Dreams do come true :)

Wow what a great weekend of agility at the FCI World Championships.

We've been to this event 3 times now and this was the most exciting and emotional so far. The British Team were excellent. Medals were won and lost by a split second happening : eliminations, rolled poles, missed contacts and even a run past the last jump. I'm exhausted. I'll let the usual sources tell the full story, main highlights being: Bernadette and Zaz getting Bronze medal in the overall smalls, large team getting 2nd in Team jumping and so nearly getting at least silver overall and the mediums getting bronze in overall team - something for every height there :)

Seeing Ashley Deacon winning the smalls - such a tall man hiding his face in his little dog's head to hide his tears when most of the crowd was crying anyway was a particular emotional moment.

It was brilliant to see Zaz's agility run. Then edge of the seat stuff watching the remaining dogs going, hoping and hoping that she would remain where she belonged in a medal position :)

Previously I have also indulged myself in how I would be feeling with Flint or Torro on the start line. I really do believe that Flint and I would have been brilliant for the Team event and although maybe not quick enough for a Gold individual, he was superb on carpet and we worked very closely together so could get round most courses.

However Torro and I are different. Comparing him to the dogs there I'm sure he could have passed every contact, start line or weave challenge given. He's never worked on carpet so I'm not sure what he would be like for turns. Speed wise he's can be very quick. The falling point is that this year our partnership has not been one of mutual understanding and staying on course could have been a major problem.

Still I do know dreams can come true so with the right training and attitude we could be there this time next year. The thing is I'm not so sure it is still a dream of mine.

When I was younger I seriously dreamt of wing walking - just how amazing it would be to be up there strapped to a bi plane.

Mark treated me to a flight in a Biplane for my 40th and it was great - we did loop the loop, stall turns etc and I even got to do some flying :)

I would still love to do all that again but the appeal of doing it strapped to the wing has completely gone.

Is it sad that your dreams change or is it's just natures way of stopping you making a fool of yourself?

When It's Your Turn to Go.....

I do believe in fate in that if something if going to happen then it will. I do also believe that we can do what we can to help fate and by being positive good things will happen. For example selling the house is NOT happening so we're doing all the stuff we can to help it look better - even downsizing our bed from super king to improve space in the bedroom. In my eyes it isn't selling for a reason to do with what fate has in store for us. Maybe that dream house we like is not as good as another one that will become available once we've sold :)

Fate plays a part in our agility with weather, running orders, judges choice of challenges, other peoples form etc all acting together to create or detract from that winning run. Again we can do all we can (Mark's courses are good for helping decide what) to help these things either not matter or even better work in our favour but fate (or maybe luck) still has it's part to play.

Mark and Devo really should not still be in Grade 6 - or is there some good reason to keep them there? Maybe in a perverse way it will help him with his own Psychology :) Or maybe it's not a good thing to be working all over the country, not train your dog enough and feel too relaxed to concentrate on winning.

This morning fate really showed it has ultimate control in the most fundamental element of life - LIFE itself.

When I opened the blind I saw an upside down fly. As I went to pick it up to throw it away it righted itself. I'm not a fly lover but thought this dying fly would maybe enjoy it's last hours outside in the beautiful sunshine. I opened the window and scooped it out. As it gratefully flew away it went straight into the path of the spider busy finishing off it's web. Well I suppose the spider was happy.................

Good Times

Very, very proud of the people we train at the moment. The number of wins and move ups are great.

Success in the ring is one thing but when somebody from another club comes up and says they were parked near some lovely people at a show. These people were UpAndOver members :) The person said "I should have known they were your members as they were so nice".

Thanks guys - I know you can't help being lovely but as it was at the same show were there was a fight in the Championship Ring it really addresses the balance.

Agility is a great sport where so many friendships are made and it's good to be part of it.

When the going gets tough

Torro Laker is just an amazing dog with natural rapid acceleration and some very good learned skills. So it is quite tough at the moment to be at the end of a year without a string of successes to look back on. Mark says I need to check what I'm using to measure success. It's hard to get depressed about how badly you're doing when married to a Sports Psychologist sometimes :)

A resent article in a paper (of course everything you read in papers is true) was about the benefits of being sad. Yes, apparently we should allow ourselves the full range of emotions as they all serve a purpose. Some of the best runs I've done have been when I've been disappointed in myself. The article stated that chemically your mind is more balanced and focussed when you're feeling a bit sad. When you are happy and relaxed then it's easier to lose focus.

Running Torro Laker makes feel smile and feel happy - so that's where it's all going wrong.

So next time you see me laughing in a queue you can guarantee it's all going to go wrong in the ring and you'll know why.

That's obviously a simplistic view and Mark's Psychology course on 30 October will have more detailed and practical ways to keep us focussed on our runs.

Being disappointed in my year will give me an incentive to put in extra training and set decent goals for 2012 so this time next year we may even be training for Olympia etc

PS Torro has actually achieved a lot of good things this year - winning up to Grade 7 and 2 excellent clears in the agility part of Championship classes to name a few.

Ready for Autumn and Winter

I often joke that I was a bear in my last life as I get very tired this time of the year and would happily sleep for hours - even more than usual. I suppose that it's getting towards the end of the show season and it's only natural to start winding down but far from that this is the time of the year that gets really exciting as we are planning our winter training.

Opportunities for extra training at Catherston are limited so we need to ensure the Tuesday training gives as much as possible. There will be a few new members from other clubs joining us as well as all the changes for people progressing up grades.

It is a challenging process to balance heights, levels and personalities so everyone gets the best out of their training. We're very lucky to have such great trainers Fifo and Ruth so have no problem with people saying they want to be with a particular instructor.

It is a big responsibility that we take seriously as we believe the week to week atmosphere can really make a difference.

Dogs are like their owners?

I've been thinking about Rhyme and some of his personality traits and wondered if dogs are really like their owners.

When Flint was in his prime he never got things wrong - at that time I was working in a bank. Contrary to now popular belief bankers were generally very professionally and had regular checks to ensure things were right or they wouldn't balance.

Torro is a constant loner and prefers his own company so he doesn't have to worry about things. Mark can vouch for times when I've spent sleepless nights over things not worth worrying about and I must admit sometimes I wonder if I would do better not mixing with some people or situations that confuse me.

Rhyme is the opposite - he just wants to have a laugh, sit on his friends and hang out. He can perform brilliantly but mostly it's a case of life is too wondrous to do these chores. A bit like that emotion when you heard the school bell ring and class was out - in his case for summer LOL

Take a moment to think how your dogs reflect different personality traits. As for me I'm off life's too short to worry about that. Anyone wanna hang out?

An Update on Rhyme

Rhyme is over 10 months now and looking like a grown up dog. He is not going to be quite as big as I thought he might be. He is a bit too skinny for my liking and could do with more coat. even so he is still the most handsome dog in the world :)

Attitude wise he has now decided that he wants to be doing things with me. That also may be down to the fact that I am booking various training days/sessions for him with other instructors and so need him to be focussed so that I can get the most benefit from them. Training on my own means that I have taken my time and gone very softly softly on various bits of behaviour that would otherwise have been nipped in the bud a while ago.

One such behaviour is going off and doing what he likes. Influenced by outsiders I took this to mean that I wasn't interesting enough or was asking too much or that I should have taught him to play more etc. I was taking the theory of It's Your Choice too far and literally giving him a choice of training or doing his own thing without first ensuring that he understood what was required, that it would be rewarding and giving him too many other naturally interesting things to go and do instead.

In some ways it has worked as I have been able to spend time learning his body language and he has had a very stress free puppyhood. Now I need to help him understand some good basics so that we can enjoy group training and make the most of any opportunity we get.

As an instructor the things that appear to me to waste most training time are :-

Handlers that can't get their dog on start line without a fuss

Dogs that don't enjoy or understand waiting

Handlers not having rewards ready

Dogs that don't come back with the toy

Dogs that don't come to where owner wants them to

Dogs more interested in the other dogs in the group

Dogs that have to have all other dogs/distractions out of the way to work

So I know that in order to benefit from a training session I need to ensure Rhyme and I are not guilty of any of the above. I am confident of the first 4 or 5 but am conscious that the last two would be a challenge at the moment.

Previously I have been doing lots of recall work one on one with him but decided to work on calling him off my own dogs, especially Devo whom he is obsessed with.

I have started with them all in a controlled postion either sit, stand or down then call them individually. Rhyme enjoys waiting so although he has got up a few times to follow the others he more often than not waits very proudly for his turn.

Next stage was to throw a treat past Rhyme and release another dog past him to it. This took great self control and is most difficult if it's Devo. With this exercise if he broke to follow I called him to me and so far although he has broken his wait he has recalled off the other dog to me. Then happily waited the next time. So in focussing on a different thing I have strengthened his understanding of his name and recalling to me.

Because of the confidence gained in this I can now call him if he runs after the others down the garden and he is coming back each time.

Next stage is to take it to the field..........

This is Rhyme and his Dad Reef :)