Warts and all…
It’s not how far you fall, but how high you bounce that counts.” - Zig Ziglar
With most of our friends returning from their Nationals agility competition in NSW, we were back at it this weekend in WA!
Sunday was packed with lots of agility fun, but not results for either Jules or I. Between us we had 10 runs and 0 clears with our girls Dibley and Queenie. Despite a less than successful day of competition as far as ‘results’ go, we had a good day connecting with our girls and walked away happy with most of our efforts.
I have decided to share mine and Dibley’s last run of the day, in an effort to balance out our FB posts, in effect keeping it real!
We have a tendency to post all the best bits, I guess social media is driven by this but I’m conscious that this isn’t a true reflection of our agility journey, certainly in competition.
There are many ‘runs’ where things don’t go as planned, we make mistakes, are distracted and just don’t seem to get things together, just no one gets to see them (apart from our agility friends).
So here it is ‘warts and all’ - I had to wake Dibley up from the car to do this run she was pretty tired, struggled to focus on the start line, slipped before the weavers, slowed down in her weaves, broke her dog walk contact (and I didn’t reset her!), I called tunnel for the tyre, and heart breaking Dibs dropped the last bar…….
For our Dogs United clients and friends, moral of this story, sometimes despite all the investment in time, effort and training it’s not your day, things go wrong - you are not alone we all have those days, keep investing that time and effort the rewards are there for those that keep showing up.
Shared with love, Rach & Dibley Doodah
PUPPY SCHOOLS!
Come join all the puppy fun at Dogs United!
Next classes start on 30th July!
At Dogs United Training Academy we strive to provide a wonderful start to your life with your new puppy!
This is an important time in your puppy's life, a time where their first experiences help set them up for success later in life.
As a veterinarian I see a lot of puppies and the biggest mistake people make is to think that their puppy won't benefit from classes because they live with another dog or they wait until after the last vaccination to book. EVERY puppy will benefit from a well run early class regardless of vaccination status or lifestyle, this is a SUPER important time in a puppy's development and you only get that opportunity once in their lifetime.
Each of our puppy courses are designed to expose them to a great learning environment. We offer both preschool and high school courses that cater to puppies of different ages.
If you have a puppy and want to get off to a great start contact us today and we can guide you to the best course option.
DATES & LOCATIONS of Julys classes:
#1 Preschool Tuesday 30th July 6pm - Location central Armadale High. NOW FULL! Next class starts 27th August - CLASS NOW FULL
#2 High School Tuesday 30th July 7.15pm - Location central Armadale - CLASS NOW FULL
Next courses start on 27th August!
Contact us via FB messenger or email [email protected] for more information or to book.
Dibley Doodah
Dibs and I had a great weekend playing agility this weekend! The sun was shining and Dibs was on fire in this game called Helter Skelter, her weaves are really improving now and this lovely course was Judged by Jules so that was extra special 🙌🙌🙌 Thank you to Kelby Faulds for filming!
When you call a team meeting and some of the members refuse to contribute 🤣🤣🤣
League Levels Graduation
League levels GRADUATION last week! 🙌
Congratulations to all our teams who took part in the courses! We are proud of you all for doing more with your dogs and building that all important connection!
New classes start 10th July. Contact us for more information 🐶
Queenie Excellent Jumping Title ❤️
Another great weekend trial for team Queenie!
The last clear for her Jumping excellent TITLE and first place 🙌🙌🙌
Off to masters they go! On a roll now! ❤️❤️❤️
Dibley Doodah States 2024
‘Success is not final. Failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts’ Winston Churchill
Dibley and I had a blast at the state agility championships 2024. She gave her all and we played the game as a connected in sync team - that feeling is unbeatable!
Our third month in masters jumping we had yet to crack a clear round, at the states she ran four masters courses and cleared three! WOW she loved the courses open and flowing lines suit her so much, thank you to the judges! She not only cleared those rounds she placed in second and third in the Saturday qualifying rounds earning us a spot in the finals which we cleared to come third!
She also earned a first place in excellent agility and a spot in the finals where I unfortunately let her down in the final run home - sorry Dibs 🤦♀️
We walked away from the states 2024 exhaustingly happy with our efforts, running clean connected runs and being competitive in our class especially now we’re playing with the big kids, that feels pretty good!
So proud of you Dibley Doodah looking forward to all that 2024 has to offer us! Love you baby girl ❤️
A massive shout out to Linda Haggie Snaps Photography for always capturing our girls and our connection with them so beautifully ❤️
State Final Novice Agility for the win Queenie & Jules 🙌🙌🙌
Queenie State Novice Agility Champion 400
'Although she be but little, she is fierce’
What an amazing time Jules and Queenie had at the State Agility Championships on the weekend!
Saturday afternoon saw them win their novice agility run earning them both a place in the finals and their title, which means they have graduated to excellent agility!
Late Sunday night between the showers they both stepped out for their final run with determination and heart to run a clear round and win! Queenie is now State Novice Agility 400 champion!
We are all so proud of their achievement! Driving that Ferrari has come with blood sweat and tears at times, but one thing that shone on Sunday night was their connection.
Thank you to Linda from Haggie Snaps Photography for these wonderful images ❤️
Dibley Doodah agility 15 May thank you to our friend Linda from Haggie Snaps Photography for this gorgeous compilation ❤️
After a long few days in clinic what better way to relax and have fun than to go to sniffer school with our golden oldie Eva ❤️ She embodies EVERYTHING I love about dogs, she lives in the moment and gives her all to the game, age and ailments aside, nothings stops this girl from having fun and she proves you are never to old to learn a new skill! I could not love this girl anymore than I do, she means the world to us.
Note that Eva is now completely deaf and so we work with her differently than our other dogs, this does NOT slow her down or stop her enjoyment of the game, the onus is on us to be creative about they way we teach.
Thank you to our wonderful friends at The Doggy Lady for providing such wonderful training opportunities and supporting us along the journey with our one in a million girl Eva ❤️
Stop Bird chasing
So we headed to our local park this week for our morning walk and were confronted with a huge flock of birds. In time gone buy this would mean Dibley would definitely need to stay on lead.
I decided to trust her and our training to date and see how things went, previously disaster ensued.
This day was a big win, whilst she was very interested in the birds and I had to manage her around them you can see in this video that we have worked hard on her ‘look at the birds’ then look back at me for reward - this is now a reflex for her and means that she gets to continue to enjoy some off lead time.
We are thrilled at the choices she makes here.
Are we done? Is this behaviour ’fixed’?
Absolutely not, if left without reinforcement it would return so EVERY time we walk I have rewards with me so every good choice she makes can be reinforced. This video is 3.5yrs in the making ❤️ good girl Dibs!
‘training is a journey not a destination’
Eva Scent Work Training
With all this hot weather, what do we do with our dogs, well scent work of course! 🙌
This is Eva from last nights training session, a fairly new game for Eva who is 13yrs old and stone cold deaf! What a superstar!
The thing I LOVE about this video the most is the utter joy she brings to the game. This was a blind search (Jules didn’t know where they were), two hides, aircon on which increases the difficulty for Eva and she smashed it!
Being deaf means we have to cue, mark and reward differently to our hearing dogs but it doesn’t stop her one bit! Love this girl! ❤️
#scentworkwa #dogsunited #dogmorewithyourdog #IMDTaustralia
Double Tricks, clever girls 🙌
What’s your dog’s favourite trick? #trickswithapurpose #dogsunited
Queenie & Jules
What a great start to the agility season on Saturday for this amazing team Queenie & Jules 🙌 1st place JDX #speedypants
Thank you to Cara Thomson for videoing ❤️