Happy Birthday Keisha

Happy birthday Keisha, 3 years old today.

I can’t believe there is only one week left until Crufts, where is the time going. I’ve got a busy day planned on Sunday, Kody and Keisha will be going agility training in the morning, I am then shooting over to Emma’s straight after as Ronny is needed for the YKC Flyball team training session that is being held in preparation for Crufts. I really need next week to be a slow one, I’ve got so much to do and so little time to do it in.

The seminar was great in London. Me and my colleague arrived at the venue and were greeted by a man at the door wearing a posh suit and hat. My first impression was should we be here !!!
We took our seats in the seminar and it suddenly dawned on us we were sitting with Governors, Directors, Chief Superintendents and Government representatives, we were by far the lowest rank of them all. The day was brilliant, some great presentations (even if they did speak constant big words, I still have no idea what half of them meant). I met some great RICH people, I even gave them my contact number (You never know, I can dream). However, although we were probably the most insignificant people there, we were more than shocked when two of the lecturers came over and sat with us for lunch, I took this the opportunity to tell them what really does go on in the real world and us people on the ground who deal with people criminally active on an everyday basis informed the, let’s say office based people, an honest and realistic opinion on what really does and doesn’t work. I must say in their defence they were very receptive and asked us lots of questions regarding the work we have done. My colleague and me turned up for work on Friday morning and were still buzzing from the experience !!!

Silver here we come

Good news, Kody and Pudsey both passed their Bronze good citizen test with flying colours. I was really pleased with how both the doggies worked tonight, neither of them put a paw wrong and they worked their socks off for us. Dad was nervous, he didn't admit it but you could definitely tell, he did say after how much worrying he had done but is now really looking forward to Silver. There were about 15 of us who went for the test, we were in the five that passed first time, the rest but one passed on the second attempt of doing the stays. I think dad has gone home quite chuffed with himself, Kody and Pudsey are tucking in to their well deserved dinner.

Tomorrow I'm off to London for a seminar being held that will help with my new job, its an early start and probably a late finish, mum and dad are looking after the doggies, hopefully they wont be too fat by the time I get home, I know what they are like with dishing out the goodies !!!

WICKED

Friday mum and me are going to London for the day. We will be starting with some shopping which will no doubt take a few hours and then we are going for a meal before the evening entertainment starts. Ive booked tickets for mum and me to see WICKED the musical. Dad has been booked to dog sit for the day and night, so hurry up weekend !!!

I started my new job yesterday and it is going well, I'm currently on a handover with the guy that used to do the job before, he moves to his new post on monday so I will be let loose on my own after that.

Tomorrow dad and me have our Bronze good citizen test with Kody and Pudsey, I'm really looking forward to it, dad on the other hand is dreading it, I'm sure he will be fine.

Congratulations to Emma and Maisy our flyball team mates, they have been selected to attend The Ultimate Pet show at the NEC over the easter weekend as part of the Dogs trust Agility team. Keep us posted on when you will be on.

Puppies at play

Today has been a very active day, this morning was agility training, I ran Kody in the first lesson and he was really good, its his first time at running over large jumps but he looked like he had done it forever. He didn't run under any jumps, his contacts on the dog walk and A-Frame were brilliant, he even had a go on the see saw for the first time, I don't think it will be long until he gets the hang of it, he really enjoyed himself, I cant believe how quick the hour went.

My weave guides were ready for collection today, I am going to try them out later in the week, see if I can get Kody mastered on the obstacle by the end of March.

This afternoon I met Richard, Tony and Karen at the park so that our puppies Zippy and Eva could have chance to meet up again and have someone their own size to play with. Eva and Zippy had lots of fun and played non stop. Eva is looking lovely, she is a very confident puppy and has got such a lovely temperament. There were plenty of distractions today, screaming kids, footballers, joggers, remote control car and even a freight train passing alongside the park, Eva and Zippy took it all in their stride and didn't seem at all bothered, Eva even borrowed a football from nearby people having a kick about, I think she was a bit disappointed that she had to give it back. We will definitely have to do it again.

Newton Heath agility

Today we went up north mainly to compete in the ABC qualifier. I had my hopes pinned on Keisha as she is my more consistent agility dog, she did not let me down and I was absolutely thrilled with her run. The see saw was positioned in such a difficult angle 3 obstacles from the end and I really needed to be there to help her out, for the first time ever I was actually behind her, (Am I getting slower or she getting faster, I prefer the latter) she did get it but we wasted that vital second needed to place us in the top four. Keisha placed 8th missing out by just over a second. Ronny was having one of those all or nothing days and today was definitely a nothing day !!!

Still good news has come from the show, MEGA congratulations to Grace and Kiah for winning into Grade 3, your run was absolutely superb and no one was ever going to beat that time. Well done mate you definitely deserve it !!!

Zippy had a fantastic day, I was so pleased with his confidence, he looked like he had been to an agility show before, he loved all the attention, thanks guys for everyone that came to say hello. Grace pointed out how much he is like Ronny, it is quite freaky how is mannerisms are so identical.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Tony and Richard, we are taking Eva and Zippy out for a walk together, I think it will be quite good for them to play with someone there own size. Hopefully I will be able to take some pics.

Bronze Good Citizen

Today me and the dogs have had a lovely relaxing day, we started off at the castle for a long walk, Zippy was very brave and enjoyed splashing around in all the water stops, at one point he got too excited and followed Keisha in, he forgot he wasn't as tall and found himself swimming.



Tonight we have been at obedience club. I'm so pleased with Zippy's progress, he is such a good little man and he seems to get everything, how lucky am I. Pudsey and Kody were brilliant too, we have been working towards the bronze good citizen for the last 5 weeks and tonight me and dad got told we are the only two getting put forward for the test next week. Dad has suddenly got all nervous so I think just keeping him calm will be the main thing. I will keep you posted next week with the result.

New Job

I have had the best news today. I have been waiting for a date to start my new job and it appeared that it was going to take sometime to move departments.

I went in this morning only to be told this was my last working day in my current role and on monday I start my new job. It was a bit of a shock, talk about short notice !!!



So today I have run around like a headless chicken and got all my paperwork done ready for handover. Thankfully I have the rest of the week off and I even took some annual leave today so that I could finish early.

It's going to be strange getting up early every day, I have worked shifts for ten years and this is my first ever mon-fri job with weekends off.

Reno news

Today I received news on how Reno is getting on, it appears that they have a bouncy hooligan living with them too. Ive had an advantage, I had their dad as a puppy so I was expecting this, it keeps us on our toes !!!

If we ever get a reunion with all the puppies I think it is going to be fun, a photo opportunity for sure (well that's if we can get them still enough).

Natalie's email:

Reno goes from mad activity to sleep and back again in seconds. One minute he is peacefully chewing a bone, the next emptying the linen basket. His favourite tricks at the moment are steeling brushes and taking them outside and walking around the house with a full water bowl (well, it was full when he started!).

British weather is annoying

Can you believe agility training was cancelled again yesterday, I was even more disapointed as the club had arranged a guest trainer to come along and take us for a lesson.

Ronny had been packed off with Amy for the day and by all accounts it seems he has found a new girlfriend, Gemma the boxer who is owned by Kathryn. It sounds like they all had a good day, hopefully Ronny will remember what to do at CRUFTS !!!

This saturday we are at Newton Heath agility Show, it has an ABC qualifier so I'm hoping at least one if not both of my doggies are on form. It is such a nice feeling knowing that the season is about to kick off again, I haven't really enjoyed the winter months, training keeps getting cancelled !!!

Zippy will have his first experience of an agility show, I don't think any of his brothers or sisters will be going, mind I'm sure Pudsey will keep him entertained, failing that he will be able to watch his dad in action. At least it wont be as noisy as flyball.

I couldn't decide which photo of Zippy I liked best so I put them both up.

Megan update

News has arrived that Megan is getting on great. Conor and Kate have had a new agility tunnel and their dogs have been trying it out. It appears that Megan thinks its brilliant as do Heidi and Brian there other two older dogs.

I'm guessing that the agility is going down well in their house.

I cant believe the puppies are already 16 weeks old, it wont be long until they are out competing !

Here is the email from Conor and Kate :

This week Megan has had a go in our new tunnel which she loved and she has been paddling in the river this morning. She is a real greedy little madam, she keeps breaking into the food cupboard and eating the dog food, I think we will need to get a lock for the door!

I spoke to Lisa last week and she said the same thing about Hippo being greedy, he puts his mouth down and appears just to suck and swallow it all in about 2 seconds flat, a bit like a hoover. Not sure he has broken into a cupboard yet though, mind there is still plenty of time for that.

Flyball Judge's

Emma, Amy and I are now officially allowed to judge Flyball competitions. It was a great day and we have learnt loads, we even picked up a few tips on how to help our team run.

Emma and I braved it this afternoon and opted to take part in the judging of the starters competition, thankfully we judged Division B as our Brickyard Bullets team were competing in Division A.

It was such a good buzz and it seemed to run very smoothly, we have both caught the bug and decided we want to judge more often so we are putting our names forward to judge at future comps.



The Brickyard Bullets didn’t get off to a great start, Jess was supposed to be running today but unfortunately cut her pad very badly ten minutes before we were due to race, thankfully Amy had brought Summer along so she jumped in and made up the missing place. The team had a great day and we managed to get them all down in some sort of fashion. Smartie was brilliant today and didn’t put a paw wrong, Kody had quite a good day but on occasions got too distracted by gazing into dad’s eyes and missed the lights. A good day all in all, fingers crossed it all go’s to plan next month when Kody has his first race with the Bandits.

Tomorrow Ronny is off to a YKC training day with Amy in Milton Keynes, it’s in preparation for Crufts and it will be a good opportunity for them to work together and pick up each other’s habits. Im hoping Ronny will be a good boy, he does love working for Amy but it's usually for the flyball, im hoping he will realise there is no jumps and a box tomorrow and the run in the show ring is not a race.

Don't worry Amy, I wont feed him his weetabix for breakfast tomorrow !!!

Training Day and competition

Tomorrow Emma, Amy and me are all on a training day in Leicestershire practicing how to become judges and what each ring party duty involves. We have an input in the morning and then we get to practice our skills in the afternoon on the starters competition. It's a great thing to participate in and the BFA are running the course for free, which only leads to good things as there will be more of us out there able and willing to help.

Kody (pictured right as a puppy) will be running in the afternoon with dad in the Brickyard Bullets team along with Smartie another hopeful for our Bandits team. It looks like they are only putting wings up on this show instead of full netting which means it will be harder, however Kody and Smartie are more than ready to compete without any helping aids so it shouldn't be a problem.
Obedience went really well on wednesday, Zippy was a little star and has already completed all of his puppy book, he has got so much drive to work it's unbelievable, it's almost like working his dad but on a smaller scale.

Pudsey was brilliant, he was really switched on and worked like a curly super star. His obedience has improved so much and we have been given extra homework to learn new skills. The only mistake dad and Kody made in the class was their holt, instead of Kody sitting at the side he ended up taking an extra pace and then sitting ahead, dad has already identified the problem in not giving him time to hear the command before making him do the action, more training for dad required !!!

Eva pics

Here are some pictures of Eva I have just received from Richard. It looks like she is a good help in loading the dishwasher. If only I could teach my dogs to wash up for me !!!

Eva is doing brilliantly and currently goes to three clubs a week, two for obedience/puppy class and one for ringcraft. I think she is going to be a very well trained doggie.

Richards email:

Eva is doing really well, she is a handful at the moment and she is becoming very mischievous, I can't take my eyes of her for a moment. She loves the snow too.

Snow keeps on coming

Today we managed to make it to the castle, the roads weren’t too bad and there is never much traffic on the way. The dogs sprinted from the back of the van and straight into all the snow, they did a huge lap around the first field getting their excess energy out. Zippy stayed with me, although he wants to go with the rest he knows he is never going to keep up at the moment, he waited patiently for them to return and then carried on enjoying the walk with them.

I did try making a snowman today, every time I tried making his head the dogs thought it was more fun eating him, I gave up in the end, I have sacked my dogs as helpers. The snowman soon turned into snow balls and the dogs seemed to enjoy that more, nothing like chasing a ball that disappears when it lands.

I didn’t take my camera today but I managed to get a few pictures on my phone. Looks like the snow will be falling again tonight, I'm glad I have been out all morning with the dogs, a night in watching the second part to Whitechapel sounds good.


This afternoon I'm going to do some obedience with Pudsey and Zippy, it wont be long until Pudsey starts his agility training so I will keep his touch command going, I might aswell start Zippy on it too. Never too early to start basic training !!

It's snowing

It's snowing again and the garden is already full of snow. This time I am starting my three days off so I will definitely get to enjoy it on this occasion. I'm feeling sorry for Keisha and Kody tonight, they usually live outside in their kennel but I've allowed them in the house for a few hours. There are lots of legs covering the floor as they are all sleeping.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to go to the castle so we can all enjoy some time in the snow, obviously that depends on how bad the roads are, failing that I guess a trip to the local park will be the next best thing.
Today I worked my last sunday, even if I don't start my new job for a few weeks I have used up all my annual leave and booked the next few weekends off. This weekend we are in Leicestershire as Kody has his last flyball competition in starters before he joins our team in March. Kody is officially 18 months old tomorrow so he is up and running and ready to compete legally.

Here is another picture of Zippy enjoying the fire at my mum and dad's house, yet again he was hogging it tonight when I went around to pick him up after work. He was even glued to the tv when James Bond was on, oh and he likes the Simpson's, he has definitely got character I will give him that !!!

Cat inside dog's clothes

I think I have been done over. I think Zippy is a cat inside dog's clothes. I have never known a dog to love the fire so much, he constantly sits at the front so he can enjoy the heat coming from it. Ronny hates the heat so I'm guessing it must be his mum's passion, if not then I can only guess he is in disguise. Talking of cats, two daring moggies walked across the garden today, all five dogs were out playing in the melting snow, Ronny had to double check and thought he was in for a right treat, fortunately for the cats they noticed 3 sprinting dogs heading in their direction followed by Pudsey and Zippy that didn't have a clue what was going on. Don't worry for all those cat lovers out there, it was a happy ending, well sort of. Ronny put the first cat up the tree who then managed to jump into the next garden, the other cat ran back in the opposite direction and did the biggest leap to get on top of the hedge and off the other side. Are cat's that stupid, can they really forget that dogs live in my garden, they have been there for a good few years now !!!

Seems as the agility show had been cancelled today we managed a trip to the local park instead. Keisha, Pudsey and Zippy took the first walk, it was such a great adventure for Zippy, he got so intrigued by the humans doing that fast walking (the one they do for racing if that makes sense) he was off, I tell you what he beat them too, mind he was cheating seems as he was sprinting at the time, I had to call him back as he would of done the whole lap of the park with them. The men didn't seem to mind, they kept egging him on and bending down to stroke him, I guess they didn't see him as very good competition.

Mum and me had an afternoon of shopping today, I dropped the dogs off with dad so he could dog sit, when we arrived Zippy found a new toy to play with in the garden, the brush from the dust pan and brush, I manged to video it on my phone. Dogs are so easy to please !!!

Megan pics

Here are some pictures of Megan that I have just been sent by Conor and Kate. Megan, Brian and Heidi are obviously loving the snow too. It must be a dog thing !

For some reason I cant seem to get these pictures any bigger on my blog.

Ive been tagged

Just realised what being tagged was, 5th folder, 5th picture, and this is the result.
The picture is of a young Ronny about 1.5 years old and baby Keisha at about 8-10 weeks old. (I must tell the truth, this was the 6th photo in the 5th folder, the fifth photo was infact a video of an alien being rude, one of my friends sent it me I must add, not really suitable for my blog)!!!


So I gather I have to tag 5 more people, so here they are:

Jan Ralph - Bonvivant Belgians
Emma - Sadler Dogs
Kathryn - Bootylicious boxers
Karen - Paws on Tours
Anne - Zodannta dogs

apologies to any who have already been tagged.

Anyway great news, I've got a new job, mon-fri with weekends off. Agility/Flyball world here I come. Can you believe in my ten years of working this is my first ever day job. I'm not sure when I will be moving departments but hopefully in a few weeks, just in time for when the season kicks off.

The snow hasn't melted away, infact I woke up this morning to a mountain of snow, the most all week. Unfortunately Keisha and Kody came to work with me today so they missed out, Ronny, Pudsey and Zippy on the other hand stayed at my mum and dad's house, apparently playing in the snow for most of the day. Unfortunately the snow has cancelled the Dog Vegas agility show on saturday, which is not great news, Kody will miss out which is a shame as I haven't arranged any other agility shows for him.

Melting away

The snow is finally melting, if only it was this morning. I did manage to get to the last day of my course but it wasn't by train, I borrowed mum's car and zoomed down the motorway. The only good thing about the snow is the course finished early, allowing us all extra time to get home.
I'm on a day off tomorrow and I was going to take the dogs to the castle so they could enjoy an hour or so in the snow, looks like it might be gone tomorrow, typical now I'm not at work !!!
Tomorrow the youngest three are at obedience club, I will probably do some training before we go, I've promised Pudsey an extra big goodie if he works better than dad and Kody, nothing like a friendly bit of rivalry between family.

Snow-balls !!!

Is the snow a good or a bad thing. The dogs think its great but i think its a pain in the bum. I was on a course today and I woke up to horrible snow and icy roads. 7am I was at the train station this morning, fortunately the train wasn't delayed so I got to the course on time. Coming home was another story completely. I managed to get into Birmingham New Street but from there they started cancelling trains, guess what, one of them was mine. The weather was that bad all trains to London Euston were being cancelled and my stop, just a small one, was never going to be running. Fortunately I managed to get on the Bournemouth train that was stopping at a nearby station. Good old dad made the horrible car journey and came to my rescue. I am absolutely dreading tomorrow, the weather is set to get worse and I really cant see the trains being on, still tomorrow is another day.

The dogs seemed to enjoy them selves. All five of them stopped at my mum and dads today whilst I was out getting stuck, I came home to find them running around like maniacs in the garden. Pudsey and Zippy absolutely loved the snow, I couldn't get Zippy to come in at one point, I'm sure they will have a big grin on their face when I drop them back tomorrow.

Yahoo

Yahoo, agility training was on this morning. The snow didn't start to fall until this afternoon so Keisha and Ronny had a good hour each on agility. To my surprise both of their contacts were really good, infact neither of them missed one.
Keisha went in the first class and as always was very well behaved. Her jumping was brilliant and her turns were really tight. We practiced right hand weaves today and she was really good. I hadn't put as much time into her right hand weaves and it shows, I'm hoping by the end of the season she will be as quick as she is when I'm on the left.
One of our club members makes the guides that you can attach on the weaves so I have just put my order in. This will no doubt help Keisha's right hand weaves and Kody's weaves full stop. Pudsey will soon be up and running in a couple of months too so they are definitely worth the investment.
Although Ronny was proper manic this morning he certainly behaved himself. His turns were spot on and we were doing difficult weave entries and he nailed them. We did have difficulty when part of the training was tunnel running under the dog walk with the entrance to both equipment together, we were supposed to go up the dog walk, Ronny being tunnel mad it was never going to happen, something we must work on that's for sure.

Flyball training with Emma was this afternoon. We arrived at the venue at the same time as the snow decided to fall, we managed a good hour training in before it started to come down with any vengeance.
Kody was brilliant, he really concentrated today and his cross overs with Ronny are spot on. He didn't get distracted at all by the other team running down, infact a dog even ran over to him and that still didn't put him off, he just gobbled up his ball and made his way back to dad.
It was nice for Ronny to catch up with his buddy Maisy again, he really enjoys himself when he see's her and they do tend to spur each other on.
Pudsey and Zippy were left with their Nanna and Grandad today whilst we were at agility, they certainly enjoy going there, probably as they are so spoilt. Zippy was even caught having a quick nap on my dad's chair, as pictured above.
I'm glad to say all the doggies are flat out as I write this, i think I'm in for a peaceful night. Lets hope the snow doesn't come down too hard, I'm on a course tomorrow and tuesday and I need to get the train, I don't want it to be cancelled (Well maybe some part of me does) !!!