A Brilliant 2014...Bring on 2015!

Looking back on this year we have had a pretty great year. The dogs are working well which is great. Shelly has been living with us full time since we moved and it's unlikely she will be going anywhere now. She loves doing her new job as a Drugs Search dog and she certainly fits in with all of ours, her and Chaos are the best of friends.

We have had a really good competing year this year. It was Kody's last year at competitive Agility, I know he is only 7 but he is a big dog and I do worry about him injuring himself and he really loves obedience so he is going to do that from now on. He will still do anysize when we are away camping, I just wont take him to day shows. When I added up his final points he has got his Silver Agility Warrant so Kody is officially Bonvivant Syrah AW(S). His obedience has gone well with several places at open shows, I just have a few bits to work on with him that need neatening up for next year. We have also gained our Bronze and Silver Good Citizen awards and are working towards Gold.

Heidi has had a mixed year, we started the season off with no van so I was going to shows in my car so I only took Chaos meaning she missed a good chunk of the beginning of the year. She had June off as she was in season as well so she really didn't get to compete as much as i'd have liked. We did compete in the Adams Derby final together in June and although she clipped a pole she actually ran really well, I was very proud of her.

Chaos has just gone from strength to strength this year. He still has his odd silly moment where he just cant cope but he is running really well in general. This year we have gained 1 x 1st, 2 x 3rd, 3 x 4th, 1 x 5th, 2 x 6th, 1 x 13th, 1 x 16th, 1 x 17th and 1 x 18th at Agility Shows. He also qualified for the Fab finals and Tug-e-nuff finals but I couldn't go to either of them due to other commitments. Oh and he got his Bronze and Silver Good Citizen awards. I am really looking forward to next year with him.

Our club has been up and running now for 9 months, we have got some lovely owners and dogs and made lots of new friends, next year will be exciting as several of them are starting to get ready to compete in Agility, I do feel quite proud of them all, they have all come on leaps and bounds and its a great feeling knowing I taught them :)

We were meant to be at Adams Agility today but Heidi is in Season and all of our dogs have had a bug over the last week so we haven't made it. That's is for shows for us now until March time as they are having a well deserved break from Agility training (exept Brenda who is learning to weave), they are learning lots of tricks and doing body awareness exercises for the moment to keep their minds and bodies active. We will begin some real training in February time to get their fitness up for the start of the season.

Anyway Happy New Year to everyone, enjoy our video below and good luck in 2015!!!

Merry Christmas

Agility Nuts

We have had a lovely weekend at Agility Nuts in Newark catching up with friends who we haven't seen for ages and some for the last time until next year. We left early on Friday morning and headed up to Jans (our dogs breeder) for a visit. We had a couple of hours visit and saw a very pregnant Bronte (who went on to have 4 lovely puppies over the weekend-congratulations!)

I judged on Saturday, I had 11 classes to do with 5 course changes, I had found it really hard to come up with anything! I was pleased with the first 4 courses but really didn't like my Anysize/Veteran course once it was up and running. Below are my courses from Saturday:

 

On Sunday I woke up and really didn't feel well at all, I actually ended up going back to bed for a while but I felt loads better when I got up. I had 13 runs between the 3 dogs so Sunday was a bit of a constant rush!

Heidi is still having naughty weaves, think she only got them in one class first time! Its definitely something that will be in her training program for the winter!

Kody ran well, i just pulled him off the odd jump where I had tried to run too wide and he wasn't happy to take the jump.

Chaos was a good boy, he tries so hard for me but I was a bit rubbish! He managed a 13th in the FFP qualifier (with 5 faults) as I left him in a wait and  had gone too far past the dog walk entry so he thought he should follow me to take the tunnel underneath so I had to take him back. His missed his A frame contact in his other class where I was pushing him too hard, he worked well in a very tricky jumping and did beautiful single stride weaves for all 12 (never done it in the ring before) and where I was so busy admiring him doing them I sent him over the wrong jump! He missed the flat tunnel out in the ABC qualifier as I had ran off too far ahead again but we finally managed a clear in the comb 1-3 jumping, so did a lot of other dogs though and he finished 10th (they placed to 9th) but he was less than a second behind the winner so I was really pleased with him.

Summer Catch Up

I seem to have given up on posting on our blog for the summer, we have just been so busy! I wont post about every show we have been to as I can't remember them all now. 

Chaos is doing incredibly well though, since I last posted he has gained several clear rounds, a 17th at Axtane and a 3rd, 4th and 6th at Dog Vegas this weekend, he also qualified for the Tug-E-nuff finals at Devon Dogs and the FAB finals in Oxford but I couldn't go to either of them unfortunately.

Kody has had a couple of clears in Agility and a 4th place in Pre Beginner Obedience at Ditton show, im really pleased with how he is coming along, we will be focusing more on this over the winter months.

Heidi has had some lovely runs in Agility, very few poles down these days, just the odd mistake here and there. She has had a good few of her typical 'wild' runs as well, I think she will always have those! We competed together in the Adams Derby Final in July, I was so nervous but she was a very good girl, she just clipped a pole.

Our club has been going from strength to strength, we have got some fantastic dogs and members :)

Since starting training in March 2014 we have had fantastic results at our Good Citizen Classes with a 100% pass rate.

Puppy Foundation Congratulations go to:

•  Nicole & Taffy
•  Sarah & Kiera
•  Lesley & Jasper

Bronze Congratulations to:  

• Nicole & Maggie
• Nicole & Taffy
• Jess & Kye
• Michelle & Ben
• Michelle & Riddle
• Kate & chaos
• Kate & Kody                                              
• Georgie & Dolly    
                           
• Lorraine & Harry
• Phil & Tyson
• Chelsea & Power
• Kate & Brenda 

 

Silver Congratulations to:

• Lace & ivy
• Nicole & taffy
• Nicole & Maggie
• Jess & Kye 
• Kate & Kody
• Georgie & Dolly

Everyone who started Agility on a Monday night has now passed their foundations award and most of the Thursday groups have too.

We have run a have a go obedience ring at Dogs Live at the Hop farm and did an obedience and agility display in a really tiny arena at the Royal British Legion Summer fete.

Only a few Agility and Obedience shows left for us this year now then its back to some training. will try and keep the blog a bit more up to date too!

Brenda & her Bronze Certificate

Dog Walk Training

I have been working with chaos on his DW a bit lately, trying to improve his speed across it and also having a tunnel under it.

So far its going reasonably well. His speed is much better, no hesitating and no creeping up it or along the top. We have got a new DW here so we have got the opportunity to train on 2 different ones which helps. I do need to train with him on others though in a different location. You can see on the clip below though that he is much more confident.

He is also understanding his end position better, he was having a tendency to stop short with 4 feet on instead of 2 on 2 off, likely to be caused by me inconsistently rewarding him at some point. I have ensured that he only gets a reward now for 1. going quickly across (no hesitating) and 2. for stopping with 2 on 2 off. He has certainly improved although sometimes he is gong that quick he stops off it altogether so it is still a work in progress and we need to conquer the see saw nerves. He is happy enough on mine (typical)

Next weekend we are at Dartford show with all 3 Malis in action, im hoping he will be a bit more confident than when we went to Tunbridge Wells.

Below is a video of Heidi learning a new trick, thought id share it with you :)

Culverstone Obedience

This weekend we had a bit of a different 'dog' weekend. On Saturday I took Brenda over to Paws in the Park at Ardingly. She had a go at the Dash n Splash and loved it! She got so excited waiting to have her go, bouncing up and down like tigger and barking. She had no hesitation and just jumped straight in! After her go at that we walked around the show and did a bit of research at the have-a-go events as we are doing a have-a-go obedience ring at Dogs Live next month.  I got plenty of ideas for how to run our ring anyway so it was certainly a successful day out.

On Sunday me and Kody went to Culverstone Obedience show. We are only really having a go at the moment to see if it is something we will take a bit more seriously. The bonus of this show was that it was 20mins from home. 

We had a lovely day at the show, it was bigger than any obedience show I had been to before and only our second open show. (I did a few with Brian when he was much younger). Kody seems to really love obedience, I think maybe more than agility! I entered us into Pre Beginner and as i still haven't taught him a retrieve we did introductory as well so that he could do 2 classes. His Pre beginner class went well apart from his recall, he came straight forward and went round the back of my legs instead of stopping. His heel work was lovely though, losing 2 1/2 marks on lead and 1 1/4 off.  His stays were clear also. I was amazed to find out that we had come 8th in the class and as we lost less than 10 points we also got an award of Merit!

In the introductory classes the exercises were all done on lead and I think this caused Kody to be a bit confused as to what I wanted. his heelwork was good and his recall was very good but he broke his stay as we never train that on lead! 

Both judges commented on how well he works and said it would be a shame if we didn't take it further so I guess I had better train him properly now!!!

 

Congratulations go to club members Georgie and Dolly who came 7th in Beginner Bitch and their first show together and also 7th in Beginner dog with Skye!

Tunbrige Wells

We finally have a van again, after looking at loads and them not being right we decided to fix our current one which has now been done meaning I could take more than 1 dog to a show. We don't actually have any kennels in it yet though as I need it empty later this week to move something big so I used 2 crates and decided to take Heidi and Chaos. (Kody is doing obedience next weekend so he isnt being left out)

This was our first 'down south' KC show. It was huge! So many people and dogs and rings and we did actually see a few familiar faces which was nice. I can honestly say though it was not one of my favorite shows, I do prefer smaller ones.

Chaos started off not too bad, a bit distracted in the C1-3 jumping and got 5f for a refusal. In the G3 jumping he was even more distracted, got 5f in the weaves and ran past a jump. His agility was clear but his DW was very slow, he stopped on the up plank for a good few seconds before creeping along it. I didn't check his time as im sure he would have got time faults from this. He really isn't coping with the bigger shows, he is happy enough walking round and saying hello to people and dogs but he cant cope with having to que and dogs lunging everywhere and it puts him off when he gets into the ring. I think I have worked out his DW issue too as its very fast at home. The aluminum see-saws have spooked him a couple of times which has put him off and I think this has made him unsure on the DW as he expects it to move and combined with him being worried about being at a show he has just slowed right down. We will need to try and train on a few dog walks I think not just ours here and I am going to get our club an aluminum see-saw so he can train on that too.

Heidi-well she hadn't been to an agility show for 6 months and she doesn't train with me now only Conor so it was always going to be 'interesting'. In the G4 agility she was screaming with excitement on the start line! She had a couple of poles and missed the weave entry on one of the sets but it wasn't terrible. Her next to jumping courses were a bit wild, a couple of poles, some nice bits and a missed weave entry in one as she didn't steady herself to get in them.

Below is a video of Chaos at Lincoln (only just managed to get it on the computer!)

FAB-Kent

This was the first show we had done in Kent since we moved. It was very local to us and although we don't usually do many non KC shows it was so close it seemed daft not to. I only took Chaos again as we still didn't have a van sorted. He ran in his agility class first. His DW was quite slow but he ran the rest of the class well and although he had been bothered a bit in the que he wasn't put off once in the ring so an improvement on the previous week. 

We went to que for his jumping shortly after and he was obviously worried, there were quite a few more people around compared to earlier on. We did our run which went well until he got spooked by the judge stood next the tunnel and then he wouldn't go in it.  We missed it out and continued to the end and he was ok. At this point i decided it was probably best to head home so just headed off to see how he did in the agility results and was amazed to find later that he had come 1st in that class!!! It obviously wasn't as slow as I had first thought.

Show catch up - Lincoln

We have been to 3 shows since I last posted.

Lincoln was the first one. I went with only Chaos to this show. He competed on Friday and Sunday and I judged on Saturday. I really do like this show, it was lovely to catch up with people we hadn't seen since we moved, we managed to visit our dogs breeder Jan on the Thursday on the way up, had some lunch with her and took Chaos for a walk with Tiva and Reo (Bridget's dogs) and then headed off to the show. Chaos ran really well on the Friday, he got a bit spooked landing on the see-saw in one class but came 5th in G3 agility!!! He had an issue with the tunnel under the dog walk in another class and ran past a jump in his his jumping class but certainly not a bad run.

On Saturday the rain came...I was judging and was totally soaked through, thankfully the sun came out in the afternoon so it wasnt too bad.

Below are my courses from the show:

On Sunday Jan and Anne came up to the show to watch all the Bonvivants running and brought Bronte, Cedar and Caper to watch. Chaos wasn't running so well on the Sunday, he did his jumping but was a bit distracted, coming out in the weaves then in his agility he got up and walked away from the start line, I brought him back and set him off, he did a couple of jumps and just stood and looked at me so we left the ring. I think being at a bigger show had made him more worried so something we need to work on with him and im hopeful having somebody else queuing should help him.

Adams Agility

Our trip up to Adams Agility Show didn't exactly go to plan. Our van is currently broken so I had to go up to Adams in my car meaning I could only take 1 dog. The choice of who to take was an easy one, I took Chaos. It was his first grade 3 show and I had been looking forward to running him for weeks.

I judged on Friday so chaos stayed with my mum for the day. It was a lovely day, a bit cold but not too bad really. I had Small and Med Comb-5-7, Large Graded 5-7 and Large Comb 6-7. I have posted my courses below:

The smalls seemed to struggle a bit with the first course but the mediums had no problems. I ended up changing my Lge 6-7 once it was on the ground (above it the new course). It was the first time I had used the new course time matrix and measured my courses once they were set up, I think it works well, I cant say there were many time faults.

I ran Chaos on Saturday and Sunday. I went with 2 goals, a solid wait and for him to enjoy himself. We achieved both of those goals, his wait was perfect every time and he certainly seemed happy. We ended up with 5 out of 6 clear rounds, a 16th in comb 1-3 jumping and an 18th in comb 1-3 agility. He really was a good boy. There are loads of areas for us to work on and improve but the noticeable area was that he lacks confidence in the ring (which im sure will come with experience) and also his dog walk is by far his weakest obstacle. He was very slow moving across it and was not very confident at all. This is where we are going to focus our training for the next few weeks, im sure the more he does it the happier he will be with it and I have a few ideas to help him along the way. I'll keep this updated with our progress.

Updates

Well we now have a back garden to let the dogs in :) Its made such a big change to being here, before the dogs were just under my feet constansly but now they can go outside whenever they like so its a much happier household!

We have started some agility training too. Currently we are training at an indoor school on a Monday evening before my classes but we have also been out in the paddock a few times to train too. We have cut some of the grass and its actually a pretty good area to train on and the dogs are loving it.

Kody and Brenda have also been working on their obedience as they are entered into a competition in May, exciting!

Its only a month now until we have our first weekend away at a show, I really cant wait, it seems like its been such a long time since we did a show (January) and im really excited to be bringing Chaos out, he is more than ready now, he just needs to experience being in the ring as he has only done the odd small show. This week I have started to train pull throughs with him, so far he gets it but I think this is the thing I am worst at and I hate teaching it so I have been putting it off, just need to get out and practice it.

This was the course I did yesterday with Chaos:

So much has changed...

Since our last post a lot has changed,  we have moved 200 miles south to Maidstone, Kent. We havent had any internet since we moved, it only got connected this week hence our resaon for no posts. Thankfully it is all up and funning now and we have infinty broadband which is ace, so much better than the 1mb we have been used to in the past!

This is our new house

It is a lot smaller than our previous house but we have managed to squeeze into it ok. We currently have no secure back garden, we are working on fencing it at the moment but it has done nothing but rain really since we arrived! We are making progress with it though. Although we have no garden we do have this...

 

...a great big paddock! Its about 3 times the size of our one up in Lincolnshire! It is a bit hilly in places but there is a nice flat spot that will be perfect for agility. When the weather improves we are going to section off that area with stock fencing so that it's just for agility.

We haven't done any shows since we moved or any training yet for that matter, hoping to get on with some shortly. I have hired an indoor riding school to run some agility classes and have booked an extra hour each week to train our dogs too so at least they get to train even if the weather is bad. We are starting that in early March.

Now that we have internet we will try and post a bit more regularly so please check back soon :)

Great Start to 2014

Happy New Year!

We had an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas, the dogs enjoyed lots of yummy food and treats, some nice walks along the river bank and we managed to fit in one training session on a day with nice weather. Heidi skinned her pad so she was out of action for about a week but she is recovered now and back to normal.

Yesterday we headed over to Agility Nuts Show with Chaos. It was his first time competing at full height (although he has been training full height for about 2-3 months). I entered him in 4 classes but we only ran 3 as time was getting on and I wanted to be back to take the other dogs out before dark. His agility was first, his see saw was a little bit slow, something we need to work on but his dog walk, A frame and weaves were all good. We got round clear and finished 4th!

Next was Speed and Power. You do a timed jumping section, then compete the contacts and weaves to reduce your time. We got round the jumping part clear. He had lovely contacts but for some reason I got far too close to the weaves so he couldn't actually get in them and missed his entry, when I brought him back around to do them again he jumped a nearby jump so was Eliminated.

The last class we ran was Time Fault and Out Jumping, you run a jumping course until you get a fault or the time runs out. We got round the first time clear and onto our second lap before the timer ran out and ended up in 4th place again!

So pleased with my Superstar puppy. Only the third time he has ever been in the ring and showing great potential. I don't plan to do any more shows now until April, just lots of training with all the dogs to get them ready.

Below is a video of Chaos and Kody Training: