agility-mine that is

I have a separate blog for me but I thought i would put this on miller's blog because it does pertain to me and running in agility. I am pretty sure I talked about this before on this blog but I am hugely over weight right now and it is really, really effecting my runs. I have tried a long list of diets and exercises programs including weight watchers and taking classes through our school's rec center but nothing really sticks. I get bored easily or I fall off of the wagon or get injuried or just give up. I have been super successful at WW but it turned me into a food freak and I just can't go there again. I was totally addicted to their products, spending a ton of money, and feeling guilty about EVERTYHING i put in my mouth, thus causing me to binge. Now mind you, most people look at me and think there is no way she is over weight and I did encounter alot of people not liking me at WW BUT, I am 5 foot even and every little extra pound is really hard on my body. Right now, I weigh 143 lbs and am in a size 8 (tightly) and this is WAY too much for my little frame. I did the whole personal trainer thing last year and loved it and was pretty gung ho until i got injured and got out of sync and then just plain ole gave up. Winter clothes can hide pudge so I just started buying hoodies with pockets in the front and going about my business. I had been avoiding the scale for a while and then Lori decided to start a fitness challenge for people of all star. You know, it is funny, I know how to stay in shape, I have been athletic all my life. I know how to eat right, I have been through years of WW and of course I did get an MS in food science so I know these things. I have just been choosing to ignore all of this. We have been eating out alot and that will stop now that tony is laid off again. I have also been ignoring portion size and drinking a beer with dinner every night. I have been doing 0 amount of exercise. Why, who knows. I haven't been motivated at all for some reason. Usually changing sizes of clothes gets me to going, but nope, not this time. So here I am, getting ready for the fitness challenge and trying to figure out what my goals are. I do want to exercise more. Miller isn't getting any class time so the more I can do with him walking/jogging wise the better. Tony is severely overweight so the more I can get out with him the better. I worry about his heart, especially with the stress he is under. Anway, I found my motivation, I hope i can stick with it. I am doing the couch to 5 K program and already have a couple of races in mind to enter. Will I ever win, hell no but wouldn't it be fun to say I actually ran a 5 K and didn't die LOL? So here is to starting again, getting the weight off, sticking to something and making a change in my life. I am READY!

Miller FFF, Wichita and Carthage

Well, we were on a roll for a while getting one or two double Qs per show and now we have hit a slow down again. We got 0 Qs in wichita and only got Qs in JWW in Carthage. I guess for me, if we get those last 9 QQs, great, yippeee, but if we don't, he is having so much fun right now that I don't care. I am not going to move him down and start over as I thought I might, am just going to let him run and have fun. Even though I am not doing any hardcore training with him right now, he is still keeping bars up and still sound. He gets to run alot at the farm I practice at and he LOVES it. I was a little worried after the Wichita trial as the mistakes he was making were a little indicitive of the last injury he had. He didn't want to go out on any sequences that required me getting some lateral distance, and then fell off of the teeter barking at me. We are trying these running starts to see if that keeps him reved up and running but I think they are not the thing for us as I am not getting into position quick enough, especially if it is a front cross I need to do and I am having some mid course collisions with him. My fear is that his start line stay is probably gone at this point so I would have to go back and re-train it and at this point, I am not up for re-training with him. His dog walks have been funny here lately too. He stops when I stop (which is usually far out from the dog walk) and then he boings off. The good thing is he is usually in the yellow LOL! I just want him to end his career having fun and not worrying about much. He knows what to do:)

My greatest fear is what to do with him when it is time to retire. He isn't a cuddly, in your face kind of dog, has always preferred to be on his bed or in the other room for that matter. He is the first dog I have that prefers to be in a crate over being out and in my lap. However, having said that, he is very much a momma's boy and will jump through fire to get to me if he thinks I am leaving him. I do not think boarding him will ever be an option. He doesn't play well with others so doggy daycare won't work but I would hate the thought of dragging him to shows and then him not getting to play. I know I can get him out and do a practice jump or something but he is still dragging me to the ring at every show. I open up his crate and ask him if he wants to run and he comes bounding out, jumping up and barking at me. That is our signal, when he no longer does these things, he is done. I am hoping that I am not going to retire him soon but I keep on thinking about these things. What to do. When Tony stays home, he can keep him but Tony has been coming to alot of shows here lately thus all the dogs have to come. The other issue is the famous money issue. I would like to do more with Deuce in the way of more USDAA shows (which means traveling distance), more seminars, and more classes at shows like FAST. This takes away money from Miller's runs:( I am hoping that money won't decide when he retires. I am still just doing two shows a month and only two days a show even though it is KILLING me. I want to do more and I know it will be worse when Deuce gets into Excellent. I guess at that point, I will really have to re-evaluate my goals with miller. Am doing a few shows without him so I can travel with others to USDAA, but want to try and get that last P3 gamblers leg to finish up his P3 title. He now has his P3 jumpers title and still needs one or two legs for standard so will probably continue to do at least standard and gamblers and snooker for fun. I hate having to make these decisons, who gets to run, who doesn't and who gets classes left out. URGH!!!!!

First blog of the new year for the mill-man

I guess I have been doing it again, blogging about miller in deuce's blog instead of in his own blog. We have had two trials in the new year, SKC AKC trial and the Casa de Canine USDAA trial. I am a little happy and a little not so happy with our performances. Two things, start line stays and his dog walk contact. These both seem to be erroding at a hasty rate and i had to pull him on one his runs at the USDAA trial because he was being so naughty. I have started running with him on courses instead of lead outs so that he takes off running but now I can't get away from him at all on the start line. I feel like I am on borrowed time again so I hate pulling him for anything, but he was jumping the dog walk contact in gamblers, even when I had him do the dog walk twice. I NEEDED gamblers so let him get away with it and it sure did bite me in the ass. On sunday, he missed the first one so we went back and did a second one which he got. Got the gamble but because he took up so much time in the opening, he didn't get enough points so again, no gambler's legs. I may have to abandon even doing the dog walk in gamblers. I usually use it for training but if he misses it, I always re-do it and it may not be worth it. He has four P3 standard legs so it isn't like I need to work it for that. He did get his P3 jumpers title and so that is one less class for him to do. Really, really thinking that just getting his P3 title is the way to go and then maybe retire or let him play in the veterans class for fun. I can just run him in standard and gamblers and see how it goes. We got lumped down in with the P16s again this weekend for super Qs and our scores just weren't good enough with those awesome P16s like Roxy, Pilot, and Gator kicking ass. The other issue is that i want to travel for some USDAA shows for Deuce and to be able to make it economical and ride with others, I can really only take one dog. Poor miller, as my training goals shift with Deuce, so do my goals with him and his entries into shows or lack of. It really sucks because Miller is half way on double Qs for his MACH and he has been getting about 2 a weekend in AKC so i do see that it is a viable option for him to complete it this year. it is funny, i got him massaged at muttfest and the lady said if i didn't know his age, I would assume he was 6 or 7 based on his muscle tone and his structure and looks. Made me feel good and I hope that he can stay in good shape. He sure was back talking this weekend for sure! Tried to have Lori run him in P3 Jumpers on sunday but he wasn't really very happy about it. I tried hiding and wonder if it would have been better for him to know where i was instead. He ran most of the course with her but very slowly and quietly and then as soon as he was done, saw someone who looked like me and took off. What a character and what a momma's boy! To go from someone who loved his Daddy to someone who can't be without his momma is just funny. We have a three day trial coming up this weekend (actually has four days of showing available but only showing the old man two of the four and the baby three of the four) so excited to see how the mill man does. Another QQ or two would be nice, but if not, I still love my big nub and am so proud of all of the things we have accomplished together!

End of the Year thoughts and reflections and goals for 2011

So I was reading all the other blogs I like to read and I came across quite a few end of the year wrap ups and goal setting for next year blogs. I figured I'd better get mine in too, only have a few more days of 2010 and i am in an hour hold at work so need something to do. Since this is Miller's blog, I will start with Miller!

What a year for the Miller man! Again we attended both AKC nationals and USDAA nationals. While we didn't win or place or get into any finals, we did get into the semi-finals yet again this year in grand prix which I think is pretty awesome for an 11 year old dog! I felt like our runs were overall better this year at both nationals and I had alot of fun at both as usual. I missed camping out at USDAA but got to spend some time with my friend and her hubby as they graciously opened their house to us, miller, and our crazy getting up and going at the butt crack of dawn national's schedule. I did pull Miller from weekly classes this year, which was a very tough decision, because classes are more for me than him, but I did start deuce in classes so at least I am keeping in the swing of things. I am happy to say that he seems to be keeping fit through us walking and working out at our little patch of land. Miller is slowing down slightly but he seems to know what i am thinking about retiring, and every time I mention anything about it, he goes out and gets three QQS or qualifies in everything in USDAA. I still have faint hopes of finishing up his top USDAA title in performance and also possibly getting his second MACH. I will take it slow, still only showing most shows just two days and try to limit how many classes he runs in at USDAA shows. I just sent in his first entry of the year for USDAA and (gulp, this is very hard) did not enter him in any of the tournament classes:( I feel like there really isn't a point if we aren't going to nationals and it saves me money so I can show him and Deuce. My goals for Miller in 2011 are to keep him healthy and happy and to let him tell me when it is time to retire. So far he is still dragging me to the ring every run and I will continue to do so while he drags.

I might as well include harley in this blog as I have been running him in practice alot lately and even at a show or two. Tony's crazy schedule dictates when he can show or not, so i am always up for running the red rocket. While his running contacts are getting better, we still don't have a dog walk to practice on and i need to do something about that. It's mine and tony's fault that they are crap, and I will not expect anything until we can truly properly train it. I just want tony to have fun when he shows and so far, he is. I got to run harley the other night in class as deuce was down with his bum toe nail, and I had so much fun. Deuce is such a mishmash of Miller and Harley so running the extreme other end of deuce's running style was fun, and actually helped me to understand deuce better. I would love for Tony to get his first QQ this year and maybe get a MACH but I am not pushing it. We still aren't really doing much with Harley in USDAA and while I think he could kick ass in it, we just don't have the money to run all three dogs. I would love for tony to get his act together and us put together a red aussie team for fun but he just doesn't like having others depend on him in agility. He kind of marches to the beat of his own drum and so does harley, so they get along great.

What a year I have had with my baby Deuce! We have been steadily taking classes and improving throughout the year. I think we are still trying to figure each other out in shows (only been in three total days of showing) but I think we will get there. I am very proud of myself for not rushing things and not letting my criteria fall apart (oh the temptations have been there) and I am proud of him for handling the hustle and bustle of the shows. Baby deuce moved up to the competition 2 class a few weeks ago and I am so proud of how he is handling the challenges lori lays down for us. Are we perfect? Heck no, but I see the potential just bubbling under the surface. Now if we can just get that dang toe nail to heal, we can get back to it! I am excited that in 2011, we are going to start in USDAA and in February, we will be on our very first team, The Aussie Brat Pack, made up of other aussie babies starting their agility careers. My goals for Deuce in 2011 are to become more consistent as a team in the ring, to withhold criteria, and to have FUN! Deuce baby is a blast to run so no telling what 2011 will bring!!!!

We also may have an addition to the coleman family coming very soon, maybe even this spring. We are currently waiting to find out if she will be born or not so finger's crossed that we might be adding a new female wiggly butt aussie that will be a direct relation to Deuce to our pack. Happy Holidays, happy new year and hopefully we will see ya down the road at an agility trial!

miller and me in tulsa 2010

I have been bad about updating Deuce's blog but not Miller's blog. So we took Deuce, Miller, Haley, Chloe, and Danah to Tulsa for an AKC trial a couple of weeks ago. I had previously decided to not do anymore AKC till the end of the year, but just do USDAA and try to finish his top titles and maybe his Patch or whatever the heck it is called. Well, plans changed, Tulsa had novice all three days so I had at least two days to show Deuce in Novice. I decided to go ahead and show Miller all three days just to see how he handled it. He only had two classes a day and they were spread out pretty far. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a very, very emotional weekend with us loosing Haley but I don't want to get into all of that here. Haley has been battling a very long tough illness and her time had come, even though we were out of town. I ended up running not only Deuce in three runs on friday, but Miller in two runs, Danah in two runs, and Chloe in three. Lets just say I was one tired handler both physically and emotionally by the end of the day. I think because I was so pulled in all directions that I really didn't put much into my own runs and of course as usual when I don't care, Miller pulled a double Q out of no where! I didn't have anyone video taping so I can't remember exactly what we did or didn't do but it came together and I am happy with how great he was running! I think he was very close to placing on his standard run which is awesome at his age.

For whatever reason, on saturday, we double NQd with some very silly mistakes. There was a very short curved tunnel before a dog walk and i think he got caught up in the tunnel and I called his name and he came back out the entrance. Then I told him to go back in and he backed in barking at me like "i am not going back in there". I think he finally went back in the wrong entrance but I didn't care. He also popped the poles but I wasn't really worried about it at that point. Same weird stuff in jumpers, i went to do a wrap and when I stopped to wrap him, he also stopped, dead in his tracks and got a refusal. He also ran around a few jumps and i think knocked a bar but I just didn't care. We were running and that was all that mattered.

Sunday for whatever reason was another double Q day. Favorite parts of the runs: I didn't baby sit the weaves (yeah me), a blind cross in jumpers (thank you miller for reading that), dog walk contact in standard, and a good wrap in standard back to the dog walk. Here is the video of the two runs we got, enjoy! I have decided to now to keep Miller in Excellent at least till Deuce is out of Novice. I am half way to my MACH 2 now so we may see if it possible this spring before moving him into performance. Here is the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HRbGZOnGQs

Not a happy camper and then part 2

Miller is not a happy camper and I am not sure how to make him one. I started showing deuce last weekend and it was probably the worst weekend we have had in a while with regards to him and I and our performance. I haven't been taking classes with him so deuce gets to go with me both on Monday nights as a demo dog (miller's barking scares the other dogs) and he gets to go with me Thursday night for his class. I have been trying to give miller good yummy things when I leave but he has started to obsessively lick his legs while I am gone. I don't really want to take him and just leave him in the car because it is cold and I don't think it is good for him to sit in the cold. I can't put him in the pen while I run because he barks like crazy. I want him to be happy but not hurt, running but not too much. I did switch him over to a senior food as he has started getting very thick all of the sudden. I think his age is starting to slowly creep up on him. The old dog bumps are getting bigger and spreading and he is slowing down, little by little. I am not ready to retire him, but I have so many things I want to do with Deuce now that cost money, money i am using to enter all three of them. I do feel like Miller would not understand if we all went to a show and then he didn't get to run. He is getting to go to the show just him and I this weekend, no stinky little brother at all. This may be our last USDAA show if I move him down to preferred in AKC in January. I just don't see how we are going to finish up some of these titles and get super Qs if there are only a couple of USDAA shows and only a couple of P22 dogs entered in these shows. I think we could end on a great note with this show and then start Deuce in USDAA in February when he is old enough. How do you balance showing your older dog and showing your young dog? I am trying to figure out a good strategy that is fair for both miller and deuce.


Part 2:

Okay hadn't uploaded this before this weekend. This weekend, I just took Miller and no baby deuce since it was USDAA and he couldn't be measured anyway. Saturday was not great but not too bad, a Q in performance speed jumping, and a Q in snooker (not a super Q:(. Miller was sassy in standard, jumping off the table before the count was over because I was hovering over him (why the hell did i do that) and getting the hard part of the gamble and not taking the last jump (really dude?). He also missed a Q in grand prix because he ran behind me instead of coming in on a front cross after the teeter (again, really dude?). He was super tired by the end of the day and I was feeling super bad for thinking five runs was a good idea. I think we are going to have to cut out the tournament games but I LOVE them and LOVE steeplechase (at the local level). I was feeling pretty bad saturday night but my parents came in from TN and I was excited to see them and didn't have too much time to feel too bad. Sunday was my birthday and we had less runs so I was going to see how he felt and go from there. I need two legs for his P3 jumpers title so I was hoping he could pick up one and then maybe we would have to do less in the future. I am just not ready to give up on USDAA! Miller must have known it was my birthday as he Qd in standard (i didn't hover over the table, click treat me) leaving us two more legs to finish that title, Qd in jumpers (one more leg and we are finished with that), and got a Q in P3 pairs (four more but it is doable). We also decided to run speed jumping even though we were the only dog in P22 but it was a fun course and mom was doing lots of massage on him. We had a clean, fun, fast run and he got a big huge blue ribbon and 18 bucks! I think that is the most i have ever gotten for winning so I was excited! Miller bought us lunch at Taco Bell and himself a bone. He again makes my decision so hard as he did so well on sunday. I have decided to just do the regular classes, no more tournament classes :( I am still leaving hope alive that I can find someone to go to St. Louis with that can drive if it gets bad. I think there is hope that we could finish up those titles and he could get his Pad or whatever the heck it is called. Miller sure was proud of himself yesterday and I like to see how he looks and feels after he has had good runs.

USDAA Nationals Part 2

Once again, as with last year driving back, moms driving and I am bored so thought I would blog. Another nationals done with, well for Miller anyway. This was a tough nationals as it was miller’s last year to compete. I talked about it a little in the other blog post, but this really was the first year that Miller was not competitive and it kind of sucked. More and more Bcs in performance both in 22 inches and 16, which made it so hard for our older dogs to beat those blazing fast times. True that there were older dogs too but even on our best run of the weekend, we only got 14th place. I kind of dread being in championship in a way because we just won’t have a chance in hell of ever getting into any of the finals due to the fact that Deuce is just not fast enough. He has shown me some speed but not BC beating speed. I am a very competitive person so it will be a huge bitter pill to take but I am ready. I look forward to running Deuce at nationals because the mistakes that I made where due to lack of proper training in Miller in the beginning, before I knew what I was doing really. Miller has never had independent weaves so any movements I make tend to pull him out of the poles or push him out. I also don’t trust his poles and he knows that so he is always looking at me and I am always looking at him which tends to put me out of position at times. I know it bit me in the butt in standard and also in grand prix. Deuce doesn’t even know I exist when he is weaving and I LOVE that. He also doesn’t care where I am when he is doing contacts which would eliminate me having to do any weird crosses like I had to do in standard as well. I look to the future of my showing career and am very excited, can you tell?
Today we ran jumpers and that was it and boy was it a tricky course. I felt like we started out well but he popped out of the weave poles again, at the beginning of them. Someone said he slipped as he just skipped two poles but I am not sure what happened. I don’t think he was reacting to anything I was doing as we had just started and I don’t think the poles were rocking that hard. We finished the run well after I got him back in with a double front cross on the back line of the course and a rear to a blind (yeah my ass was running to get that one). Someone said I looked discombobulated but when I watched the tape, I don’t think it was that bad. We ended on a pretty good note (still on kind of a high from snooker last night) and I am overall happy with the way he ran. He is slowing down a tiny bit but when I run full out, he does too. He gave me 110% on every run and I can’t ask for more. I wish we had a veterans program in USDAA so I could continue to do USDAA with him but I am not sure how much longer I want to jump him at 22 inches. I love going to USDAA nationals, a lot more so than AKC nationals but I just don’t know if I want to do as much per day anymore, especially if I do keep him at 22 inches for a little while longer to finish his top title.
I will say that I did enjoy having the nationals in KY, mainly because it is so close and my friends are there so we can stay with them. I will say that we will probably rent an RV if we come back, even if it means driving two hours in an RV. It was tough getting up so early to beat the rush hour traffic and then sitting at the arena for hours with nothing really to do other than spend money. I think poor miller got super tired of being in his crate to as he did not want to go back in it several times and that is very unlike Miller. The 12 hour day was the worst and I NEVER want to have to do that again to him or me! I do feel like the facility needs to get a handle on the dust problem. Several days went by with the arena starting out muddy and then ending up a dust pit. I got a great pic of the dust one day as it was hazing the whole place up. I do like having the seating around the main rings so you can see versus Arizona where you have to sit on the ground or drag your chairs out and finals is very limited seating as well. I do like that the crating space was in the middle of the two arenas and within reasonable walking distance to both rings. I was fortunate that I did not have any walk-throughs that were back to back so I didn’t have to run back and forth from ring to ring since the rings were separated by the large crating area. I do know that next year, I will spend the money to have two crating spots with my teammate instead of sharing one. While we all fit, it was tight and if we both had big dogs, we wouldn’t have fit very well. Overall, other than the very long day, everything seemed to run pretty smoothly and I didn’t hear a lot of complaining. I think the atmosphere was lacking but it is hard to really have atmosphere inside. You can’t beat the scenery in AZ for sure and it was nice to be able to see the dock dog diving and lure coursing from the arenas and crating area. I will miss going to nationals next year but I just don’t think I want to do that to Miller again. Long days in a crate are just not kind to him. He will be 12 this year and I think it is time to start scaling back my expectations of what we are goin got do. I feel like he is still running great, but for how long, I don’t know. He has taken me to so many places I never thought I would be. He has shown me the correct and incorrect way to train an agility dog and he has made me a better agility handler. He is an honest dog and I couldn’t have asked for a better teacher. While I want to strangle him sometimes and kick myself in my own ass at others, we have had one hell of an agility ride together and I look forward to starting the next journey with my baby. I am sure Miller will be whispering in his ear, “mom really likes it when you blow your dog walk contact”J