Derby Goes Fast

Never got around to uploading the videos from the last 2 days or writing about them till now.

The outcome was definitely a little frustrating and disappointing for us. He is such a good dog, I would love to see him get the recognition he deserves. However one little thing kept faulting us.

He never E'd, and definitely never made us look like fools ;) It was just a bar here (STP Semi Finals), weave entry there (GP semis), that kept us out of finals. He ran the courses brilliantly and quickly. Then got an A Frame call *gasp* (in team Standard.

But it was a very good learning experience for me, and really lite a fire to get ready and go next year. I know some weaknesses we will work on over the next year...contacts under more pressure and weave entries....more of the same.

I am still in utter shock that he held so many sit stays. They deteriorated towards the end, but still total shock we got the ones he did.

Until 2010!!



Today was day one of the Greg Derrett seminar of 2009. Man I wait all year for this!! We went thru lots of drills today, and will do world cup courses tomorrow.
Derby did great, and we got to do some interesting handling moves that I never saw coming. Definitely thinking out the the box..literally!
Threadles are still a weakness...but I got my handling clarified on them. It's just hard to do 2 or 3 consecutively.
Rear crosses are always stellar as he lets great pressure be applied to the diagonal line.

Got a few really great compliments today. 1st Greg said he got an email about how great we looked at Nationals, I was like wow geez idk who would email him that.
Then someone told me Greg said I was the best handler following his system in the US and my dog is brilliant. I was like HOLY CRAP! this is what I work so hard to achieve every time I run a course, and to have him notice is amazing. Especially when it is so easy for people to flip around to doing whatever the new hot thing is, I've really tried to stay loyal and committed to what I think is a great system.
Then after we left Jill said Greg thinks I'm a wimp for only jumping Derby 24", and that I should move him to 26 and take him to WT tryouts. Would definitely be a fun experience!

We will be back tomorrow! Can't wait!

Thursday ---

He started with a fabulous Performance Team Jumpers run, and had a time the held up all day to come in 1st place! Nice to not go home totally empty handed ;) got a nice trophy, medal and ribbon.

We DREADED snooker. I am never prepared for it...but atleast we got farther than some of our previous attempts. After the last red, and turned off and took the 4 instead of the 5 I planned. I tried to get him turned around to start the closing but he took an off course :( 20 whopping points! but still wasnt last!! hahah

Friday ---

It's really frustrating when he has phenomenal runs, but there is ONE thing that faults him. I guess its better that way than having disaster runs.

Performance GP, he missed got in on the 2nd weave entry. Its disappointing too because he read the turn before so well. Weave entries were something we really worked hard on in the previous weeks too. Otherwise it was a really great run, including a stay at the start and waiting on the contacts.

Team standard...I thought we were clean but ended up getting called for the A Frame contact. It was so nice and fast too, almost 3 seconds faster than the other dogs in his group. I knew the way he plants himself on the bottom of the frame might come back to bite us when he quick releases. He normally jumps with his front feet from right above the yellow, onto the ground then his back feet stick the yellow. When he quick released today the back feet touched grass instead...it was sooo close!

Performance STP...The only run so far that he hasn't held his stay, as he released himself when I was no where near position I had to go for it, throwing in a rear cross where I wanted to front. Then the bar came down. He then held his a frame contacts nicely!


So no finals for us :(

He is running so nicely its really disappointing.

Back tomorrow for gamblers. Then we'll go back to watch the finals at night!

Its very surreal being here. I'm so glad and excited we came! After watching last year online and wanting to be here so bad.
We got in early Tuesday afternoon and then napped all day. All that rest combined with hours of crating today provided a very energized Derby.

We got ourselves checked in around 11:00 today, got a snazzy red shirt and large green bag...which will come in handy to take things home in!
Lots of sitting around, too much sitting around it drives me crazy and gives me a head ache.
It looked like an excellent course to run and I was excited to get out there. Derby was pretty reserved all day, just sniffing and looking around. Then when we walked near the ring and he saw dogs running he lunged out to the end of his leash trying to get in the ring. When we were on deck the barking began.

I was shocked, literally shocked, he held his sit stay. Apparently my new was of proofing it by making him bark has seemed to help....we will see the rest of the week.

I was also shocked when he held NONE of his contacts. He said he was too excited to stop and it was just gunna waste time, so off we ran. He had one bar before the weaves, I  may or may not have been calling him over the bar but  I dont remember. But don't really care, we're just siked to be here.


Then after our run the real bad head ached set in, then a stomach ache. I took an excedrin and  spent the last 3 hours resting and feel better now.

Our hotel offers evening snacks...so far its been chili and clam chowder, ewww i want cookies! 

Glad its going to keep cooling down, but it really hasn't seemed *that* hot to me. normally 88 degrees would kill me, but maybe its because its not as humid.

Excited to go back tomorrow, but will be nervous for team events. Especially snooker eek, but we start with jumpers which will be nice...no contacts!

ONE WEEK!! One week and I'll be in sunny warm Scottsdale! Can't wait for that! I'm nervous about getting there, and nervous about me doing something stupid in the ring there....but other than that I'm pretty excited.

Two weeks ago Derby was attacked by a large intact male dog in one of my classes and came up lame on his front leg. After a reassuring vet visit,  his first in depth massage, and a week of rest, he was fine. He ended up only being sore for 2 days and the vet said he most likely just strained his shoulder. But I was still very cautious and he's been fine since. Just an awful experience and awful timing.

So that took a week and a half out of our training and preparing. Not that we really needed this time, he's well trained and we're as prepared as we'll ever be. But I was counting on it.

We had an AKC this last weekend, our first AKC in almost 2 months.  For not much practice lately, he did really well. We didn't have much of a sit stay problem....he only broke it on Saturday's JWW but I was a little mushy.  I ran him in the TTB demo twice and practiced 2 great sit stays. I like the class so far, it's nice and fast and good practice for us.


My great instructor and USDAA partner, Jill, judged all the excellent classes this weekend. I love running her courses, as they are always challenging. There were so many iffy lines, that finding the correct handling was sometimes questionable. There were some lines that were very close to being front crosses on a straight line. This happened in almost every course. If you put the front cross before jump A, there would definitely be a turn to jump B.....but if you put it between jump A and B it would be a front cross on a straight line. So then you're left with the option to do a rear cross at jump B. I think I had correct handling decisions every time except before the triple on Saturday's Standard course....he dropped the bar as a result of what ended up being a FC on a straight line. Boo.


My main focus in practice this week is still on soft sided onside weave entries. We worked really hard ones tonight and he only had one failure.
I've been killing my rear crosses lately. We've always had great rear crosses, and lately I've been over thinking them. I screwed up 3 of them at the last USDAA trial. Doing them through boxes is our nemesis, then I over obsess on getting my shoulders straight and I end up holding my decel too long. I just need to let it happen naturally and not think about it and it will work well.

My rear cross cue : square shoulders on the the jump that's being rear crossed (not a pull, just square), decel a split second as he commits the the previous jump, then drive a diagonal line to the rear cross jump, about half to the jump he had driven ahead and I cross behind as he's about to take off. I try to not use my hands or verbals, but sometimes give a forward signal at the jump. If  I need him to decel after the rear crossed jump, I stomp and decel after I cross behind. 
What's yours??????




The other news is I've been puppy searching. It keeps getting confusing and frustrating and I stop thinking about it. I would ideally like a puppy sometime this summer. I keep putting it off and off because I know it will break Derby's heart.
My first choice in breeders doesn't have a bitch to breed right now, and is looking to breed her males eventually... but there is nothing definite. Close to my first choice is her co-breeder, she has a litter due in December. She has some dogs that I really like, but the ones she's breeding aren't close to them and I'm afraid they'd be too small. Then my other choice has a litter due the end of the month. They come from more herding lines and will be larger. But I'm much more unfamiliar with her dogs. 
I really want to get the prefect breeding that I want, but I'm not sure when that'll happen. I want to wait a little, but not too long. See, its so frustrating and i'm indecisive, I just need someone to make up my mind for me!



We've got a work out tomorrow night with Jill, hopefully to have some more snooker practice. Then I've got one day of teaching workouts and 2 days of teaching classes. Then we'll be off! I just got all my AZ maps today, I love maps :)  

warm class night are now a thing of the past. I pulled Derby's coat out tonight, and I have a new big down jacket I'll bust out later this week. HATE winter btw!

I'm working self control / boundary training with Derby during classes. Normally he is happily in his shade crate all night, but the last week I've been putting a blanket on a 20" table and letting him hang out there. He already had the idea that he is supposed to stay there, but its a good test with harder distraction.  He doesn't like it when I work someone elses dog, or offer it a treat.
I also have to be careful with my pitch of "OK". When talking to my students, I say stuff like "OK ! guys lets go do this now...". I will NOT be one of those people who uses it as an excuse because "OK" is my release word. When I release him, I always make face to face contact, and its a very high pitched "OK". Which is different than how I use it in every day language. Speaking loudly to a group has just been a little more similar. But no I don't plan on changing my release word in the future, its something I will train.


Worked on threadles tonight. Man the new foot work that Greg brought to us last year, and Susan reviewed this summer, is a lot harder to get used to but it has GOOD results. It's definitely not as natural as the change of arm/feet we did previously, but I percentage wise I've been getting very good results! Its taken some practice on my part to get the timing down, but we're doing it at full speed now.


After having 4 missed "soft sided" weave entries in the past 5 days of shows over the last month, its been the top thing on our training list. I had been working a lot of very extreme angles, but not the real soft sided ones. We'd been doing 2x2s very successfully, and had moved on to 6 straight poles with success. We'll go back and put some  more time in on the soft sided. Going to AZ we will not go down by missed weave entries.


Still haven't decided on going to Tulsa, I'd REALLY like to go to Disney World in May and that may win out. Still hoping it will be closer to the west coast the following year. Just happy with the accomplishment of qualifying for it.

Busiest dog show weekend I think I've ever had. I think we have 15 runs over 3 days and it was a good test to see how we'd hold up. Derby held up fine and was reved up and raring to go every single run. Can't say the same for myself, as I'm not the most patient person in the world. When 4:00 rolled around Saturday and I realized it would be at least another 3 hours till Starters Snooker would run, I decided to leave. I really should have stayed because I could use all the snooker practice I can get, but oh well.

Friday we ran PVP team with Jill and Steal, who are our team at Nationals, team "Derby Dancing". We were running really well with clean Standard (2nd), Gamblers (1st) and Jumpers (1st) runs by the time dreaded snooker came around. We made it to 9 points before getting whistled off for back jumping. I'm still so uncomfortable getting around a snooker course, need more practice. Then we finished with a clean Relay. I know we got our 2010 qualification, but I'm not sure what place we ended up. We were sitting 2nd before snooker :/ haha


Saturday we got to share in the titling fun back in Starters. Running quick loopy standard courses was fun, and a good chance to proof some contacts. Got a 1st place Q. Gamblers was going well, got to proof more contacts and our verbal only turn to the tunnel. Then I gave him a bad approach at the first jump of the gamble and he knocked the bar, then knocked the last when he tried to bounce jump a turn at 26". He won the first round of Performance SteepleChase getting a 2010 Q! I totally screwed him up in P. Grand Prix. I should have handled the turn to the AFrame on the other side, but I thought I'd test out my verbal only turn, and the visuals were too much for him. Then we spent a few mins sorting out the section, then the rest of the course was really nice! 


Sunday he got another Starters Standard 1st place Q. Our Starters Pairs team got a 2nd place Q! He won the 2nd round of P. Steeple Chase and took home $33!  Then I think my mental game started to wear down by our last run of starters Jumpers. I did way too much decel through the box and made him get a spin, then almost pull off a jump but he fixed it at the last second and knocked the bar.


He ran 22" performance in all the tournament classes and 26" championship for the titling. He jumped extremely well at 26", the only bars he took were caused by my poor handling.
He ran a very good time in Rd 2 of STP. He had a  2nd place time in championship 22". Makes me think I've been selling him a little short by  not thinking he'd be competitive locally in championship. I know nationally he'd get lost in all the 22" and 26" border collies, but he beats a lot of our local ones.


His start line still perplexes me. He had at least 2 runs where he kept his bottom on the ground until released. One run on Sunday where he started to release himself and run to the first jump before he caught himself and sat back down right in front of the jump. It's still a work in progress I guess.


Its nice to have a 2 Q's toward 2010 nationals, with it over a year away it just seems too easy.
Not sure if we'll go next year, going to base it on how this year goes. I'd still like to go to AKC nationals, but can't decide if I want to make all the connections and go to Tulsa or not. Not to mention the monetary requirements. But again basing it on how this trip to AZ goes.

Been along time since this has been updated. Here's what we're up to!

Went up to Monroe for an AKC trial last weekend. Drove up on Friday (way longer than i expected) with my mom. Then me and Shane drove up Saturday night and stayed in the Best Western (I forgot my new sweater in the room when we checked out, and they have "no idea" where it went in the 6 hours after we left..so the sweater stealing BW) to wake up early and not have to drive for Sunday's show.
He won 24" standard on Friday. Then I was really excited to run a really nice technical JWW course.....but Derby had other plans. Those included breaking his stay when I wasn't even past the first jump. Then taking the first jump, which left me thinking 'WTF?!' its a good thing I was out of position because I had no choice but to take him off the course right then. Its hard to think and make a decision that fast, but I'm glad I did.
We weren't entered on Saturday, but Sunday's standard run had an improved sit stay. What his normal routine has been, is after I walk a few steps away he barks, then stands and barks, I say sit, he sits, barks, stands, barks, sits....blah blah I'm tired of it.
anyways, Sunday's STD, twice his butt lifted off the ground while barking, but he was quick to plant it back down with no sit command from me. So that was a mass improvement! Watching the video I've never seen him flinch so much, so there was some great self control on  his part.
He ran the course well. Going to the weaves, I was very proud of his independent dogwalk contact, as I left to get in front cross position. He was heading for the correct weave entry, when at the last second I put an extra step of pressure on him so he wouldn't go in the 2nd pole. That surprised him and he popped out in a WTF moment. I need to let him take care of it!


Anyways we've got 3 days of USDAA  coming up this weekend. This is the first time we're doing all the titling classes, so we'll be busy with 15 runs.
Sent our entry in for nationals, forgot to send the crating reservation form in...so I need to mail that in. Otherwise we're pretty much set!
We're working on our mental game (or I guess I am, I haven't asked Derby). I need to get better in sync with watching him. I've always been good at course memorizing and visualizing. It's how I fall asleep every night, I can't help it haha.

Going to set up one of the World Championships courses tomorrow. Nice to try out some of the more technical stuff.
I bought the live stream, but it didn't work well. So I've been watching VOD. Still not as impressed with anybody as much as Susan and Encore. Go Team Canada! 


Still browsing around online and looking at breeders. Still shooting for spring (maybe!) for a BC puppy. Keep thinking "yes! I'm ready to train something new" then I go to "noooo don't want a puppy now, I like just Derby".
I'm on the name Demolition, "Demo" for short....so I'd have a "Demolition Derby" :)


In training we've really been working our Decel and weave entries. A little foot stomp has been working wonders on his decel, and I've been improving my accelerating and decelerating. We've been doing a lot of 2x2 on side weave entries. We worked up to 6 poles, pretty consistently...now to add another obstacle in.

I've also been preparing for snooker and getting him to run with me around the arena. next we need to work on gamblers.

Had a good class with Derby today. Our handling has really been in sync lately, and I was particularly happy with his decel today.
One of the biggest things I  took from the Susan Garrett seminar was to really STOP! when you need a collected turn. Its easy to keep moving through a turn, or shape up the corners, which just widens the turn. Derby has responded really well to that cue. I've also taken a cue from when the Laura Derrett and doing a little foot stomp when I can't gets all the way up to the jump to stop on the 180 wraps. Again he's reading these cues brilliantly. I think the circle work and When I stop You stop has really helped this, and I'll continue to reinforce that away from the equipment.
That is just a huge break thru for us, as he can get launchy on some jumps.

Lead our pivots are still spot on, just need to work on doing longer lead outs through boxes. If we do a 3 or more jump lead out through a box,  he sometimes blind crosses and takes a diagonal line towards me, instead of the straight line my shoulders are indicating.

Serps and 270s were all perfect today too, its nice being able to give him a line and trust that he'll take it. Independence!! 


Only 3 full months until Scottsdale....seems so close! I need to get organized and make a list of things that we need more work on. Handling is our strong suit, so we need to power up maintenance drills and of course sit stays!

I've been watching Susan Garrett's and the Derrett's youtube channels and am envious of the courses they get to run! Those courses are so much  more technical and look like a lot of fun. I want to try and recreate them the best I can. I can't help but think that their handling system would be appreciated a lot more if we ran courses like that here in the states. 

Back to class now, need to remember to get those lists done!

Got exactly what I wanted/needed out of the weekend. Just didn't really seem like Regional or big event, when its right here in our backyard. But I was very thankful that it was here and we didn't have to do an extra trip somewhere.

Friday we got our PVP Q, and our team came in 6th place. Derby ran a really nice team standard course and took 1st. I love that fact the gamblers course didn't have a distance challenge! So we were able to collect some good points. Snooker went down hill after 2 reds, when I couldn't remember the rules. He knocked the last red jump and my mind couldn't process fast enough, and we got whistled off after 15 points. Never make that mistake again! Team Jumpers was going really well, before the off course....could have watched my dog better! Then we finished up strong with a clean relay.

Performance Steeple Chase Rd 1 started off really well, until Derby pulled out of the 2nd set of weave poles. I TOTALLY didn't expect that, he never does that. But we we're able to fix it quickly and came in 4th. It was news to me too that they don't score refusals in steeplechase....always learning new rules!

Round 1 of Performance Grand Prix went nicely with a first place.

We came back Sunday for round 2 of both class. I didn't support a jump well enough in the opening of STP, and then had 2 bars in a row :/

Then we finished off the weekened well with a First Place in the Performance Grand Prix finals. Got a very  nice ribbon and heavy trophy to take home.

I was very proud of his contacts this weekend, he held them pretty well. Sit / stand stays however, not so good. Still working on it. Need to find a time to go back and correct him, or even pull him off the course as kind of a shock factor. We're also going to go back and work on crate games.


I was very impressed at how well the trial was executed. I was prepared to be there till 7 at night like the last trial. But I was done by 2 on the weekends and 4 on Friday. The classes we're split and organized well, and seemed to go by quickly.
I loved sitting ring side and watching some great dogs and handlers. It was amazing to watch Susan Garrett and her girls run in person. I was in awe of every run of Encore's. And her weave entries, omg! To see her dogs read her handling and the courses so incredibly well, constantly assures me of how great this handling system is.
The only thing that kind of sucks for me, is watching the contacts of so many dogs. There we're so many top dogs....fast dogs...nationally recognized dogs / champions ......and they don't appear to have reliable contact behavior. These dogs are amazing on the entire course, then when they get to the end of a contact the owner has to stand on top of the contact screaming "TOUCH!!! YOU TOUCH WAIT!!!!!!!!!!! HEYYY!" Only for the dogs to miss it every other time. It just seems to me that if you've got this brilliant agility dog and are competing nationally/internationally, its something you would want to master.

I'm trying to upload my videos from the weekend, but my new computer (the replacement because the first didn't work well, and this one doesn't work much better) doesn't have movie maker on it....the first computer thats exactly the same did :( So now I've got to try and download it.


 

I'm exhausted now. Even though all I've done is sit and audit for about 8 hour a day, its wearing on me. I left foundation handling early today because I really didn't feel well, and sitting outside in the sun wasn't helping anything.

First lets wrap up the 2 weekend days of Advances in Dog Training.
This is where I  have always held a mass amount of respect for her, and it was really confirmed.
I really like that her system is built around the "Attributes that Make a Good Family Pet". Then this lays the foundation for a phenomenal agility dog.
I like that she isn't one of those trainers that takes being positive to the next level. She is positive but not permissive, and expects the dogs to do what you ask immediately. I've never liked clickers myself, and I was glad to hear that she doesn't really use one much anymore. 

Some new things to the Its Yer Choice games....Only reward average or better...always reward a choice...constantly up the game and make it more challenging.

Arousal state and making sure the dog's arousal is elevated before you start working.....and continue to keep it up with Balance breaks.

Set up "Don't wanna Don't hafta" moments in easier situations, before they have a chance to fail in more distracting places. Tug & Treats.

Head Halters! I love this idea and will use it with my next dog. Since you have control over the head at all times, you are able to give the dog more reinforcement, more often. Thus teach them to walk next to you on a loose leash. I've never liked harnesses either, so I loved her quote about people who have harnesses on their dog... "Hey look at me! I can't train my dog to not pull on a leash!"   Derby by no means has a perfect stay close, but I'm constantly working on it, instead of just putting him on a harness and letting him pull. It also made sense that in agility, you don't want a dog that is constantly driving ahead of you and not paying attention to you.

The keys to training are Value and Choice.

Dogs do what has been reinforced.

Balance - control and enthusiasm.


I have a hard time with some harder shaping exercises. Its hard for me to establish lateral plans and think outside of the box. But it seemed to get better over the weekend.


Then yesterday I went to her Puppy seminar.
It went over a lot of the same stuff as the previous 2 days.  A focus on keeping training Fast and Fun, with balance and relationship building breaks. Building the transfer of value from things the dog loves, to skills and behaviors.
Went over It's Yer Choice, Crate Games, Retrained Recalls, Body Awareness, Shadow handling (loose leash walking), Jump Grids, Target / Hand Touch and Directionals.

This morning was Foundation Handling. Went over building and testing value for the RZ. Restrained recalls with FCs and post turns. Circle work. More crate games. I wish I could have stayed all day

Today was another successful day of Master's Handling. She had a fabulous set up that consisted of a double box, with no middle jumps, and a bunch of tunnels around it. It also had a VERY long straight line of 2 tunnels and 2 jumps off of the box. (which was a very challenging "go on" sequence for us) There were so many great exercises in this set up,  I can't wait to recreate it.  

I always enjoy analyzing courses and applying the handling rules to them. It's also amazing to watch people newer to the system learn and make discoveries. It's also nice to be surrounded with people who share the similar interest of consistent handling. This is just such an amazing system, I can't believe that everyone doesn't use it! My love stems from the dog training behind it. I love dog training and how much sense it makes to the dog. Being consistent allows dogs to predict where they are going. When watching dogs run, you should never see them look up, or their eyes leave the course. This is my goal when I go back and watch videos. This combined with never pushing the dog away from you allows them to continuously run fast...which we all want right!


I got a few more good realizations today.
I knew I was in trouble when we had this huge go on line of 6 obstacles. It's something I rarely use, and when I do it's just like 2 or 3 obstacles. The handling in the beginning of the sequence was designed to put the handler behind. Halfway down the line he curled out of a straight tunnel and almost knocked me down. Susan's comment was "dog's with quick handlers generally don't drive ahead well when they're handler is behind. So you should train like a slow ass handler and compete quickly". So this I will do!

The other thing I'm SO glad I finally figured out, was to get Intent first on rear crosses. Do rear crosses in box work, Derby has always had a hard time with flicking off. Now thanks to Susan's rear cross rules, I've realized I was not rotating my shoulders enough in the pocket and getting intent before I put pressure on the diagonal line. This combined with really watching him in these situations, proved very helpful! Pretty much made the whole 2 days worth it for this one little tip.

His threadles have also become very good. We've done the "zig zag" diagonal line front cross / threadle drill 3 times now in seminars. The first time with Greg 2 years ago...failed horribly at the threadles. Last year with Greg had 50% success. Today he had 100% success and came thru the gap every time! Following Susan's tip of really stopping at his commitment to the jump, helped a lot.
Also adding more decel on the front crosses helped a lot too. She had us get in postion and really stop until we turned at commitment...got some beautiful turns out of the dogs.

We did a drill where we did 4 jump serps up one side of the box and then serp back down the other side. Then we had to go and do the same pattern with rear crosses in stead of serpentines. It was a really challenging and interesting drill, and Derby did great at it. He takes pressure so well on rears (except recently...once at the trial last weekend and once today when he flicked off to another jump....still not sure why he's doing that).

We also need work on our turning out of tunnels. Greg brought us this drill last year, and I haven't put enought time into it. Note to self!


Day off of the seminar tomorrow, and I have to go to work :(  Then back for advances in dog training on Saturday. Excited for that, and the foundation / puppy and contact days next week. Except that Derby's working time is done....he will not appreciate that. Ok and it is a huge ego boost for both of us getting to have a working spot. Everyone always says how much they love him and what a lovely dog he is. He is so incredibly well trained (fabulous system of course!) it just makes my heart swell with pride after every run.   Susan was saying today that she knows someone who is looking for a good male golden to breed to. Seeing what a wonderful dog he is makes it more tempting to breed him. But I still don't have a lot of interest in it.

This week is going to pass really quickly...regionals is right around the corner!

Well its the world's new obsession, and after years of just myspacing it...I just created my own facebook last night. (and a dog book for derby of course :)
So add me as a friend! I have none yet haha :(    and I'm finding it very  hard to understand

http://www.facebook.com/people/Heather-Kaluza/1785080974

Day 1 of many more....Today was master's handling, which was all box work today.
Never having worked with Susan before I went in pretty nervous and  intimidated. But she was great, and after the first run or two I felt a lot better. She is hilarious and a really enthusiastic person to work with. Not to mention that he dogs are so fabulously well trained....I've never seen such good self control --making me a real believer in crate games!

I pretty much know box work like the back of my hand, so there weren't too many "Ah Ha!" moments today. Trying to follow the system so consistently I was looking for more nit picking on how I can keep my handling by the books.

The biggest thing I got from today for myself was that I need to watch my dog better while running and keep a connection. When I actually think about it after running, its like 'whoa I don't remember seeing him running'. Then every time I'd go to the line to run the next sequence, I'd think "ok I'm really going to watch him this time"...then I'd get done and realize I forgot :/ But I finally got it at the end on the last sequence....gunna take some getting used to!

I really like the record keeping system she uses, helps to have someone else write down her comments because I usually forget by the time I get Derby walked out. And when /where the errors are happening and how they are corrected.

 I also liked her explanation that handling isscientific dog training not an art form.  Makes so much sense, and I've heard it from Greg before, but I like how she put it.


Derby did really really awesome. She had me  jump him at 24 and he jumped really well (susan even said he was jumping beautifully, so the higher height must be helping). By the end of the day he was really tired...there was a really good pace to the class and we got a lot of work in. This was a good opportunity to work our stays and put some cookies on it. I felt that he improved as the day went on...although he had a few naughty stay moments.


Derby will go back tomorrow, then I'll audit the next 5 days. I'm more excited for all the other seminars and lectures than I have been for this handling part. This will get me the best info to pass along in classes and eventually for the next dog.

The Evergreen Golden Retriever Club had a three day AKC trial this last week. Derby had another very successful weekend going 5 for 6 with 2 double Q's. It feels good to be more than halfway done with QQ's now, and to be on a more consistent roll lately.
Bonnie Drabeck had some interesting courses this weekend...they all had one interesting or technical aspect to it.
I love seeing challenges in courses....but don't appreciate being trapped behind contact obstacles on purpose. Saturday a tunnel shot directly under the tunnel and without  a good send and run, you'd get stuck on the wrong side of the dog walk. There was a similar situation on Sunday, and Derby almost sucked to the weaves after I fell behind. Get
Derby made some nice saves...first on Friday standard when I fell behind going to the weave poles, and he really over corrected himself with a sharp right hand turn to load. Then Sunday we almost had 2 off courses and he listened and reacted quickly....very nice to see him acknowledge me on that part.

His contacts we're great all weekend....didn't blow any, or self release. Sit stays however are non existent. Every time I take a step away he stands up. I say sit. He sits. I step away...he stands up again. Really frustrating. So need to get back to the drawing board on that.


Get to start the Susan Garrett seminars on Wednesday. Should be a very very long week that I'm starting to dread. I really want to attend all the seminars and get all the info....I just wish it was like 3 days of seminars instead 7.
Which leads directly into Regionals, which should be another long 3 days...except that I'm not doing titling classes so fingers crossed it won't be as long.

Only have one or 2 AKC trials coming up next month...hopefully things keep going well and we can get to 20 QQs by my goal of the first week in november.

After 4 1/2 years of being the best behaved dog, Derby has had a naughty streak the past week. When I'm not home, he is left out in my room. He has always slept all day..usually on my bed. But now he's gone bad...

It started innocently enough about 2 weeks ago when he tore into a cardboard box of fruit snacks, and then opened each individual package, and ate all 10. I kinda expected this might happen some day, because they are his favorite...but I didn't think he could notice them through all the packaging. Well I was wrong.

Then last Thursday we came home to discover that he had gotten out of my room, and proceeded to jump up on all 3 kitchen counters and ransack the place. He tore open sample dog food and treats and ate them all. Ate a box of Nilla Waffers. Got up on the stove and ate a bowl of scalloped potatoes. Got up behind the sink and tossed the plants around. Then open a box of brochures looking for more food. He had a fat tummy, which became very upset the next day.

Saturday night we get home late from the movies to find that he got up on my dresser and ate 4 of those colorful suviniour suckers from Disney Land. Very disappointing because I was saving them as a momentum. He then took a bunch of Shane's work papers off my other dresser and really shredded those.

Today I get home from work (thinking now there really can't be anything left for him to tear up) And he had take the one thing out of my bathroom trash can and shredded that all over the bath room.


Then this evening I get home from class and my brother (who was supposed to be actively watching him) says that he fell asleep on the couch and awoke to a noise and it was Derby standing on the kitchen counter.



I really don't know where this outlash of bad behaviour is coming from. I'm sure part of it is because I working WAY more that I ever have, and I'm hardly home. This leaves him with a lot of time and energy on his hand. So I'm trying to make sure he gets run everynight.
Its just really frustrating and I'm afraid he's going to get sick....so its either time for a crate (he hasn't had to be crated since he was 6months!) or to be left outside in the yard all day.




On the pleseant side, I just made my Scottsdale hotel reservations! I was afraid of them filling, so I called and got the $84 usdaa block rate. I might cancel it and re do it online for like ten dollars cheaper. But I just got excited! It still doesn't feel like a permanent idea...but maybe it'll sink in more after Regionals. I'm going to wait to buy plane tickets until then, I just keep checking to see if I can find a good rate.

Susan Garrett comes in next week. I have a feeling it'll be exhausting. I'm only working 2 masters days...but I'm going  to audit every other day, except the 1st day of box work. I really want to see all the foundation and puppy stuff for my classes, and for eventually when I get another dog.
The seminar concludes on my 21st birthday, so hopefully I won't be too tired to go out and enjoy it! I just found out The Killers are doing a concert in Las Vegas the middle of September and I really want to go. I need more money to support all this traveling!

We had a nice weekend at the Red Hot Rovers USDAA trial. This is still just my third USDAA trial, so I'm still getting adjusted to learning the rules.
We did Championship DAM team, and he ended up having to jump 26". He measured just barely over 21"...it was so close! He's been practicing at 26 for awhile but I expected so dropped bars. He only had one bar down in 3 different runs...2 of them could have been prevented with better handling I'm sure.
It was a very long and very warm weekend. Derby does fine in the heat, much better than myself. He lays in his crate between runs and doesn't even pant.
He had really nice clean Jumpers and Snooker runs. In standard and relay I over handled and made him miss his weave entries. I knew we'd be lame in gamblers because we never work any distance, I really don't believe in it actually....but with the possibility of doing gamblers now, I guess I should start practicing. There we're 2 gambles set up, and we we're required to do either of them...but I figured we'd attempt them. I knew the tunnel weave one would be a long shot....but we gave it a try - unsuccessfully. He just barely got the tunnel dog walk combination....then went thru the finish tunnel a little prematurely.

The only E we got this weekend was in Grand Prix....he went off course into the tunnel under the A Frame. We already have one GP leg so, we'll get another try at Regionals.
He ran really nicely in both rounds of SteepleChase. And now that the rule have been clarified to me, I know that he now has his 2 Q's for Nationals!

So things are going really nicely with the plan of going to Scottsdale in November, Hotel for 5 days and plane tickets will be expensive...and I'm sure entry fees will be too, but oh well!

Pretty successful AKC this last weekend. He was 4 for 6 with double Q number 9!! It was our first outdoor trail of the year, and perfect weather!

They were pretty challenging course, with a few tricky courses, the Q rate was pretty low, especially on sunday.

Stand stay is still our sore spot. I finally figured out that he is better, if I turn and just walk away instead of watching him or repeating wait....well duh, I only give people this advice all the time.  On Sunday's standard course, he actually sat down while waiting to be released, apparently he has to do something naughty.

I also did 3 serpentines that I wouldn't normally do. Saturday's jumpers he had already gone off course so I though what the heck I'll give it a try. I rarely serpentine awkward lines...like lines that are mostly straight, but have a very slight turn....lines that most people would run as straight lines, then either flick the dog to the 3rd jump...or the dog will miss it completley. But I went for it, and got ahead and it work perfectly. So I tried it again sunday's standard course, over the triple and it worked again. So its nice to have the confidence for the future.

It's be so very nice to get more consistent with double Q's. He only needs one more for next year's nationals, which would be sweet to go to. Anyone know where it will be yet!?

We've got a local qualifier for USDAA next weekend, and I still need to send in my entry for regionals. 
I still really want to go to Scottsdale this year, and I'm slowly coming aroud the the idea of flying him there. It would be too much time for me and Shane to take off work, with the extra 5 days or so that would be needed to drive there and back. So we'll see how I feel after these 2 trials.
I'm sure he'll be fine, we've flown other dogs before. He's just a scaredy cat, and I have this horrible image in my mind of seeing him loaded on to the plane and him being really scared. It would just break my heart knowing that he'd be scared or freaking out. I wish I could just buy him a seat! I'd spend a good amount of  money on that!....Or i would just ride down in cargo with him ;)



the countdown is on too! Almost one month till my 21st birthday. It's hard to believe, I've waited so long and it's always seemed so far away. Now its right around the corner! My parents just said tonight they want to take me to Las Vegas for my birthday, but we won't have clear coordinating schedules until the end of July. I'll be celebrating at the Susan Garrett seminar on the exact day.

Derby has an absolute sweet tooth, which apparently he gets from his mother ;) I've always got some form of sweets laying around, and he is very keen on them.
Right now I have a bag of starburst jelly beans, if he just hears the bag rattle he instantly gets up and runs over. He'll practically crawl up in my lap and start drooling, and he's really not a drooler. The other thing he love is fruit snacks. He just hears the little plastic wrapper and comes running. He throws himself around in excitement, doing all sorts of tricks hoping it'll work and i'll give him some.



He had a very successful day at the trial today, with a QQ. Number 7!!
He really came through on jumpers. He turned the wrong way coming out of  the tunnel and very easily could have gone back in, but he didn't . Then he got off stride at the end looked like he was taking off too late to keep the bar up, but he tucked his front feet up so tightly and flung himself over it. I'm so proud of him. He tried so hard today, and is so well trained.


My camera has gone to  crap. Its an older 2nd hand camera that uses those little tiny tape. Its not recording consistently and keeps getting the tape stuck. My boyfriend has been wanting one, so we're going to go by a new one tomorrow.
Any suggestions??? Anyone have a good one they like??? I think I want one with a hard drive, but maybe mini dvd wouldn't be bad.

We are in the middle of a "heat wave" here, the past 3 days and tomorrow have been sunny and always around 70 degrees. It has been extremely nice and we've been trying to enjoy it before the clouds and rain come back.
Yesterday we went out to Deep Lake. It's a really nice quiet lake with a mile trail around it. And it's like ten minutes from home which is very very nice! It's a pretty easy walk and  there are virtually no people. So Derby is free to run up and down the trail, constantly searching for a path down to the lake.

He loves swimming, unfortunately the lake is still a little cold. After a few trips into the water to get his ball, he came out shivering. His whole body was trembling and even his teeth were chattering. He's got essentially no body fat to protect him, and looks like skin and bones when he's wet. He still really wants to go back in but eventually I had to stop him.


It's a really nice park, but unfortunately due to economic problems they've closed it to the public. There is a sign that says you can walk in and still use the park, the gate to the parking lot is just locked. So everyone just parks along the road outside and walks in. When we we're leaving this time the park ranger was there writing tickets for something and putting them on cars. We're lucky we parked far enough away that we got to the car before the park ranger did.

Here are some pictures we took from...

We had a 3 day AKC trail this last weekend. It ended up being a very long weekend, as I was recruited to cheif course build. I learned that I had no idea what so ever about building courses, but I did learn a lot about it. One of the judges was very nice and helpful and taught me a lot. I normally don't hang around the show long after I'm done, or in between runs for that matter, so it ended up seeming very long for me.

Course building also showed me how completing anal people can be. From measuring every set of weave pole to make sure they're spaced right....because obviously I wouldn't check them before screwing them in...., to on Sunday telling me the A Frame is not the right height because their nose is 5'6" and the A Frame is too tall and I HAVE to check it...because yes the A Frame mysteriously got taller from Friday and Saturday (no it was still 5'6", apparently their nose is off).


Derby had a pretty good weekend. He got 2nd place in standard on Friday. Then hit his back leg on a jump wing in JWW, he knocked the jump around. I stopped him because he started favoring his leg. But it was just a little stinger and he pretty much scared himself more than anything.

He got his 6th QQ on Saturday with two 1st places!!

On Sunday he started falling off the dog walk on the down ramp, then caught himself and the stumbled again and fell off right before the yellow. Again he favored his back leg again and looked scared, but ran in the chute anyways, then he emerged just fine. So that would be the first contact we've ever gotten called. Then in JWW he knocked another bar.


Besides falling off the dog walk, he had a pretty good contacts this weekend and let me release him everytime. His stand stay however, not so good. He moved forward everytime, except once on sunday. So I'm really going to have to go back and work it. I started tonight, really trying to emphasize no foot movement at all. Getting him to balance and set his weight without shifting.


We've got 2 weeks before our next show, so hopefully some over kill stay reinforcing will help!