It’s wild how the summer gets away from us dog lovers. Before you know it, here it is November! It actually snowed here yesterday! It has been a while since I have posted to my blog…and it’s not because I haven’t had a lot to write. As much as I would like to spend time sharing my thoughts, sometimes life just gets in the way.

At this time of year I am just wrapping up the competition season. Also, we have our online classes where I tend to spend most of my time. Right now, my main focus has been with Puppy Peaks (which is ongoing all year), our Inner Circle which is a smaller group but it also is ongoing all year, of course our Handling360 class which started in March and  is still going strong, and we are just wrapping up our 5th installment of Recallers.

Yes, a busy but fun filled life!

IMG_2924It has been an amazing competition season not only for my dogs and I but for many of our students! So cool to see Handling360 peeps winning or placing at their National Championships from Australia, New Zealand and of course USA and Canada! Here is a pic of some of our H360 students and their bling taken at the AAC Canadian National Championships in New Brunswick earlier this year.

Feature, as a seven year old, is like a comfortable pair of slippers…my wish is that you all have at least one agility dog like that. One that you can just count one, where you know what to expect and the dog knows what to expect from you.

Swagger, now a three year old, has become more reliable this year and continues to be a fun and exciting partner for me. It’s so awesome to get to that point with a young dog. Feature has always been a dog that does well, but this year both of my dogs are performing more consistently than any other agility dogs I have ever owned.

Seriously, it is a great feeling.IMG_4536

Either one or both of these dogs made it to the finals of each and every  major agility championship I entered into this year. This next section may come off as me just bragging, but honestly I am posting this so you can see what consistent handling can do for you. I have been able to win in the past…but never been able to perform as consistently as each of my dogs are doing now. In the weeks to come I will share some ideas why I think this is happening now and how it can happen for anyone. For now here is a run down on my 2014 competition year;

May

*Feature wins the finals of both the Biathlon and the Pentathlon at the WAO Championships in Italy.

June


*Feature is first and Swagger comes second at our AAC Regional Championships.

July

*Feature wins the Canada Cup.

*Swagger places 2nd in two of the classes at the European Open in Hungary.

*Feature and Swagger both win the Grand Prix and Steeplechase finals at the USDAA New England Regionals.

August


*Feature places first or second in all six of the classes at the Canadian Nationals on her way to winning the all around championship (Swagger placed first in two of those classes coming in 9th overall).

September


*Feature places 9th in Jumpers at the FCI World Championships and was one dogwalk call away from winning a bronze medal in the overalls.

October


USDAA Nationals;

*Feature placed in the top ten in 10 of the 11 classes she ran. Coming first or 2nd in seven of them and being named the top 26” dog of the tournament.

•Swagger placed in the top 5 in 6 of the 11 classes and he won 4 of them!

•We came away from the Cynosport Championships with two new National Championship titles!

Here are a couple of our runs.

First up the Grand Prix semi finals. Each dog won their height class. Sadly we didn’t come away with wins in the finals…but I did come away with a valuable lesson that will help me in the future!


Here is a video of Swagger winning his first National Championship in the Steeplechase finals. What fun!

Today I am grateful for the life I get to lead…helping students reach their goals and saving time to have fun with my dogs!