Sh*t Happens

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Sh*t Happens and Dicky Bag is here to help us to deal with it!

The dicky bag is a fabric bag/case/pouch/thing with a zip opening that come in an array of sizes. It’s made of lovely neoprene and has a belt loop attachment and a clip on the back. The head of the bag unzips and opens like a mouth (Dicky Bag if you read this, you are missing out on a great design scheme!). Inside of mine I got a sealed air freshener disc (a great addition), some biodegradable poo bags that sport a daring and highly amusing slogan, and a small tub of hand sanitiser. I opted for a rugged camouflage colour instead of the floral pink or baby blue.

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The dicky bag is a great idea, instead of carrying your bag of poo you can carry a dicky bag containing your bag of poo. Much better for street cred! It removes the nasty smell coming from that bag in your hand plus you can store it in a rucksack, clip it to your belt or wear around your body with the shoulder strap.

For me it is too big to clip onto my belt as it bounces around annoyingly and I don’t fancy wearing one on a shoulder strap. However its real strength comes into play when you are out on a long walk with your rucksack! The long hikes I do that require a rucksack are normally routes that don’t have many bins. Regardless, I still believe in cleaning up after my dog and will pick up (even if I’m on top of a mountain, who wants to have a mountain hike spoilt by dog muck on your boots?!), but the prospect of stuffing a plastic bag of poo into my rucksack or carrying it in my hand is inconvenient at the least. Now I can clip the dicky bag onto the outside of my rucksack, where it can swing and bounce around all it likes without bothering me, or put it inside my bag. Hurrah! The thick, rugged design of the bag paired with the air freshener removes all smell, although I personally wouldn’t have it snuggling up next to my lunch.

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It’s also very useful on bike rides as a solution to dangling a full poo bag off your handlebars! Plus anyone who has travelled 5 minutes with a full poo bag in the car will know that the smell is overpowering! I’m not sure why that is, but wow! The dicky bag completely removes this issue.

This is all great but, confession time; I don’t use my dicky bag for my normal twice daily walks. I like to walk hands free and there is usually a bin within a mile, so I’d prefer to carry my bag of poo for a little while and remain hands free for the rest of the walk than carry the dicky bag for the whole walk.

It’s been over 12 months since I said I would write a review of the Dicky Bag and its due to not having a great deal of use that I haven’t written about it yet. But let’s not end on a downer.

HUGE credit is owed to Dicky Bag! They have not just made a really unique item that has a great purpose but they are also battling the nationwide problem of dog fouling and the campaigning, advertising and input I have seen from them so far is much-needed. They were one of the first (if not the first) to back new company Streetkleen when they stepped out of the blue with a daring “solution” to dog foul and their website offers good, sound dog training advice as well as fun competitions to keep dog owners engaged.

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I am sad to see that their online blog has not been updated since June 2013 (which is a particularly good article), and I really hope they continue to push forward in supporting and creating campaigns that can help to reduce the dog fouling issue!

Education is the key right now and the more the better. Overall Three Cheers to Dicky Bag!

An Important Quote

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“Today’s dogs are clearly not wolves on the outside, but their behaviour is often interpreted as if they were still wolves on the inside. Indeed, now that we know for sure that the wolf is the dog’s only ancestor, it seems impossible to avoid such comparisons. The idea that dogs retain most of the wolf’s essential character is not only out of date, but also reflefts some deep-seated misconceptions about wolf behaviour that science is only now beginning to overturn. Despite these holes in the dog-wolf theory, however, it is still widely used to inform dog training, with unfortunate consequences for the dog and owner alike.”

Taken from In Defense of Dogs by John Bradshaw.

It is vital to understand why we should stop comparing wolves to dogs.

The deep-seated misconception refers to something explained earlier in the book, that the behavioural studies done on wolves, which we use when talking about dog behaviour, was done on Captive Wolves!

Captive wolves that could not and did not display natural behaviours!

Derby UKA

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An hours drive up the A50 and I arrived on time to walk my first course. What a lovely venue! At Broomfield College Equestrian Centre, the Derby Show is very minimal with a small car park, generous exercise field, indoor equestrian centre big enough for two large rings, a secretary room and heated toilets. No viewing gallery and no cafe.

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I was amazed at how quiet the show was. There must have been very low entries and the show was quickly flowing through, finishing at a reasonable time of 5pm. There was at most 20 dogs in a height which gave everyone a good chance.

First up was Agility. I was pleased to see Jump -> Dog Walk, which allowed for a good running start as we are still working on our waits. There were only 2 others queuing in front of me and we set off nicely. Jump into weaves was minimum spacing and Guinness knocked the pole but got the weave entry, and then popped out at about pole 4. It certainly wasn’t a comfortable entry. Never mind, our contacts were good and he didn’t falter on the aluminium.

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A few hours break and it was time for beginners Jumping. A nice fast course similar to a Steeplechase (well what else can you give to Beginners). It started off in a big spacious corner away from queuing dogs and I was able to play around with Guinness’ waits a little on the lead while the previous dog cleared the ring. I unclipped his lead, stood up and released. A wait! Hurrah. I have already decided I am going to start to push the waits at Dig It shows now. Off we went on a lovely run and then Guinness went into the less-obvious end of the tunnel and I didn’t front cross very well and he ran past a few jumps. The rest went well and the best(?) option for us at the end was to rear cross the weaves after the tunnel. First attempt he turned back to me away from weaves. Second go and all 12 weaves perfectly while I rear crossed. YES YES YES!

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Time for lunch and a long wait for the final class of the day. I didn’t enter the games class, Gamblers, as I didn’t know how it worked. I didn’t know how it worked as I hadn’t tried to learn. Silly reason I know, but I decided to save the money and just do 3 runs.

Watching Gamblers was great and I happily understood it after listening to the judges briefing, talking to people and watching. I must start entering the games classes and having a go! Plus once into Novice you have to gain games points to progress.

Time for Steeplechase. The start fence was backing onto the queue ringside and with 1 crazy Collie and 1 staring male dog either side of us in the queue, Guinness was not happy. We ran start across a box and Guinness veered off and took a side jump. Gutted. Even more so as the rest of the run was amazing! Guinness ran ahead lovely and I front crossed in some fantastic places to take the best line.

That was it! As the sun set it was time to pack up and go home. Everything was muddy from the exercise field and it was just like going home from a Scout camp.  A great venue and a great show. It was nice and quiet with lovely big spacious rings. My only slight gripe was that the rings were so big that the start jumps could have been a little further into the ring rather than right on the edge. It’s certainly something that I am going to think about more when Judging. However there was generous space and its all part of agility.

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My 30 Second Goals

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I’m a great follower of Mark Laker after attending his agility competitor psychology seminar last year.

In his recent blog post he talks about spending 30 seconds to write down 4 goal, here are mine;

Career Goal – Pass APDT assessment and gain membership

Financial Goal – Save up and be able to afford a trip to Australia for March 2015

Health Goal – Improve my strength and fitness

Relationship Goal – Continue a happy relationship with my partner

(I may have taken 40 seconds, its harder than it seems but very satisfying!)

http://marklaker.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/30-seconds-of-your-time.html

Dig It Christmas Show

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Today was the Dig it Christmas Show and a lovely finish to 2013.

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I’m not really sure what our aim was. Just to have fun and have a run.

We ran one for competition and one for training.  Guinness went up first in Jumping. He tugged really nicely on the start line and waited, although I did back away from him steadily, not march off with confidence. We had an around the back of the jump which we got nice and then missed the weave entry first but did 6 weaves lovely second attempt and came through them a second time too.

Agility we were tugging lovely in the queue and on the start line, although he broke he his wait but I got him back into place. He self released one contact but had the rest nicely and again missed the weaves first time but nailed it second attempt.

The Agility course had a few wing wraps and a pull in. Nice things to train in the ring. My wing wraps need work. I was watching Lauren Langman’s session on Friday and she talks about having a command for absolutely everything. This isn’t the first time I’ve told myself I need a command for Guinness to shorten his stride but I seem to forget to say stuff when running. Definitely need to practise “Dig”!

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Our training run went much better although no tugging in the queue. Finally Steeplechase. Guinness went into a wait position nicely but I still stood him up and run start as it wasn’t a long lead out. My course choices went well however I wasn’t really competing properly and hadn’t decided if I was front crossing or not at a section. I got there in plenty of time so decided to cross, but didn’t cross enough and ended up in a jump myself! The pole was down and I was in between the wings before I’d barely had time to realise what we’d done! What a funny run.

The weather stayed nice and clear and I mixed around between Ring Managing and helping.

Low entries meant that we went home with a 3rd and a 4th! Although the bottom of the placings due to high faults.

A lovely finish to 2013 and nice to have a fun run without thinking too much. It was so relaxed and it’s nice to run in my training arena.

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November & December Dig It Winter Series

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I didn’t blog about November Winter Series as it all went a bit pear-shaped, plus with there being one show a month I thought it would be quite tedious to read about each one. So I’m going to combine them … Continue reading →

Wilmslow

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That’s it folks. The last proper show of 2013 season. Not that we do many proper shows, but this is it for competition runs as I’m going to control myself and keep Dig It Winter Series for training. This is … Continue reading →

Shrewsbury and Oswestry

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So we bit the bullet and entered a Kennel Club Show. I consider this our first KC show, as although we did Adams in January it was inside without weaves, and we weren’t ready for it. So I’ve learnt from … Continue reading →

Dig It Dogs Open Day

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Wow today was amazing! I’d organised an Open Day at Dig It Dog Training Club, completely done by me, my ideas, my planning, my mess! We had no idea how it would go or how popular it would be, but … Continue reading →

Back With A Bang

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After barely being home from a week away in Cornwall today I trundled off to Dig It for their final Summer Can You Dig It Show. It was going to be a relaxing day focusing on Guinness (didn’t I say … Continue reading →

A walk along the Saltline and Wheelock Rail Trail

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Today Mum, Guinness and I set off for a walk to explore pastures great and new, equipped with a free leaflet by the Cheshire East Rangers. We started from Alsager and headed along the Saltline. A frequent dog walking route … Continue reading →

Foxhound Welfare UK

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Today I stopped by a Fun Dog Show being held in aid of Foxhound Welfare UK.  There were a number of stalls and fun classes and a parade of Hounds Hunting For Happy Homes.  These Foxhounds are currently being looked … Continue reading →

Fear of the Dark

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Tonight I grabbed my camera and went for a long evening walk with Guinness. We started off at 7:30pm and slowly watched it go dark as we walked, occasionally stopping to snap the odd photograph or to sit and listen … Continue reading →

Cheshire Game & Angling Fair

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A few weekends ago it was the Cheshire Game and Angling Fair at Peover. This fair has a special place in my heart as it was at this event last year, while helping with Dig It Display Team, that I … Continue reading →

Betley Gundog and Game Fair 2013

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This weekend I went along to the Betley Gundog and Game Fair for the Sunday. I left Guinness at home away from the guns and out of the sun and instead picked up my camera.

My friend Katie was doing a Flyball Display with her team, the Carry On’s.

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They put on a fabulous display and showed the different parts to Flyball; the starter dogs, the breed dogs, how to do change-overs and then finished off with an exciting race!

Next up was a Bird of Prey Display from Rosliston Forestry Centre. Using a few volunteers from the crowd, they had a Barn Owl flying between people and then changed the crowd members and did the same with a young kestrel. The information was really good and it was very easy to listen to.

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The best part was the Saker Falcon which flew out low over the crowds and round past the stalls, swooping in to try and grab the bait on the long line and then flying out again.  It stopped for a break and settled into a tree right above Katie’s head. We didn’t think he was going to come out.

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The big star of the day was Andy Cullen MBE, a highly regarded gundog trainer. Andy gave some fantastic advice and information about training dogs and showed off a range of different breeds and their uses.

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He used quite a lot of young dogs and demonstrated the different levels of training exercises. The best moment was seeing his 18 week old Springer Spaniel! Andy talked about puppy training and how important it is to get your foundations right.

He emphasised on the importance of positive reinforcement and made a point about not needing to shout or beat your dog to make them listen, but you also don’t need to be silly smoochy either. Just be yourself and reward your dog.

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Last but not least was Cheshire Canine Services with a protection dog display. This was really entertaining and had a lot of wow moments. Mike Crawford runs the company and led the display, showing us different stages of training a protection dog.

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Again their display consisted of young dogs and it highlighted the use of positive reinforcement in their training, especially play rewards. They did exercises with bite sleeves, an attacker with a weapon, crowd control and chase and detain. The pièce de résistance was a mock terrorist attack and one of the dogs jumped into a caravan to detain an attacker. Amazing!

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Around the fair there were a handful of stalls with the usual tweed gundog trainer clothing, dog toys and accessories. There were also a few have a go stands such as archery, clay and rifles shooting.

Over in the distance in a different ring Terrier and Lurcher judging was taking place as well as ferret racing, although I walked away after watching them swinging the ferrets around like stuffed toys.  The Scurries competition was a trek away down the hill and  Andy Biggar, top Dog Photographer, had his own set up for special offer sessions. I managed to catch him for 5 minutes to say hello! (Very exciting).

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The displays were on twice a day and quickly led on from each other so there was no sitting around waiting. It was a shame that everything was so spread out as it felt quiet around the main arena despite there being quite a lot of people about. The show was also a little sparse on stalls.  However I had a really enjoyable day and there’s plenty of worse things to be doing on a hot, sunny day!  It was lovely to see some friends and get some good photography practise.

There was a good general emphasis on positive reinforcement in all of the displays and I hope some people took note of this (such as the guy I saw pinning his dog down).

A great day out!

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A Weekend at Dig It

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This weekend was the UKA Show at Dig It on Saturday and their Can You Dig It? Unaffiliated Show on Sunday. It was so so hot! I was a little concerned about Guinness as he has got a thick coat … Continue reading →