I am sitting in the Best Western in Park City Kansas reflecting on an awesome 5 days of teaching a group of students who really make me smile. They make me smile for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that they are simply great students, thoughtful, interested, willing, and, just downright fun! I have been very fortunate to have worked with almost everyone who attended this weeks seminars before, and, because of this, I already have a heads up on essentially where everyone is at from a training perspective, and, I also know from where they came, I am so incredibly proud of the work they have done and the progress they have made!
I am also sitting here trying to make the right decision about whether I should stay here for the 3 day trial I am entered in this weekend or get up in the morning and head home. I am faced with this dilemma because I have unfortunately come down with a pretty nasty cold while I have been here and am not only feeling pretty awful but am essentially exhausted because of it.
For all intents and purposes this should be an easy decision, except that as much as I love my job as a teacher, I also love to train and trial my own dogs which of course always takes a backseat to the teaching part. The only thing that seems to take an even "backer" seat is me. There are only so many hours in a day, days in a week, weeks in a month, months in a year... I try to pack so much into all of these that sometimes I think I just get plain and simply run down. It is times like these that I am forced to look at my priorities and get them in order. Of course my family, my dogs, my work, my students, and, my fun are important, but, none of these things can be experienced to the fullest if I am not physically or mentally at peak performance level.
Trialing, for instance, is of course a passion of mine and my primary source of fun and relaxation as it were, however, on order to be my best at the trials, and, be the best handler I can be for my dogs I have to be able to focus, concentrate, and, think clearly, or else I am not being fair to either my dogs or myself.
For this reason as hard as it is, I am going to pack up ithe morning and head home, reminding myself that there is always another trial, but,
there is only one me! Most people are probably quite thankful for this! :-)
Being the incredible type A personality that I am also means that part of the rest, relaxation and recuperation process will include a detailed plan for training the pups on the new found free days that I have acquired, with a few naps thrown in to make sure that this crud that I seem to have leaves me sooner rather than later.
So about that little thing called training, this week while teaching I tried to get a few sessions in with the dogs but other than a couple of quite productive sessions with Danger on the low dog walk I did not really accomplish much. I was reminded again how very important planning and preparation is. I found myself attempting to cut corners in my preparation, not planning as well as I could have, and, hurrying through the training sessions which left both the dogs and me feeling like something was lacking, the important thing is that I realized this and reminded myself that I need to be able to give full attention to my dogs and the task at hand in order to get the outcome I am looking for. Another fabulous reminder of quality over quantity, if you are not at your best, you cannot give your best and you are best to take some time off from training until a clear mind is available.
So, home we go to get better and clear our heads so that we are ready to rock ASAP!
On a much more upbeat note, Dangers dog walks are looking amazing! I am to the point that I am starting to offset the toy and run more putting more pressure on Danger, soon we will be raising the walk a few inches, yea!
Thank you Wichita Agility Group for a wonderful week of seminars, good luck this weekend and I hope to see you all again soon!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Just say Thank You!
So, my good friend Jacqui told me today that I should blog about the fact that when a compliment is given a person should just say Thank You! And, do you know what? She is absolutely right!
Human nature is a very funny thing and we seem to be of the opinion species wide, that self deprecation is an honorable trait. It is our defense mechanism against disappointment and, even worse, we use it at times to simply pump up our own perception of our self worth. I find as a seminar presenter and teacher that all too often I have to literally tell a group of students that if I give a compliment, it is not only OK to just accept it and say thank you, but honestly, rather rude to turn it into an opportunity to talk about why they did not do the good job you just told them they did!
Everyone is capable of doing great things and I think there is a very clear line between accepting praise and admitting a job well done and being arrogant.
Trust me, I think there is a very large population of arrogant people in this world but I also think there is an even larger number of people who are just too self conscious to accept a compliment and move on.
If you are of the arrogant variety, please check yourself and realize that every time you turn a compliment into a negative, when you have clearly done something well, that you are potentially hurting someone around you who felt really good about what they did and are now feeling quite inadequate since Someone who clearly did better has dismissed their accomplishment as subpar.
Those of you who dismiss compliments because you feel that you are not worthy, get over it and appreciate your skills, accomplishments, etc.. And allow the person complimenting you to feel the joy of making someone feel good about something. :-)
I know for myself, if I compliment you, I mean it!
Enjoy the compliment and just say "thank you".
Human nature is a very funny thing and we seem to be of the opinion species wide, that self deprecation is an honorable trait. It is our defense mechanism against disappointment and, even worse, we use it at times to simply pump up our own perception of our self worth. I find as a seminar presenter and teacher that all too often I have to literally tell a group of students that if I give a compliment, it is not only OK to just accept it and say thank you, but honestly, rather rude to turn it into an opportunity to talk about why they did not do the good job you just told them they did!
Everyone is capable of doing great things and I think there is a very clear line between accepting praise and admitting a job well done and being arrogant.
Trust me, I think there is a very large population of arrogant people in this world but I also think there is an even larger number of people who are just too self conscious to accept a compliment and move on.
If you are of the arrogant variety, please check yourself and realize that every time you turn a compliment into a negative, when you have clearly done something well, that you are potentially hurting someone around you who felt really good about what they did and are now feeling quite inadequate since Someone who clearly did better has dismissed their accomplishment as subpar.
Those of you who dismiss compliments because you feel that you are not worthy, get over it and appreciate your skills, accomplishments, etc.. And allow the person complimenting you to feel the joy of making someone feel good about something. :-)
I know for myself, if I compliment you, I mean it!
Enjoy the compliment and just say "thank you".
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
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!
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!
Monday, January 10, 2011
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!
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!
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