Oh Yeah, You Blend

Here’s a little sample of what Sue helped me with today: working Evie through distractions. It is SO helpful to have someone to train with who knows a lot and has good ideas (not to mention, it’s more fun).

Evie is very friendly and also stresses WAY up, the visiting is less about her being friendly though, and more about being an outlet for stress (remember even good stress is still stress).

I am absolutely THRILLED with this! Plus LOOK HOW FAST SHE IS, and look at how quick also – you can see her deke towards me and then back to the dogwalk when she isn’t sure where to go. And this is probably the best set of weaves in a course I’ve ever had from her.

Good girl Evie! She loves to work and is such a trier.

When you’re really invested in your dogs and your dog sport(s), it can make you feel all kinds of big, profound, wonderful, terrible, things.

For me, there are few things that cause me to doubt myself and my skill more than when I feel I’ve let my dogs down.

Since COVID I’ve been much more of a homebody than before (although I’ve really always been a homebody), and so I go to agility trials far less than before. Instead of doing 2-3 days 3 out of 4 weekends a month (or more), I go to 1 or 2 days, once or twice a month.

This has positives: it’s better for my bank account; I get to spend time at home (which I love), with my husband (whom I love); I get to spend more time with my dogs outside of our sport.

But it also has negatives: my dogs get far less trial mileage than before; I get far less trial mileage than before (this has a highly detrimental effect on our mojo); we fall behind with the titles etc.

Agility is just dogs jumping over plastic, yes. But it’s also an amazing bonding experience with your dog. When the mojo is working, you truly do become one mind.

Anyway, all that is a big preamble to me trying to work through how I’m feeling about Evie right now.

Evie is an amazing dog. She’s so fast and quick, in training when I can feel the beginnings of our mojo, it’s like running with a hummingbird or a rabbit, she’s so immediately responsive, it’s like driving a sports car. And, for a dog who can be a bit of a weirdo about some things, she’s really very confident out there (three different people remarked to me about how confident she is).

But she’s a very sensitive dog, and she’s really experiencing the throes of adolescence right now. She has a LOT of feelings about things. And while I absolutely love a dog who stresses up, because those are usually the dogs who end up being the most fun to run with, right now Evie can’t cope well with pressure. She’s run in a handful of trials, and initially she was what I expect out of a novice dog. But the trend over the last few trial days has not been what I want to see, and the way I’ve been handling her is not what I want to see. I am so thankful to have dog friends who are wise, and willing to tell me what they’re seeing and what they think.

Evie is zooming, and visiting, and tuning me out, and I’ve been dropping connection, which is a big part of WHY she’s doing that. I took the opportunity yesterday (after a really ungood trial day) to run her in a match (you have 90 seconds to do what you like on a course, you can bring a toy or contained food). And while I got some really good attention from her in our second run, I came home feeling quite defeated, and disappointed in myself.

So, I pulled her from all ucoming trials, other than the games classes, where I can run For Exhibition Only.

I’m going to do some Control Unleashed pattern games. I’m going to work on relationship. I really think she has the potential to be an amazing agility dog, but she needs more foundation work, and I need to step back, go back, and work this through.

Zhora’s MACH8 has its own post, and was obviously the highlight of the weekend.

One thing I’ve tried to cultivate in myself is that everything can be a learning opportunity if I allow it. I also made a more-or-less New Year’s resolution to try to be less lazy. Trulli coming along meant that the two other green dogs in my house (Alice and Evie) got relegated a bit, and that’s not fair to them.

It became extremely obvious to me this weekend that Alice needs more from me than I’ve been giving her. I realize I’ve sort of been treating her like she’s at maintenance levels when really she isn’t at all. So: more Alice time!

I also found a few areas I need to work on with Evie (this is absolutely expected). She’s doing the thing that Alice also did where she wants to go get the cookies before she’s finished running (and to be fair to her, she was in the crate a LOT this weekend, plus we stayed overnight, so she had a lot of pent up energy both mental and physical). I talked it over with Sue and she reminded me of the really useful cookie jar game, so we’ll be doing that along with some other games to help. That said, there were flashes of real brilliance from her, and I’m super excited about what I’m seeing. She picked up her second Novice FAST Q, but more exciting is that there were real moments of being in sync, with glimpses of mojo starting to build. She is very, very different to run than my other dogs have been (they’re all different from each other, but she’s REALLY different): she’s so tiny and light and agile it’s like trying to run with a hummingbird or something. It’s really interesting.

Alice Friday FAST (Q):

Evie Friday Time 2 Beat:

Alice Friday Jumpers (Q):

Alice Saturday FAST (Q)

Evie Saturday FAST (Q):

Evie Saturday Jumpers (the second half of this course was amazing):

Evie is six months old now. I have done SHOCKINGLY little with her to be honest. Playing, relationship building, a few tricks, conformation handling, but very small amounts of each. This puppy is HUNGRY to learn, she LOVES to work, she is EXACTLY what I wanted out of a Zar/Alice baby. I am so excited about her. She is so smart, she is so willing, she has SO MUCH sticktuitiveness.

Here is a tiny bit of training from yesterday, the good the bad and the ugly. We have done MAYBE three sessions of tiny sequences before this. She’s done a few tunnels, she’s done a handful of “offering the jump” sessions, this is about as untrained as you get. But she figures it out, she wants to play, and she wants to RUN.

Love this puppy!

Conewango Valley Kennel Club AKC show in Dunkirk. In 2019 Orbit and Alice won their first majors, and won BOB and BOS every day to take the majors every day for three days. Then it was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 for obvious reasons.

This year it was back, smaller and only 2 days, but back. And what an incredible weekend it was!

I am so thankful to have such amazing puppy buyers and co-owners to share my dogs with.

Mel (and Rick) and Enzo (Alkemi Desperado LT RATN TKN): he went Reserve on Sunday and shows better and better each time, Mel is working really hard and it’s paying off, the boys take a long time to mature.

Nichole (and Chris) and Jovie (Alkemi Daydream LT): she went Reserve to the major on Saturday and took Winners Bitch on Sunday for her third major. She is looking gorgeous.

Ruth (and Jim) with Orbit (GCH CH Alkemi Cosmic Curiosity LT RI): what can I say? This was a dream weekend. BOB both days for 5 point majors each time. Saturday OH group 4 and regular GROUP THREE. And SUNDAY?!?! OH group 1, regular GROUP 1!! And then?!?! OWNER HANDLER BEST IN FREAKING SHOW!!!

Kat (and Tim) and Ellie (Alkemi Elise At Kleinhaus LT) made her AKC show debut and showed wonderfully in BPUP.

Alice (CH Alkemi Clear Air Turbulence LT OA OAJ NAP NJP XF XFP) won BOS both days for 5 point majors each day towards her GCH.

And Evie (Alkemi Evija LT) realized that showing is a job, and remembered she is a working dog, and rose to the challenge. She showed AMAZINGLY well, and won Beginner Puppy BEST IN SHOW on Saturday.

Orbit Herding Group 1:

Orbit OHBIS Judging:

Orbit OH Best in Show!!:

Evie Best Beginner Puppy in Show (and AKC show debut):

It’s That Weekend.

Orange Girl will be flying to British Columbia Canada to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. She will get to play nosework and agility. I have a special place in my heart for her and I will miss her terribly, but I really like her new mum and I know she will have an amazing life. Have a wonderful life sweet little girl.

Yellow Girl will be co-owned and will live with her Uncle Orbit in Rochester. I will get to see her! She will do conformation, rally and other things!

Red Girl is moving to Massachusetts and will live with other Vallhunds, and I will get to see her too! She will do conformation, rally, Barn Hunt and other things!

Tomorrow Pink Boy leaves, he will go to live in Ohio, with Corgi “sisters” and will play agility! And I will get to see him sometimes too!

It’s always so, so bittersweet. These have been my puppies since before they were born. This litter was 10 years in the making. It’s hard work raising puppies. I hope they do well. I hope I did well enough for them. Have wonderful lives my babies.

I’m not crying, you’re crying.

Purple Girl (Alora) and Green Boy (Garion) are on their way to their new home in Arizona! First a short flight to Chicago, then two days of driving (update: they did GREAT according to Michelle, quiet on the plane, good in the car and in the hotel too).

Have wonderful lives little ones! I hope to see you again some day!

(“oscar mike” means “on the move”)

Today the puppies went on a road trip to Sue’s agility building. I was thrilled with how they did. Longest car ride yet, new surface, new smells. It was REALLY windy and noisy and they all dealt with it perfectly. They had a GREAT time! So thankful to Sue for allowing this!

Michelle Fromm and I became friends a decade ago at the Swedish Vallhund National Specialty in North Carolina. Our similar focus and priorities means that we’ve ended up working together on several litters now and our lines of dogs seem to mesh very well. I wanted to use Michelle’s Zar since I met him all those years ago, and Michelle and I began planning this litter back when Alice was just a puppy.

So many miracles happened, as they do. Not only did we have a successful frozen semen breeding (thanks to Renee and Dr Gray at Alliance), we had a VERY successful one, with SEVEN amazing puppies. So far I am absolutely thrilled with this litter, I am very excited to see them grow up. Michelle was always going to be taking a puppy home, and she’d had her eye on Green Boy for a long time. We’d talked back and forth a bit about her taking two, and she fell in love with Purple Girl, so both of them will be headed to Arizona! Most people should never think of raising littermates, but Michelle has the experience and the time to do it.

Green Boy is now Garion, AKA Alkemi Eclipse at Caliente LT. Purple Girl is now Alora, AKA Alkemi Emira at Caliente LT.