4 of the Thursday evening class in sync!

The Thursday evening class are starting to work as a team! We don’t have any displays planned either! Working in sync at class in this way puts a lot of pressure on the handlers and the dogs, we work the dogs close together to teach them to concentrate on their owner. All of the handlers were surprised by how well they did!

I have some really excellent photo’s of the recall training session last month, but sadly for some reason I have struggled to get them on the blog, today for some reason I have managed to upload some of them! If Phil, Gina, Kirsty, Graham, Gill or Sally would like me to email them their photo’s contact me please? Meanwhile here are some of them:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Buffy produces again!

May 5, 2011

Many of you will remember the sad news of my dear friend Annie losing her puppy last year, well Annie’s Border Collie Buffy (sister of my Pie) has produced a second long-awaited litter and has again presented Annie with one girl in the litter 🙂 ! It saves Annie having to make a decision! I don’t think Annie has named her yet, but you can spot her as the puppy furthest left in the basket photo, with the half white face!

I think there are one or two boy puppies left for sale if you should know of a good home?

So Annie what is her name? Would you like some suggestions?

Puppy news!

March 28, 2011

Betty dancing!

Thursday morning course of classes came to a fun end with a competition over a baby agility course! I spent most of the morning giggling as I watched my clients become competitive, obviously in the nicest possible way, but it did lead to some funny moments! We had a spare pair of hands for the older group for some action shots!

Harley and Rosie in the baby class are very much in love, sadly poor Lexie just got to look on as they didn’t seem to notice she was there! Harley played so gently with his little girlfriend!

I hope you appreciate Betty’s new trick, she dances round the kitchen now at feed time, sometimes it looks just like dancing, sometimes waving, on occasions she stays in a sit and waves her paws! I am hoping to get a command for all of those in timeJ it all started as a high five!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Marion and Sid

Georgie and Lara

Naomi and Nelly

Phil and Scruffs

Naomi and Nelly

I have sadly neglected the blog over the last 2 weeks, I have been busy at work but outside of work I have been creating a few little drama’s that have kept me really busy!! I usually keep this to dog training but I feel like sharing today:)

First I crashed my car, I know that no one hits anything in a car on purpose but I was totally stupid! I was in a car park at night, there were some boys playing football and in truth  I was looking at them rather than where I was going, concerned that the ball may come my way and with it one of the children, bang I hit the lamp-post, I wasn’t going more than 10/15 miles an hour and you should have seen my poor car:( not good!

Since the holidays I have had 3 colds on the trot, yes 3 just as I was getting over one the next one started! I feel very uncomfortable in my work constantly blowing my nose, and yet that seems to be most of what has been happening since Christmas!

And just to add insult to injury when eating my tea, that I had cooked including the filleted salmon, I got a bone stuck in my throat! I have been eating fish for years and never have I had that happen before, but it was well and truly stuck! I won’t go into details but needless to say I did try to remove the bone! The next morning I was still suffering and rang the nurse, who recommended going to A and E, so off I went. 4 hours later, having had a camera down my throat, the bone was still hiding and I came home! I feel like my year so far has been a comedy of errors! Roll on February:)

In between my personal drama I noticed that spring is on the way and spring makes me smile :), there is a change in the air, the sap is rising, the birds are singing and the ducks are pairing up on the lake. I so love my home, the countryside gives me a constant source of entertainment, yesterday a Fox ran passed as I was getting dressed, a big red chap with black tips to his fur. I ran to another window but couldn’t see him, returned to dressing as he returned along his first path, hot on a scent and he spent a few minutes checking out the possibilities, giving me lots of time to watch him:)

This morning as  I crossed the front paddock a Monk Jac deer shot out and ran along the fence, looking for an opening gave me precious moments to study her and to recall Pie and Betty, I was so pleased that Betty responded to me:)

It is very important to me that my dogs do not chase or harass the wild life. At this time of year coming into spring the deer could be pregnant, I would not want my dogs to cause her to abort. It is all too easy to forget that wildlife reproduce and if dogs chase them, there off spring is put in danger. I am not sure how anyone can let a dog think it is okay to chase deer and yet leave sheep alone, and I don’t recommend trying that one.

I am glad to hear some of the puppies at class are also managing to recall and not chase, keep it up!!!

And here are some of the new Puppy’s attending classes!!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Dogs and snow!

November 30, 2010

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Please send me your doggy snow photo’s there will be a prize for the best!

Betty was a bit surprised by the snow this morning! There was no way she was venturing outside without Pie and I going first on the strange white stuff! By the time we went for a walk we had barely made the gate when she got very excited by the snow! Here are some photo’s I took on our walk this morning, hoping you like them:) can you spot the Stag prints, I seem to have ended up with a few of my footprints, but the stag looked to belong to a big animal and I found them near  the house!

A reminder to be aware of the dangers of ice, so far Betty isn’t tempted onto the lake, I  will be keeping a careful eye on her while all the ice and snow is about!

What are they chatting about?

I would love to hear your caption for the photo of Pie and Betty chatting? 🙂

And Sue sent some photo’s of Nessa’s reaction this morning, distinctly unimpressed!

Did you say "sit stay"? Not likely!

What am I doing out here?

Thursday morning!

November 19, 2010

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Thursday mornings are a fun time with 5 gorgeous dogs and the owners are quite nice too!

Louis the Pomeranian doesn’t seem to be able to sit for the photo, but I forgive him as he is just so cute! Debbie his owner has lived with a “Pom” before, and though a small breed they are just so bright and clever, Louis has a character that is much larger than his size”

Leo the Jack Russell cross is the liver coloured member of the group with his counterpart Sid the black Jack Russell cross Chris and Marion have many shared experiences of living with their dogs, but both are much more on track now!

Scruffs the Labradoodle you have seen before on the blog, Phil his owner is doing a great job of his training, and though only 6 months old is the advanced puppy in the group!

Naomi and Nelly the chestnut Labrador are the newest recruits to dog training, Naomi comes from a Gundog family, though this is her first time dog training! Naomi and I plan to surprise her family by doing great things with Nelly!

They are a hardy group, not afraid of a bit of bad weather, fortunately as we have had howling wind and heavy rain on our first two weeks!

Nessa shows her disgust at West Ham's result!!

There if I just followed football more closely it might explain why Betty chewed the pom pom’s off my new hat!! I must have a football fan for a dog and I didn’t know it!


Phil and Hilary were the only ones at class this week, due to holidays and Nessa being spayed this week, They both have Labradoodles of similar ages, Phil’s Scruffs is slightly younger at 6 months with Hilary’s Truffle nearly 2 months older! Both puppies are making excellent progress, both live with 3 children in their families and are coping well with them:) as are Phil and Hilary! Phil and Hilary have worked hard and are both determined to have really well-behaved dogs for life! Many thanks to Phil’s wife Yuka for taking these photo’s!

Me, Phil and Hilary with the double troubles!

Phil and Hilary with their Doodles Scruffs and Truffle!

Betty’s sister Megan!

October 22, 2010

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Many thanks to Sue for sending me the photo’s of Megan, Betty’s sister, who looks like a red and white version of Betty! How cute is Megan? !!

Magic!

October 10, 2010

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Some of you will have met Magic at Barbary Cottage, he is a small pony that belongs to Adam and Ian at Barnards Bridge, he came to stay with me for the summer for some extra attention and grass! Adam and Ian rescued Magic, who had a very bad start in life, which has left him with some mental scars about people particularly. He is going home shortly for the winter months, back with the other ponies and donkeys! He has been very happy here with Pie and Betty and even become more friendly with people! It did take me the best part of a fortnight for me to get near him, and another couple of weeks until he would stay around me when I hadn’t got a carrot!

Magic has been out for walks with Betty and Pie, so now thinks whenever I take them for a walk, he should come too, following us as far as he can along the fences:). He became so relaxed with Betty and Pie that he has helped several other dogs become used to a pony, one of the classes even had half of their lesson in the paddock with him last week, ensuring some more dogs will not be afraid of horses or want to chase them!

You might wonder what Pie and Betty are looking for on the ground in the photo’s, well it is the crumbs of carrots that Magic has dropped! I don’t think Pie even liked carrots before Magic came, but once he saw Magic being fed carrots he wanted them too! Betty will eat anything so she soon worked out that Magic dropped bits!

Magic has become so much braver since Adam and Ian first had him, and while here is showing even more curiosity about my visitors, many have been able to stroke him over the fence now and he responds very positively to children. My niece Lottie has given him a lot of carrots and he comes straight to the fence if he sees her about! Curiosity is the first sign of confidence and I am sure Magic will continue to improve and eventually learn to trust humans again!

I am sure all of you that have met him will want to say a big thank you to Magic, and Adam and Ian for allowing him to come to stay!