Wednesday 6 January 2010

Happy New Year!!

It's been a bit quiet here at our blog the last few weeks. That's because we were actually rather busy. We had guests staying with us, so Skye had lots of entertaining to do. Which is easy for her: who doesn't like playing with a sheltie puppy!! She even has Santa wrapped around her little paw. He spoiled her with lots of presents. Yes, I think Skye enjoyed the festive season!


Skye chewing away on one of her gifts!

When all the festivities were over, it was time to go to school again. Last Sunday we had another puppy class at Whirlwind. There were even more puppies this time. And Skye had a really good time. Of course there was a lot of time again for the puppies to interact. And Skye keeps improving. She's playing with most of the puppies now and if she's had enough or another puppy is too rough with her she comes to me. But I can also see other puppies learning to be a bit more careful with her, because she is the smallest. It's good for both sides really.

After some recalls, sits and downs, Sue, our trainer, took us all outside and the puppies got to experience a bit of the real stuff: the agility equipment. We started with an exercise on the contacts of the A-frame. The puppies had to stand with their back feet up the contact, while we praised and rewarded them. The goal was to teach te puppies that the contact area is a really good place to be. After that the puppies went for a run through the tunnel. A helper held the puppy, while the owner stood at the other side of the tunnel. As soon as the helper put the puppy a bit into the tunnel, the owner would call the puppy and start running away from the tunnel. All the puppies did very well and zoomed through the tunnel. As it was very cold, we didn't stay outside for too long. After some more playing and a few exercises indoors, it was already time to go home again.

It's still quite cold here. And last night and today we had snow again!! Even more than we had a few weeks ago. This morning I had to take Skye to the vet's to pick up her pet passport, as she passed the rabies bloodtest!!! With all the snow I didn't fancy taking the car, so we went on foot. The route to the vet is very nice, as the practice is on the other side of the park we always go to. It was absolutely stunning outside. Everything was covered in a thick layer of snow. And Skye loved it too.







But anyway... what I wanted to say:

Have a wonderful 2010!!