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!!!