Seasons Greetings!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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

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.