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Treo & I head to SAY YES Skills Camp

Sprinting

Taking a quick break from running around and packing to let you know of latest developments that are....humorous.

I got an email from Lynda Orton-Hill (Say Yes Instructor) that Marc Messier, a "sprint coach" is going to be holding a seminar on Sunday after our workshop is over. Not being familiar with...exercise...I wrote Lynda and asked her if she meant sprint as in run. Turns out that's exactly what he does - he teaches us handlers how to train ourselves for the quick runs, turns and sprints required to negotiate a course in Agility. (I'm guessing) Methods are like running through a ladder, sprint drills, etc. While it's a great opportunity for those of us in shape - not really in the cards for me. I am really only just re-learning how to jog, much less run and then last weekend I wrecked my left knee playing with Treo in the back yard. So, running drills might be a little much for my knee(s) right now. I did go and invest $110 bucks in new knee braces - so, while the "fit" students run drills - I invest in new knee braces. Well, maybe one day...here's hoping!

Anyway, Lynda sent me really cool links to her running in FIC Worlds representing Canada in Norway. Very, Very cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESfXfE4Opz4&feature= related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6SnXRbCdu0

2 days til Launch

Thanks to all for the encouraging words in the comments and emails. I can tell you that in some ways it makes me a lot less nervous. My mom got here today, she lives in Arkansas. My packing endeavor has started, all balls are in motion.

Had a training success with Treo on Sunday. He had slipped off the teeter between two tables in his Thurs agility class, and what WAS a run across the teeter turned to nearly a crawl. Of course, my first thought was how this is going to be impacting skills camp. On Sunday I decided to put him back on the bicycle and see if he can pedal. We did two rounds of shaping across the teeter and he was fairly pensive. I broke him out and did a tug game and brought him back for another round of treats for going across. I broke him out for another game of tug. He was happy and motivated - so, I decided to do one more round but this time his reward would be a release off the teeter to they toy. Success! We played that game 3x and he got faster and faster with every round. It was VERY cool to see. Yay! Good Boy!

Unfortunately I found out that one friendly face I thought was going to be there, emailed me today that her plans changed and she won't be coming afterall. Bummer! So, I guess I'm making new friends. After 5 days of training 7 hrs a day - I'm sure we'll all be very close.

Pre-Trip Jitters

The trip to Say Yes skills camp is rapidly approaching and I am starting to obsess about really important things like what I am going to wear, where I am going to get my lunch everyday and what toys I need to bring. HA! My Mom is going with me, so I am also trying to figure out how much of a vacation I can squeak out of this trip. At least I did prepare for record keeping by starting a blog. I am really only going to try to highlight key learnings, capture interesting antedotes, and let you all just know how we're doing. My hard-core note-taking will be offline. But, if you know me at all, you KNOW there will be some serious detailed notes happening!

I've got some irrational (or are they?) fears, like...what if Treo is a freak - freak like won't play with me or freak like is a crate crab etc. I'm just going to have to do my best to anticipate situations and keep him set up for success where ever and when ever I can. To prepare for this big adventure, there is just a few classes or awards that we've gotten under our belts. Some are relevant, so are totally not - but at the end of the day a lot of training time and effort has already been invested and it sure had better pay off. To date:

Attended 2 Puppy Agility Foundation Seminars by Tracy Sklenar.

Completed 3 Agility Foundations Class Sessions at Go Dogs.

Attended about 5 months worth of Dog Obedience classes.

Acheived our AKC Canine Good Citizen Award in October (at 10 months of age, might I add)

Achieved our Mini-Aussie Herding Instinct Certification.

Not sure if any of it will help - but it's got to amount to something, right?? My goal is not to expect too much of ourselves, to not put too much pressure on us, and to try hard to have fun...all at the same time. Oh Yeah...and learn a crap ton!