Puppy School Photoshoot
We all love looking at photographs of Puppies. This Sunday we managed to squeeze in an impromptu photo shoot during one of my Puppy Class – Live sessions.
Hoopers in the Winter sunshine
A typical Canine Hoopers training session at CANINE Pawsibilities in Inverurie
I am so proud and amazed of how the teams are progressing and also how everybody has been (and still is) helping each other. A big thank you Euan Duff for the amazing photos!
Speyside Copper Dogs Flyball – Canine Fitness
I was invited by the Speyside Copper Dogs Flyball team to organise a Canine Fitness & Conditioning session to help them maintain their dogs in peak fitness over the long winter months in preparation for the next competition season.
Another training day at CANINE Pawsibilities
With the nice weather we had a couple of weeks ago, Iain decided to take his camera out to witness another training day at CANINE Pawsibilities.
There was a mix of junior classes, agility foundation for young dogs and one to one agility training sessions.
Although I am a border collie addict, I love training a wide breed of dogs, I love seeing the young dogs evolve, I love seeing small dogs like Cyril playing with the big boys like Harley. I love witnessing Sprout and Maddie or Buzz who have been rescued recently, building their confidence. I feel so lucky to be doing what I love: training dogs or should I say enrich some dogs’ life.
Just like with human, training is not one system fits all, each dog has its own personality, its own strength and its own weakness and this is without taking in account the owner / dog relationship which is also another level of challenge. When training, I need to take all these parameters into account.
Each team challenges me in their own way, they push my creativity to find what might work better for them. I feel that each dog and owner I meet push me to improve my skills and knowledge. Also, I try to give a little bit (and even a lot) of what I have learnt over the years with my own dogs to all of them, hoping that I can help them all live a happier, fuller life: I see this is as my own dogs’ legacy.
And the most important aspect of it is a simple advice: don’t waste any time, enjoy every single minute you have with your four legged friends, have fun, laugh, don’t be frustrated if training does not take you (easily) where you would like to be, instead embrace the challenge and adapt to your dog’s need and never ever worry about what others might think of you and your dog – One day, which is not further away than a blink of your eye your friend will have aged and it will be too late.
All the photos of the video below (and much more) can also be admired on Iain’s website (at a much better resolution than the video). If one of the star of the video is yours and you would like some of the photos, use the “contact us” option on his website and just ask him, I am pretty sure he will be more than happy to email you the photos. Or you can also simply let him know you liked his photos…. this is another thing my dogs taught me: positive reinforcement works also on human!
Enjoy,
It’s fun, it’s cold…it’s April outdoor agility training in Scotland
The nice part of training agility outdoor again is the sun and the light, the bad part is how cold it can be in Scotland even mid-April! We had a lovely (very cold) training session on Monday night and it was even better as Iain decided to try one of his new toy! So we now have some lovely pictures.
I am so proud of everybody I am training, I am always amazed of the improvements of all the teams and how everybody is trying so hard. I wished I had videos of everybody from the first time they came to train with me to now. Being in a farming area quite a few of the handlers are in the middle of the lambing at the moment and I am actually very impressed that everybody is still committed to come and participate to the agility training sessions.
Knowing how tiring lambing is, I must admit that I am not sure I would be able to come training and stay awake most of the night for the lambing especially as everybody who know me also knows that when I train, everybody run…not only the dogs!
So now place to some of Iain’s fab photos. the agility models are Fly, Rosie, Rhum and Doodle. I hope that all of these teams will try to do at least a few agility shows this year…no more excuses!
Sheep Herding with Derek Scrimgeour
Well that’s is, the annual 4-day sheep herding clinic at CANINE Pawsibilities with Derek Scrimgeour is officially over and was as fun and instructive as usual!
When we started this clinic with Derek 6 years ago, we struggled to find 6 dog and handler pairs to participate, this year there was 14 lucky border collies! This success is definitely the results of Derek’s passion, patience and enthusiasm to teach all of us, whatever our experience and background are, beginners, triallers, agilitists and farmers alike.
The clinic is a little bit of a family gathering including, Mehwi’s mum Lyn and Mehwi’s dad, Manouk, Mehwi’s brother Fionn, Mehwi’s half-brother Mozzie (Mehwi even met is young half-sister Ninja but she was too young to play with the sheep), Mehwi’s cousins Denny, Blue, Rosie and all his other friends!
Obviously no need to say that we have booked Derek for next year already and I hope that Mehwi and Ninja will be able to participate this time!
A subset of the photos taken by Iain on Sunday are posted below and if you really like herding action shots, another subset can be seen on Iain’s website. For the participants, Iain took over 500 fabulous photos so next time you come to see us if you bring a usb stick and talk nicely to him, I am sure he will give you a copy of all the photos.
Stage de Dog Agility en Ecosse et en Français
Aujourd’hui marque la fin de quatre superbes journées d’entrainement d’agilité franco-ecossaises à Canine Pawsibilities avec Claude, Eric, Laah, Mel et Reglys qui ont parcouru une longue route depuis les Alpes françaises pour nous rejoindre!
En plus de superbes sessions qui nous ont permis de discuter des différences de parcours et de conduites entre les pays, nous avons aussi profité d’un superbe temps pendant les entrainements, un plus pour l’Ecosse!
L’équipe Claude et Mel, qui ont tout juste commencé la compétition, ont travaillé sur leurs commandes verbales et la clarification des commandes gestuelles afin d’aider Mel à prendre plus de confiance en elle, tandis que l’équipe Eric et Laah, beaucoup plus expérimentée s’est attaquée daptée aux parcours britanniques et ont travaillé l’indépendance de Laah dans les slaloms et les entrées de tunnel.
Reglys , elle à 11 ans, a pris plaisir à nous montrer qu’elle n’avait rien a envier aux connaissances techniques de ses deux sœurs !
Inclus dans les quatre jours, furent la decouverte des immenses plages et dunes de sable de Newburgh, des promenades côtières et des colonies de phoques et de fous de bassans.
Je tiens à souhaiter a toute l’équipe une bonne chance pour le reste de leur vacance avec bien entendu un arrêt obligatoire au Nord de l’Angleterre pour compléter leur formation de « bergers » avec Dereck Scrimgeour (Killiebrae sheepdogs).
Eric et Claude, amusez-vous bien et à très bientôt j’espère (avec du fromage, du chocolat et votre bomne humeur)!
C’est avec un plaisir immense que j’ai finalement pu admirer Eric et Laah au travail, Claude conduisant son premier border après des années de Bergers Belges, et retrouver Reglys, une petite chienne qui a toujours le sourire aux lèvres, la camarade d’entrainement de Midge et Mollo dans leurs années de jeunesse!
Ci joint encore une fois quelques souvenirs en image des entrainements.
Well today is the end of four great day of international dog agility training at Canine Pawsibilities with Claude, Eric, Laah Mel and Reglys who drove all the way from the French Alps to come to see us!
We had some fabulous dog agility training sessions with even some great weather for the training. In addition to the training and the socialisation it was a great opportunity to discuss about European versus UK courses and handling techniques.
Claude and Mel, who have only just started competing, worked on their verbal commands and the clarification of their body language to help Mel build some confidence, whilst Eric and Laah who are much more experienced, accepted to be challenged by British type courses, independent weaving and unusual tunnel entries.
Reglys at 11 year old enjoyed some fun time on the agility equipment.
It was fun to be able to discuss the differences in course and handling between the continent and the UK (well let’s say Scotland!).
In between the training sessions they all discovered and enjoyed the sand beaches and sand dunes, the costal walks and the colonies of seals and gannets of our great North East costline.
I would like to wish them good luck for the rest of their vacation, they are now on their way to Cumbria for a sheep herding clinic with Derek Scrimgeour (Killiebrae sheepdog).
I really enjoyed to finally be able to watch Eric and Laah running together, they make a great team, seeing Claude finally running a collie after years of belgian shepherd, and last but not least, the smiley Reglys who used to be Midge and Mollo’s training partner during our French trips when they were (much) younger.
Have fun and see you soon (with more cheese, chocolates and sense of humour)!
See below some fabulous pictures of one of the training sessions.
