The Power Of Positive Feedback

We all know about positive reinforcement when it comes to training our dogs...

But what about the power of positive feedback, or even, come to think of it, the power of negative feedback...

I know personally how easy it is to latch onto a negative comment, it leaves you questioning, doubting, wondering if what you're doing is right. I know it definitely didn't leave me excited or inspired about the next training session. And I'm sure there are some out there, that have thought about throwing in the towel or even actually calling it quits.... all because of the power of negative feedback.

So why is it sometimes easier to criticise, than to offer something nice to say? Do they have method in their madness... is it to toughen us up... make us try harder to get it right?

If I look at how I train my dogs, mostly it's positive.... but being honest there is a negative side, take shaping for example. My dogs will offer random behaviours...each time potentially failing until I click and treat (giving them that positive feedback). BUT here is the thing... and you can see it in dogs, JUST as you can see it in people... the more you fail, the more you question, the less enthusiastic the performance or the desire to do the performance becomes.

Lets look at positive feedback. I know for me, even when something seems hard especially when training the dogs, any positive comments received keeps me coming back for more! It makes me want to try harder, it leaves me motivated and excited about the next training session. I've been really lucky with the people that have played a huge role in teaching me. They were positive, they inspired me with their feedback, so I can SEE the difference for myself.

Don't get me wrong... I've had moments in my life when things have come out of my mouth and I'd wished the earth would swallow me up, because lets face it, I can be as subtle as a brick at times :-P   But the more I teach, the more I'm extremely mindful of the impact my opinion can have on others. I don't want to go home at night and think that I've left someone feeling disheartened, I want to go home hoping that I've left people inspired!!

I think it's really important to remember that words are incredibly powerful, especially when you teach, or give feedback if someone asks...

Treadmill Trendiness ;-)

I'm not really one to buy the latest 'gadget/gizmo/thingybob' and technically they've been around for quite some time... but.....

I bought a treadmill for the dogs :-D

And I'm super excited about it!.....the dogs? well it's growing on them ;-) Edge was going great guns until Epic decided she wanted to get on to....WHILE Edge was on it and scared the crapper out of him :-P Liryk initially thought it was the machine sent from hell to destroy her.... and Epic... well I can't get her off! She'll even go and sit on it, waiting....and waiting.... just incase it may come on and random treats will start falling into her mouth ;-)

Anyhoo, I've got the next 4 weeks to get them used to it.... yes 4 looooong relaxing weeks.... because I'm on HOLIDAYS :-D Nothing booked, no flights away, just chillaxing around the house or out on my parents 20acre property. Bliss :-D

With all this time I may even be able to manage regular blog updates :-P

Nationals and Top Dog

Just over a month ago Liryk, Edge and I experienced the Nationals in QLD. For both kids it was their first time at such a massive event, but both really took it in their stride.... ok to be honest Edge MAY have thought it was.... thebest5daysofhislifesostartlinestaysarenotallowedsothere:-P.... but considering it was such an exciting event he really did an amazing job. No finals, but we were so close on several runs. Our first agility and jumping runs just had the last bar down. And he only had 1 run (out of 10) where he was soooooo excited he just couldn't quite keep it together :-P

 

Liryk just blew my mind, I put quite a bit of pressure on myself coming into the Nationals and I almost lost it before it had even started. A very good friend shared some valuable words and put everything into perspective and for 5 days we enjoyed every single moment in the ring together. Liryk won the first jumping heat and the third agility heat, putting her into both finals. Even a month later it blows my mind that the little black dog beat over 100 other brilliant dogs out there....stunned...I'm just stunned! Finals we had a ball, in Jumping we had 1 bar down :-P Agility we got 80% of the course, a bar came down and I lost connection with her and we dq'd. BUT I can honestly say I couldn't have asked for anything more from her, she worked her little bootie off and I'm sooooo proud!

The other news we have to share is just over a week ago we got mail. A letter congratulating Liryk on winning WA's Top Jumping Dog for the Year. Eeeekkkk!!! Now if winning a heat at the Nationals blew my mind....you can JUST IMAGINE what it did when I read THIS letter ;-)

2014 is turning out to be one awesome super spectacular year!!

Brilliant photos from the Nationals by PawSnap Pet Photography.

2 Weeks To Goooooo :-D

In 14 days time Liryk, Edge and I will be in QLD for the Nationals!!! To say I'm excited is the UNDERSTATEMENT of the century!! 2 years earlier and I was cancelling flights and completely devastated that Liryk had to be pulled out of the last Nationals....

Sooooo it'll be both Liryk and Edge's FIRST time competing at this level! :-D I'm nervous.... excited.... and above all completely and utterly chuffed I get to play with my kids against other super cool dogs!!

Interestingly with this rather large event rapidly approaching.... hurdles appear to be setting some challenges for us ;-)

Over the last 4mths Liryk has gone through flying off her seesaw... which meant some retraining...missing her d/w contact... because of all the turns we've been seeing of late...again some retraining required ;-) and most recently she's decided that launching herself off the aframe would be good to try :-P Nothing like cutting it fine!!

Edge... well my focus coming into the Nationals with him has been timing, handling and bars. I'd even packed away my dogwalk....actually he's probably not been on my d/w since the end of last year... BIG mistake! Again with so many turns (even in Excellent) his d/w has deteriorated. Once a very solid straight exit performance has now turned into him launching and missing the contact zone completely. Just last weekend he missed 2 for 2 dogwalk contacts with straight exits .... YIKES! So 2 weeks out from Nationals and I'm wondering if there is enough time to fix it??? Oh well.... only one way to find out right :-P

Either way I'm sure our Nationals adventure is going to be memorable... I'm hoping the good kind of memorable :-P Rather than the naughty blown contacts kind of memorable ;-)

Good Luck to everyone travelling!! See you soon :-D

Turning Your Challenges Into Your Strengths

I'm pretty blessed with Liryk and Edge being sooooo drivey :-D But there's a part of me that wonders if they'd still be that way.... if I didn't have Epic first...

You see Epic is quite the opposite. She shuts down easy, she's hard to motivate, she doesn't play well with others, unless you're in her 'inner' group ;-) Basically Epic is CHALLENGING.

Some find these types of dogs to much hard work... and they're right... it IS hard work.... but if you delve outside your comfort zone, use the many resources available to us on the internet, you end up with a dog that is so much more confident :-D One that WANTS to play with you :-D AND you end up with a wealth of ideas for your next dog ;-)

Epic is nearly 8 1/2years old. And she has so many more achievements than the others. I don't mean she has titles or wins in agility. I'm talking about MUCH bigger achievements in the world of... her life. Not many people know, but there was a time that Epic would attack the other (now passed) dogs in our house. She would go through 'episodes' of hiding under the dining room table. She HATED tugging and there's NO way I'd ever let her off around other dogs!

Today she's LOVES tugging! She LOVES Liryk and Edge, there isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't play with 1 or both of them :-D She's so much better with other dogs, I'm still careful, but her group of buddies is growing :-D And the thing that makes me the most happy is that I can see her smiling all the time! I could have chosen the path of her being in the too hard basket.... but I'm so glad I didn't! And I think Liryk and Edge show how much I've learnt, from one little scared dog that I wouldn't give up on :-)

Life

It really is, so very precious.

It's amazing how one little puppy, blessing us with 12 days of joy, could be taken away, even though you've fallen head over heels in love with him. I mean what is with that?

I thought it would be easier having the "dad" but from the moment that little merle boy came into this world there was a very strong emotional attachment. I can't imagine how Simone is feeling right now, spending almost every waking moment with him. Or poor Spryte who has lost her little baby..... The loss is profound and there is no doubt that we are all heartbroken :-(

Hug your kids, each and every one of them is so very special.

Dancer

So many adventures, so many fly by the seat of your pants moments.

It seems just yesterday we were running and playing together :-)

Love you forever squeally pig xx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKfJFg528nk

Jan 2014

Is it just me... or as you get older, do the years seem to start speeding up??? because seriously wasn't it JUST Jan 2013??? Really makes you want to not waste a second really :-D

Sooooo...... 2014 ....... ooooh I wonder what the year will bring!! It's exciting to think there is a whole year in front of us again. I wonder what adventures we will go on, what new people we will meet along the way. Last year was pretty darn awesome! But when each new year begins, it's almost like a WHOLE new story is about to be written. And it makes me want to sit on the edge of my chair in anticipation of what's about to happen :-D

I think my main goal for this year is to actually make it to the Nationals.... WITH a dog ;-) Our Nationals are only held every two years and that makes them kind of special. 2012 was the year Liryk was injured 3weeks before the Sydney Nationals, and I made the decision to scratch her....  so this will be her very first one and I have to say I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!! :-D It will also be Edge's first Nationals.... and I expect HE will be soooooooooooooooo excited too ;-) LOL

My guys are currently on break this month, none of the rigors of agility, just lots of running, swimming, and tricks. And they seem VERY happy with the holiday routine ;-)

Close your eyes and take a leap ;-)

At the beginning of the year I mentioned how exciting this year "felt" How if I just took a leap of faith something mind blowing could happen, and it did :-D

I've just come back from the US where I had a working spot for 4 days with Lisa Frick and Tereza Kravlova. And it was everything I could have dreamed of and more. Both ladies while soooooo young, possess an immense knowledge of agility. And are the type of instructors that leave you inspired and wanting more.

They encouraged you to step outside of what feels familiar and comfortable, to run life on the edge, to push the limits ;-) Yes there were casualties.... a broken wrist, a broken ankle, and a damaged knee, all separate people and thankfully none of those things happened to me :-)

It was such an experience to be coached on new moves, understanding the reasoning behind why to use certain moves and where, and timing.... because I was late late late, especially on front crosses :-P

Most people at the seminar were wonderful. So encouraging to everyone, you could just feel that they wanted others to succeed, especially when some doubted their own abilities, and to see the looks on their faces when they made it..... was priceless :-D

I know seminars can be hard, you get caught up in the heat of the moment and two weeks from now you slot back into the same old routine of how you did things. And this is something I really want to try not to do. I spent most of my hours standing by each instructor watching, learning and taking notes, hoping that I would begin to "see" (even if it's only a small portion) of what they see..... fingers crossed ;-)

I do know, that I've experienced an opportunity of a lifetime. To meet two handlers and their dogs that are amongst the best in the world. And to have the opportunity to learn from them for just a fraction of time still makes my head spin.  To have people so generous to allow me to run their dogs, because without them there is no way I'd ever be able to do this. And yes I'm still pinching myself that it actually happened ;-)

Incase you haven't already seen it on facebook here is my little video :-)

What???? A weekend of no agility??

Sometimes its nice to just NOT do agility :-D To get away with family and let the dogs be dogs and have fun zooming around ;-)

We've just come back from Bridgetown, my brother and sister in law own the lolly shop down there....mmmmm chocolate :-D.... oops got a little sidetracked :-P And with it being my mums birthday we all met up for a weekend away. Good food, bush walks and best of all we completely missed the storm that everyone else got in Perth. SUPER relaxing time had by all!!

What Are The Chances?????

So I'm in a contemplative kind of mood.....

I'm wondering.... and I know it sounds daft!

But do you think it's possible .... that sometimes.... our dogs may just have been here before??

Liryk is 3years old, a baby still really, but from the moment I started playing with her in agility she just seemed to "get it" Almost like she knew it all already and I was just giving her a refresher. My brain says not to be stupid and it's all the foundation work I've done...but sometimes I almost feel like this is her moment and I'm just lucky enough to be along for the ride :-)

If we compare Edge with Liryk, well he seems like a normal dog.... okay a little crazy :-P But he has some nice skills and once he grows up I can see some great potential there, and this is my point...  "once he grows up" you see I've never felt that with Liryk, it's like she came grown up already and was just waiting for her puppy body to catch up.

I come home after trials with my brain exploding at the fact my "baby" dog is up there with the top dogs in WA... I mean SERIOUSLY how does that happen??? I'm stunned! I don't think I'm THAT good a trainer :-P so the alternative is this..... she's one of those dogs who is lucky to come back to their owners for another play at life. I've always said if only I'd had Ryka now instead of when I was 16 and knew nothing.... so who knows... maybe we do get a second chance to see our kids again ;-)

 Ryka with Jestah

Liryk

Tunnels Suck....

I should be more specific though....

Tunnels suck when they're under contacts :-P

Anyone that knows me, knows my young dogs have tunnel suck..... BAD :-D

At every trial I go to where there's a tunnel under a contact, I say "Geez I really need to teach that" week after week, month after month...... Liryk is now three and I STILL haven't taught it..... until NOW :-D

No more excuses... because seriously I HAVE a dogwalk and tunnel in my backyard!

So during the week I finally decided to have a play :-) And it wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it might be ;-) It's by not means 100% perfect, and just because I have it in the backyard definitely doesn't mean I'll get it in the ring :-P But at least I can say at a trial now... " Well I've taught that..... wonder if it'll work :-D" LOL

Eeeek!

OMG! Edge got his VERY first clear round in Novice Jumping last weekend :-D 1st place with the fastest time over all heights :-O It was SUCH a fun run!! We had a mini pause at the tyre as he's currently having a tendancy to shoot underneath it :-P ..... or in novice agility earlier in the day he went for the number cone next to the tyre thinking it was a toy!! LOL He's such a goof ball, but BOY he's loads of FUN :-D

The girls did great to! Epic and Jules' Diva won Masters Strat Pairs :-)

Liryk came 3rd in Masters Jumping and it was the last one we needed for her TITLE :-D Liryk and Jules' Mini also won Novice Strat Pairs and gained their title. And Edge and Zumba got their first pass.

Eeeek! What a day :-D

This weekend we have an ADAA trial to look forward too, then it's the ANKC States :-O An exciting month ahead and we can't wait :-D

Falling.....

Behind in my blog posts, yet again!! Yes yes I know :-P

So I'll try and pick up where I left off ;-)

The Western Classic!!! and Edge's first trial :-O

Okay I was nervous! It was hard not to be, every second person was telling me how much they wanted to see him run. Which is totally awesome that he has a fan club ;-) But I then felt pressure to try and be a better handler and not make him look like a fool :-P So to be perfectly honest I can't quite remember our first run in Novice Jumping LOL thankfully I had it videoed!

Novice agility.... weeeeelllll..... lets just say the greatest word for Edge (other than Kat-ching his release word) is "Go" It's his cue on the dogwalk to go flat out...... so here's what happened on the start line :-D I line up, he already had his naughty pants on and did a little bolt when I took his harness off, I got him back. He's sitting nicely by my side and the judge says "when you're ready GO!!!!" I have a sharp intake of breath and watch as Edges pupils go from normal size to massive saucers in the blink of an eye and I knew then he was in crazy land :-P LOL He had fun though :-D

Liryk also had a first :-) Her very first Masters Agility run!! Ooooooh and we were soooooo close. I just didn't quite see the push to the tyre after the aframe (though it's quite obvious on the video :-P) so she pulled off it DOH! She did however come second in Masters Jumping by just 0.02 :-O

The next night we had the Teams event and OMG!!! Epic's team the Trapguns, with Jules, Diva and Mini and Tom and Brynn.... WON the Jumping!! :-D

Sporting her awffy pretty sash :-D

Edge did sooooo much better the next night just knocking a bar in the agility :-D

The weekend just gone there was a birthday!! Liryk turned 3 years young :-D 3 years??? already??? She got a special green rabbit kong, that was disembowelled for it's squeaker in a nano second, but she loved it!! We had a trial that night and she came 3rd in Masters Jumping..... only one more pass and she has her title :-O

We have a couple of weekends off now before the next trial, sooooo much to work on!! But what a blast we're having :-D

Feb, March geez it'll be Christmas soon!

February is gone and we're into March already..... WHAT THE!!
Lets just back the truck up a little and slow this year down.... just a smidge ..... PLEEEAAASSEEE!

Last month has been full of trying to prepare the baby dog for his first trial, which incidently is TOMORROW! ARGH!! :-O

I had him in the Daisy Peel Novice seminar just a fortnight ago, and he didn't go to badly considering most of it was way way over his baby dog head :-P It was quite a bit harder than I thought it would be and while I love being pushed outside my comfort zone, I'd prefer my dog had the skills to cope with it first. Oh well you live and learn right? And at least I have a list as long as ...hmmm.... a football field of things to work on :-P

Liryk was a blast! She and I had an absolute ball in the advanced :-D Nothing like having some fly by the seat of your pants runs wondering if you'll make it to the obsticle in time to cue it.  Love love loved it!! :-D

So one more sleep!! before we step into the ring, with that gut wrenching thought of what's going to happen? I'm such a control freak!! yes yes I'm not in denial about it.... And while Novice is super fun.... the fear of the novice dog unknown is definitely in my head swirling around :-P

Frick-in Awesome :-D

So my last post heading was "eeeeeekkkkkk"...... and I was tempted to put this heading as "double eeeekkkkk" but even that doesn't quite express the excitement level I'm currently at :-D

It seems 2013 is going to be the year of adventures and travel :-)

I'm currently looking at going to NSW in the middle of the year to catch up with a buddy and thought I'd take the baby dogs along for some playing somewhere new :-D SUPER excited about taking the dogs on a road trip!

I'm aiming to get both Liryk and Edge to the ADAA Grand Prix this year. Liryk and I had such a blast last year, so I've got this high on the list of things to go do again :-)

I've also been looking at going back to America, my goal was the end of the year and OMG you'll never guess who's also going to be there at that time!! Lisa Frick!!!!! I've managed to get a working spot at two of the seminars she's doing :-D omg omg omg omg OMG!!!!

Just discovered a great saying to :-)

Think bigger,
Forget limits,
Embrace the idea of endless possibility.....
It will change you.
By Marianne Williamson                                                                                                                              

 Lisa Frick with Hoss winning the 2012 FCI World Agility Championships

Eeeeeekkk!!!!!

Okay so I'm a little excited about the year ahead :-D

Not that last year wasn't great , it actually had some pretty awesome moments in it.

It's just that 2013 "feels" like it's going to be something super spectacular. You know, one of those years where you start off with a glimpse of the possiblities of some life changing moments. If you just jump in with your eyes shut and don't worry about the consequences, or weighing up the pros and cons :-D

THIS is how 2013 feels!!

So thats it .......... I'm ready to jump :-D And I can't wait to see where I end up!!

Happy 2013!!

In The Year 2012

In just 9 days this year will be finished, over and done with. It's amazing how much you can actually cram into 12 mths when you start thinking about it :-)

For me this year has been quite the learning curve. Learning that not everyone's methods are always right for you and your way of learning. So you really should look for something else, because when you find it, it really does bring ALOT of benefits :-)

Learning patience...... yep I thought I had it, but this has definitely been the year to learn more :-/ Liryk's injury was the start, man that was a character building moment and a half! I'm glad we made it through to the other side and so far it seems she's come out non the worse for it. Edge has been my other "patience building moment" :-P Boys boys boys...... LOL To be honest I think I'm really, really spoilt with Liryk, it's almost like she's been here before and everything is just a refresher for her. Mostly I've been good in not rushing Edge, and it's been interesting to watch his ....sometimes slow progression, and that's been ok, I'm in no hurry...... but I'm going to admit it.......the weavers nearly made me pull my hair out!! ROTFWL!!! We're finally at 12 straight poles :-D WAHOO!! and have now gone back to work on his footwork. I'm not sure what it is that I do wrong, but both Liryk and Edge struggle to single stride using Susan Garretts 2x2, I thought it was because I focussed to much on the hard entries with Liryk, but I haven't done this so much with Edge and he's still got the same problem..... So that is our mission over Christmas... to attempt to get them both single striding :-D

We also discovered some new friends this year :-D the kind that pop up unexpectedly, but you just know are the type that will be around forever :-)

The other thing that has become really apparent to me is that I have a serious addiction to agility.... Yep this was the year to really clarify how much I really do love it! Funny how you want something even more, especially when you can't run your dog :-P I do get disappointed in our baby equipment, not just with the weesaw, yes I discovered our aframes are also tiny compared to the rest of the world!! but also the challenges it puts on our dogs, rather than the naive belief it makes it easier :-/ But mostly I'm happy that at least we get to play some sort of game....

Anyhoo! Merry Christmas to all, two and four legged in your houses :-D And hoping everyone has a super awesome New Year!!

Bye Bye Puppy :-(

Edge has just turned 15mths. And its so long to the super cute puppy that I had :-(

I really can't believe he's grown up already!! Into a very large, very cuddly gooey boy I might add :-D
He's loads of fun and I think the best thing about him is he doesn't take ANYTHING seriously. Everything is just one big party and I'm lucky enough to be celebrating with him ;-)
It's blowing my mind that he'll be able to compete in a couple of months.... do I think he'll be ready? Hmmm I'm not sure... I hope so :-D Even if it's just in jumping. THAT would be fun!
I love love love his dogwalk. I've worked super hard and even though I do still get jumping, I'm happy with how we're going :-)
I can't wait to see how he goes over the next couple of months as we start to do more things. I'm trying hard not to rush him with anything but sometimes I get a little excited :-D

Slack :-P

Okay I admit it!! I've been SUPER slack with updating my blog, it's kind of taken a backseat as my life feels like it's rushing by and before I know it it'll be Christmas and another year is gone!

So here's a quick run down of the last few months...

The Grand Prix has come and gone. And it was everything I had hoped it would be :-) I'm not sure there is going to be another event that tops this one. No REALLY! I went in with high expectations just from the comments of others and it even blew those out of the water!!

The indoor venue was mind blowing, 3 rings all under the one roof! And they even managed to get rubber contacts in time for the main arena :-D The courses are HUGE easily 8m between alot of obsticles really allowing your dog power :-D Add in the relaxed atmosphere and competitive people that are just as happy for you to win as you are for them, and it makes this event what it is.

This was Liryk's first trip away and other than blowing me off when we went to pick them up at the airport in QLD, she took it all in her stride :-D One thing she wasn't happy with, was the metal stairs and elevator but by the end she was racing up and down with the rest of them. She absolutely LOVED event, by the end of the 4 days she was as high as a kite tugging and dragging me into the ring :-D

 

This was my favourite run of the whole weekend :-D



 

 

 The week after we came back, I unfortunately had to put my 15 year old boy Jestah to sleep :-(

I'm sooooooo greatful that I had him for so long, especially when others haven't been so fortunate. And to know we did so many amazing things together and shared so many special moments it makes saying goodbye a little easier.

 

                                                               Jestah in his prime :-D

 



 



Liryk had her first attempt at Masters Jumping and came an awesome second!! Super proud of her efforts :-D





 

 



We fostered a baby German Shepherd puppy called Sir Walter for 2 wks, he was awffy cute!!!!

   

 

And to consume the rest of my the time...... Edge is now old enough to play with weavers, the aframe and a couple more jumps :-D Sorry no video of Edge but I'll put something together soon! I can't believe he'll be old enough to be measured next month and will be able to compete in 3mths! Not sure if his boy brain will be ready though, but he's loads of fun to play with :-P