Agility training

Sorry, I just meant more speed on your part to get her moving a little quicker - handling will definitely come with time. I have taken 4 or 5 handling classes now and they are a godsend for sure!

Creating drive beforehand with tug, etc. is also a great way to get more speed out of a dog, though. Recon and I spend the 5 minutes before a run playing and warming up with tug to get him ready. He'd certainly run without it, but just like with dock diving - the more "intense" the dogs are, the faster they will run!

That's exactly what it is. She definitely lacks some confidence, but she's definitely improving.

We've been back at agility for about 5 weeks now. But before our hiatus we probably trained for 1 year or so?

Ah, I gotcha! Yeah I'm lazy Plus I had been going since 4:30 that morning and was exhausted... but the main reason is that I'm just lazy, lol.

I could bring her tennis ball and get her more excited. She doesn't care much for tug, but she loves her ball!

Haven't posted in here in awhile.. leaving tomorrow for Regionals with a certain brown Border Collie! Was hoping Penn would have grown enough of a brain to play but alas. Maybe next year!

Can't wait to see videos!

Good luck at regionals!!

Tunnel training hath begun:
[YOUTUBE]dXUDirbkMsY[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]3oo3T37S-nU[/YOUTUBE]

And if you're friends with me on FB, you know I'm building jumps! It's been interesting...last night I was trying to buy some things I needed on amazon, to clean off the lettering on the PVC. They were add-on items, so I somehow ended up getting really frustrated and buying a manners minder so that they'd ship. This is why you don't do shopping online at 1 AM, folks.

Leaving tonight for a three day trial... I'm hoping we can manage at least ONE Q on each baby dog. I just want ONE from each... they have six chances. I think we can manage it. Last trial weekend was 1/4 on each so... I think it's possible...
I'm taking my contact trainer with me for the hotel room. Yes. It's happening. At least I have finally quit needing to take a tire jump with me?

Auggie gets to run on Sunday. Can't wait to run the old man again. I took him out to the agility yard yesterday and he ran around going "What should I do first?!" A-frame, teeter, dog walk, all three were stretched out in front of him... all of his favorite things. I set up the weave poles in the back while he was out with me and he kept running around weaving them while I set them up. Cutest little dog in the world, I swear. I told him you can do whatever you want Auggie. Pick one and do it. It's all for you. I really really love him. Even if we never Q again, each opportunity to run him is so wonderful.

Harleigh is looking awesome!! She seems to really enjoy it

Have fun at regionals yv0nne!

OMG can I has Feist please?

Good luck, Beanie!!!

We are officially done with trialing until fall. We legit almost had another QQ but I'm an idiot and forgot part of the Standard course (I've never done that before LOL) so I made poor Kimma drop a bar. But she recovered nicely and even with my mess up we ended up a good amount under time, so that's awesome. Picked up another JWW Q and points so it's not all bad haha.

Spring swag (notice how there are like no placement rosettes hahaha - welcome to Masters, I suppose!!!):


Records we have set so far:
-First Finnish Spitz to get a Double Q at the Regular Masters level
-Most MACH points by a Finnish Spitz
-Most MACH points in a single run by a Finnish Spitz
-Finnish Spitz with the most legs towards their MX/MXJ titles
-First female Finnish Spitz to be invited to the AKC Invitationals
-Shortest elapsed time of any Finnish Spitz in getting to the Masters level of competition and in earning their first MACH point

Well, I needed to be home for 24 hours to process the weekend before I could comment upon it in a relatively rational manner.

In a lot of ways, it was a horrible weekend. Probably the lowest Q rate I've had...maybe ever? Talk about disheartening. I almost didn't go, because Tristan has been having a bad relapse, money is tight, and I was just super down all week. But it was my birthday weekend, the entries were sent, and I needed to get away. I was hoping it would be this hugely successful weekend to make up for all the crap life has been throwing at me lately. Alas.

Meg's issues were non-issues. She's Meg, she owes me nothing, she gets to be silly or make mistakes. She did pull in yet another PIII Snooker Q, and had a great Standard run where she just had a refusal called when I cued her on take off (works for Gusto, Meg's point of commitment is SO tight to the jump) and she turned to look at me. She's perfect, who cares?

Gusto started off with serious distraction issues. One entire wall of the ring was glass looking into the lobby. Glass has reflections. He just kept stopping to stare. The good news is that he wasn't sniffing, he wasn't checking out. I think it was distraction, not stress-manifesting-as-distraction. He improved every single run he had, handled most of the PIII challenges with ease, and just had stupid things that disqualified us. He pulled a bar at the end of an otherwise great standard run, had a too-wide turn in snooker that put him over the finish jump before he was actually finished. Stuff like that. I was really disappointed with the results, but incredibly proud of the actual work he did. I wish I could trial him more; I think part of his issue is that he just needs more ring time at this point in his training.

This is the only run I have recorded. It was Saturday's gamblers run. I knew going in that the gamble was beyond his skills right now, and that I wasn't even going to try it. My goal was to get him through the weaves, and work the dogwalk/flip to tunnel before our standard run. It illustrates pretty clearly why retraining the dogwalk is on my Summer Plan. I really dislike what that obstacle has turned into for us. Also, Gusto doesn't have a tight flip on the flat - clearly I forgot which dog I was running.

[YOUTUBE]LSO9yWByDHw[/YOUTUBE]

He did get a much needed PIII Pairs Q, and even managed to be clean in his half (as was his partner) so I could feel good about it.

Miss Georgie knocked out her OAJ title this weekend and was one refusal away from a leg in standard. Baby dog issues. Everybody has lovely things to say about Georgie, agrees she will be a lovely consistent dog with a high Q rate. Nice and steady, smart, driven but not over the top.

Payton... Payton decided this club's table is WEIRD and did not want to get on it. The first day he ran up to it and then tried to climb under it to examine the legs, but he DID get on it. The second day he got on, then hopped off and refused to get back on. WHAT are you doing, dog. I actually put the contact trainer up on a thing in the hotel room to simulate a table to get him to do a table last night and it worked for today, but WTF.
No weaves in even a single class. His contacts were much much much better. Yesterday I was sort of irritated with him (after his table fiasco) and held him on his dog walk contact a LONG time. But it's potentially because I'm telling him to touch repeatedly rather than just giving one command like I would really prefer to do. Not really happy about that, trying to remind myself that Sylvia Trkman wrote an article in Clean Run about how she repeats commands and talks a lot to her dogs and keep it from getting to me. It's not the performance I wanted at all. But sometimes we don't get what we want, I guess.

So a really frustrating weekend with Payton. Had some good things and several things that were 100% my fault anyway but the whole No Weave Weekend thing... sigh. I'm going to buy some steak and start over with the 2x2s and see if that doesn't help. I'm not entered in anything else yet because I don't have any money (my mom offered to pay for this weekend and she wrote the check for everybody's entry fees before I could stop her.) so not sure when he'll get the next chance to rip.


On the very real upside, Auggie ran GREAT. He had a SUPER fast standard time (for Auggie) and a decent JWW time (for Auggie.) He knocked the last bar on the triple in both rings and also didn't finish his weave poles, but I haven't really been practicing with him, definitely not practicing our triple jump, so that's why. Doesn't matter, he gets a 100% free pass on everything anyway. We played with his shark tug the entire time we were getting ready to go in the ring rather than using treats and I feel like that helped. Not sure when I'll next enter him again but it was really cool to have some fast (for Auggie) runs with the old man.

Beanie, you're very hard on yourself. Congrats on all of your success! And may you find something constructive in your frustration.

BostonBarker, it sounds like you've had a rough time of things. It's frustrating when our dogs pick up on that when what we really need from them is to pull us through it. Dog therapy, while normally effective, isn't 100%. It's nice to hear that Gusto, while distracted, is keeping his stress under control.

I didn't do any trialing this weekend, but I did do a demo. During the downtime at the demo I took some video of Cohen's weaves. She used to single step them, but now she's clearly 2-footing them. One of my friends posited that she may have some soreness in her shoulders, but it's hard to tell. She's still fast, whatever it is.

[YOUTUBE]zvSImFss_Wc[/YOUTUBE]

We had our share of frustration this weekend, but while performing at these demos she's almost always fast, accurate. She's also hugely versatile and can switch from agility to obedience to flyball at the drop of a hat. Love this dog.

Georgie's OAJ runs:
[YOUTUBE]ArLxk0J4YEo[/YOUTUBE]

Georgie looks like a little bunny! She's so cute!

Here's a couple of Summers TDAA runs. I almost didn't post them because they were so bad. She runs slow in trials compared to practice. I am hoping this next trial she goes faster since she's had some practice time in that facility. She was really fast this sunday.

This is her first time running in this place. She wanted to see all the spots on the floor and also I'm pretty sure she thought the yellow cones were bowls. She had to go look inside them.

[YOUTUBE]05JuUQI456Y[/YOUTUBE]

This one I call 'run around everything'. I really think the difference in equipment size was a big factor. She had never seen the teacup versions of everything.

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Compared to practice speed:

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Also, does anyone have a veteran dog that you think jumps BETTER at a higher jump height? I really really think Summer does better at 8" vs 4".

I know horses that are better at higher heights, but I don't think I know enough agility dogs to weigh in. Summer is TOO CUTE running.



Mimi had a chiropractic adjustment today. Pelvis was tilted, a vertebra out of alignment, and she needed work in her lower lumbar area and right stifle, which is what triggered the visit to begin with. She was moving a little 'twisty' through her back leg at the show this past weekend. I need to work on building up her muscle in her rear.. yay for new workout! Anyone have ideas? I taught her 'backup' today, she already regularly does 'sit up'.. chiro recommended sprints, particularly uphill work, and cavaletti work.

Overheard a discussion about this this weekend. Watching a dog who jumps 20" and apparently he was a total train wreck jumping 16", crashing bars all over the place. Jumps well at 20". Apparently in AKC you can do that at regular shows, but if you go to nationals or the invitational, you have to jump your designated jump height. Some discussion going on about if moving up in jump heights should be allowed at all.

I don't have any feelings on it. I have so much other crap to worry about that I really can't be fussed to give that much of a s#*! about what other people are doing with their dogs. If your dog is jumping in a manner that improves his safety and well-being at a higher than measured height, you should probably jump your dog at that height for his physical benefit... that's about all I can muster up to care on that one. =P

I know in some venues now once you hit 'double digit veterans' (which Summer is now) you HAVE to jump down a height. So if I'm reading the rules right that means we would have to jump 4". I'm not sure how I feel about that to be honest...

Ok so... how many runs do we sign up for next trial? It's in 2 weeks. I want at least all 4 games. The standards just depend on the weaves, which she WAS doing on sunday in the building where the trial was held. BUT I'm not sure.... do I just do a couple standards?

The group package for the 9 runs total all 3 days is cheaper than buying 7 runs separately. So do I just buy all 9 then scratch if the weaves just aren't happening? I'd at least like to try 2 standard runs. And I'll be there all day anyways since games are first and last thing to run....

So I'm leaning towards 9 runs. Is that crazy considering I doubt we get the weaves on the standards?

I think it is incredibly stupid and yet another reason I don't even do our local NADAC trial. Meg would be required to go down a jump height there. While I don't think it would matter to her, as she doesn't seem to have any issues adjusting between heights (we train with a bunch of 12" dogs, and sometimes it is just easier to not adjust the jumps), I don't like being told I can't jump her at her measured height. She's fit and sound.

9 runs each day for 3 days, or 9 runs over 3 days?

I definitely think 9 runs over 3 days is fine. If it is cheaper as a package, I'd sign up for it and just keep an eye on my dog and scratch if needed.

Yes NADAC is the one I'm thinking of that requires you to bump down a height. Summer's not fast enough at trials for NADAC anyways. I don't get them though... they also don't add any extra time for veterans on non-jumping courses. Why would jumps matter whether an old dog needs extra time?

Though I have a lot of beef with how USDAA does veterans too.

I need to get her signed up for AKC. My goal is to do the next AKC trial and it is in September. We already have trials planned for June and July. Maybe take August off.

One run Friday with a possible add-on game (TDAA sometimes adds a run at $5 a pop, which is awesome!), 4 runs Saturday, and 4 runs Sunday. Possible add on Saturday and Sunday as well. So could total 12 but the add ons are separate so I'd decide the day of.

She did 9 runs this last trial (5 Saturday and 4 sunday) and held up fine. But I don't think she'd do as well with 9 USDAA runs as teacup. These runs will be around 6 obstacles longer than the beginner runs though.

I haven't really looked into it, although I'm about to do so. What issues have you run into?

I've been half thinking of running Meg in Veterans just so I can split up her and Gusto. I'm too old for running two dogs in the same height class! I only had 2 dogs between their standard runs this weekend. I moved them around after that, but it is kind of a pain.

But then I'm not sure I want to drop her down while she is doing well, either. Maybe I just need to toughen up. And speak up. Snooker is the only class where you really can't move your dog. I just hate being the pain in the neck person drawing all over the gate sheet.

Shoot, I'd just sign up for them all. You know your dog, if she seems tired, you can pull her. I might even go into standard knowing you are going to work the weave poles (as long as they give you multiple chances at them - I don't know TDAA rules at all). Use it as a training run, take as much time as they will give you with the poles, and be ready to run out of the ring and jackpot the heck out of her if she gets them.