Photo Flashback!

Finn's breeder sent me some photos of when Finn was a tiny pup.  I forgot about them until recently, but they are so cute and worth sharing:

In the photo above, that's my boy on the left climbing down the step.

Oh and here he is again in the foreground. 

Injection time!  

And finally lining up with some of his litter mates for a photo.  He's the little pup on the left.  Awww!

For more puppy pics check out this post from 2013: Introducing Finn My Collie Pup

Fun Day at CRUFTS

 So YKC Team Agility at 8.30am so all up early and into the show...

Standard seemed very high this year, with lots of clear rounds in super fast time.  Our team did great:

Clare and Taz in full flight:

Becky and Miley took to the limelight in great style:

And yet another little black dog - Patsy with Shona:

I did a little shopping...  new handbag, a slip lead for Finn, a mini bumbag thing and a Crazy Dog Lady hoodie!  :D

All in all a good outing....

... and if the hoodie fits, wear it!  LOL

Leaving for CRUFTS this evening!

So we'll be on the overnight ferry to Liverpool this evening, and true to form everything is getting left to the last minute...

Including Patsy's haircut! So one pile of cheese treats later, and finally the little black sheep has got sheared ready for indoor competition:

The Woolly Sheep Effect - "Before"

Stream-lined and ready for Action - "After"

Keeping Warm...

Watch out Crufts we are on our way!!

CRUFTS - Our photo competition winner

I am delighted to announce that Linda of Cheshire has won the Ability for Agility photo competition.

She wins two complementary tickets, and tells me that she hasn't been to Crufts before - she sounded incredibly excited to attend!

Which makes this all the more fun for me! Anyway, I'm sure you'll have a fantastic day Linda!  And Congratulations!

So here is the winning photograph:

Tim - my husband, who judged the photos - said that he was torn between many excellent entries, but that the title "DOG'S DAY OUT" made him think that it was important that the image showed the dogs doing something very dog orientated.

So this photo where the two terriers are completely oblivious to the camera, and obviously having a great day out, he felt best demonstrated the chosen theme.

Linda's two Jack Russells are brothers called Radley and Rascal, and she says, "This is our first time as JRT owners and they have completely melted our hearts!  Characters doesn't cover it really does it!"  I couldn't agree more!

So not long until CRUFTS now, and much still to do here to prepare.  Our wee Patsy still needs her hair cut, but with the current weather I've been putting it off.  Must take before and after photos to share.  Frankly, right now she looks like a little black sheep not a dog!  Watch this space.

Further info: 

 Crufts runs between 5th & 8th March at The NEC, Birmingham and is always a fantastic day out for dog enthusiasts.  Whatever your specialism there will be dogs, stands and competitions worth exploring at the show.

Photo Competition for CRUFTS tickets!

I have another pair of

free tickets 

to offer to readers of my blog!!

This time I'm running a PHOTO COMPETITION ! Check below for details.

Crufts runs between 5th & 8th March at The NEC, Birmingham and is always a fantastic day out for dog enthusiasts.  Whatever your specialism there will be dogs, stands and competitions worth exploring at the show.

 

Ability for Agility Crufts Tickets Photo Competition! 

Theme:  "DOGS DAY OUT"

To be eligible to win ONE pair of DAY PASSES, just enter your favourite photo of your dog, out somewhere and obviously having fun!

1. Email your photo to abilityforagility@outlook.com with your name, your dog's name and a brief description of the photo. (Up to 3 entries per person.)
2. Entry in this competition gives me permission to use your photo and the accompanying caption on this blog - with appropriate attribution of course.  

 Entries close on Wednesday 25th February at midnight. 

My husband has kindly  agreed to judge the photos.  Dogs that are known to him are obviously not going to be eligible!!

Should you win, you will be contacted by email on or before Saturday 28th, and asked for your address so that I can post the pair of tickets to you.  

Should you not reply within 48 hours of being emailed about your win, another winner will be selected.

My Crufts posts from last year:
Getting Excited about Crufts  

Patsy gets a Haircut for Crufts

CRUFTS "Friends for Life" - Lucy and Molly

The Crufts Adventure!

CRUFTS - A Grand Finale!

Tickets for Crufts can be purchased at this link.

Our ferry tickets and hotel spaces are booked already.

Roll on Crufts 2015!

PS  Tickets for Crufts from the Prize Draw in my previous post, were won by Cari of Southampton.  Hope you and your partner have a great day Cari!

CRUFTS! Tickets for grabs!

Last year I blogged about going to Crufts, and this year the good folk at Crufts emailed to ask would I like a few

free tickets 

to offer to readers of my blog!!

"Well Yes Please!" was the obvious answer!

First let me tell you about CRUFTS - it is simply the most massive dog show you can imagine, and quite the best place for checking out everything dog related: from the top show-dogs aiming for Best in Show, to the Scrufts Best Crossbreed, and everything in between.

This year Crufts runs between 5th & 8th March at The NEC, Birmingham and is open each day between 8:15am  and 7:30pm

The tickets I have to offer are TWO pairs of DAY PASSES.  I've decided to split these between two events:

Ability for Agility Crufts Tickets GiveAway #1:

This will be run on a Prize Draw basis.  To be eligible to win ONE pair of DAY PASSES, just:

1. Share this post publicly on either: your blog, your Facebook wall, or via Twitter.
2. Send an email to abilityforagility@outlook.com with your name, and details (link please) of where you shared this post.  

Entries for this Prize Draw close on Wednesday 11th February at midnight. 

A winner will be chosen at random by putting all the names in a hat!  Should you win, you will be contacted by email on or before Saturday 14th, and asked for your address so that I can post the pair of tickets to you.  

Should you not reply within 48 hours of being emailed about your win, another winner will be selected.

I intend to run a photo competition for the second pair of tickets and details will follow shortly.  The theme will obviously be "Dogs" so watch this space for more details!

This will be my third year visiting Crufts and Shona has once again qualified as part of the YKC Agility Team from N.Ireland.  And I can't wait to see what the show offers this year!

Last year the team took 5th place and the blog posts I wrote at the time include:

Getting Excited about Crufts  

Patsy gets a Haircut for Crufts

CRUFTS "Friends for Life" - Lucy and Molly

The Crufts Adventure!

CRUFTS - A Grand Finale!

Tickets for Crufts can be purchased at this link.

Our ferry tickets and hotel spaces are booked already.

Roll on Crufts 2015!

First Proper Competitive Outing for Finn

I'm still struggling with my health, so this was a short outing to do one round of Jumping.

We arrived in good time, and Finn and I did a few warm up jumps in the practice ring.  We also worked on "ignoring other dogs - while being fed treats" - which went well, although he still finds other dogs approaching the scooter a bit stressful.

So after "walking" the course, we were the 2nd competitor into the ring... & yes it was that wet!!  The mud you see was produced just from folk walking the course!!

Anyway, Finn's first round in competition resulted in an elimination, but I came out of the ring on an absolute high because of how attentive he was, and the fact that we "got" that complicated wee combination of jumps after the first black tunnel.

Watching this however, I can see two times where I've obviously used the wrong arm to signal.

Now that I don't spin on the spot (as runners can do when doing a front cross), I should use the "other" arm (ie away from the side the dog is on) to push his line on, so he doesn't curve back towards me ....

For example after the last tunnel: I think I should have used my right arm to signal onwards, not my left which made him sweep round to his right....

Lots to learn.  Such fun.  Can't wait til next Winter League session!