Happy Birthday SING

SING is 7th today

All I want to say is Happy Birthday to my very special boy,

THANK GOD FOR YOU, THE WIND BENEATH MY WING

I have made a similar montage when he was 5 and I cannot find a better song to express my love to him and our relationship is getting stronger each day.

swimming shelties

This post is dedicated to Diana. She asked me how did I get all my shelties to swim?

Sing came with us on our holidays to the Lake District when he was 11 weeks old. We spent quite a few days at the beaches because Colin was hoping to spot some seals. Sing and I got so bored so we played a lot of ball fetching on the beach. Somehow, one day, the ball roll into the sea, I've got panic and shouted at Colin sitting on the bench "day dreaming" about the seals to go and fetch the ball in the sea for us. First of all, you guys must be wondering why can't I fetch the ball myself? Well, because I am scared of sea, yes, I am being silly but I never dare swimming in the sea and also the wave have washed the tennis ball further that I could reach. As Colin slowly walk towards me, he suddenly stood there and pointed at the sea, so I turned and look, there was my Sing swimming in the sea fetching the ball! That was his first time swimming. I thought this must be just a one off but Colin said we can try to get him to swim that would be good. We all know dogs love swimming but sheltie?

Anyway, we gave it a go and Colin promised he will go in and fetch the ball if Sing does not. So, I chucked the ball in the sea and said to Sing: FETCH. Brave little Sing went straight in fighting the wave to bring his tennis ball back and of course we made a big fuss of him. Since then, we spent the entire holiday fetching the ball in the sea!

I think Sing is a natural swimmer because he loves water, he really does! He can swim anywhere, any weather! The only problem is we cannot get him out when he sees water! He is also a great diver too!

cute little Sing, age 11 weeks old at Lake District

Sing swims in the sea

he is also a great diver!

When we have Seagull, we were hoping he could swim like Sing but with all the behaviour problems he has, we can't bother then.

So, when Saturn and Titan came along, we thought we will get them to swim. I took them to Greyfriars with Sing in the winter, Saturn wasn't too sure about it, so I jumped into the pool and when he saw me in the pool, he decided he will join me. Once he started, he looks like a natural swimmer but he only swim in the pool, he does not swim in the open water unless I am in there. I actually made a big deal jumping into the Seven Islands Pond last summer just to get him to swim in the open water. He did swim in the pond when he saw me in there and the funny thing was he started to chase the coot in the pond since he knows the pond is safe to swim.

Titan is not as brave. He is definitely not a naturaly swimmer as his back end sink when he is in the water. He is not good in balancing himself. When I took him to Greyfriars, he freak, so after a while we gave up.

Titan is not a happy swimmer, he rather play rough!

Skye loves water too but he is not as brave as Sing and he is another NOT natural swimmer. He is happily fetch anything in the open water but with his back end sink in the water, I dare not throw anything too far.

Skye enjoys swimming but it takes too much energy out of him as he is using his two front legs peddle very hard!

Sizzle? O my little Sizzle. Eventhough he is not as brave as Sing but he can swim in the pool and the open water. If we go somewhere new and he is not sure of the water, I just need a tiny push and he will start swimming. He can swim very far.

I always encourage my dogs to swim in any circumstances. I don't believe shelties cannot swim!

swimming photos

Nothing much to say about this post, I just want to post some swimming photos of the boys. They are doing so well now so I can stay DRY, sitting by the pool side chucking the balls and most of all, take some photos. I found this "not so good" camera in my swimming bag. I have actually got a "good" camera in the car but I forgot all about it. I have also taken some swimming clip but I think that would be too boring to post. BTW, Saturn was a little "naughty" yesterday, he kept pinching Sizzle's rope ball, so he always came back with two balls in his mouth!! And, Sizzle does not need a cute cute swim jacket anymore, he swims really well without one and I do missing him with the life jacket, he looks so cute in that.

Sizzle at training

I had a good training session with Sizzle today. Should I use the word "drive" on him? Maybe not! A lot of people told me that our English Shelties have no drive when come to work in agility! I don't believe that!! I have seen a few high drive English Shelties, such as Miranda Frankham's Dodger, Tally and Chica, they are keen and super fast! Also, Amy Lawson's new girl Fudgy, she is very keen and fast too! Not to forget to mention, Dawn Wood's new girl DeeDee, wow! She is just amazing!!

Anyway, I think my little Sizzle is keen to work with me! Last week, I was thinking to call the "see-saw" TEETER but today, I found a better word, WOBBLE and that works wonderfully!

I managed to get my classmates to video us today at training, it is good for me to see us on video as I can see where I need to improve.

Here is our little video:

Happy Dogs

I am not complain but stuck in front of the computer for the last three days watching those breath taking, exciting agility made me ache all over!! My neck and my back are definitely the worst!! The dogs hate it because they can't understand why was I so excited, sitting there screaming, shouting and the worst of all, they didn't get their normal attention!! Sorry boys and girl, I promise I will make it all up to you guys from tomorrow onwards!!

I hope Saturn is learning since he has been watching Crufts with me for the last few days.

I am not that cruel really, I still love my dogs very much eventhough my heart is on Crufts Live. I missed the Thursday events because I think my dogs are more important than anything else happen in the world, so we went to Pachesham for our usual club training, then a long walk and their fitness swim. I also took them to Flyball on Saturday morning, so I do missed what I would like to watch, but again, being boring, my dogs are still important, I treasure our relationship, so we went and did something more fun than me stuck in front of the computer!

I must admit I have changed our daily routine due to Crufts Live, we went out walking extra early in the morning. I also make sure I play with them in the garden when I have a break from the live coverage, means when there is no agility on!

a series of photos of the boys + the girl are happy tearing around the garden chasing each other:

I am trying to take a new family photo with Samber in it. GOSH! Girl is just difficult! All the boys are happily sitting there posing and waiting for their pictures to be taken but the girl just wouldn't sit still for half a second!!!! This is why I like BOYS, always BOYS!!! Did you noticed in the photo that Sing got so fed-up, it all show up in his face!! To be honest, the boys have been so patient sitting in that position for more than 15 minutes (not move at all) for me to get the girl in the picture!!!! I just love my BOYS!

these two pairs (Saturn & Sizzle) are just funny, everytime I chuck this red rubbery ball, they like to fight for it:

always the troublesome trios:

for some strange reason, I just like this photo of Sizzle eventhough I know it is a bad photography:

Skye: awwwwwwww!

We took the boys out to the Common this morning before the Crufts Live started, the boys + girl have a good long walk. Saturn loves to chase the coot in the pond, I don't know why, he is not interested in ducks or gease at all but just the COOT. He always go crazy when he spotted one!

this is what he does everyday when we walk in the Common:

I really like my bunch of shelties, they are always so happy:

and here is the crazy girl:

we did managed to get the girl to sit still for half a second for this family photo:

what can I say about my sunshine? He is a joy to own and I love having him around!

he is such a handome and loving boy

I nearly forgot to mention about our flyball training yesterday, nothing new going on but still doing the basic things with the beginner dogs. I got Saturn out to do the run back and static retrieve but I have got Sizzle out on the box work. Saturn is not a flyball dog as he likes anything but a ball. He was a very good boy though, I did get him to fetch the static ball and run back to me. He is a dog that willing to work for me.

We have a special made flyball box to the Wimbledon Whizzers Flyball Team ... a Springback Hybrid, the latest version. Do not ask me what is the different as I am still try to learn about the box. It didn't take Sing long to learn how to trigger the box. If you look carefully, in the middle bit of the box, something thick stick out, that is the bit the dog should trigger the box to get the ball pop.

time waster

Well, I am stuck in front of my pc all day! Crufts is broadcasting live: http://www.cruftslive.tv/. I missed most of the events yesterday as I was out at Pachesham training then swimming, we didn't get home until 5am, so just in time to catch the YKC Final. Sophie & Breeze and Ryan & Inky were doing brilliantly to get themselves in the Final. Well done kids!

I love watching agility, Crufts live covering nearly everything happen in the main ring which is great. I have watched so many shelties tearing around the course and they all did the shelties very proud. The Medium Team event just finished. We have three shelties representing two different Teams and they came 1st and 2nd. Dawn Wood & Fudge (sable) and Trudy Swan & Merlin (blue merle) with Carn Brea Team is the proud winner with 10 faults! Jean Tuck & Scott (tri) with Spalding Team came 2nd, also with 10 faults but just slightly slower than Carn Brea. Well done Boys and their girls handler!

I love watching Bernadette, Toni and Dawn handling their dogs, they truly are the top handlers in the country. These three handlers have different handling method, my eyes just glue to the screen when they are ON. They will be running again this afternoon in the Final. Good Luck!

more training and swimming updates

I had a great training session with Sizzle on Tuesday at Pachesham. I didn't realised it was the last one of the block and thank God, Eleanor said she is happy to continue to do another block as all the dogs in that class are doing so well! YEAH! We have 3 miniature schnauzer and 2 shelties. Sizzle is the youngest in the class, he just turned 11 months old and the second youngest is the other sheltie Ricky who is 18 months old.

We did a big loop of Jumping round with A Frame and pipe tunnel mixing in between. Some of the jumps are slightly off angle, for me, it was a good way to teach the dog to take the obstacle in front of him as I am facing a problem with Sizzle not taking the obstacle in front of him. Sizzle is a reasonably fast dog (well, he is definitely faster than Sing and Saturn), so when he shot down the jumps in speed, most of the time he will avoid/ignore the off angle jump, Eleanor has to break the big loop into 3 to 4 parts depending on the dog's needs. After a couple of tried, he actually tear around the big loop without missing out any jumps! I am really happy with him. The best thing is after so many rounds the big loop, he was still motivated and not slow down at all. And, I HAVE NOT use any treat at all! Just toy!

Also, we have tried something new for Sizzle, the see-saw (teeter). I now realised I cannot tell Sizzle to go up the SEE-SAW! You try this: Sizzle, see-saw! Just imagine, when you are running around and after a few jumps and other things, I don't think I possibly can say this: Sizzle, see-saw! So, I have to practise this at home: Sizzle, TEETER! before the next session.

Yesterday, we have Ian took over the class as Eleanor has taken Sophie to Crufts. Ian was our trainer when I first started Sing in agility training, I can't remember how and when Eleanor took over but I enjoyed both Ian and Eleanor's teaching.

Sing wasn't quite himself yesterday, he was sick in the car on the way to Pachesham, so I did a little training with him then put him away. Saturn was good and bad. Good thing, he was keeping his good speed and enthusiam, very keen to run but not as accurate! The other good thing was he did some very nice tight turns which I have never expect him to do so, I thought it was just a one-off but he did that most of the time when we trained. The BAD thing was he missed all his weave entry, emmm ... I can't explain that!

We have done a few difficult entries and he missed every single one of them!!!

I like this weave entry. I have tried to handle it from a few different ways; the first one was to stay behind jump #4 and sent him, he went into the third pole the first time, then we tried again, he went into the 2nd pole, so we tried again and he finally went in the right pole! The other way I have tried is to stand in front of the jump #4, I think that was the bad way as I BLOCK his view to the weave, so he actually got lost finding where the weave poles are! Then, I moved myself halfway between jump #4 and the weave, that is even worst, I was totally in his way! I did tried to swing him into the weave and he did managed to go into the right weave pole but not the way I would prefer! I will need to work harder to send him from behind jump #4. That's something for us to work on.

This is another interesting entry. It looks simple but if you stand in the wrong place, the dog still go into the wrong pole. I have tried to run past jump #3 and that turned Saturn wider into the weave entry! We worked better if I stand between the see-saw and jump #3. That gave him a clear guide that I want him to turn left after jump #3 into the weaving pole.

Again, this doesn't look like a bad entry but we didn't get it the first time! Saturn was too focus everything straight ahead instead of turning left and right. He thought he will finish at jump #9.

I forgot to mention something which I think it is quite important ... Saturn actually goes faster on the down plank (A Frame)! I have taken Lee Windeatt's advice to praise him much quicker (once I see his two front paws hit the ground) and release. I don't bother to treat him when he does his 2o/2o because by the time I praise and treat, then it will be too late and he was on that 2o/2o position for too long. This method seems to work well so far but he sometimes is a bit "naughty", if we were to do the A Frame many times in the training, he choose to release himself before I release him, so I need to watch out for that but for the time being, I rather him not creeping down instead of release himself early while he is still on the target area.

After the training, I took the dogs to Oxshott Common for a long walk before the swim. The weather suddenly turned very cold lately. Eventhough it was sunny but it was freezing cold. You can see in this picture that the dogs struggled to open their eyes in this sunny weather!

Just a quick update on Saturn's hair growing process ... his coat is definitely growing, maybe not as fast as I want them to be. He looks very much like a puppy now. I am hoping he will grow back into his dark shaded sable, it may take a year or more but I am looking forward to a full blossom Saturn. I am not bias but he is a very handsome boy!

sorry for these two low quality silly photos taken with my mobile. I just want to share with you that his coat is growing, you can see more clearly in the picture below (his tail), the middle bit is the new growing coat and the longer one is the old coat. Just imagine is he hasn't lost his coat, he will have a very long thick coat!

Swimming update:

We had a great successful swimming session with all the boys yesterday. I didn't put a life jacket on Sizzle and I don't need to go into the pool with them either! I have changed and be prepared but I only sit by the pool side throwing the balls for them to fetch. All three were very keen to go in, so I just sat there enjoyed watching them. I must bring the camera next week!

GOOD LUCK!

GOOD LUCK to those who are competing

at CRUFTS, especially:

Bernadette & Zen

Lisa & Chi

Andy & Kizzy and Nancy & Naughty Niamh

Nicky & Indi

Rosie & Disney

Sophie & Gabby, Scrappy, Breeze

Ryan & Tippex, Inky

Lorna & Fleet

Jean & Scott

gorgeous day

I can't believe we have a gorgeous day today! It was pretty cold but sunny, the dogs love to spend time chasing and playing in the garden, what a change for them.

I usually leave a few jumps up in the garden, so the dogs get used to equipments lying around.

I don't think it is a good idea when you have boy dogs, they like to cock their legs against the jump wing! On the other hand, I think it is good training for young dog and puppy, they have to learn to get use to agility equipments. Also, when they play chase, I'd like to see all the dogs react to the equipments differently. This photo above tells you how the dogs react to a jump.

I think Sing is a great jumper, I like the way he stretches all his four legs when jumping!

I haven't done much training with Skye due to his health but he loves to do anything for me

Sizzle learning Tyre! Unfortunately the tyre is set to medium height but the tyre has been lying in the garden for a year and all the bits went rusty and I cannot adjust the height! And I have also realised I have to put the poles up and down to run medium and small dogs in future!

Trio Troublesome!

I also went to see Daisy's puppies today, they are about 6 weeks old now, very active!

This is Watson (aka Plain face). His new owners came to meet him yesterday and they are totally in love with him. The man owner wanted to do agility with him when he is older. I am hoping to see him around the agility circuit!

he is such a sweetie pie!

this is Blaze, still my favourite. He is such a poser

and he is a cheeky boy!