Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Titan Titan ...

I didn't aware Titan has his little fans club! Every now and then, I received some emails asking me how is this little "evil" get on with his training ... mmmm ... so so, I would say. Well, he is a bit naughty and a bit evil and a bit out of control when goes into the ring. I never give up on him, I am determine to get him train one day. All this time, I am waiting for him to get mature, so I can re-train him in agility. Maybe the main problem is he is an everyone's dog, he loves people and he likes to meet new people, hopefully we could overcome this problem one day, yes one day! At the mean time, we carry on training him on the weaves, mainly.
We went to Nancy yesterday to do a bit of much needed training. We also did a bit of weave training with Titan and I am taking Nancy's advice, back to basic and open up 6 weaves (as wide as he is successful with) for a while to see how we go. Now, I set myself a target, hopefully we can achieve with good results. We are now practising about 5-10 minutes per session (including play and get him to pay attention to me and weave), 3-4 times a day.
Here is the little video of Day 1, we start right on his birthday:

Mr EVIL is THREE today!

Well, my 12" of evilness is THREE today, is he matures yet?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TITAN
we just love your evilness!!!
at 10 weeks old!!

photos taken today

Monday, June 23, 2008

Watford & Bretons

Well, we had a mixed bag over the weekend, the good thing was Sing yet achieved another 100% running Dog Walk, I am really pleased with him. I hope he will stay like this for the whole season. Last weekend at RVA, we had some courses with no straight forward obstacles in front of the DW, there is always a sharp turn or you have to go left or right after the DW, it is always my nightmare, as I always work so close to him and if I were to pull away slightly, he will either leap and misses changing his stride, so I have to learn to handle him with a lot of switching in front. This weekend at Watford, we have a fast course in the Graded 1-4, a tunnel right in front of the DW, a real invitation to him and he was very good to stride into his "hit it" point and into the tunnel; and in the KC Olympia course, we have to turn sharp left, he changed his stride beautifully and got his "hit it" point; and at Bretons, the poor lad was blew off the DW in the high wind, I asked the judge if he could let me put him back on the DW, I am not being cruel to my dog but I just want to make sure he is not put off by the silly action and he was a little darling, that didn't upset him and he also got his "hit it" point, bless him!
The bad thing was, I was always standing in the wrong position to lead the dogs to back jump a jump! It happened twice at Watford, same jumping course! Sing back jump #15, with him, I knew I could not weave away from him, so I switch in front after the weave and get myself in the right position and send him to turn away from me at jump #15 but I forgot to move and poor thing back jump it!! This happened to Saturn in the same course but he back jump #8, again, I was standing in the wrong position!!! I was annoyed with myself. Then, at Watford, I stand right in front of the wing to get Saturn to turn into me, that was obviously a terrible mistake, there were no room for him to turn and he ended up spinning and didn't know where to go!! Bless him!! He needs a better handler!!
I think I must be over relaxing over the last few weeks and forgot all about how to handle a dog!! I need some serious training!!
Saturn & I also pair with Matt & Bracken at Bretons for Small/Medium pairs. Matt & Bracken was brilliant, they went so fast and clear, unfortunately Saturn pick up a 5 on the weave entry!! Again, lack of training!! Other than that, it was a very good round. Thanks to Matt & Bracken for pairing with us!

Monday, June 16, 2008

RVA

I was supposed to take the caravan and the boys to RVA on Thursday on my own and Colin will join me on Friday evening but I was still feeling iffy on Wednesday and the weather forecast for the weekend was showers, so I wasn't sure if I am going. I was still hesitated on Thursday morning with the rain and sunshine. I have never go to a dog show on my own before, not with the caravan, Colin is always there but we just got back from Malaysia, he can't take anymore more day off work, so it is either I have to be brave or not going. By noon, I decided I will go, so Jim & Joan were kindly having Seagull, Titan and Skye for me, so that make it so much easy with just Sing and Saturn. I know I can trust these two dogs.
I was totally depending on my Sat Nav to take me there as I have no sense of directions! I knew my Tom Tom could take me down some country lanes sometimes but I just hope for an easy journey. Guess what? That bloody Tom Tom took me to somewhere called St Noet eventhough I key in the right postcode for the showground!!! That gave me a good scared! I tried to key in the postcode one more time and it shows I was 20+ miles away from the showground!! Luckily when I get closer, I saw some signs for the showground, that made me feel so much better!! As I left home late and took a detour, I got to the showground just before 4pm and the camping was nearly full, I was looking for a easy parking spot so we camp by the entrance.
Together with the agility show, there was an agricultural show on at the same showground, it was very noisy and crowded during the day but after 5ish, it was quiet and peaceful. It didn't bother me as we camp on the other field near the entrance, the entrace is mainly for agility people only, so it was pretty quiet spot and the gate was mended during the days and they shut the gate at 6pm eventhough they are supposed to shut at 10pm!! So, I have trouble getting out on Friday evening to go to Peterborough to fetch Colin. It took me 15 minutes to find Gate 3!
Saturn is definitely looking good after a rest, besides the awful contacts, his jumping rounds were clean and smooth, the judge for Friday Jumping likes him and came to priase him, that made me feel very good. For me, a priase from the judge is better than getting a place! It was a shamed that I haven't got that on video, he got a 4th in the Comb 3&4 Jumping. He then went on to win the Comb 1-3 Jumping on Saturday out of 54 dogs. On Sunday, he did look a bit tired and it was hot plus he has done two more rounds before the jumping, he was a bit slow and finished in 7th. I was pleased with him as I don't know what will I get out of him as I have not run him for a while, so I stay a distance from him everytime he weaves and that definitely increased his speed. I am glad I finally learned to trust him, at the end of the day, I've got nothing to lose!
Sing only managed a clear round this weekend, ended up 2nd. Sorry, no video for this run because when we were running, his daddy was chatting up to a lady and didn't even see us running in the ring!! Maybe Colin should be abandoned in the showground in future!!! This is the course, tricky beginning (dog walk to weave), I was very upset Colin didn't take the video because I would like to see the way I handled Sing in this bit. I run him all the way down, pass the dog walk (in that way I can be sure he has his "hit it" point) then switch in front (so Sing is on my right) and swing him in the weave, then switch again (Sing is on my left) to take the jump #8. He was a split second behind Jo-Ann Essex's Staffie! I don't know where we lost the time, I guess it could be from the dog walk to the weave as nobody does the way I did! I can't trust Sing to find the entry and with the running contact, if I were to pull away while he is on the dog walk, I am sure he will miss the point, so I decided to do a few front crosses. Also, we have never seen a wishing well in our training before, so I got a bit worried and wait for him to commit the jump.
The thing I achieved with him this weekend was the 100% running dog walk! We had 4 agility runs and they were spot on! His only problem this weekend was the weave, he kept pulling out at the 10th pole. I haven't got a video for the Friday run, so I cannot judge if it was me to pull away from him but I have a feeling that I must have looking into the tunnel after the weave that made the mistake.
On Saturday, he continued to pulled out the 10th pole three times in the Jumping round!!! I did make sure I stay with him all the way round but I could not understand why he kept coming out from the 10th pole??? In the afternoon, we have Eileen Wischnia's Comb 4-7 agility, I love the course, it needed a lot of handling and that suit me and Sing just nice and I was hoping to get a good place in that. They were 44 dogs and we went in in between, nearly all the dogs before us got either e'd on the jump #18 or fault on the weave entry and I was nervous. I managed the hard beginning (I did a push through but all the other do a pull through) and got all the way to jump #18, pulling the dog into me is the least thing I want to do, my option was to send Sing to turn left and pick him up and run for the two jumps, I knew there were so many fast dogs behind me, so I want to run for time, unfortunately, he was much faster this weekend (it is true!) and I didn't get there in time to pick him up so he back jump #18 to get ourselves e'd! When I think back carefully, I should have done a pivot turn and he is still on my left but gosh! No one does that!! They were only 4 clear rounds, two out of time and the two just squeeze in!
We finished very early on Saturday so we took the dogs and have a good walk around the showground, I was amazed to see the JCB Dancing Diggers. I have to say it was very interesting but many agility people hate them because they have some gunshots while they do the dancing and that put a lot of dogs off. Luckily my shelties aren't bothered by them but silly Saturn was afraid of the noise from the falcon!! They also have some old trucks display, I wish I have camera with me. The most interesting was a race where they have two horses pulling a cart with two riders, I don't know what they called but my heart was pounding watching them going round and round.
In the evening, we have free entertainment in the hall with Boney M. Wow, didn't I have a good time celebrating Saturn's win? I really enjoyed the Boney M concert with some lovely pimms and home made perry!! That didn't help me run on Sunday, so I am off alcohol when I am running!! I can't wait to go back next year!! A wonderful relaxing weekend!!

cathing up ... again

Colin and I went to visit my family a couple of weeks ago, my brother was very ill and he is still poorly at the time of posting. He just check in into the hospital for more check-ups!
We arrived on early Monday morning and I fell ill straightaway, nothing serious, just those nasty cold bugs from stresses and lack of sleep! I was so glad to see my boys again, they are the best thing in the world. I am very lucky that I've got to see Saturn, Skye, Titan and Seagull almost immediately after I've got in. Jim & Joan who looked after them were up in the early hours and cooked me egg and bacon for breakfast!! It is good to be home and knew there were someone who cares for me and my dogs.
Saturn was especially happy to see me, well, he is a mummy's boy so he won't leave me alone since I step in. He was like a koala bear that cling on me for the whole day!! After having a good breakfast and catching up with Jim & Joan, I took the four to Epsom with me to pick up their big brother Sing. Sing was living in the heaven with Katia and her girls and got his long walks everyday and Katia was very kind to take him to our club training and a UKA show on one Saturday. Sing was definitely well look after, I think he is missing Katia's pretty girlies!! I am glad I have all of them back with me now!!
A BIG Thank you to Jim & Joan and Katia for taking care of the boys for me!

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Happy Birthday to Saturn

Happy Birthday to my special boy, Saturn. Missing you terribly!