Scandal

Nearly 7 months old! Beautiful little princess!

Golden Valley - Sunday

I don't quite know how Sunday seemed to go in such a blur - I just took Scandal up with me, Lyn let me run Scott as Lee is on 'holiday' in Norway (thanks Lyn :)). This was Scott's 2nd show as a grade 6, and he went clear in the 6-7 jumping, wahoo! The 6-7 agility started well, but I struggle running him as he has different commands to Tia, so remembering my way round the courses (a tad harder than anysize!) was hard enough, let alone the stupid 'this, back, this come, back come' commands so I generally used SCOTT all the way round. I have only included the first part of the agility as it went a bit pear shaped from there :)


Ant and Gass, think she won G3 jumping on Sat. Her runs are looking good, she is working really well.

Imogen and Honey had their first clear - yeahhhhh! Hopefully the first of many :)

Dad won 4-7 (i think) agility, had 2nd in the team and I think a place in jumping too, so a good weekend.

What a day

Well we had a fun but very tiring day today.

Firstly dad and Bex at Golden Valley got their last win to grade 7, and then won 2 more classes to top it off. Bex has hopefully left her hormones behind her now!

I took my three to UKA at Aldon, Tia was good winning casual jumping and being slightly crazy in casual agility. Vid of her below


Rix was great in casual agility and won it by a couple of secs bless him what a good boy.


Jess and Copper had their first clear resulting in a 4th in Beginners Steeplechase, and then got 3rd in jumping. Todd came for the socialisation - he is just so scrummy! And seems to have got plenty of admirers too!

Bandle and Thames

Scandal-Bandle little vid of her doing some obedience at 6 months. We really haven't done a lot so she's a bit behind other dogs but she picks things up very quickly.



Had such a lovely day at Thames yesterday. Saw Sian and Jazz do a cracking round to win the medium CC, also managed to see Elaine Auty's Davey working (i think thats his name?) wow he is stunning. Loved Lee Windeatt's 6-7 Agility Olympia qu although there's no way I would've been able to do any of it! Also saw Sharon's Diesel, and he is very handsome. I wish he could teach Scandal how to get his toy rather than barking, he is a very good boy!

Got this vid of Gass in the Novice Olympia Qu, she missed her aframe (after Ant released too early!), she is now G4 as she won G3 agility on Saturday. I haven't seen her for a month now and she's sped up loads since then.



Bex isn't on great form at the moment, she finished her season about a month ago and had one show at great speed, and then Notts and Hinckley she wasn't interested, Thames she was better, 2 5ths in grade 6, and a 7th in the Crufts Singles, but none at Bex speed. Hopefully dad'll get the old Bex back soon!

Busy week

Bit of a long one!

My Scandal baby is 6 months old, I can't believe it!

Yesterday we did a couple of jump-tunnel-jump (just the jump wings, no poles) and she loved it, she thought it was so fun. I am not sure she is getting the whole idea of running contacts, she has good days and she has bad days. She is really good at coping with failure and just trots round to do it again... phewf, I couldn't have another that crumpled at the mere thought of not getting it right! We also do wing wraps and I'm working on sending her infront of me to wrap round a wing, cor she was really getting this yesterday. We are also practising her waits at every given opportunity and I am really pleased I've put so much work in to these as she goes into a sit on her own accord now, so I am fairly confident that she understands that the quicker she sits, the quicker we can begin the game.

She seems more in to her toy at the moment, and I have been able to call her off several people and dogs, although unfortunately had a minor mishap on Friday with Scandal wanting to join in on a childrens picnic, I think she thought she had an invite to the party, oh how embarrassing. She did do a good recall once she realised I was running very fast towards her. Infact, had I realised where she was running to, before she went round the corner, it could've all been averted.

Had an 'almost' heart attack yesterday, we seem to have an influx of rabbits in one of the fields near to us, they all scatter when the dogs run down the path. Anyway Scandal normally rumage alongside the other dogs, and is always the last one to flush any out. Unfortunately, yesterday, she was walking nicely next to me, when two ran right infront of us (I mean within about a metre), I don't think she could quite believe her luck and dived into the thick hedge (which even Rix and Tia wouldn't attempt) and much to my horror nearly ended up in the road, and there was a car coming. Ahhh was I scared. I have no idea how she managed to tunnel her way through the hedge, as it is really, really thick. I guess the rabbits must have made a pathway through it, big enough for an excited puppy. She is now leadwalked past this particular bit!

Oh and I saw my first ever mole today (the animal mole, not the moles people get on their skin!!) Stupid thing had been making small mole holes in my field, and then Tia found it, and Garth was there to dangle it infront of me and scare me!! Yuck I dont like them, and they dont have eyes! Or their eyes are really small. It totally grossed me out. Tia was of course in her element. I am glad to say that the mole hill creator is no longer there, so my course should no longer be infused with big patches of soil!!

I am looking forward to Thames on Sunday and would like to thank my taxi driver Garth for offering to take me and brat-puppy! x

Scandal's obedience training

Well we are getting there ultra slowly. Her heelwork training I find very tedious as in normal pace (NP) I can not get her to flick her feet at all. The pic below is of slow pace, where we do have better lift. I don't like plain trotting, I like flicky feet, so it's just going to take a lot longer before we get it! In the pic it might look like she is 'in close' but we are just doing a follow.

Recall and retrieve she is learning so quickly, it is purely clicker trained and she loves it, she is so enthusiastic, and with her retrieve she will fetch anything. Her chair presents have now been faded out almost to me standing upright, and she very rarely puppy sits too.

Her agility training we are doing right, left, cik and break (right wrap and left wrap!) she is also learning to go on ahead of me and wrap tightly and come back to me, hopefully so if in competition she is ahead, and I want her to wrap, I can do without using her name.

I have now put a verbal command to tunnel (tunnel) and flat tunnel (flat). She loves the tunnel when it is in a U shape and will keeping coming out and going back in in a circle, which I of course find highly amusing. Soon I will introduce a little bit of obstacle discrimination and see if she really understands the commands or is just following my body. She is a real thinking puppy, and has no problem with failure, as she will work and work, so just keeps trying. So I am not worried about her getting it wrong, like I am with Tia!

She reminds me of Rix in that she really enjoys it and seems to love learning, but she is less headstrong than him, in that I say 'wait' and she does, and she seems to learn slightly quicker than him too. After having Tia it is also very nice training a puppy that doesn't bark!!

A little family update, firstly this is Nell, the red and white girlie - isn't she pretty!! And definitely got the better ears :)

And below is Che (Squiffy) Rave (Bruce) Ruby Fish and Chilli.

And a pic by Lydia Smith of Chilli looking handsome!

I can't believe they turn 6 months in 4 days time!