December 2008

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and have a good new year

Well December has been quite quiet, training has been cancelled a few times due to bad weather but we have still managed to get a bit done. Dre is still making a good recovery. He is even back jumping again, he still needs quite a bit of work to build him back up to what he was, and we need to start him back at training as we have lost some technical ability (mainly our contact stays) but overall we can't believe he is jumping again. We even had a competition to go to, not that many happen over the winter months, which gave us chance to meet up with lots of our friends and we all did very well winning lots of rosettes.

The painting of Dre I received for Xmas

The painting of Snoop we received as a wedding present

Santa brought the boys loads of pressies, the best was from grandma and grandad and of course mummy and daddy. Santa also brought me a lovely painting of Dre, which matched the one we got as a wedding present from LDTC. The painting of Dre was done the week Dre was first sick with his current condition and before any of the side effects of the drugs took place so looking how he originally did

Snoop's Rosettes

Snoop attended cool agility Ltd show and gained a 3rd and two 5ths in grade 4-6 classes and then a 6th, a 9th and a clear round in grade 1-7 classes. Such a good boy and is really picking up some speed. we still need to do a bit of work on speeding up his contacts but out of seven classes this week end, only one did he make an error which was my fault for moving too quickly.

Dre's Rosette

Dre also attended cool agility Ltd show and did very well, although we made a couple of errors, mainly due to the lack of training he has been able to do or attend, he did manage a clear round, giving him a 5th place in a grade 1-3 class. Things are really looking up for him, fingers (and paws) crossed this continues well into next year (but only time will tell) Dre as always has so much energy and is really so keen to complete the course in as fast as time his little legs will take him.

November Pictures

I promised I would post the Dog Vegas show photos from April 2008. The weather has defiantly been cold enough for snow but none as yet. So here are the Easter photos to make you feel all wintry. Yes it was minus 6 and we were in our old caravan which isn't very warm. Thank you to Jo who allowed us to warm up in hers and of course agility was cancelled!

And here is Snoop's rosettes from Newton Heath Agility Show where he got three clear rounds.

November 2008

How time Flys!! and how cold it has become!!

Well this month has been quite quiet. Snoop competed at Newton Heath and got clear rounds in all his classes, just outside the places, but he is really speeding up now.

Dre on the other hand has been having a break from agility competitions and training. As you are aware he is on high strength steroids to help control his lupus, well one of the many side effects (which he seems to have suffered from all of them) from the steroids is muscle wastage, which Dre has experienced a lot, loosing 25% of his body weight (which he couldn't afford to loose), it didn't help matters that he also had colitis and a bacterial infection the other week where at the height of it he lost 2kg in 3 days and on 16 tablets a day to try and control everything. This has meant Dre hadn't even the strength to do small jumps.

On a slightly good note, due to all the side effects Dre has been experiencing from the steroids, the vet decided to drastically reduce them when the colitis started, since then the colitis and bacterial infection have cleared up and the vet has continued to reduce the steroids. The plan is for the steroids to be stopped in the new year. Best of all none of the ulcerated sores have come back yet so things are looking good (and fingers crossed). Dre has even started putting on a little weight and has really cheered up a lot, very nearly back to his normal mental self. I did do some strengthening training using agility jumps and the DAQ jumps at the week end, just a little just to see how he was, I think a few weeks more and he can start joining the classes again, and if the steroids stop my plan is to get him fit and ready to compete in April (but then there is no rush).

Apart from all of that Snoop and Dre have been enjoying the rest.