Luc and friends at last years regionals June 2009

Herding

I am not a girl that does the jewelry, make-up, fancy clothes.I have never painted my nails, the only reason I think you would do that would be to hide arena dirt under them!
It does not take much to make me happy, actually its really easy and not hard to know what it is. Anything to do with my dogs and its the best gift you could give me.So when Santa asked what I would like for Christmas this year I asked for herding lessons. He came thru with 8 lessons with a neighbor that is 15 minute drive away.
We have had 4 lessons, and the herding dog as awaken!!! Yesterday we went for our
4th lesson. Luc was on leash when we walked into the arena with 4 sheep. I was getting instructions from Randy when I noticed something weird with my leash. It was vibrating....... Luc was trembling with anticipation!
Luc knows his directionals fairly well, away to me & come by. Practiced these all summer with him going around the bush pile for his ball.
In 4 lessons he is going out and driving the sheep to me, out runs, I finally figured out the line of 12 and 6 o'clock,and yesterday we started on driving the sheep, with him and I walking towards them. I still have not got the "feel" for the line of driving , but I will get it.
There are similarities to agility to herding, lines, pressure on and off, and the dog's head and tail for directing.
Friday we are back for more sheep fun with some dear friends, Louanne and Jen.
Then our 5 lesson with Randy will be next Monday.
Its amazing to see Luc not take crap from the sheep, just using his eye and pressure to move them. 4 sheep were standing facing Luc when I asked him to walk up into the pressure of the sheep and he turned them. The sheep tried to hold ground but they gave to Luc. I thought nothing of it until Randy explained for a novice dog to be able to do that was a good thing.
Luc is such a great dog, everyday I tell him thank you for being in my life.

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!

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!!!

Coolhand Luc, Then and Now

These 2 pictures are of Luc at 10 weeks old and the first day I met him and he stole my heart.
Luc got his 3rd Starters Standard run last night and another Steeplechase run.
He is now in Advance standard. He has 2 Advance Gamblers, one more to go and he is up in Masters. He still needs one more Starters Jumpers and Snooker.
He has started to test his contacts and has self released a couple of times. He is very eager. That's ok... he reminds me to stick to my criteria and he needs to be reinforced for when he does them correctly. He also needs to have quick releases mixed in with times of having to hold them. This is also true for the start lines.
I have watched Rachel Sanders DVD Bridging the Gap, between Training and Competition for Contacts. Really liked her ground work and last winter Luc and I worked on the flat work without equipment. Then through the spring and summer transferred it to the contacts. I really liked what she does on this DVD. It made sense to me.
It was one of many components I used to teach Luc his contacts.

Then (May 2009) & Now (Dec. 2009)

Picture of our training field in May and the field now. My husband clears a path so we can walk the dogs there.
Maybe only 3 1/2 months till we get back out there.
We were able to start classes this last spring in April. Hopefully that will happen again for 2010.