MISHULES FIELD SPANIELS - Mishules News

MISHULES FIELD SPANIELS

Cancer Research into Spaniels and Otterhounds

2/11/2017

Cancer Research into Spaniels and Otterhounds

The University of Nottingham is undertaking research into cancer in Spaniels and Itterhounds and is requesting help from owners and breeders. All information is confidential and is supplied directly to them via their survey for which a link is provided below.
Please support this project which is being carried out by Dr Mark Dunning.
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/spaniel_cancer_survey
Data will be collected by the University of Nottingham on various Spaniel Breeds, and it is stated that statistical updates will be passed back to the Breeds participating.
If you have had a dog/dogs that have sadly been affected by cancer including any that are no longer here, then please spare a few minutes to complete Nottingham University’s survey and help in the research to benefit other dogs that may become affected by this awful disease.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SURVEY CAN BE COMPLETED BY OWNERS OF SPANIELS AND OTTERHOUNDS WORLDWIDE. IT IS NOT LIMITED TO UK DOGS
We hope you will all co-operate with this survey, which could be important to our breeds.

Bristol and District Dog Club

12/1/2017

Bristol & District Dog Club
Field 1st Shipton's Mishules Warp Speed. Well balanced with long muzzle. Long neck with good shoulder layback balanced with strong hindquarters. Moved well. BOB
Veteran Gundog
1st Shipton's Winfarthing's Jonathan Archer for Mishules. Lovely field at 12 1/2 not really showing his age at all. He is a lovely quality dog who is still sound on the move. Well balanced overall. Thought he was lovely and a credit to his owner.
Ann Falconer

Raising Funds for Field Spaniel Health Charity whilst losing Weight

28/10/2015

I need to lose weight. I love showing and working my Field Spaniel dogs and my weight at this time is a detriment to doing this. I would love to get a new puppy but feel that without losing the weight, that I will not make the most of the new arrival.

I need help to stay motivated and one of the ways i feel can help is to raise monies whilst losing weight.

I am Secretary of the Field Spaniel Health Charity and we are raising funds to create an online Health Database and I felt that if i could combine my need to lose weight with the raising of funds for this.

I will post my starting weight and i am going to Slimming World and they will be monitoring my weight each week. I will be attempting to lose weight in 10 KG targets. My starting weight is 186 KG.

If you would like to support me in my goal and at the same time help the Field Spaniel Health Charity then please donate to the cause.

Please click on the link and donate

gofund.me/ShulaLoses4FSHC

Jump To It

3/7/2014

Well another challenging and informative Rally Training Session tonight. It was warm but overcast with a good breeze. I asked for a Jump to practice with Cinders. At Banbury Rally Trial i watch the Agility club do a training session first thing in the morning and saw a neat trick to get reluctant jumpers to jump. I thought i would try it out with Cinders who has viewed jumping as a foreign activity.

The tip is to sit the dog one side of the jump, then walk to the other side of the jump, by stepping over the jump first and having some nice treats for when they get to you. Give the command over as they jump and hopefully it will work. I tried this with cinders and she jumped over the jump on the lowest setting. Kirsten also did the same with Eddie (newfie) and she also did it. We just a little encouragement and rewards Cinders was actually doing STOP, LEAVE DOG, TURN AND SEND OVER JUMP as long as I walked over the jump first.

Next we had the course Rebecca had set up for us which she made us walk without the dogs and then do in turn. There were a lot of left turns and sits, but worse she had the heel backwards three steps and the call forward sit and back three steps. To add to this we had the three horses were frisky in the wind and were causing a good distraction. Cinders didn't do very well on these two exercises, though was ok on the others.
Finally Rebecca made us all leave our dogs again and walk the course individually with our imaginary dogs, giving the commands we would do if we had the dog. She wanted us to think about the commands, the positioning of our hands, and to ensure we were consistent all the way through. This really does focus the mind and will ensure that we improve as we go forward.

I got told that my commands with my imaginary dog were very boring. I did say that i did talk to Cinders with happy talk in between the stations and she said that was good, otherwise she would fall asleep. Anyway it was a very good session and all the dogs improved and i think we have some skills to improve further.

Sit on It

15/5/2014

Well for once Wendy night came round and the sun shone, which meant that Rally training was done in warm sunshine.
Tonight was the night when we concentrated on the sit exercises that exist in level one and two. It seems that there are a lot of sits at these levels but it is just that as the levels progress there are more exercises to choose from.
Attending tonight with trainer Rebecca was Wendy with Eric, Pam with Mya, Wendy with Django, Kirsteen with Eddie, Troy with Ernie and Shula and Cinders.
We split into three groups of two to help each other do a group of 5 exercises each, all with sits in them. The aim was to get the sit positions correct, quick and sharp. As the dogs get bored with a lot of sit exercises then it was also a lesson on keeping the dogs motivated. Cinder and i were paired with Kirsteen and Eddie and it seemed that we seemed to get through the exercises quicker than the other two pairs. Our reward was to do another six exercises involving turns. I was pleased to see that all the dogs seem to respond to the nicer weather and perform well. Cinders has been a little ambivalent with regards to courses with a lot of sits and i was so pleased as to how well she did last night. Most of the class are entering Leamington on 1st so only one more training class before then as we have allowed Rebecca a trip to Devon next week.

May 10th, 2014

11/5/2014

Many thanks to Richard for his United Spaniel Association critique.
1 Shipton’s Can Ch Winfarthing’s Jonathan Archer for Mishules, a 9 year old black of very typical breed appearance & strong proportions, balanced overall with impressive true substance for his age, presented in a workmanlike condition. Head balanced, though could be enhanced with further chiselling, soft expression & good dark, tight eye. Excellent strength of foreleg bone & very good, firm well padded feet for his age. Lovely length of ribcage & particularly strong & muscular across the loins, exceptionally well developed hindquarter muscling for his age including deep second thigh. Very happy shower with good tail carriage & full, attractive feathering;

Rally Training

17/4/2014

Rally Training tonight was the introduction of jumping as well as catching up on the success of the Derbyshire Activity Centre's members at the recent rally trial at Anglesey.
Here is Wendy and Eric and Pam and Mya who both got qualifying runs. Mya got two level 1 qualifiers and 1 level 2 qualifier, so now has her level one title.
I took some pics of the rest of the trainees as well.

Wednesday Rally Training

28/2/2014

There were just 4 dogs + Mia (our demo dog) last night. Mya, Eddie, Django and Cinders.

Our trainer Rebecca set us three level 3 & 4 mini courses. All had to be done off lead and this time she threw the curve ball of distractions. (As if the figure of 8 bowls with food are not distraction enough).

We went back to using treats a little more to ensure focus and staying with the handlers, but it was impressive how well all 4 dogs did.). Mya is still our star dog and though her mum says that she is her handicap, they do well together. We just need to get her to the trials.

Cinders has become a little excitable on the call forwards and has started jumping up before sitting in front of me. We are going to try and work on that. She is brilliant at the moving down but isn't too confident when I walk behind her to pick her up.
The one thing we have to remember is that our bodies and our feet can give our dogs signals that we really don't want to.

Next week Rebecca says we are going to move on to the level 5 and 6 exercises. She thinks that it is best to try and get them under our belts before we move outside in April.

Scentwork with Trek

22/2/2014

Well we took Trek to the Scentwork Workshop today and I have to say that he had a brilliant time. He soon worked out the treats under the cones and was quick to work out if he pushed them he would find reveal said treats. We clicked treated the scent boxes and he was extremely fast to pick this one up. Oh the power of peperami. We also tried picking up a piece of fleece which we then attached to our keys. He was just about getting this and I find this is the hardest for my dogs to grasp. This said my husband Michael took the fleece off as soon as I got home and both Fart and Nerys ( who have also done the course) picked it up from the sofa and took it into their cage.

Trek Watching Rachel put the treats under the cones.

Someone is investigating the special toy box

We had a break and then went outside to do the scent square which all three of the dogs managed to do well.

When it came to the retrieve of a high value toy we used a fur dummy. Trek went straight in and retrieved the dummy and then paraded round the grass area, up to the wooded area in the back, where he proceeded to try and find a nice location to bury the fur dummy. I managed to keep up with him to prevent him from doing this but he went behind the greenhouse twice, and eventually came back to the square and stopped long enough to swap the dummy with a handful of treats.

The final exercise was to get the owners to hide in the small wooded area and for the dogs to track you down.

Have to say that Trek air scented beautifully (according to Rachel, as I was hiding in the undergrowth) and came straight to me and "found me" He got the toy and the treats for being such a clever boy.

It was a nice day with just three gundogs taking part and all of them being keen on their using their noses.

I love doing these workshops with the different dogs as each one appreciates the sole attention with you. It makes them feel special for a couple of hours, and makes them sleep well that afternoon.

Trek watching whilst Rachel puts the treats in the square for the dogs to find.

Rally Training - Or treats for handlers

19/2/2014

Another great nights training with the Rally group. Rebecca is really putting us through our paces with level three and four signs "off lead" too. She was a meanie by making us all pick a sign and then made a course out of it. Suffice to say we all picked out signs one or other of us would have rather not come out. That said we had a lot of fun and we did some critiquing of our peers, which wasn't always appreciated, which lead to one comment of " I work better with Treats, than critique!" I think our dogs can all agree to that. Lots of improvement and it is bril to hear that Eric and Baileybear will be attending Anglesey to enter their trial. I would love to be there with them, but have an AGM instead that weekend. Have to say sorry to Mya for distracting her on one of the signs. I was really trying to put the treats out of sight, honest.