GRRR....TUFF ENUFF TO RUN FOR THE CURE"

I am very forunate that for the last 5 winters to be able to rent the arena in town from the Ag Society. Heated and washrooms.
This is our last week at the arena until next Oct. My clients and myself are praying for an early spring. A few years ago we were able to start classes the middle of April.( we can only hope)

I have such a great group of girls and 1 guy ( he really loves it, and he gets to visit with the other husbands that come out to watch and support their wives ).

They are devoted to the sport and love to learn their handling. They never complain about helping set up or take down equipment. They arrive on time and stay late to help. They support and encourage each other.
Gals,all of you did so well in class last night and this morning. Thank-you for allowing me to be a part of your life. It is so wonderful to watch you run with your dogs and to see the team that is developing.

This year, in Olds, April 4th, we are having our 2nd annual AAC Sanctioned Agility Trial.
It is called "Grrr...Tuff Enuff To Run For The Cure". After expenses, all profit is donated to the Tom Baker Cancer Center for research to find the cure for breast and prostrate cancer.
I decided to organize this as a dear client was diagnosed with breast cancer in the fall of 2007. My dad had died from prostrate cancer in 2006 and my brother-in-law was diagnosed a year ago. A dear friend/client 's best friend just died and had been dealing with breast cancer and now this friend is going through tests also. The more I listened to people the more I realized how many people were dealing with this disease themselves or family members.
So the idea came to life.

Our dogs are our greatest comfort and support. They listen, they let us cry without interruption, kiss us better and keep us company at all hours. They are truly remarkable animals to give so much.
What better way then to have our 4 legged friends help us to help their families have hope for a cure.
Hug your dogs tonight and be grateful that we have had the opportunity to share their lives.
Take care

Cavall, Coolhand Luc & stuff

I have been busy teaching and training. Gotta say I have a great bunch of gals (and one guy) that are very devoted to the game. We had a wonderful class last night. We set up an advance level standard course. Boy did it have some challenging handling opportunities in it. I have to remind my clients to not just do things they know because then they are just practicing, but to train so you and your dog can learn and progress. the best is when they are successful at a new skill and walk away feeling good about what they just did with their dog.

Now for my own dogs, Cavall and I, as most of you know have a "little" start line issue. I know that to get him more comfortable at the start line his emotional state has to change. We have been training lots with that. I know with him turning 6 yrs old next month that this will be a "management" behavior for the rest of his agility career. I just want to help him out as much as I can, because damn when the dog and I are on , well...... he smokes!

Coolhand Luc is growing into the "man". He is 10 months old on the 6th of this month.
We have just started weave pole training, been doing lots of jump foundation training :jump chute, bended grids, set point. also front cross, rear cross and serpentine cues. and start line work!!!!
We have just raised the jumps to 12 inches.
Luc is now starting to show some adolescent behavior,

"oh did you call?"
Oh yes I did!
"oops I am so sorry.. I am coming now"
Right choice little guy!

The other morning I was walking in our field with Cavall, Reba and Luc.
Francis ( hubby ) comes around the far corner out of the tree line and Luc figures "hey who are you?" barking and hackles up and running towards Francis. We got that under control quickly. Luc was very apologetic when he realized the err of his ways.
guess he is trying to find himself, hopefully he will not go overseas to Singapore, Bali etc like our 3rd oldest son who I miss dearly.

lessons from herding, Luc's and mine

There is alot to learn!! my poor head.. and my poor buttocks.

Got up this morning and my butt is sore! What the heck is that from!

Oh yeah... backing up to the sheep in deep sand is a great work out for tighter buns!! Highly recommend it!

When I was in the right spot Luc did great, When I wasn't.....well the poor dog had no idea what he was suppose to do.

I have a dear friend who teaches, Louanne Twa from High River. She gave me a lesson and when she was out there with me it went much smoother for Luc. She is blessed with tons of patience. Thanks Lou!

We met at another friend's arena (10 minute drive from my place), who also teaches herding, Randy Dye in Bowden. Either one of them would be great for lessons.

Thing is I have been watching herding since 2002 and you would think I would have absorbed some of the knowledge. but oh no...

My lesson for the day was: Its really good for instructors to be students once again so we can remember how it feels to be learning. Hopefully to make us have more patience with our students.

finally a little blog

Well it has been a very busy, bone chilling last month. Hope that kind of cold is gone for this winter. We lived up at Norman Wells NWT for 4 1/2 yrs and that kinda of cold you except there but not here and not for so long.
Luc was tougher with the cold then the long haired heavy coated Belgians. They were going "ooh its cold" and trying to walk on three legs or two. Luc would run out to the middle of our field and " who's playing? hey hey someone join me!" and he would finally get Cavall to join him and off they go a million miles an hour. Luc would be sloppy wet with drool and have to dry off in the house.
Luc is such a polite, easy going dog.Don't get me wrong Luc is not soft, he is very confident. I have and have had dogs that focus on me when we are working/playing together but with Luc its different, he is so there with you, intense and always ready. He seems to problem solve and put things together so quickly and willing to go the distance with you.
The one and only time I took him out on sheep he was wonderful and to see him do what he was meant to do, that was goosebumpy. Sometimes I think I am doing him an injustice not having him on sheep more often. I am planning on it just got to get it together and do it!
On another note the ranchers, Burradoo Ranch in Montana, I bought Luc from have started to put together their website. It is not completed yet, but they do have some stuff on it and one is a video of Luc's mom, Wrangler Lily, working in Australia. In fact they have 3 video clips on their site. Check it out at : http://www.burradooranch.com/ContactBurradoo/contact_burradoo.htm
make sure you have the sound on. They are amazing dogs!
I hope to add more pictures to the blog as soon as I find my cable for my camera.... though I think my son took it with him overseas.
take care all

tagged!!!

This is Coolhand Luc at 11 weeks (june 08). I never had an intention of buying a Kelpie, they did not do anything for me. Yup then Louanne invites me to a kelpie herding clinic, So off I go, been watching herding for over 5 years, thinking someday I will try this. I just cannot seem to give up my agility yet. Back to Louanne's, who is a super hostess, red wine and all, tells me there is a litter of kelpies going to be there. I think, Oh thats nice. She has one picked out for me, a little red female named Pistol. Oh great I can see me running around the agility field calling "here Pis Pis"as we have a tendency to shorten names.
Anyways I see the litter and gravitated to this little black and tan boy. Loved the look in his eye, the way he handled himself with people and his littermates. so the rest is history. He is now 8 1/2 months old and have no regrets. I am glad I have such a happy, willing trainable dog. I often wonder are all kelpies like this?

slide show added

check it out!

sheepherding and judges application

Well we let little Luc see sheep last week, he could not believe his eyes! We left a long line on him just in case he wanted some mutton to snack on. Louanne had me follow the sheep and to send Luc to check them out. He would for a minute then come back to me and walk beside me checking up at me ,"can I really?"
We finally took the line off him and presto! ( I guess he thinks if he has a leash on he is to stay with me.. good dog!) Yipppee, round and round we go! He got one separated from the group and into a corner. He was holding it there just for a moment and the sheep tried to intimidate him by putting its head down and stamping her feet. It didn't work and I called him back to me. Did not want him getting into that when he is so young.
Luc went back to the group and was doing his thing and he did something Louanne called a flank and she said he figured it out and we ended it on that good note. He was exhausted after. Did not get any pictures but did get some video.
We will try it again in about a month. Gotta learn what I need to do out there.

On another note we had to move my equipment out of the arena I rent for a couple of weeks . I have some equipment home , thank goodness as the weather has been great!
also the timing for a break from teaching was right on as I am applying to become an AAC Judge for the starters/advance level. Had to design 4 courses and do a pre TEST! My head hurts and I have not done a test in a Thousand Years! I stress over tests! I emailed it off last night, hopefully I Pass it to continue for the 3 day exam in March.