Knowing Your Decision is the Right One

When we determined that Stetson wasn't going to physically hold up well to a career in Agility I sank pretty low.  Yet I knew he wasn't fun for me to work with in the sport.  His cautious personality doesn't fit my need for the rush of the sport.  I rarely enjoyed our time training or competing, so being let down seemed silly.  To my rational self, it actually seemed ridiculous to get wrapped up in it and think of it as a loss.

What I did hold onto though was the rekindling of my love for the sport.  Having brought Edge into our home and beginning agility training him has on occasion given me the temptation to see if Stetson might be able to compete in Preferred and seek his preferred novice titles.  The temptation is however fleeting because doing what is best for him will always be my primary focus, yet it has flitted in the back of my mind for some time.

Obedience has a minimal amount of jumping and, depending on the dog, it is more controlled.  In order to be certain he would be comfortable for a long career in the sport, I began incorporating strength training that targeted his front end, I started over on jump training.  I wanted to ensure he is knowledgeable and using his body correctly.  We began with ladder work, then moved to poles on the ground, uprights without poles and finally jump chutes.  He is retrieving over the high jump and landing more appropriately than he did prior to the groundwork and jump chutes.  I feel like he will always need jump chutes as part of his training every once in a while to keep him mentally on the game.

The past few weeks we've done jump chutes a couple of times a week plus he has been run more frequently.  I have been of the mindset that we put in the work, it was time to test and evaluate our results. The training and reconditioning is paying off as he is stretching out after a workout without trying to pull back on me when I work his front end and today he even let out the long, heavy sigh of relaxation.  He is relaxing so deeply during the stretch that he is going to sleep.

He is recovering to normal respiration very quickly after 3 mile runs.  Before we stepped back and started over on training and conditioning, he would occasionally "miss" launching into the truck to kennel and hit at his chest on the bumper.  I have become so confident in him the past two weeks that I haven't even thought twice about letting him launch into the truck.

Over this weekend we have run almost three and half miles on back to back mornings, not something I would have considered with him only five months ago while we were battling what seemed like one injury after another.  This afternoon I sent him over the panel to retrieve over the high jump twice and he sailed smoothly over and picked up and returned the dumbbell to me smartly.  When we finished working in the yard and I ran my hands over him, there was no heat and no sign of avoiding my handling him. No more questions.  No more second guessing.  Pulling him out of agility was absolutely the right thing to do.

I am not looking back anymore.  I have confidence at last. He is strong, he is sound and most importantly, he is my partner.

New Dog Training

We've taken Edge out a few times to run, but honestly, the run is kind of sacred between Stetson and I.  I'm the most insanely sentimental person I know and what I have been able to accomplish in the past 24 months partnering with this dog in performance events, human and canine, is just not something that I want anything else walking on.

On the way to the river this morning

That being said, Dave offered to run the river this morning instead of going to the gym since it was a chilly thirty two degrees and he knows how much I love to run cold.  I couldn't pass it up.  My scheduled run yesterday with Stetson was cancelled due to my strong dislike of wind, so this was the perfect make up session in my opinion.  So off we went at 7ish this morning, Dave, myself and two dogs.

Green dogs have a way of screaming novice at you no matter the situation and today was no exception to the rule.  Stetson came out of the truck politely by Dave's instruction and gingerly stretched before he gave a quick spin of eagerness to hit the trail.  Edge on the other hand, came out of his crate and promptly sat down as he has been trained to do so I can put his leash on, but when I released him to the ground, he hit the end of his lead hard enough to force a soft cough.  Yep, it's going to be one of those days.

My best running buddy

And so it went for just over three miles - trotting, lunging, stopping to get him collected, trotting, lunging, stop to get his attention, trot, lunge...  My scheduled core and upper body workout at the gym will either be a) unnecessary in the morning or b) I'll be too sore to lift a single weight.

Reward for good work, or work anyway...

All the complaining aside, there were moments of genuine gift out there this morning.  Times that he checked in with Dave and/or myself to make certain things were going as they should.  Times that we needed to walk and he let the lead fall limply between us.  Lastly, the enormous kiss received when he loaded back into the truck seemed to temporarily erase my desire/need to train a new running partner.  He loves to be a part of anything and the moment he thinks he is wrong, his little world crumbles in front of you.  I love this dog, he is everything that I consciously requested when I decided I needed to run agility again.

Keep on trying little man, you melt me every time I catch you watching me, waiting for our next adventure.

Need to Grow Some...

Nerve, and lots of it.

Running trails with Stetson is an amazing high, but I kept slowing down and worrying about falling today when we were out on Red Top.  At Kennesaw and the Chattahoochee River trails I am confident of footing and I know the parts of the system that I use well enough to be able to anticipate footing with a fair degree of accuracy.

Red Top Mountain is an entirely different beast.  The tree roots and embedded rocks sticking up in the trail are in some places as frequent as every foot strike.  And now that fall is approaching, the pine needle and leaf coverage on the trail make can make them dangerously, (for a clumsy toe dragger like myself), hidden from sight.

On more than one occasion I have unknowingly slid my toe underneath one of the roots or slipped off the side of one of the rocks only to find myself hurled onto the ground with torn clothes, bloody limbs and/or hands and bruises following shortly after.  Admittedly those incidents also involved one or more Siberian(s), whose main goal was to run as hard as possible while dragging the dead weight human at the back of the leash along, but the memory still triggers a sense of caution within me as soon as I see the first sign of roots in my path.

The caution is not serving me well for purposes of training.  I need to be going as hard as I can on those trails and I need the variety of locations to keep me fresh.  Red Top ought to be a frequently traversed trail system as I head into the fall and winter months of training for the March marathon.  I'm just going to have to get over it and let go so I can utilize the training time and conditions as best as possible.

Stetson is a steady partner, I can't shrug any of the blame for my fear on him.  The leash is often loose between us and I frequently have to choke up on it to keep the slack from tripping us both.  He has proven himself trustworthy with deer and doesn't insist on hitting the end of the line to try to chase.  Nope, he's not the problem, it lies entirely with me.  I have to learn to trust my own feet and frankly I need to build some nerve.  Hoping experience will foster strength and nerve growth for me because this place is just too serene and peaceful at "O'rise and shine let's get our run on" early in the morning.

View from the bridge going into the park this morning

Hole through tree on the loop going out

Backside of same tree on the return

Challenge is what keeps my eye on tomorrow.  Hoping that experience will foster growth and much needed nerves.

Keeping Track of It All

With so many goals and activities between the three of us, I found myself the last couple of months a little unfocused and feeling like I was missing the target with one or more important training points.  I needed a way to keep all of us and the varied training needs in order and headed toward the desired results.  I messed around with a spreadsheet a long time ago, but honestly, I'm in spreadsheets all day Monday through Friday and it just wasn't motivating to sit down and key things out.  I had some printed logs that can be kept for racing and such, but those didn't fit for agility and obedience.  What to do?

Edge getting some experience shopping at Lowe's

I am a big user of journals for lots of things and now I'm using a journal to track all of us and all our performance training.  Each day I note the activities separately for myself, Stetson and Edge for both morning and evening exercises.  It has made it easier to track progress and set goals.  On Sunday evening I go over the week and put down the goals for the upcoming week.  It's always easier to stay on target with the bigger picture long term goals this way.

Each daily entry looks something like this:

9/21
AM (indoors)
Me: swim 30 minutes - felt great, went farther than last time out

Edge: brickwork - have got to up my criteria so he keeps moving
sit stay - need to start using collar and leash
body targeting - AMAZING, he loves it

Stetson: recall
around finishes - sharp but slow to sit

PM (outside)
Me: hill repeats - humid and in the sun
Edge: chute
ladder - ready for bars on the ground
weaves - no go, find a new method

Stetson: go outs - quicker sit, stopped rewarding anything slow
figure eights - very sharp and all attention
retrieve on the flat - good quick returns, not sitting crooked anymore and leaning over

It's so easy to go back over and review the previous six days on Sunday and line up targets each week.  My intention is to set an endurance, strength and two skill goals for each dog weekly.  I have weekly strength and endurance goals that will hopefully lead a healthy and strong me to the finish line in March. Of course things still get muddled sometimes and you have to reset or back up, but I don't seem to be getting blindsided by huge training problems right now.  Hopefully this will keep me headed the right way!

Stetson practicing sits and downs at a local ball field

The dogs are progressing nicely with their respective sports and I feel my strength is gaining.

Patiently waiting for me 

Ready to go!

The last two weeks have been loaded with great opportunities to play with the boys and get some super training in for myself too.  The journal is a wonderful tool to assess progress and be able to note opportunities for improvement.  

It's Not About the Score

Stetson will have his debut in the Novice obedience ring in just a few short weeks and we've been working on fine tuning what he does nicely, primarily heeling and sits/downs, and what seems to be hit or miss, recalls and finishes.

He finished the Beginner Novice (BN) title with 593 points out of a possible 600 (200 possible points per leg, three legs required to title).  I was very proud of the scores for each leg and really excited about the placements earned (1st, 2nd and another 1st for the title).  But the drive behind me reaching those types of scores is because when performance in this sport is truly on, you feel completely connected with your dog.  You flow in and out of directional changes and exercises in step with each other, completely communicating with the movement of your body and the energy going down the leash from handler's hand to dog's neck.  THAT is what motivates me in the sport, it is a beautiful dance that reflects the bond between us.

An example of the connectedness that inspires me

When the connection is lost, an entirely different picture appears...

Same day, same exercise, completely disconnected moment

And so we continue to work together in new and different environments and on various pieces of the equation until the next competition in October.  To improve and dance in better rhythm than the last dance.  That is the goal and what drives me to excel and reach for as many of those 200 points as is available to us.

3 minute down at ball fields

So handsome

1 minute sit following down exercise

It's all about the dance.

Hidden Excuses

I've played off excuse after excuse over the past nine months to keep me off the road and trail consistently.  I can play "hurt" for either Stetson or myself, and I've found many other excuses along the way that fit nicely into whatever mood I'm in.  Regardless of what I've told myself and professed to others, I have hidden behind excuses to keep me from doing that which is never easy and rarely understood by those who aren't road runners or triathletes - push your physical limits to see where you can go, what you can finish and how much have you improved over your last performance/race.

Saturday at the river I had a moment when my husband was trotting off ahead of me with my dog and neither was checking back in with me.  Not a fun moment.  To make matters worse, when I went to call out to Dave to wait up, I put my hands on my sides and what I felt was proof that the workout clothes I'd tossed aside earlier that morning weren't lying, I was in fact out of condition, soft and, well let's just say rolling along.

You change your attitude and direction in moments of extreme realization.  There was one of those moments.   I witnessed my previous months of hanging out in the recliner, having too much comfort food and another drink I didn't need scanning before me.  Not the "flash" you get when immediate danger is upon you, but this was a drawn out, slow motion culmination of one excuse leading to another, to another, to yet another to the point nobody who looked closely at me would recognize me as the athlete I was a year ago.

Enough! done! I am not watching that movie anymore.  We are back on the road and back in sync, building up one workout and run at a time.  I've focused the past three days on why I run, bike and swim.  I do it for me and to stop for any reason other than me would not be fair to myself.

I turned Sunday into my official commitment day and decided to honor a goal of finishing my first marathon in good time and good health.  My entry is made and I didn't bother to sign up for "insurance" in the event I needed to cancel for health or family matters; it is done, non-refundable.  March 22, 2015 I will stand in the starting coral in Atlanta waiting for the gun to start the event.  And when we reach the split for the 13.1 half marathon, I will stay right.  I will be on the path to the finish of the 26.2 mile full marathon through the hills, humidity and pollen of this city in spring.  Six months of training to recapture my spirit.

I cannot wait to take Stetson to his best condition ever during this time of training.  And I'm looking forward to breaking Edge into this lifestyle too.

To run, to reflect, to dream, to be connected with soul, dog and universe.

Edge Arrives

Over the 4th of July, we spent a couple of days in St. Louis with some of our best friends.  They are agility and dog sport people.  We were interacting with folks who share my love of dog sports and sharing memories and hearing stories for two days, including an evening cook out with about 15 other dog sport enthusiasts (obedience and agility both).  And it struck, agility fever that is.

Not long after we came back home, I discovered through a close mutual friend, that Amy Burnett of Coolmoor Australian Shepherds had a really nice working puppy returned to her that was from a litter I'd been exposed to and I knew I liked.  Somehow, I knew I had to have him before I ever laid eyes on him.  I made arrangements to meet "Edge" pretty quickly after and it didn't take him but a minute to decide that I was the bees knees.  The mutual bond was immediate.

Immediate Love

God love a good dog person, Amy wasn't intending to sell Edge, but she decided we could make something work out and a week later he came home to live with us.  I am in heaven.

He's been here for about 5 weeks now and his little personality is pure joy.  He only knows happy and draws you into his energy instantly when you make eye contact with him.

He has already taken an overnight trip in the RV, begun strength training on the peanut and other exercises, rear end awareness work, carries the dumbbell around, has begun to bring toys back to me to interact with him and much, much more.  I love the way his brain works.  His enthusiasm is endless.

Dave has taken to him more quickly than any other dog and I'm really grateful for that.  His heart has been so wrapped around Madison for all these years, I wasn't entirely sure if we maybe weren't making our hearts and home open to another too soon.

Stetson enjoys having the companionship, although he is not always thrilled with the puppy obnoxiousness.  They are becoming good buds.