A Year to Remember

2010 is surely a year to remember. Knight came to me in January and that was just the start of the adventure. Lilly earned her OA, AX, AXJ, NF, CL2-R, CL2-F, and her CL2-H this year, along with 3 Qs towards her MX and MXJ, 2 Qs to her OF, and 2 Qs towards her RN. We learned to perform smoother rear crossess, running contacts, a confident teeter, and speedier weaves. All the while creating a stronger bong and just having the time of our lives.

Knight waltzed around the show ring with me, and also got a Q towards his RN. He's taught me so much more when it comes to shaping and being aware of how I'm holding my body. He keeps me laughing and never missed an opprotunity for a good long game of fetch. All in all, he's helped me take life a little less seriously, showed me how to laugh at the little things, and makes even my darkest day a little lighter.

I made some really amazing Dog Nerd friends this year too. I'd have gone crazy by now if it wasn't for them.. Words can't express how thankful I am for them. Thanks Abby, Diana, and Jesse for being the dog nerds you are :)

So, here's to 2010, a year to remember.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

 Today I caved and gave the paps another one of their Christmas gifts, the racoon tail chaser. Both LOVE it. Lilly was even tugging for it outside when we went to do some run throughs on the dog walk.

The 365 Photo Challange

My friend Diana and I were chatting today and she told me about the 365 photo challenge for 2011. I think I'm going to give it a shot! I've always wanted to actually keep up daily blogging, and take more pictures of the paps, this seems like a fun, challenging way to do it.

The goal for me, is to post at least one picture each day of the paps together. I can tell you right now there are at least 4 days I won't be able to do that... so I'll include a picture of at least one dog I'm staying with at the time. I don't have nearly enough pictures of the paps, let alone ones of them together. So this is going to be fun :D

The Tracking Dog

Yesterday I finally picked, "Tracking Dog Theory and Methods" by Glen R. Johnson. I got this book for christmas last year, planning to read it and start tracking with Lilly once she retired from agility.

Once I started reading the book I thought, Why not start now? Lil's a total chowhound and she could use a job. A challenging job with absolutely no stress. If she really takes to it, then maybe we'll trial, but for now it will be a fun way for her to work for her food :)

Next week Jesse and her GSD pups, Riot and Echo, so we're going to do a bit of tracking together. I've done a bit of work with Lil and she loves it so far. If she continues to love it maybe Knight can give it a shot too. I'd like to have a general idea of what I'm doing before starting another dog in it haha.

Christmas Came Early

My Clean Run order came in today, I got:

-Racoon Tail Chaser

-Fleece and Rabbit Fur Tug

-3/4" Jump cups

-Target Stick

The jump cups come in packs of 10, so I'm going to make a few jumps later this week and add another height to the 8" adjustable jump I already have.

I was planning to save both toys for the paps for Christmas, but since Knight's favorite tennis ball is now bald I couldn't help trying out the new tug.

Stuff from Clean Run :D

Lilly, Ignoring Knight

What's left of Knight's Favorite Tennis Ball

Weave Poles At The Park

We went over to the park today to practice weavepoles in a different setting. Lil was only slow the first few reps, but very quickly picked up speed to her usually "bouncing" pattern. This is the fist time she's ever done weaves that fast at the park. Last time we where there to practice agility was back in.... June. Today there were minimal distractions, just non-home enviorment. Hopefully the lack of snow will hold up so we can get over there a few more times before we jump back into trialing.

I'm loving how Knight's weaves are coming along. His weaves are looking really great in the basement and not too shabby at all outside. I did make the mistake of only rewarding coming towards the van in the beginning, so I was getting killer weaves coming in, but the ones going towards the tunnel were getting a bit slower each time. Once I started rewarding towards the tunnel his speed picked up again. I occasionally forget that Knight needs a higher reinforcement rate than Lilly, pitiful I know, but it's something I'm working on and Knight is a great teacher.

Some Clips from the Park

2011, Here We Come

Training Goals for 2011

Lilly: I'd like to see Lilly's focus and speed at trails continue to grow. Big focus on the weaves. I'd like to see her doing a comfortable steady pattern through the weaves instead of a steady walk. To help her focus and comfort at trials I'm going to try to go to a few more Rally-O trials this year. Hopefully building focus in a less stimulating enviornment will build focus in the agility ring. Most importantly I want her to continue to have fun goofing off with me in, and out of the ring.

Knight: Since this is our first year out in the agility ring I don't have to many goals regarding that until I see how our debut goes. We'll see what we need to work on from there. I'd love to have a secondary focus in obedience, while some call it boring... I find it beautiful. Having snappy teamwork in a low drive sport. We'll give novice a shot and see how things go from there.

Title goals for 2011
Lilly

-MX
-MXJ
-6 QQs
-RN

Knight
-NA
-NAJ
-RN
-CD