tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66613979524846430662024-03-13T11:27:50.813-07:00Agility ThoughtsThoughts on the sport of dog agility and the training of the teamMaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.comBlogger263125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-91941081879604152432023-06-28T09:13:00.001-07:002023-06-28T09:13:37.740-07:00It has been a very long time so I am starting simple! I have often thought about writing again, but never really got back to it. Now seems like a good time, I have some things to say. They probably need to be said in several posts, but I will just start with what motivated me this morning. I was at a UKI cup this weekend with Joe (I have yet to introduce him on the blog). Although he is young, I have a ton of Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-55906486484671384792017-11-03T06:12:00.001-07:002017-11-03T06:12:23.318-07:00We were asked to run an ultra marathon, not the 50 yard dashIf you have been in agility a while then you know that each dog we have, will have something in their personality that gives us a challenge. My pack of 4 has been no exception. The challenge that Tangle gave me however was the one that I was the most ill-equipped to deal with.
Tangle is a very Zen dog, has been since the moment I brought him home. Very thoughtful, in tune with Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-61365226136624655372017-01-06T16:11:00.001-08:002017-01-06T16:11:27.266-08:00Agility, what does it take?I haven't posted in a while. I suspect because my brain has been really busy with some deep learning this last year and I haven't processed all the great info and put it in it's place. I am not there yet, but I think little thoughts are beginning to eek out anyway.
For my students I ponder this question a lot, "what does it take to accomplish your goals in agility?"
There are so Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-48452147991571618122016-10-14T08:42:00.001-07:002016-10-14T08:42:27.698-07:00Verbals - running out of wordsVerbals have become a big discussion lately. In that people are feeling like they need more.
I am probably in that camp. Not as many as some people are contemplating, but I at least need a couple more. Here is a map on the situation that brought this question to mind.
Currently I use the following:
Black = Cik (wrap and head back to me)
Red = no verbal at this point,Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-65024452404660618872016-03-30T10:50:00.001-07:002016-04-07T20:45:58.964-07:00I am about to be a very vocal advocate for dog agility equipment safetyI will write more, but I wanted to get this picture public! I can't tell you how upset I was when I saw this. It was my failure to not spot this, but I am not the only one who failed in this situation.
The top picture was taken by Ken Gee Photography and posted with permission.
Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-5280003615152405652016-03-27T16:09:00.003-07:002016-03-27T16:09:34.838-07:00It was well worth a year of effort!It was about a year ago that I said to my coach "I want to change my handling and timing for Tangle". Of course I had no idea I was on a year journey, but really it didn't matter, I just wanted to do what it took for us to be the best team we could be.
It was about 4 months ago that I said "I am going to try to love standard" (I hated standard).
Not that we have "arrived", I Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-2160335990266102112015-12-08T19:38:00.001-08:002015-12-08T19:47:02.981-08:00European Open Tryouts 2016I made it! The decision to go was iffy for most of the month, but we made it!
Overall European Open Tryouts are great. They are fun and your fellow competitors are cheering you on. Every run at this event was amazing, lots of great handlers and speedy dogs. The courses were awesome and challenges are hard, really hard sometimes. There was not a single large dog team thatMaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-87906805370514103802015-11-16T08:15:00.003-08:002015-11-16T08:15:37.980-08:00A beautiful weekend to trainIf you read my last post then you have an idea how thankful I am right now EVERYTIME I get to play with my dogs. It is stress relief, fun, takes me away from "real life".
This is a course that I ran this weekend with Tangle and Hoot (and Split but I didn't video him). Very fun because there was lots of running involved. Good exercise for me and the dogs enjoy courses where theyMaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-62532481881194232862015-11-12T09:09:00.000-08:002015-11-12T09:09:14.289-08:00Is it all about the journey?Life events as of late have pulled me away from agility. I am now taking care of my elderly Dad while he recovers in the hospital and the rehab center. His care is fairly demanding and requiring a fair bit of my time. The same time that I use to use for agility, exercising my dogs, and my own sanity.
This past year Tangle (and Hoot) and I have been on a journey to improve our Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-49611591188239797752015-10-16T15:27:00.001-07:002015-10-16T15:27:21.577-07:00What can I say?I have been a slacker, I need to blog. I blog to keep a record for myself and lately I have really been slacking.
So much learning, so much to say but yet no words on the page. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to have some quality time with my blog to spew some of what I have been working on.
In the meantime, enjoy this picture of Hoot at one of her local trials.
Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-71694476619878435262015-08-25T08:37:00.001-07:002015-08-25T08:37:22.071-07:00Training Party TricksYou ever had one of those training sessions where you really feel connected to your dogs, and they are responding to everything nicely? Even though you were working hard skills, it seems like you are training party tricks? It is pure joy. It is those training sessions that keep me going.
Tangle and I have been working really hard on new skills. Our practice sessions have Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-74033173702002734042015-07-28T13:32:00.001-07:002015-07-28T13:32:35.680-07:00Just a bit of diversity todayThese are some quotes that struck me today and I wanted to keep them around. I feel that I am constantly tweaking who I am and how I react to the world. Not that I am unhappy, because I am not. But I know that I can always be happier and react to the world in a better way.
Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-70256339725855162362015-07-23T16:41:00.000-07:002015-07-23T16:41:18.488-07:00Discriminations, tunnels, aframes, weaves in a small spaceI put this course together this morning. Actually my goal was to keep Hoot off the AFrame and I figured I would just work tunnels. With Tangle, I ended up working tunnels and the AFrame.
For small spaces this course has a lot of skill work to offer.
White square - I worked come to hand, and discriminations. It was very fun to work cueing for the AF vs the tunnel. #4 I Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-41627580268186827192015-07-13T15:29:00.002-07:002015-07-13T15:30:11.437-07:00Hoot's AKC DebutI finally got to take Hoot out for a spin "officially".
I have a slightly different approach to the beginning of Hoot's trialing career than I have had with my other dogs. With Tangle, I trained him in the back yard, then signed him up for classes in one place, did some tours of different dog walks and AF's and then he went head first into trialing. All the classes. If you think about it and Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-91026260005346910992015-06-30T12:01:00.003-07:002015-06-30T12:47:27.077-07:00You have to work hard for what you wantAgility is a blast, if it weren't, a lot of us would be doing something else!
But let's face it, when there is something that you really want in agility, it is a lot of hard work! Really hard work! Most goals in life are that way. If it were easy, you would already have it right?
You have to really, really want it. You have to keep your focus on it and your commitment Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-76576492916484261862015-05-18T08:16:00.002-07:002015-05-18T08:16:20.184-07:00The exact word you use mattersI had been thinking a lot (ok, I always am, that is who I am) about goals and objectives. I am really trying to change my mental game. I know that if I can get my mental game changed the physical part will follow!
I made a list of handling objectives that I really need to focus on for each run. I suspect that I will continue to tweak this list, but for the moment I am ready to Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-12471987273447216172015-05-13T18:07:00.002-07:002015-05-13T18:07:42.995-07:00She has a heart of goldI love this little dog. She has a heart of gold and the work ethic that won't quit. She always tries to please.
This was our practice today. Our training agenda was based on things that we have worked on lately, but that weren't going as well as I like. Also to work areas where I felt like my trust wasn't as strong as it needed to be. This video has Hoot's whole Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-61815023094697772882015-04-26T10:44:00.000-07:002015-04-26T10:44:26.716-07:00Combining methods--weaves revisitedEvery dog is a different training experience and as I have already mentioned I am trying different things with Hoot. I hate doing the same thing over and over again, even if it is successful. I always want to at least tweak my process. Optimist that I am, I know that even the most perfect process can be made better.
I decided to go back to the channel weaves with Hoot. Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-79444232037838045782015-04-22T08:18:00.002-07:002015-04-22T08:18:59.854-07:00Jumping SkillsI am no jumping expert, but I am a student of jumping. By that I mean, I want my dogs to have good form and understand their job so I seek out knowledge in those areas.
Tangle is a great jumper. I have been told my many that he is "gifted" or a natural. But, what does that mean? I am not really sure, but when contrasting him to Hoot, I didn't really have to teach him Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-79565166066953108032015-04-10T10:00:00.000-07:002015-04-10T10:00:18.303-07:00Powering through a courseI think that there is a ton of value in teaching foundation, breaking down sequences and working all the pieces and parts of the exercise/course. I also believe that there is tremendous value in just powering through a course, not giving up, and learning to improvise with what the dog gives you. They aren't always going to do what you expect. :)
I am taking Silvia's Handling 1 class Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-78228284567427904352015-03-04T06:20:00.000-08:002015-03-04T06:20:08.163-08:00Ah, the happiness of training your puppyThis blog entry is a part of the dog agility blogging event, "Health and Happiness"
I got a BC puppy "Hoot" less than a year ago. A very high drive,
fearless, loves to work, agile, soft yet pushy kind of a girl. I adore her and love to train her. As with all my dogs, I want to keep her best interests in mind, but be able to train and play with her.
Hoot is my 4th
agility Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-65452049727835584262015-01-19T15:18:00.000-08:002015-01-19T15:18:29.885-08:00The allure of the running contactI have trained one dog on running contacts and didn't keep them, I have re-trained another dog to have running contacts (and kept them), and I am in the process of training baby Hoot to have running contacts. So I have seen this process from a couple of different perspectives.
I will say that each time I go through the process I get more faith in it, and have more patience and appreciationMaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-65108511269518665912014-12-22T08:27:00.000-08:002014-12-22T08:27:33.338-08:00Power of the People -- Hippie thoughtsYes, it is that time of year where we all give thanks and I will do that (later). But regardless of the time of year, what I really think is cool is that people are examining their own motives and practices for agility. And, many are going public with those thoughts. The people are speaking up. I am thankful for that!
The future of agility should be driven from the groundMaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-49272380540003704602014-12-18T19:48:00.003-08:002014-12-18T19:48:48.597-08:00Obstacle CommitmentI have been thinking a lot lately about obstacle commitment. Teaching a young dog makes you re-think or just think about a lot of things!
In my mind, obstacle commitment is closely related to "trust", "finding the line" and "proofing" obstacles. The biggest reason to work on and perfect obstacle commitment for me is so I can get to where I need to be ON TIME! The other Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661397952484643066.post-76268541691397827632014-12-03T01:00:00.000-08:002014-12-03T07:21:28.328-08:00To be interested in learning, you must be challenged!I was going to blog about something slightly different, but an email from a friend the other day really hit the core of this topic, Continuing Education.
Some friends and I were chatting about running really hard courses, both in competition and in practice. It was mentioned that there are a number of people who are getting bored with agility. Once you get a couple of MACH's/ADCH's Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03739769828824639650noreply@blogger.com3