Poles refresh

We have not been able to train weaves for about 10 days .... Today was our first day back at it. Two missed entries but not too bad otherwise :) 

Boland rt - day 2

Arrived at the RT thinking I was prepared for all weather: gazebo, , side nets, side sheets, gumboots, rain suit... Waterproof this and that etc!! But today the gazebo stayed at half mast, I could not use the side sheets as the wind got hold of them and it was either gonna be a broken gazebo pole or a broken side sheet....so I took them down! Eventually the four of us sat shivering in the middle of the gazebo, the wind blew the rain in so hard a puddle formed, so the Jack russel was eventually on top of the crates!! 

Anyway we had a fun day :)) 

Spy had another iffy day.... To her credit two of her runs where in the middle of a DownpouR!!!

Mika had a very balanced weekend: two contact qualifications and two jumping dqs....

We are now exhausted .... :) last day tomorow 

Boland RT - day 1

It was a beautiful day in Somerset west.... First on the schedule were the games - Gamblers and Snooker :) 

Mika had a brilliant day: in the gamblers we missed the gamble sequence time by 0,6sec!! Can you believe - think it was my fault, I took forever to get her to the start of the gamble!!!! In the snooker we qualified and got a first

Spy had an iffy day :) terrible gamblers round ... !! Qualified and won her snooker round

The 'real' stuff starts tomorow :) 

MILLBROOK HYDRO

I am very excited about a new aspect of our training.... Swimming!! There are a number of reasons why I decided that all 3 of my dogs are going to learn to swim confidently, the main ones are 1: muscle tone (we all know swimming has long been known for being great for the muscles); 2: they need to learn to swim and not be scared of the water :)) 

Our first session at Millbrook Hydro with Amanda Young was this past saturday :) Spy, Mika and Cal did SO well! Each was fitted with a life jacket and then into the water :) both Spy and Mika were not so sure of the water but I think they will get over that pretty quick in this safe environment..... My little champ Cal didn't have any such worry... After a while he swam by himself!

Thanks Amanda, thanks Nadine for pics 

My Mika .... Getting her massage (above)

And swimming :) (below) 

Mika telling Cal how it's done! 

6 + 6

Ok... So the boy (ie Cal) is really luving his weave pole training and has progressed to 6 + 6!!!! No video yet... Will film and load by next week

Six or Stix....

Cal is doing six straight weave poles!!!! :)) so now it's time to fine tune the striding, a little proofing... And then it's on to six plus six!! 

SuperFly...

This is Mika mastering the 'swimmers turn' ... It has taken some time to learn but she is now doing me proud :) 

Happy Birthday .....

Mackland Rev It Up aka Cal turned 1 today!!! I cannot believe my boy is a year old.... It's gone by so quickly and we have had soooo much fun. This is him with his brother Rush and sister Finn, celebrating :))

Grahamstown Shows 

    

This past weekend we travelled to Grahamstown to take part in the shows....on Friday and Saturday it felt like we were back in Bloemfontein....freeeeezing!!! 

I was so pleased with Mika's rounds. We only had one elimination out of 6! Also, she was SO enthusiastic... Knocked quite a few jumps but she was SOOO happy that I couldn't be upset. The highlight of our weekend was on the Sunday.... She had already knocked one jump so I knew we didn't have much to lose.... About 3m from the next obstacle I shouted 'go round' and the meeks got it....was so pleased :)))

Spy had a steady weekend, even managed a few flat out runs!! :))

Cal also did good work, we did the next step of the 2x2 weaves. With huge distractions and a new venue 

Overall very pleased with my furkids

Bloemfontein After . .

 Still recovering from my trip to the Bloemfontein
shows :) Really was Very memorable, one of my best :)

On the right is my interprovincial team ; we ended our two rounds on 30 faults. . . not bad at all :))
Nadine Shortland and Q
Samantha Stedman and Spy
Samantha Wainwright and Brandi

 This is my Mika with her rosettes. She really had a great weekend, we had a few solid, good rounds (even one qualification) still much room for improvement in my handling but I am SOOO pleased my girl had a happier time than last year :)

As for Cal . . he had a great time. meeting people and dogs, seeing the excitement of a big show. Learning to train with major distractions as well as deal with intense cold and even snow!!!! :)


To those fellow competitors I stayed with and sat with .. . thank you, it was awesome :)
To Nadine . . thanks for the stunning photos

Bloemfontein Before . . .

This weekend we go to Bloemfontein for one of our biggest shows of the year. I have been watching the weather and it is going to be FREEZING!!!! so before my brain freezes .. my goals :)

Very simple this year 1. to stay calm and relaxed as my dogs jump best this way
                                2. to run my rounds with the same attitude I do in training, this too keeps my dogs calm
                                3. If I keep the above attitude I should end up with the smooth rounds I am looking for,
                                     this in turn should result in at least 1 or 2 qualifications :)
                                4. have fun

Good luck to all my fellow competitors, pack warm and drive safe

Open Shows

This past weekend, we had two open shows here in Port Elizabeth. I Judged on the Saturday but made it a condition that I be allowed to run my dogs as "white" dogs. I know however that this is not Mika's best work situation. Her contact round was lovely . . smooth, great contacts, working well. Her non contact round was abysmal . . . she was fed up at being shut in for so long and let me know :) she had calmed down again by the dog jumping round.

Was very pleased with her rounds on Sunday. Had a few bars down in the non contact and in the dog jumping . . but smooth and happy like I was aiming for :) Her contact round was going well until I said "bendies" and Mika said ok that means Aframe!! the rest of the round my eldest girl worked like a star . . was just the build up I wanted going into the  Bloemfontein shows.

My Jack Russell has been out for a week with a toe injury and this weekend marked her return. I could not have asked for more from her. Her rounds were also exactly the build up I wanted.

Cal did contact training as well as more 2x2 weave work . . he is working very well at different venues with many distractions. He is ALWAYs ready to learn and to work . . my Boy

Thanks Nadine at Maddog for the photos :)

National Agility League and shows

I have been working quite hard at keeping Mika happy in her rounds. Aiming for smooth rounds, not worrying too much about the bars, concentrating on good, smooth handling with Mika motivated to work well with me.

In both the National agility league and show: Mika had solid contact rounds and WILD non contact rounds . . . however I havent been too worried by that. If I can get that kind of drive and leave the bars up I will be over the moon :)

between rounds I have started 2x2 weaves with Cal, he is really so amped to work  . . its so great to train a dog that is SO keen :) The weaves have been as big a learning curve for me as for him, its my first time using this method of training.

Agility Workshop . .

On the 14th & 15th of July we had an agility workshop . . . . On Friday it started to rain and it simply NEVER stopped!! Luckily, one of our happy band of handlers managed to organise a horse barn for us to work in :)) we were most grateful and as a bonus, our dogs learnt to work in sawdust.

Weather aside: I so, so enjoyed the workshop. It highlighted where Mika and I have work to do . . but while doing the quite challenging sequences, I realised there is a lot we can do. It was very motivational as it showed us what we ARE capable of,  if we just believe :) I came away exhausted, muddied but INSPIRED :)

thank you Noelene

Standstill Braveheart For Mackland

Mansted wishes to welcome the RED boy to the Bay!! :))

Knysna: Day three

The sun came out at Last! :) Only one contact round to go and it would be all over!!

Mika had a steady round but missed her contact on the dog walk, I put her back in position and was eliminated. I was really not too stressed as she has had an excellent weekend

Spy  . . . Had a cracker of a round and got A GOLD MEDAL! :)))

The roundup for the weekend was like this . . . 


Mika ended up with 2 firsts (2 qualifications) and a third (1 qualification). We need to do some work on the contacts BUT her attitude was gr8, I was so happy with the change. I really hope to keep her enjoying her agility like this  :)

Spy ended up with 1 gold medal, 1 silver medal and a third place. She was second overall in the toy category, second in the nationals in the toy category. I was SO impressed with her rounds over the weekend.

Overall we achieved our goals and an excellent weekend had by all :))






(thank you to Riette Mohr for the photos)

Knysna: Day two

 . . Turned out even COLDER than yesterday . . never made it over 12 degrees!!

Spy: Because of the chilly weather she had a GR8 day! Was running like a little demon! For 3 out of the 4 rounds she even made the course times (which for Spy means she was running her heart out!!) In the 4th round she leapt into the tunnel instead of going up the A-frame . . . o dear we're out of luck! One elimination on the board!

Mika:  We eliminated our first 2 rounds BUT . . was not a disaster. One was the first time in a higher Jumping grade and the other she was hyper and I handled badly!!  Round 3 was quick, smooth and a qualification was gained. In round 4, I was happy overall but we missed a contact on the dog walk.  I put her back on, so we were eliminated.  Mika's attitude so far has been so happy, so focused :))

Thank goodness we managed to get through all the rounds before the heavens opened!

Knysna: Day one

Mika had a cracking day :))  First on the schedule were the games . . Gamblers . . and a qualification!! Then Snooker and an oops! wrong jump due to bad handling and an unfortunate elimination. Next up was a jumping round . . we went clear and received a qualification!!

(photo from Jackie Duncan Smith)

Spy:  It was our first outing in a higher grade of the gamblers and it did not go well :))  A good, steady round in the Snooker earned us a qualification! Clear round in the jumping and overall happy with the day!

                   

Goals . .

This weekend (July 6-8) we are off to Knysna to compete in a Sadaa Southern Cape RT. I sat and thought about what I might want to achieve by the end of the weekend. . .

with Mika: 1 or 2 qualifications would be nice but I would be happy with consistently smooth, well run, happy attitude rounds :)

with Spy: she is a National qualifier and I would be very pleased with steady, accurate rounds

Looking forward to it!!

Fun in the Sun . .

Last Sunday once again dawned warm and sunny! We headed to training, organised to make a day of it.

My 2 black and whites thoroughly enjoyed their flyball training and are really learning the game fast!

Mika, Cal and Spy then tackled a speed circle with a contact included for the advanced dogs

A great day spent with friends; training, relaxing and having FUN :))
(thank you Nadine Shortland for the photo)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 . . . .

The training grounds are still very waterlogged so still difficult to drag contact equipment ( . .any equipment!) out onto the field, so . . I carried 5 sets of uprights to the bottom of the field, the ONLY dry patch!!
 I am a big believer in Susan Salo's gridwork (puppy jumping and foundation jumping) and that is what we set up today. I picked 2 fairly easy grids because it has been a little while since we were able to practice them :)

 Mika was first up . . For those who know anything about Susan Salo: I did a set point grid and an equal distance, equal height grid . . These are very helpful for Mika and I as we are really working hard on eradicating our jump knocking. Mika was concentrating well and worked through the grids with ease.

 Next ; for the first time I tried Cal with 5 jumps (so far only done 3 jump grids). Eased him into it slowly, started with 3 jumps and then building up. . He understood both grid concepts and worked through them very well . . Was so impressed with him!!

 My littlest ie Spy . . We did work with spreads, as this is where our weakness lies :) we have had a nice break and she enjoyed it

odds and ends. . .

Mika achieved her Canine Good Citizen (Gold) first out of my dogs . . she was easy to teach and passed the tests with the minimum of fuss :) who would have thought, when she was this size, that this is where we would be :))

photo courtesy of Ian Macfarlane






                  This is Cal receiving his Certificate for Canine Good
                    Citizen (bronze)  . . . probably the easiest dog to get
                    through, I have to admit! :)

  photo courtesy of MADDOG












 . . . . and this is the madame herself (the JRT) receiving her Canine Good Citizen (Gold) this achievement gave me the most satisfaction because Spy was honestly the most difficult to teach. When Spy did the tests she did not put a paw out of line!! :))



photo courtesy of MADDOG













                                                        

Learning to Fly . . . Ball :)

It has been almost a week since those at ManstedPaws managed to get any training done due to the LARGE amount of rain we have had, so when today dawned with blue skies, we headed out to have some fun!

Mackland Rev it Up had his first flyball lesson EVER! As shown in the picture there are 4 jumps in a lane. Cal learnt to wait while I walked out to the end of the lane, put the toy down and return to him. When I released him, he jumped all 4 jumps, driving to the toy. He enjoyed it, caught the game pretty quickly and was fast :)

Mika went back to her childhood :) We havent trained this since she was a pup. She remembered and had a great time driving over the jumps to the toy!!



(photos courtesy of Nadine Shortland)

. . And then there were 3

When Mika was 3 years old . . I got the opportunity to get a 2nd Border Collie . . but a boy this time. After listening to everybody's comments about how they don't work as well, not as lovable, they fight . .

Mackland Rev It Up aka CAL (thank you to Nadine Shortland) arrived in November 2011. Wow, I don't know how I ever lived without him!!

He is now 9months old and proved all those comments about males WRONG! He is Always ready to work, no matter what you might be doing. He is honestly my Most lovable dog. He is quick, clever, FAST  . . . he has already passed his bronze level Canine Good Citizen!!

Cal is currently not old enough to compete but has already started his agility training :))

Mackland Rev it up (Cal) and Mackland Steer the line (Finn) with myself and Nadine Shortland after the pups achieved the CGC (bronze)

Giftnell Lastofthhikings . . aka MIKA

When Spy was 2 years old, I caused WW3 in my house and put my name down for a Border Collie (from Giftnell Border Collies in Pretoria)

Thank you to Onel Orsmond for giving me my first 'black & white' :))

Mika was a revelation ! Arriving after the stubborn and often difficult nature of a terrier - she was a joy . . and her particular personality was so gentle - she soon won over all those who voted against her at home :)

Mika was, at the same time, a STEEP learning curve for me. She is clever and quick and I had to get up to speed with training and handling and like FAST!!  Especially when it came to training focus and agility skills! I have made LOTS of mistakes, learnt a LOT and would not swap her for anything!! She has taught me tons, forced me to become WAY more technical in my training.

Mika has taken a little while to mature, she is deeply sensitive and is affected by any kind of upset :) She is currently in Grade 1 agility, Grade 2 Non Contact agility and Grade 1 Dog jumping.

I recently read an editorial in Clean Run (June 2012) about a dogs JCS account - their Joy Confidence Speed account. I realised that I have been running 'safe' rounds to try go clear at all costs to get the qualification . . . . the problem with this is that Mika doesn't know me like this, I'm not like that at training . . and she reacts badly . . and then so do I. I need to concentrate on having fun with Mika and giving her confidence and then the good rounds should follow :)) an attitude adjustment!!

Mika and Spy after passing their CGC (silver)
(photo courtesy of Ian Macfarlane)

SPY

That is how I ended up getting JRT number two . . Spy :))
After my first rather bad experience , I decided to buy through a registered breeder. My dad bought her for me as a birthday present, from a Breeder in KZN.

Spy arrived on the plane from Durban in a modified plastic basket. I caught sight of her (and she of me) through the slats of the basket . . . it was luv at first sight (for me at least!). The man handling the cargo could not cut the cable ties off fast enough as this little rat of a thing was by now SCREAMING! . . and there began some of the best years of my life :)

She was SO tiny she could sit in my hand with room to spare. Spy is now 5 years old and achieved more than I ever thought possible. She was never bought for agility but although not the fastest agility dog, she is very steady and the "anchor" of a team :)

Currently in Grade 3 agility, Grade 3 Non contact agility, Spy has even managed to win 2 CC's in Grade 3 Dog jumping!!

But as I have mentioned her biggest contribution is in a team event - my littlest girl (along with 2 other "mini" dogs) has been part of the Eastern Province provincial team for at least 3 years now. Her jumping style and love of the tunnel has made my JRT a crowd favourite!

Our Greatest achievement to date is satisfying the requirements for Canine Good Citizen (gold level) . . .quite a feat for a 'terrierist' :)

In the Beginning .. .

I cant even begin to write this blog without at least giving you some of the background to it . . . .

For as long as I can remember I have wanted a dog, But for a whole host of reasons my parents never thought it practical.
So, I acquired my first dog at the ripe old age of 26!!! :)
He was an undocked, tan & white, Jack Russell Terrier named Jazz. Bought at a pet shop and to cut a long story short . . . .I had to have him put down after a month, the vets said  that they suspected he had a congenital birth defect. I came home one afternoon and he could not hear or see, almost like he had had a stroke!

Not a good start :(

Introducing. . .

Watch this space. . . Each of my 3 dogs is going to get their very own post, complete with mutt shot :)

p.s. the name Mansted comes from my grandmother .. . she owned a shop called Mansted's :)