European Open Tryouts 2016

I 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 that ran everything clean, and most had multiple E's.

I am super pleased that I had a 7th place clean run (round 4), and the other I was 23rd due to a fault. I had three runs that I E'ed, only one of those E's was from an off course. In this event you can get eliminated by:  1) by off course   2) over standard course time (which is VERY tight)   3) three or more faults.

I am posting all of my runs from EO Tryouts, the good, the bad and the ugly.  Why?  Because "the good" represents some really good work and prep, "the bad" just wasn't that often, and "the ugly" really isn't that ugly :).  It is really nice to look at these runs, compare them to past runs (or even my first runs) and know that I have put in a lot of hard, but good work to make this happen.




There were some many things that went right in this event for us, on and off the course.  My nerves were under control, I felt competent in walking the courses (never felt stumped), it didn't bother me at all that we didn't get course maps,  Tangle was relaxed and excited to run, and I felt like I had really good mental management the whole weekend.

Do we have a training list coming out of this event?  Sure!  But the skills on the list are skills that I need to hone, it is not made up of skills that I didn't have.

Training Party Tricks

You 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 been intense, I have stumbled more than I have handled perfectly.  It has been hard.  Is it worth it?  Sure it is.  But I do have to take some time out like we did today.

I love working individual skills.  It relaxes me and it feels like I am training party tricks rather than useful agility skills.  My dogs love it when I am relaxed as well :)

I didn't film everything we worked on, but here is a sampling of the work.  I worked a reverse spin off the running dog walk with Hoot.  A friend and I were talking about turns of a RDW and a reverse spin came to mind.  I think it worked really well.

Again, I was chatting with someone regarding proofing weaves.  It occurred to me that I had not worked weaves into fences in a while and probably should.  So, of course, I had to raise the bar a few more notches and work a discriminations at the same time.

Tangle and Hoot were rock stars!!

Trying to hold on to what is good and human (or K9)

Sometimes life is just filled with "Too Much Information".

We find out too much about our "friends" on Facebook or we are exposed to things that we would rather not know exist.  I can take this kind of stuff in small doses, but I can't take it everyday.

I know that it is shocking, but I don't really want to know about Brad Pitt, nor am I interested in what NFL player beat his wife (happy with my head in the sand).  I don't want to know which Harry Potter character, insect, or gem stone you are.  I don't want to be invited to play games--ever!

I do want to know when my friends have had huge accomplishments, or interesting stores, or babies, or grand-babies, or new puppies.  I do want to know if you are struggling and need support.  I am interested in people and what makes them human. I am interested in the things that "connect" us as humans.

My Facebook feed has been filled with more things from the "I don't really want to know" category then the things that help me "connect" with humans.

So, I created a new Facebook account.  One that has no friends, no family, no personality, but one that I can get my agility information daily.  One that helps me obsess on the good and interesting in my sport.

I read this everyday.  I get news about OneMindDogs, FCI, USDAA, Clean Run, Agility Courses, etc...

Reading about things that help me learn and accomplish more in agility is what makes me happy.  Reading things that help me be a better human for my K9 is what makes me happy.

About twice a week, I put on my armour so that I can wade through all that is bad, in order to discover the little golden nuggets that my friends have posted.  I know I won't be the first to congratulate someone, or the first to console a friend.  But I will be happier and more "human" when I do connect.

P.S. Facebook can't stand it when you don't have "friends".

Having The Guts To Change!

There is a ton of conversation about One Mind Dogs, both pro and con.  I guess the way that I look at it, they provide me more tools in my toolbox.  I have enough experience to recognize when something is conflicting with my handling style, and keep what enhances it.  I try on a lot of things to see what fits or doesn't.

OMD in principal is nothing different, but the details underneath the covers are what makes all the difference in the world.  It is not about the fancy moves.  Key details are where you look, and when you look.

I have had a ton of fun this week!  I took the OMD Course 2 and immersed myself in learning and challenging myself in the way I was running my dogs.  Really living with the details of this course, analyzing why things worked or why they didn't work.  Watching video of the experts running the course.

If I had not watched their video of how they ran this course, I never would have run it this way.  I never would have thought to put blinds where they did.  Best of all, I saw it could be done and it gave me the motivation and guts to do it!

Here is Tangle running the course.

To run the course this way took no extra training for Tangle.  But for me, it took the commitment to always be ahead which was no easy task on this course.  For Split, there was just a bit of coaching to come in to me, but really it was about me having better control of his head (more than I need to with Tangle).  Once again, once I get trained, my dogs are going to be fantastic!  :)

Here is my practice session with Split.  I guess I post this to show some of the challenges on this course.  Split is a great dog, but doesn't have the mileage and detail in the foundation that Tangle had.



Look forward to challenging myself more!

Ah puppies! Learning is a way of life!

There is always a difficult side to participating in Dog Agility Blog Day.  I always sit down, think about what I know on the topic and come to a similar realization.  "The more you know, the more you know you don't know" - Aristotle

I spend an amazing amount of time thinking about agility in general, and when the blog event is upon us, I spend an amazing amount of time thinking about that topic.  I have been around agility for a while, I am certain that I know more than I knew when I began, but I am also certain I have more questions as well.  Training puppies, at least when it comes to agility is no exception.  Training puppies for everyday life, I know exactly what I want and a pretty good idea how to train most of it.

Baby Split and Randy

Starting a puppy can be a very passionate topic for most.  We want to build these lean, mean running machines that can jump over a tall jump (without knocking the bar) in a single bound.  We want them to attend trials, love all people, dogs, children and noises.  We want them to wait at startlines, run full blast when asked, run by our sides at a critical moment and have independent weaves, and contacts.  Really we want nothing less than perfection.  How do we train that?

Well, only speaking for my life and my dogs, agility is about 2 percent of their existence on this earth and I am an avid agility person.  Most of my dog's time is spent being a great member of my everyday existence, and wonderful member of my greater Border Collie pack.  I keep that in mind when I am training my puppy, I try to focus on the perfect everyday puppy first.  I truly believe that this is the best foundation I can give my future agility star.

I focus on three things when training my puppies:

• Life skills
• Learning skills
• Playing skills

I may change my methods with each puppy, but fundamentally these are my three goals for each of my puppies.

Life Skills - these are the skills that it takes to be a successful "pet" dog in my house.  The puppy must learn how to interact with his/her pack members, greet other dogs, warn other dogs that it is uncomfortable, not surf counter tops, rely on me to protect it, love people and children, walk through home depot without getting scared, jog with me, sit/stay, lay down, etc...  You get the idea.  Everything it takes to be a fantastic pet.

Learning skills - Just like children, puppies have to know how to learn.  They need to know that I am not going to show them everything, I want them to help think through the problem at hand.  I want them to offer solutions of their own.  I am mostly talking about shaping, yes.  If my dogs never stepped one foot on an agility field, they still need to know how to learn.  I have all sorts of "tricks" that I use in every day life and they need to be brilliant learners. What should you do when the ball goes over the fence?  Go around it and find the opening of course!  Great puzzle for dogs.

Playing skills - I use these skills to exercise and interact with the dogs, and on the agility field.  Simply put, I want my dogs to know how to play and be happy about playing anywhere and everywhere.  Not all dogs are born with this ability.  Some worry or get stressed in strange/different environments.  Play is a way to help release that stress or emotion and just PLAY.  My dog must know how to de-stress or channel his/her stress at trials and classes.  I want them to do this through play.  Also, in general life, I use this play to help keep them engaged. SQUIRREL!  We work on tug, fetch, chase, spinning, going around trees, hide and seek to name a few.

All of learning is incorporated into real life as much as possible.  I try not to have too many "training sessions", I want my dogs to be use to learning, thinking, and playing all day long.  Border collies pattern and if I only teach them one time of day, or in the same place they are very capable of drawing the conclusion that is the only place they need to "think".  All of these skills are a way of life around my house.

So how does this relate to agility?  I believe that perfecting  all of these basic skills helps when I start my basic agility training.  If my puppy can sit/stay when I open the backdoor to let him out, wait at the gate to the agility field before released, sit/stay before a meal, it makes training the startline that much easier.  I have already worked many situations where the puppy needs impulse control skills.  Does this make them perfect, heck no, but it is a great foundation.

Tunnels

Nothing really special to say, just thought I would post Split's Tunnelers runs from this weekend.

There are certain things that just make you smile and this is IT for me.

• I love the almost startline. He is on the edge of blowing it but he doesn't.
• I loved that he pulled me out to the startline, just couldn't wait to get started.
• I love seeing him run his little heart out.
• I love the foaming at the mouth and smile at the end.

2

I know, a lot of people try to avoid these overstimulated, not perfect, and well...obnoxious behaviors. I use to as well.  But..

• Any living thing that has this level of elation, how can you not smile?
• I have a dog that worries way too much and is never this eager. Puts this problem into a different perspective.

I no longer look at this as a problem, it is a blessing. I just love to see my dogs smile!

P.S. I got the best question at the trial. "Do you train your dog's to run that fast, or did they just come that way?" Answer: I teach them to love the game.

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!!

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.

Variety is the spice of life!

This post is a part of the Dog Agility Blog Event on Internationalization.

I am really looking forward to having an opportunity to run some more courses with an "International" flare. USDAA is promoting it's Master Challenge course and AKC is creating an Excellent C class that I understand will have more international challenges.

 This topic takes me to the core of why I do agility. There is always something for me to learn. That is who I am, I am a life long learner. Change is good for me, it keeps me on my toes and it keeps me learning. Bring it on!!

However, I have to be honest, I don't want every course to be twisty, turny, I have to collect my dog to turn at every obstacle. Some of my favorite courses have been wide-open fast courses with very subtle challenges because of the speed. Sometimes you can't spot those challenges in the walk through and suddenly you have to manage the course real time. Love that! Love livin' on the edge.

 I also love the courses with an International flare. It appeals to the puzzle solver part of me. I walk the course, ponder all my options, wonder if there are better ways to handle something, look at the problem from all sides and finally make choices. I get to see if those choices created the desired outcome for my run (not always a Q for me).

So, for me, I need the sport to appeal to the problem solver in me and the speed daemon livin' on the edge part of me.

Tangle at Cynoport 2012

But these courses are not for everyone or every dog. I recognize that. I would hate to live in a place where the International courses were the only thing that is offered. I have talked to a couple of folks in Europe who wished they had more options. Their course favor the motivated, driven dog. The one that doesn't shut down when you ask it to make 100 tight turns. Not everyone wants to live with those kinds of dogs, nor is every dog built that way mentally/physically.

I want choices myself. I typically don't run my young dogs exclusively on tight, technical courses. I want them to learn to love to run and chase me. This is much easier to do on a wide open course. I have an older dog who lives for agility, and I try to not run her on too many tight courses. If I only had the choice of tight courses she would have to retire from the game (And I am not going to be the one to tell HER that).

There are also different forms of this sport that are every bit as challenging, involve team work and a thing of beauty. Have you every watched anyone handle a dog from a distance on an agility course. Either in NADAC or someone who is not able to run like the wind. The team work involved and the dog's command for the English language are very impressive. I like the adrenaline rush I get when I run, but I love to watch the teams who have mastered this type of work. Amazing!!

So, for me, bring it on!! Give me options and variety. Ask me and my dog to be versatile. Ask us to master the fast course and the technical course!