Sizzle

I like to see my pup grows, everyday is a new chapter. When I saw him at his breeder last Saturday, he was lively, playful, crazy, haywire, mad, bonkers, lunatic ... and cuddly and kissy. I'll never hesitate NOT to bring him home eventhough he is an old puppy then! As he arrived, he became timid and nervous and it took him a good few days to get used to his new family, new environment and a brand new world to him. He is a great puppy to start with, his toilet/house train is perfect, he has not mess indoor and I'm always in time to take him out in the garden. I finally see the naughty self emerge, he is more confidence now and he started to play and will take treat off me. Well, it is time for me to clicker train!!

Thank God I haven't have any show to go to due to Saturn's op. I have missed a couple of shows but that is not important compare to my poor baby Saturn but to be honest, I can't afford to have NO agility weekend, see what happened? I've GOT a puppy when I don't go to show!!

the cheeky side of him

Sing teaches Sizzle how to catch a ball in the air

Sizzle: I'm practising now, I'll catch up one day!!

He is getting more and more confidence and surely like a sheltie now ... BARK!

I'm going to catch the ball!!

Titan finally take notice of him and they are playing madly now!

Titan: I'll let you have it this time

Sizzle: Yes, it is mine!!

The KNIGHTs Shelties

I thought I will try to take a new family photo with Sizzle in it. As I have not done any training with him (he is not food orientated and clicker training is on hold at the moment), so I do not know he will do a STAY for me but he is an excellent puppy, I can't ask for more!

The KNIGHTs Shelties ...

picture above from left to right: Seagull, Saturn, Sing, Skye, Titan and little Sizzle

(mmm... do you think I should rename Titan, what about Sitan?)

Sing and Sizzle

I took Sizzle out to our pet shop in Carshalton a couple of days ago, so he could meet more people and also there is a small park opposite the pet shop, we sat there for 15 minutes so he can see the world goes by. I bought this chewing ball for him because I can't remember when is a puppy start teething but best to get him one to encourage him to play. What you do with this toy is to wet the ball thoroughly, squeeze the excess water and put it in the freezer, then give it to the puppy, that will ease the pain of teething.

So, I did all that and took it out from the freezer last night and gave it to Sizzle, poor little lad, he wasn't keen on it, and I just left it in there just in case he likes to have a go. This morning, after their breakfast, I usually take him into a separate room to play with him but today, Sing and Saturn came with us. Sing discovered the ball and really taken on it, he acted like a puppy that is teething!!

Chewing Ball from Trixie (www.trixie.de)

Sing really enjoyed the ball and he acted like a puppy, mmm... an old puppy!!??

poor Sizzle looking at Sing wandering why he has his toy!

well, nevermind, I'll chew the cushion instead!! Mummy won't mind, would you?

so, the two boys were acting like this the whole morning!!

BTW, I forgot a puppy needs a lot of sleep!!
Saturn is always a comfort bed to all!!

update on Saturn

Just a quick update on Saturn, thank you to those who asked how is he. He is doing fine and his wound looks good and he is ready to have the stiches remove on Friday morning. The vet suggesting to feed him on ZD but poor Saturn hates the expensive nasty food!! He is back to his normal self and is playing with Sizzle. He is Sizz's best mate, the little man just like him (too much!) and always glue to him. I am still worry about his wound so I only allow some gentle playing until he is fully recover.

raising puppy

Do I remember how to raise/train a puppy? The last time I have a pup was nearly three years ago now, so the arriving of Sizzle is a new chapter! I love raising puppy, especially a challenging one! Not just he will learn from day to day but I am learning with him too! Sizzle is an adorable tiny little puppy, he is very petite and fine, so I have to be extra careful when handling him. And you all know shelties are very sensitive, so patient is the main issue here!

There is no pressure raising this gorgeous little fluffy fur ball eventhough I have received emails and texts asking me WHEN is he able to jump & weave & to do his running contacts!!! Even his crazy dad Colin said to me "you better get him to weave tomorrow!!"! Oh! Come On! I know he is coming up to 15 weeks but he is just a baby and he needs to adjust himself in the new home, meeting new people, new dogs and have to learn the outside world yet!! We have a lot of basic to catch up before I even start thinking to teach him sit, down, left, right ... etc. I AM TAKING IT VERY SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY!!

If you see us around the shows, please do come and meet him and give him a cuddle. I'd love to post some photos of him but he can't stay still for a second or he is too close, so here we have two not so good photos of him:

meet SIZZLE

Please meet our latest addition ... SIZZLE (Sizz in short), Blenmerrow Sizzling Star.

quick updates on Seagull and Saturn

Just a quick updates.

Thank you very much to all who send loves to Saturn and offered suggestions to remove the tic on Seagull's lip. I managed to remove the tic last night with the tweezer and wash his mouth with warm salty water a few times, there is no infection so far and he is looking normal.

As for Saturn, I rushed him to the vet yesterday insisted I want a pain killer for the poor soul. The vet did give him two jabs after I moaned (actually swearing!) about it, one Norocarp and one Vetergesic. He still didn't eat and didn't go to toilet yesterday. One of the jabs made him sleepy and he slept for few hours after we came back from the vet. This morning, I offered him his ID food with a mixture of boiled chicken chop into mince but poor Saturn turned his nose up again. For those who knows him, it is very unlike him. He is not a fussy eater and he loves all food. I then cooked a scrambled egg to let it cool down a little and offered it to him and thank God, he ate it all!! That is the most wonderful time! I was in tear when he finished the egg. You guys must think I am crazy but I am dead worry when he is not eating, I would offer him anything in the world as long as he is eating, I don't care what the vet said! Also, he did his first toilet today since Tuesday!! I am so happy!!

He is going to see the vet this morning for another check up, will update more. BTW, the wound is looking fine but he still needs his T Shirt on to stop him licking.

damn TIC

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just found this damn tic stuck on Seagull's lip! Normally, I use a bit of cotton soak in TCP and press on the tic for a couple of minutes then use the twezer to pluck it out but now this tic is in the sensitive spot, I don't know how to deal with it!!! Please someone help!!!

poor Sat!!

Everytime I look at Saturn, my heart aches a lot!! He definitely do not deserve this!! I took him to the Vet for the check up yesterday, eventhough his temperature is normal but the Vet didn't give him any pain killer!! The wound is alongside his "thingy", poor thing struggled to go to toilet. I can see he is trying to have a wee but everytime he wants to go, he just can't help with the discomfort or pain and stop immediately! He is not eating at all this morning, that is a big worry for me!! Not like my Saturn at all!!

I give him a T shirt to stop him licking his wound

censor! Adults Only!

OUCH!

Poor Saturn has a surgical for 3 full thickness biopsies of intestines and colon today!

It borke my heart seeing my baby feeling sorry for himself. I am sure he is not impress either after he did so well over the weekend. Well, he is having a rest!

UP you go, Saturn!

Landsdown is a lovely place, not only the people there are friendly but the sceneray is always beautiful and relaxing. I went there last year for the first time and I enjoyed it so much, I just love the walk on top of the hill and down the whole race course and I determind to go again this year.

We didn't leave home till 6pm on Friday evening and luckily a friend save me a camping spot. At that time, M25 and M4 were dreadful and when we got to M4, it started to rain and it got darker and foggy, that made the journey worst than I thought. We managed to get there at last.

Saturday was a good day for the boys, both Agility and Jumping courses were not straight forward, it involved some handling, which was very good for me and the boys. In both classes, Saturn has to run first according to the running order. The first run was Agility, luckily I have Colin with me, so off he went with Sing to queue for us and I could play and do a bit of training with Saturn while we were waiting. I kept reminding myself "MOTION" before going in and Saturn was in his happy jolly self. He was barking mad on the startline, I was worried how I would handle jump, jump, see-saw as his see-saw could be a bit dodgy. I am hoping he has a good speed up the see-saw so he would not miss the target point and thank God he did it alright and as we were turning right to the A Frame, I have to remember to keep myself moving all the time when he is up on the A Frame and I am pleased with myself I did not forget and he didn't hesitate eventhough he didn't come down in a great speed and released himself too quick on the target. There were a lot of dogs got eliminated on the jump #9 to jump #10 and I think Saturn worked beautifully on that part and his weave was good. I was very happy we went clear eventhough I would like to have a better A Frame with him but due to him freezing on top of the A Frame again, so to keep him moving and not hesitating is the most important thing for time being. The judge Hilary Bowden was praising him, so it must be a good run then.

The Jumping class started nearly the same time as the Agility, so I haven't have time to go and check his time, I was hoping around the agility and jumping rings as I have Sing due to run too. Saturn didn't run too well in the Jumping ring, the ground in the Jumping ring was very uneven and it was a big course, we have to run down the hill, up the hill, down the hill again, up the hill again and take a big loop then down and up again ... I have realised Saturn didn't weave in his usual speed if the start is jump weave. Unfortunately the course was jump, jump, weave ... so we started the two jumps on the hill and into the weave, he was alright but caught himself a couple of times on weaving up the hill, I don't know how and why (it didn't quite show up on the video) but he caught in the 3/4 and 7/8, when we finished, I asked some friends who were watching us and they said it is very likely the uneven ground that caused the problem. I also saw him lost his balance before going into the 2nd tunnel. I went to check his time after we ran, he was leading by 2 seconds ahead. I started to have a mixed feeling. He already have two jumping wins and if he were to win this jumping, it will take him out of Grade 3. I would love to go up the Grade with him but I want an Agility win. I do not want a dog that cannot do agility to be in the higher grade. I was very emotional and didn't give Sing any attention (how bad is that!), so I went over to check his agiltiy time, to my surprised, he was leading by 3 seconds at that time. There were a few good speedy dogs in the queue and I never thought we will win it, so now I am hoping someone could beat us in the Jumping. After Sing, there was a Terrier that ran last, I thought he was in Grade 4 but it turn out to be a Grade 3 dog. I kept praying he will run faster and not make mistake, so when he hit the finishing line, I quickly peer to look at the time, HA! He was 1/100th of a seconds faster than Saturn. I was so happy (am I crazy?)! At the same time, they closed the agility ring, so I went over to look who is winning and I can't believe I saw Saturn's name was on top of the Grade 3! Now, I was so regret that the Terrier beaten us!!! I would love a double win!!!

Anyway, I have achieved some good things with Saturn this weekend. I have realised his weaving speed is very steady and if I keep moving when he was on the A Frame, he will not hesitate. What I have to do now is to do more training to get his perfect targetting. With Sing, we still have problem back jumping, either I turned him into me or turned him away from me, I need to practise that bit but this weekend, he achieved another 100% running dog walk and he started to weave independently.

We finished fairly early on Saturday, so we took the dogs for a long walk down the race course and have a drink in the pub to celebrate Saturn's win. Didn't I swear I will never drink when I have to run the next day? Well, forget about this, I have a big bottle of Perry and it did give me a terrible headache the next day!

Now, I better put my training shoe on, both boys need some serious training!!

Titan Titan ...

I didn't aware Titan has his little fans club! Every now and then, I received some emails asking me how is this little "evil" get on with his training ... mmmm ... so so, I would say. Well, he is a bit naughty and a bit evil and a bit out of control when goes into the ring. I never give up on him, I am determine to get him train one day. All this time, I am waiting for him to get mature, so I can re-train him in agility. Maybe the main problem is he is an everyone's dog, he loves people and he likes to meet new people, hopefully we could overcome this problem one day, yes one day! At the mean time, we carry on training him on the weaves, mainly.

We went to Nancy yesterday to do a bit of much needed training. We also did a bit of weave training with Titan and I am taking Nancy's advice, back to basic and open up 6 weaves (as wide as he is successful with) for a while to see how we go. Now, I set myself a target, hopefully we can achieve with good results. We are now practising about 5-10 minutes per session (including play and get him to pay attention to me and weave), 3-4 times a day.

Here is the little video of Day 1, we start right on his birthday:

Mr EVIL is THREE today!

Well, my 12" of evilness is THREE today, is he matures yet?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TITAN

we just love your evilness!!!

at 10 weeks old!!

photos taken today

Watford & Bretons

Well, we had a mixed bag over the weekend, the good thing was Sing yet achieved another 100% running Dog Walk, I am really pleased with him. I hope he will stay like this for the whole season. Last weekend at RVA, we had some courses with no straight forward obstacles in front of the DW, there is always a sharp turn or you have to go left or right after the DW, it is always my nightmare, as I always work so close to him and if I were to pull away slightly, he will either leap and misses changing his stride, so I have to learn to handle him with a lot of switching in front. This weekend at Watford, we have a fast course in the Graded 1-4, a tunnel right in front of the DW, a real invitation to him and he was very good to stride into his "hit it" point and into the tunnel; and in the KC Olympia course, we have to turn sharp left, he changed his stride beautifully and got his "hit it" point; and at Bretons, the poor lad was blew off the DW in the high wind, I asked the judge if he could let me put him back on the DW, I am not being cruel to my dog but I just want to make sure he is not put off by the silly action and he was a little darling, that didn't upset him and he also got his "hit it" point, bless him!

The bad thing was, I was always standing in the wrong position to lead the dogs to back jump a jump! It happened twice at Watford, same jumping course! Sing back jump #15, with him, I knew I could not weave away from him, so I switch in front after the weave and get myself in the right position and send him to turn away from me at jump #15 but I forgot to move and poor thing back jump it!! This happened to Saturn in the same course but he back jump #8, again, I was standing in the wrong position!!! I was annoyed with myself. Then, at Watford, I stand right in front of the wing to get Saturn to turn into me, that was obviously a terrible mistake, there were no room for him to turn and he ended up spinning and didn't know where to go!! Bless him!! He needs a better handler!!

I think I must be over relaxing over the last few weeks and forgot all about how to handle a dog!! I need some serious training!!

Saturn & I also pair with Matt & Bracken at Bretons for Small/Medium pairs. Matt & Bracken was brilliant, they went so fast and clear, unfortunately Saturn pick up a 5 on the weave entry!! Again, lack of training!! Other than that, it was a very good round. Thanks to Matt & Bracken for pairing with us!

RVA

I was supposed to take the caravan and the boys to RVA on Thursday on my own and Colin will join me on Friday evening but I was still feeling iffy on Wednesday and the weather forecast for the weekend was showers, so I wasn't sure if I am going. I was still hesitated on Thursday morning with the rain and sunshine. I have never go to a dog show on my own before, not with the caravan, Colin is always there but we just got back from Malaysia, he can't take anymore more day off work, so it is either I have to be brave or not going. By noon, I decided I will go, so Jim & Joan were kindly having Seagull, Titan and Skye for me, so that make it so much easy with just Sing and Saturn. I know I can trust these two dogs.

I was totally depending on my Sat Nav to take me there as I have no sense of directions! I knew my Tom Tom could take me down some country lanes sometimes but I just hope for an easy journey. Guess what? That bloody Tom Tom took me to somewhere called St Noet eventhough I key in the right postcode for the showground!!! That gave me a good scared! I tried to key in the postcode one more time and it shows I was 20+ miles away from the showground!! Luckily when I get closer, I saw some signs for the showground, that made me feel so much better!! As I left home late and took a detour, I got to the showground just before 4pm and the camping was nearly full, I was looking for a easy parking spot so we camp by the entrance.

Together with the agility show, there was an agricultural show on at the same showground, it was very noisy and crowded during the day but after 5ish, it was quiet and peaceful. It didn't bother me as we camp on the other field near the entrance, the entrace is mainly for agility people only, so it was pretty quiet spot and the gate was mended during the days and they shut the gate at 6pm eventhough they are supposed to shut at 10pm!! So, I have trouble getting out on Friday evening to go to Peterborough to fetch Colin. It took me 15 minutes to find Gate 3!

Saturn is definitely looking good after a rest, besides the awful contacts, his jumping rounds were clean and smooth, the judge for Friday Jumping likes him and came to priase him, that made me feel very good. For me, a priase from the judge is better than getting a place! It was a shamed that I haven't got that on video, he got a 4th in the Comb 3&4 Jumping. He then went on to win the Comb 1-3 Jumping on Saturday out of 54 dogs. On Sunday, he did look a bit tired and it was hot plus he has done two more rounds before the jumping, he was a bit slow and finished in 7th. I was pleased with him as I don't know what will I get out of him as I have not run him for a while, so I stay a distance from him everytime he weaves and that definitely increased his speed. I am glad I finally learned to trust him, at the end of the day, I've got nothing to lose!

Sing only managed a clear round this weekend, ended up 2nd. Sorry, no video for this run because when we were running, his daddy was chatting up to a lady and didn't even see us running in the ring!! Maybe Colin should be abandoned in the showground in future!!! This is the course, tricky beginning (dog walk to weave), I was very upset Colin didn't take the video because I would like to see the way I handled Sing in this bit. I run him all the way down, pass the dog walk (in that way I can be sure he has his "hit it" point) then switch in front (so Sing is on my right) and swing him in the weave, then switch again (Sing is on my left) to take the jump #8. He was a split second behind Jo-Ann Essex's Staffie! I don't know where we lost the time, I guess it could be from the dog walk to the weave as nobody does the way I did! I can't trust Sing to find the entry and with the running contact, if I were to pull away while he is on the dog walk, I am sure he will miss the point, so I decided to do a few front crosses. Also, we have never seen a wishing well in our training before, so I got a bit worried and wait for him to commit the jump.

The thing I achieved with him this weekend was the 100% running dog walk! We had 4 agility runs and they were spot on! His only problem this weekend was the weave, he kept pulling out at the 10th pole. I haven't got a video for the Friday run, so I cannot judge if it was me to pull away from him but I have a feeling that I must have looking into the tunnel after the weave that made the mistake.

On Saturday, he continued to pulled out the 10th pole three times in the Jumping round!!! I did make sure I stay with him all the way round but I could not understand why he kept coming out from the 10th pole??? In the afternoon, we have Eileen Wischnia's Comb 4-7 agility, I love the course, it needed a lot of handling and that suit me and Sing just nice and I was hoping to get a good place in that. They were 44 dogs and we went in in between, nearly all the dogs before us got either e'd on the jump #18 or fault on the weave entry and I was nervous. I managed the hard beginning (I did a push through but all the other do a pull through) and got all the way to jump #18, pulling the dog into me is the least thing I want to do, my option was to send Sing to turn left and pick him up and run for the two jumps, I knew there were so many fast dogs behind me, so I want to run for time, unfortunately, he was much faster this weekend (it is true!) and I didn't get there in time to pick him up so he back jump #18 to get ourselves e'd! When I think back carefully, I should have done a pivot turn and he is still on my left but gosh! No one does that!! They were only 4 clear rounds, two out of time and the two just squeeze in!

We finished very early on Saturday so we took the dogs and have a good walk around the showground, I was amazed to see the JCB Dancing Diggers. I have to say it was very interesting but many agility people hate them because they have some gunshots while they do the dancing and that put a lot of dogs off. Luckily my shelties aren't bothered by them but silly Saturn was afraid of the noise from the falcon!! They also have some old trucks display, I wish I have camera with me. The most interesting was a race where they have two horses pulling a cart with two riders, I don't know what they called but my heart was pounding watching them going round and round.

In the evening, we have free entertainment in the hall with Boney M. Wow, didn't I have a good time celebrating Saturn's win? I really enjoyed the Boney M concert with some lovely pimms and home made perry!! That didn't help me run on Sunday, so I am off alcohol when I am running!! I can't wait to go back next year!! A wonderful relaxing weekend!!

cathing up ... again

Colin and I went to visit my family a couple of weeks ago, my brother was very ill and he is still poorly at the time of posting. He just check in into the hospital for more check-ups!

We arrived on early Monday morning and I fell ill straightaway, nothing serious, just those nasty cold bugs from stresses and lack of sleep! I was so glad to see my boys again, they are the best thing in the world. I am very lucky that I've got to see Saturn, Skye, Titan and Seagull almost immediately after I've got in. Jim & Joan who looked after them were up in the early hours and cooked me egg and bacon for breakfast!! It is good to be home and knew there were someone who cares for me and my dogs.

Saturn was especially happy to see me, well, he is a mummy's boy so he won't leave me alone since I step in. He was like a koala bear that cling on me for the whole day!! After having a good breakfast and catching up with Jim & Joan, I took the four to Epsom with me to pick up their big brother Sing. Sing was living in the heaven with Katia and her girls and got his long walks everyday and Katia was very kind to take him to our club training and a UKA show on one Saturday. Sing was definitely well look after, I think he is missing Katia's pretty girlies!! I am glad I have all of them back with me now!!

A BIG Thank you to Jim & Joan and Katia for taking care of the boys for me!

Happy Birthday to Saturn

Happy Birthday to my special boy, Saturn. Missing you terribly!

for Patrick

no title

It wasn't very sunny today but Ling wanted to take some photos with the boys, I think she wanted to show them to her family when she goes back for her summer holiday.

somehow, I think this pair looks very funny in the picture!

Mr Handsome with his most appealing eyes!!

always a handsome merlie

very well behaved altogether until ...

... the cat sneak in

The boys with Ling

what collar?

I just read in a forum about some people using choke chain/semi choke/slip collar on their shelties. They complain their shelties slip the collar and ran away!

I am very surprised that there are still so many people believes in choke/slip collar! I consider myself a late starter to have my own dogs and when I first have Sing, he wore a puppy collar (those with a hole that you can adjust the size). We went to a brilliant puppy class and I always believe in positive training, so I have no problem of a dog pulling on the lead and slip the collar. When I started to compete in agility 2.5 years ago, I change all my dog collars to the clip type and I always have them loose (big enough for me to put my hand in between). I like it that way because shelties have such a thick coat and I do not want to have it too tight to make a dead hair line round their neck. Walking 5 dogs at a time, I have NO dogs pulling at all, how good is that?

Well, I do have difficult dog that may slip the collar (that is Seagull), if something strikes him, he will get panic and started to struggle, so his collar is slightly tighter than the other but I have my way to calm him down, so I hardly ever slip a collar.

Since I started doing agility, I sometimes wonder, should I rather have a dog that pull on the lead to show some enthusiastic? Unfortunately all my five are as good as gold when walking on the lead!

So, how many of you are still using a choke collar? Does it really help you to shape the behaviour you want?

my mum has a dog!!

I've been calling my family everyday to catch up with the latest news and I was very surprised my mum got a dog! I remembered when I was young, my dad always have dogs! I remembered we have 2 dobermans and 6 GSDs at a time! My mum always avoid interacting with them, it was me and my dad to feed them, bath them and doing something with them. My mother and brother were always out of sight! She was definitely not keen with small animals even when she first visited me a few years ago, Sing was only 5/6 months old. She was very upset that I let him sleeps on my bed and I play and cuddle him!!! Oh well, now, she has got a dog, what can I say? I am looking forward to meeting this young lad, don't really know what he is but he looks like a Manchester Terrier to me!! Oh dear, I don't even know his name!! Did they have shelties in Malaysia?

Pembrokeshire

Colin and I went to Pembrokeshire with Sing and Saturn for the weekend. Colin is interesting in buying a farm land with house, it seems the farm properties in Wales is much cheaper and bigger compare to the South West of England. We drove like crazy on Saturday morning as we have to meet the estate agent by 12:30 and gosh, it took us nearly 5 hours to get there even with the convertible!

We managed to get there in time and look at the farm house, the property is in the National Park area, located in the valley surrounded by the Preseli Hills. It has a lovely view from the surrounding. Unfortunately the house is 300+ years old and it is too small for us. Colin thought it is big enough for the two of us but I find it too crowded, so we are not buying it!

As I was suffering from terrible migrane, we went straight to the B&B, so I can have a sleep while Colin takes the boys out walking. Well, as you guess, Colin lost Saturn again!! The lady owner of the B&B said Colin can walk the dogs in the big field across the B&B but instead, Colin took the boys walked into the village, he also took some wrong turnings but at the end he found somewhere he could let the boys to run around. I rang him after 30 minutes to find out how is he getting on and he told me he LOST Saturn again!! I jumped off the bed with my pyjamas and quickly ran outside to find him. I've found him where I last left him with Colin. That dog is just too clingy! I was amazed (how he finds his way back to me) and very frightened (to loose him or accident) but I just couldn't tell him off. I never thought Colin went that far and all on the village's main road without pavement! He could be the next potential Lassie if any film making company is interested!! I am so worry when I go back and my friend is taking care of him, I have a feeling that if he gets a chance, he will run away to go and find me!! Colin is not allow to take him out if OFF the lead! That gave me a good scare!!!

I highly recommend the B&B (http://www.headlandfarm.co.uk/) if you are going to Pembrokesshire for holiday. Dogs welcome and a 5 stars service!! The room is spotless, neat and tidy, lovely garden. Sue (the lady owner) made some Welsh cake and Welsh bread with endless tea/coffee to welcome us on arrival and the breakfast was just fantastic, tons of cereal, fruits and fried breakfast! Yummy!!

We left quite early on Sunday morning as we wanted to visit the coast before coming back to London. We chose to go to Marloes Sands eventhough we were told the most beautiful beach in the GB is Barafundle Bay. We spent a good three hours in the beach with the boys, they were so happy running around knowing this is not another long agility trip! Unfortunately, Sing had another accident! Colin threw a ball and he was dashing to fetch it, there were many rocks spread everywhere on the sandy beach, we don't know how but Sing bash himself very hard into one of the rock. I could see he hit it very hard as he nearly bounce back (I'm not exaggerate)! He showed a bit of lameness on the front right leg but after a while he was in the sea fighting the wave again!

my LOVER BOY who loves FLYBALL showing off his new harness!!

Saturn enjoying himself

Sing ran into one of those rocks behind

here is a series of picture of Sing fighting the wave:

here it comes!

Sing was in the wave

there he is!

got the ball, at last!

me and the boys at Marloes Sands rock

Skye borrows Sing's harness to show off!

BULLYBOY really suits him!

Saturn is having a BREAK

Saturn is having a break from agility for a couple of months!

For those who follows my post about this boy, he is clear from campylobacter but his bowel is not 100%, so the vet suggested I feed him Hill's prescription ID, both dry and wet mixed. He has been on ID for about four weeks now and he is doing good, no more diarrhoea or passing blood (touch wood!). I have been complaining that he is not on form in agility since Sheltie Show and he lost his stamina for the last two weekends at show. We went to Bernadette yesterday and she kindly check on him and told me Saturn is too thin, that brought my attention. I know he is always a skinny boy but because he is well cover in his lovely coat, nobody could really tell he is thin or fat. I've always made a record whenever I weight him and gosh, he lost nearly a kilo since he is on ID. Eventhough the ID is a highly digestible but it is blend with low energy, this expalin why the poor chap has no stamina!! As I am going away in a week's time, it is not good to change his food while he is staying with my friends but I will definitely put him back on Burns after I return from Malaysia.

I took him to the vet in the evening to ask Kevin to give him a good checkup, Kevin said he is healthy, which is a good sign. After the discussion with him and Bernadette's advice on feeding him extra, I am giving him 3 meals a day + 2 months NO agility, hopefully he will have time to recover and hopefully when I come back from Malaysia, he will fill up more and have a bit of muscle.

we have joy, we have fun, we have season in the sun ...

We went to Godmanchester for the weekend, apart from agility, we had a good weekend camping with friends, catching up with each others and to learn more about my new friends.

The boys were not coping well with the heat wave, especially Saturn, he was as flat as a pancake in this heat!! He was a mummy's boy and he tried so hard to pleased me! I was glad that I pulled him out from some classes. Besides my shelties, I could see there are a lot of dogs out there running very slowly and everybody was suffering in the heat!

The funny thing this weekend was when I ran Skye in the agility class on Saturday, there was a long U tunnel, he decided he will lie down in the middle of the curve and that made all of us laugh!

I like Godmanchester show, first time there, I was very lucky to have my friends save me a camping spot, so we were not miles away from the rings. Colin finished work a bit early but we were stuck in the traffic for hours! We camp next to the leisure centre, so toilet and shower were just a few hundred yards away, so handy! The ground was flat, the best ground I've ever run in! The only downside is the dog exercise area, it was ok in the evening after the day parking is gone but first thing in the morning is dangerous!

We had a nice BBQ on Saturday evening, chilled out with good food and wines, the dogs have a good played. Marion's Tess & Mick (both BC) like Sing so much, they actually fell in love with him!! Oh, Debbie's blue merle collie Saffie likes Sing too!!

On Saturday afternoon, they set up a flyball demo just in front of our camping spot, aren't they cruel? Poor Sing was winding everytime a dog was flyballing!! The poor chap missed flyball so much!! We gave up flyball three years ago due to travel distance and the long term injury. Luckily, there was a pay on the day for people to tryout. You can pay £1 for 3 goes, hopefully paying £1 will stop him winding but I was sooooo wrong, he wanted flyball so much!! He spent whole evening crying his heart out!!! When we were flyballing, we used to train in the American type Flat Fronted box which is better for the dog with swimmer's turn and less injury. Unfortunately at the demo, they have the British Boomerang type and they also adjusted the trigger tighter for the bigger dog (BCs), poor lightweighted Sing was struggling to trigger the box for the first couple of time but he was enjoying himself, that's the main thing! Once Sing gets up to Grade 5 (hopefully 6?), I think I will retire him from agility and take him back flyballing again!! When he was competing, his fastest time was 5.20seconds, I think that is very fast for a little sheltie and at Godmanchester, his fastest time was 5.90seconds. I also gave Skye a go, for a first timer, I think he did brilliantly!!

We got home around 7:30 on Sunday and it was still light and sunny and we decided to visit those goslings (hey Paula, I got it right this time!), so Sing can have a swim to cool down. Unfortunatley we didn't see any of these little things, I wonder if they have moved or hiding, hopefully the foxes didn't have all of them!!

Sing had a good swim in the pond and I thought it was a good time to encourage Skye to have another swim. Again, I need to throw the ball and chuck him in the pond and after that, he did the swim on his on without any help, hooray!!! Colin was amazed!! For some strange reason, I started walking into the pond and call Saturn to me, guess what? Sing was out there retrieving the ball and I have Saturn and Skye swimming round and round me, that's probably the best thing I achieved so far!! Who say shelties can't swim?????? I must try to take some videos next weekend when Colin is around.

My shelties are not great in agility but I think they are multitalented, most of all, I like to see them enjoying themselves. I take every opportunity to encourage a new behaviour. Here are some awful agiltiy runs (as you can see in Saturn's H/S, he almost given up!) but gosh! it was hot, I think they tried very hard. Bless them!

half a willow tree!

When we got back from Godmanchester last night, I was very upset to see I only have HALF a willow tree left!!! Bloody neighbour!!! They even damaged some of my bench in the garden!!! Didn't they upset me enough? They are burning the willow tree branches in their garden early this morning and all the smoke comes into every bit in OUR house!!! I better go and inspect my every piece of agility equipment in the garden!!!

my poor willow tree

When we moved to our current house nearly 5 years ago, we fell in love with the big old willow tree straightaway, we then realised it is a lot of hardwork to maintain the big garden with this big willow tree especially around autumn/winter and spring/summer time. Clearing up the leafs is exhausted!! But we tried to manage year after year and enjoy the shed when it gets too hot. We are very lucky we only have one neighbour, as on our left is a 0-5 nursery, they finish not later than 7pm, so during the day with the noisy children is good for the dogs. Our neighbour on the right does not like trees/shrubs/bushes, anything grows in their garden it has to go and in our front drive, we have some bushy bit that belongs to the council and they chopped everything down, all they want is a CLEAR garden! I like CLEAR garden for my agility equipments but I do like some trees/bushes to lighten up the garden.

I am trying to find a photo of the willow tree when it is in full, unfortunately I can't find any! The above photo is just about to show half of the willow tree in full blossom. My neighbour always get somebody in to chop their side of the branches down evert two-three months!!
I took this photo this morning before they chop the branches

and here is the poor willow tree, they haven't finish yet. They are hiring a scalfolding this time, I think they determine to chop the whole tree down!! They even ask me if I want my bit chop!! I am off to Godmanchester this weekend, I am so afraid to come back to a bald willow tree!!!