Ch. Shorelands How Kool is This AXJ AX RN

Kool
(09/03 - 10/09)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he9OTJTDcoE

It's with great sadness that I announce the passing of Kool.
Carol Rowe's Border Collie passed away on 10/29 from a short battle with cancer.

Carol and Kool were just getting started in their
agility career and I know I'll miss running
against him in our 20" class.

Our thoughts are with you Carol.

Lacrosse, WI - Results - Carrie and Michele

Carrie (Addie/Pauly) along with Michele (Packer) headed up to the AKC trial held in Lacrosse, WI last weekend.

Packer had a great weekend!!! She nailed her table both days, although her down was a bit slow according to Michele. Most importantly she DID IT!!!!! Good Girl Packer. Michele, however took a few nano naps at the most inappropriate times, so chalk that up to handler errors.

Addie picked up another DQ on Saturday to bring home a red and yellow ribbon! WELL DONE!! On Saturday she finished 2nd in JWW, had an off course in Standard.

Pauly was a good boy, he ran with his usual ENTHUSIASM!!! Kind of reminds you of a pint size Boogie, with a little more Velcro. GOOD BOY PAULY!!!

Sorry, no pictures or video provided.

Natalie and Peach - Samoyed National Specialty

I sure hope you're ready to have your socks KNOCKED OFF!!!

I know I have!

Natalie and Peach returned from Indianapolis, IN last week with
several ribbons and a NEW TITLE!!!!

GREAT JOB NATALIE and PEACH!!!

It would be kudos for anyone returning from their
own breed specialty with ribbons and a title.

Add in the fact that Natalie is 6 years old (Kindergarten)
and Peach just turned 3, it's AMAZING!!
Just to add a little sugar to this....
Natalie had done ALL her own training!

Okay, so she has had some adult help along the way!
We know who will be running our dogs
when we're no longer able to do so!

Too bad she's in Seeker's height division!

Nice ORANGE T-Shirt NAT!!!!

For Natalie's debut last December 2008,
check out Gotsyzygy.blogspot.com

The Power Of Positive Reinforcement

It works!!!

If you've ever used a clicker or another form of operate conditioning to shape a behavior, you'll already know, this really works!!

Thank you Meme for sending me this link!!
(Sorry, I'm not able to put it right onto the blog)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA96Fba-WHk


I'm looking forward to the upcoming puppy class and
all the fun things we'll be doing.

Later this year I'll post some things that Seeker and I have
been working on involving shaping and positive reinforcement!

In the mean time.......

Click and Treat!

MACH Jazz

MACH Lytnstryke's I've Got Rhythm XF

Jazz and Terry Elger earned their MACH on Friday October 9th at the
Border Collie Specialty held in Jefferson, WI.
They also went HIT in agility on that day!
What a memorable day!

Jazz is Seeker's "big/older" sister, even though she runs in the 16" class.

Some words and video from Terry!!!

Jazz was awesome the entire week!
On Wed. she got first place in STD with
high in trial, she got second in JWW.
On Thursday she was first in STD.
On Friday she took second in STD and third in JWW to earn the MACH.
In all she earned 3-1st places, 2-2nd places and 1-3rd place.
What fun to accomplish this a the National Specialty.

WAY TO GO TERRY AND JAZZ!!!

Jazz is the 4th of the 5 puppies out of Stormi (first litter) and
Disco's to earn her MACH.

Other MACH littermates are -

OTCH HC MACH Lytnstryke All Wired Up UDX XF - Sony
MACH Lytnstryke X Marks The Spot NF - Pirate
MACH2 Lytnstryke Finger Likn Good CD XF - Tasty

Seeker has a lot to aspire to!!

USDAA In Omaha!!!

Well, remember the weather forecast? How many times are those guys right? Let's face it, most people's DQ rate is higher than the percentage of times the forecasters are correct. So, Bill, Kruz, Mad, Seeker and I loaded up "Carrie" and headed West for Omaha for an 'outside' on grass USDAA Agility Trial!!! I might add that the normal temperature for Omaha this time of year is 68 degrees!! I was looking forward to a nice sunny autumn day!

The forecast was for an accumulation of under 1" by Saturday morning. My predication came true!! They were WRONG!!!! Try almost 3" at 6 am!! It was still coming down with a vengeance!

You can imagine the thoughts that went through my head when I pulled back the curtain this morning to view the La Quinta parking lot! Hint - I did NOT say - "YIPPEE YEA!!!"



The trial contact had already e-mailed us on Friday to advise they were going to be starting an hour later, due to the anticipated snow fall. So, we didn't need to be there for check in until 8 am. I decided to call the contact person at 7 am to see if they still wanted us to come. She informed me that yes, they'd like everyone to comes so that a decision could be made as to whether it was safe for both dog and handler. Hum.....this did NOT sound good!

It got worse!

So, what do you think the chances are we got to run?

I envisioned determined agility enthusiasts with shovels in hand clearing off the agility fields in order to run their dogs. Ice scrapers being used on contact pieces and mitten covered stewards setting bars. Snow angels being made during the walk through.

Rats, after a very short discussion it was decided that they would cancel the trial for the weekend. That was very nice, since if they'd just cancelled it for the day, I would have stayed around for Sunday. Just in case. Yes, I have a slight agility addiction!

On the up side, Seeker got a measurement on his "blue card". In USDAA you need to have 3 CMJ (Certified Measuring Judge), measurements to earn a permanent height card. Okay, let's face it, at least we got something out of the trip! G

Can you believe my camera was at the hotel this morning!!! So, sorry, no pictures of the agility equipment buried under a nice fresh blanket of snow! Maybe next time!

Outdoor Agility Trials!!

Well, there's a LOT to be said about running inside on dirt or soccer turf!!

Climate Controlled Environment
Level Ground
Dry Equipment surfaces

I like outside trials too!!

Early Morning Dew.
Beautiful Sun Rises.
Frosty Breath in the Air.
Sun on your Face.....
Mittens, Boots and Hand Warmers!

So, while everyone else is running NADAC in a nice dry, warm building.

I'll be in Omaha running USDAA in the frozen tundra!
Yes, outside!!
70% chance of snow with highs in the mid 30's on Saturday!!

Did someone NOT tell the weather gods we're suppose to be in the high 60's right now?

Best of luck everyone!!

Please be sure to send your results to the Agile Goddess .....RILDA!!!

If you have video you'd like me to post, please send it to me!!

Wentzville, MO - Results

We survived the weekend in Wentzville!! It was a very long weekend with two provisional judges and we experience long bouts of down time. It wouldn't have been so bad if we'd known ahead of time about this. The 'kind of' funny thing is, if you'd read the premium and looked at the running order, it did say (in small print) that the rings would be running sequentially. Well, NOT US!!! G

Friday we leave at 6 am (which is pretty late for us!!!). Bill and Mad will be in Novice and they follow the Open Stnd and JWW classes. It's to begin at 10 am, so we should arrive about then. We did. The trial started 30 minutes late and then the class too forever. 90 minutes later, they started Open JWW. Needless to say, it was on LONG day!!! Mad and Bill Q'ed in both of their Novice classes, Coz Q'ed in Open FAST and Bill DQ in the Excellent classes with Kruz. The rest of us had little bobbles here and there, but looked GOOD. We headed for the hotel at 8:50 after Addie's run. They still had more to go!!!

Saturday was a bit better. We still ran all of Standard before we could start JWW. It was nice in the fact that you could watch everyone run. Addie DQ'ed, Kruz Q'ed in JWW and Mad Q'ed in Nov P JWW. Barb and Carrie headed back to the hotel after Excellent to take a nap, (about 2 PM) we hoped to be following them shortly. It was 5:30 when we left the arena. UGH!

Sunday looked a bit more promising as the AKC rep was no longer present. This helped the Excellent judge relax, just a titch. The Standard Course was just lovely - Addied Q'ed with 2nd place, and Bill and Terry just messed up one little thing. Tammy/Seeker and Barbara/Coz, well, let's just say....the boys had fun. G

In Excellent JWW on Sunday the 20" dogs got their act together and all Q'ed!! Addie held onto the end, but then found an off course jump just a bit too tempting!!!

Don was there this weekend with his wife. Remember how I said that Friday was a long day? Well, to put it into perspective, Don's son, Doug is a pilot. He left East Berlin Friday morning and made it in time to see BOTH of Don and Tina's RUNS!!!! What nice people.

Here's one of Don's runs, along with Gene who runs a Mal in Novice from a wheelchair. Gene is actually mobile, but walks with a cane. I suppose it would be tempting to use that cane as an arm extension and I don't suppose that's legal, or we'd all be using one!! G If Gene was part of the 'Orange Crew', you KNOW we'd all want to try to run our dogs with his chair. Luckily, he's not from OUR area!!! LOL

Finally, if you can't make fun of yourself, what else is there? I ran into a jump....AGAIN!! I felt a bit better when Terry almost ran into the same jump, unfortunately, that run wasn't caught on the FLIP!! Seeker was suppose to take the Dog Walk, apparently my scream along with the bar falling was a bit too much for him. G Trust me, I kept running, leashed the dog and got out of the building as fast as possible!!! LOL