I'm really looking forward to March - it's going to be a fairly mad time for me, with a number of very different, exciting things to look forward to:
Firstly, there's the Agility Training Day that we are running specifically for Australian Cattle Dogs. These dogs have so much energy, enthusiasm, suppleness and drive that it's going to be great fun! perhaps this will be the first of a few get-togethers for ACD agility dogs?
Then, it's off the Dublin to judge the agility at the Irish kennel Club's Celtic Winners' Show aka The St Paddy's Day Show. Dublin on St Patrick's Day - woohoo!! The craic will be good I expect....
Immediately after that it is my father's 90th birthday celebrations - guess why he was called Patrick by his Irish descent mother? And Mothers Day too, so both parents get to be cossetted and fussed.
And then it is the Final show in this year's Northern Agility Winter Series, with the final results of the Championship League, the distribution of the glitzy Champion rosettes, and the donation to Tia Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue - we are hopine someone will come to the show to receive the cheque, which is looking healthy at the moment.
And somewhere in amongst all this, I will be training my dogs ready for the onset of the outdoor Agility Show Season in April.
Ain't life grand!!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Of shoes - - and ships - - and sealing-wax - -
I always loved Lewis Carroll's books as a child, and thought this was quite a good description of trivial talk.
So, some more trivial talk.
Had two lovely walks with the dogs today. First with Bryn on his own - he was racing around the hillside, chasing and retrieving a ball on a rope, when suddenly we were joined by a very fast, very spunky little terrier cross called Millie, and the pair of them flew around together having a great time until we came to a parting of the ways. What an amazing agility dog that little one would make!!!
I took Bryn back home and brought Amber and Corker out, and lo and behold, we met Millie and her owner again. Now Amber isn't usually too sure about strange dogs, especially strange female dogs, and Corker is always a bit 'in your face' but again a huge game developed, with Millie teasing the Cattle Dogs and getting them to play fast dodging games. It was lovely to see Amber and Corker playing with someone else's dog. Later in the walk Poppy, a lovely black lab, came to join us. Poppy is a regular companion with her owner, so again a game developed, and we were then joined by a big red and white border collie (descended from the fabulous Mr Chips of Mary Ray and looking so like his great-great-grandfather) Now, Corker isn't too keen on red and white collies, nor large, entire males, and this was both, so I held my breath.... but needn't have worried because yet again it was 'game on'.
And the sun shone..... and it was mild.......and the birds were singing.......and all was well with the world.
(Just for the curious, here is the verse from 'The Walrus and the Carpenter' that gives this bit of trivia its title:
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings.")
So, some more trivial talk.
Had two lovely walks with the dogs today. First with Bryn on his own - he was racing around the hillside, chasing and retrieving a ball on a rope, when suddenly we were joined by a very fast, very spunky little terrier cross called Millie, and the pair of them flew around together having a great time until we came to a parting of the ways. What an amazing agility dog that little one would make!!!
I took Bryn back home and brought Amber and Corker out, and lo and behold, we met Millie and her owner again. Now Amber isn't usually too sure about strange dogs, especially strange female dogs, and Corker is always a bit 'in your face' but again a huge game developed, with Millie teasing the Cattle Dogs and getting them to play fast dodging games. It was lovely to see Amber and Corker playing with someone else's dog. Later in the walk Poppy, a lovely black lab, came to join us. Poppy is a regular companion with her owner, so again a game developed, and we were then joined by a big red and white border collie (descended from the fabulous Mr Chips of Mary Ray and looking so like his great-great-grandfather) Now, Corker isn't too keen on red and white collies, nor large, entire males, and this was both, so I held my breath.... but needn't have worried because yet again it was 'game on'.
And the sun shone..... and it was mild.......and the birds were singing.......and all was well with the world.
(Just for the curious, here is the verse from 'The Walrus and the Carpenter' that gives this bit of trivia its title:
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings.")
Monday, February 09, 2009
Training on Sunday
I take Bryn to Janet Nero's 4PawsAgility club each week - it's great to be able to concentrate on training my own dog rather than feeling I need to watch other people, help them, design exercises etc, and Bryn has come on well there. So I jumped at the chance to join an extra 3 hour training session yesterday afternoon, especially as we have had no agility training all week because of the snow and ice.
Initial aims: to stop him from going off to visit people and to reinforce the wait on the start line. Anything else - a bonus.
Lots of bonus then!! There were only about 6 of us, so we had plenty of opportunity to try out different ways of working exercises - flick flacks, box work, sendaways, redirects, run pasts and more - all focusing on higher drive, better lines, better positioning and cueing. I really enjoyed the afternoon, and Bryn was a good boy! And we had results from the initial aims as well - let's see if they carry through.
As we were leaving it was just starting to snow again, and we had another inch or so overnight. You can have too much of a good thing.......
Initial aims: to stop him from going off to visit people and to reinforce the wait on the start line. Anything else - a bonus.
Lots of bonus then!! There were only about 6 of us, so we had plenty of opportunity to try out different ways of working exercises - flick flacks, box work, sendaways, redirects, run pasts and more - all focusing on higher drive, better lines, better positioning and cueing. I really enjoyed the afternoon, and Bryn was a good boy! And we had results from the initial aims as well - let's see if they carry through.
As we were leaving it was just starting to snow again, and we had another inch or so overnight. You can have too much of a good thing.......
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Why be different?
Everyone is busy posting pictures of snow, so this is our 'playground' today.
This is where we walk everyday, but it doesn't always look as magnificent as this!
Monday, February 02, 2009
What have I learned?
The training day with Di Talbot was cancelled today because of the snow, so off we went for some snowy walks, and I discovered:
that Bryn's sparkly white bits are actually creamy beige;
that Bryn doesn't really know how to play with other collies;
that Amber leaps like a kangeroo when chasing snow balls though snow drifts;
that Poppy the local labrador can run faster than Amber in snow because she has longer legs;
that Corker can still find someone's lost tennis ball from under 6 inches of snow;
that all the dogs think that Zak the local JR cross terrier is an amazing playmate in the snow, despite dispising him usually.......
A few inches of snow and this country comes almost to a stand-still, and the adults all revert to being kids again - one of the neighbours deliberately parked his van across the road so that the local little kids could use the sloped top of the road for sledging! Lots of fun - and the mulled wine was good too.
that Bryn's sparkly white bits are actually creamy beige;
that Bryn doesn't really know how to play with other collies;
that Amber leaps like a kangeroo when chasing snow balls though snow drifts;
that Poppy the local labrador can run faster than Amber in snow because she has longer legs;
that Corker can still find someone's lost tennis ball from under 6 inches of snow;
that all the dogs think that Zak the local JR cross terrier is an amazing playmate in the snow, despite dispising him usually.......
A few inches of snow and this country comes almost to a stand-still, and the adults all revert to being kids again - one of the neighbours deliberately parked his van across the road so that the local little kids could use the sloped top of the road for sledging! Lots of fun - and the mulled wine was good too.
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