Finally got round to listing Dolly the needle felted Dachshund in my etsy shop

This little lady I have decided to move to the destash area of my shop. I made her a year past Christmas while I was snowed in!
She makes me smile every time I see her, but I think it is time for her to be rehomed

Next wee doggy up in my shop - I hope you like her

a needle felted Shar Pei

More photos in my shop - those wrinkles took forever!!

another of my value range in my shop
a needle felted red fox

This was an earlier one so he has slightly more detail than the other value ones with hocks and sculpted hips
I love him but I just love the straight legged cartoony value ones more - I will save the hocks for the more regular sculptures

Training today I thought I would share a little tip. I hope the images show up OK.
Often when people set up a course to train on they think about the way they would like to run it, train it that way then do something else.

I bet Im not the only one who at shows has this issue

You walk the course, you imagine where you want to be, you imagine where your dog will be. You work out all your turns perfectly in your head.
You get in the ring and your brain is putty and your excited dog is suddenly super-charged. All the plans go out the window - you are never in the places you thought you would be and you are racing to catch up.
That is why when I am training something I try and do it from as many directions and positions as I possibly can.
For example todays course was the one above. Bet you have looked at it and figured out where you should be, where your dog should be - right??
Here are three possibilities I worked on with this today






































Here is the first way I ran this.
I recall the dog from the weaves. Keep him on my right hand side.
I send him over jump 3, with no other direction from me the natural thing for the dog to do here is to curve to the left. Then a simple front cross here picks the dog up on the left hand to send him to jump 4
Then another simple front cross picks the dog up on your right hand side to send to the weave and then the final jump

This method may not be the shortest route for the dog but it has a few advantages.
With a fast long striding dog if the distance from 3 to 4 is tight this may be quicker than slowing him down to turn the other way
Also this way there it is always clear to the dog where you want him to go, this is the simplest way to handle because you are always curving your dog with you in the center point of the curve
This is natural for the dog





































The second run is very similar.
I start off exactly the same for jump 1 and the weave
But for jump 3 I flick the dog out to the right
This means I send him out to the jump but at the same time crossing behind the dog (rear cross) to direct him to turn.
I dont train left and right commands when Im running my dogs (cos I am rubbish at remembering my left and right) so with this one I cue the turn by bringing my left arm up as I am sending the dog on and stepping behind before he commits to the jump - this means he is already turning the right way before he lands.
It is important that the dog knows where he is going before he takes off else he may turn the wrong way, land heavily on his shoulder trying to change direction as he lands or even slip.






































This is the third run
This time I start on the other side of the weave. I keep the dog on my left had side tru the weave, push him out to jump 3 then its a simple post turn to jump 4 keeping the dog on the left hand side.
With this method is best if you can get in front of the dog slightly at the end of the weave, hanging back or a late signal and the dog may curve towards jump 4
To push the dog to jump 3 it can also be useful to indicate with your right arm as that turns your shoulder to face the jump even more than with your left arm.

So as you can see, three ways to do the same run - and there are loads more
You could even do the weaves with the dog on the left, front cross after the weaves and turn the dog left at jump 3 - or flick him right
Or a blind cross after the weave
Or or or
See lot of ways to do just one simple setup

and then of course you should do the mirror image

I know the writing on the images dosent show up - but it is more than covered in the descriptions here

Next one - can you see a pattern here??

a needle felted Jack Russel Terrier in my Etsy shop in the value range

Please say hello to my latest little critter from my value range in my needle felting shop

A needle felted raccoon

I love these little guys. I think I will have to felt a more detailed one at some point soon

Heres the next in the value range in my etsy shop

Another Black and white border collie - I do love making border collies

This wee guys is solidly felted but with less detail than my normal dogs, no open mouth no paws, no pawpads. Hes like a sketch in wool
But even so I think they have cute expressions

Here is the first of my value range
A needle felted red panda
Please pop over to my shop for some more views of him


My mum was visiting my sister and neice and at the zoo they saw some red pandas (or more honestly they saw the back of them as they were quite shy) But that gave me the idea to felt one, and to feet him quickly and simply so the value range was born






They are such cute litte critters with their white cheeks and grumpy eyebrows they look like little old men
I love the slightly stripy tail too

I love felting my detailed sculptures. Some of them can take 1 - 2 weeks to make
But also sometimes it is nice to create sometine in a day or two

and I am seeing from the interest in my destash section that some people would like the chance to get some affordable art.
So my value range has been born. Like a scetch in wool these guys are less detailed - no feet, no paw pads, no open mouths, no days working on shading

But they do have a little personallity of their own
I hope you like - I will introduce them individually over the next few posts.

Here is my latest listing in my Etsy shop.
A needle felted Puli.
I love this breed although I have never met one in person. They look crazy! Their curly fur cords together to create dreadlock type matts
But under all the fur is a agile little dog