Where does the time go? These last few weeks have gone so slowly, yet it doesn’t seem like it’s been three weeks since I last wrote…yet at the same time it feels like it’s been much longer!

The show was stubbornly refusing to hit here until Friday 6th, when it suddenly decided to chuck it down! I wasn’t particularly amused by the timing as, much as I love snow, I’d entered Solei in a show on Saturday which subsequently had to be cancelled! Why we couldn’t have had it earlier in the week like most other places I don’t know!

Solei still hasn’t started his agility because the weather has made the field unusable. I’ve been persisting with his training and although he still lacks the confidence he once had he will now touch the end of the pole again which is something! He’s not getting any better but he’s maintained this level for the last couple of weeks so I’m happy enough. I’ve also been teaching him a send away type command which he seems to be getting! S popped over this morning to take some photos of the puppies and I showed her his touch (hand & pole), sit, down and send away – he behaved very well and she never believed he’d be able to do it so she was very impressed! We’re getting there, slowly but surely. Something I’ve been trying to teach him on and off for months is a spin – I just can’t work it out, none of the normal methods work for him! In fact I taught him to sit by trying one of the conventional methods for teaching him to spin!

On Saturday I showed Solei for the first time since he behaved so badly on the 25th January. I’d put him in Open which is always stiff competition there. He stood perfectly (including tail!) at the beginning, behaved beautifully on the table (for a 4y/o dog who really ought to know better he has a bad habit of fidgeting when he’s being gone over), moved superbly and then ruined it at the end by dropping his tail when the judge was giving them his final look. He really liked Solei and he was giving me a chance to get his tail back up, but although it wasn’t down I could NOT get it properly up….which cost him the class and ultimately BOB and Group 1!! The double irony was I usually put him in either Grad or Post Grad but the last two shows I’ve put him in Open. Not all shows have a RBOB and not all shows which have a RBOB award a rosette, though most do. Solei has 1 RBOB and there was no rosette on offer! The last two open shows Solei has got 2nd in Open, the winner of Open has gone BOB and then 2nd in Open (Solei) isn’t usually called in to challenge at open shows, but both times the RBOB (with rosette!) has gone to the winner of Post Grad. If he’d been in his usual class he would probably have got it! Especially on Saturday…thinking about it part of the reason he lost his tail was because he found an interesting spot on the floor (bitch had peed) and was far more focussed on that than standing with his tail up. If he’d been in Post Grad it was a smaller class so he wouldn’t have been standing where he was standing (by the smell!) and not only would have probably got the RBOB but might even have got BOB! C’est la vie…this is Solei after all 😛

I’m showing him again this Saturday, then it’s full speed ahead to Crufts! I’m so nervous this year, though really looking forward to it as well.

A few weeks ago I was told that a bitch (other breed) had been mated, I’ve been so excited at the idea of having one of my much awaited for puppies at last. I just found out the other day that she’s not pregnant, I’m gutted 🙁 I really do wonder about this! Everything I go near turns to dust. How many more litters/puppies can fall through?! If the bitch is even pregnant they end up absorbing, if by some miracle they carry a litter to term the puppies end up dying! The age gaps are a nightmare too – Solei will be five (eek!) in July, so that’s not a problem…the problem is there are 3 new additions I want to make within the next couple of years – and even that’s having to shove them back. I’ve been waiting 2 years for the oldest, none have materialised yet. Consequently I’m quite likely to end up with at least 2 of the 3 within a few weeks of each other. If this bitch had been pregnant it would’ve improved the age gaps a little bit. Now there’s no hope!

Three dogs close in age isn’t such a problem in the immediate future, though I’d rather have longer, but it’s thinking ahead – in say 10 years time when I’ve got lots of old dogs who I can’t compete with in any way (agility, obedience, showing..etc) and a distinct lack of spaces for youngsters!

My brain hurts…