A few blogs ago I was focusing all my energy in helping Pikachu want to do agility competitions. I have worked on a few different things along those lines. However the more energy and heart I put into it, it seemed the less energy and heart she had for it.
I got great results on her wanting to work with me with the use of a tennis ball.
Well one, then two and eventually even three. In fact all I had done was generate more and more obsession tennis balls. Once in her possession then she would run away from me in order to keep hold of it (and then them). It's amazing how she can get 3 balls in her mouth!!.
One of the questions we ask in our seminars is why do you do agility? I realised that what I love about agility is never going to be what Pikachu will want.
Pikachu was not got with the idea of being an agility dog. She just loved learning things and was not a bad shape for agility. She loves fooling around and hanging out.
Being able to have fun learning agility and enjoying competing at agility is not the same thing.
In the past I have been critical of other people not understanding that.
I can see now why sometimes it feels the right thing to try to change things to make it easier for your own dog. Even though I know Pikachu would love agility if I could give her treats in the ring I won't be petitioning the KC or starting another "the KC have things wrong" thread on FB to allow them to let me. It is a health and safety issue as it seriously effects mine and her mental health to not have treats every few obstacles :) Surely there would be no harm to up to about Grade 5ish, maybe 6 and then of course not in Champ classes, well not the final anyway...........
So Pikachu is going to be what she was always going to be - our little dog.
Then there is Rhyme. He is very full of himself at the moment and enjoying daily physio exercises. We have started straight line low jump grids and have a full programme to be fit to compete by Derbyshire Champ at the end of January.
Although he had hit most of the goals I'd had for last year before we stopped due to him not being sound, I won't make any plans for next year that would make me worry that I would push for those results.
The thing that has motivated me and kept my love for agility for so long is planning and dreaming.
Planning: training progression, which shows to go to and why, even where to stay, when to enter etc etc. With one dog that may want to play one day and one dog that should stay sound then it's more take each day as they come.
Then came the realisation that as Rhyme is now 6 I would be getting my next agility puppy anyway. Luckily Mark supported this. He thought that a puppy would also take any pressure off Pikachu and Rhyme.
A series of events meant that for once Joy Costello who breeds the Aviary line was going to be having a litter of puppies at the time I was ready for one.
Part of the Aviary line comes from our lovely Kodi (Ag Ch Bekkis Carbon Copy) and we had been hoping to have one of his offspring's puppies at one point.
In fact the Mum, Ebbie is one of his Granddaughters. The pedigree has a lot of dogs that I know and love, with Bekkis on both sides and a bit of Harrjak Tigger (Rhyme and Devo's uncle) thrown in for good measure.
As usual I wanted a tri but this time I wanted to go back to having a girl. Poor Torro started out in the shadow of Flint so a change of sex would mean no recent comparison for me.
On 26 October 4 pups were born - 2 bitches and 2 dogs. The bitches were a black & white and a tri. The boys were lilac and a red tri.
26 October was Kodi's birthday........
Joy as always had a long list so it was a bit of a waiting game to see who fitted which puppy as their personalities developed.
Then the stars aligned and this beautiful little girl is coming to join the Laker family on 16 December.
Aviary Written in The Stars or as we'll call her Chic (pronounced as per Nile Rogers and Chic)
Meanwhile we had some very sad news a few weeks ago when we heard our old friend Jean had died. Jean was very special in Mark's life from when he lodged with her and her family as a teenager. She was like a second Mum to him and much loved. We will miss visits to her. We had always said we'd take care of her dogs and now are the proud owners of Eva and Lula a couple of Japanese Chins. They are 6 year old sisters and are a lot of fun.
Consequently I am now virtually a full time dog carer, fitting in lessons around them all and planning for shows next year has just gone up another level.
Did I mention what I thought I really liked about agility was planning.........
