Just a quick post

Just a quick post, I have all these good intentions and then time just runs away.

Loving the lighter evenings, have been for 2x short runs in the last 2 days, I am determined to get a little faster, more than aware that I just don't have the self discipline to be super slim and super fit, but can definitely get faster as I am sooooo slow running Scandal. Scandal is getting faster, she is training like a dream, seemingly no hormones that stopped us training for a month last year, apart from she hates Tia, so Tia's on holiday for a while (Scandal likes that :))

We've done 2 UKA shows the last 2 weeks, Scandal has qualified for the beginners steeplechase final which I'm pleased about. She's been perfect and I couldn't ask any more of her. In the agility in the vid and the agility on the weekend both courses she ran past the obstacle after a straight tunnel (one flat and one rigid) Tia is great at this but tooo great... can't turn her at all after one, so I have done less of this with Scandal and it shows! We will be working on it.

Vid of Mapledurham...


She is so much fun, she is concentrating better on the start line, looking where we are going and not at who she can chase! I still can't hold her near the rings or queue with her as she's exhausted herself from barking by the time it's her turn, even if we aren't right next to the rings. However Garth can walk her right alongside the ring on a nice loose lead and she's sooo chilled... ahhh well, guess he and Imogen will just have to do the same shows :)

Tia's loving working with Imogen, although Imogen got a shock running her on the low jumps at UKA, Tia loves 22" and doesn't struggle like she does a little at 26. So goes tooo fast for Imogen's little legs, and barks and barks, and listens less n less. Hopefully with some more training that will balance out a bit :)

Love life, even though it seems I have no time and just end up rushing from one place to the next... better than being bored tho!! Yay for the Spring and sunshine!

Hare n Hounds 2011

Back in Sept or Oct I'd mentioned to Garth about doing a couple of shows over the winter, to see if Ims could get any more of Honey's wins to grade 7 (she had 1 of the 4). By September Honey was a right porker and I think had had enough of doing agility every weekend and during the week too. She was spayed mid October and I think the first session of any sort that we did with her was in December, just running a flat plank on the floor. Tbh we didn't train again apart from 1 lesson with Dave over Christmas, and then down at Carol's in the middle of January. I didn't have anywhere to train and the equipment was in storage. All I had was the weaves and 4 jumps (not that I ever used more than 2 jumps... far too much effort to carry 4 jumps to the park). So the dogs had a pretty long break from agility. I have spent a long time building Scandal up again slowly - she is really fit now. Proprieception/balance stuff twice-three times a week, hill running twice a week, a really long 3-4 hour Mendip walk once sometimes twice a week, and then whatever else I can fit in. She's looking so much better now and is more muscly too.

Anyway going off on a tangent as usual. So, I suggested to Garth we did Hare n Hounds as they had loads of classes, plus it was a 2 day show. I really wanted Ims to get to grade 7 so we could do the same shows, I wanted to do the ones with qualifiers and a lot of them don't have great classes (i.e. lots of Small Grade 6's!). Plus with Ims not being able to do as many shows now, it would be nice for her to enjoy the bigger shows and the prestige of being up with the big'uns in champ/Olympia Q/Crufts Singles etc.

So, show entered, it came round pretty quickly, hardly any training apart from Garth working on Honey's running contacts with the manners minder.

The show was lovely, I entered Scandal in a BC Ag on Sat, and BC jumping on the Sun, Tia had 2x junior and 1 5-7 each day, and Ricky had a Veteran jumping each day. Saturday was a special day as it was Ricky's 12th birthday. Ricky's never been a clear round machine, but he did a beautiful clear on his birthday and ended up 3rd :) what made it even more sweet was when I went up for prizegiving (grinning like a cheshire cat - that moment of being in the ring with Ricky, who was running his little old socks off for me will stay with me forever) I said it was his birthday and they gave us a big bowl of dog treats/chews and a toy - which I thought was so kind of them. Rix thought this was great and practically took my hand off for the treats. The next day Ricky then had the honour of taking Garth round his first ever agility course... Garth did a bit of training with Rix last year but only in July/Aug so nothing for ages. Well Rix was Rix and did his naughty startline (I had instructed G he needed a 4 jump recall ;)) and then went off like a rocket and went clear :O awwww, I actually nearly cried. What's better (worse!) is that the pair of them bettered my Saturday result by coming 2nd, bless Mr Rix, still runs his heart out and just loves his agility.

Tia was a good girl for Imogen. She doesn't take the mick as much now, Imogen's in control much more and they are looking good together. They had a couple of top 3's and a nice clear in the 5-7 agility with a held dogwalk too, so that was good. Considering when Imogen first started running Tia, Tia would pretty much do her own thing and launch off contacts (despite Imogen saying in her dainty voice 'target') they have really improved. It will be nice for Tia to do some junior classes with Ims this year, can't believe Tia will be 9 in a couple of months, still acts like a puppy, don't think she will ever grow up.

Scandal, well she was really good, nothing much to say, I need lots of work on my handling, I was really pleased with her weaves so that pretty much made my weekend (small things), and she jumped nicely.

And HONEYBEAR. What a super sausage. I think a place on the Saturday in juniors, she ran well in every run. Ims went home for her last run as her grandparents were up, so she went back to see them. So I ran Honey. Woop woop. Run fast with the spaniel. Infact, being the twerp I am, I ran so fast, that I fell over on a turn. Actually fell over. In the sand. Idiot. Bless Honey came running over to check I was ok. I then proceeded to get us e'd later round in the course. I blame the shock of falling over. Best stick to a slower speed in the future :)

The next day was a lot better. Honey won 4 classes :O and so is now grade 7. She won 2 jumpings and 2 agility's. Several of them she won by 5+ secs, and in the graded class had a faster time than the 7. So well and truly into champ. Good spaniel. So it was worth the long journey up. AND I drove pretty much all the way home (only because I was happy with Ricky being wonderful, Scandal being yummy and Honey being brill (oh and I guess Tia trying hard :)) so the 4 hours flew past. Glad we made the long trip up. Think Honey will suit doing less shows and less training. Hopefully her hormones won't be as bad now she is spayed. Clever Spaniel and clever 12 year old Ims - they will look cute in champ together :) :)

Here's the vid of some of our runs from the show... doesn't Rix look great :)

Scandal beans

I've been wanting to post all week but just haven't had the time :( tooooo busy not enough hours in the day! Tonight feels like the first time in ages I've been able to sit down and relax which is just bliss!

We had training with Dave on Saturday, this was the first time I'd ever trained Scandal on a t-day, it was brilliant not having to do any 'readdddy' stuff as she actually wanted to have her go because it was sooo exciting watching the others. It was nice doing sequences and watching the others to see how theres did it and also picking some ideas up from what others were doing with this.

I did have a tantrum with Scandal right at the end of the 2 and a half hours (we both needed a sleep :)) because she wouldn't weave... looking back with a clear head its completely obvious why she can't weave... because apart from our one-to-one with Dave in December, we have done no weaves since September, and haven't trained them since August. Our last 'show' was the Olympia semis in Sept where Scandal ripped her dew claw we think from slipping on the weave pole cross bar, so probably confirming to her that weaves are evil and something to be avoided at all costs. This she did, running past them, and then going in the 2nd pole even when I was stood a metre from the weaves. Felt really really dishearted as she was terrible, find it harder as both Tia and Ricky picked it up quite naturally, and couldn't understand why Scandal just cannot.

Sunday and Sian came down from Kent as Ant was training in Bristol, I was really gutted that I couldn't train with her as think she is fantastic and her Canen bred dog Flick really reminds me of Scandal. However Gemma O saved the day by saying that I could use her field which Sian was going to use too - thank you so much Gemma :)

Gemma lives the other side of Bristol to me, I always think of it as quite small and takes a max of about 15mins to get through lol, however it took a good 45 minutes and is really close to the Hand stadium which I didn't realise. Ahhhhh geez, soooooo glad I went, it was BRILLIANT, Sian is AMAZING :D we did a bit of work with Scandal on the uprights then went on to pretty closed up channels. Sian I think is the most exciting person Scandal has ever met, I have NEVER seen her go soooo bananas! And she did the fastest weaves she's ever done in her life, although to start with she'd do 3 or 4 and then come out and want the toy - she very quickly got the hang of it and was then absolutely flying with her confidence flooding back and some. I know where I am going with her weave training now so am verrrrry happy. Yay for Scandal hopefully having good weaves for the summer :) :) :)

Weave pole proposal

How novel, having time to do blog posts! I think I've done more in the last week than in the last 6 months!

The agility liaison council meet on 20 Jan to discuss several proposals. These can be found on http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?ap=1&id=3451
One of these is an amendment to weave pole spacing. At the moment the distance between weave poles varies hugely, anything between 18" and 24" is acceptable. There is a proposal to standardise the distance to 24". If any of you reading this blog agree with this proposal I would be really grateful if you could email your reps (if you can't attend your area meeting) and voice your thoughts. The contact details for the reps are at the bottom of the page on the link above.

Watching dogs weave on the continent when we went there in 2009 was a bit of an eye opener as to how much easier it looked on their backs... so many dogs over here end up weaving with their spines in an "S" shape wrapped around 3 poles at once, but this should help ease that. It will also be better having one consistent distance rather than each week the dog not knowing what it will face. Something I feel very strongly about :)

First lesson

On Thursday me, Imogen, Lee and Jess had a lesson with Dave. It was my first lesson since May, at Dave's new place in Newbury. It's a lovely venue with lots of miniature shetland ponies dotted around, much to Scandal's delight. It's lovely and flat ground which wasn't too squishy at all, just right :)

Well me and Scandal were pretty terrible, I thought we were gonna be bad but not quite as bad as that! Scandal had little enthusiasm to do anything apart from straight lines, didn't want to weave and I was so unfit trolloping round the course I was worn out after about 5 minutes. Even the foundation stuff Scandal didn't want to do, ambling to the jump wings despite my efforts to excite her. Dave had a little go with her and got more out of her than I managed to, but still nowhere near what she can give. We did do 2 running dogwalks at the end and she did these really nicely so I'm pleased that we did something well!

So Friday I went out with my jump wings to our local park which is perfect as it's so flat and nice short grass. I trained Rix and Tia first for a few minutes each and by this point Scandal was screaming the van down, so I got her out and boy did she want to train, I can tell this by her nice sharp teeth leaving a bruise on my leg... naughty Scandalina. She was 100% better than yesterday, really keen, firing towards the jump wings, turning nicely on my position and driving in to me when I turned and said her name. I find it hard with her as she loops quite badly rather than driving to me in a straight line but Dave gave me some ideas on how to work on this, she looped once at the start and after that made a real effort to turn on the spot rather than continuing on her own path.

Watching Dave's DVD has made me realise I haven't done anywhere near enough foundation with her, his dogs can power into a turn, whip round the wing and power back out... Scandal powers out but generally at a 90 degree angle to me so she can do a bit outrun, so more to work on and build up slowly.

On a different note I was sad to hear Silvia T had lost her oldie Lo, one of the first Pyreneans I ever saw and took a liking to. Ricky will be 12 in two months and it scares me silly that he's now getting old. Dad's springer Zac was put to sleep a couple of weeks ago at the grand age of 16. He was the first dog I ever ran in agility... Zac didn't particularly want to do it but did it in the hope of a biscuit at the end of a course, bless him. Life is just too short...

Imogen and Honeybear

I'm so proud of this pair, they came to me this time two years ago for their first lesson, Imogen had just turned 10 and was such a shy little girl who would barely say a word to me, let alone to Honey. Honey was 2 years old, with a very strong hunting instinct, I remember at the end of the lesson talking to Garth and Imogen and saying 'where's Honey?' she'd gone through the fence and had run down into the valley after pheasants. I gave Imogen lots of homework each week and Ims was always the perfect student coming back having perfected everything that I'd asked. They did a few shows in the summer of 2009 but hit problems with Imogen being even quieter and shyer in the ring than at home, sometimes managing to do the entire course without talking to Honey - Honey responded being the sensitive little soul that she is by trotting round next to Imogen's side and occasionally stopping for a sniff or a wee mid-course :) towards the end of 2009 their ring-confidence started to grow and Honey had broken into a canter, they won a couple of jumping classes in August and then at Dashin Dogs in September won several classes including a 1-3 agility taking them out of grade 1.

2010 and a couple of small limit shows to prepare them for Crufts, Honey more speedy and Imogen louder. Crufts came and went, Imogen getting a 4th in the semi final (top 3 go through to the final) their downfall being Honey didn't understand a quick release in the ring having never done one before and didn't want to release from her contacts!


Two weeks later and Honey was hit by a 4x4 the first time I'd taken Imogen to a show on her own, she ran off chasing pheasants - the screeching of brakes and her screaming as she took off in the opposite direction to where we were will stay with me forever, as will the comfort in so many people immediately coming out to look for her and the relief when I was 'tresspassing' through private property with big 'keep out' signs when she came happily running towards me through the reeds, seemingly completely fine. She went to Lowri's and was pretty much ok apart from some bruising, we think she must have bounced off the car rather than being underneath it.

Their agility success continued and they won out of grade 2 the following month and then grades 3, 4 and 5 pretty much each time they became eligible for the next level. They hit problems in June/July with Honey being in season and deciding she wanting to naff all to do with agility and it was as much as Imogen could do to get her off the start line let alone run with any enthusiasm. This continued all through July and poor Imogen accounted for all of their efforts in the Agility Club Starter finals and the Agility Club Junior finals where Honey wouldn't have looked out of place back in grade 1. Imogen had luckily gained confidence ten-fold and had no problem giving Honey loads of encouragement in order for Honey to donate any energy that she had to running the course.

Finally at the beginning of August with Honey having the enthusiasm of a dying fly, I decided that action was required! For those of you that can remember dad's Bex before she was spayed, she was incredibly hormonal and did not want to be anywhere near agility after her season. Last August dad got her a vitamin jab and she was a different dog, absolutely flying, in fact dad couldn't keep up with her! So Garth took Honey to the vets and gave her the jab a week or so before KC fest.

Well, that's certainly something worth remembering if anyone else has a similar problem! Imogen and Honey had the most succcessful month in August, at the KC fest they won the YKC Jumping Semi Final qualifying for Crufts, qualified top for the KC Novice Final although Honey broke her wait so they were e'd on the 2nd jump in the final! But better than the previous month where Honey did not even want to go! They also qualified top in the International Junior competition as well as winning a grade 5 agility. I think one of Imogen's highlights will be beating Bernadette in the KC novice cup jumping, I think Imogen had a 2nd and B and Itz were 5th, Imogen was soooo thrilled as Bernadette is one of the few people that Imogen will always spot from miles away (or maybe hear the shelties yapping hehehe) and want to watch, so it was great for Imogen to realise she could be competitive against her if she really put her mind to it.


We followed this on to Dogs in Need where Honey was just fantastic getting a clear in all the classes she entered and I think she had a top 5 in all these classes. The icing on the cake was Imogen winning the DINAS Junior Under 12 final with Honey doing a brilliant run and showing what they were made of.

Grade 6 certainly hit Imogen hard with Imogen realising she had no time to let Honey break her waits, and Honey was now giving Imogen no let up and 'breathing time' to remember the course mid way round! They got their first win towards grade 7 mid September and then had a couple of close calls with 2nds, one of which was absolutely stonking and probably the best round they have worked in terms of difficulty... with Honey breaking her wait at the start and catching Imogen off-guard - Ims certainly realising that there was no room for error with just 0.1 between her and 1st!

We then had Honey spayed in October as can't be doing with those horrible moody seasons! Honey is looking fantastic now and has lost a lot of weight as she was looking rather porky by September. Much to my amazement she also has lots more self control with Garth able to call her off a pheasant which is rather remarkable considering last year she had no recall regardless of whether there was a pheasant there for temptation or not, lol. Imogen has qualified for 3 classes at Crufts 2011 - YKC ADOTY, YKC Jumping and YKC Small Agility. We've not been able to do any agility because of the snow but I know Imogen is looking forward to her lesson with Dave on Thursday and then we've got a couple of training days booked in with him over the next couple of months.

All in all it's been a fantastic year for Imogen and Honey and I am just so proud of them. Imogen's now Miss Confident (and Miss Argumentive too at times ;)) which is a huge difference to the little girl I first met two years ago who wouldn't say boo to a goose. 2011 will hopefully be a great year for them and I can't wait to see how the pair develop in grade 6/7.

First weekend back training

Scandal's had almost 13 weeks off agility and I thought what better way to celebrate her 2nd birthday than to do some training - didn't bank on lots of snow and frozen ground though!

We did some training yesterday on an almost flat plank and I am thrilled (not) to say that Scandal seems to think that the contact is electrified and should be leapt over at all costs. Something to work on at least!

We also did Honey's first training session since she was spayed 7 weeks ago in October. She faired much better than Scandal and was pretty much 100% with her contacts. Vid of her below.


I also uploaded a viddy of Scandal training in the ring in August doing her contacts how she is meant to - soon as I take the toy in the ring I am miss confident so Scandal is too. At least it gives me hope we may get there.


Today it was a beautiful day and the ground finally defrosted completely. We did some hill running this morning - this is fast turning out to be Tia's favourite game in the world - she squeals like crazy racing Scandal up the hill to the tennis ball, bless her. This afternoon we did the balance grid - we back chained starting with rewarding after 2 jumps, then 3, then finally 4, to which she could not decide for the 4th whether to bounce or clear both the 3rd and 4th in one go. She did not make the decision quite quick enough so went for a combination of the two and landed on the 4th one, ouch. After that she was fine and jumped beautifully, but I think we have a long way to go :)