Bank Holiday weekend

The perfect bank holiday weekend! Sunny yet cool! I heard it was pretty hot and humid back in New York; sorry I am not there! hahaha

Two days of agility (Friday and Sunday) and two days of long pub walks with the dogs. Perfect!

Friday was Shuttleworth which involved a long drive up for one day. But I think it was worse for my pairs partner who had to get up at 3 am to get to the show! So I won't whinge too much at having to get up at 5:30am. Basically I went just to see if we could get another placing in Mini/Mixi pairs. And we did! I am not sure what we placed as I left to get home before the prize givings but hopefully it was good enough to give us enough points to go thru to Crufts in the pairs. I like partnering with Dave as he is so mellow; Like when I partner with Lisa I feel no pressure other than my own! Hex had a good Eukaneuba Challenge run and, again, hopefully we are thru to Crufts for that also. I did not push any of her runs this weekend and was glad about that. This weekend was my time to work with Hex on her contacts again making sure that she doesn't think running contacts are all the rage. She was a good girl on both days; running down fast, stopping really solid and holding her position. Yeah!

On Saturday Dennis and I picked a walk from a book and took Hex and Hob-b (the evil and the good) on the walk. It is so interesting to take different combinations of dogs out as they act differently than when they are all together. Hex and Hob-b together are pretty mellow and there is no barking (really NO barking!). We walked fairly local starting off at a Pub called The Fountain hoping to get back in time for lunch. The walk was only 3 miles but went along a river, thru some cow herds and past a gorgeous house (that dennis would buy for me if he could afford it!). We did get lost twice but not for too long. The pub has a nice outdoor garden so the dogs could chill out with us and eat chips. Spoiled bastards!

Sunday was the local Bridgehouse show. Again, training was the main focus of the day for both Hex and Zen! It was nice to go to a show that is only 20 minutes away! Dennis came and enjoyed taking photos for a few hours.

Monday we went on a nice walk with Tim and Marion. This time we brought Hex and Pax (or Pex as Dennis likes to call this combo). Since Tim and Marion will be watching Pax for us when we are in Norway we thought we should bring her to their house and let her spend sometime with them. I think Pax will be spoiled for that week and she likes both Tim and Marion.

Tim picks some really good walks and this was no exception. No book for Tim; he just gets his trusty map and decides the route himself. This time the pub was called the Cricketteer and about 1/2 way along on the walk of about 4 miles. The walk included a stop at a little pond area and Hex make good use of it! Throw some sticks and she is happy to dive in and swim all day.

Pax just watches..well not really watch she runs around the edge of the water barking at Hex. This combo of Hex and Pax is much noisier than Hex and Hob-b. And Pax likes to shows how you must circle the humans to keep them in a bunch when they start to wander and spread out.

There were some nice views along with walk; but most of the walk was thru nice cool wooded areas. A good walk for a hotter day and only one short uphill bit to get the heart pumping.

Here is Hex showing that she dried off quite nicely by the end of the walk!

Bridge House Agility Photos

Dennis played around with taking photos yesterday at the Bridge House Agility show. If anyone wants any photos please feel free. Also if you want a particular one in a larger format; just email me. You can click on this link or watch the slide show below.



Bridge House Agility Photos

Pax

I took Pax to Bridge house today and ran her in All-Sorts and she barked her way around the course as usual. I like to use Pax as an example of how a dog can bark throughout an agility course and still listen! Hehehe

Pax was the first dog that I started from a puppy in agility. Right from the beginning Pax barked when she ran and barked and barked. It was never that she was barking AT me; it was just that she was barking in sheer enjoyment of the running. Thank God I never listened to the instructors who told me that I must STOP her from barking when running agility. If I had been a new person to dog training I may have listened but at that point I had been training dogs in obedience for about 8 years. My gut feeling told me that it would not affect her training at all and it never did. You could always tell when Pax was running her course; she did not bark on the start line or in the queue (as Zen and Hex will) but would start barking as soon as her feet started moving! It is funny how Zen and Hex are the opposite; they will bark in the queue until they set up and then stop barking once they are working.

Anyway the reason I am chatting about Pax is really due to this gorgeous photo that Dennis took yesterday at Bridge House Agility show! Gorgeous!!




Pax will turn 11 in September. She still loves running but I am glad that I have retired her from formal agility. She has done enough and I want to keep her structurally sound in her old age. She made us laugh at the KC International Festival where she escaped from our caravan garden and made her way down to the burger van! Dennis got a phone call on his mobile (we have the phone number on her tag) asking if we lost a sheltie as she was down begging at the food van. HAHA! Where else would a run-away sheltie go?

Dogs In Need Agility Show 2007

I just loved this photo as Hex is so good to stay in the weaves no matter what way I run! Bless her!

We went straight from the KC International Festival down to Dogs In Need in Suffolk. DIN is a nice show but huge with 12 rings and 800 caravans and tents. It is a huge well organized machine and amazing how easily 800 caravans can be driven in and set up in one day.

Dennis set up the caravan for me while Johanna and I went shopping for provisions. We came back to the caravan and garden all set up to maximize the shade for the dogs......if only we knew then that there would be NO sun all week! Then Dennis took the three good sable girls and drove back home for a week of work leaving me with only Zen and Hex. I stayed at Dogs in Need with Johanna. Johanna only stayed for three days and then she headed back for the long trip to Denmark on Wednesday night. Johanna got to try out the caravan front bed that has to be put together from the front dinette. It was surprisingly big and even Johanna admitted that it was more comfortable than being in a TENT on a blow up bed!

We had a very successful Dogs in Need! On Tuesday was the medium and large Championship classes. Well Zen did it again and won another champ ticket! I certainly have not set out to collect champ tickets; I actually pulled her out of alot of champ shows after Zen finished her Championship last year. But this year I showed her in 5 Champ classes and she won 3 of them! That makes 6 championship tickets for Zen to date. Not too shabby. I think she can do it with her eyes closed........hehe

On Friday was the Small Championship Class. This was Hex's second Champ class and she really showed well and qualified for the final. The first dog to run in the final was a fast little Border collie x JRT called Scout. Wow! After seeing Scout run I thought there was NO way that either Hex or Indy could beat him as his run was textbook good. But I should never doubt my shelties! After Hex got faulted (but ran lovely AND Fast) up stepped Nicky and Indy in pole position. Indy did not put a little foot wrong and went on to win the Final! That was his third ticket and he is now the 4th Agility Champion OBay sheltie! Woo-hoo!

Here is the newly minted AGILITY CHAMPION OBay Truly Driven and his happy handler.

Could the week get any better? Well I could have won some money at Bingo....NOT. But instead Zen squeaked into the Medium 6-7 Finals on Sunday and went onto to win! She spoils me. The finals were fun to watch as alot of friends made it into the finals. It is nice to be able to sit around the ring and watch. Everyone did well especially Nancy and Nice Niahm who came third in a very competitive large Novice Final. Here is Nancy trying to figure out what to do with her trophy. Just put Pimms in it Nancy!

Now she is happy!

Here is me and Zen with our prizes. A lovely whiskey decanter and glass for all the whiskey I drink. Can I put pimms in it?

And finally here is Zen with a fuzzy pink feather boa. Why? Just because I can!

The Danish Way of Agility Handling..

Some sheltie runs with Johanna at the KC Agility Festival. Funny how we didn't get any videos of her border collies? Do you think we are biased? You gotta watch the "agility blooper" at the end! Even funnier was the commentators reaction...Dennis cannot watch this clip without cracking up everytime!

Video of Indy and Hex in the British Open Final

Gosh I haven't even talked about The Dogs In Need Agility show yet. First I had to finish reviewing all the videos Dennis took at the Kennel Club Festival!

They had loads of finals at the Kennel Club Festival! I can't say we did great in all of them. HA! (Let's not talk about the Nations Cup runs...) But one we did well in was was the British Open Final.

Indy was the winner and Hex was the runner-up! Here is the video of the two little cuties. Indy will go to Crufts for this win. No music on this one as you can hear the commentary as it was held in the main ring.

Some videos from the KC International Agility Festival

I thought this was a good video to post as we have three OBay shelties competing over the same course. This course stumped alot of UK handlers as we don't usually see a table on our agility courses! Dennis has made sure to remind me that HE brought me my agility table for Christmas 2 years ago so he takes the credit for these clear rounds.

I was really pleased with Hex on this course as she is really showing alot of forward momentum! And I started this season out thinking she was slow....

More videos to come hopefully tomorrow including some videos of some crazy Danish handling......hehehe

Daniel and Bailey at the KC International Agility Festival

Daniel and Bailey did fabulous at the KC International Festival AND Dogs In Need. Here are two videos taken at the KC Festival. Daniel and Bailey will be doing lots of agility at Crufts 2008!

Kennel Club International Festival 2007

I cannot believe I just spend 11 days in a row in the caravan at agility shows! And including the finals days; I just did 9 straight days of agility! I think I am agilitied-out (if that is a word!). I am looking forward to less competing and more training!

We started out on Thursday heading off to the KC International Festival in Peterborough. We had loads of runs each day; I think one day each dog had around 7 runs! I had to skip a few runs just to keep sane. We got a lovely camping spot thanks to Andy and Nancy who saved us a spot and to Dennis who I convinced needed to help out on the rings on Friday. He did well and worked on the ring all day. If you help at the show you get a better camping pitch and that really makes a difference when you have 14 runs in one day! Even funnier was Johanna who realized that she had 8 (yes EIGHT) courses to walk at the same time at 8 am on Saturday!

Lisa and Johanna camped together; each with their own teensey tiny tent. We put them behind us as posh caravan people should not be expected to look out at tents while drinking their Pimms....

Here is our set-up.

And here is the tent city AKA Crazy Danish Camping Pitch. Johanna was very patriotic and had her Danish Flag flying all weekend.

We had a good time at this show. The weather cooperated and the OBay team was very successful! I lost count of how many times we had an "OBay Sheltie sweep" (as Lisa likes to call it). There were quite a few classes where Indy and Hex were first and second and vice-versa in the small class. And there were a few classes were Zen and Chi were first and second and vice-versa in the medium! Now when that happens I win either way!

So much happened at this show that I cannot even remember it all! Here are some highlights and I will go over videos to post in the next few days.

• Little 9 year old Daniel won so many classes at this show! He qualified for Crufts in quite a few events including the Young Kennel club and the International Junior Handler class. But the best was when he WON the Small Starters Final against all the adults!

• Lisa and Chi and me and Zen qualified for Olympia 2007! We were the only two non-border collies to qualify! It was a tough one as the course was very open and fast and it was hard to match the times of the collies. Well..maybe there was another 1/2 non border collie as Rosie's Disney is only half collie and half poodle! Ha!

• Johanna qualified for Crufts with all three dogs! Spooky, Tazz and One are going to Crufts 2008!
  

Phew and that was only the first weekend! I have got loads of laundry to do and a caravan to clean so will post more later.

Nine dogs in the house

Random thoughts about dogs and stuff:

• I don't want a big dog anymore. Especially a BIG Boy dog as BIG boy dogs can pee on little dogs.
• Border collies shed more than shelties
• Border collies take up more room than shelties
• Boy dog pee stinks more than girl dog pee
• I really really love shelties
• I want One back as he is gorgeous but unfortunately he is a boy and his pee stinks!
• Hex is a witch and evil
• Dennis is an angel to put up with nine dogs in the house!
• Crazy Danes should not drive in English roundabouts with learner drivers in the front seat

Welcome Johanna and Happy Birthday Lisa

Johanna came in on Thursday night pretty late. So we have had a busy few days and not much time to get on the computer. It is nice to have Johanna here but please remind me never to have 9 dogs! I will stick with 5 for awhile! My girls are doing OK with the extra visitors but Hex gets cranky if they don't behave as she thinks they should.

It is hard to believe that One (OBay Singular Sensation) is so grown up! One is a full brother (from an earlier litter) to Hex and Indy. Here he is in a photo taken yesterday by Dennis with his new sooper dooper lens.

Saturday was the Aylesbury Show and Lisa, Johanna and I went together. It is a nice show and the weather was sunny and warm. We fit 7 dogs in Johanna's Pup-mobile and off we went. Johanna had some really good "almost" runs with One and had a really good Grade 6,7 Agilty Run with Spooky until the last bar went down. Arghhh! Zen and Hex had some good runs and I enjoyed running them on the 6,7 agility course put up by Dennis MacCauley. Zen won the medium and Hex won the small!

Sunday was Lisa's birthday so we had a BBQ here and Marion and Tim and Sue and Barry joined in the fun. At one point Sue had one of her dogs out and Lisa had one of her dogs out...so we had 11 dogs at the house. Dennis was not impressed; I can't understand why?

Anyway, I won't be blogging much over the next two weeks as we are off to the KC International Festival on Thursday and then straight to Dogs In Need Agility show for one week. It will be interesting to see if I can last for that many days in the caravan and that many days running agility. Hmmmm.....

Tony, being the romantic husband that he is, gave Lisa a new tent for her birthday. (note to Dennis..I prefer BLING or agility equipment for my pressies) So we had to get a photo of the new tent. How cute is this?

Latest WC course

I have gotten over the euphoria of Hex's winning her first ticket and now back to setting more courses for Zen and Hex.

This was the latest course Lisa (and Tony) helped me set up tonight. I haven't run it yet; planning to do it tomorrow afternoon after some lessons in the morning.

Johanna and crew (2 border collies and 2 shelties) come in tomorrow night. I am looking forward to her coming but wonder what the house will be like with 4 more dogs! Well more like 5 more dogs as the Spooky-spookster counts as at least 2 dogs! We are off to Aylesbury on Saturday and then a day off on Sunday to celebrate Lisa's birthday. Dennis comes home on Saturday morning after a night flight from New York. Hopefully he will be bringing home lots of pressies including my new PINK crocs!