Monday 30 May 2011

Lovely smell

One of the best things about a quite Bank Holiday Monday


Is hanging around in the kitchen with the lovely aroma of a freshly roasted chicken in the air


OK when do I get mine ...

Friday 27 May 2011

Obedient Auntie Breeze

We were all at our regular evening obedience class again this week. Well me, Dare and Auntie Breeze were as I think Chip is a bit of a lost cause as far as obedience training goes.

We all go to this hall in Taplow in Berkshire.

The Club we go to is the Cippenham (Slough) Dog Training Club and it has been going since 1954, which is a lot of lessons.

But star of obedience training from our little pack is Auntie Breeze who has her Gold Kennel Club Good Citizen Award.


She does great stays no matter what the distraction is around her.


She keeps really still, a bit like one of those Guardsman you see outside Buckingham place looking after the Queen .


Only the fur is all over her not just on her head...

Tuesday 24 May 2011

More Farnham Flyball

This is a You Tube video taken from me racing at the weekends tournament. You can also see what lovely weather we had on Saturday at the venue.



And these are some more pictures of photogenic Dare racing on Sunday. If you don't know he is a Blue Merle Border Collie. Unfortunately he is completely deaf in one ear so he does not know the direction sounds are coming from.


He has quite a determined look when he races.


And quite a nice turn off the flyball box.



Dare also has a very strong 'collie eye' and he likes to stare particularly at movement so he has a bit of a battle when running down the lane to stop himself from looking across at the other dog who is racing against him.

So sometimes he just has to have to have a peak as he crosses the finish line ...

Sunday 22 May 2011

Farnham Park Flyball

We had some more Flyball racing this weekend. This time it was our own Clubs tournament. Held only about 35 minutes away which was nice as was the lovely weather.


I raced on Saturday with my team Lightning Flash and surprise, surprise we got yet another first place with a fastest time of 19.78 seconds in Division 7.


We had some very close racing and these are some great action pictures of me in full on racing mode.


I also got my Flyball Dog Advanced title Certificate presented to me as well after all the racing.

Auntie Breeze also raced on Saturday and her team got a second place in Division 11. Dares team ran on Sunday and they got a second place in Division 9 and Chips team also got a second place in Division 2. So we all had a successful time.

Dare looks like he went quite quick over the jumps on Sunday.


And enjoyed himself a lot as well.


Tuesday 17 May 2011

Practice

No flyball tournament this weekend so on Sunday we had training as normal.

We are working on speeding up my run backs from the box at the moment. So I did loads of run backs to a tuggie.

What you do is wait...


Then zoom over the jumps...


And catch up, grab ...



and have a good play with the tuggie.


The idea is that some flyball dogs are mainly motivated by getting the ball and then slow down running back from the box. So introducing a tuggie to run back to improves your motivation and speed.(apparently)

We also did some work on my swimmers turns. As well as turning you also have to catch the tennis ball that is sprung out of the box when you hit and trigger it.

This is YouTube video taken at a recent Flyball tournament of us turning. There are clips of me and the rest of my team in real time and then again in slow motion. Its fairly easy to spot Black and Tan me and little Chip.



Aren't we good at it !

After all that exercise I think I need a bit of a rest !


Friday 13 May 2011

My clever Sister

This is my sister Abbie and she has just been awarded her Silver Good Citizen award from the Kennel Club.


She is obviously the clever one in the family as I am still working on my Silver award! We met each other last year at a flyball competition and I think we look very alike.

I know her boss reads this blog so congratulations to you and my sister Abbie on this impressive award.

Sunday 8 May 2011

Robin Hood Flyball Racing

We all have just got back from a very busy weekends flyball racing.

This time we were in Brentwood in Essex at the Ramsdens flyball Clubs Tournament. It was held as part of the Robin Hood Game and Country Show so we had a bit of a crowd to watch us race and loads of stalls to visit and spend money.

I raced on Saturday with my Team Lightning Flash and Auntie Breeze and Dare also raced with their teams Lightning Tornadoes and Lightning Sparks. This is me in full flight racing.



My team had a very successful day winning all our races and also the Division. This is link to a video of me and my team. (I am the last dog)




On Sunday Chips flyball team Grease Lightning also raced and they were in Division 2. It had got loads windier overnight but this didn't seem to slow him and his teammates down.




His team also won all their races so they won there division as well. This is a blowier video of them all racing. (Chip is the very small last dog)



But what I have forgot to mention is that on Saturday Auntie Breezes team also won their Division and so did Dare and his team. So we all got first places which is quite an achievement!

This is all of us back in our garden showing off our first place Rosettes.


I think getting us all to stay still for this picture was nearly as hard as the weekends racing...

Friday 6 May 2011

A Comfy spot

I always enjoy having a nice tasty bone just to myself.

But to properly enjoy it you also have to find a nice comfortable place to chew on it as well.


Sunday 1 May 2011

Chilling out

After last weeks two flyball tournaments and the excitement of the Royal Wedding on Friday we only had flyball training this morning.

So we have had a bit of time to recharge our batteries this afternoon, which is very nice.


Of course Chip does resting with his usual style.