A Good Start to 2013!

Hmmm... haven't updated the blog for awhile.  Where have I been?  Oh just at a Suzanne Clothier seminar, getting good advice at a run and done, and celebrating the holidays of course!  Will have to write something on that later.  This post is on Gracie's first trial of the year!  We went to La Crosse for a CPE trial.  I was able to enter her in all 5 runs of the day, Saturday, and she did awesome!  She slowed down a bit by the end of the day, but her (our?) nerves didn't get the better of her and we had a blast!  Q's in 4 of the 5 runs!

First up was jumpers.  This had an interesting start.  I had been bar setting for the higher level dogs and went to use the bathroom when they were done.  Apparently they managed to set up the level 1/2 course and have the one other person running the course walk it while I was in the bathroom!  They let me walk... er, run it quick and then I ran a got Gracie.  We rushed to the start line and off we went.  The run was a lot of fun!  Gracie was amped and neither of us had a chance to get even the tiniest bit nervous (yay!).  Gracie was so excited she ran past a jump for a tunnel, but later in the course she saved me from a slightly off blind cross.  I'd say we're even!  We got a first place Q with just 5 faults.  No need to tell Gracie that she had no competition what-so-ever the entire day!

 

 

Next up was Jackpot.  I was grateful for an interesting change up on the gamble.  Instead of a distance challenge, we just had to take all four tunnels on the course once.  Unfortunately all levels were running this course and we had to wait in line, meaning both of us had a chance to get a little bit nervous.  Or maybe just over think the situation!  So we had a bit of a rough start.  Gracie took off right away to go visiting and exploring wasting time we could have been using to earn points.  We didn't have time to quite finish my plan and my head wasn't quite with it enough to realize we needed just a couple more points and we had time to do it.  I heard the first buzzer and went "Ah! Get that last tunnel and get to the table!"  We were only 2 points shy of a Q.  Oh well, we'll do better next time!



 

 

Wildcard was next in line.  I made sure I knew how many 1pt and 2pt obstacles we needed since I messed that up on our first attempt at wildcard.  This was most definitely our best run of the day.  We set ourselves up to sort of rush to the start line since that seemed to work out well earlier.  Gracie was fast and accurate and I didn't mess up, it was great!



 

 

Last up were 2 rounds of standard.  First run the course one way, then flip it around and run it the other way.  In round 1 Gracie got distracted in the weaves and I almost messed up the last jump.  I'm not quite sure what I did, might have said something or maybe brought my hand down too early.  We still got our 1st place Q!  Round 2 went perfectly, though Gracie was slowing down a bit after a long day.  Can't blame her for that, I was tired too!  Another 1st place Q in round 2 earned Gracie her CL2-R title!



 

 

We had a great day at the CPE trial.  I set bars for the higher levels in every single class and very much enjoyed the mix of handlers and dogs that were there.  There were lots of chocolate labs, keeshonds, and Aussies along with your usual mix of mixes, border collies, and shelties.  There is a lot of uniqueness at these CPE trials that either doesn't exist in AKC or there's too many dogs/people to notice at AKC trials.  One lady was so loud during her runs!  I would have found it obnoxious, except her dogs loved it!  You could see their joy with every shouted command!  She and her dogs ended up being very fun to watch.  Then the group of chocolate labs all looked alike to me, but had very individual personalities on the course, from one that wound herself up like a wind up toy to one that was just happy to follow his person around a shortened course.  Then my favorite older guy with three little slower dogs.  He puts every bit of energy he has into each and every run trying to get his dogs pumped up!  He practically runs circles around them!  They all love it and they're a joy to watch!  I definitely hope I can do more CPE trials in La Crosse this year.  Though I would still like to get into an AKC trial sometime soon!  Happy agility!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving all!  I'm sitting at a table chatting with my in-laws, looking at black Friday deals, and getting ready to enjoy a lovely day with family and friends and tasty food!  In the mean time I have some things to catch up on: clean out my email, work on stuff for the teacup trial I'm chair for, and update my blog!

Last Sat. the girls and I competed in our last La Crosse AKC trial for the year.  The courses were a lot of fun!  The Exc STD course had such nice flow and could have been just plain fun!  Except I had to go and screw Gidget up.  First at the weave entry, I felt I needed to stop moving to keep Gidget from taking an off course jump but my positioning threw off her weave entry and she skipped the first couple of poles.  The second spot was at a tunnel with a tricky entry.  I had myself so convinced that I needed to stop to get Gidget to pay attention and go to the correct side of the tunnel.  Turns out I didn't need to stop, she was heading for the correct end, but it was so stuck in my head that I needed to stop that I sent her to the teeter instead!  Overall it was a nice run, Gidget was happy and speedy and I didn't screw up any front crosses.  We even got a nice rear cross in there!  We'll get those STD Q's eventually, just gotta keep working at it!  Here's the video:

Gracie is also stuck in STD.  This time Grracie got the zoomies which means her nerves were a little on edge.  We still could have qualified with just the zoomies, but Gracie wasn't up for weaving either.  She finished the course nicely but NQ for us.  Video:

Then it was on to JWW.  Again, nice fun courses.  There was a nice big U shape of jumps in the middle of it, lots of fun!  Gidget was a little slow in the weaves, but otherwise it was a fun run!  Not much more to say about that for Gidget, better to watch:

 

Gracie was super nervous at the start line for her JWW course.  She wouldn't even shake!  I'd cut back on my keep Gracie from getting nervous measures.  It was a good reminder that she still needs a fair amount of help.  I had cut down to just the DAP spray and doing our mat work while waiting in line.  I took Gracie outside by herself and I really need to take Gidget out with her, and she should probably still wear her thundershirt at least part of the time.  Always lessons to be learned.  The course went well, Gracie was just a little slower than she usually is and she almost popped out of the weaves, but we managed to save it.  More video:

It was a good day in the end.  Still plenty of stuff to work on though.  I'm still working on my teamwork with each dog.  It's like we need a warm up run before we can really work together on a course.  I may need to do some 2 day trials.  Either one dog each day, or both STD and JWW the first day and just STD the second day.  Giving each dog their own day would allow me to focus on each dog's individual style.  If we really do just need a warm up run, then doing STD the second day may help move us along in that class.  The question then will be, can I survive 2 days of trialing?  In Jan. each of the girls will have a trial to themselves (I'll have to bring Gidget to Gracie's CPE trial, but I won't run her).  We'll see if that goes better.  Thanks those who have already given me advice on how to get through our STD dry spell!  Happy agility!

Who Needs Standard!

The girls and I were in La Crosse for another AKC trial last Sat.  It was a pretty decent day, 1 Q for each dog in JWW.  STD just wasn't our thing that day (for Gidget it hasn't been our thing for a while!).

Gidget's Exc STD course was up first.  The first four obstacles for three of the four courses that day were kind of unpleasant for us.  They all start with two jumps then a sharp right turn to the weaves, followed by a sharp left turn to a jump.  Dogs with lead outs had very little trouble with this, but I don't do much of a lead out with my girls.  Their capable of it, but I think they're happier and more confident if I stay with them.  So for this first run I tried a front cross after the second jump... it didn't work.  Gidget was way to far ahead of me, so I sort of attempted to turn it into a rear cross which sent Gidget right past the weaves.  We regrouped, but then Gidget refused the teeter.  Not surprising, but she took the teeter on a second try.  After that the Gidget I see in class showed up, happy and speedy!  I loved it!  It did lead to an incorrect tunnel entry, but who cares, she was thrilled!  We'll get through Exc A STD someday, and when we do, I hope she looks like that!

 

 

Gracie's Nov STD run was up next.  This was our one course that didn't have that icky start.  Instead it started with a long straight away and me hoping I'd keep up with Gracie!  Our first mess up was from the A-frame to the tunnel.  Either she wanted to go sniff or my feet were pointing way to far too the right so she went around behind the tunnel at first.  Gracie sort of popped out of her bottom position on the dog walk, but she tried and did hit the yellow so I'll take it.  Then Gracie dropped a bar.  It was my fault, I was racing to get ahead for the weave entry causing Gracie to take off early and knock the bar.  I know better than this, really!  So a few oopsies, but overall a decent run!



 

 

Next was Gidget's Exc JWW and that icky opening again.  I decided to go for the conservative route and front crossed after the weaves.  It worked, but the photographer caught a picture of this moment with Gidget sticking her tongue out as if she's saying "That was a silly place to cross Mom!"  We were flying for the rest of the course.  Happy, speedy Gidget stuck around!  Hopefully her pumped up attitude was due to our happy, speedy practice in class, but it may have been that her dad was there watching.  He's good at getting her pumped up.  Only problem is he rarely comes to trials.  Really hope it's the training!  Gidget came in 5th and earned 8 speed points!



 

 

Last was Gracie's first shot at Open JWW!  Again the icky opening, but a front cross after the second jump worked for her, though it was far from perfect.  Gracie did pop out of the weaves near the end and had to repeat them after a brief visit with the judge, but after that it was a perfect run!  The delay put us over standard course time, but we still managed to get a 2nd place Q with an 85.



 

 

So I will definitely be setting that opening up sometime in the near future.  I like taking something specific away from a trial to work on!

 

Two weeks ago both girls tried the Coursing Ability Test.  It was Gidget's second time and Gracie's first!  Unfortunately neither of the girls could complete the 600 yard course.  Gidget had a really strong start, but stopped about half way.  When she got back to me I found a tiny sore on the side of one of her front paw pads.  I figure an owie is a good reason to stop.  She'll try again in the spring.  Gracie on the other hand, stopped after only 100 ft or so and started sniffing.  The judge was nice enough to give us another try and Gracie made it a little further before stopping and sniffing again.  So lure coursing may not be her thing, that's ok, maybe we'll try tracking someday!  She did have a lot of good things happen that day though.  Just walking through the crowds and waiting in line without incident is a big thing for Gracie!  I did have to ask one lady to back her dog up a bit as Gracie was getting rather concerned about the calm black sight hound being too close.  The woman kindly agreed and Gracie relaxed.  After Gracie's sniffing bouts, she quickly and directly returned to me, like we were doing a recall in class almost.  Seeing as there were a bunch of very hyped up dogs just on the other side of the fence, I thought this was awesome of her!  I have videos, but they need some editing.  I may get them posted someday. 

 

That's all for this report!  One more trial in La Crosse in Nov. and one in the cities in Dec.  Happy agility!

Finally!

Finally got ahold of the rest of the videos from the Sept. AKC trial the girls and I were in.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

Useful Behavior

I've managed to teach Gracie a rather handy trick.  When there's something out of her reach that she really wants, she comes back to me to sit in/near heel position and looks up at me as though asking permission.  Assuming what she wants (usually something really worth smelling and peeing on) is something I'm ok with her having/checking out, I say "Ok" and walk with her to whatever the awesome thing/smell is. 

This came about when I decided I had to stop Gracie's horrible pulling habits.  We've used a combination of when Gracie pulls, I turn and go the other way rewarding her when she catches up to me, and stopping when she pulls and continuing forward when the leash slackens.  The first one seems to be better at actually teaching a dog not to pull, but it was the second tactic that started Gracie asking for permission. 

When I stop moving when Gracie pulls she normally turn towards me a bit or take a step back to slacken the leash.  However, if there was something ahead that Gracie really, really, really wanted, she wouldn't let the leash become loose nearly as easily.  I'd stand there with her struggling at the end of the leash until she became frustrated enough that she'd start to try stuff to get me to let her move forward.  A sit is a super easy behavior, so that's what she offered.  Eventually I started asking her to come sit closer to me.  She'd sit near the end of her leash, looking back at me by this point, and I'd say, "No, you have to come sit by me."  Of course she didn't understand the words, but I'd include a gesture to get into heel position so she'd know what I was talking about!

We've gotten in such a habit of this that in the last couple of weeks there have been a few times that I'd be distracted by my other dog and when I'd look back at Gracie, she'd be sitting in heel looking at me and then in the direction she wanted to go.  Of course I release her and walk to the point of interest!  I've even been able to ask her to wait while Gidget finishes her business before releasing Gracie.  She's such a smart girl!

I love this behavior because it allows Gracie to communicate with me what she wants in a way that keeps us both happy.  I'm not getting angry because she's trying to drag me to every spot some dog peed on, and she's not frustrated in not being able to reach something she wants.  It's a win win!

Now lately I've been trying to think of ways to teach this to other people and their dogs and what other uses there'd be of this.  In the level 1 class I help with we do a come game that involves toys and other interesting objects on the floor.  When the dog shows interest in an object, you say their name, wait for their attention, and then say come.  I'm thinking that if you don't say the dog's name and just prevent them from getting what they want, the dog should eventually offer a behavior in hopes of being allowed to get the object.  Of course the dog needs to be an expert at sit, down, heel, or watch me so that the dog has behaviors to offer.  It would also help if the dog is used to offering behaviors as opposed to being shown what to do.  Treats, people, and even other dogs could also be used for this.  Then you'd have a dog that's always asks permission!

I believe the idea here is essentially the Premack Principle.   If a dog wants to do one activity (sniff something, eat a treat, great a person, etc.), the dog will do a less exciting activity (sit, down, heel, watch me) to get to do the more exciting activity.  How useful is that?!

If anyone reads this regularly, I'd love to hear of other useful behaviors you've taught your dog.  From an easier way to wipe paws, to bringing you a beer, or maybe just something that keeps your dog busy while you're working.  Would also love thoughts on asking permission and other uses of the Premack Principle!  Happy dog training!

Heel? What's That?

Gidget and I participated in our first AKC obedience trial this past weekend.  I was super nervous!  Thankfully there was a friendly face at the novice ring (thanks Cyndi!)  The judge was super nice too.  We were a little too ready to go, the judge had to remind me to wait to enter the ring til she called me in, oops!  Gidget seemed super excited, maybe she was just more awake in the morning, or she may have been very interested in leaving the nearby exit door.  Whatever it was, this was not the same dog I had at our walk through held in the same location, same ring even, a while back.  That dog lagged and sniffed, this dog forged and wasn't even close to heeling half the time.  She completely ignored a halt too.  Between the on leash heeling and the figure 8, the judge suggested I loosen up the leash some (she really was nice and helpful).  I wasn't used to how Gidget was working with me, plus nerves, so the leash had been tight for most of the exercise.  The figure 8 went a tiny bit better, Gidget got the halts, the leash was looser, but it still wasn't very pretty.  Skipping to the off leash heeling (get the bad stuff over with), it wasn't pretty at all!  She even left me by a good 10+ feet in the direction of the door.  In all this ugly heeling Gidget did have a few brief moments of being right on, where I truly felt connected with her.  When I say brief though, I really mean brief.

On to the good stuff!  Gidget's stand for exam and recall were perfect!  I didn't think to check to see what our score was so I don't know that they were really perfect, but in my eyes they couldn't have been any better!  I just remember thinking, "Look how straight she sat!" during our recall.

So after all that messy heeling I thought for sure that was an NQ, but it was time for the stays.  The sit stay was going just fine until I was about one foot in front of her on the return, she stood up.  The down stay was one more perfect exercise!  Next time I'll have to remember to send her positive thoughts through both stays, "Good Gidget, stay right there, good girl..."  I'm sure that's why her down stay was perfect!

The judge read off the qualifying teams after the stays... we were the only ones to NQ :(  Not that I was surprised at this point.  The judge came up to me afterwards and asked if I knew why we didn't qualify.  I thought for sure it was the horrible heeling, but no, we had qualified for the individual exercises, lots and lots of points off, but qualified.  No, it was that Gidget had stood up before I got back into heel position during the sit stay!  One tiny little thing had kept us from qualifying.  Though had we had perfect stays, I would have questioned a Q. 

I was feeling kind of emotional when we were all done.  Sure I was a little bummed, but I think it was really just the relief of it being done.  I had been really really nervous!  More so than Gidget's first agility trial I think.  Anyways, I was kind of in a hurry to get out of there, but was pleasantly surprised that two strangers separately stopped me to ask how we did and encouraged me to stick with it.  I've always heard that obedience crowds can be iffy, I'm really glad I got to see the really good part of the crowd!

So lots for Gidget and I to work on.  Especially need some sit stay proofing and lots of heel work!  Hopefully some more walk throughs in new locations will be in our future.  Happy agil... er... obedience!

Really Good Trial Day!

The girls and I participated in an AKC trial in La Crosse this past Sat.  It was an all around really good day (with room for improvement)!  Unfortunately my camera batteries died part way through the trial so most of the videos were on my mom's camera.  I have to wait til the end of the month to get them and will add them to this post then.

Exc A Std was up first.  The teeter was at the end of the course and the course looked really fun.  I was thinking, "Finally a chance at another Exc A Q!"  Gidget rocked the course, a great attitude, did everything I asked of her, but her darn handler had to go and do a couple really sloppy front crosses.  Bad handler!  I believe it was the first of those sloppy front crosses that got us a refusal.  So NQ for us. 

Gracie's Nov Std course was up next.  We had a bit of a long wait before we could start, long enough for Gracie to get a tiny bit distracted anyways.  I love in the video you can see her attention snap back to me with just a couple shakes!  I don't know if it was the long wait or just nerves of the first run of the day, but Gracie wasn't quite ready to play with me when we started.  She had to go check out the teeter first.  She put one paw on the teeter (which the judge apparently didn't see) then came back to back jump the second jump before continuing on for a perfect rest of the course.  1st place Q!

Exc B JWW was next!  The course called for several front crosses (especially since I don't care to do rear or blind crosses with Gidget right now) and I was determined not to have a single sloppy cross this run!  I focused on my footwork and placements during my walk through.  I gave myself a bit of an attitude change too, trust that Gidget will do what she's supposed to do and focus more on doing what I'm supposed to do to help her succeed.  So when I said "Ok" at the start line, I took off watching Gidget out of the corner of my eye, and got to my spot for my first front cross.  I'm sure it wasn't perfect, but it was a whole lot better than my crosses in the standard course.  I kept it up and we made through the whole course perfectly!  The only kinda not so great thing was that Gidget took the weaves super slowly.  Oh well, 3 more points for us!  Will add video when I can.

Gracie rocked her JWW course!  My favorite part was sending her to the tunnel from the previous jump, then sprinting over to the landing side of the next jump to be ready for a front cross.  It's so fun to be able to do that!  1st place Q and Gracie's first AKC title!  Will add video ASAP!

Last of the day was Time 2 Beat.  I was tempted to pull Gidget from this one because we had to do the teeter twice.  I'm glad I didn't, not that we had any success at the teeter, but her attitude was wonderful for the rest of the course.  I did get Gidget to do the teeter the first time it was up in this course, but it took some work and time.  We ran out of time the second time we got to the teeter and she refused to go near it.  I should have thought to end our run after the first kinda successful teeter and ran off to party, but I didn't.  Future plan for teeters at trials: if we see the teeter a second time in a trial day (she has little/no problem with the teeter the first time she sees it, she just doesn't want to do it again), when she does it successfully run off and have a party! 

Gracie rocked the T2B course too!  She was the second fastest qualifying dog!  She even did 12 weave poles (first time seeing that in a trial) without an issue!  I think she actually did 12 better than she did 6.  I think this bodes well for us for when we get to Open!  She's really turning into quite the solid partner!  T2B videos to come too!

Man, I have to wait til the end of Oct. for our next trial?!  How will I ever survive?!  Oh yeah, a new training building, more classes, the Canine Good Citizen test, an obedience trial, and CAT!  Can't wait!  Happy agility!