Stavanger 05.-06. April 2014

Just keep taking chances and having fun. - Garth Brooks

After a few weeks with hardly any training at all, we had our second competition of the year in Stavanger, with judge Morten Holmen from Norway.

We had the entire house filled up with people and ended up with a total 5 adults, 3 kids and 7 dogs. But we managed that as well. There is a norwegian saying that goes: "Der hvor det finnes hjerterom, finnes det alltid husrom.", which translates to: "Where there is room in the heart/hospitality, there is always house room.". Just means that as long as you are social and willing to make friends, there is always room for someone.

Saturday morning started slow. I'm still getting used to the idea of not having to be at the location when the first course walk is, but I managed to calm down and actually eat some breakfast before we left. A positive start for a change.

First run for me on Saturday, was the jumping course. Since the judge did a lot of modifications on his designs, there is no course drawings available, but hopefully you can all see the way of it by the movies.

-= MOVIE LINK - JUMP 2 LEIJA =-

To continue this blog post, as of today 12.05.15, I really don't remember this competition that well any more, which in turn shows me that it didn't go to well..

Ah well, time heals all wounds, they say!

Dealing with expectations

It's the weight of expectation that's the hardest to deal with, really, from my point of view. - Kevin Pietersen

How do I deal with expectations? It's a very good question and the answer is; I don't!!.

First of all, I am really bad around expectations and it is one of the reasons I need to focus so much on the basics and to have fun when I run. Because I know that Leija and me can go a long way, but when I expect that we will complete a course or at least manage to run decently without having to "lead" my dog through the course at walking speed, then everything crashes and we fuck up everything.... I fuck up everything!!!

Courses

Below is courses I've recently designed and used either in training or at unofficial club competitions:

NKK Kristiansand - 15.03.2014

Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. - David Frost

After a "perfect" start of the weekend, on the trip to Kristiansand, I was very excited to see how the start trickled down in to our 2014-start.

For explanation;
       - After getting off work a bit early, I start the trip to KRS. I just have to buy some supplies first. And don't you think that I get a flat tire and have to spend three -(3)- hours, yes three hours, changing them.

My reaction when I saw it;

After arriving in KRS, we spent a good evening with friends and good food, but I would be lying if I say I had a good night sleep. Try sleeping in the same bed as two "wannabe-spiders" sleeping, is not recommended.

Even if a bit tired, I ended up at the location in time to view the course for jumping 1 and help some friends with a course walk. After some time, it was finally my turn. Took some time to warm up Leija and to get a feel for how we would interact with each other before the run.

First course of the day was jumping 2:

The course itself was a bit different than the design due to size restrictions in the arena, but it's pretty mich the same. It is easy to see where the difference is on the movie link.

-= MOVIE LINK - Jump 2=-

When we were at the starting line, I had a pretty good feel on how I wanted the run to be, how my movement was supposed to be and how that would "trickle" to Leija and her run.

However, after the first two obstacles, my first mistake came between #2 - #3. I was WAAAAAAY to late to do my supposed front cross, giving us a much better line for #3 -> #5. The positive of that mistake, was that Leija picks up speed again very fast and hardly loses a beat in her running.

BUT, and it is a big BUT; My movement for #6 is so crappy that I would prefer if she ran in to the wrong tunnell!! I have hardly any break in the turn and Leija does exactly what I show her, even though I manage to "save" that obstacle. 

#6 -> #8 is easy, as it is almost a straight line, but the I fuck it up again on number #8, where I (and I don't know why I do this) turn the way facing AWAY from the way we are running!!!! OH MY GOD how I FUCK up my handling....

And I keep doing it!!!! I look like the hunchback of Notre Dame when I run with that arched back...

After that disaster, I manage to get us to move to the weaves, where she jumps out on the last gate, but we pick it up rather okey, even though I spend some time figuring out where to insert her again.

Jump #15 clearly shows that I've given up and it results in a very wide turn in to #16 and I hardly give Leija any directions. Even though we had several issues during the run, we manage to finish on 2nd place, with 10 faults and a time within the set standard time.

Considering that it was the first run of the season, I can not lie and say I was negative after the run, but it shows that we still have a lot of issues to deal with during the season.

After a few hours brake, we were ready for the agility 2 run:

-= MOVIE LINK - Agility 2 =-

I was actually happy with my solution for the beginning on this course, but I fell behind on the movement up to #3 and that makes the turn going in to #4 becomes to big and I lose some time there.

After #7 I again use the opposite hand (Which I am close to gaffa-taping to my side next run) to stop and show Leija where to run. I also use the wrong hand to "throw" Leija in to the tunnell (#9). From #9 -> #12 I am actually quite happy with what I do, but I would prefer it if I didn't bend so much. Maybe make the turn to #12 slightly tighter.

In the weaves I get put off by the fact that Leija finishes without mistakes and that gives me some issues before #13, but we manage to save it. #14 -> #17 is straight forward, but on #17: wrong hand, wrong hand, wrong hand!! It's definately getting taped next run!

Very happy with the fast finish and it gives us our first clean run in agility 2 and a speed of 4.25 mtr/sec, but based on what I see, we should easily be able to get faster runs in the future.

Hopefully people can see what I'm doing wrong and not do that themselves.

Our next competition is Stavanger on 5-6 April with norwegian judge Morten Holmen. And there Niili will also compete in Jumping 2.

Tommy, Niili & Leija

Season start 2014

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.

Mark Twain

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/marktwain138540.html#l1JTd81VfWZhWVzS.99

Season start! It's a exciting thought, word, beginning for me. I always spend time considering how the winter-break will affect my mental preparations for competitions.

- Will Leija follow my movements?
- Have I trained myself good enough?
- Do I have the strength, speed and endurance to follow through with everything I want to do?

I sincerely hope so. I've spent most of the winter training myself, making sure that it will not be my own personal shape that will stop us from accomplishing our goals this year.

Our first official competition of the year will be this weekend in Kristiansand, the Norwegian Kennel Club competition, with judge Helge Himle. Leija will run both agility and jump, but will not run for teams this competition.

I hope I can go out on the course with a open mind and make the choices that are good for Leija and myself. I've certainly had time to think about everything since our last competition.

One of the most important things that came from my season evaluation, was the fact that the closer to season-end we came, the more I reverted back to my old self and "pushed" defeat down Leija's throat! We ended the season on a negative only due to my own lack of will-power, and my main focus for the entire season of 2014 will be to always have fun.

I know that when Leija and me are having fun and enjoying ourselves, we excel in what we do. We manage to only focus on what we need. Or more importanly; I manage to not think "What if?"!!

So, I deeply hope that I can muster the courage to keep my mind on the positive side of what I spend most of my spare time on, and go back to the fast paced, cool runnings agility that Leija and me had in the 2013-season start.

Or as a good friend of mine told me after a "bad" run:

- "If you can't keep your mind focused on the dog and give her proper directions and have fun, then get the F*** off the course. Because you are ruining the fun for your dog!".

I look forward to managing that challenge and to see loads of good agilityfriends again. If I can't say it to you face-to-face, then:

And always remember:

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. - Mark Twain

Tommy, Leija & Niili

Stavanger 12-13 Oktober

That which does not kill us makes us stronger. - Friedrich Nietzsche

After a good pre-summer, we've had a few bad competitions this autumn. And honestly, I can not say it's improving either.

 

Our third last competition of the season, was in Stavanger on 12th-13th Oktober with the german judge Stefanie Semkat.

 

She arrived thursday afternoon and got to spend the entire evening relaxing and preparing for the competition at the hotel. On friday I took her to the beach for a walk with Quick (her Papillon) and my own dogs.

Competition started early on saturday with the jumping competitions. My first run for the day was jumping 1 with Niili.
 

VIDEO LINK = SBK 12.10.13 - Tommy & Niili - J1 Small

It was a really cool run and Niili was following me good during the entire run. Of course, we can still work alot on the weaves and the winter will be used to train this with the help of Susan Garrett and her "2x2 Weave Pole Training DVD". You can find the DVD on this link, and yes, she send them international.

 

When I look at the run and the fact that we spent 6,31seconds in the weaves and some wide turns, it warm my heart when I see that we still had a speed of 4,36m/s in the run. It just shows me that we did a good thing for us when we moved on to grade 2 after this run. Now it will be fun to see how Niili will be able to compete with Leija on the same courses. Will she be able to match Leija's speed or will she go further?

 

Second run for the day was the jumping 2 with Leija. Even with our mistakes in the weaves, which I'm really starting to dislike, we managed to get a win. It wasn't that difficult, seeing that we were only two competitors in grade 2 small, but I would've preferred a clean run to grade 3.

 

VIDEO LINK = SBK 12.10.13 - Tommy & Leija - J2 Small

 

Speed was good for Leija in the beginning, but I have started to see a trend in both myself and Leija, where I bend my back too much in turns, causing Leija to get the wrong directions from me and generally starting to lose speed when I do this. Hopefully this is something I can spend the winter on fixing, but when I get it sorted, she will be even faster than before.

 

This run showed me exactly how much time and speed we lose by not managing good weave-entrance and having to go back to fix weaves in a run. We lost approx 10.85sec on our "little" mistake there, and it turned us into a 3,79m/s run instead of a 4,83m/s run, when I deduct the time lost in weaves from the total time. However, when I look at the run by itself, if I get the turns tighter, accelaration back to normal and I straighten my back, I can see no problem in us managing a run speed of somewhere around 5,2-5,4m/s.

 

The third and last official run of the day was the team run with Leija. This was a agility course, where again we face the problem with the weaves. I don't have a video of this run, but I have the course below.

During this run everything was running smoothly until the weaves. One of the challenges that we see more and more in all grades now, is both sided weaves, meaning that you as a handler can be on both sides of the weaves, but higher the grade, the more frequent you go on the "wrong" side of the dog. Because of this, I need to be comfortable with doing this. In this run, I tried, but failed miserably.

 

Last run of the day; open jumping. It was a super fun way of finishing the day for both the dog and handler. Alot of people had fast runs, and of course we had a weave fault... We lost 9,60sec in that incident, and I lose all my motivation in the run.

 

VIDEO LINK = SBK 12.10.13 - Tommy & Leija - Open Jump

 

I also did the same course with Niili, which was alot of running and not alot of control. But we both had super much fun in the course, so for us it was a success.

 

Thoughts after saturday;

 

After a gruelling day at the courses, we had a very relaxing and great dinner out on a restaurant, and we even managed to get a picture of all the ladies I entertained. the servers must have thought I was engaged in polygami, with all the wives.

 

So, Sunday was coming up:

 

Started the day with Jump 2 with both dogs. After a good first day with Niili, I decided to take her up to grade 2 in jumping, just because there is no point staying in grade 1 when we nail it and it's also easier for logistics on competitions with multiple rings.

 

Basically story of the day was alot of weave faults and not very good runs. I don't have any movies from this day, but the courses can be seen below:

 

I know it's a good time since last blog, but we just needed to get everything on a arms length.

 

Tommy & Leija

Karmøy - 28-29 September 2013

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. - Thomas A. Edison

This weekend it was Karmøy who was the host for the last competition in September. Karmøy is located almost as far west in Norway as you can.

Saturday:
Since the competition started at 10.00am on saturday, both Elisabeth and me decided that we could drive up on saturday morning. We started at 07.00am and arrived at the location at 09.15, after a nice ferry ride and a stop at a food store for some breakfast.

First run of the day for me, was the Agility 2 small course. It was a good course, with a few challenges that I liked and lines that I tried hard to hit. In my eyes it could possibly be a bit harder, but that's just my opinion. Leija jumps the last few weaves which gives us a fault and I spend alot of time going back. After the fault, I clearly see my motivation drop and I focus less on everything. Whenever I get a fault, I can see myself holding the contacts longer, forcing Leija to stay and this automatically gives me a slower time than I normally would get.

 

VIDEO LINK = Karmøy 28.09.13 - Tommy & Leija - AG 2 Small

Second course for us this day, was the team course which I ran with Leija. Seeing that I haven't started agility with Niili, it's mostly Leija who does agility and teams, as teams have to be agility courses in Norway to be valid in national championship qualifiers.

Leija takes the start really good, but a wrong position from me fucks everything up. I lose my own focus because I have to adjust my timing and position to follow up Leija correctly. It looks like I manage to do this, but then I screw it up down from dogwalk, giving Leija a chance to choose her own tunnell entrance. Result of this, DQ.

VIDEO LINK = Karmøy 28.09.13 - Tommy & Leija - Teams

Course number three was Jump 1 with Niili. I liked the course very much, as it gave us both good speed, but I could not let go of my focus with Niili. Lose focus for 1 second with these two dogs and they run a totally different course or line that you had planned. Seeing that we are still learning the flat tunnel, I don't go back to fix the denial on that obstacle, giving us a refusal with a follow up DQ.

VIDEO LINK = Karmøy 28.09.13 - Tommy & Niili - Jump 1 Small

Last course of the day was Jump 2 with Leija, and what a course it was! Leija runs like the wind.. She can be even faster!!! I give some slowness to the high grass, but still!!! And then I drop my focus for a milli-second!!!! Result: DQ!!

VIDEO LINK = Karmøy 28.09.13 - Tommy & Leija - Jump 2 Small

My thoughts of the day::

Sunday:
After a good and relaxing evening with Lene Cecilie Olsen & Einar Fossum, I was ready for a new day, hopefully without frustrating handler mistakes, like the jumping course on saturday.

First course of the day was Jump 1 with Niili. It was a course with some luck for my part. Niili had several "near-drop" bars during the run and I was pretty happy when I found out that it was a clean run. I blame the tall grass. I see that I can run even faster with Niili during these courses, as she is almost as fast as Leija. Weaves need a lot more work, but even with the slow weave during this run, she still ran 3,76m/s!!!

VIDEO LINK = Karmøy 29.09.13 - Tommy & Niili - Jump 1 Small

Second course was Jump 2 with Leija. For me it was a cool course, and it was my own fault she jumps back on the obstacle before the weaves. I need to learn to give Leija more space, but we also need to train more on the "in-between" obstacle. Result; DQ

VIDEO LINK = Karmøy 29.09.13 - Tommy & Leija - Jump 2 Small

Last course of the day was agility 2 with Leija. For the second time in all of our competition career, she dropped a bar :O. It was a good course, but like I've said previously; when we get a fault, I spend extra time on the contacts to make sure it's done correctly.

However, with that being said, I think it was a good run. I have some work to do on the turning, but it is a work in progress. After the A-frame, I lost Leija for a split second and she chose the "wrong" tunnel entrance. Luckily it was optional, but I still lost my "handling", which ended in a weird finish of the run. Result; 1st Place, 5 fault, 3.4m/s.

VIDEO LINK = Karmøy 29.09.13 - Tommy & Leija - AG 2 Small

T-t-t-t-that's all folk's.. Next competition for us is Stavanger 12-13 October, with Stefanie Semkat from Germany as judge. I'm really looking forward to that competition, as Stefanie claims that I will run my ass of on her courses...

So, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!!!

Tommy, Leija & Niili

Arendal - 21-22 September 2013

If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts. - Albert Einstein

Theory; A dog is supposed to pick up obstacles whenever you show them where to go!
Fact; If a handler don't show the correct handling, the dog will run on the outside.

Theory; When you train your dog, there is results in competitions!
Fact; Unless you show your dog the correct lines, the results will not come.

We spent last weekend at Hove Leirsenter in Arendal, on their annual fall-competition. As always, it was a great competition, socially and the location is great. Results could be a lot better, but then again; we can't always be winners.

Saturday:
Started waaaaaay to early for my part, as I woke up at 05.10am and didn't have the first course walk until 09.08am. I spent the better part of the morning walking the dogs, eating breakfast and generally relaxing.. It was unusual to have such good time before a competition.

First course for me was Jump 1 with Niili. The course had the flat tunnell in it, and Niili does not know that obstacle 100% yet. Result of this was of course the DQ.

AOH 21.09.13 - Tommy & Niili - Jump 1 Small

Second course was Jump 2 with Leija. I believe that I had a good idea for the start, as most of the other handlers chose to break the dog between #2 and #3 on the top of #2. However, I used my body the wrong way and it gave Leija the possibility to have a WIIIIIDE turn. And when she "refuses" to pick up a obstacle, my enthusiasm drops like a fly meeting a zapper, causing a DQ.

AOH 21.09.13 - Tommy & Leija - Jump 2 Small

Third course of the day was Agility 2, again with Leija. The course itself was super cool and I would've loved to actually finish it, but Leija somehow wanted it different. She jumped the downward contact on dog-walk, made a refusal in to the weaves and skipped the last two/three weaves. Result: DQ

AOH 21.09.13 - Tommy & Leija - AG 2 Small

Last run of the saturday was the team run. It was a great run. Leija follows me good, takes the contacts and generally pays attention. Unfortunately she gets a refusal on the zee-zaw and completely disregards the flat-tunnel. Result: DQ

AOH 21.09.13 - Tommy & Leija - Teams

That was the saturday. My thoughts for the day;

Sunday:
Started sunday with a Jump 1 course with Niili. It was a fast course, that was going perfectly until the wheel, where I pushed too hard and made her have a refusal. As I do the runs with Niili just for fun at the moment, I didn't focus too much on picking it up correctly after the refusal, so we get a DQ. But it was a FUN course.

AOH 22.09.13 - Tommy & Niili - Jump 1 Small

Second course was Jump 2 with Leija. Here I was hoping for a fast course with alot of running for both myself and Leija. It was really a course for both of us. Unfortunately for us, Leija decides to refuse to pick-up obstacles, giving us two refusals before I decide to just DQ her. I will not focus on anything positive in this course, as it was a total disaster.

AOH 22.09.13 - Tommy & Leija - Jump 2 Small

Last course for us this day, was the Agility 2 course. This was once again a fast course, and a course I really liked at most of the part. Distances could be a bit small for a faster dog, but we managed. I really need to start looking more at my dog when I do unfamiliar switches. Because of this, I get a refusal on the dog walk, but we manage to finish the course. This gives us a 3rd place, but a rather slow pace.

 

AOH 22.09.13 - Tommy & Leija - AG 2 Small

 

That's all from the Arendal competition. Our next trial now, is Karmøy next weekend. It's going to be interesting to see what will happen.

Tommy, Leija & Niili

The Formula For Success

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. - Vince Lombardi

What is the formula for success? Sometimes people will ask you; "What have you done to get where you are today?". Is success a mindset or a journey? Or how do one define success?

It's difficult to put a definition on success. I would say it's easier to define a journey, but can't you say success is a journey as well?

In my mind, the entire concept of success is a journey. There is no specific finish line when I think of success, as it is a matter of goals. You set your goals and then if you reach them, you have success.

How can a person keep having a success if you set only one goal?

I would think the best way to do this, is to break down the word itself; SUCCESS:

So, lets try and hopefully I can shed some light on my understanding of success.

 

See Your Goal:

In all training you do, there is always one or more goals that you want to reach. One of the first things to remember when setting a goal, is to be smart about it. Set goals that are S.M.A.R.T:

There is no point in setting goals that are unrealistic both in achievement and time. Get a full understanding of what your goal is, and work towards it systematically.

 

Understand The Obstacles:

 

How one person see a challenge or a problem, is most of the time different from what other people see. For example, when people look at my running, they might say that I need to focus on tighter turns, better control and maybe decrease the speed to ease my handling to make control easier.

 

But I see different obstacles; How can I get control without losing speed? Do I want to sacrifice the speed in a turn for tighter turns?

 

My point is that some challenges can be the same, but people's perception of it might be totally different.

 

Wouldn't it be nice if every situation that was difficult, came with a warning? Or that dogs were sold with a big notification that it might be hard?

 

Create A Positive Mental Picture:

The first or most important thing when you want to do something, anything really, is to say: Yes, I can do this!

There is no point in doing alot of work on something you deep down don't believe will work in the end. Once you get you mind and focus on the positive things, everything seems brighter.

 

Clear Your Mind Of Self Doubt:

Like I mention above, there is no point in setting goals when you deep down don't believe you can reach them yourself.

 Are you good enough? If you always question yourself and never try, you never just go for it, how will you know? The worst that can happen, is that you find out that you need more practise.

 

Embrace The Challenge:

Is it difficult? Do you find elements that is challenging? Is the course not the way you are used to handling? BRING IT ON!!! - is my motto there.... I will do my best to work with it. If I fail, I fail. Then I have something I can strive to finish.

 

Stay On Track:

Remember your goals!! That is the most important thing on this point, in my eyes, just keep remembering your goals.

As long as you keep to this, you will stay on track towards success.

 

Show The World You Can Do It:

When you get it to work, people will start to notice you. You will succeed in courses, your training method will start to pay off and people will respect your journey.

 

This was my thoughts on the formula on success.. So who knows, maybe it will work for you, maybe it won't. But what have you got to lose?

 

Tommy, Leija & Niili