"The Pit"

"MIndy" - Real agility training 28th Jan 2012

2012-01-30T11:02:00.002Z

Here's my fighter!
I am trying hard not to watch and leave that to the video camera! but it is hard, I have just started, well Saturday in putting a course up and doing little bits slightly more complicated to what she or I are used too, but I am still finding my self watching her sail over the wrong jump, but hell, it's not surprising, hopefully we will get the "all clear" on Thursday that we can start entering some any size classes at Micro height.

"Mindy" weaves 28th Jan 2012

2012-01-30T11:01:00.003Z

Oh she can weave too, so it seems, she learnt with the 2 x 2 method.

What an amazing little dog to think 7 months ago today around the same time as this posting going live she was injured, paralysed on three legs and screaming, what a journey we have been on over the last 7 months and do you know what, I have learnt to accept that I could have done nothing, it was meant to happen this was our journey, it wasn't my fault etc. I don't regret what has happened, yes I am sad at times, but boy I have learnt such a lot about myself, let alone physio exercises along the way, I have met some amazing people, too many to name names and all of you have touched our hearts in ways you will never know, but thank god for you all.

If I could bottle up what ever is driving Mindy forward I would be rich finianically, but boy she has made us rich in so many other ways...LOVE you Miss Manic Mindy

Love this picture!

2012-01-25T10:26:00.005Z

Sues having her last chemo today, whoop whoop, what a star she's been, Sue popped in for a cup of tea yesterday and Dear Miss Mindy surprised us all by jumping on Sue's lap, Mindy doesn't do cuddles or strokes as a lot of you know from experience, you don't invade her space and you aren't allowed to stroke unless she invites you too! But here she is enjoying Sue's company.....But I recon she's just after the tea bag!!

Tea bag, smells nice on plate...hummmmm

I so love Sue's hat, you cant see from the photo but it has flowers made of the same material up the side, hope Sue continues to wear them after her hair comes back, she looks good in hats, I love hats, but very rarely wear them...no idea why! Not sure whether this is one handmade here in Cornwall, St Agnes way, must ask her. Right off to walk Sues girls with Sennen.

"Mindy" having fun

2012-01-19T17:15:00.004Z

Mindy looking good, she has come on in leaps and bounds, she is over her phantom now and wants so much to work with me, bless her, she has so much drive. She really wants to come out on a Wednesday evenings now, when I take Sennen to club and I have been feeling really sad leaving her behind, so Nikki Mindy's massage lady! has really pushed me by saying she wants to come and watch her indoors, so we have set a date 1st Feb and now I'm very nervous, excited, panicky, why?
I suppose because that takes us one more step nearer before filling in entries to anysize (Micro height) Nikki always set us homework, but never a date.....

So we can do more agility, including the warm up, over the cone poles, figure of 8 and toy throwing before we start, that all takes longer than actually doing the agility! but do we care?

"Sennen" Weaving

2012-01-19T17:14:00.006Z

I asked Ian to video, just so I could see how she was doing, great IMO!

Random again!!

2012-01-11T13:10:00.010Z

New year, new eating habits need to be addressed! not a diet, but less processed fast, food, well that's the plan. Ian only likes fish when it's battered, but we had some M and S voucher left over last year so bought some Salmon to try, well what actually happened was Ian saw the advert for a nice Brie and Salmon lattice puff pastry thing, so we went in to buy that and it had sold out so we got some salmon and brie and I asked the question on FB what I should do with it, end result no fuss, stick on on top of salmon and make a parcel, so in the theme of Cornwall, it's a puff pastie! it was a bit dry and ideally if I do it again we will make a sauce of some sort to go with mash pots and peas but the good news was Ian ate it and we had a non processed fast meal, whoop whoop....
Mindy and Harry get cold during the day, as I have really clipped them (well used the kitchen scissors again) and are now really short coated, Val will kill me when she see's them again, just cant afford to take them every two months...look closely as Harry is there too!
Even the Lurcher likes to be warm and is very bad and remakes our bed and gets under the covers with her muddy paws, talking of beds...
we bought a 6 foot "super kingsize" it arrived Monday, Ian - trying it out with Sennen, he doesn't usually go to bed with his woolly hat on..just need to buy a head board and save up for some decent duvet covers these are cheap ebay ones and we tend to slid around, but wow what a good night sleep I've had, cant wait to get back there tonight.

Agility classes have started back up now, I'm busy as long as the ground can hold out, not good for large dogs here...Sennen starts back tonight at club, she has done her first full height AFrame (at 15 months old, thought it was time) this week - running...yes running, using Dawn Weavers method, you will just have to go and and join in with her on line lessons, would take me too long to teach you how, but when Ian's free I'll get him to video the end result, I'm pleased and Sennen is happy, so that's the main thing.
I am still shocked to see people doing so much with their young dogs (agility wise), but I suppose time will tell whether they are still competing at 10 years olds, yes I teach lots of tricks, but not everyday and I do play with toys and teach them to tug, they also do spend a lot of time being dogs, walking and playing with each other and me, I was so very shocked to see a video of one 5 or was it 7 month old collie doing not only a number of small height jumps along with a running AFrame.....Just youtube running Aframes and he will come up!

Here we go again!

2012-01-03T10:54:00.007Z

New Years Day, on Hawkers Cove Beach, Funny how you can walk down here on this beach all year around and only meet the odd dog walker, but NYD every dog and man appears, Harry's on the lead as he had told a rude lab off for trying to steal the toy and join in with "His" pack..

You can see Rock across the water (sea)

Happy New Year everyone, may all your dreams and hopes for 2012 come true...

Christmas 2011 opening presents!

2011-12-27T15:43:00.000Z

Poor bah humbug Mindy!!

Exhausting this Christmas stuff!

2011-12-27T14:49:00.003Z

That was 2011

2011-12-27T14:33:00.008Z

We got up early to watch the sunrise on Christmas morning down on the beach at Harlyn Bay, it was lovely and all the dogs had fun, paddling and Mindy got to chase a few birds, so she was very, very happy!

Caught in the act, Harry checking out the presents! Usually they are all under the tree, but bad girl Sennen has spent most of this Christmas break dismantling the tree decorations, so some how I don't think presents under the tree would have lasted a few seconds!

opening up presents, Sennen and Harry, they love the soft toys, but again spoil sport Sennen, disembowels all soft toys and steal every ones so she can have that pleasure, so another note to remember next year, no soft toys, Red loves her lion, poor girl, she played with it for about 20 mins when Sennen spotted it!

Poor Mindy hates every second of present opening and always has done, even when we added treats to them, this is her usual stance at Christmas, poor girl... Bah humbug

Harry's Christmas Band!

2011-12-20T15:08:00.003Z

"Harry and the Potters" Thanks to Anne for the band name, which seemed apted at the time as I was using paint pots, but it made more noise on the tines..
Any way "Merry Christmas" everyone from us all her at "The Pit" xx

Our 5th Christmas!

2011-12-12T11:30:00.006Z

Garland's up! The Christmas Tree is up, although I am not sure whether it will last Sennen is dismantling it faster than I can keep the decoration on it, bad girl, it's a new slim line tree one, as our little house is just so small and now we have so many dogs! We cant fit it in, well we did have to buy the dogs a sofa and new dog beds! (just to keep up with Nancy and her dog bed fetish?)

Love Buzz, he looks so comfy in one of the new beds, the other one is bigger.....

Oh yes forgot to say earlier, we aren't sending Christmas Cards this year, we are donating what we would have spent including postage and sending the money to "Help the Hero's"

"Harry" celebrating living in Cornwall.

2011-12-12T11:06:00.003Z

This is our 5th Christmas in Cornwall, Harry was only 4 months when he came with us to Cornwall and lived in our 2 berth caravan in Aly's and Nicks field with 3 collies and him, bit cramped, cold and muddy, but we made 5 months of Cornish Winter and now 5 years on Harry celebrated by getting out the flags to celebrate...

"Mindy" on Perranporth Dunes.

2011-12-12T11:05:00.004Z

It's been a while since you've seen a video of Mindy running!
Mindy loves to Run, you can see she cant quite reach that last little bit of full extension, actually she does reach it but her tail goes straight for a few strides which is different to how she used to run, not sure how this will affect her jumping ability, we are just coming up to 6 months since her accident, she has done amazingly well and even if she only does the odd "any size" class if she wants too, she has achieved way more than we thought she would, she certainly can lead a normal pet life, if she doesn't come back to agility we will spay her, but if she comes back and can cope then I may still have my dream of breeding one litter from her.....and keeping all the pups myself!!! well she may only have one! If she has more I might let some very special people who still want one from her, so that is something, not sure when her next season will be as she is all out of sink (spelling) but I'm thinking around July time......

If you watch carefully at the end of the clip you can see her do a "head over T" fall, she did them before her accident, so nothing new, just something else to scare you with!

Harry pack your bags!

2011-12-06T13:17:00.004Z

Well this year, December is our month off from agility well for Harry and Sennen anyway! So to keep the brain cells going we do lots of long walks and lots of trick training when the weather is horrid.

This morning was one of those days, as Harry was trying to get Sennen to chase him and as she is still on lead walking (due to being spayed) thought I had better get the clicker out, so in 5 mins we got this one, which is quite apt as we are also trying to do a group "Drumming" session to "Merry Christmas" song, but we need a little bit more fine tuning for that one as Sennen keeps trying to eat Harry costume...! So he's packing his bags!

Random!!

2011-12-05T16:40:00.006Z

For Helen!...a Unimog, but his was yellow rather than sainsbury orange...

I remember whilst growing up, playing in a shed on wheels, so maybe it was something like this, it had a stove in it and tiny cups and saucers and a wind up gramophone (worth a fortune by now no doubt, but I expect with our use was never seen again) it was in Grandma and Grandads garden nestled in amongest loads of apple trees and my cousin Kimmy and I would make up plays to produce for the family to sit around and be our audience. Ha ha the one I remember the most was going to the dentist and having to have a tooth removed! so we tied a long piece of string on to a door and then on to this huge "Paper" tooth and slammed the hut's door ouch...

Well where did that memory come from! funny old things our minds!

Thank our lucky stars!

2011-11-30T13:38:00.010Z

Ian thankfully survived this gate, having not been secured correctly blowing open in front of him as he was driving home last night, in the dark on a country lane, he missed the gate, but hit numerous 6-8 inch trees along the side of the Discovery and then stopping passenger side down in a 6 foot ditch, thank god he was in the Discovery and not my little car, it took him a little while to get out and run back to shut gate before anyone actually hit it...
Anyway the Discovery didn't look too bad until the recovery people came to get it out and they smashed the front window and put a chain through the doors to get it out and squashing the drivers side roof at the same time, so it's now a write off, as you can imagine Ian is gutted he has spent may hours and money getting it ready to rock and roll, oh they tried to drive it out and broke the diff too, not sure how they thought they could drive it out with only the two passenger wheels on the ground..but hey they did!
So we went and emptied of our personal belongings, also please that the both end dog guards where in place as they have taken a bashing from Ian's work tools in the back, but he walked away with no broken bones or cuts, so THANK YOU who ever you are looking after him and long may you continue...

Bet the sunroof leaks now! Only those with Discovery will laugh at that one!

Sennen was spayed yesterday too, poor girl she has just had to get on with it, I stayed with her whilst she had her pre-med and was meant to go back sit with her before she woke up and then bring her home, Nikki came from Canine Remedial Massage for Mindy, so I didn't get to pick her up until 12.30. My vets are great, I did tell them that she had started to guard her crate and I was working hard to resolve this and hoped they wouldn't put her in a crate if there were any other dogs in the room with her (she's fine with people) any way when I got back for her there she was sat on a fleece with a duvet over the top of her in reception behind the desk, how nice is that, great vets Rock View, she is resting now with one of Ian's tee shirts on to stop her licking although I have not even had a look at it yet, I am sure once we have stopped flying around and leave it all to someone else, Ian will no doubt stiffen up and I'll have a cry (may be)

It seems to help having a blog to write it all down!

Scary Floor!

2011-11-23T14:30:00.004Z

Poor Buzz having a scary floor moment, he has been the same for a very long time, he can walk on the floor fine and then one day there's no way you can get him to walk on it...doesn't matter what surface, but today was the dog room floor! after he had been for a lovely stress free walk and he had eaten his bones, there was no way he was coming into the house.
After an hour he came in on his own accord as if nothing was the matter!
No idea what's going on in his head, but he is curled up at my feet, whilst I'm telling you all about him....Love him x

ahhh, foster dogs and visitors!

2011-11-16T11:50:00.006Z

Mindy, as you can see is rather a Daddy's girl!
This is Diesel the foster boy, arrived as an urgent case Saturday morning, 6 months old entire boy, great social skills with dogs and humans, nothing that I can see needs working on apart from when he arrived he didn't know how to sit, down etc, but he can now, great these clickers! pulls on the lead, so halti trained now too, we have got a placement in a better foster home as our house is just too small for another big dog from Sunday onwards, but would be nice to find him a home down here in Cornwall, save having to transport him upcountry, he's a collie I expect with something else in there too, he's the size of Sennen, plays tug and loves his balls, ideal as an agility dog or an active pet home.
Our visitor! yep he's black and white blackbird and been with us since spring, hope he makes it through our winter and doesn't get picked on...

MIndy "Bump Jumps"

2011-11-05T12:15:00.007Z

It's been a while, I know, I've been busy and time seem to be flying past and I seem to be getting nothing done. The nights are drawing in, teaching is weekends mainly now weather permitting, I do struggle with the ground, it just gets so wet down in this part....

But after a bit of encouragement from various people, I tried Mindy around a circle of "Bump jumps" or is it "Jump bumps" it's old guttering, which ends up doubling up as something I start the veggys off in the green house with!

Anyway we use them just so she doesn't slip on a poles, although she is jumping a lot higher, wider and longer out on her wood walks, this is more controlled so we start low and for me to gain confidence that she is okay-ish, her toy is her reward stationary and thrown.

I did spend the whole time watching her and not sorting out her toy reward in time, I should just get Ian to video and then me just to work her, otherwise we could have an accident because I'm not telling her what she needs to know early enough etc....this is very scary for me, I saw in the flesh she struggles with the grip going around to her left, but it doesn't really show on the video, she is wider in her turns back to me, but maybe she was before the accident, I cant say I remember really, after such a serious accident you do find yourself doing way too much watching every foot step etc.

She is still having her massage sessions, with Nikki Townend from the Canine remedial Massage. Mindy adores her and I mean that, those that know Mindy will be amazed to hear that she likes another person as much as Ian and I, maybe she is just mellowing? Anyway Nikki will be coming this Tuesday, so it will be interesting to see, whether doing controlled circles isn't good or has pulled a muscle/tightened somewhere before I do any more.

"Sennen" Weaving Oct 2011.

2011-10-20T18:59:00.000+01:00

..and here's the video!

Taking it on the road!

2011-10-20T14:08:00.009+01:00

Sennen is learning to weave using the 2 x 2 method, I should have listened to what Susan G says on her DVD, don't start them until a year old, I didn't and started her at 11 months and within 3 weeks she was weaving a full set of 12 (new width weaves) but I had been very bad AGAIN and not taking them into different environments and my garden is fenced in with no distractions except the old "Puff" joining in on the session...
Anyway after she was weaving a full set I went back to 6 and took them on the road, went to Mums last week and Mum took some pictures (She's clever my Mum) this was Sennen's first attempt at weaving this set of 6 in a new place and the first photo (yes she got them)
So then we "upped" the anti and added Mum's dogs, here's Lilly, Sennen did great and only missed one entry over the 6 mins of totally training time including tugging....
and lovely Polly who would have been great at agility, if only I had lived closer to Mum, Polly's running flat out past the weaves as she wants to beat Sennen to her toy!
PS. I did swop sides and I did do some cross behinds but nothing fancy!
and my final distraction area, was this week in the crazy Rabbit field along side the A30, this was so hard for Sennen as this is where she can really open up on a short field walk and where all the bunnies live and...and....
I did the first rep straight out the van and back towards the van, so not looking out into the field, she did it but was really wanting to get going, but I managed to turn her attention on to tugging and having fun with me and the couple of mins rep into the field she was fab, she is trying to one foot them too........

Going, going GONE!

2011-10-16T12:23:00.007+01:00

Aren't we lucky to have a neighbour with a digger?

So just some, wheels and tyres, oh and some axles to sell now, nice digger neighbour popped 10 tonnes of top soil over the fence too, just right for the veggy garden and this area which tends to get waterlogged in the winter, so we are trying to raise it! the soak aways from the house are under there somewhere, which had to be redone when we first moved in....

For a friend!

2011-10-12T11:38:00.005+01:00

This is a post for a Friend who starts her chemo today, to help her fight breast cancer, did you know 1 in 8 women get it?

and actually it's "Love from us all here, at The Pit"

Sennen a week later...

2011-10-05T12:29:00.000+01:00

hummmmm

2011-10-04T10:24:00.010+01:00

What do these 3 pictures have in common?
Well this is Jacob, who lives in Somerset and he is Sennen's litter brother, can you see the white GSD in him.....
and just to remind you this is Annie Mummy

So I recon the dad was a White GSD, dont you???

Tugging with Mindy!

2011-09-28T19:38:00.000+01:00

"From Time to Time"

2011-09-27T14:20:00.005+01:00

I pinched the below statement/poem what ever you want to call it, from Dawns face book page, it was just so apt for me for this past week, as I met a chap who used to work with dogs in the RAF (many years ago) and his words to me where, when I was telling him about Mindy ...."it's just a dog"

“From time to time, people tell me, “lighten up, it’s just a dog”, or, “that’s a lot of money for just a dog”. They don’t understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for “just a dog”. Some of my proudest moments have come about with “just a dog”. Many hours have passed and my only company was “just a dog”, but I did not once feel slighted. Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by “just a dog” and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of “just a dog” gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day. If you, too, think it’s “just a dog”, then you will probably understand phases like “just a friend”, “just a sunrise”, or “just a promise”. “Just a dog” brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy. “Just a dog” brings out the compassion and patience that makes me a better person. Because of “just a dog” I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future. So for me and folks like me, it’s not “just a dog” but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment. “Just a dog” brings out what’s good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day. I hope that someday they can understand that it’s not “just a dog” but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being “just a human.” So the next time you hear the phrase “just a dog”, just smile, because they “just don’t understand."

So Thanks Dawn xx

"Hawkers Cove"

2011-09-19T13:05:00.003+01:00

11 weeks on from her operation and here's Mindy having fun on the beach at Hawkers Cove, just thought I'd lighten the tone after my last little post!!!
Playing ball with her is not so scary but chasing the birds across the beach and into the sea still is...

"Harry" running part of Barrie James course

2011-09-19T13:04:00.002+01:00

Well I'm slowly getting back into training Harry, taken a while to want too, let alone think of a course to put up, so I cheated and used the course (well part off) that Barrie James used for a Crufts Q at Lansdown back in June that I couldn't go too, so thanks Barrie in pushing me to try it out!
Also thanks to Dawn Weaver and her monthly video tuition (which you can find down the right hand side links)which has been great fun to also push me forward with my training, I am starting to enjoy it now and although I have only been to a few shows since Mindy's accident, I am SLOWLY starting to enjoy them too, but give me an excuse to leave and I'm gone! I seem to still feel, "well what I got to aim for, Harry G7?"
I used to be really obsessed with winning this and that, but it just doesn't float my boat any more, been there and done it....

I do get fed up with people saying they were .01 second in front or behind Harry and if they had have got that contact they would have beaten Harry or Joe Bloggs....well you didn't and you didn't so get a life!
I felt really sad hearing another agility competitor last weekend (or was the weekend before) get them self right upset, they had won the class fair and square, beautifully handled, better than I handled it! but said after we all cheered at prize giving, that if such and such had been there, that they would have said they would have beaten them...as I promptly told them well they weren't there, so enjoy that win and anyway you were foot perfect, so I doubt they would have beaten you anyway....Some people really don't know when it's just best to shut their mouths....

Now will I press the publish post button or scrap everything I have just written as I felt I needed to vent that!
Oh well here goes nothing....

The biggest one yet!

2011-09-13T12:56:00.005+01:00

The veggy's patch is still producing!

We didn't have a great crop this year, mainly our fault in not getting better organised (we are new at it!) we still have carrots as you can see, some Spinach, Lettuce (cut and come again) beans, the tomatoes have yet to turn red, so no doubt we did something wrong! we had one plum but loads off small apples, which I have to admit the dogs ate!

I have grown on some cheap heathers from the supermarkets, which are now 3 x the size they were when I bought them, haven't planted them out yet and maybe I'll let them grow some more and put them out next year, we bought some more laurel hedging plants at the auctions and these too I have re potted and are now strong and healthy 3ft ers! ready to go into place...

I do enjoy re potting bits and taking cutting to see if anything grows, makes so much financial sense...Think we did our last cut down in the agility area, I do try and leave 3-4 inches and then hopefully will help to keep it all together over the winter, but with Sennen she'll going to be one of those dogs that will enjoy skidding around in the mud, doing handbrake turns...

Talking of Sennen she came into season on Saturday, well at 11 months I suppose it had to happen sooner or later! but I suppose that will give me time to decide when to spay her...December time maybe...Harry thinks all his Christmas have come at once, was wondering whether this would bring Mindy in too...have to wait and see.

Mindy had her last Treadmill session yesterday, she is so fit now and has muscled up nicely, free running she looks great especially in the woods, jumping ravines, ditches, logs bigger than small height and staying upright whilst playing chase with Sennen and Harry through the undergrowth, stretching right out as she jumps brambles etc, lovely to watch now rather than being very scary..I have not stopped the ground work but trying not to make it a chore as by the end of 8 weeks I was exhausted and running out of ideas of what else to do with her...so now maybe once a week we get all the balance stuff out the shed and line it all up big balls, small balls, peanut ball, wooden balance board, plastic one and the blow up one and she walks from one to the other etc. I have started playing with her agility toys, throwing them letting her retrieve them from a stand still and now on the move, mainly for me to not to panic as she skids and slides and somersaults over the top of them, well if I cant play with her toys she isn't going to be able to do the next stage agility IMO...she couldn't care less, it's just my nerves but one step at a time...for me! Mindy would rather just get on with it...and I have witnessed her chase after a bird jumping the jumps along the way, which is why I have put the poles back down on their lowest height on the jumps (for my sanity!) out in the agility garden...

So maybe she can do some agility in time...Peter the vet, seems to think so and he also said to hang fire spaying her, especially as it was an accident. Still not sure about that, but I'm not sure whether I'll do agility with her either...we will just have to wait and see...

ONE STEP AT A TIME!

Pictures to help catch up!

2011-09-07T10:24:00.007+01:00

Still don't seem to have much time!
fancy that! so Pictures will help catch me up...Here's Mindy still going to physio and tread mill at Hawksland, Wadebridge, Ross gets in with her after she has been in the spa and had some massage/physio...she is up to 16 mins and seems to cope really well with the water draining now and walks in a straight line...

Mindy - The above award arrived in the post for 2010, Harry won this in his first year of competing and so did Red in her first year, except Red was for Starters....

Sennen ate it!

John caught playing with his toy at Pembrokeshire!

"Red's" final anysize jumping classes

2011-09-01T08:11:00.002+01:00

A bit out of order, but back to Pembrokeshire and Red's Last AnySize Jumping.....She really enjoyed then and I felt I wanted to retire her before she hurt herself, she never has done anything with any care about her body, so with anycourse like this last one, I didnt want to push her.....so I can still run her at home with straight lines and her toy waiting for her at the end etc.......

2011-08-31T11:49:00.006+01:00

RIP Monty, Monty was my cat, yes I used to have a cat, until I moved to Bristol to be with Ian and he lived on a fast road, so I asked Mum as you do, could she cope with another cat ...that was 16/17 years ago, which made him 20 years and 7 months old when his bones just got too old, he had been blind and deaf for a few years at this stage and he was a grumpy old man! he had a great life with Mum, lots of land to wander around, mice and birds to take home etc.....

I don't have a photo of him as unfortunately a lot of my photos were destroyed when the roof leaked in the shed and his photos along with my growing up photos were destroyed......

But you get the picture, when I say he was a black and white cat, more black than white......So you will have to just make do with a photo of Sennen at 10.5 months old, taken yesterday out on an evening walk with Ian, up Hamburger hill, where the skys where so clear we could see the coast on the right and the left of us easily, it was a lovely evening and I'm glad, we made the effort to do an evening walk with the dogs together....

"Mindy" - 8 weeks after her operation.

2011-08-30T11:08:00.004+01:00

Struggling to catch back up with my blogging!

Well Mindy continues to improve, never say never and all that!!
Here she is along with the others on a lovely hour morning walk at Ladock woods on Monday, where she was off for all of it apart from the manic first 10 mins, cant believe it's 8 weeks since her operation, so much has happened, so much water has passed under the bridge, so many end of era things have happened too, not sure where to start to tell you...

The one that's sat there on the top of my mind, is hearing from Elaine that Bethany did amazing well in her exams and is off to Cardiff uni in September, well done Beth, Ian and I are so proud of you and Red sends you a big kiss and woof (Beth first started to run Red in Junior classes at the age of 10, they were a great team.)
....and then hearing that lovely Todd (Odd Todd of Valgray) has gone to join Laddy, Freda and Cassie, where he could bark and charge around to his hearts content, he was Andy's senior dog, I was telling Elaine my most memorable moment was watching Andy win into Senior with him at Corton show at Wotton Bassett on a jumping course, he made it look like a stroll in the park, it was a perfect round......RIP Toddy.

Maybe I'll post another entry later today, just need to give Todd some of my thoughts....

Pembrokeshire!

2011-08-27T13:47:00.012+01:00

Isn't she cute, bless her, thought it was better to keep the curtains shut, keeps it cooler and stops Mindy fretting!

We have just come back from a holiday in Pembrokeshire, we left at silly o'clock in the morning and arrived 5.30 hours later, just in time for morning coffee! We were camping on the airfield at Haverford West, great weather all week long apart from the Monday, but we still managed a walks in the woods with the dogs......
Sennen is becoming quite a water baby, except she hasnt swam yet!
Mindy at this stage was on the lead and Harry doesn't do water, so didn't want his photo taken....
The boys playing with their balls! I never quite know whether these two have any rules, but can often been seen around the caravans armed with a can in their hands and tape measure in their pockets, Ian recon he won that night (not that he's competitive or keeping tabs!!)
I think the main rule is you have to get as close as you can too the white ball, these two can be often found with head torches on playing this, although this was the first time this year, as John and Chris haven't spent too much time camping at shows with us!! only kidding it's getting Ian to come camping that's been hard this year...

Lovely Katie May, not wanting her photo taken....

Mindy second day off lead!

2011-08-25T12:21:00.000+01:00

we have been computerless...trying now to catch up, lots to tell you, but you will have to make do with the best news....Mindy started to come off the lead for small amounts of time, whilst we were on our holis in Pembrokeshire....

Nanny Mac Phee?

2011-08-11T16:49:00.003+01:00

...all I need, is a wart on my nose!

Happy Holiday's everyone, Mindy relaxing after a water tread mill session, of course Sennen has to get in on the act too...Love my dogs xx

"Mindy" August 2nd 2011

2011-08-02T13:08:00.005+01:00

A month after her operation, looking amazing, well I think so!

Thanks to Clive and Elaine Snook for drinking so many beer and cider cans for Mindy at the weekend, and Chris and John for supplying us with the Trellis, yes I know it wasn't meant for Mindy but for my camping trips...

She is continuing to improve, but not so rapid as the first two weeks, but Peter Attenburrow did tell us that. We are continuing with the ttouch that Shona Moon showed me last week, I have got the hang of the "hair slides" she loves them and lots of back of the hand work, she still finds any mouth work to "in your face!" so have just done hair slides around the area, especially as her face hair is growing rather long now, she really could do with a clip and get her looking a bit more even, just don't think she would cope with being at the groomers just yet, although lovely Val did do Harry at the show at the weekend as I had lots of comments, how fat Harry was! little did they know it really was hair, he looked great for Sunday.....Yes I went to a show, the "Agility club" still haven't managed to do any training, so the least said about my handling the better.

It was great seeing everyone and nice to know we are on peoples minds and it was lovely that people came to talk to me about Harry or Sennen, even though I hadn't a clue who they were, but they read my blog...

Yes Sennen came too, on her first of many camping trips, she was very good, apart from catching a mixy rabbit with Tamsins two terrier boys, Albert and Toby on the cross country course...... more recall work required. I was very careful where I let her off and what dogs where around as now she adores small dogs and expects all of them to be like Harry, Mindy, and now Albert and Toby. She was great around the rings, spoke nicely to loads of dogs and played nicely with others, she even found a big pup to play with, Sara's Zips and Kiz Puppy, but with all the excitement of them playing I forgot to ask names, sorry Sara. She tugged like a good em! and concentrated enough to do waits and tricks around the rings, she gets excited watching the "squeaking" dogs running, bless her, she barks more like a Shepherd each day...ugh!

I took Harry and Sennen for an MOT with the Galen girls, Sennen was given the all clear to start back agility and actually I am looking forward to starting back with her and Harry, Sen has had 5 weeks off and she has driven us all mad with her antics......anyway Harry apparently wasn't so good and needs to see the chiro, which so happens, I had booked for next Wednesday anyway, he was booked in along with Mindy's first vet approved visit....

Oh yes Mindy is allowed a new harness less bulky camo pink fleecey one, from "Dog Games" site, they where very good and allowed me to have a selection to take to Peter and let him choose which he wanted her to wear he choose the cheaper model as it had a wider fleece ad less buckles, I think he was siding with Ian on how easy ti was to put on personally, I liked the more expensive one....

..and lastly I spent rather a lot at the show, buying a fleecy harness for Sennen to wear when she is pegged to the floor on her stake rather than attaching to her collar, a lead with her name sewed in (Ian doesn't like it, thinks it should have been a nicer colour, well I suppose that's an excuse to buy another one some day!!) and a pot of "Riaflex" for Mindy (well I couldn't forget her could I?) Oh and got some free samples of "joint aid" too.......

Think that's all the news...the Discovery's are still sat at the bottom of the garden, oh well what's another few weeks!

"Mindy" physio exercises 24th july.

2011-07-25T14:41:00.000+01:00

Physio with Mindy

2011-07-25T14:18:00.003+01:00

I thought you might like to see what "Physio" stuff Mindy is up too!
I hadn't put all this altogether in one session before, Mindy has along with Harry and Sennen and any other pup that pops in for training already walked on most of these surfaces before as pups.

Mindy had been walking on a few bits of different surfaces over the past two weeks, wood, grass, shavings, plastic, so just added a few others, Elaine reminded me about bubble wrap and I added the flat tunnel plastic, wood, plastic fencing, foam filled plastic cover, sound proofing out of the disco, ladder (first time) odd bit of material, fleece blanket, roofing felt, cardboard box and tin filled with sand...(thanks Tamsin for that idea) weave poles and a tin.

This session lasted 10 mins, which I'm not sure was too long in one go, although as she was being fed treats all the way around, she didn't seem to get bored and when I stopped she would merrier go off to stand on something for more food! But I swooped this session with one of her 3 x 10 min walks, so maybe I have answered my own question!?
Elaine also suggested maybe better to use cones and poles rather than a ladder as it has a bit more give in it, so perhaps I'll put the ladder away for a few more weeks as I don't have any cones, unless some of you guys want to lend me some !
The session I videoed was from yesterday, Sunday and today is 3 weeks since her operation, she starts the treadmill tomorrow and Thursday she will be having a session of ttouch, if Shona Moon can get near her!

Sennen met Sennen Cove this week!

2011-07-24T16:29:00.005+01:00

Ian even posed..... the once!!

Sennen meets Sennen Cove, well almost they (dogs) aren't allowed on the beach!

Ian had a week off work, this past week, so we had a couple of days out, then Ian set too working around the place, hopefully the "Discos" will be moving on to their new homes, getting fed up at looking at them out the kitchen window and I think Ian is too, whoop whoop!!!!

Sennen "go-on work"

2011-07-24T14:55:00.002+01:00

I had forgotten you hadn't seen this, videoed it in June a few days after I had hurt my back (and just before Mindy hurting her's) and was I missing a weekend show....pig sick!
anyway I think she did great considering she was going to a dead toy and I couldn't run, no bottom shuffling waits here at this house !!!!!

"Mindy" so here she is...

2011-07-18T15:08:00.003+01:00

Remember to play the music from the video below at the same time!

The Association - Windy (1967)

2011-07-18T15:02:00.002+01:00

play along with Mindys video...made me smile, thanks Sue for finding this for us xx

"Mindy" update 3

2011-07-18T13:45:00.012+01:00

She's doing great, eating food and bones from the floor, she wants to play with her toys, so we are being rather careful and just roll the ball to her, but she has started picking that up and running (running not quite) off with it and throwing it around and bouncing on it! she's walking down a few steps now and sometime up them, just the ones going into the house (we live in a Bungalow) she cant jump on the sofa, but has beaten us to getting off, she turns in circles without falling over now, she has had her stitches out a couple of days now and the vet was really pleased with her, but did point out she still has a long way to go (like we don't know) hopefully start the water tread mill soon and thinking about getting someone in to do the ttouch as I'm not sure whether I'm doing it right, although I am sure Mindy may very well put up a fight re some strange person trying to touch her feet!

I started last week to take her down to the veggy patch, so she could roam around eating grass, lying in the sun or just mooching around with out her harness on, whilst I weeded and watered etc....

This week have started to take her down the lane for her 10 min walk, just somewhere different, she is struggling a bit now about being carried everywhere, she was good, but now she wants to be down on the floor and doing stuff....

Started to do a bit of clicker training with her whilst doing her physio, so getting her to lift a back leg and balance with it etc...

She has started to put on some weight now too.

And we have started using Harry's "Back on track coat"...well you never know, it worked for Harry!

....Out at Porth Jolly!

2011-07-13T10:50:00.013+01:00

Sennen out for a few hours with her best mate Holly and her family Sue, Purdy and Tally..Note Sennen's upright ears!

Tally and Sennen, ears starting to go down, at last she is getting tired!

Sennen and Holly

Mrs Woo, old lady diddles...Red, sleeping soundly ( she does now, starting to go deaf, bless her)

And of course Mindy, first day back on some real bones.

She is starting to not enjoy being carried everywhere, especially when we go to go outside all her legs thrash around, she is not meant to do steps just yet, physio is coming on, not sure whether I'm doing enough, but stitches out on Friday, so then it will be over to Hawksland at Wadebridge to see Ros the therapist and hydro, although she wont be swimming, maybe treadmill and spa and hopefully she can point me in the right direction, still doing my version of ttouch using books as reference, not sure whether she would cope with someone else touching her, so will be interesting to see whether Ros can get near her, the vet Fiona doesnt have a problem with her!!

So we can count being a PAT dog off the list of things to do together!!

Ps. Good luck Tamsin with your exams next week.

PPs. Happy Birthday to Auntie Elaine who's 50 today xx

"Mindy" Recovery video part 2.

2011-07-11T16:42:00.003+01:00

amazing what she looks like after just 6 days..

Turned the corner!

2011-07-11T10:53:00.013+01:00

Didn't get around to adding all the notes from Mindy's first diary entry, so here's a shortened version along with what she is like on her second diary entry, hope it makes sense?
Pills she is on, are Onsior (pain killers, along with Diazapan, if I felt necessary, I only used them the once and only one tab, that scared me to see her worse on her legs and felt that although it was a muscle relaxant, I felt she could do more damage having it, falling over etc.) She is also on Synulox twice a day, which finished this morning and Seraquin.
Ian bought her a roasted chicken from Asda to help get her eating again and to help with all the pill popping she was having to do!
So on the Thursday we noticed she did her first stretch bow and shook her neck and shoulders, whilst in the sitting position she could bend her head down a little way to lick her front paws, she couldn't reach her "girly bits" to keep them clean and I thought I could smell wee, she turned around in circles slowly to make her bed, rolled on her back I think more to scratch her stitches than anything....Didn't poo until Friday morning from having picked her up on the Wednesday, but we did struggle to get her to eat anything to start with and she would only wee ever 12 hours...On her harness she seems to walk like a camel, both legs the same side moving forward. Oh yes and she barked with her tail up, couldn't eat from her bowl on the floor, so raised it for her.....would place her left foot 60% of the time, still forgetting to sort her toes out..weaker is still back left leg.
My vet at Rock View Vets, Roche, saw her on Friday and was amazed to see how well she looked and better still Mindy didn't eat her, just wagged her tail and accepted her liver treat, I asked about the wee smell and she couldn't smell anything but suggested a wee sample be collected and she would check she hadn't got anything, so I left armed with all the bits for collecting some, but I soon realised that collecting a wee sample wasn't going to be easy as she was only doing it once every 12 hours and a dish would be too big, so I walked around with a soup spoon!!! in the mean time she started mark weeing so I knew nothing was wrong and gave up on the idea of collecting any!!

Sunday was next time to take notes....She now happily turns around around to make her bed, digs up her bedding with her front feet, 85% places the leg, only the once saw her toes turned under when she squatted to wee, proper girly wee now and when she poo'd, she poo's more with the arched back and not so low to the ground, she stretches when she first comes out the crate, she's sleeping in that now by the side of our bed rather than us sleeping on the floor with her, she whinged first, but is fine now and slept through until 5 on Saturday morning, she has to have her morning pills half an hour before her breakfast but only tomorrow for them and then it's just the Seraquin for a few months....She is allowed free run on lounge without her harness on but as we have two sofa's in there I haven't been brave enough to wander off, as I don't want her jumping on or off of them just yet, although I'm sure she would!
Thanks to Elaine for suggesting baby gate to keep other dogs out the way, when I do let her out in the lounge, Sennen and Buzz are such "bull in china shop dogs" they are both trying hard to be calm around her but I panic, so rather than panic Hilary lent us her spare one, thanks Hilary, Hilary does a great job and fosters Springer Spaniels in Cornwall, we took Mindy over to their place on Saturday just to get Mindy out the house, she was a little on the nervous side with the Springers, but they gave her space she needed (actually I think they were to scared !! only kidding Hilary) we had tea and cake outside on the lawn, Mindy on her harness, she found a ball under the table and started to try and run a round with it, she then threw it at me to throw for her, so I rolled it toward her and she thought that was great....We did attempt to carry her on another dogwalk with the others, but Ian had to go back she was too wriggly, nice to see all legs going for it, but she wouldn't settle in Ian's arms, but he met up with us 30 mins later to do the last 5 mins to home with her, which worked out great...She has started to walk backwards out the way of us too and now shakes from head to toe, we are still massaging and doing ttouch on her as much as we can and some other physio exercises, I have done another video of her walking, which I'll post later...

Dawn Weaver was right when she said to me "when you see the pain in her eyes go, you will start to be able to move forward" So thank you Dawn...Still haven't been able to watch the video I had done of our distance workshop, Dawn had replied on the Wednesday and I hadn't had time to read through all the comments when this happened and maybe I never will read them.....

Thanks to Sue for taking Sennen and I out for a lovely walk down to Porth Jolly, thanks for looking after us all during this time and for driving me up to pick Mindy up, made life so much easier.....

Thanks also to all those keeping in touch via emails, texts, facebook and in person, I don't quite know how I'd be without you all...

Photo's as promised!

2011-07-08T13:05:00.007+01:00

Mindy with her posh harness made by Ruffwear
She really hates her photo being taken....

Yeah ha, she's using her bad leg to scratch her self!

one of Mindy's x-rays, unfortunately i didn't take any of her spine, as at the time we were under the impression she had broken her hip! and I think L2/3 are out of the shot...but not sure!

Mindy's Road to Recovery 7th july.

2011-07-07T13:22:00.007+01:00

The vet, Peter Attenburrow suggested we kept a video diary along with things we have noticed not daily but every 3 days, so today was day 1, Monday was her operation after having a myelogram to find the problem she then had a minihemilamenectomy on her L2/3, she went in with very limited use of her back legs and hell of lot of pain and when we, Sue a dear friend and I collected her from Exeter, Peter walked her on this harness (ruffwear) down the hall to me, as you can imagine the tears, from us all....

She slept well coming home and changed sides a few times and ended up sleeping with her head on Sues lap as she was driving......Last night was stressful, we had decided to crate her so we could all sleep, she had other ideas and we panicked about the cry's that she was in pain so Ian slept in the lunge on the floor with her in his sleeping bag....Spoilt....

So this will know for the next few weeks become Mindy's blog, sorry family and friends who aren't into dogs, you will have to just not bother popping back until later in the year....

It's my way of dealing with it and the vet wants to see the video's...

We don't have to crate her, if we can supervise her, she is allowed 3 x 5-10 min walk on the posh harness from Ruffwear, added to the vet bill!!, also she can go out for wee time too, but I think I may keep that the same time as her walk, she has physio at least 3 times a day and when the stitches are out she can go to the water tread mill...He wants to see her in a month, to do some tests to see how she getting on....

And so our new life together begins.....

She will be spayed after this season which is due now, I couldnt think of breeding from her in case it puts too much strain on her back, not that I would have done it now anyway...well I would off if this hadnt happened.....so if any one wants "the book of the bitch" I have one spare! I know there will be a few dissapointed people, but hey there are plenty of pups out there....

It just wasnt meant to be..................

Mindy's Monday s update

2011-07-04T19:33:00.006+01:00

photo was taken on Sunday whilst she was enjoyed a pain free snooze in the garden with Ian....

Well...
We had a quiet night last night, she went until 11pm before needing another injection, I'm getting good, poor Mindy turns herself inside out to get away from Ian, who was rather worried at hurting her whilst holding her as you can imagine, but we got the job done and I didn't "prick" myself this time!! and then she slept through until 7am, by my side on the airbed on the lounge floor, well there was no way I was going to crate her if this was to be her last night with us.
we walked around the garden before we left Ian carrying her, she showed so much interest int eh birds and flies and we popped her on the floor where she had a long wee (well it had been 24 hours since her last wee, yes 24 hours, but I am told that is normalish because of the drugs they are on) they was an improvement of the movement she had in her back left leg which the day before she couldn't place at all, meaning that if it was out at an odd angle, she would right it her self, well that didn't happen yesterday but this morning she would place it on occasions, her tail wagging was brilliant...bless her...

Anyway we got to Exeter for our 11 am appointment with Peter Attenbourgh. He wasn't worried about her pelvis x-rays, but was worried about Mindy, he showed lots of care with her as he handled her and said he needed to put a dye into her Spinal nerve and see were the narrowing was...so that's what he did, we went to Darts Farm shop (thanks to Janet for suggesting it, a place where we could let the dogs out for a wee etc, without causing a scene and we could go and get a coffee turn right out of Exeter on the Exmouth road.)
We had just finished walking the dogs and had had a coffee, when Peter phoned and spoke to Ian and explained to him what the problem was, basically a herniated or slipped disc, that the only option was to operate and remove the debris from the disc or for her to be put to sleep, we had already spoken to Peter about how we felt re..quality of life and neither Ian or I wanted her with a set of wheels on, w e where fine about her having 3 legs as long as she had movement in her other legs, it just wouldn't be the Mindy with wheels, we know here she couldn't chase birds or go hunting these things are her top fun things, closely followed by agility with me!
So they operated whist she was still under, I cant remember the correct terminology for the procedure, but will ask them to spell it out tomorrow morning, anyway by the time we drove into the drive they phoned to say she was out and awake, well actually what they said she was out and up on her feet, fighting the sedative and she had tried to escape the crate when the vet nurse opened it to check on her, so she took her out and cuddled her on her lap till she feel asleep, she had been given a steroid injection to stop the swelling around the area.......

They will ring us tomorrow to tell us how she is doing and let us know when she can be collected...

So thanks again for all your thoughts and messages and again sorry if I havent got around to answering you all, but hopefully you will have caught up with it all...........

No sure what heading...

2011-07-02T16:11:00.007+01:00

when time stood still...how can things change everything in a blink of an eye.....
Mindy has seriously hurt her self. We wont know the course of action or outcome until Monday, we have been sent to the specialist in Exeter, along with her x-rays.

how did she do it?
Well Mindy is like Zebedee or Tigger from the cartoons, she is always bouncing around, spring upwards, either to try and get our attention or excitement for her food or training etc. This time we had trained on Thursday morning, some seesaws and weave entries, I put her along with Harry back into the house whilst I took big dogs out for their walk at the same time as picking up their weekly pork and lamb bones and bringing home to chop up, I left big dogs in the car whilst I took bones to chopping board and went into house to get bags to put them in and then freeze (I always freeze my bones before they then get defrosted and eaten a week later, kills off bugs etc) I started chopping with Harry and Mindy the other side of the door and she was bouncing up and down looking out the glass in the door, when she screamed, I rushed to the door opened it to find her on her side screaming, so off we went to vets, since then it's been a blur, but basically she couldn't move her back legs and was paddling around with her front, I thought broken back, slipped disc etc etc....after x-rays she came home with IV in so we could administrate pain killers, so she didn't have to stay in the vets, anyway she ended going back in after only a slight improvement, so had been given stronger pain killers and sedatives until they got the level right for her and in the mean time sort the specialist out, the pictures look good along her spine all even gaps etc as far as we can see, but she still cant stand, but she has two what look like breaks in her pelvis, one looks more serious than the other.......
They wanted to keep her in until Monday, but after sorting out her fluids and pain treatment we are sorted in having her at home with us, but then she pulled the IV out when we went to give her last lot of meds, so now I've learnt how to do via the phone from the vets, how to inject into her scruff, when I got it in my head that if I didn't she would be in pain, she screamed as I was too "Pussy" doing it, so now I know "Just do it", so fingers crossed we get on okay doing that until Monday, she may look like a pin cushion by then...

Monday the plan will be to take her to Exeter for her 11 am appointment with Peter Attenborough (spelling) and they will inject a dye into her spinal cord and see what going on, along with them looking at the x-rays or doing their own and see what is happen, then we can go from there. We have been told she is by no ways out of the woods, we are just thankful we have her at home...
So please folks keep send us lots of happy calming vibes for now and until Monday at 11...
Thanks everyone again for all your Face book messages and texts, we may not get around to answering them all, but I cant tell you enough how comforting it has been to have you all here for us..
THANK YOU XXXX

Forced weekend at home!

2011-06-25T19:24:00.008+01:00

whilst packing up the caravan for a weekend away, I moved some agility equipment and my back said "No way", so spent the next what seemed like hours, crawling back up to the house on all fours!
Much to Sennen's delight who thought it was a new game of shaping "jumping on my back trick"
So a weekend at home, is meaning lots of pills, not being able to stand, sit or lie down for very long, hopefully be better by next weekend......feel a lot better this evening....Ian gets to watch his grand prix, although he is very good and wears his ear phones, so not to send me totally bonkers. I did manage to go with him for a little walk in the woods with the dogs and they dutifully came back completely muddy, so poor Ian had to do the washing and me the blasting with the dryer, all 5 of them, as you can see the "puffs" are keeping warm inside Ian's jumper and under a fleece...spoilt??

Oh and I forgot Harry's birthday on the 11th June, so took a photo of him in my duvet before we went to sleep, well it was his birthday, but all my facebook friends would have seen it........

Hate it when your minds willing, but your body isn't.......hope it's just short term.

...Just because, she can!

2011-06-21T20:40:00.005+01:00

Had a weekend at home, it was great and relaxing, although we seemed to cram a lot in! from tractors rallies - auctions - to long dog walks - getting the caravan ready for it's summer guests etc.

Lots of things where being sold, from farm machinery, plants, tyres!! as you can see Sennen came too, she always has to walk on things and offers it automatically from tractor seats - to farm trailers etc. We did get some odd looks.

Cookie

2011-06-15T13:04:00.008+01:00

And here he is: Cookie Monster Gattaca

Mindy has met him before, not that she took any notice of him, Harry and Sennen wanted to play with him, but he had his "Show" head on.......

Mindy!

2011-06-15T12:34:00.007+01:00

This short clip was taken Monday after Thames DTC where bless her, she couldn't do any seesaws in the ring. Auntie Elaine came up with a couple of ideas after seeing this video, of which one is practical, this seesaw is weighted by 4 weights, so this morning I took two off and ran her over it, she didn't run right to the end this time, so a result, that I was able to help her with her clicker and treats as a reward, and the second attempt was a lot better and by the 4th and final attempt was perfect, so I will do the same tomorrow and Friday take all of the weights off and see what happens......

It's looking like she will be in season shortly, as she is flirting with Buzz (the boss) and he with her! sooner than I liked, I really wanted her G7 to help sell the pups, but as I have a few people already starting to ask questions, I don't think I should worry about finding homes for them, they will all be powder puff's as "Cookie" is a puff too ....

So I had better get reading the "Book of the bitch" again!

and get my "birthing partner" sorted!...any volunteer's?
Starting to get scary and exciting all at once......

Speechless!

2011-06-08T13:44:00.008+01:00

...all because I was playing around with my new birthday present (bought with Birthday money) Ipod Shuffle....Sennen decided to take the toy box outside and destroy it, along with the laundry basket!

So I got my other birthday present a great game for the dogs, she tried using her feet, but I insisted she needed to use her mouth to make it harder to solve.....10 mins later all games done!

Sennen...go-on work

2011-06-07T15:59:00.000+01:00

and here's some fun with Go-on work!

"Sennen" seesaw training.

2011-06-07T13:49:00.004+01:00

I decided to teach Sennen the seesaw early on in her life, in a safe environment at home, so we have done a method called, "cram all methods in and see what happens", as you can see she isn't worried at the moment as nothing bad has happened, I wont be letting her take the whole bang until she's around 12 months, so plenty of time to play with it....

I got Ian to help, first of all he ran her up to the seesaw on the lead, she could then run to the end with her toy/treat waiting for her, then as soon as she became comfortable with that, I had her in a wait whilst I went to the end waiting for her....we then progressed onto, sending her into a curvy tunnel, giving me a chance to run to the end and catch it before she had chance to beat me, but soon learnt I was getting close to not getting there before her, so we moved on to another method "bang it" game, where she learn't to pull it down to get back on it and we reward with either toy/treat and eventually I would have her toy/treat waiting for the otherside of some jump wings ...just so she learnt not to always expect a reward on the SS...I then realised most of my work had been done with me at the end, so to help with independence of the SS I added another game, which was, a treat was stuck on the end of the SS (cream cheese as it sticks) and then I would send her from the down part and up to the end whilst I was at the down end and then I'd lower it it down, so I started from the height of a chair then a lower object etc..until she could run from the floor with my foot on the bottom, until she reached the top and it was lowered under control.....and that's it until she is old enough to take the bang...

Odd jobs weekend!

2011-05-31T12:53:00.004+01:00

The new fencing...well the start of it, I was getting slightly fed up of Sennen eating all the veg's, so we (Ian) made a start on fencing the area off, this is the shortest fence, the other side needs lots more wood and work, but the area also needs approx 10 tonnes of top soil too, so didn't want to put the fence up and then have to wheel barrow the whole lot through the gate! until we have saved up enough pennies to pay for some to be delivered!

The only felt roof left on the sheds, needed replacing, so that was done too.
.....and after 4 years of asking, now and again I got my latch on the gate going down into the agility garden area, it was such a pain having to use both your hands to open it before....

Buzz is showing you......

Marrow Bones!

2011-05-29T11:07:00.009+01:00

Sennen's 2nd time of having a marrow bone, I try and give marrow bones every 2/3 months, this time it kept Sennen going for 4 hours of chewing...bliss

"Sennen" washing machine trick!

2011-05-22T14:41:00.004+01:00

So Sennen got bored and chewed the chair leg, so I spent 6 mins training her to get the washing out and shutting the door...work in progress, but she was mentally tired at the end of this session...it's rather long to watch, so if you don't want to get bored watching the whole session don't bother!

Worcester1 to 7 small jumping

2011-05-22T14:40:00.005+01:00

A nice 1-7 jumping course, Harry was clear, but not fast enough for a place, I wasn't quick enough to get my front cross in in between jump 3/4, and I over cooked both pull through, after jump 5 and between 12 and 13, but yet again he gave 100%...Love him

Mindy's too had a great round and the judge just needs to know her course to realise she wasn't e'd between jump 3/4, Mindy did almost come through the gap between 3/4 but I was able to correct her, so if she (judge) was being picky she could have given me a 5R, but hey...Mindy did a great round....

Harry 6/7 small jumping

2011-05-22T14:40:00.003+01:00

Worcester show, Aly came with us to share the driving, we left at silly O'clock 3.30 am! but we both enjoyed our day although I didn't bring any places back to Cornwall, Aly did so, that was good...

This is the 6/7 jumping judged by Barrie James, great course and I was really looking forward to it, you could let them have their heads a bit to cover the ground, bet it was fun for the large dogs!

This would have been Mindy's last run and I was looking forward to it, although she had worked so well in the last two classes, was sort of waiting for the fall! Barrie has yet to see her work well, so it was a shame she couldn't get off the start line, I couldn't get her to do any tricks or play, maybe she was tired as all the small runs where finished by 10.30 and they had 3 each.... anyway I left her on the start line, well you did need a bit of a head start and eventually she left the start line at a trot, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt and attempted to do a "funny turn" which usually gets her going, but no she wasn't going fast enough to execute that one, so we ran to the finish and I picked her up and gave her a cuddle after trying to get her to tug........

Olympia "Q" at Worcester May 2011

2011-05-22T14:39:00.003+01:00

So this was the Olympia "Q" run...Harry's was wide and I was late in telling him what was happening next again...so we lost around 4/5 seconds straight away and when we checked the times, you could see we would have been easily in the top 3 places, but hey, I didn't get it right, Harry didn't know or care, he is really working confidently now and who would have thought a Chinese Crested could do agility!

Mindy as you can see looked great apart form the dreaded First Contact Seesaw...AGAIN

No words needed!!

2011-05-18T10:44:00.004+01:00

...always know what your "Pup" is up too!

three wise MONKEYS!

When we lived in Bristol

2011-05-14T17:27:00.006+01:00

We used to spend most weekend in the summer(BA ...Before Agility) collecting, scrounging wood from skips, FTC, etc. We didn't have any heating except storage heaters and a wood burner, even when Ian put in the central heating we couldn't just walk past skips etc, we would still heat the house as much as we could with free wood (we did ask the skip owners by the way) I was rather OCD about it all and would start to panic if we got below half way on the log box and off we would go again with the trailer and landrover...

We have a wood burner here too, but it is only dinky one and really doesn't heat the house like the last one, but hey it's so nice to watch the glow.....
Anyway thanks to a friend who chopped down a huge tree the other day, our log box is now FULL for the first time since we have been in Cornwall and we are about to start on a pile outside, some of the larger bits Ian's recons he is going to make into a table, yes this is Ian we are talking about who hates making anything of WOOD, you should of heard him when I said I needed a dogwalk please can you help me make one......
So my Saturday at home was spent, watching Ian with the chainsaw and chopper, I did help by filling the log box and tea making........

Tomorrow is a local dog show, for the "Smalls" and "Red", she is nearing her end of anysize now, she's almost 12 and some nights we see her struggle to jump on the sofa, then I spend most of the time whilst running her worrying whether she is going to hurt her self in the ring, the trouble is she is not the type of dog that would enjoy wondering around the rings socialising as all she really wants to do is agility, I keep getting told she looks great and I then I spend the time crying about it all, we have had such a great 10 plus years competing together and a few special people have had the pleasure at running her at full height and anysize and each one has enjoyed it as much as me, so may be tomorrow will be her last run.............

Sennen's learnt to play the drums!

2011-05-09T15:38:00.008+01:00

Sennen is well and truly part of our family, we have gone a whole week now with the loo roll left on it's holder and the flannel only move when we move them, thankfully she's not so mouthy with us, BUT she still jumps 5 foot in the air to get your attention landing on you, which is a night mare, she will even do it to strangers, Ian's learning slowly to ignore her, when he comes in in the evening but he adores her, mind you it's hard not too, she's drop dead yummy! She's been measured, she's large just a little taller than Red, but way smaller than Buzz, thank goodness.

Anyway "agility" wise what's she been up to...not a lot, as underneath it all I didn't know whether she would do it and I wanted her to mature a bit, although she has been learning lots of tricks and balancing on alsorts of things and tugging and playing with lots of different toys, reminds me I must ask Lisa of www.bungeedogs.com whether I can buy a bungee handle as I need another one.......

I have just put together a game plan now for us and Sue with Holly have joined in too, for 20-30 min's of training now and again, they both have done, tunnels with go-on's through wings, seesaw "bang it" game and run to the end whilst it's up in the air and stay there whilst it lowered to the floor (taking the bang out of it) and walking on dog walk planks on the floor, with end postion, I'm doing it slightly different to Sue, but we can proof it all together so that's fine too, the famous wing wraps, that I keep hearing about till I'm sick of hearing, like it's something new!!

I am trying to teach myself different words for left and right wraps, but I have always found it hard as I don't always get my left and right right, let alone adding more words.... but I'm trying to get better and just maybe we will get to get it right on a course...... wont start the weaves for another few months or so, I am going to teach 2 x 2 like Mindy was taught, although I only had the book at the time and the dvd is well worth a look to see if it's for you. Personally I dont think anyway is wrong way to teach a dog agility, just different and I feel as long as your happy with how your teaching it, then carry on, but I do think you should be open minded enough to look at other methods, so you can make the right choice for you and your dogs, I love trying new ways of doing things, some work and some dont....

So I'm off to go and teach Sennen to empty the washing machine now!

Buzzy Bear's last stand!

2011-05-03T14:09:00.008+01:00

This is Buzz at 9 years old running his last agility run with Nick, his mate.....He is still sound and fit and will enjoy his retirement at home with Ian (who taught him agility from the beginning) you may get to see him around the rings he's the HUGE, powerful collie that barks a lot...

I made the decision to retire him whilst he is still looking okay jumping, whilst he is still sound and happy, I hate seeing dogs competing who IMO should be doing any size or even nothing at all, unfortunately I have seen these people dragging their dogs over full height course over the last two weekends of shows...

Happy Retirement Buzzy Bear....I Love you xx

Mindy and mine's first "Zone" run.

2011-05-03T14:09:00.005+01:00

Clay Pit Paddling

2011-05-03T14:08:00.001+01:00

Many hands make light work!

2011-04-27T11:30:00.005+01:00

Not sure whether Ian see's it like that?
You will have to look closely...

Harry has his head in a "kidney" bowl and Mindy just wants to share Ian's coat and Buzz well he is just making sure Ian puts the right bolt in the right hole....

Happy Birthday Buzzy Boy

2011-04-21T11:20:00.004+01:00

I forgot Buzzy's Birthday on Monday....

But as you can see, he always enjoys himself!

He is playing with a loo roll! Empty of course....

Short and Sweet!

2011-04-17T17:34:00.010+01:00

It's been a busy few weeks, Sennen been to Truro Market again, such a good girl watching the world go by, we stocked up on yummy cheese and veg pasties and I bought these tins to put some flowers in or.....I just felt I needed to bring them home, so colourful, yes I know they will rust, but they will give me lots of pleasure watching thing grow in them..... Ian,s bought another Disco off eBay, he wants the engine and gear box to go in his Discovery.....More work. Sennen has her own hot tub to play in...from Argos, I do have the other half if anyone wants it for a small donation! Harry's Hot Tub, filled up and ready to use, well actually it has been in use quite a lot lately, even Sennen has been in, she cant swim well at the moment just a lot of splashing....it's down in the agility garden so anyone that pops over for a session can play in it too..... I clipped Harry coat short or rather I tried to, but I couldn't get the clippers to cut, so I had to use the scissors, so didn't go to close in case I cut him....Helen tells me, I should have used thinning scissors, maybe tomorrow I'll have another go. Mindy been and had her eyes tested and got the all clear, so as soon as she comes into season she be off to see Cookie.....Scary!

Ear, Ear

2011-04-07T15:02:00.013+01:00

Today they are, well almost "UP" I wonder what they will do? I LOVE upright ears, we only have Harry with upright, Mindy's are tipped they would have been up, if I had "Worked" on them! But hey I'm not into spending hours, sticking all sorts of weird and wonderful things in them to get them "UP", I remember having a panic when Harry's suddenly dropped during teething and tried doing lots of silly things, from clipping the hair, to sticking them round solid tubes with tape! Poor Boy.... You can watch some amazing youtube clips on how to do it, from chewing gum to Tampaxs! Her right one seems to be the one staying up in all the photo's so maybe she will just tease us with one up and one down....

It's Okay if your shoes arent doing it!

2011-03-30T20:30:00.004+01:00

Bernadette said it so well, she said that she sometimes feels like this, when she's competing! Not that I believe a word of it, Bernadette always looks like, she knows what she doing and where she's going, lovely, calm, quiet and smooth...... But from now on, I will be using that saying......"It's okay if your shoes aren't doing it." Mum was I ever like that in my Ballet lessons......I think the answer would be YES Angela!

"To-do Lists"

2011-03-27T14:57:00.007+01:00

Harry spends most of his time when he is resting (which is a lot of the time) with his back legs in the "Frog" position, whether that's a good thing or not, he seems happy though!

We have managed to get loads of jobs ticked off Ian's To-do list this weekend...meanie aren't I, although Ian did get up extra early to watch the GP.

Roof needed patching up...yes it's our roof on our little house!

Harry hates being left out, and has to come up and check we are doing it right.......

Mind you, all I did was take the tea up, oh but I did help mix the concrete up for the other major job!!

Harry and Mindy's UKA NFC Day!

2011-03-21T10:53:00.003Z

I had two shows to go to this weekend, indoors at "the Grange" and indoor at Barguse.
What a beautiful day, travelled up on the Saturday in my Berlingo with Aly and her two dogs, we did most of last year together on the further afield shows, so nothing new!

First time I've ever been there and no rain! no mud either, well a little in the gateway to the field exercise area....Aly made us our ritual bacon baps for breakfast...YUMMY.

Anyway we had two agility runs and two jumping, really I was only going for the agility....
we started the day with a helter skelter, OH dear, as there were only 13 in the class and we where parked a little way from the rings I chose to take both of them in, giving someone else to hold the one I wasn't running, done it before....But unfortunately both dogs weren't happy at all, I had slow, un-confident, unmotivated dogs, came out feeling rather deflated, although I have to add I don't usual do helter skelter or steeple chase, I don't like standing still, not with my "Smalls" anyway, it was nice to have a breather running Red, but that's another story!
this behaviour continued in the next two runs with Harry leaping off his contacts on the dogwalk, so I stood still and Harry popped his back feet back on and the very kind Judge let me re-do the whole thing, only for Harry to leap off again, I stood still, he backed his feet back on and we left the course! this happened again on his next agility run to be repeated the same way for the fourth attempt to be a beautiful but slow 2o2o....
I didn't bother to take them for their next run and just took them for a nice walk around the fields with a friend and her wee dog!

Anyway Sunday arrived and I had all night ummming and arrring to think why/what was the problem and came up with, I would run all 4 of my runs at the UKA Not for Competition and boy was it fun, take a look at the video, 3 of the runs are on there, Mindy's first one, you can see she is still not happy looking around, not focused on the first jump or where I was, but by her second run she was wagging her tail and raring to go, that's the speed I get at training but not the speed I get at home, so we still have a long way to go to get that....Harry seemed to recover quickly and I'm sure he would have run it for real just fine, but I didn't want just FINE I want FAST! and boy where they both fired up at the end of each of their runs.....

I did find it hard, watching loads of people not running with toys, watching dogs that where unmotivated, slow and nervous being forced around a course which they really didn't want to do, why cant these "expereinced" handlers see that! yes they may have got round and got a ribbon or points or whatever it was that has motivated their owners to drag them around...I dont know.
I hope to god if anyone saw me with a dog like that they would have the guts to come and talk to me...Did I tell them, NO.......enough said.

Anyway I came away from that UKA show BUZZING with excitement about My PUFFS, they gave me everything they could on that day....LOVE THEM

Training anyone.......

2011-03-17T10:52:00.004Z

No thanks, we're happy here!

Now where did that week go!?

2011-03-16T13:20:00.009Z

Sennen resting in the sunshine day after her "Op" yes it's all been happening this week...

She ate a squeaker out of toy along with part of the fabric toy too....two weeks later it appeared after a stressful 24 hours.....So we now don't have any squeaker fabric toys out to play with until she is older.....

We then found a warty/lump thing on her front foot that grew in the week and was making her lame, so she had that removed and 3 stitches in it's place...keep her quiet was the orders hummmmm, those that have seen Sennen "On one" will know how hard that is going to be...she hated the stupid lampshade that she came home with (why cant they invent something less stressful for them, than that?)...so Ian's socks came in handy......anyway she is not bothered by the foot, and hasn't had to wear the socks during the day-yet!

They decided to send it of the lumps for tests, as whilst she was sleepy I managed to look at all her feet and found a further two on her back feet....

So that was my week.....
Mrs woo, enjoying today's blue skys and warmth...

Can Dogs shape our lives?

2011-03-09T13:13:00.012Z

Oh YES, take Sennen for example, she has taught us after at least 7 "loo rolls" destroyed to now put them on the cistern behind the loo up high...We are a bit slow here, we never caught her doing it, just the end result on the bathroom floor or our bed!
The coal bucket having been emptied on numerous occasions on to the only carpet in the house, has a new place to sit .....On top of the TV! the log basket having had wood taken out eaten or chewed up, is now in the utility room, behind a closed door as she has also been known to take the next mornings bones out of the sink in their bag and trot off out into the garden.....

She has taught us, a cry by the door means she wants to go outside, not neccessarly to have a wee, but a tear around and possible dig up a plant, chase the naughty blackbirds or worse still find some thing really manky to bring back into the house to eat......
But best of all she has taught us to laugh loads and remember some of the other dogs antics which I had forgotten about...

We always offer the dogs different types of foods, from wine gums to ice cream to a tongue full of wine to popcorn etc.....which has just jogged my memory of Cassie who liked to eat wine gums...but this day she chucked it around a bit and then we lost interest watching her....to the following day me having a panic that she had a lump behind her ear only to find an orange one stuck behind her ear! Ian and I laughed for weeks after that one and still do.....

Did you spot Mindy blending in well on the throw with Sennen?

Ps. She is also shaping the back of the sofa into a foot stool!

Freaky happy endings!

2011-03-08T15:08:00.013Z

Love this picture! Tally and Holly trying to come home with Sennen and I, after a walk with Sue...

Many years ago we where walking in Priddy woods, near Bristol/Bath area.

I think Red was with us and Raggy baggy (who was another Collie that used to come and stay for 4 months of the year, every year whilst his Mum and Dad went on their Summer Holidays!)
Anyway we had been walking for a couple of hours and where just coming to the end of our walk, when we realized Cassie wasn’t with us…we called and called and quickly realized she wasn’t just going to turn up…we started back tracking, calling and about 10 mins of back tracking came across her just sat amongst the trees staring at us, we called her but she didn’t move, so we clambered through the under growth to find her sat next to a tree stump with her collar caught on a NAIL on a tree !

Thank god we found her, she didn’t bark or struggle……

Then this morning another freaky happy ending accident!

A thank god you where there moment!

I was in the bathroom, with the door shut, as all 5 dogs seem to want to be in there with you and it’s just too small and Buzz although he has a choice to be in the bathroom with us, has to be in the thick of it and he hates being confined and will fight, silly billy…
So I was in there with Mindy, with the door shut, when I heard Sennen being told off by Harry for being a pain (normal), added to the telling off noise I could hear a thud, thud noise, I opened the door (wished the camera had been nearer, because I doubt you would have believed me!) There was Sennen walking around with Ian walking boot attached to her “D” ring on her collar by the hook that you put the laces around! Swinging between her front legs, she thought it was cool and wasn’t panicking at all!

Bless them all, love them all...they make me laugh, thank GOD

Cor Blimey!

2011-03-02T10:28:00.010Z

Went for a sort of "new" walk this week, I try and walk from home as much as possible, but as I am back to walking in two groups again, as Red was being a grumpy soul and I didn't want Sennen getting any ideas she could behave like that too!
So I usually walk from home to here, it takes about 25 mins to get to somewhere were they could be let off lead on this "Permissive path" area, Imerys had closed off my other walks and I never understood why, until I did this one, as you can see from the last photos they are getting closer to the A30 with their "Mining"
...View towards Mc Donalds...that's why the hill is called Hamburger hill!

But today I took all five and drove the first part...there's my wee Berlingo down on the left of the photo and looking over at the right you can see the footpath bridge which goes over the A30 and that's how I usually get to where the photo was taken..hope that makes sense...my home is over the bridge and turn right walk another 15 mins and your home!...

you can still see the bridge and the path that goes past the park homes and the hill on the right is where I used to walk until they kindly fenced it all off....

and there the mining, scarily close!

and now we are almost full circle of photos, so this is on the left of the A30 and looks like a Motocross site, right next too the Imerys Site! the road goes to Grandpound Road etc.....

and now for some "Old" photos

2011-02-17T11:35:00.010Z

Emma took some photos over the years, which I hadn't realised and she thankfully sent them to me only yesterday, so many memories and a few tears, remembering the runs.
Thank you Emma so much...
Mrs Woo, at one of her last full height shows, lets pray!

Buzz almost looking like he know what he's doing!

Look Harry No ears!

Streamline Harry

If I remember correctly, this was Aly and Buzz's only ever clear round, not sure whether Aly is about to get bitten/barked at, or she is just making sure he gets his contact!

Sennens puppy class trick

2011-02-17T11:06:00.005Z

I have struggled doing this trick with the "puffs", but at least I have one dog that can do it!

Sennen had her last Puppy class on Monday, she was fab and such a joy....I had decided a while ago that I wouldn't carry on with it, just not enough hours in the day and as the nights are getting lighter, we have so much still to do, but we started on Wednesday going out for a walk with adult dogs for various walks and this week we went to Ladock without her pack to socialise with 2 x GSD (Huge), 2 x Lurchers, 2 x springer, a lab and a long haired corgi!, she was great, having never met any of them before, the only ones she wasn't sure of were the GSD's, but hopefully next week she wont be such a wuss and relax....anyway after about 5 Min's she had wormed her way into the heart of the Corgi and off they went playing.......

All the dogs were defleaded and wormed, yesterday, so that's off the list of "to do's" but unfortunately poor Miss Mindy reacted to Drontal plus and was very sick, we were supposed to be going training and it took me a little while to suss that what it must have been, so we stayed at home.....

Anyway she's better today....phew.

The ground is so waterlogged here, although I have managed to train the smalls, the big dogs can wait a little bit longer as I've not entered any shows until Easter, Buzz is winding down to retirement and I am amazed he has made it to 9 years old, still competing and looking good in a round about way, that only Buzz can do!...Nick fancies doing his last few runs so that's me off the hook.....then he can stay at home with Red (although if she is fit enough I will enter her into the odd local anysize)

And now we "sit on the computer" waiting for shows to come up and madly sending entries off, hoping to be one of the few lucky ones that gets camping, especially as this year will be my last at doing the far away ones, it's been great having Aly to car share, fuel share, food share etc. We get on so well and she knows me better than myself I think sometimes, she has a great sense of humour and she can cook...perfect, but next year, Nick will have his Harrjak pup out and will be wanting to go with Aly, and we all cant fit in my Berlingo!......but it's been fun and I cant thank Aly enough for putting up with me and the "Puffs"

Mind you if there is any one out there, that thinks they can fill Aly's shoes, I'll think about it!
just send me a message....

"Love Filled Day" to you all....

2011-02-14T14:40:00.010Z

Buzz doing what he always does watching Red..
We used to have a clean back door, but since Sennen arrived!
She learnt how to open doors in the first few days of being here!
and now I never have a clean back door.......
Ears!
The "Smalls" have been to hairdressers today...Mindy went short, which was a real shock to me, I do love her long locks but I really struggled keeping them knot free!

Sennen practising her back end awareness, along scaffolding pipes, she really wants to get into next door, think we will have to re-fence this bit this year! actually this picture makes her look all flat on her left side, but she was just about to spring up onto the bank !

Five of my Loves!
the other ones at work!

Hug them all tight...
I'm really missing Cassie today.

Ian gets wet feet!

2011-02-12T15:14:00.007Z

We love this beach, even though this is where Buzz jumped off the cliff top on New years eve 2009, down a 20-30 ft drop, onto the sand (makes me cringe just thinking about it) The walk is lovely, you have a field to walk down through which come summer turns into a car park, but is locked in the winter, then you walk down a path to the sea, the tide was in this morning...great as Mindy doesn't have to spend it on the lead, she loves chasing the birds, but I worry as she will swim out after them, but as the tide was in, not too many on the shore line......

Sennen loved it as you can see, picking up the seaweed, crabs, wood, actually anything she can pick up as she runs along.....

We walked back along the dunes, to dry them off...

But we still ended up washing the Smalls, Buzzy, as he ended up with a "Sea" bum and Sennen, just because she likes playing in the water!

There is a small river stream that runs down to the seas and often it turns into a small pond, at the bottom, which they can stroll through on the way back up to the car, Sennen was really funny and stomps in the water so she can catch the splashes, shame I wasn't quick enough to get it on film..........

Morwenna McNally!

2011-02-04T12:53:00.006Z

Morwenna came and took some action photo's for her college exam a few weeks ago, in return she did some freeze shots for me...ahhh

Sennen up to date photo is from the "freeze" shots which she took that date too....it was a fun few hours...

You can see some of her other photos at the below web address or go to my links on the right side of this blog and get to it that way.....

She has two lovely working cookers too! Gundogs.......and hopefully will be having a litter from her bonkers bitch April/May time...fingers crossed

www.namorphotography.co.uk

Ladock Woods

2011-01-30T11:54:00.004Z

I love wood walking, the wilder the better, I think the dogs love it too, although the poor "smalls" end up having to be de-tangled from brambles, pine needles, on various occasions and 90% of the time getting home and having to bath them, which adds another hour before we can sit down and have a cup of tea!!

Sennen I feel is old enough at nearly 4 months old, to start coming on more of the walks with us and to run free, I didn't let her off before, apart from the odd 10 mins, due to me really wanting my recall better and more importantly not wanting her to chase the others or worse still hurt herself running too much with the others, but I think she is big enough now and hopefully with the amount of winter woods walks that we all do, she will become more aware of what her big hares legs are doing, ducking and diving amongst the branches, tree stumps and uneven ground etc.........

So Sennen has had two free wood walks this weekend, her recalls where perfect, but I did have a pocket full of liver and she would have to not only return to me, sit have the lead put on walk a few paces and then allowed off again, unfortunately Ian didn't have that kind of success with her, you cant tell your Husband that he needs to have a more exciting voice and say Sennen with a bit more excitement, can you?
So he has had instructions to go down the garden with her and do some recalls.....yeah right!!

I have just realised it's almost Monday and Sennen has puppy class and I haven't done my homework, the Stand!...so boring! She has been great and loves everyone two and four legged.
We have had just one bad experience which I'm not sure how to sort out, she went through a door way at puppy class straight into the path of a barking shepherd, she didn't react badly, turned her head away and stood still, until I walked her out the door, but since then she has greeted two adult dogs by barking at them, luckily I have a few adult large dogs that come training up here, so she has got to meet them, lovely Jem, a black lab, who calmed Sennen right down, but told her she should not only shut up, but not use her front feet to bounce on faces!
and Sennen understood quickly, so that was good...so just got to go out and about and meet the calmer adult dogs and hopefully sort that issue out.

So that's January 2011 almost over with, where the heck that went I've no idea!

Happy Birthday to Mum for Friday xx

Not sure whether you knew this!

2011-01-24T14:02:00.008Z

But we went travelling BD (before dogs!) not long after we married, we packed the Landrover and off we went, it was only a couple of months away, to Morocco and back, through Spain, Portugal and France, great fun...oh the stories, I did write a diary, which was great fun to come across the other day, although in some bits I could hardly read my writing...I am so very bad, take after my DAD!

Here we are heading off towards the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

we stopped in Spain for a week on the way home, poor Ian hurt his back, so we managed to get him to the local vet who sorted him out??

and here's Ian washing his hair with the homemade shower, which warmed up whilst driving around in the sun!
Maybe this was the reason for why Ian started loosing it!

Beaches in winter

2011-01-24T14:00:00.001Z

Body awareness work!

2011-01-24T14:00:00.000Z

Sennen "Ladder work".

2011-01-24T13:59:00.000Z

Wordless Wednesday again!

2011-01-19T09:43:00.009Z

Harry showing his new yoga move!

Red with her "bestest" toy, which is as old as she is 11 in a half! her watering can, doesn't hold much water now!!

Red and Buzz this morning, check out my bollards a new addition to the dogwalk! keeping Sennen off of it!

Thanks for our Christmas present, Mum, Adrian and Ian....we love it.

"Sennen" puppy training at 12 weeks

2011-01-14T16:49:00.001Z

balancing on a paint pot!
and a video clip, that Ian kindly videoed this afternoon for me, except I cut out the tugging/play session, just so it wasn't so LONG to watch

Happy New Year - 2011

2011-01-07T11:53:00.008Z

Welcome to the New year, I hope all your dreams, hopes, wishes come true for you all!

I did have loads to tell you, but today don't have much enthusiasm to write much so it may just have to wait for another post, you never know I might get into the swing of it once I start typing.

Sennen Pup, grows before our eyes and now her hind legs are taller than Harry's this morning at nearly 12 weeks,but she has a long way to go to catch up with Buzz, Buzz looks even bigger in this photo!

We have found some new/different walks within 20 mins of here at long last, some clean, some not so clean, these photos where taken at the end of this mornings new clean walk!...Yes Sennen came too, stayed on her lead and carried part way.

Sennen will have been with us 4 weeks on Sunday, she has "not been what I expected", I was assuming as her Mum was a greyhound/whippet/lurcher and Dad I'm pretty sure was the white GSD, she would be calm and quiet, a nice blend to bring in with the two "hard to live with Collies" but she "ain't no wall flower" constantly biting, chewing, mouthing, jumping up at you! constantly wanting to do something whilst she is awake or she will find something you don't want her to do...to do!

She runs along with her mouth open and what ever is at her height goes in, whether it be curtains, trousers, washing on the line, flannels, towels, plug sockets, loo brushes!, toy basket, books, fleece covers, especially the ones covering the sofa that the "Puffs" are sleeping on pulling them off the sofa (the puffs and the fleece) hands, hair, the list is endless, she will stalk you like a cat and when you least expect it she jumps on you, she charges from great distances to jump on you, she uses her front feet to paw at you, grab toys out your hand, we have even see her bite at Buzz's trousers as he ran past, she is that quick that if you, open a cupboard door and go to shut it, you hear her yelp as you have shut her head in it etc......

So as you can tell we have lots of work to do.

I seem to have spent the last 2 weeks saying "ouch, no, you bad arse give it back" I permanently have treats and a tuggy in all of my pockets (I have big pockets!)

What has she learnt........sit, down, starting to wait, tug for England, play ball, retrieve ball, stand on and in bowl, moving around the bowl is coming on better than the "Puffs" she is better clockwise to anti clock, she twists both ways, walk backwards and is learning to turn tight around the washing line, gives a paw, rolls over, heel work coming on nicely as most walks are out on her own. skateboarding, weave through my legs, most of these she can do in various places. She has been to Mole Valley farmers and met sliding door, manikin's and shopping trolleys, the wheels are great for biting, we don't do that any more, she has been to Pets at home, Asda, she has met, ponies/horses/donkeys/chicken/men/women/teenager's/prams...no children yet, she is a little too bouncy for small ones ATM.

She has now been told off by everyone, stolen toys out of everyone mouths bar Red, but I am sure that wont be long, she uses the surprise tactic to do it!

She is great fun and both Ian and I, thank Nicky and Jackie for letting us have her, not that we wanted another dog, but I did want an ABC!!

Happy New year's "Eve"

2010-12-31T14:32:00.005Z

Our first "almost" group photo (Ian was behind the camera), Hey look they are all only tiny, so maybe I could fit a few more in, without any one noticing !!!

Happy New Year everyone, family, friends and those that read our blog...Hope all your dreams come true and you have a healthy year ahead of you.....
and maybe I'll get to meet some of you at an agility show in 2011 .......

More Puppy photo's

2010-12-28T17:33:00.007Z

10 weeks old.........

Ian thinks her ears will go up!

but I think they would have done so by now, if they were!
At last asleep, look at that lovely pink tummy...

Her mate Buzz, the only one who hasn't told her off yet!

Harry doing his "On my feet" trick

2010-12-27T13:51:00.000Z