- I have been here for 10 hours,
and I left early this morning,
and I left my puppy,
my nine-month-old puppy Beeline at home,
and she's never been left this long throughout a day.
So, I'm hoping that when I get home,
she's had no accidents, and she's not stressed,
and she's just like chilling out in her crate.
So, we'll see.
I gave her a run this morning, but we'll see.
(guitar note)
(dog barking)
Good morning.
Today is going to be a busy,
but I think probably pretty exciting day.
I'm doing something a bit unusual.
I was actually supposed to be away this weekend
in Rhode Island, and I decided
to pull out of the competition
and just take some time off for the summer.
And I heard two friends of mine from England
are coming over to do a Course Design program,
so I'm super excited.
It's something that I'm really interested in
as far as the agility sport goes,
so I have a couple courses prepared,
and I have to drive an hour and a half towards Tottenham,
I don't even know.
I'm the worst person with directions.
I just hope my GPS gets me there.
But the big stress of the day so far was
getting all of the dogs walked and bathroomed and fed.
Ken got up really early this morning and went to fire,
so I sort of had to look after the herd on my own.
Luckily, every single dog in the house
went to the bathroom this morning,
which for any dog person that has to leave
for eight hours in the day, you really hope that happens.
So, I am very late.
I'm about 20 minutes late from when I was supposed to leave,
but other than that, things are going good.
So, hopefully the day will be fun,
and I'll get a couple shots from them.
(fast-paced orchestral music)
(record scratching)
Hey guys, I'm here with Lee and Greg from England,
and they are the ones that are putting on
the Judges' Design Clinic today,
so I'm gonna let them talk a little bit about
why they're here and sort of
what they're hoping to accomplish
with this awesome new idea that they have brought to us.
- Hi there, yeah, thanks Kayl for having us on your blog.
Yeah, the Global Judging Program here in Canada,
we're trying to get judges to sort of, you know,
look at the skills that they're developing
and trying to sort of really get a passion back for judging.
We want judges to have a passion about their course design
and about their safety and about all the elements
that make them the complete judge.
So, these two days, we're gonna be helping these judges
in lots of different areas.
There's loads of modules.
And yeah, we're just trying to get judges to have a passion
and want to go out there to be not just good judges,
but really great judges.
That's what we're looking for.
- Yeah, and I found this morning,
they picked apart some of my courses,
which was really valuable,
and apparently I need to work on my lower-level courses
because I was a little bit better at the harder stuff.
I guess maybe because
that's what I'm used to handling or designing, but yeah.
I think that this is a really good opportunity for people,
even if you're not a judge,
to learn more about course design,
which is probably gonna allow you to be
a better handler as well, right?
- Oh, absolutely.
I think handling, you can definitely benefit,
but yeah, as you said, you got a lot of red labels
on your lower-level course, and sometimes--
- You don't want red, a lot of red in your beginner.
- (laughs) It's more a case of judges actually understanding
that sometimes even the simple lines,
judges can be setting up skill tests
that are in fact actually really, really difficult,
and I think it's that.
That's what we're trying to get out of this
is to make judges aware of what they're setting up,
make sure it's appropriate, make sure it's safe,
but just that kind of general consideration,
which then when we're competitors, you know,
we can also sort of embrace.
So, it's not just judges.
Trainers, everyone, you know, can get on board with this.
- And I really liked that you guys promoted the idea
of being creative as well,
and we talked a lot about involving a lot of the obstacles
that you might normally see in higher levels
in the lower levels so that you're basically
preparing the dogs in the lower levels
to be able to move on instead of making it so easy
and then getting to a higher level
and then being faced with all these crazy challenges,
so that there's a bit more of a flow,
which I think is really good.
- Yeah, that stepping stone of progression, you know,
trying to integrate these obstacles at the lower levels.
That's where young dogs and handlers,
that's where they need the practice.
Take it away to the training field
and train the dogs properly on it.
What we don't want is dogs coming through inexperienced
and without the training on those more difficult obstacles,
and then suddenly, they're faced with them at the big event,
at the finals when the pressure's on,
and the big high-level classes.
That's when accidents are gonna happen.
Let's actually prepare our dogs and handlers properly.
Let's put them into the lower levels.
It's something that we're really passionate about.
- What do you think, Greg?
- Yeah, I agree with about everything he says.
(group laughs)
Yeah, I think we need to,
our judges need to be (mumbles) back in control,
helping their standing to increase again,
rather than competitors who sort of
get judges to set up easy stuff,
and they're taking out all the skills and the equipment.
We need judges to be back in control,
increase the standard again, and do a better job,
and we want to support the judges to do a better job
rather than set them up to be sort of killed on Facebook.
- Yeah, I attend event called the WAO, World Agility Open,
that Greg puts on, and I've gone since 2011,
no '12 maybe was my first year.
It's probably my favorite event of the entire year.
- It's very festive at the end of the year.
- Yeah, it is.
It's pretty darn awesome, great competition, well-organized.
We talked about things from a host perspective again today,
so anyways, so many good things.
So, if you're a judge and you want more information
on how to improve or anything along those lines,
I would highly recommend that you guys
get in touch with these two
and maybe bring them out to your area for a lecture
or seminar or get on their Facebook group.
What's your Facebook group name?
- Just Global Judging.
- Global Judging Program, right?
Or Just Judging?
- Yeah, I think Global Judging Program,
but put Global Judging in--
- And it'll come up. Yeah.
- Your phone is on Facebook. Yeah.
- Yeah, so you can add yourself to that
and then you can stay up to date
as to where they're gonna be.
Okay, thanks guys.
- [Men] Thank you!
- So, I just finished my day
at the Global Judging Program lecture
from Lee Gibson and Greg Derrett.
Again, they came over from England,
and I'm really feeling inspired to maybe start out
some of the competitions that I was having
throughout the year and get back
to a bit of course designing.
I learned some great tricks and tips
on being a better course designer
and also being a better judge.
Now, I'm not, I used to be a judge,
but I don't really do that much anymore,
but I think that learning those things
is gonna make me a better competitor
and also a better coach and a better instructor as well.
The more you can learn about your sport,
the better you can help others with it,
and it was really cool to see how passionate these guys were
about what they're doing, so I think it's really good,
and I think that it's something
that definitely courses in our country need,
the judges need.
There was a great turnout of judges today,
a lot of familiar faces,
and it was just a really good day.
So, I'm really glad that I came.
So, the only scary part is I have been away
for like 10 hours now,
and my puppy has never been left that long before.
So, I'm gonna try and get home as quickly,
but as safely as I can
and just hope that poor little Bee is okay at home.
She is in her crate, and she had a good little run
before I put her away, but just, she's nine months,
and she's just not used to that.
So, fingers crossed that everything will be fine
when I get home.
(fast-paced orchestral music)
(record scratching)
Okay, traffic was actually really good on the way home.
I'm about to go into the house.
It's the moment of truth.
Let's see, let's see how the baby puppy did.
Hi, monkey.
(dog barking)
How we doing in there?
Aw, we are bathroom free.
You're so good!
Outside, go outside.
She loves going in the car.
Come on, baby!
Hi, hurry up.
Oh, she's excited.
Hurry up.
Oh, it's a good girl.
Oh, that's a relief.
Now I have eight more to check.
Hopefully you are more impressed with the fact
that my puppy went to the bathroom so quickly on command
than you were that I just videotaped her peeing.
(laughs) Oops, sorry.
So, it is light enough
for me to take these dudes to the park.
Look at those faces.
You guys want to go for a ride?
Want to go outside?
I think Hippie is like ready to go.
She also really desperately needs a haircut,
so if you're a poodle owner, please don't judge me.
(popping)
Hey, guys!
So, we're really lucky 'cause we have
this awesome pen for them in the back, so they can (laughs)
Hi, Knackers!
He says, "Come and pet me, Mom."
We can leave them outside,
and they have a little shaded area to lie in.
Hi, hi (laughs)
Jogs, Granny.
They have a shaded area to lie in,
and it's just great because
they have their own little space.
Okay.
(fast-paced orchestral music)
Bee, Bee, lie down.
Bee, lie down.
Lie down.
Good girl.
Wait.
Okay.
So, I make her lie down first
because she's really pumped
about running with the other dogs.
So, I make her show, hi, Hippie!
I make her show a little bit of control first
before she has to go,
and then I'll practice calling her back several times.
So, this is the beautiful park near our house.
It backs onto a trail, which I'm not going on tonight
because it's getting pretty close to coyote time.
But at least these guys get to burn for a little bit,
and usually at this time, it's a little cooler
so they don't overheat, and there's usually nobody here.
Baseball diamonds and whatnot.
Good.
Here's little Bee.
Bee, lie down!
Ah, lie down.
Good girl.
Yes, okay.
Okay.
All the other Border Collies lie down, too.
(fast-paced orchestral music)
What you got, Sam?
Oh, good one.
Ha, old water bottle.
Come on, guys!
Let's go, Fun!
Come on!
Good.
Okay, lie down!
Lie down!
All the Border Collies.
Good, lie down.
Even the old one.
Good boy, Jack, good boy.
Lie down!
Funky, lie down!
She thinks I can't see her back there.
She's right there in the middle.
Good.
Okay, okay, Rad, okay.
Good boy, Rad, good boy.
(dogs panting)
Bee, lie down.
Yes, okay, good!
Girl.
So, this is Funky's favorite reward when she's,
when I call her to come.
Funky, come!
Atta girl!
Ye!
She runs through the middle of my legs. (laughs)
Beeline, here babe!
Good girl, Bee, here, all the way in.
Good, yes, you're listening so good today, baby.
Good girl, okay, good girl.
So much better having the long line on her.
I haven't had to use it at all today,
which has been nice, but oh,
she's tired of playing in the cold grass.
Can see the walk has gotten a little calmer.
Gyro's tired. (laughs)
No one's really sprinting anymore.
What's this little one doing? (laughs)
Hi, baby.
Come on, old man.
Truck it along there, Tic Tac.
(dog panting)
Tac is almost 14 years old, aren't you, buddy?
(upbeat pop music)
So, I just watched the video back and realized
that I look like a completely crazy dog lady
with the amount of dogs that we have right now.
Keep in mind that I have my parents' dogs, too,
which is why it looks like we have so many.
Just want to add that in.
(dogs panting)
So, as these guys get a drink and cool down,
I'm gonna leave them out here for a little bit
just so that they can enjoy the beautiful weather.
I am gonna go inside and relax for the night
because Ken's working fire, and I have the house to myself.
Not that I don't like spending time with Ken, but you know,
sometimes just better to watch the shows
that you wanna watch. (laughs)
Anyways, thanks for watching for today.
Say bye, Sam-Sam.
(water splashing)
(upbeat pop music)