Back to agility

After several months away from training we finally get to get back into it. Now that I have some semi-stability for the next few months here in West Yorkshire, I could finally think about taking Tooheys to training. We havent done anything since leaving Kent all those months ago. And as it turns out things worked out pretty well as we are not too far from another ACD trainer who has the top ACD in agility. And we were invited to join training with them at Whiterose Agility Club. Many thanks to the club!!

We went down the first time this week and were made feel very welcome. I was expecting Tooheys to be a little slower due to being out of condition, but he was excited to be back to it and blasted around. And Forget start line stays! I think I had to replace him just about everytime.

We got to practice some slightly complex jumping sequences, and although alot of our turns were pretty wide - we need to learn how to walk the fine line between driving on/distance work and turning tightly/close worm..we seem to either have one or the other at the moment - I was pretty proud of how well Tooheys handled them.


On the other hand, at the other end of the arena they had a couple of sequences set up with contacts, and had the dogs working along side each other..it blew Tooheys mind to concentrate on one contact while another dog was doing another along side him. Needless to say he got left on lead for that part! I do think in the long run it will be brilliant training for him though to have to learn how to cope with such a situation.

Pride and Prejudice country

Continuing my stay in the Peak district, on thursday I went and visited Chatsworth house. The house is closed to the public at the moment, but I had planned on going for a hike from there. Hollie was mildly lame from the snow & ice cutting one of her feet though so we ended up going for a walk around the (quite large) Chatsworth estate. Good thing we did as half way through I injured my foot which by the end was complete agony. Theres no way I would have made it any further!

Dodo me left the memory card from my camera behind but I did have my ever trusty phone..

The following day I went up to the dark peaks region. With my foot out of action I resigned myself to driving through the beautiful country side that I wanted to walk through.

The absolutely gorgeous Winnats pass:

Overlooking the hope valley:

Despite being out of action due to my foot, I was determined to climb up to Stanage edge. Perhaps I should rename this thread - The stupidity of some people! Im still paying for it now several days later, but was deinately worth it.

Climing up to Stanage edge:

The view from Stanage edge:

The new Keira Knightley?

Mountain sheep

White Peaks

Im spending my few days off this week in the Peak District. Staying at a quant little B&B in the White peaks region of the park - the area is very white at the moment and not due to the limestone that in the rocks that gives them their name.

Today I took the dogs for a 15 mile (~25km) hike which was truly beautiful. Im really impressed by how well the dogs held up, but even Tooheys who had the job of carrying the near-empty dogpack was lagging by the end..something I never thought Id see. You know he's tired when he only walks at the end of the lead at the scent of a rabbit rather than lunging.

From the B&B we headed up the Tissington trail, a 13m trail that runs along the site of an old trainline, which was quite easy walking

Halfway up the trail, we cut across for a few miles along a right of way, heading towards a trail called Biggin dale. Little did I realise this would involve going (or should I say sliding) down hilly slope and then climbing back up again, but was certainly worth it! By this point in time my so-called waterproof shoes decided they werent meant for snow and leaving me with soggy cold feet.

Eventually we made it to Wolfscote dale at which point we followed the river the length of the Dovedale trail. By this point my camera was struggling a little with the snow & rain that had landed on the lense so theres not so many photos to subject you to :)

The styles along the length of the dales were stupid little gaps in stone that I could barely fit between, and Tooheys needed help to be lifted over. At one of the styles I finished hoisting Toos over to turn around and find Hollie in the river. As if it wasnt cold enough with the snow, she had to launch herself into the ice cold water. And she wasnt content with that, it took what felt like forever to convince her to get out of the water all the while heading towards some rapids. Stupid bloody dog.

Snow!

This morning I finished the position I have been working for the past few weeks. So the plan for today was to pick the dogs up from the boarding kennels where they've been staying this week then head accross to Norfolk for a herding lesson. And then spend the next few days hanging out in Norfolk

It was very exciting to wake up this morning to lots of snow, until the realisation began to strike that my plans were ruined. I got a phone call to say not to even try to head to herding because of the roads. And given that,I didnt have a hope of making it to the hotel I'd booked (in a small out-of-the-way town where the roads were likely to be snowed out).

So instead we spent the day out playing in the snow. The dogs were in heaven, definately the next best thing to herding. So while SE england was experiencing the heaviest snow it has seen in 18 yrs, and the country is in shut-down, my dogs got to experience real snow for the first time ever.

Warning: lots of pics to follow!

Someone had the bright idea of doing some agility...

And Tooheys thinks snowballs are great!