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!

Last Trial of the Year

Gidget and I participated in a trial on a Fri.  Just for something different and so we could do Time to Beat again.  T2B was up first.  The course looked fun and not too difficult, but there were a couple challenges that I wasn't 100% sure about how to handle.  Gidget did great!  She had nice high energy and was happy to run.  She was really hesitant on the teeter but got through it with lots of encouraging, though I think this hurt us on the STD run.  We didn't Q though because of a mistake I made.  There was a bit of a serpentine where I had to send Gidget to the first jump and then get ahead of her to handle the last two jumps properly.  Unfortunately Gidget wasn't committed to that first jump when I moved away and she came with and took the second jump.  Bummer, one wrong course for us.  Here's a link to the video of the majority of the run.  My awesome video person missed the very beginning, but there wasn't much exciting there, just a few jumps and the A-frame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8rG_IRXxzM&feature=digest_sat

Next up was STD.  I knew we were still having chute issues but this run ended up way worse than that.  Ok, not way worse, but it wasn't pretty.  She didn't do the chute, which I expected and was ok with, but then she didn't do the dog walk, didn't expect that (perhaps she thought it was that weird teeter she saw earlier), then she was really uncertain about the table, finally got up but spent the whole time sniffing.  She thought about doing the teeter, but changed her mind, turned around and hopped off.  Finally she skipped a few weaves.  She did do the A-frame nicely and all the jumps and the tunnel in between the contacts and chute.  So we have some work to do if we're going to get anywhere in STD.  My plan is to work on building drive for the teeter at open agility and maybe we'll even check out the foundation contacts class.  I'm begging for a chute for Christmas but I've also started working on a makeshift one with a chair and a sheet.  Here's our STD video, please focus on the pretty stuff and ignore all that icky stuff.  Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISDvlSa8mu4&feature=digest_sat

Finally was JWW, Gidget's favorite!  It was a fun course starting with a serpentine, followed by a curve of several jumps to a tunnel, and a bunch of dizzying pinwheels in there too.  After the serpentine there was a 180 where I could pull Gidget off the first jump like I did in T2B if I wasn't careful, thankfully I'd learned my lesson earlier and stayed there to support Gidget over that jump before moving for a front cross after the second jump.  I think a wide turn or two was our worst error on this course.  I love that Gidget so enjoys jumpers courses.  We got a 1st place Q!  Here's the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97FqQE6qTeM&feature=digest_sat

Gidget's now taking a break from her regular agility classes (we'll still do some open ring time stuff) to take a Fetch It/Bring It class just for fun.  Our next trial isn't til the end of Jan. so we've got some time to work on the glitches.  Gracie's first trial will hopefully be the first full weekend in Jan.  We're going to check out CPE in hopes that that trial will be less stress on us both.  Happy agility!

Double Trial Report

I am so behind!  There have been a few stressful events recently and I haven't been in the mood for blogging.  After Thanksgiving I might get a few of the class courses posted, but probably not all the ones I've missed.  For now it's trial report time!

Gidget and I have been in 2 trials recently.  The first one was back on Halloween weekend.  STD was up first and wasn't pretty.  My husband was actually at the trial with us and was happy to keep Gidget's energy up, playing with her and getting her all excited.  This did not help our run, but I think there are some other issues too.  I don't have a video of that STD run so I'll list all the good and bad things from that run.  First the good: went through the chute, hit A-frame contact, hit dog walk contact, stuck with me for all crosses, didn't refuse any jumps, and had great energy!  And the bad: refused the chute once before going through it, wouldn't go on the teeter, didn't complete the weaves, ran past the table, ran behind the tunnel under the dog walk, and left the ring to find her dad.  It was a rough run, but I was happy with the good stuff.

Our JWW run was much nicer except for me messing up the ending.  We had lots of nice crosses and Gidget's energy level was great!  She did miss one weave pole, but the judge didn't see it, so to make up for it Gidget made sure he called a refusal when I messed up the last two jumps.  I think I meant to do a front cross after the middle jump in the serpentine.  Oops!  Here's a link to the video that a classmate took:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq_6PZrQv0c&feature=feedu

The next trial was just yesterday.  We had a similar start to our STD course.  Gidget completely refused the chute this time, after that it took a few obstacles to get back in our groove.  She ran past a couple jumps but once we hit obstacle 8 (the tunnel) we were in much better shape!  Had a couple wide turns but were otherwise good, she even took the teeter!  Gidget did run out of the ring again to see a friend who'd been watching directly in her line of site.  She came right back to me though and we didn't get in trouble for it.  Here's the video:

Our JWW was great!  It was a fun course and Gidget was happy to run it, no darn chutes or scary teeters.  We got our first Exc A Q and a second place ribbon!  My dad did the filming and was playing with the zoom, it gets all blurry, but it works.  Here's the video:

We have another trial in less than 2 weeks, but after that it may be late January or even February before we have another one.  That's ok though, we could use the break and maybe find a solution to Gidget's chute issues.  No idea what to do there!  Well, no more blogging for now.  Happy agility!