A day of Firsts..........

A red rosette, leaving the special boy at home, Thai squealing and Ketchups!!!!!!!

What would you describe as a good day? For me it was today - a show AND a training session :)
We had decided to go over to UKA Bugle today so that Phaze could go and do some socialising - which she seemed to enjoy enormously. Dan decided he wanted to put Magic in the Steeplechase classes and I told him to take Thai in them too. So Senior SC and Dan and Thai are up........and E'd! Learning from his mistake with Thai (as always - use my dog to make the mistakes then have a blinding run with his own!!) he won the Std SC with Magic - even though she did an extra obstacle - she may have turned slightly wide and jumped across the scrimers lap and the timer!! Magic enjoyed her round of applause at the end :)
We then decided to put them into the jumping classes as their 2nd runs as we weren't sure we would still be around for the 2nd SC class. I took my charge back........and didn't get E'd - but didn't go clear either. I have been struggling with Thai recently. I seem to have made the 2 boys very different in the way they run, I don't expect them to be identical but I really struggle to get them both working well at the same time. When it goes wrong with Cruze he gets louder and faster. When it goes wrong with Thai he gets clingy and unsure. I have concentrated on Cruze over Thai since Summer last year and it really shows, Cruze is having a few weeks off from working as he has worked very hard and I like to give his brain a break (he is a merle after all and there is a chance it may explode!) and I was hoping this time would get Thai and I back in sync with each other so I was a little disappointed that we didn't get round a fairly flowy Senior course without any issue.
In the back my of mind I knew I was thinking about the training workshop we were going to in the afternoon and started to wish I had Cruze with me.
So off we went to train with Toni at LEADS venue, with Dan's first red rosette of the year proudly displayed in the front window (Oh dear I am behind him already!!!!)

We arrived to watch the end of the earlier group session, we would have been a little earlier if we hadn't merrily carried on down the A30 straight past the turn off!! The group were finishing off with a 2nd go round the whole course that was set up. At this point I have to mention Pat and Dooley, Pat has always had a good relationship with Dooley but I truly believe she could write the book on how important it is to pick a trainer that works for you and with you, since training with SWAT it is like watching a different dog ( I'm glad I'm not in the same Grade this year - at least to begin with anyway!).
Once it was our groups turn we ran a course and then broke it down. I was actually pleasantly surprised by Thai - we seemed to be on the same planet for once - there was a long straight run in the middle of the course and Thai squealed as he ran flat out down it, another one of those firsts I was talking about. I don't know what causes a dog to be vocal or not, but Thai has squeaked a couple of times in the weaves when very excited and driving, but never on a line of jumps before he is much too reserved for that sort of thing!! I think the chance to be in a group again was really exciting to him and maybe I will need to think about this at a later date.
When breaking the course down into sequences Toni calmly and casually mentions that a certain sequence could comfortably accommodate a 'Ketschker Turn' - also known as a Ketchup turn for those that aren't so bilingual :P Cue the panicked look on my face! I knew what they were, had seen them in action but with someone with my limited spatial awareness it took a while for me to work out how to (or how not to) turn! And this was without the dog! I needn't of worried though Thai worked it like a pro, and so did Magic. The problem with achieving something you don't expect to, is the bit that comes after; ie. the rest of the course, as I promptly forgot what came next!
Another sticking point we had was a sharp right turn off the seesaw and into the weaves, we only had to do it twice before Thai decided there was no point in doing the whole seesaw when if he did half of it he could land at the weave entry and thereby save us some time. Nice thought Thai but not what we want! I was however pleased with him completing the weaves towards the wall as I peeled away and backwards as the long run of 4 jumps back down the whole length of the indoor school was coming up so I wanted a bit of a head start!
The last sequence was really interesting and an interesting lesson learnt; sometimes the easiest way is the most productive (as long as you have previously trained said easier way!!!). It was a handly sequence with 4 jumps - numbered 14-20 - of which Dan and I both put in several front crosses - but it could actually all be done on 'shoulder turns', And this is where the problem lies neither of us turn in this way! SO that went straight onto the homework list. After several tries Thai was fairly consistent in time however I handled it and Dan had somehow managed to sneak in even more front crosses!
At the end I was soooo pleased with Thai and was beginning to remember that I LOVE working this dog as he tries so hard and that he deserves to have me trying my hardest for him. Magic was a star, there were some really good bits in her work today and she concentrated hard through out the whole lesson. Her and Dan are looking a good team already this year :)
At the end I brought Phaze in to have a quick play while we were putting the equipment away, she was happily racing for her toy, running about, recalling from everywhere in the indoor school and as we were walking out I was thinking what a FAB bunch of dogs we are so lucky to have in our lives.

2011

I started 2011  by going to the WAO Tryouts with the boys. I thought it would be a good experience for Cruze, Thai and myself – although ultimately I had entered it as it was originally scheduled for the week before Olympia so I thought it would get me and Cruze into the right frame of mind and give him some experience of indoor venues with a bit of an atmosphere.
I had no expectations whatsoever but the boys actually surprised me and held their own out there against the big boys and girls!

In the Biathalon Cruze ended up 13^th overall and Thai 15^th overall. In the Pentathlon Cruze ended up 17^th overall (this would have been an even better place had I not chosen the last round to get my first elimination of the weekend with Cruze! ). This might not sound like much but as someone who has been panicking since September when I went Grade 6 that I would be way out of my league this year it has made me feel a little more confident about this season.

I really enjoyed the weekend, it was really well organised; there was a specific set up for each dog and you got a minutes warm up on your own – I felt this worked really well as you had time to concentrate on your dog and the course ahead without having to worry about what nearby dogs were doing. Unfortunately I don’t think KC shows could find venues big enough to allow us this at every show but it will certainly make me think about how I prepare before reaching the start line at shows.

So Olympia and the WAO tryouts have shown me that I can perform under pressure – in fact the pressure seems to serve to help me as I try harder. I have been known to potter around behind my dogs on a course and then wonder why my time was off! So this years aim is to attack courses and help my dogs be the best they can.

Winter training

Well we had lots of plans of everything we were going to train and improve on over the winter – time seems to be fast disappearing! I blame this mainly on the weather and Phaze. Puppies are time wasters – unlike a lot of videos that seem to be going up recently – I haven’t been using this time to teach her hundreds of tricks – I have just been watching her play with the big dogs and cuddling her!!!

So I decided to get my behind into gear and booked a puppy class for Phaze last weekend. She was FAB - I was really surprised at how focused she was and how she concentrated for the whole 2 hours whenever I asked her to do something. I think the future may be rather exciting!!

Here is a short video of Phaze and brother Tarn :) This was after the puppy class and after Phaze had been playing with cousin Mickey for about 10 minutes so she was beginning to slow down!!

Dan and I have several plans to go over a few things - weave entries, contact criteria, jumping method..... to name but a few!! I am now taking bets on what anyone thinks we will actually complete before April!

This weekend is a quick visit to UKA at Bugle and then a training afternoon with Toni. I am taking Thai  and really can't wait as he has taken a bit of a back seat recently - and boy does it show!!! 

I am now a Blogger!

I have been meaning to set up a blog for a year now – I wanted somewhere to document my season and training last year and thought I’d jump on the bandwagon of Blogging. I am hoping that once I start I will regularly update it – cue you now not seeing another post until January 2012!

I am not really expecting people I don’t know to bother reading my Blog so I am not going to really introduce myself or my dogs – I however do expect my friends to read my blog religiously!! You have been told!! If I don’t know you; hello and welcome and I hope you enjoy my ramblings J

It is a shame I didn’t get round to doing a blog last year as I would have had a few good things to talk about as all 3 merlies did so well! This season however I am in Grade 6 for the 1^st time with both boys so I don’t really expect to have many results to report.

Thinking about it this may be a good thing – as ultimately I want to use my blog as somewhere to document my training and to see how I progress throughout the year; rather than listing my results for you all to read! So if I don’t get any results I will need to be more creative in my posts!!

I ended the 2010 season with a trip to Olympia with Cruze. I can’t really explain how excited I was to get a chance to compete at Olympia, and it was made even more special by being there with several friends. Unfortunately we had a pole in the morning qualifier – Cruze decided it would be ok to launch 12 foot before the jump – I thought it probably wouldn’t be – I was right!

2010 was Dan and Magic’s first season competing and even if I do say so myself I think they did pretty well! Grade 1 to 3 with 1 jumping win and qualified for several finals – not bad with me training him! Now he knows more than me (hmmmm…… ;) ) so he trains himself with a bit of input from me (and hopefully a lot of input from Toni this year!). Magic is one of those dogs that people seem to notice – I think this is helped by the fact that Dan can RUN so they always seem to be fast and look a good team. I have to say I wasn’t a huge fan of kelpies before we got Magic (she is collie x kelpie) – but she has swayed me – and I can see she probably won’t be the last kelpie in this house!