Which Way Now Tom Tom

West Wittering Beach October 2011

2011-12-01T16:51:00.003Z

The 'Bananas'

'Come on in the water's lovely'

'Look Mum I can lick my own nose'

Whatever was up there was obviously more exciting for the dogs than Jo.
How many dogs can you see, I thought there was only four :)

Where has that 10 months gone?!

2011-11-30T17:00:00.000Z

Tyler is now 10 months old and continues to grow upwards but not outwards much.

I've not done much agility training with him past a 6 week puppy course where we started contacts, going on to a toy and running through realy wide channel weaves to a toy. I have also taken him on 5 foundation workshops, 3 were excellent, 1 was good but a bit advanced I think and 1 was not so good but the thing I have learned is that everyone has a different idea of what is puppy foundation :)

The 3 that were excellent were what my idea of foundation work is, lots of play with some waits, tunnels and more play and helping your puppy understand what you want it to do. They were great fun for everyone and the puppies weren't asked to do too much so had time to rest and take it in between exercises.

He's now got to the 'teenage' stage and can be a bit naughty sometimes with his recall and Tom and Suzi get a bit fed up with him and try to tell him to calm down which just makes him worse but all in all they get on really well and make a good little group.

This is my favourite picture of him at the moment, it was taken when we were on holiday on October and he was having fun with his mates the 'bananas'.

Long overdue update

2011-06-07T12:37:00.002+01:00

I love training Tom and he works like a dream doing everything really well but we just can't seem to transfer that to shows, I'm not sure what we are doing differently except that at training he does sometimes bark when other dogs are working. Normally at shows I try not to let him just bark when queueing as it's a pet hate of mine but I've been trying to encourage him to do it to see if this could be the trigger for him to work as well as he does at training.

Not sure how successful this has been as we have had some clear, but not very fast, rounds and also some faster but sniffy rounds. I've also tried to stop saying ready, ready, ready on the start line as I've now realised that when I throw his ball with the chuckit I shout ready, ready, ready and he starts running before I throw the ball so I think it may be a bit unfair to expect him to wait in the ring while saying the same thing. He does wait but his head goes down and he tries to avoid looking at me, I can't believe it's taken me so long to realise this, poor Tom no wonder he does his sniffy evasion thing when I'm giving him such mixed messages.

The last run of the day at Keston on Sunday was our best for a long time, everything seemed to come together like it does at training and I didn't have to get over excited and shouty in the weaves to keep his nose up. We didn't get placed but we weren't that far off the winner and creeping slightly on the seesaw and a couple of wide turns accounted for that but it felt great.

I'm not counting my chickens and next weekend I'm sure will be full of challenges but I'm looking forward to it anyway.

Tyler continues to be a real pleasure to have and is a real cuddle monster, he loves people and dogs but I was glad that Nancy & Andy were parked near me at the weekend as I had to ask Andy if Becky could reassure him after a load of collies charged their garden fence barking at him. Becky was so sweet with him and it made a huge difference. It was my fault as I just wasn't concentrating after a long day ring partying and just wanted to get back to caravan but should have seen what was going to happen.

I can't believe he's four months now and is starting to look like an adult rather than a puppy but his ears are a worry as they seem to move around his head and at the moment are sticking out at right angles, I'm massaging them like mad into the right position but I have a feeling I may end up with a wing nut :) He's also discovered his voice and may actually out bark the shelties we know!

He starts basic obedience training on 23rd June and although he does most of what we will be learning I'm hoping that it's another string to his bow but will be assessing the other dogs when we get there to make sure I don't undo all the good socialising we've done up to now.

Godmanchester 2011 - photos

2011-05-24T12:43:00.002+01:00

These beautiful photos were taken by Steven Bull.

Tyler - Gotta Move to be Smooth

2011-05-11T16:52:00.005+01:00

Tyler arrived on 20th March and it was as if he'd always lived here, he's settled in so well and although the other two took a while they now play with him all the time and toys fly in all directions.

So much has happened so I'll just post pictures :)

The first time I saw him - typical man didn't do much other than eat, sleep and poo!

The day he came home - straight on Dad's chair.

Half the size of Suzi! - they are now the same size.

These were all taken in the first week.

He's been camping three times which he loves and will be able to walk round the rings at BATS where he'll be able to watch the agility.

I'll try and be a bit better at updating my blog.

New addition.....

2011-01-31T13:03:00.002Z

the patter of tiny pawsteps will be heard in the Kingswood household soon :)

Jeanette Tandy's Border Terrier Billie gave birth to 8 puppies yesterday and all being well one of the little boys will be coming home to join the clan towards the beginning of April. I'm so excited but have no other info other than that she had 6 girls and 2 boys and that everything was going well last night when Jeanette phoned me but I know that it's still very early so I'm not buying anything yet.

Once I get some photos I'll post them on here.

Quick snow post

2010-12-02T12:09:00.003Z

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

Tom & Suzi by Karl Pitwon

2010-10-30T14:16:00.002+01:00

Louandi Show 24/10/10

2010-10-27T17:50:00.002+01:00

I didn't get Tom's first run on video but I wish I had as it was great and he would have come 7th but they only placed to 6th and that was against all the large dogs. I think he was also the fastest small/medium in that class.

His next agility run wouldn't have been bad either if I hadn't put him in the wronng end of the tunnel as you can plainly see below. If it wasn't on film I would have been convinced that I hadn't flung my arm out. The bit after the dog walk was him going to have a look at the number for some reason which was straight in front of him.

Walks with my dogs - Shoreham Woods

2010-10-17T17:07:00.017+01:00

This is a good walk but really muddy in the winter so not one we do much between November and February unless the ground is really frozen. I don't park in the public carpark but in the layby at the top of Polhill by the now closed Polhill Arms pub and take the bridleway around the back of the pub and across the M25 via the really high footbridge. It takes about an hour and once you are through the woods the views across Shoreham and back towards Sevenoaks are lovely. Once across the bridge I turn left and walk through the woods until it opens up and there is a field with a stile in the corner and follow the path diagonally across admiring the views on the way down plus trying to prevent Suzi from rolling in the sheep poo that always seems really fresh but I've never actually seen any sheep in the field ever. Unfortunatley today was not a good day for stopping her and this is what she looked like after I had taken the picture above. In the far corner of the field there is another stile and a path that follows the valley and overlooks the village of Shoreham and eventually passes just above the white cross carved into the hill in honour of villagers lost in WW1. If you follow this path until you get to a gate you can turn left just after it and follow the path back to the motorway bridge and back to the car. The trees are taking ages to change colour so hopefully we'll get some frost soon which may encourage them a bit as I would love to take some pictures across the valley showing all the gorgeous colours. Took a few piccies of Tom looking as handsome as ever. Plus one quenching his thirst after eating some horse poo (what lovely dogs I have)

Went to a training session with Mac & Wendy Card yesterday, it was just for small dogs and was great fun, everyone enjoyed themselves enormously and even more so when the home made cakes came out at half time.

To start with Mac and Wendy wanted us to run a complete course so they could get some idea of how we and our dogs ran. The video below is our first run and ignoring the obviously crap handling out of the tunnel see if you can see the other glaring mistake.

Tom is really creeping his dog walk at the moment so at a suggestion from Wendy I have started using his target lid again but it's now placed further away from the contact to encourage him to run through before stopping. I know it was only one session but it really seemed to work so I will be using it all this winter and we will see where we go into next season.

Dogs in Need

2010-08-23T15:21:00.004+01:00

This was my first DIN as I've never been able to bare the thought of spending a week in my old campervan but now I have my super dooper caravan so I thought why not.

I have to say I loved the show and just two runs a day suited me as it meant I had time to just chill out with my dogs and read loads of books and drink a few G&Ts.

I didn't have any places but Tom only sniffed once in the ring and got 2 clear rounds the other rounds were things I did wrong as he worked really hard for me and Suzi was clear and in time in all her jumping rounds.

I've also come to a decision about my next dog!

I also promised myself that I would update my blog more.

Here are a few pictures that I took during the week.

New addition to the Kingswood household

2010-04-15T10:47:00.002+01:00

No not a new dog (yet) but a new to me caravan.

I hadn't noticed that Suzi was in the picture until I downloaded them but she seems to approve but Tom needs to learn how to use the step and not keep launching himself over it and nearly missing the doorway.

It's a Mardon Saffron and and the layout means I can leave a bed made up at the back if I want so no more making the bed up and finding that I need to get something out of the fridge like the campervan.

I'm very excited as you can imagine and can't wait for our maiden voyage to Colchester at the beginning of May.

Mid Downs and such like

2010-03-09T13:11:00.003Z

I have to say I enjoyed Mid Downs even though I came home with 3 Es and one 5 faults, both dogs worked exceedingly well and Suzi even got her dog walk. She was so excited about being back at shows that I was left standing at the start of her agility and had to do a mad dash to catch her, she flew round with much more enthusiasm than I have seen for ages, the seesaw was her downfall as it didn't tip when she thought it was going to and her momentum slid her off the side but she charged back up it and finished the course. Tom was not at all sniffy looked as if he was really enjoying himself in both agility and jumping, our downfall was having to turn sharply from a fast straight line as he powers on and doesn't always here my panicy commands of 'Tom, TOM, TOOOOMMMM'. Suzi, once again, flew round the jumping course and if I hadn't got over excited, and tried to get somewhere too soon thus pulling her into the wrong end of the tunnel, would have got a lovely clear round.

The van has been gone so I'm now looking in ernest for a caravan, seen a really nice one but it's over my budget so I'm either going to have to do some haggling, not my strong point, or try and find some more money from somewhere or keep looking. My first caming show is the beginning of May but that will come round so quickly that I have a feeling I wont have found anything by then.

I went for a lesson with Leah at her new outdoor paddock last night, my first thought was 'what a nice place to be able to train', my second was 'God that equipment is spread out'. We worked on Tom turning off a straight line (must remember that he actually knows right & left and use it at shows), going on, and me cutting corners slightly without him coming in to me. I had to do lots of running!
I was so pleased with him as the temptation of sheep poo was very strong but he didn't even attempt to stop while he was was working and if he did wander he came back as soon as I called him let's hope this bodes well as Spring at Shuttleworth usually has sheep poo in the rings.

I'm supposed to be doing Chippenham and Downlands but I now have to go to Boulder, Colorado for work on 20th so will miss both of them :(

New plans

2010-03-02T13:54:00.002Z

I've decided that my campervan is no longer big enough for agility shows, and that's with one less dog, so I'm selling it and looking at caravans. I would love a brand new one but know this is impossible so it's 2nd hand here I come. I don't need anything huge as even the smallest ones seem to have 4 times more storage space than the van and even a loo which is really my main reason for changing, plus the extra cost of insurance, tax and MOT of having basically two cars. The van is on ebay so hopefully I'll be able to start looking in earnest for a caravan very soon. I can't believe that once I used to say that I would only do one show a month, then only one day a weekend and I would never camp!

My diet is going well but the need for new clothes is looming so more expense, lets hope the van gets people's interest and really brings home the bacon.

Tom's training is still going well with less and less sniffing but we have the big test this weekend at Ardingly, indoors in a riding school that has been used all winter for show jumping so will no doubt be very interesting. I'm taking Suzi and will enjoy running her but however positive I am I really think that contacts may be our downfall :)

Catch up time - sorry no piccies or video

2010-02-02T10:41:00.003Z

I have loads of photos and video but my laptop is currently refusing to download it so I'm using this as a sign that I need a new one with more memory and a bigger hard drive hopefully I will then be able to add some of the stuff I've got.

Tom's training is coming on well after the Christmas break with sniffing at a minimum especially when I'm able to see the signs and get a call in to get his attention back. I'm continuing to use a target at the bottom of the dog walk, sometimes with a treat and sometimes without. If it's there we get good speed to the contact and he hits and stops but if it isn't he still creeps down, at my first show I'm going to try and get him looking while I walk the course and pretend to put something there hopefully he's as clever as I think and will remember me bending down.

A bitter sweet development of losing Dudley is that Tom is turning into a real Mummy's boy, he's got much more cuddly and appears to want to be with me more than before rather than playing with other dogs. I would never have wanted to not have Dudley but am taking advantage of this with Tom as he is much more interested in where I am at training than what the other dogs are doing and Wendy has pointed out that he watches me all the time when I'm walking courses etc. I'm actually really enjoying this as Duds was always one for everyone else and would forsake me for someone else without a backward glance and am seriously wondering about putting off having another dog until 2011 rather than the end of this year as planned. I will wait and see what happens this summer.

Count down to Boot Camp

2010-01-12T16:24:00.002Z

I've decided that I need to lose weight for Boot Camp and the coming season and have even added a diet ticker to my blog.

I'd like to lose 3 stone so I can get up and down that steep hill to exercise the dogs :)

New Flip video camera

2009-12-21T20:53:00.003Z

My Christmas present to myself arrived today and I thought I'd have a play and see what happens. It's very easy to use and comes with software that uploads when you plug it in to the usb. You can edit it and add titles and music, the only thing I would say is that the videos seem to be huge this one was 4mb before I added anything to it, I added some titles and music and it went to 36mb!

Putting it on here has lost some of the quality but on facebook it looks quite good.

Walking in a winter wonderland

2009-12-18T16:45:00.006Z

Woke up to loads of snow this morning and it doesn't matter how old I get seeing snow when I pull back the curtains always makes me very excited.

Luckily Tom had his new coat so after wrapping both of us up nice and warm we set off for the local rec then walked through the woods to Dad's.

Dudley used to love the snow so it was bitter sweet today BUT he never got snow balls like Tom does, poor little lad was so funny trying to walk with great big clumps of snow hanging round his legs. When I was getting them off he even had them hanging from his little boy bit.

Bits and bobs

2009-11-25T13:31:00.002Z

Lots of training since my last post plus Tom and I went to the New Forest for a week. I was really nice to get away and just chill out plus we had a couple of lessons with Lesley Olden while we were there.

I didn't get loads of photos as I forgot to take the camera to the beach the day we went to Poole needless to say I missed some really cracking shots of Tom especially the one when I thought I'd lost him and he was in fact at the top of some steps up to some beach huts with the cheekiest look on his face.

He's also been to see Julia at Galen Myotherapy and has been given a clean bill of health which is brillient especially with his patellas which is more that I have, I mentioned that I had a stiff neck and she had a prod at me and said is was my shoulder causing the problem and that I need to get sorted out before my shoulder freezes completely. No wonder I've been struggling to pick up the equipment at training :)

Downright bloody naughty!

2009-11-05T13:44:00.002Z

Not sure what got into Tom last night, apart from perhaps the devil, but at training he was not sniffy just very naughty. He ran around the arena completely ignoring me, Mac and anyone else that tried to catch him. Ran through the tunnel looked at me then ran off again, ran up the dogwalk did a perfect contact (right to the end two on two off) ran off again. In despair I just walked out of the school he ran from one end to the other to follow me out then ran around outside in the dark. I came back in and sat in the corner, he ran in looking around for me then after spotting me came dashing over and looked at me as if I'd been cruel to him by leaving him out in the dark at which point I gave up on the agility.

Shropshire, Shrewsbury Show & Training days

2009-11-01T19:06:00.008Z

SHROPSHIRE

Last weekend some friends and I rented a cottage in Shropshire so we could go to Shrewsbury show and have a few days away at the same time.

I wont go into the journeys to and from the cottage but the rest of the weekend was great. The cottage was small but big enough for 4 adults and 7 dogs, luckily the dogs were all small ones though.

Saturday was show day but I'll come back to that.

On Sunday we decided to take the dogs for a walk and then go on to Powys Castle so set off on a very windy day with Tania map reading and found our way to wind blasted hill top with a stone circle. The dogs had a whale of a time and didn't seem to notice the wind even when we climbed up to a stone cairn for a photo shoot except Tom who I think regretted that he hadn't used extra hold hair gel.

After the walk we went on into Wales and Powys Castle where we wandered round the gardens which looked lovely with all the autumn colours but stupidly I left my camera in the car.

By Monday the wind had dropped and Tania and I looked a the map, while her hubby Steve wasn't looking, and decided to walk in a wood that had mountain bike tracks running though it. When we got there we looked at the map on the board and choice the yellow route which was supposed to be the one for cyclists that hadn't done much and 5kms in length. We set off with all 7 dogs, including Bracken who is 85 years old in human terms, and climbed and climbed and climbed until we started to wonder if we would ever go down hill again. The views were amazing and the track well signposted but I think it could have been a bit more than 5kms and we seemed to go up hill more than down and towards the end we decided to take our own route as even the dogs were starting to flag an poor Bracken had to be carried up the steepest bits :)

The weekend was very relaxing and enjoyable even if a bit hilly with good food, good wine and good company.

SHREWSBURY SHOW

Saturday dawned wet and windy but mild and off we set to the showground at Oswestry for the Shrewsbury Small and Medium Show which was about 45 minutes away. I really enjoyed the show and not just because there were only very few large dogs there and even with the huge sheltie contingency it wasn't very noisy. Tom's first class was combined 1-3 jumping and I was able to get into the queue early and run him without hanging around for too long. The course wasn't tricky so I was quite relaxed and was very pleased to get a clear round but as I thought the scoring was being done somewhere else I didn't check his time or anything and thought it felt quite slow it wasn't until I went to run his graded jumping that I realised they were scoring at the ring. This round went completely tits up with Tom sniffing in the weaves and then doing his own thing in the middle of the course but there were some really good bits that encouraged me to think that we might do better in the agility. I decided to check Tom's time in the jumping and after checking the score sheet I realised that he was on top of the clear round pile but as I thought it wasn't very fast I thought it was the out of the places one but the scorer pointed out that he was winning by 2 seconds which was a bit of a shock.

All three of Suzi's classes happened at the same time so I was rushing about like a loony and missed my presentation for Tom's class but ran across the whole of the showground with poor Suz dragging behind and arrived puffing and panting just in time to get my rosette from the judge. As it was wet Suzi was not overly keen on running but after getting an E in the pairs she got 2 clears in her jumping classes but agility proved too much and after getting her dog walk contact she suddenly started choking and retching, she sometimes gets a soft pallette thing so I wasn't overly worried and after picking her up and carrying her out she was fine.

Lunchtime came and the wind and rain picked up to such an extent that I was seriously thinking of not doing Tom's final run but I'm really glad I did as he flew round without creeping his dog walk contact or sniffing in the weaves and went into the lead of the grade 3s then I had to wait until the end of the class which was a bit nerve racking to say the least but he stayed there and will start next season as a grade 4.

TRAINING DAYS

Over the last fews weeks I've done 2 training days, one at Colchester with Lee Windeatt where we worked on obstacle discrimination and one today with Nancy and Andy (or should I say Anton du) Hudson. Both were really enjoyable and very informative and I know that I've picked up some good tips from all the instructors and hope that I haven't frustrated them too much.

At Colchester Tom struggled a bit with his weaves but there was a tunnel mouth right at the start of them, he didn't go into the tunnel but would only go in the 3rd/4th weave but once the tunnel was moved he went straight in, not sure what was going through his mind there but the rest of the course was good and he didn't falter with the tunnel under the A frame. I really enjoy Lee's courses as he makes them such fun and has a wicked sense of humour.

Today's course was just for small dogs and except for when the border terriers were running it was quite quiet. Nancy was doing the agility side and really made us realise the importance of consistency when training and working our contacts. All of the dogs in my group had the same sort of problems with contacts so we all got loads out of watching the others and I'm really going to try and be consistent with what I do with Tom, honest.

We did jumping and weave entries with Andy and although Tom was very sniffy during this session when he did work he achieved some stuff that I didn't think he would but it made me realise that I really have to work on pull throughs and not just hope he gets them so this winter it will be contacts and pull throughs. I would like to get him doing the without me having to actually go through the gap to get him through, Oh that he would do pull throughs like Wendy Card's Gem.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the course and I'm sure they all went home with something to think about.

Wanted

2009-10-13T11:51:00.002+01:00

I'm not usually one to write my own blog entries, after all I am a dog, BUT I just felt that I had to come on and put a request on for a new handler.

Despite all my training and time spent trying to make her understand that she needs to get her timing sorted out she insists on handling me as if she's never been told how to do things (and I've heard Mac tell her the same thing for the last three weeks so know this isn't true) She knows that running to things and then waiting for me then running off doesn't work but she still does it WHY? She knows that if she gets ahead of me I just have to put my nose down and have a sniff but she still does it WHY?

Plus how can she expect me to do my weaves when she puts her big behind right in the way so I can't even see the weaves let alone go in them.

So please, please someone come and take over from her she is truely bad no wonder Dudley used to bite her ankles all the time.

Bits and bobs

2009-10-07T10:16:00.002+01:00

Thought I'd better up date my blog as it's been nearly a month.

Tom's training is going well and I'm finding that I'm pushing him a bit more to achieve weave entries and contacts, this doesn't always work but things are definately improving and if I could get my timing a bit better I think the sniffing may decrease too.

At Suffolk Five Rivers he got 6th place in both his agility classes, I was very pleased with this I know where we lost time and hopefully working over the winter I can speed up his contacts. His jumping classes were at the end of the day and I think that I queued for too long with him as he was extra sniffy in both.

I've booked a holiday in the New Forest so we are going to chill out and have lots of walks and I've even booked a couple of private agility lessons so it's going to be fun. With luck I will come back relaxed and ready for anything. This will be the first holiday I've had since 2005, I don't include agility shows as holidays and they seem to fill up the stress glass most of the time :)

Suzi has had her dew claws removed as they used to grow really quickly and curl right round, Dad came down one day to find her with a claw caught in her collar which made us make up our mind to do it. At the vet they said that she might take a while to heal properly but it's only been just over a week and you can hardly see where they had been and if she wasn't bald there you wouldn't know at all. The only side effect is that when she tries to hump Tom she slides off as I think she used these claws to really hold on. Tom doesn't mind this side effect but I think it frustrates her :)

I'm are off to Shrewsbury show at the end of the month which is my last KC show of the year, at the moment. A friend and I have rented a cottage that will allow 7 dogs so we are making a weekend of it.

I have some training clinics coming up too so will try and get someone to take some pictures.

The Summer Show and Prestbury Park

2009-09-09T10:16:00.002+01:00

I'm actually not coping as well as I thought as since last week I've done nothing but cry but I'm hoping that it could be just hormones.

After talking to people I decided to go to the Summer Show at Ely with just Tom and was lucky that someone saved me a really nice camping spot as I couldn't get there until the Friday night. Tom loves camping and was very excited when we got there and took a while to settle down to sleep but by Saturday morning he was back to as normal as he ever is :)

We were there for three days and I'd entered him in two runs a day and going from three dogs to one, Suzi stayed at home, was weird and quite relaxing. Tom worked his little socks off all weekend and although we had 4 Es and 1 5 faults he got a 2nd in his grade 3 agility. The Es were mainly problems with him powering away from obstacles and missing the next thing which to me is something we can work on as I don't want to stop him going on I just need to get my timing better in getting a call him.

Prestbury Park is a lovely venue with the only problem being that the people going to the polo didn't think speed limits were meant for them and huge horse lorries thundering through the camping was a bit of a shock but to be fair it was only for one day and only in the afternoon. It was so quiet in the evenings, you couldn't hear any traffic at all shame it wasn't a bit warmer so we could sit outside and take advantage of the peace.

Suzi stayed at home again as camping is not her thing so it was just me and Tom again, we had 3 runs a day with one agility and two jumping on Saturday and two agility and one jumping on Sunday. On both days Tom got a clear in his 1-4 jumping but not quick enough for a place, I think on Sunday he might have been if he hadn't gone for a quick sniff. His contacts and weaves were really good except for one class when the weaves were the 2nd thing and he just wouldn't go in to them but I think this may have been because I raced him to them rather than sending him ahead of me.

I've decided that while I will get another dog it wont be until late next year so Tom will be an only dog for a while and I'm hoping this is going to be a good thing for him as he wont be competing for my attention, although he always got as much if not more than Dudley but I think he thought he didn't.

We are back at training after the summer break and I have some plans on how to get Tom and Suzi's contacts more consistent and I'm planning on getting some video to put on here.

Dudley's stone

2009-09-07T12:27:00.004+01:00

A very kind friend sent me this touching present as a permanent reminder of Dudley, I was overwhelmed when I received it as we've only ever met over the internet which just goes to show you can have a proper virtual friendship.

Dudley 21/7/01 to 22/08/09

2009-08-22T21:02:00.003+01:00

I'm so heartbroken at the moment, my darling Dudley died earlier this evening and I don't know what to do. I feel so guilty as he got run over and I should have known where he was but I didn't. A very kind man took him to the vet but he was already dead when he got there, I went to see him and was able to say goodbye but I just want him here now with me and Tom.

Happy Birthday Tom

2009-08-18T12:08:00.004+01:00

He's 3 and probably driving Dad mad barking at the workman there today.

I suppose that'll teach me

2009-08-06T10:56:00.002+01:00

At the DARL finals all the finalists got a bag of Supadog Active which was very generous of the sponsors. Mine's been sitting around since then as I don't feed my dogs that brand but last night I decided to mix it in with what was in the feed bin so chucked it in and swirled it all around and then gave it to the boys for dinner, they seemed to like it but within 10 minutes Tom was practically bouncing off the walls and when we went to bed spent 20 minutes jumping on the bed like a trampoline.

Now I read the ingredients and looked at the protein levels and really thought it would be fine but perhaps I should have known better seeing the different colours used. I'm sure there is nothing wrong with the food and I know lots of people feed it to their dogs and to be fair Dudley was totally unaffected but it's obviously not the right thing for Tom so now I've got to buy another bag of Burns for Tom and just let Dudley finish what's in the bin as I'm not going to sift through the whole lot.

If anyone does feed their dogs Supadogs Active I have another small bag going for nothing.

All quiet on the Western Front

2009-07-29T10:41:00.003+01:00

Not really very much happening at the moment, we didn't go to a show at the weekend as the closest was Agility Club and as the classes weren't very good for my dogs this year I gave it a miss and just had a weekend of chilling out.

Dudley was very funny at the weekend when we met a woman and her three collies in the wood, I was hanging back as I didn't really want to catch her up but she waited for me so I thought it would be rude not to walk with her but did warn her that Duds can be a protective of Tom and as she had a young dog who was really in your face I thought I might be diving in to retrieve him. To start with the youngster kept poking Dudley with his foot which he was not impressed by and kept going all stiff legged with his tail straight up and grumbling but the collie was persistant and unfazed and just kept coming back for more (to me that shows some collies aren't the sharpest tool in the box!)I have to say the towards the end of the walk he must have worn Dudley down because the next thing I knew Dudley was rolling about with this dog as if they'd known each other all their lives and he and Tom played chase with it for ages.

It's the last training night until September tonight and after this weekend no shows for three weeks so the dogs get a complete break from agility for a while, I always try to give them August off as the season is so long and I think a break does them good so lots of long walks and chilling out.

SHOCK NEWS JUST IN

I hear that Crocs have gone into administration :(

Happy Birthday Dudley Doo

2009-07-21T10:51:00.000+01:00

Can't believe that he's 8 today, where has the time gone.

Newlands

2009-07-19T20:00:00.003+01:00

One of my favourite shows and as usual I really enjoyed it with some nice courses even if 2 sets of 6 weaves parallel to each in Dudley's agility class was a bit of a worry and even though he found what I think was a squashed fox poo half way round which made him go at zero mph I still quite enjoyed it.

Suzi got a nice clear round in 3-5 jumping but was very slow through the weaves so we didn't get in the places but she enjoyed herself I think. Tom ran really well but ran straight past the weaves but came back and did them and finished well without sniffing.

Now to agility which as you can see had a right angle weave entry that caused a lot of discussion as we walked it :)

Suzi was the first to attempt it and if she hadn't missed her dog walk by 2 slats above the contact she would have gone clear and her time would have been good enough for a place so not too bad.

Then it was time for Tom who sat on the start line and went when I said 'OK' so good start, whizzed up he first line into the tunnel and straight up the seesaw, I crossed behind him at the next jump then sent him up the dog walk while I ran really wide to I could get past 13. He was a bit slow down to the contact and took two attempts at 'go' for him to move then over 13 and a slightly panicy 'Tom, weave' straight in kept going 'OMG we could do this', wrong end of tunnel faffy call time wasted, down the line to the finish still clear, over the A frame jumped off quite high but got it over the finish and we were clear and not only that he came 3RD.

Came home with 1 E, 1 10 faults, 1 5 faults, 1 clear, 1 10th place and a 3rd and it didn't rain until right at the end and we were waiting for the last presentations.

Big catchup required

2009-07-13T10:15:00.001+01:00

that'll teach me to leave it so long.

Agility Boot Camp

2009-07-13T10:00:00.000+01:00

Not as tough as it sounds with no pressups, no route marches and no compulsary head shaving but still hard work and really great fun.

Leah and Nancy had put an enormous amount of work in to organising the weekend and I would really like to say THANKS and I can't wait to do it all over again.

There were 2 rings set up, one for jumping and one for agility and each day they had a different course for us to work which I thought was a brillant idea as neither the handlers or the dogs got bored or complacent. We did a lot of work on tightening up our turns and also on getting the dog to go on to jumps away from us and not keep looking back or twiddling which helps a the finish when you've just about had it. I'm lucky that Tom has always done this very well but it was nice to do some extra stuff to reinforce it. I would be impossible to put everything down here and not have a post that's 10 pages long so I'm not going to but I had a great time and the venue and instruction where second to none.

It was nice to be able to chill out with my dogs and just do nothing but read books in between the training and I'm glad that I didn't book to do the extra clinics too as I think it would have given Tom major overload and probably undone all the we had learned.

On pooped participant.

Leah & Nancy taking a break with their puppies.

I want one of these!

and just because I liked this picture.

2009-07-13T09:55:00.000+01:00

Just a quick question for you - which one of the courses below would you say was the G1-4 and which one the G5-7?

2009-06-02T12:49:00.000+01:00

Woo Hoo I'm off to agility boot camp - really looking forward to it but sorry that people have had to pull out due to injuries.

I'm also going slightly senile I think - I got to training last night, opened the car and realised I'd left Suzi behind luckily I had Tom in the car so ran him.

UKA Walton on Thames

2009-06-01T14:22:00.002+01:00

I'm very pleased will all of my dogs as they all worked their little socks off for me on Saturday even though it was very hot and a very long day, don't know why but UKA classes seem to take so much longer than KC classes. The venue is lovely though and day parking was just by the rings so no long hikes and the refreshments were the best I've seen with jacket pots, tortilla wraps and baguettes I just hope the rumours aren't true that the venue wont be available next year.

Dudley caught me out by being much faster than anticipated with little barking and no biting in his senior jumping and we got an E but in his agility, even after being stopped half way as the clock had stopped and then waiting around while the fixed it, he got a 4th. Suzi was a bit strange in her agility as for some reason she completely failed to see the dog walk that I was pointing at and prceeded to run at right angles from me in a completely straight line and towards the finish but she did get her contacts, eventually. When it came to her jumping I couldn't fault her and even with a bit of very dodgy handling, because I couldn't get to do the reverse I wanted, she came 2nd and I know where we lost the time so I wasn't too upset about not getting the red one.

I'm so pleased with Tom's jumping round as there was no sign of a sniff and his weaves were better than I could have asked for, the course went jump, flat tunnel, jump, weaves I'd done a front cross over the first jump then sent him into the tunnel just at that moment the wind blew the tunnel open so he just kept going and before I'd even got past the opening of the tunnel was heading for the next jump and then the weaves - I stayed calm and called 'Tom, weaves' and the little darling went straight in and kept going and luckily I was able to catch up as he came out to turn him at the end then managed to get on the wrong side from where I wanted to be into the pipe tunnel so just shouted 'RIGHT' and he did finished the course and came 2nd. The right turn out the tunnel was a bit wide which is where we lost the time but I wasn't worrying about that. He did some really nice stuff in his agility, straight into and through the weaves, lovely fast A frame and dog walk, seesaw was a bit slow but something we can work on but we had a slight deviation out of the ring towards the food van which I think was mainly because I forgot to say right at the end of the opening straight so he just carried on then got a bit distracted.

I was supposed to go again yesterday but woke up with a thumping headache and as it was supposed to be hotter than Saturday I decided to stay at home and take them for a short walk then go and see Dad and sit in his garden. The short walk was nice and would have been better if Tom hadn't found someone's panty liner in the bushes and decided to eat it so now I'm watching every poo to make sure it comes out again.

I'm really looking forward to Nancy and Leah's Boot Camp at the weekend as even though I'm just doing a couple of clinics I'm hoping they will let me sit and watch the lessons they are giving to their victims, oops sorry, willing pupils as I find I sometimes learn and retain more by watching other people.

If only he'd had a camera

2009-05-29T10:27:00.002+01:00

Dad went into the garden yesterday to see why the dogs were all barking, not just general barking but deep big dog barking, and witnessed something that would have probably made me some money if only he's had the video camera :)

There was a large cat sitting on the gatepost teasing the dogs but got cocky and decided to walk along the top of the gate but wasn't expecting the gate to move slightly when hit by an angry dog, everything would have been fine if it had fallen outside the gate but it over balanced inwards and landed on Tom who proceeded to scream as if his back had been broken. The cat took off towards the house with Suzi and Dudley in hot pursuit, Tom was still screaming, it shot under a small seat and straight up the fence, Suzi got under the seat but got stuck, and then fell back into the garden ran down the path and over the fence at the bottom with Dudley slightly too slow to react. All this time Tom was still screaming but also running to join the fray but too late to be any help.

It was all over very quickly but gave Dad the best laugh he's had for ages and Tom was non the worse for being landed on by a large cat. I think the news may have got around that you can make the ginger dog scream as there was another cat in the garden this morning but left when it saw Dad.

Go means run fast Mum

2009-05-28T13:56:00.002+01:00

I think that I may be confusing Tom with my release and weave entry command, nothing new there really, and when I say 'Go' or 'go weave' it means something different to Tom than it does to me. I think I've taught Tom that 'Go' means run really fast and jump anything in the way and not what I thought it meant which was 'you can now get up and jump the jumps' or 'look for the weaves'. Now I know a lot of people would say that they aren't that clever and they wouldn't think like that but why else would he sit at the start and on the dog walk keen as mustard and twitching to get started and then not actually move when I say 'go' but if I say it as he comes down the dog walk he'll power down and zoom off? 'Go weave' is the same sort of thing the 'go' seems to cause some confusion and missing of entries so at the weekend and at training last night I just said 'Tom, weave', I put the Tom in to get him to slightly look at me so the entry wasn't dead straight, this worked quite well and I will endeavour to remember not to shout 'go weave' in an excited manner at the weekend.

Now to the release command....Well last night I used OK as this seems to trip off the tongue quite well and is easily remembered BUT can also be used at the wrong time like when your instructor is talking to you and you say 'OK' to intimate that you've understood them which is why I don't usually use it but it worked as did 'come' when we did a wait.

I must be a dog trainer extrodinaire as I've also taught Suzi that 'look' means jump right over the white bit and Dudley that 'get off' means bite my ankles as much as you like and 'get down' means jump up the person in front of you and cover them in mud.

On the plus side of last night Tom had no hesitation in running across the dog walk and over the A frame and did some really nice pull throughs which is not something we always get right and I also learned that blind pickups out of a tunnel with him can be a bit scary when a small ginger bullet appears as I'm starting to cross the tunnel entrance.

Looking forward to UKA at the weekend.

Oooooo luverly

2009-05-25T18:44:00.006+01:00

Just thought I'd share Tom's moment of pure bliss on Saturday.

Ups and Downs of agility

2009-05-24T17:55:00.002+01:00

Whilst I know I'm not the best handler in the world I do try but today I felt that I was just useless when running Suzi and Dudley over their jumping course that needed some thinking about but was quite nice.

I'd arrived at 9.30 as none of the dogs had a class first in the ring and Tom's agility was first, I stupidly joined a queue that was too long and not helped by the fact that the caller was 'taking anyone' in a class of 112 and the fact that the sun came out today and it was boiling. To give him is due he didn't switch off completely but I think he may have got a bit warm, I'm thinking of clipping his chest and tummy if the predicted hot summer actually happens, as the round didn't seem that fast and he was very slow on the downs of his contacts. I had to lure him down his A frame! Weaves, though, well he didn't even hesitate and did all 12, there was no sniffing and as usual he did a really good go on to the finish. I checked his time and he was about 9 seconds off the lead which was disappointing but I really think most of that was lost on the contacts but he had gone clear and the jumping bits were nice and tight and in control so I was chuffed to bits and he eventually finished in 11th place so 'that'll do Tom'.

It got hotter and hotter and by the time my first run with Suzi came round I just couldn't seem to concentrate or actually remember where to go and put her back over a jump we'd already done and eliminated her, she was panting a bit which was concerning me but she speeded up and I tried to run her better but just couldn't and poor Dudley suffered worse as I was clear until 18 then did the reverse I wanted to but then completely missed 19.

I know it was probably a cop out but I decided not to run their other classes as I just didn't feel that I could put my all into it and it wouldn't have been fair on any of them. I haven't felt well for a while and think I really must make an appointment at the doctor.

BATS

2009-05-17T21:34:00.002+01:00

Seeing as this is supposed to be Spring it was bloody cold at BATS on Saturday but luckily not too wet, I'd decided that if it was raining when I got up I wasn't going to go but it was dry so I crawled out of bed and went.

Suzi was back to wild but in the 3-4 agility we managed to keep it all together with a slight blip when I couldn't get where I wanted to for a reverse turn and she headed towards the A frame but I managed to get a call in and a scooped her into the weaves and she was clear and eventually came 5th which I was a pleased as punch with. Tom was a bit hesitant on his contacts and I lost him behind me during a turn and his nose went down and he sniffed for a bit but did lovely weaves and finished with just 5 faults. The 3-4 jumping course was a bit more challenging and I messed up by trying to cross behind Suzi in the weaves, I think it would have worked in a straight line but we were coming off a turn, she then flew the next bit and came out of the pipe tunnel so fast that we collided when I forgot to say steady to get her to do a push through after that it went a bit pear shaped (think she blamed me for the collision) but she looked like she was having fun. Tom had to do the same course and I stupidly tried the same thing in the weaves as I thought it wouldn't hurt to try as I wasn't expecting to get him round. It was a huge mistake as he went for a mighty sniff but when he came back he flew round the next part and I couldn't catch him where I wanted to do a recall over a jump and he just went straight to the finish line.

I didn't run Tom in the Olympia but did run Suzi and think going from one ring to the next doesn't work with her as she was quite slow but did get a clear so 2 out of 2 dog walk contacts HURRAH.

Dudley had 2 runs and although he wasn't too bitey he was gobby and we ended up with an E is agility when he just ignored me when I wanted him to go in the wrong end of the tunnel, jumping - well apart from some really awful handling he didn't do too badly even though we got a refusal at a jump that he just stopped in front of, think I stopped dead to move across for a front cross, and a refusal in the weaves after once again I was in the wrong place and tried to cross behind him, don't know what I was thinking as I've never been able to do it with him. I'd walked it keeping my bum in to the jump but run it by stepping back - RUBBISH HANDLER

Much prefer Suzi wild but think i may have to lose weight and get a bit fitter if she'd going to carry on like this.

I did have one question though - what is it about agility people when even though it was freezing cold and nearly blowing a gale the ice cream van seemed to have a good day :)

Godmanchester

2009-05-11T18:18:00.002+01:00

Set off on Friday lunchtime and by the time I got to Ely it was really windy and after nearly becoming a kite when putting up the garden I abandoned the idea of putting up the awning but managed to put it up in the morning as the wind had dropped, it was great having the extra room and when it got really hot on Sunday it was somewhere nice to shelter from the sun for the dogs.

I've come to the conclusion that Suzi really hates camping and isn't happy when we go away so I've decided not to take her again, luckily I haven't booked anything until September and between now and then there are only day shows. She spent most of the time sitting on her cushion looking miserable and when it came to agility she was very slow and not at all like she's been lately. I know I've started to get frustrated with her not listening and even though I sound like I don't know what I want I think I prefer her mad and happy than accurate, slow and miserable so if you hear me moaning about her doing her own thing please remind me what I've said here.

Tom got 2 clear rounds on Saturday in Helter Skelter and Agility and while I was really happy with this I couldn't get over a nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right with him as he seemed really slow. People watching said he wasn't but I really though he was measuring the jumps but forgot to get anyone to video us which was stupid. In his agility I tried to work his dog walk wide as I wanted to recall him over the next jump to get a reverse in to turn him to the A frame which was parallel with the dogwalk, he got a nice contact but getting ahead of him slightly meant that his nose went down and he wasted loads of time and finished in 43 seconds, the winning time in his grade was 36 seconds so to be honest he wasn't actually as slow as I thought. Yesterday wasn't so good as we had the big E in jumping as although I thought I'd called him early enough I think I may have just said his name rather than any directional as he went straight ahead into a tunnel rather than turning right. His agility was much better as I remembered to say left and right but we got some faults as he got a really good weave entry but I think something twinged as he came out after a couple and went for a sniff. Lovely contacts all weekend and no problem with stopping on the top of the A frame.

Dudley gave me and the judge the biggest laugh of the weekend in his grade 6/7 jumping yesterday - the course could have almost been designed by Leah with lots of reverse turns backwards and forwards to parallel jumps (hope that makes sense) and I was looking forward to running it but wasn't expecting him to go very fast as it was so hot. Well he got to the collapsy tunnel and I thought he'd got stuck as I could just see a writhing ball of cloth when suddenly he appeared, on his back, having a lovely roll which carried on as he wriggled out. Have to say that both the judge and I dissolved into laughter and she said it was a shame the photographer wasn't there, I carried on but laughing for the rest of the course and chuckling to myself all the way back to the van. I can always rely on Dudley to make me look a fool.

I had the day off today and had booked Tom and Dudley in to see Julia at Galen who found that both of them had some sore bits which she treated so hopefully I will super fast dogs again at the weekend but looking at them I don't somehow think so as the are both flat out fast asleep.

Not only did I have nice cold wine at the weekend but nice cold Pimms with ice, lemon and mint - Summer is definatley here but may have now been and gone.

For the first time....

2009-05-06T14:53:00.002+01:00

since competing with Suzi I lost my temper with her in the ring, this was in a boxed pairs class which I should never have entered as I hate them as the rules are always different but that should have been easy to do but she would just not take any notice of where I was telling her to go. I've never lost my temper with her in the ring and I'm determined never to do it again but I was so frustrated with her from her jumping round that rather than doing what I always tell other people to do, forget that round and move on to the next, I let it build up and it burst out when for the third time she'd missed her weave entry and our pair had to come and take over who then missed the entry and we had to take over. I didn't do any harsh handling or anything but I did shout 'SUZI, FOR GOD'S SAKE BLOODY LISTEN TO ME' which was bad enough.

The reason I was so frustrated was the in her jumping we had just the tunnel and a jump to go clear and probably into the placings when she cut across in front of me, nearly tripping me up, to back jump the long jump, of all things, and this was dispite me saying 'tunnel, tunnel, tunnel, TUNNEL'. Things seem to be getting worse with us and it's so hard to replicate it at training as she doesn't run the same on the indoor surface as she does on grass and at the moment she's getting faster and faster and more confident about being away from me which should be a good thing! In her agility I was determined to stay up beat which I did even though she once again missed her weaves and THEN going flat out into a pipe tunnel she obviously felt that I wasn't committed enough as she stopped dead and backed out and THEN missed her down contact on the dogwalk. If I didn't know better I would say that this is all deliberate

Dudley was especially barky and bitey in his jumping and after he came out of the weaves to get me I made him sit for a second before carrying on which didn't really make much difference and he'd forgotten by the time we did agility although he did go clear which was the only one I had from 7 runs (I had 5 E's and 2 with faults as Dudley got time faults)

I don't think Thomas was 100% on Sunday as he sat on the top of the A frame for a while and was quite sniffy but he did two sets of 12 weaves which was an achievement and worked well in his jumping.

I'm at Godmanchester at the weekend for out first camping show and I'm really looking forward to it even if the agility has lost it's appeal at the moment.

We've has some news at work that has put a bit of a downer on things at the moment as they are closing the Westerham office in August and we are all relocating to Bracknell in Berks which is 50 miles away and on a good run takes about an hour but on a bad M25 morning, most of them really, can take two and a half hours. I'm going to stick with it for the time being as they are going to be paying my mileage for the first year.

Where has the time gone...

2009-04-28T10:28:00.002+01:00

Suddenly realised that it's over three weeks since I made a post and if anyone is actually reading my blog the probably think I've given up or something.

I've not updated as basically it's the same old stuff happening which must get really boring to read as it normally goes......Tom's sniffing, Suzi's fast but naughty and Dudley has been biting my ankles and to be honest it's still the same and I don't want to lose anyone that still visits.

Tom is still sniffing but I've had some rounds from him where he hasn't and he has got a couple of places, a 3rd in steeplechase at UKA and a 5th this weekend in agility at Lewes show but he doesn't seem that fast and I'm getting paranoid that something isn't quite right BUT on Sunday he got his weaves in both classes which I think is because they were not completely straight entries.

Suzi has been really up for competing but unfortunatly this makes us, as a team, a but erratic as she seems to think that she knows best and that I'm just along for the ride. I've been winding her up at the start a bit by playing and as she wont play with a toy at agility I've been gently pushing her about and trying to get her to 'grrr' at me like she does at home but rough and tumble with a 7 pound dog is not easy especially when she looks round at everyone as if to say 'look how mean she is to me' :)

Sevenoaks ring partyed at Lewes on Sunday and as usual we all worked well as a team it was just a shame that the judge didn't seem as dedicated to getting the classes finished and hadn't actually read the schedule with regard to the anysize jumping class or the letter sent to them by the Secretary after they'd submitted their course plan. It did make a frustrating day for us as they kept disappearing to talk to people which is OK but not when someone is on the line and has been told to go when ready by the scrimer, who'd been given the nod by the judge, who then looked back to find the judge had gone. Oh well, we've chalked it up to experience and we did get a tin of chocolates to keep up going.

I don't mind working on the rings but, like Nancy, I find it hard to concentrate on running my dogs when I've just grabbed them out of the car and put them straight back because I feel I have to get back to the ring, even if they don't expect you to, and all three dogs have perfected the 'Oh you're leaving us again' look.

Next weekend I've got an unaffilited show on Sunday so two days to relax and the following weekend I'm at Godmanchester for my first outing in the camper this year. I've bought a new awning and the fridge has been fixed so no more warm wine.

Spring at Shuttleworth

2009-04-05T19:02:00.004+01:00

After struggling to find the venue as the post code got my sat nav to try and take me down a bridleway and there were no instructions on the schedule and the sign put out was so small I couldn't actually see it when I'd stopped right next to it I got out to find the whole showground covered in sheep poo, my first thought was 'God this is going to be worse than I thought' BUT after I'd had a cup of coffee, found my friends, moved my car next to their caravan and let the dogs out into their garden I chilled out a bit and waited to walk my first course.

It happened to be Tom's jumping and once I'd walked it I thought it was really nice, the start had a lot of people wondering how to do it, I worked the first two as a snake and then did a push through to three which worked really well and meant that I wasn't racing ahead of him and once I'd made sure he was committed to the tunnel as quite a few dogs were going in and turning round there was a straight line down once side of the ring which he flew down, at the end of the straight I said 'Tom, right, Tom weave' and he went in and did all 6. I was slightly gobsmacked and Tania said the look on my face was classic but I pulled myself together and managed to get as far as 15 before he went past the jump, I think I may have said tunnel too early but I got him back with no sniffing and he came back and we had another go, unfortunately, he then went and did the wrong end of the tunnel before completing the course. Looking back I think he did this because he was looking at the wrong end when I told him 'tunnel' again. I was so pleased with him as even with all the sheep poo in the ring he didn't even attempt to sniff. The plan of the course is below.

His agility was Graded 1-3 with a finish that I thought was a bit unfair on some of the grade 1's, I've put the plan below. I wasn't the most interesting course I've ever run having a star in 3 corners but it meant I could practise my bum ins which Wendy would have been proud of :) We got eliminated at 12 as he went all the way round and I just kept going which I think was the best thing to do as he did the last part of the course so well and shot into the weaves, whizzed through and sailed over the last two jumps while I was still at the end of the weaves. Once again not a sign of a sniff and great contacts. He's still a bit slow coming down the dog walk so as he started down I shouted 'ready, ready GO' which seemed to help but probably not something to encourage.

The plan below is Dudley's agility which I really enjoyed running and only got bitten at the bottom of the dog walk, I have to admit to calling him a bastard and was fully expecting the judge to say something but perhaps I said it in a sign of affection voice as he didn't.

Dudley got clear rounds in both agility and jumping and within the course time and was really up for it,so much so that in his jumping he left me standing at the start and I had a bot of a 'Benny Hill moment' having to catch up.

Suzi, well the less said about her the better, she was just not listening to me in the jumping and went really slowly in her agility and ran past the A frame and weaves. Hopefully next weekend we'll get it together.

Argh....

2009-04-03T21:40:00.002+01:00

Off to my first outdoor show of the season tomorrow and Tom is in major sniffing mode at the moment, he sniffs indoors, he sniffs at Dad's, he sniffs walking to the car, he sniffs in the wood and sniffed and sniffed at training so as you can imagine I'm getting myself worked up about tomorrow. I've got to relax and not worry but I am and I don't think I can change which I know is going to make things worse.

Suzi, on the other hand, has been working really well at training and has been getting her contacts every time and I'm hoping that being outside wont go to her head.

Dudley will be Dudley and I'm actually looking forward to running him even if he bites my ankles as he gives the judge a laugh at least :)

Nothing sweet about me....

2009-03-29T19:11:00.003+01:00

Just wanted to show you this.....

That is fox poo not mud and was down both sides, only had my phone so quality is not too good but I've got proof she's not such a princess. I'd just been telling Rhoda about when she rolled in the biggest pile in Cheddar Gorge and took my eyes off her for a minute and turned round to see this.

Weave training

2009-03-23T14:55:00.003Z

Luckily Sharon Eldridge had two spaces come up in her weave training session on Saturday so Wendy and I took Woody and Tom. The weather was gorgeous and even though the sat nav seemed to take us the scenic route we got there in plenty of time.

Tom was quite sniffy but as we were outside for the first time I excused him this time and just tried to work him through it which seemed to work, I also tried the patented Card call of 'get 'ere' when he ignored my nice 'waz sis' and have to say this seemed to make him actually look at me and come quicker (something to use as last resort in the future perhaps)

Although he didn't always get the entry I was hoping for he was always looking for the weaves when I said 'weave', I've been saying 'yeah' when he gets the entrance but I noticed that he came out whenever I said it so Sharon suggested saying nothing after the initial command only encouraging him once he was weaving.

I really enjoyed the training even when I fell over the tunnel cradle, which I'm sure jumped out and hooked itself round my foot, and landed with a thump.

Trevor Greenslade was there and took loads of photos, I've added the link to his site as I don't want to publish them on here until I have persmission from him, sure he wont mind be putting the link though.

Tom's weave training

Spring - is it here or just teasing us?

2009-03-19T11:46:00.002Z

Now the evenings are getting lighter the dogs get to have an off lead walk after work and you would think they haven't been off lead all winter instead of just since the morning, I think it's because they get to go out in the woods after work and not the local football pitch. I have just enough time to get round before it gets too dark and it's lovely to watch them dashing about having a sniff and not so lovely seeing them in the distance throw themselves down to have a roll in something. The only problem is that Dudley decides that dashing off into the undergrowth just as it's getting dusky is what I want him to do and that I wont mind standing in a dark wood while he finishes his look about.

The leaves are starting to come out on the trees and the birds are singing their little hearts out which brings me to my question - is this it or are we going to have to prepare for snow at Easter again? I hope Spring is finally here and that we get a dry summer this year, not too hot please but dry at least.

The other evening Tom found something to sniff and I carried on walking as normal, usually he catches up quickly but the sniff must have been very interesting because I got quite a long way away before he decided to follow. I hid behind a tree, which I do a lot but usually get found very quickly, and waited for quite a while until I heard him come running along the path and I was expecting him to stop as I wasn't that well hidden but he carried on at full speed dashing past Dudley and disappearing round the corner and I got there just in time to see him running flat out into the distance. He eventually stopped after I called him a couple of times and came dashing back but the look on his face made me feel awful as he looked so worried.

Where I work there is a lake and a couple of swans have taken up residence, the male is really aggresive and if you walk near the lake it comes charging across and it's wings make a whistling noise which is really quite intimitating, I'll try and get some video of it.

Happy Birthday Leah

2009-03-18T09:12:00.001Z

Just a quick post to say Happy Birthday and don't let the bastards get you down.

Bad Leah

2009-03-17T12:25:00.002Z

She scared my dog so badly last night that she will never go on the dog walk again or Suzi will do anything to avoid getting her contacts and using Leah as an excuse was the best one yet.

It was a case of 'Oh my God someone is running next to the dog walk, I've never had this happen before' and then flatly refusing to go up it and then crying when I touched her to encourage her and getting everyone to look.

This little, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, dog is a monster who gets the boys into trouble all the time and plays the 'poor little rescue dog card' at every opportunity and should be exposed to the world for the little madam she is instead of everyone saying I'm lying. One day I will get video evidence and you will all have to admit that I was right all along. If she didn't look cute in pink coats I would disown her altogether and possible trade her in for a sheltie or even a collie.

Mid Downs and Chippenham

2009-03-16T11:34:00.002Z

Well not quite the results I was hoping for, I managed 2 clear rounds over the whole weekend but in Tom's last run of the day yesterday we managed to get round without an elimination.

Some of the courses at both shows were different if nothing else and being judged by someone yesterday who didn't think they needed to make some sort of effort to look like the judge plus felt judging most of the course looking through the A frame was fine was a bit weird but on the whole I enjoyed all the courses and my dogs had some really good bits in all their runs. Poor Dudley only had 2 runs yesterday and as the first one was at 5pm and he wasn't overly keen I decided not to wait for his last class as I had a 130 mile drove back.

Suzi had a fantastic run yesterday and I was over the moon until I found out that she'd missed the last of 6 weaves, I was still pleased as it was a great run but disappointed because I didn't notice that she'd done it. I did the same course with Tom and although we got eliminated, in the weaves, I was really pleased with the rest of it.

Tom was very sniffy all weekend and also unsure on his seesaw, I really babyed him round his last run yesterday and managed to get round with only 5 faults when he ran past the weaves but he came back and did a love set so hopefully he will suddenly grow out of it (fingers crossed)

Suzi mananged to get all her dog walk contacts this weekend too and Dudley got one of the clears although thinking back he was a bit sniffy too so I hope he's not going to take over from Tom. Hopefully when we get outside there wont be quite the temptation as there is indoors.

Oh and Andy they haven't changed the surface at Chippenham so you made the right decision :)

Suzi - training 09/03

2009-03-10T10:41:00.002Z

She was quite wild last night, not sure what got into her but I'm hoping that she has the same speed at the weekend with a little more control:)

Two things I really need to watch are, not saying her name then running off as she tends to follow me and miss out any equipment in the way and not saying 'Go on' when she's looking in another direction to where I want her to go.

I've been using a flannel to try and get her to run right down her dogwalk with varying degrees of success, as she was tending to jump it Wendy suggested that we used it more as a stride regulator than a target so we put it at the top of the contact which seemed to work until last night when she decided that she was going to target it which is what I wanted in the first place, Oh the frustration, I'm never having another bitch to do agility with they are too clever by half and have a huge sense of humour.

She struggles with the weaves at Fordcombe because of the surface as usually there are big holes where the bigger/faster dogs have dig it up on their way through and even if we keep filling in the holes she doesn't really get much speed up, hopefully once we get onto sand and then grass she will speed up like she started to do at the end of last season.

Looking forward to Mid Downs and Chippenham at the weekend but I have to admit to not expecting much success as I think Dudley is going to be in a biting mood, Suzi will probably says it's too cold and I'm not sure what Tom will do at all.

Dudley at Crufts

2009-03-07T21:18:00.002Z

Dudley has had a very long and busy day being a great ambassador for the Border Terrier breed, anyone who only knows him from agility will not believe this as they have probably only ever seen him biting my ankles and possibly trying to eat all the collies at the show. Today he walked from the carpark and through the halls without a second glance at any of the other dogs and spent the day making a huge fuss of all the people who came to the stand, he didn't get impatient with all the hands that wanted to stroke him and was quite happy to kiss anyone that wanted it, I was so proud of him and to show him this I bought him a a Ruffwear Swamp cooler for when we get the hot summer this year, then to really show him how proud I was I trimmed his nails and took one too close and made it bleed, boy did I feel bad.

I didn't get to see any agility today as the Arena was a long way from Hall 3 and I didn't like to leave Duds for too long even though the other people on the stand looked after him while I had a quick walk round, I had an hour but only managed 2 halls but was very good and didn't spend much money other than to buy Thomas a new harness as stupidly I left his other one in his cage while he was in it and he chewed the catches. He's done this before so I should have known better.

News Flash

2009-03-07T19:28:00.002Z

EQUAFLEECE'S NOW COME IN PINK.

Saw them at Crufts but couldn't remember what size Suzi is so I will be off to their website to order her one ASAP.

Training - Tom 4/3/09

2009-03-05T21:59:00.002Z

Below is a plan of part of what we were doing last night at training. I have been having problems with Tom and his overly solid wait but to do this exercise I needed him to wait so I could get in the right place to put him in the correct tunnel entrance, to help one of the girls held him by the collar and I called him to me and treated him, we then carried on which he did very well apart from his turn back to me after number 4, I think I was a bit late with my 'steady', coming out of the tunnel to the seesaw I pushed him out a bit so I could get a really straight entry which he did and then he did a good A frame running right to the bottom.

The second time I had to really do a squeaky voice to get the recall but got my 'steady' just right then put him in the tunnel and then completely lost him, out of the corner of my eye I saw him come out but then couldn't find him, I twiddled about a bit and said 'I've lost you' only to find that he was doing a beautiful seesaw :)

I like to have a criteria for things like contacts with all my dogs but have to admit that this sometimes goes to pot when the red mist comes down but my 'steady' is the same for all three and that is 'go over the jump, wrap the wing and come back towards me whatever side I'm on' this means that I don't have to put a left/right in as well as the steady. Last night we had several opportunities to practice this and Tom go it every time but I need to do some more work on tightening up the wing wrap as he tends to power off as soon as he lands which make the turns rather wide, he loves his tug and treat so I'm going to use this to help tighten up the turns.

Best laid plans......

2009-03-04T11:59:00.002Z

Last night Dudley was supposed to have a bath in preparation for his trip to Crufts on Saturday, I was going to do it last night so he wasn't too fluffy on the day BUT I phoned a friend to talk about what shows we were going to do this year and 84 minutes later after a long discussion about the merits of various shows and the fact that camping was already full at loads of them and moaning about the fact that my broadband wasn't working I decided that 9 o'clock was too late to bath him to ensure he was dry before he went to bed (if he goes to bed damp his hair sticks up all over the place and other dogs laugh at his bad hair day) so now he'll have to be done tomorrow as I'm training tonight which will mean he's very fluffy and wont look like a proper Border Terrier at all.

Poor Suzi got blown into Dad's pond last night, well Dad can only assume she was blown in as it's not somewhere she will go voluntarily, and came indoors looking like a drowned rat. While I did feel sorry for her I have to admit I did laugh this morning when he told me which didn't go down very well with either of them.

I'll be in Hall 3 on Saturday if anyone is about, you'll know me by the fluffy terrier on the Border Terrier Discover Dogs stand.

The hidden costs of agility

2009-03-02T12:35:00.003Z

We all know the cost of agility such as entry fees, petrol and training but what about all those little things that we buy like liver, to make supadupa treats, toys, to ensure the dog loves agility, poo bags, obvious that one, that special food that we just know is going to give our dog that extra edge not to mention the cod liver oil tablets for the handlers so they don't creak so much well I have another one to add to the list - Sports Bras.

Now I'm not one of those lucky people that doesn't need support in that department, I would love to be able to run without worrying that if the support isn't enough I'll end up with two black eyes, I blame my mother for this but have got used to it and after years of trying to find a really good bra I discovered lessbounce.com, what a great site for those of us of the well endowed variety. Well I duly went on there today to order a new bra for the coming season and bought my usual one without really thinking until I realised that I could have another 18 RUNS at shows for the amount it cost! I don't begrudge myself this small, well not that small, thing and I know I'm going to need it but boy am I glad I'm not writing down every cost I'm paying out for agility as I think I would probably give up right now.

WAG

2009-02-24T16:06:00.002Z

Took Tom to the G1-3 show at WAG on Sunday with Wendy and Woody, it's really nice to have just the one dog to run and walk as I left Duds and Suzi at home with Dad. I love the venue as it's close to the sea and we have a lovely walk at lunch time.

Amanda Pigg was judging and had set some really nice courses with long straight finishes so lots of running for me but it meant that I could keep Tom going and hopefully avoid his nose going down. His agility run was lovely and apart from a glitch in the weaves and an almighty leap from the A frame made me feel that this season may be a success after all. I wasn't too worried about the A frame as at training a couple a weeks ago he kept stopping on the the top and when we did the accumulator he ran right to the bottom, I was more worried about the weaves as in each class he got the entry but then came out. I'm not going to stress about it but am not sure what the problem is, whether it's me or the environment or just Tom.

I worked really hard on making sure that I was behind him throughout the course and I really feel that this helped to stop his nose going down and the only time I got ahead of him, in the helter skelter, he got a sniff of something and actually found something to eat, but once I got his toy out of my pocket and back behind him he shot off like a bullet.

His finishes were amazing as he had no problem powering ahead of me 5 jumps to the finish and didn't slow down or look back at me until I shouted 'YEAH' in a breathless but pleased way when he'd gone over the last jump, I would have been a bit buggered if there had been a pull through at the end but Hey we'll cross that bridge when we come to it at least I know that when I start to slow down at the finish he doesn't.

All in all it was a very positive day and if I can keep from getting a weave complex with him I'll be even happier.

Can't believe the difference.......

2009-02-19T12:42:00.002Z

between this, taken at Christmas 2004 a couple of weeks after we got her,....

to this taken last summer.

She was a scrawny, cow hocked little thing wasn't she :)

Tagged

2009-02-18T18:03:00.002Z

I'd forgotten I'd been tagged so thought I'd better have a go and have found, possibly, one of the most boring of all my photos.

It's one showing the trophies waiting to be presented at the 2007 AGM of Sevenoaks and District Dog Training Society.

I'm not going to tag anyone else as everyone's blog I follow has already been tagged.

Working Trials

2009-02-18T11:48:00.002Z

Turned up for the course to find that I was the only one as the other person didn't show so Tom and I had 1-1 training!

Firstly we had a go at tracking and apparently Tom is quite talented even though I wasn't so sure as he didn't follow my track exactly but this wasn't a problem as he was air scenting and following my track and finding his toy even though I'd hidden it. We were working in a public park with loads of dogs and he didn't get distracted by them except when two labs came charging over to see what we were doing and even then he only briefly acknowledged them before dragging me off along my track to get his reward. The wind got up a bit which makes it hard for the dog but I was really pleased with him even when I put a slight turn in. The track length was less than 10 metres but I'm hoping that I can build that up over time, I'm going to have a go with Duds and Suzi too as I can use one of the fields at the stables where I keep Fenella.

Retrieve wasn't quite as successful, the exercise they have to do is retrieve 5 articles from a set sized square and although he was quite happy to go to each toy he tended to choose one he wanted and bring it back to me to play with, more work required on this one.

Speak on command - well he may be gobby but we couldn't get him to bark at all even though we teased him with his toy and food and by me leaving him with the instructor, the only time he barked was when I put him back in the car and only when I closed the door.

Sendaway - a resounding success. I tried to teach this to Dudley when we did obedience but he wouldn't always go away from me or lie down but Tom got the idea of this very quickly and went 'Away' at his usual full speed and once he got the idea of lying down as soon as I said it he dropped like a stone. I used his tuggy with the velcro bag as a target and will carry on using this for a while but once I'm sure he's got the idea I'll wean it off. While we were doing this we talked about having to do an instant stop in the Gold Good Citizens and how I struggled with Duds which was why we stopped at Silver, as Tom was so good targeting to the toy I put him in a wait and recalled him to me and threw the tuggy down about half way between us and told him lie down, he soon got the idea of this too and I'm really going to practice this as I think having an instant stop would be great in case of emergancy.

Tom found a sock while we were talking and had a great game flirting it at us, coming just close enough for us to think we could grab it then dodging away and wasn't interested in the dogs that kept coming up and looking at him.

I would love to have another go at Working Trials training but Baskingstoke is quite a long way to go so think I may have to Google and see if there is anything closer, the only thing that puts me off is the scale as I think he would launch himself off the top and probably do himself an injury.

Most excellent training session

2009-02-09T12:15:00.000Z

Sunday morning I took Tom to a training session with Nancy and Andy Hudson at Dartford, I was a bit apprehensive as I wasn’t sure that his concentration would last for a 3 hour stint and I didn’t what to make everyone else wait why he went on a sniff-a-thon especially as the venue was an indoor riding school. I had thought about taking Suzi instead but at the last minute decided to take Tom as I knew both Andy and Nancy break things down in to nice manageable chunks which meant I could carry on with praising him every 3-4 obstacles. Well I’m really glad I took him as he worked his little socks off, only went for a couple of sniffs but came as soon as I called him. Nancy said to not correct him if things didn’t go quite to plan but to carry on to keep him interested, this really worked as a couple, well more than a couple, of times my handling gave him mixed signals and sent him wide or past jumps. Some things I know but forgot were picked up on so I’m going to really try and remember to work the dogwalk behind him and not race ahead as this really slows him down. This is going to be hard as both Dudley and Suzi are chasers and work better if I’m ahead of them or right with them, this isn’t the case with Suzi all the time but she does sometimes need to be really encouraged by having me close to her.

The great thing about the session was that the dogs were all small with one medium which meant we weren’t putting jumps up and down all the time and could all benefit from watching each other, I think this is important as the large dogs have such different stride patterns and you can’t always run a small or medium dog the same way as you would a large dog even if you have one that has a very high drive and works ahead of you.

Although we had over and hour with each instructor I didn’t feel that we overdid anything so the dogs didn’t switch off and most of them were as fresh at the end as they were at the beginning although you could see that some of the dogs were getting a bit tired, I stopped with Tom about 15 minutes before the end as I could see that he was starting to flag a bit and wanted to finish on a good run and not go just a bit too far and finish on a down.

Tom did some really good weaving in the first half, with Nancy, really focusing ahead and fast with me able to work a bit further away but when we swapped it was as if he couldn’t so them at all and although he was getting the entry he just ran straight out, I thought he’s had enough then but Andy said to stay and gave me slightly different exercises which didn’t include the weaves. We worked on sections of a course then towards the end we did the whole course, I skipped that bit as I didn’t want to push my luck.

Afterwards I went to the Harvester for lunch with one of the other handlers then went home and collapsed, I don’t know about Tom being tired but I was knackered.

Working Trials Workshop

2009-02-03T09:49:00.002Z

As Tom is cutting down on his agility training I thought I'd look round and see if there was anything we could do to give him something to think about and found a Working Trials workshop on agilitynet which includes tracking, sendaway and retrieve. I thought the tracking might be a way of focusing his sniffing which may help to stop him sniffing in the ring even if it doesn't it's something different to try with him and looks like fun.

I'm off to look at buying some good warm, waterproof gloves as it's all outside plus after the last couple of days I've realised I need some thinner gloves to walk the dogs in as trying to get my hand through the lead with my fleecy ones is quite hard.

Poor Dudley

2009-01-30T12:37:00.002Z

Took Dudley training last night and because I'm trying not to say a contact command to Suzi and Tom and am starting to work wider of them in the weaves I promptly forgot to tell him to 'look' for his contact and ran really wide when he was in the weaves. I think he was slightly confused as he whizzed through the weaves until he got to about 9 or 10 then suddenly realised that I wasn't standing there encouraging him and came out. His contacts were erratic to say the least BUT he was really up for it and I'm hoping that if he runs as fast as that at shows we may get some clears in the course time this year.

2009-01-28T14:01:00.002Z

Although Tom’s visit to Julia was very positive there was a bit of doom and gloom which means making some changes to Tom’s agility career for the time being. She was really pleased with his progress as he’s more in proportion muscle wise, not Arnie at the front and Mr Muscle at the back anymore, and his patella’s clonk now and don’t grind which is apparently a good thing! He didn’t actually need much treatment, in fact Dudley had the most as after getting kicked by Fenella he was left with a bit of whiplash which is now sorted out.

After their treatment we talked about the way forward for Tom and the conclusion is that as he is he could probably get through half the season but may then be back to square one so I have made the hard decision to pull him out of Leah’s Thursday night session, which is a shame as I’ll miss Nancy moaning about all the running Leah makes us do (I’m going to finish this course running Dudley so will have to record some of it to get me through the rest of the year) I’m going to still run him once a fortnight or so on a Wednesday alternating with Suzi as this class isn’t as intensive as Thursday. I will still be doing shows with him but will stick to one or two runs a day plus we have been thinking of exercises to do to use his back legs more independently, I thought of the Elephant trick but Julia was thinking more of things like walking him sideways across slopes and trying to get him to walk sideways away from me crossing his legs rather than shuffling, not sure that made sense and to be honest I’m not having much luck with it so if anyone has any ideas I would be grateful.

Here are a few pictures of Julia working on them, they don’t usually wear collars and leads while being treated but Dudley pushed in. I love the first one of Duds and he has a really smug look on his face, the second one looks as if she’s strangling him but you can see he’s nearly asleep. The one of Tom is funny as he wanted to play with Dudley so is very wild eyed but look how shiny his nose is. Julia would only let me take photos if I promised to only have her hands in them and not her face!

I’ve started training Suzi’s dogwalk with a flannel halfway between the start of the contact and the end and have been working with her to get her to step on it on the way through rather than leaping over the whole thing plus Mac thinks I need to work wider of the dogwalk, stand more upright and slightly behind her and Wendy says not to shout ‘Yeah’ quite so deeply as she looks at me in a very shocked way plus I’m trying not to stare at her on the way down as this seems to slow her down and then launch herself off.

What with Tom’s legs and Suzi’s contacts looks like I’m going to have to rely on the ankle biting Dudley this year and after he nearly pulled me over in the woods the other day by ambushing me and grabbing the tags on my wellies I’m hoping that the rest of the club can get us into the premier division of the Agility Club league for next year.

The Dog Brick was a roaring success but I got it a bit wrong as to their reactions, Tom quickly got the idea that there were treats available and also how to open the door but lost interest very quickly, Suzi did just sit and look at me for a while but after she’d seen Dudley who was a bit like a bull in a china shop to start with but got the hand of it the quickest of all she seemed to understand that she needed to get the doors open but struggled a bit pushing them and resorted to sneaking in under Dudley’s head and pinching the treat once he’d opened the door. I know they should probably have been kept separate while playing with the brick but Dad kept two amused while I sat with the one working out the doors but Suzi has the speed of a striking snake and was there and gone before any of us realised what she was doing. I really wish I’d videoed it.

I know Leah has tagged me but I’m going to wait until I can look at my pictures at home before I reply to it.

2009-01-20T12:55:00.003Z

I've bought the dogs a Dog Brick which has doors that slide and you can put treats underneath them and let the dogs work out how to get at them. I'm going to try it tonight and judging by reponses I got last night when I was doing some clicker training with all three (not together) I think Tom will get the idea the quickest, Suzi will eventually understand but after she's tried to get me to open the door by looking sweet and blond and Dudley will dive in like a bull in a china shop and try and pick the whole thing up.

The wobble cushion above is the same as the one I have to do Tom's exercises on, he has to stand with his back legs square on the cushion while I nudge him gently off balance we have built up to 2 minutes a day every other day now. This is to encourage him to use the muscles in his back legs and he's actually quite good now so fingers crossed as we have an appointment with Julia at Galen on Thursday so I'm hoping she's going to say things are getting better.

I make Duds and Suzi do it too, but they are so well balanced it's hard to nudge them off balance now, only last night Suzi had other ideas and promptly jumped off and dragged it into her bed.

I don't make them stand on the nobbly side but I've found that if I do I can really feel a tingly sensation up my legs.

2009-01-12T10:13:00.003Z

Had to chuckle on Saturday - I took the dogs to Oldbury Woods which is our usual weekend haunt and a place Dudley knows like the back of his hand and had got two thirds of the way round when I got a phone call. A man told me that he'd found a very tired little dog who seemed upset and unable to stand up, the only dog missing was Dudley and he'd been gone 2-3 minutes so I hadn't even called him so was very suprised that he could apparently be so tired. We worked out that we were heading in the same direction but on paths about 200 yards apart so agreed to meet where the paths crossed, I got there and a couple of minutes later this couple with a Newfie came round the corner with the man carrying Dudley who when he saw me looked very sheepish and came running when he was put down. I thanked the couple profusley as I did really appreciate them calling me but laughed to myself and out loud all the way back to the car as I could just see Dudley coming across the Newfie and going into submissive mode then convincing the couple that he had been abandoned in the woods for hours and was exhausted, apparently he had 'perked up' when the woman got her treat bag out.

Breaking news

2009-01-06T12:30:00.002Z

Both Suzi and Thomas have qualified for the SupaDARL Final in June.

This will be Suzi's third one so I'm hoping that this year I wont let her down.

I'm chuffed to bits that both of them have qualified this year.

Natasha Wise training clinic

2009-01-05T17:22:00.002Z

Took Suzi to a training session with Natasha on Saturday and even though it was very cold she worked much better than I thought she would, usually she goes off the boil a bit or very clingy but not this time. Natasha is very good and talks a lot about her theory behind what she's telling us which I found really helped she also gave some good pointers as to what I should do about Suzi's flying contacts as she saw first hand what she does. We were the only small dog there which I always find a bit embarrasing as the jumps have to kepp being put up and down but I don't think we held th class up at all. I'm going to really work on Suzi's dog walk and try and be much more consistant rather than let her get away with it. I'll keep you posted.

2008-12-31T13:30:00.002Z

Here I am at work, all on my own and longing to get home again. Hopefully I'll be leaving about 3 o'clock so I can get a fairly decent walk in before it gets too dark but to be honest I think they'll be happy with a short one as yesterday they looked at me as if to say 'when are you going back to work so we can get some sleep'.

On Monday we went to see Tania & Steve at Hassocks (near Brighton) and went for a lovely, but chilly, walk on the downs with them and their four Border Terriers, Dudley had a whale of a time dashing about investigating hedge rows and gorse bushes. He was a bit put out when we got to a pond and it was frozen solid, he did have a skate about but I called him off as I was a bit worried he would go through the ice, don't think I needed to worry as Tanie tried to break it so they could have a drink and was standing completely on it with nothing happening.

Yesterday I took the boys to Eridge Forest, we haven't been there for ages as it get's so muddy but it was frozen solid so no muddy dogs to clean when we got home. The RSPB seem to have started investing some money as there were new maps showing you the site and where the gates were etc which was good for me as I always seem to go to the wrong one when trying to find the car. The signs say that cycling is no longer permitted which is a shame for the cyclists but I did notice mountain bike tracks so I'm not sure how strictly it's inforced, it also says to pick up after dogs and stick to the tracks so birds are not disturbed so I think this might be a walk we don't do too often as I can't always guarantee that Dudley wont wander from the tracks. Didn't take Suzi as it was so cold and she really feels it, Dad says she went straight back to bed as soon as I shut the back door so I didn't feel too bad about not taking her.

I'm off to see my friend Karen on Friday as she has a new addition to the family who I'm dying to meet, not it's not a baby it's a SHELTIE called Murray who arrived last Sunday. She has two Border Terriers too and the Billy is overjoyed to have someone to play with but Daisy is not impressed and ignores him but I'm sure it wont be long before she's playing too. Dudley ignored Suzi for weeks when she first arrived and acted like a real spoiled brat by hiding all the toys behind an armchair then standing guard over them.

I have a training session with Natasha Wise on Saturday and am taking Suzi, I don't often do these with here as she doesn't always work very well and get's a bit clingy so I may take Dudley as backup incase she goes off the boil after the first hour.

Well suppose I should get on with the end of year reports then I can b****r off home.

2008-12-22T13:12:00.002Z

Thought I'd better update Tom's blog as it's been 10 days but have to say haven't got much to write really. Tom continues to improve and I took him training on Thursday where we did some little bits and carried on with the stopping every 3-4 obstacles and playing/treating. I'm really pleased with him at the moment and will be taking him back to see Julia in January.

Wednesday night was party night at Sevenoaks and we had our end of year competition with an agility, a jumping and a helter skelter. The courses were challenging and included putting in to practise the stuff we've been doing this term. I ran Dudley who was a bit over excited and we ended up with 2 E's because a) he wasn't listening and b) I assumed he would jump the long jump and not go round it to get to the tunnel :) Suzi was a little angel and came 1st overall in the agility, we did get an E in the jumping but it was my fault for looking at the finish jump as we went past instead of the jump we were supposed to be doing. The helter skelter was a proper helter skelter spiralling out from the middle and the people that do KC shows were all grumbling away to themselves as I'm sure they were expecting the sort of the thing they see at a show, you know the one just a jumping course with perhaps a circle in it somewhere, so were all moaning saying that they were going to get lost.

I'm going to stay with Dad for Christmas which will be very quiet I'm sure, Mum was the one for Christmas and used to go to town with presents and food but I've just got a few small treats in and am doing roast beef on Christmas day. The dogs will get lots of walks and I'm hoping it goes back to being cold and frosty.

This weekend

2008-12-12T14:56:00.002Z

Leah is holding another of her ANJU training shows tomorrow and although I'm not running my dogs I'm going to help and am at the moment brewing some of my Fordcombe Famous mulled wine to warm the cockles of the competitors hearts, I'm doing two brews an alcholic one and a non alchoholic one so hopefully everyone can have some. The weather looks like it's going to be awful tomorrow so let's hope it doesn't put anyone off.

Can't believe Christmas and Olympia will all be over in 2 weeks time and I haven't even written any cards yet, must sit down and make an effort as I'm really naughty about cards and I wont see anyone after next week.

Still doing my exercises with Tom and after reading about Hannah's course last weekend I might ask her for some more as I'm sure they will compliment Julia's. Tom and I have been on one of these courses and really enjoyed it although he was really unhappy on the wobble boards so I haven't pushed him to do iit even though a friend's husband made me a small one.

Schedules for the start of the season have started coming out in the net and I'm struggling to not enter any especially as I still haven't decided what to do with Dudley. I have been taking him training with Mac on Wednesdays in Tom's places and he's been working so well that I haven't been able to get to the places I normally can with him but I know that when we get to a show he will probably start biting me again but to be honest I don't think I'm ready for Allsorts with him yet but might do more in the Summer once I've seen what he gets up to.

Oooo smells like the first batch of mulled wine is ready.

2008-12-11T14:28:00.002Z

If men feel how I do every time they have a cold I have to say I feel sorry for them, I've been off all work all week and have hardly been able to get out of bed with aching bones and sore throat and now a cough. The poor dogs have had to cope with a quick run round while I've mucked out Fenella but I have to say they've been very good and have slept most of the time.

I've now got a thumping headache and feel sorry for myself so I'm going to have a hot Vimto and go back to bed.

2008-12-04T21:37:00.001Z

Tom went back to see Julia last week and we had a long session of treatment and an even longer session discussing the problem, she thinks that he could have hurt his back a while ago and has compensated by using his front end more than his back end as he seems to have lost a lot of his muscle on his back legs and lower back but is a bit like a body builder at the front. I have to admit that although I’ve changed his collar because his other one had become too small I hadn’t thought much of it other than that he was maturing.

At the moment the plan is to try and kick start the muscles on his back legs into working properly by getting him to pace out rather than scampering, I’m doing this by slowing down my pace when he’s on the lead and making him trot and when we are in the woods I’m putting him on the lead and getting him to step over small sticks and logs rather than jumping them. I’ve also got a balance cushion and every other day he’s standing on it with his back legs for a minute and then his front legs, while he’s standing square I have to nudge him slightly off balance so he has to use his muscles to stand square again.

After Christmas I’m going to try and do some swimming with him to hopefully get his muscles even stronger which will hopefully prevent his patellas from popping so much.

I’ve run Shy again on Tom’s Thursday session and have really enjoyed working with her and I think I got my contacts timing right last week plus I remembered to say OK instead of Go.

Poor Leah has gone down with the horrible fluey bug going round so no training tonight which is lucky as poor Dad has had to go into hospital to have a blood transfusion as he’s so anaemic due to having had a really bad bout of colitis. Hopefully he will be out tomorrow or Saturday and until he does Suzi is staying at my place and has taken over the big dog bed so Dudley has had to sleep on the back of my chair.

Backs, legs and judging

2008-11-22T16:39:00.000Z

Took Tom to see Julia at Galen on Wednesday and she confirmed that he had a very sore back and spent ages working on him avoiding Tom attempts to stop her with his teeth. I’d already booked an appointment at the vet but she also advised that I take him as she was a bit concerned about his knee but wasn’t sure if it was his tight muscles causing it or it causing his tight muscles. I took him today and the vet diagnosed a subluxating patella in both legs but did say he doesn’t think surgery is necessary and that there is no reason why he should give up agility but we’ve got to keep an eye on it. I’m a bit upset at the moment but determined not to look it up too much on the internet as I’m sure that would make me worry even more. Julia did say that if he was diagnosed with it there is loads we can do with the massage and fitness exercises so I’m sure the end is not nigh.

Leah kindly let me run Shy at training on Thursday and made us do some really horrible stuff which she is hopefully going to get paid back for on Tuesday night. Shy is such a lovely dog and worked hard for me even though it was only the second time I’d run her and my timing was way out. I hope I haven’t undone all the hard work Jason has put in with her especially as her release command is OK and I kept saying Go.

Although I enjoyed judging on Tuesday night I don’t think it’s something I would want to do again and think I’d rather put back into agility by doing ring party and that sort of thing.

Took Dudley training on Wednesday, in Tom’s class, and was pleasantly surprised to find that where I would normally get a blind cross in I couldn’t as he was going too fast and I left him in the weaves and he stayed in which I’ve never been able to do (don’t think I’ll have the guts to try it at a show though)

I’m hoping to wake up to snow tomorrow.

C Side

2008-11-17T13:05:00.000Z

Off we went to C side with liver and liver cake and all three dogs tucked up in their new cages and prepared for whatever weather there might be. The first surprise, a nice one, was the exercise was in a different field and not too muddy the second was that Tom’s agility course started with the weaves. It was nice course and I was looking forward to running it, Tom started off really well, focused and keen but, unfortunately, after turning right over number 7 to turn back into a tunnel he went lame. I thought he’d put his nose down to sniff so went ‘Tom, Tom, Tom’ but the poor little bugger was on three legs and came hopping over to me looking very sorry for himself, he didn’t cry which surprised me as he’s a bit of a wimp and usually screams the place down if he hurts himself. The judge and I both had a look and a feel but couldn’t see what he’s done so I carried him out and back to the car where he actually put weight on his leg but later on he was hopping on the other leg, when I got home last night I gave him a bit of a massage and think the problem may be in his back as I found a very tender spot so he’s booked to see the vet and the massage lady later in the week.

After that it was a long wait for the afternoon classes and running the other two, luckily it wasn’t cold or wet and there was three trade stands so I bought new fleecy coats and harnesses for Tom and Dudley and saw a very fetching pink teddy bear outfit that would have suited Suzi down to the ground but Leah said that if I bought it I would be banned from training.

Eventually the open classes started which meant lots of dashing about with Dudley and Suzi and a bit of panic as I thought I was going to miss Suzi’s jumping while I was queuing with Dudley. I think the open courses were great even the agility that had a twiddly bit with a long send into the weaves with the added trap of coming back past the jumps we’d already done. Suzi was flying round the course but I was working so hard trying to prevent her back jumping that I put her in the second weave so ended up with 5 faults. Dudley did a cracking jumping round and was also working well in the agility until the weave entry when he had to have a bark and a bite but after I got him in he worked the rest really well.

Jason was busy working so I also ran my first ever large dog and worked Shy in the jumping and agility, she’s such a good girl and ran nicely for me but I managed to get to Es but really enjoyed it. Don’t think I’ll be getting a large dog any time soon though, couldn’t possibly walked courses with so many other people.

2008-11-15T14:29:00.003Z

Just made some liver cake and it's risen higher than any of the ordinary human cakes I've ever made! Not sure if it's the wholemeal self raising flour or the silicon cake tin I've just bought. I was expecting it to smell awful when cooking but it's actually not bad and I'm just waiting for it to cool down so I can cut it up and try it on the boys. Think next time though I'll do it in a square tin.

It's supposed to freeze well so I'll bag it up in training session sized portions and I'm thinking of making some pichard cake next.

Bless Leah

2008-11-14T11:53:00.000Z

After reading my blog she worked out a plan of campaign for me and Tom, first I got a phone call to say bring really high value treats to training last night so I toddled off to the butcher and bought some lamb’s liver which I cut up into some nice bite sized pieces. When I got to training the next part of the plan came into action, I was only to do 3 bits of equipment and treat and praise once completed, if we had a longer course I had to treat him between each section of 3 and when he wasn’t working he stood away from the other dogs and chilled out there were also to be no ‘wait’ starts until his agility drive is back.

I’m not expecting miracles but I have to say the difference was amazing, the liver combined with the short sections really seemed to work and the chill out meant he was up for being back with me and working. I need to alternate the treats so I’m going to look at making some treats of my own including liver cake and fish cake and the smellier the better.

I also ran Dudley round a couple of courses and for a dog that wont usually touch anything in the raw meat/fish line he got a real taste for the liver and caught me out by running faster than I’ve ever seen him and actually catching and coming past me down a line of jumps and over the dogwalk.

I’m so lucky to have such a fantastic set of trainers, especially Leah who takes real pains to help us with all our different problems and she even held some raw liver which must have been awful for her as she’s a veggie. Please don’t tell her I said that as she’ll have trouble getting her head through the gateway at training!

All I have to do now is be consistent and just work 3-4 obstacles at a time and not get over excited and let the red mist take over if he’s going nicely.

Oh the frustration…….

2008-11-13T11:42:00.001Z

Most people you hear about are having problems getting a wait on the start line I’m having the complete opposite. Thomas just sits there and wont budge even when I get excited and 1,2,3 he is poised to go as you can see him rocking but he just wont move. Not sure what the problem is but it seems to be when there are jumps involved as outside agility I can get him to wait for the length of a football pitch and when I say ‘Go’ he powers towards me. I have been doing running starts with him just to keep him going but I want to get back to him doing lovely starts :(

We went to WAG on Sunday and I’m sure Leah was trying to kill us all with her extremely long but fun courses and guess what Tom was back to sniffing, our agility run was a nightmare but he did get all his contacts and when he eventually decided to come back to me he did lovely weaves and to be fair each run had some really good bits so even though I was upset that he was sniffing I was pleased with the majority of it. It was a lovely day as I took Wendy & Woody leaving Dudley at home with Dad so we just had the two dogs which was really relaxing I must say, we took them for a walk on the beach at lunchtime and they had a whale of a time. It makes me realise how enjoyable shows used to be with only one dog to run, no rushing from ring to ring to see how classes were running being able to sit and chat with people and looking round the trade stands without panicking that all the rings were going to finish.

Last night at training I was finding it very hard to stay upbeat and not get frustrated with him as either his nose was down or he wouldn’t go and the courses we were doing need a wait to get in the right position. I tried to take on board what Mac was saying about not getting to far away from him but I don’t want another Velcro dog and want him to be able to work either ahead or behind me and not rely on me always being near him. When the others went to work at the other end of the school I spent time with him working on getting him to ‘GO’, I used a toy and treats and even the tunnel as an incentive to get him moving but with only limited success, I found that he would normally go if there was only one jump between us, about 2 metres, but if I tried to go further than this he just wouldn’t budge, perhaps this is outside his confidence zone which is very strange (might take my video camera tonight and see if I can get some evidence in case someone can see what I’m doing) That said he did some brilliant work when I practised our ‘steady’ he wrapped himself round the wing and powered away, I tried working close up and from more of a distance.

The sniffing is more of a problem and more frustrating as I know it’s an avoidance thing and I don’t know how to deal with it, I try and make myself more interesting and praise him loads when he comes back and would like to play with his tuggy with him but he just switches off to it and goes off again, at WAG someone leant over the fence and shooed him away which helped a bit, what didn’t help was that he did actually find something to eat so got himself a lovely reward.

I’m entered for C Side but can’t say I’m really looking forward to it as the venue is one of the worst for lovely smells for Tom, he seems to remember the time he found a huge pile of horse poo half way round a course so spends him time looking for more.

After I posted this orginally I got a call from Leah so I'm going armed with raw lamb's liver tonight.

2008-11-02T20:28:00.002Z

My cage is ready and I'm going to pick it up next Friday, I very excited even though I've got to to the other side of Peterborough. Think Dudley is looking forward to not having Tom jump all over him every time he gets in the car.

After the being out every weekend of the agility season not having a show at the weekend is actually really nice and restful and only having one lesson in the last month has actually been quite nice, just walking the dogs and watching the telly is something I'm sure I'm getting too used to luckily we're back to training with a vengence from tomorrow.

I've also been asked to do my first judging appointment, luckily it's a club night but I'm still quite nervous and have been trying to work out some courses as I have everything from real beginners to G7s.

2008-10-25T18:54:00.002+01:00

Well I remembered the camera but the battery was nearly flat so I only got a few pictures.

"We're off"

"We're coming back"

"Well actually I'm carrying on"

"Well we have to start that raw diet sometime"

These kite surfers were amazing, some were taking off and doing somersaults.

Another lovely day....

2008-10-25T12:36:00.001+01:00

so me and the boys are off to Camber again. Going to remember my camera this week too. I'll post some pictures later.

Not happy with me, Oh dear me no.....

2008-10-20T11:06:00.003+01:00

Dudley is not happy with me at the moment because yesterday I clipped him, I know he should be stripped but he has the most awful coat for stripping so it's easier to clip.

I haven't got a grooming table so was sitting on the floor giving him a number 2 all over but at the moment he looks like he's wearing fluffy moon boots as I couldn't do his legs as close as I would have liked. The only problem is that it got cold in the night so in the early hours of this morning he wanted to come under the covers and told me in no uncertain terms by jabbing me with his cold wet nose :)

As there had been no coughs on Friday I took Duds and Tom to Camber Sands on Saturday and although it was a lovely day there weren't many other dogs there which could have been because we got there as the tide was coming in but there was still loads of sand visible. Dudley went absolutely mad and was doing the tail crooked down run for ages, at one point all I could see was a small brown dot in the distance which them started to roll in what I hoped was just the dry sand. Thomas found a dead crab and ate most of it after carrying it around for ages, it didn't seem to do him any harm but drinking the sea water made him a bit sick and sorry for himself but I noticed that the crab didn't come back up.

They both love the beach but Suzi hates it so she stayed at home with her Dad, I do have to regulate how long they are there for though as I don't think they would stop until they were exhausted. I must buy a tide table as you can only get a few days on the internet and I want to see what the tides are going to be over Christmas.

My friend went to Shrewsbury and she said it was the most relaxed show she's been to for ages with only 3 rings and enough helpers, she offered to help more than the hour she had put down for but they didn't need her, how many shows can you say that about. I really hope they put it on again next year as I'd love to go.

2008-10-15T22:29:00.002+01:00

All my posts seem to be about coughing but Dad has got a cough! He says Tom gave to him but as he started before Tom I think it's his fault that the dogs have it. Tom hasn't coughed since the weekend and Suzi's has nearly gone too but going in to collect the dogs tonight made me laugh as there was Dudley and Dad in the sitting room coughing in unison :) They both have 'man cough' and are looking for all the sympathy they can get what with Dad groaning away and Dudley looking at me every time he coughs I got the look from both of them when I laughed.

Suppose it was inevitable....

2008-10-12T18:14:00.003+01:00

Both Dudley and Suzi started coughing last night, looks like they've caught it from Tom and not from the same source as him. Being a typical male Dudley has 'man cough' whereas Suzi is is getting on with things much as usual.

I love Autumn, the colours are amazing and we usually get some dry bright weather it's just the evenings drawing in that I hate. In the Winter it doesn't seem so bad when it's dark but having a glorious sunny day and not being able to walk the dogs off lead in the evenings is awful, looks like we'll be back to raod walking in the week soon as it's 6.20 and it'll be dark in another half hour.

Resting

2008-10-08T14:56:00.002+01:00

Well all the dogs are now on enforced rest from training as Thomas has got Kennel Cough, I think he may have picked it up at Five Rivers as my friend's dog has it too and that was the only place that we were together. He started coughing in the early hours of Saturday morning and luckily I was able to get him an appointment at the vet that day to confirm that he did in fact have the dreaded KC and not something stuck in his throat. Apart from the cough you wouldn't think anything was wrong with him as he is his usual bouncy self made worse by the fact he can't do any off lead exercise which is also driving Dudley mad as he's missing his dashing through the undergrowth walks too. Neither Suzi nor Dudley have shown any sign of coughing even though I have Dad on cough patrol during the day and to be honest Tom only coughs first thing in the morning and when I pick him up in the evening. I was getting all excited about going to the small and medium graded show at Shrewsbury but that'll have to wait until next year now.

I'm spending my time working on my plan for when we eventually get back to training, my main thing is to speed up the dog walk with all three dogs, mainly stopping Dudley wriggling at the judge and trying to get Suzi to accept that stepping on the white/yellow bit wont actually transport her to another dimension, with Tom I want to work on getting to running right to the end rather than creeping the last few inches. This is my plan but I now have to work out how I'm going to achieve it.

I'm also going to knuckle down to doing my correspondence course which I'm afraid hasn't even been looked at this summer but tonight I'm going to Lakeside for some retail therapy as I really need some new clothes for work.

Suffolk Five Rivers

2008-09-30T21:32:00.002+01:00

What a great show this is, the venue is nice and level with a lovely running surface and the loos were magically kept stocked with loo roll, paper towels and soap (I didn't once see anyone in them stocking them up so it was a bit spooky that every time I went in they were clean and well stocked - Think I may be getting a bit obsessed with loos!)

It was Dudley's first Grade 6 show and I have to say that I was really nervous about it which was silly really as everyone in the queue were the same people we've been queueing with all year. All his classes were graded over the weekend and the lovely show committee had decided to place to at least 10th however many dogs there were in the class this meant that he managed to get placed in all his classes. In fact I came home laden with rosettes as Tom and Suzi were placed too.

Tom still had some weave issues on Saturday but got all his contacts and only got eliminated due to my over zealous use of 'out' in his agility causing him to go right round and back jump and then I forgot to say left at the end of his jumping so he went straight on and over the finish. On Sunday I used his power and speed class to work on his weaves as he just kept going straight past as if he hadn't seen them. He did a lovely clear round in agilty and came 5th, he was going great guns in his jumping until I sent him into the tunnel and got myself into just the right position to work a snake from behind when I realised that he hadn't come out of the tunnel, looking back I saw that he was having a good sniff but he came out when I called and carried on to do 12 weaves and finish clear. He hadn't done anything in the tunnel as the judge could see him all the time and it became clear that quite a few other dogs had done the same thing so there was obviously something really exciting to sniff in there. He finished about 5 seconds behind the leader but must have wasted at least that which was very encouraging.

The weather was glorious but chilly at night and on Saturday we prepared outselves for the Led Zepplin tribute concert that was scheduled but I have to say that we were pleasantly suprised to discover that even though we were parked quite close to the venue we could sit outside and still hear each other talk and I managed to go to bed and sleep before they had finished, in fact it was less intrusive that the disco at Aylesbury.

Can't wait to go again next year :)

The weekend was only marred by the very sad loss suffered by Bernadette and Dennis when the beautiful Hex passed away on Thursday, my thoughts are with them at this awful time as I'm sure are those of the whole agility community.

Happy waits

2008-09-16T17:18:00.002+01:00

A training last night I really wanted to work on getting 'happy' waits with Suzi as she tends to cringe and creep when I ask her to wait at a show. I've been doing the 1,2,3 GO with her when we go for walks and doing it with all three dogs so they all charge off as soon as I say Go, this has not always worked as they only one I've got with a really solid wait is Tom who sits like a good boy until I say Go even if the other two have gone on 2 :)

Not sure if it was the happy waits we were doing or the full moon but she was really up for training last night and didn't slow down even towards the end which was was great especially as we were doing some quite intense stuff including TWO tunnels under/near the dogwalk. She was a star and didn't put a foot wrong although she did get a bit erratic with her contact when I had to run wide around the tunnel. Something to work on there methinks.

Paws in the Park

2008-09-15T10:19:00.002+01:00

Tenterden put on a good show, well organised with lovely judges and they even managed to get the weather sorted out but I don't like the Hop Farm as a venue and have decided not to do any more shows held there which is a shame as it's so close to home but having to walk miles to the rings, the refreshments and even the exercise and the fact that they charge the earth but can't keep the loos stocked with loo roll really doesn't make for an enjoyable and relaxing weekend. This was nothing to do with Tenterden, I hasten to add, who I think did a great job under not that easy circumstances.

Agility wise - it was Dudley's last grade 5 show and I was hoping to finish on a high but on Saturday he got 10 faults in his agility over an interesting course and wasn't helped by me saying tyre instead of weaves thus getting him 5 for going in the wrong side of the weaves, they other 5 were him leaping off the dog walk. As the weather had really warmed up by the time his jumping was due to take place I didn't run him and took him to have a go a terrier racing instead which he's done before but not out of the traps. I think he enjoyed it much more than he would have the jumping :) Sunday although sunny was a bit cooler so he didn't seem to mind running even with a long wait between his jumping and agility, in his jumping he knocked a pole which is unusual for him but did run nicely and didn't try to bite me which was nice, however, in his agility although he went clear he incurred 1 time fault which I'm sure we wouldn't have got if he hadn't grabbed my ankle quite so much, still he finised 2nd but they only placed to 1st so no rosette. Suzi was very naughty over the weekend and her wicked sense of humour took over a bit as she managed to get all her contacts but on Saturday completely ignored the fact that I was calling her and moving in the opposite direction and shot into a tunnel at the wrong end getting a big E, she did redeem herself a bit and got a clear in the helter skelter. I pulled both small dogs out of the 3-5 jumping, Suzi at jump 4 because she was walking and Tom because I felt that it was a bit too naggy and would probably have blown his mind at that time of the day. On Sunday she was doing a cracking round in her jumping then went over a jump that I wasn't pointing or looking at to get another E but did do a nice agility round but just a bit too slow for a place, I think the dog walk was a bit springy as she started up it at speed then slowed right down, quite a few dogs did this and we all agreed that it moved as they went up it. Large dogs are obviously not as sensitive :)

Now to Thomas, as it's his blog I suppose he should get a mention! Well this weekend will not be remembered as his finest hour, although parts of every run had some excellent moments, as out of 4 runs he got 4 Es. He seemed very distracted and not at all as relaxed as normal and the fact that we had to queue for quite a while before most of his runs didn't help. He did get all his contacts though which was lovely especially after the inconsistency of Duds and Suzi but everything else seemed to go to pot a bit, I'm wondering if he picked up on me being a bit stressed out with all the walking backwards and forwards as I couldn't always hear the PA and they didn't often repeat the message so most of the time you only heard the 'calling to the end' or the 'closing in 5 minutes' bit but you didn't know what class or what ring.

Talking of the PA, in this world or wireless and digital etc why are most of the PAs so rubbish, you either can't hear them or they boom out so loud that they are distorted and why can't people repeat the message as usually by the time you realise that the tinny little squeak is the PA you've missed two thirds of it and have to wander round asking people if they heard it and keep bumping into people asking the same thing so you then have to walk the 10-15 minutes to your ring to find out that it was nothing to do with your class. Even the one that you can listen to over the radio isn't much good if they don't repeat the message plus in my car you have to have the engine switched on for the radio to work so it's no good anyway.

Blimey it's lucky we're near the end of the season if something as simple as the PA starts to send me off on what could end up as a continous rant :)

2008-09-12T16:23:00.003+01:00

Leah has restructured her classes and Tom has moved into another class with mostly all new dogs. We worked really hard last night and I don't know about Tom but I was knackered, more to do with that fact that we've had a break for the summer and that I had to think much harder about how to run the courses than how unfit I am :)

The class is also longer than he's used to and I thought he might get over tired and was prepared to only do half the class but by popping him out for a chill out and a wee a couple of times he lasted the whole class without getting sniffy or distracted and I was very pleased with what we achieved, just wish Leah hadn't gone off the the Europeans and come back with some weird European ideas for weave entries and obstacle discrimination!!

One thing I did find was that he couldn't seem to see one of the pipe tunnels even though it was straight in front of him and kept either running past it or looking back at me, not sure it this was the lighting but I must keep an eye on it. I'm also going to go back to targeting his dogwalk for a while as although he goes across quite fast he's started to creep down to the contact, he's still faster than Dudley though.

Just found another blog gadget and have added it down the bottom so if you fancy becoming a Tom Tom follower I think you just have to click on it.

Stour Valley

2008-09-08T21:53:00.002+01:00

The weather was awful when we left for the show on Friday but I decided to go anyway as I was ring manager on the Saturday and had booked camping, when I got there I got soaked setting up the garden but had been allocated a lovely spot right by the rings so not far to walk and I could keep an eye on it while managing.

Saturday was a day of cloud, heavy showers and wind but everyone just got on with it and my ring party were fantastic, they were a mixture of Sevenoaks club members and people who just offered to help and we were looked after really well by Stour Valley with a packed ring box of tea, coffee and biscuits plus a box of sweets and in the afternoon lovely posh cakes. Andy Longley was a great judge as he did what has told and trotted off between each class to do his presentations :)

Once we'd finished for the day we left Angela Lucas to tweak her course for the next day and a couple of friends joined me for a cup of tea, suddenly Angela shouted 'it's coming' and ran for her van, there was a clap of thunder and you could hear the rain coming towards us and it was as if someone was chucking buckets of water at the camper and this went on for most of the night.

On Sunday I walked a course and really felt that I had to ask the judge why he felt that he needed so many pull throughs, his answer was because it was a 5-7 class and that if he could get his grade 3 round it we should be able to get our dogs round. My point wasn't that I couldn't get my dog round the course just that why did he think that we would enjoy a course that didn't run smoothly for the dogs just because it was a 5-7 class. I did have a go but managed to eliminate Dudley at jump 10 by not waiting until he was committed to the pull through before moving off and making him back jump.

Results wise Dudley got a 3rd in grade 5 agility, Suzi got a 7th and a 10th in her jumping classes and Tom and some very nearly clears. I was really pleased with him as he had some brilliant bits in all of his runs including great contacts and lovely weaves but he was let down by his handler more than once.

Stour Valley was a great show with and excellent venue that drained really well and even though we had all that rain the going was always good and you could hardly see where the dogs had been running in the rings and I hope that Rob let's them use the venue again next year.

2008-09-02T14:47:00.003+01:00

The time has come to be sensible and get rid of my Subaru Legacy and take over Dad's Renault Scenic that just sits on the drive since my Mum died and goes out perhaps once a month if it's lucky. It's an 03 with about 20,000 miles on the clock and has aircon and eveything, including a few cup holders and lots of little cubby holes which I'm not sure what you would use for but you never know they may come in useful :)

I've been hunting around for quotes for a double cage and suddenly remembered Bernadette's recommendation so gave them a ring and they are £200 cheaper and come with locking catches which is just what I wanted so I've ordered one today, hopefully I'll get something for my old car which will go towards the cage. I've got to wait about 8 weeks but I don't mind that so now I've just got to muck my car out and try and sell it.

Training started again last night and I took Dudley as I thought he might like it and I also took cakes for his win. He was a very good boy and worked very well at the weave entries, especially as they are not his favourite thing to do, and we also did some go rounds and working ahead. I don't think he'll ever be happy working ahead of me in the ring but he did try hard last night and I couldn't ask more than that. Tom starts again on Thursday and I'm really looking forward to it.

Ears really bleed don't they?

2008-08-28T11:51:00.002+01:00

Last night on our walk my friend's young collie was totally obsessed with Dudley and kept rounding him up and staring at him, you know how they can be, and poor Dudley was getting more and more p****d off as he wanted to go hunting and couldn't get away. Well by the end of the walk he'd had enough of being stared at from about 4 inches away and jumped on Freddie who managed to bite his ear so not only was there a lot of noise there was a lot of blood and trying to grab a terrier is like trying to catch wet soap. It was nothing really and neither dog seemed that upset, apart from Freddie not liking the blood on my hands, and both just carried on as if nothing had happened. What suprised me was the reaction of the other dogs, one tried to put herself between them as if to day 'Now, now boys' another just took one look and carried on walking and Suzi and Tom just looked on.

I'm not really sure what to do about Freddie's obsession as Dudley does nothing to give him the impression he likes him and normally grumbles at him if he comes to close so it seems that treating him mean is keeping him keen :)

Bridge House

2008-08-24T20:03:00.002+01:00

The day dawned wet and dreary but the BBC promised that the rain would be light and gone by early afternoon, well they were right about it being gone but not about the amount.

Thomas was the first to run today in his G1-3 Agility and I thought that it was pitched more towards 3 than 1 as there was a wrong end of tunnel with the added draw of the dogwalk and I was hoping to cross behind him in the weaves to pull him into the tunnel and block the dog walk but had to change this and push him into the tunnel which actually worked well, I'm lucky that he is quite good at obstacle discrimination so didn't even look at the dog walk. The reason I changed my mind was to ensure I gave him loads of space in the weaves and I felt that I would get right on top of the weaves and crowd him if I tried to cross behind. As he took the jump before the weaves I sort of half checked my stride to allow him to get to the weaves before me, this worked and he went straight in, I could see that his nose was starting to drop so I said 'Yeah' in a high pitched voice and he suddenly speeded up and did them really well and quite quick. The rest of the course, after the tunnel, was on a slight curve to the finish so I kept my arm up and said 'Go' and took the risk of slightly cutting the corner which paid off and he got a really nice clear, unfortunately, the collapsy tunnel had been left outside the ring but with the open end facing in and in line with the finish and Tom ran straight in, I felt awful as I hadn't spotted this before we ran and although he didn't care I would have been terrible if had been butted up against something hard. I was chuffed to bits to find out that he had come 2nd and even more chuffed to realise that if I hadn't held him on his dogwalk we would probably have won as he was only half a second slower than the winner.

I decided not to do the open agility with either him or Suzi as it was still raining and Suzi would not have been impressed by having to get out of the car in the rain but ran Dudley and Suzi in the 4-7 agility which had a Go Round as the finish! Dudley worked really well but missed his dog walk by a toenail then went on to get a perfect go round in quite a respectable time for him. Suzi was like a wild thing and took off like greased lightening nearly catching me out and was going really well until the dog walk and even though I was behind her, because I couldn't catch her, she missed it by about three slats then went on to whizz through the weaves and completely ignore the 'Go round' command (Naughty white dog!!)

The sun then came out and Dudley reverted to his old self of 'it's too hot to do agility' and practically walked round his jumping course and went in and came out the same end of the tunnel, OK so I probably called his name too early but I would have thought with his experience he would have know to keep going but there you go that's terriers for you. Suzi once again went like the clappers and finished just one out of the placings, she worked so well and even though I had a head start on the home straight she came past me and had to wait for me at the finish unlike Duds who took his own sweet time and gave me the chance to have a cup of tea and a sandwich while waiting for him to finish :)

Tom's last run was G1-3 jumping and was a nice course with some handling but also lovely and smooth, I didn't call him at one point and he got a bit distracted but as soon as I said his name his came straight away and after hanging back from the weaves and 'Yeahing' again he managed a clear and finished in 6th place, very encouraging as without the slight diversion he would have definatly come higher.

Thanks to Bernadette for putting up with me keep talking about myself and her new car is lovely.

Happy Birthday Thomas

2008-08-18T00:01:00.000+01:00

He's 2 today, my little ginger boy will be enjoying a long walk on later with his mates and maybe and extra special something in his dinner.

Can't believe it's been nearly a year and a half since he came into my life.

Here he is the day I saw him.

and this one was taken at Aylesbury show.

Go Weave

2008-08-11T13:42:00.003+01:00

As we didn't go to the KC Festival I booked Tom and myself on a weave workshop in Somerset which thinking about it now I was probably a little mad to drive a round trip of 350 miles for an hour and a half but we did then go to Burnham on Sea afterwards to meet up with some friends and enjoy a very bracing run on the dog friendly beach.

The reason I went on the course was mainly because what we did was videoed so we could see exactly what we were doing wrong/right we also sat down to review what we'd done between exercises so the dogs weren't weaving constantly and therefore getting bored with it. I was hoping to sort out our ring problems but Tom weaved really well and I couldn't seem to duplicate what goes wrong. I did discover that I run like a duck though and that even if I give him loads of room I come in towards the last weave nearly every time especially if it looks as if Tom's nose is going down. I'm not sure that driving all that way was really worth it as I didn't learn anything I didn't already know but the video is useful.

We then moved on to the beach and this, according to Dudley, made the long drive all worth while. Both dogs love the beach and this one was gorgeous, loads of sand and dunes to explore and even a pond to swim in. The weather could have been a bit better but the company was great and all the dogs there were well behaved and played as if they'd know each other forever.

Here are a few of the 60 odd photos I took.

Aylesbury

2008-08-05T13:43:00.003+01:00

Saturday was a day of almosts, Dudley almost won into Grade 6 with a 2nd in Grade 5 agility, Suzi almost won into Grade 5 with a 2nd in Grade 4 agility (shame they only placed to 1st) and Thomas almost got a clear round. The weather was wet and some of the equipment had just been repainted but without the gritty stuff so was a bit like an ice rink and while the course as such wasn't dangerous you had to really handle your dogs properly to prevent accidents, some handlers were moaning that it was dangerous but still working their dogs and still pulling of the contact equipment before waiting to see that the dog was safely on/off. In my view if you think it's dangerous you don't run your dog FULL STOP. I know the Dudley isn't one for hareing across the dog walk so was happy to run him but made sure that he was going on very straight and very steady (at this point I didn't know that the equipment had been painted wrong, if I had I may have had a rethink, all I was aware of was that dogs coming at an angle were slipping off the dogwalk which I put down to the wet weather) I started to have an inkling that something may have been wrong with the equipment when Dudley struggled to get over the top of the A frame, luckily he got a purchase on a slat and scrambled over, but we finished the course clear and he came 2nd.

Because of the problem with the equipment one of the large dog agility classes had to eventually, after being restarted 3 or 4 times, be turned into a special jumping class and the classes that followed it in the ring had to be transferred to another ring, luckily by then a different set of contact equipment had arrived as these classes were all my dog's ones. I felt sorry for the poor organisers as it wasn't really their fault but boy did they get some stick and I'm afraid it brought the worst out in some competitiors.

The weather in the afternoon was drier and brighter but also hot and humid so by the time Duds came to do his 2nd run he'd had enough and just ambled round :)

The littlies had a lovely jumping course in the morning and part of in involved crossing a box diagonally then turning left to cross diagonally the other way, this was poor Tom's almost clear round as I forgot to tell him to turn left and he kept turning right so I tried to fiddle him through the gap but didn't give him enough room so he went over the jump again but finished the rest of the course so well that I wasn't worried about the E at all. I remembered to tell Suzi left and she got a lovely clear although just out of the placings.

Tom was very wild in his last run of the day and it didn't go well, although he got his contacts and nearly all his weaves (we'd been E'd so many times by the time we got there I didn't put him back in but just carried on) Suzi did a lovely clear although a bit slow across the dog walk which I think is where we lost out on the win but she did get the judge's special but whether this was for her or because the judge felt sorry for me when I was running the loony ginger one I'm not sure :)

Sunday dawned a bit brighter and drier and luckily Dudley's first run was first in the ring, this was his grade 5 agility and I walked the course thinking that it was a lovely course but a bit fast for Dudley so was only hoping for a clear round and after seeing who was there I didn't get my hopes up at all but I have to admit that I am trying something to change my attitude as I've been guilty of walking courses saying my dog can't do that for too long. I stood in the queue and told Dudley we were going to win and instead of worrying the he was going to bite me I ran him as if he wouldn't and .......he didn't. He was the best dog on the day and if other people were getting caught out by dog walk to tunnel then that's their problem not mine he beat them and they were pleased for me, well some were anyway. Now I've aways said that if/when he got to grade 6 I would retire him so I'm going to finish this season and next year I'm going to see what happens. I may enter him for the odd class or do allsorts with him I haven't decided yet but to be honest a lot of his classes this year have been 5-7 so he wont actually be competing against anyone different next year it's just that I wish he was a small and not a medium as he does struggle a bit if the ground is uneven. Now I'm sitting here getting all emotional over something that may all change when I find that he doesn't want to stop now he's won into grade 6.

Sorry if you were hoping to read about Tom but I'm so chuffed about Dudley he's taking second place for a few days :)

Dudley does it

2008-08-03T20:24:00.001+01:00

Jusy got back from Aylesbury tired and a but emotional because my little man won into Grade 6 today. I've always hoped he would but never really thought he could but today he proved me wrong.

I'll write more when I come down to earth a bit :)

Just a quick update

2008-07-31T10:36:00.003+01:00

Took Tom training last night and the difference was amazing, no sniffing, attention on me and working really well.

We did some work with sending into tunnels and steading over jumps to start with and I did just over half of the session on that side then took him out for a wee and a chill out as he started to not go on command, Mac thinks thinks this may be because he's getting worried about something which could be anything including the other dogs barking so to break the cycle I should give him a little rest. This seemed to work as we started on the other side and he was back to normal.

This side had weaves and pull throughs so Obay patented finger came into force although I did use just one and not two so only half royalties going to Bernadette.

His first entry into the weaves was a bit tentative but he went through all the way then did two lovely pull throughs then up over the A frame and another jump to finish. We did that in reverse and at the weaves he's obviously realised that it didn't hurt and whooshed through. I left it at that as I thought leaving on a good note and him wanting more was a good idea so we went for a cool down walk and a little gentle massage then popped him back in the car.

Suzi, who hates the surface, caught me out by tearing about as if she was on grass and going exactly where I pointed her even if she should have gone somewhere else :) I really have to watch this as of all my dogs she picks up my body language the quickest and if I use her name she usually comes straight to me which can be a b****r if I want her to just turn slightly or something.

I'm very positive about Aylesbury as it looks as if the weather isn't going to be so hot which means Dudley will be happier and I'm going to knobble Hudson by putting Tom in their garden with Kizzy and exhausting her by making them play :)