At last the snow has gone

Well luckily last night it rained so all the snow has gone which is great on one hand but a pain on the other as i took the dogs for their walk first thing and they came back very muddy. Hopefully over the next few days it will dry out a little but at least there is not the risk now of slipping on the ice which was everywhere.
I must admit to not having gone out to do training over the Christmas period and it must be at least a couple of weeks since i was at the training barn i hire. So that means in the next few days i will be going out to do some training but as things went quite well last time i think i have lulled myself into a false sense of security. Whats the betting it will all goes wrong and i will then be panicking........what was that new years resolution - Positive mental attitude !! well its not the 1st January yet is it !
Lots going on here away from routines which is meaning i don't feel as in the zone with the routines as perhaps i normally are. I'm hoping to get things done over the next week so that then i can immerse myself in the dogs and routines.
As this is the last post i will probably do before the New year i hope you all have a good New Year and best wishes for 2011 : )

Its snow joke

Well if you are in the UK you probably have had some of the white stuff around the place. The snow arrived overnight for us and it was quite deep, so i had to clear some grass for little Betty as it was about her height. The snow came just at the wrong time for me as the snow arrived on the Thursday and then i was meant to be in London on Friday. This was for a demo plus re filming the SKY TV Dogumentary programmes titles. Apparently the title sequence we filmed earlier wasn't what SKY wanted so they asked for it to be filmed again. As most of the other main participants were in London they all made it to the filming but i didn't think it was worth the risk so unfortunately my dogs will not now be in the opening titles.
The start of next year is starting to look busy with quite a few workshops both at weekends plus daytime ones at Swindon and Kings Somborne. I'm really looking forward to these sessions as each handler will get a chance to do some individual work on a routine, sequence etc. I did a similar session the other day for a group and really enjoyed working with the one team and trying to get the best out of them.
Due to the cold weather i must admit i have not been out much to do some training on the dogs routines so today i went out with the props to do some much needed practise. I was really pleased with Pogos freestyle routine training and her HTM is OK but i have mainly been concentrating on her freestyle routine. Whizzy is on a bit of a rest from freestyle as she has had a busy year but to keep her brain in gear i thought i would do a bit of HTM with her. I have taught her some of the positions ages ago but found she did not have the drive i wanted so i concentrated on her freestyle. Well i was very impressed with her energy and enthusiasm in her positions and you never know i might think about doing some HTM with her as she has such a nice trotting actions.
If i don't blog again before Christmas may i wish everyone who visits the website and reads this blog a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Whizzy qualifies : )

At the end of November i had entered Whizzy at the PNM Guilford show in advanced freestyle as this was the first show she could compete at this level. This advanced class was also the last Crufts semi final qualifier of the year so although Pogo is already qualified in both divisions i thought i would see if Whizzy could qualify as well. I was not worried if she didn't as she is still young but it would be a great experience for her if she did qualifyed for the semis as in 2012 she will not get the chance as i can reveal that i will be judging the Crufts finals again.
She was her normal enthusiastic self and although i let her down in a few places i was delighted that she won the class and gained a Crufts semi final qualifier. This meant she has had a great first season by going from novice to advanced winning six firsts from six shows.
As i will now have two dogs in the freestyle semi it will be a bit more work but my aim for Whizzy is really just to keep her attitude as she is young. I will more than likely keep the routine she has been doing as my work needs to go into Pogo as this may well be her last time in the semis because of course i am judging the finals as i have mentioned earlier.
Training has not been going too bad with Pogo although there is still a sequence which i cannot seem to get consistent. I have tried going right back to basics but still she seems to do it but not always as crisp as i would like. So now i really need to decide whether to remove that sequence or just keep at it and keep my fingers firmly crossed on the day.

A cracking demo night

On the 20th of November i was teaching a day workshop for a group in Somerset. As i often do i followed this with one of the cabaret evenings where i show some of the training behind the dogs and some short routines. Sometimes these nights go really well with the dogs working at their best and often playing a little bit to the crowd. This was one of those nights and i was so pleased with how the dogs worked. I started with little Betty who has over the last couple of months had a few attentions issues but i have been working hard on this. I was very happy with her and even choose to do something i had never done with her attention training before. Basically i put a load of toys onto the floor and then got her to watch me as we negotiated through all the toys. I was so pleased with her as you could see she wanted to go and see what they were but paid 100 % attention as i moved her around them. She also later in the evening performed her new supersonic vaulting jump move which even makes me smile when she does it.
Next was Whizzy and as she has a show soon i concentrated on keeping her under control but also doing the moves cleanly. As usual she was full of life and showed the audience her bubbly personality. Disco came out to do her pieces and then it was the turn of Pogo who can be a bit lacklustre for me on some demo nights as she knows i have not got my full attention on her as i am talking to the audience. Well this night she was very up for it and full on so i really had to keep control. I used this night to preview some of the sequences of her new freestyle routine with some of the props i will be using. Most of the sequences went well but a couple still need some more sharpening but we have plenty of time left. I often worry if it is going really well at this stage as we might of peaked too early and then it goes downhill nearer the event.
Only a few more events to do before the Christmas break one of which is my annual trip to Cara dog training club to teach a workshop which is always a great way to finish my teaching year.

Three steps forward........one back !

Although we should really be practising our freestyle ready for the semis, i still find time to practice Pogos sheepdog work and go for lessons. The last few lessons Pogo has been doing well and since the arrival of the new ducks i have been doing a little most days with her. So going for a lesson recently with Andy i was hoping that she would at least show she had been doing some homework. All started well when she went on a short outrun and stopped when she got to the back of the sheep, but perhaps we should have stopped there as after that for the rest of the lesson she really seemed to have the devil in her.
Its lessons like this that make me feel such a beginner which makes me sympathise with those new handlers on my workshops which have not done freestyle before. It can feel at times like you are out of your depth and your doing things not quite knowing if its the right thing to do. Of course Andy Nickless is very supportive and can see some progress in our work. I do think that the ducks have helped our practice but i think now she needs regular work with the sheep as she gets so excited when we arrive for our lesson. Its like with freestyle the more you can get the dog say working with a prop or in this case the sheep the more relaxed the dog is with it. Fingers crossed this last lesson was just a blip in her progress.

Back to training

On the last weekend in October i made my way to Belguim to teach a two day workshop. The first day was for advanced handlers and i was very privileged to have top handlers from a few countries attending. The day went well although my heart did sink a little when a handler said she needed to teach her dogs some WOW moves as unless her dog did these she thought her dog would not get anywhere in the top class. I must admit my heart sank a little as she was basically saying that judges are putting more emphasis on the moves than the choreography. This has been my problem with the sport this year as it seems that some handlers are doing trick shows with a backing track rather than putting the moves to the music.
I was wined and dined very well during my stay and had been booked in a lovely bed and breakfast while i was there which i highly recommend if you are ever in Belgium www.koeckenhuys.be
Getting back late on the Sunday night i was pretty tired but come Monday morning i was energised enough to go out and do some training with Pogo on her routines. I concentrated mainly on her freestyle routine as I'm not that worried this year how she does in her HTM also she knows her positions in HTM so it makes it a little easier to practise them at home. With our freestyle routine we really have to go out and train it as the props needs some space around them. I already knew that there was at least one area which i needed to work on but as is so often the case, the moves i thought she was doing really well didn't go as well as they should. So its back to practising these few moves over the next week to try and get them more reliable. Its funny how when you are training a routine if just one or two bits go wrong out of all the bits you practise it feels like the routine is not going well. I tried to walk out the routine without the dog to convince myself that actually most of the routine is sort of there but until i get these three moves exactly right every time i will not be happy.

Errrrr.........we need to do some more practice !

Today was the first time i have been out and worked the potential HTM routine for Pogo. To be honest i have been doing more practise for her freestyle routine so i suddenly felt i should just take a look at her HTM routine. On the positive side at least i remembered the routine which is great considering since i have worked it out i have not really done too much on it.
As usual as you start to work the routine there can be some pieces that need to be changed. One thing i try to avoid is just doing a couple of paces of one direction before changing as often it does not showcase the position and can look rushed. This was the case at one section where i thought Pogo would do a few more paces to the section of music but as it turned out she only did a few so some adjustments were made there.
Of course something you often debate as a handler is how many positions and directions should you put in. As much as judges/officials of the sport say a few positions done well is better than them all done but with some performed not so well, I'm not sure all judges think like that. Often you see judges marking ever single position off on a tick list and if you miss one out you get less content points. Then of course what if you only do a minimum of one position will they down mark you for that.
Anyway the practise was ok but as we all know ok is not good enough and i really need to work on some of the positions. Time seems to be rushing by at the moment so i really must knuckle down and do some precision work with Pogo.

First real practice

Well today i went and did my first real serious practice session with Pogo ready for January. I had recently taken delivery of a couple of props so there was not much room in the van. Although i had mocked up one of the props this was the first time Pogo had worked with the actual one. After a few mistakes she seemed to pick up mostly what i wanted and i can see that we need to do a lot more practise on this one sequence. The only problem is i need space to do this sequence so i can only do it outside so will have to set it up outside when its not raining so i can do it several times during a day. The sequence a little way into the routine was the only real weak section i felt as i videoed the session and can see most the rest of the stuff is OK.
The freestyle routine seemed to take up most the session but i did run through the HTM routine on my own and it seemed OK. Its a good job i can hire an indoor arena to practise in now and again as i think if i had done this session in the park some people might have given me really weird looks : )

Back from Sweden

Last weekend saw me teaching in Sweden where i was made very welcome and had a lovely time. Many of the handlers had progressed their dogs moves well with the "in" move being the dog walking sideways while facing away from the handler. It was great to see a wide variety of breeds, one of my favourites was the jolly little pug with a lovely front action.

I have to thank my hostsYvonne and Linda who looked after me very well, making sure i had the essential cola and chocolate to keep me going. Also thank you to all the handlers for not being too hard on me when i started to talk too fast, it cannot have been easy to understand as i know when i get excited by something the mouth cannot always keep up with the brain : )

I arrived home late on Sunday night and then i was up early as i had to get to Colchester as the Sky TV Dogumentary had asked to use my dogs in the filming of the opening titles. The location was Snoopies dog grooming salon http://www.snoopies.ws/ where the director had Whizzy wearing sunglasses in one scene whilst her hair was blown around with a hairdryer. One of the other dogs being used was a Pyrenean who was soooooo laid back which made it easy for Pogo to jump him or creep through his legs. As usual it was a whole days filming for a 20 second piece and I'm not sure how much of my dogs will be on it as i think the pyrenean mountain dog was a star of the show.

What do you do on a weekend off ?

Well I'm not sure where the summer has gone as it only feels like a few weeks ago we started doing the outside demos again but actually it was back in May when i started the arena shows. I have just done the last displays of the outside season so now its only workshops or displays inside.
It seems the last few weeks everytime we have done demos there has been some sort of animal excrement in the ring which some of the dogs found very tasty : ). There was a new one to their menu last weekend which was deer dung, i wish someone would freeze dry rabbit. horse or deer dung as it must be so tasty.
The last display was for the Animal health trust Gala day www.aht.org.uk where we met up with Elaine Hill and her sheepdog display as well as the Rockwood dog display team. Our last display in the afternoon went so well i think it might have been one of the best we have done all season. Its hard to know why some displays go better than others but it just one of those things i think plus of course the environment you are in.
The last weekend of September will see me teaching in Sweden, i have not been there before so it will be good to meet some new freestylers. I will be getting back late on Sunday night and then having to get up early to go to Colchester in order to film the opening titles of the Sky Tv show Dogumentary. They have decided to use my dogs in the opening sequence so fingers crossed the dogs do their thing. Heaven knows what this programme will be like, i have a feeling i will be cringing at points and that's just when i come onto the screen !

Routine panic !

In the last week i have been getting into Pogos two routines a bit more as i think i am panicking a bit that i haven't done as much as i normally do by now. It all started with the HTM routine where i had rigged up a prop to see if it will work. Starting to work Pogo a bit more with it i came to the conclusion it was ok but i didn't think i was going to use it enough to warrant having it in the routine. So that meant that i had to look at the whole routine again and ended up changing quite a bit of it.
Then a few days later i started to panic a bit about the freestyle routine which i had already written but i didn't factor in that I'm getting older ! i had a sequence which i found out my legs don't really seem to work with so another piece to choreograph again. I know there is four months to go before the semis and the coming months will be a little less hectic but i really do need to pull my finger out and do some practice on these routines.

A quick update

As i mentioned in the last post the bank holiday weekend was going to be busy. At the PNM competition i was glad that Whizzy won her intermediate class especially as it was being filmed for a documentary. So Whizzy is now well and truly qualified for advanced freestyle but will have a good rest before i do any advance classes with her.
From the competition it was onto the Eye show where it was very wet on the first day but the second day was sunny but with the Red arrows flying over late our second display was much later which meant we were very late home.
After a busy week of grooming and filming it was time to drive up to see Andy Nickless www.workingsheepdog.co.uk for a sheepdog lesson. As i had not done that much practice i wasn't sure how Pogo would work. At home i had been working on her driving to try and keep her away from the ducks plus slow her down a bit. Not having trained a sheepdog before i was relieved that it seems i had been doing most of it ok and i was impressed that Pogo walked behind the sheep so slowly and the sheep were the calmest i have ever seen them. It was one of those rare occasions when i actually felt in control and Pogo even laid down when told.
Now its time for Paws in the park in Kent www.pawsinthepark.net so i hope to see some of you there.

The sat nav is working hard !

Its been a hectic few weeks with the sat nav being used a lot to navigate us to various venues around the country. We had a brilliant weekend at the Garlic Festival on the Isle of Wight where there was huge crowds. When i did the displays the crowd were four or five deep around the ring and i don't think i ever have had so many children in the ring for the "disco dancing" competition.
A busy week in the grooming salon followed and then a trip to Norfolk to see my good friend Helen and teach two one day freestyle workshops. Helen breeds Novia Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers so the first day was just for this breed which meant i couldn't exactly ask the person with a toller to step forward. Both groups were very enthusiastic in the morning but i think by the afternoon what with the heat and the amount of work i do with the groups they were all needing a bit of rest.
Its no rest for the wicked as over the bank holiday weekend i will be attending the PNM HTM show at Stoneleigh where i will work Whizzy. I don't really need to as she has already gone into advanced but i have had my arm twisted to compete with her for a TV programme, more of that later! Then we will be going on up to Eye in Suffolk for the Eye country show. I have performed displays there many times so i know it will mean a lot of running around as the ring is very large so i have to try and cover as much of it as i can.
A apology to anyone asking me to teach workshops for the rest of this year, I'm afraid i think i don't have that much more time available at weekends, so make sure you get your date for early next year.

New K9 freestyle display videos

Recently i was performing displays at a garden party at Charleston manor where one of the spectators was videoing the event. This event was different from the normal show i do as i often use children from the audience to help me but this was not possible at this event. Also there was no specific ring so the dogs did so well with everyone standing so close while they were working.

Whizzy's double win

Whizzy is just over two now and earlier this year she won both of the novice freestyle classes that i had entered her in. At the end of July we made our way down to the HTM show in Cornwall as i had entered Whizzy in her first intermediate freestyle classes. Luckily for me this is a double show with the same classes being run both days so i was able to enter intermediate twice.
On the Saturday Whizzy worked ok but i think i might of done a tiny bit too much warm up with her plus i felt i rushed things a bit, so i had plenty to work on for the Sunday. I was pleased that she won on the Saturday but knew she could do better so gave myself a talking to and tried to relax before going in on the Sunday. I decided to change a small piece of the routine as Whizzy didn't seem switched on at one section which i think is done to her having done a lot of displays recently. The routine went much better from my point of view and she scored just over 28 points out of 30. So it was a good weekend as these two wins mean that Whizzy now is advanced in freestyle.

Is my freestyle mojo back ?

The last couple of months has seen me really not be as enthused as normal about freestyle. Normally by now i have all the props and routines worked out for next year but for various reasons i haven't got round to it. I of course have been doing a lot of displays of the entertainment show which means after a weekend of doing that you don't feel like doing much.
Anyway i think i have now finally decided on both pieces of music for Pogo although the HTM one might change but i think we should be ok. I eventually found the props that i needed for the freestyle routine and now i just have to make sure they fit in the van!! Plus i need to get some other props made but having rigged up the props as a trial Pogo seems to work ok with them.
I have been doing a little more with Whizzy as she has a competition coming up but i really need to listen to the music a bit more. Fingers crossed she behaves herself and unlike the May competition i hope my handling is better as i feel i let her down.

Is it freestyle or a trick show ?

Recently i have been contemplating what freestyle should be and what i think it might be turning into. When i first came into the sport there were routines where the moves were all relevant to the theme or music. Nowadays it seems that routines are turning very much into a trick show with not that much relevance to the music. You might have a costume on and do a couple of relevant moves but really is that good enough interpretation of the music ?
Now you might think that i am having a go at others but i will hold my hands up and say that i think some of my routines fall into this category. Why have i done this well its probably because in order to get good content marks you seem to have to do loads of moves. The trouble is i think some judges are marking down how many moves are being done and giving a mark for content on that. Whereas we should be looking at whether that move is relevant to the theme and not just registering how many tricks are performed.
So if judges do judge on the amount of moves performed and not whether they fit with the music then how are things going to improve. If you want to be competitive under these judges you have to make sure you have the content so it becomes a vicious circle.

Not a good lesson

Well no matter what dog training discipline you do you must have had one of those sessions where you find yourself saying"why do i bother". Then following that you wonder why you are doing this and basically feel rather glum. Well this was the feeling i had after Pogo's last herding lesson with the sheep. I even stopped on the way home for some well earned comfort food, some might say i should have more bad sessions if i actually ate something as everyone is always telling me i don't eat enough!
The previous two sessions Pogo had done well but this time she was just wasn't listening at all and it felt rather like a step backwards. Now if i wasn't a dog trainer of other disciplines i could see how people give up but after the initial glumness i looked at things from Pogo's point of view. At the moment there is at least a few weeks between seeing the sheep, so if she saw them on a regular basis progress would be much better. Also my ducks have been too young to work her with and we have only just started to condition them to be worked so Pogo really has not had much work since the last lesson. As we all know if you don't keep things going on a regular basis then faults can creep in which in the case of Pogo is not stopping when told.
It is easy to forget how far she has come from never having seen sheep at four and a half years old to being able to round up a group of sheep or ducks and be able to move them around, perhaps not good enough for trials but good enough for a farm dog.
On the positive side Whizzy loved her second attempt at sheep work and is getting stronger although her attention span is not more then ten minutes at the moment. Since the lesson we have had small training sessions with both dogs on the ducks and they have been really good so fingers crossed its just a blip.

A nice weekend

The first weekend in July saw us making our way to Ardingly as we had been booked to perform at the Smallholders show. I was looking forward to this event as i am now the owner of four ducks and was eager to get some good advice.
Just like the previous weekend the first day was very hot and not the ideal conditions for running around doing routines. After the first display is was time for a well earned Pimms to quench my thirst. Whilst relaxing between displays it was nice to meet Mo with Breeze and Topaz who anyone that competes in HTM will know from the show circuit.
The weekend went really well with lots of people coming up after the displays to meet the dogs and tell me how much they had enjoyed it. The rest of the show had everything and anything to do with smallholdings and i resisted the temptation to come away with a few chickens ! There were plenty to choose from with the ones that look like a fuzzy white dish mop being one of my favourites.

The four duck-a-teers have arrived

For quite a few weeks i have been trying to find some young white Indian runner ducklings as this breed is very good for sheepdog work. As the name suggests they run and don't fly plus they flock together well. After a few frustrating false starts i contacted a lady who had some 5/6 week old ducklings which were a bit older than i originally wanted.
We chatted on the phone and i agreed to have two white crested runners and two coloured ones. Duck breeders love people who want ducks for sheepdog work as drakes are hard to get rid of, you don't want females in case the eggs break inside the female.
As we were both going to be at the same event that weekend i arranged to pick them up there. When i first saw them i cannot say i was that impressed as they looked quite scrawny but you can see that they are going through a bit of a moult. The little black and white who is the youngest has not started to moult so is very cute and its going to be interesting to see him grow up.
The information on the breed does say they can be very skittish and nervous which these are especially compared to the other two ducks i used to start herding work with. I have also now made an enclosure where they cannot see the dogs at all as the others bonded a bit too much with the dogs as they could see them whenever the dogs went out into the garden. Hopefully over the next few weeks their feathers will grow and i can get some nice pictures of them plus of course start working them with the dogs.
If you have viewed the online video of our first attempts at duck herding you will have seen Whizzy having a go. When i went for my last sheepdog training lesson with Pogo i let her have a go with the sheep. As i thought at first she was scared of them but as i got them moving she got into her stride. Im not going to say she is the next big thing in sheepdog work but for a 50 % poodle she did quite well.

A busy time

The display season has really started in earnest but i have still managed to fit in a couple of workshops. The last was a very busy day as i had a morning workshop, afternoon workshop plus a cabaret evening, so by the time i got home at 12.30am i was ready for my bed. Pogo was a little weird on the cabaret evening and not her self at all but it wasn't till after the evening had finished that i had been told there was thunderstorms outside. Now i don't know if this was the reason but the day before and the day after she was totally fine so perhaps just the noise upset her.

The duck herding has been coming along well and i am looking forward to my "Ferrari" ducklings ie Indian runners which i hope will be arriving soon. I spent an interesting few hours at a local sheep association event recently where there was lots of different breeds of sheep. Its not until you attend an event like this that you realise how many breeds there are and i came away quite liking the Zwartbles ! fingers crossed a piece of land comes up for sale around here soon as i could do with my own area to practise.
There also was a sheepdog auction at the event which was one of the reasons i had decided to attend as i have not been to one before. Basically each dog is run on the sheep and then sold to the highest bidder if the bid is high enough. The sheep they were using were not easy at all and were running straight at the fences and then either going smack bang into it or over the top. There was one bitch who i could have easily bid on as she had been well trained and looked of a nice biddable temperament. Although i like the really up for it dogs i know the confident but a little sensitive type of dog suits me better.

More displays over the next few weeks plus another couple of sheepdog lessons so i hope to update the blog as things happen.

Duck herding freestyle !

I have had a break for the last couple of weeks from freestyle as i have been rather distracted duck herding ! if you haven't seen the new video yet of Pogo at work then go to the sheepdog blog page on the website. I have been pleased how Pogo has been working but just as she did with the sheep she is getting more confident with them so i have to be on the ball when working her.

Whizzy is the one that i am surprised at as i took her down the garden to the ducks basically to use her to try and get the ducks to move away from a dog better. Whizzy though had other ideas and found her inner collie, moving around the ducks in both directions. Sometimes it almost looks like she wants to play with them but then she concentrates more and moves around well. Unlike Pogo, Whizzy has not been taught big circles in freestyle yet so its interesting for me to have a dog to work who does the circling around the ducks naturally and i am putting the command to it as she does it.

Although freestyle has been taking a back seat i have i think (fingers crossed ) decided which pieces of music i will use next. Trying to come up with something different is always hard but hopefully the pieces i have chosen for Pogo are different from this years routines. So i have started to teach some moves which Pogo has not done before and am off soon to buy the relevant props.

The next few weeks will be busy with lots of displays and workshops to teach so i hope the weather is good. Below is a picture taken at the first outside display of the year in May, as you can see Betty was full of life : )

New members to the K9 Freestyle team

Well i promised Pogo if she did well at Crufts i would get her a present when i returned from Australia. If you have been reading her sheepdog blog you will know how much she has been enjoying her sheep work, although at times she is enjoying it a little too much.

So in order to be able to do some practise with Pogo other than when i am training with Andy ( http://www.workingsheepdog.co.uk/) i have taken on a couple of weeks ago Fred and Ginger ! they are Campbell ducks for those that don't know their duck breeds. They were looking to be re homed as they were beating up the women in the group and Fred, the white one was destined for the table. Watching them i thought Fred was the bolshy one but it turns out Ginger is very confident and will walk straight towards Pogo.

After doing some work with them in a pen and Pogo on the outside it came to the day to let the two work together without a barrier. To say i was a little nervous was an understatement although not about Pogo eating them but getting them back into the cage when i had finished as i was using a friends paddock. I'm really glad to say that Pogo has been very good upto now (Richard touches the nearest wood as he types this !) and it is fantastic to see her working with them. At the moment they have not quite got the idea they have to move away from Pogo but hopefully with time this will get better.

Three wins at the Paws n music show

Well it was a very long day at the Paws n Music May show held at Rugby. We got there for 9.30am and the last class which i was in finished just after 8pm!. I had entered three classes which was the most i have ever entered in my life, as normally i prefer to enter one dog one class at a show as i can then fully concentrate on the routine and dog.

The first of my dogs in the ring was Whizzy who was competing for the second time in Novice freestyle. Whizzy was certainly up for it and perhaps a little too much at some points but i would rather have too much energy than not enough. I'm glad to say that she won the class which means she has two wins in novice so now she is into intermediate freestyle. As good as the routine was i have to say from a personal point of view it was a case of good dog pity about the handler. My timing just seemed to be off and i wasn't giving her clear commands or signals so i think i need to give myself a kick up the back side before out next performance.

It was quite a wait then until the first of the two classes that i had entered Pogo in. The Crufts advanced HTM qualifier was the first class for her where we were performing our Lets face the music and dance routine. Feeling a little over dressed in my tails we had to change the routine a little as the ring was a lot smaller than the Crufts ring which was the last place we had performed it. It went ok and i am pleased to say that she won the class which means she has now qualified for the Crufts HTM semi final in January 2011.

There was not much chance to draw breath before the Crufts advanced freestyle qualifier class started. I had opted to perform Pogo's Hawaii 50 routine which she enjoys performing. The only trouble with Pogo is she is very much a one routine a day dog so having only just performed the HTM routine i had to work hard to keep her focus and get her to do the moves on time. There was a little bit of improvisation in the routine for various reasons but she did enough to win the class so now has qualified for the Crufts semi in this division as well.

So having not got home until 11pm it was very much a rest day for all us on the Sunday. I would like to thank everyone who gave such nice comments about all my routines and also to the hardworking PNM committee who put on a super event.

Count yourself lucky

Hearing about a friend of mine and the disaster she just has been through really puts things into perspective. Some of you may have read before in my articles, that i often stay with my friend Brigitte of the B star poodles when i am in the USA. Since we met she has moved around but for the last few years has been in Nashville. If you have been watching the news recently you would have seen the major floods they have had and i tried to contact Brigitte but had not heard from her. I recognised some of the places on the news and thought that they were not near her house but it seems the floods were more widespread.

I spoke with Brigitte and i could not believe that the floods hit her house in a major way. If you imagine a two storey house and the water came to at least half way up the second storey rooms you can tell it was a major flood. It all happened so quickly and Brigitte did not have time to get out any of her many dogs before the water came in. She eventually managed to get someone to lend her a kayak which she managed to get some dogs in crates out. No one was interested in helping so she had to canoe through her house again and again, it must have been the scariest time ever. The bigger dogs eventually ended up swimming around in one room as the water was so high.

There house is complete mess and they have basically lost everything as it engulfed the whole house. This house and area has never been flooded in the whole time the house has been built so it took everyone by complete surprise. Brigitte got out with most of the dogs but unfortunately a few dogs and her cats were not so lucky. So the next time you think your having a bad day or things are not going right remember things could be a whole lot worse.

Betty's first outside demo

When i first got Betty it was at the end of the season of my entertainment show so she didn't really experience what its like to work outside in the show. During the winter she has been great at the cabaret nights and also demos at Crufts so i hoped she would work well outside when the K9 Freestyle display season started.

The first outside show of the year was the Newark and Notts county show where we had two 30 minute demos a day. On the first day the weather was awful and i got very wet during the first show and not much better during the second. Due to the rain i decided not to bring Betty out as the last thing you want is for a new dog to have a bad experience on its first outing. Luckily the next day it was sunny weather so i opted to work her in both demos. She was great and even after the sheep and ducks had been in the ring for the sheepdog display she still remained focused and didn't sniff. So i was very pleased with her but i know by the end of the season, all the dogs get a little ring wise so i hope her present attitude in the display remains.
Over the next few weeks i have a competition and workshop to teach before the outside demos start in earnest.

Blog and video link

It always nice to hear from people after i have taught a workshop and i would like to thank all those handlers who have emailed me since the Melbourne and Brisbane workshops.

One of the participants at the Melbourne workshop has been keeping a log of her progress on her blog since the workshop, http://mydog-parlance.blogspot.com

Another handler has put together a short video about the weekend workshops antics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPKBu-HB_6s

Back home

Thank goodness we did not have any problems with the flights on the way home to the UK. It was a looking a little worrying during the week but in the end all went smoothly.
The last workshop i did was at camp tailwaggers in Brisbane where everything was organsied very expertly by Ann the owner of the camp and Val her helper. The venue is super with cabins on site for people to stay in, a dining room and large undercover training area. The venue is on top of a hill so it has lovely views of the Gold coast.
I had been told that the standard in Queensland was quite good and certianly they seem to have embraced the sport there. The weekend started with a cabaret evening where everyone could run through their performances in a show atmosphere. I think nerves played a part a little but it was good to see what standard the teams were so that i could focus on the essential areas of improevement over the weekend.
The first day dawned and we got started before the scheduled time as everyone was ready so there was no point in waiting around as there was so much to get through.
Everyone was very eager to learn over the weekend and i think i answered more questions in the two days than i have all year. Its lovely to teach a group who also shares the same passion for the sport.
As this was the second weekend workshop for me i did have rely on the essential coke and chocolate to get me through. After finishing the second day i then was taken to the airport ready for the long journey home.

Relaxing on the Gold coast

The last few days have been busy with the trips to Seaworld and the Zoo. I also had the talk to do on wednesday night where i met many of the people who will be at the weekend seminar. There was a variety of questions after the talk and i hope people went away with the view that training can be fun.

Last night we went to the Outback spectacualr which is a unique theatre type show where you have a meal while watching a show. The show tells you more about australias history and mixes film with live performances from horsemen etc. It was a lovely night and nice to relax before a busy weekend at camp tailwaggers.

Down in sunny or not so sunny oz

Having finished the workshop we had monday to go to a local wildlife sanctuary where i took a few photos of the natives. Then we had been invited to one of the handlers from the workshop to dinner which was a very nice evening.

Tuesday was an early start in order to get to the airport for the flight to Brisbane. After the sunny warm climate of Melbourne it was a shock to encounter pouring rain in Brisbane. Fingers crossed that it cheers up for the weekend but before that we have a trip to Brisbane Zoo, Sea world and the Outback spectacular planned. Also i have a talk to give on attention, drive etc with around 140 people so no pressure ! Then of course it will be off to camp tailwaggers for the weekend workshop and fingers crossed then on a plane home.

Melbourne workshop

Just finished the Melbourne workshop where there was a good variety of breeds. The group were made up of some that had not done a lot of freestyle and others who had been on the last workshop I had done three years ago. As usual the group was a bit quiet first thing and not talking to their dogs but after a while they started to relax. I had to pick up quite a few handlers on where and when they were rewarding their dogs as they were sometimes rewarding the dog for being out of position or looking ahead rather than up at the handler.
Saying that there was a little Papillion who had heelwork with attention to die for and should do well in HTM when he has learnt the other heelwork positions. It was quite warm in the hall so after a while the teams started to feel the heat and get tired. By the end of the day we had covered quite a lot and it was nice then to meet some of the teams in the evening for dinner.
The second day went well although I had to really keep my energy up as many of the handlers were flagging. Saying that on the last exercise of the day which requires a lot of drive from dog and handler they all did really well. So now I have one more day in Melbourne before flying to Brisbane but with the volcano ash in the air near home the big question is will I get home next Monday ?

Richard made it to OZ

The flight over to Australia was not too bad and we were looked after very well on Cathy Pacific. I did go a little stir crazy towards the end of each flight but thanks to sonic winter sports on a borrowed Nintendo DS I amused myself trying to get a monkey to do alpine skiing !!
We arrived and almost went straight to bed as it was late here which was great as we woke on Thursday feeling ok not too jet lagged. Went into Melbourne on the train and went to the botanical gardens etc which was good and then came back to Sue’s place who is hosting the workshop weekend for dinner.
Friday saw us driving around the countryside going to a picturesque reservoir and walks through the forest at Badger weir. My attempts at photos are perhaps not as good as “the expert” but I hope you like them : ) Tomorrow is the first day of the workshop which has thirty handlers who some have travelled quite a way to attend.

Whizzy wins at her first show

After a few months of deliberating i entered Whizzy for her first freestyle competition in novice. Although i entered Westglen i still wasn't sure if i would actually work her but after working her in the hall she seemed quite confident so i opted to compete.

Even though i have now worked many dogs in this sport i still find it very nerve wracking the first time you put a new dog into the ring. Until you have been in there you don't know how the dog will react to the environment, handlers nerves or the music system.

I need not have worried as Whizzy took everything in her stride and performed well, if a little enthusiastic at times ! I was delighted to win her first novice on her first appearance in the ring and it is a lovely start to my Australia trip which i am about to embark on.

Many thanks to everyone who has left comments or sent emails congratulating us on our win they are all most appreciated.

Busy busy

Life seems very busy at the moment and with the pending trip to Australia very shortly it is only going to get busier. Last week saw myself and Pogo on the beach at The Witterings demonstrating frisbee freestyle for a piece on ITV's This Morning. The presenter Jodie Kidd was really nice and it all went pretty well. Having done quite a few programmes now you know it is all going to edited into a tiny bit and this was the case when i saw it this week. As always these things seem to come in pairs and we might have another piece for a TV programme to film this coming week.

Little Betty has been in the wars a bit as this week she went into the vets to have her baby teeth removed and be neutered. I didn't really want to have her neutered yet but it makes sense to only put her under one anesthetic being so small. Her mouth was full of teeth both adult and baby, some were going a funny colour so something had to be done.

This coming week is again very busy as i only have a few days to fit in some of my grooming clients before i leave for Oz. Just before i go though i will be making my way up to Worcester for another sheepdog lesson and then staying up there for the two day HTM show. I am judging both Crufts qualifying classes which should be interesting as last weekend i was judging starters/novice classes at Findon downs HTM show. The new judging marking scheme certainly seemed to help me, so it will be good to try it out on classes at the other end of the spectrum.

Then i will be off to Australia to Melbourne first and then Brisbane. I have been to Melbourne before so it will be good to catch up with some handlers from last time and see how the sport has progressed. Both workshops are going to be very busy as i beleive there is thirty handlers on each so i think i will be consuming lots of cola and chocolate to keep my energy up !!

Life after Crufts

Well Crufts seems such a long time ago, its now time to get back into training and arranging the diary for the rest of the year. Details of new workshops will soon be on the website for Sweden, Bridgewater and a couple of others if there are places avaliable. Bookings are already coming in for 2011 which seems wrong as im sure christmas was only two weeks ago!! i suppose having a busy life means time goes quickly and in only a few weeks i will be off teaching in Australia, fingers crossed the jet lag is not as bad as last time.

The main item on my mind at the moment is what routines will Pogo do next ? I already have a long list of things i want to teach her as of course with the last few months being focused on Crufts you dont want to teach her anything new. I know if i dont start now on the new stuff time will again run away with me.

It was interesting watching the various Crufts finals back online especially when you see moves I did first with my dogs in the Uk many years ago. I think care needs to be taken with some of the moves that are being done now that they are not dangerous for the dog as the last thing the sport needs is for dog to get injured while performing.

Im slowly getting around to putting up some video of Pogos Crufts routines but some others have already put several versions of Pogos surf routine on youtube. The HTM routine will have to be put to different music as Lets face the music and dance is one of the tracks the Youtube will not allow.

Having had this last weekend off it was nice to get out in the New Forest walking the dogs. Betty decided to see if she can walk on water for the first time, luckily the water was not too deep !

Crufts

Well its all over for another year but what a great Crufts it was this year for me and Pogo. The first day was the freestyle final which i am delighted to say Pogo won by performing her Hawaii 50 routine. Everything seemed to go to plan and it got a great reaction from the crowd. As Pogo had won this final she then had to go back in at the end of the day to perform it which is not ideal as she was in the HTM final the next day.
The second day dawned and i was a bit nervous about our HTM routine as it was a bit out of our comfort zone. Normally i tell stories in the routines but this year i had decided to push myself and do a routine to Lets face the music and dance. The routine went well although a couple of times my mouth was so dry the commands didn't come out so we had a couple of wobbles. Now i thought the crowds reaction to the Hawaii routine was good but this routine seemed to go down even better. I had lots of people coming up after the final to say how much they enjoyed it and have received lots of emails to complement us on our performance. Many people have asked whether or not i have taken dance lessons well not at all i just practised a lot to get myself right. Although we came third the top three all scored twenty six points with the decimal places deciding where we came.
Onto the Saturday where i had to represent England as i had won the freestyle final on the Thursday. Pogo by now was tired so it took a lot of effort to get her to perform as she did. The international competition was probably the toughest there has ever has been at Crufts. The standard was very high and considering Pogo was tired i was delighted we gained second place.
Sunday was just as busy as i had three displays to do in one ring which i had also been doing on the previous days as well as competing. Plus i was giving a demo on the Samsung stand which was very well received with over 200 people watching in a very small space.
I would like to thank everyone who wished me luck and congratulated us on our achievements. Also a big thank you to Penny and Jean who help me out during the four days at Crufts and made it so enjoyable.

Last training session

Last night i went and did the final main training session before Crufts eek scary! Pogo went well but i think the handler could have done a lot better. I had the session videoed which meant i could see what i was doing or more like what i should be doing. In my defence i was only doing short bits of the HTM routine so it was hard to get into it. Fingers crossed on the day with the aid of some alcohol i will not let Pogo down. So over the weekend i am going to be writing out my lines of " must stand up straight" and "shoulders back and smile" 1000 times !!

Bridport masterclass evening

Its been a busy couple of weeks with cabaret evenings and workshops. Last Saturday i went down to Dorset to the Freshwater holiday park. It was nice to stop at the beach at West Bay and give the dogs a bit of a run before making our way to the venue.

As the holiday park is shut this time of year it made this an ideal venue for a masterclass evening. We were performing in the entertainment area where there was a dance floor and stage. Being a holiday camp i felt that i should really be wearing a red coat like all good camp entertainers. The dogs had been on form the previous weekend at the cabaret evening so i hoped that all would go well.

Betty strutted her stuff well and with the help of some of the younger members of the audience was a big hit. She is developing her own fan club and i had so many people come up afterwards wanting to hold Betty. All the other dogs did well and the evening went down extremely well which was great as it was raising money in aid of a charity.

Not long now till Crufts

Well it seems time is racing past at the moment and Crufts is getting ever closer eek scary. I think it seems to have come about sooner compared to last year as the semi finals were at the start of January unlike this year where they were at the end. When they were earlier it meant that you could have a bit of a break from training and then get going a the start of Feb.

So I have tried to start to do a bit more training and have been listening to the music a little more. My music choice for HTM this year is a little different from my normal track so there is a certain amount of nerves about it. I think it will mean I will be consuming more than my normal glass of alcohol before I go in the ring that day. Fingers crossed the alcohol does it trick and makes me more relaxed.

The freestyle routine is coming along ok although the "titanic" move has been giving me a bit of a problem. Everytime I practice this move it seems to go a little wrong the first time but then fine after that. So we really need to nail it a bit better so I'm hoping by putting a quick wait in before Pogo performs it Will help, lets hope that works. With a cabaret night this weekend and next it will give me a chance to practice a few of the moves in sequence in front of an audience.

Betty went to her first dog training class this week as I felt that she needed to work around other dogs as she thinks they are all her friends. Also with her little legs her nose is very close to the ground so it was good to work on a flooring which other dogs had worked on. I was very pleased with what she did but she did look a bit tired by the end of the class.

A busy weekend

Well this is the first time I have sat down at the laptop since friday of last week. Last weekend I was in Dagenham for two one day workshops. I have been to this group twice before so knew some of the handlers. The first day was for beginners so we tackled a lot of the moves and then developed them on a little with those that could perform them.

The only trouble was that the dogs got really exhausted as anyone who has been on my workshops know I always cover a lot on them. So I think many of the dogs and perhaps a few handlers slept well after that first days training. The second day was for dogs that had done some moves, so we linked them together as well as learnt some other moves. There were some nice dogs on the workshops and a Rottie with a tail who was a very handsome boy. I must admit I have not always liked some of the Rotties with tails that I have seen but this boy was a really nice one.

Leaving the venue on sunday evening I set the sat nav to Rugby as I was going to stay with Dave and Mary Ray as I had agreed to go up and help Mary with her routine. The monday dawned and we had to get to the Rugby dog training venue early as the owner of the place had decided to put a new cattle grid in so we had to get there before they started. As it turned out it was a good job we did get their early as it took a while to get through everything. I'm sure that Marys new routine will go down well as it always does and there is certainly a move towards the end which people will remember.

So what with the weekend and working with Mary on her routine its given me a much needed boost to get on with Pogos routines. Of course I have had the routines worked out for a while but there has just been a couple of bits which I thought I would leave until I knew if I had qualified. Today I went out training and luckily there was not many people in the park as I think I would have got some odd looks with my props. In Pogos freestyle routine she has what I have called the Titanic move and its not been always going to plan. I always like to have the moves to the stage where I know the dog will 90% of the time perform it but with this one I have not got my part off pat yet. So I will see how it goes and then decide if I will definitely put it in.

New Crufts rule fiasco

Well as I mentioned in my last post HTM / Freestyle competitors were notified of a new rule that was made up on Saturday that you would have to do the same routine at the semis and the final. It was no surprise when I heard that the Crufts department have released yesterday this new rule on the Kennel Club website. I think it is a case of get it out there quickly to try and shut up those people who are not in favour of it. I have to say I am disappointed that the people who work with the crufts main arena regarding HTM have not put forward the handlers point of view and are basically backing the rule it seems.

As yet I personally have not heard from anyone who thinks the rule is workable and necessary. Plus many handlers are disgusted at the way it has been brought in without any consultation and in a very dictatorial manner.

So what are the implications now ? well firstly it has been pointed out to me that I should make sure I tick that box on the entry form which says you don't want to be filmed. Why, well who will want to have a record of their routine on film so that others can say you have done the routine differently. Secondly are the judges who have already accepted the judging of the final appointments for 2011 happy to disqualify handlers under this rule. Also if a a judge is not at the semi final how will they know whether of not the routine is different ? who will be telling them that the routine has changed ? there are so many more questions I could list but I wont bore you.

I am so glad i do not work Disco in the semis anymore as I have always had to improvise sometimes huge parts of the routine as she never liked doing a predictable routine.

I must admit to feeling very disheartened by this rule and wonder why I bother to compete : (

The semi final aftermath

Well its a few days after the semi finals and I'm feeling in need of a bit of a boost. It's always the way after the semis, there is a big build up then its all over. Of course I really should be thinking about the Crufts routines but just cannot get the energy up until today to think about them. Then of course thinking about the routine makes me panic, is there enough content in them ? could I improve the interpretation of the music ? and the list of my worries go on and on !

So do I sit down and work out the routines again no I get some treats and work with Betty! Just taught her to jump through my arms and its so funny seeing her flying through the air and boy can she jump. Got to ring her Grandma tonight (her breeder in other words) so that we can start to think about registering her with the Kennel Club.

Of course I cannot finish without mentioning the instant Crufts rule that we were told about on Sunday morning which rather took the edge off the semis for me. We have been told that as of next year we will not be able to do an old routine at the semis and a new one at the finals, we will have to do a new routine at the semis and the same at Crufts. This I think is such a shame as it will make the final a rerun of the semis even with different judges. It really has not been thought through and from what we are told is the brain child of one member of the Crufts committee.

Rules that go through the working party at the Kennel Club have to be cleared by so many committees before they make it into the rule book so it seems madness that one person can make a rule and impose it just like that without consultation. I do hope that the competitors will be asked their views on this new rule before its made law.

Anyway its a busy week with a afternoon workshop for a private gundog group tomorrow and then two workshops at the weekend so better go get organised.

Crufts semi finals

Well it is was a very long day but I'm glad to say that Pogo qualified for the HTM and Freestyle finals at Crufts 2010. Having woken on the Thursday before the competition with a nasty cold I wasn't feeling at my best on the competition day. There were quite a few entries in all the classes which meant that the last class of the day which was the freestyle semi final didn't start until around 5pm. So having been awake since 5.30am I think many of the handlers didn't suffer as much with nerves as we were all exhausted by the time we went into the ring.

So now its time to get practising on the new routines for Crufts, fingers crossed the weather stays fine so that we can get out and do some training.

Crufts semi finals getting very close

Not long now till the Crufts semi finals at Stoneleigh on Saturday. I will be working Pogo who has qualified for the Heelwork to music and Canine freestyle semi finals. For the last two years I have only been competing with her in HTM but over the last year I started to compete with her in Freestyle. She has done really well winning her two novices, two intermediates and an advanced freestyle qualifier all within six months.

With the weather recently its not been as easy to get out and practice but I think its probably done Pogo good to have a bit of a rest. If you are coming along I'm afraid we are not performing new routines but the two routines which I used to get our qualifiers.

Its about this time that panic sets in and the nerves start so please keep your fingers crossed for us at the weekend

Betty in the snow

Well little Betty didnt want to be outdone so she braved the cold in her lovely stripy jumper to pose for a few shots in the snow

Snow

With all the snow still about down here in the south this blog wouldnt be complete without the obligatory photos of the K9 Freestyle dogs in the snow. Note that Betty doesnt appear in any of them as she was tucked up at home under the blanket as even with her stripy jumper on its a bit cold for a dog her size.

Welcome to the K9 Freestyle dancing dog blog I hope to keep this updated with the various going ons with the dogs and the events they attend. You can also keep track of what we are getting upto by following us on twitter www.twitter.com/k9freestyle