Nell is much better today, stools are firming up and she doesn't stink anymore, lol. As for Chloe, I did get to try her out, but all she did was the tunnel and jumps. She wouldn't go on the A-Frame or Teeter, and didn't jump through the tire, lol. No Dog Walk either. But we gave up early and let the others get their time in, didn't want to hold everyone up to try and get her to do something, lol. But it was a good time.
Shaina, yay to Kim and Web! I think Kim is going to have a stellar agility carreer!
She is just so much fun to play with...likes to throw me curve balls but also saves my butt from time to time by knowing what I mean despite what I "say" lol. I can't wait to start trialing...I think we're going to give it a shot this month! Her obstacle performance is solid...our handling is getting more fluid and more two-way...getting more distance...of course it could all fall apart at a trial especially since it will be in a new place, but I think we're ready to give it a shot and see what we need to work on next.
Hi everyone,
Been kind of busy. I am thrilled to hear that everyone is doing just great! Last week in class Savannah was very distracted. There is a little chihuahua named T-Bone in class that she just loves (sound familiar Megamuttsmom?) She ran over to visit him after she did the table and then a jump (was suppose to go to the weaves next) but at that moment T-Bone popped out of the chute and it was just too much for her. She just had to go see him! Other than that she had a couple of pretty good runs. Sometimes it is very hard for me to switch gears with her because I am so use to Rio. Their are many things I can just send him too. Weaves are one of his favorite things. She is still so very green.
Rio's class was awesome. We were working on sending them to tunnels and then the teeter. He was great with tunnels no problems. He did the teeter but is still a little hesitant. He would take it but I could not send him too it. My instructor couldn't believe the improvement in our communication! He is now registered ILP so we can enter AKC agility trials. I also going to register him CPE.
I have been busy building equipment. Will post photos when weather permits. Gotta run work is calling.....
I changed up many things today. I got to class early and I came in through the pens outside where the dogs play after class and just let Cherokee sniff to his heart's content before we went inside. The door from the pens leads directly into the ring. So, we avoided having to go thorough the area where Cherokee has to maneuver through lots of dogs in a cramped space (including puppies waiting for puppy class). He came into the ring astoundingly calmly (everyone in class noticed) and the instructor commended me on a brilliant idea coming in that way.
After we came in, I let him wander and sniff all the areas he likes to run off to in the middle of our runs. By the time class started his curiosity seemed to be satisfied.
Also, I brought chicken today. When waiting our turn I fed him the usual natural balance roll but, when it was our turn, I got out the chicken. He stayed focused on my chicken like a champ! He wanted that chicken so badly that, after 3 tries, he went all the way over the dog walk! It was a victory!! The trainer was bursting with pride, as was I. By the end of class we were able to do dog walk to weave poles to jump to weave poles to jump with no errors.
I am glad I got really frustrated a couple of weeks ago, it made me do some serious thinking on how to try to make us more successful. I hope next week is good
If everything goes as planned, Marge will have competed in her first agility trial ever exactly four weeks from today!!!
This is going to make my school work VERY hard to concentrate on.. and this sure is a busy month..
Good for you both. Marge and you will be fine. Tune out everything and everyone around you and play with her.
Rio, Savannah, hubby and I went to a demo over the weekend. It was for Barktoberfest. There were tons of people and dogs milling around. People were jogging by because it was set up right next to the track. They had set up the demo ring with a very large opening facing the track. I was a little nervous but decided to run Rio. Savannah is just too green she would have been out greeting everyone so I didn't run her. My hubby took her for a walk. Well we weren't allowed to walk the course before running it since it was just a demo. Of course I got lost the first time running and Rio was a little pumped. But it felt good just to have fun. He ran over the table and missed his weave pole entry. I didn't care we were playing. The third run he was great but in our excitement he jumped out of the ring, my heart went up in my throat because he was face to face with a dog walking by on the track but, I called him back and he jumped back into the ring and we finished the course! The very last run was so very very good my instructor told me he would have q'd with it. We had fun and I forgot all about the people around us (except when he was face to face with the unknown dog) and just played with my dog. It was a great feeling. One that I will try to replay in my head when we go to our first trial.
One more thing I have plans for some agility equipment-dog walk stands, teeter, winged double jump, broad jump, and channel weaves. Please pm me.
Last edited by agility collie mom; 10-05-2009 at 10:49 AM.
Kim's first trial will be this weekend. Sunday to be specific, as I am unable to make it Saturday due to work stuff. For added pressure it will also be the first time she's done any sort of agility outdoors since our flatwork class back in Ohio in early summer 2008, lol.
Whether success or disaster, it will be fun
Down side is my camera died on me today which means possibly no pics unless someone happens to bring their camera along, and even worse, no new puppy pics of the baby!
You're entering a trial without a camera?! Ugh! If I wasn't so mad at the Post Office for loosing Marge's thyroid test blood I'd mail you mine to use.. lol. Good luck, can't wait to hear all about it!! Is it a CPE trial?
We had an AWESOME class tonight with a really fun sequence.. I am SO mad that my sister only got half of it on camera. My boyfriend is the complete opposite when he comes - he films everything and anything lol.
Dogwalk was pretty good - did it kind of slow a couple times tonight but she's hitting her contact pretty well. Now I have to work on having her WAIT on her contact rather than just hitting it and flying off. That's why I put her back on it.
The 180 was pretty cool.. I thought for sure we'd flub it but we nailed it almost every time.
Tunnel to A-Frame was also a lot better than I expected.. based on the way I was moving I wasn't sure if she was going to go over it every time. Into the tunnel was a little bit sticky.. she chose the A-Frame a couple of times.
Jump to Table is self explanatory.. I'm happy with the way she plopped down on the table, impressive for a dog who's only seen it a handful of times.
After that it was lead out, jump frontcross weaves.. she NAILED this, I was so happy! Her weaves were AMAZING tonight. Then it was just some biiig jumping, over a broad jump (which she's never seen before), and then go on to the final two jumps. She did wonderful! I wish it was on tape.
She was very reactive, but at least we had a good class from an agility point of view.
Last edited by MissMutt; 10-06-2009 at 11:44 PM.
Reason: Automerged Doublepost
Miss Mutt,
Glad you had a really great class with Marge!
Savannah and I missed class last week (we had to buy a new van.) Anyway I expected her to not be focused at all in class. She surprised me and did terrific. I think she really missed going to class last week. Anyway they had the dreaded broad jump out and I figured she would just walk over it. She jumped it I was thrilled. We also had the A-frame out and the teeter. We did serpentines and then threadles. The later she had a little tough time with. The weave poles were on the side for anyone who wanted to practice. The course we did was A-frame, jump, turn right broad jump, turn right teeter, right turn to the tunnel (under the A-frame), jump, broad jump, then serpentine. Run was going well until the teeter Savannah had jump finished her 2O2O when I heard this enormous bang. I turned and looked at the teeter behind us, it had collapsed, the bolt on the chain had let loose and it just went flat. Savannah was fine. We finished the course and the instructor made me have her go back on the teeter. She did it with no problem. I was glad that it was her that it happened to and not any of the other dogs in class because most of them would never have gone back on. It didn't even faze her! We had a great night and I am so proud of her.
At the end of the night tonight (bunch of stuff going on) Kim and I ended up at the dog club so I decided to do a quick practice session before this weekend.
First we did crazy weave entries...90's, 90's with a rear cross, me ahead, me behind, me off to the side, etc.
Then I decided to do a layering exercise. The original intent was to do a single jump with an obstacle discrimination between another jump and a tunnel in which I would send her out to the jump which led to another jump while I ran on the far side of the tunnel...
The problem is she nailed it too easily so...of course I had to make it harder lol. The course below is what I ended up doing and she got it on the first attempt, and at speed. I started at the H and followed the purple line...she started at the D and followed the orange line. Basically jump - jump - toward me into the tunnel - jump - away turn/distance rear cross - jump - jump *toss toy out and away*
Basically we just had a blast messing around and Kim was fantastic. One down side? No camera!
(sorry for the quality I only can only draw freehand on this computer..distances are approximate because it's grossly not to scale)
That's awesome, it's so great that you guys are at that point for distance work. Libby is getting there, but we've got a ways to go.
We had a really good class again this week... Libby gave her first attempt at 12 weaves, just for fun... she did 11 and then popped out, every time We went back to 6 and she was just fine. She is having a real trouble with entering the weave poles when we do the poles with her on my right, when she has to enter the poles on the far side from me. I was thinking about this problem, and I figured out that she wants to enter the poles on the side closest to me because when we walk, she has to go around obstacles on the side closest to me so that the leash doesn't get caught. I really need to make some weave poles and do a clicker session with her. I know she will get it quickly, but we need to focus on that for a session.
Otherwise, we worked on the usual teeter and did some sequences. She was very focused again this week, which was awesome, and the only mistakes were ones I made, of course!
I was thinking about this problem, and I figured out that she wants to enter the poles on the side closest to me because when we walk, she has to go around obstacles on the side closest to me so that the leash doesn't get caught. I really need to make some weave poles and do a clicker session with her. I know she will get it quickly, but we need to focus on that for a session.
I had the same problem with Kim. We did a ton of long lead work when she was a pup and I always let her work out tangles on her own, so she learned quickly to see which path I took and stay on the same side.
We did a lot of clicker session with just 2 poles (still do them occasionally as refresher) to work on JUST entrances without running the whole line. Allows for a lot more runs and ensures she's focusing on the right part of the sequence, and allowed for a mark/reinforcement as soon as the decision. Then when running a whole line I would use a intermediary marker when she chose the correct entrance and the marker/reinforcer once she completed the sequence.
There are so many way to train weave out there though lol
I thank doG every day Marge was easy to weave train. I know there are SO many dogs that just don't get it with the Weave-O-Matics or Channel weaves like I used for her. I don't think I'm advanced enough to have trained her any other way!
We actually had a private lesson at my instructor's house. Marge was pretty scared the whole time because it was a new place, but she's now starting to hit her A-Frame 2o2o for the first time. So it was successful in that sense.
And I do mean literally...supposed to be 25 degrees tomorrow morning...
Needless to say, the baby is not coming along for the ride.
Kim was actually started with the channel weaves and weave-o-matics and she basically learned to weave that way because that's the way it was done in class. Then I used the 2 pole method on my own to teach her entrances. If I did it over again (say, in a year with Mira ) I would start with shaping via the 2 pole method from the start. The channel/weave-o-matic method works well IMO to build muscle memory and teach what to do in the weaves, but quite often entrances are neglected. It took dedicated entry work to get to the point where Kim can hit a perpendicular approach from the right side with her on my left and rear-crossing into the weaves. At this point she's maybe 90% accurate on that, with it being our most difficult entry. Obviously NOT something I would try when it counts lol...
Standard Level 3 -- Q -- clean run -- 1st place of 3
Standard Level 3 (2) -- Q -- clean run -- 1st place of 3
Fullhouse Level 3 -- Q -- clean run -- 1st place of 3
Jumpers Level 3 -- Q -- clean run -- 1st place of 4
Colors Level 3 -- NQ -- 3rd place of 3.
She really did great. We took a few extra strides here and there in areas that I knew would give her trouble...her speed made up for it and we were well under course time/over points required for each so it was a good decision I think...better than letting her get sloppy right away. It was also something like 30 degrees when we started the first run so yeah that was fun lol. One of the standard courses in particular was tricky...a very awkward course...not flowy at all but she pulled through.
The Colors course was our last run of the day and I changed my mind on how I was going to handle it at the last minute...ended up bobbling a tight area (twitched my shoulder left too soon) which threw us both off then in a typical Kim move she sensed my moment of indecision/weakness and ran across the ring toward a barking dog/the lunch stand without me lol...then turned back partway to rejoin me...but returned over a jump...lol. So yeah we got a failure to perform the obstacle we were supposed to be doing and an offcourse and ended up NQ'ing that one...oops. Lesson learned.
All in all it was a good day. Looking forward to doing it again!
Congrats, Shaina and Kim! I'm so glad it went well for you guys!
What are the fullhouse and colors courses? I am not familiar with them...
Full House has an assortment of obstacles laid out at random and assigned point values. For example today's course had single jumps (1 pt each), 3 tunnels and a tire (3 pts each) and a double jump, triple jump, and weaves (5 pts each) and a table (end point).
The goal is to gather at least a set number of points (for Level 3 it's at least 23 points) in 30 seconds including at least 3 singles, 2 "circles" (tunnel/chute/tire), and one "joker" (the 5 pt obstacles). When the whistle blows at 30 seconds you have 5 seconds to get your dog on the table and stop the clock.
Colors is actually really simple so it's kinda embarrassing that that was our NQ lol. Basically there are two integrated courses laid out, marked with two different colors of cones. The courses have to "overlap" at least three times. Each team chooses which course they will be able to complete the fastest and most accurately and does just that color. Usually one course is a bit longer but the other is trickier. All times/scores are evaluated against each other regardless of which color you chose.
Hope that makes sense...
Snooker, Jackpot, and Wildcard are the other 3 of the 6 games...and they are harder but they were on the other day of the trial. They involve a lot of on-course decisions and distance work. Should be fun lol.
The "leg" system is also different in CPE. In say AKC you need 3 legs to get Standard, 3 for Fast, 3 for Jumpers titles no matter what level you are on. And the different course types really have nothing to do with each other when it comes to titling/points...they are independent.
In CPE there is standard plus the 6 games. For level 1 you need 2 standard legs to get the standard title, and one each game to get the three paired game titles: Handler (Colors & Wildcard), Strategy (Snooker & Jackpot), and Fun (FullHouse & Jumpers).
For level 3 (our level) you need 6 stanard legs, and 3 each of the games. So in order to get our CL3 (level 3 title) we will actually need to get 24 legs.
Levels 4, 5, and C require even more legs per level.
We went back to 6 and she was just fine. She is having a real trouble with entering the weave poles when we do the poles with her on my right, when she has to enter the poles on the far side from me. I was thinking about this problem, and I figured out that she wants to enter the poles on the side closest to me because when we walk, she has to go around obstacles on the side closest to me so that the leash doesn't get caught. I really need to make some weave poles and do a clicker session with her. I know she will get it quickly, but we need to focus on that for a session.
) I would start with shaping via the 2 pole method from the start. The channel/weave-o-matic method works well IMO to build muscle memory and teach what to do in the weaves, but quite often entrances are neglected. It took dedicated entry work to get to the point where Kim can hit a perpendicular approach from the right side with her on my left and rear-crossing into the weaves. At this point she's maybe 90% accurate on that, with it being our most difficult entry. Obviously NOT something I would try when it counts lol...
