Update

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.

Happy Birthday Barley!!!

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 :)

Puppy Reunion

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!!!

A bit of training

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!!!

I'm fed up!!!!

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.

Update

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!!!

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!!

In with the big dogs

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!!!!

Relaxing

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

Neo's turn

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!!

Getting to know the big dogs

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!!!

Bringing Barley home

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!!)