Good News Week

I'm so pleased to say that Kiros's operation went better then I could have hoped for:-)

He had a Pre-op Blood test that was perfect.  Exceptionally encouraging result in a large dog of his age.

Two lumps were removed with a good healthy margin around them and sent off for analysis.

The Vet Nurse told me "He's not in a good mood!" when I came to pick him up last Thursday afternoon and she wasn't kidding.  I guess Kiros is just a fiercely independent boy and was incredibly angry when he discovered that he couldn't do what he wanted to.  I've never heard him growl so much and he even snapped at me when I tried to lift him out of the Car!!

After a good nights sleep he was back to normal.  In fact a bit too normal.  Keeping him form playing rough with Reno and just lead walking is proving quite difficult.  Thankfully he will be back to off lead exercise on Monday and I should have an idea of how long it will be before he can run a bit of Agility again.

The best news came when the Vet phoned to say that both the lumps were benign...............Now I can stop worrying :-)

I've also had a very good week with Reno.

The video is of the training I did at Paul and Pen's on Sunday.  I'm working on bringing some "fun" back into the weaves so have used just 6 poles and have started to use his Tennis Ball as a reward which he seems to enjoy.

The weave exercises are an easier version of one at the end of Susan Garrett's 2x2 DVD building up to the sort of thing we were trying to do at Jo's the week before.

He's really not making many mistakes now and did some great weaves at both Jo's training and Lucy's training at NADTC this week.

We are at Empingham this weekend and I'm trying not to be overly optimistic but surely he will weave properly in the ring soon?!!

Happy Birthday Kiros

Kiros celebrated his 11th Birthday on Sunday by doing his favorite thing in all the world..............Agility:-)

It was Agility Nuts this weekend and he ran amazingly in every class, only missing clears in two classes due to my poor handling.

His final haul was three 1st's, three 2nd's and a 4th in pairs with Kizzy.

Typically if Kiros goes clear in Veterans at Nuts he wins the class so I think he is beginning to slow a little. 

For the first time I have been able to make a direct comparison between his and Reno's time as they both went clear in the Up and Under Jumping with the same course - Reno was 2.25secs faster getting 2nd place in Elementary!  Having said that there were 6 tunnels on the course that Kiros finds harder now he's getting older.

At the moment I'm really hoping that I will be able to enjoy more of his Birthday's with Kiros. 

He's been to the Vet's to have a lump in his stomach investigated and it has turned out to be a Mast Cell Tumour.  The lump is being removed and analysed on Thursday but the Vet seems pretty confident that it isn't attached and that she can take a good margin from around it.  That doesn't stop me worrying :-(

Ann and I shared a day's Judging on Sunday so, although I didn't Judge all of these classes, here are the courses I designed:-

Elementary Speed and Power

Starters + Speed and Power

Veteran Speed and Power



Reno ran the Speed bit of the Elementary course beautifully (I think recording the fastest time) but wouldn't even try the weaves in the Power section, even though I held his collar and took him right up to them, preferring to go back into the tunnel and getting himself eliminated.

Running him was exceptionally frustrating at the weekend!

The bits of courses I though he could do I either miss handled or he decided to take his own line and his weaves have got worse with him ignoring and running past them again.

I think that he is going to leave me with no option but to stop competing with him all together.  Very annoying as I have entered a few shows in August when I was optimistic that the additional work we'd been putting in was paying off!!

Remembering that I had a problem with Kiros's weaves when he was young I decided to look back at past video's of him only to find out that his problem wasn't as bad as I remembered.  At Reno's age Kiros as reliable getting independent entries (mainly on straight lines) and had a great rhythm.  He was taught by pull/pushing him through up-rights!! 

I think the main difference is that Kiros LOVES weaving - Why doesn't Reno?  Maybe by shaping him I've allowed him to go wrong too many times?

Jo set up a long straight line last night to see what the problem was - Jump, Jump, Straight Tunnel, Jump, 12 Weaves.  Reno would do weaves on their own and Jump, weaves but when we tried from the Tunnel he started running ignoring them no matter where I stood.

He's obviously not slowing enough to go into them, but why not?  Does he not know how to or does he just not want to do them?

No competition book for this weekend so (hopefully) plenty of time for practice!!!

Two Weeks of Training..............

Haven't quite gone according to plan!!! 

We don't have much on show wise in July.  Mainly because Reno really wasn't doing that well when the July shows closed but also because (with the exception of Tuffley) there wasn't much I fancied and it seemed an ideal time to get in some extra training.

Paul and Pen left for the Lakes last weekend but said I could visit the paddock whenever I wanted.  So last Saturday morning I headed off with a plan in mind of what I wanted to practice.  Tried the electric gate when I got there but there was no power to it. Hung about a bit and tried again. Still no power :-(  So decided to take the Dogs on a nice walk on the way home.  I actually discovered a lovely new walk around Gedling Woods but didn't have my camera.

Following a text from Paul I discovered that there had been several power cuts in the village so I must have been unlucky.  I decided not to try Sunday as it was so hot.

Monday and Tuesday's training were a bit strange as Reno was working really well on his contacts and jumping but his weaves and waits didn't work at all.

By Friday I'd decided to try the paddock again and arranged to meet Fiona there...............You guessed it - Still no power!!

We managed to get in (not saying how) but by the time we had set up us and the Dogs really didn't want to do much so, after a little bit of weave practice that went very well, we spent the main of the time letting them run around and play with each other.

Not sure Black-Jack and Ruby wanted Reno to join in!!

By this time I was desperate to get something constructive done so I booked to go to Sue's this Saturday and shared a very productive training session with Sue and Allison.

As Faym is still doing channel's we set this sequence up using the "swivel" channels.  What we hadn't realised was that they didn't work in two sets of six and if you look closely at the set nearest to the camera you can see that the gap between the 4th and 5th pole is smaller.  Reno had already successfully completed this set before we realised and, although he made a few more mistakes then normal, worked really well.

Jo's given me a few things that I've been working on to improve his focus and hopefully stop him feeling the need to wander off the start line.  I wish I knew why he did this?

He so enjoyed being with Faym and Guess.  Typically he completed the exercise correctly - just not on camera!!!

Next weekend is Agility Nuts again.  Ann and I are sharing Judging Agility and Speed and Power on Sunday so we don't miss any of our runs.  Not sure how that is going to work in practice but as the entries are quite low I'm sure we'll have plenty of time.  I've just got to come up with a few courses :-)