Title Number 2!

Gracie competed in another CPE trial yesterday.  We were entered in Level 1 Fullhouse, Level 2 Standard, and Level 1 Snooker.  Fullhouse was first.  My goals were fun, fast, and easy and we succeeded in all 3!  This game is a fairly easy point collecting game.  You need 3 regular jumps (1 point each), 2 circles (tunnels, chute, or tire - 3 points each), and 1 joker (contacts, weaves, double jumps - 5 points each).  Then you keep doing obstacles to get enough points for your level.  The lay out lent to a very Gracie course.  You'll see what I mean.  We got a 1st place Q, second place was a small 1 point behind us.  That Q got Gracie her CL1-F title!  Here's the video:

Next up was Standard, our first try at Level 2.  It's very similar to AKC novice courses so I wasn't too worried.  The only concerning spot was a dog walk/tunnel discrimination, but we managed that just fine!  I even threw in a blind cross after a tunnel - had to try it in a trial at some point, and that seemed like a great spot.  It was a beautiful run, a lot of fun too!  Unfortunately I only have video of the last obstacle and a half, not really worth posting.  Another 1st place Q!

Last was Snooker.  Man can this game be confusing.  My mom took a good shot at it first without much success which of course got me a little concerned.  Her course plan had looked great to me too!  I was pretty happy with my plan, though I had to make a small change when I walked it as the maps and the actual course are never quite the same.  I was amused that everyone tended to take the same easy, boring path (repeating the same "other" 3 times).  My mom and I both avoided that.  Our three red - others went just fine.  I had to have Gracie back jump an obstacle after our last "other" to get the 2 obstacle.  I didn't like doing that but it worked out just fine.  We got through 5 in the closing sequence and then Gracie started to take the A-frame instead of the tunnel under it like she was supposed to.  So we got whistled off.  I had noticed Gracie seemed a tiny bit more stressed when we entered the ring than she had the rest of the day.  I didn't blame her, it was the last run of a long day!  There were 2 games between Standard and Snooker.  She stuck with me very well considering, besides a quick sniff of the table and the draw of the A-frame (she does love her contacts!) so I can't complain.  We did get more than enough points before we were whistled off and got a 2nd place Q.  Here's the video:

I was very proud of Gracie!  She's come such a very long way from her first trial back in January.  She's entered in an AKC A-match in a couple weeks at a new location.  I figure a very small trial (35ish dogs) will be a great way to introduce her to a new location.  I'm looking forward to it!

At the trial yesterday, I got to coach my mom through a rather tricky jumpers course.  It had a back side jump and a serpentine and some just plain tricky spots.  It was fun helping her, and even more fun to see her take advice I gave her in one spot and apply it somewhere else.  She'd be such a fun student to have as she tries hard and is very willing to try new things.  She said she learned more from me in 5 minutes than she's learned in classes all year.  Not saying much for her instructors, but you do what you can in a smaller city.  Says a lot for my instructors that I could help her so much!  Maybe she'll come visit me regularly for lessons! 

That's all for this report.  Gidget is in an AKC trial this next weekend.  She's been a little iffy in class lately (to be discussed later) so we'll see how it goes.  Happy agility! 

Look What We Can Do!

I've decided that I need to keep a better video log of my training with the dogs.  I'm not off to a great start so far as I just had the girls do most of what they know and videoed it all in one day.  Hopefully I can get myself to start videoing at least one training session a week for both dogs, then I can actually keep an accurate visual record of their training.

This video starts with a bunch of obedience stuff, sits/downs/stands, heeling, and come.  Nothing fancy, but the girls are very attentive and know their stuff!  Then the tricks!  Gracie knows more tricks than Gidget, because I'm a bad trainer and train the dog that's easier/more fun to do trick training with more than the other.  I'm trying to fix that though.  I did leave a couple things out, namely Gidget fetching, and both of them fetching over a jump.  Left out a lot of basic obedience exercises too.  That's ok, I'll catch them eventually.

Now to the video.  Please note that the boots I throw on for one trick are to protect my toes from Gracie's toe nails.  They are not some special part of the trick, nor a fashion statement (it would be a horrible statement!).  I was just too lazy to put on real shoes.  Here's the video:

The "Cover Up" trick is my new favorite trick with Gracie, it's just too cute!  And she's already starting to generalize that one to other "blankets" as you can see in the blooper.  It took quite awhile to teach that.  She seemed to pick it up better with long breaks (nearly a week!) between sessions of teaching that trick, but she eventually got it!

The next trick on our list is play dead.  So far the hardest part is getting Gracie to have enough self control to stop her roll in the middle.  Gidget's working on recognizing her back feet.  Basically I'm doing 2 on 2 off type stuff (which is what led to Gracie's hand stand) with her just for fun.

I think trick training is important for a lot of reasons.  For Gracie it improves her confidence and her focus, not to mention it's great brain exercise!  For Gidget it's more of a bonding thing, something for just the two of us.  There can also be great physical and proprioception benefits that are great for agility.  Most of all it's just plain fun to show off all the cool tricks your dog can do!  Happy agility!

Two Dogs and an AKC Trial

This past Sat. I competed in an AKC trial with both Gidget and Gracie!  I was worried how Gracie would do at a bigger trial, but the location is so familiar to her now that it was no big deal!  She got a little upset when my mom's dog arrived and got in the kennel next to hers, but she quickly got over that.  She really got upset when my parents' neighbor and her dog came to check out the trial (she'll be learning agility soon too!).  I'm not really sure why as she's fine when other dogs walk by her kennel, I guess this one hung out too close for just too long.  Luckily she recovered quick enough.

First up was Gidget's Exc A standard run.  Those Exc A STD Q's are hard to come by, we only have one so far.  The run was going well up until the weaves.  It was a straight entry, table, wing jump, weaves.  I think I just didn't set myself up to converge as much as I needed to and she ran past the entry.  Then I'm not sure what happened at the jump before the dog walk, but she refused that at first too.  I'm relatively certain she jumped the dog walk contact too, but the judge didn't call it.  She did everything else nicely, though at her own pace.  The teeter bounced when it came down and she looked rather concerned, so we'll have to get some good easy teeter practice in before her next trial so she can forget that event.  Here's the video:

Gracie's first AKC run was up next!  Nov B STD.  We had no issues while waiting our turn and she ran quite well.  I was worried about the off course tunnel straight ahead of the A-frame and a jump, but she turned with me perfectly.  She needed a second attempt at the weaves, but then did them just fine.  I hadn't considered the dog walk as a potential off course choice (duh!) but she did!  The brilliant pup also decided to jump of the top of the up ramp before I could get to her and guide her back down.  Thankfully no harm done.  Then some quick sniffing of some tunnel bags at the side of the ring before the tunnel.  The rest of the course went really well and she got a 1st place Q!  There were a bunch of obstacles she hadn't seen at a trial before: chute, weaves, broad jump, table, and teeter!  She did them all without issue!  Here's the video:

Next was Gidget's first Exc B JWW run.  Not much to say about it besides it was a lovely run.  Still need to work on speed but otherwise it couldn't have gone better.  No placement ribbon, but a Q and 3 whole MACH points!  Gotta start somewhere!  Here's the video:

Last was Gracie's Nov B JWW run.  She went around the first jump for some reason.  I guess a bit of a "C" set is better for her for now, that or I needed to be ahead of the wing jump before releasing her.  We fixed that glitch and the rest of the course was perfect!  She even got her weaves on the first attempt!  She got a 2nd place Q!  Here's the video:

I'm very proud of my girlies.  Gracie's stress is decreasing with every trial.  There's an A match in the area in July that I think I might try Gracie in.  It will be smaller so it'll be a good chance to see how Gracie will do in a new location.  I don't know if I'll ever completely figure out Gidget, mostly when it comes to speed.  As long as she seems happy to run with me I'll be happy with her!  Happy agility!

Grace O'Malley CL1-R

Gracie and I competed in another CPE trial on Sat.  Gracie was awesome!  Adding tricks while waiting and at the start line changed her start line attitude completely!  She sat, watched me, and was ready to go.  The stress she used to display at the start line at trials (and sometimes at class) was almost all gone!  Wildcard was up first.  I didn't get a course map until after I walked it so I was rather confused about what was A and what was B.  At least I knew we needed two A's and a B.  The first choice was the dog walk (B) or a tunnel and a tire (A).  It was a contact/tunnel discrimination and I wasn't sure if Gracie would do it, but she did!  She followed me perfectly to the tunnel.  The next choice was a double jump that was nicely lined up in the curve of jumps (B) or a single jump that would have involved a front cross or pull to get to (A).  I had Gracie do the B jump thinking it was an A (you would think the easier path would be an A right? nope).  Actually all the A's were more difficult than the B's, that doesn't make sense to me.  Anyways, after that choice Gracie went around a jump to go take the A-frame which was the B option of the last choice (A was a tunnel parallel to the A-frame).  I called her back to do the jump she missed and continued over the A-frame and over the last couple jumps.  She ran wonderfully and would have Q'd had I gotten another A obstacle in there, even with the wrong course.  I was still really happy with her run!  My videographer (my mom) was having an early morning brain fart and couldn't remember how to work my camera, so no video of that run, oh well.

Next up was standard.  Once again nice happy behavior at the start line!  This run was pretty much perfect!  I almost sent her around a jump again, but stopped my motion just enough that she went "Oh, I should take that jump!"  We ended up with a 1st place (she was the only 20" level 1 dog but that doesn't matter) Q and Gracie's very first title!  Here's the video:

Last was jumpers.  Last time we tried jumpers Gracie got the zoomies and that was that.  Gracie stayed right with me this time, for most of it anyways.  She took a wide turn at a pinwheel and hit the standard of a jump, knocking the bar.  She totally had this "Oh crap!" look in her eyes as she was going over that jump.  We pulled it back together for a minute, but a bar setter was sitting right in line with the tunnel so Gracie had to go say hi.  She quickly came back to me to finish the course for another 1st place Q!  Video:

I was worried that our weekend wouldn't go very well since our weekend started with a very close call.  I got to my parents' house where Gidget is allowed to be off leash pretty much all the time.  I put Gracie on our Flexi leash so she'd have some room to run and go potty.  That's when the neighbor dog made an appearance.  She was in her own yard focused on playing with her owner, but Gidget considered both dog and owner friends and wanted to go say hi.  Gracie got worked up and felt she needed to follow.  She ran around a tree and the Flexi snapped!  I don't know why she did it, but I'm very grateful that she didn't go straight towards the other dog.  She turned between the cars and the neighbor was able to put his foot on what was left of the Flexi.  I caught up, apologized (he was very understanding), took the leash and headed inside.  Gracie calmed down enough that the next day went well.  After the trial (and a nap) Gracie even went on a walk with me, my mom, Gidget, and one of my parents' dogs.  That went well and the dogs all had a good time.  Just have to keep an eye out for those close calls and do my best to prevent them.  Happy agility!

Running Contacts

Gidget and I had a chance to practice what I learned at the Daisy Peel seminar on running contacts on Wed. night.  We started on a carpet.  It's tricky to watch for the proper gait, so I videoed our turns so I could practice looking for Gidget's back feet split apart at the end of the carpet.  She does jump over the end of the carpet a couple times, but it's cool to see how often she gets it right on!

Next we moved on to practicing on a plank up on a table.  Gidget again caught on pretty quickly.  She did do a funky hop with her back feet over the yellow zone while still getting one or two front paws in the yellow.  She was too quick to see it during practice, didn't notice until I watched the video!  Gidget was pretty excited about the Manners Minder, but I did have a little bit of trouble sending her to it now and then.  The instructor had me add a target cue.  Saying "go touch" worked but we'll have to phase it out at some point.

We have another running contacts class next Wed.  Might not video that one, but I'll give a good update.  Happy agility!

Awesomeness

I had class with the girls last night and man were they on fire!  Even after spending the day at work with me, getting their nails done, Gracie getting her butt squeezed, and Gidget getting a VOM (veterinary orthopedic manipulation) treatment!  I think I've discovered the key to getting my girls pumped and focused.  Tricks! 

With Gidget I've always done some tricks before a run to get her warmed up, but I've found that doing a couple of her favorites at the start line really gets her going.  She's also more up for some direct play, that is playing just with me, no toys, after a few tricks which also gets her pumped up for her next run. 

With Gracie I've been focusing on focus.  We always to some mat work before her runs to get some good focus.  Her issue has been that she's really nervous at the start line.  After a few good tricks she could barely take her eyes off me and was ready to go!  One of the courses we did last night ended with the tire.  I looked back over my shoulder and watched her soar through it, what a sight!  I was certainly out of breath after every run last night, man I need to get exercising.  Now to hope these trick benefits will carry over to a trial.  Guess I'm gonna have to find time to take them to weird places and work on tricks and play.  Happy agility!

Collection

One of the Daisy Peel seminars this past week (not one I went to) talked a lot about collection.  Our instructor learned a lot from that seminar and brought it to our class last night.  Collection is where your dog pauses (a very very short pause when they're good at it) and looks to you for their next instruction.  Cuing this pause is very useful to get tighter turns and avoid off course obstacles.  The first course we practiced this on involved collection before the first jump in a 180 to avoid an off course jump straight ahead of that first jump.  Our dogs were on our right so we cued collection with our left hands, putting our left hand in the dogs path to stop them and give them a treat.  Then we cued the jump and continued on.  Stopping the dog forces them to pay more attention so that they take the shortest path to the next correct jump.  We did the same thing with a tunnel-jump-jump where there was a sharp left turn between the jumps, but this time we added a front cross as we cued the jump after collecting.  The last little course we did had three jumps set up in a row with a fourth jump next to the third jump in the line.  The jump to the side was the next jump in the course so we collected after the second jump at a spot that was good for a front cross and then pivoted (front crossed) to the jump to the side and continued on.  It was an interesting lesson, and one I look forward to learning more about.  Apparently the obvious cue can be faded out, or at least made less obvious as the dog learns how to collect.  Hopefully I'll have more to post on this topic soon!  Happy agility!