Fretting over the little stuff is getting in the way of the big picture

Why is it so difficult to put the behaviors we've been working on for so long all together and finalized? It seems like I'm always waiting for it to be perfect, but things are never going to be perfect. (See Denise Fenzi's blog from today for her view). The slightly crooked behavior on their contact board, the not 100% confident weaves, even their jumping form, it's all a continuum that can go on forever!

While trying to train Rosey how to do her walk contact, I struggled and struggled. It was a real game of whack-a-mole that never ended! As soon as we were able to teach her one thing, she would start a different behavior. I think she finally decided that the end of the dog walk was filled with so much stress that she would avoid it all together! I ended up taking a summer and started training a running walk contact using Sylvia Trkman's method. I no longer had to worry about perfection, and neither did she, and we started to have fun!

The walk contact is still an issue realistically hasn't been "fixed," but it is consistent and I know where our weaknesses are. Her striding lands her comfortably inside AKC's contact zone (yay!), but too high for USDAA. I'd love to put more criteria on it or train it longer, but at 8yrs old, I don't know if the effort is worth the time. I'd much rather be out there running with her and having fun than worrying about a walk contact. Maybe it's a gamble, but with a little management from me, it's consistent and hasn't been an issue for a while. Doesn't mean I don't dream about perfect easy contacts, but with our past, I'm content with where we are at and I'll keep reinforcing what I need while practicing at home.

What I've learned about the whole process is to spend a little extra time at the beginning to assess their natural tendencies, what their body type is, and what they like. Some dogs have a huge powerful stride. With high arousal from a trial, it's unlikely that this type of stride will naturally flow into a dog walk contact. Other dogs are small and have short quick strides that naturally move them through the contact zone without a second thought; a running contact would be lovely with this type of dog.

It's not just the dogs. I am able and love to run, so a running contact for my long legged & lower drive dog is perfect. Someone with a fast, powerful dog and have trouble keeping up with them, will benefit from a stop of some sort at the end of the contact. There's no way to get down there in time to tell them what to do! In this case, it's up to you as a trainer to make the stopped behavior REALLY fun and totally worth their time. Easier said than done for some dogs :)

Take a look at your dog's structure, its temperament, it's drive to play the game. What best suits them? Can it work for you? There's so much more to a contact behavior than what everyone else is doing, each dog is so unique and it's up to you to be their advocate to make this game the best it can be!

Reaching some goals

This past weekend was a local AKC agility trial, held inside and where I train. Set up was easy, arriving and leaving was quick and painless and the trial was run really smoothly. I love trialing outside, enjoying the sun and hanging out around "nature", but I can't complain about the ease of indoor trials! So little set up, easy to pack and unpack, so much less draining!

Maybe the stars aligned just right, or the moon was in the right phase, but Rosey and I had the best weekend we've ever had. We were connected, I knew my courses, and she was doing her best to follow all my commands. I remembered to talk to her, to let her know how amazing she is, and she responded to each "yes" with a burst of speed and confidence. The look in her face after the run was enough to tell me she thought that we did a good job! Our weaves are still an issue, still slowing down after our first class, always a "project" for us. This weekend hopefully is a first among many, and all our hard work is starting to pay off!

Priority #1 this weekend was keeping connected. After the OMD seminar in December with Jessica Ajoux, I've started to get into a rhythm of letting Rosey know when she does a good turn or make a great decision... I was missing that piece and Rosey was getting slower because I wasn't giving her that feedback. Now that we're on track, she's getting more confident with turns and tight sections, making it more fun and easier for me to handle! Another major help to get connection was taking Denise Fenzi's play class and Deb Jones' Focus class, both have helped me understand how to play and how to make "working" so much more fun! Agility isn't just about running anymore, it's becoming a game and a conversation that we both look forward to having.

Priority #2 was to reduce most of my ring nerves, keep a clear head while running, and be open to connect with Rosey. Taking the mental management class with Andrea has really helped me identify my own issues and help me take control of them. With the tools I learned there, I was able to see the nerves coming long before they would be able to affect me. Driving to the trial, I was able to get myself into a more focused and better mindset, and setting the tone of the day. I even found myself humming while walking courses, not even realizing I was doing it until halfway through. I felt clear headed and I was totally present each run. It went so well that I am suspicious that I might not be able to make it happen again! Something to keep watching and working on... need more practice!

How did we do on paper? Exactly as I felt we should! We earned 5/6 Qs this weekend, making that two QQ, 1st place in Premier Standard, and 68-speed points towards our PACH.

One year ago, I was considering that I might not ever be able to run with Rosey. Her injury, her age, her heart murmur... it was all coming together and things seemed like I needed to make big decisions. I'm so glad I made decisions to explore rehab, strengthening, time off, and making an effort to make her better. 2015 was all about healing, and Rosey sure looked healed this weekend! I saw she was a little slower by the end of the weekend, but she's not sore! OMG she's not sore ;) So grateful to all the amazing teachers I have been able to learn from this past year. Our journey isn't over, it feels like we're just getting started!

Loot after Saturday! Added 2 more 2nd places and a 1st place and another QQ ribbon.

Expanding - 2016

2015 was my year of healing. I loved Tori Self's way of looking at new years and adopted my own mantra for this past year. Both dogs were hurting and I needed to discover what I needed to do to help them heal. In the process, I learned so much, more than I ever knew I could know. Thank you 2015! We healed in all sorts of directions.

Now that Sam has learned how to let go of some of her worry, not that she always chooses to, she's started to play. She plays with me, she plays with Rosey, or she plays alone with her favorite toys. She's quirky and will never be my second competing agility dog, but she will always be my weird sensitive dog. She sings her own tune (daily) and will always be wary of things she doesn't know or understand. My favorite new tricks she's learned this year are: picking up and throwing toys at me, shoulder rolls, "back it up", and finally being able to (occasionally) dismiss when the neighbor's dog is hanging over the wall of our yard. As always, we will have to hold each other's hand this year. We will figure out what "hanging out" really means in 2016.

Rosey has healed from her psoas injury, but the scars of my ignorance will be there for the rest of her life. Hard to swallow, but now that I've learned what we can do to keep her sound, she won't have to suffer as a result. Every day we have to remember to keep trying to be stronger - daily training, daily massage, and never forgetting. Wanting to come home and hang out with her on the couch isn't helping our situation and I need to change some habits to be able to work on both of us a little better. We both have the foundation we need, now it's time for 2016 and to Expand.

My goals for 2016 are to expand. Expand what is normal for me, step outside the easy. I want to expand my definition of Rosey, I want to expand what it means to be me. What do I want? What do I want to struggle through to get what I want? There is so much out there, I think I need to start choosing and diving in, grabbing hold of what I want and tugging away.

Tips and Tricks for Filling out an AKC agility entry form

Being a trial secretary is not that difficult; entering data, answering emails, printing all paperwork, collecting and sorting through all fees received. But it takes a lot of time.

AKC has requested that Trial Secretaries do not assume anything and that incorrect entries must be filled out correctly before the dog is entered in a trial. Each issue requires an email to the owner, each incorrect check requires a new one to be sent, and this is all without counting the errors that Trial Secretaries don't know about (accidentally selecting the wrong class/level/jump height)!

I've compiled a list of common issues that show up when trying to enter dogs:

• Using an old entry (2014 when it's 2015) or an online entry form service that you have to manually fill out fees, classes and days. I'm happy to receive these forms (easy to read!) but PLEASE double check! Fees sometimes change, all classes aren't offered on all days.
• Checks made out to the wrong person
• Incorrect Entry fees enclosed. Please double check, we all make mistakes... being put on a wait-list just because of a calculator mis-key or addition error really sucks!
• Forgetting to select classes/jump height. 
• Signing Page 2 - I must have this before I can enter your dog in the trial. Don't forget!!!

Please check your confirmations! Some fixes can be made after closing (Fixing the trial secretary's typo), but anything that was "your fault" cannot be changed after closing! Please double check and let us know before this date! Most common issue:

• Incorrect class selection - I don't know if your dog has/hasn't titled, so it's up to you to make sure you circle the correct class. AKC lets you check how many Qs your dog has received, making it much easier for you to know (Sign in, my AKC - Manage Dogs - Add a dog). Also www.dogshowscores.com is another resource you can use to try and track down how many Qs your dog has (sometimes slower to update). If you are entered and run clean in a class level that you haven't Qualified for (ex. Q in Excellent without your Open title), AKC will revoke the Q.

Please also double check your confirmation if you've selected a jump height that higher than what your dog measured for (ie. 26"), and double check you were entered in Regular/Preferred as requested (especially if you have recently made a switch). The database will automatically enter your dog in the last used/expected jump height or Class type.

Trial Secretaries try to enter your data correctly and get you a confirmation as soon as they can. Please be patient and kind :) Often we are not paid, paid in free runs. or paid in club coupons. 

Staying thin isn't always a good thing

When 2015 started I saw a lot of posts about goals and new year resolutions. Tori self posted a particularly moving entry about her theme for the year, which got me thinking that a theme is something much easier to keep on track. So my theme for this year is HEALING. I have plenty of things that need healing, especially with my two girls. Sam has mental healing to do, and Rosey has physical healing. My goal is that 2015 will help us heal and be stronger than 2014.

I've been on a trek for the past year and a half to try and figure out why Rosey can't gain weight.

When I explain to agility folks that I'm frustrated confused as to why she is so thin, they feel her ribs and tell me she's at an ideal weight for agility. I know this, and I'm very happy that she's not trying to lug around any extra weight as she's jumping and having fun in the agility ring. The problem is, her weight is independent to what she's eating and what type of exercise she's doing.

I've increased her food to almost double the recommended calories and she's been on crate rest for the past month (more on that later, still trying to figure out where I stand on that). I've managed to get her to 60.2 lbs; she was 58 lbs in December and had a high of 62 lbs in January. Her ideal weight (granted, it's mostly muscle) is 65 lbs.

Just heard back from the Vet and she's clear of internal parasites, blood work (complete panel) is great, her liver levels are ideal, her thyroid perfect, and only a slight increase in creatine. I've been doing acupuncture with her to see if it will help, but so far no major changes. The acupuncture has helped with her skin and overall health (something relatively uncategorizable by western medicine), but in eastern medicine she has a clear deficiency in her spleen. Hopefully with some time and more treatments, it will continue to improve and maybe even show that she can gain weight?

The "elephant in the room" with Rosey is that she has a heart murmur that so far has been asymptomatic. It is always at the back of my mind and is something I know I can't "fix". Its a scary thing that is out of my control and I keep finding myself wanting to push it away like it isn't there anymore. It's tough having her grow older!

I'm very grateful for having my two girls, and want to keep them both in my life as long as they are able. I want to strive to help both of them heal.

Back in the Ring

Rosey and I took the summer off from doing anything but playing and tugging. This is something that I did last summer as well, mainly because she really doesn't do well in the heat. I figured trying to beg convince her to run in the heat wasn't really going to help either one of us. At the beginning she seemed a only little jealous of Sam going to class, but as the weeks went on, she got more and more anxious when I left for class.

We started back at the beginning of September and our first classes back were a little rough. After the whole summer off, she was more eager to just run and play and less eager to play with me! With 3 weeks of working out the kinks, things got better, but we still have a few kinks to figure out. Unlucky for her, two hurricanes off the coast dumped tons of rain over the valley, so our weeks back should have been cooler, and were instead some of the hottest and most humid Arizona has ever seen in September!

Two weeks ago, we had our first trial (USDAA) back from the summer and although we only Qualified in one run, the whole weekend felt great. We had some awesome teamwork and she was happy to be running. Plus the one Q we did get was Grand Prix, which was something we've been working towards for the past year. (woohoo!)

This past weekend felt even better! It was AKC this weekend under Judge Kylie Bourke. With some tough, but really great flowing courses, I'm happy to say only 3 bars down over the entire weekend and one wrong course (all my fault with a poorly done rear cross). We managed 47 speed points this weekend with a QQ on Friday and a Q on Sunday in a really tough Standard run (only 30% Qualified in that class). Positives from the weekend: 2 classes with Rosey doing weaves nice and quick, and sticking everyone of her contacts (3/3 beautiful striding dog walk contacts! - we did work them in class this week). With a little more jump work to help with the bars, I think things can only get better AND faster. After our long journey together, this weekend had such a rewarding feeling to see the results and to know we have the potential to get better.

PACH count: 6/20 QQ and 258/750 speed points 
1/3 there!
Also, she earned her Master Agility title this weekend :) Now she's got some new letters after her name:
Prairielight Once Prairie Rose NA OAJ MXP AJP OF CGC PD APS APJ APG PKM

Tough course! Tricky parts that had most handlers were 3-4 (people didn't support the jump), wide turns at 6, the backside at 9 (options that worked was hang back at the teeter and push 9, or get ahead and blind cross 8 to the backside of 9; lots tried to rear cross the flat before 9 with mixed results and confused dogs), lots of dogs popping out of the weaves, LOTS of dogs that took the off course of #20 after the chute (we almost did too!). 

Love that face! So happy!

Wordless Wednesday

From our trip north in July:

Sleeping Arrangements

Beavers

Mountain Views

Worried about bears

Nosework - Continuing having fun

Over the spring and first part of this summer I took Nosework 101 and 120 from Fenzi Dog Sports Academy and Loved it! I did the first class with Sam and the second with Rosey. They both learn so differently and it was interesting to see how different their drive is for the game! Sam is so timid and so worried about doing the right thing that she will try and mark every box and forget the game is about sniffing. Rosey on the other hand is so driven to find the scent that she forgets to mark a the scent and would rather just destroy what ever is holding the scent to get closer. For entirely different reasons, I think these classes were perfect for them!

The second class started putting different search elements and moving the learned behavior outside. I found that I was having trouble remembering to keep things simple. The goal at this point, and like any new behavior, is to keep reinforcements high and encourage drive. I kept wanting to make the scent harder to find to really see her work and have fun finding it. Keep it simple and fun!

This is something we say all the time in foundation agility courses, Simple and Fun. I don't know how many times I've had to remind students to keep the reinforcements high, especially when adding a new distraction. Interesting that I'm having the same exactly problem when I start something new. Its just so fun! :)

Wise Words

Nose work has been awesome, and going great! More on that in another post, I'll need to download and put together some videos :)

I'm letting this post be about Sam and I and our progress towards our goal of being better bonded. We've been working hard with the nose work and I can see she's more confident while working, but I don't know how much of that is translating outside of nose work. Here's our plan I made 2 weeks ago:

Sam's 2nd JWW Novice P Q
- Ears forward, tail waggin -
Photo at the end of a trial, no dogs around.

1 -Work on weaves - Entries, completion, and speed
We've been working on this and I've seen great improvement, but I'm still struggling with her doing the weaves when she's over stimulated or already starting to avoid doing anything difficult.  
New plan - don't push the session when she's starting to loose focus. Also - pull out the weave-o-matics, I need to get her with some sort of rhythm! If she's got a rhythm, it'll be easier for her to stay in the poles.

2 - Obstacle focus - speed circles, and up the difficulty with angled jumps and maybe even a set of 6 weave poles.

Started with tunnel and jump, but haven't had time to set up a speed circle. On the list to do. Also, need to do lots of rewards after short sequences and tough sections - tug! I need her to realize that she's rewarded for doing extra hard things. I get so excited I want to keep going, but I should be playing with her and releasing the pressure at this point.

3 - Work on our relationship.

Samantha's 1st Title - Novice P JWW
-Ears are back: sign of stress -
She's worried about the dogs around her.

I was reading Denise Fenzi's post from today and this really hit home. I need to start looking at me and how I'm contributing to our issues. I know that with my expectation of how well I know she can do, I forget about how nervous she gets and how I've been playing into her nervousness, babying her. I've been told to give her more space to work and to stop worrying about "what if". I need to work on a few things (taken from Denise's post):

• Don't worry so much about what the course is in class, work the sections of the course to best reward and engage Samantha.
• Really look at the pieces of our relationship to encourage engagement:
• Best motivators (mainly select toys, fur, treats?)
• Surfaces we are best on (inside on matting) and worst (grass in a park)
• Times of day best to train (As soon as I get home from work, after a meal, other?)
• Environmental triggers that negatively impact (prey animals, unknown high energy dogs, start lines that are "open" to threat
• What exercises are more difficult in public/agility ring (weaves, serps, long stretches of jumps)
• How long before she gets tired (1-2 runs with moderate difficulty)
• What stress looks like (running to a door, sniffing, going around obstacles, ears back)
• Start throwing a toy and playing after harder sequences, letting her know she does a good job with a well placed "good"
• Don't just call her name where I think she's going to disconnect, be ahead of her mentally.
• Working independence in the field (see #2) and give her room to do her thing (mentally and physically)

Summary of #3, don't push her if she's in a state she can't learn. Be proactive and assertive. Keep it short and fun. Reward and praise in a timely manner. Take a step back to easier training in harder environments.

NoseWork - first day

Last night Samantha and I did our first lesson with nose work 101. I set up in our dining room to reduce the amount of distractions, but maybe the location isn't ideal because Rosey was separated only by a baby gate and made Samantha nervous. In the video you can see Sam looking back towards Rosey to make sure she was ok.

Even with the distraction, I'm super excited with how well Sam did! I think all the clicker training I did with her helped immensely and she quickly would try new things if she got "stuck" (first few seconds of video). She ended with some real commitment to sticking with the scent rather than look at me for a treat (very end of the video). Here's the video, compiled from 3 different sessions:

Just for fun I introduced Rosey to the Birch and she did really awesome! We played the first game and she didn't even bother with any treat hands and went strait for the scent. After a few clicks, I put her up and placed the box in a corner of the room (jumped ahead). When I let her out and told her to find it, she went to work and found it right away. :) Makes me glad I chose Sam to do the class, I would never learn how to really teach/do some of the lessons with Ro!! Maybe I'll try her tonight outside, that will be the real test!