Super Towel dancer Niah!

When injured and can't run.. you get some other skills...

Niah is now, officially super Towel dancer :) 

怪我してはしれない時は別のスキルを磨く時。。
ニア君、最近上手くなった　タオルの舞の披露〜：）

Koto, Zeljko course 5

久しぶりのアジリティ〜❤
やっぱり久しぶりだと上手く行かない所が多いけど、琴の私の動きの読みが本当によくてDouble Blind Crossのタイミングが遅かった時の琴の動きに感動！
本当にしっかりみてるなぁーと嬉しくなった
さて、ニア君もそろそろ走り出したし、これからどんどん練習できたらいいな。

Long time no Agility! but here we come back again. 
Every time my dogs have agility rest, My Forced Front Cross get worth :) aaaahh
But I am so happy about how Koto is moving recently. She is reading our body signal so so well, specially my double blind cross's timing was late, she reacted perfectly. 
Made my day! 
Niah is also started to run again, but not yet perfect, he still limp here and there. 
but really looking forward to training again :) Love agility!!
 

Koto at Dysons seminar

Dean and Koto did attend New Zealand handler Dyson's seminar last weekend.
He is going to judge one of the course in Australian Nationals competition next year,

so it was great chance to see his courses and NZ agility handler's feedback from his perspective!  

I thought the little sequences are great little exercise and challenges.  The courses were lovely. Such a different spacing to Victorian judges, Huge spacing between obstacle means more speed?! No, I found it actually requires more control in small details with Koto. 
changing spacing is like driving faster and slower. it was fascinating challenges :) 
We liked it and sure koto enjoyed running with Dean! Wish I could run with Niah :( 

Koto doesn't looks like a border collie.

She still looks like a little mouse : ) 
She has such a nice muscle ♡

先週の話ですが、ニュージーランドのダイソンというハンドラーさんのセミナーを
私達のクラブで主催したのですが、凄く楽しかった
ダイソンは来年のオーストラリアンナショナルのジャッジでもあるし　
彼のデザインしたコースも面白く細かいチャレンジが多い上、
 障害と障害の間のスペースがやたらひろかったり狭かったり、、
スピードをあげたり下げたりをコントロールしなくてはいけなくて、
これがとても難しくて面白かったみたい！
琴もディーンも楽しかった様子。
私もニアと一緒にはしりたかったなぁ〜

それにしてもコトちゃん、ボーダーに見えない。。
なんだか　まるでネズミみたいな色！
それにしても良い筋肉♡ 

Spring weekend

Here in Melbourne had perfect spring weather weekend!
Precious warm sunshine.. Finally coming out of our long long winter.

And finally started Agility trial season on Saturday, and we were at Hasting trial to compete Masters jumping and Agility.
Oh gosh! We MUST practice contact!! Niah jumped off from See-Saw,
And Dog Walk was a bit slow. (luckily he didn't miss the contact, but I have no confident in Running contact exit)

The Jumping course was nice. we've got 2nd place! 
But I didn't like Agility courses that much.
Just not much handling challenge, only challenge was strange angles and obstacle discrimination, which we fail badly- All of our faults were from obstacle discrimination and see saw. Anyways- Good to know what to work on for this season.
メルボルンの先週末は本当に暖かかった！長かった冬のお陰でモヤシ状態なので
お日様にあたれる週末は本当にしあわせ。
おまけにいいタイミングでアジのトライアルシーズンがスタートをきったので
土曜は久しぶりのアジリティ！楽しかった

マスタージャンピングは、なかなか楽しいコースで、
凄く良く走れて2席まで貰えましたが、
アジリティ、、、なんとニアくんシーソーすっ飛びました。
あんな飛び方したニアを見たのは初めてだったのでちょっと笑ってしまいました！
それにやっぱりドッグウォークもぜんぜん練習してなかったので微妙。
コンタクトはミスはしなかったけど、スピードがでない。
やっぱり　ビビリ症ニアくん　コンタクトは常に練習しないとだめなのね。
でも練習課題がでたらヤル気もでます。　今シーズンはタイトル獲得目指して頑張らなきゃ！

 


On Sunday -  We did BIG bike riding :) it was such a beautiful warm day and dogs run about 15km! Just trotting - time to get back in fitness!
Our house located on absolutely beautiful area that connect to my favorite Museum in Melbourne, Heide.
We are very lucky that we can just ride bike to there!
そして日曜は近所を自転車でサイクリング。
犬達はたぶん15キロは走ったかな！　アジシーズン到来にむけて体力作りもしっかりしないとね。それにしてもうちの近所は本当に自然が多くて素敵な散歩コースが沢山。
大好きなハイディ近代美術館まで自転車でいけます。ラッキーですね

Backyard training -Happy Hurdle

Happy Hurdle Day. 
I could try two different course in one setting :) 
Unfortunately,  I needed to change the course slightly for my limited backyard space,  but that's OK! 
It's just us, playing on my backyard :) 

Wow, Niah was jumping much wider, and slower. 

We are back in Agility club training for couple of weeks, but haven't done much backyard training for awhile.
Looks like it going to take some time to connect, and get normal Niah's speed and movement back.
We also had a lot of bar down!  
Well, I think I will do few more Happy Hurdle, jumping exercise,  Then really really need to go back to Running Contact exit practice. (wish I had a agility filed with all contact set up all the time..) 
A lot of trial coming up in September to December!Always have endless training recipes.
Yes! Spring and agility season is coming soon ;) 

ハッピーハードルディ！
このコースは1つのセッティングで2つのコースが楽しめました。
やっぱりどうしても入りきれない所があり、多少コースを私なりに変えていますが
でも　うちで練習してるだけなんでオッケー！
ワォー！それにしてもニア君、ターンは広がるし、またちんたら走るし、、
クラブには3週間前から練習再開していますが、うちではまったく練習していなかったので
随分ひさしぶり！スピードとコネクション、細かい練習キャッチアップには時間がかかりそう。。 ジャンピングをあと何度か練習したら久しぶりにドッグウォーク設定してexitの練習しないとなぁ　（ドッグウォークを起きっぱなしに出来るフィールドが欲しいなぁ）　
いつまでたっても練習課題だらけなのはなぜかしら。。
春のアジリティトライアルラッシュは9月から始まります。ニアも良い年だし、体調も凄くいいので　今年は気合いを入れて頑張りまっす！
春はもうすぐ〜♪

Morwell Trial

What was "Victory-Pigs Ear?"
yees! We finally got some CR at Morwell Trial.
Niah was very good boy. 
I was in a good mood from the morning. 
Finally we had a nice sunny day, being outside. And we had many agility club members competing with us. 
We had a great flow, no silly handling mistakes! Bonus was Running contact success with Niah runing with Dean and unexpected Prize for Fastest round in Agility!! 
Hope we can keep on moving like this again!

ニア君、賞品の豚の耳を楽しんでいたようですが、、
そうなんです！久しぶりのクリーンラン（笑）しかも３走も！すごーい
久しぶりのいい天気だし、アジリティクラブの 友達も沢山
朝からなんだかいいムード！いいムードはやっぱりニアに伝わるのかな
息もピッタリで全くハンドリングの間違いもなかったように思えます。

Zeljko's online course summery

Winter time here!!  
Its' not cold yet during the day, but night is getting colder and colder. 
Very cozy sitting in front of the heater at night!

So.. just chilling out in front of the heater, and thinking back my summer and I made this video. 
I guess... the biggest achievement in our summer was completed agility lessons with Croatian agility handler, Zeljko Gora. 

His courses were brilliant, really fun to run and not too difficult, 
but there were so much to think and learn. it was such a good lesson.

Niah and I really love it. A LOT of running. Unlucky, I injured my ankle in November, and Niah also had slight back injury. But all good now and we are ready for next adventure!! 

I have to make a video of Dean and Koto doing all of these courses. 
They also completed this course with me, and koto was doing so great!! 

冬がやってきました！といっても日中はまだ暖かいのですが、夜はどんどん冷え込んで来ているのでヒーターの前でゆっくりするのが気持ちいいこの頃です。

ヒーターの前でこの夏の事を振り返ってみて、サマープロジェクトだったクロアチアのジェリコとのコースのビデオを作ってみました。
それにしても楽しいコースだったなぁ。難しいんだけど、スピードが着く箇所が多い。その上ハンドリングもしっかりしないといけなくて、色々なオプションがあり、本当に考えさせられるし、勉強になったコースでした。  途中で私の足首の怪我とニアの背中の怪我でスローダウンしましたが、最後のコースまで走れて本当によかった。

時間をつくって琴とディーンがこのコースを走っているビデオもつくらないとなぁ。
琴とディーンも私と一緒に全てのコースを走りましたが、琴、凄ーく良くなりました！
琴ちゃん、正規のジャンプハイトを飛べないのが残念。。
なにはともあれ、次のコースが楽しみ！

Tunnel maddness!

We are practicing tunnel entry exercise, using Dave Munning's exercise resource.
In Australia, we have tunnel entry discrimination all the time.

Verbal commands: 
Obvious/Straight entry  "Tunnel"
Not Obvious/Other side end of the entry "Here Here"
And Call off from tunnel /Go to other obstacle is "Koto Koto"(Dog's name)

It will be very useful exercise and the best thing is Koto and Niah LOVEs this game :) 
They are already addicted like doing running contact :D

Dave Munningのトンネルエントリーのエクササイズをしています。
3つのコマンドを使い分けています。
足、肩の向き、スレドルアームがとても大切なポイントです！
目の前のエントリーが”Tunnel”
向こう側のエントリーが”Here Here”
そして両方のエントリーに入れないで別の障害に行く場合が犬の名前を呼ぶ"Koto Koto”


只今レッスン4。

犬達もこのエクササイズが大大大好きで
これは楽しい♥

Zeljko Course 5 Retry

ジェリコにコメントを貰ってコース5を再トライしました。
FFC(Forced Front Cross)の位置と私の動きが大きすぎてニアの動きが膨らんでいた様なのでそこを何度か練習して、あとはラップターン、ラップターンの反対側へプッシュの練習やあとは出来なかった所を再チャレンジ。。
ラップターンは結構出来る様になってきたので、あとはブラインド、ダブルブラインド、ケシカーのタイミングですね。。
あとは全て　私のタイミング次第〜 ！

I have re-try Zeljko's lesson after read his comment. 
I retry FFX, because he said "you are going little bit to much to the left side of the wing so he doesn’t take the jump immediately.  There he is loosing nice line to take the jump directly. Lap turn option, Push to the other side option.. and some parts that we couldn't do." 

So first part is re-thinking of my motion and position of FFC. 
And he showed me more options on Lap turn and push to the other side. 
and some parts that we had problems :) 

Niah is getting better with Lap turn and push to the other side. 
Now, I just need to work on Blind Cross, Double Blind Cross and Ketschker's timing.. All about my timing!!! 
  

pop up pup

Niah is such a sweet boy with the most friendliest heart
clever, athletic, and he can also act on camera!

I record this video about one year ago and finally edited on this weekend!
You are so funny Niah :)

ニアは優しくてとってもフレンドリー
そのうえ賢いし,運動神経も良い。
その上　カメラに向って　演技も出来ちゃう❤️

Driving with Birds at South Australian coast

Niah Trial High lights - RC and new handlings-

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I am so proud of my boy’s big effort in this year, since we have started many new things in the trial and I feel that Niah and I are grown up together as agility partner.

I think we are overcoming confident issue, motivational issues..

and my slow and clumsy handling is also improving :)

Our journey is taking a long time in many ways, and we are both not amazing to watch… 

but slowly and slowly…confident, handling and speed are improving and look at his happy face in the end of video with serious happy running!    

We hope we will have even brighter agility year in 2015.

And I strongly hope Koto will be back in Trial next year! 

We miss running agility with her so much!

今年は1年間コンタクトの再トレーニングで休んでいたアジリティに復帰して、ランニングコンタクトを始めたり、OMDやJouniから習った オンラインコースのハンドリングをトライアルで使ってみたりは徐々にですが新しい事にチャレンジできた年になりました。

得にニアはよくがんばっていたなぁ　

まだまだ教えないといけない事が沢山だけど、モチベーションが低くて恐がりで、ちんたら歩きだった頃のニアのドッグウォークに比べたら雲泥の差。

後ろ足が開かない、スピードが出ない。。でもあの頃と比べたら本当に成長してる。

ニアも私も一緒に成長した気がする。

色んな事に自信がついて来たし、ハンドリングも少し成果が出て来ているし、なんといってもスピードが出て来た気がする。
来年は出来れば琴に沢山力を入れて、ディーンと琴がトライアルに復帰できたらいいなと思っています。とにかく健康で楽しく一年を過ごせたら一番ですねー！

o/e Course 2-3 Jumping

I had a nice agility training with Trish and Sassy!
Such a fun day! 

And yes! Time for Hanami :D
庭の花は満開です〜　BBQシーズン始まり！

happy hurdle 08,Nov2014

I did a little practice before run entire course, but it went very well!
We are very use to playing in our tight backyard, but Still, Niah always amaze me how he can be flexible with my cloth line in the center. Good boy Niah! 
全部コースを走る前に少し練習したのですが、まとめて見たら一発で出来ました。
まだまだKetschkerのタイミングが少し遅くれますが、それ以外は上手く行ったかも！
それにしてもこんなちいさなポール付きの庭でも練習ができるのはニアと琴のフレキシビリティのお陰かも。随分この環境にも慣れたもんです（笑）

2nd Sheep herding lesson

We are finally back in Sheep herding lesson! Koto is still not perfect, so this day was only Niah.
It was only 2nd try with this herding club, but we practice with small mob of about 60 ewes.  wow, that was incredibly exciting experience to see my boy's natural instinct.
He was really good. Instructors are both really happy for what he /dean did this day. 
We started with just letting him to chase the mob, work out how to move them. 
then also taught him to work for us, listen to our command, to create team work.

He can be very aggressive, but also calm and steady.  We manage to teach quite many commands and he started to understand to "work together" not just chasing around the mob. 
The end of the day, we tried "Away to me", and it went really well. 
He was a bit naughty, breaking the mob in the end but he put them together nicely and bring them back in the end. 
So far, it looks like he is quickly learning the concept. 
 There are so much more to teach and learn together, but looks like Niah has a bright potential. 
 
今週末のメルボルンは4連休です。昔からの皇室の競馬観戦の日で　国民の皆さんもメルボルンカップという競馬をクイーンが観戦の為に着た様な服や帽子にドレスアップしてを見に行きます。　私は全く知らないけど、今年は　日本の馬が優勝するかも！という噂を耳にします。何はともあれ頑張って下さい〜

ところで、そんなにぎやかな週末、私達は田舎で2回目のシープハーディングのレッスンをしてきました。琴の足のせいで行けなかったのですが、待っても待ってもなかなか完治しないので、今回はニアだけで　初の”群れ追い”に挑戦！
初めて60頭程の群れを追わせたのですがやっぱり天性ですね、ちゃんと羊を集めてきます。 でもチームワークやコマンドはこの興奮状態の中で少しずつ教えて行かなければいけません。公園でずっと練習してきたComebyとAway、それにLaydownは随分理解して来ている様子。Lay　downは ただ、タイミングが遅過ぎるので　これはもっと練習しなければです。
そして今回初めてニアがボーダーコリーの”目”を使ってストーキングをしているのを見た気がします！最後のAway to me（遠距離にいる羊を連れてくる事）も大成功。まだまだ動きやコマンド、練習する事が沢山ありますが、ニアは将来良いシープドッグになりそう♥
来年のトライアル出場目指してがんばります。

Hasting Trial, Beach and Spring!

Finally Spring has come to Melbourne :) we had a lovely day at Agility trial near our favorite beach~ It was 21 Degrees, blue sky with just perfect temperature for running agility and walking on the beach.   No luck from agility trial, but Niah and I did satisfied runs in Ex-Agility.  
Running contact got it! just small mistakes by me! 

メルボルンに春がきたよー　週末は21℃と本当に暖かくていい天気！おまけに私達の一番のお気に入りのビーチのすぐ近くでアジリティトライアルがあったので、トライアルでは結局クリアラン出来なかったけど、ランニングコンタクトもミスしなかったし、　総合的に私の小さなハンドリングミスのみだったので　大満足（笑）
次頑張ろうっ

O/E online course summery

The last 3 month, I've learn agility from Jouni & Isabelle, Finnish/Swedish coach.  Advanced and " real running" course! It was really fun!  so much fun :)
More to come on next course

3ヶ月間のJouniのオンラインコース、楽しかった　♥
次もがんばります

Niah Bendigo Master Jumping

先週末はベンディゴというメルボルンから2時間離れた田舎町でアジリティトライアルがありました。最近は雨ばかりだったのですが、久しぶりにいい天気の週末。
そして珍しくニア君、1席を2つもゲット！今回で2回目のマスタージャンピングとオープンジャンピング。でも一席になれたコースはビデオでも解ると思いますがむちゃくちゃ簡単なボーナスコースでした（笑）大きなピンウィールと小さなピンウィール、それにトンネルエントリーくらい？はは。もっと難しくてチャレンジなコースもあったのですが、そっちは小さなミスでDQとなりました。それでも両方ともいつもよりも数が少なかったのですが、いつも上位を争うスピーディな犬を含めて60頭以上の犬が走っていたので1席は嬉しいですね。
アジリティも3コース走ったのですが、なんとコンタクトを2回もミスってしまいました。。最後のコースはコンタクトも含めて凄く良かったけど　最初のタイアーにあたってしまったみたい。。もう少しエクセレントアジリティで頑張ります。。

Last weekend was agility trial at Bendigo, 
Bendigo is medium size country town where takes about 2 hours drive from Melbourne.
It tuned out sunny and beautiful 2 days and we had a luck of winning 2 rings at Master Jumping and Open Jumping. Both very first pass! Master Jumping that we won was pretty easy with large and small pin wheels and tunnel discrimination only.. but still happy to achieve first place :) because it was only second time competing in Masters! 

Open was also easy. but somehow general luck of passes across the whole weekend.  Not many people did pass those easy courses. Sun? Ground? not sure. but at least we were on the lucky side!
We also run Agility 3 times but Niah missed Contact 2 times :( 
The very last run was beautiful, but he break the very first tunnel :( 
No pass for Excellent Agility, but somehow achieved 2nd and 3rd place! so we have 4 medals~

そして琴ちゃんはウチでディーンの面倒を見てくれていました！
琴の足もすっかり回復しているので次のトライアルはジャンピングで出してみようかと思っています。And Koto has been so good at home, looking after Dean :) 
We think she will be ready to start competition in a month time!! 
Running contact is not finished.. so she will start with Jumping.

On Training! O/E Course2 - 1st Try

練習中！！
We are on training!! 

I'm learning Revit Architecture now and also new movements of agility handling. 
2nd course from o/e training was also very difficult one, but challenging. 
Still struggle with Ketschker turn's timing.. and also struggle with sending Niah to Tunnel next to DW entry! It's because he has done Running contact training from tunnel on this route.. so it was very difficult to use verval cue for going to tunnel.. 
But!! we've got very helpful an nice comment from Joune :) 
Comment as below ↓
 
Revit Architectureのオンライントレーニングをしたり、、
アジの新しい動きを練習したり。
時間がありそうでないこの頃　：）
o/eのコース2も難しい！得に一度ドッグウォークに送った後でのドッグウォークのとなりのトンネルに送るのが、一番難しかったかも。。あとやっぱりKetschker!!! 
未だにタイミングが合いません。。　
でもとっても良いコメント貰えましたよ！

コメはこちら↓

Thank you for your video! Very nice training again.

Niah makes a very nice turn at jump number 3. You have nice timing when you do the pole turn and you get good speed after the turn. However the second option is faster for you - 0,4 seconds between obstacles 1 and 6 which is quite alot. Eventhough Niah has very tight turns she still wins time by taking the shorter route. This is just something you have to practice and time the different options to find the fastest route. Very nice rear cross at jump number 5 - you use your own tempo and upperbody clearly to anticipate the path towards the tunnel and Niah remains high speed. Well done!

Both options after the weaves work very well and your handling is faultless. This time there is no significant time difference either.

The first time you are sending Niah to the tunnel under the dog walk you are slowing down and your body is already pointing away from the tunnel. When sending the dog away from you it is critical that you have movement so that the dog will drive away from you all the way to the tunnel and past the dw. The other thing is naturally the direction of your movement or your upper body. So try timing your own movement so that when Niah exits the tunnel your are still moving fast towards the tunnel under the dw. On the other hand you probably need to practise some tunnel entries and reinforce the tunnel command so that Niah will take the tunnel by command even when you can not be there helping her with your body signals. In these cases the vocals need to "override" your body signals.

Still some difficulties with the timing of ketschker turn at jump number 19. Here you probably don´t even  need to do the ketschker since the turn isn´t that tight and there is no trap obstacle behind the jump. You are also moving very straight which makes the ketschker more difficult. The more you change your own direction the more natural the movement. But still it is good for you to practise the movement and the timing in different situations.

In the last option you have a very nice send to the tunnel and the rear cross works well again. What you can do is try to pull her a bit more towards you before releasing her to the jump (number 19 rear cross) to give her even better angle to the last jumps. So pull her more towards yourself as she exits the tunnel and then turn towards the jump for a better angle.

Keep on training those ketschkers! Have a nice training!

OE lesson Course1-Re-Try

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Here is our Re-try on 1st course from Jouni and Isabelle's online course.
I thought the end part was much better and we improved a little bit of Keschker timing :)
But still not moving naturally, and very difficult to get correct, perfect timing and position, and most biggest issue is I don't know where to use it :P
But we have to work on Keschker timing@@
I totally misjudge the position of Keschker before the DW, so it was physically impossible to get to the jump after the DW to do Forced Front Cross...
Such a inspiring practice! I think I know I have to position myself much far away from the jump. I don't think we will see these complicated course in Australia, but I really like challenges, that another countries agility society is facing. 
It's a shame all the course doesn't fit and I can't practice entire course!! 

雨が多くて全然アジが出来ていないのですが、ヨウニからコメントを貰った後、もう一度
コース1をリトライしてみました。リトライに対するコメントは英語ですが下にコピペしています。。
まだKeschkerのタイミングがあいません。動きも不自然で、
私がやると。意味ない所で”くるるーん！？”　ただ無意味にスピンしてる様に見えるのです。まず第一にスピンしてるポジションが悪い様子。だから次の障害に間に合わなくなってますね〜。得にドッグウォークの前のジャンプはジャンプの近くへ行き過ぎてるのでランニングの後のForcedFront Crossには全然間に合わない状態が続く。。。
でもヨウニ曰く最初に比べたら少し進歩にしたみたい：）最後のエンディングのPushBack Keschkerはオッケー！
本当はもっと自立していつでも猛スピードで走ってもらうことが夢だけど、、
ニアは私がしっかりはしっていないとゆっくり走り、私が少しでも前に居ると猛スピードで走るので私のポジションがとても解りやすいです。。
ニアには本当によくハンドラー教育してもらってます：）
バーノック対策でボールやディスクをつかった筋トレ運動を去年から始めて、
共にバーは600を飛ばせてます、最近落ちたバーを拾いに行く事が減って来た事を実感！！随分いい感じ♥　来週は久しぶりのトライアル、、
あと1つExcellent Agilityのクリアが貰えればマスターコースに昇進！行けるかな〜！

Jouni said: Very nice start again. Good job! Yes I agree - number 5 is much better now and I think your timing at jump number 7 is also good but you are standing very close to the jump. Try to keep a little bit distance so that while the dog is running towards the jump you start running towards the next obstacle. The push & pull at jump number 8 is great but again you could try to stay even more ahead of the dog to make it easier to be on time at the next obstacles.

You can see the importance of your timing and own position when doing the ketschker turn when you arrive late to jump number 16 to do the forced front cross: again the ketschker at jump number 14. Don´t go so close to the jump but send the dog and leave earlier!!!

Both options work really nice at in the end of the course and there is really no difference in time between these two options.

Well done! Keep on working with your timing when doing the ketschker turns and try not go so close to the jumps to win even more time!