Wow what a weekend we've had and I'm too tired to fill this in properly so will update it tomorrow.

Ok so it took a little longer. Saturday was training day as my Girls had a Ballroom and Latin Dance Competition all day Sunday. Yes dancing and dogs, can you get a more diverse set of hobbies :-).

Here we are, just on our way, all dressed up and somewhere to go lol. What lovely Girls I have.

My youngest, Sally-Anne in her ballroom dress, waiting for her first class. What a picture of lovliness she is and still convinced she doesn't look beautiful. I'm so proud of you xxx

Well the final Winter League went really well today, some ups and downs and a few surprises.

Buddy and I entered the pairs class with Hayley and Skye. Skye was eliminated as Hayley forget where she was going - it happens to the best of us :-). So knowing the pressure was on we started our run, were clear to the very last jump, when I sent him over the wrong jump to finish lol.

Buddy was sooooooooo close to getting a clear in the Jumping class but the hosting Club decided to use a wall in the class and he didn’t know what it was so refused to jump it. Three times I tried to get him over but he was having none of it.  Apart from that it was a text book round and I was really chuffed with him. Thanks to Sixx's owner you can see it here.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FtH-ZEcxDuog&h=uAQE6QbpO

Hayley ran with Skye and knocked one pole down so had 5 faults and no placing :-(.
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FBUoDdoxZ2bg&h=0AQHeR_KM

Issy and Sasha knocked down the first jump, however it was still a good round. Sasha hopped over the wall like she did it everyday. Unfortunately she then took a wrong jump and they were eliminated, but the potential is definitely there.

Woop woop Marilyn and Alfie went for it in the small agility round. What a good sport he was, starting confidently but I think the white weaves put him off and he found it hard to gain his focus again. He visited the judge a couple of times who was very kind and said he was having a great time. He ended his round well and on a high. Well done Marilyn for having the nerve to give it a go, you should be so proud of yourself.

Next Hayley went in the small agility ring with Jenna. Such a shame that they were eliminated for getting caught in an A-frame trap, apart from that it was great.

Me and Buddy went into do the agility and were eliminated as Buddy lost control of his faculties, mainly his hearing. Skye missed her dog walk contact - arrrrhhhh!

I can't remember what happened with Sasha in the agility - sorry - but she didn't go clear.

Hayley then went into the jumping class with Jenna and came 2nd woop woop!! What a result, so chuffed and another text book run, what a great Handler she is :-)).

Issy decided she didn’t want to do the team jumping so Debbie stepped in to run Sasha. Our 4th team member was a GSD called Sally with Handler Anne, both first-timers.

Buddy and I went clear, Sally and Anne were tired and she was eliminated, Sasha and Debbie were eliminated for going over a jump the wrong way - but well done Deb - and Hayley and Skye were eliminated cos Skye wanted to go in the tunnel again!!

We all really enjoyed the day which is what’s most important, well done everyone.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SKYE 6 years old today. She's pictured here with her new toy - a green wubba rabbit. Buddy's well put out that he's not allowed to play with it hahaha

Yesterday we spent the day with Tessie, Bordertrix Wild Waves, and her family who live in a little village near Northampton.



Photo is Sunnie with daughter Tessie August 2009

Tessie was very excited about Buddy visiting and they played chase in the garden for ages (and flirted a bit) while we had lunch on the patio. Skye was more interested in next door's cat who kept making an appearance through the fence (silly moggy).

The sun was shining and so we set off into the countryside, two adults, 4 kids and 3 dogs.

Talk about end up in the middle of nowhere. We followed a track for a few miles and eventually ended up in a little Village some miles to the south and not to the east as we'd planned. We had to ask a Thatcher (yes, it was a posh village lol) where we were. He told us there was a pub just a mile down the road. With added vigour, we marched on only to find it was shut until 6.00pm (this was 4.53pm precisely). We did consider going to my Hubby's place of work in nearby Olney and begging a lift but I felt he might be less than enthusiastic as we were all plastered in mud. So, Tessie's Owner phoned her neighbour who came and picked us up in his very clean 4 x 4!

At some point during our walk it appears that we agreed that Tessie should have a litter of puppies and at her next season so she will be coming back to us for a couple of months. As soon as the details are confirmed I will announce it on my website but first we have to get Tessie health tested, so watch this space!

She reminds me of Sunnie with big smile on her face and half closed, adoring eyes when you fuss her.

Hayley is busy training Buddy for his Crufts debut on March 10th and getting him to concentrate on her instead of everything else that's going on. We're hoping his effortless movement will get him his place - well if he can also grow his coat back in time lol. 

His sister Sky, who was exported to Slovenia, is having her first litter at some point during the summer. She is being mated to a blue merle, so the puppies should be interesting. See their website at http://deelynneng.webs.com/. The propective 'Daddy' is the merle on the front page - beautiful!

Call me mad but,as the weather isn't going to be any worse, agility and puppy classes will be on tomorrow :-).

We'll work on some more foundation exercises and keep the jumps right down and bodies moving.

If the Puppy owners would like to bring a mat for their little one to sit on, that might be a good idea.

Please be careful where you park as we don't want anyone getting stuck lol.

AGILITY VIDEO - BLAST FROM THE PAST!

This morning I felt very fed up with myself as I've caught Hayley's stomach bug and have no energy.
So I decided to watch a video that we'd come across when installing our new TV unit, entitled 'Agility' in big blue permanent marker on a recordable video tape (whatever happended to them eh?)
So not really knowing what to expect I sat back on the sofa and waited for the snow storm to pass as the video recorder tried to make some sense of what it was supposed to do after so long in retirement.
Well what a tonic! I haven't laughed and cried so much for ages. What appeared was recordings from an agility show at Peterborough Showground of me and Tips and all our Club members at the time. What a blast from the past!
Buddy was trying to join in, Skye thought I was upset cos I had tears rolling down my face and kept trying to comfort me and all the time I kept thinking "Oh my God, such bad handling!" No wonder poor Tips and I didnt' get a clear round for 3 years. To top if off was at the end, My Hubby, Jon, offered to enter a show with Tips just after I'd had Sally-Anne, (so we're talking nearly 13 years ago). It didn't go well especially as he was drawn first to go in the first run lol!

So after that day he never once criticised me and my handling skills. He realised that Tips was not easy to run as she'd welcome any distraction on offer. I will attempt to record some of them and put them on here so you can all have a laugh.

I don't really know why I'm doing this but here are two that I videoed from the TV via my mobile. Not very technical I know but until my technician gets home it'll have to do. Enjoy!

Tipsy is no longer with us, she died in 2009 aged 14 and a half. Its good that she can still reduce me to tears at her memory. Read all about her at http://www.bordertrix.co.uk/tipsypg.html

Bye for now.



  

Well yesterday was great fun out in the snow. Hayley took some fab photos from up the field and I'll upload them when i get a minute. No training this week unfortunately but i can't think of a better reason not to than having a good 4 inches of snow. We had great fun building snow men and Buddy had a go at pulling the sledge, but he wasn't too keen really.

Photo is of Monty (Skye's brother) trying to eat snowballs which were being thrown. Skye is trying to catch Monty and Buddy is trying to catch Skye...........ummmm!

Love this photo of Buddy and Skye but not sure what's going on with Skye's eyes lol. What a beautiful pair of doggies I have :-)

Alfie, Buddy's number one fan, came to join in the fun too and had a good run around in the field either chasing or being chased by Buddy.

I've updated a page on my website called http://www.bordertrix.co.uk/woodyspg.html Its a new photo of Woody from Skye's 2nd litter.
He has been a bit naughty and ran off from his Owner but came back in his own time - around 2 hours later!!

New photos of Paddy and Sixx too.

Still awaiting news on Poppy although I know she has stopped being sick now which is good. Get well soon Poppy :-)

Poppy is all better now but her Owner is exhausted. God bless dogs eh?

Today I'm going to talk about Skye as I've realised I haven't said much about her so far. Her posh name is Bordertrix Non But The Brave and she's blue and white.
She always surprises me in whatever she does; be it agility, showing or being a mum.
In agility she never seems to be moving very fast but she flows around courses and is consistant so I guess she's going faster than it appears. She should be a higher grade in agility by now but Hayley entered the Junior Classes with her so she didn't get points or places towards progression for a while.
In showing she could probably have been a show champion by now if we'd campaigned her properly, she has had champ show firsts, best puppy and helped Hayley win countless junior handling classes and Open Show classes.
As for being a mum, how shocked was I when she produced 7 puppies in January 2010? Seven puppies in that little body, all delivered without any fuss and cleaned until they shone. She really enjoyed being a Mum to those Magnificent 7 (including Buddy).
She then went on to deliver another six babies 17 months later, to the day! Where was she hiding that lot? We only expected about 3 or 4 according to her scan!

Who'd have thought it eh?

She truly is the most special dog to me, I know I say that about all my dogs but Skye is the self appointed comforter in our family. Especially now she is without Sunnie for the first time in her life, that's a big responsbility. She gives the best cuddles ever and we love her all the way to the moon and back a zillion, trillion times :-))

I have just found out that Skye's sister, Poppy, is really ill, with bloody sickness and diarrhoea. She's been to the Vets and been given some pills so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she will be ok.