bits and bobs

So we spent last weekend at the KCI agility festival, the weather was very WET and muddy (Ruperts Favourite) Rupert really enjoyed trotting around the rings saying hello to his public but was a little put out to find himself in the companion ring with all the other puppies, especially when a strange man didn't even ask before checking him over!! "How Rude" but just like everyone else he obviously couldn't resist his cute face as out of 20 puppies Rupes was pulled in 5th even with a very muddy tummy!! good job Nanny Fols wasn't there to see it ;-))
It's been a bit quiet on the training front again with us just pottering about with what we already know, I need to put more effort into his on the move heelwork as although we do have it he is lagging a little, I'm sure this is just confidence and once he knows how brilliant he is he'll be prancing with the best of them. Once again we are off in the caravan to Dashing dogs a week long agility show next week, we get the Monday off as a rest day so Jo, Amy & I are taking all 10 dogs to the beach, I promise to get some photo's of Rupes with his Mali mates. Have a great weekend everyone see ya soon..

7 Months already

So Rupert is now 7 months old! where has the time gone? he has had a bit of a rest over the past few days as I've been trying to prepare Maisy for the Agility festival and Dashing dogs which is 9 days of agility over a 14 day period, I've still been giving him 5 minutes twice a day, he now has a full understanding of the left command without any visual aids and offers a very speedy walk back over a good distance however he gets quite vocal at the sheer excitement of it all, come to think of it his Uncle Smartie can be quite a vocal dog at times so I must keep a lid on it as much as possible without stemming his enthusiasm. As far as heelwork goes, I'm really pleased with his progress, we now have forward movement and lovely turns, I have lost a little of the leg commitment I have in statics but taking a side step and clicking the re-join is working to tighten it up - I don't want the "Lean on" style heelwork, I suppose all I really want is a dog who can happily understand and maintain the position without being nagged to death! (been there, done that and in fact got the T-shirt!) and so far so VERY good. Tonight it's back to some agility training, I'm going to put his directional commands into practice setting out a box with poles on the floor and perhaps if time try some send aways into the tunnel - maybe a few pictures will follow if I can only find the memory card!