Winter Solstice

Today is the shortest day of the year. I'm not a winter person, but I like this day because I know every day after will be a little bit longer. It's funny that this day is actually the first day of winter, because I think of it as a renewal.
Last Thursday, we had our first real snow of the season. On Friday, we tried to take Rival, Tundra, and Brink to my favorite trails up the crest road, but unfortunately the road was packed with fools and we couldn't make it there. We did get a short hike in Three Guns Canyon which made the day. The dogs had a blast, but it made me miss Colorado a bit.
I officially passed my Canine Medical Massage class and should be receiving my certificate in the mail any day now. I also openned a bank accound under the business name "The Total Canine". I hope 2011 brings canine rehabilitation therapy certification and a booming business. I know I'm looking forward to the new year and the sunflowers to come.

Practice Makes Perfect

Brink and Rival continue to work on their contacts. I don't think Brink and I have quite accomplished our goal of 1000 'Go Feet' yet, but we are doing some every day. Rival is also getting to practice his running dogwalk, although I know just doing the board he is not at full speed. He is still hitting the yellow 95% of the time and I am able to add some turns at the end and still reinforce that he has to run straight down the board. I did finally get some video of our back yard practice to post.



Last weekend Brink and I went to one day of our first UKI trial. I do think I will like UKI, but since it is not big around here yet, I was on a mission to use it just for training. So before every run I announced my intentions to train and went for it. Brink still thought it was the real thing and definitely pushed things. His dogwalk and teeter surprised me. I thought they would be better, so the trial at least reinforced that I have to train more. What I noticed was when there is another obstacle in front of him, he focuses on that before getting into his position of 2o2o. I will start putting a tunnel in front of the board at home and proofing that now. His A-frames still need a lot of work. Hopefully the changes we are making in training will teach him to keep his head down and stride to the bottom. Here are videos of three of the runs.



Our next trial is January 7&8 in Arizona. Last year at this trial, Tundra got her ADCH Bronze and Lifetime Achievement Bronze. This year I'm only taking Brink. But fingers crossed it will be a lucky trial for him too.

3..2..1..Contact

My life is ruled by contacts, running ones, 2 on 2 off ones, trying to make business ones :)
Contact training with the boys is a never ending task, at the last trial, Rival hit 3 out of 8 dogwalks-not bad for a boy who had been on the dogwalk once in the past month. AND, he picked the important classes to hit-Team Standard and Grand Prix (although I really wanted one in Advanced Standard to finish his AAD). He only missed one A-frame and had one teeter fly off. Brink on the other hand, hit all his dogwalks (although not always holding a 2 on 2 off position) and only hit 3 of his A-frames and probably 2 teeters. I can't remember how many A-frames and teeters he did in the weekend but considering it was a 3 day USDAA trial I bet there were a lot.
So, I have added a hoop to Brink's A-frame box training, in hopes that he will learn to keep his head down and not try to one stride the down side. I also hope that Santa will bring me an A-frame for Christmas. I just don't think I can keep his running A-frame consistent without one at home. It's amazing how a perfect running A-frame can disintegrate in ONE week without training. For his dogwalk, I'm trying a more upbeat 'feet', rather than telling him harshly to 'feet'. I'm trying to get thousands of repetitions over the holiday week, using the down side of the teeter with the up side stabilized so it can't tip. So far Brink seems to be enjoying the drills and understanding the position. Today we were able to progress to having a tennis ball about 6 feet away from the end of the teeter and Brink still hitting his 2 on 2 off position. The next test will be throwing the ball while telling him to 'go feet', and then the squirrel will come out. Last time we proofed his contact with the flying squirrel, Brink decided he couldn't move, all he could do was stare at the squirrel.
After setting up the teeter contraption, it struck me that this also would be good for drilling Rival's running dogwalk. I'm so excited that I figured this out, I'm hoping it will make Rival's dogwalk a little more consistent. He really was fun to run with at the USDAA trial, the new attitude is really paying off with him.
We're taking a short break from trialing, so with all this contact training, I'm sure the boys will be 100% by January:)

Turning Over a New Leaf

This weekend I went to a small, local AKC trial. Friday was excellent only and I have to admit I wasn't too excited about running Rival. The past two ASCA trials with Rival have only been mediocre, with moments when I felt like he really didn't want to run. So on Friday, I wasn't motivated, but I also wasn't nervous. The standard course was tricky and there was a lot of complaining going on. I tried not to add to the complaining, but there was one area that every time I got to it, I just thought, "Rival can't do that". Even though we need two Standard Q's to get his Excellent A title, I decided I just wanted to go out there and have fun. I was going to run how I wanted to run and hope that Rival had fun, too. Success! We were no where near a Q, but Rival really seemed to have fun, he kept his speed up and he never shut down.
That night I discover Daisy Peel's blog. I saw Daisy Peel compete at the Utah Regional this past summer and can honestly say that not only was I impressed by her skills and her dogs, I was impressed with how she handled herself around the ring. I never saw her upset or complaining. She really was the epitome of a good sportsman, even when Solar's running contact caused on off course in Grand Prix. I decided I need to change my philosophy on agility plus change my mental management, and Saturday was my first day to experiment with it.
On Saturday, I would be running both Rival and Brink. Brink is still in Open and I really would like to move into to Excellent, but running safe and babysitting would do nothing to help our long term goals. On Rival's course the dog walk was the 3rd obstacle and led to tunnel. My goal: run like Daisy Peel and beat Rival to the tunnel, run as aggressively as possible and keep Rival having fun. Again, this run wasn't a Q but it was FUN! I beat Rival to the tunnel (he did get called on the DW contact) but I didn't babysit. If you want running contacts, what's the point of be next to the contact, trying to get the dog to slow down and hit? I ran the rest of the course aggressively pushing Rival everywhere I could. He did have some off courses, but he even kept his speed up in the weaves. With Brink, I couldn't stay quite as relaxed as with Rival, but I had the same mindset. I know we are having issues with our A-frame, but what's the point of standing there babysitting just to get the Q? I ran aggressively and we had one of his best dogwalks ever, but dropped the #5 bar. We continued to push and he did miss the A-frame contact. It wasn't a Q, but I was happy with how ran and my attitude. In jumpers, I wanted to be just as aggressive, but I believe he was still wound up from standard and he dropped 4 bars. It was hard to maintain a good attitude after this round, that is something I need to work on. I wonder if I just don't like jumpers as much as standard and that carries over to the dogs.
I know the things each dog needs to work on, but the trial is not the place to work on it. Next weekend I am going to continue this philosophy and we will have just as much fun. Oh, and we will be working all week on reinforcing hitting the contact zones. :)

PS: I have to give credit to Elicia Calhoun as well for this philosophy. Years ago she would tell me run, have fun, be aggressive, pretend this is the last run of your life. I guess it just took 5 years for it to sink in. ;)

Have you ever looked Fear in the face and said, 'I just don't care'

I feel like I'm looking Fear in the face almost every day. Sometimes I wonder why am I challenging myself so much? Then I think, why not? I'll never know if I can do something if I don't try.

So, the business is still priority number 1 and I'm learning a lot about massage, but still longing to take the rehabilitation courses-in that way February can't get here fast enough!
Dogs are priority number 2(but only barely). The 4 star events for IFCS world team qualification are starting to be announced with the first one in JANUARY!! I have admitted to myself and my coach, Kim, that I want to do this. I may not make the team, especially since every one and their mother will be trying for this team since it will be in the USA, but it won't be for trying. I need to see what the competition is like and I know I have to work on my own anxiety and pre-run nerves and the only way to do this is compete!! Brink will be getting some serious work-outs in the next few months. We are drilling weaves and off-set jump shoots, making him bounce, read angles, and extend. Then we work collection on one jumps, with constant reminders to jump from the back-end. I know he is a special dog and hopefully one day the world will see it too. :)
On the other end of the dog spectrum, I some how got suckered into running River on a team event. Can she do this? Yes, if the event takes place in my back yard and I can have a cookie in my hand. Doing this at an arena is another story. Practice began today and she still seems happy. We will be practicing a lot of weave poles and starting anti-anxiety medication. I think my team mates understand (may be not to the full extent) of River's psyche. I keep reminding her, that it was her cousin that won Agility Finals this year.
Priority #3-Possibly starting a new agility club in New Mexico for USDAA. We need more trials down here and I'm unhappy with how the current club does things. I want to have the trials like I used to go to in Colorado and Utah. Starting a new club is hard and even in this very early, brain-storming phase I'm stressed. I have great ideas though!
Update from 2 posts ago:
Traveling to Texas was rough-I think the original 2 week vacation plan was better than drive to Texas one day, compete in Finals the next, then drive home. Both Rival and Tundra were super troopers. Tundra had an amazing time with a 6th place in jumpers and 3rd place in Rd 1 of Regular. She and I were amped for the last round, I knew I was going to push as hard as possible and unfortunately our combined adrenaline caused Tundra to literally leap from the top of the down ramp of the dogwalk. Even with that huge time eater and holding her a-frame after that, her time would have been close to first place and an over-all top ten finish. I will say that I will never forgot that run and maybe that was Tundra's plan all along:)
Rival did well, and we had some bobbles, but he gave me his all. I know he'll never be competitive, but he does it for me and that's all I can ask.
The future holds more Aussie promises, but we'll talk about that later...


P.S. River says, "Happy Halloween!!!"

"It's only half past the point of no return..."

Tundra is retired. I didn't realize I would have such mixed emotions with depression topping the list. I know she has no idea she's retired and will never think, "I wonder why I don't get to go compete at agility trials anymore?" But for me it is so hard. I truly believe I am doing the right thing. She is only ten, but I don't want to run her into the ground, I don't want to cause an injury, I don't want to push her until she hates it. Tundra has done many great things and I need to reflect on that and remember that, along with how much she has taught me. She is my first agility dog and my heart dog. She's a triple champion-twice over in USDAA and ASCA. She has given me so much of herself...

Great Expections...

Leaving me feeling overwhelmed. Hopefully in a good way. Can you feel the doubt oozing from the last statement? I wish I had this great insight into where I was going, but I don't. I still have this passion for an awesome, amazing canine rehabilitation business, but I have to admit that last week's Medical Massage course left me a bit flabergasted. I'm still optimistic that with time and practice and I will learn the art of massage and I will starting seeing with my hands, but right now they are blind mice. I start my first consults this week, so wish me good luck...

In the agility world, my Tundra's ATCH 2 and Indy Award win were quickly overshadowed by the running of USDAA Nationals. I so, so, so wanted to be there. The courses looked amazing with some tough challenges. I kept telling myself next year, next year. Thanks to my friend, Brink already has a Grand Prix Q and Steeplechase Q, so we are half way there with the whole year ahead of us. I got to work with my original trainer this past week and got some good feedback and training suggestions. Now I just have to get my life scheduled so I can actually practice!

I think the best way to get on track is to write down some goals to accomplish within the next month:

Medical Massage Certification

Place with Tundra in ASCA Finals

Clean runs with Rival in ASCA Finals

Work on 3 weave pole drill with Brink

Work on head turning/wrapping jumps with Brink

Schedule time to work out for triathlon training (needless to say my training has gone in the garbage with everything else going on)

Just basicly get organized!! This will always be an issue :)