puppy

I am counting down the day that Colin and I are going to meet her and her brothers and sister.

I wanted a heated indoor school!

I wanted a heated indoor school that I can train my dogs whenever I like. I am getting very fedup with the weather, don't mind the cold but the wet + cold is very miserable and my garden is not big enough for me to set up a sequence I want to practise. We have a very long garden, 180 foot but with limited width. I guess all I can practise is a straightline sequence, so no excuse if my dogs cannot do the "go on"!!

I finally finished uploading all the videos Colin has taken on the training day, that were not many. Colin tried to hide in the car because it was very cold especially when you are not running. It is a shamed that he didn't film all of our exercises, I would love to see the mistakes I made again and again so I can improve.

The first video of Sizzle is the jumping sequence, as you can see my plan didn't work out at all; the one from Saturn is the way Toni would handle with large dogs, I supposed that suits Saturn as he has quite a long stride:

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Toni Dawkins Training Day

I had the most wonderful time with Toni Dawkins yesterday at Sue's sand school. As all of you know Toni is our top handler eventhough she didn't run shelties (do you think I can persuade her to have a sheltie, well at least a blue merle sheltie?) Toni is very friendly and loving, I always feel so comfortable with her. I have picked up a lot from her training day yesterday and that will add a long list onto my winter project!

I trained Sizzle in the morning and Saturn in the afternoon. I made a lot of mistakes with Sizzle and Saturn, well, almost every exercise I ran, there was a mistake or imperfection but I was so happy I made the mistakes so I could learned from Toni how to handle it. I was exhausted at the end of the day but very happy.

The weather was glorious when we got there in the morning, cold but sunny. There were 8 of us in Sizzle's class, 3 gorgeous Goldies, a Visla x Lab, a Cross breed, a young blue merle BC, a JRT and Sizzle. What a mixture of class!

We started the class with this jumping sequence (this is just a draft from me, not sure about the correct distance):

Our first try was to start from jump #2, I lead out slightly so I could send Sizzle into the tunnel, then run to the back of jump #4, but Sizzle didn't go into the tunnel, he was checking on me and came with me to jump #4. After a couple of tried, he understands he needs to go into the tunnel but my handling was crap! My plan to run this sequence is to send him into the tunnel, pick him up from behind jump #4, wrap the right wing and send him back to the tunnel then run to the front of jump #6 and pick him up and send him to do jump #7. It all became a disaster! I wasn't fast enough to do what I want to do. I have tried a couple of times to trust him to take the tunnel #5 and ran to between #6 and #7 to do a front cross, hahaha ... Sizzle beat me to it every single time! Then, Toni had a go (or three goes!) with him. I never thought Sizzle will run for anyone but he surprised me, he didn't even hesitate, Toni got his ball and he run in his full speed with her. Toni tried to show me the front cross that she wants me to tried and after three goes, she admitted he is too fast, so not possible to do the front cross and I need to learn the rear across! I finally managed the rear across but he didn't take the jump #8. It was set a little further and the dog has to understand to take the jump. Sizzle is so much "into" me (I only found out yesterday!), he would not go and take jump #8 if I hang back. Why do I want to hang back? I don't know!! Maybe I am lazy!!We all had a go at the above sequence and many of them did the same way as I ran Sizzle; or some of them did the tight turn (turn right on the jump) to take a shorter route into the tunnel. Toni's best way is to set the dog far back from jump #1, because this is a straightline recall into the tunnel, you lead out to the tunnel and recall the dog to do the tunnel then jump #4, do a kinda front cross but close to the left wing, so the dog would wrap the jump (the dog jump left) and you spin to send the dog back into the tunnel. Then, the jumps #6, #7, #8 bits ... pick the dog on your left (when he is out from the tunnel), send him to do #6 and #7 then you cross into the box, make sure hand out to send him to do #8, then you can do whichever way you want on the #9. Phew!

It doesn't look like a hard sequence but when you run it, mmm ... I find it difficult even with Saturn!The morning class passed so fast ... we had so much to do and so little time to cover the contacts but we managed to squeeze in the DW which I wanted to prove so much. The sequence was jump, DW, turn right to a jump then 3 jumps like a zig zag for us to practise more on our "steerling" skill.

here is Sizzle's DW:

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Saturn was a very good boy at training eventhough we didn't get much of the exercise right but he was willing to work. The only down side was I cannot really wind him up. Sue's sand school is located in her garden and she has a few neighbours. We have a restriction to control our dog barking. The only way I could wind Saturn up is get him to bark then he will get excited and hopefully to go faster. His speed is varies, soemtimes he is crazily fast and I won't be able to control and someitmes he has a steady speed which he will work sequence perfectly. With Saturn, I know I am going to work hard on his contacts this winter, so now I go back to reward him very often. He has beautifuly contacts at training and he does not hesitate like he used to be, maybe I released him quick is helping but this also risking that he will jump off the contacts sometimes if my release is too fast or too slow.

Sizzle and fireworks

We just came back from our weekly club training. I was over the moon with Sizzle. Our hardwork on the running DW has once again prove it is all worth it! If you could recall that I mentioned in my previous posts that Sizzle always missing the DW at club training, and you know me, I blamed the DW being set down the hill and this and that (typical me!) and we all know that is not true! Anyway, he didn't miss a single one today and he was running in his full speed as well. We also did the pivot turn (like a pull through - see diagram below) perfectly, Sizzle didn't even bother to look at the other jump. WooHoo! That's awesome! The only obstacle that we still need to work hard on is the see-saw, he is hanging on the see-saw but not as long as I want and when I run in to reward him, he came off side way.

And the fireworks bit ... he did go into the garden quitely happily this morning, like there have been nothing at all. Hopefully there is just a one-off but I have to be very careful for the next few days when to let him out. I have to lock the cat/dog flap as he has learned to go in and out recently. The most annoying bit is his crazy daddy suggested we go to see the fireworks display tonight! Arrrrgggghhhh ...

another lovely morning walk

After the heavy rain from yesterday, this morning was another sunny but very cold morning! I had to dig out a coat for Samber. She has lost all her coat after she has the puppies and poor Samber only has skin left! Everytime I brushed her, another big chunck of coat coming out.

she wasn't keen with the coat on. I bought this coat for Saturn from China last year when I visited my beloved brother. It is a fleece coat and it will keep her very warm. She was uncomfy and wouldn't want to go away from me but after a while, she realised I am not going to take it off, so she was back to her old bouncy self.

I know I have been posted a lot of Sing playing with his tennis ball photos recently but I cannot resist not posting this one. The expression on his face is priceless!!

... and this crazy water mad dog begging to swim in the dirty pond again!!!

I have to take the ball out to distract him to go on a dry land

now these guys asking for more ball but where is Saturn?

he just want to pose for some handsome photos taking!

my happy boys and girl on the log

I think Sizzle has learned too much from Sing, I have not even chuck a ball into the pond but he saw a leave floating and went in to fetch it, very sweet indeed but OMG! Stinky pond water!

Now, a small bad note from today. I thought all my bad lucks went with yesterday but nope! I took Sizzle into the garden after lunch to practise the pivot turn that we failed to do at Bernadette yesterday. I set Sizzle up in front of the jump and a firework went off. BANG! Again, BANG, BANG, BANG, four times in a row. Which b*****d let go a firework in the bright daylight? You got it. Sizzle ran in the house the fastest he can and he nevers want to go into the garden again. I can't get him out to do his toilet since lunch!! I hope this didn't put him off from agility too!! Arrrrgggghhhhh ... Who invent fireworks?

bad day and a bit of good news

Well, I had quite a bad day today ...

I took all the dogs to the Common on the way to Bernadette for my lesson this morning. Seagull and Titan were wild, they didn't want to come to me when call. I didn't even raise my voice, it was raining and I was desperate to have a quick walk but Seagull just wanted to say hello to all dogs and Titan just wanted to pee on every single grass!!! It is not like them at all. They are generally quite obedient and easy dogs to take out walking.

I parked the car at the car park, put Seagull, Titan, Samber and Sizzle in the boot; Sing the front and realised Saturn was still standing from a distance. I called and he just stand still, not like him at all. He always follow me very closely and has no problem getting him in and out the car but he just wouldn't come. Then I shouted over to him: I am going, bye ... I saw him taking a detour, instead of coming straight back to me, he run into the carpark and take a big cirlce and there came a car. My heart skipped a beat! Luckily the car stop dead. When he came to me, I then to find he rolled in the bl**dy fox poo! YUK! He sure knew he did something very wrong and feel guilty and worried that I am going to tell him off!! So, I have to spend 20 minutes to clean him with baby wipes!! Arrrggghhh ... I don't mind we are going home after the walk but we are heading to Bernadette for our lesson, how annoying!!

The car was very low in petrol. The petrol prices is very high in our area, nearly £1.10/litter. I remembered seeing a small petrol station on the way to Bernadette which is reasonably cheap (then). I was hoping I can make it through the petraol station with 2 gallons left. If there is no hold up traffic, I should be safe, so worried all the way and finally got this cheaper petrol (96.9) at Bolney Village. Phew! Safe!

Got to Bernadette, just in time, and the sky turns grey! Got Sizzle out quick, hopefully we can get a bit more done before the rain comes. Did a jumping sequence, I thought I can work him with not a big problem but it turned out to be we were no good at all. He didn't understand the pivot turn, he kept going around to take the next jump; then the wrong end of the tunnel which I can't be there to call him off ... oh dear! Before we can make it perfect, the rain got heavy, we have to run into the house! After a nice cup of tea, the rain didn't stop but got heavier and the wind picked up, so we have to call it a day! I hope we can work on that jumping sequence next week!

The rain was so heavy, at some part, I could hardly see the road when I was on M23, so I have to slow down to 30mph! The traffic was ok, so we got back to Coulsdon without any delay. As with all six wet shelties in the car, it got steamy, so I roll down a jar on my window. I was waiting on a temperory light at Beddington Lane (an industrial area), there comes a big commercial lorry in speed, guess what? I didn't see there was a big puddle on the other side of the road, so you got it! The filty smelly dirtly water splash all over me!!! How stupid!!! That moment, I just wished I can jump in the bath immediately!!

Luckily I got home within 10 minutes, bath Saturn and bath myself, so we both smell nice and clean!

I thought that was the end of a bad day but nope! I pop into Sainsbury on the way to pick up Colin this evening. Just want to stock up few bits. I picked up two reduced items, one didn't scan the reduced amount, I didn't know at the time so I have to go to the Customer service to ask for a refund. I stood there waited for more than 15 minutes, there were a couple in front of me. I asked them if they knew anybody there and the lady told me the guy went to fetch somebody. After a few minutes, I saw the guy came back. I do not know what was their problem, it took ages, another 10 minutes has passed. There were a few people behind me, waiting impatiently and yet the guy still do something looks alien to me. There were so many other stuff around but no one want to serve us. I only want 49p refund! I got very angry waiting for 20 minutes and still not been served, then this lady behind me push pass me to jump the queue. Hey, I nearly punched her!!

Grrrrrrr ...

On the other hand, Sing played ball with me in the lounge after I came back from Sainsbury!! WooHoo!!!! I was worried about him last night. He looked very firghtened and unsettle when he came in the lounge last night. Usually, he march in like a trooper but since the accident, he was very careful, a bit too careful, I don't know if there is anything that spook him. I didn't over play with him, I am hoping to build that back slowly.

Sing's smile always melt my heart

lovely autumn morning

It was lovely this morning, sunny and a bit cold, so I decided to take Sing, Saturn, Sizzle and Samber for a long walk in the Common. Reason I didn't to take Seagull is he struggled for a longer walk and Titan will "attack" Sing when I play ball with him. With the recent disaster I had with Sing, I do not want to put him off from playing his beloved tennis ball.

As it was lovely, so I took my camera along not knowing the battery was very low! Doh! I only have limited pictures but it is good enough for me to mark the dogs have a lovely walk with me.

a very happy Sing with his tennis ball

Samber loves to chase alongside the dogs, shamed that I can't get her to play with ball/toy. I tried very hard though. When she first came to live with me, she was very interested to chase the toy I chuck it for the boys. She picked it (or steal it from the boys) and run away with it and never bring it back; then when she settled in, she is not interested in the toys anymore!!

you see what I mean, she is like a shadow to all the dogs

After half an hour playing fetching, Sizzle is hot and thirsty. I spotted him ran towards the pond, I thought he had a quick drink (yuk!) but instead he saw a piece of bark and swim over to fetch it. How sweet is that? Well, later Sing joined him in the pond, so I have to give them a nice bath after that!!!

my handsome Saturn! I love his smile, he is always a very happy dog.

this is my garden, picture taken this morning. I rake all the leaves and 24 hours later the garden is full of leaves again!! I love autumn, I just loved the colour and fallen leaves but not in my garden!! It made training harder. We haven't got a place big enough to separte into two parts, so the dogs go toilet in the same area. It is easy to pick up the dog mess when the garden is clear but in this condition!!

first winter training day and a bit about Sing

I love winter training day. I only started doing winter training days two years ago and I just loved it. I've got to practise what I need to improve from the last season and also to learn from different instructors with their methods, then I will start thinking which one suit me and my dogs better. Also, it is a good way to bring a young dog out to do agility in different places, different equipments and different people and dogs ...

This afternoon was our very first winter training day with Andy and Nancy Hudson. These two are the top handlers in this country and they both run shelties too! I have signed up with Sizzle on this training day. We were in a very nice group of 3 Border Terriers, a JRT, a Sheltie and a Beagle. We started with the Drilling with Andy in some simple jumping sequences. Sizzle was a bit slow to start with but he soon pick up his speed again after a couple of runs.

We did the weave entry but Sizzle kept pulling out at 10th/11th pole, Andy told me Sizzle didn't like me to go past his shoulder, so when we did the weave again, I was careful to either hang back a little or stay at the same level as his sholder and he completed the weave nicely. Now, I have something to work on ... to run ahead of him and make sure he is still complete his weave! We have also learned to stand upright (a lot of small dog handlers like to bend over to be at the dog's level and I did that a lot eventhough I am fairly short!!!) and to stay in a nice distance away from the dog when he weaves, this is also to teach the dog to do the obstacle indepently.

We also did the wrap the wing. After a couple of practise, Sizzle wrapped the wing tight and perfect and we also got to learn to use the command left and right correctly. We also did the cross behind after the tunnel to jump sequence. I am very pleased with Sizzle how he picked up the things so quick.

After an hour and a half, we swap to Nancy to do the contacts. Sizzle loves the contacts. I guess I reward him everytime he did a nice contacts. This is also make me feel sad and guilty that I didn't reward him enough in Jumping.

After Sizzle missed his running DW at the recent show, I was a bit taken aback about his running DW. I started training him to run his contacts and I know the risk and I want to stick with that but how am I going to imporve his running DW? Sing is much easier dog to train but I am not given up on Sizzle. He is a challenge for me.

I have been practising his running DW this week at home, only 3 or 4 reputations a day, not more than that and I am very happy with the result. I want to prove that he can do the same at different places and today it proved my hard work has paid off. We have done a few DW and he has not miss a single one and he hit the contact point the way I want him to hit. I only reward him with his toy once at the bottom of the DW and he was shocked about the reward coming his way. I did verbal priased a lot.

We still need a lot of work on the see-saw. He still try to jump off before the see-saw tilt.

Overall, I am very happy with Sizzle, he really is a fantastic dog to train.

Sorry no photo or video, I did asked Colin to bring the video camera, hopefully he would film our work so I can watch it at home but he didn't do any of the filming.

I thought I would share this video of Sizzle did the 60 weave pole challenge back in early September at Paws in the Park. He missed the last weave pole which was a shamed but I didn't want to redo, it is very long and tiring weave:

Now, I have a little trouble with Sing ...

If you could recall Sing was poorly last Thursday? He hurt himself mysteriously before the Shrewsbury show? Well, I think it was me played the ball badly with him and he got injured very badly. Sing and I have a silly routine ... every night, when I have my dinner, I always sit on a little stool in front of the TV having my dinner on a little table. Sing always bring me a ball, so I chuck the ball for him at the same time eating. This has been going on since I have him as a puppy. That Thursday, we did the same thing but after a couple of throw, he yelped. To whoever that do not know Sing, he is a very tough strong dog, he hardly yelped eventhough he is in pain. So when I heard him yelping, I thought he must be really hurt but he wouldn't come to me, so I went over to stroke him. I didn't see what has happened to him, this is why I didn't make a big fuss and didn't realised it badly affected him the next day.

This week, I went back to my usual dinner time play with him, he wouldn't want to fetch the ball I throw, not like him at all. Sing lives for a throw of tennis ball. He even hide or run away when I throw the ball, very funny. If Colin is there, he will run to Colin for protection!!! He is fine playing ball in the garden and in the Common but definitely not in the lounge. We have tried so many days now but everytime I took a ball out, he ran away. I guess he must have been very badly hurt. I wish I have seen what has happened so I can help him to get away with the phobia. I am very surprised with Sing's reaction to it as he never is a sissy dog.

I am feeling very guilty and sorry and hopeless.

yummy puppies!!

aren't they gorgeous?

these two are Ypra's little girls, you can see the boys here

they are doing very well, almost double the size now!!

autumn

These autumn photos I took last weekend at Mitcham Common made me smile:

The KNIGHTs Shelties are always happy and cheerful

crazy Samber likes to bounce!!

she is always so agile, maybe is a little too agile at times!!

the above picture is from our drive, the fallen leaves make my drive very autumn!

my golden boy

always happy and loving

Saturn's autumn look!

and this is autumn Titan

we saw this kestrel in the Common looking for mice, then had a fight with seagull, my pictures didn't come out too well, so not going to post the photo of birds fighting

these are the bees that attacked Sizzle

tense

Last night was very tense! I kept thinking about the caravan. Two community police officers came to knock on the door about 7pm to ask how do I feel. You must be joking! I told them I fell insecure and I WANT PROTECTION! The caravan park right close to the house (we are very lucky to be able to park the caravan in our front garden, you don't have much space in London), can you imagine someone (or more than one!) that you do not know are in your compound! They told me it could be just a one off because there is some form of pattern that some foreigners got so drunk and they live miles away so they will just hang about at someone's property and my caravan became their target! WHAT?

I was ready to sleep in the caravan with Sing and Seagull and a baseball bat (sorry, I am a fighter!) but Colin reminded me that the CSI said I need to clean the caravan with strong detergent before using it ... so this option is out! How annoying!! I also told my nephew off for being so NOT alert, his bedroom is just above where the caravan is park! He told me he was far asleep at 9pm the night when the intruder broke into the caravan!! Arrrrgggghhhh ...

I was still unwell, my cold and cough is still very much bothering me but I didn't want to take anymore Night Nurse. I tried to stay alert but it just got me very tired at the end ... but I didn't hear any dog barking.

First thing I woke up this morning was to run straight to the caravan to check it out. Thank God it is safe!

sad

I rang the police again, I am not a patient person, I would like to get things done there and then, I hate waiting! I managed to speak to the police operator and she put me to my loval police station. I gave my statement through the phone and asked them to send someone here to have a look.

After an hour, I've got a phone call from the Police, they asked me a few more details questions regarding the caravan. The Crime Scene Investigator turned up pretty soon after I spoke to the Officer. He spent an hour working on the "crime scene", taking finger prints, blood, checked everything inside and outside of the caravan, taking photos ...

I also got to speak to my neighbour, she said she and her husband heard someone very loud and noisy in the front garden last night, maybe between 2am - 4am. I don't know if that is a clue.

The Investigator can't find any finger prints on the window, the interior wall inside the caravan are not smooth so it is harder to find finger prints too. The only evidence they could take is the blood from the door and on the bed. Then, later, he found a bunch of key with a TV remote control as a keychain not far away from the caravan. He wasn't sure about that but I told him that is definitely not belong to us, so he took it in as well.

Just before he left, he told me to use glove and strong detergent to clean the caravan, because he is worried about the blood, just in case the person who left it carries hepatitis. That got me worried more!! I don't think I would want the blanket with the blood, I would prefer to chuck it away!! YUK!!

Hopefully, I will get the result from the Police as soon as possible!!

One thing, when the police called me back this morning, she did ask if I would like consult. Well, when I got my brand new mobile stolen from home many years ago (we had a plumber in then), I reported to the police, they also asked me if I need consultancy. I think our police are funny!! I don't want any consultancy, I want PROTECTION!!!

If you remember a couple of weeks ago, I said I was sad? Well, I felt uncomfortable to live in this area anymore. When we moved in about 6 years ago, it was very quiet and peaceful. Eventhough we live by the main road but the traffic isn't very bad or busy all the time. There is only a certain time when it is busy for half and hour and that's it. The neighbourhood is safe and friendly. The Common is only 3 minutes walk from home, it is a fantastic location for us.

I guess it all started about 3 years ago when the Common got disturbed by the yobs. They raced motorbike on the Common. Saturn and I got nearly ran over by the biker when he was about 5/6 months old! I challenged the biker by standing on the track to stop him from racing through the track as Sing, Seagull, Saturn and Titan were behind me! Every Summer, about 5pm, they will be a group of biker, all young kids with their bikes riding on top of the hill then race down the hill where the pond is. I go out three times a day to the Common in the Summer so many times we were so close to get run over by them. I rang the police when I saw them but the police nevers turn up or when they turn up with their siren on, those kids had gone!

Then, last two years, there were a lot of burnt cars left in the Common. I don't know how they drove the car into the Common. Well, the gates are lock and there is no easy way to drive the car into the Common. We always found one burnt car every week! It is very unpleasant. I have taken some photos but I am too lazy to find them.

Then, gypsies camping on the Common!! You can't imagine the mess and rubbish they created!! The council blocked off the road where they camp with big cement blocks but they still be able to park their caravans on the road!! Walking the dogs are not easy!

Just recently, people started to use the Common as a houshold dump! See photo below:

To me, this kid's bike looks new:

We haven't have any serious crime happened to us (touch wood!) but we do have druggies tried to break into our back garden and kids as well. Our two doors on the left, it was a petrol station before when we first moved in here. Then, they demolish it. The gypsies quickly moved in with their caravans, so we had a few months of hell life next to them. They slept during the day and sang/shout during the night. They dump their rubbish in our garden and made shits everywhere! It was very nasty and walking the dogs pass them was a nightmare!!

Finally, they got kicked out and they develop the place into flats. During the contruction period, we have some druggies slept in there during the night and they climb over the fence and start intruding our back garden. It was quite scarry at that time but luckily it didn't last as Sing and Seagull were very alert, their bark probably had scared him off, instead he broke into our neighbour!!

Then, another time, I woke up one Sunday morning to find a black kid standing at the bottom of our garden. We had a very long garden, 180 foot. I was very stupid then, I saw him from the kitchen window, instead of sending all the dogs down in the garden to frigten him, I lock all the dogs in and went to confront him myself in my pyjamas!!! Luckily he was very frightened of me and ran off after I show my aggressiveness towards him!!

I hope the police can restore the peaceful of this area, I do like where I live, so convenient to take the dogs for walkies!!

Also, I forgot to mention, we have two bicycles stolen from the train station. My nephews ride the bicycles to park at the train station so they can go to Universities by train, by the time they came back, there were gone!!

New type of caravan thieves!!! Beware!!

Well, I have heard so many of our agility friends' caravan been stolen for the last two years and I have always been careful about ours. We only had a tiny little caravan that is big enough to squeeze into the front garden. Colin said those gypsy only want big carvans, so we should be alright but I always make sure I will leave a car park right in front of the caravan to block it to be removed.

This morning, as usual, I have to send Colin to the tube station. When I open the front door, my vision is always looking at the caravan but I noticed something different. The silver blind on the window facing the the house is lifted. I pointed it to Colin, he said: dont' worry, just the wind! I thought the weather was quite calm yesterday, indeed we have a beautiful sunny afternoon, where was the wind?

After dropping Colin, I came home and took my caravan key to investigate the mysterious window. When I turned the key, the door lock! Mmmm ... I got suspicious, I am a very careful person, I never leave the door unlock. So, I turned it the other way to open the door, the door open but only the top part of the door open and the bottom part was still shut. This means, the lock that lock these two parts have been touched! I've got more suspicious. When I open the full door, I know someone has been in there. I have a piece of towelling blanket on the floor near the door for the dogs on the wet weather, it wasn't straight, it look like someone has walk on it, if you didn't walk carefully, the blanket will move or twist (didn't I sound like a good investigator?). Well, I know my things. When I walk in, I can see the beds have been touch. I wash/clean all the beddings (human and dogs) when we finished our last caravan trip. I pile them all up on the beds (we have two separate beds), other than the two sleeping bags still on the beds, the other dog beds are ontop of the garden fencing. The two sleeping bags have been used/touched. I also found some blood staines on Colin's bed (the window that got broke in). The blood still look red, so it must be just so recent, either last night or this morning. I checked the window, 3 our of the 4 clips that lcok the window together are broken, so it is definitely a FORCE break in!

I cannot see many things missing, a dinner plate and a drinking glass are missing so far. I rang the police this morning but no one there to pick the call, so I left a message, hopefully these lazy cows will call me back! I thought Police is 24 hours?

I was very ill last night, my cold has turned into nasty cough, so after having the Night Nurse I was in deep sleep, I didn't hear the dogs.

I also have a good around outside the caravan and I found a piece of car aerial by the window they broke in and a Gingster Large Sausage Roll wrapper!!!

Mmmmm ...

I guess I have to sleep in the caravan tonight to see if he or more than two comes back again!!! Maybe I will have my dogs all sleep in there to chase them off or protect me! Real Bastard!!!

this is the window that got broke into

the broken clip that lock the window, 3 are broken

this is the only one that is not broken!

when I open the door, it came as two parts, the clip that lock the two parts together is not attach

it should be like this to be able to lock the door

first blood staine I noticed is by the door

this is the dog towelling which has been walk on

someone has slept on this bed

the bedsheet is cover in blood staines!

500 miles of Craziness!!

We went to Shrewsbury on Friday evening, after picking up Colin from work. It was pitch black all the way there (well, the evening get dark very early now!). It was more than 200 miles each way. We did stop half way to get something to eat and gave the dogs a quick toilet trip. We arrived at Travel Lodge slightly pass 11pm.

I was still not 100% in fitness, this cold can drag on forever, after 4 hours drive, I was exhausted, so we went to bed almost immediately for an early start tomorrow. I think it was a big mistake as Sizzle has never been in Travel Lodge before. I didn't give him time to settle and turn the lights off straightaway. I can felt he was uneasy and he barked when he heard the noise from outside. I was too tired to comfort him either.

We woke up 7:15 (the showground is less than 10 minutes away), I took the dogs to toilet while Colin collected all our stuff from the hotel room. I thought we will be there by 8am but we spent some time at the petrol station, filling up the fuel and stuff some breakfast ... so we got there 8:15. Oh yes, and it rain! It was wet, but not so cold! I was soak through my skin!!

I have two classes to walk first thing, one is the jumping pairs and one is the Graded 6-7 Agility. I have Sizzle pairing with Bracken in the small pairs and Saturn in the medium pairs with Seamas; Saturn in the Graded 6-7 Agility.

I like the Graded 6-7 Agility course. When I walk it, I thought it is Sing's course. I know Sing will handle the course very well, shamed that he was not fit enough to run. Saturn was his naughty self that morning. I have learned from this year, if he barks at the start line (silly bark, not the one that I asked him to "speak") or in the queue, I know he is not with me and he will do crazy thing in the ring, like taking his own line and ignore me. He did his crazy bark when I asked him to "set up", he wouldn't go between my legs (for the set up) and when I got him in between my legs, he wouldn't sit! I know straightway we will get eliminated and I was right. It was a jump to see-saw to start. I want to recall him from the see-saw, so I have enough time to do the diagonal box but he broke his wait, when I turned and looked at him, he already stand up and stood right in front of the timer, so the run was a disaster!! Not worth mention further!!

After the disaster run, I have to run over to the jumping pairs as there were only a few pairs left to go.

The Jumping pairs have 20 obstacles, each dog does 10 obstacles and there is a baton changeover. The first part of the Jumping pairs is all jumps (and a long jump), the second part has weave and tunnels. I walked the two parts and felt I am more comfortable with the second part with both Sizzle and Saturn. It has a very difficult weave entry, I find it challenging, also the WET and heavy cloth tunnel is my worried, I wasn't sure if I should put Sizzle through that. He just only started to compete and I don't want him to get stuck (and he did stuck in the cloth tunnel!). I had a word with Matthew, I told him if he is happy for me and Sizzle to make mistake in the weave, I will take up the challenge!

As we were a bit late, everything got tense. I've got Colin to bring Sizzle to me while we were quieing. I don't know if it is the cold or wet or what, we were about two pairs to go, I picked him up, he was all shaky, but the jumping went very fast, we were next to go and I was still unable to calm him down. It is definitely not the excitement shake. Before I could do anymore to help him, it was our turn to run. My plan to handle this run is to have him on my right to start with, hopefully with a pull, he will pick up the weave entry. I told Matthew this is his first pair and I do not know how he will react watching Brax runs, so the best way maybe is to carry him until the baton changeover (safe and lost time in the baton changeover). Matt is very understanding (this is why I like to pair with him, there is no pressure between us), he told me to do whichever way I like. When Matt and Brax on the start line, Sizzle was still shaking, even worst than he was, so I decided to put him down but holding his collar. He was better when he was on the ground, he watched Brax but the pocket rocket did the 10 jumps in seocnds, I wasn't sure how he will react when Matt run to me to pick the baton but I didn't let him go until I am sure he is with me. Thank God, he didn't even look back and did all the things I asked him to, even the hardest weave entry, he did it beautifully. I think we lost time in the cloth tunnel, we came 3rd, the time wasn't far behind, the first three places were all in the 27 seconds. I was very happy with Sizzle handling the pairs so well. Thanks to Matt and Brax for pairing with us!

In the Medium pairs, Saturn nearly miss the cloth tunnel! Phew! Thanks to Brian and Seamas for pairing with us!

The classes seems to finish quite efficiently, there were four rings. I only have to wait for about half an hour (in the rain) for my next run(s). Yes, unfortunately, Sizzle's three other classes all happened at the same time.

I ran him in the Graded 4-5 Jumping first. I thought it was a very nice course but he missed the weave entry! It was a jump, tyre to weave to start. When I looked through the tyre at Sizzle's level, I could see the problem, the foam of the tyre has blocked the vision of the poles. I thought if I recall him in between the jump and the tyre, I could tell him "weave" but I was wrong, the weave was set further right after the tyre, he went into the 2nd pole on the wrong side. Maybe if I were to recall from the tyre and call him towards me and send, he probably would pick up the entry. There is something I could work on! Also, the pipe tunnel was set close to the two jumps which he got eliminated by going into the tunnel twice! And, our pull through still need a lot of practise!!! Our first pull through I can see my shoulder was turning the wrong way so he wrap around the wing instead of doing the pull through!

His second jumping round (combined 4-5) was so much better. I thought the course was harder than the graded and he handled the beginning part so well. It was a very difficult start; jump, jump, tunnel and sharp left ... a lot of dogs took the jump in front of the tunnel but Sizzle didn't even look at the jump at all. He responsed to my call very well and I managed to put a front cross to do the "go around" the jump, he also picked up the weave nicely, everything was so smooth until I lost him in the box where he took the finish jump! You can hear these people said: ohhhhhhh ... I know!! It was a shamed. I have watched other dogs ran this class and I have to say, other than we took the finish jump to get eliminated, Sizzle was the one that ran this class smoothly.

I am very proud of him. He is only a baby and he is allow to do baby mistakes!! I have been thinking about the silly mistakes he made in the jumping, the graded class where he went into the tunnel twice and the combined class where he took the finish jump. I have been teaching him to take anything in front of him, so that is a good behaviour but now he is up at the Novice Level and he needs to do something not so straight forward. I am actually a little confused. He is only 18 months and I would rather he can do something straight forward to gain the confidence and speed.

Our Agility was another disaster! It was also another "run straight from one class to the other" case. I have watched a few handlers and they all starting their dogs from the left and there were a couple totally missed the DW. It was an odd angle from the jump to the DW so I ran Sizzle on my right and he missed the DW by quite a margin. I saw him leap off straight into the tunnel (more homework!!) and he picked the weave entry nicely but I wasn't aware he missed the last two poles until the judge told me! You can see me tried to run away from him to the A Frame because I was afraid he will take the jump in front (from our last jumping experienced) instead of the A Frame but I forgot he prefers the DW, hahaha ... His see-saw is improving! At least he stays on the see-saw for as long as I asked him too (eventhough not very long)!

Oh dear me! Sounds like I have tons of homework with him! I'd love running Sizzle, he is so different to Sing and Saturn!

Saturn was also naughty at his Graded 6-7 Jumping. It was another challenging course, I was hoping he will get place in that but he decided he will miss ONE jump! Other than that, he did the course beautifully!

We finished the day with Saturn's combined 6-7 Jumping. His only clear round of the day! I didn't wait til the end of it, I was very wet and uncomfortable and all I want is to go home as soon as possible!

our runs on Saturday:

Sing update

Thank you to everyone who sent best wishes to Sing. He is better!

the above photo was taken on Sunday in Mitcham Common, the happy Sing is back!

I still haven't got a clue of how Sing injured himself on either Thursday evening or Friday. When I sent him on the DW, he walked really slowly and he did the jump and weave becuase he wanted to pleased me (I am a CRUEL mummy!). I only noticed he is not right when I threw the tennis ball for him to chase!! He just stood there watching the tennis ball landed and roll away; then later I realised why he didn't follow me up and down the stairs was because he can't climb the staircase!! Then, I knew he was seriously injured!! I have to carry him up and stairs and on the bed! Luckily when we lodged in at Travel Lodge on Friday night, we had a room on the groud floor so he could just walked in but I have to pick him up and put him on our bed! I gave him a lot of arnica over the weekend to help easing the swelling bit or bruise (if there is any). He was very grumpy that he didn't get to run at Shrewsbury, he was winding everytime I took Sizzle and Saturn to the ring and left him in the car! I spoke to Kevin, my vet about him this morning, he said as long as he is not in pain, give him a good rest!

poorly Sing

I don't know what's wrong with Sing. He pulled his shoulder many weeks ago and I have been rested him for at least three weeks doing absolutely nothing at all other than walk and play a little bit of tennis ball.

He was fine yesterday, happy and playing tennis ball but today he is very quiet and DO NOT want his tennis ball at all! This is very unlike Sing, no matter how unwell is he, the minute he saw the tennis ball, he is like he hasn't been unwell. I only noticed this an hour ago when I tried to remind him on the Dog Walk, he took nearly a whole minute to walk the full length of the DW, I was shocked, so I threw a tennis ball, he just stood there watching the ball roll on ...

Look like he is not going to run at Shrewsbury tomorrow, poor boy!

poorly Sing

you choose the puppy or let the puppy choose you?

I read Susan Garrett's training blog on Wednesday and have a good think about what she said in this post and I thought I agree with her; but yesterday morning, I read Diana's blog, what she said is also make sense, and I agree with her too! How confused am I? Then, today, I read Susan's another related post, so what am I thinking now?

... I think I am still confused!!! I have a dog related to all the issues.

When I wanted to add the 3rd dog to our family, I searched for a long time. I thought I knew what I was looking then. I have two sables (Sing is a Shaded and Seagull is a Golden), so I want either a blue merle or a tri. You know a blue merle is so hard to come by so I was down to tri. I saw an ad on epupz and arranged with the breeder to go and see him.

As usual, we were all excited about this new puppy that we are going to see. It was quite a long drive to get to see him, (I am not complaining as all mine come from miles. I will travel to anywhere to get the right dog!) in the good old days, we haven't got a Sat Nav, so we got lost in Wales, can't read the Welsh names and map doesn't match and we were circling around Cardiff for hours and hours! At the end, we have to ring the breeder to come and fetch us, Ha!

Before seeing him, I have never thought that any sheltie puppies are not gorgeous. There were four puppies in the litter, 2 tri girls, 1 blue merle girl and he is the only tri boy. We knew we are going to see him when we spoke to the breeder then, as I only want BOY. For some reason, I haven't have the "special" feeling when I see him, I had seen his picture before making this arrangement but when I was there, looking at him, we just cannot "click". I was waiting for the "sparkle" to happen but after spending two hours in the breeder's house, I whisper to Colin, I want to leave this puppy and go home. Colin was shocked, he thought he was so cute, extremely gorgeous and cannot understand why I do not want him!! He determined he wants to take him home. I told him I have no feeling for him and he nevers come to approach me for all the time I was there, Colin said I was being sensitive and he was only 6 weeks old. He then said to the breeder, he will take him there and then!

So, this tiny tri boy comes home with us as a 6 weeks old puppy. I thought, that's faith and I have to accept him and he will accept me in no time. I was wrong and I am still wrong! Once he got home, I started to love him. Well, you cannot NOT love a puppy, he was so tiny and cute. He was very cheeky too, so I DID fell in love with him after a few hours!

When I have a puppy, I expect him to follow me everywhere, but he never did! When there is someone else present, he always go to him/her. At home, he always run to Colin, my nephews and Ling for comfort/cuddle. When I took the dogs out walking, if he spotted someone else, he will follow them instead of me (that happened everytime when he was young but he is ok now, he understand he belongs to my pack). I am ALWAYS the last person he wants to be with. I feel HURT, really hurt. All my dogs love me, adore me, they think I am the most wonderful person to be with, they don't even have their eyes set on anybody else but not him.

I voice this out to every single person I met, all they told me is ... be patient, he is still very young, gives him time, he will love you like the others.

When he was about 6-7 months old, I started taking him to our club to do some puppy foundation training, you know what is going to happen, aren't you? All he wants is to run to Eleanor (my trainer) for a cuddle or to say hello to other doggies' mum. Then, Eleanor suggested I need to bond with this dog. HayHoo! I have tried so hard, I gave him special treat so he could come to me and not run to Eleanor (Eleanor tried to help me by ignoring him and not giving him any treat) but NOPE! Other is still the best! When Eleanor ignored him, he ran to the other doggie's mum! How do you think I feel? At one point, I thought these people must think I have been cruel to him at home so he dislike me. Do you know I cried and cried and cried ... but no one understand our relationship!

I was so helpless and thinking of given up on him but Colin and I agreed, all our dogs are not a gift, they are our children, our family, they are for life, so we need to stick with them whatever they are! Then, a disaster happened at training. He got bitten by an aggressive Border Terrier TWICE. That put him off from agility, so it seems to be the right thing to give him a break then.

If we have visitors (friends or sale person or gas reading man), instead of barking like the others do, he run straight up to them for a cuddle! I always worried if one day we had a robbery (touch wood!), he probably run up to them and give them kisses!!! This is another reason why I didn't run him in agility. I train him, other than he is still cannot weave on his own, he can do all equipments. He is very fast with no fear at all. His best obstacle is the see-saw. He could run up in speed, honest, very fast and stop dead and wait for the see-saw to tilt! He is the only dog in my pack did the most beautiful see-saw. I have tried to compete with him to get some experience, every single time, he has to go and greet the judge, the scrimer, the ring party, the photograher ... etc. Like, jump, jump, jump OFF he goes, jump, jump, jump OFF her goes ... At first I thought all baby dogs do that but he carried on like that at every single show! At the end, I gave up running him, so Ryan ran him for a little while. They loved each other so much, they have fun together but once Titan get used to Ryan, he started to do the "saying hello" to ring party trick again! It was very stressful and frustrated for me to watch his bad attitude towards Ryan.

I have learned over the years, he likes new people, he will work beautifully for someone NEW, once he get used to him, he will play his party trick. He has been running for quite a few people, the beginning bit is always so good but it didn't last. He definitely like everyone excluding me! He would be a wonderful PAT dog. Anyone who knows him know how loving and affectionate he is. If we have visitors, he will be always be the first one to push to have attention and never want to get off your lap.

Don't get me wrong, I love this dog, but not the same way I love the others. Now, you tell me, what situation I am in?

a SURPRISE is coming ...

a very nice surprise is coming this way ...

picture courtesy of Miguel, Kennel Of The Five Colors, Belgium.

Push Through exercise

I am terrible with pull through but generally ok with push through. We had this push through (picture below) exercise at club training today, I thought I can do it (with Saturn) but I was either too late, shoulder facing wrong way etc at jump #5 to jump #6. I had tried recall the see-saw and stayed wide so I can push Saturn to take jump #3, so I will be in the right place to do the push through. We managed to do the first push through perfectly but never seems to achieve the second push through.