Easter ....wooohoooooooo..........

Well, smack and bam did our guys exceed all our aspirations and hopes for the Easter Weekend. Bigs is now grade 4, Zev is now grade 6  and Rivi had 2 wins towards grade 7.  It was just surreal....I am still in a dreamy daze and I was actually very emotional as I am now getting so near to one of my goals which is being in Champ classes with my guys. I used to luv stepping on that start line with Nuts and thinking 'yeah, game on', learning that nerves are adrenalin and priming me for action - what a thrill.


One of the courses Rivi won was a real Grade 7 level as the 6 and 7s were running over the same course, and I was so chuffed as at one point I felt myself going to fall over and I mentally told myself 'you are not falling over, it is going too well' and blimey I did not and we won. Watch the video and you see the recovery.

Agility it is just so amazing how the guys continue to improve, get faster and even little Bigs on his first run his contacts were considerably slower than at training. But with each day the performance of obstacles improved. And that is gratifying knowing that so much more fun is still to come. And all I remember are the ones that went right, as so much went right and the 'if onlys' binned and forgotten. I am so glad I retrained my brain to think and focus on the positive. Those pesky 'doubting thomas's' are now very few and far between and have become more of an analytical tool. 

This weekend at home - in a day dream and much achieved and Marc cooked for friends - he has got the hang of the electric cooker, more so than me ;-) However, I am excellent at pouring the wine.

Blogging with a smile :-)

We went to the Border Collie Club show today, I guess it may become the midland equivalent of mid-downs in the south to kick off the season, and we got through the day pretty damm good, Raz was happy to be with us for walks and checking ring duty. This is a very important duty and keeps ours guys that don't compete actively involved in our day, the other is collecting rosettes duties. So it is a busy day for all the guys.

Well me and the Rivioli, what can I say, she is going up a gear and showing more keeness and determination, I wanna run her again and again. So looking forward to Easter and having several days of competition and getting back into the groove. The Zev makes me feel the same, managing to gain a 2nd and a 3rd in combined classes. I was so chuffed at the improvement and know that there is more to come. I did get told that Shelties just run the speed they do at agility and you can't change it, well Zev is a sheltie and his speed is increasing. I just thanked the person for the info and smiled :-) perhaps me and Zev are unique. I do not know? But I would have thought with the right training and appropriate value reward, improvement in performance would be possible, sport is about improving and enhancing unless there was a physical, emotional or psychological reason why that would not have an impact...sure is food for thought.

Good weather, good company and great dogs. Met a young dog that was beautiful and so like Nuts, I was wow, wow and wow. Enough to put a smile on anyone's face, Summerwick is right 'Happy Days'... the gloom is lifted :-)

p.s Zev is now two, and it fab that Bernadette photos them so young, you can see Zev has gone from cutest puppy to most handsome sheltie :-) how lucky am I - loads...how bias am I...totally....

Shelties in the Limelight at Newton Heath

What a day, Friday the snow was so thick in the morning, we thought ‘oh no show’. Friday Night it cleared so on to Newton Heath we go. As you see from the photo no snow. It was a lovely sunny crisp day. And there was some great results Zev won his Medium Grade 4 Agility to go grade 5 and then we did a lovely jumpers round and won that too. What was extra special was Sizzle who is Zev’s buddy did exactly the same in Small Grade 4. These shelties were rocking, with two excited and extremely chuffed handlers. As you can see from the photos they are two stunning tri shelties and Zev’s birthday is the 8th March and Sizzles is the 27th March, so it will be great to watch their progression over the coming years.

My Babyoli was super, unfortunately her pilot had a tiny blip and at that speed it had an impact;  but what the heck the great stuff was she was a happy doggy, and was motoring and did some fab stuff with me and it was just joyful to be running with her. Which is really exciting for the coming season and I think she is ready to start learning more technical stuff for grade 6. The courses set by the judges were excellent. And it would have been great to do them again. No vids as the camera/video thing was playing up! How disappointing is that!

A special mention must go to our Raz, who with Marc came third in the Gr7 agility, not bad for our one eyed boy. He continues to amaze us with how he gets round. But Marc is getting used to analysing it from Raz’s vision perspective and as long as Raz is safe and happy we will let him do it. The sight issue has affected him far more in daily life, and we are so glad we have moved before he loses his remaining vision.

Then the weather today is back to, well the photo says it all. Surreal that it cleared for one day for us to go to the show.

A Whirl of a Weekend - doing agility!

Well it was a whirl of a weekend. We had just moved and really could have done with being at home. But no we could not, Zev had a OBay training session with Lesley Olden, and I just could not miss it. It is is lovely to train with the other OBays as on one hand its nice, relaxed and supportive; and on the other everyone determined to train well, work hard in a really positive way. Mass tugging, happy shelties, happy owners :-) Great and to be honest I worked so hard I was in a total dizzy whirl in my head, good thing the session was finished off with a human reward of a pub lunch....

Lesley set some great segments for us to analysis and work out different ways of handling for maximum speed. Some of it was a little advanced for Zev and Me. As I said I need to work out some stuff to train my handling and Zev's responses let alone think of handling it competitively. But I was thrilled with my little big man. Interestingly with Zev our times on segments for different ways of handling and routes for Zev did not alter the times that much and more often not at all. No video as Marc was busy bonding with Dixie and looking after the other puppies and our guys, so that Lesley could deliver the training session.


The videos are from the next day which was a TinR event also at Lesley's in her lovely 'shed'. With TinR I try to tackle it as if competing and then suddenly launch the reward. However for blog purposes I have just showed the runs where we did the entire course. Chuffed with it all but hi-lights are Big taking his first TinR event all in his stride, Rivi for the commitment she is starting to demonstrate and Zev for starting to swiftly stride out and work on ahead. Bring the agility season on :-)

And the final whirl of the weekend, little Dixie joined us in our journey :-)

Oh no…rusty-i-tis creeps in.....

Dammit, went to Rugby Christmas show and having not done a show for 2½ months meant rusty-i-tis was surely showing with me. As my focus on jobs and house stuff, meant I felt like the tin man from the Wizard of Oz, where is the oil when you need it? Just the split second timing of ‘outs’ and ‘change of direction’ signals… hmmm I did train the guys to be responsive. Which is of course the upside to all this :-) Rivi does stuff that just sends me into ‘floating on a cloud’ land even on a course that I ‘glitched’, and I’m really excited about competing with them both next year.

I vowed to Marc, we are not having such a break in future. Which was a bit dramatic, as we have always had time off and pretty much have most of the winter off; I liked the balance. However, the way I was I don’t think that I am going to be able to if I want to raise my game. Zev, bless him it was like doing his first show all over again, he came 7th in a combined class of 81 dogs which was not bad at all. I confess in this posting I am being picky, and don’t get me wrong Zev and Rivi had a fabulous time, and were none the wiser about their handler’s glitches. Interestingly even with just two runs each they found it mentally a very tiring day out. Which is another element of the dreaded rusty-i-tis affliction – out of practice with the hanging around and mega loads of stimuli going on.

So I am now on a mission to banish the rusty-i-tis, it will be erased until a memory no more; my movements will be perfected, my signals clear and timely, shows have been entered – well one a month. Just to keep me and my guys ticking over and ensure the banishment works ;-)

Hmmm, but Christmas is a coming, might still have the time off, after all…..

Really, really the end of the Season or Start of the New?

Crazy really, we agreed to do this weekend of shows, as Beacon had not qualified a team for Crufts which is really unusual. So off we headed up to the north, and which I really enjoy. Due to Zev’s and Rivi’s wins last week these shows would be “freebies”. And they did some great stuff and I tried to ‘push’ my handling and so a mixture of rosettes and trophies and off courses. But I nearly lost Zev in the soft tunnel in one run, rather than driving through the middle, he took to the edge nearest to the side he would be turning and as a result, he was struggling to move in the rather narrow funnel he created – a bit of a sideways scrabble! Phew a few seconds later he came out ok, bit of a worry at the time.

All season I have not done teams apart a team run at Burridge – zero expectation of Rivi and a great outcome an awesome run. Two reasons really I was not ready to put our partnership under the agility spotlight in that sense and because my main focus with Rivi this year was been to build the game of agility and create the hype and confidence that no matter what else is happening her focus is on the agility and me. This has progressed well enough to make me think, yeah we are ok to step up now. Its taken from last November 08 to September 09 to get to this stage. At Bromsgrove she qualified for the Adams Derby, so thought “ok, game on”. Nuts was a great team dog, and I use to luv running forth, the need to get it right especially if the other 3 had gone clear. However, now days it’s a relay rather than four individual runs, I have become rather ambivalent about it, as it is just not the same, don’t know why. I digress, after all the travel, Rivi’s team was 'scratched' so we did not end up running, so me and Rivi are now on the transfer listing and looking for a team to join ;-) ha ha……or not as the case may be. Can’t quite make up my mind about it all!

Agility Season 2009 - Draws to an end - Part 1

Season 2009 draws to an end, and did it finish real good. Rivi won into grade 6, and she did a Superoli performance all weekend. Of 6 rounds we had a 1st x 3, a 2nd and a 5th. Someone said does she ever go wrong? My reply, was her co-pilot is only human ha ha ha. Yeah, it was just one of those weekends to savour - our sheer enjoyment of doing agility together. When I look at videos and see the progression over the past few months in our understanding of each other. The investment in the sheer amount of care and effort I have taken to convince her, that she is the most brilliant dog on this planet over the season. And I have been rewarded. Next year will see us in grade 6 which is exciting and scary as we move out of the ‘baby’ grades. But if we have the same enjoyment, then we will have a great time. If only the Dog Vegas Diamonds were real!!!!

Bromsgrove 2009 - hiccups and finding grooves

A real hiccup of a weekend, some great stuff, and then some less so!? Then I found my groove and me and Rivi won the combined 3-5 jumping. I was dead chuffed as this was our first weekend at grade 5. Rivi did a great agility but my second rear cross was far too late (pesky jump was in my way, the cheek of it!) so I made sure that she did not know it had gone wrong. The Perfectoli has well gone up a gear, people noticed this and how her confidence was improving. So again I was dead chuffed. It’s a funny expression why say ‘dead’ before chuffed, can someone please explain the origin of this expression?

Zev, is a whole different ball game, he is opinionated, questioning, wonderful and at the moment absolutely exhausting to run. I have tried to work out how he best wants to prep with me to the start line, so that we can find our groove. I think he needs the lead off early, so that he can shout. Good for him to get it out of his system, then heeling along side me and then I say “we doing agility” and cue him with a hand signal for the side he is on. By the end of the weekend we were getting the hang of the start line set up. Zev is doing well, however I was so glad Marc videoed as I was going into careful mode, which is not good as it gives the dogs different vibes and cues to that in training, an example was I slowed down and walked along side the a-f rather than running hard, I stayed with him in the poles!!!! Silly me, I thought it was exhausting, Zev was probably thinking “what the heck is up with her, she has gone all weird?” Despite this he got 6th place in a combined 1-7 jumping, a clear round. Woohoo and a good lesson learnt by me early and quickly in our agility career.

It was great that a practice ring was put on to raise money for charity, Rivi and Zev, really enjoyed being rewarded with their toy in the ring, so thank you Bromsgrove much appreciated and all for a good cause.

The Lumix vids are not compatible picasa for making videos so no pretty ‘dressing’ of the vid.

Gillingham - Part 3 - Rivi and bits...

Rivi, was on a ‘freebie’ weekend, as we missed the date for progression to Grade 5 by one day. Needless to say I was thrilled with her, she is getting into the whole thing, and even did not spook at flies nearly as much :-) On the Saturday she won the jumping, and I was well stoked. And we got a beautiful glass wine glass, thank you Gillingham. I have wanted one all season so that I can drink a toast to the Rivioli with her own special glass. One course I tried a different handling manoeuvre a ‘push thru’ rather than a ‘pull thru’ and me and Rivi got in a pickle but recovered well enough to come 4th. If I had pulled it off, it would have been snazzy, coz I did not it was like ‘’well that cost you a win”. But in the great scheme of things I need flexibility in how I handle, and whilst on freebies, it makes sense to me to try things out.

It was great to run two dogs, and I really like that Zev and Rivi will not be competing against each other as they are different heights. That is a real bonus. I would not like to run dogs, where you end up competing against your self as well as the agility courses I don’t think? I have not got my head around that one.

Then Mr Big was allowed to do recalls to Marc whilst course building was occurring, so that he has the opportunity to learn to really focus on Marc and doing training whilst there is lots of people and dogs around. Bigs was very good and did the most perfect recalls. Now he is over a year old, he can start agility training proper and progression with the weaves is looking really promising.

So that was it, another great show, with our guys and friends. Hard to believe there is only another couple of weeks left and then the agility season will be over.

As the Vid Rec has started playing up, we used the camera. But whilst the quality is good, actually the sound capture is far too effective! The way it records is not compatible with Picasa or other programmes. Which is rather irritating, as I can’t string vids together and all the other stuff. AARRRHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UKA - Rivi's flying high and Zev's first agility adventure

I debated with myself whether to do this UKA show, it would be weird going without Marc, can you believe in all the years I have done agility, I think I probably have only done around 4 shows without him. But I thought it would be nice and low key, the venue is lovely and the weather forecast was dry.

It was totally mad. It is the first time I have attempted five runs with Rivi, and it was manic, booking in, the guessing which class would get to Rivi’s or Zev’s class/height first. Rivi was a Beautyoli and won 4 of our 5 Novice classes. I was on cloud nine. I am such a kid, I get so excited when we achieve a first place, actually I get excited about handling something well, let alone achieving an rosette! Hence the picture....as the thrill just does not diminish.

I could have kicked myself with the snooker, as Rivi was going beautifully and then I heard the whistle and thought ‘last jump’. I should have thought ‘weaves, last jump’. Still only the second go at snooker and the judge was lovely and sympathetic. Oh what a doughnut. I think I will have to have a lesson with someone who is experience in Snooker, as the rule book makes loads of sense until I read the section about the snooker! I also think the more I do the class, the more the rules will make sense. A classic ‘chicken and egg’ dilemma. So that is a project for the winter, get to grips with snooker. Thank you, Babyoli.

Now the Zev was brill I had just run Rivi, and Zev’s class was closing. "Yikes", there is no way I could miss his first one. I ran with Rivi to the ring, explained I was going to get Zev. The lady said the class is closing. So I explained I just had to run in another class and will go and get him straight away. Poor Rivi, straight back to the van. Poor Zev, rushed from van to the ring, plonked on the start line and off we went. It was a good big course, just how I envisioned a steeplechase. I got Zev ‘e’d’ as I pulled him off a jump after the tunnel, but it did not matter. He ran like the wind, was so responsive, hence the ‘e’ and made me feel so alive. His second class, was another steeplechase, now this course was real clever in how the line of jumps was set, and driving Zev round, we had more close shaves with the jumps than Wallace & Gromit. But I was thrilled with how he attempted to change his line, understood the rear cross cue and also did a reverse turn and he ran and found his cool kong and did a little lap of honour. And despite the zigzagging we still came 2nd! We had a really good laugh, as it was such fun. I wish we had the day on video....

What a day, I was beaming so much, my cheeks ached, so chuffed with my guys, it was good to be smiling again. And Nuts really enjoyed getting treats off new people he met. He is such a cheeky charmer shoving his nose at people’s pockets! In his defence, he keeps getting rewarded for the said behaviour ;-)

So life goes on....

Grief is a weird thing, and I agree that those who offer the profound wisdom. Which is that it lets us know we have loved. And we Wynne's are lucky for knowing much love. And yes life's relentless march forward continues on. No power to put the world on hold for a while.

So we look to the future and our hopes for journeys yet to be taken. One such adventure is having a pairs partner for Rivi. Can't be Marc, as he already has a pairs partner! This photo, introduces my friend's lovely youngster Envy out of the last Nedlo litter (Dot x Will) who is going to be Rivi's pairs partner.

August 09 - KC and DINAS

The KC came and went in a blur. I had ‘glue’ legs and run some elements of courses really nicely and then scuppered me and Rivi at the last hurdle, or anywhere in between. As someone said “what a fantastic save” for one particular round – bugger, I had a blip in my flow ;-) The KC is mega large, with the finals run whilst other classes are still going, so unless you give up runs to watch them you miss them. Which is a real shame? Finals should be exactly that, and I would like to see a lap of honour in finals and champs, lets celebrate achievements. I feel a campaign coming on. Till I caught up with some blogs, I was literally ‘Clueless in Seattle’.

Then we leave early on Sunday, more missed runs, so that we can be ready to help at DINAS. This is a fab show and this year was the best we have enjoyed. Critical decision reached and made to put house on market and get moving with our new direction. I’m so excited, tinged with oh f..k/oh s..t I had meteorically ‘hang on to my hat’ as life is about to hit a new phrase of ‘roller coasters’. However, I’m ready to take the risk, we are young enough to start over, so the reckless, the brave, the foolhardy, dutch courage, but no regrets stage is to commence.

In between this, I was still trying to do Rivi some justice handling wise. And low and behold, Rivi is learning to bust a gut for me, and won Grade 4 Agility on the Weds, so we are now grade 5. I know many of her sisters/brothers are tripping the light fantastic and are grade 6 already – way to go guys and congratulations. But what can I say, my Superoli is just that for me and we continue to build as a team and our journey is great fun and full of twists and turns. On one course I remembered the SG saying on her DVD, the ‘perfect rear cross’ you won’t end up behind. And damn we did it good. Her poles were super and I have LO to thank for that, on how to teach entries is really hitting home. Nuts were great, Rivi’s are taking my breath away.

We have learnt some new ways of walking courses for Raz, we realised he hit a couple of poles as Marc was on his blind side, and he turned his head to locate Marc and jump at the same time. Or if the sun is directly facing a line of jumps that can make his jumping judgement a bit haywire. Like Tri, we know we are on borrowed time, but we are just trying to saviour the moments and grab the joy of the doing and the being.

Then ‘crikey ’ at our next show my Zev, will be competing. Yahooooo!

Counting down the weeks.....to Zev's first show

Corny but true, I can’t believe how the time has flown with my Zevman. In a few weeks I hope to do our first competition together. So this means the hunt is on, for appropriate gear to go with him whilst running. I have been treated to this really apt t-shirt, as Zev registered name is OBay Tiz Wild and this t-shirt from H&M just bellows ‘born wild’ and since neither Zev nor I are the quietest beings on the planet. It has really made me chuckle. Then, I was also treated to a beautiful Ralph Lauren Polo tee-shirt that is red with a USA flag on the front. So appropriate too, as Zev’s line generates from there. Although it is a lovely t-shirt I just could not photograph it well enough to do it justice.

Now I have the choice, t-shirt which one and/or fleece. None of them go together –beige, red and pink. Darn it! What is a woman to do? I guess knowing agility the weather will dictate and it will be fleeces or waterproofs ;-)

What can I say about my Zevman. Brilliant to live with, he is a go anywhere type of dog. He has allowed Nuts to retire from alarm clock duties, and taken over this role with great aplomb. Their decision nothing to do with me. And really important for me, as without my hearing aids and having an alarm at a seriously loud level, I would be forever over sleeping. Rivi, finds it all too exciting and goes and retrieves her bedding to suck. Zev is a real hoot to train, and is so enthusiastic and keen. So much so I have had to calm the tugging, as I was getting worried he will do himself an injury. I have been warned of the consequences of to much over enthusiasm as it is apparently causing injuries in agility dogs, particularly smaller ones. Yikes. Advice has been duly noted and you know, both Rivi and Zev had taken switching back to the food games and still tug. As that is how I teach tug initially. I so get the food rewarding the tugging, which what I did with Nuts and Storm. With Rivi and Zev I tried to be far more toy than food. Now I think, “whatever floats your boats, guys”.
Rivi was extra awesome at training last night her drive, confidence, strength and sheer enjoyment just took my breath away. This is good stuff and has given me great reinforcement to my approach. “Babyoli, thank you.”

Holy smackerel!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy smackerel!!!!!!!!!!!! a whole weekend of an agility show and no rosettes. POW! How will I survive? Easily – my fantastic Rivioli has gone up a gear again whilst moving from one obstacle to the next and she either went too fast for herself and ‘smackelled’ a jump or to fast for me and my cues where way late. BAM! Did not have time to think about giving a cue much less engaging body signals. Rivi was like, zoommmm, ‘come on, your looking this way, we are going, going and cool there is the bucket’ (bucket means lead – lead means cool kong and play which means proper sausages). KAPOW! I am Ha ha’d. But what the heck, she is living up to our song ‘I’m so excited’. I was thrilled when someone came up to me and said, Rivi looked so happy as she had a smiley face on. Why was I thrilled? it tells me Rivi is feeling good and that is why the ‘throttle’ on her has opened up even more. The key to a fantastic agility weekend is sheer enjoyment and thrill of tackling the courses, sure I would have loved to have won, but heck… we are doing another show in a couple of weeks time. And I have already been doing the mental rehearsals to get myself smoother for the Rivioli.

Its all feels a bit surreal typing this, as I realise I just have this week left at work and then I can reclaim by work/life balance. The guys will be well pleased and so will I.

My darling Zev, is getting all grown up and now has the full sheltie coat. Thankfully, the moult master by mikki (great grooming tool) makes like work of it. In some ways Zev is quite grown up and in others really very young. I have finally done the deed and booked him in to have the ‘snip’ in August I feel real mean, and it is always a dilemma but I think it is the right thing to do. At Beacon Training last week, real progress as he could hang around and wait for his turn off leash, I was so proud of him. That is a very hard thing for a busy, whizzy, nosey dog to do. However, we are still going through the ‘debating’ phrase. I guess I should say shouting or barking but that does not convey the communication that is occurring. And I’m sure he is debating with me. It is real nice isn’t it, how their little moments of growing up and their characters make you smile?
p.s Holy, POW, BAM etc, the batman and robin cartoon words, can’t recall anymore, but for some reason they sprung to mind - writing this posting ;-)
p.p.s great tee-shirt from H&M - Rivi's emblem
p.p.p.s Have no idea why I end up p.s'ing

Weardale and changes are a coming.....

Changes are a coming, I did the best thing in the past week. I handed my notice in at work. Weeheee..., I so needed to do it. Texted Marc, and he was so cool about it. Phew, so yes changes are a coming we may head south, or north or stay in the middle. But one thing I know for sure life is too short to waste on things that don’t compliment our lifestyle and work/life balance….
This needless to say has trickled over into my agility/home life the past few weeks and that really was not acceptable. But today, the irritation and frustration has gone, I have a plan.. So me and the Rivioli came first and second today in our jumping classes. My positive me was starting to come back. I have missed that ‘positive me’, being in my happy bubble - having a chat, training, socialising and being with my guys and enjoying life.
Weardale was scary wet on Friday, but it turned into a beautiful sunny weekend. And a really good thing they did was to ask people to help, but only for an hour and to volunteer when you had free time, it seemed to work really well. So many great shows and locations, we sure are lucky. Thank you Weardale.
Oh yes changes are a coming and bring it on :-) my life is back on track.
This photo of Rivi chillin' in the Caravan, really makes me chuckle, what a hard life she has, not!

Lansdown - does Big think he is a cat?

Lansdown, one of my favourite shows, it was one of our first shows we did on the agility circuit and although now it is further to travel we still make the trip, fantastic location, great walks, great club and great atmosphere.
Little did I know that Lansdown would provide the setting for a roller coaster of emotions. Yeah I am emotional, but I guess it is better than being repressed!
We start off pretty uneventful, Rivi did some great stuff and her confidence is coming back on the contacts. Certainly this weekend, I was really pleased with the improvement. We still have a way to go, but we are on the way. She has certainly made me think. Normally its show them the obstacle and what is required through a bit of free shaping, maintain or enhance criteria and bang in the reward. Not with my Darlingoli, a whole new approach, thank gosh for Clean Run, I would be lost without it. So we ended up with two 4ths and an 11th not a bad haul for four runs and a very frazzled partner on Sunday.
Then Zev, was measured. Realising he will hopefully do his first show in September, I was panic stations I must get him measured and it must be done right now. Two shows – no measuring, at Landown they did but they were full. However, via the organisers of the show the measurers kindly added me to the list and he was duly measured as a medium. It was really funny as I am out of the room for measuring a little girl who I don’t think she could have been more than ten said a very superior tone “I expect he measured into medium”, the tone without a doubt saying Zev had better not be small. It cracked me up, since I choose Zev, we always expected him to be medium.
Then Saturday night, we thought we would go to the pub, not often we do go out but a quick meal with friends, and you can see the camp site from the pub and others would keep an I on our guys. I don’t like to leave the guys, sad I know. Indeed I was in back by 9ish, having quality time with my guys and then time ticked on, Marc, was taking a long time to come back from his evening stroll. I go outside, Raz, Wings and Tri in the compound, no Marc or Bigs, instantly I knew Big was missing ……sh.t!!!!!!. Threw on clothes, leaded up Rivi and Zev and the search was on. Marc, was frantically texting, tannoy announcement went out and so many wonderful people joined in to help us look. Time was swiftly passing, it was getting darker by the minute. An hour and half later he was found, by Clare Murray, the sobs of relief at my darling Biggles being found, were a tad embarrassing, but it had to have been one of the worst and best times of my life. Little Bigs, not quite so brave and tough as he makes out, was unharmed but shaken up. It showed how wonderful so many people are. Thank you…although thanks see inadequate in relation to sheer effort that was made in assistance and support. Without it, I dread to think what could have been the outcome. Big like a cat has used 2 of his 9 lives, hopefully he won't use any more. Phew some adventures you really just don’t need and this was one of them ;-)

p.s the photo is of Zev and Bigs having one of their favorite games - steal the treasure i.e. Marc's posh walking socks and play tug till they are full of holes!

Hinckley and some other stuff

Hinckley like Mid-downs results on paper not so good, but again there were bits that I felt like we are so going up a gear, and Babyoli is really getting the idea that when we do the ring it means a bonus play sessions. This has required me to be quite ruthless with people who want to talk after me and Rivi have just done a round, “sorry, got to play with Rivi” and I walk off playing with my girl. … if I want to maximise Rivi’s interest in working with me, then she needs to know that I pay out ‘mega’ bucks for effort. This she is realising and I am chuffed to bits. I did this with Nuts and it really raised his and our game when competing.

Her sisters had a super weekend results wise so well done to them. Hinckley was a fab show and my only complaint was I did not want to go home TY :-)

Luv this puppy photo of Rivi, with that oh so serious face.

Off on another tangent - It is weird with the camping at agility shows this year as there is some shows segregating the helpers and non-helpers camping areas and it just does not feel right. Most people want to camp with their club or circle of agility friends. Marc and I help at several shows during the year including the KC club one we belong to, which is a two day show. But at some shows we want to focus on ourselves and our agility and have some time together.
It is of course right that those helping on the rings all day are parked close to the rings. But really segregation – non-helpers camping area - has no place, not when you do put something back? So we are going to a couple of shows effectively in the perceived ‘naughty’ corner and it does make me cross at the unfairness of the labelling and the act of segregating. Oh it is a bugger’s muddle for sure and there has to be a better way :-( And lets face it, is it really going to encourage people to help, I think not! You think ‘doggy’ people would get by now that punishment is not as effective as rewarding when wanting to elicit certain behaviours. Punishment generally acts as a suppressor or diverter, either way not good in the long term!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;-)

Rivi's Grade 4 win at Nottingham May 09

Well, this was our second grade 4 show. And crikey did Rivi’s need her pilot to get it together, on Saturday there was some great courses set, but I had a hard case of ‘doubt’ an mental teaser that really has no place in sport. I seemed to get this each time we progress, will I be good enough to handle my Superoli? The doubt stemmed from the concern of not having trained a particular sequence. I knew the doubt was irrational, but the human brain it can be hard to train! ;-) And let’s face it in agility; it is unlikely you can train for every sequence. That is what makes agility exciting you never know what the judge is going to set. After Rivi, indulging me on Saturday, I thought I really need to do my PMA, focus, repeat our strengths and believe. And we achieved 3 places in three rounds of which one was first place in Grade 4 Jumping.

Marc, teased me then, “oh you train those sequences then?” which of caused much laughter and made me realised that some bits I had not, the difference was my belief and conviction that we were giving it our best shot. “thank you, Darling” Once again I must thank Lanny Bassham and his book, for agility training is so focused on teaching obstacles, the psychological elements – the mental game is often overlooked both for the canine and the human. Some books can have such a profound and beneficial influence. I find them terrific guides in my aspiration to have a fabulous journey with great goals for myself and my guys.

Congratulations to everyone I know that had great results over the weekend with their guys. Special mentions to Nicky Garrett and Indiana - OBay Truly Driven, who won I believe their 14th Championship Ticket. They are just fabulous to watch. And another up and coming OBay Team Karen Cole and Todd – OBay One Helluva Charmer who had a great result too – a combined 4-7 win.

UKA and Vyne May 2009

We did our first weekend UKA show last weekend, which backed on to Vyne KC show. In KC shows you do not have snooker and gamblers anymore and I thought they would be a good thing to learn to do. Another perspective on how to approach courses, in terms of flow, timing and points. Gamblers we came second, thanks to Rivi being a smoothie girl. The snooker, I got in a right b-gg--s muddle as having had it explained to me, I thought I had to do it in a particular set sequence, and you do kinda, as a result we only did three obstacles and then I sent Rivi off course, so I left the ring, a bit confused and bemused. Rivi was like “what do you mean we have finished, I can count you know!” Rivi, my apologies. However I am now a bit wiser so look forward to entering them again. I rewarded the contacts and poles in the agilities. So for Rivi two 2nds and a 3rd. No more grade 3 classes YAHOO!!! My next aim at UKA is to reward Rivi in the jumping classes, in the past I have been told theoretically you can’t ‘train’ a jumping round, I do not take this view, as I am rewarding performance. So I am going in to reward Rivi being a darling, the effort for doing jumps and taking direction from me at the same time. That is the beauty of UKA I can choose to reward performance as I would in training by running a NFC round.
The funny bit of the weekend was Marc being the next dog on the line and someone said, your trousers are ripped and indeed they were, it caused much laugher, however his dignity was intact as he had his boxer shorts on. Ha Ha :-) (Sorry darling, had to put it in, it did make us laugh, just like when I knocked the jump down the other week.)
This week I have been trying to work on pull thrus using cones rather than jump wings, as Rivi and I need to move from ‘baby’ ones to good technical ones. And I need to make my training of pull thrus in a way that I get a buzz rather than feeling like I am teaching my guys a drill. My main aspect was that I wanted to convey the information that a pull thru was occurring before reaching the cones. This is so that they understand to commit to the cone and then do the pull thru turn. And last night at training we had to do a pull through the wings and both Rivi and Zev, picked it up I was well chuffed. Knowledge, understanding and insight are bliss when it starts coming together…

Rivi and Raz at WBSDs April 09

Rivi's jumping run win at the WBSD last weekend., as mentioned in the previous post I was so proud of my Babyoli. And a couple of nice runs from Raz with Marc. Now going off at a tangent I am finding it hard to fit the bloging in now the agility season is here. But I determined to keep it going, as it gives me a lovely record of our journey with my guys. I also braved into the world of having a counter on my blog and have had it for a couple of weeks, and it is ok and it is in a way interesting. What I like with the Neo one is that it has to start at zero. Now I wish I had done it from the start. Have not got my head around the following element of blogging yet, and how it is different from the blog feed/updates. That already shows you follow blogs. But I must confess some blogs I follow but don't have them on mine simply because I use someone's else blog to click on them. Hmmm perhaps I need to update my blog list or join in with following? The jury is out ;-)

Finally, its Zev's momma birthday today, and I just want to wish her a happy birthday. As not only is she is a wonderful sheltie, but with Taz's assistance produced my darling Zev :-)