Puppy!!!

You might think we are mad having 2 new dogs but we have actually been planning for a puppy for about 6 months now. We enquired about several planned litters this year before deciding on the one we have. I visited the litter a couple of weeks ago and today we have been to pick our new little boy. He is now 5 weeks old so still another 2 and a half weeks until he joins us. He is from Kody's sister Lexi (Bonvivant Symbolique at Tokyn) and Chase (Bonvivant Noblesse Oblige). We have always admired Chase so we were really keen to see the puppies and they are lovely, like little bears.

He needs a name though, all the names on our short list just aren't right so any suggestions would be appreciated or he will be coming home without a name!

I took loads of photos today, ill post some more (along with some more of Brenda) as soon as I get chance. Our boy is the one at the front in this pic.

Brenda has settled quite well, Brian Heidi and Kody are away on holiday at the moment as we were meant to be having a night away but as Brenda had joined us that hadn't happened, we still let the others go though as i'd already paid for it and they alway enjoy going. They are back tomorrow morning. It has meant that Brenda has had the opportunity to spend time getting used to me as she only knew Conor, she is very loving though and so likeable, i've already grown very attached to her!

Meet Brenda

We have a new addition to our household, Brenda. She is a Dutch Shepherd and was until recently Conor's work dog in Nigeria however now that he has returned home Brenda has come too to be a pet here with us. She was a little bit unplanned, it was only a decision that was made late last week and getting her back here was not uneventful either!

She flew with Conor as far as Amsterdam at the weekend but due to the rules for the UK being different to the rest of the EU she had to be flown the remainder of the way on a cargo flight. She stayed in Amsterdam from Saturday until today with a friend and then was flown to Heathrow. There were complications on her arrival as the origin country was wrong on the paperwork so she cost a fair bit to get cleared through customs but we will be claiming that back from the shipping company as it was their mistake. Anyway after a 4 hour drive to Heathrow today, a 4 hour wait for her to be released and a 4 hour drive back she is finally here! 

Brian and Heidi are happy enough with her, Kody is still a bit unsure but is doing his best to be nice.

Ill take some more pictures of her over the next few days and post them and later in the week we should have some more news to share too :) 

Weimaraner ABC Show

All of Heidi's classes this today were Comb 4-7, she had 2 'Open' classes and 2 ABC classes. Generally she didn't work too badly, she took a pole and had to re do the weaves in open jumping and she messed about a bit in agility. In the ABC jumping I ended up taking her out of the ring but in the ABC agility she was fab, no poles and no naughtiness, she just did an extra tunnel. We have had good waits though so I'm really pleased with her.

I have posted before about having issues with Kody and that we were taking a short break from agility to work on other things. On wednesday I took him back to club (he had about a month off), he was a really good boy, really quiet, listening and working well. I think everybody commented on how different he was. I decided that if there were some 'nice' courses today he could have a run.

Well, he was a really good boy. He had a pole and a refusal in open jumping, we had some weave issues in open agility and a couple of refusals and in ABC agility we did get E'd but he worked really nicely. His best run was in ABC jumping where he went clear and finished 3rd! I'm really pleased with him, he has been really quiet and listening.

We have 5 weeks off now from shows so I hope to continue his training so that we are ready to go for Empingham show in July. 

Thank you to Natalie for videoing some of our runs today, it's much appreciated! And well done to Reno for his clears (3 I think)

North Derbyshire Agility Festival

We have just got back from 3 days at North Derbyshire Show. Last year I said I wasn't going again as the rain was terrible. We arrived on Thursday to torrential rain, Friday was no better either. Saturday was mostly dry but very cold, today beautiful sunshine! We have had it all.

This was Heidi's last show in Grade 3. She has had a couple of nice rounds with the old pole or two down but she has mostly been a bit wild. She has had to be put back on her contacts A LOT as she has been self releasing, especially if there is a tunnel after. She has also had to be taken back at the start a good few times for breaking her wait and I want that nipping in the bud now so it doesn't become a problem later on.

On the whole I have been quite pleased though, I think only 1 issue with the weaves all weekend and that was where she went over a jump very long and almost landed in the first weave pole and just couldn't slow down enough to do the rest. (Maybe she thought she could save time and do 2 obstacles together!)

We did pairs yesterday with Jackie and Speedy, Speedy took the wrong tunnel and Heidi took a pole and then missed out a jump so we were a bit rubbish really! Congratulations this weekend go to Jackie and Speedy for winning into Grade 4, Natalie and Reno who got a 2nd in G3 Agility at a different show (he won't be far behind now Natalie) and also I have heard Jo and Zippy are only 1 win away from Grade 7! Go Malis!!!

(Anybody think that Kody is comfy?!)

Soaking Wet PADS

I can't actually believe how much it rained yesterday at PADS show. It just poured down all day. Heidi had 5 runs and I guess in one way we were very lucky to have done them all by 12.30.

No clears but some good runs. She completed the contacts part of the Adams Derby with no problems but then took 3 poles in the jumping section. In G3 Agility she took 2 poles but picked up a tricky weave entry nicely, in G3 Jumping and Comb 3-5 jumping she was really flying but just took 1 pole in each.

In Comb 3-5 Agility she got an E, she was sat waiting on the start line as I moved out and the dog behind lunged at her, (not surprising, no apology from the owner of the dog behind, I doubt they even noticed to be honest.) thankfully I guess instead of retaliating Heidi broke her wait, took the jump and DW, missed the contact and into the tunnel, I was still at the point where I was going to release her so it went down hill after that :(

When I got up this morning it was STILL raining so I decided to give the show a miss, I was at my mums and my trainers were still wet from the day before and I really didn't want to be cold and wet all the way back home. As it happens it has turned into a nice day but we got back here just after lunch and I managed to get some jobs done at home and a much needed trip to Tesco!