Long time no posting :-)

What a month it has been! Here we are at May 25 and I cannot recall slowing down, since sometime in April :-).

Let's see, what have I been up to? Well, end of April saw Geoff and I heading off to Hawaii for a working vacation for me and a true after tax season vacation for Geoff! We started off on Oahu on Waikiki Beach for one day and it was glorious. We walked and shopped and swam in the ocean and hung out at the beach, what a ball!

Then it was off to the big Island and to a great town called Hilo where Geoff and I hiked through rainforests and saw beautiful waterfalls, explored caves, and met out hosts Toni and Perry who were kind enough to share their glorious home with us allowing us to wake up every morning looking at the ocean!

It was then time to get to work and the seminar was held close enough to our hosts home that Geoff and I walked back and forth most days. The seminar participants were wonderful and a good time was had by all, well by me anyway! :-)

Once we returned from Hawaii I had a couple of days to get the house in order, play with my dogs and train Maze a bit before heading off to the AKC World team tryouts. I have never attended the tryouts before and I really was not sure what to expect. The trial was awesome! The courses were very technical and challenging and so much fun to run!

Maze was phenomenal and went 4 clean out of 5 with the icing on the cake being his 2nd place finish overall on Sat.

I have to admit I would really like to see some of the fabulous challenges that we were asked to meet at tryouts also included to a certain extent in courses throughout the year at regular events. It was really fun to be pushed and to have to really think about strategy. It was also a blast to get to use some of the advanced skills that a lot of us play with in training but never really get to use on a regular trial weekend.

The area of the country I live in is also very light in 26" jumping dogs so it was nice to have so many 26" dogs to compete with, all of which could have won the event. What a rush!

Maze and I were not selected for the team but we sure had a great weekend trying out!

I returned home from tryouts and had approx. 12 hours at home before heading off to the airport once again to fly to England and switch into my coaching hat as the IFCS World Agility Championships are starting in a few days.

We got together as a team to practice on Wed. On Thursday I went sightseeing to Cheddar Gorge for the morning before we had to meet to check in, measure, have our vet checks and final practice before the event begins on Friday.

The trip to Cheddar was great! As a born and bred Wisconsinite seeing the birthplace of Cheddar cheese was quite exciting for me :-)

Team practice went really well, we had a great time at the banquet on Thursday night and then it was off to bed early to get ready for the big gig.

The competition started on a sour note as Dudley Fontaine collided with her dog between obstacles 3 and 4 only to severely dislocate her elbow causing excruciating pain and the end of her World Championships. This was absolutely heartbreaking but Dudley came and watched and cheered on her team the next 2 days!

The USA did very well and I am very proud of the team! It was a great competition to watch and I have to say those Russians sure know how to train and handle a dog! I am pretty sure that I have the Russian National Anthem memorized from hearing it so many times!

It is a very unique experience coaching and I was very lucky to have the opportunity.

Once the competition was over it was off to London for another day of sightseeing and the stage production of Dirty Dancing! We of course went to Harrods and then took a double decker bus tour of London. I highly recommend both activities. Harrods has a food floor, yes a whole floor, that makes Whole Foods look like a Circle K!!! For someone who likes to eat like I do it was almost life altering! :-)

There was of course the threat of the ever present ash cloud keeping us in England for longer than originally planned, but mother nature played along and we got out as scheduled.

Once I was home it was another couple days of rest and reconnecting with my dogs who I missed terribly! I got some really good training in and some much needed rest.

This past weekend I taught another fantabulous group of handlers and their dogs in Boise. We had the opportunity to see just how tough agility folks are as Sat. saw record low temps., and pouring rain! Great people, great dogs, great seminar, miserable weather!!!!

Meanwhile, Sunday while I was teaching, I was getting updates as Geoff, Deb and Caitlin were busy at my place delivering a litter of puppies! Never a dull moment...

I am home again and have had a couple of really great days at home a place very special to me. I have been training dogs, cleaning house, hanging out with Geoff and Nick, and recharging my batteries. I have truly missed my dogs and my family this month and it is so nice to get back to training! This weekend it is off to Minneapolis to show, I am so ready to get back in the ring!! We will see how the Sobster behaves, she has been brilliant in training this week and I am feeling very positive. Merger is going to attempt another team Q along with a full slate of classes and of course Maze and Wally are ready to rock!!!

So, that is what has been going on with me, just another month in the life...

You can't win 'em all, BUT....

...When you do, it is awesome!! :-) These past several weeks have been incredibly busy and I have had the opportunity to do lots of really fun things, not the least of which is a trip to Hawaii!!! I will get to that, but first the trials.

The middle of April I went out to Dixon California to the 4 day Haute/TRACSUSDAA trial. The dogs were brilliant, well, Wally and I struggled a bit which bothered me more than just a little. It was pointed out to me by a very wise Jen Pinder that I have World team tryouts coming up soon and perhaps my attentions are there with Maze rather than with Wally at present :-)

It is quite amazing isn't it, how the littlest change in routine can cause such upheaval. I am very proud to say that the next weekend in Utah we were back on track and I was also able to concentrate on Maze as well as the 2 youngsters.

Which brings me to the topic of todays post, the baby dogs are growing up! Merger and SoBe were awesome!! In CA Merger ended up on a DAM team and was wonderful, he handled all of these Masters level courses like a real pro. I will say he is still very thoughtful about the whole process but seems to be getting more and more confident all of the time.

Merger Finished all of his Novice titles and added a few extra legs for good measure. I was very proud of him!

The next weekend in Salt Lake he even qualified for Steeplechase and was one weave pole entry from Q'ing in GP!!! Who woulda thunk it!

Merger also earned his first Advanced jumpers leg and his first Advanced snooker leg!

His running contacts are coming along quite nicely, with a very nice dog walk performance brewing. Merge is running all the way through his dog walks, his teeter performance is looking great and there is definitely hope for his A-frame. The greatest thing about his dog walk performance is that he seems to be more consistent with his performance as he gets more confident, which means that the performance should only improve over time rather than the unfortunate alternative that so often happens as a dog gains speed and confidence.

Next subject, SoBe!!!! She was so amazing! Don't get me wrong there are still plenty of runs that end in her being carried off course but it appears to be working and she is making incredible progress!

As a matter of fact in California she was carried off 3 of 4 days of Masters standard due to her failure to comply with dog walk or teeter criteria, however, on day 4 had her mother been even remotely prepared for the stunning performance she offered I may have handled the jump, chute, jump combination at the end of the run in such a manner that would not have had her spin right past the last jump to NQ on what was otherwise a perfect run!

The beautiful thing was that we were THAT close. Patience and persistence definitely pay off.

SoBe did get one of 5 coveted Snooker super Q's available on one of the days, this was made all the more special because she earned this super Q by getting through a very technical course that very few managed to get through.

She also qualified in Steeplechase and ultimately ended up 3rd in the very tough California 22" class just behind her daddy Wally who took second.

The next weekend it was off to Salt Lake City where she earned a masters standard Q, and, drumroll please.... she WON Steeplechase!! She earned another Snooker Q but not a super Q as I took it away from her with Maze.

I admit it, I am competitive to a fault and cannot even hold back when it means beating my own dog! :-)

There is still a long way to go but if I stay the course and maintain my resolve, maintain my criteria, and, keep my eye on the prize the end result is going to be an amazing dog who will achieve any goal I set for the two of us.

We'll see, but right now my goal is IFCS World team 2012!

Mister Maze was absolutely brilliant at both trials and I can say in all honesty that we are ready for tryouts this weekend! I am so incredibly lucky to have this opportunity and I am going to enjoy every moment of it! The FCI World team tryouts are a new venture for me and I am really excited about the weekend. It will be the first time that Maze and I have gone to a show with just the two of us and I am looking forward to that part as well.

My expectations of the weekend are very simple, for Maze and I to do the very best that we can and have a blast, I feel very confident that we can meet and possibly even exceed these goals, I will keep you posted.

So, this past weekend I had the opportunity to work with an amazing group of people in a place comparable to paradise, otherwise known as Hawaii! Geoff an I spent a great day in O'ahu on Waikiki Beach then we headed off to the big Island to a great little town called Hilo which is vastly different than O'ahu. I loved Hilo with the beautiful rain forests, rocky cliffs and waterfalls. Definitely my kind of place!

The people of Hawaii are so incredibly nice, their hospitality and eagerness to learn and enjoy the process was infectious. Our hosts Toni and Perry live in the most beautiful home where you wake up every morning looking out at the ocean, all I can say is WOW!!! I am already looking forward to going back and I just got over my jet lag from this trip. Mahalo, my wonderful new friends in Hawaii for making this a most memorable experience!

So, being one of the luckiest people on earth, the good times continue as I get ready to head off to tryouts and then immediately to the UK to coach the IFCS World team. Very busy indeed, but what a great life I have :-)

So, although you cannot win 'em all, you can certainly win a lot, especially when winning in life is about so much more than just competitions! ALOHA!!