Monster Meadows Agility Arena

09/06/2024

These three alligators are here to tell you that the Monster Mash is open for entries!

https://form.jotform.com/242488186631161

08/29/2024

Here we go! Our first event of the year and we are ready to roll. I'm excited to welcome everybody back to the Monster Mash, our unsanctioned ISC style cup. Come join us for a fun day of playing with dogs, challenging ourselves and winning loot. Entries will open next week, September 6th via an online form (link will be posted at that time).

Things I forgot to mention:
-ISC scoring
-Enter any jump height your dog needs

07/24/2024

Fall is coming up soon and we're celebrating with some agility events!

The Monster Mash, our unsanctioned FCI style cup, returns Sunday October 6th. We've secured a course designer from Spain so either bring your running shoes or your amazing verbals (or both). Then we're hosting a pretty sweet seminar series October 18-20 that should have something for everybody - from puppies to international course work. More details on both to follow shortly.

If you want to be kept in the loop about this seminar and others we host in the future, sign up for our seminar email list here:
http://eepurl.com/iUnwUM

05/22/2024

AKC's agility league has started and the ISC jumpers course is built (the contacts are set up on the side for practice). We are open for ring rentals and lessons Friday-Sunday if anybody wants to come out and play.

05/09/2024

Private Lesson Availability!

For the first time this year, I'm opening a few hours up for private lessons at Monster Meadows.

Tuesday May 14th from 7-10am and 5:30-7:30pm (the evening may get rained out). We can do half hour for one dog or full hour for multiple dogs. Shoot me a message with what time you'd like to come out and if you have any specific skills you want to work on.

09/26/2023

We're back! Sort of.

Due to life happenings, there will not be any seminars or events hosted by me until 2024. That means the Monster Mash is cancelled, but should return next year. Other instructors have rented the arena for their own workshops, but all questions and registrations will go through them (more info on that shortly). I'm only booking private lessons for previous students - no group classes or new students at this time. I still teach weekly at Level Up and am happy to see new faces there. Of course ring rentals are back on now that the weather has cooled off and I can better maintain the surface.

Speaking of the surface, over the summer I let the grass grow in the arena to see if it would help with moisture retention and prevent me from having to water it as frequently. It worked! I'll keep evaluating things as the temperature drops and if in the end it would be better with just sand, then I'll drag it all up again.

Finally, the Bar Hoppers are using Monster Meadows as their AKC league facility, which means every 2 weeks a new ISC style course is built. The first map for this session is posted below.

Enjoy!

04/13/2023

Absolutely loved hosting Tammy Moody the past few days. Tomorrow she heads to North Carolina for more teaching, but don't worry, she'll be back soon! Thank you to everybody who came out, the weather was unseasonably warm but every dog rose to the challenge. I hope each team walked away with feelings of success and a list of skills to practice (I know I did - lateral backsides anybody?).

04/11/2023

It's a beautiful day for a seminar and it's not too late to join us!

04/05/2023

We still have room in all four workshops next week with Tammy Moody. As usual for all seminars held at my place, I'll be photographing the event for free. If you're worried about the weather, the pool will be up and running and there is plenty of shade under the cypress trees for crating.

Young Dog Handling - jumps and tunnels only; appropriate for dogs that are sequencing but may not be ready to compete yet

Skills Drills - stacked challenges, there are no free obstacles so your cues have to be clear and timely; appropriate for teams that are competing and want to work on handling puzzles

Obstacle Commitment - building distance and teaching our dogs how to move out on their line

Startlines and Stopped Contacts - creating a reliable startline routine that sparks joy from both sides of the team, and teaching fast, dependable 2o2o (or 4 on) contacts. No matter where you are at in the training process of either behavior - if your dog has no stay at all or you have a dog that stops at the top of the aframe and looks back at you, this seminar is about troubleshooting whatever specific problem you're facing.

Working spots are $130 and there are 6 per session so lots of working time per dog; unlimited auditing is available at $20/session.

You can register online here:
https://www.monstermeadows.com/scheduler

04/02/2023

Our first annual Chicken Cup is complete!

I want to thank everyone who came out and pitched in to make the day a success, this really takes a community effort to pull off. Special thanks to Sascha Grunder for the fabulous courses and Elise Carpenter for letting us use Close Enough Farms when the wind and rain threatened to ruin our day. In total we raised over $300 for our local Junior AWC members!

Whether you were able to come to this event or not, I hope you join us for the Monster Mash this fall.

04/01/2023

It's Chicken Cup Day! See everybody in a few hours!

03/31/2023

Important Chicken Cup Information!

Storms are in the forecast tomorrow so Close Enough Farm has generously allowed us to relocate to their indoor dirt arena. I'll be sending out an email with all of the details later today.

Also, if you were on the fence about entering, now is the time to decide! I'm printing running orders and score sheets tonight. If you want a shot at these cool prizes while fundraising for our JOAWC team, sign up by 8pm.

https://www.monstermeadows.com/chickencup

03/26/2023

Tanya Lee will be coming to the farm on Sunday April 9th and still has a few powder and mirror sessions available. She will be sending out the scheduler to anyone on her contact list on March 27th to book anyone else that still wants a session. When you fill out the form, use Mineral, VA as the location.
www.tanyaleephoto.com/contact

03/18/2023

It's happening! Saturday April 1st, get ready for the Chicken Cup - an Unsanctioned ISC-style Cup and JOAWC fundraiser. More information can be found here: https://www.monstermeadows.com/chickencup

Registration opens online tomorrow evening at 8pm

03/06/2023

Finished course building by the light of the full moon. My question for Eager this week - can you layer it?

02/25/2023

I'm so excited to judge two UKI trials coming up:

Tomorrow at Walnut Hill Farm in Reva we have three rounds of Speedstakes with Masters Series. You can still show up in the morning and enter. Just note that we are starting one hour later than the time on the premium, so entries will be taken at 8am and we start at 9am. This is a great opportunity to get young dogs some competition experience without the stress of an all day affair.

And March 11-12th at Level Up Dog Sports in Richmond for a full weekend of agility. You can still enter this one online here: https://entries.ukagilityinternational.com

02/17/2023

Our first outside seminar presenter of 2023! On April 11-12th, Tammy Moody is coming here from the West Coast. She was my agility instructor when I lived in Oregon, and the trainer that I am today is largely her influence.

Tammy has been training dogs for more than 30 years, getting her start in competitive obedience. She has been doing agility for 24+ years and teaching it for almost 20.

Tammy believes agility should be fun and challenging for all members of the team without being overwhelming or frustrating. She likes to break things down into manageable pieces for both dog and handler while building teams up and empowering all members to be confident with their skills. Tammy’s experience allows her to read both handler and dog and she uses this ability to push teams just enough to encourage them to leave their comfort zones without overfacing them. Tammy wants teams to enjoy the process! If either the dog or the handler are not enjoying the game, Tammy’s first priority is to help teams find the joy that agility training should be. Dogs and humans both are trained using positive, reward-based methods in all of her classes.

Tammy’s personal handling style doesn’t always match that of her students, she is skilled in finding the best path forward for each team and not forcing any one style of training or handling. She has been known to refer out to other instructors/coaches when she thinks a team will benefit from outside training. While Tammy places equal emphasis on training and handling, she makes sure her and her student’s dogs are trained to the level that will be expected on course. She feels the more a dog understands what is being asked, the easier handling becomes. She uses trained skills, verbals, and physical cues to navigate sequences.

Tammy also brings to the table a background as a Veterinary Technician and a Small Animal Massage Practitioner allowing her to see when problems on course may be due to physical limitations and not necessarily training issues.

When not teaching others or training her own dogs, Tammy can be found enjoying the outdoors with her dogs in beautiful Central Oregon. Besides hiking and paddling, Tammy can be found baking treats for others, gardening, reading, recording podcasts with her pal Penny, photographing her adventures, and spending time with family and friends.

She is teaching four workshops outdoors on sand at Monster Meadows in Mineral VA. As usual, I will be photographing the event.

Young Dog Handling - jumps and tunnels only; appropriate for dogs that are sequencing but may not be ready to compete yet
Skills Drills - stacked challenges, there are no free obstacles so your cues have to be clear and timely; appropriate for teams that are competing and want to work on handling puzzles
Obstacle Commitment - building distance and teaching our dogs how to move out on their line
Startlines and Stopped Contacts - creating a reliable startline routine that sparks joy from both sides of the team, and teaching fast, dependable 2o2o (or 4 on) contacts

Working spots are $130 and there are 6 per session; unlimited auditing is available at $20/session.

Registration opens online next Wednesday February 22nd at 8am at
https://www.monstermeadows.com/scheduler

02/07/2023

Looks like we have some slightly warmer (if a little wet) weather coming up. This course will be set up for ring rentals for the next 2 weeks - bring running shoes!

You can schedule training time here: https://www.monstermeadows.com/scheduler

02/01/2023

No drop-in class today at Monster Meadows. Stay safe out there!

01/28/2023

Today Level Up Dog Sports hosted a Laurren Zimmerman seminar at Monster Meadows. All of the dogs had fun, the humans got to run and we even got some sunshine in there. I'll get all of the photos sent out early next week. Thank you everybody for coming out and freezing with us!

01/25/2023

No classes at Monster Meadows today due to weather. See you all next week!

(Workshops at Level Up are still on)

01/21/2023

Casey Keller will be out here tomorrow to teach and a last minute spot in the afternoon opened up. I'll be taking pictures of everybody so bring me those puppies!

Surprise! I am going to be at Monster Meadows Agility Arena next Saturday, January 21st for some workshops! There will be a Fancy Skills & Drills session in the morning, and a Sport Puppy session in the afternoon. Let me know what questions you have or if you want to sign up. You can send a message or email [email protected]!

Fancy Skills & Drills: 10am-1:30pm, limited to 6 teams—$120 per spot—FULL

Sport Puppy: 2-4:30pm, limited to 6 teams—$85 per spot

01/03/2023

Here's a confession: I love dog training. That probably seems obvious, but what I mean is that more than agility I just love training my dogs. I love thinking games and tricks and conditioning and just sitting on the floor with a handful of kibble and seeing what clever ideas my dogs can come up with.

That said, I'm so excited to be teaching these workshops at Level Up this month. I can explain how they help on the agility course - improved distance skills, better physical flexibility, more handler focus, etc. But at the end of the day it's simply fun! And isn't that why we do all of this to begin with? So come join me in Richmond on Wednesday nights this month for some no pressure fun with your dog.

01/02/2023

In the arena this week is a Master Series course designed by Courtney Moore from a local UKI trial a few weeks ago