As I have mentioned before, both Jiggy's mother Simic and her grandmother Frøken participated in this weekends Nordic Championships. The Danish team where unbeatable and they made a really nice team performance. The team gold was home. Yiibii. Congratulations to Sarah, Lis, Peter and Poul.

The two team-courses counts as qualifying runs for the individual final and all four Danish dogs qualified. Simic won the team-jumping course and made it second in the team-agility course. Frøken was at 6th place after the team-jumping and the team-agility with one error.

In the final Sarah gave it all. Number two after the first two runs "Hitti" had a clear round with a very fast time in the final, so there was no point in making a safe round. Sarah and Simic started out fantastic, they where really fast and got every turn right. Unfortunately Simic missed the contact on the dogwalk almost at the end of the course and the gold turned in to a 4th place. What a shame. The good thing is that Simic is still in great shape and I think that Sarah and Simic is going to have lots of opportunities to get their revenge.

The new titles have been added on the page Jiggy's family.

The last DAL course (course number 4) was held at VAS this Tuesday. Jiggy did a great job, but at one time she was a bit faster through a tunnel than I had expected and i had to handle one section a bit different than I had planned. I lost my orientation which unfortunately resulted in a bar being knocked down. The rest of the course i practiced long stays on the contacts so we did not get the fastest time ever, but I was very pleased with Jiggy's performance anyways. I cannot remember my exact placement in the competition, but I think we where in top 5 out of approximately 30 competitors.

The Nordic Championships are being held in Stockholm this weekend, an I am keeping everything crossed and hope that Jiggy's mother Simic and her grandmother Frøken has a great weekend and that they maybe will bring home a piece of metal ;o).

I have just been looking at some pictures of Jiggy from this summer and fall, and I realized that it has been a while since i have uploaded some pictures of Jiggy in her album. So... Here goes ;o)

Thursday this week I participated in a course with Jörgen Tellqvist. I was supposed to train together with Tine/Mac, but unfortunately Mac got sick the day before, so I got two hours of training all alone... Nice but mentally hard for Jiggy and I. I found out that I really need to put some work in my rear crosses. Jörgen gave me some advice how to make the rear crosses and Jiggy almost got the hang of it.

Jörgen owns Jiggy's Grandfather Don (Simic's father), and Don was with him. Don is now 13 years old and not young any more, but nice to see the old happy boy. Jiggy has some resemblance to him.

Today Jiggy and I started at the competition in Vallensbæk. We had three runs with very different results.

The first was the "VAS Cup". It was a very difficult course - especially for a young dog. Jiggy did much better than I had expected. She did everything i told her to do, but unfortunately she knocked two bars down... my fault.

Today the final results from DAL 3 has been published, and to my delight Jiggy won the competition on a national level. 95 dogs participated in the competition. Great job for her first ever job ;o)

My club VAS also did a great job at the competition and moved from the second place in to the lead. Lets hope we can keep the 1st place when the 4th and last competition has been held.

Today the last tryout for the Nordic Championships has been held. Both Jiggy's mom Simic and Jiggy's grandmother Frøken have been elected to represent Denmark. Congratulations. It will be great to see Frøken at an age of 9 in an international championship one more time, and it would not be the same without Sarah and Simic on the team... What a sad day when Simic isn't in the game anymore.

I have not been up to much this past week, but again I have put some extra work in Jiggy's weave pole performance, as it seems like she sometimes forget the hardest entries, if I do not use them for a while. I am looking forward to the day when I can make a video of super duper weave work, but there is still some way to the end of that ;o).

Yesterday Jiggy participated in her first competition. The competition was DAL - Danish Agility Link, which is a competition that all agility clubs in Denmark can participate in. A cause drawing with exact measurements is given to the participating clubs, and they then set up the course as accurately as it is possible. Every club then send their results to www.ag-link.dk, where all results is put together in a combined result list. This competition takes place 4 times a year. This is the Danish version of the now non-existing IAL - International Agility Link.

We started out with running a different route on the course just to warm up. It did not go very well... I had set my mind on doing a practise course with clear stops on the contacts, and that made me run very passive. This resulted in a couple of off-courses, and made me change my tactics to the counting run... Just run with pressure as I usually do. This was a great tactic - Jiggy did exactly what I asked her to do and every turn was tight and she was quite fast as well. We cannot do much better at this point in time. I was ecstatic when we reached the finish line!!!! It was the best run at a competition I have ever had with any dog, and I am so proud that Jiggy did such a great job at her first official competition. We had the best run out of approximately 35 dogs consisting of both beginners and advanced dogs. I love my doggy.

I have just received a letter from the Danish Kennel Club, that my request for the kennel name "All Zet" has been granted. I chose the name All Zet because I feel that it is a short, precise description of the kind of dogs I wish to breed - Dog who are all set to work in any situation. I have made a new page on the site "Kennel All Zet", where you can read more about the goals with my breeding. My homepage has also gotten a new domain: www.all-zet.dk. Actually Jiggy has just started her heat, but there will be no puppies this time.

This weekend I have been in Austria to see the 2009 FCI World championships in agility. I went by car together with Heidi Frederiksen, Rikke Wriedt, Mette Damgaard Sørensen, Preben Møller, Tina Skotte Rindom and Nete Trorup. Although it was a long drive, we got a smooth journey and good company. The level of the participants in this Championship was extremely high. The courses where really difficult, but somehow quite a few of the fastest dog got a clear round! Unfortunately there where no medals for Denmark, but everyone did a great job. The best Danish result was Lillian Rose and Mille who came in fourth in small individual. Jiggy's mother and breeder (Sarah and Simic) once again did a great job. They got 4 clean runs in great times. They actually had the best run of all in the team agility competition. In the individual competitions they got a combined 10th place. I am always amazed by Sarah who almost always runs a clean fast run in any final or championship. You are so cool Sarah!

Here you have the winnning runs of Lisa Frick and Hoss (Hoss von First Hemp of Devil Brook) from Austria. Lisa is 19 years old and Hoss is only 2 years and 3 month old... Quite amazing.

Last weekend Yatzi and I participated in the agility event arranged by Slagelse Hundesport. Yatzi won the 1st price in agility class 1 and she became 4th in jumping class 2 on a very difficult course... No participants got a clear round.

I also participated with Tine Larsen's Mac. He is really fun to run, because he very eager to work. He is still young though, so no clear rounds for us.

I have received the last DNA test result, and Jiggy is TNS DNA normal, Nice!

Yesterday I had my first lesson with Sarah Lorentzen. Wow - it was really good, and Jiggy did a great job. You can see a short video clip below from training.

Today I have received a letter from Optigen, with the great news that Jiggy is CEA DNA normal. I am so relieved ;o)

Jiggy's blood sample was send to Optigen approximately 1 month ago and the first test result has just arrived. Jiggy is CL DNA normal. That is just great, but I almost can not wait to get the CEA DNA test result as she is a possible carrier. I have also ordered a TNS test, and I hope to get the result soon.

Sunday I participated with Yatzi in the fundraiser for the Danish National Agility Team. Yatzi did great, but we had a couple of unfortunate mistakes, which resulted in 3x disk. and 1 clear round. The clear round was in jumping class 1 and we won the 2nd price. Yatzi got her final leg in jumping class 1, so she is now going to participate in jumping class 2 in the future.

22nd of august I am lucky to get to borrow Yatzi again and enter the competition in Skælskør, and I am looking very much forward to that.

Great trip to Jutlandia Cup!!! I arrived just in time to join the party Wednesday evening, and there where plenty of good food, but I have to say that the music was a bit of a disappointment... But be had a great evening anyways.

Thursday Mette, Heidi, Channie and I went to Givskud Zoo... Pretty amusing to go to the zoo when almost every one of us had a bit of a hangover from Wednesday. Givskud zoo is worth a visit... The animals in the park have very large enclosures.

Friday and Saturday it was competition time again, and it was great to watch class 3 with over hundred competitors. My friends did quite well and they all got placements in their classes. Congratulations. The final in Jutlandia Cup was held Saturday. I love the excitement of a final, and though it was a quite fluent course, almost none got a clear round. Especially the dog walk (third last obstacle) gave a lot of faults. A lot of handlers gave it all in order to get the best time, but unfortunately quite a lot of the dogs jumped the contact! Winner of the Jutlandia Cup was Claudia Elsner and Joey with a really nice run. I just have to mention one other dog... Remo Müller with Brit Brit... Wow... What a dog. Remo and Brit Brit almost won everything they participated in. They also had the fastest time in the final, but unfortunately also 1 fault!

Today I have just bought a new pair of agility shoes... Can't wait to try them in action. They are really lightweight, and they just fit perfectly. See the shoes here. I will get to test the shoes in competition this weekend as I am going to participate in the agility trial held by the Danish National Agility Team with Heidi Frederiksens Yatzi. Great with some competition practise for me, as I am a bit out of shape when it comes to trials... And Jiggy is old enough to start the first competitions in just 1½ month, weeee ;o)

Although I will not be participating in the Jutlandia Cup, I will be staying at the competition site from Wednesday to Saturday. Some last minute changes at work made it possible to go to Jutlandia Wednesday, so that I have the possibility to participate in the party Wednesday evening and spend the resting day together with my best friends doing some sightseeing... Maybe we will go and visit the Zoo in Givskud, which is quite a lovely animal park. I am also looking forward to seeing some great agility. Some of the best agility dogs in the world are participating.

Yeay... It's going to be great!

Today i have been a spectator at the last tryout to the national agility team. Once again Jiggy's mom Simic did a great job. She won all the competitions today and she is now on the Danish national agility team for the fifth time in a row. I look forward to seeing her live in Dornbirn. Here you can see the final teams: http://ag-landsholdet.blogspot.com/

I have uploaded a couple of pictures in Jiggy's photo album of Jiggy from one of our walk on the beach. She just loves the water and loves to swim. This Thursday we went for a walk along the beach together with about 15 dogs from our agility club, and Jiggy had a blast, and she was the only dog that swam around without anyone throwing anything out for her to get... She is just crazy about water.

Today I have picked up Yatzi and is going to "doggysit" her for the rest of the week while Heidi is in Sweden on a dance camp. Jiggy and Yatzi are really good friends, so it will be nice having them both in the house.

Jock is not living with me anymore. Nicolai picked him up yesterday. In the beginning everything seemed to be going just fine, but after a couple of weeks I spook to the neighbours and they told me that he was howling when he was home alone. I tried a couple of things to get him to stop howling, but when I spook to my neighbours a couple of weeks later, I found out that he was howling even more and Jiggy had started to join him. When I found out that Jiggy had started howling to, I got my sister to take care of Jiggy until Nicolai could pick up Jock, as I did not want this to be a bad habit for Jiggy. It is such a shame. Jock is a really nice dog, but maybe the transition from being a working sheepdog living in a kennel to being a house pet was to hard for an older dog. I hope he gets the home that he needs.

Jiggy and I have almost completed the beginners training in "VAS - Vallenbæk Agility Sport" and Jiggy have been taking giant steps in her agility training. Two month ago we where doing small jumping sections 6-8 obstacles, and the height was 20 cm. She was getting the hang of the dog walk and we had just started the weave training. Now she is jumping 55 cm (not all the time), she knows the a-frame, dog walk, seesaw, tire, long jump, weaves and she is quite fast with tight turns. It is just so much fun running her, as it really feels like we fit each other. I have always enjoyed doing agility with Bailey, but I have to say, that this is even more fun because I can put a lot of pressure on Jiggy without her going all nuts.

Jock is my new dog... Yes, it's true. I have been looking for an older dog for quite some time now, and finally I have found the perfect dog. His name is Jock Of Feddet, he is 9 years old and he has been living most of his life together with Nicolai Wiig Hansen on Feddet as a working sheepdog. He has been competing in some of the biggest events in herding such as the nordic championships and the word trials. Nicolai Still wishes to do some herding with Jock, and I am really looking forward to seeing Jock in action. Jock also has a lot of off springs (probably more than 50) and some of them are doing really well in herding.

Jock has been living with me for the last 1½ week, and he is settling in very nice. He is really calm and extremely nice towards other dogs and people. I have never once seen him try to get into any kind of trouble and he has been with me to agility training, agility trial and to visit friends and family. Everyone says that he is a lovely dog even when they have just met him... He really makes a good first impression. Jiggy was a little timid at first, but she is getting more and more happy about Jock staying here. Jock has his own page on the site with information and some pictures.

Yesterday Jiggy and I participated in the course with Jenny Damm as an instructor. I really enjoyed the course, as I have followed this system for some time now, and I have been on a course with Jenny last year, so it was great with some training that was concentrated on improving already known skills. Jiggy did very well. She got almost all of the sequences right, but still we have some things to work on. In the next training sessions I will work on tight turns after the tunnel, pulling her past one tunnel entrance and sending her in the next, rear crosses and then I have to be more aggressive in my handling and trust my dog a little more, because she is actually getting really good at the basic stuff.

After we had finished, I tried to let her do the weaves when nobody was looking ;o)... I said to my self, that if she made one mistake, I would not let her do the weaves, as it was her second time on 12 poles, and I was maybe pushing her a bit to much by letting the second session on 12 poles take place after a day of agility and on a completely new training area, and with new poles... But to my great joy she did the weaves with no faults... I did them 4 times, and decided that I'd better quit while I was ahead ;o).

Today Jiggy has been mentally health tested. She did well... She scored a bit higher in the tug and the chase, but I think that is a good thing... Some of it may be taught by training as we do a lot of tugging as reward. In the tests involving her to get scared she reacted more on the visual than the audio scares. The thing that she was most afraid of was the two ghosts coming right at us in a very scary way. She barked at them the hole time, until I took the suits of them, and when she saw that they were human, she jumped up and licked them in the face ;o). She was a bit more affected by the gunshot that I would have expected. Normally she dos not react to sound, but in the test she stopped the tugging session because of the shots. She just stood still and listened. The test leaders thought that she was a great dog, with good responses. You can se the test results here.

Jiiibiii... Today Jiggy has completed her first 12-pole weave. For the last couple of days I have been concentrating on hard entries on 6 poles and on training in different environment. She has done really well, so today I decided to try and ad the second set of 6. I did a couple of repetitions on the two sets of 6 and Jiggy made no mistakes. Then I moved them a little closer... no mistakes... And then I tries to put the two sets together to a 12 pole weave. I didn't think she would get it in the first attempt, but she did! We made 4 repetitions and then I just had to get the video camera... And the rest you can see on the youtube clip below... Just one fault in one of the entries... She never popped out of the weaves. I really love this method of teaching the dogs to weave.

Tomorrow I am going to a course with Jenny Damm as the coach. I am really looking forward to this, as I have been on a course with Jenny before, and that was a great experience.

I got my new 2x2 weaves on Monday, and I couldn't wait another day to get started with the weave training, so I started right away. Today is day five of weave training and Jiggy is already doing 4 poles with 80-90% accuracy from all angels... It is truly amazing how fast the dog gets the concept with this training method. I have filmed a couple of the training sessions.

Last weekend Jiggy and I attended a course with Swedish agility instructor Anita Axelson. It was held at Kate and Knud Schlüter’s agility course, and the weather was amazing... at least on Saturday... Sunday was a hole other story ;o).

Anita Axelson teaches Greg Derrett's handling system, and it was really nice to get to se what that system is all about. The course was primarily on foundation work, and that was really great with a dog like Jiggy (she was the youngest dog). Greg Derrett's handling system is a little bit different as for what I am used to. The main difference lies in the timing of the arm change. In Greg's system the arm change has to take place in the moment of take off... The moment in which the front feet has left the ground and before the hind legs leaves the ground. I am used to Jenny Damm's system where you show the next obstacle with your feet and change the arm after the dog is landed. I think that the arm change in Greg's system is a little hard to execute because it has to be at exactly the right time, leaving not much space for errors from the handler. I also feel that it is hard to show the dog the path before take off, as the dog has to do all the body adjustments in a split second... So I think I'm going to stick with Jenny's system as I feel I can prepare the dog better for the course and it has more room for me to be a bit of with my arm change without risking the bars being knocked down. Despite of this conclusion I am really happy that I participated in the course as I feel more confident on my choice of handling system and we did some training on small sequences, which can easily be adapted into Jenny's system with great advantages. One of the things I really found useful was the serpentine... That manoeuvre is going to cut of some time in a competition.

I really had a great weekend with good company and Saturday we spend the evening at Gitte and Preben's home with a lot of "gossip" and talk about dogs. Gitte and Preben was also kind enough to lend a place to sleep as it felt as there where at least 100 km to my home late Saturday night... Thanks so very much! There is a couple of pictures from the course in Jiggy's photo album.

I have just bought my own 2x2 weave set... And I can't wait to get on with the training. I think I will begin training within the next month.

The 9th of April was my birthday, and Friday my family was here and Saturday my friend came to my birthday party, and we had a lot of fun... Thank you all for a great day!!! Today Heidi and I went to the agility course and did some training. The weather was just amazing and Jiggy did really well today. I also did some training with Heidi's dog Yatzi and she did really well despite the fact that I have never worked with her before. It has really been a great easter.

Description of Jiggy's temperament added. Click here.

I have finaly gotten the time to finish the page of Jiggy's family. Check it out.

I have just recieved an e-mail from DKK with the final result on Jiggy's hips. The result is B-B as expected.

I have recieved an e-mail fra The Danish Kennel Club and it says that the official result on Jiggy's elbow x-ray is 0/0, just as I expected. Now I just can't wait to see the hip results.

How time flies... I remember 15th of marts 08 like it was yesterday. My girlfriend Trine and I was at The National Stallion Show in Herning and I got the first message of the puppies being born when we where going to the car on the parking lot. I was just so happy that I made a big jump and a little dance and I think people around us thought I was a litle crazy.

Now one year later everything is going just fine. I love Jiggy more and more each day and her agility training is going according to plan.

Yesterday Channie and I went to "bakken" and Channie took a lot of really great pictures. You can se some of them in Jiggy's photo album and some in Bailey's photo album.

I am proud to present my new homepage to you. Take a look around and let me know what you think about it.

This week has been kind of hard. Last weekend I was visiting my mom and my old dog Rikki. My mom had called me on the phone a couple of days earlier, to tell me that Rikki wasn't doing all that well. When I came home to my mom, I saw how she was doing for my self. Her right front leg was swollen, and she tried to keep as much weight of it as possible. When I felt under her stomach, I could feel a big lump spreading all the way along her breasts to the armpit. I felt the tumor in the summer, and at that time it was no bigger than about 3 cm in diameter, and I was surprised how fast it had spread. Rikki had some trouble getting up and jumping on to the bed because of the pain, but she seemed quite happy anyways. She even played a game of tug-o-war with Jiggy. My mom and I knew, that she wouldn't get any better with vet care, and that we risked that she could get really bad really fast... maybe she could get really sick when she was home alone. That's why we made the decision to put her down, while she was still having some quality in her life. Monday we took her to the vet. I have never seen an animal being put down in real life before, so I was expecting that I would pass out at any time. Rikki followed us gladly in to the clinic, and I did some of her favourite tricks with her... Especially the wave was one of her favourite tricks (see the picture). I had brought her favourite treats as well, and when the vet gave her the final injection, I held her and gave her the treats, so she didn't feel the prick of the needle. As soon as the vet started the injection, she stopped eating and quickly sank down in my arms. In no more than 10 seconds she was gone. We stayed with her for 5-10 min., and she really didn't look dead to me. She was still warm and soft, and she looked very peaceful. My mom and I cried through out the whole thing. It was just so sad, although she was almost 15 years old. I owe a lot to this dog. I don't think that I would be doing agility if it weren’t for her... She was a really good dog for a beginner, and we had some great times together. Her finest agility accomplishment was a silver medal in the Zealandic Championships (DGI), but when it all comes down to it, the best thing about her was, that she was a really good dog with nothing but good in her heart. I'll miss her.

And now for some cheerful news. Jiggy's 2on2off position is getting better and better. Last weekend I was teaching at BCK VAS's preschool. I had to teach a group of about 7 dogs and handlers how you teach the dogs the 2on2off position. I took Jiggy with me as a demo dog, and I was really curious to she is she could hold her concentration with a lot of people and young dogs close to her. At first she wanted to play with all the dogs and greet the people, but when I asked for her attention, she was just focused on me. At one point I showed the students, the point we are at right now... I lifted Jiggy on to the dog walk and made her stay there. All the students and dogs stood in a circle around the contact... the closest one only 3 meters away. Jiggy took one quick look at the dog, but when I gave her the contact command, she just ran directly to the contact and made a perfect 2on2off.... Wow... I am VERY proud of my little puppy ;o). She was just great.
At this week's agility training, I tried to let her do the entire dog walk. Again I was exited to see, how she would react. She ran over the dog walk quicker than I had expected, so I ended up being a little behind her... Luckily she just ran straight to the contact and again made a perfect 2on2off. What can I say? ... I just think she is doing really fine, and I almost can't wait until the day, where I can enter her in the first competition. I really think she is going to be a fine agility dog.

Heidi and I are planning to go and se the agility World Championships in Dornbirn, Austria this fall. We have already bought the tickets to the arena, and we have also almost booked an apartment just 1 km from the arena... jibiii.... It's going to be sooo much fun!!!

Last but not least I have gotten the videos of Dessi and I running in a competition in Ølstykke in December. First is the video from agility class 2, where she unfortunately knocked one bar down (my fault), but still a really god run I think www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUFHAtWCL5o . The second video is the agility open... also a very good run... But look closely when she gets out of the chute... although she spins on her back, she just keeps on going... Good gilrlie www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpb2_644k3g .

That's all for now.

Monday I went to the agility course, to try of the 2on2off training on a real dogwalk. I also took my camera with me, and you can see the result on youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7YIRuJxPZc... I think she is doing really fine ;o).

Yesterday I got the latest issue of Border Collie News. What a nice picture on the front page ;o)... It is Jiggy. It is a picture that is taken by Channie in December.

Last weekend I invested in a new bicycle, and yesterday I tried to take Jiggy with me on a bike ride. She did very well. She tried to jump up at me a couple of times but quickly accepted that it wasn't allowed. My biggest challenge was that she always lies down, whenever we meet another dog or person. I had to have a good grip on the leash and try to keep the balance, and then she followed me pretty ok. I'm sure she'll be very nice to take with me on bike rides in the future.

I've just gotten a new book... It's called "a winners DNA" with the subtitle "6 habits to achieve success in your life". In the book 24 of Denmark's best athletes gives their explanation on what makes a top athlete, and I'm very much looking forward to reading this book.

Yatzi (Asasara Du er Yeeha) has been on a weekend vacation at my place this weekend. Heidi unfortunately came down with the flu Friday, so I have been "babysitting" Yatzi, so that Heidi could stay under the covers. Yatzi and Jiggy enjoy each others company, and you can see a video of the two of them playing here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iWKxmFI_aE . In the picture you can see Yatzi fast asleep after a long day of playing.

Jiggy and I went to obedience training today, and she was just great to work with. It was the best training session to date.

The first news in English... Hope you are all going to understand, what I’m writing . I have managed to get Jiggy's pedigree on to her page and I have also written a little bit about how I chose her name. See her page here.

Today Jiggy and I went to obedience training. Jiggy was doing really well despite the fact that she is in season. She was a little bit unconcentrated, but I was able to do all of the exercises. She is really getting the hang on most of the exercises, but still my biggest problem lies in staying in a sit or a down for a long period of time... It is so very boring (for the both of us).

For the last couple of days I haven’t heard much of Jiggy... Normally when we are in the house, she comes to me with toys and wants to play, now (because of her being in season) she is really quiet at home. She only asks to go out once a while and then she just sleeps the rest of the time. It takes a little getting used to, but at the same time it’s very nice to be able to for example update the homepage with out listening to the sound of squeaky toys .