Where does the time go?

I know that is a question that we ask ourselves often, and, true to our parents warning as we get older the time only goes faster! I find it to be especially true since I live by the calendar, my life is mapped out over a year in advance and I find myself living from event to event ticking them off like minutes off of a clock. All of a sudden you stop and look around and realize that so much time has gone by... did I relish every moment? Did I sweat the small stuff? Did I take the time to really appreciate my life, my family, my friends? I am thinking it is a no, yes, no and that really bums me out! Looking back at my life I have already had an extremely full one! I have a wonderful family, that includes a great mother, awesome husband, 2 wonderful sons, a soon to be daughter-in-law, a brother, and, an extended family I married into. My family has sacrificed a lot in order for me to live my dream as it were. The sport of dog agility has taken me all over the world, allowed me to meet some fantastic people, see some incredible places, and, make some lifelong friends. I have been fortunate enough to be very successful in agility, not just the competition part of agility but also as a teacher and mentor. In all honesty when I really take the time to think about the path I have traveled I am pretty much in awe of all that has been afforded me while I play a wonderful game. It is a tiny bit bittersweet though... In all of those years, I have seen relationships come and go, the ability to make some friends that will be with me for the rest of my life and some that although very special have sort of gone away for various reasons, this makes me sad. I have had to say good bye to dogs that in my mind should have lived forever. That is the main reason for my rather reflective mood this evening, Able my very special chicken boy is getting older by the minute and is but a mere shadow of the vivacious, crazy, sometimes scary, soulmate that took me on so many agility journeys over the years. We had to go to the vet today because he has an infection that I was all but positive was cancer... it is not thank goodness, however, he is still so very weak in his rear end and although his eyes, albeit a little cloudy, still have that mischievious sparkle he just can't do all of the things that made "his" life complete. He is still here and I will cherish every day I still have with him, I also miss him already. Able and I are a very special team, he did things and helped me do things I never thought possible and for that I will be forever grateful and will always have a large part of my heart tattooed with his name. The thought of losing these very special members of our family is almost enough to make me not want to have dogs, almost :-) The awesomeness that they bring to our lives cannot be replaced or duplicated and even though that horrible day comes where we have to say good bye, I would not trade the time with them for anything in the World. I have been a bit melancholy lately and sort of lacking in motivation, I think it is natural in all humans although I am not one to allow myself such times. In any case The aging of my beautiful pups has really been bothering me of late, I think just writing it down, realizing what they have brought to my life and what adventures lay ahead will be a big help in getting my mojo back and moving forward to my next goal... Tomorrow, I will appreciate what I have, look to the future, embrace the here and now, and, spend some special me and Able time.

Taking a break... sort of :-)

SO, I am on a bit of a vacation :-) I am home for a total of 10 days getting a bit of R&R before camp starts. I have been incredibly lazy, it is really hard for me to truly relax as my lifestyle is all go, go ,go! I can always tell when I really need a break as I find myself just sort of wandering around aimlessly and melting into the couch :-) My big issue with taking a break, or, trying to relax is that I actually find myself feeling guilty about not doing "something". I swear, I just do not know how to truly decompress, I am determined to keep trying though! During my break I have done a fabulous job of giving the dogs some time off, Maze is on a break until August, not because there is anything wrong, but, just because. OK, that is not 100% true, he will go to camp with me and possibly get a little bit of training, however, nothing serious until August, I think every dog needs a break now and then and he has had a really busy year. I am a bit bummed that I decided to pass on going to the European Open this year, it seemed like a good idea when I made the decision, but, now am sort of wishing I was jetting off to Sweden next week.. This is just the restless me talking of course, I have been home for several days so I start to get antsy :-) I actually have a pretty significant break from trialing, my last trial was 1 day of USDAA the end of June and will not set foot in a competition ring until the MO Regional the second weekend of August. I am really OK with that break as well, I am giving my competition dogs a much deserved break and taking the time off to train the babies. Except Danger of course who is once again on the injured reserve list! Good news, he is getting better everyday and will not only get to play at the Regional but may even get a little training in before the event. :-) I am having tons of fun with Journey and Mooch in the midst of this downtime. Journey is learning all sorts of puppy things and foundation behaviors that will hopefully serve us in our agility career later, Mooch is embarking on the latest whim of his owner, drumroll please.... running dog walk, AGAIN! It was purely accidental that we are starting this process yet again. I was not particularly happy with his striding over the dog walk into a 2on/2off position so I thought I would just spend a bit of time on a lowered dog walk just letting him run, ignoring the end behavior entirely, incredibly hard for me BTW! I was prepared for Mooch to do what appears to be his natural tendency which is to launch, lo and behold he did not launch, he ran right through!!! I was bitten again by the running dog walk bug. So, here we go again, except this time I will stick with it, yes you heard it here first :-) I am writing it down so that I am accountable. It is tough when you have such a comfortable fall back like a great 2on/2off :-) I am going to keep Mooch out of competition that involves any contacts until we have this nailed! Good thing I am not in a hurry :-) Danger will keep his 2on/2off it suits him, Moochie running and if all goes as planned Journey will be running as well. I picked a really crazy time to start this endeavor as I am once again battling a wicked case of Plantar Fasciitis, I think this is my lot in life as I get older, it really sucks!!! I have been back to the foot Dr. for another cortisone shot that I am not so patiently waiting on to take away the pain :-)Good thing I am training a puppy and am in the very beginning stages of training a running dog walk, I get to stay mostly stationary! I am super excited about camp!! I love camp, even though I am working it is seriously like summer camp for me too. Camp is good! For now, back to the couch with a nice bag of frozen beans under my heel, while I plan the next tr

aining session :-)

I am in Seattle right now teaching a spectacular group of people, today was Novice day :-) Novice is such an ambiguous title, what exactly is novice? I guess my interpretation of Novice is from 0 to a Novice title. There is certainly a lot in between! We had a great time today exploring all of the various handling maneuvers that we will be perfecting between the Novice time period and when we are on the road to becoming the World Champions. We did not go into the obstacle side of Novice, we stuck to the handling parts of Novice. These are 2 very different things and treated as separate entities. We explored what the various cues are that we are attempting to teach our dogs, and, what the dog theoretically brings to the table from a hard wired standpoint. The things that we get to shape and mold to work in an agility setting. We discovered that although it appears to be a daunting task to make the progression from Novice to World Champion, there really are not that many cues after all! We also discovered just how much of what we need to create the ultimate agility dog comes with the dog, how lucky are we!! So much of what we ask of our dogs on course begin and end with a fairly short list of different hand signals, body positions, verbals, etc.. the devil is in the details :-) Knowing which cue when and where and being uber consistent in not only how we teach and shape these cues, but, how we present them as well. Consistency is that dirty little word that reeks havoc with our training and ultimately with our trial results. The dog comes hard wired with so many of the agility staples that if we could just remember to use them in the same way each time we would go a very long way in creating the perfection that we all so desire! But, alas, we are human and this in and of itself is a contradiction in terms as far as consistency is concerned! Take a moment to list all of the cues that you feel are necessary to create the perfect agility dog and then think about how many are taught at the novice level. Pretty much all of them I assure you. We discovered in class today that we could cover pretty much every handling maneuver found on any course on any given day in just one day! Please do not mistake this for a false statement of how difficult it is or isn't to get a dog competition ready, it is more to iterate that the basic cues are all there, next comes refinement, and, the ability to combine them in an appropriate manner to take us through the ranks. There is a significant amount of art involved in this process as well. My theory on dog agility is that the training is a science and the handling an art. As will all artistic endeavors the ability to improvise, and, utilize a lot of creative license is a necessity, while at the same time maintaining a very strict adherence to the criteria maintenance of all behaviors taught. Now we are looking at a very difficult scenario indeed! Singularly, simple... In motion against the clock, with stress, adrenaline, and, the eyes of the judge VERY difficult! The key to success of course lies in your ability to be patient, to be fair, and, to take the time to truly teach yourself and the dog what each behavior is and needs to be all by itself. Never judge your dog against another, or, yourself against another! Each dog and handler is unique, learns at their own pace and is ready at a different time. You will know when this is better than anyone. trust your gut :-) I am always in awe of just how lucky I am that although my job is to teach others, I walk away everyday having learned something very valuable for myself!! Until next time :-)