Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Dog Photo, Dog Video Gallery, Q & A | Posted on 11-08-2008
Ginger Jenks is a master certified coach. She often blogs about the building blocks she teaches her clients. In June 2008, her Samoyed Rory earned his MACH. I don’t know Ginger personally, but I saw someone post a note about the championship online, and I got the feeling it wasn’t an easy journey. SO, I asked her some questions about who she is, who Rory is, and how they accomplished this tremendous goal. Here’s what she had to say (photos and a tribute video, included):
Give me some background on you. How long have you been
handling dogs? What
I grew up with poodles, starting with Mimi, when I was age
1. By age 7 (6 for her), I was having her jump through my hula hoop, count to 3
with her paw, and setting up a jump with a broom and 2 boxes. So that was my
unofficial start, about 40 years ago.
I got into showing the first year I got Rory. It was just
conformation at first. The first time I took him into the ring was my first
time ever even SEEING a dog show … and we won! That got me hooked.
Then a local friend mentioned she was taking agility
classes. It sounded like fun, and we both liked it. Six months later, we were
at our first trial and bringing home ribbons.
grow closer with my dog … we know each other so much better now! I also like it
because it’s fast, and similar to ski racing, which was my big sport from
4th grade through college. Memorizing a course, finding the best
line, putting everything you’ve learned and are on the line in a minute or
less!
What attracts me to the Samoyed breed is their incredible
beauty, intelligence, sweetness and sense of humor. They are bred to be “Independent Thinkers” (i.e. to not pull a sled forward on HIKE if they sense
the ice is too thin), which can be a training challenge. Everyone seems to
think their breed is the most challenging to train, but I think the truth is
that they all have different challenges. While the “independent thinker” was an
agility hurdle to get over, Rory is also an incredible athlete. He rarely drops
a bar, can jump sideways if asked to (i.e. a handling mistake or because he’s
looking in the stands), and Q’s almost all the time. Samoyeds can’t compete
with Border Collies for speed (that’s the majority of who is in the 20-inch
class), but Rory sure can rack up the Double Q’s. And he has the strength to
keep working when others tire. Sammies can pull about 30 times their weight
(1,500 lbs or so), so they are very strong (“heel” is not their strong
suit!).
Give me the basics on Rory (breed, age, source, titles,
venues, jump height,
Rory is a purebred Samoyed and is a AKC breed champion. He was my first show dog, and he has earned 18 titles – 11 in agility, 2 in
rally, his conformation championship, a conformation Award of Merit, 1 in
herding, his Canine Good Citizen, and his Therapy Dog International
certification. Samoyeds are bred to be a versatile working breed (they were
originally bred to herd reindeer, pull sleds and keep their Eskimo humans warm
at night), and Rory embodies this. His registered name is CH MACH Krystall’s
Roaring Glory, AOM, OF, RN, HCT, CGC, TDI.
I got him from Nancy Golden, a long-time Samoyed breeder
in the Denver area. Nancy has been our biggest cheerleader, and even came out
to the AKC Agility Invitational in Long Beach, CA, to watch us last year, where
the Top 5 in each breed in the US (over a qualifying period of a year) compete
over 2 days. Rory took honors as Top Samoyed last year, and was 19th
overall in the 20-inch class, which was great. The owner of his sire was also in
the stands, so we had a great cheering section. Rory has qualified for the
Invitational again this year, which will be our third year in a
row.
We only compete in AKC agility. We live kind of in the
middle of nowhere – Durango, CO. Our local club does put on a NADAC trial on
Labor Day weekend, but we’ve usually been at the Salt Lake AKC trial that
weekend. With the nearest AKC trials in Albuquerque at 4 hours away, and most 8
hours away (Denver, Salt Lake, Phoenix), I feel I have to focus my time, energy
and dollars on one venue.
20 inches is the height at which Rory has competed for most of
his agility career. However, when AKC made qualifying times more aggressive
(Fall of 2006, I think?), I was discouraged, as I calculated that (based on our
average points per Standard run) it would now take us about a third longer to
get Rory’s MACH. We can only get to 10-11 trials a year – there’s only so much
time I can take off, and so many 8 hr drives in me. So I made the decision late
last fall, after Rory got his 20th Double Q, to jump him at 26 inches. It
worked out great. The extra height didn’t seem to faze Rory at all – he flies
over the jumps, and still rarely drops a bar, and it’s usually my fault when he
does. He Double-Q’s just as much, and was just as fast, if not faster. He
seems to like the extra challenge. Anyway, we accumulated points about twice as
fast as before, as he would usually take 1st or 2nd
in the 26-inch class. Those high placements just weren’t going to happen in the 20-inch
class, with 30-60 border collies at most trials.
Rory just turned 7 in June, 2 weeks after he got his
MACH. My birthday is 2 days before his, so it was a great birthday
present!
Tell me about the challenges you two face in training and
trialing.
As I mentioned, living so far away from any AKC trials is
a huge challenge. To cram 5 days of work into 4, drive 8 hrs on Friday, get
enough sleep hopefully and get up at 5 and go compete all weekend, then drive 8
hrs home and catch up on work and home has been exhausting, both mentally and
physically. And of course travel costs are a challenge as well. Durango (where
I live) is an incredibly beautiful place to live, but it’s just hard to get
anywhere from here (lol).
We also don’t have many training opportunities here. Our
club brings in some top trainers occasionally, which helps. I find private
lessons to be the biggest learning opportunity. I’ve been lucky to have some
with Terry Simons, Stacy Peardot-Goudy, Jim and Sara Cammack and Kim Terrill.
There are some things that are just plain difficult to
work on by yourself. Rory is HIGHLY distractible, though much less so than he
used to be. It has really helped when I’ve had a friend or instructor to say,
throw stuffed toys around the course while we’re running. Can’t really do that
on your own!
What assumptions did others make about him, and
you?
In the early days, I think many people assumed that my
quest for Rory to be a great agility dog, never mind a MACH dog, was hopeless. I remember asking one top competitor (who runs Border Collies) for advice about
Rory at a Salt Lake trial where Rory was a bit of a pariah, and I actually left
a day early, very discouraged. She said, “Oh, for Pete’s Sake, Ginger, just get
a Border Collie!” That definitely added to my discouragement. I don’t do
agility because I adore agility, I do it because I want to do something fun with
MY dogs.
Rory used to have a real problem with leaving the ring to
go meet other dogs, typically the dog who ran right before him. He’d run
beautifully for 6-10 obstacles, then start scanning … then OFF he’d go! And I’d
take off after him to catch him. It was really stressful! Not to mention
frustrating, after all the training, traveling, and expenses. So maybe another
assumption people might have made about me was that I was incredibly stubborn,
determined, patient, or perhaps a little dumb.
BUT – one of our first instructors, James Cammack, gave me
the right answer when I asked, “Do you think Rory could be a MACH dog?” He
said, “Yes, I do.” That’s all I needed, was somebody besides me to believe,
too.
People who knew me well did assume that we would be
successful, I think. Agility became my Zen practice to learn about myself and
my dog. And I am very, very goal driven. That’s what I do for work, is help
people achieve their goals, so I think about ways to be successful, all the
time, every day. Somebody wrote on my MACH bar, “You are the icon for hard work
and determination!” That must have been somebody who witnessed our
journey.
Tell me about the lowest point in your
journey.
I’d have to say that Labor Day weekend, in Salt Lake. Somebody complained to the judge about Rory leaving the ring. He never did
anything naughty beyond leaving, but I do understand that it concerned other
people.
How did you keep your spirits up?
By turning agility into a Zen practice. By loving the dog
that I had. By knowing his athletic ability in training, and wondering how I
could help his mental game to perform at that level at a trial. By when things
went wrong, to say “How FASCINATING! I wonder why that happened?” instead of
crying.
Does being a coach help? If so, how?
I think being a coach definitely helps. I think about how
to be more effective and successful, every day, all day. I read and learn
everything I can about that. I am VERY conscious of language, as many of my
agility friends will tell you. I focus on what I WANT to have happen, never
what I don’t want to have happen. I’m confident. I use models to help me learn
more quickly and retain knowledge more easily. I focus on what I can influence
or control, and let go of what I can’t. I try to keep company only with
positive people. If someone’s being negative at a trial, I walk away. I think
being negative is one of the biggest mistakes that competitors make. I’ve had
several people approach me for coaching on their mental game with agility, both
formally and informally, and that to me is the biggest validation of “It
Works.”
Did you “know” you’d reach your MACH goal, or did you just
do the work, take
I knew once Rory stopped his ring leaving behavior that
he could get his MACH (God willing with health for both us, of course). From
there it was a matter of time, money, and focus. I am a firm believer in “Knowing” taking you where you want to go, as opposed to “doing the work and
seeing where it leads.” To me, it’s the difference of being “At Cause” vs. “At
Effect.”
My friend Lynne Fickett encouraged me to enter our local
NADAC trial one year, since training in the ring is allowed in NADAC. The timing coincided with when I decided to really focus on recall training
Learning that “come” was not optional was THE turning point for Rory, and he
was just starting to learn that. If anyone wants more info on that, contact me
at ginger@magellangj.com.
Rory always wanted to please me, and that ring-leaving
behavior was a big obstacle in the way of his goal to please me. He is so happy
to be successful in his quest to please, and I am so happy to see him happy. It’s so great now. My young Samoyed girl, Imp, has good potential also, and I
have Rory to remind me that potential needs to be developed AND given the right
opportunities to flourish.
What advice would you give to other handlers (novice or
experienced)?
- No one does it all by herself. Dogs, friends, breeders, clubs, judges,
instructors, and good role models all pave the way. - Dogs are a puzzle that it’s up to us to unlock.
- Dogs and/or breeds that people might think have no shot at a
MACH, do. - You can make every agility day a good day by learning
something and finding something to celebrate. Something good happens for
someone, at every trial. It’s not hard to find if you look. And you can set
yourself up for wins with every run, whether you Q or not. - Our dogs always want to please us. Distractions or behaviors
can sometimes get in the way of that aim, but the intent to please is always
there. - Focus on what you can control or influence, and let go of
anything else. It’s wasted energy. Luck, good and bad, does play a part in
agility, and that’s part of the game. There is generally going to be another
shot for those of us who want it enough. - Keep your thoughts on what you want to have happen. Hang
with positive people, and tune out any negativity as much as possible. - Enjoy each run as if it might be your last.
- Celebrate the dog you have.
- Bask in the fun, especially when you do well. Don’t be shy
about being happy.
For anyone who has ever felt that their team has a
challenge/issue that is insurmountable, I can tell you that more than a few
people felt that way about Rory at one time. Don’t give up! Keep working
at it, deciphering the puzzle. Appreciate the challenge. Rory’s distractibility
became a Zen-like practice for me, that I used to learn about myself, as
well as him and how we interacted together. It was humbling. And it makes his
MACH very satisfying!
Here’s their MACH tribute video:
