Rivermeadow Labrador highlights from 2012

To the delight of his proud Mum, friends and trainers, Oak overcame the obstacle of a handler with a gammy leg and WON Grade 1 Agility at Five Rivers, beating 74 Grade 1 dogs to take the Trophy!

WELL DONE OAK - YOU ARE A STAR!!!!

22nd September 2012
At last I am able to drive again and we are back on the Agility show circuit! Two months of immobility has not been wasted though, as I managed to get lifts to training classes (thank you Sue!!) and spent the time standing in the middle of the arena teaching Oak to work away from me, and pick up the jumps with me standing still. Gundog people may wonder "well, that's what we do with our gundogs, what is hard about that?" This is true - however the gundog is working in a larger space - field or wood, you send him out, stop him on the whistle, and direct him right or left to hunt an area. Oak, and Ash, both know and understand these commands. However, when running Agility you are in a much smaller ring, no larger than a riding
school and usually smaller. You have approx 20 obstacles in there, jumps, tunnels, weaves, A frame, dog walk, seesaw, and the dog has to jump these in the given order, from the correct direction, and stop on the "touch points" (painted bits) on the equipment. If you run beside your dog you can point to the obstacle you want jumped next, and, hopefully, he will take the right one. But when you can't run, trying to teach the dog to work ahead of you, and take the correct course, is a challenge! Oak has been a dream to train to do this.

He loves his agility so much, and is so tuned in to me, that he is really going on well ahead now. In fact the problems I have had at the recent shows are more that he is using his initiative so well that he is taking the wrong jump way, way ahead of me! One of my trainers said "He is working like a collie" which, as collies are THE agility breed, was meant as a great compliment.

So, how have we got on at our first few shows since my leg op? I think you can say Oak has done very well DESPITE me! I have been too slow to get in the right places, but he has managed a 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th place and 6 clear rounds! How proud am I? Such a good boy!

And what about Ash? Ash has always had a confidence issue when doing agility, and needed me to be right beside him as he jumped. So clearly the way Oak has been trained wouldn't work for Ash. He has had 2 months off agility while I was out of action, and now has restarted the shows at a lower level. This was partly because he needed to build up the right muscles to jump the higher height, and partly because I wanted to see if he enjoyed it more. To my utter delight, Ash LOVES the slightly lower height, and is running on ahead picking up the jumps like Oak does, without me having to be there beside him. Although easily physically capable of jumping larger, he seems to gain confidence with the jumps a few inches lower, so if that's what he enjoys, that's what we will do from now on. Ash has had clear rounds in these classes, but best of all, he is LOVING doing it!

Other than agility, the boys have been enjoying being pet dogs for the last 2 months. They have travelled in a variety of vehicles as we were given lifts to various places, nothing phased them, "have vetbed, will travel" is their motto! We haven't done any working tests this year, that would have been too much for my gammy leg, but the shooting season isn't far off now, so picking up will soon feature in the diary.

We have had some lovely litters this year, smashing puppies sired by both the boys. I love to hear the stories from the delighted new owners! Hopefully there will be some winter litters too, so if you are thinking of a puppy do contact me and I will pass you details of litters coming up.

12th July 2012
Oak did it!! He WON a kennel club Grade 1 jumping class! With a 2nd in Grade 1 agility on the same day, the Dogs Unleashed show was a memorable event indeed for Oak and his proud Mum. WELL DONE Oak!!!

Unfortunately the following day was to prove more memorable for all the wrong reasons. With Oak flying round the jumping, heading to repeat his success of the previous day, I slipped on the wet ground and as I fell, felt my tendon snap. 2 weeks later I have been operated on to stitch it back in place and now have 8 weeks of a splinted leg and no agility to cope with.

The dogs are accepting walks with their "Dad" while "Mum" sits with a long face in the house. However I have promised them that if they have any Stud enquiries I have a good, experienced, friend lined up to supervise the matings, which made their tails wag!

3rd June 2012
Today Oak came 2nd in grade 1 Agility, and was only 0.06 seconds behind the winner!! Out of 61 dogs only 3 went clear on a tricky course so I am SO proud of my boy!! Add to this an 8th place in jumping class - what a way to celebrate the jubilee!! Well done my Oak!

1st June 2012
YES!! Oak has done it! My goal for 2012 was for Oak to gain enough points for his Bronze Agility Warrant, and he has done it already!! The Kennel Club presents these awards which are earned by an accumulation of points for successful clear rounds and places in KC registered shows. I'm so proud of my Oak!! Now we aim for silver - not much pressure then! :-)

6th May 2012
Spring is here (didn’t you know?!) and with it has brought some lovely bitches for mating. Indeed this weekend I sat cuddling yellow and black puppies on my lap – adorable! Born at Easter, these super puppies have not yet been advertised and there are still a couple available to good homes. If you would like to share the next 12 or more years of your life with a rewarding Labrador, and you feel you could offer a loving and caring home, where the dog will be an important part of your household and share with you a full and interesting life, please contact me and I will put you in touch with the breeder.

Oak and Ash have been enjoying bike rides around drives on the beautiful country Estate behind our new house. The idea was to try and get us all fit. The boys are having a great time, and with a break for a swim half way out and half way back, are barely panting after 40 minutes or so. I, on the other hand, do not have a swim in the lake, but do walk up the steep hills beyond it (just so as to give the dogs a breather, you understand!), and yet still finish the ride puffing like a steam train!

The garden lawn is looking rather like an agility training field now, as 28kg of Labrador steaming through the weave poles on a soggy wet lawn isn’t doing the grass much good However the boys weaves are really getting good – who wants a nice lawn anyway?!

31st March 2012
Gosh, is it really almost a month since we moved house? It still is far from renovated! But the boys are settled in their new home, enjoying their new walks and meeting the neighbouring dogs, and we have unpacked enough boxes to find the essential items now!

The agility equipment is up in the garden, and we are having great fun fine tuning our weave entries, and contact points!

Gundog training classes are starting soon for the spring and summer, and Oak and I have enrolled in these, as we both enjoy them very much.

The feedback from breeders who have used the boys, and new owners, continues to be very flattering and it is lovely to hear proud puppy parents relating success stories, and funny, loving moments. I am also delighted to say that at least two of Oak’s puppies are going to be trained as Assistance dogs.

20th February 2012
House renovation is now well underway (which is another way of saying it resembles a building site!). BT have changed our phone number to 01444 401552. They did warn us that we could temporarily lose answer-phone messages during the number switchover, so if you have left a message, and haven't had a reply within 24 hours, please try again. Otherwise please email us (katy@rivermeadowlabradors.co.uk) as I can pick them up from other sources. Just a few more weeks of chaos and we will have our new (Victorian!) home! :-)

The boys enjoyed their return to Agility Shows this weekend, each gaining 3 clear rounds and Oak narrowly missing out on a place in each class. I was pleased as both ran very well, and I was brave enough to try the harder manoeuvres with Oak, which shave seconds off your time but do risk errors being made. Oak was a star and did everything exactly right! I just need to tweak my handling to get the turns even tighter so that we get a place. Very good fun for us all! (And a nice break from wallpaper stripping!)

26th January 2012
The shooting season is coming to an end now, with just Beater’s days to go. I don’t know quite how to break the news to the boys ..........

Both Oak and Ash have been having stud enquiries recently from bitch owners, so if you are interested in adding a puppy to your life this spring do contact me, and I will pass you details of bitches when they come for mating.

We are pleased to say that we have found a lovely Victorian cottage in Handcross which we will be moving to in February this year. The first few weeks will be very busy while we make it more dog friendly: fencing, converting the small kitchen into a kitchen/diner, opening up the open fireplace and converting the utility room into a luxury dog room! Please bear with us if we are not as quick as normal to respond to enquiries during this time.

The phone number will change in mid February, but there will be a message on 01444 811176 giving the new number when it becomes live. We will still be able to see bitches for mating during this time, just give us a ring. Exciting times!

Despite the move plans the boys will be training hard for the Agility shows which will be starting shortly, with our first unaffiliated in mid February. Wish us luck!

7th January 2012
Oak is proud to announce another litter of 8 adorable puppies who arrived in December. See the photos on the puppy link!

The recent shooting season has been a busy one for the boys, picking up twice a week on 200 plus bird days. They are now super fit, and have muscles any man would envy! Picking up clashing with Ash’s Agility training night, so he has had a 3 month break from Agility through the winter, and recommences training in February. Oak trains on another night, so he continues Agility once a week, with great zest and enthusiasm!

During the Christmas week we had no shooting, so we went to a fun Agility show, where both boys got clear rounds, and ran round a lot faster than their Mum, who could really feel the mince pies she had eaten!!

Oak and Ash have heard a rumour that they may be moving house in early 2012. Mum and Dad have found a nice house a just few miles up the road - watch this space!