Agility trial today! It is only Masters/Excellent today, so only the girls got to play.

The morning started off with Noodle in Masters Jumpers. It was a tricky course, with a backside and a U-turn out of the weaves. She was awesome (other than a quick visit to sniff the barsetter in flow), and lo' and behold, she was the ONLY 24" dog to qualify! I was feeling pretty pumped. Yeah....for a brief millisecond...

Next was Time 2 Beat, and Pizza was entered in this class. She was super fast and drivey, but ran by the judge, causing a refusal, then ran to the barsetter and obsessively sniffed her until time ran out. This is becoming more and more of a problem with her. I am not sure what to do about this issue of visiting and sniffing the barsetters in the corners.

Noodle was in Excellent FAST next. We never even got to the send bonus, as part way through the course she did a run by the judge. This is unacceptable as we have trained her away from checking out the judge, so I picked her up and walked her off...the dreaded Walk of Shame. This is pretty effective because she came out in her next run of Masters Standard and was so deliberate and slow, she ended up knocking a bar and bypassing the A-Frame because of lack of speed. She was in a serious pout, but I think it is a good thing and maybe she will be more thoughtful about her actions next time. Yeah, who knows?

Pizza came out for her last run - and it was her first Excellent Standard run...she was out of control to the point where I had to pick her up and walk her off. She is obsessively checking out the judge and barsetters yet again.

None of this bodes well for our hunt test this weekend. This sport can be so incredibly defeating. What a rough day.

After yesterday's disaster, I didn't know what to expect today. The day started off early in the morning with Noodle in Master Hunter. It was cold, and the ground was white with frost. Right at the start line I could tell I had the "good" Noodle with me today. She was very driven, but also very mindful of me and listened well in the backfield. As soon as we got to the edge of the birdfield, she went on point. The bird was a few feet out of the marked "birdfield" so the judges had me flush and blank the bird. Noodle held perfectly, and we heeled off and continued hunting. She went on point again, and I flushed the bird well but it turned and flew right over the judges' heads. I had to blank it again, she held, and on we went. The third bird was textbook - I flushed, she held, I tapped her to retrieve, and she retrieved nice and quickly to hand. I was giddy with joy at that point, all we had to do was an honor through a retrieve. They set up my bracemate with a bird and he went on point, I brought Noodle around...we had a good enough honor to pass. OMG! Our first Master Hunter Pass!

Pizza was next in Senior hunter. She was really wild at the start, but got under control and off we went. She had a beautiful honor, and then went on point, I flushed the bird, and everything worked out perfect - they shot it and she held through the shot, I sent her on the retrieve, and she got it to me (a little gingerly as it was a pretty bloody bird and she hates that!). Now all I had to do was keep her out of trouble for the rest of the time. Of course, within a minute she was BAM back on point. Amazingly, I flushed the bird perfectly, she held through the flush and the shot, and we got in another good retrieve (even better than the first one!). This was Pizza's third senior hunter pass, only one more to go for her title! I am so excited with both of these girls today!

Dolphin was last in Junior Hunter, and it got really warm by the time he went. Luckily, the backfield was in the woods where it was cooler. He had a beautiful point on a random bird in the woods, I flushed and he stayed with me. Thank goodness we had that point because by the time he got to the bird field he was so hot and panting, he had a lot of trouble scenting, so we went birdless there. However, his nice point in the woods was good enough for some very nice passing scores. My kids went 3 for 3 today! WOW!!!!

After such a stellar day yesterday, I knew today was bound to be a disappointment (such is how life goes, right?).

Noodle blew her master hunter run early on in the bird field when her bracemate went on point, and she was so obsessed with the scent of the bird behind her (my mistake for not recognizing that she was NOT going to focus on an honor when she was within scent of her own bird) she did not honor well enough for the judge to accept. Who knew I would bring her in for an honor right on top of another bird...crap happens and we all learn from it. On the plus side, she never got to work a bird so never had a chance to break or really screw up ;-)

Pizza had a heartbreak fail in senior. She hunted beautifully, had a wonderful honor from a good distance (no whoa needed!), had TWO perfect whoa to flushes where she stopped in her tracks on a wild flush and waited for me to come all the way to her and tap her to release. WIN on training! Unfortunately, every bird she pointed flushed itself before I could get there - she didn't move a muscle but I had to blank the birds as the gunners and judges weren't ready. The judges were great in trying to set up a situation so she could get her shot and retrieve in, but by then she was hot and panting, and had trouble scenting the birds, and although she pointed, they flushed again on their own, and we were out of time and done. On a BIG plus - she held solid every single time a bird flushed, she held her honor through the retrieve, and I have no complaints on how she performed...it just wasn't our day today.

Dolphin came through in Junior to save the day with two absolutely GORGEOUS solid points that he held for the flush. His first point was big and dramatic and it looked so much like his daddy Pretzel that I about sat down and cried right in the field (but I didn't haha!). So overall it was a 1 in 3 kind of day, but there wasn't too much to be upset about as I felt my dogs' training was fairly solid today. Now MY training...that's another matter. Still a lotta work to be done there!

I had a chance to do some field training with friends, so I grabbed it. I will never turn down a chance to field train, the season in Ohio is short and the availability of birds is scarce. Plus, I freaking love it!

I worked Noodle with my friend's master level dog. Today's focus was on backing (honoring). On the plus side, Noodle did GREAT with every opportunity she had to back the other dog on point. Unfortunately, she was in 100% training mode - she knew we were training so she was on her best behavior, very controlled and obedient. I am hoping that just doing these things over and over again with her in training mode will become something like muscle memory in her brain - she will default to this behavior when in a stressful test situation. Hey, it's a good theory, right? She went on point on a bird, we shot over her as the bird flushed but deliberately didn't shoot the bird, so she would not have a retrieve. Too many retrieves equals a hot-off-the-trigger dog, and her retrieve has been awesome lately. Of course, right when I say something like that is when it will all go to hell the next time out...shouldn't jinx myself.

Pizza was stellar. She was in training mode also, but what I really loved is that twice she backed the other dog on her own from a distance. She is doing better at that than Noodle is! She was steady to the flush and shot, and we did shoot and let her retrieve, which she did really well. Hard to believe this has been my toughest dog to train the retrieve. She has come a long way!

We planted one bird (a pigeon) for Dolphin. He had a little trouble scenting it, and when he did, he slammed on his dramatic point, but was actually facing perpendicular to the bird - the bird was actually off to his right. He caught the scent as he was passing the bird and stopped hard, but didn't turn. Once the wind picked up, he did turn and faced the bird on point. I think this is just a matter of lack of experience reading scents in the wind. He will get it!

I rode Cadence today, first time since Congress. Man I love riding this horse! She just tries SO hard for me! I figured out a few things that will be helpful in the future, mainly her issue with wanting to break while cantering to the right. I was able to anticipate her getting ready to break, and by using left rein and left leg together, this forced her to use her hock a bit harder, keeping her cantering. I think I was using all leg and not enough left rein in the past. The combination of the two together really worked in keeping her from breaking. I am also still working on getting her to "sit" on the bit a little more where I can hold her and have her keep her neck straight.

I really don't know what the future holds for us. Things obviously haven't worked out quite like I had planned, and I don't know where we are going right now, but I do know that every time I sit in the saddle on her I feel renewed, and maybe right now that's all I really need to focus on.

I started off the day with an afternoon field training session. We ran out of time, so only the girls got to train. I worked a lot on Noodle backing, which seems to be getting better and better each session. We ran Pizza with a very overly-energetic bracemate to get her charged up, and boy it worked! I was able to work on getting her calmed and under control, which was a goal of mine today. She is backing on her own so beautifully...I really hope she continues to do this at the tests. It was a crazy windy day with gusts up to 30-40 mph, so it made for interesting scenting conditions in the field. I like being able to train in crazy conditions, it is great preparation! With the wind being so gusty and wild, the dogs were either stopping on point from 20 feet away, or pointing right on top of the birds.

After field training, we took a break at home, and then Pizza and Dolphin headed to agility run-throughs. My goal with Pizza was to work on her new visiting habit - where she goes off to obsessively sniff the ring crew. I proved my own hypothesis that this is stress-related...as soon as Pizza took the wrong end of the tunnel, she went to sniff the ring crew. Again in her second run, when she knocked a bar she immediately kept running forward and went to the ring crew. I ran her a third time, and she went into the wrong end of the tunnel but I ignored it and kept running as if she had been correct, and she ran the rest of the run clean. That is very telling! It's a hard thing to fix, because although I can ignore her mistakes, when she does something obviously wrong like knock a bar, she KNOWS it was wrong and stresses immediately. Man, does this remind me of Pretzel or what? He was the same exact way, only he would sniff the ground when he stressed over mistakes.

Dolphin did such a great job at run-throughs. The courses I ran him in were master/excellent courses, so they realy should have been over his head, but he did great! He knocked a bar a couple times, but it wasn't terrible. He did a great job on the wrap jumps. His turns weren't the tightest, but his big stride eats up enough ground that I don't think time will be that big of an issue with him.

I am super pleased with his attitude and focus. Other than running to the gate where Mark was videoing, he pretty much ignored the other people and dogs when it was his turn on course. After dealing with Noodle and Pizza for the past number of years, I am finding this SO refreshing!

I felt very confident and optimistic after tonight, so I sent in agility entries for Dolphin in December - one day in Dayton and one day at Zanesville. We will see how he does away from home, especially in the crazy atmosphere of Zanesville!

My friend and I did some field training today - mainly working on Noodle's honoring. She definitely improved the more we trained. I got Pizza out, after I was just bragging about how steady she was and how awesome her retrieving has been. STOOPID ME! NEVER brag or even think with the slightest bit of positivity, have I learned nothing? Pizza came out and immediately broke at the shot with the first bird. Then suddenly she decided she didn't want to retrieve. She would go get the bird, bring it about halfway, drop it, and just stand there. We did a lot of playing with her and the bird, encouraging her to pick it up and bring it, trying to make it a fully positive experience. Where the heck did this come from??? Geeze.

On the plus side, we shot a shotgun over Dolphin for the first time today! We did it in a fun, positive way, where we shot the gun while he was excitedly watching a bird fly away. He didn't even seem to notice the shot, which is good!

A little agility practice in the falling snow yesterday...can't help but feel pretty darn excited about my puppy boy's weaves!

Another morning of field training. Noodle was stellar, Pizza did NOT want to retrieve. We did the whole game-playing with her, keeping it positive. I went home, and brought a bunch of dead birds with me to train with. Later in the afternoon I got a bird out and played first with Dolphin, then with Pizza. She was doing the same thing - she would race out to the bird, and sometimes she would not pick it up, other times she would pick it up and run around with it and not bring it to me. I finally got angry, and stopped babying her, commanding her very firmly to "come". By golly she picked that bird up and trotted directly to me, bird in mouth! I threw the bird again and she dinked around with it, I commanded her to come, and it was another good retrieve. I praised her like no tomorrow, and we quit for the day. This brings to mind the question - was she just screwing with me because she could, and my babying and cheerleading her was just encouraging her to screw with me some more? It certainly is confusing trying to decipher the inner workings of her brain. I just hope we can get our last Senior Hunter pass this weekend...we only need one more! I definitely have lost a lot of confidence.

Today was packed, and it was a beautiful day to pack (65 degrees and partly sunny, lots of wind!). I started off the morning with Dolphin's agility training group. He did pretty good. I have to remember he is so much bigger and younger than the girls, he cannot turn as tight and still jump clean, I need to give him more room. It's neat, because his movement is so deceptive. He has such a big stride it almost looks like he is barely running, yet I am flying trying to keep up with him.

Pizza was pretty wild in her class, but still really good. Interestingly (and proves my theory) - when she took the tunnel instead of the jump, she immediately knew she was wrong (even though I didn't correct her), and she ran to sniff someone sitting in the corner. On our second run she knocked a bar, and ran off to the gate, sniffing. It is definitely a stress reaction to making mistakes. Boy, doesn't that sound like Pretzel? Kind of funny, since they are not the least bit related. Even though I make a point not to correct her or show any disappointment in her mistakes, she knows she made them and starts to stress. I never was able to get Pretzel out of this mindset, so I am not really sure what to do with Pizza.

This afternoon all three crazies went field training...last training day before the hunt test this weekend. Noodle was stellar, basically didn't make any mistakes. Pizza did really really good also, and she self-corrected herself when a bird almost flew into her mouth - she went to grab and immediately stopped herself even before I yelled "No!". It's good she is thinking. Dolphin was really good. We started him on backing (time to start training upwards, ya know?), and keeping him nice and steady on the check cord. He is definitely a soft dog that does not need any hard correction, so we will take it extra slow and easy with him this coming year.

Pizza needs one more senior pass for her title, and Dolphin needs one more junior pass. Hoping to get 'er done this weekend! Noodle needs 4 more Master passes, so that's not happening any time soon. Next year's goal!

I took Dolphin to a show today in Columbus, only entered him one day "just for practice". Yeah...and he acted like he had never been shown before - wouldn't stand still, wouldn't stay stacked, it was a mess. Kind of frustrating since I had been practicing with him a bunch at home and he stands like a statue for me.

After I showed in the morning, I took Pizza and Dolphin for a private agility lesson. It was really great! I think I got a lot accomplished. Pizza did a ton of work - working on her threadle command. It's pretty shaky because I haven't done a lot with it, but she stayed really enthusiastic and happy throughout the whole training session. Dolphin's session was productive. I need to work on his commitment, especially with the tunnel. He doesn't enjoy tunnels (probably because he has to really get down low to get through them), so i tend to have to run him all the way up to the entrance to get him to go in. I need to work a bit more on sending him from a distance. He struggles with slice jumping...I think he just hasn't figured out how to manipulate his big body on those harder jumping efforts. I have to remember to give him a little more room than what I give the girls.

For some reason I am slightly stressed about tomorrow's hunt test. Pizza only needs one more senior pass and Dolphin needs only one more junior pass, and I have it in my head that I need to get it done this weekend. I was working myself up about this, and I forced myself to sit down and consider why? There is no deadline! It doesn't have to happen this weekend, it doesn't even have to happen this year. These goals I keep setting that have internal deadlines are the biggest cause of stress in my life, and it's 100% self-inflicted.

I am really looking forward to leaving for Florida a week from today, and doing nothing but enjoying the time with Mark and my dogs, with ZERO pressure. Oh sure, we are hitting one day of an agility trial on our way down, but since I know it is going to be a big train wreck and this huge venue, I have no expectations and therefore no worries. It's so weird how my mind works. I cause all of my internal problems myself - it's totally my own fault. Just can't help the way I am wired.

What an incredible day at the hunt test! The three amigos got it done again! Noodle earned her second Master Hunter pass, Pizza FINISHED her Senior Hunter title, and Dolphin FINISHED his Junior Hunter title! I know I was stressing yesterday about these unintended goals I had set, and I had a hard time sleeping last night, but it all came together today in a big way!

Noodle started off the morning (and brrrrr was it cold!). I have been training so hard the past few weeks, and concentrating a lot on honoring, and it paid off when her bracemate went on point right away and she came over the hill and slammed on her brakes to honor from a long distance away...so freaking cool! She went on point soon afterwards, held beautifully and had a wonderful quick retrieve to hand. I couldn't believe, she was so steady! I was a bit worried at the start because she took off from the start line like a bullet....but when she circled back to me I knew that I had her brain even though she was amped up. She went on to find two more birds (that flushed badly so weren't able to be shot), pointed, and held through the shot, and heeled away nicely. I was so THRILLED with her performance! Two down, three to go! This title is starting to feel like it could be a reality now. I never would have believed this in my wildest dreams a few years ago that this was possible.

Pizza was the biggest rock star of all today, putting in a fantastic senior hunter pass when everything that could go wrong, did. She started off by going on point, and her bracemate came around and stole the point, then dove in and flushed the bird practically in her face...then busted out and chased the bird past her. Pizza stood like a statue through all of that, which amazed me! She ended up finding FOUR birds (more than they had planted!), and was so rock solid even when I flushed birds badly (because I am the WORST at this and am such a handicap to my dogs!). So excited to see she scored 10's in pointing and honoring!!! I had a goal in my head to try and finish her senior title at this hunt test, because it was here she finished her junior hunter title just a year ago. Hard to believe I trained and handled her to a SH title and she is just a little over 2 years old...LOVE her! Pizza is now "GCH CH Luxe N Camelot About Time U Got A Pizza My Heart SH OA OAJ NF CGC TKA NRD SD VX"

Dolphin went out and had his usual dramatic pointing style, and after he found his first bird he got so intense he was stopping on every old scent...this will improve with experience, but he did a great job hunting and finished his JH title. Dolphin is now "GCH CH Image's N About Time's Making A Splash JH NJP CGC TKI NRD NSD V (Best in Futurity)"

It was great weather for hunting today (35-40 degrees, slight breeze), but tomorrow it is going to be cold and RAIN RAIN RAIN all day. Since Pizza and Dolphin finished their titles today, I went ahead and scratched them for tomorrow's test. No sense in messing either of them up on wet birds, Dolphin definitely is not ready for that, and I want to do a bit more training with Pizza before stepping up into master. So tomorrow is all about Noodle...in the rain...

It's all about Noodle today! It was a misty cold rain when I left home at 7am, and by the time it was time to step off for Master Hunter, it was a steady cold drizzle. Of course, Noodle could care less about the weather! This is the girl that picked up TWO majors as a puppy showing in a huge rainstorm years ago.

She was really wired right from the start, and took off from the line like a shot. I was immediately worried, because when this happens I usually lose her, and lose her brain. When we got to the backfield, she was there running through the cover. I used the backfield to call her to me a couple times and just reinforce her focus on me. It seemed to work, because she was under much better control by the time we hit the bird field.

She went on a solid point about 2 feet outside of the start of the birdfield. The judges called the gunners over to go ahead and work the bird. Noodle stayed completely solid as I kicked around, and kicked around some more...could NOT find the bird. I relocated her (always a risky venture, but I didn't know what else to do!), she creeped forward and went on point again. It ended up being a pile of feathers from a previous brace. I heeled her away and we went on hunting.

She went on point again within seconds. I could see this bird plain as day. I went to flush it and of course it did a u-turn and flew towards the clubhouse...no shot. The bad thing was the bird landed only about 20 feet from us, I was so worried that Noodle would double back and go try to work that bird again. My training for this paid off as I was able to heel her away and go on hunting in the opposite direction. We train for that a lot - it's the ultimate in impulse control to leave a bird that the dog knows about and hunt elsewhere. Whew...crisis averted again!

It didn't take long to find the next bird. Noodle went on a solid point, I tried to flush the bird forwards but it flew to the left. First gunner shot and missed, second one finally got it but it was REALLY far, and in heavy cover. The WORST retrieving scenario! I didn't have much choice so I sent her for the retrieve. She did some hard searching, and was starting to double back towards me when I gave her my "go" command - we have been working on this and it means to continue going away from me in the search. By golly she actually turned away from me and kept searching outward! I could barely see the tip of her tail above the cover, and when i saw it quiver like crazy I knew she was on the bird. I told her to get it, she picked it up and raced directly back to me and placed it in my hand! Whoa!

After that we had to come in to honor our bracemate on point. Her bracemate was only about 30 feet from where Noodle's first bird had landed (that I had to heel her away from). I could tell Noodle was picking up the scent, and I prayed I wasn't putting her in the same position as a few weeks ago when I brought her in to honor practically on top of another bird. I had to call her to me several times, and she finally did stop when she saw her bracemate (when she finally LOOKED at her LOL!). It wasn't the best honor, but it was good enough to complete Noodle's third Master Hunter pass!

Hard to believe just a year ago we were starting senior hunter, and now we are three-fifths of the way through her master hunter! I honestly never would have guessed she could be so good at this. I am sure we have more mistakes ahead of us, but this weekend really gives fuel to my fire, and I am so excited to keep going with her!

This morning started off with agility classes for Dolphin and Pizza. Both dogs did really really well! Both were highly energized (that's putting it mildly!). Dolphin did really well on jumping, and we worked a bit on sending to tunnels and sending to jumps. I call him my "Man with commitment issues" because he doesn't commit to the obstacle unless you really push him forward to it. This is especially true of tunnels, as they aren't his favorite thing. Just something to work on, I guess!

Pizza did really well, had really good focus and crazy speed. I just need to rein back that speed just a touch to get her to be more accurate, but that will come also with time.

In the afternoon, I took the girls field training with a friend of mine. Noodle was stellar, there were a lot of birds just let loose in the field so they were very touchy, and we had several successful whoa to flushes as the birds would pop up at the slightest motion. Great training! The real star in my eyes was Pizza - although I had to get after her a bit when she got overly excited with a wild flush, she stayed focused and with me with great range. The epic moment was when we were in the far end of the field hunting, and she came around a clump of brush and slammed on her brakes. I thought she was on point, but no - she was honoring my friend's dog on point waaaaay on the other side of the field! SO COOL!!!! Man this girl just keeps surprising me (in many ways).

Because there is no rest for the wicked, I took Dolphin and Pizza to my friend's place to do some agility training in the evening. Ugh. Talk about blowing my confidence...both dogs were WILD and had very little focus. This is not good as we are leaving for Florida in 2 days, and stopping at a huge agility trial on the way down on Sunday. Actually kind of worrisome! I have a feeling neither dog is going to handle that venue very well. It's in a big dirt covered horse arena. Oh well, I guess we shall see what happens.

This Florida trip coming up will be the last trip for a while, as Mark has to go back to surgery right before Christmas. His leg break isn't healing (the one from his accident this past March), so they are going to replace the rod and screws in his leg and do a bone graft to try and get it to heal. Just when you think things are going to get back to normal, you get hit with something like this. I just hope this isn't our "new normal". That's pretty depressing. Without my mom, this is going to be a lousy Christmas anyways, so this just puts the topper on the holidays. So that being said, we plan on trying to enjoy every minute of our Florida trip next week, and live for the moment.

We left Friday morning for Florida, and spent two days on the road. OK, entering an agility trial on Sunday in Florida is probably not the smartest thing I have ever done. Since Thursday was Thanksgiving, that made three days in a row that the dogs were cooped up. Needless to say, both Dolphin and Pizza were a tad...um...wild!

Dolphin started off the morning with Novice Jumpers - his first time doing a regular 24" novice class. He took the first two jumps and then had MASSIVE zoomies, and ran around and around and around as fast as he could go. I finally got him to slow down and come towards me, and I picked up the course about halfway through and got him to at least do that last part of the course and end with me. Man did he have fun!

Pizza had Excellent Standard next - her first time running Excellent! She actually did pretty good, considering. She did go off and stress sniff the barsetter, but actually came right back to me and finished the course. We had a couple wrong courses, a few refusals, but she stayed with me a lot more than I had anticipated, so it was a win for us!

Pizza then had her Excellent Jumpers course. She started like she was shot out of a cannon. The weaves were the third obstacle, and she was going way too fast to stay in them so popped out right away. I brought her back around (after a quick tour at a dead run) and got through them cleanly, and we went on and finished the course. She had a refusal, wrong course (wrong end of the tunnel), and a knocked bar, but she actually stayed with me better than she had in standard so it was a step in the right direction!

Dolphin's Novice Standard was last. When I lead out at the start, he ran around the first jump, so I had to bring him back and then start again and run with him. We started off really well, but midway through the course he missed a few jumps that we had to circle back around, he left the weaves to try and pick up the number marker on the ground (oops!), but ended up doing the weaves really well. He didn't knock any bars, and nailed all 3 of his stopped contacts. Three refusals/run outs meant that it was an NQ, but I was really really happy with how he did for being so green at this, and in such a big, loud, overwhelming place! Several people complimented me on how nice his stopped contacts were.

So...No Q's but it was a great experience for both young dogs. It's easy to forget that Pizza is only a little over 2, and Dolphin is only a year and a half. On to Goodland we go, for several days of fun, sun, and NO PRESSURE! Just pure enjoyment!

Finally...in my happy place - Goodland! Yesterday we had problems with the boat so we couldn't go out to the beach, but all was good today and we had a beautiful day just playing in the water. I took several walks around the island with both dogs, it was a wonderful, relaxing couple of days. I needed this!