Ryan and Titan

I've like to post this photo of Ryan working Titan at C Side a couple of weeks ago. This team is getting stronger each day. I know Titan is a little mischievous and he is an everyone's dog, hopefully he will get mature soon and pay his full attention to Ryan. I hope Ryan enjoys working him.

Happy 2nd Birthday to SKYE

lovely walk

The weather was absolutely gorgeous this morning, sunny and bright and DRY! I went over to Ann with Sing, Saturn & Skye to fetch Titan (he had a sleep over so Ryan can take him training last evening) then for a lovely walk.

We went to Banstead Wood, that is such a wonderful place to walk the dogs, I like the woods, the open space and the hills and of course the lovely pub at the bottom of the hill. I thought I will take the camera with me but I left it at the porch and go without it, what a shamed. I have to use my mobile phone, the quality is not as good as the camera but it showed how much fun we have this morning.

C Side & 1st SNOW!

We had a great time at C Side on Sunday eventhough it was FREEZING cold! Even a thick coat, wolly hat, wind breaker ... were not enough to anyone of us warm! All my boys were trying their best and they did me very proud.

Like the previous year, they have the Grade 1-3 classes in the morning and Grade 1-7 classes in the afternoon. I have entered Saturn & Skye in the 1-3 classes; Sing, Saturn & Skye in the 1-7 classes.

Skye
We started with Agility first thing in the morning, I ran Skye first, this was his first show so I am not expecting much from him since I have not done a lot of training with him. He was a very good boy, his contacts were lovely, I need to work harder on the weave (we are still on the "wire" stage) but his speed isn't great. There were a few people telling me that they think he is either struggled to jump the medium height or he is measuring every single jump! I need to find out the real problem and solve it!

Saturn
Saturn was a very good boy, he was very excited and jolly and keeping his speed throughout the show. Unfortunately, my "alzheimer" problem confused him on the contacts again! I can get very excited (or nervous) when I go to a show, I always tell myself I have to be calmed and make sure what I want the dog to do but when I am running, I suddenly forgot everything!! I think I need someone to train me not the dog! In our agility round, when I sent him up the Dog Walk, he was fast for his speed and I was over excited and forgot to keep my eyes on his 2on/2off, and released him before he actually have his two front feet hit the ground. When we got on the A Frame, I was more careful and make sure he did his contact and he was a good boy then, the minute I saw him put his two front feet on the ground, I released him quick and his weave was fast too but my silly handling after the tunnel gave us a 5! He was very good at the Jumping classes, he got a 3rd in the 1-3 Jumping and a clear (he was one placed out from the places which they gave up to 4th) in 1-7 Jumping.

Sing
I let Ryan handled Sing in the 1-7 Jumping. Poor Sing is always a mummy's boy, he was looking out for me when Ryan set him up in front of the start line, I have to catch him a couple of times for Ryan but at least he did most of the course beautifully for Ryan until he went in the wrong tunnel and Ryan got a bit lost and he took the chance to ran off again!! I then handled him on the Agility myself, boy oh boy, I think his Dog Walk is getting better each time and he got a 4th. Hopefully all the "Hit It Board" hardwork paid off.

Titan
Ryan was working him in the 1-3 classes. He wasn't bad but he wasn't concentrate on what he was supposed to do. He is a everyone's dog and he likes to go and say hello to everyone. Hopefully, with more practise and more shows, he will learn to listen to Ryan more.

Here are the videos of Sing and Saturn @ C Side:

Thanks to C Side, the small and medium dogs finished nice and early, so we can pop in to see my in-laws in Brighton. On the way home, we even seen the first SNOW!!

Beowulf and popcorn

Colin said he is going to treat us to cinema this weekend, so off we went to see the latest Digital 3D film this evening - BEOWULF (http://www.beowulfmovie.com/). I don't know if I really like the film, it is too weird for me, too much screaming and the tale is as old as time! We got to the cinema nice and early, Colin was worried that we won't be able to get the tickets, so we got there 1.5 hours before the film starts, no problem buying the tickets; then we pop over to B&Q to get some cement and sharp sands to repair the patio ... We got back to the cinema 20 minutes before the film starts. As usual, I got myself a large popcorn, while queing to go in, I nearly finished the popcorn (for some reason, we weren't allow to get in until 15 minutes pass the start time!), so I bought another large popcorn, gosh! I am going to be sick tomorrow running the dogs!

she is a devil!!

-2.5c and walkies

The weather forecast last night was down to -3c/-4c with a deep frost! We woke up to -2.5c this morning and the cars were all covered with deep frost and the Common look so beautiful and the ponds were frozen!

I met up with Jenny and Copine & Lucky for a good walk at Wimbledon Common. I haven't seen Jenny and Copine for ages, so it was really good catching up with each other. I used to look after Copine when Jenny goes away to visit her daughter and son around the world and Copine is just like my own dog. When I got out from the car and walk around the car park, Copine spotted me from far, oh girl, she charged towards me without hesitating. I was very surprised she still remember me and can sense me from a distance!

Lucky is Jenny's daughter Polly's dog. Polly used to work in Singapore and there is where Lucky was born. When Polly and her family moved back to England a couple of years ago, they have to take Lucky with them and poor Lucky was traumatised and nearly lost her life. Now, Polly and her family is working in Zimbawee for few years, they decided Jenny should look after Lucky until they get back to England again.

Lucky is such a sweet little BC, she is small and stalky, not much bigger than Sing!

this is my baby, Copine

these two crazy sheltie and collie!!

they don't care what temperature it is, all they want is to fetch something in the half frozen pond!

at 11am, the ground is still covered in deep frost!

finally ... some update about Seagull

A lot of friends ask me how is Seagull ... well, he still need his 100% cage rest. I started to let him out more on the lead, so his movement is limited. He has been a good boy, he lies on his bed on command and I can see his eyes follow me everytime I move. I feel very sorry for him but I know for his own good, I HAVE to not let him move at all!

I went to Lesley Olden's training day on Sunday and didn't get back till very late in the evening. When I got home, he was so happy to see me and when I let him out of the cage, he rushed to me for a fuss and cuddle. I then took him to the garden for his toilet on the lead and was very surprised to see him limping very badly. I've checked with Colin to make sure he didn't let him run around while I was not around, he promised Seagull was caged all day while I'm out.

I thought he could be cramped inside the cage for too long and decided to wait until the next morning to examine him. He looked fine yesterday morning and afternoon, a little limpy but not bad, then in the evening he started to get bad again. Weird!

I am going to take him to see the Vet tomorrow ... will update more later.

this is poor Seagull sleeping in the soft crate during the night.

I have put the soft crate in our bedroom, so he will not feel left out.

Thank you ESSC Working Section for a fantastic training day with Lesley Olden

Sunday was another busy day for me ... I've booked a place with the ESSC Working Section Agility Training Day with Lesley Olden at Birchwood House Farm in Hampshire. I was supposed to take Sing and Saturn with me, unfortunately Sing isn't look fit on Sunday morning and I decided to take Saturn only. I drove down there nice and early and with my Tom Tom, I didn't get lost!

There were sixteen handlers and we were separated into 2 groups. The first group was for the Beginners and the 2nd group was for the Advanced. Each group has one and half hour session in the morning and one and half hours session in the afternoon. I was very lucky to be in the Advanced group at the same time I was very worried that I may not cope as Saturn was the youngest and lowest grade among the dogs and I don't know if I will be able to handle the advanced technique.

Lesley is a very nice trainer and I was a bit sorry for her to be put up with some noisy shelties, especially those in the Advanced group. I think she needed some paracetamol at the end of the morning session!! lol=)

Lesley encouraged all the handlers to motivate the shelties either with toys or food, for both the Beginners and Advanced, also she said basic is very important and suggested we do some basic every now and then to remind the dogs what they've learned.

In the Beginners group, they were some new handlers, first timers and a 11 year old boy. It was very nice to see how they handle their dog and they also reminded me that I was worst than any of them when I first started with Sing.

In the morning, we did some jumping sequences, front crosses, rear crosses, turning away, turning into the handler ...

In the afternoon, we did some contacts and weave entry. I always have "issue" with Saturn on the contacts, so it was very interesting to learn new method to see if Saturn will response better to it.

Saturn was a good boy, I think he did very well at the training and we have a lot to practise on. It took us less than 2 hours to get there but took us more than 3 hours to get home and my good Saturn kept me company all the way through the bad traffic on M3.

I have taken some photos of the Beginners in the afternoon session:

Back again after lunch

line up for the Dog Walk

here goes our Secretary Lesley and little Gypsy

young Lester and little Lassie. They are a cracking pair.

Christine's Badger is very confident on the Dog Walk

and this is Badger on the A Fame

Becky and her sweet Coco on the A Frame

Adrianne and her little buddy

poor Saturn was exhausted after a day long training, bless him!

Sorry ... no photos for the Advacned ... as I am busy listening and learning

a VERY BUSY weekend ... Saturday @ Discover Dogs

I had a really busy weekend ... starting with Saturday ... up at 5am to send my eldest nephew to the Station so he can catch the tube to meet someone at Finchley to collect him and take him to play golf somewhere in Oxfordshire. He is an extremely keen golfer and he plays really well; his handicap back home is "6" and I don't know why his handicap playing at the Malaysian Golfing Society is "0"? He is a real golf mad, since the day he came, he has been playing quite a few tournaments with the Malaysian Golfing Society and always come back with something, on Saturday, he won this lovely trophy.

I called my handsome nephew

"the Little Tigerwood".

I just love this two photos of him playing golf.

He is a sport magazine star, the above two pictures have been publisehed in the magazine.

We then have to rush ourselves to take the boys out for a good long walk before going to Discover Dogs to support Lisa and Chi. We got to the Main Ring just before 11am and the Medium Agility was about to start. We didn't get a good seat as we were late and I was so determined to try on with my new camera before Lisa and Chi's go. I was very disappointed with the new camera as the quality is worst than my old one. All the photos came out blurry and the back ground colours are very yellowy. In the afternoon run, I decided to use my old camera and the quality is slightly better but nowhere near good at all. I think being NOT a professional photographer is the main problem and the lighting was the major problem using a digital camera and I didn't use the flash at all, I do not want to frighten the dog when the camera is flashing. Lisa and Chi did some brilliant runs, for more news, videos and photos, please visit Chi's blog.

We had a great time at Discover Dogs ... here are some photos ...

Lisa Bailey and her Tri colour Sheltie.

and this is Catherine and Barney

Mary Ray with little Oz at the Training Demo

Saw this little girl with her tiny little sheltie at the YKC ring,

it was very nice to see her grooming her fluffy buddy.

Three typical colour shelties at the Shetland Sheepdog Stand,

they belong to Betty Straw (Dukeson). I fell in love with the Blue Merle bitch Laska.

Finally, Colin found this giant dog to rest his poor legs!!

Thank You, KAREN!

I would like to express my great THANK YOU to Karen who designed this lovely "Winter Wonderland" banner for my blog. With Seagull's problem, she has made my day! I love you Karen. Karen is such a wonderful friend and I think she has some great ideas designing banners, maybe she should run a banner designing company?

A quick update re Seagull ... as I thought he is getting better, his stomach started to disagree with the pain killers. He has been sick for the last three days and yesterday was the worst of all. He vomitted every half and hour and was looking droopy this morning. I rang Kevin to check if I should bring him in to see him, he suggested I give him the Tagamat Syrup then feed him some chicken and rice, small amount but frequent as he might have dehydrated but pull him off the pain killer for the next two days. I was worried without the pain killer he might struggled with the pain but he is doing well. He looks so much better this evening, no vomiting at all (touch wood) and he looks happy. It was very hard to see him being kept in the crate all day, so I took him out and put him on the lead and let him stays with us in the lounge this evening and he looks so happy!

Good news re Seagull

I took Seagull to the Vet for another check up this morning and Kevin is very happy with his progress. He has been on Flexicam for the last 5 days, eventhough he has a little bit of loose tummy and occassionally being sick but he is alright. He has put his weight on the foot since Friday which is a good sign. Kevin does not think he needs a surgery after all and suggested we change his pain killer to Norocarp together with Pro-kaolin and Tagamet Syrup to calm down the acid in his stomach. He will be back to see Kevin on Friday to see how he responses to these combination of medicine and in the later stage, Kevin suggested he will give him a weekly injection to fill up the catridge in his shoulder joint. For time being, all he needs is 100% cage rest. I feel very sorry to see his poor miserable face in the crate but everytime I let him out, he is so happy and could not stop bouncing which is bad for him, so I am very sorry but I have to limit his movement until he is better. If I am in the office working on the computer, I will bring him in with me and leave him on his bed with his lead on and that will stop him hoping from place to place, poor Seagull, I wish he gets better soon and come out walking with us, really missing him when we are out walking eventhough he is the most difficult dog to take out walking with, probably I like him as a challenge!

Seagull update and Happy Birthday

Seagull update:

Seagull is looking less painful, happy & jolly for the last couple of days but I still keeping him in the crate most of the time. He is trying hard to bounce around when he gets the chance but my Vet said if he continues doing that, he has be on the lead when he gets out the crate, poor soul!

Since the crack is on the awkard place in the shoulder joint, there is no easy way to put the bandage on to keep it straight before the operation. The Vet and Osteopath agreed that they needed to get some bones from somewhere to fill the crack so he needs another X Ray on Monday morning to see if there is any changes in the shoulder joint.

This is 3 legged Seagull, he still have one of his leg up every now and then

but I can see he started to put some pressure on the leg sometimes.

I know Zen's babies are a year old today, so Happy Birthday to Kizzy, Zoe, Whizz, Oz and sadly missed Zeus.

Today is also the 2nd birthday of my share dog, Starry. I have him with me for a while, unfortunately I have to send him back to stay with his mother and sister due to his epilepsy fits.

Happy 2nd Birthday to Starry (right) and sister Daisy

The Birthday boy and girl with their mum, Tilly (centre)