A walk on the black isle

New camera for Christmas with some fab features - and a stunning afternoon - I have to share the foto

Goodbye 2013

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas. I am up north with mum and the dogs of course :) My plans for 2014 also include more blogging!! So keep watching this space

The Mental Game

Todays post is part of

Dog Agility Blog Events

Please visit http://dogagilityblogevents.wordpress.com/the-mental-game/ to see all the other blogs who have posted on this subject as well.

Quite alot I am getting comments from my pupils about how on earth you can remember a course of up to 21 obstacles for you and your dog to get round.

Now I know at shows in many countries you get course diagrams to be able to read and think out in your head where you are going. In Scottish shows that is not the case. I do love looking at course diagrams from other places and imagining in my head where I am going to go, what type of crosses and what position I will be in

Although when you get things on the ground it sometimes really changes what you think as you can possibly see different lines or there is more or less room than you imagined.

In Scotland we get to walk the courses once they are built, and actually last year I had the crazy moment where 3 rings opened up at almost exactly the same time, I walked 2 in a row and had to try and keep they both in my mind - then on the 3rd I didnt even get the chance to walk it, I had to try and learn it from watching others run it.

Have I got a super memory?? Very much not! In the past I have been stuck in the middle of courses trying to remember where to go (even had a couple of judges giving me a sneaky point in the right direction)

What has changed

Over time my memory has improved - thats right - agility improves your memory :) there is a benefit I never expected! And the other thing is you get to learn patterns

Have a look at some of the course diagrams posted here.

There are setups that repeat themselves straight lines to obstacles and recognisable shapes.

So instead of remembering 20 things remember a pattern

Look at the course to the left

From jump one slalom 3 jumps, up the centre to the tunnel , down 2 round the star, up 2, in the tunnel bottom, outside ark till before the weaves, loop round then jump weave jump

OK it may sound daft but that is the thoughts that are going round my head - instead of 20 obstacles to remember there are about 6 points to remember.

Yes you get more difficult courses sometimes with more things to remember, but your memory has improved by the time you get there and you recognise the patterns more

Thats not to say you will never see me in the middle of the course with a blank look on my face :D but hopefully that happens much less now.

Thankyou for reading - now get back and support all the other blogs out there

Needle felting - quick fix - Oh no! The ears are too big

 Every had a felting disaster? Actually the great thing about needle felting is you can save just about anything
Here is my quick fix for a common issue I have
My cat is almost done but I just dont like the ears, I have pretty much reached the limit of how much smaller I can felt them and for me they are just too big.

I could take them off and make new ones, I could cut them off and remove some from the bottom - but let me share with you a quick trick I discovered to shrink them and still retain the shape

 Carefully cut a V shape into the tip of each ear so the centre is now lower than the edges
(poor thing, he looks a little odd now!)

 Pinch the edges together and CAREFULLY (dont stab your fingers) felt the edges together

Occasionally if you have felted VERY firmly you might find you need to add a tiny bit of fluffed up fleece over the top to get the edges to bond but usually with ears I dont find I need this

Repeat for the other ear and hopefully your ears are now shrunk how you like them
















Of course you can always just buy yourself some ready made custom felt animals from my shop - check out my sale section for some amazing discounts!

The fuzzies are taking over the madhouse!

Last week the horrible happened. My computer hard drive died along with everything from the past 3 years.

All them images of my fuzzies! Thankfully most of my real life fotos are saved due to me sharing them on photobucket and facebook

 A very good lesson to me to back up things.









So now I am sorting through my drawers of fuzzies trying to figure out which ones I need a new photoshoot for
(not the best now we are heading for winter and the light is rubbish for photographs)








Pulling out everything I see just how many fuzzies I have made in the past 5 years!
Many have gone to loving homes all over the world but I also have quite a lot still with me

They really need a home somewhere where they can see the light of day





and I really need less clutter in my house

So I have decided to have the biggest sale I have ever had!!!

check out my sale section,
It is like the biggest ever spring clean in autumn :)








 Many of these items have been in my shop for a while and have had some amazing views, likes and been in many treasuries, this is why I have been resistant to selling them off cheep, but now is the time!! Lots of there are way less than 1/2 price

So if you have loved needle felted sculptures but been a little weary to start your collection there has never been a better time
Have a look and see, everyone tells me how much better these wee guys are in real life
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BenMcfuzzylugs?section_id=11175199

That dont impress me much!

Oh an earworm and a ranty post all at once - its a twofer Wednesday

Take a wee look at this video

Some of you will look at that and think 'Amazing' 'What control to have so many dogs under control offlead beside a busy road'
And I suppose in some respects if you are struggling with your dog pulling you all over the place and not listening to you this can look pretty impressive.
But
A few questions to ask yourself there.
Whos benefit is a walk for? Would you like to be those dogs? What is being gained by them being offlead there?
Have a look at the dogs body language, see how their bodies are all curled in on themselves - this is not just the conformation of the dogs, they are keeping their heads and tails down, making themselves look small and unimportant so as to not draw attention to themselves. Notice how they are doing their best not to look at anything as they walk about, their entire focus is making sure they stick to their position.
Dogs need mental and physical exercise every day - walking like this without looking and sniffing is only physical exercise, they might as well be on a treadmill
Notice how they dont want to look at their owner at all and he dosent want to look at them either, I love walking WITH my dogs, smiling at each other, spotting what they have seen, seeing their happy faces when we take the turn to the park, watching the different shapes their waggy tails make when they sniff different smells (I can even tell by the wag if one of their friends has just gone into the park)
Could I walk my dogs offlead to the park? Yes I am sure I could - BUT - it is risking my dogs for the sake of my ego - betting their lives on my training - and all for the time it takes to stick a lead on.

If you are having a bad day and stressed that your dog is pulling a bit - look down at them - smile and be rewarded with that waggy tail - a little bit naughty for me is 100 times better than a depressed robot

Old Mill dogs

Thought I would share with you all my lovely pupils who have been training with us at Old Mill Dogs
The agility classes and at the end the lovely puppies making a start on agility equipment (note - they only do equipment suitable to their age and breed, there are plenty of exercises you can do with a puppy before you start agility with them)
Most of these dogs have been training with us for 6 months or less and they are doing amazing :)

Im ready for my close-up

I feel my photography skills have been really holding me back with my fuzzies, so I decided on a real photoshoot for them
I love the results

What do you think?

Mias first agility show

Forgot I haddnt shared this here yet
Many of you have followed Mias story, starting off with her being scared of about everything, hating all other dogs and trying to run off whenever offlead.
Well Im not saying she is 'fixed' but the other weekend she did something I never thought
She competed at a fun agility show in a public park with dogs all around her!!
First run I was even brave enough to let her off the lead

Myths about positive trainers #2 Treat training makes dogs fat

Reeeealy??

Fat is caused by consuming more energy than you burn

Its as simple as that.

So yes if you give your dogs lots of treats and dont reduce their meals or exercise them more then your dog will gain weight.

But many pet owners give their dog some kind of treat, I know lots of people who will give their dog a dentistick or boneo or something in the evening to keep them occupied. This is WAY more than my dogs get for training, I give my dogs lots of treats when training that is true - but - they are tiny treats. For example something the size of a cocktail sausage gives my dogs up to about 25 treats or I use tiny slivers of dried liver 1/2 the size of my pinky nail.

Mental exercise uses energy as well - so learning things IS exercise

Also if you train your dog to walk nicely with you or be happy in different situations then you are able to take them more places and walk them for longer walks so they are less likely to get overweight.

Myth busted - overfeeding/under exercising dogs makes them fat