oh, right, last weekend.

As much as I love agility - it's about spending time hanging out
with the pooches and friends on a weekend away.






















I went up to Calgary to do 4 runs with each dog over 2 days.
Why not just run 4 runs in one day, you ask? 

Well that would mean I wouldn't get to hang out with Jan and Dave at their place, and I wouldn't get the delicious soup Jan made - Kaleb helped me with the chopsticks:) They make us feel so much at home, I look forward to visiting with them and the rest of the gang on these fun weekends.

Each dog brought home 3/4 Qs from the runs they were entered in. Kaleb is showing his age more all the time - but as long as the boy still wants to play, we will - he Qd in Gambler, Standard and Snooker, he was 1 second overtime in Challenge. Gyp ran great and it took a bit for us to really click (I'm sadly out of practice with her), but we finally did - and we rocked our Standard, Challenge and Gamble.

Here are a few highlights from each dog ...

The most handsomemest 'ol boys in the whole wide world.

If this face doesn't melt your heart, you are dead inside.
Everytime I look at this face, I melt.

Pensive Pleat, wondering what to Pee on next.

Portrait of a nobleman. Sir Alta-Pete Pleat.
He has made a remarkable recovery from his Stroke/Vestibular, the only side effects
have been his slight head tilt, which I swear is better every day, and he's a little more blind
in his right eye (which you can see in the photo), but none of that slows him down.

Portrait of a gentleman. He will be 11 next month. And everyday I love him more.
If only he was this easy to live with when he was 3 or 4.
Don't get me wrong we still ring his neck atleast once a week - but it's not daily anymore :)

You know what they say about friends who hang out too much together ...
It's funny, Jenny and I have talked and chuckled about this UNLIKELY friendship. K would NOT have like
Pleat even 3 or 4 years ago, and I think the same for Pleat. Kaleb would have been
WAY too obnoxious for him, and well Pleat has balls the size of tangerines -
something Kaleb is always jealous of. But, Pleat is a man comfortable in his skin,
and Kaleb respects that. Kaleb is comfortable being obnoxious and goofy, and Pleat also accepts that.
They TRULY like eachouthers company, it's the cutest damn thing you will ever see.
2 OLD TOUGH, PERSISTANT, STRONG WILLED, HARD HEADED working dogs ...
who never had time for other dogs, are now buddies, I think they can relate to eachother.

 

Symphony of Destruction

My training journey with Gyp, has always involved "taking a step back, to get further ahead". The first time I saw this was when we were training for Weave Poles, many moons ago. I beaned her in the head with a tennis ball when I was rewarding her. Well dear god, the world ended, and poor Gyp wouldn't go near the weave poles for 2 days! For real. Took a step back - came back, and within a short time she was weaving fully and fine - and I rewarded with something softer ...

It's showed up in all training - Obedience, Rally, walking her in the coulees and being scared of the gun shots and wanting to run to the car. She is not a dog you can flood or force to work it out. It has to be on her terms, and I'm fine with that. In Obedience training for her CDX, most of what I did was on my own - and I dealt with many shut down moments - so we stopped, I worked K and we tried again the next day. She would NOT work in my basement, it echos, the furnace kicks in and it's weird. She also wouldn't work in my Garage near the door, esp. when it was windy. So we would stop. I would trhow the toy so it landed my door - want the toy? Go get it yourself. And reluctantly she did, then she did with no problem. Come back to it, super high value rewards with no expectations - and she worked it all out in a the matter of a week or so. And she conquered that pressure and rocked her CDX in one weekend. It's like building layers for her, and getting it through her little cute head that she can do it, and doesn't need me. It's the opposite of Kaleb - get it through his thick skull that he DOES nees me - and ya, buddy we get that you think you know more than me.

So now I am dealing with this in herding ... She ran her fist Arena Trial in November - round 1 - she placed 3rd in Ranch! Wow we can do this! Round 2 she could not move the sheep, she tried to bite a little, I tried resending, we did all the moves we know, which are like 2 moves. She would come running back to me to save her :)  I've always said, I don't care if I look like a fool - but I don't want my dog discouraged - and she was. So we've taken a step back - well 5 or 6 really. And we are getting the BAD back. We worked so much on finesse and control she lots some of her guts. We are working on Jazzing her up. So now we are trying to get that back - even better than it was. I had a couple lessons with Scott to get more boldness back. We've been trying to teach her it is OK to grip when told - and it's working and helping her confidence - so she doesn't think biting it bad (when needed) - and that feeling of walking in boldy should start to transfer without the bite. I adapted what we've been learning with Jenny and Louanne - it takes a village ...

I don't have huge goals for herding - my dog is 8. But I do want to see her be happy and bold like she is in Agility - if only I had the same dog in both sports! I hope with my next pup the lessons I've learned will make us a great team, from the get go!

Some nice bend on that outrun, good job Gyppie!

Shit. um they shouldn't look like bowling pins - someone has a leg somewhere.

I am the Orchestra conductor in this Symphony of Destruction.

HUH? I say as Louanne tells me I shouldn't use my grip command on the outrun -
hence the bowling pin sheep. OH, right.

WEE!!!!! I have the cleanest teeth in the West!

Walk up, looking good Gyp!

Um. that's maybe a bit too much.

I had to call in reinforcements because my dog was trying to kill me.
*Note my death grip on Louanne's arm.

She did good getting them out of the corners with some boldness and power.

That was fun, can we go again?

I leave you with a little Megadeath ... Symphony of Destruction ...

I don't like beer, but I LOVE LOVE this ...

12.25".

Well I'm done one month of my Action 90 program. Our Gym and Coaches are amazing. And without the support of my 2 friends with me, there is no way I would be doing as well. We text eachother throughout the day with nutrition questions, how we are feeling and to give virtual high fives.

Month 1 concentrated on a lot of nutrition and wow, have I learned a lot. I'm a vegetarian so real or complete protein can be a challenge. I have learned more about what portions should actually be, and eating more of the food that keeps me full and is not just filler. I always ate nuts or lentils as a protein, when in fact they are considered more of a fat and a starch. I am eating 4x as much protein throughout the day (egg white, soy and whey) and I am enjoying cooking sooooo much - you should see how much I am eating - it's an insane amount of food - 6x a day! I am drinking atleast 3 liters of water a day also. I haven't had diet soda in almost a month. And only 1-2 glasses of wine a week (ACK!!) honestly have more energy than I have in years. Sounds dumb, but it's true.

I am also sleeping better because my body is done by the end of the day.

I have 2 months left and so far so good. Im up just after 5, and at the gym before 6am. That early time scared me, but it is great and it leaves me energized all day!! 3 days a week is targeting weight training and the other 3 are cardio days, with one rest day on Sunday.

I gained weight after Jane passed. I was depressed for a long time - and wasn't fully aware of how much so. I didn't have her to cuddle with a night, so I ate for comfort, and I ate bad. I didn't refuse anything and lost caring about what was going in, and it started to show, and I felt like shit. I can be an emotional eater - but that was extreme. It was a way of coping. And I learned a lot through the process. I even tried to convince myself that the washer and dryer in our new house was shrinking my clothes!!

Well now I can say, my clothes are loose again!! In one month I lost 12.25" from the various parts of my body we measure each month - we don't base it on a pound measurement. I lost 3.5" from my waist alone. I had no idea I would see numbers like that in one month - I'm eating right and working my ass off (literally).

It feels good to accomplish things, and push myself to places I haven't gone before. I had no idea I could do some of the things I can do. I'm learning lots about my body, and in turn my mind and spirit. It's a good feeling.

It's good to feel more like myself again, and in some ways better than ever  - and I'm enjoying the journey.

Home Sweet Home

We've been in our house for 6 months, and we just love it. A photog. came in and shot some photos for the Homebuilders awards and they are using our house for the specific category it fits in. The 3 favourite things when we moved in are still right up thre as my favs - Garage, Walk-in Closet and the Pantry. Of course the actual house design, and finishes too. The dog Run off the garage is awesome, muddy feet are easily cleaned in the garage and poop clean-up is contained to a smaller area than the whole yard. I can't wait until spring when we can start planning our garden. I LOVE LOVE LOVE our location - I literally walk the dogs about 100' and they can run, or we explore the neighbourhoods streets and parks. Out back we can walk for an hour and see nobody, and we are always finding new places to walk and explore. There's no place like home ...

yesterday

This was yesterday ... +5, no wind, lot of sun - beautiful.

Today I am not taking a photo. -20, snow and wind.

Thankfully it's only lasting 2 days, then the + temps and sun will be back ...

I'll post another photo then :)

24 days in, and so far, so good.

Ok the blog post you've all been sitting at the edge of your seat for. My whole life isn't posted here, actually a very small part, something's I need to keep to myself, other things I'm happy to share, like leaving my diary open in the middle of Starbucks for everyone to read and criticize. It's 7:15 in the morning and I'm making myself write this now or it will be another 2-3 weeks.

So we are in to 2013, and already it's a stellar year. I've made choices to de-clutter my life in a few ways - learning to say no, eliminating things that bring me down or don't fulfill me, or things that keep me away from what I really want - things to me that can be time wasters. I'm out of the fog that consumed a good portion of 2012, I wasn't in a good place at many times. These past 24 days have been my happiest in a long time.

I've opted out of 52 weeks for dogs - a hard decision as I am one of the originals and I followed through for 4 years. Maybe next year I will be back. I'm trying to be on Facebook less, surf the internet aimlessly less, blog less (I'm doing that well).

Personally I'm getting my ass in gear. Two girlfriends and I are busting our asses 6-7am, 3x a week, plus 3 cardio sessions and a nutritional plan and coaching. It's a 3 month program and we are almost a month in and I feel awesome. It's all part of my well being, stay sane in 2013 plan. I thought dragging my ass to the gym for 5:45 am would be tough, but I love it, and the support from Jen, Jo and our coach is awesome.

Back to dogs ... Kathy Keats was here a couple weeks ago, and I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with her outside the seminar. We talked dogs (Border Collies mostly), she helped me with some of my mental issues (don't laugh it's true), gave me help to be a better coach myself, and reinvented my spark and my love for the game I am passionate about above all others - Agility.

I like rally, obedience is ok, herding is pretty awesome - I love it as much as training bird work, the thrill to see instinct kick in and work a dog past what instinct is a total rush. But for me, at this point in my life - agility is where it's at. I love to run, I love the rush of coming off a course barely remembering it. That connection where the dog and I can read each other minds.

Kaleb is coming 11 and still going strong, sound and spunky - yes I know how lucky I am. We ran our first trial of the year and he was awesome. I will retire him when he stops having fun.

Gyp just turned 8, it is hard for me to even write that. I've only had her just over 6 years, and I hope she lives forever so I can make up for those first 2 years I missed of her life. She is also running great, and I will do whatever I need to do to keep it that way - even if that means dropping a jump height.

So that leads me to my next awesome thing of 2013 .... PUPPY TIME! I am ready.
I can give it the love and time it needs now, and Pete is on board - well in his own way. If the stars align pups should be here around St. Patrick's day... Lets hope for the luck of the Irish! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a good Border Collie - one with the traits I am specifically looking for. Call me picky, but I'm such a "I need to feel it in the universe person". And dog willing, this will happen. I adore the parents - I've always wanted a pup out of the mom (she's now a movie star - wink wink), and the dad, well he is related to Pleat, and both have produced some really nice dogs too, how could that be a bad thing :) I am so lucky to be able to help out with the litter and see the puppies grow, and even more lucky to have this litter being bred at all!!

I will leave you with a Pleat video from a week ago, he's even better now. Dancing in the kitchen, paddling his feet, and walking a mile with no problem :)


Come on 2013!! Let's be a great year!

Still no blog written ... Even gyp is giving up hope.

Filler

Because dogs in Minnie Mouse ears are cute. When I have more than 2 minutes to spare I will write a real post, hopefully soon.... Days go by, and things happen. I have so much to write about but no time to write!!

Already a good year, so far!

It's January 7th, and for the first time in a long while I am feeling centred, focused and more like myself. Good things are happening, I'm feeling happy, inspired and reignited ...

Let's see what next week brings, or for that matter. Tuesday. :)

12 Defining Moments of 2012.

2012 was a huge bummer year for so many people I know - it had it HIGHLIGHTS, don't get me wrong, but for me personally, it was probably the hardest, and one of the most memorable year that I can remember - good and bad.

I embrace change, but I have a limit, 2012 tested that, thank you very much.

Instead of dwelling in it and pouring my heart out in this post, I've decided to highlight a thing or two from each month - whether it be good, or bad ... and twelve highlighted things that really shaped my year, changed my life - for the better, or worse, made me grow, made me laugh - and will be a pivotal part of shaping my next year. 2013 I'm ready for you, how 'bout we get along, OK?

JANUARY
- For the 5th year in a row, Kaleb was the #1 Flat-coated Retriever in Canada in AAC Agility! I commented "Good job buddy, you're an ass, but I love you ... keep on runnin", it's 2013, he's coming 11, and he's still running Agility - THAT is something I am so grateful for.

- Gyp lost her best friend, the world lost a great dog too soon. Damn cancer. Tag - 05/12


Love the dog you have. Accept them for who they are.
They accept us unconditionally.

FEBRUARY

- We cooked with Grammy

- The best relationships are those that make us a better person, thinking about how we can do better by our dog and learn to understand them, maybe even starting to act like them, rather than the thinking "you better do what I want or else", or pretending to be sincere and fine on the outside, when deep down you are angry because they aren't doing what YOU want, and that makes you mad - stupid dog. It works with humans, fake a smile and say things are fine, become resentful - and then we eventually believe them, because we trust them, or it's just easier that way. Thankfully dogs are too smart to fall for that, and if we aren't at our best, neither are they, and we can easily destroy that trust by lying to them. Do you like your dog? Do they like you?

MARCH
- I lost my best friend.

- Kaleb turned 10
 

APRIL 
- Gyp earned her CD with 2 HIC's
- We attended my Grandma's 80th Birthday


MAY
- Jane would have been 13.

- We bought the dogs a new house, we moved in July

JUNE

- After being off 2 months with a  pinched nerve our Rehab vet thinks, K places 2nd in Regionals!!!! Gyp came up lame in her second run, memorable, but not in a good way. She was pulled, and out from Agility for the majority of the summer.

 - We had been working hard building confidence with herding during the spring, and Gyp debuting in Herding Started earned 2 High in Trials and finished her title. Good girlie.

JULY

- We MOVED!!! We love it. A new start :)

  
- We headed to Vancouver for the FCRSC National Specialty
Not only did Kaleb win his 9-11 Vet Male class, full of former Specialty winners and a Westminster Winner, he went on to win a "Judges Award of Merit" from the final cut of Best of Breed dogs. 

AUGUST 
- This guy became a part of our family!!!! My mom's best friend, Pleat.
Old dogs are glorious things!

-We hosted our first Go! See! Spot! Fly! Agility Camp, here's hoping for another great one in 2013!

SEPTEMBER  
- Kaleb had surgery to remover a tumor - thankfully is came back BENIGN!!!!!!!!

OCTOBER
- where did that month go???

NOVEMBER
- Gyp debuted in the Open ring, earning 2 HICs and her CDX title at the Lethbridge Kennel Club dog show!!

 

  DECEMBER
- Waiting for Santa ... Our first christmas without Jane, but our first with Pleat!
- Pleat had a stroke the week before Christmas - and Christmas eve, he stood for the first time in 9 days, by the 27th he has walking in the yard ... today he is almost back to normal :) gotta love that fight and determination!

Alright 2013 ... I'm ready for you ...