Monday, January 27, 2014

Justine Davenport & Jessica Patterson Seminar

This past weekend was the Justine & Jessica Agility Seminar put on by Kim/HyperHounds

When it was first announced I dithered, to do or not to do. I just wasn't sure. First I was like, No, thanks. Then maybe. Then I registered but had a few misgivings initially. Lots of thoughts ran through my head "It's all about "international" handling. I don't know that my dogs will work with that kind of handling/that hard of a course, what do I need all of that for?! I don't think it is right for my dogs"

Shake off those preconceived notions and lets get to work!

Let me just say that never have I ever been so glad and grateful  that I did something before! I had a working spot in the morning session and then on Saturday I audited the afternoon advanced session. Having the foundation building blocks and then seeing them put into practice in the afternoon session was a absolute light bulb moment. I think it helped that the afternoon advanced session was a little less advanced than the morning advanced session. But it was absolutely perfect for me.

The explanations from both Jessica and Justine made a whole lot of things in agility make sense, bits and pieces I've picked up from here and there and heard/tried to follow without knowing the whys. It's like a puzzle missing half the pieces and all of a sudden now I can see the final picture. OH, that's what you meant about turn my shoulders!! This handling WILL work with my dogs. It will actually HELP my dogs. I can teach the skills with nearly no equipment in my living room!

I'm so excited for the possibilities and I ended up bouncing out of there after Sunday super excited for the things I need to train instead of plodding out of the seminar with a list of things I need to work on. So awesome!

I worked Spencer (mostly) with Baxter there for backup in the Foundations/Beginner seminar. I've done work with the dogs on some of the skills they teach. We know backsides, we do multiwraps, we're working on tighter turns etc. Other things like how they train threadles and handle threadles are new.

Spencer worked for me. A little hesitant and stressed (the demo dog, Jessica's BC was eyeing him up pretty good from about 10 ft away from where we worked our little drills) but he worked through it. He was awesome! Baxter was awesome as well. I pulled him out for blind cross drills on Sunday and he did amazing. People commented that I must do a lot with him - HAHA - I don't blind cross anything but a tunnel with Baxter! Or rather, I didn't. Makes me rethink some things now, he does actually read them really nicely in the drills. Probably past time to actually put the foundation training in and see how well they might work somewhere else.

Some of the things we were shown, like how to use a blind cross correctly was just amazing. There were 2 jumps set in a 180 about 2 feet apart, we had to pull our dogs through that gap in the middle and every single dog, even the most novice dog who'd never seen agility equipment in his life understood the handling and came through the gap, not even looking at that second jump.

Both Justine and Jessica were SUPER nice and handled/tailored advice to people/dog teams individually and equally. Toy or food, doesn't matter. BC or a slower less motivated dog, doesn't matter. Everyone got advice to help them and no one got brushed off. 

I also loved how a lot of the stuff we were shown in the foundations class has a "Susan Garret/Say Yes Dog Training" feel to it. I've done a bunch of her stuff as well and really like it. Since the group of them worked together and trained together to come up with this handling system, there are parallels to other things I've worked on, which makes me feel a whole lot more comfortable with the whole thing.

It's also super awesome that these talented ladies live about a 3 hour drive from here and not across the country. Now to practice and teach these skills so that when they come back we can play on the hard stuff!

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Happy Birthday Fluff

Six! Already! (Okay, well 3 days ago.)






Love, love, love my fluffy, handsome boy.












Speedy Baxter at Nationals (from his Steeplechase run, the only event he managed to get photographed in!)


LOVE this one!



















2013 was a huge year for Baxter. We really came together as a team, agility wise and partnership wise.

Happy Birthday to the very best little Fluff in the world. Love you Snack!

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

2013 Year in Review

Wow, I can't believe its been a year already!

Looking back at what I said I'd like to accomplish, I don't think I did too badly. Not that it really was a challenging list to accomplish.

We did train some tricks. Baxter can sit pretty now - go go gadget core strength! Spencer has a few more naughty tricks in his repertoire, like bouncing (which means he is bouncing off people at thigh height when he gets excited at home ...) Penny is good at going to her kennel (I'mma call that a trick!) Body awareness is a work in progress - I need to work on it more so we can progress! Did manage to get Spencer going backwards up the stairs, so it's a start.

Distance skills are kind of hit and miss, but hey, I did work on them! Baxter has the confidence to go out and take obstacles now, so he's trying and that's the direction I want to go in. I'd rather him try and be wrong than not have the confidence to try. Spencer has awesome distance when we train by ourselves. In a trial situation with environmental factors and strange dogs he has a whole lot less distance, so working on confidence there. I also wanted to work on a verbal "Switch" (turn away from handler/rear cross at a distance) without having to rely on body motion - we've got it on the flat, now to bring that back on the equipment.

Speaking of equipment - fixed Spencer's chute and I think I have a good handle on his weaves (both of which broke in competition.) Now it's the frame and the teeter, which are going to be a little more challenging to fix.















I don't do cute or funny in the snow. I do death glare in the snow ...



AAC Regionals and Nationals were awesome! So happy about that, and happy that I went as well. With the Nationals in the Maritimes this year I think that is out, but I'm planning on Regionals in Lethbridge for sure.

This year points for Baxter were: 448.50 at Regionals and 439.44 at Nationals while Spencer got 398.46 at Regionals and 419.25 at Nationals.

Title wise this year Baxter not only obtained his ATChC at the very first HyperHounds trial he also got his Bronze Award of Merit (with HyperHounds as well!), won Regionals at 6" Specials and came in 2nd at Nationals in 6" Specials. He also got his first legit Steeplechase Q in 2 years of trialing! Titles and ribbons aren't everything, but they do show that you're getting somewhere in your training and how you stack up to other dogs in your class.



Spencer got his ADC, AADC and finished his AGDC at 10" Regular putting him in Masters everything. He also came in 4th at Regionals and then 12th at Nationals. As of November 2013 I dropped him from 10" Regular into 6" Specials - I think he'll be happier to trial at that height.


I did actually manage to attend an agility seminar in person in May with Terry Simons on course visualization and analysis. It was a good experience and really helpful. (getting into this was a fluke - but I'm going to count it anyway!)

Last, but very definitely not least I had a lot of fun with my dogs this year. We took most of the summer off of sports aside from Regionals and Nationals and just had fun doing stuff and taking pictures of the dogs doing stuff. Camping at Farragut for a week, plus various weekends out at the Pass. Hiking, swimming, fishing (Baxter LOVES fish) it was a fantastic summer for the dogs and I! Relationship building at its finest!

Here's to another awesome year of dogs and fun!

Family Portrait Jan 1, 2014 "Sunshine spot!"