Mini Holiday

Over the last week I have been on a trip to Belgium (Brussels) to see Alex's home town, and see some of his friends and family over there, as well as - most importantly ;) - meet his Golden Retriever who is called Yahoo - don't laugh, it really suits him! Once his vaccinations are all up to date, Yahoo will hopefully be coming over to stay with us permanently in the new year, as long as he fits in here of course, but I think Kiah is going to like him, he loves to play!

While we were over in Belgium we did a lot of sight-seeing including seeing the Atomium, the Cinquantenaire, the European Commission buildings, and the Royal residence, as well as lots of eating of waffles and chips (not together!) and seeing the local sights. I also visited the towns of Tervuren which is a 5 minute drive from where Alex's home is, and also more importantly we went to Malines, two of the towns where the Belgian Shepherds originated from.

Every other time Kiah would come with me when I go away, but as I hadn't been there before myself, I wanted to see what Belgium was like. Also, I didn't know how she would react to being in another dog's home as she hasn't met Yahoo yet, so for a few days this time she stayed with her doggy pals Rusty and Tia (photo from L-R: Tia, Rusty, Kiah), she had a great time - a mini holiday of her own! I missed Kiah a lot while we were away, so she has had lots of fuss since we have been back, as well as lots of treats and cuddles!

This Weekend

There are fewer shows now it is coming into the autumn / winter (cold!) season, so we haven't been up to much. Today we have decided that we will be entering an open 1-7 agility show in December, and Kiah and I will be travelling up there with Lisa and her Belgians, so we have got that to look forward to too. At the moment we go training twice a week; once on a week day evening indoors, and another at the weekend during the day which is outside at the moment. Kiah has been glad to be at training, she has been very good, with good waits, excellent contacts and picking her feet up too so working nicely. Just me not really working it properly sometimes, we need to start doing some more difficult turns, courses, challenging things and handling bits and pieces so that Kiah realises that not all courses are to make sure she can go as fast as possible!!

So our big mission for the beginning of next season is going to be to win out of G2 and firmly into G3, not just for the fact that I want to progress up the grades, but because Kiah needs to start showing what she can really do and I will be able to improve my handling a lot more.

Apart from agility training we are having a chill out day for Kiah tomorrow, lots of walks with fingers crossed for nice weather, lots of toy raggy, some more trick training, and cooking a roast chicken for dinner!! A day which I don't think Kiah will disapprove of! I know this picture cuts off the top of her ears, but I just love her happy eyes and smiley expression in it, and that's why I have attached it here.

Blog/News Update

Oops, just noticed how long it has been since I updated this. Naughty blogger.

Anyway, we have been up to quite a lot since I last posted, so thought I would fill you in. Well the most important thing is that Kiah's leg has healed up perfectly, the nice vet at the agility show did a good job as its a nice clean small scar and the fur is slowly growing back, so all good on that front, hopefully (whatever she did!) it won't happen again.

For the few weekends we have had off from training, we have visited my mum twice, and had one lovely sunny weekend where Kiah could play a lot in mum's nice big garden (see pic!), and another weekend which was not so nice, torrential rain and wind! Well we had walks down to the seafront on both weekends, managed to take some pictures of Kiah posing (see pic!) at the beach on the more pleasant one of the two, she loves being on the beach, running along the sea defence walls, and investigating lots of smells! The rainy weekend we again went down to the seafront, some of the waves were getting up to 4-5 feet, Kiah didn't get too close but was very impressed!

To help keep Kiah mentally stimulated while we had no agility, Kiah has also been learning the very basics of obedience, thanks to my friend Lisa showing us how to get the very beginnings of how to start learning to heel properly. We are using a clicker, and I can see how quickly Kiah is picking it up. Just need to carry on with this, and hopefully next time I see Lisa we can move on a step.

I think Kiah (and me too!) had started to get a little bored of on lead walks, limited running, AND no training, AND no shows either, so once her stitches were out, we were glad to go back to training as of last week and an agility show yesterday. At the show it was a case of 'dog needs new handler' - Kiah was amazing in both her agility and jumping she was running like a rocket - and no poles down all weekend! The only problem we had in agility was the see-saw, there was just no grip on it at all and she was airborne! Now everyone who knows Kiah knows she doesn't fly contacts. I even saw her try to stop with her claws scratching along the surface, and maybe I should have said steady earlier, but she doesn't usually have an issue stopping. But never mind, it didnt ruin what was a great round, we had great fun, and I know she is a good girl and I just wanted to reinforce our contacts at her speed, so that's why I put her back on!

The jumping was even better, a very different type of course from what I had ever seen before in grades 1-2, but very good nonetheless. The jumps were differently spaced, but Kiah was very responsive and worked well, again handler issues just two obstacles from home! The weave entry was slightly offset from the tunnel, but by the time Kiah was out of the tunnel she would have picked it up perfectly, now silly me decided to put a steady in, ok fair enough, but then not tell her what to do from there!! By the time I had, bless her, I had moved and into the second pole she went. So very annoyed with myself only (not her!) but I don't think Kiah minded too much as we had a good tuggy and play afterwards.

For agility competitions, that's almost the year over really, there are two shows - one up near Manchester and another in Rugby that I haven't decided on yet, but the major agility season is really finished. I'm sure the winter will go quickly though, and Kiah and I will have to decide what shows we are going to do next year!

Paws In The Park

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

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

Muddy Good News!

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



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


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

Dogs In Need

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Final!

Weekend before last was mixed fortunes I guess, the weather was wonderfully sunny and hot all of Saturday and Sunday, but out of 6 runs we didn't manage get one clear round! I don't know if it was my nerves, or rubbish handling (quite possible!) but Kiah was listening perfectly and the only reason we had poles down was due to me. Oh well, never mind, it was the one at the end of Saturday that counted - the Agility Club Starters Challenge!

Well I said I would report back on the results, and wasn't Kiah a little star - she ran perfectly, and I think I handled it quite well too, to end up in 3rd place and get a beautiful crystal bowl trophy!! The judge Andy Hudson set a good course, on first glance it looked very 'different' to anything I had seen before, but it ran a lot better than it looked and I really enjoyed it and I know that Kiah did too!

Just a quick note of thanks to my friends too, for keeping me sane and calm before the final and for videoing (which I can't seem to upload so look at:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmJ-asUKGck and taking pictures of my round, and to loads of lovely agility people who came up to me and Kiah afterwards and said how brilliant she is. This pic is of Kiah at home on my bed having a well earned rest after the weekend.

The only thing I could have improved personally was my speed, if you look at the video of the round then Kiah's contacts were perfectly held (well done Ki!) however if I was a bit faster we could have shaved a bit of time off. But I really don't mind that, I couldn't have asked any more from her, she worked her little paws off and to come 3rd in her first ever final, just my fabulous amazing superstar Malinois.

Kiah and I are at Dogs in Need for the week coming up, hoping the weather cheers up a little (please?!) and we get two runs a day so nice laid back atmosphere, hoping to get some nice clear round runs in but if not then we'll just have fun anyway!!