MeLou Lhasa Apsos

Josie's feature film

2012-02-06T13:08:00.001-06:00

Josie had a tremendous 2011, MACH2 in April at TCLAC’s first agility trial, Rally Novice and Rally Advance titles in March and May earning her the Versatility Certificate from ALAC….then in December heading to Orlando, FL for the AKC Agility Invitational with goals of improving our overall times from 2010…..We did that and more. My friend Rick shot video of our runs and with the help of Terry & Lisa made the below “production”.

~Melissa
“Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future.” Denis Waitley

Disappointing, yet not

2011-11-01T09:07:00.003-05:00

ALAC National week in Albuquerque, NM was mainly a much needed vacation for me with dog stuff thrown in.
Headed south on Thursday morning, picked up Julie and her three dogs, we drove to Oklahoma City and spent the night. We made it to Albuquerque late afternoon on Friday.

The weekend trial was a UKI trial, an entirely new organization for me and the crew, yet the trial was very small, so quite enjoyable, Josie and Suds picked up a Q or two, Myth & Ella had a fair time.

Monday was the top 20, I was recruited as a ring steward, and it was actually very fun.
Tuesday was the Colorado club’s specialty – I had Myth entered, but since I was on vacation and she is still very immature looking for a special I decided not to show her and just enjoyed the show ;-)

Wednesday, ALAC agility day, well, being chief course builder and the fact there were so few dogs presented a few disadvantages, it did not allow me to give each dog the warm up/pre- run routine or prepare myself and focus on the course. This really showed on Josie’s runs, she was a good girl, but it felt a little disconnected and thus no Qs…oh well. With Suds it really didn’t matter, since he usually runs best going straight from crate/van to the ring, he ended up with a Q in JWW and almost Q in STD (I just needed to support weave poles #11 & 12 more). Myth, would have been really nice to get 1 Q, but, still trial stress shows up at the weaves, especially with how little warm up I was able to do. Ella, she had a super time, she only missed a few obstacles, but stayed with me 90% of the time! The potential is there for her to be better than Josie.
The little blob heading toward the chute is Ella;
Thursday was the Regional. I had Josie entered with the hopes that she would make the cut. She showed really well and not only did she make the cut, she ended up with an Award of Merit! Very Cool ! and she was the only one in the ring with additional titles, little superstar ;-) The official photo has not come yet, but here is one a friend took;
Thursday was also the ALAC meeting which I skipped…….and the awards banquet. The food at the banquet was OK, way overpriced. The award presentation was very nice, Suds, Josie and Ella were all in it :-). Next year, although I most likely will not be attending, Myth will join the gang in the presentation.

Friday was the National, I did not have anyone entered, so just relaxed and watched. Ella left in the morning with Debby to head for Colorado and hopefully give us some puppies. In the late afternoon did most of our packing for the trip home.

Saturday were loaded up and headed home by 7am. We made it to Kansas City and spent the night, was a restless night as a couple of the dogs would not settle. We made it to Julie’s by about 1:30, unloaded her dogs and stuff. I made it home by 2:30 and had all afternoon to unload and relax.

~Melissa

Backseat

2011-10-03T15:15:00.003-05:00

Yes, the blog has taken a backseat ;-)

It’s been a busy summer; Agility, Conformation, stuff…..Myth picked up her second major at the Kettle Moraine Kennel Club shows in July, unfortunately her picture was just awful ;-( I didn’t even buy it. August brought another successful TCLAC Specialty. While not a huge entry it was a relatively good showing. Josie and Myth were entered, Josie entered to help the numbers she ended up earning Select Bitch on Friday. Myth showed well, no wins, but on Saturday at the St. Croix Valley Kennel Club show, she won Best of Winners (2 pts) to earn her Championship ! Yeah !

Both have done a few agility trials, Josie as usually has been awesome, her weaves have really sped up, so Happy !! The key is to remember no matter what do NOT let her think she has made a mistake, she will slow down and get very careful. Myth has had a little confidence issue, if I get to far ahead of her she stops. I have been trying to keep her training sessions short and fun. She ran really well at both the AKC and CPE trial we did at soccerblast. In CPE she Q’d in all but 1 class, earned her CPE CL1-H title, alas, we are stuck in Open purgatory in AKC…..She had a single error in all her classes, I am not fixing things (going back for missed jumps, re-starting weaves, etc) to keep her motivated and moving forward.

Ella has been in the Tweeners class at On the Run, a class for experience handlers with dogs that are not quite beginners. She has really come a long way. She is working really well at class, although will find the dog walk from anywhere ;-). She is still not terribly focused working outdoors, but is now able to put a couple of obstacles together. She ran in her first agility trial, CPE at soccerblast, she was awesome, Q’d in all 3 of her runs and earned her CPE CL1-R title. She also got a hair cut…..

Suds ran great at the Rochester MN KC trial, loves outdoors, a couple of minor things kept him from a QQ, but he Q’d in either STD or JWW each of the 3 days.

Exciting news. Myth’s win at the SCVKC also earned her an invite to the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship. So, Josie, Ella and Myth all earned invites….Suds was so close, because he runs in preferred he is in line after all the dogs running regular. I believe he ended up 8th – not bad for the little boy. Of course, the only one making the trip this year will be Josie. She is entered and we have our plane and hotel reservations. I am hoping to finish with 4 clean rounds and a better overall time than last year, making it to the finals will be icing ;-) I think the competition in the 8” division will be a little tougher this year.

This week we head to Albuquerque, NM for the American Lhasa Apso Club’s National Specialty. This past weekend was filled with dog baths, organizing the van and packing, since we have classes Monday and Tuesday evening. I am really looking forward to it, should be a fun week. Everyone is entered in a UK Agility International agility trial on the 8 & 9, then we have Monday off to watch the top 20 competition. Tuesday Myth is entered in the Lhasa Apso Club of Central Colorado’s specialty. Wednesday is Agility day all are entered. Hoping Myth can get one Q and maybe earn a title. Thursday is the Regional, Josie is entered, I believe she will be the only Champion entered with agility titles. Friday is the National, I have no one entered so get to watch.

~Melissa
“There isn't a person anywhere who isn't capable of doing more than he thinks he can.” Henry Ford

You've heard of

2011-07-22T10:17:00.006-05:00

The Green Lantern, The Green Arrow,

Introducing

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The Green Apsos....

I have always said Green is Josie's color, she now matches her bands ;-)

We had a private lesson this morning, just as we arrived they guy was mowing....granted I am not sure I could have found my dogs if he had not mowed, but makes for Green Apsos ;-)

Suds was a little sluggish since it was kind of muggy, but he was a good boy.

Josie was stellar, awesome, fast weaves, very nice teeter, some beautiful dog walks and was a speedy little girl !!

Myth, hmmm, not super, but OK... kind of hesitant and a little tentative, very different from the trial where she was more confident and enthusiastic, hmmm.

Ella did not go to the lesson, we are currently working on building teamwork and figuring out what motivates her.

~Melissa

"Be curious, not judgmental" ~ Walt Whitman

Breakthrough Agility Weekend

2011-07-20T07:26:00.003-05:00

This last weekend Suds & Myth had an agility trial (Josie is still on vacation :-) It was the MAC (Minnesota Agility Club) AKC Trial held at Soccerblast. Indoor air conditioned – thank goodness with temps in the upper 90s and dew points at 80+ most of the day.

The last time I tried to run Suds at this particular location he was so freaked out he tried to jump out of the ring through the Plexiglas….poor boy. He has come along way and has gained a lot of confidence since then, so I decided to see how he would do –with absolutely no expectations except to have fun! He started a wee bit nervous on his first run, wanting to be close to me he skipped a few jumps, no problem lets just keep running, he did and finished faster and happy. His second run was OK. I felt him start to stress about half way through the course, so just ran for the finish. Sunday, he was more relaxed and his first course was better, still skipped a few jumps. I have a friend who was watching and she notice the jumps he skipped were where he was on my right, aha! He is less comfortable on my right, something we are working on. His last run (JWW) he did not skip any jumps, I made sure to really support and not get to far ahead when he was on my right, ended up just a few seconds over course time. He finished the weekend strong and did all his weaves all weekend !!! A couple of Suds pictures from the weekend can be found here;
http://greatdanephotos.com/store/index.php?do=photocart&viewImage=255418

Myth, I was not sure if she would totally melt down and leave or what to expect from her. She only had a couple of stress moments, where she would stop in the middle of the course. She started every run fast and happy, did miss her weave entrance in one class and popped out of the weaves in another, but I did not go back to fix it, we just kept running. I also discovered Myth is a rear cross dog...I did her standard run on Sunday with all rear crosses, not by choice, the bar setter was very close to the chute –second obstacle. I wanted Myth to at the very least keep running so I needed to be between her and the bar setter, which meant I would need a rear cross at the next obstacle. It worked so well I did several more in the course, WOW! super speed and fun. Unfortunately, I was a bad handler and did not notice the ring crew/judge forgot to remove the number from the weaves after the course walk, it was placed right between poles 1 & 2. The judge did let me re-attempt them, but it stressed her to much and she didn’t weave.

Some Myth pictures here;
http://greatdanephotos.com/store/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=24208

Here is her Jumpers run from Sunday…or part of it ;-)

Course walks will be a challenge when Myth gets to Excellent….front crosses for Josie, rear crosses for Myth, special handling for Suds...Ella, yet to be determined. I am very excited to see how each develops !

~Melissa
“It is what we think we know already that often prevents us from learning.” Claude Bernard

Loooooong

2011-07-04T15:09:00.048-05:00

Once Again a little behind....maybe a lot...
Back in April the Twin Cities Lhasa Apso Club successfully hosted it's first Agility Trial. Lots of effort from a lot of club members went into the trail. To make this first trial extra special the first dog to earn a MACH title at the trial was a Lhasa Apso ;-) guess who.....Josie earned her MACH2.....

Here is the Jumpers portion of QQ #20

and the Standard portion with our victory lap :-) Had me just a smidge worried she was going right off the table.....

Josie has really turned into an awesome agility partner, and all around Lhasa Apso. Little did I know what I was bringing home in that little parti bundle, what a ride ;-)
She went on to earn her Rally Advanced title in May at the Indianhead Kennel Club show in Eau Claire, WI. This also earns her the American Lhasa Apso Club Versatility Certificate....I can't say enough about what a joy she has been, and sometimes a little pistol ;-)

New Title - Rally Advanced with a first place !

The Indianhead Kennel Club show was not only a great show for Josie, but also Ella - who earned her Grand Championship and received a Group 3 place from breeder judge Keke Kahn.... Awesome way to end her Conformation career - onto agility training ;-)
Pretty, pretty girl....

And little Myth earned 2 points toward her Champion ship 1 each on Saturday and Sunday.

For fun I did a picture of the two title winners together ;-)

The gang and I headed up to Fargo at the beginning of June for the Fargo-Moorhead Kennel Club shows, Myth was the only one entered - easy show for me.... and she didn't disappoint, not only did she win Best of Winners, it earned her a 3 point major towards her Championship and a Bred By Exhibitor Group 2.

Looking good isn't she?

Next up was the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America's Agility trial, which I was really looking forward to...one of the only outdoor trials held here. I did a lot of prep work for this trial, I really wanted it to be a good experience for both Myth and Suds, thanks to Kris Osojnicki who invited us for the run throughs that were only open to their students and who meet us there one Sunday morning so I could work my dogs, it was a very good trial for the MeLou gang; Josie of course double Q'd each of the 3 days ;-) Suds earned both a Q in jumpers and standard and little Myth is definitely an outdoor girl, she Q'd in all her classes, earning 2 open standard Qs and 2 open jumpers Qs, only needs 1 each for both open titles, she had prefect runs on Saturday, here is her Standard run.

And I got to run my buddy Casey Mae the Toller, she also QQ all 3 days !! yeah !!
Her loot ;-)

Here are a couple of Casey's runs ;-)

Josie is currently on vacation from agility trials....Myth and Suds have one coming up July 16 & 17. It will be held at Soccerblast - indoor air conditioned facility, not sure how Myth will do since she prefers outdoors ;-)

Mid June Josie and Myth headed up to the Cambridge conformation shows. Myth was very good, she won the point both days and on Saturday was Best Bred By Exhibitor. Josie won breed on Sunday, and picked up a few points toward her Grand Championship if I decide to go for it.

This past weekend Val and I headed to West Bend, WI for the Greater Milwaukee Lhasa Apso Club's specialty. Very nice show grounds, indoor A/C (yeah!) room for the tag along gang to come in, since it was quite warm and humid. Myth showed like a champ, training really does pay off. Saturday in the regular show she was 3rd ;-( and ended up 2nd in the specialty....BUT Sunday.........she took Winner for a 5 point major whoooooo, at least at the moment I think it is a 5 point major could be a 4 point major -don't care either one is super, will have to wait until it is official with AKC before I know for sure. Don't have her win picture, that will come in a couple of weeks but here are her ribbons ;-)

~Melissa
Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. ~Maori Proverb~

Agility......Rally

2011-02-28T12:20:00.007-06:00

Whew, how time flies…..

Back on February 11-13 the gang and I had an agility trial at On The Run. Friday was for excellent only;

Josie started with her very first Q in Excellent A Fast – the send was a relatively easy one for Excellent but still we had to work for it – she was a very good girl with some pretty decent weaves. She did Q in both Standard and Jumpers with two second places and double Q #10 towards MACH2. Suds had an OK day he didn’t Q in either but it was only the weaves that knocked him out – they were set up very close to the timer/scribe and the spectators and that is always difficult for him.

Saturday Myth started the day with Open jumpers – had just a little difficulty with her handler….a little off course handling, ops, but Myth was fantastic running fast and happy! She then had her standard run, had to take two attempts at the weaves, but nailed the chute !!! Yeah!! good girl, this was her 2nd leg towards her Novice Standard title.
Josie was as good as usual, Q’d in both Jumpers and Standard with a 2nd place in standard and 3rd in Jumpers – the darn weaves and teeter keeping her out of the blue……QQ #11. Suds still struggled a little, but I was so happy with him since his second run was not until 5:30pm and we had been there since 7am, not quite as energetic, he still ran happy!

Sunday Josie had a pretty good jumpers run – slowest weaves all weekend. Unfortunately she had an off course in Standard; Tunnel/A-frame discrimination, suppose to take the A-frame, well silly me, I was a little lazy since the A-frame is one of her favorite obstacles figured she would take….nope, had a blazing time and the rest of the course was just awesome! Suds finally got a Q in Jumpers with a 1st place. He was a good boy and did the A-frame, of course I handled it better for him;-). It was also the first time Suds has done a 3day trial and he finished strong.

Myth had a little issue in Open Jumpers, was kind of distracted at the start, about half way through really kicked it up – fantastic weaves! AND her standard run was pretty good, there was one moment the judge was closer to her than me and she hesitated, but came right back to me and finished the course for 1st place and her title ;-) She is now MeLou Shambhala NA NAJ !

Myth's standard run;

Over all a very good agility weekend, had some fun, picked up some Qs and a new title.

This last weekend Josie and I did her first Rally trial…..Saturday she was a bit distracted (could have been a bit of nerves for both of us), very wide, not very good heeling. The judge was very forgiving and we did Q with a score of 93. Must remember this Judge ;-)

Sunday was way better, much more focused and willing. We Q’d with a score of 97, we lost points on her around finish – way to far from me, something we need to work on and her down from the sit took two commands as she was keeping her eye on the judge (reminds me of someone else). It was fun to do a Rally trail again, and think it was a good change of pace for Josie. It will be interesting to see how she runs in the agility trial this weekend, it is at the same place as the Rally trial was.

~Melissa

February 21, 2011

2011-02-22T07:14:00.004-06:00

It seems like yesterday I brought a whirling dervish of a parti puppy home…

Could it really be that she is 5 years old today ?....
Happy Birthday to the one who has led me to so many new and exciting places….

To be continued………………………..

Quick note

2011-02-08T09:13:00.005-06:00

Busy working on the ALAC Handbook so just a quick brag....

The MeLou Lhasas have been on a little vacation from trials, we'll be back at it with a 3 day trial this weekend, but I had the great pleasure to run a friends dog this last Sunday. Debbie had to go to somewhere in Wisconsin to watch some football game.......since she had her dog entered in an agility trial.....I volunteered to run her.....We had fun!!

JWW

STD

Yes, if you noticed it is NOT a Lhasa ;-)
Casey Mae is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever "Toller"
Cute huh?
CM stayed with us Saturday and Sunday, she is an awesome dog and got along great with the Lhasa crew.
Thanks Debbie for letting me run her, it was FUN, FUN !!! A tribute to the great training Casey has received !

~Melissa

And so it goes

2011-01-21T09:36:00.001-06:00

In this weeks class Myth had absolutely NO issue with the chute - go figure (although we have been practicing it at home), so I believe it was most definitely a combination of the proximity of the chute straightner and trial stress – guess we will be proofing people sitting close to the chute and trial stress, well the only thing I can do about that is trial ;-) Here teeter was also beautiful.

Suds was even better this week, boy he sure is speeding up – I looked back, he use to average 2-2.5 yps in JWW, he is now running 3.1 – 3.5 yps and in class he is jumping 12” just great. This spring I may move him from preferred (jumping 8”) to regular (jumping 12”) especially when Myth gets to Excellent. It will be way easier have Suds in the 12” class instead of three dogs in the 8” class.

Josie was pretty good, we continue to struggle with speeding up her weaves, she has it in her. Very frustrating. In the summer I would send her through the weave once or twice each evening and that seemed to really speed them up, unfortunately there is no room in the house for a set of weaves – unless I were to take all the furniture out ;-)

We have a private lesson scheduled this weekend, the first since the beginning of November !

Stay WARM!
~Melissa

Suds & Myth

2011-01-17T15:10:00.001-06:00

For a while now, Myth starts out full of exuberance and actually runs….the first couple of exercises; I am not sure if it is a confidence issue or just the Lhasa Bitch coming out. I am leaning towards confidence, since more often than not she is more than happy to play and interact with me outside the ring. It is easy for me to forget she is still really a puppy (19 months), she is so much further along than Josie was at this age – thank you Josie. So, last week I decided for the immediate future (always subject to change ;-) Suds and Myth are sharing a class. Suds will get the first part of class and Myth the second. Last night was the first class I implemented this; to a resounding success for both Suds and Myth. Suds was just full of it and so happy to be at class – it’s been awhile for him. Since there were no spread jumps in the sequence we were doing, I decided to run him at his regular jump height, 12”, he was fantastic, actually jumping really well ! There was only one jump where he took off exceptionally long. I was quite a bit ahead of him so I think he took off long to try and catch me.

I found out at the last minute about 10am Friday, that there were runs open in the CPE trial on Saturday 1/15 and I could have them if I wanted. We went and both Suds and Myth were awesome. They were both in the first two classes, Suds ran Level 2 Fullhouse (for an explanation see here; http://www.k9cpe.com/forms/2011rb.pdf -page 18) was a very good boy did miss the weaves but still Q’d, he also ran level 2 standard and Q’d . Myth was a VERY good girl, ran Level 1 Fullhouse, was very focused and fast ;-) and nailed her weaves, and earned her CPE title CL1-F ! She also ran Level 1 standard, WOW ! was super, running about 4 YPS (no weaves or teeter in level 1) for a Q and her CL1-R title. Josie ran also but, I was a little unmotivated and in standard she missed her dog walk contact – jumped it, naughty girl, she was running well and did have an awesome time – 10 seconds under the first place dog. In Wildcard we had an off course - handler error ;-).

We now have a little break from trials, nothing until the second weekend in February.

~Melissa

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” Albert Einstein

2010 in review.....on to 2011

2011-01-06T11:37:00.004-06:00

To wrap up 2010 …..the gang and I headed to Amherst Junction, WI for an agility trial the weekend before Christmas. The goal was to get Suds either a Standard or Jumpers Q to finish a title…..He did both !! not on the same day, but considering this was a facility he had never run at before he was great. I think this was the first time he has run both Standard and Jumpers on the same day, two days in a row. He use to get stressed, lose focus and start to wander if he had to do more than one class
He now gets to add AXP and AJP after his name and move on to Excellent B Preferred in both Standard and Jumpers !!

Josie continues to be very consistent, although did a little tunnel wander in one class…..for the weekend she earned 2 QQs and 100 points, she took a couple of seconds and thirds, we were competing against a Toy Fox Terrier that was National Champion several times, to say he is fast is a mild understatement ;-)

Myth made her AKC debut….Saturday was really good, she ran well, a little tentative, so a bit slower than I know she can run, also had to attempt the weaves a couple of times, (not a fault at the Novice level) she usually nails them so I know her stress level was a little high. She did get qualifying scores in both Jumpers and Standard. Sunday the wheels fell of the bus…..she did run her Standard course with no course faults, but was so tentative and got stuck a few times she ended up with to many time faults to qualify. Jumpers was a little to much for the baby Lhasa, she took 2 or 3 jumps and wanted to leave, she did manage to stay in the ring and come to me (better than her Mom did when she first started trialing).

2010 was a good year for the MeLou Lhasas;
Ella earned her Championship, 4 points short of her Grand Championship, finished in the top 20 Lhasas in the nation (not final yet, but she should stay in there) and received an invite to the AKC/Eukanuba Invitational
Josie earned her MX, OF and MACH titles, earned an invite to the ACK/Eukanuba Agility Invitational as the #1 Lhasa, finishing in 10th place, #1 Lhasa, #10 High Conformation Dog after all four rounds (dog with a Championship, 1 of only 2 8” dogs in the top 20) #9 in the Non-Sporting Group (the only 8” dog in the top 20).
Suds earned his OJP, OAP, AXP and AJP titles and continues to improve his confidence and focus.
Myth earned 2 points (with very limited showing) towards her Championship and successfully debuted in Agility.

On to 2011…..

We did a New Years Day trial in familiar settings at On The Run. Josie and Suds both in Excellent B. Josie earned 1 QQ and 78 points, the only thing she missed all weekend was a very difficult weave entry, about 80% of the class NQ’d at the weaves. The judge was a former world team coach and previous years Nationals judge = challenging courses that were very fun!

Suds almost pulled out his first QQ – almost. Saturday he ran just great, Q and first place in Jumpers, unfortunately he dropped a bar in Standard, I think I may have been to close when I did my front cross, unlike Josie he needs a bit more room on the landing side….Sunday his Jumpers run was just as good, ended up second. In Standard ,the same weaves Josie missed was also Suds' trouble spot, although he nailed the entry, he popped out at the second pole….the rest of the run was just beautiful. This was his second time running both classes, both days and he was fantastic, running very enthusiastically, although he did start out just a bit tentative on the second day once he got rolling he picked it up. Now to try for a three day trial – coming in February.

Myth’s weekend was full of ups and downs, thankfully the ups outweighed the downs and we ended with an up! Her first run was Standard and it was a beautiful run…..except for the big, scary, Lhasa eating, monster = the Chute. Guess what we will be doing in class, at home, wherever we can. It may have been partially due to the chute straightner (ring crew) who was seated about 10 feet away from the entrance, this is to close in Myth’s mind. Her Jumpers run was fantastic ! I compared her yps (yards per second) against what Josie ran in Novice and they are pretty close. Myth is running an average 3.55/yps, Josie average was 3.68/yps, and Myth is about 6 months younger so her time will only improve. It does feel like Myth is running slower than Josie did, but it is probably due to the fact that Josie is currently running about 4.5/yps and she could shave some off of that if we could speed up those weaves like I know she can ! Sunday’s Standard for Myth involved a very tall judge being to close to the teeter and dog walk….we will be having people standing in the ring during practice! She came out of the tunnel and the judge was on one side of the teeter and I was on the other, she took one look at the judge and stopped dead, made a wide berth around him proceeded on course over a jump to the table, turned to go to the dog walk and he was right next to me, she said "nuh uh", turned to go the other way (out the ring), I called her, she looked at me, looked at the judge, turned to leave again, I took off across the ring –away from the judge and she said OK! jumped a couple of jumps and we left. Oh, the challenges of baby dogs ;-). Jacque had the judge give her treats between classes, not sure if that helped or the fact the judge was not as close, but her Jumpers run was fantastic! Ended up first and earned her Novice Agility Jumpers NAJ title!

Overall a very successful weekend, came away with things we need to work on for Myth and had a good time.

~Melissa

“Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future.” Denis Waitley

Ella at the AKC/Eukanuba Invitational

2010-12-16T07:28:00.008-06:00

Since Ella didn't get much of a mention in the previous post.....and a friend took some wonderful pictures of her......She shined and showed really well under all the excitement.

Ella at the Long Beach Kennel Club show (Friday)

Ella at the AKC/Eukanuba Invitational

~Melissa & Pretty Little Ella ;-) - who had a blast in Long Beach !

AKC/Eukanuba National Championship

2010-12-10T15:39:00.019-06:00

Josie, Ella, Mary Getman and I flew out to Long Beach, CA Last Thursday evening (12/2) for the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship. The dogs were excellent travelers, Josie is an old pro but this was Ella’s first plane trip, she was awesome. I did do my homework, played crate games with the Sherpa bag, Ella Loves her Sherpa. Checking into the hotel about 2am MN time, Melissa and Mary ready for lights out – Josie not so much ;-) Thankfully we did not have to be to the show site until late AM.
Arrived for agility check in about 11:30am, crating space are pre-assigned in the agility area, most of the MN exhibitors elected to crate together – made for a great team atmosphere.

small section of the agility crating area;

Josie was first dog in for the warm up FAST class at 2pm……I am pretty sure no one actually ran it as a FAST class, just a chance to get out and familiar with the equipment and footing. My goal was to get Josie through the weaves and on the teeter twice, she gave a very nice run.
After Josie’s warm up, it was off to change for the conformation ring. Ella was due in the ring at 2:50 after 15 dog so about 3:15-3:30. She was fabulous, went into the ring and showed like the special she is…..received Select Bitch, but only beat the class dog….
The afternoon seemed to fly by…….

Saturday, Josie’s first run was scheduled about 10am, with my walk through at 9:35am
1st course;

It was a fun course with a couple of tricky spots, the one that got the most teams was 9-11, you had to pull enough so the dog wouldn’t take #4 backwards but not so much you pulled them to the wrong end of the tunnel – Josie ran it like a pro, the serpentine at the end (16-19) was really fun and Josie ran it great with nice and tight lines.

Once again it was off to the conformation ring, change and groom Ella. Ella was really good, showed wonderfully- didn’t get anything but it was worth the trip.

And back to the Agility ring for round 2; the most tricky spot was weaves to 15, 16, 17, had to make sure the front cross after the weaves was not to soon as to pull her out and make sure as you headed to 17 you had her attention, for some reason lots of dogs missed jump 18.
Done for the day - Josie stood in 12th place Whoohoo, top 12 make it to the finals.

Saturday evening, Mary went and watched groups, I went to the agility banquet -good food, fun people (sat at the MN table). In bed relatively early - needed to be at the show by 7 am.

Sunday; Ella's day off. First course walk about 8:30, will run about 10:30am, course walked better than it looked on paper, trickiest spot; getting the front cross in between 12 & 13 and making sure to support the broad jump, then getting slightly ahead for 14-16, ft cross send to 17 and RUN. Josie handled it perfectly!

Still in the top 12.......Josie relaxed in her crate while I wandered around, shopped, watched dock dogs and some conformation.

Course walk for round 4 about 2pm, Josie to run about 3pm;

2 tricky spots on this course; 4 to 5, the A-frame/tunnel discrimination, now Josie prefers the A-frame, but the tunnel was right next to it, no space, I made sure to call her name after jump 4, angle my shoulders slightly away from the tunnel and tell her "up" (A-Frame command) there was no hesitation up she went ;-)... the other spot was the front cross weaves 18 to jump 17, the timing had to be just right..... once again Josie was spot on, good girl.....

AND we made it to the FINALS – WOW !!!!!!
I did not like the start....very demotivating, but the rest was pretty straight forward. Our only mistake was the weave entrance......bummer....I should have supported it a little more, I think I was to far ahead of her....

Great Dane Photos took lots of photos of Josie, see them here;

http://greatdanephotos.com/store/index.php?vp=1&do=photocart&viewGallery=19749

Stay tuned for the videos of all of Josie runs..... not her best run, but not to bad- the finals can be found on AKC's website..It has all the final runs.

http://www.akc.org/events/agility/invitational/2010/video.cfm

To say Josie had a successful trip would be putting it mildly;-) The little Pooh has come along way. Not only did Josie run in the finals and place 10th in the 8” class, but over all heights, she was also 9th in the Non-Sporting group (the only 8” dog in the top 20) after all 4 rounds 10th in High Conformation Dog (1 of only 2 dogs from the 8” class to make it into the top 20), and won the Medallion for high in breed.
She was a SUPERSTAR !!

~Melissa & Josie the Superstar ;-)

Awesome Agility Weekend

2010-11-28T14:11:00.002-06:00

The gang and I had and Awesome Agility weekend. It started Friday when Josie and I went to TCOTC for and AKC agility trail, first run was standard.....she ran great, hit a really difficult weave entry - to bad it wasn't the obstacle she was suppose to take ;-) One of her best runs.....Next was Jumpers and she was just as good, this time we came away with the Blue ribbon ;-)

Saturday the entire gang and I headed up to On The Run for a CPE trial.....Myth's very first trial. We had to be there early to get Myth measured. No one was entered in the first class, first up was Suds in Level 2 standard and he aced it ;-) Josie was watching and didn't want to be outdone - beat him by......10 seconds, they ended up 1st & 2nd.

AND......... Myth ran for the very first time in competition and it was a smashing success. It was Level 1 standard and she was all for it. I had someone record her very first run, here it is;

She ran faster than she does at class, but I think it is because there are half the amount of obstacles in the ring at a real trial, so she is more confident as to where she is going.

Here is her second run CPE Level 1 Jumpers

Josie also ran Snooker Level 3, she was a rock star and won the class. Suds ran Jumpers Level 2 Q'd and was 2nd, here is his run;

Sunday had Josie and I back at TCOTC for AKC. First run was Jumpers, she started out a little pokey, did Q but to slow for a placing. Next up was standard, I really pushed her for speed on this one, very tough course, she was absolutely awesome, to bad she dropped a pole, I called her name for a turn just as she was jumping the jump, it was just a split second to soon. BUT her time was awesome, it was faster than the dog that won the class.

Thursday Josie, Ella and I head for Long Beach and the AKC Invitational --- Stay tuned.!

~M
"It's all about the journey"

Pleasantly surprised

2010-11-05T11:23:00.003-05:00

A local training facility, that none of my dogs have been to, had open gym last Sunday. Since I didn’t have any big plans, other than the mundane household chores, I packed up Suds, Josie & Myth and headed out.

The training area was divided into two spaces with courses in both.

Suds was first and WOW, was he super, ran fast and had fun.

Myth went next. I had no goals, at the very least I though we would hang out in the middle of the ring and Myth would get treats…..SURPRISE, she was all for it, with speed, one little moment of trepidation when she went up the teeter – it was close to a wall where there were several rolls of black matting stacked – scary Lhasa eating rolls, but she still did a really nice teeter and did it several more times. Her weaves were not so great but we did those later after she was a little tired.

The main reason we went to open gym was for Josie, she has a trial at this location in a couple of weeks and we have never been there before….and no worries, teeter was a little slow, as it always is especially on an unfamiliar one. Weaves were not to bad, not as good as at home but not to bad. I think she really liked the matting – she was running nice and fast, worked some courses at 12” and some at 8”.

Each dog got at least one session (about 15 minutes each) on each section, Josie did a couple more……….It was a good day…ended with one tired handler.

~M
“If you're not making mistakes, you're not taking risks, and that means you're not going anywhere. The key is to make mistakes faster than the competition, so you have more chances to learn and win.” John W. Holt, Jr.

She Weaves !!

2010-10-24T10:34:00.001-05:00

With the weather so nice, I have been diligently working Myth on the 2x2 and by golly I think she has got it! It is amazing how fast they pick it up, we started working on the 2x2s and progressed from one set, to two, to three and gradually brought them close so they end up as a set of six weave poles. They are far from perfect, but look at her go !!!!

2 – 6 repetitions are about all I do, she tends to lose her enthusiasm and gets slow – very similar to Josie.

Speaking of Josie, here is a little clip of Josie’s weaves at home-how I wish she would do them like this at the trials..

~M

AKC Eukanuba Invitational

2010-10-20T15:24:00.003-05:00

Hotel is booked, flight is booked.......and Josie will not be going alone !!

It's official Little miss Ella will be going to the Invitational also.

She has been unofficially on the list but, I received her official invite !!!

Must go shopping for a new outfit ;-)

“You will never win if you never begin.” Helen Rowland

On going

2010-10-11T14:06:00.007-05:00

Myth continues to oscillate between awesome teeter performance and being freaked by it…..sigh. Other than the teeter she is coming along beautifully, running sequences with drive and going out to jumps even better than Suds. In last weeks class she even went through the chute-several times!! She has been going through the chute at home, but the one at class is heavier (regulation) material so takes a little more to push through. She also seem to like the outdoors better than inside, I suspect it is because she is very space sensitive and the walls and others around are a little more pressure that she would like - as always, something to work on.

I had a little surprise last week….when Josie received her MACH I placed a notice in the American Lhasa Apso Club Bulletin, and when I received my copy there were 2 more pages with Little JO on them, seems I know some people who can keep a secret. The first on is mine ;-)…….lookee

This past weekend was our last outdoor trial of the year. Josie was entered Fri, Sat & Sun, Suds was entered Fri & Sun. I entered Suds at this trial because it is always cool and sometimes rainy – Go figure Friday it was 91 degrees !!!!!! NOT Suds weather, sign, he did manage to get a Q and 1st place in his Jumpers class – although I think he was the only one in it…It was just to Hot during his standard run and he missed his weaves, but he did to the whole course. Josie QQ (double Q’d) and earned 60 points, she won the Jumpers class- the only dog out of about 13 that Q’s, but was noticeably slower in her standard run, ended up 3rd. Saturday was Suds’ recovery day, Josie ran OK, Q’d in Jumpers with a 2nd place, but she had a little off course (the first in a VERY long time) in her standard run, the rest of the run was really nice, oh well…Sunday the duo ran in the morning (thank you) and is was a very nice temp for Suds, unfortunately as he was headed to the tunnel of which the entrance was places about a foot away from the ring fence a little girl and her papillon puppy were right there and Suds being the social boy he is had to stop and say Hi…..BUT he did come back to me and finished the course quite beautifully. Josie had a very good day, her Standard run was on of her best runs, AWESOME weaves !!! if only she would give me those weaves all the time….she only missed 1st place by less than 2 seconds and it was due to her oh so slow teeeeeeeter….her Jumpers run was really nice also, slower weaves but she was rockin; & rollin’ for 2nd place again. Ended the weekend with 2 QQs and 125 pts.

Josie's photos from the weekend can be found here;

http://greatdanephotos.com/store/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=18245

Suds;

http://greatdanephotos.com/store/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=18343

TCLAC 2010 Specialty

2010-08-31T10:52:00.011-05:00

Whew, what a busy couple of weeks. Another successful specialty has come and gone. It was a nice specialty, missed a few people and entries were lower than usual but the MeLou dogs did well.
First off the BIG news, little Miss Ella can add BISS to her name !!!
Thursday, August 26 she went Best in Specialty Show, she showed just beautifully.

BISS CH FFT MELOU “WELL SAID”
ELLA

Myth and Moka both showed, nothing of note to mention but both were very good.

Moka waiting her turn – grandpa Connor watching in the background.

Myth

Moka, Myth & Audrey

I split my time between the conformation ring and the agility field (quite a hike btw), Josie ran Friday, Saturday and Sunday, still very slow, had a little trouble in the standard ring, but Q’d in jumpers all three days, QQ and a 3rd place on Sunday. VERY interesting Jumpers course on Sunday, 3 jump serpentine to 3 tunnel serpentine to a 3 jump serpentine–very fun !! although it did take a lot of dogs out ;-) Great Dane Photography was at this show, check out Josie's photos;

http://greatdanephotos.com/store/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=17333 as always Josie has a great weave photo and check out her expression on the teeter ;-)
Suds was awesome, he only ran on Saturday – I try to limit his runs and run him only in the mornings, he Q’d in both Jumpers and Standard, and 2 first places. Here are Suds' photos;

http://greatdanephotos.com/store/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=17460

I really like the one of Suds coming out of the tunnel -to bad he is in my shadow.

I think everyone had a good time and the weather could not have been better, no rain, warm but breezy and the humidity stayed low.

We had a parade of Champions with nine Champions -so fun to see and the Club presented Josie and I with a special MACH bar- how cool is that !?!!!

Next weekend Josie has a USDAA trial and then on 9/9 we head for Colorado and the Lhasa Apso Club of Central Colorado’s specialty, and some fun with friends and good wine.

Oh, and check out the special mention on the American Lhasa Apso Club's website; http://www.lhasaapso.org/agility/spec_award.html

Wednesday class highs and lows

2010-08-19T13:44:00.002-05:00

Wednesday class was a huge roller coaster, started with a bang, Myth was fantastic, did a course that the Small & Mighty class had done on Monday and did it very well, serpentines and wraps, wow girl, go !!

We then moved to the other course and Myth toppled the sense of euphoria I was feeling….Teeter avoidance was the name of the game…..where this came from is anyone’s guess but Myth has decided the teeter is the enemy. Yes, it was amusing watching the little *&@* hide in the tunnel, I really wanted to cry…doesn’t she know we have done EVERYTHING right from DAY 1 for her to have fabulous teeter……..ugh. Since she was hiding in the tunnel Jacque had me leave, now for a majority of dogs other than the Lhasa, and even for Suds, this makes the dog want to find and interact with their handler…..this never worked with Josie so not sure how or why I thought it would work with Myth. I peeked back in and she was just standing with everyone else watching the dog on course, not terribly concerned I was not there, sigh.…….ended the class by putting her on lead and doing the teeter, not great, but got it done…. and looks like Myth will be working for her dinner on the teeter.

Josie on the other hand may have had a teeter break through (please, please let it not be a fluke). Jacque broke out the doggie crack (bruansweiger). Josie’s normal teeter performance it to drive up to the fulcrum, stop, wait for the tip, couple of steps, jump, with the crack on the end of the teeter we actually got a drive to the bottom! Yeah!! and more than once. I also had some in my hand when I sent her to the weaves, wow! speedy weaves. The plan is to reward for speedy weaves only and the teeter performance we want.

~M

Breakfast of Champions !

2010-08-16T11:02:00.005-05:00

Kathy R is most awesome! Look what she sent Josie. She also sent me some fun earings and a cute Photo necklace with Josie on it (sorry did not get a picture of it).

Josie and her breakfast of Champions !

This past weekend, Myth, Moka & Ella were at the Albert Lea show….Myth won her first point, Moka was reserve. Both girls were very good, except when I had to hand Myth to someone else to take Ella into the ring, poor Myth had a little panic attack…… Ella won breed, did not do anything in the group ring but showed pretty well. Sunday Val’s puppy Audrey won the point. Ella won Breed again but showed just awful in the group ring – she has a little ear infection brewing so that may be why……I had picked up Moka on Friday to spend the night….she was in a crate with her dinner and apparently Josie wanted Moka's dinner, she figured out how to open it, let Moka out and ate her dinner…........

~M

MACH = Master Agility Champion

2010-08-09T08:09:00.004-05:00

Maybe later I can find the words to explain what those four letters mean to me but for now;
Enjoy QQ #20 from St. Paul Dog Training Club’s Agility trial, Saturday, August 7, 2010.
First was Jumpers, this was one of the better runs we have had – her weaves, while not as fast as she can do them are an improvement over what she has been doing in competition, she ended up about ½ a second out of first place.

Standard on the other hand was a little dicey, let me just say it looks waaaaaay better on video than it felt. The teeter cause me a little anxiety, not only did she take forever, but she almost jumped off without touching the yellow contact zone. Unfortunately my videographer did not get our victory lap ;-(

And Sunday she double Q’d again, a little slower but I think we both were recovering from Saturday ;-)
Jumpers

Standard

~Melissa & MACH Josie

Sooooooo Close

2010-08-03T08:00:00.003-05:00

And yet so far, Josie and I had a trial this past weekend, going for QQ #19 & #20 for her MACH title, here is a nice essay written by a junior explaining the MACH; http://www.akc.org/enewsletter/jrnews/2008/december/mason.cfm . I was more intense on Saturday than I had expected –it was only for QQ #18, and Josie was super, still very slow weaves (faster weaves are the upcoming project), but she the most stellar sit EVER in her standard run.
The little stinker did break her start line in Jumpers...
Jumpers run;

Standard run;
Notice the Stellar table !! We've worked really hard for a table perfomance like that.

Sunday was run small dogs first so we were in the first 10 to start. First class was Standard; Jacque (our trainer) was the judge and her courses are usually very technical and require not just speed but actual handling and teamwork between dog and handler. At the start line I picked her up to situate her (not something I normally do) and she yelped…wtf?....this kind of freaked me out, she started the course really slow, this of course made me more concerned…we did a couple more obstacles and I stopped her, Jacque came over and said that was very strange for Josie and suggested I have her checked over by Kristin (canine sports message therapist) who was at the trial. I also had a friend trialing who is a vet and she checked her over…the message therapist found sore hamstring and glute….everything else checked out OK. I probably overreacted to her yelp and she though something was up…I did pull her from her jumpers run just to be cautious.
I did really want to finish her MACH this past weekend with Jacque being the judge but It will come ;-)

~M
"You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win. " Zig Ziglar

Time....

2010-07-21T13:30:00.001-05:00

Where does it go? Been busy getting ready for the Twin Cities Lhasa Apso Club Agility "A" match this Friday. The match will help us get licensed to hold AKC agility trials, which has the potential to generate significant revenue for the club. Suds will be running, Marsha is coming and running one of her Lhasas, not sure if Roman is running. Josie does not get to run –she is just coming out of season so is not allowed to run in trials per the rules. Myth will be coming along just to hang out.

Myth has been working part of out Tuesday class and is doing super…..I have temporarily put a hold on her weave training until I can dedicate time each day for 3 weeks straight. I am also trying to get her to play more with toys at class – not much luck, but at least she is food motivated little chow hound ;-).

TCLAC Specialty is only 5 weeks away Yikes!! Entries close in 3 weeks. I have a site meeting with the other specialty clubs and SCVKC next Tuesday. Next weekend (7/31 & 8/1) Josie has an agility trial. She only needs 2 QQ for her MACH – it’s possible, she has had a perfect weekend before, but if it doesn’t happen there is always the next trial or the next ;-) .

~M

Pippin's Agility Trial Rules
-During your run, the dog is always right.
-Keep moving. If you are lost on course, make something up.
-Don't stint on the treats, praise and other rewards.
-Have fun with your dog.
-Make sure your DOG is having fun with you.
-Give the dog one more potty break than you think it needs.

July 4th weekend

2010-07-10T10:40:00.002-05:00

Yes, I spent the July 4th weekend at an AKC Agility trail, most likely Josie's last for a few weeks since I have entered her in several in July and she is due to come into season ; -) The trial was indoor at Soccerblast and it was a steamy one outside Thank you AC ! Suds was not entered and crating space was tight so it was a solo Josie. Saturday we QQ, no placings - I really need to speed up her weaves, but an awesome sit on the table...I was really impressed she hopped on and sat immediately AND didn't move ! Good Girl!!! QQ #17!

here is her standard run - kind of hard to follow...

and Jumpers

Sunday was Just a good QQ #18 whoohoo!! 2 more to go.. no video, dead battery.

Monday, Fun courses. In our Standard run I goofed, she beat me out of the tunnel at the end and we did a little dance, she then decided I couldn't be trusted to know the course and picked a jump herself....unfortunately the wrong last jump. Jumpers was a Q though, the beginning of the course was really nice. Josie had great lead outs the whole trial, and is fast off the start.
Standard - I wish the camera could have caught her expression at the end...

Jumpers

~M

Couldn't do it....

2010-06-29T09:40:00.004-05:00

Cut Suds down, I had him on the table, clippers and shears ready to go, even had a section banded and braided for me to keep and I just couldn’t do it…..He did get his head trimmed, since he cannot keep bands in for nothin’. Turned out pretty cute…

And our sweet, sweet Ella…now officially Champion FFT MeLou “Well Said”

~Melissa

Pedigree indicates what the animal should be.
Conformation indicates what the animal appears to be.
But performance indicates what the animal actually is.
~ Author Unknown

Weave training

2010-06-28T10:03:00.001-05:00

I have started Myth on her weave training. On The Run started a 2x2 weaves class, just a short 3 week session, we have had 2 classes, I don’t have 2x2’s yet so with no training in between classes can I just say WOW! It is absolutely amazing to watch their little minds work it out. Myth has caught on really quick. I am hoping she will have better, more independent weaves than Josie. The 2x2 method actually teaches them to think and to find the correct entrance. It is based on shaped behavior.

I looked at purchasing 2x2 weaves, yikes, the going price for 1 2x2 weave (2poles) is $45. Down to the basement shop I go……for about $30 in materials I was able to make 4 sets of 2x2’s, very easily. They are not metal bases, but they will work just fine.

We'll see how it goes, I may end up re-training Josie’s weaves using the 2x2 method..

~M

St Cloud AKC

2010-06-23T14:14:00.001-05:00

This past weekend Suds & Josie had an AKC trial in St. Cloud. Saturday was just Josie, she had 3 classes, FAST, Standard and Jumpers. FAST went pretty well, the send bonus was out 15’ to the A-frame which she did awesome, then tunnel to tunnel, unfortunately she went past the entrance of one of the tunnels and incurred a refusal, but the rest was really nice…..Next came Jumpers, a very nice course to bad she missed her weave entrance, once she missed it I pulled her off course. Standard, she did it again! Now the first missed weave entrance OK, she just didn’t want to slow down to weave, but the second ? Oh well, I guess it was just not her day for weave.

Sunday both Suds and Josie were entered. In Standard Josie missed the tire jump WTF!?, not sure why, it was right in front of her, I wish I would have had someone get it on video. She did nail her weave thought and had a really nice rear cross, she is getting better and better at rear crosses. Suds Q’d in Standard Yeah!! His first Excellent Standard Q. Josie did manage to Q in Jumpers…almost went into the wrong end of the tunnel but we saved it. Suds missed the first jump..not the first time, I need to figure out where I need to be and where he needs to be at the first jump, time to experiment.

It was a really fun weekend despite Josie’s weaves and no QQ, a bunch of the Small & Mighty crew all tented together and had a great time. Myth discovered digging…..I had an expen set up for the dogs, I didn’t have any toys in there Saturday morning so Myth occupied herself…sigh….to bad I didn’t have a camera, she was quite a sight, my little show dog ;-)

I once again did a little with Myth at Josie’s Tues evening class, we did a short jump, dog walk, tire, teeter, jump sequence while other dogs were working the class sequence. I am very impressed, Myth was very enthusiastic and had good drive toward obstacles even the teeter which was right next to the fence where other handlers and dogs were waiting. That is a lot of pressure for a young/green dog. We didn’t do very much as it was very warm and muggy. Hopefully she will be as good at tonight’s class.

~M

Myth Runs....

2010-06-16T07:16:00.002-05:00

After a couple of lessons where Myth didn’t feel the need to work….she has once again decided it’s FUN!! I thought I would try running her after Josie’s Wednesday class….and did she deliver, I do think she likes running outside. The collect and wrap after #3 is a little beyond her level but she did super !!! Lovely dog walk and teeter ;-)

I now have to decide which method she will learn weaves, channel, guides or 2x2…….I am leaning towards 2x2. Josie learned with the channel method and she has OK weaves, she does slow down towards the end but I am not sure if the method she learned is a contributing factor or if it is because we were learning agility together…

~Melissa

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.” Miss Piggy

Fargo-Moorhead Kennel Club Dog Show

2010-06-11T13:42:00.001-05:00

Early Friday 6/4 morning, the crew + 1 headed up to Fargo for 3 days of conformation showing. There was a major in boys so the hope was for Ella to pick up some points, Cary to get a major to finish his Championship and for our friend Mary’s Ruby to get one of the majors to finish her Championship. Friday, one of Marsha Susag’s boy puppies won the major, and Ella won Best of Winners and breed for the cross over major (Yeah!). This entailed us to participate in the Non-Sporting Group, where we went on to make the cut for a placing, alas no group placing. Now, Ella has in the past been known to get “spooked” and not show her best, but she was “ON” and showed like a little rock star ;-).

Saturday we had a leisure morning as our ring time was not until 2pm, headed off to the show grounds around 10am, 3 dogs to groom. Myth & Fonda were pretty quick for grooming, I did spend extra time with Ella to get her looking good. Once again, one of Marsha’s boy puppies won the major and Ella won Best of Winners and breed for the crossover major with gets her………….her Championship !! very nice! And we went to the group ring again, she showed really well and had fun. Marsha came by the motel to celebrate….produced something she called the uffda drink, lemonade and wild plum something, it was yummy ;-)

Sunday we had to load the van as check out at the motel would be after our ring time. AND to complete the weekend Cary (a Suds son) won winner’s dog, the major and his CHAMPIONSHIP !! YAHOOOOOooooo!! Nothing like waiting ‘til the end. Ruby went Best of Winners for the crossover major and her Championship. Ella won Best of Breed and we did wait around all afternoon for groups, no placing put even after two days of showing and living in a motel she still showed great !! Good girl !

Myth also was entered for the weekend and was very good, still needs work on the table though.

Miss Ella in the group ring.

~Melissa

2010-06-08T08:48:00.003-05:00

Wow, a little behind….so catch up…

First, Memorial weekend, I hope everyone remembered and paid tribute to our fallen service men and women .

I spent the weekend playing agility, Josie and I had an AKC trial on Saturday and Sunday, then on to a USDAA trial on Monday.

Saturday Suds and Myth came along to the Bloomington Obedience Training Club agility trial. Josie’s first run was Ex B Jumpers, unfortunately she dropped a pole, not sure why, after a little distraction between jump 7 & 8 she ran really well, maybe a little slow because the grass was about 5 inches tall and thick. It was the first pole she has ever dropped in an AKC competition.

Her Standard run started well, got called for a missed contact on the dog walk….hmmmm, and then missed her weave entrance, I had decided in the past if she misses her weaves I pull her off course, so that was the end of that run. We had one class left, after about 3 hours we ran Open FAST. FAST is an optional class that is not offered at many trials, you make up your own course, each obstacle is work a set amount of points, you also have to complete a send bonus. In the send bonus, the handler stays behind a line and sends the dog to a set of obstacles. Not sure if being pulled off course earlier inspired her or what but it was her fastest run of the day, went out on the send bonus just awesome and finished with a first place and her Open Fast (OF) title.

We also Met Mary, Roman, Taz and Moka at the trial. Roman ran with a friend as Mary is still recovering from foot surgery. Got some cute pictures of M & M;

Moka
M & M

Monday we ran in a USDAA trial on a DAM (Dog Agility Master) Team Tournament. Josie was on The Small & Mighty team, consisting of Josie and two Papillions, Sky and Mellie. We each run 4 classes and our scores are combined for a team score, we then run a relay. We competed against about 26-30 teams over all jump heights - and ended up 12 overall, we were quite excited, and showed Small Dogs ROCK! One think I must point out, as a handler, when at the start line, make sure you check each jump before starting you run…..I failed to do that in the relay, Josie and I were the first to run and the 3rd jump was set incorrectly at 16” eek, she did try to jump it but really knocked it hard, the Judge said to go on and it wouldn’t count against us, it did shake her a little and she ran the rest of the course very hesitant.

Thursday 6/3, we had a seminar with Stacy Peardot-Goudy, Stacy has numerous national and international championships, just recently coached the US team at the 2010 IFCS World Agility Championships, presents seminars worldwide and hosts agility camps, workshops, classes, and private lessons through her agility training school C Spot Win located in LaPorte, CO. Josie and I have taken several seminars with her in the past and it is always a fun learning experience. Josie was in the Small & Mighty group, it was a fun group and we worked on some very technical sequences. Suds did his first seminar, he did the afternoon intermediate session and was super! Worked all the way through, although he did slow down in the last run. Really showed me I need to have more confidence in him finding the jumps, I still need to support, but he is seeking out the jumps better. After the seminar I pulled Myth out and ran her on a couple of the sequences Suds did….WOW, she was super even did the tunnel – had been having a little hesitation with the tunnel away from home.

Friday we headed up to Fargo for a conformation show -------BIG update in the next post ;-)

~Melissa

AKC passes new Regulations

2010-05-18T11:57:00.002-05:00

AKC has passed new agility regulation, not all will go into effect right away but,

Effective September 1, 2010

A-frame only 5 feet for 4 & 8 inch dogs!

and, drum rolllllllllllllll....

Table: "The dog shall pause on the table for 5 cumulative seconds. The judge's count shall start once all 4 paws have touched the table (and the dog remains on the table top). Neither a sit or down position is required. "

This will save lots of time at trials and Josie will be soooo happy, although we will still train for an automatic down as in USDAA it is always a down on the table.

Dogwalk up contacts are no longer judged!!

This way judges will not be racing from one end of the dog walk to the other to watch both the up contact and the down contact – this has made Josie and to a lesser degree Suds to slow down and give the judges dirty looks for being so close, gotta love “chary of strangers” ;-)

Teeters must be calibrated prior to the start of every trial - clubs are responsible for having calibration materials.

This I love – hopefully it will make the teeter more consistent for the dogs.

Effective July 1, 2011· No more MACH point multipliers for 1st and 2nd placements

Bummer, Josie most always gets multipliers for MACH points, but oh well…..

Lots more, for all new regulations see Attachment B, page 9- 53
http://www.akc.org/pdfs/about/board_minutes/0510.pdf

~Melissa

"An off-course is just the right behavior for the wrong obstacle." Rick DeAmelio

DON'T YOU DARE STEAL MY JOY

2010-05-07T08:47:00.002-05:00

Just a friendly reminder;

*Permisssion to cross post* a great read for all dog competitors

Connie Cleveland is a well known Obedience Trainer, but this could apply to other venues beyond Obedience Dog Competitions. ..in any venue in life...

DON'T YOU DARE STEAL MY JOY
by Connie Cleveland

On the occasion of my tenth anniversary, my husband asked me how I wanted to celebrate. I asked that we take a very dear friend, my adopted grandmother and one of the greatest of all the great southern ladies, out to dinner with us.
At dinner, my husband, Brian, presented me with a diamond ring. It wasgorgeous and I was speechless, but even as I thanked him, I worried about the expense and extravagance of such a gift. As if he knew that the next line belonged to my grandmother, my husband excused himself from the table.
He was barely out of sight when she reached across the table and grabbed me by the shoulder, "I know what you're thinking, I know you think he couldn't afford it and it's too extravagant. I don't care if he had to put a second mortgage on the house to buy it, don't you steal his joy! It's beautiful. Accept it as the token of his love that it is and say nothing about how he shouldn't have bought it for you." Then she repeated, "Don't you dare steal his joy!"
That was the end of the conversation. She sat back in her seat, smiled at my returning husband, and we had a lovely dinner. I took her advice and put my reservations out of my mind. The ring has never come off my finger, but most importantly, I learned a wonderfully important lesson, never to steal another man's joy.

Are you a joy stealer?

"You know if my dog hadn't gone down on the sit, I would have won theclass", said, unfeelingly, to the winner.

"I sure didn't think your dog worked that high a score."

"I can't believe you placed, I thought Jane Oneup and her dog would beat you."

"I thought I had that class won! My dog had a great performance, " said to the winner.

"Isn't that judge an idiot? I can't believe the dogs he put up!" said to the winner.

"Boy, aren't you glad Mrs Winallthetime wasn't here today or you might not have won."

"You passed that Master test because the water blind was so easy."
"That was the stupidest set of water marks I've ever seen. No trial should end that easily," said to the winner.

Do you discourage or encourage fellow competitors? Do you tell them their goals are too lofty and their dreams too big? Are you trying to be helpful or trying to keep them from accomplishing something that you never had the ability or perseverance to do yourself? It is equally as harmful to steal joy by destroying the dream.

"No Basset Hounds get UD's," said to the owner of the Bassett in Utility class.
"I've never seen a Rottweiler that could do fronts and finishes", said to the owner of the Rottweiler practicing fronts and finishes.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a UD and a Master Hunter? Do you know how few people have ever done it?" said to the first time dog owner setting out to do both.

When FC AFC OTCH Law Abiding Ezra had both his field championships and 65 OTCH points including all the necessary first places, someone had the guts to come up to me, his owner, trainer and handler and say, "No dog will ever be a field champion and an obedience champion." My jaw drops when I think about it. Isn't it unfortunate that I remember this attempt at stealing my joy much more than I remember all the cards and letters and congratulations I received when those last 35 points were earned?

If you are willing to destroy someone's dream, perhaps you don't realize that it is the JOY of pursuing the dream that keeps the dreamer motivated, not just reaching the accomplishment.

My husband and I travel and compete together. I remember an event, early in our relationship when I watched his Doberman fail articles. "Darn it," I said, as he came out of the ring," she didn't even try to find the right one!" "Oh", he replied, "but, weren't her heeling and signals wonderful?"

Unknowingly, I had almost stolen his joy. He was celebrating the improvement on the exercise that had been giving him trouble, and I was focused on the failure. Since that experience, Brian and I have learned that the best response to a questionable performance, "What did you think?" That way, if the handler is excited about some aspect of the performance, you can share that excitement. If the handler is disappointed in another aspect, you can share the disappointment. You are safely removed from being a joy stealer.

I hope you have a lot of dreams and goals for your dogs in (the coming year). Undoubtedly there will be moments of disappointment as you venture through the landmines of injury, failures and other setbacks. Remember that the joy of the journey is worth the difficulties along the way and don't let anyone steal that joy. Guard it well and at the end of the road you can own it and revel in it with all the other memories of the trip.

ETS

2010-05-06T08:09:00.002-05:00

Clean Run magazine ran an article in their May issue about a jumping problem called Early Takeoff Syndrome. A very interesting article about dogs that jump early or take a stutter step and what could be causes, etc. This article was was of special interest for me as Suds shows classic symptoms, he will take off early at jumps, sometimes add a stride or all together skip the jump. This is one of the reasons I do not jump him at his regular height. There are some videos on Clean Run’s site, scroll below the center picture;
http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=447
If anyone is interested in the article, let me know…

There is a lot of speculation that eye sight is a contributing factor to ETS. This research on the canine eye speculates that eye sight could be breed/size based.
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s953902.htm

~Melissa

“A word to the wise ain't necessary -- it's the stupid ones that need the advice.” Bill Cosby

SSA, SG, AD, AJ, AR, AS

2010-05-03T11:11:00.006-05:00

These are the new letter Josie gets to add after her name. These are the USDAA titles Josie earned over the weekend.
SSA = Starters Standard
SG = Starters Gamblers
AD = Agility Dog
AJ = Advanced Jumpers
AS = Advanced Snooker
AR = Advanced Relay

It was Josie’s first outdoor trial of the season and VERY windy. With 2 rings running our first class was Starters Gamblers – you make up you own course for the first 30 seconds and when the whistle blows you need to complete the gamble within 16 seconds. The gamble is a set of obstacles that need to be taken in a specific order with the handler remaining behind the gamble line. She rocked! Very nice and smooth no hesitation whatsoever. Q & 1st place & Starters Gamblers (SG) title. Below is our gamblers course;

We then ran over to the other ring and ran our Advanced Jumpers. Jumpers is Josie’s favorite class, once again she was soooo good, nice, nice, nice run. Q & 1st & Advance Jumpers (AJ).

We then had a short break until standard. Myth got to come out and socialize. There are usually quite a few puppies at USDAA trials, they do not restrict unentered dogs at trials, the only requirement is they need to be 8 weeks old.

Josie’s Standard run was OK, she trotted her dog walk, hmmm, and when she was tipping the teeter the wind blew it back up, did I mention is was windy? she did complete it but I could tell she was not at all happy. Then we had a little issue on the table, unfortunately about 4 dogs before her a dog peed on the table, ugh, they did clean it up, but Josie found the spot and proceeded to sniff it for a good 5 seconds before she would down. Q & 1st & Starter Standard (SSA) with her standard title she also earned the Agility Dog (AD) title for an AD you need 3 starter standard legs, 1 starter gamble, 1 starter jumpers, 1 starter snooker and 1 starter relay.

Next up was our Advanced Relay. Relay is done with a partner; each team member runs a segment of the course with an exchange of the baton in a designated location, generally scored based on time + faults (faults are converted to seconds) Our partner was a little Jack named ParTay. ParTay ran first, Josie seemed a little hesitant from our previous teeter so started a little slow, thankfully I asked our partner to do the portion of the course with the teeter. She did end well. Q & 2nd & Advanced Relay (AR) title.

We headed for home about 2pm……. When we got home Josie and I went out in the back yard and did a few teeters, no problem.

Sunday had a lighter breeze ;-) Josie had 3 classes; starters gamblers and standard – fun runs as she finished titles yesterday and didn’t need these legs, good thing. In Gamblers she bailed on the teeter, pretty sure this was reluctance carried over from yesterday. In standard she did to the teeter but it was painfully slow, she also sniffed the table again….she missed her entrance on the weaves, I didn’t make her restart them and just ran for the end jump.

Last class for the day was Advanced Snooker. Snooker is fun, fun, fun class, one of my favorites, it can be a bit confusing until you run it.
Class description can be found here;
http://www.usdaa.com/rulesReg_ClassDescs.cfm
I like to try for all 7 point obstacles in our opening but, the 7 pointer for this course was the weaves and she is not the fastest in the weaves and repeating them 4 times just irritates her I elected to do the 5 point and two 6 point obstacles. She was back to her old self and had a very nice run – great way to end the weekend, even had fairly fast weaves. Q & 1st & Advanced Snooker (AS) title.
Here is our Snooker course;

So, the weekend has some ups and downs but over all was very productive, and thankfully we ended on a good note. We now have a four week break before another agility trial. I get to go watch the World Team Tryouts this weekend at the U of M Leatherdale arena.

~Melissa

Wednesday Classes

2010-04-29T12:11:00.002-05:00

Wednesday evening starts with me flying home from work (Eagan to Stillwater -26 miles), tossing the dogs out to potty, quick change, loading appropriate dogs and zooming (as much as one can zoom in rush hour with construction) up to On The Run (Stillwater to Ham Lake – 30 miles). Myth’s Turbo puppy class is first, last night was a small class (3 were absent) so the puppies got lots of work. We started with a jump circle, a little to boring to start with for Myth, she kept wanting to go visit her friends. Next up was teeter work, I have worked very hard to make sure she likes this obstacle unlike her mom. Working her on things that move and working my teeter at home very low and it is definitely paying off, she runs right up it. We are still at the stage where it is not full height and it is a controlled descent, but so far she really likes it. YES ! Then we moved to on to the Dog Walk, one of her favorites….and she did it full height for the first time..Wheee. Next was a short sequence, starting with the Chute (not her favorite), tire, jump, tunnel. Had to make a couple of attempts at the Chute but ran the rest really well. We ended the evening with a couple of recalls. Puppies were all very tired.

Josie’s master class was next, again it was a small class only 5 of us. I experimented on how far I can send her to jumps – need to work on it some more. She was very good, driving to the jumps and several really good teeters. Jacque had a tunnel, tunnel discrimination set up at the beginning of a course and Josie took the tunnel closest to me (wrong one) and then got stuck on that tunnel (repeated it several times). Awesome on the table, OK dog walk, we put her hoop on the end to make sure she drives to the bottom of the contact zone. Earlier this week at home Josie gave me a glimmer of how fast she can weave…….WOW, it was amazing, I wish I would have had a video of it. I just have to figure out how to get that speed all the time….

~Melissa
“It’s all about the journey”

Just another Monday......

2010-04-26T09:12:00.003-05:00

This past Sunday the Lhasa Club sponsored a canine massage seminar at Pet Junction. Jacque was our presenter. There was a very nice turn out, about 15 people. Very useful information. I think everyone enjoyed it and I received positive feedback.

Myth is coming along in her agility training. She is doing well on all the contacts, loves the A-frame and is enjoying the teeter, especially when there is braunsweiger waiting at the end. She does have a little trouble focusing in class when we do one jump exercises, I have decided to only do each exercise a couple of time – the same as we do at home, otherwise she just gets bored and tends to wander off and try to visit Terry and Katie. Last week we put together a 5 jump sequence with two front crosses – she did great! At home we have been working on short sequences and tunnels and keeping it fun! We have had to step back a little on the tunnel, when I add to much of a bend she will go in a few feet turn around and come back out, baby steps. She will be a year old the beginning of June and I am trying to decide by which method she will learn the weaves….Channel or 2x2, or a combination……of course either will require an equipment purchase.

A week ago Sunday, we went over to Mary’s for a feet trimming lesson. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, Josie and Myth got to play with Moka and Roman, well, mostly Myth & Moka played. Here are a few clips of the girls;

This coming weekend Josie has a USDAA agility trial, we are hoping for a standard and gamblers Qs so we can move up to the advanced level. As long as she hits the down contact on the dog walk, which is shorter than AKC she should get the standard Q, gambers...well working from a distance is not our strong suit but it is something we have been working on so just maybe. She has been weaving like a fool at home, it helps so much when we can get out there everyday and I can send her through the weaves once or twice, she really picks up speed.

~M

"It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes a difference." Bear Bryant

SPDTC Agility Trial

2010-04-12T08:16:00.005-05:00

This past Friday - Sunday was the St. Paul Dog Training Club's April Agility Trial.

It was definitely Josie’s weekend. She started off Friday with a bang, 2nd place in Standard, could have been first but a little slow with the sit on the table, but good weaves. She then came back and won the Jumpers class, started a little slow, the weaves were #2 so didn’t get going very fast before them. Judge Steve Shelt has great courses, tough but fun, I will definitely look for him to judge any trial I go to.
Here are Josie’s runs from Friday;
Standard;

Jumpers;

Saturday she was just a good, seemed a little slower in her Jumpers run, and went wide on a couple of turns (this is a work in progress, getting her to tighten up turns without loosing impulsion) ended up 3rd (didn’t get this one on video). Her standard run was really good, although she was slow to down on the table, which is unusual as her down is normally very fast, she ended up 2nd by .01 seconds, first place had a time of 50.28 and Josie was 50.29, so the table did cost her, although her dog walk was also very slow for her….Here is her Standard run;

Sunday Josie was just as good. She just blew away the competition in her Jumpers run, nailed a VERY tough weave entry ! yeah ! was just blazin’ took first place by over 2 seconds. Unfortunately we had a handler error in her standard, she ran pretty well, although she spent a long time on the teeter.

Ended the weekend with QQ number 14 & 15, which means only 5 left to go and picked up 123 points to put us over on MACH points for a total of 795. And she is now qualified for the 2011 AKC Agility Nationals. Cool !!

Suds’ weekend was not as good, seems we had a little regression, he just stressed and was not with me. On Friday he took the first two obstacles and then avoided the tunnel hmmmm. In his second class I knew I was in trouble when he left me at the start to visit a bar setter. Oh, well…..

~Melissa
"I like the winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I love to play." Brois Becker

Fargo-Moorhead Agility Trial

2010-03-29T07:03:00.003-05:00

You win some you lose some…..our Fargo trip started out with a bank, Josie won both Ex B standard and Jumpers, she was 10 seconds faster than 2nd place in Standard. She was running really well. Here are her runs from Friday;
Standard;

Jumpers;

Suds did really well also, would have Q’s in both his classes except for the weaves. But the fact that he did not get stressed and actually ran in a new unfamiliar location is huge, what a good boy. Here are his runs from Friday;
Standard;

Jumpers;

Saturday was not Josie’s day, in Jumpers she was just running to fast and didn’t feel the need to slow down for the weaves so missed the entrance, other than that is was a nice run. Her standard round had a handler miss queue, I pushed a little to hard to send her out to the tunnel and she went out to the A-frame – good girl ;-) Haven’t had a chance to upload those runs yet. Saturday WAS Suds’ day, he didn’t Q in Jumpers, but was really good for his Standard run, he Q’d with a first place and his Open Standard Preferred title !! Saturday evening he was exhausted and curled up in Myth’s crate.

Sunday a whole new day……In Josie’s standard run I tried to do a rear cross and ummm, got a little anxious and turned my shoulders a fraction of a second to soon and pushed her off of the jump, bummer, but the rest of the run was awesome, good weaves, GREAT sit on the table. We did make up for it in Jumpers, 9 seconds under course time and the only 8” dog that qualified. Suds just ran jumpers and was a bit distracted, so we have a few missed jumps, but he did finish strong. The Fargo-Moorhead Kennel Club puts on a really nice trial, their new location/building is very nice, great food and the weather wasn’t to bad….

Weekend Summary

2010-03-22T09:40:00.003-05:00

The trial this past weekend started kind of off…. Josie’s first run we just weren’t connected, she ran really well but missed the weave entry and our timing just wasn’t there. Suds had a really good first run in Excellent A jumpers, he did miss a jump but the jump and I were on separate sides of a support pole and that was just to far away for him, but he nailed his off side weaves YEAH !! Good boy. Josie’s second class was a bit better, except for the sit on the table, shake, sit, stand, shake…did finally manage a full count but that put here in 3rd place. Suds’ second run was not to bad, he was a little more distracted, missed the weaves and had a refusal at the double after the weaves but overall did really well.

Sunday was a blue day --- a blue ribbon day. Josie’s first run (jumpers) was Awesome, I think she had the fastest weaves in competition yet and ended up in 1st place. Suds’ first run was really good and if there would have been 1 less weave pole it would have been a qualifying run, but he had fun! If Josie’s first run was Awesome, her second run (standard) was Spectacular, WOW except for slightly slower weaves it may have been our best run ever. Her sit on the table was spot on, hmmm what did we do different? Well the handler stayed up, no bending and hovering and asked for the sit the same way as in practice and voila –perfect, guess all this time it may have been a handler issue after all, sigh. She ended up in first place a full 5 seconds faster than 2nd place ! Suds’ Open standard run was excellent, he did get a little distracted in the weaves (they were positioned right by the in gate with all the people) but he had fun and finished with no faults and first place.

Myth came along, hung out in her crate, watched the dogs on course and got lots of treats from everyone. When we got home Sunday I pulled my teeter, tunnel, weaves and tire jump out into the yard and Myth had a little training. We worked on tunnel to the table, I think I will be naming the table something else for Myth….so far we have not named it. We did a little work with the teeter, set at the lowest it will go and I put my table under the up side, so it only drops about 10”, she had a great time.

~Melissa
“I love the winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I love to play.” Boris Becker

Upcoming

2010-03-19T09:29:00.002-05:00

Event though it is only officially Spring, this weekend marks the beginning of a busy summer;
AKC Agility trail this weekend
AKC Agility trial in Fargo, ND next Fri-Sun
AKC Agility Fun match followed by pizza party ;-) 4/2
TCLAC meeting/Awards 4/3
AKC Agility trail 4/9-4/11
UKI-new Agility org match 4/17
TCLAC massage seminar 4/25
Seward, NE conformation or USDAA Agility trial in St. Cloud 5/1 & 5/2
World team try outs –worker 5/8 & 5/9
TCLAC meeting 5/11
AKC or CPE Agility trail 5/15 & 5/16
USDAA or AKC Agility trial or Conformation in St. Peter 5/29 & 5/30
Stacy Peardot Goudy Seminar 6/3
Whew and that is just the beginning…..and it doesn’t include our regular Monday and Wednesday classes or private lessons…

Both Suds and Josie are ready for this weekend’s trial. Suds had his class on Monday and he was sooooo good, nailed the weaves at speed, on the off side, TWICE - this is huge for him since he has a very hard time working on the off side. Goes to show you really need to work the dog on both sides when you first start working them (I didn’t get Suds until he was just over a year old and he had some “issues”). Suds was really driving and seeking out obstacles – our goal this weekend is for him to keep moving and have FUN !! It will be his first trial running Excellent A Jumpers, and the best part is Jacque is the judge, so Suds is used to her being on the course with us. Josie had her class Wednesday and did not disappoint. Her class is at On The Run, which has THE BEST mats, so she jumps 12” there (this is her USDAA jump height) and she really ran great, awesome turns, great teeter, weaves could have been faster but I’ll take ‘em, and she looked great. I really think her conditioning work has paid off, she is really rocking back on her rear for turns and they have gotten much tighter.

Myth had the week off from class, her next session will start March 31st. She has been doing some Ball work and working her contact trainer. I have to say looking at her trot across the yard, she is one pretty little Lhasa ;-) I really need to take her and Ella to a conformation class before to long. Ella just needs a refresher but Myth needs more table work.

~Melissa

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth th e effort." Herm Albright

FC & RC

2010-03-12T07:10:00.003-06:00

or Front Cross and Rear Cross.

A front cross is where you cross your dogs path (side change) in front of them. I prefer a front cross, as do both Suds and Josie, but this requires the handler to be in front of the dog so it means lots more running. A rear cross is where you cross your dogs path (side change) behind the dog.

With Suds I need to be very close as he gets nervous if I am to far away. When he gets nervous he will skip the jumps in a rush to get to my side. He also needs to see me which is why rear crosses do not work with him.

Josie will slow down if I rear cross. I will use a rear cross with Josie when I need to cue deceleration for a tight turn. Rear crosses are not our forte. BUT, she is very comfortable with rear crosses at the weaves.

I have started teaching Myth rear crosses on the flat (no jumps) as I want her to be as comfortable with rear crosses as front crosses. ;-) To teach the front cross on the flat I have her at my side(on the left for this turn)-treats in both hands, walk forward, do a slight step away (right) from my dog and turn into her bringing her nose into me with a treat in my right hand while walking forward. repeat starting with the dog on your right side....everything needs to be taught with the dog on both sides.
Myth working front crosses on the flat;

Teaching rear crosses on the flat. start with dog at my side (left)-treats in both hands, walk forward, with the hand closest to the dog lure her ahead of you and her head slightly away from you, do a small step behind, switch hands and lure the dog into position at your side. repeat with the dog on the other side.
Myth working rear crosses on the flat;

There is also the dreaded blind cross......some handling systems use the blind cross. In a blind cross the dog crosses behing you so you take your eye off your dog. I think running small dogs blind crosses can present more of a challenge, small dogs can dissapear fast and are easier to lose track of. As a general rule I do not use blind crosses, now having said that, yes I have done blind crosses ONLY at a tunnel or the down side of the A frame, at these places I know exactly where my dog is.

and here is one of Myth working the contact board, she thinks this is great fun!

~Melissa

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. Bertrand Russell

Wednesday Classes

2010-02-25T11:50:00.006-06:00

In last nights Turbo puppy class Myth did her first sequence (wish I would have had someone get it on video), it was tunnel, plank, tire, pinwheel of 3 jump standards (no jumps for the small puppies), tippy board…..WAY FUN!! No hesitation went right around. She is really working well and having fun. After everyone had a couple of turns the puppies got to do a very low A-frame and Dog Walk. Myth is just like her mom, she loves the A-Frame – must the be the mountain dog in them ;-). A great A-frame is where the dog actually “floats” over the apex in a natural stride, Josie has a great A-frame, Suds not so much, he kind of pulls himself over, Myth is going to have a great A-frame. The puppies also did a low Dog Walk, Myth likes it also, not as much as the A-frame, but I think she may have been getting tired.

Josie’s Master class is after Myth’s class. I believe class is for trying things you normally would not try in a trial….this class was full of opportunities. The diagram below is one of the courses we did. I was able to get quite a bit of distance from some of the obstacles, especially the send from jump 5 to 6, I was able to stay on the other side of jump 7 and send her to 6 without hesitation, it was awesome. I was able to rear cross (my path crossed Josie’s behind her, more on rear and front crosses in another post). We still need to work on her teeter speed but the weaves have improved.

It was a very good evening for all………

~Melissa

“When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either”. Leo Burnett

Projects

2010-02-24T06:53:00.010-06:00

Last weekend, I had no trial, no show, no activities planned….what to do with myself, yeah, right. Errands, chores out of the way, I had a couple of projects I had wanted to start. I had recently gotten on sale, a very nice outfit for conformation shows (finding outfits for conformation is a whole blog or two) but it really needed some accessories ;-) so off to the bead store I went, and this is what I created………really turned out pretty.

The other project was for Suds, he has always had trouble with the triple jump. The issue is because triple jumps are made to fit all heights, with the spread increasing as the height increases, when you get to the lower heights the front rail is set back from the front edge of the standards. Suds thinks he needs to take off from the front edge of the standard, which makes the spread for him much wider than he needs to jump and sometimes causes him to come down on the back rail. So, I needed a triple jump for us to experiment and practice on………holy cow, expensive. I would have liked to buy a regulation one, but they run over $200, yikes! So, I made one. To buy one just like the one I made, it would have run about $140, materials from Menards less than $20, a couple hours and voila…..turned out pretty good. The most expesive part was the tape to color the rails ;-)

Here are a couple of Josie trying it out;

~Melissa

You Make Me Feel Like Dancin'

2010-02-23T07:20:00.004-06:00

A while ago, I read a blog and comments on what music best captures your own dogs’ personality? At the time, nothing really came to me, sure both Suds and Myth have songs for their registered names, neither really “fits”, and I never could come up with anything for Josie or Ella. Recently each one has acquired their Theme Song;

Suds' registered name Suds-in-the-Bucket is a country song by Sara Evans, an OK song and while Suds’ name fits him the song not so much….but “Don’t Worry Be Happy” IS Suds.

Josie, well, truly what else could she be but “Born to be Wild” ;-)

Ella, sweet little Ella, who just wants everyone to be happy and get along, “I’d like to Teach the World to Sing”.

Myth = MeLou Shambhala, Shambhala by Three Dog Night, and a “Myth”ical kingdom in the Himalayas, geographical region where the Lhasa originated. Myth has been tough. When I leave for work in the morning I leave the radio on for the dogs, they get a variety; some days big band, some days classic rock, talk, etc, this morning I flipped on KOOL 108, oldies, and playing was You Make Me Feel Like Dancin’…….yeah, so it’s a campy 70s song, but I think it may be Myth’s theme….
Here is a very entertaining version, ;

~Melissa

“Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.” unknown

Canine Faces

2010-02-15T15:15:00.026-06:00

SUDS

JOSIE

ELLA

MYTH

Lovely Saturday

2010-02-15T14:28:00.002-06:00

Saturday morning was nice a lazy, sleeping in –around here that is about 6:30 ;-)
Mid morning met up with several dog people at Pet Junction for a little conformation training. I brought Myth, she is coming along really nicely.
Here is a little clip of her; I asked Val to take her around so I could see her, and to get someone other than me on the lead. She looks pretty good and this was at the end of the hour.

After conformation training Josie had a contact and weaves seminar. Went really well, the training center was divided into 5 sections with an instructor in each. We were in groups of 5, and would rotate. Each section had a different focus; A-Frame and teeter, 2x2 Weaves, short sequence working on weave entrances, short sequence with varied weaves (12 & 6 pole) and a Dog Walk race course – Josie’s favorite. Very intense workout for the dogs, Josie handled it great, we took a little break during our 3rd section, and ended with the Dog Walk race course tunnel-DW-tunnel – she loved it. It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

~Melissa

Turbo Puppy

2010-02-12T09:17:00.003-06:00

Myth had her first Turbo puppy class this past Wednesday. She has started her in all the basics, she had puppy kindergarten, Power puppy agility class, I have been shaping behaviors since she was weeks old, so she is waaaay ahead of where Josie was at this age. Anyway, Turbo puppy is a class Jacque is teaching at On The Run Canine Center www.ontheruncaninecenter.com for people who have trained a dog for agility previously. Lot of familiar faces in our Turbo puppy class….first night was basic stations; lots of wobble boards, the table, tire, jump standards and short contact board. Myth had great fun on everything, our ultimate goal will be an automatic down on the table, but currently she thinks it is fun just to be upon things, she also likes to crawl onto my shoulders…little mountain dog that she is. Ended the class with some restrained recalls to each side – very fun for the puppies. Myth’s attention during class was was really good, worked with me 99% of the time, there were several other classes going on at the same time, so lots of distractions.

Josie’s master class followed Myth’s class. We are working on our starts, lately her speed has been very slow until about the 3rd obstacle. I worked on getting her excited yet maintaining her start line stay….work in progress. Her overall speed was really good – A-frame was awesome, Jacques said she had some serious air over the apex.

Very good evening for the girls…..

~Melissa

Even if you are on the right track, you will still get run over if you just sit there.
Will Rogers

"Q"uite the Weekend

2010-02-08T07:44:00.004-06:00

QQ weekend for the MeLou Lhasas……
Suds and Josie had an agility trial this past weekend, both dogs were Awesome.
Suds only did one run on Saturday, and boy was he on his game. His class didn’t start until about 2pm, I was a little worried about his energy level as we had been there since 7am. Well, worry not, he was ready ! Not only did he Q with a first place, but even with having to restart the weaves, he came in almost 10 seconds under course time, – which is huge for Suds, since when he first started is was not uncommon for him to have time faults. WHooHoo Suds !!!
Here is his run;

Josie had a perfect weekend, meaning her Q rate was 100%. On Saturday, she also earned her MX title with a first place ! She also Q’d in her Jumpers run, so she hit the halfway mark to her MACH (Master Agility Champion). Sunday she started out a little slower in her Jumpers run, but she did still qualify and placed 3rd.
Here is her Jumpers run from Sunday;

Her Standard run Sunday was really good, still needs to speed up her weaves and she wasted a second our two giving me attitude on the table, little stinker- we missed first place by 1.5 seconds about the time she wasted on the table ;-). This was Double Q number 11 (needs 20 for the MACH title) and she has about 500 points (needs 750).
Here is her Standard run;

~Melissa

Thursday morning 2/4

2010-02-05T10:51:00.004-06:00

Thursday mornings Suds & Josie have a private lesson with Jacque, yesterday morning Myth came along as she needs to work on self-control in her crate while I work another dog. Well, it didn’t quite work out as planned, as we were unloading to go in, little miss Myth jumped back in the van (um, yeah, she likes to go for rides) as I was sliding the door closed, yikes, caught left leg, ugggh, BIG drama. After letting her walk it off a bit, she seemed fine. She was very subdued while I worked Suds and Josie, not sure if it ended up being good or bad…gonna have to take her again next week….On another note, Suds was fabulous, he is running faster and he nailed the weaves both times and with speed. His nemesis seems to be the triple, he is miss judging his take off point, seems to think he needs to take off at the edge of the standard….will send a post out to the Lhasa training group for suggestions.….Josie was pretty good, but still slow on her weaves. We worked the weave separate, by breaking the set of 12 in to two sets of six, worked her on one set of six a couple of times then had her do the sets consecutively (set of six space of about 10’ and another set of six) she did get faster, but still not to where we would like ‘em.
Something to work on I guess ;-)

~Melissa

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. Thomas Paine

Bloggin'

2010-02-03T12:45:00.005-06:00

Ok, so I finally get around to a blog……I have enjoyed reading other blogs, maybe there is someone who will enjoy mine.
The main purpose is to help chronicle the progress or lack of my latest agility prospect Myth. Of course, the way my thought run, a little of this and that will be included.

I am MeLou Lhasas, regularly exhibiting my Lhasas in conformation and agility.
With the help of Julie Timbers and Debby Rothman of Fleetfire/Timbers (FFT) I successfully bred and whelped my first litter of Lhasas June ’09. The puppies out of my Agility star Josie (her picture is in the blog header) and FFT’s Edmund have all started in their conformation and agility training. 2 girls, Myth (MeLou Shambhala) and Moka (MeLou Shot In The Dark) and 1 boy Elliot (FFT MeLou Spill The Wine).

Myth (MeLou Shambhala) is my keeper, this blog is mostly to chronicle her agility training progress and conformation showing. We have started our agility training with Jacque Hoye of Red Hot Agility dogs http://www.redhota gili t ydogs.com/ . I was lucky enough to stumble upon Jacque when I decided to enroll Josie in a puppy agility class to expend a little of the energy she seemed to generate (a story for a later post). Myth is doing awesome….. I started shaping Myth, along with her littermates when they were weeks old, Boy, does it make her eager to try new things and think for herself. Fun, fun fun. Next week we start Turbo Puppy Agility foundation class……it is a puppy foundation class geared towards handlers who have previously trained a dog for agility, I am really looking forward to it.

~Melissa
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves. ~Abraham Lincoln