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!!

Merry Christmas!

We'd like to wish you all a ...

Winter Wonderland

Last Monday we had a lovely walk with Lian and Colin and their shelties in Epping Forest. The weather was good and the woods were still covered in lots of snow. It was absolutely beautiful. And the dogs loved it too. Skye played with (or should I say harassed) her mum a lot again. She just won't leave her alone and keeps going after her. But Samber doesn't seem to mind too much. I guess she is a bit of a loonie too.
Lian took some lovely pictures of them. (I forgot my camera ... again, aaarrggghhh!)

And one of Skye, Sizzle and Saturn.

Thanks Lian for sending me all these lovely pictures!

Afterwards we went to our home for a drink and a meal. After a few hours of walking we could surely do with some refreshments. But as we were happily chatting away, the weather started to change. First it started to rain. And then the rain turned into sleet and then into snow. It was a beautiful sight and soon everything was covered in a blanket of snow. But for Colin and Lian it wasn't good news at all. They still had to go home.

After a short walk with the dogs in the communal gardens surrounding the apartments, they set off. And what a journey it would be. It took them more than six hours to get home!! You can read all about it on Lian's blog. I felt so sorry for them. We had such a lovely day and now it had to end like this.

More snow!!

Last night and early this morning we had some more snow. Not quite the eight inches the weatherman was warning us about, but a nice amount for Skye to play in.

Yummie! More snow!!

(Somehow she looks tiny in this picture.)

Snowy face

This afternoon we went for a walk in the park. Even though the snow was already starting to melt, it still looked absolutely beautiful. And Skye enjoyed herself so much!!

We met a lovely hound called Jack. He is such a sweet boy. He is only nine months old and played so gently with Skye. It was a joy to watch them run after each other through the snow covered grass.

Run Forrest, run!

What amazes me is how easily Skye comes back to me when she's playing with another dog. After Skye and Jack had been playing for a while, it was time to move on. I started to walk away from them slowly and only had to call her once or twice and she came straight to me.

The light is so beautiful right now, even in the middle of the day. I'm not a very good photographer, but I quite like this picture.

And one last one of my little girlie.

What's that white stuff?

Today we had a little bit of snow!! Ok, it wasn't much, but it looked nice.

Skye didn't quite know what to do with it though.
At first she wanted to eat it ... all.

But some further investigation showed ...

... that snow is really funny stuff.

Little poser

More puppy play

This morning we had another puppy class at Whirlwind's. There were quite a few puppies this time. Besides the ones we met the first lesson, there were two new puppies as well: a border collie (Squiffy's sister) and a lagotto romagnolo. Still no smaller breeds unfortunately, but Skye did quite well anyway. If she got knocked of her feet by a bigger dog, she usually was quick to join in the fun again. Still, some puppies were quite rough with her, so I had to protect her a bit at times, too.

After some play, we first did a few handling exercises. We held each others puppies and looked in their ears, eyes and under their tails. I quite like this part of the lesson. Although I'm not sure Skye likes it that much too. She doesn't feel comfortable when people she doesn't know, touch her all over right away. She needs a bit more time. But she didn't do too bad. We'll keep working on this.

We also let the dogs walk over a ladder which was lying on the floor. The idea was that the puppies would carefully and deliberately put their feet in the holes between the rungs. Skye did this very well. Her co-ordination is very good. Lian's early work with wobble boards, mini dog walks and such, is really paying off.

After some more play time, we did a recall and some 'sits' and 'downs'. Skye's recall was pretty good this time. Even with all the distractions that were thrown at her. Skye was held by a helper on one side of the room, while I walked all the way to the other side. The others would sit in the middle with their dogs on a lead. So Skye had to go past them, before she would reach me. I brought some cheese, especially for this exercise. Skye loved it and came running to me quite quickly.

We ended this lesson with an exercise where the puppies had to step over two bars lying on the floor. Skye sat next to me while I threw one of her favourite toys over the bars. Skye went after it, picked it up and came back to me for a game of tug. I was so proud that she did this so well. She was very distracted by the other puppies at first, but she liked her toy enough to play this game with me. Clever girl.

I took a few pictures this morning, but most of them are pretty blurry. Here are a few of the ones that weren't too bad. ;-)

A blur of puppies.

Skye and Fiona (I think her name was...)

Skye and Toby

Anto and Squiffy, both trying to reach the little piece of cheese

in the middle of the table.

On our way back home, we picked up Joost, who had been mountainbiking in Epping Forest. A very muddy Epping Forest that is. So Skye had to share the car with a very dirty bike.

Teething

It's official: Skye's teething. I tried to save one of her tiny lower teeth when I saw that it had become very loose. But the next moment I looked in her mouth, it was gone. She had eaten it!!