“Birth is the sudden opening of a window, through which you look out upon a stupendous prospect. For what has happened? A miracle. You have exchanged nothing for the possibility of everything.”

Eliza Langman-Rouse was born at 2.59am on Thursday 9th February. I can honestly say it is the most painful yet amazing experience I have ever imagined. Seeing her looking at me with her big brown eyes, exquisite and inquisitive all at the same time melted both of our hearts and healed so much in less than a second. She has already changed our lives and yet made everything so complete. Very surreal!

We are completely touched with the generosity and kindness of our customers, friends and family. Eliza now has not only her first bank account but bouquets of clothing, see above, the most beautiful flowers from Greg and Laura who are currently in Oz, beautiful clothing, a portrait of Reef for her nursery, a beautiful picture frame, teddies, bouncers and more. We feel overwhelmed by your cards and kindness in welcoming this little treasure in to the world.

Below notice the card collection around the beams, we shall keep these in her box of things to look at when she is older. There is so much we want to give her, the best life, gorgeous mementoes and to do our very best by her.

Below: Eliza meeting my best friend Lois and Popi. The dogs have been great, curious yet very accepting of our new baby girl, I don't think they know she is staying yet!

And then we jump back to reality, training is all running as usual. I have to be massively thankful to the awesome team I have behind me - you all know who you are.

What do we have coming up?

Mark Laker - 10th March Course Running Day - This looks like an excellent day where we will be running a number of courses and trying to find the fastest and most efficient lines and testing the value of some of our behaviours under a bit more pressure. This day is aimed at the competitive handler only and really is looking to push you to the next level!

25th March Mark and Karen Laker - this day is really aimed to push you to the next level of your agility training. Karen is covering

Rewarding key positions (any level)

Tunnel turns (any level)

Movement, attention drive (any level, incl foundation) Jump Grids (any level)

She will, as usual, work with all different abilities and we currently have one or two spaces in each group available. Dont miss out on this with your youngsters, dogs that you are improving jump work with and all levels of dogs in the tunnel workshop. Last time I attended this workshop it was awesome and Karen insists there is more to come. As we all know placement of reward is VITAL so dont miss out on any of these. These could be combined so that you attend more than one session.

Mark is working on

Pre season circuit training (G3-4)

Pre season circuit training (G5-7)

Warm up for 2012 courses to get you in the mood (G3-7)

This is aimed at the competitive handler and will really push you individually with some great groups available. The pre season circuits work all of the drills and challenge both you and your dog. Dont miss out on this opportunity to get ready for the competition season and achieve your potential with these top class trainers on your doorstep

9.00 – 11.00 Grade 1-3 handling 11.30-12.30 YD Contacts/Weaves 1.30-3.30 Grade 4-7 handling 4.00 – 5.00 Young Dogs

These workshops are not to be missed. Jo has been working regularly with DD and we will continue to ask her to come and work with us whilst you are enjoying working within the GD system.

Lastly Jans Canine Development Day - this is one not to be missed!

These have been going down a storm and helping people to work with different types of dogs. On the 4th March we will be covering how do dogs learn?

·         Classical and Operant Conditioning

·         Aversive and Rewarding Reinforcement

·         Stress, Anxiety & Depression

·         Counter Conditioning & Extinction 

This day is aimed to refresh and renew your understanding of dog behaviour, both for professionals and those who are interested in their own dogs learning.  It is a day not to be missed with invaluable learning opportunities.

Also we now have our new, 'recommend a friend scheme.' We have new DD cards where you can write your name on the back, each time a customer books we will ask them if there is a name on the back of their card, if they make a booking you will recieve a £5 money off your next booking voucher and we will also add you to our list for our Christmas draw. We want to improve positive dog training and you can help us to access the people that need it most! If you need any cards please see Fern, Lauren, Kim, Mandy, Vivienne, Sian, Jon, Kelly, Fran, Carole or Matt.

Wishing you all much happiness in your training and hope you take up these days if you haven't done so already!

Lauren, Matt and baby Eliza xxxxxx