Clean Run - October 2014 - 52

Though they are not put down in writing,
Jean has a goal in mind for each of her dogs, she says,
that will push her further. "Something that is a little
out of reach so I have a reason to keep training and
conditioning, and so I don't stagnate."
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to train and take care of any what she
calls "personal life needs." Thursday
and Friday she works a normal, 8-hour
day. She also works every third Saturday. Between the comp time she earns
and her regular vacation, she can travel
to the big, international competitions.
"My boss understands what I am doing,
and is proud of me." While she confesses
that she is better at diagnosing vomiting
than lameness, her presence in the agility community has also helped to draw
clients to the veterinary practice.

The Dogs
The Lavalley pack of ﬁve includes three
Shetland Sheepdogs currently in competition and training. "Spec is eight, and she
doesn't get trained a lot. Cheer, six and a
half, is the one I focus most of my energy on. The puppy, Sprint, is 22 months."
She ﬁnds the breed to be very biddable.
"They've always been good partners. It's
so easy to succeed with dogs that are willing to make up for my shortcomings!"
Each of the dogs attends a Wednesday
morning class at Happy Dog Ranch

where Jean trains with Kristy Netzer. At
home, Jean works on skills that she has
noted as weak. Before championships
or an international competition, Joel
will build a new course every couple of
weeks or so, and she work on that course
with Cheer, who will be competing, and
Sprint as well. She occasionally works
Spec on them, but she is not as well
trained in international challenges.
Jean has an unusual way of keeping
track of and planning training sessions.
She keeps a list of each dog's weaknesses. The weaker the skill, the higher
up it is on the list. When she goes out to
train on her own, she focuses on the skill
at the top of the list, practicing until she
considers it strong, and then moves it to
the bottom of the list. She then tackles
the skill that is newly positioned at the
top of the list. "It's a revolving list. The
skills tend to change, rotating from bottom to top. I look at the list once a week
and it keeps me moving forward." With
the younger dogs in particular, she says,
each time you go to a show you notice
things you forgot to teach.

Training at Home
She starts her training sessions with a
10-minute walk. She might keep the
dog with her as she sets some obstacles,
changes jump heights, and gets a sequence ready. "I like to get us both moving around." After the walk, she does
warm-up stretches and tricks speciﬁc to
the dog, and then works on a speciﬁc skill.
"Most of my training has been with Linda Mecklenburg. I go to seminars with
her once or twice a year. She is very
good at picking out my weaknesses and
she gives me speciﬁc skills to work on
when I am on my own." The backsides
of jumps is a good example. Jean sets up
three or four jumps, parallel to each other, in a row. "I might send to the backside
of one, push around to do the same on
the next jump." She may work the backside to serpentine the jump to a blind
cross, and work threadles. "I am learning
the mechanics and the dog is learning to
trust me on the move." Doing the same
handling move on three jumps in a row is
harder, she explains, than the real world,
and helps her to perfect the mechanics.

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Clean Run - October 2014

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