I am continuing to train both at Wellow and at Nedlo together with some bits in the garden.  I have concluded that Beardies like the excitement of working but do not appreciate any boredom in training and I am therefore trying to do 'little and often' and making it as exciting as possible.  I am still at the stage of thinking she will be good one minute and then thinking of giving up the next!!  I have had a heart to heart with Millie this week and explained to her that many people do not think she will do anything and I asked her what she thought of these opinions.  Click here to see her response! 

Last Sunday Millie and I went to Southdowns on our own.  Unfortunately, we had to leave Ann at home caring for Scrumpy Jack.who had really hurt himself on the Friday.  Not sure what it was but he twisted himself and badly pulled a muscle or somesuch thing.  He is now much better and virtually back to normal exercise.  I felt committed to going to the show as I had offered to help on one of the rings and both Ann and I wanted Millie to have the practice.  Millies first run was a jumping round and she managed a good Clear Round.  Not the fastest but did show good potential for the future and the class was actually won by a fellow club member - Grace with Becky.  The second run was also a jumping round and Millie did well on this course only missing the penultimate jump and incurring five faults.  I was not sure whether or not to actually run her third entry as I did not want to overdo it.  In the end we did run and this was a difficult agility course and I decided to hold her contacts and ensure that she was happy throughout.  She ran a really good round and it was a good experience for her with no mistakes and all contacts made.  The only disappointment was not being able to run SJ in the anysize jumping in which he was entered for the first time.  There will be future runs for him, hopefully, over the lower height as he still has such great enthusiasm.

Click on picture to see video of Millies virtual first formal agility round (Hence the music!)

Well, its now after the event!!  We took Millie and SJ to Paws in the Park where they were entered for the agility.  We got there early and I walked the first course which was Millies agility.  I decided that it was OK for her as this was virtually her first run in formal competition and, although it was quite long, it wasn't too taxing.  This run was earlyish so we thought we would get it over and then look at the rest of the show.  I took Millie to the ring and Ann video'd the round.  My main aim was to keep her confidence up and make everything positive.  She does have a very good wait at the start but, in this instance, I decided to keep her excitement up and run her into the course.  Her round was very good generally but she did run quite green looking for reassurance from me all the way round but I was really pleased with her and must now go back and concentrate on the contacts!!   After this round we went into the main arenas and just as we did the Dog Show was starting so, we shouldn't have!, but we entered Millie into the Pastoral Class which she duly won!!  The Best in Show, we were told was scheduled for about 1.30pm which was OK as the agility would be having a break for lunch.  However, it eventually took place at 3.30pm!  Millie did extremely well and got the Reserve Best in Show and lots of goodies.  We are very proud of her as there were a lot of dogs entered in all the various classes.  Anyway, the consequence of this was that we missed the other rounds of agility that we had entered.  I was not too concerned about Millie as I did not want to overdo it anyway but I was disappointed that SJ missed his first veteran class. 

Generally, however, we had a really good day and we are looking forward to Southdowns Agility Show next Sunday.

We went to training on Wednesday and found that it was the regular Fun Competition night.  I was only going to do some practice in preparation for the weekend but, as we were there, we decided to run Millie in the competition and run Scrumpy Jack over the Midi heights but not for competition.  SJ was really enthusiastic and, although he hasn't run for a very long time, he was very excited and went quite quick and clear - I will probably run him in the veteran class at the weekend if he stays fit. 

Millie on the other hand was really enjoying herself and I was pleased that she went clear for both her Jumping round and her Agility round.  I was delighted with this but, as a bonus, I heard today that she came second in the Agility and first in the Jumping giving her a first place overall in the club competition!!! 

Well, I am still working with Millie in the garden and she is still really quite excited about working at the moment.  I was a bit concerned yesterday when someone said she may have peaked and be starting her downward spiral towards her next season!!!  I don't think this is the case at the moment as she still gets quite enthusiastic when I get the jumps/weaves out.

We have not done much formal training recently as Lesley has been competing a lot - I think its about six weeks since we have been to her.  For the past two weeks we have done about 10 minutes per week at Wellow between classes.

I have entered two shows with Millie - Paws in the Park - this weekend and Southdowns the following weekend.  I am concerned about the lack of training but I cannot keep putting it off - we must have a go in the big wide world sometime!!

Scrumpy Jack - I have entered him in the veteran class but will only run him if he is up to it on the day.

The last time we went to Paws in the Park was when Millie was a puppy and she won Best Puppy in Show and Best in Show in the showing section - lots of goodies!!  Be nice if we could do something in the agility classes this time!!

Millie Jumping in the Garden Today

It has been along time since the last blog!!  Since the last one we have had our problems with training. Some of which are:

• Wellow closed for resurfacing
• Millie had a season
• Lesley has been away competing and training
• Millie to vet for ear problem
• Millie to vet for foot check

This is not a full list but just some things that have happened.  Since our last blog we have nearly come to the stage of giving up agility as SJ is now retired and Millie was not progressing at all - quite the reverse - she was going backwards!!  This was the reason for going to the vets for her ears and foot to be checked out.  After being given a clean bill of health she still did not make any progress.  We eventually decided that all the problems were caused by her season.  It took agood three months for her to get some enthusiasm back for her agility after her season.  She was generally well in her self but was very 'flat'.  About a month ago she did develop a great deal of enthusiasm but, of course, all the training had stopped for the month of August!!!

Anyway, we are now feeling full of confidence again and will resume training this coming week with expectations high.  We have entered two shows at the end of this month so this gives a target to aim for.  The Blog will be updated much more regularly from now.

We are still trying to speed up Millies weaves at home.  I am not sure who is working harder,  Millie or us !!!!
Click here to see some (noisy) training!!

Millies training is now going quite  well.   Lesley is back training at Nedlo and we are doing quite well at Wellow in the Midi group.  I train Millie at Wellow with the Midi dogs and then run her over some of the larger obstacles.  Her confidence is growing and she is making progress.  However, her weave poles are  really good at home in the garden but she seems to have it in her head that she is to go slow when at training - this is an obvious area to work on.  You solve one problem and another crops up!!   Anyway, today we went for a lovely walk in the forest just for  fun.  Click on this link to see a short video.

All the Christmas and New Year parties are now well and truly over and training is back to normal.  At Wellow, on Wednesday nights, I am putting Millie in to the new midi class to try and build both confidence and speed.  At Nedlo Lesley has had an operation and is unable to take the training at the present but hopefully will resume soon.  In the meantime I have been hiring 'The Shed' and working on my own with Millie - again just having fun to build speed and confidence.  This seems to be working well at the moment. 

For the past two weeks training has been back to normal and Millie is progressing quite well.  She does do most things correctly but not at the speed I know she is capable of.  Must work on it!!  Took both Millie and SJ on a lovely walk over the hills on the outskirts of Salisbury this morning.  Beautiful, bright December morning.

Picture shows Salisbury Cathedral in the distance - dogs were in the photo but they ran off !!!!

This past week saw Millie resume her agility training.  On Wednesday we did about 10 minutes at Wellow at the lower heights and we also did some contacts - but not the A-Frame.  On Friday we had a half hour session full of running and jumping with Lesley at Nedlo.  Millie came through both sessions with no ill effects thank goodness!!

Not a good day!  I took Millie and Scrumpy Jack to the fields in the car.  They both had a really good run and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  I put them both back in the car and returned home.  When we got home I made Millie wait and let SJ jump out, I then released Millie and she jumped out after him as usual.  She let out a little 'squeak' which I thought was of excitement.  However, when we got to the kitchen there was blood pouring out all over the floor.  After their run both dogs were very excited and the blood was pumping very quickly.  Millie had torn one of her nails right off as she jumped from the car and did it bleed!!!  After about 5 to 10 minutes it did stop but it was very sore and she walked (and ran!) on her three remaining legs.  Apart from not putting it to the ground she treated life as normal - eating, running, barking, etc. everything as usual.  Anyway,  this now puts her training back on hold again until all four paws are back on the ground.  The best laid plans of mice and men!!!  View video PAW ME

Tonight we went for a private lesson with Lesley at Nedlo.  We did some very limited and controlled training exercises which was mainly concerned with trying to get her to go on ahead and crossing behind.  Lesley is very exact and precise with her training.  Good positive session with progress made.

Due to a number of different circumstances Millies training has not been as regular or planned as it should have been.  We have now decided that, if she is to compete at any decent level, we must put more priority into her tarining and press ahead in a more determined manner.   Over the past year we have done some informal training after Scrumpy Jacks class at the Wellow club and also had some private lessons with Lesley Olden at Nedlo Agility.  Tonight there was a new improvers class at Wellow which we were to join.  This class followed on from SJ's competition class and, unfortunately, the course remained the same and was not really what I wanted for Millie as it was too tight and complex.  I decided not to continue and went to the lower 'mini' jumps and did some close control work.  I do have to maintain Millies confidence by encouraging her to do the things she is capable of doing and keeping every thing positive.