My Schutzhund Life

I haven't updated since May after AWDF, oops!

A lot has happened since then, I feel it's worth updating because my dog is now IPO3 x2.

So, one of the biggest changes I've gone through is that I quit my IPO club. It wasn't an easy decision, I agonized over it for quite some time. It's always scary to step out of your comfort zone and I was worried about succeeding on my own. I decided to quit my club because I wasn't happy with the direction the club was going and I also wanted to work with other helpers and trainers outside of the club. At this point in my IPO journey I want to be selfish and do whatever I want to do without my choices having an effect on anyone. I don't think that mentality is very team player or well representing of a club. So, I quit.

Before AWDF when my TD & helper were out of town I worked with Kevin Coombs of Schutzhund Washington for trial prep. I also asked Kevin to take a peek at Atlas. At the time I was considering washing him from IPO. Kevin was up front with me that he had never titled a bull breed before but he was willing to take a look at him. Typically Atlas would go into avoidance, sniff the ground and ignore the helper. His first session with Kevin he was barking and chasing and tugging on a bite roll. I started working Atlas on Kevin and every week was more and more successful. Kevin has been working Atlas for 4mos, he has most of a hold & bark, he can do an escape, and we are starting to heel for bites.

Since we've switched training programs Stuck's confidence has grown. She's not concerned about me anymore, her grips are calmer, there's less growling. Kevin has been doing different things with Stuck to help give her more exposure and build her confidence by helping her overcome weird scenarios. It's really cool to watch her evolve into a more confident dog.

Which brings me to my main point for updating -

Stuck earned her first and MY first IPO3 on September 22nd at the USA Boxer National Championship with scores of 81-86-92. Tracking was a MESS but she never gave up. Obedience went okay, we had issues in practice two days prior with the jump and a-frame, so she did the retrieve over the jump but when she did the wall she came back over the jump. Protection was good, she put on a really good show but she was super naughty - forgey in the transports and she blew her blinds.

Since we titled at the boxer championship I decided to enter the PNW Regional Championship which was the following weekend. I knew Stuck was thinking about going into heat, wouldn't you know, she went in the day before practice! Stuck being in heat was a blessing and a curse. The positives were that we got to practice right before we went on the field, and I also think it's cool that she got to complete two phases in a row, like it says a lot about her as a dog if she is successful. The negative was that the sun came out and she was completely gassed after practice and then had to go out and complete two phases back to back! Stuck earned her 2nd IPO3 at Regionals under the director of judges Nathaniel Roque with scores of 84-83-90. We finished 4th out of 10 IPO3 dogs and we were only a few points short of the podium.

It's really wild to me that we are here. When I first started in IPO, roughly 6 years ago, all I wanted was an IPO1 and it seemed SO OUT OF REACH. And here I am and not only have we competed, we've competed at really difficult trials. I am not bragging because we are not podium all-stars, but even I am amazed that I was able to overcome my nerves and enter some championships. People get weird about "just trialing at club level" but honestly, that's all I've ever wanted to do.

I'm not really sure where we are going to go from here. I have said multiple times I don't want to put an IPO3 on my dog twenty times, but I am not sure that I am ready to completely pull her from IPO. I am thinking of trialing her in December, try to clean up some of our OB and make sure her blinds are solid. Of course with every IPO3 that means we have to track too which I am not excited about. There is someone in WA trying to make PSA a thing up here and I definitely want to get a PDC, MAYBE PSA1. They are having a trial next year which would be an easy drive, I think Stuck could get a sleeve PDC now, but I would like to train for the suit.

I'm also hoping to breed her before she's too old to get my next sport dog. I would love another dog like Stuck with a little more drive and a little less handler sensitivity. She's the perfect dog for me otherwise and the perfect partner. She's been everything I could have asked for in a sport dog and in a pet. We've had some struggles but I have learned a TON from her. I am really excited that we made it here and cannot wait for future adventures.

Here is a video of her protection routine at regionals:

Stuck tracking at regionals. Photo Cred: Kevin Coombs

Stuck's send-out at regionals. Photo cred: Kevin Coombs

Stuck working on helper Mark Pellon at regionals. Photo Cred: Kevin Coombs

2018 AWDF Recap/ Stuck got her IPO2!

Oh man, I am so exhausted! What a crazy wonderful weekend!

Where do I even begin?

We ended up leaving earlier than I had intended because my friends were peer pressuring me to get in some practice tracking and training. We left Tuesday in the late afternoon. We got down to California around 3:45am. We had a hotel room reserved but they cancelled our reservation which left us calling around to find a room. Long story short we found another hotel and ended up booking the whole stay with them instead.

I had to get up around 9 Wednesday to make it to tracking, so I only had roughly 5 hours of sleep. Another long story short - I drove an hour to tracking practice only to arrive and find out the field was covered in fertilizer. I couldn't afford to have a bad tracking experience so I followed my friends out to a field that was 2 hours away. The tracking went okay. The alfalfa was super tall and the field was dry. Stuck found 2 of 3 articles and managed the track okay. She did miss her corners so I was mildly worried she would bomb them in tracking at the trial.

Thursday I needed to be at stadium practice at 9:00am. Someone I train with booked the time after me (we only got 5 minutes to practice!) so we had 10 minutes total. Practice sucked. Stuck didn't want to go over the jump, she ran into the wall, and I wasn't convinced she would do her send out. Protection went pretty terrible too, we spent our 5 minutes running the blinds.

So you can imagine by now I am REALLY tired, Thursday night after practice wrapped up we had to go to draw night. It's where you find out the order you'll get to go in for stadium and you turn in your score book. I didn't get out of there until 9:30 and had a 30 minute drive to the hotel. To top is off I drew #2 in our "flight". Which meant I would be second up on the field. (My anxiety went up ALLLLL the way!) I'll tell you what, I was soooo tired and so cranky. I called my dad on the drive home and was just really down on myself and my dog. I felt like we should have never entered the trial. We didn't belong there. I felt like I have been training super hard for weeks and we are going to walk on the field and it will look like my dog isn't trained at all. I was even questioning whether I wanted to continue IPO with Stuck. At the OB practice it seemed like she didn't even really want to be there with me. I was so stressed out about everything and needed to be at the stadium by 6:30a so I could prep my dog. Everything really just sucked that day.

Friday morning rolls around, I am second on the field so my dog did her long down first. She did the down like a boss. No surprise there. We go out onto the field and wonder of wonders, she's heeling with me! She totally got her crap together and was a willing teammate. I haven't seen the video yet, I know it wasn't beautiful but - she retrieved over the jump, she got all of her out of motion positions, and holy heck, she did her send out! I was so pleased. Then we had protection, I couldn't believe my eyes she ran ALL OF HER BLINDS! She didn't even think about running immediately into 6. Her routine was good but she blew her back transport... as in she walked 4ft ahead of me. I was like "Who are you?!" but there wasn't much I could do about it.

Sunday was tracking. Of course when we went to draw I drew #1. Of course. I can't complain too much though, it was nice to get tracking out of the way. We had to walk a million miles through an alfalfa field... I don't know the real distance but it was a hike. We checked in and I told Stuck to track and... SHE TRACKED! She was slow, she took her time, she nailed the first corner, found her first article, her second corner was more messy but she found it, and then she found her last article. What a relief that last indication was.

Stuck earned her IPO2 at the 2018 AWDF National Championships with scores of 84/78/77. Who knew that our worst phase would be our best score. The numbers are not amazing, we didn't get a place on the podium or a trophy, but my dog passed at a HARD trial. The judges had super sharp pencils.

So many emotions were felt this weekend for me. I am so proud of us, I am so proud of my dog. She really came through for me when I didn't think she would. In every phase. Our hard work really paid off in the end. I can't believe I put an IPO2 on my dog, when I got into the sport to just have an IPO1 was my goal. I never thought we would try a championship - although this is first and maybe last. I am 100% okay with trialing at and hopefully being successful at just club level. I am so glad that I went to this trial. I feel like it has boosted my confidence greatly, I am sure I will still have trial nerves, but after this experience I can handle the rest. I survived a really big trial, I didn't forget my routine, I didn't make a big mistake. Not only that, but I succeeded in titling my dog. This experience has just been invaluable, traveling, trialing somewhere new. Sharing a trial field with some really big IPO names. We survived and we came out on the other side. Now to start prepping for that IPO3!

Suzanne Loegel’s Athos Bellatrix pushing into helper Atilla Takacs at the 2018 AWDF IPO Championships going on in Galt CA this weekend #awdf2018 #lovedogsportphotography #ipo #imaginationframedphotography #hellskitchenschutzhundclub

A post shared by Micky Adams (@micky.adams) on May 19, 2018 at 9:26pm PDT

2018 AWDF

I really suck at this blogging thing. I haven't posted in here since October of last year, yikes!

I felt the urge to write today as I am getting ready to head down to California for the 2018 American Working Dog Federation's National Championship.

I am REALLY freaking nervous.

I've been training really hard but I have a HUGE fear of failing and even though I thought I had enough time to fix some things... it wasn't enough time at all. I don't want to embarrass my club. I don't want to embarrass myself.

Current feels.

I am really worried, as always, about tracking. Tracking has been going okay, but we had a really bad track last week. The tracking at the trial will also be on alfalfa, I had one opportunity to practice on alfalfa and it went okay but it wasn't great. I think if she can make it to her first article it is possible we could pass.

I am also worried about obedience. I'm worried about her being flat, I'm worried she won't do a send out. I think it will go okay, I am hoping she is just correct in all of the exercises even if she's not as animated as most judges prefer.

I feel really good about protection. My club helper Denis put in a ton of work helping me teach Stuck the back transport as well as fine tuning everything else. While he was out of town we also went up to Washington to train with a guy named Kevin who I was able to do run-thrus with. He put some pressure on my dog and also helped problem solve an early take off issue with the escape. We also had a chance to train with a club down in Eugene and their helper Chris did a full run-thru with us and it went well. I have no doubts we will pass protection.

Something someone said the other day really resonated with me, I am not a professional trainer, this is my first 'real' sport dog. I have to keep reminding myself of this. If we fail it isn't because I suck, it's because we aren't professionals at this and this is my very first dog.

Another thing I was reminded of is that the worst thing that can happen is failure, but if we fail it's not like I am going to die. Life goes on.

It's just so hard to not be nervous about everything! I am excited to go out of town and I think the event will be a lot of fun stress aside. I am hoping to meet up with some friends down there and maybe meet some people I haven't met in person.

My hope is to pass our IPO2, that's the big goal.

My small goals for the trial are: Tracking - I hope she doesn't give up if she gets lost. I hope she keeps trying even if stressed. Obedience - I hope she does all three retrieves. Protection - I hope she puts on a good show and outs when I tell her to. Oh and, as for me, I hope I don't forget the OB & protection routines.