"our page" Spring, Ziggie, and Moses
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Location: Somerset, UK
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 5,479
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19-02-2006, 05:40 PM
"our page" Spring, Ziggie, and Moses
Hiya,Thought seem as how i've got half an hour spare i'd get around to sorting out a page for my guys and gals!
Spring
Breed : Australian Kelpie
DOB : 1st December 1998
KC name : Hip Hop Spring
Aus KC name : Hip Hop Spring
[img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/springziggie-shows05004.jpg[/img-big]
We rescued Spring when she was around five months old and brought her home in a cardboard box. My parents had just split and I was into agility in a big way so my Mum decided i needed a smaller faster dog than one of the labs, not the best reason to get a dog! but we knew she'd be loved and cared for no matter what - and hey! I was 11 years old at the time - hardly likely to complain! She was bred on a farm amid the penines which unfortunately flooded so the two pups the farmer had kept got shipped into rescue. Spring was homed to an obedience handler who tried to force her into obedience when she was returned and rehomed to us she was terrified of leaders, didn't know what toys were, and was very handshy - as time went on we also discovered she was ring shy...
[img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/springziggie-shows05001.jpg[/img-big]
As you can see after a few years and alot of hard work we got over that and started to compete in agility and flyball with a fair bit of success... she won me into novice (despite my handling faults
) and qualified for crufts YKC competitions for 5 years running, gaining a 1st in agility and flyball teams representing northern england, winning and coming second in ABC standard, coming 5th in national agility and 8th in jumping (over these years we also managed to track down her "family" and found out that her dad is an australian champion in breed and agility - his pups sell for around $1500 so I don't reckon we did bad for my "ten pound pup" )...[img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/springziggie-shows05002.jpg[/img-big]
[img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/springziggie-shows05014.jpg[/img-big]
When she was five I decided to address her fears of formal obedience using some clicker training and alot of positive association and reinforcement. She wasn't afraid of the lead anymore and could maintain a wonderful heel position in the sit - she started to cower as soon as she was asked to move. She also wouldn't retreive to the hand but would throw it to me from about three feet away! A lot of work sorted the heelwork but the best we could do with the retreive was to get her to throw it to me then come into the sit position... After a year I decided to enter her into two YKC obedience classes, I wasn't expecting anything I just wanted to take her in the ring and for her to have a positive experience - I explained this to the judge before hand and asked him not to get to close, she's used to agility judges but didn't like being crowded during heelwork - he was very nice about it and marked from about three feet further away... Her retreive had people in fits of laughter and in a warped way that gave her more confidence, I couldn't believe it when she got sixth in the first class and was even more shocked when she got sixth in the next one up! The icing on the cake was her being the last dog in the class and knocking the son of the b*****ds who had owned her out of the placings
[img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/DCFC0015.jpg[/img-big]
Spring is now eight years old and semi-retired, she has a suspected brain tumour and occasionally has fits and is also a bit stiff on one back leg (she has always hopped on that one - hence the name Hip Hop - and a vet once told us it was probably because she had been struck with a leader
) but she's still very much loved and enjoys her time sleeping on the sofa![img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/springziggie-shows05003.jpg[/img-big]
Ziggie
Breed : Australian Kelpie
DOB : March 12 2003
KC name : The Proverbial Verbal
Aus KC name : Whiteadders Hip Hop Zigg
[img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/springziggie-shows05010.jpg[/img-big]
My Mum bought Ziggie for me when I passed my GCSE's from His breeder in Scotland. We had the pick of the boys and sat in the kitchen observing the three of them - one attacked the fridge because it was humming at him
the other was friendly but timid at first and the third we couldn't see at first until we realised he was asleep on my trainer! so guess which one we picked He soon started growing up and developed several problems - 1. he couldn't digest food and had to be fed on egg and rice and nothing else for nearly a year, he came close to being PTS several times but touch wood is ok and eating proper food now
2. when he was fifteen weeks old he was attacked on an exercise area, we were playing fetch in a small space when three collies ran across the field and literally tried to pull him apart he had bad scarring on his head and huge fear aggression overnight... nearly three years later (and lots of sweat and tears - though no blood) he is tons better he can go for a walk with other dogs and share a toy he objects to having other dogs banging into him suddenly or trying to mount him but to be honest I feel thats fair enough. He never starts a fight but is prepared to finish it especially if he feels his pack is threatened, as we are aware of this we keep it under control.[img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/springziggie-shows05007.jpg[/img-big]
Due to all the physical and emotional problems he became one stressed out puppy terrified of moving lights (television, street lights etc) and noises. Patience, clicker training and tellington touch has chilled him out alongside his return to full health.
[img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/springziggie-shows05008.jpg[/img-big]
Due to his rocky start his initial training in agility and flyball was very disjointed, by the time he was 18 months we got a bit of continuity and he started competeing just before his second birthday. He can sometimes be hyper in the ring and outside it waiting his turn but in that year he has competed in agility at novice level qualifying for YKC agility in crufts 06.
[img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/springziggie-shows05005.jpg[/img-big]
He's also been competeing in flyball - both BFA and crufts type, he's currently the top kelpie in the UK and has qualified with the Middlesbrough Madcaps for crufts 2006 - he also had his picture in the paper!
[img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/springziggie-shows05006.jpg[/img-big]
He also goes herding with his brothers whenever we have a bit of free time (which isn't that often!)
[img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/N.jpg[/img-big]
Moses
Breed : English Springer Spaniel
DOB : 7th December 2004
KC name : Blak kap majik mojo
[img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/mosesdippydog.jpg[/img-big]
Moses was origonally my mums dog, but he decided differently and promptly plonked himself on me!
He was a rescue, we went to a show and the woman who owned him (he had been bought as a present for her daughter) was having problems as her other dogs two GSD's kept attacking him. my mum made the rash comment that we would take him if she decided not to keep him and we found ourselves coming home with him!!!!!! He was very nervous around other dogs at first but our pack soon got him out of it, Spring mothered him, My mums other dogs became his play mates and Ziggie taught him that if a dog growls it doesn't mean your going to die! it just means to give them a bit of space (these two are now best mates ). He was coming along nicely...[img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/home006.jpg[/img-big]
until one day whilst out walking he was grabbed by a man who set off at a run dragging/carrying Moses by his scruff
I was to far away to catch up 
but when ziggie heard me shout "hey put my puppy down" he promptly took up persuit and knocked the man over by jumping at the small of his back and grabbing hold of his arm using teeth 
Moses legged it back to me and hid behind Spring I got them both on their leads before I called Ziggie back (he'd been stood half way between me and this bloke) and then basically legged it home keeping Ziggie off the lead. We contacted the police immediately and they went looking for the man who had disappeared - another two pups in our area had been stolen the day before.Four days later a man signed into A&E with a dog bite on his arm
which had gone bad - they contacted the police and after an investigation he was charged [img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/nortymoo.jpg[/img-big]
We hadn't anticipated the fear this would instil in Moses until next time we took him out - he was terrified of people and especially men
I was devastated and my confidence of taking the dogs out alone had also taken a beating. Anywho we took a deep breath and threw ourselves into resocialising him and now (about 6 months later) it isnt often he backs away from people. He has started agility and flyball and has taken to them both like a duck to water and is a happy handsome chappie [img-big]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/kkelpies/maybeishouldgooverthere.jpg[/img-big]
So there you go! A friend once said all of our dogs had stories and I guess they were right
Sorry it got a bit long and pic heavy but didn't want to cut any more out Thankyou very much for reading to the end - if anyone actually manages to put off boredom this long!!!
cheers
Hazel, Spring, Ziggie and Moses xxx
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Location: south wales
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 22,635
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19-02-2006, 06:54 PM
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