22 February 2009

The Van is now fixed so hopefully we will get to agility next week. it has been a very boring week without it. We have an agility show next Saturday and an obedience show next Sunday so will need the van for those.
The girls came over this afternoon bringing William with them . Ruby loves William to visit. Not because she likes him that much, he is a bit scary now he can move on his own, but he does drop bits of food and he brings TOYS with him. Her favourite is a plastic ball (of course) which is full of small beads and makes a lot of noise rolling around and she steals that at every opportunity.
Daisy loves William too and jumps all over him and kisses him as much as she can. William loves her too and squeals at her when she kisses him.

19 February 2009

Ruby has spent the day at the vets today. She has had a cough for several months now and although it is not bad it never seems to go away for more than a day or two. The vet took her in for an anaesthetic and x-ray of her chest and also had a look into her lungs with a camera and took some samples from there too.

The good news is she couldn't find anything sinister to explain the cough but the tests were inconclusive. We will need to wait to see if the Lab finds anything in the samples.

18February 2009

It has been a very quiet week this week as my Van has been off the road so I haven't been able to go anywhere. We have had no agility or training classes at all.

I have been using the time to do training at home but I think we are all missing our classes.

this video shows Saffy learning to reverse round me.



and this one is Daisy doing some touches and play bows.

14 February 2009

We went down to Coventry for the National Working and Pastoral Breeds open show today. the dogs haven't been in the ring for a breed show since last August so thought that it would be a good idea to get some practise in before crufts.

Laura handled the dogs for me as I still find moving them painful due to my back problem. The venue was very crowded and noisy and the dogs did not show as well as I know they can. Saffy and casey both only managing fourth. Saffy seemed a bit confused as to why there was no agility equipment in the ring.

13 February 2009

Daisy is much bigger now and well able to keep up with the bigger dogs on walks. I usually take her and Saffy out together as they have great fun playing. She is probably faster than Saffy over short distances. If I can learn to steer her then she should be excellent at agility.

07 February 2009

I went to Lune Valley Obedience Show today with SAffy and Ruby. The weather was bitterley cold but dry and bright. I left Daisy at home as she feels the cold so didn't want to leave her in the van for too long
SAffy was drawn in Novice and we did a training round for that. She payed nicely in the ring and did a good retrieve and recall.
unfortunately she didn't do as well in her beginner round. I am nt sure what the problem was but she was really distracted and didn't want to play or do anything else for that matter. We trained the stays just outside the ring ans she did those well.
Ruby was only entered in beginners and she did really well. her heelwork was lovely. the judge and steward were very impressed with how graceful she is. she did a lovely retrieve and only lost 1/2 a point on that. unfortunately she got distracted on her recall and forgot what she was doing so instead of coming in to a present in front of me she went round in a circle behind me and then seemed to remember what she was doing and did a lovely present and finish. The judge marked us three for this. If she had done it correctly we would have had a place. I don't mind however as Ruby has always found obedience difficult. it has taken her a while to learn to ignore the people following her round the ring but today she worked really well and even did her stays without worrying too much.

06 February 2009

I found out that Ruby got a 7th place at the Agility Addicts show last weekend. A friend brought her rosette home for us as we had to leave before the results were announced.
Previously Ruby has had several 8th places so we are improving. She also got 2 clear rounds too.

05 February 2009

I have been tagged. Instructions for being tagged:
Open a document or file folder
Click on the fifth folder and then the fifth photo
Post the photo and describe it
Then tag 5 other bloggers

The picture is of Minnie, my then 11 year old GSD Lab cross. Although it doesn't show on the photo it was just after she had had an eye removed. I wasn't sure whether I should put her through an operation at her age but after she recovered she had another 4 happy years, only slowing down in the last couple of months of her life.
Next is Dora who was only about 5 months old. Her face is very black in the photo. I am actually quite surprised how much she has changed over the years. And last but not least is Casey my first Malinois. He also looks very young in the photo but I suppose it was taken over 6 years ago. the date shows as 01/01/03.

The bloggers I am tagging are
http://bonvivant-bsd.blogspot.com/
http://zodantta.blogspot.com/
http://www.shamelval.blogspot.com
http://www.freewebs.com/belgianshepherd
http://mali-mania.blogspot.com
but I think they have all been tagged already.

03 February 2009

We had more snow over night last night. Not as much as some parts of the country but still enough to make everywhere look very pretty.



while out on our walk we met Saffy's best friend Lynx the Dobermann. both dogs had loads of fun chasing each other al over the golf course.