Snogs, etc

Go, Go, Gadget Legs!!

Ginger n Blonde



Sleepin' Wiv My Eyes Wide Shut :)

In a different universe these three are soooo mummydog, daddydog and poopydog! 



Clover has been with us almost 3 weeks, it feels like longer! But in a good way. She continues to be utterly perfect and every day she is building her own lovely relationships with each of the other doglets, with me, and with the big wide world. She's growing like a weed - gaining 1.5 kilos in her first fortnight here! You can practically see her growing. This weekend we didn't have a show and so put some special effort into the whole Socializing thing. She went on the bus, saw a steam train, watched cricket, went to the pub, rode on a trailer behind a tractor. She met people, dogs, sheep and alpacas. She is a very cool girly, a little wary at first but she's a real thinker and very quickly sums up whatever situation she finds herself in and makes friends with it, in her quiet sweet little way. She is rather fluffy! Looking back at pics of 'ickle Maisie Mouse at a similar age, Clo's fluffier already, eeeek! Hopefully she'll have a slightly more sensible collie coat though?!...

Poopie snog

More snogging, ahhhhh xx

I've been emailing with Clover's wonderful foster mum in Ireland and we will definately keep in touch with her special Auntie Mags :o) She was so very pleased to hear how she's landed on her paws. She said "thank you ... for loving one of our death row puppies and giving her well deserved forever home". Death Row - what a sickeningly awful thought ...

Have to mention the mega news of the week from Newton Heath when Jules and Jette got their Agility Warrant (Bronze). Wooooooooooooooooooooo! This has really taken work and perseverance and belief and we're very proud of them!! :) What a super-fabby-labby team they've become!

Oh & my little nutter Tim turned three last week! Still showing very little sign of growing up, he's crazeee but ace, very loving and so much fun. Happy birthday my super ginger lad xxx

This Friday were off on our jollies for Lune-Barrow week - very very excited, totally unprepared in any way, not trained or anything for yonks, Clover's eaten most of my underwear & socks, I'm way behind with work, it'll be right, can't wait!!!!!!

North Derbyshire

Awwwww!

First time to this show in the very pretty thatched-cottagey village of Ashbourne in North Derbyshire. Arrived on Friday evening to snowdrifts!!?! Well, they were 'haildrifts' as it turned out, but still very surprising! Apparently there'd just been a huge hailstorm!

This was Clover's first camping trip. She took everything in her happy stride, she really is a very cool little girl!

Saturday morning I got up late-ish as for once no courses to walk first thing ... except it turned out I'd read the ROs wrong and Tim should've been in part 1, not part 2, of an agility class, so I'd missed walking it. Watched for a bit, couldn't get my head round it enough to run him so didn't bother. He's challenging enough to run even when I feel confident about where I'm going, teehee!! Later we had another agility class. Maisie really wasn't up for it - it was quite warm - and I handled her like a numptie anyway, somehow we got nearly round after a fashion but she knocked one of her very rare poles. In her next class later she was off form again so I brought her out for a cuddle, it was warm for a well-fleeced girl. Tim was then up in the same class. The start was simple enough but hard for him as you did two jumps then a sharp right pulling off the A-frame - he made the turn but that headed him towards the judge who was v close by and when his rosette flapped temptingly Tim just couldn't resist ... lol, ooops! I used my stern voice and so he sat down and scratched his left ear. It's a good job I so love that little dog!!! Of course he then went on and ran the rest of the course fast and beautifully, including some tricky bits, even doing 12 weaves very closely followed by a tunnel. It was a really pleasing run anyway. I think we gave up for the day then and had lots of walkies.

Clover had a super time walking around, she even went round the rings and hardly batted an eyelid at the noise, movement, people, dogs, tannoys, etc. You don't get anywhere fast with a cute pup as everyone wants to say hello!! She had some fab positive experiences with people and dogs. The evening was sunny and warm, I sat out with her and Billy and a beer for quite a while. Billy even had a very small play with her!!! He's never really played with Tim (though they are quite companiable in a blokey, sniffy, leg-cocking, ball-chasing kinda way) and he only very rarely plays with Mouse when they're on their own, so it was nice to see he's taken to the little 'un so well. He's a good lad. The evening took its usual course of Chinese food, beer, cakes, raucous giggling, singing and more cake :o)

Sunday was a different day altogther - cool and wet, VERY wet! Jules and Helen came for the day too so that was super, and we had yummeee cupcakes ... :)

Can't remember our runs much - Maisie got an OK clear but stopped after the weaves to thoroughly shake a bucketful of rain out of her coat ... Tim did two runs, was utterly miserable with the rain, and so we called it a (soggy) day. Will I ever get a dog who will work in any weather? Wot softies!!

Driving home, the traffic was being slowed down because there was a swan on the hard shoulder of the M1, it was accompanied by lots of flashing lights and chaps standing around trying to work out how to capture/remove it! Life's never dull!

Clover, Tim and the sex-toy! ;o)

Lucky Clover

Butter wouldn't melt ... or would it?!

Once upon a time there was a small golden puppy ...

It's taken me a few days to get my head round this story but here goes. She must've been about 10-12 weeks old when she was taken into Ennis Pound in Ireland as 'found straying'. I think I'm right in saying they have only three days to be claimed or killed there. Already she became one of the very lucky ones when she was taken out by a local rescue group. She was then put into foster care with a lady who obviously cared for her very much. Much of this story comes from a beautiful letter she's passed on with her and this is something to treasure; it even includes photos of her as the tiniest fluffy blonde bundle! She asked for her forever home to contact her to let her know the happy development of her story so I've just sent a very happy email! Clover was then called Kia-Kiora (odd but pretty name!) The lady says in her letter that she was starting to come out of her shy shell and loved playing wth her little niece, but then after a week she suddenly became terribly sick and was rushed into the vets. It turned out she had parvo and was a very poorly pup indeed; she was on a drip for five days and so nearly died ... The lady said that all the people in her village were praying for her and that somehow she miraculously pulled through!!! She then went on to stay with another kind foster family for a couple of weeks or so before being picked up on one of Many Tears amazing collection runs over the Sea, and she was then taken back to the centre in South Wales. The second foster family have also passed on more info about her and her development, etc. The first foster lady's letter explained how much she loved her and  would've loved to keep her herself but couldn't give her what she needed, and she signed her letter off saying "Goodbye my little princess ... hope you have a lovely life my little miracle puppy xxxxx". How amazing is that! 

So how did she end up here? I've been toying with the idea of adding number four (as you do!) and had a look around over a couple of months, but I then decided to be strong and wait until next spring ... I told a mate this on the Thursday evening and then on Friday lunchtime I had one last look round the rescue websites, and there she was ... Can't explain how I felt when I saw her except I literally stopped breathing! lol. I thought for about 20 seconds about all the reasons for being sensible and waiting, then filled in the online application anyway. A tense weekend followed - that one at Nottingham which was not good in many ways - on the Sunday I phoned and got the gutting news my application had been turned down! Couldn't believe it as Tim had already come from MT and I thought I had the perfect set-up for her. To cut out a lot of heartache and grovelling and me explaining exactly how she would fit into my working life, they finally agreed on Tuesday that she could come to live with us after all!!! (Huge thanks to ace mates who stopped me going completely nuts till the good news came!) So on Thursday a 10-hour round trip brought her home. Couldn't believe how tiny and sweet she was when I met her! She must be about 5 months old but small for her age and skinny, she has comedy knees and paws though so I think she'll grow and she is eating like a Shetland pony! She'd already been spayed which I felt a little sad about as I'd have liked her to grow first, but understand the pragmatism behind such policy. I was dreading the journey home - two years ago coming home with Tim was a stressy seatbelt-eating nightmare!... but she literally slept the whole way apart from loo breaks, ahhhh.

Considering what she's been through in her little life so far she is an incredibly well-adjusted pup - great social skills with dogs, shy with people at first but soon comes round, and she has completely bonded with me already and gives ace snuffly waggy smiley kisses. Her house-training is not bad at all, she kinda walks on a lead and has a recall(ish) - I've never let one off lead (in a safe place) so soon. She's a nutter and very playful, cheeky, hilarious, chewy, into everything, total kleptomaniac, hyperactive, a fuzzy whirlwind force of destruction - just as a young pup should be! What an absolute credit she is to that chain of kind people who helped her on her way, and what a very, very, very lucky pup she is to have received that help and care.

Oh, and contrary to rumour ... she is NOT Maisie and Tim's lovechild! Though she looks uncannily like she could be! She looks like a Welsh Sheepdog but presumably isn't? Her eyes are soooo like Maisie's (she was a v similar age when she came), a lad who'd spent time with her at Many Tears said she seems to gaze into your soul - and she really does - with shyness but trust. We all love her to bits already. Tim is astounding me as a 'big bro' and he worships at her fluffy little paws (delighted to have somone of his own mental age I think!! teehee) Maisie's been very sweet and gentle too, if a little wary in the house, but she is coming round and plays beautifully with her outdoors. Billy Woof seems quite pleased to have someone else to mutter and glare balefully at!
She is ace!!!!!!!!!!! xxxx

My biggest bro!

Hmmmmm?

Pwetty girlies!! xx

Coming mummeeee! :)

Duffing Ging!

Hehehehe!

Clover :) xxxx

glum

Two shows to catch up on.

Last weekend saw us back at windy rainy Bakewell, this time for a Dog Vegas show. Had a nice time really. Both dogs did some good stuff. It was a 3 day show and I was just getting over the potato-leg injury. Saturday it was still quite dodgy so I didn't run Mouse at all, as I do need to sprint with her ... Tim did a run and did pretty well. He has indeed nailed weave entries, hurrah!!!!!! Sunday was an odd day with our mates getting injured this time - Helen and the Finger ... and Nikki and the flying table incident. All v dramatic but thankfully all relatively OK! Tim did some more nice stuff. Had meant to not run Maisie again but to my surprise - as I sometimes think she enjoys her aglity just to be polite :) she was going NUTS every time I got her out, so decided to try a run for a laugh after all, leg well strapped. She was soooo up for it, bouncing and yelping in the queue!!! and amazed me with more independence than she's ever shown before - my god, she even did layering!!! lol. Delighted she ended up with another 8th in G3 Agility! Monday was v soggy. Maisie did another speedy one first thing but just slipped out the side door of the seesaw. Tim was spooked by the cattle market noise in his Agility then we hung on for a Jumping run which was not our finest hour ... Most pleased the leg held up though and even improved over the w/e.

This w/e we ventured even further south to Nottingham. Not the most inspiring showground, camping pitch covered in thistles, ooouch! Saturday, Maisie did a nice run, I made a stupid lurch and got us e'd, but well done her :o) Tim did some more nice stuff. Classes were all 3-5 and really a bit hard for us. He did some more stonking weaves though - once off-course when I was sprinting off in the opposite direction. Think we've nailed the weaves!! The jumpies went a bit awry though and he ran under a fair few which he's not done in ages, confidence I suppose. 

Very, very sadly, our gang lost an oldie girly whilst at the show, making for a painful time for all, and put the ups and downs of agility in perspective. Our dogs are so precious to us and we must remember to treasure every day we're honoured to share with them. xxx

ETA: forgot to mention Maisie's last run to cap off a pretty crap weekend ... Did her last Agility run just before coming home. It was a very spread-out but straightforward course so I knew she'd no chance of a place but she should go clear with a paw tied behind her back and hopefully at least pick up a couple of Warrant points. So off we set - really zoomy start: jump - A-frame - jump - tunnel ....... flew into the tunnel, didn't emerge!!!! I ran to the exit end and called her - no sign! Ten seconds must have passed so I decided it was time to give up, so went back to the entry end - still no Mouse - I was starting to panic that she'd somehow shot off somewhere and I'd not noticed, but the Judge was still looking deadpan. Eventually, whilst I was literally sticking my head in the entry end to look for her, she popped out of the exit, then back in and out again! At this point giggling overtook us and we pootled off straight to the finish line. There MUST have been something yummy or very very sniffy in that tunnel as no way would she normally stop like that when she headed in so speedily, I suspect food - we ran second in the class so maybe something got dropped during course-walking. Hey ho!!!!

High Peak

Well, grade 3 at last!! Wasn't sure what to expect. We've been doing loads of 1-3 and 1-4 classes so thought it probably wouldn't feel much different, but it did ... maybe partly coz we were a bit off our usual patch being as far South as Bakewell added to the feeling I hardly knew anyone in our queues!! teehee. Going back to arriving at the show - it was "interesting" as my (OK, secondhand) camping spot was already gone! Big thanks to Karen & Andrew for squidging us onto a corner of their palatial plot, luckily we were just in the mini-mousehouse this time! 

So to the rings ... first up was a 3-5 jumping for Tim - fairly tricky but not impossible course, we bodged the first bit but he did some lovely bits including a very non-linear last line - the type of thing he's struggled to sequence in the past, and he flew down it, very good boy :) Mouse then had a 1-3 Agility - fairly straightforward course, she was pretty zoomy and ran a nice clear - few seconds off the placings - G3 reality bites!! On that run, on a sprint to the finish, I set off and twanged something in my lower leg ... kinda decided to leave it there for that day but the in the late aft there was this ace course ... was 'only' G3 but it was such an interesting tricky course I couldn't resist running the girlie again, despite the leg and the downpour and the big queue and the fact I had to walk it 973 times to almost remember it!... & blimminy heck, to cut a long soggy story short, she only went & finished 8th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It wasn't a classic run and though we set off well we both ran out of steam a little halfway round and she stomped through the weaves, unimpressed! lol, but 8th!!!!! I suspect this may turn out to be her PB in G3 - and that is fine. The course was not Timtastic so he didn't run - it would've blown his mind. He did a slightly muppety one on the 1-3, bless him!

On Sunday, with the leg strapped up and a bucketful of painkillers, I ran both of them in a 3-5 Agility. This was a really nice course with some slightly more challenging elements without it being too bonkers! There was a wrong-end of the tunnel bit which both dogs ran with aplomb. I was particularly pleased that Tim did a wonky flick-flacky bit very confidently. In fact, his only 'error' on the course was (again! arrrg) entering the weaves at the 2nd pole, otherwise he ran very proficiently indeed, albeit at a rather sensible pace for him! Clever Mousie went clear again!! & she was very zoomy for her!! Think this was quite indicative of how things will be for her in G3 though as we were about 4 secs off the places, even though she ran as fast as she ever can. Was reeeally going home then Paula Z put up a lovely Jumping course for Tim so we stayed and had a run round that. Went in at the 2nd weave - again ... but he did some super sending on and listeny bits and had his supersonic legs on this time too!

I was very proud of the pair of them over the weekend, some slightly harder challenges which they rose to beautifully. G3: it's OK really!

Greyhound Gap had the most superb cake stall, a tent of tempatation and joy!!!

Have really buggered up my leg though, dunno if I'll be able to run this w/e when we're back at Bakewell again, this time for Dog Vegas. If it holds up I might be able to 'run' Tim as he will work away, but Mousey sprints would just be too foolish so it looks like she might be joining Mr Woof on the Management Team for this show. I'll be gutted not to play with her but got to be sensible for once, I think.

What with being one-legged for most of this week and unable to walk them enough really, I've done some extra bits of training with Tim - working on his weaves with me stood/sat still!!... I think we might've partly solved the recent wrong entry problem - famous last words!?!!..........

playing out

Went on a training day outdoors today and had a fab time. I'm very pleased with Tim as he managed to keep his listeny lugs on for the entire long afternoon!! He did some really nice stuff. He's surprisingly good at variations on tunnel under A-frame exercises, good boy. Just been thinking - the group we were with today is pretty much the group we've been with from the start, and for quite a while Tim was, though "delightful", definately the class clown. Well, now I think he's just another one of the group, making good progress, and barely clownish at all!!! lol :o) Actually it was my brain that was fried by the end when I couldn't find my way from jumps 1 to 3, ooops! Good job Tim had no idea how stupid his mummy was as he'd have been proper embarassed. Maisie made a 10-min guest appearance (she doesn't do training!) and was quite a giddy whizzy girl as it was a bit breezy, bless her pretty fluffy bum.

harenhoundseaster

What a view from bed!!!

Well, it was an amazing long weekend in many ways - sunny, stunning venue, fab show, great company, but I made the mistake of over-volunteering to help and that made for a bit of a knackering and kinda stressful time really, you live & learn. The mousehouse performed well and kept us all snug. It was our last show at G2 - eeek! Maisie got a couple of places - one a 2nd - but didn't do many runs and was not on form due to the heat. Her best run was an unplanned early-morning agility when it was a little cooler and she had a lovely bound around - I missed a bit of the course for an E but but couldn't have cared less as she was all smiley. Tim did some fab work and is developing the slightest glimmer of consistency in the ring ... I'm still learning so much with him & his super-sensitive boy ways ... his dogwalk came over a bit uncertain and I made the error of trying to repeat his contact position, but must remember he simply cannot ever have the slightest indication he's not been Perfect! & he gnashed off. Also his weaves which have been improving - on an early run he missed the first pole though did the rest lovely and I stupidly brought him back to try to get the entry - doh, he lost confidence in his weaves again for the rest of the weekend. Really must remember to keep him flowing, no repeats, praise to the skies the good bits and cheerfully carry on however the rest goes. When I remembered that in subsequent runs he did some ace stuff, good listeny lugs and confident driving on/out/through bits, v pleasing, especially the fact that he's going into each run really up for it & supersonic and not going flat like he was a bit before.

Thank you Jules & Helen, yummmm! :o)

The most memorable happening from this show though has to be Jules and Jette - not only WINNING out of G1 - sooooooooo long overdue!!!! But backing up their readiness for doing so with a whole gang of other fab results. Couldn't be more chuffed and proud of them!!!! Also tonnes of other great fun & results all round :)

& BW had a super walk down through the woods and to the river with a gang of doggy pals one evening, he even almost got his feet wet. Really hope we get to play out at this venue again sometime, it was truly stunning and I'd love to explore a bit more round about. There was a bit of bird scarer noise but HRH MM coped pretty well, considering and otherwise it was just idyllic. Tim was admired by another Welsh Sheepdog person and again his services were enquired after as a stud!!! LOL! Even if he had the required equipment, the world's not ready for a litter of Tiny Tims, though it's a v cute/chaotic thought nonetheless :o)
 

 

Two weekends off before our next show (High Peak) and then the camping season really gets on a crazy continuous roll!!!...