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....