Happy Birthday Mia!

Mia turns 2 years old today!

Mia when she was 2 months old

It's been quite the journey so far...and we've only just begun...

I can't wait to see what the future holds for us!

Princess Mia

At the Charleston shows in 2010

Obedience in Asheville, NC,  November 2010

Love this girl!

Field Training on a beautiful morning

We had an awesome morning field training today.  I've just recently found a really nice place near me to train.  Unfortunately, the season is almost over so we probably won't get to do much until the fall.  Mia is doing so well - and gets better and better every time we go out.  There is something truly wonderful about watching a dog do what it was born to do.
 

 

 

Tired girl!

 

Mia weaves 12 poles

So...I know I have a lot to learn about handling...especially in agility.  Mia has a ton of drive, is really fast, and jumps big...which makes handling her a challenge, especially for a novice handler.  She does not like to slow down or stop when she's running a course.  So if I mess up at all and don't tell her where to go fast enough (or if I get mixed up in the course), she will often make her own decision as to which obstacle to do next.  With all of that said, I am beyond thrilled that she weaves 12 poles and does so pretty independently.  I'm gradually working on guiding her less and less until I can send her into the weaves by herself.  Last night in class, despite how fast she was running, she hit her entrance to the weaves beautifully.  However, her speed and enthusiasm sometimes catches up with her and she popped out after a few poles.  Mia is young and still learning to control herself.  The good news is, I just started her over at the weave poles and she weaved all 12 beautifully.  In time, we will get there.  All of these things that make her a challenge to handle are also what make her so much fun to train and watch. 

Patience, patience, patience:)

Here she is in our backyard weaving 12 poles

Show-N-Go Spring 2011

We took part in the Azalea Dog Training Club's Spring Show-N-Go this morning. A show-n-go is like a practice competition where owners/handlers can fine tune things in the ring and correct and reward when needed. Being the truly versatile girl she is, I decided to run Mia in open obedience, rally excellent, and novice agility jumpers (standard agility was not offered). She did her obedience runs after one of her agility runs so unfortunately, she was super tired (and a little hot) and did not perform as well as she usually does. However, her out of sight stays were perfect. She even stayed when a bird flew over and landed on the ground in front of her. Needless to say, I am very proud of her for working so hard for me. We had a great time on a gorgeous day and received numerous compliments on our performances.

Getting some tips from the "judge" on our off-lead figure eight (another great thing about show-n-go's - the "callers/judges" offer some great advice and notice things you may not realize you are doing).

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Mia is starting to drop for the drop on recall

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Retrieve on the flat

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Broad Jump

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Couch - 5 minutes after we walked in the door:)

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Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures from our agility or rally runs. Mia did well and showed much improvement in her second agility run.

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Best part of the day - spending it with my girl:)

Mia's Obedience Run - Winston-Salem, NC

Here is the video of Mia's obedience run in Winston-Salem December 11, 2010. Unfortunately, Mia did not hear me call her on the recall so we NQ'd. Other than that, she had a great run and I was very proud of her. Thankfully, we qualified the next day with a first place and Mia earned her CD (companion dog title).