This n That

Today it is finally raining. We have needed rain for a long time, since my yard resembles a dustbowl right now. The weather is cooler, and the dogs have been absolutely insane in the cool mornings. Even the old girl Bailey has been ripping around the yard like a puppy again. They seriously enjoy this weather. I wish I lived in a cooler climate sometimes. I do not enjoy the heat of the summer, and neither do they.
 We had some very good runs last weekend on some technical courses. I thought all the courses were very nice. I enjoy technical because it makes me think and work very hard to be consistent. Moxie got her 4th QQ for AKC Nationals, which is both thrilling and also puts an enormous amount of pressure on me to get the other 2 QQs before November 30th. She is capable of getting them and doing well, but sometimes she needs to get out of her own head and just do the course like I know she can. She blew 2 standard runs on weaves, so needless to say, we are weaving a LOT this week. Sally was a rockstar in preferred, with 2 novice std Qs for her title and an open std Q, plus one novice jumpers Q, and 2 novice jumpers NQs which were beautiful with one bar down. Oh well, I am enjoying novice with her while I can. Maybe next year we can get her to AKC nationals in the preferred class. Its been fun running her with less pressure, because I realize how far our teamwork has come. Sally is like that comfy sweater you love to wear, it just feels good. It feels so good to run with her. I have such trust in her abilities and I know she will always try her hardest for me. I absolutely cannot describe how great it feels to have that kind of a connection. I feel like thats what I need to build more with Moxie. Not that we dont have a wonderful connection, but I think Moxie needs to feel that she is a rockstar in her own right. I did notice getting her out earlier for her runs last weekend and walking her and spending some time with her seemed to help. She was definitely running as good as she has ever ran, with the exception of the 2 weave pole bobbles.
 Hustle is doing well in training. I take him to trials and work him over the jumps, since, for whatever reason, he is a maniac about tugging at shows, and he could care less at home! His jumping is looking good, and we are stringing 2-3 jumps together now, all with turns and no side changes. I am bouncing him between 20-24-26 inch jumps, and he looks good at all 3 heights. He is working on 2x2 weaves (which admittedly I need to work harder, it was a busy week!) but he is getting it pretty well. His aframe looks GREAT! I think I will keep it as a running. I am undecided on the dogwalk, since I started working a low teeter and that took up more of my focus. He should be ready to show early next year. No rush with him, as I think he was slow to  mature and I also think he will be a fantastic little agility dog.
Nothing else to report, except I am painting and caulking trim, trying to get my office set up and the rest of my house done before fall so I can just ENJOY the fall weather!
OH! How can I forget. My students looked AWESOME at the trial last weekend. I have to say, very unbiased I may add, that my students looked far more advanced than the other novice handlers I saw running. I was very impressed with all the TNTers and can't wait to see more from them at the next show!

Sally

I have noticed that in the past few months, when Sally is on her back, she has this weird cough. It just happens 1-2 times, then it's over. Somehow, I knew there was something else up. I took her to the vet last saturday, and had her completely worked up. We saw immediately on x-ray that the right side of her heart was enlarged slightly. Upon EKG, it was determined to be abnormal, but consistently abnormal. All bloodwork and heartworm test were fine. Now that wait for the cardiologist. 
 Let me assure you, I know what it feels like now to be kicked in the testicles. I SO wanted this to be nothing. Sally, my girl, my *go to* dog when I need to learn anything, my *gives 200%* in every venture, wonderful, fabulous, explosively awesome Sally. Supergirl. Supergirl doesn't have a weakness, right?
 I am still in shocked disbelief. I am still hoping that this abnormality is normal for her. I am wishing on every star, eyelash and stone that the cardiologist tells me it's nothing. I still panic every time she pants. I want to  hug her and squeeze her and put her in a bubble.
  We get to show friday in Evansville, and I had previously decided to move her down to Preferred. The one bar per run stuff was just getting old, and I refuse to jump grid her anymore. Novice, here we come. I am excited because she gets to jump 16, and I get to run her for the pure joy of running her.
 And let me tell you, Sally is PURE JOY for me.

Long busy summer

Well, we have had a very long year! Finishing up our house, and moving in, has taken some serious energy. It's been interesting, and mostly stressful! Anyone who says having a new house is exciting has no real clue what they are talking about! Never again! I am thankful for everything being almost finished, and being somewhat settled in finally.




My training barn is almost finished, which is EXTREMELY exciting for me. We have electricity, which was a huge thing, and we have half of our flooring put in. Right now, we are running on lime dust, but eventually we will be bringing in screened dirt. But first, doors! Who knew doors were so incredibly expensive? I sure didn't! It's all finally coming together though, and that makes me breath a lot easier.



I am amazed at how many people in the Southern Indiana area needed a place to train. I guess the old adage "build it and they will come" rings true. I love it so much, because I love to teach. Teaching and learning have always been high on my list of fun things to do. I am trying hard to keep learning new things to pass on to my students, both in books and dvds, and private lessons with one of the best handlers in the country.



Right now I have such a fantastic group of students who continually amaze me and make me proud. They have taken everything I have taught them, and practiced it! It puts a lot of pressure on me to be consistent, and correct! I appreciate that from them. I enjoy the challenge of always trying to challenge them! I have handlers in my starters/novice level that can do excellent/masters level challenges without blinking an eye. Thank you so much guys, for being the best students I could have ever hoped for. I can't wait until you are all kicking my butt in excellent!



The dogs...



Well, Moxie has had a fabulous year and she is becoming the performance dog I knew she always could be. She has earned 3 QQs towards AKC nationals so far, with 200 points. We are officially halfway there. She needs one more standard leg for her MX, and 4 more for her MXJ. She pretty much blew through excellent B after earning her AX/AXJ. She is also qualified to run in USDAA Nationals in DAM team and Steeplechase. She ran her first ISC courses in a trial in March, and she was amazing as always. I am so excited about her future.



Sally... My girl Sally, what else can I say? She always puts forth 200% on every course. She earned her MX in May, which was a big accomplishment for us. I decided to run her Performance in USDAA, and she gets to jump 16 inches! Can you say ohmygosh? My timing is a little off, since 16 inches is below her wither height and she gets to run every course at full extension. Okay, she did that anyway but now she really doesn't have to collect. She loves it. She is qualified for all 3 classes at USDAA Nationals in October. I can't even express how much it means to me to get Sally to a National event. AND it's USDAA, which is a total blast. She has had a great summer, and she is really solid now. Unfortunately, she still knocks a bar each run, which eliminates her. So I decided seeking that MXJ just wasn't worth it. She works her butt off, and we NQ over one bar. I also refuse to jump grid her at almost 9 years old, and with confirmed hip arthritis. With all this in mind, I made the very tough decision to move her to Preferred in AKC, and jump her 16. We get to start over again in NOVICE... Can you imagine Sally again in Novice? I sure hope we get through it fast, because there is a LOT of space in a Novice course, and she can certainly get away from me fast out there. It should be interesting!



Hustle... Well, he's the man, of course. Goofy, sweet, loving. I am really getting close to this little guy. We started jumping him with some motion, and he is doing very well. I also started to raise his Aframe, and I am still letting him run it. We shall see if I decide to keep running contacts, but for now, he looks really good! I also introduced the teeter, low with a pillow at the bang end. He could care less, and he races across the teeter to get to the food target on the other end. I am having a lot of fun with him, because he is down for anything as long as there is food involved.



All in all, we have survived the move, and the constant flux in our lives, and now I am hoping for a blissfully boring fall and winter! Maybe I can get down to some real training with my dogs now!

A lesson from Bailey

I decided to try to earn Baileys MXP, since she earned her MJP at the end of last year. Bailey is 10.5 years old, and she has never been hard core into agility. She is my first agility dog, and actually, my first dog! So I have learned a lot with her, made the routine first dog mistakes with her, and generally we just fumbled our way through the first few years of trialing.
 Bailey is 3 legs away from her MXP. In standard, I wasn't very sure she would make time, and lets face it, with her it has to be the PERFECT Bailey course, or she just isn't going to play. This leaves a lot of factors for us to overcome each run.  I ran her in Ohio on dirt, thinking the cold weather and dirt floor would be my best chance with her. I only entered her in standard. She loves the contacts, but she isn't always thrilled about everything in between, like jumps! She ran 2/3rds of the course fine, and 5 jumps before the end, she ran around a jump. Okay, she walked around it looking for the exit, which is not uncommon for her if she isn't in the mood that particular day. She always gets the same amount of praise and treats no matter how she does.But this time, I think I finally "heard" her. She was saying, pretty loud and clear, that she would like to be retired, thank you very much. The next day, the course was a perfect Bailey course. Contact to contact to contact,  weaves off my left, and pretty straight forward to the end. I went back and forth about pulling her or running her. In the end, I decided to pull her. I could have ran her in there, taken her across the contacts, and ran out. But why? She doesn't care, and it would have just been for ME. I am proud of myself for making this decision, because it was a very hard one to make. At 3 Qs from her MXP, we could probably eek it out eventually. But I am not so sure I would be proud of that. She wouldnt be doing it for the love of the game, she would be doing it because I asked her to and there was probably some good treats at the end of that course. In the end, its MY job to hear what she is trying to tell me, and do what's best for her, no matter what I want.
 I appreciate the lesson Bailey, and I am sorry it took me a while to figure it out. But you can just be *my* dog now at trials, the cute as hell, rotten, begging for treats, beautiful older lady who has a ball just being there. I love ya girl.

Running Contacts and USDAA trial

I started training running contacts with Moxie and Hustle, and the possibility of letting Sally run them as well... Here are the videos..
http://www.vimeo.com/8597469

http://www.vimeo.com/8600940

http://www.vimeo.com/8602342

I havent gotten a chance to do much more than this due to weather... First snow and then all the rain.
Moxie is hopping a little more than I like, but I am hoping this subsides with more angle on the dogwalk board.
At the USDAA trial, Moxie was about 50% on her dogwalk contact, and 100% on her Aframe, though I think she is jumping higher off the aframe right now than I would like. Considering I have done almost no training since the initial switch, she did pretty well. Sally is still stopping, which is perfect because I think a true running would be a disaster with her! I do want her coming down the boards faster, so I think that is my goal with letting her run contacts at home. Do I like switching criteria on her? Absolutely not, but I think she is pretty resilient and can figure it fast enough.
 Sally was awesome at 16 inches in USDAA! She got 2 standard legs, a pairs leg and had a very nice Grand Prix run.
 Moxie was great, but a few mistakes like dogwalk misses kept her out of GP and her final standard run.

Bye 2009!! Hello 2010!

I am glad to ring in a new year, and let go of the old one. 2008 was the worst year of my life, for many reasons. We had several disasters that year, as some of you well know. 2009, while not  in any way an extension of 2008, was a long year for us to be sure. We spent the entire year in a rental home, for which we are eternally grateful for. The family that owns the home we rent are AMAZING.. They allowed us and our 5 dogs into their home without any reservation, and are genuinely happy to have us. It was one of the many blessings. We found out how amazing our friends were, and my dog friends in particular. The way the dog community helped us out after our fire was nothing short of miraculous. I will forever be grateful to them as well. We would not be where we are without them. I believe that helped me realize just how lucky I am to have such amazing friends, and where I really wanted to be in my life.
  We have had a long, annoying battle with our insurance company over money for our fire, which we ultimately recieved everything we needed, it just took time and emotional energy I didn't have to spend. I am glad I am finally finished with all the paperwork, and all the headache, of Allstate.
 We have had a LONGER battle with weather! Dig a basement, and then torrential rains and floods for 4 months! It did become comical after a while, but it put us well behind on building our home..
  I decided on a major career change, after deciding that someone elses insanity was not worth my personal health. That was both the best decision I ever made, and the saddest. I miss all the animals I got to develop a relationship with over the years, and my day to day interactions with some of the coolest stuff I'll ever get to do. With the sweet comes the sour, and after 2 solid years of being someone elses whipping post, I decided I am worth more than that. I hope that person finds happiness in their own life, and stops feeling the need to emotionally tortue others. The peace I have found since leaving is really amazing.
 I am so glad I decided to start my own business. Its the scariest, most exciting thing I have ever done. I have always loved to teach, and have been a coach in some way since I was in high school, coaching softball and playing as well. I love helping teams reach their full potential, and helped people enjoy their pets more. It is really rewarding to see someone enjoy their animal more, and watch relationships develop that might not have been there before.
 I am excited about this year with my dogs. I feel like Sally will do well this year, and maybe we will get it together enough for some QQs!
 Moxie is definitely coming along, and I  think this year will be when she really comes into her own. I want her running to her full potential, and enjoying the game as much in trials as she does at home.
Hustle is training great, and he will be my first start to finish running contact dog, so I am really going to enjoy the challenge. He will also be my first 2x2 weave dog, start to finish. I am ready to see what he will be like on course!
 This will be Baileys retirement year. She earned her MJP last year, and we will try for her MXP this year. If she gets it, fine, if not, we will have fun trying. She will be 11 in May, and my only goal for her is to live a long, healthy, spoiled life.
 I am excited about 2010. New house, new business, and new adventures with the dogs. Bring it on!