Chuffed to Bits.

Yesterday was Fozzies Obedience training day. I am so very proud and chuffed with his attitude and his work. I have included a video taken. This will probably be the last video I take for a while, as really we are just extending/improving what he already knows so won't have much to show really. I will leave it a couple of months or more and re take some in the new year.

Hopefully his next video on here may be of some Agility training!! I am still struggling with him in the Agility, obviously Obedience looks to be his forte. Pity I'm not as keen on it as I am in agility

I have uploaded it in 2 formats because I have been told that some of you can't view Vimeo movies. Vimeo is a much better format with superior quality , I couldn't use youtube for this video because it blocked the attached tune !!! so for those that can't view vimeo I have also downloaded it via blogger.

DISCOVER DOGS

This was held last week weekend at Earls Court in London. I always love going to Discover Dogs and once again both Disney & Woody were invited to go.
Woody was invited primarily because of his appearance on childrens TV at the moment in *Gigglebiz*. He was such a good boy, but for some reason this year struggled with the surface, which meant he couldn't jump properly. However he wasn't an embarrassment even though he was up against all Grade 7 handlers bar one. He missed a couple of contacts, but that was my fault for not working him properly, because I was concerned about his jumping action.

Woody was the only non collie there and the children loved him, and all came to see him afterwards.

Disney once again absolutely adored being under the spotlight. It is truly hard to remember sometimes he is 11 and half years old !!! unfortunately he took a slight fall off the Dogwalk in the first round, and in the second round missed his A-frame but he still came in 5th !!

Video problem

Just to say I have redone the video below of Fozzie at Obedience. I was told it was freezing half way through, so I re sent it to You Tube and its working fine now.

Long Time !!

I really thought I ought to update my blog. I know my Mum reads my blog a lot and she'll be telling me off for not updating it regularly. I am always moaning at others for not keeping it up to date, and then here am I doing the exact same thing !!!!

So here goes.. this is all the news from end of September up to today.

I'll start with the shows that I did at the end of Sept and the one I did in October.


First off was Stour Valley. The sun shone most of the weekend. The boys all worked well and between them got some nice places ( no top 3 though and no video!)


Then onto Suffolk Five Rivers

Lovely show, and although its a long way to go its always worth it. We were once again really lucky this year by having the most glorious weather.
I managed to get locked into the huge exercise area on arrival day, which caused everyone much amusement. When I took the boys out the gates were open, and not a soul around. I had a wonderful walk and was gone about an hr, however when I got back the gates were padlocked shut. Fortunately I had my mobile phone with me and rang my mate Jennie, who in turn contacted the show organisers who then contacted the show groundsman,who eventually came and let me out!!!

We had a very successful weekend with Chip getting 2 top ten places in Gd 6. However in 2 of his rounds he ran past the last jump ( and he was clear up till then) to get his ball !! I have worked hard on Chip this yr to get him to go on, especially towards the finish line, and in training I use his ball, so I suppose I have to forgive him.However it was harder for him to go round the jump rather than actually jump it !!!
Disney and Stella won the medium pairs and Disney also got a 2nd in Gd 7 jumping. Woody again was a little star and got 4 places out of 4 classes including 2 4ths. Here is a video of some of their runs.



My last show was Mid Downs at the Autumn country Fair at Ardingly. I love this show with only one ring to worry about ,its nice and relaxed, but best of all a lovely show to look around. It was a bit of a chilly blustery day, but thankfully dry.

I was very pleased with the way both Chip and Woody worked, Disney couldn't compete as there were no medium classes there. Woody did 2 lovely rounds but unfortunately had a pole down in one and missed his dog walk contact in the other. Chip came 6th in the Gd 6 Jumping and was going really well in the Agility, but some shoddy handling on a jump near the end scuppered any chance of a place...duh !! You can see it on the Video. I have posted even the not so good rounds.



Fozzies Obedience is coming on really well. I am really pleased with him. He has a lovely action in heelwork and his set exercises are very clean. I have now just got to fine tune everything and he'll be ready to compete early next year.



Whereas his Agility isn't quite so hot and I am struggling to enjoy training him at the moment. He is a spooky little dog, and he switches off easily. I am really struggling to keep him motivated, and if he gets upset by anything then I just can't get a thing out of him. I am not sure if its an age thing as he is still so puppyish or whether unfortunately I just have to accept I don't have another willing agility dog this time. I know(and yes I've been told countless times) that Chip also didn't have the spark when he started, but he was always very willing, and didn't switch off, also he is/was as cool as a cucumber and never ever spooks at anything !! So with Chip I didn't have to fight and work with other problems as well.

I had a private lesson with Fozzie yesterday, and it was dire. He spent the first 15 minutes spooking,barking,growling at 2 horses that had coats on them ,they were in the field next to the agility field. I just couldn't do a thing with him & I was getting more and more depressed(which obviously didn't help matters). he'd do a jump and then start being paranoid again about the horses ! he'd then sniff the ground looking for imaginary titbits, and then notice the horses again. Eventually we did 2 lines of jumps, with a massive reward and that was the end of the lesson....one very expensive line of jumps !!!
When I got home I was so down in the dumps , I even starting having awful thoughts of re homing him. !!! I never ever thought I'd even consider such a thing !

Having said all this,today I've decided to * lift myself up,brush myself off and start all over again* as the song goes . I've given myself a slap on the face, pulled myself together and told myself to just accept Fozzie for what he is, and try and get the best I possibly can from him. I may just continue training him in my field for the time being, and not take him to other venues until I have built his confidence(and mine) up again. When I feel he's beginning to enjoy it again, then I will do some one off training sessions elsewhere so he gets used to other equipment etc.
I will see??

Fozzie also just over a wk ago had Lungworm(or suspected Lungworm as it was never tested for) The fact he responded so quickly to the Panacur ,coupled with the fact none of my other dogs started coughing also sort of confirmed it. I suppose it could have been an extremely mild case of Kennel Cough but NO dogs he had been in contact with have coughed so I think not. I now have to deliberate over the best preventative treatment to give him & my others. Advocate is supposed to be the best, but there are so many differing opinions over whether it is safe for collies and their crosses!!

and lastly......

Last week I went down to see my best mate Jane in Devon. I only took Woody with me,basically because I wasn't happy about taking Fozzie to Janes as she has so many other dogs, plus a 3 wk old puppy. As there was(at the time) an element of doubt about the kennel cough/lungworm we felt it best to leave him home. I therefore had to leave Chip as his companion. It was actually lovely just having the one dog and being able to give him 100% of my time, and Woody is such a good dog to have around. He is wonderful with all Janes dogs & puppies and totally trustworthy with all her Chickens/Ducks/Ferretts/Cats !!!!!!
We had several lovely long walks whilst I was there, and Jane is such a brilliant cook , we also had some lovely meals & cakes.Unfortunately my diet lapsed and hasn't really returned..Ooops.

However whilst I was there my 19 year old cat Fella had a stroke, he lost the use of one of his legs and also went blind suddenly. Why do these things always happen when I am away? However Steve my hubby was brilliant and dealt with it all. Fella has been on medication now for over a week and I am delighted to say he has made a complete recovery, regained his sight and is back to his old self.

I have joined a local private gym so I am trying hard to get fit. I try to go 3-4 times a week. I do aerobics one evening and then swim for half hr, Step class another evening followed by a swim, and then at least one gym session(bike,rowing etc) followed by a swim. All this coupled with my hourly walk every day with the dogs, plus my agility training I should be super duper fit by next year...he he.

So hopefully by my next post I will have lots and lots of good news to post about Fozzie.
Woody & Disney have been invited to run at Discover Dogs again up at Earls Court next wk.
I am really looking forward to that. I shall be taking Fozzie along for the ride and I am sure it will do him good.

Happy Birthday Fozzie

My lovable, but very naughty hairy muppet * Fozzie * is 1 today.
Where has that time gone ?

My boys

I have finished all my agility shows now. Serious winter training starts now, re training all the things I've let slip over the last few months.
I will post about the shows over the next week and add video as well when I've downloaded it.
In the meantime I just wanted to post this pic I took of my 4 boys last week on our walk.

Trial Run

I've just downloaded an application onto my iphone so I can update my blog via the phone whilst I am away. So this is just a trial to see if it works ok !

Poor Fozzie AGAIN !!

You may all recall on my blog back in April reading about Fozzies bad experience at the Easter show when he was 6 mths old. Just to recap he was badly attacked ring side by a Border Terrier, Fozzie sustained a very bad bite on his nose and abrasions to his lip. I reported it and have since heard that the owner got a tap on the hand and a fine of £50..big deal !! My Fozzie recovered very well although initially if a bouncy dog with a dark face approached him he did try and snap at it a little. Over the past 6 months Fozzie had gone from strength to strength and I had forgotten about his trauma. As anyone who knows him knows, he is a confident puppy and was approaching all dogs happily and in a very friendly manor.

Well yesterday and this morning all that could have changed
Last night Fozzie started his big boy agility classes. he was brill and all was going well until a black dog ran for the ball his owner had thrown him(which unfortunately landed by Fozzies feet) and the dog rushed in to get his ball & really growled at Fozzie. After that Fozzie got very worried by all the dark faced dogs in the class !!!

Then on my walk this morning ( an hr earlier than normal cause of work ) a black GSD had a go at him. I was coming round some bushes ,the dogs went round first, and suddenly I heard this scream. I ran round to see Fozzie disappearing screaming down the lane, and the guy hastily putting his dog on the lead.
I was too worried about Fozzie to ask the guy for his name . Fortunately Fozzie ran into an entrance leading to a field and then back tracked to me. However if he'd continued he'd have run onto a busy road and who know what the outcome would have been. By the time I had got Fozzie back the guy was long gone !!!

Fortunately there was no physical injury to Fozzie just mental. I now fear Fozzie will become a fear biter having had 3 bad experiences in his first year and 2 incidents of hostility within 24 hrs. !!

To say I am upset would be an understatement. My Disney has always been nervous of other dogs since he was also attacked by 2 dogs at a very similar age. Disney will never ever start anything but if a dog sniffs him, he'll react and ask questions later !!
I just pray I don't have a repeat of this with Fozzie.

FIRST AGILITY CLASS

However on a brighter note ,I was overjoyed with him at his first agility class.
It was a very hyper group (to say the least !!!) 6 dogs in the group and 4 of them real barkers and screamers(this probably didn't help the atmosphere amongst the dogs!!)
Fozzie was EXTREMELY keen and enthusiastic. The dog walk was set low on trestles and the instructor suggested trying him with a target pot at the end. Well Fozzie flew over the contact,no hesitation at all on the down plank and on the 2nd attempt even stopped in an almost perfect position. I don't want to rely on the target pot as its not a method I have previously used, but I am going to use a variation of this eventually !!!

September news

Where is the year going? here we are almost half way through September, and only 3 more shows till I finish for the winter :-( It seems like only yesterday that I was getting myself ready for my first show in March !

So whats been happening !! Well first off the TV programme *Gigglebiz* that Woody has a part in has started to air on Cbeebies. Its on at 5-35 everyday. He has appeared in the first 4 episodes this wk,with the other 7 of his sketches slotted in over the next 4 wks. So far he looks brilliant ( even though I say so myself) If you want to catch up with some you can do here on the BBC iplayer. There have been some great comments about Woody already on the Cbeebies message board so I am a very proud mum.

Last week Beth my niece qualified Woody for Crufts. She came 2nd in the semi final of the YKC up in Birmingham. She also came 2nd with Disney and as the first place person has decided to take her other dog, Beth has qualified with Disney by default. However Beth can also only take one dog so she will have to decide who she wants to run at Crufts 2010.
Here is a video of her run.


That same weekend I was at Letchworth. I had a great time. It is a lovely relaxed show and the weather was lovely albeit quite windy.
My dogs worked well. Woody clocked up 3 top ten places(good old Mr reliable) but it was Chip I was so pleased with.He came 5th in Graded 6-7 Jumping .He got a second in the Grade1-7 power and speed, being beaten at the very end by 0.02 of a second..WOW !! And then went into combined 6-7 Agility and came 9th. He did a lovely round but once again a slightly slow dog walk & A frame contact made the difference between 3rd and 9th place!!! I only have one video of the weekend and luckily it was this one.

FOZZIE IS 11 MTHS OLD TODAY

I'm not sure what is happening to his coat !!! However I found an old photo of Chip at roughly the same age and his coat did a very similar thing along the back,so I am keeping my fingers crossed Fozzies will turn out just like Chip's.

The weird and wonderful coat ???

Well hows his training going?.......Well I had a brilliant session at Obedience on Thursday, he was very keen,fast & concentrated. In fact his recall was soooo fast that he crashed through my legs and almost ended up upside down ! I was then paranoid I'd broken him, he was fine though. We did about 15 minutes work and I finished on a real high.
He starts big boy agility in 2 weeks. I am very excited about this,but also quite nervous. This will be the first time since we did our foundation class(when he was 6 mths old) that he has worked in a group setting. I know when I try and do anything in my field with him when I have my other dogs with me,he is really terrible and only focuses his attention on them, so I'm not sure what to expect. This will surely be the title of my next post I expect.

So what have I been doing as regards his agility work ? Well the channel weaves are as near as they can be without him actually having to move his body. I don't like to close the weaves up any further until a) the puppy is about 1 yr old and b) I have got them going into the channels from all angles. I love teaching weaves so I am quite anal about how I do it, but I am quite proud of all my previous dogs weaves, so I shall continue to be this way.
The jumps I have literally just put up onto the small height. Once again I like to wait till they are nearly a year old before I start to jump them properly. Fozzie is fully grown now so I am happy to do this. He is very confident over these so I am pleased.
Lastly his dog walk.....Mmmmm Well......
....I was working on a 4 off dog walk hoping to get speed over the contact but with a controlled down on a mat at the end. All was going well until I put the dog walk on trestles. Once the angle of the decent was altered so was the behaviour I was getting. He started to jump from the end of the walk to his mat rather than run through the contact area to it ! I gave a lot of thought to this, and have spoken to a few people and have sort of decided to revert to 2 on and 2 off. Luckily Fozzie will happily run to a dead toy ,so I hope he will keep the speed we had got over the contact once we put in a stop. Work in progress should I say.
Here is a little video taken today in the field. The camera work is thanks to my 11yr old niece Beth.

KC Festival, D.I.N and other updates

My holidays are almost over, I have had 3 weeks off and its been wonderful. Firstly some catch up news with Fozzie. Whilst away he turned 10 mths old,unfortunately I didn't get a photo of him but he really hasn't changed at all. I will get one at 11 months old in about 10 days time. He is still as naughty as ever and still stealing everything in sight. I can't relax much with him around. I spoke with the owner of his Granddad(on his dads side) and she didn't make me feel any better,she says he'll probably start to behave when he's about 10 yrs old.......noooooo !!!!!!!!
Here is a picture of his handsome granddad "Wizard" who is a show champion

As far as his training goes I am experiencing some problems creeping in ,which I am putting down to just his age I hope. He seems to get bored very easily and stops trying. If I throw a toy after he has done something ie the weaves he'll dash out and get it but seems in no hurry to get back to try again.He seems a little lack lustre. What he does is very correct but with not much enthusiasm any more. I am also seeing a lot of stubborn behaviour coming in. A sort of *I won't & you can't make me * sort of thing. Its the same with his obedience. He tries hard for about 5 - 10 minutes and then switches off. I am feeling a little despondent about it, but I am sure he'll come right. I had the same issues with him when he was teething, and I guess this is all down to hormones because yesterday he became a man and cocked his leg for the first time !!
He starts big boy agility lessons in about 3-4 wks time, and I am sure once he gets in with a group he'll liven up. It definitely isn't the same for me or the dogs training on my own, I think they need the excitement of others working.
Once we start agility I may stop his obedience training for a while, I will tick along with it, but I am wondering if he's the type of puppy/dog that can't cope with too many things.

So onto my agility holiday.......

Because we were having our house rewired I decided to go away earlier for the KC Festival. My friends Jennie & Andrea also wanted to go away earlier ,so on Sunday 9th August we departed. We stayed on a lovely farm site not far from Market Harborough & only about 15 miles from Kelmarsh Hall where the KC festival was being held. It was a lovely site albeit surrounded by rivers and streams, not so good with a bunch of water loveing dogs ! The daily walk was through a field of horses and fowls and then on the last day a flock of sheep were put in there ! All the dogs were great though. It was a very relaxing 3 days before we went up to the KC Festival and thank goodness it was !!! You'll see why when you read on...
Here is a picture from my caravan

So onto the KC FESTIVAL

Phew that's all I can say. It was enormous. On the Monday before we had driven over to the Hall from our farm to see what it was like,and as Norman was Judging and we were also booking people in on arrival day, we could choose where to camp. There were very few people there and no rings up so it was hard to judge distances. Jennie & Norman always like to be fairly nr the exercise area, whereas I like to be fairly nr to the rings what with running 3 dogs, so we chose what we thought would be a good compromise. It wasn't until everyone arrived and the rings were in place that we realised just how far we were from everything. I must have walked miles. I was camped in the same area as Hannah and if you read her blog on the Festival you will see she has sort of worked out how much walking she must have done with just 2 competing dogs,and I had 3 competing dogs!!. In particular it was worse for me on the Friday as my niece came up to run all my dogs.So in addition to my 3 dogs having 3 runs each with me, plus Disney in the KC Olympia semi's, I also had to go to the ring with Beth every time when she ran the dogs. I was totally exhausted,had a thumping headache by the end of the day and vowed NEVER again. Every trip back from the rings seemed like an eternity.
On the good side Beth ran the dogs beautifully, unfortunately a couple of small errors meant she didn't make the finals but she did brilliantly. Here is a video of her runs. I think I made an error on Woody's run and he didn't infact come 6th in that particular round but in the other one. !!


Woody was brill again for me, unfortunately only got a couple of videos, but here is one


Chip was ..well Chip !! I got some good start line waits from him, but I did some shoddy handling as well. I also had a very bad fall which didn't help my overall feelings for the weekend. It was in the Grade 6 Agility. I was really looking forward to running in the class. It was being judged by Nancy Hudson.I love her handling type of courses. Well I set Chip up in a wait and managed to get a 2 jump wait. When I released him he was supposed to go into the wrong end of the tunnel, however he cut in front of me and literally took me off my feet. I landed in a crumpled mess,hurt my elbow and shoulder and also my bad leg. I made a quick departure mainly through embarrassment !!!! I spoke with Nancy afterwards and she assured me it wasn't any bad handling on my behalf ,it was Chip being naughty !!!

Disney was either fantastic or terrible. He was also in the KC Olympia semi's. I really wanted him to do well as I fear that at aged 11 years his time is running out for Olympia. Amanda Rodgers had set up a lovely course , with some tricky bits but nothing I was really worried about. Disney set off wonderfully(hard to believe he's 11 yrs old) he tackled the bit where most eliminations were happening at the long jump and the 2 jumps after the cloth tunnel, I was now feeling good..into the weaves and then Disney took the wrong end of the tunnel. I really hadn't expected this at all. I sort of gave up then and stopped working him. I have to be honest and say I was very disappointed to say the least. I have included the video anyway. He was working so well.


From the KC Festival we went 120 miles down to Ipswich and Dogs in Need.
We arrived on the Sunday as once again we were helping book everyone into camping.
What a fantastic week weather wise,the sun shone everyday , although there was quite a wind.
Chip totally made up for performances at the KC festival and worked amazingly. He got a 3rd and 6th in Grade 6 jumping and a 9th in Grade 6 agility( with 5 faults) he had the fastest 5 faults and if he hadn't knocked the pole he'd have come 2nd ,only being 0.08 of a second off the winner !!! Once again it was a handling course as opposed to a fast flat out course. it was Judged by Dennis McCauley and was very tricky. Chip was superb with fabulous fast contacts and very tight. Unfortunately I don't have any runs from D.I.N on video, which is sods law as I had some of Chips best ever runs there, maybe that's telling me something ! When they are being filmed they never turn out the best..hmmm.
Chip was also in the Final of the Celebration Connection class,held on the Thursday. Unfortunately I placed myself in the wrong position for the tunnel/tunnel combination and he went in the wrong end ( me and tunnels eh ???????)
Still at least he got to the final.

Disney got through to the Championship Final but unfortunately flew the seesaw which he's been doing quite a bit of late.I don't train him at club anymore and I think my seesaw at home is weighted differently ! Still once again I was very proud to have him in it.

Woody once again came home with several nice places including 2nd in the fancy dress pairs.( Bathing Belles & Wrestlers) His partner was Roo handled by Andrea. Chip and Quiche came 5th in the same class. They would have definitely beaten Woody & Roo on time as they are both very fast,but Chip ran for his ball at the finish line and by the time I had got him back into the box we had lost about 3-4 seconds. We were told afterwards by the judges that infact as long as I was in the box Andrea could have gone,but we didn't know that and I didn't want to be eliminated.

Don't we look a picture



Unfortunately I didn't get any of my dogs into the end of week finals. Typically they did all their best rounds on non qualifying days and on the qualifiers completely mucked up ( I have to say some of the qualifying courses were extremely tricky)
In one of Woody's they had to go from angled 6 weaves to another angled 6 weaves. If dogs weren't getting eliminated or faulted there,they were getting eliminated on a very close tunnel to dog walk combination. I was very confident going into the ring with Woody because I know how honest he is. We got through all the traps and he went into the first weaves(which were at a horrible angle) but for some reason he stopped weaving and looked worried, he then came out of the weave. I jollied him up ,put him back in the weave and he continued perfectly. I don't know what was wrong with him but it cost us a place in the final !

Maybe next year I'll get 4 dogs into the finals...yikes !! 4 dogs to run ,how will I ever manage that.

Next weekend Beth is in the Crufts YKC Semi Finals up in Birmingham with both Disney & Woody. Fingers crossed for them. It would be good to get one of them to Crufts again next year.

Lots of catch up !

I am off on a 2 wk agility holiday in just under a couple of days, so I thought I had better bring my blog up to date before I go.

Firstly a Fozzie update. Well his pre agility training is coming on very well and I am very pleased with him so far. I started a little foundation class for some friends with the intention of training Fozzie in it, but it proved impossible to teach and train so up till 2 weeks ago all my training was done on my own which meant no exciting start lines, just waits. He actually now has an excellent start line wait. However 2 wks ago I started training my sister in laws puppy for 20 minutes before the main class,this enabled me to bring Fozzie out to train with Charlie. It meant for the first time I could have someone hold him and wind him up and I could recall him down long lines of jump wings...great. I have also now started to place his mat at the end of the dog walk down plank (at very low height) and he is hitting his mat dead on. Next I need him to do it independently of me , so I can be anywhere and he still gets the criteria right. Up to now I have been mostly in front and rewarded with a click and then food from my hand,I now want to progress this so I am behind him but he still faces forward to get his reward. That is my homework when I return from holidays.

His obedience is also coming on well. I have sped up his recall and retrieve over the last 3 wks and his heel work position is getting better, however mentally he tires very quickly and struggles a little,I hope this will improve with age.

So here are 3 little videos of him. One obedience video taken yesterday, one of his agility work taken last wk ,and then a slow motion video of his contact training.

AND IN SLOW MOTION....HIS CONTACTS

HIS OBEDIENCE WORK

Show News.

Well at long last here is the video of Woody's lovely run at Rugby show a few wks back


and finally last week at Tenterden...

I was absolutely over the moon after last weekend. On the Saturday I was very despondent with Chip. We were just not getting things together and I had actually asked someone else to run him for me in some runs as i just felt I wasn't doing him justice.
Someone then gave me a real talking to,everything they said was so true. I was trying too hard with him and therefore putting too much pressure on both myself and him.They also said I could achieve with him and I wasn't crap like I was beginning to think I was.
So on the Sunday I decided to run him in the 2 runs he had. Well what can I say. He was brill. His 2 classes were both Gd 6-7. He came 12th in the Jumping ! there were some messy bits as well as some brill bits and I could see where he could make up the 2 seconds that split him and the top 3 places.
In the Agility he came 5th !!!! Once again a slow dog walk and a slightly messy turn made the difference between him and a possible win (time wise)
I came away elated and now more full of confidence,especially as he has the final of the Celebration Connection at the Dogs in Need show in 2 weeks. Here is a video of the 2 runs and the various mistakes.I apologise for the commentary by my very silly friends...enjoy !!!!!!!!