Early Easter

This year Easter and the very welcomed four day bank holiday was quite early, the the major first show of the season that we do - nice and local again, and a real danger that the show could be called off, a complete repeat of last year and the threat of rain and cold weather ruining agility - one show at a time!!  Thankfully the week before the show managed to stay mainly dry which really helped, even though the show had to cancel most of the camping, and move a couple of rings around to accommodate the suffering soft ground, but it was great that the show could still go ahead.

We were doing a bit of ring party, mainly on the Saturday and a little on the Sunday, bad show to pick helping out at as it was bitterly cold and windy especially the first day!!  The dogs were in the best place in the van with their jumpers on.  But it has to be done, I have nothing against helping a little as long as everyone does their bit - which never happens - I can understand that some people can't help due to personal reasons but a large percentage of people can and won't.

Just a quick mention for my little dude Risk, he is still doing ok in his training, seems to have mastered the aframe properly now, and hs happy to run down it 9.9 times out of 10, he gets what I mean and is also doing well with his going over jumps rather than under, similar success rate so am pleased with him there.  We are still mastering the weaves, or trying to (!) a little tiny bit of practise every day and he is getting better... most of the time.  His confidence is very low at agility and especially new or difficult things like the weaves, so we keep it positive - but sometimes especially if he is tired or hasn't eaten (typical boy!) there's no point in trying more than even one or two jumps as it is very unproductive!!  But very little and often seems to be a good way for him to learn.

So Kiah and Davy were both running this weekend, Davy had some fantastic agility rounds and has really turned a corner, he has toned up (Davy!) and is doing agility because he enjoys working with Alex rather than just 'because he has to' and is putting the effort in.  There were some real if only runs and a couple of silly moments from Alex - like running past the last jump!!  It was a great helter skelter course where Davy was running fantastically well, and Alex had to speed up and lost track of where his dog went - around rather than over the last jump!!  But also there were a couple of times where Davy got his weaves first time, instead of going in pole two, and was good on most of his contacts - as long as Alex keeps practising them, and a real increase in speed, so there is real promise there.

Kiah was my little star this weekend, our very first run of the day was grade 6 agility, a bit of an unusual class - I mean something that we don't always see week in week out, quite often there are similarities in courses and they can get a bit samey but just sometimes you get very 'different' skillsets required, and they seem to be the courses we do better on.  Anyway we ran reasonably early in the class, and it was messy in places, especially the weaves as Kiah wasn't listening and shot out the tunnel looking for me rather than listening to my weave command - but the good bits were fast, and we went into 2nd place - I can't quite believe it but we stayed there.  We even managed to get it on video, which is rare - its lovely to see what good things happened and still places where we can improve. We got a lovely trophy and the other benefit of the 'easter' show is the easter egg too (for me, bought pigs ears for them!) - clever girlie!!

Visit to Crufts

We weren't going to go up to Crufts this year but Alex as a surprise booked tickets, this year for the Saturday and 'gundog' day - partly as it was the weekend so easier for us than a short notice day off work, and also we wanted to take a look at the golden retrievers in the working classes and continue our investigations into a possible future addition... and watch a few classes, and do a little bit of shopping.  Normally we go up on the 'working and pastoral' day (the day that Kiah would be in classes for) so it was nice to see and meet a different set of dogs.  We also got to see a good friend of ours - and Risk's bestest friend, get a well deserved placing in a junior Vizsla class qualifying for Crufts next year!!

Knowing what crufts is like, we got up there relatively early to have a quick scan around the halls and then go back for a further look later on if it gets crazy busy - I always find it best to have a shopping list prepared before we get there!!  There are a few deals that we found including lots of stinky dried tripe sticks for a bargain price, a couple of new treat toys for Kiah, and new classic kongs for the boys, a new back on track coat for Risk, new fleece coats by 'Snugglepets' (see pic, of course in their respective colours!), and naughty... three new beds for them all, made and personalised for us by 'Lucky Pet' which I adore!!  More importantly both those companies are based in, and manufacture completely in the UK, which I think is so important to support.  It was a long day but enjoyable, and the dogs had a lovely time being spoiled with some good friends that kindly looked after them :)))

Mid Downs

Oh! I don't know where the time has gone - I just haven't had time to do an update in an age so there may be a few at once now I'm on a roll!!  So back to March - I'm still never quite sure why i do Mid Downs, we are usually rubbish and completely out of time, and poor coordination, and completely mad as some of the show is inside, lots of people lots of noise.  But still every year we go, as its good fun, the first time to catch up with people that we haven't really seen much over the winter, its a local show to us, and has absolutely fantastic walking - probably one of the best in all the shows we do.

Only Kiah was entered in this show, as Risk wasn't quite ready, and sadly this show only goes from grade 3 up and Davy is grade 1 at the moment.  The boys still had a good time, Risk had a fab time playing with his friends (and anyone who got mobbed by the waggy tail!) and Davy was as chilled as ever, but they all enjoyed the morning and afternoon walks and pig ears when we got home.

So true to form we were a bit rubbish - I can't remember most of it but Alex kindly videoed all of our runs with my shiny new video camera that he bought me as our anniversary present. It is so useful to have it on video as you can see where we were good/bad and bits to improve on etc.  The other thing I wanted on a video camera was a slow motion short clip function - which this one has.

So the first run wasn't too bad watching it back - Kiah was a bit naughty and semi broke her wait where I should have put her back, and we had a failed pull in resulting in a big fat E, I have to have my timing spot on with steady and pull in commands, but there were some good bits.  One thing we need to improve on is Kiah's commitment to tunnels, because she is SO responsive to me just a small movement will pull her off a tunnel, or sometimes I have to over commit to directing her to a tunnel where I need to be somewhere else - but not all the time, again perfect timing required, funny girlie.

The second run was an outside jumping run - going really well until Kiah came out the last weave pole - my fault says the video (!) as much as she should have stayed in, I turned away so she came with me.  The third run was back to agility indoors, and was going really well, until something I was really annoyed about - Kiah went in the tunnel and came out the same end... three times we tried.  So frustrating as I later found out a large number of other dogs did the same and we never found out why, but there was obviously something up with it.  Anyway thats how it goes, but I was pleased with Kiah in that run, and we were finished with the show by early afternoon, so lots of time for walkies!!

Toasty Warm

Last time we were down having a sort out of my parents house, after a long play in the garden - which the dogs love doing - we had a chance to take them out for a walk down on the beach again - it hasn't been as nice as previous times but at least it wasn't raining, it was just cold and windy, the dogs don't mind too much.

 

I had lots of layers on, and so did Alex, with our wind stopper jackets on the top doing a pretty good job, the dogs also had their coats on - I know they have fur coats but I'd still rather they didn't get cold! Our jackets and their jackets actually match - they are all "Hurtta" brand, which I adore for the dogs, especially the 'winter pro' coats; they are quite expensive, but they are well made, hardwearing, smart looking, waterproof, fleece lined and a great fit - and the dogs don't seem to mind wearing them either.

Risky Training

Recently I've been really pleased with Risk's progress in training, he has matured just a little bit more, and though he is still cautious and thinks very much about everything he does in agility terms, he absolutely adores his tuggy toy now (made by "tug-eeze" fantastic!) with rubber ring on the end - and will work hard and power to get to it.

I originally taught Kiah to do her weaves using a combination of V weaves and channels, it took a little while to close them up, but she is pretty good at her weaves now and is her favourite obstacle - she will pick them over a tunnel!!  Anyway, through trial and error when we first started Risk's training he didn't understand channels once they started to be closed in and was getting them wrong a lot, so we changed to V weaves.  Once his understanding had improved, we were then introducing and using a combination of both methods which he is progressing well with, and loves to get it right for his toy reward.

I chose to do a running A Frame with Risk, as initially stopping on the contacts used to stress him out a lot, especially this one, and he's pretty good at getting the correct footwork - most of the time!  I have got a video but I can't get it to load, so this is a picture of his transition from funny looking 'guinea pig thing' (!) at 4 weeks old, to my handsome boy at just under 16 months when it was taken.  He probably gets about 8 out of 10 right, which we are practising at as many places as we can.  With his increase in confidence, I have since decided to do a stopping dog walk and see saw, with a slightly different technique - again using his toy though - to remind him how much of a fun place the touch point is, he's doing well.

We've also managed to do a little bit of training in the garden when its been dry enough, which helps with his confidence, as its a location he is used to, so seems to understand things more quickly - then when we take it to training he has a bit of "pre-knowledge" already.  He is just over 17 months now, and we won't be quite ready when he is 18 months (Easter - scary) but it feels like we are getting there!!

Weekly Swim

Over the winter I always worry about the dogs stamina starting to drop - we do less agility training, and hardly any competitions as I like to make sure they all have a decent break, the evenings get dark so much earlier, plus the depressing weather stops us doing so many walks during the week - though we try to make up for it at the weekends, and before anyone thinks it - the dogs hate the rain too!!

So, Kiah has been doing her group agility once a week, I like to limit her a bit due to her being extra crazy indoors, plus she is a little bit older now so I don't want to push her more than she naturally gives, so why make her overdo it.  We have had some really good sessions and though she is still completely manic-crazy, we've had a bit more control - hopefully it won't quite all go to pot when we get back in the ring...

Anyway to help keep her stamina up we've been taking her swimming once a week, I think she has done about four or five sessions now and rather than 'cope' with it, she jumps in and actually enjoys swimming on her own now, rather than because she has to.  Kiah can be quite lazy once she realises she can just float with minimal effort (!) so we play a game of see how fast she can swim from end to end. She seems to enjoy it, is extremely fit - generally and because of swimming - and especially enjoys her biscuit at the end.

The boys have still been doing their agility training more often - Risk twice a week with me and Davy twice a week with Alex, they are both really coming along so well now, our little rescue boys!!  Risk is really quite enjoying it and realising that he can chill out and not over analyse about every single thing... most of the time!! We've just gone onto full height jumps which he is coping with well after a week of 'getting used' to them, hes very nearly doing closed weaves, and is enjoying his contacts too, as if he gets them right he gets to play with his toy.  Davy has come on so well too and has so many more skills now, he is doing his weaves now really well, learning how to bounce some jumps, and powering on over his contacts too. I think Alex is really looking forward to entering a few competitions this year... In fact, our first competitions are coming up in the next few weeks!!

Snow - Ages Ago

It seems like ages ago now that we had the snow, but it wasnt really, no more than about a month, and for once the country actually coped reasonably... well as only England can.  Alex had a great time playing in the landrover - doing what it does best... and seeing how well it copes, if Alex has his way!!  Its lovely to see how especially for the first few days, everyone turns into kids again playing with sledges and snowballs.  The dogs adored it too as usual, playing and messing about, on walks they get to wade in and out of the drifts and face planting in the powder.  Davy enjoys hunting out snowballs that we throw for him or eating them, but Kiah and Risk were happy frolicking for hours out on our walks, or just in the garden as that was completely covered too!!