Harrjak

Weaving Bean!

2012-01-23T02:45:00.000-08:00

I wasnt sure what to title this one! Loki is more often called Lokibean,
no idea why its just stuck!!! hence the weaving bean title....

Training update!! Loki has started on channels...after much deliberation i decided as she isnt much of a shaper when training, this will be the simpler method for her. I haven't previously trained any of my dogs using them, but have taught others :) it was a big descision between these and 2x2 method for her, being small and not really orientated by anything other than harry!! so far so good, she has had a couple of sessions, and is really running through them nicely :)

Chase & Daizy have also begun on them, chase couldnt really work out what he was doing, he just likes running!!!

both have started doing other combinations now and are starting to work ahead and use tunnels, its showing that consistency is the key, like in most things, when they werent getting weekly minimum training they werent learning as well or as fast, i know for most this is common knowlege, but for others reading it may be something you have over looked :) I know some of my trainee's read this so I like to write as honestly as i can about my own training, as last year i didnt get to do much, with one reason and another! this year ive started off right, and plan on working hard, not only with my dogs, but with myself and my family too, as harry is keen to work loki, as she is HIS dog, as he keeps remiding me!! ...funny how she is mine when she poo's!!!! I have entered Kernow using Iss, all 3 young dogs are entered too, i have gone for 2 per day with each of them, and im hoping the judges are kind and set nice courses for the grades, i have entered the lowest cominations possible ( ie no 3-4 if there is a 3!!) as both chase and dai will start grade 3, loki however will be harrys girl so starts in grade 1! SO very few graded classes for smalls, its very sad! i know when i choose classes for honiton i am careful to see every dog gets a graded run, but a lot this just happen for!! so as a new handler, my 11 year old son has no choice but to enter combined classes with his grade 1 dog :( Once they have their first show under their belt i will start looking into travelling further to graded classes for him so he knows what to expect more for his level, aswell as junior classes too :)

Terra has some hip area stiffness so will only be running in anysize, i had hoped she would one day compete, but i dont think that is a possibility now :( still she wont know any different, as she can still play in anysize with harv :)

Zig & meg have been re training on channels ( ive got channel obsessed!) so far so good, both are working well a small space apart, and are getting better with my main weakness of the dreaded right hand weaves! both dogs come out currently 2 poles before the end, no matter how many weaves there are! so im glad i have gone back to try again, both girls may only compete for this year before going into veterans ( we'll see how they cope this season first!) meg is 9 and zig is 10 next month, so they are both no spring chickens! as long as they enjoy themselves and are physically able to work in the heights and grades they are in, im happy for them to carry on :) its hard to know at what stage to retire them, as most agility dogs are kept well and have good fitness levels etc, combined with good diets, makes for good healthy dogs :) My vet has said countless times that she is amazed that ziggy does so well for her age and the condition of her heart, the murmur hasnt gotten any worse than when she started agility, so she see's no need to medicate her yet, she is fit and healthy, enjoys walks, runs, training and competing, if she had been a pet dog she said she probably wouldnt be here with us still :( so i know with her i am very glad how we keep our dogs!!

This weekend i have my first workshops being held!!! scarey but exciting at the same time! I love training and helping people learn with their dogs, so im really looking forward to it! These ones i know, but the next i wont know, so will be a new experience for me! teaching the unknown!!

And into 2012!

2012-01-05T02:28:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone has had a great Christmas and new year :)
I have decided against new year resolutions this year, as i never stick to them!!!

I, with the help of Lydia as i have a very sore back!! Have tidied and sorted through most of the house, everything has been cleaned and is really to roll for a fresh new year, fingers crossed i will be heartbreak free this year :( This was the first xmas in 14 years i didnt have Jak & Holly, it was hard to not buy them a present this year as i its now part of the ritual, they both would always have a fluffy toy, holly would walk around with her happy grumble wagging her tail and knocking stuff flying, and jak would take off any eyes and ears, he prefers his teds deaf and mute :) i miss them so much, its so hard to not have them here any more, i know its been a while now, but nothing changes how you feel about them being gone :(

I dont have a lot to report really, we have had a good month off away from any agility, and have been back to train a little here and there, working on mainly waits, looking ahead and some grid work, contacts are being done seperatley and meg is now 2o2o 80% of the time, so still more to do!

We have had some nice adventures over the holidays, walks have taken us to several places we wouldnt usually go, Saunton Sands, woolacome bay,as well as Dorset to the in-laws, and our local areas too, woodbury common and the estuary aswell as the occasional trip to the beach!

I have been very ( regrettably) sensible, and decided against adding to my 'pack' as james is still doing courier work via the agency, it makes it not the ideal time, my scans are still not booked as now they want to find out if its a hormone releasing mass, as it could make it harder to remove, so i have a month of blood taking to have done first :) good job im not squeamish of needles! SO even though i had found a lovely puppy, i dont think it would be fair on pup or my lot, or my family even to have another right now :( im very disappointed yes, but if i want any of our future plans to cme together i must wait for now...

All the dogs have endured an MOT with Sandra, my most excellent vet :) i think she is brilliant, she is VERY hot on joint issues, and knows all of my dogs, here's what feedback i took away;

Harv is underweight at 20.2kg - he is usually around 24-25kg, but she thinks he could have the start of liver issues being 11 and not processing his food properly, so i have to keep a check on how he goes, and split him to 3 meals a day to hopefully help with this. Other wise, he is still a bit stiff in a few joints, but nothing too bad. He was a little pale, but after devouring a box of quality street, we are lucky he is as well as he is!

Zig is doing amazingly well, good teeth, good joints, ever so slightly over weigh, but 15.5kg is pretty good still for her! at almost 10, sandra is amazed every time we see her that zig is still doing so well :)

Meg has lost all her coat, hope she finds it soon! she looks so scrawney, but is ideal weight at the mo 14.8kg, her teeth are crap where she has chewed things, metal bars of cages are the usual! leads,toys anything possible will be chomped!! She has some stiffness in her toes on the front feet, probably due to how she throws herself 100 mph at everything! we will see how and what happens this year to see what classes both she and zig will be running in.

Terra, is terra.... no issues, still cant brain transplant, so same old really! weight is good, so much different to the other girls! 18.2kg! but ideal weight wise, she hasnt an ounce of fat on her! She has some slight stiffness in her hips, so wont be competing in anything but anysize classes from now on, she is only 6 but does have a bad hipscore which may be the issue. On her check, sandra says she has a very good range of movement and nothing seems painful, so to keep her fit will help things. We notice mainly after big walks or after a training session, so training is only going to be a few mins at a time for her now.

Daizy, ideal weight, 14.1 kg, perfect teeth, ears, eyes etc. Joints were all manipulated and were good, she was shaking the whole time so was being a real fairy about the whole process!

Chase, he loved sandra, and managed to sneak several licks to her face when she wasnt expecting it!! he didnt like extending his back end in the surgery, i have managed this at home when massaging him etc, but he wasnt happy for her to have a go, so will be roping friends in to do that at shows this year lol! His mish mash jaw is good on one side as the lower canine has pointed out, but the left side hasnt and has made a slight hole for itself in his upper gum line where it sits. his weight she said is perfect at 17.3kg, i think id like him to be almost 18kg as he feels too skinny to me.
Loki, the diddy one of the lot! she weighed in now over a year old so fully grown.... 3.6kg! coat,teeth,ears etc all good, no real issues, she was switched onto vibrate for the whole visit unfortunatley, couldnt get her to be calm! She has been for lots of vsits when its not her to be seen, so not sure why she is so scared!

training update

2011-12-09T01:43:00.000-08:00

well we have actually managed a couple of training sesions since my last posting!! Far too long over due! We have been training with Laura Chudleigh, who has done really well over the last few years, and she uses consistant methods, that after enough repetition sink in for me!!!! which is perfect as that is what i need!
For those who arent aware, im having a few health issues at the moment, and i have my next hospital appointment with a specialist on the 22nd dec, to determine the best way to remove and biopsy the mass after an MRI. I will update when i know some more :)

Back to training!!! After our club match, in which all of my 5 that ran managed clear rounds :) daizy got a 3rd in her beginner class, beaten by her daughter phaze! :) Terra won hers, and harv even had a clear!! :) 2 of megs 4 runs i was very pleased with, the other 2 were horrendous!! :( lots of poles, very reckless!!
So we did our day with laura, she kindly let me stay the whole day, i was in pain from the previous day so Lydia took over and did the class with zig and then swapped to meg. I wont put everything that was done, but i was pleased with how they all worked, was good for Lydia to join in as she learns better when having to do it rather than watch it!
Since then i have put into practice with the other dogs what he have learnt with contacts, start lines, jumps & turns, and so far im very pleased with the results, meg after just 2 10 min sessions was doing nice 2o2o contacts, and looking ahead ready to release to her dead toy, zig & dai were the same, so i know just short bursts like im doing will work!!
Chase and loki have done some end positions, altho chase for some reason is finding it all a bit difficult, so im putting the low contact trainer together to get him more confident in using his bean poley legs :) Loki just needs to get used to running over things higher up!!

All5 that i trained all did some basic gridwork, waits, and with me varying my position for the release, so we did recalling down, from halfway and from the fist jump sending ahead. as chase worked well on it initially, he then had a break and later on he also did some turns :) slowly coming together!

I'm christmas shopping for them all this weekend... and maybe for a new addition too!!! watch this space!

Birthday week & how much is too much or too little??

2011-11-21T03:32:00.000-08:00

This last few weeks has had birthdays for 3 of my gorgeous dogs, meg is 9!! where has that time gone!! I'm slowly getting albums onto face book of each dog at various stages of their lives, i did Harvey's around the time of his birthday too, as he is now 11!!! Chase has seen in his 2nd birthday and is still my baby boy :) he loves a cuddle and is sooo naughty and cheeky, he just makes me smile by being HIM!
This week i have been playing with the clicker, and playing with the susan garrett five minute formula, and daizy really enjoyed learning the 'jump' stand lol :) i will try and video some bits for next time :) Chase and Loki have had some general training lapses, as they have all not trained since early October ( they have a couple of weeks of fun foundation training now to recap before proper training next year! )

Someone in my class this week, asked me if its possible to train too much...I believe you CAN over train, and make dogs not enjoy training, and as i have seen in the past, over training can and WILL de-motivate them, undoing all the hard work that is put in. Finding a balance of the right amount of training is a hard thing in my eyes, using my own as examples
Harvey - loves learning fun things, gets frustrated very easily and will switch off for playing with toys instead after about 10 mins.
Zig - She can only train in short sessions because of her heart, but trick training etc she likes to offer her default of head low!! for her she is a 10 min max at a time
Meg - the energizer dog ( remember the bunnies??) she will train full on no questions asked 24-7 if she could... she thrives on it, she as yet has NEVER switched off in a training session!! yes she starts making mistakes, but she is SO motivated, she cannot turn off any enthusiasm for it, so all training is done in moderation for her as she would train til she dropped if she could!!
Terra - Terra will train for quite a while given the opportunity, but she is stubborn, and if it isn't clear as clear can be, it is a challenge to teach her anything new. she is very stuck in her ways of doing things!! she trains for food and toys, however she looks to where toys are, and in agility will bypass equipment she sees as un necessary and put her head down and plough, quite literally to her toy! Food is useful for her, except she cannot take food sensibly or gently, she is a grabber, so sore fingers are the usual after training her!
Daizy - complete opposite to her mum, meg, she enjoys 1-1 training, but isn't very focused on it, she likes food, and also tennis ball playing, she enjoys trick training and does learn quickly, however bring in a distraction and the behaviour is forgotten, she is VERY easily distracted hence still doing so much with her on her lonesome :-)

Chase & Loki aren't doing much in the way of agility training as such, wing wraps, ends of contacts and looking ahead is our main criteria at the moment, back end work and waits with releases are also part of weekly training.... if i get the opportunity!

Now if I'm lucky - I get the chance to train mine, for approx 5 mins each, once a week, sometimes that wont happen though, depending on weather, opportunity, time etc, id rather give them a really good walk somewhere nice that they all enjoy and spend time with me doing that, then spend the time training them at home, now the nights are drawing in, i think the training sessions will get longer at home as the walks will be done in daylight usually... I make excuses for my lack of training, i get home from work at 5.30 most days, its now dark by then, so my lunch break is usually spent walking them somewhere nice so they get to have fun walks as well as boring lead walks... after I've walked them when i get home, i have tea to cook, housework to do, spend time with harry and if I'm lucky some time for me! so time is tight, as it is for most of us with multiple dogs, families and work.

So how do you know how much is too much?? i know i don't train enough, but how would i know if i did too much? i know id be fitter, my dogs would work better without the silly mistakes i make but would it show if i was over doing it?? Food for thought!! :)

I have booked myself on some training sessions , as well as getting my own stuff up and running, and while its so soggy i have to work out what is safe and what is stupid in this kind of weather!
The club classes are closing for winter, so im hoping to really spend the winter training, playing and having general FUN with my lot :) roll on next year!!

I took this at lunch time, a bit crap as i was in the woods, and took with my phone,
but all 7 are in it :) This is what i like to see, smiley faces, having a blast :)

2 weave or not 2 weave... thats the question??

2011-10-31T04:40:00.000-07:00

I dont know what to doooooooo :-S

There are too many choices now with weave training methods! and i dont know which i want to try - i have 3 dogs that need to learn, 2 need touching up, and terra just needs everything!!!

Writing down my plans for winter, i have sorted most plans, but weaves are just being written as weaves, and left at that, as i just cant choose!

Daizy & Terra i have started old fashion style luring, earlier in the year, it worked for my old dogs who had better weaves than meg who learnt on V's, and harv and zig had enclosed chhannels, but i never worked on independence or difficult entries....oh or the right hand side, with those two, so big holes showed there!!

So, i have chase and loki - what a difference they are! both to teach to weave, and i cant decide how, so i havent done any?!

I have a few training workshops booked, and hope to decide depending on what suits each one and of course which trainer is most helpful i suppose! ;-)

Onto jumping, Lydia and myself have just done a jumping course, and learnt about grid work, set points, bounce grids and extension grids, all which was really fascinating, i loved it, we are definatley training those with the girls this week at club!

Ok i started writing this on sunday evening, today is tuesday morning, and i have the sort of cold that makes your head feel like its been trampled my many elephants :(

Pics from the weekend

2011-10-25T04:57:00.000-07:00

My guys taken this weekend, love them all to bits!!! :-)

Winter already?!

2011-10-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

Well didnt that come around quickly!!! The pics above are from Exmouth Beach now its re-open for dogs!!! my lot love it, but chase enjoys it the most!! he chases waves for ages, he thinks it great fun, look at his face for the proof!!!

As with most years, im starting to think about what i need to work on over winter... usually it involves lots of groundwork training at home as i dont have anywhere to use... but now I DO!!!!! So i get to do a different kind of training plan this time!
SO with a little help from friends this will all come into action over the winter!

Now, just to be clear, my dogs over the summer get to train an average of once or twice a month,not a week or even a day like some do, for about 10 mins each.... which isnt much... but they are competing, so i dont see that they need to train that much. Now the young dogs, i have changed how im doing things with them, so i will be doing 2 sessions each week with them during november, stopping all training for december and weather permitting, each dog building up to 2 sessions a week over january. and we have some 1-1 sessions to look forward to with a friend or two, so that im also looking forward too.

The show is now over and done with, and we have a de-brief about that soon for the next meeting, so a few things will be decided then and i can then plan my winter completely. I enjoy teaching within a small club, its so rewarding most of the time!!

My dogs are all doing well, meg is a bit off colour and has had a dodgy tummy overnight, so hopefully she just ate something that didnt quite agree, we shall see over the next couple of says!

Training tonight at tail-spin, my own club, im working towards the KCAI now so every little helps as tesco's say, ive just been on a training day learning about search and rescue ( SARDA) in the area, and also a seminar on reactive dogs in class situations which was very helpful, and im looking forward to the secon part of that one in March!!

On saturday i went to see a gorgeous litter of puppies, they are stunning!!! and yes as always im very tempted by one or two!!! They are by Tigger & Geena :)

finally!!

2011-09-22T04:11:00.000-07:00

a pic of my guys altogether :) look no lead on Loki!!! Harry has worked really hard on getting a 'wait' from her, he has done so well!!

not a long post as im up to my eyes sorting show stuff, and trying to work at the same time, not a good mix, not sure how others manage, and im getting loads of help too!!! I havent been involved in running a show in some years now, lots has changed!
thank you in advance to all those helping us this weekend, its such a big venture, we are such a small club in comparison to some, and running with another small club from the area is working really well, so lets hope we have good weather!

chase-icles

2011-09-15T03:30:00.000-07:00

my gorgeous boy, nearly 22 months, he is such a good FUN dog, he has a great personality, jumps up wayyyy too much but does love his cuddles. He is having fun with training, and has now started on some weaves

So close I can almost touch it!!!

2011-09-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

nearly nearly nearly have completion on a field! not to buy , just to rent, but lots of paperwork to ensure i wont abuse it!! so i dont mind, as i like to think of myself as a trustworthy person, with pretty well behaved canines!!! ;-)

this blog post i have taken the descision not to moan about anything!!!! so it may be a short one!!!! haha!!

a few well dones! to Trinnie & Pam, and to Graeme & Rib, their first outings at olympia semi's, blinking well done guys for getting to them, im very proud of you both :)

I said it so much over the weekend, especially to poor lolly who listens to so much of my moaning and general crap i may be dealing with or feeling! ( thanks lols!!x) but i am so excited to be getting somewhere to actually train myself and my own dogs, you wouldnt believe how long i have been looking for somewhere nearby that i can use whenever i like! SO now i have to scrape some equipment together, i already have a few bits, and im making my own jumps!! haha, pics when they are done!!

Zig & meg didnt get any clears this weekend, so no show news to speak of!
Loki is now a proper young lady as is having her first season :)

I have some workshops booked with the lovely Toni Keating over the winter, and also Laura Chudleigh is coming down this way for a few training sessions, so I have also booked in with her. I have also promised Hdcs members we will hold some workshops targetting specific areas over the winter aswell, so hopefully they will be popular as always :)

A brief puppy mention, Geena is getting very large and is due at the end of September, such a lovely girl, pups from these two im sure will be amazing!!!

I saw quest ( meg x boo) working at gillingham this weekend, she wasnt the most confident of worker to start with, but is definatley looking good now!!!!

baaaaa baaaaa....agility sheep ??

2011-08-30T02:27:00.000-07:00

Isn't it funny how sheep like people can be, you know when one runs and the others follow, even though they arent sure what they are running from???
i've noticed agility people can be like that too you know, one person has a thought on something - funny how the agility community can follow that thought, without any consideration of FACT!!

Now I'm well aware of who makes comments about Harrjaks, there are actually only 2 major contributors to the rumour mills, one of which i have had a word with, another i havent seen to be able to, but her idea of Harrjaks are based on an experience, once, with one dog, several years ago, with a young, and at the time inexperienced handler. Just incase you read this, and know I'm talking about you.... please find me at a show, I'm doing Gillingham, I'm SURE you will be there, I'd like you to meet some Harrjaks you havent met before, and then would like to hear that you still have the same opinion!! There are 27 Harrjak Border collies out there, not many in the great scheme of things, but please, before you make harsh judgments, meet some!! All the owners of my pups are lovely, and all are very approachable, and all will tell you what they honestly think of their dogs! ( although ignore the name trog from pam & karen lol) you have Graeme Macgregor & Rib, Claire Dell & Wren, Patricia Britton and Zephyr, and Simon Chandler with Bob, Pam Young & Trinnie, Lolly Scott and Tigger, Lynne & Amy Bennett with Java, FInd them and meet any of them... they are all at shows around the country, and that is just a few!

Harrjak owners, you are all lovely, and I love how much you all love your dogs, and I'm VERY proud of all of you, no matter what level you work, or don't work, you have given one of my precious puppies a lifetime loving home, which is very meaningful to me, and to my family, as we worry about every puppy after they leave, we get so attached to them its hard for us to see them go, which is why I'm glad you all keep in touch so much :-)

I'm not having a moan to get you all responding, I want to make you all aware, that not all people share our views on Harrjaks, I'm learning to be thicker skinned, and let it all wash off when I hear the comments, but to hear people think they are all sharp and nasty etc does wind me up a treat, as clearly they have not met many Harrjak's and therefore can only base their opinions on hearsay

Some brilliant results coming in at the moment, Mr Rave has Won his first ever class!!! Flynn (out of tigger) went grade 4 this weekend, and came 3rd at the DIN finals, seen some fab photos thanks to Graeme with Rib, from KC festival and DIN

Tigger has a litter cooking right now, one I'm VERY excited about, Geena is a lovely big strong bitch , the biggest Tigs has gone to, so I'm hoping for nice big boned girls from this combination :-) She was confirmed in pup by a scan, and saw at least 5!! <3 This litter is due 29th September.
He went to Jay this week too, not a mating by the book i can tell you!!! lol! but it happened in the end, so pups hoped for around the end of October 2011.

Love your dogs :-)

2011-08-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

Love my dogs so much :-) I've had a nightmare few days helping find a very frightened collie, who went missing on Thursday, and we finally caught him today!!! Definitely makes me appreciate what I have, as well as what I have lost recently :-(
My guys mean the world to me, I don't like the term really, but they are my fur- kids!!!
They get along so well as a group, always being able to do anything together, they eat, sleep, play ,walk, travel and just generally live together, for that I'm very grateful as so many people with multi dog households just can't have that :-)

I'm still grieving for Holly, I've no idea how long I will feel so empty without her, and jak, in my life every day, they leave a great legacy in Harv and he is so special :-) I hope they are looking down on him feeling very proud, as he is missing them so much it's hard to see him sad too :-(
I won't go into how Harry feels, as he has had jak and Holly as part of his life since he was born, he is obviously as devastated as me :-(

Be grateful for the great dogs you have, appreciate them always, love them forever x

Sweet dreams my princess x

2011-08-15T01:55:00.000-07:00

I cannot put into words how devasted i am about the loss of holly, given sleep on 11th August, too weak to fight any more, sleep well hols, always my princess, forever in my heart, go find jak at the bridge x

Swat summer show, Tamisje Uka, Holly & anything else i throw in for good measure while i waffle!!

2011-08-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

I think i have come to the conclusion i am simply not lucky in life!!! As soon as something good happens, along comes something to bring it back down again!!! why me!!
Last weekend we had SWAT show, at the most local venue i think i could ever have! Westpoint arena is only 10 mins away from me, so was lovely to be able to get up late and still get there on time!!! Monday James was Judging, he had large 1&2,as well as smalls and mediums. all jumping classes, he likes doing things unusual and really tested people by putting weaves as number 1... now some could cope with it, others could not comprehend the idea! The day went well, and after the ring was finished we set up for my day judging the following day!! arrgh scarey! Pat was my ring maanger, and i had lots of my lovely friends come and help on my ring too, karen, sharon, selena, narz & lydia, pete & vicky too, another lady scrimed for a while, sorry i dont know your name? elaine i think it was, anyway, thankyou to you all, you did a great job!!!! My courses i was undecided if were slightly easy for the grades, but when they ran i had a good mix of clears, faults and Eliminations, so i think i gauged it about right, i had no negative comments, and several comments to say they liked the courses, so i was pleased with that :O) I had grade 3 jumping, veterans, and small 1-7 jumping. I decided to leave the veterans as the same course as grade 3, just removing the tyre and long jump and replacing with ordinary jumps, the course was then reversed for the 1-7 small with the tyre being added for the straight along the end. i was trying to keep away from the straight 'up and down' style courses, which seemed to work really well.

My large G3 jumping:My small 1-7 jumping:

zig and meg worked well on the days i didnt judge, well meg only ran on monday, as she bent her dew claw right out, and wasnt looking pretty! so she was off of running unril it was healed over at not at risk of opening up, she wasnt in pain with it after the initial cut off! :-0
The bad bits from here were getting a bug :( and meggies dew claw!

UKA Tamisje
I love uka shows.
The Standard height works so much better for the girls, it also means i enjoy it more! Ok so meg only managed one clear, and it wasnt even with me!! but still, we had some fab runs, and several places on tricky courses as we only picked up the odd 5f :) so was very pleased with that, altho we do need some weave work (@ laura chudleigh you are meant to remember to send me something on that!;-) Zig picked up i think 3 x 1st places ( nov jumping and senior schase, nov snooker) aswell as 6? second places!!) she was a star!!! On the saturday i ran her again, she was lovely, we came second in our jumping after a pull around a jump went awry, and a second place with her first clear in senior steeplechase! best bit of that one was, it was the second run of it as the timing failed, we had to run for time, and luckily i also managed another clear :)

The only down side to the show, was Holly took a bad turn, and her temp flew up to 106 again, she hasnt eaten ( still) since saturday evening, but is drinking fine. the onsite vets were really helpful, and today she has also seen my own vet, her temp is down a little to 103, but she is still refusing food, so we have changed her medication slightly to see if that will help. I realise she is no spring chicken, she is my baby and i love her so so much i just cant see her deteriorate like this, she has always been so strong, so naughty, and so funny, so to see her laying helpless is heartbreaking for me, and im hoping i dont have to make the descision im dreading, i will only do what is best for all of my dogs, if that means living on toast and pot noodles so be it :) so lots of healing thoughts this way if anyone has any spare for a soppy smelly bear dog :) thank you x

We have had such a busy few weeks, we have had time off from training really, so im hoping now to get back to it! we have Kernow UKA this weekend which im hoping holly will be well enough to come along to, we may do the trade tent, or we may not, we are undecided, as it will be nice to have a weekend with just us and dogs enjoying ourselves... we shall see.

Good Night Josie x

2011-07-26T06:50:00.000-07:00

Waggerland Josie
13/12/95 ~ 24/07/11

Josie aged 15 and a bit

Josie aged 5, when she lived with us

Josie aged 9

Sunday morning i had a call from Richard to say Josie had been given sleep, she had gone downhill in the last few weeks, and the time had come to free her from the pain that was taking over

Good night and god bless josie-bean, you will be greatly missed, you have left such a great legacy, meg, tig & pop have produced stunning litters thanks to you, and you were the start of my fantastic harrjak line, so i thank you sweetie x My interest in dogs was started with Josie, she was the first dog i took to obedience classes, and then we played in agility too, never one for weaving as she would tug a toy or take food, but would chase and herd a tennis ball! Her funniest trait had to be emptying the toy box whenever she could - by surrouding you with toys, if you still didnt cave and throw one, she would start onbits of rubbish from the bin! Ever so cheeky, she would follow a ball anywhere - and did once through a glass window, shredding a back leg in the process...but still bought the ball back!! but she did calm down as she matured, and was a good mum once the hormones took over :) Her one and only litter, are tigger, Joe, murran, megan, popi & heli, a fantastic litter that love to work, so her great work ethic has been passed down to other agility generations.

Although she didnt always live with me, i feel very grateful to have been part of her life, such a special girl, she missed being an only dog when she first moved in in 2000, it took her some time to settle, especially with holly! Jak was pleased to have his big 'sister' with him, and i think she was very pleased to move back in and have control over the toys once more when Rich & Jess moved back to the UK!

Go find Jak and go tell him to play ball, you know he is a sucker when it comes to you :) x

Well done to Rave :)

2011-07-15T05:29:00.000-07:00

Well done Rave, Harrjak blink and you'll miss it,

He qualified for the Alpha Agility Challenge Final to be held at Malvern Autumn show in September

would you believe it...

2011-07-08T06:31:00.000-07:00

i/we have actually done some training!!!! and video'd a little!!!

meg and zig worked on contacts & weaves, and turns on jumps with harry, then dai and terra did a little of all sorts, chase and loki did some low work, and chase then some boxes at std uka height :) he is quite wide still on turns but does respond well, he is faster over straight lines!!

When all is said and done....

2011-06-22T03:06:00.001-07:00

Im having fun, and that is , after all, what agility is all about :) i have recently only been taking part in small UK agility shows, which are exactly what shows used to be like, laid back, enjoyable and a little less competitive! of course the competition is always there, it wouldnt be a show without rossettes would it ;-)
My little red head has done very well just lately, Naarah a junior handler from our club, and a friend, has been running her in some shows, as we have been concentrating on running the tail-spin trade stand, and between Lydia, Narz & Harry they are all runnng zig at shows :) ( i rarely get a look in now!!) ZIg has now won enough points to move up to Senior in steeplechase, whilst she needs a few still in performance to move up there too.
Meg is working really well, and now i have my own training area we will be working on getting some better handling from myself to get the decent runs even better :) i cant wait!

Terra gave the biggest surprise from the weekend, a spur of the moment entry with naarah into casual agility ( as she gets to jump slightly lower) and she actually had a CLEAR ROUND! you have no idea how long this day has been coming! no spinning, only the odd bark, no ducking the jumps or running past!!! She WON the class by 4 seconds!!!!! Amazed and super pleased!! Again, now i will be able to train more, i hope to see her working at kc shows soon!!
Daizy , Chase & Loki all did some ring wandering and playing, and also in the tent, we worked on some tricks we have been perfecting, it is definatley helping them with their learning, and daizy especially, although she was still a little barky around the rings, she was much more focused on doing 'stuff' instead :)

Holly update!! She is recovering really well and has even been camping with us, she wears a jumper when in the tent as the temp does drop alot over night, and she is feeling the cold, but her facial swelling has pretty much gone, and her coat is falling out like no ones business but that maybe the weather more than the snake bite :)

Im really enjoying my dogs right now, the courses we work on at shows are definatley trickier than my little brain can cope with, and i only hope judges dont look at us in despair when we attempt to run, as i feel thats the case alot of the time, sometimes people need to know the stories behind the dogs, and how far they have come, and maybe soon we will find the perfect courses to get some clears on :-)

all 8 waiting for narz to move :)

oh dear.....

The most handsome chase :)

Zigs last few weekends winnings!

why me???

2011-06-10T02:54:00.000-07:00

its about time i won the lottery - im well past some good luck happening!!!

This week Holly was bitten by an adder, on the nose when we were out walking on wednesday evening, the other dogs backed off when i told them too, unfortunatley i was too far away after picking up some poo to help holly who hadnt heard me :( she was rushed straight in, i took a photo of the snake using my phone as was better than me trying to remember what it looked like!
She spent the night in the emergency vets on fluids, steroids, anti inflammitories and anti biotics, and came home yesterday morning, with a very swollen and puffy muzzle area aswell as a fluidy build up in her lower jaw and neck on the side of the bite, inside her lip is also badly bruised and looks nasty :( poor girl, she is so brave, and hasnt complained once, although, the vet said she decided at 3am to remove her catheter in her leg so they had to re-do it all :)

So if you walk in grassy area's/ heath land, please watch out for these!

Just Dogs

2011-06-06T02:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend saw us going very locally to Feniton, for just dogs' first show, i think i can safely say it was a success, no drama's from what i could tell :-) well done on a well run show, i hope you put on further shows in the future!!!
We came away very pleased :-) Zig was a superstar! 1st in Snooker, 2nd in gamblers, which was fab as 1st ever time in games classes! i figure i have to do them at some point, why not have a go...so lydia did it lol!!! Meg had some lovely runs, as im mid process teaching a new wait, ( yes again!!) we had running starts which isnt great i know, but she is 8 now!!! We came away with lots of nice rossettes which im obviously really pleased about :-) our last 2 runs i was really pleased with as we both seemed to work well together :-)

Lydia took Daizy in Nursery, and got 5 f, they also made use of the enclosed practice ring and did some nice jump work on standard height, and some contacts, and didnt sway from the course too much!
Naarah also ran terra in nursey, at standard height and had an E for the wrong end of the tunnel, but that was it! all the jumps, both contacts all fine! so she is coming together nicely!! :)

Chase had a play around rings, and is getting more focused, altho does like to make a nice high pitched noise when it gets REALLY exciting! but was concentrating and doing some tricks and bits around the dogs working which was good! Loki went out and about several times with harry too, and was enjoying playing tuggy, and doing some general socialising around the rings, and helping draw people into the tail-spin trade stand too!

All in all a lovely weekend, nice walks, nice ground ( naughty rabbits in some places refreshing the filled holes in the rings!!lol)

At home things are going ok, would be better if James could find a full time job, but until then we have to make do! The dogs are happy and responding well to new routines i am doing with them all, which im hoping will increase their performance as well as my own!! Clicker training is coming along well, im learning much more about it, as when i have tried in the past my understanding was quite limited and i dont think i tried to give it enough of a chance :( so im back on it! It means my training plan has changed slightly to accomodate this, so i can give it all a chance to work for me & my guys

The only way is up?!?!

2011-05-31T08:17:00.000-07:00

Friday evening we made our way to SWAT show, lovely show, I missed last year has i had meggie puppies :) SO was looking forward to this year....although there was no T-shirts for helping this year!!!!! ( tut tut!!) that was the bit i was looking forward too!

My weekend did have some upsides - im not all doom and gloom i promise :-)
Daizy has been in the ring now a grand total of 2 times, and on saturday with lydia stayed pretty focused and got around the anysize jumping course! CLEAR! so i was dead chuffed for her! Lydia then went on to do the double and got a clear in the 1-7 jumping with ziggy, unfortunatley just out of the placings, but never mind!!! The following day saw Harry ( for those who dont know harry he is my 10 year old son) had his first ever clear round with ziggy too!!! again in 1-7 jumping!!! so zig is at least getting consistant again and will hopefully gain a few places in this year, possibly her last before retiring down to anysize :)

A big well done has to go out to Claire & Wren, Winning Grade 4 agility by miles!! - ok by seconds to put it in more realistic in agility terms!!!

Lots of positives from this weekend, chase playing by the rings, loki out and about meeting more people, and also coming home to do more training with harry ( see her makeshift tunnel in the video!!) i got to catch up with Karen & Selena too, and a few pups! And met some online friends i havent met in person before too! Meg had some nice moments, so much to work on, im only hoping we can get there before she is too old! Chase had his first runs in anysize, and well, the good point was he had a good wait, and stayed in the ring.... i shall leave it at that lol!!!!
My handling leaves a lot to be desired. soooo much to work on when watching back what i do, absolute nightmare, ive really gotten to be a lazy rubbish handler, when did that happen!!! So lots to work on for myself, not just the dogs!! SO! back on to action plans, and getting stuff organised, as i try and take on too much in general, i must cut back on how much i do for everyone else, and concentrate on myself for a change!!!!

Really looking forward to the next couple of weekends, 2 UKA shows in a row :)

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1969266463996 - chase waving

R.I.P Welly bun

2011-05-31T07:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend started off a sad one, we had to say farewell to our big welly bun, yes she may have been a bit of a grumpy moo at times but she has left a HUGE bunny shaped hole :( She was a bit off colour so i booked her in for a check up at the vets, later that evening when getting her out of the run we noticed a small amount of blood near her back end, but couldnt determine the source. So then another call into the vet, who said if she could be persuaded to eat, she should be ok to wait until morning to be seen as no more blood was forthcoming. i offered her some apple and dandelions mixed up which she did eat, her pellet food was turned down, but non-theless, she ate. So next morning off we went, only to find upon sedating her she had a massive tumour in her urinary tract, which unfortunatley was inoperable, so upon the vets advice the kindest thing for her was to say good bye. She has been buried in a nice spot in the woods opposite where we live, close to wade the oap hamster, and parsley the lionhead bunny we lost at a very early age. Harry is also obviously very upset to have lost her too

2 posts in one day eh!

2011-05-24T03:30:00.000-07:00

Well yes, purely because i thought the other one about sunday was deserving of its own spot :)

So we are on tuesday, another week ready to rush past again no doubt!! This weekend im looking froward to SWAT show, James is Judging on Sunday , and i have no trade stand, so looking forward to just enjoying a show, although i will no doubt feel i need to help at certain times ;0)

Im hoping meg will be ok in time for the show as ive been working very hard on the fitness of the dogs these last few weeks as i feel they werent quite at optimum level for working which was why we havent been working so well lately, so have been putting lots of 1-1 walks in to help with that, plus to benefit me aswell as would love to be able to run them to their full potential, and feel i let them down by being overweight myself, so hoping to improve my fitness to benefit my guys too :)

Chase is back at training and is back working nicely at medium height, im particularly looking forward to the next few UKA shows as i get to run him in some nursery classes with his toy to help him become nice and focused in the ring.
Daizy.... i think she has been having a phantom, as she isnt quite herself at the moment, she has been taking herself off to bed with her 'suckie' ( fleece tuggy she likes to suck on and fall asleep) and not playing with loki and chase as much as normal, so i think maybe a little hormonal, so she came to the barn for the last 2 weeks and just had some play time with jumps and tunnels on very low height and made a nice fun time of it for her :) She is entered in only anysize at kc shows at the mometn, as i want her to build up her focus, as she is easily distracted, and will go under full height jumps if she is too busy watching what else is going on outside of the ring. So small and fun for now, and see how we get on at uka where she is standard height so can jump lower, she is one who would benefit from the 4th height if it were to be passed, as she is very much a border line girl!!
Loki has been having lots of fun so far, and is a sweetheart, she is so much more difficult to train than a collie though!! ;-)

This week we have pulled out the mary ray trick book, as i decided my dogs need to learn more!! so this week we have taught - round! and harry taught loki 'freeze'

you never know whats around the corner...

2011-05-24T02:24:00.000-07:00

On sunday we had a nice big group walk 21 dogs, 2 kids harry & jordan, james, myself, karen, lolly, pat and teresa, later joined by debbie my step mum and her 6 month old puppy bailey.
We walked the estuary from exmouth, towards star cross ( google maps: 50.626851,-3.433664)

Bailey was spooked by a kite surfer, and bolted in the opposite direction! He got stuck in the mud a good way away and Debbie went to get him and ended up getting almost waist deep in estuary mud! closely followed by James! Ended up having to ring coastguard, but Bailey couldn't be seen, after being last seen chest deep in the sinking mud. ( here: 50.629355,-3.416798) we honestly were fearing the worst! The coast guard met me at mudbank lane ( the other side of the railway line but in clear view of where they were and closer than the car park) and spoke to debbie and james on the phone about a safe route out, before deciding to take their 4 x 4 to see if they could get them more safely. A local walking past in the meantime tried to help out by showing a safe route, to only go into his waist and have to get back out, thank you whoever you were, but you really shouldnt have tried anything silly!! :) Unfortunatley even the coastguards 4 x 4 they took out got stuck!

After james & debbie got to more solid ground, the search was finally on for bailey, Deb was obviously in panic mode by then, as was i, and i was with gary, debbies other half, using a friends binoculours and the long lens on the camera i had with me for the walk to look in the mud & sand to see if we could spot any sign of him, or of his body, but nothing!! the train passed twice, and it was being considered that maybe he had got out and ran farther away than where we were looking, and talk was of trying the dog warden etc, and lympstone further along to see if he had found his own way onto dry land...we were hoping for anything by this point!

Over an hour later and into the search, Debbie & james were out and safe, but very mucky...We could hear some shouts, and around the corner trots Bailey... ON the railway line!! so went from panic he had been sucked under the mud, to him being on the railway line!! the train wasnt due for about 15 minutes, but it was real panic in case he wasnt caught in time! 3 people including Gary debbies boyfriend managed to catch him after a good 10 mins, luckily before the train came!! Big thanks to all involved, only a few human scratches to show for it... Big sorry to the coastguard who got the truck stuck when they went to get James and Debbie out :-(

Usually when walking we avoid the muddy areas as ive always heard stories about how dangerous it can be, and we always stick to the sand, but when your dog's life is on the line you will try anything to save them, as debbie was doing, i wouldnt recommend anyone doing what they did, but know in my heart of hearts, i would have been doing the same if it were me in that position

A few photo's pre bailey's bunk! more on facebook :)

chase @ 18mths

2011-05-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

My big baby, he is SUCH a funny boy - he thinks he is sex on legs :)

WAO & Dreaming!

2011-05-16T06:56:00.000-07:00

It makes a change doing nothing!!! Although we actually ended up being rather busy after all!
Saturday we stayed locally, mooched about on the 'marina'....it'll always be Exmouth Docks to me!! looked about and james dreamt about boats we cant afford :) then had a lovely big walk on the common with all the dogs. Early night then ready to leave at 6am to go see the World agility open show, which had countries from all over competing, we got to see England win the team gold yesterday which wasnt half nailbiting as that last dog went around!! Never know, maybe one day we'll be good enough to get there!!!!;-D
After this i decided we were doing some dreaming for myself....so i went to see a breeder i knew had a litter i liked the look of, and found my dream puppy that i cant have!!! :( but was lovely to meet sue and her lovely dogs :)

Harrjak Guided Miss Isle aka Missie

2011-05-12T04:46:00.000-07:00

The very beautiful & talented Missie - owned by Linda, she was the only girl in meg x boo first litter :-) such a beautiful girl x She is competing at Grade 7
The pictures show her at Kernow in the Olympia Qualifier, and the Video is at BAGS show last weekend :)

must be getting old!!!

2011-05-09T02:02:00.000-07:00

Zig weavingMeg

Meg

Terra

Daizy

This was taken by my brother steve - a fantasic pic i think!

I am knackered!
after an eventful weekend, we have to say good bye to our show tent :( its given us a good year of trade stands, but the wind at taunton racecourse was just too much for its little legs, and we left it looking and feeling sturdy on saturday night after setting up james' course for agility on sunday, to arrive sunday morning to find half of it bent and buckled and on its knee's :( !!!!! We managed to bend and twist things back into place enough to hold for the day, and anchored in in several more places, but didnt risk putting the side on else would have made it more kite like!

In general, Tail -spin had a good day :) dog run wise, i only had zig and meg entered and they only had 2 runs each, we had several faults in each run, and handler memory loss in zigs jumping but we had already missed the weave entry :) very hard running zig again after just running meg and training the young guys, but was nice :) i look forward to running her more again

Chase will be training more now he is back in action off lead, so can start doing some gentle bits that will help him with his learning :) He is so gangly and goofy, he is great fun to train and i love him to bits, he reminds me of Jak in so many great ways :) x

Dai & Terra are still working on jump style and full height jumping, they are coming on slowly, but im not having time to take all my bits to the park to do any at the moment, so they can only do once a week at the barn on club night after ive finished training

May already!

2011-05-06T06:45:00.001-07:00

Crikey this year is flying by!!! This weekend sees us going to Blackdown show, a nice and local ish one for us at Taunton Racecourse in Somerset... James is judging, and me, well in my lack of wisdom, have agreed to have a trade stand! SO this week has been uber busy sorting stock, ordering new stock, and display panels, and all of it still needs pricing before sunday morning! I dont make like easy for myself do i!!

This week has been particularly pants, i feel ill, and crap in general, im still getting over my chest infection, i have been pretty down about jak, as im still coming to terms with the loss of him which i still find very hard :( and then to top it off i get a comment made about me that was uncalled for! I find it amazing that people feel the need to judge others like this, to make an assumption is one thing, but people must know by now there are two sides to every story, and what either side may or may not know could be the truth, only those directly involved will know the truth, and quite frankly for people who dont know me personally should not judge things about me, without asking me first. That is all it takes, ask, and i will do my best to answer, i will always be honest, but i wont directly or purposefully hurt someone.

Gossip is another world, i wont even get started on that one - again, if you have heard a rumour you would like to know about, just ask! most of the time its chinese whispers.

Just as an example, when i had terra as a puppy i was asked if i was going to breed from her, i said i was undecided as her dna test wasnt back, as he mum is a tested carrier for cea, i would need to know her status before doing so. well by the next show i went to, i had people asking why i was considering breeding when my puppy HAD CEA??? WTF??
Obviously she didnt HAVE CEA, but it was still bizarre the way my conversation with 2 people had changed peoples perception of me!! Obviously when i was asked, i put people straight, she was infact tested NORMAL!! lol, so the gossip factory was shut down just temporarily.

When you breed, like it or lump it, people talk about you line, and or dogs, and dogs you may have used etc, its part and parcel of it unfortunatley, but you take the rough with the smooth, not everyones opinions are the same, it would be boring if they were!

So remember next time you comment on someones dog, people may misinterpret whats been said and you could be running a 3 legged orange hyena....

in it to win it??

2011-04-27T02:17:00.000-07:00

Holly chilling at kernow

hmm well to start this blog i shall moan! id love to know what goes on in some peoples minds at times i really would! we had a good weekend at kernow, lovely weather, friends and dogs, as you would expect from a show in cornwall :) but i had a couple of dampners really :( a comment made to a friend as she left a ring, saying 'i dont know why you bother running a dog like that'
now to me, thats down right rude, i personally would have given said person the lead and said come on then, practice ring now, show me how it should be done!! but what people dont realise is how hard the fast and the furious are to handle, until you have experience in it - please shut the eff up!

Well onto nicer things :) chase is now less a couple of dangly bits! he was a bit sorry for himself for a few days, but is now back to his normal self, im using this time to teach him a better nose touch to a target, as he has a fab hand touch, just weaker on a target.

Loki has been doing some foundation stuff with harry who is enjoying training her, but she is no easy puppy! she is quite motivated by food, but occasionally her terrier head comes on and she will also play, so im hoping he wil have the best of both with her :) although today she is poorly so has come to sit in the van at work, but is howling right now!!!

Meg & zig had a good weekend show wise, no wins to brag of yet, but zig had a clear with naarah in a jumping, but was a 4-5 so was too slow for a place, i plan on doing some runs with her myself to see how we go at the next few shows too. meg had good contacts and weaves, 1st run each day was bad on poles, so i think we have a pattern there too!
Terra had a few runs in grade 1, as she is registered to James i cant run her, so naarah and lydia both ran her, and had some not too awful - for terra, runs!!

Also had some good advice to help daizy with her toy drive and had her playing by the rings, so hopefully when she decides she is ready to compete we will have more focus from her!
I have training planned for this weekend, as i have no shows til blackdown, so much to work on!!!

Tigs

Saw several Harrjaks working this weekend,Tigs, Missie, Popi & Wren, nice to see them all, and pups looking all grown up! meg litter with reef are now a year old and looking lovely, some pups from that litter had some chase issues not seen in my line before, which is now being worked on by their owners, i think the match of those two were definatley extreme! Watching Tatty playing and interacting with joy around the rings was fantastic, and i know how hard she has worked to get that focus around fast moving dogs, its great to watch, well done Joy :)
I caught a brief look at jack on friday when i was scriming for Don, He is taller than i thought, but his face is similar to daizys litter, and caught up with mickey on the saturday, who is looking handsome as ever :0)

Saw some of the daizon pups too, they also are fab, so so pleased with how that litter is turning out, they are gorgeous! Sue's Holly however managed to scare a few of us by disappearing on friday for a little while! monkey!

Maid & meg, or is it meg and maid??

To finish this post, agility is, in my eyes, fun, i choose to do it as my dogs enjoy it, it helps keeps them busy, and mentally stimulated, as well as fit of course, and because i enjoy it, no better way in my eyes to spend a weekend sat about of an evening with friends enjoying a drink and chatting about how the day went, there isnt so much of that nowadays as everyone is always so busy to notice the time passing, but we did manage a few moments this last weekend which was nice and makes it even more worthwhile :) lets hope there is many more to come x as the title of this post says in it to win it - im not sure what some may class as winning, but i have fantastic dogs, fab family and friends, so in my eyes, im a winner, i dont need trophies to show me that :)

Dai playing ball in the field

Meg

Josie - mum of the first litter of harrjak's , almost 16 years young :)
We went to visit her in the school hols :)

Maybe, just once, someone will call me 'Sir' without adding, 'You're making a scene.' Homer Simpson

2011-04-13T06:36:00.000-07:00

I thought id use a quote seeing as i havent in a while now :) this one inparticular is for my wee man chase, who is soon to be a pair of furry plums lighter than before :( he isnt going to feel that great about it i know that!! But i feel he is definatley at the point, where the sexiness needs to have the edge taken off unfortunatley!! Plus when any of the girls are in season i feel so mean sending him off to stay with aunties, not matter how much they love him!!lol!! So next week the deed shall be done as ihave a week off :)

Now then, what to update, well im still a crap overweight handler, so my dogs arent winning, however, we are all improving so there is a little glimmer of hope far far away!!!

This week has been a little freaky actually,I was on tv, yes really!! and not for anything bad or stupid ( night cops no longer film exmouth!!lol!!) bbc spotlight rang me about being interviewed on woodbury common about ticks and my dogs and we spent about 2 hours filming for about a 30 second part, but hey ho - harv was brilliant and was quite happy to throw himself into bushes over and over to show 'a dog in undergrowth'. He was my little star :) well done harv mate!
Daizy has an injury to her tail, and had a slight infection which had healed nicely, but is now waiting for some hair to grow back! we arent sure the exact cause, but a certain small black dog does like to catch her tail when they run together ....hmmmm. I have a cold AND a bad back this week, but have still been uber busy, new classes started for tail-spin, as i had some regular 1-1 people who have new dogs and wanted a class, but no where local is very good at the moment and people arent wanting to travel as far as the better classes, so hopefully i can fill the small exmouth niche in the market there.
I also had a fab 1-1 with toni again, well for what i could manage, naarah and harry ended up with most of the lesson, BUT we did get daizy onto some full height jumps, and terra too, and worked on weaves with them both :) both are coming along nicely, terra more so, as dai still struggles with that pain in the bum thing called FOCUS! but she is getting there, when she looses focus, she will run around a jump, not awful, she doesnt leave the ring etc, but still proves she needs more before our first show soon!
Chase is nicely working medium height, and has been working on grids, turns and tunnels. He is 17 months now and i deliberatly havent rushed him as he is a very tall leggy boy, it makes me sad to know people are jumping dogs as young as they do, there is simply no need for it :( especially as majority of those people will have to retire them early later on, i feel for the dogs, not the owners, they will probably rehome them on after they have worn them into the ground.
Loki is doing more learn to earn, as at 6 months, she isnt the baby she makes out to be, she has good all round obedience, she doesnt like downs, however ! we are working on wait, and getting her working to a target, which at the moment is a big floppy frisbee which she is really enjoying ( thanks for the tip toni!!) she has had her first lesson with harry doing some foundation work, just recalling through jump wings and feeding her after putting her feet on a low dog walk too, Harry has lots of homework to play with too with her, all of which he has started, so thats good :)

Meg & Zig had a good jump training session, we have another tonight, weaves too, so im hoping it stops raining soon!!!

We met up with Graeme and Rib (2nd meg xboo litter) and claire with wren, and went for a stroll on the estuary last night which was lovely - although having your mother tell you off when you are an adult must be embaressing, so meg was true to form and told them both off for not visiting sooner :) lol, they didnt seem to mind too much tho, and all were soon bombing about having a blast ( pics on facebook)

I think the only one missing from this blog is my dear old holly, so i will mention her :) she is coming up to her 14th birthday, she isnt as fast or agilie as she used to be, but as pics on my last post show, she still enjoys life and is as fit as she can be at this age and spends best parts of the day working on the best sleeping position to be in :) Loki adores her and will snuggle up beside her, which i think holly like too :)

All my guys are so quirky and unique, i love them to bits x

Light at the end of the tunnel maybe??

2011-04-05T04:42:00.000-07:00

Exciting times ahead for us here at Harrjak, Tail-spin is just about to start a new venture, training classes!!! arrrgh! So nervous yet so excited! I get sooo many enquiries for puppy classes in Exmouth, there is a real shortage of decnt training in the nearby area, more so now Devondogs have moved out to newhall, so i have decided to get things going! I have been doing 1-1 sessions on and off, aswell as some pet minding, and some 1-1 people have asked about group classes, and when out on walks we have also been asked about it, so decided now is the time, i think the distraction will also help :-)
Im also on a mission to find myself a training area for my own dogs, they give me so much pleasure that i feel i owe it to them to try harder to find somewhere so we can all do better and enjoy ourselves, as we all love agility :)

I have a lovely group at Honitondogs on a friday evening, they are coming along so well, so i hope they are a nice new group of hopefuls for the future, they certainly have the right attitude :) I love seeing new puppies coming through and gaining experience too, Selena has Otter, Naarah has Sassy & small puppy Berry too, all lots of hopes for the future.

My little pack are happy and healthy, they are loving life, and we are loving them, yes they are naughty at times, but they are my naughty babies none the less :-)

Alot has happened in a small space of time here, Jak is definatley living on in Chase, and Harvey, and not a day passes where i dont look for him, and realise he is no longer here, the pain is still hard to deal with , but at the same time, i dont want it to pass, as he was just so special. I have a tattoo with his name to remind me of him every day, i dont need it, as there is no way i will ever forget him, nothing is the same any more... love your dogs every day, unconditionally, take photos to keep the memories as much as possible, and most of all cherish what you have while you have it...

and so it begins...

2011-03-24T08:54:00.000-07:00

Well i finally did it, a group show without my best boy :) they were little buggers trying to get it though, loki doesnt know 'wait' yet little minx!!

We have had season's latley so we havent done much training with terra recently, just a little at home, dai has now come into season too, so she is also now not training at club :)

This weekend see's our first Camping show of the season, i cant decide if im excited or just nervous, i dont want to look silly in the ring with dogs flying here there and everywhere, so i have entered meg and zig in 4 runs a day, terra and maybe chase will have a play in nursery so i can see if chase can use his teeny brain, and if terra can do some decent work.
Naarah a friend and trainee ( also the breeder of Loki) is also coming along, and is competing for the first time with little Maud, an older sister of little loki, im really looking forward to seeing her working on grass!! she will be a little star!!

Chase has been to stay with Auntie lolly while terra was in mid season, I think he enjoyed himself, Lolly certainly had an experience! I am thinking i may try and get him use to a headcollar soon, i have hesitated as im not sure if it will cause his teeth to rub his lips or gums, as his jaw is twisted slightly from being so overshot, so obviously dont want a headcollar to hurt him :) but he is so lanky and OTT

anyway, wish me luck for NADS, Id love a few clears, would set me off to a good start to the competing season!! I think Luck is well overdue for me :)

Im looking forward to meeting Jay, a prospective girlfriend for tigger, his pups from other litters seem so fantastic, really proud of him for having such gorgeous babies! If anyone is interested in a tigger pup, please contact me on harrjak@hotmail.com and i will put you in touch with respective owners/breeders :) Lots of Tigger pups to see this weekend too, as well as a few full Harrjaks :)

I had a nice few pictures from Patricia and Peter of Zephyr from Daizy x Lennon litter in Sept last year, he was in the litter called sexy rexy, and what a stunner he has turned out to be :-)
I am really pleased with this litter, they are a really nice mix of both lines, their structure is nice, the girls arent huge, which i had expected as Daizy isnt big herself, but they have a nice amount of bone to their build, unlike alot of the agility dogs being bred at the moment, which is soon going to be too brittle to work IMHO! I know im biased and i like what i breed, i choose parents carefully and put a lot of effort into raising happy healthy babies :-)
I love recieving all the reports on how they are doing, and telling me off if i get a result wrong ( graeme!!Lol)

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all Harrjak babies a fantastic season ahead, lets make it a good one!!! x

Jak Compilation

2011-03-10T05:15:00.000-08:00

here is an old video compilation i made when jak first retired down to anysize classes,
He has been gone a week tonight, i miss him so so much, i hope he knows how much we love and miss him x

Sleep well my boy x

2011-03-07T01:31:00.000-08:00

Thursday night we had to make the hardest decision, and say goodbye to my first true love, sleep well Jak, we love you so much, my heart feels like it's been ripped out without you here, you will be so greatly missed old boy, go find grandad at the bridge x I love you x

it never rains...it blinking chucks it down for me :(

2011-03-01T03:09:00.000-08:00

Well im knackered! thats all i can say really, Jak started to pick up, he has now started to be a bit unsteady again, mainly on one back leg, but he is on metacam now and hopefully will be a bit happier. Holly decided it was her turn to be ill! she has ulcerated colitis! she haid a full 24 hours D&V and ended up containing a great deal of blood from her bowel, she was getting dehydrated, to the point i had to syringe Rehydration fluid into her, and the following day she was admitted onto a drip as it wasnt enough. Holly is 2 months younger than Jak, so also 13, knocking on 14, and has a touch of arthritis in her legs but mainly in her front feet, so is a bit slower on lead walks than him. She prefers off lead ambles, but can still do a runner after the elusive pheasant or rabbit :) SO if anyone has any nice poweful healing thoughts for my lovely oldies, please spare us a few x

back to the others, meg and zig are working well at training, we are doing alot at the barn, and a few bits out with Toni, and harry is coming along well too, learning how to handle basic courses now, so he is really coming along, its nice to have someone so nice show him what to do and when, thanks Toni x

Chase is woking on general bits n pieces, he is very gangly still and reminds me of a teenage boy! But he is keen and happy doing everything we ask of him so far :)
Dai & Terra, both are working nicely on jumping, terra is even doing some full height work, and her teeny brain is coping!! yay! although the rate she is going she will be competing in veterans!!haha! Dai is still an onward challenge, her focus is never fully there, she is FAR better in a group now than she was, although is noisy while she is waiting! she is happy playing or using food rewards, and her weaves are coming along well, she is starting to speed up now, so we will start on independance & entries soon!! I will try and get some videoing done this week at training :)

end of winter?

2011-02-16T02:03:00.001-08:00

I think is slowly coming upon us, at long last! i hope the better weather will pick jak up a little too :) he has some pain in his hip, making it hard to pick him up to take him in the van for nice walks, so for now he jumps in the side door with me giving help using his harness he has commandeered from chase as its padded underneath too. he is happy in himself and this week i had a lovely lunch time welcome of him standing on the sofa pulling his lips up in his silly smile, something i havent seen for a while, so im hoping it means he is feeling better in himself. His prostate was a little large on our last check, and his wee still contained blood, i have changed his diet, as he is such a fussy eater he wont eat dry food, so is on lifestages meat, with a little burns mixer which he is eating with gusto, so hoping he will feel stronger now he is eating more. I have taken Helens advice ( see comment on my last posting) and jak has lots of hugs every day, i just have to close my eyes and i know exactly the shape of him to hold, thank you helen for that :-)

Anyway, enough of depressing myself, back to some thoughts on things! I like to forward plan important things, ie breeding, which to me is important. Good breeding is something you dont see and hear of too often in our sport, and i was lucky enough to have an email and a phone call from a lady i knew of, but didnt know too well, who said i was the 'best and most ethical' breeder they knew of (yeah it shocked me too!!) and could i help advise her, so i did my best, and she seemed to take on board what i had said too, she asked if she could send me something to say thank you for my help, but i pointed out, what kind of breeder, trying to better the bc breed, would want something as a thank you? Just by thinking about the lines, the temperament and the health of the breed is what is thanks enough.

Now i think of myself as a good breeder, not the best i have no doubt there are better than me out there, but i do and always will try my best!
My plan is to breed and keep a red girl pup of my very own, to add to my line, im hoping Jinty and Tigger will make this happen! ( no pressure guys!) I know there is no reason i couldnt go out and buy a red pup, but to be perfectly honest i am fussy now! I also think that as i am having a litter, why not keep one of my own, instead of buying one in from similar lines that i may like.

I have made lots of positive steps this week into finding a field/ venue to train nearby, so fingers crossed it will happen soon, I have some pet obedience classes starting soon here in Exmouth, so things are looking up! I love training, and I love helping people that think they are stuck with issues with their dog/s and finding ways to help them..... on that note if anyone knows a way to make the hoover NOT exciting in the slightest please let me know, chase LOVES it a bit too much at times!!!lol! :)
My guys are doing well in training at the mo, im really pleased with their progress, dai is slowly moving to full contacts, terra is actually jumping and starting to weave at long last, meg is being meg, but slightly more controlled, with some fab directions now too...when i get my timing right!! Lots to work on following our jump/stride/turns workshop on sunday ( thanks Toni) but all things i can put up in our training barn :)
looking forward to friday and putting some into practice!

oh and an extra non doggy note - new Season of Bondi Rescue is slowly trickling onto youtube!!!
yay for the boys in blue ;-)

For the love of dog...

2011-02-11T05:31:00.000-08:00

Well not much has gone on this week, Jak is still on antibiotics for what im hoping is just a bladder infection, the vet doesnt sound too convincing, i think she knows how upset i will be to lose him just yet, so im thinking positive, he is getting grumpier, he is eating less and is a lot less steady on his feet, he is also needing to wee a lot more often, whcih is understandable at his age, and he has had a few accidents recently which i know is very upsetting for him, as well as me as i realise my old boy wont be with me forever, as much as i need him to be. We have the vets again this evening to see if the blood has gone, or is reduced as it was last week, his protein levels had reduced, and the amount of blood cells, which is good news. fingers crossed tonight also will be better. He is refusing to eat if i add any joint supplements to his food, so he is just eating meat, from a fork i have to add, with his tablets hidden inside, but it means he eats a full meal!
Jak is my first own dog, in may he'll be 14, he has been through every up and down i have had, and really does mean the world to me, his vestibular was a shock, and it really hit home just how much he has aged recently. For now he is here, he is loved, and is the best boy in the world x

junior in the making??

2011-02-08T01:40:00.000-08:00

Harry as you can see is beginning to understand a little more about handling and less about running like a fish out of water with arms and legs flailing about!!
Zig is ideal for him to learn with as she is pretty consistant and has a nice wait already! unfortunatley at shows she is very different and has always suffered ring nerves, so some days she has really 'off' days where she worries her way around a ring, at which point i take her out and we have a play instead, so it means harry gets to have some fun training her, and maybe running her at some uka shows, she is happier with lydia running her or myself and is more confident with us, so shows for harry will be meg and sometimes tigs, and hopefully lynne and amy will remember their offer for ykc run for him at DIN this year too!!lol!

Oscar Wilde once said

2011-01-26T14:29:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-01-25T05:58:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-20T02:49:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-17T02:21:00.000-08:00

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!!

2011-01-10T02:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! - catch up!

2011-01-05T02:17:00.000-08:00

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!

Good Luck @ Olympia! & an update

2010-12-14T02:53:00.000-08:00

To all I know going to compete, we wish you the best of luck!!
Dani with Lily, Lauren & Reef, Sarah & Cruze, Pat & Abby, Matt & Bailey & Indi, & Laura & Rodney, I hope you guys really enjoy the experience!
For those from 'down this way' a quote from a certain advert...
Big up your chest...
Represent the West...
!!! :-)
No Harrjak's there this year :( who knows what the future may bring!! ;-)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As you can see Jak is getting better on his feet, he thinks he can play ball, but he really cant yet!
hasnt quite got the co-ordination still! but he is so much better than before!
SO a great update to be able to post, so proud of him and what he has overcome :)

Loki is settling in nicely, toilet training is coming along, not as quick as collies i have had, she would prefer to wee on a dog bed than a wee pad, so have to have eyes in my ass to see what she is up to! but poo-ing is much better, she cries if she needs to go overnight when in her crate, and will use the pad in the day, unless she is really caught short! lol, she obviously also will go outside! She realy is feeling the cold so her new equafleece arrived just in time, she still shakes for a little while, but being carried means she can snuggle up and warm herself up!
She has met loads of people so far, kids at school love seeing her, so she has easily surpassed her 100 people meets already so i hope she will be a nice out going little lady by the time she is allowed propely for walks!

Snow time!

2010-12-03T03:55:00.001-08:00

Finally after snow being just about everywhere bar Exmouth, we had a little yesterday!
Little Loki squeaked and squirmed to be put down, so we obliged! she soon realised it wasn't all the big dogs made it out to be and came back inside my coat!!

I'm glad of a little bit of snow, really feels like winter now, this year has gone so fast, i don't know where the time has gone! I have had a wonderful fun filled year, with lots of new friends, new puppies, new experiences!

I have a winter training plan already in action, as my dogs have had numerous amounts of time outs for different reasons this year, i am having a break myself over Christmas then will be back to it with the young dogs, giving the older ones more time off to re-coup after the year.

Zig and meg i am to have better weaves with next year, contacts and jumping is coming together, and meg finally has a one jump wait! granted it isn't 100% still, more like 99% for now!

Dai and Terra are both coming together, and have had some nice training sessions lately, we have one this weekend tailored just for them, and working on some grids and striding, as both have done lots of foundation work, this should make things much easier!

Chase is starting on just about everything now, he has a good wait, he will work for toy and food, he prefers food if he has the choice! he is such a long dog, built very much like Lauren's reef, i plan on working on turns as well as straight lines, his wing wraps are lovely so I'm hoping once we get him running full speed we can keep the nice turns! lol!

Harry will be training Loki, so chase will be going back to obedience along with her, to get some good cits under his belt!!!

Ive had a bit of a break from posting on here, only a few weeks though! ;-) reading others and catching up, its hard when there are things you read that you don't agree with, or some that are outright brags, nothing worse than seeing people wittering non stop about how fantastic they are! Yes a brag if you have an achievement or something along those lines is superb, and everyone will want to say well done, but some brags now are bordering ridiculous!
Please tell me if i ever get like that! i look on the blog as a bit of a personal journey, a public diary even!! So i will share my ups and downs, i don't have many up's, so tend to post them when i do, i share some of my downs, but a recent post i had in the making has now been binned as too many people would see it as insults, and i wouldn't want that! I have decided what people do is up to them, you cant influence them into seeing what others can from outside of their bubble, they have to wait til it bursts and realise what mistakes they have made for themselves.

If people ask for advice, then do the complete opposite to what you advise, what is the point of asking it in the first place?

Following the trend of posting quotes, a couple of quotes i have seen lately seemed to shout to me:

The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer. ~Edward R. Murrow

Alice came to a fork in the road. "Which road do I take?" she asked.
"Where do you want to go?" responded the Cheshire cat.
"I don't know," Alice answered.
"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Meet Loki

2010-12-03T03:20:00.001-08:00

Loki is our new little addition!

She will be harry's girl, hopefully she will be big enough for agility!
she is only 1.2kg at the moment!
Her mum is a small Jack russell terrier, and her dad is a jrt x chihauhua,
she loves to play ( see her video below!)

So far she has settled in well, she tells chase off if he gets carried away with sniffing!!
Daizy and meg are being perfect welcome dogs, as is Holly who is the one she seems most taken with, she REALLY likes her tail wagging! Terra, zig and jak are acting like she doesnt exist yet!!

Loki and new toy...

2010-12-02T04:43:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthdays! Chase & the 1st litter of harrjaks!

2010-11-17T06:17:00.000-08:00

Happy 8th Birthday to first edition harrjaks!

Murran
Popi
Heli
Tigger
Joe
Joe & Tigs @ DIN

Megan

* * * * * * * * * * *

16th November saw chase turn 1!
My ickle gangly boy is now a BIG gangly boy!!!
Lol, he is a long legged toast rack most of the food that goes in him is burnt off or flies out!
He is doing quite well on a lamb based food right now, and natures menu, so we'll see how it goes!
He is lovely to train, loves to learn, and is very keen to work for food aswell, so little tricks are ideal for him.
His pre agility is coming along nicely, he has to learn to focus more however as he has a very high pitch sqeal when things get exciting, esp when the 'laydeez' work!

Jak has Vestibular Syndrome :(

2010-11-15T02:39:00.000-08:00

just a quickie to let everyone know that when we got home from the show on sunday jak collapsed and couldnt get back up. He is 13 and a half now, and hasnt shown many signs of aging bar the greyness and seal like bark, so was all a bit of a shock!

He is being treated, and the vet has confirmed it as vestibular, which is a severe inner ear infection, normally viral, sometimes bacterial, never the less she is treating him with antibiotics, anti inflammatories and sea sickness tablets. as as well as his balance and co ordination being affected, his eyes have a left to right constant flicker making him sway even when laid down. its sometimes called geriatric vestibular as it affects elderly dogs mainly.

I figured if i let everyone know the signs in case it happens to your dogs you know what to look for! The signs are very similar to that of a stroke.

I have everything crossed for his recovery right now x

Chase training

2010-11-11T04:38:00.000-08:00

Chase Update
His training is coming along really well, Cant believe next week he is 1!!
He is still very babyish in how he acts, he is due to be neutered over the winter, but would like him to maybe 'man-up' a bit before that happens! Although in some ways he is mature, like bitching and thinking he IS gods gift to all female dogs!
He has turned into a beautiful tall handsome boy, his jaw never righted itself so is still a good 3/4 inch over shot, which doesnt cause any issues, just gives him a very long nosed expression!
Still...maybe it'll make him mre streamlined!!!
He has a nice recall, retreive, sit, down, walk back is still hard for him, paw, other paw, and a good nose touch. He plays tuggy nicely, but does find it frustrating if he misses it and will start to nip to try and catch it, so i tend to use long toys he can get a good grip on, or food as he will work for either. He has started to get noisy in his class now, but on his own he is fab and gives so much concentration!
He is working on micro height ( below small) at the moment, aswell as poles on the floor, He loves wingwraps, and also recalls along jump lines, We have started on weaves this week, we will see how it goes with some various methods before deciding which suits him the best!
Last week we worked on feet on contacts which went well, as well as playing the bang game with the see saw. He doesnt show fear of anything, and also mastered the collapsible tunnel and 2 sections of the long jump this week.

Video shows him doing small bit of circle work , then same including a jump, then a wait onto tunnels...he likes those!

Zephyr - Harrjak Hell Raiser!

2010-11-08T03:16:00.000-08:00

Rex now Zephyr is settling in nicely with the Brittons, they tell me he had a good few days and is just the right amount of naughty!

Master Tarnado

2010-11-02T07:05:00.001-07:00

Mr Tarn all settled in with Jackie & family in Cornwall, looking rather dashing in his new bling!!

Taylormaid, Halloween & Happy Birthday Harv!

2010-11-01T04:43:00.000-07:00

Half term...oh joy!!! I went to crealy park with Harry, Lydia and Ellie my niece, it was PACKED! I find i dont enjoy places as much when you have to queue for so long to get anywhere!
But they all enjoyed it so was a nice afternoon off for a change!

Maid was the last puppy to leave us here at the Harrjak mad house yesterday, it was very quiet with out them last night :( miss them all like crazy already as they were such a fab little bunch!!!
Tarn went happily with jackie and terry, and is all settled, and maid ive just heard is playing nicely with Dougdog

Harv celebrated his birthday with lydia, so his day was complete, she bought him a nice new coat for the winter, now he is 10 he is officially getting old!!!! He polished off a nice birthday tea too, so i think he enjoyed his day!!!

We went to SWAT training day yesterday, great fun as always, always come away with lots of positive thoughts and comments, and knowing how well the dogs can do! Daizy worked with Lydia, as it was a working ahead and motivation workshop, i felt she would benefit the most, and as she worked she got more confident and started to work really well, i had horrid toothache all weekend which meant i couldnt even help harry eat any sweets!!!!
En-route home we stopped to see naarahs puppies at Kaydence stud, lovely little pups, and yes i have a favourite, harry too!! but sadly james is being too sensible and saying no!!!:(

Here is dai mid run!!! concentrating and everything look!!!

its all about PHAZE!!!

2010-10-29T03:17:00.000-07:00

Phaze has settled in nicely with sarah dan and the merlie tribe down in cornwall, as you can see she has made herself quite at home!
Sarah has also gone to town on the pinkness of everything!!! She was the biggest and boldest of the litter most of the time, so im not surprised to hear how confident and cheeky she is!

And then there were two...

2010-10-27T04:53:00.000-07:00

Well a busy few days!!

Phaze ( was Etch) left for her new home with Sarah and Dan and the mad merlies in cornwall, apparantly she is making herself heard when not allowed to join in with the big dogs!!

Barbie was next to leave, now called Holly she is also moving to Cornwall, with Sue & her family, and with 2 bc's Purdy & Tally

Rex was next, Peter & Patricia fell in love with sexyrexy, he is now call Zephyr, and has a nice 4 acre garden to play in!

Leaving Maid & Tarn until this weekend when they leave for their new adventures too.
We hate to see them leave but i know the homes they are going to will give them the love and attention ( and training!!) they need, and i hope to see you all soon!

James & I spent the weekend in Dorset on the KC judging course, Very pleased to say we both passed!
Both terra & meg are having seasons so means they can both be spayed in a few months over the winter, which works out ideally, and means they will both be finished by the time Dartmoor show comes around! Chase has sealed his fate of being neutered by creating any time the girls are near, he is like a banshee! Still he is almost 12 months, so i think he has finally stopped growing at long last!

and so....

2010-10-19T02:52:00.000-07:00

we finished the year with a lovely welsh show, the last outdoor one for me of the year, and my only one since dogs in need with meg having her elbow op done! she worked really well, I was really pleased, just a couple of silly mistakes, we are working towards clear rounds, and getting there slowly! I do find courses a struggle, as i didnt win into grade 6 with her, i think that is a downfall for me, Tim managed to get her to 6 with no right hand weaves, and skin of her teeth contacts, but had the added bonus, he could run! So the last year has been spent working on contacts and weaves, working on her wait and jump action, and now its just weaves and my handling to sort over the winter! Of course in between that time she has also reared a fantastic litter of puppies!

Luckily i have lovely friends who help me with my crap handling, and waddling about the ring!
I am nearing the time where i can get into some winter training (or my WTP!!) and get plans into action!!!! watch this space as i plan on lots of videos of my guys training over the winter!

I also decided, while zig isnt the fastest, she is still looking like she enjoys working, and is training well, and had her first KC clear round in 5 years with lydia at the weekend, so she is almost 9, still fit and active, her heart isnt seeming to bother her, so while she can, im going to let her carry on, who knows when her last season will be?!?!

Dai came out to class to have a break from the puppies and normal walks, and really enjoyed herself, lots of focus and we worked on snake lines and pull throughs,all at small height, and she really worked well, i plan to build her back up to full fitness ( she has stayed fit with her puppies, but i feel they need time to rebuild to be agility fit, especially when using the core muscles!!) and get her training on weaves and jumping over the winter, same with terra, who is already started on her winter training with James.

Chase is starting off on his foundation work now, he has started to notice there are young ladies in his class now, so his focus can lapse at times, and im not an exciting handler, so something i have to work on!

So lots of work to do for my guys! the oldies have it so easy, snoozing all day and pottering about!

Daizons at 5 weeks

2010-10-13T04:16:00.000-07:00

These puppies are just FAB!!!! i can really say i am really enjoying them, yes they are hard work, as all litters are, but these guys are just WOW!

Unexpectedly Rex is re available to the right home, he is a sweet puppy, very outgoing and also very affectonate like his mum!

All of them are really adventerous, and really playful, not just with toys, also with us and their littermates, they love their food, and have taken in all new experiences in their stride!

Off to update the website with new pics, i put lots of facebook everyweek, so if you arent my friend on there, ask!!!

Meg x Reef pupdate

2010-10-07T06:33:00.000-07:00

Tess ( harrjak Shooting star)

Pic at 4 months ( will add a new one once i get one!)

Jack ( Harrjak Finnagons Sinatra)

Mickey (Harrjak Taking the mick)

Tatty ( Harrjak New Edition) coming up for 6 months

Dish ( Harrjak Pure Indulgence)

All pups are doing fab in their new homes! So nice to see how they grow up.
A really nice litter!

Chase Update

2010-10-04T03:48:00.001-07:00

For those interested in my wee man... chase!

He is now coming up to 11 months, he has matured nicely, he is still entire, i would rather keep him entire until he passes the year old stage if possible so he can mature properly, as some from similar lines can be nervy and i wouldnt want being neutered to influence his personality...
Training is coming along well, he is lovely to train too,very keen, and VERY switched on!!Lol!

He knows, sit, down, paw, other paw, back (walk back) nose touch to hand and to target, and will retreive, although some objects are trickier for him to hold because of his mouth shape.

He covers the ground quickly when we play, he has a brilliant recall, even when out on his own and in a group, altho i will say in a group, i maybe have to call him twice!

He is starting training now in classes for foundation agility, he loves wing wraps and restrained recalls the most i think!

Grade 6 Trinnie!

2010-09-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

Well done pam & trinnie for going grade 6!!!!! talk about a good 1st season!

pic coming when karen sends me one!!!!! BIG reminder!!!Lol!

tatty update @ 5 months

2010-09-21T01:39:00.001-07:00

Hi Chel,

Just though I would give up an update on how my little man is doing.

Well Tatty is 5 months old today and I have to say he is such a lovely
puppy very easy going he just loves people and dogs which is down to the
hard work you put into raising your puppies and making sure they are
socialised as much as possible.

Took Tatty to Thatcham Uka show last week and Tatty started to gob off
at the dogs in the ring but thankfully he is a demon on a toy and I was
able to distract his attention with a toy. I have put a lot of work into
Tattys playing with a toy and can now play with him anywhere despite
whatever is going on around him.

Tatty can do a down, Sit, Walk back, and knows his left and right. He
loves hand touches and his nose touches are just brilliant. Have not
done any jump bumps with him yet I want to wait until he matures up a
bit more. But have done some restrained recalls through jump wings and
have just started to do some wings wraps but not to many.

Yesterday I tested my recall with tatty I took him blackberrying with me
and two other dogs in the beginning he went really wild and run around
but came back every time I called him so was mega pleased with him. The
other dogs have taught tatty how to get blackberries of the bush and now
he will not stop eating them.

I so thrilled how my little tatty head is doing in his training but must
make a special mention to my very good friend and agility buddy Jill
Holness who has helped me with Tatty's training keeping me both
motivated and on track and without whose help Tatty and I would not have
achieved some much in such a short time. Thanks Jill you are a fantastic
trainer.

Really looking forward to the winter to continue Tatty's training with
his best puppy friends Juice and Zing and Jill.

Grandmother Flicky sends hugs and kisses to her grandchildren. And
Auntie Becks and Uncle Sunny do not do hugs and kisses but say hello.

Will keep you update on how Tatty's training continues.

Take care

Joy and the Flickcee Border Collies

eye eye!!

2010-09-16T04:08:00.000-07:00

Day 10 and Etch is the first to open an eye!
loving this litter they are soooo gorgeous!!
But then they all are!!!

The next generation has arrived!!!

2010-09-07T02:15:00.000-07:00

big welcome to the world the 3rd generation of harrjaks!!!

Dai & len have 2 boys and 3 girls, all little crackers, a very beautiful litter!!

She did a great job giving birth , after a worrying start when the 1st pup appeared he was one foot first! she has taken to being a mum very well and is really doing well with them!
http://chel.camstreams.com/ - is the webcam link, to see her with her pups!

visitors are welcome!!
(All pups have homes lined up already)

Grade 7!!!!

2010-09-02T02:24:00.000-07:00

Massive well done at congratulations to Linda and Missie ( Harrjak Guided Miss Isle) on going grade 7!!!!!

Fanblimmintastic!!!

poor meg!!

2010-08-27T05:34:00.001-07:00

poor meg!!! she looks so forlorn!!
she had a burst cyst on her elbow which had to be sorted surgically after a couple of courses of anti biotics and draining the fluid, it hadnt sorted it, so surgery was the last option. she has a drain in place and the cyst removed. she is 24 hours out of surgery now, last night she was very trembly, but ate a small dinner and managed to get her lampshade off over night!

Harry's 1st show - dogs in need

2010-08-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

ok so not the best show as you 1st, especially if you have been slak at training... but here is a few bits from harry's runs over the last week, also some of the training DIN put on for juniors.

Harry loved it and cant wait for more, and is really keen to actually train now after watching some of the kids there handle their dogs, so fingers crossed for a clear round next year!!

Here is Simon with Bob @ the 6-7 finals...needs sound to be appreciated!

we have returned!

2010-08-23T02:07:00.000-07:00

We have had a lovely week of great times and great company, thank you all for a lovely lovely holiday! We came away with no rosettes but also no regrets, meg worked well, zig was pretty good for zig nowadays, ( i do feel this is her last year for kc shows now!) chase thought every dog he met was there for some special chase luvvin, the oldies got to snooze in the garden lots, we had a lovely shady spot under the trees and near the heath meaning the oldies got to enjoy nice walks without trekking to get to the actual walk first! will definatley be asking for the same spot next year!

While we were away we also set up discussions with Omnipro, the main sponsor of the show this year, we are very impressed with the food and the range it covers, and have moved all of our dogs onto this aswell, and have bought home lots of goodies to also become stockists for it.
http://www.omnipropetfoods.co.uk/home.html

Chase is now very tall dark and handsome! most women's ideal!!!

thanks graeme for this pic, it shows his personality soooo well!

* * * * * * * *

As you can see dai is getting a nice little belly,

and today (monday 23rd) we can feel them moving!!!

* * * * * * * *

And as you can tell.....I let all the nutters have a harrjak!

Lols & claire's DIN batman and Cat woman pairs!!

* * * * * * *

Wren @ DIN by Graeme
Tigs @ DIN By Roger

Daizy - Day 39 scan!

2010-08-14T04:58:00.000-07:00

all is going well with daizy, she is starting to show her belly now! just the last few days she has gone nice a round! her second scan ( bits above) showed us 5 clearly, there was a possible 6th, but vet couldnt be sure if was a shadow, so we'll have to see in a few weeks time! he measured this time again, and the pup was 3.8cm's compare to the previous scan of 1.44cm, so a big difference in a short space of time! She was well behaved as usual, as im sure she likes showing her belly off! she did a round of good byes to all the nurses there before we left too! sappy dog!

Off to DIN on Sunday!! Not that im expecting to come away with anything, but im looking forward to a week off with lovely dogs, friends and family with a bit of agility thrown in!

Well Done Trinnie!

2010-08-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

Big well dones to Pam & Trinity ( Harrjak Trinity) 3rd in 1-7 jumping and 1st in 1-5 agility!!

Taking you to grade 5 !!!

See you at DIN i hope where i can catch up and get some up to date pics of the min-trin! x

Summer Holidays

2010-08-10T06:20:00.000-07:00

Well we have been to Tamisje show incornwall for the weekend following honiton agricultural show on thrusday last week, was a nice weekend, only spoilt by the wind and rain on each day but the last!

Naarah and her nan & grandad came along for the weekend camping, i think they enjoyed themselves! narz ran ziggy and terra in her classes too, the final count was

terra 1st and clear round in nursery agility ( no weaves!)

meg 2nd, 3rd and 4th

zig 1st, 2nd 3rd!

I love lower heights at UKA!

Good News!

2010-08-03T07:34:00.000-07:00

Daizy had her scan on friday and is definatley pregnant! So daizons or lenzy's are due around 6th Spetember! The scan showed 3 black blobs, and we could even see 2 little heartbeats when he zoomed in!! we have another booked for the 13th aug to make sure all is still well :-)

the video isnt the best but shows really what went on and shows the poo in the middle too!!! even after she'd been! like mother like daughter - meg was just the same!!!!!lol!

new micky pics

2010-07-28T04:01:00.000-07:00

Well Done Zig!

2010-07-28T03:28:00.001-07:00

She doesnt get many well done's nowadays, so she is having this post all to herself!

She won best in show at the Greyhound sanctuary's fundraising companion show this weekend, not agility but hey, she won!!!

More well dones!

2010-07-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

This is getting to be a habit now...albeit a very good one!!!! Massive well dones on their wins this weekend to Graeme & Rib winning G3 agility, making him Grade 4 now, and to Flynn ( not a harrjak by name, but a gunran, but harrjak tigger is his dad!!) with Lolly and thir first win of many im sure, G3 jumping at Diamond Dogs. Fantastic Stuff Guys well done!!!!

Other big news here is that Daizy has been away for a dirty weekend with Lenny ( flickcee working class hero) and hopefully we shall see another Harrjak litter here in September!

Wren @ Tuffley

2010-07-05T06:40:00.001-07:00

well done claire & wrennie on some lovely runs this weekend, also to mr wibbley on some lovely results too!!!!

Thank you Graeme for the lovely new pic of his lordship too!!!! Its FAB!

We had a windy day in cornwall for mid cornwall show, sadly no clears, but a couple of 5f runs, megs first run was awful - and i hope no one saw!!!!!

Daizy passed her PRA test, and the specialist made a booboo and should have done the gonioscopy 1st, but didnt, so she has that on wednesday this week instead.

No shows for me now til the Tamisje show in August so time to get some proper training in!
I have a lesson with the lovely Toni @ SWAT next week which is exciting, im going with meg.

Now Terra is also unbroken for a while she can get some serious training done with Lydia. Zig is starting to slow down alot, she is still enjoying herslef, but i think im going to mainly stick to UKA with her as the jump height for her there is standard, so she has a much nicer action and seems to enjoy it even more! Dai and terra are also going to try flyball!! That will be fun!!!!
Harv also loves flyball, so im hoping it will be something he can carry on with as he is still a loon!

Back to it

2010-07-01T03:58:00.001-07:00

Now we are back as close to normality as we get for a while!!!!

Here's the mutley crew down on the estuary the other day, love this pic, shows how lovely they are to walk! I prefer to bring them here of an evening when the tide is out, as its as nice as the beach for them ( well it has sand and water!!) but without all the rubbish that comes with the beach.... plus there is masses of space for them to charge about, and the best bit...no dog ban!

We have been cracking on with some training, chase is now 7 months, and is so funny, he loves working for food or a toy, and can be really enthusiastic at times!!! last night we had the target out and the clicker, as i'm not very good with a clicker, i dont use them very often, instead i use a 'yes' to mark the behaviour, which works for me! He loves it so much he cant contain himself and will throw his whole self onto the target!!!!! he is such a loon, i am really enjoying training him!!

The girls are all working well, even miss dai! she really enjoys target work and hopping onto the contact just incase i have a treat! So im having to make sure i have some on me most of the time now!

All the pups are settling nicely into their new homes, fab new owners, i couldnt be more pleased!

I am busy with future plans at the mo for the harrjak household!

Watch this space....

lost camera!

2010-06-17T07:33:00.001-07:00

apologies for the lack of updates, my camera decided to go awol! i have aother so will top up the batteries in them!

4 of the pups have gone off to their new homes over this last week, and r/p now tatty ted is off tomorrow :( it sure is quiet without them all!!!! still im sure my dogs can soon fill the silence!

with the pups going it means i can get back to training with my lot, daizy did some very nice grid work on monday evening, chase did some play stuff with wing wraps and general going away to a dead toy, terra still has a bit of a sore spot from her leg staples, so she hasnt been up to much, and meg and zig also got some weave preactice in, although it was so hot it was short & sweet!

last weekend at Selena and Sharons UKA show the girls came back with a 2nd with zig in beginners agility, and meg had 3rd in Novice agility, zig also managed 2 other clears, one in beginners jumping and one in novice steeplechase

almost 7 weeks

2010-06-07T03:31:00.001-07:00

2 pics of monkey jam this week, as he was insisting on having all the nice pics taken of him!

All pups passed their health test with flying colours, 1st vaccinations done, just chips now on thursday, the pups are all outgoing and find new things interesting, they have been carried out and about where we live to meet some different people and see cars and things, all part of their socialisation. The local kids also find them great fun, so we have had lots in over the week as its been half term! The cats are being very tolerant, and the rabbit is being yapped at to play through her run, but they are avid explorers and getting into everything!!!!

I hope the people who think i dont bring my pups up 'properly' read this and i welcome them to come and meet me and my pups and see for yourselves what goes on! I have decided not to let silly small minded peoples comments get to me, i know who they are and i know they will never have a puppy from my breeding, so really its their loss!

Well Done Trinnie!

2010-06-07T02:41:00.000-07:00

i love having to post so many well dones!!! massive well done to Pam and Trinity ( Harrjak Trinity) winning medium grade 3 Agility!!!!

content puppies...

2010-06-02T03:38:00.000-07:00

here are the pups all crashed out after playing for the evening, big sister daiz is loving helping out and has taken on helping to clean them, help eat some dinner, help play with toys....!!!!

she is being really good with them and im loving the fact she is so maternal!

What a fab weekend for the Harrjak's!

2010-06-01T07:35:00.000-07:00

Well done to the red Harrjak's this weekend,

Missie & Linda 1 win away from G7 by winning another G6!

Java & Lynne won their way to G3 by winning G2 Agility,

and Claire and Wren won Grade 3 into Grade 4 @ SWAT!!!

Very proud of you all

Well done!!

2010-06-01T06:57:00.000-07:00

Pixie

Big Bov.... now dash

RP - now tatty

Jam - now Jack

Marmite...maybe Mick

All the pups are fat and playful, their personalities are starting to come out, they all have a bossy streak, bovril is independant and likes to explore, marmite loves speaker cables and playing rough and noisily! , pixie is normally in trouble somewhere or another depending on where she decided to investigate, rp and jam both like to walk around with toys, and take them off to hide and chew ! They all enjoy using daizy and chase as climbing frames, and they both play really well with them, jak is teaching all about mannars, being the grumpy old git that he is! Kipper is doing a brilliant job as usual being cat tester, they find his tail the most AMAZING toy ever, and stalk him to play tuggy with his tail - he lets them if they play gently, but tells them when enough is enough!

They are all really outgoing, im pleased to say not one of them is shy, they all enjoy being outside playing, they have experienced rain aswell, they ran to dry spots to start with, but now they just dont care!!Lol! 11 o clock is bed time for them at the moment, and we dont hear a peep until 7.30 ish - perfect!

All the pups passed their PRA eye test, which i have done for every litter, its not something i'd ever chance missing, they have final vet check and chip on friday...that'll be fun!

where'd the last 5 weeks go?!

2010-05-25T06:49:00.000-07:00

RolyPoly

Jam

Big Bovril

Marmite

miss pixie

Harrjak pack havin a blast!

2010-05-18T09:20:00.001-07:00

as the title says, video is a few months old...im only just sussing it out!

well done lols & tiggeroo

2010-05-18T01:58:00.000-07:00

not happy with one clear and a place, went home with 2!! well done tigs & lols on 2 x 3rd places this weekend! G6 agility and 4-7 steeple chase!!

weaning time!

2010-05-10T02:19:00.001-07:00

here are the pups at 20 days old, eyes and ears all open, vocal chords really working! they have been shouting quite a lot, so i decided to try them with some food, and they literally lapped it up, so i have started to increase the amounts now teeth have appeared!

Rib's 3rd place at vyne!

2010-05-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

his second ever clear round, and 3rd place!! well done Graeme, he looks lovely! and not a single knocked pole! ;-p

pups @ 13 days

2010-05-05T02:43:00.000-07:00

pups pics at 13 days, eyes all open, marmite was last, although Jam looks smallest ( the reef like boy) the lowest in weight is pixie, followed by marnite, the heaviest is bovril, he has sneaked past roly poly!

incase you arent sure of names, here they are in borth order:

pixie - girl

bovril - bw boy was tri

roly - dark boy

jam - reef like boy

marmite - flashy tri boy

puppy pics 4 days

2010-04-28T07:25:00.001-07:00

ok so a bit late as they are now 8 days!

tri girl - pixie

bw boy, was tri!

fat boy, bw boy

Reef a like bw boy

Marmite, w/f boy (tri)

fabby dogs!

2010-04-26T02:38:00.000-07:00

Big well dones to wren, flynn, pc and any other harrjaks who have done som egood stuff this weekend! Wren won another jumping and a 2nd in agility with held contacts, fab stuff!!!!

Well done to flynn and lolly, 11th in their first kc show! although not harrjak by name, he is a tigger boy, so technically is!!!

Chase is 5 months now, and is fantastic!!!! even if i cant breed from him, he is a wonderful puppy and im really enjoying him, and training him is so much fun as loves to learn! Dont get me wrong he has his monkey moments, but thats part and parcel of being a puppy!

the new harrjak pups!

2010-04-21T01:42:00.000-07:00

Meg & pups doing well, the webcam will be on most days and evenings

Proper pics tonight...

5: Tri Boy
4: BW Boy

3: BW Boy

2: Tri Boy

1:Tri Girl

puppy cam

2010-04-20T02:29:00.000-07:00

the cam is now up and running, i switch it off when we go to bed, otherwise its aimed on the box!

http://chel.camstreams.com/

meg started stage one of labour last night about 9pm, still no puppies as at 10.30 on tuesday....maybe tonight?

Wren's success!

2010-04-14T03:32:00.000-07:00

Big well done to Wren & Claire over the easter weekend in soggy cornwall! a 1st AND a 2nd!

casa soy de España

2010-04-12T03:21:00.002-07:00

like it says...im home from spain!
we had a lovely week with gran in her little flat out there, pics coming when i find the lead for the camera! :-)

the new look website is up and running, i hope it is like-able! it had a few niggles, ive had umpteen problems with the old site and not being able to update it, so now im gradually getting content over to the new one. i have more of a limit on space on this one though, so i wont be using as many pics as before!!

came home to a re-arranged living room, a taller chase and a fatter meggie!

I was sat with meg last night and she has a fidget pup by her bottom teats that moves the most!

James set up the webcam for me yesterday so we can keep an eye on her when im at work if no one can be around, just in case! her sue date is 22nd/23rd april though, so still a week or so to wait!
I'll have the cam running through camstreams.com and if you are wanting to be tld when its all happening, make sure i have you mobile number!

megs 2nd scan

2010-04-12T03:21:00.001-07:00

Dai's hips

2010-03-24T04:49:00.000-07:00

Daizy's hip score is back...and not bad!! 5-4 such a relief after terras score wasnt great, i was worried as dai is the only girl i have here to carry on the harrjak name!

SO i had better pull my finger out and get her training properly!

clever chase

2010-03-23T04:56:00.000-07:00

well chase is a good boy - its official, he has his puppy good citz certificate last night! still a fair way of work for his bronze, as he likes to offer so many different behaviors really quickly!! so we have to work on holding them!

We had a 1-1 session with lauren on saturday, and shared it with daizy and terra too, but chase did some circle work and playing with the whip-it, we also did some wrapping, and used wings for this, he picks things up really quickly, and im loving training him - so far , i think he may even know more than daizy!

1st show back...

2010-03-22T04:12:00.001-07:00

well it went surprisingly well! we had our first trade stand up and running, very scarey - i hardly slept!

It all went well though, big thanks to John & Sue Omlo for letting us have a go!

Diazy was pants, she wont be entered in anything for a while yet! Terra did well in her 1st run, jumping everything, but was e'd on a tunnel crazy moment! her other 2 runs were awful, so one maybe enough for her brain to cope with for now!

Harv had faults, but no E in his class ( how??!!) so picked up a 2nd with only 2 in it, so his first agility rossette! lydia wa pleased!

Preggy meg ran in midi casual and did it in 17.11 secs winning the class, and zig came 2nd in one of the novice steeplechases.

So 3 rossettes and a tradestand, all in all a lovely day!

Well dones also for Lolly and Flynn and alexis and pc for their first clear rounds! go harrjak grandpups!

Wren also had a good weekend from what i hear, looking forward to seeing her develop this season!