Happy New 2012!!!

Mum:
well woke up new Year's Day and felt great...not felt like this for ages, really full of life and very positive about everything despite all the rubbish stuff going on and the awful weather, up to our eyes in mud and darkness...but there felt to be a hint of Spring in the air even though it chucked it down all day lol!!

Flynn:
I've not had much to say lately, been playing with mum and toys a lot but Wednesday night lo and behold we were back at training!!! Mum said I was a very good boy, even though she's put me back in the young dog class so I'm not overfaced with all those obstacles. We were seeing if I could remember what I'd been all those months ago and guess what I did!!!!

Jette:
I've been on a rest for a few weeks, can't say I like it but at last we've been back to hydro a couple of times and things seem more like they should. Mum thinks I"m getting old now and I need extra TLC, which I like but, come Saturday morning, the show bag was packed, the treats were chopped up and we were off, it was my day out!!! whoop!! Pulled mum into the arena at Wilmslow, she said she felt sick, I didn't, it was jump weave start and I was off!!! Not time to feel sick, whoop!! Tight turns, lovely flick flack and I got all my contacts, clear round, good me!!! There were hardly any clears, I got my pig's ear but then I could hear the shriek from the cafe a mile off as Kirsty, Brenda and mum were whooping!!! We'd won it!!!! We'd flippin' won it!!! and we would have been 4th in Grade 3 so what a run that was, mum was in tears, we'd made Grade 3 at last after 13 2nd places, and we won by 4 secs....wow!!!!
I also got a nice clear in the jumping and won the runoff but it was really nice my mate Maisie Mouse got a place, Brenda had a lovely run with Bryn and we all got lovely walkies together, what a great day out and we got to catch up with mates too.
What a start to the New Year!!! Happy 2012 indeed :D

Aren't I clever :D

...and time for play!!

..Merry Christmas everyone....

Awwhhhhh!

...ready...

...steady....

...GO!!!...

.....awhhhhh!...

...and time for rest....

Mum:
what a year, really crammed full of ever-so-exciting and ever-so-fed-up, what a mixture, a real roller coaster.... to end the year we had Dig It Dogs Christmas show, I knew it would be really good fun for both Jette and Flynn and I wasn't wrong, dolled up with tinsel and silliness I also entered Flynn in anysize....enough said!! He's just nowhere near ready, I didn't realise just how far away from ready he really is, showed no semblance of anything remotely like agility really, he had a fab time, the jumping wasn't too bad but the agility just had too many wonderful obstacles in it and he couldn't decide which one to go on first lol!!! Time to take a step back. To be fair to the lad he queued really well so can get a prize for best queuer, and also he didn't bog-off in the ring so a prize for that too and there weren't too many poles down...but I did run him on small lol!!!
Handsome he may be...but also mad as a hatter too so no shows for him...sorry Flynn, maybe next year (or the year after!!) :-)

Jette rocketed in with a 1st in the jumping, lovely run, fabulous feeling, she just opened up and went!!! 2nd in the pairs and 3rd in the agility, what a girl!!! She does love her runs....!

To finish the year we had 121s with Lucy O, I'd booked time off work to make sure we got there but then heard a dog had the squits, we were with this other dog at the weekend so did the decent thing and backed out of the training, what with Lucy going to Olympia with Ben and all.... so that was a really damp squib, Jette knew we were going and was on her toes all day...poor girlie... :(

Willow old-but-wise-one kept me on my toes by having her face swell up alarmingly like a flippin' football!!! Luckily I'd only worked half a day so rushed her to the vet who operated the same afternoon, abscess from a dodgy tooth root to blame, I wouldn't have known, there was no smell and these things come on really quickly so I was lucky to get her in....phew!!!! All home and recovering well though, Willow babes don't do that!!! She's had loads of extra cuddles and cheese (with antibiotics hidden....!)

So that's all there is to say except....

...and a Happy New Year!!!

..and someone's birthday in the mix....

Mum:
Off we went to Hare N Hounds, love this show, feels like home :-)
Agility run was super fast, 26. something secs but blew the dogwalk contact. Beautiful run though. Lovely startline jump sequence we could do Lucy-O style and it worked fab :-)
Next came the jumping...we were walking it thinking 'what grade is this?' Felt more like a 3/4 than a 1-3, 3 pull throughs, yuk! Still we tried our best and got 2 out of the 3 pull-throughs which then of course, turned into a flick-flack which Jette loves. We gave it our best shot and got 'e' for 'excelled' ha ha!! Next was Docs Agility, again quite a tricky course, we tried our very best again but Jette got fed up with the new spaced weaves (which she hates!) and just pulled up mid weave. Never mind Jette, sorry they've changed them when you've just got so good at them, boo hoo!! :-(
Kirsty and I had a fab walk though with dogs up the muddy fields and Tim did a lovely run for her in the jumping, well done Timster and your big gingerlugs!!
It's always feels nice to be there no matter how the runs go :-)

We had Nat's training session for Flynn, it was great to see the groundwork I'd been doing translated over to the equipment, very pleased indeed with him and just need to teach him how to jump properly :-)

Someone had a birthday....it might have been Jette who is now turned 8, can someone tell her please ha ha!!!!

Then the next day we had Wyre. What a busy couple of weeks!!! I was on my own for this... Mel and Brenda went so I did know someone nice to chat with and, despite the mud and rain, we all had a good day. Jette pulled a lovely 2nd in the jumping, really fab driven run and lots of competition so really, really pleased for her.

As for the agility runs...well what more can I add, the cheeky minx did a super run in Docs....then blasted off the dogwalk next to last obstacle from home. Doc was ready to clap and we both giggled at her...what do you do....she enjoyed her birthday weekend it seems, love you girlie :-)

If you've not seen it, this is 'the look'....

Happy Birthday gorgeous... xxxx

...training and Wilmslow....

Mum:
In sheer frustration at not having any training, I'd booked Flynn a 121 at Lucy's, then thought s*d it and booked Jette one too, luckily Mel said she'd share the slots with her dogs so I wasn't running like a headless chicken for 2 hrs. After finding Lucy's venue on a very foggy Sunday morning, we just had the best 2 hrs. Even though Flynn hadn't done anything in weeks, I'd still done his groundwork so he got back into it really quickly, Jette on the other hand couldn't believe her fav person in all the world was actually there and not in Halifax lol!! Both dogs worked well and we got a lot out of the time...I liked the forward thinking for Flynn and have tried it now with both dogs on the rec, it's fun!!!
Flynn very nearly weaved by himself so lots to practice on.
Came away with an old set of channel weaves (don't ask!!) and a split lip thank you, courtesy Jette, who else!!!
On the strength of this, have booked Flynn a Dave Munning pre-comp class next Spring on drive and focus...now that will be interesting too!!

Jette:
On Saturday it was show day, I knew cos mum had packed the show bag and chopped the sausages the night before. We didn't go that far, just over to Myerscough, I like the canal walk there with Billy-Woof but the arena's a bit noisy. Nice to have an away day anyway :-) First up after a looooooong wait was the Agility, I must have forgotten we were at a show and surprised mum with 2 Aframe contacts, she was ecstatic, it was a really nice smooth run, not much we could have tightened up (except the start sequence....mum we could have done that like in training?)

Then we had another long wait for the next class, well into the afternoon, mum had dosed off by this point and couldn't remember the course from this morning...plus they called my name out for a rosie from this morning (3rd!!!!) mum didn't think we were placed so totally pleasantly surprised. Kirsty went and got my lovely yellow rosie for me, thank you Kirsty!!! So mum was totally off guard when we went in the ring ha ha!!! What delight!!! Dogwalk PING!!!! Aframe PING!!!! Weaves PING!!!!! but I did get my right hand weave entry just to show I could....what a hoot, fab fun :-)

Then into the jumping, I knew mum loved this course but I was feeling very, very norty by now, late in the afternoon, so in my giddiness clipped the first pole and weave entry PING!!!!

Mum just laughed....she's Ok my mum, thinks if she trains me I actually listen ha ha!!! Hare N Hounds next week, what shall I do there....hmmmmm

..there's only one thing to possibly say....

...welcome Nyah Mae, you had a little bit of trouble coming into the world but it's a better place already for you being here, Holly-mum and baby doing well and at home now :-)

rising above it all....

Mum:
Rising above the domestic mess, it's time things became positive!!!
We got to Lucy O training whoop!!!! What a lovely evening and so nice to see people again. Jette was on tippy-toes when I said she was going Lucy-jumpies lol!! It didn't really matter what exercises we did, it was all good to be back :-)
Trying for the contact training we've been doing with Lucy, I've devised a set-up from the car involving Willow's car ramp, it's a bit crude maybe, but it works, I can run past the car and set Jette off to achieve a nice contact wait whilst and release...can only build on this and see if it works at Hare N Hounds next weekend!!!

Cheeky monkey even waits whilst her pic is taken lol!!!

We had a lovely walk at Langsett, did the full moorland walk with Flynn and Jake plus got Jette swimming in the res, was just like being on holiday and can't believe how near this is to home!! Lovely company, sunny day, came home all refreshed :-)

So to Hare N Hounds....we had a jumping and agility first thing, I knew the jumping judge set tough (for me) courses so got to the show really early so I could walk it over and over...to be honest my heart sank, I was really looking forward to this but I couldn't see it working for us, rear crosses all the way round and so tight I couldn't work out how to get in front of Jette who hates rear crosses with a passion...so very nearly bottled it... the agility was full of contact traps another nemesis, so had to give myself a pep talk, we'd come all this way we should run it and s*d it if we couldn't make it work...
Agility run was first, we were straight in, no waiting, so I thought, I'll just run it like the car ramp training and, blow me, it worked!! All contacts and clear :-) Was feeling better now for the jumping, ran the ABC first as a warm up and ran clear too, then straight in the jumping...first half of the course was OK, managed to get in front of Jette but after the difficult weave entry, ended up in the wrong place and had to run it from behind for a very scary clear, a bit scrappy but Jette worked it and really helped me out, what a good girlie!!!
Results, 2 more 2nd places yeah!!!!

Best bit about the show though was seeing lots of people, so great to catch up with everyone. Kirsty was there too and we had fab walks with the dogs (including Willow!!!) in sunshine, which just made for a perfect day, everyone was smiling and enjoying the show with loads of ace results. Saffs (who had been really poorly and just recovered) stormed in with wins, Julie with Timmy won up as did Ann so there were plenty of good runs to celebrate, one of the nicest shows for ages :-) Bella did Claire really proud with an 8th in the ABC agility, wow how good is that!!!! Pesky kelpies, who needs them go super-labs!!!

I wish I had a camera to get Tim's finish jumps for Kirsty, he was fast, focused and looked amazing :-)

On the home front, Hols baby says she doesn't want to come out yet...but really it could be anytime, how lovely, scary and exciting all mixed up!!!