The KNIGHTs Shelties

Friday, June 19, 2009

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!!