Bex 2nd show and more Tia

Well as Tia is so bored, I decided yesterday when I did my lesson Tia could come to watch. However by the time it came to the lesson it had started to rain, so I made Tia a little 'kennel'. I put a bed (dads coat, lol) under the aframe, where the aframe is nearer the floor, as it is sheltered out of the wind and rain. She had Ricky's coat on, but I wanted to keep both her back legs warm, so I put her on dads coat, then put a thick towel over her. Then, to keep out any rain which may get through, I put another coat on the side of the aframe. Then I tied Tia to the aframe as if she's tied up she'll lie still and not fidget! Result... one dog that could happily and snuggly watch agility for an hour or so. Think she'll be coming to watch all my lessons as it must be more interesting for her watching than trying to go to sleep at home!

Update on Tia

Well no agility shows for Tia until Thames at the earliest. She has pulled a ligament in her tarsus of her back leg. Thankfully not a cruciate!!!! She is having one week of 5-10 mins lead walking twice a day (she is already bored out of her brains) and then we'll build up from there. In her third week we will hopefully start her swimming twice a week to build up her muscles before we start agility training again. I just know by the time that time comes I will be totally paranoid about her restarting her training in case anything goes wrong! But at least its not something really serious! Phewf!

Worst show

Well WBSDS has to be the worst show ever for me. Tia knocked a pole in the 6/7 agility and went lame, she tucked up on the last few jumps and like a tw@t I carried on, I find it really hard to know if there's a problem with her as sometimes she tucks up anyway if she gets her striding wrong as it gets her out of trouble (Rather than Rix who would crash into the jump!) Anyway she ran off and got her toy all happy, but I think as the adrenaline started to wear off she realised her back leg hurt quite a lot and was REALLY lame. She's still a bit lame today, the physio is coming tomorrow, I sooo hope it's not a cruciate as that will probs be her agility days over :o( as she's nearly 6 now, so probs wouldn't recover from an op as quick as a younger dog.

When your one and only competing dog goes lame it does make you stop and think, and appreciate every single run you have with them, never mind if they got e'd.

Ember was fabulous I was so pleased with her. The 5-7 graded agility was a hard course, and it started with Jump-Aframe and Ember went pingggg on the aframe (although at least she got the contact). So I made her lie down at the bottom of the aframe, then I went to walk away and she got up, so I made her lie down again. The rest of the course was stunning, didn't put a foot wrong.

In the 5-7 combined jumping it was also a hard course, 4 pull throughs at different places in the course, and you had to turn back on yourself after a pull through and do a longgg snake, then a straightline (out of a flat tunnel) to finish. Ember isn't the easiest with a hard course as she gets a bit cocky and then turns like a tank. Anyway, WOW she was gorgeous! Ran so fast, and listened so well. I managed to get in all the right places, and she sure was flying! Then, on the final turn out of the snake and into the final straight, what did I do?? F***ing fell over!!!!! GRRRRR!!! I am SOOO mad with myself, what a complete idiot! Ember was very excited and started barking at me, probably telling me to hurry the hell up! We were 6th when they were calling to the end of the class, don't know how we ended up... 'if only' I hadn't fallen over!!

Bex was pretty pants, came out of the weaves in two classes (both dads fault) and her contacts were slow. Think she needs to build up confidence in a ring situation as in training (both at mine, Jayne's, and club) she is really fast, but dad is much much quieter in the ring and so Bex can't feed from his confidence.

The post below about Ember didn't work so this is the vid of Ember being rather naughty in Cornwall.

Ember's very naughty agility run

So here is Ember's 5-7 agility run... stubborn v's stubborner! I could not believe that she broke her wait, as she has been so perfect in training, and at Wye Valley just 2 weeks previous, her waits were completely solid, as were her contacts. Bad sheltie!!

Rix and Tia's runs

Video of Rix and Tia's runs from Cornwall. Ember's runs were so bad I thought they deserved their own vid.

Go Bex!

Bexy had her first show yesterday. She (and dad) were awesome! 4 out of 4 clears, and a 1st in the jumping, and a 3rd in 1-2 agility (with held contacts), a clear in 1-4 agility (again with held contacts) and a clear in the pairs where they came 4th.

Unfortunately no vids of Bex as we nicked the camera for Cornwall, although that proved pretty pointless as most of my rounds were pants!

The honeymoon period with Ember is well and truely over, she was challenging to say the least! Broke her wait (I put her back), broke her wait (put her back again) jumped off her contacts (put her back again) and continued to jump her contacts, at which point we came out of the ring... and that was just one run!!

Tia was lovely, she wasn't jumping fully extended all the time, but it was quite slippy from the rain on Sat, and she's really careful when its like that. Lee ran her in TFO, and then I ran her in 6-7 jumping and she flew, and I got a bit carried away and nearly set her the wrong way so we lost lots of time, but her attitude is a lot better. I am part way through making the video, but lots of editing is needed as I had to put Tia back in her wait on almost all her runs, I am determined she will be waiting perfectly! And of course Rix didn't want to wait at all for his runs. So quite a lot to work on for WBSDS, where I will be training Tia's contacts as she missed her aframe on Sunday, she always takes two strides down the aframe and the 2nd stride she took wasn't far enough into the contact, more work needed!

Obedience training day

Went on an obedience training day yesterday. It was really good, very interesting. I learnt a lot about reasons why Tia may be screwing up in the ring. I also learnt I reward her a lot more when she is nervous/scared, to try and take her mind off what is worrying her. But it just babies her and makes her more aware something is up. I now have to build up sequencing in my training, so we do heelwork, DC, sendaway and retrieve before she gets her reward. Poor Tia, I just can't help but reward her each time, she's too cute!

I had an agility lesson this morning... Tia has slowed up again, *groan*!!! I'm so loving training the bad sheltie (who incidentally was brilliant) that Tia's not getting enough work, and I think she still needs to be fitter. More training needed. Actually, better training is needed, as I keep going out to train with no goals and it doesn't work! Must get a better training plan! For obedience and agility!!!


Ember's training is going really well. Her start line waits are fab. She's quick to correct herself if she gets up when I say 'goose' or 'green' she quickly lies back down again. Her dog walk and aframe are speeding up a lot and she's straight into 2o2o rather than stopping 4on or 4off. She got every weave entry as well today, and was really steadying herself down to make sure she got them, so I think using the long jump as a weave guard is working as she hasn't been able to make an error on them for weeks now.

Another one bites the dust!

Well thats another show wasted! I tell you, Cornwall is an AWFUL long way to go, to miss the sit position!!!!!! Grrr!!! And it was totally, 100% my fault she missed it. I got so flipping het up about the steward about to say 'it', that I stopped walking straight, gave Tia the wrong signal and command, and to top it off said it in a sap-like tone, so she never really had a chance to get it right in the first place. The second position was the stand, so I did a sit, and this time got everything right and she sat down like a rocket. Her heelwork was stunning, she felt so balanced and worked so closely, she is a lot stronger than last year. I reckon by May, she'll be doing full rounds again!

As an aside, Ember-sheltie enjoyed the trip, and very much liked the B+B lady as she gave her a Schmako, much to Ember's delight. We are down again this coming weekend from Friday to probs Monday, for agility this time, I'm really looking forward to it.

Ember video

I made a video of Ember's training a while ago, and have added 2 of her runs from Wye Valley last Saturday. She's so gorgeous!

Tia's training sesh

Had a BRILL training session with Tia today, the best I've had in ages. Still feel a bit tired so I was hoping this wouldn't feed through and Tia would pretend she'd forgotton everything. She did nice DC, I have to remember to say Tiasit really quickly for her sit position, as her stand command is Teeeeeeea and an arm signal, so unless I say sit quickly she starts to lift her back end.

Played about with the sendaway a bit, had a few races, where I get a (big) headstart and then we race to the backmarker and I get her toy, and then throw it around and pretend its the best thing ever, which does wind Tia up somewhat. Then we do another, and I send her without me running... result - she runs out about twice as fast as is soooooo excited about getting the bally.

Her heelwork was great, her positions faultless, and my footwork has improved a teensy bit. So think defo going to the show on Sunday!

Poor me!! Lol

Poor me!!! I've been sooooo ill!! Got a virusy thing started to feel a bit lousy monday, collapsed tuesday, and have been lounging between the sofa and my bed ever since!! Dad's been a nice dad and has walked all the dogs as they were going a bit crazy with nothing to do. Feel bit better now, still havent regained my appetite (anyone who knows me, knows that that means I must be ill!) altho looking on the bright side losing 8lbs in a week ain't bad going teehee!

In a dilemma now as I've done no training with Tia since monday, and I have an obedience show on Sunday, under a judge that likes Tia, hmmm but the chances of Tia liking him... lol. Still can't decide whether to go. I shouldn't... it's a long drive... but I want to!

Ember's training has been coming on brilliantly. She's doing super waits, and in training when I proof them, with the g words, if she mistakes it and gets up, she quickly realises that that was a bad decision, and shuffles back and lies down, bless her! Her weave entries are coming along well, and her turns are a lot tighter although sometimes she does get rather carried away and think she knows best! I think I am going to change her seesaw style slightly as she runs right to the end which is fab, but coz she's fairly heavy, it goes down so fast it bounces her off, and she really struggles to stay on!

That's enough for one post, back to putting my feet up and watching another episode of Jeremy Kyle! yawwwn!!

Neat feet

Tia's been looking a little scruffy lately, I haven't touched her with the scissors since I went a bit overboard a couple of years ago and cut almost all her feathers and tail off, lol. Amy thinned all her ears, hair on her head, tail and trousers out last year and Tia looked really nice but Amy goes to all the wrong shows now! So I decided I would trim her feet, and neaten them up a bit. They certainly look a lot better now... I did take a bit too much off her back legs but it'll look ok in a week or two ;o)
Before


After!!



Lovely neat feet!