Welcome to La belle vilaine

Self-Catering Holiday Gite Accommodation South Brittany France

Bienvenue à La Belle Vilaine
Self-catering, holiday cottages on the South Brittany/Loire Atlantique border in France.
Friendly family run gite accommodation where dogs are welcome.

Agility Course in the garden - come and train with Elaine and the girls - free to gite guests.

18/07/10 saw us attending an agility competion at Lucon (our club). The video on the right tells the story of this day.

Latest video of our dogs training on their agility course here
at La Belle Vilaine
Since filming we have a new seesaw and
added a long jump. Wall coming soon.
See photos of the obstacles below the videos
on this page.

Haïyla and Daisy* have now learnt to weave
and have begun competing.
Daisy has been placed 1st twice so far - after just
just 2 competitions!
Haïyla did well on her first competition - a fault
here and there, but earning praise from the
judges and fellow competitors as over 90% of the work
she did was excellent.
*Daisy is our daughter, Cheryl's dog - they live
nearby and train with Elaine.

Today it was so hot that I decided that the dogs needed a swim.
I needed one too!

Gracie, ficelle & Haiyla on their walk to the nearby river Vilaine.
This was Haiyla's first visit to the river bank!

Here we see Elaine & our daughter, Cheryl along with Gracie & Ficelle giving a demo' of Doggy-Dancing. This was at a local Kermesse (School-fete) for the school in La Roche Bernard where Elaine teaches English. It went down very well!

In May 2010, 'Team Clark' made a trip to Jersey to attend
'The Jersey Agility Festival'.Two of our dogs, Gracie & Ficelle entered.
Haiyla, our 3rd was too young for this years event. Also our daughter
Cheryl came along with her Blue-Merle Border Collie, Daisy.
This was to be Daisy's first ever competition. Have a look at the video
to see how they all got on.

Last year Elaine was asked to do a demonstration of obedience and agility for the children at one of the other schools where she teaches English. She started with Gracie.

Then came Ficelle.

Finally to the delight of the children, Haiyla , then7 month's old puppy 'did her bit'.

Gracie and Elaine competed in agility for their very first time on
19th April 2009. They were both very nervous, first time in front of a
large crowd in the agility 'circuit'. Despite their anxiety they performed
excellantly. 62 dogs took part in this particular event, with around 30
of them being eliminated. Gracie & Elaine completed a 'clear round'
which gave them 9th position, beating many experienced 'old hands'
in the process. Well done both!

Update May 2010 : Gracie is going from strength to strength in
competition. Now in her second year of competing, since March
this year she has so far been placed 7th (once), 6th (once),
5th (4 times), 4th (3 times) and at the 3-day Jersey Agility Festival
earlier this month she earned her place in the Final and came 3rd !
Go Gracie!

Gracie and Elaine were asked to give a demonstration of their dancing in Chateaubriant on 11th April 2009 to promote the opening of a new Dog Club. A total of over 200 visitors were able to enjoy the displays of dancing, agility and obedience throughout the day. Elaine didn't drop the cane during the other 3 dances (but Gracie did stop to have a scratch during one - which delighted the crowd!). The video here was the first dance in the morning - for the Mayor and the press.

Gracie now wants her own dressing room with her name in lights!

Haiyla also joined in the fun - showing the visitors what a 5-month- old puppy is capable of in the obedience ring. She made us very proud and everyone was suitably impressed!

Dog (Cat?) Agility

	Gracie flying through the weave poles whilst Ficelle waits patiently on the table. The table is rarely seen in agility competitions in the UK. In France it is a commonly used obstacle.
The tunnel was too difficult for our humans to make themselves, so it was ordered from a company near Paris at great expense. We love it so much that we run through it even when we aren't supposed to be doing our Agility training!
	Known as a "sack tunnel". This was another 'purchase' for us by our humans. This one was collected whilst visiting family in Derby. We all had to 'squish' up in the car to brging it home. It was worth it though, as we love it!
Ficelle demonstrates the tyre - plans are afoot to build a new tyre obstacle, as in competition in France they are often thinner tyres with a large frame. This sometimes "throws" our dogs and they jump between the tyre and the frame!
	Long jump - a bit squished-up here. It can be spaced out to the official 150 cm for large dogs, but can be adapted for all sizes of dogs (smaller dog = less elements)
A-Frame. Here our girls (including our daughter's blue merle Border Collie, Daisy) pose with the prizes they won at the Jersey Agility Festival in May 2010. (Haïyla was too young to compete, but is in the photo anyway!)
	Walk over - modeled by Gracie for height comparison.
The see-saw
	Gracie jumping at competition height. The following photos are of our dogs jumping at this height. However, 90% of their training is done at the height below - for obvious reasons. In competition they all clear their jumps 95%+ of the time.
Haïyla jumps very low, but accurately and fast. Here I had given a "left" command and was placed to her left, so she is already positioned to land ready to head to her next obstacle.
	Ficelle loves agility - providing there is no see-saw involved! She proved herself to be faster over a jumping course than Gracie at the Jersey Agility Festival.
If you want to compare Meercats, simply ...... LOL !!!!! Next project - a wall ... watch this space.
A natural progression was to get into Dancing with dogs. Ficelle learns the "High Five". Many gite guests have enjoyed interacting with our dogs - especially doing the "High 5" with Ficelle La Belle!!!!!
Who ever said that Agility was just for dogs? I (Harry) love racing through the tunnel after my big sisters Grace (left) and Ficelle (out of shot already!).
	Yes Mum, I can see where I need to go - I'll be there in my own time! Harry now has a "little sister" - Ginny. They are the best of friends ... most of the time! She also loves to shoot over the agility course obstacles. One of these days I will be quick enough to catch her on camera too!

Our Agility instructer, Michelle Johnston (who is English) has just represented France in agility at Crufts 08. She did fantastically well coming 6th overall in the International Agility Competion. She also creates hand-made caracatures of dogs (and other animals) in porcelain.
To see her web-site, click on the 'links' button on the tool bar just below.

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Self-catering, holiday cottages on the South Brittany/Loire Atlantique border in France.
Friendly family run gite accommodation where dogs are welcome.