In memory of Polly 11/7/01 - 03/03/12 RIP lovely girl, and this is Ollis Blog especially for you. :-(

5 years ago next month, a litter of 8 gorgeous puppies were born on the farm where we live. Springer Spaniels with a good background of working gun dog breeding, and I had pick of the litter. I watched them grow and develop over the weeks, and started to have my favourites. Some beautifully marked pups, black flecked, black & white, liver & white, liver flecked, but it was soon to be that I had no choice at all, because the cheeky chubby black & white boy chose me. (I was looking for a bitch!)

The rest is history as they say. Olli came into our lives and was a joy from day one. Funny, happy loving dog, who soon started to show a natural ability for retrieving, and started his training with me to become a gun dog. At around 7 months old he started working on our local shoot, and soon became a very able retriever of pheasants, pigeons and anything else that needed picking up. I had also started agility with Lily so thought I would see if Olli could learn to do that too, just so we had 2 dogs competing and make the weekends away at shows more worthwhile. He took to it so well, he is currently 1 of just a few Springers in the large category that have made it to Grade 6. He also got to the ABC semi finals last year at his first attempt, and was just an A frame contact away from getting to Olympia. I decided a year ago to retire him from shooting and concentrate on his agility career.
He is always my "fun" dog. I cant help it, I just never take him really seriously because he is such a character! Barks like no other dog, on every breath he is noisy, his tail never stops wagging, and he makes me laugh on every course we ever run. He has achieved so much just having a blast, and without real training as I always concentrated on Lily, never thinking that Olli would ever go this far. So over this winter we have been training a bit more seriously. 

His contacts are vastly improved, and pretty much 100% although he still likes to look round to see if I am coming, and wait for me to catch up so still not totally independent. His weaves are amazing, noisy and fast but he will never be brilliant on a left hand entry. We also now have a wait! ....... well we have an Olli style wait, but its improved on last year. :-) So we have a lot of ABC qualifiers to go for this summer, and he will of course compete with Lily in the Large Agility qualifiers too, and who knows we may get to Olympia, and with the right course on the right day, we may even get a win towards grade 7, but whatever happens, I will be smiling and Olli will be barking.

So this is dedicated to Polly. Ollis Mum, who was 1 of my favourite spaniels and 1 of the best workers, and nicest dogs I have had the pleasure to share my office with. So loyal to her owners, (my close friends and landlords) a brilliant steady worker in the field, a strong willed bitch who didn't take any nonsense from the other dogs around our farm, or on the shoot, but didn't have a nasty bone in her body. She also gave me one of the best spaniels in the world, and my soul mate. She passed away last Saturday, with her oldest friend Megan, Ollis Auntie by her side. Just a few months ago she was working and playing like a pup, but a sudden onset of a heart condition meant she spent her last few weeks sleeping in front of our office fire, munching on bones and giving me the odd cuddle, with the little affectionate nibble of my nose just as she always had, and just like her pups continue to do. 
Keep watching over your boy Polly, he may just make you very proud.

Dave & Twiggy

Ok so its been too long, and I keep changing my mind as to who to write about, sticking to my "1 blog per dog" theme, and have now failed!
Last blog was meant to be about Twiggy, but Lily was so awesome she had to take centre stage. This one is meant to be Twiggys, and please don't get me wrong, she is my princess and has changed such a lot recently I could bore you all with her antics every day, but she has to share this with Dave. 

2 weeks ago we had booked on a training day with Sian Illingworth, and for the first time ever, Fern had decided to run Dave in the 3-4 group.We were both nervous on just how he would cope in a group, especially as due to the wintry British weather it was indoors in the barn, and he really doesn't like being enclosed. Fern warned Sian that he was unpredictable and we really didn't know how it would go, and I gave everyone there, our permission to use whatever means necessary to protect their dogs if he went off...............(God he sounds like a fire bomb!!!!) In between working him, Fern put him in a crate at the side of the barn so he could acclimatise to the sounds in there, see what everyone was doing but felt safe.
Ferns first go, and some people chose to move just outside the barn door, in fact I think a couple actually moved out of the County! but Dave sat on the start line, focused. GO! He shot off around the sequence like the pocket rocket he is and was amazing! As the 2 hours ensued, he worked like a demon, beautiful, fast and so focused on Fern I was thrilled. He had one slight "off focus" moment so Fern picked him up and put him straight back in his crate for time out. If he isn't 100% you don't work him. Then as he ran 1 course, he spotted a dog in his line and took a few strides towards her and made the best decision of his life so far. He paused, thought, and turned back to Fern and completed the course! He chose agility and working with his Mum over confrontation. It was a moment I will never forget, and if he continues to think like that he really does have a future. Bless the little Ginger swine, he is finally growing up, and 3 years of hard work and determination have paid off for Fern :-)

In the afternoon we had G5-7  group with Twiggy & Cove. Twiggy was a so much fun. Off lead for the whole 2 hours, bouncing at my side, playing tuggy furiously and even laying down and chilling at one point, while dogs around her barked and worked! So much more relaxed. Every exercise she tackled full on. Enthusiastic and happy, she and Cove were the only 2 dogs to go clear first time on the last sequence of the day, with a tricky tunnel entry and independent dogwalk, she was great! She is a very responsive dog, and my timing will be tried to its limits, as she will pull off anything in a heartbeat, which has both advantages and disadvantages, but I love running her. The best thing is she loves working with me, and no longer worries what is going on around her. She is 1 in a million and I am so glad she came to live with us. :-)
So who will be next I have no idea, but maybe George :-) I have had my lovely toe operation, and spent a few days with my feet up, bored to tears but very well looked after by Rog & Fern, and am now fighting fit and training every weekend with one or all of my crew. Dave has his next group coming up with Anthony Clarke, so onwards and upwards for our little man.