I finally own an agility field!

We have been searching for a new house for over two years now. You never would think that it would be so hard to find a house with at least .8 acres and enough bedrooms to house three people! It was.

We finally closed on a house that is actually just blocks from our current house. It has an acre of land and NOT enough bedrooms to house three people. That being said, we will be doing some expansion before we move into the house. All I can say is that I might start a whole other blog to talk about that "project". It has already been interesting. Feels like I have bi-polar disorder--good news, bad news, good news, bad news. You get the idea.

Anyway, we take possession of the house tomorrow and I am very excited to set my jumps on the land! It feels like this is just in time since most of the agility fields around town are getting more and more crowded. It is so hard to get time on the field without sharing and compromising what we want to train.

So, tomorrow, the dogs get their first snif at the new agility field!

Spring is coming...

With the glacier receding in the backyard it is time to think about backyard training again...

Split and Tip both did awesome over the winter in their trials. This past weekend Tip got her open standard title in AKC. 7 runs/6 q's. That is an amazing accomplishment for us. There was a day when I would not trial her in AKC because it would have just been an off course mess. Not anymore!

Split has done awesome over the winter. He gets more reliable with every run. His velcro tendancies are slowly disappearing as he gains experience with the game!

Tip Open Standard Title


Split JWW First Place

Training made fun

OK, I would like to add to this post several times. In general I am all about fun. Anytime I can take a situation and put more fun into it, I am there!

First idea, learning what the stressers are in agility
1. http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2009/12/susan-garretts-5-certainty-challenge.html. Agility Nerd has already put together the challenges, so I don't even have to collect them! http://agilitynerd.com/blog/agility/courses/misc/susan-garrett-challenges.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email

Ready for Action

Ah, the rest or change of pace was nice for 6 weeks. I am feeling rejuvenated and ready for another season of agility. But first, herding! Split and I will be attending a herding seminar this weekend. Really looking forward to being able to play with my dog in a different way.

We had our first trial of the season this past weekend, USDAA. We really had some great runs (all three of us). Split did not have any crazy runs around the course without me. He did have some moments where he lost his brain, but we got it back (the pause table is good for something!). Split had a beautiful standard run, but we didn't Q. Video does not reveal what the problem was...I suspect recording error.

Tip had a great weekend, had to pull her from one standard run for a teeter fly off. Her teeter was beautiful on the next run :) Her jumpers run was SMOKEN fast and accurate. One of those runs that everything went right and we worked as a team. Nice to hear the crowd clap for the run!

Beginning to compile the list of what skills we need to hone!

Time to rest

I was feeling this way before Nationals and it still is true, it is time to rest. Since my dog of choice is a Border Collie I can not REST, but I can do different activities and rejuvenate.

I think mostly I need a break from competition agility. That is rest the part of the brain that always has to think "is this my criteria", "was that the exact behavior I am looking for", "in this trial I need to Q in ??? in order to make nationals".

We are going to spend some time swimming, hiking, maybe training some distance agility (this will actually be the first time I have ever trained distance), and learning "stupid pet tricks". We will just work our minds and body in different ways!

We are NOT going to trial.

Let's see what this change of activity brings...In the meantime enjoy our start to RESTING

USDAA Nationals

Here I am at USDAA Nationals in Scottsdale, AZ.

Day One

Tip & I have been running well, she seems to have left the crazies behind most of the time. The only thing that I thought I really needed to train was threadles, pull thoughs and we were doing really well on those. I came down here ready!

I guess the practical items first. So far, I remembered everything that I needed, BUT...a rolling cart. Didn't think I would need it, couldn't have been more wrong. Note to self...bring one next time. The amount of walking is AMAZING.

When I set Nationals as my goal, it really was just to qualify. I didn't put a whole lot of thought into what I wanted to get out of Nationals. As the date grew near I began to think about that. My lack of creativity lead me to things like I want to Q, I want to place, etc...

I had my first run today and after the run it became clear what my goal for this Nationals was. I wanted to add more items to the list of what Tip & I need to work on. Having that list motivates me and really is why I am in agility. I love training the dogs.

Day two - end

I had the best of intensions on writing about each day, but to be honest I was exhausted and I could make myself sit at the computer or even focus on the past day.

So, I am back home, exhausted and Iwill make myself write.

Tip was amazingly consistent through all the days in her runs. She ran beautifully, but not as fast as she normally does. Both her and Split were not feeling well. Stomach stuff. Also, now that I see them back at home, neither dog was really happy down there. The environment didn't seem as stressful as it apparently was.

Tip kept all but one start line, I was so proud of her. Thankfully, the start lines weren't crowded. She listened really well, had beautiful running contacts (ops, the dog walk IS a 2o2o). Nice lines. Couldn't have asked for more really.

Looking at her results in Team jumpers and PSJ she placed 29th out of about 200 dogs. Not shaby results at all.

She was robbed in Team Standard however. We ran clean and fast. It was one of those runs were you knew you did your best. Everyone who watched said she ran clean. I was thinking, we placed in this I just know it! The official results said that she had a fault. Don't think so! She would have placed 2nd overall (out of 200 dogs). Instead, even with her fault she was 30th! Would have been nice to come home with a ribbon.

In the end, looking back, for the dogs it was a stressful week and probably not as much fun as just staying home and playing here. For me, great to see the rich and famous run their dogs, great to see just great handling by many unknowns, a lot of sitting around and waiting, proud of my dog and her consistent performance. I was proud of myself that I handles the stress well, I didn't fall apart. Proud of myself that we have come a looooonnnnnnnggggg way in short period of time.

So, here it is, my list of things to work on:

• Better proof contacts with front crosses at the end. Could have used that at both the teeter and dog walk.
• Turns off of teeters (we did OK, but I was worried)

Essential skills at Nationals (other than a good foundation)

• Start line stay
• proofed contacts
• 270 tight lines
• Turns off teeters

Segments from USDAA team

I ran team this weekend with both dogs. I think it was safe to say that the theme of the courses was pull throughs. Here are some excerpts from this weekend that I want to isolate and practice for Nationals.

First excerise--demonstrating option 1 that people choose for handling










First excerise--demonstrating option 2 that people choose for handling (more popular)









Second - more popular choice









second option 2











This is a segment of the course so no leadout will demonstrate the problem. Handling #4, several people either got the tunnel or a refusal at #4. With a fast dog it was hard to get from the Frame to #4 to handle smoothly. Weave pole entry was hard to cue ahead of time because you needed the dog to jump toward you and then you could cue it. Of course the dog weaved into the edge of the course.











Again, segment of the course. Not many people too many problems on this. Just thought it was interesting. I have now seen this at AKC and USDAA were the dog is blind to where you are coming out of the tunnel.