A Snowy "Pit" Video

Please excuse the videoing, it's really hard to walk and video at the same time, I thought I could multitask? I think the answer is clear.

Ian this week is working at "Cold Rose" (military base) he called to say he had made it down there, but was now sat in the landrover waiting for an escort on to the base, which could take a while as not a lot of people had made it to the base - yet!

I just love the snow, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

Wish Ian was at home, making fun in the snow, with us all!

Time Flies

Buzzy being Buzzy!

Another week has pasted – I’m sure time goes quicker the older you get!

Buzz’s results are back: basically the report says that: He (Vet) can’t really comment on pulmonary infiltrate on these films (x-rays) but there is nothing grossly significant!
Conclusions in association with history supplied:
I recognize a syndrome in Border Collies, which may fit this case. Unfortunately it is not properly documented so the name I give it in my report is “hot border Collies syndrome” affected dogs lie on their fronts and pant excessively, appearing to be week and have difficulty continuing exercise. The mechanism for these presumed hyperthermia cases is not established so management is the only option.
A muscle biopsy may give a definitive answer, but this is a difficult thing to get done on a practical basis.
You should consider other possible causes including intermittent arrhythmias, neurological problems and musculoskeletal pain.
Treatment of these: a short course of NSAIDs

So I can continue for a long as we see that he is not stressed (if we start seeing him stressed then we need to stop doing the things that are stressing him), cooling off before and after exercise might also help, I do already do the after exercise, but hadn’t the before exercise but he is sitting on his cool mat with a cool coat on at shows!
If signs start to get worse and he starts to cough etc. then we need to go back to the vets.

Prognosis – few cases are “cured”

Red started her Cartrophen injections to-day, the information on that said she may be a little quiet for the a day – not a chance she charging around guarding the front gate, but boy is she bad tempered.

Friday was spent mowing all the lawns, clipping the hedges and weeding (well I think they where weeds!) and changing the agility course that had been up for a week.

The weekend was spent being Ian’s Mate! Hold this, pass that etc. The Barn is now finished and has racking shelves, clock and now a dartboard fitted! Next project is the area in front of the sheds/barns, which in the winter becomes a nice mud bath, so we need to put something down, Ian wants to put chippings because it’s cheap, I hate chippings, Cornish chippings are all granite down here and would cost a fortune up country, but its white! You can get the other more colourful stuff but the price difference is silly! One of my friends has just invested in the Grass mat stuff, to do part of her drive. Hope that works, much nicer than looking at chippings!

Sunday – Ian took me too our local Vintage Tractor Rally!!!!!!!
Including, bikes and steam engines, ferret racing, lurcher racing and a dog show!
I should have taken my camera! (May-be not) I get the dreadful feeling Ian wants to change his hobby!
But they did have a little car boot sale and I managed to find some future garden pots, they are old iron drain pipe tops, I thought they may look nice on the end of the only concert stone wall that we have (the other shed) I said I could paint them black, Ian said green! Ummm we will see who wins that one at a later date.

Bloggs

I’ve been trying to work out why we do them?

Keeping in touch with friends and family, was my main aim. One tends to blab away about nothing sometimes and then realise the world can read all about you! Where you live, what you are doing, when your be away. Now that is scary and be warned not to put too much detail down just in case someone out there really really wants to know! And if they do, they can come and ask you in person.!!!!
Scary

My blog came about because of Lisa (she knows who I’m talking about)
She was doing one for her pups, “its ever so easy” she said (if it is so easy, why haven't you updated yours!!!) and that was that really.
I always used to keep a sort of diary when I was younger, well I say a diary it was more of a journal I suppose.

When Ian and I took time out and went travelling for 2 months (after my dog Tessa had gone to doggy heaven and before Cassie arrived, we where without dogs for 3 years!) I left my full time job, which I hated as an assistant manageress of a large shoe shop in Bristol (that was such a long time ago!) Ian’s boss kept his job open for him. We packed our 110 land rover and off we went, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Spain, France and back to the Uk – I kept a journal of where we stayed, how many miles we had travelled, what we had eaten, how the LR had behaved, what the weather was like, how much it cost us! Etc. What is strange is that little pink book has come all the way down to Cornwall and hasn’t been looked at by Ian or I since the day we came back from France! (Mind you, Ian couldn’t read it even if he wanted too – as my hand writing is so very bad – Mum say’s I’ve taken Dads hand writing!)

Family have rung up and said they had fun catching up with what we have been up too and then I heard from friends that “Joe Blogs” came up them to say had they seen what I had to say about….. bla bla bla yes I am surprised at who does actually read it and how they found it!
But then I realise that I too enjoy reading other peoples blogs, mainly people I know, or have heard about, catching up on the agility side and what they are teaching their new young dogs – whether it be a Collie or a Chinese Crested (not that I have found mainly blogs for Chinese Crested!) I love reading about their latest courses they have put up in the garden to train and how they handled it etc. It gives me the push to go out and put something like that up for “me and mine” to practise on.

I haven’t worked out how to put one of those counters on it yet, so we can actually see how many people check in to see what we are up too, the one that also tell us what countries they are all from, looks great.
Maybe someone will email to tell me how to do it? Or even make a comment or two.

So, carry on everyone writing your blogs, I love them.

Now I must go and do some work outside - if I can get that darn strimmer to jump into life with just one pull of the cord! otherwise Ian will be home saying that I have spent all day on the computer! ummmm

Cousins Across the water!

...I went to see my Mum up in Dorset yesterday and my Cousin David and his wife Margarite where over from America, thankfully they are used to dogs as Mum has two retriever's and I turned up with 2 collies and a puff! and my Brother has his 4 dogs, 2 dobb's and two collies for them to meet! Dave and Margarite have a Rotty and a Lab. So by the end of our visit they where well used to other breeds!

Ian has almost finished the new shed, so now we have to empty the other 3 sheds into this one, so we can knock them down and re-build those out of brick! Good job Ian has a digger!
Check out Ian's scary mask on the welder - if you can see it!

Agility wise:

Well Harry pulled it off again, staying in the ring for both of his classes and winning the 1-5 jumping (yes we actually had a class this weekend, without having to compete against the 6/7's, not that I mind!) and his agility was totally my fault, I decided I wanted to practise crossing behind him when he entered the weaves, I just got my timing wrong and nearly kicked him - Poor dog.
note. to my self, must practise harder weave entries.
Red was 2nd in her 6-7 agility, which surprised me as we had a long run to home with a long jump and spread, she has never been good with that, she took off too early for the long jump, but managed to sort her self out for the spread. The Vet called and wants to start Red on a weekly course of Cartrophen (spelling) injection and see if that will help ease her spondylosis, so we start that next week. Thank fully I have some great friends out there in the agility world, that will tell me if they think its time to hang up her boots, if I don't realise it before them. There is nothing worse than watching a dog (whatever grade) struggling around a course, when they could just have a go at any size or retire altogether, I watched a German shepherd this past weekend that should be doing any size, I was surprised that the judge didn't say anything to the bloke! perhaps he just doesn't have the same friends as I have!

All things beginning with “M” - video

Mosquito, Marmite and Madness!
If you ever want to move to Cornwall, don’t say I never warned you!
.......The Mosquitoes are huge, they must be at least an inch long, they remind me of when I stayed in Sweden for a long holiday (4 weeks), near the lakes. In the evenings the Mosquito would appear and bite us! Unless you where well prepared for them. Any way we aren’t in Sweden! But they are just as big; we certainly didn’t get them this big in Bristol or out in the country where my Mum lives – Dorset. You can hear them a mile off, don’t sit outside in the cool of an evening without long sleeves and trousers, unless you have a bonfire going!

Marmite – Do you like it?? Well I have just seen a jar of champagne Marmite, so of course I had to try some ummmmm I can safely say for all those Marmite lovers out there, don’t bother, it left a horrid taste in my mouth, yuck! The jar went promptly out for recycling.

Madness! When the sun comes out in Cornwall, the roads get very quiet – everyone has a sicky and goes down the beach, honest! Work gets done but around the tide times! Out come the shorts and flip-flops, sunglasses and surfboards - All the lads and lasses go blonde and quickly gain that nice tan! I’m sure all their shorts get shorter and bikinis get minimal. Even my butcher’s boys, (where I get my dog bones) suddenly start working in their shorts and wellies! Summer is here at last.

Wolf whistling! – We have, a wild young male blackbird that must have been a rescue as he sings along with his usual chorus, he adds a wolf whistle to it! Which when we first heard it, at the beginning of the year, made us chuckle and took us ages to work out who and what it was.

Harry is getting back into swimming in his hot tub! Hopefully before the end of the season he will be jumping in on his own after his toy! Red becomes rather wide legged as I lift her up and into it, she won’t walk up the steps yet! And as for Buzz, well Ian has to help me with him! He hasn’t realised he can touch the bottom yet, he tucks all his legs up under himself and swims as if is life depends on it, even if I’m in there with him, he has stopped the splashing now and swims with his front legs under the water, rather than on top! Last week I spent some money on Buzz, as he really suffers with the heat, he already has a cool mat which he lies on in the Bongo, as people where raving about it on the agility forum I thought I would buy and try the K9cool coat, yes it was expensive nearly £40! As he had to have the large one, so we had a dummy run with it over the weekend, I had to do a bit of minor adjustments with the size, so it would stay on, It worked and after two days is still cool, will have to get it ready for the show at the weekend and report back.

Today I took the dogs for a walk in the woods and here's a short video!