Kiah Super Star!!

Kiah has won into Grade 3 and I am so immensely proud of her!!! We were at the Newton Heath agility show yesterday and had travelled up with Lisa (thank you for driving) and her Belgians, partly for the ABC qualifier, but I was also looking forward to this show simply because it was the first 'proper' agility show of the season, and what a brilliant way to start. Unfortunately I messed up the ABC run, as I didn't call Kiah quickly enough off a jump, but it became a good opportunity to hold her on the contacts, just for proofing purposes. But this was our second run and was overshadowed by our win which I already knew about by this time, I can't stop smiling! Our winning run did feel good, I stayed calm and therefore so did Kiah, nice solid contacts and it was obviously fast too, with a time of 19 seconds, she is a very special dog and I couldn't ask for anything more.

Thank you to everyone who has congratulated me, phoned, emailed, put messages on that is lovely I am really touched by everyone's kind wishes. Our next agility show isn't until the beginning of April, so due to the rule change about moving grades, I will be in Grade 3 at the very next show I do. But I am not complaining, I am really looking forward to the challenge and can't wait!!

Valentines Weekend

This weekend has been a really good one, no one reason in particular but I have enjoyed every minute of it. Yesterday was Valentines day, Alex and I (and the dogs too of course) didn't do anything special but we did get to spend it together as he wasn't working, he also bought me a lovely red rose bush which was really sweet of him, as he knew the one in the front garden isn't looking too healthy! He also thought it would last longer than cut flowers - obviously hasn't yet realised my inability to look after plants ;)!

Anyway today has been good too, though unfortunately Alex was at work today, so I spent the day with the dogs. It was a fairly early start as Yahoo was at the groomers this morning, he looks sooo much better than he did, Gina did a brilliant job (K9 Kuts - 01342 718356) the picture here is of him after he came back though he wasn't in the mood to look at the camera, more interested in his toy! Kiah and I haven't had much of a chance to go out walking together since Yahoo has been over due to me always running out of time, so while he was being groomed, Kiah and I went up to the forest park for a long walk. For a bit of practice and to teach her about using and knowing what her back legs are doing (but mainly just for fun) we always go and find the fallen trees, stumps or cut down trunks so that Kiah can climb all over them, she loves jumping up even when I don't ask her to, and she is such a show off she always gets attention from anyone walking past. Some of these usually provide a quick photo opportunity too :)!!

Settling In, and an 'Alarming' Issue

First of all the good news, Yahoo has met up with Kiah now, as of Saturday morning over on nice neutral territory, and they got on very well, so for the last few days he has been settling in here at home very well, and Kiah and him are slowly becoming friends. As they have both been 'only' dogs, they like each others' company but also both respect each others' space too which is great. We went over the local park as well as the forest and lake over the weekend, and they had a great time, Kiah even followed Yahoo into the shallows of the lake for a swim/play/stick fetch! The picture shows Kiah not looking very impressed, but thats not cause of Yahoo, she just hates having her photo taken and will turn away, move, shut her eyes or put her ears down at any opportunity!

So I was trying to be funny with the title...I dont think it really worked! Anyway the 'alarming' news is just about my car. It drives really nicely and it is in brilliant condition, there is just one small (but rather annoying) issue with the alarm, which keeps going off. Unfortunately I seem to have the courtesy car more than my car at the moment. I can't complain too much, at least my car has a good security system, just seems to be a little over sensitive! The garage is being very good about fixing it and sorting it out for me, I just can't wait until it is finally fixed, and I can get it back and enjoy driving it again.

My New Car!!

Well, I have saved up for the last year or so, and I have bought myself a new (-to-me) car, slightly more suitable for agility and for Kiah too, its a Vauxhall still, but its a couple of years newer and is a Vectra Estate. It is in my favourite car colour too, its dark grey, it seems really common now but I used to own a different car in this colour a few years ago and have always liked it before it was popular. So as of this evening, my little blue Astra go-kart ;) has been sold as a part-ex. That car did me well, very reliable, and it certainly wasn't old being an 03 plate, but now I have my nice new estate now, with lots of room, and all ready to go for the new agility season too!

Kiah never really used to be a big fan of the back of cars (and especially not the rear windscreen wipers!), so once I picked the Vectra up after work, she spent some of this evening getting familiar with the car, we will be doing a few short trips in it again so I can ease her in gently to get used to it. I will also be getting a cage, or tailgate/boot guards for it too, so Kiah can travel in comfort, style and safety ;)!! Cause it was so dark though once we got home, I haven't got any pictures of my car yet, so here is a picture of Kiah taken (on my mobile) last Sunday at our local park, it was a really pleasant start to the day, sunny and quite mild too, you wouldnt believe it but this was the morning of the day the heavy snow started!

First Show/Snow Of The Year!!

Yesterday we were at the C-Side show which was great to be out and about and catching up with everyone, and Alex wasn't working so he came along, and he learned how to help on the ring party too, apart from getting a bit cold I think he quite enjoyed it, meeting lots of new people and seeing what fun agility shows really are. So Kiah was kind of off her head, I dont think being indoors helps really, the first two runs we had were a little out of control to say the least, but the second two were a lot better, just a pole down in the agility, and a couple of basic errors in the jumping thanks to me, so fairly pleased with how Kiah worked. Training today however was another story, but I think both me and Kiah will write that off as a bad day, with homework to do.

Anyway apart from that, today has been a really nice day, this morning we three had a lovely walk up at the local forest park, through the woods and past the golf course, and taking some pictures along the way. Then we did some tidying and weeding of the front garden/driveway, and not long after we finished that, the SNOW started falling, and settling too!! It was lovely to see it just makes everything look so picturesque, and 'proper snow' is a bit of a rarity round this way at least, so after dinner, we decided to build a snowman on the verge outside the front garden, with full scarf, and hat, and carrot nose. Here is Kiah in front of our creation!!

I've Been Tagged Too!!

Looks like I have been tagged too, mind you it has been good looking at some different style pictures, not all of dogs either! Mine however, IS a dog picture, how did you guess ;). So here is my fifth photo (not brill as its from my phone), it is of Kiah the day after I brought her home, the photo was taken on the 18/02/06 so she was just a few days short of 8 weeks old bless her!

So the tagging instructions are to:
Open a document or file folder
Click on the fifth folder and then the fifth photo
Post the photo and describe it
Then tag 5 other bloggers

My tagged bloggers are:
Jo: http://mali-mania.blogspot.com/
Nat: http://agilitynat.blogspot.com/
Sonja: http://foxbriarmalinois.blogspot.com/
Jenni: http://jennimachon.blogspot.com/
Karen: http://pawsontours.blogspot.com/

Departures and Arrivals!

Alex has departed this morning to Brussels for a few days to see his dad, and sort out some of his bits and bobs, as very soon their house in Belgium will be sold - hopefully he won't bring back too much stuff, though I can forgive him if he does, because I have requested some yummy Belgian chocolates which are the best!! So I would like to say it is quiet in the house... but I have a VIP arrival here (very important pooch!) by the name of Tia, who is staying with me and Kiah for a couple of days!! As Dave and the superstar Rusty are up at the BSD world champs selection, I offered to look after Tia today and for a few days after, as Kiah loves playing with her and they love roughing each other up! Unfortunately though, I have to go up to Bedford on a course for work, so I will be taking Tia back to her home on Tuesday evening, and Kiah will be going too, up to stay with Dave for a couple of days til I am back and can pick her up.

So this morning after dropping Alex off at the airport at some horrible hour (about 7am, early for me for a Sunday!), Kiah, Tia and I went out for a nice walk over the local park, or should I say the paddy fields, it is totally flooded over there! The dogs had a fab time chasing each other, running through the puddles and splashing about! Both girlies got really soaked, so I have switched the heating on so it is toasty in here, they have been warm-towel dried and are sound asleep, Kiah is on my bed wrapped up in a blanket, and Tia is next to me on the spare room bed, also wrapped up warm, don't want them getting cold! Spoiled? Of course.