Almost ready for a real trial, Yippie!

Today we went to a show n go, and by George, it went pretty well. I deceided today to think about the things that went really right....
1. I was smart enough to do the novice course, so my baby dogs would be successful, and since we have our first trials coming up a little confidence building and seeing how we would do on the type of course we will be doing sounded like a good idea.
2. I remembered to train my start line (well...except one time I let her go when it was really questionable if the release or the start was first....OK, I admit I think the start definately beat the release...) Anyway, in Breezes family there are a lot of jokes about it being genetic that all the dogs in that line have trouble with start lines because her dad has trouble so it has to be genetic. As much as I would like to blame it on genetics -which would of course mean it is not my fault.....I am thinking I am going to have to be really consistent because she used to stay pretty well but as Breeze is getting more excited about running agility the start line is really getting bad. So today I went back when ever someone wasnt running and did a start line, sometimes releasing her to a ball behind her and sometimes going back and sometimes letting her go.
3. We were at a place that we have been to once before-but definately not a place that is familiar to Liz, and there were a lot of different people, and lots of good smells but Liz did not run off once. She thought about it, but she didnt. Liz even ran with Alicia today and did amazing. We almost got through the whole course, there were a few runs around the outside of the tunnel-who knows why she will do that sometimes, but basically Liz really looked like an agility dog out there. Liz was actually thinking and it is amazing that at this point in time it is like every time Liz goes out to do agility it is more fun for her and more rewarding. Even more rewarding -dare I say it?-more rewarding then running off and the feeling fast movement gives her.
4. Breeze looked awesome physically and looked as sound as can be. She is jumping 16 and will probably do preferred, but she looks good doing it, and Liz is looking awesome jumping at 20 or 22-even though I think she will measure out where she could do 16 because she is a tiny girl.

So I think we are just about ready for Breeze to actually give an AKC trial a go, and none too soon, because we have an AKC trial scheduled and there is a NADAC trial next weekend. Still lots to train but todays show n go actually went pretty well.

After the show n go we went to the beach. Next time it will be Breeze's turn to get her beach video, but I just took one dog down at a time-Liz went first and by the time I brought down Breeze-who went with Hunda and Moose-I didnt bring down the camera so I could play with the doggies too.

Renee -you have inspired us and we will miss you

Over time, our little class in Acton has become like a little agility family. We have had basically the same little group for a long time, no one ever misses class and everyone has always been very supportive of each other. It is the type of class where everyone notices that this week this dog did better at staying with their person, or look how fast so and so is going this week and it is the type of group that tells the other people when they see these things. It is just a good feeling to have the same stable little group that comes together to share a mutual interest/activity. I can honestly say I do not feel any sort of nasty competition or anything like this in this class. It is really a neat little corner of the world every Thursday.

One member of our class that has had a definite impact on all of us is our friend Renee. Renee came to class last summer right before I got to substitute teach for the summer. Since Renee joined our class she definitely made a place for herself in our family. Her little poodle Promise is a tiny little curly, springy little dog that can be prone to running off if she gets stressed or is not sure what to do, not unlike my Lizzie, and she had a fear of the teeter so Promise, Renee and I would spend a little time each class with my liver worst treats we saved just for the teeter and Renee and I would work on the teeter. Promise had not quite concurred the teeter, but definitely had got to the point of playing and having fun on the teeter. Renee never game up, she plugged along each week. When everyone wanted to enter the NADAC trial a few months ago, Renee was right there. She really wasn't concerned that their performances were not perfect yet, and she didn't seem at all nervous- she was just always ready to try anything.

I received a call this morning to tell me my friend and class mate Renee had died. Renee will leave a definite mark on me and I hope I will be able to use her inspiration to make me a better person. Renee was 78 years old, and the last time I saw her she gave me a hug and said 2 more days!!!! I knew what that meant because she had been giving me a countdown for the last three months about how long it was until her official retirement. Up until just a few days before her death Renee worked, she boarded dogs, she did in kennel training and she did agility. Renee was always ready to try something new, she was always ready to jump in, and when she wanted to do something I never saw her worry or hesitate. Renee was a remarkable woman and lead a remarkable life. It is just so hard to wrap my mind around the fact that she will not be there this afternoon, driving up in her green van with Promise sitting next to her. She loved Promise her poodle deeply and Promise loved her and I feel so bad for Promise, Renee's family and her other dogs.

I am torn -feeling somehow glad for Renee that her end was quick and she did not have to deal with lots of health issues and that she could be active until the end, because I know that was important to her. I feel so sad that we did not have any notice so we could say goodbye or be somehow prepared.

I hope Renee somehow knows that she has touched our lives and we are the better for it. I will miss you Renee and I know there will definitely be a big hole in our little agility family.

Keep it Simple Stupid

On 4 dog craziness blog she mentioned a shirt she had seen, I think it was a shirt with the saying on it, GREAT DOG, SLAP THE HANDLER, LOL. Alicia gave me a shirt that says RUN FAST-THINK FASTER, LOL. I think both of these things sort of sum up our current difficulties. I used to be able to walk a course and usually pick a pretty good path to take. I used to just go by what "felt" right and it usually was. So lately I have learned a ton and am trying to think about angles, and tight lines and leads the dog is on and converging lines. Of course then I end up using converging lines when I just need to run straight and running straight right along the line I should converge with, and yanking my dog around and giving them impossible angles. YIKES! I just do not have the confidence and seem to keep pulling out the wrong tool at the wrong time. Then when I run Chloe I plan a great course and about half way through I figure out that the border collies could have done that but it was not a good sheltie option. Breeze and I are still getting our timing down and one day Liz wants to be right next to me and the next day she wants to sail wide and when I move close it really pushes her away. A few times I have thought up some pretty rinky dink things and then when I see a nice straight path I feel like slapping myself in the head and saying "I should have had a V8". So after this weekend where I had set up a really bad angle for my dog where I am really thinking I could have hurt her.....I deceided to handle things like how I usually handle them -I fished out all my old Clean Run magazines and any videos that I thought might give some magical answers to my current brain disfunctions! The one thing that just slapped me in the face in my "research" was a statement from Kathy Keats in her Walking the Course DVD. She said something to the effect of "don't make things too complicated!". Humm, interesting. So along with trying to settle down and have more fun again, and maybe try to listen to myself and what feels right more and quit trying to second guess myself all the time. Lately I just look at a critical handling area-as Deanna would call it-and I freeze up trying to think which things should apply in this situation. Alicia also said I should start walking the path of the dog and paying more attention to that again-I know that but I wonder why I do not go to that first?. Hope some of that works and I really hope all this starts gelling together or we are going to be in some pretty serious trouble because we have trials coming up!

Training Hard, Playing Hard

Lizzie continues to get more and more excited, faster and more focused each time she works on agility now. I used to worry about keeping her calm and controlling her excitement but now we are trying to teach her how to handle it and I am getting more comfortable with it. One of the really neat things that Alicia was showing me in our last private was how to take Lizzie, or Breeze and grab their collar and get them reved up and focus the energy on what they are trying to do when they are having trouble. When they are focused on what we are going to do and actually pulling me toward it, and the drive is really high, then I let them go. For instance in the weaves when they come charging at them but are so excited they are half way down the line of poles before they focus on them, and of course by then totally miss the entrance. I have to say....it is really a rush running a dog that is really excited and loving agility.

Cherry got to run at class and boy she was really amazing. I am seeing her FHO affecting her running a bit, when she does any sequences in a circle like say to the left, she can do a nice tight circle of jumps, but when she goes to the right then it really widens and she really has to fight to stay on the line and is way wider. I wonder if that is going to change as she gets more experience and builds up even more? When she gets like that her jumping looks a little worse too, maybe she just isn't used to using her body like that and while other dogs might just start using their bodies like that she is forced to use things she hasn't used before??? It will be really interesting to see how that changes/or doesn't change as time goes on. Cherry was a crack up though in class because she would finish a sequence and just run away right to the weaves and do the whole set out there by herself, I was trying to walk off the course but where is Cherry, she is running the opposite way toward the weaves, LOL, she really loves the weaves!

On Saturday we went to a Pay and Play which was a GREAT opportunity to use a nice field with different equipment. Liz did amazing although she was way more distracted then usual and almost ran off for a zoomie run, but she didn't totally check out so she did great for her. Breeze is looking good and seems to be staying sound, so I think she will be ready for her first AKC trial in May and her NADAC trial in just two weeks. Alicia let me run with Pickle for a small sequence-and OMG, talk about feeling like I was driving a NASCAR race car, geeze louise, Pickle is so fast and so powerful and he just reads things so well, it is such a neat feeling because Pickle just knows his job so well it just feels so much like a dance, it actually felt so much easier then it did with my dogs, and afterwards when I ran with Liz I knew how it was supposed to feel so it really helped. Running with Pickle sure made Liz more focused about running with me, she really remembered how much she liked to run with me after watching me work with Pickle, LOL, a little jealousy can be a good thing. The only really bad part to the day is I planned my one course and just totally missed the boat on how to handle one part of a sequence. You know it just feels like I used to be a lot better with my plans for a run and lately I sometimes miss things that when someone shows me just seem so obvious, it is very frustrating and then I get all worried and get the tunnel vision thing going on where I do not see all the options. That makes me feel really nervous about our first trials coming up.

After the Pay and Play we headed to the beach. This was Lizzie's and Breeze's first beach experience. Pickle showed Lizzie the ropes and how to play in the ocean and I was shocked at how fast she was rushing into the waves and acting like she went playing out there every day. Breeze and Hunda were a little more cautious about the waves, but they loved them too. We did see a hurt sea lion on the beach before some rescuers came to get him-of course Liz felt she could handle the situation by herding him back to the sea herself-she was pretty bummed I made her stay away from the poor guy. After we had worn the dogs out we stopped at a great place for Fish and Chips, then topped out the day by stopping at a road side stand for some super good fresh strawberries to take home. It was really such a beautiful day, such a beautiful place, it was just so relaxing, the company was so good, and watching the dogs all have such a good time, it was pretty close to a perfect day.