Chi (OBay Truly Focused)

Ripple Rock Trail

2011-04-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

On the way home from town today we stopped off at Ripple Rock trail. Only went half way but plan to do the full hike in the summer when M&D come to visit.

True ran down all the steps on the way down and walked along side them on the way back up - funny gal! True will be 14 this year and she never ceases to amaze me with her determination and joy de vive.

About a 3rd of the way down the trail is this suspention bridge. The dogs find it a bit strange to walk on - see Chi & Tigger are both crouching a bit to ensure they keep balance.

Below is a photo of Salmon Berry flowers. Once they turn into fruit in about July time the bears will feast on them. We have alot of these on out property - our neighbours tell us there hasn't been a bear around for a few years tho, phew!

And this is the beach half way down the trail - breathtaking view!

Another bear delicacy is the stink cabbage featured below a half eaten one - maybe I shoulda taken my bear spray with me....... The bears eat this when they come out of hybernation to kick start their digestive systems. I think Shelites are too fury & besides most bears are frightened off with the barking!!! :)

Lastly a funny camo coloured slug - kewl eh! :)

DAWGS - Nanaimo

2011-04-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

DAWG (Dog Agility Work Group) based in Nanaimo very kindly let Chi and I participate in one of their classes last week. As we were visiting my cousin this meant that I could take her along to see what agility is all about, & get her to take some photo's of us in action & the equipment that's used over here.
For our first true foray back into agility we were going to be doing Gamblers! I always use to enjoy Gamblers...............

Here's me giving a gr8 go on directional.

Clearly no David Bailey my couz! We all had a gr8 night tho :)
Thank you DAWGs.
Next week we're off to a fake/friendly trial & having some fun on Easter Friday. Will try and get better pics & some video.

Winter Wonderland

2011-03-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

The area we now live in is subject to 'Arctic Outpours'. When this happens it's as if the North Pole has come to Sayward! A couple of weeks ago we had an Arcitc outpour and the local stream froze over - it was amazing, so much so we took some photo's.

Hopefully you can just about make out where the water is still flowing (the steely grey bit between rocks & tree) and the frozen parts either side of the water fall and the big white patch at the front of the photo.

Whilst Tony was taking the photo, Chi went running out onto the ice right infront of him and I kid you not posed for the camera - thank goodness the ice was thick enough to take his weight although I do beleive he would have instinctively known if it wasn't ok as he didn't follow our friends Vizlas onto the thin ice on their trail pond.

We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

A Day at the Pool

2011-02-14T11:57:00.001-08:00

Our friend Hektor the Vitali Vizla was 1 year old this week and to celebrate his Mum arrange for his doggie mates to go swimming at the best doggie pool on Vancouver Island (in our humble opinion anyways) designed, but no longer owned by, Hekkie's Dad! http://www.camaqua.org/

Chi took his canoeing boyancy aid and after 3 goes shed it to go solo! Still not his most natural pastime but he had quite a good time. Our new dog Tigger took to the pool for the first time and also shed his boyancy aid after a couple of goes to swim solo, which was awesome as his back end isn't good and the swimming will so help him gain the muscle support he needs back there.......

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And as for our Truly True, well she didn't swim but is just as pooped after a long day of receiving lots of love and attention from human guests in attendance.

Home Made House Sign

2011-02-12T14:40:00.000-08:00

Today we hung our new house number sign at the end of our drive. It was carefully made from a piece of wood cut from a tree on our property. I really like the paws as it looks like our big dog Tigger has jumped up on the sign and left his mark!

New Home and New Pack Member

2011-01-23T20:02:00.000-08:00

Chi has a new play mate, his name is Tigger and he is possibly one of the very few lurchers in Canada as his parentage on the adoption forms states he is Greyhound x German Sheperd. He is the biggest dog we have ever owned and has the most gentle, kind & loving approach to life. Here they both are with True on the back deck.

Chi now has his very own dog run with kennel. He loves to run barking at the elk on the property at night - needless to say they completely ignore him and carry on munching the 'lawn'. I use the term loosely as it really is just like a field out there. Roll on the summer when we've decided to have ride on lawn mover races! :)

We've decided to paint the tree in the photo above and hang stuff off it hippie stylie. We keep trawling the thrift stores for the right color paint - I'm rather hoping for a bright plumb!

We are so lucky to have found this place it is rather special and plenty of room for lots of agility equipment! Chi has 4 vizla friends across the highway who have been helping to keep him fit chasing him through the bush when we go for walks.

Ha - P B'day G'Mama True!

2010-10-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

Here she is celebrating in style (no wonder her pups like a sup!), kayaking and supping good Canadian beer to celebrate her b'day.

True will be 13 this weekend. She is still very energetic and very special in her own 'blond' way......

True is the Grand Mommy to all UK Obay shelties. It is fitting that she is now back in Canada where she spent many summers as a young dog.

Noble Billy Ottaman July 1996 - Oct 2010 R.I.P

2010-10-07T21:18:00.000-07:00

Although this is Chi's blog Billy was a big part of Chi's life so I thought it fitting to do a little tribute.

Billy came to me at 12 weeks thanks to Barrie James. We had 14 years together as unquestioning companions, including alot of success at agility:- Crufts 2005, runner up in the Eukanuba circular knockout & 2007 in the mini / maxi pairs. Dispite his 'queen ann' legs Billy acheived senior status equivalent to grade 6 in the mid noughty's.

His other talents included canoing, camping and bin raiding!

Run free Billy, remembered by so many, deeply missed by a special few. We love you special dog and will enjoy the memories you have given us for many more years to come.

Beautiful BC

2010-09-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

There are many local interesting trails around Sayward. Yesturday we decided to try out this one. Don't be decieved by the 2km sign and the level pathway leading off to the right.....

The view was spectacular and Chi proved to be part Sheltie part goat! It's a good job he is so fit and body aware. He did a gr8 job of finding his way up and down the rocky bits we had to climb.

Dog Wash!

2010-08-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

Look what I found right next to the Car Wash! Perfect timing as Chi is due a bath. He needs to be all fluffed up for his public performance debut at the end of the month. (We've been asked to join in an agility demo at at the Comox Valley Fair)
Notice the ramp for ease of getting ones pouch in and out.

Never mind the eyes in them there hills we got cougars!!

2010-07-30T23:25:00.001-07:00

We are so lucky to have such amazing country-side to walk the dogs. Litrally at the end of our garden we have trails that go for miles through the rain forest and over the mountains.

But there are also predetors out there.....

Yesturday our neighbour across the street had a cougar in her garden for about 1/2 hour. She came over to let us know as she knows we have 'cougar snack' sized dogs!
Needless to say we are now strictly monitoring our dogs on morning & evening constitutionals in the back yard. Tony created a fenced area which adds a little security from Billy (who is a bit deaf and might not hear approaching cougar or frantic calls to get him to come back!) wondering off & the cougar from being able to just wonder straight into the dogs area.

Agility Canadian Style

2010-07-27T00:35:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Jo-Anne and Dave at http://www.icdogagility.com for the opportunity to have a run on some Canadian equipment

After a lovely walk to Elk falls to tire out Billy & True we set off to Black Creek the home of Incredible Canines to take part in our first Canadian agility class.

The contacts are rubberised - HURRAH!! Chi had run on these types of contact at the Sheltie show in Germany and I was a convert as soon as I saw them. The dogs gain much more grip with no sliding about. Apparently it is quite a skill to get the surface right and Dave seems to have done the perfect job as you can see from this clip Chi did a cracking dog walk.

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Although we are a bit rusty - eg the left turn and right turn I was sooooo pleased that Chi had fun and no problems with the new equipment.

Container arrival

2010-07-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

At last our container arrived on Saturday evening. We spent the whole day Sunday sorting it out. Thank goodness for evey box being numbered and a list of contents of each box! Luckily the stuff hadn't moved since packing & so far (touch wood) we havent' found anything broken..........

It's been 3 weeks since we landed and the scenery is as breath taking as ever! the best part is....it'll never change :) Just hope we don't get too use to it, would hate to take this place for granted it is after all sooooooo awesome!

Bear Luncheon

2010-07-09T19:01:00.001-07:00

We drove to Vancouver early Monday to clear our container through customs. Once we had done this we decided to take the dogs for a walk up Cypress Hill, where they had some of the Olympic skiing. We stopped in a picnic area and keeping the dogs on their leads 'puttered' about so they could sniff, 'P' & streatch their legs. We then decided to proceed down the mountain and as we drove round the corner we saw a bear eating. The bear was situated right underneath where we had just been walking the dogs! Tony took this video on his camera, I love the way the bear watches the truck go by towards the end........

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Kelsey Bay Logging re opened!

2010-07-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

The week before we arrived the Kelsey Bay logging re started. this is of great significance for the valley as it will bring in new business and help rejuvinate the local area. Another bonus is that the logs that don't make the grade are left for local pickings and since everyone has a wood burner there's not much left at the end of the day!
I love this pic of Chi on the boat jetty at the end of the logging harbour, see the reflection of the mountains in the water - breathtaking.......

Canada Day!

2010-07-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

Today there was a parade in Sayward to celebrate Canada's 143rd b'day - Ha - p B'day Canada!

The Legion carried the flags at the head of the parade, note the British flag alongside the Canadian one. The other 2 are British Columbian Province flags.

All the villagers(approx 400) were invited to join in 2 footed & 4!

The local voluntary fire service had 4 shiny trucks in the parade and guess who signed up.......

Yeap, Tony did - fire hall drill every Thursday

Da Beast!

2010-06-27T22:57:00.000-07:00

Chi has new transport - a Buick Century. The front seat is like a sofa! It's automatic & cruising along the highway is the way to go!

As kewl as da beast is it pales at the side of this canines mode of transport......

Official Resident

2010-06-25T21:48:00.001-07:00

Chi is now a bonefidie resident of Sayward Village and here's his $5 dog licience to prove it!

Sayward, BC - our new home.

2010-06-24T08:27:00.000-07:00

Here is Chi True & Billy out on the esturary walk at Sayward. We wake up evey morning to this breath taking scenary and say 'we klimbed that mountain'! (The one in the back ground with the cloud hanging over it). The countryside is like Scotland on steroids here, it is truly awesome.

Every year the village of Sayward have a race - yeap a race up the H'Kusam mountain. Some people do this race in 2 - 3 hours, we took rather longer! It is 23km, approx 15 miles and is the best acheivement I've gained since winning at Crufts with Chi!

Check out this link for more info & pics....

"http://www.kusamklimb.com/">

Canada here we come!

2010-05-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

Well it's official we are moving to Canada!

Have suddenly realized how much I have been missing agility & the partnership Chi & I have, so hopefully we can recommence this once we've settled on Vancouver Island. It will be very interesting to find out how they do things over there.

To all the people I've met during our agility career in UK - it's been fun, intense & gr8 to know you all! Will miss you all but hey, Canada here we come!! :)

Watch this space in a few months for soem Canadian updates - hopefully.

A Really Good Read & A Top Draw Pressie!

2010-01-03T11:15:00.000-08:00

I can not recommend the following 3 books highly enough! The stories have had me laughing out load & looking at my own dogs in a different light. If you know of Wendy's work already please post a comment so others can see it's not just me that enjoy these endearing tails (LOL! No pun intended!).

'Village of Dogs' £5.99 + 60p postage and the sequal ' New Dogs in the Village'
and 'Barking Mad' £5 + postage. Available from Mazard Publications, 5 Heathfield Gardens, Midhurst, West Sussex, GU29 9HG. Tel: 01730 817187.

All 3 books are written by Wendy Lewis who lives in Midhurst, locally. They are a must have for any dog lover and make a brilliant pressie. Village of Dogs & New Dogs in the Village follow the adventures of Patch and his friends who communicate telepathically. They have all sorts of adventures.
The Barking Mad is a collection of true stories about the 'adventures' our compainions get us into - everyone will be able to relate to at least one of the stories in the collection and thoroughy enjoy all of them for sure.

Ha - P New Year!

2010-01-01T11:56:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

2010 - wow! Who remembers the TV programme then? LOL!

Well we'll be glad to see the back of 2009 - it was horrid to say the least. We blew the cobwebs of 2009 away on the top of the South Downs in full moon light sipping Champers whilst watching fireworks from Bognor Regis, Petworth, Pulborough, and over towards East Grinstead way - what a view!

Unfortunately the photo of the full moon didn't come out very well and the Champers supping lead to some very blurred photo's, below is the best shot of Chi with his new mate Ziggie. Note Ziggie's special warm coat - luckily Chi has a good coat of his own!

Superb memento!

2009-11-18T12:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks go to Fred's Mum for patchworking my fav / special agility 'T' shirts into this superb memento of our agility in Europe. Chi obviously approves....

We will be emmigrating to Canada next year, there are Canadian agility 'T's incorporated into the pillow cover - must be a sign :)

Burn's 'It's a Dogs Day Out'

2009-09-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

Burns had fabulous weather for their 'Dogs Day Out' at Pembrey Park near Swansea today & many dogs and their owners had a gr8 time. There were displays from Pat Dogs, The Cheshire Dog Display Team, SARDA (South Wales - Search & Rescue) and many more. Dog owners could peruse the stalls, take part in activities like 'Have a go agility' and enter Dog Show clases - see below, and for the really fit and keen there was a Cani - X course!

Here is Chi meeting Mr Burns. I had one of Chi's favourate Burns treats in my hand - look at the attention :)

'You too can look this fluffy and cute if you eat Burns'

Chi smiling.

We had a go at the 'Dog National' Reminded me of flyball.

Me helping out on the 'Have a go agility'

The best part of the day was Mum & Billy coming 2nd in the 'Best condition for Age' Dog Show class. Billy is 13 years old & Mum's 70 next year - a proper pair of golden oldies!

Surrey DTC 05.07.09

2009-07-06T13:17:00.001-07:00

Gratz to the dynamic duo again - 2nd prize in the 5 - 7 Agility and some nifty maneuvers in the other classes.
Here they are in full swing........

Sorry for putting you off Fred! :)

But the entourage insisted on coming to support you & Chi.

Very impressive manouvers over the 1st 5 jumps in this run. A 'professionally' executed grade 7 manouver! You'll be trying out for Olympia next then :)

UKA Finals 28th June

2009-07-06T13:15:00.000-07:00

Chi & I came 3rd in the UKA Finals. A very pleasing result especially considering we haven't done any practice since last summer. Must confess to feeling a bit nervous but so please that we haven't lost our connection & that the run looks so smooth.

Chi & Fred do Eastbourne

2009-07-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

Some how a start line set up just doesn't seem the same without the barking but I must say I'm most impressed with the silence Fred obtained before she releases Chi from the start line on this 1st run.

They do look quite 'the team' on this Helta Skelta course, note the tunnel maneuver & the local traffic appreciation for good handling! :)

A very well earned 4th - Gratz!!

The 2nd video is the jumping run. Hum.... not such a good start line but a gr8 standing your ground to get him over that jump Fred. Another very smooth run.

More smooth action from 'the team' in this last video check out those lovely contacts, Chi goes right to the bottom of them. Is this a new trend running start line, running contacts? ROFLOL!

Big thanks to Dickie for the camera work xxx

Fred & Chi romp home!

2009-05-05T14:43:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I waved Chi cherio as he happily trotted off down the drive with Fred. He hopped into the car and they sped off to attend another agility show together. As you can see from the evidence (video below) they are becoming quite a team romping home with a 1st prize in this agility run.

Here is their jumping round. Note Fred is wearing the team colours of black & red (winners wear red). Top kindly provided by our food sponsor, Burns.

I shall be running Chi later in the year - we've qualified for the UKA final again this year and Chi & I will be making a special appearance at the Burns 'It's a dog's day out' in September. So I'm very gratefull that Fred is keeping him fit & keen for agility.

Ha - P 6th B'day!

2009-04-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

Ha - P 6th b'day to The UK OBay Originals!

Lucky, Timmy, Bailey, Zen, Unique & Chi.

For those of you who may not have seen it before here is a little montage I put together to celebrate Chi's b'day last year.

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=2a357238b80eddc4f25c3f&skin_id=0&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Fred takes the Lead

2009-04-07T01:47:00.000-07:00

Chi & Fred's debue went exceptionally well last week. Looking like a truly professional team they stepped up to the mark and after only 1 month of intensive training came flying home with a 2nd place rosette. Most impressive start. My Mum always say's 'start as you mean to go on' Fred so I think this bodes well for the season :)

But most importantly Chi gets to do his most favorate thing & someone else is introduced to the fun of building & having a unique partnership that they can bring to the agility field. A chance to enjoy such a brilliant sport.

Here they both are in action. 1st the Helta Skelta ..........

........then the agility.

Watch this space for more fun & action from Chi & Fred

The Kennel Club International Show

2008-08-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

Chi won the British Open and will represent GB at Crufts in the International event next year. He gained a 6th place in the qualifying agility round & a 7th place in the qualifying jumping round, showing gr8 consistency in his speed & accuracy.
Here he is in the final.........

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EO - Germany

2008-07-25T10:52:00.000-07:00

GO GB!! And GRATZ to:-

Bernadette & Hex 3rd Small Individual
Big dog team 3rd
Liah Gardner 2nd large Individual
Andy Sandercock 1st Medium Jumping

Gr8 achievements considering some of the circumstances - See OBay blog for a good write up of the whole event.

Yes it was fab to represent GB
Yes it was fab we had such good support from The Kennel Club, trip payed for uniforms provided
Yes our fans were the best any country could wish for
& yes people were extremely hacked off with what seemed like completely unnecessary travelling. There was unnecessary stress caused to handlers & dogs.

But on a lighter note some photos............

Chi in his crate for the journey

Tracy & Barry

Thank you Nic Josty for this photo - I love it it shows me queuing Chi for the turn and Chi taking the long jump on the turn - fab!

International team OBay - left to right, Hex, Chi & Unique from Denmark. Chi's half brother One from Denmark was also competing. Unique won the small Individual event.
They are all covered in mud coz it rained - very heavily!

I was very proud of Chi he ran extremely well and gained a 16th / 169 in the medium jumping event.

UKA Finals

2008-07-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

A huge thank you to Karen Cole, Todd's 'Mum' for posting this clip of Chi executed his winning run at the UKA finals last Saturday. Follow the link below.......

http://just-todd-bykaren.blogspot.com/

I do beleive the Obay winning streak was kept in the family all weekend with Todd's wins at St. Edwards & some from Hex & Zen whilst on holiday up North with Gran'ma & Grandaddy OBay.

Busy! Busy! Busy!

2008-06-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

Preparations for the Euopean Open in Germany are hotting up!

For more news go to http://www.caninetherapy.co.uk/news/2008/lisachi%20blog.htm

O so very close!

2008-06-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hinckley Champ Show - 1stly Gratz to 'sister' Hex she is now a Champ! Well done gals :) Gratz also to Roger the intrepid Dutch man & our team mate at last years International Sheltie Championship, who won into grade 7.

Chi was on top form - I had a bad attitude problem, probably brought on by having to get up at 5am, drive 130 odd miles and not win MY ticket!!!! :) It's coming our way very soon I can see it it bright neon lights - Chi, Obay Truly Focused Champion Certificate.

We continue to get as much training, massaging & focusing in as we can in preparation for the European Open. The full time job's getting in the way tho :(

P'haps when sister Zennie does her prayers she coudl ask for a lottery win for her brother

UKA Finals

2008-04-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

Chi has qualified for the UKA finals in July this year - Woot!

Is there no end to this dogs tallents I ask myself.....ofcourse not he's an OBay fed on Burns! :)

Here's the video of Chi doing a cracking steeplechase run followed by his UKA finals qualifying run. Note my arm movement just before Chi goes into the 2nd tunnel & how he is powering ahead of me near the end on the 1st run - very pleaseing! :)
Please listen carfully to the music it was especially chosen (a little toungue in cheek I guess).

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Push Threws!

2008-04-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Leah, Nancy, Bernadette & their respective dogs I decided to give those push threw manouvers a try, (plse note another variation on the spelling - through, thru & threw! Bet that does someone's head in! :) ). Bernadette explained the principles behind the manouvers and here's the results........

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Chi certainly seems to understand the 'round' & I'm very pleased with his ability to follow my hand signals something Lesley Olden encouraged us to perfect - not sure we've perfected it but it's a very usefull ability. We just need to work on the smoothness & control and build up the distance from the jumps a little more & work it well both ways.

Can't wait to implement these on a regular basis :) watch this space.

Training Regime

2008-04-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

Well naturally having been picked to represent my country I need to be able to do the biz & so have embarked on a regime of fitness. :)

Monday - Maybe yoga. Absolutely no activites for Chi.

Tues - set up a course in my fellow team mates 'yard' & practice, practice practice! Jog the short walk over the road from Bernadette's, timing it each week to see if i'm improving. Took 20 mins last Tues.
It is brilliant that Bernadette & I finally get to be on the same team - although I wish it coulda been Zen coming with us as well as the evil sexy Hexie!

Wed - swimming with hubbie Tony. A good run up the field for Chi & 10 - 15 mins road walking

Thurs - Another jog that I'm timing near home currently taking 25 mins or yoga or occasionally agility training

Friday - early night to get up bright and breezie for a show more often than not. If no show then i'll treat myself to a really decent bottle of red wine occasionally.

Sat/Sun - if not at a show, pottering about at home and going for long walks. Massage for Chi. opefully more agility training over courses designed by those judging at the European Open so that we get the hang of their style and won't be suprised when we get to Germany in July.

Today we went on a lovely long walk. I planned and navigated us (Marion, Bernadette, Tim & Dennis) over fields & through bluebell woods for a good 5 1/2 miles :).

Chi's ruff is slowly growing back, his hairlessness is not so obvious right now - unlike his sister Zen who looks like a whippet!! Poor Zennie - but she was the cleanest dog on the walk today with no hair for the mud to cling to :)

I'm hopeing that using the stairs at my new job - 4 flights will also help me get fit for agility. I currently huff & pufff when i get to the top so I'm looking to run up those stairs by beginning of July arriving on the 2nd floor with out the need for oxygen!! :)

The next 12 weeks of my life will be dedicated to getting ready for our appearance at the European Open. Just like any top athletes Chi & I will be honed & ready for action. I am so very proud of our bond & ability to work so well together & of the chance to run for GB.

Gr8 News!

2008-04-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

Chi will be part of the medium team to represent GB at the European Open to be held in Germany in July this year - WOOT!

This along with the fact that i have started a new job will be the reason for my lack of posting - i will be concentrating on getting ready for this event. Bernadette & i have already started to discuss our training regime - which includes checking her cupboards for 'naughty' foods since we must get our dogs & ourselves very fit.

Needless to say i am very proud :)

Training with Lesley Olden

2008-03-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

Bernadette & I went training at Lesley Olden's the other day. We worked on the following. I'll post the course and then sequences using numbers coz everyone seems to have different names for different manouvers.

To warm up we did 9,4,5,3,6 then 9,4,5,3,9

We also did the dog walk, cloth tunnel weaves. The options are endless........

But the main event was:-1,2,3,4
1,2,round the back of 3, 4
1,2,4

We spent quite some time on this. Both our dogs were physically but especially mentally tired after this session and i certainly came away feeling that i'd sussed the different 'Q's' for each sequence - now just to practice, practice, practice............

Unfortunately we didn't take a video camera between us but hey! Half the fun will be sussing out how it can be done eh! :)

We have the try outs for the European Open team in 2 weeks. Needless to say we're hopeing to do well. Hopefully the loverly judge will be setting European style courses - our fav :)

Easter Celebration Camping

2008-03-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

Snow agility!

Griz didn't bat an eye lid doing this out door jumping course - well not at the snow, she sniffed approaching friends on the wind then continued on the course.

Sat evening there was a snow storm luckily we have appropriate equipment & normally 4furry hotwater bottles!!! Billy was lent out to Tim & Marion for the night. Lucky Truly got to go stay at the OBay residence - camping really isn't her style at all!! So we had Griz & Chi to keep us warm. I had to put the equafleece on Chi over night and he loves the cold!

Our friend & fellow hard core camper Tim cooking up a very tasty bolognaise.

Front Page!

2008-03-14T12:31:00.001-07:00

Imagine wot it feels like to walk into your local supermarket & see yourself, dog & girlie friend staring back at you! Well that's just wot happened to Bernadette & I yesturday.........

West Sussex Gazette

Please note we even have our Burns tops on, the logo can clearly be seen in the newspaper!

Puppy Sitting

2008-03-09T06:13:00.000-07:00

OMG! It is hell on earth for a doggie enthusiast to be stuck at home while freinds & family are running at Crufts. No more breeding allowed if it's gonna clash with any major event plse Gran'ma!!

On the other hand it is something very special to be with day old pups. I've been using my nursing skills to monitor Zen & her pups today - nothing like a bit of hands on care :)

Zen wasn't very keen on my taking photo's she nudged the camera away with her nose and gave me a filthy look so i only took these then stopped.

Attentive Mum Zen with a bundle of pups under there somwhere............

The new batch of OBay's from left to right, Fat Head, Kelly Homes, Paula Radcliff & my fav at the moment Linford Christie.

Like many of their relatives including Uncle Chi & Granddaddy Monty this little OBay demonstrates the family sleeping upside down trait. You know you've got a genuine OBay if your puppy does this!!! LOL

I s'pect there's loads more news on the OBay site with regular updates. I'm off back to work tomorrow and will miss them dreadfully. Hopefully my next major input will be taking them with me to work to do some socialisation.

Crufts 2008

2008-03-08T02:02:00.000-08:00

Gran'ma had cakes made for us all to share. Johanna had Danish flag cakes & we also had ESSC Tristar cakes - they all got eaten before i could take a pic!

Chi meets Wallace outside crufts

The ESSC team set up. We looked gr8 in our specially designed T shirts, very smart. Hopefully Lian will post out team runs so check out The Knights Shelties blog. We all had a gr8 day with all dogs performing brilliantly in the conditions.

Below the highlight of our day - winning the Crufts Singles. Chi was awesome, i couldn',t have asked for more and get tear pricked eyes every time i think about it! He had the fastest itme of ALL the dogs competing over the saem course with a time of 32.6 seconds! If he continues to perform like this we will have a fantastic season so fingers crossed.

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It was such a buzz winning & knowing that so many people will be sharing our success, especially my Mum & Dad, Lesley Olden who we train with, friends who were present or supporting from home and ofcourse Gran'ma who had to stay home to look after sister Zen who is about to drop puppies.

The Haka

2008-03-05T11:12:00.000-08:00

For some time now i have had a version of The Haka on my ipod as one of my motivational tracks for agility. For those of you who are not familiar with it here is a link to quite a good explanation on You Tube. Those of you who watch rugby will know what it is but may gain interesting insight into the meaning of The Haka by watching the clip

P'haps we should have an OBay Haka for Crufts & the start of the season :)

Gottle of Geer!

2008-03-02T15:37:00.000-08:00

Those crazy Danes think of everything & isn't this a gr8 idea, personalized beer! Johanna bought Zen some puppy milk boosting beer :) Try saying that after a few bottles.

"I'll get right too it and start drinking the puppy milk elixia straight away" What a consciensious Mum.........

Me tippsy no way!

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Toni Dawkins Training day

2008-02-29T12:01:00.000-08:00

Oops! Forgot the camera :(

Had a gr8 afternoon at Sue's guided by Toni Dawkins. She really made us think about how to handle courses different ways. I have also adopted a similar style to Toni for sending Chi over jumps in front of me and 'Q'ing him to turn left & right before he jumps. Don't know who originally thought of this method but i know Nancy Hudson gave me gr8 insight into it on a 1:1 training session at the end of the season.

Sorry no pics or vid. but i must say i can highly recommend Toni's training sessions, they are both positive & rewarding for dog & handler!

Sheep Herding

2008-02-24T14:22:00.000-08:00

Who says we not naturals - a picture speaks a thousands words you know :)

Surely a truly stunning example of how woman & beast balance to control the sheep!

My Mum's a natural you know :)

O! These sheep are quite interesting after all.........

Borra Da! (Good Day)

2008-01-30T09:11:00.000-08:00

Chi & his 'pack mates' have been over the boarder to Wales to visit Billy's Gran'ma!

Beautifull Wales! Where Chi's fitness regime continued on the beaches when the tied was out. He was poopped after....

Pre Season Fitness

2008-01-18T07:55:00.000-08:00

Spurred on by my fellow bloggers I too have started Chi on a pre crufts fitness regime. Not sure we'll be doing the 4.5km daily road walking like Johanna!

Any form of excersice needs to be balanced to produce all round results so with this in mind Chi will embark on a regime that includes swimming x 1 weekly, road walking x 2 - 3 weekly for 10 - 15 mins at a trot, sprint training up the feild with a tennis ball on dry days for about 15 - 20 mins, long walks well 4 - 5 miles, Agility trainign at Gran'ma's or club working on techniques, jumping excersises, massage x 1 full body per week & every morning skin rolling, neck stretching x 2 daily following operaation need to ensure he doesn't stiffen up & plerping at every other available opertunity (lazing around relaxing :)).

Only 6 weeks to go!

The 2 jump sequences that Gran'ma found (see OBay blog) are brilliant and are helping me to really consolodate my arm signals.
Next weekend we will attend a Lesley Olden course analysis training session - more for me than Chi.

Amazing Friends & 'Family'

2008-01-05T13:07:00.000-08:00

Today Bernadette presented me with a cheque for a substantial amount of money to put towards the cost of Chi's cancer surgery. This money came from a 'secret' training day held at Sue Dennison's sand school, with expert tuition from Nancy Hudson, food created by Lyn & Les & all organised by Gran'ma Bay! It sounds like it was a gr8 fun day of training & we're quite envious we couldn't come!

I can not express enough the thanks & appreciation for this very kind donation - you are all such good eggs :)

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T04:10:00.000-08:00

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.

Olympia

2007-12-19T02:13:00.000-08:00

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!

To Run or Not to Run

2007-12-12T08:51:00.000-08:00

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 )

Remission

2007-12-06T17:24:00.000-08:00

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.

Home Sweet Home

2007-12-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

HORRAH! Chi is home!

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.

Hope & Prayers for Chi

2007-11-30T02:19:00.000-08:00

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.

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng

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.

Dick White Referrals

2007-11-29T15:07:00.000-08:00

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.

Cancer!

2007-11-23T06:02:00.000-08:00

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.

Discover Dogs - Earls Court, London

2007-11-10T15:45:00.001-08:00

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..........................

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Discover Dogs

2007-11-07T12:46:00.000-08:00

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.

International Sheltie Show

2007-10-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

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.

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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......

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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

New Header

2007-10-30T05:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks very much for my new blog header :)
It was created by my good friend RJ who lives in Australia and is an amazing artist.

L'Elephant!

2007-10-21T06:02:00.000-07:00

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 :)

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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!!!

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European Open 2008

2007-10-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

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!

Supadogs Finals

2007-10-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

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

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Didn't get one clear round on the day but had gr8 fun running Hex & Chi who both ended up 10th in the Final.

Kabouter Plop!

2007-10-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

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

[Refrain]
[Repeat Refrain]
[Repeat Refrain]

World Champs!

2007-10-01T11:52:00.000-07:00

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 :)

Hamar Time!

2007-09-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

OBay Truly Balanced
OBay Truly Ewe-neque
OBay Truly Driven

We're rooting for ya!

Discover Dogs

2007-09-08T14:29:00.001-07:00

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.

Up North!

2007-08-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

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 :)

KC International

2007-08-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

WE'RE GOING TO OLYMPIA! WOOT! WOOT!

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.

Here is our Olympia qualifying run:

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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....:)

AW(G)

2007-08-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

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).

Agility Club Show

2007-07-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

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 :)

Here's a little montague of events:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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.

Newlands

2007-07-22T08:30:00.001-07:00

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)

Rugby & World Try Outs

2007-07-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

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

Burns - The best!

2007-07-09T17:09:00.000-07:00

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.

Stud

2007-07-07T07:40:00.001-07:00

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 :)

UKA Royal Canin Finals

2007-07-01T01:09:00.000-07:00

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

Mid-season Myotherapy

2007-06-21T16:19:00.000-07:00

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 :)

Champ Finals at Thames

2007-06-10T13:26:00.001-07:00

WOOT! WOOT! WOOT!

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.

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Here we are receiving our prize from judge Gwyn Roberts.
NB Winners wear red!

Hinckley

2007-06-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

Well what a day today has been. We gained 2 respectable 3rds (1 in Jumping & 1 in agility) and a stonking 1st in the Champ agility class - WOOT!

Thanks to Obay film crew & productions we are now able to bring you the highlights of the day with amusing commentary from Granma Obay :)

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Here's Chi looking very pleased with himself especially as he is top of the PACE leader board :)

GRATZ! to sister Zen for winning the Champ ticket and securing a place at Crufts next year.

GRATZ! to half sister Hex for going Advanced now you can join in the Champ classes.

Supadog Day - The Sunny One!

2007-05-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

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!

Rabbit Murder & Agility!

2007-05-26T16:52:00.000-07:00

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.

Weekend at Home

2007-05-21T05:04:00.000-07:00

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:-

Get Your Sexy Name

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 :)

Tunbridge Wells

2007-05-13T11:09:00.000-07:00

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 :)

Beacon & Superdog Q!

2007-05-12T11:39:00.000-07:00

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.

Home from the JAF

2007-05-09T07:37:00.000-07:00

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.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Jersey Agility Festival (JAF)

2007-05-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

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.

Ha - P B'day! (Edited version)

2007-04-30T00:10:00.000-07:00

Today Chi and his litter mates are 4 years old.

Ha - p b'day 2 U! Ha - p b'day 2 U! Ha - p b'day dear Chi, Zen, Lucky, Timmy, Bailey & Unique. Ha - p b'day 2 U!

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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.

ESSC - Sheltie Agility

2007-04-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

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.

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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.

Toni Dawkins Training afternoon

2007-04-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

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.

It's not wot U do.....it's the way that U do it!

2007-04-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

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 :)

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We were inspired to do these jumping excersises after attending the PACE training day. Chi shows gr8 rhythm and jumping skill.

Susan Garrett Seminar

2007-04-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

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

Wot a UKA!

2007-04-16T00:38:00.000-07:00

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.

Ha - P Easter!

2007-04-11T12:44:00.000-07:00

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......

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Check out the family footage on the Obay blog, with choice music to boot!

Chi's no April Fool!

2007-04-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

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.

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Invaluable Training Methods

2007-04-01T00:17:00.000-07:00

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.

O! *swoon, he is so handsome!

2007-03-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

Just to show how handsome Chi really is.....not that I would be biased in anyway ofcourse! :)

And how agile............... no wonder he performs so well.

A gr8 run!

2007-03-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

Not an agility run but Griz & Chi running up the gallops at the end of our road. Since Chi was a puppy Griz has played a fundamental part in his exercising. When he was small he couldn't keep up very well but as you can see he isn't that far behind these days. I am convinced that these lurcher exercising sessions have payed off with Chi having good stamina and being able to power off at great speed.

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