Whisperedreams Blog

Grade 6, Contacts & New Pictures

2011-10-24T22:44:00.001+01:00

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.

2011-09-26T23:19:00.005+01:00

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.

2011-08-17T18:45:00.001+01:00

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??......

2011-08-08T18:37:00.011+01:00

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

2011-05-17T18:43:00.007+01:00

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

2011-03-25T11:50:00.002Z

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

2011-03-21T22:43:00.005Z

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

2011-03-05T23:01:00.014Z

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/

Silver, Snow & Contact Training.

2010-12-15T21:29:00.007Z

Well, where to begin. The blog has yet again been neglected. As you will notice it now has a new look, thank you ever so much vicki ( Ruffs Dog Blog ) for this, its lovely! :-)

The blog layout now has added pages one for each dog, results etc and with time will possibly have one or two more added.

Kennel Club Good Citizen

Back in May Roxxi passed her Bronze Kennel Club Good Citizen Test, the amount of test dates at both the clubs i attend for obedience have been far and few and they have not had a Silver test at all! But, our waiting (and training) has paid off and a date was finally set for 17th Nov. I knew Roxxi was ready although, anything can happen on the day. So along we went to the test being held at The East Lincs Ringcraft Society, Sutton-On-Sea, just up the road from us. Roxxi was amazing :-) My clever little girlie didn't put a foot wrong and i'm pleased to say she PASSED!!! So i am a very proud mum :-)

Snow (grr!!)

Don't get me wrong, i love the snow, the lovely white flakes falling gets me in the christmas spirit. It's been really fun watching the dogs trying to catch it as it falls and seeing chloe's face light up at the sight of it and being able to make snow men with her. But, the amount we've had has been rediculous to say the least, the whole country has been in termoil as funny as that sounds. Alot of people have been snowed in and shops have been more or less out of essential bits and bobs ie. Milk, bread and salt funny enough. This lasted around a week and a half - two weeks. Training at most venues has been canceled/ re-arranged for safety reasons with driving. As the snow thawed it became very dangerous as it then froze so we then had several layers of ice. The majority hs dissapeared now and the dogs have churned up the garden with the slush thats been left so i'm in the process of fencing it off in areas :-( And as the good old english weather doesn't like to stay the same too long, just as we thought we were getting over it the weather forcasts are predicting more snow!!

Contact Training with Lucy Osborne

In between the horrid weather and getting ready for christmas i booked both dogs in to do a contact session with Lucy. They've not done any agility training since begining of Oct now i think, although the rest has done them good. So after a glitch with the weather and the sessions having to be re-arrnged we went to Skellingthorpe looking forward to the training ahead of us :-)

Roxxi - Roxxi's class was first and, yes, she was WILD!!! The first dog walk, a-frame and see saw she did she either jumped off (dog walk), flew off (see saw) or (a-frame) flew over the top and only just hit the bottom!! So after the group had all had their first go Lucy took us all back to basics. So with Roxxi we got her targets back out and made her re-value the bottom of the contacts. This consisted of placing Roxxi at the bottom of the contact and rewarding for touching the target then moving her further up the ''down plank'' releasing her then letting her run to the target and rewarding her and finally releasing from the target and rewarding for only releasing on the release command. After all the group had done this we did the full dog walk again, Roxxi flew across! And stopped in position perfectly :-) We then did tunnel - dog walk and then jump - tunnel - dog walk. Lucy then wanted to show us that with a good solid understanding of what behaviour is expected on contacts we shouldn't need to be with the dogs (running right next to the equipment) So. . . . If u imagine a u-shape, we started at the top one end at the jump (with an a-frame behind us) the tunnel is the bend in the u-shape and the dog walk is the other top of the u shape. Lucy placed a pole a metre/two away from the side of the dog walk and explained for us to run along the pole keeping on the outer side away from the dog walk. So over the jump, into the tunnel and keeping our arm outstretched towards the dog walk (arm nearest dog walk) we ran to the end to reward for stopping on the contact. Even though i wasn't running right next to the dog walk she powered on to the contact point at the bottom.
Next we did the same course; jump - tunnel - dog walk. But this time we were on the dogs right hand side sent over the jump, into the tunnel and onto dog walk but instead of running along the dog walk we ran behind the a-frame! Meaning there was the a-frame in between us and the dogs running over the contact. I had my doubts weather Roxxi would do it but to my surprise she did! :-)
We did lots of other small exercises but sending over jumps on to the a-frame, jump, tunnel but us staying behind the dog walk :-) Roxxi worked really well, i was really impressed with what we achieved.

I will update demon's session over the next few days as his session was just as interesting! :-)

For anyone who hasn't done a training session with Lucy before it is something i'd highly recommend. I train with Lucy on a regular basis and also do most of her contact/weave/handling sessions. I always find when training with her that i come away feeling i've achieved something and also knowing my aims/ targets to work on. Her training methods are *always* rewarding to my dogs and i always feel they work up a gear training with her, which is due to her positive and rewarding training methods.

Update......

2010-09-11T17:17:00.005+01:00

Haven't updated the blog since Demon went Grade 2 back in July!! (Not good at this at all :) time just seems to run away with me.)

His last Grade 1 show was Empingham (24th-25th July) I went to Empingham knowing that as De had won out of Grade 1 at Just Dogs Live i could practice alot and relax a bit. The show was lovely, camping was brilliant for us...we'd brought the kids with us so finding out we were situated 2 secs from the loo it was bliss :) I went to Empingham knowing i wanted to do two things with Demon. a) Practice his contacts and b) see how much i could push him. The reason for the latter was because i don't want to have a dog that you have to be with in every situation, Demon is quite a strong headed boy and he has a lot of drive, at the time of writing this i already know i am holding him back which costs him time. I have practiced driving him on at training but for some reason i hesitate in the ring, this could be a number of things...not wanting to make mistakes, not wanting to loose control....who knows.

At the end of the weekend me and Demon had come away empty handed but, i was on top of the world. His times were great, he didn't miss a contact. In 1 class he ran at the weaves with such speed he went in the first weave but he couldn't physically slow himself down and popped out of the 2nd weave the rest was clear. In the combined 1-3 jumping he drove on beautifully and me being the idiot i am forgot the course and pulled him off the 3rd to last jump. The one thing i did come away realising was i needed to work on his weaves (12 not 6) i had been doing 6 with him at training at at home and not enough 12 so he was coming out at the 9/10th pole.

All in all i was very happy, note to self handler could do with more training!!!!

SCUNTHORPE SHOW

Scunthorpe was Demons 1st Grade 2 show back at the beginning of August (7th/8th)

SATURDAY:

I can only remember a few of his run's on the Saturday he had a Graded 1-3 Jumping, Demon would've gone clear except i had my stupid head on once again and stood in his way causing him to run round jump 3 instead of going over it-what made this even worse was if it wasn't for my boy having more brains than me he'd of been eliminated because after he ran round the jump i said "come" luckily he did but came round the jump rather than back jumping it- Such a clever boy!! The rest of the run was lovely.

In the Graded 1-3 agility, I for some reason clapped my hands as i turned him causing him to knock a pole....he then flew his see-saw (tut,tut Mr De)

The last jumping of the day De popped out of the 2nd weave and had a pole in the middle of the course yet worked on lovely at the end of the course.

His last run was Combined 1-3 Agility. It was a lovely run little bit bendy but all in all a nice course.Demon got his twelve weaves and contacts and went clear!!! He was very noisy going round and i found myself shouting over him at times but we came away with a respectable 8th!!! What a good lad.

SUNDAY:

The 1st class of the day was Graded 1-3 Agility. The course was quite flowing although some people lost the dogs over jump no 2 the second time they had to go through the box at the start of the course, Demon was quite responsive and towards the end of the course you had tunnel, see-saw, weaves and 3 jumps at a slight angle. The latter half of the course De got his independent head on and once he'd done the tunnel did a lovely stop on the see-saw and i realised i wasn't with him for the weaves!!! so the only thing i could do was risk it and see if he found them or hold him to get into position. I decided to risk it in that split second and my little boy did his weaves and the last 3 jumps alone and fast!!!! I was sooooo happy with him. So our 2nd clear for the weekend!!!

After lunch i was amazed to find not only had we gone clear in the Graded 1-3 Agility that morning, but that we'd also won it!!!! :)

Yay so Demon is now Grade 3 at his 1st Grade 2 show!!

The rest of the show was a blurr, no more clears although we did have some nice runs, alot to do on my part giving him commands sooner but also Demon has become more noisy when running and with him barking he's not listening as well......more to come on this!!!!

My gorgeous boy with his 8th and 1st from Scunthorpe!! xx

Just Dogs Live, De is now Grade 2!!!!!!

2010-07-10T16:04:00.006+01:00

Can't believe where the time has gone.

Demon had his 1st show on Friday @ Just Dogs Live at the East of England showground in Peterborough. He only had two runs but i decided to go as my friend Pat was showing her sheltie on the Friday so i had company.

The day started out lovely the weather was nice, sunny and with a lovely breeze.

Demon's 1st class was Grade 1 jumping, i think he handled the course really well as i walked the course i was quite happy with it although i knew how hyped up he was and that I'd have a chance of loosing him in two places.... either the weaves or on jump number 4 because number (10 i think) was calling, but the course was very flowing in the middle and at the end so he could also make up time in these places.

I don't think it helped that i was so so nervous too.

He had a lovely start line wait and did the 1st few jumps lovely i did lose him over jump 10 so we were eliminated, called him back to me and set him up after jump 4 and he went lovely, over jump 5 into the weaves and wasn't slow either everything was perfect from then until the last jump which he clipped but i couldn't of been prouder!!!! ;0)

As the day went on the weather got hotter and hotter we definitely felt the heat,

it wasn't until 12ish i walked my Grade 1 Agility course....I'd walked and done my jumping by 9.....and by this time i was boiling god knows how poor de felt, but we found a nice little water pool with a hose pipe attached to shower the dogs down with and cool them off.

So on to Grade1 Agility.....I was soooo worried about this course, and watching other people and dogs running it make me worse, dogs were flying contacts, the weaves were best being done with the handler on the dogs left as you had to pull them off the start line jump and then on to a snake line, i prob am not describing it very efficiently but trust me i wasn't feeling very confident lol!

So after umming and ahhing i decided to get in the waiting line, then on to the start line.

Well what can i say!! Demon was a darling throughout the course and didn't put a foot wrong :)

The one thing a decided i wanted out of the course was his contacts and i got these, i also said i run his contacts with me on de's left side, if he got them good if not I'd try again. He did do the weaves and at the end of the course we had gone clear!!!!! I was over the moon and actually crying ( yes crying, i felt like a right idiot after lol!!) but i was so happy i couldn't help it.

I went to ask for de's time out of interest and found out he was actually ranking 1st in Grade 1 at that point, but there was still lots of dogs to go.

And here is the little star.....Yes he actually won Grade 1 Agility @ his 1st show!!! ( and a few seconds in front of the 2nd place dog too!)

So my baby is now Grade 2 I'm so proud and feel so lucky to have him xxxx

Massive Catch-up 1

2010-03-25T11:32:00.006Z

So much has happened since my last blog so this may take a while.....

Training lesson with Lucy

As i put at the end of my last blog I'd booked a private lesson with Lucy. At the end of this i came away very very happy with De as i feel we achieved loads out of the session. I book an hour and a half and did 15 mins with Roxxi, 30 mins with De, another 15 with Rox and finished with De's last half hour.
With Roxxi being young still i really just took her as the journey is good and it ment i could do something with her in a new environment. We did some change of directions with her, with either Lucy holding her and me running away then once she was released and almost with me id change my direction to see if she'd be with me, we also did it where I'd leave her in a wait, call her to me and change direction. Alot of it was playing getting her to value the toy even if Lucy's dogs were doing something. Roxxi did a few tunnels which she does nicely and also some just running through wings.

The private lesson was mostly for De, we did mostly jumping and tunnel work as it was too wet to use the contacts. We worked on getting De to look at the starting jump no matter where i was stood, this will hopefully give me a bit more control and give De some independence that i don't always need to be directly in front of him for the starting jump. We did alot to do with him working on to other obstacles.

One of my biggest problems (or at least i thought i had a problem) was with demon working while other dogs are working, i felt like i had not done enough to ensure that he wasn't more driven to chase another dog while it was working, rather than him working himself, so i was worried that if i got him in the ring he'd forget i was even there and run off!!! Luckily Lucy had stig (and Ben) with her so there was a bit of a distraction if stig was doing something. But, to my amazement as soon as i put De in front of the first jump that's all he thought about :) Clever lil boy....Maybe I'm underestimating him???
We finished off with some channel weaves, i love doing channel weaves yet i feel i don't have enough knowledge to train them myself so just recently Ive been reading up alot on them...If anyone has any tips or can recommend any books/ dvd's please email me at: sarah_261086@hotmail.com Id be very grateful. I was finding it hard as i don't have my own channel weaves o do it a home as much as i would like to also, but i have now sorted this and should have some during April.

The name game

When i got Roxxi, Paula, her breeder was waiting for the puppy's names to come back there were two names, Stillmoor Shimmy and Stillmoor Silk and Satin. Me being me hoped for the girlie name but alas it wasn't to be as Roxxi was given Stillmoor Shimmy as second choice...Now i wasn't too keen on the name so looked into changing it. I got all the info from the Kennel Club and sent the forms off. Since the last post I've had them back!!!
So now we have Roxxi a.k.a STILLMOOR MISS INDEPENDENT.

Still got to write up Crufts and my training session with Kenny Spottiswoode and Lucy but will update more soon x

Good Lil Girlie, To Show Or Not To Show?????

2010-02-20T16:33:00.006Z

So off to training classes i went on wed, as always there are lots of puppies, more now as the weather starts to improve. Once i had taught the puppies in my puppy group it was roxxi's turn to come and socialize. Roxxi started her puppy classes on the 27th Jan and has come on in leaps and bounds, she is, like most pups very playful and interacts with people and other dogs great, the one thing i love about her though is the fact that when i actually train her she is nearly 100% focused on me (wherever we are.) Like all puppies she has her moments, but then she is only a puppy, but in most cases she is all about me. At training classes we have been doing The Kennel Club Good Citizen Puppy booklet. This week was roxxi's 4th week at puppy classes and my clever little girlie PASSED her puppy training!!!! To most this may not be a big thing, after all the booklets they do are made up of simple tasks such as Sit, Down, 10 sec stay, Play with puppy etc. But to me it is a big thing it means that the bits of training i have done with her she is taking on board and that although these are only simple tasks, she can do these with other 1st time puppies around that are barking, whining and playing, other people around, and people coming in and out of doors within the training hall, so, to me she's coming on in leaps and bounds. :)
We got a little purple and white Kennel Club Puppy certificate and also a lovely purple puppy test rosette!

On another note i have been contemplating whether or not to do a bit of breed showing with roxxi, although at the moment in my mind I'd only be doing it until she starts to do agility....this may change depending on how we do i guess.
I'm not really in to breed showing to be honest but i just think it would be a good experience for me and roxxi and also it'll be nice to try a bit of everything.

I've been talking to someone else who does breed showing with her collies, but also does agility so i don't think it'll hurt to try it.

I will update when i enter her first show (I'm still looking to enter one as of yet) and we'll see how it goes.

Demon and I have a private lesson with Lucy on Monday so will blog what happens after that.

New Year, New Start. . . .

2010-02-15T20:47:00.012Z

Well, I really don't know how I've not got round to updating my blog.... So much has happened yet i couldn't find any spare time.

Finally got my car although not the one mentioned in the last post, got myself a little 1.4 blue corsa. I looovethis car and i love the freedom i have now I've got it :)

Since my last post De has had his 1st birthday!!! I think it was around this time we started proper agility training with Lucy Osborne near Lincoln. Demon has come on so much since being there and I'm soooo happy to be doing agility again. We have just started his weave training using channel weaves, I've not trained weaves this way before so its a learning curve for me and demon. So hopefully, now we're doing some training where other's can help with any probs i have, along with the training i do on my own during the week, we may just about get somewhere ;0)

And now for another positive note.....Over the new year i was very, very fortunate to be given another opportunity to own a "Jaff" pup. "Jaff" a.k.a WT Ch Flynntastic Red Jaff of Tarnforce was the dad of one of the dog's i used to own. So to get the chance to have another puppy from him is a dream come true and also a chance i wondered at times if I'd ever have again.

So it is with a very happy heart i introduce to you...... ROXXI.

DNA Tests and Driving!!

2009-10-27T18:54:00.003Z

Demon's Mum Gael

Demon's Dad Mac

Mac working the sheep

Well...where do i start? Life's been hectic. I finally past my driving test, with only four minors :) Its taken ages as I've started and stopped sooo many times over the last three years for various reasons ( becoming pregnant, moving, relationship problems etc etc.) But its finally done :) Currently waiting on an Astra, although it's a big first car, it's practical with having the dog and Chloe-Leigh to think about.

De's training has come to a problem stage just lately lol, he's still so willing to please, yet, he's at the age where his nose is down alot and it suddenly seems his eye's have become a heck of alot sharper. So our training sessions are 5 min bursts (tops) and this seems to be working. I'm not too worried as he still seems to be coming on this way and training is sooo much happier.

On another note Demon has been DNA tested (CEA/CH, CL and TNS) I have now had all the results and certificates back and all tests are CLEAR/NORMAL!! :)

I have looked about for various agility training as I'd like to get the ball rolling as soon as my car gets here spoken to friends and also had recommendations from others that have done agility and think i know where I'll go now, although would be grateful for any suggestions for ob. training in my area as where i go they don't specialize in one particular area which is what I'd like.

Above are some pics of De's mum and dad.

De's Training Update....

2009-07-28T13:52:00.003+01:00

Demon's been on the ruff love program for just over two weeks now. He's taken to it really well and is giving me all his attention in most situations now and works nicely. When i take my puppy class at sutton i still take de along as he tends to settle in the corner and no-one bothers him. We do some work outside with the bronze and silver groups with me and de slipping off to the side either when i think he's not focusing right or if i choose to do a differnt excercise. We've been training his send aways quite a bit just because to my surprise he loves this excercise alot!!! I've tried all sorts with him from me running part way to speed him up, to sending him on his own....i tend to put him back on a long line at least once at the start of the lesson because i always think he'll of forgotten but he deff knows what he's doing. I've used the little flower pots and flags so far. At the min i've been doin it so that he runs between two front markers and to a back one, and my god he likes it lol. His heel-work is coming on now slowy but it's coming on so i happy with it.
The only other thing we've been doin is learning tricks, he can nearly get three feet in a container now lol but he aint to sure about it. He holds his back left leg up on command and he walks back wards and lifts his two back legs up on to boxes and on to the sofa lol :)
I haven't done any directional work in agility with him as yet since about a month ago because he just lost concentration in me for a while so wanted to sort that first before that he was doing his lefts and rights and his bend and wraps ( tight turns round wings) Although i have been doing his contacts at the bottom of the A-frame which he can do nicely.
Gotta go now got three kids running riot round the house and de's looking at me as if to say "please mum let me herd them". Oh that's the other thing i've noticed he's become very herdy these past weeks and he crouches dead low lol and then pounces...which i mite add... my little girl finds very funny :)
Will try and get some vids although i cant manage to convert them atm :(

Family Photo's.

2009-07-14T10:11:00.005+01:00

De looking rather confused????

Chloe and Demon, De looking like he was camara shy, really it's the fact i taught him to hide his face and he prob thought it'd get him a nice treat. (does look cute tho!!)

Hmm would anyone like to explain to De that he isnt suppose to stick his tongue out Hehe!!

"Smiles all round" Lovely when the lil bro's down, dont see him vey often.

These were the best outta the pics there's lots more but these stood out lol, My little bro decided to visit a few weeks back but only just got round to getting the pics on to computer.

Finally we're here!!

2009-05-17T20:58:00.002+01:00

Firstly...Hello to all you ppl that have decided to read my blog lol!
I finally decided to share my ups and downs and wrongs and rights with the world!
For the time being my blog will consist of the day to day achievements ....or not so many achievements???...of me and my duel reg border collie pup Demon.
It will prob have bits on the puppy class i train and some of the dogs i train outside of classes.
Demon is now 19 weeks, he came from Staffordshire..Newcastle-Upon-Lyme...He is a Tri coloured dog and he's my world.
He has passed his KC Bronze Good Citizen test, which he did at 17 weeks and has also achieved his level 1 and 2 club obedience award and Level 1 Ringcraft award at Louth Dog Training Club.
I will post some pic's and vid's shortly...kindly taken by the other half lol ;)
And if you're reading this hun at any point, thankyou for all your love and support over the last 7 months love you xx
Anyways...hope you all enjoy x Sarah