a little bit of everything

there's been no real updates recently, ive been a bad bad girl.

i have videos from this weekend - rah won open A again, took first in excellent B for his second RE leg, and berlin took second in her rally class (lost first because i made her repeat a call front that was crooked, was a 1 point loss that i cost 3 pts instead! bad bad me. both dogs also got their parade of titleholder/rescue ribbons :)

lots of changes going on in my dobe club - hopefully some fun announcements in the near future that will get us going where some clubs have never gone!

i dont think i mentioned it here, but berlin was ranked in rally novice B for 2008??? in the top 10 for the breed. by front and finish - very proud of her!!!! so both my dogs were nationally ranked for 2008 in some manner!

both the dogs are making their nadac agility debut this weekend - im nervous as hell and not sure why i entered them except that my trainer said they could do it - so i have to have faith! both are entered in tunnelers and jumpers only. no contacts or weaves for us yet in competition.

training this week was ok. lydia ran berlin and ran in agility for half the class since she has to run them in their jumpers run tomorrow because i have to work - we shall see how that goes :) berlin did lovely weaves with a jump before hand and was nailing her entrances - time to start on SENDING her to the weaves. she also handled the sequences nicely, including a serpentine essentially into the tunnel (it was TIGHT).

rahs heeling class i cant recall much of since i was dying from my head cold... however i know i need to work on getting him straighter for fronts and finishes (im consistently losing half a point on each) and i need to stop the sidewinding jumping forge he has going for the slow. he's not maintaining heel position well on change of paces.

utility - moving stand didnt get done, as did articles - but he did them lovely in the match the weekend prior. gloves - i need to work on attention during the pivots because he is too excited to retrieve so he gets all crazy about pivots and puts on the poop face and says "dont make me sit i just want to retrieve". also need to remember to pop him UP instead of back with the flexi. but when he did pivot marks and retrieves - as well as fronts, miraculously (probably because i popped up!) were good!

signals - when kath pressures him by standing almost on top of him, he gets stressed and he starts to walk. i need to work on that - if a judge gets too close he's going to walk right out. if they stay far away he's fine, but within 2-3 feet he cant handle the pressure. same with articles, actually. too close and he just runs and grabs. but when he's thinking and i've got ears, he's dead on.

go outs were a miracle. we worked them on our own (i actually neglected to do much directed jumping after this halloween miracle) - i had the toy out and im still working on good drivey focus on the go out spot - and HE TURNED OFF THE TENNIS BALL THREE - count em THREE - times!!!!! i normally have to wait him realizing he cant get the ball off the gate before he turns, and he turns only partially because he wants the ball. but three times he RAN out there, turned ON my call, and turned straight to me - i think he finally figured out if he does this, he GETS the tennis ball!!!!!

open on thurs with roo - retrieves were good, we proofed with the group of people milling out about the db when we sent them. ROH were good too - im still mixing in cookie marks and she's nailing her fronts and she did an awesome db retrieve! broad jumps are going well too - she anticipated but i cant fault her.

stays sucked and we had a come to jesus on it. and heeling was ok, but she's not paying 100% attention to me and i want to work on that. as always, i feel im the weak part of this relationship and im not getting what i need to get out of mySELF, which is why i cant get it out of her. fig8's i wasnt pushing so she lolled around, but when i pushed she came right in and flew around with me.

recalls were ok - she isn't getting dropped on the recalls, we just work them in games since she actually doesn't have an AKC cdx yet...

things i want to work on:

1) berlins attention

2) berlins ring attitude

3) berlins stays

4) rahs broad jump (with his smack stick!)

5) rah's fronts and his concept of it

6) rahs finishes and set ups

7) all of utility with him, essentially!)

8) start berlin further in her gloves, marks, go outs

9) get berlin to admit she doesn't hate the metal article anymore - since she's EATEN 2.

videos from nationals...

videos from nationals. Rah finished his RA and his CDX, won 5 of the 7 classes he was entered in, and placed third in a 6th. his last class was an NQ (see video below).

rah's CDX - i got a no front because i rocked and it was a gift on the high jump from this video because he did anticipate a little bit.

no videos from rah in advanced rally, but he finished his RA the day before so i bumped him up to advanced rally:

giving a crappy signal for the drop and rah blows through it (and blows a 197, EEK!)

rah winning open a at nationals proper - the last day of competition, our fronts are starting to break down here.

and not to be forgotten, berlin gets her protection on and passes her WAC (handled by lydia since this is where i got sick)

back to the NJ grind...

had an agility seminar this past weekend (jumping again) - did a lot of discrimination with the tunnel - sending them through, doing 1-3 jumps and then tunnel again to more jumps, back through tunnel. also did some sequences that had nasty turns, crosses and such. rah and berlin did really well - rah did bite me in the arm when he got so excited, and berlin broke skin on my hand. im very pleased with them. rah needs my "oh shit" arm for tight wraps - i can drive him with the offside arm to keep him close. berlins biggest thing is that i have to be in the right place ALL the time - the minute i have any indecision, im not sure where i need to be, etc - she stops. if im in the right place with her though, she's almost uncontrollable she's so fast and driven - debbie says work that dog and ONLY that dog. dont work her if she's not giving me 100%. for rah its a matter of being calm and collected.

agility class yesterday was working rear crosses, weaves, and tire work. berlin and i had a collision but it was my fault - she was fine after and did some really nice work and picked up on my cues for all the rear crosses just fine.

did the heeling class with rah, it was good. between feeling sick and having to leave because of lydia though we didnt do much in the open/utility class besides go outs.

im exhausted and preparing to leave for home in NJ.

the final tally for nationals:

7 classes entered.

6 qualifying scores.

5 first places.

1 third place.

two new titles (CDX and RA) .

(and amount of money spent at the winning image? we're not telling...)

i cant even put it to words.

RAH RAH CDX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

won Open A at the nationals kick off trial... and the judge said it was a pleasure to have a dog and handler that know how to heel in the ring.

too long, too long

its been way too long since an update. classes have gone well - agility is kicking butt, worked on triples and doubles this past week and the CIRCLE OF DEATH!!!! berlin did really well - i pulled her off one jump when i didn't support the line and she came into me instead of taking the jump, but on the second time around she rocked.

entries are in for their first NADAC trial end of this month! eek! we're just doing jumpers and tunnelers and yes im crazy for entering both dogs.

in utility 2 weeks ago, rah had a breakdown on articles (never really got to much else) and spent an hour and 15 minutes working them because he couldnt handle the pressure of kathy near his pile. this past week started a new session when we have an hour long heeling class, and then we do a combined open/utility - i opted to not do much besides go outs on the utility side of things since he is trialing so soon and i really want to focus on that. his ROH was pretty nice - he's gauging the jump (but could be better), and hit the front pretty well.

his ROF that night was damned perfect - hit it dead on the first time, so i didnt do anything else but that one. worked broad jump and he did a nice job but i need to work on him not making such a tight turn, on him jumping the left side of the jump - all so he can hit the front better.

his heeling class was nice - its an interesting class and there are dogs in there all the way from very very novice dogs and handlers to someone working on their next dog who is very close to an OTCH. i of course, get paired with her - our dogs are polar opposites (she has a dog chondrodysplasia named jack - so i called our team jack and the beanstalk). worked transitions into and out of the ring, between fast and slow, etc.

thursday night classes - berlin is in a false pregnancy and i am a bad handler, so we had some issues with things. other things were very nice. i need to be better for HER. she worked novice though so i could put rah into open... worked heeling with him and then fig8's - terry said not to do normal ones with him all the time because he needs it to be mixed up so that he always thinks i might be turning into him, and it will keep him back and tucking. and it worked! i wasnt happy with how crooked he was sitting sometimes, and setting up. ROH - lovely again, for him. his ROF he did one perfect again so that's all he got! worked broad jump with same issues as wed, and DOR was perfect.

yesterday we had a busy day (the dogs are exhausted now and passed out). we went to match out in PA - berlin in novice and rah in open and utility.

berlin we mainly worked ring entrances, starts and halts, some transitions, and playing in the ring. the set ups and ring entrances were nice, but she got distracted the third or fourth time when someone outside the ring started staring her down. heeling was pretty nice and attentive. SFE was perfect (did two) and played recall games. i still feel like im failing her in some way.

rah in open - specifically had dan give me the forward halt pattern, since rah misses that first halt often. heeling - pushy in the first run, better in the second run. dan commented to me "not bad heeling, for a girl!" - dan's such a nice guy - OTCH'd his first terv, now working a bc that is close to it i think? fig8's - the first one i kept turning into him when i felt the bump, the second one dan said was perfect and that rah "knows his job". i loved it. DOR in the first run - nice drop but slightly crooked front. in the second run, it was picture perfect- dan said i couldnt have asked for anything more than that.

ROF - in both runs it was pretty much exactly what i would want from him in the ring - he picked up like a speed demon, he turned on a dime, and he came back fast and furiously to a front. love it. on the ROH, a trainer with her big fluffy OTCH poodle was in the other ring and exactly as rah came over the jump that dog was sent over the broad, and rah turned his head to look at it briefly so he couldnt hit his front. must pay attention to me ALL THE TIME. then he hit the jump with a knee , so we did a few plain jumps - and the next one was perfect.

broad jumps gave us major issues - a combination of a variety of things, mostly being his enthusiasm, the slippery matting, and him trying to cut the corner - so he kept missing the front and coming in crooked to my right (his left). worked on a variety of things, but in the end i just ignored it and stopped because at his speed, he kept slipping a bit and had to do a larger turn to get anywhere near me - he left nail tracks in the mats he dug in so deep.

utility we just did signals, go outs and gloves. not bad.

then we drove back to NJ for a private lesson - had intended to do just rah but my trainer wanted to work berlin but she ended up being too tired to work (PITA) so we did just rah. started with some heeling and set up exercises that were to help him be straighter and it worked and he was anticipating my cues! woohoo - and we discussed what im going t be doing to stop him from pushing and forging - the minute his head hits my stomach, his ass is out and he's going to be crooked, so at that point i need to be proactive and turn, pop him, anything.

then, because RAH was tired too, we worked retrieves with distractions - and the distraction was terrys dog quest. at first he was just hanging out, then he was playing with his toy (which rah also has). all this while rah is retrieving and im being uber-critical of his fronts. then she starts throwing the toy 5 feet away from where rah's db is - and they are doing duelling retrieves, running against each other, etc. then we brought out the jump (since the dog jumping got him in the match) and quest jumped while rah worked the flat, and vice versa. the culmination was quest doing a recall under the flexi leash parallel to the high jump while rah was on his way back - and he still hit that front. he hit them ALL pretty much.

i was very happy with that training session. if my dog can do retrieves with a FCR almost under him doing a recall, and still hit that front - he can do this. he can do this.

and now its time to finish up with my morning stuff because berlin is off to take the ATTS test!!