I found this very cute little Happy Birthday message on youtube. I didn't make this, well, you can tell that they are not shelties! (do you think I can teach mine to sing Happy Birthday? That would be good, won't it?)
It was made for the Queen mum's 100th birthday by one of the national papers.
but I think Colin would rather prefer this one:
Anyway, Happy 48th Birthday to Colin!
So, Sing is still waiting for his first treatment, Sara has got the referral from my vet, we have arranged for Sara to come and "sort" him on Sunday! I just can't wait to make him feel better. Sing is an easy dog to live with but he is also an active dog, he loves his ball so much, he is constantly searching for a tennis ball in the house and in the garden. I have hide most of the balls on sight but he is just too clever, he always found one and bring it to me.
I thought I will think of some tricks to teach him instead, hopefully that will take his mind off the ball. Over the years, I have taught him most of the tricks and he knew them well. I have run out of trick ideas!
I am a Silvia Trkman fan, I think she is fabulous, I just loved her and her dogs. Her running contacts are awesome and I like her trick ideas. She always make them look so easy. I found this little video very enjoyable. Sing knew most of the tricks other than HUG and walk backward and put the hind legs on something.
Yesterday, I decided I will teach him HUG ...
From the video above, I have noticed Sing loves to use his paw and now I know these two little guy below must have inherited from their father:
Zap at 3 weeks
Skye at 2.5 weeks
Now, the youngster's turn:
You must wondering why Sing and Sizzle kept lying down in front of the Allyoop? Well, I used the Allyoop to teach them "send away" (means go away and touch the stick and lie down until I released you). These boys are too clever, they think they know everything when they see the object! Hahaha ... I love shelties!
We had a very busy weekend. North Downs Show on Saturday and Training on Sunday with Nancy Hudson. I thought the weather is going to be worst on the weekend but Saturday wasn't too bad and first part of Sunday was actually sunny. The sun has been really helpful to me because I broke my glasses (arrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!) when we arrived for the training day. I am not too bad for a short sighter but with glasses, it definitely help a lot. I train with Sizzle in the morning and with Saturn in the afternoon. I was actually very worried how I would train Sizzle without my glasses, I do not like to make a stupid handling, he is a very sensitive dog but everyone was very patient with me. Thanks.
my broken glasses
I was so much looking forward to this training day; Not only Nancy is a superb handler but she is a great instructor and great motivator too. I always enjoy my training day with her. She watched us and gave us advice on our weakest point and the way to improve them.
The Theme for this training day is "Jumping, put it together". This is purely a Jumping Training Day, so no contacts involve. I have noticed Sizzle prefers Agility to Jumping, I thinks he gets rewards on the contacts but not on the jumping, he definitely is faster in agility so this is a good day for him to learn some jumping skills. He was slow to start with, I do not know if he is still tired from Saturday (he looked tired and lie down on my camping chair most of the time, not like the energetic Sizzle) but he slowly pick up more speed, it could be the confidence grows?
Nancy set up 3 jumping courses; we spent more than an hour on the first course, we all did our first run the way we would run the course, then Nancy broke it down to a few small sequences to work on the hot spots. I like Nancy's teaching, she MAKES us try the way (handling) she wants us to run, afterall this is a training day and we have to learn something. I know my weak point, I am totally hopeless in pivot. I always put in a front cross instead of a pivot in competition but sometimes you have to do a pivot. This remind me of the Combined 6-7 Jumping course we ran on Saturday. My pivot with Saturn was horrible, he turned so wide because my handling was crap. I found myself station in the same spot waiting for him to turn. With pivot, the handler need to do the pivot as well as the dog but the handler do the pivot in the tiny spot. I think my body movement is very stiff, I am not agile to rotate.
I always have a problem with Saturn argues (he barks) with me when I send him to the tunnel. This only happened after he had the biopsy operation in July 2008. He used to be a tunnel vision dog before the op, he loves tunnel more than anything but not anymore. If you put a tunnel and a weave next to each other, he would choose the weave instead of the tunnel where many dogs will choose the tunnel. Nancy suggested I need to do a lot of sending into the tunnel with him. I am also weak at wrap the wing, with Saturn, my cue is always late and also I think I give him the wrong command. I used "back" for turning away from me, I used that a lot when I do a rear across and I realised I don't say "left" or "right" eventhough I teach them left and right, maybe I have to teach them left and right for wrap the wing? I recall a couple of weeks ago we went training with Nancy and Andy, Andy took the Jumping course, we did a sequence with directional commands, there is a wing wrap and rear across, I know Sizzle is stronger on the right turn, when we did the wing wrap, I told him "right" and he did that beautifully and came to the rear across, I told him "back", he turned the right way but wider, so Andy suggested I used the "right", I did that the second time and he actually wrap the wing. Now, it got me thinking ...
You see why I like training day, it really got me thinking ... I may not absorb immediately but I am thinking about it and look for the way I should improve.
here is a little video clip from yesterday, I only picked two sequences, I am not going to upload all, that will bored you:
Thank You Nancy for a great day!
Now, this is not training related but the storm has done some damaged to our garden. We had a fence down between us and our neighbour. I saw the broken fence on Saturday afternoon after we came back from North Downs show. Colin suggested we don't repair it just yet as the weather forecast for the week is more rain and wind. Luckily our dogs are so well behaved, they only stand in front of the gap to look through the neighbour's garden but has never cross the boundary. I am not too worry if they do, I know both our gardens are secure and they dogs won't be able to escape.
did you see the gap
closer look
the messy garden after the storm!!
We had a great day at North Downs show today despite the weather is ... OKish! It was very stormy last night but I went to bed nice and early, so it didn't bother me at all. I woke up full of bean this morning, so I decided we will go to the show.
The weather was very wet when we left home this morning. Our first run wasn't up until about 10:30am but Colin suggested we should leave early just in case we stuck in the flood and collapsing trees. The journey was fine, I cannot drive at my usual speed as some roads were flooded and at some areas, we met some very storng wind. The radio said, the wind speed was 80mph! Our crazy Tom Tom (sat nav) took us down to a public footpath and luckily there was a guy out walking his dog in the storm, so he directed me how to get to the venue.
This is my first time at this venue. It is a lovely indoor arena. The ground was very good and big enough to have 3 rings running. Sing and Saturn have three classes each and Sizzle has 2 classes, so unfair! I rather Sizzle has three classes and Sing has two classes. I really want to work on Sizzle.
Our first run was Combined 4-7 Agility with Sing and Saturn. Yes, I decided to run Sing. He was very excited and wind up. We started off the course well until we came to tunnel - see-saw combinations. When I walked the course, I walked as a recall from the see-saw but for some reasons, I didn't do any of the recall with any of my dogs! Crazy! I wish I have though. I think Sing and Sizzle will response well to the recall. Of course the blind turn from tunnel to the see-saw didn't help Sing, he missed the see-saw totally. It is not like him but again, I have not train him since early September when he pulled his shoulder. Otherwise he did well. The DW to push out of the jump is difficult but I managed to beat him to the DW so I managed to push him to do the "out around". WooHoo! His weave was lovely too.
Saturn was next to go, he keeps breaking his wait lately and I am not ignoring this. I always reinforce when I see him standing up and about to go. I make sure I go back and put him back into sit position and wait. I think he did the course nicely apart from taking the wrong jump. He got his A Frame and DW contacts but see-saw was a bit dodgy but we are working on that.
The Medium class finished off quickly and I got Sizzle out when they put the jumps down to Small. He ran over the same class as Sing and Saturn. He was very excited when I get him out from the car and I knew he is so ready to go. When I walked the course earlier, I know I must beat him to the DW in order to get him to do the "out around" jump. The jump was set in an akward angle, for a baby dog like him, I have not done a lot of handling work with him yet. I want him to enjoy straight forward courses to encourage the speed. I am very happy (more than happy) with Sizzle how he ran this course, I managed to do a front cross on the A Frame (my first time); he stays on the see-saw til it tilt (YeeHa!); he ran the DW just like the way I want him to do (jackpot!). What can I asked for more? I was not even bother to put him back when he ran past the jump in front of the DW, I pushed him to do the "out around", he did but just a bigger out around; his weave is wonderful, maybe we need a bit of tighten up on the pin wheel but HeyHo, he was fantastic! When we came out, a few people said to me it was a shamed that he missed the jump, otherwise he could be winning. Well, winning is not important to me, proofing is the one that I am looking for. I worked hard to make sure he gets his running contacts and I want to proof he maintain his running contacts at any places, any sequences.
Once we got started, we haven't got long to wait for our next class, the Combined 6-7 Agility. Sizzle is not eligible to run this class, so only Sing and Saturn. I was so much hoping Sing could get a place in that, it is not an easy course, the tunnel trap has cost a lot of dogs to get eliminated. Saturn ran before Sing in this class. He was naughty on the start line, he broke the wait three times and I put him back again and again. I definitely need a good wait on this one as I need to lead out to the right position to start him and he was a good boy, he didn't even look at the tunnel at all. On the A Frame bit, I saw myself once again using my itchy finger pointing at the bottom, he didn't miss it though but I wasn't happy with myself, I think I am creating a confusion there for him because he leap off the DW by miles!!! Arrrggghhh ...
Sing was going well on this course and I was so relaxing running him, I forgot I haven't train this dog for 2.5 months and I got my attention loose on the turning jump after the weave, so he took the wrong jump! Totally my fault, sorry Sing!
After the agility, we had the combined 6-7 Jumping, again, this class is for Sing and Saturn only. I don't know what happened between me and Saturn, we seems to lost a connection or two in the middle of the course, so he went off course. I am sure it must be me, he is a very good dog. I am terrible at directions, Colin suggested I need a Sat Nav to guide me how to run the course, poor dog!
Sing surprised me with a 3rd in this jumping course. It is not Sing's course, it is a big long course, he is a little dog with short legs and he has to take more strides to each jump but I am not complaining.
After Sing and Saturn's jumping, we have a change of judge for Sizzle's Combined 4-5 Jumping. Again, it was a big long course. Just imagine if I have to run all day long, I may lost a couple of pounds in weight.
Eventhough Sizzle went clear and got a 3rd in this class but I wasn't too happy with myself. Nothing wrong with Sizzle. When I walked the course, I meant to recall him in the middle of the start jump and the first baby snake jump but I was in the wrong place. I was so much closer to the baby snake jump so he didn't run the three jumps in a straightline but whizzing in and out of them. I was too close to the jumps so I was pushing him out. Also he LOOK at me after the weave, I guess that has becomes a pattern now as I always throw him his toy/ball after he finishes his weave. I must wean this habit off!
here are our runs today:
Here is a little bit about Sing ... Sara Bennett, one of the Galen Therapists was there at the show. We got talking and I got her to look at Sing for me after the runs. She confirmed my worried. Sing is definitely not fit. I always thought it was the front right shoulder that bother him but it turn out that his back is very tight, so Sara thinks we needs to work on his back. Sara will go and get the referral from my vet so hopefully we can start the treatment very soon. For time being, NO BALL for Sing, NO TRAINING for Sing, NO JUMPING in and out of the car (need to lift him in and out), just a casual walk until we know he is fit. If you look carefully at the Jumping, Sing started to slow down and he was getting stiff when he weave. With a tight back, weaving can be painful for him.
I am hoping to get him fit by the end of the year, then build up his stamina in January and train hard in February for Crufts. Finger crossed everything goes well with him.
I think I finally found something that is settling Sizzle's funny tummy, finger crossed and touch wood! We have been on Bionic Biotic (concentrate) for three weeks now, he has been good and full of energy. There was one day that he had a bad tummy, that was entirely my fault, I gave him something that upset his tummy, otherwise, he is good. I want to say thank you to Nikki who first told me about it but I ignored her. Her sheltie Star also has sensitive tummy and he is on Bionic Biotic as supplement in his meal. When Nikki told me a few months ago, I was confused. I had tried every options and everything with Sizzle but nothing has help to improve his tummy problem and I wasn't keen to try new thing then. Then, just recently I emailed Nikki to ask her about Star and she once again mentioned to me Bionic Biotic ... I have a good thought about it and decided to order a free sample from the website to try. Due to postal strike, the sample didn't arrive. Then, Yvonne sent me this. After I read the story and decided I will give it a try as I had tried so many stuff before and there is no harm trying more, hopefully I will find one that would help settle his sensitive stomach.
I put a small tea spoon of Bionic Biotic mixing with Sizzle's meal, he is on this supplement for three weeks now and I have been watching him like a hawk. The first two days after I feeding him the Bionoc Biotic, his toilet was bad. Not only he has diarrhoea but it was bloody and I found two blood clots stuck on his knicker. This was the first time I saw some blood clots hanging on his bum so I quickly taken a back. I wasn't sure if I should continue or stop. I know when we try something new, you always give 24-48 hours to let the stuff get into your system. On the 3rd day, he didn't look miserable so I decided I will continue for a week to see what happen. I am glad I continue and I am very happy with the result so far. Sizzle has been back to his oldself, happy, bouncy and full of life.
I have entered the North Downs show tomorrow. I was so much looking forward to it until the last two days. As Sizzle only just came out to compete in late September (just right at the end of agility season) and I wanted to get him out as much as I can to get used to competitions but for some reason, I feel very uneasy for the last couple of days and this is the first time I don't feel like I want to go to an agility show! I must be mad!!!
Also, poor Sing is still not 100% fit yet. I have been resting him for 5-6 weeks now and he is still not looking perfectly fit to do agility or flyball.
