Wednesday 28 February 2007

Molly

Inspired by the lovely tribute that Dennis and Bernadette did to Joy, we've at last got round to doing something for Molly.

Tuesday 27 February 2007

Sheltie Fun Time

Finally got round to adding this video from the fun time at Sue's a few weeks ago.

Wednesday 21 February 2007

Quick update

Haven't been posting on the blog just lately as we have rather a lot on our plates at the moment.

Out of the blue my Mum was taken seriously ill just over a week ago. She was moved to Kings College Hospital in London and has been in ITU on life support since last Friday and it's very difficult to find out the prognosis. Going back and forth to the hospital is a nightmare but luckily my brother and sister and I are trying to share this between us. It's so upsetting to sit with her as she is unconscious and completely unaware of anything and there seems to be a thousand tubes and wires everywhere.

Just thought I'd put a post on to let those interested know that Kizzy is fine and doing well. She has huge energy levels and we're trying hard to keep up with her training but at the moment everything has to take a back seat.

Hopefully will take some more pictures or video and do a better post soon.

Saturday 10 February 2007

Sheltie Fun Time

Today Kizzy met up with Fat Boy (aka Todd) and Bernadette and our friend Mandy and her sheltie puppy, a gorgeous merle called Kodie. All three had a wonderful time in Aunty Sue's sand school I gather the shelties enjoyed themselves too!


My best friend Poppy told me you have to climb on this thing. Yes, but you're not supposed to come on from the side - that's just dumb.

Look, I'll show you how to do it properly - it's so easy when you know how.

This is my circus elephant trick.


Yeah, well I can do it better.


You two are just showing off, my sit is far better than your tricks!


Look out I'm coming through
Yep, me too

Yes but I'm the fastest I was out before he clicked the button on the camera!


I coming to get you
I'm still coming to get you

Now let's both get him !

Tuesday 6 February 2007

Latest news

On Friday our friend Andy came round to drop in a couple of pictures he'd taken of Kizzy. They are fantastic quality. He brought one of his little boys with him. Here's a couple of photos of Kizzy with her visitors. She enjoyed playing with Theo and generally showing off.










We had a good weekend. Niamh and I went on a training day taken by Toni Dawkins on Saturday. It was really good fun and we came away with some great ideas. We were so lucky with the weather, it was a beautiful sunny day. Niamh absolutely loves training and is a bit of a clown really. She is a handful when other dogs are working as she has a very strong eye and unless I do things with her she really pulls me trying to get out there with the other dogs. I try to keep her occupied but some of the time I want to watch what's going on and see what the instructor is showing other people to do etc. Then she has to wear her headcollar which she isn't keen on! When it's her turn she has eyes only for me, sometimes I wish she'd look where she was going a bit more!

Andy came along too and Kizzy had another lovely afternoon at Polly's playing with Daisy, socialising and doing some training. We were all tired at the end of a really nice day.

On Sunday we took Kizzy for her first outing to Ashdown Forest. It's a gorgeous place and we decided it was time to take her with our other dogs for the first time. As they can be a little on the lively side we set off on our usual big circular walk in opposite directions. Andy took Kizzy with Murphy and Becky who are really good on their own and I took my three. Niamh needs a good twenty minutes to calm down! By the time we met up in the middle all the dogs had settled and Andy did an about turn and we finished the walk together. Kizzy loved it on the forest and towed Andy along on her extender lead. Andy has started to work on his recalls and he did a lot of that on the forest using the clicker and treats. Kiz responded really well so we have made a good start.

Monday 5 February 2007

The Circus Elephant Trick



First go at this, sorry about quality of the video but hopefully things will improve. I forgot to turn the light on in the room which is why it's so dark!

Friday 2 February 2007

What have we been up to this week?

Time just seems to fly by. We can't believe Kizzy is three months old this week! We are very busy with work at the moment so everything is having to cram into what seems very little time.

On Tuesday Kizzy came to agility training and had a good time. While I take the first class Andy does quite a bit of training with her in the school. She does her usual bits and pieces, circus elephant trick and turns etc. and this week Andy took her into a quiet corner and practised her target training on the lead. She has progressed to a clear piece of plastic and is doing this on lead, dragging Andy to the target. The process is shaping up really well (thanks Bernadette for some good tips!) She really is a focused little dog, she likes to watch the big dogs doing agility but when you ask her to play tug or do some training she's straight into it and ignores everything else going on.

Andy has only managed one walk with Kizzy this week due to work commitments but it was a nice walk in a different park. She went out to a survey with Andy and then they stopped off at Langton recreation ground on the way home.

On the other days I've been walking Kizzy. On Wednesday I took some time away from the office and told Andy I'd be back within forty minutes (he was waiting for me to help with some technical notes for a drawing) and an hour and a half later I got back! I was in deep trouble! It's so difficult to keep Kizzy's walks within a set time span. For instance, on this day I walked out of our driveway and bumped straight into a neighbour who was walking her old golden retriever so we stopped for a chat and a socialise. Whilst we were doing that out little neighbour Zoe came running out with her friends to see Kizzy (it was Zoe's birthday) but unfortunately Zoe fell down and cut her knee so only her friends played with Kiz. We then managed to progress to the recreation ground where we met some friends who have two westies. One is old and grumpy and he told Kizzy off which she took in her stride but the younger one Angus is very friendly and they had a bit of a game. Then on the way home we met a woman with her son and their year old schnauzer called Ozzie. He was a bit too big for Kizzy to run with but they had a good game on the end of their leads with Kizzy soon taking over as she tends to do! Then walking home we met another person with two small children so had to stop for a fuss and finally on the way back to our we had to stop off to visit our next door neighbours for a visit. Ellie is the little girl who lives next door and she likes to see Kizzy and is going to do a picture of her for Andy.

So you see, it's very difficult to fit all of that into forty minutes!

On Wednesday evening we met Dan and Mac at the pub for a drink and a meal. Kizzy stayed in for the whole evening and really enjoyed herself, especially when she got a chip at the end of our meal. She also likes Harvey's Best as you can see! She was a little over tired when we got home though and was rather hysterical. This always happens if she doesn't get her mid-evening nap.





This 'naughty' behaviour followed on into Thursday, she was very active and Andy had to keep stopping work to check her as she was a little over the top in her crate. Usually I deal with her during working hours but I was out most of the day visiting my mum and then my friend Jean who's recently come out of hospital and then onto the dentist for the first treatment to root fill a tooth. Not pleasant and it's still hurting as I write this.

On Thursday after I got back from the dentist I took Kiz for her walk. We did a different walk today and instead of going straight to the recreation ground we walked down to the woods and through the fields. She enjoyed this and took in the new scenery without fuss. We're very lucky as we can walk for miles from home but some of it is a little muddy at this time of year. Kizzy trotted along behind me all the way through the woods and fields and when we walked up the lane and into the recreation ground some 30 minutes later it was an amazing transformation - she stood, looked around and you could see her thinking 'I know this place' and she was then zooming off ahead of me straight to the end of her extender lead. I'm going to take her to the woods again today to see if I get that sort of reaction now that she knows where she's going. On the way home our next door neighbours but one, Bob and Enid, were out in their front garden doing some tidying and so we had to have a visit. Enid loves our dogs and knows each one by name and is very keen to follow Kizzy's progress. Today wasn't so bad as I was only out for just over an hour!