First, let it be known that Jenny Damm puts on a GREAT seminar! Her teaching style is amazing, her knowledge is incredible, and, her ability to communicate how to do things is just fantastic! SoBe and I are just back from an incredible 3 days of seminar with her in Hamden, CT at the awesome Paws N' Effect training center.
It was an incredible opportunity and we made the most of it! SoBe was brilliant if I do say so myself, and, although I was continuously pushed outside of my comfort zone, (which is exactly what I was hoping for), I held up quite nicely and learned oh so much! :-)
Jenny helped us with a crocodile call, the ability to put serious emphasis on a verbal cue to REALLY get the dogs attention, imagine a crocodile on the other side of of the jump you are sending your dog over and if you do not call the dog with serious passion the crocodile will get your dog!
We were perfecting the mouse line which is the line line you should be creating for your dog on turns, going between obstacles, etc.. picture your dog as the size of a mouse when setting lines.
Killer bananas are pretty much the opposite of a mouse line as they bow out in the shape of a banana. I think you get the gist of the 3 days!
I had some serious agility handling epiphanies at this seminar which I will go into more detail about as I incorporate some of these techniques, etc... into my handling.
My mission in going to this seminar was as I said to be pushed outside of my comfort zone, but, also just to be PUSHED! I am also really trying to be not only the very best trainer and handler that I can be but also the very best teacher. In order to be these things you have to not only have an open mind but be willing to continue to learn, to try new things, and, be open to different ideas.
I feel as though with a bit of time and practice I can incorporate several of the lessons I learned at Jennys seminar and improve on what I am already doing, very exciting indeed!
After the seminar Sonya and I went directly from the airport to a USDAA trial in Denver where we had a pretty good weekend considering how brain dead we were upon arrival!
I am very happy to report that after a scare with Danger he is doing awesome and will be returning to the agility scene soon! He competed in his first trial a couple of weeks ago and on MOnday after the trial I decided to take him in to see Kera (PT vet), just to see how he was doing. Kera noticed a bit of laxity in the knee and a fairly substantial muscle mass discrepancy as well. Needless to say I was freaking out that my boy was once again possibly done with agility forever!
Deb A. was very kind and took Danger to see Dr. Stubbs, out Ortho surgeon while I was in CT. and he said everything looked great and was impressed with the overall recovery, although he did feel that strengthening exercises for that leg are in order. Back he went to see Kera and she concurred that he seemed already to be doing better and so we are on an exercise regimen along with his agility training.
On that note, his dog walk looks amazing!!!! I have to sift through some videos that I shot over the past couple of days but he really seems to understand the job and id decidedly moving forward on his dog running dog walk performance!
Well, I am off to walk dogs... more later!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
What's next?
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!!!
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!!!
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!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Everything happens for a reason...
...And, when I unknowingly let Wally and Vivid out together to go for a hike that fateful day, 9 weeks later on July 19, 2007 the reason was clear, these 5 beautiful babies needed to happen because I was supposed to have my beautiful girl SoBe who popped out as an after thought, after her 4 wonderful brothers were born :-)
Of course I am a very proud grandma of all of the wonderful babies that were born on this day 4 years ago, they include Brix, Propel, Nixon, and, Crush 4 beautiful boys who have grown up to do wonderful things for their mommies.
I am, of course, a bit biased about the last born and of course the cutest, my little SoBe DoBe Doodle Bug! She is the apple of my eye, one of my best friends, the one who makes me laugh, and, gives me gray hair! I cannot at this point imagine my life without her so thank you Wally for knowing what needed to be done and getting it done :-) LOL!!
Since these babies 2 more awesome litters of little SoBes have come into the World each loved and cherished by "their people" as much as I love SoBe.
These pups take athleticism and work ethic to a whole new level and are as smart as can be. Of course they are not perfect, there is no such thing. But, they are perfect for their people and the jobs they have been destined to do, whether it is agility, obedience, or, hiking buddies.
Happy Birthday my dear SoBe, Brix, Propel, Nixon, and, Crush!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Another camp come and gone...
I am having one of those days where all I want to do is lay on the couch and vegitate, it would be the weekend right after camp :-) Camp was AMAZING!!! I am so incredibly thankful for all of the help I received before, during, and, after camp that made such a wonderful camp possible!
The campers were fabulous, the instruction, even if I am biased, was superb and a great time was had by all :-)
I am already very excited about next year and as soon as the details are ironed out there will be an announcement of when camp will be, who will be instructing, and, of course, the theme!
Once I can actually keep my eyes open and formulate a coherent thought, I will be getting ready for my next adventure, the European Open!
Maze and I are heading to Austria on Tuesday to compete in the European Open the weekend of the 29-31 of July.
The European Open is said to be the largest Championship event in Europe and I am super excited to go for the first time. Maze and I are definitely ready for the event, or, at least we will be by the time we head over :-)
I am especially excited to watch all of the wonderful European dog and handler teams that will be there, I will be doing a lot of filming!
I am also really excited about "continuing education" that I have planned for myself this year.
SoBe and I are once again going to be working with Silas Boogk at Ann Braues center in Eau Claire, we will be traveling out east to work with Jenny Damm the end of August, and, I am hosting a seminar with Crufts winner Dawn Weaver in November. It is going to be a great year!
The dogs and I have been doing a fair bit of trialing recently, which has pretty much come to a screeching halt for the time being but it was a great run and I came away with lots of IFCS points for Maze, semi finals byes for Nationals in both GP and Steeplechase for Maze and Wally and a Steeplechase semi finals bye for Steeplechase for SoBe!
Hmmmm.... what else has been going on? Well, as of 3 days ago when I last trained him, Danger was doing 12 weave poles in a row!!! Now, if we could just get these contacts in order we would be all set :-)
Mooch is growing up and at the same time being allowed to be a puppy, that is dog trainer speak for I have not had much time to work with him :-) He was a super boy at camp though and we did get a lot of socialization as well as training Moochie to be a good quiet boy while watching agility, very valuable!
Well, I think I may hoist myself up and go work a few dogs, just for fun!
The campers were fabulous, the instruction, even if I am biased, was superb and a great time was had by all :-)
I am already very excited about next year and as soon as the details are ironed out there will be an announcement of when camp will be, who will be instructing, and, of course, the theme!
Once I can actually keep my eyes open and formulate a coherent thought, I will be getting ready for my next adventure, the European Open!
Maze and I are heading to Austria on Tuesday to compete in the European Open the weekend of the 29-31 of July.
The European Open is said to be the largest Championship event in Europe and I am super excited to go for the first time. Maze and I are definitely ready for the event, or, at least we will be by the time we head over :-)
I am especially excited to watch all of the wonderful European dog and handler teams that will be there, I will be doing a lot of filming!
I am also really excited about "continuing education" that I have planned for myself this year.
SoBe and I are once again going to be working with Silas Boogk at Ann Braues center in Eau Claire, we will be traveling out east to work with Jenny Damm the end of August, and, I am hosting a seminar with Crufts winner Dawn Weaver in November. It is going to be a great year!
The dogs and I have been doing a fair bit of trialing recently, which has pretty much come to a screeching halt for the time being but it was a great run and I came away with lots of IFCS points for Maze, semi finals byes for Nationals in both GP and Steeplechase for Maze and Wally and a Steeplechase semi finals bye for Steeplechase for SoBe!
Hmmmm.... what else has been going on? Well, as of 3 days ago when I last trained him, Danger was doing 12 weave poles in a row!!! Now, if we could just get these contacts in order we would be all set :-)
Mooch is growing up and at the same time being allowed to be a puppy, that is dog trainer speak for I have not had much time to work with him :-) He was a super boy at camp though and we did get a lot of socialization as well as training Moochie to be a good quiet boy while watching agility, very valuable!
Well, I think I may hoist myself up and go work a few dogs, just for fun!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Back to the Dark ages... sort of :-)
Today I deactivated my Facebook account, yes that's right, I am taking a break, maybe permanently from Facebook. Why you ask, because it is time to get back to communicating with people on a face to face basis, or, at least by phone call or even email.
I find that although it has been quite nice to reconnect with people that I have not seen or talked to in a long while, and, it is a great way to get information it is also an addictive, time consuming way for me to procrastinate the day away :-)
I am constantly amazed by how quickly technology is taking over the World and how things have changed during my lifetime, I have managed to avoid a lot of it by refusing to actually learn how to use a computer properly, and, I even still keep a paper calendar!
I will admit, I am a cell phone addict and am not sure what I would do without it. I also appreciate the awesome power of email and the ability to communicate with people around the World almost immediately.
The availability of on line education, YouTube, and, the various other mediums that allow us to peek at what is going on worldwide are awesome, but, it seems to me we each have to draw the line somewhere. I am drawing my personal line by getting off of Facebook and not joining Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, or, any of the here is what I am doing at this moment technological advancements.
I know a few people that have managed to avoid the addiction and have been able to survive just fine :-) They also do not have to suffer the withdrawals I am sure to face given the fact that I find myself on Facebook numerous times a day, just browsing!
I plan to utilize the time I would have spent browsing Facebook to reconnect the old fashioned way with various friends, spend more time on my various agility related projects, training my dogs, and, taking some time to smell the flowers.
I, completely understand the addiction and hopefully can hold onto my resolve and not fall off the wagon. I also applaud those that can use Facebook in moderation. I will definitely miss seeing the awesome accomplishments, funny stories, beautiful photos, and, happy moments that so many of my "friends" share, but, I will cherish all of these things even more when I see them in person! Adios Facebook, I am sure that I will miss you!
I find that although it has been quite nice to reconnect with people that I have not seen or talked to in a long while, and, it is a great way to get information it is also an addictive, time consuming way for me to procrastinate the day away :-)
I am constantly amazed by how quickly technology is taking over the World and how things have changed during my lifetime, I have managed to avoid a lot of it by refusing to actually learn how to use a computer properly, and, I even still keep a paper calendar!
I will admit, I am a cell phone addict and am not sure what I would do without it. I also appreciate the awesome power of email and the ability to communicate with people around the World almost immediately.
The availability of on line education, YouTube, and, the various other mediums that allow us to peek at what is going on worldwide are awesome, but, it seems to me we each have to draw the line somewhere. I am drawing my personal line by getting off of Facebook and not joining Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, or, any of the here is what I am doing at this moment technological advancements.
I know a few people that have managed to avoid the addiction and have been able to survive just fine :-) They also do not have to suffer the withdrawals I am sure to face given the fact that I find myself on Facebook numerous times a day, just browsing!
I plan to utilize the time I would have spent browsing Facebook to reconnect the old fashioned way with various friends, spend more time on my various agility related projects, training my dogs, and, taking some time to smell the flowers.
I, completely understand the addiction and hopefully can hold onto my resolve and not fall off the wagon. I also applaud those that can use Facebook in moderation. I will definitely miss seeing the awesome accomplishments, funny stories, beautiful photos, and, happy moments that so many of my "friends" share, but, I will cherish all of these things even more when I see them in person! Adios Facebook, I am sure that I will miss you!
Monday, June 27, 2011
It's been a crazy wonderful month!
Although Geoff had to cu the trip short and miss the last trial we had planned on attending, it was really great to get to spend some "real" time with him.
The trip started with the MAC trial where all of the dogs were incredible! You are quite possibly going to get tired of reading that phrase because it pretty much describes each weekend:-)
I had the opportunity to work with my peeps in Minnesota after the trial and it was the usual awesome time!
I worked for 2.5 days then it was off to Calgary for the AAC Regional Championships, what a great event!
First, it was held in the most incredibly beautiful setting on a perfectly groomed rugby field overlooking all of Calgary and the Rocky mountains in the back ground.
Geoff and I showed a total of 5 dogs at the event and all dogs not only qualified for the AAC Nationals but all ended the weekend in the top 10 placements in their divisions.
Maze was the superstar winning all 3 rounds of Steeplechase, and, winning overall 26" dog becoming the 2011 Regional Champion!
Wally was a superstar in his own right also winning all 3 rounds of Steeplechase, to become the 22" Steeplechase Champ! Wally finished the weekend in 5th place overall.
SoBe always an adventure ended up 10th overall but did have a few really impressive moments, including but not limited to winning one of the gamblers classes after completing all available gambles! In Canada the gamblers courses include mini gambles as well as the main gamble, in this particular class SoBe completed a total of 5 gambles :-)
Rumor and Geoff brought home the bronze medal from the 16" specials class and Xtra 6th overall in 10" Veterans. She had so much fun!
After the trial ended Geoff and I headed to Banff where we hiked and played with dogs :-) A lovely night of camping and a campfire really made the trip fantastic as well as quite relaxing! The Banff area is so incredibly beautiful!! I was quite amazed at how dog friendly all of the parks are as well. We swam dogs, hiked with the dogs and just basically hung out with the dogs for a couple of days, it was heaven!
Then is was off to Salt Lake City where I once again got to spend a day working with my awesome students!! Geoff headed home after he dropped me off in Salt Lake and the dogs and I once again had the pleasure of staying with our dear friends Colleen and Kevin for a few days as I was yet again trialing :-)
Guess what? The dogs were BRILLIANT!! I have had a most incredible year of trialing thus far and I attribute a lot of it to really exploring the mental part of this game and essentially relaxing and enjoying the ride!
Somehow, I managed to forget to mention that Danger made his debut in Jumpers, gamblers and Snooker at the MAC trial :-) We have a VERY long way to go but he did manage a jumpers Q!
This past weekend he got a gamblers Q, although I was quite surprised as I was under the impression you had to actually get some points in the opening portion of the class as well as get the gamble :-) I thought it might be fun to post the video, if I had one :-), and play a game called find the points! Did I mention we have a ways to go...
Anyway, back to Salt Lake, suffice to say that over the past several weekends my dogs and I have done our fair share of winning, but, most of all we have had some amazingly spectacular runs, whether they were winning runs, placing runs, or, in some cases, NQ'ing runs :-)
The long and the short of it, I love my dogs, I love my family, I am seriously grateful for my friends, my students, and, all of the wonderful people that I am lucky enough to get meet along the way. I am a very lucky person indeed and I am already looking forward to a great weekend at the Rocky Mountain Regional this coming weekend! I am sure over the course of the weekend I will learn lots, have some majorly memorable moments, and, possibly some disappointments as well, but, when all is said and done I will still have my dogs, my family, my friends and lots to look forward to!
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