Merry Christmas

December Shows

We went to Agility Nuts a couple of weeks ago for Chaos to have his first ever run. He was such a good boy. He didn't really seem to like queing but once he got into the ring he relaxed and worked really well. Below is a video of his run.

Yesterday we went to Dog Vegas. All 3 dogs were running. Heidi was her usual wild self, her running A frame is really good though, it certainly suits her. Kody and Chaos only managed 1 run each as they had classes last in the ring and I needed to get back home. Kody got Eliminated as I got lost  (no change there!) and Chaos had his first clear round in the C1-4 Helter Skelter and finished 7th! He is such a good boy, im so excited for next season with him.

Show Catch Up

Last Saturday we went to Dog Vegas at Arena UK. I always forget how cold and muddy it is there! I actually only stayed until just after lunch but it was long enough for Heidi and Kody to have an agility and jumping run each. Kody had a clear in jumping and a couple of issues in the Agility but nothing major. Heidi had 2 poles in the jumping and a pole and took a wrong jump in the Agility class. Her running A Frame was fab though :)

Chaos was such a good boy walking around inside. I wasn't sure how he would be as he has never been inside for a show before but he was absolutely fine which was a bit of a relief! He took treats off a few people too and had a walk with his Friends Speedy, Jake and Leo.

On Sunday me and Kody went to an obedience show. It was the first time we had done an open show. I was so nervous! We did our Pre Beginner round and it wasn't a bad attempt, a couple of wide turns caused by me and he stepped off with me on his recall so lost marks there. His stays were clear though. We ended up finishing 10th out of 26 so not a terrible score. We did an ABC class which was a bit more of a training class but really useful. The judges in both classes said he is a very good dog that can do well, I just need to sort out my footwork as I get in a bit of a muddle! So lots of practice for me and we will enter another show in the new year.

Training and Making Plans

We have started our winter training now, we have been very lucky with the weather so far so we have been going out and training as often as we can as I know it wont last. I decided to focus on the dogs weakest areas first so that we get more time to train them. For Heidi and Chaos it has been contacts, for Kody it is weaves.

Heidi and Chaos have been doing very well, I wanted to work on Heidi's running A Frame, she runs it well in competition but she doesn't listen to what I want after (left or right turns for example) so we are working on this at the moment. Once she realises she needs to listen and not do her own thing she does well.  Below is her AF training from last week.

I wanted to speed Chaos up on his contacts and improve his confidence. He has only been doing the AF for a couple of months but he is so much more confident on this. He has started to speed up across the DW but has slipped off a couple of times so I'm trying to find a balance in between so that he doesnt lose confidence. His see saw has improved but still needs more work.

Kody's weaves are much improved, we had some issues at first but I can now run ahead, hang back, cross behind, run along next to him and move away and he stays in them. He now needs to work on entries as he does seem to get them wrong a fair bit. We have also been doing a bit of obedience training (although not enough) as I have entered a competition with him next Sunday. It will be our first open show, I'm excited but a bit nervous, the main thing though is that he has fun.

We are going to Dog Vegas next weekend too, im sure Heidi will be super excited. My main goal with her is to have a wait at the start. We have been training it as it was pretty much non existent towards the end of last year.

Chaos will be 18 months old in 2 weeks time, I cant actually believe where the time has gone. He is such a lovely dog to train and he has been quite easy really, he just gets it. He very rarely makes mistakes unless its something I am doing wrong (or I forget he is a baby). I still need to teach him pull throughs but that's it really. He would be ready to start competing straight away but my plan was always Easter next year so he will be more than ready. I may enter him from the start of the season but i'll see how it goes, im in no rush. I have entered him into some nursery/all-sorts classes in December, he has never ran indoors so I wanted to see what he would be like. I'm not going to have high expectations though or put any pressure on us, I just want him to enjoy it.

I've started to think about shows for next year too, I am going to stick to my favorites but also try some new ones I think. I have accepted 5 judging appointments for next year, the most I have ever done. That's it though, I'm not going to do any more than that as I want to be able to run my own dogs at some point!

October Catch Up

Its been a quiet month really for us, the plan was to give Heidi and Kody a break fro all things Agility this month and apart from the RVA show (which was very wet and miserable) they have had a good rest. Heidi has been to the Chiropractor this week for a check, her neck and back were a bit out and her back was very tight, she throws herself about like a loony though so i'm not surprised. She should be feeling much better now.

Chaos has been continuing his training at his Thursday morning class and is doing well, had a bit of a silly week last week, wouldn't do the see saw but hopefully tomorrow he should be back to normal. We have only managed a couple of short sessions at home, the weather has just been terrible lately. Below is a video of him a couple of weeks ago, he is now on full height jumps and has taken to doing them pretty well.

Tonight should have been obedience for Chaos and Kody but I decided to give it a miss (too cold to venture out!) but I have finished putting together the dogs training plans for the winter, i'm looking forward to getting started in November and I have left us with about 6 weeks 'spare' as its likely the weather will stop our training at some point!

Time for Training

This week we have got back to doing some training. Kody and Chaos went back to their obedience club on Wednesday night, the break seems to have done them both some good, they were both much more relaxed than they have been in the past. Chaos still has issues walking on the floor though,  mostly when turning!

On Thursday morning Chaos went to his first agility class, its a small Grade 1-3 class ran by Lucy Osborne but it appealed to me as it is outside. I much prefer outdoor training. Chaos did very well, he did all the exercises although he struggled with the weaves a bit, something I had expected though as he has only ever done them here.

We have also got round to learning the last piece of equipment this week, the A-Frame. I had left it until last as I really couldn't decide if I wanted him to have a running A-Frame but I have decided to settle on a stop. He stops on the Dog Walk and See Saw and the first time he went over the A-Frame he stopped so it makes sense really to continue like that. So now we just need to do lots and lots of practice ready for next year!

September's Over

I didn't really have time to update our blog again during September, it just seems to have flown by. The weekend after Agility Nuts we went to Southam, I have got mixed feelings on this show, nice venue (but a very long drive from the road) but it didn't seem to have much of an atmosphere as such. I think maybe the poor weather didn't help and it did seem like a long way to go just to run 1 dog (and she was nuts!) 

The next weekend was Bromsgrove. It  took us 3 hours to get there but I have to say I think its one of my favourite shows so worth the trip and id go again. We watched the Pro Plan finals on the Saturday which was really good to watch. I noticed a big change in Chaos this weekend, he was suddenly confident walking round the rings and was happy to meet other dogs in the exercise area (and try and go off with a few!). He met up with his brothers Basil and Bullet on the Sunday (in the pictures) and they all got on great again and enjoyed a good run around together.

This weekend we had a long weekend at Dog Vegas at Southwell Racecourse. I have to say it is my least favourite of Dog Vegas shows, I really wasn't that keen on the venue, I'm not sure i'd do it again.  That said, the weather was lovely for the whole 4 days and I did manage to get out on some walks with Brian, Brenda and Chaos.

Over the 3 weeks Kody has managed a couple of clears and a few good attempts but we have also had some pretty terrible runs where it all just went wrong. Heidi must have had 10 runs (at least) with just 1 pole down (very frustrating) but she too has had a fair amount of runs where she has been taken out of the ring for just being wild! 

For us the season is now over and we will be getting on with some training fairly soon. I have a week off this week so hopefully will get a bit started. We are going to do a show a month over the winter just to keep us going and keep Chaos out and about as he is 18 months in December so will be running from the start of next season. How exciting!!!!

Agility Nuts

Last weekend we wnet to the Agility Nuts KC show at Shelford. It was a lovely show, nice atmosphere and lots of people we knew. Heidi was working better, weaving as normal thankfully, we did have some tunnel trouble for most of the weekend, I just couldnt call her off it in almost every run!
   

Kody and Speedy did pairs on the Saturday and for the first time we managed to get a double clear! We finished in 6th place so pretty good. They make a pretty good pairs team, we are hoping to do the skinners 7's with them next year. That said I still didn't think Kody was jumping right so this week he has been to see Christine the Chiropractor. His lower back was a bit out so she has straightened him up and given him a massage so hopefully he should be feeling better.
   

This week seems to have flown by I cant believe we are off to a show again tomorrow, id better get out and pack the caravan.  this time we are going to Southam show in Rugby. Its a Grade 1-5 show but Kody is entered in the Helter Skelter so he should get a nice fun run.

 

Hope you like the lovely picture of Brian!

The Good Citizen Dog School

After having lots of problems locating an obedience club near to us (I have actually got one now) I figured other people must have the same problems so I have decided to set up my own club. Initially it will be just be a Tuesday evening at Glentworth Village Hall and will be starting with Puppies and Bronze Good Citizen classes. I am in the process of getting the club Kennel Club Registered so that we can do this. Classes will be Starting on 8th October so if anyone is interested or you know anyone who is please pass on my details.

 

The new website is: www.goodcitizendogschool.webs.com

You can also find us on Facebook at The Good Citizen Dog School

Cant do it, Wont do it...

We went to Dog Vegas for their August Show. I judged on the Friday and had a lovely day. I had lots of nice comments about my courses and i actually felt like they ran well. I had Grades 1-3 all heights and 4-5 all heights. It was really nice to see people with their baby dogs having some great runs, made me really look forward to running Pud next year. 

Below are my courses:

We were staying at the show until Monday, Kody tried really hard on some difficult courses, he has knocked a few poles though and really seems to be crashing into jumps so he is resting now for a couple of weeks and I think im going to get him in to see the chiropracter as soon as the agility season is over.

Heidi has been totally different over the weekend, she has broken her wait, flew off contacts, decided to do her own thing and not once has she completed the weaves over the weekend. I have no idea what has got into her. Both me and Conor ran her and she was the same for both of us. I am thinking it may be her hormones but I don't know, she isn't normally affected by and incoming season and she isn't due for 7-8 weeks at the earliest. Tomorrow I am going to try a small amount of training with her just to see what she is like, hopefully its just that she was being a stroppy madam and nothing more.

We decided to pack up early on Monday morning and come home, I got stung by a wasp on Sunday lunch time and my arm swelled up to double its normal size (and still is - my whole arm, hand and above my elbow so its difficult to bend!) and with Heidi being mental and Kody not running brilliantly we came home.

No show this weekend but then we are off to Agility Nuts KC show for the first weekend in September, hopefully Heidi will have a better attitude by then!

We're Weaving!

I started Chaos' weave training about a month ago, it was going well and we got to about day 4 but then the weather got really hot and I was finding he wasn't really that interested so I decided to stop. Anyway we started again about a week ago and his results have been great. We pretty much went back to the start but today we have managed to get as far as 4 poles and then adding a jump. I'm so pleased with him, its been hard going as in some places he just didn't get it but it now seems to have clicked.

I videoed his training today and posted it below. We are still in the garden as I tried moving to the paddock earlier in the week but he finds it a challenging place to train and when he isn't confident he becomes too easily distracted so we came back into the garden to help build his confidence but will move back to the paddock again soon.

Beach Fun

We have had a nice relaxing week this week although we have done loads! On Tuesday we took all the dogs over to Jans for a BBQ. It was lovely to see people we hadn't seen in a while and catch up. On Thursday we met up with Jan and a couple of others and headed to the beach with the dogs. We took Heidi and Chaos with us and they had a fab time in and out of the sea. Chaos got himself a lady friend or two, in fact he wouldn't leave the girls alone, he was really trying his best to charm them! Not sure how they resisted :) (the picture is Chaos with Bronte and Caviar). Our walk on the beach was followed by another lovely BBQ before we set off home.

We haven't done any Agility training, we have been doing a major refurbish of our equipment, most of it has been outside now for 3-4 years and was looking a bit sorry for itself. The jumps have all been repainted now and are back outside, the see saw should be finished today and we have had to completely build a new dog walk as the old one just couldn't be saved, it was too rotten. Once that's finished this week we are planning to refurbish or rebuild the A frame depending on what it needs and build a few more jumps so we have plenty and then we will be good to go for the winter.

I have added a few more beach pictures at the bottom of the page.

Happy Birthday Kody!!!

 

Happy Birthday to Kody Bear and all of his brothers and sisters from the 'S' Litter x

Wow, What a Weekend!

I'm not sure we will get a weekend as good as this one again! On Saturday I had a go at doing obedience with Kody at the Belgain Shepherd Show. We did Pre Beginner and Beginner classes and Kody was such a good boy and tried really hard. I was shocked to realise we had won both classes! It's something we are going to continue to do every now and then, im conscious that he may only have a couple of seasons of agility left but I know he will still want to work so the plan will be to do obedience with him then.

Yesterday we went to Scunthorpe Agility Show. I only eneterd Kody in one class as he was doing obedience the day before, I walked it and although it wasnt a course I liked I knew Kody would as he could stay with me. He ran really well and came 5th! Clever boy :)

Below is a video of one of his obedience rounds and his jumping yesterday.



Heidi obviously didnt want to be left out, she had a couple of jumping runs, one with 3 poles, the other daddy got lost and she came out of the weaves (naughty daddy!) but they were clear in the Comb 3-5 Agility (after a very wide turn where Heidi headed for the dog walk not the see saw!) but they still managed to finish in 6th place!

There was still the Adams Derby Qualifier to run, Heidi usually takes a pole on the spread so doesn't get to the jumping part. I briefly walked it with Conor as I wasn't running it but then at the last minute we decided I'd run it with her, she flew round and finished in 3rd place so has qualified for the final next July!!! Such a clever Girlie :)

Below are a couple of her runs from the weekend.

Adventures

Last week I headed over to my mum and Dads for a few days and took Brian and Chaos with me. On Wednesday Chaos got to meet up with his brothers Basil & Bullet for a walk on Cannock Chase. All 3 boys got on really well, they enjoyed running around together and splashing about in the water. Basil and Bullet are darker in colour to Chaos but their personalities are very similar and they have very similar behaviours and quirks. They were lovely boys, hopefully we will see them again soon.

Brian went over to Kidderminster on Thursday to see Natalie for a massage. He was pleased to see her and she sorted out a couple of issues that he had but commeted that he is in in good condition for his age and hip problems.

The boys had several walks up on Cannock Chase over the 5 days that we were there, lots of splashing about in water too, I think they really enjoyed themselves!

Happy 8th Birthday Brian

Happy Birthday to my handsome boy who is 8 today! Love you lots x

Nuts and Empingham

Agility Nuts was our first show back after a bit of a break. It was boiling hot and although it was cool in the van I was a bit unhappy about them running in the heat so they did their runs first thing and then we left to come home. Think we got all E's!

Empingham was better, it was at Lincoln showground so nice and close and much cooler temperatures. The dogs ran well, especially Kody. Over the weekend we had 4 clear rounds! They were a bit messy in places where he still feels the need to argue with me all the way round but at least we actually got round some courses. Heidi was running well again too, lots of runs with only a slight mistake here and there. She did a cracking jumping run and ended with the fastest time but had a pole down.

At the past 2 shows I have been able to get Chaos around the rings, he isn't confident but if I get him doing some tricks it takes his mind off it and he copes much better. He has improved lots so just got to keep working on it.

Obedience

We had our second session at obedience last night. Chaos still wasn't happy to start with but he settled down much more quickly. He was actually able to use his legs this week and walk normally. He did good stays, recalls, walking through the gate calmly and walked well next to me (not really at heel but at least he was walking!)

Kody was good too apart from he just wouldn't wait so that we could do a recall, took about 10 goes! Think he is a bit nervous too as its a new venue. He did manage a 2 min down stay though so that was an improvement on last week.

This weekend is our last weekend of no shows, im so pleased as its really boring! Cant wait to get back and do some :)

Happy Birthday Brenda!

 

Happy Birthday Brenda, can't believe she will have been with us a year next week, where does the time go! x

Going for Gold

Kody and Chaos have started obedience classes again, this time on a Wednesday evening so hopefully ill be able to go a bit more often. Chaos is in the Bronze class working towards his Bronze Good Citizen award. For the first 45 mins last night he hated it, decided walking on the floor wasn't an option and he could only slide along on his belly! Sounds comical I know. By the end though he had settled down and although 'normal' walking still wasnt happening it was a little better. He did do sit and down stays, recalls and showed off his tricks though.

Kody is in the Silver/Gold class and will be working towards his Gold Good citizen. He did lots of lovely heel work and recalls were excellent. His down stay needs practice though, he broke it 4 times in 2 mins!!!

Today they have all done some agility training, I introduced the flat tunnel into some jumping sequences for Chaos, as you can see in the video he is coming along nicely.

Agility Nuts and Training

Last weekend we went to Agility Nuts for the day. I always like their shows. This weekend there were lots of Mali's there which was great and I managed to take a few photos in between rain showers. The dogs didn't run too badly, Kody was a good boy and got a 3rd in Agility. We took part in pairs too, Kody ran with Speedy and Heidi ran with Zippy. We had a few mistakes but it was such good fun!

We have had a rest from training for a few days but had a short session today, Chaos is really doing well, making more progress and becoming more confident each session we do. I can now send him on to the tunnel and he has learned the tyre this week too (took a while as he was scared of it!). He is getting much quicker, I don't think he is going to be a slow dog that's for sure!

Continuing Training

This week I have managed to get in a fair few short training sessions with Brenda and Chaos. I have been doing 5-10 mins every other day with them and Chaos seems to have taken to agility really well and has progressed much more quickly than Brenda, he just loves to jump! This week they have learned the long jump and the flat tunnel. Chaos loved the long jump straight away but didn't like the flat tunnel whereas Brenda seem equally happy with both. Today I set up the flat tunnel in the garden and positioned it so that the wind blew through it, opening up the end a little. I got Brenda to go through it rewarding her at the end and let Chaos watch, he soon joined in as I guessed he would and now he is loving it too.

The bigger dogs have had a few days rest but I plan to do some training with them over the next few days.

Happy 1st Birthday Chaos!!!!

Happy 1st Birthday to Baby Chaos and all his brothers and sisters from the 'G' Litter x

Dog Vegas

We had a lovely few days away at Dog Vegas, We arrived to torrentail rain and hail stones, we have had very hot sunshine (I got burnt!) and back to rain again but it didnt spoil our week. 

Heidi has ran consistently better all week, she has had lots of runs where there was just 1 silly mistake (missing out a weave, running past a jump) all things that are not like her so I knew a clear round wasn't far away. She managed a 3rd in jumping on Saturday and yesterday we finally got a clear in agility. When I walked the course it was not a good course for her and there was no way I expected a clear round. As a result when we ran it she did a very wide turn so I was amazed to find she was in the lead by over 2 seconds. She stayed there until about 3 dogs from the end when a very neat collie ran it just that bit tighter than she did and went into the lead. I am so proud of her though, 2 clears at 1 show is unheard of!

Kody has been running well too, a lot less madness and he too only made the odd mistake. He did a lovely clear on sunday but was sadly out of the placings.

I judged on Monday, I had a whole mixture of classes. Some courses I was happy with, others didn't run as well as they looked on paper but I guess that's all part of the learning experience. 

Brian, Brenda and Chaos seemed to enjoy their holidays with lots of opportunity to be splashing around in the stream and getting wet. Everyone including me has slept soundly since we got back, think ill be in for a quiet day today!

Mali Training

We finally had a sunny day yesterday so I managed to do some training with the dogs. Kody did some jumping and weaves, Heidi worked on her A-Frame contact as we have had some issues with it lately and Chaos did some jumping sequences. He has had 3 short sessions this week (on the video) and has done so well. He seems to really like jumping but still isn't very keen on the tunnel (which surprises me, never had a mali that's not tunnel mad!). He is much more keen to work to now and so much more confident, I think it was the right decision not to do too much too soon with him.

Vegas and Nuts shows

Kody has been running well at the last couple of shows, I however have not been so good at remembering courses! Generally though he has only been making the odd mistake and did manage a 5th in Jumping, clever boy.

Heidi was back running this weekend and was back to her usual 'wild' self, jumping from the A-Frame from almost the top. She did have some nice bits though in between the moments of madness.

No agility for us this weekend, im working all weekend :( but then it will be time to pack for our few days away at Dog Vegas. Need to get the caravan cleaned and sorted first though, if it ever stops raining!

Lincoln Show

I love Lincoln show, its nice and close to home, a massive exercise area to run the dogs and this year the sun was shinning :)

I had only entered Saturday but I actually wish I had entered more. Kody had 2 runs 1 Agility, 1 jumping. The jumping course I decided to take my own line as I really couldn't get my head around a bit in the middle but he did everything I asked. The agility class had a very tight weave entry out of a tunnel, lots of dogs missed it including Kody and he had a refusal somewhere in there but generally a very good run.

Heidi was lovely to run this weekend. Very calm, only 1 E which was my fault, in her other classes she had 2 with 5f and one with 20f. She is running so well though at the moment considering the lack of training we have done. Maybe the break is doing her good.

Brian and Brenda had a good day of socialising, they love to say hello to people and make new friends. As planned I kept Chaos away from the rings, I took him into the exercise area and into Jackie's garden in the camping area and he was OK with that. He even went for an off lead walk with 9 other doggies and was very well behaved and came back. 

Brian and chaos have been swimming this morning so are both pretty shattered now.

We had some great news about Heidi's nose, her lump began to shrink quite quickly and on her last trip to the vets the vet was more than happy that it will go on its own with no need for an operation so we were so pleased about that. Now she just has a small mark where it had been which I think will be gone in a week or so.

Next weekend we are at Dog Vegas in Scunthorpe, just on Sunday. I only have Kody running though as Heidi has come into season 2 months early, typical! Still it gives me plenty of time to just concentrate on running him well.

Scunthorpe Show

On Saturday I judged at Scunthorpe Show. For a change the weather was lovely and sunny, a little bit windy but nothing too bad. I had Anyzise Jumping and then Small, Medium and Large C1-4 Jumping. 

I am finding judging quite interesting, some people take very different lines with their dogs compared to the more 'obvious' routes. I have also found that in the classes I have judged there have been very few collie's that have gone clear and I haven't purposely set courses more suited to ABC dogs they just seem to have worked out that way.

Below are my courses from the weekend.

I didn't use a flat tunnel in the C1-4, I used a rigid tunnel instead as it was already in place so saved time on the course change.

I took Chaos with me as it was a long day for him to be left at home. He was OK at first and trotted around, still wouldn't say hi to anyone. At lunch time it was a bit windy and the wind flapping one of the tents freaked him out and he really wasn't happy after that. I got him out of the van a few more times at the end of the day and took him to about 20metres in front of the van and got him to do his tricks, that was about as far as he was happy with. Next weekend we are at Lincoln show, I plan to keep him away from the rings and work on his confidence around the parking area, exercise area and camping and we will go from there. Lincoln is a big show so don't want to spook him even more!

Heidi Update

We took Heidi back to the vets on Wednesday and although her lump hasn't got any smaller the vet was happy that it isn't any bigger so we are going to continue to monitor it for another couple of weeks in the hope that it begins to shrink. I was quite relieved, didn't really want to have it operated on unless it was necessary and it doesn't generally seem to be bothering her.

I was really hoping by now we would have some more spring like weather, the fact that the clocks have changed is nice, at least we can walk the dogs in the evenings now but its just so cold still. The dogs are enjoying the fact that its dry though and are spending much more time outside which they seem to prefer.

No shows now for us for a few weeks, I'm judging at Scunthorpe next weekend and have some nice classes to judge so I'm looking forward to that.

Happy Easter

Easter weekend didn't exactly go to plan for us. On Friday I was meant to competing in Obedience with Kody for the first time but it got cancelled due to the snow. Instead we took Chaos and Brenda over to Dog Vegas to get them measured and just for a wonder around. Chaos was not as confident around the show as he had previously been, something to work on as we haven't been to any shows over the winter.

Yesterday we were competing at Dog Vegas but when we got up we discovered Kody had got a dodgy stomach, all over the living room carpet. After cleaning that up we were late leaving and I decided not to run him as he was not well, just leaving Heidi. I missed walking the first course, 3-5 Agility but she ran really well, just knocked the first pole and I put her back on the A-Frame for self releasing. I was so pleased with her. We took her back to the van, went to get some breakfast and then went back to check on the dogs and found Heidi had injured her nose.

She had been to the vets this week as she has had a lump on the bridge of her nose for a few weeks which we now know is a Histiocytoma. We are monitoring it to see if it shrinks and she has antibiotics but if not if will have to be removed. Heidi had been barking in the van, banged her nose and taken the top off it so it was bleeding. We decided to call it a day and go home. She is back for a check up on it on Wednesday this week so hopefully we will know more then.

I'm quite glad I had only entered one day, we have a few days now to get some jobs done at home and I have all of this week off which is nice. Kody is better today too. 

Anyway Happy Easter everyone.

Snow For Easter?

I cant believe where this year is going, already is March and very nearly Easter. Needless to say our training plans have well and truly gone out of the window, the weather has just been horrendous lately, either too wet or too cold or windy to venture outside. When will it ever be spring?!

This weekend we were forecast loads of snow, as it happens we only has a small amount and its nearly all gone, we are just left with loads of mud. I must admit I was slightly disappointed yesterday that we didn't have as much as other places in the country as it was my weekend off so I certainly wouldn't have minded.

Next weekend is our first Agility show of the season, we are at Dog Vegas but I have only entered one day, mainly due to it being so early in the year and far too early to be camping in my opinion! I hope the weather improves and we don't have a snowy Easter.

All Work, No Play

We haven't done much over the last week, I've been busy at work unfortunately. My mum and dad came for a visit last weekend and we took all the dogs out for a nice walk on Sunday as it was lovely and warm. They all enjoyed having a good blast, I even let Chaos off his lead, he was good until it came to getting his lead on then he was suddenly 'deaf'. We managed to get him though. Obviously need to work on that still!

Yesterday Brian and Chaos went to hydro and we both really good, not much happening on the training front though other than wait training with Chaos which is actually going very well. He now has a lovely wait in front of a jump. I think maybe next month (when the weather warms up) he can begin some agility training.

Happy Birthday Heidi!

Finally... Some Training!

We finally managed to do some training yesterday. I had a few hours of leave left at work so finished at lunch time and spent the afternoon with the doggies. It was nice to be outside training with them and they all did very well. Brenda is coming along nicely with her jumping, doing a few short sequences. Heidi had a good few poles but I got her best runs on the video below. Kody worked exceptionally hard too but I think he pulled a muscle in his back as he was very uncomfortable last night and a bit guarding of his back when touched. He seems OK today but he will have a few weeks rest now to make sure it doesn't get any worse. 

Chaos' video is just his tricks, mostly the same as he did when he was younger but also a couple of waits in front of a jump and the wing wraps which have developed from him going around the cone.

Swimming & Walking

Brian and Chaos have been to hydro this morning. Brian is doing so much better now it's not so cold out, hardly any stiffness in his legs this week and it showed in his swimming. So glad he is looking better. Chas has been with us loads of times and had his first few swims back in October. He has then had a break but today was his second session back. He is a very good boy, still gets a bit silly about having to have a harness on and lies down on the floor but then he gets in no bother and just happily swims.

The plan today was to do some agility when I got back but typically it rained :( Instead I took Kody, Heidi and Brenda for a walk along the river for an hour. They had a good run and got rid of their crazy energy.

When I got back Chaos was all recovered after swimming and wanting to do something so I took him out on his own for a shorter walk along the river. Today was the first time it seemed like he really enjoyed a walk on his own. He is regularly walked with the others in our field or on his own outside but he generally just walks along when alone, today he was off sniffing and exploring which was great to see. We did lots of recalls when he was let off his lead -rewarded with yummy sausage and he walked lovely on a loose lead on the way there and back (first time, he normally pulls like a train!) and we even did a few short stays, all perfect and the first time he has done any away from home. So although we missed out on agility today we have still had a good day and achieved a lot of good training.

First Post This Year...More To Come

 

I cant believe it's February already and I haven't updated the blog in ages.  I do intend to try and keep it up to date from now on (at least once a week). Our dogs are all well, Brian has had some trouble with his hips in the cold weather but he is enjoying regular short walks and hydro so nothing to bad.

Really we haven't done a lot with our dogs over the last few months.  We have had other dogs staying here with us for training but they have gone now. We both said yesterday that it seems quiet with only 5 dogs as we have had pretty much had 6 here for the past few months.

Our agility Training has been very limited due to the rain and snow. I did manage a short session with Heidi last week, working on 'ins', it wasn't great though as she has had so long off training she was wild as you can imagine. As soon as we get some good weather though we will get back into it. Kody has been doing some obedience, he is very good at it too.

I have entered 1 show for this year so far, Dog Vegas at Easter but only for the day. It's far too early in the year to be camping yet and with so little training I doubt Heidi and Kody will be at their best by then. I have accepted a couple of Judging appointments for next year, Scunthorpe in April and Dog Vegas in May. Other than that though I have declined any others as I really cant make plans much further ahead than that at the moment.

I have played around with some bits of Agility Training with Brenda but she certainly wont be competing next year, if at all. I think ill just end up training her but nothing more. 

Chaos is growing so fast, he is really big now and a little bit of a monster (eaten 2 sky remotes in the space of a few weeks as well as several shoes) but he has a heart of gold and is such a lovely boy. I am so pleased with him and his character, he makes us laugh so much. His obedience has been going well but a bit slow, until recently he really hasn't been that interested in toys but he does have one toy that he likes and we have been out to the paddock a few times playing tuggy with it and he is quite focused so we just need to build on that. We haven't started agility training yet, I want a nice solid wait before we do any equipment.