Sarah's Scruffies

Update

2011-11-27T10:24:00.000-08:00

Dear God I am so rubbish at blogging!! After a promising start I keep forgetting to do it!! Anyway going to do a quick update

Flyball - We have had a fantastic year and gone well beyond what we expected with our top team. The Echoes achieved a seed time of 17.30 and won Div 3 at the British Champs! The team struggled at the end of the year with Jamie being pulled down by a virus that he took ages to recover from but still managed a 17.60 at the last show the year and very nearly a 17.12 with the tiniest early light!! Grrrrrr. Every team did really well this year breaking into the next second barrier. The Extras team got a second at the Champs too. We have had lots of new dogs come into open and new team members join too and I think we are in a really strong position as a team. We have a very strong group of Core handlers who come to every show which allows us the freedom to let people just do the shows they want to do.
We have broken down the training into parts this winter and gone back to basics with Box work. We are varying the training every week and rarely doing full runs at all. We are seeing a big improvement already as we are not competing around it.

Right the dogs.....

Fly - Old age has hit her quite hard this year and her performance has been erratic. She will have a competition where she will hit 4.3's and then another where she will do 4.7's. We have put her as a fifth dog so that she is not relied on. Even so I am very pleased with how she is still running at 11 years old, she helped the team go sub 17 for the first ever time and is generally still amazing :)

Neo - Neo hit his form in the middle of the season and then it tailed off again. he helped the team get their 17.30 but then started to slow down. I don't whether it was his stamina or the same virus as Jamie but his performance went downhill and he was mainly replaced by Echo in the top team when we needed the extra speed. He is definitely past his best at 7 years old but he still tries so hard - bless him.

Jamie - Jamie was absolutely amazing at the beginning of the year, hitting consistant low 4's. He hit a 4.09, then a 4.07 then a 4.00. I thought he was actually going to go sub 4 when he got really ill and that was that. He went a little off colour at the champs and then just got lower and lower until we had to pull him completely from two shows. Strong antibiotics and rest seemed to make him better but he had lost so much condition and weight that he is only getting back onto form now. The fireworks also have set him back massively as he stops eating when they are constantly going off as they have this year. Poor little man.

Fox - Well.... I don't even know where to go with him. At the beginning of the year 4.4 all day and now one 4.4 if I'm lucky then his performance is up and down all day. There is no consistancy. I am going to have him castrated this winter as I think a lot of the problem is that it has become very apparent that Fox also got Barley too (Pip is a little tri colour mini me!!) and now his brain has been replaced by another part of his anatomy!! If this doesn't work I will probably give Fly and Fox a place together as one dog and bring out the strongest dog at the relevant time.

Tia - OMG this little dog has been amazing this year!! Bearing in mind that she only came out into open at the beginning of this year, she has been mainly very consistant. She has got more and more confidence and become very speedy. She hit her peak at Paws in the Park hitting a 4.37 and doing 4.4 all day. Gt Barford was destined to be very exciting for the second team as we had our fastest dogs there for the first time all year. I did two legs with Tia and she didn't seem right so I put her away as I thought she was stiff. China had to be rushed to the vets which left us with four dogs. I got Tia out of the car and went to warm her up and do some stretches with her so she could run when I realised she was totally lame. She was diagnosed with a pulled cruciate ligament! I was devastated!. The killer blow was that we ran the other three dogs and they got 14.05 with Tia running properly the team would have easily got 18.50! Half a second of their seed time. I seriously wanted to cry!! The good news is that after six weeks of cage rest and a slow build up on her exercise, she is looking promising again. She has lost an awful lot of condition and weight due to stress (partly the cage rest and also fireworks) but was looking strong at training today, We managed 6 lots of eight jump runbacks and she was fine - phew!

Barley - I love this little dog, she is so funny. She is so sweet and innocent, so quiet and obedient until she is lining up to do flyball! Then she screams her head off and tries to bite Soph! Little monkey! She is getting better all the time as her and Soph build up a bond. She gone under 5 secs a few times which I'm really pleased with and she was in the Extras team that came second. It was only her second competition and she was part of a four dog team so I was really pleased with her :) Her training is coming on really well and I think she will come out much better next year. She is now single striding really well and her box has improved massively! Looking forward to her next year.

Rocky - Aww little Rockstar! He is a little character. He is totally Soph's dog which is really nice. He is a one person dog and he is Soph's. He will come and say hello to me but he runs straight back to her which is brilliant and what I wanted. He is a very slow maturer and his training is coming on slowly but thats fine. He is doing a nice box (no ball) and his runbacks to a tuggy are coming on really well. He works with other dogs around and isn't phased by them at all, he just isn't interested. He managed to do one proper run with a ball at training today before he was distracted - bless him, he has the attention span of a gold fish!

Millie - Millie?? Who's Millie?? I hear you say!! Millie is the new rather unplanned addition - aren't they always!? Millie is a Beardie x Border pup. She is now 7 months old. I got her at 6 months. I saw this beautiful little face and it was absolute love at first sight. I was feeling a bit low and she is like a little ray of sunshine. She is so funny and sweet - so Beardie! She looks like a mini Jamie. She has only done two training sessions and we have just kept it fun for her as she is so nervy. She is running up to the lane to someone for a treat and then running back to me for a treat. Just to get confidence and so we can make it a positive experience. I will publish some more on her progress as we go on.

Capstone

2011-08-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

I am desperately trying to do a catch up here as we have a lot of shows at the moment!

Capstone has never been a favourite show of mine purely because everytime we have been there the weather has been rubbish, this time was no better!!
Saturday wasn't too bad it was just cold and miserable.
Express ran well and managed a second with a best time of 20.30. This was exactly the right place for them and the race against the team that came first was close and exciting. This team to have hit a bit of a rut lately. I don't really enjoy running Fox and I think this does pass down to the rest of the team. He is very frustrating but it is nice to see Yogi getting better all the time and Alfie reveling in his new role of Anchor dog.
The Essentials team came 6th with a best time of 21.75. Really with this time they should have come 4th but we had a few problems with Lilly dropping her ball. I am hoping we will have a new height dog in there soon to take the strain off. Tia ran well and consistanly ran 4.6 which I am very very pleased with. I still think she has a bit to give and she proved this by doing a best time of 4.45 in start but we will have to play with this and see if this is a better position for her. She is nervous of other dogs so i am thinking that she doesn't like running on to another dog.
On Sunday the weather was appalling!!! It rained all day :(
The Extras came third in their division with a best time of 23.45. I was really pleased to see Annie running really strongly in the rain (very unusual for her - Whippet - Need I say more!!). This team actually all ran really well in the rain!
The Expectations finally came good and did 18.89!!! Yeay!!!! At last!!! Unfortuantly we then had to pull the team out due to the ground conditions. China has only just gone sound and the ground became very slippery and wet with the constant rain so we decided not to risk it. I was fairly pleased as I didn't really want to risk Fly. I was just happy with that time lol.
The Echoes pulled it out of the bag yet again!! 17.53!!! I keep wondering how much faster this team will go as they just keep getting faster!! Thankfully we have Echo back for the Champs which means we can rest Neo a bit. I am a little bit disapointed with Jamie's times though as he seems to be back down to 4.3s. Yes I know this is amazing for a beardie!!! but I know he is faster lol. They came last in Div 1 but really it should have been 4th, we just kept getting lights! lol!

Just Dogs Live

2011-08-04T14:39:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favourite shows and it was the anniversary of Fox's first ever open ahhh bless :)
On Saturday we all drove up together, we were doing really well until we actually go into the place, got seperated and all got lost! We eventually all arrived and put Kim's awning up and then went straight in with the Extras team.
The Extras ran well and although weren't up on their times came third which is where they were seeded with a best time of 20.41.
Next in were the Essentials, this team ran really well and managed a best time of 21.71 again not quite on normal times but I think a lot of this was due to Kiah being trunky!! That dog is so nosey!! lol. I was really pleased with Tia who managed some really good times and is getting faster and more confident all the time.
The Expectations were appalling!!! The change overs were awful, the dogs ran slowly and I was seriously disapointed by this team. The handlers were really late or far too early. I ended up getting annoyed and basically giving up. The team came 6th and this was all due to bad handling. Very disappointing, that team should be doing sub 19 and they just aren't getting any where near it, they managed a time of 20.04 :( Fly actually ran really well today but I wasn't handling her. I have given her to Morton to run as she is a 'point and shoot dog' she is an obvious choice for a new handler.
The Echoes managed to beat their seed time again and ended up on 17.70. We ended up third due to lights :oS. I'm really pleased with this team. I had to bite the bullet and put Neo up as Fly just can't keep her times up, but I was pleased as this new time was with him and Tasha was late.
On the Sunday we had an easier day (thank god) and were just running the Express team. This team ran really well and all the dogs improved. They managed a best time of 20.41 which was really good with the dogs in the team but were totally outclassed and only managed a fifth. I was particularly pleased with Yogi who is getting better and better at each comp :)

Padworth

2011-06-15T04:37:00.000-07:00

We went to Padworth the Kennet Zingers first show st the weekend. We were all very impressed with the lovely venue and the organisation was fantastic!
Kim and I drove up Saturday morning but got held up and got there just in time to register the teams and do the paperwork. It was slightly unusal for me as all of my dogs were running on Saturday except Tia. This is really unusual as they are generally spread over the weekend. It meant that Saturday was manic! I had a dog in every division and then had to ringparty in my div off! lol.

For full details of the teams progress see our teams blog.

Fly was really off colour this weekend, she did one 4.4 and then her times dropped dramatically. She just didn't have her usual fire and was very quiet. We only ran her for a couple of legs first thing in the morning and a couple in the afternoon. However by the next day she seemed ok but is still very quiet. I think perhaps old age is catching up on her as she is 10 1/2. We will be having a couple of weeks enforced rest from flyball now due to other reasons so hopefully she will pick up and get back to her old self.

Neo ran really well. I didn't get much of a chance to see his times but the ones I did see were around 4.7. I was pleased with this as he was consistant all day. I am going to concentrate on the dog's fitness over the next couple of weeks and do more swimming with him to try and build his back legs up again, as I noticed they were really wobbily again. :(

Jamie ran well but not up to his normal times. He settled at around 4.3 but didn't throw in any reallly good times. (I was being greedy and want sub 4 this week!) I just don't think that the ground was very fast and my feelings were confirmed when I looked back at the times for Div 1. There wasn't a single sub 17 time, so I think we did pretty well really!

I was very pleased with Fox!! He was very consistantly running 4.4/5. He is beginning to try a bit harder now and I am hoping that he will be at his best next year when we need him. He didn't run across at all and the only thing he did do wrong was to turn and stand in front of Alfie rather then run once lol!! I rectified this very quickly!

Tia was absolutely amazing this week!! We have moved the teams around slightly and she is very happy with the dogs she is running with. Even in the afternoon when the conditions were very hazardous and she had to run start (which she hates!!) she was still doing 4.6! I am over the moon with her progress and she will be a serious contender to replace Fly if she carries on improving the way she is. All she needs is a little bit more confidence and drive on the way up and she will be doing low 4's. Amazing considering all of the odds were stacked against her, I am very proud :)

Barley ran really well for Soph this weekend and we are now seeing a real improvement and a bond. It has been really hard for Soph as Barley really is my dog and wasn't that far of being in open when Soph took her over They are now doing really well and both gaining confidence and enjoyment. I am really proud of Soph, she is becoming a very good little handler :). Barley also now is beginning to get an great repetiour of tricks as this what Soph does with her to keep her attention in the ring! lol

Rocky is a little monkey but very cute and sweet. Soph has been doing all of his basic care and has got him into a great routine. He is doing little bits of training and isn't as up to speed as he really should be due to Soph having SATS but we have made up a little timetable for his training so hopefully we should see a big difference now :)

Flyball will now take a back seat for a couple of weeks as I have torn a ligament in my neck, god knows how and so have to rest. Hopefully I will be fit for Just Dogs Live at the beginning of July - Fingers crossed!

Hmm not doing well am I?

2011-06-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

I think that is a very appropiate title for this post as my New Years resolution has gone totally down the pan!!

Again a lot has happened in the past couple of months so I will give the highlights and attempt to be more on the ball with my blog from now on!

I will do this in dog order!

Fly has been on CSJ herbs for six months now and it shows! Her performance and stamina have been amazing so much so that she has rejoined the top team at 10 1/2 years old. Admittedly she is the weak link in the team as her times slip during the day but she is one of the fastest dogs when she fresh. She helped the top team go sub 18 for the first time ever this year. I'm hoping this will be her last season in the top team but with this old girl you never know!! She has also achieved her Platinum award. I will put up pics when we actually recieve it :)

Neo has been ok and is back on form a little with the help of hydro and some new back boots that I brought at Crufts. I am pleased with him and he has gone into the second team as he just doesn't quite make the times needed for the top team now

Jamie has been cracking!!! He did a 4.09 at one comp and then did a 4 secs dead at the next!! I was a bit disapointed that he didn't do a sub 4 and all my team laughed at me and told me I was greedy! fair point :) He has now got his silver award and is firmly in the top team as the fastest dog! Who would have thought a beardie could do that?? We also went sub 18 with our multibreed team and he was in that too. :)

Fox has been very hit and miss! He is regularly doing 4.4 without really trying (so frustrating!!!) but then will loose the plot and not go up the lane occasionally or just slow down! I am hoping next year will be his year lol! I have had to take him back as Soph doesn't enjoy running him. Although he is her dog I had to do an awful lot of training with him and it has built up such a bond that he really doesn't want to run for anyone else.

Tia ia amazing and is going from strength to strength. She very rarely drops her ball now and is clocking 4.6/7. I am very happy with those times as she is a big girl and still a little nervy. She is really quite quick on the way back so I am hoping with a bit more confidence up to the box she will get faster. I also still have the problem at the moment that I can't really wind her up still as she is nervous and it scares her but I do it a bit more each time and she is getting better. I'm very proud of her :)

Barley has been taken over by Soph and she is doing all of her training without me in order to build a bond with her. They are both doing really well and learning from each other and I am very proud of the pair of them when I secretly watch them racing in starters :)

Rocky is the new addition to our family. He is one of Barley and Neo's pups. I never intended to keep one but Soph fell in love with him and asked if she could have him. I felt that she had proved she is capable so he was an early birthday present to her. She is doing all of his care and training herself with a little guidance from me and is doing really really well with him :)

Catch up!!

2011-03-21T14:57:00.000-07:00

Well my New Years Resolution was to be better at updating my blog. I think we can safely say that was a resounding fail!!! ha ha.

I have had a very busy couple of months with lots of things happening and lots of changes. I am going to just talk about the most important :)

Leatherhead

This was the indoor comp that we had already entered before the decision not to run indoors again.

Fly didn't run at all as I don't want to lame her.

Neo did one run as I wanted to see if strapping him up to the hips helped for Crufts - it didn't!!

Jamie ran beautifully, he ended up running for Tasha as I had really hurt my back and I was in agony with it. He proved that he was now a multi handlable dog hee hee hee!! Their are no excuses for me having to run him any more lol.

Fox was brilliant for Sophie again today and ran faultlessly and more importantly, consistantly!! Woo hoo. He is going up to the top team now.

Tia was brilliant but is still dropping her ball when stressed or tired. I am just going to do little bits with her as she is in a six dog team and I can get away with it :)

Flyball Fever Seminar

This was a brilliant day!! Kelly and Aaron from the Rocket Relay team in Canada came over to do a seminar. I learnt so much. I was really pleased that a lot of what we were already training was correct, I just learnt how to tweek it to make it better. We had a brilliant day and then a brilliant training session a few weeks later when we demonstrated it to the rest of the team.

Crufts

Neo went lame :( He fumbled on the box twice and ran out twice. That was the YKC team eliminated. I was so disapointed for Soph who blamed herself. I had stressed to her about shouting 'get over!!' to him and she thought that she hadn't shouted loud enough. Poor little thing. We all made her feel better especially Tasha who brought her a cuddly dog for handling him so well and told her she was proud of her :) Awww.

Puppies!

Yes we have puppies! Barley not being right after her season was because she was pregnant. Neo had some how got her! I panicked the entire time she was pregnant and wasn't happy until they were all born, feeding and healthy. She had six beautiful pups and I am a very proud nanny lol

Wood Green!

2011-02-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a very self centered post about how my dogs did at Wood Green. The team blog covers everyone elses dogs :)

http://www.essexflyball.webs.com/

Fly - Ran really well. I don't really like running her indoors but decided that she has calmed down enough in her old age to be ok errrrrr NO! She managed to go through a set of stopper pad boots in one competition and make herself lame. I didn't even run her that much Grrrrr

Neo - He went lame in the second race :( I was so upset and the team ended up running three dogs as we didn't have a spare. When he got home he then fell out of the car and was limping on a front leg too.

Jamie - Mad and brilliant as always especially with his new go faster haircut! I finally got fed up and had him shaved again!

Fox - He ran for Soph for the first time and was faultless. I was so pleased with him and he managed some excellent times indoors too

Tia - She was a little star. She went as fifth dog to practise but ended running quite a bit and doing some really good times. Once I realised that I wasn't calling her back properly and corrected myself, she held the ball all afternoon. I was over the moon with her

Barley - She had not really been herself since coming out of season so I wasn't sure what to expect. She got a little overwhelmed by the noise and sensed my stress which caused her to panic a bit but when we both calmed down she was brilliant. I was so pleased with her!

It was a really good show but I have decided not to run my dogs indoors again. I ran Tia at Markfield the following week and in those two shows, Neo, Fly, Tia and Barley all got injured. I think the problem is that we train on grass all year round which is very slippery this time of year and then run them on hard grippy ground. They really struggle and their times are mostly awful. We are running at Leatherhead as we have already entered but then that will be it until we go outside :)

Pestalozzi Village

2010-09-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

This was a weekend of 5ths!!
Saturday was a nice easy day with just one open team in and starters. We had the Express team in who managed a fantastic new seed time of 20.55! Having not gone under 21 secs since the team dropped Annie and replaced her with Razzle and knowing from timing them that she was faster, I wondered if was time to try her back in the second team again (she was dropped to the third team after getting frightened by running beween Fly and China) but Razzle was storming and totally showed that he deserved his place.
That night we had a lovely BBQ with Ramsden and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening
On Sunday we had the Extras in who where really good and fought hard to win but were really outclassed, Fox seemed to be really slow and I was a little upset that he seemed to be taking a backward step, when he suddenly upped the pace and suddenly did a 4.25! I was gobsmacked as he didn't feel that fast. I was also able to let him go from 45ft on the blue lane yeay! He only ran out once in the whole comp so I was really pleased.
The Echoes did ok time wise but we were still plagued with Box troubles and Mitch and Echo making the box stick. It also rained and got really boggy so we pulled out of the last race of the day just showing up and not actually running the dogs. Mitch and Echo are so big and heavy that we were worried for their welfare. I know that we were criticised for doing this but I don't care, anyone who said a bad word about us molly coddling our dogs obviously didn't appreciate the circumstances in this instance and should keep their opinions to their selves!!! Ok rant over! All in all though it was a brilliant show and we really enjoyed it!

The Champs

2010-09-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

Well it has to be said that this was a bit of a disaster all round really!!

We met Jenny who is a brand new member to the team at South Mimms Services. Kim turned her van off to pop to the loo and it wouldn't start again. We were stuck there for two hours and missed all our mornings racing with the third team. Finally got to the show and put the awning up and one of the screws in the awning threaded leaving us no option to but to get the gaffer tape out! We finally get everyone set up and walked down to the lanes and ran the third team. We only had four dogs (with Fox) in this team so I was a little stressed and it passed down the lead to Fox. In the first warm up he wouldn't run right and I got more and more upset. Val who is a fantastic judge and a lovely person, calmed me down and ordered the team to put wings up so that Fox ran right (remember this is only his second open). He ran beautifully and Soph was able to do cracking changeovers onto him with Raven. I was very proud of him :). We went back to the caravan only to find that the water pump was broken :s
On the Saturday we were in with the Express (Fly's) team. Fly had skinned her pad ten days before so I decided to leave her out as much as possible and only bring her in if we needed her as she is by far the fastest dog on the team. On the first race the team went two legs down, I put her in and she hurt her foot on the first run, I was really upset and she was out for the rest of the day. I got Matt to hold her away from the ring and I managed the team. They did surperbly well and ended up with a second. I was really pleased and still went to get my rossette as my dog ran one leg lol! We had a lovely bbq in the evening and sat watching the lightening from under our gazebos lol.
On the Sunday was the top team with Neo and Jamie. I was really worried about Jamie as he had barely eaten for a week and was very thin. The vet hadn't been able to find anything wrong with him and put it down to him being a beardie lol. He is a very sensitive boy and not a foodie at all so it doesn't take a lot to put him off his food. He definitely wasn't running right but that wasn't our biggest problem! The box that we had brought only two weeks before has a serious design fault which means that when a dog hits it hard a flap of rubber matting gets wedged inbetween the top of the box and the pedal. We ended up gaffer taping (good ole gaffer tape) another piece of rubber matting onto it!! The dogs were not happy though as we were all now rather hacked off with the whole weekend and never ran right. I think we would have won the award for the most lights in the comp and we looked liked we had no idea what we were doing!! All in all not a good weekend for me but as usual the comp was fab. Very slick and well run and Div 1 was amazing! Can't wait until next year (I think!!)

Mass Blog

2010-08-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

I have totally forgotten to up load my blog! I can't believe especially considering some of the huge things that have happened recentely!! I'm afraid this will be very brief!

Hearing Dogs - This was a fab show. We were up nice and early as always but the site was lovely when we got there. As always with Bandit's shows it was very well run and organised. We had a lot of fun at this show but the weather was really hot and our dogs all flagged badly. On the whole we didn't do too bad and had a lovely time. Below are results and pictures :)

Echoes - 4th - 18.84

Express - 5th - 21.74

Extras - 4th - 23.73

Not too bad really and as you can see we had a whale of a time :)

Just Dogs Live

We only went to this one for the day as Daisy was injured (non flyball related) and Kim couldn't be away for the weekend. Kim persuaded me to bring Fox and try him in the third team warm ups as Daisy (who I usually run) wasn't there and they only had four dogs who wouldn't need the warm ups. Fox had been doing pretty well i training so I decided to stop being a wuss and try him. (I still haven't got over the Barleylands incident and dread a repeat of it!!) He did really well in the warm ups with wings and only ran down the side once or twice when he got really distracted so I was really pleased with him. As we went to walk into the ring for the second race Talisman's back legs went out from underneath him and he fell, hurting his back (the vet thinks he trapped a nerve temporarily) totally putting him out, that made Fox 4th dog GAHHHHHHH! I decided to go for it!! He was by no means perfect but he did really well and got better and better during the day. We worked out that he has to go first as he loves to race the dog in the other lane and we got 2nd!!! I couldn't believe it!! Nothing could have made my day more then that, I was absolutely over the moon. I don't know how we did it though ha ha!!

PROOF!!

I never thought he would do and I am so proud of both of us! Now just those pesky girls!!

Tia is bringing a ball back over two or three jumps now and the big news is that Barley is finally fetching a ball!!! Yeay!!!

On a sad note though Daisy's injury was found to be bone cancer and she subsequently had to have her leg amputated. However at training three weeks later she was milling round while we were setting up and took herself up a lane of full height jumps and brought the ball back over them!! We were all a little gobsmacked to say the least!!! lol

Paddock Wood

2010-06-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

I've just realised that I haven't posted anything about Paddock Wood! This was a lovely relaxing show. There were fun events on all weekend and the sactioned tournament on the bank holiday Monday. We toodled up on the Sunday, getting there for 9am and had a very relaxing day. We ran a starters team which I put Tia into just for warm ups and she brought the ball all the way back twice. Why is it that over the field she won't let go of the bloody thing!!! lol. We put Mitch & Jamie and then Neo and Echo into the collie pairs as they are all collies or collie crosses of some sort lol and did really well. We faced each other and a bad changeover from Lynne twice meant that Me and Kim won this race! Yeay! We then went onto be slaughted by the winning pair lol! I can't remember what times we got but they all averaged at about 8.7/ 8.8 per pair, which as I pointed out means we have absolutely no excuse for not going under 18 seconds!

The next day was sanctioned, here a brief over view of out results:-

Echoes 5th place (out of 5 teams!) With a new best time of 18.48
Express 5th place (out of 5 teams!) with a time of 21.14
Extras 2nd place (out of 4 teams) with a new best time of 23.51

Disapointing placings but great times. Hearing dogs show next!

Wimbledon

2010-05-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

Another stupid oclock start this weekend lol. We were up at 4am (eek) only to have to wait 3/4 hour for Ayrton who forgot to get out of bed. I swear I could quite easily have strangled him!! lol! We got to Wimbledon, filled in our race sheets and started to set up. This was the only div that we had free and it took us most of that to put Kim's awning up. I hurried off to help the Fantastic 4 with ring party, then in the next division I went back to the caravan to pick up my dog, then back to the ring to race her, then back to the caravan to put her back, then in the next division, back to the ring to do the line for the Fantastic 4, then back to my caravan to put the awning up and so on and so on! Just when I thought I could finally sit down I remembered that I had to do starters! Wahhhh!!! I had a dog in each div too. Tia went in with the Wimbledon Warblers and did all of the warmups and a couple of legs. She did really well and nearly brought the ball back. She really enjoyed her self and was calm and happy which I was really pleased about as she is a very nervous girlie, she even jumped up someone to give them a kiss! I also noticed an improvement in Fox and I managed to get him going up and down the lane which was great. Normally he is so hyped he just freezes and stares at the other lane whether there is a dog going up it or not! lol idiot!
The Express team (Fly's team) did well. Annie was still in season so we were still on too high a seed time but they ran well, Fly was living up to her name and flying! She was clocked doing 4.47 over 13 inch jumps which is fabulous for a 9 1/2 year old dog!
We finished racing at 9pm and had dinner at 10pm! I sat with the team for about 15 mins had two mouthfuls of magners and then went to bed!! Not really surprising after the day I had! lol!
On the Sunday we only had one div free again! Groan! First in I was box loading for the Extras team who were on a submitted time of 23.00 secs (my fault) and they managed 23.81. Soph handled Kim's large lab Raven like a pro and I was really proud of her - bless.
We then had a div off and I fell asleep doh!
The Echoes team were next. Neo was at the ring side quivering like an idiot (good sign) Jamie and Mitch were barking their heads off and lovely Echo stood and watched the world go by! lol! We managed to persuade Darren from the Lightening Strikes to watch our change overs for us and thanks to him we ended up running 18.51!! I felt really vindicated as it was me that submitted 18.50 as our declared time. We still got thrashed but never mind at least we were in the right division ha ha!!
All in all it was brilliant weekend! I can't wait for Paddock Wood!

Newbury

2010-05-10T13:54:00.000-07:00

We were up at 4.30am on a very cold sunday morning for Newbury. the Lightening Strikes first show.
We ran first with the Express team. We were down Annie as she is in season but decided to put Razzle in as he really has gone as far as he can in starters. We didn't suffer too badly on times (about 4 tenths of a second) but the team just didn't gel as well as they had at easter. I think it may have been the pressure of being top seed as well has having two different dogs in, Misty was there as well as Razzle. We managed a fourth place which we were really pleased with.

Essex Express

Some pictures of Fly :)

One after the racing

Poor old girl :)

We went in the Echoes team next and were really eager to see what they could do. We hadn't managed to race this team (top team) at Easter due to the comp being cancelled. We were on a declared time of 18.50 and I was pretty confident that we could get near this. Luck was not with us however as I realised that Neo really wasn't very well after the first run and wasn't running properly, He came out of the ring and was really quiet and even more clingy then usual. He had a very upset tummy and was really off. We ended up pulling him as he just got slower and slower and we ran, super sub, Daisy the rottie instead. I think our fastest time was 19.67 and we managed fourth which we were actually over the moon with! No pics of this team I'm afraid :(

The show itself was fantastic, the atmosphere was lovely and it was such a relaxed friendly show. Shame it was so cold.

Wimbledon next weekend and Tia is running her debut in Starters :) Watch this space

Training today

2010-05-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

We had a bumper flyball training session today!! I thought I'd update on how they are all getting on.

My Dogs
Fly - Brilliant as always!!
Neo - Ditto!!
Jamie - Little Git!! He decided to go wide on the box and run down the side of the jumps on the way back. He always does this in training for some reason. We perserved until he ran in again - Monkey!!
Tia - Now doing full runs and is pretty quick. She will make a good third team dog until she gets a bit of confidence. She will only pick up a soft ball and will only go to the box if Soph is box loading but hey ho she's running!!
Fox - Amazing today!! He is running with a dog in the other lane yeay!!! I actually did a victory run around the training field hee hee!
Barley - Getting better with the ball and is single striding nicely up and down the lane. I will take some time to teach her a formal retrieve and then she will be doing it :)
The whole training session was really good and positive. We went from not being able to get a starters team to suddenly having two!! We have some very promising little height dogs coming up too. Very exciting!!

A breakthrough!!!

2010-04-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

I have had a real breakthrough with Tia!! She is now not only chasing and picking up a tennis ball but she is doing the box!!! YEAY!! I was getting slightly concerned that none of my youngsters would do it!! Below are a couple of videos of her doing a bit in the garden. The question is will she do it in training and more importantly in competition?? She gets really scared away from her comfort zone and freezes but we will take it nice and slowly

What I love about these videos is that she gets really excited and her tail doesn't stop wagging. She is thoughly enjoying herself which is the whole point!

What you don't see in these is her going around the corner and showing the other madly excited dogs (they can hear the box) her ball!! lol!

She does actually do a really nice box without a ball but we are just playing at the moment. We can put it all together when she has a bit more confidence in herself and me. The main thing is that she enjoys it!

I am a very happy girl! :O)

Stockbridge at Easter 2010

2010-04-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

Well this really was an weekend of ups and downs!!! We pulled up at Stockbridge on Friday afternoon to a mud bath!!!! Kim bravely tried to drive onto the field, got 15 feet and stopped!! I stopped in the lane, turned my engine off and waited! lol! After about 10 mins of banter with the Aces and Fantastic 4 while I was waiting for Kim's Van and caravan to be towed away, I unhooked my car and with a little (cough cough) help from the previously mentioned teams I drove onto the field. Tim from the Jets kindly followed pulling my caravan with his 4x4. We just started setting up when we got a phone call from Mary who told us to look at the entrance. They were being pulled by 3 4x4s!!!!! Their massive campervan had got totally stuck and it took 3 of them to pull it on! Show offs! lol!

The racing the next day was fantastic!! We went in with the Express (2nd) team and they just gelled instantly. Its very different in competition to training but we were able to go out and pull off fantastic changeovers from the first race. I saw several people wince at mine hee hee!! The team were absolutely flying! We lost the first leg of the first race as the ball rolled out of the box and China did the wall of death around the ring at top whippet speed! We lost that one on interference :os! On the 2nd leg we did a cracking run and won! Yeay!! We were then told that we had run 21.10 our breakout time was 21.00 Arghhhh! Tooo close!! We pulled back a little and won the third leg!! We had won our first race!! Its a bit of a blur after that! On one leg I got a light and sent Fly up as fifth dog as the other team had a light too but Soph (her first time box loading - bless her) didn't realise that she needed to put another ball in! She saw Fly coming back as I shouted to her to put another ball in. Soph span round, grabbed a ball, loaded the box and stood up just as Fly got to the box. She had done it so fast I barely believed that she had done it!!! We also broke out once too but the long and short of it was that we won our division!!! Wow what a first competition!!!

The downside was that the rest of the competition was cancelled due to the horrendous ground conditions :( so we never got to run our top team and multibreed teams. Oh well never mind!!

Some Spectators

The entrance to the show ground

The Showground

Rick and Mary being towed off!

It was a really nice weekend all in all though and although I was very disapointed that the show had to be cancelled (although I totally understand why) I was very pleased with the way we ran and the support we got from the other teams. Its always a bit nerve racking running with a new team but it was really nice and on the whole people are very supportive. I did however get a couple of jokes about which team I had my eye on to run with next! lol!!! Cheeky people!!

Flyball

2010-03-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd do a quick update on flyball as reading back I've realised I haven't really talked about it much. I've joined a new team called the Essex Flyball Team. These are a break away from the Ramsden team and are all old friends of mine (we used to run together before I joined the Mad Mutts two years ago) This is a much more local team and we are only doing local shows which is a big help. We have entered Stockbridge at Easter so have been training very hard for the past couple of weeks to try and be ready, The teams are looking fairly polished and I am pleased with them. Kim (team captain) and I split the training so I concentrate more on box work and she does jump work and behaviour/obedience. It is a combination that works really well as we both have our own strengths and can bounce ideas off each other. What is really nice is the mutual respect of each others abilities and the eagerness of the rest of the team to improve their dogs. We work side by side so encouraging the dogs to focus while their is another dog around. It is working really well! :)
My dogs are doing very well and I'm over the moon with their progress since we have been training regularly

Fly - She is running very well in our second team and has another bitch (Annie) to spark off, I am very pleased as the Devil's claw is working and she has been really sound and reliable - yeay!
Neo - Neo has a new handler (Ayrton) as Tasha his previous handler is with the Mutts. He is running very well for Ayrton and I am really pleased with him. I'm so glad he has a handler that he loves running for!!
Jamie - He is mad as always, he's not coping brilliantly well with the jump height (full height as we have no height dog) but he will get better as the season goes on
Fox- This one is not so good and is still chasing it doesn't seem to matter what I do but the team are fantastic and we are trying new things all the time. I'm sure we'll get there :os
Tia - What a little star! She is slowly getting over her people fears and will go up the jumps take a treat and normally comes back over the jumps. We are just making it a bit fun game at the moment to give her confidence.
Barley - This little one is doing really well. Going up the jumps, saying hello to the box loader and then coming back over the jumps. She is sooooo fast! Got to get her running!!
I will update after Stockbridge - Can't wait!!

Day out at the Beach

2010-03-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely morning at the beach today so I thought I'd post some pics that I took :)

The Gang

Running about

Jamie bored with me taking photos!

Busy weekend and a couple of little surprises

2010-03-14T15:28:00.001-07:00

I have had a busy weekend starting to prepare for the new flyball season. I had a bit of a shock last week when I realised it was only three weeks until our first comp. I am now running with a new team who I am having alot of fun with at training and I'm looking forward to Stockbridge at Easter. I decided that I really had to go and sort out my caravan. I missed the last show of last year and so I hadn't done any of the winter prep i.e. emptying the water tank :os. I have been putting off checking it as it is such an old girl and we had such a hard winter. When I got to the storage place we hooked it up but it wouldn't move WAH!! Managed to jog it back and forth until it moved then we realised that the grass had grown over quite a large piece of wood and this was stopping it lol!! There were men there too so it wasn't me being a stupid woman :oD. Got the caravan back home and was very pleased it was all still there! I opened it with great trepidation but it smelt caravanny and not damp. I was very optimistic at this point. I was so pleased that I cleaned the outside of it (I haven't done this since I've had it - 2 years - lol) and then stripped out everything from inside it and gave it a really good clean. I couldn't test the water as the leisure battery was totally flat but I did have good look and feel around the pipes and it all seems fine - touch wood!
I went out to feed the animals and found a little surprise waiting for me in the guinea pig hutch....

Meet Pickle and Pip

These terrible twosome were born on friday night. I am over the moon with them and they are probably already sold! lol!

I put my two rescue chinchillas, Morgan and Teddy, together last week and manged to get some pictures today of them together.

Do you think it's love? :o)

Teddy (the darker one) is 8 years old and Morgan is about 10 years old. Chinchillas can live to be 20 so hopefully these two will have many happy years together :)

It never rains but it pours :o(

2010-02-10T13:13:00.001-08:00

I had to say good bye to another of my gorgeous boys yesterday. Weasel the ferret.
He seemed a bit under the weather and a little bit on the thin side at the weekend so I kept an eye on him but then I noticed him vomiting his food so I suspected a blockage. I took him to vets who opened him up and found he had a aggressive cancer and he was never brought round from the anesthesia.
RIP Weasies xxx

RIP Homer

2010-01-25T12:36:00.001-08:00

We had to make the very sad decision to have Homer put to sleep today :( He had another stroke which this time left him totally paralysed on his rear end and with no balance. He was such a happy little man and still tried to come out for his bit of breakfast toast this morning.

Run free little man :) xx

Rats, Wolves and Trainers!!

2010-01-17T08:27:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd post a little update and some odd pictures! lol!
Below is a picture of Homer. J. Ratson. I have been rescuing rats for a long time, they live in a huge cage (or cages in the past) in a big shed in the garden. I decided last year that I would give this up as I just don't have the time so I have been letting the numbers dwindle. I am now down to one - Homer :0)
Homer has now come indoors to be nice and cosy and live out his last days in the warm. He has a stroke last year but although he is partially paralysed by it he still gets around and is enjoying his change of home bless him.

Sophie, my mum and I went to Lakeside which is a massive shopping centre not far from us, today. I got some vouchers for my birthday and still had various ones in the house so I collected them all up and off we went. Mum treated Soph to a build-a-bear as she doesn't see her very much due to our various work committments. She is definitely my Daughter, as she chose a wolf lol!! Below is Balto!
How cute is he??

These are my new waterproof trainers. I am very chuffed with these!! They were supposed to be £150 but were end of line and the last few pairs were reduced to £30! Bargain!!

Snow!!!

2010-01-10T05:02:00.001-08:00

Thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and add some snow pics :o)

Barley

Fox

Coming Mummy!!!

And again.......

and again!

Neo

Fly

Tia and Fox

Tia

Jamie after a good roll!

Happy Birthday Barley!!!

2009-12-09T13:04:00.000-08:00

Barley is one year old today!!!

Here is a pic of her at 4 1/2 weeks

And this is her lately

She is a very special little girl who is full of fun

I can't wait to see what this puppy is capable of. She is developing a beautiful turn on the box and is the fastest of my dogs on the flat. Hmmmm..... I just need to work on developing a ball obsession :)

Where does the time go??

2009-12-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update as I realised it had been ages since I posted anything. I get fed up when people don't update their blogs very often and I am getting really lapse with mine ooops! I have been really quiet on the dog front lately. I have decided that I am continuing flyball next year. Not sure what team but it won't be the Mutts. I have had several offers but I haven't made any firm decisions. I will wait and see what happens over the winter. Neo and I ventured into Working trials but I am not going to carry on after the course finishes. tracking really isn't Neo's thing and we both just get bored and fed up. I would rather be taking all off the dogs for a nice long walk!! lol! Neo and Jamie both start agility at the beginning of January. Neo has done a little bit and Jay hasn't done any so that should be interesting!
Work has been very busy as I work for a fashion company and with it being christmas.... I have also changed jobs in the company and now do all the planning of stock for our 34 stores! It is a big job but I am loving every minute of it.
The dogs are all doing really well. Fly is now on devils claw which seems to be keeping off the dreaded arthritis. Jamie is, well, Jamie! Fox is settling down really well and now beginning to get over his horrible 'teenager stage' and is turning into a fantastic dog. I am very pleased with him. Barley is a year old next week can you believe it!! She is such a darling but she does get away with murder due to her extremely cute little grin! Last but not least the new girl Tia is settling in beautifully. She is very much a part of the pack and adores Jamie. She follows him every where! I'll try and get some pics of them all next week especially the birthday girl! :)

Update

2009-10-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd add some pictures that I took today.

Barley beginning to look grown up

The girls
Fox

We have a new addition who has joined us. Tia is 14 months old and came to me as a foster. I took her in to save her from being put to sleep. She was terrified of people and new situations as she has been passed around and I am home number 6! She came here so that I could try and rehabilitate her but it is looking less and less likely that she will go :-S

She is such a lovely girl and has been through so much in her 14 months. As she has settled in so well and bonded so well with me and the pack, I feel bad sending her away. Oh dear as my friend said it looks as though I have become a member of the failed fosterers club lol!!

Tia

Bye Bye Mad Mutts

2009-09-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

I made the very sad decision last week not to run with the Mad Mutts next year :( This was a very hard decision but one I feel happy to have made. I got a promotion earlier on in the year which has made me more and more relied on at work and unable to commit fully to flyball, I had to miss Acremead the weekend before last due to work and this is the second time that my holiday has not been able to be honoured. I feel I am letting the team down if I continue as they want to go North more next year and do Acremead four times. Acremead is four hours away for me so I have to have friday and monday off work, I can no longer guarantee I can get this. I don't know what I will be doing next year I may run with another team who do the more local shows or I may give up Flyball all together, I haven't decided yet. I am starting working trials with Neo in a few weeks and I'm going to enter a couple of Cani X comps so watch this space!

Shakerstone!!

2009-09-10T13:02:00.001-07:00

This was a tiring one!!!!
I ended up having to work late on Friday night due to a massive glitch on our new computer system grrrrr! Got home at 10.30pm only to have to get up at 3.30am!! eugh!!! To say I was tired is probably not strong enough wording!!! I finally got to Shakerstone at 8.20 after getting stuck on the M25 for an hour. Boo hoo! I was beginning to think that this wasn't going to be a good weekend lol.
Saturday we were ring partying first division in, so I sat and scribed and drank coffee to keep myself awake. We then had a division off so I took Barley for a walk around the show ground. She was hilarious, I'd be walking along and suddenly feel a tug on the lead from behind. I'd turn around and she was on her back in front of some poor unsuspecting person who always fell for the batting eyelashes lol! She had a whale of a time! It took us about four times longer to walk round then it should have! She loved watching the flyball though! Her little ears went right up and she wasn't interested in anyone oooh! The Muttleys were then in, it didn't go well!! We had a seed time gained with Taff and although Fly can run as fast as him she was not running properly as I was running her back to another ball instead of a ragger. She has been spitting her ball out recentely (after running perfectly for 7 years!!!) so I have stopped using the ragger. She is having a bit of a strike about it and has dropped half a second off her time. Speed vs reliability??? theres a dilemma!! Needless to say we didn't do well. In fact I think we were 6th out of 7 teams, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong because I can't actually remember!! lol!! At prizegiving however Sam and Poppitt got their platinum award at last so it made it worthwhile.
We went out to celebrate it that night and went into the massive beer tent there. The bravest of us (or is that stupidest of us??) decided to go on the waltzer (or twister as some people call it), it was the fastest one that I have ever been on. Katie and I ended up cackling manically with a mixture of adrenaline and pure terror!!!! lol. At 11pm I let the Mad Mutts down and had to call it a night as I was so tired that I could barely sit up and was in danger of falling asleep at the table (That would have been a bad idea with my team members!!!) so I toddled off to bed and actually ended up taking most of the team with me as we were all tired. The rest stayed up until silly o'clock and appeared the next morning talking about cutlery and with straw in their hair?????
On Sunday the Terrierists ran really well on a submitted seed time as two of their fastest dogs were away. We put all the youngsters in and they did really well. I put Fox in the warm ups to do run backs and I was really pleased with him. He can't run up yet as his focus on the box just isn't quite there but he did brilliant runbacks with the dogs in the other lane. This is such a massive improvement from Barleylands at the beginning of the year when he did a run back in starters and jumped two sets of netting to attack the dog in the other lane!! I was over the moon with him! It's been such hard work with him that I think I will probably cry the first time he does it right in open and gets points!! LOL! The Running 4 Mutts were in Div 1. Jamie and Neo ran well even though Neo was being handled by Nicky as Tasha couldn't make the show, but we were against some of the fastest teams in the country...again we were slaughtered! We did however have the honour of running against the High Flyers when they ran the fastest time in the country ever, it cannot be called a British record however as it was not video'd!!! This was such a shame :(
The highlight of the show for me though was watching the Red Arrows who made an appearence at the show!! They were as amazing as I had always remembered them to be, thats not something that happens very often is it?
By the end of Sunday the lack of sleep had caught up with me and I was extremely tired and very pleased to be going home. I think my team were pleased I was going too as I was a little bit grumpy :)

Bad Blogger!!

2009-08-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

Yes I know I have been really bad but in my defense I have such a busy couple of weeks!!

Had the British Flyball Champs the weekend before last. What a blast!! We didn't do particularly well but better then we expected with most of the teams.

The Fun 4 Mutts were seeded first but ended up fifth as they had nothing but problems with dogs running out. It was a shame as they were shaping up to be a good little team but Dante has been getting really tired and is the only height dog in the team. This puts a lot of pressure on her and tbh she is not up to running all day. Hopefully we will have another one up and running for next season!!

The Terrierists were fab and although seeded low in the division actually came 2nd. They have a fab new dog called Holly who has been hit and miss but thankfully got it together for the champs, this is really lucky as the terrierists were missing their fastest dog Baloo with an injured foot! Phew - good timing!!

The Mad Muttleys were last seed but pulled of a third place. Fly was running really slow and was a bit stiff. We had a fifth dog just in case but she was quite happy and wasn't in any pain so we carried on, she loosened up and got faster during the day but was never on top form, bless her! We won races with consistency and we were really pleased with this.

The Running 4 Mutts were on an incredibly fast time of 17.57 that we some how managed to get (not sure how!!) We were in completely the wrong division and just expected to annihilated 3-0. We went out with not a care in the world and came fourth! We were so pleased! We took every team to five legs so we gave them all a run for their money! Yeay!

The entertainment in the evenings was really good and 'Neon Night on Friday night was a sight to behold!

The Mad Mutts girlies ready for Neon Night!!

It took me ages to brush my hair out and it was still massive the next day. There are some pictures of me running Fly that are hilarious!! LOL!!

All in all it was a great weekend and I was sorry to come home. I left Monday morning and had three frantic days at work before going to Devon for a week. I won't bore you with details but just look at this beach that went on.........

Me and Fly

2009-07-31T15:13:00.000-07:00

I got sent some lovely pics of Me and Fly after getting our Blue award. So I thought I'd post them on here. I'm still over the moon about it!! lol! Also found a picture of us from 2003!

Us in the olden days!! This is the original Mad 4 Mutts team

Me with my gob open as usual ha ha!!

Us with our Ice Blue Moon award

Kisses mmmmm! lol

On a totally different note, Barley chased a ball and picked it up. I was rather pleased!! :^)

Fly and her Ice Blue Moon

2009-07-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

Fly with her bits from her Ice Blue Moon Award

Chilterns Show

2009-07-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

I had the clever idea to go and see the new Harry Potter film (brilliant) on friday night. We went for a chinese and then went to see the film after. This resulted in me finally getting to bed at 2am as I had to quickly pack for the weekend. I then had to get up at 4.30am urgh!! I blearily drove to Katies to pick her up as she was staying with me and then we set off for the show. Made it to the show ground in just over an hour from Katie's house and quickly set the caravan up. We were in the second div on with the Muttleys and did really well although nearly every race went to five legs. We came second and achieved a cracking new seed time of 20 secs dead. This was especially good as Tyler and Lily were not being run by Dave and Kate (they are both now sacked!! :) lol). The Running 4 Mutts also got a stunning new seed time of 17.57 but ended coming seventh!! lol!! Poor Fly was so tired by the end of her racing that she could barely keep her head up to see where she was going bless her! At presentation I was awarded with Fly's Ice Blue Moon award and the team brought me a beautiful engraved glass frame with a picture of Fly in it and a bottle of rose cava (very nice). I will post some photos of her with her goodies soon. We then had a celebratory chinese (diet did not go well this weekend lol). On the sunday the Fun 4 Mutts ran but it was raining most of the day and it was very slippery. They did well and got a third (i think) but the times were not great. It was a lovely show and it was very nice to be back at a country show where there is quite a bit to do. As ever the Barkshire Bandits hosted a very slick and well run show and you would never have guessed that on saturday there was only six of them running it!!

Puppy Reunion

2009-07-06T14:06:00.001-07:00

We had a bit of a reunion at Millets Farm as Christine from the Wolf Pack brought Becky down. First of all we tried to get some pictures of us cuddling the puppies........

Hmmmmm

Squirmy

Kisses

So we thought we'd a picture of them standing.....

Look who has the naughty puppy!!

We then gave up and let them all play :)

All four of them

Henry watching the girls play

Becky and Fraggle

Barley and Henry at the back

Becky and Fraggle at the front

All four of them

Fly sulking after being told off for telling puppies off!!!

Go Fox Go!!!

2009-07-06T12:11:00.000-07:00

Well I think the pictures speak for themselves!! Fox actually did it!!!! He ran in Starters with a dog in the other lane!! Woo Hoo

On the box

Actually looking at the ball and not the dog in the other lane!!

(you can see how tense I was in the background! lol)

(photos courtesy of doggieportraits.co.uk)

We were at our show, Milletts Farm, this weekend and Sam put Fox into the starters team as fifth dog. I wasn't going to run him as I had been focusing him on the box but he was still very easily distracted. I put him in the practice of the first leg and then put him away. I only tend to run him if there are not enough dogs as I always feel I'm letting the team down. He generally just runs up and down the lane, chasing the dog in the other lane and ignoring the ball. The team had four dogs that were pretty reliable so I didn't bother. On the first run Bronwyn, Sam's JRT, decided she didn't want to play so Tasha persuaded me to put him in. I put him in and ran him when I thought the other team had finished on the first two legs but they hadn't finished and were trying to catch their dog that went wrong to run it again so we won the race (it was best of three) We were running all three legs so as we had already won, Fiona and Tasha persuaded me to try and run him when the other team was still running which, I have to say, scared the life out of me as he has a tendency to run across. I let him go and the other team let their dog go. Fox stopped in the lane, the dog in the other lane stopped and they just stared at each other. My heart was in my mouth as the last thing Fox needs is another fight but I shouted 'GO GET YOUR BALLIE!!!' and to my and my teams utter astonishment he turned away from the dog, got his ball out of the box and ran back toward me!! I was so shocked that I forgot to run and then when I finally did I shouted 'FLY!!' LOL! We were in the blue lane first which makes it easier to focus the dog as you have your back to the other team. In the red lane it was a little more tricky as he could see the dogs in the other lane more easily and he turns that way on the box. I had to chase him up the lane the first two times as he was threatening to run back after the dog but he got his ball and ran back to me. I had to run like hell to get out of the lane before he bowled me over. The third time he looked and slowed but then ran to the box. I was so thrilled!!! The thing that helped was that I had an army of Fox catchers down the middle of the runback area to stop him going across. This gave me the courage to run at full pelt to the back of the lane. This meant that on the way back he didn't look at the other dog at all and his focus was excellent. We ended up with a second so I was rather chuffed!! The only really annoying thing was that I had to admit my sister was right!!! Grrrr! She loved that and I know I'll never live it down!!! LOL!!

Dogs update

2009-06-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-16T13:52:00.000-07:00

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.

Acremead Kennels

2009-05-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

After the disapointment of having to move to Acremead from Barleylands we were delighted that it was such a great venue and the show went so well.A view of the Ring

The exercise area

Such a hot day!!

It was a really good show, lovely atmosphere and beautiful weather. On the Saturday we had multibreed with the Mutts Nutts :) coming 4th, we were just unlucky really. We put Jamie and Neo in the mixed pairs which they won (there was only one other pair and their dog interfered with Jay twice but that's besides the point!! :)) We then decided to run Fly and Tasha's cocker spaniel, Dante in the mini/maxi pairs just to get them out. Dante has been running in starters for 4 years as she will not come back over the jumps. Not only did she run in in every leg, we got 2nd!!!!!! We were gobsmacked!!!

Tasha had a really hard show, not only was it her first without Magic, she also brought her very sick ferret with her to nurse him every two hours and he unfortuantly died on sat afternoon. We sat down as a team and decided to put Dante into the Mad Muttleys and see if we could get her Flyball Dog points to try and cheer her up. On Sunday we put her in the Muttleys and kept pulling poor Lily when we could. We did it!!! There was a massive cheer when she finally got them and made Tasha really happy. It was worth just getting a 3rd!

Sunday night was Katie's birthday party. I think the pictures speak for them selves!!!!

Ermmmmm!!!

Ooookkkkk!!

Don't even ask!!!

It was all too much for some of us!!!

Bye Bye Barleylands :(

2009-05-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

At the weekend we were at our beautiful venue, Barleylands for the last time :(. We have moved our bank holiday show to Oxford due to such a poor turnout at the Essex ground. This is such a shame as it is a pretty much perfect venue.

A few snaps of the venue

We only had racing on Sunday, so as my great team mates had set up the ring on Friday (I was at work) we decided to do a bit of training for our younger dogs on Saturday. As Fox had been doing so well in training I took the rather daring decision to run him with another dog, Holly - a staff, in the other lane....................It didn't go well. He did stay in his own lane which was great but decided to chase Holly and came down his own lane at full pelt determined to chase her at the end. I tried to stop him and he ran me over!!!! I have to point out he is a huge collie who weighs about 25kg. IT HURT!!!! I pulled my back and shoulder and my hand connected with his tooth as I tried to grab his collar. Ouch!! Needless to say Fox and I had words and I put him away. I gave him some time to think about it and brought him out again. I ran him on his own and he ran beautifully. I then put him in his new headcollar and held him near the start gates. The dogs ran past him and everytime he looked like he was too interested I pulled on his lead fairly firmly. Having the headcollar on meant he had to turn to face me, it worked really well and he was soon looking to me when a dog ran past him.

On sunday I was feeling rather sore, actually this is a bit of an understatment! Fox was not in my good books so I decided to give him a chance to redeem himself. We had a starter team withdraw and we already had a starters team in so Fox and Yogi (Tasha's dog) went into our second team. This was the 'numpty team' as we call them (bless). If the dogs just go up and down we are pleased! The other three ran then we would run either Fox or Yogi down when the other team had finished to get them used to going up and down in that type of atmosphere. It was great training and I was very pleased with Fox. At the beginning he was a bit over awed but didn't attempt to chase the dogs running round behind him, he just didn't move at all. By the end of the division he was going up and down well and coming straight back to me without me having to rugby tackle him! I'm getting more hopeful that he will do flyball every day, perhaps even next season (frantically touching wood :)).

The Running 4 Mutts and Mad Muttleys were pretty bad tbh which was down to handler errors. We swapped Jamie and Fly round for this competition and put Fly last dog in the Muttleys. Anchor dog is her favourite position as she is competetive. We did pretty good times but Andy struggled with his changeover onto Lilly and just kept getting lights. In the Running 4 Mutts Jamie really struggled with the box for some reason and had alot of trouble getting the ball out of the box. Neo then cut his stopper pad on the last race of the day. This still has not healed and has meant that we have had to pull the Running 4 Mutts out of Wimbledon at the weekend. All in all not a brilliant weekend for me!

I did get some nice pictures of some of our Terrierist team though

Paige

Baloo

I took these on my new phone so I thought they were pretty good!

Barley's sister, Bella

2009-05-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

I love this pic!!

Hmmm seeing a family resemblance!!! LOL!

Here are a couple of pics of Barley's sister, Bella. She belongs to my Brother and his wife. She is much more staffy in build then Barley but with a little collie head. this makes her look very fat but bless her she's really not that big :)

Fly

2009-05-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

Today I had my camera over the training field and managed to snap some rather nice pictures of Fly, I'm very pleased with my efforts!! lol!!

This last one is my favourite,

Think I'll get that one framed :)

A bit of training

2009-04-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

Katie came over to me today and we did a bit of training on the babies boxes. We decided to put a board infront of the box to encourage them to jump on and off the box rather then headbutting it as most Staffs tend to do!! We took them all up to the box one by one and got them to step over the jump and put all four feet on the box and jump off. We did this several times until they had it and then gave them a small run up with the ball in the box to get them to use the box properly. Well that was the plan!!!!
Boston was a complete numpty!! I'm sorry Kate but they all have to know!! LOL!! He was going up to the box, leaning over the jump, stealing the ball out and running off in some random direction!!
Stacey was fab in the beginning! I have taken over running her because of Kate's leg. She got the idea very quickly and was doing a beautiful box but then that game got boring and she ran off under Kate's jeep and chewed her ball. Hmmmm
Fox was amazing!!!!! He took a step forward this week. I have never seen him so focused. He even chose the ball over the ragger. I think we were all a bit gobsmaked. Perhaps the incident at Barleylands (and the subsequent training I have been doing) has done the trick (all fingers and toes are crossed now!!)
We also did a tiny bit with Barley and Henry. They are nearly five months old now - can you believe it!!! We just stood them both on the box giving praise and getting them used to the noise and the feel of the box. Henry is great because he is so focused on a ball, I was walking him on the box and rolling the ball away to get him running of it. Barley had to be bribed with food!! She not hugely bothered by a ball and just wants a fuss so I just got her standing on the box and gave her a treat.
I promise I will get some pictures soon. I keep forgetting to take the camera out!!!

RIP Magic

2009-04-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had to say good bye to our gorgeous boy Magic. He was nearly 12 years old, a good age for any cavalier but especially for one of his breeding. We got him at 9 months old as an abused, frightened little lad who blossomed into a fantastic little man. He was our team mascot and although he never did flyball, he loved coming with us and spending the weekends in my caravan or escaping from it!! LOL!!

After our weekend at Stockbridge he became ill and couldn't move or eat. My sister took him to the vets and finally made the kindest decision - he was tired and had given up

Run free at the bridge little dude we will miss you xx

Stockbridge at Easter

2009-04-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

I have just got back from a fantastic weekend in Hampshire but goodness am I tired!! I think we all decided that perhaps it was a bit silly to do our own show then three days later do a four day show!! :)
Friday was starters which started disastrously when Kate twisted her bad knee whilst running Boston. She has a cruciate injury and her knee just gave way. She was carried out of the ring and we decided not to race for the rest of the morning. In the afternoon Dave took over Boston and I ran Stacey, Boston's sister. Stacey had been eyeballing the other team and then running across the lane in the morning so I calmly held my hand over her eyes and then let her go. She ran like a dream! I have told Dave that he can't run her any more LOL!! Kate went to A&E and came back several hours later with her leg in plaster from hip to ankle oops.
On Saturday the Mad Muttleys (Jamie's team) ran. Sam had to run Lily as Kate couldn't. Lily was not right all day and I could not get my changeovers right, this is really unusual. We were rather outclassed in the division but we ran our fastest ever time of 21.47 and Jamie ran a stonking time of 4.36 in the wet! This was the fastest time that any of our dogs did all weekend not bad for a Beardie, LOL. Then at presentation I was presented with Jamie's Graduate and Neo's Advanced in beautiful silver frames. Ahhh!
Sunday was our top team's turn in Div 2, We were the Cannon fodder!!! Poor Fly really struggled with her arthritis and was very stiff when she got up this morning. I warmed her up for about half an hour and massaged her legs which really helped but she didn't really run right all day. She did not like the slippery ground and didn't run faster then 4.60 secs all day, which is really slow for her. She was start dog and these are a new set of lights which meant that there were loads of false starts and she had to run lots. She was exhausted bless her! We made the decision at the end of the day to put her down to the second team for the next show where she can run anchor dog (her favourite position) and interchange her with another dog so she doesn't have to run all day. This is a really hard thing to do as she was my first flyball dog and a superb dog in her day. She was easily one of the fastest and most reliable start dogs in the country. Its such a shame when you start to see them get old. :(
Monday was multibreed. Jamie ran with Lily, Taff and Poppit. We did really well and came second, only loosing to a team that was a second and a half faster then us! So we were really pleased with our time of 19.36 secs.
All in all it was weekend of mixed results but a good one at that!

May Barleylands Update

2009-04-08T15:10:00.000-07:00

Barleylands in May will now be going ahead but just for the one day. The entries are pathetic but we will hold it for the people that have entered. It is really disappointing that we have not had more support. Some of the biggest teams in the South East have not put in entries, very upsetting. I swear that if I hear one team in the South East complain about the distances they have to travel I will hit them over the head with a Barleylands brochure!!! GRRR! The May Bank Holiday show will probably now be moved to a more central position which is a real shame as Barleylands is a fantastic venue. Oh well. My view is, that if people are not going to support their local shows then they don't deserve to have them. :(.

Barleylands April 09

2009-04-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

Well what a weekend. Barleylands was a great success even if I do say so myself! I am soooo tired though lol. I got there at 9am Friday morning and marked out the general position and size of the ring so that we could organise our camping. Tasha, Dave, Kate, Lee, Tony and Faye got there about half an hour later and we decided to get our caravans sorted. By the time we were all set up Sam and Andy arrived so we helped them with their awning and spent the rest of the afternoon marking out and setting up the ring (no mean feat I can tell you!!). We were finished at about 7 so had some dinner and a few drinks and went to bed very early for us.
On Saturday we started racing at the leisurely time of 10am as we only had starters, pairs and singles. It was a very relaxed day. We had no warm up limits and spent the day helping out teams and giving advice. It was very productive day and I feel that the newer teams went away with a clearer idea of the rules and etiquette of flyball. I learned that there is no way that Fox can go in a flyball lane until he has matured a bit more!!!!! I'm not even going into that disaster!!!! My friend, Sarah, came to look at Teddy a lovely little rescue dog that I had been looking for a home for, fell in love with him and took him home with a promise that she would be at our next training session with him! We also had some ladies from a brand new team in Manningtree who had a go in the singles. One of the ladies had a cracking pointer who did a time of 4.90 secs very impressive for such a tall dog. Pairs and singles went really well but not always completely smoothly lol! After presentation we had the fifty metre dash but I think all the handlers were too tired and we only had about ten dogs compete. After we had finished Kate and Sam went and got a KFC while we all fed and wee'd our dogs and cleared away the lights and gazebos. We then all fell on the KFC like vultures owing to the fact we had not had time to eat a single thing all day!
Sunday went like clockwork! Very few problems and some great racing. The terrierists won their division with some great racing and changeovers. The Muttleys were really outclassed and I just could not get my changeovers onto Lily sorted as Jamie was completely over excited and I had trouble holding him let alone trying to get a decent changeover!!!. The team did not really gel until the last race of the day when it all clicked and we got our fastest time of the day (probably because Jamie had actually settled a bit)! I'm not sure what was wrong with him this weekend as he barked constantly for two days (he never does this) and was bonkers! I'm taking him back off CSJ food LOL!!!! The Running 4 Mutts (our top team) were running pretty well. We were in line for a 2nd place possibly 1st when disaster struck and Poppit split her claw all the way up! ARGH!!! We came 4th! Fly was not very good in the morning and very stiff. I have to keep reminding myself that she is approaching nine and although she is in great condition and looks (and acts) like a dog of one age is definitely creeping up on her. Bless her. Barley had a great weekend. We put her, Henry and Fraggle in a big pen by the admin tent. Lots of socialisation!! LOL!! They had a blast! The only thing that marred the weekend was the fact that we found out that we had only received 13 entries for our May show so it looks like it won't be going ahead :( Keeping our fingers crossed.

Beware Small furries!!

2009-04-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

Look away now if you don't like ferrets!

Don't blame me

I have been asked to post some pictures of them

This is Ferrari.

He is two years old and the laziest ferret you will ever meet! He will only come out of his bed if he can be sure he is getting a cuddle!

These are Sawyer (my baby) Raisin (mad polecat) and Tinsel (Ferrari's sister)

This is my gorgeous girl, Lex,

I have to check her regularly to make sure she is not dead as she sleeps so soundly, i can pick her up and she doesn't wake up!

Raisin's favorite game is chasing my dogs (including Fox) around the garden. He jumps around on all four feet together and dives at the dogs! Monkey!

Only two days.....

2009-04-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

to Barleylands. I went and picked up by caravan today (it lives with friends of mine at the moment as we only have a double drive and three cars - hmmm) and parked it on our drive. I have had to book a day's holiday from work tomorrow as I have felt too unwell with my ear infection to do anything!! So tomorrow will be spent shopping, cleaning and maintenance of caravan, housework and packing. All ready for friday morning argh!!
I took the dogs for a quick walk in a different place to where they normally go. This is a shorter walk but I didn't feel up to the normal hour. It is a bit darker as it is in a slight valley, and Barley was really funny. She would stop and sniff so I kept walking, she would look up, realise I was gone and screech at me until she got back to me! Sooo funny - bless her! It was as though she was shouting 'wait for me!!' She is getting really speedy on the flat now, it helps that the others are so fast so she has to work really hard at keeping up. Someone asked me last year where I keep getting all these super fast dogs from but I suspect a lot of it is that Fly is naturally very fast so if the others want a ball they have to try very hard to get it! Hopefully this will rub off on Barley:)
I have a plan for Fox this year to stop him chasing other dogs, I have never known a dog with such a strong chase instinct! I am going to put him in my car, in a cage, near the admin tent so I can keep an eye on him, very close to the ring so he can watch the racing. I am hoping he will tire himself out barking and will eventually get bored and sleep. I am going to put Neo in the other cage as he is very calm and not interested in the flyball until I am putting his harness on (maybe a calming influence?). I am really hoping this will work as I don't think he will ever do Flyball otherwise and this certainly can't make him any worse, Heres hoping!!

I'm fed up!!!!

2009-03-28T14:32:00.000-07:00

I am totally fed up today. I have an horrendous ear infection which is really painful, has made me feel really unwell and has meant that I have had to miss training today (probably not such a bad thing considering the weather). I also miss out on going to the Flyball AGM tomorrow as I really don't feel up to the long drive and the long day.
I have spent the whole day on the sofa with cats and a puppy on my lap - oh how terrible :)! The worst thing is that I know I have a lot to do before Barleylands next weekend but I just don't feel up to it! Boo Hoo get the violins out! I managed to get some pictures of Barley today. They are not great as she is normally on my lap gazing adoringly at me. I stalked her for about an hour with the camera to get these ones!

As you can see, her nose is lengthening now, in fact everything is lengthening!

How are you supposed to resist that face?Or that one?

She is such a little dot and I am absolutely besotted with her. She just has one of those cute little faces that makes you melt every time you look at her. That's going to be great at getting her out of trouble if she ever goes through a naughty phase.

Busy weekend

2009-03-22T13:57:00.000-07:00

Phew, I haven't stopped this weekend!!!
On Friday evening Andy gets a text from our friends, Colin and Laura, asking if they were still coming over on Saturday night???? Apparently Andy had a few too many drinks (NOOOOO - not Andy! LOL!!) at Colin's birthday party a few weeks earlier and invited them over! LOL!! We tidied the house, I walked the dogs and we went to bed. What a way to spend a Friday night hey!!! On Saturday morning I got up at six!!!!! to walk the dogs as we were going to visit my sister-in-law, Emma, and her partner, Chris. We met up with Andy's parents and Chris' parents and had a fantastic meal in a wonderful pub near where they live in Buckinghamshire. We went back to Emma and Chris' for a cup of tea and a tour of their new house and came home. On the way home we stopped at Asda to pick up dinner and the all important beer and I started to cook dinner as it was six by the time we got back. We had a lovely evening with our friends, Barley was in heaven with all these people to fuss her and spent the whole evening on one or other of our laps - bless her.
On Sunday morning we had flyball training. I think Fox has reverted back to being a complete little **** and was so naughty!! He kept picking a fight with another dog that he doesn't like and kept running off!! I put him away after about ten minutes as it was obvious that he was not going to concentrate and there is no point forcing the issue with him. Hmmmm I keep telling myself that he is only two and he will get better!! It has become a little mantra! LOL!! Kate and I got the puppies out and they had a lovely hour playing together and trying to get fusses of everyone who came past! They are so good and getting more responsive all the time. I actually think that Barley will be doing Flyball before Fox!
I came home and took the big dogs out for a lovely walk for about two hours all round the farms on the back of where I live. The farmers are very good and keep great paths for the walkers so it is a real pleasure to walk round there. I then came home, got washed and changed and went out for dinner at Andy's parents. Finally getting home at 8.30pm!
Next week will be just as bad. On Saturday we are training the Mad Muttlies as we have Bryn running with them now and we need to check who he can run with and I have to pull out the caravan and get it ready for the following week (Barleylands Show). Then on Sunday it's the flyball AGM. Sooooo busy!!!!

Update

2009-03-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd add a quick update as I actually remembered (and managed) to get some pics of Barley.

This is her practising her sheepdog pose waiting for me to throw her ball.

This is her waiting paitently for a treat And this is her in her favourite position in the whole world!!!

As you see she is looking a bit more grown up now.

We had training on Sat and Fox was a bit of a plonker! He went up the jumps beautifully, triggered the box, watched the ball roll down the box, refused to pick up the ball but just stood there on the box, waiting for me to call him back. He was very focused on me even when Kate started walking Stacey (Staffy-Barley's half sister) up and down a bit so I was really pleased at that, we can work on the ball later lol!

On Sat night we went to Kate and Dave's as it was Dave's birthday. It was really nice as Sam, Andy and the girls came down so the whole team was there. Sam brought Fraggle and of course Henry was there so Barley spent the whole evening playing with her brother and sister. Barley is weeny compared to them!!!! They are both about two inches taller and longer then her!!! Bless her! We had a lovely evening. We made plans for our first show in April and decided who was in charge of what. Decided on our calendar for the year. That is most weekends in April, May, June, July, August and September gone! Then we had an amazing Indian, It was great everyone brought a dish and Kate outdid herself with some amazing curries and a superb tiramisu!!! Yummmmmy! Everyone went home about a stone heavier but boy was it gooooood! We are really busy as we have decided to give flyball in the South a real boost this year by hosting 6 shows. Luckily the first one is not full so we are only racing on the Sunday but it means that we can do all the fun stuff on the Sat, singles, pairs, starters and other games. We also have some excellent prizes but that will be revealed at the show!! All in all a great night amazing food and we spent the whole evening talking about flyball till 1am. Sam and I even got onto reminiscing telling Kate and Dave about the early days of the Mutts and the outlandish and weird things we got up to when we had, had a apple juice too many!!!

Fox is a star!!!

2009-03-07T15:21:00.000-08:00

We had flyball training today and I just took Fox and Barley. Fox has come on so much in the last few weeks as he loves a ragger. He actually went up to the box, got a ball out of the box and came back over the jumps with other dogs in the vicinity!!!! This is a massive achievement for us. I really didn't think he would ever get the hang of it as he is not a huge ball fan and is very easily distracted but I have spent the week getting him to fetch the ball, and bring it back to me before he can play with the ragger. It has paid off!!! YEAY!!! It has also made him lengthen out over the jumps so we are getting a real idea of how quick he will be. I thought that he may turn out to be too big as he is a very heavy dog but it turns out that he is a bit speedy under that huge frame. I am excited to see how quick he will be.
Barley played with Henry (her brother) both of whom decided to go deaf when we called them back - little monkeys! Henry is so different to Barley. He is much more collie in appearance and is the spit of his dad, he is a really handsome little man. He has a wiry coat while Barley's is very soft (not sure if this is still puppy coat?) and he is much more stubborn then her, lol. They are so similar in basic personality though and are both really gentle little souls who just want their bellies tickled.
I promise to try and take some more pictures soon!!!! It's a bit difficult though when the pup is doing the wall of death around your living room!!

Great week

2009-03-01T09:52:00.000-08:00

It has been a very quiet week for me, dog wise, this week, I have focused on work as I have been going for a promotion which I am very pleased to say I have got!! I learned that Jamie got his Flyball Dog Intermediate award and Neo has his Advanced so I am very proud of my two boys!! I also got a blinding deal on my O2 phone, woo hoo!!
My sister and I had a small flyball training session today over our local park, just taking our three young collies and the jumps. Fox has had a few sessions now but is so unfocused that it is taking a while. I have however had him playing with a ragger which he loves and it has completely turned him round. I have so far struggled to get him to go over three jumps as he switches off and either runs round or runs off!! Today however we got him going up to my sister, taking a ball off the ground (I haven't introduced the box yet- too much for his small brain to cope with!!) and coming back over the jumps to get the ragger!!! it only took us about ten mins!!! I'm really pleased with him. I keep saying that he won't run until he is about four but I may be changing my mind a bit, maybe three and a half :).
Tasha's dogs were brilliant. Echo is three and has taken a loooong time to mature. He has also had a problem with other dogs which has knocked my sister's confidence with him. I have taken it upon my self to bully her into bringing him training! :) He did her proud today and went over three jumps in a row. Roo was amazing. She is the most hyper dog I have ever met, you can practically see her little brain going a million miles and hour. After she had calmed down a bit she was coming over four jumps to me for a cuddle then turning around and going over four jumps to Tasha for a cuddle. We don't train with netting at all so this was really good!!
Not a lot to say about Barley but she has been really good and has mastered being walked on the lead. Good little girl

In with the big dogs

2009-02-22T11:17:00.000-08:00

Andy and I decided to have a bit of a spring clean of our conservatory and out-buildings today. We wanted to make more room for Barley who is currently residing in our conservatory so we cleared it out and puppy proofed it. As we were outside anyway we decided to put Barley in the run with the others so I could see how they all got on in an enclosed area.

I felt so sorry for Fox! The other three very quickly got on top of the kennels where Barley couldn't reach them and slept all afternoon, Fox on the other hand couldn't fit on the roofs with the others and so had his one on one time with Barley. She harrased him for hours!!!!! That pup has so much energy, and spent 4 hours barking at Fox and hanging from the fur around his head. He was sooooo good and didn't tell her off once bless him.

Look at Fox's face

'Please take it out!!!!'

Even standing on her hind legs she is still a midget compared to him
Barley asleep after her hard afternoon

Barley has now been nicknamed Weeble as I have never known a dog to wee so much!!!!

Manners!!!

2009-02-21T13:46:00.001-08:00

Barley finally learned a few dog manners today!!!

This is Magic!

Magic is my Mum's 11 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. He is old and crotchity and the head honcho of both mine and my sister's packs. No one messes with Magic!!!! Any one who knows Fly will know what an evil little cow she is but Magic is the only dog in the world that she is scared of.Here is Barley sizing him up. Her normal behaviour is to jump around and bark at other dogs to play with them, which she did to him and got growled at for her troubles

This is her favourite game Tail Ragger!!!! Magic did not take to kindly to this pupsqueak hanging on to his tail!

This is about ten seconds after he pinned her to the floor!

And here she is pushing her luck again!!!!
After this he gave her a proper telling off and she left him alone for the rest of the evening.

He is so funny. Between us my sister and I have seven collies, three of which are large entire males and they ALL tow his line! I have never known such a dominant dog in my life. Last year we nearly lost him when he slipped a disc, which practically paralysed his rear end and he got weaker and weaker. Tasha took him to the vets for what we thought was the final time but Graham our vet is fantastic and tried him on some new steriods and painkillers. They have worked miracles and he is in amazing condition again. He is now being walked again, has built up the lost muscle tone on his rear quarters and is like he was at five years old. He is amazing for his age particularly as the dogs in his line of breeding barely last beyond six. He may be practically deaf, short sighted and have a heart mumur but he is still going strong!!!!

Relaxing

2009-02-19T12:19:00.000-08:00

Sorry I couldn't resist!!! How relaxed are these two!!!! I'm enjoying this blogging lark!!!

Neo's turn

2009-02-19T11:34:00.000-08:00

It was Neo's turn to have some one on one time with Barley tonight. It didn't go particularly well........

Look at the poor little scared face! it was really hard to get pictures of them as Neo was either running or trying to get on my lap!!!

ARGH!!! Where is it??!!!

He is terrified of her!!! He spent most of the evening running away from her! What a wuss! He has always been scared of puppies, I wouldn't mind but he is a huge border collie and it seems that the smaller the dog is the more frightening it is. LOL! Barley of course thought this was great fun, she chased him round until he finally plucked up some courage and told her off. She then had a sleep and then woke up and chased him round some more, barking at him! Monkey! They finally settled down and although still a bit wary off each other, they sort of played with each other. This morning however I caught Barley sharing Neo's breakfast! I didn't have my camera to take a picture but it was very cute. When they were all outside together this morning he was fine with her and even tried to play with her. She is very popular in the pack and they all enjoy spending time with her in the garden where her energy is diluted a bit!! LOL!!

Flyball pup

2009-02-17T10:34:00.001-08:00

Well I think she may do flyball, fingers crossed!!!!

Thought I'd update a bit as I always moan at my blogger friends that they don't update enough or AT ALL SAM & KATE!!!! Hee hee!! All Barleys brothers and sisters are all in their new homes now. It nice that we will be able to all keep in touch as we all know each other. My brother has Barley's very pretty but very feisty sister called Bella. So we went to go and say hello at the weekend. The two girls terrorised my brother's huge german shepherd. They nicked all his toys then told him off! LOL!!! I will get some pics the next time I go over there.

We have been doing more training and Barley can 'sit', 'down' & 'leave', We are in the process of learning 'paw' so she is doing really well. She is soooooo sweet! She comes up to you on her belly then immediately rolls over to have her belly rubbed, a characteristic of the litter. I can see them lining up for flyball now, four stollies on their backs!!! :)

She is also getting on really well with the big dogs. They all acknowledge her as my pup and are really good with her. She gets away with murder with them, Jamie especially adores her! The cats on the other hand,well..........!

Markings

2009-02-11T13:21:00.000-08:00

I had to add this photo of the markings of Barley's side I really like this and it reminds me of the Big Bear star constellation.

Getting to know the big dogs

2009-02-11T13:03:00.001-08:00

I thought it was a good idea to let the dogs get to know each other on a one to one basis so that it is calmer and I can spot and stop potential problems before they start. It was Fly's turn tonight! She was NOT impressed!!!! I decided to start with her because she is going to be the problem as she doesn't like other dogs and although she has never hurt any of my current dogs, she has inflicted serious injuries on other dogs I have had. Barley was determined to play with Fly, Fly was determined NOT to play with Barley!!

Look at that face!! I have to add I did distract Barley away from Fly at this point! That is not a good face in Fly World!!

Fly was really good and very calm and tolerant. I was surprised by how much abuse she took from the young whippersnapper. She did tell her off several times but it was no more then rolling Barley over, Barley ran away and thought about it for thirty seconds before rushing Fly again! She is a monkey!!

I have to say I am going to have my work cut out with her as she is a very dominant and subborn little bitch but really sweet and lovely at the same time. She is very similar to Fly in the fact that you can't give her an inch....lucky I love a challenge!!!

Training Barley

2009-02-10T12:37:00.000-08:00

I have the spent the last two evenings teaching Barley a 'sit'. She was doing really well until a distraction arrived

Meet Kimba my Bengal x cat. He actually knows the 'sit' command and decided to show Barley how it was done!!!

I gave up pretty quickly this evening as it is difficult with the cat joining in too but Barley did really well and was paying attention to me instead of Kimba. Very impressive for such a young puppy.

I started doing some training with a ball in preparation for flyball (you can't start them to young!!) I was rolling a ball and getting to bring it back to me to play tuggy. It worked like a dream and she got the idea very quickly. She loves the ball and the tuggy so we are playing this game in the evenings
She likes this game but needs to learn to grab the ragger and not my hand!! LOL!!

Below is her trying out her collie side and trying to round up Kimba!

Playing the innocent

Sneaking off round the back

Prentending she's found something to sniff on the floor

Realising that this probably wasn't a good idea!!!!

Bringing Barley home

2009-02-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

Barley finally joined us on sat. She is such a sweetie and has settled really well. She doesn't make any noise, slept through the night - all night and is practically papertrained. How boring hey?? She makes up for it by being really fun, I had forgotten how fun it was to have a puppy around and how much they get under your feet. Cooking dinner on Sunday was a nightmare! Not only did I have three of the cats weaving arount my feet hoping for titbits but the pup was stalking them all, barking at them (which was making me jump) and generally being in the place where I wanted to move to next!!! The cats are very dog savvy and Barley soon learned not to go anywhere near them, they don't take any prisoners!!! She met the big dogs with hilarious results, Neo was terrified of her! Hes not exactly a small collie and was running away from the tiny puppy! Bless him! Jamie thought she was great fun and was playing with her for about three hours. They are kept seperate at the moment while I am at work but seeing each other in the mornings and evenings. Although Barley really wasn't sure at first, she adores playing with them now and even Neo acknowledges her.

She is not impressed with the little jumper that we got her to keep her warm. We have no heating at the moment and thought she would get cold ( Thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!)

A new blog

2009-02-09T12:45:00.000-08:00

As we have brought home a new puppy I thought it would be fun to keep a blog about how we get on. The puppies were bred by my friend, Katie and have all gone to friends so this is a nice way to see how they are all getting on. These are my dogs.

Fly
Fly is 8 years old. She is a working sheepdog from a local kennels. She was a suberb flyball dog in her younger days but is getting on a little bit now! LOL!! Saying that she is still in our top team but only because we have nothing to replace her with yet! Bless her

Neo

Neo (Canen Starr) is from the fabulous Canen kennels in North Wales. He is a dream dog. A great flyball dog and another of mine to be in the top team. He is a little Star (as his name suggests)

Jamie

Jamie is a working bearded collie. I got him at two years old and I have been a confirmed Beardie Fan since then. He is just a barking, bouncing, hairy ball of fun. What more can I say!

Fox
Fox is another boy from Canen lines but not bred by Shirley. He was bred by my friend, Kayleigh from the Live Wires flyball team. He is another rescue and was about 8 months when I got him. He is turning into a fantastic dog and is such a clown.

Barley

Last but not least is new addition, Barley. Barley is a border collie x staffordshire bull terrier. She is a little poppet and seems to have all the best qualities of her two breeds. The friendliness and personality of the Staff with the intelligence and eagerness to please of the collie - Watch this space!!