M&S Update

Ive got updates for two of the puppies, Megan and Speedy. The first is Megan, here are a couple of recent pictures of her. This is the email I received from Conor and Kate:

Meg is doing well, she now weighs 17.55kg and still loves her food!

This week she has eaten several CDs and DVDs (they must make good snacks!) and she is obsessed by stealing socks. She is doing well at her puppy class and is starting Bronze Good Citizen class in April once Heidi moves to the next class and she starts puppy agility at the end of April too.

I haven't got any new pictures of Speedy but who would have thought these lovely puppies could be so ....... Well I like to call it full of character !!!

From left to right is, Zippo, Eva and Zippy (ears up at the back), Megan, Reno and Speedy.

Here is the update from Jackie, sounds like it is going well :~)

Just to let you know we have used another 2 pieces of vet bed, he loves nothing more than to pull it all out of the kennel into the run where it gets covered in a smelly substance before he empties his water bowl everywhere. My sister's first day with him yesterday, she rang and said he’s fine no trouble he just wants to be with you ahhhhhhhhhh when I came home the doormat was chewed, she said in 20mins he had chewed the mat, pinched his food off the work surface and had a wee on the kitchen floor. However we love him to bits he is sooooooo loving.

Ps when I came into the dining room this morning the little darling had the edge of the curtains in his mouth :-O then whilst we were cuddling he pulled my earing out, I thought he had swallowed it, but we found it later on the floor.

So there is the M&S update (Megan and Speedy) im glad they love entertaining their owners.

Sunny Sunday

Agility training in the sun this morning was great, I think the sun must of put everyone in a good mood as all three of my doggies ran really well. Keisha not only did right hand weaves but did some really difficult entries to get into them, fingers crossed she remembers them for next weekend. Ronny and me did some complex jumping sequences in his class and he really listened and made it look like he does them all the time. I find Ronny quite hard to run as he is unbelievably tuned into my body language and the slightest move too quick will put him off. This morning I practiced contacts and weaves with Kody, he is really starting to get the hang of it and I must admit I'm quite looking forward to running with him at the weekend.

This afternoon i spent a good few hours cleaning the caravan, we have brought some new chairs for the summer and I've just got to pack the tv ready for next week, 5 days to go and I can't wait.

Jackie brought Speedy along to training today, he looks like he has settled in very well, apparently he is already on his fifth set of vet bed, still there is nothing wrong with a bit of character !!

Check out the picture below, its not so obvious which one Zippy is now.

Speedy goes home

Speedy has got a new home, I'm really pleased with the outcome as he couldn't of gone to a better home. Jackie my friend from our local agility club travelled up with her sister today to see Speedy at Jan's. I have been reliably informed he has been taken home and is set to lead a great life in agility.

This has left one minor problem, Speedy and Zippy will be training and competing together and as Jackie is a brilliant handler Speedy will probably beat us up the grades. Still on the plus side I will get to see him all the time which is great, I'm sure Zippy will be very pleased too.

So that's it, all the puppies have gone to flyball and agility homes and there is going to be lots of mini Ronny's running around.

Mid week update

Last night it was obedience class for Zippy, Pudsey and Kody. Zippy had a great class and has mastered a good minute stay away from me, he is such a clever puppy and picks things up so quickly. He loves playing toy and will do anything for it which is a massive bonus. Zippy obviously thought he worked hard and deserved a good sleep on the sofa.
I took Keisha in for my teaching class, considering she hasn't been to obedience class for over a year she certainly hadn't forgotten anything, she was so well behaved and I will definitely be taking her again to demo.
Next week the club is holding there annual triathlon where the agility, ringcraft and obedience sections all come together and compete in teams. A person from each section is put into a team and then we battle it out against each other. The obedience is providing a beginners class and an advanced class to compete next week. Dad will be representing the beginners with Kody whilst I have been stitched with the advanced competition. No offence to all my other dogs but I will definitely be taking Ronny, I can always depend on him pulling it out of the bag in a big atmosphere.

I found this picture of a young Ronny and Rusty playing together, I think it was taken at an agility competition a few years back. Talking of agility, I have my first camping show next week, the caravan is being cleaned at the weekend in preparation for it. Ronny and Keisha will be competing as normal however I have entered Kody in a couple of jumping classes too, it will be touch and go if we get the weaves but his training has been going well. I'm sure we will provide all my friends with good entertainment if nothing else !!!

Speedy

So here he is, the last puppy still waiting for his home.

Speedy was going to be homed by two different people but both pulled out and let him down. This litter was specifically bred for agility and flyball and hopefully he will end up in a home that will allow him to show his true colours.

He is such a sweet puppy and would make an excellent agility dog, for all of you that know Ronny (dad), im sure you will agree how quick this puppy is going to be.

If anyone is interested please contact Jan Ralph (Bonvivant Belgians) for details, I have now seen him for myself and he just needs his new mum/dad to take him home for good.

Newark agility

No clear rounds yesterday but I was very pleased with how the doggies ran. Ronny was a good boy all day and really listened, just an odd pole in each round and an elimination in his first agility class, the tunnel was to good to avoid I think !!!
Keisha and I were just not together yesterday, probably a bit tired from flyball on saturday and not reading each others body language certainly didn't help, still we managed to hold her contacts in the ring and her weaves were really good.

Yesterday 4 out of the 6 puppies from Ronny's litter were at the show, it was so nice to see them all again and see how their characters are developing. I have put a few pictures of the days events at the bottom of the blog, scroll down and have a look. Thanks to Chris for taking some great action shots of my dogs and to Jan for the great puppy pictures.

Sheffield Flyball

Today was Kody's debue at his first open flyball competition The morning didn't get off to a good start, we never had a warm up run and went straight into racing. It was hosted inside a sports hall today and it was the loudest venue I have ever heard. At first we couldn't get Kody to concentrate and look down the lane towards the box, when he did he ran quite well. Our regular team looked a bit rusty and really we weren't running our best, Ronny even dropped the ball on a couple of occasions. I must admit I did feel stressed this morning, having three of my own dogs in the ring was very hard work, especially as they are all manic. I think all of us were glad when the morning session had finished.

Over lunch we talked about our team tactics and decided I would run Kody as he really needed the extra help and dad would race with Ronny. I'm pleased to say it went to plan and Kody ran fantastically well for the rest of the day. On reflection both Smartie and Kody had a really successful day and it looks great for the future.

Pudsey and Zippy had a great day out, they played for hours together and we even managed to fit a nice long walk in. Zippy was absolutely fascinated by the dogs racing and I can feel another Ronny in the making !!!

Tomorrow we are off to Newark showground for agility, Jan, Lisa and Chris will be coming down and bringing Speedy, Ronny's son (Zippy's litter brother) and Richard and family are also coming along with Eva and Zippo (Zippy's litter sister and brother) I cant remember if Natalie is coming along so there is potential for Reno to be there too, I'm definitely taking my camera for that !!!

Anyway I'm off to bed, I will update my blog tomorrow with the news.

Flyball and agility

Zippy's new crate has arrived, it finally looks to big for him again, I cant believe how time fly's and how quickly they grow up.
Last weekend I decided to get the caravan out of storage, I've still got to wash it but everything looks in good order, I cant believe I will be using it in a few weeks at our first camping agility show, which means the agility season is about to kick off, yipee !!!

This weekend we are fully booked, we are off to Sheffield on saturday for flyball, fingers crossed everything goes to plan, dad will be running Kody and I am getting my boy back (Ronny). Thankfully we have now got six dogs in our team so we should have fresh legs for each race.
Sunday we are off to Nottingham for an agility comp, Ronny and Keisha will be competing and the other three will be going for a day out. I must dig out my agility shoes, hopefully there isn't too much dust on them.

The start of spring

Is spring about to start, how nice was it to see the sun out today, in fact according to the news we are going to have a whole week of it. Agility training went well today, Keisha was her usual easy self and we did master those right hand weaves too, Ronny had his thinking head on after the initial five mad minutes he always has, his contacts were brilliant today and his weaves are always reliably fast. After class I stayed behind and did half an hour with Kody, his contacts are looking really good and he even mastered the see-saw today, its all starting to come together, I wasn't going to bring Kody out until next year but he has picked it up so quick I think I'm going to run him and have a fun year, let him grow in confidence.

Keisha's passport arrived on friday, looks like we will be ready to try out for the Belgian Shepherd team to go to the world champs later in the year, well as long as I get my passport renewed, to busy trying to sort Keisha out I totally forgot about myself.

Ive just ordered Zippy a new bed, I cant believe how quickly he has grown, last night I put him to bed and noticed he could only just get in it, his ears were poking out the top and the look on his face was of a proper hard done by dog !! Lets hope it arrives quick.

Flyball and weave training

The worst thing about working
8-4 every week day is that when it comes to weekends your body still wants to be up by 5.30am, no chance of a lay in !!!
Anyway this top picture is of all the boys playing tug, keisha is sensible and just supervising them from a distance

I managed to get a stack load of training in today, we went to the local rugby club this morning and did some flyball training, Kody is looking great and he makes his debue next saturday in Sheffield and will be crossing with Ronny, i must say Kody is not at all bothered by Ronny running at him, if he can cross with the rocket coming at him at that speed then he will be able to cross with anyone.

Keisha and Pudsey had their flyball training together, Pudsey absolutely loved training with Keisha and made his first ever run on his own there and back over the jumps.

I took my weave poles this morning so after flyball training I managed to get some great training in with Keisha and Kody, I have finally cracked right hand weaves with Keisha so lets hope we will be able to pull it off in competition. Kody had his second go on them and he is really starting to get the hang of them now, I don't think it will be long until he can do them on his own.

Keisha's run


Kody's run

Just chilling

This week has been so busy at work in fact I have spent the whole day out of the office attending meetings, I'm dreading my in tray tomorrow morning. This week the dogs have had a relaxing few days lazying about at home. We attended obedience club last night and Zippy moved from puppy 1 straight up to puppy 3 class, we seemed to have bypassed puppy 2, still he is more than ready and definitely held his own against the older puppies.

Kody and Pudsey started their first silver class, last night involved the retrieve and both seemed to really enjoy it, I got Pudsey a pink dinosaur out of the toy box which he loved, Kody nicked it at one point and dad got all embarrassed that his big butch dog was playing with a pink toy (don’t worry dad I wont tell anyone).

I started my teaching again last night and I absolutely loved it, I've adopted the class training towards their bronze good citizen so at least all the requirements are still fresh in my head.

This weekend is one of rest, agility training on Sunday with Keisha and Ronny as long as the weather is good, I'm hoping to take Kody to the field and practice his weaves, especially as I've now got the guides.

Ronny in his glory

So here is my brilliant boy, I finally managed to take a picture of him.

Last night I finally got home about 8.30pm, I dropped mum at home and picked Kody up who was very pleased to see the rest of the pack, I fed the dogs and put them all to bed, not a peep out of them until it was time for work this morning.

I finished a few hours early today as I'm absolutely knackered, I think I'm just going to potter about the house for the rest of the day, let the dogs play in the garden and enjoy each others company. Maybe Ronny and me will curl up on the sofa together, i think both of us are as tierd as each other, mind by the looks of him playing in the garden maybe its just me !!

Ronny's fantastic day

Wow is how I'm going to start this !!

If anyone told me today was going to turn out like this I would never of believed them. Ronny was my only dog in action today and didn't I know it, we started of in breed where Ronny showed his socks off, he loved every moment of it and was rewarded the reserve dog ticket, OH MY GOD !!!
Lisa and Chase picked up the dog ticket which made him into a champion today, well done you thoroughly deserved it. Grace and Kiah got second in their class as did Dave and Rusty, so well done to both of you.

It was then time to dart over to the flyball, our team looked great and they ran fantastically well, they won their first race and made it to the semi finals, unfortunately they got knocked out but finished an amazing fourth which was a great achievement.

Amy and Ronny then hit the YKC handling class, I want to take a moment talking about this as I want to tell everyone what a great handler Amy is. Ronny is not an easy dog to handle, he always wants to do everything as fast as he can but when he gets it right he is awesome, today Amy had him spot on. I can honestly say I have never seen Ronny stand so still and he really wanted to work for Amy, you are a great handler and you can get the best out of any dog, your more than welcome to borrow him again.

Yesterday Keisha, Pudsey and Zippy were at crufts doing discover dogs, they absolutely loved it and brought lots of attention to our stand, the time flew by but to be honest after all the fuss they had I think they were definitely ready for a leg stretch, so that's what we did, a couple of hours shopping, a new bed for Ronny, lots and lots of goodies including 100 pigs ears, we decided to call it a day.

Zippy monitoring the hand cleanser dispenser, not sure who put him in charge mind.





So that's it, a really enjoyable weekend, some fantastic results, lots of new friends, I cant believe we have to wait another year to do it all again.

Good Luck

I cant believe Crufts has started, today our flyball box loader Laura was competing in the YKC ring in the obedience and handling class, I've not heard how she has got on yet but hopefully everything went well. Good luck to Natalie and Kiros for their agility tomorrow, let us know how you get on, good luck to anyone else competing too.

Keisha, Pudsey and Zippy will be coming with me on saturday as we are doing Discover dogs in the morning, I still need to finish grooming them, especially my curly one. Ronny will then join us all on the sunday as I have entered him in breed and he is also competing in the flyball and YKC handling with Amy. Kody is having a weekend off and stopping at home with dad.
Last night we were at obedience club, Zippy has been moved up a class as have Kody and Pudsey into the Silver class. Ive been asked to teach so I start my 6-8 week stint next week. I haven't done any teaching for a while so I best polish up !!!

Wicked pancakes

Mum and me had a great day in London, we walked loads but we were very good, we didn't buy a thing. We had been recommended to go to MY OLD DUTCH restaurant which specializes in savoury and sweet pancakes. They were the biggest pancakes I have ever seen, they tasted pretty good too, Ive attached the savoury pancake we had.

We then jumped on the tube and headed off to the show. It was absolutely brilliant, we have seen a few musicals now and this one was up with the best, I definitely recommend it to anyone. If anyone is considering it you can get some good deals on a website called lastminute.com

Training Training and Grooming

Today has been packed full of training. Kody started the day with his agility lesson, he is really starting to make progress now and his jumping is really coming on, this session we did some flick flacks, pull in's and some directional commands.

Keisha was next up and we started off with her not wanting to turn right, none of us could understand why, it suddenly dawned on me the A-Frame situated left of the jump had a contact tile at the bottom, her belly was ruling her head, although she didn't go over she certainly was distracted by it, once removed she soon started to concentrate.

After agility I then zoomed over to Emma's. Flyball training went really well, the main concern for next week will be to catch Ronny after he has finished his run otherwise he will go back down for another go, nothing like being keen !!

I managed to film a training run from earlier today



This afternoon I had a major grooming session, both Kody and Pudsey have decided to blow their coats. Between 5 dogs I manged a whole carrier bag of hair. Two hours later and a sore back to show for it the dogs don't look any different, I'm sure they feel alot better though.