Gidget's First Trial of the Year

This was our first time running on dirt, and considering how distracted some of the dogs I saw were, Gidget faired pretty darn well.

Exc A STD was up first, it was fun and Gidget ran very nicely... until that darn chute.  I so thought she was going to take it this time too!  She's been doing so well at home and at class with the chute.  Oh well, the rest of the run was great!  Her teeter performance was the best it's been in a while and she didn't hesitate to get on the table (though she did spend the whole 5 seconds on the table sniffing it).  Someday we'll get an Exc A STD Q.  Here's the video:

Exc A JWW was up next.  Gidget just needs 1 more Q to move on to Exc B, but it wasn't to be this time.  She seemed a little more nervous before this run than she had for our STD run.  It was a lot more crowded by this ring.  She was a little slower than earlier, but not horribly so.  I tried to rear cross the weaves, not sure if this caused an issue or the fact that she was weaving toward the other ring (ring crew was setting bars in that ring, no dog running as you can see in the video).  After that we ran nicely until Gidget ran around a jump, but fixed that and ended together.  Not a bad run overall, we'll do better next time!  Here's the video:

Gracie came with us to this trial to help her get used to new environments.  It was a little too crowded for me to comfortably do too much work with her, but we did get her outside with Gidget and my mom's dog Slammer.  Gracie actually pottied outside!  She'd also get upset if Gidget, Slammer and my mom got too far ahead of her.  So I think having familiar faces around is a definite plus for her.  At the end of the day when the vast majority of dogs had left, I was able to catch both of the judges to get both of Gracie's official messurements.  That way when Gracie does start running AKC we don't have that to worry about, just focus on our runs.  She was a really good girl the whole day.  I can't wait for our second trial attempt in Feb.  Happy agility!

A New Spin on Class

This week the girls had open agility and class.  There was no numbered course for open agility, this is the set up.  We worked on pinwheels at the three jumps to the left of the top of the dog walk, and at the two jumps and the tire next to the A-frame (A-frame, jump, jump, tire, A-frame and the other direction too).  We also worked on rear crosses with the two jumps at the top of the course.

We had our usual instructor for Gracie's class on Thur. but two new instructors for Gidget's class.  It was fun to see some new teaching styles.  They didn't use cones so we had to actually memorize the course.  They're sticking around so the brains of myself and my classmates will get a workout.

Gracie's class didn't start well.  There was a new dog and I won't go into the issues that caused here.  Gracie has seemed less focused in class lately, more likely to go on a zoomy run.  She used to refuse to leave my side, I miss that.  So either she's getting more confident and is happy to go do her own thing, or she's gotten too much self reinforcement for zooming so she's doing it more and more (probably a combination of the two).  We'll have to work more on focus on the course.  More frequent pause for rewards will be useful, especially after series of jumps as she finds them somewhat less rewarding than tunnels and contacts.  On to the courses.

Black course: Gracie ran this course, though we ended up having to start at 3 so that Gracie wasn't running towards her classmates (this was part of the issue with the new dog).  Serpentine, 270, fairly easy.  Dog on the left all the way through 12, then a rear cross into 13.  A front cross after 11 would be possible with the right dog, but unnecessary.  I know Gracie zoomed off a couple times during our turn, but I don't remember where.  We did manage to complete the course.

Red course: Gracie ran this course too.  It was kind of fun, short and tight.  I think jump 8 was a little further away from the top tunnel, this drawing isn't perfect.  Anyways, front cross jump wrap after 8, then I did a front cross after 9 too, not that it was needed.  That let me line Gracie up to jump towards a gate instead of towards the ring exit. 

Blue course: This was Gidget's first course.  Everyone ran it then we worked on the trickiest spot before running the whole thing again.  Front cross jump wrap after 1, dog on left through 7.  I messed up my positioning after 7 so that Gidget went in the tunnel again.  I was too close to the tunnel, I needed to be well ahead near jump 8 to keep Gidget from taking the tunnel again.  The tricky part we worked on was the 270 into the serpentine.  Send the dog out over 8 then get ahead turning shoulders back to bring the dog over 9, stay ahead and close to the line of jumps, keeping the shoulder on the side of the dog turned back slightly to help direct them over jumps 10 and 11.  Being ahead of your dog is part of what makes serpentines so fun!

Green course: A quick course for Gidget's class to end the night.  The drawing doesn't look like it, but the set up in the building made it to you had to start with your dog on your left.  This meant a lead out was necessary to get the dog into the correct side of the tunnel.  Front cross after 3, then a rear cross flip after 5 into the weaves.  Depending on the dogs ability, the dog may need to be set up so that they have a fairly straight entry to the weaves after the flip.  Just continue a few steps straight from jump 5 before flipping.  I could flip Gidget right away, she's got her weave entries down!

Coming soon... Gidget's first trial report of the year!  Happy agility!

Remember, She Can Do Agility!

The girls and I went to open weaves on Wed.  Nothing fancy, just 12 poles, 2 jumps, and the dog walk set up in a circle-ish shape.  We were able to work on some crosses and other basics.

Yesterday I was able to get some video of Gracie even though I'd gotten stuck in traffic and was 15-20 min. late for class.  Gracie ran the black course and we worked it in two parts, 1-10 and 10-14.  The video explains my mess-ups and you can see Gracie's one zoomy moment.

Gidget ran both the black and red courses and I didn't get any video of her.  Gidget did the chute so very nicely in class, hopefully that's a good sign for our trial next weekend.  There were really no major differences in how I ran the black course with each dog.  Though in Gidget's class I learned that layering the pole near jump 13 was a useful option.  It forced the handler to run a path that clearly said "do not go into this first tunnel entrance!"

Red course:  Please note the chute (8) was turned the other direction for this course, Gidget has not been trained to lift the chute and take it backwards... yet.  Rear cross into 3.  I tried two handling options for 4-8 and my first instinct turned out to work way better.  At first I just kept Gidget on my left and then flipped (rear crossed) her into the chute.  That worked just fine, but I wanted to try something else so I front crossed after the dog walk and tried to push her into the weaves after 6.  Had I pushed on her path just a little more, with more confidence it probably would have worked, but that's something we'd have to practice.  A couple of my classmates did 5 and 6 with their dog on their left and then rear crossed the weaves.  It's a sharp entry so hard to rear cross, but if the dog has the skill it's very doable and at least one classmate made it look easy!  Front cross after 9 then handle 10 to the end just like 2-5 (see video) minus the rear cross to the dog walk.

That's it for this week, class as usual next week and then a trial with Gidget on Sat.  Happy agility!

Gracie's First Trial!

Gracie and I participated in a CPE trial on Sat.  The trial was wonderfully small and we barely had to deal with other dogs, much less have Gracie react to them.  She was so good, quiet in her kennel, attentive to me as we walked outside and around the crating space.  We were pretty much the first team there so I had some time to let Gracie check out some of the building before more dogs arrived.  Gracie was very good for getting measured, she just wanted to give the judge kisses.  She came in at 19 3/4" which means she'll need a second measurement before she'll get a permanent height card.  Not that that matters much, I'm jumping her at 20" anyways.

I knew Gracie was pretty nervous as she wouldn't go potty outside, she normally pees every chance she gets!  She was still happy to visit people and work for treats though.  Our first run was standard.  I had my parents at the ready should Gracie decide to leave the ring.  We went into the ring and Gracie wouldn't even sit at the start line, very not like her.  I wanted to see what she'd do though, so off we went.  She took the first three jumps correctly but then saw the dog walk.  Gracie is what I like to call a "contact whore," she'll take a contact any chance she gets.  In class she's very good about listening/following me and only taking the contacts when told to, but obviously this wasn't class.  She did her "bottom" beautifully, but when I released her she had to go visit the judge.  I called her back to me for one more jump, but then she saw the tunnel which she just had to go do, and then the dog walk.  The course happened to end this way, so I released her to the last tunnel and called it quits.  She went to visit my mom at the gate when we were done, but never once thought about leaving the ring, a definite plus for her.  Here's the entertaining video:

Our next run was Colors.  I had to give Gracie another chance.  You can't see it in the video, but I did get her to sit for a second at the start line, one tiny improvement.  Gracie took 2 jumps and then saw the oh-so-fun tunnel and ran off to do that.  I got her to come right back to me and sit, then we were able to do 5 whole obstacles before she broke off to do some zips.  She did miss her contact this time, but knew to go back and fix it.  You can see the judge laughing as he raised a fist for an off course.  I got her back to me after her zips, but then she stopped to do some sniffing.  So I took the few good things we'd had and ran for the last obstacle, it took a second but she joined me and ended that run on a reasonably happy note.  Here's another entertaining video:

So, Gracie and I have a lot to work on.  I'm thinking I'm going to take her with to Gidget's next trial in a couple weeks to help her get used to new locations without the pressure of running a course with her.  Then when I enter Gracie in another trial at the same location as this first one (possibly in Feb.) I'll enter Gidget too and hopefully Gidget's presence will help Gracie calm down some.  We're going to have to do some more mat work and other focus activities at class and some new locations.  Any other ideas to help Gracie focus in the ring would be welcome.

I'm thinking I'm going to have to video Gracie in class this week so that I have a visual reminder of how awesome she can be, and how awesome she will eventually be at trials.  Happy agility!

First Class of 2012

Black Course:  Pretty basic, just needed a rear cross over 6, oh and cue Gracie early enough for jump 5 that she doesn't go running off to that oh so fun tunnel.

Red Course:  Gracie ran 1-10 with 9a instead of the correct 9 (oops! I made it more difficult, but I thought it was fun), and Gidget ran 1-13 with the correct 9.  After the A-frame you had to make sure to pull your dog into you somewhat to send them to the correct side of the tunnel.  Then I had to remember to hang back so my dogs could find the weaves properly, other wise I'd push them past the first pole or two.  Once my dogs were committed to 6, I had to book it over to the landing side of 7 for a front cross.  Seriously had to run pretty darn fast for both dogs.  Then for Gracie I did more front crosses after 8 and 9a, Gidget just got a post turn to the tire and on to the end.

Blue Course: Just Gidget ran this course.  Front cross after 7 and a rear cross over 10.  A front cross after 8 could also work if your dog has a good send to the tire, it is just a pinwheel after all.

Green Course:  This was just something fun and speedy to end the class with, just have to remember to pull your dog into you a bit to send to the correct tunnel entrance (5-6).

Last Class of 2011

Only Gracie ran these courses (I'll explain later), though they would have been a lot of fun with Gidget too. 

The opening of the black course had a lot of options.  I believe I went with a send to 1 and a front cross after 2.  I would have liked to have tried a lead out/front cross with another front cross after 2 also.  After sending Gracie into 5, I set up on the landing side of 6.  Rear crossed the weaves, Gracie did all the weaves on the second try at this.  Front cross after 12 with a well timed cue as we approached the jump, then run to the other side to try to get a front cross in after 13.  A lot of my classmates had to do a rear cross over 14 (there was a wall on the left side of the jump) and a lot of them struggled with it.  I would have to, but I was just barely fast enough to get the front cross in.

The red course involved front crosses after the tunnel twice.  For the cross after 4, I set up fairly close to the tunnel to get Gracie into the weaves and for the cross after 11, I set up further away - closer to the tire - which gave me more time to set up and gave Gracie a better idea of where we were going.  I did a front cross after 2 so that I'd be on the weave side of the dog walk.  Gracie skipped jump 9, probably because I was a little ahead of her and lost our connection.  Gracie got the tunnel/contact discrimination just fine.  I took some video of a classmate running this course with one of my Christmas presents - a camera that will work reliably!

Such a good looking border collie!  She and her handler fumbled with the contact to tunnel flip (Gidget would have had trouble with this too), but otherwise a very nice run!

Gidget hasn't been in her regular agility classes for the last month.  We took a Fetch It/Bring It class instead.  I taught Gracie to fetch at home too.  Gracie excelled at fetching enough for me to start working on teaching her to fetch a beer from the fridge.  I'll get some video when we finish that trick.  Gidget took a little longer to catch on but I think we've got it figured out now and she'll catch Gracie in no time.  Gidget is doing better with the scent work than Gracie, she actually takes the time to sniff the PVC rods we're working with to find the right one.  Gracie just picks up the first one she sees.  We've got some ideas to work on this though.

Last night I helped out with a Run and Done (practice obedience trial).  Not as exciting as agility but still very interesting and a lot of skill involved.  Competing in obedience probably won't be an option for Gracie as the group stays could be very dangerous for her.  She's capable of it in class with familiar dogs, but a new environment with new dogs wouldn't work so well.  Gidget, on the other hand, could do really well at obedience!  If I had the money to do it, I'd get her in more obedience classes and start trialing as soon as possible.  Since I'm not rich, it may wait until Gidget has a MACH title, or at least good progress towards it.

The only way we can get a MACH title though is to fix Gidget's chute issues.  Thankfully I got a chute for Christmas too!  I'd been working on having Gidget go under a chair with a towel over it, but a real chute will work so much better!

Gracie's first trial is a CPE trial this Saturday!  So nervous!  I think that's it for agility updates for now.  Happy agility!

The Rest of Last Year

Here are all but the very last of the courses that have been in classes since the last time I posted a course back at the end of Oct. 

So it's been just a little while since I last posted a class course.  I should be able to keep up better now... I think.  The next post will be the last class of 2011.  Happy agility!