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!!

Ramblings...

HI All!

It is a beautiful, sunny, almost 60 degree day here in LaPorte, Colorado. I should be outside playing but I have been pretty much housebound this entire week with a horrible flu/cold. I left the house to take Able to Therapy and to take Able to his Ortho appt. and run a few other errands all which left me pretty much drained and exhausted, however, I had a lot of time to think and read and just lay around wishing I was doing something else.

All of this thinking and reading left me with much to think about though, especially in the realm of dog training and just dogs in general. There are so many different schools of thought regarding the right way to raise a puppy, the wrong way to raise a puppy, the right way to train a dog, the wrong way to train a dog, the right way to handle a dog, the wrong way to handle a dog, it is almost too much to comprehend!

I find that with the deluge of opinions on the subject that even I, a person with a lifetime of dog training experience and over 20 years of agility training and handling experience, still question what I am doing and whether I am doing it right.

I can only imagine what this incessant need to impart opinion by so many folks does to the confidence level of a less experienced individual.

What is the "right" way to do it? That is anybody's guess! I try to let common sense guide me, I have been very successful thus far doing it "my way" no need to second guess, it is important to keep an open mind and keep learning, but, it is equally important to trust your instincts and listen to your dog! We are never done learning and we never know it all, as long as you believe that, success will come your way in whatever form is intended.

I find it very valuable to consciously take a step back on a regular basis and look at where I am in my life, this life that I have chosen for myself, fully immersed in a dog sport that can easily take over your whole life if you let it :-)

I take that step back to reconnect with what is really important in my life agility being one of those things, but, there is also family, friends, and, overall physical and mental health and well being.

Being so closely involved with high level competition it is so easy to forget about the other things that make us, us. It is easy to make a Q a rocket science experiment and to get really upset over the NQ that in the grand scheme of things means nothing to anyone but us.

Agility is a game and by my definition game means fun, so, I take a step back to be sure that I am keeping it fun! I love agility, I love to train agility, I love to compete in agility, and, I love to win in agility, but I love my family more and my dogs are part of my family and therefore I am very willing to just let my dogs have time of their own as well.

Everyday does not have to involve training, sometimes a really nice long walk is all the training they get, sometimes just hanging out together is all the training they get, I find these "training" experiences to be as valuable as any time spent on the equipment.

Being in the right place mentally is a huge part of success and I for one realize that if I am in that "right" place things go awesome, if not, not so well. Either way I make it my mission to enjoy the time spent with my dogs and appreciate everything about them.

I am looking forward to many more years of competitive agility with my wonderful furry family members, but, I am also looking forward to many more years of hikes, and quiet moments with those same furry friends.

I am a very lucky person, indeed! Have a wonderful day everyone and don't forget to take time to smell whatever smells dogs bring into our lives :-)

Learning running dogwalk - video

The Nationals report :-)

Hi All!

We are back from a very exciting, really fun AKC Nationals and I am very happy to report the boys and I did great! Unfortunately, neither Wally or Maze made the finals but both were in the Challenger Round and Wally was a mere .60 seconds from winning the class! Maze was also clean in the Challenger Round and took 3rd by about the same margin, I could not have asked either of them to do any better.

Agility has grown so much in the last decade and it is amazing to see just how small a margin there is between winner and the next gazillion places!

Wally was fantastic and smokin' fast all weekend, at the end of day Sat. he was in third place overall in the 20" class which had close to 300 dogs entered. Sunday saw Wally post the only time in the hybrid class under 27 seconds! He had the misfortune of being called on his A-frame when his exuberance caused a one hit backside performance resulting in his toesies not being clearly in that wacky yellow area :-) I was thrilled non the less.

Maze had a fabulous Standard run and and unfortunate refusal in JWW, his clean run and placement in the hybrid round won him the opportunity to play in the Challenger Round on Sunday afternoon.

The courses at the Nationals were awesome, I truly enjoyed running each and every one of them. They presented very fair challenges with a lot of speed and flow. I was especially happy with myself and the fact that I stayed focused and confident in all of my handling decisions throughout the weekend and kept the boys on course and fluidly moving through their courses.

There was really only one downer of the weekend and I feel the need to say something simply because I know that AKC prides itself on maintaining a very high standard within its rules, regulations and guidelines and I respect that, which is why I was so disappointed to have been on the receiving end of a complete dismissal of the rules by the people that are there to uphold them.

In a nutshell, there was a supposed timer issue that occurred during my JWW run with Wally on Sat. that went completely undetected by any ring personnel, judge, or any one of any power as it were. I was completely in the dark and as a matter of fact if there was a timer malfunction it was quick and over as Wallys time was very reasonable for the course and the speed at which Wally runs.

Anyway, I was the 14th 20" dog to run on Sat. so I was done before noon, I stayed the rest of the day to watch my friends and just hang out. At approx., 5:15 I was called to the score keepers room where I was told that an unsigned email was sent to the office requesting that they look at Stacy Peardot-Goudys Jumpers run as there was a potential timer issue, before I go any further let me point out that is has been explained to me that any unsigned correspondence sent to the AKC is by the rules immediately discarded, well not in this case.

They chose to look into the matter but not until the end of the day, and used a video to time the run. They did offer me a rerun almost 5.5 hours after the fact and after laying all of this wonderful news on me, I declined. They kept asking if I was OK with their decision in determining the outcome and I continually told them I was not but what choice did I have, they offered no alternative choices. The end result was a very respectable 5th place overall in JWW with a less than perfect attempt at timing off of a video.

Don't get me wrong, I am not interested in getting anything I have not earned but I am seriously questioning why anyone would go to these lengths to have it looked into and even more floored that the AKC would entertain such a ridiculous wild goose chase! Ultimately we ended up exactly where we would have anyway and I was able to put it out of my head and run some pretty amazing runs on Sunday, I just hope the AKC does not make a habit of this type of investigation it sets a very bad precedent and encourages anyone who feels like it to send cowardly unsigned emails potentially causing harm to people.

Well, enough of that, my overall experience at the Nationals was AWESOME and I really learned a lot! I think it is very important to learn something at every competition and what I learned at Nationals was that a true running contact is a thing of beauty that sends shivers up your spine and is also quite necessary if you plan on winning.

I know that is not what people want to hear but the 16", 20", and 26" classes were all won quite handily by individuals that had true running contacts, that means no management, no short striding, just full extension, balls to the wall running.

I learned that anytime you have to manage any obstacle you are potentially giving up the most efficient path on a course, OK I already knew that, but, I was kind of smacked in the face with it on one occasion at the Nationals :-)

I learned that you never know it all and that a huge part of the fun in agility is learning what you don't know and figuring it out so that you know it in the future.

I was reminded how much fun it is to watch your students and friends do fantastic at such a huge event and that a great run is not measured by placement or Q!

I had a fabulous time and now that I am home I am totally excited to work on the areas that need improvement, train some new things and continue to push myself to be the best partner and teammate I can for my dog!

I am spending the week, tuning up for World team tryouts, training my puppy, hiking the dogs and spending time with my family, well not much of that as Geoff is up to his eyeballs in taxes but soon we may get to see each other!

I am also having the pleasure of several private and semi private lessons and most importantly, SLEEPING IN MY OWN BED!

Good night all :-)

What a day!

Well, this is going to be a short post as I have been up since 4:30 a.m. and have driven back and forth from Castle Rock where I was at an AKC trial today :-) Castle Rock is a little under 100 miles from my house, I pretty much always choose to drive back and forth as any nights that I can actually sleep in my own bed, I will certainly choose to do exactly that!

Anyway, today was day 1 of project SoBe contact criteria boot camp! She had a brilliant jumpers run and hit her weave poles on the first attempt smoothly finishing them all and jumping like a pro, I was totally psyched for the standard run! Well, she had a beautiful start which was also almost the end :-) She ran the dogwalk like her butt was on fire and of course completely forgot how to stop, it was at this point that I thanked the judge, scooped up Miss SoBe and left the ring. This is a battle I WILL win! I have no idea how long it will take but I WILL win. To see just how fabulously she can negotiate a dog walk with a full 2on/2off behavior check out the video on my youtube account.

We of course came home tonight and promptly went down to the building where we practiced a few perfect dogwalks. I am already anxious to see what we get tomorrow!

Maze and Wally had spectacular Jumpers runs today but unfortunately I had left my brain outside of the ring for Wallys standard run and caused a refusal at the chute... Maze decided that looking for a jump slightly offset from the chute was highly overrated when there were weave poles just on the other side of said jump :-) Truthfully the boys were brilliant today and I am still totally ready for and excited about Nationals coming up very soon.

Merger had a lovely Open Jumpers run with an unfortunate bar at the very end and did get his second Novice standard Q with a perfect running dogwalk!

Overall, it was a very good day, I am very happy and very lucky to have such awesome dogs to run and 2 more days this weekend to run them. More updates tomorrow, cross your fingers that SoBe is a good little girl!

P.S. Able is doing fantastic!!!!

La Vida Loca!!

Well, that about sums up my Spanish language quotient, it is also the very best way to describe my life, CRAZY!!!

I am home for my one day in between seminars break :-) For some reason that 1 day always includes copious amounts of vaccuuming, laundry, poop pick up and general Donna domestic duties that are completely neglected while I am away. The trouble is I never get the benefit of all of the work because after all of the cleaning projects I accomplished today I will leave again tomorrow for 3 days and will come home to the hairballs, dirty clothes and yard full of poop. It is a vicious cycle for sure :-) At least I feel as though I have accomplished something in my brief time at home!!

I did get to work Miss SoBe tonight and took Danger to the building to do a bit of plank work, and, playtime! Danger is teething like crazy but I am happy to report that he is still tugging like a maniac!

The boys get the week off after a 3 day trial and as soon as I get back from this trip to Salt Lake City it is another 3 day AKC trial, the last before we head off to Nationals. I am really excited about Nationals this year, I have not been to the AKC Nationals since Secret was still competing and I do really enjoy National competitions!

This past weekend was our first trial since Jan. and it was great to get back in the ring! It was even more special because I had spent the week prior to the competition doing seminars for the Wichita Dog Training Club and many of the people that I had the pleasure of working with at the seminar were at the trial and they did so incredibly well! It was fantastic to be able to see how these great trainers and handlers were able to implement so many of the new skills they learned along with what they already knew to do such a great job at the trial! Plus, it was fun to hang out with friends :-)

I had a fabulous weekend! Although I was pretty tired after 6 days of teaching I was so excited to finally be trialing again that the adrenaline kept me going. Maze was 6 for 6, 3 double Q's out of 3 days and lots of MACH points I could not have been happier.

Maze was really running well, I feel like we are absolutely ready for Nationals and the great thing is we have another trial next weekend to just tweak a few more things.

Wally was brilliant as well, going 4 for 6 with 4 first placements. His Iliopsoas strain seems to be all better and he was flying around the courses!

Merger finished his NA-J and got his very first Novice standard Q :-) He also ran FAST one day and Q'd in that class as well. He is definitely getting much more confident and is really starting to turn on the speed and use his mammoth stride. I definitely see a huge learning curve for Merger and I in the very near future, I look forward to it!

SoBe had to stay home and spend the week in pants!!! She was not happy and I missed her a lot!

Tomorrow I get to head to Salt Lake City to work with my "groups" and I am as always very excited to go work with everyone but it is bittersweet as I will have to leave Danger home and I have not left him since I have gotten him. SoBe and Danger get to go spend time with Auntie Deb they will be very happy!

Able is doing awesome and is healing nicely :-)

SoBe was wonderful in training today, she is blasting over her dog walk and turning herself inside out to stop on the contact, let's hope she is able to compete this weekend so I can see if it is going to carry over immediately or if we have to work at it, I will be happy either way and just be thrilled to be able to play with my dog! Weave poles also looking great and stunning teeter is looking wonderful, remember all of this for when I right about the trial :-)

Danger is being very cute and is shaping up to be perfect in every way. :-)

Well, I have to go pack, have a great week everyone!