Back to agility

Having just got home from agility training tonight, its nice to feel like Im finally back on track and making some progress again with Tooheys after the turbulent past few training sessions where I was close to giving up.. That is after him almost not being trained tonight because he broke into and ate 1/2 a 4kg bag of dry dog food that I had stashed away in the car whilst I was in setting up. Grr..evil dog.

Monday I made the most of the bank holiday monday (after havingto come back from holidays to work the weekend..) and took the dogs to the 2nd Delinquent Dogz show. Like last time it was a pleasant day out spent with a few people I train with and others, this time with more people (and dogs!) there making the most of the new found - but short lived - sunshine.

There is no real news as such to report. Hollie was all excited to get out there on her first run and got another 1st in veterans agility, but seemed to pull up a bit stiff in jumping so we stopped mid run before she could injure herself.
Tooheys put in some nice work but no clear rounds. He blew his dogwalk contact spectacularly in agility but then had a near faultless round with some beautiful distance handling. He then got pulled from the ring midrun in jumping when he had a return of bad behaviours I thought we had long ago overcome and disposed of when nipped me on the back of the calf. He had a nice helterskelter (circular jumping) run with just one pole down. He was a little quieter than normal which is probably explained by the huge tick I found next to his ear that morning with an abscess forming underneath...bad owner picked up the Frontline from work before heading to Scotland land of ticks but forgot to actually apply it to the dogs.

Final lot of photos...I hope

After climbing the mountain, we continued to head south throughthe highlands and through some absolutely stunning scenery. My camera batterys died (thank god you say!) before I could get too much if though.

Crazy, or stupid

Ok, so we're just about done on the trip. As I was driving south yesterday, we pass through Fort William and I decide to stop at Glen Nevis. Then I decide to take dogs for a hike. Then partway through the hike we're all having such a grand time that why dont we keep on going and climb Ben Nevis (the tallest mountain in Britain at 1340 ft). The conditions gradually deteriorated to heavy rain with such huge fog over the mountain that you cant see how much higher..the trail deteriorated to scree and then snow cover, then deep snow with heavy snow fall. Yet somehow 3-4hrs later we still made it to the top. Im damn proud of the dogs as they just kept on going and didnt really seem to struggle at all despite the crappy surface that they had to walk on continuosly. Hollie started to slow down part way up but then picked up again coming down..but then theres not too many 12yr old dogs that could manage it, and Im sure not toooo many dogs that have.



Looking up at Ben Nevis...see it doesnt look that tall!

The dogs eye off the mountain sheep

The first half of the climb was stunning scenery but the second half visibility was terrible. Its somehow an anticlimax to get so far and not have a view to show for it.

We made it!!!!

Fog on the way back down

Loch Ness Monsters

Just a quick photo update - Im taking waaaay too many photos so figure I might as well put some of the better ones here. From edinburgh we headed up through Perthshire, stayed the night there, then further north to Loch Ness. Now we begin the decent back down again.

Wildflowers


Loch Ness & Urquhart Castle:

Queens View overlooking Loch Tay?

Perthshire countryside

Edinburgh...Im in love!

I really didnt know what to expect when Id been told how beautiful a city Edinburgh was. Its certainly lived up to any expectations I may have concieved although not what I expected.

After finishing at the Scottish Kennel Club, where Hollie did quite well for an old girl winning reserve challenge and Tooheys didnt get much of an opportunity for anything only getting to run one of his 3 agility runs, I headed into Edinburgh itself. Spent the afternoon driving around and getting a feel for the city before heading to our hotel. I'd booked 2 nights at a hotel not far from the centre of town which perports itself to be extra dog friendly..which begs the question, what constitutes dog friendly? Coming from a country where as a general rule dogs are not allowed at hotels, anywhere that allows dogs to me would seem dog friendly. Then I had the hotel the night before where they changed the room given to me at no notice so that the dogs could stay in the room (Id not made them aware of the dogs and had planned on them staying in the car). Either way, I still find walking through the foyer of a nice hotel with 2 dogs to be somehwat bizarre. Not that Im complaining!

Arthurs Seat and Holyrood park overlooking Edinburgh

View of the castle

Today I spent the day wandering the city and getting drowned. Of course the rain started not long after I left the car and didnt have an umbrella. So I scanned the touristty shops on Royal Mile for an umbrella to buy which to my amazement was not an easy task! Task accomplished and then I was was set to investigate. After wandering the streets I visited Edinburgh castle and then later took the dogs for a hike up to Arthurs Seat, the peak that looks out over Edinburgh. It was certainly exersion well spent, although very windy at the peak, and I found myself wondering at the stupidity of climbing up to a height with 2 dogs and having to worry about bracing them as well as myself against the strong winds!

Cobbled streets of Royal Mile

Looking up at the castle

View from the castle

View from Arthurs Seat

And again

The many faces of a wind-swept dog

Hadrian's Wall

A few photos from today. We took a detour near the Scottish border to visit the Hadrians wall and walk a few miles along its length. The wall is the remnants of a barrier/fort dating back to Roman times








The old roman fort & ruins:






Tooheys decides to practice his contacts:


And on a slightly different tangent, the gorgeous view from the hotel Im staying in tonight, just north of Edinburgh: