Midlands Counties.....

Didn't quite go according to plan!!

The schedule said that the judging of the Malinois wouldn't start before 1.30pm but, as it was our 1st benched show, we got there nice and early to get settled. As it happened we didn't get into the ring until about 3.30pm. Reno was happy and relaxed most of the time. He enjoyed "talking" to the other Mali's, especially Speedy, and wandering around but it was really hot and he wouldn't settle down so I think he got quite tired.

As they were Judging the Gron's Jackie and I took the boys into another ring that had finished to do some practice. All was going well.......................until seconds before we went into our ring!

A little boy was playing on the empty benches, running around and bashing them. This totally spooked Reno - he was barking at the boy and hanging off the end of the lead - but he seemed to settle ok when he was in the ring until the Judge tried to touch him. She was great, trying to persuade him and give him sausage, but he just wouldn't let her touch him and she was in a bit of a hurry so had to give up.

Reno ended up Very Highly Commended - in other words......Last!!

Speedy, on the other hand, was a very good boy. He ran lovely and let the Judge go over him. He came second in the Puppy class and then went onto win Best Dog in Breed and Reserve Best in Breed. Well done Speedy!!

After the Judging had finished the little boys Dad kindly let his Son give Reno some treats and stroke him and he then became Reno's new best friend. So a positive to go away with but a lot of work to do before Crufts!

Happy Birthday Reno!

How time has flown - can you believe that Reno is a year old today?

He has grown into a very handsome young man. Weighing in at about 26Kg he is tall but a bit slim - a perfect Agility shape, I hope! He has a lovely sweet personality and is never lacking in joy and enthusiasm.

We are celebrating today by going to Midlands Counties Breed Show where he will see Speedy. I'm hoping he will be a good boy as I have to confess to not doing much practice!

Happy Birthday to the rest of the litter - Zippy, Speedy, Megan, Eva and Zippo. Thank you Jo, Jan and Lisa for letting me have my little angel. He is very loved xxx

Lucy Osborne's Puppy Training

Reno and I had a great day at Lucy's training yesterday. I couldn't believe that I knew 4 out of 5 of the other people on the course. I knew that Allison and Sue were going with Faym and Guess (even though we booked it separately without mentioning it to each other) and Kate would be there with Megan but I was really surprised to see Rae there with her new puppy, Obie. It was lovely to catch up as, due to Rae's injury we haven't seen much of each other over the past year.

Reno was probably the least experienced of all the puppies on the course, but what he lacked in experience he made up for in enthusiasm! The sequences that we did were a little more complex then Reno has been used to but Lucy had some great tips for keeping his confidence and speed up which worked really well. It was pleasing that his enthusiasm lasted for the full 2hrs because previously he has seemed to switch off quite quickly. He had a go at doing a full set of channel weaves for the 1st time and really loved them.

After the training Kate and I took Megan and Reno to a local park with Lucy and her puppy. Kate took some lovely photo's. Check out her blog to see a couple more.

October "Nuts"

Just spent a lovely weekend with the Doggie-boys.

On Saturday afternoon we went to Paul and Pen's paddock for a bit of Agility practice. When we arrived they were busy re-painting the contact equipment. Now our pack can be easily identified by the blue paint blobs on them! I'm hoping Reno's wears of soon as I'm not sure what the judge at Midlands Counties will make of a blue tinted Malinois!!

Yesterday was the first Agility Nuts show of the winter season and Kiros ran really well going clear in 3 out of his 4 runs. Although the classes were small there were three really promising young dogs there that were running really well. I was delighted when Kiros won Ann's Power and Speed shaving a fraction of a second off the youngsters times. He came 4th and 3rd in the other 2 classes.

I'm really looking forward to next weekend as I'm taking Reno to Lucy Osborne's. This will be the first time that he has done something like this so I'm hoping he isn't going to be the disruptive influence! He has enjoyed the foundation training that we have done so far but likes to do a couple of "laps of honour" after every tunnel or line of jumps, bless him.

Speedy and Zippy have started proper Agility training and sound like they are doing very well. I'm taking Re to Pen's class on Thursdays (when I can make it) and we are starting to progress onto small jumping sequences, jumping lanes, target training and channel weaves set at 8" (which Reno fits through easily without wiggling due to him being so skinny!). I'm also hoping that Jo will be starting a Puppy group on Mondays soon so am looking forward to that.