Gracie's second trial ever at Soccerblast went a lot better than the first. She hit all her contacts, no flying this time. She didn't actually get her "bottom" position on the A-frame all day, but she hit the yellow and I know she was nervous.
Open STD was up first. I really liked the opening. A lot of people had trouble getting a front cross in and keeping their dog off the dog walk. I decided not to do a cross, but tried a scoop after the second jump instead. I saw no one else try this (though I only watched the big dogs) which surprises me because it worked really well. Unfortunately I didn't get any video of this. Gracie was definitely nervous, and when she's nervous she has trouble hitting her weave entrance. So she refused the weaves, twice I think, but the judge didn't call it. This meant we got a 2nd place Q and our open standard title. I wish this gift wasn't for her title, but I'll take it. She weaved perfectly the rest of the day so I'm going to go ahead and move her up for our next trial.
Exc JWW was up next. She was perfect, a little slow likely due to nerves, but otherwise perfect. Only got video of the end of the run: Gracie Exc JWW.
After a nice long wait, we got ready for Time to Beat. The course was rather dizzying, but fun! I was worried at the start that she was going to go visit a bar setter as she did a strange jump in that direction at the start line, but she didn't. She ran nearly perfectly with me again (just skipped her "bottom"). She got a Q and 5 points toward her title. Gracie T2B.
We'll be back at Soccerblast in a month. Hopefully Gracie will be a little less nervous next time and will run with a little more speed. I love running with Gracie no matter her speed. She does everything I ask and seems happy just to be working with me, I can't ask for much else!
Gidget ran in this trial too, but I have some thinking to do for her report.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Herding
I won a free herding lesson from an agility trial raffle a while back and finally got to use it today! It was about an hour and a half drive (plus some from getting a little lost) to get there. The drive was beautiful and exactly what I needed today, but not something I could do on a regular basis.
The trainer took the girls (one at a time) in a round pen with three sheep. She worked them since I know nothing about herding and sheep and injuring myself would be likely. They were attached to a long rope. For Gracie it was attached to her collar then wrapped around her chest. For Gidget it was just attached to her harness. Both girls were rather concerned about where I was when they went into the ring, but the trainer was able to get them to focus on the task some. Gidget actually showed more interest than Gracie I thought. The trainer did have me come inside the ring and glue myself to the fence so the girls could see me better. They both enjoyed some time chasing the sheep in circles around the trainer. I didn't have the camera with me for Gracie's turn, but here's some video of Gidget's turn. Gidget Herding! Of course Gidget started doing better after I stopped filming.
Gracie enjoyed being there. She got to roll in and eat a fair amount of sheep/duck poop. She's getting a bath tomorrow. On our way back to the car after her turn, we walked past a woman and her dog and Gracie didn't even look their direction!
There were a few things I found interesting, and didn't necessarily like. The trainer told me that the stick they use is a visual for the dog and provides pressure to change the dog's direction (doesn't have to touch the dog to do this). She used a rake with my dogs which would be easier to see. Of course my dogs were a bit scared of it. She said she'd only actually hit the dog with it if the dog was attacking the sheep. I watch some handlers that had been herding for a while. I saw at least one tap their dog with their stick when not out on the field. Several of the handlers would throw their sticks at the dogs (without hitting them). Now I don't know much about herding, but I would think you could be kinder with the use of that stick. I also saw several of the handlers using leash corrections while waiting for their turn or while walking out to the sheep. Once was when there was excessive tension between two dogs to correct one dog from growling at the other. The growling dog just didn't want to share his person with this strange new dog. Not nice behavior but certainly manageable, avoidable, and likely not helped by physical corrections.
So if I'm going to get into herding (and the budget- both time and money- says I probably won't, though I'd like to) I'd need to find a place that better fits into my line of thinking. Minimal physical corrections and lots of positive reinforcement!
The trainer took the girls (one at a time) in a round pen with three sheep. She worked them since I know nothing about herding and sheep and injuring myself would be likely. They were attached to a long rope. For Gracie it was attached to her collar then wrapped around her chest. For Gidget it was just attached to her harness. Both girls were rather concerned about where I was when they went into the ring, but the trainer was able to get them to focus on the task some. Gidget actually showed more interest than Gracie I thought. The trainer did have me come inside the ring and glue myself to the fence so the girls could see me better. They both enjoyed some time chasing the sheep in circles around the trainer. I didn't have the camera with me for Gracie's turn, but here's some video of Gidget's turn. Gidget Herding! Of course Gidget started doing better after I stopped filming.
Gracie enjoyed being there. She got to roll in and eat a fair amount of sheep/duck poop. She's getting a bath tomorrow. On our way back to the car after her turn, we walked past a woman and her dog and Gracie didn't even look their direction!
There were a few things I found interesting, and didn't necessarily like. The trainer told me that the stick they use is a visual for the dog and provides pressure to change the dog's direction (doesn't have to touch the dog to do this). She used a rake with my dogs which would be easier to see. Of course my dogs were a bit scared of it. She said she'd only actually hit the dog with it if the dog was attacking the sheep. I watch some handlers that had been herding for a while. I saw at least one tap their dog with their stick when not out on the field. Several of the handlers would throw their sticks at the dogs (without hitting them). Now I don't know much about herding, but I would think you could be kinder with the use of that stick. I also saw several of the handlers using leash corrections while waiting for their turn or while walking out to the sheep. Once was when there was excessive tension between two dogs to correct one dog from growling at the other. The growling dog just didn't want to share his person with this strange new dog. Not nice behavior but certainly manageable, avoidable, and likely not helped by physical corrections.
So if I'm going to get into herding (and the budget- both time and money- says I probably won't, though I'd like to) I'd need to find a place that better fits into my line of thinking. Minimal physical corrections and lots of positive reinforcement!
Monday, May 20, 2013
Is that a Border Collie? No, it's a Chihuahua!
The training school I attend and teach at, Cloud 9, held it's second TDAA (Teacup Dog Agility Association) trial this past weekend! Gidget ran 10 times over the weekend and I was the chair person!
I was the first person there and the last (or second to last) person to leave. I organized the volunteers and did several volunteer jobs myself. I did a little bit of everything and ran the raffle too! It was a lot of work and made me realize how much work board members of AKC and other big agility trials must do!
I was stressed enough by all the work I had to do that I didn't have any time to stress over Gidget's runs. And you know what? They went really well!
At the beginning of the trial the judge talked about how on teacup courses, suddenly handling your Chihuahua is more like handling a Border Collie on full size courses. Well if a Chihuahua is like a Border Collie, then Gidget is more like a Great Dane! She was quite a bit slower on these courses than she usually is on full size courses. She had to duck to get into the tunnels and couldn't move quickly through them, and she really didn't bother to pick up her speed very often. She did bounce between two jumps once which was rather Border Collie like of her and fun to see! The thing that made me happiest about her runs this weekend was that she did the teeter every time I asked her too! That would be 7 times total over two days! Yes the teeter is smaller, but I still think it's a good sign that our teeter issues may be behind us. Not that I will take that for granted and let our teeter work slide now.
I fast tracked Gidget so we were in Superior by the end of Sat. and Games 3 first thing on Sun. So Sat. our runs were Tag 10 (Games 1), Standard 1 (Beginner), Standard 2 (Intermediate), Standard 3 (Superior), and Snooker (Games 2). We qualified in everything but Standard 3 where Gidget missed the A-frame contact. Easy to do on smaller equipment! Sun. we did Colors (Games 3), Standard rounds 4, 5, and 6 (all Superior), and Beat the Clock (Games 3). We qualified in everything but the last game. That was the hardest run ever. Gidget and I were quite tired and the course was tricky. We got through the hardest first section, but in the second section Gidget insisted that the tunnel was supposed to be taken after the A-frame so we ran out of time and didn't get enough points to qualify. Oh well. No titles this time for Gidget, but we had a very good time! Here are the videos:
TDAA Day 1
I was the first person there and the last (or second to last) person to leave. I organized the volunteers and did several volunteer jobs myself. I did a little bit of everything and ran the raffle too! It was a lot of work and made me realize how much work board members of AKC and other big agility trials must do!
I was stressed enough by all the work I had to do that I didn't have any time to stress over Gidget's runs. And you know what? They went really well!
At the beginning of the trial the judge talked about how on teacup courses, suddenly handling your Chihuahua is more like handling a Border Collie on full size courses. Well if a Chihuahua is like a Border Collie, then Gidget is more like a Great Dane! She was quite a bit slower on these courses than she usually is on full size courses. She had to duck to get into the tunnels and couldn't move quickly through them, and she really didn't bother to pick up her speed very often. She did bounce between two jumps once which was rather Border Collie like of her and fun to see! The thing that made me happiest about her runs this weekend was that she did the teeter every time I asked her too! That would be 7 times total over two days! Yes the teeter is smaller, but I still think it's a good sign that our teeter issues may be behind us. Not that I will take that for granted and let our teeter work slide now.
I fast tracked Gidget so we were in Superior by the end of Sat. and Games 3 first thing on Sun. So Sat. our runs were Tag 10 (Games 1), Standard 1 (Beginner), Standard 2 (Intermediate), Standard 3 (Superior), and Snooker (Games 2). We qualified in everything but Standard 3 where Gidget missed the A-frame contact. Easy to do on smaller equipment! Sun. we did Colors (Games 3), Standard rounds 4, 5, and 6 (all Superior), and Beat the Clock (Games 3). We qualified in everything but the last game. That was the hardest run ever. Gidget and I were quite tired and the course was tricky. We got through the hardest first section, but in the second section Gidget insisted that the tunnel was supposed to be taken after the A-frame so we ran out of time and didn't get enough points to qualify. Oh well. No titles this time for Gidget, but we had a very good time! Here are the videos:
TDAA Day 1
I will be doing teacup again with Gidget, however I think I'll only do it at Cloud 9 as the chair person so that I can actually afford to do all the runs! Til next time teacup, happy agility!
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