I shouldn’t have even bothered taking my camera; the lighting was awful! Overcast skies + twilight = not good for photos of moving dogs.

Still, look at Mollie’s smiley face!

Dylan is getting really irritating on walks, I keep wanting to smack him round the head! He is generally pretty independent when we’re out and about, not so much as the girls’ but happy to go off and do his own thing. But as soon as I take off the lens cap, he’s right there in front of me. Almost touching.

Ever played that “not touching” game when you’re a kid? That’s what it’s like.

You can’t tell, but in all these photos, he’s about 2 inches away from the lens, giving me the Eye. Incidentally, this is why I’m never getting another Border Collie. They drive you insane, like they are.

Kim is thoroughly enjoying being out and about again, she’s off-lead 95% of the time at the moment. We’re slowly starting to put some real muscle back onto her, but it’s taking time. I’d like to do some hydrotherapy with her but the pool we used to go to isn’t available at the moment, and she hates swimming. Maybe I can throw her in the sea at Redcar?

We set off on Sunday morning for Hare’n'Hounds, Dylan and I are competing all week and the girls are coming up for Waldridge Fell. Kim is running with Cat, which should be fun!

This tournament was a bit of a upside/downside; our dogs all ran really well, but it was almost embarrassing how unfit they are!

Kim and Mollie’s team went from running 20.86 in their third leg race (um, seeded on 21.60, sorry about that Division 6!) to barely getting under 22s in their afternoon races. Same dogs, same handlers, tighter changeovers, but we had some enormously tired dogs running! We finished 3rd overall, but it was a close-run thing.

Mollie came up a little lame after the last race, but thankfully we have some walking pharmacies in the team and so she had an anti-inflammatory and has come back as good as new. She has a tendency to get a little bit stiff in the cold/damp anyway, and she doesn’t slow down like a normal dog would if she’s feeling pained (so it’s very difficult to notice!). She’s right as rain and sound today, so doesn’t appear to be a “real” injury.

Dylan has somehow put on weight since last week’s Gap Farm because he had to squeeze into his harness this time around. He showed a lack of fitness too; he ran well all day, threw in some nice box turns, but he just didn’t feel as fast as he normally is. However, flyball-crazy-fever has set in with my little man. He has gone from standing quietly waiting for his turn to run, to lunging, barking and nearly pulling me over when the first dog goes. He’s obviously been talking to Jet! Thankfully he drops his head and focusses when the second dog goes, but this is why I dread having to run him second. Fingers crossed we can stay as third or anchor for the moment!

Canine Fitness Regime starts this week; we have nearly 8 weeks before the next tournament. I expect them all to be at least 0.5s quicker at Rotherham in March!