Belgium trip

Merry Christmas from Bruges!

We enjoyed our Belgium trip very much, eventhough it was exhausting but we were so happy to meet Miguel of the Of The Five Colors Sheltiekennel, my sweet little Miss Sipzie and her brothers and sister and some of their owners as well.

We left home on Friday 1:30am to catch the Ferry from Dover to Dunkerque. The Ferry crossing was at 4am, I thought it was the quietest time of the crossing but I was wrong. They were quite a lot of people on board and they were serving English Breakfast at that time!

The crossing was smooth (I was far asleep with my travel sickness pill so I don't really know the crossing was good or bad but I assume it was a good one.) We got to Dunkerque at 7am, their local time and drove straight into Bruges. We arrived at Bruges safely at 8:30am with the helpful Tom Tom that we borrowed from Vanessa.

We checked in at our hotel, the Flanders Hotel so we could park the car. We are not allow to go into our room before 2pm, that gave us a good opportunity to walk around the beautiful Bruges. The last time we went to Bruges must be nearly 7 years ago and it wasn't that cold, we were able to sit outside drinking Belgium beers and ate mussels but this time, it was freezing. We walked around admiring the beautiful scneries and every now and then hop into a coffee shop for some warm nice coffee and the tasty Belgian waffle.

Venice of the North

I like Bruges, it is known as the Venice of the North, the most beautiful cities in Europe! The Squares and Catherals are so beautiful. When we arrived on Friday, the Squares and Christmas markets weren't too busy at all, we can walk freely without knocking anybody. There is an ice skating ring on one of the squares, I was so tempted to go ice skating but when I looked around, there were young agile kids/teenagers whizzing around, I felt so old and embarrassed and decided not to join the kiddies.

this is one of the Chritsmas markets in the Square, behind those wooden halt, that is the ice skating ring

One thing that amazed me was we found too many chocolate shops in one street, many of them are open next to each other. I know Belgium is famous for chocolate but I think it is crazy to have so many chocolate shops in one street. I wanted to buy some chocolates but when I look at them, I really can't decide which one to go to and what to buy, so I come back empty handed and people asked me: Are you sure you've just came back from Belgium?

mouth watering chocolate fondue

I decided to have a white chocolate coated banana.

We were very happy with the Hotel, the service is brilliant and it has a nice size swimming pool, so Colin spent most of the time swimming while I catch up on sleep! We even have a little balcony over look the carpark but it was too cold to sit outside. The breakfast was very nice, Colin and I enjoyed a HUGE breakfast on Saturday morning!

Colin and his little mermaid at Het Zand, Bruges biggest open square

close up, what a happy man he is!

I wanted to go visit the famous Chocolate museum but Colin insisted we take the long walk to the Lake of Love:

I can't see anything special of this other than plenty of Swans!!!

I think Belgian are quite creative as well:

would you like a GIFT house?

one of the many Christmas decorations

more Christmas decoration

love this inflatable snowman sitting in front of the fire

willow tree full of lid up lantern

during our window shopping, we saw these:copper shoes!!!

Golden dog, he reminded me so much of Scout

Now, some puppies news ...

Migeul took the puppies and most of her adult shelties to Bruges to meet up with us on Saturday afternoon. Between us (Miguel, Colin and I), we took the five puppies and two shelties for a walk in Bruges. We forgot how busy it would be on Saturday but it was very good to get the puppies out and social. You can imagine all the attention the puppies get while we walked then around the sqaures and markets.

The puppy wagon. This is one amazing puppies carrier. I want one for Christmas!!!

puppies inside the wagon, that is handsome Ice (Iceman Of The Five Colors) looking up

Ike (Icarus Of The Five Colors) and Sipzie

introducing horse to Sipzie

On Sunday, we travel in Miguel's motorhome to a training school, about an hour away from his house. It is amazing to see some Belgian training their dogs. In the training school, they have their own pub/club house where they sells beers, drinks and food in the warm. They also fenced up a few different areas so people can train their dogs in different aspects. Colin has taken some photos of the training fields/areas but I am not going to include in this post, as it is getting such a long post with all the photos.

All the puppies are well socialised. They have been out and about since they are 3 weeks old. Sipzie and her brothers and sister are not afraid of anything, anyone can handle them. They also met other dogs at the training school and nothing put them off. All the five puppies are great tuggers too, boy! didn't they all have sharp teeth and sharp claws? They like to tug on my fleece sleeve and we have a good game of tug and you guess it. They win and I lost!!

puppies, puppies ...

how can I leave my dear little miss in Belgium!!! Surely this English rules need changing!!

I have to include this photo of Chiqi (ICQ Of The Five Colors), she is the other girl in that litter. She is very cheeky.

these are Miguel's shelties pack, left to right: Visi (England import), Ypra (Sipzie's mum), Jaimy, baby Idgy (England import) and Boyd (England import) and the beautiful bi-blue in front of Ypra is Jaimy's daughter Aily.

we are back

We are back from Belgium, exhausted but happy!

More news later, now enjoy these couple of puppies photos:

left to right: Chiqi, Ronin, Ice, Sipzie and Ike

left to right: Ronin, Chiqi, Ice, Sipzie and Ike

missing him

I miss my little Sizzle whizzle. I left him with his auntie Eleanor after our training this morning. I am sure he is enjoying following Igloo everywhere.

I love his cheeky self!

Sipzie

photos courtesy of Miguel:

Look at this innocent little face

with brother Ike

maybe I should teach her to go IN the tunnel instead of jumping onto the tunnel, hahaha ...

good balancing on the mini A Frame

target already?

Now, stop taking anymore photos of me!

separation anxiety!

I feel like I am more attach to my dogs than they are to me!

Christmas is in the corner, so far we have a couple of nights out to meet up with friends that we only see once a year! Leaving the dogs at home prove to be very difficult to me. I know we only go out for 5 to 6 hours the most, still, I don't feel comfortable without my dogs! My second nephew and my little friend Ling are staying with me, so they are there for them whenever we are away. The dogs still have some company in their own comfort home but I am not happy. I WANT to be with my dogs, ALL THE TIME!

I already feel the separation anxiety in me before we leave for Belgium! These dogs are just fantastic to live with and fun to go out walking with and they are all eager to please me when we try to learn something!

is this Samber?

is this Samber?

No ... she is Skye

Jolanda and Skye came to visit today. We had a nice long walk in the Common. Skye is a little loonie when she sees her mama Samber. She just wouldn't leave her alone, she wanted to play with Samber all the time. It is actually very nice to see them playing.

Skye with her parents

seasons photos from the youngsters

We managed to put up our Christmas tree yesterday. I wanted to take some photos of the dogs around the Christmas tree as the sunlight was really good but just haven't have time to do so, we seems to rush here and there this weekend! It is good to have the Christmas tree up to make me feel Christmas is coming ...

Saturn was very suspicions why his daddy bring a tree in the house!

We received this Christmas Stocking from Rachel as a pressie from winning a photo competition. Here is Sizzle showing off his "hold" skill he learns recently.

I went Christmas shopping a couple of weeks ago and bought this funny costume, didn't Samber looks cute in the photo with her Christmas costume?

I will try to post more photos of the gang later when I have a chance to take the photos.

drive

Someone was talking to me recently, she said: your English shelties has no drive!

I said to her: Of course my English shelties has drive, they drive me nuts!

I remembered last year, I was chatting to a few people at agility shows, they also tell me: your English shelties has no drive. I was very upset then but not anymore!

this happy bunch drive me nuts all the time!!!

winter morning and crazy shelties!!

After the rain stop this morning, we have a few hours of sunshine so we could take the dogs out to the Common for a good walk. Eventhough the sun was shinning but the temperature was quite low. My crazy shelties just loved the water!!

I can't stop Sizzle swimming in the pond!

Sing is very jealous that he is not allow to swim! Look at his grumpy face.

Saturn just loved running in the water chasing his coots!!

counting down ...

Little Miss Sipzie is 7 weeks old today. I am counting down the day to meeting her ...

very excited! Can't wait!!

picture is courtesy of Miguel

for Ricky

Hi Ricky,

This is Kaolin & Poultice BP that I put on the shelties ears when needed:

this one for Ricky

This post is for Ricky

Ricky asked me how is Samber's ears ... Well, Samber's ears are very stubborn and they have been left prick for too long. When I got her, she was about 17/18 months and both ears were very stiff to bend over.

After the puppies left for their new homes, I started treated the ears with some strong grease with the help of kaolin & poultice. The ears will stay tip when the kaolin & poultice is on. I am hoping with the long term help of kaolin & poultice will eventually tip her ears. Samber's ears were looking good until we have this wet weather. Once her ears get wet, the kaolin & poultice will wear off and her ear will go up.

So, Ricky, we are still trying.

Iphito Of The Five Colors

I was sitting in front of my computer feeling really blue ... it is wet and cold out there, can't take the dogs out ... then my mailbox beep, here comes these two gorgeous pictures that make my day.

introducing this little Miss ...

Iphito Of The Five Colors

she will be called ... Sipzie

rainy blue

It has been raining almost non-stop over here for the last few days but knowing me and Colin, we still walk the dogs no matter what the weather is like; so you can imagine we all covered in mud everytime we come home! Yesterday was the worst of all, we were totally soak but the dogs were happy! Weird animal!

Training wise ... can't do anything in the garden, with the rain and wind, the willow tree leafs cover the garden and I have been unable to go out to clean up the dog mess, so I don't fancy stepping on the dog mess!! Also, the lawn needs mowing but it is too wet to do so! Due to the high wind we have recently, I put most of the equipment aside, look like we are not going to do anything in the garden for a while!

a very wet garden!!

Sing is starting to look better, at least I can see he is less stiff. I wasn't keen to put a coat on my dogs, I think they look rather silly with it but after talking to Sara last Sunday while she was treating Sing, I agreed with her to give Sing a coat to keep his muscle warm in this cold weather. I bought a waterproof coat for him. Someone I train with has one for her JRT and it looks very good on him, so I decided to order a 4oz coat for Sing. The coat arrived on Thursday. We went out walking with it on Friday and Sing didn't seems to mind which surprised me. I also take Sara's advise to give Sing his warm up massage before taking him out walking. I am so please to see Sing feels much livelier!

Still no ball for Sing but he found a ball in my jacket pocket!

Sing showing off his new coat. I am very happy with this coat, the outside is waterproof material and the inside is soft & warm moleskin. We went out walking yesterday in the pouring rain for more than an hour and Sing's body is dry when we got home! I since went to order five more for the other dogs!

Samber's coat is starting to grow again after she has her babies. I am surprise that she looks more Golden now!

Thought I would post this photo of Seagull, he looks very cute in the pile of falling leafs

to speed up or not?

We had a good training with Sizzle today. He was crazily fast but responsive! We moved back to indoor school last week. I have a feeling that he prefers indoor than outdoor. I can see he goes faster indoor but he is more casual in speed when we train outdoor. I do not know if the toy I am using today made him go crazy. He always prefers a "talking" toy, he is not keen on squeeky. I only discover that early this year when we went to Bernadette, she had a crazy laugh toy by Red Nose Day, I went and bought one from Sainsbury and Sizzle was mad about it, unfortunately we over play with the toy and it stop laughing now. Colin was glad it finally went dead as he said that toy made him go mad! Anyway, since then, I started collecting "talking" toys for him. I bought a Shrek and the Donkey from 99p store a few months ago, Shrek is now dead, yes, over play again! Today, I took Donkey to training. I show the Donkey to Sizzle on the startline, he didn't show he is hyper (he nevers did!) but when he goes, he shoot like a rocket. I was shocked and don't know how to response to his speed so we went wrong the first time, so when I got him back and restart him again, I was more prepare and we both went really well. We did the pull through and tough weave entries and Sizzle didn't put a foot wrong. Almost towards the end of the training, we had a small disaster. It was a tunnel and 3 straight jumps home, I pushed him to GO ON and he was fast and misjudged his pacing and knocked hard on the 2nd jump. This reminded me of KC Festival where he hit himself so badly on the pole at the practise ring. Luckily Sizzle is getting mature since, he was happy to go again after the knocked but show himself down. Sensible!

After today's training, I have two questions in mind ...

1. TOY - I always know Sizzle prefers a "talking" toy but because it talks so I cannot take the toy to competition near the ring to wind him up, what should I do? I tried to vary the toys at training but he definitely put up more gears when comes to his favourite talk toys.

2. SPEED - to speed up or not? Sizzle is teeny weeny 12", up against those 13.5" fast dogs, we don't stand a chance, so I always encourage him to speed up. At many occassions (at training), when we have a straightline jumps, I tried to push him so hard that he lost his pacing and kncok the bar. I really don't know what to do, to push or let him go on his own pace? I want him to understand that he should go as fast as he could when comes to straightline?

here is tired Sizzle with his talking Donkey, after training.

a mother's instinct

Colin showed me this link last night:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1230489/Squirrel-attacks-dog-Hero-squirrel-saves-baby-eaten-dog.html

I was amazed by the mother squirrel's act. From a dog lover's point of view, in the first picture, it didn't look like the dog is going to harm the baby squirrel, he maybe want a game with the baby squirrel but for non doggie lovers, they think a dog chasing a squirrel is cruel.

All my shelties chase squirrels and I know they never going to get them, is just like in the wild, some animals chase another animals, is a circulation. You don't expect to see a mice chase a cat, do you?

just a few photos

We were very lucky to have a few hours of lovely sunshine so I can take the boys (and girl of course) for a walk. It is a shamed that I cannot do a long walk with them. Sing is still looking stiff and a little tired after the massage on Sunday. His hind legs are less agile, I guess this is due to the tightness of his back end, hopefully he will look better in the next couple of days. Eventhough he is stiff and tired but his mind is very active. He still bring me a ball, how can I tell my boy that he is not allow a ball game for a while?

my very special handsome boy

I just loved this photo of Sizzle chasing the crow, so close yet so far!

this little mischievious is looking out for more crows

my neoghbour repaired the blown down fence from last week a couple of days ago but it didn't last, after a stormy night, this morning we woke up with two fences blown down!

weekend

Nothing excited happened over here, the weather has been bad for the last few days; it was cold, tons of rain and high wind, there is only so much we can do, dog wise!

Friday was Colin's birthday, we went to a local restaurant to have a meal and we were surprised it was their Elvis night, so Colin has free entertainment for his birthday. Well, the Elvis impersonator was a bit disappointed, won't go into details.

Elvis singing The Wonder of You

Saturday, we had a small do for Colin, just invited a few close friends for an evening drink. I've ordered a special cake for him online to be collected on Saturday around noon time from Kingston Upon Thames. God knows the traffic on Saturday in Kingston is a nightmare and with the rain and wind ... we can't even find the cake shop! Our stupid Tom Tom took us to the other side of the river and we have asked a few people but they have never heard of the cake shop! Ah? We even rang the cake shop to ask where are they and the shop assistant wasn't helpful at all, she cannot explain where they located! Arrrggghhh ... Anyway, we drove back to the busy side of the river and Colin has to jump out from the car while I stuck in the traffic to look for the cake shop. According to him, he has to walk miles to find the shop and I managed to pull over to a public car park. Well, at the end, I don't know where he was and he don't know where I was; we were on the mobile phones telling each other what shops we saw and we still unable to find each other!! How stressful!! Colin has better road sense than me, so he found me at the end!

Because Colin was running around to find me in the rain and wind, the "negative calories" cake got slightly damaged when he got into the car but it still very tasty!

this is Colin's negative calories yummy cake!

Luckily, we have someone to look forward to to distress the cake pick up journey! We pop in to Sunbury to see Skye. Jolanda has taken her to Hannah's Co-Balance workshop. We meant to get there before she started her workshop but with the traffic and lost in Kingston, we didn't get to Sunbury until 3:30pm. I wasn't sure if I should go to distract her but I just can't help myself. I was dying to see her. Jolanda takes such a good care of her, she looks happy and content. After she spotted me, she just went crazy on me! We had a little play everytime she was in the queue but I was glad to see her work, she has no fear on any of the wobble boards, she even did sit, down on the wobble board. What a clever little girl. I think the best thing was Jolanda was able to get her back to work straightaway from my distraction. For a 14 weeks old puppy, that is awesome! Jolanda must have been working really hard on that. Well done you two!

We couldn't stay til the end because we need to go back to our guests at home but I was so happy I've got to see my baby.

On Sunday, we went to Kerena. We have arranged for Sara to treat Sing and Rupert (Kerena's dog with hip problem) at Kerena's house. Sing got treated first and he was very good with Sara. He was calm and let Sara worked on him. With Sing, we know the injury has been built up over the years of playing ball (jumping in the air catching the tennis ball), his shoulder injury is secondary but the main problem is the back. You know what I am going to say ... NO ball in the air for him! I have to teach him to fetch a rolling ball!! This is going to be hard!

Sing is very tired yesterday, luckily the weather was rotten so I cannot take the dogs out, that give him a good time to rest and recover. He is still looking a bit tired this morning but I am sure he is alright.

this is what he does all day yesteday

this one for Colin

I found this very cute little Happy Birthday message on youtube. I didn't make this, well, you can tell that they are not shelties! (do you think I can teach mine to sing Happy Birthday? That would be good, won't it?)

It was made for the Queen mum's 100th birthday by one of the national papers.

but I think Colin would rather prefer this one:

Anyway, Happy 48th Birthday to Colin!

who said you cannot teach an OLD dog a NEW trick?

So, Sing is still waiting for his first treatment, Sara has got the referral from my vet, we have arranged for Sara to come and "sort" him on Sunday! I just can't wait to make him feel better. Sing is an easy dog to live with but he is also an active dog, he loves his ball so much, he is constantly searching for a tennis ball in the house and in the garden. I have hide most of the balls on sight but he is just too clever, he always found one and bring it to me.

I thought I will think of some tricks to teach him instead, hopefully that will take his mind off the ball. Over the years, I have taught him most of the tricks and he knew them well. I have run out of trick ideas!

I am a Silvia Trkman fan, I think she is fabulous, I just loved her and her dogs. Her running contacts are awesome and I like her trick ideas. She always make them look so easy. I found this little video very enjoyable. Sing knew most of the tricks other than HUG and walk backward and put the hind legs on something.

Yesterday, I decided I will teach him HUG ...

From the video above, I have noticed Sing loves to use his paw and now I know these two little guy below must have inherited from their father:

Zap at 3 weeks

Skye at 2.5 weeks

Now, the youngster's turn:

You must wondering why Sing and Sizzle kept lying down in front of the Allyoop? Well, I used the Allyoop to teach them "send away" (means go away and touch the stick and lie down until I released you). These boys are too clever, they think they know everything when they see the object! Hahaha ... I love shelties!

Jumping, put it together - Thank You Nancy for a great day!

We had a very busy weekend. North Downs Show on Saturday and Training on Sunday with Nancy Hudson. I thought the weather is going to be worst on the weekend but Saturday wasn't too bad and first part of Sunday was actually sunny. The sun has been really helpful to me because I broke my glasses (arrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!) when we arrived for the training day. I am not too bad for a short sighter but with glasses, it definitely help a lot. I train with Sizzle in the morning and with Saturn in the afternoon. I was actually very worried how I would train Sizzle without my glasses, I do not like to make a stupid handling, he is a very sensitive dog but everyone was very patient with me. Thanks.

my broken glasses

I was so much looking forward to this training day; Not only Nancy is a superb handler but she is a great instructor and great motivator too. I always enjoy my training day with her. She watched us and gave us advice on our weakest point and the way to improve them.

The Theme for this training day is "Jumping, put it together". This is purely a Jumping Training Day, so no contacts involve. I have noticed Sizzle prefers Agility to Jumping, I thinks he gets rewards on the contacts but not on the jumping, he definitely is faster in agility so this is a good day for him to learn some jumping skills. He was slow to start with, I do not know if he is still tired from Saturday (he looked tired and lie down on my camping chair most of the time, not like the energetic Sizzle) but he slowly pick up more speed, it could be the confidence grows?

Nancy set up 3 jumping courses; we spent more than an hour on the first course, we all did our first run the way we would run the course, then Nancy broke it down to a few small sequences to work on the hot spots. I like Nancy's teaching, she MAKES us try the way (handling) she wants us to run, afterall this is a training day and we have to learn something. I know my weak point, I am totally hopeless in pivot. I always put in a front cross instead of a pivot in competition but sometimes you have to do a pivot. This remind me of the Combined 6-7 Jumping course we ran on Saturday. My pivot with Saturn was horrible, he turned so wide because my handling was crap. I found myself station in the same spot waiting for him to turn. With pivot, the handler need to do the pivot as well as the dog but the handler do the pivot in the tiny spot. I think my body movement is very stiff, I am not agile to rotate.

I always have a problem with Saturn argues (he barks) with me when I send him to the tunnel. This only happened after he had the biopsy operation in July 2008. He used to be a tunnel vision dog before the op, he loves tunnel more than anything but not anymore. If you put a tunnel and a weave next to each other, he would choose the weave instead of the tunnel where many dogs will choose the tunnel. Nancy suggested I need to do a lot of sending into the tunnel with him. I am also weak at wrap the wing, with Saturn, my cue is always late and also I think I give him the wrong command. I used "back" for turning away from me, I used that a lot when I do a rear across and I realised I don't say "left" or "right" eventhough I teach them left and right, maybe I have to teach them left and right for wrap the wing? I recall a couple of weeks ago we went training with Nancy and Andy, Andy took the Jumping course, we did a sequence with directional commands, there is a wing wrap and rear across, I know Sizzle is stronger on the right turn, when we did the wing wrap, I told him "right" and he did that beautifully and came to the rear across, I told him "back", he turned the right way but wider, so Andy suggested I used the "right", I did that the second time and he actually wrap the wing. Now, it got me thinking ...

You see why I like training day, it really got me thinking ... I may not absorb immediately but I am thinking about it and look for the way I should improve.

here is a little video clip from yesterday, I only picked two sequences, I am not going to upload all, that will bored you:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thank You Nancy for a great day!

Now, this is not training related but the storm has done some damaged to our garden. We had a fence down between us and our neighbour. I saw the broken fence on Saturday afternoon after we came back from North Downs show. Colin suggested we don't repair it just yet as the weather forecast for the week is more rain and wind. Luckily our dogs are so well behaved, they only stand in front of the gap to look through the neighbour's garden but has never cross the boundary. I am not too worry if they do, I know both our gardens are secure and they dogs won't be able to escape.

did you see the gap

closer look

the messy garden after the storm!!

proofing is greater than winning

We had a great day at North Downs show today despite the weather is ... OKish! It was very stormy last night but I went to bed nice and early, so it didn't bother me at all. I woke up full of bean this morning, so I decided we will go to the show.

The weather was very wet when we left home this morning. Our first run wasn't up until about 10:30am but Colin suggested we should leave early just in case we stuck in the flood and collapsing trees. The journey was fine, I cannot drive at my usual speed as some roads were flooded and at some areas, we met some very storng wind. The radio said, the wind speed was 80mph! Our crazy Tom Tom (sat nav) took us down to a public footpath and luckily there was a guy out walking his dog in the storm, so he directed me how to get to the venue.

This is my first time at this venue. It is a lovely indoor arena. The ground was very good and big enough to have 3 rings running. Sing and Saturn have three classes each and Sizzle has 2 classes, so unfair! I rather Sizzle has three classes and Sing has two classes. I really want to work on Sizzle.

Our first run was Combined 4-7 Agility with Sing and Saturn. Yes, I decided to run Sing. He was very excited and wind up. We started off the course well until we came to tunnel - see-saw combinations. When I walked the course, I walked as a recall from the see-saw but for some reasons, I didn't do any of the recall with any of my dogs! Crazy! I wish I have though. I think Sing and Sizzle will response well to the recall. Of course the blind turn from tunnel to the see-saw didn't help Sing, he missed the see-saw totally. It is not like him but again, I have not train him since early September when he pulled his shoulder. Otherwise he did well. The DW to push out of the jump is difficult but I managed to beat him to the DW so I managed to push him to do the "out around". WooHoo! His weave was lovely too.

Saturn was next to go, he keeps breaking his wait lately and I am not ignoring this. I always reinforce when I see him standing up and about to go. I make sure I go back and put him back into sit position and wait. I think he did the course nicely apart from taking the wrong jump. He got his A Frame and DW contacts but see-saw was a bit dodgy but we are working on that.

The Medium class finished off quickly and I got Sizzle out when they put the jumps down to Small. He ran over the same class as Sing and Saturn. He was very excited when I get him out from the car and I knew he is so ready to go. When I walked the course earlier, I know I must beat him to the DW in order to get him to do the "out around" jump. The jump was set in an akward angle, for a baby dog like him, I have not done a lot of handling work with him yet. I want him to enjoy straight forward courses to encourage the speed. I am very happy (more than happy) with Sizzle how he ran this course, I managed to do a front cross on the A Frame (my first time); he stays on the see-saw til it tilt (YeeHa!); he ran the DW just like the way I want him to do (jackpot!). What can I asked for more? I was not even bother to put him back when he ran past the jump in front of the DW, I pushed him to do the "out around", he did but just a bigger out around; his weave is wonderful, maybe we need a bit of tighten up on the pin wheel but HeyHo, he was fantastic! When we came out, a few people said to me it was a shamed that he missed the jump, otherwise he could be winning. Well, winning is not important to me, proofing is the one that I am looking for. I worked hard to make sure he gets his running contacts and I want to proof he maintain his running contacts at any places, any sequences.

Once we got started, we haven't got long to wait for our next class, the Combined 6-7 Agility. Sizzle is not eligible to run this class, so only Sing and Saturn. I was so much hoping Sing could get a place in that, it is not an easy course, the tunnel trap has cost a lot of dogs to get eliminated. Saturn ran before Sing in this class. He was naughty on the start line, he broke the wait three times and I put him back again and again. I definitely need a good wait on this one as I need to lead out to the right position to start him and he was a good boy, he didn't even look at the tunnel at all. On the A Frame bit, I saw myself once again using my itchy finger pointing at the bottom, he didn't miss it though but I wasn't happy with myself, I think I am creating a confusion there for him because he leap off the DW by miles!!! Arrrggghhh ...

Sing was going well on this course and I was so relaxing running him, I forgot I haven't train this dog for 2.5 months and I got my attention loose on the turning jump after the weave, so he took the wrong jump! Totally my fault, sorry Sing!

After the agility, we had the combined 6-7 Jumping, again, this class is for Sing and Saturn only. I don't know what happened between me and Saturn, we seems to lost a connection or two in the middle of the course, so he went off course. I am sure it must be me, he is a very good dog. I am terrible at directions, Colin suggested I need a Sat Nav to guide me how to run the course, poor dog!

Sing surprised me with a 3rd in this jumping course. It is not Sing's course, it is a big long course, he is a little dog with short legs and he has to take more strides to each jump but I am not complaining.

After Sing and Saturn's jumping, we have a change of judge for Sizzle's Combined 4-5 Jumping. Again, it was a big long course. Just imagine if I have to run all day long, I may lost a couple of pounds in weight.

Eventhough Sizzle went clear and got a 3rd in this class but I wasn't too happy with myself. Nothing wrong with Sizzle. When I walked the course, I meant to recall him in the middle of the start jump and the first baby snake jump but I was in the wrong place. I was so much closer to the baby snake jump so he didn't run the three jumps in a straightline but whizzing in and out of them. I was too close to the jumps so I was pushing him out. Also he LOOK at me after the weave, I guess that has becomes a pattern now as I always throw him his toy/ball after he finishes his weave. I must wean this habit off!

here are our runs today:

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Here is a little bit about Sing ... Sara Bennett, one of the Galen Therapists was there at the show. We got talking and I got her to look at Sing for me after the runs. She confirmed my worried. Sing is definitely not fit. I always thought it was the front right shoulder that bother him but it turn out that his back is very tight, so Sara thinks we needs to work on his back. Sara will go and get the referral from my vet so hopefully we can start the treatment very soon. For time being, NO BALL for Sing, NO TRAINING for Sing, NO JUMPING in and out of the car (need to lift him in and out), just a casual walk until we know he is fit. If you look carefully at the Jumping, Sing started to slow down and he was getting stiff when he weave. With a tight back, weaving can be painful for him.

I am hoping to get him fit by the end of the year, then build up his stamina in January and train hard in February for Crufts. Finger crossed everything goes well with him.

Bionic Biotic

I think I finally found something that is settling Sizzle's funny tummy, finger crossed and touch wood! We have been on Bionic Biotic (concentrate) for three weeks now, he has been good and full of energy. There was one day that he had a bad tummy, that was entirely my fault, I gave him something that upset his tummy, otherwise, he is good. I want to say thank you to Nikki who first told me about it but I ignored her. Her sheltie Star also has sensitive tummy and he is on Bionic Biotic as supplement in his meal. When Nikki told me a few months ago, I was confused. I had tried every options and everything with Sizzle but nothing has help to improve his tummy problem and I wasn't keen to try new thing then. Then, just recently I emailed Nikki to ask her about Star and she once again mentioned to me Bionic Biotic ... I have a good thought about it and decided to order a free sample from the website to try. Due to postal strike, the sample didn't arrive. Then, Yvonne sent me this. After I read the story and decided I will give it a try as I had tried so many stuff before and there is no harm trying more, hopefully I will find one that would help settle his sensitive stomach.

I put a small tea spoon of Bionic Biotic mixing with Sizzle's meal, he is on this supplement for three weeks now and I have been watching him like a hawk. The first two days after I feeding him the Bionoc Biotic, his toilet was bad. Not only he has diarrhoea but it was bloody and I found two blood clots stuck on his knicker. This was the first time I saw some blood clots hanging on his bum so I quickly taken a back. I wasn't sure if I should continue or stop. I know when we try something new, you always give 24-48 hours to let the stuff get into your system. On the 3rd day, he didn't look miserable so I decided I will continue for a week to see what happen. I am glad I continue and I am very happy with the result so far. Sizzle has been back to his oldself, happy, bouncy and full of life.

I have entered the North Downs show tomorrow. I was so much looking forward to it until the last two days. As Sizzle only just came out to compete in late September (just right at the end of agility season) and I wanted to get him out as much as I can to get used to competitions but for some reason, I feel very uneasy for the last couple of days and this is the first time I don't feel like I want to go to an agility show! I must be mad!!!

Also, poor Sing is still not 100% fit yet. I have been resting him for 5-6 weeks now and he is still not looking perfectly fit to do agility or flyball.