Stick envy

They don't have enough toys so sticks are very coveted....Zaz was thrilled with the stick that Yaz dropped.



Then came the momma.

Mid Downs 2009

Mid Downs was our first "real" agility show of the year. I was looking forward to doing a low-key show to get Zen and I back in the zone.

Zen only had two runs but she did so well in both of them. Perfect sit stays on the line and really nice solid contacts; so I was a happy bunny! The agility course was really good for us as it was tight and had some difficulty. I saw the trophies and was really hoping for a placement so I could get one! To my surprise Zen came in 1st and won me a A-Frame trophy! I have been wanting a A-frame trophy since I moved here in 2001! There are some people (who have no taste) who made fun of my trophy but I LOVE it. What is really funny is this Aframe trophy is bigger than the Aframe trophy I won at the World Championships for the Silver medal team!

Here is Zen with her World Champs A-Frame Trophy.



And now in technicolour with her Supadogs A-frame trophy.



To make the day better, Zen's daughter Kizzy won her class (running in small over the same course as Zen)and won an A-Frame trophy also. This win also put her into Grade 6 so congratulations to Andy and Kizzy! Although Andy was risking me handing back his trophy as he didn't see the beauty in it that I did.

Girlpower pups go wild

Good trainers have well behaved puppies. My puppies have been so well behaved that they are getting more free run of the house.

I thought they were being quiet and realized the baby gate was open and they were upstairs. Look what I found...



Pax is NOT impressed.



Oh well we are encouraging their tug drive anyway.





Zaz doesn't see a problem here.



As a good trainer I took this opportunity to practice down stays.

Crufts 2009

Well sorry about the delay! It is surprisingly busy here with two puppies to train and socialize.Plus the weather has been so absolutely gorgeous that I have not been on the computer much. I have no video and very few photos so I "stole" these videos from You tube! :-)

What can I say about Crufts. It was difficult for me this year. I was not sure I really wanted to go yet I really wanted to go. Understand? Friday was the worst for me. Walking into the building was hard because the last time I was there was with Hex by my side. I thought I would be OK but then I saw Indy (Hex's brother) and just lost it.

At one point during the day I was sitting alone with Zen and looked across the aisle at another dog in it's crate. My heart just stopped for a second when I saw Hex's face on a bag of treats on top of the crate. Her photo is on a bag of Burn's Dog treats and one of those bags was sitting on top of this dog's crate.

Zen was a good girl both days. We had our issues with some contacts but that was because I was pushing her for speed. I knew with the border collies that were competing that we had no chance of a place without really going for it. The courses were nice but not difficult enough to cause too many mistakes. Zen was manic both days; she just was out of her mind excited. I guess having Crufts as her first show back in 6 months was a little ambitious!

On Friday during the Crufts Singles I was so proud of her 1st run which put her into 2nd place between (yes of course) two BLUE MERLE BORDER COLLIES. haha Her second run was lovely except for the missed Aframe (darn judge with good eyes!) which put her into 3rd behind (yes again) two BLUE MERLE BORDER COLLIES. Do you sense a trend?



On Sunday in the Champs her jumping qualifying run was fantastic! She came in 2nd place after (yes repeat after me) a BLUE MERLE BORDER COLLIE. I knew for the Champ Agility qualifier I just needed to NOT get eliminated. She ran well but a dropped bar and a dodgy see-saw made me worried. I knew we still made it into the finals in the evening which was great.

The evening finals is always exciting. This one was bittersweet for me and I just felt I had to hold it together for Zen. I was so worried about her because they did not allow our grooms into the holding arena. This made it difficult to watch and have your dog ready to run as they run a tight schedule. I do not understand why this year they did not allow the grooms into the holding arena as that is the point of having a groom! They blamed the extra security as there was alot of talk of protesters due to the KC expose that was run by the BBC this year. So you can imagine that I did not want to let Zen out of my sight for one second.

I cannot even remember the finals course! I am sure somewhere it is on a video but I cannot find one right now. Probably just as well as I remember it as perfect and would rather just remember it like that! I was so proud of Zen; she looks so small next to the jumps especially since she lost all her coat after the pups.

I think we put in the best run we could have done. Zen was lying in 1st place up until the last dog ran. I knew that if Toni and Minx went clear that there was no way we could beat their time.

Zen ended up in 2nd and came home with the Crufts Reserve Championship Ticket. And I went home with the best dog at Crufts.



Here are some videos of the Singles runs and the Champ runs during both days. I included the Small Singles just so show how well Indy did this year at Crufts. Nicky and Indy won not only the Small Crufts Singles, Small International Final but also the Small Agility Championships. What a great partnership they are.

Post Crufts Pups

I hope to do a Crufts re-cap tomorrow. I am too tired today to even think about it! Thanks to everyone who sent Good Luck messages and Congratulations messages. It was so cool that people all over the world could go to the Crufts TV Online and watch it live! I think it was the best Crufts coverage ever.

Meanwhile the pups stayed at home with Dennis; so I have minimal Crufts photos because I was without my photographer, videographer and best helper! I survived without Dennis thanks to Leah, Nancy, Sonia and Karen; all true friends. I am hoping I will get photos from other people. I know that Susie and Nick took photos from the Singles on Friday and they are going to send me some. I don't know where to get photos from yesterday but know Agility Eye was there and am hoping they will give me a photo or two. If anyone knows please let me know?

I missed the pups so much just being away from them for two days. It seems like they grow and change everyday. I feel bad if I don't get a training session and back-garden running around session in everyday. As soon as I got home each night I did little training with each pup. Itzy is learning to back up and now she backs up for everything; even if it is not what I asked her to do! Zaz goes "bang" whenever she sees food...hmmm I am seeing a pattern!

Karen was telling me that Yazz never sleeps. My two are quite lazy; I wonder if it is me?

They start in the same bed.



Then go into different beds.

Zaz Tricks 12 weeks

I am posting these videos to cheer up Johanna who cannot come to Crufts this year because Spooky hurt his eye and needs surgery tomorrow. Poor Spooky and poor Johanna. Plus I am so disappointed because I wanted her to see Tazzy's babies and come with me to Crufts. We will miss you!

Zaz and Itzy are fun to train. The goal for us right now is just to keep them enjoying learning and working with me. It does not really matter what I teach them; I just want to see the little brains working and thinking. We also do alot of running around the garden and playing with toys but that doesn't make interesting video. Not interesting but would be funny watching me try and outrun these puppies; they can run fast when they want their toys!

Here is Zaz at 12 weeks old working on her "elephant trick". I have to laugh when I see the number of blogs now that have videos of their pups doing the "elephant trick"! I had named this trick back when Zen was a puppy and it seemed to have stuck. I had read about "perch" work in the clean run magazine and just decided to make it fun and name it something cute for our puppy class. I am taking credit for it so that I can add it to my training DVD which will cost lots of money OK? So everytime the word "elephant trick" appears on a blog you have to send me money (for harnesses and dog toys). And Johanna need to give me royalties everytime she teaches it to her puppy classes. Or, at least, come here and do us some good puppy classes!

Zaz takes her elephant trick very seriously!




Zaz learning right and left.




We also started her "bang" trick. I love that she added her own little twist by kicking her feet when she goes "bang".



Now that Zaz has a little repertoire of tricks; I need to take them "on the road" and do them with distractions in new environments. I think that really firms up what they have learned.

The pups started a basic puppy "obedience" class on Monday. Dennis took Itzy and I took Zaz. I was really pleased with Zaz as she is totally focused on me and could care less about the other pups. Itzy on the other hand is a social butterfly; she wanted the little shih-tzu puppy to chase her. At the end of class the instructor lets two or three similar size pups off lead to play and then we work on calling them back. It is very controlled and I feel comfortable doing this because of that. I am not a fan of "free for all" puppy play groups. There were 4 shelties, 2 border terriers, 1 shih-tzu, 1 german shepherd and 1 jack russell in the class. The border terriers and jack russels were the noisiest by far! Dennis and I split up at opposite ends of the room so that the pups could concentrate. We both went in with a baggie full of treats. Zaz finished all her treats as I was constantly rewarding her for staying on her bed (my bastard-ized version of crate games). Dennis was pleased he left the class with most of Itzy's treats still in the bag...bad Dennis and poor Itzy! No wonder I kept hearing Itzy go yip-yip-yip during the class! Zaz on her bed in puppy class. I think I need a bigger bed.





This week will will continue our socialization in town and try and do some tricks in new places. I think I may try and do "Crate Games" with the pups; this may come in handy since I will be training two pups at a time. I have never had success in being able to train one dog while another dog watched quietely; so I am interested to see if "crate games" can allow me to do this. In theory, it should but I will keep you posted.

Harnesses and Dog Toys

I have been officially inducted into the "Crazy dog people who buy too much stuff" club. It is also known as the "I WANT THAT" club. Between dog harnesses, dog toys, dog coats and dog beds I think I have broke the bank this month.

First I need to share a new dog "store" with everyone. A great new place for dog toys and, even better, labels for our special dog harnesses! All you who bought my favorite dog harnesses last year can now get personalized labels! Check out a new UK based internet dog shop:

Dog Stoppers

They not only have handmade dog toys and great tunnel holders but you can personalize your harness like Niamh shows here.



Please let them know if you were referred by me. Maybe I can eventually get free stuff and will be able to eat next week.

As for my little darlings; I haven't decided what lables they need on their harnesses yet. Well actually I am not sure Itzy can wear a harness ever! I have now bought or borrowed hundreds (well maybe exaggerated) of harnesses for her and she refuses to wear any of them. These beautiful harnesess become Itzy Immobilizing Devices. She just cannot walk with them on. This morning I thought she might be big enough so that I could try my special pink harness on her and you can see the result....There is a reason I was able to take so many photos of her; she couldn't move with it on!











Here is Itzy in a perfect stay (induced by the immobilizing harness which is now my new invention that will make me millions. Just watch for the training DVD due out soon). Notice the new pink tuggy toy from Dog Stoppers!



Here is a small sample of Itzy's harness collection. All harnesses induced perfect stays or crazy Monty Python type walking.



Now for my little angel Zaz. Getting her to stay was much harder as she is immune to the immobilizing gene.

We tried the pig ear stay method.



Then we tried the push and take photo method. Why does Zaz always look like she has a large head?



Then I remembered I actually have been reinforcing her sitting on the balance disc. First she thought she should do "the elephant trick" on it.



Then she sat on it which caused the "big head" photo again.



Yes! The perfect cute head tilt photo.



She could lay here for ages.



I think she is tired of laying still and offers me a cute head down.



We have been busy heading into town everyday and the pups had their first puppy obedience class last night. More about that later and hopefully some video of Zaz's tricks.

Girl Power Pups training 11 weeks

Like most people with new pups I sometimes wonder if I am doing the right puppy training or enough puppy training. You cannot help but compare to other "wonder pups" especially on some of the other blogs out there. There is nothing to make you feel more inadequate than watching some of these videos on You tube! Tell me please...how come all of these fab trainers are 25 years old, gorgeous Europeans and have super wonder pups that are usually border collies? Sigh....

I just have to go back to what I know and try to do what comes naturally. I find if I over-analyze or over-plan,I just start procrastinating! I recently saw a good motto which said something along the lines of "perfection is the purest form of procrastination". Boy oh Boy does that fit me to a tee! So I am trying to not over perfect my puppies!

Zaz and Itzy are just two totally different characters. Each have their strong points and weaknesses; I just try and tailor their training to their individual needs. In order to have enough time to train each pup I have started to use their meal times as their training sessions. I do not normally do this although I know "hand feeding" is often a recommended training tool. I am doing it with these two pups just to be able to plan their training sessions, play sessions, sleep sessions and socialization sessions without running out of daylight!

We start a little puppy basic obedience class next week. And the breaking news is that Dennis has agreed to come and train Itzy while I train Zaz in the same class! Hurrah!It should be interesting to see if each pup can concentrate while the other pup is working AND concentrate on one of us at a time!

Along with their short clicker training session; I try and do restrained recalls and running with each pups whenever I can find someone to hold the pup. I try to do the running and chasing with a toy so I keep the toy drive alive in each pup. This is the hardest part as using the food is so much easier/quicker but I know I need to keep playing with the pups to try and get more enthusiasm out of their training.




I try and get little training sessions done where ever we go. So, for example, if we do some walking though town for socialization I will bring treats and do some downs or rights/lefts. When I take Zen to agility class I go early and bring each pup out for 5 minutes to watch and get rewarded for not barking and lunging. (easier said than done!) Nancy kindly leaves out some "props" like wobble boards and cones and I do little sessions with each pups. Rights and lefts on the wobble boards and little sends around cones; all easy and fun but with the distraction of other well-behaved/trustworthy adult dogs working near them.

Here is a little video of Itzy training. Ahhh she is so cute. I will try and get video of Zaz up during the week.

Girl Power pups 9-11 weeks

Most of our time is being spent on socializing the pups. This is hard work and often involves walks on the beach, sitting at cafes drinking lattes and lots of window shopping. Oh yeah and some standing next to cannons.



Dennis and I took the pups this weekend down to Portsmouth and Gunwharf Quays. It is an outdoor shopping area on the waterfront. It is a brilliant place to walk the pups with loads of people, different noises, stores and cafes. I wish I had the camera when Dennis was surrounded by about 8-10 teenage girls squealing with delight over Itzy. I heard them coming and took off ahead of Dennis and he got caught in the teenage wave!



Last weekend Sonia and Bob took me and the pups down to Worthing beach. They had some good socialization and had some experience walking along a busy street. Sonia and Bob's shelties (Barney, Sam and Lucky) are great dogs to introduce to the puppies as they are so gentle.



It was hard work so we had to stop for coffee!



I have decided to go to Crufts with Zen. It was a difficult decision for me. I still am not sure I will be able to deal with being there without Hex. Hopefully running Zen will help give me back the joy of agility. We will be competing on Friday and Sunday.

Zen looks awful as she is going through the major shed that happens to bitches after the puppies. She is fit though and she has been swimming for the past two weeks in addition to her walks and some balance work. I ordered with "Fit Disc" for her and we have been practicing her "sit up beg" on it. It looks easy but for a dog like Zen who moves at 100 mph it was really hard. We are working on her changing position from a "sit beg" directly to standing on her rear legs and back to a "sit beg"; all on the Fit Disc. It hasn't been perfected yet; but I will try and get a video this weekend.



The puppies must be growing as they are outgrowing their puppy harnesses. Zaz has now passed her pink harness down to Itz. The red harness the Itz is wearing in this photo was a hand-me-down from Zinna. Considering the red harness is now too tight on Itzy; she must be bigger than "The Mouse" was at the same age.



Zas in her pink baby harness. This was the last day she could wear it and it is now a hand-me-down to Itzy.

Puppy fun

I know I should be posting training videos of serious stuff but we haven't been too serious yet! This may blow my image because along with "selling puppies for thousands of dollars" rumour there is also the "trains her puppies to weave at 8 weeks" rumour. I wish I was that good a trainer! Instead here is some "I'm the real Momma" training videos. All royalties go to Zen and she prefers yummy treats or tuggy toys please. Her training DVD should be coming out soon.

Facebook is funny

I am not sure why I am signed up on Facebook; I just accept friends (hey everyone needs more friends!) and generally ignore it. Sometimes you receive notices about things and this weekend I received a notice that I was "tagged" in a photo. Huh? I wasn't sure what that was and it is different to when we tagged bloggers last week.

It seems like someone downloads photos and if they know names of people in the photo they add the name in and the photo get "tagged" with our names. Also if someone else sees the photo and knows someone in the photo, they can add the name. If the person is on Facebook or is one of your friends,they somehow get notified about the photo. Someone downloaded photos of an old school yearbook. It was weird looking at my photo and seeing other photos and names that I didn't remember until I saw them again. Personally I found Junior High and High School a bit of a blur and I think I have erased it from my memory! Isn't that strange?



Then I saw this photo! I had forgotten all about this. I guess I was meant to be a "dog person" after all! I was 12 years old in the photo. I think I joined this "club" because I was having a tough time in the science class due to having been in catholic school for the previous 8 years. (Science and Math was not a big emphasis is my catholic grammar school.) I needed all the extra-credit points I could get by joining this "Vet-Tech club". This was our science teacher's "club" as he must have been a Belgian Sheeepdog breeder and exhibitor. The club actually did nothing except take this photo. It is amazing that years later my main university emphasis was science and math and I not only loved it; I was good at it.

Once he invited us down to a local breed show (at Hofstra University) which many years later I attended regularly! So I must have been influenced without realizing it! I remember going down to the dog show and really enjoying being around the dogs. I remember finding the teacher and being offered a can of coke and being invited into his motorhome. I remember thinking it was weird that he had this motorhome and wouldn't go into it. Now, these days I would be jealous of that motorhome! Life is certainly a circle!

Now can you find me in the photo? :-)