Where did the summer go?

July, August and September have been a blur. So much so that I can't remember July. WTH? I'm pretty sure we did some agility shows, and I'm pretty sure we did ok! We did a USDAA show where I had one more chance to get a Grand Prix Q on Sally before Regionals in Chicago so we could even ENTER Grand Prix at Regionals. Well, on a wing and a prayer, she gets it. Ugliest Q ever and I did a whole lot of ugly savin' in that run, but we got'er'done. Who knew little Sally could pull it off in crunch time. But I do mean UGLY. I vaguely remember her landing well off the beaten path a few times and my doing some hideous rear crosses on the flat to save, and nasty shoulder pulls, and basically just anything that is not consistent with anything we try to stay consistent with. Oh well, it's Sally... Sometimes that girl makes me work my tail off. But she is always a rush! Moxie was already qualified for everything, so she was just running for USDAA MAD titling requirements. And for whatever reason, we cannot pull a Masters Standard leg off for love or money. She actually has 4 or 5 jumpers legs, 4 Snookers (with ZERO super Qs I might add), 2 gamblers legs and 5 pairs legs. And ZERO standard legs. This is the girl who QQs in AKC all the time. It's always some crazy thing too, never something that I expected. Hustle has 2 snookers legs and 2 jumpers legs, and is coming along nicely. Slowly, but nicely.
 August!!!!   I put the exclamation points there because that's how August felt. !!!   1st weekend of August was Chicago regionals. It was a blast. We went up early a day before and visited a dog beach. Let me just say, I could totally live in Chicago or the surrounding area. Lake Michigan is gorgeous. All the beauty of the ocean, none of the salt. Moxie was pretty sure she was in heaven. She saw the water and started whining long before we hit the sand. The dog beach was amazing because it was fenced in. You could just let your dog off leash and run. And run they did. My goodness, they all pretty much went feral immediately. My dogs who check in with me constantly on walks never looked back. It was so much fun to watch and I really want to take them back someday for an extended vacation. They were meant to be beach bums! The Chicago site was wonderful, except for the mosquitoes. So many that I am pretty sure most of us were anemic at the end of the day. We would RUN to our vehicles, then RUN back inside. It was terrible. The surface was nice and the dogs (and us) loved it. Moxie had a fantastic Regional. She got a Grand Prix leg, several assorted other legs, and get this, a MASTERS STANDARD LEG. Woot. April ran her in Steeplechase and they got a Q and had a fantastic run. Thanks April! Sally girl was AWESOME. She needed one more Grand Prix for Nationals, and wonder of wonder, she gets it at regionals. It was a wild run, but what run with her isn't? She didn't get many other Qs of the weekend, but she got what we needed and I was thrilled. Hustle had a few nice jumpers runs and a few terrible standard runs. He was having some serious dogwalk issues, and decided he had never seen weaves before. Everything else looked good, but back to the drawing board on the contact training. (He has since gotten over the fears!)
 2 weeks after regionals we got to be the weave pole dogs in a state fair show. For 11 days... In the scorching heat... In a nasty tent next to a porta potty.... In the parking lot of the Kentucky State Fair... But it was amazing!!!! The deal was, Lou Mack McCammon (the coolest frisbee dog guy ever, who puts on a fantastic show!) comes out, does his thing with his frisbee dogs, and we end the show by racing down a line of 24 weave poles, around a barrel, and back down the 24 poles. I have to say, it was a lot of work on the dogs. 3 shows a day, in heats of best out of 3 races. I used Sally and Moxie. April used Haze and Frenzy, and Adrian brought Panic for a few days. My girls did all 11 days. And they were fabulous. It was inspiring, honestly, to watch them work their tails off in 100+ degree heat, 3 times a day, in sparkly shirts. Sally got to run first, and we set her up to lose (and usually Frenzy kicked her ass anyway!) so that she wouldn't have to run twice. At 9 yrs old, I wasn't comfortable putting that much pressure on her. Moxie ran twice and was set up to win race 2, and the last race was just a go for it race. I held Sally and Moxie back, and got them jacked up (and believe me they were JACKED up, it was all I could do to hold Sally, and by race 3 Moxie was foaming at the mouth). It was awesome. They fed off the crowd, and so did we. We got to do meet and greets afterwards with the public. Too much fun. I can see the allure of show business now!
 On a sappy note, the last show was a bit emotional for me. Knowing that Sally will maybe never get to do this again hit me the last race. I think I maybe teared up watching her bark and try to dive into the weaves and generally just get to be her nutty self. Moxie was tired, but still gave it everything. They worked, and worked, and worked all week and never quit or gave me less than 110%. On the ride home, after it was all over, I got really sappy :)  Looking at them, sleeping in the truck, wagging their tails at me, it just hit me how DAMN AWESOME my dogs are. I'm so proud of them, and I love them so much it hurts sometimes. I wonder if they ever look at me and think "my mom is damn awesome". I guess I have a new goal :)

random thoughts on Hustle

I have taken some heat about not having Hustle ready for the agility ring by age 2. After talking to a friend who has his half brother, I  thought I would put a few of those random thoughts down in the blog.

I have taken my time with him, and probably dawdled a bit with him in training. He is so immature still, and I have the 2 girls doing so well, why rush him? It took me forever to bond with him when I first brought him home. When I trained him at first, it hurt, because I just thought this should be Luke. We kind of struggled through that. I had to make myself sit down and get a clicker and shape him and build a bond. I went to the bathroom and cried the first time I trialed him, and he was such a good boy. I dont know what I cried more about, the Luke factor, or the fact that I had shortchanged Hustle so terribly in training. After that, I decided he will be very well trained, and I was going to enjoy every moment of it.
And now I do... He's a blast, my big dumb boy ;)  Hustle is my dessert now. Sally and Moxie are for SURE the main course right now, but Hustle is my secret indulgence. He just makes me laugh, and smile, and roll my eyes at his silliness. No pressure... His will be a late journey, but I am determined it will be a damn good one.

End of May?

How is it already the end of may? Seriously? This half of the year has flown by. I can't believe 2011 is already halfway gone!
 Moxie now has 5QQs for AKC Nationals, and 214 points. We have a 3 day show coming up in AKC, so hoping to finish QQ#6 and some much needed points off. Points are always the most difficult thing to come by. She got to play at 16 inches in a team event with my friend Aprils dog Frenzy. Needless to say, she had a BALL going over the 16 inch speed bumps. I have been working on weaves entries with her, not the normal entries (she has been awesome in trials) but the really hard soft side entries she seems to have trouble with. She is doing pretty well in practice and she has picked up a lot of speed and drive through the weaves. And as always, working her contact stays. She is really pushy, and holds them really well some days, and pauses and releases herself others. I have a screaming match with her most of the time on contacts, you can hear me repeating "SPOT! STAY! YOU STAY!!! STAY!!!!!!!!" and it's usually for not. She pauses and now it's turned into a "how long can you make me stay on the flat" contest. What a rat!
 Sally is SO much better! She got Steeplechase #2 and is now qualified for Nationals. I'll putz around with Grand Prix, but it's not really a huge goal of mine. Just getting her there is enough. She gets to run all 3 days in the AKC trial too, and now she is in excellent B jumpers after a really nice title run a few weeks ago. Happy she is back in the game. She's my girl, that's for sure!
 Hustle! Well, his dogwalk is, uh, it's there. He "sort of" understands the 2o2o. His aframe looks very good though! I need to really go in and solidify his understanding if the 6 recall to heel positions and then really start working his lateral and forward sends. His weave entries are good enough that I think I am going to add in the 2nd set of poles again. I REALLY want good weaves with him, so I am trying to proof the beegezus out of them. He really, really likes to the teeter. I can see this causing several wrong courses in his young future. All in all, purse puppy is looking decent for his September "redebut." Should be a good time!

Goals

I have had a very good 2011 already with the dogs. I set myself some lofty goals for this year, both personal and professional. I want very much to be a good teacher, and I have invested some more time and attention to being clear to my students, teaching level appropriate skills, and keeping them challenged. I have more work to do, but I feel better about the direction I am going with my classes overall. I do get a great deal of enjoyment out of seeing my students succeed, watching them figure out handling strategies for themselves, and of course, teasing them endlessly! All of my students are fantastic, and they get my odd sense of humor. What a great job! I get to combine my two favorite things, teaching and agility. I am so blessed. My goal for my business this year is to expand, possibly add another dog sport or two, and make more people aware of the awesome things they can do with their dogs.
 Moxie has turned on quite a bit. I know I have been saying that, but she really is going to the line a much more "game" dog. She has started pulling me a little to get on the line from the sidelines, and she has never done that before. She is working hard to get her weaves, and stay in them. We have work to do on committing to all 12 poles no matter what my position or motion is, but she is fighting for her entries, and I appreciate that. Moxie now has a much better weave entry than Sally ever had. Sally has better commitment, but I have to help her find a straight line or wrap to the poles. Moxie has always been a nice jumper, so I am trying to push her a bit around the course, and trust her natural athleticism to get her over the bars. She is also already fully qualified for USDAA Nationals! My goal for her was all 3 events this year, and before June. Check! I also set myself the goal of AKC Nationals for her this year. Last year was the big "6 point fiasco". Never again. I did decide a bit late to try for AKC Nationals, since my goal was USDAA. This year, I want both. The 6 points were the best thing that ever happened to us, because it made me work several weak skills and reevaluate our training and handling. She is already 4QQs and 164 pts towards her qualifications this year. I was told by Jen Crank that I am starting to run her "for the Q" and that she has a lot more to offer if I simply push her, so that is my other goal this year. Now that we have our USDAA qualifiers done, I can really push her some in USDAA and practice handling more aggressively. I am very excited about this weekend with Moxie, because we are just going for it every run. No pressure, just working to be the most we can be as a team.
 Sally has been off and on lame for a while, which has concerned me greatly since she is 9. Sally has her team Q and one steeplechase Q in USDAA for nationals. One more Steeplechase and she is qualified, and we may or may not try for Grand Prix. Sally finished her P2 title this year, and is now starting her P3 qualifications. Or whatever they are called now. I had her adjusted by a chiropractor last month, and she was a mess. I had her adjusted wednesday and she was less of a mess, so it seems she is improving, but I am going to invest a great deal of energy into a physical therapy regime for her to STAY sound. She is so hard on her body in daily life. She runs and rough houses and she shakes toys and slams herself around. I adore that about her, but at this stage in her life, her attitude is still writing checks her body can't fully cash. But her heart is in agility, so I owe it to her to do whatever I need to do to keep her safe, running and comfortable. ALL the success I have with Moxie is because of all the lessons I learned from Sally.
 Hustle! Oh Hustle... I am getting serious about his training now. My goal is to enter him in everything by September. I asked Jen Crank to hold a training and goal setting seminar at my place, and she did. This was a very selfish request, as I have attended it before, but listening to her talk and remind me of how important goals are really lit the fire in me. I wrote down all of the skills he would need, rated them above average, average or below average, and ranked them from urgent, moderate or maintenance skills, and am developing a plan for him. I have decided on a RUNNING aframe (after Jen showed me how to train it!), a 2o2o dogwalk and teeter, and I have also decided this dog would have phenomenal weave skills. So this has also helped me develop a plan for him. I am excited, and refreshed to have a plan. I hope to blog his progress, if only to hold myself accountable and stay on track. I dont have a good track record for blogging, but I will try!
 As for myself, my goal is to become a better runner, and lose some pounds. I bought a nice running treadmill, am entered in a 5K, and my goal is to do the mini next year. Really, I just want to feel better about myself and become a better, more athletic handler.

Hustle training

I've decided to show Hustle this weekend at Circle G in Ohio. Just in jumpers friday and saturday. Is he ready? Not a chance! He can't really weave yet, and has no idea what a rear cross is. But my friend April dared me to show him, and I never back down from a dare. It'll be a good chance to see how well he understands front crosses and his jumping skills (since that's ALL he knows!) Oh well, should be entertaining! He is jumping quite nicely at 22, 24 and 26 inches. I am impressed by his turns so far and he is looking forward to jumps at hand nicely. Rear crosses are terrifying him right now! It seems when I go in towards him on the flat, he bolts. I'll have to teach him somehow, without applying too much pressure to his line. I have decided to put a stop on his contacts too. I know myself all too well, and I know I won't train the running as much as I should, so 2o2o it is!
 I've been working Moxie on weaves, just a couple of repetitions and big rewards and then move on. I'm also working with a clicker and having her hold her back feet to things. Anything to get her to stop on that damn aframe! She was a rock star the last couple of times I did a whole course with her. She has so much potential, and I just need to figure out how we can grow as a team and work on our weaknesses more. She's such a little diva! I have already figured out that she needs a lot of personal attention before each run, and some connecting time with me. She is so different than Sally, who is a machine. Sally is all about the job. Like a reliable tractor, take her out, start her up, and off she goes, full tilt. Moxie expects dinner and a drink first ;)
 The cold has been bothering Sallys arthritis a bit, so I have let her run herself in the yard more than any real training. As soon as it gets warmer, I'll swim her in the pond and build her up more. I am going to increase her adequan dosage and see if that doesn't help her out any. She's 9 years old, and still has a lot of competition life left in her, so I want to make sure I am taking care of her as much as possible to let her do what she loves to do.
 Hopefully I'll have good things to report after this weekend!

2011

2010 was a good year overall. I will say 2009 was probably the worst year ever, and 2010 was a whirlwind if moving, paperwork, more paperwork and generally trying to get life back into some semblance of normal. While we aren't there quite yet, we are getting there. The barn was raised for training, and we started having regular classes inside in June. I held my very first seminar, courtesy of Jennifer Crank, who owns Incredipaws. It was successful, if only a little bit colder than we had hoped! We also had a really good time in december with our first agility league. All in all, it was a good year for TNT.
 This year, we have even MORE in the works! Another seminar, to be announced soon, and other exciting news to be revealed. I say "we" because, even though TNT is my baby, I definitely feel like we are developing our own little family. I am sure I have said this before, but I will say it again and again. I have the best students any trainer could ask for. They are hard working, funny, serious and as dedicated as anyone could ever hope for. I appreciate them more than I can ever express. They allow me to be tough on them, to tease them mercilessly during class, and still they come back. I never feel like I am giving them as much as they give me. It's truly a joy and an honor to have them come back, week after week. Thank you TNTers, I love you all.
 As for 2011, my personal goal this year is to qualify for both AKC and USDAA Nationals with Moxie, and qualify for USDAA nationals with Sally. Hustle, I would like to just get him started and develop in him a love for the game. He's a good little man, and he is coming along nicely. I would like to grow my business to incorporate more things this year, like more clicker training classes, some obedience classes and perhaps some other fun dog sport training.
 I am going to try and keep up with Blogging this year too. I said that last year, I know... But this year, hopefully, I'll have more to blog.
 Speaking of last year, I have to take a second to thank my phenomenal girls. Sally, who is a legend in my eyes, was amazing. I decided to run her at 16 inches and move her to Preferred AKC and Performance USDAA. All I can say is, it was the best move ever. She FLEW through P1 USDAA, and EASILY earned her USDAA National qualifiers, her P1 title, and half of her P2 title as well. She was a Superstar at USDAA Nationals. I could not have asked her to do more than she did. She earned her way from Grand Prix Quarterfinals to Semifinals, and probably would have done okay in Semis if I would have only trusted her a little more. Sorry Sally girl, but what a ride you gave me... I will remember it forever. How good she was in her team events too, in standard, and Gamblers, and Jumpers even though I mishandled her. Her partner Haze was equally as good, and they finished in the top half of the Performance teams. So proud I could have burst. I love my Sally girl.
 Moxie certainly decided to step up to the plate last year. She finished her AX, AXJ, MX, MXJ, her Open and Excellent Fast titles, and got 4 Masters Fast legs. She flew through her AD title in USDAA, and flew equally as fast through her AAD title. So now, on to Masters. She qualified for the USDAA Nationals in Team and Steeplechase, and was 6 little points short of qualifying for AKC nationals in 2011. This year, we plan on trying to qualify for both, perhaps a little earlier this year ;)   She went from having weave issues early in the year, and contact issues, to being a solid little competition dog, and for that, I am terribly proud of her. I am also glad, in some weird way, that we did not qualify for AKC Nationals. Being so close will only make me work harder, and train harder. Had we qualified, I think it would have led me into a false sense of security. Thank you Moxie, for teaching me that failure is not fatal, and never give up on your dreams. I also learned that if you never fail at something, you aren't reaching high enough. This year, I will reach higher, and set my goals at an attainable, but very high, level. We will see how it all plays out. Either way, it'll be a fantastic ride!