Goodbye my faithful friend

I am writing this post with heavy hearted. Today would have been Seagull's 11th Birthday ... 

Sadly, he crossed over to the Rainbow Bridge a bit too soon too early. Seagull has been very poorly for the last couple of months. He started being sick and diarrhea. We got that sorted but it kept coming back. He then lost control of his bowel, it was quite a mess and he kept producing bad smell; sometimes, I didn't know if the bad smell came from his bum or from himself. Numerous trips to the vet and we thought we got it fix but the problem seems to keep coming back again. Just the last 4 weeks, he got weaker, he can't even get out of his bed and hardly keep the food down. I can't remember how many times I have to clean his bed and wash him in a day. Suddenly, just two weeks before he passed away, he was good again. I thought we could have an easy Christmas with him. Then, just a few days before Christmas, he gone back to diarrhea again, poor boy. We just don't know what to do with him. 

We were away at my in law for Christmas, leaving him at home, a friend kindly offer to look after him. She was so good that she spent the day with him (he was sleeping all the time). We got back on Boxing Day and Seagull greeted me briefly and went back to sleep again. It was 10pm when I said good night to him leaving him in front of the fire and I didn't know the "good night" turned into goodbye. I woke up 6am to let the dogs out and went to check on him, he somehow has got out of his bed and slept on the floor and gone peacefully. 

I have never lost a "good friend" before in my life, I was shocked and unsettled for the last three days. I was very grumpy and unfriendly (according to people that came and visited me in the last few days). I am sorry if I have upset you.

Although Seagull has not done Agility or Obedience with me, but he was mine and Colin's great companion. He was always there unnoticeable. He's our little "German Shepherd", he's always alert and bark at anything and make sure we knew it. I missed that little alert bark. He was still barking on Boxing Day when he saw me coming home to him.

A lot of my new friends don't know him well but my old friends will know him very well. He wasn't an easy dog but we never give up training him and shower him with our love. He was a sweet little dog to me and Colin, his little crazy antics made us laugh ... such as walked into lamp post or park car while walking on the pavement on the way to Mitcham Common, that happened too many times! He will ran straight into the close French window and still keep coming back to ran into it. Poor boy! He loves sun bathing, the hotter the better. In the hot summer days, he spent most of his times laying on the grass, I was worried that he will get sun stroke but everytime you get him in, he gets out again. He will not want to go out at all when it's wet or snowing.

Goodbye my faithful friend! 

Sleep Tight, we will meet one day and I would like you to be my little guard dog again. 

this photo was taken in late October, is the only decent photo of him before he got very ill.

There were too many photos in the last nearly 11 years Seagull was with us. I don't know how to sort them out as every photo is a memory of him with us ...

catching up ... UKA Grand Final with mai boy

I am sorry I let my blog "slip away" again. I wanted to try to keep it up to date but everytime when I have a spare moment, my Internet Connection speed is slower than the snail crawling around! I don't have the patient sitting here trying to upload a photo, normally it took me at least 20-30 minutes just to upload a 950 x 634 pixels! And, less than one minute's video took nearly overnight to upload onto YouTube! I like to post photos and videos to illustrate what we have been doing and what we have been up to, I think a plain text is very boring. 

We have been very busy since I last post, we have a lot more changes made to the Farm and the Farmhouse; Agility carried on as usual, I have also been teaching in my own Agility field now. I really enjoyed teaching (more about hopefully in my other post).

all agility photos on this post are by Ian Clark photography

In this post, I would like to talk about Sonic and his UKA Grand Final on 30th November and 1st December. Sonic has qualified in CSJ and Beginners Steeplechase events. I have been trying very hard to get him to qualify for Beginners Steeplechase this year. We went to all the heats and everytime, we got eliminated! Sonic isn't a tunnel dog. I really have to work hard and go with him when there is a tunnel involved. He probably is the only of my dog (so far) that doesn't like tunnel! So, heat after heat, elimination after elimination! I thought our chance is slipping away. In the 2nd last heat, we finally ran clear, a fast, clean and smooth run BUT we got eliminated! WTH! Judge Bob Perks came to me after I gave him a puzzle look at the finish line, he told me I brought toy in the ring! I nearly screamed and wanted to punch him! That day, my Volvo went dead, so we have to rush to Dowtys in the Covertible. The weather was ok, so I roll the window down for Sizzle waiting in the car and off we went with Sonic joining the queue. There was about 5 dogs before us, I heard the tannoy called out ... we have a very nice tri colour sheltie boy, very friendly, if you have lost your dog, can you please come and see us ... I said to Colin "you better go and collect Sizzle!". He asked me how do I know that is Sizzle and I told him, I just knew! Off he went to collect him and back to the queue with him. He asked me to give him Sonic's lead so he can film me and Sizzle can stay with him. I gave him Sonic's lead but Sonic still wearing his harness and I have him holee ball to keep his attention on me. Normally, the ring party will take his toy and harness/lead from me but there wasn't a ring party there and I just walked straight in the ring with his harness still on and the holee ball on my hand. I took his harness off and the ball, but no one took it off me, so I throw it out to the ring to Colin. So, this is how I got eliminated even before I started! Hmm ... I know rule is rule and we stick to rule of the game but I have to moan about this! I don't read the rules and to be quite honest, I don't even remember all the rules! It said NO TOY is allow in the ring for all UKA classes (for competition). If I remembered it right, this is not the first time I actually have a toy in my hand and handed it to the ring party when I set up dog up in front of the start jump. If they want to stick to the rule, they should have eliminate me everytime I bring the toy into the ring! Obviously, after that, I will remember not to have a toy in my hand before entering the ring. 

Well, after that "cruel" elimination, I seriously thought our chance of qualifying is ZERO now. We still have the last chance to try to qualify at Hawbridge in August. I was really tired after Kennel Club International Agility Festival and Dogs In Need but I think Agility always win over the tiredness :) Off I went with the boys to Hawbridge to give it our best. It was Leslie Osbourne's course. Knowing Leslie, the course won't be an easy one. I still remembered well that there were 3 tunnels back to back, OMG! one tunnel is a killer, let alone 3! Sonic did good and won the Beginners Steeplechase. WooHoo!

typical Sonic ... Mr Gobby!

He qualified the CSJ earlier in June.

Sonic loves his crate game, he knew "agility" is the game :)

CSJ Final was on Saturday and Beginners Steeplechase Final was on Sunday. I've booked to lodge at Bridge Inn back in August soon I know I have to compete both days. As CSJ didn't start until later on Saturday (check in time was 1pm), so we had a lie in on Saturday and left home around 9am to give us plenty of time to get to The Hand. This year, we have to pay for our clothing as well. I've only ordered a Polo shirt which I think it's really silly in this time of the year. I thought I've also ordered a hoody but apparently not! Anyway, with just the polo shirt, I maybe run faster in the cold! Hahaha ...

Our CSJ Semi run was a car crashed! Course map below. 

It's a tricky start, we surely struggled the #3 & #4 and these two jumps caught so many dogs in action too! Now that I have set up this course in my Agility field, I will handle it differently from they way I ran Sonic in the course. I will definitely do a ketschker at #2 to give me plenty of time to be in the right position to handle #3 and #4. I think doing a push through at #2, I was stuck in there and no matter how fast I move, Sonic will beat me to it and he isn't a slow dog. He got a refusal for not taking #3 and then my flick over at #14, he didn't read my body language, another refusal there and then 5 on the DW. I think the DW is purely my fault as I didn't cue it in time and I feel like I didn't do enough to support him to understand where he should go next. Poor boy. With 15 faults in total, I will never thought I will be in the Final but a lot of dogs got eliminated due to #3 and #4, so we were still in the game. 

Also, Sonic wasn't quite himself in this run because I didn't know that he is allow to wear his harness and lead until the startline. Carry him to the start line is a big mistake as he was all tense up and he knew it's something different. 

this is one of the refusal photo :)



CSJ Final course map. 

 I don't think you can fault his DW :)

I have never thought the back of #18 is a trap. I was ready to run our socks off in the Final. Having been able to run in the Final, I have nothing to loose and I want to proof we can do it. Sonic was such a good little man. He did everything I asked for. Even with the elimination, I still think he ran very well. 

I wanted to stay for the prize giving to support the fellow competitors but it was very late and cold and I have a puppy (more about that later) in the car, so I decided to go to the hotel at 7:20pm. We arrived at Bridge Inn and I sent Colin to check in while I fed the dogs and walked them before we settled in the hotel room for the evening. After 15 minutes later, Colin came back to the car with all the belonging he took with him earlier. I wasn't impress when I saw him walking up to the car park. He told me the hotel reception told him there was a leak in the hotel and they have to close a couple of rooms down and they sent us to a B&B hotel by the sea front. Knowing me, I went in there to argue with the woman on the counter. I was very angry and annoyed as I complaint that I booked in so far in advanced in August, how could she turned me away? After 10 minutes, Colin needs to come and fetch me away before I made a big mess to the hotel. Oh yes, I can be a nasty bit of work if things don't go my way. We drove to the hotel they sent us to. First, it's an off street parking, no grass area for the dogs to go toilet. I felt even more annoyed when I have a puppy with me! Again, I made a big deal out of it at the hotel reception again. They won't let him take 5 dogs in the room and I argued I am not leaving any of my dogs in the car in the off street car park. Not only that, the room was nearly £20 expensive to the one I booked in August. This hotel wanted to charged £7.50/dog too! We were given a tiny basement room. After a lot of argument (from me!) and Bridge Inn won't even pay the extra, we have got no choice but to take it. So, you could guess that we had a rough night at the sea front B&B hotel. There were a few hotels in the same street and very obvious is a tourist area. I was worried the car got broken in and other small little things that keep flashing through my mind. The boys were sleeping well though, even the little puppy, until I woke him up at 4am to go to toilet and he won't back to bed again! Bad move!

So, I was up since 4am and we decided to leave just before 6am as we don't feel comfortable in the hotel anyway. My Beginners steeplechase was first thing, check in at 7am and course build around 7:45am. To be quite honest, I was so tired, physical and mental, I wasn't sure if I can cope running in the big arena when I was unfit!

Beginners Steeplechase Semi Final course map, judge by Martin Cavil. 

Oh yes, you got to be brave to wear just a polo shirt on a winter morning! Brr ... I am not that kind of person would wear something underneath, so I just have to teeth chattering for 8 minutes walking the course in just the polo shirt. Hehehe ... I think I am getting braver with my ketschker turn. I can now confidently put into the ring and in a big grand final like this :) We ended up 3rd place but I don't think I run any better.

Beginners Steeplechase Final course map, judge by Bob Perks. 

Well, lying 3rd in the Semi means we will be 3rd from last to run in our height. After judge Bob Perks "cruelly" eliminated me in the heat qualifier, I feel unlucky whenever I am in his class. I actually prefer the Semi Final course than the Final course. I think the Semi Final course will suit us better. We are up and we run the course like I normally would do with Mr Gobby. I noticed he nearly clip the first pole after watching the video. I meant to do a front cross at #12 but I just couldn't make it. I knew my cross behind with him is a risk as I seems to fail everytime but I have learned to trust your dog and I am glad I did trust him and let him do his job and he did that beautifully. I wasn't sure if we ran clear but I hope we did as when you are in the arena running, everything is a blur, to me anyway. And I just wanted to run out there as fast as I can to reward my dog. I was hoping Colin will come out to tell me if we ran clear but he didn't come out right away. He was too busy watching the others running. Oh man! When you need him!

Few minutes were like a few hours waiting to hear the result. Finally, he came out and so do others. He told me he thinks we have won it. I hate it when he said he thinks! I rather he tells me we ran clear and now he got me more nervous, wanting to know the result. I passed by a few people and they came to congrats me but I want to see the official result before I will jump up and down to celebrate.

If you know Sonic only have a clear round every now and then, you will know how I feel :) YES! He ran clear and he won it! WooHoo! Mai gobby boy did it! I want to cry! I never thought we can beat the two spaniels that ran after us. They both bigger than him, faster than him! OMG!!

proud moment!

Now Sonic and Sizzle are on the rest until New Year. They are both not in the top condition. Poor Sonic got blown off the Dog Walk 5 times since June. His front chest and shoulder are very tight and he have received some treatment and manipulation. He will be rest until New Year and then will see the physio again before starting to go back to training. 

August is all about Agility

I left the blog for too long and I don't know how to catch up anymore :) I struggle to keep up this blog not because I am lazy, with the new country life style, the outdoor is far more tempting than sitting in front of the computer, especially when your Internet connection is so slow! I get very frustrated watching the Agility Livestream, the video keeps buffering all the time and by the time I watch a run (a 35 seconds run in 5 minutes!), I was so close to slam my computer out of the window! Grr ... oh what make it worst? We paid the fastest broadband! Hmm ...

Well, today is a rainy day, so I can spend a couple of hours on the computer, hopefully to update this blog for a little while :)

All well here, boys and girls. I can't believe I have not have my camera out when we have the most glorious weather for the last two months. I think because it's OUR land and I don't think I need to take the camera out and also when I am out doing little job here and there, I definitely would not like to carry a big heavy camera. So, not much of photos to go with this post. 

this photo was taken with my phone yesterday morning out walking in the countryside with the boys

Sorry, no photos of the girls because they are on the lead walk (not easy to take photo with the lead on). They get a little naughty off the lead as they just would not come back when call :( I think they need to go on the extended lead a bit longer. Oops! Trying to get a group photo is impossible. Sing, Seagull, Saturn, Sizzle, Sipzie and Sonic will pose nicely where Seren and Spie were like two wild child. They definitely don't do a wait for a start! I have tried so hard to teach them to sit wait and soon they are out, they are like escape prisoner! Oh dear, I've never have such difficult shelties to train :) I am not looking forward to Seren's puppy training starting next weekend! I think we will have a lot of "catch that puppy" session!

I love her very much though, she is one very funny girl. Full of energy and very crazy and clever. I am hoping that she is going through a funny stage at the moment and she will soon settle down and learn to be with me is a good thing than run away!

Kennel Club International Agility Festival (9th, 10th, 11th August)

So, our first Agility of the month is the 3-day Kennel Club International Agility Festival. I have not been to the KC Festival for a few years. My very first KC Festival appearance was in 2007 with Sing. Sing did ever so well that year, we have a few podium places and he was in the Novice Cup Final. We didn't make it to Crufts because we got eliminated in the Final. I really enjoyed the Festival, there were so many overseas competitors and it was definitely a big eye-opener for me. I went back again next year with Sing and Saturn. Both boys did good and have a few podium placings. Saturn got into the Novice Cup Final but again, we got eliminated and didn't make it to Crufts but Sing got invited to compete at Crufts in the British Open. It was another great Festival for me. Again, I went back the following year but they moved the venue from Peterborough to Kelmarsh Hall. Sadly, the venue wasn't great and I was very disappointed with so many things. I can't even remember if the boys did well at all. Since then, I delete KC Festival from my list. Last year, when most shows were cancelled due to the amount of rain and flood we had, KC Festival had to move from Kelmarsh Hall to Rockingham Castle and I heard the venue is far more better. I got tempted and also hoping to see my puppies from Netherlands, I've decided to enter KC Festival one more time. 

I've entered Sizzle and Sonic but only got to run Sonic as Sizzle was very poorly, his right shoulder and left hind leg were very sore and struggled to walk properly (he is better now!). I am actually very happy that I only have one dog to run this year as Colin can't take time off and I am on my own most of the time, so no video when he is not with me. 

I so wanted to get Sonic into the Novice Cup Final but I over cooked it. I knew he always have a weaker flat weave entry. Just before the Festival, I spent Tuesday and Wednesday to try to teach him the flat entry in a "short cut" way. I am so regret I have done it as I can see how much damage I have done to the poor dog! Over the years, I have learned no matter how the dog missed the entry or skip the pole, just carry on and never pull the dog out but what did I do to poor Sonic? Everytime he missed the entry, I pulled him out from carry on (to save time and being too tired, that's my thought then). At the Festival, on the Friday, we can't do a weave properly! This is a terrible damage that I have created for him (I am an idiot trainer and handler!)! Before the KC Festival, he was a good weaver, he can do most difficult entries, although he sometimes made baby mistake but hey ho, he's only young and I am happy he made mistake because I can train from the mistake. Anyway, from KC Festival onwards, weave has become an issue!

Sonic got 4 x 2nd placings at KC Festival weekend which I was very happy with. I was worry that he may win out. He is not ready to be up there with the big boys yet, beside the weave problem, he is still gobby at times, when he started to bark (I think he must be frustrated because I didn't cue him early enough), he will lose his concentration and will refuse a jump or mostly tunnel! I am hoping with so many shows this month, he will get to learn to pay attention more on the course than gobbing at me :)

Hopefully, we can return to give the Novice Cup another try next year. 

We also have other Licosateria puppies competing at KC Festival this year, the little star at the show was Savannah (Sing x Sunny puppy), she won a couple of classes and also have many top placings. This puppy has suddenly come on and do so well. Breaking News from yesterday, Savannah won into Grade 5 yesterday at Burnham show. Well done Savvy and her clever pilot Chantal!

Sonic and Savannah with their winnings @ KC Festival 2013

Saturday, Grade 4 Agility, 2nd place:

Saturday, Combined 4-5 Agility, 2nd place:

Sunday, Grade 4 Agility, 2nd place. There was only one clear round that won the class and she was 7 seconds out of time. Sonic was the fastest with 5 faults!

Sunday, Grade 4 Jumping, 2nd place:

Sing x Samber and their puppies @ KC Festival

left to right: Brooke, Sing, Sonic, Tig and Samber

what a gorgeous Sable Family

Sing and his daughter Savannah. Savvy was not impressed with this photo session :)

the good old mini/mixi pairs, little and large, very little and very large :D

DiNAS (13th to 18th August)

I was having doubt whether to carry on to DiNAS from KC Festival. The reason I entered KC Festival and DiNAS is because I wanted to see my little App that I sold to Netherlands but sadly due to family bereavement, Mariska cannot come. My Volvo is getting  absolutely knackered and we had a leak. I didn't even realised that was the problem before going to KC Festival. The Monday before KC Festival, I took Sizzle and Sonic to see our physio Sally and on our way back, the warning light came on. I drove straight to Richard's yard (he rent the yard from me to repair horse boxes and vehicles) for him to have a look. The coolant tank was empty so we filled that up and didn't think much further. I didn't use the car until Wednesday to do a quick shopping before KC Festival. Off we go on Thursday late morning to Rockingham Castle. After 10 minutes' drive, the warning light came on again but I didn't take any notice of it because I thought we only just filled the tank up, so it shouldn't be a problem. After I got station at the KC Festival, I was too busy concentrate on Agility and didn't think more about the car, not until I went to pick Colin up from Corby Station on Friday night and mentioned that to him. You know what man likes? He shouted at me: Pull Over NOW! I was like what? What are you talking about? Well, he was quite right! The tank was empty again! Now, we thought there might be a leak in the pipe. We filled the tank with water and drove back to Rockingham Castle. 

I camp next to the Dutch and surrounded by Belgian and I knew most of them. Our neighbour was Sipzie's brother Ronin. When they met 2 years ago at DiNAS, they played so well together but this year, Sipzie just wanted to show her teeth to poor Ronin. Oops! Well, Ronin's daddy Marc was a car mechanic or he's good at it. He came to ask what happened and we tried to explain and he and Frank (Sipzie's god father who is a car mechanic from Belgium) came over to try to fix the problem for us. There's nothing much they can do to fix the leaky pipe as you need a new part. I was really wanted to go home but all these friends encourage me to go to DiNAS and they promised to fix the problem for me to be able to drive there. We pour the whole bottle of radiator sealant to temporarily seal the leak and tested it. It seems alright so I carry on to DiNAS in a worried but also carry a spare bottle of the radiator sealant just in case.

I got to DiNAS ok and set up and settle. This is my 3rd year at DiNAS and the first time camp with my new club CHANCE. Although without Colin, I feel safe and happy with Chancers surrounding us. They are such a nice bundle of people. I even went out with them to the evening entertainment and had so much fun. I've never dare to leave my dogs even with Colin with us in the previous years. I am so happy to become a Chancer, we are a big family :)

Boys behaving beautifully during the week at DiNAS. I let the boys loose in the garden and keep the girls in the crate when I am not around. I was helping on Tuesday and I cannot believe how well the boys behaved! I must have left the garden gate open by mistake, when I got back from a break from helping must be good 2 hours+, the boys were so happy to see me and they gate was wide open and they just stay inside of the garden happily bark at me and until I got in the garden and they jump all over me! I am really impressed with my boys :)

Again, I only ran Sonic at DiNAS. Poor Sizzle must have been wondering why he didn't get to play agility. DiNAS is quite a relaxing show but very expensive. I paid nearly £200 for 2 dogs entries plus electric hook up. Each dog got 2 runs a day, an agility and a jumping course. 

With Sonic's weave problem, I was kinda wanted to get him into the Final on Thursday, also worried if I pushed it too hard, everything will go wrong. Anyway, on Tuesday, he got a 2nd in the G4 Jumping and another 2nd in the G4 Jumping on Wednesday. That's good enough placing for him to go into the Final and running 2nd from last.  

DiNAS Medium Grade 4 Finalist 2013

Unfortunately, weave has stop us from winning the Final :( If I have not messed up his weave before, I will do a rear across to give him a better line but I was in such a confused mood myself that day. I did a stupid steady stop before sending him into the weave, that get him started to gob! Oh dear! Bad handling!

a big thank you to Sadie's (Sing x Samber puppy, Sonic's eldest sister) mummy and daddy for capturing this run on the video. I am really missing Colin's video-ing. I like to watch back video for my mistake to improve and good handling to make me feel good. 

Although I've entered Friday, the Small Champ Day but I wasn't going to run Sizzle, so I started to packing up while waiting for Sonic's runs. Unfortunately, the rain got heavier and constant, so I've decided not to run. I left the showground about 11ish, thinking I should be home around 2pm but as I was about 60 miles from home, the warning light came on again. Thank God I was stuck on A14 and just after the light came on, the service station (the only service station) was about half a mile. I have to pull in and OMG, the service station was full and I have never seen so many caravan/motorhome in a service station before. I managed to find the only empty parking to pull the car/caravan in. I was given instruction by my Dutch/Belgian friends how to fix the problem temporarily, so I have to wait for the engine to cool down before I can perform. At that point, I was so close to break down, I just wanted to go home safely!

Anyway, we were all home safe and sound at about 4:30pm. The Volvo has to put aside for repair. We managed to dig out our old *new* convertible to temporarily replace my poor Volvo. Thank God, the convertible works fine after a good kick start. It has been kept in the garage for 11 months!

Sing x Sipzie and their little Fat Boy Chessie @ DiNAS

Chessie is so like daddy Sing in so many ways. He is so bouncy, happy and crazy!

UKA Teejay - 18th August

If you think I have have enough of Agility by then? I actually rush to UKA Teejay to try to qualify Sonic for the Beginners Steeplechase on the Sunday after I came back from DiNAS. Hmm ... I just don't know how to explain this but Sonic did a cracking clear in the Beginners Steeplechase heat but we got eliminated before we even started!

Well, we took Sizzle and Sonic in the convertible. Sizzle was in the convertible and Colin and I took Sonic to join the queue. As it got hot in the afternoon, I roll the window down and Sizzle escaped! We were about 3 dogs to run. The tannoy called out ... we have a very nice little tri colour sheltie boy here looking a bit nervous, he's wearing a collar without a tag or telephone number ... I said to Colin to go and collect Sizzle, he asked me how do I know that is Sizzle. I told him just go and get him and he did and he came back with Sizzle wagging his tail happily to see us. 

Sonic was about to go in to run, so Colin asked me to give him Sonic's lead so he can put Sizzle on the lead and I did. With Sonic so eager to do agility and I am not sure if he will stay with me outside the ring, so I was playing his favourite cage ball with him to get his attention. Anyway, there's lack of ring party. I was called to go in the ring by the scrimer and I went in with Sonic tugging on his ball to the startline. I was waiting for the ring party to come and get his harness and ball but nobody turn up so I have to throw his harness and ball to Colin. Colin was all over the place with me suddenly do stupid things and didn't get the run on the video. 

Anyway, that was the best run of Sonic doing a steeplechase course. Normally he will bark at the tunnel instead of going in but at this run, he just dive into the tunnels without any hesitation. By the time we finished and the judge came to tell me "I am sorry you've been eliminated!", my face must have shown up, and he continued to say "in the UKA rule, there is not toy in the ring!". Damn it!

I have been trying to qualify since the first heat and every single time, Sonic refused a tunnel, a jump or did something stupid. I was very crossed, not sure to the judge or to myself, or even Sizzle. After that, I have been in a very bad mood all day. I kept thinking have I been treated fairly? I didn't read the rule to start with but if this is the UKA rule, why I didn't get eliminated in other classes? With Sonic, I have always been tugging with him (either his cage ball or tuggy) to the startline (either for NFC or for competition). This is the very first time I got eliminated for bringing the toy in the ring. I know it's my fault for not reading the rule but if I were to have been eliminated before I will surely remember next time not to do that. Yes, I am very crossed!

This is Sonic and his little sheltie friend Charlie doing the Split Pairs. Oh yes, the weave again :( and the wrong end of the tunnel, Oops! But I am very happy that he managed to run in the Pairs and stayed with me, I don't think he will chase the other dog but you never know until you tried it :) Sorry Charlie, hopefully we will be better next time. 

UKA Hawbridge - 24th August

So, after the disaster elimination from Teejay, I was hoping to give Sonic one last go to try to qualify for the Beginners Steeplechase at Hawbridge. I am so used to the smooth ground at Dowty Sport Club, I find it a bit difficult to find my footing right at this pasture ground. 

When I walked the Beginners Steeplechase Heat course, I wasn't convince we can do it. There's 3 tunnels back to back. Having to get Sonic into one tunnel is challenging, let alone 3 tunnels back to back! What can I say? He ran that course beautifully. He wasn't the fastest dog there but he ran clean :) Yes, he won the class and qualified for the Semi Final in December. Now, his homework is TUNNELS and NO GOB :)

Thank You Nigel Steady for filming this run:

FAB Dorset IFCS Qualifier 25th & 26th August

From Hawbridge, I drove to Motcombe to compete in the last IFCS qualifier. I left booking the hotel a bit too late. I was in between to go or not to go due to the distance. If Sonic has qualified the Beginners Steeplechase at Teejay, I probably will not go as I hate to drive more than 2 hours now. Actually, having a break from Hawbridge to Motcome, it wasn't too bad. I found the Best Western Hotel a few days before the show and I was rather happy as it's only 3 miles from the showground but they rang me back to say they made a mistake to have received a double booking! Hmm ... so I have to look somewhere and decided I have no choice but to go to Travel Lodge which is about 10 miles away. I don't really like Travel Lodge, they are quite dirty and charge £20/dog per night. Thank God this is a new Travel Lodge, it was so new that they have no grass (yet) and Sizzle refused to walk on the pebbles for toilet! Inside, everything was clean and tidy with new technology put in and I only paid £20 for the dogs for 2 nights. I am a happy girl :)

This last IFCS qualifier spread into 2-day. We have IFCS Agility and IFCS Snooker on Sunday and IFCS Jumping and IFCS Gamblers on Monday. All videos are courtesy of The Burdett Shelties. 

Sizzle @ IFCS Agility:

Sonic @ IFCS Agility:

Sonic @ IFCS Snooker:

Sizzle @ IFCS Snooker:

Sonic @ Grand Prix:

No video from Monday but Sonic won the IFCS Jumping, he was the only clear at his height :) and both boys got the Gamblers as well :)

Letchworth (30th, 31st August)

Nearly there ... :)

It wasn't much of a rest after the IFCS qualifier to continue to Letchworth. I wasn't going to do Letchworth this year but after much persuading, I went a long ... It was a 3-day show. It was about 40 minutes drive from home, so it wasn't too bad. Sonic has 3 individual classes plus a Team run. He was a little naughty in the Jumping, too busy gobbing, Oops!

Unfortunately, he won the Agility and now Grade 5 :( He also ran clear in the Team but one of our Team mate got 5 faults so we weren't placed. I was very happy with his Team performance as he had to sit wait and watch the dog took the last jump towards him, that's a big progress for him. I am very proud. 

Sonic's Grade 4 win on Friday:

On Saturday, Sonic and older sister Tig doing the mini/mixi pairs. I think this probably is the most gobbiest pairs :) Both dogs ran lovely though. We are hoping to do more pairs next year :)

The gobby pairs :)

Sonic also has another win in the Graded 3-5 Agility, so he is well and truly a Grade 5 now. 

This is Sonic's other winning Agility:

UKA HADs (1st September)

Promised! Nearly there ...

I want to be able to qualify Sonic ...

• Tug E Nuff                              NOT tick    
• Beginners Steeplechase           TICKED
• CSJ                                        TICKED

Since that I have qualified Sonic at the CSJ and Beginners Steeplechase, I determined to qualify him for the Tug E Nuff as well, so instead of going to Letchworth only 30 miles from home, I've decided to go to UKA 80 miles away to try to qualify.

Seriously, there were too many 3-day shows every weekend and I am actually shattered towards the end. First time, I was unable to wake up that Sunday. I was so sore and stiff and most of all, I was very tired and brain not in gear. I must be an agility mad, I still managed to drive there and didn't run well! I so wish I didn't go as it wasn't a good experienced for the dogs. 

Result: Sonic didn't qualified. It was the Jumping first and he pop out of the weave again, so with fault, I didn't bother to run him in the Agility and I came home with 2 paid tickets unused! I think I am an idiot! With pay on the day, I still have 2 paid tickets unused! I am definitely tired!

There is another Tug E Nuff qualifier this weekend at AJAX but I am not sure if we can go. Sally came to manipulate Sonic on Saturday for me and his left shoulder was very tight and sore. I am due to see her again on Thursday, we will go from there to see whether he can run on Saturday but I have a feeling we will have some time off at home :)

what a FAB Final

Off we went to Dawn Weaver's FAB show yesterday. The boys were entered in the IFCS qualifier classes and Sonic managed to scrap himself into the Grand Prix Final at Gloucestershire 2 show a few weeks ago :)

At this show, they did all the IFCS classes (4 classes - Agility, Jumping, Gamblers and Snooker) in one day. At some shows, they split them into two days. Poor Sonic has FIVE run yesterday including the Final. I was rather worried that by the end of it, he will be too tired to run in the Final. The Final didn't start until all normal classes have finished. Unfortunately, Sonic has to run in the Final soon after he ran his IFCS Jumping. There's not much break in between for him. 

Overall, Sonic ran much better in this IFCS than the previous qualifiers. I was really stupid not to trust him to find the weave entry in the IFCS Agility and vote to run him differently to Sizzle. It was a challenging entry with the A Frame so close to it. I knew I will be behind him and I can't trust him not to go up the AF. I was trying to be clever and wanted to do a ketscher so I have a better position to direct him into the weave and of course my ketscher failed and I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. He was a good boy to got the entry on his own but I rushed ahead and he double up the pole. When I swing him back to catch up in time and I made the whole thing worst and he failed the entry 3 times! Oops! BAD mummy!

Sonic @ IFCS Agility:

This is Sizzle's version of IFCS Agility, he ran before Sonic and I didn't think he ran well (I thought he was slow to start with) but he surprised me by winning the class. There are many other small dogs that ran clear and by watching them go, I thought they would have easily beat him in time. I am really surprised. And I am happy too :)

Sizzle @ IFCS Agility: 

Apart from this great Agility run from Sizzle, the rest of his runs were a disaster :( He's my best Gambling boy but in the last two qualifiers, we failed to gamble. He insist he will take his own line, hahaha ... I love him really. He made me laugh so much. I can't blame my best boy. We have not been training (due to his injury) and I can seriously said we are not quite a Team this year. He was a very good boy to try so hard for me though. 

Sonic on the other hand did well in the Gamblers, although it was rather messy in the opening sequence. We need to get 65 points to qualify, the Gamble is 20 points, meaning we need to plot at least 45 points in the Opening in 40 seconds. This is the 1-3-5-7 game, all jumps are 1 point, tunnels are 3 points, AF and SS are 5 points, DW and weave are 7 points. The Gambler looks tough but the big dogs made it looks so easy. I thought I will easily achieve this with Sizzle but he wasn't going away from me. Although he took the A and B but he turned to me and refuse the AF :( Sonic on the other hand did great. He is the one that I don't think he will work away from me but he impressed me! We got the highest 72 points :)

Sonic @ IFCS Gamblers:

None of the boys did well in the Snooker :( Sizzle was great until the closing 5 points (see-saw), he insist he will take the red jump instead of the 6. Silly dog! Sonic didn't even go that far, Bless him! He failed at the 3rd red jump. I, again try to do a ketscher and I failed and he back jump the red. I think we need to polish our ketscher over the winter! I know I am new to this new handling technique. I was reluctant to try it to start with but I know if I do it well, Sonic and Sipzie wrap the wing so tight to save a lot of time! I never use to "throw" my run and try new things but this year, it's totally a whole new ball game for me. I willing to try new thing at a real competition; and I work harder when I got eliminated. 

The IFCS Jumping was a real challenging course, a lot of obstacle discrimination. I have to force myself to jump in front of my boys to stop them going into the weave but Sizzle was so head strong that after a few twiddle, he still want to take the weave. LOL! I know it's such a bad idea to suddenly do a front cross eventhough I was way behind the dog, I collided into both of them and I am sure Sizzle and Sonic were hating me for doing that! I meant to do two ketschers in this Jumping course but I chicken out at the end :(

Sonic @ IFCS Jumping:

The most exciting run of the day is this Grand Prix Final. If you have a win in any class, you will get a chane to run in the Final. Sonic hardly has any clear round but he did win a Grand Prix a few weeks ago. We are very prvileged to be in a Final. This is Sonic's very first final and I hope we have many more Finals to come. I chose to run Sonic in a lower height in FAB shows. Sonic is a very small medium, I'd like my dogs to be able to jump in a more comfortable height, that not only encourage speed but less injury. The only disadvantage is the dog will be faster than jumping their usual height. I think it's good for me to also handle it when he is fast :) Sonic did made me run like bat out of hell. 

I am over the moon with his achievement in this Final. He ran clear and in a very good time. If combined overall result of all height, he would have come 2nd, half a second behind a fast Maxi Border Collie. I felt good after we ran clear. I know I have to leg it and handle well with AF and tunnel trap. He loves the AF more than the tunnel and you can see he did look at the AF before going into the tunnel. I am so happy that Mr Gobby and Mr Refuser actually LISTEN for one good time :) So very proud of our achievement together. 

Sonic @ Grand Prix Final

and the Indian Runners are a week old already and you can see Sonic is herding them already :)

sadly, we lost the little one 3 days later :(

crazy

My husband called me CRAZY! He's right, I have been running around like a crazy mad woman in the last few days!

My first successful hatched happened on Saturday while I was away at the UKA doing agility. All my chicken were unsuccessful, a couple of them tried to hatch but died inside the shell. The others died inside without hatching. Very upsetting and sad. The chicken took 21 days to hatch but the very first one actually tried to hatch at Day 20 and the second one tried to hatch at Day 21. After a terrible start of eggs hatching. I was kinda don't want to know about the duck eggs. I was really heart breaking and upset after seeing the little chicks died. This is one of the reason I chose to go to UKA that day. Duck took 28 days to hatch. I have friend who is keeping an eye on the incubator for me. 

While I was in the middle doing the Agility, I've got a text message to say I have a little duckling that made a lot of noise. I was really excited but after reading that his legs are not out yet, I was holding back my excitement. I know anything can go wrong ... Part of me wanted to come home straightaway and part of me don't want to go home! By the time we got home, I rushed to the incubator to meet my little Daffy. 

new born Indian Runner

Following all the instruction from the Internet, we are keeping Daffy in the incubator to dry up but the humidity dropped a lot and I need to increase that to get the others to hatch. I've decided to add some warm water and that's went thing go wrong :( Although I got Daffy out before adding the warm water but he went absolutely crazy in the incubator knocking himself all over the place. He just couldn't settle. I was very worried that I have done something to harm him. Although everyone said leaving him in for 24 hours to dry up, I just can't seeing him running around like headless chicken. I've decided to take him out into the brooder early. I have to set it up at the last minute and kept cuddle him (wrap him in a towel) to calm him down. When he was wrapped in the towel, he was ok but soon he was free, he just can't stop scratching his head, both side. Weird and worrying! It went on until past midnight and I was really tired. Colin against me taking him to bed with us, so I just have to hop he will be alright when I wake up the next morning.

I got up at 4:30am and sneakily go to the brooder and he was fine but soon he heard me, he went crazy again but the happy crazy self. Oh, how sweet! I gave him water and food but he wouldn't eat and it got me worried again. I thought the chick crumbs that I bought is not suitable (sometimes the Internet can gave you all the information to confuse you!), I got panic. Luckily, Maureen said she knew a place where they hatch chicks and ducklings, so we can go there to buy the right food for the little ones.

Hmm ... Maureen drove us to Hoar Park to get some food for Daffy. We were totally distracted by the poultry and waterfowl in the Children's Farm. I was amused by all the pure bred chicken and ducks. As we go along, I fell in love with this little frizzle.

introducing Little Miss Frizzle, she is a Silver Frizzle Pekin

Little Miss Frizzle is very little. OMG, I am actually worry that if a hawk is hovering above might be able to take her away! Well, even a crow will be able to do that! I like her frizzle feather though :) A lot of friends came around to "admire" her but not all like her. Some said she looks like she has been plug into a main! Hahaha ... oh well, she's my little frizzle :D

I also bought two little 4 weeks old chicks to mix with the ducklings and also to give her some company. I have got a Lavender Frizzle Pekin cockerel. I know I have said no more cockerel but he is so cute, I can't resist not to have him. He is very similar to Frizzle but is all grey, they call him Lavender. You can't quite see him in the photo below. He and his friend are rather timid, they have not been man handled before :(

Lavender Frizzle Pekin, Silver Partridge Pekin and 2 x Indian Runners

I've also bought a Silver Partridge Pekin, hopefully she is a hen as we can't quite sure the sex at this age. I am hoping to take a better photo when they are old enough to go out. 

By the time we got back from Hoar Park on Sunday afternoon, our second Indian Runner was hatching. Poor little duckling struggled to come out and I have to give her a hand to get her out. She is rather loud (I hope she is a duck), she has a very calm nature compared to Daffy. Daffy is a little hooligan. Whenever I try to handle him, he's everywhere trying to fly off. I sadly has drop him many times, thank God only very low :)

second hatched Indian Runner, hopefully she is  Daisy not Donald :)

There are still a few duck eggs in the incubator ready to hatch tomorrow or so. I hope at least one will hatch as I like to have 3 ducks. If they don't hatch, I will go and get another one later to keep these two company. 

Right, that's the chicken and duck story. Now, back to the crazy agility. 

We went to UKA National on Saturday. As Sizzle is now semi-retired, I have more time concentrate on Sonic and hopefully encourage Sipzie to come back to Agility. Poor Sipzie has gone through a funny stage that she thinks Agility is torture to her :( She ran very slowly, unmotivated and she would not play with her tuggy and ball anymore. How sad! Away from agility, she will play fetch the ball and tug. Funny girl!

I've entered two classes with her, the Agility and a Steeplechase. She didn't do too badly on the Agility, still unsure about the stop DW, she mixed it all up with the running AF and stop DW. She is very often pop out of 10th pole as well in the competition. I don't really mind her go wrong so long she is happy to run around in a ring. 

This is Sipzie's Beginners Agility: 

Sonic ran over the same course in the Novice level, this is a Tug E Nuff qualifier. Sonic won the class over 5 seconds and he was the 3rd fastest dogs among all heights. I am very happy with that as I know at a couple of places that I have to let him turn wide as I do not want to make a mistake but sadly, we didn't qualify because I tried to go careful in the Jumping round and how many times I reminded myself that Sonic only has ONE speed, there is no steady round from him, the minute he take off, he is off like a bullet and there is no way I can play safe with him. We got 10 refusal over the tunnels in the Jumping!

Sonic @ Tug E Nuff:

After a messy round in the Agility, I decided to run Sipzie in a Steeplechase to boost her confident again. She ran clear and come 2nd in the class. She was 3 seconds slower than the winner who is very little staffie cross. Lovely little dog. I remembered seeing the dog when she first came out.

Sipzie @ Novice Steeplechase: 

On Monday, I travel down to UKA again to attend their Level 2 Judging Seminar. This is my very first Agility seminar and I am loving it. Level 2 is a Game Judging Seminar and I love the Games, especially Gamblers. It's very exciting to learn all about it and also to discuss some course design. The best part of it was how to judge and there are so many angles to look at things ... I can't wait for my next Seminar!

You thought I have enough driving on Saturday and Monday (it's 1.5 hours each way, 83 miles each way); but yesterday morning, I suddenly decided I want to go and do some Agility, so off I went with the dogs. Another 166 miles! I entered Sipzie in the Beginners Agility and she won the class! WooHoo! She got all her contacts beautifully, she didn't messed it up, she ran her AF and stop on her DW and the best part yet to come ... she did her 12 weave! How good is that? I was over the moon with her. I was thinking to do a steeplechase but I thought I want it to end good and that's the only class she ran in, sadly no video, Colin was not with me. 

Sipzie and her winning, she was the fastest time in all heights. 

I've also ran Sonic yesterday in the Novice Agility and Jumping. Well, I used the Jumping round for NFC and he did some very good work and we managed 3 x ketschker turns and he did that very well. I am so happy and the best thing was to send him to the toy at the finish jump. I love to see him driving the finishing jump to his toy. I was losing that since I started competing with him. I am glad to see that is back again. We didn't do to well in the Agility. It was a good weave entry so I praise him "good boy", every single time I said "good boy", he came out. I said that 3 times and he pop out three times! When I shut up, he finished the weave beautifully! I've also noticed one thing, not just on the weave but if he does something good in the course and I said "good boy", he will come to me and refuse something! I find it very difficult not to say "good boy" as I like to praise him when he does something good. I've been saying "good boy" at training and at home and most of the time he stays in the weave. Any suggestion? 

I've  also entered him in the National yesterday. It's an Agility run and I'd like to be able to do something like that. It was a very nice course with some tricky trappy bits but I don't see why we can't managed :) The ran the Maxi dogs follow by Standard, Midi then Toy. 90% of the Maxi knocked the spread after the DW. It was in an angle. I think after stopping on the DW, the dog don't spread out very well? I am not sure why big dogs do that? In the Standard, some dogs knocked the spread too. It actually got me worried as I have never thought about the spread being a problem. Sonic was 2nd in the Midi to run, everyone that entered has to stick with the strict running order. We started off well and Sonic was so fast over the DW and his powerful speed coming down made him miss the spread. It was in an angle, I supposed I should give him a right command or a name call? I didn't do that and he ran around the spread, I was hoping to put him back but he back jump so we got eliminated. The other part that most dogs went wrong is the cloth tunnel to weave and the 2nd last jump to finish but Sonic managed that all beautifully. In fact, he ran a breath taking course after the elimination :) This is the first time I felt really good eventhough a elimination. My confident is sky high when we took the finish jump. Shamed no video. I really wish that was being filmed. 

Right, no more crazy 166 miles everyday. I am having a break from Agility until Sunday :)

new toy

My new toy arrived yesterday! WooHoo! I have been waiting impatiently for it :) As you can see my boys approved it too :) I have been "racing" up and down the farm yesterday and the boys were racing me too. That tired them out very quickly. Oops!

 my boys approving my new toy

 big boy Saturn will be driving it next. He can go shepherding with that in the hot weather :) 

 This is also Sing's wagon, just in case he gets too tired to walk up the hill :) But little Sizzle wants to share that too. 

 Sing is not so impressed by it, he rather walk then be "carry" :) Tough old boy!

Next project, I'll be looking to buy an ATV Flail Mower and either a Chain Harrow or a Pro Harrow. Let's the Farm work begins :)

Blissful country life

I can't believe we are here nearly 10 months now! Absolutely no regret moving to this beautiful country side, although we started with a lot of stress but hey, didn't life full of stress, up and down? I am Bless with what I have now, my lovely husband Colin, my wonderful pack of shelties, each and everyone of them have their own unique personality; and some most amazing friends that stand by me when I need you. 

photo courtesy of KK

You probably have noticed that I am blogging more often these days :) Well, the weather is too hot for me to go out and do jobs around the farm. I try to keep the dogs in as well to stop them from over heating. Poor Sonic just don't understand why he is not allow out. He is a farm dog, he loves the outdoor space wehave. He normally sit on The Ridge and watching the world goes by ... the Farm is rather secure with good fencing and hedges, honestly, the boys will not escape. If they take themselves out (normally to chase rabbit), they quite happily return when called. I am more worry about the girls, especially Sipzie and Seren. These two are just pure hooligan. Once they are off, THEY ARE OFF! You won't believe that until this point, I still need to keep them on the lead most of the time. They have the instinct to CHASE! Sigh ~ my girls are keeping very busy LOL. Thank God Spie has been really good, most of the time! 

Sonic the watched dog

We are taking this year to improve all our grassland. We have a lot of thistle growing in some of the fields, especially one of them is full of it! We have been spraying them and hopefully, they will die off soon and would not return for the next few years. This farm has not been work or properly look after for a long period of time before we bought it, so there's a lot to do to maintain the farm to good level. 

A lot of farmers are cutting hays at the moment. It's a dusty, dirty, messy job. It's not bad if you have a new tractor with air-conditioning. You will be dust free and cool inside while working. Don't think we can afford one! These tractors are so expensive!

All our land are out for sheep and horse grazing at the moment. They are good eater but they are fussy eater too. There are some (a lot acturally!) very annoying grass that is so tall and sticky, whenever I took the dogs out to our fields, they all came back with sticky fur and lots of grass seed on them. Yuk! I don't know how to get rid of them apart from brushing off. I have to sprinkle some talcum powder, not so bad on sable dogs but the black ones turn white! I managed to get the sticky bit off on their body but I can't get the sticky bit off their feet and underneath their stomach. It's such a messy job everyday! Brushing 8 shelties everytime we came back from a walk :(

Lately, me and Maureen (our lovely horse lady) been taking the dogs out for country walks or canal walk every evening. It's lovely to give the dogs a new scenery and they love to be OUT again! Sometimes, we walk miles and miles and miles ... we forgot poor Sing was struggling and we ended up carrying him home :)

Oh, my new adventure ... eggs hatching! I fancy some Indian Runner Ducks to practice some domestic herding with the shelties. I know it's easier to go and buy already sexed ducklings but Colin thought it will be more fun if we can hatch our own :) He bought me this incubator for my birthday. I bought some hatching eggs from eBay. 

I have 18 Indian Runner Duck eggs from 2 different people and so far, 4 eggs are not fertile. They still have another 10-15 days before hatching. I've also got some chicken as well. I don't really know much about chicken as I am far more interested in duck :) While browsing through eBay, I chose Brahma and Silkie. I bought 6 Lemon Pye Brahma and 6 White Silkie and it turn out to be that they are the best mothers :) Again, not all eggs are fertile. I've picked up the non-fertile eggs and fed them to the foxes :( So far, we hope 2 silkies and 4 Brahma will be peeking soon. 

As you can see my incubator indicate we are in Day 19 today, so anytime from now that the chicken will be hatching soon ...

Come'on little chick, brooder is ready!