Wheel Trims and Rock pools!

We went to the Eden Project last night, meeting up with friends who where Ice skating, normally I would have joined in with Ian, well I say joined in, I'm one of those people that pull themselves around the rink hanging on to the sides........

My sense of balance, is as bad as Buzz spacial awareness! BAD....

My excuse for last night, well it wasn't really an excuse, it was true. Ian, for Christmas bought me a Wii and Wii fit balance board! I had spent the afternoon playing Tennis, 10 pin bowling, baseball and cycling, so my shoulders and neck where soar to say the least.

But at least I took some photos, well a photo, of what to do with all your spare wheel trims..........

Today we took the dogs for a lovely walk on a new beach to us at Holywell Bay (still in Cornwall), we walked along the sand dunes to start with, so I could keep Mindy on her long line, for two reasons.

One reason being: over Christmas at Mums (she has a small holding with woodland) and whilst out walking with mine and her dogs they found a pheasant hiding in the long grass, Harry actually caught it and only let go after it had flapped enough to wriggle free, leaving Harry with a huge mouthful of feathers, it managed to fly off with two "Puffs" madly chasing after it, Mum's retrieves and my collies realised they couldn't catch it so it wasn't fun any more, but Harry and Mindy...Well, Harry gave up first, but Mindy, I had to almost rugby tackle her to the floor to get her attention, all that training of not chasing birds, gone out the window in one moment...hence she's on the long line....seagulls, clifftops, beach and Mindy aren't going to mix for a while longer!

Second reason, she came into season yesterday, at long last, 9 months since her last one, it will be great if she goes another 9 months, before her next one as that would give me a year of competing, before hopefully, if I'm brave enough, I'll mate her and have one litter from her, if I can find a suitable husband!

We did let her off on the beach away from any other people or dogs, as you will see form the video, it was a great walk with sand dunes, sea and big deep rock pools, we where out for almost two hours.

So I think they may sleep well this afternoon, which will be good, as we are cooking our Christmas Dinner, complete with crackers and Christmas pudding, yes I know we are a bit late, but we had one with Ian's Mum and Dad and had been so busy when we got back to Cornwall, that we haven't had time!

A "First" for Harry and Mindy!

.......Last night we went to see the Christmas Lights at Padstow and we took Harry and Mindy for a walk around, with Harry wearing his Christmas Scarf! Mindy wouldn't be seen dead dressed up in anything!

....They where good "Puffs" and quite relaxed, taking it all in, so we took advantage of this and went in the pub along side the harbour for a drink, Mindy was a good girl and didn't bark at anyone and soon settled down on the floor under my chair.........

Harry wanted to sit on Ian's lap and show off his Christmas scarf to everyone and anyone that would look at him!.......

It was blooming cold and the small amount of rain we had soon turned to ice, making driving home a little interesting....some people are such idiots!

That's it for a this week so,

Have a Merry Christmas everyone and a great 2010.

...And someone, hurry up and adopt the lovely "Diamond" that I've fallen in Love with, on the Many Tears Rescue site, she's stolen my heart! (puppy Dog)

Love from

Us all here at "The Pit"

xxxxxx (A Kiss from everyone)

New front Door

Well, Roy and Ian have been busy.......

After 3 years of filling in holes and trying carefully not to pull the front door hard in case the glass fell out or the door lock fell off in our hands....

We have a new one, complete with chosen "Door Knocker"!

View of hallway with Harry and Mindy looking on (from their photos!)

Whether the "Knocker" will just be for Christmas, we will see........

....gave the postman a laugh!

Buzz's last Swim....

of 2009!


"Buzzy Bear" how ever much you drink the water....it isn't going to go away!

or is he just "Window Licking"


Buzz on the treadmill, he is now up to 15 Min's.


He doesn't really enjoy any of this, but because I've asked him to do it, he does......

They are just so trusting...


If I could see he hated it, I wouldn't do it, he hated the "Spa" and after the 3rd attempt, I said no, lets just let him do longer on the treadmill........



Bless him.


Ian came today to watch his boy.....


How many toys do you want in the pool with you Buzzy Boy......

...Just because you gotta!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/FEQM672b2WU6tLLK?cmpid=ey_fb_self

not sure how to get you here, may be copy and paste it....
But you should all have ago at this....it's fun!

Goal Setting!

hummmmm
.....Yes I'm a "Goal Setter" and a "List" writing person. See that's something else you now know about me!

Funny how when you write a "jobs to do list" the most important one gets left till last, even if it's at the top!
and you even do things that weren't on the list, to avoid doing that important one at the top.
....always makes me smile.....I always do "it" in the end!

Anyway, I set a Goal, for myself and Mindy to achieve before the end of 2009, I personally thought it was achievable and to be honest I thought we would have achieved it, way before we did......
We just weren't ready, "be patient Angela" (now where have I heard that before !???) and I can see that now, yes she was ready to get "ring" experience, but not ready to pull it all together in one round.
That's what I find so very exciting about agility, it's not just you out there competing, your a team with your buddy, it'll happen when it happens!
...I love the excitement of finding that bond between you and your dog, it's just so exciting and personally when I walk out to that start line without that fire in my belly ...I'll quit.

We had 5 events, mixture of match's, limits, UKA and one KC show from beginning of November to the end of 2009, with at least 3/4 runs at each, but hey we left it until the last two runs of the year...Yes you've guessed it, we not only got one but two clear rounds, on the same day!
My camera lady-Sue, managed to get her first one on Video..........
Yes I know it's was only one ring, so she had no distraction, but Hell's teeth ...IT WAS CLEAR



(so where did that saying come from? Hell's teeth...or did I just make it up?)

anyway:
Here's Harry, on the same course, apparently she was less than half a second behind him!

Sunday's Show....

.....Left Mums, early Sunday morning to head for Taunton and Blackdown Limit Agility Show, I must admit I don’t normally do limits or any indoor shows (apart from local match’s) but as Mindy was up and ready to go I thought I aught to make the most of fenced in areas and the practice ready for the start of her agility career in 2010. So here we where driving to Taunton along small country lanes in the dark with the wind howling around us and the floods. Now, Ian had reminded me that he hadn’t moved the air box of the “Berlingo” higher up, so to be careful driving through any water!

Apparently they are really low to the ground and could easily pick up water from a shallow puddle, silly me didn’t check to see how high I could go………so I drove very slowly through many floods and so far we’ve been lucky.

We (Mindy and I) arrived at the venue early enough to get a hard edge to park on! As the yard was already full and people where beginning to have to park in the field!!!!

God I do hate muddy car parks, especially with an almost white dog!

Anyway on with the agility which started on time and ran very smoothly (I thought) all day, they had enough judges so they didn’t have to stop for lunch, even better……..

Mindy was still a little on edge, having spent the weekend without the others and at Mums, she was worried by people and dogs coming too close to her, People that knew her wouldn’t have noticed, but I did…….. Start line sits, where a little all over the place and on one set up she actually turned completely round to check on the young lad picking up the leads, before charging up the line after me….but we had no “chasing” whether that was because she was rather on the clingy side and didn’t start to enjoy the agility until after her second run. We had 4 class’s one agility and the rest jumping classes.

Her agility round was really clingy and she bailed out of the seesaw (at training on the previous Wednesday she lost a bit of confidence on that, so I need to get that back and this was her first time doing a seesaw in competition……it doesn’t look as bad as it felt, but when you know normally she runs to end and rides it down, you know it’s not quite right) so bailing out meant she couldn’t get her self back on line for the next obstacle and with being clingy the next bit went a little haywire, anyway I got her back by the end, still not her normal speed.

……..Round two - jumping, she was a lot happier, it was lovely round apart from her not liking the lead picker upper! and me getting in her way for the weaves and then trying to turn her too tight after the long jump, but hey, we can now do a round with ne not being worried about her running off, so I can now actually work her!

........Round 3 - that was a strange one, as we only did 5 jumps, she tried taking off for jump 2 way to far away (Picture to follow) and clouted it, but she ran a further three jumps then went real slow and went under jump five and pulled up lame, so that was it….any way she is booked in to see the chiropractor today, just to make sure, she's okay, although she walked out of the ring on 4 feet and has had 3 days of being sound……

May be we need to do more grid work?

When you look, closely in slow motion at the video, you can see, she only just hits this pole with her front foot, so whether it was a delayed reaction to the knock, that it took until futher on the course for her to pull up lame, I don't know.

So here are the videos from the day, and an extra one, as I was lucky enough to get offered a lovely Collie called Purdy (just gone G4) to run in the Helter Skelter, as poor Sue had pulled her hamstring…How could I say no! She is lovely and so willing……………

...and Here's Purdy's

Up's and Downs!

It's been a strange week.....The weather has been unbelievable wet and windy, I can only use small areas of the garden for agility....So maybe it's time to have a rest and chill?

Red and Buzz say they have had enough rest, they haven't done agility since beginning of October and are starting to drive me nuts in the house, Buzz less so now as he has started swimming -photos to follow in the next few weeks as I've not managed to remember the camera!
He has a spa first which he finds hard to enjoy, I think its the bubbles! he is up to 8 minutes fast walking on the water tread mill and looks quite relaxed now, and then the rest of the time is free swimming, catching a tennis ball and taking it back to the ramp end, the thing he does struggle with is going from the pool to the exit ramp......he looses his legs and collapse in a heap on the floor, bless him he has always struggled with walking on different surfaces (which is why I have done so much of it at home from metal to plastic to lino etc)..... of course it might be that he is tired from all the swimming and is so unfit? We are going twice a week now until Christmas.
He is looking good and has not been lame, I am trying to walk them for longer than their hour, it's just the rain, it really puts you off, especially as they are just trotting alongside you and not exploring...hinting they would rather be warm and dry at home!

Mum was taken ill in the week, she had had x-rays on her back (shoulder area) which eventually after a week (they said it needed that long to properly develop!) anyway she has spondilosis (Like Red) of her C5/6 or was it 6/7 which is trapping her nerves ...so she is a lot of pain, then to top it all her blood pressure went haywire and a neighbour who had been calling in and walking the dogs for her and checking on her called "Little Bro" (who isn't little, just younger) who called 999...anyway she was sort off sorted (I have to be careful what I say because she reads this!) and they left after a few hours, leaving Mum at home with all her sheep, cats and dogs!
So I popped up for the weekend, I just took Mindy, which was an experience in it's self, I hadn't realised that she has never been with out "The Pack" for that length of time and to somewhere she didn't really know very well....what a nervy little thing she was, real yappy, real clingy.......So note to myself take her away more often on her own!
I helped Mum with a few chores, that she couldn't cope with and that she didn't want to ask help with, such like collecting kindling wood for the fires (that always makes you feel better a real fire) Mum has a small holding, which she has a few old sheep left, so hay and straw needed to be taken up the barns etc, walking the dogs etc. and then computer work, she now has a YouTube site and I showed her how to edit videos......we had to do it in stages as it can be very stressful when your in so much pain to sit in one spot...

Anyway by the time I left Sunday morning, she was a lot more comfortable and could see the light at the end of the tunnel, she has a Chiro appointment and a massager coming to the house to try and ease the area (shame Andy doesn't live closer!)
I do so miss Ian when I'm away, and I really missed Harry! that was the first time in 3 years we've spent a night away from each other!! (Harry)
Ian was great and kept sending me pictures from their walks, how come when Ian walks the dogs, it never rains and they don't get Muddy!
......... and then his last photo was really exciting, I have a outside doggy shower, with warm water too (thanks Nancy)

Taken by Ian's mobile phone and sent to me..........

I'm just so lucky.

Thank you Ian

This Year......

Note to Family and friends!

Ian and I have made the decision that this year we would not send Christmas cards, but with the money that would have been spent on the cards and posting them we would donate to what we feel is a worthy cause.

Help the Heroe's..... http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/donations.html




Harry won the Best small dog over the Roseland shows during 2009 (I think that's correct)
Kindly donated by Brian and Sandy Dyer dog, a lovely Poodle called Pasty!

Thank you Pasty.

...as you can see I never let my dogs on the table!

...As promised!

...A couple of videos of Mindy and Harry at the local Cornwall Agility Club match in November
Here's Harry.

And Here's Mindy's almost a clear round run.

The others can be seen on my youtube site, I've not worked out how to get the link to this page YET!....

Wild Wet Weather.....

Busy Weekend!

Well thankfully we haven't lost the roof of the bungalow, just a sheet has been blown off the "garden " shed, unfortunately the sit on mower was under that sheet........
it's too wild out there to fix it, but we did manage to get another sheet ready, after taking a trailer full of rubbish to the recycling tip and picking up a second hand leather sofa!
well we where making do with a old cane chair to sit on (that came with the bungalow), but for some reason "Someone" was slowing eating through it....not sure who, as we never caught anyone doing it!

We even managed to do a bit of Christmas shopping on Saturday!

Oh and the bird feeder decided to fly down the garden, another job for Ian!

About two months ago, whilst surfing EBay, I came across , one of these, a "Snugglepad" and I thought I'd give it ago in Harry's bed at shows, to keep him warm, you pop it in the microwave for 6 Min's (depends on your wattage of your microwave) and it lasts for 10 hours, I do put another blanket over the top as it's quiet hard to sit on and you know how Harry likes his comforts!

Any way it's that good, I just bought one for Mindy for her bed too, at winter shows and training they can sit around a long time cooling down!...it's the wet that gets them cold. The "Puffs" seem to take a long time to dry, I also now have a dog blaster at home, which is the best £90 I've spent for a long time (another buy of EBay)
How long they "snugglepad"will last, I don't know and I don't know how it works, but it does and yes 11 hours later they are still warm and so is Harry......and as Mindy hates wearing coats, I might not have to fight with her putting one on...we will have just to wait and see....

We are still on the look out for another caravan, as ours has been sold. We want something a little bit different to the other one, we want it to be able to sleep 4/5, bedroom at back as well as front, single axle. 1998 upwards.........

Sunday.
We had a local agility match, three jumping runs, good training, 1-2, 3-4, 5-7 well thought off , except the small and mediums had to compete against the large with one set of results!
I couldn't get Harry around any of the courses! Lots of Silly mistakes by me...he has gone up another gear, which I love, except I'm not sure how to handle him! ...... and now that Mindy is doing courses too I'm a little confused what's happening, I cant quiet relax with her as not sure whether she going to go on the chase, luckily I've got all winter to hopefully get things settled and learn how to work them both!

I do have some video's off their runs, but still struggling with me computer and waiting for the lovely Ben to come and add "this and that" , so I can have a movie maker back!

Mindy enjoyed her self! she did a couple of wide turns, whilst she was debating whether to go and chase - well that's my excuse, but Graham P said it was my handling of the front crosses, I should do more because I hate them and feel disorientated when I turn back the way I should be going! So I know Graham was right!

Well I suppose I had better stop now and go and do a bit of house cleaning...what else can you do when it's wet and windy outside, the dogs are resting after their wet walk and are happily eat their bones (in the house)

Mindy's Moments

That 18 months just flew past and now she's competing at real shows!

She was a good girl, she queued nicely, for those that know Mindy will know that was an achievement, let alone get her to sit and wait on the start line!...she was fazed by the "half" people looking at her over the wooden side panel and gave them a growl!....but was fine with the wind howling through the buildings!

....still haven't quite got the start line, "take the lead off sorted", as she really does need to queue with her halti on, but then we fight to get it off and I certainly cant get it on when I've caught her at the end! I thought I'd sussed it by using a double ended lead, halti one end and a slip lead the other, but put that on and she coughs and splutters and I'm always worried she's going hurt her self, so may be I now have to have a clip at the end, which I just put straight on to her collar........

It's all my fault as I trained her in classes with a halti on as it was easier than taking it off, then this would have been sorted before her first show, I hate seeing people messing around on the start line, taking off all their bits and pieces.......Don't know why.

I have been doing bits of clicker training with that issue, but obviously not enough!

Her 2nd run, even though she was OTT, when we finished the course, I managed to walk her over to the corner-out the way, off lead and gave her a load of baked liver and there was "no way" she going to leave me, so may be that's the answer...find out Sunday when the next fun event is, if she's not in season.

Anyway back to her first run, I released her using the "321 okay" and off she went not her usual manic self but still working, down the dog walk, good sniff along the down plank, I was told afterwards that a dog had pooed on it! So I chose to release her early to keep her motivated, through the tunnel, she looked at me coming out, so rather than me "powering!" off down the line I stayed with her, I was going to layer the next bit through the box, then should have made it to the bottom of "A" frame to do a blind turn and send her on over the next jump....but because I went through into the box, I was wrong for the next bit and I actually pushed her off the side of the "A" frame, I now know I need to walk courses just in case she's having a clingy moment and then could have been prepared for the next bit better....any way the rest was lovely and I left her doing the weaves whilst I finished the course.

On to the second run.

That was a jumping round with Bridgette as the judge, who say Mindy at 8 weeks old and has always thought of her as a LAMA! anyway the course was nice with a few turns in it, I wanted to not baby her round it and work her like I would have done at home, I would have not done much of a wait and pulled her to jump 4 and crossed behind jump 5, but I though if she was clingy I wont be able to motivate her by crossing behind so chose the recall, but in actual fact, running with her from the start might have kept her with me rather than her going off to "chase", but she did come back with an "ooh" via a few extra jumps, we did manage to keep the rest of it flowing and the rest was pretty much perfect!

And here it is..........

She was ready to come out and do some shows, at home she was managing to do lots of exercises and we just needed to get out there and do it, in the real world, with nerves and handling courses that I haven't put up here, we have lots of fun events lined up until middle of December , so that should keep us going until 2010....

King Harry!

Lots to share with you all....Family - sorry it's an all "agility post" this time!

Discover Dogs
Harry was invited to make up the numbers at DD, I thought it would be a great experience for Harry, to see how he would cope running on carpet, all the people, peeing indoors on sawdust etc!!!!

Well he loved it...he was in his element meeting people and he coped extremely well on the carpet...not that I would have called it carpet it was amazing "Stuff" and if this is the sort of carpeting they use at Crufts now, then it's game on for us!
So very different to when "Red" competed on carpet and came out with blood on her pads, where she had broken a nail and scrapped her pad, what a difference 5 years make!


We had two agility course over the day, great courses, great judges, well organised, no ques for the human loo's, but there was no way that Harry was going to wee in that saw dust area, for a start it would mess his hairstyle and secondly far too small and smelly and I don't wee indoors. So we had to take him outside.

Harry loved the agility a little bit too much and flew his two dog walks....more work needed.
He was a little bit slow on the first round but by the second one was almost as fast as outside...Well Pleased.
Amy and Fudge did two great rounds and came home with a 1st and second......

And I got to actually meet and chat to the Bernadette in real life! Hi there.
and Lorna and Cads was there too, along with Karen, it's funny as you feel like you know them all by reading their blogs! Funny old world.....

Thanks to Elaine who groomed and shopped till she dropped for us.....

I don't think anyone thought we would make it in one trip to the car! But Elaine and I always find a way to work it out!....what ever it is! how many pieces of vet bed (loads), dog wormer's, leads, cones, dog crates, coats, bags and Harry

And of course, I had to buy my special boy a new collar..........

Would I go again if asked........

Don't be daft of course we would.


Mind you it might be a little more stressful with the Mindy Muppet........

Her story of her first KC show tomorrow, Ian came ...so we have video evidence....

...Knockers!

...Well the drive is finished, apart from tiding up the edges. We've bought a new front door which is now waiting for our favourite carpenter to fit it!.....so now we just need a knocker, I never realised how hard that would be to choose!!
Here's a few on the short list....chuckle chuckle

just cant seem to get the "template" I want......

Just can't get this blog layout the way I want!
I started changing it three weeks ago and then it all got a bit confusing!

My blog "updates" aren't showing on friends blog lists..... I'm not sure what button I pressed to change that! .......or whether it's a google blog problem......

I liked the blue one briefly then I thought I'd change again and didn't like the one I found, then couldn't find the blue one again....Computers....Just need lots of rainy days to fix it how I want it!

So Family and friends Sorry! normality will return....I hope sooner rather than later!

Laugh of the day........

Sorry Elaine, you just made me laugh so much this morning, I had to share it with everyone!!!!

Dawn Weavers book arrived at Elaines!

Puppy Rae approves!

Buzzy Bear

..... Can’t remember whether I've mentioned him lately?


He’s been in the wars again!
...well, back in June he went lame on a hind leg, which sent me into a blind panic, …..weired I can cope with front legs but hind ones, means instantly cruciate, talk about panic. Well he had it x-rayed along with the other leg and nothing could be found, the cruciate was fine and he was well muscled in that area, so after week on lead and metacam...he was back free exercising and two weeks later he was back doing agility!


That was it until end of September, when he went lame for the whole of the weekend on the same leg, back to the Vets on the Monday, another lot of x-rays, she still couldn’t see anything and the cruciate was still fine, the x-rays included up towards his shoulders, just in case a disc was looking dodgy, x-rays where then sent of to Exeter to see Peter Attenburrow, in the mean time lead exercise and two weeks of metacam, the results, because of postal strikes didn’t arrive back to my vet until last Thursday, by which time he had had one week of no metacam and 3 weeks of lead walking and he was looking great, well I say great, it’s hard watching him walk whilst he’s on the lead, but he was loose around the garden and was still looking fine.
Anyway the results are copied from his (Peter Attenburrow letter)


“On the ventro dorsal view of the pelvis and coxo femeral joints there is evidence of a degree of subluxation of both coxo femeral joints. This appears to be more marked on the left side (funny that coz it’s his right that he was lame on!) There is also some remodelling of the femeral head on both sides with the rim of Osteophytes around the femeral head. The acetabulae are fairly shallow and I have seen coxo femeral joints sublaxation as a problem in this breed without there necessarily being evidence of gross osteroarthritis on radiographs. Usually these dogs will demonstrate some discomfort on forced extension and abduction of the hip.
Conservative management is probably appropriate initially; if there is poor response to conservative management and the pain persists then surgical intervention should be considered. Salvage surgery could take the form either of a femeral head and neck excision or total hip replacement”


So the long and the short of it. …He’s having a course of Cartrophen like “Red” had which helped her no end and hopeful this will help him too. We won’t go for an operation, until every other option is exhausted, but the vet has assured me that lots of dogs have this type of surgery and go on to live a pain free life.


In my heart of hearts I knew this is where he would struggle, as he got older being the “very large” active type of chap he is, nothing is done slowly or with any care of his own body (just like Red, his repeat mating older sister!) sad really as he not quite 8 yet, he too is the same as Red he needs to being doing something, I certainly wouldn’t be brave enough to run him in any size!
But hey lets not write him off yet!
So, he is to have weekly cartrophen injection for 4 weeks and then monthly for 4 months and we’ll see what happens. As long as he stays sound he can start coming off the lead.
We started yesterday on the beach at Porth, he had 10 mins off the lead, he was bonkers as expected, but he is still sound to day. Fingers crossed.

No time to be nervous.....

Before we knew it, Mindy and I where heading up the M5 to our first independent agility show, what a day! 4 runs two jumping and two agility, it was a very well run show, well done "M" and co..........and before you ask, No we didn't manage to win any, we had entered NFC so I could run in G1/G2 classes and take a toy in with me.......

Round one - jumping, she was a pain to Que, I had to ask a few people just to give her a bit of room, rather than letting their dogs sniff her bum, doesn't matter what grade your in Queing always seems to mean keep as close as you can to the next person/dog in the Que! I had decided to use a slip lead so I could exit the ring quickly when fished rather than struggling with putting on her halti, but she seemed to spend most of the time coughing and sputtering with it pressing on her throat. Anyway back to the round! 3,2,1 okay and we are off at a very "un Mindy like" speed, she was very calm, I would say she was slow for Mindy, but hey it was the first time that she has run or worked indoors, it was a nice round with just the first pole down (she took off from where she was sat!) so I threw the toy over the finish line (last jump) and off she went shaking or showing everyone her toy, I'd like to say it was a lap of honour!

Round two - jumping, went back to halti, much calmer to Que, managed to do lots of trick and waits whilst waiting our turn. Set her up, took halti off, started my count down and she was gone chasing the barking manic collie in the other ring...luckily the barrier fence was up, managed to call her back and start the course, much faster and focused (Surprisingly)

Round three - agility, not sure what really happened, but I'm pretty sure it was my handling, she bailed out of the dog walk, but was fine the second time, then went under a few jumps when they where on the turn, it might have been she was going so fast! or it was just my handling, then unfortunately she got spooked by the lovely young lad handing you the leads at the end, he wasn't much taller than Mindy, but ran across to hand me the lead, scary........

Round four - agility, she was still "up for it" Harry would have wanted his bed by now.
Much much better, did the dog walk at warp speed and I had a head start too, she still beat me to the end..... I really wanted a stop, with a quick release this time, Mindy had a different idea and thought I really aught to be teaching her a running DW, it was beautiful one, and before I could say anything she was in the tunnel turned the corner and in the weaves, and I wasn't going to pull her out the weaves, so we carried on, she went under the middle jump in a fan, Angie said, I just dropped my arm (getting ready to do the front cross and send her up the "A" frame), rest was perfect, except the last jump (I didn't want her doing a lap of honour with her toy, so had elected to have a tug with her at the end, so she just turned back to see me...note to myself more go-on work required.)

Halti = headcollar.

Home by 2.30!

She so reminds me of Red! How cool is that.

lets hope we can get a few more shows in before she's in season!

The Picture at the top, is just to keep those "family and friends" that aren't into agility, up to date with how the driveway is coming along!!


Oh and for some reason people don't believe me when I say Mindy was a different colour when she was a pup!








12 weeks-ish











4 months














6 months

























11 months

and now she just "Blonde"

House work!

...Now that I'm not off at the weekends!
I can help Ian with the "House Work", the "to do" job list seems never ending, especially when your doing it yourself.....or rather Ian is, there's always loads for Ian to do! Poor chap, I just supply the tea and sandwiches and "verbal"...Well he did say I could get on the roof and clean it ready for waterproofing, but when I phoned him to ask where he wanted to put the stuff from the roof....he panicked a little thinking of me wondering around on the roof....he didn't believe I would even go up the ladder, let alone work on the roof! So he never says "you could do that for me" anymore.

So I continue chopping and pruning! taking cuttings from the garden and potting them up in the green house, now that's another story...I'm not a gardener but I love plants, haven't a clue what I'm doing, I just take cuttings and stick them in a small pot and if they grow I repeat the process! I've managed to bring on some of the most famous "Cornish Weeds" you ever did see! and some really useful ever green flowering things, which for the life of me I can't remember the name..........

Ian managed to buy some thick, sticky, stuff from Wickes to put on the lounge roof, last chance fix it/bodge it, we really don't want to replace it just yet, until the utility has been knocked down and rebuilt then, that roof along with the kitchen and lounge can been done at the same time...one day! they are flat ones....

I did tell you all, we lived in a large shed/small bungalow didn't I? The lounge window started to leak along with the ceiling back in the last heavy rains and I was sat with mop and bucket/bowls/towels under the various places! the dogs thought it was great and kept licking the water up from the bowls! yuck. Anyway the thick, sticky, stuff has worked for now! So on to the drive, I'm sure Ian decided to do that job first, so he could have a bit of light relief playing with another toy (Oh, he does get really cross with me calling them "Ian's toys" ..."they aren't toys, they are machines to do the job, so we don't have to pay anyone else to do it Angela!")
I suppose if someone had bought this place with a bit more money than we have, they would have knocked it down and started again, but hey, they didn't and we did! Mind you we bought it for the land, not the "Shed".

...So the drive way is being done. There was parking for one and Ian had been parking outside on the verge, so the front garden will now be gravelled for two cars, although there is a garage, none of our cars will fit in it (not tall enough)

Where did that go?........

Sorry this "post" has taken so long to write, I just didn't know how .....or want to write it!

Well 10 years on ......... Red has just done her last full height competition..........From this wee small pup we picked up at 7/8 weeks old, from a sheep farm at the end of the M42 Tamworth, who was destined to fly out to Spain to become a sheep dog, but they never sent the deposit! ....more fools them I'd say, as I truly believe what ever job Red would have done she would have been good at......Thank fully she choose agility with us......Well Ian really.

She was to be Ian's first agility dog and to join Cass and I plodding along in elementary, She was mad from the moment we bought her into our home, she tore down curtains, poo'd and pee'd everywhere, ripped up cushions, bedding, barking (I would now know, how to handle this kind of dog....I think!) ..........a very difficult dog to train, she had her own ideas, a dog that over the years has taught us such a lot about dogs, training and what fun life can be. She screamed at any dog gathering, lunged, snarled and snapped, everything she did she did at 100 mph....we hadn't a clue how to help her (she was only our second collie) after almost a year of various training classes, with various people, she was almost ready to start competing and then the bomb shell........ Ian decided he couldn't cope with her and didn't want to be stood in the middle of a ring with a judge watching him being bitten by her or worse still leaving the ring to charge across and out of the ring to chase another more exciting dog in the next ring! ....Yes she did that with me too! I still have the scares to prove it........on my arms mainly! We have improved!

Her first show was in the year of the foot and mouth - 2001, was meant to be in the March but it was the end of May...can't remember where it was Tumbridge wells may be, something like that (up country) but funny enough I remember the round she got a clear in starters/novice jumping and came 15th out of 200 dogs! her second show was supadogs where she won me out of Elementary by coming second in starters agility, her fifth show she won Starters agility at Golden cap with Sally Jones judging (end of June - ish)

Picture: Starter agility win. Do you recognise anyone else in the background?

She then won her first ever run in an intermediate class, agility with Graham Partridge judging........then there was a blur of wins until she reached Advanced at the grand age of 3! ...She qualified and competed at Olympia in 2004, in the days when it was only senior dogs and you got possible two/three days up there, we where lucky enough to do the pairs and power and speed, as well as the main event, Red qualified I think twice or was it three times for Crufts, but only competed once....... due to lameness.
What a journey.......She took us to many champ finals, our highest place being a third....that was those days when you didn't even get a Rosette/trophy unless you won the class, so we have only our memories........
..........and at 10 + she's still as mad as she was in her younger days, she has calmed down enough now to play with her mates near (ish) the ring, which is lovely to see, her boyfriend list is getting longer, her first love was and is MoJo, Janet and I always laugh when we watch her trying to get him to even acknowledge that she's on this planet! She loves to chase the squirrels in the woods and any ones cat that dare ventures into our garden, she loves to roll on our freshly made bed! her favourite toy is her watering can, which she made her own many many years ago! She now loves to come up on the sofa for a cuddle.

Yes she can still do the height and yes she can still beat some of the youngsters out there, yes she did get a place at the weekend too, on a great course of Mark Laker's (I had seen who was there and decided to hold her "A" frame and Dog walk contacts) she didn't put a foot wrong, I wish Ian had been there to video it, it would have been a lovely run to re-watch. I was glad no one stopped me on the way back to the van after her last run, the tears.........but seeing her suffering in the evenings after an agility day, I feel I need to look after her as she wont look after herself, she has always been one that would rather crash a jump than put in an extra stride etc. I'm sure some of you will wonder, why I don't continue with her until I see her not coping ......I don't ever want to see her struggle or measure a jump, so watch out anysize here she comes.

So it's veteran's and anysize for her next year.......an end of an era.

What a 10 year journey we've had together....Thank you Red. I love you.

She will continue herding the leaves and fluff around the garden! guarding all the fledglings that fall from their nests, she will carry on listening for the mice in the grass. She will still be able to do bits of agility at home on flowy courses, in safe surroundings on medium and small heights. Knowing Red she will want to join in with the others, learning some new tricks over the winter too.........

.......Oh gosh, I had better go and sort her out, she has just chucked all the toys out of the toy box and is running around, with Buzz in tow trying to get the sheep out of her mouth...........no chance Buzz! Chuckle, chuckle.

Wow that went so very fast! Enjoy every moment with them guys, it's over far too soon............

...and here's the last of the video's!

It's Harry "V" Harry in a jump off.

The timing failed after his first run, so Dave Hutchinson challenged me to run it "IHO" the faster/shorter way (although he didn't try it with his Ozzy-who was winning it!)......and as I had nothing to gain from not having ago, I gave it a go! hummmm

Although I can see the bit in the middle was a shorter route, I had to nag Harry to turn him round me and come through the gap, he just seemed to spend a lot of time stationary in the air, (or that is what it felt like) then of course I wasn't in the right position (IMO) for the next bit, I hate nagging my buddy...........

So guys you tell me which you think was the better way? Maybe I just need more practise at these twister courses?

.....Tamsin has a go!

........I remember the first time I ran a small dog a beautiful "Sheltie" called Pearl, I think really underneath it all she started my love affair with the breed, she was "full of it" what ever "It" was, she was fast and noisy. I will always be thank full to Dave for letting me run her (at club)

Which got me thinking that everyone should have the opportunity to run both small/big dogs you can learn such a lot from both sides......... Honest!

So I challenged Tamsin (who runs a very fast small terror! called Albert) to run Red in a jumping class, I picked a nice 6/7 class and this is the end result, they both did well I think, I couldn't quiet see what went on in the box, but I think they may have collided! Red did test Tamsin in not waiting at the start, but Tamsin hasn't got a good wait with Albert either and Red knew she didn't mean it! But they both came out the ring smiling.

All "Puffed" out!

What a pretty picture!
.....room for any more??










We managed to film a couple of agility runs from the weekend, for you all to dissect!

Here's Buzz and Nick having FUN.....

They are getting closer....to that clear round.

The rest I will upload later in the week, so you don't all get overload!

...and for the "Dog Agility" Folks

Harry "v" Mindy in a jump off!
They're so much FUN, these "Small" dogs!

I Love em........

Have a great weekend everyone, the sun is out.............

And, Ian is going to let me on the mower! yippeeee

For all the "Off-Roaders" amongst you.......

It's a long one - Video.

So don't bother watching it......... If your not "into" Off Roading, mud, water, oh and 4 wheel drive vehicle's, although there are a few 2 wheels and the odd three wheel machine!

John and Chris are down for the week on holiday, so Ian took John out for his first experience at "off Roading", Ian was a good boy and kept it gentle!

Mind you the "Disco" isn't kitted out or modified for any serious stuff (Off Roading) YET!

But as Ian said ..."Christmas is coming"

...See what happens when I go away!

Ian buys a sit on mower!

from EBay, thankfully we didn't have to go to far away to pick it up either only Devon!

It needed a bit of welding and a hammer in places and maybe a lick of paint later on, hopefully this should "Cut" down on my weekly mowing time of 3 hours to not long at all! We will see, but as yet Ian hasn't let me even sit on it! .......Boys and their toys!

I can't believe it's September already....where did that Summer go! ...it just mingled in with winter! It's was dark at 8.15 last night .......yes I know it was raining (fancy that!) but it was still dark.

Hopefully I will still be able to get my 7 o'clock lesson people in for another week or so.

Agility wise.

Buzz got a clear round with Aly at the weekend, wasn't smooth but hey they loved it and Aly said Buzz winked at her on the start line, before he broke his wait and was off up the course! Bless Him, I'm more relaxed watching them both now and am laughing along with them both.

Red, I'm still struggling to get our "spot on foot perfect agility partnership" back, I seem to spend the round worrying if she's okay and hoping she isn't going to hit a jump badly....It has made me think long and hard and I think I will be retiring her at the end of September to any size and veterans, I know she still can do the height and when I've seen video clips of her, she still looks good etc. I just don't want her to hurt herself, she has always been a dog that if she get her pacing wrong she will still take it, rather than put a pace in, what ever piece of equipment it is, we have had some really scary moments with tyres and spreads and even doing a loop in the tunnel and coming out with grazed eye brows where she's slid over in it and well the A frame, she has even miss judged that and hit it hard with her chin and cut her tongue!

Then at least I can still work her at home in a safer slower environment and go on long walks with her still fit and on four legs.........We will see.

Harry, well he just gets faster and stronger ever time I run him! He won a jumping class at the weekend 5-7, the medium dogs ran over the same course (higher jump heights of course) and he beat the winning collie's time!.....So I was told by two seconds, I did see her round and she did have a wider turn in one place than Harry, but we both had a long spread out run to the finish.

His agility run was still fast although I struggled to get him through a gap, so we had an "E"

I am now able to get him to play with me most of the time, before we go onto the start line and he get his treats when he has finished (outside of the ring off course!)

This time last year at the same show (a game fair, with lots of GP around, with straw seats and dogs in the ring etc.) he had left the ring to chat up the girls, so for him to stay in the ring with me was fantastic.

Mindy is ready for the ring experience now, I've entered her first KC show and a couple of other fun things, so now we wait and see when she will come into season! .....and whether she will compete this year at a KC show, otherwise it will be 2010 sometime.

Her only worrying issue, which we have been and will be continuing to work on is her "Chase" instinct! yes anything from butterfly's, flys, birds, sheep and cows (if she could) dog's doing agility! poo bags flying across in front of her etc.

So at the moment her exercising is on the long line or extendable until her recall is 100% in those environments....could take a long time, but I think people won't appreciate a small blonde thing hurtling towards them at warp speed whilst they are doing a winning round!

I think Dawn likes her ! We've just had our second lesson with Dawn, I took both the "smalls" and picked Mum up on the way (she's my video mam) cant show you any of the videos as Mum has to learn how to down load them yet! So you may get to see them one day!

we Learnt a lot and came away with lots to work on over the winter months.

Handsome Harry Goes 7!

Poor Harry doesn't look impressed with standing on the bonnet......but it had to be done, as that was the lest muddy place to have his photo taken with his "Door stops!"

We've been to this show for 8 years now and the last two have been really really wet! ....so will we go next year.....off course!
Especially if Titan is there again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0kajow-G-0

We treat Pembroke as a week's holiday (so we have three days of the show and then a rest either side of that!) the weather was great to begin with, lots of beach walks and lying around chilling, answering the Chocoholic quizzes etc. until Wednesday, when it started to rain! the rings weren't as badly affected as last year, but they where in places still very wet.
In between the rings, the mud was like soup, so you can imagine what state the dogs where in by the end of Thursday.

Nick and Aly ran Buzzy over the week, he does enjoy it! a little bit worrying though, as it looks like they are getting closer to that clear round! Aly also ran Red in one jumping class as I didn't have time to walk it and as she had walked it with Nick, it seemed the most logical answer, Red was naughty and broke her wait, which resulted in a dropped pole, but hey they both came out of the ring smiling!
Red and I had some cracking clear rounds, but as the classes where so small they only placed to 1st and sometimes 2nd, so we just came away with lovely memories........She not as fast as these youngsters.

Harry had a fab week, he worked well, I was able to leave him on a few occasions to do the weaves etc, he came away with 2 x 1st and 2 x 2nds and a clear round in the pairs, but my poor pairs partner was having "a Moment". Our best run of the weekend was on the last day in an 1-7 combined agility class, it was a well thought out course considering the conditions and the puddles lying around the course, I ended up doing two blind turns rather than front crosses, so I could avoid the worst of the ground condition and keep moving forward, but I still slipped as Harry was charging up the "A" frame and as I must of "squealed" with the shock of slipping I frightened Harry and he spun around on the top of the A frame, by which time I had regained my feet and ran forward, which helped Harry come down, but I must have dropped my arm to my side and pulled him towards me rather than send him in the tunnel, so as we where still moving I kept going and finished the course, but it was a great round. (apart from that!!)
So now he is Grade 7.


Anyway we have been home almost a day and the washing machine and dryer haven't stopped!
We have to get the caravan cleaned out as we have visitors staying in it in September, otherwise I would have taken my time! we walked the dogs on the beach this morning which washed away all of their "Welsh" mud!
So we are almost Clean and dry.
Except it's raining here now and the grass is far too long and needs cutting ready for lessons next week........ Oh well.

PS. For those friends and family that haven't a clue, what I'm talking about (Harry going G 7) don't worry, it just means he is a fab agility dog and can now compete at championship level if I so wish too! .....but we all know he is a fab chap, doing agility or not.

Cornwall in the sun!

................No agility this weekend, so on Friday, we went to Padstow to watch the sun set and have tea!








...........Then as Ian had spent far to long, sorting the Discovery out ready for our holiday and finishing doing what he had to do with our really old caravan!

We thought we would go to Tregory Heavy horse show!

Where I found, a lovely coloured, Morris Minor, believe it or not this was it's original colour
...made for me! it's a lilicy/pinky/purpley colour!







....Oh and here's one of the Shires getting ready for it's appearance in the main ring.













.......Of course what Heavy Horse show doesn't have a "Sheep Dog demonstration"!

He had brought some of his family with him, couldn't hear what his name was, but he worked two collies together around a ring with some very flighty tall sheep!
"No ducks", I hear you say. That's right No Ducks.

Thought this was a great photo, he had seven in the back of this landrover and at one point they all stood up on the back tail gate....but of course I couldn't get the camera out in time for that shot! The youngest was a 4 month old, up to the oldest a 10 year old.

Made a great picture.

Have a great week, Family and Friends.

Buzz and Ian took us.....

....to their recent walking find....

Looking out over St Austell bay

Do you Think BUZZ missed me?.......

.....I think not! Ian allowed him to sleep on the bed (my side, head on my PILLOW!) and they went on some lovely new walks, which Ian had planned on checking out before we took the rest of the pack.

Ian sent me this photo from his phone on Saturday.

Waggerland HyperSonic

"Oz Twos" to his friends, came to stay Friday with his Mum and Dad, Juanita and Geoff and what a weekend we all had, we managed to fit in two shows, one KC and one unaffiliated one (which I also judged at!)

Oz just showed what a class act he is, after 6 years of no training (due to Juanita's accident, when Oz was only two and had only just started on his second year of competing) He stormed home with a second in agility class on the Saturday and a 1st on the Sunday also in agility. What a dog.

Here is the Star him self....

...It's Raining again

....As it's raining today, I thought I'd catch up with the blog! We've been on holiday this week, the dogs have had lots of exercise and not much agility, do they mind, I don't think so!

Yesterday, I took the plunge and jumped on the "Zip" wire at The Quarry, near Liskeard....wow it was great and the view was amazing and to prove it (because no one believes me!) here is the video and a picture!
You can see the Zip wire landing area on the far right hand side, on the far left hand side there is a grass track for the hoover craft training, before people get allowed on the Quarry!


















Well worth the money!

In between the rain showers we have managed to cut the grass, so it looks smart for Juanita, Geoff and Ozzy, whom I'm picking up tomorrow morning.

Monday afternoon/night, we drove to Bromsgrove to pick Ian's latest toy, which he bought off eBay, mind you I'll enjoy playing on it too................and "no" it doesn't have a name.


Ian Say's, it's a classic 80's something or other!



The seats comfy!