In my mind's eye, I visualize how a particular... sight and feeling will appear on a print. If it excites me, there is a good chance it will make a good photograph. It is an intuitive sense, an ability that comes from a lot of practice. -Ansel Adams
That is a great analogy to how I feel about agility. Mental prep to actual practice. Yay! Training is so fun! And so tiring! I'm sore in a really good way, I'm sure Kate is exhausted. She's probably not going to like taking a day off tomorrow though. I wish I had her work ethic!
So first, thanks again to Steve and Lisa for letting us come down to play all weekend. Such awesome hosts, and they have some aussome Aussies. Thanks to Tori for the analysis and pictures and the video - so helpful (these two pictures are Kaimen Miller from DOI). I am super proud of Kate, she worked hard this weekend, I know what our weaknesses are and we stretched them for sure. I chose methods of handling that would challenge her capabilities and sometimes we got a win, other times reinforced that I am choosing the right handling the first time. As much as I love competing, I love this stuff more.
Not one of these courses had a double in them, so we substituted for the wall jump, of which, we did not have. Kate mostly did well with the double, I was pleased to see some definite improvement. Also I can see her slicing and overall jumping skill has developed in just a few weeks. Her dog walk was pretty nice, but her aframe needs work. And now we have broken a certain pull away in the weaves, but hey, not for lack of stuff to train, add threadles to the list! I am currently without weave poles so that one will have to wait. I would like to note, that while looking cool and not squinting, I am disappointed that I forgot to take my sunglasses off for the first course.
Video is kinda longish, and you will have to pause for the maps (if you care), otherwise no song would have fit. This is a great one though, Silversun Pickups, Lazy Eye.
Now we'll take a few days off of agility, then gear back up for a local show this weekend. Then the following weekend - the Quadruped!
(cool training bag - don't you want one? Tori likes to photograph feet...)
Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change - this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress. -Bruce Barton
Ah the grass game, makes for some great photos. :)
So I said we had a show, but we have training this weekend. Really looking forward to it. It's been forever since I trained with friends, (you know, without other people watching) or it feels like forever. Training by car headlights after the show doesn't count. I've been trying to study courses in my free time, for instance, on my lunch break, as a mental exercise. I am really enjoying Stoel's designs, it's like the dog needs a doctorate in jumping, and that's a good thing! Working his courses will be very good for the Katerade!
That's right Kate, collection!
I've been melancholy today. I think my medicine makes me tired. I've had a perfectly normal week though. Work... change is a good thing, I just have to keep reminding myself. Also. Vacation is a bad thing when it comes to volume of work. Apparently Coke still gets sold without me there!
One of the things I miss about going to classes is seeing people. Someone else's training ideas are always good too, without having to set it up myself. Or beg someone to let me set it up at their house. ;) Then I get home from work, and I'm tired and I can think of 100 reasons why I don't want to get into that weekly commitment again. I do miss it.
Starters Snooker - AD title run!!! Weeeeeeeeee!!!
I had this foolish notion that I was going to buy a picture for every title. Just around Christmas, I was going to save all my ribbons for 2012 so I could take a picture of Kate lying on them. I just can't do it. Buy pictures or get ribbons. Failed, didn't even make it to the end of January on those. Hey look, it's Kate's AD run. Thankfully I have friends who take pictures!
We've been training Kate for the Quadruped series, kicking off in Florida in 3 weeks. Kids hanging on the fence, squealing directly behind her, teens kicking soccer balls and throwing baseballs the next field over, nothing distracts her or even catches her eye. Killer focus on this dog. She's not 100%, she relies on her ears too much. But she's better than 66% and with 3 throws per round, I think she's going to do fine. Of course, I hope she can win again, but mostly I just hope she does well. It's amazing to watch her go, she is crazy fast. I really wonder - Kate vs a tommie. And not a Busch Gardens one, like a real African one.
pretty sure this is like the farthest thing from "proper running form"
It's been warm lately, too warm for January. Even for FL. Of course the biggest solar storm in 8 years might have something to do with it. I love it. I've been following it with as much devotion and fascination as I do hurricanes. Coronal Mass Ejection?! Which is to say a bit too much fascination. It's insane to think of life without electricity though. No TV. Eh. No microwave. Eh. No blogging, no video editing, no VIDEO. No photos, no radio, and... no music at all, except the good old fashioned kind. That's where I draw the line. Life without music seems wrong. I wonder if telephones would work? Sounds like no. Oh, you came here for science speculation time right?
if a picture could document one issue of Kate's running aframe - and look, only took her 1.5 seconds to get up there!
I have done some more jumping work with Kate this week, dog walk still disassembled. I did take the dogs for a hike, to our old place. Even though it's warm. Kept them close to me, of course we didn't see any snakes, the dogs got great exercise, in spite of my panic. I have seen two alligators in as much as two days within two miles of my house. They really are everywhere in FL, kind of like giant lizards with teeth. Lizards scare me.
Ready, Kate?
Busy spring coming up, trials, training, a road trip with my dad. Oh and some sheep for good measure! In my mind, this is experience phase 2. Lots of runs and focus on betterment of what we have. Better communication, better quality training, reinforcement.
When I was young, I used to wear my father's shoes & stomp around making the world a better place for us all & today I see I'm not the only one who did that & those shoes aren't anywhere big enough for who we are now. -StoryPeople
All photos courtesy of Kaimen Miller - thanks so much!!
Ahh, I live in the best place right now. Perfect weather this weekend, though a little warm today. We were in Orlando at the Dog On It, USDAA show. Judge Dave Bozak had some very interesting, challenging courses. I do really enjoy USDAA, wish we had more locally. I had a great weekend with friends, sunshine and dogs.
We needed a Starters Snooker and Starters STD for our AD, which we got! Woo hoo! Snooker was first, Kate broke her stay so we got 1 point. Sigh. Then Grand Prix was a bit "bronco billy" as Gary called it. She knocked the double (#3) so at least it wasn't like, "we got all the way to the end and..." Starters STD was a great course, Kate had BEAUTIFUL contacts, but would NOT down on the table. So frustrating. Steeplechase we had a decent run but knocked the first bar, we somehow managed a Q!
Then Sunday we finally got a Snooker Q!! I created a very conservative plan, no touching the tunnels or even crossing the ring. I used the ability to lie her down to get positioned correctly (often I'm racing her in Snooker and, um, I can't beat her). Not a placement but who freakin cares?! We're out of Starters!! Advanced STD was... OMG a GREAT run, smokin, perfect dog walk. See? That's it. She CAN do it. Fast down on the table. Aframe was sticky but I'm ignoring that. Steeplechase finals was a mess. I could blame a combination of being hot and taking my eye off my dog, but alas, it was a free run anyway. ;)
I heard this song on the way home, not that I hadn't before, but I like it a lot and the hook got in my head. I youtube'd it while watching my video on silent and the one piece just fell there, and I had to use it. You'll see. How Far We've Come by Matchbox 20.
I'm pleased that a lot of the stuff we worked on Monday at the ring I rented turned up this weekend. I love when that happens. Kate's contacts overall look better than they ever have. Especially her dog walk which I've spent the balance of the last few weeks really working on. Contacts and jumping. Always. Weaves were easy. Kate did great, and while I am still bummed about the STP finals, I know that Kate has plenty in her future, and so happy Kate's awesome sister Clever won instead! I'm looking forward to AKC this coming weekend though, hi Kate, time to remember how to actually lift for jumps! :)
I'm going to attempt to work backwards, as that is how the content would appear had I actually kept up with blogging the last few weeks. :)
Yesterday, I rented an agility field where an AKC trial was held over the weekend, I got to run the Ex STD course several times, several ways, which was lots of fun. I worked on Kate's full contacts (which I never do at home) and was pleased to see some speed that she has not exhibited before. She had some trouble with jumping too big (shocking) and missing the weave entry. Surprised me though, as usually she can correct for a weave entry from any angle. Then I realized twice this has happened in a trial and I've blamed the missed entry on something else. Aha.
The weather was lovely while training though, if not a bit too warm at 75, I know, I'm such an ass to even say that. In the jumpers ring I worked tight jumping grid type stuff and a couple bendy/slicey exercises I got at the seminar. What seminar? Oh yeah...
So last week Gary and I spent in Aruba. Gosh it's pretty there. See?
and
Aruba was... windy! And warm. It was nice to get away, dig my toes into the sand, get salt water up my nose. Absorb massive amounts of Vitamin D through my skin and sleep it off all afternoon. Stay up all night engrossed in a thrilling novel and then watch the sun rise while drinking coffee and breathing in the salty air, listening to the palm breezes and song birds waking up.
The food was delicious! Speculoos - wow! Our company was fantastic, I'm really lucky to have such cool (and hilarious) friends. Gary obliged me in morning beach walks and we saw lots of interesting people and lizards. Aruba has tons of lizards! We were drunk and disorderly, I have plenty of fond memories to cherish and a killer tan. AND I'm 4 books closer to my goal of reading 25 books this year - woo hoo!
Before we left for Aruba, I took a day off of work and did two days of International Coursework with Linda Mecklenburg. Linda was great to work with, she sees things differently than most. Enlightening. Kate and I were not at the level for the seminar, but we hung in there, while swinging wildly from skilled to unskilled, but I'm so glad I got the opportunity to work on those courses with Linda.
It's the course work for me, I know agility can be more straightforward, but the complicated dance these European courses have become is baffling, mind numbing, bewildering. I love it. I spent the entire two days immersed in handling theory, threadles, back sides, push throughs, pulling through gaps, crazy weave entries. I love it all. Ridiculous!
We spent a lot of time working on Kate's jumping, or I should say I got some great homework exercises (aforementioned). Kate was perfectly herself and it was great to get opinions and thoughts from Linda on what we should be doing. I asked Linda to watch Kate's spreads, since we seem to struggle there, and I got some great ideas for that as well.
I feel like there's more I should say about the seminar, but really I'm grateful for the opportunity, it was an awesome couple of days for me. Very inspiring. Almost, (almost) makes me want to do more seminars... I think the weather is just making me want to be outside. I might put a video together of Kate at the seminar, hopefully....
I SO should be doing 1000 other things. Pretty pictures? here we go. First, Kate's Revolution Impression! Winning!
Then, this is why I'm not sure that there is any "one" thing Kate loves best.
This one is my favorite because she is such a freak, hey Kate the disc is behind you on the dock? It really is for the pure joy of swimming.
Oh and these two where Kate teaches you all about extension. Collection is for sissies. :)
We went for our first post snake bite hike today. I can whine all I want about it being in the 40's all day. THE FORTIES!!! But I do own a winter coat now and snakes don't come out when the high is 48. We got burrs on every surface of our coats and my face was flushed, nose runny. It was way too cold. I want my 70's back. :)
Is she not the most adorable thing you've ever seen? Thanks Donna for the leash, and my friend at Kollars by Kathryn for the perfect color combo. The new leash:
After trialing a few days at 26", I can see the disadvantage of being at the top (or bottom) of a class. In Novice we were often close to first or last at 24", but that's Novice... this is Excellent, and with only a handful of 26" dogs. If you're first, it's early and you have no "white dog" to watch and get a feel for the course. If you're last, it's a bitch waiting through all those 16s and 20s until you even get to walk. I'm struggling with staying keyed up at the end of the day/weekend. Under-arousal. On the plus side, when 26's are first, on the fresh dirt, it's cool to see the foot patterns of the dogs. One of my most favorite things about good quality dirt, really, I know grass and synth turf, whatever, give me well watered, even, clean dirt any day. (Makes me miss training at KETCH)
So we managed another early morning, I even took a picture as the sun was coming up. Are those brake lights? Sunday we had a spectacular STD run, maybe one of my favorite runs with Kate ever. We did have a bar but we also pulled past a tunnel entry, got all the spreads and I did a rear cross at the poles just because I can. :) Jumpers was a mess, Kate knocked the first bar and we probably should have left at that point, but she also threw in a j-turn for those of you who are still wondering what that is.
(song is 1nite by Cobra Starship, thanks to George for making me listen to it, as normally I dislike Cobra Starship, and also he played the song in the other video for me Up, Up, Up by Givers, which I wanted to use again but just couldn't do it)
Overall, I feel like she did really well at 26". She's still struggling with the spacing a bit, but I did see an improvement over the weekend. I feel more confident that this is where she should be showing at. I like that she has to "jump" to get over the bars. She's at 22" for her one show in January, then two AKC shows at 26" in February. Assuming I get in those, sending entries tomorrow. After those two shows, I reserve the right to re-evaluate how I feel about showing her at 26". I hate to say this, but with her litter next summer, I'm not sure I should put the pressure of trying to qualify for nationals on us (around 30 Q's to get the points), so I'm letting that go. 2014 will have to be our goal now. This year should be about growth and learning for Kate and I. If we somehow qualify, then great.
Spring is looking up though. We have a two-day International Skills seminar with Linda Mecklenburg Friday and Saturday this week. THIS WEEK. I enjoyed watching Linda at the trial this weekend. And while I originally felt that we should be in a lower level seminar, I'm feeling more confident now, lots of friends are in the same seminar. Gah, two whole days fully immersed in agility, so looking forward to it. Then Gary and I are going on a dog free vacation to a tropical island for 7 days! I will miss Katerade, but she's in good hands. The best part? When I leave work on Thursday the 5th, I won't be back until Tuesday the 17th!! I have not taken that long of a break from work since... well, I'm not sure I ever have since I graduated from college. So looking forward to it.
This just cracks me up. Can you guess where we're keeping the cats?
So onto 2012, I should make some resolutions or jot down some goals... I'm not feeling very goal setty right now. I'd like Kate to win the Quad series again, since apparently there is going to be a series now. She needs two more wins to get a Quad-Quad. Fun to write down goals that are in the complete responsibility of someone else to train for. ;) My agility goals at the moment are just to become a more cohesive team and continue working on Kate's obstacle performance stuff.
Like most New Year's eve's, I'm kinda lame and hanging out at home, watching Arrested Development reruns, so I can get up earlier than the sun and go play agility tomorrow. Really, I prefer it, to a hang over and lying around... well, maybe. ;)
(I can do this for 99 more years! photo by Kat Fahle)
I've really been enjoying the trial so far, Kate's first time at 26" has proven more challenging and surprisingly, more comfortable. I can definitely see how trialing at 26" everywhere may become a demand. The timing is quite different than 20/22", even 24". Sometimes in a good way though, lots more air time. Lots less room for error. We've had a table fault and quite a few bars so far, bummer, but I did kind of expect the bars. Self-fulfilling prophecy? I'm happy with my handling, and mostly I'm thrilled with Kate's jumping. Because, I mean, she actually has to jump. We have lots to learn. The young jedi has had some very nice runs, for instance, this, where we finally finished the well deserved, AX title!!!
Yay Katerade!! Check out that table, and the turn out of the chute! And she kept the triple to the panel up! Spreads are still challenging us, today had a spectacular, land in the double moment in jumpers. Ouch. Kate is teaching me so many things, I've never had to train a dog how to jump spreads before. I got home from the show so early we did some recalls to heel, over the triple and double, as well as some spreads to and from my tunnel. I came up with 10 new ideas for spreads training, so that's a plus. We will figure this out.
I watched all my video so far, then watched it again at 75%, then watched it again at 25%. Mostly, if my cues are appropriate, Kate does well. Shocking. Some training holes for sure, but I love those, opportunity. I also sat in my back yard in the warm sun this afternoon, dogs milling about. Earl alternating sitting on me and annoying everyone else. Oh yes, his visit was extended several days. He's had quite the time at the trial, playing with any dog that will glance at him or pass within his leash range and being cuddled by, well, pretty much everyone. How can you resist?
This is neat, the first day of 2011 Kate got her first title, NAJ. Dammit, I was faster then. I want to be fast again. Anyway 2011 was one of the best years and one of the worst all rolled into one. Lots of contrast tonight. Last year. And like I said last year, no need to rehash it, that's why I blog. :) It is fun to think a year ago Kate was in Novice, had never shown in Standard. Lots of growth last year, in a lot of different ways. I wouldn't change a thing, except maybe the snake bite. Very much looking forward to the future. Good times ahead.
Well it's 10PM and I'm getting sleepy. Major party animal right here. It is nice to have a passed out Aussie, Papillon, and Border Collie round me, plus one ears pinned back, thunder shirt donned, Aussie. I wish I could love fireworks as much as I did before dogs, but very thankful that most of the pack copes quite well.
Pictures, can't forget pictures. :) Finally got around to taking pictures of Kate with her Quad trophy! So enjoy Kate's complete adorableness, as well as some nerd shots sprinkled in for good measure. And some rambling about other things. (so pretty!)
So Gary and I have been calling the house "The Menagerie" lately. 7 dogs plus 2 cats. Fortunately, Duke and Earl go home tomorrow. And while I will miss the tiny, little, squealing, squirming, ball of pure wonder and excitement, big sigh of relief. Puppies are a TON of work. Earl learned a lot while he was here, I feel like he's finally understanding crate training, he understands waiting in a doorway, sitting patiently for rewards, and letting me pet him instead of biting my hands. I absolutely adore him, but have to admit, I don't think I want a Papillon to live with. I hope his parents bring him by for lots of training though, I would not mind playing with him on a borrowed basis. ;) Early!
One of the benefits of having Earl was two fold, Earl got to learn some dog skills (among everything else) and I got to see how Kate handled having an annoying puppy hanging all over her. She was great, appropriate and calm. Duh. She has such a nice temperament, I'm really lucky. Granted, she IS a bitch, so she doesn't put up with him jumping on her head or biting her lips. Good girl, Kate.
(Kate's won all those wooden discs, the bottom two with ME! though I really wish the stack were straighter, damn) The obelisk is the Quad Series Champion trophy. Very special, as not every year runs a series. Like next year. :(
The other part of the Menagerie is we are watching two cats, they have been inhabiting the upstairs guest bathroom. Oversized and non-destructible, the perfect kitty refuge. Once, we lost a cat. We found her after several agonizing moments, she managed to squeeze herself into an impossibly small cabinet. I didn't know cats could open cabinets. Also once I almost lost a lot of blood due to a cat trying to escape the safety of the bathroom until she realized there were at least 5 unknown dogs waiting on the other side of the door. Claws coming at me. Oh right, like she didn't know they were there? She's brave, that one.
What's hilarious though is watching Kate attempt to walk by that bathroom. She'll be running along normally, thinking about the bathtub in my room, or about going outside to work and suddenly her legs don't work right. Like gravity has added a couple g's. (Turns out "g" is lowercase.) Even when she's heading away from the bathroom, she can't help but gravitate towards it. I saw Kate sway so far to the right yesterday I thought she might tip over, like an SUV rounding a corner too fast. But she was so not too fast, more like too slow, or the transition from normal speed to kitty force field speed. Unable to move like a normal brained dog. She's all about the slow motion stalk for those 10 feet. Every. Single. Time. The bathroom kitty force field is VERY strong. :) I will admit that I have been using Kate to prevent further attempts of kitty prison break. She is quite good at lying down at the door and staring sense into any potential escapees. Ok, we're all done now, Kate. Kate? Kate!!
A little Border Collie torture is fun for the holidays...
Just kidding! Normal, happy Kate.
Grass game is so good for getting the kind of quality in the first pic. :)
Kate had a good weekend, for a prisoner (in heat). Gary's parents gave the dogs a bunch of new toys, they each got a big bone to chew Christmas morning, and I bought a new dog bed for the living room with one of my gift cards. Kate did get two trips to the lake though and really you can't beat that. In addition to several shaping sessions everyday, because I might as well, while I train the puppy. I have to work today, er, lunch break right now. I love my home office, so much more relaxing, wake up at 9 and roll into the office in PJs. And yay for me, I created a program that would do my work for me, probably could have done a lot of work in the time it took me to write the program but I feel quite accomplished and it hopefully did save me about 10 hours worth of work.
I have some good blogging material (really, just pictures) coming up. Aren't I a tease? Ha, back to work for now... maybe I can take Friday off and go to the trial I entered. I won't hold my breath. Either way, 5 days until Kate's 26" trial debut! :)
