Videos!!! And FUN!!!!!!!! And HAPPINESS!!! And...other stuff :)

First off...JADAH IS STANDING :) This made me cry. She apparently got up ON HER OWN 5 times yesterday :) Seriously...how awesome is THAT!

Here's proof, sent from Donna's phone :) How amazing right??

Back from the trial...wow...lots of fun. I was really happy with what went on this weekend, mainly on MY part :) I went with trying things...being aggressive with my handling, not worrying about Q's...all that stuff that I have been worrying about. It's been making me not enjoy agility...OBVIOUSLY by this weekend and how much fun I had.

The courses this weekend were challenging too...no gimmee's...I liked that, testing skills, making you get out of your comfort zone...THAT was so fun!!!! ;) I'll take those kinds over easy anyday...

Day 130: Weird...

It was really weird only have 5 dogs though...just weird! LOL

So Gator...lets start with him :) I already talked about Saturday in the previous post....so 3/4 on Sunday--2nd in jumpers, 2nd in Snooker (Super Q), 1st in pairs, 1st in Grand Prix for a BYE! WOO HOO! Done with that. I even did a blind cross!! WOO HOO! :)

Team Crackhead (again Saturdays--see previous post) 2/4 on Sunday, with a 1st in Jumpers and 1st in Snooker and a Super Q. Andy was sick all weekend and has having a hard time being his usual fast self...but as you can see by Sunday in Snooker at the end of the day, he was doing fine again :) So...if you are not there to tell Crackers where to go...bad things happen :)

And now onto Klinker :) After her PERFECT day on Saturday...Sunday was also great, went 3/4, again 1st in Jumpers, 1st in Standard, had a lovely GP run going but knocked the tire apparently :( and a Snooker Q---I didn't complete the 7 obstacle in snooker because she was not having great aframes and I didn't wish to keep doing those icky ones...so we just banked out at 6. Had some of my best runs with her. She is for sure feeling great, lovely times, great WP's, jumping was AWESOME...aframes...eeehhhhhhh...yeah :)

And finally...Lynn, aka Stewart Little :) Her first trial back from her break, her fall off the dogwalk...I was anxious to see how things would go. But I went out to the line EACH and EVERYTIME with the mental state of HAVE FUN AND LET HER BE A BABY DOG...handle her like you would the others...be confident and what happens, happens.

Let's just say I couldn't be more proud of her :) Sunday she blew me away, going 2/3, 1st in jumpers and the BIGGEST THING?!?!??!?! SHE WON MASTER SNOOKER---her first ever Super Q!!!!

Note to self: TEACH "with me" command BEFORE putting dog in snooker classes! OOPS!

Her contacts were lovely...she did have a few weird teeters, but I expected that with the differences in the drop rates and the fact that this was a rubber teeter...but by her last standard run she was driving better and more confident :) Dogwalks were AWESOME!!! Aframes AWESOME!! WP's (which she had been having entry issues with) were AWESOME, I was even able to move laterally on the weaves and she had no issues! Jumping was pretty darn good :)

Day 131: Maybe it WAS the leash...ANN YOU ROCK!! BESTEST LEASH EVA!!!!!

AND...a huge thing for Lynn, she tugged on her leash after the run! I've been having issues with her, after runs (only at trials) being so overstimulated she won't tug---just wants to bite me...so not cool, she would go TO her leash at the start of this weekend (huge improvement) but wasn't tugging. So no bites actually happened...but if she had you would have known...she doesn't bite nice...Lets just say I have some interesting places that stood a chance of being pierced! The last 2 runs of the weekend, Standard and Snooker SHE WENT TO HER LEASH (as I am screaming GET YOUR LEASH!!!! And pointing frantically)...and she tugged!!! YIPPEE!!!!!!

She came into the ring happy, confident, barking, tail up...loved it! :) She left just as pumped...worth every penny! She cracks me up how smooth she runs...very relaxed yet very efficient...she reminds me more of Gator, just simple, to the point, no fancy crap. Does her job...not as animated as Klinker :)

Lynn blew me away...actually all my dogs were so very very good. And I got to where I needed to be, I STILL need to work on running harder, but I was really trusting my dogs this weekend...you do your job and I'll do mine. SO MUCH FUN. And it really felt like teamwork out there :)

I haven't really tried for Super Q's in a long time...and it was a BLAST pushing myself to get them...the adrenaline rush, will I make it in time, I have to get there to make this work. That fuels me...makes it exciting!!!

And since I was happy, my dogs did great, amazing coincidence right? :)

Things to work on:

Start line stays--CRACKERS---he was bad, very naughty. We have an evil plan...mwwwaaahahaahah...MY dogs start lines were lovely :) Just sayin'.

"With Me" command for Lynn...I forgot to teach that...and right now with me means spinning and barking at da momma because she knows nothing of that command...so yeah...gonna work on that one!

Jumping for Lynn--doing more jumpers courses with her. She gets going and then gets going a bit too fast and ends up putting her rhythm out as she can't control it (why I did a load of rear crosses on her jumpers run, so I wasn't driving her too hard...so she could be successful and keep her form :) Good to know!

Turns: Older dogs, tightening them back up (usually do that in little increments so they are really good by Nationals)...and rewarding tight turns more. Lynn, I'm just working her liking them and driving out of them...do I expect it at trials? Nope, not yet, with maturity and experience she will come along. She's not super wide running anyway...so that helps :)

Contacts...Klink and Gator...not holding...why? No reinforcement at all...why? Because I haven't been training! HA! Easy fix on that one :) So we will be putting deposits into the overdrawn contacts bank account.

And I am going to say this...I LOVE running contacts....NO maintaining criteria, no "making them wait" no "if I rip them off the contacts I'll have to put the stop back on them" crapola. YOU JUST RUN. I had so much more fun running Lynn in Snooker with that running A-frame than I did Gator and Klinker...it was SOOOOOO awesome!!!!! :) What a fun time!

So...outlook is changing...and I need to keep on top of it...I like this new outlook, I'm sure my dogs do as well :)

Meanwhile...the prize picking did not happen as Ace and Zip were off at D's enjoying her company (thanks D!!!!)...on the way home I got these two pictures though...cracked me UP!

Good Gardening Dog...Ace :)

Then the other one...Bad Gardening Dog...

Apparently Zip is super naughty (who knew!?!?!?!!) and likes to help D plant stuff, or dig dirt up anyway...and eat things...and get into trouble :) Awwwww, love ya Zip!! The evil ones never die, that's what I'm counting on :) She's got enough evil for about 12 dogs!

So...if you are not ready to go balls to the walls in every run...try ONE run each weekend...where you just forget about the Q and handle, and run, and realize being out there with your dog is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing...that both of you CAN run. I somewhere lost track of that a little bit...started putting more value on a Q than it was really worth.

Not sure how it happened, but I am going to do my best to not let it happen again :) Today the dogs get the day off (ok well really I don't train them...so yeah, they might get the entire week off, not sure!) to be dogs, roll around in the grass, get freshly mowed grass/green feeties and eat worms out of the yard. Enjoy the sun, enjoy just being home. Maybe go for a hike in the field...

Zip will be picking the winner this week. I PROMISE. But I have to go pick her up today from D's...so not right now :)