Well, this blog has been a long time coming as I haven't had the energy to know where to begin.  Grace entered her first few shows at the beginning of summer and she went from bad to worse!!  She went from being a bit shell shocked and only able to do one or two jumps, to sort of being happyish and doing quite a few obstacles, to running amok, doing zoomies round the ring, and finally leaving the ring for the nearest food stall. 

So I spent the summer alternating between thinking her very short agility career was over, to really really going to try hard with her, to me storming off the field and never ever going to train her again as she disappeared yet again into blue yonder with the latest toy!

But then I would feel quite sad as I know when I clicker train tricks with her she will push the rest of my pack away (all collies) to work with me and will work for longer then them if food is around, and I really like her funny goofy ways.

At the same time Julie, my training partner, was reading a lot of Denise Fenzi books on dog training, playing and engagement, and we realised that Grace is not a willing participator in our agility training - I end up begging and pleading and following Grace around the field to bring the toy back and do a jump etc. rather then her leaping all over me, wanting to work.

So, following Denise Fenzi's idea of rewarding for doing absolutely nothing but focusing on the handler, I went onto the agility field and let Grace off the lead and watched her wander off and sniff the ground.  It was so hard not to call her name, shuffle, rattle the treats or run away. Julie had to keep glaring at me to make sure I didn't talk to her!  Eventually when Grace found nothing interesting, she bounced off to annoy Julie and her dog Nancy (who was also getting rewarded for doing absolutely nothing and was ignoring Grace, as Julie was more interesting) so Grace finally decided to saunter over to me, and I clicked and treated about 9 times and told her how good she was.  The 10th treat I threw away from me and just waited - Grace bounced over to eat it, and came running back to me which was an amazing feat in itself!  Then something really weird happened.  Grace spotted a tennis ball on the table next to us, she went to grab it, ran off to show Julie and Nancy, who were still ignoring her, then started to run away with it, stopped and looked at us all, realised nobody was chasing her and brought it to me.

That might not seem much to some people, but I nearly fainted on the floor as she has never ever brought me a toy before!

From that moment on I have felt so energized about Grace's training and it is fun again.  We aren't even really doing anything except walk onto the field, let her off her lead, click and treat for her focusing on me, ask for a bit of fun heelwork or tricks such as spinning, maybe standing next to a wing and seeing if she'll offer a wing wrap (which she is!), a few more fun bits of focusing, and that is it!  It doesn't feel exhausting and draining anymore.  And if she doesn't want to play/focus, that is fine, I just put her away and she can come out later.

Since then, we've done the same sort of thing at a show in the exercise area, and she's focused perfectly on me, so I took her round the rings and the difference since the last time I took her round the rings at an agility show is quite unbelievable.  Before I started the focus work she used to nearly drag me off my feet near the rings, wanting to run and do zoomies, and the thought of letting her off her lead was really scary! whereas this time, she was super focused on me and I even dropped the lead whilst we did some heelwork.

And bit by bit I'm finally doing tiny bits of agility, eg 2o2o on the end of a dog walk, or a wing wrap.   To reward her away from me, I'm using treats placed in dog bowls and racing her to them.  Already she will go through a tunnel backwards and forwards to the dog bowls, and last weekend, she actually did a sendaway through a tunnel and over 3 tiny jumps to a dog bowl.

I feel it will be a long time before or if we're ever ready to compete, but I'm now enjoying the journey with my funny goofy girl!

On Friday we headed off for our first weekend show of the season. The weather on Friday was glorious I was merrily wondering if I'd packed enough vest tops and should I pack my shorts; I cheerfully flung my thermals back in my wardrobe and frantically searched the house for sun tan cream. Well the weather gods certainly had a good chuckle as we woke up Saturday morning to rain, high winds and generally freezing conditions.

As it's the start of the season we both felt a bit rusty but we both had some good runs and some not so good ones, pilot errors! All the dogs were looking really good from our older more experienced dogs who showed they still haven't lost any speed or enthusiasm to the younger ones who at times showed their inexperience but also showed how much potential they have with a bit more ring craft under their belts.  Ruth and Morse competed on Sunday in the Anysize classes and did really well, they're nearly ready to make their Grade 1 debut!

As expected when you take away three dogs that have never been camping before we had several garden breakouts. Although the prize for the best escape has to go to Grace, who not only escaped the garden fencing but then appeared to be struck by temporary ear failure and couldnt hear any recall commands as she merrily danced her way through the camping area. And then as Ann opened the gate to go and fetch Grace, Connie, Whisky and Glen made a bid for freedom too and headed off to the exercise area too :-D Sighthounds are the naughtiest creatures on this planet, as Rufus proved when he couldn't stay on the exercise area but had to find a small gap in the fence and take himself off for a few laps of the neighbouring field just because I wasn't paying 100% attention to his antics.

Good luck to Caroline and Rex who had heading off to Lincoln this weekend for their first taste of competing.

This is Grace, my 5 month old Spanish greyhound on her first walk with our 'extended pack'.  As you can see she is settling in fine and loving every minute.  And isn't she just beautiful? (or am I just biased!).  And thanks to Julie for the fantastic photos.

Exciting times.  Earlier this year my wonderful lurcher Frankie died.  She was 11 years old and for all of those 11 years, I've had the same two thoughts every single day.  The first thought, as Frankie disappeared into the distance was 'I will never ever get another lurcher', and the second thought, as she came back to me, was 'I can't imagine life without one!'

So, when she died, followed 4 weeks later by my other oldie Nickel (who also used to encourage Frankie to travel far and wide) I was 'free' to do all the walks that hadn't been 'lurcher-proof'.  All summer I've been walking over the East Yorkshire Wolds with my 3 remaining dogs, who being collies like nothing more to remain at my side.  As much as I love these dogs there was something missing and my walks felt flat.  The scenery was beautiful, but it meant nothing to me and I couldn't believe that I'd been longing to do these walks for so long.  As happy as I've felt going about my life, setting up our agility club, walking, training and competing with my dogs, I've felt an underlying sadness and it didn't take much for me to burst into tears.

Finally, two weeks ago it dawned on me.  I needed another sighthound in my life and almost instantly I found Grace.  She is a 4 month old Galgo - a Spanish Greyhound. Spanish Greyhounds often have terrible lives - thousands of them are killed every year when no longer needed for hunting but there are rescue centres in Spain trying to do what they can.  Grace's mum was rescued not long before she gave birth to 12 pups and not that I know who the rescue people in Spain are yet, but they have done a fantastic job - not only finding the funds to send these pups far and wide to good homes, but raising them so well.  I've had Grace for 4 days and she is a pleasure to be with.  I already cannot imagine life without her.   She is one funny little girl who already seems to have everyone wrapped round her little paw.  Last night she fell asleep on my knee in that gangly cuddly way that only greyhounds and lurchers have.  All my other dogs seem to love her and our home feels alive again and it made me wonder - who rescued who?

The video below was about ten minutes after bringing her home.