Worked hard today at the Teri O’Neil seminar hosted by Pawsitive Connection. These things always inspire me, can’t wait to share that with all of you. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I owe a lot of people some messages. I was hoping to do some emailing etc tonight but the hotel wifi is a bit iffy and I am beat:-)
We spent the last weekend at the UKI Canadian Open (being held in Saint John NB) hosted by FlatOut Dogs What a well run event! Great courses, amazing vendors, and beautiful facility. We were not ready to dive deep into competition but dipped our toe in the Speedstakes and Biathlon events. These are a few of my favorite bits. The Event moves to BC for the next two years but we plan to attend in 2026 when it returns to NB.
Trial season is upon us. I took the boys to PEI for a three day trial at the For The Love of Dogs, Friday was UKI and Saturday/Sunday was AAC. Elmo was ran really well, but bad for a nine year old. He was the only dog to get the master Gamble on Saturday which involved a teeter behind a decoy straight tunnel, so proud of him. Mokey and I are forever working out our kinks… but we had some mostly good runs including getting his last starters jumpers Q…on to advanced. He is so much fun to run. This is a video of some of my favorite bits.
I took the boys to the Teri O’Neil seminar this past weekend hosted by Pawsitive Connection. I love how Teri is great with all sorts of breeds. She has experience working with both small and tall and is great at helping you find the handling that works best for your dog. I think it is important to never stop learning and trying new things. I got tones of training ideas for both my students and myself. I worked mostly with Mokey (we need the most help) but Elmo got a couple turns… he may be nine but he is still rocking it.
The last of the snow has melted off my agility field this week…. Still needs a ton of clean up work to be ready for classes but progress is being made. I love this time of year when every day things become more and more colorful!
Crazy how fast the ice is building up today…. So glade we made the decision to cancel classes today. Stay safe everyone!
Looking forward to this Sunday’s classes but especially the contact Foundations classes. I really enjoy messing with the dog’s brains with proofing. Most of my students know I went back to basics with Mokey’s teeter foundations at the same time (my winter project, along with his start line) I thought I would share our progress… now we have to up the excitement level and see if it holds. I hope the weather lets us get this last session in before the Christmas break. Info on the next set will drop tomorrow…
Had so much fun at the For The Love Of Dog trial on PEI this past weekend. My dogs love the turf there and the courses fit nicely in my agility field so lots of fun courses saved for my students to try next year. Elmo had a great weekend, Mokey had some brilliant moments but it is hard for us to keep it together for a whole run. This is Elmo’s master jumpers Q video.
Of course this super cold swing in temperature would happen the first night of Barn classes this year. I don’t think we are physically ready for these temps just yet so have decided to push the start ahead to next week…. That and it keeps snowing here on the mountain and I hate messy roads. I thought it was suppose to be sunny today. Elmo thinks I am nuts, he loves the cold.
Lessons this week, before the rain hit, were inspired by Sunday’s jumpers course from the weekend’s CAANS trail…. I added a few of my own twists. So proud of this team, Kirstie and Memphis rocked it.
Had so much fun working with some fun, amazing people and dogs this week. Here are just a few bits… Nice to see things starting to come together for them.
As trial season approaches we have started to add more course work to our training. I can’t wait till the yard dries up more so I can enter the UKI at home trials again.
I recently herd it explained that handling is like speaking “dog” and skills are where we teach the dogs to speak “human.” Today we worked on our listening skills (threadle and turn cues) and our running a frame skills. Both boys rocked it. I may have over worked my soar back though.... going to take it easy tomorrow so we will be good for class on Sunday. Someone needs to explain to Mokey that momma should not tug with him....
Today was the last class of our fall session. At the beginning of the session I challenged my intermediate and advanced students to work on their distance skills, with a jump send competition on the last day. Four amazing teams were able to send their dogs to a lone jump over 24 feet away. We ran out of room! Looking forward to the tie breaker next spring in my agility field:-) I forgot to get photos so I dug through my phone for some great clips from earlier in the session. Great job everyone! Hope to see you all back in the Winter session starting January 31st.
Miss my agility field.... such a beautiful day, I figured my snowy driveway would have to do. A little turn work followed by some loose leash practice. Mokey is my puller so we need to work a lot on this:-)
So much fun at the For Love of Dog trial this weekend in Beautiful PEI. Got to love the Atlantic bubble! The wonderful judge Hayley Warner’s courses, run on that wonderful turf, did not disappoint; so worth the 4 hour road trip. Both boys had a blast this weekend but I think Elmo had the most fun. These are some of our best bits. I was very happy with our flow, and his contacts.... someday we will get on the same “weave” page.
Thank you Christine for stopping by the valley yesterday and challenging us and our dogs. We all had a great time, even Mother Nature played nice.
Spending time with the boys always helps me feel better about the world. Had some fun while on a break from raking the front lawn.
Had some fun this afternoon, after last nights snow melted. Thankful for spring’s daytime temps.
I can remember when a couple of these dogs had to have their handlers close by to enter a tunnel. Last night they were driving to the blind (unable to see the entrance) tunnel mouth from almost 20 feet away on a send. Confidence and skills takes time but so worth it. Can’t wait to see them in the ring someday.
