We have had a great weekend of gorgeous weather and I forgot to take my camera every time I went out - Doh!

We have been introduced to a new area to walk in Fleet - the nature reserve at Edenbrook.  It's really nice and has lots of variety for the dogs to explore - meadows, ditches, and of course lots of water!

It has been great this weekend for them to be able to run around but keep cool by diving in and out of the streams and lakes - and they weren't too muddy either!

We have also been for lunch at one of our new favourite places - The Purefoy Arms in Preston Candover.  The girls were very well behaved and had lots of fuss from the staff and other guests.  We had a lovely meal - well worth the trip.

So, back to work tomorrow and the countdown starts for our first camping weekend at an agility show!  I'm really looking forward to spending the weekend with Karen, and Mandy and hope that we will have some good runs over the two days we are competing!  Fingers crossed!

It's that time again! 

Ruby had started to matt badly so I decided that it would be best to get her groomed by Suzi from Bark Avenue Grooming while poor Pepper would have to put up with me!

I have recently invested in a new blade for my clippers - it cuts at 19mm so can be used without a grading comb over the top.  I asked Suzi to do Ruby with the same blade so hopefully they should look similar when finished!

Here are their 'before' shots:

Here are the pictures of Ruby's groom:

This is the new blade that I have bought:

And here is Pepper before, during and after:

I'm not sure what the adjective is to describe a group of agility handlers and their dogs!  Based on this picture, I think a 'hilarity of handlers' might be appropriate! 

This is the group of us that took part in the European Turns workshop at Paws at Play tonight!  And what a fun session it was!

European turns are a handling technique that will help to run a fast, smooth course.  They have only recently begun to be adopted here in the UK and are very different to traditional handling methods.

We did an initial course covering European Turns a few months ago - this course was designed to build on the basics and learn how they can be used in a course.

We began with a section on Ketschker Turns and then moved on to Blind Crosses.  We had the opportunity to practice them with different pieces of equipment  and to see how they can be most effective.  We finished by putting together a whole course. 

Pepper was a little star and together we were really starting to get the hang of it by the end.  The training lasted nearly 3 hours so she was pretty tired by the end which I think was partly the reason for the mistake she made when running the final course. 

Thanks to Nicky & Michelle for organising another brilliant workshop!

Here is the video of our final run which doesn't show the black cloud that was looming over our heads that looked like a thunder storm was imminent:

Our little collection of rosettes has been growing recently and I kept knocking them off the shelf where they were stacked, so I decided that it was time to get somewhere to display them!

I looked at a variety of options but struggled to find something I liked, let alone something that Ian was happy having up in the house!  I eventually went mad and bought these framed pin boards that we have now hung in the study!  I'm really pleased with them but Pepper's is already starting to look a bit full!  I'll have to try harder with Ruby when she is fully fit so that she has an opportunity to catch up!

Ruby has begun a course of hydrotherapy to help build the muscle back up in her back left leg.  We are lucky that there is a hydrotherapy pool at our local vet.

Here are a couple of videos of her firs two treatment sessions:

What a lovely day!  Pepper and I have been to a UKA show in Mapledurham - they run a week long competition but I had just entered the one day!

I had entered the Jumping and 3 x Steeplechase rounds, but after the success Pepper had on the see-saw this week I decided to do a late entry for the agility too!

First round was a lovely Steeplechase course - Pepper was really attentive and ran clear!  I was astonished to find that she had been placed 1st - our first ever red rosette!

Next was Agility - the start was jump, dog walk, see-saw - I was a bit nervous about the see-saw but decided to just go for it!  It never occurred to me that she would miss the dog walk!! She got it on the second attempt and held her contact beautifully at the bottom.  On to the see-saw - she was a bit surprised when it tipped and it made a completely different noise as it was a metal type rather than the wooden one we train on!  She was a bit freaked out and I struggled to get her to move onto the next thing - she eventually went through the tunnel and thankfully completed the rest of the course without an issue - including the 6 weaves!  So, I'm not sure I did the right thing letting her loose on the see-saw - I hope it hasn't set her back, but I really was pleased with the rest of it!  We got 10 Faults!

Next was Steeplechase - she started really well but unfortunately I struggled to get in the right position for one jump and in trying to get her over it I caused her to back jump so that was an E.

Jumping next - it was a monster of a course - really spaced out and some nasty traps to challenge us, plus 12 weaves!  I didn't have high hopes but gave it a good shot.  She started OK but missed the cloth tunnel, managed to avoid the first trap and she did the 12 weaves brilliantly!  Unfortunately we didn't avoide the next trap so were elimiated for taking the wrong course!  I was glad that was over but really couldn't have been happer with her weaves!

Final round was the last Steeplechase!  Another nice flowing course that she ran beautifully and clear! It seems she was fast too as she was placed 2nd!

We had a great day with lovely company - thanks to Karen, Ann and June who all did well and picked up rosettes with all of their dogs.  I'll definitely try to do more of this show next year!

Here is my beautiful girl with her rosettes: