Best Laid Plans

And so I returned from the Nationals all excited and ready to hit the agility ring with Veto.  I had about four weeks before his first trial so I set up a couple of novice jumping sequences at home to work on and I was feeling that we were as prepared as we could be for our first time in the ring.  It was really nice to feel excited about trialling rather than anxious as I can feel with Cassie not knowing if she will run or not.  It felt quite weird warming Ve up for his turn.  The Novice Jumping course was one of the easiest I’ve seen and a nice way to get started.  He ran pretty much as I thought he would.  Not overly fast but confident and forward striding.  He listened to me beautifully, so much so that when I gave him a jump cue on a slight bend to a jump he took me completely literally and drove forward and straight past the jump I wanted him to take!  He also knocked the back of the spread when he took off a little too early and didn’t quite have the height he needed to clear it.  Which was funny when for some jumps he was jumping so high he could have made it over a 700mm height jump.  But all in all it was a great start and I couldn’t wait for the following weekend when I had entered him in Novice Agility and Jumping plus Novice Gamblers to give him some extra goes on contacts in the ring.

Veto's first agility photo!

But two days later those trialling plans came to a grinding halt when Veto managed to do himself a whole lot of damage while free running at home.  I’m still not quite sure how he managed it.  We were taking them all for a run around the property at home which we do every day.  Veto and Fizz love to chase each other through the bush and somehow Veto got a leg caught under a bush that had a small stringy branch stuck under the shrub next to it.  It looks like that has caused his whole body to flip and he’s come crashing down on his side.  I didn’t even realise what had happened until I heard him yelping in pain.  When I got to him he was on his side with one leg still stuck under the branch and the other front leg dangling in the air.  I pretty much saw the end of his agility career flash before my eyes because it really looked like he had snapped his leg.  Adrenaline promptly kicked in and my practical, sensible in a crisis side managed to calmly get him unstuck and carry my 20kg puppy back to the house which was about 200 meters away.  The poor boy was in a lot of pain as was my back the next day. 

 

What we are doing a lot of right now...

By the time I got him to the vet he was weight baring which was a good sign.  The vet went over him with a fine tooth comb and was happy that there wasn’t anything broken or “snapped” just lots of very painful soft tissue damage.   After a shot of morphine and an anti-inflammatory injection we came home.  I was very lucky that Deb Nook our wonderful dog acupuncturist happened to be in Perth and could fit him in on the Saturday to go over him and check how much damage there actually was and exactly what we were dealing with.  Her overall assessment was that both of his shoulders were really bad along with muscle damage to his lower back and his psoas on both sides not good.  Could have been much worse but a lot of work to do to fix him.  Two weeks down the track and two visits to Deb later with multiple daily leash walks and stretching exercises we are seeing some nice improvement and his shoulder extension is back to about 50%.  He is definitely feeling good and walking him on leash is getting harder and harder because he just wants to run.  My plan is to give him a minimum of 6 weeks off equipment to make sure all the muscles have had time to heal completely.  At about the 8 week mark Colin and I are off on an overseas holiday so it will probably end up being more like 10 weeks.  It will just depend on how he’s going as to what I do with him, if anything before we go away.  I’d like to think I can have him back for the Royal but who knows.  He’s recovery has to be the priority.

Veto's first Novice Jumping run

So we are effectively all having an “agility holiday” spending lots of time hanging out, relationship building and going for lots of walks.  He is taking it pretty well but every now and again he needs five minutes of crazy time out the back to let off some steam.  He is hanging to play tug but I just can’t let him right now which I feel very mean about but it’s all for the greater good.  I’m consoling myself with that it could have been worse.  He’s young and healthy and should heal completely with time and patience.  However there is a corner of my brain that can’t help but think it would be really, really nice at some point in the not too distant future to be able to do agility like a normal person.  It feels like that has alluded me for quite some time... 

Agility Queen

Nationals Journey 2016

Sometimes I think you lower your expectations of how something will turn out because you don't want to be disappointed when things don't go how you wanted them to.  For me I truly believed that this years Nationals was going to be a disaster.  I don't think it was possible for Cassie and I to have had a worse lead up and it was a case of accepting that she was going to be overwhelmed and unlikely to run.  A clear round seemed an absolute impossibility so I gave it no thought at all.  I only focused on how I could make it as least overwhelming as possible for Cassie.  I couldn't say if it was my lack of expectation that made it possible to achieve something but I'm certain that my lack of pressuring her helped Cassie to feel that it was OK to give it a try.

We arrived on the Sunday before the Nationals started to find our accommodation in the little town of Carrikalinga was simply brilliant.  A gorgeous holiday house with views of the ocean and the local beach only a 10 minute walk away.  I had decided even at that early point that no matter what happened at the trial, we were going to have an amazing holiday.  Cassie was as happy as I've seen her.  Relishing being an "only" dog, waking up to her favourite "Aunties" each day, getting to run on the beach and generally getting spoilt rotten.  The Tuesday before it started we had some amazing weather to enjoy but unfortunately the weather did a turn for the worst and the next few days were pretty unpleasant.  Friday was so bad that they ended up cancelling the whole day then didn't restart the next day until lunchtime to try and give the grounds enough time to dry out.  The walkway that ran down the middle of the rings was a mud pit by lunch time on the first day.  

On the first day of competition Cassie was running in a Masters Agility and Masters Jumping class.  Our courses were lovely with plenty of interesting challenges.  On both courses she came off the start line pretty happily but could only manage a couple of jumps before heading for the nearest tunnel to hide.  As I have learned, this is Cassie's way of letting me know that she was feeling very overwhelmed.  I'd say that the whole environment was a lot for her to cope with.  My plan for each run, should she decide she couldn't do it was to run straight to the exit and get her to chase me out of the ring.  In most cases I got her to jump into my arms and then we'd head off to her food bag and get some treats.  If she hadn't tried to run at all and left the start line I may not have given her rewards but at the end of the day she was trying and I had spent a lot of time jackpotting one or two jumps off the start line with her before we'd come away.  And the only thing that mattered was having a happy pappy.

Day two Cassie was entered in one Masters Jumping class and two Masters Agility classes.  The Masters Jumping course was really nice and I would have loved to have run it.  Cassie managed three jumps this time before switching into overwhelmed zone and heading to the tunnel to hide.  The same thing happened in Masters Agility.  That course was pretty tough so even if she had run I would have been pretty surprised to have managed a Q.  You needed skills that we really didn't have.  However again Cassie did the first couple of obstacles but didn't want to come out of the tunnel which was the third obstacle.  So more getting her to chase me out of the ring and rewarding her.   I decided to scratch her from the the second Masters Agility class.  It was getting late, the grounds were getting really muddy and I wasn't sure there was a lot of point in pushing it.

Day three was the "great wash out" so we decided to head to MacLaren Vale so Colin could buy some wine and we could give ourselves a break.  It was really cold and wet so there wasn't a lot else that you could have done anyway.  Later on in the afternoon we took the dogs to the beach for a run and that was that.  On day four a decision was made to not start classes till lunchtime to try and give the grounds time to dry out a little bit.  Some rings were OK but others were very wet.  I only had the one Masters Jumping class left but it was first up in the ring when things got started.  I'm still not sure why this time was different and she decided to run.  It could have been that having the previous day away from competing allowed her stress levels to come down.  For the first time I didn't put her down in the raceway that took you into the ring, instead carrying her in and putting her down when we got to the start line.  She had been playing happily outside the ring when I found some dry grass that wasn't awash with mud so she was definitely in a good head space.  And so she ran.  It wasn't overly fast for her and on the cautious side.  She was watching me the whole time.  Ten dogs in the class went clear and to be honest I was fairly certain that her run wasn't fast enough to make the top two which is what we needed to make the final.  Then we had a nervous wait due to some timing issues and the scribe took a while to get all the dogs times into the computer.  When her time went in I was stunned to see that she had placed second, only 0.7secs behind the little papillon who had come first.  Getting that Q was brilliant enough but to also make finals was beyond amazing.

Day five was finals day and thankfully the rain was giving us a break.  I had hoped that the Masters Jumping 200 final wouldn't be on too late because I was worried that Cassie would be over it before we got to the class.  I think in the end it was on about 3pm.  I had no expectations.  There was no point building it up in my head or thinking about winning it.  That was so completely irrelevant.  The only thing worth focusing on was keeping Cassie happy, keeping a connection and giving her confidence to run with me.  I made sure I got her out with plenty of time.  She was quite happy to play outside of the ring and I was very thankful that the ring we were running in was quite dry outside so plenty of room to warm up.  I decided to follow the same formula that had worked the day before where I had her in my arms in the entry area and then put her down at the start line.  I'm not convinced that she needs to be carried into the ring as a general rule but with the entries being fenced in she did seem uncomfortable being in such an enclosed space. And of course I wanted to whatever I had to so that she would be confident enough to run.

Looking back I still can't quite believe that her run was so amazing.  We didn't win, but I would be hard pressed to find a time where winning was less relevant.  Cassie ran like her life depended on it, I could barely keep up.  In the end we got a refusal on the fifth last jump.  At the time I thought I must have pulled her off the jump but when I watched it back I don't think I handled her badly, she was just watching me and didn't really see what I was directing her to.  I would have thought that I would feel disappointed that we didn't go clear but I can't get past how thrilled I am about how she ran.  At the end of the day I know she was fast enough to win and the one thing I wanted most was to show everyone how amazing she is and I got to do that.  Those that were there got to see what a phenomenal little dog she is.  And that is enough for me.  Our journey is far from over.  My goal for the rest of the year is to build her desire on the start line.  So more NFC for us and we'll see what happens.  She will have a little bit of time away from trialling right now anyway.

Now we are back home and back to reality most of my time is going into getting Veto ready for the ring.  I have entered him in his first class in a trial at the end of June.  Just Novice Jumping to begin with.  I always like to give them as least an overwhelming initiation as possible.  I've been getting people to stand in the middle of the sequence at training and have someone take the lead etc.  I don't think he'll have too much trouble with Novice Jumping.  He is more or less ready for agility.  I am really happy with his running dog walk and his a-frame is looking nice.  Probably the weakest thing at the moment is weaving and even that is starting to look pretty good.  I am very much looking forward to hitting the ring with him.  It's exciting to go back to trialling where it's not all about whether they are happy/overwhelmed/want to run etc, etc!  I'm expecting to have a lot of fun with him :)

Sixteen Months

Another State Agility Trial is behind us and unfortunately for me it was as big of a disaster as last year for Cassie and me.  Things had been going so well with Cassie leading up to it but on the weekend she did not want to be there in any way, shape or form.  In her defence Saturday was most definitely not pappy running weather (nor person running weather for that matter…) with the day hitting a top of 33 degrees.  The following day, while humid was much better but she still wasn’t interested.  She was so not into it that any time I got her out to see what mood she was in she just turned her back on me.  Hard to be much clearer about her intentions than that!  The only saving grace for the weekend was getting to run Sue’s magnificent Border Collie Dan.  Dan may be nine years old and only coming out for some fun as his love of agility is no less than it has ever been, but he gave me one of the most fun runs I have ever had. Not only going clear but coming second by just over 0.1sec to another super dog who is probably a good six years or so younger than him.

AG CH Gwaefyn Dan - State Agility Trial 2016 (video link)

It was hard to not feel pretty down after the weekend about where Cassie and I are at.  The State Trial was most definitely not a confidence building exercises with Nationals all of four weeks away.  Not much I can do at this point as I’m really running out of time.  So between now and when we leave I will simply strip everything back for her, make it really easy and try and re-inject some fun which we appear to have lost.  My main concern is that I’ve pushed her too quickly and overwhelmed her which is unfortunately very easy to do.  I was trying to build some skills so we’ll have some hope of tackling the Masters courses, but I’m going to have to abandon that and go back to very easy only.  When it comes down to it, I would rather her be happy and stuff every course up than for her to not want to run at all.  She sure doesn’t make it easy for me and no one will ever be able to accuse me of taking her ability for granted!  I truly cherish every good run I have with her.  I'm just so disappointed that I can't be better for her and she so deserves for everyone to see just how amazing she is.

Veto - 16 months

I am very thankful that my youngster is helping to make me feel slightly less hopeless as a dog trainer.  I am enjoying every moment of bringing him along and watching him grow in confidence and skill level.  Thanks to a timely Suprelorin implant his desire to pee on everything has definitely decreased.  While I don’t trust him completely yet and choose his off leash time carefully, I can at least now be confident enough to give it a try.  Last week for the first time ever at the Dogs West grounds I was brave enough to attempt a full sequence with him at training and was extremely surprised that he made what was well and truly masters level seem easy.  His understanding of the verbals/handling at this point is pretty good and if I ever had any doubts about committing to the H360 methodology his response to it has erased any questions I might have had around using it.

Home Agility Arena - 2016

I’m happy with his progress with both the running dog walk and running A-frame.  A bit of work still do be done on tight turns but for novice level what we have now I’m very pleased with and we'll keep working on the rest.  I have started introducing the tyre, spread and broad jump with a bit of beginning level see-saw work.  This month I also added in some compression jumps grids to see how he managed going from big strides back to small and vice-versa.  Overall I was impressed with how he managed them and I’ve not seen anything to doubt that he will be able to handle whatever he comes across.  His turning has improved out of sight.  I think most likely due to the exercise program I have all of them on now.  He used to be such a skinny little weed but the core strengthening has given him a real barrel down his middle and it’s hard not to think that it has played a big part in his improved jumping skills.   I hadn't planned it but at last weekend’s trial the opportunity arose to get him measured and he came in pretty much spot on what I thought he would be at 54cms.  Lots of people had thought he might be a 600 height dog but he is only slightly taller than Sonic who is 53cms.  So into 500 he goes.

The only thing that has defeated me so far with his training is getting Veto to single stride his weavers.  It is just not a happening thing.  But I’m fairly certain the issue is his structure which very much takes after his mother.  Being cattle lines they simply do not have the angulation that you see in the working sheep lines.  So I’m pretty sure that his inability to single stride is in direct relation to his lack of angulation.  Fortunately his bounce stride looks really comfortable and even at this early stage is a decent speed. The other day I set up 12 straight poles just to see how he went.  He managed the straight weaves really well but had to R-E-A-L-L-Y concentrate and I couldn't go in front of him or it all fell apart and he couldn't stay in them!  I'll stop being mean for a while and take it back to 8, proof some more and then work our way back up to 12.  It's another two months before he can trial so no rush with those.  Most importantly we are having an awesome time! 

Fifteen Months

This month has been as much about the return to my own conditioning program as it has been about the dogs.  Its been a while since I've been inspired enough to go running, not helped by my work running buddy thoughtlessly off on maternity leave having a child.  But she is back at work and with Nationals inching ever closer it was time to get off my butt and get active again.  Our favourite running haunt Jacob's Ladder is currently closed "for maintenance".  While I'm sure it does require some work, it's a pretty old and dodgy looking structure.  It is hard not to be suspicious that this will be the excuse that the City of Perth need to close it for good with long standing unhappy multi-million dollar apartment owning resident's nearby.  So our new destination at least for now is Kokoda Track a 150 step 62m vertical rise torture track near the Mounts Bay Road Brewery that works its way up to the top of Kings Park.  It's a 2km run from the office (which is almost twice the distance of Jacob's) and has a wonderful mismatch of stairs and steep inclines to enjoy.  My goal is to be able to run and speak for a whole masters agility course... bit of work to do just yet but I'm getting there.

Veto has reached fifteen months of age and is doing some really cool stuff, but first and foremost this month feels more like it should be a celebration of Cassie.  Last month was pretty sobering with our start to the trialing year being not the greatest.  Thankfully the following weekend I was thrilled to have her happily run in events over two nights at the Western Classic and then to continue the next weekend with a super happy run in Masters Agility on a tough course which she followed up with a brilliant clear run in Masters Jumping on the same night.  Right now I'm just happy with a happy pappy on course so to get a Q is such a bonus.  I still have no idea what the future brings but we are the closest we've ever been to where I hoped we'd be leading up to a Nationals.  Having a happy miss pappy pants has always been my number one goal so now that we seem to be there I'm going to keep working away and try to build some better handling skills in to help get us round the masters courses.  Fortunately it is easier to get a fast small dog around a course than it is getting a fast border collie around and you can definitely get away with more but the masters courses can be so hard that you have to have at least some reasonable skills to get clear rounds.

In a mere month I will be able to get Veto measured and in another three months he will be old enough to trial.  All pretty exciting.  He's progressing really well on his agility path and some things I've been surprised with how well he's getting it.  The A-Frame has been pretty straight forward, I'm assuming thanks to his running dog walk training.  Buy one get one free?  He's happily weaving through 12 poles but I wasn't overly thrilled with his striding.  I am determined to not end up with another bouncer.  Rather than than cross my fingers and hope for the best I have opened them up again.  Obviously I closed them way too quickly so now that he is back to single striding on the open weavers I will very slowly this time, close them again  Plenty of time before he's in the ring so I figure I might as well try and make it the best I can. 

The only thing that I'm finding is a bit perplexing is his still lack of control when it comes to being around other dogs.  He sees another dog and just looses it.  Clearly I haven't spent nearly enough time working on that so I guess I'd better.  Otherwise I'll have a dog with a great skill level that I can't trial with because he wants to share himself with everyone.  There are plenty of games I can play it's just too easy to do other more interesting stuff and just quietly I had hoped he might grow out of it.  More fool me... in saying that, if that is the biggest issue that we have then it's probably not that bad.   

Forteen Months

The weather has been playing havoc with trying to get any decent training done for a lot of the last month.  We had apparently the biggest heatwave ever recorded with like seven days over 40 degrees or something ridiculous.  So doing anything with the dogs other than sit inside in the air conditioning was almost impossible.  But that's a Perth summer for you.  The ChillyBuddy coat (otherwise known as "The Spacesuit") I got for Veto has had a pretty good workout as the only time I could do anything with him was early in the morning before work when it was coolish but even then the sun was still blaring down on us.  It's made a huge difference and we managed to make a good start his 2 x 2 weaver training. It is really starting to feel like he is becoming an agility dog :)

His running dog walk is actually going way better than I expected.  I'm a bit worried about admitting that in case it all falls in a heap which still isn't out of the question.  He rarely misses completely but does sometimes hit higher than I'd like.  What I'm happiest about is watching him adjusting his stride over the dog walk to hit.  That has been my biggest goal and I'm really pleased to see it happening.  I had started to introduce a few handling challenges after the dog walk but I decided not to get too carried away with those until I've gone further with the H360 work.  The time will come when he needs to have challenges after the dog walk but he needs to actually learn the handling first.  So instead I'll work on proofing the running dog walk in other ways but keep the handling challenges easy.  I've abandoned his 2o2o training for now as I'm not really happy with how it was going and I couldn't seem to make it any better. I will come back to it later and have another go.  

Handling work has been interesting.  He could do most things quite well at a steady pace but as soon as you put the tunnels at each end and build speed into it everything changes.  I couldn't for the life of me get him to respond to my threadle arm after doing a tunnel and three jumps in a row to do an off entry tunnel.  He just barreled past me into the straight tunnel entry without even a glance my way.  So I ended up back chaining it from one jump.  Then when I thought I had it and he was coming off really nicely to my arm and verbal I tried to do a straight line again and he almost took my legs out from under me trying to threadle...so it was back to the drawing board!  I think we have it now though thank goodness.  I'm quite fond of my knees and would like to keep them. 

I have my A-Frame all resurfaced and ready to go and a new See-Saw base for the new 900 height.  I probably need to get onto the AF first and at least kick off that new learning curve.  Hopefully it will be less time consuming than the Dog Walk now that he understands the running contacts process but who knows.  Even if I do end up with a 2o2o on the Dog Walk I don't plan on ever having a stop on the AF. 



I'd like to say the Cassie journey is getting easier but that would be untrue.  We've had good training sessions and bad training sessions but overall I think that she is quite comfortable with the rewarding out of the ring game.  The trial scheduled for the end of January got cancelled due to bad weather (it rained ALL day) so our first trials ended up being on the same weekend at the end of February.  The Saturday night was hot.  Cassie was not happy all evening and I ended up scratching her for three out of the four runs she was entered in.  I could not get her to engage for love nor favourite foods.  There is obviously still stress in the trial environment for her as she is rarely like that at training.  In the end I ran her in a Masters Jumping class which was a nice open course without loads of turns and while we had an off course tunnel it was a super run and she was flying.  Sunday night we had the rescheduled trial for January and it all started off really well.  She was high and happy.  She started off slower than normal in agility but got going really nicely.  But then I left her to do the new height see-saw and she flew off the end.  Looking back I should have supported her more but she had shown no issue with it at training at all so I thought she'd be OK.  Flying off gave her a really big fright and she totally shut down.  I got her back with hand touches and she appeared physically unharmed, just rattled.  So when she reconnected with me we ran the last few jumps home to her jackpot and she seemed happy.  But later on when I went to do the Masters Jumping course with her she didn't want a bar of it and left the ring when I tried to release her off the start line.  That is the first time she's done that since I've been doing the rewarding outside the ring.  Two steps forward, three steps back but we shall persevere none the less.  At least until after the Nationals anyway.

Thirteen Months

At this point in time I've decided it really isn't a good idea to watch what other people are doing with their young dogs.  The other day Justine Davenport posted a video to celebrate her young dog Never's first birthday where she proudly showed him doing entire courses (jumps on low height of course) pretty darn well.  Veto is up to three jumps in a row...clearly we have some work to do!  lol  Around the house he is definitely growing up.  He still has moments when he is the biggest pest ever and his lack of self control drives my other boys nuts.  But he's getting better and can now at least spend time around the house with the other dogs and manage to settle.  I thought he had grown out of his shoe stealing fetish but apparently not so the pet gate remains across the door of our walk in robe.  The fetish appeared to transfer itself to the bath mat briefly but the novelty of dragging that around the house thankfully had a short lifespan.  Fortunately for the most part he steals stuff but then brings it to you so I have still had just the one sock casualty and our shoes/thongs have surprisingly survived thus far.

Ve has just gone thirteen months.  We've been happily forging ahead with the running dog walk and I think it's going OK.  I videoed a session the other other day and was a bit unhappy that I was rewarding a few that were higher than they should have been so I've put tape three quarters of the way down the contact zone so I can use it as a guide.  While I like to think that I'm getting better at being able to pick the good hits from the bad the tape makes such a difference to being able to clearly see that he has hit on or below it.  I've also started putting fluro bands on his back legs so I can see where they are.  The dog walk is now probably one height away from full height.  If he goes high and isn't rewarded he normally gives me a better one on the next try.  I guess the main thing I'm looking for is his understanding of what I want and his ability to adjust his stride over the walk to make sure he hits.  His 2o2o work is progressing in the right direction.  Still taking it slow and it's paying off as he is definitely getting more drive into position.  I'm trying to keep it really fun and using the toy more and more as his drive is way better for a toy than food.

I'm still jumping him on 300 or 400 for the most part.  I find myself feeling paranoid about doing too much jumping with the inevitable amount of drills you do as they learn the handling.  He is such a powerful boy, he really takes my breath away.  On the very first session I did with him with jumps at 500, on his second run through he bounce jumped 4.5 meters (15') without even batting an eyelid.  I can't say I'm thrilled with his turns just yet and he is not what I would call a natural turner.  Not surprising as structurally his back end is by far his weakest area.  Even when I make sure I give him plenty of notice I don't think he turns well.  So we are taking some time to work on his understanding of how to use his body when he turns.  Hopefully that will help and of course better to do it now than let the problem grow and try and fix it later when he has a history of doing it badly behind him.

While I am doing a lot of agility training with him I'm trying to keep it balanced and interesting.  We've been trying to get out to new locations regularly as well as weekly swims and free runs when we can.  It's not the same as winter when they get to free run every night on the property but it's better than nothing.  We had some nice cool weather but since then its been hot again. Veto will work quite happily when its warm and overcast but he does not like working when the sun is on him even when it's early morning.  Which is fair enough, I hate wearing black t-shirts in the sun.  I managed to find an Australian supplier of the Chillybuddy Cool Coats so I bought one of those for him.  Unlike the standard cool coat they are much more fitted with a cut that leaves the shoulders free which means he can wear it while he's working.  Hopefully it will help to make him more comfortable once he gets used to wearing it.  Any thoughts of more sheep work have gone on hold as I don't think we've had a Saturday under 30 degrees since Christmas.

Training with Cassie is going slowly but surely.  She seems happy which is the main thing.  Her sessions are always short and sweet.  I'm still focusing on skill building and team work.  We have our first trial of the year this weekend and she'll be back in Masters so will be interesting to see how she goes.  A lot will depend on the course design.  I would imagine we'll struggle at this point with anything too technical but we'll keep it fun and no pressure.  I really just want to see her happy out there.  I'm probably feeling the most confident I have been with her for quite some time.

Birthday Boy

Veto is now officially a big boy having his first birthday on the 23rd!  I am so happy with him and I feel pretty lucky that it has all worked out so well so far.  It was always going to be a bit risky going for lines that have limited health testing and an interesting combination of structure with the working cattle lines and ISDS working sheep lines.  Looking at him as a 12 month old he is shaping up better than I hoped as an overall type with really nice structure.  He has a massive stride, is extremely powerful and has a really nice temperament.  The only thing I could have done with less of is his barking.  When he wants something (which is often) he barks till he gets it (not that often which means the barking goes on and on and on).  He has the girliest bark ever and it drives us nuts.

12 months

8 weeks

 Training is continuing on nicely.  He's starting to show me a great understanding of his verbals and I was super surprised when I could put out toys as a distraction, give a verbal turn cue and have him  respond to the verbal instead of ignoring me and going for the toy!  For a while there I really didn't think that would ever happen... I don't think I could be happier with his progress on the handling side of things.  Over the next few weeks I have some pretty challenging handling work lined up over a couple of jumps so I'm looking forward to seeing how that goes.  I've decided not to put the jumps up to full height quickly, rather I'll just leave them around 300/400 for a while and then slowly raise them up over the next couple of months.  He is jumping nicely over that height and is rare for him to knock anything which is a good sign.

I have started teaching him a proper 2o2o, as in building a solid foundation complete with proofing etc so I have it as a behaviour I can use as soon as he's ready to start trialling.  I don't want him to just have a running contact and then if it falls to pieces in the ring (which I suspect may happen) then have to rush to teach a stop.  I like the idea of having both anyway and no matter what he ends up doing in the ring I think that teaching him to run to begin with was the right thing to do just because of his personality.  At this stage I don't plan on starting weaves with him until February or March.

Ve got to see sheep for the first time a couple of weekends ago at Simon Leaning's property in Mt Helena.  He was a bit unsure to begin with but settled into it pretty well for his first go.  I will definitely take him out again a few times over summer.  He needs something apart from agility to give him that overall physical and mental work out.  Not to mention it is so much fun watching them do what they were bred for.

The gang - Christmas 2015

I'm so excited with the way that Cassie and I finished our trialling year.  I entered her in two more NFC runs and she probably did the best jumping run so far.  It was flawless and less than a second slower than the very speedy border collie that won the class.  In agility she started off a bit hesitant but flew once she hit her stride.  I'm feeling pretty positive about our trialling year in 2016 and just hope I can continue to keep her happy.  The plan is to enter her in some Masters classes in the New Year and see what happens.  I will be continuing to train her over summer as she has had a very light year and build our handling skills so she is ready for some harder handling challenges.  How awesome will it be to have two dogs competing by mid 2016!  First time for a long time that has happened.