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...
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 ...
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.
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 !
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.
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...
English Shepherds are descended from the dogs settlers took with them to North America to work on their farms from England and lowland Scotland. They were bred to be all round farm and family dogs rather than having just one job to do.
They have been recognized as a distinct breed by the UKC in the USA, since the 1930's.
Wizz is one of the dogs from the first litter to be born in England, she was born on the 3rd of November 2008. Wizz's parents Adam & Eve have been brought to the UK from the US by Jackie to reintroduce the breed to this country.
Check out the 1st web link below to find out more and why.
Below are some pictures of my pack who I live with they are Auntie Breeze (Border Collie), Dare (Border Collie) and Chip (Patterdale Terrer).
Auntie Breeze
This is Auntie Breeze who loves flyball
Dare
This is Dare who likes to stare
Chip
This is Chip who loves to play
My Family
These are pictures of my English Shepherd Family
My Mum
This is my Mum, Eve
My Dad
This is my Dad, Adam
Little me
I think this is me when I was lttle (looking at the camera) with my mother, if not I am one of the others !
My Brothers & Sisters
Below are puppy pictures of my Brothers & Sisters. The first litter of English Shepherd puppies born in the UK. The 11 of us, 5 boys & 6 girls were born on the 3rd of November 2008.
My Brother
My brother, Edenvillage Abel, Alfie (the first born pup)