Cadbury, Sparrow, Merlin, Swift and Me
Today's session of running contacts involved trying to phase out the use of the toy. Sparrow normally runs down the contact to a click and treat box, now we want to have her driving from the dogwalk onto another obstacle. Naomi was helping me today (thanks Naomi!), she has been helping me iron out the... Continue Reading →
Summer is here and for the Jackson gang that means regular trips to the beach where it is cooler by the ocean to walk. It also means plenty of swimming. I encourage swimming in my dogs for fitness and conditioning. Exercising in water, while still strenuous, does not involve weight bearing on joints or spine,... Continue Reading →
Swift is now 13 weeks old and full vaccinated, so she is pretty ready to rock and roll puppy style! After Sparrow's 1-2-1 session with Helen Anderson this month, we spent 10 minutes playing with Swift. Many people believe that a pup can't start doing agility until they are over a year old, and in... Continue Reading →
Sparrow has come a long way since we started training her running dogwalk using a piece of carpet. She is now running a full dogwalk and we are incorporating distance, speed and other obstacles. She still has a lot to learn and a lot to proof, but already she is faster and more confident, which... Continue Reading →
The weather was hot, hot, hot. Oh, but then it rained because this is England and we couldn't have sunshine for a whole weekend? Lol! And we were at Red Run's UKA show, the only UKA show near me these days, sadly. But while it might be the only one, it was definitely a good... Continue Reading →
Swift went to her first puppy party at the vets on Tuesday. There were five other sets of owners with their puppies attending, all different breeds and different sizes, and all around 11-12 weeks old. Now, here's the thing, as people began to talk and discuss their pups there were a lot of remarks about... Continue Reading →
I've been working on lots of fun games to play with Swift to encourage her to try new things and to develop our bond and relationship. Puppies have so much to learn that it can seem daunting sometimes, but this fun little game incorporates several later areas of training without your pup even realising it.... Continue Reading →
If you read my previous blog about the Beachside Finals you'll know that this week I have been competing at Waxham Sands, a beautiful, yet windswept venue, where you definitely know you are right next door to the North Sea! This was Merlin's first show at Graduate level, while Sparrow was still Novice. I knew... Continue Reading →
For the third year running I qualified for the Beachside Finals at Waxham Sands. This year I had Merlin and Sparrow running, both in Novice grade but different heights. Beachside is the show where the journey began for us back in 2013 when Merlin started competing. I always feel at home with the Beachside team.... Continue Reading →
Tuesday night means Broads night, which has got to be just about the best evening of the week. Heck, we even had coconut tarts to munch on between classes! Two smaller courses had been set up to test us, each one having enough sneaky traps and variants to keep us busy. As there was a... Continue Reading →
Team Jackson 