Day 23 yea finally got it right :)

Well, today was quite an eye opener. We had a great course for JWW to start the day and it was just right to we the tone for the trial. A little on the technical side with a lot if yardage and a lot of speed! After it was all said and done, Shine is the fastest time of the day! That is all heights, clean or not! I am so proud of my boy! His YPS was 6.5, which is a new personal best. STD was just as good for Shine, but I was a bit off due to I had decided to hold contacts and my timing in the final sequence was off and I pulled him off of the chute. It was great to be back in the sddke again. On to tomorrow.

Day 26 Another travel day!

Well true belivers, believe it or not I was. On the road again today and landed in Perry GA. This show is the 5th largest show in the country in total entries and this year is no exception. With agility, breed, obedience, hearding, flyball and other dog sports, this is a huge event. There will be some great competition here and I look foward to testing our skills out. It's late and I am headed to bed. TTYL

Day 26 - another travel day

Monday is here again and I am on the road again going from ATL to BHM. This is getting really old. On top of this, the temps have dropped and it feels like January. So, is that enough whining? ;)

Did not work Shine today, but did start planning my trip to MN. Logistics are pretty straight toward, but still have to plan the details. Also did some goal setting for the Perry GA trial, as it is my last time to get a good test of our team skills and what needs to be polished. Plan is to work contacts and weaves tomorrow, then off to the show!

Day 26- Rest Day

Good evening. This day was a rest day for Shine as he was really tired from yesterday's workouts. Had to wake him up from a nap just to go outside! For me of was a travel day to ATL and then yard work and lessons.

The advanced class is looking great and my Airdale puppy is progressing quite nicely!

As far as WTT09, I started my list of stuff to do to get ready for the actual trip. This year I am actually going to drive the RV up to MM, as I will have all the pups due to a work issue with Lele. So, planning an 18 hour trip is quite the exersise in trying not to forget anything and making sure to have plenty of books on iPod.

Tomorrow is contact day, if it does not snow!

Day 27 - NAC Courses

What a great day. Shine was in top form, I was feeling at ease and running like someone was chasing me! Felt great! My weight is already down and my timing was right on. Not bad for not training for a week!

We ran the STD from Saturday and the JWW. Both courses were great and I beat Shine to the end of both finishes! Then we ran the Finals course. Very cool course. Beat him to that finish too! I loved all of these courses and felt very focused and in the zone!

The clinic folks were great letting me run Shine! Thanks. TTYL

Day 28 - Where have you been!?

Good evening! Sorry for the fade to black. I have been very busy doing everything else but working on WTT09 and training. But that all will change tomorrow! I am hosting a clinic at my location in BHM that will analyze and formulate the best path for our teams to run 3 of the courses from the AKC NAC this past weekend. I too will be running! Just to tempting not to work Shine. Sorry for the short post. I promise to update tomorrow on our progress and how everyone does!

Day 36 or AKC Nationals Day 1 (ISC)

Good evening. I hope you have been following the live feed from the AKC National Championships. I was busy all day, supporting Leslie and Zoom, coaching clients, cheering Schnauzers, walking 17, 0000 steps, and generally living on caffeine for the past 18 hours. So, after all of that I am here to report that Leslie and Zoom survived and looked great in both of their runs, just a little bit of getting used to the surface and the excitement of the NAC.

The ISC class for the 14 inch class was very interesting and I have all of the video to prove it. I noticed that the leaders all had their own style, but had common attributes. These attributes were the speed and turning ability of the dogs and the ability of the handlers to select (pick) correctly for their team. With this in mind, I studied the videos this evening and see that this is the most important thing we do in agility. If you have the abilities to do your handling and performance management and the dog is trained well, it is the analysis that is the difference. All of the teams that I coached today discussed the analysis at length, not is the dog going to get it's contact or is the handler going to get in the front cross. So, if I learned anything today about myself and what I need for my success at WTT09, it is that I need to get my foundations and specialization areas of my training and handling down to the point that I am not only confident, but comfortable! Talk to you tomorrow.