Changes

Autumn has gone missing! It was definitely October last time I checked the calendar, almost November. The only reason you would really know is because of the leaves falling and the nights drawing in. Other than that you would think it was still summer as it is strangely warm for this time of year. Somehow it just doesn’t feel right! I want to be wearing hats and scarves for bonfire night, not shorts and a t shirt! (ok well maybe not that far, but you know what I mean) I guess I will live to regret saying that come January, but for now I am kind of missing that autumn feeling. The good weather has meant that we have had some lovely walks recently. Dogs aren’t allowed on the beach during daytime hours in the summer, so ours don’t often venture down there. But from September they can go down when they like, and it has been lovely to have some great beach walks in the warm sun.


This afternoon I went to wave my gran off on her holidays. She is going on a cruise for almost a month........but wait until you hear where! Antarctica!! I am not going to say how old she is, as a lady never discloses her age, but needless to say she is my grandmother, so you can guess the rest. And she is going for a whole month, on an Antarctic expedition, following the footsteps of Ernest Shackelton on his polar voyage. Is she crazy? Certainly brave!! They will be navigating some of the roughest seas in the world. I really hope she has a fantastic time and that it is everything she hopes. It is her 'trip of a lifetime' and something she has always wanted to do. The fact that I will be sitting here worrying about her every move is neither here nor there! Geez is she trying to give me a heart attack? Its normally her worrying about me....this time the tables are well and truly turned! I only hope I am as tenacious when I am older!

So on to other news and we are moving house! Can you believe it was 15 months ago that we decided we wanted to move across the water and it feels as if we are no closer at all in some ways. Frustrating! Just when we thought we were all sorted, life threw a whole load of unexpected stuff at us! I guess it is all part of a greater plan……..hmmm at least that is what I keep telling myself. So for now we are moving within Jersey and every spare minute is spent packing and sorting. God I hate moving!

This is going to be a really strange move for me, as we are going to the house that my great grandmother lived in when I was a child. She passed away 7 months ago and I took my grandmother back to look around the property last weekend. Neither of us had been in there for 10 years, as my great grandmother spent her final years in a care home. It brought back an amazing amount of memories, some good and some bad. It is going to be very strange to live there anyway, for however long, that’s for sure!

Then of course we have the other side of the coin, leaving the house where we are! And that is going to make me very sad indeed. I love my house. Lots. It is so perfect for us, but more importantly for the dogs! None of our current dogs have ever known anywhere but here as their home. This house was our first home together after we were married and it was the first place that I really felt was ‘home’ since I originally moved out at 18. Still, life moves on, and no matter how much we like the house where we are we have to be sensible. At the end of the day it isn’t ours and never will be. This place holds a lot of memories though, of all sorts of things. And sadly of some dogs who aren’t with us anymore and will be left here, in their favourite place under the trees. God I am sentimental aren’t I? I don’t have a picture of Chloe or Alfie on the computer as that was prior to our digital days. But take my word for it, they were perfect.

After all this sentimentality Paul brings me straight down to earth with a bump and reminds me that our house has no heating, no double glazing, rising damp, a small but thriving lizard population in the front porch and is starting to fall down!! Rose tinted glasses?? Ok maybe just slightly, but it still won’t make me any less sad to leave. Perfection takes many forms!

So a new chapter begins! Lets hope it’s as good as the last one!

Happy Birthday Smudge

Today is Smudge's 3rd birthday. I cannot believe how quickly time is going. It seems like only yesterday that he was that tiny puppy!

And what a wonderful three years we have had! This dog has given me more than I can possibly say and I am so lucky that he shares my life. Thanks Smudgelet - here's to many more!!

His birthday began with a nice breakfast at a beach cafe (ok so maybe that was more for us than him :)) and then a long walk on the beach. My young cousins came and joined us and they all had a great time!! The girls loved being able to walk the dogs down to the beach on their leads. I am always really proud of my dogs around children. They are so gentle and very patient, but then I guess it helps that both girls know how to behave around dogs too. Scooby even plays tug with Erin (who is only 4) and considering the size of him and the strength he has, showed great self control and was very considerate of her. It's great for us to have access to such sensible children so that the dogs can get used to them.

And I love this picture of Maisie - look at those teeth!!!!!!

Later at home, Smudge decided that as it was his birthday he would just like to try and help himself to our chicken. Well why not? Bad sheltie dog!

And after a hard day's celebrating, he finally crashed!!

And so the season draws to an end.......

We finished our UK season with Stour Valley and Trent Park. I loved Stour Valley and will definetely be going back. It's on a beautiful venue, in a really nice part of the country. The day parking is fantastic as it is right next to the rings, so I could watch what was happening and didn't have to keep running back to check if the course was ready for walking!! It was a lovely relaxing day. As an added bonus Smudge won the 5-7 Jumping, on a tricky course, so I was really pleased with that!

Unfortunately we hadn't entered Stour Valley on the Sunday, instead we headed off to Trent Park which was a shame as it wasn't quite as nice! The venue was on a steep hill and was very bumpy!! The exercise area was the size of a postage stamp and was part of the car park, so the more cars that turned up, the smaller the exercise area got, and the more dangerous it became as the cars were driving right through where you were walking!! I know it's a day show, so the need for a large area isn't as great, but I do still like to let mine stretch their legs and have a run after a long drive, especially for the non competing dogs.

The nice thing about this weekend was that we decided to turn it into a mini holiday and stayed in a cottage in Hastingleigh. It was really high up above the South Downs and had the the most amazing views. They were very accomodating and although they normally only accept two dogs made a special exception and allowed us to bring our four. It was so nice to get back to a proper sofa and a comfy bed instead of a tent or a caravan!! What luxury!!

So now Autumn is here, and I don't think we will be doing any more shows in the UK this year, although I am trying to get some time off work to go for a few training sessions.

My winter project is going to be contacts (surprise surprise!). After a brief flirtation with the idea of retraining running contacts I have decided that I will persevere with stopped. A long and detailed analysis of my contacts this season, plus snippets of advice from some very helpful people :) has brought me to a conclusion and from there I have developed a plan. I think the problem is three fold:

1. The old classic....Not enough proofing! Lots more work needed on actually trying to make him miss them. I am so used to 'setting him up for success' that it is hard to change my mindset and set him up to fail!

2. Jekyll and Hyde syndrome!
In training Smudge is angelic. "Me? Miss a contact? Never!!" :) In the ring he can be a devil "Contacts? What contacts? No don't make me, the yellow bit is electrified!!" Clearly in training I am not creating the same adrenaline rush and excitement that he gets in the ring.

So, up to now I have walked Smudge as normal on training days. However, that means he gets to training nice and calm, very attentive and trotting around like the perfect little sheltie. But I need to train him when he is in 'demon mode'!! So as tough as it is, he now gets no walk on training day (much to his disgust when he sees the others go out). He also has to sit in the car whilst I teach the first two classes, so by the time I get him out at the end to do my own training I have a tazmanian devil on my hands, much more like Smudge in the ring! Now I can work on harnessing that into doing what I want!!!

3. To correct point 1 above, I have been doing all sorts of things whilst he is getting into position (thorwing toys etc). Do the obstacle alone, and he gets it perfectly, waiting for the release. Do 2-3 obstacles before and he still gets it. Do a longer sequence and he busts. But watching it back on video you can see that he does try to stop, he just can't anchor himself firmly enough to stick! It seems like the more speed he builds up beforehand, the harder he finds it to stop. He just cannot physically do it. Back to lots of work on his core stability I think. Over winter I am going back to doing lots of work on this and hopefully that will help him to be able to transfer his weight appropriately and stop on there no matter how fast he is going!
Lots to work on during the dark winter nights! And they will be here sooner than we think. I love walking at the moment as the leaves are falling, and there is the feeling of autumn in the air. A couple of people near where we live have started to light their fires in the evening this week, and that smell in the air is gorgeous!! I think autumn is one of my favourite seasons :)

And finally, a pic of Maisie in her new bed.....doesn't she look comfortable and snug? Sadly she hasn't been well again recently, so is very appreciative of her plush bed. She's a little tough cookie though and is not letting anything get her down! :)


P.S This blog post was brought to you with the kind assistance of a very bad sheltie..........