Silly

So I was messing with Tru on the contact board again. I put the PVC box on it for her to stop in. We've been working on stopping in the PVC box for quite a while now, since I learned about it on the NADAC training group. I'm attempting to use this PVC box to train a 4 on contact performance. We'll see how it works.

Anyway, she kept trying to do a 2o2o instead of stopping in a four on. They were really fast 2o2os too, which I hated to not reward, but I'm trying to train a 4 on. One rep, she slid off and ended up doing a handstand for a hundredth of a second, haha. Trying to use our front end much?

Anyway, she's looking at me a lot, so we're going back to just the box and working on sending ahead with out staring at me. She seems to be enjoying targeting her (closed) bait bag. I'm liking that better than a target. She doesn't get the cookie when she's wrong. She's not too keen on toys either, but likes to go get things, so win/win. It probably didn't help that it was sprinkling (it's wet and cold. Tru loves the cold), but she was just doing flat work.

Busy, But at the Same Time, Not

Hm, I haven't posted anything in a while and figured I might as well. School just seems to keep me busy, but I mostly spend time doing less productive things online. I really want to work on that. I spend way too much time on the internet doing nothing, when I should be doing school work or ARTTTT.

I'm actually in a pretty arty mood after reading various blogs and art websites. I really need to surround myself with some more art related stuff rather than mostly dog stuff/people. Should do more research too. I also need to just do more art. I have some projects that have been sitting around started, including a commissioned sculpture. Speaking of art, I started a Tumblr where I seem to be enjoying posting doodles.

Haven't done too much new on the agility front. For all that blabber about contacts and having time to work them, I haven't done much. Still trying to decide what to do AND the weather was crazy. Rain is good though.

And the last couple of days it's been HOT. We actually went out and practiced today and I think Blue and Tru were both very warm. Blue was kind of out of it, so I dunno what was up with her. She's been very off and on lately. I never would have thought my agility loving dog could just be so meh sometimes. Oh, well. Did I ever mention that after she finishes her next NATCH (7!), I am planning on moving her to Skilled? She can then jump 8" which will be hilarious and fun. I'm actually looking forward to it.

Now if there were just enough NADAC trials this year. Seriously, we are only going to make it to possibly 9 (more like 7) more this year and we're having to go to AZ for a couple. That's not including Champs which is only Regular Qs. There is just so much AKC (and this year, CPE?) in the area it's almost impossible find free weekends to put on trials. Too bad my dogs are not doing much in other venues now. :/ I feel like a lazy trainer because Tru doesn't like slats (I'm sure that's what it is) and I should train her to like them, but why? Supposedly they can cause injury, so why not listen to my dog? I think she might be able to to AKC occasionally. Blue is definitely done with that though. I hate to say it, but Blue's looking towards semi-retirement in the next year or so. Probably after I transfer away.

This fewer trial 'problem' cuts into my newest plan for Tru. I am planning on moving her to Elite at the next trial and working on her NATCH. After she finishes her NATCH, we well move back to Open (Novice in the case of TNG) in Skilled, practice some distance and start working towards lines. I think she likes 12" better, but can take 16" for at least one NATCH. She'll also go a lot faster at 12", which will help keep her momentum up for distance work. I'm sorry, but I don't think I want to wait until she's in Vet to get a NATCH on her. If MEDALs didn't count 5 point Qs (which I think they still do), I would so be in Skilled. I just have this thing with the 5 pt Qs in Regular. This of course, depends on how she does. If it's too much, I'll just move her back to Open. This also helps, because I wont be tempted to screw around with lines as much, so that we can really work it in practice before we try and do a bunch more at trials.

Anyway, we are entering one day of a NADAC trial in the middle of the month and one April 30-May 1. Can't wait to trial again. Tru only needs two more Champs Qs, come on!

One last note. BarkNetwork is livestreaming the Eastern PIDC regional tomorrow. For those that can't afford/don't want to pay for AKC Nationals livestream, but still want to watch some agility online.

Wordless Wednesday

EGC practice...with no video :(

So I thought I'd post a little about the "What is the EGC" practice I went too. Unfortunately, the format that we were running did not allow me to get video. My mom didn't want to go, so I drove myself, a whole hour or so away!

Blue was pretty crazy at first and I had to get her settled. I'm glad she's up and herself again after having a break. She was just so burned out at the last trial. I'm looking forward to running again in a couple weeks. We've got an AKC and a NADAC coming up. Blue was actually coming in on the gates today, instead of just doing big loops around them. We did a couple of the courses we ran in Gillette and she did somewhat better on the technical stuff this time.

We also ran some Extreme Hoopers, that included the gate circle of doom. While the first course wasn't that bad (a go on through the middle), the second one was tricky. The dogs had to go pass an opening in the the side to another hoop on the outside. Blue got pretty close on her first try, but Tru had issues. Tru had more issues because I ran her first and was figuring out how to handle it. What worked for my dogs was actually looking where I needed them to go, which usually works when I do it. I just forget to watch where they need to go, and watch them instead. It's quite surprising how much it helps.

Well, the eye thing was mostly what I remember being a key point today, and since I don't have video, I can't remember everything. Oh, wait, Tru ran off after messing up on one of the runs to chase a very fast BC. She'd never do anything aggressive, but she sure ignored my calls. I just have to worry about the other dog nailing her, but luckily the BC was so focused on it's owner it didn't notice Tru. She's usually so good about paying attention only to me, but this BC was very interesting to her, as she watched it the whole time we were there.

Truly's Contacts!

Repost from YouTube

"We just set up our AF again after a month. First we were gone, then it rained off and on the last week or so. I was working with Tru on her bottom behavior before and was only working on one ramp with two targets. One at the bottom (to get her driving down the middle and then stopping) and one on the other side of a hoop (to encourage her to focus and drive ahead). I took it out yesterday and did a little with no, one and two targets. Today she was doing very well driving to the bottom and stopping with only one target after a hoop. She is driving towards the edges though, depending on where the target is or where I am. She also seems to get "stuck" going to the wrong spot with me on certain sides while going certain ways. She's weird. At least it isn't the same "edge" behavior she was having on the slatted equipment at trials and practice.

If anyone has any critiques of her style, let me know. I've noticed that our AF is very "bouncy", which could be why her butt is bouncing up and down, lol. We are working on quick releasing to build drive for the position. I will increase duration (mostly only to practice control, I guess. quick release = faster times right?) after I get the enthusiasm/confidence. Faster release = more fun than standing there waiting."

On another note, her being able to wait longer is for when I need it, haha. She's pretty much had sorta quick release contacts. I mean, I don't hold her forever at trials, but I usually give her a longish "yes" or "good girl" at trials. I don't know if I really plan on "early releasing" her much because I don't want her to end up like Blue, lol. Not that Blue misses a lot of contacts (ugh, like 7 in her life now, 3 or 4 of those this year). Blue pretty much self releases now, even when I say "wait."

I stopped caring about a 2o2o with Blue after she got hurt. She will still do it in practice, but she just blows me off at trials usually. Well, except when she has already messed up and then decides to hold the contacts and get into position. She used to creep so bad, and I would wait for like, 3 seconds for her to get into position at trials. Blue never really had a solid 2o2o, because I didn't really understand why I needed it, I think.

I'm hoping to have her contacts "finished" before December. We'll be heading to our usual AZ NADAC trial and Christmas with relatives. She needs to get 12 Regular Qs to qualify for Champs, not to mention 2 TnG Qs, when she still needs a few more for her S-TG-N. Then there's my slight desire to do SilverStakes with Tru. She needs good, independent contacts for that and the bonuses she needs to qualify. We do have till July 31st, so I guess I shouldn't be worrying.

I should really finish the videos from our trip and do a post on the PIDC. Do that instead of reading school work? Hmm. Darn 6 hour painting class messes my reading schedule for my online classes.

What's been up lately and a CPE trial!

It's been a while since I posted something that's not a Wordless Wednesday post. Well, what have we been up to?

A bit of practicing. Blue had diarrhea that morning, so I took only Tru to the park. I picked the wrong day to take a tunnel as it was pretty windy. We've got to practice gates and tunnels for the Extreme Games Challenge that they are holding in Gillette at the same time as we'll be up there for Champs.

Then, my mom asked if I wanted to enter a CPE trial a week or so ago and I said yes. Blue and Truly actually did pretty good and both ended up with 7 Qs out of 9 runs.

Sirius ran one day and actually, had some pretty good runs and earned one Q. She only ran three and they are all in the below video.



Truly earned her CL2-F and her CL2-S! She also fell off the A-Frame in one round of Standard. It's not like I wasn't expecting something to happen sooner or later, but, it kinda shook me. I don't know if I've mentioned this before or not, but Truly does not like slatted contacts. Unfortunately, that's all she's seen the past couple of months as the field we practice at only has slatted equipment and she's been doing slats at trials. This incident made me get out my slatless AF at home and we're going back to the working the 2o2o position. I was planning on reworking her contacts anyway, so that she doesn't look back or hesitate, but this just made me realize I need to do it at home on the slatless stuff (first). She probably won't be doing any slatted contacts at practice or at a trial for a while.

If Blue's expression on her first couple of runs could be pictured as an emoticon, it would look like :D. She was just flying on her Jumpers run and craaazyyy on her Standards. I should mention why we ended up with two of the same Standard runs. So, Blue and I were running, and as we are heading around and Blue's going through the weave poles, the competitor before us is having a loud conversation with the judge about her score! So I slowed down and caused the off-course, because usually when there's a loud carried on conversation, something went wrong and you need to stop. The judge was nice enough to let us run again, though it didn't make any difference, haha. I just thought that was pretty rude. The person could have waited until the person running was done.

So, the next day, Blue got to run twice in a row. We literally went from the Standard ring, right over to FullHouse and then ran that. Blue was rewarded for agility with more agility, haha.

Oh, maybe I should mention what titles she got. She FINALLY finished her Snooker requirements for her CL3-S. We've been working on that title for about 4 years. She also got her CL5-R. I was hoping she'd do that Saturday so I could move her to Lev. C on Sunday and we could get some pretty rainbow flat ribbons, haha.

Well, we've got a NADAC trial tomorrow, which is our last trial before Champs. I hope the rubber contacts make Tru really, really happy and she magically remembers how to do them fast. Wait, this isn't our last trial. We signed up for the Championship "Pre-Trial" because we were planning on getting there early and figured why not.

Practice 7/19/10

Yay for some practice at the park!

This was a Masters/PIII USDAA gamble that I had the map for, but had not run. Yes, I just take course maps from trials I visit/work but don't run.

I'll just repost what I wrote on Youtube. " The line for it (the gamble) basically ran along the yellow hoop. It was interesting how Blue and Truly didn't want to switch away the first time. I'm not sure how I would have run this at a trial. I think the way the first two obstacles were handled depended on where you came from, but I think the second way I did it with Blue would have been a more sure shot for a first try."

I'm trying to figure out what to work for Super/SilverStakes. I'm thinking about reviewing "Go On" on a long line of jumps, even though we don't have to do Jumpers this year. We've had issues going on all the way on a long straight send that we have to switch away after. If anyone can think of anything else to do, post a suggestion in the comments.

PS-Comic-Con is this week!!!!

Practice Video

My goodness, another video! This time we have some of Sirius and Blue practicing a Novice JWW course. Unfortunately, my mom did not get any video of Truly.

Practice 6/30/2010

I used a course found here. It focused on front crosses and looked like a fun little exercise. I did the final front in the "wrong" spot, but it just felt right to do it that way and it was a front cross, so no harm done, lol. My dogs could get that distance wanted in that post anyways.

Oh, and my parents won a new HD camera in a silent auction so I think I'm going to be trying that out at the field next time we go so watch out for more practice vids. I'll get the post about our last trial up soon too.

I'm Bored

Yeah, so I'm starting to get a cold. Not cool. I want to trial this weekend. I'm bored so I figured I'd just talk about some stuff. Sorry if it is a little incoherent, my brain is a little fuzzy right now.

So a couple weeks ago I noticed there were some spots in Tru's eyes. There is one grayish spot right around the middle in each of her eyes. I had forgotten about it until last weekend, so we took Tru into the vet Monday to have it looked at. He thinks she has corneal dystrophy, which will not go away, but does not usually cause pain, grow or cause blindness. It doesn't sound like there is a treatment that doesn't include surgery and nobody knows for sure what causes it, but it is genetic. If anybody has any good information, feel free to share. I'm not going to worry about it unless it gets bigger or looks like it bothers her, but I will keep monitoring it.

I'm also really happy that Chuck got renewed for a 4th season. The finale on Monday was pretty epic. I am sad that they killed Orion. I don't know why I have gotten this random attachment to Scott Bakula, haha. I am not convinced that he wont come back in some form, whether it be flashbacks or even that he isn't really dead.

Blue was really good when we went to the field this week. We are still figuring out our timing but she really seems to be understanding "switch" and had a really nice turn out of a tunnel with me far away. One thing I really know that I need to do is tell Blue right before her head goes in that tunnel what she needs to do next. Have I said that before? Yesterday we tried something that a lot of dogs weren't even getting up close at a recent trial, an out to the DW with a tunnel closest to where I was running. We could not get this from a large distance. She would always go in the tunnel. I had to run with her to get her to figure out it was there. I wonder if she felt like the tunnel was blocking it or she couldn't really see it (more like she wasn't looking for it).

Tru is such a wimp. She always wants to get out of the sun as soon as she is done running or sometimes even while she is running. I've decided to try "Fluffy" or the invisible dog to try and get her to come back with out me going to get her. It's actually worked pretty good most of the times I've done it. I was even doing it a little with Blue (when she started to go off and do her own thing) on Monday and she was responding well to it too.

She was hauling butt yesterday on jumps/hoops/tunnels. She was also doing some pretty good sends of the end of the DW. She is really coming along, but still has her princess attitude. She gets a pass because she is so freaking cute. I love my Dumpster.

Yeah, so I hope we don't have to cancel this weekend because I'm sick. Blue and I really need some bonus Qs. This trial is always so fun too. It kinda sucks that we wont have our trailer there.

The original Star Wars is 33 years old today!

Also a practice video!

Update on Blue

I feel the need to post this to let all that read this blog know. Blue went to class tonight and looked fine. I jumped her at 12" instead of 16" like I have been lately. She does not look hurt at all and I think she'll be fine for our two weekends in a row this month. She must have just stepped wrong on the uneven ground and twisted her leg funny.

ZOMG practice!

I actually filmed us practicing for once. The beginning is my new technique for practicing with Blue for SuperStakes. XD At about 3:11, I demonstrate Truly and I "doggie-style playing."