I find it incredibly important to have goals in life/agility and I am at that point once again where I am looking at long term goals, and, I ask myself what's next?
My long term goals are what establish my short term goals so I typically start with the big picture then back chain :-)
This of course is in reference to my older competition dogs because with the youngsters I, of course, have huge plans for each and every one of them, however, with babies it is definitely a one day at a time situation with goals being a bit more conservative, focusing on things like a sit stay that lasts for more than 1 second!
I am very fortunate to have some great babies coming up right now and they are definitely at that point where I have to start defining more clearly what those short term goals are. The list of goals is different for each of them as their age, maturation, and, core knowledge at this point is very different from one to the next.
With the trained dogs, it is still a matter of assigning specific yet often different goals for each dog, however, they are definitely more lofty and fall under the category of long term or ultimate goals.
I am most certainly planning on another trip to the European Open next year, I just have to decide who to take. Maze is certainly the number 1 candidate at this point, but, he is going to be 7 next month so almost 8 by the time the trip rolls around. His level of experience and expertise in these types of shows would be a huge asset but his age may hinder his speed a bit!
These factors play a role in whether I choose to go to AKC World team tryouts with him next May as well. I know that I will weigh the options very carefully and try to make decisions based on what is best for us as a team with an emphasis on what is best for Maze! :-)
The runner up in the who do I take to the EO competition of course goes to SoBe who has most certainly come in to her own, but, she is barely 19" tall and would likely be jumping 26". I know people jump smaller dogs than SoBe at 26" all of the time, I am just not sure "I" want to do that.
I am concentrating on SoBe this year and she will be accompanying me to several really awesome seminars to help make that decision.
I have for the past couple of years really been trying to do "me" things relative to my agility escapades and this fall I am going to be attending 2 international handling seminars, and, hosting a 3rd! I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with these amazing people and SoBe will be the one joining me at each of these events!
As I write this I am realizing that the goals that I am setting at this point are really more about me and what avenues of the sport I want to explore rather than goals that are dog specific , maybe that is why the title of the post immediately came to me as what's next? Let's be honest, it really is about what's next for me, what do I want to do, where do I want to put my energies? Lucky for me my dogs will gladly accommodate me and join in on whatever endeavor I choose to pursue agility related or not.
Probably the only "given" is that it will be agility related because I love agility! I love training my dogs, and, I love competing!
I also really truly love teaching and helping people to be the very best they can be in this game, it gives me an incredible amount of pleasure to watch a handler master something they never thought they could do, or, watch a dog come out of it's shell and really understand the information their handler just gave them.
Because of this, my goals are also centered around my teaching and how can I keep evolving and make things more user friendly as well as more understandable and cohesive for the weekend warrior as well as the most competitive of all handlers, Hmmm... so much to think about!
What's next? I am really not sure, other than to say that I will keep reaching for the brass ring, striving for excellence, and, enjoying every moment in the journey upwards to that ring and forward to my interpretation of excellence!
I definitely have instructional projects in the works specifically for the handler part of the team that I am very excited about.
I have Danger entered in a couple of trials coming up to see once again where we are at as a team so that I can determine what's next with him, in and out of the ring :-)
I am having a blast with Wally, SoBe and Maze just having the opportunity to compete and know that any of the 3 can rise to whatever challenge I put forth.
Mooch is proving to be an absolutely amazing young man, and, my girl Vinny continues to make me smile, make me laugh, and, give me gray hairs! Oh, how I love them all!
Able just celebrated his 12th birthday yesterday reminding me just how fast it goes and how important it is to enjoy the whole adventure good parts, not so good parts, great parts and all!
I may not be completely sure of what's next but I am sure that I am excited to figure it out and even more excited to embark on the journey! On your mark, get set, GOAL!!!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
The European Open!!!
What a rush it was to play at the European Open in Bad Hall, Austria this past weekend! Maze was brilliant of course and ran 3 clean runs out of 4!! I was incredibly proud of both of us :-)
There is nothing more exciting than being one of approx. 340 26" dogs from all over the World! The courses were fabulous and challenging, the judging very consistent and fair, and, the competition fierce!
The great dog and handler teams just kept coming and coming. it was my mission to head over to Europe and have a great time, watch all of the fantastic handlers and dogs, run the very best that I could, and, just soak it all in. Great news, I did all of those things and then some :-)
We arrived in Munich on Wed. morning and met up with Ann Zarr and Skylar, Ann and I shared a car, were on the same team and hung out together.
Ann arrived at the airport before I did, once I got there we picked up the car and headed to Austria. The garmin was set for the shortest route which had us winding through some of the most beautiful countryside to our destination in Bad Hall.
We stopped along the way and had lunch and our first beer of the trip, arriving at our Hotel at about 3:30 p.m.
We went for a lovely walk in the park that was part of the Hotel complex and met up with a woman on the walking path. Ludi (our new friend), told us she was from Vienna, which turned out to be only about a 2 hour drive from where we were staying.
Plans were now set, Thursday morning we loaded up and off to Vienna Ann and I went! It was a great day, although it rained on us a bit we wandered through a lovely street market, found a Starbucks so that I could add a Vienna mug to my collection, and, went on a bus tour around parts of the city seeing some of the most incredible architecture!
Friday was vet check and practice day, the team all practiced really well and were definitely ready for the big event!
We got a bit of rain again on Friday but overall the weather was cool and lovely!
Saturday came and now it was time to shine! I definitely learned that one of the things on the top of my list of things to do is to get in better shape! Those Europeans are incredible how they RUN around those courses trying desperately to stay in front of screaming fast dogs! There is also always a lot of yelling and screaming of cues that just seem to rev the dogs up more :-)
I am all for running faster, but, am planning on sticking with my quieter style of handling.
I have been to Europe to compete many times but it is still always exciting, interesting, and, new.
It was definitely the year of the blind cross, but, many of them were in my opinion unnecessary, fun to watch though!
Maze ran a beautiful clean Individual Standard run, but, we had an unfortunate off course in jumpers keeping us out of the Finals. The Finals were a blast to watch ands although they were not finished until almost 11:30, they made the event spectacular!
Sunday was team day and I am proud to say that Maze and I put in 2 clean runs for the team, my teammates also ran incredibly well and because we had only 3 dogs on the team instead of the allowed 4, we were unable to drop a score this was ultimately our undoing as the team had 1 E, which kept us out of the relay. Regardless, I am very proud of what we all did and we definitely finished with our heads held high!
The relay was a riot!!! The Europeans do not do a team relay and their interpretation was incredibly entertaining! They had a 4 dog format, with a dog starting in each corner of the ring. The first dog would run 15 obstacles, then the next dog would start and so on. It was a crazy course!
Monday it was time to head home, bittersweet for sure! I had so much fun meeting new people, hanging with friends, and, running Maze that I was not ready for it to be over, but, I was TIRED!
The whole experience was fantastic and I am already planning for next year in Sweden!
There is nothing more exciting than being one of approx. 340 26" dogs from all over the World! The courses were fabulous and challenging, the judging very consistent and fair, and, the competition fierce!
The great dog and handler teams just kept coming and coming. it was my mission to head over to Europe and have a great time, watch all of the fantastic handlers and dogs, run the very best that I could, and, just soak it all in. Great news, I did all of those things and then some :-)
We arrived in Munich on Wed. morning and met up with Ann Zarr and Skylar, Ann and I shared a car, were on the same team and hung out together.
Ann arrived at the airport before I did, once I got there we picked up the car and headed to Austria. The garmin was set for the shortest route which had us winding through some of the most beautiful countryside to our destination in Bad Hall.
We stopped along the way and had lunch and our first beer of the trip, arriving at our Hotel at about 3:30 p.m.
We went for a lovely walk in the park that was part of the Hotel complex and met up with a woman on the walking path. Ludi (our new friend), told us she was from Vienna, which turned out to be only about a 2 hour drive from where we were staying.
Plans were now set, Thursday morning we loaded up and off to Vienna Ann and I went! It was a great day, although it rained on us a bit we wandered through a lovely street market, found a Starbucks so that I could add a Vienna mug to my collection, and, went on a bus tour around parts of the city seeing some of the most incredible architecture!
Friday was vet check and practice day, the team all practiced really well and were definitely ready for the big event!
We got a bit of rain again on Friday but overall the weather was cool and lovely!
Saturday came and now it was time to shine! I definitely learned that one of the things on the top of my list of things to do is to get in better shape! Those Europeans are incredible how they RUN around those courses trying desperately to stay in front of screaming fast dogs! There is also always a lot of yelling and screaming of cues that just seem to rev the dogs up more :-)
I am all for running faster, but, am planning on sticking with my quieter style of handling.
I have been to Europe to compete many times but it is still always exciting, interesting, and, new.
It was definitely the year of the blind cross, but, many of them were in my opinion unnecessary, fun to watch though!
Maze ran a beautiful clean Individual Standard run, but, we had an unfortunate off course in jumpers keeping us out of the Finals. The Finals were a blast to watch ands although they were not finished until almost 11:30, they made the event spectacular!
Sunday was team day and I am proud to say that Maze and I put in 2 clean runs for the team, my teammates also ran incredibly well and because we had only 3 dogs on the team instead of the allowed 4, we were unable to drop a score this was ultimately our undoing as the team had 1 E, which kept us out of the relay. Regardless, I am very proud of what we all did and we definitely finished with our heads held high!
The relay was a riot!!! The Europeans do not do a team relay and their interpretation was incredibly entertaining! They had a 4 dog format, with a dog starting in each corner of the ring. The first dog would run 15 obstacles, then the next dog would start and so on. It was a crazy course!
Monday it was time to head home, bittersweet for sure! I had so much fun meeting new people, hanging with friends, and, running Maze that I was not ready for it to be over, but, I was TIRED!
The whole experience was fantastic and I am already planning for next year in Sweden!
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