Kerales Kate

On your mark.

2012-02-10T20:27:00.001-05:00

On your mark.

Get set.

Goooooo!!!!!!

Oh Kate, you are too fun. There is this too - is she "venting" her neck fur now? Maybe it's just ruffled in the wind?

These are from Quad practice the other day. Kate was AWESOME on her turn. She's definitely relying on her ears too much, so anyone who wants to foil her should just send an airplane over head or get everyone clapping. Please don't. :) Quad is on Sunday and I'll be trying to tweet/fb results, also there will be a livestream though by Disc Dog Nation, for ultimate stalking.

Here is the link. You're welcome.

I got another 11.5 miles in on my bike today which totals me just under 40 miles for the week. Hell yes. I love it. It brings back memories of being a kid. Knowing every curve of the sidewalk. I've got a 10 mile track that I've been doing, wearing my helmet! I downloaded an app for my phone that tracks my mileage, speed, ascent/descent and maps my route. I can even be super geeky and download .csv files! (spreadsheets) It's amazing all the things it does and honestly, for me, nothing like a little competition to beat my previous laps.

Kate's all, "um hey, I'm going to go now... over there, with the discs."

I feel like a student, with all my puppy books. So much information! I think most of it, common sense. But it's good to consider things, how much to feed Kate, how much puppies should weigh. Oh my - after birth! ;) I'm keeping a notebook of all the questions (hi, Leslie!) and certain things I want to keep track of, ideas, thoughts, lists. Have you seen my handwriting? I love to make pretty words on paper. I was even going to buy a special notebook for this writing occasion but then I found this one, in a stack, on my desk, at work... well, what can I say? thanks, Coke. :)

Light Reading

2012-02-07T07:53:00.000-05:00

I'm going to go ahead and count these in my 25 books this year. :)

I really do have some awesome friends.... and I'm pretty sure there is another stack coming. And a whelping box. This is really happening.

Three things about Kate that I'm interested to see play out in her puppies...

She's soft. Like a smooth fox. Just kidding, but her fur is crazy soft. Temperamentally soft. She doesn't like to make mistakes and really beats herself up over them. It's okay because she rarely makes the same mistake twice, and she keeps trying, she never gives up. She's a thinker though. I'm pretty sure she'd be better at math than I am.

She's opinionated about work. In that, there are no days off. We had a tropical depression today, Kate. Sorry. She sometimes doesn't come inside, and there's no point trying to catch her. You can't. You can only shame her into lying down and then she sulks around so you just feel guilty.

And she's always ready to play whatever crazy game you want. Close the door!! OMG MOST FUN GAME!!! Remember that time you let me help to pull the sheets off the bed? That's a fun game! Wanna turn the water on in the bathtub? We could do that! It's always a party with Kate.

For the record, I think of all my dogs as underdogs. I think Kate's exactly where she's supposed to be and my measuring stick to her success isn't really labeled yet. I consider this to be "experience phase" and we have a lot of experience lined up this spring. The biggest worry with breeding her is that she won't come back in this perfect condition, but that's always a risk and I can't think about "what if's" all day long. I love the Katerade. I hope she is just as perfect after puppies as before.

The Underdog

2012-02-05T21:02:00.001-05:00

I wrote a post last week about why I think of Kate as an underdog...

Recently, I admitted to the person who plays music at USDAA nationals that if I had to pick a song for when Kate is at the: "we even got a song at nationals" level, right now it would be The Underdog by Spoon. Also because I totally dig Spoon, and really more people should listen to them. ;) There's Underdog by Kasabian, also good.

...and then I wrote about a lot of Kate's current weaknesses, which this weekend, she made me look like a liar, so I've deleted that...

Mostly, it had to do with how Kate likes to jump really big. She thinks she's 22" tall. She covers lots of ground! I've been working, always, on teaching her how to compress. This takes time. And then about how her contacts are slow, and how I'm working on making them better.

I wrote about how I *know* she can be world class. Any given Sunday. We have lots of work to do though, and Kate's cool with that. The thing she loves most is work. But it does make me shake my head when people write saying they want a Kate puppy for agility... can't they see? Hi, thanks for writing, it might not be easy.

But she IS cool. Super cool. She's friendly to a fault, lap dog Border Collie. Bomb proof. She's built for speed. Quirky as shit. And she's smarter than your average human. She's one of my best friends and everything I was looking for in a Border Collie plus everything I didn't know I needed. She's single handedly changed my life. So there is that. :)

And it turns out Kate (or karma) didn't like me writing about Kate's jumping weaknesses and she *collected* this weekend. She came INSIDE of jumps! Usually she jumps too long and misses jumps on the outside. I'm still vaguely in shock, I didn't know this was happening now. One time, I even praised her. Wow, Kate. My little underdog even kept all the spreads up this weekend! I'd consider 3/4 of our bars to be "handling," one I considered her fault, or that she should have been able to keep up, and I marked that one.

We didn't get any Q's but each run had something that makes me really giddy inside and each run had a reminder of what we need to work on. Experience. We both need it, and that will just take time. Letting go of the nationals goal was one of the best things I could have done, I felt pleased all weekend with her small successes, humbled by our mistakes. I'm posting the whole thing, un-cut. A few slow motion parts to finish out the song.

So is Kate really an underdog? Depends on your perspective... :)

Oh and I added an email function, to the right, sign up if you want annoying emails every time I ramble about my dog!

2012-01-29T22:29:00.001-05:00

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...)

More Science-y than Usual

2012-01-26T23:28:00.000-05:00

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!!

Snooker Cue

2012-01-22T23:17:00.000-05:00

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! :)

2 weeks worth of a post

2012-01-17T23:27:00.001-05:00

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....

We're back!

2012-01-16T22:16:00.001-05:00

I have SO much writing to catch up on... hopefully tomorrow. I don't think my holiday was long enough, not at all looking forward to work tomorrow. :(

Distracted.

2012-01-03T21:35:00.000-05:00

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. :)

Musing

2012-01-02T23:04:00.000-05:00

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.

(all leash photos by Tori Self)

From NAJ to AX.

2011-12-31T21:47:00.000-05:00

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.

Happy New Year y'all.

The Menagerie, Force Field and Pictures

2011-12-27T21:26:00.001-05:00

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!!

Holiday Kate

2011-12-26T13:37:00.000-05:00

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! :)

Not totally Kate related.

2011-12-23T08:30:00.000-05:00

We have these super awesome friends who, for the most part are solely responsible for our dogs whenever we leave town. Thanks for staying at our house for a week while we go to Aruba! It's so much easier than farming them out to various friends, who may or may not actually desire the additional burden. Hey, my dogs are well behaved! How do I know this?

Watch a 4 month old puppy. Who has zero training. :)

(Kate's all, hey let's rethink this me having several of these....)

Our friends have important things to be doing so we offered to watch their dogs. I forgot one is an intact male Aussie, Duke, the other being Earl, the Papillon puppy. The intact male is safely secured. Kate is standing now so she has to be locked away behind two doors before he can be released from the crate. Fortunately, neither of them seem to be any kind of phased by this two intact dog situation. Huh, I thought at least he would be crazy. Duke's laid back. Earl's oblivious. Blissful puppyhood.

I'm enjoying the puppy though. Early. Earlington. So many fun names you can make off of a name like Earl. As noted, he has zero training. Sit? Go potty outside? Stay?! bahahaha I pounce on dog heads who wait patiently to be released from the door! And scream in my crate! Oh the lessons he will learn. Quickly.

First up, sit and stay. In one session. I knew he was smart.

Whoops, almost, sit Earl, stop begging.

Good lord, the cuteness. Oh, alright, here's a cookie. :)

We played some crate games. It sounds like a hamster wheel is being caged inside there. I didn't know a puppy could emit those noises!

Worked on retrieve...

Right... lol, we'll stick to tugging. More cute puppy stays.

Trin, pretend this is remotely fun? Kate's all OMG WE IZ WORKING.

I tried to get pictures of Kate's sitting up to standing up trick which is quite good now, but the vast whiteness of her underside resulted in the camera freaking out. If only I could get home before dark just once this week. Weekend is coming! Hooray!!!

One more Earl thing, then Kate. He is fast!! For a tiny thing he can move. I don't see anything funky in his knees, which I worried since he's from... well, health/temperament testing was mostly optional, but he WAS pick of the litter, my pick anyway. So much awesome. I said, that one is brave. 5 weeks old, he was all, HELLO WORLD. Then last night he ran up and down the full height dog walk like, oh yay agility! I'm thinking, omg don't break your legs. So I dropped the jump bars down and taught him how to circle a jump upright for a tug toy. Holy cuteness. Can I have him?

Fergie says, absolutely fucking not. Get it away from me.

Ah so, Kate. We've been working on spreads, turning over them. Rear crosses, blind crosses, front crosses, late front crosses. Spreads to tunnels and convergence over spreads. Triples, doubles, and the international spread.

Also the aforementioned dog walk is now dominating the corner of the yard. (Ha as if my yard was so large a corner was all the dog walk took up!) Something discussed earlier in the week with a friend, hard to explain. Training a serious "working dog." Oh man, let's just agree to disagree first. Training Kate then. Reward for Kate = work. Toys, food, praise all rank well below the opportunity to work. This is quite a different concept from 99% of all dogs that it makes training rather complicated sometimes. You have to get creative and you must always remember this when training Kate. Repeating a failure is actually reinforcing.

So in speeding up her 2o2o, I've been thinking. A lot. First thing I've learned this week is to use Java gratuitously. Java, by the way, you must learn to stay. This is going to be a requisite of you filling Trin's "perfect dog" position. Kthx. Kate works first and Java mulls about looking for an opportunity to steal the toy. Because she doesn't know how to stay. Once Kate fails, or really, has a less than stellar performance, Kate goes on the table to wait for another turn. She watches Java work. This makes Kate INSANE. Aha. Now we have world class contact speed, and now we reward those contacts with the rest of the sequence we're working, which include spreads and turning over them. And late front crosses. And a j-turn or two. :)

Lest I mislead the reader, Kate is doing less than 1/3 of the dog walk in the training mentioned above. Focus is on end position.

Keeping Busy

2011-12-15T09:16:00.000-05:00

Destiny? there's only your time & then
there's not your time, she said.
All the rest is made up to keep you busy.
-Story People

This is how I feel about things right now. It's a good feeling, letting go of expectation. It's not that I don't hope and dream and make plans, but being sick put things in perspective. I realize this quote can be read two ways, I love double meanings.

Kate's in season, which is right on time. She'll stay home this weekend and just me and my best girl, Trin, will go to Orlando for the Invitational. Kinda nice going to a big event and knowing if I forgot something I could drive home and get it. :)

I worry a lot about breeding Kate, mostly unnecessarily. I don't want to lose her though and there is inherent risk in everything. Hey, she got bitten by a venomous snake on a WALK. I'm starting to feel very committed to this in spite of my reservations and almost possessive already. Those are going to be some super special babies. I've been dedicating some time each night to research now, with 7 months of research I won't know nearly enough, but it will help. I can't wait to snuggle some tiny puppies. To clicker train them and play little toy games with them. D'awwww. I'm already coming up with names. #nerd

So the plan is to breed her to Kerales Keeper (should the puppy names start with "K"? lol), he lives in Maine. You can see him here, here and here. Summer trip to Maine? Don't mind if I do. Might even stop by Clean Run and visit some of Kate's family! Kate is getting pretty reliable about her schedule now, so I can guess early July for being bred, then Labor Day puppies, they'll go home around Halloween. October is warm but pretty nice here in FL so that should be good to be outside with puppies. August and September suck so that will be good to be inside with a super fat Kate and hamsters.

I'm going to attempt to get Kate's Q's for 2013 AKC Nationals and possibly tryouts Q's all before she's bred though the tryouts I'm not sure I'll make. I might put that off until January 2013. Kate's next show, over New Years weekend, she's at 26". For the first time in competition! I'm going to have to handle carefully at first, er, I really just want that last Ex A leg. But my thinking is, trial a few shows at 26" and see what we've got. I think she's ready. If she's not, not the end of the world, her time will come. :)

Oh and that JWW run I messed up last Saturday - 6.93 YPS. Whoa. I added in 0.4 second which I feel like we easily could have made up at the confusion part, 7.1 YPS. Yeah, I think she's getting faster. Click this one too.

Weekend.

2011-12-11T17:35:00.001-05:00

Kate was a little rockstar yesterday, very focused and intent. She was FLYING in jumpers, so fast. We had a little off course, miscommunication because I realized I couldn't get the front I SO thought I could. She actually ticked one of the bars in the opening line, hard, so I stopped for a moment to think and woo-shit, time to get going. Saturday's STD run was lovely, so happy with her there. Turns, fast dog walk, nice weaves. Now we just need one more A leg!

Today was a bit of a mess. Before Standard I could not get Kate to pay attention. She was sniffing and distracted, didn't want to play our usual pre-routine games. Which is weird. She seemed fine during the run but landed in the center of the triple which is not normal and though I was cuing a turn I felt like under normal circumstances she would have been fine. I started to wonder if something was wrong with her, that nagging feeling. Saturday night at home she had been extra clingy and needy. Before JWW was the same distractedness, and then she knocked a bar, ran by several things. I realized it, she must be coming in season. She's due. This was the weekend I had predicted, which is why I didn't go to the USDAA show.

Oh one last thing about this weekend. I handled STD each day with the goal of "go clean" to finish up these A legs I already got. Which is why I walked her contacts and handled conservatively, though I was itching to do different things. I can't wait to be in all Ex B. I've got some ideas for her contacts too which I think might help, now if I could just get some daylight to train in!

So anyway Kate's off for a few weeks now, until New Years weekend, so plenty of time to come in season. This video is private for my vimeo friends (make sure your browser is logged in), but if you want to see the standard Q, click here. Jason Derulo, Don't Wanna Go Home.

Oh and because someone mentioned to me today that I haven't talked about the Graves stuff here, mostly I am trying not complain about it. My leg strength is improving, and I know it will keep improving. Bike rides are amazingly helpful, I'm glad I took the time to fix my bike and grateful for the assistance. Also my helmet looks pretty cool. :) I feel well. And I think I should be in pretty good running form by Kate's next trial - exciting!

Always so thoughtful.

2011-12-07T18:55:00.001-05:00

I got this letter from the AKC while I was gone. Isn't it nice of them to let me know I messed up by entering the wrong class which is actually the same exact class I qualified in twice? Yes, they sent me two letters. :) I almost want to spend the time to call the number, but I have a million other things to do this time of year, besides wasting my time.

By the way I was wrong about the "across the feet" being the same thing we learned, so it really doesn't have a name (that I know) but your arm makes a j, so "j-turn" for now. Jenny Damm at 0:32. Dog stays on the same arm, Jenny blind crosses after it in that video. I spent the majority of my lunch break next to a curb at the disc golf park, pretending to j-turn my dog. I'm sure I looked completely sane, especially since I have the sneaking suspicion disc golfers are mostly stoners. Of course, just before my departure from work, the welcomed "cold front" came in. Thankfully Kate doesn't mind working in a slightly muddy yard. In the dark. I love the weather, but it really does limit my training time this time of year. Yay for night vision video! Kate likes right better than left, but I did work up to two in a row to two in a row. That makes perfect sense. Two jumps. One into a fence. Oh, hello collection, haven't seen you in awhile.

I also need to mention Kate and I went to Kerales Farm on our trip. Above is downtown Quakertown. Isn't it cute? Sheep! It was super muddy so my boots kept getting stuck but holy shit, Kate was like, not any worse than last time, if not better. She seems mentally very composed now, she made a few mistakes, but bounced back quickly. Leslie is the most easy to understand herding instructor I've worked with. At least for me. It's all pressure. Just, watch the sheep heads but also know where they want to go naturally. It's SO enchanting to watch Kate work, dammit the sheep about knocked me into the mud because I was so captivated. Thanks Leslie, for working her while I stood there dumbfounded, and also dragging me around in the mud, it helped. Really.

I really enjoyed it, Kate is so cool!! Her sister Jess looked great too, she is not built as "wiry" as Kate. Well, I've already sent an email to work a sheepdog trial this spring and hopefully turn into lessons. I'm not taking regular agility lessons, I should get some herding in. I think I purposely tried not to remember how much I enjoy it. Snakes are a concern. Agility? Eh... I could see trading it all in for sheep in 20 years. I love agility, the level of precise behavior you can work towards, the thrill of the race. But working sheep is something else, whole, grounded, centered. Like yoga, except you have to think super fast. Reacting is too late. It has to flow, you can't stand around and watch how amazing your dog is. Hm, I guess you could say the same for agility. Parallels, really.

Waka, Waka.

2011-12-05T23:09:00.001-05:00

First of all, did you know Orchard Hills, in Barto, PA, was one of, (if not the first,) dog training facilities to install sprinturf? Pretty cool stuff, the rubber pellets definitely are the key.

So about the seminar, I downloaded a movie for the flight home but found myself obsessing on video and furiously taking notes instead. Slowing moves down and staring at mine and Kate's feet. I so need to get out of her f'ing way. MEB said it nicer than that. Twice. ;) Oh, and if you present seminars, or think you might one day, might I recommend music playing the whole time. I love that.

Blind crosses are scary, at first. I still remember the first time I ever did one. I was at Bud Houston's place, October 2005. It was a straight line blind, I think I yelped as Trin crossed behind me, or rather, I crossed in front of her. I decided then that I wasn't a good enough handler to take my eyes of my dog even for a second. Fast forward 5 years, last fall, Tori and I played around with the ketschker in my yard, I started to see how I might be able to fit this blind cross into my "system" because it was executed with the dog behind the wing, and in May, MEB taught me the serpentine one, where also the dog was behind the wing. I started to use them in trials and course training and liked their application.

Straight line blind crosses, I'm still not sure, though I have even done a couple of those in trials. The spin one, also not sure about. I need to play around with them in my yard and on courses this spring and see how I might like to apply them. This seminar helped me clarify there are actual uses for post turns, (who knew?) also, application and realistic expectations of different kinds of blind crosses. We also practiced something which has many names, because it doesn't have a name, that I know of. "Across the feet", "scoop", "j-arm turn" I am definitely going to play with that more. Actually, the first time I ever noticed that turn on a course, was from watching this video of Tori. MEB reminded me that I was impressed by it.

The video to Waka, Waka (which means Do It) by Shakira, which SO fits:

In order to improve, to change, to grow, you need experiences and it definitely helps to have a trained eye looking at what you're doing. Every day I feel so fortunate that in training Kate, I have such wonderful friends to look at what I'm doing and bounce ideas off of. Who say, "you look awkward, like you're thinking really hard." ;)

There is the concept of mentoring, which I've shied away from talking about for a long time now. Instructors are different from mentors, in my opinion, because it's a deeper level of instruction, communication, confidence, respect. I've been working closely with Mary Ellen now for over a year and she understands Kate better than anyone else. The kind of instructor that can build up her students while being honest at the same time is a rarity, a gift.

And had I not fallen in love with the chubby, independent, sure-footed, white puppy I would not have had the opportunity to work with MEB like I have. I SO appreciate learning from someone flexible enough to experiment with things, how freakin cool is some of the stuff in that video?! So while I try to keep this blog discreet (and not too mushy), I’m beyond grateful to have the opportunity to work with such an amazing teacher. And in the typical double entendre fashion, because honestly, Kate changed my life.

Check In.

2011-12-04T22:54:00.001-05:00

Thought I'd check in. Haven't had a bunch of free time on this trip for blogging, or wait, maybe I have, but just spent it doing something else? Right, sleeping. ;) Gosh, I hate this, I have to go home tomorrow, damn, always goes way too fast.

I have this huge post swirling around in my head, though I tend to just write those posts to myself, and they never get out. Maybe. Tomorrow or Tuesday... I haven't even taken any pictures! The new Orchard Hills training building sprinturf got put in this weekend, I'm disappointed in myself, even though the beautiful turf will always be there, the installation was worth getting pictures of.

(lone iphone shot, taken while eating breakfast)

Kate has been great, as she always is. The seminar topic was International, which roughly translated to blind crosses, back sides, blind crosses, push throughs, blind crosses, tricky lines. Awesome. Mary Ellen truly is the very best at explaining things, and it was fun learning new handling moves. I have a much deeper understanding of how each of my three blind crosses works, and I picked up 2 new ones. (I count my bx's on handling moves they replace.) I wish I had the opportunity to use them more on American courses but I will have to play around with them and see how I want to fit them into our skills.

Kate did phenomenally at 26", I was quite impressed. Her contacts weren't the best ever, but that's ok. She was only a tad naughty about her start lines. :) No really, I'm impressed that it improved over the weekend, then again, I made a conscious effort today to have more control over her in general as far as that goes, she can sit. So she will.

I got video so I'll put something together and then elaborate more, my eyelids are not cooperating with me at the moment......

Trained.

2011-11-30T08:29:00.001-05:00

Bounce, bounce, bounce. I'm going on vacation with my dog. Tomorrow. Can't. Sit. Still. :)

So last weekend, I trained Kate. With friends! Donna is back from the frigid north - yay!! I found the course on FB, and I was so pleased to see we had a big group of people. Of course, we had to take an obligatory picture of the Kerales dogs together.

L-R Keen, Clever, Ruby, Kate, Sting

Yes, that's my girl. The one who can't pant and look at the camera like every other dog. She's stalking Sting. Nerd.

Kate did quite well, her first time training at 26" in awhile, or you know, training at all. I had fun breaking the part around the weaves down, finding out which lines I like. That's my favorite part of agility, and with a good group of people we could discuss the different handling options. I maybe got a little excited about that and talked too much. Kate is just so different, even from her sister, that it fascinates me.

That's what I meant in that Thank You post about potential. Each one of the dogs in the photo above, plus Annie the Aussie who was also training with us, *each one* IS amazing in their own right. They all have talent, and it's just so cool to tap into that and make it click. I'm so lucky for the opportunity to train with such great dogs (and people). (my Aussies included in that statement)

Clever and Kate - litter mates

So anyway, turns out Kate forgot how to weave, a lot. I cut that out. Which cracks me up because I am always so confident of her weaves. Her jumping was mostly pretty nice, though I have to remember to *cue* collection if I want it. ;) And um, let's see, contacts looked good off camera, but on, not so good. I cut out the sticky aframe at the end and put a picture instead.

I feel like I have used this song before, though I know I haven't. Get Free, The Vines. Got a little creative with the iMovie lol

So much.

2011-11-28T23:02:00.001-05:00

I have another post for the Aussie blog that is going to get shorted, why am I writing on Kate's... this multiple blog thing is tough. I have another video, with like, actual agility, of Kate, but that will have to come tomorrow.

Naturally, I'm a pretty busy, methodical, organized person, but when I got sick I lost my... fire, to be anything aside from lazy. Not sure how else to say that. Today I was on, got some real work done at work, purposefully avoiding the fast approaching essay writing project of year-end reviews. Laundry, dishes, vacuuming. Mmm fresh sheets and open windows, should be a lovely, cool night tonight. Um, don't come burgle me now, I have 5 dogs.

Also I finally got my bike back to working order. Took a spin around the block as fast as I could, ahhh! You know, to make sure the wheels didn't fly off or anything. Now. Can I wake up *early* to ride tomorrow? Haha, nope. Will have to ride after training dogs, in the evening. I love bike riding (in the dark) this time of year because there are so many subdivisions near me, it's fun to look at all the pretty lights. Motivate myself for exercise by visions of shiny things, hey, whatever works. I did put our wreath out this year. (Pat on back) No worries, I've invested in a helmet and more reflectors, for me, not the wreath. Also I ride on the sidewalk. Yeah. I know...

So I put this video together and didn't like it, I keep showing it to Gary like it might get better. Mostly I just want to use this song. For what it's worth, probably one of the *best* jazz song ever written, most definitely a classic. Dave Brubeck Quartet, Take Five. But Kate really does love the grass game at an obnoxious level now.

Thank you.

2011-11-23T10:32:00.001-05:00

My favorite holiday. I mean, really any holiday that encourages mass consumption of food and pie, can't forget the pie, really is an awesome holiday in my book.

But the spirit of Thanksgiving is to be thankful, and I've never been more thankful than I am now. There are so many great things going on in my life, even if there are a couple of not-so-great too. First, the dogs. Each one of them is so special, even the dogs that aren't mine, all I see is potential. I have greatly enjoyed the process of bringing this talented young dog onto the trial scene this year. Kate's so on the cusp of pure awesomeness, I love the edge of it, the little taste of what will be. She's already incredible, and she's pushed ME to be better. Thanks, Kate, I would not have done it without you.

Second, the people. Thanks to all who have allowed me to debate endless ideas (whining) with them. I am so fortunate to have been able to spend so much time this year with such great people. Between my disc dog friends and my agility friends, I am so blessed. I don't want to gush, but my dog friends are *the best.*

So I'm also thankful for the means to be able to travel so much, I'm going to an agility seminar with my favorite agility instructor next weekend on a very interesting topic. Bounce bounce bounce (impatient). Then I'm going to the Invitational with my first agility dog and a few weeks after that, another seminar and then a dog-less trip to a tropical island! How did I get so fucking lucky? Thank you!

And this is Kate at the Great American Teach In. This is Gary's description of the photo: Katerade demonstrating some positive reinforcement training! She practically spit out the treats and wanted to sneak one of those Hero Xtras off the ground and go for a long toss!

Haha sounds like Kate to me.

(thanks Kristie Moser for most of the photos above!)

"you are a classic"

2011-11-20T21:56:00.001-05:00

...was my fortune at Panda Express this weekend, which is cryptic but not quite a fortune. I mean, I do work for the best selling beverage of the same name. ;)

So, first of all I'm stoked to report that I felt like I had more control over my legs this weekend, which was a huge plus. I am a lot more confident now that I'll be better in time for the Invitational! Yay!

Kate and I had a little training weekend for both of us. Me figuring out to handle again, (rather than lurch) and Kate realizing that yes, I want her to "stop" her aframe, in retrospect realizing she hasn't stopped a whole lot on the taller one.

Grand Prix went pretty well, she knocked a bar on convergence. Damn it. Then, she came off her AF, so I tried to have her hold the teeter but she was too forward... haha nice toe hold though. ;) Starters STD on Saturday, we had an off course and missed a jump. Her turn to the weaves was lovely. She came off her AF again and for no discernible reason. I vowed to really focus on getting her to hold it in Steeplechase. Oh, HOLY SHIT SHE DOWNED ON THE TABLE. Like swiftly!

Freakin' lovely lateral send in the opening of STP, but I got tangled up in my front cross and Kate missed a jump. I couldn't save it. Decided to just work her AF's. But she ran it... so we left.

And STD Sunday, finally, nice stopped AF. Good girl, Kate! She had a lovely run for 1st place and her 2nd Starters STD leg. Heh. We'll be out of starters eventually! LOL

It was SO nice to be out in the sun, hanging out with friends. Soft grass, bare feet, good times. Food!! We even saw a movie, Tower Heist, it was pretty good. I got my IFCS raffle winnings - eep! Free entries and gift certificates GLAORE! I'm trial rich! Plus a DOI lunch box in black, I have the pink one already. I think I will sell the entries I won't use, like for CPE clubs. Oh and how to win at Gamblers and Snooker DVD, ha no more 9 point Snooker runs for Kate!

Video to 123 Stop by the Postelles. Cute song for the theme of the weekend. :) Check out those tables!!

Rewind.

2011-11-18T08:42:00.001-05:00

Hah, there's a word that lost it's true meaning a long time ago. Nostalgic to say, I remember rewinding things by hand....

So, exactly 52 weeks ago, Kate and I embarked on our very first trial adventure. It’s great to be able to look back on my thoughts then, which is the main reason I keep the blog, even though it feels odd, sharing my stories with the “world.” So looking back, Kate couldn’t do a teeter, or stop on her dog walk, her weaves were mostly trained as was her running aframe. Ha! I remember someone who owns a relative of Kate’s writing to say I really should do something about her teeter after seeing video of her first trial. ;) Aww.

We ran in Starters Gamblers, Pairs and Jumpers and one year later we still don’t have those titles. Hehe, it would help if I entered them, but I like to just get the AD and not worry about the games titles, so we’re still chasing two more Starters STD legs. Oh and a Starters Snooker. Which I didn’t enter because I thought she’d get that at the trial I missed over Halloween.

I really love shows on grass, and something about USDAA... I like the AKC jump heights (for the Aussies) but as far as venues go, I like USDAA better. Kate’s only in a few runs this weekend, Starters STD and tournaments, which is probably best since I still don’t know if my legs will work right. I did make a concerted effort this week to do strengthening exercises however most were foiled by malfunctioning equipment. I definitely built some muscle in my arms pumping up my bike tires incessantly! Went with the old, run up and down the stairs. (cue Rocky theme music). I did put weights in my hands!

So off we go… the teeter is trained now, as is everything else (aside from being tested), start line stay? I still want to tweak some performances, but mostly I’m quite pleased with the raw talent oozing out of her right now. Heh, I mean literally 54 weeks ago I was discouraged about how “behind” she was. Dog who can’t jump in a round arc. Ahhh she’s learned so much this year, more importantly *I’ve* learned so much this year. Where would I be without thanking the several people who helped get us here… well perhaps for another post, maybe next week, you know the big thankful holiday.

Here's her first run ever in a trial again... my handling, makes me giggle. And my running, gotta get that back.

All photos by Tori Self at Kate's first trial a year ago!

A little late...

2011-11-15T08:43:00.000-05:00

I'm a little late on the weekend... time really slips away doesn't it? I'm not at all blaming consuming novels, I love the way a good story can make you forget where you are. I got my diagnosis last week, Graves disease. Alright, so that was kind of a sad day. Then I left for eastern Tennessee Wednesday for my cousin's wedding. A trip without dogs, but I have a cool family so that makes up for it.

It's always interesting to spend time around "not" dog people, but most especially family. I feel this undesirable need to explain how I'm not delusional, the word "fur-kid" is dirty and my dogs are just pets. Pets! Everyone wants to know when I'm having "real" kids. A bewildered aunt wondering aloud how much money I make when I win a competition. Um, pretty ribbons, but I don't take them anymore because I have too many... but, oh! there is nationals! And friends. You see, I don't make friends, not easily... but the people who train dogs, they are different. We all understand and we all actually care about each other. And some, most, if not all of the best people I know are "dog people." No. I am not delusion. But no, I am not planning on having kids. The human kind.

(that's me there on the right, my aunt and my cousin's wife R-L, photo by my aunt Joan)

The mother of the groom, whispering conspiratorially to her teenage daughter, while shifting her eyes in my direction, "she trains... dogs... to, you know, do that stuff, on those obstacles." The inn where we stayed had some agility equipment out in the front of the property. Weave poles and a dilapidated teeter. The view was stunning, the wedding beautiful, the reception festive. S'mores were delicious and now I'm on a serious diet as my thyroid function starts to slow down.

(view from my room)

Kate and Gary played in Canis Major 3 while I was gone, I think they got something like 4th place, now out of the running for the series, but that's fine because I'm out of town this weekend in Orlando for a Dog On It trial and in Barto, PA for the last one. Turns out Kate doesn't catch as well without me there, Sally told me they were saying to check her pads because they must be on fire. LOL

I got home Saturday night and watched most of Pulp Fiction with my dad, waiting for Gary to come home from Canis Major 3. Stayed up waaaay too late but didn't run until 1pm at the trial on Sunday. Jumpers was a tricky course, for once! And I really wished I had legs to truly run with. I made a small mistake and Kate missed a jump and went off course. I would try to run, lurch forward, trip over my feet which were not responding to my brain. It was pretty comical actually. Standard was more of a mess, someone forgot how to stay on her contacts which is what I really needed her to do. Since when does she turn tight? She missed two jumps in that run and had a refusal at the dog walk, "back" tunnel and she turned off the dw between the tunnel and it... seriously, Kate? Oh well, those runs will stay in the vault of film never seen, thank you for filming anyway Kim! Hopefully this weekend is a different story.

(vented tail! LOL)

My MacBook died. It's a very sad thing, pretty sure the hard drive is gone. I don't really want to buy a new laptop right now, but I almost have to... if I'm not around for awhile, I'm not being antisocial, just don't feel like blogging
from my phone.

(Kate playing with Kiera, who is I believe 4 years old and LOVES Kate.)

Changing...

2011-11-06T20:53:00.001-05:00

Ahhh weekends! I felt the best I've felt in a long time this weekend, which, isn't saying much. ;)

I skipped the trial Friday because it was raining and I really should spend some time at my place of employment. Then Saturday was busy, a Canis Major in Orlando and my trial was near Lakeland (between my house and Orlando) so I convinced Gary to get up early and come to the trial. Was kinda fun having him there, some people were shocked to see him.

I ran Standard first, for fun of course, we had a nice run, though she came off her aframe and almost slid off her teeter. My running looks ridiculous and that made me very sad, also I could not breathe at the end and had to sit down. I'm putting it public though, enjoy. 2nd place, very respectable run. I decided to bail on jumpers because we needed to be in Orlando by 1 and I wasn't a running superstar anyway.

Canis Major was fun, HUGE crowds and loud music which was part of Kate's problem (she listens for the disc) the other part was the wind causing discs to stray, this venue has out of bounds and it's a tight arena. Anyway she ended up coming in 3rd place and with her 1st at the last one she's leading the series right now. Some of the video is choppy because I got too excited and filmed the ground a little, there is another round I didn't tape.

Sunday at the show my calf was tight, but I felt pretty good. I ran STD well, and again got 2nd place. Was happy that she held her teeter and AF, have no idea about the dog walk, it does look like I released her but I know I was worried about making the front cross, which didn't happen, I blinded the tunnel, worked out alright. I slowed her teeter on purpose because of the sliding the day before. Jumpers, I got lost, boxes confuse me. After the off course I did the ending differently just because the weaves we sort of into the fence there and I wanted to practice my pulling backwards. She's a rockstar and slipped past a jump. But unlike most rockstars, no need to stop for adoring fans, she jumped over the ring gating into the pool, the judge smiled when she whistled. LOL

So notes for myself, need to work on how to get a better dog walk performance off the start like that. She's just better certain ways with her dog walk and a tire, dog walk start isn't it. Also I feel like I marked her self releases on contacts well but I need to watch that and see what happens. Her start lines were annoying, but I've cut that out for times sake. She does NOT want to sit, though if I can get her to I know she'll stay in it.

The song is Changing by Airborne Toxic Event, because I thought she ran like a superstar this weekend. It's like she's finally gotten all the pieces down, and can put it all together. Shit, she's fast. And I'm broken. Figures. I'm going to get better though and it will be fun to see our team work then! Ok macbook is dying time to go. Hope you all had a great weekend with your dogs too.

Keep On Smilin

2011-11-04T21:52:00.001-04:00

(this blog needs more pictures, I will do something about that this weekend.)

Been a long and crazy week. Was Monday really the day I finally got to go to the Endo? Gary went back to the hospital yesterday for the second kidney stone, luckily his doctor was free and they were able to do the surgery that day. He's home now. Sore, but it looks like his run with the stones is done for now.

I took some radioactive iodine Wednesday, a very small amount, so they could do a CT scan and see what my thyroid does with it. Upon exiting the scanner, I will say, lying perfectly still with your head tilted back like you’re hanging off the side of the couch, you’re disoriented when you first sit up. CT scans are ridiculous, get your picture faster! I had to hold still for 25 mins. You never want to sneeze as bad as you do when you can’t MOVE. And I never got to see my thyroid pictures. Lame.

I listened to City and Colour and Local Natives to relax in the CT scan. Of course I was suddenly coming down with a cold. I could feel the post nasal drip. Ugh. The cold was the last straw, after 3 hours of sleep I almost lost it. Very rarely have I ever felt like I couldn't deal. Low point in my life. I feel better now. Started my anti-thyroid drug yesterday. So far no noticeable side effects. Super. Bought myself an adorable pill case so my meds can be all organized. I also bought other things, thanks to Mary Ellen for teaching me about retail therapy. ;) Speaking of MEB, I am going to play with my dog in her seminar in just 4 weeks. 4 weeks! Time flies. I can't wait.

I worked my dogs two nights in a row. Worked. My. Dogs. Incredible. Kate was rusty and so was I but we got some great things accomplished. Her jumping was not pretty (big) but she was phenomenally fast and nailing everything, even when I couldn’t get there because my legs still don’t work quite right. She's brilliant and I'm going to run her tomorrow. In a competition. Life is good. And then a disc competition on the same day.

I went to a fast food restaurant this week, I deserve it. As soon as I heard the girl asking my order, I smiled. She’s a cheerful girl, I’ve seen someone throw a cup of mountain dew in her eyes and she smiled. She’s delightful, or possibly insane. Every time someone pulls away, even the mt dew assailant, she always says, “Keep on smilin.” She was mid conversation, repeating an order and she made sure she let me know yesterday. Keep on smilin.

It changed my whole perspective. Yeah I'm sick, like take lots of meds for a long time sick, and my husband was in the hospital, but it's not that bad. I can still think,
and see,
and hear,
and breathe,
and smile.

:)

Live it up.

2011-11-01T22:24:00.000-04:00

Lacking the desire to blog... this is kind of funny actually.

I just want to write about my dogs and there isn't anything to say right now. Kate's made a rut the yard where she drops the disc off, turning there every time.

Soon though! I got a beta blocker on Monday (Propranolol - which is for my heart rate and the shakes). I also got an anti-thryoid med Methimazole (Tapazole) that I can begin taking on Thursday, after I get a few more tests. I'll be on the drugs for a few years and we'll see what happens. It all sounds fairly easy to deal with though so fingers crossed it works out like my research suggests.

Oh and my Endo thinks it is Graves, (which is a last name, not an indication of direction, I'm calling it Sunshine disease) we'll get more info tomorrow morning. 7:30AM Dr's appointments, it's like.... work. ;)

The Propranolol is pretty good stuff. I guess musicians and actors take it to reduce the shaking while performing. My heart rate got down to 95 today which felt amazing. Ahhhhh! Next Monday I'll double the Propranolol to get to the proper dosage until the anti-thyroid drug starts to really work.

Trial this weekend of wasted money, I think if I'm feeling up to it, I will stop in though. There's also a Canis Major so I'll have Gary play with Kate in that. I probably will not play, have to see how I feel. That's right, throwing a disc while holding still sounds a lot more challenging than running an agility course. ;) LOL I am taking it easy, I swear.... off to bed. Can't wait to get a full nights sleep soon.

Duh.

2011-10-29T21:58:00.001-04:00

So the next two trials I accidentally entered Kate in Ex B STD. Which means they won't count for anything except practice. Fuck. I must have somehow missed it on the original confirmation, and because of AKC's stupid rule about move downs. You can move up, sure. Move down, hell no. I guess I can hope Kate comes in heat, like tomorrow. Not likely though. We probably won't get out of Ex A this year because I was planning a break from trials in Dec when she is supposed to be in season. Oh well.

(starts being about me so if you're here for Kate...)
Kate's been a good girl while I've been sick, kinda. She's always ON me which can be annoying when I'm burning hot like I'm working out. I'm not doing great, a few times got close to making Gary take me to the hospital but now only 38 hours until my appointment, if they don't give me any meds I will cry. I keep getting low grade fevers and this morning almost blacked out when I stood up. With my metabolism cranking away I think 9 hours without food is too long. Bringing a PB&J to bed tonight! Protein, sugar, carbs (for the AM).

(I am bored!!! -Kate)

Well. I have lost muscle tone everywhere, but also I'm pretty thin, this morning, the lowest I've weighed since before high school. Upon seeing that, I was worried, not excited, so I had Gary get me french fries and a burger for lunch. Food is good, I've never been able to eat whatever I want. Ice cream tomorrow! I didn't have to go to work most of this past week, but also didn't get to go to a trial I've been planning since August. Ohh that makes me so sad to think about that.

I have seen like 30 movies, that's not an exaggeration, we've watched 8 so far today. Finally saw Crash, I can see why everyone loved it so much when it came out. Neat transitions and a good story, though a bit repetitive. Got it, racism. Also enjoyed Must Love Dogs, super cute. Ha, I've seen 30 movies and can recommend 2. ;) Rewatched a lot of my favorites, Office Space, and a bunch of Tarantino. Thankful for Gary's parents who used to buy lots of movies so I have around 100 to chose from. I also have become obsessed with Bukowski's writing and read an entire book of his poetry. The stories are mostly silly but he has a way with words.

“Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I'm not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you've felt that way.” ― Charles Bukowski

So I guess I'm thankful for the illness in that way, allowing me to absorb media I would have never had time for. Now... to watch the Matrix - go Trinity!

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

2011-10-24T22:32:00.000-04:00

Before last week I didn't really know what a thyroid even did. I've had symptoms for awhile, faster heart beat, too fast, tremors in my legs and hands. The kind of shaking that doesn't stop even with mental focus. Pretty sure I was dying, but also convincing myself I had just gotten weak over the summer not doing anything. Then the other things started, swelling in my legs and ankles, unexplained. Ok maybe it's from flying. No, it's from shoes. Oh hello, naughty thyroid.

I have hyperthyroidism. My thyroid is going overboard and with that, it's speeding up every single process my body has. My heart rate resting is 115-130 bpm right now. Way too high. I got three vials of blood drawn Friday morning, and today, what I already knew from countless internet research, was confirmed. Bummer.

So I have to wait another week, for another appointment, with an Endocrinologist. Named Pedro. Next Monday. Halloween. They'll look at my thyroid and try to kill some of it so it acts like a normal thyroid, if that doesn't work they'll remove it and I'll take replacement drugs for the rest of my life. Pretty scary. And pretty sucky. I eat right, I exercise, I don't smoke and rarely drink... but, genes are a funny thing and this time I got Bingo. Turns out thyroid problems run in the family. Quite likely, I have nodule(s) on my thyroid in which case I'm not sure there will be another option besides to remove it. Surgery. Awesome.

An illness is like a journey into a far country; it sifts all one's experience and removes it to a point so remote that it appears like a vision. -Sholem Asch

This is true. Being sick, being really sick, thinking about dying... it makes you start to wonder why you are wasting your days doing stupid shit like babysitting adults. No really, that's a big part of my job. That Steve Jobs commencement speech gets me every time. Listen to it. I do find some satisfaction in my job though, so it's not all dreary, but being sick does make you reconsider your life, especially knowing right this moment my heart is wasting 50-80 extra beats a minute. Poor heart.

I'm not purposefully being morbid, though maybe I am, it is important to step back and consider your life, are you doing what makes you happy? Because tomorrow... you never know. I don't know what I'd want to do for a job instead, I love training dogs but people... another story. I'd like to rehabilitate rescues and be able to place them in loving homes. Hah, sounds fantastic.

So here's the video of Kate, unfortunately only Vimeo contacts can see it, so send me a request and I'll add you. I look like "tin-man-girl" again, as Gary said a few weeks ago, and that's because my legs don't work right for some reason with T3 and free T4 coursing through my body. Compensating with stupid handling maneuvers....doh

So hopefully I'll be on the road to recovery soon, PLEASE by the invitational! Kate says I am no fun like this, except the disc game was super fun tonight. I forgot how good short disc sprints can be for wearing dogs out. Yay!

Moving Pieces

2011-10-23T15:33:00.002-04:00

I often think of agility as a bunch of moving pieces, you have to have all the pieces to put a good run together. We didn't have all the pieces this weekend, knocked the triple, almost twice, once for sure, and bounced off the table when approaching at speed. Homework! Poor, Kate, she didn't even have her average handler, and I'm resorting to doing some stupid shit to compensate.

I don't mind being sick. Really. I just hate failing for my dogs... I was a failure this weekend and I'm sorry for that. Kate did pick up a first place Ex A STD leg, miraculously! And a first place Ex B JWW leg with Tori, will we get MXJ or AX first? LOL Here's her run with Tori, thanks again for running my dog! As Tori said, "whoa, I've never run a self-propelled dog before!"

I can't really explain why I can't handle yet, I'll hopefully know more tomorrow. All I will say for now is that I'm scared, and I'm not prepared for this. I might post some more video later but I hate how I look this weekend, so probably not.

Kate was an absolute rockstar, squealing again and running faster than I remember her. Also her aframe looked great all weekend, I am happy with the stop.

Dock Diving Champion!

2011-10-17T17:22:00.002-04:00

So yeah, not really.

While we were at Purina I took the opportunity to see how far Kate really jumps, since she does all kinds of long leaps off of our dock at the lake...

Hmm... guess it isn't the same ;)

Two short videos, thanks to Kat Fahle, and I didn't even have to ask her to film for me! :)

Gary is doing MUCH better, out of the hospital, surgery successful. Still waiting to find out what might have caused the stones.

Three day trial this weekend! Woohoo and next weekend and like every weekend for as long as I can think. Super! Now I should just, you know, train my dog once in awhile... I feel like we haven't done anything since Gary got sick... Kate TOTALLY agrees.

2011-10-12T22:43:00.000-04:00

Writers block. What is there to say?

I’m exhausted. I slept from 11pm to 2am Friday , Saturday and Sunday. Monday I woke up at 3:30. Tuesday at 5am, in which I hastily dressed and took Gary to the ER. He battled nasty kidney stones all weekend. Now he’s resting comfortably on morphine and oxycodone at the hospital until tomorrow when they will extract it, unless it decides to come out on its own first. I went to work, I’m such a good employee, struggling to keep my eyes open. I noticed the hospital “quiet times” are 10pm to 6am. Ok. And 2-3pm. Hey, they get naptimes! And whole wheat spaghetti for lunch. So all in all Gary seems to be doing well with the situation.

wow, Kate...

This weekend Gary didn’t play very well with Kate (or Bayer) and we could blame the kidney stones, but nah. Kate was awesome, her return is the BEST it’s ever been. Sick return. So proud of her. She used to bring it close to back and then just take off down the field again, or stop 10 feet away drop the disc and stare. It’s part of being sticky and thoughtful, and also 1/6 times in competition when she brings it back the game is over, smart puppy. ;)

Not much training going on here with Gary in the hospital, I did a little verbal discrimination work in the dark tonight, and also some contact rehab.

Nothing going on this weekend, except I got elected to work on Saturday. Probably clean the house and I’ve been meaning to do some different jump grids with the dogs. This time last year that’s all I did, but I realized I haven’t done any in awhile. Also USDAA nationals livestream!

All photos by Kat Fahle

St Louis

2011-10-07T23:07:00.002-04:00

It's dryer here than I expected. Almost feels like Colorado but there's no mountains to be found. Pretty though, the leaves are changing colors. I'm a camera fail today... Eep! So cool to see everyone!

First Place to whoever knows this dog.

Kate and Bayer are here in Gray Summit, MO to compete at the Ashley Whippet Invitational. Bayer will compete in FS and Kate will compete in a cash toss and catch division, 60 seconds, no distance. Gary and Kate have played several times this week, and whoa, she is something else. Just watching that dog run back 40 yards, like the wind.

Purina Farms is pretty sweet. I saw some agility equipment, felt like a kid with a playground, oooh pleeeeeeeease can I go play?!!

the water comes out here!

Yep, she obsessed with faucets everywhere now. Awesome. ;)

I'm waking up in 3 hours to watch the AWC livestream from France. So much dog sportness in one weekend. LOVE watching this event live though, the energy. It's insane. So I will wake up at 1 and go to the competition all day and I'll sleep next weekend.

Tourna-mental

2011-10-02T23:02:00.000-04:00

I love USDAA. Don't you? It's fast, flashy, lots of runs, sometimes you win money, no strict leash rules, and you can even place without running clean! We won't discuss up contacts, downs on tables and taller aframes.

Kate absolutely rocked this weekend. Lots of runs, lots of GREAT things. As you already know she Q'd in STP and GP on Friday.

Saturday started out great with Kate winning Team Gamblers. As I turned her around to go back to the weaves she started screaming, each time I turned her back to the obstacle she just did she got higher and higher. It was hysterical, then she ran off and took an extra jump in the closing earning us more points and ultimately placing us first.

That running off got us E'd in Team STD though, a lot of dogs weren't taking that jump so I pushed. Hard. Oops. Damn it, one of these days I'll actually remember how sensitive she is. Italian race car dog. Also in Team Snooker Kate left the camera to go take the finish jump after 8 points. Team Jumpers, ugh, I don't know.

Starters STD was interesting, a bar on Saturday and Sunday a clean run for our first leg, but with a running aframe. Oh, hello running aframe. Kate's elbows never completely touched the table but look at how low she is, come on USDAA. Thankfully this judge probably couldn't tell, I'll admit to partially standing in the way. ;)

Steeplechase finals... I so don't want to post this run, what a disaster that ended up clean and 2nd place, with enough money for gas for the weekend. Thank you Kate for being a rockstar and carrying me! I got behind when she ended up behind me before the tunnel in the opening and then it was a mad dash to the weaves, I had meant to do a rear and I was determined. I'm still chuckling at the crowd when I started running the opposite direction Kate was weaving. Oh that parlor trick? LOL Kate's amazing like that. I think with a rerun we could have been at least 3 seconds faster. Her aframe was atrocious, and after that frame she never stopped the rest of the weekend. What? she can't learn to stop in a week, geez. ;)

Snooker. Oh Snooker. I love Snooker and it was one of the things I was most excited about this weekend. I always wanted a fast dog to play snooker with, Trin was never fast enough to do 4 7's... Kate's fast enough, but I can't manage her around. Yet. LOL guess we'll practice some more.

Overall Kate's jumping looked alright. LOTS of big jumping, but I'll throw out an excuse that with the cooler weather (yay!!) the dirt got really dry and so it was very slippery. Her dog walks were good, not sure why I quick released her in Starters *after* she had knocked a bar? Aframes... well, started out GREAT but progressed back into a running by the end of the weekend. We just need more practice.

Here's the video... enjoy.

Gary said this post should be called "Kate's Got Talent" LOL (Let It Rock is AGT's theme song).

Eep!!

2011-09-30T22:09:00.002-04:00

So the Southeast Regional is only 9 months away but Kate qualified for Steeplechase and Grand Prix tonight!! Sooo excited for her! She's half way Q'd for USDAA nationals, just like that. Of course we're not going and OF COURSE it's in CO, one of my favorite places.

We ran Starters Snooker first, my plan was to get the "yee haw" out and we sure did, very similar to our last regional Snooker run, weeeee! Wide turns and off course after 5 in the closing. Oh well.

Steeplechase was a fun course, Kate ran by a jump on the serpentine (#7) but I popped her back over it and clean through the rest, with a pretty nice stopped aframe! We came in 4th even with the bobble!

Grand Prix - tricky course. I held Kate's contacts, as I promised myself I would. We didn't win, but we came in second to Stuart and Ares, which isn't too bad. ;)

Very happy with the Katerade tonight. She's such a good girl. I love USDAA, so much fun, I have like a zillion runs tomorrow...

STOP!

2011-09-28T22:50:00.000-04:00

Poor dog. Run, run, run your dog walk, no wait, stop. Run, run, run, run, run your aframe, now stop. I actually put a stop on Kate's aframe for a brief period over the summer just to see if she would - and she did! Of course, this is all in my backyard.

So when I asked her to stop at the trial Sunday, she couldn't really do it. The USDAA aframe is taller and so if she's going to stop I'd really like her to be confident. I trained with some friends tonight, really fun to get out and just train. Kate did great, I got her videoed her second time through the course. Below.

Kate's running aframe problem was different than her dog walk. I couldn't turn her off the dog walk and I didn't feel like it was an advantage, for her. Her aframe I wanted, still want. She is light on her feet and unfortunately, doesn't use them. It's a real challenge but I'm going to keep playing with the running on the side, maybe we can figure it out. For now though, being that we only have one season until she's off for puppies, (and honestly I don't know what to expect about her coming back from that,) I'm stopping her so we can trial... and qualify.

Go Pro

2011-09-26T21:30:00.001-04:00

Although I never do, I decided to BUY some pictures of Kate. I have so many amazing photographer friends that I rarely feel like I need to buy pictures. But these are from DACOF where Kate won 4 rounds and got high in trial... plus... this first weave one. Wow. The tail all blurred, yes. Great shot Pix n Pages! I wish I had higher resolution of these, bummed about that.

So I was all excited for the new season... and so far I've not been super successful. Not particularly with Kate, though I thought we'd have a smoother start, my Aussies too. And all it takes is a couple bad weekends, I've completely lost motivation for competing and just feel like sleeping in until cooler weather arrives.

Alas this week training with local friends and this weekend we have a USDAA trial, exciting! Lots of runs each day, we're on a fun team with good friends. One of the judges is actually someone I know. IFCS is having a fun raffle where I can buy a ticket to maybe win Kate on the cover of Clean Run. Er what am I saying, there's no raffle, don't buy tickets for the CR prize. ;)

Kate OA and some rambling

2011-09-25T18:40:00.000-04:00

First, Kate got her OA!! And she got to run in Ex STD for the first time! Woo hoo finally, no more conflicts with her own runs!

So she is now: Kerales Kate OA, AXJ, 2011 Quadruped National Champion, yes she needs the Quad champion on her titles ;)

After Friday's runs I was ready to put a stop on her aframe, even though she qualified. I didn't know she Q'd though so I ran her in Open STD on Saturday too, that turned into more of a training run because she knocked the second bar, then she came off her dog walk so we left. That's in the video. Sunday we ran in Ex STD for the first time and were very close except a tiny off course to the teeter after the AF. I asked for a stop and when she didn't we miscommunicated a bit.

Jumpers was more of a mess than not. Friday I forgot how fast she is, twice. So we missed some jumps and knocked some bars. :( Saturday she was perfect, I got caught up in a front cross and caused a bar a bit down the line. Sunday, she went off course and in trying to get her back on course she tried the weaves twice, and I got whistled for training in the ring, she whistled me as Kate got in the poles (the second time) but I wanted her to finish them before stopping. It's all in the video, just not in order.

Kate ran well though, some tweaky things. I really do appreciate not doing well at shows, homework shows. So what did I learn? Kate commits early and makes decisions well before she lifts for a jump, she isn't the kind of dog who is going to be forgivable, basically I need to be more perfect. :) She's got a LOT of power and it's hard to gear that down last minute. Hehe. Also Kate forgot how to stay on a contact while I blind cross, confirmed at home as well, may have been exacerbated by a quick release aframe stopping session Friday night.

She learned some things too and improved some skills over the weekend, I like seeing little wins and that's enough to make me happy about the show. I will admit the getting whistled thing irritated me, I was confused and couldn't properly reward my dog. The Director of Agility was at the show and it was stupid hot. Ridiculously hot. Tori says I can blame some of my failures on that, so I will. I don't think I'll enter this show again, too hot to be out in full sun and too moist to breathe. Ugh. The rings are on a slight hill, which makes for interesting jumping/landing as well as running.

Song is by Andy Grammer, Keep Your Head Up, if you haven't already heard it on the radio, you will soon. I wish I had used it sooner... :)

Winning!

2011-09-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

"It's perfect. It's awesome. Every day is just filled with just wins. All we do is put wins in the record books. We win so radically in our underwear before our first cup of coffee, it's scary." - Charlie Sheen

So Kate's first trial in 9 weeks... some great things and some not so great. I did a lot of course running leading up to the trial, naturally, those courses had completely different skills, now, straightforward? As in the dog walk is right in front of you... nah. ;)

Open STD Saturday was kind of messy but in it's complete form, here it is. There were tunnel bags on the back of the tunnel that looked like an opening... lots of dogs drew past the dog walk. I didn't handle it like a discrimination but I should have. Missed her aframe... and I suck at running.

Ex JWW one VERY wide turn, but a nice run for her FIRST Ex B win. We have some very nice dogs here in FL in 20" so that's nothing to wave off. So cool.

Open STD Sunday, a refusal because I suck at running again and otherwise fairly clean. Table... I could tell, after the refusal, she was only going to stand. And she won the class!

and Sunday's jumpers run, soooo pretty, just that little bar. I *almost* sent her off course before the double, you can see my hand fly up into space. Gah! I believe that was half the bar and the other half was Kate scoping her beloved poles. Still, a very nice run, she let me get quite far away in the weaves. I'm one of the cool kids now.

Video:

So clearly I need to work on my running skills, I'm slowing Kate down, that makes me sad. Knees up, on my toes, long strides. Those are my goals. lol Kate's contacts look really good. I held her back on both her teeters because there were an abundance of flyoffs, my Aussies included. I was very happy with her dogwalk, once I learn how to move again it will be even faster. Aframe... well, it's not done, still. Jumping was funky sometimes, but also good, mostly. 20" is just too easy for Kate, weeeee!

Christmas Came Early

2011-09-15T22:26:00.003-04:00

LOL I knew they were coming soon! Kate's OFA stuff came today!

Elbows:

Hips:

Can't say I'm surprised, when I saw her hips on the x-ray I thought they'd be Excellent but I didn't want to jinx it by saying so. I mean, come on, it's Kate, of course they'd be the best they could be. Elbows I knew would be normal but it was like $10 extra.

Bullets

2011-09-14T22:09:00.000-04:00

Is it the weekend yet? This week is taking forever. Hello, trial season!

this picture cracks me up! Kate's ears were huge!

I booked my trip to St Louis this morning - AWI Finals here we come! Kate will play with me and Gary in the cash toss n catch division. Hi Jenn (and Jeff) - see you there!

I have not turned on the faucet since June but Kate still jumps in the tub at every opportunity. Sometimes she makes monkey noises while lightly mouthing the faucet. I wonder how long extinction of this behavior will take? I probably should not laugh at her, as I think she finds that to be encouraging. ;)

I miss this leash. (photo by Tori Self)

Kate's running aframe is... fine. I feel like it's going really well, but I remember feeling like that before, I guess these next few weeks we'll see what we've got, though, like before, I don't feel like it's "done." I am in FAST on Saturday - aha, aframe practice run... now, just have to wake up on time!

So looking forward to seeing everyone, it's been months since I've seen the local crowd.

by Tracy Carter:

I think we finally had a breakthrough with my "side" training, like if I want to run past obstacles, snooker/international skill. Kate is really obstacle focused and she likes to GO. Staying by my side is soooo overrated. ;) We've got it now though AND I entered Snooker twice (two weeks from now) plus team snooker. Looking forward to busting out my new skill.

Nothing from OFA yet. It's like waiting for christmas.

No classes for me in a long time, it's weird and also strangely nice to not have a commitment...

Tis the Season

2011-09-11T16:09:00.000-04:00

Yay Fall season is here! We had our first disc competition of the season yesterday, the whole getting up early for shows is upon me. Ouch.

by Kat Fahle

Gary and I both played Kate in the Super Sport division (distance/accuracy - Skyhoundz field) of our clubs first Canis Major. Unfortunately, for someone who hasn't really played disc with her dogs, except for a quick training session Thursday night (it was COOL out!!!) I didn't really rock. Though I did tie for 4th place points with Java, we ended up 6th in the tie breaker. Kate and I had nice rounds and I was proud of her for adjusting to my slower and shorter throws! As a spectator told me after my second round with Kate, "can't blame the dog, she was great!"

By Kat Fahle

Gary had three catches with Kate in the 5 point zone each round for a total of 30 points. Not one 1/2 point jump bonus! Gary easily got 5 throws each round, need a fast dog to do that, and each round 2 were out of bounds. Kate won the competition with a 9 point buffer between 2nd place. GO KATE!

by Kat Fahle

So she's currently in first for Canis Major points but due to trials and an agility training weekend, she won't get to win the series. She can go to the second one though, and at least point block, lol.

by Kat Fahle

I've been thinking about shoes all weekend. Sorry to disappoint all you Five Fingers fans, I'm leaving the trend. My first pair, Bikila's, have completely separated from the sole. While I loved wearing them, the attention that came with wearing them was not fun for me. I did learn about how I like to run though by wearing them and will never wear heavy clunker sneakers again if I can help it.

By Tori Self

I bought the Merrel Trail Gloves, back in March. They are fine, though dirt gets in them easily and the black is too hot for direct sun. But they are light weight and have zero mm heel drop. I recently purchased the NB Minimus (4mm heel drop) that are becoming the new "popular" footwear in agility, they'll be here tomorrow. This morning I also bought the Innov-8 Bare Grip 200. A men's shoe, so we'll see when they arrive how they fit. The Bare Grip has rubber "cleats" on them and also boast zero mm heel drop. I will probably keep them both, if they both fit well and use them for different surfaces.

The Bare Grip only comes in lime green, like my Vibrams were, so I think it's meant to be. I really hope they fit, I have small feet for man's shoes. I can post a review of them all, in terms of agility, if you all are interested.

Next weekend, first agility trial of the season! And then two more weekends with 3-day shows!!! EEEK! While, totally poor after three shows, three plane tickets for trips this fall and two pairs of shoes, I'm excited about the new season!

And now we're off to get some sun and take care of the pool. Can you see anything wrong with this picture?

Hint: The toy is already in Kate's mouth? So basically she just jumps in for fun. :-/

Humbled.

2011-09-06T09:45:00.000-04:00

Once again I find myself humbled by this dog that I get to train. Kate, wow.

We had the pleasure of training for several days in a row, 4 really, but by Monday we were all dead. We ran 5 courses and played around with jumping and weave drills. In the end, I wondered how people ever do 4 day camps... I'm exhausted. The s'mores were delicious though. ;)

Since I started this blog as a training journal I am going to talk about each of the courses a bit, as a reminder to myself on what I need to work on. For the record, this is weird for me with all these people checking out Kate for her babies, in a way, I'm glad to not have video, reading this will be boring, anyway here it goes.

Friday, Tori and I built a course for the world team fundraiser run through's at Karen's field. We made it a bit too challenging, the weave entry was ridiculous, a back side as #3, straight tunnels and odd angles. The run thru participants did really well though! It was cool. Kate and I played around on the course, we mostly struggled with the weave entry, funny, as that's our strongest obstacle.

Saturday Course 1.

I tried the push to 4, but I am just not fast enough, I rear crossed 4 and pushed out for 5. Had to hold for 6 and just send to the weaves. Kate didn't do any aframes so I just sent to the back side of 9 from the poles. Hehe, not easy. Then I really, really struggled with opening up from the front cross after she was committed to 9, she kept shooting to the weave poles. Once she realized the tunnel was there I tested it again and she was fine, time to really proof my side cue. I sort of backy-uppy'd her over 11 and ran the inside to 13, fx after the teeter, pull to the tunnel and ruuuuun down the dogwalk. I did back up too far the first time through to get around the tunnel and got the 17 tunnel again. :) Fun course.

Course 2.

I wrapped to the inside of 2, easy enough to the table. Yay! Kate didn't jump off the table! (I've been using a low table as part of her running aframe training.) I moved laterally to 8, turning her towards me on my left arm, to the weaves. 13 was closer to the poles exit for us and was definitely a visual draw, it made it more of a threadle to 14, and another tight line to 15. That was tough but I liked how we were able to get through it. I skipped the aframe, tried a front and a rear between 18-19 and liked it both ways.

Course 3.

Ah good times. Sooo many ways to handle 1-6! I pulled to 3, did a fx-pivot (not sure what it's proper term is) for 4 and rx'd 5. Rx'd the poles, good girl Kate, no issues there. The turn out of the chute was not ever pretty but I held on even with a super wide turn and got clean through the end (skipping the frame). I tried a rx and a fx before the chute, neither were awesome. I blinded the aframe, or would have, Kate was in a stay next to it, pushed to 15, fx'd then sent to 16 and fx'd between 17-18. Kate was always wide on 16 and I had to really hold to get 17 putting me waaay behind, fortunately she does "go on" and got 20 easily. I definitely want to mess around with 13-18 in my yard, see if I can find a way to get Kate to collect for 16 without me being in her face.

Sunday Course 4.

Ooh the evil double push through! I LOP'd 2, ran towards 4 and she got it, no issues. Also pushed to 2 and ran the inside to 4 with no issues. 7-10 I kept getting bars, so decided we didn't have the skill and pulled Kate to the left side of 7 so I could get ahead for 8. I never did get 11-15, never even tried 16-20. :( It was hot and Kate was frying so I gave up on this one. Bummer.

Course 5.

The only Graber all weekend. LOP'd to 3, fx between 3-4, being on the take off side of 6 proved to be better because I needed to be far enough back for a straight approach to the long jump otherwise the slice was too easy for her. I got 9-long jump at least once, but also got through to the weaves clean a lot. 12-13 we switched 13 for the double, not our easiest turn, Kate liked to launch to the middle of the weave poles over the double. I held though and while wide, we did get through, I pushed to the left side of 15, fx'd and then rear crossed 17 and ran out. Getting collection on 14 was tough too, easier to just show her 15 and give her as much space as I could, hope she didn't run into me, which she did, at least once. ;)

Overall Kate was brilliant, she's just a baby and she's getting some of this wicked hard stuff!! Eek. I'm excited for her and excited to see how this year goes. All of our training this weekend was at 26" and aside from when she was over heating, she kept almost all of the bars up. Her contacts on Saturday looked fantastic, and by contacts I mean her dog walk and teeter. Her dog walk is consistently faster, and she's approaching it more sensibly now too. I am pleased to see her contact rehab from this summer paying off. By Monday morning I could visibly see she was tired, so we did hardly any training and I took her and the Aussies swimming for some work-free fun.

Autumnal Musings

2011-08-31T22:06:00.000-04:00

The last cool evening we had was the night Kate kicked a rattlesnake in the face. It was unusually cold for May. I wouldn’t mind an unseasonably cold September. Not too cold though, just enough to take the humidity off.

Alas! Fall is coming! It’s so close I can almost feel it in the air. Almost. I love fall, the season of new beginnings, or is it that I’m still young enough to relate it to a new school year? Or maybe that summer is our winter in terms of outside comfort. Agility season starts in the fall for me, I’m very excited to get back to running my Aussies and actually competing with Kate this year. It will still be about gaining positive experiences, building confidence, but I think Kate and I have come a long way since last fall when we started competing, our first competition was in November. Also the new season brings new goals and achievements.

So comes a time when I should consider my goals for the year. But first, I’d like to reflect. I’ve been living alone for over a week now which is not as lonely as I expected, though simple tasks like lawn mowing have evaded me. I stayed up waaay too late the other night watching videos of handlers I admire. Then I tapped into my own personal collection and watched probably two hours’ worth of Kate’s seminars over the last year. It’s crazy, I went to more seminars this last year than all of my agility experience combined. It made me realize how much Kate has taught me though... we have both grown quite a bit.

OK Goals. First and foremost is continuing to build Kate's trial persona. She doesn't like to make mistakes, being a perfectionist like myself, so I try to limit her mistakes to HER mistakes. I need to roll with handling errors and keep things fun and upbeat for her. I'd like to qualify her for 2012 AKC nationals but being that she'd have to Q in pretty much every standard run from here forward, it's unlikely. I'm going to hopefully qualify her for USDAA at 22" and possibly also 26" but chances are very high that she won't get to go in 2012. I'd also like to try to qualify her for 2013 AKC nationals, but we'll see... I'm really ok with whatever as far as all that goes, I know we still have a lot of growing to do as a team, but I'd like those things, so I'm writing them down. For everyone. :)

(by Tracy Carter)

I'm leaning towards breeding her next summer. Next summer allows me more time to have her for myself, before I share her. Winter/Spring boasts lots of training opportunities that I'd like to enjoy with Kate. Also Gary can try to win the Quad series again, and hopefully have it wrapped up before she gets bred. She won't get to play in Colorado though. :(

I have learned more in the last 100 hours about semen than I ever cared to know. Breeding is not for the faint of heart! Fortunately, the list of homes for the puppies is an awesome bunch of people. And looks like I may whelp the litter! That will be super fun for me! Kate was not an "easy" puppy so I look forward to sending most of them home. :) Gary will keep one, and I solemnly swear not to steal his puppy for agility.

This picture always cracks me up, you can see all 4 feet, but how is she doing that?

Oh, I would be remiss in mentioning we haven't done much real agility or anything lately. Last weekend I visited some friends and played with her contacts, her dog walk looked fantastic, as did her teeter. Played with some tough weave entries, and some jumping, this week. Definitely some training this weekend though, WT Fundraiser run throughs! I'm re-building her running aframe, (with help) but the foundation is going very well so far. I'm repeating this quote like a mantra:

"How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success?" – Elbert Hubbard

Hipster

2011-08-25T22:37:00.000-04:00

Hello! I'm Kate. I got my hips x-rayed today!

I took Kate to the vet who I will likely use for her reproductive needs. She is like *the* central Florida repro vet. I liked her and her office staff LOOOOVED Kate. They told me they do 9 out of 10 OFA x-rays without anesthesia, I was skeptical, but happy to have them try. They have a special chair and Kate was a VERY good girl, no problems getting the shots without sedating her! YAY!!!

Kate entertained the office staff by performing her tricks (play dead was done several times so everyone could see it) and trying to lick the technician as she was positioning her. I know Kate was super nervous in the chair though, her tail was tucked the entire time. She held still perfectly, they did four hip shots, each elbow twice and 2 shots of each shoulder. Everything looked great, we'll get the official word in a few weeks.

This is kind of funny. As I was sitting in the office, nervous, waiting, all I could hear in my head was Shakira's, Hips Don't Lie.

So this is the best of the first two, which the vet didn't like, the left hip (right side) is position too high and when I first looked at it I thought so as well - yay me!

Second round of shots this was the money shot, the one we sent to OFA. Her hips look fine, whew! That's such great news on an otherwise bad news day.

So the best part? All those shots only cost me $130!!! Such a deal! I liked the office and the staff... Kate says she's fine with just swimming instead of going back. ;)

K-8's Trip

2011-08-21T21:16:00.001-04:00

I'm home from my short trip.... we had an amazing time. As always, not nearly long enough.

Mostly we worked on Kate's running aframe, but also some course work and every possible combination with the wall jump. I don't know anyone in FL with a wall jump so feel very fortunate for the opportunity to work Kate on it. Kate worked very hard all weekend, very hard, I'm especially proud of her efforts because we certainly stretched her brain on some stuff.

This is Chili and Fizz (Zoe and Kate stalking the background) Chili is one cool little dude and every one knows Fizz is an amazing dog with an even more amazing recovery story - she's looking great!

I got some great advice (for me) this weekend too. I could be super sappy right now but I'll just say I'm so thankful for the opportunities I've had this year. In addition I got to see a cult classic movie in the famous Colonial Theater which is over 100 years old! Oh and I ate ice cream fresh from a dairy farm - twice!

The obligatory K-8 and E-Z shots. The more time I spend around E-Z the more I see Kate in her, they have similar expressions and make similar noises. Kate is definitely sweeter though, she is almost forceful with her friendliness.

Kate is such a nerd!!

I have new stuff to train, renewed ideas... coming home to an empty house was a bit sad. Gary's mom had some major surgery last week so Gary is in Ohio for a few weeks to be with her. Please send some positive energy her direction, she could use it.

personal happiness

2011-08-17T22:52:00.000-04:00

I got this Story People the other day and immediately thought of Kate:

Your job is to focus on my personal happiness, she said, & I've got big plans, so break time is over.

I like this photo with the quote, the branches overshadowing Kate... I've been in a training slump lately. Kate does not favor this. Every day she's like, "work?" and distract her with "pool?" and her eyes glaze over and she forgets about work for another day. I think it's good for dogs to have a work break... she'll live.

Took the dogs to the lake tonight, the water is almost over the dock. Late summer dock. The smell of (my) lake water is lovely, like earth. Getting water up my nose was bad though.

Tap, tap, tap. This week is the slowest in history I think. Tomorrow I'm off to PA to do some agility training - hey Kate, work break is over - happy? :) I'm excited and impatient, of course, starting tomorrow night time will go at warp speed until Monday.

Weekend

2011-08-15T08:53:00.002-04:00

Wanted to follow up real quick on my eyes. Had my final appointment on Saturday. 20/15 vision still and everything is perfect, no more rainbows or anything. I'm so glad I finally made the decision to do this, I have very much enjoyed my summer without fogged up glasses.

Friday night we went to run-thru's at Pasco Paws. Love that Kelli's doing stuff again, it's SO close to me! The jumpers course was fun and flowy. Gold star for me, I did a rear cross where I could have done a front! The standard course was from EO! Kelli had it numbered easier for the run thru's but told me the numbers for the EO course. It was really fun, Kate was clean aside from a spin/wide turn. Definitely a tricky part, I misunderstood how my motion would affect her. I had to get around a wing and it didn't allow me enough space to move correctly, interesting and I cleaned it up on the second try. BOTH courses I screwed up the end! Ah!!

I'm trying to really push the closing of courses, run hard out. In Perry I was less than half a second off the winning times in jumpers and I know I can push her faster on the closing line. So anyway, Friday night I really pushed and Kate's so sensitive (you know, well tuned sports car) that she shot off course both courses. Oops. :) Ok, so I need to still appropriately use motion as well as push the closing line. Lesson learned.

Saturday we hung out with friends by the pool... lazy August continues!

Sunday we went down to our friends house and all the dogs got to run around the yard. Kate was a naughty girl and embarrassed me by jumping in their pool unauthorized and refusing to get out. I called her and she sped across the pool in the opposite direction! NAUGHTY! We couldn't help but all laugh at her which I'm sure was not reinforcing at all. Girl loves her pool.

So now... super fun trip for me this coming weekend. Really excited and smiling. I am so lucky, such cool people in my life. :)

Disc Golf Monday

2011-08-10T22:12:00.001-04:00

I'm a little late on blogging. Post weekend was kinda crazy for me, for a brief moment yesterday I thought I might be dying. I'm fine now. Anyway Monday we went disc golfing, above is the group. Kate had an absolute BLAST being the only dog. It was a 21 hole course built on a mountain. Quite the hike! The first hole was literally straight up. No trail, just climb and hope you don't slip. Very serene, and nice and cool on top of the mountain.

(Happy Birthday Gary!)

Always gotta take a pic in front of the "Dogs must be on leash" sign. LOL

The rest of the pics are here. Finally got them all done.

Kate's a National Champion!

2011-08-08T02:06:00.001-04:00

Today was the Quadruped. Bayer had to win in order to beat Kate's two wins for the series, and... he's Bayer. He struck out in the second round of his heat, all three of Gary's throws were in the 80's. Then in the last chance heat, first throw was too early for Bayer, second throw was too late, third throw was a BOMB - 88 yards! Currently 4th in the records. Bayer made an AMAZING effort and snagged it. Anyway, he caught a 46 first round of the finals to eliminate a strike out. Then second round, same as their heat, three perfect 80 yard throws and Bayer missed them all by less than a yard. The sun was a major factor and the cloud cover just didn't work in Bayer's favor. So he came in 3rd for the day, got the longest catch trophy too. Second in the series, a tie for 2nd (Darron had 2 2nds behind Kate) but the tie breaker goes to Bayer for the 88 yarder, also the longest catch all season!

So, Kate wins the series, which means that technically she was a national champ before she was 2 years old. Which is kind of insane, but she really is that good. I played Kate today and my throws were horrendous, I really should practice next time. Kate was a superstar and caught everything, our longest was 40 yards but unfortunately I needed a 55 or a 58 and my longest is a 47. Got some work to do!

Funny story, after Kate won her two Quad's, Jeff Hoot (organizer of the Quad) ordered the Obelisk trophy. Then when Bayer showed up in St Louis, and won, Hoot got a little nervous. The trophies are engraved and he would need a whole new one if Bayer won... So fortunately it worked out, Kate got her long coveted obelisk. Shown above kissing Hoot as they accept their national champion obelisk. (Which I will get better pics of).

See that guy in the background? He saved the fucking day. Just after this photo was shot, Gary took his obelisk out to the car and put it safely in the trunk. He set his keys down while he arranged the trophies carefully. Then shut the trunk. With the keys inside. Our rental is a 2010 Hyundai Elantra. The car was locked from the alarm, so all the buttons were disabled inside. The windows were down enough a skinny arm could reach in and open the door. The alarm went off so we disconnected the battery. Still, the car's computer knew the alarm was set so even plugging it back in didn't get the trunk button to work. Along comes guy above, Gary calls Avis, they say they have to tow the car tomorrow, I guess they don't keep spare keys? We call a locksmith, they say they'd need the key # from Avis and they could make a new key. Guy in the background? Unbolts the seats and a tiny girl from Texas who we all affectionately call Tweezer squeezes through a tiny hole and unlocks the trunk from the inside! Hooray! Dog people are the BEST. Now we can go hiking tomorrow instead of making new keys for the rental!

2011 Quadruped Men's Open National Series Champion

The women's open winner too, Kirby and Sketch. Good thing I'm used to getting beaten by teenagers from agility! Lol, Kirby rocks, I loved seeing her get a Quad-Quad in one year. That's incredible.

Another neat perspective shot from the lake.

On the car ride when we got here.

OK, some real Kate pics

2011-08-06T23:29:00.001-04:00

Kate says, "lets get this show on the road"

She really didn't want to play pictures with me

Mike, captain of the beach dogs

Awww :) She finally looks happy in a picture

Some parting scenic shots

(this would be even prettier with little sheep dotting the hill)

Pic

2011-08-06T01:26:00.001-04:00

I'm too tired to edit all the pics, but this is one I love of Kate. Hiking was amazing, 75 degrees, 8500 ft elevation, I was huffing but well worth it. Dinner with friends and nightime glowstick disc golf. Life is good.

Mile High

2011-08-05T12:09:00.000-04:00

I get to climb a mountain today! So novel. Florida is so flat, desperately close to being underwater. The air here is always amazing, I think because it doesn't have the 100% humidity it's light and... airy!

Ahhh, this is what it's all about. So many cool people here, we hung out on a patio last night, probably 15 of us, I laughed so hard my cheeks and stomach hurt. Their mosquitos are laughable, slow and lazy, not like our ninja mo's. We're staying at our friends, Mike and Kellie's, like we did last year. (So thankful!! They are wonderful hosts!) They just moved to a new house which is very lovely, a bunch of other people are staying here too, it's kinda like a dorm... with tons of dogs!

I always find it so fascinating to watch several packs of dogs interact. Each of us has our own group of dogs so there are 4 packs suddenly thrown together. And it generally works out, neat to see. Kate was a bit wigged out at first, but she didn't have Bayer, he doesn't mingle well. She wanted to sit on me and not let anyone come by us, I pushed her off and made her lie on the floor. She mumbled a bit when a dog would sniff her but otherwise just hung out by me. By this morning, she's happily mixing with the 9 new dogs, still she mostly just lays by my side, she's a good dog.

It will be fun to take pics of everyone on the hike. Hopefully I'll have time to post them when we get back, not sure though...

Operation: Reel Kate In!

2011-08-02T08:30:00.001-04:00

Poor Kate, a complete day of inactivity Sunday. Gary and I browsed the flea market with friends. So many treasures to be found.

So 3 more days. We leave for Denver on Thursday afternoon. I think of all the disc dog trips this is my favorite, sure the company is great, some of my best friends in Denver, but for me, it's the mountains. The cool, dry air. We've never gone up early enough to be able to go hiking, I've always wanted to. I want to hike where it's cold, maybe even with some never melting patches of snow. That would be cool. Literally.

So Friday hiking and disc golf with the plague prairie dogs. Saturday is a UFO major, me and Kate will play in Toss n Catch for fun and wander around, I'll attempt being social. Gary will play Bayer in the UFO major and Bayer will get really tired. ;) Sunday is the QUADRUPED!!! Which if you've been following along, like at all, you know is my very favorite of all disc competitions. Monday we're going to check out a couple more disc golf courses and fly home at an ungodly hour for me to go to work on Tuesday but, I'll live.

The Denver Quad is the last in the series. Best 2/5 wins. Kate has two wins with Gary, Lakeland and Houston. We missed the Indy Quad, and Gary had to take Bayer to the Purina Quad because I wanted to do agility with Kate in Perry. Well Bayer won Purina, AND he beat Kate's longest catch. Uh oh. So now Gary will play Bayer in Denver and try to win again, in which case he would take 1st and 2nd in the series, winning with Bayer and Kate would get second. Best scenario? I mean, this is Kate's blog. Bayer gets 2nd in Denver, Kate wins the series and Gary still takes 1 and 2. That's never been done before. Either way Kate and Bayer are in the top 10 for longest throws. Ever. Pretty freakin' cool.

Instead, I get to play my own dog in the Quad! Hey, not too bad. I'd gladly trade if I could. But, unfortunately my little speedster is mentally set to run 80 yards now, um, hello? cut that at least in half Katerade. My longest is 47 yards. Why do I always wait until 3 days before the Quad to start practicing?

A little Tuesday morning Quad video. Think Bayer wants revenge because of the end? Gary, you SURE you don't want to play Katerade?

Hawt Coursework

2011-07-31T12:50:00.001-04:00

I want to preface this by saying that I have never passed out from heat, but yesterday came pretty close. My whole face got so hot felt like I couldn't breathe. FL in late July and August is just silly, this is our brutal winter.

Tori and I drove down to some friends to train last night. So thankful to have friends like I do. Such great people, plus a fabulous dinner and pool time for the dogs. We thought we might get 3 courses in, hah. It was hard to find the motivation to build the 2nd one. I'm sore all over today.

First course, jumpers, cause that's easier to build in the ridiculous humidity. Look, real course maps! Click on it to make it bigger. 9-15!! Haaa!

We played a mental prep game, like we were doing before without walking. I veto'd the no walking jumpers cause Kate's young and it's not fair to her for me to try to wing it. But I did do only a 2 min walk which let me walk the dogs path once and handling once, and... we didn't totally suck, we got through the whole thing! A little crunchy but I'm ok with that. Not on video is finessing all of it, breaking it into pieces and really working the best lines. Fun. Kate was brilliant, especially in that heat, she definitely handled it better than me!

Here's standard, the end!! Aaaaahhh!!!

This course was hysterical. I think we (Kate and I) were both kinda dead by the time we ran this. I was good all the way until the teeter-tunnel. Really struggled there. Patience. I would have liked to push to the backside of 14, the way not shown on the map, but with having to be patient for the tunnel never got there. Instead, I did a sort of rear cross between the jumps, shown on video once but later I really cleaned it up and it was quite nice. I still think the push would be faster but I'm gonna need some longer legs to get there I think. The closing was tricky! (Wish I had it on video) But the push to the backside of the jump after the weaves really put you behind for the dog walk so you had to REALLY run to get down there. Gasping for air! Ok, ok, I need to do some conditioning for these long running stretches. Whew!

But overall Kate was fantastic as usual. I am just so blessed.

Themes

2011-07-26T22:41:00.000-04:00

By Tracy Carter

Well ok. I worked on a Kate puppies post all weekend. And I just can't post it. It's a really awkward topic for me. Little pieces of Kate that will disperse on the world. Anyway the plan is to breed her to a wonderful dog, who was, at one time, supposed to be her daddy (deliverance banjos). Be good little stalkers and figure it out, if you haven't already. ;)

So training tonight. Neat little sequences and courses! Some back sides, push throughs, and 270's. I took Java to class too. Hey it was down to like 88! Whew, I am soooooo glad to not have to wear glasses anymore. I could see steam coming off my head.

Kate was perfect. She'd only done one aframe session that I mentioned last post, and otherwise no agility. Just swimming and running and staring at the bathtub and the TV. I felt like we needed a reset after Perry. She didn't knock any bars, and while she did feel the need to super launch early on, she really settled into nice jumping.

She did not want to sit on the start line. This is how training goes for us. She stays fine in trials! But when the instructor saw that Java also does not have a start line stay she teased that this appears to be a theme for me. Hm. Well Trin stays, but she's perfect now. It makes me chuckle though, I have a theme of dogs who really want to get on the course, eh, not such a bad theme to have. (Like how I put a positive spin on that instead of admitting my stays need work?)

We ran STD clean. Twice. It was a lovely, challenging course. Haaa! But. I did stop her aframe once. She ran her aframe the first time and I loved it. Very deep. (I want to swear here.) Then the second time I asked for a stop and that was nice too. She's trying so hard. I love her. I don't know how else to elaborate, she was great tonight. I think we'll take another several days off agility. :)

Oh. This is also my 333 post. I had to delete one that was just a draft. I think I can be on 333 for about 5 posts. LOL.

Tripled

2011-07-20T22:40:00.001-04:00

I like numbers. This is my 333 post. I very much like 3's.

Ah summer. Lots of swimming to be had. Kate's down with that plan, is there a more water obsessed Collie? I'm not sure... Crazy heat wave going around the country but seems pretty average heat to me for Florida. It's hot. 3 more months to go.

Kate and I went to a course running class last night. I got to meet the most adorable Sheltie puppy. Shelties. Not my breed. But this one, I'd take him home, for a few days. ;) Since it's pretty sweltering, instead of running jumpers we worked on little drills in the jumpers ring. One included a painful rear cross. Painful for me because I wanted to quit. I'm not a quitter but I hated it. Hated failing repeatedly. We did get it eventually though, and then had to apply it in the standard course and it wasn't perfect or pretty, and I really wonder how some people can only do rear crosses because they are ridiculously difficult.

There was also a drill with a post turn, and in the 2nd course we ran. I cheated the post turns and applied the K-turn. Ketschker. Youtube it if you want to see, I tried to find a good one to link but it appears lots of people are applying it different ways. Anyway I've been experimenting with it to replace post turns as that is too much shoulder rotation for Kate and she floats, whereas with the K-turn I can get a very tight turn and get her through any gaps. Maybe I'm the one misapplying it. Anyway I guess I should get video of how I'm using it if I really want to discuss it, but mostly I'm applying blind crosses while she's behind the wing of a jump, straight line blinds are a bit too risky for me yet.

I was very happy with my application of the k-turn and thought Kate was running beautifully on the two standard courses. She dropped more bars than normal (at 24") and that worried me a bit, but all the 20" stuff at Perry and perhaps she was a bit tired still. No agility for a few days now. Just swimming. Aside from missed aframe and bars we were clean through the courses so I was very pleased with my handling and her responsiveness.

Ah the aframe. I've been trying to teach her to run for all of her training. She's never been asked to stop, never come over the top and stopped, she has jumped into 2o2o occasionally. Well, I was curious. So I asked her to stop, just gave her her 2o2o command and she flew deeply over the top into a beautiful stop. Oh come on, it can't be that easy. So a little proofing and one mistake and she got sticky. That's ok. I'm still hoping I can teach her to run, but nice to know she will stop if I need it.

Best of - Perry

2011-07-18T23:40:00.000-04:00

Total weekend tally – 3 Ex JWW Q’s (1A, 2B). 0 Open STD Q’s. In Standard we always had one thing. Two missed aframes, one teeter slide off, and one knocked bar. BUT NO OFF COURSES. In JWW we had one refusal, and one run by jumps, due to my miscues. So some handling mishaps, some baby dog stuff. Overall though, really a pretty successful weekend.

Kate’s a good puppy. She really is a puppy still, such a baby dog in terms of competition. It will be exciting to see her in a year or two and see how far she progresses. So now we have at least 7 weeks until our next show, but most likely 9 weeks. Boring old summer. I was happy to see that she was the same speed mentally and physically on the 5th day as the 1st. I feel like over the courses we got stronger as a team, just settling into a pattern of how we dance together.

On Tuesday, before I left, I had to sit through an hour meeting with an employee of mine and my boss. It was uncomfortable for me and I wanted it to be over before it started. I dislike conflict. Whenever I’m in a situation I don’t want to be in, I try to imagine I’m somewhere else, in my “happy place.” Sometimes I find myself on Cow Wreck beach, or on a hill with sheep as crisp, fresh air whips around me. Last Tuesday, I was on the start line with Kate. I couldn’t make my imagination push past the start line though. We were just standing there, Kate in wide eyed, nostril flared, intense GO mode and me filled with all the anticipation of a fresh course. It was an exhilarating feeling, much like the upward ticking of a roller coaster.

So in Perry I was hyper aware of this thrill of the start line. I relished in it. Walking into the ring I was excited for the start line rush. So was Kate. By the 2nd day she was very tuned into the course. Very serious. This agility stuff is very important business. Tail fully vented in all runs. I enjoyed developing our pattern together. She likes to set up after her leash is off. She won’t sit if it’s a tunnel start, but she will stay. So rambling start line glory aside we had a great time playing together, she’s such a fun, enthusiastic partner.

Tonight we went swimming, what better to do post 5-day trial. I give you: Katerade – Best of Perry 2011!

Perry Sunday

2011-07-17T22:29:00.000-04:00

Blaaaahhh so tired. Not really. But I need to sleep. Work tomorrow... boooo. :(

Today went pretty well, we ran Open Standard first thing and aside from a teeter slide off we were clean. Oh how I love one little thing runs. But really, it was a great run and I should have used more decel for the teeter.

Jumpers went well, we got 2nd in a competitive Ex B class. I felt really good about that run and I don't want to change much of it. There was one turn that could have been better, but not much better.

I am glad I went. Five days worth of courses with Kate was good for us. One shot, go do it. Now we go into the long lull of trial-less season.

I wanted to put together video but honestly I am too whipped tonight, I'd rather just study it, sooo enjoy some fabulous photography by Tori Self.

Kate and her friend Adrenalyn

Kate and Rev stalking the disc in the fields of Perry

Still stalking, mouth full of dirt.

These last two pictures are of Kate playing her favorite "grass game." What's that? There's no grass inside Perry, in the stands? Hmm Kate doesn't seem to notice, she would stare at anyone who might play and many obliged her longing looks by picking pretend pieces of grass off the chairs and throwing them to her, she mostly caught them. She's weird. I know.

Perry Saturday

2011-07-16T22:47:00.000-04:00

Aww tomorrow's the last day. I have to detach from agility world and go back to "real life" :( I'm really enjoying the company this weekend, lots of fun discussing training and handling with friends who I don't see very often. Celebrating lots of successes, big and small.

Like the fact that Kate hit her aframe today! Nicely! I celebrated a bit too much and got whistled off for "incidental contact" and "training in the ring" yay! Kate knocked the first bar (coming out of a tunnel - her only bar all weekend) so who cares. I was happy with the run other than the bar, up until we got whistled. Freakin gorgeous!

Also we got our first MXJ leg today, earning 3rd place in a competitive Ex B class. We lost at least 2 seconds on wide turns so that's on me to clean those up a bit. ;) She's a good puppy though and running exactly where I tell her to. I guess we got some nationals points to go along with the MXJ leg - woo hoo!

Perry Friday

2011-07-15T23:49:00.000-04:00

Kate got her AXJ today!! Since it's my blog I can be honest and say the wide turns aren't my favorite but we got through the course clean and that's what counts! :)

Standard was a lovely run. And other than the missed the aframe it was flawless, I loved her teeter, weaves and jumping.

Perry Thursday

2011-07-14T22:34:00.000-04:00

Our first full day, which means Standard. We ran jumpers first. The course was deceptively tricky, I got lost with Trin and then again with Kate. Duh. I could make excuses about my headache or being hot but really I was just off on that course for whatever reason. Kate was awesome though and in my opinion very "big girl" in that run, picking up jumps while I ran away. Very pleased with her.

Standard. Ugh. Aframe was the second obstacle and she missed the contact. Then we had a little bobble right after. Apparently I am not good at mentally maintaining focus when she misses so blatantly. So we got past the bobble, the rest was squeaky clean, blind out of the weaves, left her on the table and then she really worked the line out with gorgeous striding and jumping. But the damn aframe.

I'm trying not to be discouraged since I know how awesome she is in training. I know that if she's not thinking she will have a nice performance, with the aframe second she didn't have enough time on course to really get going yet. Still, I hate making that excuse too. Tomorrow's a new day, and a new course. :)

Perry Wednesday

2011-07-13T21:37:00.001-04:00

Hah. Well we only had one run today, excellent only. Kate was a superstar and I was... not. She had one tiny little refusal running by a 270 jump, which I saved but she passed the plane. She also turned the wrong way on two rear crosses but that didn't incur any faults. Stupid rear crosses. I will do better tomorrow. :)

Also forgot Kate's new leash in the car and didn't want to trek back out for it. That's what I get. On the plus side Kate's jumping looked great, her weaves were great and if I just handled, she would have been clean. So yay! Go Kate.

Ready.

2011-07-11T22:53:00.000-04:00

Perry. Perry. Perry.

Just one more day of work to get through and then we’re off. Actually we’re not leaving until Wednesday morning to save one night’s hotel. Really, I think I’m looking forward to this way more than is healthy. So many days away from work! Harry Potter finale premier rolled into an agility week. Eeek. So much awesome all at once I don’t know how I am sitting still. Ok, I’m not.

Weekend was fun. Pretty low key, went to the beach on Saturday with the “other” Border Collie. She’s the only one who isn't competing this coming weekend, and of course she stood on the shore mortified while we lolled about in the waves. Poor Fergie.

Sunday I finally took Tori’s teeter back and we trained a bit in her yard. As a mental management game, we called out mini-courses and ran them without walking. There was a push-threadley thing that I definitely need to figure out, otherwise we did well and Kate was quite exceptional. Hah, of course. I feel good about our skills going into this weekend, her aframe is solid, even held up on non-rubber the last two out-of-my-yard training sessions I’ve had. Her jumping is the best it’s ever been, and at 20” I don’t expect any issues. Mostly I just want her to have a really positive experience, keep building her confidence.

I mentioned a few weeks ago how I asked Kathryn to look for a snake skin pattern for me. Check out Kate’s new leash by Kollars by Kathryn. Green is my favorite color (can you tell by this blog? Haha) and green is also the color of Q’s! We should be in good shape for Perry now!

(will have to do another photo shoot as my back yard was steamy and Kate didn't want to cooperate inside)

Rewind.

2011-07-08T18:25:00.000-04:00

I felt like old puppy pics tonight.

Rain rain rain! My grass is growing like crazy, faster than it can be mowed, but maybe running through tall, thick grass is like strength training? At least it’s not muddy. Yet. In other strength news Kate can now stand on her hind legs for over a minute, it’s taken her two years and she’s been hovering around 45 seconds for a while. I wonder how one acquires that talent? Fergie’s been able to do it since the day we got her, perhaps a lot of counter surfing in her past.

(hah - Java doesn't know what's coming behind her)

Aframe training is kind of like an enigma. There’s a secret to perfecting Kate’s aframe performance. And it isn’t about training Kate to “hit the yellow” aha! It’s about getting a better first hit on the downside. Two hits on the down side and the second one isn’t the problem. Kate likes to sort of “cartwheel” down, not using her back feet at all until she’s leaving. So thanks to the advice of some experts and some problem solving by myself I feel like we have a solid training plan and we’re making great progress. Training has gone so well this week, I don’t want to keep training. I want to stop and preserve this perfect little dog.

So last night I did a few straightforward aframes, perfect. So I set up some challenging exits, perfect. Then I made a wicked little course. Evil weave entry, very tight jump spacing, I put jumps on walls so she’d have to collect, oh it was tricky! But we nailed it on the first try. Kate’s jumping was fantastic. Kate is so amazing when it all comes together – look out world!

I’m excited though, 5 agility days in Perry! I’ve never done more than 3 days at a show. Hopefully I don’t burn out but I’m sure the 9 week break after should be a good reprieve. Then two weeks after Perry: Colorado, one of my favorite trips. We’re spending a bit more time this year, doing some hiking and sightseeing. Kate’s going to miss the 4th Quad at Purina. It’s next weekend and Perry is the only agility trial for me all summer. Sorry Gary. He’s taking Bayer and if Bayer wins he’ll play Bayer in Colorado (5th and last Quad) and try to beat Kate’s distances. Otherwise Kate will play with him in CO and I’ll play Bayer. If all goes as planned Kate should be crowned Quad champ in CO, first weekend in August. Eek! Then a few weeks after that I’m taking another trip to visit with friends and run some courses, perhaps watch a sheepdog trial. Then hopefully the wretched season of summer steam will be over.

Bikram Agility

2011-07-04T22:23:00.000-04:00

Does this angle make my neck look big?

Someone gets a bit excited about dock diving.

and I just love this shot, click to make it bigger, worth it.

We practiced real courses once. I had a great time and very much enjoyed the company during my solo weekend. Er... I'm dubbing it Bikram Agility this year. It's like, supposed to be more intense, when you sweat profusely from the 95 degrees and 80% humidity - right? I can actually feel a more spiritual form of handling when I'm blinded by sweat dripping in my eyes. Hey! At least I don't have fogged up glasses. Hell yes. (No offense to Bikram Yoga, I think it's great.) Last year I tried to focus on working my dogs through the heat and they ran the fastest ever this past year... coincidence? Probably not. ;) I got through the end of July last year, but I'm already starting to wimp out this year... this is not a good sign.

Perry in 10 days. Last. Trial. For. Ever. Next trial is in September, that's like a million weeks from now.

Our DACOF montage video... same footage of Kate but you may enjoy my video editing handiwork and my lovely teammates. God, I love this song. Pink by Aerosmith.

Lazy

2011-07-01T13:03:00.000-04:00

I am Bruno Mars Lazy Song this week. Haven't done a whole lot of training, a few aframe sessions, a few jumping sessions, otherwise just swimming. Its been raining a lot which maybe is what's making me feel lazy. Instead of training I got on the floor and played with all my dogs the last two nights. Ever done that? just start play bowing and rough housing the dogs? I had a toy too, I used the snake toy and I'd have three dogs plus me all playing tug-o-war. More fun than training I think, well of course, Kate doesn't agree.

Gary's off to NY for a disc dog comp. Kate and I were supposed to go but we spent our money on rattlesnake antivenin instead. 4 day weekend and no plans for me... hmm. Oh! We have kitties for the weekend! They are staying here while their owners are on vacation, they've inhabited the guest bedroom. They don't mind my dogs, know most of them, but I'm keeping them safe in the room anyway. Of course Kate is keeping an ever vigilant watch at their door. If a kitty escapes she will be there to greet it! :)

Something I've been meaning to discuss, not sure if any of you noticed. I haven't mentioned class in awhile. That's because we're not going. :( It's been forever and I miss it more than I thought I would. For the first time in my whole agility life I am without a weekly instructor. There's the course running class (no instruction), but I've only been once since early May. When it came time to pay for this next session, I didn't really have the money, and while I could have managed, it seemed more important to use the money towards my eyes and Kate's snakebite.

Also I think I've come to a point where a weekly class isn't always the best use of my training time. Sure, some exercises fit, but some didn't. So I'm trying a break from classes for the summer, we'll see if I'm ok going without, certainly I have a list of things I want to train that will keep me busy. I also know how much I miss going. I actually miss WP giving me shit constantly. ;)

It definitely feels kind of liberating though. I'm on my own for now. Oh boy, eep!

Swag

2011-06-28T22:04:00.000-04:00

So I kept trying to come up with a photo idea for Kate with all her trophies. Then I realized Kate would want to take her photo in the bathtub. She is literally entranced by the tub these days. Every day when I get home from work, after she goes out to go potty, first thing she wants to do is get in the tub and stare at the faucet. I started using this fascination as table training, since she is so fixated, downing is nearly impossible in the tub. Want the faucet? Have to lie down. Maybe it will help? lol

Kate's 4 first place trophies and HIT and 3rd place team. :)

Our team photo... once again, Trin is the cutest dog ever!

Novice Champions!

2011-06-26T22:35:00.002-04:00

First, huge congrats to Victorious Secret for placing 3rd out of 55 teams!!! We rock!

Baha! I still can't believe it. I really went into the weekend just hoping Kate got her aframes and that we got around the courses semi-clean without going off course.

Today we had an off course in STD. Stupid. I was SO worried about getting down to the bottom of the aframe and I really wanted a fx before it, I didn't support the weaves at all. We redeemed ourselves in JWW later with a smokin fast run, winning the class by a solid margin.

So with winning 4/5 classes and not placing too horribly in STD even with the 5 fault off course Kate won High in Trial for Novice 20"!!! Yay Katerade!! It's funny total time on course was 115 seconds.

Video to Cant Stop the Rock, honestly too tired to even think about a good song choice. I'm super sore from running up the three flights of stairs 100 times this weekend and exhausted. (Teammates - your videos tomorrow! I promise) Zzzzzz...

*Morning Edit. Looking at the results, there were 54 Novice 20" dogs. This isn't like winning classes at a local show. I am stoked. Seriously some really nice young dogs this weekend. Also would like to add that we rocked *at least* THREE pinwheels! Yes!! Threadles, push throughs, backsides, psh easy... pinwheels = super hard. And we didn't totally suck at running Novice courses! Ahhh!!! Ugh... work. Boo. Can I just watch my videos 800 more times?

Kate at DACOF - Day 1

2011-06-25T21:47:00.000-04:00

Aghhhh!!! Kate was *awesome* today! There are some really nice Novice dogs competing this weekend, especially in 20". The whole event, pretty well attended this year. It's cool to see DACOF getting bigger every year, it really is so much fun. Our team is great, we're all having nice runs. We were in 11th after round one, 3rd after round 2 and 2nd after round 3!! Woo hoo! Go Victorious Secret.

So... Kate won Nov STD this morning. Really? Ok, I quick released her contacts, whee! Then she won Nov Jumpers, right, of course. Then I screwed up Nov FAST but somehow she still won that too! Wow. I'm in shock. What a good puppy!!

She really was awesome today, speeeedy. I think she likes big, loud events. She was pretty high in all her runs, very funny to see her so serious out there. She's being less "cute" and more "rawr!" I love it!

(Photo by Kat Fahle - Kate doing the weave gamble)

Well 4am came pretty early, so I'm off to sleep. I do have video of all Kate's runs that I'll post tomorrow. Oh and since I'm not going to post on the other blog, Trin won Ex STD and Jumpers, she was soooo smooth today. I screwed up FAST and she didn't place, unless you count last place. Doh. Who gets up early and plays FAST in the real world anyway? ;)

Perfect Toes and DACOF

2011-06-20T22:35:00.001-04:00

So this weekend we have DACOF. Pronouced Day-Cough or Dack-Off. Your choice. Dog Agility Competition of Florida. A team consists of 3 Novice dogs, 3 Open dogs and (yep, you guessed it) 3 Excellent dogs. In order to be considered for a level you can't have attained that STD title by the end of April and Kate didn’t get her NA until mid May so she gets to run in Novice. Really? Oh boy. Novice AKC is harder than Powell and Graber courses and no weaves at all on Saturday. Poor Kate. I really love DACOF though.

It’s basically all the dog training schools in FL each send a team or two to participate. Each team counts two scores from each level for each round. Total of 5 rounds. I’m not on a training school’s team, which is great, it’s just a group of friends and we’ve played together for several years now. Our team name is Victorious Secret. We all wear pink and throw some pink on the dogs and it’s a great time. We have two guys on our team and they wear pink too! Our team has done well in the past, but it’s not really about the placements, more about the team and what we accomplish together. We have so much fun and the VS theme is just awesome.

I’m excited about Kate being on the team this year. I think she will do well, though I really have no idea. Why is novice so hard?! Anyway it’s great ring experience, big three ring show, team pressure. All good stuff. So looking forward to it. But first, a 5 day work week. Ugh.

Some updated pictures of Kate's perfect toes:

So thankful that Kate had a perfect recovery! Really puts things in perspective.

2011-06-19T23:26:00.002-04:00

I love training. :) Not shown in the video but Kate's contacts are coming along nicely. Apparently having Rev run behind her on the dog walk makes her dog walk speed AMAZING! lol More swimming and no training today.

As far as international course completion goes, we are just a baby team. I believe Kate works very hard at keeping her bars up. So when the jumps go up to 26" she loses a little bit of focus on other things. Like collection. My solution is to trial her at 20/22" this year so she can adjust herself mentally to trial pressure, getting her contacts right, turning etc without having to also worry about bars. If you look at her closely, her jumping style is so much more... athletic... at 26". It really is her best height and I think in another year or so she will be absolutely brilliant with it.

Overall, her jumping this weekend was nice. She knocked three bars and I've included them all in the video. I know, shocking, I'm showing mistakes! Not all of them though. We need to watch MEB's long jump DVD again and get a long jump so we can train that obstacle. Heh. Looks good on video though. Pushes and rear crosses on long jumps are a trained skill. Who knew? ;)

I can appreciate my mistakes this weekend. There were some great skills to highlight for Kate and I. The best is being able to work through them and learn something about each other. Kate's team work was awesome and she is such a fun dog to train. Again? Ok! While it was actually pretty bearable at the hours we trained, it is definitely Florida summer (before the rains). Kate did well in the heat. I have no complaints... except maybe about tomorrow being Monday. Ew.

G. Love: Peace, Love, Happiness

Oh and if you want to see a pro run these courses... Tori's video is here. That little dog Rev is amazing eh? and I guess Tori's not too shabby a handler. ;)

Anniversary

2011-06-17T23:09:00.000-04:00

While Kate's birthday is certainly a milestone every year (I swear this dog has at least 9 lives!) I always seem to think of June 18th as more special. June 18th was the day that I picked Kate up from PA. It was the first time I ever rented a car by myself. I was very nervous. Flying alone. Renting a car. I wanted that puppy though. I was determined. Kate was great in her little sherpa bag. Everyone kept saying what an adorable Jack Russell she was. Er... Border Collie? No? Smooth Coat?

It's also been exactly a month since the snake bite. And guess what? There is NO scar. None. Nothing. You can't tell she was ever bitten by anything between her toes. She's still got a scar on her face from running into a bench and that was over the holidays! So. I'm thinking cold lasers are helpful. When I took Java for her spay follow up appointment this week my vet asked how Kate was. I said, "you won't believe it, there's not even a scar!" she said, "You're right. I don't believe it."

I love my every other Friday off at work. Really. It's why I still work there even though I would probably be happier doing something else... Friday's off are definitely a perk. I slept for 12 hours, made a collage for Kate's coursework binder. Tried to watch the Utah 4 star but it wasn't on when I was home.

This afternoon, drove down to a friends house in Sarasota with Tori for the weekend. We're working on some international courses. I really love international course design even if Kate and I still can't get through these crazy courses. I do mean crazy. What's funny though is I looked at this one course on paper all morning like - no freakin way. We were both shaking our heads, but in that giggly, excited, omg this will be fun, kind of way. Of course, that's the first one we set up, and sure I struggled a bit, but I did eventually get through it and... it wasn't THAT hard. I think that's why international courses are good for me, it makes a regular course seem easy. Even with my turbo charged race car dog.

So tomorrow, early rise. More course work. Probably a nap. More coursework. Some USDAA livestream hopefully and work on Kate's contacts a bit too. We're running international jumpers courses to avoid contacts. Though I did a few aframes today, non rubber. Perfect, of course. Interesting.

Balancing Act

2011-06-14T22:42:00.000-04:00

I have a friend who used to ride bareback in a circus. In one picture I've seen she is wearing blue sequins with her smile spread wide as her arms. One time I asked her was it hard to balance? No, she said, you always balance. Only sometimes, she added, you balance on your butt. - Story People

I sometimes hyper focus. I like to consider it a strength. I've been hyper focused on Kate since regionals and I needed a break. So I trained all the dogs. All of them. Even Bayer and even Java (just a little). 5 different things. Then we sat around in the backyard just being us, me sweaty and panting, the dogs, just panting. I think I'm off because I can't hike anymore. That used to be my decompression thing and I haven't done it in 4 weeks. I miss hiking with my dogs. Desperately. I haven't quite found the activity to replace it yet. Walking them for miles on leash doesn't have the same appeal though I suppose it's what I'll end up doing as a compromise.

This week I clicker trained Kate to stare. That was fun. Ever tried to shape a BC to stare at something? Yeah. Not that hard. I'm working on head position for her contacts. Details.

Tomorrow: no details, just swimming. Kate's happy about that plan, she's only slightly obsessed with water.

A self portrait. The never dying plant and an Atom. Sorta like Where's Waldo.

She had a west coast strut that was sweet as molasses, but what really knocked me out was her cheap sunglasses. - ZZ Top

I'm still wearing my Walmart sunglasses. It's been a month since I got the laser light show. I still have 20/15 vision but the rainbows are gone. :( I still look for my glasses sometimes when I first wake up. I like being able to see, I never knew how much I was missing with glasses.

I ordered a red, white and blue leash. I lost my favorite leash for Kate. It wasn't quite red, or orange, or green. I'm sad that it's gone. I wanted that leash again and red-red wasn't the same. I have Kathryn on the look out for a snake pattern of some kind. I also ordered a fun wool toy. Thanks Clean Run gift certificate for my birthday. Now time to balance some sleep into my schedule as I stayed up way too late last night hyper focused.

She can get it!

2011-06-12T15:27:00.000-04:00

Gah! So proud of Kate this weekend!!!

First, not sure why I entered this show except I heard it was small and on nice turf, rubber contacts and whatever, I was sad that we missed our excellent debut over Memorial Day weekend. Then I regretted it because I know Kate's contacts still need like a summer's worth of work. How much could two dog walks and two aframes really mess us up at this point though? Anyway, obviously NOW I'm glad I entered. The facility just opened these new fields on bermuda grass, lovely footing, we were done by 11am both days.

Kate was such a good girl all weekend. She's still being adorably patient with me, watching and trying SO hard. She is so cute!

Granted, small trial, but Kate would have won Ex B both days, in JWW. Wow. I'm still surprised because yes, our runs were nice, but I know they can be better! :) Not much improvement on the dog walk, lots of work to do still, but Kate HIT BOTH AFRAMES! Training WORKS! lol Still lots to do with that too, it's nice to have a plan of action though. (Thanks MEB!) I feel like we're going to get this running frame thing! Kate's teeter - no slide offs! Both runs were situations where she's slid off before so good for her. Also, the rubber contacts I would guess, help with that.

Video to Kevin Rudolph's - She Can Get It. I've been saving this song for awhile, I wanted to use it when I felt like Kate and I really came together as a team, and aside from one bar, Kate was perfect this weekend. I know why she dropped that bar, so I just need to do some training and handle more clearly.

And a little note about just taking Kate to a show. I have to admit it's really nice to have a dog who can just chill ringside, no treats needed to keep her focus. (Well there was that nice lady who gave us a meatball and Kate really enjoyed that.) No timing when to get her out of the car for maximum workability. Just a pleasure to have such an easy ready-to-work dog. :)

Quick

2011-06-11T15:36:00.002-04:00

Most people will read this Monday but I'm too excited not to post. Kate ran in her first ever Excellent JWW class this morning and not only did she Q but she was the fastest dog of all heights! Whoa! Go Katerade! I watched the video and saw several places I could have made cleaner. Granted this is a small trial so take that brag for what it honestly is. :)

Open standard went quite well. I loved all FOUR of her contacts, aframe was lovely, dog walk wasn't the worst ever and the teeter was quite nice with me rear crossing it. She downed on the table! and although we had a bar, one bobble and a wide turn, I was very, very, very pleased.

The site is super nice, looking forward to going back tomorrow!

Contacts Reloaded

2011-06-08T21:54:00.000-04:00

Kate is getting some serious contact work this week. No classes, just working in my own yard. I love that. So, just like with weaves, contacts have to be maintained. Kate's were never "done" and I don't suppose they ever will be. I am feeling really good about the work I've been doing though. I'm using the box on the aframe and building drive into her 2o2o through back chaining.

Good karma is flowing out of my backyard like crazy. Thanks to all of you who have helped me with training my awesome dog, loaned me your equipment, or just watched my videos with a critical eye. There are some really great people in this world. Don't believe me about the karma? A friend loaned me her teeter last year and then she won nationals and made the world team. Training? Conditioning? nahhh, just some Katerade Karma. ;)

So - who wants to loan me their sprint turf'd A/C building for the summer? anyone? (sound of crickets) I'm not complaining about the weather. Really, I swear.

Reason #1 why my dogs love trialing in Perry:

(photos by Tori Self)

Kate at the USDAA Southeast Regional

2011-06-06T14:28:00.001-04:00

Katerade at the regional! I got to compete my baby dog on big girl courses! In view of agility rockstars! Fortunately, my teammates were both in the same mindset as I was, we were there to run team classes, have fun and train our dogs. None of us are going to nationals, so none of us cared about the Q. One of the best team experiences I’ve ever had. So. Much. Fun. Team, for me, is usually stressful because not only is there my own internal pressure to “qualify” but also two other people are counting on you. (I’ve always had great teammates, so I guess technically it’s always internal pressure.) Anyway pressure’s pressure and it’s good for me to deal with it. Team day was all about internal stress though!

Due to my switching Kate and Trin on team twice somehow Java got in group B and Kate in group A. Which meant my walks and runs were almost always in conflict on Friday. Instead of trying to get it fixed, I decided it would be good for me, and honestly, I was just too shy to ask. In addition, Kate was the FIRST 22” dog in all 4 runs. Gah!

Snooker was first with Kate and we were the first “big” dog to run it. It was Kate’s first run since her snake bite, I was scared of E’ing so I made a very simple plan of 3, 4, 5 close. We ran it pretty well and then I felt cheap for going so easy. Jumpers was next and I caused an off course, E’ing us relatively early in the run. Damn. I think that was because of all the runs all weekend I felt like that was the one run where I could see how Kate compared to the other teams so I put too much pressure on myself and lost focus. The universe said this weekend was not the weekend to be comparing my baby dog to the big dogs, it was probably right as I would have been disappointed if we ran clean and she didn’t measure up. Thanks Universe.

Standard was next, I felt good about the course. Kate was SUPER sticky on dog walk and would not go into 2o2o. As I’m standing there waiting, staring at her, all I could think was that she was sure to miss her aframe and I needed to make up 5 seconds, not be wasting them. So I released her without position, she did miss her aframe but she had a nice teeter so I wasted more time praising her for remembering position. I added yardage for the turn to the tunnel, I was scared of an off course, even though Kate has been quite good about tunnels these days I still never know. We were “clean” (aside from the aframe) and didn’t E! Yay! Our time was only like 11 seconds behind the winner lol! Gamblers was time to work on contacts, dog walk was better, teeters were good, aframes were shit. We did the cheap 5 point gamble because I was too far away when the buzzer went off.

My portion of relay had the aframe so, whatever, but otherwise she was clean and I loved that run more than any others all weekend. Kate was squealing in the weaves and screamed going into the tunnel. Someone “famous” told me they really liked her after that run and I was positively beaming. Aww Katerade. I think Kate was so high that run because I had a “toy” in my hand and she just watched Rev and Neece run. Starters std was great, she missed her aframe and took like 8 million seconds to down on the table but otherwise was clean and flawless. Relay run:

IHC standard was tricky. Not anything harder than we practice, I knew we had all the skills. Overall our main fault occurred at the aframe, she took one stride and leapt off, I was surprised. (Usually she takes 2 strides just does them short). I stopped handling, she back jumped and then super LAUNCHED the next. Back on course, finished relatively clean but I can’t watch the run because I want to cry at how wide the turns are. People saw that on livestream? Damn. Can I now make excuses about how my puppy is just coming off of a venomous snakebite? Psh no. :) That’s Kate, (and me) and yes, we still have lots of work to do. Look at what a good weaving girlie she is!

Homework events are good. Maybe not so much for the confidence thing, but more for the ideas on stuff to work on. First, and foremost, I need to make a decision about Kate’s aframe. It is painful to miss every single one at a show (7 total). Yes, I knew she wasn’t likely to hit the yellow with the higher frame but I guess I wasn’t as mentally prepared for that as much as I thought. By the last leap in IHC I was pretty upset. Kate’s dog walks were some of the worst, though most people watching them on video will probably think they aren’t too bad. They are. I hate them. And I will fix that.

The good. Kate’s jumping was fine, if not exceptional, when cued appropriately, she collected. She did not knock ONE single bar all weekend. As far as cuing I need to stop being so wimpy and cue my damn dog. Her teeter and weaves were fine as well, no teeter flyoff’s! I think it’s adorable to watch Kate, she looks soooo cute watching me and really trying so VERY hard to be right. She was SUCH a good girl this weekend, tried so hard. It’s hard to watch a dog with her intensity for work be… cautious, she’s not slow, but she’s being careful, thoughtful. She will get faster, with confidence she’ll leave out strides and have more drive. Again, that’s on me, and I’ll get her there.

So wow, who read all this? Gold star for you. Contacts summer camp! Yay. I’m now in possession of all three contacts! Teeter is going to its home soon though. We have three more shows for all of summer, one AKC this weekend, just Kate. One in two weeks, DACOF, more on that later, and one AKC in July. 5 days. I hope if nothing else, by the July show we will have a significant improvement on contacts, that’s my goal. I love goals.

Sweet Thing, Change of Seasons. I can’t stop listening to this song.

We have arrived!

2011-06-03T00:36:00.000-04:00

Tori had some car trouble so we got a later start than anticipated, but no worries, made great time getting up to Perry. Kate and Rev snuggled and loved on each other as soon as we got in the hotel room but anytime I tried to capture footage of it they stopped. Team day tomorrow! So excited!!!

Weekend Highlight

2011-05-31T07:36:00.001-04:00

Kate spent most of her weekend in a crate. Sad. Nothing more sad than a BC on crate rest.

(by Tori Self)

Tori tried to train her table. It made me laugh. Good try. :)

Kate has just over the last few days added staring at bath tubs to her list of favorite activities. Never let your water obsessed BC play in the last inch of water in the tub "just this once" ;)

Most excellent times ahead. We leave for the regional in 3 days! I think I'm the same nervous-excited for the regional as I was about nationals. Agility rockstars everywhere! Excited to run Kate in her first big event. Good exposure for her, though I feel like she'll be the same. Good for us as a team I should say. Speaking of team, my DAM team is probably the most awesome one. No pressure and some fun, happy people. We even have a theme song!

I, of course, want Kate to do well, but also need to remember she is a young dog who needs experience too. I feel pretty confident in her skills though and she's quite consistent at 22". So off we go. I love Perry. A/C agility!

Third Day

2011-05-28T00:58:00.000-04:00

The third day of the seminar was... difficult. After two days of getting to play, it's hard to sit on the sidelines and just watch. There were some really cool challenges that I wished I could have tried. Instead, I worked Kate over dinner, taking lots of breaks to sit in the shade. Since I didn't mention this last year, it was super hot this week. :) At the end of the night I got to try some sequences and work on a particular turn that we struggle with. And even though Kate couldn't fully work, not at full height and no contacts, I am so very thankful that she was able to work at all this week.

Groupie moment. ;) I am so lucky that I get to work with MEB. She understands Kate better than most, better than me certainly, and has helped me a ton in getting Kate to where she is today. Once again, I got a lot of ideas from this week. A lot of fine tuning, I love that. She is such a great instructor, I need to find a way to not be so sad at the end of working with her, it's kinda silly. :)

I finally took my Mac in to get iMovie looked at and was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to get help. It was free, and they fixed me in a quick 10 mins time. Who would do that if I had a PC? Go Macintosh. iKate? The world isn't ready for that! So... my first video in awhile to The Underdog by Spoon, clips from the second day. Kate rocks!

So Kate gets a week off now. Finish being in season, and continue to rest her toes. Everything looks good and she is still sound but I want to give her the week off just in case. I worked her earlier than I would have liked, and I don't want to push it. Regionals next weekend... eek! :)

More Kate Agility!

2011-05-25T23:39:00.000-04:00

I love my dogs, really, all of them, but getting to run Kate all day today, such a blessing. I'm so grateful she recovered.

Seminar was awesome. Lots of cool stuff: threadles, curly Q's, independent weaves, tight turns, pull through gaps, blind crosses, pushes out of straight tunnels (eek). Oh yes, that reminds me. I fell in agility (without tripping over a tunnel) for the first time today! I'm fine. Wish it were on video, but also glad it's not. Really it's not. If it were, I'd post it, slow motion!

I am proud of Kate, our team work was great, I felt good about how we're working together. Her jumping was mostly good (at 22" though just in case for her toe, limit the bars = less jumping). I really enjoyed the people in the group both days. Just so happy to be outside doing agility with Kate and MEB instructing, really, such a great two days. I'm auditing tomorrow and then off work for 4 days straight - yay!!! I'm thinking of taking my Mac in to get the imovie issue looked at. Then maybe the world can see some clips of Kate working in the seminar.

(photo by Tracy Carter)

I love this pic from last weekend. I love all free agility pics actually. ;) Here's why. 1. people in the background. I love the Where's Waldo of looking at agility pictures. My eyes always start on the dog, then the handler, then I start to scan. Same thing in Disc too. You never know what you might see in the background! 2. Kate's looking at the next jump, so my handling must be pretty clear - lol 3. Kate's jumping 26" anyway...

content

2011-05-24T23:30:00.000-04:00

I'm behind in blogging, just not cut out for the daily stuff.

I took Kate to the vet yesterday for her follow up. Her doctor was very impressed and said Kate has turned the corner, no possible chance for necrosis now. She checked all of Kate's toes and foot for pain and could get no pain response at all. Still a little pink in between her toes, and she'll have scars where the fang marks went in. Her exact words were, "go take her for run!" I was like - she can RUN!? She reminded me Kate's not in pain and has no swelling left... so yes. I asked again. She said, "if you're not comfortable a few more days off won't hurt" So I took Kate swimming instead. She was a beast in the pool and had so much fun.

Best of all. We got to do agility today. Better than that, no lameness, no soreness, no pain, no swelling! Aww man, my little Katerade is back! :) Gah, just want to squeeze her I'm so excited she's fine. Ok but, the agility we did: so awesome. I worked Kate in the MEB seminar, some, also worked Java (which was fun - she did great!). Kate was brilliant in her sequences, just like before. I love working with MEB. I don't think I've ever mentioned that here before. ;)

sheepish

2011-05-22T23:44:00.001-04:00

This pic is from the morning I brought her home from the e-vet, she always sleeps curled in a ball but her arm was too swollen. I thought it was interesting that she curled the rest of herself anyway.

These two are from today. I've been trying to do the laser treatments at least once a day. No idea how effective they really are, I haven't done my full complement of research. I did laser a bruise on my leg the first day and it was gone the next... It can't *hurt* though so through the kindness of having one, I am using it. I do both of Kate's front arms and shoulders since she might be over compensating on the other arm, and I do her bad foot. The first picture she's all, "hey why'd you stop petting me?" but by the second picture, I'm about half way done, (still do that whole shoulder and arm and foot) she's passed out asleep. I finished and she was still asleep so I sat there for about 10 mins just watching her. Something so peaceful about a BC sleeping. Not something you see Kate do much.

So I don't know if it was the laser, the carrots, the echinacea, the aloe, or most likely, the fact that she got antivenin within 90 mins of the snakebite, but it looks like Kate is going to make a full recovery. :) Which makes me feel a bit sheepish about how freaked out I was, all that stress for this? 7 days later and I have a feeling she'll look good as new. Huh, well, alright. Big sigh of relief.

So unless the vet thinks Kate is cleared to work, Java gets to do her first seminar. Well, she's done one with WP once but I don't really count that. Should be interesting. Even if the vet clears Kate, I'm not sure I'll work her. Kate is protesting. "Look - I'm *fine* REALLY, look, I'm putting all my weight on this leg!" I worked on Kate's new trick, flexing her toes, took her for a ride in the car, so she'd balance on her feet (she rode loose in the back) and did some tugging and backing up where she'd use her toes. No swelling, no pain, she's off meds now and we'll see how the appointment tomorrow goes. Still slightly red between her toes, but hardly any sores. It's really amazing how healed everything looks.

Lastly, I watched 2.5 hours of the Bluegrass today. Made me super wistful about not working sheep. Border Collies really are an incredible breed. I probably shouldn't have spent the $10 but I couldn't help it, the first 30 mins were free and then I was hooked. Bluegrass > USDAA SC Regional. I wanna go work sheep... but can we somehow do it inside away from the rattlesnakes?