Paws In The Park

This weekend was one of mixed fortunes, mainly good news though so can't really complain - but just have one bit of not quite so good news, as poor little Kiah cut her left leg somehow, have no idea how as there were no signs of it at all - though fortunately it is not a very deep cut. It is just by her left knee though, so every time she sat down, it pulled the skin apart and just wouldn't heal up on its own, so the kind vet at the show stitched it up and it is healing nicely now. Good timing (if that's possible for an injury!) because we don't have any shows for 4 weeks, giving it lots of time to heal up properly, just rest for her now to make sure it is all ok.

Anyway, back to the good news - the sun was out all weekend and I didn't see or feel one spot of rain which was great, and lots of different stalls and attractions at the show to look around too!! Most importantly though - Kiah got a 3rd place in her G2 agility (see pic!) with sensible contacts, and Ronny and Kiah doing us ever so proud and having a great pairs run on a tunnel crazy course and getting just 10 faults, dogs you were brill!!

Muddy Good News!

This weekend seemed to come and go in a flash, we were at the Richmond Championship show, which is Crufts qualifying breed show. Again the weather left a little to be desired, and unfortunately turned the show into literally a bit of a mud-bath, with us all covered in mud from walking through it, and nearly all vehicles having to be towed out!! Fortunately though, judging was able to be moved indoors as it was far too wet to be outside!! Still, all good fun!!



It was lovely to get the chance to meet up with all our friends again and also catching up with Jan who is Kiah's breeder, as we don't do that many breed shows we don't get to see them that often. Kiah loved meeting up with her 'own kind (!)' and it is nice to see how all the pups and dogs turn out if we haven't seen them in a while.


We were first in the ring at this show, and Kiah was entered into the PostGraduate bitch class, and was one of three, she showed amazingly well even if she wanted to run a little bit faster than she should!! Kiah looked ever so pretty with her beautiful shiny red and black fur-coat, and is now also the proud owner of a lovely dark brown rolled leather collar which we bought for her at the show. The even better news is that Kiah qualified for Crufts 2009 with 2nd place in her class!! Well Done Kiah!!

Dogs In Need

Kiah and I had a wonderful week at Dogs In Need (DIN), camping in with Lisa, had such a good time seeing all our human and canine friends, we had never stayed the whole week before and I must admit we both had a great time and looking forward to next year already!!

It is a shame to have to mention it (but it is England after all) but in the week we did have a rather 'mixed bag' of weather to say the least! Torrential rain and wind was the order of one of the days, however there was more than a reasonable amount of nice warm sun though, and so I can't complain. Only once did Kiah get drenched (bless her) she was not amused!!

We only got two runs a day at DIN so the atmosphere was nice and relaxed, so had a lot of time to spend lots of quality time with Kiah, and also managed to find time for my other hobby - taking photos, of Kiah as well as lots of my friends' dogs. The pic here is of Kiah in her little agility harness which she seems to love wearing, as well as not hurting her neck if she wears a collar and throws herself about getting all excited watching agility!! The only reason it was taken in slight shade is because the sun was out that day, and if I take pictures in direct sunlight, her eyes either look very light (and she has beautiful dark eyes) or the shadows cover her face and you can't see her eyes properly and her lovely expression.

Over the four days of competing we only got one clear round, which was in Kiah's Grade 2 Jumping, so we now have two wins towards going up to Grade 3. So in theory, whatever her next win is (agility we would move up anyway, or a third jumping win) would take her into Grade 3. I think we are ready to move into the next grade, just to have some more challenging courses and more complex handling for me, though we will get our win whenever it is time, I'm not going to push her as Kiah is doing fabulously well anyway. So that was our holiday away from work for a week, lovely break and doing something I really enjoy with the best dog in the world.

This weekend we have a breed show coming up fairly locally (about an hour's drive away) which will be good, we will get to meet up with a load of the Bonvivant Belgians and Kiah's breeder Jan who it is always nice to catch up with. Hopefully Kiah will show at her best, and the judge will like her, as she is looking amazing at the moment.

In the middle of September we have an agility show relatively nearby - again about an hour's drive away and we get to catch up with some other friends that I haven't seen in ages. Here we get three or four agility runs a day including a pairs run with our friends Jo and Ronny who is even more amazing than Kiah, but when they run well together it is great to watch!!

I will update my blog a little sooner than last time (well, its only a month, it has been longer!) and let you know how we do at both the breed show and the agility show too.