Preston

On Friday Clare had, had a car accident when some idiot just drove straight out in front of her giving her no choice but to smash into him leaving her very shaken, but she was determined to still go to Preston, so at the crack of dawn on Saturday I picked her and Charlie up and we set off on a 3 hour journey arriving at the venue for 8am. We have both been quite excited about this show, me because I only need one more win for grade 2 and Clare because for the past few shows Charlie has been brilliant just missing the top spot by ths smallest of margins. Agility was first and as I walked Charlie to the ring he was like a stallion, rearing up and making his usual noises so I knew he was going to give Clare a good run, and indeed he did, fantastic contacts and for once he really made Clare run, it was a brilliant clear round and with no suprise to me at all they won the class making them grade 3, and it's about time, the amount of hard work thats gone into getting a very difficult dog to work like he did on Saturday certainly deserves a lot of credit - well done.
Maisy was not as bad as I thought she'd be, although her contacts started off well by the end of the 2nd agility class she was just having a ball at my expense!! however in the afternoon the jumping course was a bit more technical which seems to suit Maisy, even if I get really nervous!, a really stupid handling mistake got us eliminated at fence 3!! I just gave her a command a bit too early and she turned before the fence and took the wrong obstacle!! then she went on to do a near perfect round, her weaves are now brilliant, so although I was annoyed with myself Maisy was a star. It was a very long journey home through heavy rain and strong winds, luckily Steve had made a nice dinner and I could relax with a well earned glass of wine, and I'm sure Clare did too. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks of competitions, hopefully Maisy and I will get back into our stride after the past few weeks off.

Busy Busy Busy

Last weekend was very hectic indeed, Saturday was Claire's 21st party at the house, lots of relatives and Claires friends descended upon our newly decorated home!! luckily they were all well behaved and the party went ahead without a hitch, unfortunately I maybe drank a wee bit too much!! (not at all like me) and ended up with rather a bad head on Sunday morning, before I knew it Amy had rung to say she had arrived at Earles court safely with Ben and Summer. Amy had entered the YKC's dogstable course which is to celebrate 25 years of the Young Kennel Club, the first 3 from each age group would qualify for Crufts 2010 where the final will be held. Usually Ben loves the hustle and bustle of the big indoor venues but this time he was acting differently from usual, we have put it down to his deteriorating sight which must have heightend his other senses and made him more guarded than usual, you will see from the video he was not a happy Bunny, Summer however though it was a brilliant place to be, flirting with all the people and dogs and again from the video you can see her little tail flying high and really enjoying herself.



Amy & Summer came 3rd qualifying for Crufts, she was just beaten by Kathryn & Diesel Woop Woop how exciting Kathryns first Crufts qualifier, so many congrats to the two of you.
During the day Summer and Amy were asked to do lots of demonstrations in the YKC ring, and Amy reported that she was a real Princess and just can't wait for Crufts to come along now, I am just thinking how exhausting it's all going to be!!

Training Update

Jo and I had an early start on Friday morning arriving in Ipswich with time for a coffee before training started. Keisha & Maisy were in fine voice and decided to sing at the top of their lungs whilst we were introducing ourselves!! During the session we concentrated on turns whilst trying to remember "the Rules" easier said than done, but it was really interesting watching all the other handlers and with the basic knowledge we had learnt to see how their mistakes influenced their dogs decisions, and how sometimes very minor adjustments allowed the dogs to pick up the correct signals. By the end of the 3 hours both Maisy and Keisha were much sharper on their turns and we had plenty of information to take away to practice over the winter.

Friday & Saturday evening was again very upsetting for the dogs, Summer took residence under Amy's bed and Ben hid behind the sofa, Maisy & Dylan seem to be mostly unaffected by the explosions outside, and although I don't wish to spoil anyones fun I wish it was just for one night so at least we could plan! still at least the following day all seems to have been forgotton until the next time.
Amy has been a very busy Bee this weekend, spending lots of time with her friends from the YKC (Young Kennel Club) Ice skating on Saturday and at the Nec with the Backstreet Boys last night, not very dog related but at least she still found the time to take Summer and Ben for a lovely walk yesterday Afternoon and also managed a bit of training on Saturday! we have another busy week ahead of us, my eldest daughter Claire is 21 on Thursday and we have her party on Saturday with still plenty of decorating left to be done, my husband has taken the week off work to try to finish!! (rather him than me) I really must get some more photo's I will try harder over the next week or so!! :-))

Winter Warmers

The weather seems to have brightened up a bit today, I took Maisy & Dylan for a lovely walk first thing and decided to walk them accross the corn field which has been harvested but not plowed, they had a great time racing around getting very grubby, luckily the long grass along the verge on the way home cleaned them up enough to allow them back indoors. Jo & I are taking Maisy and Keisha to a training day with Dave Munnings on Friday, it's going to be an early start as we have to be at the venue by 9am and its about 2 1/2 hours away but I'm sure it will be worth the drive. lots more pictures and posts to follow, Amy keeps moaning I don't write much about her on here, so I will pull my finger out and get some of Summers video's loaded and take some more pictures so we can update on her progress too, although I can tell you Summer is a little monkey and thinks it's hilarious to hide at the top of the stairs waiting in ambush then she races in and out of Amy's room with her bottom tucked firmly in finally settling on her bed delivering very sloppy wet kisses until Amy wakes up - maybe I should video that!!! now theres a thought..