18. May 2010 by admin.

The weekend workshop was full and great fun.  The dogs all did really well and I so enjoy teaching with my colleague and co-author Marie Miller.  We have plans to start some classes for trainers so must put my mind to that over the summer.  The young mare arrived on Sunday evening and we took her into the arena for the first time today.  She is a real poppet. She was concerned about the labyrinth at first but after making the exercise simpler by re-organising the poles she was able to negotiate her way through the maze by the end of the session.  She is very nervous about walking over poles so I made an arrow head with a wide opening which we will gradually narrow until she is able to step over the poles without panicking. It’s a nice way to chunk the exercise down so that the horse learns confidence rather than being forced to walk over the poles.  I love starting young horses and MUST remember to video some of the sessions.  We always say we will but get so carried away working with them that by the time I remember to get the cameras out there are already significant changes and I have already missed the steps to building a horse’s confidence if they are worried about walking between two poles.  It’s dentist day tomorrow so I will get up early to do the animals and work with the little mare before the vet and dental technician arrive as she will be having her teeth done later in the morning.  I will then do some more training with Cookie Dough Dynamo who mastered the art of skittle playing in about two seconds flat, start painting the walls and get ready for my last days filming on Over the Rainbow on Wednesday.

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18. May 2010 by admin.

I have now started painting the stable doors at home and am on a mission to paint the farm as well.  I have had a lovely few days with my family, riding and walking dogs. I also need to re-fence the back field as whilst I have been looking for Toto for Over the Rainbow, Tina has been spending time looking for the equine Toto!  He is a wonderful escape artist and has liberated himself from his field on several occasions leaving his companion Otto on the other side of the fence.  It’s so nice having some time at home after a busy schedule.  The live show of Over the Rainbow was really exciting and I will be going back to the studio to watch the final when our Toto will also be revealed.  Who will it be?????????

I am now gearing up for a weekend dog workshop here at the farm and I have been out buying new toys to teach Cookie Dough some new tricks.  I have bought her a set of skittles and will start training again with her next week as we have some shows coming up in the summer.  She is such a clever dog that it can be hard to keep ahead of her as she works things out so darned quickly.  We have a new horse coming in on Monday for starting and I have a back log of clients to see so after the final day of filming for Over the Rainbow next week my focus will be back on horses for the coming months.

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18. May 2010 by admin.

I am home now after two more days of filming for Over the Rainbow.  I have so enjoyed working on this show.  The production team are just outstanding and the Dorothy’s were so fantastic with our potential Toto’s when they performed with them in front of an audience at Richmond Theatre on Thursday.  My fellow judges have been a joy to work with, as has everyone, and I am sad that the show is coming to a close. I was very impressed with the way the dogs handled the final task on Friday.  Our shortlisted dogs have been a delight and there have been some very funny moments.  I just adore working with dogs.  Tony, Daisy, Emily, Mags and I are going up to London tomorrow to see the live show of Over the Rainbow as the five Toto’s will be appearing with the five remaining Dorothy’s.  I can’t wait.

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18. May 2010 by admin.

Well. What can I say? Today was Dukie’s television debut and the last animal Asbo sequence that I am doing for This Morning.  He was perfectly behaved in the green room, settled well and stayed calm for the three hours that we were there. He practiced his routine whilst we were waiting for our slot and wasn’t distracted by all the coming and goings back stage.  He went into the studio for a pre-record and again went through his routine perfectly.  Unfortunately though we weren’t given a rehearsal for some unknown reason and when we went into the studio to do our live piece we passed huge wall monitors that were showing the early training with Dukie.  The poor little terrier was really distracted by the monitors as he could see and hear Corinna and me calling his name and clicking the clickers and his head was swivelling left and right as we took our places on the sofa.  This slightly threw Corinna as well as it was unexpected but she did a great job in asking him to focus on her.  He lay quietly on the rug when Corinna asked him to go into a down.  When a giant bird appeared on the screen he ignored the monitor between the two sofas and stood calmly watching the bird on the bank of monitors at the opposite end of the studio.  The appearance of the bird took me and Philip Schofield by surprise but Dukie took it all in his stride.  It was all going so well but when Corinna stood up to take off Dukie’s lead so that he could perform his routine she forgot to ask him to sit first and just released him.  He promptly trotted off to the far end of the studio and then left the building through a door that had been left open! We were all laughing so much that from that moment on it all fell apart completely. Have you ever tried recalling a terrier when you are laughing? Forget it. Corinna is brilliant on television and I will never forget the sight of her standing in the middle of the set sans dog saying ‘And we had hula hoops and everything’.  Hilarious. She and Dukie should have their own show.  On the plus side though Dukie would normally be gone for over two hours but this time Corinna was able to retrieve him after a few minutes but of course by this our air time had gone.  At least we made the nation laugh! 

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18. May 2010 by admin.

I am in my element.  Tina is away teaching in South Africa and Little Sarah who worked here for years has now taken on a full time job at a new hospital so I am on stable duties with Shelley. We are whizzing about trimming tails, grooming horses, mucking out, feeding, turning out and poo picking the paddocks.  I have been riding too which is something I haven’t had time to do for ages and have reorganised the feed room, and the tack room.  We have washed out stables, swept, cleared out the bunny runs and everything is ship shape. Shelley has worked for me for around sixteen years and we have been having great fun together. It’s just like old times and I am one happy bunny.  I am so enjoying spending all this time with my horses and tidying up my farm.  Having done the yard over the weekend I have decided not to replace Little Sarah as we simply do not need the extra staff now that my school runs days are over. Shelley’s children are also growing up fast so Shelley has more time now too and Mags, who works in the office is also on hand to help out and ride my horses if needed. 

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18. May 2010 by admin.

I left early to drive over to Essex to see my lovely client Corinna and her terrier Dukie.  Both are hilarious and Corinna has done a brilliant job addressing the multiple issues that he has. When I first met them Dukie was attacking the television if another animal (or puppets!!!!) appear on the screen, had nipped several trouser legs when out and about, and would run off with Corinna’s possessions if she wasn’t paying him any attention.  He would also bark at Corinna for attention and had no recall whatsoever. 

Since meeting them a couple of months ago Corinna has started clicker training Dukie and using TTouch with outstanding results.  She showed me a little routine she has taught him and he was AMAZING.  He can run and sit on a target mat on cue, goes to his bed on cue  and lies down quietly which is incredible as he had shredded so many dog beds Corinna hadn’t bought him another one until she started training.  He hasn’t bitten any legs since she started using the clicker and playing with the interactive dog games I’d lent them and he now also takes himself off to bed in the evenings which is a far more peaceful option than standing in front of Corinna barking.  He hasn’t chewed his new bed at all and his recall in the home is perfect. He has also been perfectly behaved in friends houses too. Fingers crossed that he can perform his routine and not relapse and attack the television monitors when we appear live on This Morning next week!

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