Woooo very excited to find out Bella has qualified for the finals weekend at Delinquent Dogz in July, what a little star she is :)

24/25 May 09 Delinquent Dogz

Well what a fab 2 days of weather we had, I have lovely lobster arms to prove it. Considering we haven't been to training for the last 4 weeks I think Bella did very well, we didn't manage a clear round but she did better on her contacts and worked some tricky traps nicely, Im sure we will get there with a bit more time she certainly isn't losing any of her speed.

Bellas Agility Progress

Oct 08 - First Competition - E'd from all 4 runs due to being a giddy mare
Nov 08 - E'd from all 4 runs started to calm a little towards the end of the day
Dec 08 - Finally managed a clear round with an added bonus of 3rd place in jumping what a star
Apr 09 - Our 2nd clear round being placed 1st with the jammiest contacts you've seen in 29.36 seconds

My favorite Bella pictures

My favorite Zak pictures

My favorite Henry pictures

Lets kick it off :)

I decided to do this blog as my dogs are a huge part of my life and I think I bore people yapping on about them all the time, so if I write it here even if no one looks I can read the things they have been up too. I acquired my first dog Henry 10 years ago, he was my mother-in-laws dog, unfortunately as she was moving into a flat she couldn't take him so he came to live with us and life never been quite the same again!! Because hubby and I where working full time and Henry was used to a busy house he got lonely, even though my mum visited daily it just wasn't enough he started getting up to more and more mischeif even ripping a 3ft hole in the middle of the living room carpet one night so enters Zak, why not have double the trouble ;) I wasn't sure about a GSD as found big dogs scary but hubby said they are brilliant, they had a lovely girl as they where growing up. So we bought this bundle of fluff at 6 weeks old from someone in the paper, Henry was lovely looking after him hes a real mummy dog, bless him. As Henry is such a lovely natured dog I didn't realise Zak was quite nervous when he was young and being a very inexperienced owner the importance of walking Zak alone to help build up his confidence. To make matters worse he was bitten at 6 months by a Jack Russell who was poking his head out his garden gate and tried to drag Zak in by his nose, Ouch!! My vet at the time (after having great difficulty even looking at his nose) told me to keep an eye on it and let it fully heal over the next few weeks before I took him out in case it became infected. I naively followed the advice given and didn't realise what results it would have, when we finally started back walking Zak had transformed into this maniac on a lead barking, lunging at everything and everyone. This is why I started training, we didn't have any clubs near us so I just read every book I could find and tried to understand what I could do to sort him out. After lots and lots of work and plenty of tears and tantrums, me not the dog, hes started to improve. I used my sister and her dog to get him used to dogs approaching, walking past etc, I would not give up on him. I also realised I wasn't helping by being nervous every time I was taking him so started using a haltie/muzzle (depending where we where) which made me relax and so did Zak. Poor boy hes never tried to bite a dog he just is a bit of a bully when playing so we have to be careful. Once I was happy with there he had reach I decided to get another dog, I'd always wanted 3 and thought a younger one might help keep my aging boys young. This time I had a better idea what I was looking for and bought Bella from a breeder with all the health checks etc. I do think I was too over protective with Bella though as I didn't want to have to go through what I did with Zak again as sometimes they can only learn things off other dogs but hind sight is a wonderful thing. Bella is from working lines but I didn't realise what that meant hihi I'd never met a dog with so much energy and she just wants to please you all the time, bless her. I managed to find a training club when she was about a year old and we started doing some clicker training, teaching basic tricks which she picked up very quickly. We then went on to do all 3 levels of the Good Citizen Scheme which she really enjoyed. We had a few taster sessions in flyball which she loved but we needed another 3 people but no one seemed interested, although I think she would have done all 4 runs herself hihi. Then last year we enrolled on an agility course which she loved and I enjoyed it too. We entered our first competition at Deliquent Dogz in Oct 2008 where she was E'd for all 4 runs as she was sooooo excited that she barked and span around taking the jumps the wrong way :) Our next competition, DD, in Nov she did a little better and was starting to listen but it still wasn't quite a clear round. So back we went in Dec and wooo she did it not only a clear round in jumping but also 3rd place I was over the moon. We then had a long wait until Easter for our next competition we where so excited we had a nice day on the Sunday but did have faults in all 4 runs too excited I think. On the Monday I took Henry as a supporter as its a great place to meet new doggy pals, well he must be our new lucky mascot as Bella or flukey lou managed a 1st place in agility with the luckiest contacts ever. We are all set and ready for the next bank holiday :D