Keep Working On Your Masterpiece

No, you haven't seen the best of me
I'm still working on my masterpiece...

I had mixed feelings about our performance at the trial this past weekend, but heard something today that put everything back into perspective. The mixed feelings, it's the pressure I unintentially put on myself to qualify for ITT with the fast approaching deadline... I don't handle pressure that well, I know this and make a concerted effort to put aside anything that could cause pressure. We don't try to run to impress, or with a priority of Qing or MACHing, and we're not afraid to get out there and try something completely insane and risky if I truly believe it can offer us the best we could possibly give. And while I need those Qs I can't settle for any less than to put it all on the line when running those courses with my best girls.

Friday was incredible, Tess went 4 for 4 with only a few tiny faults in ISC Std and we've never been so consistent, so connected and still so competitive before. We were a team to be reckoned with, with a level of trust in one another I had yet to find with her. The results of our hard work, patience and steady improvement showing itself at a trial. And then the following day we had one little thing each run, a run-out in Jww and a teeter fault in Std. Things happen, we'd get it the next day. Then Sunday came along and no matter how much focus I gave to supporting Tess and being clear in my communication I just couldn't do well enough to gain those few Qs. Again we had little faults- bars in Jww, another teeter fault in Std and pulling off a jump in ISC Jww. For being so consistent on Friday I left the weekend feeling a shade incompetent and dissapointed in myself. Not able to even earn local Qs what place do I have trying to attend ITT with the best in the nation? And the amount of support and compliments from fellow competitors and friends and family over the weekend was more than I could have asked for. They didn't care if we took a bar, they simply saw the greatness in our runs and teamwork and celebrated for us. They're the best and I'm so blessed to know them. No, the dissapointment and pressure I was feeling was completely caused by my own self. What will I do if I can't even meet my own expectations? Well, I've slowly been coming to terms with our weekend and realizing our own greatness within each of those runs, but it's been difficult to deface the disappointment still. My girls are amazing and I'm blessed to even be able to run with them. And when giving your all, faults are more likely to happen. That's just part of the amazing challenge this sport offers and the thing that makes me love it so much. But then today I heard this and things became instantly clear again. I'm battling my own gremlins, but they aren't going to be offered a place to stay on this journey of ours.

"I still fall on my face sometimes
And I can't colour inside the lines'
Cause I'm perfectly incomplete
I'm still working on my masterpiece
And I wanna hang with the greats
Got a way to go, but it's worth the wait

No, you haven't seen the best of me
I'm still working on my masterpiece"

Reminding myself, "you haven't seen the best of me. I'm still working on my masterpiece." You're not incompetent, you're just still being shaped into the masterpiece you will become. This is only the beginning of your journey and what I journey it has been and will continue to be

26" Debut & 1st Cyno Qs

So yeah, it's been a while... sorry. Just a lot going on with not so much time left for writing.

Tess has run 3 trials at 24" and did super at every one of them. Never hesitating,  never dropping bars but that they were caused by late/poor handling information. It seems the higher the jump, the faster Tess runs. We've been careful to take things real easy with raising the bar too. Always encouraging a flat, fast, jump style rather than an uppity, airy, "safe" style. Tess is already a "safe" kind of dog, always wanting to be perfect so there's no reason I see to further encourage that in her jumping where we're sure to waste time only to save a bar here and there. Anyway, between tight turns and fast, flat jumping Tess took 24" in perfect stride, practicing at 26" at home for the past month  and last weekend we trialed at 26" for the first time. USDAA trial, so it's less of an elitist jump height and more just another height. Took the pressure off me at least ;) Sure she's a little petite girl at 20" tall and 35lbs but she fit right in with the confidence she brought to the course. She was absolutely amazing!! First we were able to partake in a Lori Michaels seminar the day before the trial which made things that much better. Tess got to feel the turf under her feet jumping at 26" away from home and I got to take a toy out on course with us to reward her for her brilliance and confidence. I also got to work on supporting her jumping which is a huge flaw of mine. Doodle trained me to show and go, cue and leave. Tess requires I support her and her decisions on course. Tess wants to have no doubt whether I wanted her to take a jump and then respond to my cross or whether I meant for her to respond instantly and bypass that obstacle instead. Tess has good commitment skills, she just requires clear handling telling her what to commit to. Tess is teaching me to be IN the moment, not just blazing through it... in life and on course.

Tess was amazing, but then I said that already didn't I? Well, you'll be hearing that a lot from me so I suggest you get used to it :) I absolutely admire this dog and the way she so honestly points out my flaws so that we might improve.

The first day of the trial was filled with DAM runs and Grand Prix. In an usually large 26" class, Tess picked up a bunch of 2nd place ribbons and had an amazing Grand Prix going with a pretty great 180 turn into the tunnel underneath her DW. Just too bad her handler forgot to cue her which direction to turn to get the *correct* end of the tunnel :p Oh well, Tess was perfect, just keep running!!

Tess popped her weaves a few times over the weekend. Not sure what's up with that but I'm thinking it must be related to not practicing them (bad trainer!) and the fact that Tess is beginning to act like a truly agility crazy BC and might not know what to do when she still has several poles in front of her and she's just itching to move on with the course! So yes, we will be getting out our stick in the ground poles and start practicing our weaves again. Again, Doodle is a dog who practice something enough and she never loses it. Tulies I'm thinking is your regular kind of dog who requires continuous training to keep the skill sharp and at the front of her mind. I only feel sorry for her that I got spoiled with Doodle and now Tulies must pay the price while I retrain myself to be her proper trainer, one that she deserves, not one that's slap-happy and lazy ;) And you know what's perfect? Yes, you guessed it, Tulies! But other than Tulies? I won a free training DVD from Silvia Trkman and so I chose her Fun Fast and Fabulous Weaves :) This will be great!! Love starting training plans in the winter. Not sure why, but that seems to be my thing. Start in the Fall/Winter timeframe and relish in your successes as the next Winter starts approaching :)

So Tess qualified in DAM and also in Biathlon.  Knocked a bar in Steeplechase due to a poorly timed "go!" Command on the finishing line and of course offcoursed in Grand Prix to the wrong end of the tunnel. Overall Tess was happy and confident and actually picked up the title of being my consistent girl for the weekend hitting all her contacts and leaving almost all the bars up :)

Doodle had fun too and got to play in the 22" class with a lot of great teams! Her DAM team also Q'd, she Q'd in Steeplechase and won 2nd place in the finals :) Doodle also won the 22"  Team Snooker class which is surprising and hilarious considering this dog has practically zero snooker training but is my reliable point and shoot dog, face her towards an obstacle and she's just going to assume it's meant to be taken 'cause she's just that awesome :) Anyway, Doodle declares she does have some Snooker skillz cause every time she's played the game she's brought  home the blue :) Unfortunately, Doodle had a lot of dropped bars the first day as she couldn't get a good grip on the turf and adjusted her takeoff spot to balance it out. After the first day I started spraying her feet to give her better grip and that fixed most our bars :) And Doodle works best for junk food like McDonald's breakfast sandwich that her momma couldn't finish... she can run fast AND keep her bars up!! :D

Love my crazy!

So, now that clock officially starts. Trialing once a month. Tess needs all her Exc Qs (3 Std + 3 Jww) before April if we are to attend ITT this year. Obviously that makes AKC our primary venue for the next 3 months or until we gain those titles at least. We're jumping 26" to give her lots of experience at that height and I have a feeling those flowy AKC courses will only help to encourage Tess to let loose and run FAST between obstacles. Here goes nothing!

Trialing and a Lori Michaels lesson...

So, we've had limited internet the last couple weeks but the show went well and while I fell on my butt once during a JWW run with Doodle we had lots of fun and Doodle really enjoyed getting to practice her distance skills again. She was all about tackling those distance challenges even when her momma hadn't asked her to ;) Goofy dog, lol! And probably the most amazing things came from having to get out there and just trust the baby dog and try something we haven't believed we were capable of yet. I found out that not only can baby Tess handle distance (and seems to gain a self confidence from it!) but she also handles layering obstacles like a pro!! Also, since my ground speed was slower than normal due to the sprain I found I had to handle the running DW differently than I normally would, setting my line differently in order to stay ahead without handling the turn after poorly, and found Tess handles setting those kinds of lines off the DW beautifully!! Rather than run parallel to the DW and turn on the flat after it, I set my line to converge on hers slightly all the way over the Dw, yet started it wide enough so that by the end of the DW *I* had not converged so much as to then have to pull back in order to signal the next obstacle (I converged on her line the whole way over the DW and then just straightened my line for the jump following). I'm going to have to start experimenting more with these sorts of situations for pulls off the DW!

And... we just had the opportunity to drop in on an "Extreme Handling" class night that Lori Michaels held. It's a 3 1/2 hour drive, one way, but completely worth it as she's an amazing instructor and really pushes you to try all the handling options and encourages you to get outside of your comfort zone. I decided to jump Tess at 24" for the night as that's what she's been jumping for the past 2-3 months and while we've been jumping 26" for a couple weeks, never off the property yet. Anyway, Lori decided to jump Solei at 24" as well and I greatly enjoyed watching how a world class team looks on the same sequences we were running and trying to emulate that with Tess and myself. Tess was amazing and had some pretty amazing weave entries as well as handled several backside jumps very well for our experience level. Then the 2nd half of the course had a funny backside/threadle idea after the DW which again, is always interesting with Tess as she requires I handle her straight on the DW and have very particular timing after it for these sorts of situations. What was also great was that Lori and Solei also have somewhat of the same situation going on so getting to watch Lori walk out her plan for Solei and then try different ways of handling it and comparing notes was amazing!! Tess was fantastic and I learned a lot from my handling mistakes and/or poor timing after the DW. Then to top off the night Tess' teeters were all extremely drivey and fast yet she stuck every last one of them! Good girl Tulies!! Then Doodle got to run the whole course before the night was over and did it in Doodle style- fast, fun, crazy and with the occasioanl brain melting moment (what weave entry?!) Doodle was incredible as is her usual and even handled the DW with complete ease and actually ran through her contact on the *first* try! Yeah Doodle!!!

So this weekend we have another trial which should be Tess' last trial scheduled to run at 24", after this it's up to 26"! This is a local trial, my home trial, and they are finally trying out the ISC class so of course both the girls and I entered. Tess gets to be the lucky dog to run first (I'm thinking of it as running as the "white" dog) so fun, fun!!

Tess' Running Dogwalk Turns Progress

Here lately I haven't been able to train but on Sundays mostly, yet we have been having sooo much progress training Tess' verbal turns off the DW!! I am so EXCITED considering in the past I have been able to teach her to turn off the DW on a verbal, but I've never been able to get her to do so with much speed at all. She's always been so focused on the turn or even just thinking about her striding that getting her to RUN (rather than trot) over her DW and into the turn has always been our challenge. And with Tess I learned a long time back that if we're trying a method that causes Tess to have to think, that method probably won't give us the results we're hoping for... Anyway, these past few sessions we discovered a method (foot target/Hit-It board idea) to train these turns that Tess THRIVES with!! I don't know why but this dog just *gets* foot targets...The criteria is clear, she doesn't have to think and she can focus on driving so therefore Tess feels confident enough in her task to complete her turns off the dogwalk with SPEED!! Not only that but with this method I've been able to actually give her the different dogwalk cues, "go"(straight) vs "get"(turn) from the BEGINNING of the dogwalk! Previously we had a lot of difficulty with the timing of the cues if it were anything but a straight as if I cued her early she would lose all of her speed, yet if I cued her later she would panic due to too little time to prepare and plan for the task she was being asked to perform.

EXCITEMENT OVERLOAD... she's been keeping up these great results for several sessions now so it's not just a fluke "good day" :D

Anyway, video of Tess not only turning on a verbal, but also showing the ease she has in distinguishing between the "go"s & the "get"s :) Super speed, super accuracy, super ENTHUSIASM!! :)  

Also, just a short video of how her turns training looked before as we were experimenting with different methods. Here the manners minder method of slowly moving the target to the side and simply not rewarding the dog if it cuts corners and leaves the dogwalk early vs rewarding for running through the contact. Accuracy was pretty good, speed was lacking, enthusiasm was alright. Much like many of our other past attempts at training turns :p

One more week (and way too many doctor visits)

Only one more week until our next trial! We only trial about once a month so I am ALWAYS excited to get my agility fix, every time :) To put an interesting spin on things though, I severely sprained my ankle almost 3 weeks ago and have been hobbling around on crutches until the past couple of days. Since getting off the crutches I've slowly regained the ability to walk more or less normal with simply a noticeable limp. Yesterday I attempted to "run" for the first time just to see where we were with things and it was pretty pathetic actually, lol! I think I would've made my lap faster had I simply just walked around the room and I'm fairly certain I resembled someone missing one of their feet ;) Needless to say I'm not sure I'll be ready to run a course next weekend but we're still going to go and have fun. I figure Doodle and I can practice her distance skills (though not the fastest when working independently Doodle does have pretty awesome distance on her) but I have some great friends who have offered to run my Tess if I'm not up to it by then.  Tess really requires someone who can move with her and support her around the course, and distance work has never been our friend due to her lower self confidence levels and my apparent lack of ability to support her properly from a distance. Thanking God for great friends! Agility has introduced me to some pretty amazing people :)

This will also be Tess' second trial jumping at 24" which is quite exciting, but also makes me a little nervous as she's also in the process of getting weaned off her Prednisone. You see, after reviewing Tess' bloodwork numbers the Veterinarian Specialist isn't convinced she has Atypical Addisons but rather possibly something along the lines of Irritable Bowel Disease.  Only way to know for sure is to wean her off the Prednisone in order to do more testing to see if she should actually be left on the Prednisone or not... This only worries me as I guess I'm afraid I'll find that Tess might revert back to the dog who caves under the pressure of the ring and completely shuts down. Before we knew anything was going on with her Tess had always been a little stressy in the ring, but nothing I wouldn't expect from a young dog with her perfectionist personality.  However in late May, I believe, she began actually shutting down in the ring. I couldn't find that spark in her eye, there was no enthusiasm to tap into, she'd slowly lope after me, skipping jumps and barely able to baby step her way through the weave poles. Then she began messing in the ring in more runs than not and I was at a loss. Good news is that over that weekend  in an attempt to "empty her out" I had her outside playing fetch when I noticed her gums went extremely pale and her tongue had turned very cool, nearly cold, to the touch. We had only been fetching a couple of minutes and it was about 80 degrees or so. Up until then I didn't know if we were looking at a Chiro issue or simply a stressy dog issue (not used to dealing with ring stress as Doodle just has fun chasing me and barking her way through the course) but at this point I was worried and made an appointment with our vet to get her in for a checkup and bloodwork. Everything tested out fine except for a few things that suggested possibly Addisons. By the end of all our testing I was actually to the point of hoping it was Addisons so that at least we had an answer and something to work with. We ran the ATCH test which should have given us our answer yet the results came back inconclusive as her baseline cortisol levels were low like an Addisons dog yet after being given the steroid her numbers jumped to just below where a normal dog would be. With this, our vet had us start her on Prednisone as a "test and see how she responds" and suddenly I had my old dog back!! She's happy and confident in the ring, she isn't stressing like she was and I was ecstatic! However her pale gums issue when she gets involved with intense activity did not resolve so our vet referred us on to the Specialist for further testing. And here we are now. The specialist wasn't hardly concerned about the gums at all, but aren't that impressed with her numbers either saying they came to just under the average normal dog's number so it being an average means a little higher/lower is within reason. So now we're looking at getting yet another ATCH test done after she's been weaned off the Prednisone for long enough and until then we're exploring the possibility of IBD (while hoping to avoid the need to perform the extremely invasive surgery and thousands of dollars it will cost to diagnose it)...

So I guess we'll see how Tess handles this next trial since she'll be on only half the dose of her Prednisone and I'll be watching, ready to pull her if it starts looking like that will be best. And we'll also see how my foot holds up to "running" on the dirt arena... Doodle might be my only point of sanity, though she's not going to appreciate having to hold a startline again, it's only been a couple years since we dropped it to have a running start instead  ;)  but some odd agility is better than no agility at all :) Need my agility fix!

A Look Back...

I'm just a 20-something kid obsessed with her two amazing dogs and the game of agility we play. Started training agility back in 2009 with Doodle, nailed obstacles and handling, flunked jump form and eventually got to start my dream with my crazy Doodle when we attended our first trial together in 2011 or 2012. Being a perfectionist my goal was to run clean, maybe set some records and certainly earn quite a few MACHs... little did I know where this journey would take me or just how much it might change me :)

Doodle has taught me how to laugh at my mistakes, better my handling, love SPEED for the sheer rush of it, figure out how to handle her turns, learn running contacts and quit caring so much about the Q. Looking back I never would have thought I could smile about it taking us 1 & 1/2 years between QQs, but yes. I now smile and laugh at that part of our journey too. This crazy dog makes it difficult to take things too seriously and I just love her for it. Our story is not one of a lot of "successes" as typically thought of by the general agility community, but rather of personal growth and experiencing what life has in store for us. We struggled hard to qualify for AKC Nationals 2013 but we eventually did qualify. We then attended our first big event and the only ribbon we brought home was from the T2B class. If that wasn't humbling enough we had our very first "elimination" in the JWW run due to an upset stomach... Doodle just smiled, I wanted to hide away somewhere... Now we both just laugh at this  and hope to one day attend Nationals again and see how much we might've improved since that point :) But for now we just take things one step at a time. Rather than chasing Qs we chase personal achievements,  yps records, better turns, faster contacts, occasional placements when we can hold everything together for long enough ;) We are enjoying living life on the edge and disregarding others opinions on what success means. Success is our own personal betterment and joy, so throw caution to the wind and let the pieces fall where they may :) That's where Doodle and I are now in our journey. She's about 6 or 6 & 1/2 years old now and sometimes struggles with an old shoulder injury and a lower back condition. We don't know how many years we'll have to continue playing agility together so we enjoy every moment of it that we can. Every run with this dog is a win ♡

And then we have Tess. Tess entered the picture about the time Doodle and I were earning our Open titles. I was looking for a fast, drivey BC who couldn't help but become an agility superstar, lol... and God had some other plans for me as He brought me to this amazing little dog :) Tess is absolutely a superstar and often times the whole neighborhood can hear me screeching how "Super! Super awesome!!" she is. Tess is certainly not what I expected to get in a BC but I fully believe she is everything I never realized I wanted. Tess, like me, is also a perfectionist and no, this doesn't mean I understand her one bit ;) Tess is brilliant and honest and requires you earn her trust and prove you're worthy of her attention. Tess is also a soft personality, who easliy can cave to pressure even if she's the only one offering it. She has taught me so much in what is truly important in this game. It's not the titles, placements or wins. It's not even about looking decent in front of your friends. It's about finding that joy, and putting your teammate's needs above your own wants. Looking towards the big picture and not just the here and now. I had(have) a lot of learning to do in these departments and Tess was eager to offer me the challenge ;) Coming from a dog who would shy away from running obstacles and couldn't handle criteria she has made leaps and bounds of growth! At one point Tess could only handle running sequences after dark by the yard light as I believe the daylight allowed her to focus on all the many tasks at once, which proved too much for her. The darkness simplified things for her, one task at a time. Tess tends to shut down if I make a handling mistake, or even just an imperfection, a late cue, a wide turn, etc. She's pushed me beyond my comfort zone, aiming to become her "perfect" handler and to keep her happy above all else. Celebrate the flyoff(NQ) because what a party it is that she had the confidence and enthusiasm to run past the tipping point!! Don't worry about the fault, just trust that experience will bring the Qs in time. We're now just into Excellent after starting trialing 2 years ago. Our Q percentage is not very high, yet I fully believe we have already become quite a team to behold. We get out there and push for everything we have on course and slowly I'm beginning to see the fruits of our labor unfold. Last trial my "slow, cautious girl" laid down a run that was fastest time all dogs all jump heights and I couldn't have been more ecstatic! ! We NQd due to a missed contact (running DWs with my sensitive girl always offer me more to work toward and look forward to) yet that little comment said by a stranger on the video meant more than any Q could have, "Wow, now THAT was fast!" :) So here we are now, aiming toward lofty goals, slowly testing the waters and working our way up to 26". I hope to earn our Excellent titles and attend ITT in May next year with this little girl. I fully expect we'll bomb all the courses but that doesn't matter. I can't wait for the experience. I don't know when it will come, or how long we'll have to wait, but I just know there are great things to be accomplished with Miss Amazing here :) Someday we might find ourselves running with the big dogs, or maybe we'll discover we have no fear of the edge (DW plank) or maybe that Miss Amazing finds her crazy in the ring... so many possibilities and a whole journey to discover :)

Welcome to our journey...
Tess 24" Exc Std - 09/20/14 & Doodle ISC JWW - 7/26/14

Taking The Plunge...

So, I've finally taken the plunge and decided to make a blog. Kind of intimidating but something I've been wanting to do for quite a while now. Mostly for rambling thoughts, journaling our training/trialing progress, bragging about my very much beloved girls and our journey through agility and life together. Just hang tight as I figure out all this tech stuff and slowly introduce everyone :)