as we had to drop Conor off at Birmingham airport so he could go off to work. After that we headed off to my mum and dads for a couple of days. The dogs have had brilliant fun, lots of walks and meeting new people and getting fed loads!

We left this morning as we had flyball training this afternoon. Heidi wasn't her usual self today, I don't know whether it was the change of Conor not running her and her having to go to the box to someone else but she just didn't seem to want to play. She would set off, jump the first jump then sit and bark for a few seconds then decided she did want to do it and off she went, got the ball and came back! I don't know, she is funny sometimes.

As I had got all the dogs with me Brian had a go too and I was amazed at how much he remembered. He had a good few goes running with some of the team dogs and he was crossing over and doing the box well after a couple of goes. Megan got to join in the social running around at the end and although she had her hair up the whole time she seemed to enjoy herself!

New Toys!!!

Well Christmas day has come and gone, the dogs got lots of new toys and treats, their stockings were so full that they fell down! The video above is of them playing with one of their new toys. Santa was good to me and Conor too and we got some nice new presents.

Yesterday we both went to watch Sherlock Holmes at the cinema and it was brilliant, I would definitely recommend it, might be worth pre booking if you do go to see it though, I'm glad we did as it was full when we got there.

The snow has now almost gone now and I must say I'm kind of glad, a week of it is plenty, although there is still some ice hanging around. The dogs were out in the garden earlier with the back door open and when I came downstairs look what I found melting on my sofa...

...thanks Megan!

Today is another lazy day for us so I think maybe a good opportunity to play some more Super Mario Brothers!

Merry Christmas!!!

We still have loads of snow, the field hasn't melted at all and of course the dogs are loving it. As the weather is so bad we haven't ventured out much although I did have to go to work yesterday :o(. Last shift though until 2nd Jan which is good.

Today Brian and Megan were at the vets, Meg for her annual booster and health check and Brian for his rabies booster for his pet passport. I will get Megan started on the pet passport next year as she is the only one without one. We got all 3 dogs weighed at the vets, Brian is 32kg, Megan 25kg and Heidi 20.5kg (a good 2kg heavier than earlier in the year when she had her eating issues but she looks so much better for it!)

We had to get some grit to put on the front and back paths today as the ice by the doors was really slippy and I managed to dig the weaves out of the snow and get them into the shed until it thaws out. I think its going to be around for a few more days yet though so hopefully snow on Christmas day for us!!

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Tomorrow we have a bit of a busy but fun day as we are having Stella, Ambrose, Daniel and Julie round for dinner and Millie may come too which will make Brian really think its Christmas!!!

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Anyway from all of us, Merry Christmas to everyone. Have lots of fun, eat loads and enjoy the holiday!

This time last year...

...we had just collected Megan. I can't believe it was a year ago today! Here are a few pictures of her that I took on the day we got her and a few days after.

Snow Dogs

Last night it continued to snow, I think we had about another 5 hours of heavy snow fall so this morning everywhere was white over again. The field opposite looks lovely when nobody has walked on it.

Obviously the dogs have been out having great fun, the girls wouldn't come in from the garden earlier, they have been wrestling in the snow and eating it. You can see how deep it is from the picture of Megan, look how far it comes up her legs.

I was supposed to be at work today on lates but the roads in the village haven't been cleared at all, you cant tell what is road and what is path so I decided not to go, Its a half an hour drive for me and not much of that is on a main road so I didn't want to risk the drive. I'm glad I didn't as we popped out to the shop earlier and to Stella and Ambrose's for a brew and the van wouldn't get back up the hill to our house so we had to turn around and go the other way!
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We have had about another 2 hours of heavy snow again this afternoon but it has stopped again now, not sure for how long though. I'm due in work on Tuesday so lets hope its cleared a bit by then although part of me wants it to stay so we can have a white Christmas :o)

I've taken lots of photos of the dogs, too many to post today but i'll post a few through the week and keep you updated on the white Christmas wish!

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Also just want to say a massive congratulations to our Agility Instructor Lucy who won Olympia yesterday with her dog Ben, well done to you both.

More Snow!!!

Well when we got up there was even more snow than yesterday and the roads hadn't been cleared in the village so they are just total ice so we decided it would be safer to stay home today and not travel to Dog Vegas. I was a bit disappointed, I was looking forward to it but never mind, we are entered in Jan & Feb anyway so not too long to wait.

I took the dogs for a play in the snow on the field and they loved it, running around mad after each other. They have all been out in the garden quite a bit today too. They usually don't want to stay out there that long.

Me and Conor fitted the cages into the van today, it took us about 3 hours but I can't believe what a good fit they are. Heidi tested her one out as we wanted to make sure she could jump into the top one from the inside ok as that's the one she is going in and she had no trouble which is good. Each kennel has now got new vet bed, a blanket and a big pillow (they are a bit spoiled!).

We are now all indoors with the fire on trying to warm up as it got really cold for the last hour or so that we were out there and the dogs are tired from their snowy adventures and are fast asleep!

Snow Time!!!

When I got up this morning the sun was shining and we had lovely blue sky, not a snowfalke in sight. I have been to Co Durham today to pick up some cages for the van, we hadn't planned to get any until the new year but these were too good a bargin to pass up so I drove 150 miles to go and get them. There was lots of snow in Yorkshire on the way but I hadn't anticipated coming home to a completely white village.

The dogs have been out in the garden to play in it for a while, I dont know why but it makes them all go a bit mad and run around all crazy and Heidi really likes to lie down and roll around in it! It has stopped at the moment but I've got a feeling there is more to come so if thats the case we wont be going to Dog Vegas tomorrow, instead Conor & me will probably brave the cold and fit the cages into the van.

Agility x 3

Tonight was the last agility before Christmas, I took Megan in her usual class and she did very well, I am really impressed with how well she is coming on, she did some lovely jumping sequences tonight.

Brian was next in and if he runs as well at Dog Vegas at the weekend as he did tonight I will be very happy. He did some excellent weaves again, I'm hoping we have cracked it! (He is only doing Grade 0 at the weekend so no weaves, phwew!)

Lucy runs a class after Brian's where the dogs just run courses, it is usually full but tonight only 2 people were staying due to the bad weather and cold so I asked if she would mind me running Heidi in it. She didn't mind and so I did. If you imagine those of you who have dogs that LOVE agility what they would be like if they hadn't done it properly for six months... that is what Heidi was like. It was as though all her Christmases had come at once! She jumped every contact, ran over the long jump, didn't do any weaves and flew off the see-saw mid air, BUT she did have a brilliant time jumping and had the biggest smile on her face ever! As you may have guessed we are not working well as a team but I hadn't expected to on our first go together in about a year.

Next year we will be going into the class that I run Megan in so there will be lots of time for us to work on smaller parts together and she does know how to do everything I think the excitement of doing it just got the better of her tonight and all I wanted was for her to be happy in the environment and settle in and she had no problems there. I'm quite looking forward to next year with 3 dogs to run.

I'm off to bed now as tomorrow I have an early start and a long drive but more on that another day.

Christmas Spirit & A Little Bit of Snow?

Well if the weather man is to be believed it looks like we are in for a sprinkling of snow tonight and tomorrow, good job I'm not at work tomorrow!!!

Today I was on earlies and we were pretty quiet at work so it seemed to get me in the mood for Christmas, I got home about half 2 and wrapped up (although not very well as I was still freezing) and took the dogs for a good walk, there is loads of mud about so they had a great time and didn't come back very clean. It gave me the opportunity to get Brian and Megan in the van for the first time (Heidi went in it on Saturday for Flyball). Megan wasn't bothered but Brian as usual managed to create a drama for himself. Instead of getting in steadily he dived in, slipped on the wooden floor in it and then clashed into the back of the cage, vet bed went flying and he was left unimpressed sitting on the crate tray! He will get used to it though as long as he stops being a maniac, (I can but hope).

When we got back I decided to put the Christmas tree and decorations up as it's only 10 days til the big day. I was rather impressed with my mini tree and Megan hasn't bothered about it at all.

There are three stockings on the fireplace now waiting to be filled by Santa, I wonder who has been good this year and will get a pressie or two?

Flyball

Today we have been at Flyball training with Heidi and had a brilliant time. Heidi is really enjoying it and was much more relaxed today as she knew what she was there for as soon as we got out of the van. She had a good few goes, even a few with someone else loading the box.

I took the video camera so the video below is of some of Heidi's runs at the beginning of training and also one of the 3 other dogs that she runs with. The last bit is of them playing as it got dark before we left.

We haven't got training next week as we are off to Dog Vegas so no more until the new year but we are looking forward to it already!

A Sad Farewell to Preston

Today we said a sad farewell to Preston (Our BMW X5). I know we didn't have him all that long but he hadn't turned out to be as good for the dogs as we had originally hoped, Brian struggled with jumping up into the back and there is no way I could lift him and to be honest he was such a nice truck we didn't want it covered in dog hair so my car became the dog vehicle!!!

Anyway today we headed off to Tamworth to trade in Preston for our new van. (Pictured left) Apart from the horrid wheels which will eventually get replaced it is really nice and will be much better for the dogs especially when we are at shows and stuff. We will get some cages fitted in the new year but tomorrow we are going to secure three crates into the back as a temporary measure so it can be used straight away and as it is wooden lined we need to sort out a better floor and wall covering before the cages get fitted.

Agility Class

I have just got back from training with Megan and Brian and we had a very good lesson. Megan has had her jumps put up to medium now and had no bother at all. She is doing really well and tonight we did a lot on the A-Frame which is her absolute favorite (she even had a sneaky go when I wasn't looking!)

For the past few weeks that we have been Brian has been doing full height jumps here and there, tonight he did them for most of the lesson but he does get tired easily and we had to lower them at the end, I'm not really sure what to do about it really, I think I will end up just running him in Anysize to be honest. He did however do a lovely set of weaves tonight after I was moaning he never does them in training!
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We have decided that next year as Conor works away quite a bit that I am going to run Heidi as well. I will be taking her to training at Lucy's from January in Megan's class so Thursday nights are going to be a bit hectic next year!

This Weeks Activities

We haven't done a massive amount this week, we got to York Road to do some agility on Tuesday working mainly on weaves. I couldn't fault Heidi on her speed or enthusiasm, just her accuracy to work on now. Brian was doing them well, I just don't get him, he can do them at home and when they come up in competition but he just can't do them at training, the only thing I can think of is that they are wooden ones at class and he is only used to plastic ones. Megan's weaves are coming along nicely, she can do 6 v-weaves now with only a small v. I am really pleased with all of their progress though.

We didn't get to class last night as I started my new job on Wed and did lates on Wed and yesterday. We have done another 2 CaniX runs this week with both of the girls, they are really getting into it now, it certainly wears them out. Brian loves it too, he just runs along with us and gets to dive into all of the puddles and get really muddy.

Today has just been a day of catching up on housework and ironing and going to Tesco's (which I hate). I got a new Christmas tree though, our old one is 8ft and to be honest I don't trust Megan to leave it alone so I have brought a 4ft one and will stand it on a table in the corner so hopefully she wont bother with it. I'm certainly not putting it up yet though, it's far to early!!!

Tonight my mum and dad are coming up for the weekend which will be good, dad is going to plaster our utility room so I can finally get it painted!