Reality Check

I haven't put an update on Liryk's running dogwalk for a bit and so I thought I'd write about how things are going....


Recently I've made up a mini dogwalk, so that Liryk is no longer jumping up onto the down plank. It's currently sitting at approximately 50cm in height, and she is now sent through a tunnel prior to the walk, creating more speed......


Now it seems I OBVIOUSLY didn't really think about the WHOLE picture when it comes to a running dogwalk, in that it requires the handler ie ME to be able to keep up with their dog. I had this light bulb moment, after sending her through the tunnel and over her mini dogwalk for the first time. My first thought was ..... I think I need a 2o2o!!! Just out of curiosity I timed her down plank and scared myself a little. The one I timed was 0.5sec, so if you times that by 3 (up,across and down plank) it makes her dogwalk potentially 1.5sec ....... and at that moment it kind of sounded like this in my head "WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" :-) so since then I've been on a mission to get fit! Which is now also my New Years Resolution :-)


As much as I'm a little scared about being able to handle a running dogwalk, I'm really excited at seeing Liryk progress and it's SUCH an adrenaline rush hearing her come pounding over the planks. I can't WAIT to see what her dogwalk will look like and I have my fingers tightly crossed hoping I can get it right!!!


Touchwood ..... her jumping has reduced dramatically, though she is quite sensitive to change. Anything that looks slightly different to her "normal" picture and the jumping comes back in grand style. The latest quirky thing is that she has been attempting the down plank in one stride, she still hits the yellow but it tends to be very high up and it's not what I'm looking for.


I think my biggest fear is judges not being able to "see" her hit her contact. Now that I feel that Liryk understands her job, I've really only been rewarding her deep hits and she is beginning to do these more and more, over her high hits.


This our most recent training session. One jump, one high hit and three deep hits.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSJIx6BLboI
Happy New Year!!!!

You're Never Too Old For Agility

Twelve months ago, I nearly lost my beautiful old boy Jestah. Looking at him now, at the age of 13 and 1/2 years, I can't believe I'm so lucky to still have him. He's a lot greyer now :-) and slips occasionally on the tiles, but he still knows when it's 5pm and demands his dinner with a very forthright bark!!


I'm sure he feels a little over run with the number of females in the house, who I might add worship the ground he walks upon. Though I'm not sure he's over the moon with the constant licking of his face at home, or the stalking and pouncing when we're out in the park :-) But being the awesome dog he is, he takes it all in his stride.


This afternoon he made me smile .....


I was playing with Liryk, while he stood on the back verandah barking at me. It seems he wanted to play too!!! So we had a little bit of fun :-)


www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tehp36jqnVw


I can't believe this year is almost over. It feels like I was only just making my goals for 2010 and now I have to make new ones!! I'm SOOOOOOOOOOO excited with what 2011 will bring. Florida and possibly the debut of Liryk to name a few :-)


Wishing everyone a safe and very Merry Christmas!!!

Time Flies ..... When Ann Braue Comes To Stay

This last week has been a bit of a whirlwind. For months the Ann Braue Seminar has been something to look forward to and in the blink of an eye it appears it's all over :-(

I'm completely grateful for the advice, direction, the pushing ..... and even the phrase "You can start back at the begining" even though you'd managed to get around the course with just 1 bar down...... and you'd already run it 4 times prior and you're now gasping for air!!! The burning in your legs and the momentary thought that there is NO WAY you could possibly run another metre ...... and then the catch cry from the sidelines comes through your head "RUN!!!!" and whodathunk it, there is actually a little bit left in you (before you collapse in a great heap) and we all managed to go clear!!! I can honestly say that I don't think I've seen quite so many smiles on peoples faces, after worrying about not being able to handle the courses and finding out we were all more than capable. But I think that's what's so special about Ann. She has this ability to make EVERYONE see how great a handler they can be and how truely AWESOME each of our dogs are.

I'm even stunned at what she has achieved with Liryk and myself this last week. Two weeks ago Liryk hadn't even seen a jump. Today she is able to do 3 of the Recall to Heal positions over one jump at 500 height! We've even raised the height of the plank, with great success :-)

The other moment that I can't stop smiling about ..... is that last night Epic actually got 2 passes in one night!!! I know this is probably not THAT exciting for most. But this is a HUGE achievement for Epic. I've had so many runs ...... more than I'd care to count, where we just have one bar down. And to gain two passes (one a 3rd place, the other a 4th) well Epi-doo all I can say is your a SUPERSTAR!!!!

Thanks for the runs Sue and Linda!!

COOL!!!

Cool is the BRAND NEW dogwalk plank that I have in my backyard :-) Thanks Steve!!! The GREAT thing is, I can add the rest of the dogwalk as I need it!!

"Cool" is also the name of Lisa Ross's border collie :-) who has some pretty insane RUNNING CONTACTS!!! Check out his dogwalk ....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoOk9wd70wQ

Lisa's running contacts with Cool are quite unique. She has used her OWN method in achieving them and has succeeded with minimal repetitions!!!

The other COOL thing ....... Lisa has been guiding me through my journey of running contacts with Liryk. She is a source of motivation and really challenges me as a trainer. I'm so lucky to have a mutual friend (thanks Gayle!!) to have recommended her :-) and thankyou Lisa for all your help so far!!!

And just an update on Liryk ...... I've raised the plank and it's currently 30cm high. She's had some extra challenges to work through and as a result I've had quite a bit of jumping. I'm not too worried, it's all part and parcel of the experience and I'm sure we can work through it :-)

Running The Plank

So I've added some links to Liryk's running dogwalk...... okay, plank LOL I'm thinking BIG okay :-)


These were taken a couple of weeks ago. And since then I have raised the plank a smidge. In these video's I think the start is about 18cm high.


So this link is what I mostly get .......


www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ9gEiA3uXw


This is what sometimes happens.... :-0


www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP2bTTWGFcQ


And this is what I want :-)


www.youtube.com/watch?v=wggmu-IsmKc


Not sure if I've said before, but I'm using Silvia Trkmans method ..... though I'm trying to get away without the HUGE number of repetitions.


The other thing I want to start doing on a regular basis is plank work when I'm out training at clubs. I've done this a couple of times and it's interesting how it affects Liryk's performance. Everyday life shouldn't be issue, but it is and it's like that for LOADS of people and their dogs. So just something that I have to add to the list of things to train through :-)

Awesome Dogs

Yesterday was one horrendous day. But what I was trying to come to terms with is nothing to the overwhelming loss two close friends are feeling right now.

Tracey Wansborough, a long time friend, had her first border collie Jake put to sleep at the amazing age of 16years ..... if you squint your eyes he was pretty much 17 as his birthday was Christmas Day!!

Jake was my first dog Ryka's, best friend. And they had some interesting times together. One that will always stick in my head, is the time when we were both at a competition and Ryka piddled on Tracey's leg :-) ...... well not too much later Jake returned the favour on MY leg!! BUT funnily enough we BOTH got passes (which was no mean feat at that stage!!) so we decided it was good luck!! Weird aren't we :-P

The other thing that I will always remember about Jake was his quirky personality. He was called quite a few names over the years as he'd come down a contact, get a mm from the colour and take a FLYING leap over!! Or the horror on Tracey's face when the ruling came in that you weren't allowed to touch your dog after the judge said "are you ready?" LOL!!!

The other person my heart goes out to, is Jody Bronovich. Who came home Monday night to discover her young dog Tivy .... not quite 4yrs, had passed away :-( An amazing dog who had not yet reached her prime and yet still achieved greatness in the short period she was here.

I've been lucky enough to have enjoyed her personality, her sensitive nature .... particularly on our trip to Albany :-) Our walks in the bush and swimming adventures. Laughed as she played with Liryk ..... only to turn around and tell her off for being WAY too over the top :-) I've watched how she excelled in the sport of agility and the wonderful bond she had with Jodes. A truely remarkable dog with her wonky ear.

Jake-O-Bean and Stinky Tiv, you'll never be forgotten!!

Photos of Tivy taken by Robyn Evans

My Motivation

Before I put up some video of Liryk and her plank :-) I thought I'd share where my movitation for a running contact comes from. Particularly as I've had a bit of negative feedback from others, that maybe don't think it's a wise move ......

So for starters ...... my personality is made up of, ALOT of stubborn and pigheadedness (at least I'm not in denile!!) So the more I'm told NOT to do something, or the more skeptical someone is in my ability to achieve something, the more I want to prove them wrong. :-)

BUT ....... the main reason I wanted to try running contacts is because of a little dog called "Inquisitive" and an amazing trainer by the name of Gabrielle Blackburn. This dog blows my mind!!!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLQm-EzyN-o

And for the sceptics that think you can't get a turn after a running contact :-)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtNVMTpNO-w

Thankyou for the few who have shared their excitement in wanting to see how it pans out with Liryk and her running contacts. It's definately NOT for the faint hearted. But I'm having an AWESOME time learning something new.

I will admit, that I'm also training a nose touch competely separate ........ just incase :-)

The Current Question ....

"What have you been doing with Liryk?"

I've been asked this question quite a bit over the last few months. And to be perfectly honest. Other than trying to create drive, drive and more drive ..... not a lot :-)

You see I blame myself FULLY for Epic's hesitation in "letting loose" and going CRAZEE! And I didn't want to make the same mistakes with Liryk. I feel my biggest mistake was "controlling" Epic WAY too much.

So for Liryk I've done LOTS of shaping. I believe if she can work things out for herself, it creates confidence and with confidence comes speed. The only down side with this, with Liryk is that once she's learnt a behaviour ...... say running through a tunnel, she is of the opinion "she knows it" and actually doesn't require ANY direction / assistance from me :-) I LOVE how she's so confident in her own abilities ..... just have to let her in on the fact that we're supposed to be having a party for 2 ...... not 1 :-)

Anyhoo, other than shaping, Liryk has done lots of tunnels (yes I'm sure it's going to come and bite me on the butt come competitions, but she LOVES them!!)she's learnt the table, lots of restrained recalls and "chase me" games, the only other actual piece of agility equipment she's been on is a plank. Yes I'm going to try running contacts :-) I currently have a VERY reliable running Aframe with Epic and I really want to see if I can also teach a dogwalk. Because of my knee this might be the one chance I have, to actually be in a position to be able to handle one, that is if I can teach it!!! So at a later date I'll upload some video footage of her plank work. I currently LOVE what she is offering, but time will tell if it continues to pan out the way I hope. She's only 7mths and still has a little more growing to do, which will ultimately affect her length of stride.

I've added two video's of Liryk from last Friday's training, thanks to Tom for holding her :-) and thanks to Jenn for videoing!!!

The first one is just a restrained recall. The other is her doing a couple of tunnels. If I'm going to be critical, I really should have had the tunnels further apart, so she could build up more speed between the two. My bad!! But that's how you learn right? Either way I love how she's progressing and fingercrossed I don't stuff her up :-)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nLw9APOozY

Ta Da!!!!

Why is Liryk soooooooo excited, that she's giving someone in our house a standing ovation??? (not that you can see all of her, coz she wouldn't do it from a distance, so you'll just have to use your imagination for the bottom half of her LOL)

Now I've mentioned Dancer before in my blog. And unfortunately prior to me going away to America this year. She started knocking ALOT of bars and I began to wonder if she was sore. She's now 9yrs old and REALLY has NO self preservation when it comes to agility. So I decided to give her a rest, and I've also decided to retire her from agility at the end of the year. EVEN though she only needs one more pass for her Excellent title. She has been known to fly off the apex of the A-frame and even on Saturday at the GSDA - West Coast Challenge Trial, due to a poor approach to the dogwalk from a jump, slammed into the side of the up ramp :-( So from next year it'll just be Jumping for Dancer Dog :-)

Now after 3mths of no training, I went into this weekend's trial with no expectations. Actually to be perfectly honest, because Dancer is SOOOOOOOOOOO unreliable, I NEVER go into a trial with the expectation of even passing. To put it into perspective, she generally has a pass rate of 1 a year. So really, I'm happy if she listens on a course :-)

So you can imagine my elation when she listened in Masters Jumping AND came 2nd!!!!

See even Dancer looks suprised at how clever she is!!!

As My Great Friend Jules Would Say : TRAPGUN!!!

This weekend we had the Perth Royal Show. Saturday was the teams event and was rather disasterous ..... between me and a run in with a wing jump!! and a poorly timed blind cross, and Epic popping out of weave poles!!! We didn't give our teamies much help :-) SORRY GUYS!!!

Monday however ended up being a great day out. Watching Erica Popes dog "Spice" run in Novice was one of the highlights for me. What an inspirational dog!!! She didn't go clear, but the speed at which she took every obsticle was just jaw dropping!!!

My other highlight was Epic and her fantastic runs!! I love that regardless of how she goes I know that she will give her all and as it turned out she and I got two clear rounds!!!!

AND........

She came 3rd in Masters Agility!!!! ............... "TRAPGUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

YouTube - Megan and Epic Royal Show 2010 3rd place Masters Agility

Thankyou soooooooooo much to Jen Coton for taking the time to video and then sharing the link so I was able to see how well my girl REALLY did!!

And thanks to Jules!!! For catching Epic after each run!! She was soooooo desperate to get back to her crate for her JACKPOT!!! Which she well and truely deserved :-)

Puppy Possessed and a Daisy :-)

Five more days to go ......
To what, you might ask yourself??
Till Liryk's stitches come OUT!!!!

I had her sterilised last week. And to think the sweet little soul was curled up in front of the fire as soon as she got home after surgery.


Enter day 1 ......


ball, ball, can we play ball????

ummm NO!!!

oh...

10 seconds passes...

what about now???? i'm good to go... REALLY!!!

I don't think you understand, you've JUST had abdominal surgery. No running, jumping or B.A.L.L!!

WHAT!! are you INSANE?? you're gonna regret this, mark my words.....


And quite frankly I AM!!!

It's like the greatest puppy in the WHOLE world has been possessed by the devil!!!

Poor Liryk is used to hour runs every day, playing soccer in the backyard and mucking around with clicker training. And now all this pent up energy is driving us both CRAZY!!

SO..... to prevent me and Liryk going ABSOLUTELY nuts .... I've been trying to wear her out mentally :-)

I decided I'd try to see how small an object I could get her to put all four feet on :-)
I started with a brick which she picked up fairly quickly....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1DiwBLi1wY

And then tried a bowl. It's quite a bit smaller, but I love how she's working it out :-) She makes me SMILE!!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pg1izGhh9M

The other thing that made me smile this weekend ..... actually to be perfectly honest I was in fits of laughter :-) Was Tom Weir.

Now I've know Tom for probably about 15yrs so I know he's not going to mind ...... In fact it even made HIM smile.

We were at a trial yesterday and I was talking to him, and happened to look down. Now Tom is well known for his quirky footwear on a course as you'll see from the photo. But it wasn't his shoes .... more what his "toes" had picked up while walking :-)

I couldn't believe it!!

And whats more it may just have been a luck charm ....... because Tom and his dog Brynn WON Masters Jumping!!! Whaaaaaa Hooooooooo!!!!!!! :-)

So thankyou Graeme for taking the photo!!! And thankyou Tom for making me laugh!!! And CONGRATULATIONS for a truely amazing run!!!!

Weaver Success And The Puppy Turns 1/2 A Year

Drum roll please .......................................

It's official, Epic got all her weavers in Masters Agility at the Midland Trial on the weekend!!!! She didn't knock a single bar, went deep into the contact of her running Aframe AND came a glorious, and unexpected 3rd place!! Whoooo Hooooo!!! Awffy excited for my wee girl :-)

To tell the truth I had THE BEST day out. Liryk got the chance to catch up with her best friend Lochie (who she hasn't seen for a few months and is Gina O'Keefe's new puppy) and they ran and ran and ran :-) I love watching puppies play, they make me smile. I think there's alot to be said for letting our puppies BE puppies and let them get out and explore the world and have some fun.

Epic seemed to be happy, relaxed and bouncy on the day, which really helped to contribute to some nice runs. She made me laugh in Masters Jumping though ....

No knocked bars, and a blind cross on a serpentine and which worked VERY nicely to get me on the inside for the last 3 jumps, so I didn't have to rear cross anything or push on her path. It would be just a nice gentle pull over the last few jumps....... or so I thought ....... the last obsticle was the tyre. And apparently COMPLETELY invisible :-) because Epic ran straight past it!!! But what can you do? Well first off : Laugh - it's just a trial at the end of the day right? It's not like there's a million dollars resting on the run and even if there was ............

And then maybe try ........... saying "T.Y.R.E" that would probably help :-) LOL

Mental note to self, tell my dog the obsticle!!!

The other milestone of the moment is .......

Liryk turned 6mths yesterday!!!

No she still hasn't grown into her ears :-) Though her legs have now started to give her ears a run for their money!! It seems she's cracking under the pressure of the other dogs having soooo much coat and she started to try and grow some of her own .....

Here is Epic's tail :

And here is Liryk's attempt!! Now don't laugh she IS trying hard :-)
AND if you look REALLY closely .... you can see the ONE white hair at the end of her tail!! In her attempt to "look" more border collie like :-)




She's such a hoot!! Little Miss Personality. She has a slight obsessive compulsive disorder with tunnels, tables and the soccer ball :-) She has a wee bit of a "pigheaded" streak :-) The more you tell her NOT to do something the more she WANTS IT!!! LOL

Ahh butter wouldn't melt in her mouth :-)

I can't wait to see what time will bring, as Liryk continues to grow.......

The List Of Things To Train .....

This weekend has been our first trial in several weeks and I discovered some interesting things........... :-)

Even though I hardly ever do a dogwalk with Epic anymore in training, due to her "lumpy" leg
Apparently it's still a HIGHLY rewarding behaviour for her. So much so, that she decided to choose it over a tunnel for a second helping, thankyou very much!

The other thing I discovered is that the weavers STILL aren't fixed and she'd like to continue to pop out at number 10 ..... which she did :-)

The thing with Epic though, is that you can't for a second let her think she's done something wrong. Otherwise she'd be absolutely devastated and any enthusiasm we may have had, would be in a pile of mush on the floor. Epic is one of those dogs that gives you her whole heart out on the course BUT she is a BIG stresser. So I never really know what I'm going to get on course.

Though saying that (and I'm touching wood right now!) the longer we've had Liryk, the happier Epic is becoming. She's not quite so worried about things anymore. And she's learning how to have sooooooooooooo much more FUN! It helps that her little sister LOVES everything and so Epic seems to feel like she doesn't want to miss out :-) and is discovering how FUN life really is, and not scarey after all.

So anyway, Masters Agility didn't quite go the way I'd walked. Okay, so we obviously got disqualified :-) But Epic left with a big grin on her face and that's all that matters.

Masters Jumping on the other hand ..... other than a couple of bars. Was FUN and Epic and I really enjoyed ourselves. I have to appologise for the video, my camera ran out of batteries ...... okay it was flat before I even left home and I forgot to look! DOH!! But I had my little "photo" camera. Unfortunately it doesn't take to "zooming in" it goes all blurry, hense the faaaaaaar away look :-) Thanks to Jules for videoing!!

To Bee Or Not To Bee

During the week I'd been writing my latest blog update. My enthusiasm with Epic as she finally nailed all her weavers at the trial last weekend. And my thoughts and goals with Liryk as she turned 5mths on Tues.

Then that blog update was put on the backburner as this puppy was brought into our vet clinic thursday evening ...............

Now there are some pretty interesting similarities between this puppy and MY puppy .........

OMG!!! It IS my puppy!!!!

Currently looking like a bully or shar-pei x. Her pixie face compelety gone!!! and her poor erect ears were now all saggy :-(

You see it seems my inquisitive wee Liryk decided to investigate a BEE :-)

And obviously said BEE was not too impressed to be questioned, as too what it may or may not have been doing in my backyard, by a young wipper snapper of a puppy. And went straight for her throat! Which incidently is where we found the sting.

An injection of Dex and Niramine and within a couple of hours the swelling had mostly come down. PHEW!!!

And by the next day she was back to looking like this .......

Those Damn Weavers and a Blind Cross

Well we had our first trial last weekend since coming back from America. I didn't have Dancer entered it was just Epic, so a nice relaxed day with two runs :-)

Masters Agility was gorgeous. Open and flowing ......... and yet with only 2 passes, handlers were caught out :-) Our downfall was ...... OMG ........ you guessed it ...... WEAVERS!!!

Epic has had a full month of not doing any agility. I thought the break would have done her weaver "issue" the world of good ....... apparently not!! LOL

So my next thought was, is she sore?? So she's been to Deb Nook this week for accupunture and chiropractic work and fingers crossed she feels much better.

Masters Jumping was a similar course to the Masters National Finals course that was set up this year. And Epic was a little star and went CLEAR!!!! :-)) AND I did a blind cross on a jump!! :-) Well thats to say I walked it as a blind cross .... and I had every intention of doing a blind cross ..... and I'm almost 100% certain I DID DO a blind cross :-) But you know how when things happen sooooooo smoothly and quickly and then you have some self doubt sneak in? Well I have had a moment since the run where I've thought, that went WAY too easily, maybe I did a front cross and didn't realise!!! LOL And I don't have any video to check ...... though I'm pretty confident I did it the way I intended :-)

Now those of you who are shaking their heads and going blind crosses are B.A.D, well they're not for everyone :-) And yes if you do Greg Derrett down to a tee, I'm pretty certain a blind cross should NEVER be tried, BUT in Linda Mecklenburgs system they are "allowed" YAY because they are sooooooo much FUN!!!

AND if you look at the Europeans, they do them EVERYWHERE!!! AND are incrediably successful at agility.

SO for those that are interested :-)

Blind crosses encourage extension :-) (my favourite thing for Miss Epic) they should also only be used when your dog doesn't have a choice in which direction it is going to take. Which means the cross needs to be completed before the dog completes the obsticle, whether it is a jump, tunnel or weave poles.

I'm the first one to admit that I felt completely disconnected with my dog the first time I tried it, but I felt it was a skill I needed to learn even if I didn't use it. But I love them now and I'm very grateful and thank you to Karen Holik for teaching me this skill!!!!

Saying Goodbye To America :-(

Camp 2 is all over :-(

My trip is almost to an end ..... just a 2hr drive to Minneapolis tomorrow and then I fly out first thing on Friday morning.

Well the last three days have been full of highs and lows.

I'll start with the low first. Jestah my old boy, became quite sick on Tuesday afternoon. He was apparently fine right up until 3.30pm, then went downhill rather suddenly :-( Vomiting up his dinner that he had had the PREVIOUS night (what the!!) and he was as flat as a tack. So as you can imagine I was FREAKING out ..... particularly being sooooooooooooooooooooo far away. I even started thinking that I would need to look at leaving camp early and try to catch an earlier flight home :-( He was started on antibiotics with the view to see how he went. That night he continued vomiting and was very restless. Mum took him to work to see Dr Louise on Wed morning and he had bloods taken. By Wed night the bloods had come back all normal and he was much brighter. No more vomiting and he was interested in food again. PHEW!!! Today he is back to normal .... though tired. I can't tell you how relieved I am!! And I can't wait to give him a GREAT BIG hug when I get home :-)

The highs have obviously come from the agility camp :-)

Camp 2 .... for me was MUCH harder and more challenging overall. I have discovered my timing for "trained cues" vs "natural cues" is pretty much CRAP!! Scream is an amazing dog to run, he really helped to perfect my timing. If I was slightly out he responded appropriately by pretty much taking the wrong jump!! LOL

We delved more into motion cues, forward motion front crosses over jumps as well as on the flat. My favourite day was today with Ann Braue. She had a course up that REALLY challenged us as handlers. There was one part where you had to send to a tunnel and RUN!! No really you had to run for fear of having a collision with your dog (there was a jump forcing convergence with your dog) So it was EXTREMELY important to get ahead to cue the slight turn OR you needed to "ABANDON SHIP!!!!" LOL I am proud to say I made it with Scream :-) Though I will not be shy in saying that I'm pretty sure my face went white when I could see him flying towards me out the corner of my eye!! It definately got my adrenaline going!!

I'm all pumped to play around with Epic when I get home and I can't wait to see how much Liryk has grown!!

I also can't wait for Ann to come to Perth in December :-)

The photo above has the three dogs that I ran over the six days. From left to right is Sydney, Sizzle and Scream. The people are Eric and Karen Holik, Me, Ann Braue and Jenn Crank.

I can't believe I've had this opportunity for a second year running. I feel soooooo lucky!!! What a buzz!!!

ABCTC Camp 1

Wow I can't believe I'm back :-) When I was on the road leading to the complex it felt like I'd never left.

This time round in Camp 1 I've run multiple dogs. The picture that I've up loaded is Sydney a border collie owned by Karen Holik and her partner Eric. I've also run Karen's sheltie Sizzle and Ann Braue's Scream.

It's been great, though challenging for my handling, running so many "different" dogs.

Sydney for example has quite a late commitment point which forces you to support the bar longer and occasionally take a deeper step into said jump ....... the down side to this is that Sydney is EXTREMELY fast!! And so makes it challenging to get to the next obsticle. LOL

Scream on the other hand is very much ..... you point and shoot :-) Don't think though that this gives me more time to get into position. He is incrediably powerful and feels like a steam train coming towards you!!!

The sequences and courses have been great for handling. We've covered things like forward motion front crosses, threadles, pushs for a tunnel discrimination (HIGHLY stressful for one who has broken her leg, especially "seeing" the dog running FULL speed at you!!) and we've done a blind cross on a jump!!! YES !!! you read right a blind cross!! Even to one that does blind crosses all the time on tunnels it felt weird and as though you're disconnecting with your dog. Karen Holik assures me I'm not :-) So we'll see if it feels more natural by the end of Camp 2.

This year there is a new instructor, Jennifer Crank. WOW for someone so young she is a WEALTH of information and has left my head spinning. I'm glad I have a day off today before Camp 2 starts tomorrow ....... though saying that I can't wait to do it all over again!! :-)

Epic JDM :-)

Well the Gosnells double header trial last weekend contained a bag full of highs and lows. The morning Masters Agility course was GREAT!! Epic was happy and bouncy (last week she was stress yawning on the start line, which freaked me out) Though it appears we've hit the moment of NOT completely finishing every weave pole, apparently Epic might be under the impression it's quicker if you don't do them all .... She popped out at number 10 and knocked the bar after a front cross onto the dogwalk. Though in my defense ....... Jules and Frank both did the same thing at exactly the same bar :-) So 1. I don't feel so bad and 2. We decided to start our own group for crap handling of front crosses LOL

The morning Masters Jumping course really won't be spoken about ..... it started with my inability to complete a pull-through and finished with me tripping over the tunnel!!! So that was the end of that!! LOL

The afternoon Masters Agility had two Aframes :-) and the course flowed NICELY!! Epic was a wee super star!! She hit the weave entry at full speed brilliantly (I was soooooooo excited!!! and clear up to this point) and in the back of my head I thought "make sure you work the rest of the weavers .....after what happened this morning" we got to the 11th pole and just as I looked away to focus on the jump ahead ...... I had a brief thought ....... did she just miss pole 12????? Surely NOT!!! So I kept running to complete the last few jumps. WHAT A GOOD GIRL!!! I turned around and looked at Sarah (the judge) ....... "did she just miss the last weave pole?" Sadly Sarah nodded..... ARGH ....... words can't express how excited I am for Epic doing such a good run and at the same time how gutted I am over one evil white pole :-) And whats worse is I couldn't find anyone to videotape me. So I only have the run in my head :-( can you all hear the violins playing in the background LOL

The last run of the day was Masters Jumping. This too was a nice flowing course. Epic started off well but a quarter of the way around the course became disconnected with me and headed for an off course tunnel ....... "EEEPIIICCCCC" I managed to save it, but in the process Epic shut down. She REALLY doesn't like to get things wrong. Now who'da thought it, but, we managed to go clear!!!

TITLE!!!!! :-)

There is only one more trial before I leave. So this week we're practising WEAVERS!!! LOL

And from the photo you can see how amped Epic is to do this!!

Oh and I can't forget someone VERY special :-)

HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY JESTAH!!!!!!

Puppy Fun!! And The Count Down...

Well it's only been 3 and 1/2 wks since Liryk came into our house and what fun we're having :-)
Jestah just rolls his eyes and hopes she grows up soon!! LOL
Epic currently has a love / hate relationship with her. She LOVES that she has someone to play with ..... but once she's finished playing that's it, she wants to be left alone....THANKYOU....in a bite your face off kind of way!!! Though to Epic's credit she's not REALLY hurt her, more told her she's had enough. And I think this is something that Liryk needs to learn. (she can be VERY full on at times)
So to make life a little easier, we've invested in a safety barrier so that the big dogs get some "peaceful" time from the everyready battery....... or more commonly known Liryk :-)
We've been VERY lucky with her. From day one she's slept in her crate with not so much as a squeak and she's been practically toilet trained since we got her. She already has GREAT toy drive and copes well when transitioning from food and back to toys.
The BEST thing I love about Liryk is that everything is so new and exciting for her, and her excitment is contagious for me.
I feel extremely fortunate to have her and her VERY interesting ears :-) Which seem intent on reaching for the stars!!!


The other thing that is rapidly approaching is my trip to America!!! Only 2wks to go OMG!!!
This will be my second year of attending Ann Braue's Summer Camp. 6 days of jam packed, mind exploding information and FUN!! This year will be slightly different from last year as I'm having the opportunity to work a dog for the full 6 days....weather and my knee permitting
First there is Scream, who has just been selected as a team member for the FCI World Agility Championships to be held later in the year.
The other dog I might get the opportunity to run is Synner, who is the youngest up and coming member of Ann's family.
I've added a clip of Synner's "fun" run at the recent Regionals. You can view it at this link.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoExc1-BoAM

Things From The Past That Affect Our Future

For those that can remember, my first dog was a border collie x kelpie by the name of Ryka. He was truely a special dog that first started my addiction with agility. If I still had him today Friday the 21st May would have been his birthday.

This year he has been in my thoughts ALOT!! ...... and I may have just found the reason.

About three weeks ago Sam Weaver posted some photos on Facebook of her new litter.... border collie x kelpies.......ooooooh they looked and reminded me sooooo much of Ryka (one in particular)

And it's funny because I didn't think of them after that........ until Saturday last week when jokingly Sam put one photo on Facebook and said it was Tom Weir's new puppy :-)

And that one puppy happened to be the one that looked like Ryka!! I couldn't stop looking at him. I never would have got him ..... the resemblence was too much...... but while talking to Jules she pointed out the girl........ Oh my there IS something about her I like :-)

And from that point on I couldn't stop thinking about her. I wrote to Sam and put her into a fit of laughter because I asked if she would stack her for me to see her structure :-) And she didn't do too bad a job if I do say so myself. LOL

The thing is Sam didn't realise it was me that was interested...... so I think she nearly fell off her chair when I said it was ME that wanted to see the puppy :-)

Yesterday Tom, Jules and I took the treck to Sam and Richards farm to check out the girl puppy.....and of course the others!!! The weird thing was, when Sam let them out of the pen and they came flying around to the front garden that little girl puppy ran past everyone else and straight to me and jumped up on my leg. She was so excited :-) It felt like she was saying "OMG you're finally here!!! I've been waiting ALL morning for you"

So how can you say no to that???

So I have a new addition to my family and her name is Liryk.

For those that are interested in the spelling of her name. I wanted a piece of Ryka in there :-) It only seemed fitting.......

A special thankyou to Sam Weaver, Jules Pearson and Helen King.

Perth Agility Nationals 2010

Coming into the week of the Nationals I had started to wonder whether 3 hopefully 4 days would be a bit too much agility in one hit.

Well I couldn't have got it more wrong ...... If anything it went by in a flash, leaving me wanting to do more!! I think I've got a little agility addiction!! LOL

The whole atmosphere of this Nationals, was just so much more relaxed. The sportsmanship and camaraderie amongst competitors really made it an event to remember.

The courses were great, but challenging and Epic really did so much better than I could have hoped.

On Friday she came 4th in Masters Agility ..... but had unfortunately been missed out when the cards were being written up, so I didn't know until after when I went up to enquire. What a shock!!!

Saturday was the greatest day for results. She came 3rd in Masters Agility, and Epic and Diva won Masters Stragetic Pairs!!! Jules and I were sooooooo excited!!!!

I had an interesting hiccup in the Masters Jumping run on the same day. I set Epic up on the start line and took up my position, only to turn around and find her eating the grass!! WHAT THE !!!! Then she proceeded to forget what she was doing there and strolled around the first bar. ARGH!!! When I took her back and reset her, all I could think of was...... she better not run clear now (after DQing herself :-) Little shit!) She did a fantastic run and knocked one bar LOL!!! When I think about it I really hope it wasn't a stress response. I want Epic to enjoy it as much as me, so it will be interesting to see if the situation rises again.

Finals were nailbiting to watch and just to have Epic in Masters Agility was great!! The course was just a little too tricky for us :-) But she left with a BIG grin on her face and what more can you ask? I'm so grateful she was even there, considering 3 months ago I wondered whether she would even be able to compete. What a wee supa star!!!!

Hanging out to get a photo of Epic and Diva with their 1st place trophy :-) And will post it as soon as I get it!!!

Introducing Tax Man

After summer camp with Ann Braue, Karen Holik and Jenn Crank this July, my next trip will be FLORIDA!!! I'm VERY excited. It seems weird to be planning my next adventure when I haven't even done the first yet, but it has been an invitation that I couldn't possibly pass up. And you only live once right?? :-)

Gayle York has invited me to run her dog "Tax Man" at another camp :-)

Tax is from a repeat mating that produced Ann's Scream and he looks like SUCH a fun dog!!

Gayle and Tax sent me this special message and I couldn't stop laughing, so thought I'd share it to put a smile on everyone else's face.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did :-)

Dancer Did It!!!!

This weekend was our State Agility Trial. We had 2 qualifying rounds where the top 7 in each class go into a final. I had both Epic and Dancer entered and before we left home Friday afternoon, the girls and I had a little "pep" talk :-) Now I won't bore you all with what was discussed.....but lets just say Dancer's list of things she had to focus on was ALOT longer than Epic's, and above all else she also had to pay attention and.....LISTEN......LOL...I'm laughing because listening ISN'T high on the list of priorities for Miss Dancer.

The first run of the evening went to Epic in Masters Agility. She had some really nice parts, extending where I would have hoped, and had some nice acceleration in the last half of the course. I would have preferred her to go deeper into the contact of the Aframe, rather than reverting to her "original" running Aframe, but this is a work in progress so I think I need a little patience. She had several knocked bars, which for Epic is uncommon. It's not uncommon for her to knock a bar here and there (I've been calling her "one-bar" Epic for a little while now) but to have multiple go down on all courses concerns me a little.

The second run for the night was Dancer in Excellent Agility. The judge was Richard Barville and he did a very do-able course. After the trial at Cloverdale where I let Dancer get away with breaking her start-line and then spent the next 24hrs berating and cursing myself for the stupidity of it....there was no way I was going to let that happen again. So.......I set her up on the start-line told her to stay and as I was walking away she started to lean forward. Now she didn't move any feet and her bottom stayed firmly planted on the ground.......BUT.....this is Dancer and if she thinks that she can get away with leaning , she will DEFINATELY think she'll get away with stepping forward. SO I stopped and looked at her and said "If you want to play the game of agility then you need to sit there until you're told you can go, so you have a think about that and let me know" then I turned my back and walked into position.....stopped....turned to face Dancer.....and OMG she was sitting there proud as punch waiting to have some FUN!!!

So that was how the run of a lifetime started :-) She kept all her bars up, did all her contacts, stayed on the table for the WHOLE 5 secs!! She hit her weave entry AND stayed in them ......and ......PASSED!!!!! She not only passed but she also WON the class!!!! AND got into the Finals!!!! And would you know it...I got every run that evening, EXCEPT that one LOL!!!

Now the excitement doesn't stop there folks :-)

I thought it was her 3rd pass in this class, but apparently she gained a extra card somewhere along the last 4yrs (yes this is how long she's been in Excellent Agility!!) so she actually has 4 qualifing cards, which means only one more pass and she's got her title!!!! Wheeeeeeeeee!!!!

The Final was a whole different story, and wasn't meant to be for Dancer, though she did some REALLY nice stuff. She broke her start line, I know I've just gone on about NOT letting her get away with that, BUT in my defense, IT IS a final. For me this is the moment I've trained for. So I'm going to let her get away with it. Finals are the place where people let their dogs get away with not holding their contacts to gain that extra 0.5 sec, so even though it's going to probably take me ALL week to get her startline back, I'm glad we gave it our all and I'm sooooooo excited that Dancer got the chance to have a shot in the final :-)

The AMAZING photo above was taken by Robyn Evans. Thankyou soooooo much for sharing it, you've really captured Dancers PASSION for the sport of agility :-) She also took many other BRILLIANT shots of the Finals hopefully this link is right :-) www.flickr.com/photos/westozagilityfotos

Things That Change Our Lives

It's no secret that Ann Braue has made quite an impact on my life.
I'm a BIG believer in "everything happens for a reason" but even back in 2006 when I was first introduced to Ann, I really didn't know how this one person would make such an impact on my life and how extremely fortunate I'd be with the opportunities that she's given me since.
As I've previously posted, last year I went to Ann's Summer Camp in America. At the time I was really overwhelmed at her generosity of allowing me to run one of her amazing dogs "Scream" at camp. I was sooooooooooo frightened I'd "break" him LOL. But Ann had faith in me and my handling abilities and of course her BRILLIANT dog!!
For a World Class agility competitor, Ann is such an incrediably grounded person, who is so open to helping and incouraging people. And for that I'm so very grateful.
Today it was really brought home to me how lucky I am to have met someone like Ann. I was on Facebook and "Scream's" breeder Gayle York, posted his and the rest of her Bluefire agility BC's runs (who I might add won and placed in mutliple runs throughout the weekend!!) from the recent Nationals in America. And while I was watching Ann and Scream in particular I had to stop and go WOW!! I actually know this person and even BIGGER wow, I actually got to run the dog I was now watching take out 1st place in the Challenger round, 2nd place in the Hybrid, 3rd place in the JWW and 3rd in the Final!!
I'm just speechless that I've been so fortunate.
So thankyou Gayle for breeding border collies I'm truely in awe of :-)
And thankyou Ann for firstly being my friend, secondly being so generous with your dogs, and thirdly teaching me sooooooooooooooooooooo much about agility that I never knew :-)
I've posted a run from the Nationals which totally blew my mind to the abilities of Ann as a handler and Scream as a truely amazing dog.

ACWA Jumping Trial

We had a Jumping Trial last night and Epic was a little trooper!!! We've not had much success in Jumping for some reason.......not sure why?? and we've not had a qualification for several months. WELL she ran her little heart out and went CLEAR!!!! YAY!!!!
When we arrived home I excitedly got out my video camera and went to watch her run ......OMG......where is it??????
It seems the person who was videoing.....may have forgotten to actually record it .... DOH :-(
So I had seen Linda videoing some runs last night and proceeded to email Sue to see if she may have got it.......YAY!!!!! Thanks Sue and Linda!!! And here it is :-)

Epics Results

Well Wednesday Epic had her followup xrays. It's been one month since I first discovered her boney lump, just below her carpus.

We took several views, so Rebecca (radiologist) would have multiple to compare with her originals.

As I'm totally impatient I again dropped them off at her house.....went home and waited for the phonecall.

My mobile began ringing at about 9.30pm. I took a deep breath and answered. One of the things I love about Rebecca is that she has such a calming voice, so within seconds I was relaxed and felt like I was going to be able to deal with whatever she was about to tell me.

So here it is.............................

Rebecca is confident that the lump hasn't grown. OMG YAY!!!!!! If she was going to be HIGHLY critical, then there is the smallest chance that it may have grown by around 1mm.....BUT she is more confident that it is the actual positioning of the recent xrays, compared to the originals.

She has said that she thinks "short term" continuing to train and trial her won't be detrimental. And it was here I asked what did she class as "short term??"

Rebecca has recommended that we take followup xrays in 6mths, so that she will again compare them with the originals and give me a better prognosis re the "short term vs long term" question. At this stage she still can't rule out DJD vs trauma so it's just wait and see :-(

She has given the all clear to compete with her at the Nationals, but has recommended a rest afterwards. And she's basically said to "treat" her clinically at this stage, so if she's not painful and not lame continue as we are.

I'm still going to Deb Nook and Charlotte Stead as I really feel Epic is benefitting from both. And I just ordered a special carpus icepack to put on her leg to reduce any possible inflammation that may occur after competitions.

It's 7 weeks till the Nationals and I'm a little behind in my preparation. I've started to retrain my running Aframe to have her come down lower into the contact zone to reduce the "impact" on her carpus, but there is a HUGE list I had really wanted to work through before the Nationals arrived. Most is based on teaching her extension.....though she has started knocking the first bar in competition.....so now we have to fix this too. LOL!!!

I'm so happy that Epic and I still get to play and have fun in agility and I'm hopeful that longterm, she's just going to be a "special" dog that has a weird boney lump on her leg LOL

Bush Bashing Dogs

Ive just spent the weekend out at my parents 25acre property. What can I say it's doggie heaven.

I currently have Dancer for the next few weeks (Helena is off to England to see Crufts!!) And she was VERY excited to be coming out for the doggie weekend away :-)

I've added a photo ....with the girls posing nicely. Jestah on the other hand decided there was WAY too much posing going on and he would just "observe" from the bridge in front of the house :-) After his antics last night of getting himself somehow (don't ask me how) caught in the chicken coup and having to be "rescued" he probably thought it was safer up by the house, rather than getting involved in the younger girls shinanigans.

Wednesday is the day Epic gets her followup xrays......can't believe it's been four weeks already.

Sometimes it looks like the lump is smaller and other times I'm not quite so sure.......the other thing I'm not sure of, is whether she is occasionally lame. If she is it's EVER so slight. And I don't know if it's because I'm constantly watching her and seeing something that isn't there?

Either way I should know by the end of the week what her prognosis is.

I've tried not to dwell on it and I'm taking a deep breath that it will be okay.

Alternative Therapies and Power of Positive Thinking

Well it's been quite a rollercoaster week for Epic and I. Sunday I was sitting on the floor and she came over for a cuddle....when I noticed a lump on her front right leg, a rather hard boney lump.

So Monday she was taken to work for some xrays and there was definate boney changes. So the xrays were popped on a disc and sent through to Rebecca Lonsdale (a radiologist) and I very impatiently waited for a phone call.

I received the call later that evening (the bonus of being a vet nurse). Rebecca was certain it wasn't anything like a bone tumour...PHEW!!! But she wondered if there was anyway she could be continually hitting/traumatising the area.....Hmmmmm no???It's kind of in a weird spot to hit.... She does pounce into her 2o2o with alot of gusto in training though.....AND she has a running A-frame where she jumps off from quite high up. Now if this is the case.....it would be an impact injury where she is continually hyperextending her carpus :-( Thats not good news.....and Rebecca diagnosed Degenerative Joint Disease.... NO!!!!!!!!!!

DJD is a progressive disease......how progressive we're not sure yet and so I now wait 4 weeks before we take more xrays to see if there are any changes. So her agility career hangs in the balance at the tender age of 4.

The interesting thing is that she's not painful and there is no obvious lameness.
On Wednesday I took her to see Deb Nook (a vet who practises in accupunture and chiropractic) and we started treating her with needles....Epic goes back in two weeks for followup treatment.

On Thursday after work I got Clint to video me playing with Epic doing a 2o2o on a plank of wood..........OMG......did she just hit her leg on the corner........Okay so here's where slow motion is GREAT. When running on the plank itself she is definately hyperextending her carpus when trying to slow down into her 2o2o.....but I think she's also hitting her leg on the side of the plank when going into her position. (why didn't I put rails on either side to prevent her peeling off to the side???)

Friday I took the video to work and got Louise to look at them. And she also agreed it looked suspiciously like she was hitting just below her carpus. Rebecca rang to see how she was and I mentioned that maybe she IS hitting her carpus....GOOD NEWS......if it's trauma related......take the trauma away ie the plank....AND the bone should remodel and as long as it doesn't involve the joint the prognosis is SOOOOO much better.

Today I've been in contact with Charlotte Steed (physiotherapist) and Epic is booked in to see if we can strengthen her muscles to help with the hyperextension and put plans into place to slow the progression of DJD..... JUST in case this is what it is.

Epic has been given the all clear to still able to train and compete at this stage...it will be re-evaluated once the next xrays are taken.

And all my thoughts, are being put into BELIEVING it's trauma related.

Borderfame Twist Of Fate ADM :-)

Congratulations Epic on gaining your Agility Dog Masters title!!! What a little trooper you are :-)
On Friday night she ran her little paws off to receive her last pass!! Wheeeeeeeee!!!
AND....in both Open and Masters she didn't come off the end of the dogwalk....she did her 2o2o and waited for her release :-) Couldn't be happier!!
I have discovered one thing though........I'm soooooooooo unfit!! After each of my runs I was practically gasping for air, now I'm only 33 so really I have no excuses...what can I say I'm obviously just plain lazy :-) Sorry Epic for not being able to get you back to the car as fast as you would like, so you could have your "jackpot" but it seems my body can only deal with 40sec bursts of energy before it wants to collapse in a heap. LOL.....New Years Resolution....find someone to hold Epics "jackpot" outside the ring....so I don't have to run back to the car :-)

Thanks to Jennifer Coton for the photos!!!

Obsessions

I find it amazing how we as humans (myself included) can become so obsessed with such small things, to the point of ruining relationships...with our dogs in particular....seeing as this is an agility blog :-) We become fixated with faster contacts, where we can shave seconds off our next run and in turn place enormous stress on our dogs to perform to the level of perfection we seem to be striving for. And in the blink of an eye our four legged friend begins to shut down and the once strong relationship we thought we had with our beloved dog begins to unravel.
I feel in particular since coming back from America, my whole outlook has changed quite dramatically. For me agility is not quite the same. Yes I believe I still have an obsession with getting the best out of my dog. For example I know that every stride Epic does is 0.3sec and if she adds, say 5 strides extra on a course I'm already 1.5sec behind the leader...let alone whether her ground speed comes remotely close to the winning dog!
But for me, my relationship with Epic is more important. Agility is supposed to be FUN and I think there is a very fine line between having fun and winning, and placing too much pressure on your dog and in turn getting a poor performance.
I think there is a lot to be said for having a game of tug for the pure enjoyment of it with your dog...not just because you're trying to warm them up for the course they are about to run or because they are soooooooo high drive that it stops them from barking at you for attention. Just purely for the simple pleasure of hanging out with your dog and building on that fantastic relationship that will ultimately bring the best performance your dog can give.

Happy Birthday Epic

It's Epic's 4th birthday today and it really doesn't seem like I've had her this long. We woke up nice and early and took both dogs down to South Perth foreshore. She LOVES it down there. What with the many trees to sniff and all the birds to chase, it's doggie heavon. On our way home we stopped in at Pet Stock so she could pick a toy and a treat out :-) This is also another of Epic's favourite places and the minute we walked in the door, she made a bee line for the kangaroo sticks, almost inhaling one straight off the shelf!! The toy she picked is a very funky blue and yellow squeaky dog. (though I'm sure it'll last about 2secs!! LOL)

For the past 3 weeks Epic and I have had some time off in agility. Nothing like putting your feet and paws up and just chilling out.

I have been trying to teach her a new trick (saw a dog doing a handstand!!!) and I've managed to get her to put her back end up onto the lounge which stands about her shoulder height. Not too bad ....just have to work out how to get her higher!! LOL It's been really interesting teaching her new things. The biggest thing I've discovered is she had very little backend awareness and even though I'd done certain things with her when she was younger...obviously it wasn't enough.

2010 has already begun and there's so many things I'm hopeful for and want to work towards. Having fun with Epic is a BIG one. Yes the Nationals are here this year and I'd like to do well. But I don't want to lose sight of the fact, that first and foremost she's my best friend and there's no need to become so obsessed with getting into the finals that I forget that agility, is really just a sport. My life isn't going to change if we don't pass. Don't get me wrong I'll be disappointed, but I guarantee you that the very next morning, I'm still going to get woken up by a licky blue eyed border collie who loves me more than life itself.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EPIC!!!!!