Today Chi went for a walk along the Downs Way with his 'family', Billy (honorary OBay). Griz the Lurcher, his Mom, True, sister Zen & The Little Evil 1 - Hex (1/2 sister):) We then went home to stuff our faces with the best roast beef ever! And dispite my forgetting the goose fat the roasties turned out fine (phew!) see the Obay site for spud details.
We toasted family & friends and wished everyone an enjoyable Christmas.
What a day, wot an atmosphere, what an acheivement!
Having gone to the practice session at Premier on Sat and not had any adverse reactions to a little bit of work i decided to take Chi to Olympia. He was on top form - the only other time i remember running that fast with him was the Championship finals at Thames back in the summer.
Here are the courses - designed by Kate Austin and gr8 to run. Hum... not so easy to see the numbers eh! Tyre tunnel, weaves, jump, snake, wall, jump, tunnel, pin wheel, right turn jump, long finish - does that help? There's a prize for anyone who can figure out the course from that description! Alternatively just click on the pic!
We gained 5th in the jumping a good start to the day :)
Jump, dog walk, tunnel, jump opposite tunnel, right cross behind, jump, A frame, sharp right, jump see saw, right tunr jump, jump, wall, weaves, jump, long, right through to finish.
Chi had the fastest time on this course unfortunately he had a pole down (jump 11) so we ended up 7th. But in the scheme of things he is a champion in my and lots of other peoples eyes so we realy don't mind :) Watch out next year!
Here's Chi doing he bestest sit for Santa in the hope of getting a Christmas goodie! Mum & my Auntie Mary came to watch. Here we are with Chi's rosettes. Our very efficient groom for the day & fellow OBay owner, Sonia took this pic. Unfortunately i didn't get a pic of our other supporters or Sonia - there was so much going on and so much to concentrate on. It was a fantastic day, Chi performed brilliantly taking the whole atmosphere in his stride as usual. A good sign for Crufts & next year!
Today Chi had his stiches out. The wound is looking very tidy with no swelling, which is a good sign. Chi's vet agreed with our idea of having a test run for Olympia on Saturday and monitoring Chi Sunday & Monday for any adverse effects. If all clear we run. He could see no reason for us not to run as long as Chi was ok after this test run. To keep him fit Chi has been having a mixture of road walks and field runs over the last 3 - 4 days and is showing no signs that make me want to rest him up - so far so good. So fingers crossed. He continues to have Reiki & massage and his diet is crammbed full of anti oxidants & immune boosting foods. Nothing but the best for our boy :)
To keep him warm Chi has been wearing this special little hand knitted jumper. Note the 3 red arrows - rather fitting for Chi really :) Now that he has his stiches out he will be able to wear his Equafleece - it's red just like our Olympia T shirts - 'tis a sign!! (I hope )
This morning we received a phone call from Professor Dick White informing us that the cancer in Chi's neck had been fully excised with good margins. Prof White wants us to be reviewd on a monthly basis for 6 months and is confident that if there are no further cancerous growths in this time that there is unlikely to be a recurrance every again.
So excellant news and fingers crossed till July!
The nutritionalists at Burns have provided some very helpfull advising on suppliments to boost Chi's immune system & help him recover. Luckily Burn's is a holistic food anyway with lots of body boosting ingredients so we're 'quids in' there - thank you Burns :)
Massage will also play a big part in Chi's fitness regime to help re build his muscles, strength and stamina ready for his next competition.
We collected him yesterday afternoon. He is ok, a little dazed probably from the GA and looks pittiful without his ruff - they shaved him for the USS (Ultrasound scan) & surgery.
Hopefully his special fleece jumper will arrive in the post tomorrow.
Now is the long 7 - 10 day wait for the lab results on the tissues Prof White removed. The chest x - ray, USS abdo & aspirate from the node under his jaw (which turned out to be a salivary gland, not a lymph) were all clear - HORRAH!!
Plse continue with fingers & toes crossed for good results.
Nancy found this charming site and sent us a candle so i lite one for Chi this morning and started a group so other ppl can also light a candle to send their good wishes and positive thoughts.
Pls copy & paste the site details above. When you arrive at the site go to search (top left of page) then put the initials LLS in the initials box(obviously!) and the letter O in the group. You should then be directed to Chi's candles. Click on a candle that isn't lite and you will be guided threw how to send a message and light the candle. They last for 48 hours.
We set of for our specialist appointment at 2:30pm. The journey was s'pose to take 2hours 35 mins - it took us 5 hours because of an accident on the M25 that involved ppl having to be air ambulanced off the motorway! Fortunately Gran'ma OBay is a brilliant map reader and found us a way around the blockage. Having decided that we would divert at the next exit i put on my hazzard lights and cruzed along the hard shoulder - i sooooo did not want to miss this very important consultation.
Unfortunately, with the exit only a few yards away, we came to another grinding hault - there was a truck in the way, straddling the lane and the hard shoulder. Bernadette got out of the car to ask the lorry driver to let us pass (this was, after all, an emergancy!)i phoned the clinic to let them know we were going to be late. Fortunately the traffic moved, the lorry was able to get into the hard shoulder and pull away, and the clinic told us not to worry just keep calling them every hour to let them know our progress - i could hardly beleive my ears, they didn't turn us away, didn't say sorry we have to re arrange your appointment, brilliant news! At one stage it took 45 mins to get round a roundabout!!! And when we finally arrived at 7pm we were welcomed by the lovely receptionist, warmly greeted by the intern who took a history & relevant details and still had a consultation with Mr White!
The up shot is Chi will have a lymph node apirated tomorrow to check for signs of cancer, a chest x - ray & abdominal ultrasound scan to check for any metastisis and further surgery to ensure that there are good clear margins around the original site of the lump. The clinic will call tomorrow to let us know how he is and hopefully give us an idea when he can be collected.
Keep the prayers & positive thoughts coming ppl - they are very much needed over the next 48 hours and very much appreciated. Thank you very very much to all you well wishers your kind words & deeds are very suppportive.
On Wed 14th Nov Chi had a very hard lump removed from his neck. We are so lucky that this lump was detected so early by a Galen Therapy student the Sunday after Discover Dogs. It wasn't palpable on the Wed before Discover Dogs when i bathed Chi.
It has turned out to be a fibrosarcoma, which my medical dictionary defines as 'an uncommon malignant tumour of the cells that form fibrous tissue. These cells can be found in any part of the body. Radical surgery is necessary'.
We have an appointment with Dick White, a highly revered soft tissue surgeon, next Thursday afternoon. Gran'ma OBay will be coming with us to the specialist to help us ask the right questions and provide much needed suport.
Chi is fine and his wound is healing quite nicely. He will have stitches out on Monday. I'm giving him Reiki everyday and my Mum is doing some distance healing.
It is very unusual to find such cancerous growths in a young dog (Chi is only 4yrs 7 months). Hardly a day goes by without me crying at the moment, (ridiculous but i know you other doggie ppl will understand) and i feel flat & numb. I'm a gr8 believer that something good always comes out of something bad and so far i've really come to fully appreciate how much this special little dog means to me on so many different levels.
O Lord! i am so lucky to have been able to enjoy so much with Chi so far, plse don't take him from us just yet, plse give us the strength to get through what ever may come our way and most of all don't let him suffer anything nasty or unpleasant. Amen
Thank you to all those people who have already sent good wishes and especially to my husband Tony who has been a real brick, providing hugs, sympathy and support ad infinitum.
We've been looking forward to this for ages! Chi has never been in this environment before but he took it all in his stride, happy to be doing what he enjoys most - agility.
Chi's son, Todd (see link) bought him a good luck mascot - Lucky Ducky. Lucky Ducky has been attached to the training bag so that she may come with us where ever we go and bring all her good luck along as well! :)
Here's Chi with Lucky Ducky!
Gran'ma OBay groomed for us
Lots of friends were there, and lots of other people we knew, cheering us on. It was gr8 to hear the croud behind us, rooting for the only Sheltie in the line up! Lian took this photo of us waiting for our prize.
Chi had the privilage of meeting Mr Burns himself on the Burns stand.
And here is the video of Chi in action..........................
Tonight Chi has been getting ready for his Discover Dogs debut. We received an invitation to participate in an agility demonstation at The Kennel Clubs Discover Dogs to be held at Earls Court, London this weekend, and naturally accepted. I'm really looking forward to enjoying the day. Gran'ma has volunteered to groom - good ole Gran'ma!
Here he is bathing.....
Shampoo & set plse? ROFLOL! (Roll on floor laugh out loud). I prob bath Chi about 4 or 5 times a year and try and groom him weekly. Lots of people ask me if he is high maintanance but if i am diligent he takes an hour a week. I always like to 'foof' him up before a special show and he seems to enjoy being groomed.
No discerning dog owner (especially a Sheltie owner) should be with out a high powered hair dryer. When Chi was a puppy, the 1st time i washed him Bernadette let me borrow her hair dryer - we haven't looked back and purchased ours at crufts asap! A high powered hair dryer removes all the dead under coat and enables you to see right down to the skin and between the toes. This is invaluable when you have dogs with long or short coats that enjoy country walks since it enables you to see if there are any embedded grass seeds. The result of high power hair drying is spectacular - as you will see when i post Chi at Discover Dogs!
Well the finished result (a fully foofed up Chi) will be on display on Saturday at Earls court. Bernadette has taken her grooming responsibilities very seriously and already trimmed Chi's ears - I'm still a big L on the ears, feet no problem, ears, still learning.
Bettange-Sur-Mess, near Luxembourg City 28th & 29th October.
See the OBay blog for the nitty gritty trip details - Bernadette does a good report.
Here's Chi running the courses - not perfect but very pleasing, he ran so fast, did his contacts so well and stayed on the start line much better than he was doing at the end of the season. The courses were excellant, we really enjoyed the flowing handlie style.
Next year the Internationl Sheltie Agility Championship will be held in the Eifel region of Germany. A very pretty area and not too difficult to get to. I'm hopeing to encourage some other Sheltie owners to come along (Lian!)- it's just like our ESSC show but on steroids!! Ha! Ha!
Here is a little montague of our trip. Luxembourg is a very clean city partly due to the fact that they give the pigeons 'the pill' to stop them reproducing - brilliant idea, i'm not keen on those sky rats! Luxembourg use to be know as the Spanish Netherlands and has been swapped and chopped and changed many times between France & Germany aswell. Then in 1818 they were given independance. As we walked around we bagan to see the Spanish influencs and hear the seemingly mish mash language of French & German - Luxembourgian. People would greet each other in French and ask 'how are you' in German - so we followed suit and spoke French in the resturants and the odd bit of German but no where near as well as the locals spoke English......
It was gr8 to meet up with our Dutch friends Han & Adele, and Roger (honouray Brit) who organised our entries and came up with the brilliant team name of LIBERO! Really looking forward to seeing you all again next year.
Next big event is Discover Dogs in 2 weeks. Granma Bay will be grooming for us :) In the mean time it's back to some basics for Chi & I, jumping grids for a start! Gran'ma said she'd whoop us into shape - we love you gran'ma xx
Inspired by the OBay Shelties in Denmark (see link) tribute to all 'elephant trick' trained dogs I decided to see if Chi could remember his 'go do l'elephant'. Whilst out walking this morning (another inspiration from Chi's son Todd) we came across a wood pile and here is the result...... I kid you not i asked him to go do l'elephant and he did this straight away - brains and beauty being an OBay :)
Chi also had some fun on the fallen down trees - Grandma close your eyes! Please remember Chi is a highly trained agility dog - PLSE DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!
Received some gr8 news - Chi has made it to the Crufts singles competition (as well and being in the team event with the Tri Stars). Since he was in the top 5 to qualify for this event we have also been automatically invited to try out for the England team for the European Open next summer - WOOT!
Good grief - 5:30am start! Haven't done that in a while, needless to say Chi knew exactly what was going on and was standing by the gate ready to go after his morning ablutions. I didn't think to take a pic coz the coffee hadn't kick started my brain at that point :)
Here is a video of Hex & I bonding as a team prior to our debut
For those hardened World Champ attendees! And an explanation for the uninitiated.... This is one of the songs played every year at the Wold Chmapionships to get the crowd up and moving between runs - it works everytime with the Kabouter dance. (Hope this doesn't put anyone off coming next year). OBay shelties may have some pics of us dancing.
Everybody, pay close attention For this is your big chance Listen good to what I say For here comes the gnome-dance Each boy now chooses [asks out] first a gnome-girl Take her firmly by the hand and take a step forward
Come, Kwebbel! Give me your hand please Oh, yes, Klus! Hey--say, I want to dance with Kwebbel No! I was first, find another gnome-girl But there aren't any other gnome-girls here I'll tell you something, Lui-- You may dance with me soon Then let's go!
[Refrain:] Turn one time roundabout Stomp with your feet on the ground Sway your arms in the air Now sit with a sigh Now pace around like a goose So goes the gnome-dance!
Come, Lui, you can dance with me now Dance? I'm getting so tired of dancing I'm not dancing any more I'm going to bed
Yes, that all went really well But we won't be clear for long We'll stay and do the dance again But two times after each other
[Refrain] (Repeat Refrain] Say, Kwebbel Don't you think that I can dance handsomely? Yes, that's normal, eh? Yes, yes I'm in a way the best dancer in the whole gnome-village!
You are all dancing trully beautifully Little ploppers, take my word for it Therefore let's do it still another time Now three times after each other
Huge congratulations to the Medium (Silver Medalists) & Large (Bronze Medalists) GB teams for their gr8 successes in Norway at the World Championships. It was an awesome experience and one that I can not recommend highly enough to any agility enthusiast. The atmosphere is the ultimate, the sense of pride, excitement, edge of seat entertainment would satisfy any adrenaline junkie. It is truly amazing. I could wax lyrical for pages and pages but they wouldn't have the web space for it!!
A very very few pics - there was very little time to take pics due to the amount of celebrating and the fact that I was very busy being groom to Bernadette & Zen as well as enjoying watching some top class handlers negotiate some very interesting courses.
This 1st pic is for my Mum! :), doesn't she look like Tessa mum? They had these bronze statues all over town. On the roundabout near the hotel they had a horse with huge goolies!!
The view from our Hotel - once again Kate Howard did us proud, we were very comfortable, very well fed, and quite close to the stadium. The Swedish and Japanese teams were also staying and we watched them run their dogs in the park opposite while we eat breakfast.
The trees were on the turn and the colours were gorgeous.
And here is our official GB team photographer! What a sterling job he did too, check out the photos on his site http://picasaweb.google.com/DennisMBay/WC2007.
Good job Denis was taking the photos eh! Mine's not much cop. Bernadette has her computer with her so let's hope she gets some time to write her blog on the way home. Gotta go, lots of training planning and goal setting to do in preparation for next years competition in Helsinki, Finland :)
This morning in the post we received an invite from The Kennel Club to participate in the Discover Dogs at Earls Court on 10th Nov. Naturally I have accepted and am really looking forward to this invitational event. It will be good practice for Olympia & Crufts and gr8 fun to boot.
It has really felt like Chi & I have arrived on the agility scene this year with all our successes. We can only go from strength to strength. I can't wait for next season and the opportunity to put my honed handling skills into action.
We have some exciting winter events to look forward to as well. Sheltie International show in Luxembourg at the end of Oct, Olympia - obviously, and best of all World Champs. This is always an inspirational experience spurring me on to train train train to be like the best. I modeled my current handling on the people I watched at the worlds 7 years ago before I even contemplated owning a Sheltie. The World Champs is an event that should be highly recommended for all agility enthusiasts.
This BH we all travelled up to Barnard Castle in Beryl the yellow peril in the hope of gaining our 1st Champ. cert. We put in stonking rounds in jumping & agility winning both classes but unfortunately got the big E in the final :( This time last year I wasn't even running Chi let alone even contemplating being in a Champ final so I am very proud & pleased that he has gained a reserve ticket and been in 5 finals to date. Watch out for us next season!
Luckily it wasn't that grim up North after all - although it was a little colder, probably been living down 'sarf' too long!
Beautifull sun set after a beautifull sunny day with lots of wind!
Our set up! Very impressive if i do say so myself :)
I've started to feel excited already and come out in goose bumps every time i tell anyone :) The semi finals were held on the Friday of the KC International another enjoyable weekend of agility - expecially since Chi won some excellent prizes, including an Obay Sheltie sweep both ways (Zen 1st Chi 2nd, Chi 1st Zen 2nd). We also sampled the prestige of running for our country in the International cup and put in some stonking runs on the European style courses.
A big CONGRATULATIONS to all the people who came over from Jersey they did very well in the team events and a special well done to Louise Macpharlane & her Westie (pictured below) for winning the British Open small and Sally Rees for qualifying 2 dogs for the British Open finals. My memory doesn't serve me well I only wish Lorna Goodban was there she manages to remember all the good results. Anyway well done to you all.
We camped again this weekend, I didn't realise there was so much evening activites! Grandpa Dennis astroid gazing after a few relaxing beers ..........:)
Griz found her perfect 'man' in Spookie, she was mad for him. Tony says Spookie can come stay whenever he wants - so Johanna, about that swap idea....:)
Arrived home from Alysbury show today to find Chi's certificate for his Agility Warrent Gold - Yipee! A nice end to the day especially since I didn't manage to get us round any course clear today :( Still managed to do some good contacts - as always and executed some nifty manouvers. The best part of the day was Lian arranging for me to have a dog food container - thank you Lian! She told me it was an early b'day pressie (yeap, 41 years young tomorrow).
We packed the 'big' green tent this weekend 'coz it was a family camping trip to .... Newbury!! Not everyone's choice but those who are agility enthusiasts will understand. I use the term big very loosly when describing our tent since it is only really small and evoked alot of sympathy with our fellow caravaners for our wellfair when the forcast was for rain. Well dib dip & a dob dob we are well prepared and very snuge in our tent. The dogs even have their own roll mats! Anyway, Chi was running true to form - brilliantly. Some people even commented on the fact he was running so fast and asked if I'd put a rocket up his bum! Hell no it's pure talent :)
Quite a few people came up to congratulate us on being picked for the GB Dog Agility World Championships as well - thank you. It makes me feel really proud :)
Like it says on the credits a big gratz to Hex on gaining a Champ ticket - see the Obay blog for more news on that one. Next week Johanna is coming over form Denmark. She is bringing One (and a few others) Can't wait to meet him.
Caught Billy & Griz trying to catapult Chi to the moon! ROFLOL! (roll on floor laugh out load). All 3 had runs at Newlands today, Chi gained a 2nd and an Obay Sheltie sweep with his sister Zen in the 6 & 7 jumping class, and the 2 vets did themselves proud round a really good fun course - thank you Carlos Longueira-Barr.
The best part of the day? Home in time for beer o'clock! :)
Lian was there with her camera - check out The Knights site for film footage of the Obay Sheltie sweep. (hope she posts it now)
Brief summary:- Weather not too bad (that's the English in me coming out - where would we be with out our weather to comment on eh?) Company excellent! :) Prizes galour! well almost, on Sat we gained 2nd in Champ agility, made it to the finals but unfortunately had 5 faults :( . Sunday qualified for Crufts Team with The ESSC (English Shetland Sheepdog Club) Tri Stars. I ran in pole position and Chi did a lovely run, perfect in every way, next up was Karen Bugler with Ace, then Amy Bennett with Taz, smoothly rounding our performance off was Bernadette & Zen. Hurrah! we were in the lead. Then it was nail biting stuff - we had 5 faults, the next team had already qualified and the last team to run had some really good members. They too had 5 faults so it was all down to timing, there was only 3 seconds in it, but we won (as I've already said :))
On to the Try outs. 1st day - series of 'technical' maneuver exercises, timed contacts and a jumping run. Today 3 runs - jumping, agility and final agility run in reverse order. Unfortunately we had faults in the first 3 runs :( then went on to win the final run of the day. It was this along with our pre qualifying points for the reserve ticket at Thames that gave us enough points to be chosen as reserve for the GB World Championship team - WOOT!
There was no videoing today - far too much concentration needed for the events. There maybe photo's and videos from both events posted here and defo on the OBay site.
Gratz to the Obay Shelties for having 5 dogs on teams at the World Champs. Just goes to show wot good stuff those Shelties are made of :). I'm sure our sponsor BURNS will be pleased as well
Today we had comformation that Burns will sponsor Chi for a year providing us with food and treats on a monthly basis - very pleasing. From now on you will see me wearing promotional clothing. Chi's photo, taken by Tony at the Jersey agility Festival earlier this year is currently on Burn's web site under 'dog'. He will soon have his own little section under sponsorship as well. Check it out at:
http://www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk/
I have already been feeding Chi on Burns having taken good advice from the breeder! :) and am very pleased with the results - his coat feels soft and silky, his weight is very constant and he is performing as he should be - brilliantly!
Rugby this weekend, Champ class on the Sat, Team on Sunday - we are running for the ESSC (English Shetland Sheepdog Club)and then the try outs for the GB world team Mon & Tues. With the way we are perfoming at the moment i am really looking forward to this weekend.
It's official Chi is a stud! Here's a copy of the Kennel club cert we received in the post this morning along with a letter congratulating us on our recent success at Thames - very pleasing :)
And what a final it was. Chi came a very respectable 2nd, 4 tenths of a second behind his litter sister Zen making it an Obay Sheltie sweep - HOORAY! Chi is certainly producing the results this season and that's just the way it should be :) Watch out world here we come........
Gratz to Hex & Indy for achieving the same in the Toy class - see the Obay blog for more news on that spectacular Obay Sheltie sweep.
Video & pic's to follow - plse view on Obay blog, link on right hand side of this page
Wot? i hear you cry.... Well although i have been trained to massage my dogs i like to get them 'tweaked' and assessed for 'areas to ease' by Julia Robertson from Galen Therapy. The treatments Julia gave Billy (The Noble Billy Ottaman) where definitely influential in his outstanding performance at crufts in 2004 & 2006. Naturally i want Chi to benefit, it makes him feel good and because every 100th of a second counts at the level he performs. Here's a pic of Chi during his full assessment and treatment from Julia - no it's not a bad pic of him blinking he is actually gooey eyed because he is enjoying it so much!
Link to Galen Therapy web site on right hand side of page where you can find out more about learning how to enhance your dogs performance.
BTW: Myo = muscle, so myotherapy is muscle thearpy perfect for any athlete :)
Breaking news........ Today we made it into the Championship Finals and gained the reserve ticket! Needless to say I am thrilled :) My aim was to get into the finals today to get some experience under our belts and we ended up running last having achieved two 3rd places in the qualifiers - the only team to gain 2 clear rounds. What an achievement.
Well they say the sun shines on the righteous and it did today - there is a God! After reading and hearing all about the effects of the abismal weather we were very greatfull for the sunshine. Although we didn't qualify for the finals - BOO HOO! we had a gr8 day Chi did some cracking manovers and I got to handle Zen - if only I'd not thrown up my opposite arm b 4 the tunnel! We came 4th and with that bad handling too - imagine wot we would have done......... I'd rather not have any of those 'if only' moments.
An added bonus Granma was there with her camera and she kindly taped us running. So watch this space for a film - at last!
On our way up to Nottingham last night we stopped off at the services where True added rabbit to her murdering repertoire! I had my camera with me but have deemed the photo's too gruesome to publish (I carry it most places i go now with the intention of getting some good shots for the blog! - how sad am i). Most people who meet True see her as a very sweet natured, rag dolly kinda gal but occasionally the dark side comes out - aaaaah now we know where little Hex gets it from!!!
Aside from that gruesome piece of news Chi came 2nd in the power and speed today, a cracking run with perfect contacts, such a shame i didn't get it on film :(
Next week Supadogs. Bernadette & i are going together on Tues so fingers crossed we may be able to do some filming, seems like ages since i posted a run.
No agility this weekend instead we had a relaxing weekend at home. Sunday morning we participated in the Galen Therapy practical sesions and Chi really enjoyed his massage.
Instead of going for Chi's monster name i decided to look for his sexy name decoder name, here it is:-
Well need i say more!! I know there's at least a couple of you out there who will totally agree with this sexy name :) He is after all the most handsomest Sheltie in the world and such a gentleman to boot, *swoon, i do love my fluffie munchkin :)
WOOT! Today Chi qualified for the medium dog Olympia semi's and gained 8 points towards the Crufts singles. I am so proud of my boy :) It was really nice to have people come up and congratulate us on our gr8 runs today. It felt good and made all the hard work extra worth while. Thank you for your support blog fans!
P.S Plse scroll down for the newly posted Jersey Agility Festival slide show :)
Again no photo's or video of todays achievements - sorry blog fans! (for those of you who remember Roland Rat this should be said in the same way as 'rat fans'!) Though i would never tire of taking picies of Chi and his prizes it doesn't exactly make for exciting viewing, and since there seems to be alot of you blog fans out there I'd like to maintain the high standards of entertainment :)
Chi has qualified for the Superdog finals at the beginning of Oct - WOOT! He also gained 1st in medium jumping and 2nd, only to Toni Dawkins, in the Champ agility. A very pleasing day and well worth getting up at 4:30am.
Big Gratz go to Toni Dawkins for winning the ticket and Angela Sallis for reserve in the mediums but special big grats to Cliff Truluck for getting the reseve in small champ, Wendly Fairlamb getting the ticket.
We arrived home at 3:26am very tired. The journey home wasn't too bad with a little swell in the water around Guernsey, enough to make the sky line completely disappear as we looked out of the back of the boat from our seats, and some people want to clutch the sink in the ladies!
What a fantastic time we had with up to 8 runs per day the massage I had on Saturday at Les Roche was extremely beneficial in easing my tightening muscles. I'm very good at warming up my dogs with the techniques taught to me by Julia from Galen Therapy (see links) but often forget to do myself!
Here is a little montage of photo's mainly taken by Tony of our trip. Although we were very successfull in the run up to the finals a slip off the dog walk cost us the large teddy prize! Boo hoo! I really wanted to put Blondies 'The Tide is High' to this montage but unfortunately cleaver old Blondie have it copyright protected. The words are brill eg 'i'm gonna be your number one' & 'i'm not the kinda girl to give up just like that' This song will defo feature on this seasons motivational CD to be played on the way to & from agility shows. There was an article in The Times last year about how top athletes use music for motivation - interesting reading.
Today was the first day of the Jersey Agility festival, expertly organised by Sally Rees and her son Andre, with invaluable help from Tony Griffin and many others (I'm sorry I don't know who you all are but what I do know is the show wouldn't happen with out you). The profit from this show goes to support Jersey Hospice Care, which, my father in law informs me, costs in the region of £5000 to run each day.
Chi did extremely well today, winning three first prizes! I am so proud that he is running true to good form. Here he is with his winnings! What brillinat prizes.
Thanks to my nephew Jake for letting me comondeer his lap top to bring you this update. More to be published on our return to the UK next week.
It only seems like a few months ago that they were all born - the 1st UK Obay litter - The UK Obay Originals! Everyone else seems to have done a montage so here's one to celebrate Chi on his b'day.
One of the highlights of the year for Chi is attending the ESSC (English Shetland Sheepdog Club) agility show. Nothing but shelties - everywhere, fantastic! Here is a little montage of our day.
Don't be miss lead by the sedate music the place was howling! We started the day by packing cucumber sandwiches & thermos of T - well it is the English Sheltie club after all, decorum est and all that! Grandma (!) & Grandpa (!) came to pic us up and we traveled in style with Auntie Pax, sister Zen and that little wicked one Hex. Purchasing socks was no problem and fitted rather well on Chi really....... There were lots of fellow Sheltie lovers there unfortunately some of the photo's are a little dark - sorry Lian, you had a gr8 time in the circular knockout tho didn't you? See theknightsmixedbunch.blogspot.com for more of the fun Lian had today. Chi managed to chat up some girlies, win prizes - including a bag of food and enjoy a very enjoyable day. He was so tired on the way home. Wild horses (Olympia, Crufts or World Champ qualies) couldn't drag me away from this show it is so special. Thanks to Becky Parks et al who organise & put it together so well.
This afternoon we had a really good training session at Sue's with Toni Dawkins. Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos again - will have to do better with the Sheltie show & Jersey festival coming up. We learnt more about handling turns, although in the Easter celebration video Chi demonstrates how well he can read my body language with the types of turn Toni teaches so we were well on the way to grasping the concept. I took my homework book with me - something Kathryn Tasker encouraged us to use. By writing the 'urika' moments in my book I can remind myself of them and encorporate them into my handling this coupled with Chi's inate brilliance will surely lead to more & more gr8 success.
This music has been burning a hole in my ear drums for ages! So it had to accompany some training clips. The words are very significant...... 'take it easy then your jive will swing' and that's just what Chi and I have been doing this season with gr8 results so far :)
Today Bernadette & I attended a Susan Garrett seminar. Susan is a very inspirational speaker, humourous animation & entertaining analigies mean very interesting listening. It was a long day but well worth it. Arriving back home I set up my doggie crates ready for their reminder of some 'ruff love' & crate games. Susan signed my copy of Shaping Success. Unfortunately we forgot to take any photos. Check out Susan's web site - http://www.clickerdogs.com/susangarrett.htm
This weekend we went to Just Mini's UKA show - it wans't just mini's, but all jump heights. Chi performed very well gaining almost all of the points he needs to progress into the Champ class and join his sister Zen - who has just obtained her Win CAP. GRATZ! Despite being in different classes we still managed an Obay Sheltie sweep by winning the Royal Canine agility heat - again:). Fortunately we did not prevent anyone else from qualifying. We added some glass tumblers to our collection and a large bag of food for everyone to share, well not us humans ofcourse! Roll on the Finals in June.
Over Easter we attended the Easter Celebration show at Ardingly. We went with the intention of having some fun and implimenting the techniques we have been honing in training. We came home with 3rd 8th & 5th which was very pleasing especially since this time last year we were no where near as successful.
Here are a couple of clips that our friends Tim & Marion captured for us and Granpa Dennis comitted to DVD for us to publish here for our pleasure to watch :)
WARNING!! DO NOT WEAR HEAD PHONES TO WATCH THIS!
Unfortunately I have not been able to remove the audio on these film clips - but you know it's quite nice hearing Zen, Billy, Grandma & friends cheer us on......
Today was Downland a really enjoyable show especially since we had a lie in - 7:30am, arrived home in time for lunch and got to watch Pete van Dongan run Chi, very well! Here is the evidence of what a good job this 'on the day' team managed to produce.
One of the most invaluable methods of training that Chi has undertaken to date is the studying of Greg Derrett's training video's. Here he is absorbing the details of how to acheive a good 'snake' manoeuvre.
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