Kittens, Pups, End of the Year and Stuff

First of all I have to mention that I am very proud of the Spazzie.  We recently had our provincial Agility and Dog Jumping Year End Function and out of the 129 dogs that competed in Gauteng this year, he ended up 4th in the Agility league (all grades and jump heights included).  First was Miss Consistency Julie with Chaos's uncle, Chace, second went to Sharleen and Boetie boy and third was medium pyrshep, Lollie and Gaby.   I am not even sure if I should write it, but I also managed to get the award of 'Agility Nerd of the Year', needless to say, I completely disagree... haha, I am not THAT much of a nerd.

Photos again courtesy of Melissa Wilson.

 I have started intensifying my training again slowly but surely, in preperation for our first SA Champs/AWC qualifier on  the 23rd of January.  Since the finals will be in Maritzburg this year, I have no home ground advantage, so want to be ready.

 I have been doing lots and lots of jumping sequences, complicated ones...  he is nailing it mostly and contacts are looking very good, so just doing some maintenance there.  I really would like to make the team next year, so putting the effort in.

 And doing some serious fitness work, haha, for both me and him.

Anthony took some nice pictures of our view from the veranda the other day, he made sure to do it after the gardner had been here, mowing the lawn, to minimize the amount of agility equipment in the picture:

Of course the Madam cat Nox had to impose herself during the photo taking session.

On to puppy things.  Me and Volt are enjoying hanging out, which generally means me trying to keep him out of trouble.  He is training hard at his goal to one day climb Mount Everest and nothing in the house overlooked when he is looking for 'training equipment'.  He is such a pleasure, though.  So confident and happy.  We have been doing some targetting.  I am actually teaching him a foot target first, different than with my other dogs.  Mainly because it is so much easier to get that 'foot pounce' from a puppy.  I will teach a nose target later on.  Mostly we run around the garden like hooligans, me and him.  I am sure the neighbours think I have lost my mind... then again they might be right.  For now our retrieves are limited to the passage way, as he is more keen on the 'I will go and catch it, but then you have to chase me to get it back' game when we are in the garden.

I am also trying to take him to as many places as I can, which in South Africa is not so easy as 'pet-friendly' doesn't exist in any of the 11 official languages.  Today he went to the vet to get weighed, met the lady in the bottle store, ordered some chinese takeaways and went to the petstore to buy some more toys.  Along the way he was stopped by just about every passer-by.  All in all some good socialisation.

At 14 weeks the high Voltage Maniac Sheltie puppy, weighs 2.5kg and is 26cm high.  According to most of the Sheltie growth charts, this means he should remain in small, but I know Sheltie growth can be unpredictable.  Volt's brother Jull is about the same size as he is and their sister Jasmina is the tallest of the threed.  Please hold thumbs for me... I really do want a small dog!

 His ears have settled down again after this picture, oh the joys of teething...  I am still uhm-ing and ah-ing about glueing his ears...  he should be such a good breed prospect and I have been planning to show him in the conformation ring, but... well to me the idea of glueing ears are just a bit silly...  and I have to decide as in now.

 The one thing that I miss, is cuddling.  Volt does NOT do the whole cuddle thing and makes that very very clear.