Wednesday 25 August 2010

Before and After!



Well I took the plunge and got Mindy clipped, just a little bit, having spent a few days up with Elaine, the last straw was walking in all the fields and Mindy being covered in sticky balls, it took far too long to get them all out!

So this is the before photo





...and afterwards.


......yes I know they shouldn't be on the table, but small dogs just get to your soul and get away with murder!




Mindy really hates her photo taken...bless her
But I do wish it hadn't rained as hard as it did this morning on our walk, good job we have a dog blaster, all woofits dry and fluffy again and still smelling lovely, well two of them!

Thanks Val for clipping them both and letting me stuff treats into Mindy whilst she was being done.

Wednesday 18 August 2010

Wordless Wednesday again!









View from the "hump" or Newquay hill as we call it, looking out to Newquay and the sea....






























Looking towards Wadebridge and the windmills









looking towards the A39/A30




...so just some photo's of our place, courtesy of Simon.



from http://www.panoscope.co.uk/

Monday 9 August 2010

UKA Virgin!

Yep it's agility post again.........

Well as "We"!! had missed the closing dates for DIN, having only just got our new (second hand) caravan, thought we would give the UKA ago and lucky for me we had a 4 day show not 10 mins from our door, so couldn't really miss that one......I entered on line and paid by cheque by snail post!, seems rather silly to me when you can fill it all in on line, you'd think you could pay for it on line too......

I entered three days out the four, Friday/Saturday and Monday, entered Mindy in three classes (no games, far to complicated for me!) and two with Harry....the intention being, get Mindy doing the seesaw in the ring and proofing Harry's contacts and going for it in the jumping.........because I had joined UKA before Mindy had started competing in any KC shows, she was entered in beginners and Harry was Champ.

Well I don't know whether all UKA shows are like this as this is the first one I've managed to get too, but Tamije was extremely well organised, with great exercise area (although a little scary reading "Watch out for the 9,000 volt fencing around the field to keep the cows OUT!" or was it, to keep us in!) yummy food wagon, who did more than just burger and chips, not that I had to have any being only 8 mins down the road!

Anyway Mindy was fab and did all the seesaws shown her and in the practise ring too, she grew in confidence over these three competing days and it showed with her results 7 x 1st! and a 4th and 1 x E, yes I know it was beginners and she is now a KC G5, but they weren't all straight up and down courses, I was able to practise lots of crossing behinds whilst still driving her forward and actually learning how she works in the ring, she has gone up a gear in the ring, still not quite what I have at home here.....she growls loudly at me whilst doing turns around me, which now I'm not so fazed about........such a confidence boost for her
Harry won two classes, 2nd in one class , e'd in one and I trained the other two with his toy.......

Give it a go folks.

Choice wise....KC for me, as I'd love to take the "Puffs" to Crufts and Olympia and having had a "Sniff" at a championship ticket, I want that too!

But for young dogs and training in the ring work, it's the UKA every time..............

and on that note, as we got finished so early each day, Roy came over and got the cupboard in the dog room almost finished, what more could I ask...Thank you so much Roy

Friday 6 August 2010

Funny kitten can't jump.....

Just because I got home early from my first ever UKA show......It's raining outside, so what else can I do................

This video is just so funny, I had to watch again and again, just thought if it's raining with you guys and you have nothing to do......

Can you tell I had







too much time on my hands this afternoon.......

































"Bandit Blog" fault!











Wednesday 4 August 2010

I'm sure I have

lots to tell you!
........but seem to be rather jet lagged after a 6.5 hour drive to AC Show, it's a great show with 11 rings but this year it had moved from Newbury (3 hour drive) to Ardingly (6.5 hours there but only 5.5 coming home!), although the venue is lovely, with some lovely trees for shelter and showers and loo blocks to "Die for" (compared to Newbury) the rings where spread out in various enclosure which meant Long Long walks to and from rings and of course my rings where the furthest away from where we were camped that you could be.....would have loved to brag to everyone how many miles I walked that weekend. Nothing successful to report except Mindy manged the seesaw once out of two runs, she had beautiful "start waits", played with me and queued nicely, we did manage one clear with two wide turns to get a 5th place in 4-5 jumping, don't somehow think if we had tightened the turns up we would have beaten Bernadette and Zaz she was nearly 3 seconds faster!...Harry was flying but unfortunately my handling let him down big time, not that he knew it, but hey we have had a couple of really good weekends competitions with 3 1st and 2 seconds, so you cant win them all, unless your Dawn or Bernadette of course!!!

I'm having a go at my first UKA show this week, as I want to train the agility rounds with both of them, Mindy in beginner's which I'm hoping will give her loads of confidence with the Seesaw. We have made progress, did I tell you she had a bad fall off of one at Thames Agility Show and only a week ago has managed to do one unaided in the ring, she's fine with mine and runs right to the end to get her treat (without me being there) I have got a video some where showing how we have retrained her as it did take her two weeks after Thames to actually put her feet on it let along walk along the plank to the end, of course this could all be her hormones, which funnily enough is what "Red" did when she was coming into season, seesaw and door shutting she became very sensitive to noises a month before her season, during, then she would always have a phantom (that's why we had her spayed)

So we have made the decision that she wont be mated this season, we will give her until the next one to see how she gets on "With Life" She is due in anytime now really as her last season was 9 months after her first one and we are on month 7 now.

So that's the doggy post.....

What else has been happening well the "Soak away" isn't working properly, so needed another pipe layed, so the holes been dug, unfortunately the old pipe is down deep under the veggie patch, so Ian has followed that line but to the side of it, so I'm spraying water from a distance, and hoping some water is getting to the carrots, butter nut squash, beans, strawberries and toms, picking them is a little awkward!


Ian had hoped to finish it when I was away with the "Smalls" but he had rain all weekend, whilst we had rain and sun!


The caravan is now cleaned and polished and ready for me to fill back up with all our nicknack's! or as Ian says, it's ready for me to "nest in"!

Hopefully Ian will take some time off work soon, as he hasn't had a holiday since Christmas and then we can get the roof on shed done, so that it is water tight for the winter, material all bought just never enough time, Ian's bike is still in bits in his workshop along with my "off roading" one (Ian will correct me, if I'm wrong, I just ride them, but I think it's a 185 Honda, his is a big old grey road bike thingy) , yes I used to ride bikes, well actually it was a motorbike and sidecar(not the 185) but when I first met Ian I turned up at his sisters on my motorbike and sidecar!!!! did my test on it too, not that I'm very safe on two wheels, I keep forgetting to put my leg out when you stop! have to see if I can find a photo and get Mum to scan it for me. (good old Mum)
I remember the time Ian bought me a pretend Harley looking one that I could touch the floor and he took me up to ASDA car park at Oldland Common, to give me a lesson (those where the days when it shut at 6 and car parks where almost empty) anyway he showed me a little course to take around the car park stopping at the ends of the rows of cars etc.....all had been going great, until I stopped next to him and forgot to put my foot down, it was only a little dent......
So we sold that and bought the Honda, it didn't matter if I dropped that, which I did OFTEN, especially going off road with Ian, well he did tell me, the path I needed to take up the lane I had to aim for the tree so I did !!

I got rather side tracked then! anyway it was fun remembering days gone past!