"Building The Team"

I love to train my dogs and I love to teach people to train their dogs. I hope my students find as much joy being with their dogs as I find in being with mine!

"Before you teach skills & fundamentals, make people feel good about their abilities. Make them believe they can perform." Rick Pitino

Monday, January 18, 2010

Not to be out done by Little Brother!!

Cavall had a wonderful master gamble, 118 pts!!! the flow was good and he was not to frantic. As the weekend went on Cavall went into a very stressed state. I pulled him on Sunday. It was doing him and me no good to be together in that situation.
As alot of my agility friends know, Cavall has health issues. Some of which I believe, was brought on by vaccinations. I have also had professionals suggest that this may have caused his auto immune diseases. He is know on complete rest from agility for one month and then we will slowly start getting him back in. He is such an incredible dog and as took me to a higher level in agility and as a trainer. He has taught me that perseverance pays off and good things do come our way! The harder you work for it, the sweeter it is! Thanks Cavall, love ya Bud!

NATURAL HAT TRICK

Advance gambles ,1, 2, 3 !!! Luc is now in master gambles.He did it with great style, 130 pts, 84 pts, 106 pts !! Did not except this to happen! He has not even been in a full trial yet. March will be his first full trial. He is also in Advance Standard, Advance Snooker, and the elusive last starters leg is still needed to move up to Advance jumpers. We are still working on finding our timing, as a team, for collection cues. I seem to want to run him as my experinced old dog who fines the lines with me. Luc is still so young, he still needs more guidence. You will see in this video how he goes wide past the wall, which was caused by me not hesitating , a collection cue, and to make sure he finds the line to the wall. His extension is so great that if I am moving it sets a wide arc for him, espeacially running on a turn. He is teaching me to be more aware of my handling. He is just so much fun!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Trial this weekend , Yahoo!

Finally preparations for regionals and nationals have begun.
My goal this year is to qualify 2 dogs for nationals. I am going to make sure I enjoy the journey getting there.I love training my dogs, just plain doing stuff with them. Hanging out with dog people is wonderful, they are so kind and grateful for having their dogs in their lives that is comes out in how they treat their fellow humans. Dogs seem to have that affect on us.

Luc has not been in a full trial yet, looking towards March, see how he handles the pressure. I will back off a little on Cavall to get Luc ready for the upcoming season.

I had them both in a Steeplechase , both qed, Cavall was faster, he is a more efficient jumper then Luc. They were only a .2 difference. Luc is an extender, Cavall is very good at tight lines.
Will be working on more jump grids with Luc to help him with his body awareness. He does love to fly!!!
Everyone this weekend, remember all collars off: RUN NAKED, RUN CLEAN RUN FOR THE SHEER JOY!!!