Summer holiday 2013 ;)

So, we've had the better part of July off, both in regards to competitions and training. Leija and myself have enjoyed a few quiet weeks with just a few trainings a week, focusing on getting the more complicated handling behind us and looking just on fun-filled, speed crazy, running courses.

As part of our summer vacation, we decided to bring our family for a trip to the lovelly country of Finland to visit the breeder of both Iko, Leija and Niili. During the ten days we stayed there, we managed to squeeze in four days of agility training with the finnish national coach, Seppo Savikko, with me and Leija.

One of the things I take alot of pride in during my training, is my ability to have an open mind to all information and tips that can help me evolve in both my handling and my view on agility. After everything is said and done, I sit down and evaluate what I've learned and pick out the things I see can improve the things me and Leija are doing.

Of the sessions we had with Seppo, the most important he tried to get in to my head, was the aspect of body balance during my handling. As long as I get the correct body balance, it will become much easier to prepare myself and Leija towards the next obstacle. Unfortunately the vision of Seppo was that we become something like this:

However, after a few tries and a lot of frustration from both myself and Seppo, it turned out that my body balance in regards to running turned out to be more like this:

But luckily Seppo has good patience and knows to take it slower with the beginners, so we really started to get something going before I had to leave.

Where does that leave me, you might ask....

With a lot of the following: 

 

Tommy & Leija