My Malinois & Friends

Walky Weekends

2012-01-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

Continuing with the walks that we have been doing, today and yesterday have been no exception!! Yesterday brought us over to the forest again, and as it was slightly overcast to start with, there weren't too many people there so us and the dogs had a great time. There were 11 dogs in total - 8 gundogs, a shepherd and two collie-somethings!! We even actually remembered the camera - this group shot was taken at the end of the walk - usually slightly more chance of getting the dogs to sit still as they were belting around having fun!! I do even feel slightly less unfit than before, which is great, a bit of a bonus.

Otherwise we have just been continuing with the wedding plans, the final fitting has been done so everything will be ready for collection the day before 'the big day'...only two weeks away now!!! As much as we are both looking forward to it, I think after the day is over, it will be time for a rest, not that I am wishing it away, but it will be a big stress causer that we no longer have to worry about. Less stressed happy humans!!

Mind you, then anyway it will mean back thinking about agility shows - I've already entered one in March and another in April so it won't be long til they come around and spring is here. Even though they take up a lot of weekends, they are so relaxing and we are quite excited about them again - I even overheard Alex say that he is looking forward to them, not that he will admit it!! The dogs are all good too, Kiah was awesome at training the first week back, Davy has been measured obviously large so is officially allowed to enter competitions, Risk is really getting good at recalls and playing raggy out on a walk too which is great, and Yahoo is over his bug so is back to his old retrievery self and joining us on walks again... Happy and well doggies too :)))

Busy...And Getting Busier

2012-01-14T07:47:00.000-08:00

Our celebrations for bringing in the New Year were very enjoyable, but nice and relaxing with a couple of friends and dogs, and watching the spectacular London fireworks from the comfort of a sofa. I guess part of the reason is because it was seeing in the start of the Olympic year so they really did go all out, very impressive and great to watch- but less frightening for the dogs as we were watching on the TV.

That now seems like an age away as we have had SO much to do, and been so busy organising since then!! Aside from the boring bit of having to go back to work, we have got a wedding to finish organising - our own - as it is literally 3 weeks away today, not long at all... Thankfully we are pretty sure that most things are done, just a few last minute bits to sort, and can just look forward to the day, and then a really big party in the evening!!

We have also been on three mega walks with friends and their dogs at the weekends, for fun of course, but to keep the dogs fit, try and get us fit, and to help socialise little Riskles - not that he needs it, confident little puppy!! Of course Risk is carried some of the way, as its a long way for his little legs. Twice we have been to the beach and then once to the forest, fab opportunities for photos - and both times I have forgotten the camera, though we are going again tomorrow so will try to remember it this time.

Today to just continue the busy-ness, Alex and a good friend have been working fantastically re-doing our garden fencing, it is looking really good - it was put up quickly by the previous owners and was becoming brittle. Anyway I've been out in the garden too (supervising?!?!) with the dogs who have been playing on the frosty ground and the sunshine - the perfect opportunity for photos so I thought I'd get the camera out as I haven't in ages. A few good ones came out but the one posted here is my absolute favourite, Kiah and Risk having a fab time playing!!

Boxing Day Walkies

2011-12-26T05:03:00.001-08:00

So Christmas day was great fun, after a chilled quiet walk in the morning with the dogs - if then a bit of a challenge trying to make sure everything comes out of the oven at once!! I was lucky enough to get some fantastic presents, a couple of CD's for the car, a new bright purple dressing gown, but also some awesome new Back on Track products, and a 'Springs Things' massage rug for Kiah which is rather cool. The dogs of course shared in the festivities, with their own presents - bones, hooves, pigs ears, beef jerky, some of which they have had, but of course their very own over-indulgent complete Christmas dinner too... even a sprout each, not so sure that was a good idea...

So of course its great to be able to walk the dogs more, and this morning was no exception. We went really early so that we missed all the 'boxing day walkers' as Risk has decided that other walkers (and runners!!!) must fuss him and squeals at them in excitement!! I have a challenge on my hands, but he was a good boy and came back each time on his recall. They all had a fantastic time getting all wet and muddy; Kiah running around like a loon, Davy going on his little adventures, Yahoo on a mission and coming back when he feels like it, and Risk joining in with them all!! All four dogs were pretty good though for appeasing us (and do get a sweetie reward) when we just had a quick 5 minutes to stop for a group photo pose.

This afternoon they are all happily chilled out, settled and chewing on their gifts - hooves and bones, and I'm sure we will be sampling a few left overs - there is more turkey, gammon and stuffing, Christmas pudding, mince pies and just a little M&S raspberry and vanilla panna cotta (which is fantastic!!) that might need to be finished, if we have room!!

Happy Christmas!!

2011-12-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note from us two and four legged (especially Kiah and Davy, feeling festive - but not very impressed - in their Christmas hats!!), to wish everyone that takes the time to read my blog, a very Happy Christmas!!! We all are looking forward to spending time - together and with our families and loved ones, and hope that any one reading has the opportunity to do the same! In addition we are all thankful for some of the things that we are lucky enough to have - there has been some ups and downs but there are some who simply aren't lucky enough to have what we have. If I don't get a chance in between, then I would also like to send our very best wishes for a Happy New Year, and all your wishes to come true!!

Happy Birthdays!!

2011-12-23T08:56:00.000-08:00

Its been another round of birthdays recently - firstly mine when I was hitting the big 30, which is a bit scary as i don't feel that grown up. It was an enjoyable birthday, Alex had arranged for some friends to come around, my favourite meal, and a yummy surprise birthday cake!! I also got spoiled with some fab presents which were lovely, including a shiny new sparkly collar for Kiah - its really difficult to get a picture where it sparkles but see below. I think my favourite gift by far though, has got to be the new style hardwearing 'plastic' agility jumps I received - in my favourite colours purple and white. If the garden ever dries out a bit and is less of a squishy bog, I will hopefully get a chance to do just a few fun practice bits in the garden.

Exactly 15 days later (as he reminds me every year!!) it was Alex's birthday, and he also turned 30, we are the same age. I hope that he enjoyed his birthday meal out, I secretly arranged for 7 of our friends to meet up on the evening before his birthday to help us celebrate, with lots of drinks and balloons and celebrations!! It is nice to be able to spoil Alex too, as he always does so much for me (and for other people) I like to return the sentiment. He received some smaller gifts but his main present had arrived a little bit earlier in the year, so he now has a new toy in the form of an old Landrover Defender.

Last but most certainly not least, it was little Kiah's birthday the day after Alex's, I really can't believe my special girl is six already and she has brought me complete joy throughout every day of her life. Happy Birthday Kiah Pie!! She really is a fantastic little dog, and just perfect enough for me. There was no steak this year as naughty me forgot to buy any, however she did have lots of biscuits, and a complete can of sardines, oil and all with her dinner, smelled horrid, but I think enjoyable in her opinion. She is and always will be spoiled silly, but why not - unfortunately our devoted companions are just not around long enough to NOT treat them as well as we are able and want to!!

Oh and of course a quick update on Risk; he is coming along very well, I have been teaching him a few more tricks, just simple things but its amazing how fast he picks up what he is supposed to do, after literally a few practices. He now knows how to put his back feet on things, loves his balance board, goes 'in his house', left and right, sit, down and stay, and learning roll over... I think thats about it so far! Now that his jabs have been completed too, he has also been on a few walks, some on lead but also one long one with 18 other dogs!! He was carried for about half of it (on and off) by Alex who was fab carrying the back pack, but Risk really just took it all in his stride and recalled fantastically for a piece of frankfurter - every single time what a good boy!!

New Family Member...

2011-11-22T04:16:00.000-08:00

Its been a little busy over the last few weeks, doing all sorts and never having quite enough time to do it all; catching up on wedding plans, spending time with the dogs and of course agility training - I am so pleased how Kiah is doing at the moment, really positive and enjoying it. Also we have been trying to get the house in order - I think most of the boxes are now cleared and unused stuff binned, or neatly up in the loft so its now going to be the time to start to make the house our own.

We have however been stopped in these immediate plans - for all good reasons - due to another new small addition to our furry family!! I must remind myself to not look on the Many Tears rescue site http://manytearsrescue.webs.com/ cause they have some stunning dogs - and just do amazing work with the hundreds of dogs they rescue and not just that, but take the time to rehabilitate and really find the perfect homes, which is just fab.

Risk's mum is a small but very beautiful collie cross kelpie (we think) who is completely black with white socks, and has the sweetest personality. I saw Risk on the MT website when he was 4 weeks old, and thought he had something special about him then - plus his markings are just lovely, completely black on top, with white socks and one white leg and a few naughty spots showing through. I do have a love for black dogs and I can never see why they are so often overlooked... and this one wasn't, as we were lucky enough to be trusted with our little boy, now called Risk - who came home a week and a half ago.

Risk is a very confident little boy so far, and though we are socialising him as much as possible - to work, to the garden centre, in the Christmas grotto, people on bikes, men, women, kids, people with hats, hi-viz jackets, busy town centre, in shops, to the vet, other dogs, chickens, all sorts - he seems to take it all in his stride so far!! He is quite a good boy overnight, and is generally clean which is great, and usually sleeps through til about 5.30 when he needs to go and do his business bless him. In the daytimes when we are about he is also starting to tell us by waiting by the back door when he needs to go, which is great too.

There is definitely a stubborn streak in him and he is only just starting to get into his food so he has been learning a few tricks that way, he is very much a thinker and so though he knows a few things like sit, down, 'house' for in his crate, and starting to do left and right, and a little bit of balance board work, it takes a while for him to properly get the hang of it. Short and exciting training bites seem to be the way forward which is good for me too, as it stops me getting frustrated as well, but we are getting better!

Our other three dogs are a bit indifferent about Risk being here so far; Kiah has decided in the last 24 hours that she actually quite likes him and they play nicely for a good few minutes; Davy on the other hand is really not a fan and would rather he left him alone - though hopefully he will come around in a few weeks with time, however Yahoo is the best though, he is like puppy uncle and puts up with a lot of terrorising which is actually quite funny. To be honest though, Risk is a good boy he has learned from the older dogs' signals and does know the boundaries. He is settling in well so far, though I had forgotten quite how much hard work a puppy is!!!

House Stuff and Other Plans

2011-10-28T13:17:00.000-07:00

We have been doing lots of domestic type things over the past few weeks, and preparing to a certain extent for winter... as much as hibernation would be nice it doesn't pay the bills!! Sooner or later I think we will probably need to replace some or if not all of the windows as some are a bit draughty, but first things first... Alex kindly insulated our loft, and we are having the cavities completely insulated as well, it made a huge difference to the old place, plus there seems to be government grants available at the moment - it cost us £20 to do the loft so I would definitely recommend it.

We have also had our shiny, new, lovely leather bed with the new orthopaedic mattress delivered, and it is sooooo comfortable, I mean it is a world away from sleeping on the mattress on the floor anyway, but from my point of view the softer the better, even though we went for medium-firm as its better for (mainly) Alex's back. I just love the new bed though, and it seems that Kiah likes it too, she loves evening time - or prefers the morning at silly o clock after I've got up - snuggles with daddy.

Otherwise we have been continuing with our training over the last few weeks, even Davy has been on a couple of training days and he and Alex are both coming on fantastically well!! Davy loves his contacts, is very nearly on full height jumps, getting the hang of his channel weaves - and they are both successfully putting sequences of all the equipment together, so next season may be a good one!!

For Kiah and I, it doesn't do either of us any good to give up completely over winter, firstly as it blows her brain if we 'suddenly' come back to it, and secondly as I think their stamina falters. However we certainly don't go all out or push it, just like to keep her active, and she is very much more than just a dog - they are athletes at the end of the day. However, there is plenty of time for R&R, playtime (see picture!) and spoiling too of course, the most important thing to be able to come back afresh. To be honest I do think that the autumn/winter is very much about reviewing what we've done, learning and only then, starting to plan for the following year, so that's what we're going to do, and we have a couple of training days coming up to help us learn.

Lucky Norfolk

2011-10-14T13:59:00.000-07:00

A very enjoyable show as normal, and even some incredible temperatures, it was some how quite strange to be able to walk around in October and not have to have a jumper on. On the Saturday evening we stayed in a B&B as usual (different to last year as silly me left it til the last minute as normal!!) and it was very pleasant with a HUGE bathroom, plus its so nice to be able to take the dogs in, as we know how well behaved they are.

I write lucky but there was some unfortunate moments in our agility runs - we seem to still be struggling to go clear but as much as it is SO frustrating at the time, looking back there were some excellent things to take away - especially in our first run the ABC. It was quite a nice course but had no weaves, which was a little odd, even though I didn't actually notice until someone pointed it out!! Kiah was listening intently to me, and was running awesome, however such a shame that three jumps from the end she flattened and sent the jump and wing flying. I was very pleased with that run from her though. We did also have a clear round in the gamblers class but it was a little messy! It was inbetween this and our final run of the day that we had a bit of a meltdown, and Kiah getting angry when we go wrong doesn't help!

However sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees and just need a bit of a talking to and a shake-up, and a few friends really helped me see sense that it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. And in fact our final run of the day in G6 jumping was far far better and I had a more positive frame of mind which I must keep too. We had go rounds, steadies, go ons, pull ins and an awesome weave entry by Kiah, no angry-eyes and not one pole down!! So though I made us go slightly wrong and caused two refusals, it really was a good round overall.

So I say lucky... Alex decided to buy me £5 worth of tickets in the raffle at Norfolk, and without any further thought to it, until we happened to be sitting in the sun with the dogs chilling while having lunch and started to hear the numbers being announced over the tannoy. Alex went off to check and a good job we did, as we had won the first prize, a brand new set of new regulation size weaves, fab!!! They just about fitted in the car on the way back thankfully, and are now safely up in the garden, and are being used lots, for Kiah to practice her entries and most especially Davy who is really starting to get the hang of his channels, they are really quite close together now!!

Also, I didnt get a chance to post on the day as we were at the actual Norfolk show, but Davy had his 3rd birthday while we were there - on the 1st October, so though he got a special dinner, shared human breakfast and extra biscuits, I just thought that I would say belated happy birthday to him on here too, so happy birthday Davy boy... such a good lad.

Mega Update!!

2011-09-30T11:59:00.000-07:00

Well we are back in the land of normality... internet connection and everything. Obviously the main reason is moving house - our actual moving day went by without too much drama - apart from having to take the fridge apart to get it out of the front door and into the van!! We got the call through at 12.55pm to go and pick up the keys, and even on the very first evening in our new place, we both felt really comfortable, and it felt like home - to all of us, the dogs included. We have done some bits to start with, tidying up the garden (dogs' play zone!), and completely redecorating our bedroom with a brand new fluffy carpet, so far...

Our first week off was at Dogs in Need, we got to put up our new caravan awning and it served us very well for the week, far too organised and 'homely' but helped us even more to relax. The actual agility - well with a combination of Kiah and I needing to do more training to remember picking her feet up, and my handling being disastrous too... nothing changes!! Aside from the moaning there were lots of good points too, including the agility, its never as bad as I say, I wouldn't do it if we didn't enjoy it!

It was a similar story for the ABC, I absolutely loved the experience, and also seeing everyone else run as best they can, even though my nerves were completely frayed. The warm up course was really enjoyable to run and very well placed I think - it must be difficult to set a 1-7 as you can't make it too easy, but not too hard either. Kiah was excellent, very fast but accurate as well - just one pole down which was most definitely my fault getting in her way on a front cross. The final course was actually even better, and another positive for Kiah - she did an excellent pull in, unfortunately I became a spectator watching this fab turn... and then the big E watching her straight into the tunnel, damn it... It would have been excellent to get there, but we wish the very best to the people who did qualify, can't wait to watch the final.

So onwards and upwards to another ABC qualifier and see if we can do it again this year - and the last show of the season - at Norfolk this weekend, so we'll go out there, and give it a damn good go... properly. Then its the end of the season again though - it does just come around so quick. Definitely more training over the winter required - for me more than anything, and just a bit of a reminder for Kiah. I think next year we might just set ourselves a couple of goals, if nothing else just to try and make some of our attempts a bit more positive, and go out and attack them, we shall see, and starting with the ABC this weekend... mind over matter...!!

Its Going To Be a Busy Couple of Weeks!!

2011-08-12T12:41:00.001-07:00

As much as I am getting into enjoying my 2 week (and one day!) holiday already, and its only Friday evening, it is going to be busy here, fun but also a little bit stressful I think. Kiah has had a check up/massage this evening with her fab physiotherapist which all went very well, so our first week is going to be a nice relaxing time at the Dogs in Need show. The main order of that week is chilling out with the dogs in our new caravan and enjoying lots of good friends' company that we haven't seen in ages, as well as a little bit of agility for good measure!! I've put a photo on here of Kiah enjoying her agility at the show the year before, as we haven't had an agility picture for a while :)))

Our second week is going to be a just a little busier, as Monday the 22nd is our completion date on the house sale and purchase, it is nearly here and we are definitely ready for it. The last few bits and pieces are almost ready to move and most things are now packed in one place or another, just things like the fridge, tv and mattress left. It is truly bizarre living with the minimum for a couple of weeks, but the amount of stuff we have binned in the sorting process, is quite theraputic!! Let the journey begin...

Lots of Goings On!

2011-08-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

I hadn't realised in quite how long that I haven't updated my blog but there has been quite a lot going on, and most of it has kept us just a little bit busy, so where do I start, it might be easier to write a list, its going to be a long one, mainly good stuff but some not so good first of all...

About half way through an agility lesson, Kiah was acting odd, missing her weaves and then after coming out of a tunnel, a strange hind leg gait, so of course I pulled her out straight away. So off to our lovely physio for her who managed to fit us in at mega short notice and then a visit to our vet as well. To cut a very long and woe-is-me (me, not Kiah) story short, it was thankfully just bruising and tight muscles rather than anything more serious, so pleased! Of course she has been spoiled silly - and having on lead, minimal walks only so is a bit of a porker at the moment, not fat as I wouldn't let that happen, but just a little rounded around the edges, I'm just so glad she is and will be ok with time.

Also, an update from my last post; we sold our old caravan, and picked up the new one which is just lovely, if a little smaller but just nearly perfect. Oh and of course it includes the awning, which we have now had the trial put up, and re-waterproofed just in case - but only in the garden as there's no room by the caravan, it looks fairly new and unused, so fingers crossed it fits properly and hasn't shrunk. Its first real outing will be at Dogs In Need in a couple of weeks, looking forward to that!!

Last week we were looking after a friend's 4 month old puppy as they were on holiday, she is called Luna and is a rottie x lab - quite cute but looks like a huge-pawed labrador at the moment. It was a bit of a reality check for both Alex and I as Kiah was my last puppy, 5+ years ago, and Alex's which was 12+ years ago!! Luna was a good girl and it was quite fun really watching our dogs interact with her, and remembering the teaching process for a puppy, all the things that you take for granted as the older three know what they are doing, so a learning process for us too. She went home on Saturday as her owners were back home, and bless her we will miss her a bit.

So onto the best - and long awaited news, I didn't want to say anything until it was finalised, but we are finally in the process of moving house - the exchange happened last week. The only slight downside, is that the completion date has been set for the 22nd August, which is a Monday and the week immediately following Dogs in Need - so it is going to be chaotic!! Fortunately the place we are buying is a probate property, so though sad for the family who are selling, they have been really helpful to us and let us move about 90% of our 'stuff' in already, so this weekend has been very busy emptying our house!! The biggest mission so far was getting the sofa out, which involved taking the door off the hinges in the end - you can see that Kiah was 'helping' sitting on it out the front of the house, as it is kind of 'her' sofa.

It is going to be a busy couple of weeks for us and has started already - we both have a week left at work which will be mad trying to sort things before we go, and then two full weeks holiday, the first chilling at the dog show, and then complete mayhem the following week when we finally get to move in to our new house and enjoy our huge 100ft garden, and the fun and new chapters that will bring to our lives and furry family, can't wait :)))

New Toy!!

2011-07-12T12:28:00.000-07:00

Next week, Alex and I will hopefully get to go and collect our new toy, a 1998 Lunar Ariva GT and we are very excited about it!! It is a 2 berth, but slightly smaller, narrower, and about 400kg lighter (better on fuel!!), with a side-end bathroom and shower, still a full size fridge, practically unused hob and oven.

Oh and as it is smaller we made sure that it has an awning with it so we can have a bit more overall space, so that will be the next challenge, putting that up on a test run... To be honest, as much as we love our existing one, which is also a Lunar, it is just that bit too big and wide for us especially for the small amount we use it over the course of a year. Soooo looking forward to picking up our new dog-palace, and one day I might be brave enough to tow it!!

Time for Tuffley

2011-07-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

This year I think confirmed my adoration for the show, and its venue, the amount of classes and qualifiers on offer, the ground, and this year one to be able to bring home one of their lovely rosettes - and more importantly the stunning trophy which was in the shape of a huge circular cut diamond, little Kiah was brilliant in our g6 jumping course on Saturday morning, getting an awesome 2nd place and a goody pack from CSJ, fab!!

In the late afternoon was our CSJ agility course, which I thought was a Kiah kind of course, containing some of our things we are good at, like obstacle discrimination to the weaves, and wrong end of tunnel. Unfortunately it all went horribly wrong - I specifically made sure Kiah was straight for the dog walk entry, but I think she overbalanced... she twisted and fell off, but must have caught my leg, and tripped me in the process so we both went flying!!! Bless him Alex ran in to make sure we were ok, which I am so grateful for, it could have been far worse. Most importantly, Kiah seemed fine but the force she must have hit the floor with makes me feel horribly sick, so I really wanted to get Kiah looked over that evening. After we got an announcement put out, a lovely kind and generous lady called Chris Clements offered her services, and spent nearly two hours of her time and osteopathy expertise treating Kiah, and even though I appreciated it, I think Kiah did too as she was so relaxed throughout, and it was great to see Kiah when she woke up the next morning, full of beans.

We took it very easy on the Sunday, and just did two basic agility courses including the dog walk - simply to make sure there were no bad memories for Kiah, I was never ever going to push her after what happened the day before. I would absolutely HATE it if something I am asking her to do, however much she enjoys it, knocks her confidence. So really - after a great result in the morning, then quite a lot of worrying in the evening, on Sunday it was the best feeling ever to see her smiley, teethy, annoying barky-bark, but still enjoying herself and most importantly happy confident Kiah pie!!

Wicked Weekend

2011-06-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a long anticipated one - we had an 'agility show style' early start on Saturday morning, and got to the Land Rover venue near Luton a little early just to start to see them bring all the shiny brand new cars out, Alex was in seventh heaven and soon found out which one he was going to be off-road driving for the day. Of course its got to be a Land Rover picture for this blog entry just for Alex - but of course with the doggies starring in hehe!!

For the day, myself and the two young munchkins, as we had previously investigated on the net and we went to a HUGE park just 2 miles away - which was lovely to walk around for a good hour almost deserted!! It was a great place to go for the dogs to explore cause there were loads of specially put hollowed out tree trunks, and stepping logs and everything!! I think they were meant for kids but who cares, my furry kids had a great time!! After stalking around Luton for food we spent the early afternoon in the same park - but a different area, then made our way back to meet Alex, covered in mud but I think he enjoyed it.

The B&B arranged for the evening didn't fail to meet expectations either, it was a lovely village pub with a separate accommodation block (The Crown at Radnage) with welcoming owners, great home cooked food, lovely pub garden and of course the dogs shared a little bit - if they are good and sit nicely under the table, they get rewarded!! I continue with yummy breakfast, comfy bed, and in the bathroom there was a shower with one of the 'drench' type heads, I've heard of them but never actually tried them out - I think when we change our shower it will be to one of those, just luxurious and I can't say anything bad about the whole place!!

I think that because of the enjoyment of the first weekend day, Alex forgave me that the WHOLE weekend hadn't been devoted to cars and off-roading, and that Sunday was an agility day. Our first run was the best of the day, unfortunately I hadn't walked it as we had got there a few minutes late - it was a naggy jumping course and we so nearly made it around... I just got right in Kiah's way on a push round - I must trust her slightly more to do it instead of standing in front and giving her no room to clear the pole!! Both our agility courses weren't so good, one we had a pole in, and the other we had waited the afternoon for, and I don't think that did Kiah any good as it was far too exciting and any form of turn was far too much!! Of course before we went home the two munchkins got to share their own ice cream, and have their pigs ears. Great company, great doggies, great weekend :)))

Axstane

2011-06-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

With yet another dubious weekend weather forecast on its way, we decided that the daily commute of about 45 minutes (and a chilled evening at home in between) would be better than dragging a ton of weight to listen to rain drumming on the roof and getting more and more annoyed!! For once we had made the right choice, as the evening brought thunderstorms and heavy rain to the showground - even though at home ironically it was settled and dry.

Saturday was a bit of a frustrating day really, we didn't have any runs throughout the whole morning, when it was reasonably warm and sunny, and then they all came up at the same time, along with the black clouds!! Unfortunately we got a silly E in the jumping as I didn't give Kiah enough room, and the agility all went wrong so we kind of gave up on that one... in between making a run for our van we thankfully just got back as the torrential 15 minute rain and thunderstorm started and then went as soon as it came, explain that one!!

Sunday was far better for both of us, our first run was connections where you have to make up your own course and earn points, i'm not convinced we went the quickest way but it suited us, and we had a little mix up with my directionals on the same jump twice - but we DID go clear and got 10th place in the process!! The agility was an excellent course too, a bit FCI-like but on a smaller scale, and I think Kiah enjoyed it too as there were lots of power bits which she loves, but with a bit of control, and she ran perfectly. It was a 5-7 combined class and we came 5th out of 170, and later found out she was the first g6 place too, so even more pleased!!

A very good day, and made even better when a good friend showed me a short video clip - there is a few second slow-down function on his camera and he happened to be in the right place to get Kiah perfectly in slow motion - and powering through the weaves of all things. It is such a bizarre skill for the dogs to master - and so creates a stunning video and is just mesmerising to watch, I LOVE it, and so have hopefully attached it here.

So this weekend is also the 'anniversary' of when Kiah first started her agility career four years ago, bit scary how quickly that has come around as I remember her first ever run, which was in an ABC class, and great fun - where apart from going under one jump cause of her stride, and messing up the weaves as we hadn't quite mastered those, it was great.

We aren't off to the same show this year, but we are kind of going away for a bit of the weekend - its a day for Alex tomorrow as he is going off-roading (a present, he deserves it) then we are off to a nice B&B for the evening. Not the only reason I booked, BUT it is near to where the agility show is on Sunday - so it will be a nice relaxing evening away for us. Of course the doggies are coming, Yahoo is being looked after at home and spoiled rotten by his auntie and uncle back here at home, and we are taking the two youngsters to be spoiled with us, really looking forward to it!!

Thames - Appropriate Name!!

2011-06-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

After a really deep sleep - Saturday started well - for the weather anyway and for getting photos, even though Kiah and I had a busy morning! We had our two agility courses and jumping all up first thing, and very early running orders so off we went to the ring. It was such a shame when we had the first pole down in the G6 agility - no obvious reason why it came down but one of those things that just happens. It was a lovely course too and I couldn't be mad cause Kiah ran the rest more than perfectly, so big game at the end. Our other two courses didn't go much better, an unfortunate pole in the jumping, and the agility qualifier was another nice course, its a shame my lack of spatial awareness meant I was in completely the wrong place for the tunnel... we were finished by 9.20am... not a morning person!!

There was still time on such a lovely day, to do some priority dog shopping! After some general mandatory treats and pigs ears... Our most favourite trade stand has GOT to be Camddwr Canine, its just a fab place with loads of great gear, and I always end up spending too much but the dogs are worth it! Kiah came home with a fabby new 'back on track' coat, and Davy got a ruffwear jumper, and Yahoo had his 2 bones to chew over the weekend - I think he appreciates those more than any kind of coat/jumper.

Sunday morning we were certainly glad we had brought the caravan - it started to rain about 10 minutes after we woke up, and didn't stop the whole day!! Our first run was up early again, it must have been rubbish as I don't even remember what happened, or the course, only that I refused to take my jacket off!! The second run was better, though in worse weather, fair play to the judge who slightly changed his course to allow for the conditions, and it started well I was pleased with how Kiah was listening, even to my steady commands just to take the manic edge off her at the start. It was funnily enough a course where we could use a lot of boot camp skills which was great, there was just a big mis-communication over a wall, where Kiah shot around and back jumped before I had time to react - so pleased with Kiah's skills generally though.

We helped out on a lot of ring party in the morning up to about lunch time, but after the two runs that we had done by about the same time, we were completely soaked through, cold, a miserable day and just about ready to go home, Alex had kindly packed up and hitched the caravan so I didn't have much to do when I got back from my runs. Another previous purchase from CC came in useful - their Hurtta waterproof jackets - we took the two youngsters for a last long walk and play around the field, so enjoyable to see them smile at you on a walk like that - a nice end to a soggy Sunday!!

Dartford & Keston shows

2011-06-10T10:46:00.001-07:00

Started ok this weekend, nothing first in the ring for Kiah and I, so a chilled out walk for the dogs, and waiting for a few classes before ours. Bless him Alex had been really busy at work so slept in the van in the morning!! We had a couple of really frustrating runs first off, Kiah forgetting what her 'steady' command means, its irritating cause if my timing isn't spot on, then she doesn't respond! I think its down to me not quite teaching her correctly, so more practice required on that. Anyway we had a nice run in the connections (thank you Emily for explaining!) just had a pole down on a turn which threw me completely but pleased with that one. Then another nice run in the jumping class, shame we got E'd on jump 4 but that was cause Kiah just couldn't NOT bounce the jump where we needed a pull in! Other than that though it was a nice course and Kiah did some nice send on work which was nice to find, as it was a bit less nag and more fun!! The sun was even out on the Saturday it was lovely so sun cream all around - see picture of Kiah in her cool coat, such a fab invention and really good for her especially, she really feels the heat with her dark fur coat.

Sunday was good too, with a lovely course to start with, quite different to the 'standard' courses, with pull rounds, pushing out from a flat tunnel, dog walk in the middle of the course and then a send on to then go to wrong end of tunnel. Kiah started really well in this course, and then when we got to the pull off a tunnel, I called a bit too frantically which I know I didn't need to as she is so responsive!! Anyway after a bit of mis-communication she went in the correct end of the tunnel, and we went clear!! I was really pleased as we ended up 5th, and only a second behind the winner so its nice to know that even though its not a huge show, her times are still up there when I get it right!! In the mid afternoon we helped Lisa and Caroline pack up the caravan as they were kind enough to have done breakfast/dinner for us over the weekend, but we abandoned our last run and started home as the rain was just horrid by this point, the ground was slippery so becoming dangerous, so we finished on a high of our 5th place, in the dry!

A pleasant show overall, nice showground and fairly well run apart from the timing having serious issues over the two days and the tannoy announcements on the first day being so bitsy - I think both of those weren't helped by the wind. We will be back next year still, as its a nice show, and only about 45 minutes from home so even better!

Off to the Thames show this weekend, an evening journey for us with the caravan - just waiting for the dreaded M25 to (fingers crossed) quieten down so we can take it easy, and going tonight so we don't rush in the morning. Its always a very busy show anyway, I think even more than normal due to the evening entertainment and the amount of qualifiers that they hold. Even the 6/7 classes have been split into two parts, that's almost unheard of at most shows, nonetheless we're looking forward to the challenge, and hopefully some nice courses!!

Boot Camp Enjoyment Evidence!!

2011-06-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

ABC - Amazing Boot Camp!!

2011-05-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

Just got back and recovered from an amazing third consecutive year at Leah and Nancy's agility boot camp, maybe we don't necessarily NEED to go every year, but we just learn so much and it is so much fun!! I can't say it is 'relaxing' as that's not the point - but it IS enjoyable, though hard work right from the start, but for all the right reasons, as it brings great rewards from two truly excellent trainers. Thank you both so much, I can't say it enough.

We did have our fair share of exciting things happening at boot camp this year - first of all was the fierce wind turning a gazebo over, thankfully nothing hurt but it was 'all hands on deck' to stop it taking off completely!! The other was the search for a dog that decided a deer was far more interesting than mummy, I won't mention who but a frightening time - thankfully after lots of walking, calling, whistling, 'speak' barking from Kiah (bless) after a worrying hour or so, the naughty reprobate was spotted running back in the distance, such a thankful relief!!

Kiah and I had a 'new' strategy this year to stop her from being quite so worked up - and to stop her getting quite so stressy when getting excited watching others run - which was a soft crate with little fold down sides for her to chill out in, waiting our turn. It worked really well to keep her out of the weather, and more importantly helped us both to not stress and be more calm ready for our next turn. Alex was our resident photographer (585 photos this year!) who got some great shots this year of mine and everyone's dogs, I love this picture of Kiah smiling at me while waiting her turn in her little 'house' crate. He has got some fab shots of little Kiah so I shall try to put some of those up on a separate post :)))

We just learned so much over the three days; simple (but oh so effective) things on the jumping side such as the timing of crosses, layering, Leah showing us different ways of handling for the same sequences that suit each person, and different kinds of turns including the ketschker/spinning blind which works so well when you get it right! On the agility side, we were practising obstacle discrimination, independent contacts, speed in between, and most importantly contact performance.

One of my absolute favourite things was body directionals and how they can be so effective, for Kiah's especially as she is so responsive, a simple call and turn of the shoulders - when I get it right so does she. My other favourite thing was something Nancy raised - the 'white noise' that I give so much to Kiah - ie the waffle and nonsensical information that she just doesn't need to hear hence part of the reason why she likes to tell me off on her touch points!! So... from now on there will be a slight change in our contacts, it isn't anything major but I have started to see the benefits already - it is amazing how the right information, however simple, can help so much.

Kiah is having a well earned rest this weekend, she worked really hard and though she enjoys her agility, I will never push her as it is just fun and a big game for us - yet she still gives to me more than her best, so I think she deserves it!!

Tunbridge Wells Weekend

2011-05-13T14:42:00.000-07:00

It seems that every post at the moment is about agility, but it IS the main agility season and I suppose... (fuzzy logic) that agility IS Kiah's favourite thing, and the blog IS about her so I guess that's ok then! So... without further ado, this weekend was another agility show, no need for the caravan this time at it was only 15 minutes away - nice to be able to go home and chill in your own bed for the evening!!

Though I think that agility in the UK should be regulated to either be sand/grit OR rubber contacts, it was a bit of a shame that there wasn't the rubber equipment here at this show, cause both weekend days started very wet and a LOT of dogs skidded on the contacts - I know it is our own choice to run the dogs, but if there is something that can help and make it safer - ie grippier contacts - then I think why not.

So Kiah and I had some good runs this weekend, no clears but some good contact and weave work, and a naughty 'carve-up-and-dash-into-a-tunnel' moment too! My timing is really out at the moment, especially in some of our runs where Kiah was really checking in with me and I wasn't expecting it - so more practice required on timings. We have a couple of weekends off now, before another trip to Boot Camp (my Christmas present from Alex) really looking forward to the time off and training, woo hoo!!

Oh and a completely unrelated post, today after his appraisal, we found out that Alex has successfully passed his three month probation period at his job - he is really enjoying it, getting to use his foreign languages which he is naturally skilled at anyway, and learning loads, so I am very proud of him, what a clever bean!!!

Weekend & Vyne

2011-05-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

Another lovely long weekend - its great to have the days off work but they just go so quickly, especially when the weather is just so lovely too!! I know as the British we really do mention the weather an awful lot, but I think it is because its just so odd and unpredictable - wouldn't change it though, as much as there is a lot of rubbish in this country there are lots of good things too.

So we did all sorts of random bits and bobs over the weekend; went to a car boot sale (no bargains though), took the dogs out for plenty of walks (always fun), put a deposit down for the wedding (exciting!), spent a day with friends (nice day), a trip into a manic town for some new Alex clothes (suit for £50, bargain!), and all the boring usual 'bank holiday' things like a full garden tidy/weed and visit to the tip.

The highlight of the weekend had to be the day of agility at Vyne on the Monday, even though some of the agility between me and Kiah, started off as a bit of a disaster - partly early morning madness from her and then some failed 'scoop' handling from me, resulting in Kiah going up the a frame! Our third run was far better, it was a nice course to run at the end of a long day, we had a slight blip on the way to the a frame, but Kiah ran fab and ended up in 7th place, clever bean deserved a big tuggy game for that! Lots of well dones too - to Leah who won that class with Hex, as well as Tracy who had some fab runs with her boys Zeb and Musto in the ABC, and Jo who qualified both her boys Ronny and Zippy in the ABC as well!

It was also a day of presents - its nice to spoil the doggies when we can, I say - tell me a good reason why not! Yahoo got bought a 'bioflow' magnet therapy collar - it can only do good as his back legs are really quite weak now and I'd rather he was happy and comfortable for as long as possible... I am SO sceptical about these things, however after a week of solid wear, he genuinely seems quite a bit better, so all good! Davy was going to get a new embroidered agility collar to replace his old one, but he will have to wait til we see Tuffstuff at DIN - I don't think Davy minds, but it will be good to get him one with exactly what we want on it. Little Pie wasn't left out (of course, this is a blog about her after all!), getting new tuggies from 'klassy canine bakery' - would definitely recommend them they are lovely people and more importantly the toys are the longest lasting ones Kiah has had!!

WBSDS Weekend

2011-04-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

Wow it has been a tiring weekend, very glad to be home and to my proper bed and shower, as much as the caravan was very comfortable (and the fridge worked, phew) its just not quite the same!! It was an easy and fairly quiet traffic wise drive to the show on Thursday and we quickly got to the showground and set up our 'home and garden' for the next four days - it sounds very trivial but when you're there for the few days over a weekend, its enjoyable sitting out and letting the doggies relax too - even moreso when the weather was SO hot all weekend!

So Thursday afternoon and Friday morning was setting up the show, most things were done in a team so it wasn't too frantic, quite enjoyable at times! We were helping out with the traffic management and it still makes me wonder how people in agility speed down the drive in when everyone knows that the limit is 5mph, if it was just one dog that ran loose and something happened - so why not just slow down and pretty much eliminate the risk!?!? The main slog of the work was Saturday and Sunday working on the rings all day, it was a challenge and incredibly tiring - and our ring finished first on BOTH days, a bit of an achievement, but it was difficult too; for Alex - he helped out loads at the show, but also took the worry away from me as bless him he was looking after the dogs and managed to get a few nice photos, and for me; to be able to give it my all when running Kiah.

So over the whole weekend we had some positives and some rubbish bits too in our agility, and in most of them we just had some really silly mistakes, but I was pleased especially on Saturday with how we did. Some excellent work by Kiah and brilliant turns she was really listening to my 'steady' command, just a simple mistake of a missed weave where she was just going too fast, some issues where my handling let us down, and poles down mainly, just due to her crazy enthusiasm!

Sunday was a good start, we had a careful and not too rushed ABC run which got us 5th place, really pleased with that - Kiah's solid contacts and weave entry - it wasn't as easy as some people thought! One of the courses we ran I'm not sure why I did, as I said before there's nothing like a challenge, but it was all 'go rounds' and didn't have much thought in it, we messed it up but I could never really see us getting around it in the first place. Fortunately the second course in the same ring was slightly better - however I let my dog down big time. I have stopped kicking myself, but Kiah was just brilliant - powering down a line to spot on straight into the weaves from a flat tunnel, calling off a long jump perfectly.... and then I think it was one course too many after being on the rings all day as I had to stop - as I was completely lost. It was a shame as I think we could have got a good place as we had wasted no time otherwise, and of course Kiah got her toy reward afterwards, but slightly frustrating for me. A good but hard work agility weekend, it was nice to have the additional bank holiday Monday so we have spent today not doing a lot at all, letting the dogs relax too I think they need it as much as us!

There were some brilliant results from other people this weekend too so really big congratulations to everyone - Jason and Stihl who qualified for the ABC semi-finals; as well as Jo with her trophy haul from all three dogs but mainly Ronny getting another win towards G7; Lisa winning into G5 with Meme; Leah and Herbie, and Dave and Rusty for G7 wins; Candice for a place with little Tia, and some brilliantly run rounds from Tracy, Jo and Vicky with their gundogs, well done everyone!! Now... for a short three day quiet week at work, and then another weekend, two days of chilling and then one day of agility yay, I don't wish my life away as the week day evenings are far lighter now, but I do enjoy my weekends an awful lot!!

Locally Lewes

2011-04-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

It was quite nice to just have one day of the weekend at a show (but not too often!) especially when the weather is so nice - partly because on Saturday we managed to get a few boringy but necessary other things done, but mainly because we had a lovely long cool walk around the lake with the dogs, and spend an enjoyable day together too. It was however nice to look forward to the show on the Sunday too, especially as it was just under an hour's drive, and great to catch up with some people that I know only generally 'stay local' when it comes to shows.

So back to the agility, we had three runs and we had none in the ring straight away - kind of weird as though we had got there quite early on it was lovely to relax outside in the sun, Alex almost cracked open a beer! Yahoo had his obligatory bone to enjoy and was tied up outside in the shade - but insisted on sunbathing as normal, and Davy was not unusually - catching some Z's! So when our first run finally came around, Kiah and I weren't really on the same page, timings and directionals completely out, we got E'd but some great contacts from Kiah. The second run was a really odd jumping course, we nearly made it round but I think this was the run I was most impressed with Kiah in - she was really listening to my steady commands and though we had already been e'd she had the most perfect scoop and turn around a jump, bless her. Alex even managed to get some really good photos of little Pie at this show :))) I love looking at them. Our final run was something I could have kicked myself for - the start worked really well but as Kiah bounded into the tunnel I said weave and didnt think to look or even check in with her to see if she got her entry, NEVER take your eye of your dog! So after being barked at and told off, we re-did the rest of the course really nicely, a great way to end a lovely day.

Even better - its been a REALLY short week at work as we have taken a day off work to go to the WBSDS show at Newbury - its going to be a busy weekend as we are helping out, but the sun is meant to be shining, the caravan is all packed and ready, the dogs are packed, and we're definitely ready too!

Spring at Shuttleworth

2011-04-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

So the weekend just gone was a long one for us - starting on the Friday (day off work, NICE!) as we took a leisurely drive up to the place in Bedfordshire with the caravan happily hitched up and ready for its first show, Alex is brilliant at towing!! We had a lovely camping spot (thank you Lisa and Caroline) as we were down to help all of the weekend - so we unhitched and got set up pretty quickly once we got around to it - unfortunately the only minor set back was that the fridge wouldn't light all weekend, but thankfully that is now all fixed and ready for the next show where we are camping in a couple of weeks time.

It was a bit of a luxury sleeping soundly in the caravan rather than a tent, so we both woke up on Saturday morning feeling refreshed and ready to go, and though we were helping all day, there was a good ring party team so there was no problem going to run little Kiah - in some ways it was better like that because the weather was SO hot and sunny all weekend you couldn't have the dogs out for too long as they would have suffered in the heat, I like it but wouldn't if I had to wear a permanent fur coat!! So in two of Kiah's runs - one jumping and one agility we managed clear rounds, and ended up with 7th and a 13th places which I really was pleased with, I know where we could have slightly improved time wise especially on one. Sunday wasn't quite so successful but was still good, there were a couple of really random courses that weren't really difficult just awkward, so we took our own line on those, then another course where we got royally E'd on the last jump, but as it was our first show I'd rather we kept it simple and enjoyed it, no rushing, nothing complicated!!

The two boys obviously came along to the show too, how could we forget them, Yahoo was outside on his long line (just in case, not that he moves!) in the garden most of the weekend and though he had plenty of shade to sit in, he spent most of it sun bathing or chewing on his knuckle bone and watching the world go by! Davy was putting the effort in as normal for him, either lazing about on a camping chair, posing for the odd photo (but not too many as that's boring!) or mainly in the caravan cosying up on one of the seats, when he wasn't visiting or having a wander around the rings with us. A pretty good weekend overall, great company, sunshine and comfort, can't ask for much more!!

Happy 'Gotcha' Day!!

2011-04-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

We worked out that today it is exactly a year since we picked up our new addition, Davy the collie to become part of our little furry family, happy first gotcha day mister handsome!! He has been quite busy over this past year; becoming good friends with little Kiah - and all our dog and human friends he is a really good boy with everyone and everything. He has also come along to various different indoor and outdoor shows - taking it all in his stride, and learning some basic obedience and a few tricks here and there too. He has of course been spoiled silly too like the others, with a new bed, posh coat, dinner spoilings, toys, no less than they all deserve!! Also, Davy is a fast learner but does like to push his luck at times - like not going out anywhere in the rain if he can help it - and learning to enjoy being groomed, he still doesnt think much of a brush but he generally is a pretty good boy. Even more exciting for Davy and Alex - in the last few weeks they have started the basics of their agility training, and are excellent for complete beginners, they are working brilliantly together and picking it up really well which is great! So happy very first gotcha day Davy, here's to many more!!

Days of Sunshine!

2011-04-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

What a pleasant weekend it has been, sun shine and fun every day, love weekends like this!! I took Friday off to catch up with a friend that I hadn't seen in ages so it was nice to have a precious lie in, spend most of what turned out to be quite a nice sunny day with the doggies and do the whole 'ladies that lunch' once in a while - could do that more often. Then in the evening Alex and some friends had their 'PT Racing' experience, a professional formula 1 racing simulator which is incredibly realistic - which I think he rather enjoyed, getting to drive as fast as he possibly could, and he ended up 4th out of 8 which wasn't a bad result either!

Saturday was another manic day, after the usual early 'breakfast' wake up bounce from the dogs at around 6.30am (every day) we were off to the competition and open day 15th birthday celebrations of our agility club 'Sunniday' and an apt name it is - as fortunately the day was. Kiah was a little star - the agility course was good fun and she was running awesome, unfortunately as I sped up on the last jump to race to the finish, she knocked the last pole. She clearly would have won - I know its only a bit of fun but I was ever so pleased with her, she did as good as win for me!! Our other runs were pretty good too, we got a second place in the time fault and out class though I didn't help much as I was knackered after starting the course again, so unfit! Even Alex had a go at running little Kiah in the steeplechase, it was so much fun to watch and he did really well, Kiah just took two poles out as she had her 'racing' head on so got faster and faster but it was great to watch, I think he enjoyed the adrenalin rush running such a manic little princess too! The boys had a good day too, not doing any agility but of course coming out to socialise and they had a pleasant long dusty walk along with Kiah too, down the farm tracks and across the fields afterwards, its great to be able to spend so much time with Alex and the dogs out in the fresh air.

Then today it was mothers day :( I won't ever forget my mum and have been thinking about her all day... but I can't dwell on it too much - and the same as when mum went, the sun was shining, so I hope she knew I was thinking about her and that's why the sun was out today. So we arranged to meet up with Lisa and all her doggies for another nice walk, we just took the two youngsters as Yahoo is struggling a bit with really long walks now, his back legs aren't as strong as they used to be, so he got to stay at home with a big juicy knuckle bone. Meanwhile the other two had a great time, posing for lots of pictures, and Kiah's absolute favourite thing - galloping at full speed along the rows of hay bales, great fun just look at her face in the picture!!

We have also given the caravan its last check over before its first proper outing next weekend - as it really is time for the first show of the season, very exciting and I've got my running orders through too, can't wait its going to be good!! Alex is super excited about it as well, I think probably the fact that - it is a new gadget that he can tinker with and claim as his own, and the comfort of a proper bed - slightly more than the agility part of it. I think the dogs will enjoy it too - by the fact that Kiah is currently sleeping on our bed, and Davy is curled up on the sofa. So these last three days have been a really nice fun and sunny, though am definitely looking forward to the next one, fingers crossed for more sun - but even better that its only 4 days at work this week, roll on Thursday evening!!

Sun, Sand and... Sand!!

2011-03-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

As we didn't have any plans today we decided to take the dogs on a trip to Camber Sands for a doggy day out on the beach, as neither of us have been there before and over 7 miles of sandy beaches sounded like an invitation that we couldn't pass up. Also in theory as the weather has been so lovely all this week, I thought that today would be no different! We set off at about 8.30 this morning with the dogs, our digital camera, and the van all packed, on what started as a reasonably pleasant day. WELL... when we got probably three quarters of the way there, the heavens opened, and it rained for a good twenty minutes, not a good start - thankfully it didn't take long to quite quickly become warm and the sun came out - and stayed out all day!!!

So leaving early (as we were up anyway, thanks to the doggies wanting their breakfast) does have its benefits as we got to Camber nice and early in the morning, with the sea barely to be seen in the distance. It was great as there was hardly anyone there to start with, a few other mainly dog people which is always nice to see - but generally miles and miles of warm sun, a cool breeze, and soft sand for us and the dogs and us to enjoy. Of course we had to indulge in a fish and chip lunch too, shared with the doggies - it had to be done, overall a simple but brilliant day!!

Nearly...

2011-03-21T15:39:00.000-07:00

...time for the first agility show of the season!! The entries and camping (and some closing dates already) are rolling in ready for spring and summer - even some shows right up til August, but one of the main things we have been doing so far is finalising all the accessories for the caravan's maiden voyage, hopefully a successful and fully equipped one though we are bound to forget something!! It is quite exciting buying all the things we need, even down to the priorities like tea bags - but so far my favourite item has GOT to be the super king size duvet, a little overkill with the size but as a good night's sleep is kind of important - and Alex says that Kiah and I are horrors for stealing the duvet but I don't believe him ;) - I'd really rather be too hot than cold!!

In other news it has been almost a year since we picked up Davy I can't believe it has gone so quickly and Davy has come so far in that time - of course he will get his own post, with updates and pictures when I can work out the exact date!! I know that it is April, and am certain that it is somewhere between the 4th and 8th, but I need to piece together the dates on my photos so I can work it out exactly!! And I know I go on (and on!) but Kiah and Davy are still great friends which I love to see, especially when they play together so well, and on pretty much every walk they have a bit of rough and tumble, or play fighting, or playing chase - the 'bared teeth' look awful but they never hurt each other, and are just having a bit of fun!!

Happy Birthday Yahoo!!

2011-03-09T13:03:00.001-08:00

It's Yahoo's 12th birthday today, so he's been having a good sleep during the day, then an hour's long walk in the dark this evening, and lots of scrambled egg and cheese with his dinner - obviously Kiah and Davy had some too, couldn't leave them out!

Though this picture was taken back when the snow was on the ground, its one of my favourites as it shows his kind and handsome expression and he has his ears forward for once!! We think Yahoo is going a bit deaf as we have to yell a bit louder to get his attention, but he is a good boy most of the time. If it is warm enough at the weekend Yahoo will get to do his favourite thing in the world - swimming and collecting sticks in the 'dog dip' pond at the park!!

Mid Downs & FCI Training

2011-03-07T13:46:00.000-08:00

It was good to be back in agility again and brilliant to catch up with so many people (and new puppies, lovely!) - I know that I always say that but it always seems like such a long time over winter and its never the same catching up with people over email, phone, facebook, training and walkies, its good but its not QUITE the same atmosphere as actually seeing everyone at a show, especially the first one of the year, and as usual it was chilly, but fortunately dry. This was the van's first real 'proper' dog outing with our fitted cages, I love them!!

Kiah had two out of three of her runs first in the ring - and though neither of the courses were particularly well suited, she ran very well in all three! The first course had the second obstacle as an evil weave entry after a long spread which a lot of people struggled with, though Kiah got it perfectly, then it was such a shame when I yelled left FAR too late and got us royally eliminated as she bounced over the wall on the right, and the second run didn't go any better!! Our third run was a bit of an odd jumping course, it didnt have any weaves, didn't really flow very well and a lot of people including me kind of got a bit lost! I managed to put Kiah over the wrong jump on a bodged pull in, but we ended our day on a good note because the course had a 5 jump straight line 'go-on' finish which Kiah loved!!

Davy had a good day too, even though I think he was a bit bewildered, as the Ardingly venue was where we first met him about a year ago - I'm not sure whether he thought that he was going back again as he didn't seem quite his usual self bless him. We bought him a new 'agility' collar and lead (in red of course, his own colour) bless him as he has started his basic training last week in his and Alex's quest to become starter agility handlers. Also we were looking to get him a new bed too, as he has always had Kiah's hand-me-down (even though thats pretty new too!), but there weren't any nice enough ones to be crowned as the little prince's new bed, the search continues!

So, late on Sunday afternoon it was time for Kiah and I to take part in a 2 hour FCI training session with Nancy Hudson, it was absolutely fantastic, thank you Nancy! I always learn so much and this lesson was all about early cues for obstacles, mini cross behinds on tunnels, go rounds, nose-grab turns (no idea if they have a proper name!) and running away so that the course flowed better. Such simple things make such a profound difference if used in the right place, all about timing, brilliant!! Though at times Kiah can be very frustrating as she likes to 'voice' her opinion when we get it wrong, on the few times when it goes just right I really do get an amazing feeling from her speed, contacts, versatility and attitude - and our last run of the day was just that... We had the full course to run, and she was just perfect, every contact, jump and turn I was so pleased with her, fab buzz, fab way to end a weekend, fab little dog!!

Camping Craziness

2011-02-25T15:34:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post... the agility show entry websites are red hot at the moment!! I know the ever-rising cost of fuel is really starting to restrict a lot of people's dog show entries (which is horrible, silly government, all we're trying to do is enjoy a hobby, grrrr!), but you wouldn't know it, with the ridiculously fast speed that the camping is filling up at some of the popular shows!! Fortunately I am lucky to be able to relatively often have a quick check on the iSS / facebook / agilityforum websites, to have more chance of noticing when the show and camping moves from the coming soon list... am especially looking forward to DIN as I do every year, and Kiah likes the chill out element of the week shows too as you can see! ...Its kind of sad really, but there's a great adrenalin rush when you see the camping available and click on the little 'show entered' box!

Its Been Ages Again!!

2011-02-20T12:37:00.000-08:00

It seems to have been ages again since I have posted on my blog, but I just don't have anything particularly exciting to say at the moment, but I finally felt like I needed to update with some news - not that there's been a lot really, even though I still love reading other people's updates, its great to see some positive news around. As you can see, there's been a bit of a title picture change, we took the picture recently and even though its a bit 'grey' looking, I love it of all of them, and thought that the two boys deserved to be on the front too, as they are ALL our little furry family of course - a rose inbetween two thorns I think haha!!

After my previous blog post and our health check up visit to the vet, after one Saturday training session - Kiah didn't quite seem right, squealing more than usual as she was playing raggy, and again as she got comfy on the sofa when we got home - so off to the vet we went again. I will never ever not take them if I think there's something wrong or it is necessary- but that place does seem to be our second home at the moment!! The vet thinks that she probably stretched a muscle in her neck, while being bonkers at agility, so more rest for her and anti-inflammatories... I feel so guilty for probably doing too much with her too soon, while her fitness and muscle wasn't/isn't back up to full strength/power, bad mummy. For her own benefit I put Kiah on lead walks on her harness only, and removed her from all training and competition - including the second part of the BSD world champs selection day. (Just as a side note - many congratulations to all that made the team but especially Jo and Keisha and Dave and Rusty!!) Well I know that she would work through the meds as it makes them not feel the pain (and she has no self preservation!), and I know some people will run their dogs anyway - but that doesn't make it the right thing to do in my eyes, they are our pets first of all and I'd rather not risk something as precious as their health.

So apart from rest and not doing much, Kiah and the two boys have been enjoying some of Alex's company - he had three weeks break between finishing his old job and starting the new one so he has been doing brilliantly at home, tidying, cleaning, decorating, de-cluttering, and generally getting the house completed and ready to sell, we hope! He has now completed the first week of his new job, and seems to be really enjoying it, I know I said exactly the same about the previous one, but I think I really mean it this time, the whole company seems to be better structured, more interested in Alex as a person rather than a 'unit', and something he is really going to enjoy as he can use and improve his languages which is an excellent natural skill, so he is clever as well as being handsome - all good really!! Another benefit of Alex's job is no weekend work still - very much LIKE this!! So over the last two weekends as we haven't been doing anything too manic for Kiah's benefit, walkies has been the main order of the day. Last weekend we had a pleasant walk up at the country park with all three of the dogs (where the new title picture was taken too) Yahoo decided that he would go swimming in the lake and get completely soaked - but he does love his swimming, and Davy and Kiah made a new labradoodle friend to play with. We then had Alex's mum and partner Colin down on that evening and Sunday, which we love to see and the dogs love to have fuss them, so it was a chilled out Sunday with them, very enjoyable and sociable.

This weekend was even more relaxed, the weather has been just grim (again), so we had a very short walk with the dogs in the horrid rain yesterday but an afternoon of chilling, central heating, cuddles with the dogs, and watching dvd's was lovely, then meeting up with 8 other agility friends for a nice meal in the evening, great to catch up with you all. Today has been a little more active, meeting up with Lisa and her dogs for a nice long walk up at the nature reserve, we were out for about an hour and a half and took the camera too, it was a bit rainy/misty/foggy but its lovely to see the dogs interacting together, even if they did come back covered in mud, you can't ever be mad when you see their happy faces looking back at you like Kiah smiley face!!

Fitness Fanatic!

2011-01-30T12:57:00.000-08:00

From the title of this post - you know that it certainly doesnt relate to me (though it probably should do, to try and keep up with her in the heady heights of grade 6 this year!), so of course it must be little Kiah. She's always been a power pack, very solid, full of muscle and very powerful when she needs and wants to be, so I think she is the real muscles from Brussels! She is certainly not in any way 'old' or injured but the fact that she is SO mad at agility makes me think I should just help her out as much as I possibly and realistically can...

So even though we have had a couple of weeks back at training, after the 6 or so weeks off over winter I think it is only fair to bring her back in to agility slowly, you wouldn't ask an athlete to run a marathon without any training or preparation. Obviously on a daily basis she has her usual walkies where she is always running around or playing with Davy, but I want to help her additionally too, not that I wasn't before, but just to improve her life that little bit more.

Health wise Kiah has had a couple of visits to the chiropractor, she has been for a visit to the vet to ensure her spine and muscles are strong and healthy (they are) and I have been taking her to hydrotherapy once a week, not for any problems, but just a low impact exercise to improve her fitness - it is amazing how much they have to work but just after two visits so far she is barely even worn out afterwards. I think Kiah is starting to enjoy it a bit more too, she's only being held in the harness as she's not yet quite confident enough to swim around the pool on her own!! The videos we took unfortunately were too dark to see, so here's a picture of her swimming instead - with the headless assistant lol - the photo wasn't intentionally taken like that!!

Diet wise I have changed a few things around too - slowly and within reason of course to ensure I don't upset her digestion, but she now gets a supplement full of glucosamine and chondroitin for her joints, liquid vitamin C, evening primrose oil for her coat, and echinacea to improve her immune system too. The biggest change for her is her food though - I refuse point blank to pay over £50 for a 15kg bag of Royal canin, I wish that they would stop with all the marketing 'freebie' toys, bowls, naff plastic weaves, blankets, towels etc and just lower the prices instead, how ridiculous is that!! But it's their loss and after hearing many good reports, I am phasing out the old, and moving both Kiah and Davy onto CSJ CP24 - I have found a fab stockist really near to us which is great, and so far it really suits them. So forwards with a better and more positive outlook for the coming year agility wise!

In personal non-doggy (heaven forfend, only slightly I suppose!) news, poor Alex has been made redundant from his job after less than a year as the company is not doing very well at all thanks to the poor management, but more positively - he has found another job and starts that in a couple of weeks, quite a lot nearer to home and using his natural fluency skill of two foreign languages, so I think he is looking forward to that. My job is still as busy as ever, I guess that is a good thing in the construction industry at the moment - but sometimes it would be nice to just have a job that isn't quite so serious and you don't have to think about quite so much! Our other 'maybe' plan is to move house, still staying in the same area but a bigger and better organised house layout, maybe semi detached and with a bigger garden for the dogs, we're currently looking around to see what's out there... So onwards and upwards again with work and home life - it possibly could be a very busy year for us!!

2 Day Stops From Reality

2011-01-16T13:18:00.000-08:00

Though unfortunately we have both now returned to the work-work-work-life (un)balance that is reality and every day life since the highly enjoyable Christmas break, the one thing that IS nice, is to be able to come home to a smiley waggy tailey woof-dog. They are quite irreplaceably the one creature that will never NOT be pleased to see you, and always make you smile back at them when you realise how innocent they are, and the simple things that make them happy. As you can probably tell it has been a long couple of weeks back at work and so we make the most of all the free time we have with our furry family; evenings but the two precious days at the weekends even more!!

So, so far on our weekends, we have dropped our caravan off at the service place to have the tyres replaced and a couple of bits and bobs sorted ready for the agility season - we have even managed to find somewhere local to store it which is even better news, its useful that we don't have to have it on the driveway. We also took the dogs on a bit of a trek, they got covered in stinky mud which seems to be everywhere, but they had a great time playing as normal, and after a quick hose down they were soon the right colour again. We also took a quick pop into town and found a new gadget called a 'baggee' which is a spherical silicone sphere (s anyone?!) with an opening one side, that as per the name, holds bags - simple things entertain simple minds! But seriously they are a clever little invention that holds about 6 bags each, and they can be hooked on to the dogs leads, very useful little gadget thing, as I said, simple things!

It was also the time to start getting back to agility for the new year and start getting both of us a bit more fit than we have been (!) - so Kiah and I did a little bit of training on Saturday just with three jumps and our weaves, she enjoyed it though was being a bit 'over enthusiastic' knocking a couple of jumps, and we both got covered in mud as the ground is very soft! Kiah is still as bonkers as ever and still enjoying agility at 5 years old, so we will be back enjoying more agility shows this year. It is just so frustrating that the price of fuel has rocketed up so much, because it will hinder so many people from attending as many shows as they used to, not impressed myself with the cost of it, grrrr.

So onto this weekend, which in comparison has been quite similar with some training, and boring things like house work - apart from today which has just been great fun! We took a trip to Lullingstone Country Park which I have never heard of or been to before! It is a lovely place to visit and only about 40 minutes from home too, and met up with Lisa, Sue and Caroline and all their dogs - 16 of us in total, for a loooooong 2.5 hour walk and catch up, it was lovely to see them all! Kiah and Davy enjoyed themselves (Yahoo is a bit old for this long a walk now bless him, but he had his sweeties and chews to entertain him), its great to see all of the dogs interacting together and its such a huge place to walk around, we really didn't see that many people there, its just lovely to see dogs running free enjoying themselves and investigating a 'new' location!! So this evening when we got back, with full tummies after dinner, watching Kiah sleeping on our bed (cheeky but nothing new!) and Davy sleeping on the bean bag (that he has claimed as his own!) knowing that they make our lives complete, that we can do a little bit to make theirs as enjoyable as possible!!

2011 - Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year now that we are well and truly into 2011. We had a quiet night in this year, some would say reflection of what has happened in the previous 12 months - just us two and our three dogs of course too, chilling out with a yummy dinner and watching Alex's NCIS box sets (its my own fault, I bought them but they are quite good, definitely addictive!!) and seeing in the New Year together with the 60 second count down and watching the firework displays on the television. Of course the doggies sported their new year bow ties; Kiah in pink, Yahoo in black (though he didn't want his photo taken) and Davy got his very own this year too, in red of course!

Unfortunately - as much as I enjoy the beautiful organised displays of fireworks, and the fact that Kiah doesn't bat an eyelid at any of the flashes or bangs, and Yahoo bless him just comes and lies down next to us til they are over, poor Davy is a different story. He didn't cope at all well this year stressing, wide eyed and panting - and as with all the dogs, we simply ignore them if they react as I don't think it would help if we pandered to it, but its not nice to see him like it and so I feel for anyone who's dogs' react in the same way. Thankfully as soon as they were over Davy seems to return to normal, but I've decided that the official organised displays of Nov 5th and the new year is by far enough fireworks for me thanks.

Well all things considered for a quick re-cap of the last year, all though there has been lots of positive things happen in the last 12 months (some brilliant agility results from my brilliant dog and going G6, enjoying time with Alex and I think forming a stronger relationship, purchasing our new van, gaining a friend for Kiah in Davy, our van cages, friendships and families, our new caravan just to name some)- I was also quite glad to see the back of it due to all the rubbish things too, one in particular.

So based on what has happened, I would just like to remind people that life IS too short to not enjoy as much of it as we realistically can while we are here!! As EVERYONE who knew mum knows and has said to me and reminded me, she lived her life to the full - and though she had more health problems than most, nothing EVER stopped her from smiling, enjoying her life, being a great mum and an even better friend to so many people, and doing exactly what she wanted to. Now who could be upset about that - (it may not have been for long enough and I'd give anything to have her back) but mum was a brilliant person who made her life FUN, and that's the important bit that no one will ever forget. I hope that everyone who reads this - including me - will be positive and able to take a small part of that philosophy away, quality not quantity - make the time to enjoy our lives just that little bit more - like mum did!! I for one will try not to dwell on the bad things - and certainly will never forget the memories and the fun that I have had so far, but make myself some new fun memories too. So happy new year everyone, may it be as happy, positive and successful as you want it to be.

Seasons Greetings!

2010-12-28T14:15:00.000-08:00

So I hope everyone has had a very merry Christmas and is looking forward to a very happy new year, and hopefully a slightly happier and enjoyable 2011. It has been a lovely few days so far, having everyone to ours actually on the big day for the BIG roast dinner, it mostly went well with lots of turkey and gammon - apart from us managing to completely over cook the parsnips which turned to mush; not that I mind because they are horrible but the rest went quite successfully!! But aside from the food it was nice to be able to spend some quality time with both of our families and the dogs who were brilliantly behaved, and of course eat a little too much, and the dogs of course getting their own Christmas dinner and turkey spoilings too!

As is our tradition, I play 'Christmas elf' in the afternoon and hand out the presents to everyone before opening my own - its lovely to see everyone's faces as we do try to think carefully about what people would like present wise, and it was also lovely because I got spoiled again with loads of fab gifts. I think that my favourites this year have to be the Wii Fit Plus console from dad, plus games from friends, and my very own brand new Hurtta jacket, Silvia Trkman training dvd, and agility long jump - all from Alex, and quite a lot of other fabby things too.

The doggies have been extra specially well behaved for the last few days, with all the Christmas chaos, family visits, and the stupid icy pavements, so they have been getting shorter walks than they or we would like, so today and yesterday they have had the opposite. We decided to take a drive up to the local country park with all three doggies, and take them on a 2 hour trek where they had a brilliant time - especially the youngsters burning off loads of excess energy dashing around chasing each other. Its so much fun spending time with Alex and watching the dogs racing around in the left over snow and icy puddles, even better that there are hardly any other people about. We did the same today just took a slightly different route, its not just good for them - but it really tires us out too, so there will be another adventure tomorrow!!

Happy 5th Birthday Kiah!

2010-12-22T07:19:00.000-08:00

Apart from being spoiled even more than normal on this day; I'm never really 100% sure that Kiah realises that it is her birthday - anyway its a good excuse to make a fuss of her and buy her a nice juicy steak (as usual!) to have for her dinner. It's nice to be able to spoil her just a little bit - as she has brought SO much to my life, been there for me through happy and sad, high and low - and she never EVER fails to make me smile with whatever she does!!

So today, for all the WRONG reasons I am at home with her, because in the last couple of days I have developed a stinking cough - which has now turned into a really heavy cold, sore throat and stupid croaky voice, borderline flu grrrr. I am not impressed with it - and unfortunately there seem to be a load of sickness and flu bugs going around, but I guess I hoped that I would miss out - so I feel for everyone who has it and hope you all get well soon, cause it makes you feel rubbish.

Well apart from playing with Kiah today (and stopping her shredding the Christmas post) I've been resting, popping flu pills, drinking loads and sleeping, not much fun for her but I think she is quite enjoying her day... This photo was taken today while she was looking after me earlier, and waiting expectantly for one of her many birthday-biscuits. Happy Birthday Kiah, you crazy-awesome-perfect little dog!!

Accessorising the Van!

2010-12-19T06:29:00.000-08:00

We have recently added another new rather large accessory to the van, in the form of new 2-up 2-down cages, of course they really are for the dogs' comfort and safety, and even though they get on well - the cages gives each of the doggies their own space, and they are perfect for travelling to agility shows in style!! It had taken us a while to find the perfect cages, as though every manufacturers' are very similar in construction, we found that Steve Tubb (doggycages.com) though not the nearest to us, was the most friendly, helpful and accommodating to what we were after. Rather than having the standard push latch with the key-lock, we sourced some number combi locks, and Steve constructed the cages with the lock integrated underneath the latch. That way we can lock the doggies in the van securely while we are at shows, and don't have to have a key which I always worry about losing - the cages are just perfect, and finish off the van quite nicely!

December Birthdays!

2010-12-08T05:34:00.000-08:00

Of course all the best people are born in December... ok only joking but there are some, and they are birthdays of the most special in my life; well there's mine first which doesn't count in the important list - but mainly there's Alex's on the 21st he is going to be 29 (same age as me), and then Kiah's on the 22nd she is going to be 5 she is growing up so quickly! Trust the two Belgians in the house to be the awkward ones, and be born that close to Christmas, but they will both have their own celebrations too!!

But this is just a quick post about my birthday so far, because I have received some really nice lovely presents from my friends and family, and a cheeky monkey birthday cake too!! I have received a set of weaves (in purple, Kiah's colours-fab!) and an agility tunnel so we can set up little training sequences in the garden and over the park, as well as a pair of water proof socks, a new pair of leather walking boots as I really have worn my old pair out. That's not it - as well I have been given a great Malinois t-shirt, a couple of comedy dvd's and a pair of welly type boots, they are fake fur lined so are toasty warm, and have a zip up the front, aren't too long in the leg, and have an excellent grip - they are just perfect for damp agility mornings - walking the dogs and walking courses without getting cold/wet feet.

Talking of agility, in the last 24 hours I've seen the first schedule out for the one of the first shows in the new year... not that I'm wishing December away as I am really looking forward to our Christmas celebrations! BUT, I am quite looking forward to getting back to agility also, using our new caravan (which is currently being serviced so its all ready to go), and most importantly catching up with all our agility friends.

Busy Busy Busy!

2010-11-21T08:33:00.000-08:00

Recently we seem to have been up to so much since I last updated my blog, there hasn't been time for it all - though I feel guilty not updating it while reading what everyone else has been up to! Alex and I have even had some free weekends to have a major clear out of junk that we just weren't using, revamp one of our spare bedrooms and completely re-decorate the other. I wouldn't want to do it too often, can't live without our agility fix for too long in the winter!!

So the first thing to mention was that Kiah and I attended the first BSD world champs selection day, there were some brilliant challenging courses set by the judge Lee Gibson, but unfortunately Kiah was even more excitable than usual - and with that, and a combination of my nerves we didn't do very well! It wasn't all bad and we got some points on our last run, just a little frustrating when I know we can do better, but we will try even harder on the next one.

So in the spirit of things going wrong and on a really freezing cold day, the boiler decided to pack up! First it was the air flow sensor not working and stopping all heating and hot water, then once that was fixed, the thermostat went kaput and refused to turn the heating off, but fortunately the british gas agreement we have covered it all and it is now fixed! But not content with just that, my car broke down again - some would say luckily it was at a weekend so we could get it fixed. And they say things come in threes, so to add to that the lead flashings are coming away from the roof and the gutters have started leaking and soaking through the walls, so that is down to be fixed in the next couple of weeks. On that note - touch wood, fingers crossed, black cats crossing, lucky 4-leaf clovers, horseshoes and positive vibes later, everything is ok at the moment, and hopefully it stays that way................... Other than that in more positive news, we have finally bitten the bullet and purchased our own caravan ready for the new agility season, and the dogs are nicely modelling the sofas for us - which have of course been covered in fleece throws, in Kiah's colours no less!! It is a 1994 2 berth Lunar Chiron model with an L shaped seating area, and it suits us and the doggies perfectly. It seems to have been well kept by the previous owners and comes with accessories and an awning, and most importantly has an end bathroom - with a power shower, which was the necessity we wanted! We're (Alex especially, mr creature comfort himself!) looking forward to using it right from the start of next year, caravans are quite a bit more spacious and luxurious than tents!

On to more recent events, in the last few weeks the shops have gone absolutely Christmas mad and I saw a countdown today that said it was only 34 days away, that's barely a month to go! We are having everyone to our house for this Christmas day, the first year where it isn't with or at mum's but I will be making sure everyone will be raising a glass to her in celebration, and I hope that mum and granny will be looking down on us too. So this weekend we have been getting into the Christmas spirit just a little together; wrapping up warm, buying gifts and most importantly spending time together and choosing new lights and decorations to decorate the house and tree, gold is going to be our theme this year!

Doggies Having Fun!

2010-10-30T01:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took the two youngsters Kiah and Davy to our local country park, only a 10 minute drive away and plenty of paths, forest and lakes for them to have a great time running around in for a couple of hours, they are still great friends. It was a beautiful sunny day with absolutely stunning orange and yellow colours in all the trees and bushes, and a warm glow from the sun sparkling on the water too, reminds you how lovely some places in this country really are. The only thing that adds to the views is that there's nothing quite like watching dogs play and run free together enjoying life; that sort of care-free, no worries, smiley fun never fails to cheer you up and bring a smile to your face :))

Bittersweet Norfolk

2010-10-04T05:38:00.000-07:00

This was our last agility show of the season, always an enjoyable show situated in a lovely location in the countryside, just slightly sad, from what had happened the week before. I knew that mum wouldn't have wanted us to miss the agility, so Alex convinced me that we should go. Due to the October weather being a little 'debatable' especially up in that area of the country, and as a bit of luxury for Alex too as he always does so much for me, I try to arrange a nice B&B (dog friendly of course) for the weekend, and not too far away from the show ground as you don't want to be driving miles after a long day of agility. Well the place we stayed was just fabulous and only 10 minutes drive, a real old victorian style luxury, and certainly more worthy than the simple straightforward name of 'bed and breakfast'! The house was called Home Hall, and the owners couldn't do enough make our stay enjoyable, a wonderful room, lovely organic food, they even had their own slightly bonkers dalmatian which just added to the charm.

So back to the show, it was nice to be able to see everyone again and be treated normally rather than having people be awkward and fuss around, which was great. Our very first run of the weekend was the ABC qualifier for the semi final, and after getting over the silly nerves that I had (as the dog walk was in almost exactly the same place as last year when Kiah fell off and injured herself in the ABC) I had a quick chat with Kiah and asked her to help me out so we could do the run for mum, in memory of her, its the least I could do.

Well I think Kiah knew how important it was to me, my beautiful girl, and helped me out no end - and we won the class, by over two seconds!! I hope that mum was watching from above, and was proud of us. It was the first qualifier of the year so though we don't 'chase' them specifically, its lovely to know that Kiah has well and truly qualified, clever bear! The rest of the weekend was good - but not so spectacular results wise, with silly mistakes by me, one course that was just so silly, we took our own line and practised contacts, and a couple of poles in other classes, and a silly refusal caused by me in another which was a real 'if only' run, never mind.

Though we were very lucky with the warm and sunny weather this weekend (a real contrast to the bitter winds the year before) the days are really starting to turn, and the evenings are just so dark so early, its been a good year but a good time to stop with the shows! So I haven't entered any more kennel club or other types of show - and I'm not planning to for the rest of the year. So apart from our weekly training, the BSD WC selection days and a few specific training days - all of us but Kiah most importantly, can have a well earned, and definitely well deserved rest over the winter.

My Mum

2010-09-30T00:41:00.000-07:00

The week just gone, was nothing less than completely and totally awful, and I can't quite believe it still... After getting home from an agility show - where the weather had been cold, windy and rainy most of the weekend, poor Kiah getting marked the down on her dog walk when she clearly got it in what would have been a great run from her, and the journey home being particularly grim, we had a knock at the door from a police officer.

I guess I knew straight away when they said it was about mum... she had passed away that afternoon, while doing some gardening - one of her favourite things to do! I know that she didn't suffer, its just that her heart had been through enough. Mum had always had heart problems from a young age, but that still doesn't make it fair or right. Its not fair at all when they take the good, kind, well meaning ones, when there are so many cretins on this earth it could have been instead. It was only two years ago that we lost my granny too, so at least mum is back with her mum and they will be back with each other now, sun bathing and doing the crosswords, and hopefully looking down and looking after us all too.

So, this last few days have gone in a bit of a blur not really knowing what to do, but Alex has been my rock, and my friends and family have just been brilliant. I think the doggies know too as they have been helping cheer us up, its funny how they always know how to make you smile. I know that mum definitely wouldn't want any of us to be upset, and to carry on with life as normal, which we are trying to do, and to organise a celebration of mum's life next week.

I wanted to post just so everyone knows how fab my mum was and always will be. And as lots of people have said to me, mum will always be in my heart, and I shall always remember everything she did for me, the good times, and great memories, even if I don't have nearly enough of them. RIP Mum, love you will never forget you. XXX

Burnham - Poor Kiah

2010-09-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

I’d never been to this show before as I usually forget to enter shows in September for some reason – I think its because the closing dates are so far ahead, I can’t think that far in advance for a time that feels like its nearing the end of the show season already!! It was a nice quiet show (but one of the worst for very early barking dogs, grrr) held in pretty countryside but only an hour and a half from us so not a long haul trek to get there either.

The first day started well, albeit with a few mis-timed cues resulting in a good jumping run being E’d as it was the sort of course where you couldn’t let them go at all, and the minute I looked up to see where the jump was, it was too late! Then the first agility was a bit of a disaster, lazy handling and bad listening from Kiah making a bit of a mess of the course, but at least she got her weaves well from a difficult entry; and good contacts too.

Then on our last run of the day, must have mis-timed her launch onto the a-frame, hitting it flat on her knees and sliding back down, resulting in a deep graze in her leg right on the knee joint, poor Kiah, she tries so hard but she really splatted on to it. After checking her over and letting her take it steady around the rest of the course, we cleaned her up and she rested for the remainder of the day in her back on track coat. On Sunday she was bright as a button in the morning, and certainly wasn’t lame as I wouldn’t have run her at all, but I didn’t want her to think that she had been naughty in her last class of the day before as she had all that fuss after it! We took it steady in her jumping class – all the hard bits we did well then a push round turned into a pull in, oops! The agility I took even easier, I just didn’t want Kiah to have any negative feelings of any equipment after the previous day, so we went around and it was a nice flowing course, just two poles down, no nagging (well only Kiah yelling at me while getting impatient on her dog walk contact, see pic!) and Kiah and I both came out happy; that was enough for me so we finished on that high note for the weekend. Kiah seemed well and not stiff at all afterwards, she had a good night’s sleep, and some arnica and aloe vera, along with her vitamins and omega oils, but to be certain she was on full rest for the week just to make sure she’s completely ok.

Letchworth - Another Catch Up Post!

2010-09-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

The weekend before the one just gone was in Peterborough, the weather forecast didn’t look too promising, but fortunately they must have been wrong as it was nice all weekend. It is a shame the weather has really started to turn autumny now, the evenings are certainly getting more chilly and the evenings have dark skies far earlier than before.

Back to the show, the first day Kiah was completely nuts; I think she thought she was still at the demo from the week before and that it was a race to get to the finish line! There were some good bits but our main problem was timing and Kiah being a bit naughty with her feet and knocking a few poles. The second day was much better, one ‘normal’ class 6-7 agility which was set a bit like a really cool FCI course - Kiah was running awesome and I messed up her weave entry which was a shame as I think she would have had a good place in that one. We had two ‘special’ classes, 6-7 power and speed, and 6-7 connections. It was the power and speed course first, a brilliant course to practice contacts and we were clear over that part, then the speed section Kiah went clear in too! She seemed a bit tired and didn’t bounce some jumps where she maybe could have, but still ended up 11th bless her! Then we had the connections where you have to make up your own course to get the most amount of points - Kiah was doing a FAB run and would have got a brilliant place, though unfortunately she had the last pole down which means she missed out on the last bonus points. It was a shame as she was already heading full speed for the a-frame so I couldn't really change her path, and we still ended up in 20th place with at least 6 missed points, hopefully one day we might qualify for the finals!!

Overall another enjoyable weekend, the dogs came back with a few gifts too – Kiah got a fluffy new bed (not spoiled at all!), Yahoo got a big blue doggy jumper to sleep in which he LOVES - and it keeps him warm over night too, and Davy has got some treats; I'm teaching him some different tricks, and he learns quickly and loves to do them so it’s a start with Mister Lazy. We also didn’t get back too late on Sunday, so a nice relaxing bit of time for the dogs and us to chill out.

Oh and lots of well dones to say this week too, to everyone I know that qualified for Olympia in either the Novice, Senior or ABC, there are far too many fab people to list so congratulations to you all!! The semi finals were this weekend and the standard of competitors just sounded brilliant it must have been exciting to watch. I cant wait for the finals in December, I hope they are all televised again as I won't be leaving the sofa til theyre finished!

Catch Up Post - Bank Holiday Fun!

2010-09-07T13:14:00.000-07:00

The bank holiday - and a lovely three day weekend just gone was full of fun with our usual annual trip to the agricultural show on both days, to take part in the agility demonstrations and raise money for charity, thankfully the weather stayed mostly dry - always a benefit as far more people attend so we raise more money. As always it was great fun, and the doggies had a great time, the Mali's really did take over the results though... On the first day of the mini competition within the demo, Rusty won it, Kiah was 3rd and little Tia excelled and came 4th!! Then on the second day which is a fast and furious relay - Rusty won the morning competition and Kiah won in the afternoon!! Bless them, they all had a great time - it was just a bit of light hearted fun and no pressure to finish off a good but tiring weekend.

Plus I've made a personal decision - the bank holiday was when I decided, I want to lose quite a lot of weight and get fitter - for general health reasons and to make sure I can give Kiah a run for her money... ok I'll never be that good - but to at least try to give it my best shot in the same way Kiah does for me, around the grade 6 & 7 courses that we're seeing now. So far I've lost 1kg which I'm pleased with... so onwards I go :)))

Dogs In Need 2010 Report

2010-08-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

We're back from another great week at DIN, another show I always enjoy - us and the dogs are shattered and though we came back a day early (we missed the finals, so well done to everyone that qualified!!) it was nice to be able to sleep in my own bed for the first time in a week, do the necessary but boring things like washing, tidying and shopping, but also to give the dogs a day of leisurely walks and sleep. This is just a quick run through of our highlights of the week, far too much enjoyment was had to remember it all!

This years show was no different to any others, just as enjoyable if not moreso as Alex was able to come along for the week and enjoy the rest. We eventually set up our camp for the week nice and close to the rings, with our new tent, and having the van, gazebo and windbreaks around - had our own little private 'garden' area that the dogs could chill out in. Well re the weather - fortunately the forecasters WERE wrong, or we were just lucky - but aside from one miserable grey spitty day, the week was pretty reasonable! As Yahoo is slowing down a bit now bless him, he only joined us on some of the walks with the youngsters, but as he likes to spend so much time outside, some days he was camp guard, either in the sun or under the gazebo, and we bought him a HUGE double knuckle bone so he didn't feel left out, he loved it.

So the agility started on Tuesday, and as I hoped - even though Kiah was being silly from the razor burn, the agility helped take her mind off it a little - and though she still didn't want to play much with her raggy toys, while she was running she was happy - though we still didn't manage any clears, only poles down... no E's yet. Moving swiftly on to and past Wednesday, two lovely courses, shame I messed them both up and got one refusal in each - one trying to push her into a tunnel with both hands at once (why!?) and crossing behind too quick, and another me not committing to a jump for quite long enough, bringing her with me, such a shame as it was another good course, lots of those about this week, really enjoyable, unusual but fun courses.

Thursday was a lovely relaxing day off from agility though most of the day involved food, so after a yummy cooked breakfast (then a curry with friends in the evening!), us two and Kiah, Yahoo and Davy all went on the 'usual' long lunchtime walk over the meadow across the road from the showground with some friends. I think that maybe we had a record number of dogs attending this year in one group, 21 (Belgians, Collies, a Goldie and Sheltie!) all walking and playing nicely together, and posing for a few photos along the way - during the week I'll add some of the doggies holiday snaps on here!

Friday and back to the agility, again pleased with how Kiah was working, just timing issues from my point of view, especially when we could have done so well in the agility course, just me not shaping her early enough to turn left on a jump forcing her to take the pole. The jumping round was a little difficult for a G6 I thought, especially as the similar course for G7 in the same ring had only resulted in 4 clears - I like a challenge, but there is a limit so that course was one added to our 'E' pile for the week.

So as the week raced onto Saturday, the last day of competing and kind of wondering where the week had gone! Again neither run was first in, and we had already decided that we would go home that day for ease - and to get everything down while it was dry as there was a black cloud looming, so everything was packed away (in sunshine, typical!) ready to go before my runs came up mid morning. The jumping was a nice course, though some tight corners caught us out so we had two poles down. Our first run though was in our agility, quite soon after the class started as we were number 21, and I thought it was a nice course though very fast so didn't think we stood much chance. Well Kiah obviously likes to leave our 'one clear of the week' to the last minute, putting in a great agility round to finish in a good clear. Only a couple of scary moments where she got me out of trouble as I was in her way and we wasted a good couple of seconds, but generally the round felt good, her contacts were fast, and turns were tight. That round put us into the lead - thats where we stayed... all the way through, and won the class!!! Even better that my friends were watching, and I've got pictures and a video (which I hope can be sent to me) of her winning round including this photo here. I never thought we would ever manage a win in G6, but wow Kiah you were fab as always, am SO proud of my girl she gave it her all, at such a big show too, that really did top off a good week, turning it into an unbeatable one!

Some fab results for others during the week, 1st for Vicky & Molly, 1st for Caroline & Puzzle, 2nd for Lisa & Inca, a number of 2nds for Lindy & Bracken, 3rd for Candice & Ziggie, 3rd for Dave & Rusty, 3rd for Sue & Jinx, and lots of others, oh and loads of people qualifying for the finals too some fab results I'm sure I've missed someone - well done everyone! So I think to summarise how my week's been... Brill dog and an even better result, brill courses, fab venue, fab show, great company, great friends... dates are most firmly in the diary for next year!!

Ups And Downs

2010-08-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

This last week or two has been a real rollercoaster of ups and downs. Kiah's been at the vet a lot with what looked like an infection after her season, that got me really worried, but touch wood fortunately after some anti-biotics to start with, then various scans and tests, apart from low platelets and a low white blood cell count, the vet can't find anything wrong. Obviously one of the 'side effects' of the scans was a shaved belly (though nothing internal) and she is being rather silly about it - I think it must be itchy, but its quite funny to watch - tucking herself into a corner every two minutes, and refusing to communicate with anyone unless she has to, silly belgian! I hope that she will forget about her 'stubble rash' for long enough to enjoy our agility next week as we're off to Dogs In Need.

So inbetween all our vet visits we have been doing some fun stuff too including plenty of walks with the doggies, meeting up with Kiah's friends Rusty and Tia on occasion, and posing for the odd photo of course! On another warm weekend day (thankfully, as the day before was grim!) we went up to where Lisa works at the kennels and had a fab training afternoon, mainly with Kiah practising various FCI type courses, really enjoyed it and Kiah picked up some brilliant weave entries and was generally very good, brilliant place to train. We also did some little bits with Davy who seemed to enjoy himself, not fazed by anything - though the key with him is going to be little and often as he gets bored very quickly. We also ran each others' dogs a couple of times - I got to run Kane and Wish, and even Shadow ran for me, its fun to see how each dog is so different!

As I mentioned, we're all ready to go off to the annual weekly Dogs In Need show tomorrow morning for the week (back next weekend) the van is filled up, washed and polished :))) and we're all packed - even the doggies have their own holdall, full of food, treats, toys, jackets and leads. I say coats because I've just seen the weather forecast - its NOT GOOD, it has been lovely at the last two years of this show, so I guess its time for rain - but hopefully the weathermen are really really wrong!

Still, we're prepared for anything, its our holiday and a week off work, relaxing and enjoying the time with the people and four legged friends we love the most, whatever the weather... If anyone's listening up there though, the sun would be great! Good luck to everyone who's competing at shows this week, I will update on my return but hope you all bring back good results and lots of rosettes!!

Agility Club Craziness

2010-08-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

Following Kiah coming out of season and obviously not having been at training so much and being limited on walkies too, I think she was a little 'over excitable' this weekend to put it mildly!! Out of the 5 runs that we did, we had 4 spectacular eliminations mainly due to her craziness, and one quite good clear round that I was very proud of her for.

Unfortunately on Saturday the weather was pretty unpleasant in the morning with horrid sheet rain - and typically both our runs were first in the ring, so there were a couple of poles down and getting lost in the jumping. Then in the agility lots of slipping about and I took her out of the ring as I noticed she had blood all in her front teeth (cue panic by me!) fortunately after checking her over it was nothing too serious, just a small graze on her lip I think probably caused by the flat tunnel. Sunday was a lot nicer weather wise, but brought about two crazy agility rounds by Kiah, one where she found a tunnel FAR more interesting than me, and another where she forgot how to turn, certainly not helping when my commands were quite a bit late!!

So away from the negative and knowing what I need to train, the positive of the day was Kiah's clear round in the 6-7 crufts qualifier! I was really pleased that it was a clear round and how Kiah picked up her weave entry as it was a difficult one, however it was still 4 seconds behind the winner which made me a little despondent at first. I realised though that there was a wrong turn, and a contact held slightly too long, both of which will have wasted vital time, especially when everyone will be pushing to qualify - and I'm just not used to having to do that! Training is certainly helping, especially getting Kiah to go on ahead of me rather than releasing when I'm level with her, but grades 6 and 7 are a real big step up from previous courses that we have encountered - enjoyable, but hard work!

In Dreamy Dream Land

2010-07-28T08:54:00.000-07:00

...Kiah was snoozing - see picture of miss sleepy head chilling on the sofa! Today I've taken the day off work for a bit of a rest and to take Kiah to her 'Bowen' therapist Zoe over in Kent for some adjusting and a general all over check up to loosen her muscles. Bowen is an un-invasive and relaxing treatment, which involves lots of little specific adjustments and massage, nothing harsh at all and you can plainly see the advantages. I think its important to find a good practitioner as much as the treatment itself - and Zoe handles and gets to know the dogs brilliantly, Kiah loves being massaged anyway, and the extra bouncy spring in her step at the end of it, is clear to see! When we're back home too, Kiah always has a good deep sleep for a couple of hours, another surefire way of telling she's enjoyed herself.

So on this visit, Zoe found that Kiah was favouring one of her front legs slightly, and as usual a slightly tight neck and spine - its great to see the change in Kiah afterwards, but I'm certain this is down to her crazy agility attitude!! But as much treatment as I can get in for her, is a tiny price to pay to keep my champ in the best condition she can be for what she does for me every week! So for now, lots of rest, and lead walks for Kiah til agility at the weekend :))))

Wounded Soldiers!

2010-07-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

For the last few weeks we haven't really been up to much agility wise though generally quite busy doing fun stuff; we celebrated our two year anniversary about a month ago and Alex bought me the most amazing canvas picture of Kiah (see below) which has taken pride of place in the front room, I love it! We also went to a car boot sale, so filling up the van with bits and bobs to clear out and sell took a while - and making £100 in the process was just a bonus. The doggies taking a trip to the vet for general check up and boosters - with a fab 'school report' on their behaviour and looks from the vet making it even better, and us having a major clear up, resulting in the forest actually looking like a garden again!! Then last weekend we were down helping my mum at a barbeque for some friends through a hobby of hers, a very long day but I think mum appreciated it, especially as she's hurt her foot! Oh and not forgetting my car which has had two shiny new front tyres and a service, I used to get a really good miles per gallon out of the car - now its even BETTER!!

Some of the not so exciting stuff; Kiah came into season not long after the last show, so no shows for us (soooo not fair, on the continent they cope), the boys have both been very good neither of them show much interest in her and they are castrated, despite her flirting - they're supervised at all times at the moment! Kiah just recently also seems to not be quite stretching out when at walking pace, which I think may have been partly due to her season giving her cramps etc, so were off to see her Bowen therapist tomorrow to loosen her up and then more rest, Kiah isn't showing any pain or injury, just slightly awkward movement. We will see how she is for the agility club show at the weekend, would love to go, but only if she's 100% fit.

The most wounded soldier however is poor Alex - though partly his own fault for not getting it sorted sooner - who has had serious back ache for the past few months and only because he was in so much pain, finally decided that he needed to get it sorted. The doctors quickly realised that he has got a slipped disc down near to his pelvis, no wonder he has been struggling so much to walk, let alone sit down for more than a few minutes!! So after a few 'told you so's' and a lot of heat and ice, so many pills he is almost rattling, visits to chiropractors, acupuncturists and physiotherapists - no thanks to the NHS - he is finally starting to feel a little bit more mobile.

So as these things are supposed to come in threes - with Kiah, mum and Alex hopefully things should start to get a bit better now, I'd like to say it can't get much worse but I don't want to tempt fate! Anyway with the Dogs in Need show coming up fast, coupled with the week off work its something to really look forward to, for all of us it will be a lovely break away. I'm also planning more of the shows into September - I've still got 14 days holiday to take before the end of November so I hope there will be lots more time for agility!!

Wordless Wednesday!

2010-07-14T14:37:00.000-07:00

Tuffley Show

2010-07-09T12:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, I think Tuffley might have just taken over as one of the best and nicest shows I've ever been to, just stunning setting in the grounds of the castle, beautiful countryside, lovely places for all three dogs to walk, and even a river for Yahoo to swim in - his favourite thing EVER! He even got a new Hurtta harness which he loves, and will also be used as his water roller pulling harness too, he loves having a job. Davy also enjoyed his trip, with lots of extra fussing as we combined the weekend with a visit to Alex's mum and Colin, and brought my mum down for the trip too, I think we all had a lovely time, with nice warm weather - always helps!! Alex is getting loads better at taking photos with my camera too, consistently getting a good few decent in focus shots per show - its lovely to see Kiah in action!!

So back to Kiah's first G6 show, which was full of really interesting courses - challenging and in some cases a real step up from anything I'd come across before, one thing i noticed particularly was the obstacle discrimination, especially as Kiah has favourite pieces of equipment - weaves and contacts - that she will happily dart towards if there's a choice!

But overall some positive work, a few 'if only' rounds - marked on her dog walk UP contact in one, a brilliant weave entry so stupid me praises her and she comes out the second weave (d'oh), and a lazy mistake by me getting us E'd on the second obstacle!!! I was pleased with how we handled the courses, and even more pleased by the two clears we then achieved at such a big champ show! Our first was on a course I hadn't walked (where you really needed to!) but after going over and over it, we made it around - just, wasting loads of time - and though we were just out the places there were only 18 clear rounds so quite an achievement! The second was even better, our last run of the weekend a combined 6-7 agility, a lovely course but seriously spread out so though good for Kiah, not so good for me when there are over 220 dogs in the class, plus I have to keep up - and direct her - and with the big guns in g7. So when we went clear I never thought we would get 16th at her first G6, just under 3 seconds behind the winner, clever Kiah!!

One Day at Watford

2010-06-27T12:39:00.003-07:00

Just a single day show at Watford today - the hottest day of the year so far so I wasn't 100% sure we would go at first - but with Kiah's cool water bed, lots of refreshing water, her cool coat, lots of shade and the car's air conditioning, we decided that it would be a good day to go. So three runs for us today, one very early on which Kiah was running perfectly in with brilliant solid contacts - just me missing a not so obvious trap and sending her back on the see-saw for a big elimination 4 jumps from home, D'OH!!! Jumping was a bit of a disaster, awful timing so we won't mention that one... but our second agility I was really pleased with - a great run just got an E by going the wrong way over a jump, but some great weave and turns from Kiah. It would have been great to get a clear in apprehension for next weekend, but I think we're ready nonetheless - we're going to be up at Tuffley and it's Kiah's first G6 show, exciting!!!

Thames Weekend

2010-06-17T15:22:00.001-07:00

It is a huge show - probably one of the biggest ones there is and yet I never fail to enjoy it, I guess it makes it easier only having one dog to fly around the 13 rings with, but it is nice to see so many people enjoying themselves and such a busy, vibrant, friendly and well organised show, aside from people speeding (grrr, again) I don't think I heard any complaints at all! We had a fab saved camping spot near to a load of great friends, and with a brill view to a lot of the rings - it was still a long way to the other end but I think everyone was in the same situ - but such a great atmosphere, pretty good weather too, just loved every minute!

What added to the enjoyment was three clear rounds - a little messy but worked at rather than giving up - from Kiah and I resulting in a 6th and a 10th place receiving two beautiful rosettes, and therefore a little bit of consistency too!! We have an unintentional 2 days off this weekend (forgot to enter anything!) so will be chilling with the doggies, shopping, and looking forward to the lie in - but not for too many weekends otherwise Kiah and I start to get agility withdrawal symptoms!

Dartford & Keston - Kiah Goes G6!!!

2010-06-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

Had an awesome time at the show this weekend, some brilliant and careful but amazingly fast work by Kiah - resulting in two fab achievements; winning G5 agility on Saturday by over three seconds, and coming second in agility the day after, bringing home two trophies - one on each day, I think that's fair! Looking back especially on our winning run, and hearing such positive comments about our run from onlookers and the judge about her speed and spot on contacts - as well as that Kiah nearly fell off the dog walk three times before safely making it to her touch point, makes me so proud that tries so hard for me, and all for her smiley face, pow-wow juice and raggy toy reward at the end.

I was just as grateful for our second place the day after - it was our last run of the day and a lovely technical but flowing course set by a top judge. I loved it and so did Kiah, it was just her type of course allowing her to stretch out and enjoy it, but also in a couple of places it showed that we had a couple of great tight turns - I only messed up in two areas - but Kiah helped me out there. I'm going to need to start upping our game in G6 with getting myself more fit (!) and training the turns we need to work on! But for now, we came home on a bit of a high following that weekend!!

Quite a lot of other people with brill results over this and the last few weekends so well done - Jo with Ronny AND Keisha (fab!!), Therese and Lizzy, Marian and Tia, Sarah and Rex, Andy and Thor, Helen and Zeus, Caroline and Puzzel, Sue and Jinx, Tanya and Myst, Mac and Bex and loads more. Congratulations everyone, there's obviously something in the air!!

This weekend is definitely one that's going to be easy to remember but hard to beat for more than just a little while, never thought we would make it as far as grade 6 so it really is a great achievement for us - and very pleased with my girl, lots of spoiling for her!! We are off to the Thames show at the weekend for the first of a couple of 'freebie' shows (maybe a few rounds to practise some of our contacts) - until the first week in July which is our first official G6 show, exciting but a bit scary!!

Quick Packington Update

2010-06-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

Part of the reason we went up to the Packington show was to hopefully qualify for the ABC semi finals - well that didn't happen but it was a really nice show, if strangely quiet and laid back, but with brilliant company and great laughs all the way through. Kiah and I were working reasonably well together - apart from left meant right and right meant left oh dear! We ended up with a 6th in G5 jumping that I was really pleased with - and more importantly there was also a very amusing clear round where I had to save the round from disaster about four times thanks to my rubbish directional skills!! We got a huge round of applause for making it around clear, and bless her somehow ended up 13th which I was so pleased with as there was a LOT of wasted time. My biggest disappointment though was me messing up a course three jumps from home where Kiah was just amazing - but I won't dwell on it, just realise how amazing my little Malinois really is when she shows me what she can do.

Brilliant BATS

2010-05-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

Nearly everything about the BATS show was just brilliant, a stunningly hot and cloud free day (not quite so good for the doggies but they were nice and cool in the car) and our first run of the day after boot camp - ending in a brilliant result. It was a grade 5 jumping course, quite a challenge but nice as it was very different to what I've seen before - but certainly not the typical style that I would expect us to get a good result in. Anyway we were running order 28 so didn't have to wait long especially as there weren't many people queueing, and using some of the knowledge that I'd hopefully picked up from boot camp - it was what I thought was a reasonable run - we went clear and straight into the lead and stayed there, resulting in her second grade 5 jumping win!!! Even managed to get the round on video thanks to Alex!

Our other runs weren't quite as good (not easy to beat!) but some excellent work in the novice qualifier by Kiah and brilliant contacts, unfortunately just a tipped wing of a jump resulting in 5f, and an E in the ABC class as our pull in didn't work quite as well as expected! So overall a very good day, really pleased with our second win (though at risk of sounding ungrateful, honestly I'm not) it does put us one step closer to grade 6! That is/would be a great achievement but I really like the challenge that grade 5 brings at the moment and I'd love to get a couple more good agility places too before we go anywhere.

The only negative point to the show - that seems to be appearing a lot more recently - is cars speeding through the show ground! I know it was a publicly accessible venue so there may have been a minor few of the 'joe public' people there, but the amount of people that we saw quite clearly doing a LOT more than 5mph on the way in and out was just crazy. Admittedly there weren't any speed signs but people should be more than well aware of it, if not by going to shows previously then by simple common sense! I don't understand why people need to go so fast, does it make them feel better? And to be honest it barely saves a minute or two, and I'm sure that if heaven forbid anything happened to end up under the wheels :( then they'd feel a whole lot worse. Slow down people, what's it going to take! So onto more positive news... that we are off to the Packington show this long bank holiday weekend coming, can't wait!!!

Boot Camp 2010

2010-05-23T11:20:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in the last line of the post before, the next amazing agility journey was to be Boot Camp, and it really was just fantastic - and easy to say that it was even better than last year. It was in the same format as before with three days of five hours agility and jumping training, with each part split equally between Leah and Nancy who are just the best, most patient, fun trainers to be taught by! Its mentally and physically tiring but great fun and so relaxing at the same time due to the brilliant location, fab weather again, and great company of like minded people to enjoy it with.

There were lots of high points to remember about boot camp this year - seeing Kiah have such a good time, seeing all the rest of the dogs enjoying themselves, learning SO much and seeing the results, as well as catching up with old friends, making new friends, relaxing in a beautiful setting, and hundreds of photo memories. There's even a couple of crazy ones - like Kiah touching the A-Frame once and landing on the floor the other side, as well as charades one evening in the club house! As a sentence to sum it up - While having the best time with your best friend, boot camp is an amazing learning and social experience to never be forgotten.

Oops - Overdue Update!

2010-05-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

First a quick note on the show in the second week of May which was Tunbridge Wells - it was a pleasant enough show and fortunately wasn't too miserable while we were doing some ring party on the Sunday, and being local was a bonus too as it was rather cold at times! Kiah and I had a nice day on the first day as Alex was working with a friend and took the two boys with him, so it was just me and her which doesn't happen often but we both enjoyed the time together. My timing was still not quite right (no change there!) but we had some really positive work - a very scrappy clear round, but also hardly any poles knocked, brilliant contacts, awesome weave entries, so very pleased and a very fun weekend.

We've also decided that we've well and truly caught the agility bug... from a hatchback car to an estate, and now to a van, all for the dogs we must be crazy! We are keeping my estate car though, as we need two vehicles for commuting. So in the week after this show we picked up our new blue VW Transporter van, which will be caged out soon and the dogs will have even more luxury than usual and travel in style - I can't wait to start kitting it out with new vet bed and accessories!

And then onto our next adventure - BOOT CAMP!!!!! It gets a separate post as it deserves it :))))))

Bank Holiday at Vyne

2010-05-07T13:29:00.000-07:00

You could be forgiven for thinking it was the middle of winter at this show, with bitter driving wind, dark storm clouds, driving rain, a little bit of sunshine, and huge hailstones - we know that Newbury is a bit of a tunnel for weather but it was a bit extreme for the beginning of May - I think it assisted with contributing to what is now my second cold in two weeks :( Anyway Kiah and I were a little more composed and 'together' at this show, no clears but generally minor errors on my part.

I had nothing on first in the ring, so our first run was nearer to lunchtime and by that time it had warmed up a little for our grade 5 agility. Unfortunately Kiah was marked on the second obstacle which was the 'up' on the dog walk - which I refuse to train - for safety reasons - she's enjoying herself and that's her natural stride. I also don't think it should be marked as it penalises the larger stride dogs, but that's a different discussion! Anyway it gave us a chance to practice our contacts and our pull ins in the ring which Kiah did very well. Next was the ABC qualifier (Kiah watching me walk the course!) which I ran with conviction as I am frequently told to in training :) but thanks to a silly mistake by me, Kiah had a pole down, but so so pleased with that run. Lastly we had grade 5 jumping where again we had a pole but generally we were good if slightly messy.

I think we are slowly getting it back together (mainly me) and getting back into the swing of what is still the relatively new agility season - even though there are shows closing left right and centre for the middle of summer, one year I will keep up with them I'm sure!? This weekend we are off to the Tunbridge Wells show where we have three runs a day but its very local so two not too early starts - just how Kiah and I like them, we're not morning creatures!!!

WBSDS

2010-05-02T12:19:00.001-07:00

It would have been a lovely show... apart from the fact that three days before I had come down with a stinking cold :( sneezing-fit anyone?! And in hindsight we probably shouldn't have gone to the show as I didn't do Kiah justice at all!! She was a bit crazy in three of her runs over the weekend, resulting in us still keeping it fun but making a quick exit to the finish line as she was so nuts - sending the long jump scattering, tunnel crazy and not listening - she would have done herself some serious damage. Other than those misdemeanors (sp?), we did have a good time and had some very good but nearly runs thanks to me and my useless timing, especially in two runs, an almost identical error - three jumps from home instead of saying left I called 'Kiah' resulting in a back jump and a big E. I'm finally feeling a lot better this weekend so hopefully my timing will be a bit better, and we're off to Vyne tomorrow for another fun day!!

Settling In Just Fine :)))

2010-04-18T12:59:00.000-07:00

All 5 of us have been down at my mum's for the weekend, helping to celebrate and spoiling her for her late birthday weekend, and the sun shone really HOT so it made it even better as we spent both days in the garden. Kiah and Yahoo are used to coming down to mum's house and love staying over - most especially as they have such a huge garden to play in and lots of different walks - especially down at the sea front which has been lovely and hot for us but breezy for the dogs! Davy didn't take long to settle in too, after a quick 'skulk' around the house (probably sniffing out the cats even though they leave home for the weekend when we turn up!) he soon realised how much fun another house and garden was to play in too.

Yahoo is now getting a couple of shorter walks rather than longer more playful walks with the two youngsters as he is starting to show his 11 years-young, bless him, but as long as he gets a bit of fuss and spoiling, a mooch around, some treats and a bowl of food he's a happy boy. Kiah is however loving having a new and younger friend around to play with and 'beat up' properly, as this weekend shows, I think Davy is settling in just fine around here!!

Sunny Spring at Shuttleworth

2010-04-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

What a lovely weekend it has been at our first 'proper' outdoor show, run by the BSDA of GB up at Shuttleworth college - a lovely setting. It commenced with an early 5am start on Saturday morning but with a pleasant, beautifully sunny and quiet drive up with Kiah and Davy (Yahoo had stayed at home with some friends) - we always find the roads are so much quieter in the morning rather than hitting the end of the rush hour the evening before. So once we got to the show and found our camping spot (which had been kindly saved for us - thank you!) it was time to get into the swing of the show with 4 runs a day.

It didn't start too well for us on the first day with a typical case of good dog... very bad lazy handler, not once but TWICE - on nice flowing courses that really suited Kiah - I forgot to move, both times ending in silly refusals that I could have easily avoided. Anyway more learning and effort required on my part there. The last run of the day was the graded 1-7 BSD agility which was another fab course and so I thought I would try to get it together for Kiah's sake! Well she put in a stonking round to win the class by over 4 seconds, my clever girl, lovely trophy too!

So onwards and upwards from the day before - there were a couple of courses with evil angles which I always think are unnecessary and potentially dangerous, and a slight miscommunication issue about where I wanted Kiah to go (!) - but lots of positives to take out of today with no poles down and some good contacts. It was again the last run of the day that was the gold star for us though - grade 5 jumping was a challenging course with a 'pick the correct end' of the tunnel from a long line of jumps which I would be nowhere near; Kiah and I had agreed that we were just going to have fun and we would accept whatever result that happened! Well when Kiah picked the correct end and I was still lagging behind I thought I'd better get a move on - to then finish with a good clear... though I never thought we would win the class!!!! Two firsts in two days is a brilliant achievement for us, am so pleased! Alex got some brilliant pictures over the weekend, here is my little star Kiah coming over the final jump in her winning round!!

A New Addition

2010-04-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

As of a couple of days ago we have a new addition to the family, in the shape of Davy who is an incredibly handsome rescue border collie - who we met and fell in love with at the weekend, and then after lots of discussions we brought him home. He is starting to settle in with Kiah and Yahoo and hopefully we can be his forever home. And before anyone says it, yes I KNOW he is a collie, no one be shocked (!) and does it matter... we think he is lovely, we got him for who he is and his nature, not what breed he is!

He is going to be Alex's dog and hopefully one day may start doing agility, but he is sooooo laid back he might not be interested - and if not then he will just be a lovely biddable boy loved all the same!! Yes... he isn't a Malinois and I'm sure I will get another crazy belgian at some point when the time is right for us all as I love them - but I don't want to compare, and want to concentrate on Kiah at the moment. And in addition to that - nothing, no-one, anything, anywhere can live up to what little Number One KIAH is to me, and what we have together, my bestest girl!!

Easter Celebration Day 2

2010-04-05T07:16:00.000-07:00

Another good day yesterday, a bitter wind and not quite so sunny but no huge downpour, however not so positive on the results front for me; with one very messy clear in agility and two eliminations - on silly things I knew about from watching others, and should have handled better. I do love running Kiah, whatever the outcome! Anyway I was still pleased with our clear, good contacts by Kiah, even though our time was a few seconds off the pace due to me having to 'save' the round twice from Kiah turning the wrong way over a jump and possible back jumping - its usually me that causes the elimination!

A couple more Well Dones!! to add to the list for today's great results - Nancy with Zeki, Karin with Indy, Vicky with Molly, and Nat with Kai - and anyone I've forgotten! Overall a really good and enjoyable weekend for me and for lots of others; am looking forward to the next one - that one step closer thanks to Monday's bank holiday making it a 4-day week yay!!

Easter Celebration Day 1

2010-04-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

A positive first day so far on all counts - firstly the weather stayed reasonably warm and apart from a few spots of rain it really was a lovely chilly spring day, the show was only 20 minutes from home which is always a plus point when you don't have the tired long drive home afterwards, plus the show organisers did really well making the decision to move the whole set up around so the show could continue, rather than just cancelling it. There were lots of people with brilliant results today too - Dave & Rusty getting 4th in the power and speed, Lisa and Wish getting 4th in their first ever show, Caroline and Puzzle with 11th - her first placing, Ryan and Fizz getting another G3 win, Debbie and Scooby with 3rd - and many others!!

The biggest bonus of the day though had to be little Kiah... in only our third show of being in G5 we got our first (two!) clears on one day - coming home with a 3rd in agility and a 4th in jumping! I was never sure if we would be able to get anywhere in grade 5 or if it would just be a step too far - but these two places at a big competitive show has made me so happy and boosted our confidence a bit too. Roll on more fun tomorrow, and more sunshine please... fingers crossed.

Belgian In Springtime

2010-03-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

We have no training until next week and no agility shows either... but as its been a busy week at work, I thought that I would take Kiah out for a really long walk - just me and her. It really was very pleasant and so warm too its lovely to be in spring and see all the daffodils and crocuses flowering and the grass looking lush and green, we even saw a couple of ice cream vans!! I even thought that this may finally be the end of the rubbish weather, ready for a few shows that we're going to in April - but then this afternoon it has decided to bucket down, and the Easter forecast predicts snow, so now I'm not so sure!?

Crufts Update

2010-03-20T02:28:00.000-07:00

We all had a lovely time at Crufts this year, again it was over so quickly, some stunning dogs in the best in show! The difference in traffic is so noticeable when you are attending on a Thursday instead of one of the weekend days - the roads were empty apart from a little bit of rush hour traffic in the last 10 minutes. Oh and the usual queues into the NEC that weren't anything major - but we left with plenty of time and parked in the first car park we got to as its just easier - that way Kiah got a nice leg stretch walk up to the halls.

Anyway onto the breed show judging, Kiah was in her usual Post Graduate class and bless her we came last our of 4 but we don't mind! Alex videoed our moment of being judged in the ring and I was pleased with how Kiah showed, very pretty and straight 'stand' and I always think she has a nice gait - even if she does sometimes try to run instead of trot haha! Considering we had to wait til about 3.30pm til we were even in the ring I think Kiah did well overall, she was very tired from lots of hanging around, and she certainly had her "hmm no agility here, boring" face on more than once! In the afternoon we did get a chance to have a proper look around, and do a little bit of shopping, Kiah got spoiled with a new toy, a jacket for warming up/down at agility, and a new fleece jumper for sleeping in when we go camping... after all she does deserve it :)))

My 100th Post

2010-03-10T11:59:00.000-08:00

I couldn't think of a post title to incorporate the couple of things that I'm going to write about, but I think its a bit of an achievement to have made it to 100 posts without getting bored :$ of my blog... but then again its all about my favourite thing - the world of dogs - so I guess I can see why hehe! Anyway our first news update is about the World Champs second selection day - we didn't qualify but I was pleased with our progress from the previous day, we still got E'd quite a lot (lol!) but Kiah and I did some awesome work together, great contacts, a bit of going on ahead on contacts, all weaves done perfectly and most importantly... NOT ONE POLE down over the whole day! I must however say a big well done to Dave and Rusty for once again showing how much of a different class they are in sweeping the board with a brilliant 8 out of 8, and also to give massive congratulations to Jo and Keisha for qualifying in third place - this was the very first time they had gone forward so watch out Germany, the Mallys are coming, very best of luck to the whole team!!

Our next post is about Crufts which we are off to with an early start tomorrow morning; even though its not our favourite sport of agility - we're looking forward to the whole experience, especially the shopping ;) and Kiah will be spoiled rotten as usual! Alex is coming up too - he hasn't been to Crufts before so I think he will definitely find it something to remember! Poor Kiah really doesn't have a lot of coat at the moment so we will see how she does, of course I always come back with the best doggie. Best of luck to all my friends that are competing at Crufts this year; in agility, flyball, breed showing and YKC, can't wait to hear about all your brilliant results!!!

Crazy Weaver!!

2010-03-06T10:55:00.000-08:00

We were at the first agility show of the season today just before the qualifier tomorrow, the sun shone down (woo, no rain!) it was lovely to catch up with so many friends that we hadn't seen in so long, and Kiah worked really well within the manic atmosphere of the show, a couple of poles down, but in the wider scheme of today with what we had to deal with in the courses, I was mega pleased with her. We even received a lovely compliment from one of the judges about her ability which was really nice - especially as it was the course that couldn't have been described as our best run of the day!

Today's post though is about her super-obstacle of the day, which has got to be the weaves which we had in two out of our three courses today. The first was an excellent weave entry - most people had helped their dogs out by doing a pull round but I wanted to try a quicker way so after letting her curve around the jump she found the entry and completed them perfectly. The second was in our jumping course (see picture, look at those crazy legs!!) was a very fast entry and weaves to 'nothing' which she did brilliantly too. Clever Ky-Pie :)

Final FCI Training

2010-03-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

...Didn't go quite as well as I had hoped it would with time swiftly coming along to the final selection day, as it always helps if you can go into something with a bit of confidence of what you can usually achieve. I was always entering this year's qualifiers with the knowledge that we haven't got the experience yet, and the view that we were only going to get some of that experience in readiness for later years, and with what Kiah has shown me already I'm not going to be disappointed if we don't make it through.

Some of the sequences/courses that were set on this training session were awesome (as has every one of our lessons has been, very big thank you Nancy we have learned so much), the problem is me really!! One issue that Kiah and I have is that she is just TOO responsive - not something that anyone would normally worry about - but I'm far slower to react than herand it would be useful if she helped me a bit sometimes, and didn't getting angry with me for getting it wrong!! Overall I have been pleased with our progress and learning, and though I'm a bit nervous about Sunday's qualifier we'll give it our all!

Wet Worthing

2010-02-21T11:58:00.000-08:00

There's only one word that can describe today and that is very very wet! Me and the dogs (Alex was working, AGAIN, stupid shift work job) took a trip down to see my mum and spend a nice day with her chilling out - even Kiah gets to have a cheeky snuggle up on the sofa - and catching up as I hadn't seen her in a while and it was lovely... apart from the weather! Fortunately mum has a large garden so in the brief intervals when it stopped the doggies got to have a mad run around and I got to take a few pictures - Yahoo smiling and Kiah scowling as I point a camera in her face yet again! Kiah likes to play chase around the fruit trees and Yahoo likes to do his 'death rolls' on his squeaky toys so they both wore themselves out ready for lunch/jumbone time. In the late afternoon it did clear up a little so I took them both up to the seafront for a nice long proper run around which they both enjoyed and stayed fairly clean (bonus!), we've got two tired happy doggies this evening!

Happy Valentines :)

2010-02-15T13:24:00.000-08:00

Another lovely weekend made even nicer by the romantic day 14th February that is St Valentines which was yesterday, it is a little commercialised now - says the cynic in me, but you don't have to spend loads to have a nice time. It is however a good excuse to spoil/be spoiled the lovely other half in your life and spend some quality time with each other... and that's exactly what we did, with cards, words and gifts including my 'Boofle' as seen here, he is very cute and the kissing dogs card which is just adorable and really thoughtful too as I had very briefly pointed its cute-ness out in the shop, a good few weeks before!

Just a quick word on Saturday as that was good too, I was a lot more contented with Kiah (and me) at training, we were working and gelling together a lot better, we got some good weave entries and a couple of super tight turns and I was very happy with her jump work - the only poles down were due to my handling, so she was a good girl, really pleased.

FCI Training Part 3

2010-02-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

I've been a bit more reluctant to update my blog with the results from this session's training simply because I don't feel like Kiah and I were working together particularly well, and it's so frustrating as it feels like we've taken one step forward, but two steps back... especially with things that I know she can do - her weaves being one of them, I'm pretty sure its her favourite piece of equipment but it was proving a challenge on Sunday. However we had a good time (why NOT have a good time, its just a hobby, if you're not having fun, why do it!?) and there were still some positives to take away - there are always positives - such as Kiah keeping her feet up, improving her wait, some good turns, and a really tiny thing, her 'out' command starting to take effect since practising.

Before anyone thinks incorrectly, it was me and Kiah that I was disappointed in this week, and certainly not Nancy's training as I appreciate all her knowledge and time, especially a few key points that she always manages to notice, its amazing the little things that a brilliant trainer can see, pick up and help you to improve. We have one more training session in 3 weeks which will hopefully bring bits from the last three sessions all together, fingers crossed! Anyway at the moment I am seriously thinking about starting to possibly change a few things around so that I can have a better balance of things within my life, so will keep you all updated on that too :).

Playing with Photoshop

2010-01-22T16:22:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to be given Corel Photoshop/Paintshop as one of my Christmas presents and due to various other time constraints I have only just taken the time to start having a play around with it. I've realised how little I know about the program as a whole, it is a whole new set of 'tools' to mess about with!! After a quick look at the book that came with it (where's the fun in reading that!) there are just so many hundreds of things to do within it, that I haven't yet even begun to touch the surface of what clever photo-enhancement type things that I will...hopefully one day... be able to achieve with some of the pictures I have taken.

So, of course the first 'victim' of my photo editing has to be a picture of Kiah. It was a photo I had taken over the park which as I couldn't get down low enough in front of her, happened to have a load of trees, houses, lamposts and general rubbish in the background, and you can hopefully see the result of how I managed to make it all 'disappear' by using the clone tool. I do get a brilliant feeling when I have taken a photo that I am really happy with, and then that it doesn't need any type of editing (as I think editing should only be done to enhance rather than change), but there aren't many like that, so programs like this can be such a useful - and precise function - to be able to use for those photos when there's a pylon, tree branch or similar coming out of the side of someone's head! For my first attempt on this photo, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Now time for more investigating to see what other things I can do!

"Did Someone Say Agility!?!?"

2010-01-16T02:06:00.001-08:00

Of course I'm talking about the start of the agility show season 2010... what else?!?! Now the snow has finally packed its bags and gone (not that I mind the snow, just the chaos it brings!) and very slowly the nights are starting to get lighter too, we can start getting back into our weekly training so getting both of us a bit less unfit, and thinking about mine and Kiah's hopes and plans for the coming year.

The shows have all started to slowly arrive ready for entering, got to keep an eye on the websites to make sure I don't miss the closing dates - done that before! We have already entered three shows, and obviously they are all at Kiah's new grade 5 so they are going to be a real challenge for us, I know some courses will be a real step up from anything we have encountered before so it is definitely something to work at, but definitely enjoy! We have also signed up for Boot Camp in May as we had such a great time last year and it will also help me with one of my aims which is to improve my handling. Generally though within grade 5 I'd really like if we can get a few places and though various people have said that we will easily win out, I am in no rush to do so, we have a lot more to learn first. Roll on summer!!

First Snow of 2010

2010-01-06T13:24:00.000-08:00

And it really has been a proper snowfall, it has been unlike any amount of snow that I ever really remember seeing before apart from a vague recollection of sledging and hitting a tree when I was very young - and I'm 28 now, which is saying something...No comments please!! Though there are disadvantages, because unfortunately this country still isnt best prepared for extreme weather conditions, not just the travelling but also the getting back home once you have finally made it to the destination - so I really do feel for the emergency services who are doing a fab job, plus all of the people that may have had to travel for any length of time, it is just so scary and really dangerous.

Anyway back to last night... the snow started coming down in blizzard form about 8pm and was settling everywhere almost immediately, when we woke up this morning and looked outside I don't think it had stopped all night!! It certainly continued to settle when we took the dogs out at about 9.30pm (even though it looks like daylight in the photo, the sky was kinda creepy it was so light!) and didn't get back home til about 11pm, after a mad four-legged run around in the pristine white snow, and of course after making a HUGE snowman he was about 7ft - even taller than Alex so miles taller than me - Kiah looks tiny next to it (in her pretty Hurtta coat)!! We went for another long snowy walk this afternoon with the doggies, and apart from the snowman going on a diet I think someone had shaped his body a bit ;) he is still standing proud in the park.

...And a Very Happy New Year!!

2010-01-01T10:57:00.000-08:00

From your celebration hosts; Princess Kiah and Prince Yahoo. As you can see they were both proudly sporting their party outfits in the form of bow ties that they wore on our New Years Eve / Engagement gatherings that took place last night!! I think a good time was had by all, with lots of drinking, eating and celebrating in style, and reminiscing over good memories of 2009 - two of the most enjoyable being Kiah winning into G5 (somewhere I never thought we would get to) and a fabulous weekend in Brussels leading to mine and Alex's engagement!

So at the beginning of a brand new year, and also a brand new decade, all four of us - two and four legged would like to wish our friends, families and everyone that takes the time to read this blog, a Very VERY happy new year moving into 2010, with good health, friendship, good luck, happiness and everything you ever wished for. Let us all look forward to a positive and enjoyable 2010!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2009-12-26T13:53:00.000-08:00

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and got lots of lovely presents from Father Christmas this year, and had a peaceful and enjoyable break from the usual hustle and bustle of usual life, spending time with families and friends?? All four of us went down to mum's for Christmas and Boxing Day (today) and it has been lovely and relaxing just doing nothing and having the time to take the doggies for really long walks down at the sea front - this is the doggies on their Boxing day walk earlier today.

Well we all received some lovely gifts, I got given a magazine subscription, along with some funny things, a laptop case, lots of socks - always good :))), some clothes, paint shop pro for my computer. Alex got lots of nice things too - clothes, music, items for his car, aftershave, and of course the doggies got spoiled with lots of toys and treats! Overall we had a great time, back to reality now as Alex has to work up til the 31st :((( but time for me to tidy up the house and get ready for our New Years' Eve party!!

Happy Birthday Princess!!

2009-12-21T23:16:00.000-08:00

Today is Kiah's 4th birthday, i can't believe how quickly the time has gone, it only seemed a little while that i was picking her up to come home for the very first time!! She really is the best dog for so many reasons - far too many to mention, and I owe such a lot to her over the past four years, she is just a star and there will never be another dog like her. We had a massive walk on Sunday in the snow, this is Kiah just about to do some sledging!!

Kiah and I would also like to wish her brother Chase and sisters Vienna and Chatter a very happy birthday for today as well, hope they get lots of spoiling too! So... HAPPY BIRTHDAY beautiful princess Kiah, there's a big juicy steak waiting for you for your dinner tonight!!!

Serious Snow!!

2009-12-18T15:01:00.000-08:00

We have had some really serious amounts of snow over-night last night, not that I am complaining at all; I love snow its just amazing, fun to play in, and to throw at people ;) and it just makes everything look so pretty and clean, and I am seriously now hoping for a white Christmas too if anyone can arrange that please?!?!?! The dogs love it too, we took them over the pristine white covered park this morning and they both had a long run around (read - spaz attack) Kiah especially likes to do her funny Belgian-run-around, so they both came back tired and happy and ready for a snooze.

Lots of people hadn't taken the risk this morning to try and drive in to our work - better to be safe than sorry for one day and especially so close to Christmas - though I made it in to our local office after a careful drive in as none of the local roads had been gritted. However around lunch time the managing director phoned up the office and said that whoever was there/left could go home as a half day (thank you!!) which was just totally awesome, very excited about that!! So the doggies got another mega long walk over the park, I don't think they minded that the snow wasn't quite so pristine as it had been in the morning, I could tell they still had a great time!!

Getting Into The Christmas Spirit!

2009-12-15T15:00:00.000-08:00

The month is running headfirst into the festive season, which I love every year without fail even if this year it is racing up rather too quickly and I'm not ready for it!!! One of my favourite parts that happens at the start of Christmas is getting all the lights and decorations up - especially the outside lights as they are just so pretty to see and look at when I get home from work. It seems to quickly be becoming a tradition to get them up approximately around the date of my birthday which is just great, possibly it is maybe a little early (6th) but who cares, they look nice, and Christmas only comes once a year and therefore I must be as festive as possible for as long as possible!!

We also have a 'mini' Christmas held with my cousins a couple of weeks beforehand - who we don't generally see on the 25th, so this year it happened over the weekend just gone and the dogs came down to mum's with us. A lot of the weekend was spent walking on the beach with the dogs which was just amazing all four of us had a great time, it was chilly but lovely and sunny - nothing resembling the rain that we had endured a couple of weeks before. It's not a very festive picture but the doggies were watching the seagulls and being photogenic in the sunset so I thought it was rather nice.

Anyway, that part of the family are more 'cat' than dog people - I think part of the issue is that a lot of people who may know one dog, is that it is a complete nutcase and has no manners - and then automatically think that all dogs are like that which just isn't the case! I like to think my poochies are well mannered, yes they are nut-cases and I wouldn't have them any other way, but they also know how to behave in polite company. Well this weekend - usually they are good - but they were the best, just absolutely perfect poochies - they even helped us unwrap some of our presents and of course each had their own little Christmas dinner too!

FCI Training Part 2

2009-12-04T13:03:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we had the second (out of four, two more in the new year) training sessions with Nancy to train some more FCI style courses and handling which I really enjoyed again, and so did Kiah. The main focus of this training session was to practice European style runs that contain both massive power sections and also control sections, so a need to use techniques for both power and speed yet control. For Kiah and I, it really was a step up from anything that we have ever really done/practised/competed on before. We made lots of errors mainly due to my timing which is not brilliant anyway - and of course it doesn't help especially when little Kiah mostly enjoys the fast bits of the courses and sometimes forgets that she needs to turn! However the skills needed to work spread out courses like this is something that we both need to improve on. We won't just use it for FCI but also using similar or the same handling and timing over here when Kiah is frequently miles ahead of me on a course - so I found the whole session very beneficial, thank you Nancy.

Dark Horse!

2009-11-28T12:42:00.000-08:00

We had arranged to go on a long weekend break back to Belgium, just to see Alex's home country, to get a little bit of Christmas shopping done, see some of his friends, eat lots, and generally spend some quality time together, all of which we did and it was a lovely weekend. Even the weather was lovely, it stayed dry, warm and sunny (apart from light rain in the evenings) - which is very unlike November and certainly nothing like what Brussels is renowned for. Kiah meanwhile got to have her own little holiday while staying with Dave and Candice for those few days - really appreciate you guys looking after and taking care of my special princess, thank you.

So, back to the title of the post - Alex certainly IS a dark horse (for all the right reasons) as he had arranged lots of different surprises, all for me and none of which I had any idea he was doing so I must tell you about how wonderful it all was!! The first was the hotel, too many star-ratings to count, and it was right in the middle of Brussels city centre. The whole hotel was lovely, and the staff were very attentive and friendly too. The second was the room - or should I say mansion, it was on the top floor, one of the best suites with its own lounge, massive bed complete with red rose :)) and marble bathroom. The third has to be the view from the room which was just amazing and looked out over the city - the picture explains it all. Well, then came the biggest and best surprise of all, on Saturday evening in the middle of the grand place - the famous square with the spire of the building in the photo, Alex proposed!! I really didn't see it coming but of course I said yes, it really did make a good weekend just perfect, I'm very lucky, still :)))))) smiling lots, and very happy!!!

Discover Dogs 2009

2009-11-25T13:31:00.001-08:00

Discover Dogs was a very enjoyable event this year at Earls Court 1, we had made a few personal changes to the stand to make it a bit more up-to-date and appealing to the public. We just added a few new pictures of various dogs in different disciplines (showing, agility, working, playing, puppies, all sorts), had lots of Belgian flags up, made some fun stickers to give out, and informative colourful leaflets which people seemed to like too. It was the first year Alex had come along to DD, it's useful that he's so tall to assist with putting things up really high that no-one else could even nearly reach :P but aside from that it was lovely to have him there and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it - he was born and raised in Belgium so there's another connection there too!

The day was made even better by the three Mally superstars Rusty, Kiah and Tia (with us assisting!) manning the Belgian Malinois booth on the Sunday, it really is lovely to be able to showcase the dogs and tell everyone about this fantastic breed year on year. I've got the pictures of Discover Dogs through now and they have all come out really well, but here's one of the ones I think is the best. Its of course the stars of the show (L-R) Tia, Kiah and Rusty showing off their creations on the stand. Well the doggies were impecably behaved, they clearly had a great time and were very welcoming to the public who all came to fuss over and ask about them, and got a big waggy hello in return!!

FCI Training

2009-11-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

One of the things I had been looking forward to (and obviously hoped Kiah was fighting fit for) was the FCI training to be held with Nancy last weekend. I really enjoy the way that Nancy trains people, as she is just so constructive and positive with her comments, puts so much of her own personal time in to helping us out which I really appreciate, and every time we are finished I really feel that we have been tested, yet learned so much. The training was centred around full FCI courses and then breaking them down into smaller parts to practice and improve on certain bits where we had made errors or made things more difficult than needed.

Kiah worked great in the full courses, getting me out of trouble more than a fair few times, and not getting eliminated in two out of the three rounds, but there were also lots of things to improve on which was the best bit about the training, these were able to be identified so we can get better at them. Things like weave entries, early cueing of equipment, tunnels under the dog walk, layering, body language, all sorts to take away. One of the most simple things I think a lot of people can take on board, is to never give up and this training session really helped me to believe that even more. There are three more FCI training sessions with Nancy that will follow on from this one; there's one coming up very soon and a couple more in the new year too, we can't wait!!

So on to this weekend, we were at training this afternoon - fortunately it was indoors as the gales, storms, rain and hail were a little extreme - but Kiah was just awesome!! There were a lot of fast straight line exercises at different spacings so she really had to think about it and was just perfect, as well as doing full recall weaves!! Another change that I am starting to try and re-teach (myself not her) in our training is that I want her to start going on from contacts without me - as unfortunately up til now I have always got her to do her nose touches then release when I am up level with her. This just wastes so much time as I'm always miles behind so though I still want her nose touch and stop 2 on 2 off, I want her to be able to go on too, its going to be really fun to train, as its me not Kiah that needs to improve and change my timings.

We have another busy and full day planned out tomorrow as we are taking a trip up to London along with Rusty and Tia, to take part in the Discover Dogs exhibition - for the Malinois breed stand. All three of them love the attention from the visitors there, and its great to be able to tell the public about this awesome breed too. There may even be a little smidgeon of time to do a bit of Christmas shopping too!

Back To 'Normality'

2009-11-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

If there is such a thing when you live with a nutty Belgian like Kiah... but who would change her, not me!! So anyway, after a fair few weeks - more than I care to remember - I think I can safely say normal life is starting to resume again, and we are enjoying getting back into it - thats why I have posted this picture of her pretty smiley face, she looks so happy! The reasons that Kiah and I have been doing so little recently is because first of all she was injured with her mystery shoulder issue and I wanted to rest her as much as possible so she was on lead walks and no jumping about (well you tell Kiah not to jump about!!), then secondly she came into season for a couple of weeks, which has now finished too. So touch wood and fingers crossed her shoulder seems ok now, and we are slowly getting back in to agility training which we are both loving being back at. I am however resting her from any agility shows for the rest of the year, cause I don't want to be silly and take any chances, and I think all dogs that work their socks off like the Belgians do need a break every now and again so they don't burn out. I promise I will do a further update in a couple of days with what else we have been up to over the past month!!

Patience...

2009-10-15T14:53:00.000-07:00

Due to Kiah's injury a lot of her time recently has been taken up with resting, stretching, massages, on lead walks and generally other than that eating or sleeping, oh and of course her all time favourite which is definitely belly rubs! For the benefit of her health and wellbeing, all agility was postponed (aside from important events or specially pre-booked training sessions) and I must say Kiah has been very patient throughout the whole of her rest/time out, she is a very versatile, adaptable little girly and I am very proud of her :))) as always.

Obviously I have been entertaining her in other ways as she hasn't had agility to play at, she likes doing her basic tricks with her clicker (awesome invention!) such as beg, walk backwards, rolly over, dance on her hind legs, and sad face rubbing her face with her paw. I must train her to do the elephant trick too, haven't done that one yet its very clever. We have the odd play fight too, lots of biting, teeth and growling from me and her, she loves that game and of course I always win ;) hehe. Kiah also has her treat toys filled with tasty bits and pieces for her to think about how to retrieve (16 toys at last count), oh and we also play find the treat and hide it somewhere so she has to hunt it out with her nose, as she is so obsessed with food!

Kiah must miss her agility though, both training and competitions, its not the same as just walkies or brain training, so I'm sure she can't wait to soon get back into it. I just want to start her back up slow and steady to make sure of a full, solid strong muscle recovery, back to 100%. Here are a couple more awesome pictures of Kiah, taken by Candice at the selection day.

This Week's Updates

2009-10-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

Another week's holiday has been and gone, very enjoyable with lots of eating, shopping (sssh xmas shopping too), visiting friends and family, even a bit of sport, it just went very quickly, and now unfortunately back to work today and back to reality! Kiah had a quiet ish week last week, having another 7 days of enforced rest by me after her trip to the chiropractor (she loves going and dragged me there as soon as we were out of the car!). I didn't want to push her any more than necessary, and I let her take things at her own pace - which is usually manic but a few minor tweaks in the house meant she was forced to not throw herself about QUITE as much as normal, well as much as a Malinois CAN be restricted! So mainly lead walks for her and lots of stretching and sleeping, I didn't hear many complaints as last week I could join her too! Also I must say thank you to everyone who has enquired about Kiah and wished her well/better, its lovely to know so many people care :) so much.

So on to the weekend which I decided Kiah was fit for (with lots of warming up beforehand) we took a trip to the West Midlands for the BSD WC first selection day, which turned out to be a lovely sunny and surprisingly warm day for October, it was also quite surreal seeing so many Belgians in one place! Kiah and I got to have a short practice on the FCI tyre and the weaves as these are both quite different to the KC versions, but Kiah had no particular problem with either, the weaves she took in her stride (literally haha!) thank you to Candice for taking some excellent pictures, this is Kiah powering through and out of the weaves I love this picture. A little more practice on the tyre would be good just so she understands what is required and doesn't go through the side. Unfortunately we made a bit of a mess of all four runs, the first started well and we did the difficult parts but then mis-communication led to Kiah back jumping, the others were silly mistakes generally by me, apart from one where Kiah was determined to head in the tunnel (under dog walk), though it was me that caused it I am sure.

BIG well dones must go to two special Malinois - Dave and Rusty for an exceptional performance in all four runs, taking the most points for the fourth year running and showing why she really is the best, and also to Jo and Keisha for two awesome clear jumping rounds the first time they have ever gone forward for the selection days too so well done both of you!!

Anyway... overall I was pleased with how we did at the courses, the only disappointment being me - I just dont think that we were working very well together, partly due to Kiah being a bit crazy (more than usual!) due to so much rest and not being able to burn off excess energy, as well as lack of experience generally, and on FCI style courses which is all home work for me. Still, I know most of the errors are my fault and I'm not the type to blame various external factors on why we didn't go clear, I would rather take the positives from it, and work on where and what we can do to improve. And I can see there are SO many positives; firstly that Kiah's injury seems to be a fading memory, her contacts are still really good, turns are getting better, her speed is still awesome, she was picking up good weave entries, and she only knocked a couple of poles over the whole four runs so I am really pleased.

Norfolk Weekend

2009-10-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

After two weeks of nothing but rest for Kiah, perfectly sound walking/running, and a clean bill of health after a full check over from the chiropractor, we decided to go to the Norfolk show. So Saturday began well, after a long warm up and play, we had two jumping runs and Kiah was running VERY well, fast as ever, she was a bit keen so we had a couple of poles down and our turns were wide, but it was just lovely to be running her again and of course seeing her enjoy herself.

Then we went to do our agility run indoors which again started ok, but then Kiah lost her footing and slipped badly on the dog walk. She tried her very best to stay on, but unfortunately this ended up with her sideways, hanging on with her front paws while her back legs scrambled about. This all happened very quickly and after a full check over she seemed fine, so we carried on, warmed her down but didn't put her back in the car straight away to try and walk off anything she may have hurt. It was only after I got her out to do her next run that I had started a few minutes of her warm up, and Kiah suddenly held her paw up :(( not good. After a lot of checking over it appeared that it was not her paw, leg or foot and must be her shoulder or under her arm, and I'm almost certain it was caused by the dog walk slip. So poor little Kiah, no more runs for her - though lots of spoiling with her whole bed in her car cage, making sure she was warm enough, massage, cuddles magnet therapy and treats, she seemed a little better after that.

As the B&B was booked for the Saturday evening we thought we would stay and come to the show on Sunday to support our friends, and snap lots of pictures too. Candice and Dave both offered to give up one of their runs each so I got to run Ziggie and Rusty in their jumping courses which was lovely. Both dogs are amazing and so different to Kiah, and though they were brilliant doing exactly what I asked, I managed to get them both E'd but I think they enjoyed it and so did I, it was great fun, so thank you it was a very selfless thing to do and very kind. Kiah seemed a lot LOT better on the Sunday after a good night's sleep which I was pleased about, stretching and putting all her weight on her leg again, but for her own benefit I wasn't going to run her in any of her courses. By Sunday afternoon you wouldn't have even known she had hurt herself, it was nice to see her back to her normal self but still not taking any chances.

So, lots of well dones to others and their super-dogs this weekend for doing brilliantly; two 1st's and a 4th for Dave & Rusty, a well deserved 2nd and 10th for Candice & Ziggie, two 1st's for Lisa & Inca, two places and an ABC qualification for Jo & Keisha, places for Nancy & Niamh, Jason & Stihl, and lots more from people I can't remember, so well done to everyone that did so well :)) !!!

I genuinely believe Kiah was 100% better from her previous minor setback; or I wouldn't have run her, just a very unfortunate thing to happen I guess. This week will be another week of rest, relaxation and immune boosting foods for Kiah (and spoiling cause I am off work on holiday!) and another check up from Kiah's lovely chiropractor who has managed to fit us in. Then next weekend the first BSD WC selection day is taking place, so I am hopeful we will be able to attend, but we will see how Kiah is then, my clever little Malinois.

Kiah-Hop-A-Long

2009-09-27T09:49:00.000-07:00

One evening this week I noticed that Kiah had developed a bit of a limp the poor little mite, though there is nothing I can think of that she has done to cause it. She certainly didn't seem to feel sorry for herself, limp or not, silly Mally! Well for her own benefit she was immediately confined to rest and on lead walks only (not impressed!) and by Friday she looked a lot more sound which I was pleased about and I'm pretty sure it was something minor. I didn't want to take any risks though, so we didn't go to the agility show that I'd entered, I don't care about the money or missed runs or anything; Kiah's health and wellbeing will always come first. She is also going to the chiropractor tomorrow afternoon for a check up and treatment just to make sure everything is ok, then a week's rest, and we will see how she is for the Norfolk show.

So there are always SOME benefits can come out of not going to agility, my house is now spotlessly clean from top to bottom - I'm sure as Kiah is moulting it won't stay like it long! Alex and I also had a great night out with Dave and Candice on Saturday evening; bowling, arcade games, air hockey, a nice meal and maybe just a FEW cocktails too, was rather nice! Then today has been a relaxing day, I had a very long lie in, went on a couple of walks with Kiah in the lovely sunshine, then Rusty and Tia came around for a quick visit (see picture; Kiah, Rusty, Tia beautiful girls) so play time for the terrible two - Tia and Kiah - and a bit more chilling this evening, lovely!

Feeling A Bit 'Ruff'

2009-09-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend (bad timing!) I seem to have developed a stinky cold which isn't very pleasant at all, it even came on without much warning I usually get a sore throat a couple of days before hand which helps me ward it off! I always find that despite a cold only being a simple virus it always has the power to make you feel awful for about a week, so I will be glad when it has gone.

Lots of well dones this weekend to people that have been at agility shows - Lisa with Meme, Nancy with Zeki, Jo with Keisha, and lots of others that I can't recall, but big congratulations to everyone, there has been a lot of people winning out recently! We didn't enter anything this weekend, which I think was good in a way as I don't think I would have been able to do any kind of courses justice, let alone manage to breathe properly!! It has been very warm this weekend which has been lovely, and being outside seems to have cleared my head more rather than being stuck indoors. So apart from the stinky cold, this weekend has been really nice, including lots of water, lots of rest, washing and making my car look all shiny and clean, and Kiah has used up a lot of her excess no-agility-energy having a good play with Tia and Rusty, as we met up with Dave and Candice for two long walks in the sunshine.

Day of Rest

2009-09-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

Today Kiah and I have had a lazy day, it has been really nice as we drove down to visit my mum, and we have had a great day not doing a lot at all! So this morning just me and Kiah took a half an hour walk down to the beach while mum rested her legs before lunch, Kiah had a great 'mad five minute' run around on the sand as the tide was out! The weather looks quite stormy here but it really wasnt, just a bit cloudy, slightly breezy and still reasonably warm for September.

Lunch was really nice and quite healthy too, but rather filling so after we had washed and tidied up all three of us had a chill out afternoon, reading and making time for a quick snooze, but we thought that we had better go for another walk to burn off at least some of our dinner! So the second walk was with mum this time, again down to the beach, Kiah loves showing off by jumping and running along the sea defences which always makes passers-by laugh it is usually kids that do that! We then headed back through the sheltered gardens; Kiah was jumping over the sides of the pond and getting to play with her toy so she got to do a replicated form of agility a little bit at least! So all in all a very enjoyable, fun, not very active, but quite relaxing weekend!

Brains and Beauty

2009-09-13T13:34:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we were at the Richmond breed show and Kiah ended up coming 2nd in her class so very proud of her. Must say a big well done to Ann who got the CC with Deepha!! Kiah wasn't too impressed that we in a HUGE field and yet there were no jumps, no tunnels, no precious contact equipment ;) but I think she still had a good time. This was her morning run around in the grounds of the show which were just lovely, shame my phone pic didn't come out too well. Kiah was ever so good in the show ring, it was nice to catch up with everyone and Mali friends too, and of course testing out the free samples of fish treats, offered at Kiah nose level!! We surprisingly saw quite a lot of agility people in the breed rings (home from home hehe) but haven't heard any results from anyone, but hopefully lots of people did well, fingers crossed.

Kiah's Won Into Grade 5!!!!!

2009-09-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

Somewhere that I never genuinely believed that we would get to, my beautiful princess Kiah has pulled out all the stops for me this weekend, and won her grade four agility class!!! I have to say the course was NOT Kiah's forte at all, with a very tight three jump start and quite a lot of handling bits which I usually end up messing up. But yesterday, Kiah was awesome right from the start, and when I saw that she forced herself to clear those first three jumps - which was really difficult for her to do due to the spacing - I realised that I would have to give it more than my all, as she certainly was and I was so pleased with a clear, let alone winning the class! Big Congratulations must also go to Lisa with Meme for getting that deserved 1st place and winning into grade 4, and also to Dave and Rusty for being her usual brilliant self and getting two 1st places!

Letchworth was a lovely show overall really, I was only there for the Sat/Sun due to work but the organisation was brilliant, weather, camping pitch, exercise areas were all really nice. At the end of today we came home with three lovely glass trophies (all variations on a theme for different days), one for her grade four win, another for coming third in the 3-5 combined agility yesterday, and another first place for a brilliant run that she did today again in a 3-5 combined agility class, so beating all the grade 5 dogs too! This picture is from that run (a very kind man called Trevor Greenslade took a whole rake of photos) but I love this one you can see the concentration and power in her back legs - she is heading for a tunnel.

I am so proud of Kiah and of what she has achieved, not just because of this weekend's results but throughout her life, growing up, watching her change, her confidence grow and enjoying her agility more and more. Of COURSE she has been spoiled rotten as usual (and why not!), with pigs ears, pizzle sticks, special dinner, all sorts :)))) but she deserves every last second of it!!!

Nearly Demo Time!!

2009-08-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

Kiah and I are packed and ready to go early tomorrow morning, we have a busy but fun two days ahead with a local agricultural show. Sunniday - one of the nearby agility clubs that I go to - does agility demonstrations and 'have a go' fun sessions for the public throughout the two days as well as holding a fun companion dog show both of which are always popular. A lot of people put a lot of hard work into making it happen, but the main reason for these demos' is to help raise lots of money for charity which are usually maybe a dog charity and another few that have either helped someone out in the club or one that someone in the club is closely connected with - we usually raise quite a lot which is great.

Kiah and I generally try to volunteer to help out most years as it is always for a good cause, but also Kiah has such a great time doing all the relay races, running as fast as she can without any form of difficulty, showing off her contacts and her manic speed, getting lots of treats for being a good girl, and generally being fussed by as many people as she can manage to fit in! Of course I enjoy being her chauffeur for the weekend ;) as there are lots of things to see and do for me too, and as it is an agricultural show I usually am able to pick up a few more horse rope leads which Kiah likes as her raggy toys - we get through a few! This is Kiah looking good in our/my 'uniform' for the two days (bless her she is so patient with me and got a big yummy biscuit afterwards!), everyone has to wear the yellow club t-shirt, which isn't so bad apart from the sheer amount of bugs that get attracted to it!!!

DINAS... To Finish!

2009-08-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

Hmm, well that was Dogs in Need 2009 over and finished for the year and just as enjoyable as last year if not moreso! It went so quickly, and of course always made better by pleasant weather (next year more of the same please), but when I started to pack up on Saturday I don't really think I can really believe we were there for a whole week!!! I packed up a day earlier as we didn't make it into the finals (though big well dones to all our friends that did make it and did so well!) and I thought I had better at least TRY to be organised for work on the Monday, I even managed to get up with the alarm - unlike Kiah who as in this picture was sleeping under my bed on the floor (hiding so she didnt have to get up too I bet!) - though she has a lovely fluffy snuggly new bed of her own!!!

Kiah and I had such a great time at Dogs in Need, I love being able to spend most of my time with her, watching her enjoy her holiday too and her beautiful foxy little face lighting up when I can see how much she loves her agility, it doesn't take her long to realise when we are at agility!! So little Kiah.... you did me proud this week as you always do, you didn't and don't ever put a paw wrong, youre still as crazy as ever and the best dog in the world to live with, you make me so proud to be your owner and I wouldn't change you for the world!!!!!!

The Important Bit in the Middle...

2009-08-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

So onto the start of what was turning out to be an awesome week; including a lovely corner camping spot, right next to the brand new shower block, not too far from the rings, brilliantly hot weather, great people and best of all, my little Kiah to share it all with me! With two runs a day it was very relaxing and this week really was a chill out week as much as enjoying the agility, and on more than one occassion Kiah and I were caught having afternoon naps in the sun!!

Kiah had some brilliant runs over the week and I am proud of what she did even though we only ended up with one clear round, it was a jumping course and we were a little wide and had a spin coming out of the flat tunnel, so I was ever so pleased with her 12th place clever girly that she is. Generally though there were a lot of minor errors by me, and a couple of not very pleasant courses - but then on the bright side there were a few really nice courses too. I would actually say the jumping courses were nicer than the agility, with me I usually enjoy the other way around! Kiah was flying though just had a pole in one jumping course, and in another the combination of scratchy dirt-no-grass-left ground and Kiah's speed bless her she managed the weave entry but couldn't stay in them.

Mustn't forget our day off in the middle, in fact the ONLY day out of the whole week we had a tiny bit of rain, I think it was probably at the most two 5 minute rain showers, and that was it! So a good opportunity for me to take lots of pictures - lots of Kiah in mid-play with the rest of the 18 dogs that we had on our walk with us she had a great time belting around as usual!!

DINAS From Start...

2009-08-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

We left home for Dogs in Need on the Sunday because if you get there a day early you can set up your pitch while it is nice and quiet, the dogs can have a lovely long run around the empty camping fields before the hoards arrive ;) the day after!

That is the 'payment' for the privelidge of getting there earlier (pre-arranged of course), as you help with the booking in of the main day of camping, the sun was shining, it is generally quite good fun and there was a lovely crowd on the section we were managing. Even Kiah helped with the booking in you can see her here organising her section and waiting for her campers to arrive, with her hi-viz on (safety first!) and clipboard at the ready! We even had everyone booked in by about 4ish so the day wasn't too long... and all in all a good start to the week...!