It takes balls to run Pikachu

Yes, literally it takes balls to run Pikachu.

Its been a strange and at times very sad year for us. 

Everyone grieves differently and for me some things I like to keep very private so forgive me for not commenting further. Instead I will focus on our dogs progress since my last blog.

The last blog was about Chic aka Miss Perfect Paws as she continues to be. It'll be a while before she competes so as usual there is not much equipment training going on in the Laker scheme of things. Here a little clip of one exercise we have done.

Chic jumping exercise clip

It has been said to me several times that Pikachu will make me a better dog trainer. My reply is often I don't want to be a better dog trainer I just want a dog I can do agility with. Looks like Chic is not going to help my dog training skills ;)

So how is Pikachu doing? Well I mentioned that I had found the key to motivation with her and about her tennis balls. I just needed to find a way to put that to best use and develop a love of agility with me through being rewarded with her balls whilst not ruining our relationship by fighting with her to get them off her.

This is easier said than done, but the result is I have a dog that loves coming out to train with me and even more relevant will stay in the ring at a show, or better still enjoys competing. She can still get a little distracted on the start line and wonder if the person that has just taken her lead has also got one of her balls which needs a bit of work. TBH I'll just have to get even bigger pockets and tuck her lead in there too so she needn't worry. 

The other BIG thing is that I was struggling to feel we were together in the ring. I apologise to small dog handlers but I thought it was purely a size issue and the distance from my eyes and hands to her compared to previously running large dogs that I could touch without bending down. I wondered if I would ever feel that connection. I often can't see her!

She's behind you clip

Happily this is not the case and I can feel her commitment and drive (yes drive yippee) equally the same as with Rhyme. Admittedly not all the way round yet. I'm confident it will grow as she is a smart little cookie and has found the joy of running round an agility course together. She has a lovely turn of speed too so I think we will be able to look to getting up the grades...if I can understand how they work next year.

The time spent this season just getting her to thrive on my attitude to competition has been well spent. I now need to capitalise on this by developing fast reliable contacts and weaves over the winter ready to attack courses with a winning mind next year.

I am also on the search for a replacement for the balls in a toy that she will give back without a struggle but produces nearly the same amount of excitement. So far we have found she also loves one of these cut down a bit and will bring it to me to tug with!

Yep so if I can't find something better I'll be replacing the balls for something that will look no less dodgy stuffed in my pocket and earning comments like "are you pleased to see me or is that just dog toy in your pocket!!"

Socialisation - thinking inside the box

Wow how lucky am I.

Chic is turning out to be just what I wanted. She is stunningly beautiful, very cheeky and keen to learn. 

Initially I wondered if she was 'legally blonde' as sometimes she doesn't seem to take things in. Then I applied one of my own tips about training regarding timing. There are times when it's easier to learn i.e. with no distractions such as being hungry, some dogs learn in 30 seconds and other take 30 seconds to warm up to the idea and some times girls just want to have fun. I have enjoyed taking time to really know Chic and work out how and when she wants to learn and boy, when she's in the mood she would work forever if I let her. However, if its not on her agenda for that day then we just have to have a growing up day.

One of the first games I play with my puppies is getting in a cardboard box. From that game there is getting on a cardboard box, cutting an entrance and then finding a way into a higher box etc etc. I had collected many sizes of boxes for the fun of these games and with Xmas on the way I was sure to get more.
Chic took one look at the first box and did a perfect roll over but in no way was she interested in getting in it. The roll over was cute so that has stayed and the box was put away until today. This is the first time since that day that I have asked her to get in a box and I am glad I waited.

Training Chic to get in a box

Having eight dogs means you have to plan your time carefully, so armed with the knowledge that Chic can learn things easily at the right time means I can take my time and teach her things when she is ready and not waste time if she's not.

Talking of ready, another game I love is the 'ready' game. This is where I have an active game of tug and then go totally still whilst saying the word ready. Usually my pups have dropped the very dead toy and as soon as they do that I say go and make the toy exciting. Chic's version was when then toy went dead she would fly at my upper arm to bite me. Although this was hilarious it also hurt so I tried to temper down the way I said the word and ask for a bit of control. I also left that game alone for a while. When I came back to it this is her new version.

Chics version of the ready game

One of the key things with young puppies is socialisation. Coming from a busy home with people coming and going visiting pups, other dogs and cats Chic had a great start in this department. Once at our home we had Christmas and New Year so lots of visitors, different people and noises, our own dogs of various sizes, other dogs staying in the house and my customers and their dogs to meet. She has done well and taken it in her stride but she has a spooky side. This is strikingly more noticeable when she is tired  

or needing the toilet.

Again it is a question of timing with her and I know not to try to introduce her to anything in those circumstances. In fact I left her first puppy class early as she had been confident and bold and then went a bit quiet. Reading the signs I excused her. She is now able to stay all evening without any worry. 

Rhyme as a puppy was concerned about a lot of things and I took him to a lot of different places and he met lots of different people. I encouraged people to give him treats so they were not scary. I think he did benefit from that and now when he 'spook barks' I can often see a reason why and it's usually something out of place - a non-agility person at a show for example or a dog in a yellow 'give me space' coat. Chic 'spook barks' if something has changed in her world - the first time we put a tunnel out in our field this year you would have thought we'd unleashed a fearless puppy eating beast. Luckily we have the space for me just to walk past it and ignore it and so she did too. I don't think it would be of help to her if I tried to entice her near it at that time. Given the choice to run was good for her and her curiosity got the better of her five minutes later. 

I will not be able to introduce her to every scenario that she may encounter and wonder if sometimes people are encouraged to do too much when they are still small and tire easily. As I mentioned, she behaves quite differently when tired so I will leave some things until she is older to ensure I'm not asking too much too soon from her. The main thing for me is that she trusts me and that she will then be willing to work in any place at any time. 

To ease her into being able to cope with change I put her food bowl down in a few different places, move her toy box and leave toys in unusual places round the field to surprise her with. When I remember I also get her to walk over different surfaces e.g matting, over hula hoops on the ground etc. The key for her is building her confidence and our relationship by introducing strange things in a familiar environment first. I'm lucky to have the space and facilities at home and I am happy she will develop into a confident dog out and about at shows this year too where I'll let her play some of her favourite games so if you see me carrying a cardboard box ..........

Just one more glimpse into her loveable and quirky character

Chic invents her own game

Making the Grade

There have been some great and interesting posts relating to how competing at KC Agility does or rather doesn't prepare Agility Team GB for the FCI AWC.

I thought I'd throw my thoughts in. These are MY thoughts and are not necessarily a reflection of people in the know who I know ;)

It's great we have the opportunity to discuss and consider how to ensure we are best prepared. 

My first point is whether the AWC is in fact a specific event that no other country has full preparation for amongst their own national competitions either.

Lets think about the number of spectators and the full focus of agility in one stadium. 

Cruft's is one of the biggest dog shows in the world. Having an opportunity to compete there under pressure must be one of the closest events to AWC. 

Yes the area is smaller but it is intense. There is a tight time scale and you need to be on the ball to perform at your best there. From a dog's point of view I would say that AWC gives the dogs more space to get to the start line.

Then there is Olympia which is not comparable to any other major agility event. The atmosphere is electric, loud and everything is rushed through. Walking courses as the equipment is put out and then being on the start line in a matter of minutes.

I am not aware of major large crowd events in other countries that can give their competitors such preparation for high pressured events. To me having these KC run events to compete at are a major advantage.

Courses 

The majority of other countries do compete under FCI rules regularly. 

My thoughts are the judges will be setting courses to identify World Champions as opposed to their usual day to day competitions. I image that our Champ judges will have a different spec for their champ courses than judging normal classes. Some competitors from other countries have said the World Championship courses are different to what they compete on too.

Agility Team GB are given a lot of information about the current years judges trends and will set up and practice all they can. An example is the weave entry that featured in a few courses and all our dogs achieved without any problem this year.

We don't compete/train on carpet 

The Cruft's carpet used this year is the same as was used in the Czech Republic.

Many other countries have similar facilities to us in that they are mainly outside on grass but there are countries who have many indoor astro turf facilities. 

Astro turf will be a constant surface for the dogs to run on whereas grass can vary considerably. It will also effect the handlers performance as we will run differently too.  

So for me this is a big one and one that could be a factor in who were winning this year. 

We have been to an indoor competition in Germany a couple of years ago and throughly enjoyed it. It was over New Year so didn't eat into Mark's holiday too much either. It's on again this year and I'd recommend it to anyone as an experience to add to your knowledge of how you and your dog run competitively on FCI courses on that surface.

I think there is also a great Sheltie competition and happy to link anyone up to the people in the know about it.

Judges don't set up course that allow our dogs to open up and develop speed.

Wow this is major in many ways. 

From a new judge prospective this is yet another criticism being aimed at our judges who turn out in all weathers so we have competitions to go to. Why will this encourage me to continue to judge?

At a recent event in the UK where FCI judges were it was noted that they used a different course entirely for each class they judged even if they just did 2 classes. The ring party were a bit put out. 

Judging several classes in one ring in one day using the same layout does not lend itself to creating fast, flowing and technical courses easily.

Seven grades equals seven different levels of complicity.

As far as I know countries competing under FCI rules only have 3 levels A1, A2 and A3.

So for me if there is one area that definitely needs changing it is the grading system.

It is one of the major factors that stunts the development of the speed in our young dogs and the way we run them.

It cuts people off from seeing the really great dogs and handlers run until they are amongst them and it is demoralising instead of being inspirational. Watching a great performance should encourage you to:

1. believe it can be done and 
2. want to emulate it.

Talented young partnerships have to win so many classes to get to the top but the small number of dogs in the class creates a stronger need to be clear than to be fast. 

If success is determined by being in the top grade then in this country choosing the right shows means clear rounds will get you up the grades and speed is a secondary consideration.

Everyone will have their own anecdote of what has stopped them from being the best and we can all blame the system. 

We do have amazing dogs, handlers, judges and competitions in this country and our structure gives us many choices. 

Overall it is up to us to have the confidence of our own dreams and take action to achieve them. 

We can choose to run eye balls out on every run, choose speed first and foremost until the accuracy improves.

Back to this years AWC nobody can deny these deserve to be large World Champions

Sadly I can't find the medium or small runs as they were just as amazing - sometimes you just need to be there ;)

Next year it's Sweden - just saying.

Getting Together

A big change is about to happen at The Old Potting Shed.

We have fenced off an area to the right of the field to create a new and separate
agility field. Mainly this has been done with the thought of keeping our own dogs off of it when they are up the field. 

This along with a bit of pressure from a few people has also helped me consider my agility training in a more serious way. Up until now since we've moved up here I have done agility training mostly as one to one's with clients gained by word of mouth.

It has been great and I have some lovely clients who have accomplished
what they wanted to this year.

Something was missing though. For years I had been a club trainer or a guest trainer working with groups.


In regular groups there is a different dynamic that feeds off that competitiveness within us. We discuss this effect on our Sports Psychology Seminars. As the group develops a camaraderie grows and each person becomes involved in the others in the groups journey. This feeds the group and pulls it forward at a different rate than is possible in one to one's or one off training sessions.

In turn this added energy drives me to gain the best I can from each of them and ultimately me. We all have ownership and responsibility, even emotional involvement that makes every little success a shared success and therefore more rewarding.

I run a couple of groups that came about by accident which I really enjoy and those people enrich each others training so it is only a small step to develop this further.

My one to one's are still special and I will ensure I keep times available for them too. One to one's bring forward a different strength within my coaching skills and I am so proud of all of my students who have developed into very confident handlers who enjoy competing and are getting the best out of their partnership with their dogs.

The adverts are out now and a couple of groups are already full and I'm looking forward to a great "off" season with loads to work on getting ready for the new season next year.

I like to think of names for things and am known for my corny suggestions. As our house is called The Old Potting Shed I am thinking my group should be called TOPS or is that a bit presumptuous?

Be more Pikachu

Well Pikachu is nearly 6 months now and it seems like she has been with us forever.

She is always happy and always ready to get into mischief. Of course she doesn't know that climbing on the table is mischief, she doesn't know that getting under the gate is mischief, she doesn't know that climbing on agility equipment she hasn't been taught to do is mischief OR does she?

I often admire her positive and can do attitude and being so excited about the smallest things. Then I realised that these are traits I do luckily share.

My positive,if a little naive thoughts, about the changes the KC are making.

When something has to be done then I do usually find a way to get it done.

I even still get excited about many things like Rhyme's first Champ class coming up this weekend, doing the judges course, competing at Crufts, training in a new environment with Rhyme, having new customers etc etc. Yes when it comes down to it I am more Pikachu than I first thought :) 

Here's a few clips of how she is doing with some little training sessions we did this afternoon.

Training session various

Pikachu training sit wait to a toy

Pikachu down with treats

Pikachu learning to help with putting her harness on

Jump

By coincidence the song Jump was playing on the radio as I start writing todays blog.

Like everyone in the agility community my head is spinning with the press release about jump heights.

Kennel Club Press Release

I personally think it is a great step forward and a great way to get data for research to understand the impact of jump heights without completely changing things in a way there would be no way of going back from. Rather than the research being confined to a few scientists, everyone in the agility community will get first hand experiences - judges, competitors, and show organisers 

Judges - in some organisation elsewhere in the world of agility judges are key in making the rules. They are the people who watch agility more critically than most. To judge a class of dogs of the same measured height category competing for the same prize over the same course at different jumps heights will really help identify how lower jumps changes a courses dynamics. There will be some that understand these things that may even feel a challenge to produce a course that evens out the jump height in some way. I'm not an experience judge yet so it won't be me ;) There is a worry that lower jumps creating more speed would mean the dogs are hitting other obstacles quicker too and could cause more risk of injury. Judging the different options would illustrate if that is in fact the case and give opportunity to consider how course design might need to change if lower jumps become the norm. 

Show organisers - wow, good luck is all I can say except that we may be underestimating these smart people who took going to 7 grades in their stride, organise changes to venues to cope with weather at the drop of the hat etc etc and really are the unsung heroes of agility. Without you there would be no agility competition so whilst quietly confident that you will make the best of this I also hope it isn't too challenging.

Competitors - What fun this is going to be in looking at shows to enter, what classes to enter - so much choice. What a gamble if looking for wins to move up. If you know the class is split do you do lower height as you can go faster or the standard height as there may not be so many dogs to compete against. A minefield - game of minesweepers anyone? Strategy is going to be a key mental skill or maybe lady luck will just be busier. 

There will be a call for people to be honest and as many have mentioned there may not be "fairness". IMO agility can never be looked at as all things being equal - dogs and people are all of different shape and personality. Not to mention age and sex, so no matter what rules changes there are, in a competition there will always be winners and losers. If you can not accept that then agility is never going to be a happy place for you to compete in. The top dogs and handlers will still get to the top.

Dogs - Really this is the most important category. This is really GREAT news for our dogs and their long term competitiveness. Not to mention their length of time being able to compete.

Moog is going to have a great start to agility being able to gain confidence at shows first at any size, then at the lower height and then move up to standard height as he progresses. 

Even though our dogs are allowed to compete at 18 months many dogs get fitter and stronger as they mature and reach peak at 4 to 7 years old. So it makes sense to allow them the easier task of jumping lower until they move up the grades. It is a formula followed in the horse world where higher jumps and more complex hurdles are only introduced as the horse wins up through their 'grades'.

Pikachu was tiny as a pup but has grown into her large personality to the extent that she might even end up as medium. A medium dog with Jack Russell legs and a Pug body would possibly have a short competition time as weight to height would worry me. We did not get her as an agility dog but she has her own agenda! With this new looking schedule then we will be able compete at  the lower height. We are competitive people deep down so just running at Anysize may not have given us the motivation to train her the same etc. This is all a lot of ifs as she is only 6 months but illustrates to me the differences this rule could make to her. 

I am sure there are a lot of handlers with dogs like her that are now going to be able to enjoy competing more with dogs that weren't a perfect fit height wise before.

So as Van Halen says - Jump

A Year in TOPS

 TOPS is my abbreviation for our house name The Old Potting Shed (lovely but a bit long winded)

As we like working hard at doing better with the things we do and it was only found after at least 2 other attempts at house buying I think it is a suitable acronym.

I have just read my last couple of blogs about Oddjob. Losing him, Tim and Flint were parts of the year that will always make us think of 2014 with sadness. Flint and Tim are a part of who we are as they were such a big part of our lives for some many great memories. Sadly with Oddjob it is a different kind of missing - missing the chance to make such memories.

Other than the awfulness of these losses we have settled very well. 

UpAndOver has more than survived our departure and has very quickly become a fully fledged club maintaining the same level of professionalism and the warmth that we enjoyed.

Michael is settled in Australia and is a head chef in a new restaurant there. He'll be home in the summer if he gets sponsorship as he will then move over there permanently so will need to sort all his things out. It's great he is doing something he loves. Great to future holidays for us too :)

Amy has got engaged and we had a lovely family day out to celebrate. Typically I took more pictures of her with her dog that I did with Faron.

Jack is also enjoying his job in recruitment and we met his girlfriend too.

Work wise Mark is managing to reduce some travel and has less nights away. 

Apart from a few blips the GB managers job is going in the right direction. Gaining a Team medal at FCI AWC was above expectations and has set the standard. 

We have changed the Inner Agility seminar about a bit so I can help a lot more and our weekends are full.

Going to the states to do a seminar was a big highlight. We flew into New York and although it is not anywhere I had thought I wanted to go it was incredible. So inspiring the vision of the planners and builders to create buildings so high. We then went to Vermont where nature showed what beautiful things she was capable of. Staying at the family Von Trapp lodge and meeting Lyn Von Trapp gave other insights into human nature. It's an incredible story that is not as fairy tale as "the Sound of Music" but equally amazing.

Agility lesson wise I have missed all my old customers. I have had some great people come for lessons to help with coaching especially when they have had a dip in confidence. They have gone on to great things and I am proud of having helped them with their journey.

I also have a few regulars that have very quickly become friends. It is great to note that they have all moved up grades too. Individual lessons are a good opportunity to focus on what really matters to that partnership and I'm lucky to be able to watch these partnerships continue to grow.

What I have managed to not mention yet is the big success Wag & Tone has become. 

I have a lovely weekly class - again a great group of people and dogs. 
On top of that we were asked up to London to help the Kennel Club do their Get Fit with Fido exercises, we featured in Your Dogs and we have now been awarded the Pet Food Manufacturers Get Pets Fit Award :)

We already know more people in our village than we did in Grateley and we are looking forward to getting to know them better too.

Crikey I have managed a whole blog of not mentioning Rhyme - that won't do :)

What can I say except that we have done well at the few shows we actually got to concentrate on. The highlight for me being qualifying for the Novice Cup Final at KCAI. That also then became a low point with him doing the dog walk so fast he fell off and me losing concentration so eliminating him instead of carrying on. He hadn't hurt himself and was over halfway so it would only have been 5 faults.  He subsequently won up to Grade 6 the following day so next year we have to do well in the British Open instead.

Despite not wanting to get to Grade 6 (what was I thinking of?) we love it. No thoughts of not wanting to do well (I had wanted to stay in Grade 5 for Novice Cup and Novice Olympia) so we are just running each class as it comes. With Rhyme it comes (and goes) very quickly and I am looking forward to moving upwards and working on anything that seems to stop us from gaining top places. It is most often the timing of my handling and I am confident that we will get up to speed throughout the spring/summer.

Ok thats it for last year - my next blog will be about goals etc for 2015.

Goal one will be to write a blog regularly :) 

ISS - it is rocket science

Wow just seen the ISS.

No not internet show services - although that does feature a lot in our lives at the minute.

The International Space Station.

It passed over our house at the predicted time of 9:50 and we saw it for the predicted time of 4 minutes.

It is incredible that science has enabled us to build something like that and launch it into space and for us to know where it will be - again because of science.

I do wonder though why some of this capability of gaining knowledge is not used on more day to day things.

Dog training for example, yes I know its not rocket science but that saying implies anything that isn't rocket science is easy.

Conversely it may mean it has not had as much research put into it.

With dogs being a bigger part of our lives and us living in a capitalistic society that equals more money, science is now looking at our relationship with our dogs more deeply and scientifically.

I am all in favour of this too and would pose science many a question about Rhyme.

For example on Sunday we were all happy around The Old Potting Shed. I was learning to dig my vegetable plot and Mark was enjoying clearing dead wood with his chosen tool of a chainsaw.

The dogs were mooching around between the two of us.

I hadn't seen Rhyme for a couple of minutes and initially thought he was with Mark when I caught sight of him outside the paddock gate.

Wondering how he got there I called him to see his route but he just stood by the gate so I walked over to let him in.

A lady was walking up the lane and asked if he was one of mine.
"Yes I am not sure how he got out though."
"I live in that house opposite and I was just checking he got back ok" she replied.
"Sorry was he in your garden"
"Oh no he was in the house and finished up the cats food"

Well it was great to meet another neighbour who likes dogs and was pleased of the opportunity to meet us. Embarrassed was not quite the word though.

FB confirmed other tales of peoples dogs being the instrument of introduction to their neighbours so science I hope you're up to the challenge. Tracking a personality free piece of hardware in space is not rocket science compared to the workings of the wonders of dogs.