Agility Seminar

Spryte and I spent last weekend attending an agility seminar taught by Justine Davenport and Jessica
Patterson and hosted by Agility Addicts.  It was two and a half days of intense agility courses and learning.  The location was wonderful.  It was held at the Kelowna Dog Sport Center with two full rings set up, one inside the arena and one outside on grass. It was great to work on both surfaces during the weekend.
    We also rotated instructors, so whoever we had in the morning we would get the other instructor in the afternoon.  I loved this format. Both Justine and Jessica are amazing handlers and instructors. But their styles of running are a bit different.  Jessica tends to run a bit more and prefers to front cross whenever possible.  Justine will add a lot more threadle rears on course.  Working with both of them allowed us to be exposed to their handling choices and why.  They also explain things a bit differently too. So with two different explanations we were bound to absorb the information more thoroughly.
    There are usually a few big "ah ha!" moments during a seminar for me.  This time that moment came when Justine was explaining running on the backside of tunnels.  Her training tip for us:  If you are going to run along the backside of a tunnel you need to already be on the backside as the dog enters the tunnel. If you are still behind the dog as it enters the dog will assume you are doing a rear cross and will come out the other end of the tunnel turning in the wrong direction.  What fantastic advice! It makes total sense and takes the guesswork out of tunnels for the dog.

   The other "ah ha" moment came from Jessica when she was explaining when to blind cross on jumps.  For her if you need to control the turn, then a regular front cross is best. The dog can see you rotating into them and will cue off your shoulders.  If the dog will be slicing the jump and you are basically heading in a straight line, then a blind cross is fine as long as you can get across the dog's line and out of it's way.  Blind crosses on wraps are great, because the wrap is turning the dog naturally and you are already out of the dogs way.
    So once again it was a fantastic seminar. I feel like I am becoming a Justine and Jessica groupie! I have worked with them pretty much monthly since January, and I still continue to learn a great deal about agility.  They have pushed me to become more aggressive in my handling and to really test the limits of what Spryte and I can do. I just can't get enough :)  So I will be hosting them in Calgary in August.  I can't wait for the chance to work with them again!
    No videos from the weekend, my camera was still packed. However, one of the seminar hosts took a few pictures of the weekend.  The first two pics are Spryte and I.  The one below is of Spark heeling. I was able to bring Spark on Sunday for some exposure. We got to work on some tunnel & jumps skills and rally skills at lunch and at the end of the day.  She worked great. She was fast and crazy during the agility portion. She was so excited to be working. It was her first time doing agility since March! She hadn't forgotten a thing.  The rally skills looked good too. Her heads up heeling is looking very nice but she looses interest after a few minutes of work. So we need to continue to keep sessions short. But I was so impressed with how she could focus around all the distractions of a new location and people.  I absolutely love this picture :)

There where a lot of shelties there! So we got a group picture, small to tall. Spark is a very small sheltie in my mind. I'm sure she is right on 13" now.  And she didn't even come close to the smallest sheltie there. The ones on the extreme left are the tiniest shelties I have ever seen. One is already 5 months old!  It will be fun watching the little guys grow up, and it's great to have so many shelties out here in the Okanagan.

Perfect end to a fantastic weekend, CAKE!