I especially love Josy's coat colour in the warm evening sunlight!
EDIT to answer Leahs questions: I have no idea where the girls were looking, Josy seems to see something not too interesting in the distance, Flavie seems to have spied a bird not too far away and Dingo – daydreaming! Click on the picture to get it bigger.
In general all of them are agility dogs. I started with Dingo in 1997, when agility wasn’t very popular in our region (we had to drive for at least two hours for the nearest competition in the beginning). I found a dog club that was about to start with agility training soon. Was involved in building up the agility group and found myself being a trainer soon after… Dingo was fast but not waiting for my (always late, I know it was my fault never his!!!) directions and I never got him to do the a-frame properly into the contact, and when he nearly killed himself one day in a competition because he flew right over the top of the a-frame and hit into the ground on his breast bone I stopped competing. Had a nice time in practice after that but stopped years ago because I had other focuses and he got old enough to retire and he never got slow, he always gives 200 %, so I have to be the wise one and just stop it! We have fun now with other things that keep him going without braking his bones but still tiring him mentally. There should be some action pic of him on my old blog – see here. There are more dog pitcures over there, click on the dog category at the left and it will bring you there.
When we got Josy, Sweetheart soon started working with her, and they did great. She isn’t as crazy as Dingo is but they worked out to be a great team, she wasn’t as fast as the Border Collies are but a lot tighter in the corners and jumping higher and so often faster in the end and “clean”! One year they qualified for the national championship and did well there but you could clearly see that Josy didn’t like to be in that building, it was a common indoor sports arena, very narrow, very loud, carpet, and she only could go there for practice once before the competiton.*
Then Josy ruptured her cruciate ligament in her left knee which she had surgery on and is doing great but there is some arthrosis left and we chose to stop her agility career. There are also some post surgery pics.
And by the way, Dingo is getting 12 next month, Josy is at least as old as him, maybe even a year older. They are fit and healthy and there are lots of younger dogs that act older but we humans have to be the reasonable ones here!
Flavie will be an agility dog with my Sweetheart (who also is a trainer, still active unlike me) once we are less occupied with house and garden building! She already has started training and seems to have fun and is fast!
*Usually agility is done on lawn, some clubs practice in riding halls with dirt or sand as ground during winter season and some few competitions in the summer are in sand.
In Germany agility is run in three groups based on sizes, and 4 levels in each size.
In general all of them are agility dogs. I started with Dingo in 1997, when agility wasn’t very popular in our region (we had to drive for at least two hours for the nearest competition in the beginning). I found a dog club that was about to start with agility training soon. Was involved in building up the agility group and found myself being a trainer soon after… Dingo was fast but not waiting for my (always late, I know it was my fault never his!!!) directions and I never got him to do the a-frame properly into the contact, and when he nearly killed himself one day in a competition because he flew right over the top of the a-frame and hit into the ground on his breast bone I stopped competing. Had a nice time in practice after that but stopped years ago because I had other focuses and he got old enough to retire and he never got slow, he always gives 200 %, so I have to be the wise one and just stop it! We have fun now with other things that keep him going without braking his bones but still tiring him mentally. There should be some action pic of him on my old blog – see here. There are more dog pitcures over there, click on the dog category at the left and it will bring you there.
When we got Josy, Sweetheart soon started working with her, and they did great. She isn’t as crazy as Dingo is but they worked out to be a great team, she wasn’t as fast as the Border Collies are but a lot tighter in the corners and jumping higher and so often faster in the end and “clean”! One year they qualified for the national championship and did well there but you could clearly see that Josy didn’t like to be in that building, it was a common indoor sports arena, very narrow, very loud, carpet, and she only could go there for practice once before the competiton.*
Then Josy ruptured her cruciate ligament in her left knee which she had surgery on and is doing great but there is some arthrosis left and we chose to stop her agility career. There are also some post surgery pics.
And by the way, Dingo is getting 12 next month, Josy is at least as old as him, maybe even a year older. They are fit and healthy and there are lots of younger dogs that act older but we humans have to be the reasonable ones here!
Flavie will be an agility dog with my Sweetheart (who also is a trainer, still active unlike me) once we are less occupied with house and garden building! She already has started training and seems to have fun and is fast!
*Usually agility is done on lawn, some clubs practice in riding halls with dirt or sand as ground during winter season and some few competitions in the summer are in sand.
In Germany agility is run in three groups based on sizes, and 4 levels in each size.
What a handsome crew! What were the looking at when the picture was taking?
ReplyDeleteDo all of them work in agility?
oh Tina, what a gorgeous photo! I bet they get up to mischief together!1
ReplyDeleteLeanne x