Agility Addicts Christmas Show

Yesterday we went to the Agility Addicts Christmas Show. Until the last minute I wasn't sure if we were going. It was so cold and getting up early when we are all off on holiday is not my favourite past time. But as Chadiga and I were awake anyway we thought we just do it then.
The roads were empty early in the morning and we managed to get there in 2.5 hours....
Though we missed the Fancy Dress competition and were not able to walk the jumping course, but at least we were in time for all our classes....

And what can I say, Max was on top form. We had 4 runs and 4 clear rounds. We got 2 places, a 12th in the jumping and a 9th in the Agility Christmas contacts.....
A clear round in the Agility and Max even managed to go clear in the pairs. Unfortunately our pair partner, Chadiga, got lost on the course and got eliminated ;)

The whole day was great fun and I didn't regret going. Though it was weird, when I go to shows down south, you always see the same familiar faces. Now I hardly knew anybody....

That was our last show for this year...
Max really came a long way this year and gvce me lots of fun when working with him.

Now I just have to figure out, how to speed him up. (There you go, ambition got me now ;-) )
We get placings, but are usually between 6 and 10 seconds slower than the winning dog.

Any ideas how to speed Max up??? It probably would help if I ran faster, but don't think that will happen any time soon.
He works ahead nicely, so no complains there either...

Any suggestions welcomed :)

Thanks and a happy new year to you all!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year everybody!

Just recovering from a very heavy flu, been in bed for 4 days (oh the joy!).

I hope that everybody will have some lovely days coming up.

Enjoy yourselves and I hope you all will have a peaceful and quiet time.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Today

It was cold, windy, rained an awful lot. The streets were flooded. Amazing how quickly roads can turn into streams.
Nevertheless I went to the Anju simulated Christmas show. Not that many people turned up, probably due to the weather.
Still, it was great fun. Max was good, but decided to run his contacts, so I had to let him do his A Frame again, which gave us an "E". The course was lovely. Not too easy, not too difficult.
As Chadiga was down with the flu, I decided to take Luke along for a little training. He is not doing Agility for so long so I really just wanted to put him in a different environment to practice.
And I was amazed. He approached the contact equipment on his own accord. Though his contacts are not very good at the moment, he didn't shy away from any of the equipment and did them all well, except for the weaves, which he doesn't know well enough to do them on his own. And he was running on medium height, s he doesn't do full height jumps yet.

In the jumping class Max was great in the first run. Luke was absolutely unfocused. Stopped and sniffed and said hello to the judge (Wendy).
So before the next run we did some focus work and he did really well. We managed a clear round! Yeah. Due to the lack of people we even managed to turn it into a 3rd place. Well done Luke. Your first ever place! And he even won a trophy, a cute squeaky toy.

In Max's second round I waited with him at the start to get him going a bit with a "ready, ready, ready". And off he went and was 2 seconds faster than before, unfortunately he knocked a pole. Never mind!

It was great fun, but I was happy when I could go home, very cold and wet.

Decided now to enter Luke in March's C Side show in the run for fun class. Let's see how it goes!

Halfway through December already, nearly.

I don't know where the year has gone. I can't believe it is nearly the new year already.
This year was quite mixed with ups and downs.
The dogs are doing fine. I decided to give Luke a break from sheepdog training, as he is just too full on and he gets worse. Think we need some more obedience before we continue. But he is doing very well at his Agilitytraining.
He is the sort of dog who is always everywhere with his nose and his brain, but never where he is suppose to be. So I have to really focus him on "work". Lately he started playing up a bit, obviously Testosterone is kicking in. This seems to be the time for the "snip". I have no intention to breed anyway, so why make life harder for him and myself. Particularly as Luke likes the girls sooo much ;-)
SO in 2 weeks time, just before Christmas he is booked in....

A few weeks ago Chadiga and I went to the simulated show from Anju. It was lots of fun and eventually Max managed a clear round... Well done MAx!
He is still too slow for placings though. He went to the vet this week for his rabies jab and weighed in with 20.7kg. So I think he has to loose a kilo or 2. Though he is quite leggy and doesn't look fat, rather muscled... Let's see how it goes.
Beside that, it is definitely my handling slowing him down.
Other than that I am very happy with him. He is responsive, keen and we have lots of fun together :)

Tomorrow we are at another Anju show, today is my last day of work for this year (doesn't that sound good??? ;-) )
and we aare heading for Christmas. So far I was able to avoid all the stressed shoppers and I hope I will continue to do so.

I am looking forward to a quiet time with the children and the dogs. Let's hope the weather stays dry....

Bits and bobs

Not much going on at the moment.... We went to the C-Side show last Sunday. I didn't really feel like going, but then the night before I had weird dream about Agility. So I got up early and we all went in the end. I offered the boys to run Jake. Though I know it is not always easy to run him, as he can be a bit of an "arse".... You have to be firm with him.

Anyway, we had Starters Agility and Jumping (Grade 1-3) and Open Agility and Jumping (Grade 1-7)

Max managed a 15th place in the Agility, unfortunately I lost the plot in the jumping and we got eliminated. But he ran beautifully.
The Open classes were really difficult. In the Agility I forgot to tell Max there was a snake and he back jumped the wrong jump. In the Jumping he missed his weave entry, which was a rather difficult one...

Junus first ran Jake in the jumping class and did really well. Jake didn't even think of coming back to me.... Unfortunately Junus forgot the course and got eliminated :)))

Then Noah tried Jake in the Agility class. JAke was a real handful and didn't want to move at all for him. Noah was really disheartened and was close to crying....
So I went into the ring and helped a bit, for which we got eliminated of course. ;-)

But at least Noah got him around the course, sort of....

I was very grateful to the judge who let Noah get on with it. In the end she gave Noah a "Judges Special" rosette, as he didn't give up and carried on.

Yesterday I took some picture while I walked the dogs. I like this of Luke.....


Might put the others on here as well :)

November already

Looks like the year is coming to an end quickly. Where has it gone?
Last night we resumed training. I went through with the decision to not keep on training Jake and Robbie. One need to save money somewhere..... :(
So I just had Max and Luke to take. It was difficult for me to get back into training again. Somehow all the enthusiasm of the summer is gone. I hope it is just an autumn/ winter thing.
Both dogs did very well. Luke is very clever and picking things up so quickly. I am really impressed. Max is just his usual enthusiastic self... :)

Went to sheepdog training as well and Jake did very well. He was promoted to work out in the field and it was a joy to work with him. So different to doing Agility with him. Luke is still a bit of a nut case and very hard to stop.

I am hoping that one day he will get there, but maybe not...

Today the dogs seem to want to create havoc today. They love to keep me on my toes :-S

Might post some sheepdog training pictures later.....

Jake the sheepdog

Last week I had the opportunity to "test" Jake on some more sheep than just 5 and in a huge field not a small paddock.
He worked very well in a small paddock and though Sarah said that she thinks he could move a bigger flock of sheep easily, I wasn't so sure.
Anyway, Jake didn't go to fetch the sheep, but once we reached the flock, he was amazing. He drove them behind me, so that I could walk leisurely in front of him. He did a cracking job. Though having no directionals as such ( comebye and away) he instinctively knew what to do.
I could send him to do anything, but he would be very happy to move a flock with sheep with me and keep them together.

I was in awe... He was amazing and really seemed to enjoy himself. He was lying down behind the sheep when asked and stopped when I told him to. Well done Jakey!

Luke was a bit more pushing and it took him about 10 minutes to settle down. In those 10 minutes he just ran circles around the sheep without doing anything else and without harming them.
Then he started driving them towards me. And though he was a bit fast, he was really good. Not as good as Jake though ;)

All in all a lovely experience seeing them enjoying themselves so much. I was overwhelmed to watch them.

Reflection

The Agility season is over now and though I still have a few indoor shows, it feels very much s if the exciting Agility show time is gone.
We have break from training as well at the moment.

I am seriously considering to take Jake out of training. One is a financial aspect, as everything just gets so expensive, but as well, as I don't see an improvement in Jake. He has good days and bad days (like me really ;) )
I am sure he wouldn't do worse at shows without regular training. Maybe I let the kids run him from time to time to get some experience. On the other hand, he always looks for his mummy when he is in the ring with them.... So maybe not such a good choice after all.
Then there is Robbie, who does Agility, but without too much enthusiasm. He would be equally happy without it. He is not the fastest dog anyway and I just keep going with him to actually do something with him other than taking him for a walk.
He is not interested in sheep, so that rules that out....

All these decisions ;)

All in all this season was very nice, though we had the kennel cough and some shows were cancelled due to rain. But I feel like I have learned and awful lot and working with Max is so much different than working with Jake.
I had a few great training days. Would be nice to have the odd one during the winter, but we shall see.

Other than that, I really would like to spend some more time training some of my dogs at sheep, but it seems a very costly hobby, unless I would own some sheep :-O

Mid Downs Show

Well, let's just forget about Mid Downs Show. The weather was awful and I wasn't even sure if I should go.
But I did in the end. Arrived too late, so missed walking the course. Chadiga came along to run Jake.
While waiting in the queue we got soaking wet, though wearing waterproofs.
Max did very well, but came out of the weaves one pole too early. That was a surprise, as he was excellent at last training.
Oh well, never mind. I probably didn't work him good enough.
Jake was just an Ar*e in the ring. Didn't do t al what Chadiga was saying.
as they broke for lunch then we decided to go home to get into some warm cloth. Not sure I wanted to return after being in the dry though.
After getting warm at home again I decided to go back. When we arrived the Jumping class came to and end, so I booked Jake and Max in, but told the caller and the ticket person that I have to go back and get Jake after my run with Max.
Anyway, Max knocked a pole, so I took him back, got Jake and when we came back the class was closed :(
I was a bit miffed as I told 2 people I will be back, but weather was bad and I expect everybody wanted to go home.

That was my last KC Show of the year. Now only a few unaffiliated ones. Training broke up for another 4 weeks, which is a shame as Luke just seem to get the hang of it. The garden is too muddy to train at the moment, so we have to wait for better weather. Yeah right.

This week I have booked another sheepdog session, that should be fun! :)

Larkin with his first clear round rosette!

What a good boy :)

Pairs

Forgot to mention the Pairs. Chadiga and I tried this class first at Paws in the Park. It was so much fun. Max went first and had a cracking clear round. Chadiga went second with Jake and he went clear up to the last obstacle. He stopped before the obstacle and looked at me, sitting behind it. Then he run underneath the jump, to make matters worse, when Chadiga then called him he back jumped the last jump. What a shame, as it was really good. The judge even came over to tell us that it was one of the best runs he had seen that day, if not for the last jump.... Oh well, it was great fun nevertheless.
So again we entered at the UKA show. Max got 5 faults for running around a jump. Then it was Chadiga's turn. And..... She must have confused the class and took her own line :D
She went the totally wrong way, no idea what she was thinking about, you would think with 15 her brain is still working well....
Still the class was great fun and I am sure we will do it again. Next time she might better use Larkin though ;)

UKA Waverunners Show

We were lucky with the weather, the sun was shining, though it started as a foggy day.
We actually arrived late and Chadiga and I had no time to walk the Steeplechase course, which was our first course. So we were watching for a bit :)
The course was a lovely flowing course, really nice. Unfortunately Mx decided that he caannot go to the tunnel on his own, came back to me, i sent him again and he went into the wrong end :-S Silly boy.
The rest of the course was good.
Chadiga took Larkin in the course and managed to get a lovely clear round with him. Well done girl!

The Agility course was rather difficult, jusged by David Munnings, I heard a few voices saying that it is much harder than beginners course. Lots of eliminations, due to strange weave entry and lots of side changes and little pully and handling bits.
Max managed a clear round, so we had to wait all afternoon to see if he got a place. And in the end he managed a 6th place, what a good boy. The jumping wasn't that easy either as you had the weaves right after the tunnel, when the dogs blast out of the tunnel. Lots of dogs ran past the weaves, so did Jake, as I called him off the tunnel and he started his usual barking routine :(
and ran past the weaves. He then found the entry and finished with 5 faults.
Max managed to find the weave entry and got a clear round which then turned out to be an 8th place.

I tried the power and speed for the first time with Max, unfortunately I changed my plan of handling (never a good idea) last minute and instead of a reverse turn on front of the seesaw, I wanted to cross behind the following jump, which pulled Max off the jump and he knocked the poles down.
Too bad.

Next day, Sunday we were back. Lovely weather again, very sunny :)

At the Helterskelter Max decided to shorten the course and go for his lead after half the course.... I have to remember to keep the lead away from the finish or the course at all, so he doesn't leave the ring.
In the Agility he managed to run around the tunnel instead of going in, well, never mind....
Chadiga ran Jake in Agility and he missed a jump to look for his mummy... Naughty dog!

I tried the Time, Fault and Out for the first time and it was great fun. Jake managed to obstacle 8 :-s and went in the wrong end of the tunnel :-O
Max flew around the course and I had real problems keeping up with him.... Boy, he was fast. Unfortunately when we came back to the start for another round he jumped the finish jump...... Oh well.....
When I later checked on results Mac was actually in 6th place, but there were only 6 places, so he got a clear round.

All in all a really nice weekend! Thanks Waverunners!

Next is Mid Downs then ;)

Can't believe it!

Can't believe it is September already.
So what has happened in the meantime?

We went to a few shows and got a few places. Max managed an 11th place in the jumping at Caerphilly. It was a lovely show, though I didn't really feel like going. Weather was a bit mixed to start with.
But when we arrived it perked up and we had a lovely time, though we forgot to pack jackets and rain stuff. Typical!

I didn't go to the Pembroke show, as the weather was just foul.

Then we had Bridgehouse at the end of August. We were lucky with the weather and Jake managed an 18th place in Agility and Max managed a 9th place. I was very happy. Next day (Surrey DTC) we were not that lucky. Though I felt much better than the day before, Max flew over the courses, but knocked a pole in every course.

Then we had Paws in the Park and to my surprise Jake managed a 5th place in Agility. No idea how we managed that :-O
But I was very happy.
The Paws in the Park itself was very disappointing in comparison to last year. The Agility show was nice, beside that we were parked miles away from the rings. On Sunday the kids ring partied all day and had lots of fun. Unfortunately Luke came home with lots of bites round his legs and groin area. No idea what it is. At the moment I put some Lavender and Tea Tree oil on it and hope it helps.

Now the Agility season is nearly over. What a shame.

We haven't been to any sheepdog training lately, but might go at the weekend.

That was my quick update, sorry it is so short....
Doubt anybody reads this ever anyway.... Probably better this way ;)

Collies, Collies, Collies

Looks like we are over the kennel cough now. Thank Dog for that. But it wasn't as bad as I expected. On Thursday we were back at training. It was very nice. Even Merlin, who was an utter nut case before decided to actually work for me. Good boy! And he was fast. Wow. I was very impressed, if only he would set his mind more often on working, rather than watching the other dogs.

On Friday we went up to Norfolk for a herding lesson with Sarah Jenkins. She is a fabulous trainer. So calm and gentle and always full of praise for dog and handler.

Luke was full on with the sheep. He has much more stamina now and really made me work hard. Now I know why "sheepdog people" are always slim ;)

But I managed in the end to keep Luke behind the sheep quite steady. That was really good. This time he actually came back to me very often, even when I didn't want him to.

I wanted to try Merlin on sheep too, as he likes to herd the other dogs.
And after his initial barking at the sheep he actually wasn't too bad. Not bad for show dog anyway ;)

Then Chadiga asked me to try Jake. I was already very tired and wasn't looking forward to another full power session or a dog eating sheep ;)
What a surprise Jake was. He was gentle and calm and just steadily brought the sheep towards me. It was a pleasure to work with him so that Sarah said next time we go out in the field with him. Wow, what a surprise. Maybe his destiny is not Agility after all, but being a good herder.


Here is a YouTube link of Jake's session.

And Merlin on sheep.

Jake...

Dog's hospital

With Luke on the mend things started looking better. Then last Saturday Max started retching. First I thought something was stuck in his throat, but after a while I realised it must be something else. I looked up kennel cough on the internet and all the symptoms did fit.
Unfortunately I had 2 shows that weekend which I then forgot about :(
Instead I went to a sheepdog trail on Saturday. It was very relaxing to watch and made me realise how difficult it is.
If I ever get that far with Luke, I am not sure we will be any good. It seems so complicated. On the other hand, why worry now, as he doesn't even stop on sheep or does anything in a controlled fashion ;-)

Max is better now, his cough is gone. I gave him Wiccaweys kennel cough remedy and it helped a great deal. Unfortunately all the other dogs came down with kennel cough heavily. Especially Nina and Larkin. They are still coughing.
So no Agility training for us at the moment.

Luke change is amazing. I don't know if it is because he feels better now or if it has to do with the sheepdog training, but his recall improved, he is much more responsive in general, very bright and very very lively ;-)

He looks much better too. Shiney coat and bright eyes....

This week I am off to see Sarah again. I will take some of the other dogs too and try them on sheep.
Then next week I go together with Mary. We share the journey, which will help with petrol. Especially with ever rising petrol prices :(

I have entered Pembroke show now, but actually sent the entries off too late. Not sure they will accept them.
I was wondering if the kids and I could go to Scotland instead. Always wanted to go up there, but it is a pretty long drive...
We shall see.

Worrying times

On Sunday the 14th of June Luke started limping after the walk. It wasn't an extremely long or strainious walk, so I was wondering why.
On Monday morning I took him to the vet to get him checked out. The vet couldn't feel anything and send me home with Rymadil tablets.
In the afternoon the kids rang me at work that Luke had started vomiting blood. So back home and off to the vet again.
Poor Chadiga, it was her birthday and we seemed to spend it at the vet's. Anyway, the vet took n x ray and said his lung looks congested. By then Luke was anemic. So the vet referred us to the vet hospital. So off we went to Worthing.

They took Luke in and the kids and I went for a pizza as a birthday treat for Chadiga.

Anyway, Luke spent a few days in the hospital, the vet pretty quickly guessed that it is either rat poison or Lungworms, so started treating for both but nevertheless did more tests to be absolutely sure.

On Friday the got the results, Lungworms. When I looked it up it really fitted with all his symptoms.
Now he is back home and his usual bouncy self. Left me with a vet bill of £1200. I just hope and pray the insurance picks the bill up or I am in deep trouble.
On Sunday we went to sheepdog training. I really start to like this more and more. Luke was very full on and managed to blister his paws.

I really would like to try all dogs on sheep, but not sure I can afford that :-O

June already

Time seems to be flying by. Is that because I get older and suddenly time seems much more precious or is it just that I have much more to do?

Well, back to Agility and dogs..... Supadogs was a bit of a disaster, weather wise.
Saturday and Sunday was lovely weather, but it started raining the night Saturday to Sunday, which turned tha pathways into mud baths.... Walking or driving was terrible.
Saturday it was very hot.
Jake and Max did quite well, Chadiga managed to get her first clear round with Jake in the junior classes. Well done, girl!
This time he didn't run out of the ring and seemed quite focused.
Jake and Max managed some few rounds, but no placings. Max managed a clear round in the jumping, though the third last obstacle was a tyre. I tried to stop him there to help him through, but he just went on and flew through the tyre. What a good boy. Of course stopping him made us very slow.
Jake managed a one clear round, in the jumping. Max managed a clear round in the jumping and the Agility class.
He was such a good boy.
Unfortunately due to the rain falls starting Sunday evening the rest of the show had to be cancelled as the venue was partly flooded. What a shame. Especially as I paid around £127 in entry fees :(

At the weekend we had entered UKA show in Walton on Thames.
Lucky us the weather was lovely. Chadiga entered Larkin in the Steeplechase, Nursery and one Casual jumping class. He was ok to start with but got worse over the day. He has the bad habit at jumping up at Chadiga and starts nipping her arm, hand etc instead of working ahead. In the end she was quite frustrated.

Jake had 2 clear rounds in the jumping each day, a total of 4 clear rounds in jumping and Steeplechase. Max had a clear round in the Agility each day.
Seems that I have to be more accurate when I do jumping courses with Max. He is a cracking dog and could do very well in jumping classes, as his contacts doesn't slow him down, but then he is burdened with a crap handler :(
Oh well, maybe one day I will know what I am doing :)

Now I don't have any shows till the end of the month, but will go to some sheepdog clinics in June. Not sure that might become my second "doggy" hobby :)

I took Luke to Sarah Jenkins for a sheepdog lesson. I was so worried that he would go for the sheep, but Sarah was very impressed with him. I hope it will help me with solving some of his problems. He has crap recall, liked to chase birds, planes, cars etc. Fortunately he stopped chasing cars and planes now and since the sheepdog lesson his recall slightly improved.
He was brought up in a crate in his former home, so the moment he is let outside he tries to stay away from me as he thinks it will be his last opportunity to go out. We have little steps forward, but sometimes a few backwards. Now at least he comes back indoors, most of the time. Not always though. It can be very soul destroying when he buggers off outside to play with water and just totally switches off.
But he just loves to work. Last night I did hide some treats in the garden for him to find and he really enjoyed that. His tail was wagging nonstop. We did some simple obedience training too. Sit, flat, lefts and rights. I tried a "roll over", but he is very reluctant to lie on his back. Maybe he feels vulnerable then.
I lured him through the weaves with a treat, what I actually don't like to do, but hey ho, he was so eager to do them and not at all worried. I enjoy those moments with him, but then he suddenly seems so far away again and really worried.....

Chadiga made a few videos of Luke herding and I hopefully upload them here now, otherwise one is on YouTube :)

But, oh boy, did my calves hurt after the 1 hour session. Must be the constantly walking backwards. Wonder if it will ever get better. Had real problems walking the next days ;-)




Looks like the upload doesn't work, I just insert the Youtube link then....

Again no updates :(

I am really sorry, but I never seem to come around to update my blog on a regular basis.

Quite a few things happened. At the UKA show in Horsham, Patenden and Waverunners, Jake got a second place in Agility. Max did quite well, too, but had a few hang ups. On Sunday I actually had to put him back into a casual class again, as he had lost his confidence, again, but after that he was brilliant. he had some really good runs, I just should get my brain in gear.
Chadiga did run Jake in 2 classes, but he takes very much to leaving the ring to look for me. She ran Larkin in the casual jumping and got a clear round! Well done Chadiga :)
The show was end of April....

At the beginning of May I had entered the Shrewsbury show.
So we drove up there prepared for camping. The car was fully loaded, no inch of space left for anything.
We were very lucky with the weather. Saturday was wonderful sunny.
Jake was very good and got me 3 clear round, always too slow for placings though.
And to my utter surprise Max managed a clear round in a quite tricky Agility course. I was over the moon. With all the problem we had I didn't expect him to get a clear round. I was so happy, walking on cloud no 9....
On Sunday we had rain and I felt very tired and was basically rubbish. Never mind ;-)

We had planned to stay till Monday (bank holiday), but one of the dogs (I think) was nice enough to puncture one of the airbeds and as it was too late for a replacement we packed up and went home. I was so happy to sleep in my bed again :)

The next show was Tunbridge Wells. It was a glorious weekend weather wise... It was HOT!
Was a bit of a problem with dogs in the car, but I found a shady spot under a tree.
Jake was good again and managed 2 clear rounds. Not bad! One even turned into a placing, we managed a 16th place in the Agility class. Well done Jake.
In the jumping class the first obstacle was a tyre. All my hopes for Max vanished when I saw it, as he is scared of the tyre.
I talked to the judged, explained my problem and asked, if, in case he refuses, I can lean through the tyre to lure him.... She was very nice and said "whatever is best for your dog". To my utter surprise Max jumped through the tyre without any problems and went clear in the round. He was quite slow, which was basically my fault, but I was soooooo chuffed.

Now we are looking forward to Supadogs which will start next weekend and will end on Thursday.

I had 2 lovely training days with Toni Dawkins. She is brilliant in explaining things. Just too bad I am so terribly coordinated. Always said that my dogs need deserve better handlers ;-)

I worked with Max in the garden and tried snakes and pull throughs, as I am quite rubbish at them. I find it amazing how quickly he picks things up. He is such a clever boy.
If the weather stays dry I should practice this really every day just for a few minutes, plus some weaves to get used to some awkward weave entries....

That's for now, let's see if it takes me another 6 weeks before I have the next update :-O

Again no updates :(

Max's Birthday

Today is Max's birthday. Well, at least we decided it is today, as nobody knows for sure.
We adopted him in October and he was about half a year, so we decided that his birthday was 6 month before we adopted him....

He had a lovely long walk today and now is happily chewing a bone.
He grew into a lovely and handsome dog. Not that I am biased at all ;)

He was found at the age of 4 month wandering the roads of Ireland, full or worms and terribly scared. He was brought over to Wiccaweys, where he went into a foster home.
I fell in love with his picture on the Wiccs website, but when we went up for a weekend to help, I was told that people where coming to meet him. So at least I had the chance to meet Max in the flesh....
He was a very scared puppy when we met and immediately attached himself to me.
The people who were thinking of adopting him then decided he is not the right dog for their circumstances....
So I was asked to look after him for the afternoon.....
And I just couldn't imagine to let go of him after that....
There was just the problem to convince Sarah and Paul, that I am the right home for him...

Well, the rest is history. he came home with us and I never regretted it. He is a lovely, but very sensitive dog. I have to be careful how to work with him, as he is easily shattered and so is his confidence...
Agility gave his confidence a real boost, if I teach him gently....

Here are some recent pictures of my handsome boy :)





His first rosette for a 3rd place in a UKA casual class (he didn't even went clear..... oops, but nice nevertheless :)
)

A picture of my garden on Sunday and a picture of Robbie in the snow...

The weeks passing by

The weekend before last I took Max and Jake to South Eastern Agility Show.
I was a bit fed up with Jake and his nonstop barking in the ring, so I decieded to run Max instead. As it was an unaffiliated show and we had no chance of winning anything, I thought nobody would mind.
We did the jumping and he did it very well except for the last obstacle, which was the tire. he just ran underneath.
In the Agility course he knocked a pole and ran underneath one jump, but he did the course wonderfully and his contacts were brilliant.

I then went home to fetch Chadiga and she ran Jake in the Accumulator to get used to running him and vice versa. Whereas I ran Max in the Grade 1-7 Agility. Max was fabulous, he flew over the obstacles, got all the turns and did all I asked him to do. The second last obstacle was a seesaw and when he was on the pivot point he slipped and fell off. Poor him. It didn't put him off though and we finished the course. He would have gone clear if he hadn't fallen off. He was such star.

As we encountered so many tires in courses recently I asked Leah to do some tire training at classes.
Max was truly worried about them.
I was stupid enough to force him through the tire and the result was he hid in the tunnel and lost all fun in Agility. I could have kicked myself.
In the evening class there was another tire in the course and though I could lure him through he seemed to have lost the spark in general.

Friday morning the boys and I set off early to go to the UKA Scrambles show in Walton on Thames.
I had entered Jake, Max and Larkin. Max only in casual classes in Larkin just in nursery classes as a little motivation push for Chadiga.
First was Max's casual jumping. He wasn't really focused, but nor was I and we got 10 faults.....
Just nearly everybody else got eliminated. Was a baby class after all....
10 minutes later we had to re-run as they forgot to take our time, this time we were better, but slower....
Anyway, we got a 3rd place for this! (I call it lack of competition :) )

Then was Jake's class, first the Steeplechase.
And he was brilliant, we got a clear round!
I put Max in the same class but then the disaster began.... He started running under the jumps.... I was devastated....
And it is my own fault... I can only hope that it was because he was so tired and that I didn't put him off Agility again and destroyed his confidence. I am so stupid!
He did the same in the jumping class, so I took him out and didn't do any other classes.
Jake was too interested in the kids while in the jumping class, as they waited ringside with Max, but got a clear in the Agility.
We were to slow for placing, as usual..... ;-)

The boys were really helpful in looking after the dogs while I was running and comforting me ;)

Chadiga had to go to school and so couldn't even run Larkin!

I couldn't attend the show on Saturday but tried to go back on Sunday, while on the M25 we were surprised by heavy snowfall
and were sitting on the motorway. So I decided to go back home, which took us 2 hours. When we came home I was so tired that I didn't feel like doing anything else. The boys went outside for a few ours and lots of snowball fights.

Today it is back to work. But we went for nice walk in the morning and I took some nice dogs/snow pictures.... hopefully ;)

Terrible Weather

Today it seems raining nonstop....
Horrible weather.
I am looking forward to the UKA show in a weeks time. Max's first show. I am really excited in how he will do. He will do 2 classes in standard height to start with...
In the coming shows he will do normal height. At classes he is doing "his" normal height nearly all the time, unless the turns are very tight.

Last Weekend was Easter Celebration Show. I had entered Jake. The weather was terrible. Snow, hail, rain and very, very cold.... I was frozen when I came home.
I only did one run and passed the others on to Chadiga.
She did quite well, though Jake kept looking for me and even left the ring once, to look for me. Cheeky sausage!

Here is a video of one of her runs.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyaeEtwt-YY

Sorry, cannot get the link to work :(

Mid Downs Show

Yesterday I went to Mid Downs show to help with a ring party. The show was only for Grade 3 and above, so I couldn't enter.
It was awesome to watch some of the higher grades.
We were very lucky with the weather. But I was sooo tired when I came home, especially as I didn't sleep very well the night before. No, not because of nerves, that would be rather silly ;)
But somebody rang me at 1 am, then my neighbour let his dogs out at 3 am and then at 5 mine woke me up, so I took them for a walk. The result was that I was at the show rather early and was shattered when I came back home.
I took some pictures with my new camera, but wasn't impressed about the quality... I hope I will improve :(((

Today we had a very quiet day, especially as it was raining nonstop...

More interesting

I would like to make this more interesting. Find the layout a bit boring. So if anybody has any suggestions, in case anybody ever reads this ;-)
Thanks!

I am so bad.......

I m really bad in updating this, but time seems to fly by.

I had few really good 1:1 sessions with Nancy to help to sort out Max's jumping problem.
In the end, it seems it is really my problem.... Surprise, surprise. As he is such a sensitive dog he seemed to have picked up on my frustration immediately. Which then took away his confidence (easily done with him) and he shut down and usually went off for his contacts or rolled on the floor.
Now, with Nancy's help, I practice little tricks and routines while at class, to keep him focused and get him into work mode, beside giving him lots of positive reinforcement.
And it is wonderful to watch him, he seems so much happier now. His tail is wagging nonstop in class. Everybody else must think I am mad, letting him to "roll overs" and "eights", but as long as it keeps him happy. Now he seems much more confident and we slowly seem to get there.... (Wherever that is ;-) )

My first show will be Easter Celebration, but I only entered that with Jake. Max's first show will be the UKA Scrambles....

Junus started now to take Nina to Agility classes while Noah takes Robbie.
I m quite impressed with Junus. He really wants to work with Nina and though she is bit shy, he puts in so much effort and doesn't even mind to go all silly to get her attention. I offered him to run Max at a few shows, where he can try him in Junior or jumping classes. Junus seems quiet and understanding enough, not to upset Max.

Max and I worked on a "startline routine". The point hopefully is, that I get him into position at the startline, he starts focusing on me and does it because he wants to (Thanks Nancy :) )

I bought a new camera, full of hope the pictures of my dogs will get any better, but when I took it out last week pictures were very similar to before. Now I have to get my head around photography, as I have no idea about these things.

Today I am ring partying with Bridge House at Mid Downs and I might take my camera and give it a try.

I try not to leave so much time between the postings..... There is always hope ;-)

Wednesday, 6th of February

I haven't written anything for a long time. Bad blogger me! Time just seems to fly by. It is already February. In 2 days time is Noah's birthday and I haven't prepared anything. Wanted to do it yesterday, but with the weather being so bad I didn't feel like going anywhere.

I took Max to the Chiropratic practice yesterday and they said there is nothing major wrong with him, preventing him from jumping.
I had a lovely private session with Nancy last with. Max was so happy afterwards as it was such a positive experience. He did really well.
It is just not easy to keep up in the regular training.

Depending how the training goes I am really torn between "year, we will get there" and "why do I bother".
Even if the dogs are excellent, then it is me messing everything up because I cannot focus or in general can't concentrate very well....

Now the boys show interest in Agility as well, but you never know how long it will last. Junus took now on to train with Nina, just general obedience stuff and perfecting the "elephant trick" Nancy showed us. Nina is a clever girl and very rewarding to teach.
I am contemplating now to let Junus start with her in Agility. But it is always hard to find a beginners course, or maybe start private lessons for him? Not really sure what to do.
Maybe it would get Chadiga motivated as well, as she goes to her Agility lessons with Larkin, but outside of lessons, she doesn't do an awful lot, which can be frustrating from my point of view. Maybe I should try different tactics of motivation.
I was thinking of taking them to the WAG show and let them run Jake. Maybe Chadiga doing the Agility and let Junus do the jumping???

Sometimes it would help to have somebody to talk to and share all those difficult decisions ;-)

Today it seems to be sunny, but that might change..... Would be nice to have a few dry days, we might even be able to use the garden again :))

I fenced a part of the garden off, which is very muddy and which is just outside the back door. Now the dogs took to jump the fencing :-s and are still in the mud :( Dogs, eh???

I wish I had more equipment, then I could do much more, if my garden ever recovers....

Oh well, better take the mutts out now, as long as the sun shines :)