Bonnie Scotland

Halò to all my bonnie lassie friends we met on our Scotland trip.

We left to Fife on Thursday evening after picking up Colin from work. It was a very long journey, at least 480miles each way! We drove for two hours, then have a rest, carried on for another two hours; we settled the night in the car with the shelties at a services station passed Preston. It was not a comfy night sleeping in the car but we couldn't leave the dogs in the car on their own and all the travel lodges won't take more than two dogs!

We "woke up" around 5am and carried on our journey. Thanks to the wonderful "Motorway Walks" guide I bought last year. They have listed so many walks throughout the country for drivers and dogs. We stopped at Haidrian's Wall to stretch all the legs! Of course, we only did a short walk rather than the 84miles.

the shelties and their daddy at walk

we were walking along the riverside, we met a guy with his spaniels, he told us there is an Otter Family lives in the river and he has seen them two days in the row, different times in the day. I was hoping we are lucky to see them but I don't think they are very impress with Sing running in the water, so they didn't show up and we haven't have time to wait for them. Hopefully next year, we can meet the Otter Family.

Sipzie is a so happy to be out of the car!

We crossed the Scottish Border quite early on Friday morning, as we were not in any rush. We found another walk on the way to Fife. We stopped at Castle Dangerous! Why it is called Castle Dangerous, I don't know, that's what the book said and the name sounded interested so we decided to go there! It was a lovely walk. Friday's weather was a bit of mix bag, cloudy/drizzly/windy/sunny ... We were very lucky, each time we stopped to walk the dogs, the rain stop too, eventhough it wasn't sunny but it was dry enough for a walk.

The KNIGHTs Shelties @ Castle Douglas

the shelties are so happy to be able to run around

Each time I see them so happy running around chasing each other, I wish I could move to Scotland and have this beautiful places to let them run free. They truly belong here!

Saturn has been a very good boy, eventhough he has his eyes on the sheep but he knew he is not allow to herd them, he just watched ...

I know I am bias but he is such a handsome laddie!

there are sheep everywhere and they are not scare of the dogs or human

we spent a good two hours walking casually in Castle Douglas, the shelties were very happy. They were so well behaved around the sheep, it gave me the confidence to take them for more country walks and country holidays!

After the walk, we carried on our journey to Fife. Nikki kindly offered her house for us. I was so glad that we have a comfy house and bed for the night after a rough night in the car. Thanks Nikki! Later, Yvonne and her mum came to join us; then Bob & Janette pop in with wee Bailey, truly shelties heaven! You got to be a sheltie lover to enjoy an evening like this. There were EIGHT shelties from different ages in the house!

Unfortunately no early night but when we got to bed, it didn't took us long to fall asleep. We were up again early on Saturday morning to drive up to Kingdom of Fife Agility Show. This is my first time competing in Scotland. The showground was lovely, the field where they set up the rings were fantastic. The grass was nicely cut, no uneven bits, very much like bowling green. That is the BEST outdoor ground I have run!

The whole show was quite relaxing, no rushing at all. I have entered Sing in one Agility class; Saturn in an Agility and a Jumping class; Sizzle in the Champ. Saturn got to run in the Agility first, he was awful, hehehe ... jump all his contacts! Naughty sheltie! Then, Sing got to run the same Agility. For some reason, he went around the 2nd jump, I guess I probably push him too much that went around the jump and came back to jump the right way (!), I thought we got a refusal for that, so I didn't work hard after that, it was a challenging course, we just ran casually and I did a stupid mistake to get him eliminated! Then, I found out he wasn't faulted at all! Duh! Saturn later won his Jumping by a good margin. It was quite a challenging course too. I am really please with him.

Sizzle ran well in his Champ. We started with Agility qualifier, it looked like an easy fast flowing course. We watched many large dogs and medium dogs got faulted and eliminated, that made me think it's probably not such an easy course after all. I just have to go for it. Sizzle was a good boy, maybe the Scottish air did him good, he went off like a rocket. He ran very well and even stick to his see-saw. It was one of these heavy see-saw that worries me but I need not have to worry at all.

Then, later in the Jumping qualifier, the 2nd tunnel (blue tunnel) caught so many eliminations and I was worried too. I dare not push too much. I was hoping he stay close to me and be responsive. Again, he was a good boy and I managed to do what I want to do eventhough there were a few wide turns.

Sizzle got 3rd in the both qualifier rounds and he was second last to run in the Final. I wasn't confidence with the course, the jump in front of the DW was so inviting, it was the spitting image of our last Champ at Agility Club. My worried is Sizzle will only see the obstacle in front after the DW, that has becomes our weakest point! Surely, I wasn't hang back enough and not pulling enough ... he took the jump and we got eliminated! And later, he kept going into the 2nd pole! We were practicing the same entry on Thursday at training and I cannot understand why he still went into the 2nd pole after my second attempt?

Overall, I am very proud of my wee man. This is the first time we got into the Final, hopefully next Champ, we will have three clear rounds!

Sizzle's Champ run at KOF:

I've got to meet up with some Scottish sheltie friends and had a good sheltie talk! We managed to get some of the them for a photo before we left home:

left to right: 

Saturn, Sipzie, Seagull, Sing & Sizzle of The KNIGHTs Shelties

Ellie & Khandi of Yvonne's Shelties

Ava, Cassie & Star of Nikki's Shelties

Barney & Pebbels of The Fairweathers

Rosa, Becky, Jock & Bronte of Telshador Shelties

everyone loves Cassie, she is Saturn's niece

Before setting off with another long journey home, we stopped by at St Andrews to admire the beauty of Scotland.

the golden boys looking absolutely gorgeous in this photo!

Goodbye Scotland, we will be back again next year!