George not so Looney!!

The season has started, yet somehow it doesnt feel right yet. Maybe its the cold weather that still insists on hanging around, or the fact that I am not happy with the new van, and also 2 of my best mates are not camping and competing as much this season due to personal reasons and changes in circumstances, but I still havent got into the real swing of things........However!,,,,George has taken the new season by the horns and won into Grade 5 at his second grade 4 show,.......and just to prove his worth, won again the following week!!! My baby is Grade 5 already!!! Twice! ha! 

The other lovely part to the new season, is that Lily has come back all guns blazing!! At 7 year old, she is no oldy but she is hard to keep fit, and had gone a bit stale at the end of last year, so after they all had their 6 week break over Christmas, I decided to not train Lily in agility, but to take her running with me, and do some one to one walks with her, chasing balls etc and keep her fit but fresh. She has started the new season with a 2nd at UKA champ, some stunning 5 fault runs (which were my faults not hers) and then 2nd in Grade 6 agility last weekend! She is puppy like, mental, bright eyed and wild and its thrilling :-)

Olli has started the season........like he finished the last! Gobby, mad as a hatter, and can not see the point in stopping on contacts when he can jump from the top and beat me to the next jump! So again, I have decided to not run him in agility classes anymore, just do Grade 6 jumping with him, so he can have fun, I can have a laugh running him and there is no pressure. He got me to Grade 6 and an Olympia ABC semi and thats pretty damn good for a large spanner who was trained as a gundog. :-) 

Twiggy is more cheeky, more wild and has had some great places to start the year but also some really silly runs because she is now so confident! I love the fact that she is so gobby and naughty now thats she makes mistakes. :-) Mind you, she still has the ocassional weird freak out at odd things, which remind her & me that she has a scary past :-( She will always be my spoilt rotten princess, whatever she does.

Cove has started the season with a lot of top 5 places, and as soon as Fern realises she has nothing to prove, nobody to impress and stops feeling pressured I am sure he will win into Grade 7 this year, but whatever happens he is a joy, and a talented boy who we all love to bits, even when he is freaking and spooking at ridiculous things! Thats Cove :-)

Young Will I Am :-) He is a muppet. He is funny, bright and sooooo loving! Probably the cuddliest puppy we have had, yet he has a very strong urge to work. He has a wise old head on young lanky shoulders, and Fern will have so much fun with him, but I also have a sneaky suspicion he will go to the top because he is so genuine. I just love watching them develop and they are all so different. 

So the season has started......and hopefully in the next few weeks I will get in the swing of things, and learn to love the van but one thing is for sure, my dogs are still the best in the world and always will be.

Dont mention the van :-(

Not talking about the van. One of the reasons I have gone another Month without writing. Just been too peed off to be honest, and didn't want to write a moaning grumpy blog as that's not really my style, and there are people worse off than me by a long way so just "hrumph" for now :-(
The only good thing about "the unmentionable" is my new gang pic on the side. Twiggy and George now added and I am pleased with this......

I am amazed at the amount of garages that are not interested in trying to help you out or find a fault, which is obviously there, but gladly take your money to change parts totally unnecessarily. Most of the help we have had trying to diagnose the issues, has been by telephone with a very lovely friend of ours who just lives too far away to actually have a look. Some other friends offered us financial help which was so generous, and makes you realise who real friends are, restores your faith in people, but still I am £400 down and the Van has the same bloody fault, so I am really not looking forward to towing next weekend for the first time :-(

Right enough about that, the show season has started, and 2 weekends ago I actually did my first show alone! Rog was working here on equipment and Fern had to work in Okehampton so I went solo. It was a UKA show, too local not to take advantage of and the dogs were all wonderful. Twiggy 4th in Jumping, Lily 2nd in Champ and Georgie 3rd in steeplechase and won the jumping! Not a bad start at all!
Last weekend was our first KC show, and again the dogs had fun. All of them clear on the same jumping course, less than a second separating them, but the order was Cove, Lily, George & Twigs. Then in Georges first Grade 4 Agility he did a lovely round and was 3rd! (Cove Lily & Twiggy all eliminated on the same course!!) 2 shows, 2 trophies for Georgie Pants, I am liking this start!
William is just scrummy. He fitted in so quick, and is so loving and easy to live with. Exactly what I wanted for Fern, a proper working dog, 100% temperament steady but with a real work ethic. He is  very keen to join in at these agility shows but will also focus and work with Fern near the rings, so a perfect balance at the moment. Not a bad bone in his lanky, leggy funny body :-) 

We took him to see a specialist Vet Dentist last night to assess his overshot jaw, and discuss how we move forward, and indeed if he is going to be requiring much interference with it. It doesn't affect Will at all at the moment, and he eats well, can pick anything up from the floor, and has a real strong tug. The issue may be that as his adult teeth are coming through, the bottom canines will dig into his top palet. They are behind his top canines, where as a normal dog has them in front. It could mean a bit of intervention as they grow, by a skilled Vet, just to stop him being in any discomfort but its a waiting game, and as long as he is happy and healthy that's all we care about.

Now its the damn weather that is on everyones lips again. Snow snow, rain and  more rain and already talk that the first few camping shows at Easter next weekend, may have to be cancelled due to soggy ground. Oh lets start this year exactly as we finished last then. In our waterproofs.....