A very sad day - goodbye Kate

26.10.89 - 11.3.07

We said goodbye to our Katie yesterday. I knew on Saturday night when I left for the comp that the lump in her throat/mouth had enlarged significantly, and even though she was active and eating well, it was sore to touch and was starting to affect her breathing. I had a disturbed night's sleep listening to her snores and restlessness.

On Sunday morning we put her up on the bed for a cuddle, saw how prominent the lump was and decided it was time. So the three of us lay there for an hour just cuddling and stroking and sharing our love, we then got the clan together to say farewell before going to the vet. She is now laid to rest in our pet cemetary overlooking the dam, the yard and the property. We will miss her so much; she was one of the most loving, giving, uncomplicated dogs imaginable. She was our 'support crew'. She's been a huge part of our lives for over 12 years and to have her live to 17 was itself such a gift.

Today everything is off-kilter, too much food defrosted, too many plates, an empty bed, and no schmoo bear. There's a big hole and lots of tears. Love you always Kate...

A motivational day

On Friday I had the great fortune to again be under the instruction of Susan Garrett. We worked through some double-box exercises using Greg Derrett's method of handling. It clarified a lot for me; reminded me how sloppy I was being; and showed up some huge gaps in my training. It felt so beneficial to have Susan's eye reminding me to be consistent; and pointing out where and when I wasn't being. Oh to have her critical eye assessing you and reminding you to be a better trainer more often! It was good to have a number of the people I regularly train with there too though, as we can now pick on each other and push each other to be more consistent and to set our goals higher. The entire day motivated me to sit down and plan out a training schedule for myself and my dogs again. It was also evident that I need to make the effort to video my training sessions much more often; as well as my competitive runs, that way I can see when my timing sucks or where my position was off.
Priorities include: improving the timing of my turns; working and testing my 270s; testing my dogs independence in the weaves and on their contacts; and of course, ramping up the "fun" factor; all training sessions need to be short, hard, fast and fun! Put the time into preparing the session and evaluating the session; the session itself is short and snappy.