Happy 2nd Birthday!

You’re always very special
And you should know today
That you are wished the nicest things
That life can bring your way

Like warm and loving wishes
And happiness and cheer
And everything you need to start
Another happy year

Happy Birthday to Tani, Rayas, Razz and Dream!


Once again, thanks to Maja Rokavec for wonderful snowy photos!

Merry Christmas

Tani and I wish happy holidays and all the best in 2011 to all our friends! Thanks to Maja Rokavec for this funny card :)

Motešice (Slovakia)

I don't like cold. I think any temperature below 25°C should be forbidden. And yet, I love agility more than I hate cold, so I keep going to competitions where I know it will be cold. Well, this time I outdid myself, -17°C is not just normal cold, it's really cold! But hey, enough about cold.


I really like competing abroad. I love to test courses from different judges, find new challenges and new training ideas, gain experience and meet new people. But I have to admit, the competition in Slovakia was very hard for me for one simple reason: Tani and I weren't able to train for weeks before the competition due to extreme weather conditions. When she entered the hall and saw that pretty agility equipment that she had missed so much, she just wanted to be all over the place at the same time. And she was :) Luckily weather has now improved so we are able to train normally again!


I admit my handling wasn't the best eather, lack of training was very bad for me as well. But we got through some twisted parts very nicely, and I defenitely got tons of new ideas. Big thanks to Polona for advising me to change our startline routine and do a little bit of obedience before our runs. I tried it out and I think it's really good for both of us to concentrate a little bit. I think Tani was equally enthusiastic when I warmed her up with obedience, it really doesn't affect her desire for work, but she was more focused and easier to handle because she listened to me and didn't just run from one tunnel to another, LOL :))))


We met a cute pyrshep male from Poland, his name is Evo and he is with Roman Maruszczak. We took a picture together and talked a lot:


Big thanks to Lenka Wami Blachová for these fantastic photos of Tani!

Silas Boogk Seminar and New Wardrobe

I honestly believe every person interested in agility should attend at least one Silas Boogk seminar. For Tani and me, this experience was a true milestone. Silas seminar is hard to get into, usually working spots are full far in advance, but all of our asking around and harassing people really payed off. And so, we got a spot in Hungarian club TordasZoo!


Tani had a great time with Silas, she was her usual crazy self and a real joy to work with. I had to repeat some sequences many many times to get everything right, and she didn't mind at all. I love how she is always ready for action, she really is a great dog. Silas showed me how to teach her to be independent, how to improve her distance work, how to send her in order to get to my key position when needed and how I should predict Tani's ideal line and try to keep her on it. I never realised before how often I actually stand on her way. Sometimes it was hard for me to be in the correct position and to do everything right, but when I did it it was pefect! I really hope we will attend at least one more Silas in 2011 :)


Unfortunately, we weren't able to do any training at all ever since we got from the seminar on Friday. Our training facility is covered in snow and we don't have access to an agility hall, so we will have to wait until weather improves. We were stuck in Ljubljana due to bad weather for one whole week, but when we will get back on the coast, I hope we will be able to train normally as there is no snow by the sea (only rain). Tani likes snow, I'm sure she misses agility but she thinks running over snowy fields is pretty fun too. She has new winter gear to protect her coat from snowballs and I think she looks very cute in it :) We are attending a Christmas agility competition in Slovakia this weekend, I wish we could train a little before it but it's impossible. Well, at least we will get to do some agility over the weekend, I'm sure we will have fun (if we don't freeze, LOL). Weather forecast predicts -10°C! Brrrrrrrrr ...

Agility Sunday in Croatia

On Sunday Tani had her first competition in A2 and it was also her first time running indoors. I admit I was more nervous than usually, I really just wanted her to feel comfortable in this new environment and didn't pay enough attention to my handling. The result was predictable: one very hyper and barky dog running all over the place, entering all of the tunnels on the way and having the time of her life :) So I can say she did absolutely great and I hope I'll be more relaxed next time and handle her better.



At the end of the day, there was another TUNNEL CUP - our newly discovered discipline, which gives so much joy to any tunnels-obsessed dog :) I think we both did very well in that 4fun run, she performed additional 2 tunnels (I guess 17 of them really weren't enough :)), both to my error for getting a little lost in the course. But in tunnel cup you just lose time, there are no penalties, so she was 2nd despite losing so much time there. Not bad at all! Thanks to Daša for the video and some photos from our walk on the beach.







And a group photo with Tani's niece Page and her Rolli, taken at his seminar in Ljubljana :)

A2

Yes, we did it :) Tani made her final exam for A2/J2 level in agility! Once again, luck was on our side in Austria. She had the fastest times in A1 from all height cathegories, she was hyper and yet managed to follow my cues and even stop on the teeter, and she was so focused that she didn't even notice a little sheltie that escaped on the course while she was in the weaves and ran the rest of the path with us :) I sure am very proud of my supergirl - and I admit I'm pretty glad that we will get to sleep a little longer on weekends from now on. Competitions for A2 usually start about 3 hours later than A1, so ... :)


Special thanks to Josè M Davila for this sweet photo of us from Dog Olympics!

Dog Olympic Games

This weekend Tani and I participated on the first Dog Olympic Games in Lignano (Italy). The main reason why I wanted to attend this event was a discipline that has "Tani" written all over it - TUNNEL CUP! Tunnels are Tani's favourite thing in agility, she loves the sport and enjoys all about it, but tunnels have a special place in her heart ever since the first day she set her paw on agility field.



I entered her just for fun, I never thought I would be able to remember a course made entirely of tunnels. But our run was perfect, she had the best time by far in medium (over 4 seconds faster than any other dog) and even though we got 5 seconds of penalty for knocking the first bar (my fault for placing her too close to the jump), she still earned herself a bronze olympic medal. Of course, I am extremely proud of her, and the tunnel challenge was so much fun for both of us, we defenitely want to do it again!



Our friends did very well too. All of our 3 room-mates came home with at least one medal! We saw many interesting disciplines, maybe we will enter more competitions for the next Olympics. We also enjoyed long walks by the sea where Tani could play with her new friends. Thanks to Enes Halilovič and Veronika Valentin for these lovely photos! And thanks to Sandra Pavlović for the video of Tani's Tunnel Cup run!