Splogy eye

Spike has a splogy eye, and has to have eye drops for a couple of weeks. Not sure what the problem is, but I think Ben had it for a while and has shaken it off.

gala

We have some sort of gala thing in our village annually. A plant stall and bouncy castle and cakes for sale. I took Ben and socialised him a bit, he was bomb-proof. He didn't even give the silver band more than a curious glance and we were sat right under the bandstand.

good training

More good training last night. If we learn by our mistakes, then we are learning loads!

Ben is not very settled in his cage whilst watching. I got him to be quiet and gave him treats for it, but he makes the most noise when uncle spike is running. He does not want to be left out and finds the cage frustrating. Was better with a jumper over the activity side. Oh, and I left the cage there and had to go back for it (doh).

Spike unspooky

No ball, no naughty puppy. Just me, Willow and Spike. He seems much happier. I did trim his front paw hair, but I suspect that was not the problem. I wonder if he has picked up the wrong (inconsistent) message from our woods games? "No" sounds a lot like "go" sometimes, and I said no to him yesterday when he was harrassing Willow and he went flat as a pancake for a couple of hundred yard, maybe more.

obedience

Ben was good at obedience. You can get his attention quite quickly. He played nicely (though in kelpie style). He will be a star at this, and I might try to take him further in obedience as well as the agility.

Been out without the ball and without Ben. Spike was much better. He even got quite animated when we went in a bit of the woods where we don't often go. Maybe there is something about our regular route?

Spooky Spike

He's still spooky. If anything it's got worse.

Proper playing

Spike and Ben have just had 15 minutes of proper playing in the living room whilst I was on lunch. They looked like they were having real fun. Willow thought it looked a bit scary, but stayed in the room.

Spooky Spike

I phoned my mum last Wednesday while out for a walk. She said something so annoying I argued and shouted down the phone. When I got off the phone Spike had disappeared, I called him and he had sat down back down the track. He was a bit spooked for the whole walk, but ok everywhere else. Problem is he is scared of our walk now, and sits or lies down rather than running about fetching his ball like he normally does. I have just realised that I am getting frustrated with him about it, which is making it worse. I'm going to have to be patient. Oh, and he does it to my other half too, she even reckons he looked at the ball wanger a bit warily.

North Derbyshire

They did very well to run the show and keep people's spirits up. It was pretty wet.

Willow go 3rd in agility and 6th in jumping. I had not walked the jumping, so that was not bad. Shows the advantage of a steady dog. Spike did well in the jumping which I ran with him first, but I could not keep cool enough to give good directions with not having walked it. Spike's other runs were wrong courses, but not too much trouble with the contacts (all excellent in fact). Weaves was another story, and I think I might have to get some proper weaves for the garden. Or do I just need more practice with them in courses?

I helped on Saturday. I was down to help Sunday, but had not entered!