Happy Halloween!

Mani had his second halloween with me, but the first year I forced him to dress up.

Can you guess what he his?

Hint: It is a breed of dog.

Hint: A sport popular in Florida.

Mani has something to say!

Mani had something to say today . . .

then he started flying . . .

and Jillian told him a secret. . .

but in the end, the only thing he had to say was. . .

always keep your eye on the ball . . .

chase others away from it if you have to . . .

make sure everyone runs away screaming . . .

or they can be bodyguards. . .

but make sure you get the ball . . .

so you can the enjoy the Sweet Victory of it all!

Update!

I guess it's about time that I update this blog. I have been busy with school, with all the traveling and training I have gotten far behind. Mani has been doing great. Class on Thursday night was great! He was so fast, we had him jump 12" for the first time in a very long time, and he was awesome. I don’t know what it was but he was flying. He was so fast he flew off the teeter a couple times. Now we have a new problem, I now have to baby-sit him on the teeter. That is now all of the contact obstacles and the weave poles that I need to stay with him. He is going so fast that I am really learning how to handle a fast dog. The really good news is that I can finally do some rear crosses. He was so slow before that we were never able to do that. I really hope he keeps his speed up. Especially for the TDAA Trial coming up next month. We are going to be outside in a big horse arena and I cant wait to see how fast he runs this time. The last time we were in a horse area for a trial, NADAC, he left me in his dust.
I will try to update more often now. Jillian is doing good. We have had a breakthrough in her agility training, she is not afraid of the jumps anymore, and if you ask really nicely she might jump over it, might.

New pictures of Jillian on My Picture Blog.

New pictures of Mani to come.

Leaving. . .

We are leaving tomorrow for TDAA Nationals. We are driving all the way to Wisconsin. I am getting nervous already. Not looking forward to the cold weather. The place that we are staying at is right on Lake Michigan. This is our very first big agility event, our first large size dog event in general.

My goals for Friday are to gain 2 titles, intermediate games and standard. We can do it. We only need one great run in each. For that Mani needs to get his weaves together!

We were unable to practice due to rain. But we did have a breakthrough in training! I can send him to the weave while he is running. He has consistently been getting his entry correct. But he does not like to weave with me behind him, but that is not an issue right now. I am just happy that I don't have to walk him into the weaves anymore. He still prefers me on the right side of the weaves, but he will weave with me on the left, he will just pout his way through them. :(

The only thing that I can hope for from him is that he is focused on me, fast, happy, confident, and just plain crazy.

People want to play and pet him all the time, and that is very distracting for him. Especially if he find one person he like more than the others, like the judge! That is the perfect person to want to snuggle with in the middle of running a course. But with a face like this who wouldn't want to snuggle.

Petit Prix is in a week!!

I cant wait for TDAA Nationals! I hope we do really well. Mani has been doing good in his training. He is gaining speed and confidence. Besides a little hick-up with his contacts he was great. But recently he has been doing a really bad job with his weave poles. He can get the entry, if I set him up correctly, but he has been missing poles and such. I think part of it is the new weave pole we are training on they are the wider USDAA pole. Mani likes the tighter ones. We will train once before we leave for Nationals. I am not expecting it to be as hard as we are used to in training.

We leave Thursday morning at like 3:00am. Friday is like a regular trial, so if we do well then we will be in Superior class. That would be so cool!