Big Weekend!

I have lots of stuff to post about from the weekend; a class each for Gidget and Gracie, and Gidget's fourth trial!  I'm going to start with the classes and try to get videos up and such for the trial post tomorrow.

Gidget's first full agility class in the new building was fun.  The course was big and I probably won't be putting full drawings up of them anymore.  I will do a partial drawing of the section I had trouble with.  The first two courses we ran ended with a jump-tunnel-tire sequence.  Came at the jump from either the dog walk or weaves (above the jump in this picture) with the dog on the handler's right side.  A couple fast people rear crossed the tunnel and made a mad dash over to rear cross the tire too.  I practiced a nice front cross, opposite hand raised and all, aimed for the tunnel then rear crossed the tire when it was the final obstacle, and front crossed after the tunnel when there were a couple more obstacles.  The first two runs went really well for us, this section included.  The third run was a little more tricky.  It involved tire-tunnel-jump-Aframe then more obstacles that curved to the left after the A-frame.  My first attempt I rear crossed the tunnel then tried to get Gidget to wrap the left (lower) jump standard for a post turn and I could run on the left (upper) side of the A-frame.  The angle I was running at (along with recent rear cross practice I'm sure) pushed Gidget around the wrong standard so I tried to front cross and continue over the A-frame as planned.  This threw Gidget off and she struggled to get over the A-frame.  After the rest of the run the instructor pulled us over to where she was sitting on the far side of the jump, lined up with the A-frame and asked me which side of the jump made sense to have the dog wrap.  My initial thought had been right, my attempt had just failed.  Then she asked me which side of the A-frame the handler should run on.  The way the course curved made me want to be on the left like I'd done, but there was less in the way and more of a direct path on the right.  So she had me try it again, front crossing the jump, staying on the right (lower) side of the A-frame, then doing a front cross after the A-frame the continue the course.  This worked out much better, except that I had trouble catching up for the A-frame front cross.  I saw a couple class mates rear cross the jump after the A-frame, which may have been much easier for us, but I didn't get to try that.

Gracie spent the weekend boarding since we had dogs visiting and I didn't want the stress of dealing with her and other dogs on a trial weekend.  So when I went to pick her up and take her to class, you could tell she'd been couped up because she was a little distract.  Thankfully, no incidents and she was able to focus enough to get her work done.  We worked more on outs and added a go with a post turn and a front cross.  "Go" sends the dog ahead of you and "out" sends the dog off to your side.  For the post turn, you send the dog from one side, turn as the dog goes around the cone, and call the dog back to the same side.  For the front cross, you send the dog from one side, turn as the dog goes around the cone (never taking your eyes off the dog), and call the dog back to the opposite side.  The handler turns the opposite direction for the front cross than they did for the post turn.  Post - turn with the dog, front - turn towards the dog.  We also did more chute work, getting the cloth down to the ground so they can't see out the other side.  Gracie had no troubles with this!  Then we worked on a short curved tunnel, sending them back and forth from both the inside and outside of the curve.  Lastly we put the tunnel together with a "go."  Dog goes through the tunnel, send the dog with "go" around the cone and bring them into your side.  It was a pretty simple class (for Gracie and I at least), but it was good practice, and good lessons.

Trial results tomorrow!  Happy agility!