Oren

Oren joined us in July 2016, she is now 1 year old, and a lovely addition to our family. Full title is Threenines Arran and she is from workinglines. Already is showing potential to be a good agility dog. Love training her, she is very clever and fast. Very much like Ruger in that she loves her toys and playing. The girls love her, Ruger still isn't convinced!!

Big Update

2015 was a mixed year. Ruger appeared to have a back issue, he started to duck out of weaves at no 10, so I had hime checked out and took some time away from agility, for rest and recuperation. It was nothing major. Brought him back to competition, towards the end of the agility season and he was running well, fitter and faster and listening more. We moved house to another country, North Wales :) so exciting times. With Ruger we started updating our skills and was enjoying doing so and looking forward to a prosperous 2016. In November 2015, Ruger qualified for Team GB at the FMBB (Belgian Shepherd World Championships) in France the following May. Two days after this he had a funny turn at agility, he didn't want to chase Zara around the arena, and when I asked him to jump he did but wasn't right, he spent the evening watching the other dogs do agility, lying at Deb's side and didn't once ask to take part. He normally would not let me train Zara without joining in. Following day he was ok, the vet could not find anything wrong with him, but gave him some painkillers and advised rest. 2 weeks later we started training again, no issues, he was keen and running really well. I had planned to rest him for January anyway before serious training in February to get ready for France in May. At Christmas he couldn't move, he was in lots of pain, took him to the local referral vets for xrays etc and they couldn't find anything wrong, his spine was perfect in lovely condition, no signs of wear and tear, they prescribed heavy duty painkillers and said to rest him. He seemed ok, but we asked for further investigation, an MRI scan showed he had a bulging disc in his neck. No one could say definitely if agility would harm him further, just maybe. We made the sad (for me) decision to retire him, but believe it was the best for him. He has adjusted well and is still a mad Mali that loves his toys and playing.

Zara was doing well, and at 9 years old was running better than ever, she was amazing. Then in January 2016, she had finished her run at training, ran to get her ball and her cruciate ligament ruptured :( We are lucky that our vet is a referral practice and has experts on hand 24/7 she had TPLO surgery and lots of physio. She is back fit and well, but I have retired from competitions as I wasn't happy that it was good for her. Could have been the cold weather as I ran her in veterans over the winter, and she looked lame to me. We still do some training but just a little and she is enjoying that, so she may reappear in veterans next year, if fit enough.

Picture of Ruger and Zara with matching bandages, and Mawgan on there of course!

Good start to outdoor season

Well our first outdoor show of 2015 saw Ruger win Grade 4 Agility, to take us to Grade 5!!!!! Wow good little Mali that he is, it was a tough course, I enjoyed it but lots of traps and had to worked all the way, he beat the 2nd place by 5 seconds :)
Last weekend was our first Grade 5 show and in his first run he got 3rd in Agility, actually could have won that but we took a rather long diversion between obstacles 10 to 13 lol, we also got 3rd in Grade 5 jumping too.
Zara had an amazing show she had 3 out of 4 clears, getting a 3rd place in Grade 5 Agility giving her enough points for her Silver Agility Warrant, so proud of her :) She got a clear in Grade 5 Jumping and 10th place in the 4th Height Jumping Qualifier.

Review of 2014

Had a great 2014, my best yet, as both Zara and Ruger worked well for the whole season. Mawgan is continuing to stay healthy with no visible changes to her hips :)

Zara started the year with clears and good places, shocking me in March by winning Grade 4 agility at Dog Vegas. She was very competitive at Grade 4 sadly not so at Grade 5, she's had plenty of clears but only one place, a 4th on a tough G4 to G7 agility course. She is now just 12 points off her Silver Agility Warrant, if she can manage that this year I will be well pleased with her. She has come so far from the scared little puppy that we met at Battersea, she's amazing.

here's her rosettes and trophy for 2014

Ruger had a good start to the season starting with 2 clears at his first show after a winter break, one being placed at G3. He continued with lots of places, getting his first trophy in March for 3rd in agility. He then got Best Grade 3 Belgian at the WBSDS show in April. In May he won a Jumping class at High Peak so on his way to Grade 4. In August he won G3 Agility at WBSDS, so up to Grade 4 :) He finished off the year with a 2nd in G4 agility and a first in G4 jumping, now for his winter break.

Ruger showing off his rosettes and trophies for 2014

Fab year, looking forward to 2015!!!

Catch up

Been very busy so haven't had a chance to update. We have had a brilliant year. Zara is getting clears at grade 5 but no places yet, but she is running well, most of the time. Ruger is going form strength to strength, getting places at every show except one, this year and not forgetting winning out of Grade 3 at WBSDS show at the start of August, good little Mali.

Top picture is of Zara at training, she's nearly 8 now and looking good, next picture is Mawgan who was 9 last week, she doesn't like having her picture taken, and especially with the other 2. Bottom picture is Zara and Ruger enjoying the lilies in my Mum and Dad's garden.

WBSDS

Not quite on form as last week, although not all E's for Ruger! He didn't want to weave first time but when put back was fine, so frustrating. His last run on Saturday was G3 jumping and was a reasonably tough course with turns and needing to listen. He ran a lovely clear to get 7th place, not bad out of 190 entries, and we could have had a better time but he went really wide on at least one turn, but we are in the process of training this, so well pleased with that. He also got best BSD in that class.

Zara managed 2 clears in jumping and agility, in her first show at Grade 5, not placed but good clears.

Sunday we managed one clear each, Zara in agility and Ruger in jumping (15th place)

Ruger also was awarded a lovely trophy for Best Grade 3 BSD on the Saturday.

South Durham Easter

All K9 Skool members did well on Easter Sunday. I will start with Zara, she managed 4 x E, at her last grade 4 show! but finished the day with a lovely clear in G4 agility to get 8th place.

Ruger managed 4 clears to be placed 4th G3 agility, 5th G3 agility, 5th C1-7 jumping (4th height) and 14th G3 jumping, so really pleased with him. He is getting his stay back and his contacts are fab. Hopefully we can keep this form going for the rest of the season.

Dani and Jet won G1 jumpathon

Helen and Loki won G2 agility and 3rd in G1-2 jumping

Deb and Lassie had 2 places I think 2nd and 3rd

So a good show for all of us.

Dog Vegas Grade 5 !!!!!

Planned to camp at Dog Vegas, but ended up in a B & B :)

First morning of the show, found us being a bit late, so I missed walking Zara's jumping course, so watched a little bit. For me it was a horrible course, more like a helter-skelter with weaves, not a Zara course, it was designed for fast dogs, no tight turns. We ran last and surprisingly went clear, so pleased with Zara, she normally would knock poles on this type of course, it got better though, she actually came 2nd!!! Zara's agility course was difficult, but really liked it and looked forward to running her, we got E'd. Next agility course was a good G4-5 course. Zara ran clear, she was ace and really listening. I went to look at results but told to go away by the show secretary, I couldn't see results, but to make sure I was at the presentation, she then let me look WE HAD WON GRADE 4 AGILITY I never expected that to happen, little Zara has made GRADE 5. Presentation took place while I was running Ruger in G3 agility, managed to get there though!!!

Ruger was also fab that day. His first run was G1-3 agility, it was my worst nightmare for Ruger, it started jump, dogwalk, tunnel. I asked the judge could I put him back on the contacts if he went straight for the tunnel, she kindly said yes. Ruger did a beautiful 2o2o dogwalk contact and A frame too, also 12 weaves, went clear and came 3rd, what a good little Mali. His other runs were good too just 5r for the weaves on 2 courses and an E for jumping as I sent him to a tunnel and missed the fact that the tunnel attacked him so he turned away and followed me!

I judged on the Sunday all grades 1-3, saw some fantastic newbies. K9 Skool ring partied and did a brilliant job of running an efficient ring all day :)

Wyre

Only Zara competing at Wyre, too busy for Ruger. On Saturday we had some silly runs and managed to collect lots of points, oh sorry I mean faults!!!!!! Sunday was much better with 2 clears. We had a 13th place in the Agility Secrets qualifier which was a combined 4-6, so really happy with that. Then we had a clear round in the G4 agility, but just out of the places.

Crufts 2014

We spent 2 days at Crufts this year, it was strange to be there without our dogs, first time we have done that for a few years! But we managed to get a good look round and I attended 4 Kennel Club Acredited Instructor seminars which were very interesting. A fascinating discussion about nutrition in the canine athlete has made us rethink Ruger's and possibily Zara's diets. It was interesting to hear how what we eat can affect our performance and how dogs get their energy. Jackie Boyd also gave an interesting talk about sporting dogs, mainly focusing on her research into jumping. She was engaging and realistic in her lecture and I came away with some new ideas, but she also confirmed some of my own thinking too. We met up with people we haven't seen for a while which was lovely.

Ribble

My posts are a little out of order at the minute. Zara ran well at Ribble getting a clear in G4 Agility but just out of the places, but a good run.

Margaret

Sadly we said goodbye to Margaret Whitehead in January. Margaret started right at the beginning with K9 Skool and was a character. She started off with her Bichon Frise, Candy with puppy classes in 2008, despite being on 2 walking sticks she persevered and gained the puppy foundation, bronze and silver good citizen awards. The following year she enrolled Holly her new puppy, also a Bichon. With Holly Margaret attended agility classes and used to make us all laugh with Holly's hoodies. When she had to give up training due to ill health Margaret kept in touch. Her life revolved around her dogs, sewing and family. RIP Margaret you will always be remembered as an inspiration to others.

Adams February Show

Well all I can say about Zara is she was brill :) Should have been 3/3 clears, but we had an unplaced clear in C4-7 jumping, a 4th in G4-7 Agility (with faults :( ) and an E in G1-4 Agility, Zara was clear and lovely run, but I managed to miss out a jump aarrrggghhh!!!!! From Zara's point of view she didn't knock one pole, she got all her contacts and had no refusals, wow, well pleased with her :)
I haven't competed with Ruger this winter as the indoor shows are too close and noisy (or some are!) so this was his first competition for a while. He did relly well, his first run was Graded 1-3 Agility and went clear with a strangely steady run, to get 10th place. The jumping course was a lovely Ruger course but he got scared on the startline and then for the first time ever noticed Simon, who was filming him and headed over to him and jumped the wrong jump. His last agility was a bit messy but clear, but not fast enough for a place. I was really happy with him though he did well.

Catching up

January was very hectic, for a change!!!
We both attended the Sports Psychology Course and learnt how to put a training plan together. We'll see how this works in the following months.
Zara competed at Wilmslow and managed a clear round in agility, not placed, but 2 more points.
Zara has also qualified for the Rescue Dog Agility Finals in Rugby in June, for her performance in last years league, she had her best year ever for clears and places too :)

2014 Already!

What happened to 2013?
Quite uneventful end to 2013, Zara was lame for Wilmslow show, so we didn't get there. Went to Border Collie show in December but no results to record. Zara did some nice runs but unlucky with faults.

We are starting this year with a sports psychology seminar, to see if that can help my performance in the ring, looking forward to it as I am now teaching some psychology, on a basic level at work, so will be interested to see if it helps.

My plans for this year are to keep Zara fit and healthy and hopefully carry on competing, can't believe she is over 7 years, she doesn't look or act it. Mawgan is doing well, the only signs of ageing is that she is finding it harder to get into the van. Ruger is Ruger, he is still a puppy, a puppy that will be 4 in less than a month. In training he is doing well, his stays are better and I am finding him easier to turn, this may or may not be his year, we will enjoy trying! I am not competing with him indoors this winter as it stresses him out, except for Dig It, as they are not so busy as the Myerscough shows.

2013 was a turbulent year for K9 Skool, my decision to move outdoors turned out to be a poor one, we hardly trained last year, as it was such a wet winter. It was great to have the equipment set up outside in the summer for only for a few months in reality. We were lucky to find a new indoor venue last September, within 15 mins from home, hopefully we will be there for some years to come. K9 Skool is starting its 7th year, only agility now but I am happy with that :)

Last year we found some nice new shows that we will definitely be entering this year, and I have already accepted quite a few judging appointments. I have added some random pictures as I been neglecting this lately.

First 3 are Ruger at 4 weeks then at 2 years, Mawgan 2008 and Zara 2008, all 3 together in March 2010 and August 2010, Ruger about to fall asleep and Ruger on the see saw (or rather alighting!!!!)

TAG

Nice show, I've not done TAG before, don't know why as it's not too far, well 2 hours away.
The ground was muddy, but the rings had been moved outside the main arena which was great as there was loads of space
I helped on a ring most of the day with Deb and Dani, not many helpers that day :(

Ruger ran his first agility run, I was really pleased as I thought it was a clear, judge was clapping as we left the ring and a few people said Well Done, turns out he had 5f for the dogwalk contact, thought he had it, as he did stop but obviously just missed it!
He did manage a clear in the next agility class, not placed but I held him on the contacts, and he had 5f at the weaves in his other agility class with excellent contacts, so I think we are making progress. Both his jumping classes were tough, expected in 3-5 but not in 1-3. In the 3-5 he was brill and stayed, which I must admit threw me a little, but he worked the tight bit like a professional, really pleased, but the temptation to go in the tunnel instead of weaves was too much. In the 1-3 I overworked him, Ruger knew what I wanted, but the course was just one pull through too many, not a good confidence building course, tried it in training which was good, but not in competition at this level :( I was very pleased with his performance all day, he was a well behaved little Mali.

Zara did some lovely work, especially in the 4-5 Agility, fab run but knocked the last pole, aaarrrggghh not done that for a while. No clears today, but she enjoyed her 3 runs :)

Must go back to TAG, lovely show everyone friendly and a good atmosphere

Chippenham

We had two lovely days at Chippenham. On the Saturday both Zara and Ruger had clears, sadly not placed but Zara's was in a combined 1-7 jumping with a fab run. Ruger's was G3 jumping and he wasn't far off a place but we lost time as he spun round between the first jump and the weaves and didn't want to go forward. Zara ran a G4-7 Agility course that was quite tough and amazingly she got faulted on the weaves by coming out at no.10, but went clear on the rest of the course, typical. Ruger managed a 2on 2off on the dogwalk without touching the contact, aaarrrrggh, the judge looked at me and apologised when he marked it with 5 faults, but he was absolutely right to do so!!
On Sunday Zara managed 15f in the ABC agility for a pole and 2 contacts, then she got 10f in her next 2 classes. Ruger was consistent with an E in all 3 runs, but I must say his stay was much better, its coming back and he got most of his contacts.
Ruger and I trained with Lee Windeatt the day before the show, and I have some new ideas to move Ruger forward with. I have written myself a training plan for the winter which I need to stick to, as Ruger does not have many shows left now this year, just TAG and Clevedon, although I may do Dig It and train in the ring.
Zara is doing well although her rate of clears is dropping, she is fit and well and probably the best she has ever been.

Hare & Hounds Autumn Show

Had a lovely day yesterday at H&H, a bit hectic with 12 runs though, and 3 courses to walk first thing. Some very interesting courses, a little different. Zara's first jumping class G4-7 made you think, lots of choices for handling, she ran it brilliantly but I went for the gamble and took the shortest route out of the tunnel, Zara went left, I went right, resulting in her going back in, rest of the run was fab though! We had one clear in jumping but unplaced and a 6th in G4 Agility with a clear. Ruger just couldn't get his head around weaves though, he ran past every set, barked at me and then did them perfectly second time!!!! so no clears. He was very well behaved around the rings, so I was very happy with that. It was a great day for K9 Skool members yesterday. Katie had her first KC show with Barley the Cairn and did 2 lovely runs, 5r in jumping for running past a jump and 5r in agility for jumping off the see-saw, but 2 fantastic runs apart from that. Christine ran Amber for her first KC show too and they were really good, Amber stayed with her, not bad considering Amber is not her dog and Christine thought she would go looking for Helen, I was really pleased with their performance. Helen and Loki got 1st place in Agility, meaning that they go up to Grade 2 at their first KC show!!!!!! Sadly I missed the run :( Ali and Chewie and Dani and Jet both had 5th places and Deb and Lassie had an 8th place. A successful day all round, Well Done everyone!!!!!!

Dig It

Well what a difference at Dig It. I was judging agility so only competed in the jumping and steeplechase. Zara ran one of her runs with 5 faults at the weaves, she got a lovely entry I said good girl and she came out :( rest of the run was lovely. Ruger ran straight past the weaves in both runs, and did a circuit round the tunnel, didn't go in it though and had 2 runs with 5 faults, both for weaves! His second run had a nice stay though, so well pleased with that. I couldn't believe it when I heard Zara's name being called out for 2nd place and then Ruger won the class!!!! The steeplechase course was nice, a proper steeplechase, fast and flowing. Zara went clear I was well pleased as it was a difficult course for her, as she likes tough naggy courses. Ruger shot off the start line so I stood in the middle and directed him more or less from there :) He went clear beating Zara by over 5 seconds. So another 1st and 2nd place. Lin and Ollie had 2 places too, in jumping and steeplechase, a 3rd and 2nd. Sharon and Ryan had a 2nd in agility. Lassie, Jet and Chewie ran some fast rounds, but just unlucky with poles down.

Dog Vegas

It was one of those shows were nothing seemed to go right. The ground was good and the layout fab, but I didn't really enjoy it. I walked Rugers first course G1-3 Agility and it was really good, the judge pitched it just right, not too difficult but not just straight up and down, we could have done well on this. Ruger leapt off the dogwalk contact so I asked the judge and put him back on for an E!!! He ran the rest of it nicely got his A frame contacts and the weaves 2nd time round but I did try distance handling. Rugers best run was 5 faults for weaves in jumping. Zara for some reason got 15 faults for contacts in agility, first time for ages she has been faulted on contacts, she even missed the up contact on the A frame :( so with a pole down too that was 20f, she's not done that for a long time! We had no clears at all probably our worst performance for a long time. Both dogs did some really good work but it was just a strange day. Deb was shocked she had 15 faults in jumping and came 2nd, 10 seconds faster than the dog that won!!!! Need more training, but the exciting news is we have a new indoor venue so we can train all winter :) :)

Love this picture of Ruger taken by Action Packed Photography, although I do need to get him to hit the floor rather than the air when he exits the see saw!