So What's New?

Not much on the agility front, that's for sure.  Agility bites - or lack of agility does anyway. After missing the last part of the trialling season last year I have been looking forward to getting back out there but so far it's been almost a non-event.

First Cruz developed a limp which turned out to be a strained shoulder and took a long time to heal.  So far this year he has had a run in Gamblers and one in Agility and that's it.  The good thing is that he pulled up well after his last run, has been fast and enthusiastic at training and appears to be ready to give it another go - now I just have to transfer his speed and enthusiasm to trialling and we'll be right.


I will guard my Kong against marauding agility dogs!


Atilla decided not to be outdone and developed a limp around the same time as Cruz.  This turned out to be a toe injury and also took some time to heal.  He has also only had a run in gamblers - lovely Masters gamblers run with plenty of points in the opening, but a 'thread the needle' type entry to the gamble, needing to send between the gap between 2 jumps and we just couldn't get it, which was a pity as the rest of the gamble was very doable. Think time is going to run out for us in regard to finishing this title, as most clubs don't schedule it any more, and we've missed 2 opportunites now thanks to injury.  Oh well, it's fun trying anyway, gamblers is definitely my favourite event.

I had Atilla entered a couple of weeks back as he appeared to be fine at training, but the day before the trial he collided with Cruz playing in the yard and of course came up limping again.
He appeared to be fine once again, came to training on Friday evening, had a couple of runs over a fairly straightforward course which gave him no problems - and on Saturday morning came up limping again.
And of course I have him entered in his 'comeback' trial this Saturday, which now may not eventuate. 
At least it has given me plenty of time to get Ivy out there to develop our teamwork - totally different to running the kelpies - but I miss running my boys.

We finally got the swimming pool up to exercise the dogs - then discovered that the outdoor powerpoint had a switch missing and was generally very unsafe looking.  It's getting replaced shortly but we've had to wait because a friend is doing it, and now the cold weather is well and truly here, I don't want their first pool experience to be in the depths of Winter - so the pool came down again and will be boxed up for a few more months.



Just to prove that it did go up ..... briefly anyway.

 The drought appears to be well and truly on the way out here, great in regard to water levels but not so great for training or trialling, with trials being cancelled all over the place.  Looks like shaping up to be a repeat of last year in that respect.  For the first time ever, our training area didn't brown off over Summer, this is what it looked like in the middle of February.

Usually at this time of the year I am running on dead weeds and dirt.  It looks even better at the moment, all nice and lush and green, but is really muddy underneath so not great for training.  Hanging out for a couple of sunny days to dry it off before the next downfall.

Training for the kelpies has been different over the past few months, both from their injuries and because they appear to be really enjoying a different approach to it.  I signed up for both Susan Garrett's Recallers online plus Silvia Trkman's Puppy training online which turned out to be a great idea when they were both injured as I had more time to devote to things like games and shaping. 



I'll teach you a game Cruz - it's called 101 things to do with Mum's knickers.
Who says Susan Garrett is the only one who knows good games ? 
Look how easy they rip when we get a bit of opposition reflex going - fun !


Atilla was a big surprise packet here.  He hasn't been exposed to the amount of shaping that Ivy and Cruz have been and has such a 'serious' personality that he doesn't usually get into playing games either so I didn't expect that much success from him, but was I wrong or what !  Almost overnight he seems to have turned into a dog that wouldn't offer much in the way of behaviours to one that embraces shaping wholeheartedly.  I was using Ivy as the demo dog for my Foundation and Intermediate classes that I teach but have now started taking Atilla and using him and he is loving it.  He pulls toward the building as soon as he gets out of the car and totally cracks it if I take one of the others out instead.  I have also discovered that he has a lot more value for me than I actually thought he did, so hopefully I can channel all this into his agility training as well.

Cruz has also been a surprise packet but not for the same reasons.  Because I trained him with a lot more shaping and what I would consider more 'up to date' methods I just thought that he would be a lot better than what I have found.  His shaping work is pretty good, but he doesn't appear to 'get' playing games and also appears to have very little value for being next to me - something that I intend to rectify.  And this is the snugglepot that tries to sit on my knee every evening and cuddles up next to me in bed at night.  No wonder our agilty results are so inconsistent when we don't even have the basics right.  So hopefully the new improved Cruz is coming this way soon ....... LOL.


Who says I need improving ?
I'm speshul just the way I am.