Grade 6, Contacts & New Pictures

I thought i'd better update the blog before i forgot what has been happening;


I took Demon to Dog Vegas on August, it's quite a close show for me and i like the atmosphere and the way the shows are run...Lovely.


Demon worked very well coming 2nd in Grade 3-5 Jumping and then going on to WIN Grade 5 Agility!!
He was a little naughty self releasing his A-Frame and waiting on the ground until i released him but i hadn't noticed until after the run when a friend mentioned it to me, so, the last Grade 5 Agility class i made sure he held his contacts until i gave him his 'OK' release command. He was a good lad and stayed put.


To be honest i was a little bit gutted De had won out of Grade 5 and had a few tears as i wondered how being in Grade 6/7 for the rest of his agility career would affect him both physically and mentally.
Things such as the tighter turns and demanding weave entries (although the new weave spacing coming in to force in Jan 2012 will help this) there is then also the fact that 'I'  must try to cope with remembering the harder courses, so not to let De down  and figuring out the safest route for him. I am not prepared to run him into the ground and i believe thinking about his route may prevent any long term affects.
After thinking things through i have come to the conclusion that as long as De is enjoying himself and we are having fun it is just another great activity we can participate in together.


Only time will tell if we can hold our own but De is still young and i still have lots to learn, new training and me using my brain when walking courses will help and i think we may just be fine.


I have ordered some new agility equipment (Contacts) from Alan Sharp of Lincs Agility, these will be rubber coated.
My See Saw and A Frame will be Pink with Black contact points and my Dog Walk will be Purple with Black contact points.
As i type this i have had my See Saw back and it is LUSH!! I will upload some pictures soon.


Sadly Alan has had to go into hospital for an operation on his knee, since then he has been rushed back into hospital after getting an infection in the op site so was operated on yet again!!!


I am wishing him a speedy recovery (for his sake) and know my equipment will be with me when he is up and running again.


Below are some picture kindly taken by Dave White at the August Dog Vegas show.

ISDS Puppies.

My Demon, as many of you know, is a duel I.S.D.S and KC registered border collie. I have found him lovely to train and a joy to live with in and around the house. His breeder currently has a litter of I.S.D.S puppies, that again, can be duel registered.


Dam of the litter is full sister to Aled Owen's - Roy and Sire of the litter is a dog named Cap who is a top trials dog. 




For any more information on this litter please contact Dave Taylor on 07793551920

KC Fest & Results are back.

KC Festival:

Last Thursday I headed on down to Long Buckby (about 30mins from the Kc Fest venue) with De and Roxxi, we were staying with a friend which meant we had home comforts after a day at the show which was bliss. The weather was lovely Fri, Sat & Sunday although it was a little warm for the dogs i think. Not really a lot to report on the results side De did a cracking round in the Grade 5 Agility on the Saturday but i dropped my arm at the end which resulted in him dropping the last pole, Demon is working really nicely unfortunately i am either calling to late or dropping arms or commanding to early/ late either way the problems are definitely my fault. We managed a clear in the last run of the day, Sunday, in the Grade 5 agility, although i held his contacts. We came away with a respectable 9th which, considering the held contacts, i didn't think was bad.
I decided with the weather being very warm at times that i would invest in a Cool Coat for the dogs i have see a lot of dogs wearing these and the feed back on them is brilliant and i have heard a lot of people recommending them. So off i went to purchase one, when i got to the stall i realized Hurtta had brought out a new cool coat these came in blue and purple and blue. I really liked these and they seemed to cover the dogs better than the previous model so i chose to get one of these new ones. I must say i recommend these coats and  will be getting Roxxi a purple one too (although she needs the size below.)

Roxxi's Results:


So after a nice weekend away at the KC Festival i was please to come home to be told that Roxxi's Hip/Elbow Scores were back....we i was please but nervous at the same time. I now had to make an appointment to go and discuss the results with my vet.
I have been there this afternoon (Wednesday) and am happy to say her Hips are 7/4 = 11 and her Elbows are 0/0 :-) So i'm a happy bunny now and feel better for knowing they're not bad.

Where to start??......

Well we're now into good old August think my last post was May sometime (bad blogger!)
Cannot remember everything but here goes:

Demon:

Demon has gone from strength to strength these last few months, sadly, the same cannot be said for my handling.

Demon has had numerous places since my last blog

• Waldridge Fell - Grade 4 Jumping 2nd
• Hinckley - Grade 4 Jumping 6th
• Hinckley Grade 4 Agility 1st!! Taking us up to Grade 5 :-)

In June we traveled to Newton Heath where De really showed what a star he is and came 2nd in the KC Novice Olympia Combined 3-5 Agility....This qualifies us for the semi finals in September at The Birmingham Championship Show.

Video below:

Thanks to Lucy Osborne for this video.

After this i have tried to keep him in Grade 5 as i think we will both benefit from the time and experience, as i seem to have lost the handling part of my brain lol!! De has still achieved some good places despite having me as his handler :-)

• Tuffley - Grade 5 Agility 5th
• Weardale - Grade 5 Jumping 2nd
• Dog Vegas - Grade 5 Jumping 2nd
• Derbyshire - Helter Skelter Combined 5-7 3rd
• Derbyshire - KC Novice Olympia Combined 3-5 Agility 2nd!!!

Yes my little boy managed to qualify for the Olympia Novice for the second time just to make sure he was going...Clever lad!! :-)

I'm am very proud of him....which is a bit of an understatement lol!! Lets just hope i can sort myself out before September comes :-s

On Saturday we headed off to the Scunthorpe Agility Show its a fairly local show only being about an Hour and 15 mins from my house at the most.

Saturday was filled with if onlys with use having poles or late commands from me sending him over wrong jumps ect.

Sunday was much the same up until the last run where Demon did it again and Qualified for the Adams Burns Derby 2012 (next September) The first part (contacts, spread, long jump) was lovely, yet the jumping was very hit and miss in the middle, only 5/6 dogs got round this course so i was pleased we got round but it wasn't a nice flowing run so i felt a bit un-worthy of qualifying but hey we got round and i'm lucky DE covers the ground nice and made time up on the bits that did flow :-)

Here is a video of some of his runs from July:

Both dogs had their yearly eye tests done at the beginning of July by Professor Bedford (a specialist in Ophthalmology) Both dogs results came back Clear/Unaffected so a good result all round.

Roxxi:

Roxxi's training is coming on nicely, she has just about got her weaves now and has clicked on alot faster than i'd of expected.....We are using channel weaves which i feel has worked really well with both the dogs. In regards to the excessive barking at training and around the rings it has been a long and very tough round but we have now almost got silence Yay!!! There is still the odd whimper but the reward for Roxxi is far greater when she's quiet and she has sussed this out too!! We reverted right back to one jump during training at home and the reward came quick and often for silent jumping/ tugging ect so she is now working alot quieter too although its not quite there yet. She was entered into the Helter Skelter at both Dog Vegas and Derbyshire at the end of July and worked well in the one at Dog Vegas but got a bit tunnel happy towards the end and i carried her out as that's all she thought about after going through it twice and i got her E'd in the one at Derbyshire by sending her over an extra jump although she worked like an angel <3 <3 All in all i'm very happy with the progress we're making and she has been entered in her first kc show at Gillingham.

Roxxi was DNA tested for CL and Hip & Elbow scored beginning of July, i am still waiting for the Hip/Elbows but have received the DNA Results this morning and she is Clear :-)

I am competing at the KC Festival this weekend and i am really looking forward to it i am kindly being looked after by Sam Clarke and the wonderful Tizzy although i'm not quite sure if they know whats they've let themselves in for with me and the two dogs ;-) We're not really that bad.

Will hopefully update once we return home .......

LAE, Dog Vegas & Beacon

Just an update of whats been happening. . . . Not in great detail as i have forgotten most of it :-P

LAE ( 16th/ 17th April )

What a lovely show! The venue is gorgeous and i always wonder why it isnt used more often. We actually travelled there the fri 15th as Roxxi & Demon both had a training session with lucy. Roxxi was in the first class and took it all in her stride she is such an honest dog and i am greatful for this as i am still wondering how i'm gonna keep up with her :-)
She really enjoys working and boy does she let you know!! I was really impressed with how she performed and i really cannot ask any more of her. De was a star as always his contacts were brill and i really love how we've both gelled together.

We came away with a 5th in 4-5 graded Agility (with held contacts) and some nearlys. . . nothing i'm concerned about just a pole or my silly handling (well i may have to sort my handling)


DOG VEGAS EASTER (22nd-26th April)

I entered the Sat, Mon & Tues of this show (spent Easter Sunday with the girls and family) De had some lovey runs again my silly mistakes costing us. We had a cracking round in a Graded 3-5 Agility but my late command resulted in a knocked pole (although de had quickest time, not that it makes any difference but nice to see his times are there)
De did get his first jumping win on the Monday :-) so 1 jumping win on the way to Grade 5! Yay!


BEACON (8th May)

Never been to Beacon show before and was one of the shows that are further away that we are doing this year. It was a nice little show and i will definatly be doing it again as i really enjoyed it. The morning started off a bit wet but soon the weather cleared and we had sun. The first course to walk was the CSJ Qualifier Combined 3-5, this was a nice course but we weren't running till the end. I watched a few dogs run and because of the wet weather the ground was still slippy i saw quite a few slip early on and then watched as alot came off the dog walk at horrible angles. Luckily de wasn't due to run till late on and by then the ground had dried a bit and we'd also run our jumping course by then. . . . Needless to say i was terrible and we got E'd ;-)
We jad a lovely run in the CSJ Agility (well apart from me letting de jump a jump the wrong way, yet it was totally me and he even did that lovely lol) The only thing i realised was de's dog walk was really slow, im not sure why and i had him in the practise ring after and it was still slow, he seemed nervous almost creeping the whole length so wether he slipped or lost balance im not sure.

Next was the Dog Vegas Combined 3-5 Agility Qualifier, de did a lovely round except his creepy dog walk and we finished 7th just out of the qualifying placings (they place up to 5th)

I've not done any training all week with either of the dogs but took them sunday just gone to the local club to do a bit and de flew over the dog walk, prob one of the fastest he's ever done! So maybe i shouldn't worry about it. Also i'm pleased to say Roxxi isn't barking as much as i'm working her now phew!! :-P

This saturday we are travelling to Waldridge Fell, that will be demons first Olympia Qualifier. Will be nice to see what the courses are like and how i (yes me!) handle them.

Proving People Wrong, Onwards & Upwards

Well last weekend was Demon's first Kc show of the season at BCCoGB (Border Collie Club of Great Britain) Agility Show.

It was a fair weather day....Not as nice as Sat but you cannot grumble as it was dry except for a spot of drizzle half way through the day.......There was also the BCCoGB Championship breed show and North Lincs Open show going on at the Newark and Notts Showground where the agility was held.

Demon's first class was Large Jumping Graded 1-3. I walked the course checked where i wanted to position de for the start line, walked the course again and again and again.....you get my drift. i also walked his Large Combined 1-4 Agility as this was up too. My running order was 293 in the jumping but halfway into it they started calling for dogs as they had no dogs on the line so figured since i'd stood watching for so long i'd fetch de and get it done.

Well!..... He did a cracking round no poles all his weaves etc.....as i was coming on to the home straight i noticed there was a tunnel in the course!!! This tunnel was suppose to be no.5 on the course well dippy here went start (no.1), 2, 3(weaves), 4 and instead of sending him into the tunnel i pulled him on to number 6 and kept going!!! Completely forgot the tunnel was even there :) Demon ran his little heart out and had i remembered the tunnel would have gone clear so i was very please with him yet could of kicked myself...it happens.

We then had a bit of a break till we did our next run, his Combined 1-4 took ages and they were sticking very rigidly to running only when they'd called up to your number, so i ended up walking and running the third class i entered De in, Graded 1-3 Agility first.

The Graded 1-3 Agility course was a nice course for the Grade 3 dogs as i felt it tested them a little bit although for Grade 1/2 it wasn't as straight forward as some i'd seen before for them. Demon did another nice round here as well and i was so proud of him as i felt in both this run and the jumping he was really thinking and listening and none of this barking we'd had such an issue with last year either, we went clear in this class :) I've got myself into the habit of checking de's times after every run he's done....not to see where he's come but it's just something that's always interested me so i've always done it.......22.221 sec's and he was in the lead, although at this point there was still 20/30 Grade 3 dogs to run.


We then went for lunch and i went to walk de, next was his Combined 1-4 Agility nice course crappy handling on my part, got it de's way and was slow calling him in places, due to this he took 2 poles but all in all he ran beautifully.

Me and Lucy took a walk down to look at the breed showing as it was better than standing around doing nothing and waiting for results.

After about 20-30 mins we walked back up to the agility and the Graded 1-3 Agility ring was just finishing.....at this point Lucy's dad Steve came over and said de was in second place, I'd not been over since after lunch so didn't know any different, i was just so proud of de knowing he was running well and when i look back on the few problems we'd had last year that are now a distant memory it makes me realise how far we've come. I can't say i wasn't a little gutted but i was also pleased i could still enter the Alpha 1-3 Challenge @ Lincoln in April so there were good points to it.

We all got ready to walk over and listen to the presentation we i ran into a friend who said 'Congratulations Sarah' i was like 'what for?' and she looked at me and just said for the lovely round Demon had done in the 1-3 Agility and me being me i said thanks and thought nothing of it.

I had De with me so i played with him round the rings just doing waits and releases, they called the results out and got to 2nd and called someone else's name?? I looked over and Steve and everyone were smiling and the winner was called and it was me and Demon!!!!!

What a shock to the system that was :).......A nice one tho. Up we went to collect De's rosette and a black glass-like plaque.





Thankyou to Lucy Osborne for the video x x

My handsome boy

Two pictures of Demon at BCCoGB agility show Sunday just gone, update on show to follow.












Thank you to Lyn Coupland for these, they're lovely :)

Welcome to the world & update

Once again the blog has been neglected although alot has happened.
On Jan 4th we welcomed into the world our beautiful daughter Skylah Paige :) She was a big baby compared to Chloe-Leigh at 8lb 9 1/2 ounces!! But she was happy and healthy and all went quite smoothly so that's the main thing.

The dogs and her big sister adore her, roxxi being the most attentive ever! All she needs to do is stir and roxxi is there :) Demon is his laid back usual self and takes it all in his stride as always.

Weather has been up and down but i have managed to get training in with them both at home, just weaves and jumps mainly although i have loaded the car up with all my jumps, the tunnel and my weaves and headed up to the football field and trained a few times (its amazing what fits in my little corsa:))

The begining of feb me, de and rox headed over to lucy's for some training.
Below is a vid them both doing some exercises, they both enjoyed being back doing different bits. Demon's contacts looking nice for the season and roxxi the little star as ever xx



We have also been to the feb dog vegas where demon came third in Grade 3 Agility the clever little boy!



As i speak i am up-grading my see saw so to speak, it is having new ply wood as the winter hasn't done it any favours and it is also being rubber coated.
Below is a vid of de trying the rubbed coated see saw at Dog Vegas.



I am hoping to enter demon in one or two obedience shows this year so we'll see how that goes, not going to concentrate on it as much as the agility but there are 3 shows near me each year so may do these.

Our next show is Dog Vegas Independent show on 19th March which i will use as training and then we're at BCCoGB on 20th March - 1st kc show of the season so looking forward to that :)

Thankyou to Lucy Osborne for the videos xx http://lucyosborne.blogspot.com/