Westminster MD

After having two weeks off from competing in agility, I was very happy to show again. I entered Bunzella in 8in preferred novice. I keep playing with the idea of officially retiring her. She has taught me so much. Obedience, agility, earthdog, and flyball. She has her very own wall of fame in our house. She going to be 11 years old in Aug. and I think it may be time for her to be a couch potato and just go for walks and enjoy treats without having to do anything for them. I think her hearing and sense of smell are still good, but I wonder about her sight. I think she gets depressed if I don't do anything with her, so sometimes I do the occasional show, jump, drop on recall, or just tell her to find the "RAT".
I remember the first time I took her to an earthdog trial, she grabded a hold of the cage with the rat in it and wouldn't let go. Everyone kept yelling at me to grab her tail and I was clueless, I just stood there thinking OMG. Someone else grabbed her tail, and she let go of the cage.
In Obedience we were testing how reliable our dumb bell retrieves were. I threw a dumb bell that was big enough for a German Shepherd to retrieve. God love her, she ran out and retrieved it. Too funny.
With agility, it was a very, very, very hot day and I did not hose her down before I ran her. The third obstacle was a tunnel, she went in and wouldn't come out. It was dark and cool in there. She's no dummy. My punishment for not hosing her down.
Flyball; I spent months teaching her how the retrieve a tennis ball. (All done over my lunch hour.) At the time I was traveling to Washington DC to do flyball because there were no teams in our area. After awhile it just got to be too much.
She's defiantly been a lot of fun.

Zedd, Zedd, Zedd. What can I say. He tries really hard. I just had him entered today. Our first run was jumpers and he was outstanding, focused, and fast. I couldn't have asked for a better performance from him. We Q'd with a second place. Yee Haw. 5 hours later we ran standard. UGH!!! He was a wild man. He just wanted to go, go, go, run, run, run. It took me three tries to get him through the weave polls before he did all 12. Blew off the contacts completely which I was not happy at all about. After he blew off the dog walk contact I just took him off the course with the "terrier walk of shame." He had just lost his mind and there was no sense in continuing. I didn't feel it was fair to him or I. People think he's having fun out there, but it's really stress. He has too many channels going on at one time. (As Leslie Mcdevitt puts it.)
The best part of our standard run was the table, it was excellent! I put a front cross before the A-frame, and he read beautifully!!! Oh, how could I forget, I got a lead out. Whoo Hoo.
I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that Zedd sitting and waiting for 5 hours before his second run was just too much. Next time I'm in a situation like that I will take him for a nice long walk, play ball away from the show site etc.....
I'm learning quite a bit from him and it's worth the journey. He's actually a good boy and fun to run when we are in sync.

Training and work

Good God there was a lot of complaining, finger pointing, and throwing people under the buss today at work. I was ducking and weaving all around it for most of the day. 5:15 came and I just left for the day, I had had enough of the toxic environment.
For the most part I enjoy my job. I just don't want to be bothered by all the BS. I just want to do my job and go home, spend time with my family, friends, and my dogs. I basically work so I can play!!!
I took Zedd over to the training building tonight. He did very well. We worked on contacts, contacts, contacts. On the a-frame I used the Rachel Sanders box and he did very well. Hit every contact no matter where or how fast I was running. He was focused on his job. I'm thinking I may need to start to fade it. I need to remember to use it in class.
The dog walk on the other hand was a little different. When I hooped the contact, he hit it. When I removed the hoop and ran the contact, he missed it. I corrected him with a shaming "oh no". No toy or food. I had to correct him one more time and then the third time I told him to "hit it" with a stern voice, and he did. We had a Hugh party with food and a squeaky toy. I gave him a break from the dog walk. After a couple of minutes of fun I took him back to the dog walk just to see if he got the message. Whoo Hoo he did. I ran the dog walk and told him to "hit it" with my drill Sargent voice, and he did. How wonderful. Big party again which he loved.
We'll just keep working at it. I want to Kick Ass at the border terrier nationals this year!!!!!

Memoral day weekend

It's been a very nice three day weekend. Saturday I got together with some friends and ran some challenging courses with Zeddicus. He did very well. He didn't run off, he stayed with me and focused. I struggled with pull thoughs. He doesn't read them very well, and I don't think I cue them very well. His contacts sucked!!!! I'm still struggling with them. I'm not sure what to do to let him know that he is wrong when he misses his contacts. His contacts are horrible in competition too, which I would like to mark in the ring also. I wish I had a big enough back yard so I could set up contact equipment. Right now I just rent a building to train for about an hour once a week. unfortunately I may not be able to rent come the end of summer. Sucks!!!
Sunday we had a nice family picinic and then I went to the track to walk/run. We wanted to watch some Nascar, but the race got rained out. Oh well, at least we had a ran free weekend.
Monday we hung out around the house, did wash and talked Mike into taking the dogs for a walk with me. Nice day had by all.

Training Building

Tonight I took Zedd over to the training building. We worked on collection, wrap, and front cross drills. I was very pleased with Zedd's performance. We also worked some contacts and weave polls. I was using the Hollie roller as a reward more then food, and Zedd seemed to really like that. He loves food too, but with his digestive issues lately, I thought I'd give his system a break from using food as a reward.
I started training the Rachel Sanders method for the A-frame. I'm not a big fan of how Zedd performs his A-frame. I believe he understands that he needs to hit a specific spot on the yellow, but his striding up and over the Aframe is awful. I've gotten to the section that you do the jump grid. It seems to me that the jump grid is set up for bigger striding dog. When I had Zedd doing the grid it seemed to me that he had to take a couple extra strides to get to the box. Hummmm. Something for me to think about, and ask around.
I'm off to Westminster tomorrow with Zedd. I actually entered him both days. My goals tomorrow is to use my happy gay voice and be full of energy. Zedd loves that. Contacts and Front crosses.
I am grateful for the nice weather we had today, and my bed.

Easter Sunday

Well, the whole day went very well much to my surprise. We want to Mike's family for lunch and then we went to my mom's for dinner. The Easter bunny was also good to us. I'll be eating salads and working out hard to loose the weight I feel I gained today eating all that ham, mash potatos, rolls, corn, and of course cake and candy. I'm gonna "HOP" right to it tomorrow.
Our night did not go well . Zeddicus got sick about three in the morning. He started out throwing up and then he had diarrhea. He just would not settle himself down. He was fine at Dauphin, he was fine when we got home, he was actually running around trying to wrestle with Bunzella, and chasing the laser. (which I need to find a way to work that into a reward. He loves that thing) When we went to bed, BAM, vomit and diarrhea, and a stressed terrier. UGH!
Today he does seem better. He at least has kept his food down, but he is still having diarrhea.
SIGH, this is getting on my nerves.
Bunzella of course is so much better. She will finish the last of her meds tomorrow. It's so nice to see her up and rolling around on her toys again. Her eyes also look brighter since they gave her a second shot of fluids.
I sat down tonight a wrote out a list of training goals for this week. I have a nasty habit of training with no agenda. Doesn't work.
I am grateful today for our families and the wonderful meals they cooked of us today.

Dauphin AKC trial

I decided to show Zedd today. The show was at the Quenton horse grounds. The area was very nice, but the footing was a bit odd. It was this really fine gravel that when it got wet it became like sludge. Zedd did very well despite this goofy worried look he had on his face all morning. I just continued with our normal routine.
Our first run was JWW. He was wonderful. He just went around one jump and when I called him back, he back jumped. Wrong course and refusal. I was better at praising him in the ring, and using my happy gay voice instead of my drill Sargent voice.(That's what Mike calls it.) Our second run was Open STD. The run went: focus, no focus I hate this sludge, mom didn't tell me to jump so I'm going to run around the jump, focus, gosh the weaves are in a Hugh puddles and I'm nervous, focus, focus, excellent table and excellent contacts, focus, oh look someone in the ring I need to say "Hi" to, Oh mom's calling me to just take the last jump. Back to the car we went to dry and clean the gravel off his stomach. He was happy and I was pleased. The lack of focus drives me nuts sometimes, but I plan to keep working at it and I'm sure it will all come together.

zedd std Sunday at TBAC

Well, what can I say. Sometimes I'm not a big fan of watching videos of my runs. I pick every little thing apart, and I usually start with myself. I run funny, I need to lose weight, Oh my look at my hair, that outfit I have on looks stupid etcOnce I get over my-damn-self which means Mike tells me to knock it off and we start laughing at my comments, I then get down to the nitty gritty. Zedd and I did
not have a perfect run, but it was much better then our last run back in Nov. I got one or two jumps out of him and then he just lapped the perimeter of the ring. No recall at all. He was so stressed he just couldn't contain himself. I actually felt sorry for him, because I didn't know how to help him. Since Nov. I've had a private with Leslie Mcdevitt and implemented exercises from her book "Control Unleashed" into my training program. When I did lose him in the openness of the course I was able to recall him back, and he came a runnin with a happy excited look on his face. He also had a very nice down on the table. He looked at me with relaxed eyes. During his run in Nov he just shook on the table for the whole 5 seconds.
I would like to continue to work on his jumping, contacts (always contacts), and front crosses. My goal is for the next 6 month to diligently train those three things.

Quiet weekend

Wow, I actually had a weekend off from everything. Sat. I hit a wall and lounged around all day. My body was loving it, but my mind was hating it!!!! Sat. night Mike and I went out for dinner. We had fun. When we got home we put a movie in and he watched the whole thing while I fell asleep on the couch.
Sunday I went over the the training building and worked on Zedd's contacts on the A- frame. He is still taking extra strides on the down side of the A-frame. I've been running the frame with a jump at the end, and that seems to help his striding. Take away the jump and he's leaping. UGH!!! We then did some jump chutes. He actually did them nicely. Occasionally he dropped a couple bars. He was very tired when we got home. Mike was kind enough to come along and video tape us. That is always helpful.
We got home just in time to watch the Daytona 500. I was disappointed that it was rained out. I'm glad the nascar season has started. Go Kasey Kahn.

beautiful day

I started out my day with taking zeddicus and bunzella (my two border terriers) to the vet for their annual check ups. They were both very well behaved. I was a very proud 4 legged parent. TEE HEE. Afterward I ran some errands and came home and did a little cleaning up around the house. I had spent the last 4 days on a business trip in Las Vegas and my husband was a bachelor for those 4 days. (The house was a little messy, and I spent most of my time in motivational seminars and didn't get to see much of Vegas. UGH!) I then went to agility class with zeddicus. He was a little distracted today. He Kind of wanted to wonder off and sniff the sand. It's a behavior I want to keep a close eye on. His second run was much better. He had some problems with discrimination between the dog walk and the tunnel. I didn't get too bent about it because we have not really worked on any of that. I've set some goals for me and Zedd to work on. 1. His contacts. 2.tighter turning. 3. front crosses. I do wish I could find a skills class for zedd. I work till 8:00pm on Monday nights so Sharon's classes are out and so is Barbs classes at Chester. Maybe I can sch. some privates. I've been wondering. Can you change the location of where the dog takes off for a jump? HUM. I've watched Zedd on video and he seems to take off far from the jump. Like he is launching himself. Well, anyway, when I came home tonight I worked out on the treadmill and then started the relaxation protocol with Zedd.
What fun the day was!!!

Hospital

Well, here we sit in the hospital. My father in law is having open heart surgery. We have been here since 10:00 Am and it is now 5:30PM. It's a long day for everyone. Hopefully things are going well for my father in law. He has a long recovery road ahead of him. Hopefully he'll feel like a new person.
I've been sitting here reading my clean run magazine which is good for me, because I usually do not get to read the whole mag.
I went to training class last night. Zedd was good. There was a dog behind him at the begining of one of his runs and he did well with that. There was also a pony on the other end of the training building and we played "the look at that" game and he didn't have any problems with coping. I love that game!!!! I'm still working on setting my training goals. Notice, it's almost the end of Jan. UGH!!!!
Leslie's new DVD came out today and when I get home I plan on ordering it.

agility class

I went to class last night with Zeddicus. It was a good class. Zedd did very well. I was a little intimidated at first with all the border collies that were there, but I got over it quick. Rosanne was great. We started the class with her talking about lead outs, and then we ran some courses. It was good. I really liked the lead out discussion. I need stuff like that. Some times I go through this space where I think I'm not taken serious as a handler because I choose to run and compete with border terriers. Even through border terriers may be an "off" breed for agility I still want to be competitive and achieve goals I've set for myself and my dogs. I love border terriers and it's a breed I really enjoy living with, and a breed that fits my personality and life style. There, I said my peace, border terriers it is. HEE HEE.
I was really happy with Zed last night. He ran better then I did through the sand. He hit his contacts very time. Wonderful!!! My goals for the next couple of months is to work on his contacts, front crosses and I would like to tighten up his turning. I would like to see him wrap the jumps. Wrapping the jumps is something I have no idea how to teach. If I teach Zed to wrap the jumps will this help with his turning? can he even structurally wrap jumps??? Something to ask people how are more experienced then me.
I ran on the treadmill tonight and then worked with Zedd on teaching him to hit this button that plays the song "Do you Love Me" too funny. Now I'm just sitting with Zedd on my lap blogging while Bunzella is nesting on the other couch. I'd like to do some matt work with Zedd and then go to bed. It felt like a long weird day at work!!!