and so it begins...

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

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

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 :(

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?

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...

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??

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!