More Anne

Kraft's been mostly on a break from agility for the past three weeks since Regionals. I wanted to give him a full month off, but there was a seminar I wanted to do with Anne Andrle this past weekend, so he got three weeks off since Regionals, now will have two weeks off until we trial again. At this point, I don't worry about him losing skills if we go several weeks without training. He's a good boy, with good foundations. He understands this game and it's mostly me that needs the work anyway. When he does come back, it's going to be back to RDW boot camp, but that skill can wait a few more weeks. And since we're focusing on conditioning during the break, he shouldn't lose any fitness, so I'm not worried about trialing him at all. 

So back to the seminar. I could totally use more training with Anne! Might be one of my favorites to train with. Out of the three seminars I've done this year, I think I was pushed harder in this one than any of the others. She also knows me and Kraft the best, so that might be part of it. She knows the goals I've had, the skills we possess, and is very aware of my struggles recently since she's been at several of the trials where I was at my wits end. This was also the first seminar that I've ever been to where Kraft was the most experienced dog there, which was quite exciting for me. 

This was the course:

The focus was on jumps 4 and 11, and being able to execute them with blind crosses. The tunnel and A-frame were quite far apart, so you had to be quite far off the dog's path, but with the blind, the line was set so efficiently that the discrimination was a no brainer. Everyone was stuck trying to front cross which put you behind since it was too slow or reverse spin which put you on the wrong side. I didn't have as much of a problem with the blind as everyone else since I've been doing them in these situations with the girls ever since I learned to do a blind cross. And when we walked it, I wasn't sure I could get up to push his A-frame, so Anne said I could reverse spin 4, keep him on my right for the A-frame, then tandem turn at 6. With just a regular rear, his line was way wide after the jump and he wound up heading towards the tunnel, so the tandem was used to change his line and make it clearer to turn right over the jump. That needed a lot more work than the blinds, so I'm glad I did it that way. 

Another challenge was trusting their commitment to the tunnel at 12 and 25 enough to leave in time to blind after the tunnel. I made it all but one time. This was another place Anne said lets really push and see how soon you can see commitment and leave. And I really could leave sooner than I thought. He didn't pull off even once. Another step towards fully trusting each other out there, I was very pleased with that part. 

Here's the edited video with music and meaningless slow mo for dramatic effect:

http://youtu.be/2KM6WAbe5ag

Mary left this course set up in the barn for class Tuesday night so Spy got to try. Obstacle commitment has been our project the past month or so and she really impressed me by nailing the discrimination both times, and this is one that in the past I would have thought impossible for her, even with the line being obviously set to guide her to the right obstacle. I am so loving all that I'm learning through OMD! I really am seeing the entire game differently, I feel like I'm seeing it more like the dog does. 

Regionals Recap

So this happened last weekend: 

Yeah, I'm still amazed. But then again, steeplechase is kind of becoming his specialty. The second place dog, Aidan with my friend Lori, was one of Kraft's team mates for the event. In the semi-final round, Aidan knocked a bar and Kraft had so many snafus that we wasted at least 6 seconds. We both eked into finals by the skin of our teeth. We joked that we were planning to come from behind. And we did! Well, the BC that came in third is ridiculously fast. I saw her run and saw she was three seconds ahead of me. I was all ready to take my second place, until someone congratulated me and told me that Rivet had knocked a bar I didn't see. Which hey, that's how it goes sometimes right? She'll beat us 9 out of 10 times, but this one time was Kraft's turn at the top. 

I couldn't have planned the whole weekend any better. This trial is what my confidence needed. We made mistakes, I let them go. One of my favorite runs was MC standard. We had run jumpers without E'ing but with 10 faults. With the group rotations, I knew we basically only needed to not E to get a podium spot and standard was a much easier course to get through than jumpers. It did have a tough line off of the dog walk and I knew he might miss the contact (which he did, but the judge didn't actually call it) and lots of dogs were going off course two jumps after the dog walk. Unfortunately with a poorly timed rear cross, he also became one of those dogs. I had a split second where I thought, "oh crap" and then managed to brush it off, not get mad and finished the run in the same headspace that I started the run in. I love that the video shows my smile at the end. I was pleased with the run despite my disappointment. This weekend I think I grasped the notion that those things do not have to be mutually exclusive: thoroughly enjoying the run and being disappointed with the outcome. It happened several times actually and was what I really needed. 

http://youtu.be/ZfGXvbF0bxo

And here's the highlights video. 

http://youtu.be/ELKR-YggIjY

End tally: we Q'd in team thanks to some really steady team mates and had a killer relay run placing 8th out of 38 teams in the relay portion, 11th out of 40+ teams overall (many did not stay for relay because it ran so late). Didn't need a team Q, but it was fun and we actually decided to keep the same team for Cynosports (I decided to go for sure after how well we did the first day of regionals). No biathlon Q, but since we didn't have any Q's towards nationals and no plans to do USDAA again before the season is over, that one didn't matter much. Got another GP Q in round 1 with second place on that one, which he needed for nationals. Did E in finals on another tough line off the dog walk. And of course the culmination with his steeplechase win. The girls ran too. Spy got the team Q she needed to run at nationals in that. Also placed 11th overall. And she and a BC who ran in our group kept having a little love affair before all their runs, so we decided to pair them up for nationals. She got the last MC jumpers leg she needed, wound up missing out on her podium shot because I didn't realize if you E'd in one round you could still place. Got it confused with UKI rules. E'd in GP finals by going under the tire which messed up my line after I put her back through. That was the second tire she went under over the weekend, the first was her E in MC standard, which, because it was the last obstacle, is an automatic E. I was a little bitter about that rule, which is why I didn't stay for the awards since it meant she didn't get one (or so I thought). Didn't run her in steeplechase since she didn't have a Q going in and I didn't want to do another run Friday to try to qualify her. So no steeplechase for her at nationals, but three events is plenty. Marron was in GP and steeplechase, needed Q's in both for nationals. So she ran GP round 1 even though she had a bye for round 2, I don't remember what she did but she didn't Q, so no Cynosports for her, unless I decide to do veterans with her, which I might. 

So now there's Tennessee to look forward to. It will be nice since I think lots of my old agility friends from when I was in vet school will be going since it's so close to them. 

Not Going to Canada

After my post about maybe not going to Perry for the U.S. Open, OMD announced that this year's camp would be held at Kayl McCann's in Cananda. Not exactly around the corner, but close enough to go to and make a vacation out of. It was being held the same weekend as the Open. My exact words at the end of that post were: "I'm frustrated by not getting better and don't have any where to turn." It seemed like the answer, go to camp instead of the U.S. Open. Problem was, getting in. They only had 40 spots, I don't know how Kayl was saying, "oh we can handle plenty of people", it wasn't even going to be close. Then, the camp opened at midnight on a night I had to be at work. I figured I would leave it up to fate, if I was free at midnight, I would give it a shot. If not, oh well, it was going to be an expensive trip any way. At 11 pm, a hospitalized poodle with really bad complications of diabetes developed heart failure AND a Lab walked in with a septic abdomen and needed emergency surgery. I knew going to Canada wasn't going to happen. On the plus side, I saved a Lab's life, and the diabetic poodle isn't suffering any more, so I guess that's something. 

Also that weekend, there is a seminar being offered by Marco Giovanni, someone I've also wanted to go to. I tentatively signed up, and told the person running it I would come if I didn't get into OMD camp. Sooooo, save a Lab and go to Marco? Sounds pretty good. I THINK that's what I'm going to do. Still disappointed about my decision about the Open. But not going to the Open or OMD camp opens up the possibility of going to Cynosports which wasn't on my radar at all. Somehow, Kraft is already qualified in steeplechase and team and just needs one more Grand Prix Q. Has nothing in biathlon, but was only entered once really since I wasn't even trying to qualify for Cynosports. Spy is only qualified in Grand Prix so far, has one team Q and about three quarters qualified in biathlon. Nothing in steeplechase. Marron I am not going to try to qualify any more for any nationals but she has one GP and one steeplechase. Once I made the decision about the Open, New England Regionals became a much bigger event in my mind. So hmm. Trying hard not to put too much importance on next weekend but, no pressure. If they can get some needed Q's and byes, then probably I'll go. If not, I'll have to think about it. It kind of seems to fit, since they qualified for a couple of things without even trying, but to qualify in the rest might be a good challenge for the rest of the summer. 

Rattie Faith

In response to my post about the BRats, here is evidence that just maybe my devotion to the terriers may last a little longer.

Three Rattie litter mates, all kept their tails, all went to three friends of mine in California.

Tierney:

Yet unnamed (likely Maple):

Rafa (with Daddy Ryder):

Maybe getting to see these three grow up will help counterbalance this pull I feel towards the Border Things. Three people who are all very serious about agility NOT feeling tempted by the Border Things, or at least not giving in to that temptation (though Tierney's owner does have two BC's in her pack).

I was thinking about it after my BRat post, what benefits there are on each side of the fence. For BC people, adding in the Rat gives a more convenient size and less of the OCD-ness, maybe helps decrease chances of epilepsy (though that is still a crap shoot). But for Rattie people, what do you get? A faster agility dog with a tail? Again, a faster agility dog is not my goal, or at least I don't think it SHOULD be. Seems like the BC people get a bonus by mixing in the Rat, but the Rattie people don't really gain anything except a tail. I'm really excited by these three pups. I sure hope they might inspire a few more breeders to leave tails. Then I can choose between the BRat and Rat equally. I would never NOT take a docked puppy if it was otherwise a nice dog, but in helping to keep myself from being tempted by "the dark side", tails are nice. And as much as I am normally one that likes to do my own thing, not be a follower, it's nice to feel like there are still people in the Rattie club, that not everyone is abandoning ship and going to BC's.

Course Practice

I really wanted another crack at the Mia Grant Masters Series course that we ALMOST ran right last weekend. Here's the original version: 

Everything went great, until he came out of the tunnel under the dog walk looking at me, and I had to step in and support 9 longer than I wanted to. Then as I stepped back to clear the tunnel, it cued him to take the tunnel. We muddled along for a bit, trying to get back in rhythm, and by the weaves we got it, and 13-19 was lovely. So I really didn't want to try to run the SAME course, but I wanted to try that bit again, in the middle of A course. So here's a variation I came up with, with no teeter or A-frame:

And again, 1-7 was perfect, and I loved the ending, our progress on wraps in situations like 15 has really come a long way and I loved how a simple move, just shaping the line with a V-set at 18, made a really nice efficient line, no spinning required. But getting him to send to jump 8 while staying back enough to be able to cue the dog walk AND get to the end was the tough part. At the trial, the judge even said (after we all ran) she left that part set up for her students for a long time, working all the variations. And the key was to get the send to that jump from a distance. It was especially tough in this trial, since it was off in a corner against a wall. They didn't see it very well, light colored jump against a solid white concrete wall. Very tough and something to work on. But I love the skills he's showing on the rest of this.

With Spy and Marron I ran it more like the original, since they didn't run the masters series. Had issues in the same area, Marron I kept getting the tunnel on that discrimination, had to hold back and really push her line, then race to the end of the dog walk, which I just barely made it for the back side. That's ok, we don't do much international stuff, I'm ok with her not having that skill but it was fun to play with and figure out what she would need. I also loved the original ending with her, sending to the back side of 18, trusting her to take it and taking off for the tunnel. A tough skill for her, so I was proud she did that well. I think I'm really using my feet to handle the wraps/reverse wraps much better than I used to. Spy's problem area was actually the discrimination the first time through, 6-7. I was handling the tunnel with dog on my left, then rear crossing it. I eventually figured out how she needed me to cue it, but it's weird, I had to be facing her, completely parallel to her line coming to the tunnel, but cue the tunnel with my left hand or she pulled off it completely. Any rotation of my feet or chest back towards the right and she went up the dog walk at the very last second. But strangely, she had no problem going up the dog walk at 9, when normally she completely defaults to the obstacle closest to me. I can see how at 7 she might go up the dog walk, since once I rear crossed, the new "closest obstacle" would be the dog walk instead of the tunnel, she'd feel that pressure even in the tunnel. So not something about her that I understand. We had a little discussion about the 2o2o on the dog walk. I started mixing up stop/running a few weeks ago, and when she got it perfectly, I thought she would be done training it. Never really practiced the stop in full sequences, so I guess that will be the project going forward.

Two weeks until Regionals. Getting really excited. Practicing my "make mistakes and let them go". I think we'll be ready.

Epiphany

I've been listening to Lanny Basham's "What Every Dog Agility Competitor Should Know First About the Mental Game" CD all week. I've dug out his "With Winning In Mind" book and have breezed through it. I rustled up my Daisy Peel "Clear Mind" book from who I loaned it to and will be revamping my goals next, long and short term. I was feeling slightly more prepared mentally this weekend. At least I was ready to be aware to catch myself and recognize what I needed to change. Like with agility handling, getting mad when a handling error occurs and focusing on fixing the handling error is way too late. I need to be proactive, change the mentality BEFORE the error, not so that I don't make the error in the first place, but to not let myself get mad about it. So that was my focus, to recognize what was making me angry.

And I felt really nervous. More nervous than I've felt ever since Kraft's first ever runs. I felt like I was starting over. We made errors. I felt disappointed afterwards. But not angry. At least, not as angry. Probably because I already decided not to go to the Open. Then Spy got walked out of jumpers. She messed up her weaves, made the entry and popped out, then when I resent her she just flung herself in at pole 3. She hasn't needed more than two tries at the weaves in a long time, not since the last time her weaves "broke". So I took her out. For several reasons, and none of them have to do with punishing her. 1) I just don't want her to rehearse that, reward or no reward. 2) I didn't want to continue to make errors and get mad, I can leave after a weave error calmly with her because of our history. 3) She hasn't run in a while, is out of shape a little and I didn't want to keep running her if there might be something physically off. Bottom line, I was calm about taking her out. Then in agility, she did her classic "pop out of the tunnel and sneak up the dog walk" on the discrimination. I haven't been able to train this with her, so I was ready for it and was able to correct it and continue on. (She did her weaves with the look of absolute determination and concentration by the way.) Again, I felt calm about it. Then with Marron, for snooker I didn't get her out before the walk through and she was the first dog, so she didn't get much warm up. I think she was thirsty since she guzzled water after her run, which she rarely does (they didn't have water in their crates, they just get everything wet in there, or I forget it and drive away like that if I crate in the car). She didn't really do much "running", very much old Marron. And I'm not used to handling her like that and didn't make it through our opening. Again, we left calmly. She gave me a smoking run for my only Q of the weekend in gamblers.

I was thinking on the ride home why I felt so differently about the errors. Part of it is expectations. I feel like there are so many more people expecting Kraft and I to excel. But it's not like any one has put any actual PRESSURE on us, so that hasn't made any sense. It really seemed to come on when I made the change to OMD system, and while I knew it would take a while to get comfortable with the system, I now think that it has more to do with how the system looks at errors. While I don't think other systems "blame the dog" and it is certainly the norm for the handler to take responsibility, even if it is for training holes, the way OMD does it, it's a whole new level. There are always things that are the dog's responsibility, and that's what happened on each of the girls' runs, it was out of my control, and yes, to a point I haven't trained things as well with them. With them, we make mistakes and I can see where the training holes are. It's really easy to forgive and forget the mistakes when they are the dog's failure. The only way to fix it is to go home and train more. With Kraft, the training holes aren't as apparent. The errors are 100% mine. And it is much harder to forgive myself. And that is why I am getting so angry. I really think that is what my problem is and why I get so mad mid-run.

After the trial, I went to my parents' house. I was going to take my father out to brunch for Father's Day (which also happened to be his birthday). And my older sister was going to be coming over as it was her birthday Saturday. When I got there Saturday evening, my dad sprung on me that my sister had agreed to go golfing with him and did I want to come along? UGH! I hate golf. No interest. Not ever. I had to play in gym class when I was in high school. The high school golf coach could not even figure out why I couldn't hit the ball. But my sister had never been before either, so we would be even. I decided to go. For one, to please my dad for his big day. That was the main thing. Why not? What's a few hours walking around in the sun with your dad and sister on Father's Day having a few drinks? The other reason was more personal. I wanted to rehearse making mistakes (and I knew there would be many!) in an environment that I knew it would be easy for me to forgive and forget without getting mad. Who gets mad about making mistakes when it's your first time doing something? I wanted to rehearse what that felt like. The drinks helped with that too! LOL. Maybe that's what I need to do before agility runs for a while! And you know what? I had a good time. I don't want to go out and get my own set of clubs, I don't think I will be practicing on my own. But as something to do with my dad, sure I'll go again. And I am making it my goal going forward: to remember what it felt like to screw up and LET. IT. GO.

A Bunch of Scattered Videos

I've been remiss in posting videos of some of our recent work. Trial videos, not really even bothering to take them at this point. The UKI trials are so small it's hard to get someone to tape, and we're doing so poorly on them that it's not really something I want to relive. You don't get to retry, so you don't really learn anything. But I have had fun with training videos.

First was the Anna Eifert seminar back in mid-May. I really felt this one went much better than the Soshana one. At least as far me not feeling totally lost.

It was two days long and HOT. And the sequence with the dog walk was first thing in the morning on day two. Normally if we had to do that many dog walks, that's all I would have done for the entire day, but no, we still had the whole day to go, and he already wasn't 100% fresh from all the hard work he had done the day before. He was a really good sport. All the dogs were really floundering at the end of the day though. One BC burned her pads, but she had a back up Aussie to use. Several of the other BC people had spare dogs to sub in. The rest of us kind of sat back and watched. Even by the time everyone had worked to their satisfaction (it wasn't a full seminar the second day), there were still over two hours left to the seminar. Someone asked Anna if she wanted to work her dogs, but she said she was too tired from teaching in the heat for four days. So instead, someone asked if her dogs would run for someone else, and she said someone could run Du'. Remember Du'? The bull terrier I posted a video of a while back? I totally raised my hand with a grin, having the only terrier (and actually the only non-herding dog) in the group and said I would like to run Du'. I figured that was fair since I was one of the ones who also did not have a spare dog to work.

So here is how that went:

Important lesson- when running someone else's dog, always remember to ask what they do on their contacts. I forgot to ask, I assumed I would not get that far. When she did a running A-frame, I figured, well, lots of people teach running A-frames, but nobody really does running dog walks. WRONG! The first time through, I was kind of thrown when two bars came down. Usually with Kraft if multiple bars are coming down in a sequence, things are becoming borderline dangerous so it is best to stop before someone gets hurt. The last thing I wanted to do was break someone else's dog. But obviously, with the bully, this isn't the case. She reminds me of a bowling ball. I know that's Sarah's analogy, but in the way I see it it's like when you spin a bowling ball, it will keep spinning in place; once she starts to turn, she almost can't STOP the turn which is why I kept getting the wrong end of that tunnel. Kraft would have been over that OC jump easily, his center of gravity is so high, even when he starts to turn, it takes a while for ALL of him to turn. But Du', it also reminds me of that sit and spin toy from when I was a kid! Round and round she goes, where she stops no one knows! But she was fun. I came off that course with a huge grin.

After the Soshana seminar, I had a great idea. I recruited the rest of my class mates into everyone bringing their video cameras to class and videoing every session. My goal is to be able to document progress, actually be able to see with each session what skills we are getting better at. Here is session one:

You can definitely see his speed pick up through this session. Maybe that equals confidence on his part?

Stick to What You're Good At

I'm thinking I should just stick to 8" dogs. Maybe that's all I'm capable of.

Another UKI trial this weekend. Kraft went 1 for 5, the only Q being yet another novice jumping leg that we don't really need. The rest were E's. Two chances at novice agility, both train wrecks. Then masters series, jumping was a train wreck, and agility was actually surprisingly going really well since I thought it was harder than the jumping course. Until the closing line. I fell behind and had to handle it with two rears. After I reared the first one, I realized I was just too far behind and the jump was actually in my way of the path I would need to take at the right time to get him to turn. I had to make a split second decision to layer the jump or take one more step forward to get around it. I decided to take the step forward while giving him a verbal "turn" cue. Off he shot over the wrong jump, doing a beautiful "turn" on the wrong jump. I hate rears. They're so ambiguous. He really wasn't wrong.

There were these two women there from Canada I've never seen around here before. They had some really nice BC's (of course). After one of my runs, I think it was novice agility where I stopped dead after obstacle 3 when he darted into the wrong tunnel entrance behind me and had a silent hissy fit with myself for about 5 seconds, after which he proceeded to leap the dog walk contact (not a miss, a leap), one of them asked me what breed Kraft was and said what a nice dog he was. I'm sure she meant it in a nice way. But I've never been one to take compliments well and I just don't think it's the right time to give one when someone just came out of the ring, clearly frustrated to the point of stopping dead after 3 obstacles and considering just walking out of the ring and going home. Part of me wanted to respond with "You think he's so great, YOU run him!" and hand her the leash. I'm not sure how she didn't notice how NOT ready I was to talk about how wonderful of an agility dog he is at that moment. Maybe SHE could have gotten him through. Maybe it's just me that stinks and can't handle my dog. That's pretty much how a compliment like that feels at that moment. I know that's not really how it's meant, but I can't help but feel that in the moment.

I don't know. I'm thinking about just not going to Perry this year. Maybe we just need to stay local and work on some skills. But I feel like I'm not really getting any where doing what I'm doing. I'm stuck. I'm not getting any better, but I don't have any where to turn for help at this point.

One Little Thing and A Bigger Thing

Just a little thing that I just need to vent somewhere. It's irking me when people are saying "I got a bye in the masters series for the U.S. open!" Ok, have you not read the rules? Did you not read your fancy certificate? There is nothing on there that says "bye". For the masters series, you either qualify or you don't, there is no "bye" (hey I could do a spoof on Yoda with that!) A bye implies that you get to skip the first round. That's how Grand Prix and Steeplechase work in USDAA so I know people are familiar with the concept. But DAM and biathlon do not work like that, so I know people should also be familiar with that format. It's just bugging me and it did even before I was trying to qualify so I'm not just feeling sour grapes. If you're going to work towards winning something, why not figure out what it means before bragging about it? Off soap box. 

And now for the more discussion worthy thing. I've been trying to justify something in my head. Call it BC envy, herding dog in general envy or whatever. But the question I pose is (and I know we've all thought about it): do you HAVE to get a BC (or Sheltie if you want to compete as a small or medium dog) to succeed in agility? The discussion has certainly gone round and round before and I will probably not manage to say anything new. But name me one person who does agility on a professional level who doesn't have a BC or a Sheltie. The select few I can think of have Paps but since that's not a breed I would ever consider, I will ignore them. The point being is that with all of my struggles with Kraft and the girls, would it be wrong to give up on a breed/breeds whose personality, looks, and attitude I adore in favor of something who will be more adapted to the sport I love? Am I asking my dogs to be something they are not and would it be more fair to get a dog who will be as into the game as I am? Marron plays the game for me. Spy plays the game for the cookies. Kraft I think I did a good job fostering a love of the game, but he struggles physically and with his soundness issues *sigh*. Sometimes I wonder if what I'm asking him to do is fair. If I've molded his desire to play so much that it's not even his choice any more. I feel like maybe I'm that parent who has pushed their kid to excel and by the time they've become good at it, they love it but can no longer tell which came first. What I'm saying is that while I have always held that a BC isn't for me, and a Sheltie has too much hair, would I be doing better by my dog if I chose one of those? I could probably love a BC. I don't think I would take it herding. I just don't get that sport. But to get a BC just for agility doesn't seem right either. In a different way, I'd be afraid it would be like my relationship with Spy, outside of agility we really don't have one. A Sheltie, well I've always loved them, always will. They're what I grew up with and aren't we all a little attached to the breed we had when we were kids? But the hair! Can't do it. 

So then there are what I like to call the Border Things, the dogs that people thought would make a cool cross with a BC. Usually just their favorite breed crossed with a BC to make something better at agility or flyball or whatever their sport of choice is. Clearly, the concept works. Those Border-Jacks, Border-Staffies, Border-Whippets, and now B-Rats are some really incredible sport dogs. I'm not about to use the derogatory "designer" dogs label since I'm not really against any intentional mix so long as there is a specific purpose behind the cross, and so long as that purpose is functional (as opposed to making something with a funny name, like Chiweenie). But is this the same as choosing a dog just for agility, but makes us feel better because it has a little bit of our favorite breed in there too? I've started to be tempted by the B-Rats. They are some really awesome dogs. But am I tempted just because I think they would be a better agility dog than what I have now or because I truly like them? Is it wrong to be tempted by a dog that you think will be a good agility dog, even if you *think* you like them too? Shouldn't that be what it's about any way, choosing a dog you like who will also suit your life style? So why does it feel wrong? I don't want to pick it because it "has my favorite breed mixed with a breed that will make it better at agility", know what I mean? I want to pick it because it's right for me, that individual set of characteristics (and yes, I think mixes DO get a certain amount of common, predictable characteristics), not because it's a little bit Rattie and a little bit BC. I want to get it because it's ALL BRat if that makes sense. 

I'm several years away still from choosing another dog. But it's been plaguing me lately. Along with the idea in general that it seems like you HAVE to have a BC to be considered seriously in this sport. 

BAM

Months of barely any posts, and here's my fourth in 3 days.

Nothing dog related. There's exactly one TV show I watch: Grey's Anatomy. It started when I was in vet school and at the beginning of the series, the characters were at the beginning of their surgical internships and very much mirrored what my class mates and I were going through during school. Now, the characters have aged and matured, marrying, divorcing, having babies. Also mirroring what doctors my age are doing (well, except me, but they have a new character this season who's just like me, so HA!) So I've always felt a parallel with the characters on the show, despite how bad the medical accuracy is.

Any way, a tree took out my power lines last week, and long story short, I had three hours to catch up on between last night and tonight since last night's episode was two hours long. And all three hours were some of the most emotional on that show in a long time. At least for me. When they unplugged Derrick, yeah, brought me right back to my sister. And the first thing I thought: "Why isn't his sister there? Why didn't they tell her before they unplugged him?" Made me angry. It's just a tv show. They needed her out of it for the story line, no other reason. She stifled her feelings, had things she had to work through, but never once did she mention not being told or allowed to be there. Being on that end, yeah, one big loop hole they missed. And then, the following episode with the burn victims, the one in the hospital bed that was cracking jokes and making fun of herself and others just to make the newbie feel better, yeah, reminded me of Barbara.

Hardest two episodes of a tv show for me watch. EVER.

Nailed It

When Mary moved out, most of the yard full of equipment left too. I am down to four jumps with one set of extensions to make a triple, two tunnels (one very short one and one tattered old one that might not last the whole summer), a homemade set of PVC base weaves, a table and a dog walk that Mary left behind. Course work is going to be difficult to set up, but will make it easier to focus on dog walk exits. I picked this one to work on today, and set up 8-17.

With my modifications and a lead in and lead out sequence:

The view from the dog walk:

Surprisingly, this wasn't the hardest part of the course. Since I moved the dog walk for the first time since August, and had to set this one up for the first time on my own, I didn't quite know how he would feel about it being in a new location. I mean, he's fine on new dog walks, but HIS dog walk, that's been in the same place for 8 months? I pretty much expected him to fail and leap the contact on the first time through and I pretty much just stood there near the weaves, not cuing anything in particular with my jaw on the floor at his absolutely gorgeous contact behavior and then watched him fly by me into the tunnel. Whoops. Not how that was supposed to go. Second time, BAM! nailed it! And the third and fourth, etc as we tried to get the whole thing right. The dog walk looked great with a variety of hits, so very pleased with that. I did it the way that I thought was most difficult but fastest which was to keep him on my right the entire time. He really had to find the weave entry on his own, bend away from me to make it to the second gap, continue weaving as I passed behind him to get to the left side of the weaves, and then weave all the way into nothing while I held back so I could get up for 12. Lots of really tough weaving skills wrapped up with a hard dog walk exit. Weaves: never been a problem for him. At least I trained something right. 

What was harder was 1-3, getting him to come between the triple and 3, then doing it again 16-17-18. Did the lead out with a forced front and had to get really low to convince him to come in for the FF and not take the triple. 17 I did with a whiskey turn (a really sharp rear cross), which he did no problem once I got him to turn and not take the triple again by really holding lots of eye contact. I wanted to do 14 as a reverse wrap and have him turn to the left over it, but he kept wanting to turn right no matter how well I thought I cued the turn. Probably need to do a better job of making my whiskey cross and reverse wrap look different. So strange that in trials I'm having such a problem with standard and not as much of an issue with jumpers, but in training its these jump sequences that give me the most to work on.

Masters Jumpers Q

His Masters Series jumpers run, the one he came in second place by 7 seconds. He sure doesn't look slow to me, and only one place where he went wide, after that yellow jump behind the tunnels the first time.

So hard to know what is a reasonable outcome goal to set when our best performances are still deemed not good enough. Not just this run, but that Novice agility run where we had that one off course.

Du'

If Anna can believe in Du', then maybe I can believe in Kraft. I chose this video mostly for the title, not because of Du's antics. This is a person who knows what it takes to get to this level, has had her share of struggles with this dog, and keeps persevering. I think they're about the same age too since I think the first of her seminars I went to with Spy when Kraft was a puppy, she had Du' out during some of the breaks.
Now I'm extra excited to work with her in 2 weeks.

Compliments Are Hard to Bear

When you don't feel worthy of receiving them. 

I'm at a funny place right now with Kraft. All winter we struggled with staying connected on course. I figured once we got over that hump, we'd hit our stride again. Unfortunately, even with staying pretty connected, we still can't seem to get through courses. We did two days of UKI this weekend, two different clubs, two different locations, same judge. Kraft did a total of 6 runs. He already has all the points he needs in novice in the games and jumping to move up, but 0 agility clears. I entered him the first day in gamblers, agility and jumping to try to take advantage of easier courses to get his Q's for the U.S. open while we work on those agility legs to move up. He had a smokin gamblers run to start the weekend, felt really in sync. But then agility we made a complete mess of a fairly simple course and I started wondering if we were losing our connection again. It wasn't a terribly hard course, but he did break his start line again. I shook it off, disappointed that we didn't get the run we need, but there was always the next day. He held his stay in jumping, which was good because I really needed an almost 3 jump lead out but then mysteriously missed his weave entry. I tried to brush that off, it was just a warm up for the next day right? The next day started with Masters series agility. Considering the previous day he had done all novice, and this particular judge likes WIDE open lines for the lower levels, yikes, I knew I was going to have to hold on tight. The course looked very doable, well within our skill range. Didn't matter though. We made a complete mess of it. E'd in three places. I tried not to get too down, I knew that class first thing in the morning  would be tough for him. Next was novice agility. Here's the course:

8-9 was our problem area. He curled toward me and took 16. I had squatted down at the tunnel exit in the walk through. They could see the chute straight ahead, but not the jump. I was hoping that a verbal "go on tunnel" would be enough to get him to commit to the chute before he exited the tunnel, so he wouldn't even consider the jump, but since I had to slow down and read cross the tunnel he felt that and curled toward me. In hindsight, perhaps my rear cross should have been done further back away from the tunnel, closer to 7 so that I could be accelerating when he entered the tunnel. Would have been easier to believe my go on cue that way. Ideally would have liked to already have him on my left for 7 so I wouldn't have had to wait around to rear at all. I wrapped 5 to the right, then had to stay up there and support 6 since those jumps were pretty close together. I considered wrapping 5 to the left by rear crossing it which then would have given him a really good line to 6-7 and I could have taken off immediately and blind crossed between 6-7. But that corner was really dark and I didn't think he would believe me that I wanted him to turn that way. Any other suggestions, I'm all ears. This course was a total heart breaker because he was so perfect on the whole rest of it. I just about wanted to cry. 

Then was masters jumping. It looked tougher than the agility course. But I still thought that, at home at least, we could do it. But I didn't expect much. To my surprise though, he kept his head together and Q'd. I was stoked! Finally, a course where he showed his true potential. I thought he had gone pretty fast. We were a little wide in one spot. I knew the other dog that went clean would be faster. It's a dog from the local Sheltie clique who all are pretty much WTT contenders from the day the puppies hit the ground. I stuck around to check scores, hoping for maybe 3-4 seconds behind that dog. But no, 7 seconds! So despite a really great run, feeling super connected and like we did our very best, there's still no way we can shave 7 seconds off our times to be competitive. 

So it leaves me wondering if maybe he just isn't cut out for the level I want to be at. It's so hard to admit it. I don't want to sell out, stop believing that the terrier can compete with the Sheties. Hell, there are several terriers that ARE competing with the Shelties. Turns out, Kraft just isn't one of them. It's just getting hard not to feel disappointed, like we are a total let down with all the potential he has shown. People were complimenting his runs all day and I wanted to scream at them "did you even see that run?" Each one I received I just felt like we were an even bigger let down, so much potential that we just aren't living up to. 

Sigh. Taking a bit of a trialing break in May. Couldn't afford any with the seminar I signed up for in the middle of the month. Maybe we'll learn something useful. Then again, all the seminars we've gone to thus far haven't really done squat do us. Feeling frustrated and kind of like I want to give up, not agility, but the hopes and dreams and goals I've set. Maybe they're too lofty. I wouldn't feel like crying over failure to meet performance goals if I wasn't hoping to qualify for the Open or tryouts next year or all the other outcome goals I have.  

Quit Being Afraid

On Friday I did a Masters handling seminar with Soshana Dos. I find it crazy I had to drive almost 3 hours to take a seminar from her when she lives probably about an hour away from me but hey. The unofficial theme of the day seemed to be quit being afraid of forward motion. Sure, deceleration works to cue a turn, but it has its drawbacks. That seems to be what the Finns have going for them: they use very little deceleration to cue things, which keeps their dogs going full speed at all times, but use their other cues so effectively that the dogs are still turning appropriately. I think using deceleration slows the handler down, and while the dog reads the cue well, the handler is then stuck trying to get back up to speed, so the dog likewise does not accelerate as well as he could out of the turn. The biggest difference I see between the Mecklenburg system and OMD is this. OMD recognizes handler motion as the strongest cue but manages to use all the others without diluting the dog's responsiveness to that motion. Soshana mentioned that Mecklenburg followers probably have the easiest time transitioning to OMD because the cues and cue combinations are so similar. That said, I am still struggling, still clinging to using deceleration as a primary turning cue when I don't need to. I think this is where a lot of my frustration in trials is coming from, I'm still learning this handling system, and my execution is still leaving much to be desired.

I look at this video, and while there are some nice bits, I have a long ways to go. You can see it took me 4-5 tries at each of the hard places to get it right, and I'm still not sure I would be able to get it on my own at all without someone tweaking my efforts with each repetition. And even one of the easy places (1-3 on the first course) took me 6 (!) tries.

I love that I was pushed as hard as I was, I just wish I wasn't harming Kraft's body in the process. His knees are not going to last. He's only 3 and while I've been quiet about it, the past few months I've really struggled with how to keep him sound. He came up dead lame one night. The surgeon says his knee is still not bad enough to require surgery, the patella still isn't actually luxating, but just riding on the inner groove so the pain is him developing arthritis from that. His thighs are starting to look asymmetric so he's clearly off loading onto his good leg. I've started him on Adequan, and doing more fitness work and less frequent agility. Sigh. At this point, I don't know which dreams are still realistic for us and which ones I need to let go of.

Budding Confidence

Confident. Clear. Connected. 

Connect. Commit. Cue. 

The first set of words is what's written on the yellow bracelet a fellow northeast competitor gave out to all the others from the area the year I went to Nationals pretty much by myself in Tulsa and wound up making finals. I've treasured that little gift ever since, and befriended that person. Not sure if she realizes how special that bracelet was to me, for making me feel included in a group (I mean, she gave them to everyone, but it meant a lot to me that I wasn't forgotten) and also for the point of focus that contributed to our finals trip.

The second set of words is the OneMind mantra. How fitting that it's so similar to the three words I have worn on my wrist at almost every trial for the past two years. 

Whichever it is, it's coming back. I can feel it. I think we've worked out our start line issues and even when we aren't perfect, I at least feel like we're running as a team. Mistakes are still being made on both sides of the equation, but we're out there together, laughing at our bobbles, rejoicing in our triumphs. This sport as it should be. Two team trials the next two weeks (this weekend I'm running all three dogs on teams at a small one ring trial, what was I thinking? It's spread over two days though) and next weekend just Kraft at a larger two ring trial (all five runs on one day). I really can't wait. I haven't been this excited to run in a long time. Then after the next two weekends of trials, there's the masters level Soshana seminar middle of the month, two UKI trials on the same weekend at the end of April, then my big splurge on two days of international work with Anna Eifert middle of May. No trials for May in order to afford that so I hope it's worth it. Since all the J&J seminars were pretty much only open to certain people, I'm just trying to take advantage of as many of their coaches doing stuff locally as possible. Going to Canada to work with Kayl is just out of the question. We'll get by, we will make progress even if it does take time. 

This was the course from class last night. We moved to a new location with a lot more space, there's actually a ton of room between the obstacles and the walls, but I zoomed the shot in so you could see everything better. The white numbers we had a little blip where he went from 4 up the dog walk, but the second time through he was just perfect. I think he's still just so excited to have his dog walk out in class that he's looking for it. His wrap out of the #5 tunnel up the dog walk was awesome, I didn't have to go down there at all but just started moving down the dog walk as soon as he was committed to the tunnel. Love that move. The black numbers he was just perfect. I even did this combo lap turn with a reverse spin from 9 to 10, since I wanted the lap turn to create the line to the jump and the spin to cue him going up the dogwalk instead of the tunnel. Worked like a charm. Then I layered that straight tunnel as he came down the dog walk. Perfect contact, both times, knew exactly where he was going. <3 him. 

I also ran Mary's Puck for her since she's still restricted to just walking. It's funny, he's so much bigger than Kraft, but he's so much bendier that he turns much tighter. Didn't have to shape 3-4 on that first course AT ALL and his turn to the tunnel was way tighter than Kraft's even with the shaping! And it's kind of thrilling to have a dog with a stopped contact, never would have thought. I just can't do it though, I know I would train it poorly and wind up with a creeper which drives me nuts. He did break on his first one, but held it nicely after that. He gets oh just a wee bit frantic and squeaky running for me though! Chattering on the start line and everything. Gawd he's fun, but LOUD! Can't really hear anything else, can't think of anything else. He kept popping out of the weaves on the second course when I was peeling away for a front, and Mary was trying to stop me to tell me the trick to getting him to stay in, but I couldn't hear and kept sending him back in. I always kinda wanted a dog who barked on course, but I think borrowing one will do. 

 

Health and Well Being

A little late to the party, and I probably won't bother submitting this to DABAD but something happened to a fellow agility competitor's dog earlier this week, and with it being such a hot topic in the news right now, I'm going to come out and say it.

Don't be an anti-vax'er. Vaccinate appropriately, vaccinate cautiously, take it very seriously. But there's a reason these vaccines became so popular in the first place: they save lives! These things CAN kill your dog. Some of them can even kill YOU. The head veterinarian of the ER department where I work likes to tell the story of the abandoned 6 week old kitten she brought home to her kids. A few weeks later, it started having seizures. They eventually euthanized the kitten, and decided to submit it for rabies testing because of the strange neurologic signs it was having when it became ill. The veterinarian, every staff member who had handled it, both her kids, her husband, and a bunch of her kids' friends even had to go through post exposure prophylaxis protocols.

And then there's what happened this week. It happened at my hospital, so I have at least part of the story of what happened, but obviously cannot share any details. And the story isn't done yet, it isn't final. But if it ends the way I think it will, it could have been so easily prevented. Yes, the dog is DEAD. That part of the story is complete. Nothing will bring him back. It is so sad.

It's a given that our dogs travel a lot. Are exposed to far more than even average pets. Every weekend they are jostled into crating areas that are only slightly cleaner and less of a germ factory than your average day care, only because our "kids" don't have hands and opposable thumbs to grime up every available surface. Thus, your dog has a HIGHER chance of coming into contact with nastiness and of passing on that nastiness. Why do you think it's ok not to take precautions? And the most basic of which is vaccinating for those things that can kill your or another dog?

Your veterinarian is not trying to just make money off of you. Talk to him or her. Be reasonable. Listen. We paid a very large amount of money to become educated about the various diseases out there we're facing. Sure, the drug companies are the ones supplying us the vaccines and feeding us the glories of their products. But we were trained to be skeptical, observant, scientists; if the vaccines were completely bogus, don't you think we'd be able to see through that? And do you really think the drug companies WANT to sell junk? All of them started out with the same goal we all have: to keep our pets healthy. Yes, I see plenty of health issues come up that may or may not be in part due to vaccines. The immune system is such a funny thing, and when things go awry with it, it is rarely ever due to a single event. I do know that distemper, parvo, rabies, even Lyme disease... they KILL pets. No question. Unlike auto-immune issues that are so multifactorial, these disease agents single handedly can KILL. I'm not saying vaccinate for every thing every year. Just, be reasonable and be constantly ready to re-evaluate your pet's vaccination program. Heck, maybe take the same approach for your own vaccines.

So that's my soap box on health and well being.

Weight Off My Shoulders

Video from December-January, as promised.

Today we went back to Hamden again for what I was afraid might be one of our last AKC trials for a very long time. With the "budget cuts" and all, I have some UKI and USDAA along with a few seminars planned through April, but that was going to be it. Mary's officially moving out this Friday. Yesterday I heard from one of the incoming interns who seems very interested in the house, and today I heard from a second one, so if the first backs out soon, I have a back up. When I got those two emails I really felt a huge weight lifted, I can still do agility and all the things I had planned for this year.

Don't know if I was preoccupied with all of that, but today was a terrible day at the trial. Might have also been on my first run of the day, Marron skidded onto the table on her side. You probably wouldn't have been able to tell watching, since once she stopped skidding, she wound up in a down and while I stared at her, checking to see if she was hurt, she just gazed back at me as if saying, "What? Nothing wrong here, the judge is counting, why don't you scurry off so you're ready to release me when he's done!" If you didn't know that she DOESN'T auto down, it would have looked pretty cool. I saw which way her legs were pointing and it was not normal. I spent both of Spy and Kraft's runs worried that she would come gimping out of her crate for JWW. I don't want to break her again :( Turns out she was fine, and she wound up my only dog to QQ. I was not on my game handling wise all day either. None of my dogs looked confident about what I was doing, which was probably a reflection of my lack of confidence. What the heck? AKC courses aren't that hard, why am I finding them so difficult lately? It's not like they are particularly hard in and of themselves, *I* just feel like I don't have the tools to cue them properly. I can obviously get through them "clean", but not with the dog driving confidently exactly where I want them to go, which is really my definition of a good run. Spy had a bar in both runs, one of which was totally my fault now that I watch the video as I cued a little deceleration going into the chute, then had to push her back out to a jump. Kraft I over handled a discrimination off the dog walk, just to save a Q, then at the next point I was unsure on, I totally sent him in the wrong end of a tunnel. JWW I got through clean, but only by luck, he had no clue where he was going and didn't even place, and this is a one ring trial. Both our Masters JWW Q's have been like that, ones where I didn't feel like I did a good job showing him the course. He and Marron got the same number of MACH points on that run, 13, and Marron was slower than normal since the course started out jump-weave which isn't her favorite. I did manage to get all the runs on video, and pieced together the good bits. I'll add that to this post once it's finished uploading.

And yesterday's video:

Skillz Checklist

I went out to Paws N Effect for run throughs today. Mostly I wanted to rescue my video camera, which I left there a month and a half ago at a trial. Mission accomplished. There is video uploading as I type this, material for which has been floating around in my brain for months.

And I made good on my goal to work on the skills on my checklist. I praised all of his start lines, and since I was mostly working short sequences, we got to do several. He broke one, but not in they way he has been doing at trials. I think of "breaking" as in they just start the course without the release. Then there's the little get up and sniff something behind them. I think they do these behaviors for very different reasons, I just can't put my finger on what each one really means. Both are stress and a lack of a clear understanding of the criteria, but which choice they make is very different. Kraft can do both, but it was the start the course without me that was causing problems in trials. I think it's easier to fix the get up and sniff one, since they haven't really been able to self reward, and likely was just because they got distracted for a second, which is what he did today. And it was after we had just run a sequence and I was going back to the start to repeat it so he may not have been completely clear about what we were doing since mostly in run throughs I just keep going, reward where we are and go one from there, not go back to the start. But skill 1: check!

Also worked on lateral distance from the weaves. Poor guy, he was having a hard time with it at first. The first time he popped out, I said "whoops" and jollied him up, playing with him, but not giving him the toy I had. But he totally deflated. Would not go near the weaves. So I moved on to something else for a bit, then did the weaves the other way with lateral distance and rewarded to end that run. The second session I did it the same way and he kept popping, but I didn't mark it and just swung him back around to try again. He tried it three times before he finally got it right and I rewarded, and he didn't deflate. So yeah, he's still being very sensitive about corrections. Sorry buddy. But once I did reward it and then repeated it, he dove into the weaves and never hesitated about finishing them at all. So I think it was just something he needed to work through, needed time to think about the mistake and how to fix it. But will have to be very careful about how I verbally mark any mistakes.

Did work a little bit of commitment to a jump, just off of a table with me leading out far lateral from the jump I wanted him to take.

Did a flip. It was in a pretty easy place to do one, and I was late with the side change the first time, but the second time was a bit better.

There were no places to do a backside jump off the dog walk, but he did several gentle turns off the dog walk that were all lovely, no misses at all.

No speedy approach to the weaves off my right, but the weave sequence I was working on was dog walk, jump, weaves, with a tough approach angle that I pretty much just had to trust him to do on his own, and he did.

Very pleased with his work today. Hopefully will make it to the trial on Sunday. Weather is looking a bit iffy. It's our last AKC for probably most of the year.

Skillz

Just needed to write this down in a safe place. Our mistakes/faults/missing skills that occurred multiple times for January/February trials:
-Jump commitment with lateral distance (mostly it was me failing to cue the jump or not trusting it and being limited with options down the line because of it)
-Start line stays
-Lateral distance off weaves
-Speedy/blind weave approaches on my right side
-Backside jump off of dog walk (going around it and missing it completely)
-Flip (would have liked to use it twice, but chickened out both times)

Hoping to do this at the end of each month, check what skills we were missing the month or two before that and make that our homework. Since I won't be doing class, and the only training I might get is at run throughs once a week, where I don't get to choose the set up or see it beforehand, I need to be able to have several things I want to work on readily at hand that I can apply to almost any course set up. I figure one time through I will run the course set, the other time work on whatever skill set I have for the month.

Made Me Wish I Had My Video Camera

I'm kind of behind on posting, and I wish I could make up for that by saying I have a truly awesome video to accompany the story, but alas, after my last trial in Hamden, I must have forgotten my camera there with all the puppy excitement. So two absolutely AWESOME trials later, no video. We got snowed out of a UKI show the first weekend in February, which had me really bummed, but the following week I did get to go to one. Other than foundation behaviors, which barely resemble agility, just toy play, sending to cones or jump standards, we've barely done any agility. No class, no run throughs, and playing outside is out of the question. And I don't know if it was all the foundations stuff I've been working on, the break we basically have taken from agility, the PUPPY, or if he finally is just back to normal, but I finally feel connected to Kraft out on course again. It really is coming down to the start line, if he breaks, the whole run is going to be discombobulated, if he stays, even if we don't Q, it feels smooth and like we are a team at least. At that last UKI trial that I did get to go to, I was signed up for Masters Series, but when I saw who else was entered at 16", I knew we wouldn't have a shot at getting first or second for the Open. A World team dog, his killer two year old nephew, a super reliable BC and a young, crazy fast Border Jack both run by a really great handler and USDAA judge. No way were we going to break into the top of the ranks against that. The 16" Masters class was HUGE, bigger than the 20" and 22" combined. But I was very happy with how well he did. Tiny little mistakes in both agility and jumping. He did E on both courses, but they were honest mistakes, not due to disconnects. Still failed to get a novice agility Q. It was his first run and the turf was a little slick, and he just didn't collect enough for a weave entry. He looked surprised to see the weave pole going past him LOL. He has his games and jumping points to move up to senior level, but 0 points in agility, so we'll be stuck in Novice for a while. Marron was a good girl, didn't Q much, but as long as she's happy these days, I'm happy. Spy won Masters agility, thereby qualifying for the Masters series at the Open, if we go.
Then last weekend I was signed up for DAM and PVP with Spy and Kraft. Spent a nice weekend away at my parents' house while they were in Florida for a wedding. Again, Kraft was a solid partner, staying connected on every run, only lost him during snooker trying to go from my last color to start the close. He really should have seen my turning cues and not shot off over the end jump, but he didn't run to his leash, just wrapped the jump and came back, so I think it was an honest mistake. He also ran steeplechase. I'm kind of bummed because as well as he ran all weekend, he was the only 18" dog, so he gets 0 year end points. Not that top ten is necessarily my goal, but it stinks that in USDAA you're at the mercy of how popular or unpopular your height division is in any part of the country. In AKC, number of dogs is completely irrelevant to your overall standings, and in UKI, you still get a minimum points for just running clean. Another check mark in the pro-UKI column. Kraft's team managed a Q, with a truly spectacular third place relay run. Spy's team also Q'd and Spy was top 8" dog (out of 4, but 2 left and did not stay for relay because they were teamed together and both dogs not running their best all day). It's notable that she managed to do as well as she did, considering she earned us a big fat 0 in gamblers, leaving the ring as soon as I released her. Bad freaking dog! Lunch was being served and apparently it was calling her name. I *did* make the mistake of walking her right by the lunch table right before the run, I had forgotten to bring water with me and was getting dehydrated running both dogs, and I couldn't find any put out, so I went up to whoever was putting out the lunch and asked if they had water. They had to go find it, so I was stuck standing by the food table with a bored dog so I'm sure she had just too much time to plan her escape route to the table whenever she saw the opportunity. But every other run she did all weekend was absolutely perfect, so I can't complain really.
So all in all, some really great runs. Makes me so bummed my camera was in a completely different state. I had wanted to go to Tuesday run throughs at Paws to get it, but every Tuesday morning, the run throughs were cancelled because of snow on Monday. Stupid weather. So ready for winter to be done.
One thing I'm dreading despite the coming warmer weather, I think agility is going to have to go on hold for a while. When Mary moved in last year, I was really struggling financially. Got into some debt after moving in to my house a few years ago that I just haven't been able to clear. Then when she moved in, it should have been an opportunity to clear all that up. Instead, I just trialed more and didn't make as much of a dent as I should have into it. Then I went to California for Cynosports, and pretty much undid all the progress I had made. Put myself on a tight budget when we got back, determined not to put agility ahead of paying off the debt. Then there was Christmas, and my car needed new head gaskets. Which was fine, I was planning on both of those things. But now Mary's moving out. Despite the fact that I think it's a bad idea on her part, it also leaves me in only slightly better of a situation than I was in a year ago. But that budget needed to be revamped, and the most logical thing to get cut is agility. I estimate that if I take about 6 months off, I can get rid of the debt. That's as long as nothing major on my house or car needs replacing. And the exhaust system on my car and the water tank in my basement are both getting ready to need replacing, so that 6 months might be even longer. Sigh. I really wish I didn't have to do this. It's really depressing, but I figure I will be in a much better place to do MORE agility once I don't have to worry about the debt any more. I'm still signing up for things, until the day she moves out. I have trials through the end of March, and seminars in April and May already paid for. I might also enter a few UKI in April, but very up in the air which ones. I had started setting money aside every month since we got back, which was my agility budget, intending to have enough set aside for local trials, and enough extra so that by the fall I'd have enough for a trip to the Open and/or Cynosports. So if I use that up with a little bit more trialing, I'll be stuck in the fall without any money to go. So I don't know really what to do. Ideally, I'd find another doggie room mate, but I just don't think I could get lucky a second time and find someone who I could live with as easily. I've offered it to the incoming interns at work, which could still go badly, but I haven't even heard anything from them, so I'm not hopeful I'll get any one. Worrying about what the heck I'm going to do and how much I'm going to miss agility has made me really grumpy and moody lately. Having Treble has helped, just takes my mind off of everything. I don't have to worry about puppy foundations classes or seminars, or having money whenever he's ready to trial. We just get to play. Don't want to have to give that up.

Feeling Unlucky, aka Winter Blues

It was a tough weekend to be on Facebook. Saturday I was signed up to go to a UKI trial in the morning, then come home in the afternoon to go to work. They were predicting snow overnight Friday night. So when I got up and there was already 3" on the ground and it was still coming down, and the weather people were saying stay home if you can, I just couldn't risk it. Didn't want to get all the way there (an hour away without the snow) and then not be able to get home in a timely manner for work. And really, agility isn't worth sliding across the highway. So I'm glad I wasn't 100% committed to both retiring Marron this spring, or getting her UKI championship, since we just lost a whole trial. She'll get to keep trialing for as long as she wants, and if we can do enough UKI to get that championship, so be it. If not, it's only agility and she really doesn't HAVE to get it to prove to me she was the best damn first agility dog EVER.
So yeah, not getting to go was hard enough. But then seeing the videos from people who did go. Of course I'm happy for them, but it just kills me, kind of a "that was supposed to be ME running that course!" feeling. Yeah, jealous of people who have full weekends off, of people who live nearby locations that are putting on lots of UKI. It was held at Clean Run. That space is awfully small, but it looks like the judge did a great job of utilizing the space to make some really fun courses. I'm entered again this weekend at a trial twice as far away. A full day this time, since I'm off this weekend. We'll see if the weather can cooperate.
On top of that, people announced their status for the Jaako and Janita seminar in NH. Again, wah! Pity party for me! The NH seminar is too far for me to travel to, I'd have to get a hotel and that just isn't in the budget this year. But someone on one of their threads announced that they got into the CT on, which means it opened and probably filled already. Which I expected, I figured it would fill with the instructor's students. But that tiny shred of hope that I might get lucky was shot down. Then with Mary away at a seminar at Kayl's in Canada, training field likely covered in snow until April... definitely feeling like where we are is where we will be for a while. And I don't like where we are.
This is helping:

He loves the TV. I don't know if it was strategic, if she was hinting anything, or if it was just coincidence and she happened across it, but Mary left MEB's Foundation Fundamentals DVD set out and told me to feel free to watch it if I wanted. So that's what I've been doing quite a bit of. Now that training outside is out of the question, if I want to train anything, I have to come up with things that can be done in my tiny basement. I see quite a few things that I can do even with Kraft. Trying to turn all this into a positive, though it's clearly not as much fun as running. Not on the DVD, but the dogs got to play 4 way Crate Games last night. It's still amazing how long one cup of kibble can last even when I'm doling out the treats as rapid fire as I was! A cookie for staying in your crate while I gave another dog a cookie! Dogs were happy though, it was a lot of cookies. A lot of brain work even for ME! Who do I owe a cookie to now again? Whose turn is it to be released? I hope I still see it as this much fun two months from now when it's all we've done.

Admiring, Baby Steps, and Distractions

This makes me feel a little better. A handler I obviously admire, a team capable of amazing things and has accomplished much despite some hardships that have struck (after the making of this video). Keeping the bloopers in. Not everyone gets it right the first time they try. It does take work. Mary's off to Canada this weekend for a seminar with Kayl. Really wish I could have gone, but I really have to watch money this year. Just sank $1800 into my car for new head gaskets, which it had been needing for a year. So I will just have to be content to absorb what I can when she gets back. Local seminar announcements for the spring are starting to roll in. Not sure I will get into J & J, but maybe if I don't, I might get into Rosanne D's or Anna Eifert's, which happen to be the same weekend which will maybe help dilute out how many people are trying to get into either one.

In other news, a slight step forward in maybe getting my connection back with Kraft in trials. This past weekend we did three days of AKC, T2B and Standard on Friday, then Standard and JWW Saturday/Sunday. 6 runs, 4 felt super connected and just how I want them to be, 2 were Q's (T2B and standard on Saturday). The other two standard runs, I just made one wrong handling choice on each and set the wrong line, but he did everything he needed to do perfectly. The two runs that did not feel connected AT ALL, the two JWW runs, he broke his start line and there was just no recovering. I verbally marked it and stopped him the first one, then continued, but we still weren't together and he blasted off into a tunnel when he should have been turning. I laughed and yelled "Naughty!" at him and he came out of the tunnel and just stood there blankly staring at me. We were almost done any way, so I just left and headed for the finish jump. I'm just not going to fight it any more if he feels he needs to walk away and think. I don't think this was him "shutting down", he just was confused about what went wrong, and he just cannot think and do agility at the same time. Doesn't mean he was overfaced, he just needs time to process, and if the run was going that badly, why not give him that time? But after that, I didn't want to correct him again for breaking, so when he broke the next day on the very next run, I just kept on going. Will probably put us back in our start line training, but it kept his confidence up, which is priority #1. If I have to get creative with start lines, I will do so. For now, it seems like one jump he can handle, so for standard I set him up very far back from the first jump and only led out just past that first jump so that when I released him, I had time to move forward and cue jump 2, and still decelerate to cue the turn to obstacle 3. Won't work with every course (since not every course has a ton of room behind jump 1 to set him up), and it will be nice to work back towards having a reliable stay no matter where I go, but for now, baby steps. I'll work around it. Will be very interested to see what Tammy's online course will look like.

And in still other news- look what came home with me Saturday from the trial!

He is Kraft's nephew and he will be staying with me for a while. He is NOT going to be permanent, I really can't add a young dog right now with everything I want to do this year with Kraft. If I get another agility dog, I want to be able to do seminars and classes and really focus on building a relationship with the new dog. In order to do that, I need to be in maintenance mode with the currently competing dog, and Kraft and I are far from that level. But a puppy to play with? Socialize? Crate train? Yes, I think that is just the happy distraction I need to stop worrying about what the heck I'm doing wrong with Kraft. He's just so stinking cute! 

So here is "Treble", officially 3BF All About That Bass

I should stop watching other people's videos

Ever watch videos like this one and feel like, damn, we'll never be that good?

 Just feeling down about our abilities lately, for a lot of reasons. Feeling stagnant, like we really aren't getting any where, but I don't have many options to change what we are doing. Something is holding us back. Working through the Next Level tests, I feel like there are small holes, things that we can improve, but nothing major. So it doesn't seem to be obstacle performance for the most past. Looking back at our trials the past few months, start lines have certainly been a problem area that I can improve on, and one that really SHOULD be addressed ASAP. But then I feel like, what the heck was I doing with all that foundations stuff if it's breaking down now? Leaving to go get the leash/toy mid run is another problem, which again makes me feel like a crappy trainer, what the heck did I do all that impulse control work for? Then when I *do* start handling courses, everything feels muddled. I can't even get through 10-15 obstacle training sequences any more. Of course then I start berating myself for even attempting *handling* when I can't keep my dog away from a toy for more than 30 seconds. WTF am I doing wrong? Why can't we get past this?

I'd *love* to change something up, take a seminar, take a private with Soshana or something. But money's tight, and about to get tighter. And it's so hard to get in to any worthwhile seminars. I'm highly doubtful any one but the local instructor's students will get working spots when Jaako and Janita come out this way. Feeling stuck. Nothing's changing, we aren't getting better.

Teetering on the Edge

Yesterday I worked the OMD teeter performance test. Had to break it into parts since I only had one teeter not two, and the sequence also was set up to test the chute, and mine is ripped, so it really was just very short sequences ending with the teeter. Other than being ever so slightly slower when I held back completely, he was completely perfect. But I realized he was only 100% perfect because he doesn't really have criteria. He isn't required to hold a 2o2o, doesn't wait for a release. Just bang and go. But he doesn't fly off, doesn't turn around or refuse if I rear cross, still hits the contact zone. So if he can still maintain the loose criteria I have set and the criteria set by the agility gods (touching both yellow zones) no matter what I do handling wise, then is there anything wrong with the criteria? It isn't slow. But I feel like if he managed to be that successful then I haven't looked hard enough. It's not like I did a ton of work on the teeter. For now I'm just going to call it good, but I might try to test out some things in trials. 

Original Intended Purpose

When I first created my LJ blog, it was intended to be a training journal, where I recorded what we worked on, what needed working on, and my thoughts about my training. Then I got to reading other people's blogs who manage to make these epic, agility as a metaphor for the "meaning of the universe" type posts. Tried to see if I could follow suit, but it's exhausting trying to come up with a greater meaning for every lesson I learn in agility. Heck, it's exhausting just trying to come up with pictures to go with my posts. So we're just going to go back to boring old rambles that don't ever really make a point other than to say, this is what we need to work on.

So things I've been working on. Been trying to make my way through some of the OMD Next Level exercises. Oh the holes you will find! Actually, I've been impressed for the most part with Kraft's skills through most of the obstacle performance tests.
-Table: I think he didn't stop the first time on the one that I was recalling to, but on the second try he did.
-Wall jump- Don't have one, so made those into some funky looking doubles for those exercises. No problems
-Weaves- Needed a refresher on rear crosses with extreme angles, but that seems to be improving. Weaving into the fence also difficult, as well as making the 90 degree entry against a fence.
-A-frame- Need to set up some video with me hanging behind since I can't actually see the contact. I think he might have missed, or at least been higher than I like. This is what he missed in Steeplechase finals at Cynosports, so definitely tops on the list.
-Jumping- Sending forward on a "Go on" cue. You'd think with all the RDW we did go on would be an easy one, but no. And I'm ok with that. Not a top priority for me to have a dog who will take a line of jumps with me standing or walking behind him.
-Tunnel- Have to be careful when I've been working turning to the back of a tunnel that he doesn't anticipate. If I am moving as if I will be in that "1 meter past the tunnel entrance" when he enters, but don't actually make it there because I intend to pick him up on "front side" of the tunnel, he'll still turn to the backside to look for me. Have to be clear when he enters the tunnel where he should look for me when he comes out. That's my handling, not his obstacle understanding.
-Dog walk- Happy to say it was one of our strongest obstacles. Only trouble was the dead ahead send, but he did it on the second try. The exercise was really meant for stopped contacts, but I very proudly did ALL of the moves with his running dog walk- pushing off the end, blind crossing, lateral distance. "Running past" was the only one that I didn't really have an equivalent for. The sequence set you up to be a little behind the dog by the time they got to the end so they could see if the dog held position while the handler caught up and ran past. I changed the sequence to be a "go on", to see if he would drive ahead to the tunnel entrance while I was still running, but falling behind. The dirt was deep in the training ring I did this one in, and I was slower than normal. He did the contact well, but curved towards me to the wrong tunnel entrance.
Teeter will be next and I need a long jump and a my chute fabric is torn, so I need to replace it or sew it.

Another thing that's been bugging me lately, I seem to be able to get through an 8-12 obstacle training sequence just fine. But full courses with the pressure of being at a trial we fall apart. I really want to be able to practice running full size courses more, but the energy to set them up, the cold. I may have to start going to run throughs at Paws again on Tuesdays because Mary's just not up to helping me out moving things here.