And so 2008 comes to an end

After a tricky start 2008 turned out to be a great year, I just wanted to reflect on each dogs achievments and aspirations over the past 12 months and the year ahead.

Ben - Thorpers Big Ben.. our Ben Ben dispite his numerous health problems was awarded the Rebecca Pointer award at Crufts where Amy took the decision to retire him from competition, it was a very proud moment, this is awarded to the YKC dog and handler who has achieved the most points over the prevous year. However he was allowed to breifly have a flutter at the Newark YKC obedience advanced competition purely to make up the numbers, winning the class was his way of proving he still has it.. he is really enjoying retirement and can be seen occasionally running at flyball shows as a spare dog.

Dylan - Thorpers Dandy Dylan.. Dillie has had a great year, he has finally found his "thing" Flyball, he is never happier than at a flyball comp, this year he has achieved his Flyball dog Intermediate. He seems to have overcome some of his demons and once again has qualified Amy for the YKC handling. he continues to be a character, and will enjoy flyball and agility in 2009.

Maisy - Thorpers Miss Maisy.. The Queen!! this dog for me never stops giving, she is a real worker and her enthusiasm for everything that I ask is amazing. this year she has gained her flyball dog Graduate, and along with Ronny won the fastest pairs ABC at the flyball british champs. she started Agility this year and we have done a few competitions and finally last weekend I managed to work at her level and we pulled a 5th place and a clear round, next year we will concentrate more on agility, we both love it so much as it challanges us to work as a team.

Summer - Darian Enchanted by Fire.. our little princess, this baby has been a pleasure to own and train, she is a very willing pupil and attended the Mary Ray training week which is what started Amy using the clicker, Summer responds so well and they did their first obedience competition earlier this month where Summer exceeded Amy's expectations. in 2009 Amy will compete mainly in obedience hoping to win out of Novice, and will probably dabble in agility and flyball.

Clear round!!

Well Maisy decided to give me my Christmas pressie a little late this year, today she got her first clear round in touch and go, she got all her contacts perfectly and followed it with a nice fast clear jumping round, although it was in 1-7 which meant we were up against some seriously fast dogs which put her just outside the placings. she also ran a fantastic jumping round, just tipping a pole giving us 5 faults in a time of 17.56 seconds, had she gone clear we would have been 4th.. her other rounds were really nice too and I really feel like this weekend we have turned a very important corner, and must thank Jo for all her kind words and advice throughout the day. Jo also did really well today and Keisha is looking really fab, she never lets her mum down, Ronny on the other hand was showing off to Maisy today and took the tunnel despite Jo being miles away from it showing him the correct jump!! good job he does well most of the time. Diesel the boxer was a little star, she jumped most of the fences and took a very large water jump in her stride.. Jess was a monkey and had her nose on the floor a bit too much. I had the most wonderful weekend and am really looking forward to Preston, just looking for a few more rounds like this weekend.

whoop whoop!!!!

Well I have just had a brilliant day, maisy had 4 runs today 2 eliminations and 2 with faults, in her agility class I was late with her weave command and she missed the entry but appart from that she flew round and to my astonishment came 5th!! she has really began to listen to my directional commands and I can see her potential. in the same class Keisha won, so very well done to her. Ronny ran brilliantly too but watching his video back I can certainly see the similarities between him and Maisy they are soooo fast. Ellen and Hamish came 9th in jumping, but he was a bit naughty in the agility rounds and reminded Ellen not to take her eye off the ball... Anne and Crafty had an interesting day, she lacked concentration but there were some really nice parts so I think she should be pleased, onwards and upwards.

Christmas Dogs

All the dogs are really enjoying all the attention they receive while everyone is at home together, Dylan makes the most of doors being left open and spends most of his time sleeping on Amy's bed, while Maisy, Summer and Ben take it in turns to sleep by the fire. Maisy has an agility competition tomorrow and Sunday, Jo is there too with her two, Maisy always gets excited when she sees Ronny as it usually means some fun. Tomorrow I will hopefully meet Zippy, Jo's new baby. also tomorrow Anne and Crafty will be there so it is going to be lots of fun, you never know we might come home without an elimination in every class!!

Christmas Training

After having such a great lesson with Yvonne last weekend I decided to buy Lee Gibsons new training DVD, both Amy and I have been to him for a few lessons in the past, unfortuantely he is just too far away to commit to regular lessons so the DVD was the next best option, I had a quick look at it last night and have set myself the task of training waits, and weave entries over the Christmas period, he has also give me some great ideas for training Maisy to go on and make her own decisions ahead of me, which is one of the downside to all that obedience training - don't get me wrong I'd much rather have an obedient dog who wants nothing more than to be stuck to my side than one who can't remember who I am!!

Amy & Summer will be concentrating on improving their heelwork stamina, stays with distractions and more retrieve training, they have a try out for the Midlands team on January 3rd, we are not too hopeful but again it will be great experience for them to mingle and have a go, we are already looking at which competitions to go to in 2009, i'm not entirely sure how we will fit it all in!! however I have now decided Maisy will not be going to any more Obedience competitions we will concentrate on Agility and Flyball this year which is what we both enjoy, and I love to watch Amy compete in Obedience so it'll be back to being a chauffer this year, that is if she lets me go with her!!

Last Weekend

Well what a busy weekend we had... Friday - Amy & Kathryn went to LKA, this was Amy & Summers first obedience competition, Amy reported back to me throughout the day to tell me how things were going. Our Friend Laura and her puppy Coral won Starters and qualified for Crufts and Also had borrowed Diesel and had qualified in the handling too - Well done Laura, a well deserved win, we knew it was only a matter of time. Kathryn was 2nd in her handling class, just missing out on that all important qualifier so Next year we'll have to tackle training with a vengance. Amy said Summer was being a little star, the NEC is a daunting place to have your first show but Summer apparently took it in her stride, she was a little bouncy in her heelwork, which is quite a nice problem to have, rather that than lagging!! and a few minor issues here and there, if she hadn't broken her down stay she would have been 2nd - not bad at all for her first outing. Saturday Amy was at the NEC again and Summer didn't let her down, this time they were placed 4th which has given Amy a real push towards next years competitions. Our Friend & Bandit team mate Jo had Pudsey in the breed ring for the first time and I must admit the photo she put up of him on Friday left me thinking "I hope she's going to bath that!!" bless him, he has got to be one of the sweetest dogs you could ever meet, and with those teddy bear looks, you just gotta love him!! unfortunately the judge was a bit heavy handed and Pudsey backed off putting him in 4th place just outside of the qualifying marks - we think you're a winner little man, and can't wait for you to be old enough to join in the real fun at flyball.

Maisy & I had our Agility lesson, we nearly didn't make it as the heavy rain throughout the morning had closed a few roads, but it was worth all the hassel once we had arrived. we came away with plenty to work on and are already looking forward to our next one at the end of January.
Sunday was our Clubs Christmas party, which was great fun, plenty of games to keep us warm and hot chocolate and mince pies for the humans.

Summers 1st show!

Amy & Summer are off to the NEC tomorrow for their first obedeince competition, Summer has proven to be a little madam when it comes to learning the retrieve and Amy has asked me to take over this particular part of the training process!! we had a go on Tuesday evening and Summer just curled up on the floor not having any of it, i offered her sweeties and she just refused, I was about to give up when I happend to open a packet of raw mince which we were having for our tea! (obviously I was going to cook it first LOL) and Summers ears pricked.. I took some of the mince and asked her to hold the dumbell - hesitantly she went towards it a picked it up! I gave her some mince and we just did it a few more times before ending the training session. this has proven to me that when she give us the "I can't cope with life" look what she really means is "I'm not doing it for that boring treat" Amy won't have a retrieve tomorrow but she is going to work the round and see what happens in the retrieve, it will all be good experience for her going forward.

Maisy and I have a one to one agility lesson with Yvonne Croxford on Saturday afternoon weather permitting. so hopefully, I'll come back with a Zing in my step.

Ronnies Babies

There are a few babies left, if anyone is interested see the mali link on this page for more pictures and information.

Up North Again

Another early start this morning, Maisy and I arrived at Clares for 5.15am ready to hit the M6 to Preston. 2 agility classes and 1 jumping ahead of us. after taking Clares advice I tried to forget I was against the clock and pretend I was only training. well to cut a long story short i came home with a hat trick of eliminations, however I was completely thrilled with how Maisy had performed, we had a wait at the start,12 offside weaves, and contacts Clare only dreams about LOL (she won't thank me for that) Clare had a bad day too there was a brush fence and a wall in agility Maisy jumped without a second thought but Charlie wasn't sure Clare really mernt him too,he also had remembered his fall from the dog walk and had a refusal. after all the classes were over we took the dogs for a walk and boy did they have fun, Maisy taught Charlie to swim!!

Flyball Dog Advanced

Well finally the points have been added to the BFA website and I can now confirm Maisy is now a Flyball Dog Advanced having gained over 5000 points. When Maisy came to live with us at a year old, I never would have dreamed we would be doing what we are now, my main passion has always been obedience, but unfortunately Maisy didn't share that passion with me!! we put in the hours of training but never really clicked and it was always a fight, since we started flyball about 2 years ago our relationship has blossomed, as owners we always think we have a great relationship with our dog and that it couldn't possible get any better, but Maisy has proved to me that as with people relationships take work and commitment, our bond grows all the time, she adores flyball and now agility and she really excites me about the future, she has taught me it really isn't the winning but enjoying what we do together that counts. those of you that know us will know she is my little Angel even if her halo slips from time to time!! Gotta love her really, I just wish she wouldn't take the "P" out of Amy so much..LOL

Good Citz

Yesterday we had the good citizens testing for Bronze and gold at club. I am very pleased and proud to say that we had a 100% pass rate. It was a freezing Sunday morning and after Amy and I standing around in the field for nearly 5 hours it was lovely to get home, stick a film on and cuddle up with the dogs on the sofa in front of the fire. Sheila, Chris and Kate (Summer's Mum) and Folly (her sister) popped in to see us, which was lovely, all 3 girls had a lovely time.

Tonight is agility training again, fingers crossed I come home satisfied I have been able to keep up with Maisy! it's going to be cold but we'll soon warm up once we start running around. We are off to Blackpool again on Saturday Morning with Clare for Agility - I wonder if Maisy will be mental for the first class or if I might have a modicum of control LOL the spectators always get their money's worth when we are in the ring.