Sad news - farewell George

It would seem that just as we are all delightedly welcoming Ella's youngsters into our agility family, we have the sorry task of ushering another member out. I heard the sad news today that we have lost George (Bichon Frisé) from our training community, put to sleep over last weekend. I shall never forget how he honed my rugby tackling skills and brought our ring at North Somerset to a standstill this year with the bag of sausages that he'd found and pinched from an unattended pocket! He was naughty, cheeky, clever and rather devious at times. But oh so lovable, and that wicked expression on his face shall be sorely missed by those that knew and loved him.

The naughty lad himself :)

Betty allowed me the privilege of running him in competition a couple of times and at training. I was a big fan of George, he reminded me of Toby (one of my first agility dogs) with his attitude and expressions. Like Toby, George always wanted to know what was in it for him before he did anything - he never wanted to be involved in anything he wasn't going to be paid for! It was a shame he wasn't able to find Betty & Allen sooner, as by the time they had him he'd developed some behaviours that were difficult to unravel and change. He couldn't have found anyone better though, and he had a wonderful home with them (even throughout some time off agility whilst Betty had surgery on her hip), enjoying agility even shortly before the end. I remember Betty exclaiming "He remembers what to do" when he stopped himself in his customary 2 feet on, 2 feet off position at the bottom of a contact. George always remembered something when there was food to be had out of doing it!

I hope that he finds himself a big, meaty bone to enjoy and guard at Rainbow Bridge - he'll no doubt be a handful to whichever angel is assigned to caring for him! You shall be missed young man, you shall be missed x

Today I'm grateful for having known George :)

Ella & Tigger's puppies

I am extremely proud to announce the arrival of some incredibly beautiful little puppies - not that I'm biased in any way you understand ;) 

The little darlings themselves, along with when they arrived in the world and how much they weighed

There are three recognised stages in the whelping process, so my bible "Book of the Bitch" explains! When the bitch is going through stage one she "will be restless, usually refusing food for as much as 18 - 24 hours, and she may vomit". Ella's first sign was the fact that she didn't initially want her tea on Thursday evening, although she did in the end. That was a bit weird only that she's been so hungry of late, she's been gobbling it down! She was very restless, panting a lot, and wasn't able to settle down. Plus she was following me around rather than just chilling out - the generally picture was one of unease.

Kai keeping her company, not really
understanding what all the fuss was about!

So I duly stayed downstairs with her to keep her company in case we were looking at the pups a day or two early. I don't think either of us slept much, she really wasn't very comfortable. On Friday morning she wasn't interested in her breakfast at all so we didn't push it and made plans for the dogs & children to be taken care of for the day. Even then I wasn't really expecting them all that soon.

Next thing I know there's a pool of liquid on the floor near her rear and I realised that her waters had broken! At this point she was on the duvet that I'd brought down to sleep with, and whilst I wanted her to be comfortable I was a bit worried that I couldn't see exactly what was going on where she was. So I asked her to move into the whelping box and she lay on her side, still looking pretty uncomfortable. We could then see her muscles moving in a contraction, and a small white bag like a water balloon appeared from her vulva. I could see a little bit of something that looked like it might be puppy related (!), but really wasn't sure - I was expecting a nose or a foot! This was at 8.35am so the vets weren't quite there to ask, but I left a message with the receptionist for Andy the vet to call back.

Meanwhile I made the decision that it really wasn't the "black, fluid filled bag" of water - this was likely a bag with a puppy in it, so I held her tummy just in front of her hind legs (as it had described in the book) to help her contractions focus on getting the 'bag' out. At the same time I tried to provide the "gentle traction" downwards to persuade the bag to come out, but it was all slippy and not very easy to grip at all! Whilst I was trying to do that it popped, so then I'm thinking "Eek, need to get puppy out now it hasn't got its protective bag round it", grabbed the little body and out the first little pup popped! The little bit of something that I'd seen in the bag had been a tail (feet first - breech birth), hence the difficulties in being born. Our first puppy - a gorgeous red & white boy! Since both parents have to be carriers of the red gene to produce red puppies (as the gene is recessive), I was delighted to find out she was a carrier :)

Welcome to the world baby boy!

After that I'd have to describe the process as something approaching shelling peas! I don't recall it being so easy when I was having my boys, that's for sure! 1st pup was born at 8.50am, then 2nd pup at 9.00am, 3rd pup at 9.20am, 4th pup at 9.40am, and 5th at 10.00am. Like clockwork, as I say Ella made it look remarkably easy - a couple of pushes and pop - puppy! At that point we thought we were pretty much set, but then my Ella has always known how to surprise me. After a little rest the 6th puppy arrived at 11.30am, then the 7th and final puppy at 11.50am.

The Borderspirit boys :)

Andy our vet was very helpful at the end of the phone, and just to be sure that we were all done I also had him pop out to check on Ella to make sure we shouldn't be waiting for anybody else! He had a feel but thought not, and she was also much more settled by then and her waistline (astonishingly!) was looking a lot more like its old self. I wish my tummy could bounce back like that! ;)

Ella has given me some incredible experiences already so far, taking me out of my nemesis of Grade 1 KC Agility and showing me that actually that was nothing, why not push for Grade 6 whilst we're about it. Our last show of this season was Prestbury Park where we had an amazing run to win G6 Agility, our first towards G7. That was a pretty cool day, but it pales into insignificance when compared to watching her give birth to her special litter of puppies.

My wonderful, irreplaceable girl with her precious puppies :)

We had the most amazing day welcoming Ella & Tigger's precious puppies into the world. I was in the privileged position of midwife throughout and I was so thrilled to be alongside her as she met each of her puppies, and touched that she was happy for me to handle them and be involved in the whole process. Our bond was pretty strong before, but I think it may have even shifted up a few more gears from there.

So the first Borderspirit litter has arrived! So far it would seem that we have been blessed with strong, healthy little puppies that appear to be thriving with the love and attention their wonderful mother is bestowing on them. The agility community has embraced and rejoiced at their entrance into the world, in the way that any family does. New friendships have been forged between those involved, with links that will no doubt remain in place for a lifetime. Many good homes have been found for these precious little ones, and preparations for their homecomings are being lovingly planned. Life is good :)

Today I am grateful that not only do we have some amazing puppies, but most importantly, their extraordinary mother is thriving and well. Whilst the pups will be fabulous, their mother is one of a kind and I couldn't be without her :)

Kennel Club Good Citizen Listed Status!

I was delighted to get home and find a pack from the Kennel Club  in my post box welcoming me to their Good Citizen dog training scheme! Whilst we've been making plans for this for a while, I was anxiously awaiting official confirmation to join the scheme - and now it's here! We have a smart certificate (with an admittedly mis-spelt name!) to prove it :)

Interest in the classes has already been keen without any advertising - can't wait to get started now! Just the little thing of Ella giving birth at the weekend and her puppies around the house for the next 8 weeks to go... ;)

Towards the end of the pregnancy

We're coming towards the end of Ella's pregnancy and her waistline has long since disappeared! Since day 40 of her gestation she's been wormed daily with liquid wormer that has seen me adding a little wet food to disguise the taste - that seems to have gone down well ;)

We also had to start feeding her 3 meals a day not long after that as the poor girl seems to be forever hungry. However now she can't eat a lot in one go and she's really good at regulating herself so she doesn't make herself so full that she's sick.

The whelping box has been up for a couple of weeks now and at the beginning of this week we picked up a head pad for the puppies from the wholesalers. Ella has been sleeping in her box at night to give her respite from the naughty sheltie puppy she currently mothers, as I remember how precious sleep was from my own pregnancy! She seems more comfortable than I was, perhaps because of all the great treatment she receives from the SMART clinic. She had her last visit before the puppies on Monday where Lowri gave her some acupuncture, but no treadmill for the expectant mother. Lowri commented on how strong her stomach muscles must be because they're doing a great job of keeping all those puppies in there - her tummy is like a drum now!

My beautiful girl :)

Last weekend we met another prospective puppy owner who made the journey from Cheltenham down to see Tigger in Honiton, before seeing us in Yatton on their way back.  It was great to see such effort made, makes you realise people are really serious about finding  'the one'! Definitely another forever home found for one of these precious puppies, and some new good friends made too :)

On Tuesday we popped in for our first appointment at the new vets we've registered with, Watkins & Tasker. We loved being clients of Sue Yeo, but as her out of hours care has been transferred to a surgery over 45 minutes away from us, we knew it wouldn't be sensible for Ella if she needed any help with labour. The appointments were for Kai & Tinker (one of our cats) and were just for routine vaccinations, but it was good to have been in and seen the surgery. If we need any help now it'll only be 5 or 15 minutes away and that's much better for my peace of mind :)

On a less practical note we found ourselves wandering around Comet yesterday for Mike's birthday present of a new camera - okay so I might enjoy using it too ;) His old camera was bought for his trip to Hawaii in his days as a single, carefree man many moons ago - it's showing signs of wear and tear now, and it needed replacing so we had a reliable way of recording the puppies lives as newborns and as they grow :)

So at Thursday now and could be expecting the arrival of these puppies from Saturday onwards. We're pretty confident about the date as Ella was blood tested during her season so we know exactly when she ovulated. But then of course Mother Nature could always throw us a curved ball, so we're watching Ella closely just to be sure! We're really lucky to have many people offering to help with whelping advice, child care, dog care (for Kai & Diva), and lots of wonderful good wishes. It brings home to me how much the agility community is a family and how we're all excitedly awaiting these puppies as new members to it.

So today we're doing our normal thing of taking my Grandma to the Post Office/ shopping/ lunch extravaganza - another exhausting day, but it's lovely to see the children spending time with their Great-grandmother. This evening will have to be devoted to getting everything together for Daybreak's tax return so that the decks are clear for the weekend. There's nothing like working to a deadline for getting things done ;)

Today I'm grateful for husband who has supported me this week by taking some time off work to ease the load. Don't know what I'd do without him :)

Article by Sue Kinchin for all you BC lovers out there

What is Your Border Collie NOT Good At?

Understanding the collie brain... When Lee Windeatt first started training his Border collie Shy, he fell for the myth that agility dogs had to be hyped up around the agility ring to be competitive. So he followed everyone else and hyped her up. He's now  have learnt his lesson and attempts to do the opposite. When he came across the following article by Sue Kinchin, he was so impressed with the sentiment behind it that he asked the author if he could share in with other agility folk in order to give them a better understanding of their collie. Although we write 'collie brain,' we are sure the underlying principles apply to most breeds to some extent. If you have a Border Collie, you have a very special dog - a dog that is intelligent, sensitive, eager to please and very quick to learn. Sounds like the perfect pet? Yes, with our help they can make wonderful pets, but we need to remember that when we take one of these very special and complex dogs into our homes we have a responsibility to try to understand all the factors that make a Border Collie what it is. The more we can understand our Border Collies the less likely it is that we, and our collie, will encounter serious problems. Border Collies have been bred for generations in a very specific and restricted environment for a very specific task and, as a breed, are relative new-comers to life as pets. Some cope very  well and others struggle. It is our duty to try to understand these beautiful, clever creatures and to help them to cope. We can easily find books that tell us what Border Collies have been bred for. We will be warned about their sensitivity to movement and tendency to chase things and about the fact that they need to have their brains occupied, but what we are not generally asked to think about are those characteristics that are not necessary in a working sheepdog, but which make life easier for a pet dog. Anyone who has owned Border Collies will be aware that they are generally cautious dogs. Without intensive and sensitive socialisation as puppies, they are often wary of people, intolerant of unfamiliar dogs and anxious about anything new or changing. Even with intensive socialisation, some retain these characteristics. Border Collies are prone to being affected by a single bad experience and have poor 'bounce back' when something goes wrong for them. They are very sensitive to reprimands, but equally crave guidance and instruction. Because they are very sensitive to movement, any fast movement that they cannot control can be very disturbing to them. No wonder so many Border Collies hate traffic. Remember though, it is this sensitivity and intelligence that we find so appealing. So why are they like this? Why can life upset them so easily? To understand our collies fully, we need not only to consider what they have been bred for, but also what they have not been bred for. do not interfere with this task are likely to be ignored. Over the generations your Collie has NOT been bred to:- Cope with noise Collies need to have very acute hearing to hear and interpret a shepherd's signals at a great distance, but sheep farms are generally quiet places and their sensitive hearing does not cause them problems. Urban and domestic life bombards our dogs with noise and this can cause them extreme stress. Be aware of this and if necessary protect your dog from excessive noise. Speak quietly to your Collie, he doesn't need you to shout at him.   Cope with change Sheep farms tend to be relatively unchanging places, there are sheep, the shepherd and his family, the barn where the dog sleeps and an odd tractor or car. Sheep dogs don't generally need to cope with change. Every time our urban collie leaves home the street outside will probably have changed (new vehicles, new people, rubbish skips etc.). Just going out for a walk, even if the dog looks forward to his walk, can generate stress and we need to be aware of this and help him to cope.   Cope with the presence of strangers/visitors or groups of people Sheep farms tend to be isolated places. It is not necessary to be at ease with people to be a good working sheep dog. In a pet home our dogs are surrounded by many strange people in the street and visitors to the home. If you get your Collie as a puppy make sure he is sensitively socialised to people at an early age. If he is older respect the fact that he may find meeting strange people stressful. Cope with the presence of strange dogs Apart from the familiar dogs with similar characteristics that live on the farm with them, working sheepdogs are unlikely to need to mix with other dogs. As pet owners we expect them to meet a lot of strange dogs, many with appalling “dog manners”, and often with our dog on lead so that it does not have the option of running away. Even if your collie does not react aggressively in these situations he could well be very stressed. Many sheepdogs will never leave their farms so traditionally they haven't really needed  to get on with other dogs or unfamiliar people. Sociability and resilience are not characteristics that have historically been important in the development of the Border Collie. Although your dog may not be directly from working stock, it will still have many of the characteristics inherited from generations of working sheep dogs and equally he may not have inherited those characteristics that would make life in a pet home easier for him. Shepherds are the experts with Border Collies and we can learn a lot from them. Yes, we've all heard of harsh and callous shepherds, but many value their dogs very highly, not just as working dogs but also as members of their family. Watch a sheepdog working It is referring back to the shepherd for guidance all the time. His impulses to chase and control movement are under very tight control. The shepherd is guiding the dog and the dog is exhibiting self-control. Ideally, this is how we want our collie to be with us. If he is checking in with us to find out what to do next, not only is he under control and less likely to get himself into trouble, but he is also getting reassurance from us. He doesn't have to worry. We will tell him what to do in any situation. Encourage your dog to look to you for guidance. It shouldn't be too hard. It's in his genes! Watch the shepherd, too You just don't see excitable shepherds. An excitable shepherd would mean an excited dog and scattered sheep! Be a calm owner. Think about this if you are considering Agility or Flyball with your Collie. A good working sheep dog is fast and has lightning reflexes, but is not in a state of over-excitement. Teach your dog calmly what you want him to do. If he understands and is enjoying what he is doing, he will do his best. After all he has been bred from generations of dogs selected for their willingness to work as a team with their handler. There is no need for your dog to be roused to a hysterical state for it to perform well, and it is bad for its mental and physical health to be in such a state. If your dog shows signs of stress or gets over-excited ask yourself if this is really the best activity for him. A final thought When a working sheepdog is not working alongside the shepherd he is shut away in a quiet, non-stimulating  place to rest and recover and to keep him out of mischief! Importantly, adrenalin levels that have probably been quite high while he is working now have a chance to return to normal. Your sensitive, alert pet Collie is being bombarded with information from his environment all the time. Make sure he has plenty of opportunity to rest in a secure, non-stimulating place where he can relax. Think Border Collies, think working sheepdogs... maximise their strengths, understand and respect their weaknesses. Author credit... Sue Kinchin has owned and trained a variety of dogs including BOrder Collies for over 30 years. She's had adolescent rescue collies and also collie pups from the age of eight weeks. At the moment, she owns two Border Collies - 12 year old Mist and 7 year old Glen, both from working stock. As a keen hill walker in the past, she has always had an interest in working collies and a particular interest in how they fare in pet homes. Currently Sue instructs at pet dog training classes and she does one-to-one training and behaviour consultations. Recently she started holding Border Collie evenings for owners of pet collies who need advice on collie ownership and activities to keep their collies occupied, but calm. Sue is a member of the APDT 00922. For more information, email: suekinchin@btinternet.com Photos with kind permission of Andy Nickless: The Working Sheepdog Web site You can see more wonderful images of Border Collie Sheepdogs - Off Duty on Andy's DVD. Available from Agility Warehouse First published: 07/11/10

Unexpected rewards

For those of you that know me I think you'd describe my relationship with my dogs and their training a bit of a passion. They do take up rather a significant amount of my time and income, but I certainly wouldn't want it any other way. Teaching for a living seemed a natural progression to this love affair as I want the people I teach to be enthused to enjoy their dogs to the full, as sadly we don't get to keep them nearly so long as we would like.

My dogs have led me to meet many people, a few who've gifted me with some important information on my dog training journey, and many others who've come to join me as friends in the bigger journey of my life. Today I was reminded of just how lucky I am to be doing the job I do.

I met Sally Comport and Max a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel sometime ago now on one of our beginner agility classes. By her own admission Max's real problem was his recall and she hoped agility would strengthen their bond and improve his recall in the process. What we find on our current agility classes is how many people are led to agility in a similar way to Sally & Max, that even those who have  successfully attended classes in community halls haven't found a formula that works in the distractions of everyday life. Our training field offers many real life distractions such as rabbit poo, other dogs smells, wildlife scents, to name but a few. 

I'm so glad Sally found her way to our classes, not least because of how helpful she found the instruction in building on her relationship with Max. For the last few weeks I've been enjoying her company on our daily walks as Sally still finds it difficult to trust Max not to take fright at something and take off into the distance. Happily Max takes a lot of confidence from being with my dogs and looks happy and relaxed when out with us, and as such Sally's been enjoying watching him run around off lead. Sometimes just a bit of moral support can go a long way, and really that's all I've thought of our walks as being.

So imagine my surprise and delight to be presented with a rather large gift at the end of our walk this afternoon, with a lovely message on a card to go with it! From someone who started as a client, but quickly turned into a friend - the unexpected rewards in life are part of what makes it all so interesting and enjoyable. Thank you Sally & Max! :-)

Today I am grateful for the friendships which enrich my life :-)