Sunrise, Sunset

This shouldn't be a sad blog, it really is meant to be a recognition of the lives to two amazing dogs.  I must admit however, that a couple of tears comes to my eyes as I write this!

I competed with two of my dogs, Tip and Tangle, in USDAA's Rocky Mountain Regional a couple of  weekends ago.  We had several amazing moments with both dogs as measured by a position on a podium and then we had many, many amazing moments because I saw the best coming out in one of the dogs in moments of brilliance.

Sunrise

Tangle is 2, almost 3 years old.  Tangle is beginning to make his mark on this world.  He is an old soul who is teaching me new things about agility every day!  At almost 3 years old he has already qualified for 3 national events, competed at the national level, competed at a world team tryout.  I really believe, no matter my goal Tangle can help me accomplish it.  He is gentle, steady, level headed,  honest, fast and an awesome partner.  I have never had a dog that could compete so steadily in agility, keeping his head at such a young age.

At this Rocky Mountain Regional he was on the second place team.  Not a small accomplishment for a 2 year old.  It takes a consistent performer in 5 events.  He placed 5th in Team snooker, with about 50 dogs in his class. 

Tangle, Wick and Summit

Sunset

Tip is 9 years old.  She has definitely made her mark on this world!  She has been an amazing teacher is so many ways.  She is an awesome leader of my pack, she and I learned agility together, she taught me the importance of foundation (or the lack there of), she taught me to laugh, even in the face of "failure" and the biggest lesson, always have fun no matter the outcome!

Tip has competed in 4 venues, been to 4 national events, on the podium in several of those.  She has been of the podium for either/both/all P-Grand Prix, P-Steeplechase, and Team at three USDAA regional events.

Now I wouldn't be doing justice to Tip by not recognizing her crazy side as well.  After all, that is who she is.  She LOVES the game and I am sure she will be running it in heaven as well.  She loves it so much that sometimes she just can't help herself on course.  In many runs, she has taken so many obstacles on course without recognizing that I am standing there waiting for her to come back and work with me.  She has completed a run and started doing a second round on the same course for her 'victory lap', I can't count the number of broken startlines, and running dog walks (she has a 2o2o).  Those are the moments that taught me to appreciate watching another creature just absolutely LOVING something and it makes me smile (it didn't at first!).

So, I recognized on the way home from this USDAA Regional that this may be her last or at least the last time on the podium.  She is not showing signs of slowing down, but at 9, it is bound to happen.

Tip - 1st place PGP round 1 and 2

Thanks to both dogs for being my partner at Regionals!!

Voices of the Whos!

Improvement, that is always the name of the game isn't it?

This blogging event (Improving Agility Organizations) is our opportunity as a community to gather together to be the 'Whos' in 'Whoville' and provide feedback to agility organizations on how they are doing, what we like, and where we would like to see improvement.   If everyone uses their voice on the same day might be heard in more circles than just our own.

Horton Hears a Who (tvfirstlook.com)

I participate in several venues and all of them have great things about them and all of them have things that well...they could improve.  True about everything in life isn't it? 

If I had Kenneth Tatsch's (USDAA) ear today, the couple of things that I would say to him:

• I love USDAA.  For me it is a great balance between having challenges that are interesting to me and course that are fun for the dogs to run (running! most interests them!).
• In our area USDAA trials are mostly outdoors, fairly relaxed and casual events.  I love that!
• It would be helpful to know qualifying criteria ahead of time.  Announcing criteria for National events (Cynosport, IFCS Continental) BEFORE the qualifying period has begun is really important to me.   For me,  I have to plan in advance where I will travel in order to qualify for things.  It is not possible for me to decide at the last moment to go on the road to a trial in order to qualify.  Are they purposely biasing their events?
• Ken, you have a wonderful opportunity to get more small dogs to join USDAA.  Just give them a jump height that is fair for them.**
• At Cynosport you should consider loading results onto a website.  Large monitors just don't cut it.  It is very hard to see your results gathered around monitors with 120 of fellow competitors.  It is really fun to obsess about my dogs results relative to my competitors.  Your affecting my ability to obsess.  BTW, the monitors never scroll at the speed that you want :)

P.S.
Actually if I had to pick a favorite venue that isn't really a venue it would be AKC's world team tryouts.  The people are friendly, the courses are amazing (fun for dogs and humans), and extremely well run!

Got some new gadgets!

OK, it all begins with an idea.  "I wonder which kind of a start is faster on this course..."

Well, just so happens that I got a new cell phone last week.  Ya know, one of those phones that is as big as a dinner plate (quoting a friend).

Since I had that fantastic new phone with its fantastic new camera I decided to get "Coaches Eye".  It is a snazzy little app that allows you to film, put two films side-by-side, start them where you want each one to start and run them side by side (among other things).  You can see where I am going right?

Well, hum, I was home alone tonight, how am I going to hold the phone (ie, camera) still to video and run a dog?  Well, one trip to REI and I got a GridTight Mount for my tripod.  Great little gadget, fits all sorts of cell phones and hooks onto a standard tripod.

All set!!

So, here is my handy dandy experiment.   I thought that a running start would be much faster.  Don't think that it was.  I thought that Tangle would beat Split.  Split doesn't turn as tight usually, but since he apparently knew it was a race...

What a powerful learning experience

Well, we are back from the great white north, Minneapolis, MN.  And yes, there was snow at the beginning of May on the way there.  Made for an epic adventure.

We had an amazing time, learned a ton, found some weaknesses, and celebrated some strengths!

I have to say that at first I was a little in awe at being at ITT, but after a day things began to settle in and it felt a little bit like just a really awesome trial.  It was a wonderful weekend of watching fantastic dogs (big and small) and fantastic handlers.  As a friend said to me, "It is the best seminar you will go to all year", and really that was true.  I got so much out of watching.

What I learned

• The people are great, welcoming and super nice
• It is an awesome trial
• My dog is rock solid.  I have never had a 2 year old that didn't loose his/her head in that kind of excitement.  Tangle was in the game and doing his job the whole time.
• I need to work on my mental game a bit more.  I got lost on one of the runs and I rarely have that happen.
• Hardly anyone lays down all clean runs (at least this year they didn't).  You have the mental image that only your dog is going to drop bars and go off course.  Not true.  I had great company!
• Working backsides, threadles, turning after long straight tunnels, turning on the broadjump, sending to backsides of tunnels were all great things to practice.  The only thing that we didn't have were hilaciously hard weave entries.

Our Strengths

• Tangle is an amazing partner.  Solid and honest.  If I didn't cue it, he didn't do it!  He kept his head in the excitement, ran well, and didn't get stressed.
• Tangle has a lot of power and ability.  Check out the video above.  Not only can he turn on a dime, but he reads my motion so incredibly well.  I am constantly amazed.
• Once I got over my bout with nerves I was calm and ran well.  I was proud of myself for being able to overcome the nerves and get it together.
•  Our prep for the event was good.  Some of the courses that we practiced were actually harder than what we ended up running

What I would do next time?

• Learn to enjoy the event right from the beginning
• Start a little earlier on the prep work
• Figure out better foods to help keep my blood sugar from diving

So, would I do it again.  Absolutely!

Out of the comfort zone!

One of the things that I learned as a musician was that if you want to improve you have to practice at the extremes of your ability.

I am not the person who sits in her comfort zone for too long.

The day has come when I have decided to step COMPLETELY outside my comfort zone and do something in agility to really push myself.  I am going to try out for AKC's European Open World Team with Tangle (now 2.5 years old).  I am going this year as a demo dog which means that I have zero chance of making the team, but for me this year isn't about making the team.  It is about pushing myself to improve and this is an experience that will do that.  It is about learning to play successfully with the "big boys".

This already has been a totally new experience for me and will continue to be for months to come. 

How do you prepare yourself and your dog for this challenge?  I have thought about physical preparation for both of us, and mental preparation for both of us. 

Physically - Tangle normally jumps 22", I have to move him up to 26", and get the muscles built.  Along the way, I have been working to keep his confidence intact (he is only 2) and increase the fun factor for him.  I have had adjustments in my timing and how much space to physically allow him on course.  I have to enter him in some competitions at the new jump height.

For myself, I am working hard to get my pulled muscles recovered, keep from pulling more and just develop a solid base condition.

Mentally - It is very important to me that Tangle enjoys this experience.  Sure, he loves running the courses, but there is so much more.  Tangle stresses when he is surrounded by stressed people/dogs.  Hum, there might be a couple of those (including me) at this competition.  I am working hard at training all sorts of "fun" tricks that we can pull out of our bag when the need arises.  I don't want to push myself at the expense of my dog.  It is a journey for both of us.  One of my goals is to keep Tangle's stress at a minimum.

For me, I need to remain mentally attuned to the challenges that each moment will bring.  What are my measurable goals for this trial?  When we have our "practice" run what will my objective be?  How do I use my time now to sharpen my mental game?  As a demo dog, I will be the first in the running order, I want to come to the start line with the confidence that I have in a local trial, how do I do that?  I have so little time to prepare (made my decision to go late), how do I prioritize and make the most of my time?  Don't let your confidence get shaken by those around you.

I have read the rules and know the specifications for the equipment.  I am not normally a rule reader I just follow the customs around me.  But, this is so different. 

There are several pieces of equipment Tangle hasn't seen before--wall jump and the "Euro" double (two singles placed 18-22" apart in ascending order).  Made those and trained on those.

I am studying course maps.  Lots of the obstacles are the same, but the approaches that they give you to those obstacles are totally different than what we encounter at any US venue.  Setting up exercises that allow us to practice those items.

Lessons learned so far:
Prepare your family, this will be an obsessive effort and will invade life as you know it.
It takes more than a month to prepare for this type of competition (given my experience base)
Talk to everyone you can who has actually done what you are going to do to limit the surprises along the way.
When the weather doesn't cooperate, you have to still figure out how to be productive

So, for me, this is a fairly steep hill to climb: really young, but talented dog, physical and mental preparedness, building my team, making equipment, researching courses, connecting with people, etc.

I know, you say "dah?" of course you have to do all this.  I would too if this was actually a goal of mine 3 months ago!

Practice April 9th! - Restrained sends to a tunnel

P.S. of course this is the spring where it has to snow every 4 days as well!  Thankful for the water, but it isn't helping my preparedness :)

Equipment Creations

Ya know, it seems like I spend at least one day every month working on agility equipment.  I am either maintaining something, or creating something new.

USDAA is beginning to move toward 5 foot wide jumps and the "majority" must have wings.  So I decided that I needed to 'up' my inventory of jumps with wings.  They do change the way that you can move around the course, some times blocking your path.  Certainly they make it easier for dogs to jump the backside of the jump (if they are a jump hugger).

I had a set of stand alone wings made with lattice that I bought years ago.  They are great, but irritate me slightly when I have to keep picking them up from the wind.  So, last month (told you I work on equipment once a month) I made a wing design that attaches/detaches from the jump itself.  It has a little bit of material on it.  Again, irritating because the wind takes it down.

So, here is my new design.  I can adapt my existing jumps to have these wings which is super nice on the pocket book.  I wanted to make something that might be a tad bit more wind proof--today was a great test.  All wing jumps are down EXCEPT these :).  Also, since I don't glue my jumps they still break away if the dog collides with them.  They are 9 inches wide which I know is a little skinny, but I wanted to keep the weight down, have it wide enough it helps my dogs take back sides, but narrow enough that they aren't tempted to go through the wing.  They can easily be widened if I decide to go in that direction.

Wing PVC Jump

The other item on my agenda was a wall jump.  I was setting up some courses that required a wall jump and on rare occasion we do see one on course.   It also occurred to me that Tangle has not seen one so I should probably get him familiar with the obstacle.  My other two dogs decided to jump on the top and then down the other side the first time they saw it.  Definitely a fault :)

Well, I really didn't want to spend too much time constructing something so I decided this design would work for familiarization purposes for the dogs.

Ghetto Wall Jump

The 'wall' is made of Styrofoam, maybe 4 inches thick.  The wall itself is 22" high and the displaceable brick is 4 inches high.  It is held up by sandwiching it between two of my existing jumps.  Later I might cut this down so that the total height will be 22, but for the moment I needed 26 inches.

The line of hearts at the top of the wall are the displaceable bricks.

Puppy Cannons and Apologies to the Queen!!

First, apologies to the "Queen"

We had a USDAA trial this past weekend.  The Master's judge was Dave Hanson.  Let me just say, he had fabulous courses!!  I ran all three dogs, but had it spread out enough it wasn't too bad or too crazy.

Tip (the Queen of my household), I owe you my deepest apologies!  I am sorry.  I posted on FB how well Tangle did, and completely overlooked your stellar performance.  Tip Q'ed in team, 1st in Performance Grand Prix and 1st in Performance Steeplechase.  My little almost 9 year old was amazing, fast and happy!  I was very thrilled and I love running her dearly (even if she is the hardest of dogs to run).  Sadly, I have no video of her winning runs :(

This is Tip's Standard run, fly off teeter and all!  (note the puppy cannons).


OK, on to Puppy Cannons!  And, this does relate to this past weekend.

As I said, Dave had some wonderful courses.  We saw several variations of puppy cannons on the courses which were huge challenges.  For those who are deprived enough to not know what a puppy cannon is--a pipe tunnel or straight tunnel, which when taken in full extension tends to have a multiplier affect on the dog's speed.  We saw cannon to the weaves, cannon tight turn to a jump, cannon to discrimination jumps, cannon to jump to AFrame, cannon tight turn teeter, etc..

So, I designed a course this morning that was designed to practice some puppy cannon maneuvers, mostly cannon to the weaves and cannon to backsides of jumps.  A little inspiration was throw in from Lori Michael's recent post of an international course she (designed??) and practiced.

In the design I used liberal, but standard distances.  This kept the speeds and fun as high as possible.

We will be doing this course I think for a couple of days.  The weave entries proved very hard to get at speed.  Also, I was really pushing the dogs.  I wanted to see how much motion I could keep (so I could get to the next place before them).  A challenge for us all!!

I earned my breakfast, this course kept us running!!