Sounds to make your heart sing

*creak, creak*

Maybe it’s just me, but I love the creaking, scrunching sound that snow makes under feet and paws.

Snow days (and weeks) can be tiresome, cold, difficult and downright dangerous.

But they’re also pretty magical.

Suddenly the same walk takes on a new appearance.

There’s buried snow hides for the girls to sniff out, and seasonal parkour opportunities.

The collie girls always seem extra energised when we have snow on a walk, as though all the smells are different.

Freya spends as much time as possible upside down (while also trying to eat the snow!).

And Bronte collects snowflakes in her ear feathers *swoon*

Taking the time to explore a local walk in different weather conditions can be super rewarding, and much safer than trying to travel too.

I hope you’re managing to enjoy the snow, and don’t forget to wash the salty grit from fluffy paws after pavement walks.

*creak, creak*

Morag and the Collie Girls

PS If your dog is SCARED of sounds, noises, bangs and more why not come along to our Noise Fears and Phobia seminar on Monday 26^th March. Starts 7pm at the University of York, Heslington East.

We’ll look at what noise fears are and practical steps you can start taking to help your dog, plus we have a live case dog to work with.

Book Noise Fears Seminar

 

Just because it burns doesn't mean you're gonna die

Although as we pounded along the forest track by glimmering headtorches, and our dogs felt that downhill equalled a chance to accelerate, I did question how sustainable our pace was.

Back on 4th Feb, Laura and I headed up to the first Dalby Canicross race with several other keen newbies. We finished in around 32 minutes and felt pretty happy with that. I've been training for the past three years for sustained longer distances (55 mile race in March 2017!), and it's only in the last 6 months that Freya and I have worked on our speed together.

The Dalby Dark Run on 17th Feb was the same 5k route but at night! We ran canicross as always, and this time we finished in 28 minutes. No - not amazingly fast for most folks but a pretty considerable improvement in 2 weeks.

What was different?

1. Well, we weren't looking after anyone else. Keith ran with my Bronte but they have a great relationship and similar preference for speed (slow!), so after checking we did slightly leave them in our dust!
2. It was a course we didn't know well, so still novel and exciting, plus the dark is so much more fun.
3. We both knew we could easily cover the distance, so there was no need to hold back for fear of being stranded on the high moors (as is often the case on our runs and other races!)

Suddenly all the prep work we've been doing for the last 6 months really came together.

As we set off Freya was keen to stretch out, and that meant passing (we started at the back as usual). Once we started passing I had to up the pace and then I realised we were sustaining it. Brian loves to race with Freya, so Laura was along for the ride no matter what she wanted. 

Ten minutes in, and despite ourselves we weren't dying, so I figured sometimes you just have to suck it and see.

I don't usually race hard. 

• Partly it's not what I train for.
• Partly I still feel like I'm not built for it!
• I don't like being super competitive, because frankly I don't think anyone likes losing, and I'm no exception. I've never been good at sports, and I've lost a lot with some fairly unkind comments.

But my dog was running her heart out.

And we have been including sprint and faster pace training in our sessions.

And it was only a 5k with no serious hills.

So, we went for it.

We raced together as a team and she gave me everything she had. Perfect pacing, responding to every cue, encouraging me to speed up on the descents and passing beautifully. That line never went slack in 28 minutes.

I have a lot of work still to do before I can be an equal partner for her.

But I am more than willing to try!

Could we have done it earlier in our racing career? Maybe,  but we needed the last 6 months of training and preparation so that we didn't just run one fast race and then suffer the next day. We ran a great race, and just kept on going with our training.

My heart and soul will always belong to the ultra distances, but just maybe I can be a decent 5-10k canicross racer too.

We're so looking forward to seeing some of you on the February workshops, and we will be releasing the details for the Canicross Skills Adventure sessions next week. 

If you've not started your canicross journey yet, the next intro workshops are on 22nd April (morning is solo sessions for reactive dogs, afternoon is a group intro).  http://www.wellconnectedcanine.co.uk/events/canicross/

Happy racing!

Morag & Freya the UltraCollie

PS the title was shamelessly stolen from one of my very favourite Pink songs that has gotten me through more tough races than I can remember https://youtu.be/pPtlSF4TlJE

PPS if you want to make sure you find out first about workshops, events and races in the North Yorks area, plus training tips please sign up to our new mailing list: Show form

Do more stuff with your dog

Thanks to the hardy souls who braved the cold and came along to our first Parkour walkies on Saturday at Brimham Rocks. Sian led us on a magical mystery tour to find objects to climb on, under, go through and more. 

We did manage to get everyone on the same rock (briefly), and several people managed to film some elements for their International Parkour title submissions. 

Parkour is a dog sport/activity that builds confidence, improves body awareness and can be done by all ages and sizes. Most importantly it gets you into the outdoors having more fun with your dog – the best way to build a better relationship!

Want to find out more about Parkour? Just email us (info @ wellconnectedcanine.co.uk) and ask to go on the waiting list for our Parkour workshops and classes, we’ve lots of fun events planned for 2018.

Hope your dogs are enjoying the frosty weather

Morag and the collie girls

PS We’ve all enjoyed doing more activities with our dogs this year so here’s a sneaky early announcement that from January 2018 you can join the Sunday Sports & Social Club every month. A chance to catch up with like minded people and dogs plus practice your skills for rally, agility, parkour, scentwork and more. We’ll provide the space and the hot drinks, you bring cake, dogs and enthusiasm!