Oscar Wilde once said

Ambition is the last refuge of failure...

It got me thinking! I made a list early in the new year of things I would aim for this year....

So I have decided what will be will be!

My guys and gals will give me 100% regardless of what I do myself, so I am going to throw away the list and see what happens! We will try our best and be proud of whatever we do

Meg won our first achievement this season winning one of her classes at the weekend, she was fantastic! Yes, I hope we do well this year, but if we don't, well we tried our best!!

Enjoy the time you have and love every minute of it :-)

Wow.... How inspired do I sound?!

chase - living up to his name!

My gorgeous boy is growing up! I still think of him as such a baby, i forget he is a 'young man' now :(
He is starting work on weaves, and contacts, he has done some basic groundwork, and is starting to build up now onto low jumps, He is 14 months now, so technically in a few months he is able to compete! I find it quite scarey given how much of a puppy he is still, he has so much to learn, yet has learnt a lot by enjoying being a dog and having fun as he has grown up, he can play fetch, meet any one and anything and be friendly, he has a great recall and will play endlessly,he is cheeky, and very much a goofball and best of all, he gives the BEST cuddles! He isnt perfect for breeding, which no doesnt bother me in the slightest, he is MY special boy! Even if he never does agility - still wont bother me, i have some of mine, who arent destined to be at the top of agility, but i still love them regardless!! I wnder sometimes why people are in such a rush to get their dogs out into the ring dead on 18 months - its not a deadline!!
Im pleased with my boy, i havent put any pressure on him to become the next agility superstar, i havent bigged him up and made him sound like the best thing to ever hit the agility scene, he'll be ready in his own, and in my time, maybe this year, maybe next, who knows, in the meantime, i know i have a happy well adjusted dog, who is happy if not slightly ott with his happiness in most situations :-)

His photos shows him this weekend, a beach walk - he LOVES waves, and racing them til they break! the agility ones are from the small uka we went along to on the weekend, he was playing with the practice jump quite happily even with other dogs about etc... ( obviously he didnt jump it any height other than small!)

small dog syndrome

I have been involved in traning now for 15 years, doesnt feel like it!! Im very passionate about my dogs, and those of my friends, and those i have bred, I love the way they learn and how they can pick up such a variety of tricks and behaviours!
I have been looking into doing behavioural courses and the like, but my word, the price!! wow! Considering you don't actually 'need' any qualifications to train dogs, its no wonder so many people dont have any! So it means i am re-thinking my plans for myself this year, as i was hoping to get some qualifications behind me!
With this in mind, i think of the spiderman quote!

-with great power, comes great responsibility!

ok so maybe it didnt come from spiderman first, but its what i think of! This also applies with dog training, we have the power to teach people to teach their dogs, its a great power to have you know, people come to us to help them learn, I remember my first puppy class with Jak 13 years ago, i remember going to agility for the first time to watch the dogs that had so much control and ability, and thinking wow, those trainers know their stuff! Training has evolved into so many methods, we can now find ones to suit almost every dog we see, how wonderful is THAT!

I started off training borrowed dogs, then i finally got my own dog aged 18, and havent looked back since, I have personally owned border collies and a golden retreiver, and a cross breed bewtween the 2 then more collies.... stage right and enter my new challenge

LOKI!

She was born on 1st October 2010, she is out of a JRT mum Freebie, and her dad is Horace, a JRT x Chi.

hmmm small!!
after owning and breeding larger dogs for the last few years, a small dog is somewhat a whole new ball game! She is feisty, stubborn, cuddly and sweet and very manipulative! All of those describe her well!

I am determined she will not be a small dog with small dog syndrome thinking she is better than everything else! At the moment, she has my other 8 dogs exactly where she wants them! they give up toys, she uses them to springboard onto the sofa! At feeding time she has sussed if she doesnt eat, she will get nicer food put in it, so sometimes will just sit and stare at her bowl willing it to change! She also decides if hers isnt any good she'll sample what everyone else has! of course their dry adult food is FAR superior to her warm meat and biscuit! arrrrgh!
dont even get me started on crate games with a tiny dog - yes she has a tiny cage, yes she likes food, and YES she throws a princess hissy fit as soon as you walk out of the room! Shreds the paper and throws her toys about in a paddy!

SO, after 15 years of training, im back to learning all over again i reckon!
Here are some pics of my 'princess'

Ups and Downs

Well as usual the new year hasnt been very good for me, James has been made redundant with just two weeks notice, so our van has to go as we will need two vehicles for getting to work now we wont be in the same building! He has a few leads to follow so im hoping a new job will be just around the corner!

Another down, I am looking into having chase's manly bits removed, and have been working out a good time to have off from training etc, as he will need a while to recover, and what do i hear...talk of some running their dogs at an important qualifier just 3 weeks after being spayed, female dogs, a much more intrusive operation, and it makes me wonder what these guys think they are doing? do they not realise what this could do to their insides!?? It shows that to some agility is more important than the dog itself, the poor dogs :(
Chase is male and the op is less intrusive, but he will still have a full month off of training - i value his well being too much!
This also brings me on to those heartless gits, who are probably one and the same 'type of people', you know thos who run lame/injured dogs on medication etc.... shame on you! I believe in karma, so you will get yours one day, and i hope your dog is around to see it!

One of my ups, the lovely Tigs has sired some fantastic litters, one to ella, who are now all settling in to their new homes,


sallys pups leave in a few weeks to thier new adventures too! There is possibly a very handsome boy pup available from sally, if you are interested please contact me via email harrjak@hotmail.com please, he is a stunner!



Tiggeroo, has had another lovely litter of puppies, born on saturday, with faith, they were blessed with 6 boys and 2 girls, all black and white and nicely marked, sadly the smallest of the boys passed away last night, at only half of the others weights, very very sad for wendy and faith as they both tried their very best :( sleep well little puppy x



Im very very pleased with the latest harrjak puplets, feedback is generally that they are monkeys when they want to be, but are worky and nice builds ( altho some arent impressed with the willfull ear situations!!haha! )

Snow pics - a bit late!!

Happy New Year! - catch up!

Been little while since I updated!
December was a pretty slow month, being snowed in here in exmouth, we had to hike to work in at some points knee deep snow! was very surreal walking to work seeing no vehicles and people walking along the main road!

The dogs have enjoyed it, but i think the novelty began to wear off with ice balled feet after a while, the oldies were having shorter walks and the young ones blasts down on the sand when we could get the van out!

Loki has started having walks, some short some longer, its hard to know what to do really never having such a small dog before! she enjoys her free running time and runs like a loony when we stand still, and when we walk she trots along behind us, when its wet and muddy she asks to come up for carrying after a while when she has had enough! Looking for classes now to take her along to, a local vets is running one on a thursday, so we may go along to see if any other small puppies there to play with! Although, the way she and dai play, size wont matter!

I will post snow photos in a seperate post, it was ever so pretty here with it, the ice and slippery bits werent so much fun though! Although unusually for me, I stayed upright for it all!

The dogs are working hard on their trick training, dai and meg have mastered roll over and the balance board, chase is working on feet awareness and crossing paws, terra is working on core balance and standing on random things, like the food tin above!
Im hoping that teaching them the tricks away from equipment will help their focus and balance, i have invested in a balance board ( thank you pat for the tip!) and they are all starting to use it, we will soon move onto the fit ball too! I have been watching some of sylvia Trkmans videos and they make me want to teach more and more!


Christmas eve and Christmas day we spent at home, James was ill so i took use of my time alone to watch some of the boys in blue on Bondi beach! (its a recent phase im sure will pass!!!) cant get enough of Bondi rescue!!haha!





Boxing day - Off to the inlaws - family pic above!