Rocky has retired from agility

It is official.  Rocky is retired from agility.  I had entered him for Akarana yesterday but after running him in Jumpers last Saturday and watching how he jumped carefully, had 2 jumps down and was over time, decided that he needs to retire now.  He has been a great agility dog.  My first senior dog and a lot of fun.  He hasn't had a clear round since October last year that has been in time.  We will continue to do flygility for as long as he is happy doing it.  He is slow in that too but loves it and the jumps are lower.

One of my favourite photos of Rocky

Rocky won his last Novice in April 2008 to get in to Senior.

Jemima Puddleduck

George has been lonely and wandering off to the neighbours to hang out with the wild ducks so we bought him a girlfriend.  They have been together for a whole day.

This photo was taken not long after we brought Jemima home.  She is 10 weeks old.  George has been alone since Mildred drowned in March this year.  I can't remember how old he is but he is the offspring of our first drake Campbell and duck, Katie.  Katie was a Cayuga and Campbell a Khaki Campbell.

Chloe & Arnie

Arnie loves his cushion and so does Chloe.  She got on when Arnie wasn't

around and wouldn't move when he wanted it.  It was a squeeze but they shared for ages.

Casey has fully recovered from her liver disease and is now back to normal being noisy, stealing cat food, running and playing.  It is so good to have her back to normal.

Casey and other things

Casey is much improved and back to her old self. stealing cat food, licking dishes and trying to break in to the rubbish bin.  She definitely has her spark back much to our relief.

I did agility with Rocky and Shilo today.  Poor Rocky is demolishing courses again and struggling to get over the jumps.  He had 35 faults in Senior and 10 in Jumpers.  I scratched him in Intermediate as it was a long course and had some tight turns.  He had a great time in the Tunnelers.  I am going to retire Rocky at the end of this year from agility but will continue doing flygility with him.  He does enjoy both sports so it is hard making the decision but I don't want him getting hurt trying to please me.  He has been a really good agility dog and is my first Senior dog.

Shilo was good today and had 5 faults in both the Novice and Jumpers C.  She had a clear round in Starters and was 4th.  The ribbons went to 3rd.

My Casey pup

I am still worried about my Casey pup.  She had another injection on Saturday and to get away from the Vet, she kept climbing on the scales.  She has lost nearly a kilo in weight since I took her 2 weeks ago.  She seemed bright enough but slept a lot over the weekend.  Sunday night she wouldn't eat the fancy tinned food I bought for her so offered her some cat food and no wouldn't touch that either.  We had chicken for dinner on Sunday night so gave her some and she ate that alright.  I was late home tonight and Stuart tried her on her tinned food and no she wasn't interested in that or the mashed potato pot.  I cooked her a piece of chicken in the microwave and fed it to her while I ate my dinner.  She ate it and then went to lick the plates in the dishwasher.  That is a good sign as she does like to do the prewash cycle.  Fingers crossed she is getting better!!!

Update on Casey

Casey has perked up and seems a lot better since her injection on Wednesday.  I am taking her to the vet tomorrow for another injection.  She still is jaundiced but seems a lot brighter.  She is eating tinned food at night but still not interested in any dry food.  She is following me about the house again which is more like the old Casey.  It is still too early to tell if she will recover form this but we can only take each day as it comes.

Casey

I still call her Casey pup even though she was born 10th March 1999.  Over the past 2 weeks, Casey has been sick and at the vets twice.  Last week it looked like she had a gastric upset and was given antibiotics.  She seemed better and was starting to eat a bit.  For several days she hasn't eaten much and turned her nose up at bits of toast, licking bowls and even cheese.  This morning she even went back upstairs while I had breakfast so I thought she should go back to the vet. 


 She had some blood tests done and has liver disease.  At this stage we don't know how serious it is.  It could be a tumour but the vet doesn't think so as they can normally feel these.  They have given her an injection and we are to go back on Friday.  Since I picked her up this afternoon she seems to be brighter and ate the special gourmet tin food I bought her.  I hope it is just an infection as she is a special member of our family and we don't want to lose her yet.

Chloe and Jake

The Kittens are over a year old now and they still cuddle up together.  Sometimes it is hard to see where one starts and finishes.  Jake has the most beautiful soft coat and is so gentle when he plays with us.  They play rough together at times.

Jake plays with Arnie a lot too.  Chloe is definitely more aloof and goes to Stuart more easily than me.  She likes being high and will sit on the top of the scratching post to survey the world.  For a while the scratching post was close to the table with the fruit bowl and she would sit on it and flick kiwi fruit across the room.

The dogs and I went to Hamilton on Saturday to do agility for the first time in weeks.  Shiloh was good and had 2 rounds with only 5 faults.  The last run she got a bit naughty and then I lost my way so we were disqualified.  Rocky did really well in his first run with only 5 faults and it was a contact not a jump.  I was worried that he is finding jumping harder.  He got through the difficult bits in Senior before being D'd.

The back yard is very muddy so the rabbits are still on high ground and Allie the Guinea pig is close to the house.  The chickens keep coming on the deck so have tried to get Stuart to restrict their time out.  He is always reluctant to do this.  Good weather for George the duck.

Chloe the Garden Pixie

Here is Chloe on my fairy quilt.  She likes being high up and often lies on the ironing board or my sewing table.

Chloe and Jake have grown heaps and are both lots of fun.  Arnie had pneumonia but after antibiotics is much better.

Only 1 chick survived from the 11 hatched and it looks like it is a pullet.  It is gold.  We sold the cockerel from the last hatching.

One Chick left

Sadly we have only 1 chick left from the 11 hatched.  I found another one lying on its' side.  We put it in a box as it was still alive at that stage.  later I decided to move the hen and her 2 chicks back in to the main Chook House.  I put the sick chick under another hen and found it still there the next morning.  It had died overnight.  There was no sign of the black chick and later on my husband found it dead and partially eaten.  Rats have been getting in to the Chook enclosure.  The remaining chick is doing well and the hen is keeping it warm and safe for now.

Jake and Chloe really do love each other.  Here they are cuddled together on the sofa next to my husband. I guess that is why there are rats in the Chook House!  

The kittens are 10 months old now and growing fast.

Arnie is working on the rat population as he came in with a baby rat a few minutes ago.  Keep up the good work Arnie!

Cats and Chickens

We are now down to 3 chickens.  Sadly 2 of the buff chickens died.  One I found dead and the other was calling out all night and the next morning was looking a bit cold.  I put it under a lamp and gave it food and water and it was starting to look quite perky.  I checked on it when I let the dogs out in the evening and it had died.  It was still warm so it had just happened.
The chick that came from an earlier hatching looks like it is going to be a Rooster.


  We watched Jake climb this ponga with amazing skill.  While he was busy working his way up, the rat that he had spotted had walked down a frond to another ponga and then along a branch to a tree and disappeared in to the bush.  Jake got to the top and looked around the ponga like he couldn't believe the rat wasn't there any more.

  I tried to take photos as he came down but they are all a bit blurry and it was rather funny watching him.

Chickens and Cats

The black hen and her chickens in their separate enclosure.  There are still 4 buff coloured chicks and 2 black chicks and they are growing fast.

Here is Arnie with Chloe and Jake on the sofa.  The kittens adore Arnie and follow him about.  He is fairly patient with them and does bring in livestock for them.  He plays with them but will tell them off if he has had enough.

Arnie weighs 7 kgs so is a very big cat.  He looks huge next to Chloe.

Chickens

We are down to 6 chickens now.  4 light and 2 black ones.  I built a separate enclosure for them on Sunday which was no mean feat with the ground being very hard.  I ended up with a blister from hammering in the posts with the sledge hammer.  Once I had secured the enclosure the fun part started.  I caught one chickens and then they all scattered.  I remembered we have a butterfly net so started chasing them with that.  One ended up outside the chook enclosure so got out to it to discover 2 of them with cats coming in all directions.  I caught them then fell over so by the time I caught them all and the hen, I was filthy.

Arnie is still home and is getting used to being locked in at night with the kittens.  Chloe followed him around and he plays with Jake.

Went to link tonight with Shilo and Rocky and was thrilled when both of them had clear rounds.  Shilo was really good on her contact and stayed until I released her.  I hope we can get a clear round this weekend.  Last weekend Shilo had 5 faults twice.  Rocky had a good run in Jumpers and knocked the last jump down.

Arnie is home

The alarm had gone off this morning and I had hit the snooze button when I heard a cat meow outside.  Both Jake and Chloe took off down stairs so I went to investigate and there was Arnie on the deck.  I picked him up and cudlled him then Stuart arrived to see if it was really Arnie too.  I fed him and had breakfast.  He went outside and walked around the deck meowing.  I brought him inside again and when I left for work he was curling up on the bed.
When I got home this evening, Stuart told me Arnie had been following him about all day.  He has given the dogs heaps of cuddles and is currently curled up on the sofa with Stuart and the kittens.
He has been gone 10 days and has come home fit and healthy.  Where has he been?
We have lost some chickens and now have 4 light and 3 black chicks.

Arnie is still missing

Arnie is still missing.  Stuart went to a couple of vets today and then to the pound but no sign of him.  None of the neighbours have ever seen him.  It is coming up a week and we don't know what to think anymore.  In the past both him and his brother have gone missing so I haven't given up hope yet.  Please come home Arnie, we miss you.

Three of the black chickens have died so we now have 4 of each colour. 

Arnie has gone missing

Our adult cat Arnie has been missing since Tuesday night and we are getting worried now.  Both him and his brother Forrest have disappeared for a few days before.  Since Forrest died last September, Arnie has been very attentive.  He has been great with the kittens and plays with them.  I am still hopeful he will turn up but as each day passes, it is harder to be positive.

Chickens and other livestock

Last week we lost both our duck Mildred and our gold silkie rooster, Goldie.  They drowned in the duck bath as the water level had gone down with the dry weather and they couldn't get out.  Yesterday Stuart found one of the black silkie hens had been crafty and hidden her nest in a half round barrel underneath the Chook house.  We now have 4 light coloured chicks and 7 black chicks.  It looks like Goldie left his mark afterall.

Agility

It was our show this weekend and I was helping out as Show manager.  Shilo had some lovely runs this weekend which shows she is improving all the time.  We came 11th in Starters 1 and got a lovely North Shore ribbon for the effort.  I was pleased with her novice run as she got all her contacts and her only fault was the last jump down.  Not bad for no training.  Rocky had a good run in Senior but was D'd when he went to go through the tunnel.  I was pleased as he didn't knock any jumps down.  It was terribly hot so we were all exhausted at the end of the day.

Sunday was at Orewa and Shilo really went clear in both starters but due to an interpretation error by the judge we were given 5 faults in one of the runs.  As the judge was consistent and couldn't remember who was affected the faults had to stay.  I was alright about it since it won't happen again.  The tide came in at about 1pm and I gave the dogs a swim.  Rocky really enjoyed that as he was very hot in his big coat.  Another hot, tiring day so pleased Monday was my day off.  So looking forward to my holiday starting next week.

RSA

We went to the RSA for dinner tonight.  Stuart is suffering from cabin fever so it was good to have a trip out.  My car went to West City Holden today to have some work done to get it's warrant of fitness.  It has been an expensive exercise at a time when we can least afford it.

The kitties are growing up far too quickly.  Chloe and Jake were both resting with Stuart this afternoon.  It was so cute.  Kathleen cam for her pullets and managed to cuddle Jake.  Chloe was elusive so she could only look at her.  Shilo had a great time playing in the duck bath and came out a horrible brown and black colour.  She had a great time.  I hate to think how she will go at agility tomorrow as we haven't had time to train.

Ethan had his operation yesterday and is doing well.  I went and sat with Heather after work as he was pretty groggy and she had a long night ahead of her.  One more week and I am on holiday.  I can't wait.

The temperature dropped today but the humidity is still high.  May get a decent sleep tonight.

Humidity

The humidity is high at the moment which makes sleeping hard.  The garden pixie misses Stuart and has started giving me cuddles.  He is worried she has forgotten him.  Poor Stuart was doing really well after his surgery but has had a set back with bowel and bladder problems.  Hopefully they are sorted now and he can come home on Tuesday.

Jake has come to visit and has that big tail of his bolt upright.  He smells very earthy so I think has been under the house.  We have had a bit of rain which cooled things a little but it heating up again.  We have Roxy staying for the week.  She is a border collie/ retriever cross and has been coming to stay since she was a pup.  She is a bit older than Rocky.

Norwest

We went to Norwest agility champ show this weekend and had a good time.  Shilo is starting to run better and managed to get a clear round in Starters both days.  She ran her first Novices today and I was really pleased with her as she stopped nicely on all the contacts except the A frame which was a bit slippery.  Rocky started off on Saturday knocking most of the jumps down.  I was told by someone that he needed to lose some weight.  He has a big coat and doesn't need to lose weight.  He did a lovely run in Senior and only had one jump down.  He had 5 faults in the Jumpers today and really enjoyed himself.  Rocky really loves his agility and is not really competitive now as there are so many really fast dogs out there now.  I will keep running him as long as he is enjoying it and is comfortable doing it.

Stuart has his surgery tomorrow and is currently holding Chloe, his little Princess.

Chloe

Here the Garden Pixie.  I wasn't fast enough with the camera.  Somehow she walked along the sill of the windows to the end of the car where she tried to turn around.  This little girl is amazingly agile.  Both her and Jake have taken to sleeping under the front seat of this car.

Shilo went beserk last night barking at something up the garden.  I raced out to look thinking it might be a wild animal and only spotted the back side of a stray cat running away.  Today Stuart found a dead stoat lying under the camilla's and thinks that may have been part of what spooked Shilo.  We think Arnie may have caught it.  It was a big one.  A previous cat brought home 2 baby stoats and Arnie had come home with a weasel once.

Agility training

Photo of Shilo with Jake and Chloe on the bed.  Shilo desperately wants to play with the kittens but her style of play is not theirs.  Every now and then Jake chases her and she thinks he is playing.

We went to Cheryl's last night to do some agility training with Shilo.  I want her to compete in Novice this year so want to get the contacts sorted.  She is certainly different to train from my previous dogs.  We can't use a toy as she totally focuses on that and food works but again it hard to get her back to the exercise at the time.  She did do some good contacts and I have to develop yet another style of running for this little dog.  At least I no longer compete with Casey or I would get totally confused out there in the ring.

She is more like Rocky in some ways but in others not.  Rocky at least does the course without distraction.  Shilo is so busy looking around at other things so misses the entrance to the tunnel or goes past the dog walk.  i now have to go right in to the middle of the cross over or she cuts the middle out and jumps from one ramp to the next.  Somehow I think running at Norwest is going to be interesting.

We got home late last night and the kittens were inside asleep.  We will keep locking them in at night for some time yet but was pleased they were in without actually being locked in. Chloe is definitely Stuart's cat as she calls out to him for attention but seems to avoid me.  It could be interesting next week when he goes in to hospital for his surgery.

Tree Climbers

Here is a photo of the Garden Pixie.  She was right up a cabbage tree and managed to walk across a ponga frond without falling.  Chloe loves to play.  Stuart has made her 2 possum skin toys and she picks them up in her mouth and throws them around.


Arnie brought in a baby rat again this morning for the kittens and once agin Jake was busy playing with it while Arnie watched.  Stuart tells me that Jake brought in a duck feather and was growling when anyone got close.

Jake up the tree.  While Chloe was up there, he climbed up a couple of times to play and then came down again.

I finally put the jumps and weaves out and did some training with Shilo.  She was terrible on the weaves so I must do more as we are competing in 2 weeks time.  There was a lot of barking which got Stuart out of his swing seat.

The Garden Pixie

Over the last couple of days, Chloe hasn't wanted to know me.  She runs off if I try to pat her or pick her up.  She does however go to Stuart and give him big loves.  It is fortunate that Jake is the opposite and comes to me regularly for cuddles.  This morning while I was on the swing seat, chloe did come over and let me pat her.

Last night Arnie brought in another baby rat for the kittens.  I finally got up at 3.30am to investigate and there was Jake playing with a dead baby rat and Arnie was watching like a proud father.  Chloe was beside him watching too.  Jake is a mean little hunter and is certainly showing signs of the Maine coon's reputation of being good vermin killers.  I removed the rat outside and with the cat door being locked, all cats went to bed.  Arnie and Jake with me.  Arnie is now in bed sleeping off his night time activities.

Shilo has found more duck eggs and currently doesn't smell too nice.  Just when I thought it was safe to leave her loose when I wasn't around.  We have never had a dog that raids eggs like she does.  She is very devious about it and you don't know it has happened until it is too late.

Another sleepless night

The Garden Pixie and her mate decided to play early this morning.  I had opened the cat door at 5am when Rocky needed to go out so I thought I would return to sleep and wake naturally since it is my day off.  No such luck.  Jake came for cuddles several times and was very persistent and then they both started running about and managed to knock the pot plant off the windowsill again.  They seem to like company when they are playing and once we were up they were quiet again.  Arnie the older cat went back to bed and Chloe (the Garden Pixie) joined him for a while.

Yesterday Chloe was right up a cabbage tree and somehow standing on a dead ponga frond without it breaking or falling.  Jake went up to see her several times.  It was very entertaining watching all their antics.  Some photos to follow.

Animals

I have worked over New year and now on to day 7 out of 9 in a row.  One of the things that keeps me sane is coming home to our beautiful bush block here in Waitakere and the lovely animals we own.  We have 3 border collies, 3 cats, 2 rabbits, 1 guinea pig, 2 ducks, 3 roosters and several hens. 

Shilo my 3 year old border collie is still in training for agility.  Last year we competed in Starters and we plan to compete in novice this year.  We need to do some serious training though.  Shilo has been trained using different methods to the others and I must say I have enjoyed her more for it.  She is a midi and I didn't start competing with her until she was 2 years old.  Casey started at 18 months which was a mistake as she was strong willed and was a steep learning curve for me after my first dog Tess.

Casey is retired now in her competing years, had a total of 16 clear rounds.  She won out of Starters as the 2003 NDTA which was a major thrill for me.  When Casey went clear she won a ribbon.  I did Obedience with her and she eventually won out of Special Beginners.  Casey is a fast learner and knows lots of tricks.  She makes lots of noise when excited and was often heard doing agility.  At home she my constant companion.  My husband uses her as his gun dog.  She doesn't retrieve but will put pheasant up and help find game.  Casey will be 11 in March.

Rocky has been competing in agility since he was 18 months old too.  He will be 9 in April and is a big male border collie.  I started training him in Obedience at 10 weeks old and he showed real potential.  I started him in Special Beginners and was going to stop competing with Casey, however when we went in the ring he didn't perform at all well.  I was given a photo of him competing and he looked really miserable so we gave up Obedience.  He love Agility and has done well over the years.  He is in Senior and although he is no longer competitive we still enjoy it.  Rocky is and independent boy and will entertain himself. 

Sleepless night

It was a horrible humid night and I was drifting off to sleep at last when I heard Arnie meowing like he had caught something.  Next thing I knew there were noises downstairs like one of the kittens was playing.  I went down to see Arnie and Chloe watching Jake with a baby rat.  The rat was very much alive and Jake snatched it back growling when Chloe got too close.  He took it under the table and let it go again.  I got the brush and shovel and managed to scoop it up and and put it outside where it made a dash for it.  At night we keep the cat door locked so the cats couldn't follow it.

At 5am Jake came to see me and was being a pest.  He has mastered turning on the touch lamp so suddenly I was in the light.

 We are getting a lot of pleasure from the kittens.  Stuart rang me at work one day to tell me that Chloe was really good at soccer and was picking the ball up in her mouth.

Kitties

On Friday 13th November 2009, we brought 2 kittens home.  They are Siamese/Maine Coon crosses.  Chloe is a Siamese in stripes and Jake looks like a Maine Coon.  There were 6 kittens in the litter and 5 had Siamese bodies with tabby markings.  The mother was definitely a Siamese.  Chloe and Jake have settled in to our home and delight us every day with their antics.
The picture shows Jake on the left and Chloe on the right.  They are very cuddly with each other and us.  Chloe adores my husband and will seek him out for cuddles.  Jake likes to sleep on the bed and wakes me early for cuddles.

We have an adult cat called Arnie who has accepted these two well and even brought in livestock for them to practice on.  The kittens have accepted life with out 3 border collies.   Casey is the oldest and will be 11 in March, Rocky is 9 in April and then there is Shilo who turned 3 in November.