"If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success."

Dolphin was really really good in agility class this morning. I can't figure this guy out. He was a total slug in class last week, this week he was awesome! I am not sure what is different, other than the week.

I have set a few goals to work on with him this summer. I want to improve his weave entries so he can nail it from any angle. My biggest goal is to make tunnels fun again for him. He hates tunnels. I can't blame him, he is almost 27" tall and the tunnels are only 24" in diameter...that's 3+ inches he has to scrunch down while running through them. When he goes through the tunnels I can hear his back scraping against the ribs at the top. So my plan this summer is to do some fun, simple sequences with a tunnel and his toy and get him revved up and excited to run through them to get the toy.

This evening's training session was a complete success. He LOVES going to the agility training yard at my house, and he gets over the top excited over a couple special toys that he only gets when he trains there. I think this plan will help us overall in our agility, and I am considering doing the same thing with Noodle (who also hates tunnels).

Pizza got to do a little field training today...in the blistering heat. While I don't like to overwork them in the heat, I do think it's important for all of my dogs to do a little bit of work in the hot and humid temperatures, to build up stamina and tolerance. Today was Pizza's turn.

This girl was awesome! She hasn't done any field work in weeks, and nothing serious in months, yet she came out of the box swinging. The heat and humidity and lack of air movement made it really difficult to pinpoint the scent, and she had to work hard to really lock on to the bird. This was a great training exercise for her as I stood back and let her work through it. She was rock solid on two birds, and had two impressive, dramatic honors (pure Pizza style!).

This is one of the things I love about Pizza - she can be so amazingly solid in her training even after a good amount of time off. We didn't do any retrieving (which is why I am feeling so positive!) because the heat makes getting a good retrieve pretty difficult and I don't want to make any more bad retriving habits the norm. I am still searching for some training techniques to improve her retrieve without force, but am coming up a bit short so far. I'll keep looking, there has to be a way.

My friend and I did some field training this morning. It was a decent morning, warm, but not hot. We had a nice rhythm of training between all of us. Dolphin had two stellar points and was solid. He had one crappy honor, one fairly nice honor, and one spectacular honor that was master-worthy.

I have learned a lot over the years with all of the dog sports I train for, and one of my biggest lessons is to always train up. This means, I don't train for the level I am at, but I train for the highest level I want to end up at (and you know me, that means the top).

I really feel that if Dolphin keeps progressing like he has been, we should be able to transition smoothly to Master after finishing our Senior Hunter. That is how I worked it with the girls, and it is a lesson I unfortunately learned the hard way while training Pretzel - it's hard to untrain bad habits that you let your dog get away with just for the quick success. Oh well, we live and learn, right?

Oh, I should mention that I have been doing my 10-minute training sessions with Dolphin in the agility yard, kind of once a day to once every other day. His enthusiasm has been over the top!!! He will run to the gate of the agility yard and dance around waiting for me to open in...all that excitement over a dumb rope ball toy. I'll never understand it but I like it!

I got a chance to do a little field training (by myself) before a meeting this evening. What made it extra special is that mark was able to come watch. I hate to say I was pretty darn proud of how beautiful and steady Dolphin was on every bird (I think we worked 3 pigeons?). Man, we have come a long way since last year! Last year at this time I decided to take the summer off with him because he just wasn't able to handle being steady. In hindsight, giving him the summer to mature was the best decision I could have made. Of course, he came back in the fall still without steadiness, but he was ready to start learning and working on self-control.

Tonight I took a bunch of photos. I can do that now that he's so steady. Dolphin is one classy-loking pointer, for sure!

Brace yourself - here comes an up and down post!

This morning started off good. We worked a lot on tunnel sends in agility class, and Noodle showed me yet again how much she hates tunnels. I think she needs to start tunnel boot camp like I am doing with Dolphin, to make it fun for her. Pizza, however was AMAZING in class! She had some big speed and huge distance, man it was FUN!

Dolphin and I went field training today, it was our third day in a row so maybe this was a little much? He was super steady on the pigeons, but the first quail that we shot, he did break on the shot. I called him back after he went about 5 feet from me, he came back and I was able to send him for the retrieve. He went out strong for the retrieve, came back at a run towards me, but then stopped about 5 feet from me an put the bird down. I eventually got him to come to me but it wasn't clean. The second bird was the same scenario - he broke, I managed to get him back after only a few feet, but this bird was shot REALLY far away and when I sent him for the retrieve he ran and ran and ran searching for the bird until he was exhausted, but couldn't find it. I had a dead bird on me, so I tossed it when he wasn't looking, and then sent him in that direction where he found it. He struggled to carry the bird because he was panting so hard. It wasn't an overly hot day (maybe mid-70's?) but after that hard run and long search he was pretty worn out.

His honoring was a little crappy today. We had two really bad ones where he glanced over and ignored, and a third one that was...meh...ok. Work in progress. I am not so worried about the honoring, but his retrieve has me baffled. I am a terrible trainer at the retrieve, I need help.

Nope, no photo of today's ribbons even though both Dolphin and Noodle earned a few. I am letting a few bad moments eat away at my joy today. I hate that I let that happen, but unfortunately that's how I am sometimes.

Dolphin had a pretty good day - he got the send in FAST (it was A-frame - tunnel - back over the A-frame) and had a really nice Q in Time 2 Beat. This was probably our best run of the day, of course I have NO video so I can't even watch it to boost my spirits. Standard had a few mistakes - wrong end of the tunnel (he blew off my bypass command but he went into the tunnel with great force and speed so I can't be too upset!) and knocked a bar. He squeaked out a Q in Jumpers. I feel like the judge wheeled the course really tight because our points were pretty low for as fast as he ran. So no double Q today, and low points, but he did run well and handled EVERY SINGLE COURSE starting with a tunnel, so that's a big plus.

Noodle blew the send in FAST, came out of the tunnel and just went right on by the second A Frame. She had a decent Q in Standard, and although she wasn't super fast she was OK, but our MACH points were extremely low...again I blame tight wheeling. She actually ran clean in Jumpers but was a couple seconds over time. I watched the video and although she wasn't the speediest, I find it hard to believe that her run was over time. Ugh. No Double Q and barely any points today. I feel like that MACH dream is slipping away little by litte. She is going to be SEVEN next month and that worries me. With her health issues and intermittent problems, getting her MACh may be a pipe dream. I wish AKC would allow us to switch down to Preferred and keep all of our points and double q's, but they don't allow it...so if we drop to preferred we start all over from scratch. I have to accept that some things will never be.

"Comparison is the thief of joy"

I should have that tattooed on my forehead. It is something I struggle with on a daily basis, because I guess I never feel like I am good enough. Not enough. Never quite enough.

I should mention that yesterday Dolphin was the best he has ever been in our agility class! I found a stupid little tennis ball and he was so enamored of it that he ran like a crazy motivated border collie for all of his sequences, just for the ball. I can never predict what will motivate him, and I am always surprised because it is never what I think. Next week he will probably have zero interest in the ball, go figure.

Noodle and I headed to Dayton for a Rally trial. I figured this might be a good chance to practice, since we have AKC Rally National Championships next weekend. Today we were just OK. Not great, not terrible. IN Excellent I did have to re-do a sign (automatic 3 point deduction) because Noodle caught scent of something near the wall and totally blew our turn. We ended up with a score of 91. Advanced went a little better - we had a score of 96. This makes double QQ #3 for us - we need 10 QQ's for our RAE title. Small goals...

For some reason I am not looking forward to Rally Nationals next weekend. We don't have a chance in the world of placing, and it just feels like a big ol' waste of time...I have to drive almost 90 minutes to the show for 3 days straight. Yep, I am feeling a bit unmotivated. We just aren't very good at rally, and that's the downfall of having to do all of my learning and training on my own because there aren't really any classes at this level around here. Classes help motivate me. Oh well, we will get through next weekend and see what happens.

Yesterday Noodle had an appointment with the OSU veterinary rehab/sports medicine doctore to see if we can figure out what is causing this VERY intermittent soreness in her front. Upon palpation, they found she was a little touchy on her right elbow and shoulder, so they had me bring her back today to do yet another ultrasound and a CT scan of her front end. Guess what they found? NOTHING! I guess that's good, right? No signs of arthritis, so signs of anything with her joints, no visible soft tissue injury. It remains a mystery. Of course, right now she is 100% sound. So I guess we just keep on keepin' on, and treat any soreness as it comes up.

Just a quick recap of this week - Noodle was "ok" in agility class yesterday, Pizza was ahhh-mazing, and today Dolphin was beyond AMAZING (thank you new large squeaky tennis ball that was gifted to me!). His drive and speed were over the top, I left class with a massive smile, as I did yesterday when I left Pizza's class. Now if only this would transfer over to trials...

Noodle and I have been practicing a lot at home, we were as ready as we could be for the 2023 AKC Rally National Championships. This place was a complete zoo . Wall-to-wall people and dogs, small rings, and very narrow aisles between the rings. Oh, and the rings were all back to back so dogs were having to work off leash side by side at times. Noodle was stressed. I tried hard to get her to relax and focus, but we got in the ring and she put her nose down and sniffed all the way through the course. We had two back-to-back runs today (Friday), so no chance to relax and take a breather. She did everything, although we lost a lot of points for being out of position and in our first run she let the toys distract her on the figure 8 and she missed the second loop. Both runs scored an 85, this is the lowest score she has earned ever in Rally. Ugh.

Saturday as much better. She walked into the building more relaxed and focused. We only had one run to do today, and although she started off sniffing, she got her head back on and finished with a really really nice run and a 94 (points off for several out of position at the beginning when she sniffed). I was so proud of her. She handled the crowds, the strange dogs all in her space, and working under tough conditions. I love this girl's heart!

I ended up having a better time than I thought, but it definitely wasn't fun. The way the show was run made it really hard on exhibitors and dogs, and the groups were very unequal in their schedules. To top it all off, after spending over $80 to enter this event, they did not award any Q ribbons for qualifying runs. I mean, we got NOTHING. Oh, we got a roll of poop bags in our packet containing our armband and schedule. I guess that's something? Come on AKC, you can do better. I am already qualified in Excellent for next year, but I am not sure I will attend again.

Monday I finally had a chance to take Dolphin to do some field training with my friend. It's bee a little less than 2 weeks since we trained. Might as well have been 2 months...ugh. Dolphin broke on BOTH of his birds. The first one he waited until I flused, and it didn't fly right away and he grabbed it. Caught me completely by surprise because he had been SO steady the past few months. The second bird was fluttering around under the tipup, and before I even released it he tried to jump in on it. What the heck? Where is my broke boy?

Tuesday I went back to train again, because I could not end on a bird like that. The first bird he was pretty steady on. Second bird he kind of jumped in but I was able to stop him before he made contact. Oh, and to top it all off, his honoring both days was nonexistent.

Now I know training has it's ups and downs but seriously! Dolphin reverted backwards to where he was probably in February. I can't help but feel a little frustrated. I know, I know, it is just a little setback and these things happen while training...but I am still frusrated. Luckily, we have plenty of time to work through this. Just have to find days that are cool enough to train in the field, and find the opportunities to do so. This too shall pass.

It's time for another trip with my training pal and her dog! This time we headed northeast to the Buffalo area - to an agility trial in Lancaster, new York. The facility was gorgeous. We started today with such optimism, the courses were nice and big and flowing...perfect for Dolphin!

I will say this - Dolphin ran awesome! He was super fast and motivated all day, and he tried so honestly, but knocked bars were our nemesis along with other mitakes. Here is a recap:

Jumpers: Man this run was so much fun, he ran SO well! He had a puppy brain fart moment on one of the jumps towards the beginning and ran right past it for a refusal. We corrected it and he ran the rest of the course amazing, until he knocked the last bar...ugh.

Time 2 Beat: He came out of the weaves early and missed the last pole, he knocked a bar, and ran past a jump...a trifecta of mistakes. However, he ran FAST!

Standard: He was going so fast in the weaves he skipped a couple in the middle, and also knocked a bar.

I can't be too upset, Dolphin was SO much fun to run! We will get it together, maybe tomorrow.

As usual, we woke up this morning with buckets of optimism! Once again, Dolphin ran wonderfully. Once again, we had zero Q's. Here is a recap:

Standard: He was very distracted by a Doberman who ran before him. Now I know he had been super distracted by two Dobie girls at a trial in May, mainly I thought because he was missing Pizza who was in season at home and he was thinking about that, but this one was a male. Anyways, he actually left me and missed a jump to run to the middle of the ring to look around...so weird for him!

FAST: He did not send forward to the jump in the bonus, so no Q for us.

Jumpers: He stopped in the middle of the run to let out a bark and got a refusal - so so so weird! He also knocked a jump. Yuck.

I was a little more disappointed today, but again - he ran GREAT and honestly, that's really what I want. I have worked SO hard to keep his motivation high, but with intense motivation and drive comes a lot of mistakes.

The weather cleared up in the afternoon and it was a gorgeous evening, so we played tourist and headed to Niagara Falls. The American side of the falls is pretty disappointing, but I didn't want to mess with crossing the border, so we saw what we could and had an anjoyable walk with our training pals.

I woke up today with a lot less optimism. My goal - keep the enthusiasm and drive up on day #3 of the trial. Mission accomplished!

Jumpers: We started off the morning with Jumpers, and you know I can't seem to get a jumpers Q to save my life. Today was no exception. Dolphin came out of the weaves at the first pole - he was just driving too hard into the weaves to make the turn. The weaves were the second obstacle, and that is always a problem for us. He also knocked two bars. This is getting to be a pain in the butt...

Time 2 Beat: Hallelujah, we finally squeaked out a Q! He ran past the weave entrance but I was able to get him back in (T2B = no refusals...yay!). This is his 10th T2B Q, and we only need 20 more points for his title.

Standard: FINALLY a NICE Q! Nice, fast run with 20 MACH points...woo-hoo! He worked hard, kept the bars up, and gave me an amazing run. This was a great run to leave on - made the 5 1/2 hour drive home a much better one.

I took Dolphin field training today. My biggest worry was seeing if his major back-slide he did the last time I trained would stick around. Today, thankfully, he was much much better!

His first bird was good, but he was way ahead of me when he went on point, and relocated himself as I approached. I am sure this is a pressure issue - he feels the pressure, wants to be good, and moves a bit to the side. For the second bird, we put it in a launcher and the plan was to launch the bird as soon as he tried to relocate himself. of course, he stood perfectly still for this one. Third bird was really nice - a quail in a tip up and it was very close to him. Rock solid!

His honoring was so-so...he is stopping and then turning in to me again. I thought I had made progress on this issue but we took a little step back. His third honor, the bird was actually shot and it was about 30 yards from him...and he broke away from me to try to steal the retrieve! I was able to yell at him and call him back. I have been trying not to hold his collar during the honor, in preparation for Master Hunter. Looks like we need a little work on this. I like the enthusiasm, though! I am happy that he wasn't breaking like he did the last time I trained. What a relief...I was afraid we were reverting back to last year's habits!