Adams

Yeah finally we felt like we were all getting together today.

Cas was a star getting a 5th in Anysize, just had a refusal in Veterans.

Ember was on fire with a 2nd in Dovedale Speed & Power and a messy jumping round ending up 4th, she was having a fab agility round but I ran out of puff & she messed up just before the end - she was really working well!!

Rum was sooo good, we were on our own and had to queue, he was a really good boy, gone up a bit of a gear though so I struggled a little and I did end up taking him out of a jumping class as he lost it a bit.  However we had a lovely round in Grade 6 agility and ended up 3rd despite him stopping on the a-frame and worrying about getting his contact, we were only a second off 1st so with that stop I am really pleased :)

We had a good day and can't wait till Monday :)

TAG

I was a little bit worried about the show today as I wasn't sure how Rum would be.  I needn't have worried as he was a lot calmer.

We started off with a run in 6-7 Agility, he missed a weave entry after the flat tunnel so I trained the rest of the round, he worked lovely and his contacts were spot on.  In 6-7 Jumping he was working so nicely but he then decided to do the tunnel no matter what I said which was a bit naughty!  Last 6-7 Agility and he ran sooo nicely again but just refused the tunnel - something to do with that last round?  His contacts were a bit creepy but not as bad as they have been, I was really please, he worked really fluidly and wasn't stressed at all.

Ember started with tunnel Exchange with my mum running her for the first half, mum thought she could get a wait and she didn't so it didn't start well, I could see Ember looking out of the corner of her eye at me and she was a bit hesitant but they didn't do too badly and I had a clear on my half of the course.  In her first agility she worked fab but went to tunnel instead of weaves then went to weaves instead of tunnel, her a-frame contact was spot on though!  In Jumping she worked well just missing a tricky weave entry.  Finally in her last agility she was naughty on her contacts and walked out of the ring! 

Cas was a little star having 3rd in Veteran Jumping, clear in anysize (which was the same course?).  Having a ball in Veteran Agility, we won't talk anymore about that lol!!

Social ‘Petworking’ on the rise

Social ‘Petworking’ on the rise
- Hounds are ‘top dog’ on social media compared to cats -

Andy Murray’s dog Maggie May has posed with his Olympic medal on Twitter and Karl Lagerfeld’s cat Choupette gives fashion advice to her followers. It’s 2012 and pets on the net are bigger, better and fluffier than ever; the nation’s obsession with their pets means we are increasingly likely to give pets their own social media status from sharing photos to tweeting their thoughts.

Research from Petplan, the UK’s largest pet insurer, and host to one of the most engaged Facebook pages in the UK,[1]  reveals a 36% annual increase of pets with their own social media profile, as well as a 25% rise of pet owners sharing photos of their pets online.

Cats have traditionally dominated the World Wide Web but now it’s the socially savvy hounds who are the true social ‘petworkers’ as 7% of pooches have their own Facebook page, compared to only 4% of felines. Boo, nicknamed ‘the world’s cutest dog’ started and still leads the online trend. Currently Facebook’s most popular pet, this adorable Pomeranian has more fans than the Dalai Lama.[2] Along with Boo, four out of the top five most popular pets on Facebook are dogs including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s pooch Beast. Since the explosion in popularity of Britain’s Got Talent winner Pudsey, dogs are now 12 times more talked about on Twitter than cats.[3] Dogs also dominate YouTube with ‘the ultimate dog tease’ being the most popular pet video with over 100 million views.[4]

Despite dogs’ dominance online, cats are still strongly represented. 83% of cat owners who put their pets online also regularly share photos of their felines compared to 69% of dog owners.  Although it seems that pup parents demonstrate a greater sense of humour with 42% posting status updates on behalf of their dog.

Francesca Keefe, Petplan Social Media Executive comments: “We’ve long known that animals are the stars of the internet, but in the last year since we started tracking pets’ presence online there has been an explosion in ‘pet pride.’ Increasingly pet owners are giving their pets a more active role in their life and spreading the joy that having a pet can bring. As well as the fun side of social media, we’re also seeing more and more pet owners take to Twitter as an effective way to look for lost pets.”

Jan Rezab CEO at Social Bakers comments: “As a global social media and digital analytics company we track online engagement levels across Facebook and Twitter and over the last year we have seen a significant rise in the interaction with pets on social media. There are many social media profiles dedicated to pets, but at the top of our Facebook pages, in the animals category, are dogs with cats coming in fifth.”

Case Study

Denver the dog, owned by Morgan Taylor

Someone who has experienced the phenomenon of social petworking first hand is Morgan Taylor, owner of Denver, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. Morgan started taking photos of Denver because he was his first puppy, and he wanted to capture those moments before they disappeared into memories.  He added the photos to his Flickr account under his "Littlest Duder" set.

There was an instant interest in Denver and a picture of him in the park made it to number 11 on Flickr’s Explore page. As page views of Denver went up, new people added him to their contacts, and Denver's fame train was solidly in motion. After that a number of people contacted Morgan asking if they could post his photos on their blogs, requests he always granted. Brekend.nl was one of these blogs, and he regularly sees traffic coming through from that post. Another surge in popularity occurred when a friend posted one of Denver's photos to reddit.com, resulting in 73,000 views to that photo in a single day and 147,000 total views to his Flickr stream.

The most recent surge came from the UK’s Daily Mail posting an article on its website. Following this publication, The Huffington Post ran a similar piece, with further information about Denver; as a result Morgan received 248,000 page views of his Flickr page in a 24 hour period.

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-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

Pick of the best social media pets

http://textfromdog.tumblr.com/

http://maddieonthings.com/

http://dogswaiting.tumblr.com/

http://foodonmydog.com/

Facebook*

Pet	Number of likes	Celebrity comparison	Number of likes
Boo	5,014,674	Dalai Lama	4,179,463
Beast	880,336	Gisele Bundchen	846, 086
Joe	310, 767	Stewie Griffin	306, 483
Mishka the talking husky	286, 450	Richard Branson	249, 964
Professor Meowingtons pHd	101, 870	Al Gore	81, 194

Twitter*

Name	Number of followers
Maggie May	12,505
Choupette Lagerfeld	13,187

YouTube**

Name	Number of views
The Ultimate Dog Tease	109,375,464

Statistics from a survey conducted by Vision Critical July 2012 and the Petplan Pet Census March 2011 both surveying over 1,000 respondents

*Facebook and Twitter statistics taken from August 2012

**YouTube statistics taken from June 2012

---

[1] According to Social Bakers http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/708-june-2012-social-media-report-facebook-pages-in-the-united-kingdom/

[2] Social Bakers figures taken August 2012 

[3] Radian6 figures taken between 1^st April – 20^th June 2012

[4] YouTube figures taken June 2012

Adams

Adams was a lovely show so relaxed however the rings weren’t very well organised and Rum didn’t have his first run till after lunch and three of his classes were running at the same time.


Rum didn’t cope very well and I am hoping it was down to the fact he didn’t do anything till later on. His first run we hadn’t prepared and felt rushed into the ring, we were all over the shop in the agility. Followed by a run in the other agility where we actually went clear but really should have had a 5 on the seesaw and a 5R, I assumed we had and held his a-frame virtually walking the rest of the course – that will teach me to not work a course right till the end as it was tricky and there weren’t many clears. His next jumping and he was loopy, he had worked himself up and I am not sure why, so I ended up bringing him out. Finally another jumping and he really didn’t have his heart in it, he seemed to be so tired as he had been working himself up all day, he was clear but steady and out of the placings.

Ember on the other hand was on fire, she was running so well, the one agility she was naughty and missed her dogwalk, the other I just didn’t hold my position and flicked her the wrong way over the jump. Then two fab jumping clears in combined 4-7 and combined 5-7 jumping resulting in a 3rd and 4th.

Cas was so happy to be out today she bounced out of her bed in the morning and was raring to go in her first class at 8:30am, she flew round veterans resulting in a 4th and last thing flew round anysize resulting in a 3rd. She was so funny first thing though as she sort of growled round veterans she was so happy to be out and doing agility, most mornings she takes a while to get out of bed but today she was really raring to go!

So the girls worked really well, I am really disappointed and upset about Rum as he was high as a kite and crashing rapidly throughout the day. At home he was so depressed. I really hope it was a blip as I don’t want him doing agility if he is going to be like this it’s not fair on him. So we’ll see what he is like next weekend. He’s been doing so well and maintaining his levels really well but today he was up and down like a yoyo.

WBSDS

I enjoyed WBSDS show last year so was looking forward to it, I love having a proper café on site and the ground is lovely to run on. I only entered Sunday as was abseiling on the Saturday, shame as the show is only 30mins away so it’s great.
Rum started off in Graded 6-7 Agility and I pushed his contacts, he didn’t feel as sluggish as he has been but still wasn’t overly drivey, we messed up the weave entry as I let him try and take it too early. Just as well though as his dogwalk was marked, despite him getting it with his two back feet, so would have been a little annoyed if he had been clear. He worked a really tricky course very nicely. Combined 6-7 Agility followed and I don’t know where his head was at, he picked up a tricky weave entry on his own and had lovely contacts (which I held) but that was about it, he was all over the shop, goodness knows why! Graded 5-7 Jumping was a Rum course, I knew it when I walked it, big open spacey course, I have to say he ran it lovely and really enjoyed it, I wasn’t clear on my signals and we had a couple of wobbles where he was turning the opposite way to where I wanted but otherwise he finished 3rd which I was pleased with. Finally Combined 1-7 Collie Jumping and it was a helter skelter type course which again was great for Rum and he flew round it and had an absolute ball, he finished 4th.
Ember was in combined 1-7 jumping first which was helter skelter type so I had to run, she had a lovely round (if a little steady, showing her age!) but knocked a pole. Then graded 6-7 agility and she was taken out of the ring for naughty contacts! In 5-7 Jumping we were flying, she was running really quickly until almost at the end she took a jump instead of the weaves – gutted!! Finally 1-7 Agility and she had a lovely round with lovely contacts, just missed a weave entry – real shame!
Cas only had one run in Veteran Jumping and flew round finishing 4th :) which I was super pleased with as I didn’t think she would ever get a veteran placing. Clever girlie.

Adams & Derby

We competed on the Saturday & Sunday at Adams and just the Saturday at Derby.


Rum has progressed well, he's never going to be the fastest agility dog in the world but I love running him.  At Adams we had a 13th in Grade 6 Jumping where we lost a second or so as we had a bit of a wobble before the tunnel entrance where I didn't hold my position, we had a clear in combined 6-7 agility on the Sunday where I held his contacts.  At Derby we had a 14th in Grade 6 Jumping.  What I am finding with him is his first couple of runs he is quite steady and cautious, in agility this results in creepy contacts!  However after that he seems to get his confidence back and is a lot more drivey.  He worries about doing things wrong so much!  We had an awesome run in the last class at Derby, I made a right mess of it but Rum felt so confident, it felt great, much better than our clear in the jumping.


Ember at Adams was a nightmare and fought me all day Saturday, on Sunday we started off with what I thought was an amazing clear in jumping but stupid me had missed a jump out!!  She started being naughty on contacts so I was taking her out of the ring.  At Derby her first class she missed her a-frame so I put her back over then in the next class she got her a-frame, was running lovely then turned around on the see-saw?!?!  Ember always does something random!  In jumping she had a clear but was turning like the titanic, I struggle to get her turns tight, always have done and she ended up just outside the placings but was nice to finally get a clear!!!


Cas was a star and had several clears, the others she had just five faultitis.  She's not quick enough as a veteran to be in the placings though but she has a whale of a time :)


I am enjoying running them, I wish Rum could be confident all the time but he's better than he was and isn't stressing out at all so that's a big plus.  Ember can be amazing one minute and a nightmare the next - nothing changes!  And Cas as long as she's fit and healthy enough to enjoy her agility still I will continue to run her in veterans/anysize.  Some candid shots taken inbetween classes.

Dig It Dogs

I was in two minds as to whether to go to this show as we have had awful weather all week.  However they changed venue and it was the same as last time so I knew parking was on hardstanding and it wasn't far to travel so we could always come home early.  I am glad I went as we had a lovely dry day, fantastic running conditions, we even saw the sun for the afternoon.
Rum struggled a little in the jumping ring as it was quite small, he ran lovely but had a couple of poles in both Champ Jumping and Senior Steeplechase 1, in Senior Steeplechase 2 he had a fab clear and won it.  We're now 6 points away from Champ Steeplechase.  In Champ Agility he worked lovely picking up a fairly tricky (for him) weave entry, a month ago he would have not turned to take the second pole but he did and surprised me!  Unfortunately he saw his lead and ran round the last jump!!  Then Champ Snakes & Ladder and I felt I didn't plan it well, was very hesitant and he picked up on that, we sort of made a right hash!  Finished the day entering a pay on the day agility but I trained his contacts, he worked lovely.

Rum's Steeplechase Win & Agility Training Round
 

Ember was being a nightmare today and insisting on backchatting!!  Novice Jumping she missed the last 2 weaves, I think perhaps because I was moving away but no excuse.  Agility and she missed her a-frame contact grr, naughty sheltie!  Senior Steeplechase 1 she backjumped, 2 she did a similar thing taking a more awkward than easy route.  Finally Snakes & Ladders and I had missed the fact you could only do contacts one way so we messed that up.
It was a lovely show and I really feel together with Rum but Ember, we're fighting again at the minute!!
On another point it was interesting for me as there was the usual stall selling dog toys and treats etc.  They had a lifesize cuddly dog sitting upright at the edge of the stall, I wondered what Rum would do if I tried to introduce him as I remembered us taking Cas to Marie for TTouch and she did similar with Cas.  Rum would not go near it, even if I held a treat near he backed away and wouldn't look at it at, poor lad.  I just don't know what happened with him as a youngster he would be fine socialising with other dogs.

GT Agility

I had got a little disheartened at our last show - Bitz n Bobz in Daventry as I just felt I couldn't keep up with the dogs and my handling was all over the shop.  Having had a nice relaxing couple of weeks in Spain I was feeling refreshed and ready to pick my agility back up, I have been working on my fitness and Rum's fitness all week since we've been back.


Ember, well Ember is Ember and will always do something unexpected!  In Novice Jumping she really flew, I felt so in tune with her, she just knocked a pole.  Then Senior Steeplechase and she tripped me up knocking me flying!  Followed by Novice Agility and silly me sent her off over a jump I shouldn't have done, a shame as her contacts were spot on.  I then trained Novice Gamblers as I know she misses her contacts on the second run - lo and behold she did!  I don't know why she's doing that, the last few shows it's been a case of perfect contacts in the first run but after that - no hope!  Finally Senior Steeplechase - hoorah a fab clear and she won the class :)


Rum, well for ages I have been on about always wanting consistency and today I got it!  Five runs and five clears :)  Started with Senior Steeplechase which I hadn't walked as got there a little late, it was a bit messy but still fairly quick and we won.  Then Senior Jumping, lovely run, a wide turn on the first flick flack and out of the tunnel but otherwise he worked lovely and won.  Followed by Senior Gamblers (now I hate gamblers and have never ever done well) which he worked lovely, however he got a bit worried when I put him back over the dogwalk as he was wondering if he did it wrong the first time, poor lad his little face when he crept down the down plank!  I wasn't sure whether we got the gamble as it was a bit messy, but we did and won it!  Senior agility I wanted to push his contacts as I wanted the points (getting too competitive lol!) and although the dogwalk was creepy we had a nice run and another win!  Finally senior steeplechase and I stupidly tried to overcorrect him and he had a big twizzle, otherwise lovely and finished 2nd, 0.5s off the winner.  


There was a time where I would have dwelled on that mistake but now I think well I could have lost it completely and got an E or a 5R so we did well to recover, I need to focus more on what we have done well.  We never analyse why we have done well, only when we don't do so well.  Why?  If we do well we want to try and replicate that so we need to focus on why we have done well.


So Rum had already had 12 points at Dig It and today he got the remaining points to take him up to Championship - yeah, but I need to train those contacts next time!  Lol.  I am most happy with the consistency as I hate being so inconsistent, a lot of that is to do with my fitness (I could almost keep up with them!) and also how happy Rum is.  Today we even queued and he stayed calm.  I am just so pleased with him!!

Petplan Pet Toy Test

Petplan has provided me with these toys as part of their Pet Toy Test review programme. Visit the Petplan UK Facebook page for more information and a chance to win the winning toy!

Tyre 

 This comes in a handy carry bag and easily fits together.  There are two uprights which have a spike in the ground enabling it to stand up, the spikes are a decent length so are quite sturdy.  There are four connectors which the frame sits in, these can also be used as jump cups if you didn't want to have the tyre jump in place.  The corrugated piping then just velcros onto the frame.  

It is a great piece of kit, it can't go very high as the top of the frame is only about waist high, but if you just want to have a go at agility then it is ideal or if you have a competing 'small' dog (ie under 35cm) then it is also fine.  

The frame sits into the jump cups so can't be dislodged however when using the equipment as a jump you can rest the poles on the jump cups enabling them to be easily knocked for safety.








Weaves


These come in a set of 12 (6 orange & 6 blue), they have a long spike on the bottom to enable you to put them in the ground.  The poles themselves are probably about half the width of regular competition weave poles.  They also come with a handy measuring tape which has standard KC competition widths marked on it, this is brilliant as it helps you keep the weaves straight and evenly spaced when putting them in the ground.  You then just take the measuring tape out to use.

All sounds great, however the major flaw which I find with these is the colour of them, I think they need to be white.  My dogs are experienced competition agility dogs and compete at grade 6 (out of 7 grades) and struggled with them.  I am not sure whether it could be due to them being thinner than normal or whether it is due to the colour, I personally think it's colour.  My sheltie seemed to skip the orange ones when they were at the end of the set.  So my solution was to put some white PVC piping over the poles and then then completed them fine every time.  The spikes were long enough to keep the weaves quite sturdy however there were a couple that ended up a little bent.  


I found it useful as you can change the weaves into a V formation or a channel which is great for teaching new dogs to weave and there are full instructions on how to do these on the case for them.  
Tunnel

The tunnel comes flat packed but easily folds back flat as it just collapses and is held closed with velcro.  There are 2 points either end of the rigid tunnel which allow you to peg into place.  There is then an attachment which allows you to attach a floppy chute to the main tunnel, this just attaches around the rigid part as it is elasticated and has veclro attachments.  


However there aren't any points at the end of this 'floppy' section to peg into the ground, therefore it moves around a lot, I ran my sheltie through and she almost got stuck.  I therefore didn't use it further as I felt this could be dangerous especially with a bigger, more powerful dog, I wouldn't run my collie through as he could have broken his neck.  I therefore just used as a rigid tunnel which is quite short, if the 'floppy' section had some peg points at the end it would be perfectly fine.

All in all these are fantastic for anyone wanting to teach their dogs a bit of fun agility, there could be some amends made to the equipment which would make it a lot better.  I would also use some myself for competition practice, I just would add some piping over the weaves and wouldn't use the floppy material attachment to the tunnel.  Therefore my favourite out of the three would be the tyre.  I also reviewed on video - below.

Dizzy is 13!!

Dizzy is 13 today, well around about now, we gave her 1st June as her birthday as we rescued her in December 1999 when she was approximately 6 months old.



She is doing okay but she recently had a health check and the vet said she has fluid on her lungs, a weak heart and cataracts. She is very weak on her back legs and does fall over on them a fair bit now, but she’s not in any pain and still enjoying life.


Dizzy taught me so much, she was such an easy dog to train. She enjoyed her agility but was a bit of a plod, obedience was more her thing. Once I got her motivational heelwork training on the go she loved it, I remember a training round I did and she was howling with enjoyment! Lol. She won me out of pre-beginners and beginners but once she had her op she couldn’t do obedience either as she couldn’t sit up for long enough.


So happy birthday to my brown eyed girl, she has spent the week thoroughly spoilt with mum in Wales and a family friend. Here’s her life video: