Live and Learn

Hmmm, so learning. It's a complex subject. Good teachers, bad teachers, great learners, slow learners and everyone in between.

I love to learn, it's fascinating to be able to improve myself or my dogs. However I am not great at failing or laughing at myself when I do. I truly belive to learn well you have to be able and willing to fail, not only in front of your peers but in front of those at the top, and whom you most respect.

The grid/ jumping workshops I run are a genuine joy for me. Watching owners and dogs 'get it'  is absolutely fantastic. The simplistic nature of jump training makes it easy to 'get' and results are quick and visually evident. For myself as a trainer and the owner too, this makes it a very rewarding lesson for all. Failure with grids is expected and necesary as you should push and test the dogs ability and understanding as you work through jump training, this means it is easy to intruduce failure and explain how to deal with it.

As I'm sure that most people know I have been learning to ride, it is complex and fabulous and I am lucky to have a wonderful trainer who pushes me when I need it, explains things when need be, makes me laugh when I am absolutely abysmal and has a true, true understanding of how to ride. In learning something so complex and new to me, it has definataly given me much more sympathy for people learning handling and dog training for the first time. Not all people know how to create new behaviours from their dog or can organise their bodies for the physical cues needed for a wing wrap or rear cross no matter how many times you talk it through, sometimes it just takes time and repetition and a lot of patience.

If you haven't been out of your learning comfort zone for a while I highly recommend you push yourself and find something new, the exhileration when you take the tiniest, babystep forwards is just fabulous!

Nothing to say? Everything to blog!

So, long time no blog! Honestly I am not sure why I haven't blogged for so long or what has propelled me to finally blog. I could use the excuse that I have been busy or that I haven't had anything blog worthy to write about. However both are true, and both are utter b*llocks!

I always feel my blogs need to entertain, to motivate or at least interest the follower or reader. In actual case, I think blogging can be anything, random thoughts, deep emotion or just a diary of your day. Maybe my reappearance today will be the start of blogging again, maybe it will just be a single, random post. Guess time will tell!

In any case, this post has grown from me sitting on the sofa with a certain little merle, thinking about what the future holds. It's been a pretty rubbish agility year. Rain has seen off nearly ever single show that I had entered, I know plently of people are willing to run their dogs in rain and mud, I absolutely respect their choices but personally, I don't think it is worth it for my dogs. That means that the last KC show I ran my dogs at was Vyne... yes MAY bank holiday, absolutely crazy! At Vyne my dogs were fabulous, Hoaxey qualified for the Olympia semis and Detour started the season consistent and happy with some top three places. We were on for a good year. I guess life sometimes throws you a curveball and all you can do is try to not break yourself trying to catch it and embrace the bench if you end up out! My first few KC shows ended up too wet to run my dogs. Vyne washed out after the first few hours of drizzle and I took my lot home before they could slip. Next was Thames- wash out, Tuffley, as before and Rugby didn't even go ahead! However I had to deal with my own dog issues in the meantime.

Without boring you with technicalities and science stuff, Hoaxey has been struggling on and off since pre Olympia 2011 with lameness. I eventually ended up this year with a referal to http://www.fitzpatrickreferrals.co.uk/ and an MRI scan which showed some issues with the tissue around one of her discs (spine). I decided to go ahead with an epidural followed by a long period of rest and rehab. This meant pulling her out of all shows and the Olympia Semi Finals. This put us 'out; for the whole of this season, however for the princess- I am willing to do whatever it takes.

Next year I have high hopes for my dogs, Hoaxey should be back competing and I have a whole new view on competing with her. No longer am I hugely bothered about semis, champs and qualifiers. I will just be happy to have my little fluffy grey one back. Detour is starting his competitive career way later than he should be, but I am excited and motivated to get him running, I really feel a bond with him and can't wait to see how that translates at KC shows.

Of course, we can't forget golden balls (Yes Boo)! He is, as always, fabulous! Still working well: as a full height agility dog and still winning at UKA, he is also a brilliant schoolmaster for some of my clients to work and just all round, one of the nicest, sweetest dogs I have ever met. Boo- you are my golden boy :)

Not only has it been a bizarre year for agility but our little boy has started 'proper' school and due to, two of my very good friends encouragement (Neill & Jules) I am reguarly back in the saddle- after over 20 years! Maybe my next post will be about that! For now- I think I have bored you enough. Good night and happy reading!

Boo in his heyday. Probably the best dog I will ever have the pleasure to meet x

Castles in the air...

Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. Henry David Thoreau

Each season I try to rest my dogs for a short time, they have eight weeks or so off to mentally and physically recoup from the strains a working dog can be under. Hoax is now nearing the end of her rest period and is preperation I have been looking at my foundations with her. Boy, how much I have learned since I trained her! Sadly I cant go back in time and fix the bits I did wrong, but I can build on what we have and strengthen our weaknesses. Focus will be on getting back to working flatwork drills, contact final position and weave entries as part of my Olympia prep. She has been to the vets due to a hind lameness but it seemed like a strain, so she is now on rest and anti immflamatories. This will be followed by a visit to my awesome physio on thursday to get some massage and a full check before I start to work here again.

Detour is naughty! Yes I never thought he would be but he is having some wild and crazy moments and I love it! For a dog that worried about so much he has really come out of his shell. Agility wise he really is a pleasure to work, trying so hard to get things right for me but still working with joy and gusto- fab boy! He has made me think so hard over the time since he was born about training and I love what i have learned. While I am getting Hoax Olympia ready, D will soon go on his winter rest. He loves his agility and as we will continue to work to our goal for next season. during rest period we will go back to more flatwork, forward focus and startline games etc.

Boo is still the solid, sweet, driven dog he always has been and I just cant fault him. He is just awesome to live with, work and just be involved with. He really is just the most special boy and I am blessed to own him.

I have finally started training again, no regular classes just private lessons and training days: mostly for other clubs and I am so enjoying it. I love to help if i can, and with jump work, and all the things I have learned about play from the likes of Lauren L and Susan G, I really feel that we can create happier, safer dogs nowdays. I love to learn and teach, trying to make it to others training days and inviting guest instructors. For myself broadening my knowledge about jumping is also paramount. When I started riding again I didnt realise how much it would help my understanding of jumping, physical ability and mental confidence etc. Anyone who has ridden and jumped knows how much easier the whole thing is when the horse meets the jump on the correct stride, tucks front legs neatly under and leads with his head low. Equally how much harder to sit, is that early takeoff and subsequent launch over the jump? We can learn so much through other sporting disciplines: showjumping, obedience, schutzhund and even football etc have things to offer us. Broaden our horizons, forget prejudices and preconceptions, we just might learn something brilliant!

Open your eyes...

Recently we had a few training days that I attended with Hoax & Detour. Both worked well for me and I came away with a ton of tips. One really gave me a kick up the a#se with Detour though.

He was working well and plays ok, tugs when I ask him to and really tugs well after each exercise. Could he tug better? Yes most certainly but I had kind of just let it be thinking this was the best I was gonna get from him. Lauren got on my case a bit about it and I realised how much I was reoffering the tug which encouraged the rebite behaviour instead of a good strong tug. I was trying to encourage- almost beg him to grab and keep the tug. He also wasnt putting his ALL into running, he was going well but he CAN go even faster. My focus for the next few weeks was to up his tug drive and performance and see what happened from there.

So I worked, within a week he had gone from a good tug to a pretty great tug! I had to work damn hard from that point on to win most of the tug games. I did a few different things to get this: A/ actually TRY to win the game! B/ Dont re offer as such. If he lets go: either win the toy and keep it or let him try to get it again but HE has to move into the toy and I make it hard for him to actually grab it. C/ if he lets go, let another dog tug with me instead. D/ do it rough! He loves being ruffed up and smacked as he plays now. There is a notable difference in his agility performance from when he plays ok tug to when he plays GREAT tug, the higher the desire for the toy, the higher the drive for agility... seeemples!

long time no see- Baby D!

Ooops has it been that long???

My dogs are just fab and am loving having my time back to work on them. Detour had his first show (Ajaxs UKA) we did all but one run NFC and that run was a steeplechase that he won! Lovely boy. I also worked his at Thatcham UKA and ran a lot NFC but also did some 'proper' ones and he had another steeplechase win and a jumping win too. Mostly I was proud of other bits though. He managed to queue (albeit slightly out of the line) without stressing too much. He hit 100% of his weave entries which really made me smile- LOVE 2x2s! Startlines were good, I didnt push them too much but did lots of rewarding for them. What I was most delighted about was his jumping. I don't think D is a naturally gifted jumper, I still don't claim he is perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but for a young immature boy he is so fab! He chooses his bounce strides really well and will also select when to add a stride. Compression for a turn is harder for him so needs more work. He had some poles down at the lower UKA heights (none when I moved him to Maxi). But overall he is a pretty good proof  that jump training can help. I know it's unessasary, but just had to share this lovely comment from our training forum... "Detour is definitely a credit to you, I was queueing during one of his steeplechase runs and he is stunning to watch, there were actually gasps in the queue as he bounce jumped the straights where every other dog put in at least 2 strides! I can't believe he's so young still"! Well how chuffed am I with that! By no means am I trying to say D is perfect or going to go out and win, but I am totally over the moon with him. I have no lofty aspirations for my little dog, but I do love to see him confident and happy. I am so proud of how far he has come and what a lovely, willing dog he is to work with.