26 Jul 2008

Today was Ruby's first agility show. it was a small one run by Agility addicts with an entry limited to 50 dogs held in the grounds of Shugburgh house just by Cannock chase. It is a lovely setting for a show. The house can be seen in the background of the video of part of Ruby's first run. Ruby did very well, she did pause at the top of the A frame to look at the judge but after that she carried on as if she did shows every day.

I found it more difficult than Ruby did. I walked the course and planned my route but once I got out on the course it all seemed to go wrong and I didn't end up where I planned to be for some jumps.

Ruby lost 5 on her first run as she missed the up contact on the seesaw. She is excellent at her down contacts but obviously not so good on the up ones.

She did a jumping course and also a class where we could take our own line. this was fun and meant we did not get eliminated when I didn't manage to point Ruby at the planned jump.
Ruby didn't get placed in her classes but she did get two clear round rosettes which I was really pleased about as neither of us had been to a show before.

Ruby enjoyed her agility but the highlight of her day was at lunchtime when we went down to the river. She found a stick she liked the look of


Unfortunately she failed to persuade me to throw it for her but luckily Robin then found a stick we could manage.





Ruby got quite an audience as she fetched her stick out of the river several times. She would do it all day but we had to go back to the show.


At lunch time the course was set up with very small jumps for people to have a go so I decided to have a go with Saffy. She had a really good time and I was really pleased with how she went over the jumps, and she really seemed to love it. I think she will be a lot faster than Ruby when she starts doing it for real.



Robin then took Dora and Casey round the course. They both went very well for him going away from me but even though I tried to keep out of sight once they were going towards me they tried to come to me. They all seemed to enjoy it though.

21 July 2008

I put some nice big marrow bones out for the dogs this morning. A bit later I noticed Saffy wandering around at a bit of a loose end. This is unusual as she loves having new bones and chews them for hours. Then I saw Ruby, snoozing in the garden on top of all the bones making sure the other dogs couldn't get them. I would have thought that a bone would have been a bit hard for a pillow but Ruby seems happy enough. It is better than burying them in my plant pots I suppose.

20 July 2008

Claire came over today and she brought Ruby a new football. these are old ones from Tristans football club that are too worn for them to play with.
Ruby can puncture cheap plastic footballs within 3 seconds of being given them but the proper leather ones resit her attention for much longer


Ruby kindly let Dora have a go too

17 July 2008

Dad and I went to East of England Show today. It is a very long drive so we go together to share the driving. Unfortunately the weather was not kind to us and it rained quite heavily most of the time we were there. I took Ruby and Saffy with me. Saffy was in the ring first in the puppy class where she came first over her sister Lexi. She behaved beautifully, showing herself off very well although she did have trouble trottting as she wanted to gallop across the ring instead.

Then it was Rubys turn. Ruby has not been to a proper breed show for a while but has been to a couple of companion shows recently and has been quite happy to be gone over, but she was not happy today. Whether it was the rain or being inside I don't know but she would not let the judge go over her this time, then she slipped her collar and shot out of the ring back into the cage that was at the ring side. I called her out again and she came back into the ring and had some titbits from the judge but then I took her out of the class. I know from experience with Ruby if I try to force the issue she just gets upset and it then takes months to get over. I think I will stick to obedinece and agilit shows with Ruby as she enjoys these. She really doesn't like breed much at all.

Then we had to go back in the ring with Saffy for the bitch challenge. Best of Breed was Saffy's dad Cougar, and then Saffy got best puppy so a good day over all.

15 July 2008

More photos of Dora wallowing in the mud like a hippopotamus....
I think I will start putting her on the lead near the mud hole.
At least Saffy is staying out of the mud



On to the pond to wash Dora off. I throw biscuits into the water to encourage them to go deep enough to wash off the mud. This morning the fish were eating the biscuits too. I tried to video them but they didn't take any while I had the camera running. I am not sure what sort of fish they are but they are huge and make quite a splash when taking the biscuits.

14 July 2008

this morning I gave the dogs marrow bones which they love. However Ruby likes to save hers for later so she buries them to stop Saffy stealing them. This is a bit of a nuisance as Saffy tends to dig them up and bring them into the house covered in mud. Today Ruby apparently decided to try a new hiding place as I discovered when I went to see what she was doing by the garage.
She has buried the bone in one of my plant pots.

14 July Part 2

having spent all day buried in a plant pot the bone is obviously sufficiently matured for Ruby to eat so now she has dug it up spilling potting compost all over the place. I presume it must taste much better covered in mud

13 July 2008

Today was Sandbach Companion show. We entered loads of classes and won loads of treats and rosettes for the dogs. Saffy came 4th in the puppy class and Ruby came 4th in her pastoral class. I was very pleased with both places as they were large classes. Then Ruby came second in the dog the judge wants to take home class and there were 60 dogs entered in that class. Luckily the judge didn't take her home in the end.

Dora and i were part of a dog training demonstration at lunchtime. Dora loved showing off in the ring, then we went straight on to do our obedience round. I think Dora had had enough by then as she did not concentrate at all doing heelwork. It was also getting hot too and she doesn't work well in hot weather.

Saffy Also had a go in the obedience and started off really well, better than Dora but then as we went across the ring she caught sight of mum who was judging in the other ring and shot off out of the ring towards her. She did come back when I called but of course we lost quite a lot of points for that.

Ruby also had a go at the obedience but there were some children riding about on bikes distracting her so she also struggled. Ruby is much better at agility. She finds obedience a bit boring.

I won a toy pig on the raffle and Saffy immediately claimed it and insisted on carrying it round with her much to the amusement of the people at the show. the novelty soon wears off though. Saffy does like stealing toys but loses interest if she is allowed them.

11 July 2008

I caught Dora in the act this morning wallowing in the mud with a big grin on her face..

Luckily the others haven't followed her so far

10 July 2008

This may look like Dora but it can't be. Dora has fawn legs and this dog is black all over. The only way Dora could have black legs is if she jumped into the very muddy boggy water hole by the gate, and Dora is such a good girl she wouldn't do that. Would she?















Lets dip her in the pond and see...















It must have been Dora after all. Look at those nice clean legs.

09 July 2008

Dora is feeling a bit peckish so she keeps picking things up from the floor and bringing them to me to trade for biscuits. All the dogs do this at times so my desk ends up absolutely covered in useless bits of rubbish.

05 July 2008

This morning I decided to walk the dogs to the fields at the end of the road instead of our normal walk. I took Ruby and Saffy first. We were only about 200 yards from home when up ahead of us I saw about half a dozen sheep standing on the grass verge eating grass. Not a normal thing to find on a suburban housing estate.

It took Saffy and Ruby a second or two to realise what they were seeing but then they stared at them as if they couldn't believe their eyes. Ruby immediately sat and gave me eye contact which is her way of asking to be let off the lead to chase squirrels and rabbits. Of course I couldn't let her off so we carried on keeping to the other side of the road. I thought I might be able to go past them and then walk up to the farmhouse to let them know their sheep were out.

The sheep soon noticed us heading towards them so they trotted of down the road back towards the fields. The sight of the sheep moving was too much for Saffy and Ruby and they started squealing and tried to drag me after the sheep. I was glad I only had 2 with me as I don't think I could have held all four dogs.

We followed the sheep down the road and then they came to the first field it had its gate open and luckily the sheep decided to go in there, so I shut the gate on them so they wouldn't get back out on to the road and then set off in the directionof the farm house. The smell of sheep was still very strong down the road as there were sheep in the fields at the side of the road, Saffy and Ruby were dragging me a long convinced they were still in persuit of the sheep.

We got to the farm house but there was no body up so we headed back home and phoned the farmer to let him know where the sheep were. He sounded very sleepy so I had obviously woken him up.

03 July 2008

Saffy practising her levitation. Just need to get that last foot off the ground...

1 July 2008

I love my dogs but I also love gardening. So I have set it up so I have plants round the edges with a fence to keep the dogs out. the dogs have the run of the lawn. This system works well.
You can see Saffy looking at something through the fence but not jumping in. I wonder what she is watching. Probably a bird. She likes birds.


That doesn't look like a bird, more like a wild animal lurking in the undergrowth....

Oh,its Ruby playing with her football where Saffy can't get it. Perhaps teaching her to jump was a mistake.