Where's YOUR head at?

Last weekend (what happened to this week?!?! ) we were off to Durban for a weekend of (very slow) agility shows.  This weekend has always been a big deal to some people, especially seeing as it is normally 2 weeks before SA Champs, so most of us use it as dress rehearsal.  You have to remember that our SA Champs is also our World Team Try Outs, so a pretty big deal you see.  The problem with this Durban weekend, is that it CAN be a maker or a breaker.  Well if your mind is not right.  If your head is not there.

At the end of the day, it is JUST a dress rehearsal, nothing more, nothing less.  If you happen to make a mistake somewhere in the weekend, the secret is not getting all hung up on it.  I have seen it time and time again.  People have a bad round or two and the whole machine just falls apart.  Luckily for me, there was falling, but no falling apart...

My weekend started of rather fun... with Chaos ankle-tapping me, see he was 100% convinced that we were on our way to the poles.  I was convinced we were going to the jump next to the poles.  And if you have any knowledge of physics, you will know that it is a physical impossibility for two objects to occupy the same space at the same time.  So I went flying.  My fall started at the beginning of the poles and almost made it right to the end.  It was friggin hilarious.  AND to make it even better, I managed to get up and clear the rest of the course.  Now I wasn't the only one to have a 'moment' over the weekend (although I DEFINITELY win the first prize), so I decided to make a video diary of the moments... please enjoy.  And I promise that I give you permission to laugh and other than a few bruises (including some bruised ribs), I am fine, so laughing is in order.



Now wipe the tears of laughter from your face and FOCUS again.  Do you know how good this was for me two weeks before the SA Champs?  It was BRILLIANT!  Because now I have confidence I can recover from anything, any mishap and still get it RIGHT.  Considering our qualifying system that definitely favours consistency over brilliance, this is the best confidence booster I could get.

All in all my dogs worked very well throughout the weekend.  I am in such a good place right now, where I can trust my dogs and I know I can walk out on any course out there and get around it.  I finally know what the words 'quiet confidence' means, how cool is that.  Of course SA Champs will be a completely different story, with added nerves, much bigger stakes and all of those wonderful things.  But I will be living in my own little happy place for the next 10 days, so until then, cheers!

Business, Bumper and Broken

I have to admit, I am a little bit broken at this point in time.  I know that it has been AGES since I blogged, but in my defense, I have been insanely busy as part of the organising committee of a HUGE Agility Weekend.  Well huge for South Africa.  All in all I think it went well enough, but that doesn't mean I am any less broken from the hard work this weekend.  Apparently it works for me though, because I did pretty well all things considering.  And by all things I mean the constant running around, building courses, organising food for judges, doing results, catalogues, catalogue numbers, answering queries, moving entries etc etc etc.  I do have some good news though, for the first time since Sunday I can move my legs without suppressing  screams of pain and I also don't think the back transplant is THAT urgent any more.

So now I will stop the b!tching and moaning and get on with writing about my dogs.  Stupidly I set down quite specific goals for the weekend, not THINKING how hard I would be working.  Lucky for me, I have pretty damn awesome dogs, that not only compensate for my stupidity, but actually exceed my set goals.

I wanted to up my consistency rate with Chaos, which I can safely say we did.  A few of the rounds were not our best, mainly because I rushed walking the course and had to walk for two dogs, which I am not used to.  His A-Frame is less solid than I would like, as in if I am ahead of him he self releases, I threw a couple of rounds to start correcting that, in fact, we will be throwing all our contact rounds until SA Champs if need be.  His dog walks and see saws looked quite good the whole weekend.  Chaos managed to win 6 QC's this weekend, with a few almost rounds as well.  As you can imagine, a lot of his rounds did not get video'd this weekend... with all of my normal camera people running around like mad.  In fact we are thinking of hiring a permanent camera person :)  Anyhow here is a short (and by short I mean long) compilation of Chaos's high's and lows this past weekend.



Now on Sir Volt of the Awesomeness as he is now known.  My goal with Volt this past weekend was NOT very well thought through.  First of all I wanted to make him up into a Dog Jumping Champion and I needed two QC's for that.  Clever monkey did that in his first two tries, by winning the first two Dog Jumping rounds.  Then he went on to win 3 more Dog Jumping Classes to take 5/6 Dog Jumping QC's available in his grade.  My other goal was to qualify him up into Grade 3 Agility and Non Contact.  Which is all cool and well and which of course Volt did at the beginning of the weekend too.  The problem with that goal, was that once he was in Grade 3... what now?  It didn't occur to me that Volt is not ready for Grade 3 courses yet (or this is what I thought).  I had to make some desperate handling plans, doing front crosses where I should have pulled, crossing behind in the weirdest places, occasionally jumping over Volt to avoid life-threatening collisions.  But we did it.  Not only did Volt meet my goals, but he also earned his first Contact Agility QC's AND earn three Non Contact Agility QC's to become a champion in just two days!  As you will see from the videos, it wasn't always pretty and me and Volt have TONS of training to do now, to prepare ourselves better for technical courses.  Oh yes and note to self, watch sales, need new pair of MUCH faster legs for small dog.  Here is a short (and by short I mean even longer than Chaos's video) compilation of Volt's rounds for the weekend:



Some notes on the weekend.  I liked the balance of courses of the weekend.  I think we could have done with some more technical courses, but all in all a good balance.  I think I should have been called on a lot more refusals, especially with Volt.  In fact I saw a lot of spins that I would have definitely called as a judge. My general rule is that if the dog was in the position to take the obstacle, and then spins it should be called.  All of these spins were my error of course, but should still have been refusals.  Contact judging was pretty good, but I should have been called for one fly-off which wasn't.  The refusal issue is one that have come up so many times amongst handlers and judges around here and it really does make me think it needs clarification.

All in all a good weekend and just four more weeks to go before SA Champs... bring on the finals baby!

F***ing Tire Jumps, PE Weekend and School Fees

Okay so at the end of 'two posts ago' I left you with a video of two of my friends's dogs having bad tire crashes.  On top of that I have been bitching and moaning to everyone that will listen, that I HATE the tire jump.  As a judge I will not put the obstacle in unless the collapsible tire jump is available.  As a competitor, I have withdrawn my dogs if I felt the judge REALLY got the angle wrong.  I guess with all this bitching and moaning I was asking the universe to slap fate on me.  This past weekend, Chaos had a bad, bad, bad tire crash... Bad I tell you!  I hope all judges and competitors alike watch this video and THINK twice before using the obstacle:



But miracles prevailed and Chaos is 100% fine, other than a small scrape on his face.  No stiffness or soreness.  He still has all four legs, one neck, one back and one tail, two shoulders and a skull.  How lucky am I?  Having said all of that, I DO train the tire (I have one in my backyard) to try and prevent accidents like this.  I train it regularly.  Now Chaos is an experienced dog, he has jumped a million different tires under varying conditions.  Chaos also makes mistakes sometimes, now if those mistakes lead to refusals, or knocked bars, I can accept that.  But when a mistake (like Mr. Spastic trying bounce that distance), can lead to a broken back, shattered skull, dislocated body, decapitation, maiming, amputation, castration or any other -ation, then I really feel it is NOT on.

Okay that vent out of the way, I can get on to the weekend...

So Thursday we left at 2am (which ofc meant no sleep for me, as that is normally bed time) to travel the 1000km odd to Port Elizabeth.  We arrived early afternoon and I was lucky enough to arrange some training with friends.

I had several goals for the weekend.  I really wanted to put some pressure on myself with Chaos.  The whole mental game and big match temperament thing has never been my strong point and I figured this would be a good test run for the SA Champs in June.  Chaos was working very nicely, except for one super wild round (still think someone fed him rocket fuel and ritalin before that round) and one super knocky round (FOUR bars? Chaos?  REALLY? FOUR BARS?  In ONE round?).  He managed to win 4 Qualifying Certificates (Champ tickets), which is pretty cool and had some other good placings too.  Biggest news of course being that he is now a triple champion in Agility, Jumping and Dog Jumping.  Inevitably I made some handling mistakes and some errors in judgement, but all in all I am happy.  His times were good, his jumping was good and his contacts were mostly good.  Definitely his best result yet for a weekend of shows.  I am hoping to slowly build up to SA Champs.  Due to rain, laziness and being slightly scatter-brained, I ended up not getting too many rounds on video, but here are two of Chaos's QC rounds:





This was (well supposed to be) a school fees trip for Volt.  His first time competing at a really different venue and different equipment and weather and long travel etc.  I just wanted to see how he copes with it.  But as per the usual Volt scoffed in the face of a challenge.  He is determined to prove to me that he can handle anything apparently.  Of course there were some young dog mistakes, like the rounds where Volt could only count to 10 in the weave poles, some missed entries, Volt's FIRST EVER knock in a competition, an overshoot on the A-Frame which was quickly followed by a handstand reverse as only Volt can do it... you know little things like that.  But considering Volt is 19 months old and has been competing less than a month, I think his over-all results were pretty damn good.  He had 6 qualifications in total (4 in Agility and 2 in Jumping), managed to win the Small Dog Over-All (Grade 1 and 2) and even a third in the over all Grade 3 Dog Jumping.  All in all I am, well, very happy.  Volt is now in Grade 2 in both Jumping and Agility and this of course made me realise, that 'OH CRAP, we are not quite ready for the more complicated courses'.  So now I have tons and tons of homework to be done ASAP.  Some of Volt's vids:







All in all it was a good trip.  It was nice to see some good agility friends from all over the country, we had some really good laughs and for once I could sit on my butt at a show and not run around organising it!  Of course I have some general comments, like the lack of refusal calls (apparently it is okay to spin in front of a jump seven times, sometimes it is okay to for your dog to run ALL the way around the jump, oh and also it's fine for dogs to stick there entire head and neck past the jump three times), haha I am not being too serious about this of course.  There were some really nice courses and a couple of really stupid ones.  But such is the life of Agility of course.  One of the nicest things was the good spirit of the Gauteng guys!

Now I am tired, very tired.  I might write about the weekend some more at a later stage, but this will have to do for now.

I am finally ready

To write about Echo.

It has been 3 months and 7 days since he left my life.  I will never completely accept him being gone, but today for the first time I can write this.

Echo was a puppy that became mine because another person cancelled their booking.  Echo was my first pure-bred dog, my first puppy that was planned (well kind of), my first dog destined for agility.  I was barely 13-years old when Echo became part of my life.

This means that Echo went all the way through high school with me, wrote matric with me, went to university with me, moved out of my parental home with me, started my first job with me, met The Nerd with me, got engaged with me, got married with me...

Echo saw my hair every colour under the sun (yes at some stage I WAS blond), he was around for all the piercings and tattoos.  He was around for the break-ups, the make-ups and all the other stupid decisions.  He raised every single puppy and kitten that has entered my home until now.

Echo achieved many things and MANY MANY firsts with me.  My first dog that qualified into top grades, my first dogs that travelled to 'away shows' with me, my first dog to win QC's (champ tickets) with me, my first dog to become a champion.  Echo qualified for the SA Champs in both Dog Jumping and Agility many times.  Echo made multiple provincial teams.  Echo won the over-all prize at the May Extravaganza.  Echo won The Battle of the Giants.  Echo made the World Team and competed at the AWC.

I have so many Echo stories... like his first show (a major one at Rand Agricultural Show) where he was clear and fast until the second last obstacle... just to run off.... right to the top of the grand stand.... to go and beg some treats (biltong) from random strangers.  The time he latched himself onto the arm of a 'traffic light' beggar that dared stick his arm through my open car window.  He once ran into a thorn bush, his one eye completely pierced and he did not moan once.  How he always used to jump in my arms and on more than one occasion completely bowled me over onto my ass.  He was there the time I lost my pants while teaching a beginner agility class.

None of that actually matters.

The lessons Echo taught me.  The dedication, the commitment, the selflessness, the forgiveness, the understanding and the being there, that DOES matter.  Echo gave me every inch of his heart and soul.  Let's make no mistake, Echo was an annoying dog :) A demanding dog.  A quirky dog.  But not only did he touch my life, he touched many other people's lives in a significant way.  He was a character that you could not ignore, a presence that you could not miss.  Echo was the best at just being him... until the day he died.  He did everything I asked of him, but in his special way.

Echo had a good life and he made my life even better.

I hope I never forget the bad or the good I had with Echo.  I hope his lessons stay with me.  I hope his forgiving nature rubbed off on me.  I hope his understanding makes me understand better.  I hope Echo stays with me for the rest of his life.

I am very proud to say that Echo had a good life.

This picture was taken exactly one month before my amazing boy left my life!

I will always love him and I will always miss him, but I wouldn't exchange that for anything.

Enjoy your peace my boy!

SO much to write about.... so let's start here... oh yes AND the Tyre Jump (well the rigid one)

I have given up on chronological order.... just doesn't make sense in my life anymore.  In fact I don't think my LIFE is happening in chronological order anymore...

So first we will talk about Chaos and the SA Champs/AWC Qualifier Trials... FINALLY all trials have been completed and I can post a video of Spaz doing his bestness with a lacking handler.  Honestly, this it he highest up I have ever been with ANY dog and I do have a small wheel-barrow full of points, so please realise I am NOT complaining about my tied 4th place for the trials, however, it WAS a bit disappointing to drop 2 spots after the last trial because I am a spastic!  Of course this does not mean too much in the long run, at the end of the day we need to go the finals in June and do our thee-ang.  Which, just by the way, we ARE planning to do... I do hope the Czech Republic is beckoning though...

Here are all Spaz's rounds though... as the trials go on (each one was run on a different day), you can see my nerves disappearing and my trust in my dog manifesting...



Thanks Lucy for the lucky shirt btw!

Oh yes and I KNOW I use that song a lot, but since Youtube blocks 99.9999999999% of the audio on whatever I upload, I tend to go for my 'safe, inspiring' songs and this one is VERY  much suited to Agility...

I made TONS of vids through-out these trials, so here are just two of the comparisons I did:






Now in my mind, I was going to take a few weeks off from being competitive and rather get my heightened mental stage back about 2 weeks before the finals, I mean I would enter the show and run with no expectations and only training in mind... although I KNEW this was not realistic, since I KNEW I really wanted my last Contact QC (Champ Ticket)... the first opportunity for that came about on Friday night.... and Spaz did it for me.  After some stressful moments might we add.... Chaos is now a CONTACT Champion!  Of course after achieving this, Chaos decided FOR me that we were taking our 'chill from competition time'... mentally anyway... that means BOTH of us... since that round last night, Chaos has had THE most wild, uncontrolled and brainless rounds I have ever seen.  Seriously, Chaos has completely lost his mind, and I will have to compose a special video to demonstrate his madness... which includes shooting halfway across a course to go and spin himself around into a perfect 2o2o on the DW for no discernible reason.

For those that were there today, don't stress too much, I PROMISE the comments of Chaos being for sale or even FREE to a good home is not true!  I do still love him to tiny, thousand bits that are embedded in my blood stream :)

Now on to Super Sheltie, also known as Jonas of the Golden Fir also known as Volt, also known as Stein and also known as Little Sh!t.  How cool has he been in the last two days?  The answer is super cool!  Mistakes were made for sure, but the boy did what I asked of him (even when I asked it inadvertently)... I will rave about the whole lot later, but for now... so last night Volt got his last qualification (meaning a clear and a win) in the 'lower grade' of our sport called Dog Jumping and won his way into the highest grade....  by the time this morning came about he had the chance to jump for his first for a QC (Qualifying Certificate) which is the equivalent of a Champ ticket in the UK... of course before Volt had even put his feet past the finish poles last night, our little agility community was ragging me that I just wanted to win that first QC (haha, thanks by the way guys, I think you were good 'positive re-enforcement').  I honestly didn't though... I just wanted NICE and happy rounds.  Regardless, Volt decided that he is making a habit of this whole 'exceeding me expectations' thing, and he DID it...  VOLT WON HIS FIRST QC!



Okay so my next post will include course design, consistent judging and some more on Spaz and Stein...  For now I would like to leave you with the next vid.... even if you didn't watch any of the others, please watch this and SHARE and we will talk more about it in the next post:

  

First Agility Show, A Quick Gripe and Crufts

So this past Sunday was Volt's first Agility Show.   Honestly he could have probable done what he wanted, like grab the  judge's shoe and jump in the river with it, I would have STILL been happy.  It was just nice being able to run my boy in all the competitions.  His contacts were slower than in training, but that is just confidence competition thing... from BOTH me and him.  But he held his position nicely, I really am happy!  Of course I had to mess up two handling sections.  First because I tried to over-manage him, I mean seriously, he might be young, but he is not a three-legged cat that has never seen a tunnel.  THEN I try and handle him like an advanced A3 dog instead of the youngster he is.  Moral of the story (as always), bad handler, good Volt.  In Non-Contact we had a small hitch in the poles, I back-crossed him and halfway through he got a bit confused. His poles are also a little bit slower in the ring too, but I am really not fussed, I know that will come.  By the last round of the day both of us had settled and he had a nice clear with a win and a qualification.



Spaz was being good too, just a shame I let him down, hey?  I am very happy with his contact round, even though I dq'd him.  In Non-Contact he had a nice round, even though I changed my handling plan last minute.  Haha, see if you can spot it.  In Dog Jumping he took the first bar, eish Spaz, lift those foots.



This coming weekend we have the last trial and I will finally know what our qualifying ranking is.  Volt is running in the last trial, but looking at the points in Small, Volt can't really make the SA Champs.  That is okay with me too, I just want to RUN him some more,  he is just so much fun!

Unfortunately the competition in the small class in South Africa is REALLY lacking and I have no way to compare myself... So at the moment I am chasing the large dog times... so I made a small comparison video to see how Volt is doing. (I have given up making videos to music, as everything just gets blocked)

I spent the entire weekend watching Crufts like the Agility Addicted Zombie I am.  I really enjoyed it.  The quality of the agility was very good.  Watched some awesome dogs.  The weekend DID re-iterate the gripe that I have been having that with the immense improvement in the speed of Agility dogs, we need to do something about contact judging.  I am not blaming judges or handlers or trainers, but unfortunately I DO have a slow play function and can see the tons of missed contacts and see-saw fly-offs that do not get called, purely because the dogs are just too fast.  I have heard and read about all these fantastic new electronic contacts, but I am yet to see one in a major final.  I really hope that the sport of Agility will try to fully convert to these as soon as possible.

When I heard that Crufts were having 15 high-risk breeds checked by vets before allowing them in Group, I thought 'ja, right, it is all for appearances'.  Imagine my surprise when some of those dogs were actually not allowed in group?  I really think Crufts is on the right path here.  There are so many breeds that I feel are a disgrace to dog lovers. I realise that this superficial check is not nearly enough, in an ideal world all dogs would be DNA tested, X-Rayed, Cat-Scanned, have a full blood work-up etc before even being allowed to compete, but we know that we don't live in an ideal world.  At least this is a START.  Of course I just look at some of the dogs that still made the group and I have to wonder how the hell these people think that those dogs can still do the job they were supposed to be bred for.  Of course we have the same problem in breeding for Agility.  In South Africa I know of so many dogs that have been bred to supposedly produce 'agility litters', when the lines are riddled with genetic problems, never mind the fact that their structures or temperament are far from ideal.  People breed these dogs because they have done reasonably well in the ring and NO other reason.  This lead to new agility people who have little knowledge, to be disappointed by puppies that are unhealthy or don't meet their expectations.  The even SADDER thing is that some very knowledgeable people that are completely aware of these problems SUPPORT these breeders and keep them in business.

Of course we all have our own preferences of what we want in a dog.  Structure and temperament-wise (I am pretty sure we ALL want healthy dogs) we all like something different.  I like tall muscular Borders, others like their dogs smaller and slighter.  I don't see a problem with that, as long as these dogs that are being bred actually have a good structure and have been thoroughly tested and their work ethic and temperament is good.

Anyhow I watched the storm of comments that arose from the vet checking at Crufts and all I could do was shake my head.  While I prefer pure bred dogs because I want to know what I am getting, I just don't see the point of breeding pure bred dogs when they are unhealthy when we already have SO many unwanted dogs in the world?

 * All pictures courtesy of Melissa Wilson

Third Trial, Handling and Perception of Understanding

So two weeks ago we had the third qualifying trial for SA Champs and AWC Try-Outs.  The courses were at least slightly more technical than round 2, but still not the difficulty I was hoping for in this kind of event.  Regardless, as per the usual, you put some pressure on people and watch many bomb out.  The Agility Round for me was a complete heart breaker!  Chaos had a really nice round, but as in really really, I promise.  Just to touch the second last bar with one tiny little tippy toe.  Oh well, such is life.  And in all fairness he did make up for it with a nice clear in the jumping round.  So we are still lying right up there in second place.  One more trial and then the finals in June... what a looooong drawn out process.  It can't possible be good for my nerves!  I just want to know whether I am going to Czech now or not.  Chaos doesn't care though, he doesn't care about nerves anymore (which is quite cool), Chaos just cares about doing something.  Something exciting.  A lot.  At this exact moment Chaos is trying to tell The Nerd to put on pants and go and throw a ball for them.  Volt is agreeing with Chaos.  Delta couldn't care, obviously a lot of people are ordering pizza tonight... the delivery guy on his little motorcycle has been tormenting Delta endlessly.  Quake is chill-o's.  I like living with dogs.  It is very amusing.

Although it annoys me every time, it annoys me a little bit more this week that people blame their dogs unfairly. Which is almost always.  Half the time they blame their dogs for their own mistakes, the other half of the time they blame their dogs because their perception of understanding is wrong.  I don't often outright say someone is wrong in agility, but seriously people.  If I hear ONE more time 'he is just being naughty, he ALWAYS does it at home, just never anywhere else', I might just shoot someone.  Obviously your perception of your dog's understanding is seriously warped.  Understanding INCLUDES generalisation, in case you did not know.  If your dog can only do something at home this means that he has not generalised the behaviour and there for you cannot categorically state that he has an understanding.  This includes those that have actually not had the same criteria in other environments (shows or different training venues) than at home.  Yes, I am talking to those that releases their dogs (with supposed 2o2o contacts) as soon as that first toe touches the very top of the contact at shows.  Then they are surprised when the dog eventually starts leaping from the middle of the dog walk (yes I am exaggerating again).  You want me to explain it to you?  At home you train a 2o2o... get to a show and all of a sudden there is no criteria?  Your dog has no clue what they are supposed to do.  That is just an example by the way...  If your dog doesn't 'do stuff right' at a show or new venue, then you need to help them generalise the behaviour, by doing some foundation of said behaviour in different venues.  And ALWAYS have the same criteria... Okay honestly, I will do a quick release that the World Champs and maybe at the National Champs, but if you don't expect some form of criteria 90% of the time, you are really just screwing yourself... and your dogs, not that our dogs care about the criteria, but because you are bound to get pissy with them...

In line with that argument.... we had a training day yesterday.  Our provincial committee organises them, basically we stick up two courses, one novice and one advanced, it is our competition equipment, on our regular competition rounds, rings set out like normal etc.  Then you pay your 30 bucks (2.50 pounds, 4 dollars) for the day and you can do as much training as you want, provided of course there is no harsh handling or other plain STUPID things and training 'methods'.  Handlers ask other people to act as judges, they are allowed to take food and targets and toys in the ring or you can run it as a 'competition' round.  It is all really for the good of the sport and it has been very well met.  Anyhow, this gave me to give Volt a go over the full competition contacts and ask for criteria and get a full on reward in the ring!  Of course we had some 'less than perfect' moments too, Stein was only 18 months old (exactly) on the day, but I LOVE that, because I don't want him to be perfect now already.  I am still super happy with what he did, so I felt the intense need to make a'pretty video', but it does include his mistakes in the beginning too.



Now just sitting there yesterday watching other people it just made my opinion so much clearer on the whole training/handling relationship.  There are a few situations (these aren't necessarily a full time scenario, we ALL make mistakes sometimes).  You get the bad handler/bad trainer combo... I have no clue what they are asking their dog to do and neither does their dog, because it changes all the time.  The one moment an opposite arm is suppose to mean get out and away from me, but the very next second that same opposite arm is supposed to mean come to me.  You get the bad handler/good trainer moments, the dog is doing exactly what it has been taught to do, but the handler had an...erm shall we call it lapse in judgement... so what the handler is asking is actually for the dog to go off course.  And then of course the good handler/bad trainer scenario, the handling is technically speaking perfect, except for the part where they never actually taught their dog to do what they are asking.  The trick is analysing your partnership with your dog and figuring out which parts falls in which categories... or finding a trainer that can do that for you accurately and actually believing them.

Anyhow, I promise I will post some more vids of Super Spaz soon, just that all the trial videos have to be held off until ALL the handlers have run them...

*All photos courtesy of Melissa Wilson