Fire, rain and agility

As part of preparing for next summers fire season we set fire to a good two thirds of our property recently. Living in an area that is predominately bush we have been rather nervous during the couple of summer periods since being here. The bush on the block was really thick and looked like it hadn't been burnt in at least 20 years. The controlled burn was carried out by a group of local volunteer fire brigade personnel of whom I have a very large respect for. These guys spent over five hours getting the job done on a Friday night in their own time. They also made sure to rescue any wildlife in the way and transfer them to area that wasn't being burnt. I didn't do anything particularly constructive other than wander round with my camera oohing and aahing as things went up in flames. I did take some very cool photos...







The downside is that the landscape is now rather charcoaled and the rabbits hate us but hopefully with the winter rains upon us we should see new life sprouting very soon.









We've also joined the solar power revolution and had solar panels installed before the government stops handing out rebates. It's actually spent more time raining than sunny since it was done though so it will be a little while before we really start to see the benefits. I'm definitely looking forward to much lower power bills over summer when the air conditioner is in full swing. It's kind of nice to be living in a more environmentally friendly way. With all the rain I'm happy to say that our water tank is finally full again.



We are smack bang in the middle of agility double header madness. There are enough trials for the next month or two to render even the most ardent agility enthusiast with exhaustion. There's a part of me that loves it and another part that is finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with everything so I'm going to start limiting the trials to fortnightly once I've made my way through the trials I've already entered. I've always felt that our agility competition year is too long and I think that we can over trial & train our dogs. I know of few other sports that run for an entire year. Most are seasonal allowing sports people time off to wind down and relax. Sonic loves his agility, don't get me wrong but to have any animal in peak condition for a whole year is an awfully big ask.

Trialling is going OK. We finally managed a quallie in Masters Agility at the Gosnells trial last weekend after a long drought. The courses recently have for the most part been really quite challenging with tight turns and off courses everywhere you look. Sonic is definitely reading my body better but I still see him asking questions and every time that happens we loose speed on course. I am still working on getting him to dig in and drive harder over small grids and sequences. Here is some of our recent weekend runs.



Gosnells Obedience Dog Club - Agility Trial 18/06/2011



Agility Club of WA - Agility Trial 12/06/2011

Celebrate Good Times!

Two big reasons to celebrate this week. Firstly birthday time is upon us again with the Murphster turning fourteen years old.

Its ma burfday again!

He's doing really well for a grumpy old bugger. Although a bit unsteady on the old pins he still trots around the property with us each night and runs around playing chasey with Riot and Sonic in the backyard. If he wants something he barks at us until he gets it and he hates getting up early in the morning. I'm pretty sure he's having a pretty good time during this his twilight years.



The other reason for celebration was Sonic's win in Masters Jumping at the Northern Suburbs agility trial last weekend. We started the day with a really nice run in Masters Agility but he pulled out of the last weaver when I moved away (very uncharacteristic I must say...). Then we had a fantastic run to go clear in Masters Jumping. I was happy enough to have a run that felt so great and winning the class just made it that little bit sweeter.

With all the work we've been doing on recalls and Sonic's response to my verbal and physical cues I'm very happy to say that the fruits of my labours are starting to pay off. Training has seen him coming away from off course obstacles that he would otherwise have taken as soon as I've called him which is what I've been aiming for. Then his response to my handling over the weekend and some pretty tricky courses was well above what it's been for quite some time. We've got another couple of weekends of double headers coming up so lets see if we can keep the good times rolling!!

Livin on the edge

Last Sunday was huge fun in the agility ring with Sonic and I managing two out of three quallies AND I didn't have to drive all the way to Geraldton! The class we didn't get a quallie in was my own very big LOSER fault when I pulled Sonic off a jump that I'm sure he would have taken if not for my meddling. It was almost a complete reversal from last weekend and even during runs where things went a bit wrong we still managed to qualify. It also included yet another opportunity for a slow motion moment in our video's from the trial courtesy of Sonic's over exuberant exit from a collapsible tunnel. There was a face plant, a roll and much gasping from spectators involved... That was after one of the most poorly timed pull throughs I may ever have done. Somehow though we still managed to come third out of about eight or nine quallies. Phew! I wasn't too worried that he was actually hurt. Stacking it is part of an average day for Sonic when he's racing around at home.



I do think that Sonic may need a few extra massages this week.

Old man Murphy has been in for a spot of surgery recently. He's had a wart above his eye for a while now which he managed to knock all the time. After getting the all clear from his regular "geriatric" vet checks and bloods we decided it was a safe risk for him have surgery to have it removed. As expected surgery was a complete success and he has recovered beautifully. Stitches come out this week and he should end up with a very manly scar above his eye which I'm sure will impress the other boys no end.



Daisy Peel hits Perth this coming weekend. Although I'm not doing the handling component as it's all Linda Mecklenberg stuff that I don't do I'm very much looking forward to the running contacts session. Quite a few people in Perth are now trying running contacts with their young dogs so I'm really interested in hearing what Daisy has to say and advise that she gives. That is definitely the upside of new training methods happening BEFORE you get your next young dog. You get the benefit of watching what does and doesn't work for everyone else first before you inadvertently screw your own dog up. I have to be honest I really have no idea about training running contacts at this stage of the game. I can't wait to see all these young dogs hit the ring when they are old enough. Just in case our WA dogs aren't fast enough, they are going to be out of sight as this new wave of running contacts start to come through!

Sometimes losing aint so bad!

You'd think that after spending five hours in the car driving all the way to Geraldton, competing in nine classes over the course of the weekend, not managing to secure even one agility or jumping qualifying card and then driving five hours back to Perth might make a person slightly frustrated and annoyed. Nope, not me! Sonic was great and I had an incredibly fun time running him. His enthusiasm was contagious and he was full of gusto out on the courses. Massive kudos to the judges as all the courses over the weekend were thoroughly enjoyable being both challenging but achievable (well maybe not for me...). I do have one success to mention and that is that Sonic and I teamed up with Cathy and Snazzy to go clear with a first place in Excellent Strat Pairs.

The first run that Sonic and I had on Saturday was a super run but as he was going through the weavers they started wobbling and he literally got bounced out of the poles! It was like revenge of the weavers. With that sort of luck I had to wonder if perhaps we may be going to have "one of those weekends" and I quite possibly inadvertently jinxed us. To top it off in the last run of the day on Sunday I thought we'd finally gone clear only to realise that Sonic had knocked a bar!



So you have to wonder if sometimes things just aren't meant to be. But if all his runs are as much fun as what I experienced on the weekend then who cares :-)

A Modern Woman?

Is the epitome of the modern woman working in the city by day donning makeup and heels while managing the statewide pharmacy application. Then by evening donning flannelette's and work boots while using power tools and lawn mowers, living a semi rural existence? Some may just call me mad...



After this evenings mowing the agility lawn is looking awesome. If only it would rain on a regular basis I could pack up the retic and start to use it. It's hard to imagine what regular rain even feels like anymore. Mind you I think I'd rather what we have than the cold, wet and windy conditions a lot of the cities over east are being pounded with of late.



Agility itself is cruising along right now. I had a feeling Sonic was sore last week but couldn't put my finger on anything in particular so I booked him in for some muscle therapy. We went to training on Tuesday and Wednesday to target some specific areas of agility that I think need the most work a lot of which don't involve equipment. On Wednesday we'd done a few flat work sessions and then I decided to fit in a couple of seesaws before finishing up for the night. After the second one Sonic started actually favouring a front leg so after a mild panic attack I comforted myself with the fact that he was already booked in to be looked at the next day. In the end it doesn't appear that he was lame but rather his muscles were so damn tight that he was suffering from overall muscle soreness. After the treatment he was a different dog and back to being happy and relaxed. I was pretty careful with him before heading down to Bunbury for a trial on Sunday and he was banned from all silly running around in the meantime. For some reason he has been mega over the top at home lately so being "quiet" has been quite a challenge. My main concern at the trial was making sure that he was completely warmed up before each event. And of course we have another visit scheduled this week for a follow up treatment.



At the end of the trial I was pretty happy. The only run I thought was "bad" was Masters Agility which was our first of the day. I was so distracted by him being warmed up properly I handled him rather poorly to say the least. I was hanging back and nowhere near where Sonic needed me to be for a decent run. Thankfully after that I pulled my socks up and he went clear in Open Agility and just a bar down in Masters Jumping. Open Jumping wasn't bad but he didn't get the distance challenge. He responded well to my handling so hopefully the recall work I'm doing with him is starting to pay off. At the moment everywhere we go we are working on those recalls!



This weekend is Geraldton so Kriszty and I are going to head up on Friday afternoon with Sonic, Terra and Shimmer. The only downside is that the World Agility Open is on and I really want to try and watch as much as I can. So the laptop will be coming and conveniently the hotel has free wireless internet...

GO TEAM AUSTRALIA!!

Dog training and venting

The last few weeks have been CRAZY! It started with the Garden Show and a very full on two days at Perry Lakes. This year doing the dog training workshops with Better Pets & Gardens were so much more fun than just doing a meet and greet like last year. Unfortunately Riot was more than a little painful with Lexi coming in season at home. He was morose and depressed and really not particularly interested in performing. Thank goodness for his young son Remy who was full of enthusiasm and provided me with the perfect demo puppy to show members of the general public just how easy it is to train your dog (even ones who aren’t your own!). If all the planets align hopefully I will have my own pup there as my demo dog next year. Naturally she'll be perfect :-)





The Garden Show was closely followed by me doing the “Ask an Expert” radio segment on one of our most popular Perth radio stations Mix 94.5. I don’t actually listen to local radio, I’m a Triple J girl through and through, but it would seem that the majority of the people I know listen to 94.5 so I had loads of people tell me that they heard it. I really enjoyed the experience and it was fascinating to see the inside workings of a radio station. They were all very friendly and I was surprisingly not particularly nervous either. I think partly because after the Garden Show my brain was very much still in “general public dog problem” mode (how do I stop my dog barking/peeing in the house/chewing my furniture etc.). At the end of the day I just hope that the stuff that I’ve passed onto people has helped them work through their pet problems using the wonderful world of positive reinforcement.

All this was closely followed by Colin going into hospital for his mitral valve repair surgery. I had hoped that it would all work out so that I could still slot the State Agility Trial in but unfortunately it was not to be. For some reason Sonic and I have just not meant to have a good agility first half of the year!Colin’s surgery went really well but there were a few issues that came up post op. I was pretty upset to miss the States. I haven’t missed one since I started trialling in 1999 but these things happen and life goes on. The most important thing is that Colin is recovering well and the worst is behind us.

Finally yesterday I did get to head back into the trial ring. Sonic is pretty much back to his old pre-paralysis tick self. He is looking slim and sleek and is full of confidence and enthusiasm. I’m happy with how his agility is going and I absolutely love running him. The main thing I’d like to focus on improving right now is our team work on course. Our weakest skill is appearing when he works away from me where he is still coming off my body and taking off course jumps. Yesterday’s Masters Agility was a carbon copy of Masters Agility at Cloverdale where I was stationary and he was working away from me and then he drifted off to whatever jump was in front of him. When we do tight courses we don’t have a problem. So I’m thinking LOTS of recall work to strengthen his response to when I call his name on course and I’m too far away for my body position to have an impact. I’ve got a few trials coming up over the next few weekends so hopefully that will give us the opportunity to get it happening.



Now onto the depressing part of agility. We have received the results of the latest ANKC agility rule review…
Firstly I’d like to provide the dictionary meaning of Champion in case anyone is confused as to what the word is supposed to mean:
“someone or something, especially a person or animal, that has beaten all other competitors in a competition”.
It would seem the ANKC definition for agility champion is now “someone who manages to get around an agility course - doesn't matter if you beat any other competitors”. Apparently these days everyone should be a champion and nothing can be seen as sacred and left for people to have something to aspire to. Imagine if a racehorse was called a champion just for making a lap around the racecourse. There is a reason that Phar Lap was called a champion. Something to do with winning – a lot! And don’t even get me started on what’s been done to the seesaw, or as it shall now be referred to "the baby seesaw". Other than to say it’s an embarrassment for Australian agility and I can just imagine the elite agility nations laughing their arses off at us. If people can’t be bothered training their dogs to do agility as it was intended (like the rest of the world) then go and find another hobby like needlecraft and stop torturing those of us who actually want to achieve something in our sport. What a joke. Think I’ll be entered in a lot more ADAA trials in future. At least they take agility seriously.

Aahhhhh, I love to vent (and before anyone says anything, yes I did attend our states rule review meeting and WA didn't want any of this). What a shame it won't make any difference!

He's Back!

Finally Sonic is back in the ring and it felt great. We both had a blast. So close to a clear round in Masters Agility but he did his drift off my arm thing and went over an off course jump. No amount of calling or moving my body seems to have any impact when that happens. Then he gave a very tricky Masters Jumping course a pretty good shot with me having to put my hand up for the stuff up. He missed the dog walk contact in Excellent Gamblers in his hurry which was rather naughty but all in all a pretty good day.

I would really have liked for Sonic to have had the opportunity run in another trial before the State Trial but no such luck. There is an ADAA trial on next weekend but Riot and I will be at the Garden Show doing dog training workshops. Riot hasn't done anything for a while so it will be fun for him to get out and do his Better Pets and Gardens thing again. His son Remy will be joining us as my demo puppy. Riot is just too well behaved and people think that they can't achieve the same thing with their own dogs. Plus I think Remy's owners could use a bit of help! From what I'm hearing Remy is quite the handful.