Great news... Zoya has A-A hips, 0-0 elbows and she is OCD clear.

Zoya also won the local clubs championship for beginners. Congratulations ;o).

Wee... I just got the good news that Jazzie has A hips and 0 elbows... I am so happy.

Here is a new video of Strafe in agility training... He looks all grown up and he is doing great ;o)

Zoya is doing some agility... Wow I am so proud of her ;o)

See Me in agility practice - She is so good ;o)... I am proud.

A little funny video I have put together from some clips my sister filmed with her mobile phone at the world championships in Liévin. The quality is not very good, but is shows a little about how the exciement at a WC is. Don't miss my sister screaming at 3:50 ;o).

This year Jiggy and I got to compete at our first ever world championship together. It was great and we accomplished more that I would ever have expected. I have been a spectator a few times and love the excitement in the arena and I was really looking forward to beeing the one who had to deliver in the center of the arena... Feel the rush.

Thursday we had our practise, I we were really sad to see that the artificial carpet was not good at all. I was woven in such a way that it was slippery in one direction and good in the other... The worst possible thing for the dogs to figure out how much grip they had. I was kind of nervous before training because I was afraid that Jiggy would get hurt. Jiggy is normally good on quite slippery carpet, but we have a carpet like this that is slippery in only one direction, and Jiggy does not do well on that, so I have stopped competing on that carpet. To my big relief Jiggy did really well in the practise and did not slip. I could feel that she could not accelerate quite like she is used to, but overall I was really happy. She was extremely well behaved and did everything just perfect at the training... Nice start to the WC.

This weekend I participated in my first competition on Bornholm ever. The Danish large team was invited to stay with Vivian and Søren and Sarah and I wanted to come. I was supposed to run with both Jiggy and my friend Tine's dog Mac, but Jiggy broke a nail just shortly before, so she stayed at home with my sister.

Mac was just such a good boy to run with. Our goal was to run clean in the agility class 2, to earn his last leg in jumping class 2. Tine was so unfortunate earlier in the spring to get a clean fast run in jumping class 2, that would have earned her the first place and the last leg, but the time was written down wrong and we could not prove anything because we did not film the run ;o(. Luckily we had the clean run in the the jumping class two and won the class... Wee.

Our national team coach was the jugde at this event and we had asked him to make the class 3 courses kind of hard and maybe take some elements from the upcomming WC judges. It was really fun to get to run these classes, and I felt right at home. We also had a clean run in jumpers class 3 and got a second place after Sarah and Simic, that earned us a jumpers certificate. That was great and I was happy to give Tine her dog back with the good results in his book.

Vivian and Søren took very good care of us, and Søren an educated chef, so he made us 3 course meals every day. And it was so so so delicious! Thanks!!! Also a big thank you to Sarah for the good company theese days.

Someone took the picture in the top of this post of me and Mac and the picture won a competition in the local news paper... That is fun.

Today I am both happy and sad. Tine and I took the drive to Viby in Jutland to compete. I was really looking forward to running at a normal Danish competition as we have been away for so many big things lately. In agility class 3 we got a funny misunderstnding. I made a tight turn toward an a-frame, but Jiggy did not see it so she ended up in the completely wrong direction and with gret confidence she took the weaves... The rest of the course was brilliant ;o). In the next run the agility class 3 we got a little bit of a rocky run. We made it clean but not in the best time. Luckily for me we had the fastest clean run so we won the class and also won the international agility certificate. This means that if Jiggy and I earn an international agility certificate in another country after a year has passed and if Jiggy gets a 2nd price at a show, she will be an international agility champion. That would be very cool.

The sad part was that when I took Jiggy out of the cage for the 3rd run, she was limping really bad. She had hit her one toenail very bad. I feel so bad for her. Just hope everything will be ok for the world championships.

The final for the "agility dog of the year" and "allround dog of the year", was held at this competition- It ended great. Jiggy's mother Simic became both agility dog of the year and allround dog of the year. Sister Nala was 2nd runner up. Congratulations to you both. 

I have just gotten the first health result on one of my puppies from the A-litter. See Me has C-C hips, 0-0 elbows and is OCD free. I am really sad about the hip result as this was one of the last things I would have expected. I only know of one relative in Jiggy's family with hipdysplasia. Her sire Sid is the father of one puppy with C hips out of 19 photographed puppies. The rest have A or B hips. In Jiggy's litter they have A and B hips. Jiggy's mother is from a litter of 9 with 5 A hips and 1 B hip and 2 not tested. After the mating with Fetch there have appered a few cases of hip dysplasia. Fetch now, to my knowledge, have 26 puppies with good hips mostly A and 4 with hip dysplasia. 

Weee... The puppies are 1 year old today. It is kind of strange to think that 1 year ago Heidi and I was delivering 7 sweet and crazy puppies. It feels like yesterday! They are all still doing super in their new homes and now when they are 1 year old they are starting to do more and more agilty stuff... Pretty exciting. Take a look on their pages to see a 1 year update.
 

Jazzie
Wink
Zoya
Strafe
See Me
Flex 

At the Nordic championships in Finland I was the reserve for the large team. All the runs at the nordic championships count to both the team competition and the individual competition, so I was not selected to be on the team, because Jiggy and I are not quite stabile yet. We can do very very well, but you can not count on a clean run from us... yet I hope ;o).

It was really cool to be in Finland as there was an international competition at the same time. The courses was tough and you had to have both great handling skills combined with great speed. We had some great runs but just seemed to be lacking that last bit to get us clean through the courses. It was kind of frustrating. But just as I was the most sad we made a terrific run... Nice. We ended up at the 8th place... Man they are so good in Finland.

As a reserve for the Danish Team I got to run as the white dog. That was really cool. Great to be a part of the competition but without the preassure of beeing on the actual team. In the first run I ran my but out... We got a great run but with two bars down... One because of me beeing a little to optimistic about a blindcross. We ended up with the fastest time in the class... That was so cool, just to know that the speed is ok for a competition on this level.

In the next run we did really well again, but got a refusal... Darn, I should hve been showing her where to go better. After the two first runs I was placed as best large Dane as the rest had one elimination each. As a reserve I did not get to run the final, but it was great to see the final. Love watching great agility. Janita Leinonen was super and won the nordic championships once again!   

Last weekend Jiggy and I together with Tine Larsen, Regin Reinhard and Yvnna Nielsen took the long drive to Austria to participate in the European Open.

Over all it was a good experience, but a lot of things could have made the experience better. Personally I did not have the best runs ever... I had one clean run in the team jumping where we had one wide turn that earned me a 38th place. Just a little more than 1½ second after number one! Phew... No place for waisting any time on a course! In the individual jumping course we had a pretty good run but with 2 bars down and a small refusal... The time would have placed us 8th. I think that is pretty good with a refusal included... But I would rather have a clean run ;o). None of the other Danish participants had any super brilliant runs. The dogs at EO are just super and you need to get a perfect run to be in the top.

The organization of the EO was not super. While watching small and medium individual finals we had no clue who was in the lead and when the classes ended they did not annouce the winner... Strange thing to be wathing such a big finale and not knowing who won. They took forever to build the courses for the finals, so the large final ended up being held in the dark in artificial light... in rain, from about 9 PM to 11.30 PM. Sad to say that I ended up going to bed instead of seeing the final.

The courses for the team finals was so super difficult and I must admit that the techniqual difficulty level was over the top... It was unlikely that any team could get 4 clean runs on those courses... But hurray for Finland and Team Decathlete's. They just about nailed that course and ended up being the highlight of European Open 2011. Enjoy their spetaculare runs in this video. Look at those independent weaves!!!

This year Border Collie Classic was held in Denmark... 10 minutes from my home. Nice! There where so many of Europes best dogs and handlers, so it was super exciting to see how we would do in competition against my idols in agility. Unfortunately the weather was not very good. It rained on and off for the entire weekend. What a shame!

Jiggy's first run was a clean one in jumpers. I was super happy and just wished to get a top 10 placement, that would get us a spot in the individual final. Our run was good, but I had no preasure on her at all, so I was afraid that it would not get the place in the final. To my surprise I ended up as 3rd in the class of 170 border collies! Wow! This is actually the placement that I am the most proud of ever.  

1. Helmut Paulik - Lane - Austria - 27,74
2. Niina-Liina Linna - Rei - Finland - 28,26
3. Jane Elene Christensen - Jiggy - Denmark - 28,51
4. Zeljko Gora - Tip - Croatia - 28,54
5. Niels Frederiksen - Uno - Denmark - 28,74
6. Niina-Liina Linna - Rhett - Finland - 29,10
7. Jenny Damm - Ina - Sweden - 29,15
8. Svetlana Tumanova - Ricky - Russia - 29,26
9. Ann Maertens - Emmy - Belgium - 29,46
10. Krisztina Kabai - Fleece - Germany - 29,48
11. Jenny Damm - Ogin - Sweden - 29,49
12. Anna Eifert - Nevian - Hungary - 29,82
13. Jörgen Tellqvist - Zac - Sweden - 29,85
14. Neja Trbizan - Lar - Slovenia - 29,89
15. Sergio Sousa - Misty Golden Girl - Portugal - 29,93

Number 5 in the class was Niels and Uno... Uno is Jiggy's brother. Way to go Niels.

Jiggy and I have just returned home from one whole week of agility. This is the first time I have ever taken part of a week trial, but certainly not the last. We had the luck that both WC judges (Rolf Graber and David Powel) was at the show. The courses was difficult, but it was possible to get some really cool runs if you could run and trust your dog. I did not get the results I had hoped for during the week, but I felt that both Jiggy and I had the potential to get some good runs on the difficult courses. I love running on those difficult courses.

The highlight of the week for me was that we won the open agility class with about 250 participants in it... We even had a small misunderstanding that may have cost us up to 1 second, so pretty cool to win in front of people like Greg Derret and Detox. We also had a good run in agility class 3. with a small misunderstanding again costing us around 1 second, we made it on to the 4th place of about 120 participants, very close to the best placed in the class.

Jiggy's sisters Succes and Nala made it into the final together with mommy Simic and Poul got a clean run with Nala which earned him the third place in a very competitive final, I must say! Congrats Poul!

Next weekend it is time for Border Collie Classic. This is going to be the best agility event on Danish ground up until now... There are so so many good dogs participating. See the list of competitors here: http://www.bcc2011.dk/upl/9481/StartlisteBCC2011.pdf. Even if you do not own a border collie you should definetly come... It will be big!!!

I am so proud of my puppies. See Me has learned a new trick. She blows bubbles in a bowl of water... Cute.Dorthe has also send me some videos from some tricks training and some puppy agility. Tina has been doing a little bit of puppy jumping with Zoya. She looks so much like Jiggy... fast on her feet ;o). I also found some new photo's of Tug that you can see in his album and Sharyl has send me some pictures of perfect puppy Wink ;o). Barb also send me photos of Flex. Last but not least, I have borrowed some photos of Strafe from Rosannes facebook profile - He has learned how to swim and he loves it and he even has he's own pool. Thanks guys ;o). The picture shows Flex ;o)

See Me
Zoya
Tug
Wink  
Flex
Strafe

A couple of week ago we took this great picture of 4 generations. From the left:
Daugther: Zoya - All Zet Always A Pleasure Zoya - 9 month old
Mother: Jiggy - Border Treasure All Jiggy Wit It - 3 years old - WC participant to be 2011
Grandmother: Simic - Asasara Attractive Thunderbird - 8 years old - World champion and participant '05-'11
Great grandmother: Frøken - Gawain's Miss Night Dancer - 10 years old - WC participant '10-'11

Wuuhuu... I am really happy to say that Jiggy and I have made it on to the national team. We are reserves for the nordic championships and we are going to run in the individual competition at the world championships. I had not expected this but I am really happy and looking forward to running in the big arena in France... It is going to be a huge experience.

Jiggy's sister Nala is also on the team and is going to run at the Nordic Championships and both team and individaul at the Wold Championships. Jiggy's mother Simic is on the team for the Nordic championships and she is also running at the team at the World Championships. Great family! I am so proud. 

Congratulations to all of the other super handlers from Denmark that have made the team. I am looking forward to have to super trips together with you.

Here is a link to the Danish teams homepage, where you can see who made it on the team... in Danish ;o)

Jiggy and I have just returned from the competition in Ribe. Jiggy started out just super by winning the two first classes. She won both jumping open and agility open with more than 90 participants in the classes. Super! I the rest of the classes we did not have to much luck, but Jiggy was very nice to work with this weekend once again ;o). We earned our place in the final, but got eliminated. It was very nice and special to be a part of our first final. A good thing is that the winner "stayed in the family". Sarah Lorentzen did amazing at the finals and won the final with Jiggy's sister Succes and Sarah came in second with Jiggy's mom Simic... What a day. Congratulations Sarah!

Flex
See Me
Strafe
Zoya
Wink
Jazzie

Jiggy's family site is updated with health results + some agility videos.

The photo shows Wink and Flex from a reunion this winter. 

Last weekend Jiggy and I particitapated in the agility trial in Hillerød. After two not so good runs we got two clear runs, one in agility class open and one in jumping class open and we won both classes. Super Jiggy ;o). Unfortunately I did not get the runs on kamera. I am super happy with the jumping run. It was not a very difficult course, but I felt that we nailed it... We could not have done it any better, so it was super cool to win the class. No video, sorry.

This week Jiggy and I have also participated in a seminar with Jaakko Suoknuuti and Janita Leinonen. It was super great! It was a little confusing at first as you have to walk a course walk on a 30 obstacles course and there is difficult handling from start to end!!! It was super difficult to remember the course and to remember the handling in detail. On the second day I felt like I was getting more concentrated and got to some really good handling. The best thing is that Jiggy was the sweet heart that she always is, and she did everything I asked her to do ;o). I would love to attend a seminar with Janita and Jaakko again so hope to go to Finland next winter/Spring.

I have played a little with some video from the seminar.... Hope you like it ;o).

This weekend Jiggy and I participated in the trial in Hvalsø. I have not been running anything else than the class runs and I have been withdrawing Jiggy from the team and open classes last weekend, because I felt that she was a little of at the trail 14 days ago. Jiggy is back to normal now, but I withdrew her from the open classes this weekend to, just to be on the safe side.

We started in agility class 3... This was the first time we started in this class as we just moved from class 2 to class 3 last weekend. The course was kind of tricky... lots of pulling the dog in between obstacles, taking jumps from the back side, difficult tunnel entrance where you had to stay on the other side of the dog walk and 4 contact obstacles. Jiggy got a clean run, but she turned the wrong way after the long jump that cost us some time and I had to stop her on some of the contact obstacles so that I could get in place for the next handling maneuver, phew. Only two dogs got a clear run in this competition out of about 30 participants, so Jiggy and I ended up at first place getting us our first certificate. I have been doing agility for many years, but this is my first certificate ever, so this was a pretty special day.

I forgot to mention that last weekend I was so lucky to get to run Frøken (Jiggy's grandmother / Simic's mother) in competition. She was just a sweetheart and very easy to run and we won the open class for senior dogs. Thank you Lis for giving me this opportunity.

The photo shows Flex - 8 month old.

Ok... This blog post is going to be kind of large... A lot of super dogs from Jiggy's family and from Fetch's family have had some super runs on the agility course that I would like to share with you.

But first of all I would like to tell you about Jiggy's results this weekend. I only entered Jiggy in 3 classes this weekend. Jumping class 3 and agility class 2 Saturday and jumping class 3 on Sunday.

- Jumping class 3 Saturday: The course was really tricky, but I got a good flow in the course. We had the fastest time in the class, but Jiggy knocked down two bars.
- Agility class 2 Saturday: I really wanted to get this run clean, so I was a little to passive, so did not quite get the flow I wanted. I got the clear round I wanted and we got the 2nd. place... And more important the last leg in agility class 2, so now we are in both agility and jumping class 3.
- Jumping class 3 Sunday: This course was also kind of tricky. I lost orientation at one point and forgot to give Jiggy her turning cue before a tight turn... And then (stupid me) I said her turn tight command just as she was hanging in the air = 1 knocked bar. I think that we had the second fastest time in the class only beaten by Jiggy's lovely sister Nala.

I have not gotten my runs from the last few weekends taped, but a friend of mine filmed two of my runs from Oxie - Sweeden... Unfortunately not my clean run ;o)

14 days ago Jiggy and I competed in Oxie - Sweden. The trial in Oxie is very big and have lots of good handlers participating. This year the courses where quite difficult. In one of the open classes 83 of the 103 participants got eliminated. We got a clear run in agility class 2 and won the class. In the other runs we got either eliminated or got faults mostly because I was standing in Jiggy's way.  

Last Thursday and Friday we participated in a seminar with Zeljko Gora. Zeljko focused much on tight turns. Jiggy has a natural talent for turning tight, but I found out that we could do even better. I think that Jiggy's tight turns have slipped a little as we have entered more and more competitions and I have been concentrating more on the flow i our runs. At the end of the seminar Jiggy and I had some very cool runs I think. Thanks for two great days Zeljko.

Zeljko also brought his young dog Mawlch Tip who is sired by Fetch Granting pleasure that is also the sire to Jiggy's first litter. Tip was very outgoing to both people and other dogs. He liked to get a cuddle and play with his ball and then he was very fast and agile on the course. Really a cutie!

Last weekend Jiggy and I participated in a trial in Albertslund. Jiggy felt a little off... I think she was tired from two days of agility seminar. The first day only minor mistakes kept us from getting perfect runs, but we got a clear round in jumping class 2 and we moved to class 3, yes, yes, yes. This was my goal for this spring. We got to participate in jumping class 3 at the trial as well. We did not get a clean run, but I think Jiggy really well anyways. In the first class 3 run Jiggy knocked the double jump... Ups! I have not been training that and Jiggy just took off and started running in the air and did not know what to do. She knocked one more bar as I accelerated just when she was in the air. But... We got the fastest time in the class. I know that Jiggy is fast, but it is great to see that she can keep up with the best dogs in Denmark when it comes to speed. It has been more than 10 years since I participated in class 3 so this is a big thing for me. Sunday Jiggy was even more off than Saturday, so no good results that day. She felt sore when we got home, so I have been giving her daily massages and then I am not going to do any training with her this week. I hope she will be good and ready for next weekend. I think I will consider not participating in full days of seminar just before a trial with many runs again.

Lots of updates from the puppies:
Wink
Jazzie
Zoya
See Me
Strafe

This weekend Tine and I took the long journey to Nybro in Sweden. The weather was perfect and I got a little to much sun in my face, ups. Jiggy had a good day... Some highlights and some stupid mistakes. The first run was jumping class 2. I didn't really get the feel for the course and Jiggy ended up knocking 3 bars down... and I don't have a clue why... I just think I was sloppy or something. We had the fastest time in the class. In agility class 2 we had a super run and the fastest time with 5 seconds down to the winner. Unfortunately Jiggy knocked down the very last bar, argh! We ended up in 4th place. In the last run, the open jumping class, we got a clear round and got the 2nd place even though we lost at least one second because I was a lazy handler, not showing my dog the way to go. Once again I have the feeling that it is just the last little bit of luck I need to get super results, and I feel that Jiggy is such a sweetheart to run, because she does everything I ask her to do. Here you can see the last 2 runs.  

Sunday Tine, Heidi and I and our dogs drove to Ribe for this years first outdoor agility trial. It was a pleasure to participate in the competition, as everything is organized perfectly.

Jiggy was a sweetheart. All the corses on the day was not very difficult and most of the "handling" was more or less just to run like mad. That is actually not Jiggy's strong side, but she did good.

- In the first agility class 2 we had a great run, but one bar hit the ground. 
- In the next agility class 2 we had a clean run and won the class. Yeah ;o)
- In jumping class 2 we had a minor misunderstanding resulting in a refusal and Jiggy also knocked one bar.
- We got a great fast run in the last jumping class 2... The fastest time, but one bar hit the ground - Bummer! 

Overall am I really pleased with Jiggy. She is just so easy to run with, because she always tries so hard to do everything right. Below you can see all 4 runs from the day:

See Me - Puppy training video and new pictures in her album

Flex - Rolling around on a stink bug

Zoya - Training video

Strafe - 2 Training videos

Wink - New photos in her album
The picture shows Wink

Greeting from Tug on his site and new video of Strafe and See Me.

The picture shows See Me.

Go to the puppy page to see updates from all the puppies ;o)

Time flies... The puppies are 6 month old today. The puppies are still doing well in their new homes. Yesterday I got to talk to Barb on Skype and saw Flex live for the first time since November... He looks great and still gives the best kisses like his mom ;o).

To sum up the poll I made about smooth vs. rough coat I am happy to say that most voters in the end was more interested in the dog than in the coat length... 77 % to be precise. A thing that actually surprised me is that just a little more than half of the voters would prefer the smooth coat if they could choose. That surprises me because many people have commented on me using Fetch as a stud dog, saying that they would never choose a smooth coated dog. From the poll I can see that people actually are more open minded than I thought... Great. I truely believe that a great dog has no coat length or color!  

 

Yesterday Jiggy and I participated in the agility trial i Vallensbæk. Jiggy was a sweetheart and did everything I asked her to do. In Jumping class 2 we got a clear round and won the class of about 26 participants. Nice to get that feeling again ;o).

In agility class 2 we had the slightest misunderstanding and we got eliminated, but I was very very pleased with the run anyways. Jiggy is my superstar ;o)

Jiggy's family also did a fantastic job at the trial. Simic won all 4 class 3 competitions and Jiggy's brother Uno won a "just for fun class" as the fastest dog without faults. I Have not seen the result lists for the class 3 classes, so I do not know how Jiggy's sister Nala and Uno was doing in those classes.

Lots of new pictures and videos on the puppy sites.


The picture on the left shows Flex mr. perfect ;)
 

I have found a way to make a poll, and thought it would be funny to make a poll. Because I choose a smooth coated sire for my first litter many people tell me what they think about smooth coated border collies. In Denmark they are not quite accepted yet. It is no secret that my own vote goes the answer: It does not matter... I like them both. I would love to have a smooth coated border collie, but in the end it is all about health and working abilities and not the looks for me. Please make a vote ;o) 

Today Jiggy participated in the show ring at the Danish Border Collie Club's show. I just entered Jiggy for fun as there are not too many dog related things going on in the winter. Jiggy was very sweet and she was very good at standing still and to run without getting too excited. I was very surprised and happy to receive "excellent"... Wow... Super duper. We were 4th in the class and the 3 dogs in front of Jiggy were dogs of show lines. I am very proud of my girl.

See the description of Jiggy from the show here.

New pictures of Zoya, Strafe, See Me and Flex

This picture shows Flex on the sled that is the reason that Flex got his name. This sled is called a Flexible flyer... Just like Flex ;o)

Yeah. Just got the news that Poul and Nala won jumping class 3 at the very big competition MY DOG in Sweden. And on top of that number two in the competition was Jenny Damm with Ina and they were 1½ seconds slower than Poul and Nala. It is just so cool!!! Know they just need to become Danish jumping champion and then they will also be Swedish jumping champion. Yesterday Poul was just inches away from earning the Swedish agility champion title as well, but Nala knocked a bar... To bad. It is just amazing how things are going for Poul and Nala!

All the puppy pages are updated - Lots of new stuf - Stories, pictures and videoes! I have received greetings from all the puppies. Everything is going great and all the new owners are very happy about how fast the puppies learn new things... So nice to hear. The only thing is that some of the puppies have a very strong herding instinct and are starting get a taste for herding cars.

Flex has been tested normal for the MRD1 gene defect. Great news ;o)

The picture shows Jazzie in her new home.