Life as we know it

Is it really? Do we really know life?
I thought I did. I thought I knew people. Turns out I don't.
Was I being naive, weak, ignorant, ... all of the above? Who knows.
Falling back on my old, tried and true adage: you are never better served than by yourself or in the true words of C.G. Etienne, if you want something done right, don't rely on others to do it.

Haven't been updating anything, because .... well ..... just wasn't feeling like communicating with the world and felt more like telling everyone to F* off. But as the new year rolled I thought of new resolutions for this year and decided to yank my head out of the sand hole and get on with my life, with my dogs. I re-evaluated friendships and people and rather than continuing to feel miserable, hurt and betrayed, I refocused on what I truly have.
One step back but oh so many steps forward now. The holidays were amazing and full of laughs and great training, good times with people I rediscovered had a lot more to offer than I was lead to believe. Yup, head out of the sand, new attitude, happier, busier me and many happy dogs as a result.

Took first trip south at the end of January to New Mexico where I haven't ventured out before. Fantastic trip and a great trial. The trip broke that string that was tying me down and I felt liberated. Banshee and Riot had great weekend of trialing, but Riot most definitely kicked some tail and gave me a rush I had never felt before. Banshee and I had some rusty moments here and there though managed to hang in there and both girls won GP and Steeplechase in their own class. And we came home with GP byes and team Qs. So ready now for Regionals and Nationals, let the count down begin :-)

Winter has remained kind to us and we have been faithfully catching up on Silvia Trkman's online handling class and polishing off some tough handling skills and learning new ones.
Here's a sampler of one of our practice sessions:

Finally one lonely day in February winter decided to remind us of itself and we headed out for a photo shoot to our favorite place. Of course had to bring my favorite girl to enjoy a romp in two inches of snow we were graced with.

Deja is growing like a weed, even if she is still a little shrimp. The crazy little redhead is a puppy on crack that's all I can say. She is a curious (read nosy) pup full of energy and attitude.

 I am totally enjoying her puppy antics and now at six months she's still the cutest terror ever.
We've been keeping ourselves busy through the winter by taking a couple local tricks classes. She has learned a lot of problem solving and has showed me how much focus and what a hard worker she really is. Now we are progressing to more body awareness tricks, like walking/running on a flat board (yes, for those future RDWs), walking through a ladder, perch work, sides and heels and of course harnessing a bit of that enthusiasm into productive skills. This is going to be some journey!


And finally to catch up, just last weekend, end of the month we had a local AKC show that I only entered Riot in.
Riot and I gelled as a team and had just an absolute blast. The exhilaration I feel when I step out onto the course with her is indescribable, when I see her jaw quiver and listen to her excited barks, watch her as I leave the start line and her butt just vibrating ready for the signal to bust out on the course. The rest is just a rush, it's over in a flash, there is no room for error, we just run in sync.
To think she still has so much room to grow ... I mean geeeeez, she's barely 2.5 years old, it's just scary, yet already now she delivers over and over. 
Her running dog walk this weekend was better than I expected. I have re-visited the training part and went back to basics. The courses allowed me to test her full extension and by golly, extend she sure did. Made me feel like we are heading on the right track again.
I will update with a video later. Yes I do have some of the runs taped :-)

We were plagued by a dropped bar in half of the runs and I am pretty sure that was not a fluke. As I watched the videos it was the same rear leg tick, so chiropractor appointment has already been made and hopefully she will be feeling as new again in no time. Not that you could tell anyway by the way she acts.

I made the decision to give Banshee an AKC retirement break and focus now only on USDAA with her.  We can move laterally to Performance allowing her to jump at lower jump height yet still run masters courses, instead of having to start all over again as we would be required to do in AKC. Not only do I not feel like paying for all the novice and open classes all over again, I feel that it is not fair to an Excellent level dog, with a Championship title to have to start back on beginners courses and with beginner dogs. She has given so much throughout the years, I won't start over and would rather extend her career where she can still be challenged yet without pushing her over her limit at this age. Banshee is after all over nine years old and her hip is starting to remind her of that more and more often. Even if her heart is much younger than her body.
So it was with a heavy heart that I made the decision to not enter the AKC Nationals in Reno, the ones and only ever accessible to us throughout her whole career. I feel she would not hold up to the pressure of the competition and having to jump full height throughout.
Fingers crossed that she stays well and fit to be able to still participate in the USDAA World Games in the Performance program, this year in September, held in CO.