The age of electronics

So, in this age of electronics I feel so completely inadequate as a complete electronics moron! Everywhere I look there are agility videos, videos on facebook, videos on blogs, videos over email, well I suck at filming anything and everything, and, when I finally do dust off the camera and actually shoot something I amm completely clueless how to up or download the videos anything.
I did at one point set upma YouTube account and have a time or two actually put some video out there but of course without all of the fancy editing, music and comments that anyone seems to be able to do!
I think I need to take a class or something so that I can catch up with the masses:-) I have already promised so many videos of all of this running contact nonsense so I guess I will have to learn sooner rather than later how to edit, add cool music, and, catchy quips. Irbid starting to feel like unless you offer up videos of what you say is happening it is not even real!
Other topics, I am in glorious Phoenix, AZ and have been here for a week already. Last week it was a 3 day. Seminar teaching advanced handling followed by a 3 day AKC trial, great week! I always love. Coming to Phoenix in Jan. For the obvious reasons of course but, also because I have been coming here for about 14 years to teach and I love my students/friends here, it is definitely always like coming home. Plus, every year I get to meet a few new people that become part of the group, what a treat!
The trial was great, SoBe, wally, and, maze all pgot to play and had great runs. Maybe someday I will post some video of our runs :-)
Tomorrow it is back to work and this weekend another trial, wish us luck I am going for scores for World Team tryouts :-)
Until next time!

Training today :-)

Great day of training today! After a couple of days of trialing, quite successful trialing I might add, I had a few things I specifically wanted to work on. Interestingly enough as I started working dogs today the training session quickly diverted from what I thought I was going to be focusing on to more of a house cleaning session.
This past weekend SoBe was introduced to A-frame approaches off of approx. 90 degree turns, something I realized I have never specifically trained. I seem to be very subconsciously driven to work straight approaches and straight exits on and off my contacts. This needs to change, SoBe was having trouble with her striding to the A-frame with these angled approaches. She missed both A-frames that had to be approached from this angle. The straight approaches resulted in her perfect running A-frame performance that I have come to expect and simply assume will occur,
So, that was mission number 1 today. With the aid of a stride regulator I was able to work through the issue pretty quickly, ultimately removing the prop and getting awesome performance.
One of the drills that I was intending to work on was a portion of the Steeplechase round 1 from this past weekend which involved running with intent from the A-frame directly to what could be considered the off end of a C-shaped tunnel. 90 degrees to the right of the A-frame was a jump, to the left was the tunnel with both entrances essentially at 45 degrees off of the A-frame and a set of weaves perpendicular to the A-frame requiring a 45 degree left side approach past the tunnel entrances. Are you still with me? :-)
Anyway, this led to me working all sorts of distance challenges to and from the weave poles, working and reworking entries, realizing that I have not spent much time there either of late.
SoBe also had trouble with the table the past couple of trials. She is not inclined to actually collect to stay on the table when approaching it at speed. She had no problem demonstrating this particular issue today when I pushed her to really drive to the table. This reminded me of a great table training drill that I have not worked at all with SoBe, shame on me! This drill involves calling the dog to the table from a feet in front of the table and expecting the dog to stop and stay on the table without falling off. We had to repeat this a few times but as with all training exercises if you reward correctly dogs pick things up awfully quickly!~ Before long I was able to run past the table at full speed, cue the table and SoBe would get on, drop and stay until verbally released. Trust me, I will be working this more in the upcoming days!
We did a few dog walks, which were lovely, and also worked on some jumping drills, what a good girl she is!
I actually did a few jumps, a dog walk and a couple of teeters with Wally and he seems to be sound! I have pulled him from this weekends trial but hopefully he will be up and running the last 2 weekends of Jan. in sunny Phoenix :-)
Next, it was Mazes turn, he was, well... amazing! I had a very important New Years resolution this year that I will absolutely stick to and that is to be a better team mate for Maze. We have not always seen exactly eye to eye, although I love him to death, we do not always "get" each other. Well, I decided that starting in 2011 I would work harder to "get" Maze and be the team mate that he deserves. lord knows he is an Amazing dog!
With that said we have started the year with a bang! Maze was all that and more New Years weekend placing and Q'ing in every team class, winning both rounds of Steeplechase, Q'ing and placing in GP and Q'ing and placing in several other Masters classes.
This past weekend he not only Q'd in GP but won the class with the fastest time overall, I am very proud of him, and me for that matter. It is going to be a great year!
He trained brilliantly today and is as fit as he has ever been, with lots of hiking under his belt.
Danger is BACK, OK sort of :-) We have started back on the low dog walk which is going fantastic, low jumps, bottom behavior on the teeter, and, I have started to shape 4 weave poles. This is a new venture for me as I have trained the last several dogs with channels, trying something new, just for fun!
The fantastic Danger Mouse is very happy to be playing again, and, I could not be happier to be playing with him!
Ahhh, Vintage, what a treat she is! She takes work-a-holic to a whole new level and I am loving it! She has toy drive oozing out of every pore, food drive to die for, speed, stamina, brains, and, a desire to learn that is equal only to SoBe :-)
We had a blast today, she is doing balance beam work on a 12 foot plank with fit discs under each end so it moves a lot! We continue to work on her body awareness exercises and she can move her rear end better than a lot of dogs move their front! :-)
I am seeing how invaluable a skill rear end awareness is in so much of what we are doing now. A great example is her heel work, she can move herself into a beautiful heel and side without moving her front at all, very cute!
We work on forward motion every time we train and she has a great flyball box turn on the flat retrieving her toy, too bad she will never do flyball.
She is driving to the Manners Minder, although I admit I may not actually use it to train her contacts, I am generally more of a toy trainer. She has gotten over her initial reluctance to get on the teeter board and is now not only jumping on the end but figuring out her 2on/2off end behavior as well.
Mostly we are just playing, however, all of the play will lead to something bigger.
She is just a complete joy to train and is going to be an agility superstar for sure :-).
It was fun to get to write about training again, it has been a very busy winter so far and it was nice to get back to what I enjoy most, next to family time of course, spending quality time with my pups! Enjoy!

Life is great!

That is what Able is saying here I am sure :-) I absolutely cannot believe that Able is almost 12 years old, yet he lives everyday as if he were a spry 2 year old! He lives for the daily walks, he revels in the daily toy tossing games he plays all by himself, and, he especially enjoys the fact that he is still the boss around here.
I know how he feels, I love to hike, I revel in the daily dog training that I get to do when I am actually at home, I completely enjoy every student I teach and every seminar I instruct, but, I am not going on 12, I just turned 43!
Where did the years go, I swear I can still remember whining about how high school was never going to end and I was never going to be old enough to drink! Well, high school has come and gone, as a matter of fact I could have gone through another entire school career starting at Kindergarten and I would still be out.
I am finding that my joints and muscles talk to me a lot more, OK, they actually yell at me pretty much all of the time now:-).
The really funny part is that I feel like a 21 year old in my head, I just wish my body would cooperate!
No matter though, as I write this I am already thinking about the dog show that I get to play in tomorrow and I am reflecting on the awesome training sessions that I had today with Maze, SoBe, Merger, Danger and Vintage! Yes, all of those dogs require my body to work better than it seems to want to right now, that is what we call mind over matter. I have a killer case of plantar fasciitis that just will not go away, yes, I have finally called and made an appt. with a podiatrist. This affliction seems to be causing all sorts of compensation pains throughout my very young, athletic body, OK everyone, stop laughing!
I refuse to give in, however, and although I seem to be feeling my age physically a bit more these days, I refuse to let a few aches and pains slow me down. I am pretty sure that it sounds like I am whining but in actuality I am simply coming to terms with the fact that agility is as hard on the human team member as their canine counterpart and it is truly time to start trying to take care of myself at least half as well as I do the dogs. I say this on the eve of Wallys chiropractor appt. where we will not only be working on Wallys sore muscles but discussing which cold laser I should buy.
I am pretending that i am buying it for the dogs but I am planning on some serious laser time for myself as well! SoBe was massaged 3 times last weekend at the agility trial, Wally had a ride to see another massage therapist here in town while I was away and today I had a massage of my very own!
Pretty soon we will all be doing dog and handler appts. for all procedures! I plan on running agility for many, many more years and I am requiring my body to hold up so that I can still get all of those front crosses on all of my fast dogs! Life IS great and the time that I spend running around like a loon playing with my dogs, roller skating with my family, riding my horse, hiking the hills around my house, and just generally acting like a kid will definitely keep me young at heart!

The faces of the Past, the present, and, the future

They are truly beautiful faces if I do say so myself!
Ahhhh... the future, we never know what it holds we can only try to plan for it. As I look back on my life and the many twists and turns it has taken I am made seriously aware of just how fortunate I am in so many ways.
Don't get me wrong there have been many stumbling blocks along the way but each and every one of them was necessary for me to be where I am and the person I have become.
I am sure there will be many more, but, as I get older I think I am a bit more equipped to handle these speed bumps by simply slowing down, getting over the bump and moving forward.
There are 4 very important dogs very conspicuously missing from the gallery at the front of this post, they are missing simply because I do not have their photos on this computer!!
They are a most significant part of my agility past, but, most importantly, the reason for my present and future.
They are in order of arrival into my life, Jazz the Boxer, what an incredible dog he was!!
Jack, the Border Collie that started my obsession with Border Collies and the dog who made me who I am!
Secret, the wonder dog, I mean Border Collie who took perfection to a whole new level and made me wonder if I could ever love any creature that much again.
And... Buzz the Jack Russell who has a place in my heart that no other will ever take.
This trip down memory lane could of course go on and on as more than 20 years into this chosen life I have certainly racked up more than my fair share of awesome memories and life changing moments!
There are a couple that really stand out though, being chosen to represent the USA in Russia for the first IFCS World Championships was definitely a life changing experience made even sweeter by bringing home the World Champion trophy!
The next truly stand out experience of my life was embarking on the marathon World team point accumulation race in 2005. Trying out for the 2006 IFCS World team with Able, who did indeed make the team and ultimately having the third most points in a very large field of incredible dogs trying out.
This makes the list because Able was always a challenge and every major accomplishment was one to be very proud of. It is quite amazing that as he aged he became "the old pair of shoes" that I knew and trusted completely on every agility course at every competition... he is retired now and hikes, plays and keeps the couch warm!
Next, going to my very first FCI World team tryouts with Maze and taking 2nd place overall on Sat. which was day one of the event. The courses were incredibly challenging and so much fun to run, Maze ran 3 beautiful clean runs on Sat. to secure the second place spot, it was quite a rush!
Agility has been and continues to be such a huge part of my life and has been a way to express myself creatively from a training and handling standpoint, a way to meet so many wonderful people, many of whom have become very dear friends. Agility has allowed me to see the World and has given me the opportunity to help so many people, there is absolutely nothing more gratifying to me than watching someone accomplish something they had no idea they could do! I love teaching and I love the people I am fortunate enough to teach.
Agility is also how I met my wonderful husband who my kids actually introduced me to almost 12 years ago! Agility continues to be something we enjoy doing together and I am very thankful that he can share in what takes up so much of my everyday life.
The present is pretty special as well, I have fabulous dogs that I am trialing now and awesome youngsters coming up.
Agility continues to pretty much consume my almost every waking moment but I am taking more time to smell the flowers along the way, spending more time hiking, trying to catch a movie here and there and actually taking vacations that do not include dogs! Does this mean I am backing away from agility, ABSOLUTELY NOT, it is and continues to be my passion but I am going to make sure it stays that way by taking a break now and then to just be a person with other interests:-)
Someday I would love to go to culinary school, yep culinary school! Not because I love to cook but because next to my family and agility, food takes a very high position on the list of my most important things! I think chefs are artists and since I watch every cooking show available this interests me greatly!
WHat are my goals for next year, truthfully, I do not have an answer for that right now. I am exploring the option of jumping SoBe at 26" to prepare for potential FCI World team tryouts, I am toying with trying out for IFCS with both SoBe and Maze, I definitely plan on finishing Mazes MACH, we are Oh so close!!
Being a National Finalist in as many events as possible at USDAA Nationals is always high on the goal list and maybe I will even head overseas for a competition or 2, these things will sort themselves out and time will tell, meanwhile I am already excited about the seminars I am presenting next year, a lot of which are chances to visit and connect with awesome people that I have been working with for years, some are totally new places that offer new opportunities.
Whatever the future brings I know that I am happy to be me, the person who has an amazing family, fantastic dogs, wonderful friends, the best job in the whole world and many new doors yet to be opened!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!!!

I am in Connecticut

What a pleasure it is to come to Connecticut to teach!I am very fortunate and get to come out to the fabulous East coast several time a year to teach. I get to work with the most incredible group of dogs and handlers. Today we worked on distance training in the morning and foundation in the afternoon.
The distance session was primarily

What would the perfect Foundation DVD include?

OK<>

If you could dictate the content, what would you like to see on your idea of a perfect Foundation Skills DVD? I know what I want to include but since my objective is to provide the information that the masses desire I am seeking input.

I will be looking forward to your replies :-)

So, we are back from Las Vegas! It was a truly great trip and we had a blast, but, I did have my fill of Vegas for a few years I am sure. We did get to see some great shows and I think hiked close to a hundred miles up and down the Las Vegas strip.

The whole idea of Vegas is almost other worldly, the people watching is incredible and the whole sort of lack of rules is quite amazing!

It is always nice to get home to the dogs though, well home in general! As I say this I am packing for a trial in New Mexico this weekend followed by about a month straight of road tripping to teach.

I will be sure to keep you posted on the weekends proceedings and most importantly, SoBe's dog walk performance :-)

So, please answer my inquiry about foundation stuff and have a most wonderful weekend doing whatever you love doing!

It was really hard driving home after going BLIND!!

What a fantastic opportunity I had, to work with German agility phenom Silas Boogk! I took a 2 day drive to have the pleasure of spending 2 days running like I have never run before, on courses that would have many running the other way! :-)

After being abused by Silas the fun continued with 2 more days with Linda Mecklenburg. Linda always makes you think and really evaluate your handling, criteria and overall "plan" for you and your dog, what an awesome 4 days!

Silas put forth courses that were like none I have ever seen, and I have competed overseas numerous times! I loved them :-)

We began the first morning by hearing Silas' training philosophy and then we were all to walk and run a 25 obstacle maze, I mean course.

After we muddled our way through the course utilizing what we felt were the best handling maneuvers for the situation, Silas spent about an hour explaining why "our way" was not the most efficient in most cases.

The reason for this is because we had the audacity to throw in a rear cross or two, more than enough "front crosses", and not many, well any blind crosses!

Silas is all about staying in front of his dog and therefore uses copious amounts of blind crosses in places that definitely brought the fear of God to us mere mortal handlers.

We were missing a couple of crucial elements, hmmm... like being 24, very thin, a man, and having the ability to run backwards with as much grace, speed and fluidity as even the most agile American runs forward!!! :-)

However, with all of that said, Silas, with his take no prisoners attitude, complete upbeat nature and overall energy not only got us to do it but to do it successfully! I can say in all honesty that the only blind crosses I have ever done have been at the exit of a curved tunnel, this really does not even count!

By the time we were done on Sunday night I had done at least 30-40 in places that no one would believe! What a complete and total rush!

I so wish we had a chance to use these awesome skills, super speed, and, balls out running style on more of our own courses.

My purpose for going to this seminar was to be pushed, well it was everything I hoped for and more.

Silas would work with each individual anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour at a time , everyone's tongue would be hanging out well before your turn ended. There was no such thing as I can't, there was no, I am too tired you just did it, and you did it willingly!

I cannot even put into words just how much fun it was and what a rush it was to run like that!

You really had to trust your dog and what you have trained, that was a serious high as well!

I ran the entire seminar with SoBe and she was brilliant! She showed her skills incredibly well. And these skills were equal parts learned and equal parts natural. Silas paid SoBe a huge compliment and commented on her incredible focus and athleticism, he called her perfect! :-)

It was all about perfection, a type A persons dream come true. You would work portions over and over and you would start over and over, it was awesome!!! Have I said that already?

After working until well into the night on both Sat. and Sun. Linda very wisely decided that we would start at 10:00 on Sat. good call!

Lindas incredible attention to detail was appreciated and the ability to go back and hone some basic skills after 2 days of definitely pushing beyond the limits was a very nice way to proceed for the next couple of days.

It was so nice to be able to practice what we are comfortable with but explore in much greater detail why we are doing it was awesome as well.

I did peter out on Tues. and admit that I headed home at about 3:00. I was simply mentally and physically exhausted at this point!

I am already looking forward to the next agility camp that I get to participate in and am thinking that the diet needs to start now!

Off to Vegas for a weekend of shows and time with my husband!!!