So what have you been up to?

Bungee At Training Camp



Training progress this week
Focus on serpentine handling, distance & motion challenges on contact training, moving up from 6 to 12 poles, and speed circles of 5 jumps mixed up with 3 sets of 2 X 2's to create entries with speed. I will also be adding poles after tunnels & out of chutes for the same thing. We found some weakness in one particular kind of 180 situation for both Bungee and myself when we went to work with Sarah yesterday so we have that going too. I learned at camp that Bungee only understood a 270 for a limited distance (maybe with jumps up to 10-12 ft. apart?). When jumps were set on square 18' - 20' (ft.) apart, she really needed a lot of support to stay on her outside line and not come through the gap. So we'll work on that too. Lots of the work is mine to do, to find the sweet spot between the how-to & amount of support she needs and not getting myself stuck, flat-footed in a gap when I really need to be moving down a line. As always we finish any box work or technical sequences with simple speed circles of 7 - 10 jumps (heights & sets always in flux, never the same twice) just to let her open up and release a bit after technical work.

On a personal note
I have been feeling so cut-off and frustrated with our still-dismal internet situation. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to upload one medium-sized picture of Bungee to my blog this morning without timing out - amazing. The line-of-sight internet company told us they are planning a new tower for our area early in the new year. No solutions now :-( Meanwhile my husband was in touch with our county office as they are also doing a high-speed upgrade project for several areas, however our road was not included on their mapping!! When my husband contacted the county administrator in charge of the project, the man asked my husband if he was one in the same as the person that authored a certain whitepaper on MS Exchange. When he found out that indeed my husband was the same individual he really got excited telling him our county is in the process of deploying that same architecture now and he's the architect in charge and agreeing how much we REALLY need the bandwidth and how happy he was to meet him and so on. Maybe we've found a new ally who can actually come through with high-speed for us - fingers crossed. In the meanwhile, I am still stuck with going to an internet cafe for out-bound high-speed or a friends house. Both are possibilities in the near future the trouble is just finding the time.

But moving on to more positive subjects, fall is here in all it's splendor and it's just gorgeous to be outside. Fall days are so fabulous, especially here in Ontario. I don't know how some Canadians can take this season for granted to go about their days in the same hum-drum fashion as always. I never get used to what must be the most beautiful fall color to be seen on the planet. I really just love this time of year. I wish I could put up so many of the beautiful pictures I have been taking here at home. The temperatures have been perfect for working dogs, the colors are glorious, the sunshine is brilliant, this year the grass is plush from the wet summer, it's just hard to stay inside.

Of course Bungee would like to train 8 hours a day in any weather, so she's really all for any day when I'd rather be outside than in! In between training sessions I can find endless odd jobs to do, all the business of being a "good squirrel" and getting ready for winter. Somehow fall always creates an urgency in me to take advantage of every spare minute of sunshine. Perhaps it's the days getting shorter, or recognizing that every day of green grass is a gift this time of year that creates a desire to pack every minute of a training you can into day.

I may only get one picture up at a time but I can make many short notes to the blog when I have uploading success. Videos are still just out of the question from home but I'm looking for alternatives all the time.

Happy Training! It's About Love!