Lune Valley

A scorching hot weekend in The Lakes at the wonderful Westmorland County Showground.

Great walks along the canal (a blessing in the extreme heat), good ice cream, real ale in the marquee, and some agility! I managed Maisie’s energy levels better – sticking to 3 runs, lots of ‘power naps’, shoving high-energy food down her at regular intervals, and queue avoidance. Kept her as cool as possible as well, of course. She managed a 10th, 15th and another clear, which I’m really pleased with. She also finally moved on from advanced paddling and launched herself into the canal for her first ever swim!!

The boys had a lovely time as usual and carefully dipped their delicate little boy toes in the water. Tim was KC measured so is all ready to go – after a bit of growing-up and training of course ;o)
The weekend had got off to an awful start on Friday when on a walk at home just before setting off Maisie had been petrified by a birdscarer going off very close by and she bolted the ½ mile home with me in hot pursuit. We both collapsed in a trembling heap once home. She was fine over the weekend but has been very anxious walking around near home today and I’m feeling sad about it as she’s been so confident with most things lately and this seems a big setback for her. We’ll get over it though ’cos she’s Amazing Maisie Mouse.

The Royal Staff

Miss Mouse has done such a good job of training little Tim to pander to her every whim. She will lay down whilst he carefully cleans her eyes and ears, and she's now even started to open her mouth wide so he can gently lick her teeth clean - like a croc with a plover!!!!! She is such a pampered princess :o))

Billy's turn

Billy Woof flyballed at Doncaster Racecourse yesterday. Another not brill team result but my boy enjoyed himself so it's all good. We had no height dog so were running at full height for the first time ever in comp, and Billy decided that those big jumps were slowing him down waaaaay too much on the way to his ball so he started to run out! Took him in closer to the line though and he agreed to go over the jumps after all :o) Luckily his 0-60 acceleration is pretty good so it didn't matter too much.
The chance came up to have him checked over by a physio and that was worthwhile. I do worry a bit about the stresses on his joints as he does his flyball with such enthusiasm, but it seems he's in very good order. The only slight thing was some tightening in his back leg muscles, but as he'd had a hard morning's racing and then been in the car for an hour, this wasn't surprising. She showed me some stretches to do with him so that was useful. I'll try using them on Maisie for agility too.

Tim was a very good lad. Recall keeps improving and he was allowed to have a run round with some other dogs and actually came back when called mid-chase, gosh!!

And Maisie found this week's new best friend in a big black young dog called Jack. They had a high time rolling around puppy playing on the grass.

Elsewhere, at Newton Heath show at Tatton Park ... Jules and Jette got their first KC places in the form of two "tenths" and another clear!! Very very well done!!!!!!!!!!! & well deserved. & Rachel and Amos made their KC debut and Amos was a good boy and did 12 weaves, brilliant!!!!

Tim has a name!

The boy's KC name came through in the post this morning. He is now officially: "Jolly Good Ginger Beer Tim". Ummm, it's a Famous Five thing!.. but also he is very jolly, may be jolly good?!, he's ginger, I like beer and ginger beer :0) and he's called Tim. I guess it might have been nice to nod at his Welshness in a name but didn't think of that at the time, so he's frightfully English now :o) Well they're meant to be daft names, aren't they?!!
(Damn, I have to stop winding Brenda up with the secret now ;o) )

Tim’s Training

I thought it might be nice to keep a week-by-week agility training diary for Tim starting from scratch, but he’s had his 5th session tonight and I’ve not started yet. Oh well, progress so far!..
First week he was an angel. That was surprising as we’d not done much basic obedience and I expected him to just bog off and round up other dogs. He was just being a good boy overawed on the first day at school though, and the next couple of weeks were pretty awful with him being sooooo distracted by the other dogs. Away from class we’ve worked hard on his recall, sometimes using Billy & Maisie as stooge distraction targets. Last week he was pretty good but still on his flexi-lead mostly, then tonight I was able to work him off quite a lot and he was really keen to work and only bogged off slightly a couple of times, but came back quickly.
On the equipment itself he’s very confident.
Jumps: now going over a couple of small jumps OK – recall and sending on, and with a turn.
Contacts – been over the A-frame (at great speed!) but mostly just working on rewarding his down contact “check” position. His legs are wayward at times but he’s getting the jist. Tonight we worked on holding the position even when I put a bit of pressure on the lead, and he kind of got it, though plenty more work to do.
Tunnels – really likes the pipe tunnel and will send from a short distance away and will already go through it confidently even with a bend in. He’s done the cloth tunnel once – working down to it held a bit open, and he was happy enough with that too.
Weaves – he thinks the channel weaves are a pleasure ride!!! With his recall now good enough to work him off-lead a bit we did a mix of recalls through, sending in from about 6’ away, and me running (not walking!) alongside. I sent him in from a slight angle a couple of times tonight and he got it so we’ll probably work on that a bit further next time. The channel is already close enough for him to get a proper little wiggle on and he thinks he’s ace and can’t wait for his next go!
Need to get him working to toys more as he is very food-oriented. His obedience is coming along well; he has a half-decent Wait already. We're also working on Heel/Side and Left/Right.
It’s really good fun :o) Tonnes for us both to learn about working together, but a nice start I reckon.

Ice Cream

Otley DTS show this weekend. It was smashing! We were camped towards the bottom of the site and really close to a little river running through trees, perfect for cooling doggies in the hot hot hot weather. In the mornings a milkman came round with milk, juice and eggs. And through the day some local ladies served tea and cakes on the lawn. Then the ice cream van turned up selling Nidderdale-made ice cream, from Jersey milk - amazing! The 'hokey pokey' (cinder toffee) ice cream was to die for. We did a whole lot of sitting on the grass playing with dogs and splooshing down to the river.
Oh we managed a bit of agility too :o) I was a numpty and added an extra jump into Maisie's otherwise brill first round. It took an effort to push her out over the extra jump - doh!!! Then our other rounds on Saturday were a bit so-so - mainly due to our 'broken' weaves :o( - really must try to fix them ... On Sunday our first round was alright, then I pulled her out of the ABC class - not defeated by the events of last weekend - just the course didn't suit us, so there were two classes left to go. I was a bit unsure about running her as it was sooo warm, though she had been kept cool, but decided to see how she went and was glad I did as she got a clear (no place as was comb 1-3) then in the last (graded) class she again went clear and got an 8th place!! I worked really hard myself in those two rounds and came out knackered! I usually just try to jolly her round but this time I decided to try "revving" her up on the start line, and then really driving her round quite hard - and though she was probably a bit weary by then, she responded ever so well and seemed to enjoy the challenge, good girl!! Jules and Jette had some fab rounds - just missing out on those elusive clears by little things. Helen & Skip also got an 8th!!! & the other Helen had some nice runs with Lucy, and Jock - well he didn't do many obstacles, but neither did he create any chaos, so that was a victory too! Sara & Tilly also had some lovely bits - I love watching those two when it comes together, and they were unlucky to not be in the rosettes.
Each of the dogs got a toy from the stall for being so good. They were all chuffed with them but Billy is now obsessed with his penguin - bless! Tim was a good lad and did some chilling around the rings and nice playing on the fields. He had a super play with three kelpies, I think he now believes he IS a kelpie.
All in all a wonderful weekend - defo one for the diary again next year :o)

Collies and Not Collies

This weekend was the ABC show at Winterton. Maisie was a good girl again and produced a couple of nice clears each day in the 1-3 combined classes (no clear round rosettes awarded though, boo-hiss.) Even though it was a much cooler, ie. flippin' freezing, weekend she still tended to lose her spark later in the days so I've decided to strictly limit her to two, or at most three, runs per day in future to keep her motivation high. She does really love our agility so I want like to keep it that way by not asking her for more than she's physically/mentally comfortable with at any time.

Don't think we'll bother with the ABC classes/shows in future - too open to unpleasant human-ness with a dog who happens to look very slightly collie-esque if you stand on your left leg and squint. Yet it was nice to see the diversity of more 'other breeds' than collies working for a change. Watched a couple of lovely Shepherds running with the exact same face-splitting grin that Maisie has, though on a much bigger face :o)

And after all that ABCing, the boys are reminding me there are one-and-a-half collies in the house by currently both bombarding me with their tennis balls! Now these boys - they never tire ...

Sunset

Three Good Doggies

Relaxing at Haweswater in The Lakes

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Clever Mouse & Agility

This weekend we were agility-ing at Wigton to the north of The Lakes. Think I must’ve entered this show by accident really as it was a bit further than we’d normally travel, but it was a nice weekend – non-stop sun and a good atmosphere. It really was hot and Maisie got a bit weary later in the days but she still came away with a 10th, 12th and another clear, clever girly! In one of the jumping classes – the unplaced clear one, just a “nth” off a place – I glanced round at her on the long home straight and she had wings on her paws and the biggest grin ever, lovely :o) She’s maybe never going to be the fastest or the most naturally driven dog but she tries her very best and has such fun, and that’s more than good enough and is what it’s all about.

On the way home we detoured into The Lakes proper and had a play on the banks of Haweswater. It was beautiful and great to have the time to chill out and enjoy the scenery. Maisie had a good wade, Tim was cheeky and so Maisie shoved him in with a big splash, and Billy cheered safely from up the bank :o)

Billy Woof & Flyball

Last weekend the boy ran at Ryecroft Farm in Cheshire. We didn’t get placed as a team but Billy ran ever so well again. That was a hot day too and we were in a division of seven teams, so had six races, most of which were very close and went to five runs. Billy coped very well with the heat and exertion so that was pleasing. He's also coping very well indeed with Tim and they're doing a bit of boy stuff together - important sniffing and leg-cocking things us girls don't understand :o)

Tim & Baby Stuff
The youth has started agility training (he’s about 11 months) and has made a nice start in his first two lessons. I kind of expected him to spend the whole time chasing other dogs and so have been pleased that he’s focused quite well generally. He’s a clever, cheeky, bold, speedy young hooligan and it’s going to be a fun journey :o)
He’s also doing much better in his social interactions, learning not to mug people for affection, and learning that sometimes you don’t go in feet-first to play with other dogs. Again this weekend at Wigton he was allowed to play off-lead with a number of other dogs, and he did OK. Things are also settling down within the ‘pack’ in a sort of peacefully chaotic way.