Duct Tape Time...

Once again mommy’s mouth screwed us over on course. Poor Whimzy at this rate we will never get an Open Jumpers Q. Okay that may seem a little dramatic considering we have only been in Open twice. Luckily we can Q in Open Standard, so there is still hope! Although I have to say even with a bar caused by my big mouth Whimzy still had an amazing jumpers run. Probably one of my favorites, we were so in sync. Really wonderful to have that feeling in the ring with her, for a while there she was slightly out of control. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5EhIamlmB4&feature=youtu.be

Can’t wait till I can push. Sorry that was random, but oh so true. I can’t wait till my only goal with her is to roast one; it’s going to be way too much fun! I suppose it is because she doesn’t feel fast at shows because I’m never letting her loose like I do in the yard, but she is fast just I’m running conservative. Not really sure how to explain the feeling, it’s odd okay? Also miss running Jenna, its killing me to have her out. Stupid international training -_-“ why must you get in the way of me running my baby in AKC?

Tryouts in: 13 days

Bazinga says "hi"

Speachless...just kidding of course.

Shocker right? Kathleen actually not knowing what to say or having nothing to say at all, its completely unheard of. Felt bad for not posting in a bit, but really I have absolutely nothing to say. Jenna is still in major prep, running international courses until both of use have nailed every element. Whimzy is still...well Whimzy. Crazy, a handful, absolutely out of control with brief moments of true brilliance. Hoping for a minute or two of brilliance on Saturday, which will be her first time in Open/Open. Very excited, also have my fingers crossed that Nikki gets her AXJ. 

I EAT YOU!

look flowers :)

Okay I did lie, two things. Number 1: I saw the NJ governor at a Quick Check yesterday...he was buying Twinkies. Literally almost fell on the floor laughing, but Diane managed to hold me up. Number 2: I have a new buddy, a poodle, who I get to start running with and competing with this summer. He took his puppy agility classes with me, and now he and his owner take privates with my mom. Really really amazing dog, can't wait to start working with him! That's right people I'll have two 24" dogs, guess I'm not a little dog person eh? 

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeazy

First off how does, easy peasy lemon squeezy, even make sense? Not quite sure myself but it is fun to say. Whimzy and I have been working on some easy peasy sequences these past few weeks. With her turning 16 months yesterday on the 13th, I decided to share some of our progress. Which includes better weave entries, still solid contacts (always a plus), and more collection when asked for it. Love having collection when I cue it, so so so convenient. Super excited to get back in the ring with her, she has been doing great on the full courses we have run. Its just a matter of time before we are able to Q in Open.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK5Kk1fyyUw&feature=youtu.be

Oh and just to clarify, a bunch of people have been asking why I'm not on the EOJ team. I didn't tryout. Not because I don't want to go, but with the EO in Sweden I just didn't feel right flying Jenna to Europe so much. Also miss Mz isn't going to be ready. But I will be helping with fundraising because I absolutely love the concept and am super excited to have this team finally able to represent the USA over seas. Awesome juniors like we have deserve to have these types of opportunities.

That time again...

Feels like spring. Looks like spring. Yes, finally the week has come. A time of peace, rest, sleep, and an over-dose on agility. Spring Break. Grateful to have such a long week off, although I feel going back will be even harder after ten days of bliss. Regardless, this week of agility has already proven priceless. Whimzy has defiantly needed some extra work. A week off while I was at Nationals did her absolutely no good haha. Fortunately after a rather awful training session, in which nothing was nice, successful, or even useful to learn from, I did manage to come to a conclusion. Whimzy is an open dog in the ring. Slightly more advanced outside of it of course. But if all I really want to accomplish now is open Qs, why am I training excellent sequences? Answer: I shouldn’t be.  Thus the conclusion was to layoff on the technical courses and just run nice, easy, flowy open courses with basic to advanced challenges. It’s hard to remember that going slow sometimes gets you the further faster.

HAPPY

In addition to Whimzy progress, Jenna has been doing fabulous. I know shocker right? Little princess has been doing everything right, shame about the handler really. Although I would like to think I’m improving too.  I felt a little bit rusty on international sequences heading into this spring, but wow did we get into our groove fast. Jenna feels amazing. Tonight in particular with her was just marvelous. Not a foot out of place, can I really ask for more? Handler goal: mental preparation. Still lacking slightly in that department, but isn’t the first step to getting better admitting you have a problem? Admitted, and currently being “healed”. 

Tryouts in: 23 days

Whimzy NA

Tough day to be showing! It was so cold, and windy and just annoying weather in general. Although it was quite interesting to show Whimzy at her first outdoor show. Clearly we still need some work on it; she was a little more excited than I would have liked to see. Happy with our novice standard run, got our NA title! The crowd actually went silent when she left the start line, and in the raw video the gate says “Wow, that’s a fast dog.” I would have to agree with them ;) She came over the aframe like a bullet, and then hit a gust of wind on the dog walk that spooked me, but she held on fine. Open jumpers was hairy. The course was by no means in our favor. I’m not yet confident enough to leave her in the weaves to go for front crosses, let alone weaving into a corner. So without the fronts I was forced into two less then pretty rear crosses. The first one was fine, just slightly wide. But on the second one I opened my big mouth and said back just and she took off. So of course the bar came down. Shame really I think if she didn’t fault I would have held on in the end longer then I did. Really towards the end of the course she just hit a slight YAHOOO! moment.
Considering she has only trained twice this week, I thought Whimzy handled the show fairly well. Goal for the next two weeks is to set up some open/excellent courses, particularly jumpers, and run her little butt off!! Need to get the hang of some slightly longer courses before I throw her back in the ring. I’m sure we will get there, just gonna take some work. For a fifteen month old with 2 titles and a solid foundation that is holding up time and time again I am incredibly pleased.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdGvZtrvFpA&list=UUdSVfN8AoSbf822LdbpZrDw&index=1&feature=plcp

Well gtg, time to watch the Big Bang Theory with Bazinga! 

Jokes On You!

Such a nice surprise to wake up and find out Diane is planning on going to our breeder today! Apparently there was this really nice little sheltie who was available, she isn’t anymore.  Instead we found an itzy-bitzy puppy with lots of spunk and Jenna’s fine boned features. Who could resist? Certainly not us, so now we have three happy healthy Heartlake shelties. The new addition’s name is Bazinga, if you don’t watch the big bang theory then first off shame on you and secondly Bazinga means like burn or gotcha something along those lines. So her AKC name will be: Heartlake’s Jokes On You.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8fyOEhgFlQ&feature=youtu.be

Oh and just to clarify the puppy is for Diane not me! I don’t need another dog, I’ve got my hands full as it is!! 

Back!

The results are in! Well they were in a long time ago too, but this is the first time I got to a computer. So just pretend with me that its Sunday after Hybrid okay ;)

Really really really really thrilled with our runs. Probably more than last year, even though last year we made challengers and had a top ten placement. This year we had three solid, clean, smooth, rounds. Jumpers was a little hairy (not on film) she jumped the start and forced me into a triple rear on the first 4 jumps. This cost us around three seconds and a spot in finals. Standard and Hybrid were both lovely. Up until the very end of the 12" class Jenna and I had that wonderful "F" next to our names, although I knew it wouldn't last, it was nice too see. As much fun as finals would have been, I'm just glad I had three clean rounds which is a lot more than other people can say. After only two weeks of training after Jenna and I had a little spat over the contacts, I have to say they were wonderful. Not super fast, but defiantly not super slow or out. Her teeters were just fabulous, so many dogs were flying off the end, not my little rock though. She road it to the floor every time.

Hoping next year, that we get ISC back. Really missed that extra day of competition, although T2B was fun. Also hoping the courses are a little more in our favor, preferably with some nasty surprises to spice up the day?  I guess we shall just wait and see! Overall wonderful competition, my only beef was not being recognized as a junior handler -_-" But that got straightened out as well! Can't wait for MAY!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REvCVs3iuAk&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWFmsF7lab0&feature=youtu.be