We love our dogs. We currently have five of them!
I am passionate about dogs and their physical and
psychological wellbeing. Read a little about each of our crew
below, and also about those we have lost...
Genie (Greggles Mini G) is a Miniature American Shepherd.
She is 10 months old and is a real character. We have
started our training and have great hopes for her. She is quite
demanding and very toy focussed, and wants to play all the time.
She is very dinky, and will probably measure small for KC
agility.
Toffee (Scott's Sticky Toffee) is my son Scott's 6 year old rescue
cross breed (JRTxCollie allegedly). He is very anxious and fearful
of strang people and dogs but loving at home. Scott has
worked hard with him and won into Grade 6 in KC agility. He
is now retired from competition.
Fin (Zanyway Super Trooper) is an 8 year old border collie.
He is a loving, clumsy and funny dog. He has competed
successfully in both obedience and agility (KC Grade 5) but is
equally happy lolling on the sofa! He is very definitely
"bottom dog" in our pack and Genie pesters him to play all the
time! He is also a bit of a mummy's boy...
Sax (Saxy Beast) is a 12 year old jack russell, belonging to my
daughter Laura. He stayed at home with us,when Laura went to
university. He competed with mixed success in KC agility and even
competed at Crufts in the Young Kennel Club events.
Ellie (Elementary Elegance) is a border collie is now 13 years old.
She competed successfully in both obedience and agility
before retiring at age 12. She still loves working but is now
quite deaf!
We still miss our other dogs, and remember them
fondly...
Bradley. We lost Bradley in
July 2011 at the age of 15. He was a robust, healthy dog who
never set the world on fire. He won a Beginners in Obedience
but never went much further. He had a play at agility but in
the end retired himself to run round the garden barking at hot air
balloons...
Darcy. Everyone who knew Darcy loved
him. He had a wonderful temperament, was fantastic with the
children, and loved to work. Oh, did he love his
work! Sadly, he had canine epilepsy from the age of 7
months. We all worked so hard to control this condition, and
for several years we succeeded. He continued working,
competing up to class “B” in obedience and I’ve never known such a
happy dog! Sadly, however, in 2007 his seizures started to
return and his medication had to be increased. This eventually
affected his liver and he was given peace in October 2007 when the
liver failure could no longer be tolerated. We all still miss
him terribly.
Carney. Of all my dogs, Carney changed
me! As a Belgian Shepherd dog she was my first pedigree
dog. She was wary but outgoing, enthusiastic but
reserved. She was a whole series of complexities! She
made me challenge what I thought I knew about dog
training. She taught me so much! She died, tragically, of
cancer at the age of 2. I still feel cheated! She was
beautiful, charming, sharp but loving. One day I will have
another Terveuren, but so far I haven't been able to bring myself
to have one.
Al. Al was my one-time special dog. He was
a rescue dog of mixed parentage. We think he was probably
border collie/bearded collie/something bigger!!! He was a
fantastic natured dog and he got me interested in
obedience. We first went to training classes together in 1990
and never looked back. He won a Beginners class at the age of
8 but he died prematurely at the age of 10 after being prescribed
NSAIDs for arthritis.
Spike & Katie (Spike is the one
with the pricked ears!!!) George already had Spike and Katie
when I met him. Spike was already four years old and Katie was
Two. If I was picking my ideal dog to work in obedience, Spike
would be it. Unfortunately I didn't know that then. He
was fabulous. He loved fun and games, was obsessed by toys
but was gentle and calm the rest of the time. He died, aged 13,
from an assumed tumour. Katie was a lot sharper and you didn't
mess with her. She sorted out the boys until the day she died at
the age of 12! George had lots of fun working her and she
loved Agility
