Leo strikes again!

Well - remember at the end of last year when I said that I wanted to achieve 7 titles with Leo this year?!?!?! I have since reduced that to 5 taking out the SD and SPD (agility games) as I won't be trying that this year! But we are certianly well on our way with 2 of our obedience titles under our belt now!!! Yep, thats right - Leo didn't disappoint (well... he almost did!) and we achieved our CD (Novice) obedience title on Saturday. So Leo will now be known as...

ELLAGANT FULL O MISCHIEF CD (HIC)

Aren't we a clever boy then?! I am so proud of his efforts as he only started trialling for Novice in April. He gained his title in 5 trials (seems to be a pattern as he did the same in CCD!) but all of this was within 3wks (since his first pass at the end of May)! All trials he did really well - gaining excellent heeling scores except for (would you believe) our title pass :(. Usually high 30s (over 35) with only one below (24!!!). The places where he failed was just unfortunate or 'bad luck' but I guess that is the 'fun' of trialling right! So the titles still to get is JD (1/3 of the way there!), AD and HT (don't know if we will *ever* get this!). I am sooo proud of my boy, but he is absolutely exhausted today!!!

Just to recap his passes were: 189 & 1st place, 179 & 2nd place, 183 & 1st place.... I know we always say it... but if Leo had heeled like he did in the morning for our title pass, our score would have been 193 - he just 'threw away' 10 points in the fig 8 that even the judge said she was dissapointed!!!

Enter Kinta aka wild child, feral puppy, psychotic- i'm-jumping-out-of-my-skin dog! Yep, you guessed it - she seems to have 'recovered' from her fiasco last week and back to bullying Leo (and other dogs - but I was able to get her under control and she stopped!!!), jumping on Leo's back, stealing his toys (she wasn't playing for a bit but is now super keen - tugging and all!!!) and pretty much just being an absolute feral nightmare! I never thought i'd hear myself say this..... but...... thank gawd coz I really missed my feral girl! Soo nice to have her back to her normal self! She was still a little unsure in our obedience class but I think that is because some of the dogs are so unpredictable (sitting one minute, surging at her the next) and with inexperienced handlers, it does make a difference! She was a lot more confident though so hopefully in a few weeks she'll be fine.... mind you - we have no troubles off lead and if we get told off by another dog we 'respect' them,.... but just like to bully others *vbg*!

I had a bit of a play around with K in the trial ring today also as I needed some help with my signals and her fronts etc. I didn't want to ask my instructor as I wanted trialling advice... What she does is she tries to 'target' my hand every time I tell her to drop/stand. We had a bit of a play around and we came up with a few ideas - she will do her positions with the teeniest signal because her eyes are glued to me!!! So we have a few things to practice now! The 'triallers' were very impressed with her heeling etc, so i'm glad that our training is going in the right direction!

I was also given some 'open' training, but Leo was just there for the social - it was more training for me on *how* to train everything.... One of the triallers also gave me my own set of scent articles (minus the leather) so apparently i'm meant to head off to train this! Boy - they are keen and expecting me to go far hey!!! LOL!

Other news (coz that is probably enough about dogs!):

I also picked up my new CAR on Friday night!!! I absolutely LOOOVE it!! Well... except for one minor draw back. The boot is not as big as I thought it would be and is actually smaller than my modified Echo boot. The advantage being that I still have back seats in this car! So excellent for passengers and the hounds on a day out (yep, there is still room for the both in the boot) but not so great for showing. I can fit both of the soft crates in the boot (with the dogs on top of them), but unfortunately, the trolley (yes, I just bought a 2nd hand trolley!) only *just* doesn't fit - say by about 2 inches because the boot caves in a fraction. There is also not enough height for the trolley to stand upright (not to mention it is *heavy*!! So when I go to shows, or decide to take 2 wire crates, I will still only be able to take 1 passenger (possibly 2, if the crates will only take up one side of the back, but I doubt it) as the trolley etc can fit in the back seat area (either folded down or not...). Either way, I am very pleased with the car and figure that is only a minor issue ;). Photos will come soon when I can take them in daylight (couldn't this weekend - too busy!).

I think that is about all of my news - nothing much else to report really ;)

cya!