It is such a rare treat for me to actually MAKE my agility ad obedience classes that I have cancelled by agility cancels, but still pay for my slot for obedience.
Last night I was able to make my obedience class BUT, there was no way, no how Brady was going to be the recipient of my attention and treats after his really bad behavior of snatching down his food and then running to catch me while I was walking in the hallway with Towhee & Faelan foodbowls - he jumped up and snatched a full half of Towhee's food!!!!!!!
So, Towhee went to class while Brady got to examine the sides of his crate.
Towhee really did well !! She is approaching ring ready status for Utility I think - she is making minor oopsies but was able to do her articles with 7 other working dogs around her, signals with 4 other sets of dogs working, ROF many times with intense drive & focus to be a distraction for other working dogs (yes she has her CDX but this was an Open/Utility class), her heeling with another dog working opposite her was both focused and accurate, her glove work with 3 other teams and being near an XPen with 4 dogs (one of whom was recently at the receiving end of a skunk's ire) was perfect and she was just a happy, twirling dog. Instructor was laughing her butt off at exactly why Brady's mama was taking his place in place.
No Go Outs, directed jumping or MSFE but still a great time
Hazel and I missed a bunch of classes because things were so hectic with work (mine not hers ) . Now we are back at it! Last week Hazel was doing some fantastic dumbbell retrieves, which made me very happy. Sometimes she can get so excited with the retrieves, her favorite thing in the world, that she stops and does a little dance on the way back. We worked on this, and I think it is sinking in.
We still work on a lot of zen exercises, and now that the snow is gone, we can go back to heeling in the empty beach parking lot, which helps us keep straight lines.
Still in FDSA Bridging the Gap at gold level. One more week left in this term, two weeks off, then finishing up the class next term (two term class). So, proofing, engagement in novel places, reducing reinforcers and working on a routine between exercises that works for my dog. We had to go back to remedial engagement in a novel place (PetSmart, fish aquarium section). Proofing is going well and reducing reinforcers is probably harder on me than him!
At home we're working on confidence on articles. Articles are so weird. My trainer just keeps telling me give it time, do it regularly, and it'll all come together. This is the first dog I've taught articles to and it was both difficult and easy at the same time.
I think our go-outs are temporarily broken. Our first broken exercise! I figured it would be the DOR or the recall after teaching the DOR. Nope, it's the go-outs. Something he's always been really good at, of course. Ha! So, we're back to breaking it down and am working on marking and occasionally putting a cookie on the target. I'm also working on jumping for the sake of jumping -- confidence and muscle memory. It's ridiculous that he has a 24" jump height in regular classes, but it is what it is. Can't wait for the rain to stop so I can set up my own jumps in the yard. Taking out a tree to have more space in the yard for distance training. Got baby gates and stanchions, too! Still in a box, just waiting to be used.
This morning it is WINDY!! and there are some branches down in the yard --- so --- what better opportunity to practice heeling with signals on the back driveway I videotaped and did review the dogs with a light review of myself (wearing my workout gear with knee high boots so loose clothing did not apply to mask minor movements on my part). Towhee did the cutest little pop up and snap back into heel position while we went over 1 fallen branch LOL Faelan completely ignored it and I removed it for Brady & Aedan. It was a fairly good sized branch.
The wind is truly howling which may have contributed to some of the boobles I saw and I also need to set up mirrors while working with such distractions as flying leaves and smaller branches - I saw minor creeps and Brady actually STOOD after I walked in to reward his drop and was walking away -- this I did not catch until I turned around and mirrors would have caught immediately -- oh well. Repeat was good
I plan on reviewing my handling closer tonight since between the wind and the boots, I am sure I was sending some mixed signals that I will catch when I slow the video down (ie; high stepping over branches etc)
Fun tunnel in class tonight. There were two forming a 90 degree angle and I chose the option where you take the shortcut (my path forms a "triangle") and I call for Penny to take the tunnel from twenty feet away. She did perfect every time.
Weaves - she was noticeably faster when I moved ahead of her/picked up my pace. She popped out halfway through the first time, but did it perfect the second time. Way too soon to try moving away from her or running in class though, since she fell apart completely in the weaves after that.
Entering her in an ASCA trial Saturday. It's one ring, three sides of the ring are walls (much less distracting environment) and I heard there's usually only 40 dogs there. I feel like her barking's as good as it's going to get right now, and to keep picking at it the way I am's going to demotivate both of us.
Nugget last night worked fairly well taking the BJ the on first order and fronting straight. Open exercises went well with another beautiful DOR. Utility he did everything but he could have worked faster and gotten the fronts better. Hombre messed up articles just grabbing the first one he could as he was in play mode and when doing the glove exercise got them all correctly but again didn't want to give anyone of the retrieved gloves up.
Today Aedan got to be the chosen one for Rally class -- he did really well!
Faelan had a lot of heeling (ack!! I stepped into him at one point -- bad handler!! ), signals, scent articles, MSFE, recalls, a few retrieves and just generally a fun time in the obedience class.
ASCA Trial went okay. Very nice sized trial, felt more like a practice than the real thing. I really loved this building, nice setup and good turf footing. They have ASCA, CPE, and AKC, so I really don't need to go anywhere else for trials.
No Q's...should have just done the $5 exhibition runs, I'll do that next time. There's also a policy where ring gates are left open unless you ask the entire class during the walk through (I asked right before I went) so we had to deal with that for both Regular/Standard courses. Pleasantly surprised she didn't notice the open gates at all.
The second Standard and Jumpers courses were just run as reverses of the first course. It was fun since I love running reversed courses.
The usual people greeting issues in the ring. I decided to hang her leash on the fence and it was an excellent choice. I was trying to rush at the end since there was emphasis on needing to enter/exit quickly since the gates are cumbersome (they're essentially a standalone PVC rectangle) and threw the leash on the ground....she did grab the leash, but stopped in front of the first jump and dropped when asked. =) Better than racing around the ring with it! We did have a couple nice-ish runs despite the issues.
Nice experience for Penny learning how to relax and be patient in a trial setting. Everyone there was really nice, and I had an offer from someone to let Penny run with their Aussies in the spacious property behind the building afterwards, but I declined since she would be tired from agility.
Set my cones up on the driveway and did fig8 with both boys then went out on the street and practiced heeling = about turns circle r+l fast slow and halts. Both did a very good job. Hombre did MSFE plus signals on a short lead. Well done , short practice but a good one with both. Tomorrow club and class.
Sent an email to the person in charge of a UKI trial in April about what we're allowed to do in their training runs. If I'm allowed to have a toy in the ring we're going. =D It's at the same place I just went last weekend.
Spent time reviewing my handling at the ASCA trial. In one instance my body pointed to the wrong end of the tunnel even though my hand pointed at the correct end (bad) and at another point I slightly moved into Penny's landing zone at a jump and it caused a bar to drop.
Bonus: someone in one of my classes is a puppy raiser for a service dog organization and they started bringing the four month old Golden puppy to class with them. She was such a sweetie, I wanted to take her home with me!
Very small turnout at my club last night. Hombre again on the first glove sent for refused to give it up . It was the correct one and his heeling wasn't as good as Sunday's in the street but on the bright side he made both the long s+d and did a decent job in open exercise's.
Nugget worked much cleaner doing a very nice job in both class's. Hope we can get it together with both boys as we have a trial on 3/25/17.
Raining this morning so no hike or outdoor training.
We worked inside in the training room with a favored toy acting as a distraction.
Faelan, Towhee & Brady all worked some heeling, signals and fronts with high precision criteria.
Aedan worked signal heeling with halts with perhaps 15 stands - a work in progress but he is starting to understand Limited duration or distance but I'll stick with that for quite awhile -- distance and duration are easy once the stand itself is understood I have found.
Hombre broke doing s+d at SCKC and he wouldn't give up the glove again. He did however improve slightly on fronts and his MSFE and signal exercise were very well done . Still a LOT to do with my " Challenge "
Nugget did well doing 3 out of 4 go outs really well his main problem area and only missing a couple f+f . Good session with Nugget not so much with Hombre.
Penny was great in class tonight. =D I got quiet lead outs and a mostly quiet dog. One "clean" (silent) run and then four barks spread between six total runs. I was surprised since I decided to run her normally, without stopping to treat at any obstacle. Lots of backsides - about 40% of the courses were made up of them, but the courses were also short.
She was tired by the last sequence and kept knocking bars which she never does. The instructor said the backsides wear the dogs out more - I also took her for a morning jog that contributed to this, so definitely cutting back on the exercise for next week.
I only took Nugget training last night and his work in utility was good , a front or two a smudge off and his first go out a little off center not perfect but he sat immeadiately on my command and the second one was good. We only did a little open work as a few people asked me to run them thru utility and one needed a man to do novice stands which we did several times till a stand that was acceptable was achieved . Good night plus pizza and blueberry cobbler was brought for a little celebration for our instructors award.
Worked articles this morning with Hombre and he correctly got both correct with good turns in place and leaving when ordered to " find it " , both fronts were crooked and so was one finish . Later I plan on doing go outs and signals with Hombre and the DR . Nugget will also do go outs . Hombre for now is the one needing more practice as he has been breaking on certain exercises he should want to work this morning as its cold and sunny temp is in the teens.
Winds are howling and the temps are in the low teens so no outside stuff going on here.
Aedan went to rally class and did better than his human (I walked him into a cone <sheesh> )
Brady went to obedience and had mostly Utility - he is working through some confusion at this facility - all good in the long run I suppose as he generalizes the exercises and he really worked well surrounded by dogs
Cold but sunny morning and a lot of snow coming my way so both boys and I went out in the yard and worked all utility exercises and both would have q'd with decent scores. Hombre gave me the glove each time he was sent for it (5) . Go outs were good not perfect but decent. Heeling and signal nice no mistakes and articles all correctly gotten . Some fronts and finish' s weren't straight a forever work in progress. Nugget also did broad jump 3 times and on the 3rd try nailed the front. Nugget is something else because I put the highest board in the 3rd board position and he refused to even try to jump it darn dog knows exactly what boards belong where and he has that 44 inches perfectly locked in his head and won't jump more or less.
Health clinic today (Faelan, Towhee & Brady all passed their eyes) and then i worked there until 3pm or so, so no training today. Apparently Aedan was depressed or lonely or something and did not really visit Paul or even go outside all day.
It may have been the first time in his life he was alone without me or the other dogs (he was part of a litter of 9 so was not alone then either).
Poor puppy but I doubt he would have enjoyed the whole dilated pupil exam thing LOL He went last year to another clinic with Brady and he (Aedan) had his heart clearance done but he has not had any eye exams yet.
Snow is falling and roads are slippery so I won't be taking the boys training today but I will still go as I have a class to instruct . Wish we had safer and better drivers in the state .
In the deep freeze here for the last few days. Duster had a good rally class last week, and a good agility class too. He's coming along.
We were at an agility trial yesterday with my daughter, and he was super interested in what was happening in the ring - he stood with his front feet on the fence and seemed very absorbed with it all. In recent weeks I've been leaving him at home when we trial, because there's a kennel cough epidemic (I wish people would stay home if their dogs are coughing ...), but I took him yesterday because it was a smaller trial outside our usual circle. It was fun to see him take such an interest - as if he wanted to be in there himself!
On a lighter note, while he is by far the most intelligent dog I've ever owned, he's had a complete mental block with "shake a paw" and has never mastered it - even though he can do much more complex stuff. Well, at yesterday's trial, my daughter asked him to "shake a paw" as a joke - and he did!! It wasn't a fluke - he did it consistently afterwards. Our fellow competitors thought it was hilarious that we were so thrilled - cheering and dancing around - but we've been trying to teach him this for the last 14 months. I think he's been holding out on us.
As an aside, and as a non-golden-related brag, my daughter and her toy poodle got two more Standard qualifications yesterday and are now only 10 points away from their Lifetime Achievement Award (125 Master's-level games Qs and 100 Master's-level standard Qs). If all goes well, she's hoping to finish at our club's trial in May. She'll be the first junior in the history of agility in Canada to earn the award (she's 15 years old, her dog is 6 years old).
Tomorrow should be warmer but we are under a blizzard warning so outdoor training may not be happening for awhile.
Finch will no doubt be missing her training & visiting.
I did not train this morning since I know how gritty my eyes tend to feel after dilation plus I just had a crammed weekend on top of the 'evil' time change, so perhaps tonight
Off topic, but girls might appreciate. I almost never wear make up anymore since - well I just don't but my coach needed a selfie of me so I dug out some makeup and applied not only mascara & blush, but even a touch of eye shadow & lip gloss! Getting some double takes here at the office LOLOLOL My hair is also down with my waves cascading around my face & shoulders ! The double takes are pretty cool.
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