shelties for sale!!

shelties for sale!!

problems? Help!

Well, this is not an interesting post but I need some advices and suggestions, please.

Sing has an eye infection while we were on holiday (must be a good three weeks ago), he has been treated properly and I have given him the oilment as prescribed. Unfortunately he still have teary eye! The Vet has a closer look today and found a hair (eye lash!) growing inside his eye (the upper bit). The Vet suggested a laser treatment to remove the hair. I have never heard of this before and the laser treatment sounds "serious" to me. The Vet said this is an abnormal case, so could someone tell me is it ok to do the laser treatment or is there a better way to treat this? I did mentioned about pulling the hair out but the Vet said it could grows back again!!

Saturn has campylobacter a while ago and have been treated with three lots of antibioctic. This problem didn't clear up totally, it keeps coming back from time to time. I have changed his diet from Burns to James Wellbeloved, unfortunately it didn't clear up the bowel bacteria inside him!! He has been poorly (toilet wise) since last Sunday. He keeps passing blood and loose toilet for one whole week. We went to see the Vet again today and he has given him more antibioctic and pro-kaolin to temperary stop the diarrheoa and hopefully to stop him passing blood. He also took his blood sample, so it would be another 7-10 days wait for the result. For time being, I bought bag of Hills' Diet from the Vet as he recommended a reduced fat and highly digestible food for him. Could any bloogers recommend any food they know is HIGHLY DIGESTIBLE with possible reduced fat with high protein as well?

just a quick update

Yes, I have joined the bad blogger group!!

Sorry I haven't update my blog but most of my friends knew I have some family problem and understand that I am going through some emotional stages!

I've been to the Sheltie Agility Show last Sunday and enjoyed Nancy and Andy's courses, unfortunately I wasn't on form and let the boys down. We went to Wallingford today, again, I was emotional and that upset the boys and their performance were not brilliant either!

I am trying hard to put myself together, hopefully we will perform better next weekend.

April Snow

What a white surprised! I woke up pretty early this morning and moaning about NO snow! Obviously I have not pull the curtain to look out!! As I did, I was screaming and that scared the poor shelties, wonder what's wrong with their mad mummy!!

I really can't wait to take the boys out to enjoy the snow and take some snowy photos. We were out walking for three hours, unfortunately the batteries went flat in half an hour!! It was still snowing heavily while we were out in the Common. The boys love the snow, especially Sing and Saturn.

For those who knows Saturn, he loves to jump in the air to catch his toy in the hand and today, I tried to roll a piece of snow and threw and asked him to catch it, he did as told and it was so funny to watch he used his two front paws to catch the snow then eat them!! Colin tried hard to take the photos, he was too slow!

me and the boys in the Common

me sledging

photos from Crufts

I've just received these photos from Trevor Greenslade, he kindly let me post the photos on the blog:

Spring at Shuttleworth

Well, we left from the campsite in Peak District heading towards Spring at Shuttleworth on Friday afternoon. We got to Old Walden Park nice and early but the ground was too wet and we got stuck again. Unfortunately we got stuck on the slope, this means we spent all weekend sliding down in bed! I was very tensed and stressed, not knowing what to do with the caravan. I have my friend Jim expecting me home early Sunday to help pushing the caravan back into the front garden. I don't normally need him but because we have so many nails from the garage conversion and I am worried I am going to puncture the tyres!

Anyway, Saturday started off sunny in the early hours but the wind was very strong and kept blowing down the jumps. I didn't get a good sleep and I started off badly. I was running against the wind and unable to keep up with Saturn, so we made some silly mistakes because I am not fast enough to be able to switch!! Saturn was a good boy, he tried very hard and I think his contacts are getting so much better, eventhough we still need to get him to come down faster but I am very happy with his performance in this extreme weather. We've got a 6th in one of the runs, I can't remember which as I was too tired and don't know what was going on.

On Sunday, after another night kept sliding down, I felt exhausted. Luckily the weather massively improve and we were getting too hot by mid-day. Saturn again was a good boy, he still hold his contacts and to my surprised, we've got a 7th in the Combined 1-7 TFO, out of 109 dogs, that is good! In the last run, Combined 1-3 Agility, I tried to release him faster on the contacts and have realised he was too fast releasing himself on the A Frame and I will have to watch this in future. I don't want to blow away his good contacts after such a long period of getting it right. He got a 4th in that round.

Sing wasn't on form last weekend. Due to his eye infection, he tried very hard to get 2 clear rounds on Saturday but Sunday, he lost interest in the Agility and got 5 on the weave! He has seen the vet yesterday and been treated, he is much better today, at least his eye is mostly dry.

Thanks to the weather, the ground dry up on Sunday and we could pull away without any help. It took me 20 minutes to monouver to find the grip and finally we got to the concrete and drove up just before dark.

Here are some runs from Saturn:

mad O'roukes

This is the Bar counter at Mad O'Roukes (right hand side); the left hand side with the Board is where you order you pie and hot drinks.

This is the famous 4lbs Desperate Dan's Cow Pie

The Hardy Family

We have been travelling about 1070 miles since Good Friday! After we found out Dashin' Dogs is cancelled due to high wind, we checked in at our caravan park in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. Woodland Caravan Park (http://www.woodlandcaravanpark.co.uk/). This is a new campsite, this is just their second season. It is clean, tidy and tranquil. We were surrouding by all lovely pine trees and the high wind didn't bother us at all! They even have a securely fence quarter of an acre land for the dogs to run free and just behind the campsite, they have a lovely country walk for miles!

During our holiday in the Peak District, we have expericed all sorts of extreme weather but it didn't stop us go out walking for miles and miles everyday in the snow, rain, high wind and sunshine. We have two walks a day, one in the morning, then hop in to a pub for nice lunch, then go for another walk then go back to our campsite.

Day 1, we went to The Roaches (http://www.cressbrook.co.uk/visits/roaches.php) in snow! It was a medium walk, a bit of climbing, not too bad but we managed just nice in the snow!

we are on the way up to the Rock

Colin and Sing and Saturn were brave enough to climb where I chicken out on the slippery rock!! I think the boys did better than their daddy!!

Don't think the boys enjoyed taking photos!!

After a warm pub lunch, we found Biddulph Grange Garden (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-biddulphgrangegarden/) to burn off the calories we have just taken. It was a lovely long walk in the snow, sunshine and rain!

Seagull can't cope with the snow!!

These two evil and wicked combinations couldn't care less!

Biddulph Grange Garden is a very big garden, you just walk miles and miles ... they have a few different walks, some are difficult and some are gentle ... this is a long road, which way now?

a miserable Seagull walking in the rain

Day 2, we thought after a long walk from yesterday, we should take the second day easy, I do not want to get over tired for Spring at Shuttleworth. We chose to find some water walk for Sing ... we found Carsington Water (http://www.cressbrook.co.uk/visits/carsington.php), since this was a not-in-plan walk, we decided to do a quick 20 minutes but this 20 minutes walk turned into disaster! We didn't know this Carsington Water is BIG, we just followed the route around and to realised you either carry on finish the route or there is no turning back!! As we do not want to pay the expensive car park, so we park a couple of miles away. Guess what, we walk and walk and walk, hungry, thirsty ... wander how far is this walk, but it seems endless ... again, in the snow, rain and sunshine, that made the walk a torture! We haven't prepare for food or snack, so we were really starving after 1.5 hours walk! But, we are not even half way round the lake yet!! The route include a walk through the village and we were so happy to find a pub, don't care about the quality of food, as long as they do food, we will go for it! We have the five shelties with us in the beer garden and have our Roast Beef in the snow!!!

After we got back to our campsite, we can't wait to find out how many miles we have been walking! The Water itself is about 8-9 miles and we park the car further, so it must be a good 10 miles we have been walking!!

By the end, we were all very tired!!

Monday, Day 3, we went a bit further into Walsall to visit the Tree Museum, it wasn't very interesting, it is quite a built up area and the dogs have to be on the lead. I don't think we enjoyed the walk as the boys can't run free!! We then went to Tipton, near Dudley for some mad pies! Colin found this place, the famous unique pie factory called MAD O'ROUKES (http://www.madpies.co.uk/). They have their own very famous "Desperate Dan's Cow Pie" of 4lbs, Colin was very interested but we don't think he will finish the whole 4lbs pie, so we both chose to go for a Ruby Murray Pie! I have some great photos of the pub and the pie on my iPhone but my old pc wouldn't let me download anything more than 2GB!! I need to find a way to post the photos. It is a lovely pub/pie place, we have to return to try the 4lbs Cow pie two days later!!

The famous Mad O'Roukes

Day 4, we went to Black Rock. It was a nice walk, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery, again, I was not brave enough to climb those rocks, Colin and the boys went up there but I decided I would just stay down here to take photos!!

The Black Rock that does not look BLACK!!

They wonder why I don't come up there with them!!

I like this photo, especially if you can spot Saturn, looks like he is eye spying me!!

Day 4, we went to Preston to meet up with Irene, one of my sheltie friends that lives in Cumbria. Preston is half way for both of us. We had a very long lunch to catch up with each other. It was very good to see Irene, unfortunately not with her three lovely shelties, the two girls were in season. After lunch, we took the boys out walking in Beacon Fell Country Park (http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/Environment/countryside/sites/beaconf.asp), again, in the snow and rain but no sunshine this time!! After the wet walk, we drove to Tipton again, so Colin can enjoy his Despearate Dan's Cow Pie!! I must get this 4lbs cow pie picture upload soon!!! Well, this mean we didn't get home till 10:30pm!

The Boys at Beacon Fell Country Park. This Park has a lot of sculptures.

Day 5, we went to Dove Dale, one of my favourite walks this holiday! It was a lovely day with a bit of rain but mainly dry. The attraction is the famous stepping stones! Colin and the boys walked on the stepping stones a few times on the beginning of the walks. The water was quite strong and some stones even under the water but the boys enjoyed themselves. On the journey back, I have a go and got all wet but we were very happy as we have all tried it!

we found this "money tree" on the walk in Dove Dale!

Skye on the stepping stones

Colin and Sing waiting for us

Bless him, he was so tired after the long walk, he fell sleep standing while we had our cup of tea!

Day 6, the last day of our holiday, we took it very easy, stay in the campsite, do the local walks. It was a lovely "sunny" day for a short while, so we can have our breakfast outside the caravan!!

Woodland Caravan Park

While out walking, Saturn practising his herding/stalking on the sheep!! I think he certainly has the potential to herd!!

We have some snow!!

This is Colin's fault, he chucked the ball in the muddy swamp and sent Sing to fetch it, of course he is a good boy, do as daddy told to, and he came back cover in mud. This is not funny as he got eye infection after that and he was bad on Saturday and worst on Sunday!!

At the end of our holiday, I came up with a new name, THE HARDY FAMILY for us. We walked miles in the snow, heavy rain, gales force wind ... and we survived!

dust free 10 days

We took the dogs and caravan with us to Dashin' Dogs on Good Friday, thanks to Colin's good advice, we left at 7am to avoid the traffic and drove all the way there to find the whole show is cancelled. I should have check my email while we stop for the toilet trip but I forgot I have a brand new iPhone! While we were off the motorway, I saw a lot of doggie caravans drove from the opposite direction and I asked Colin where are all these people go and he said they might be going to Ardingly!! There you go, we carry on driving and sunk at the entrance!! Luckily there was a tractor to tow us out!!

Well, after the disaster start, I have to ring up the caravan park in Peak District where we are going for holiday to see if they have an empty spot for us and thank God, due to the bad weather, they have 5 cancellations and we were able to get there a few days early.

More about the holiday and Spring at Shuttleworth later ...

While we were away, my friend Jim carries on working on the garage for us so we can enjoy dust free house for 10 days!! The house is in the right mess for nearly 3 weeks now and I am very stress facing this situation and I can't wait to finish it off quickly.

When we got back on Sunday night, the house looks very different! This is our new window to replace the garage door:

and the inside is looking good ... the electric cables are all fixed, the plaster board is up and now we need some guy to come in to plaster the wall and a ceiling guy to come in to fix the drop ceiling, then emulsion, then carpet, then we can start moving furniture in!! Oh, I can't wait!!

Chippenham

We had a good time at Chippenham yesterday eventhough it was wet, windy, bitterly cold and very long day but I am very happy and pleased with both Sing and Saturn. I think they did some good rounds.

Saturn managed to get all his contacts in his Graded 1-3 class and finished in a good time, 28 seconds, eventhough that is not good enough for a place but I was very pleased with his contacts. He got 6th in his Combined 1-3 Jumping and 10th in Combined 1-7 Steeplechase. He got a bit naughty in the Combined 1-7 Agility, he was good on the A Frame but didn't stop on the Dog Walk.

Yesterday was Sing's six birthday and he managed to get himself a nice little pressie, 2nd in Combined 4-5 Jumping. I am very pleased with his time, he has tried very hard and he wasn't that slow after all. He did a couple of nice agility rounds, unfortunately he missed the dog walk in the Graded 4-5 but he did a wonderful dog walk in the Combined 1-7 when he got e'd. It was my fault, I am a lazy handler and I didn't push him to the jump and he missed it totally but I didn't stop as he was flowing nicely. Now, we have something to work on ... either me stop being lazy or Sing has to learn to take the jump!! Ha!

Happy 6th Birthday to SING

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY TO MY VERY SPECIAL BOY, SING

Incredible Saturn!

Can any of your dogs cuter than this?

As we are converting the garage, we have to move every single thing out from there and temporary pile them in the house. Every single room in the house is absolutely packed, there is hardly a spare inch and I have realised all the dogs are totally stress out!! They are so used to be able to run around indoor and play indoor and now, it is like hell to them! I have two old armchairs given to us by my brother-in-law Russell when they moved to their new dream home, they have been sitting in the garage for nearly two years. We have to move them into my office pile them upside down, I was very SHOCKED to find Saturn sleep in between the gap!! I do not know how he gets in there and how he managed to turn himself around. Most of you know he is quite a big sheltie and with long body, as you can see his back legs are kicking the back of the armchair. I found it amazing!! He is a very cute sheltie!!

Nurofen and paracetamol

I thought I could relax and chill out after Crufts for a good few days before going back to my training routine again, obviously I am very wrong!!

Many of you know that we plan to convert our existing garage into a study room for the kids just after Christmas, we wanted the study room to be ready by Easter when the kids are back to stay for a month from their Easter break. Unfortunately, there were so many unforseen circumstances and we have to keep delaying the job. Out of a sudden, we had to start work on Monday!!

Yes, we are doing the job ourselves! With my friend Jim's help, two of us are going to make this happen!! Luckily we got a handyman to help lighten the job by breaking the concrete and digging the footing. We hire a breaker from the hire shop and bought some bits and pieces and we spent yesterday and today breaking the old tatty concrete up and dug 3'3" footing to put the window to replace the garage door. The handyman is very good, he is a very hardworking guy, Jim and I help to move the rocks into the skip and blimey! I need lots of Nurofen and Paracetamol to survive from ache and pain!!

Guess what? I missed going training but with this council people popping around, I have to be there to entertain him while he inspects the job process!! We have finished breaking and digging, and we are waiting for the skip company to pick up the skip to allow the concrete lorry to come in. At this waiting time, we are going to do some battening work!!

The house is like hell at the moment, we have to move every single thing out from the garage and pile them in the house, the poor five shelties have no room to run around and Sing is very upset as he cannot play ball indoor!!

Day 1

Day 2

THANK YOU

Crufts is over for another year!

I would like to say a very BIG thank you to:

• ESSC and Bernadette - for giving me a chance to be a part of the Team; I hope Sing and I did the Team proud
• Bernadette - for all the trainings and advices
• my team-mates - Lisa, Amy & Karen - for all your great support, I can't do it without you all. Special thanks to Lisa for your endless support.
• Becky - who made the special leads for the Team
• Johanna & her Danes - full support
• ESSC supporters - thank you for your cheering & supporting, that made a big difference
• all my friends who sent good luck wishes and moral support
• my groom Colin - for filming and taking care of Sing
• SING - for being such a brilliant boy

This Crufts means a lot to me:

• first time at Crufts
• 2nd in the semi-finals
• 2nd in the finals
• appeared on the telly

TriStars on the Telly!!!

YEAH!! TriStar Boys made it to the telly!!

I can't belive we made it to the telly!!! Up go the Shelties!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ESSC TriStars Final

ESSC TriStars Semi-Final

The Final video to be followed ...

Crufts 2008

What a GREAT experience for me!! A GREAT thank you to the ESSC and Bernadette to give us an opportunity to run for the Team. This was my ever first time at Crufts, running on the GREEN carpet. I am very proud to be in the Team and Sing was such a good boy, the BIG atmosphere didn't bother him at all! All the team-mates were great, we support each other and our team spirit were high all the time!! And we have all time supporters not just from England but all the way from Denmark!!

The TriStar boys did very well in both semi-final and in the Final. We've got 2nd in the semi and that took us through to the Final. The team picked up 5 faults in the semi and so do Team Chart but they beat us in time; this happened again in the Final, our Team picked up 10 faults and so do Team Chart, again those darn collies beat us in time and put us in the SECOND place!!

THANK YOU to all my team-mates, Lisa, Amy and Karen, and not to forget our team caprtain Bernadette who are supporting all the way at home on her mobile!!!

Above: the REAL STARS of the day! The Bark Bark TRISTAR Shelties Team!

from left to right: Ace, Taz, Sing and Chi.

It was a great experienced for me, first time at Crufts and I was very proud of Sing, he took it beautifully (so do I??), nothing worried him at all eventhough we didn't get any sleep the night before!! We stayed in the Travel Lodge and there was a dog non-stop barking for an hour!!! Then, at 3am, two men checked in, they were walking and talking loudly on the corridor for good 45 minutes!!! The room was roasting eventhough we didn't turn on the heating, so we have to open the window and poor Sing drank two bowls of water!!!

And here is my very proud boy with his medal and rosette on the podium!!

and here is our set up on the bench!

Good Luck!

We would like to wish everyone

GOOD LUCK competing at Crufts,

especially the SHELITES.

The very BEST of LUCK to those I know:

Bernadette & Hex

Lisa & Chi

Nancy & Niamh

Johanna & One, Tazz 'n' Spooky

Rosie & Disney

Louise & Maisie

TriStar Shelties Team

Ryan & Tippex in the YKC

C Side March Final Show

We went to C Side yesterday to celebrate Mother's Day doing more agility!! I can't believe it was warm and sunny!! Very unusual weather for C Side!! You guys must think I am mad but I ran Skye, Saturn, Titan and Sing!! I just want to get fit myself before Crufts!! This was the last run before Crufts, so better get full runs of it!!

I was hesitated if I should run Skye as most of you know that he is not a strong healthy dog and I was glad I did. He had a clear round and put him into a 3rd place! I won't say he has a great speed but he did try very hard and there weren't many clear rounds!! That was only his 2nd show and I am now decided I will run him in one agility round when I go to show with the others.

Saturn also trying very hard but I guess he wasn't feeling right. We were very busy last week, non-stop training for this poor lad since Wednesday, so 5 days in a row is definitely too much for him! He pulled out at the 10th weave pole when we were training with Toni on Friday and the same on Saturday with Natasha. That got me worried a little. He wasn't barky (at all!!) at the startline yesterday. His speed dropped after two runs, especially on the weave and at the 1-7 Jumping, he pulled out again at 10th pole but I decided not to put him back and let him run to the finishing line. His contacts were hit and miss. The first agiltiy run, he was solid on the DW but leap off the A Frame, due to some circumstances, I didn't put him back. In the Final, I tried to release him quick before he leap off the A Frame and his DW was iffy. I guess I was worried and because I cannot train him in the final and I have realised I eye-balled him to make sure he got his contacts and that made it worst!! In his final agility run, I tried not to eye-ball him and take time to priase him on the A Frame but when came to the DW, he didn't put his 2 front paws on the ground, just as I am about to pick him up, he did it, so I have to let go at this point. He is feeling very poorly today, so he is on the rest.

I also ran Titan in the 1-3 Agility, he was a good boy too, he only lost his attention once, which was a good start.

Sing also had two runs in the afternoon, he went clear at both Jumping and Agility. I didn't wait for the classes to finish so I don't know if he got a place but I was very happy that he got his DW again. That's the main thing!

I told myself not to keep buying the photographs but these three pictures are pricelss!

Skye aiming for the straight line "GO ON"

Saturn: mum, I can't turn any tighter!!

me: SEE-SAW ....

here is the montage of some runs, Colin was very tired and didn't take all of the runs, I was very disappointed as I would like to see Saturn's agility runs to see where did we got wrong!!! Luckily, he managed to take one of his agility run!!