NERVOUS ... very nervous

Where do I begin ... to tell the story of me being nervous ...

Well, we are going to C Side agility this Saturday with Saturn in the morning (Starters classes) and Sing in the afternoon (Open classes). I don't know why I am nervous, I almost shaking since Sunday, could not sleep well, restless at night even dream of Saturn doing agility. I have not lke this before with Sing when I first started competing agility with him.

I started to train Satrun in agility when he was quite young, about 6months old. I took him to puppy class to learn all the basic then he have a rest for a couple of months before we started him in a proper agility class. He is doing very well and getting his confidence more and more ...

I didn't start Sing in a "right" way being lack of experience but since the puppies came along and I determined to do well in the future. I started to train with Bernadette and I learned a lot that I have never taught before. The puppies have stronger basic than Sing and I think this is why I think the pups should be better than Sing and I think this is why I am nervous ... I expect a lot more from Saturn!!

Bought a caravan ... AT LAST!

We bought a caravan at last! A 2004 Elddis Avente 362. A very nice small 2 berth end kitchen caravan! Eventhough this is a 2 year old caravan but the interior looks like new, the kitchen & toilet were well look after, no scratch or mark, lovely caravan!
Colin took Friday off work and we drove nearly 900 miles to search for a caravan. We left home just before 6am, heading towards Lancashire to look at a brand new caravan called GOING. It makes in Portugal but belongs to English company. Their small caravans are simple but the layout is a bit awkward, we were not too keen on them but the price is very good, a brand new small 2 berth caravan is only £6,300. We then drove to Chesire to look at this Elddis Avante 362, the minute we step into this little caravan, we immediately felt like we are at home, so here we go, it has to be this one. We both agreed that we like this one very much, so we made an offer and we are going to bring it back in 4 weeks time.

Here are some picture showing the look of the caravan, I will take some real photos when we bring it back.

it melt ... too fast

The snow melt away too fast ... it is very cold all day and I hope it will stay for a day or two but by 1pm, it has all turn into water ...

More photos of the boys in the snow, I'm glad I have captured some nice photos of the boys in the snow, you never know when the next snow is coming ...

By popular request, here is my handsone merles, SKYE.

Another gorgeous sheltie, Seagull.

The boys by Seven Islands Pond, Mitcham Common.

My planets, Titan & Saturn

The boys playing

Sing and Titan waiting for a throw of the ball

The boys: Be quick mum, throw the ball!

Titan and Skye playing

my little eveil, wicked dog, Titan

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow ...

Let it SNOW, let it SNOW, let it SNOW ...

At last, it SNOW!

Wow! I love snow, I really do and I am glad it snow and I am very happy like a snowman!!!



I woke up 4:30am this morning to find it is all while outside, well, quite a heavy snow for London, must be at least 1.5 inches deep.



The dogs are very happy to see the snow. This is the first snow for Skye and he is enjoying eating the snow!! Sing probably is the happiest, he always roll himself in the snow when he sees one. He is not that type of dog that like to roll in the mud or anything like that but he only does it when snowing.

Isn't this picture of Sing makes you think the snow is very deep? Well, not really ... I wish it is as deep as you can see here.

Saturn does not really know what to do, he kept looking around but it is all white flakes everywhere ...

Nosy Titan has some snow on his nose ...

I took them out to the Common this morning for nearly 2 hours walk. They all enjoying themselves very much. Saturn, Titan & Skye are tasting the snow and I hope this won't give them tummy ache.

Seagull as usual kind of dopey but jolly!

What a clever boy!

I was reading Bernadette's blog from time to time and I remembered she has a link about some tecnique to teach your puppies. One particular trick I like most is to teach your dog to open the door. I knew it will come in handly one day as we always accidentally close the door with a dog inside somewhere somehow.

Here is the video I uploaded onto YouTube, you can see my clever boy open the door:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76ihAyCB5oY

Is it very hard to buy a 2nd hand SMALL caravan?

I have never realised it is sooooooooo hard to find an used small caravan! I never thought we will become a caravan owner either! This has to trace back to where Saturn & Titan has arrived.

When we have Sing & Seagull ONLY, we were happy to buy a 4-seater brand new convertible, were we mad? Well, not really. I thought we are still "young", we should enjoy some open top riding. I hardly seen one in Malaysia, so owning a convertible must be very lucky for me.

We have some good times riding with the roof down with Sing & Seagull. Seagull did not mind the NO ROOF riding but not Sing. He is a funny boy, he does not like anything blowing into his face. We are very lucky both of them are such a good well behaved boys. Eventhough we have them on the car harness but they have never stand up while we were driving.

When we got Saturn & Titan, Colin still think that we are able to carry all of them in the convertible. Well, those who knows me, my dogs always come first, so I definitley would not allow that to happen, 4 dogs cramp at the back of the car. I knew Shelties are small but no way! Sing is a very fussy traveller, he does not like any human being or dog to be near to him. He was sick in the car since he was a puppy and he finally realised that if you leave him alone and he will lie down until we reached the destination, he would be fine. Since then, he would not like anyone near him.

Well, we did put all of them at the back of the car for a while when we hunt for an estate. Sing and Saturn were on the seat where poor Seagull and Titan on the floor. Then, Colin suggested we should have a caravan to go holiday instead to put up a small tent. His idea was to put the dogs in the caravan while travelling and of course I told him off of his crazy idea but that was how we now become a caravan family.

We got the current caravan from ebay, only £400. We know nothing much about caravanning then and Colin thought it was a good price. Well, after we commit to buy the caravan then only we realised ontop of the £400, we have to fit a towbar, stabiliser ...etc before we can bring the caravan back. Gosh! More money!

Anyway, this is a very old caravan, we don't know the history about it, no books, no records, nothing, what we have is just the caravan. The guy was very nice and of course I struggle to cope with the caravan when I first saw it, don't know how to shut the door, guess what? Everytime we came back into the caravan, I have to push shut the door from outside and then jump through the window!! Luckily there were not many people at the campsite, nobody really see what I was doing. We then told that the caravan is not level, this is why the door won't shut easily from inside. We used the caravan for a few trips so far, the latest one to Lake District, I was lucky to get the door shut that time, HOORAY!

As we guess this caravan is more than 20 years old, it should pass it sell-by-date. The inside is fine and we love the space and the dogs seems to adapt it well, unfortunately the jockey wheel is playing up. The trip to Snowdonia was such a pain. We got lost and we didn't realised we need more than 10 hours to get there. By the time we found the campsite, it was nearly midnight. It was pitch dark and we hardly see anything. Both the car and the caravan were stuck in the muddy field before we can move the caravan into position. We did struggled so hard and there was noone to help. It was still pouring down and Colin said we have to leave the car and caravan in the middle of the field and go to bed.

I don't know how we finished that night but I knew I was grumpy and worried. The next morning, a nice neighbour used his 4x4 to move the caravan for us and we then realised the jockey wheel has broken down. We tried to find someone out there to fix it and luckily there was a guy willing to come to the campsite to have a look. I don't know how he did and what he did but within minutes, he fix the jockey wheel and we have to pay £25 for that small job in Wales(???).

I thought we are ok after all but I was wrong. The jockey wheel fell into pieces again when we got home. I tried to fix it myself and it works for a while but it did'nt last long. I am suffering from bad back, so I cannot risk my back to LIFT the caravan everytime we go caravanning, it is too much for me. I have persuaded Colin to get another caravan, I don't need a brand new caravan but at least not an old tatty thing.

Colin reminded me I actually started looking for a caravan since October but I don't remember that. I knew I am desperate for one now, we have to get ready before the agiltiy season begin in April. I have booked to camp at the Easter Show, so we must get a caravan before April.

I have been looking for a small caravan but all the new caravans (less than 5 years old) are quite big, well I mean the shipping length. I need one that fit into our garden, so it has to be short, not longer than 17'.

Wish me luck!!

nasty BUGS going around ...

Colin has been very ill for 3 weeks now. He started with a cough just before Christmas, then this cough got serious after Boxing Day but he still went to work for the week. On New Year eve, this cough became very aggressive, he was coughing every 15 minutes, from New Year Day onwards, everytime he cough, it will follow by a choke then sick. This cough is worst from the evening onwards, he has to wake up every hour to rush to the loo, poor man!

He went to see the doctor after New Year, the doctor prescribed him with a week's antibiotic and told him not to worry, it is just MILD cough. What? Mild cough? I think the doctor don't know what he was doing. I probably right though. The cough didn't go away after the 7 days of antibiotic and it has become worst, he cough, choke and sick more frequent. He has 10 days off sick from work. He went to see the doctor a couple more times and he even went into A&E in St Georges at one mid-night. Bad luck, the doctors said he is fine, nothing to worry about. I really could not understand why the doctors kept telling him he is fine which obviously he is NOT!

I don't like to see him suffers anymore, this nasty bugs has been bothering him more than 3 weeks and I think he has enough, he needs a good night sleep so do I! I started to have a little itchy throat and running nose but I went to the doctor to get myself some antibiotic and have a lemsip, vitamin C everyday. I cannot afford to be ill. I have so many to look after!!

Hoover Attacker!!

We started with one "normal" household hoover, it was ok to do its job when we first got it, we only have 2 dogs and a cat then. When we moved to the current house, I thought I can get a better one and one of my friends told me to go for Dyson. Colin was very much against it but he does not do any housework. I go ahead and get one, it was brilliant for a while, the suction was good but then we have problems here and there, mainly the blcokage. It must be hard work for Dyson, 6 dogs and a cat and some visitor dogs ...

Finally, Dyson gave up and I rang Dyson to see if they can do anything with it. The guy told me I have to pay £55 no more, no less for him to come over to have a look at my poor Dyson. I thought for a while, £55? I can buy a new hoover. I told him I will not want their expensive service and I will buy another cheaper brand.

Here comes the new hoover, Morphy Richards, good for pets, powerful suction and it is cheap!

Well, what about Hoover Attacker? Yes, SING is the hoover attacker. I don't know why but everytime I take the hoover out to clean the house, he will start his game, chasing & attacking the hoover, especially the nose. Here are some pictures of him attacking the new Morphy Richards.