Congratulations Lisa, Maddie, & Panda ! ! !

Club-Doggie's wonderful student Lisa Futch, and her dogs Maddie and Panda just had an amazing weekend at the DOCNA Nationals. 

Lisa has spent many years in agility, and faced many difficulties in training, but she never gave up!

Please take a moment and read Lisa's inspiring story:

How do you measure success in dog agility? I used to measure it in Q's and I bet you may still do that also.  That little green ribbon that made all the training worth it.  I wanted success.  I have learned a lot in this past year about myself and about agility.  I have learned that connection with your dogs is a priceless skill and that a good turn arm will save you on course.  I learned patience in working with my dogs and allowing myself to learn all the new things I learned this last year.  I now have fun.  I feel joyful when I train my dogs and joyful in the agility ring.  I celebrate the small successes and not just the almighty Q.  These are some of the lessons I have learned this year through determination and training. 

I have two dogs.  On the surface neither probably looks like the ideal agility candidate.  Maddie is a labrador retriever of questionable origins.  Panda is an Aussie from a good breeder who was bought back due to questionable care.  Me....I am clumsy and directionally challenged.  What a motley crue and not the 80's version. 

Maddie has had years of poor weave performance.  Each time we left the ring without a Q due to having to retake the weaves, I felt more and more disappointed.  On course I saw the weaves as our nemesis.  In class and at home her weaves were perfect.  I retrained her weaves in every way imaginable using guides, luring, channels, weave-a-matics, and combinations of them all.  I even retired her for this problem. We had been chasing her last Excellent Jumpers leg for a year to no avail. 

Panda was afraid, of virtually everything.  Especially, men or boys.  She would often seem distracted at class or would avoid an obstacle at a trial due to a trigger being near. She did not have a rear cross.  She stuck so close to me I could not ever rear cross her.  I never knew what type of performance I would get or what would make her fearful next. 

I wanted to give up on myself, my dogs and agility.  Each time Maddie went by a set of weave poles or Panda would refuse an obstacle due to a trigger, I questioned my sanity of continuing on.   Instead, this year, I retrained my dogs.   I changed everything from my handling to retraining individual obstacle performance.  Did I see a change overnight?  No.  I saw a gradual change.  My dogs performance improved with consistant positive training in which I moved at their pace, not mine.  There were still problems in the retrain, but I had a blueprint to follow.  Sometimes, I would go home from class feeling overwhelmed.  I had been training  Maddie for four years and I still had so much to fix.  I prioritized what problem to work on first and my trainer was there for feedback on when to move on.

My greatest success as a handler came to me during the DOCNA Nationals.  Maddie completed all the weave poles, the first time, during the snakes and ladders game.  Panda during all of her runs remained focused and worked away from me to take obstacles independantly.  These are huge accomplishments for both of my dogs.  Did we win ribbons and medals and such?  Yes, but that is not what I measure my dogs against  anymore.  We had fun.  We stayed connected.  We met our individual goals.  I even have more training goals for next year. 

Numerous times in agility I have wanted to give up. I didn't.  Why?  Well, that's an easy question.  My dogs never gave up on me.  They did their best they could for me whenever we played agility.  Lots of days their best meant not Qing.  They operated under the parameters I set.  As my parameters changed so did their performance.  It did not happen over night.  It took a year of hard consistant work and training to iron out some of our wrinkles. Training is a continuous process for myself and my dogs.  We will continue to fail in the ring, if you count success only as a Q.  However, the true measure of success for me has changed.  I look for success in what my dogs are challenged with.  It may be Maddie's weave poles or Panda's fears.  I leave each run with a goal to work on.  I leave each run celebrating my success.

Maddie:
1st Place Western Region Standard
Standard Round 1: 1st Place
Standard Round 2:  1st Place

2nd Place Western Region Jumpers
Jumpers Round 1: 2nd Place
Jumpers Round 2: 2nd Place

Snakes and Ladders 1st Place
Tradional Gambers 1st Place
Strategic Time Gamble 1st Place
Trigility 3rd Place

North American Challenge Regional placement 1st place
North American Challenge National placement 2nd Place

Panda:

2nd Place Western Region Standard
Standard Round 1: 2nd Place
Standard Round 2:  3rd Place

1st Place Western Region Jumpers
Jumpers Round 1: 2nd Place
Jumpers Round 2: 2nd Place

Snakes and Ladders 1st Place
Tradional Gambers 2nd Place
Trigility 1st Place

North American Challenge Regional placement 2nd place
North American Challenge National placement 2nd Place