Nationals Countdown

So Agility Nationals are apparently 71 days away...yikes!  Everything is booked and paid for.  We had a bit of a glitch with our accommodation falling through but we've ended up with a better property on 10 acres, so nothing to complain about there.  I have so much work to do if either of my dogs are going to be anywhere near ready.  Nothing like a bit of pressure to keep the excitement alive 😜

Veto and I have finished our latest Fenzi course "Dealing with the Bogeyman; Helping Fearful, Reactive and Stressed Dogs" with Amy Cook.  Amy is seriously amazing.  The commitment she gives you, the detail and information are second to none.  After finishing it I feel a bit like someone who has found divine intervention.  I just want to preach to everyone how amazing this method is and why anyone who is dealing with a fearful dog should try it.  It was a really great time for me to do the course.  I think being away from Dogs West over the Christmas period with the grounds being closed really allowed Ve the chance to decompress and have a break from things that would be regular stressors.  Stripping away the food and the toys which I now understand had been causing him internal conflict, gave him a chance to deal with it without masking the issue.  To sit back and give him the space to decide what his comfort level is, discard what is around him when he's ready, then choose me has been an amazing transformation to watch.  It has been utterly fascinating to experience and I think we have a really positive way forward using Amy's method.  There are so many different dog trainers out there and so many different thoughts and ideas for ways to work through fear and reactivity issues with your dogs.  You really have no idea which is going to be the right one for your own dog.  But seeing the results so far with Ve I am so very glad that this one is the one that we decided to go with.

Home arena 2018

I have a bit of a schedule going on.  Record keeping has never really been my thing.  The closest I've gotten is this blog but I've got a bit of a diary happening at the moment with milestones that I pretty much have to hit if we have any chance of being ready for Nationals.  And this is on top of the ongoing set ups that I need to work through with Ve.  I've also had to retrain Ve's running dog walk because it was just too sloppy.  If he was driving hard then he may get a high hit in but because he'd been worried in the ring he was missing because his drive across and down just wasn't there.  The Europeans seem to be at the forefront of running contacts right now so I signed up as an auditor for Tereza Kralova's running dog walk course.  We've been slowly making some headway through that.  Its actually not that different than what we had been doing but my criteria for a correct hit has gone from big to tiny.  So his hits are now much more specific.  I've also moved away from toy rewards to food so it means there is a lot more thought going into it from Ve.  He is slower to food but he is also a lot more careful which he needs to be in order to learn.

It's also been a bit of a battle with fitness.  Ve had some soreness late last year so I had to wait for that to come good before I could start doing anything overly physical with him.  He has the muscle mass just not the strength.  So now he is sound we have started interval training to strengthen up.  Which also means that I am doing interval training so perhaps I might actually be fit for Nationals too!  I'm relieved that Ve has such a great understanding of the handling because that is the one thing that I doubt we will get much time to work on.  And of course he's not in Masters so the courses we will be facing should not be as challenging.  Well I hope not anyway...

Cassie and I have started getting back out to do some training as well.  I've decided that this year will likely be our last try.  We have only been doing little things at home so far.  Everything we do is based on her giving me her consent signal and if I don't get it we don't work.  So far she has consented most of time I've asked her.  Sometimes the consent doesn't come straight away and she needs a bit of time to decide she is ready.  She also needs time to get fit, so over the next few weeks we will slowly increase her workload and see where it takes us.  I have no expectation and there is no pressure on her.  She has to want to do it and the decision is hers to make.  I don't want her to feel any pressure and choose to engage on her terms.  The other day she grabbed her leash and shoved it at me because she wanted to do something so much.  It made me really happy to see her so happy.  There is something really exciting to go to a competition and know that if your dog is at their best that they are a good chance to win.  I used to feel it all the time with Soda which was what made it such an awesome experience, but also put a lot of pressure on you to perform.  There is also a lot to be said for having no expectations and just enjoying wherever the journey may take you.