Saturn's Herding Clip

This is Saturn's herding clip. It took me too long to trim the video and I can just managed to do this, probably not the best editing of all but here we go, to my friends who were asking about it:

Sing's herding clip

After a few different attempts trying to upload the videos with no success, I have learned to trim the big file into 10 small pieces and I am glad it is finally up and running, this is Sing's herding video, Saturn will be on the way as his video takes longer to trim.

photos from Sheep Herding

I am still unable to upload the videos but managed to captured a few shots from the videos (so, the quality of the photos are very poor!!) of the boys working sheep, here is Sing trying to round up the sheep:

and here is Saturn moving the sheep:

and Saturn trying to get the run away sheep back to where he belongs:
the happy chap working sheep:

trainings

We have been quite busy for the last few days ... all sort of trainings. The most exciting trainings happened on Saturday and Sunday!

On Saturday, we went to Dial Post to do "Sheep Herding". This was just an introduction training, mainly to see if the dogs are interested in the sheep and have the instinct to herd. I put a lot of hope in Sing as when he was a puppy, he has a very strong herding instinct, he tried to herd the wild ponies when we were in Dartmoor and jump into the freezing cold water to herd the ducks in Wimbledon Common. Obviously we do not like this to happen again, so we "control" him whenver we go out walking in the country. He gradually learned that he is not allow to "chase" them over the years and on Saturday, when we showed him the sheep, he wasn't very interesed in them! He did have a good look at them but decided he rather be obedient!!

I was glad we have two go, so on the second go, I decided to give Saturn a go to see if he has any interest in the sheep. When the other dogs were working, I let him watch them. At first, he didn't know what is going on but when he saw the sheep moving, his vision changed. He was hyper and keen, so when our turn came, I took him in the pen. He dragged me towards the sheep and I let him go off the lead and he charged towards the sheep. The good thing is whatever he did, he did not harm any of sheep. For the 10-14 minutes session, he did not lose his attention on the sheep.

As this was just an introduction, so there is no skill or handling involved and I have never work sheep before. (To be honest, I was very scared of the sheep when I was in there!) I have no idea how to encourage him to work, so I let him get on with himself and occasssionally talk to him. I think he was proud of himself and sometimes he jumped up on my arm for priase!

I take that as a good start and I am thinking to persue a 6 weeks course to see how we get on. Colin has taken the videos but the files are too big (755MB) and I am struggling to upload and post them. I have tried to compress them but my program kept disconnect and fail to finish the compression. Unfortunately there is no photo at all, so to all my friends who kept asking me about the training, please be patient, I will try my best to upload the video, somehow!

On Sunday, we went to Bernadette for a Team training with Sing. We tried different runs and eventhough Sing wasn't accurate but we enjoyed the training very much and that gives me something to think about and focus on with Sing.

I will have today and tomorrow off but from Wednesday on, I will have more trainings everyday until Saturday and Sunday we are going to C Side.

photos from the glorious weekend

Didn't have a lot to say (but with lots of photos) ... we have some beautiful sunshine for the last few days eventhough it was -5c during the night but when the sun came out, it was a lovely blue sky with a lot of sunshine. We took the dogs to the Common for a good long walk, fed the poor hungry ducks and some seagulls came into action!!

This is Colin's favourite.

I like these two photos of the seagull

surfing seagull!!

LOVE is sharing

evil Titan!!



Seagull: I will get you!

The story of these three photos below:

Colin was busy feeding the duck on the other side of the pond and I was busy taking photos of the others running around and suddenly I heard something throw into the water and I thought it was Sing can't hold himself anymore and decided he should go and fetch all the breah his daddy threw for the ducks but I was surprised to see he was still running around next to his daddy. When I looked around to see if I missed any, I have realised Titan somehow run into the pond!! I wonder if he then realised it is not a land and it is water?

This picture was taken when he swam towards the other side of the island!!!

and this one, he realised there is nowhere for him to go and decided to turn back!!

he is another swimming sheltie after all!!

These happened once before when we were in Richmond Park. I was throwing ball for Sing in the pond and didn't keep an eye on all dogs but I knew all of them are around there barking madly. Suddenly, I heard a child shouting about 50 yards from us: Who's dog is this? and I turned to find Titan was in the water swimming towards those duckling, so I have to shout at him to get him to come back before he realised it is far and deep!!

I've spent my time and money taking these shelties to swim in the hydrotherapy pool, Titan is the worst among the rest. He gets very nervous and shaked all the time but look at the above photos, you never thought he will be timid near the water?

Saturn is great swimming in the pool, he really enjoys it everytime I take him to Greyfriars but he will never swim in the open water!! He is happily chasing the ducks but when the water is up to his chest, he will stop right there and won't go further!!

Sunday was another glorious day, you can't believe that we managed to have a small BBQ in the garden for lunch!!

the boys in the garden begging for a throw of a ball

Skye: Can you please give me the burger if I kiss you?

This is Tikka, he is nearly 14 now and still looking good.

I set up this crate in the kitchen permanently for Seagull. I normally keep him in there when I am out, I am so afraid he will have another "accident". He is a typical sheltie when comes to food!! When he is not in there, Tikka will sneak in and cute Seagull is also happy to share his crate with the cat. They spend most of the time in the crate together now!! How funny?

sad

I've subscribed to the Dog Lost and I receive emails from them very often (well, when there is a dog went missing!!). Just for the last few days, there are already two shelties were reported LOST! Thank God, Sophie was found SAFE on the same day near a railway line!!! Angus is still missing!!

Just as we enjoyed the good weather over the weekend, Joan rang to tell us she "caught" a Jack Russell Terrier and needed help. On Saturday, Joan was on her way home from the Common with her shelties, she saw a JRT (white with black) running loose on the street approaching every single person and she particularly likes children. She was about to tell the kids and the mum off for letting the poor dog running loose and was surprised to be told she is not their dog!! Anyway, Joan managed to lure the JRT to her and brought her indoor. She rang the police, RSPCA, dog warden ... and they kept passing her around, poor old Joan was so tired after 20 calls with no results. We spent 3 hours in the Common yesterday looking for posters and asked every single person we met if they know anybody lost a JRT ... Joan went to a few houses around the Common to knock on their doors to ask if they lost a dog ... by the end of the late afternoon still nobody claims her. Joan is getting desperate to get rid of her because she is a very excitable dog and the three shelties were very upset of her jumping on them! I was very sad and do not know what do with the poor girl, she looks very young, I would guess she is between 18 months to 2 years old. Very lively and smart, I thought I would keep her for agility but NO, I am a sheltie person!!

About 5pm, finally a couple of police officers turned up at Joan's. We guess they are from the Sutton police station as Joan rang a few stations and they kept passing her around. I was holding the dog when they arrived so the policeman asked me if I could put her in the van for them, as I put the dog in the big metal frame, I wish I would have claim her. Eventhough we were told she will be ended up in Battersea but I thought we could have find a better home for her!

I don't know if her owner is looking out for her? Or does she really have a owner? Or she has been dumped? She wore a "show" brown leather round collar without a tag and the collar is so big which we can't imagine that was belong to her!!

I was very sad all weekend and I hope all dog owners are really taking care of their dogs.

Please HELP find ANGUS!!

cross post from Dog Lost

ANGUS, 7 year old Sable Sheltie

missing from BR3

Angus ran off in Beckenham, Kent on the 16th February. May be trying to make his way home to Chislehurst. Angus is MICROCHIPPED. Please look out for him appearing in your area

http://www.doglost.co.uk/poster.asp?ID=12634

Happy Valentines

Wishing all my friends a very Happy Valentines!!

Please HELP to find lost Sheltie

update: Sophie has been found!!

Sophie has been found near a railway line at 9:30pm last night!!!!

Please HELP to keep your shelties/dogs safe!!!!!!

Cross post from Dog Lost:

4 year old Golden Sable and White bitch, Sophie.

Sophie ran off from the Spinnions (could be Pinions?), High Wycombe on the 13th February. Sophie is MICROCHIPPED and tagged but can be nervous of strangers. Please look out for her appearing in your area. Awaiting photo from owner, please check: http://www.doglost.co.uk/forum.asp?ID=12566 for updates.

Please HELP to look for this beautiful girl

wonderful weekends with a lot of sunshine

The weekend was good, lots of beautiful sunshine! Saturn and I went to Dave Jolly's training day on Saturday morning and enjoyed toroughly. I got home about 2pm and had lunch in the garden! It was such a beautiful sunny day and I can't resist not to take photos of the boys in the garden!

this is my handsome merle, Skye.

the dog of my heart!

and the dog of my soul, he is jumping onto my arm!!

the best way to take photo of Titan is have someone to hold him,

he can never get still for 1 second!!!! Here is Ling with Titan.

We then went out to walk the dogs in the Common, as Seagull is restricted to gentle walk during the week, so on the weekend he can run free, here is him enjoying his freedom chasing Titan and play fighting:

The Happy Seagull

practising Sing's running Dog Walk

We went to the ESSC Working Section AGM on Sunday and I was surprised that Sing was awarded The Suky Trophy!! What a Great surprised!!

The only bad news: I put up 4 kgs and now I am seriously on diet, getting fit for the new season!!

TRAVEL LODGE RIP OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have entered the boys at Chippenham and I thought if we can find somewhere to stay on Saturday night that would make life easy, at least we don't have to wake up early and drive a long way!

I knew Travel Lodge takes dogs so they are on our list to search for a place to stay for the night. After searching on the Internet and found Warminster branch is the closet. I've rang Warminster to book a room and the staff told me she can't take my booking over the phone because March is a long way away and suggested I book it online. We have tried to book the room online but their server was down and we returned two hours later to rebook and was happy we managed to find a decent price room. When I checked on my email later to find the confirmation letter from Travel Lodge gave me a heart attack!!

Instead of confirming my booking at Warminster, they sent me to Stonehenge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I quickly rang Stonehenge to check with them but the stafff there was very unhelpful, they said I cannot cancel the booking and I cannot do this and I cannot do that, after a very bad telephone conversation, she suggested I email Travel Lodge so I did. After I have not hear from them for 48 hours, I sent another email and this time I saw a note saying they will take 10 working days to reply to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the heck????????????????? There is no telephone number you can ring them and all you can do is WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, £39 is not a lot of money but I don't want to go and stay in Stonehenge, what is the point to stay an hour away from Chippenham? I rather go from home, it only took me 3 hours!!

C Side February show

We went to C Side yesterday, as usual, it was freezing cold and always a great show with friendly people, nice judges and lovely courses to run! Saturn was a bit naughty in the morning on the both 1-3 Agility and Jumping. He missed his contact and I was glad that judge Bernadette allowed me to put him back on the A Frame. In the Jumping round, he was frustrated at the beginning, I don't really know why but there was a dog tried to snatch him just before we went in the ring, it could be it? But when he gather himself half way through the course, it was good, he flew with nice speed.

Later in the afternoon, we have 1-7 classes. The jumping course was a bit tricky, there were 3 jump of your choice, you can jump either directions as long as you jump all three. All people use them as a snake and so do I, is just depending which way of the snake you prefer and I choose to run the inside bit. Sing was the first one up in this class, he was left in the car for 7 hours since we got there so he was very excited when he get the chance to run. Eventhough he is not a speedy dog but I think he did a lovely snake and his weave was very nice. Next up is Saturn. I plan to run him the same as I ran Sing, the snake version but it ended up him prefer a pull through, I was shocked when he took his first pull through, so I have to do another pull through to make it look like we are doing a pull through, unfortunately we got eliminated for doing that! I didn't take it too seriously after all it is just a show. Then, we started talking to friends about it and I was curious the way I did the pull through will put us to an "e'd", so I went to check with Lisa and she told me I shouldn't have penalised for doing that, at the same time, judge Sue came to apologize and asked me and Saturn to have a rerun for time. Ha! I haven't prepare for that but luckily Colin was there with the boys and off we went in for another run but this time, we did a SNAKE and Saturn came 4th in the Jumping round! That feel good! Saturn is on form again!! Unfortunately NOT!! In the agility round, he got his A Frame contact, didn't stop on top or slow down but right at the target point which made me very happy. As we went up the Dog Walk, he was fast then stop at the white bit (not at the target point), when I asked him to touch, he went further to do his target but I wasn't too happy about the hesitation so we finished just there! As for Sing, he missed his Dog Walk and pull out at 10th pole!! I think he got too hyper as he was barking mad at the start line and he was dashing too fast uncontrollably!

Oh yes! I did ran Titan for the first time since Lansdown. He was not perfect but is good to start with, he only ran away once in the ring to say hello to the ring party, just before he was thinking to say hello to judge Bernadette, I made sure I stop him and I am so happy he did listen! Again, his didn't get his weave entry, I knew this is the big issue at the moment but I was glad when he gets into the weave, he was fast, not slowing down. In the Jumping ring, he was a mischeivious!!

Titan and his weave

A lot of my friends asking me how is Titan and his training. Eventhough Ryan is handing him in the ring but I still train him whenever I have time. He is great. He is still a great mischievious but he calms down a lot now and I started to re-train his weave, instead of telling him to WEAVE, now I change the word to POLES, just something different.

Here is a little video of him training today:

What would you do when they get old?

I've been busy sorting through some photos for the last few days for myself and for Jim and Joan. I found some memorable photos of Jim and Joan's beloved shelties ...

This is sadly missed Sammy, they lost her last May Bank Holiday, aged 10.

Very soft, gentle, affectionate and sweet girl.

somehow, we dug out this photo below of Jim and his five shelties,

the Sables are: Mandy, Cathy, Trudy

and the Tris are: Tara and Tammy

This photo bring tears in my eyes, Tara and Tammy were in their old age and Jim had to carry them in the carrier bags when they take the dogs on holiday. I can't imagine when my boys get old but I am sure I will do what Jim did to his dogs!!

This is sweet Tara in the bag:

Now and Then

Ah! Blessed!

NOW

THEN

The handsome Merle

We have a couple of hours of lovely sunshine here this morning and I took the opportunity to explore my new camera further ... I can't resist to share this picture of Skye, I think he is sooooo handsome.

Nonsuch Park

We had a good day out to Nonsuch Park this morning. We met up with Katia and her girls for a nice walk. We haven't see her for quite a while and it was good to catch up and the boys were missing her and the girls too. Sing and Seagull went to stay with her whenever we go abroad! Obviously Katia is very good with dogs and the nervous Seagull feels comfortable with her.

I don't normally go to Nonsuch Park but it was good to have a change for the boys, they like somewhere different. To my surprised, Nonsuch Park is very busy and full of walkers, with or without dogs.

and ... you met so many rare breeds ... such as this Otter Hound
and this cute Siberian Husky puppy

and this unusual colour Daschund, I think he is called a Silver Tab colour??

and belows we have Katia's girlies:

introducing Shish, the Toy Poodle
and Dodi, a very sweet, gentle Golden Retriever
and her German Spitz, Hebe

As we taking the loop back to the carpark, I saw someone flying a hawk!!!!

He is my Champion

I showed Colin the videos of the boys swimming at Greyfriars yesterday and he couldn't believe Saturn was brave and keen at the pool. Since this morning was sunny and bright, he suggested I should take Saturn to the Common to let him try to swim at the open water, so off he took Sing, Seagull, Titan and Skye to the park and I took Saturn to the Common to give him a 1 to 1 attention. I was getting him very excited before throwing the ball further, he was keen and excited everytime I threw the ball ... as I thought he was ready, I decided to throw the ball a little further that he can't easily get, unfortunately it was quite windy, the ball get further when he dash in and he hesitated. As I saw the ball get further and further and I knew there is no way I can get him to fetch the ball. I have to call Colin for Sing's rescue!

When Colin and the boys got to the Common, they were very happy to see me especially Sing. He thought I had a great swimming game with Saturn and got very jealous. As this time, the ball was blown to the other side of the island, maybe about 25/30 yards from this end. I wonder how can I tell Sing to fetch the ball. As it was a long distance and I do not want to tired him out by sending him out there mnay times. I found some sticks and Colin threw the first one which was so close to the ball, off Sing jumped into the water and fetch the stick back straight away but that's not what we want!! I thought for a while but decided I should chuck a stone instead of a stick and I was glad my aim was close too and off Sing in the water again, as there was no object floating, I have to keep telling him to "go on" and "find the ball" commands (until I lost my voice!!) ... he was such a good boy, he found the ball and brought it back. He is such a wonderful boy!!

this sunny morning, it started by taking Saturn to the Common to teach him to swim in the open water ... unfortunately he is a coward!! He was barking with excitment but never get to swim!!
I threw the ball and the wind blew it away and poor Saturn kept barking at it and still won't go in to fetch the ball ... and it ended up at the end of the other island opposite, about 25/30 yards away.

Sing comes to rescue!

Yes, Sing may not be a fast agility dog but he is my Champion!