A Year Ago Yesterday....

(both Jo and Katie managed a "year ago today" but I was stuck on the M1 for almost 3hrs yesterday!)...................I picked up our little Reno.

Funny how he still feels small to me even though he is the tallest of all of our dogs but he is very skinny and still so puppyish which I love.

We had an excellent, but short, Xmas break in Dorset and I'm looking forward to going back for the New Year after I've finished work on Wednesday.  Christmas was a little strange as Ronnie stayed with Jamie this year and I really missed him but he's comming with us for New Year so I'm really hoping all the dogs get along ok.

Photo's of the Boys.

As requested here are some long awaited photo's of my boys!

Not much to report since my last update really.

Reno's Agility training has taken a bit of a set-back so I've decided to book him into be neutered and give him a bit of a rest until after Xmas.  Apart from that he contiunes to have fun playing with us and other Dogs out on walks. 

Ronnie has torn off one of his claws so is bandaged up at the moment and on Antibiotics.  Not much fun trying to keep his bandage dry in this weather!!

It was the last Agility Nuts show of the year on Sunday and Kiros ran really well.  He won the Agility but was eliminated in all of his other runs due to my poor handling.  You've got to feel sorry for the boy?!!

I'm really looking forward to Xmas.  We're heading down to Dorset on 23rd and, hopefully, Wanda's new kitchen will be finished by then.  Can't wait to cook dinner in her new oven.

Long overdue update!

I'm just getting worse at this aren't I?................Here is what we've been up to!

I've started swimming Ronnie as well as Kiros and he's loving it.  I'm so surprised how well he's doing as I thought it would really worry him.  He was a bit uncoordinated at first but has now worked out that he can swim with his front and back legs at the same time!  It is the highlight of his week.

Kiros has only had one competition since my last posting which was Nuts on Sunday.  I could only do two runs with him as I was judging in the afternoon.  I'm kicking myself for the mistakes I made.  We were eliminated in the Agility as I let him run his A-frame then didn't have time to command which tunnel enterance I wanted him to take.  In the jumping we had one pole down but still managed 4th place with the fastest time by over 4.5 seconds!  Ann ran him in my TFO Agility and (much to my surprise) he missed the Dog Walk contact.  At least that's this years missed contact out of the way!

Reno and I have done a lot since my last blog entry. 

He was entered in an other Breed Show the weekend after and he was even worse that at Midlands Counties.  Not only would he not let the Judge go over him but he barked at her.  As I'm struggling to know what more I could have done to stop him being like this I've decided to take him to Ringcraft classes.  So far we've been to one which was a bit manic!  There were Kids running around all over the place that really spooked him but at least people got to see what he could be like rather then seeing the confident, sociable puppy that he is 90% of the time.  We've got another class tonight so hopefully he'll be a bit more used to it?

Now he's 12 months old I've started his Agility training and have managed quite a few sessions at Paul and Pen's Paddock.  So far we've worked on recalls and send aways over jumps and through tunnels which are working well if he has a toy or treat at the end.  We've also started on the basics of front and rear crosses.  I'm really pleased at how well he is reading my body language already.  The foundation work that I've done with him is paying off.

We've started on channel weave but can't get them much closer then 6" without him comming out.  I really need to practice these more often.

I'm looking forward to his training on Thurday and also the Crate Games session that we're doing at Jo's on Monday.

We're off to Wilmslow on Saturday.  Our last KC show of the year.  It's going to be fun!!!

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!