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!