Nottingham Agility Show

Today we have been at Nottingham and had a really good day. Still no clears but some good attempts from the girls. First they had G1-2 Agility, Megan ran first and to be honest apart from getting her contacts there isn't much else promising to say, she ran straight past her weaves and when I called her back she looked at me and if she had fingers I think she would have been sticking 2 of them up as she then ran off into the tunnel and onto the see-saw!!! I did make her come back and do them though. Heidi did much better, just popping out of her weaves and knocking a couple of poles.

Next Heidi did the Comb 1-2 jumping (Megan wasn't entered in this), naughty mummy made the mistake of sitting Heidi too close to the first jump as there really wasn't a massive amount of space anyway. Heidi ran under the first jump and then over the next so eliminated but then she went on to run it beautifully with no mistakes so we would have been clear! It was very fast and quite hard in some parts but I trusted her and she did it.

It was then about 4 hours until their next run which was G1-2 jumping. It was a simple course with lots of straight lines, brilliant for Megan but a nightmare to run with Heidi. She was so quick and got frustrated with me for not directing her or being there and so just went wherever doing her mad screaming as she went! Megan ran it really well though, her only issue was getting in the weaves which took 3 attempts but then she did all 12 and did the FLAT TUNNEL!!!

That's it for us now, tomorrow we are off on our Doggy holiday to Reading for Quad Paws Week. I'll try and update the blog when I get to my mum and dads on Friday but if not then it will be on our return from PADS on Sunday.

Weave Week!

This week we have mainly worked on weaves again with the girls. The 2x2 training has paid off and they are getting some pretty good entries now. Today we worked on varying the obstacle before the weaves and have so far done tunnel and see-saw. Tomorrow I hope to do tyre and A-frame (if the A-frame fits in the van to move it). Video's below are of the girls training this week (it ran out on Megan's go today so there's only a little bit of her tunnel-weaves)

Brian has been to Hydro again this week and is now up to 10 mins which is really good, he really is loving it and is chuffed to bits when he gets out of the van and sees where he is!

Tonight me and the girls had a brilliant training session getting their contacts everytime (even Heidi!), Megan was the only one in her class so we ended up with a 1-2-1 lesson which was good although after an hour we were both shattered!

This weekend we are at Nottingham Agility show on Sunday as I'm at work on Saturday but then I have next week off as on Monday we are heading off to Quad Paws week (a UKA show) in Reading until Friday, then going up to my mum and dads where we are staying for the weekend and going to PADS agility show, so a busy week coming up for us and my lesson for the coming week is to trust the girls (and Brian if he is given the all clear by the vet tomorrow) to do what I ask and not expect them to fail at the difficult bits as I often do!

ABC Agility Show

Today's show was at the same place that Dog Vegas is held but it certainly didn't seem it at all. It started just after 9 and I was home before 4 which was a bonus. When I pulled up I thought I was in the wrong place, for an agility show it was very quiet, not a dog barking or anything. It was a very relaxed show.

The girls had 3 runs each, an agility and jumping (Comb 1-3) and Helta Skelta (Comb 1-7). Agility was first and was a lovely course, Megan ran under the first jump and onto the A-frame so E'd instantly but after that ran quite well! Heidi was really listening but knocked a couple of poles and didn't 'wait' as instructed on the see-saw (she did get the contact but didn't do as I'd told her) so I made her re-do it.

The jumping and Helta Skelta courses were just horrid. Both very twisty and complicated and the jumping was probably the hardest course I have ever ran. Megan struggled with it and I felt like I was nagging her a lot to come back and re try every small sequence which I didn't like. The positive for her though was that she did the flat tunnel first time with no issues. Heidi worked much better than I expected, again really listening, just knocking 2 poles but then back jumping the last but one jump.

Heidi was first up in Helta Skelta and had switched off by this point and decided to do what she wanted resulting in clattering jumps everywhere and crashing into my legs so I stopped her and took her out (there is really no point in trying when she is like that). Megan had a good go but again we really struggled and she refused the flat tunnel although the judge was nice and held it up for her and she did it then (so thank-you judge!)

Overall a very hot day which has left us all pretty exhausted and me with very sun burnt shoulders! (The picture is from January when we had all the snow and we were wishing for days like today!)

Summer Sunshine

This week has been pretty hot so the dogs have had a few water adventures. On Wednesday me and Conor took them to the beach for a bit and they ran around all crazy and cooled off in the sea. Thursday wasn't as hot but still really nice, Brian had hydro in the morning so that pleased him as it meant getting wet again! We didn't make it to training on Thursday night, in fact we haven't done any agility training at all this week.

Yesterday we got the paddling pool out for the dogs and they had a good splash about in it, I think it will only last for the next few days though as they have popped the sides on it so it keeps needing to be pumped up. Still it has kept them entertained for a few hours over the past couple of days.
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Tomorrow we are at the ABC agility show in Scunthorpe, I'm hoping for some more sunshine but maybe a little cooler than today (for the dogs benefit not mine-i love it when it's hot!) Brian is looking better, he did do some yelping when he went out with the girls on Thursday so he has been resting since, he wont be running tomorrow, I think I'm going to take him to get checked out by our vet on Friday when Heidi goes for her rabies booster.

The Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

This weekend we have been at Dog Vegas and have had a pretty good time, no clears over the weekend but not to worry. It was Megan's first real show and we have some minor issues to work on (The flat tunnel and 12 weaves) but lots of positives to bring away. She worked really nicely, doing some lovely jumping in parts and getting all her contacts in her agility. I think it will just be a confidence thing with her, she already seemed happier in the ring by the end of today than yesterday. (Yesterday she was spooked by one of the judges standing by the tunnel but she wasn't the only dog worried by him!) and I just need to work on my handling so she doesn't become distracted either. The picture is of her jumping yesterday, I cant believe how high she jumps over the jumps!

Heidi had some good runs too, her best one was her first jumping round yesterday, she only knocked a pole and missed the last weave. Her contacts were good in her agility today so that training paid off her only real issue this weekend was that she was just so happy and excited that she had her daddy running her that she wasn't really listening which resulted in her going where ever she wanted. Still she had a fab time too!

Brian didn't do any competing this weekend, he was just the mascot, he seems to have something wrong with him again, he isnt himself and keeps yelping when he sets off to run on a walk or when he jumps on the sofa so he may end up having a trip to the vets if he doesn't pick up.

Good luck to Jo & Keisha this week at the BSD World Champs, have a fab time :)

2x2 and Contacts Training

Last year I re trained Brian on his weaves using the 2x2 method, it really improved his confidence and his entries and at the time I tried to teach both the girls from scratch but had no luck. (Heidi thought they were jumps missing the cross bar and Megan just wasn't interested). I used V-weaves to train them both which was successful in that it got them doing it but their entries were not so great so this week we have gone back to the 2x2 method with much better results.

Megan is now doing 6 weaves with some pretty good entries and up until today Heidi was doing very well but has got herself all confused today so we need to go back a step I think. We have been doing it in the front garden and there isn't a massive amount of space so I think we will have to venture further afield for some practice. Megan has slowed down in the weaves too but I think her speed will return once she gains confidence in what she is doing.


Today we hired the barn where we have agility training so that Heidi could have some much needed contact training. Conor was doing running contacts with her which work very well when she gets them but she only ever gets then about 50% of the time so for now he has decided to stop her on the contacts like I do with Megan. Megan had a quick couple of goes too although her contacts are good anyway and so did Brian.

(The picture is one took of Heidi last year when she first started training, I liked it so much we have a massive framed version of it above our fireplace)

This weekend we are off to Dog Vegas in Scunthorpe, I'm quite excited as it's Megan's frist Grade 1 show, really all I want from her is to have a good time in the ring and anything else will be a bonus.

Godmanchester Agility

Well we asked for warm and dry and we got wet and windy, I don't know why I'm surprised! Today was a nice pleasant day though which meant the tent was dry when it came to packing it away. Apart from a few minor hiccups which were solved by a visit to Tesco (not enough batteries for the camping light etc) our tent experience wasn't that bad!

Brian had 2 clears over the weekend, his agility today was a bit slower than his jumping yesterday but still quick for him.

Heidi I think was far too over excited at having her daddy back running her. On quite a few of her runs she got eliminated through mad jumping anywhere she felt like and supermanning the see-saw. Her weaves need some training this week too, she is either getting the entry but then is too quick to get the next one or if there are 12 she is missing the last 2. She did have a nice jumping round yesterday though getting only 5 faults for her weaves.

Megan had a go in the practice ring today as I wanted her to have a go with a competition flat tunnel, she had a good few goes at it but where it was windy Conor had to hold the end or she would never have got through it as they hadn't pegged it down. I'm hoping it will have helped with her issue though as next weekend she has her first Grade 1 KC show at Dog Vegas.

Barking Mad

This week the dogs have been away on a little holiday. They went on Tuesday morning and came back yesterday afternoon. They went to stay with a lady called Sandra who takes dogs for holidays with a company called Barking Mad. Me and Conor didn't go anywhere but as we worry a bit about leaving them they went off for 2 days and we were at home so if there were any problems we were not far away. As it happens they had a brilliant time and really liked the lady they went to stay with. They are going again for 2 days next week when me and Conor go to collect the caravan from where we used to live and move it up here.
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As we had no dogs we took the opportunity to get the kennels out of the van and put in the new lining and new flooring. It is all back together now, apart from one bolt which has snapped but hopefully that will be sorted today. The van looks so much different and hopefully will be much better now.
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Below is a picture before the kennels went back in...

and this one is with them back in...
The two silver panels that are now covered have been left for when we get the new windows fitted in the sides.

This morning Brian got to test out the 'new' van as he has been to Hydrotherapy again, the lady that does it is very good, she really gets him using his back legs which he doesn't do! He did 7.5 mins today, a long way off the 30 mins that he used to manage but he will get there just steadily increasing his time each time we go.

Tonight the girls have agility training at Lucy's and Conor will have Heidi so I only have 1 dog to run for a change! Tomorrow we are off to Godmanchester Agility show ready for the weekend, we are camping and as we haven't got the caravan back yet we are in a tent, I'm really hoping for some dry warm weather!

A Quick Catch Up

Well the dogs seem pleased to have their daddy back for a while, Heidi is now Conor's shadow again! We haven't made it to any agility this weekend, we didn't get home from the airport until midnight on Thursday so Friday was a no go and if we were doing Dordale this weekend it would have meant a weekend staying at my Mum and Dad's and to be honest neither of us could be bothered with the trip! Instead we have had a nice relaxing weekend at home.

Megan has had a few more trips to the vets, after I took her a few weeks back for her scab which our vet thought was an insect bite, it hadn't shown any signs of improvement, in fact it looked worse so on Wednesday evening I took her back. Our vet then decided it was probably an allergic reaction to the flea treatment I had used (it was a different one to normal as I usually use frontline) which I did say I thought it was the first time we went but he insisted it wasn't.

Anyway to cut a long story short he wanted to give Megan an anesthetic, cut out the scab and stitch it back up. I wasn't in agreement as it seemed an extreme measure to take so I made her an appointment to see a vet at a different practice not too far from us who specialises in dermatology for a second opinion.

She went to see the new vet on Friday who agreed that to cut it out was a bit extreme at this stage and so she had a good look and confirmed it is likely to be a reaction to the flea treatment as it looked like a chemical burn. She has given Megan a dose of steroids and some different antibiotics and after only 2 days it has nearly gone! I'm so pleased that I got a second opinion and didn't just go with what our original vet wanted! Needless to say we have now swapped vets :)