Poser pics take 2

Here's the second attempt at getting some pics of the boys. Someone had a silly moment and started rolling around, ending up upside down. Fortunately he's hairy enough that you can't see his bits lol.

Poser pic

I had a play about with the boys today to try and get some pics. I was mainly after pics of Storm as I have hundreds of pics of Monty but not many of Storm. Unfortunately they failed miserably because everytime he heard the camera go to take the pic he cocked his head to one side so he had a blurry head in them all...The above pic was the only success, if thats the right description. Monty is fine to photograph by himself but put Storm in as well and he sulks lol. I was waving a toy around for them but Monty refused to lift his head off the floor lol. Thankfully Storm cocked his head just before the pic was taken so it wasn't blurry this time. Monty was like 'I'm going to sulk cos Storm is in the pic as well and just to get my point across even more I'm going to stick my back leg out as well'.

How do you.....

Come up with a title for the post that you haven't used already? Unless I can manage to think of new titles I'm going to end up with hundreds of posts all titled 'Training today' or 'More training' lol.
Fortunately the snow didn't hit us (well a small amount during the night which had more or less gone by morning) and it was dry and sunny so training went ahead yesterday. We were a bit thin on the ground so there were no team runs, only individual runs. Storm did run at the same time as Yo-yo because she's having issues with running across onto the opposite lane to the other dog. Storm went in the netted lane and Yo-yo the other lane but she ran straight across to see Storm. Fortunately Storm will run out of netting so they were switched over so Yo-yo ran in the netting. They did quite a few runs and Storm never put a foot wrong. After he'd done quite a few runs I said enough as I didn't want him to get tired and start making mistakes. Monty only did a few runs same as the other team dogs, mainly to do box work. The football had finished by the time training was complete so all the dogs could be let out for a run and socialise. Its great to see loads of dogs all running around together having fun. Monty must have been skittled and hit the deck at some point as he had a big skid mark on his new coat and mud all over his nose and head. It must have been a tiring afternoon as Storm was shattered and was cabbaged nearly all night lol.

A few pics of the boys on their daily walk

We have this lake close to where I live and this is where the boys go for their daily afternoon walk. They love going round the lake and Monty loves to play in the water. Storm still insists on eating duck poo! Monty used to eat it when he was younger as well but grew out of it and doesn't bother with it anymore. They have a couple of friends who we often see there and they have a quick game of racy-chasy before going on our ways.

More Training

It had been arranged to go and set up to practice at the park but on arriving there it was clear it wasn't going to happen. Everywhere is fenced off and there wasn't anywhere to park that wouldn't mean car and equipment miles away from each other. We decided to go and set up on a playing field near where I live. We parked at the side of the road and carried the equipment the short distance onto the field. The first 2 dogs did some runs and then I got Storm out. He only did a few runs same as the others and then Monty had a go. He only had a few runs as he doesn't need the practice as much as the others who have only been doing it a short time. Storm and the other two came out and did some more runs. Storm is funny, he lines himself up ready to go right next to my left leg. I kept taking a step backwards and he'd glance behind and see I'd moved and would back up so he was back alongside my leg. I also moved the netting away and gave him a few runs without it. Its great that I can bring one of the boxes home because it means I can do training while its dry as the unpredictable (well its highly predictable if you predict rain!) British weather means team training is often cancelled.

Box work at home

I brought one of the flyball boxes home with me on Sunday after the tournament. I had both dogs on it today for two short sessions each. Monty is a pain and will 4 paw turn on it when training at home and doing boxwork at team training but won't do it when he's racing.
Storm does great turns but only with the hurdle in front to encourage him to jump onto the box. He'll only do 2 paws if there's nothing in front of the box. The hurdle will always be in until he's actually in races so that he only ever does proper turns and doesn't practise 'bad box technique'. He's really quick on the box and is on-off like lightning. Monty was trying to dig for England through the window on the door while Storm was training lol.

Newark Indoor Tournament

Went down to Newark showground yesterday for the indoor tournament. The racing was held in the long wooden building and was run on rubber matting. Monty has run on rubber mat before at his first ever tournament back in March which was Markfield starters. I got some vetwrap and stop protectors for him as rubber mats aren't as kind to their feet as grass. We were in Div 1 bottom seed and weren't expecting to come anywhere as we were up against some very fast teams. All the dogs ran great and we certainly gave them a challenge but only managed to win 2 legs all day. We weren't annihilated though and the racing was close. The dogs don't care whether they win or not, all they care about it getting their balls/tuggies etc. I took Storm in for a look as he hasn't been to an indoor tournament like this in a small building before. He wasn't phased by the deafening racket of dogs barking and owners shouting at all. He did manage to get called a 'poncy show dog' by someone lol. In the afternoons racing I ran one of the dogs on one of Nat's (Bryning) teams as she had 2 teams in Div 1 and they had to race each other.
Monty was presented with his FDI award as well which was really nice.

Finally managed to train

We finally managed to have a training session today although it looked very doubtfull it would go ahead with the weather first thing this morning. It was only for the starter dogs today as the team dogs are racing tomorrow. I only took Storm as there wasn't much point taking Monty as well if he wasn't training. He would only have sat in the cage barking and winding himself up while the other dogs were running.
Storm is doing so well and is great to run. He waits quietly while its his turn rather than lurching about like Monty does. He also comes straight back to my side after his run so I don't have the hassle of catching him. He started off on the starter lane and ran with Roi & Charlie. There were no problems with any of these runs at all. We then moved across onto the other lane which wasn't netted. His first couple of runs were perfect and he did all the hurdles without running out. Then Simon joined on the end with Rosie. Rosie was after Storm and on the first run Simon let Rosie go too soon so Storm ran out and missed the last hurdle coming back. It was good that he did run out otherwise they would probably have collided over the hurdle. I then ran him on his own and the first two attempts he missed the first hurdle on the way down but came straight back when called before getting to the box. The 3rd attempt he did it properly. We then gave them 2 more runs with Simon giving Storm time to get through the start before letting Rosie go.
Storm doesn't want to start doing tighter change-overs while he's running out of netting. He needs to do them while he's in netting so he can't run out and can get used to the other dogs running at him. All in all he did really well and I'm looking forward to when he can start competing.

Training cancelled again

Was all geared up for training today as well. I hadn't heard from Andy so assumed that mean't training was going ahead. I went out to swap the cages over in the car and had got the first one in when Andy phoned. Training was happening but only for the starter dogs, Storm etc so I carried on sorting the cages. Got back inside and Andy phoned again to say it was cancelled as there would only have been himself and us so it wasn't worth it. We're hoping to get a training day in next Saturday as we're competing at Newark on the Sunday. I really hate winter, the lousy weather spoils everything. I'm wanting to be training Storm but not getting much chance with training sessions being cancelled due to the weather.

Monty & Fireworks

I allowed Monty outside last night just so I could get some footage of him enjoying the fireworks lol. He'd quite happily stay out all night doing this but I don't think it would impress the neighbours too much heh.

Weekend off

Today was supposed to be a training day but the weather mean't it had to be cancelled due to the training field being waterlogged. No flyball for the boys this weekend :(. Monty has had his fun and exitement for today though, charging round the garden barking at fireworks haha. Storm isn't impressed by them and doesn't want to go outside unless I go with him. He doesn't make a big deal out of it and start playing up when he hears them. He takes no notice but would rather not go outside by himself. All being well, training should resume next weekend, weather permitting.