Super Mouse

We’ve had a lovely weekend! Newton Heath KC show on Saturday, just the two runs, and one clear round. The past couple of weeks Maisie & I have gone back to basics and tried to introduce a bit more drive into her performance, and it seems to be paying off. One thing we’ve worked on particularly is speed over the dogwalk – something she has always struggled with a bit, especially when people (judges!) are nearby. In one class she went over it very confidently, but unfortunately in the other class the judge stumbled very close to the up-plank and Maisie got worried but hung in there and crept over with her eyes almost shut, bless her for being so brave. The show included an ABC Olympia qualifier class, which our friends Jules and Jette had entered (in a freak form-filling accident!) Despite a bit of pre-performance terror, they went in and gave it such a good bash, and even did quite a few of the obstacles in the right order! Teehee, even the judge giggled at Jette’s comedy antics. They did have a lovely run in our grade 1 class too. It was a really fun day and those big scarey KC shows are now seeming a little less daunting and more enjoyable. And we had a lovely romp over the moors near Haworth on the way home, though Billy was mortified as he accidentally leapt into a boggy bit and got a boggy leg.
Then on Sunday we had NAWS. Really nice, interesting courses, and lots of friends there – including some new friends made through the previous NAWS shows. It was a lovely atmosphere – friendly banter around the rings, and lots of cheering/sympathising for everyone’s runs. Maisie got a comfortable double clear in the jumping, and in the agility class she got a 5th!! It was the first time she’s really been placed on the basis of being a speedy(ish!) girl, and it was a very pleasing run – she fair scooted over the contacts, and skipped through a couple of pull-throughs like a pro. A bit of bad planning left me racing her through the tunnel to pick her up on the opposite side – managed it but nearly did myself a mischief. She got a big pretty pink rosette, and several people commented on how happy and confident she looked - and that is the real prize. Loads of other good results all round. Helen and big Skip (who gives smashing kisses) were placed in both classes; lovely lurcher Amos, with Rachel, did a whole round off-lead for their first time, and with only 1 pole down – an awesome achievement for which they were rewarded with a ‘special’ rosette!!
What fun!

Take Heart

After snow stopped play last week, both dogs have had really positive training sessions this week.

In trying to introduce a bit more drive into Maisie’s agility we went back to basics in playing with individual bits of equipment and trying to speed things up. We particularly worked on the dogwalk and weaves – “revving up” and approaching from different angles and distances, making it even more FUN, and rewarding with a thrown toy after (which sometimes she loves and sometimes she flatly ignores! Ho hum.) She already loves the seesaw and the drive she’d gained over the dogwalk transferred to that too. A long way to go yet in keeping her focus and drive up whilst there are scarey other humans nearby, but very well done, little Mouse.

Billy and flyball. Had another really good session – faultless runs from Billy and we also got some excellent changeovers going within the team. I also noticed something else really pleasing.
Billy suffered from heart failure a couple of years ago – possibly as a result of damage caused by a kennel cough virus/bacterium picked up when he was in rescue kennels. At the time it was all very worrying and his prognosis was not good. As his heart rate was very slow and unhealthily irregular, it was a very close decision not to send him down to London for a pacemaker fitting – major op, scarey stuff. We chose the ‘wait & see’ and convalescence-through-exercise approach instead, and wow, has this worked. Since then, I’ve monitored his exercise tolerance and recovery, which have, at times, been notably weaker than those of a ‘normal’ dog, and his vet has regularly listened to his heart. Last time he was seen his heart was proclaimed by the vet to be: “the healthiest unhealthy heart I’ve ever heard!” and he now has an excellent “sinus arrhythmia” – which is the healthy irregularity dogs’ hearts have because the body is feeding back messages to the heart telling it that its internal pacemaker control is making it pump too well for the body’s needs, and thereby slowing it down to a “regularly irregular” rhythm.
I’ve also been really pleased recently at how well Billy has been coping in general, and specifically with the extreme exercise of flyball. Today we were running on the lane with electronic timing which shows split times for each dog and I thought it would be interesting to try to quantify how well he’s doing. I kept an eye on Billy’s times, and those of the other dogs, and was delighted to notice that the rate at which his times dropped down slightly through the whole session, was comparable with the best of the other dogs, and even significantly less marked than some of the others. The lad is super fit! He’ll probably always struggle a little more than others in hot weather, but overall this is brill, and chances are now that he can continue life in the fast lane for a good long time, and that he will make grumpy old bones one day after all.

What a recall!

Maisie's recall has sometimes been subject to selective deafness when there are interesting things going on, but now I am going to start believing we have cracked it! Not only did she, the other day at training, come when called off a mad romp with another new best friend she'd just made and snap straight into "work" mode, this then happened yesterday: We were out on one of our usual walks close to home and both dogs were running ahead along a path which opens out into a field. I saw them get to the field and Maisie flung herself down into herding/hunting postion - mad starey eyes, twitching, creeping, the lot. I looked round the corner and the field was full of heavily in-lamb sheep!! (In my defence, this field has never, in years, had any animals on it before.) Billy's not as herdy but was also looking pretty interested. I whistled ... they both whizzed round and galloped back full-pelt, not a second's hesitation, not a single sheep slightly perturbed. Good dogs!!!!!

snow crime

Mugged for a tuggy!!!

Snow!!!

Snow ... happy doggies ... camera ... can't resist!