i couldnt go to the obedience match today because my dogs could not POSSIBLY get into the car i am borrowing while my truck gets new tires before nationals, heavens forbid NO we only do TRUCKS not cars.

so i trained them outside.

and i wrote a poem about it.

a haiku for rah

i trained rah outside

first retrieve was the best one

i should have stopped then

no classes thursday. had agility, open and utility on wed. long story short - good retrieves, 1 hour and 15 minutes of scent article HORROR, and berlin kicked agility ass. maybe ill get into it. maybe not. i love the fall.

the jump seminar rocked today. my dogs surprised me- they were by far the most novice dogs there (considering ive been doing agility for 6-8 months or so with roo, and rah has taken exactly 10 weeks of agility in a class setting...

both did very well - we had to break most of the courses down at first before we ran them entirely, but they both pretty much did awesome in the 12-13 jumps. lots of crosses, serpentines, threadles, even 270s (yuck).

i have to figure out how to make the courses on my computer so i can share them with you.

in the meantime, i leave you with this - a picture of rah and shane (his border collie brother from another mother) trying to tear me apart.

didnt really work the dogs today. but tomorrow is our agility seminar with the trainer on jumping... im definitely working berlin, i may also add rah for a working spot. we shall see.

dogs are passed out because my friends came over and played with them for hours. HOURS.

well, last week rah was broken so he didnt train at all. we just did berlin-

agility was good. awesome. serpentines, running some courses. she did awesome in open the next day too. but over a week later, i cant remember details :)

this week -
start with agility -
more serpentines, handling them from both sides, pushing and pulling (i couldnt get the front cross in, she's too fast). also worked more courses with 180s, then worked the contact trainer. \

rah did open and utility on wednesday - open was only me, so we started with a run through. heeling, dor and fig8 were fine. then we got to ROF...
she wanted to see where he was in his progress and it was bad bad bad - especially since he hasnt been worked in 2 weeks! he was wide, he was sloppy, and he had terrible fronts. so we worked those - trying to change when i say out to clean up the hand off since he hates to give it up (PLEASE CAN WE LOVE THE DB A LITTLE LESS???), and reminding him where he needs to be - and corrections for not trying v. not understanding (always crucial).

worked ROH which is better since the jump leads him in. then broad jump - he's relying on the cues too much and cutting the corner, which means he cant hit the front since he's turning in mid air - we put a bowl down in the corner so if he lands on it, it will discourage him. then we just added a verbal "get out" with an arm movement with the command so that we can get him to jump the far side of the jump, which worked much better and enabled him to get to front...

utility signals were ok, but she doesnt want him doing a moving stand. go outs - changed where the ball was placed and still worked the "look" to get him over himself staring at go out. jumps ok. articles - he missed the first article when he was distracted by his bag, but he got the next three so that was good.

then gloves came. and rah turned into mr. poopyfaceidontwanttodoglovesihatethiswhypivotijustwanttoretrievethem.
so he decided not to work, so we had to get through it - slow sits, slow set ups, NO sits, NO set ups. skipped sending him for gloves and worked him through that - we all know he can retrieve the stuff no problem - then of course he finally gets a retrieve and the flexi is ripped out of my hands and it hits him in the butt!!!!!

lots to think about from that class...


next day we had open with roo - did lots of games and broke down all the behaviors - relay games for retrieves, for broad jumps, etc. worked heeling a bit, LOVELY fig8's, played drop games. overall very good, good attitude.

utility for rah - signals were ok - some anticipation on his part again but worked the stand most of all. articles he got really stressed by the presence of kathy on the other side of the gate working secret and the minute kathy got near him he grabbed and ran - so we had to work through that. go outs and such we did a relay game again, and worked on walking into the ring cold and having to set up for a go out and he did awesome - no jumping today. skipped the moving stand again, since he's showing in open soon. gloves - again, need to break it down further for him, so...

there's our homework for the week. lots to think about.

a lot to catch up on

ive been meaning to post a lot from the past few days of training, but ive just been lazy and preoccupied and just plain busy!!!

wed
started with agility - if i knew how to upload the courses i made with the clean run system i would ...
we ran two different 9-10 obstacle courses that focused on wraps, crosses, sends, 180s, etc. i ran berlin during class and rah afterwards. berlin surprised me by bringing her SUPERSPEEDY pants and was very good so i could get 2-3 jump lead outs, but she needs me to ride the jumps with her - and im simply not fast enough to do that with her!! i have good sends to some obstacles, but others werent working. the second course had mad wraps and she did well, but i found out that shes too cued into my body to be the clue for deceleration almost - the minute i stop moving, she starts to walk (ie im doing a tight 180 wrap or something like that - so i have to motivate her through it.

it was super fun though to run a course with her, even if it wasnt a full course- she has come so far!

then we took the crazed noodle out... and if the name of the game is DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT - rah is drive it like you stole it, youre oj simpson in a white bronco, and you're on that rollercoaster with 35 flags flying. i got halfway through both courses before he started jumping and barking and biting at me. the good thing is that i had some nice sends and good lead outs with him too, and he has a nice go on - but wow some other sends were bad and he's a loose canon.

open class that night - just rah and mulder again. we did lots of retrieve games and rah did pretty well. the biggest thing we worked on was distraction - doing DORs while kathy was behind him waving her arms, throwing toys while we dropped, giving him other commands and tempting him. the hardest was when he had to avoid the spider for the DOR and as i dropped him, she threw the tennis ball right across his feet - but he dropped! thought a LOT about it, but did his job - WOOHOO.

did ROF and ROH with the same type of thing - she got him the first time she dropped a tennis ball near his db, but he didnt make that mistake again. he handled the pressure of her quite well, of another dog near him doing things while he was working, etc. on the ROH, at one point kathy actually hit him with the toy she was tossing and he was so focused on getting back to me he almost missed the db because she said he actually turned his head and headed back for me before he had his mouth closed on the db!!! what a smart boy - he's truly getting the point of all this which pleases me greatly.


thurs
started with berlin - a lot of dogs didnt show up for class, so there were only two of us there too (semiprivate woo!). started with heeling and berlin was absolutely marvelous!!! best heeling she's had in a long time - we did the full pattern a few times and she was there the entire time, head up, ears up, in my face - dropped her head a few times but came right back without anything from me, and marvelous left turns swinging her butt. very very happy with this.

next we set up jumps and such and worked the individuals. started with recalls - since both berlin and casey havent finished in novice (heck, berlin hasnt started) we havent put the full drop into her recall - but her fronts were dead center perfect. need to keep the pop in her finish to get her active in it, and i need to work on turning further behind me. terry says pop every time

did some ROH with her - interspersed cookie retrieves for full retrieves, and she's working at full height (24) and she did beautiful fronts from that too.

took a break and brought rah out to do some ROF while she rested, then brought her back out after. rahs fronts were pretty good but he got accidentally popped by me twice when the flexi didnt reach the db! oops.

worked some rof's with berlin - she ran nicely a few times then got distracted - ended on a good one. moved to broad jump and she was doing really well as long as i dont move before she's committed to the jump!

utility with rahman noodle -
started with just plain heeling (since we rarely do that anymore) - he was crazed as ever. then moved to individual patterns called for 2 at a time that included signals - rah was missing the wait somehow though and started to anticipate again - kathy thought that i could get his stand and wait better, so we worked on changing it up and using my right hand for the wait - tossing cookies from it so he's staring up at my face and that way hes on his toes when i leave. he's still anticipating and walking a bit, but now its because he's leaning into me, not because he's just wandering aimlessly out there!

moved to articles - he missed the first article by running out there, finding it, and picking the one next to it. i wonder if i overscented since my hands smelled like meatballs? but he got the next two right and didnt offer such bad fronts.

go outs - worked on his look at the ball and him staying focused while the judge talks to me - through the are you ready and the send your dog, since rah tends to look up as soon as the judge says send your dog since he's looking for me to send him. also, i need to remember not to say ready i think since ready means head up stare at me (even though my arm isnt up) - to avoid confusion ill probably say yes, or something else. but go outs were very nice, did the jumps well.

gloves the pivots are still killing us sometimes because he can do them separate from the gloves, but the minute we put the retrieve in he sometimes doesnt sit. also felt a lot of pressure on the retrieve- accidentally had his dumbbell out 1 foot behind glove 1, so he went out and wasnt sure what to retrieve (unfair!!!), and at glove three he had THREE goldens laying within 2 feet of his glove. once we lessened the pressure a bit he did just fine.

didnt work moving stand because i went back and worked on his signals instead.


friday - rah slipped at work and was a little lame on the hind leg, so i didnt train him when i got home. i brought berlin out and we did some jump grids (good sends, good recalls, pretty good with the running with her), worked on teeter (some unintentional since she decides to go on repeatedly so that she can get clicked after making it pivot. worked weaves, and worked weave entrances - need to work those entrances more!

now rah is injured (rah his paws off at a party today) so no training for him for a few days, at least. which sucks, since i wanted to hike with them this weekend...