West Virginia Sunday Course

Sunday in West Virginia started off with the other judge and I hoping to play a little prank on each other...

Remember when I mentioned that yesterday I was missing a weave pole and was delayed for 30 minutes? Well, since the other judge was able to start before me (yeap, he had ALL of his weaves), I naturally blamed him for my delay and claimed he stole my weave : ) Of course he didn't, but it was fun to put him on the spot!

Any way, on Sunday, I had planned to 'relocate' one of his weaves. Of course he got to the show site early and planned to do the same with me Gotta love when your judges have a sense of humor!

OK, on to the Excellent Standard course. If anyone is interested in the Open & Novice course, just let me know and I'll be happy to send them as the courses were well nested with flow.

This general design was a take-off from a previous course that I had created & run, but wasn't so thrilled with the middle section. Sometimes it's fun when you can take a course and improve on it - which is what this is.

As far as challenges, there were a few and handlers definitely had to work the last sequence.

The first challenge was subtle and came from the wings on the #2 jump. Those who hung close to their dogs as they took the short beginning tunnel and wanted to keep their dog on the right found themselves working hard to get around the wing and had to push their hard dog up the walk and off of the off-course jump.

The next challenge was the weave pole entry. While it was 18 feet from the dog walk, dogs who went charging toward often had trouble making the entry. I have to admit, this area wasn't meant to be a challenge so I was surprised.

The next surprise area was from the #9 jump to the a-frame. Handlers who over handled #9 and pulled the dog in hard after the jump incurred a refusal at the a-frame as dogs were certain they were supposed to head toward the exit side of the #7 tunnel. Looking at the map, I wouldn't have thought about this possibility, but there were about half a dozen dogs who worked hard for some creative tunnel entries.

I'd like to finish this note by sincerely thanking the club and the exhibitors for such a great time.

I had a chance to think about the thankless job agility/club volunteers do and I'm reminded that without them, agility trials wouldn't exist. I was lucky enough to have two wonderful volunteers drive me to/from the Pittsburgh, PA airport (1.5 hours from the trial site), others who ensured I had coffee, dinner, workers and a host of other items that really make a trip so much easier.

Exhibitors are also a major part of the weekend. When exhibitors are great, it really helps to make the event even more special. For example, this weekend after a lady earned a MACH and I was congratulating her she said "I'm so happy it happened under you" - oh my gosh, tears welled in my eyes. I mean if that isn't just the greatest compliment! Not only does it say that I'm forever a part of her dog memories, but that she thought enough of me to include her in that moment. That's a very, very special moment that I'll never forget.

If you have a compliment or kind word for your judge, don't hesitate to share! We do remember those moments and they do mean a lot to us!

Next week I'm in New Mexico for 3-days, so look for more courses after Thanksgiving. Speaking of Thanksgiving, have a great holiday everyone!

West Virginia Agility Trial - Sat Agility Courses

This weekend was spent judging in West Virginia and it really was a fun trial.

The facility is beautiful. A very large permanent building with a canvas-like material that made everything light & bright, followed up with a field turf surface over rubber pellets.

Today was a full day of judging all JWW & all FAST classes. Unfortunately the day started about 30 minutes late thanks to a lost weave pole. Luckily my courses were well-nested and once we got started, things went along smashingly.

The JWW course was fast and flowing and I received several compliments. However, I couldn't help but remember the conversation I brought up several weeks ago about AKC courses being too easy. There certainly wasn't anything unusual about this course, but there were some areas that created a few challenges for people.

The first area was from the #6 jump to the #7 weave poles. Handlers doing a front cross between #5 & 6 had to be sure and continue to push toward the poles or dogs came in early and loaded in the 2-3rd pole.

The next area was area was #10-#12. Most folks pushed to the #10 double jump which resulted in a rear cross over #11. Many dogs landed facing the exit side of the tunnel and when the handler yelled "tunnel", off they went. This wasn't a tunnel entrance to take for granted.

On to Excellent FAST. I love a course and Send Bonus (SB) that allows for creativity and a bit of challenge, and this one fit the bill. The most common error was the handler stepping over the SB line around the #2 jump.

Handlers who first sent their dog into the tunnel entrance closest to the jump were the most successful. This maneuver allowed the handler to get into place and gave them plenty of time to cue the dog since they were exiting the tunnel furthest from the jump and had plenty of time to set themselves up for the second tunnel.

Nice job to all!

What Happened to Our Attention?!?!

Beyond the Agility Equipment: Rouge, my young Dalmatian, never ceases to astound me. She is an amazing companion, rock solid in all situations and incredibly outgoing and confident.


Physically she was always comfortable in her own body and excelled when training our agility skills. So it was a little disappointing (although expected) when at our first and second agility seminars she was distracted and instead of working on technique and form, we mainly worked on a soft skill...attention.


The irony is that I've worked hard to foster her confident, love-of-life attitude and here her zesty character was temporarily biting me in the butt! The good news is that I have drive, the bad news is that the entire package of her agility ability has not yet come together....That's okay because as I mentioned above, these moments should be expected and are a normal part of the evolution stage.




Remember, we're our dog's mentor: In a previous post I brought up the notion that we are our dog's mentor. To recap, as mentor's we develop, guide, shape and mold our dogs in all sorts of agility skills. Ultimately the goal is to strike a balance between our dogs natural abilities and to develop those 'other things' that will ensure they are well-rounded and prepared to go out on course with confidence. Think of it this way, some days we work on Skill A (contact performance for example) and other days we work on Skill B (perhaps attention) and so on.


Getting back to Ru...and the seminars. Ru wasn't being belligerent, stubborn or willful at the seminars, but rather her technical abilities were far stronger than her mental ability to stay focused. Unfortunately, without the attention, our technical skills are worthless. And that's how a training opportunity is born!

The flaw in my training...I'll own up to my part in Ru's lack of training. I worked on the hard skills, shaped them and did a terrific job on that. However, I did not put as much work into creating attention once there was three or more obstacles in a row. Honestly, she was doing so good at home, that in my excitement, I rushed to do more course work and skipped a few steps along the way. Sound familiar? Yeah, lots of us do it and I'm human too.

What to do next...At first I was confused as to where our great work had gone astray. I mean it was so amazing! However, when I asked myself "What would you tell your students to do?" the answer hit me like a V-8 moment (you know the commercial where they slap their forehead and shout "I could have had a V-8!).

The answer was to break things down in such a way that I could now work on & reward the attention - I needed Ru to clearly understand what the expectation was BETWEEN the obstacles. So I followed my own advice and shifted my focus from obstacles & handling to shaping/rewarding the in between parts...You know, the places where I needed my dog to look to ME for direction and not elsewhere for an adventure. By doing this, it gave Ru something to do (that I was happy with) and we were able to keep our connection.


How's it working...GREAT! I recently took her out to a distracted area and was amazed at how much better she was doing in staying focused on the agility task. Was she perfect? Nope, but her recovery period was far shorter and her attention moments were a lot longer. I'll happily take that progress and continue.

Someday we'll have it all, but in the meantime we'll keep working through these normal growing moments and continue moving forward in our growth.

A Tail of Two Furry Friends

Yesterday's antics were provided by Rylee & Zulu and so this blog post is compliments of them and dubbed "A Tail of Two Furry Friends."

These two are perpetually playing. For Hours. And Hours. And Hours!

I'm often sucked into watching them as they loop among the natural landscaping, perfecting the game of chase, wrestling or hide & seek.

During a chase, they gracefully run at full stride and often toss in an abrupt change of direction in hopes of out maneuvering the pursuer. This seems to heighten their senses and add a bit of an athletic challenge to the foot race.

Often times one will start out in pursuit and at some unknown cue the other turns the tables and takes on the hunt.

Chase will often lead to a surprise game of hide and seek when one successfully dodges around a clump of thick landscaping or speeds over a downed tree and is now out of sight. The stalking game begins as each tries to find the other, but the best part is when they simultaneously surprise each other with a combined "I found you!" assault.

When a change is needed, Zulu & Rylee will head on over to our seasonal pond. The game here is to embrace the splashing and mud build up that cakes their fur. I suspect here they feel like real puppy explorers out in the wild, camouflaging their smells and breaking all of the 'clean' rules of the house. I'm envious - after all, who can't resist a good mud puddle now and then?

The fall leaves have added a welcome cushion to the wrestling game where one plays the victim and the other the aggressor. Don't be fooled into thinking one beats up on the other because their roles will morph unexpectedly with a quick body flip or classic head lock action.

It's so nice to see these guys enjoying each other's company and to watch the carefree relationship they have with each other. I just can't help but smile and catch the contagious good mood that they exude.

I'll admit, it's also nice when I call their name and they come running to me with a huge smile on their face. Yes, for all the fun they have together, they still love me : )

Seminar - Lisa Selthofer Nov 7th

I just got back from conducting a 1-day agility seminar and had such a good time.

There were dogs & handlers at different skill levels and as is expected, each team was unique.

For example, some teams needed to be more precise in their cues, others needed to give their dogs a chance to figure out what they were asking and some needed to embrace their dog's speed and just go with it.

I love seminars (actually, I love teaching) and I see my job as making each team successful. The benefit of coming in and working with folks that you haven't seen before is that you bring a new perspective and skill set.

The course above was our challenge for the day. The handling skills being tested included a push-out to the top of a pinwheel (#2 jump), being comfortable ahead of your dog (#3 jump), turning a dog away & pushing out to an obstacle (a-frame to tunnel), a rear cross (#8 & #16 jumps), a front cross (#9 & #17 jumps), large spacing with off-course options (#11 to 12 & #19 to 20 jumps) and working these skills on BOTH sides (yeap, this course mirrors itself).

It was a ton of stuff for this group and for this newer club, it was also an introduction to consistency as it applies to cueing front & rear crosses. Later, I showed them how I train the 2on/2off contact work and also the EASY way I've just started to train the table.

I really had a great time with this group and could have easily continued for another day...hopefully they felt the same or at least left with a ton of knowledge and ideas! LOL

Rylee

I haven't had a chance to write in detail about Rylee and I think I'm now ready to.

Sounds funny, doesn't it? Well, Rylee started off as a client's dog who stayed with me a couple of days a week for Agility training. My rule when working with or training a client's dog is that there is a limit to the emotional attachment I allow myself. I do this out of respect for my own dogs who deserve 100% of my heart because they belong to me and are my family.

Don't get me wrong, I care deeply for my client's dogs and they are treated very, very well at my place. I enjoy working with them and they enjoy working with me.

There was always something special about Rylee and I have always wanted a Terv (what a nice coincidence!). After Nancy officially brought up the prospect of her joining the family permanently, I took time to give it plenty of thought.

Some of the positives were that Rylee fit in so well with my pack of dogs, she is incredibly sweet, has a wonderful work ethic and is well-behaved and pleasantly interactive. My main concern was that I wanted to be sure it was a good permanent fit for HER as well. While I knew she liked it at my place, the question was if she would love it.

My answer came in an unexpected way. I was gone for several days at a judging assignment and was grateful to be home. I knew the dogs would be happy to see me, but was pleasantly surprised to find that Rylee was beyond thrilled as I walk through the door. She cried, she jumped on me, she bathed me in kisses and was plastered to my side for the remainder of the night in happiness. It was clear that she was ready to make the leap and it was the definitive sign I was looking for.

Once Rylee joined the family and was allowed into my heart, our relationship continued to grow and I am getting to know her all over again. I'm happy to say that I'm even more thrilled with her! It's fun to wrestle with her, to have her cuddle next to me, to take her on RV trips with us, to have her join us as we do the RV rounds at trials and to introduce her as our newest family member. I feel like I can be more loving & silly with her and develop a relationship that is beyond the role of trainer - a role I strictly reserve for my own dogs.

Looking for a Holiday Gift for a Special Lady?

People are often surprised to learn that I have quite a few hobbies outside of dogs.

I like to decorate, cook, design and I especially love creating custom, handcrafted jewelry that features natural stone & precious gems.

Attached are just a few of my creations, all of which are available.

To view additional pieces, feel free to go to www.LisasBeadedJewelry.com. The website is still under construction, but there are plenty of pieces under the necklace header.

Enjoy!

As They Age...

Pictured is Pinky, my 15 year old Dal on the left and Rouge, my 2 year old on the right.

It's ironic to have them pictured together and it's also the perfect introduction to today's doggy thought - as our beloved dogs age.

I've written about this before, but when Pinky turned 10, I had a reality moment where it suddenly occurred to me that my time with her was limited. We no longer had an entire future ahead of us, but instead our days were numbered.

It was at that moment that I made a decision that I wanted her to pass knowing that she was LOVED. Don't get me wrong, Pinky was loved before that decision, but I changed my ways to include a ton of smaller, moments into our daily life. That's when I learned to smile at my dogs, to touch them or kiss them on the head as I passed by, to snuggle, to play more and for the Dals, to cover them up while they slept (they appreciate the warmth).

As Sadie, Dan's Chocolate Lab aged (she passed away last year at 15.5 years old), there were signs. The gray around the muzzle, the wobbly back legs, cloudy vision, a loss of hearing, a bit of dementia and then later a lack of control of her bowels.

Over the last year, Pinky has aged a lot. When I look back at pictures, I'm reminded of black spots that have faded with time and as she walks, she does more of a bit of a waddle vs. a trot. This is a far cry from the spry agility champion she was back in the day.

It's at moments like these that I really miss our active times together and our solitary moments (at one time she was an only pup!). Thanks to her, I was able to travel the country and experience so much.

In daily life, I've slept comfortably with her tucked in next to me for over a decade and when there were moments I've been sad and crying, she'll snuggle in and lick my tears away. Pinky's raised me from a pup and I'm realistic in knowing that my short time with her is only getting shorter with each passing day. Ugh - reality is rotten sometimes!

I think that part of the reason I've surrounded myself with such wonderful, loving young pups is that soon I won't have my lovely old girl. However, I will have Rouge who will one day be our new Matriarch, Rylee who is my dream Terv and baby Zulu with his happy attitude. I also have my other tried and true dog, Spot.

So back to the picture. For me, it symbolizes 2 generations of my Dals pictured together. I imagine in 10 years, Rouge will be my old girl and I'll have a new young matriarch developing in the wings. Such is the way of life and all we can do is make the most of each moment.

Squirrel Antics

I'm one of those goofy people who has multiple bird feeders, bat houses for the barn & a makeshift squirrel feeder.

Since fall is here and winter is on its way, I thought it was time to put out the squirrel food and see how long it would take for them to arrive. I can't say 'return' because last year's young guy was squished in front of my house by a car... So we'll wait and see if any new squirrels show up.

I put the fresh nuts out late yesterday afternoon and was surprised to find my first visitors early this morning. As was the case previously, the Stellar Jays are the early birds, followed by the squirrels (2 of them this year) and lastly, the crows tried unsuccessfully to encroach as well.

The first picture attached is the squirrel I'm going to name Righty since he always comes in from the right side of our house (or driveway side).

The next couple of pictures are of Lefty. Yeap, you guessed it...he always comes and goes from the left side of the house .

Lefty is definitely the main squirrel who has claimed the feeder as his own and he's not hesitant to chase Righty off whenever possible.

While both squirrels are pretty aerobatic, I was able to get some great shots of Lefty jumping into & out of the feeder and a nice close-up of him chewing on his new found nut. Secretly, I think he was probably peeking out and watching to keep Righty at bay. Sharing does not seem to be his strength.

Being a bit of an obsessive when it comes to animal training, I'd often thought it might be fun to befriend and train one of these little guys.

However, the reality is that wouldn't be such a wise decision for several reasons. First, I don't want the squirrels to get too comfortable around my home as I have a few dogs who would love a chance to test their hunting skills on these little guys. Second, they're squirrely! Seriously, squirrels can be erratic & unpredictable, not to mention they may have natural diseases.

So, with all of that said, I've embraced their natural instinct to stay away and curb my own curiosity by being satisfied in simply feeding them from a feeder.

They get a free meal and I get to watch them - a win-win for all.

Oh, one more word about feeding squirrels. They're greedy little critters! If you fill the squirrel feeder, they'll spend the entire day taking the nuts (long after they're full) and burying them. Since nuts are expensive, I suggest only putting out a handful at a time to keep them coming back.

Clicker Training a Horse

Today was a beautiful sunny Fall day.

We started with our extra hour of sleep (hope you set your clocks back an hour), then met Dan's parents to breakfast (Happy Birthday Dad!), ran all of our errands and then went to go clicker train a friend's horse.

Jack is my newest hoofed friend. He has a wonderful disposition and is food motivated - all the makings for a positive horse training experience.

Heidi (his owner & my friend), came prepared with carrots, a clicker, some base knowledge on clicker training (she'd been doing some reading and watched me work with a dog the night prior) and a goal to be able to touch the inside of Jack's ears for grooming purposes.

We started with the clicker and pairing the click with a piece of carrot. Once I had Jack's full interest and he was responding to the click, I quickly switched to a marker word (I use the word 'yes') since a clicker isn't always available, I wanted to work around his ears (without clicking IN his ear) and I needed both hands free!

Disclaimer - I'm going to move quickly through the description of what I did, so you detailed folks may find some minor holes in my written description. Please remember, the purpose of this post is to give an overview of what I did and not a step by step instruction guide - I just don't want to get bogged down in clicker details, I just want to write about my experience : )

The Head Bow - Jack is far taller than I am, so my first step toward the ear work was to shape him to bow his head so I could actually reach his ears (see picture No. 1). This was easy since I made sure that each treat came from around the height of my waist, forcing him to tip his head to retrieve his beloved carrot.

Next, I began rapid reinforcement when his head was bowed to keep it in that position. Eventually I placed my hand on top of his head as he'd bow his head for the treat and within a few minutes he quickly understood my hand was the non-verbal cue for him to bow his head and get a treat. I was able to eventually move my hand around his ear and soon in his ear and then I was moving my fingers in his ear - all while his head was bowed, the marker word used and the treat given at waist height.

It was exciting to see Jack bobbing his head at one point when we had stopped to talk and I wasn't handing over the treats to his satisfaction. It was fun for everyone to see him offer up those actions and to think through what he needed to do to get the treat.

Heidi's Turn - Now that Jack has a base to draw from, it was time to hand over the reigns to Heidi since she's his main trainer. After a momentary pause, Jack quickly figured out the head-bow game would work with her as well and so the head dipped easily. Since Jack was working so nicely (yes, he is a very smart horse!) we were sure to move our position (right, left, front, etc.), place a hand on top of his head and soon Heidi was easily putting her fingers in his ear as well (see picture No. 2).

Homework - Heidi's homework is to continue at this phase and eventually bring the unplugged ear clippers out (not near his head or ear, just a visual) and pair the clippers to a head bow and a carrot. Again, a very simplified explanation.

Next Visit - I'm hoping to go out and check on Jack & Heidi's progress next weekend. I have to admit, Jack is really fun to train and he's such a nice boy! He's had some down time with a scrapped/sprained knee injury/kind of thing, but Heidi has invited me to ride him when he's back in the saddle again (I couldn't resist the pun) and I know I'm going to love it!

On the Doggy Front - All of the dogs spent hours outside playing the last two days while Dan and I were outside doing yard work. Tonight, they were all so tired they could barely walk. I'm hoping they'll need the rest of the week to recoop so I can get a lot of work done.

Have a great week everyone!

Epiphany on Teamwork w/ My Dogs

Epiphany(s) Regarding My Doggy Partnerships

A few weeks ago I was running Spot in a trial on a very fast Jumpers course. Ahead was an off-course tunnel and to the right, but not immediately obvious, was the correct weave obstacle.

As Spot and I approached the intersection of obstacles I began my usual weave alert drill which is to say 'weave' early, stop my motion, allow him to load and then off I go while he performs the obstacle independently.

As was expected for the course design, Spot didn't immediately see the weaves (but a glance at his head told me he did see the tunnel), so I held my ground, didn't move from my well-placed position and just kept saying "weave, weave, weave, weave, weave" until he successfully found and loaded into the poles, just as I had trained him to do.

Epiphany No. 1 Well, I wasn't surprised IN his abilities, but I was amazed at how much faith & trust I had in him. When I think back on the moment, I knew that he'd be able to accomplish the task (years of repetition had taught me this) and just like in training, I needed to give him room to figure it out for himself and to own that part of our teamwork.

Epiphany No. 2 was that at some point in our Agility Relationship, my role had moved from Mentor to Leader and Spot's role had moved from Trainee to Right-Hand-Man.

This is interesting because with my young dogs, I'm in the Mentor Role (where successful skill repetitions in varying situations is the goal) and will be for several years. After all, the kind of effortless partnership Spot and I have doesn't evolve overnight, but it did successfully develop over years, just like it did with Pinky. Our team work is equivalent to that comfortable pair of shoes you automatically reach for and know you can count on for a sense of security, comfort and fit. Sometimes we just forget that those comfy pair of shoes started out a little stiff.

Our Current Training Plan: These days I don't practice with Spot and coincidentally when Pinky was older, it was the same way. We don't train at home (at all), we don't take classes and yes, these days we simply show up at trials. I just want to say one more time that the early years of learning, training & repetition has made this possible. I also knew I'd hit this point when:

Epiphany No. 3 These days, when I enter that ring with Spot, there are several things I am absolutely confident about.

1. We are a team
2. I am confident that my dog knows his job
3. I trust him to perform his part (because I've trained it, proofed it, was consistent and thanks to prior repetition, it's ingrained for both of us)
4. I clearly understand both of our factual strengths & weaknesses
5. I know that my job on the team is to have a solid plan the moment we step into the ring
6. We will be successful, whatever success means at the moment, and
7. We are a team (yes, I intentionally added this in twice )

Without having the items above, going into the ring is the equivalent to a gambling crap shoot that always favors the house. I wouldn't take such a high risk using my hard earned cash so why would I gamble my dog's experience with me, our time AND my entry money with such poor odds?

As I mentioned previously, to get to that final stage that Spot and I are in, there was a period of evolution that lasted years. Some things to keep in mind during this phase are:

1. You & your dog are going to have periods of time and/or age appropriate skills. For example, a 16 week old puppy isn't capable of the mental challenges of an Excellent style course and a dog who has been trained in Agility for only 2 weeks isn't going to have perfect weave poles. These are natural progression phases that cannot be skipped by any team - no exceptions. Right now you're thinking "Dah!" but what makes this phase such a challenge is that every dog is different and there are no visible mile markers to tell you "Now entering 'I forgot all you taught me stage'" or "Now leaving puppy zoomey zone". We enter this phase blindly and we're continuously surprised by things as both ourselves and our dogs are developing.
2. You should always be building toward a working relationship with your dog. Let me guess, another "Dah" moment . But remember that my definition of a working relationship is closely tied with the words 'team' or 'partner' and not words like 'dictator'. I am a firm believer in creating a thinking dog versus a robot who requires me to make all of the decisions and be in charge of every portion of our interactions. I do this because on an Agility Course and in life, I need my dog to make smart decisions for themselves. I cannot be everything to everyone/dog, so why adopt that falsehood when it comes to my dog? This is where:
3. Teaching skills creates a common ground for my dog and I to communicate around and it reinforces my expectations and smart decisions.
4. There are moments when time with my dogs is about the skill and moments when it's about the relationship, but you can never have one without the other. I'm not trying to speak in riddles here, but the truth is that if you fail to have a relationship with your dog, you're not going to be successful teaching skills and vice versa, if your dog is lacking in skills, you're lacking the type of relationship that allows you to reach Epiphany No 3.

There are a lot of deep thoughts here for everyone to digest and it has taken me years to develop and put these philosophical dog training beliefs on paper! I look forward to any questions since this is just the tip of the iceberg : )

Dogs Enjoying Fall, Updates & New Electronic Timers

This year's fall leaves are just beautiful and make the perfect backdrop to take some updated doggy profile pictures. As usual, some of the dogs were more cooperative than others

I'll have to share Spot's picture in another post since I'm limited to 5 pictures per blog, but he's one who isn't fond of cameras. Rouge as well, (can't you tell by the not-so-thrilled look in the picture below). I'm certain she'd rather be running around : )

The Latest Updates

Being Sick: It's been a while since I wrote, but I have been so sick for the last 3 weeks. They're assuming it was the flu of some sort, but as time goes on and my symptoms continue to morph, I'm not so sure.

Ironically, last time I was sick (earlier this year) it also rolled on through a bunch of symptoms and I was convinced it was allergies. Humm....

Clicker Training a Horse: One of my friends/former students has a horse that she would like to clicker train. She didn't have a chance to clicker train (CT) her dog as he is deaf, so this will be a new experience for her.

For years now I've had an open invitation to go out with her to get some horse experience. And now to CT a horse? Yeah, I invited myself along and being the great pal that she is, she heartily embraced my attendance . I'll be sure to write about the experience as I have no doubt it will be amazing!

Seminar: Next weekend I'm out of town conducting an agility seminar, which I'm very excited about. I love doing seminars and there is so much going through my mind on all of the things we could cover. So many choices and only 8 hours to work with them : ) I'll be sure to do a post-seminar write up.

New Electronic Timers: This is a preliminary write-up on the new electronic timers we purchased. While ETs may not sound so exciting, these absolutely are!

First, they're made by a different company and are not your big and expensive trial timers. While those are great for the big events, they take a ton of batteries, require a car trunk for transportation and cost about the same as a used compact car (costs can range from $2,500-$6,000). In other words, not feasible for the average Agility Joe (Josephine) .

Our new timers were made by a different company, AgilityInMotion.com and were designed specifically for personal and class training. They are amazingly simple and a fraction of the cost. We opted for 2 sets (a start & finish set) which also comes with the main console for around $450 (without tax & shipping).

We just started using the timers last night at class and we're working to get a baseline on all of our students' dogs on each obstacle.

Specifically, we've started with the individual contact obstacles, different shaped tunnels and a couple of basic jump sequences. Next week we'll do weave poles and play with different style crosses.

The system is very easy to use, is small and the accuracy is spot on. Feedback from my students has been overwhelmingly positive not only on the system itself (they helped to put the timers in place at each jump height and read the console), but they LOVE the additional information obstacle timing has given to them. It has also brought out a bit of healthy competition among the groups so people are pushing harder, just like they would in a real trial. So many positives!

I doubt this is the last time you'll hear me write about this product (no, I'm not getting paid by the company), but I encourage each of you to check out the details at www.AgilityInMotion.com. Finally, someone came up with a timing alternative for us 'budget conscious' (yet quality minded) agility folks.

Courses, Del Valle CA Oct '09

I'm catching up on sharing courses on my blog from the trial this weekend for the Del Valle CA agility trial.

The only thing missing is Monday's courses and that's because we'll be running them tomorrow : )

In summary, the exhibitors have made the FAST class bonus section look like a piece of cake the entire weekend and have done a wonderful job on all of the courses.

It's been a very fun trial, although I was in bed early each night recuperating from being really sick last week.

Tomorrow is our last day and I really should be in bed....night everyone!

Are AKC Courses Too Easy?

Traveling throughout the country is great for keeping up with the pulse of Agility. Lately I've been hearing grumblings that some feel AKC Agility courses aren't challenging enough.

I've actually heard it a few times and it has really surprised me because: 1) the average percentage of qualifiers on any given course I've judged hasn't increased or decreased over the years (I'd have to say the skill set required & trained for has increased over the years) and 2) the average percentage of qualifiers on my courses hasn't been any higher in the regions I've heard this vs. other regions of the country.

However, after today's Excellent Standard course, I was curious...had I made a course that was too simple?

I'm always up for a bit of analyzing and a bit of feedback from the masses (okay, this is a direct hint that I'd LOVE to hear your feedback!) and with this in mind I broke down today's Excellent Standard course a bit differently.

The first picture of the course is the dog's path without any of the obstacles. When I saw this, I thought it looked like smooth, easy loops for the dog's path. Based on this, would you think the course was too easy for an AKC Excellent Standard course? I might be tempted to think so...

In the next picture, I added the obstacles to the dog's path for an enhanced view. Using this picture, the minimum 3 side switches required by AKC for Excellent are easily spotted. The first is somewhere between #3-5, the second between #11-13 and the third is between #16-18 (the exact place of the side-switch depends on the handler's choice of a front or rear-cross).

Additionally, 5 of the required minimum 9 off-course options (for AKC Excellent) can also be found in this view. These options are: 1) from #3 to the weave poles or teeter (#1 to the #4 jump does not count in Excellent since it is assumed handlers at this level have a stay at the start line), 2) #4 to the chute 3) #11 to #14 jump 4) #16 to the #9 table and 5) #17 to the #3 jump.

So, based on this second view, does your opinion of the difficulty level for this course change? Do you think it's easier, harder or about the same?

OK, the last view shows the entire course, which includes the remaining 4 off-course options which are the jumps after the chute and first tunnel as well as the off-course tunnel around the double jump.

Now that you've seen the entire course, does it change your opinion of the overall complexity? Do you think that this course is too easy, too hard or just right?

I look forward to everyone's comments.

As for my personal thoughts, well, I'm going to keep an open mind and watch the qualifying statistics before making any drastic changes to my designs. Heck, I love a good challenging course and a chance to show off and judge unique handling sequences, but I also love subtle challenges and a fast, smooth path for dogs.

In theory, as a judge I should be designing courses with the majority of handlers in mind and not gear challenges specifically toward the easy or the more challenging side. Realistically, I'm going to design courses geared toward my own personal enjoyment since I'm the one who has to stand there and watch what's happening (both good and bad!) up to 330 times! LOL

Any way, so do you think AKC Excellent courses are too easy, too hard or just enough to keep you challenged?

Fall Days

Today was an incredibly gorgeous day here in the Pacific Northwest. It started out chilly and the sun warmed things up quite nicely.

Surprise, surprise, the day revolved around the dogs! It started with Zulu herding sheep, Spot & Rouge going for a long walk in the woods (see the group shot attached) and with Rylee & Burton playing with their friend Sam in the yard.

In between all of that, Dan and I jumped out to the pumpkin patch to get apples for pie and pumpkins for carving.

I'm hoping tomorrow is just as beautiful as today. Check out the last picture which is along one of our walking routes.

The Pacific Northwest really is an amazingly beautiful place!

Tomorrow, is another day for the dogs : )

Catch-Up on the Last Several Days

On Sunday, the family went to Issaquah's Salmon Days, a local event of food, vendors and a chance to see the Salmon fight to get upstream to continue their population.

The fall day was beautiful and pictured here are several of the very large salmon going against the current. As you can see, they're BIG! But before you think 'easy fishing for filling the freezer', you need to know that by the time the Salmon reach this point in the fresh water of the stream, the meat isn't so good any more.

After we got home, Dan and I started a bonfire. We'd spent most of Saturday using our new 24' extension ladder to trim up a few trees. Most notably, the one that was immediately in back that seemed to never hesitate to share dried needles on our patio and on the roof. Every other day I'd have to hose down the patio or they'd be tracked into the house. Well, not any more!

At one point the bonfire was pretty large and pine needles go up FAST! Once the main work was done, we sat around the fire with a bottle of wine and enjoyed the crisp fall evening.

This morning Zulu went for his 2nd herding lesson. He did so good! He started off very nicely with some wide outruns and even added in a few counter clockwise circling (something he wasn't so keen to do last time). Where he understandably struggled was when asked/being taught to move forward toward the sheep in a straight line to move them.

Since I'm out there with him, I wasn't able to take pictures and I have to admit I was spectating a lot because it's so darned cool to watch!

I've had a ton of requests for updated pictures on Rouge, Zulu, Rylee & Burton. Today is a beautiful day and after lunch, I'll be working the dogs (client dogs & my dogs) well into the evening so I'll make a point to bring the camera with. Later, Rouge & Spot will be coming with for a walk in the woods and then I'll be here at home in the pasture working the crew individually on "stuff".

For all of my breeder friends, I'll try to give a more detailed log on each of the dogs later.

I'm off to eat!

Balancing Multiple Dogs (oh yes, and life too!)

Yeap, I'm now the mother of three young dogs!!!!

I have to admit, I'm VERY excited about each of them. This is going to sound so cliche, but each pup is unique, incredibly special and most importantly, they ALL touch my heart. I'm also lucky to have time for each of them because I don't have (nor plan to) have kids.

Three dogs in training works great for my life-style. I'm ALWAYS on the go and LOVE to multi-task - just ask anyone who knows me : )

However, I work very hard to give each dog individual attention and bonding time. A connection with each of them is so important to me. In this case, I follow my very own easy & sensible advice (that I give to my clients) and focus on the small, quality moments.

I want to share some of those personal moments (beyond training time) that are a part of our daily life. These small moments are special to me and I hope you'll enjoy them as well.

I may have mentioned this before, but experience with my old girl, Pinky, has taught me the power of a smile. Dalmatians are one of the few dogs who are capable of a smiling and over the years, Pinky & I have developed a bond where I smile at her and she smiles (a full-tooth grin) back at me. It is soooo amazing to get such a positive reaction to such a simple gesture of warmth & love. I am blessed to have been taught such an amazing lesson! Now, I smile at ALL of my dogs (individually) when I make eye contact with them. The pairing is a powerful message and I have no doubt they KNOW how very much I care about them and it offers them a clear window straight to my heart.

Next, I touch my dogs in a loving manner EVERY TIME I pass by them. I learned the power of touch from personal experience. For example, when my husband is passing by me in the kitchen and puts his hand on my back, it's a great mini-bonding moment and I feel a connection. I think my dogs feel the same way. As I'm passing by them (even if they're laying on the floor or a chair), I'll briefly touch their head in passing, give them a hug or stop, hold their head in my hands and plop a kiss on their forehead. I want my dogs to know that even if I'm busy, they're important to me.

One of our 'family' rituals is to start and end the day snuggling with our dogs. Again, we don't have kids so we have the time, energy and love to share.

The morning routine is the best! Dan leaves for work very early and so he feeds the dogs and then lets them all pile into bed with me until daylight. Just imagine 5-6 dogs snuggling together on one queen sized bed and I'm in the middle! It's very cozy and soooo hard to get up from. Once I wake up, the dogs each come up for their personal attention time where I massage their head, rub their bellies, play with them and cover them with TONS of kisses. They're all so happy, just love the time together and while waiting their turn, they play with each other. What a fun family moment and I just love starting my day this way!

At the end of the day when Dan and I are sitting in the livingroom, the dogs are there hanging with us. Some are with Dan on the couch and some are with me on my overstuffed chair & ottoman. Throughout the evening, the dogs will play with each other, snuggle with us/ amongst themselves or just hang and chew on their toys and bones. We're all there together and the love and happiness is easily felt throughout the room. It's relaxed, fun, cozy and interactive. In the winter, we have the fireplace lit and the Dalmatians are sure to be found inches from warmth!

During the day, it seems that even if I'm home, the dogs chose to spend the majority of the day sleeping! That works out great because they love to hang with me in the office or if the weather is nice, I leave the back door open and they come and go as they please since our yard is fully fenced.

One of the things I pride myself on is looking at each individual dog to see where they excel. For example, Spot is a GREAT traveler and I will often bring him with me when I travel (since Pinky is now too old for that). Zulu is full of energy so I've gotten him into herding (Rylee will soon follow) and Rouge is great company for when I go to the Agility arena to setup (I then work her afterward).

Lucky for me, I love to multi-task, have my hands in several pots at one time and my dogs allow me that luxury. I'll admit, my lifestyle isn't for everyone (okay, the majority of people would run away screaming), but it is so exhilarating for me! As my husband said to me this morning, "You always love a project." He's on to me...

I'd have to say that most of you are just as busy, but in different ways. Some of you are raising children (you are my hero!), some have amazing careers and some are living your dreams. Whatever it is, you too are busy! Remember, rather than scheduling time on a calendar, take just 1 minute at a time to create a quality moment for you and your beloved pet. You'll be amazed at how easy and how successful you'll find it is.

Lisa

The Crack In the Cosmic Egg

Driving straight to the heart of what's on my mind...People. As a disclaimer, this has nothing to do with the dog world, so don't fret my doggy friends!

Today's Blog is a tribute to a book I read in college called "The Crack In The Cosmic Egg". The book's overall theme is that nothing is what it seems and I've often used this book as my scientific theory to explain misc. stuff in life.

For me, dogs are relatively simple. People on the other hand have the capability of being a bit more sly. I don't think they intend to be, but it just happens given the right scenario. (This is the point where I top off my wine glass because deep thoughts are ahead).

OK, just like dogs, people do things (generally) as a result of lessons learned from association. For example, people lie because they're afraid of consequences, they're trying to avoid responsibility, they don't want to feel out of control or they're simply insecure or lack a morale compass. Oh heck there is an entire host of potential reasons that only a trained professional can fathom.

The Crack in MY Cosmic Egg came today when I unveiled, a situation where someone was distorting the truth by omission. Some would try to argue that person didn't actually tell a lie, but we're all adults and no matter how one tries to sugar coat it, a failure to state the facts or clarify them, still results in a lack of trust (and yes, it's still a lie).

I can't help but think What the heck? Why try to hide a situation that impacts me? Ugh, now the situation is in crisis mode! I could get stuck on these questions, but once the initial feelings are dealt with, this is where The Crack In the Cosmic Egg theory has done me some good.

First, it reminds me that change is inevitable. Second, I avoid blame by remembering that when dealing with any living entity, the variables are countless and will change unexpectedly - and there is no way to foresee every pitfall or blessing that's going to come our way. Just when we think we understand someone or something, evolution/genetics and other unforeseen influences (like learned association) suddenly emerge like a clown from a wind-up box. Sometimes the clown makes us smile and other times that weirdo-clown scares the daylights out of us!

So while I'm not happy about being lied to, for the moment, I'm fairly content to place this situation in the temporary box I call The Crack in the Cosmic Egg. For me, it's a little easier to comprehend vs. the "Sh*t Happens" theory.

Just to be clear, once I'm through my surprise crisis situation, I'll be coming back around to get some more solid answers on the situation. After all, lying, even by simple omission is NOT acceptable...

Introducing...Rylee!

Well, I think it's time to announce that Dan and I have another new member to our household...Rylee the Terv is staying : )

She's a beautiful and sweet girl who fits into our household well. Additionally, she is a great worker and I've been training her in Agility for the last several months. As of this weekend, I'll be co-owning her and honestly, I'm very excited!

The first picture shows her presence, while the second picture doesn't do her justice (it's taken with my camera phone and the stupid flash I can't turn off), but it does show how well she fits into our pack of pups.

Ru (the Dal) is the future pack leader (besides me of course...LOL) of our household and she is a very nurturing and loving girl, just like Riley, so it's nice to see them spending quality time together at the end of a fun day of playing.

We've got 4 young dogs in the household and I have to admit on one hand, it's a challenge and on the other, it's simply developing another dog in the line-up of training and loving. By this I mean my 4 youngsters are soooo similar, it's almost weird! Of course this means if I screw up one, I'll screw up 4 of 'em!!!! Yeah, no pressure there...

Luckily, my puppy classes have given me a great deal of confidence as I feel I've found a great rhythm in teaching the basics and the feed back from my students has been incredibly positive.

Welcome Rylee! : )

Class Course - Sept 30 & Oct 1, 2009

For the record, I'm in denial that it's now officially October! The dogs are all loving the crisp days & evenings, but I'm not yet prepared to say good buy to summer.

Before I talk about this week's class course, I want to mention how proud I am of the puppies in my Agility Puppy Class. They are doing soooo good and it's really been so much fun to watch them come together and learn the basics. I've used a different format for this class and I have to say I just love it. It puts quite a bit of responsibility on the handlers, but also keeps them learning with new challenges while going back and self-reviewing other items. I have no doubt they're going to be superstars!

OK, on to this week's course as it relates to my competition folks. A few surprise lessons came out after I'd set the course and we started to get into the nitty-gritty details on some of the sequences. I'll admit, they were even a surprise to me.

First, everyone nailed #1-6 so I thought it would be a great time to shake things up a bit and challenged them to do a blind cross between #3 & #4. That meant folks needed to leave their dog at the teeter and be on the right side of #3. I chose to do this for a couple of reasons. First, people tend to hover around the teeter and in theory, their dogs should be able to do this obstacle independently at this stage in the game. Second, anybody can do either a front cross or a rear cross somewhere between #3-6 and I want my students to be more than just somebody!

I was frank and told them I didn't know how it was going to work, but in theory, if they did it 'this way' (and showed them), the results would be successful. I have to admit, watching them execute the challenge was far better than I could have expected and it was beautiful, especially for the very fast dogs and not so fast handlers.

The next sequence, #7-12 requires the handler to run the entire length of the arena while being ahead of the dog for as long as possible in order to get down to support a push to the weaves. Surprisingly, we used another blind cross on the take-off/landing side of the #7 jump. By foregoing the front cross, it saved handlers a few extra steps that were needed to get down the entire line of obstacles without the dog curling in.

Another benefit to the blind cross, it forced handlers to trust the training they've done with their dogs.

Next, handlers utilized a post turn for #13 &14 and a send from the landing side of #16 - #18.

I have to admit, this was a unique set of skills on this course and they worked great!