Sunday, December 25, 2011
Happy Birthday, Tani!
Merry Christmas to all our readers, and of course, happy 3rd Birthday to the star of this blog, my perfect girl Tani. To those who don't know it, having a dog like Tani was my biggest wish come true. That's why I named her Désirée, the Desired One. And of course, being the self-centered little girl that she is, she was born on the day when all of the World celebrates a birth :) How very Tani-like! :) :) :)
For her special day, she will get a tunnel run in our club by the sea, a long walk on the beach, a doggy cake to share with Xsara and a bunch of toys that I'm sure she'll love. Happy Birthday also to her sisters Razz and Rayas and their brother Dreamy!
Friday, December 16, 2011
C'est la Vie
Winter is here and we're back to the coast, enjoying warmer temperatures than in Ljubljana. Tani really loves it here, but then again, she really loves to be anywhere as long as I'm there too :) We enjoy long walks in the vineyards or by the sea, we train and do a lot of tricks, the same as in Ljubljana, only with nicer climate. We miss our friends from Ljubljana, but have some friends here as well, and we visit each other when we can.
Anyway, tomorrow we will attend our first competition in two months and I'm really excited about it, but also a little nervous because I don't know what to expect. She's been doing really well in training and I really feel like we're running as a team now, but every now and then we still have days when we don't really connect which results in many mistakes. And of course, we had a day like this today, one day before the competition. I felt like she wasn't listening and only ran around like crazy without considering me at all, she probably thought my handling wasn't clear or something like that, I really don't ever think dogs would ever jerk us around, I'm sure they don't think this way, only people do. So whenever we have an off moment, I try to think what I did wrong or maybe not wrong but just differently than she's used to. And then I try to improve. Bad days happen for a reason, they're not here to make us mad or lower one's self-esteem. They happen so we can grow and learn and become better handlers and better people. I don't really enjoy them as much as I enjoy good days, but they're a part od life so ... c'est la vie :)
Anyway, tomorrow we will attend our first competition in two months and I'm really excited about it, but also a little nervous because I don't know what to expect. She's been doing really well in training and I really feel like we're running as a team now, but every now and then we still have days when we don't really connect which results in many mistakes. And of course, we had a day like this today, one day before the competition. I felt like she wasn't listening and only ran around like crazy without considering me at all, she probably thought my handling wasn't clear or something like that, I really don't ever think dogs would ever jerk us around, I'm sure they don't think this way, only people do. So whenever we have an off moment, I try to think what I did wrong or maybe not wrong but just differently than she's used to. And then I try to improve. Bad days happen for a reason, they're not here to make us mad or lower one's self-esteem. They happen so we can grow and learn and become better handlers and better people. I don't really enjoy them as much as I enjoy good days, but they're a part od life so ... c'est la vie :)
Monday, November 28, 2011
Tiny Little Black Nail
As I mentioned before, Tani injured her nail in Switzerland. Unfortunately she managed to lick the wound and it got badly infected. The nail broke and when it almost healed, she broke it again jumping on my bed - only this time she also pulled a big chunk of her finger off, together with the newly grown nail. The vet suggested amputation and assured me that it wouldn't affect her movement because it's the first finger above the paw and she doesn't really use it. But I felt weird about cutting it off, it just didn't seem right so I decided to wait. It's been very hard to keep her still, change her bandages every day and restrain her from agility, but I believe I made the right decision not to put her under anesthesia and just cut her if it wasn't absolutely necessary.
The nail is now growing back, the finger has already grown back as well and she is more than happy to be back in training. Of course, we're going to take it easy after such long break, and since the new nail is still very thin and fragile we defenitely don't want to injure it again. So we're only doing low jumps and tunnels for now, which gives me the perfect opportunity to work on some things that I always planned to do and never did, such as improving our distance work, obstacle vs. handler focus and trying to make her even faster than she already is. So we're inventing little games to make her run fast (for now only on flat ground where she can't bump into anything, and she has a shoe on while training) and I'm getting Silvia Trkman's new DVD on speed and conditioning which came in the perfect timing for us. I'm sure we'll both benefit from all of this :) I had a lot of time to think about how lucky I really am to be blessed with such wonderful dogs, so I think next time you see me in the ring, I'll be a lot more relaxed and present in the moment.
And well, last but not least, it's not really about Tani but I totally have to brag with my awesome puppy class and rally-obedience students who made me extremely proud on exams last week. It was really nice to see such great work and such a beautiful bond between them and their dogs. Congratulations and I hope you'll all keep clicking for many years to come :)
The nail is now growing back, the finger has already grown back as well and she is more than happy to be back in training. Of course, we're going to take it easy after such long break, and since the new nail is still very thin and fragile we defenitely don't want to injure it again. So we're only doing low jumps and tunnels for now, which gives me the perfect opportunity to work on some things that I always planned to do and never did, such as improving our distance work, obstacle vs. handler focus and trying to make her even faster than she already is. So we're inventing little games to make her run fast (for now only on flat ground where she can't bump into anything, and she has a shoe on while training) and I'm getting Silvia Trkman's new DVD on speed and conditioning which came in the perfect timing for us. I'm sure we'll both benefit from all of this :) I had a lot of time to think about how lucky I really am to be blessed with such wonderful dogs, so I think next time you see me in the ring, I'll be a lot more relaxed and present in the moment.
And well, last but not least, it's not really about Tani but I totally have to brag with my awesome puppy class and rally-obedience students who made me extremely proud on exams last week. It was really nice to see such great work and such a beautiful bond between them and their dogs. Congratulations and I hope you'll all keep clicking for many years to come :)
Monday, November 7, 2011
Calendars 2012
I have really pretty dogs. They are so cute that both of them are featured in two awesome calendars for 2012.
The first one is agility calendar by the one and only Maja Rokavec that is well known for her amazing photos of dogs in action. Tani is my little Miss June, which is a very appropriate month for her since she really is a little sunshine. You can order it on maja.rokavec@gmail.com.
The second one is "Best Dog Calendar" (again, very appropriate for her) by Iztok Noč, another awesome photographer from Slovenia. This calendar is about dogs doing all sort of sports and other funny things. It can be ordered on ntrbizan@gmail.com in English or Slovene language. In December you can enjoy Tani fetching a frisbee in pyrshep style - no gravity :)
The price for each calendar is 10 euros. And I think they make perfect Christmas gifts for dog lovers!
PS: I have another "Tani Calendar" made for me by a dear friend, but it's not for sale. There's only one copy, but I can assure you it's really beautiful. I'm really looking forward to having my walls decorated with all these fantastic photos for one entire year!
The first one is agility calendar by the one and only Maja Rokavec that is well known for her amazing photos of dogs in action. Tani is my little Miss June, which is a very appropriate month for her since she really is a little sunshine. You can order it on maja.rokavec@gmail.com.
The second one is "Best Dog Calendar" (again, very appropriate for her) by Iztok Noč, another awesome photographer from Slovenia. This calendar is about dogs doing all sort of sports and other funny things. It can be ordered on ntrbizan@gmail.com in English or Slovene language. In December you can enjoy Tani fetching a frisbee in pyrshep style - no gravity :)
The price for each calendar is 10 euros. And I think they make perfect Christmas gifts for dog lovers!
PS: I have another "Tani Calendar" made for me by a dear friend, but it's not for sale. There's only one copy, but I can assure you it's really beautiful. I'm really looking forward to having my walls decorated with all these fantastic photos for one entire year!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Tani's Sisters
So, I guess everybody in agility world got to see Tani's fantastic 3/4 sister La AKA Simply the Best and her Silvia run on World Championships a couple of weeks ago. We were so happy to see them place 3rd, only missing 1st place for 0.1sec at 10 years of age! Wooooow :) And of course, we were also really happy for all of our other friends, specially Daša, Urška, Olga, Ashley, Thomas ... the list goes on and on! But all in all pyrsheps did really great on AWC this year!
Only a couple of days after AWC Tani and I went to a competition in Switzerland. This was the 10th country for Tani to compete in, but best of all, there was also Tani's sister Rayas with her owner Christine. We had a really nice time in Switzerland, although Tani broke a nail and had to be pulled out of the competition after the first run. But Christine was so nice to let me run with Rayas for one run instead, and she showed us some really nice places to go for a walk, so it still was a very special weekend.
Tani now has to weare the "cone of shame" because she keeps trying to lick the wound on her finger and it got all infected. So she's on antibiotics and some rest, luckily she can walk normally so she's not too bored. But she does feel a little sorry for herself so we cuddle a LOT! And that's nice too.
Only a couple of days after AWC Tani and I went to a competition in Switzerland. This was the 10th country for Tani to compete in, but best of all, there was also Tani's sister Rayas with her owner Christine. We had a really nice time in Switzerland, although Tani broke a nail and had to be pulled out of the competition after the first run. But Christine was so nice to let me run with Rayas for one run instead, and she showed us some really nice places to go for a walk, so it still was a very special weekend.
Tani now has to weare the "cone of shame" because she keeps trying to lick the wound on her finger and it got all infected. So she's on antibiotics and some rest, luckily she can walk normally so she's not too bored. But she does feel a little sorry for herself so we cuddle a LOT! And that's nice too.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Back From Holidays
We are back from Corsica and we enjoyed it even more than last year. It's a magical island, that's for sure! Here is a video of Tani enjoying a variety of summer sports there and some of the best photos from our vacation.
Of course, the only thing that was missing was agility. We can last 10 days without it, there was so much to do we couldn't find the time even to set the two jumps we brought with us. But when we returned, we knew exactly what was the first thing to do. Last week we had a competition in Duplica, Tani had quite a nice agility run (with one almost refusal) placing 3rd after her sister La and EO winner Šja. Unfortunately we were disqualified in jumping. Yesterday we had a competiton in Ljubljana but I had a horrible migrain aura and everything I saw was very bright and white so it was hard for me to stand on my legs, let alone run. Tani did quite OK with me being such poor help - with 2 chaotic runs we finished on 3rd place and earned our first medal in A3. She is doing so well on training lately that I am incredibly proud of her, I think with a little more practise we are going to be just fine :)
Of course, the only thing that was missing was agility. We can last 10 days without it, there was so much to do we couldn't find the time even to set the two jumps we brought with us. But when we returned, we knew exactly what was the first thing to do. Last week we had a competition in Duplica, Tani had quite a nice agility run (with one almost refusal) placing 3rd after her sister La and EO winner Šja. Unfortunately we were disqualified in jumping. Yesterday we had a competiton in Ljubljana but I had a horrible migrain aura and everything I saw was very bright and white so it was hard for me to stand on my legs, let alone run. Tani did quite OK with me being such poor help - with 2 chaotic runs we finished on 3rd place and earned our first medal in A3. She is doing so well on training lately that I am incredibly proud of her, I think with a little more practise we are going to be just fine :)
Friday, August 19, 2011
Private Lesson in LoLaBu Land
Tani and I had a private lesson with Silvia this week. It was a lot of fun and she worked really well. Here is a video of some of the things we worked on:
Saturday, August 13, 2011
EO 2011
Once again, I'm kind of late with updates, but after EO we deserved a little vacation by the sea. Tani is a super swimmer and dock diver so it's always nice to take her to the beach. The only thing that one should be careful about - don't start throwing rocks into the water because if you do, she won't leave you alone! She gets this obsessed look in her eyes, starts shaking and if you don't react she starts barking directly into your ear until you have enough and throw another rock. Luckily, she doesn't try to fetch rocks, she just likes to see you throw them so I'm not worried about her breaking a tooth. I love to see her dive into water in full extension, she has the happiest look on her face as the water splashes around her. I really love to do anything with her, she always gives it all so she's a really great dog to work with.
Anyway, about EO. It started kind of badly for us, Tani's tummy was really upset when we arrived on Thursday, she had a very bad case of diarrhea and even threw up a couple of times. Luckily, we still had two more days before the competition would officialy start. It was a little chaotic because we had to cook for her and take her for walks very often, but luckily she seemed to be perfectly OK by Saturday morning when it was time for individual runs. Our first run was actually a little messy, but we got through the course with a very satisying time. We would be 12th and enter the finals if we didn't get that 5 penalties on the A-frame. I'm very confident on A-frame otherwise, so it was quite a shocker that she was a couple of cm too high, but what can you do :) Individual jumping would be quite OK as well, but she jumped one jump from the wrong direction.
Here is the video, thanks to Romek:
It was fun to cheer for all of our friends in the finals, although I admit I wished we could run them as well. But I was super proud of Tani anyway. And if I compare it to last year's EO when she was so nervous that she kept popping out of weaves and didn't even finish one course, this was a huge improvement! We were really happy to see our friend and one of Tani's first trainers Polona get 2nd in the finals, that was really awesome! And it was really nice to see so many pyrsheps in the same place :)
Tani and her step-sister Pepsi:
Tani and our new friend Socks:
On Sunday it was time for team runs. Again, no luck in jumping because I made a very bad handling choice and did a front cross in the wrong place, causing her to enter the wrong tunnel. But our agility run was clean and almost perfect, only one time she almost took a wrong jump but I managed to recall her from it. We lost a lot of time there, so it wasn't ideal, but plenty of reasons to be happy about.
The contact was really nice, for example (but a little difficult to catch on camera) - and the grin on her face is just perfect :)
Looking at the videos I have to laugh at our startline and how she starts to run in the air when she hears the judge whistle :)
Jumping:
Agility:
Anyway, all in all it was a fun experience, Tani made me really proud and I feel like we're on a good path. I really enjoy running with her and I think we're finally becoming a real team, not just trying to make it from point A to point B, but trying to do it nicely as well :) We have another week with lots of agility in front of us, then it's time for Corsica again. Agility is our great passion, but you can only enjoy swimming in the sea for a few short Summer months and agility is there all year long so ... :) Thanks to Iztok Noč, Olga Kwiecień-Maniewska, Christl Faltner, Maja Rokavec and Carles Fortuny for the photos!
Anyway, about EO. It started kind of badly for us, Tani's tummy was really upset when we arrived on Thursday, she had a very bad case of diarrhea and even threw up a couple of times. Luckily, we still had two more days before the competition would officialy start. It was a little chaotic because we had to cook for her and take her for walks very often, but luckily she seemed to be perfectly OK by Saturday morning when it was time for individual runs. Our first run was actually a little messy, but we got through the course with a very satisying time. We would be 12th and enter the finals if we didn't get that 5 penalties on the A-frame. I'm very confident on A-frame otherwise, so it was quite a shocker that she was a couple of cm too high, but what can you do :) Individual jumping would be quite OK as well, but she jumped one jump from the wrong direction.
Here is the video, thanks to Romek:
It was fun to cheer for all of our friends in the finals, although I admit I wished we could run them as well. But I was super proud of Tani anyway. And if I compare it to last year's EO when she was so nervous that she kept popping out of weaves and didn't even finish one course, this was a huge improvement! We were really happy to see our friend and one of Tani's first trainers Polona get 2nd in the finals, that was really awesome! And it was really nice to see so many pyrsheps in the same place :)
Tani and her step-sister Pepsi:
Tani and our new friend Socks:
On Sunday it was time for team runs. Again, no luck in jumping because I made a very bad handling choice and did a front cross in the wrong place, causing her to enter the wrong tunnel. But our agility run was clean and almost perfect, only one time she almost took a wrong jump but I managed to recall her from it. We lost a lot of time there, so it wasn't ideal, but plenty of reasons to be happy about.
The contact was really nice, for example (but a little difficult to catch on camera) - and the grin on her face is just perfect :)
Looking at the videos I have to laugh at our startline and how she starts to run in the air when she hears the judge whistle :)
Jumping:
Agility:
Anyway, all in all it was a fun experience, Tani made me really proud and I feel like we're on a good path. I really enjoy running with her and I think we're finally becoming a real team, not just trying to make it from point A to point B, but trying to do it nicely as well :) We have another week with lots of agility in front of us, then it's time for Corsica again. Agility is our great passion, but you can only enjoy swimming in the sea for a few short Summer months and agility is there all year long so ... :) Thanks to Iztok Noč, Olga Kwiecień-Maniewska, Christl Faltner, Maja Rokavec and Carles Fortuny for the photos!
Monday, July 4, 2011
Catching Up!
Uf, I'm waaaay too behind with Tani's blog, but with this beautiful weather I always have the same problem - I want to enjoy Summer outside and spend as little time behind my computer as possible.
So, Tani is now in A3, she is doing great, she is still crazy, fast and LOUD :) She enjoys every moment and I really love that about her. It's impossible to stay serious with a dog like her, and as a very wise person told me once - you shouldn't try to!
As some of my readers know, I really enjoy swimming with my dogs, but her obsession with water is ... well, sometimes a little bit over the top :) I love to watch her jump from docks and rocks and dive, swim and fetch sticks from water, but if there is no water where we go for a walk, she'll try to find some mud to throw herself into that. Better than nothing, she probably thinks but, oh well. I admit I have to laugh at her, she has the happiest face ever when she does it so I just let her be :)
June was a really exciting month for us. First we went to a big competition in Geel (Belgium), where we also attended some seminars and learned many new things that we're now trying out. She had one clean run in Open, but not a very nice one because I almost sent her into a refusal. She was still 2nd. Only a couple of days after we returned from Belgium (1200km in one direction), we went to another trip. We visited Tani's breeder Catherine and her wonderful dogs in the Pyrenees (another 1600km in one direction). Now we're back at home and ready for new summer adventures ahead of us!
This is Tani with her mommy Pequelette, thanks to Gregor Raičevič and Maja Rokavec for the photos!
So, Tani is now in A3, she is doing great, she is still crazy, fast and LOUD :) She enjoys every moment and I really love that about her. It's impossible to stay serious with a dog like her, and as a very wise person told me once - you shouldn't try to!
As some of my readers know, I really enjoy swimming with my dogs, but her obsession with water is ... well, sometimes a little bit over the top :) I love to watch her jump from docks and rocks and dive, swim and fetch sticks from water, but if there is no water where we go for a walk, she'll try to find some mud to throw herself into that. Better than nothing, she probably thinks but, oh well. I admit I have to laugh at her, she has the happiest face ever when she does it so I just let her be :)
June was a really exciting month for us. First we went to a big competition in Geel (Belgium), where we also attended some seminars and learned many new things that we're now trying out. She had one clean run in Open, but not a very nice one because I almost sent her into a refusal. She was still 2nd. Only a couple of days after we returned from Belgium (1200km in one direction), we went to another trip. We visited Tani's breeder Catherine and her wonderful dogs in the Pyrenees (another 1600km in one direction). Now we're back at home and ready for new summer adventures ahead of us!
This is Tani with her mommy Pequelette, thanks to Gregor Raičevič and Maja Rokavec for the photos!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
First Exam For A3
On Sunday, Tani and I attended a big competition in Hungary called MEOE. The judge was Arthur Rodgers from the UK. It was a great day, not only because we managed to pass our first exam for A3, but also because we were in great company, weather was nice, temperatures were a little warmer and everything was perfect. Our jumping run was not so good, I made a couple of handling mistakes but we got through the course somehow. In agility we had a very nice run with one wide turn that I made on purpose. We were clean until weaves and I knew that the entry was the only hazard left on the course, so I decided to play it safe and make the entry as easy as possible. Despite losing so much time on that turn, she had a very good time which got us the 1st place :) Here is the video, thanks to Daša:
I also have many great new photos to share, some from agility (by Maja Rokavec) and some from a little hiking trip with Iztok Noč and his brilliant camera.
Iztok Noč:
Maja Rokavec:
I also have many great new photos to share, some from agility (by Maja Rokavec) and some from a little hiking trip with Iztok Noč and his brilliant camera.
Iztok Noč:
Maja Rokavec:
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