Time to play

Bitey face boys! Notice I used the patented pointy finger even in puppy training while in my fuzzy pink bathrobe!



The pups are getting more active and I spend more time with them when they are awake. The play sessions don't last very long right now; maybe 10 minutes but they are coming more often.

They took their first trip into the kitchen today. They are starting to have little personalities. The Big Girl immediately moved out and explored the hallway but then got there and started whinging!

Some photos from last night. These are for Terry so she can see her puppy who will be called "Zest" aka Big Girl.

Thank goodness for Charity shops so I can get ridiculous baby toys very cheaply!



The skateboard always ends up a big hit with the pups. I do not know why but they gravitate to it and use it to stand on all the time. This is their first introduction to it.



Not so coordinated yet at three weeks!



The baby tunnel is actually some unused duct work. I need to find another cat tunnel; I had to throw the old one out as I used it for so many litters that it smelled too much like puppy pee-pee!

pups 3 weeks old

Just a few silly photos! We are now opening the box more often and the pups wander up and down the ramp. It is quite a big ramp for little pups!





I like to add different toys each day to keep them seeing new things. It is funny how they approach them.



The Lil' Girl was 11 ounces today. She is now manic for her food which is good but she does some strange things while eating that are worrying. My emotions run up and down with her. (stop reading now if you do not understand what breeders have to go thru....) One moment I feel really positive and think "YES this girl is going to be something special". And the next moment I wonder "Am I doing the right thing?". There is a high chance that she will not be normal. And if the time comes that we realize that she has serious problems; we may have to make a tough decision. I wonder if I should have let nature make the decision; as everyday she grows it will be more difficult to let her go. I have gotten lots of good advice from longtime breeders. Good stories and bad stories; no crystal ball. The fustrating thing is that I can't even take her to the vet; as I do not think they will be able to help at all. How I wish I had a good "breeder" vet around here.

Hex's Girl-power harness

Many of you have seen Hex's special "Girl Power" harness. Here she is wearing it at Crufts while being fussed by a pirate child!



Well they now make them in pink! And purple! So I need to buy another one for Zen. Zen is a pink girlie girl unlike Hex who definitely suits Black! Here is the website: K-9 Shop

I am going to make an order but as the shipping is so expensive; I thought I would see if anyone else wanted one and we could share the shipping. Just an idea! I like them because there is just one clip and it is easy to get on and off while on the start line. BTW, you can get a variety of labels to put on it..I like "girl Power" and "crazy dog". They also have "sex machine", "drama queen" and "lover boy" among others! Ha!

The "Big Girl"

We had some names for the puppies when they were born but the name did not suit her. So now she is just the "Big Girl" and I hope it doesn't give her a size complex!



The little girl is still growing and is now tipping the scale at 9 ounces. I wormed the other three pups yesterday but did not worm her as I think she is still too small. The other pups are near 2 lbs each! She is showing a little more interest in the mushed up puppy food; licking a little off our fingers on her own now. She is still way behind the other pups; I can only hope that is due to her bad start and not anything more serious.

The other pups are starting to move around a little. They wake up when I go to the whelping box and call their names "puppy puppy". We have set the pen up around the box in readiness for when they start moving around more. The mobile is set up over their heads but the music box on the mobile has broken; so I need to search the charity stores for a new one. We must have music!



Here are the two girls! Their grand-dad Monty (Toven The Full Monty) has passed on his upside down genes!



Agility-wise things are slow here. We had two weekends of shows where Hex did well but my heart is not in training. This is bad as we have the European Open try-outs in two weeks! So I did take her out today and do 10 minutes of agility. Hex is out of her skin; so keen to get out there. She is a little star and always gives it her all.

So,please, anyone who has some good difficult courses to set...please come and help me do some courses in the back garden! As long as we don't get more heavy rain, the garden is doing OK surface wise. At the same time you can help me socialize some fat puppies!I have a lesson with Lesley on Friday; so I am looking forward to that. And happy that I have no shows this weekend; so fingers crossed the weather will cooperate for me to do some serious training! (well as serious as we can get in agility!)

Happy Easter and puppy news

I know I haven't written much this past week and apologize for that as I know that everyone is interested in how the pups are doing. Please do not be afraid to ask about the pups; it is nice to know that people care!

It has been such an up and down 2 weeks. Once the birth was done and Crufts was over I thought it would be plain sailing for the first two weeks. Usually the first two weeks are the easy ones for the breeder! Unfortunately the little girl had other ideas and she has had us on pins and needles. There were so many days that I just thought we should stop working with her or, even worse, bring her to the vet to be put to sleep. But, I just couldn't give up on her...I may regret that decision as I do not yet know if she will be normal or if she will even make it. I still do not understand why she is having trouble gaining weight.

I do not have rose-tinted glasses. I know I may regret sticking with this puppy. I know all the stories about pups who were kept alive and then had issues. I know that I should just let mother nature take her course. I know all of this; but I just couldn't do it.

This weekend she seems to have turned a corner and has gained a little weight. She is now a whopping 8 ounces. She is nursing off the puppy bottle much better and we are even hand feeding her mushed up puppy food. I remember with "One" (our singleton pup from 4 years ago) that we put him on puppy food very early and this helped him gain weight and thrive whereas he had previously been lagging. "One" was different though; he always showed an extreme drive to eat and this little girl is not as keen.

So that is where we are at right now. Slightly more positive but still cautious. I still am not sure that she will make it. But I have already made the decision that I will probably hold onto this pup for longer than the others and make sure she is normal before I place her. The last thing I want to do is give someone a pup that I am not sure about.

As for the other pups...well they are just scrumptious! Their eyes and ears are now open and they are just starting to wobble about and make little growls and barks. So cute!

Here are a few photos taken today by Dennis. He stayed home all day yesterday and today to feed the little girl every two hours while I went off to a local agility show. I will try and get more photos tomorrow of the two girls.

This is the "Fat Head" who had us all worried about Zen during the birth!



This is "Linford" named after a famous british runner.

Just a quick post

Just a quick depressing post to keep you all updated. Our internet has been down so I have been unable to post or email; not that I have been realy excited about posting anyway..

The little girl is still not doing well and not gaining weight. I thought we were going to lose her last night; but we got up this morning and she was still with us..
Only time will tell how this story will conclude...

It is even hard to enjoy the other three fat healthy gorgeous pups as we are so stressed about the little one. The three fatties are great; they are happy and healthy and way too cute. Like three little beached whales most of the time!

Our internet will hopefully be back tomorrow.

She ain't heavy she's my sister

Pups day 6

This second photo was not a set up! I looked in and there he was!

Funny blog

This agility blog really make me laugh! I guess not everyone would find it funny; but I really do! She really captures some funny bits of the American agility world; with it's own idiosyncracies that make it so different from the UK version of agility. It really made me chuckle this morning.

Team Small Dog

I love her logo "Team Small Dog: Small, Fast, Kick Yer Ass".

The little pup still is little but she is very lively. I got some good advice from Diane G and at least have some rational thoughts in my head. Thanks also to Nanna for bouncing some ideas my way. All your good thoughts are appreciated.

She is not the smallest pup I have ever had. Little Drummer was only 3.5 ounces when he was born and luckily he turned out fine. But we have to watch the little ones both now and in the long term. One thing I have to say for this little girl: she loves to eat! Even when all the other pups are laying like fat beached whales off onto the side; she is still attached to Zen and often falls asleep with the nipple in her mouth!

My agility system

Some photos from Crufts. Photo #2 is an illustrated example of the my famous patented "Finger Pointy" system. It is closely followed by my "FCA" system but that is a secret and I can't tell you about that one.

Update on the little one

I am still quite worried about the little girl. Unfortunately I think only time will tell....

She still has not gained weight although she is constantly nursing. She seems strong; they other pups cannot push her off a nipple. I went to the vet to get some Whelpie and a little puppy nurser. Well that was a waste of time, as she will have NOTHING to do with a rubber nipple! She is strong enough that I can barely hold her to get the nipple in her mouth.

So I really do not know what to think other than I hate this part of just waiting....

Crufts 2008 and puppies

Well Crufts 2008 is over. I cannot say I had the most successful Crufts or even enjoyed being there. One main reason for that; not at all related to my dog's results or performance! I don't want to get into the reasons as they are upsetting but I am more upset that I allowed someone else to ruin my special day with my special dog.

Here is a video of one of Hex's runs. She did really well for her first time at Crufts; I couldn't be more proud of her. She ended up in 2nd place in this run; just behind her litter brother Indy! Damn I keep getting beat by my own dogs! :-)



Indy went on to win the Small Crufts Agility Championships! I think this Crufts was meant to be successful for all the OBay Sheltie BOYS! Here is a video of Indy's (aka The Pocket Rocket!) two champ runs. We left before the finals so do not have the final run on Video; although we got to see the run on TV when we got home! Both Chi and Indy got alot of TV coverage this year! And the Tri-Star ESSC team had most of their runs on TV also!



I always find puppy whelping stressful. I think that I could do this for 50 more years and still worry about mom and pups. So far Zen is doing well but I am worried about one of the girls who is not gaining weight. She is nursing well and seems active but had lost 1 ounce after birth and has not gained anymore. Meanwhile the other three have already gained 3 ounces each!

Here is cute photo I took today.



Thanks to Lisa for watching the babies for me on Sunday. She even slept over on Saturday night to sleep in the room with Zen and pups so that I could have a decent night sleep before Crufts the next day. Lisa has some of Chi's videos on her blog along with some puppy photos. Check out Chi's Blog.

Also check out the Tri-Star Shelties runs in Medium Team finals at Crufts on Lian's Blog.

4 puppies

After a long two days Zen finally decided to have the puppies this afternoon. I think she is now done as it has been 2.5 hours since the last puppy and she seems fairly settled. I was really hoping there was another one or two in there but it is just not meant to be. I feel bad for the people that were hoping for puppies. :-( I certainly understand the disappointment.

There are two boys and two girls; all weighing a healthy 8 ounces. The first boy gave us a scare as Zen was taking a long time to get him out. We had just called the vet and were contemplating rushing her off to the vet. We gave it one last try and Lisa held Zen while I pulled the pup out. He was fine and active and we have now named him "FAT HEAD" for getting his fat head stuck and making me crazy!

I am really tired and not sure how we will run tomorrow at Crufts but I am going to give it a good try! Luckily Lisa has offered to stay over tonight so I can get some sleep and will stay to keep an eye on Zen and pups tomorrow.

Chi won Crufts Singles!!!

I am so thrilled! Lisa and Chi have won the Medium Crufts Singels Final!!!!!!! I cannot believe I was not there and now will probably be banned from all competitions as they all did so well without me there!

I am so amazed that this little dog just recovered from his cancer surgery 3 months ago and now has won Crufts!!!

What a boost for Lisa's ego! I always told her he had the speed to win against everyone including the border collies and including Zen! Once they get it together there will be no beating them!

More details, photos and videos when they get home and I am not whelping pups!

I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ESSC Tri-Stars

ESSC Tri-stars got 2nd in the medium team semi-finals!!! They are thru to the finals this afternoon! Fingers crossed and I hate getting the results thru as texts! I wanna be there! Waaaaaaaah!

They were beat by those darn medium blue merle border collies. Come on shelties you can win the finals!!!

I heard that Lisa's run with Chi was awesome! I so cannnot wait to see the video. Right now I am anxiously awaiting the news of Chi's run in the Crufts singles.

Lisa and Johanna are useless:they are both saying that their batteries are running out on their mobile phones. Do you think they are tired of hearing from me?? :-)

Here is a photo of the TriStar team when we qualifed for Crufts back in July. We were certainly the most coordinated team! Next year we need to find a sponsor so that we have matching jackets for Crufts. We got let down this year, so have to start asking around as soon as we qualify. (Yes I am postive we will qualify again! PMA~!)



And,yes, I am slighly going stir crazy at home which is why this post sounds a bit manic!

I can't do it...

Last night my bags were packed and I was thinking of going this morning...but I just couldn't do it. Even Crufts is just not worth leaving Zen. She is doing nothing but her temps are just low enough to keep me on my toes although it has not done it's major drop yet. I have a feeling I will just be home staring at her all day.

Yeah I am bummed and I sobbed a little and felt a bit sorry for myself. (well I am not a saint!) I really wanted to run Hex in the Eukanuba; she had done so well all year and qualified for it with the most points of all the dogs. She would have been running last out of the 20 small dogs qualified. Tomorrow is our small team run and I will have to decide soon, depending on what happens today, about what I will do for that. And, then of course, Sunday is the champs.

I really missed going on Thursday and cheering for Johanna, Nicky and Daniel. They all did so well! Nicky and Indy winning the Small International competition, Daniel and Bailey winning the Small Starters competition (against all the adults!)and Johanna and One coming second in the medium starters competition. I have been promised videos and photos; fingers crossed!

In the meantime, some lovely lovely people (thanks!) sent me this photo they took of Johanna and One running at Crufts. Do you think he got that contact?

Hi Hi Johanna

Just to show off my Danish. Hi-Hi (I not really sure how to spell it!) means Bye-bye in Danish!

Johanna and Marianne left today to head up to Crufts. Johanna is competing tomorrow in agility with One, Tazz and Spooky.. They are picking up Emmy at the Airport on the way up to the NEC. Emmy is competing with her handsome blue sheltie, Biscuit, in the International Freestyle competition on Saturday. I saw a sample of his routine and it looks so very cute!

My house is very quiet and calm tonight which is good for Zen (and for Dennis!) Although Johannas dogs are very well behaved; things are never calm when you have loads of dogs in the house.

Here is a photo of Johanna and the three dogs she is competing with tomorrow at Crufts. Fingers crossed for Tazz, One and Spooky! I ordered Johanna to sit down and let Dennis do a photo of her. It is so hard to get Johanna to smile in photos!!



Johanna got her car packed up and it looked a little full. Marianne and I questioned her about just WHERE Emmy will be sitting when they pick her up from the airport? In her own special Johanna-way, she tried to convince us that there would be loads of room for Emmy AND her luggage. Hmmmmm, we were not convinced and I hope that Marianne gets a photo of the car with Emmy in it! Anyway, here is a photo of the car just before they headed off to pick up Emmy.



And here is the back of the car with all the dogs packed up to go! I just love her new car; it is really cool to have the fixed crates in the back. The dogs are so comfy.



As many of you know, Hob-b is headed back to Denmark to do some showing in the breed ring. Plus, Tazz is headed back home after his 6 month stay with me here in England. So now we are down 2 dogs and it seems really strange just having 4 dogs here. Hob-b will be back; hopefully sporting a new Champion title! Fingers crossed!

Here is the two little-uns getting ready for their great adventure! Ahhh, way too cute!



As for Zen and my own personal Crufts saga......no news yet! Watching and waiting and cannot make any plans! Hex and I will just have to keep paws and fingers crossed that we will get to compete at least one day at Crufts this weekend. The joys of breeding!

Evil Johanna Course

Invasion of the Danes

Johanna and Marianne have arrived from Denmark. They got in late on Saturday and you would think they would sleep late on Sunday! Not!

We did some training on an evil course designed by Johanna on Sunday afternoon. I have some videos of this and will try to post later. I tell you these Europeans know how to set up a fun course; even though none of us could get around it on the first try! Johanna worked Tazz for the first time since he has been with me since August. I think she was happy with his new contacts and start line stays which Tazz has been working hard at. But old habits are hard to break! I have good confidence that Tazz can do perfect contacts at Crufts on Thursday. Go Tazzy stud man!

Afterwards we did a nice walk to the pub. I took Pax and Hob-b,the two sable bark-alots. Lisa and Tony took Griz the perfect lurcher.

And Johanna took Spooky the Rare blue merle "Danish Hoover-nose Hound". Those Hoover-nose Hound dogs are very rare and they are in great demand in the agility world. I think if he produced medium sized "Danish Blue Hoover Hounds" that there would be a major crisis in the FCI. What would they do? They might have to ban any breeding of them!

The girls got some great exercise chasing Grizz the lurcher and Spooky the hoover- nose hound. With 3 extra dogs in the house; it is good to try and give the girls some extra exercise to mellow them out. No matter how good all the dogs are it is stressful to have so many dogs together. So I think each dog needs some extra attention.

I have met Emmy's blue sheltie boy Biscuit. He is a lovely boy and I would like to get to know more of him. Unfortunately he peed on Johanna's leg and my couch so he has been put in doggie detention! haha. Overall though he seems such a calm well behaved dog and a pleasure to have around. Funny thing though he stands on his back legs alot! Must be all that Doggie Dancing training! I hope to get some photos of him today.

In the evening we had a little game of Pictionary which was won by the Danes; but I am not sure there was not cheating going on... I must brush up on my Danish in order to find out! This was followed by a BBQ dinner by the master BBQ man Tony. Yum!

I love having the Danes come over as they bring such good pressies! I love pressies! What else would they bring but OBAY BEER! Yes, that is Zen on the bottle (figuratively and literally!)

Thanks to Lisa for these photos. You can go on Chi's blog to learn more about Danish Beer.

Thanks Eleanor

My friend Eleanor mentioned recently that she was looking at some old photos of our littermates Joy and Dash. Yes these were actual PHOTOS pre-digital era! As most of my photo albums are back in New York I asked her to scan a few of Joy as a puppy. She sent me these the other day and I just cried when I saw them. I still cannot believe she has been gone for over a year. I miss her.

This was our Christmas photo 1992 when Joy was just 6 months old. In the photo (L to R) are Noel (my first sheltie), Holly (Joy's mom), Joy and Tess (our rescue GSP).



This was the 1st birthday party for Joy and her three litter-mates. In the photo my nephew Patrick is trying to hold them all together. Gosh he looks so young! (L to R) Brandi, Bell, Joy, Holly and Dash. We had such a good day at their birthday party! That was a fantastic litter to have as my 1st ever sheltie litter. Not only were they great dogs but they had great owners who became great friends. How lucky I have been to have such special people own my dogs. Happily, Bell and Dash are still around and will be 16 in May.



And finally our Christmas card in 1993. As soon as we would have our first snow of the year I would rush Dennis outside to take our Christmas photo for that year! You couldn't tell from the photo but Tess was afraid of cameras! She came to us at around 6 years old and she was a stray so we do not know her background. I figured her previous owners must have been over-zealous photo takers.....hmmm. Haha!

The nesting stage

I took Zen's tempeture for the first time on Friday; I usually start the temp taking one week before. So now it begins to feel serious! Poor Zen just sees the thermometer in my hand and tries to hide.

So I am in my nesting stage! We set up her whelping box and this started me off on a cleaning/clearing out spree! The charity shops should love me as I brought them bags and bags of stuff. I mean just how many "dog" towels do I need? And don't get me started on how many duffel bags, tote bags, briefcases and pieces of luggage we have hidden all over the place! Off to the charity shop for them!

One minute I look at Zen and she seems huge and the next time I look she doesn't seem big. So I really don't know how many pups are in there; we will know soon enough. My sister is now not allowed to have one until she learns her sheltie colour genetics...she mentioned last night that she didn't want to pick out a new collar for the puppy until she knew what colour it would be!hahahahahahahaha If a sable pup pops out of Zen we are in big trouble! And the Kennel club might have some strong words to say to me.

While we were on the phone talking about colours of puppies; Zen came over and handed me her skunk toy. So I decided it was a sign and if by some strange chance Zen has a black and white puppy... it is mine! (dont' worry guys it is highly unlikely!)

We are expecting Johanna and Marianne tonight and really looking forward to seeing them both along with the gorgeous sheltie One. They are bringing two BLUE dogs with them also (BC Spooky and sheltie Biscuit) but we won't discuss the fact that there will be blue dogs in my house. Yuck! ;-)

Fabric crate

I am selling my almost new folding fabric crate (I should have gotten one size smaller!). It is the large size 32" x 23" x 23" and can be seen on Doggie Solutions website. It is maroon colour. It is a great crate but I think I want to get the one size down as the shelties swim in this one!

I have put it on agilitynet to sell but thought I would post here in case anyone is looking for one for Crufts. Just email me if you are interested.

Amazing herding dog!

For all those people struggling with herding back at home...I stole Mac's video from her blog just to make you drool. This is a 5 year old agility dog who has never been on sheep before! Doesn't she look like a fully trained dog?! Look at that control..that distance! Freakin good! Yeah I know she is a border collie but none of the other BC's that day had anywhere near that talent. (sorry Karen and Nandy!) (note I find that these true media videos take longer to play so be patient). You can find Mac's blog at Dan And Mac's Blog.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Herding 101

Today we attended a herding instinct day. It was very convenient; only 10 minutes from our house! I think the sheep were a cross of Sussex and Southdowns sheep.

Hex was a good girl and as usual gave it her all! I wouldn't say she was a brilliant herding dog; but for her first time on sheep I was pleased. The only other times she has seen sheep have been when we walk thru fields of sheep and she must not chase them. She showed some interest and certainly was not scared. We will never be able to continue with herding here in England but it was enough for me to see what I think she could be capable of. As for me, it felt weird to be out there with sheep again and I forgot how much backwards walking there was!

Luckily we had good weather; chilly but not cold. It was good to see all the other dogs giving it a try. The star of the day was Mac and her border collie Jess. 5 year old Jess has never seen sheep before and went in like a pro. I have never personally seen an older dog go in for the first time and respond like she did. She immediately went into her border collie crouch and used her eye to move the sheep around. She did not circle; she did not act silly. She stayed off the sheep and moved them straight to her owner. She lay down when told! She even balanced perfectly when the sheep got on the fence. Everything was calm and controlled. Just a perfect herding dog even with no previous experience for either her or her owner. Such a pretty sight to see. It gave me chills.

Also Karen and the other Jessie and Lian and sheltie Saturn did really nicely.

As for the other OBay shelties there.....well lets say Chi and Todd have LOVELY handler focus. hahahaha 'Nuff said! Somehow I don't think their videos will be making any blogs anytime soon! On the positive side; no one fell down!

Here is Hex's video. It is kind of long and probably boring to most of you. So don't feel obligated to watch. I figure it will only be interesting to Johanna! ;-) Hex is now lying fast asleep at my feet. She has had a busy few days and I want to keep up a more intense schedule with her until the week of Crufts. Then we will just keep her chilled out for the few day before Crufts.

Interesting Course: Agility training Feb 2008

I like to check out other blogs for interesting training sequences and courses. It really helps when they put up videos also! There was a recent post on a blog about a course that contained a certain sequence that was quite testing. You can see the videos of her different attempts at the same sequence here.
She was trying sequence 4 - 6 of this course. She just replaced the dogwalk with the Aframe and the Aframe with the weaves. The idea is the same. I love that she left in the bloopers. They made me laugh!

This is the original course.



I found a video of this course being run at Agility in Motion. Just click on the movie that says Round 5 world team try-outs. Bloody hell I don't know how those two guys got those two from crosses in from 4-6. Well I take that back...they can run like stink! I hate men that can run! hehe I wish I could see some of the large dogs runninng this course.

So here is a video of our attempts at this course. I was pleasantly suprised that we did the course on the first try. Ohhhh but then......the carnage! It was good fun though and thanks to Lisa for helping me set it up and to Sassie for posting her attempts and giving us some good ideas! I am exhausted after working this course and need a cup of tea and a lie down.

Agility Training 22 Feb 2008

Have you guessed that Dennis is away? This is my third post today and I still have another post to do later! So it will be 4 blog posts today! And I did train my dogs, clean the house and take Zen on her daily pregger walk.

Lisa came by this morning with her mother Julia. As you saw in the post below; Julia ran a few sequences with Billy and did really well! I also let her run my old girl Pax over the same sequence. The oldies, Pax and Billy, were so happy to run! Julia is a natural; never did agility herself before but just watched Lisa a few times. I think it goes back to the fact that she used to ride horses.

After Julia left, Lisa came back with Chi to do some more training. I still had the course up that Andy and Nancy helped me set last week. Let me tell you that Andy is a fantastic setter-upper of courses! He does it so much quicker than us girls; it must be his architect training. I am rubbish at setting courses; it just takes me ages.

Anyway, this was the course that Nancy picked out from the Feb issue of Clean run. It was the black numbers of "nested courses" page. We just replaced the long jump with the wall jump as we needed to practice wall jumps for Crufts.



And here is the video of Hex and Chi running this course.

For Julia Happy Birthday!

For Dennis and Helene

We have changed Zen's theme tune to

Beer Barrel Polka (aka Roll out the Barrel)

Do English people know Polka?? Dennis' mom Helene loves her Polka! Anyway, Zen is getting round like a barrel and we can't help humming this song when she is around! Here are the lyrics although we tend to just hum up until the chorus!

Lyrics of Beer Barrel Polka
There's a garden, what a garden,
Only happy faces bloom there,
And there's never any room there,
For a worry or a gloom there
Oh there's music and there's dancing,
And a lot of sweet romancing
When they play the polka
They all get in the swing

Every time they hear that oom-pa-pa,
Everybody feels so tra-la-la
They want to throw their cares away,
They all go lah-de-ah-de-ay
Then they hear a rumble on the floor, the floor,
It's the big surprise they're waiting for
And all the couples form a ring,
For miles around you'll hear them sing...

Chorus:
Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun
Roll out the barrel, we've got the blues on the run
Zing boom tararrel, ring out a song of good cheer
Now's the time to roll the barrel, for the gang's all here

The next wave of Monty pups in agility!

I have stolen this video from Johanna's blog cause it is the first time I have seen a Monty pup from another litter (other than mine) do agility. Monty is Zen's sire. I used him here in England to produce Zen and then he went over to Denmark to work with Johanna. Luckily some good sheltie breeders have been using him over there and Spirit is from the next group of puppies to be hitting the agility rings.
I believe this was Spirit's first agility show.

I love how Susanne takes the time to praise Spirit and make the run a happy experience for him.

Hex Sheltie of the Year 2007!

Two weekends ago I went to the Engish Shetland Sheepdog Club Working Section AGM. They give out the yearly trophies at the AGM and I was really suprised to find out that Hex won the "SHELTIE OF THE YEAR" trophy! Zen has won this trophy two years in a row and if we were going to win I thought it would have been her again. But Hex had other ideas and just won over Zen by a small margin. That's my little girl!

Here is a photo that Dennis took of me and Hex and our trophy! I LOVE this trophy and wish I could keep it forever and ever! :-)

For Johanna :-)

Hex shows her Dad the proper contact position.

Now finished as the super stud-man; Tazz gets to practice some agility in prep for Crufts!

She's a Brick House

She's a brick----house

Mighty mighty, just lettin' it all hang out

She's a brick----house

The lady's stacked and that's a fact,

ain't holding nothing back.

She's a brick----house

She's the one, the only one,

who's built like a amazon

We're together everybody knows,

and here's how the story goes.

Well you can't help humming this song (The Commodores "Brick House") when you see Zen! She is fat and full of puppies. I think I am going with the "Tiz" theme as quite a few people have come up with good names. So now we need more! (hint hint~! Come on Eleanor, Diane and Ann Marie my favorite three puppy namers!) They will be "OBay Tiz......" with call names that MUST have "Z" in the name. Preferably "Z" as the first letter but I will be flexible on that! (well slightly flexible) Keep the suggestions coming. Maybe I should do a prize for the best name!

I have been trying to keep Zen fit by taking her for short walks everyday by herself. By taking her out alone she will just trot along rather than storming about chasing others. We just walk across the road thru the fields about 1 mile round trip. She is already getting tired just doing that. Personally I cannot understand why someone would continue to work and train a pregnant bitch in agility. Just craziness.

I had all ambitions of trying out with Zen for the European Open especially as it looks as if GB may not be doing the World Champs this year. So the EO will be the next best thing. But now that I have counted weeks; it looks as if it just ain't gonna happen! Her pups will only be 5 weeks old during the day of the try-outs and I will NOT risk taking Zen out just for that. I have always said that I am, in reality, "A sheltie person that does agility" rather than "an agility person who has a sheltie". Now I guess I can say that I am first and foremost a sheltie breeder rather than a sheltie competitor. I guess that is good? But I am still going to miss working Zen! I can only focus now on Hex and see if I can get her thru the try-outs.

This is a first for me. I am going to post a photo of my shelties ungroomed just because the photos are so funny. We have three of Lisa's dogs for the weekend. Griz, True and Chi. Billy the Bastard is holiday-ing in Wales with his grandma so luckily we don't have him also. (Thanks Julia!!) Just kidding as we LOVE Billy even if he is a Bastard!

So anyway I am in Sheltie heaven with EIGHT shelties and one lurcher for the weekend. I wanted to get a photo of Griz the lurcher relaxing; but then thought why not add Zen in the photo...and then decided to try for all the shelties. Just realize this photo is taken by me alone with no help from anyone else! It is not easy getting 8 shelties to put their ears up while sitting still and at the same time snap the photo!

PS I adore Griz the lurcher. She is my all-time favorite "not a sheltie dog" except for Whizz the border collie!

Now all the dogs on the couch. (Where else would they be? In the dogs beds maybe???)

This one I am posting just because 10 year old Grandma True (front right) looks so gorgeous in this photo. We started grooming her with the "Mane n Tail" spray conditioner and it has really helped tame her coat!

Swimming Shelties

I haven't had a chance to post to the blog recently; but have lots going on. I hope to get some training videos up later in the week. I attended a training day last Saturday with Hex and the Working Sheltie AGM on Sunday. More about both later!

For now; just a little clip of Hex and Chi swimming at the White Orchid Doggie Pool. I am very lucky that the pool is less than 1/4 mile down the road from me! I am still hoping Hex will be able to attend Crufts; so I am really concentrating on her fitness as well as her training. Chi has just started swimming these past few weeks. Lisa is taking him to help rehabilitate him after his surgery as well as to just improve his overall fitness. She had taken him 3-4 times to another place where he is swimming in one spot while tied to a pole; they swim against a current. Chi did not love this; but he started to show some improvement. So I suggested she bring him along with Hex and I to this pool. Unfortunately my battery in the video camera ran out because by the end of the session Chi was actually going in on his own without the lead and swimming out for his ball! That is a fab result as he started out a few weeks ago hating to swim!

Hex just loves to swim and I love to watch her! I just think everything she does is so darn cute!

No photos, no videos just talk

We had a good weekend but unfortunately no videos or photos to blog with. Boring, I know!

We had some scary news last week. Poor Oz had his 1 year vaccination and had an allergic reaction to it. Mary got him home from the vet only to have to turn right around and drive him quickly back as his face and head swelled up. I have been through this before and know how scary it is. Her vet had the same response that my vet did....."Oh he must have gotten bit by a bug"....... WTF!!!! Yeah like it is just a coincidence that he just had his vaccination 1 hour before he swelled up? What is with these vets??? ARGHHHHHHH! I spoke to Mary again today and he is fine and back to normal.

I spoke to the three other puppy owners from that litter to warn them of possible reactions. Luckily Zoe and Wizz had already had their injections with no problems. There is only Kizzy left and at least now Andy and Nancy can talk to their vet about it.

On a more positive note, on Saturday, Lisa and I went to Lesley Olden's for a "Course Analysis" training day. It was a great day as expected and good practice for me and Hex to get back into gear running full courses.

On Sunday I judged at C-side. What a long long day! Thankfully Lisa drove (and scribed) as I was toast on the ride home! We left the house at 6:30 to get to the show to tweak the course and start judging at 8am. I didn't take any breaks as there was another judge to be judging in the same ring in the afternoon and I didn't want to have the ring go late into the night. So I judged around 350 dogs in 6 straight hours!

Luckily I was really pleased with how the course ran and I love watching the dogs go round. It is so interesting as a trainer and as a handler to see how people choose to run a course and how their dogs respond to them in the ring. Most people were very kind to their dogs and I like to give people as much opportunity to work thru issues as possible. I think everyone appreciates that and no one "took the mickey" in my eyes.

One issue I found (as this was grade 1-3 dogs) was a few dogs who refused the dog walk. I didn't mind if people needed to encourage the dogs over but a few people thought the best way to do that was to DRAG the dog across! Yikes! One lady though that she could take her little spaniel by the scruff and force it to walk up the dog walk. Not Likely!

The funniest moment (although probably not to the handler!) was the black lab who grabbed not one but TWO obstacle numbers and did loops around the ring proudly carrying them! HA! The handler was actually very calm and I was so happy that she was not harsh to her dog. I had to have a sit down on the Aframe for a minute or two while the lab did his laps! :-)

The scariest moment was the huge Doberman who did jump 1, jump 2 and then straight AT ME with a deep growl! SHIT! I turned away and just felt the dog skim behind me. Phew!

All in all a good weekend and I enjoyed the judging.

Well obviously Hob-b didn't have puppies this weekend and her due date passed uneventfully. Zen on the other hand is looking possibly a bit thicker in the middle; so fingers crossed. I am already thinking about registered names and am stuck on what theme to use. The pups will still need "Z" names as I want to keep that for all her puppies. But I haven't had a theme for their registered names really hit me as perfect yet.

My first thought was to make a play on Grandma True's name (Ch. Linden 'Tis True) and have the registered names as "OBay Tiz...." but I havent' gotten any further than that! Then I thought maybe something similar to the "OBay Truly .." theme. Maybe "OBay Extremely..." Or "OBay Absolutely.." or "OBay Positively..." I don't know! Hob-b's puppies were going to be so much easier as I had a great "Helluva" theme ready!