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!!!