USDAA Central Regional Day 3: Cobra Starship and the Disco Queens

Let's just say, Sunday morning came WAY too early...
With it came mass confusion about the running order and walk-throughs but  after getting everything straightened out the remainder of the day went off without a hitch.

I have to say that I am tickled that both boys held their own over the weekend.

One dog in Relay Finals.
One dog in Steeplechase Finals
and one dog in Grand Prix Finals.

Steeplechase was up first with Da Vipe and although it wasn't enough for a Semi-finals bye, I was still VERY impressed with how the bugger ran. His time was good enough to be just a second or two off the winning time regardless of the bar we had down. I'll take it. I did manage to get video (although not the best quality) and if I get around to it I'll post it on here to over analyze it I'm sure ;)

Relay came next (again with Viper) and even with one of the dog's E'ng in the finals we managed to squeak our way above the cut off for a needed DAM Q for Da Baby Dog! (Mind you, we should have gotten at least another 200 points for hands down having the best team name; Cobra Starship and the Disco Queens). Best Team name around or otherwise, I'll admit it wasn't our best showing to-date but quite frankly I'm more than happy to take a few bobbles because a broken teammate became unbroken and felt marvelous enough to offer up some unexpected options!

Grand Prix was up last with The Bee's Knees and although it was a bit scattered (with a close call or two) we were able to knock out a clean run and snatch a Semi-Finals bye for Nationals! Whoo Hoo! Murfreesboro or bust!

Although I thoroughly enjoyed myself for the majority of the weekend, I have to say as soon as finals results were posted (or close to it) I got the info I needed and Da Boys and our traveling squad hit the road in record time!

Eight plus hours of road time gave me plenty of time to not only have major Madonna and Stevie Nicks jam sessions but it also gave me ample time to reflect on the weekend...

Needed DAM Team Q knocked out.
Grand Prix Semi-finals bye knocked out.
Bouncing back from an emotional episode that was melt-downish like.

All wins.

The ability to look back and reflect upon what we need to fine tune before Nationals?

Another win.

Getting home without crashing the car or getting a speeding ticket in Iowa?

Chalk that up to another couple of wins.

Having two totally awesome partners in crime?

Biggest win of them all!

USDAA Central Regional Day 2: Deux Jours

After recovering from our alcohol and carb induced coma from Friday night, the traveling partner and I woke up bright and early for deux jours of the regional. Although I was more than a bit tempted to, I had to pass on trying some doughnut bunches at the local gas station we stopped at to stock up on essentials for the trial. Lets just say, we don't have many "bunches" of anything here in Minnesota let alone doughnuts...

Although I will say my stomach did feel "bunches" better than it did in the AM on Friday! Armed with two giant bottles of water, a fully charged phone (with a killer walk-through mix) and my copy of Kathy Keat's book I was mentally prepared for whatever Saturday threw our way. 

A couple of regional and team runs were on the agenda for the day and lets just say it gave me plenty of time to chitchat and meet up with some friends both old and new! Viper had some really good team runs and even though there are some skills that we are missing (I won't use the word lacking simply because how can you lack something if you've never taught it?) we managed to wade through the courses! I just have to keep reminding myself that the baby dog isn't quite a baby dog anymore! The not quite-a-baby-dog-anymore even managed a clear round in Steeplechase to put us into the finals on Sunday! Simply making it INTO the finals made me beyond giddy!!!

The Bee's Knees on the other hand was well, a giant butthead. Don't get me wrong, he was a brilliant one at that but boy have I forgotten how pushy he can be if he doesn't get to run ALL the runs in a day! Regardless, I was super impressed with how well he ran the first round of Steeplechase! Unfortunately, a hard turn from the Aframe to the next jump isn't a skill set we have totally mastered and our Aframe was called but overall it was still a super SUPER run!

Grand Prix, shall we say was; WILD! Broken startline position (he hasn't done THAT in forever!) orbit-to-almost-China turns and lack of criteria on his dogwalk AND Aframe made for an interesting run. The goob was pretty proud of himself after the whole ordeal too! Although I was a bit skeptical before I checked our time, we did manage to get into the finals for Grand Prix!

It feels like this is a great place to post a video or cute photo from the day, but unfortunately I didn't get any of my runs videotaped nor do I have a cute photo in my possession as of yet. Bummer! I will say that the photographer at the event got a couple of very "Viperish" photos that I adore and can't wait to get!

With a lack of photos and video I'm not sure what else to really report on the day? Post-trial we did find a fabulous little hole-in-the-wall Mexican place that served shrimp wrapped in bacon. That's right SHRIMP WRAPPED IN BACON! Never will I ever look at Mexican the same way again! After loading up on some fabulous desserts and taking them to-go to devour in bed at the hotel, the traveling partner and I again found ourselves in a sugar and alcohol induced coma for the second night in a row! 

USDAA Central Regional Day 1: Knixing the Negative Nelly

Da Boys and I are home from the USDAA Central Regional and all I have to say is; I missed you Minnesota! No, really. Spectacular dogs, an absolutely hilarious traveling partner and a well run Regional event is an above par experience I promise you!

Going into the Regional the dogs and I hadn't done much in the way of training for the last few weeks (I know, terrible terrible decision on my part as we were going to a REGIONAL event!) but both of Da Boys held it together just fine. Not wanting to waste a valuable day of vacation at the new job, we (the traveling partner and I) made the decision to drive from Minnesota to Missouri Thursday night. It may not have been our finest hour but we did manage to make it there alive and well AND before 2AM!

It may have been the lack of sleep (we maaayyybbeee got three hours?) or a mixture of several other factors but Friday was definitely not my day. From the time I woke up until well after I was into my giant margarita post-trial my stomach was giving me a HUGE case of the blahs. I don't know if I have ever referred to myself as "lethargic" before but it pretty much fits the bill for how I was feeling all day on Friday.

That, paired with a weird voodoo-like curse that Da Vipe and I seem to have at larger events made for a very pessimistic Kim. I don't know if it is the Agility Gods way of telling me to just chill out or what, but at both of the last two regionals Viper and I have had to deal with some kind of major glitch with the gate before our run. Luckily we got everything straightened out enough for us to run but mentally I was shot after we ran Team Snooker.

After making amends with the teammates for a less than stellar Snooker run, I tried to figuratively crawl in a hole and rest back at the crating area. Let me tell you, rest was not-to-be had. I was simply too irritated with myself and my behavior to shut the brain down and re-boot. Irritated Kim is generally a pain-in-the-ass to be around let me tell you (you can ask anyone, they would most definitely agree) especially when irritated Kim is irritated at herself...

I'm not sure if I subconsciously thought I might need it at the regional or not, but in my infinite wisdom I had stashed a couple of mental management and Agility related books in my bag Wednesday night. Luckily for me, I was just irritated enough to pull out one of the books and attempt to immerse myself in Mental Management Land.

Obviously the Agility Gods had played a role in this whole irritating dibaocle because I just happened to open Kathy Keat's "Success from the Inside: The Path to a Winning Performance" to this particular page:

Well played Agility Gods, well played...

Needless to say, I spent a good chunk of my morning off in Mental Management Land attempting to clear my head. By the time our second run rolled around my head was mostly-clear even if my stomach didn't get the memo. I can't say that it was one of our more spectacular runs by any means but Da Vipe and I managed to get through it without letting my "Negative Nelly" attitude from earlier interfere. 

I'm sure Viper appreciated it.

I know I did. 

For the remainder of the day I kept my copy of "Success from the Inside" at ready and paged through it every chance I got. Between its always appreciated motivational quotes and a stellar music selection from the phone (much needed for walk-throughs) both did a good job of knocking things back into perspective for me. So much so, that Da Vipe and I snagged not only the ever-elusive local Grand Prix Q but a Masters Challenge Jumpers Q with a 6th place finish to boot too!

In celebration the travel partner and I went out and found out first hand how horrible Missouri's beer selection really is (IPA anyone?) and then let the dogs terrorize one another back at the hotel while we both passed out because of a protein and carb induced coma.

Bubble Toes.

Da Boys and I have spent A LOT of time at the lake already this summer.

 

I don't think anyone is complaining ;)

Improving Agility Organizations. There Is Still Hope.

I spent part of my afternoon, reading through the blogs involved in the Dog Agility Blog Action Day and to say it gave me some "food for thought" is an understatement. To read some of the posts for yourself click here.

Reading other people's take on the subject of "Improving Agility Organizations" specifically those that compete at the highest levels of Agility, makes me feel any attempt at writing my own post on the subject is as though I am pitching against the likes of Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Jackie Robinson. To put it simply; it's intimidating as hell.

Good thing I love baseball, otherwise I don't think I'd go through with actually publishing this post. Or maybe, just maybe I have enough courage (or heck, maybe I'm just stupid enough) to step up to the occasion of playing in the "bigs" with such a stellar group?

Initially I was going to post a bit about my own personal feelings towards rule changes that I think would be influential in each organization that I currently compete (AKC, USDAA and UKI) but quite frankly other dog bloggers have written (probably better than I ever aspire to) thought provoking articles that sum up my  feelings towards any possible changes.

Instead, I have chosen to write about the "Improvement" part and pretty much leave the individual organizations out of the picture. I hope too anyway.

Where to start? Well, what exactly is improvement?

Improve: [im-proov] verb. Definition: To make or become better.

I will say, that improvement is the single most important goal I have for myself at this point in my Agility career. Not a MACH, not an ADCH, not even winning a highly competitive class at a national event. My goal is to simply improve. Myself, my handling, my dog's understanding. Without improving, there is no progress. Without progress where does that leave me? Standing still and in the exact same spot I was previously.

There was a time when a MACH and an ADCH were what I gauged my success upon with my dogs in the Agility ring. Once I attained both, my desire to repeat that specific goal waned and I began a mundane cycle of simply running courses for the "fun" of it. That cycle of monotonous mediocrecy continued for quite some time, until one day the realization that I had simply become mediocre dawned upon me. 

That realization made me almost want to puke. 

If that statement was a bit of a shocker for you, I'll be the first to admit I am a competitive individual. I always have been. I have never been comfortable with second best nor do I feel that I should apologize for that facet of my personality. 

It has helped lead me towards bettering myself in Agility, if not for my sake but for my dogs. I like to think that if they could they WOULD thank me for it! My desire to improve has lead me to countless seminars and online courses as well as purchasing an unheard number of books and DVDs. All in the name of improvement. 

Although it is a relatively new concept to me (and I've been competing in Agility for nearly a decade now...) the idea of having my voice heard is one that I have had to work towards gradually. Gradually? Yes, gradually. Simply because, it has been a long standing "rule" (at least it has always felt that way to me) to accept what Agility Organizations throw at competitors and say absolutely nothing about it. Unless, one is behind closed doors or whispering about it fleetingly to others when judges/reps/trail committee members are nowhere in sight. 

Maybe I'm totally off my rocker (and so what if I am...)? 

Maybe I'm not? 

All I know, is that with all of the improving that I have done for my dogs and the sport of Agility, I find it somewhat surreal that we the competitors are so unwilling to make our voices heard. Mind you, I'm not saying ALL but I am saying a large percentage of the masses... 

When did we hand the Agility Organizations (in this case we could refer to them as "The Man") all of the power? Is it not OUR money that funds the local, regional and even national events? Now, I'm not trying to start a full scale riot here (even though I'm sure everyone has enough rebel in them we could start one if we so desired.) but I do hope that more and more people realize that their voices do have a right to be heard.

Social media (cough, cough, Facebook) is such a strong source for change, that I often wonder how it hasn't already evoked said change? For the past few years, I have noticed that more and more of my FB friends are Agility people and less and less are not. At times I find this humorous and at others, it makes me a bit worried... 

Where am I going with this you ask? 

Well, I have met some pretty fabulous people simply from having a mutual friend-of-a-friend on FB. A select few of those people have quietly gained my respect for openly being their dog's champions. Two such people come to mind and although others may not agree with them and their decisions, just from their posts I can tell their dog's best interest is always their first priority. Be it, poor running conditions, equipment not meeting set guidelines, newly instated rule changes, course designs etc... their dog's well being always, ALWAYS comes first. 

How can a simple FB post change anything? That's easy, it can change EVERYthing. If just one person reads a post and it evokes action in them, it has the power to change anything they wish. 

Take the "Internationalization" of Agility in the United States. I remember when a select few people started talking about approaches to backsides of jumps, when it was simply a figment of their imagination at least on US soil. Those select few not only made their voices heard, they were the ones that began the first ripple in the very large Agility "pool" that started the new wave of European style approaches in the US.

For the rebels out their, why not stick it to "The Man"? Take the time to make your voice be heard via FB, emails, surveys, or even typing up a blog post for a Dog Agility Blog Action Day? This is your time, this is your money, this is your sport. Be your dog's champion. They'll love you (even more) for it!

Improvement. 

It may be an incredibly simple aspiration, yet that is my hope for Agility.

"Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change: this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress."

~ Bruce Barton

Agility Weekend. Like a Sugar Overload to My System.

We are home from the North Central USDAA Regional. 

We are tired. 

We are coming off of the biggest Agility "sugar high" crash we've had in a VERY long time.

And we are happy.

This was the first Regional event that I have ever competed in. 

My expectations were simple.

 Run the boys like they deserve to be run. 

Blade was his usual brilliant self and continues to get better with age. We had a lot of really good runs this past weekend although I continue to see small things that we need to fine tune to turn those "good" runs into "great" ones. Nothing major mind you but they are things that could shave off 1/2 a second here and there that could make us more competitive at larger events. 

Some of those good runs just happened to be in DAM team where Blade's team "Blade's Hot Dates" with buddies Rio and Shiver, ended up in third place at the end of the day. 

Such a handsome fellow in yellow.

I did get almost all of our runs videotaped over the course of the Regional and will try to upload them all later this week. I honestly just don't have the patience for it right now. 

For those wondering about Da Vipe, well to put it mildly he continues to blow me away, some of the time. And some of the time I just have to scratch my head and wonder what is going through his...

It's been a while since Da Vipe has completely lost his brain at a trial and Friday the arena was just charged enough that it pushed him VERY VERY close to completely loosing it. I tried and failed miserably to get his focus while we were waiting our turn outside the ring. There were too many dogs to look at, too many things to smell and too many things to bark at. So after that failed miserably, I just let him and slowly he brought himself back down. I'll admit I hadn't a clue in the world what he was going to do once we got in the ring...

Surprise, surprise Da Vipe ran and he ran well. 

He ran so well in fact, that it's becoming easier for me to run Viper than it is to run Blade. We had a few bobbles here and there and a couple off courses in individual events but it all came down to feeling each other out. Da Vipe is still very green but slowly he is gaining an understanding of what it is I want and in turn he is getting more confident and also much faster. I am totally enjoying this learning "phase" we are going through right now.

Neither of the boys managed to snag a Grand Prix or Steeplechase Bye which means we are officially committed to going to the Central Regional in August (Kansas City or BUST!) Needless to say, I'm already looking forward to it.

I'm not looking forward to this "post hangover/sugar high" like feeling I am having the day after though...

We (Shenna the master mind behind Project Go Dog and myself) potentially had too much fun this weekend. 

Is that even possible? I think not! Although we were just maniac enough to drive the 11 hours home all in one night. It wasn't a bad drive but when one gets home at 3:30 in the morning, one generally does not want to be woken up by a Border Collie to go for our morning run at 7:00am. Especially if it was raining out.

Although one may also hold their ground and deny said Border Collie(s) their run being as they just had three days of Agility. In this instance I lost the battle of the wills against the Bee's Knees and got up.

 Although run we did not.

 We walked. 

In the rain.

And took cute pics of muddy Border Collies. 

And embraced a very sweet weekend of Agility.

Wander.

Goofball.

Shine Bright Like a Diamond

"Where much is expected from an individual, he may rise to the level of events and make the dream come true." ~Elbert Hubbard

It's been a week since Blade and I participated at the AKC International Team Tryouts and I am just now beginning to put into writing the feelings this past weekend evoked in me. 

I cannot honestly remember when I consciously made the decision to enter Blade at Tryouts. Some time last year? Six months ago? Three months ago? 

Again, I am not sure. 

I only know that I am glad that I did. 

It has been but an illusion of mine for quite some time, to one day enter Tryouts. An illusion that was so completely vague that I had never seriously considered the "who" part of the equation. It had remained a fleeting idea for such a long time that I simply looked at Tryouts as a far off ideal and not a tangible goal for myself and one of my dogs, let alone Blade.

Although the when will be shrouded in mystery, I do recall that after actually reading through the qualifications for this year's tryouts and realizing that Blade COULD compete, the idea shifted from an intangible ideal to something just a bit more attainable. Late last summer I started to actively teach Blade the mechanics of jumping 26" and after USDAA Nationals we began to compete at that height. 

Then winter set in and we rested.

 We let Agility take the back seat for the first time in a very long time...

and we lived.

And somewhere along the line I realized that I had fallen a bit out of love with Agility.

Actually, much more than a "bit."

 Agility had become much like Louis Lowry's world in the novel "The Giver." A place that upheld the laws of "sameness" and "routine" and the lives of those in it remained in the depths of a never ending winter.

Somehow, I had allowed a very mundane routine of "train, trial, redo" to set in. My goals had become foggy. Training had become humdrum. Trialing became simply ordinary. And the mundaneness of it all had extinguished the "color" from my Agility world. 

Then, some truly amazing people persuaded me to send in the "intent to compete" form for IT Tryouts. 

And something shifted, something changed. 

Somehow, my love for Agility was ignited again. It was a very gradual process, instead of simply "having" to train I began feeling the "urge" to train. I began to focus on HOW and WHAT to make better instead of simply putting the dogs through their paces. I began to feel the small thrill of excitement again, as I stepped to the line with both of my boys. I began running each and every run with so much joy, I'm sure some people couldn't stand it.

And like a flame, the "color" began to seep back in to my Agility world. That flame began burning brighter and brighter as Tryouts became closer and closer. 

And as I stepped to to the line with Blade during the first Round of Tryouts, it hit me with staggering clarity that the "color" was burning brightly enough to make Blade shine like the star he truly is. I simply didn't allow myself to worry about the footing, the challenges, Blade's training. None of it. 

We ran. 

We made mistakes. 

We didn't make mistakes. 

We ran, for the joy of running.

And at the end of it all, I made a daunting realization.

 I realized, that although I thought that Blade and I were far from ready to compete at such an event, against such competitors, we were not only ready, we not only belonged, we WILL be back to compete next year. And with everything in me we will run with just as much joy then as we did a week ago.

Until then, we will rest. 

We will live.

We will train with joy.

We will keep the color shining brightly in our very own Agility world.

And we will anxiously await next year's Tryouts.

Focus.

Be Exhilarated.

"The majesty. That from man's soul looks through his eager eyes.” - William Morris

FEO. FEO. FEO.

I'm beyond excited to say (so much excitement even after a big mix-up!) that Blade and I WILL be competing at the ITT World Team Tryouts which are just under two weeks away!

Although we are not vying for a spot on this years team we will be running FEO (or For Exhibition Only for anyone going "HUH?") and fingers crossed we will be giving the judges a performance (or whoever it is that selects team members) something to remember for 2014 Tryouts!

For those that are not in the know, here in Minnesota we still have snow. Lots of it. Which has made it a bit difficult (not impossible mind you) but difficult to train as much as I would like on actual equipment. With weather conditions being close to dangerous I haven't been able to get down to my ring rental nearly as much as I would have liked this past month. So, instead I have been focusing on Blade's overall conditioning and fitness. It's paid off :) his rear end is the strongest it has ever been and physically he is more than ready to handle a weekend running on carpet.

Today we finally got a break in the weather (sort of) and I pulled out some jumps and set up a mini-sequence that we COULD encounter in a few weeks. I actually saved all of the courses from last year's Tryouts and made some notations where some teams ran into trouble. Going into the next two weeks I just want to focus on "tuning-up" some things that we haven't worked on in a while. I have no intention of introducing any new skills to Blade as I doubt we'd execute it correctly at Tryouts.

The sequence I broke down today was an improvised version of Anne Riba's Round 1 Large Agility Standard course. I wasn't in the mood to set up the dogwalk with all of the sporadic rain showers we have been getting all day, so I chose to substitute it with two jumps instead. 

The full course for anyone interested:

Then the mini-sequence I focused on. Obstacles 7-11.

I ended up running both Blade and Viper on this particular mini-sequence and got some really good effort from both dogs. I even videotaped Blade's session! You can check that out as well:

I have plenty of mini-sequences from last year to brush up on with Blade leading up to Tryouts. The plan is to videotape and time every session and analyze our strengths and weakness just a bit more (you can never do that too much? Right?) to help prepare myself mentally for Tryouts. Blade? Well he'll just keep on being his usual brilliant self. I just have to focus on giving the weekend OUR very best effort.

Wish us luck!

Finding Opportunity in Opportunities.

A while back there was an article being passed around FB and although I can't for the life of me remember who the author was of the article I do know that he (or she?) was a well known herding handler from the US. The article itself struck a chord with me as it was the author's observation at herding trials regarding participating handlers willingness and/or desire to simply sit down and watch other competitors compete with their dogs.

The article struck a chord with me because I think its relevance carries over to any dog sport, obedience, hunt tests, field trials, tracking etc. and yes even agility. I will be the first to admit, my journey with Viper is still evolving. I will also admit at times he has been by far the most difficult dog that I have ever worked with. Some would call him "busy" and to an extent I agree with them. I prefer to call him a "thinker and do'er".

 Da Vipe does think about things, A LOT for about five seconds and then he DOES whatever it was he was thinking about. Generally, as fast as he can. Needless to say, this does get him into some oddball predicaments on a regular basis and for quite some time it drove me absolutely insane. As of late? I simply come to his rescue (the best that I can) and embrace that aspect of his personality, as I did help instill it in him. I am constantly in awe of Viper's ability to reason (for lack of a better word) and problem solve in everyday situations or even while training.

For some reason, while running him in a trial environment I simply forgot to be in awe of his ability to reason. This has made our progress at trials almost as slow as a herd of turtles running through peanut butter (I was going to use the word hindered but refrained from doing so as we HAVE made progress.) Somewhere along  the way I stopped thinking about all of the "little things" that needed to be in place to make the "big picture" shine brightly. My focus remained on the "big picture" end result and that was the problem in itself.

Being able to go back and replay video has probably been the most crucial aid in helping Viper succeed in the ring. Pushing him to succeed when mentally he wasn't mature enough to handle such pressure was a lesson in humility that he handed to me in spades. Behaviors and sequences I KNEW he knew that we consistently could NOT complete in a trial was frustrating to me for a time.

Until it didn't.

After making the decision to stop trying to qualify for this years AKC Nationals the boys and I took a giant step back from trialing and just lived. We hiked. We trail ran. We played fetch. We learned new tricks. Somewhere in the process, Da Vipe matured mentally. Somewhere the sequences we couldn't do previously, we started to complete and more often than not I began seeing more and more moments of brilliance and less of less brilliance. Somewhere along the line I started to focus on the opportunities each run presented to us at trials and instead of focusing on the "end picture" of a "Q" I started to ask Viper to "awe" me with his understanding of the "little things".

And awe me he did.

This past weekend on a whim I entered a local ASCA trial to get some much needed "trail like" experience in, with the ability to train in the ring if needed. My intentions were simple. Get Viper on the dogwalk and let him show me his understanding. I've previously posted about his performance of the obstacle and how we are working towards getting it to the "shining brightly" stage. Little by little, each run made a big impact on his next performance and by the last run he gave me a performance that made the entire day worthwhile.

While not running him, I took an opportunity for myself to simply sit down and watch other dog and handler teams run. It has been a very long time since I have done that and you want to know what? It felt good. To watch teams from the very new to the very experienced, to watch their moments of brilliance and their moments of "less" brilliance. All of it. Every second of it.

There were times that I saw some dogs doing things that could be considered "naughty" or "bad", yet the question I kept asking myself was; "Will that dog get to "awe" its owner?" There were some moments where a dog was asking for feedback and didn't receive it but there were also times that when a dog did awe their owner, the dog was praised and they continued on. I couldn't help but celebrate right along with them. Taking the initiative to find an opportunity in EVERY opportunity is not the easiest task. Nor is it always the most rewarding. Yet, I know deep down that the "end picture" will shine all the brighter because of such a simple decision.

Find the opportunity. Take the opportunity and make it what you wish.

If not for your sake, but your partners.

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

Some people are aware and some people are not that Viper and I have been having some issues with his dogwalk performance at trials as of late. 

Some people are also aware due to some physical limitations and the amount of time I have already focused on a running dogwalk with results that are not ideally what I want, I made the decision to put a stop to Viper's dogwalk (he still runs his Aframe). 

I introduced the stop gradually over a span of several months AWAY from the dogwalk obstacle itself. Viper figured it out in like 0.2 seconds. I focused a lot more on the proofing of the bottom behavior at trials, at parks, in the house, out in the yard etc. Lots and LOTS of proofing. Then I added it back to a low dogwalk last fall. 

Only problem with that? Since last fall we haven't gotten a TON of opportunities to train on "other" dogwalks. So, we worked what we could and I made sure I reinforced what I wanted when I got it and ignored it when I didn't. The only problem with that? It created a HUGE gray area for Da Vipe.

Insert problem.

Insert video proof of said "problem".

The video itself only shows the last two trials I entered Da Vipe in. The first few clips are from our weekend up in Fargo a few weeks ago. The very first dogwalk you can see the dramatic decrease in Viper's forward momentum as soon as he caught sight of the dogwalk. You can also hear the crowd's reaction to his behavior. I even had a couple of people come up to me afterwards and tell me what a "brave boy" he was for overcoming his fear.

Note, Viper is not afraid of the dogwalk.

Far from it. It is probably his favorite obstacle next to tunnels.

You can also see that he "downed" on the middle of the dogwalk. Although I give him originality points, it is most definitely NOT his criteria for his "Zoom!" behavior. I replayed AND replayed videos and the conclusion that I have come to is: Viper was so unsure of WHAT the correct behavior was seeing a full sized dogwalk at trials that he offered me the very first "stopped" behavior I accepted from him. For a while I just "moved on" after he offered me incorrect behaviors and you want to know what? They started showing up more and more (that started long before the Fargo shows). After that first Standard run I sat down in the crating area, put in the headphones and mulled over the entire thing for over an hour.

And I new plan of attack was formed.

Critieria for Da Vipe's Dogwalk?

 DOing and not TRYing.

I believe 110% that Viper understands the "Zoom!" behavior, which means race across the contact and get into the 2o2o end position.

I believe he understands the behavior well enough to also verbally mark any incorrect performances.

As the video progresses I made the change from simply restarting Da Vipe and "moving on" to marking TRYing behaviors. At 0.55 seconds Viper simply DID the behavior to criteria and you want to know what? When I gave him verbal praise, the look of understanding on his face solidified to me that he NEEDS that feedback. So what about the jump afterwards we completely annihilated? That one simple act made the gray area diminish quite a bit!

The remaining dogwalks are from the ASCA trial we dropped in at yesterday and during the first few rounds we got a ton of TRYing again. Mind you, the game plan going INTO the day was to focus on Viper DOing his 2o2o contact behavior. I could tell there was a lot more thinking going on between his ears than at Fargo simply because he had trialed at that location multiple times with a RUNNING dogwalk.

Focusing on the game plan was hard.

But THAT was the reason I entered the show in the first place.

Decrease the gray and increase the confidence.

It payed off in spades.

The last two dogwalks are not even CLOSE to what Viper's confident performance is across the dogwalk but it IS a start. A start that reinforced (AGAIN) how important it is to stick to the plan! Knowing that, I just love it when a plan comes together!

Six. Seis. Sie. Kussi. Sechs.

The Bee's Knees turned six years old last week. 

I totally overlooked it. 

Not because I love him less than Viper (I remembered Vipe's Bithday...)

I wasn't too busy...

I wasn't working extra hours...

I didn't have 101 more important things to do...

It simply slipped my mind.

I could go on forever about how much Blade means to me,

He's the peanut butter to my jelly,

The cat to my meow,

the ray to my sunshine,

the kindred to my spirit.

The list is endless.

Yet, I could go on endlessly and still not write the words that best describe my affection for this dog.

Because of this, I think pictures will have to do...

My six favorite pictures of Blade to be exact.

He is honest as the day is long and a better dog than I will ever deserve.

For those attributes alone he received a brand new bone and few new toys today.

I hope we will have at least another six years together, although I think that starting with forever will do.

Although they only come close, these words seemed fitting.

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

                                          ~ Emily Bronte

Happy Sixth Birthday, Blade. You are indeed "The Bee's Knees".