so this weekend - what a high. im still just so thrilled...
on saturday we had a match and i worked rah in open and utility and berlin in novice. im too tired and have too much to do to go through each run, but berlin did a really nice job for the first one (just need to work on keeping her excitement level up and drive into the set ups and through her heeling).
set up for the show and then went home to my dads house to sleep for a few hours that night.
the next morning bright and early - got rah warmed up briefly doing left turns and slows, since this judge was a stickler for slows and had 30 foot slows in her pattern! put him away and waited for my class to start. it was a blessing showing with my trainer, she was really able to give me a lot of help there and this wouldnt have been possible without her in so many ways. i dont know enough ways to say thank you to her... (or her sister, who is my other trainer)
so we have a plan set up - rah is last in his class and the dog before me is a very slow one - we had plans on when to take him out (After she finished articles) and such - well, that dog got excused after signals and i had not even gotten near rah - i was sitting and watching, rah was still in his crate! my trainer calmed me down and i got rah out, and she trained me up to the ring - heeling, pivots, fronts, finishes, sidesteps... she had it all timed out and she moved out of the way and there i was, in the ring.
started signals - some bumping and forging as is rah's way. got to the stand (always a tenuous part for him) and he held the stand stay - i left him and walked to the end. in a heartbreaking moment i thought he was going to either walk in to me or going to down himself without my signal - he then stood back up, and i dropped him. a second heartattack occurred on the sit signal, where he didn't sit - i gave the signal, he looked at me - NOTHING - but i held the signal and gave a little more and he went up. (in B that would fail me, in A it was questionable if i would pass or not... i wasn't sure but i know in the past ive let my NQ's ruin the rest of the run so i didnt want to here... i just kept going like we were passing). called him in, he came, finished and we were done.
articles next - he found the metal and the leather just fine - fronts were a little off and finishes were crooked. got to gloves, did a good pivot but he picked the glove and dropped his head, but it was the right one - runs out, shakes and comes back - sits far out. and WONT GIVE UP THE GLOVE. i have to rip it out of his mouth - the judge is laughing at this point and he tries to bite it again on the finish!!! she's cracking up im trying to stay calm.
moving stand he locks up, just takes one single foot to move and is of course a bit crooked on the finish.
go outs - at this point im hesitantly hopeful - i give him the lock onto the go out point and he's got it - i send him and heaven help him, HE RUNS OUT. i turn him, he turns, a slightly slow sit - i send him over the jump and i could vomit. front, finish. i lock him onto the second go out. he almost leaves on his own. im praying - he has to have it, right? he wont not go out... i send him and im almost crying. i turn him 5 feet and he spins in place, perfect go out. at this point im almost delirious. i send him over the other jump and i dont even remember what the front or finish looks like because im crying at this point - she says exercise finished and the entire building screams - my trainer is crying, so are the people i train with - im covered with people clapping and hugging me and it was awesome.
so thats rah's utility leg. i have a video, i just cant figure out how to get it online... but he was a superstar. we ended up with a 187 - all front/finish issues! she also wasn't a big fan of rah's heeling :)
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
i had updates to post
but all i can say is RIP kheper - another doberman gone too soon lost to DCM.
im just going to sit and hug my dogs and take some time.
im just going to sit and hug my dogs and take some time.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
wow, im terrible right now!
i just cannot manage to get an update in at all right now!!!
no agility this week, debbie was sick.
rah is preparing for the all star tournament (berlin is too, but she's only in rally so her prep is minimal really since she's had that down for awhile... lest i speak to soon i will be practicing!) so he's in open and utility right now.
heeling - he's still a maniac. that's never going to change.
DOR - i need to work out his confusion - he's starting to drop on his own if i dont give him the drop so im doing a lot of straight recalls now. its because before he wasn't dropping fast enough so now he's anticipating. just something to work through.
ROf/ROH - need to work those fronts again. he's going out nice and quick, pretty good turns for a dog his size, but when he gets right back to the front he's rocking back and pulling his stevie wonder routine. really need to put more effort into working on pushing the db into me.
broad - was looking good, the one thing :)
utility - working go outs with lots of distractions - had toys, bags of treats, etc. because now rah is going to be corrected for not going out - its sorta like a forced go out. he knows where he needs to go, but he'll get distracted by things on the ground etc - and if a leave it isn't enough for him to put his focus back on the go out location, then he will be corrected for that and then sent back with some force.
signals - really want to smack him upside the head. STOP MOVING YOUR FEET WHEN I LEAVE YOU.
moving stand, articles were pretty good.
gloves - his pivots are much better when i tell him "up" before the pivot - he's going out nicely and pretty much comes back ok - still thinks about not bringing it back though. when he's looking at one he sometimes gets to 2 though... STOP PICKING A GLOVE.
thursday we had berlin in novice and rah in utility.
berlin did a very nice job - worked recalls with distraction and she was so fast that she bounced off me - but nice and straight!
heeling looking great too. also worked on stands and she let a strange man touch her!!!!! we're taking her out of the line for stays and working them separately so she gains more confidence and learns her job before she has to do it with insecure dogs.
her fig 8 was ok, but she dropped her head a bit on the outer post at first.
rah's utility was much of the same as the day before - working distractions and making this as hard as possible.
saturday we had a match show - rah had two pretty much qualifying runs in utility!!!!!!! in the second match all that would have nq'd him would have been his picking the wrong glove, but karen told me that i had my elbow out too much and sure enough when i tightened up, he got 1. MUST REMEMBER THAT. articles he worked very nicely and go outs were spot on. all his finishes are butt out - need to work on that.
signals remain our bugaboo. STOP WALKING.
berlin had one run through in novice - she had a second, but she rocked so hard on the first one i didnt bring her back in. heeling was GREAT and i only messed her up a few times :) SFE perfect, recall adorably cute but finishes need work because i reward her just as much for far ones as close ones. fig8 - i need to remember to PUSH PUSH PUSH and she comes right up and kicks ass if i do say so myself.
rah had open runs but i was late since i had to (surprise) work so we sold one, and in the other i just worked retrieves and anticipation.
today we had a special training session for those of us going to the tournament - we rented out another training building, set up one utility ring and one open ring and had about 10 dogs working - had severe distractions because multiple people were using the ring at the same time - doing go outs to retrieves right at you, retrieving into dogs heeling.
did a full run through of utility with rah and all of a sudden, as predicted he couldnt find go out - when he's not thinking or he's high as a kite, he wont' look. fixed that right quick - brought him up halfway, then he found it. but kathy also noticed that when i have him totally straight that he looks to the left - but when he's set up a TAD crooked with his front end to me, he goes right out. so i set him up like that and he rocked. then turned and sent him in the other direction and lo and behold, he was golden.
worked retrieves and jumps with better fronts. took berlin and did some heeling with her while luna was doing go outs and she did nicely - worked her nemesis of a forward left turn fast and she nailed it.
between her and jack crated they were loud enough for the whole show to be recreated :)
we then practiced longest straightest go out, which rah will not be entered him because he gives up at 75-85 feet :) bad dog!!!!
then we practiced the db relay - and rah WILL NOT GIVE ME THE DB BACK. runs out, gets it, but then avoids me like the plague. BAD DOG>
however, surprise of the day? berlin is a friggin superstar at it. she was out like a bullet, got the db and FLIES back to me - she's awesome!!!!! so rah is being sidelined from the team for bad behavior and berlin will be our superstar :)
took the dogs to my dads house and let them swim and run around and now everyone is passed out.
no agility this week, debbie was sick.
rah is preparing for the all star tournament (berlin is too, but she's only in rally so her prep is minimal really since she's had that down for awhile... lest i speak to soon i will be practicing!) so he's in open and utility right now.
heeling - he's still a maniac. that's never going to change.
DOR - i need to work out his confusion - he's starting to drop on his own if i dont give him the drop so im doing a lot of straight recalls now. its because before he wasn't dropping fast enough so now he's anticipating. just something to work through.
ROf/ROH - need to work those fronts again. he's going out nice and quick, pretty good turns for a dog his size, but when he gets right back to the front he's rocking back and pulling his stevie wonder routine. really need to put more effort into working on pushing the db into me.
broad - was looking good, the one thing :)
utility - working go outs with lots of distractions - had toys, bags of treats, etc. because now rah is going to be corrected for not going out - its sorta like a forced go out. he knows where he needs to go, but he'll get distracted by things on the ground etc - and if a leave it isn't enough for him to put his focus back on the go out location, then he will be corrected for that and then sent back with some force.
signals - really want to smack him upside the head. STOP MOVING YOUR FEET WHEN I LEAVE YOU.
moving stand, articles were pretty good.
gloves - his pivots are much better when i tell him "up" before the pivot - he's going out nicely and pretty much comes back ok - still thinks about not bringing it back though. when he's looking at one he sometimes gets to 2 though... STOP PICKING A GLOVE.
thursday we had berlin in novice and rah in utility.
berlin did a very nice job - worked recalls with distraction and she was so fast that she bounced off me - but nice and straight!
heeling looking great too. also worked on stands and she let a strange man touch her!!!!! we're taking her out of the line for stays and working them separately so she gains more confidence and learns her job before she has to do it with insecure dogs.
her fig 8 was ok, but she dropped her head a bit on the outer post at first.
rah's utility was much of the same as the day before - working distractions and making this as hard as possible.
saturday we had a match show - rah had two pretty much qualifying runs in utility!!!!!!! in the second match all that would have nq'd him would have been his picking the wrong glove, but karen told me that i had my elbow out too much and sure enough when i tightened up, he got 1. MUST REMEMBER THAT. articles he worked very nicely and go outs were spot on. all his finishes are butt out - need to work on that.
signals remain our bugaboo. STOP WALKING.
berlin had one run through in novice - she had a second, but she rocked so hard on the first one i didnt bring her back in. heeling was GREAT and i only messed her up a few times :) SFE perfect, recall adorably cute but finishes need work because i reward her just as much for far ones as close ones. fig8 - i need to remember to PUSH PUSH PUSH and she comes right up and kicks ass if i do say so myself.
rah had open runs but i was late since i had to (surprise) work so we sold one, and in the other i just worked retrieves and anticipation.
today we had a special training session for those of us going to the tournament - we rented out another training building, set up one utility ring and one open ring and had about 10 dogs working - had severe distractions because multiple people were using the ring at the same time - doing go outs to retrieves right at you, retrieving into dogs heeling.
did a full run through of utility with rah and all of a sudden, as predicted he couldnt find go out - when he's not thinking or he's high as a kite, he wont' look. fixed that right quick - brought him up halfway, then he found it. but kathy also noticed that when i have him totally straight that he looks to the left - but when he's set up a TAD crooked with his front end to me, he goes right out. so i set him up like that and he rocked. then turned and sent him in the other direction and lo and behold, he was golden.
worked retrieves and jumps with better fronts. took berlin and did some heeling with her while luna was doing go outs and she did nicely - worked her nemesis of a forward left turn fast and she nailed it.
between her and jack crated they were loud enough for the whole show to be recreated :)
we then practiced longest straightest go out, which rah will not be entered him because he gives up at 75-85 feet :) bad dog!!!!
then we practiced the db relay - and rah WILL NOT GIVE ME THE DB BACK. runs out, gets it, but then avoids me like the plague. BAD DOG>
however, surprise of the day? berlin is a friggin superstar at it. she was out like a bullet, got the db and FLIES back to me - she's awesome!!!!! so rah is being sidelined from the team for bad behavior and berlin will be our superstar :)
took the dogs to my dads house and let them swim and run around and now everyone is passed out.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
a whirlwind
so havent updated in awhile.
showed both dogs this weekend in ASCA - 4 entries, 4 NQ's...
berlin didn't manage to hold a sit stay at all. she got one down stay. apparently these stays are important in obedience and nonnegotiable.
rah didn't manage to do a single go out, but came damn close otherwise to qualifying - in fact in the second run we had a 195 going into the go outs of doom.
trained last night and rah is finally allowed to retrieve again and he's in love but his mouth started bleeding after retrieving for about 20 minutes. need to whip open into shape really since weve got all star in a month... we need lots of work!
utility seemed broken.
agility was awesome though and berlin was a superstar. rah managed to bite me about 12 times including leaving two bad bruises on my arm.
the courses - berlin ran clean every time except once i needed to restart her offside weaves!!! so proud of her.
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