a cripple agility weekend!

I was so much looking forward to Landsdown Agility Show. This show was held at the Landsdown Racecourse, the view is always so beautiful from the top of the hill and the camping is always good, we have plenty of space and the people are so friendly. We have some lovely walking spaces for the dogs and there is no restriction on how many dogs are allow off the lead as long as you can control your dogs.

Unfortunately, I have two cripple dogs who were supposed to compete at Landsdown. Saturn's broken dewclaw was still bad, Kevin only removed his bandage on Friday morning but he needs to wear a sock to protect the bare skin for a little while. Saturn was not happy with my baby sock + terrible bandage work, he keeps chewing it off! Arrrggghhh ...

You can see from the above picture that eventhough his dewclaw was clean but it still need protection, this means he shouldn't be running for the next week or so.

Sing was slightly lame from last week's tumbled tunnel. To be honest, with two dogs cannot run, I shouldn't have gone to Landsdown but both boys were on the Crufts Team, so I HAVE to go, at least to run Sing in the Team. I did gave him a warm up run in the Jumping as first thing of Saturday. When I first walked the Jumping course, I cannot register the course in my mind. We got there late on Friday night and didn't settle until nearly 12 o'clock, so an early start is not the thing I want. The course was challenging, it was a graded class too, I thought if I can pull through the hard bit, I would like to win the class. I actually did the hard bit smoothly but got eliminated on the tunnel! Arrrggghhh ... it was my fault really, I was meant to do a front cross after the weave, so Sing is on my right hand side, so I can send him in the grey tunnel, then tell him left tunnel and of course I didn't do my switches and Sing didn't know where I want him to go, he ended up go in the same tunnel, Bless my little boy. I was actually pleased with him doing the hard bit alright. There weren't many clear rounds in this Jumping course!

After that, we have the Medium Crufts Team. I ran Saturn at the first qualifier and I know Saturn is not fit for agility so I asked to run Sing for the rest of the qualifiers. Sing was the first one to go and he was a good boy, he was the only dog in the Team to go clear. Two of our mates got fault and one got eliminated, so no qualified again this time. We must try harder next time but it was very good to run in the Team.

this is not a successful weekend but I thought I would post the runs I did with Sing, so some of you may like to try the course, especially the Jumping course:

This is the first time of the year we were away in the caravan. We have a compact little caravan, enough to fit in the two of us and our SIX shelties! We took all the boys with us plus Samber. This is the first time Samber camping with us and she was a good girl. She didn't attempt to run away or do anything naughty. She really is a sweetheart.

this is our little caravan

Saturday evening rain after we came back from our long walk, so Saturn decided he will watch his daddy cooking BBQ from the window

... then Samber joined him, isn't she cute?

she is daddy's girl

... and these are my boys! Can you imagine I woke up ache and pain next morning?

since Sing and Saturn are not fit to run on Sunday, we chilled out to enjoy a bit of relaxing day ... it was VERY HOT on Sunday, this is Sing's favourite cool spot, underneath the caravan!

these two planets were quite happy to stay under our awning

this little girl likes sunbathing!

this is my job when we go caravaning ... groom the dog!

just recently, these two like to stick together
Sizzle and Samber enjoyed their run in the racecourse


I hope you like this series of photo of Sizzle trying to escape from the garden. Yes, he is a naughty boy, he tried to escape to find me everytime I wander to see what happened in the ring, funny thing is Colin didn't even aware he has gone! I actually caught him by the ringside, to be precise, he FOUND me by the ringside and he was so pleased with himself when he sees me! You either hate him or like him!

cute puppy!

I was away at Landsdown having a "cripple" agility weekend! More about that later. I missed little Blessy! While I left him on Friday evening, one of his ears already open, so I left a radio on for him.

He becomes very cute now, when he is awake, he gets to come out from the puppy pen to wander in the lounge. He loves to explore the surroundings, I leave some stuff on the floor for him to see. It is extremely hot today, really muggy and he got to wander on the patio for a little while and he was walking so fast and everywhere!! I need to be fast to be able to catch him!

smile a little smile for me

so cute

can you find the puppy?

Bless likes to use his paw


I really thought he is a left handed as I can see he always use his left paw to hit something ...

... including giving me his left paw! Sorry folks, I didn't teach him the trick, maybe he is a natural?

until I see this, sorry the photo is a bit blur but you can see him using his right paw too!

the real family

Happy Belated Birthday to TITAN

I am such a bad mum! How can I forget Titan's birthday? He turns FOUR on Thursday (25th June). I did made up his birthday for a long walk at Landsdown Racecourse this weekend and some yummy food!

Happy 4th Birthday to my "evil" boy!!

Sizzle and his training

I have received emails asking me how is Sizzle's running dog walk.

I am very happy with his progress. I haven't done much with him for the last 8 weeks but we did a couple of training with him for the last two weeks. His running dog walk is good, eventhough not 100% but we are getting there. We just need a lot of reputations. I would not do much with him due to the hot weather, I will take it easy and slowly. No pressure at all. He is so much fun to train. As we are rusty at training, he started to get distracted easily, so we will work on that!

life is not just for agility, this is Sizzle's playtime!

you gotto like his running dog walk, look at the speed he is coming from

Sizzle: I know what "get it" means!

he is a stunner!!

photos taking

Sorry I forgot to post a photo of Sing and his grand Thames trophy. Well, it is not easy to take a "happy" photo of Sing with his trophy anymore. He was alright before until we started to take a group photos including Samber. Samber has not been trained at all, I can never get her to sit let alone a wait, so with a lot of hassle, we managed a group photo but that put Sing off when I started to line them up for a photo session.

at last a happy Sing with his grand Thames trophy! I was so lucky to win one of these grand trophies, especially with my special boy.

we started with this one, a fed-up looking boy thinking NOT ANOTHER PHOTO?

Bless said: nevermind daddy, I'll be the poser!

I can't believe how fast a puppy grows. This morning, Bless was still struggling to walk but this late afternoon, he is so much better already! I am going caravaning this weekend for another agility weekend, I wonder by the time I come back will he up on his feet and start running already? Hahaha ...

Saturn is always a poser, a happy poser. Due to his broken nail, he is not allow to go out walking so we got stuck indoor for some tricks. This is his "cross your paw" trick. He is such a handsome cutie with the bandage on. I need to keep thinking something for him to do to distract him from tearing the bandage!

pedicure & manicure

I thought I would post this picture of Bless having his feet done! This is the second time I trim his toe nails. The last time I did it was a week ago, the nails are getting so long so fast! Just to make sure they didn't hurt Gem while feeding, so I better get on with my job. He is a cute puppy and have been very patient when I trim his nails. After Saturn's broken nail, Colin said today is the Nail National Day! Hahaha ...

Bless update

Bless will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. Some people asked me if his eyes are open yet, mmm ... yes and no!

I started to see a crack last evening, thinking he might be opened today but nope! Hopefully he will be fully open tomorrow.

here are a couple of eye spy photos:

this photo was taken last evening

this one taken this morning

Bless said: Nope, I am not open my eyes, I am tired!

yawning is a growing process!

daddy's boy?

Sing is very scare of him! I introduced him to Sing last week, Sing was very wary and watch him from a distance, then slowly creep closer to sniff him, little Bless sniff him back that made him jump. I got shock of his reaction. Since then, he would not go closer!!! Just look at his face in the photo.

poor Saturn! BAD mummy!!!

Poor Saturn broken his tumb nail!! I don't know when does that happened, I only noticed it yesterday evening when I took them out walking. He was happily chasing the coots as usual but came back with bloody paw! I got concerned and went home straight away but it was late and the vet already closed. I washed the paw to find out he has broken his tumb nail, I tried to trim it but because it wasn't long (I trim his nails every two weeks), so it got a bit awkward. He ended up in the vet this morning to have it treated. Kevin said it was badly infected so he needed a sedation to bath the wound then bandage it up. Poor Saturn, I don't think he likes to win out of grade. Last year, he won into Grade 4 in Landsdown and two days later he had his biopsy operation and last Sunday, he won into Grade 5, two days later had another sedation to remove the broken tumb nail. Poor boy! He must think I am a bad mummy!!

Saturn was so happy to see me when I picked him up from the vet a few hours later

he really is so tired from the sedation but he is worried that I will take him back to the vet

Saturn and Axstane agility weekend

I had a mixed agility weekend with Sing and Saturn.

On Saturday, we have Eukanuba mini/mixi pairs to start with, so early start for us. Luckily the traffic wasn't bad at all and we got there plenty of time. As usual, Colin walked the boys for me so I can go and walk the course. The Eukanuba mini/mixi pairs was a twiddly course, I walked it many times and I still cannot register the course in my head. I have been jumping Sing at small height at training, so I got a little confused over the height to start with; then the jumps were set very close together, you always have a small and a medium height next to each other, for me, it is very easy to take the wrong jump, especially in the box area where most dogs got eliminated for taking the wrong jump.

Sing started off well, he and Kodak were the first one to go. Sing did a lovely clear round, unfortunately Kodak got eliminated soon after he dash out from the tunnel. With the baton changeover, you can't really have a wait there as you will lost time and Amanda wasn't fast enough to get to the right place so Kodak took the wrong jump. Other than that, Kodak did a beautiful round, especially the weave entry, he is fab!

Saturn and Bracken was next to go. Saturn didn't pick up his speed that day, he was slow and steady and we went clear on our part and luckily that superb dynamo Bracken made up all the time we've lost. With double clears, that put us into 2nd place.

Soon after the Eukanuba pairs, Sing has the KC Olympia Combined 1-7 Agility to go. I didn't enter Saturn in that class, knowing he will not do his contacts. Sing started off slowly but he soon picked up his speed after the dog walk but he tumbled badly in the 2nd tunnel! When we were in the queue, three dog in front of us was peeing in the tunnel, so the judge has to wash the tunnel down with a bucket of water. I got a bit worried seeing water in the tunnel as it was a slightly curve tunnel but the ring party already taken Sing's ticket, so I have to run in order. The two dogs in front of us got caught in the tunnel, I think they don't like the water. As I said, Sing picked up his speed after the dog walk, so he was going in a good speed into the water tunnel and he tumbled badly as I can see him came out a little bit slow and uneasy but he carried on until I've notcied he slow down in the weave but he was a good boy, he finished the whole course clear. I gave him arnica after that and he was slow for the rest of the day and Sunday. I have heard many other dogs also got tumbled in the same tunnel, the two I know were Rosie's Disney and Ann's Tippex. Maybe the KC should think about the safty of the pipe tunnel in the future.

Our next class was Combined 1-7 Helter Skelter, it was a real H/S course, from a small loop into a medium loop then a big loop to finish. I only walk the course once as I was getting dizzy. I wasn't sure if Saturn is happy to run the course as he wasn't really jumping nicely that day but we did it anyway, he was clear but he hasn't got that speed.

To finish our Saturday, we have another pull through jumping course, it was a Graded 4-7. Guess what? I still didn't learn from our last week's course at Thames. I should have done a push through with Saturn instead of pull through, so he didn't take the jump (see video) but we didn't get a refusal. I was crossed with myself! Sing wasn't running as he was sore from the tunnel accident. In this course, there was the cloth tunnel (chute) to jump to finish. It was a grade 4-7 class and I was really shocked how many dogs got caught in that act, too many of them would not go on after the cloth tunnel, they either lost time or go around the jump (eliminated)! I wonder were they really Grade 4-7 dogs?

We finished Saturday fairly early but we have to hang around a little bit as Colin has a drink with his boss in the evening and I need to drop him off in Central London, on the way home. We went for a nice kebab (eating in the car with the dogs!). On the way home, we were crossing Tower Bridge, for the first time, we saw the bridge being lifted for the boats to get pass, very impressive!

I also told Colin I was feeling very sad about Saturn's performance. I don't think he is in pain or anything as he looked jolly but he isn't jumping in a good speed. I told him I may want to retire him from serious competition, just do some jumping classes with him. Colin didn't agree with me, he said I should give him chance and I don't know what to do. I don't want him to associate with the bad behaviour.

So, I was thinking is it worth going on Sunday as Sing is hurt. We don't have the first class, our first competition was the Graded 4-7 Agility and it was after the practice ring close at 10:30. I was still in bed at 7am! You can imagine I was not thinking of going but I suddenly remembered I owe the trade stand some money which I promised to pay on Sunday. I woke Colin up, fed the girls and say goodbye to the pup and off we go.

We got there fairly early, Linda was camping with her husband and her sheltie crews, she kindly made us some bacon baps for breakfast. Thanks Linda! It was about 9:45, I thought I will give Saturn a go at the practice ring to remind him on the contacts as this maybe his last agility class for a long time. We don't get many practice rings so this is an opportunity. Saturn wasn't really doing his contacts, as we have one minute per go, I tried to reinforce his dog walk and A Frame twice, then see-saw once and left the ring in plenty of time.

The Graded 4-7 Agility course was a nice one, well, to me, it was my kinda of course. I like handling course. My only worried was the dog walk to the wrong end of the tunnel bit. Many dogs (or most dogs, all dogs) will go straight into the tunnel after the dog walk. I walked it in three different ways how I would handle Sing, the one with a running dog walk will surely go straight into the tunnel facing him! My options were ... to switch in front of the jump before the DW, so I will be on the other side of the DW (Sing on my left) to push him into the wrong end of the tunnel; the other way is to stay this side of the DW (Sing on my right), but to stay wide so I can pull him into the wrong end of the tunnel; and my last option was sending him to take the jump before the DW then run like hell to get to the DW before him to do a front cross then push him into the tunnel. I know the risk of him not getting the contact for my last two options, so I have to wait and see. I didn't even bother to walk for Saturn as I know we will not get the contacts. He was the first one to go. I thought I will try my best to make it look good, also a practice for me to run Sing later.

Saturn was keen to go but he was slow in the weave, he normally weave much faster than that. We did the pull through #4 and #5 (YES! pull through again!!!) alright and he took the jump before the DW, as I was running, I was thinking how am I going to make him to TOUCH? I just said to him "get it", my usual cue for the contact. I never thought he will do his 2o/2o but he did. WooHoo! What a good boy! I also did my front cross and push him into the wrong end of the tunnel. Hei hei! I feel so good about it. My next worried was the see-saw, he very often leap the see-saw but man! He did the see-saw beautifully, I cannot complain about that see-saw. The last contact was the A Frame, I have been tried to release him on the A Frame fast so he don't have time to hesitate but I think that was a bit too fast but he did get his A Frame contact though. I have to say in general, he was very responsive to all my handlings. I was really happy with our run. I praise him like crazy when we finished. I thought we finished in a good way. (Note: the video isn't very good, Colin said the camera suddenly went wrong, the screen were jumping up and down and he was trying to film without seeing it, hopefully it will come out).

After Saturn's run, I was getting Sing ready for his run. I wasn't going to push him for speed as he may still be sore from the tunnel accident. I love to run Sing in this class as I want to know if he still get his running dog walk if I do my front cross after the dog walk and he goes into the right end of the tunnel. Obviously we went very wrong before we got to the DW. For some reason, he didn't response to my pull through handling and we got eliminated there. I thought that's great, I can do what I want to do now. I send him to take the jump and tell him "walk on" then I ran like hell to beat him to the DW in order to do the front cross. I win in this case, I've got there before him, but ended up with a blind turn (even better!) and he still get his contact and he went into the correct end of the tunnel! I thought that was a great achievement for us eventhough he got wild after that but who cares! He is my Sing.

As we were waiting to see if Jane and Quito win the class, we hang around to see other dogs run as well. Believe me, only FIVE medium dogs went clear in that class out of 65! TWO in Grade 4; ONE in Grade 5; TWO in Grade 6 and NONE in Grade 7! You know what? Saturn WON the Grade 4 by 8 seconds!! He is up with the Grade 5 now! Of course Jane and Quito won the Grade 5 and now up to Grade 6 with Sing. Hooray!! I must mentioned this ... all the four winners from different grades ... Saturn and me in Grade 4, Quito and Jane in Grade 5, Todd and Karen in Grade 6; Disney and Rosie in Grade 7 are all Pachesham students!! Eleanor must be very proud of us!! Pachesham Rules! YEAH!! Jane's husband Graham has taken this photo of us:

left to right: me, Jane, Karen & Rosie

Well, after the great news, we have a long wait for the jumpings. The weather was getting hotter and hotter and I started to have a feeling that Saturn will give up running again. Unfortunately, the two jumping classes were going to clash again! I ran Saturn in the Tunnel Jumping (combined 1-7) class first and he was very keen and good. He was running ahead of me and he did the two tunnels with commands and distance. That's what I call another achievement. I was really proud of him and he did really well in that Tunnel Jumping. I don't care if he gets a place because his performance is what I care. We actually ended up 9th.

The last class was the Combined 4-7 Jumping. It was set by the same judge Peter that judge the Agility this morning. Basically he just removed the contacts and replaced by more jumps. Again, my worried was the two straight jump into the wrong end of the tunnel. Just imagine the speed the dogs came from the two straight jumps, all they see is the tunnel entrance in front of them. Again, most dogs got eliminated in that tunnal action! Jump-Jump-Weave to start is never a cup of tea in Saturn's case, he will weave faster if the weave is in the middle or the end. I guess he must be getting tired towards the end of the day, to me he was slow to start with but later pick up the speed. I really don't know how to handle the tunnel bit. We have done this many times at training and we never get it right, my "Sat Sat Sat" command nevers seems to work at training, he totally ignored me and went straight into the tunnel but in this case, I thought I will really running as wide from him as possible then call him when he is approaching the tunnel. I must get my timing right this time, when I call him "Saturn" he looked at me then he was in the correct end of the tunnel. WooHoo! I feel good! This put us into 4th place, really is not bad! Karen and Todd won that class. This pair is just fab. They won the Agility and Jumping in style! Three down, one to go, they will soon be in Grade 7. I am so happy for them!

Saturn with his Axstane winnings

sorry to post this two silly photos but I just love to see him rolling and enjoying himself

Saturn: Oh mummy, not again? I have enough photo taken please!!

and here are our runs from the weekend:

Saturn

We went to Axstane Agility Show today, more about the agility news later ... I was catching up with some agility friends that I only seen at agility shows. As this is my 2nd show of the year, so there are a lot to catch up. One thing, almost everyone that have seen Saturn runs told me he is not as fast as he was before ... he only have half the speed! I must admit I feel the same. I knew he lost his speed since he had the biopsy operation last July, nearly a year ago now! I know Saturn has his contacts problem but he is a Helter Skelter, Steeplechase type of dog, he will dash and take all the obstacles in front of him eventhough I was far behind. Unfortunately, that has now become history. I am hoping he will have his speed back after a few months but I know this probably is the end of his era. I am feeling very sad. I did tried to send him to his food pot to train for his speed (with no jumps, just the dash) and Sing easily beat him to it! I guess there is no more serious agility with him. Honestly, I am feeling very sad today!

clever Bracken and clever Saturn got a 2nd (out of 105 pairs) again at the Eukanuba mini/mixi pairs at Axstane today. You can see from Saturn's face, he is not very happy. Since he has the biopsy operation, I sometimes see a very sad faces on him.

The End of our EFC dairy

... our plan on Monday night was to try to find somewhere near Dunkerque port to stay over night, to be precised ... I mean a 24 hours carpark! After we left Middlekirke at around 8pm, we drove round around Dunkerque to find somewhere to park for the night. We were very lucky to see a McDonald. Colin and I decided that's the place for the night. At first, we park the car right close to McDonald, we had our dinner there, brush our teeth and gave the dogs a quick toilet walk. We then drove the car to a much quieter corner to have our night there. Both Sing and Saturn were very good. They are such an easy dogs to take out with. They quickly settled in for their sleep; so do Colin and I. I was waking up with Saturn bark in the morning. A lady was trying to clean up the messed from people eating at the carpark and she was very close to our car and Saturn was protecting us. It was still early in the morning so we drove the car around Dunkerque, I tried to find something to eat, unfortunately all the bakery were selling sweet stuff. I ended up with a big long chocolate au pain and a cake for breakfast! We also found a little park to walk the dogs, again, ON the lead!

Our sailing was 10am but we got to the port just before 9am, I guess we were very desperate to go home, go home to FREEDOM for the poor dogs!

Sing and Saturn were getting very desperate to go home!

Saturn said: can we please go home now?

When we landed in Dover, we took them to Hampshire Hoe again for a long walk, eventhough it did said dogs must be on the lead but we just couldn't care anymore, UK is our land, we can do what we want to do!

the boys were so happy to run free

I can't wait to see Sizzle, I have been missing him a lot. I picked him up from Eleanor's on the way home, shamed that she was out picking the children from school and luckily Sophie was around so we could pick Sizzle up. The back of the car was pack right up to the top, poor Sizzle has the TOP seat! Actually he enjoyed being so high up!

THE END of our EFC diary

continue ... EFC diary ... nearly THE END

Our EFC diary is coming to the end now ... the adventurous journey

We left the showground on Monday morning but most of our team-mates left a few hours before us, that was about 4am in the morning, they have an Eight O'clock boat to catch in Dunkerque; some of them take the Euro Tunnel in the afternoon. We don't leave until Tuesday 10am so we have plenty of time. We left the showground about 10am to drive into the town of Mechelen for sightseeing. All the shops were close but we got to see some fantastic buildings and churches and the catheral. Unfortunately it was a very hot day, walking on the pavement is never easy for the dogs especially they have to be on the lead. I find it very stressful to walk the boys as they HAVE to be on the lead AT ALL TIME!

Sing and Saturn pose in front of the Catheral

we found this statue while we were walking about, these two boys were very good posing for the photo, until this ... see photo below

... what have they seen?

a CAT! They were so good and well behaved. They have not move an inch, they just sat there wathing the cat walk by SLOWLY! I am very proud of them and their training must be well worth it!

some part of the town looks very much like Amsterdam

poor Sing wishes he could jump in the canal for a good swim

as we walked around, we found this interesting shop ... BRAIN WASH? Can't work it out what shop is that!!

then we saw this funny statue ... I found this on the internet, it is Opsignoorke Doll

after a two hours city walk, I wanted to sit down, so we back to the square again

I forgot to mention dirving on our own were very exciting. Before the other left, we always follow them around, so it didn't bother me if we were driving on the other side of the road but now we have to go different way, I got a bit worried as I have the tendency to drive on the left! Colin have to keep reminding me: Ooi! Right! You can imagine how exciting was that! Luckily it was a public holiday and they weren't many cars.

Eventhough I have a printout map from the Flyball venue to Dunkerque from the AA Route Map but we weren't following that as we stop at Mechelen so it became an adventurous journey. We just drove along, heading towards Dunkerque but hopefully to find somewhere to stop so we can let the dogs loose. Sing and Saturn were dying for a freedom run.

We can't read French or Belgian, so can't understand the road sign either! Colin decided we will drive closer to Dunkerque, so we found a sea side town called Middlekerke. We thought we can let the dogs run in the beach but there is a sign saying No Dogs from the time we were there, so tough!

on the way to Middlekerke, we saw this bridge open up for the boat to pass by

... and we saw the famous Belgium Blue Cows

we finally arrive at Middlekirke to find out it is a very crowded tourist place

it was very windy and my cap got blow away, Saturn thought I was playing the fetching game with him and he pulled the lead and fetch the cap for me! Ah Bless him!

we saw horses on the beach!

... and more horses!!

we found this lovely sand castle

I was very impressed by Diana's 4 Dog Craziness and wanted to copy her idea and of course mine was terrible!

the dogs went crazy and I decided I will be naughty and let them go off the lead. Saturn really thought my blew cap is a game and each time my cap got blow away, he will fetch that for me, he also fetch Colin's hat!

Sing got very jealous so I have to tie his lead up, so he can fetch something as well

it wasn't much fun by the beach as I was worried that we will get a penalty for letting the dogs loose, so we decided we will walk back to the car and hopefully to find somewhere to walk the dogs

then, just behind where we parked the car, there was a hidden place. I don't know what it was but I knew it is safe to let the dogs run around. It wasn't a big place but good enough for them to be off the lead for a little while. Sing immediately begging to play with the ball

as I had enough Flyball for the week, for a change, I didn't carry any ball with me, so I have to make his lead up to throw it for him to fetch, poor Boy, he was so desperate to play!

Saturn is not a fetch kinda of dog, but he don't care, he want to run and do something

Saturn is looking out for FREEDOM

more photos from EFC 2009 ...

the big building in the picture is the Flyball Club House, how posh? They have their own bar that sells beers and nice clean toilet. The dog toilets are behind the building. I forgot to take picture of the doggie loos but they have fenced up some field into three parts, all well fenced, no escaping. The way they picked up the doggie toilet is very different to us. We always bag the dog poo and drop them in a bin provided but the European have a bin and shovel provided. You have to pick your dog poo with the shovel and then chuck them in the bin but I am so used to bag them, I think that is easier but Colin prefers the shovel way.

... and this is a very posh RED CARPET toilet for human!! The little poodle picture is the Ladies and the dog in front is for the Gents. The shower block is on the left, just outside of the picture.

This is some of our Team members waiting for the dogs to be vetted on Saturday evening. Belgium is a very religious country, all the shops close very early in the evening, they normally close at 6pm but some very big shops (mega stores) close at 8pm. We have to ask the vet if we can be vetted last as we need to do shopping for Saturday and Sunday. Guy, Ray, Becky, Karen, Colin and I went in 2 differnt cars but one of the closet supermarket already shut so we have to drive further to do our shopping. Ray got worried that our dogs didn't get vetted so Ray and Colin went back early to help the Team to sort the dogs out while the rest of us carry on shopping for the Team. We didn't know Monday was their public holiday, this means no shop for Sunday and Monday. Luckily we managed to get enough food until Monday morning. I have heard that they've somehow misplaced Sing's pet passport and thank God I wasn't there or else I will be screaming the whole field down!!! They then later found Sing's pet passport was with other Team.

the vet nurse doing her job, flea drop the dog!

I can't resist to post this photo of this cute puppy I found on Sunday morning, isn't she gorgeous? I don't know what is she, I could only guess she is a Pyrenean Sheepdog.

here are some shelties we met at EFC:

this is Tambee from Germany

Tambee again. He is a big boy.

this is Jamie from Austria. They camp opposite us.

this is Zinna from Germany

and this is Van Hilder Hoff, by name you could guess she is from Netherlands

my boys like Van Hilder Hoff!

unnamed sheltie!

Sing and Saturn with their dad

Sing (picture above) and Rocky (picture below) are the only two shelties that compete in EFC 2009

Shelties look-a-like ... the Rough Collies

GB Running on the podium!!

Trophies!!!!

Sizzle ... at last!

Sorry folks that I haven't update on Sizzle. He is fine now after a couple of weeks of good rest, no walkies, no training, he is dying to do something! I took him back to training this week, on Tuesday, we went to our weekly club training. We started to train outside now and this is the first time, Sizzle got to train outdoor. He was great, he did some beautiful sequences, fast and furious, the new cloth tunnel (chute) didn't bother him anymore, he just pushed pass it in speed. Unfortunately our contacts are not great. I have no complain about his A Frame, he still does his lovely running A Frame. I have a little trouble there though. There were four other young dogs training with us and they all using a food target and normally they spread the food around and sometimes we forgot to remove the target on Sizzle's turn so he ended up sniffing! All the contacts on the outdoor field are made by Alvah, the all weather contacts, they are aluminium and lightweight. I don't think Sizzle is bothering by the noise of the contacts but the dog walk was on an even surface so it kinda of wobble a little when he shot up in speed, so he got frightened and went slow in the first couple of round then got better. With our running dog walk, I now put his ball out for the first time to remind him to "get it" and he got it, at the 2nd and 3rd go, I remove the ball and he still got his target point which is good. I am still not 100% sure if he understands the cue "get it". I didn't get to practise much at home as I am too busy with my mum and the pup (excuse really!).

I don't think you can complain about this running contact, there were no toy or food and he did "get it" but not quite what I was asking for. I would like the two front paws to hit the point but instead he is using his back legs!

I think it all depends on the speed he came down from the plank

I think our worst obstacle is the see-saw. He is taken a back with the see-saw, he is not running all the way up to the see-saw anymore. He ran up and pass half way to wait for it to tip. I think this is probably the begin of the see-saw nightmare as Saturn is the same. I tried to do a little see-saw work with him this morning:

please excuse my old mum's photography, she is trying her best.

He also surprised me with the weave at training! I still open up the V Weave at home in a slight angle but we haven't been practising for two weeks or more. On Tuesday, we did a jump-weave (in a straight line) sequence, he did the weave on its own while I was still standing behind the jump. Oh, I forgot to mention, it was an upright competition weave!

I need to work on our entries from different angle as I know he has his weakness there!

I also took him to Flyball training on Wednesday evening. We haven't been to Flyball training for 2 months, if you remembered he was very unwell for the last 6 weeks.

He was pretty good at the runback and fetching the ball, we also did some changeover a while ago but that all seems like history to me. I don't know if he still remember Flyball and luckily he did. His eye was either on the ball or the tuggy. His runback is getting better. They put up 8 jumps to teach the dogs to stride. Sizzle's pattern is single, single, single, double, single, single, single. I am sure we can improve that to all single stride.

We also did some much needed BOX work. Eventhough Sizzle has been to two Starters competition but he never really did trigger the box. I remembered he probably accidentally trigger the box once or twice and training and that's it. I haven't got a box to practise at home so all need to be done at training. He was a bit frightened about the box before but not on Wednesday. I tried to swing him around the box to start with and of course he didn't know what I want from him but he is a smart little dog and he soon learns to put his four paws on the box, he did a beautiful swimmer's turn like Sing but the different way to Sing. Look like he is a left handed (I thought he was a right handed!). We then got to practise on the box for 5 minutes and each time, his turn is better and better, WooHoo!! Maybe a good break is what a dog's need!!

cross paws!

Little Sing-let showing his daddy how to cross paws!

with the back legs!

... cross back legs + give me five!

I can also cross my back legs the other way!


grandma said: such a hard life to be a cute puppy!

continue ... EFC diary

I wonder if I ever going to finish my efc diary?

Day 3, 4 and 5

Friday 29th, Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st May 2009

Racing Days

some of our team memebers at the open ceremony

Friday was the first day of racing. The open ceremony started around 8:30, all 73 teams from Europe joined in the ceremony. It was a short ceremony as there were a lot of racing to do in two rings.

There is nothing much to say in these three days as we were racing (both our teams were in Division 3), watching other teams racing, chat about the racings ...

the Teams

GB Racing "Standing By"

Note: It was very different racing in the Euro, back home, Blue Lane is on the Left and Red Lane in on the Right; in the Europe, other than they drive in the wrong side to us, they also race in the wrong side of the lane to us, their Blue Lane is on the Right and Red Lane is on the Left! For the annoucement, when two teams are racing, they will always annouce the next two teams to "standing by" in the UK but in the Euro, they said "prepare you". I was wondering what does than mean for a little while but you just get used to it after a while. In the UK, we have Round Robin, if there are 7 teams in the division, you get to race 6 times in the Round Robin but in the Euro, we only get to race ONE in the morning and ONE in the afternoon.

and you still get the 2 minutes warm up time

this is our Becky racing Zak. She is only 10 but she is probably the best handler out there. Her start time is perfect every single time. I have never seen her releases her dog early and never get a light. She ran the start dog for the Wimbledon Woofers Team and in this efc 2009, she ran for GB Running. She was awarded for the BEST Young Handler. Well done, Beck! We are very proud of you!!

and this another young handler at Euro, she is running a blue merle sheltie called Rocky

this is Rocky again, doing a run back at the warm up

Rocky taking off


here are some photos I've taken while watching the racings:

some teams like to put a board in front of the box for a quick practise/reminder during the warm up time. A lot of fast dogs have a beautiful swimmer's turn.

and some teams like to paint their dogs! This little JRT got his tail painted an Austrian Flag colour red-white-red! Actually they have painted all the dogs in the Team but you can't quite see in the collies

I think us English are kinder to our dogs, we just wear a wet coat with "come on England" painted on the coat, not the dog!

or ... wear a bandana, here display by our Team Captain Ray and his dog Bramble

and not forgotten some supporters! He obviously is a Dutch supporter!

and this German young lady platted her hair in style, with the German flag colours!

Almost every single dog that races in efc wore a harness ... Power Harness is one of them!

here is my proud Sing with his special label SING harness

this gorgeous Aussie, she has a power harness too and she is a POWER DOG

sorry, no idea what breed he/she is but he/she also wear the power harness

and this Beardie, she wore a power harness too

and this little fast and furious dog wore a slightly different type of power harness

what do you think about this shepherd dog?

I like this pirate harness from Czech

GB Running getting ready to race

this is Ring 1

Four Paw's Darren judging

Ray & Karen ring party, I don't know what they look like that?

this little Papillion x JRT from Hungary is sooooooooo fast!!!

this collie is after the dog in the next lane not the ball!!

one of the English Teams, Kiddy Monsters!

poor tired Sing after the Final, he can hardly stand up!

I like this series of photos of Saturn ... he is watching and cheering

and finally some videos from our racing, I randomly picked three racings as they are not like Agility where you have different courses, some of you might be bored after watching the dogs running up and down fetching the ball again and again:

Not to forget to mention, they have some great entertainment on Friday and Saturday night. I was so tired after the racing, so we retired to bed fairly early (around 10pm ish). I know some of our team memebers went over to the entertainment tent to enjoy themselves and got drunk till 3am and still be able to race the next morning! On Friday night, they have one of their own band singing all night long. Eventhough I tried to sleep but the music was so loud and I actually singing along with them in my tent. Sing and Saturn seem to get annoy everytime I sing, they either lick me to shut me up or sit on top of me so I cannot sing!!! I must admit by 12, I was very tired and wish the music would stop but they still going on and on ... until I hear this song:

I woke up next morning singing ... I am not English, I am not French, I am not Dutch, I am not Spanish, Portugese or German, I am in Belgium so thank you very much ...

ah Bless!

Little Bless is one week old today. How time flies!! He has definitely grows a lot in the last 7 days. His fur is getting longer; the fur on his ears are growing; his pink paw pads slowly change colour, into blackish; his body is getting longer (and fatter!), I don't think he can sleep comfortably on the heat pad much longer!! He started to lift his head a lot and he likes to stretch a lot too! He weight 16.5oz, not quite double of his birth size but I think he is doing very well. He kinda put on about 1.5oz - 2oz a day.

I have received a few emails asking me if I am keeping him ... er ... NO!

I also started to think of names and only came out with this one ...

LICOSATERIA MAI PRECIOUS BLESSING

MAI which I picked out from Sing's KC name and it sounded like MY

PRECIOUS which I picked out from Gem's KC name

any idea welcome!

Also, friends asked me where does LICOSATERIA comes from. Well, originally I applied for SATERIA but the Kennel Club rejected time after time. Sateria is a Malay word for KNIGHTS. Then, last year I was at Crufts with Sing, Kennel Club had a stand there so I walked in to apply one more time, again, they rejected it, reason being there is already an affix PATRIA which they think is very similar to my SATERIA. Luckily I did think of a 2nd name, so I added LICO in front of it, LICO in Japanese mean smart and intelligent, so we have "smart intelligent knights" for my affix. Coincidently, LICO sounds like LIan + COlin!

mixed weekend

Sing and I had a mixed weekend.


Saturday - Thames agility show

I was so happy to be back doing agility again after a long time spending on Flyball. I know I am rusty but I am still as keen as I was before. The boys were in the same classes, Saturn in Grade 4 and Sing in Grade 5.

We had an early start of the day, the Eukanuba mini/midi pairs and Combined 3-5 Jumping were the first classes in the morning. I was still tired and lack of sleep being puppy watching. Bless is doing well, he is a real time waster, I love sitting there watching him twitch. LOL! I tried to remember the two different classes hard as they are not easy flowing courses, they both need handling. As we were nearly towards the end of Part 1 in the Eukanuba pairs, so I have to do the Jumping first.

It was very funny, there is no queue in the Jumping (very unusual for medium!!), eventhough my running order with Sing was in the middle and Saturn at the end but I have to go in early. After watching a few people ran their dogs (all had faults!), I got very nervous. I shouldn't have watch people ran their dogs really. This Jumping course was very tricky, lots of snake, push through, pull through ... at the end, I think I will forget what to do, pull or push?

Sing ran before Saturn, I know he is not a fast boy and I could keep up with him, so hopefully we can managed a clear round. I don't like the beginning, I have walked the beginnig two different ways, either a front cross or pivot turn (like I did with the boys). The front cross maybe ok with Sing but it would be very tight for Saturn because jump #3 was in a tight angle. I decided I will try pivot with Sing, hopefully he will not take the finish jump which he almost did but I managed to get him back, so he turned very wide on that jump. I have to say I am very please with the rest of the run, he did the snake, the push through and our last three jumps of two pull throughs, I am more than happy we did it clear and smooth.

I did the same with Saturn. His pivot turn from jump #2 was tight, so there is no problem there. My worried was the last three jumps of pull through. I thought of doing a push instead of pull with him as I know he is faster and I maybe standing in the wrong place and I did stand in the wrong place of the last snake jump and I wasn't quite there for a pull through and I didn't stand my ground so he missed the second last jump who cost him a refusal, or else his time would gives him a lovely trophy! Arrrrggghhh ... more work on pull through!!

BTW, there was only 7 clear round in the Jumping course!!!

Our second run was the Eukanuba mini/midi pairs. It is a shamed that Eukanuba is not sponsoring agility anymore, this mean we will not qualify for Crufts! Hopefully some other company will continue sponsoring this event. It is always a good event. I only started to do this pairs towards the end of last year and we only did one heat. This was our first one of this year.

Sing was pairing with a gorgeous Blue Merle sheltie Kodak. Saturn was pairing with his usual partner, the pocket rocket Bracken. Again, this is a little bit tricky course, you have no choice to stand where you suppose to stand, this means handling needed. You can see from the video, I have to run outside of the box which I do not mean to do that. I didn't walk it that way either!! To be honest, I didn't even think of walking that way, I have two different options working in the box, the Sing way and the Saturn way but I didn't run it either way at all. I was surprised by Sing's speed which I have no time to go in the box, so I have to run from outside and he was a good boy to take my cue "around" (means going around), and he got his weave entry which was very good for him. He went clear on his part. Kodak started off very nicely until Amanda knock the bar down, then I think they haven't have time to pull themselves back so Kodak went into a wrong entry that gave him another 5 faults. This is our first time pairing and I really enjoyed that. Thanks, Amanda.

Saturn was pairing with the little dynamo Bracken. She is a pocket rocket, she went like a flash, if you blink, you will miss her. Saturn did a smooth clear round too, not a fast one like I wish. I also handle him from outside of the box and got to switch behind the weave. Do I have to say anything about little Brax? I can tell you this pairs finished in a very good time and put us in the 2nd place out of 115 pairs! Thanks to Matthew for pairing with us.

I nearly miss walking the Combined 3-5 Agility course! By the time we finished the Eukanuba pairs, I quickly walked over to the Agility ring and the judge was clearing everybody out of the ring in order to start the class. I told her I just got there if she could allow me to walk it. Thank God she was a nice kind judge. I only got to walk the course ONCE and in speed because she asked me to run. Luckily it was an easy course, not too much of handling but there is one bit that I wasn't sure what to do. I thought I will watch a few people do it before I run my dogs. Sing was in the middle of the running order and Saturn was last. Again, there is no queue and I have to run Sing very early. I thought let's blast it. I put Sing on stay but he released himself before me so I have to catch up. The A Frame to the jump was a slight angle and from the jump to weave is another slight angle. Luckily Sing is a technically good dog, he will take anything in front of him. So, Jump-A Frame- Jump-Weave, no problem. The only problem was he got caught in the 3rd pole that slow him down in the weave, I think it must be the speed that he came down from the A Frame then jump then weave that he has not been able to control his speed. The bit that I was worried was the three jumps after the see-saw. I am hoping to be able to stand on the right hand side of the see-saw (so Sing is on my left) but then I am not too sure if he will stay on the see-saw if I am from a distance, so I decided to do the front cross in front of the see-saw and I am on the left. I now have to trust him to go around (outside) the jump (flip) before the dog walk and not to take the other jump. Thank God he listened when I told him "walk on" when he took the jump, he just ran straight up the dog walk and yes, he did a beautiful running dog walk, two front paws hit on the spot. YEAH! My last worried has now clear, we can just ran straight home!

After Sing's ran, I sat there to watch the others ran their dogs before I ran Saturn. I saw so many people did a different ways to me and that made me think did I handle Sing the correct way? Anyway, I thought I've ran Sing and that's it. As I was "hiding" underneath a tree to get some shed waiting to run Saturn, Lin who was ring party in the ring came to tell me Sing was on the lead. I thought he won't be on the lead for long as I saw so many fast dogs on the queue. Then, one by one, they all got fault ... even the most reliable fast one got caught on the weave entry. OH! I don't really want to win NOW, I am hoping to do the Kennel Club International Festival Novice Cup with him!! If he wins, he won't be eligible then. Unless Saturn beat him! Well, we all know it is impossible. I thought I will try to push Saturn so it made Saturn's run worst. Maybe I was handling him in a different way, he decided he will stand on top of the A Frame and he pull out at 4th pole! Tough! Sing is now up to Grade 6. I am very proud of him. I never dream he will be a Grade 6 dog, let alone beating all 88 dogs in the class with 28.561 seconds. I was told he was 2 seconds faster than the 2nd place. WooHoo!

Our last class was Graded 3-5 Jumping. After walking the course, I got Colin to bring the boys to me so I can ran early and go home to Bless. When I've got my dogs, the ring party told me it has to run by Grade, so Grade 3, then 4 then 5. Our car was park very far away from the ring (10 minutes walk) and it was roasting hot. I decided to keep the boys with me. We sat under a tree to stay cool, Saturn was very excited. I tried to calm him down but he just wouldn't clam down, by the time for his ran, he actually got very tired (we were waiting for 30 minutes). I thought is it worth running him now but I did ran him and he wasn't running properly. Sing was ok until he got his leg caught on the bar (the jump after the weave but the bar didn't drop), then he slow down a bit, afterwise, I think he was good.

Basically, me and they boys had a great time!

here are the videos of the day:

Sunday - Flyball tournament at RSPCA Southridge Animal Shelter

Sing had a VERY BAD day at Flyball. I can't believe he ran off every single legs in the first race. That is not like him! He has never make a single mistake since I started racing with him. He wasn't racing at all yesterday! Flyball is Sing's everything, he will do anything for it and I can't understand why he did that. On the first leg, he was eyeing on the last collie on the other team, by the time he realised he has to run back, he already passed the first jump so he ran all the way outside to come back.

The 2nd and 3rd legs, he seems lost. He again, ran back on the outside, he ran all the way to get pass the ring, I wonder if he is looking for Colin? Luckily there was somebody try to catch him for me. This is very unusual for Sing. He has never done that before and there were no dogs around there.

He was better in the 2nd and 3rd race but ran off again on the 4th race. The last race, he was a good boy again.

Sing's box turn

Sing-let

Little Sing-let is 3 day-old and he already put up another 20z, makes him now 110z! Gem continues to be a good mum, I've actually left them with my mum and nephews today to go and did an agility show.

110z big fat sausage!!

I've received quite a few emails asking me what am I going to call little Sing-let. Well, when I got him home on Wednesday, I was calling him SIVE (aka expensive) but then later found out his mum, Gem had a litter last July with her previous owner. Poor Gem had three puppies died inside her and needed a c-section. I wasn't informed about all these before until Kevin found out Gem had a badly stitch from her previous c-section that cause little Sing-let wan't able to born naturally. Well, I was very upset and crossed with her previous owner. If I were to know Gem had a c-section before, I will not breed from her at all, there is no way I will take the risk. Anyway, with all we have been through, I now call this little boy BLESS. He is a little blessing to me and Gem. He will be the one and only child from Gem.

continue ... EFC diary

Gem and pup are doing well, we managed to move back to our bedroom last night to have a good night sleep. I woke up at 3am just to check they are ok, both look so content, so I went straight back to bed. Little Sing-let is now finding hin own way to different teats, he is one lucky boy, all teats to himself!

Now, we better leave the puppy post and continue with our EFC diary ...

Day 2

Thursday, 28th May 2009

relaxing day for us, arrival from all the other teams

flying the union jack

We woke up nice and fresh that morning after a good socialisation in the club house last night with some nice Belgian people and Belgian beers! After a cup of coffee and a simple breakfast, we decided to move our tent! Yes, MOVE our tent. Guy said we have the others to join us today and we can't possibly fit everyone in, so we have to plan the tiny space we have. After a rough idea where the others are going to put their tents, with Colin's help, I managed to rotate our tent with no big problem. Luckily the ground was soft, pulling out the tent pegs weren't bad at all but I have to push the pegs down every now and then especially when it was windy. I really enjoyed the tent, I think we have a good buy there.

this is Karen showing you our camping area, where she stands should be another car park there, our tent is next to the motorhome on the right hand side.

After we settled the tent, we decided to walk into the town to have a look around. We took Sing and Saturn with us. It was a very hot day and walking along on the pavement made it even hotter and we didn't realised how far we walked. We saw some very nice sculptures outside people house and also they have some wonderful scarecrows outside the house too! It was a shamed that we didn't take the camera along. We thought we would walk again sometimes before we leave Putte but obviously not.

By the time we got back from our town walk, all the other team members have arrived.

It was really a hot day, I ended up restless and fell asleep again! See, I can't be too relax, I am such an excited people, I need a job or something to do all the time!!

The showground was big, they have their own club house (belong to the Belgian Flyball Team), in the field, they also have some funny agility equipments. Look at these ...

Saturn trying out the BIG tyre

Sing wanted to have a go too

boys posing in front of the sponsor Pro Plan Purina tent

Saturn is not sure about this see-saw, with slat on a short rough plank and a tyre at the bottom, when the see-saw tip, it bounce up and down like a yoyo!!

and this is the extra wide dog walk with very thick slat that both Sing and Saturn were not keen on

After we have a good walk around and play with the funny equipments, we followed Guy & Ray to a nearby supermarket to stock up some food. We didn't bring anything with us so we were desperate for something to eat and drink.

We finished the day by having a lovely BBQ, generously cook by Guy and some lovely wine/beer and chit chat.

Sing-let & Sizzle

Little Sing-let continues to thrives. He is happily suckling on his own now but I still need to make sure Gem didn't "push" him away everytime he suckles. I guess poor Gem is very sore from the operation, imagine you have two tiny feet keep pushing for milk, she really is a very good mum. I think I can retire back to my bedroom tonight without any worries, I am dying for a good night sleep!

for a strange reason, this little one keeps hiding himself inside Gem's bum!

Poor Sizzle is dying for attention. I promise him I will play with him after I have a good rest tonight.

little Sing-let

little Sing-let has arrived!

he was born by c -section at around 1:30pm, weight 9oz.

Gem gave me a scared this morning. Colin and I were sleeping with her last night, she was digging her whelping box from 12 midnight but nothing have happened. I started to see a dark filled water bag at 6:40am and thought it was her water bag and puppy should come soon, obviosuly NOT.

I took her to the vet at 8:30, Kevin have a good look at her, her water bag was still intact and he can feel the litte tail inside her. As the water bag has not broken, Kevin suggested I took her home to see if she will give birth naturally in the next three hours. I didn't even dare to blink but nothing pop out, so off we go back to the vet at 1pm. Kevin had another feel at her and confirmed her water bag has broken and she started to dry out, this time, with Kevin's end finger, he can feel the hind leg's hock and he decided he would not wait any longer.

I left Gem with Kevin for the c-section, waiting impatiently at home. Kevin said it should be over within an hour but it took him three hours as we found something else (not going to go in detail). It took Kevin a while to get the little man to breath on his own.

I am so glad mum and little boy is home now.

mother and boy are well

EFC 2009 diary - exciting journey begins ...

Day 1

Wednesday 27-05-2009

exciting journey begins ...

Colin always gets VERY excited everytime on the night before we travel. He don't normally sleep well (don't sleep at all to be precised!) because he can’t wait to get away! I guess his work is very stress, holiday/break means a lot to him but poor me having someone so close fugitive all night could be terrible especially I have to drive all the way from Mitcham to Putte!

We left home just before 6am heading towards the famous white cliff, Dover. The traffic was very good in the early hours; we got there just before 7:30am, plenty of time before our crossing. We found a nice place called “Sampshire Hoe” to walk Sing and Saturn. Just imagine these two will be left in the car for at least 3 hours, so I make sure they have a good run around before they got stuck.

Sing saw this warning sign by the carpark at Sampshire Hoe.

I was very worried and stressed just in case we see them but Colin said it is so cold that morning, he don't think the cold blooded adders would like to appear and thank goodness we didn't see a thing!

handsome boy Saturn posing in front of the famous white cliff

Saturn obviously had a good time running around chasing rabbits for at least half an hour. He is a real hunter.

Sing on the other hand keeps looking out for the sea, he really is a water baby!

We got to Dover Port Norfolk Line Terminal at 9am, an hour before our crossing. Luckily it wasn’t busy and we got through the custom check with no problem. Emmm ..., we did take longer than the other cars though because the Officer fell in love with Sing and Saturn. He took his time to admire the boys and got his colleague to come over to say hello to the boys too.

To be honest, I got very nervous about the crossing. I’ve never drive the car onto the ferry before and I do not know what to expect. I also worried about leaving the boys in the car. People who knows me understand SEA + ME = UH UH. I have to take the travel sickness pill to be able to stand on my feet. Eventhough I was worried about how the two boys will cope in the car without anyone there with them but it didn’t last long as I fell asleep before the boat starts sailing! I woke up half an hour before we reached Dunkerque. Colin told me the sailing was smooth, when we got back to the car, there is no vomiting so I supposed the boys were doing alright.

We arrived at Dunkerque around 1pm, their local time (12 noon UK time) but we didn’t get out until 1:30 and Karen was already waiting to guide us. Thanks to Karen and Guy, we followed them all the way to Putte. Colin was supposed to drive in the Europe but he chicken out at the very last minute, so I have to be brave to do the “wrong side” driving! Luckily I’ve got Karen to follow. I've just set my "tunnel vision" on Karen's van and look no further. Most of the journey was on the motorway, so we can’t really see the car from the opposite lanes which is good or else I will get panic. There was a part that we have to drive through a town and the traffic lights changed were so fast and I have missed Karen and Guy a couple of time but managed to catch up, phew!

Our AA route map said it was 2 hours drive from Dunkerque to Putte but it took us 3.5 hours to get there! Poor Sing and Saturn have been stuck in the car for nearly 7 hours by the time we got to Putte! As we were following the others, we can’t stop to get the dogs out. I feel so sorry for them.

The weather wasn’t good on the day, it drizzle all the way from Dunkerque to Putte. I started to regret we didn’t bring the caravan! Can you imagine to set up the brand new tent in the rain with strong wind? We kinda managed to put the tent up, not sturdy but good enough to sleep for the night.

we shopped around a few camping stores to find this Outwell Carolina 3 tent. Colin and I like it very much and decided we will pay £199.99 for it. It has a reasonable size sleeping area (Sing & Saturn were sleeping with us, so it is a good size) for the two of us with a large porch area where we can sit inside if it rains. You have a front door and a side door too and it is easy to put up (well, I think so.), only 4 pieces of metal and it's up but it definitely needs two people.

the boys are happy to sleep in this big plastic bag for a week

We (Guy, Karen and us) were almost the first teams that arrived on Wednesday. All the other arrived on Thursday. The camping area has marked out for each team. The Wimbledon Whizzers has sent out two teams. We only get a tiny space to squeeze in 16 people plus 20 dogs! This is very different to agility where you get ample space, big enough to set up your own garden. Between us, our coach, Guy has a big caravan + awning; we have a medium size tent; Karen slept in her van with her two dogs; our captain Ray has the tiniest tent to sleep in with his dog Bramble; then we have five people from Four Paws Racing to join us, they have one massive tent and one medium tent but bigger than ours; Rachel has a medium tent but also bigger than ours; Sue & Glen has a motohome and Kate, one of our box loaders has a camper van. Just imagine we need to put everything in the allocated space with our cars! It was too much, at the end, we have to ask our neighbour, the Welsh PODS team to allow us to park my Volvo at their camping spot.

even my camera can't fit everyone in!!

While I was setting up our tent, Colin took the boys for a good run. After we were all done, we walked around the show ground. The Flyball Club that ran the EFC this year has their own club house and they sell Belgian beers!! WooHoo!! I don't drink but I like my Hoogarden and they now have Hoogarden Citroen, fantastic! It is a very refreshing beer! I even sneak out once to have my own beer without telling Colin!!

We went to bed quite early that night after a long journey.

more to come ...

Europen Flyball Championship 2009 Putte, Belgium

We came back from Belgium a week ago, how time flies! We have been very busy trying to catch up with what we missed while we were away. As metioned in the earlier posts, Sizzle was under the weather for a few days; Samber is in season; Gem is looking good, her due date is Thursday, so finger crossed for an smooth easy birth.

this is one of the teams we took with us to Putte, GB Racing

from left to right:

Sing, Scrumpy (aka Monkey), Merlot, Chablis, Phoenix

Wimbledon Whizzers and Four Paws Racing joined together to take two teams with them to EFC 2009. GB Running and GB Racing. GB Running has 5 of the Wimbledon dogs (Zak, Bramble, Tally, Blue & Maddie) + Shilo, a little JRT from Basset Allsorts Flyball Team. Sing & Phoenix from the Wimbledon joined GB Racing with three collies from Four Paws Racing Flyball Team.

Big Congratulations to GB Running who came 2nd in the Division and we came 6th in the Division. All dogs got a lovely medal.

here are a series of action photos of Sing taken at EFC 2009

more news to come ...

Sizzle is better!

Sorry I haven't update about Sizzle for a couple of days. We have been busy.

Sizzle was still weak on Friday evening. Although my vet said not to feed him that night but he was looking for food, so I gave him a small amount of food to satisfy him. We then have a quiet night with no more vomit and diarrhoea. YEAH!

He woke me up about 5am on Saturday morning, he did have a couple of loose toilets, I tried to feed him small amount of food and pro-kaolin; in the late afternoon, he started to look better. I wonder was it Samber that perked him up. Samber is in season and all Sizzle wants is to chase her!

He might not be 100%, he still gets tired easily but he is definitely on the mend.

Sizzle: life is better if I can get her!

Sizzle

I've got Sizzle back this evening from the vet. He certainly perk up when I went to collect him. Kevin gave him exactly the same treatment from last time. I did asked Kevin if he can used the same leg (his right leg) for the drip but when I pick him up, he has the girlie purple bandage on the left leg, arrrggghhh ... Now, he has two bald patches on two different legs, poor little mite!

BTW, I don't think his vomitting and diarrhoeaing is stoping, as we pulled the car on the drive, he started to throw out, he vomitted those foamy yellowish yukky stuff, then immediately he rushed to the garden for more diarrhoea. I thought he has finished so I wash his bum but he rushed into the garden again for more!!

Oh dear! I don't know what to do?

Sizzle with his girlie purple bandage on, very cute.

poor Sizzle

My little Sizzle is poorly again. It is like the one he had before. I got him home on Tuesday late aftenoon, he was a livewire, full of energy, glad to be home and checked on everyone. We did a bit of weave practise on the Wednesday morning and he was dashing about. He started to vomit at Wednesday midnight, there were a lot of it, at least 10 lots and they were all the foods he has taken in; then on Thursday he started to have diarrhoea, it contains blood. He wasn't interested in any of the food at all, so he didn't have anything to eat for at least 24 hours and he is still diarrhoea this morning. I took him to the Vet this morning and Kevin is keeping him for more fluid.

SATURN, 4 today!

Happy 4th Birthday to my Wonder Boy!

we are back!

Hello friends!

We are back!

Sing & Saturn enjoyed their freedom

running off the lead! WooHoo!!

Give us a couple of days to recover and I will write our EFC 2009 diary.