Dog World Adventures

I have many of things to talk about in the dog related world.
I will try to keep things short and sweet, however, that has proven to be near impossible for me.

Superdogs. Yes. I was invited to be a part of the Superdogs show in Moncton a few weeks ago. Toffee and I struted in there with our bling and did our thing. No, we didn't do any of the three "events" correctly, but hey, life's not meant to be perfect. Tof handled the weirdo agility just fine and didn't seem to mind the commotion and the crowd much either. I think her favorite part was the "Pat and Chat", where everyone could come meet them, hence belly rubs for Toffee....what do you think?

I think yes.

I do have video...but  haven't gone through any of them yet...yes...procrastination at its best.

Also, the OJAC came up...it's kinda short notice for me to go, since it's in February, and since Tof mesures over the cut off for medium, she would have to jump 26"...which is not going to happen. That of course, would leave Mach. I'm not so sure he's ready for something like that just yet. BUT, I think he will be by next year's, and it'll be my last year being a junior handler, so why not? I'll get fundraising, like...now. And I suppose Anthony Clark aint so bad. ;)

Some Superdogs bling


November 5-6 was our last trial for the year.
Sad, yes. But it was pure awesomeness.

Toffee was a superstar. Need I say more? Seriously, this dog couldn't get anymore awesome, because she's totally rad and cute. Like...so cute.

She was running just awesome all weekend. Her first run was superb! It was a gamblers, and she was just running like craaazy! We got 128 points, I think, and first place. Usually gamblers aren't where we do so well, so that's good news :) We even beat Marco. And Blaze. ..Yuh. Her other runs were equally as awesome, where she hit EVERY.SINGLE.DOG.WALK.CONTACT. That's great news! Okay, maybe two of them were a little iffy...but hey. Beggers can't be choosers. So...she went 6 for 6. I think she won every class? Maybe, maybe not. I could be making these things up.

Let's talk about Mach.

He was a rockstar! So great!!!

His first trial on turf, first trial indoors.

His first run, he was a little sketched out. It was gamblers and I think we got like 29 points. He just wouldnt do anything. And then I got flustered by it. BUT, both of his dogwalk contacts were perfect. Win. His next run was much better. The only fault was his dogwalk contact. I could tell he wasnt going to get it when he got on it. Oh well. All of his other runs that weekend were beautiful, only knocked 2 bars (both caused by me). His jumping has become much better since I started training him at 26".

No Q's on Sat, but nice runs anyhow. Sunday was better! His first run, a standard, and just a hardlywassuperclosejustmessedhisstridesorsomethingclose missed dogwalk contact. The rest was beautiful. The second standard was it. I needed just 1 standard to get our starters title...and it was the last one of the year. And we got it!! He was moving, too. He messed up the weaves, so I had to take him back (it took 6 seconds....yes, I counted when I watched the video later...) and we finished with a time of 36 seconds. (yep...basically did it in 30 seconds.) We got first place and our title!! In advanced now. So excited :)

Our very last run of the season was an advanced jumpers. We also only needed 1 for our title. It had a tricky opening, and I knew I couldn't do that far of a lead out pivot. I decided to run into it, but lead out to a Toffee position. I completely forgot for the 0.00043 seconds it took for him to get to me that he is much faster than her. Oops. Way late getting into my serp after, but I managed. His turns were all so beautiful and he was moving on top of it! We got another Q! And 25.95 for a time! And first place! And a title! And we're in MASTERS! My baby dog! Best way to end the year! Such a great weekend! So many exclamation marks! !! !!!

Some TNT lovin'! 4 dogs got their ADC title on the last run...Mach, Quake, Pip and Quick! So exciting! Yay baby dogs!

So the tallies for the year is as follows:

Toffee: 70 Q's, Lifetime Achievement Award, National Champion, Steeplechase Champion, Top Junior Handler [Champion], Riverside Steeplechase Champion [500$, aw yea], Superdog Extraordinaire, Bellyrub Masters of Excellence.

Mach: 13 Q's, ADC, AJDC, [a VERY close SGDC{I just had to put it]}, World Team Hopeful, Quirky Dog Champion, Blue Eyed Boy Heart Melter belt of strength.

Okay, I'm not sure what that last one was supposed to be. Moving on.

At the trial, there was a very special person. So, anyone (the one person) that reads this blog knows that I love Tori Self. Yeah. I mean, who doesn't? She's awesome and inspirational and wins things and has a rad dog named Revolution. Everything about her is awesome and I wish I was as awesome as her to be her friend. Lols. And through her, I somehow got watching videos of her friend's dogs, Reef and Caper.

I was watching the starters gamblers class and this girl and a border were running. The girl was bare foot. And her border collie had running contacts. *Erin freaks out a little* I loved this girl already.

I went over to the gate to try and figure out who it was, but everything was all scratched out and there was so many people there, it was too hard on my brain.

I wanted to go up to her and talk to her, but I'm too much of a little nugget to do something so human.

But later, my mom got talking to her and called me over. She goes.."Guess who this girl is friend's with?" and I go "TORI SELF?!!!!!!!!"

I lost my cool. Damn.

So turns out Tracey, with Reef and Caper knew about me, through Tori. And my life is just so awesome all the time now. And I knew Tracey through Tori. And the world is such a small and wonderous place sometimes. :)

Mach lost his cool, too.

We went to our first Jessica Martin seminar the other weekend.

It was quite possibly awesome.

Mach was a radicalrockstar!

I jumped him at 26". I thought he would get tired....but he never did!

I remember getting so nervous going to seminars with him, because I never felt we were at the same spot as everyone else. I was so nervous, I felt sick to my stomach and I couldn't eat and I would always want to back out of them at the last minute.

It was much different leading up to this one, however. I was excited. Pure excitement.

Before, at seminars, because I was so stressed out, Mach stressed hard core. (Remember the running away incident?) He couldn't work for very long. Half day seminars zonked him right out. We would be out training for 5 minutes and then he'd be done done done. And getting in and out of his crate, alone, exhausted/stressed him.

Mach was a different dog at this seminar. It was a full day, jumping and handling at 26. My group mainly consisted of the same dogs and people from the other seminars, so it wasn't bad that way. But it was a new place, and he's notorious for stressing in new environments. He was a little sketched the first time I left him at the startline, but he opening ip and loved life after that!

Jess picked up on something major, that will most definitely help us become the best we can be.

Because he recall sucked and his retrieve suck[s] and something could trigger stress at any second, I really worried about him taking off, so at the end of a sequence, or anything at all, he would always have to turn back to me for the reward. So, where I should have been throwing the toy ahead to cue extension, I was getting him to check back into me. Sure, it helped with him not running away, but now he doesn't know when he should extend his stride, and adds check strides in everywhere, therefore taking more time to get to where we're going.

Sure, his turns are incredible, and it's partly because that's all I really have room to work on at home, but the ground speed is also important. Finding balance in everything in life, eh?

So that is our homework, and I think it'll be an easy fix. Who cares if he does a victory lap with the toy every time I give it to him? .... Okay, I HAVE been working on it...it's getting better, I swear.

Some Rowdie Lovin'