1 week, 3 bronze, what a good boy!

Today Peso and I headed to Spot On for our last trial before Nationals. We earned our Expert Bronze titles in Gamble and Steeplechase. Poor Phoenix has a lot to live up to. She spent the day practicing remaining calm around the ring, circle work, waiting and turning tight at the practice jumps, recalls to my side etc, etc. I'm pretty sure she would rather have been in the ring but she handled herself well and gave me some great tugging. Tomorrow I am going to try and videotape some of Peso's runs so hopefully I will have something to post.

Keeping It Simple

After a long trial this past weekend in which I ran 13 runs my brain was not co-operating with me when i tried to plan my training session tonight. So what to do with a tired body and a mind that's taken a leave of absence...take the night off? grab a beer, a good book, take a long bath, all very tempting but Peso's big brown eyes gazing at me tell me I need another plan. Solution, a relaxing, laid back session that will be full of success and reinforcement for the dogs but require minimal effort from me - Jump Grids!

After doing a number of intense handling training sessions I abolutely love going back and working on excercises that I know the dogs will have fun with and get tons of rewards along the way. With jump grids every effort is rewarded with a game of tug and I find them such a great relationship builder while giving the dogs a chance to practice proper jumping form with minimal interference from me. So now that we're feeling refreshed and connected we're ready to tackle some more difficult challenges next session.

Hmmmm....now where's that beer?

The Demons Have Surfaced

This weekend Phoenix and I attended our last trial of the summer together. I’ve decided her skills are not yet proofed enough to be in the ring so we’ll take a few months off of trialling to work on them. Phoefers did some great stuff this weekend and overall I’m very proud of the little girl but my decision to pull her was reinforced by a few missed weave entries, one flick and by the vulture that was staring back at me when I looked back to the startline from my lead out position. Phoenix really has not been in very many trials so I’m hopeful that I have not rehearsed behaviours I don’t want enough times that they’re going to be problematic for me in future, I know, I know one rehearsal is too many but hey we all must live and learn.

The most startling discovery of the weekend is that my little girl has moved from what was an occasional whine/scream around the course to full out growling. During the first jumpers I thought it must have just been bad timing or something on my part but no the demons reappeared in the second run and Miss Phe growled her way around the course. Maybe the intensity level is getting a tad bit too high for the little red devil. On a positive she did put in some really nice course times!

Peso had another awesome weekend and came away with his ExJ Bronze title. His contacts were really good and he nailed every weave entry including a really, really, really tough one – you can probably tell I’m super thrilled! He gave me a scare with a colossal teeter flyoff, the first of his career, but he took it all in stride, landed on his feet and dove into the chute. I think part of the problem is that for Phoenix I say “Teeter, Touch” and for Peso I’ve always said “Teeter, Tip it, Touch”. I’m thinking it probably shouldn’t matter but I know I didn’t say tip it and then was thinking that so I was late on saying touch and next thing you know he’s in the air, it also didn’t help that the teeter had a way different tip point then the one we practice on.

One of the absolute best things about this past weekend though was that some of my friends made their debut with their young dogs. I was so proud of them all – they really did great and should be thrilled with both their dogs and themselves. Way to go guys!!!! Peso’s breeder was one of the people starting with Peso’s half sister Ponder, I was really impressed with how comfortable Diana looked in the ring, especially with her whole entourage watching, it really was impressive how many people came to see her run! Peso’s Mom also came out to watch and we were able to get a picture of Fiesta and Peso together for the first time since my boy’s been grown up.

Today I am grateful for a fun weekend spent with friends, both two and four-legged.

A Sad Day

Yesterday I received some sad (for me) but not totally unexpected news that my friend and training partner is moving to Ottawa. I know this is a great opportunity for her and I think her heart and mind have been there for awhile now anyway but I still can't help but feel a little sad for what I'm going to be losing. It made me think of how much my life has changed over the last few years and how happy I am to have found the path I'm on.

Shona was instrumental in getting me as involved in agility as I am today and while my bank account may not be very happy about it I certainly am. I've been in a bit of a funk all day thinking about how much I'm going to miss seeing my friend every week. But then I remembered that we live in a cyber world and I'm sure we'll be emailing each other every day and how much more fun it will be now when I see her at a trial. So I'm putting on a brave face and stepping into the world of weekly agility training minus my teacher and friend.

Today I am grateful for the time Shona and I have spent together over the last few years. I'm also grateful we live in a world that will allow us to stay in touch so easily so that our friendship is not ending, just entering a new phase.

Passing the Test

Just over a week ago Phoenix and I ventured into the Starter Standard ring for the very first time. This is also the first trial we've done more than 2 runs at a trial with Starter Gamble, Starter Standard x2, Starter Snooker and Advanced Jumper on the menu. Before entering the ring I set out for myself what I would do if I saw things I didn't want to see repeated, you all know what I'm talking about, movement on the startline, no nose touches, no down on the table etc, etc.

I really felt I had a pretty solid plan going in but you know how adrenaline works its black magic and next thing I know I'm in a race to get through the run and out of the ring. Phoenix and I Q'd on our first Standard and I was overall really thrilled with our run but...why did I release her after one nose touch on the dogwalk and none on the teeter????? And of course it came back to bite me in Standard 2 where Phoenix clearly decided tables and nose touches were for suckers and became "sticky" (putting it mildly) frozen in 2on2off on the end of the dogwalk staring at a tunnel. Didn't matter how many times I changed position that little red girl brain was chanting "tunnel, tunnel, tunnel, tunnel, tuuuuunnnnnnnelllllllll" and there was no room for a nose touch to sneak in. So the wistle went and we walked out of the ring after doing half the course.

After a week of reminders on the plank, the stairs and finally the contacts Miss Phe has decided once again that nose touches ARE fun and highly rewarding. So have I learned my lesson for my next trial, I think the answer is yes but only time will tell...

Today I am grateful for giblets, liver, cornmeal, flour and garlic all baked for 15 minutes - or as Phoefers refers to it - doggie crack.

ATChC Peso

Yay we did it! Last weekend Peso and I got our last snooker Q and our ATChC!!! For those of you who know me best you know that snooker and me go together like oil and water, like night and day, like Paris and Nicole, well...you get the picture. Surprisingly to me Peso and I have been able to get 3 snooker Qs in limited trialling this year after going what seemed like a loooong time without one so maybe my ideas on the game of snooker are changing LOL

Anyway on to the matter at hand. We faced a challenging course with the best option being a fairly safe opening of 3 7 point weaves...hmmm fairly safe but weaves can be a huge time waster if we don't get the entry and if he pops then what??? Maybe need to re evaluate but looks very challenging to get to the other obstacles and risk off course. Okay stick to weaves, walk the course again and again. Feeling positive but what's this, stomach is flipping, heart is racing, haven't experienced this feeling for a long time...find closest tree and leave all nerves with it to be picked up later if needed (read previous posts re tree reference). Get Peso, try not to touch him too much in case convey some sort of cosmic energy that mommy really wants this through fingers. Enter ring, lead out 1/2 way across ring, take a deep breath, say "ok", Peso charges full speed ahead over red jump straight towards me...and as they say... the rest is history.

Okay I'm going to be one of those really annoying people and use the rest of this post to say thank you to some people who have been integral to my life and training. And yes I know this isn't the nobel peace prize, it's just a dog title, but still it's nice to say thank you :)

To my Mom - you are the most incredible woman I have ever met. I know I don't express my appreciation of you enough but know that I love you and that I am grateful for the time, energy, love, support, etc, etc, etc that you give to me and to your grandpups.

To my Over the Edge Agility friends and in particular my training partner Shona thank you for putting up with all my various moods over the years, for making me laugh and for being friendly faces I get to see every week. Colleen - thanks for being blonde!

To Kathryn thank you for being a wise person in a crazy world. Thank you for sharing your perspective on all things agility and life, you are amazing! If anything happened to me and my Mom it would be you who I would want to take my boy. I know you would give him the most amazing home!!! Thank you for celebrating with me on the weekend. It was so cool that Peso got his ATChC at the place he did his first trial. Thank you for your gate lists on Sunday too - you made me laugh all day, although I think Phoenix might still be a little peeved.

To Linda thank you for being the person I can fight with and then laugh with all with the span of 10 minutes. Thank you for hugging me after my run, bet you never thought I'd thank you for a hug LOL

And most importantly of all thank you to Peso for being everything I ever wanted in a friend. For his loyalty, his love, his ability to forgive, for his never ending willingness to try again, even for his intense impulsiveness that has resulted in more than one unintentional scratch, bruise or broken lamp. I could not love him more, he is my heart.

Working Out the Kinks

Today was our first outdoor trial of the season and we used it to make sure we got all the craziness that seems to come with going outside for the first time worked out before Regionals in two weeks.

As usual Kathryn but on a great trial and overall I was really happy with our performance. Peso's contacts were very good and he actually nailed most of his weave entries. I tried some more advanced handling stuff then I might have used in the past and he responded well. The weather was a force to be reckoned with though with overcast and showers on Saturday and the tornado from the Wizard of Oz on Sunday. My face is still red and raw from the wind hitting it all day. In the end we came away with a Snooker, Jumper and 2 Steeplechase Qs, which means we only need one more snooker Q for our ATChC.

Phoenix got to play in Starter Gamble and Advanced Jumpers. I tried a contact for the first time at a trial with her in the gamble and she gave me a beautiful 2on2off on the dogwalk the first time with nosetouches and all - unfortunately the second time over she stopped just off it...hmmmm how quickly things degrade! We did get the Q but I'm thinking maybe I should avoid gambles for a little while as teaching the red girl to run away from me into a tunnel at mach speed while I'm standing still may not be the best thing to be practicing right now. I thought Phoenix rocked the Jumpers which was really hard, we had two little mistakes and both were mine - not supporting her enough. I need to remember Phoenix is NOT Peso and I need to give her a little more help in the ring.

Today I am grateful to have such an amazing place to play so close to home. Thanks Kathryn for another great trial - see you Tuesday :)