Browsing all posts in Dog Fun.
July Review AND August Preview
Wow We missed a whole month! It was so busy. Some big changes for us in July with the pack. And our business www.Webmanna.com has been rocking! No video this post. No time! But maybe later this week.
May DragonDogs Review
At the heart of May was the Freedom Weekend USDDN Qualifier in Greenville South Carolina. We wanted to go to 1. Qualify Kai for Toss and Fetch and 2. Meet Tracy Custer. and maybe that we needed a vacation from a very busy start to 2010 for WebManna. What I came back with from the long memorial weekend trip was much different than I expected. I learned so much that only some of it will I explain and the rest will just get bullets.
Disc Dog Flow
2 weeks ago I would have told you flow was linking tricks together smoothly. I have not changed my definition but I have expanded my understanding of flow. I was watching Dre and Moxie and it hit me that Moxie loops to her right on out throws. Then I started looking for other stuff in the routine they were practicing. They were linking some cool tricks together and it seemed pretty smooth. Except that there was a pretty frequent interrupt or hesitate or adjustment. Nothing wrong with that, but how easy would it be to tweak?
Settling as Pet Owners and Trainers
This post is about our dogs and why they do and do not. Why training works and “not training” does not. How easy it is to settle, to miss, skip, overlook, ignore. And what is the cost of settling as responsible pet owners and trainers. Its a lengthy post as the background and evolution is important to the points. When we started this blog we wanted it to be a resource for people just like us who were just getting started. These are some of the best lessons we have learned. (so far)
DragonDogs March Review
March flew by and caninely speaking it was wooftastic. Andrea and I took the dogs to a number of local disc dog events as the season kicked off. The focus of the month was definitely freestyle routines. We got kicked out of all our local parks so TF practice was a no go. We had some puppy play dates with the Ford family. And we found a new yard for the dogs to play in. The best part of march for me was rediscovering fun with my dogs. Now for the details.
January Ramblings
I generally like to write on topics or do updates but today I just want to ramble. I have been thinking about this for a while and wanted to share it. It’s not anything new or amazing, it’s just on my mind. We all have tendencies in life and as trainers. I find that our dogs while different tend to have some similar strengths due to what I would call our confident skills. I watch some of the top disc dog teams and their routines sort of seem the same from event to event. They have their trademark moves and skill sets. It makes sense and I am not saying that there are not constant tweaks and innovations. Moreso i am wondering what skills my dogs have that i have not discovered due to habits or routines I may have formed in training and play. Flipping for example could be a place where someone else could throw the disc and get an entirely different motion from my dog. I will wrap this up with a pledge to seek out new life on new planets by forcing myself out of routine. Like closing one eye or throwing all lefty or copying someone else’s routine. Ron Watson and Apryl Lea have a cool idea to write the skills and sequences on note cards, mix them up and go. This doesn’t address skills i do not know but does change flow.
Aussie Pool Party
Today we had the first ever Aussie Pool Party at our house. It all started when John Arnett told us that friends of his were looking for a performance home for an 11 month old bi female Aussie. My ears pricked up immediately….We’re interested! So John connected us with Ami from Mercury Aussies and we hit it off! Ami connected Sketch’s current family and us this morning so we can check her out and have an All-Aussie party at the same time!
Leila PlayLa video
So we are sport dog people and we are also marketers. As marketers we are always playing with new ways to get the message across. I’ve never used Windows Movie maker to create a movie before. Video editing was a little clunky but the real problem was converting the mp4 to .mov file compatible with the software. I’ve had to do that before so I have conversion software handy. After tinkering with the tools I crafted the video below. The problem is the quality is awful. Imovie is so much easier 
Premier is more robust. I think that I need to convert to a higher quality next time when i create a .mov file.
Training on Purpose
We have a story for our dogs. Their careers and our lives plotted out over the next few years, ridiculous and unrealistic and inspiring. I get that friday feeling whenever I think about our future adventures. I can’t wait for the challenges and experiences. That can be part of the problem.
Some Tricks
I’ve gotten back in the swing of training Lilli every night. She’s actually trained me I think – after a week or so of steady night training, she’s asking me for it. 
