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WAR'S TEAM
EARNS A SPOT IN THE FINALS - 8th Place Finish out of over 200 Teams 11|15|09 -
Sunday, I can't believe this is the last day of the Games.
European Jumpers is in the morning. It was a very challenging course and I wasn't thinking I would be able to get three fast BC's through it clean, but I was going to do my best. War is up first and he's again masterful. He drops one bar and runs the fastest time in 26". Again, it seems to be his M.O. Always fast, but rarely clean. I know he will eventually put it all together, I just don't know when. Then it's Loch's turn. He goes out and he runs perfectly clean. I'm able to do a 40 foot lateral pull on his weave poles and he places in the top ten. Then it's Flame's turn and she runs beautifully too. She drops one bar and runs a time a few hundredths of a second slower than War. What a debut for this young girl at the 2009 World Games. The last Final I have is War's Team Final event. His team is ranked 8th going into the finals. I know that some of the top teams have to have a major fault for us to move up, but if we run close to clean, we should be able to hold a top ten finish. War is the anchor leg and I know this is going to be a test of all tests for him to manage staying under control after watching his team mates run. Alicia goes first with Pickle and muscles out a great run. Then it's Kate with Driven and I can't watch her run because I am trying to keep War set in his position for the baton exchange. He kept turning to watch Driven and I knew I was going to have trouble off the bat. Kate hands me the baton and War takes off. So much for perfect start lines. I have a quick front cross or he will be off course in seconds. Because he took off, my cross is late and he incurs a run out plan fault. Many dogs did, but it was only a small deduction. Then he drops a bar on a hard right run out of a tunnel. I'm just glad he didn't knock me on the ground and break my legs. The rest of his run was perfect. We wind up finishing in 8th place overall and I couldn't be happier. My Bad Boy pulls out a great run besides having some top ten placements in his team events. This has been the best Games for War ever. A special thank you to my team mates: Susan Garrett, Emily Snider, Alicia Nicholas, Kate Moureaux, Diana Wilson and Maureen Strenfel. So another year is done and we arrive safely
back in New York, exhausted, exhilarated and looking forward to when the
Games come to the EAST COAST in 2010!!!!!!!! Thank you all for all
the good wishes and support. It means the world to me to have such
great friends, family and students and I wouldn't be where I am today
without all of you.
Kris 11|14|09 - It's
a cold day in AZ, so unlike last year which was unbearable heat, when
the sun is out, it's not so bad. It's amazing how quickly the
desert grows cold at night. Today is Team Gamblers, War's Grand
Prix Semi-Finals and then Lochlan competes at around 8pm tonight in the
Steeplechase finals. So my plan is to have a good warm up in
Gamblers for him and then he is back to the hotel to rest. They
I go out with War and he runs a beautiful course, he hits each piece of contact equipment and is able to do the distance weave gamble with ease. Then it's Lochlan's turn and since he struggled with the weaves in Grand Prix, I had a weave pole plan and he did it wonderfully. I wasn't sure if him shutting down the day before would carry over since he is so soft, but it didn't. We hit 3 sets of poles including the distance weave gamble. Then is was on to Flame. I used the same Contact plan for her as I did with War and she masterfully hit all her contacts with precision and grace and then the weave gamble like a pro. So I went back to the hotel since Flame was done for the day and I wanted Lochlan to rest and be comfortable for the Finals tonight. I dropped them off and it was back to the Games to compete in Grand Prix Semi's with War. Grand Prix semi-finals was held in the main area and the course looked fine. I knew again that I needed to be fast and clean to get him to the finals. Last year he ran the second fastest time out of all 26" in dogs in the semi's and was called on his A-frame and he lost the chance to compete at the finals. I didn't want a repeat of this, but know anything is possible. War's start lines have been great and I knew that if he was clean we would be good. I start the course and he is running fast. He does a beautiful running A-frame and running dog walk. We had a tight turn to the seesaw and that was flawless. He then had a fast line from a tunnel to a 90 degree turn to the weave poles. The course is almost over and he's flying. I decelerate and turn to cue the poles and he hits the poles so hard the second poles turns his whole head and neck backwards. He then backs up to correct pole two and then I turn into him to see if he is ok and he pops. It's all over in that second. If I had kept going, he would have made the finals. Another year and no Grand Prix final. War's poles are something I can always count on and he made the correction to stay in, but I thought he was hurt and I stopped. My first instinct is to always see if my dogs are ok and that is what happened. I resent him and he finished beautifully. He would have clocked in a time of 28 seconds and would have easily made the finals. He was awesome and I was the reason he popped his poles. So devastating for me since he really deserved to have a chance competing in the Grand Prix final. I still had the Steeplechase Finals with Lochlan at night, but made the mistake of staying at the site all day. Lochlan was at the hotel resting and I should have been too, but we had to wait to get our finals shirts and then we had to do our walk throughs and the timing just didn't seem to allow me to go back to the hotel and rest since it was a 20 minute drive one way. So I had been out in the cold since 7am and I would need to be at my best around 8pm at night. Even though I think I am in relatively good shape and I can muscle out a run when I need too, I know when I am cold I don't perform at my best. I am much better in the heat than I am in the cold. It's time for Lochlan to take the line. I think I am the only handler representing New York in the finals which was cool and the announcer always gets my name and Lochlan's name right which is surprising, but since Loch has been in the finals for the last 5 years, they get to know the dogs. The East Coast crowd was going crazy. The course had two sets of weave poles which was my main concern. I didn't want to push him too much and add to much pressure and my plan was that if he skipped, I would just keep going. He hits the first set beautifully, but since I had to stay with him, I wasn't able to front cross fast enough from the tunnel and cue him to the next tunnel. My position needed to be in a serpentine positional cue and it wasn't and he hit the wrong side of the tunnel. He didn't take it, but he touched it. He was eliminated right there. It wasn't his fault, it was mine. But then he did a beautiful job until the end. I was so happy with him. Even though we were eliminated, he was a star. He did his job. I feel like I let him down because I wasn't where I needed to be, but he didn't care. He was thrilled and loved to perform for the crowd under the big lights. I am never nervous for the finals. It's always just an honor to be there and represent your area of where you live and showcase your talent. Out of all the 26" jumping dogs, only 4 ran clean. It was much harder course for the big dogs because it was a fast course. and jumping 26" really makes a difference. And for Lochlan who will be nine years old in 2 months to be in the Steeplechase Finals competing against dogs much younger than him is simply amazing. It's a true testament to the dog he is and his willingness to work so hard for me. What could possibly be better than that. I did learn a good lesson. Your dog is only one part of the team. It's your responsibility to make sure they have everything they need in order to do their best work. I took extra special care of Lochlan due to his age and what I was asking him to do. But I am also his partner and I didn't take care of myself which I needed to. Without me being at my best, I can't expect Lochlan to be able to be at his. Now I know for the future that attention needs to be placed on the both of us for the best performance possible.
LOCHLAN WINS A SPOT TO COMPETE IN THE $10,000 STEEPLECHASE FINALS SATURDAY NIGHT AND A LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 11|13|09 - Friday - Today's events are Team Standard, Steeplechase Semi-Finals and Grand Prix Quarter Finals. Lochlan has a bye into the Steeplechase Semi-Finals and he and Flame have to run Grand Prix Quarter finals. They all need to run team standard. Team standard was a tricky course, but walked better than it looked on paper. War is first to run and lays down a beautiful run. He has one spin at the end which wastes some time but isn't called a refusal due to it not being close to the next jump and he places ninth overall. War's team was in 12th place going into standard so his clean run was great for the team. Lochlan was next and his run was great too accept for a refusal before a jump. The dreaded rear cross for the both of us still remains our nemesis. So, going into Flame's run I decide to change my handling which enables me to avoid the rear cross. She is flying through the run until the end when I get into her jump space and cause her to serpentine a jump instead of slice it. She gets an elimination, but it wasn't her fault. It definitely was a run of all runs for this baby girl. Then it's onto Steeplechase Semi-Finals. I know Lochlan has to run clean, but I really don't think he has the chance to make the finals because it was a rear cross course and I just didn't think at 9 years old he would be able to make it. I go out and he runs a gorgeous run and our rear crosses are fast and fluid. That almost never happens, but it just did. He posts a great time, but it was early in the day so I didn't think it would hold up so I forgot about it. The lasts run of the day was Grand Prix quarter finals. Loch skipped his poles again due to the spacing and when I went to resend him he totally shut down. He's so soft that when he knows he has to repeat something it breaks his confidence . He ran the rest of the run slow due to the having to redo the poles and I should have just kept going. The unfortunate thing was a top trainer said outside the ring that he must have been corrected in the poles to shut down like that. This really saddens me because they don't know me as a trainer and they sure as heck don't know Lochlan as a dog. If they did, they would realize he's never been corrected because if I were a hard trainer, he would never be running as fast at 9 years old as he is today let alone running at all. So the person judged him being upset as me being a corrective trainer and anyone who knows me and how I train Lochlan knows that this isn't anywhere near the truth. Most people don't even realize he is so soft until something like this happens. It's easy to correct a hard dog because they keep working and that's why people like hard dogs, but mine are soft. But enough about that, people are going to think and make judgments about things without the facts and that's just life. The best news of all was that at the end of the day not only did Lochlan make the Steeplechase Finals, which is the main event at the World Games, he is the oldest dog running in the 26" division. I am still in shock that he made it and I'm so proud of him for all the wonderful moments he has given my life and others. In addition to this, he was also awarded a Life Time Achievement Award for all his accomplishments in USDAA and another year at one of the World's top ten Agility Dogs. So whenever you think something isn't possible, think again because anything is possible. Watch me and Lochlan representing New York Saturday night, LIVE on the USDAA web site. www.usdaa.com This is Lochlan's 5th year in the row making the Finals at the World Games. Making the finals is such an honor and I always say, we will do the best we can and that will be enough for me. 11|12|09 - Thursday - The day starts off rough and gets worse is my quote for the day. One of the hardest things about International Competition is that one mistake and it's all over. You have to be on, you have to be in sync with your dog and your dog has to execute their job expertly. If all these things don't fall into place, the results are crushing. Today's classes were Team Jumpers, Team Snooker and Steeplechase Quarter Finals. Team Jumpers is first
and it's an ok course. Nothing that I haven't seen before, but
it's the first team run and it's heavily weighted in the team event.
If you off course it posts a big zero for your team. Lochlan's
team is with Susan Garrett who is probably the most famous agility
trainer in the World and Emily Snider another top competitor in the
country. War is with two other top competitors so their teams are
with very experienced handlers and dogs. War is up first and
cruises through Jumpers with one bar down and a nice time. Of course the
bar adds 5 seconds to his time, but he gets the team off to a good
start. Then Loch is up and he hits the poles and they are spaced
small and he really feels it.
Then it's team snooker. I didn't have a plan before I went in to walk the course and that is never a good sign. Then I made a plan afterwards which proved to be awful because the spacing was so tight and the map wasn't like the actual course. Can you see where I am going with this? War goes out and I realize that my plan is bad and he's all over the place. I actually get him through the entire thing which was 5,6,6,7 and the close but since he dropped a 6 and 7 combination he lost 14 points. It was a lot of work, it wasn't pretty and he lost too many points. I have Lochlan up in 4 dogs and I know I have to stick with the same plan because it's too late to change it now. I start, he's great, then I do the 5 combination which only had two parts, but I did three and I heard the dreaded whistle. So he got a total of 7 points which is terrible. I thought the jump I was sending him over was a 1, but it was the second part of 5, but since they were so close I made a mistake. It was painful for me, but not for Lochlan. Can it get any worse, sure, why not? I have Flame, who is green, and now I have to get her through this course. So I start again, I get her through the 5 combination, then I send her to the first 6 combination and she drops one of the jumps so there is no points, then I get her through the second 6 combination. Now I'm off to the seven combination which has to be taken in sequence and has two spreads one right after the other. I start rotating her around and I forget I didn't do a 1. I stop and look for the 1 I missed, I find it and then I send her to the seven. The last jump in the 7 combination was a triple which I rear cross and she takes it so wide she runs out of the ring and under the score table. Now she's off course and I haven't even started the close. I get her back and start the close and she runs out of time in the 7. And again she goes past the last jump. Talk about exhaustion. I have a love/hate relationship with Snooker and today it was clearly the latter. Then later in the day is Steeplechase Quarter Finals. I have War and Flame in this because they didn't get a bye in the Regionals like Lochlan did. The course is fair, but Fast. My goal is to make the Steeplechase Finals with War because he has the talent to win it. Since Flame just started doing Tournaments, I can only hope she does her best. War is first and he starts off beautiful. He is coming fast around a rotation and all of a sudden he takes the broad jump and cuts through it and he's over the next jump and it's over. War will not go to the finals in steeplechase and I'm heart broken. War has never cut through the broad jump and at 26" the broad jump is 5 feet long, but he still has never done this. I'm so upset and now I have to run Flame in 4 dogs. Flame starts and again she does a beautiful job. At this point she hasn't missed one contact and her jumping looks wonderful. Then she drops a bar and then another and then she lands right in the middle of the broad jump and I stop because I think she might be hurt. Thankfully she isn't, but I end the day feeling terrible and thinking what is wrong with me and what has happened. When so much rides on these tournament events and I can't even make it out of the quarter finals it's a crushing blow. But I took Flame and War dock diving and they had so much fun they couldn't stand it. They scream to get in the pool and they jump off the high dock with ease. War can actually hold his start line on the platform which again is a huge thing since he lacks in impulse control. They loved it and I had so much fun with them.
11|11|09 - First day
of competition, but it still was filled with vacation fun.
European Standard was a course with so many off
course potentials. It had very tight spacing and I know this is
hard for my big striding BC's especially if they don't want to slow down
on turns. In addition to this, the first run out of the gate is
usually rough so I was just hoping to keep them on course. They
are always so excited and beyond high drive so I never know what to
expect. War was first up and broke his start, which is hardly any
news, but was perfect until I got behind him on a straight tunnel and he
took an off course. Then the rest of the run was clean and
flawless. He did a beautiful job, but since I was behind him on
the straight tunnel he curled in and took the wrong jump and he was over
it before I could get do anything about it. His time with the off
course jump was 33.80 seconds
which was still faster than the winning time. War is a handful and
if I'm slightly out of position, he's going to make the decision for me.
However, I was so proud of him since usually his first run is a
disaster. If he was clean, he most likely would have clocked in 2
seconds faster. (At right: War
enjoying the view instead of posing for the camera) 11|07|09 -
Landing was without incidence 9:40pm NY time and it was time to start
the process of getting the dogs. After getting the baggage, we
take the shuttle to the car rental area which is off the airport
grounds. It took an hour just to get the rental car because so
many people were in line trying to get their cars. I was getting
worried about the dogs so I called Cargo and they said, "Where are you?"
They are tapping their paws anxiously waiting to be picked up. It
was great news to me to hear they were all fine, but by the time I would
get to them would be a total of nine hours in the crate which is long.
By now the dogs had been sitting at the Cargo area for sometime.
When I finally walked in I see Flame, fast asleep in her crate. I
call her name and she opens her eyes. She then recognizes it's me
and goes crazy. Now the boys hear me and they start going crazy.
It was wonderful to see them and see how happy they were. Flame's
first flight went well and she was her happy normal self. It was
now almost 10pm PHX time and it was off to the hotel for some much
needed rest.
10|30|2009 - After my first blog entry earlier this week, I was pleasantly surprised at how many people actually read it and are interested in me continuing writing about my dogs and experiences. I guess with the vast plethora of information out there, I would not have expected such an interest. So I'm happy to report that I'm back again to share some news about my new favorite breed, the Hungarian Mudi.
I belong to 3 Mudi list servs. Mudi Club of America,
Mudi USA and Mudi Breeders Association. I just joined the latter 2
groups within the last week and, WOW, what a hot bed of dialogue from
the Mudi Enthusiasts. I surprisingly have found myself addicted to
this breed of dog. Addicted is a strong word, but I really think
it best explains how I feel about the Mudi.
10|26|2009 - Considering
this is my very first Blog entry, my goal with blogging is to help my
students, inform dog owners and allow some insight into my life with my
animals and their training. I hope the information that I provide
is useful in some manner and will help others live better lives with
their own dogs or animals.
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It's
one of the most emotional and physical experiences one can have and it
pushes you beyond all limits. It makes you a better person for so
many reasons. It inspires me to write, train and continue to
strive to be the best trainer, handler, dog Mom I can be. So many
life lessons are learned and you experience the highest of highs and the
lowest of lows. 
all
run Gamblers around 10:30am and then War has Grand Prix Semi - Finals at
2:30pm. War's team is in good contention to make the Team Finals on
Sunday. All his team has to do is place good consistent scores in
Gamblers and we have a great shot to making the finals. Out of
over 200 Championship teams, they only take 30 to the finals so the cut
off is tight. War has done really well in his team events as have
his team mates.
He
pops somewhere in the middle, but I only realize this after he comes out
of the poles wrong and he is over the next jump and gets an "E" for his
score. It's very hard to have tight spaced poles when he is used
to 21" poles and since his front is so slanted, it's hard for him.
The rest of his run was great, but it didn't matter after that.
Susan Garrett's dog does the same thing so we have now 2 "E's" for our
team which puts us out of the running right off the bat. You can't
go to the finals with two eliminations on a jumpers course. Then
it's Flame turn and she does great, knocks one bar and then strangely
goes past the last jump. I get her back and send her over, but she gets
a refusal and a bar fault. She was targeting her leash which I
have never trained and for some reason she has started to do this.
So now I know I have to be so careful that this does not become a
pattern. But she posts a score and that's good for her team too.
Check
in was from 10am to noon, but I know after doing this for so many years,
it's better to check in late so you don't have to wait in line. So
my plan was to arrive around 11:30. Since my first and only walk
for European Standard was at 1:15pm I could sent up in the kenneling
space after check in. So, I left the dogs at the hotel so they
didn't have to sit in their crates all day and after my walk I went back
to the hotel for more swimming and relaxed a bit. The kids were
all sleeping and staying cool in the hotel since their run wouldn't be
until around 5pm 
good
nights rest it and recovering from yesterday's events, everyone had a
good breakfast and it was off for adventures. Since I never have
time to see much of AZ, we decided to go hiking at Camel Back Mountain.
Lochlan, Flame and War absolutely loved it and scaled this huge mountain
with ease. It was so beautiful seeing all the rock formations and
it was quite a hike making it to the summit. It is over 1 mile up
and the trail was rated difficult and for the experienced hiker.
Clearly I am not the experienced hiker, but we all had a blast
and it's a definitely must do when you are in AZ.
I
have two Mudik. Matra and Ugri, they are both Black Merles, CIFRA
as it is called in Hungary, that I co-own with my parents. Matra
is my 2.5 year old boy and Ugri is his full sister and she is 15 months
old. They are from the Kiralytanyai Kennels in Sirok, Hungary.
This is a rare Hungarian Herding breed that is expected to provide many
duties on Hungarian Farms. They are a relatively small dog with
strong, bold personalities allowing them to move cattle and sheep in
addition to guarding and ratting duties.
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