Dogs update

Finally got round to doing some bits with the dogs. I have decided to really concentrate on box work with Neo and Jamie. Focus Fox on the box and then me, and get Barley picking up a ball. Not too much to achieve!! LOL!

Neo does a neat box but it is a bit 'head on'. There are two methods of teaching the box that I teach. There is the 'jump on, jump off' and the 'run around'. I find that the method depends on the dog. I was teaching Neo the run around way as he jumps too high on the box otherwise and is a big heavy dog, this can tip the box (he also used the boxloader to jump off once and kicked her in the head - oops!). I put my foot on the box and got him to run on and then off the box in a circle around my leg. I taught him this as a youngster which gave him a lovely box but I have noticed lately that he is getting a bit mouthy on the box which slows him down. I will do a bit of this every evening and see how he goes.

Jamie has always been hit and miss on the box but I did alot of work with him over the winter and it knocked 0.30 second of his time putting him down to 4.2/4.3 and making him much more consistent which is excellent for a beardie. However, again, he has slipped a bit so I did some more with him tonight, he remembered and did some beautiful jump on, jump off boxes! I use this method with him as he is much more manic then Neo and much lighter. This method works really well for him.

Didn't do much with Fly as box work ruins her box. She has a beautiful natural box, which in her prime (ahh the good ole days! LOL) made her very fast. I just reminded her about putting all the feet on the box. I have seen some recent pictures of her and she is getting rather lazy on it. Can't really blame her at nine years old, I think her sense of self preservation is kicking in a bit as she is more careful on the box these days. :-).

With Fox I have been trying to focus him on going to the box and coming back to me. He does lovely runs when there is no other dogs in the ring but as soon as the box loader on the other team starts shouting for their dog he freezes! He stands at the start line waiting for the other dog to run and then just runs up and down the netting staring at the dog in the other lane, This is bloody infuriating as we have clocked him doing 4.19 not even really trying!!! GRRRR!!! I had a variety of toys and treats out to see what he was most mad about and surprisingly it was the ham and sausages!! He is not a foodie as all so I was fairly surprised about this, I could even distract him from chasing Neo with the sausages!! Woo Hoo there is a light at the end of the tunnel!! I am determined to have him competing next year. We need new dogs in the top team and he would be a valuable addition at that speed.

Finally little Barley, I did a bit of box work with her with food and then did some clicker training getting her to touch the ball. She will run at a ball while it moves but as soon as it stops moving she looses interest. This is a bit disappointing as she liked a ball as a tiny pup but has gone off them. I have to do clicker training because as soon as I say anything to her she rolls on her back - bless her! We did a short session and she got the idea of touching the ball to get the click very quickly, smart pup.

Orchids

As it has been a very quiet week for me, I thought I'd post some pictures of my second favourite hobby - my orchids

This is a relatively new hobby, I got my first orchid for Mother's Day last year and now I have eight! Orchids are a bit like dogs - you can't have just one ;-)

I have learned a lot about them in a year and I'm considering investing in one of the rarer ones. The thought of spending that much money on a plant scares the life out of me though!! LOL!! Perhaps I'll wait until I'm a bit more confident :)

RIP Muttley

Here is some pictures of the beautiful Muttley. Muttley belonged to our team captain Sam. He swallowed a sock and died before the vet could save him. I remembered that I took some pictures of him at Barleylands so I thought I'd post them so everyone could see how beautiful he was

Run Free Beautiful Boy xx

Hotshots Show

Wow what a show for us! Lovely venue, fantastic weather and some brilliant results!!
I went up on Saturday morning as I had to work late on Friday Grrrr. I got there just in time to box load for the Fun 4 Mutts. The Terrierists were in the next division but they had plenty of help so I snuck off to unpack my caravan. I managed to get it done and walk my dogs in that division and then straight in the next to run Fly in the Mad Muttleys!! Phew! We went in and won our first race and smashed our seed time woo hoo!!! We then had a team in starters so I took Fox down but was seriously flagging by this point!! He was an idiot so I decided not to bother, it was too hot and I was too tired and hungry which makes me grumpy! LOL! I had some lunch and then was back in to box load for the Fun 4 Mutts. They really struggled in the heat but did very well and came 2nd. This is the first time they had run with Dante and she ran really well all day (bless her)! Went back in with the Terrierists but Katie, Tasha and I were surplus to requirements and so sat watching the racing and enjoying the sun. Unfortunately this meant watching the Terrierists get thrashed as they were down their fastest dog and were complete cannon fodder, never fun! We then went back in with the Muttleys and ended up with a 2nd! We were very pleased! I took Fly back to the caravan and then came back to watch the starters, I have to say I have absolutely no idea where our team came though! Ooops!
We had some dinner and then decided to sit down with a few drinks. I had a bottle of Vodka and a bottle of Tia Maria and decided it would be a good idea to make some Black Russians! All I'm going to say is I do not remember going to bed!! LOL!!
The next morning I was up early and ridiculously bright eyed and bushy tailed considering the amount of alcohol consumed the night before!!! Walked my dogs and had a cup of tea. Tasha and I then went and watched the racing for a bit before getting Jamie and Neo out for Div 2. We wanted to try a new combination as Nikki wanted to do starts because she is struggling with changeovers onto Jamie (no surprise there - he is a bugger). I ended up getting two lights as Jamie was being a complete **** and kept rearing and twisting out of my reach!! We lost that race! I got annoyed after that, kneeled on the floor and clamped Jay to my side in a vice grip so he couldn't move and then just kind of threw him and shouted go! I got perfect changeovers every time and we ended up getting 17.80 knocking half a second of our seed time! LOL!! this was also because Nikki and Tasha could now wind Taf and Neo up rather then having to stay quiet to keep try and keep Jamie calm. This race was against our friends, the Wimbledon Whizzers, who also went sub 18 but this was for the first time ever for them so there were lots of congratulations in the ring! :) We then went on to win every single race and came 1st as the team that beat us didn't win any more races. we got a rosette, a bag of dog food and a lovely keyring with a picture of the team each.
It was really nice that we did so well as we were racing in memory of Muttley. he was a young dog on our team who sadly lost his life after swallowing a sock. A dog's death doesn't just affect the owner it also affects the rest of the team as you get so attached to each others dogs because you all spend so much time together. We were so pleased that we did it for him

RIP Muttley. Run free at the bridge.