Jump.. Jump.. and away...

Schnappi started Jumpers training 2 weeks ago... together with Benben... Thanx to Stanley who is willing to coach us... we had our first training at a big field near Seletar Airbase (think it's a golf course that's not in use)... haha... and our dogs are like "mountain tortoise"... absolutely wild seeing such a big patch of green... and started to help themselves to the salad bar (the green grass)... :) I put Micole on leash and let her run herself wild too... my my... this little girl run can run... can imagine if i off leash her... she'll shoot off and i'll hv a hard time catching her... :P

First lesson was to learn how to make the dog jump straight consecutively... 3 jumps were set up in a straight line... thou it looks simple... but it's not as easy as it seems... the dog must be accustomed to clearing the obstacles... initially Schnappi jump the first 2 then "siam" the 3rd... :P but slowly she started to get the idea of jumping over consecutive jumps...

2nd lesson last week... we continued with the jumps and tried out the tyre and tunnel as well... tunnel was not easy... dog must be confident enuf to dash thru... at one point, Schnappi wanted to u-turn.. and got a little stuck inside.. haha...

It has been fun doing the jumpers... a new experience for us and the dogs as obedience training is more rigid and stressful... esp for the dogs... but it's not an easy task to take on... a lot of stamina is required by the handler... and handler must also be clear of what to do since the dog "take instructions" from him... looking forward for the next training... to see the dogs progress each time with more confidence... :)

The girls went grooming...

Brought them for grooming last Sunday... finally made up my mind to shave off Micole's face... poodle-cut her face... her stains are getting bad... but then again... common woes of a maltese... was quite worried she's going to like weird... surprisingly she turns out rather cute... a maltese with a poodle's face... Aunt E says she looks like Benben and Micole's offspring... :P someone recommended Angel's eyes for her to take as supplement... said to control her tear stains... we're intending to ship some in for her to try... oh yes, and a new playpen as well...

This was Schnappi's 2nd time to the groomer... and the groomer says Schnappi keeps struggling... hahaha... sounds familiar? Micole used to be like that too... nevertheless she sheds less now after the session, and we are quite satisfied with the job done...

And oh yes... one fine night when i brought Micole down for a walk with Bb and Schnappi... i tried out a little training... previously i always had problem with her walking on my right... and miraculously that nite she walked on my left!! she's beginning to understand SIT and HEEL le... auto-sit still not too reliable... but considering the fact that i very seldom train her... i'm quite surprised and pleased with what she can do... prolly going her to enrol her in the class soon... :)

Well done, CD Trainers!!

Another fruitful day for CD Trainers... Round of applause for all!!

Results for the Day:

Lucky ~ Novice 2nd and Intermediate 1st

Schnappi ~ Open 3rd

Silver ~ Fasting Dog in Maxi Agility (Open)

Honestly Schnappi's placing came as a little surprise as she didn't do well in the Distance Control... :P But she did a beautiful Send away today and I'm proud of the effort put in by the father and daughter... :)

Bourbon missed out in the placing in this trial, but did quite well in some exercise like Distance Control and Drop on recall... no problem at that... will do better next time... :)

Last but not the least, we think we seriously should thank CD Trainers for the extra time and effort put in to provide extra guidance to train our dogs... they did not mind spending extra nights to help us improve and give us suggestions on what can be done to make our dogs more reliable...

TO CHRIS & BERNARD, A VERY BIG THANK YOU TO BOTH OF YOU FOR THE GUIDANCE... HOPE WE HAVE MADE YOU PROUD IN A SMALL WAY!!

2 more days...

Sunday morning at Expo... we'll be trialing once again at the SKC trials... Schnappi looked good when we trained on Wednesday... hopefully she will maintain and pass the Open this weekend...

To ALL my fellow classmates and their dogs:

ALL THE BEST!!
STAY COOL AND TAKE THE CHALLENGES AS IT COMES!!
GOOD LUCK!!

Counting down to Sunday~~~

Another 4 days to the trials... honestly we've been meeting up often for training... we had an additional training yesterday nite at Buangkok... haven't seen Schnappi so "active" in training for a while... :P... had been trying to motivate her with food and play... some slight improvement in her send away but still not up to the mark yet... nevertheless we'll do what we can and keep our fingers crossed...

Benben was a little stressed out in training yd... didn't see his fired-up run as usual... Ben-pa also a little stretched and was rather "moody" with Ah Ben... keep cool both of u...

Tomorrow shall be our last get-together training prior to this Sunday... ALL THE BEST TO ALL!!!

Introducing Miller~~

Nope... no worries... I didn't get another dog... Miller belongs to my BIL, Richard... he's cute and rather active... and lean as compared to some obese corgis i see :P... Miller is already 2 years old.. and the way he sticks out his tongue reminds me of Micole in all her photos... :)

The trial date is nearing...

Another week and we shall be at the Expo again for the Obedience Trials... time seems to be flying by, but Schnappi still seems unable to do her "send away" still :(... haizz.... we are still exploring methods to make her exercise more reliable... first the food method, this method is "more reliable" especially when she's hungry... and will charge for the food when she's "sent away"... but sometimes it's not that reliable...

Now we are going to try the toy method... that is using her fav toy... a orange squeaking ball... she loves to play... but sometimes if she's in total play mode, she will go completely out-of-hand... so it's really how we are going to balance this challenging task... hopefully we can see better results with this method... :)

The cutest thing about Micole is...

Her PINK tongue!! No doubt leh.... I noticed she always stick out her cute tongue when i snap photos... then of course... EVERYTHING about Micole is cute~~~ **muack**

Micole is 6 months old le...

My dear Micole is 6 months old le... time really flies, she's been with us for almost 4 mths oredi... about time to start deciding when to spay her, when to start her training, etc etc... just like a little kid... :)

She's still as active as ever... only bigger and heavier now... must really really start to train her le... Bb oredi making noise and asking about her training liao :P... she now knows the SIT command liao... tho not really reliable ya... and something she sits sticking 1 leg out... very "lian" posture indeed... ;)

So dear Mic, we have to start work liao... make sure u be good and listen to mommy ya... :D

Last nite's training

Had our wed training at Fernvale yday... was rather fruitful the way i see it... all of us had a chance to run thru the trial patterns... and mistakes and areas of improvement were pointed out by the trainer for the nite (Chris) and all fellow classmates... i think it's a good way to train as sometimes on-lookers will be able to see more than we do...

In Schnappi's case, we have to work on her "send away" still.. esp with a much further distance for the rest of this month... think we have been training her with a rather short distance... hence she doesn't seems to run far off when send-ed away... Chris was suggesting we put some item + food at the far end so that it's more "suppose-ful" for her to "do the job"... also her left about turn... both the handler and the dog have to practice hard... seems like both of them have a little co-ordination problem when they do the turn... Bb hv to watch his steps and Schnappi has to be more alert and responsive...

All we need is a pass to get the CD title... Bb+Schnappi: JIA YOU!!! Mommy+Micole love and support you!!! **Muack muack**