god, ive been horrible with the posting lately!!!!!!!

the show went well over the weekend (ill update on that next, with videos!). i also had a private lesson on sunday with debbie (the agility intstructor).

last night we had agility first, then open.

started agility with working lateral outs and sequencing. berlin actually caught on quite well, but part of me thinks this is because we were sequencing to the tunnel and we all know she's a tunnel suck. but i have to remember that i need to intersect her path and push her to the jump. but she did well, and i didnt have to babysit the line or go up to the jumps. debbie says she will be like a bull in a china shop during agility - the dog who is so dainty and controlled in obedience is a MAD WOMAN in agility and jumping, pushing, biting all over. she's crazy.

we then worked teeter - added in some motion, clicked for adjusting their body over the pivot point. berlin was very cute and kept giving us 2o2o at the end but that wasnt the point, i verbally rewarded that though.

then we moved to training a 180, and did crosses with that too - berlin did well, and then added in contacts - it was very cute. in between working she ran over to the teeter and got on and stood there, waiting for her reward. debbie is right though, i need to maintain a better connection with her in between the jumps.

open - stays were fine. worked individual stuff, minimal heeling (im fine with that last night, i thought i would pass out). working his fronts with the ball like debbie told me (will be in another post), he's coming in much more focused but i still need to tweak it. did proofing games for the DOR when you drop them WHILE you are running backwards and my signals arent strong enough - he would only drop 50% of the time on a signal, but 100% stop on a dime with a verbal. maybe i should switch to a verbal in the ring?

can i also state that im in incredible turmoil right now - besides a rescue mal puppy that was offered to me (8 weeks), a friend of mine just offered me an awesome working bitch from her litter she just bred. OH MY GOD.

want. malinois.

up in binghamton for the show tomorrow --- had good training days - well good and bad!

ill hopefully update tomorrow with the classes and how the show went :)

dump it all here...

god, im so behind in all of this again!!!!

the UDC show thurs and fri - berlin was dumped thurs and ray hated her :) but she passed her YTT with flying colors - naz (it was great to see her again!) said she did perfect - didn't alert too early, lit up without any encouragement from me and settled down after. rah was entered in the ATT (even though he's already passed it) and he was ridiculous :) as soon as he was out there he was keyed in on the car, knew an agitator was going to come out - oscar was on the phone though, so rah just stood there staring... finally after a minute he came out and rah started barking immediately.

the second day, berlin did much better and was E rated and earned the first CC towards her UDC CH !!! (she needs three, as well as the TT's and working titles). lots more happened, but im too tired to recall it all ;)

yesterday i was simply too tired to make it up to the trial, so i went to my training centers ob match instead, and got three runs for the dogs. berlin we just worked on attitude, ring set ups, the first start of heeling, we did a SFE and a few recall games.

rah worked open - heeling wasnt bad (though judy wants to know why he can do such nice fig8's but cant control his butt all the other times...), DOR was nice except his front was a little crooked (Everything else was perfect!), ROF we did games and no full retrieve, same for ROH, broad jump he anticipated (OF COURSE).

later we did a utility match - signals he was anticipating like crazy, he heeled, did the stand, but as soon as i gave him the down, he immediately gives me a sit and then a come front... i dont know if its that i am reflecting when the judge gives me the signals somewhere in my body or if he's just so keyed (both very possible) but that needs to be proofed. articles - he couldnt find the first, but i did two more and he slowed down and worked the pile and found the right article. his biggest issue as with any class is going to be him slowing down and THINKING.

moving stand was pretty much perfect.
gloves - we did 1, but he's choosing which glove he wants and the minute i pivot he drops his head and picks a glove. he just happened to pick the one i was sending him to. on glove 3 he's already picking too... we need to work on pivots separate when he's so crazy, with no actual retrieve at the end. and him not dropping his head.

go outs - were lovely. i think he's using the guides as his mark instead of the stanchion, so in class this week we will have to explore that. but his go outs were perfect and his jumps were nice!!!!

didnt get to class on thursday because of the UDC show... agility on wed was good, his open class was crazy.

HIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

today we had a double CDSP trial, and we had a mixed bag - multiple NQ's because rah couldn't find go out if i had handed him a map... but...

we took High in Trial in the second trial with a 197!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and high scoring rescue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

im so proud of him - its kinda silly, but it's our first HIT!!!!!!!!!

ill type more later about class thurs (berlin rocked open, rah rocked utility) and what happened at the trial. but im tired and have stuff to do.

expellllll.....

well, it's been awhile since i've updated the blog at all. been dealing with a few things here and there, my own issues, their issues, our issues, life in general...

had a match this past weekend.



class last night was good for both dogs.
started with agility - the class split up and we started working the weaves (full set of 12) - im intermittently rewarding berlin, sometimes for every pole, sometimes no click and just verbal marker, sometimes i jackpot her at the end with food, sometimes its a toy i throw, she never knows. she's got some nice speed and she focuses through the weaves and she does quite well. i should get the weaves out at home and take some videos- i should also invest some money (i dont have!!!) in good weaves, since ours suck.

then we switched and we moved to jumps and table work while the other half of the class worked on weaves (i was working with lydia and bunny). did jumps to table in both sits and downs - did sends, did running past with her staying on the table, did both sides and she was nailing it!!!!

then we had a few sequences we tried, working on pivots and different linda mecklenburg types of handling skills - her backey uppy thing, and all these lateral sends, etc. then we did a full sequence to see how the dogs would do and how we would handle it. berlin did really well as long as i remember to support my jumps and the line!!!!! she had great speed and was focusing well on me.

hung out and got dinner, lydia put bunny in the attention class. waited more and then rah had open. we worked on jumps and i spent literally 45 minutes working retrieving with rah, both on the flat and over the jump. did retrieves on the flexi, dead retrieves and recalls with the db in his mouth. he seriously just cannot focus when the db is in his mouth - because he was nailing totally off center fronts on regular recalls and was perfect. but the db gets in his mouth and the minute he starts dancing with his feet, he stops thinking. im getting so frustrating with what to do here to get him to think - i just want a fast front. i just want him to think about what his job IS.


unfortunately i came home today and rah has been vomiting and diarrhea-ing all over the house. im telling you, after the past month with my dogs having bodily functions all over the place, im seriously considering either 1) not feeding them at all (ha ha) 2) feeding them all kibble because changing the foods is throwing everyone off. i dont want to feed kibble thoughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.


im seriously getting lost with rah's fronts.

had a private lesson yesterday (have i posted about everything else already?)...

started with berlin. worked on warming her up - we had a full ring set up, and during warm up she was awful interested in terry so we had to work on her not paying attention to others. then we worked ring entrances - the touch set up works really well for her. then we did some heeling - i need to remember not to look for her - if i cant see her she WILL come back - but if i start to slow down and stop driving, she just reacts even further to that. i need to trust her.

we started to work fig8's and it all fell apart. i need to watch my hips and make sure i drive through the entire fig8. berlin was confused because of my hips breaking parallel and it pushed her back, so we played games to get her to drive through. i also heeled quest for a bit and he's about the same height as berlin but i can still see him - i need to work on her for a bit. i saw how me breaking with my hips affects quest...

we talked a bit there, and about how i need to focus on berlin now - rah can handle changes made in his handling, but berlin is SO sensitive to my body position, and such an honest dog, that the tiniest movement from me can push her out and confuse her if i change things up. rah doesn't seem to care (probably because he's not really paying that close of attention, or he doesn't even care!)...

got out the noodle, we worked on retrieves first. well, fake retrieves - rah isn't allowed to retrieve ANYTHING for the next month or so, formally. ill continue to work on his drive building games and pushing his toys into me, but aside from that, there is no formal glove or db retrieve. we worked straight recalls with glove/db in mouth, and we worked on flexi where he does a recall but has to stop halfway to me and pick up the object (glove/db). its simply that the act of retrieving gets him SO HIGH. terry thinks that something may have happened to him before i got him that makes him so sensitive to fronting with an object in his mouth, but i also think its also that its SUCH a battle of possession for him. but he has always been sensitive to front positions, which is so dominant for him and i... odd.

we worked heeling into signals. i need to stop using anything but my muscles to lead him into turns - give him cues early and he will pop out of my way on the left turn, and i can start to tighten up very early if he starts to push ahead of me, too. but if i break with my hips, its going to ruin berlin!!!!!! did signals - first she stood literally within 2 feet of him while i left him - he was very worried but he DID perfect signals with her clapping, whooping, stomping her feet... WOOHOO! then we did another one with the monkey stick stuffed animal and he did fine for that one too - but i need to watch because when i stop him on my left foot, im taking a step to the left which pushes him out further away from me.

worked some finishes and then worked pivots - the pivots weren't half bad!!! i just have to remember to do my job.

then we discussed showing - she thinks i should pull rah from all shows for the next 4-5 months since we are essentially retraining his retrieve to some degree because he's a butthead. dont give him a chance to practice bad behaviors in the ring - he could easily finish his CDX next month, but he's just practicing bad behaviors in the ring. she thinks by nationals we should have this worked out, and in the meantime keep perfecting utility as well, and match him in both. he's doing so well in utility and once i finish his CDX he will likely be able to come out in utility pretty soon after that.

*Sigh*. i wish i was a better handler for him sometimes! and berlin. so ill sign us up for as many matches as i can, and start to practice everywhere i can. and pick out some shows in oct/nov for him to show at.

the good, the bad and the bloody

well, life has been hectic.

over the weekend, rah showed in the APDT trial in kingston, NY. it was hot as heck, way too humid to be outside, but we managed to eek out two q's with a 200 and a 201 i believe. he was hot beyond belief and could barely concentrate in the ring, but the double Q's meant his ARCHX title and his RL2X... so with that behind us, i opted not to stay for the second trial and just came home in time to hit major thunderstorms and flooding.

sunday we went up to marylyn's place in roscoe NY and trained with pat. berlin was good, but she's still trying to figure out the game and if she's allowed to do bark and bite! rah on the other hand came out like a mack truck and was all over pat - he was on a full sleeve and just jammed it into his mouth and held on for dear life. pat LOVES him and thinks he's going to be quite the sleeper dog.

we also worked some obedience - discussed how i need to tap into my dogs drives more, because they can give me 10 times what they already are (i know, i know) - better playing with toys, stop asking for outs, etc. we also discussed where rah can be more precise on things. then we addressed rahs out issues and how i should just stop fighting him. so much to think about. we were all so impressed with rah though, he LOVES this. maybe i WILL put a 1 on him if i can...

wed night training - agility we started with jump grids and berlin did better, but when they are all low at 6 feet apart, she's jumping two jumps at once. raised the middle jump and she did it right - also managed a few sends to her toy. then we did weaves, and she's a weaving superstar. i can get full 12 with some nice speed and then jackpot her at the end - shaping them really helped clarify it for both her AND rah. need to remember to use my verbal marker though if shes not getting a cookie for every other pole now.

then we did some handling -set up a course of 4 jumps and handled it in two different ways - but for the first time we used our OWN dogs. had to do later distance, go ons, and crosses. with berlin i need to remember to regroup with her sometimes.

open class - rahs ROH was much better, but his flat was broken. kathy was stumped, so we're going to stop retrieving at all for awhile and instead work these as recalls with the db and get him to think about his job. his broad jump wasnt bad, heeling was crazed, and his drops were pretty nice. his fronts without anything in his mouth are really nice... he needs to give me those all the time! he's doing the whole "i come to front but dont sit" thing again.

i need to find a way to incorporate the schutzhund work with his ob work at hk9.

ill get to the events of that night at home later...

tonight we had open with berlin - did heeling first, and she did pretty well. however, molly noticed that apparently i heel like stalin and i need to give berlin more freedom and let loose with her. her fig8's were painful because my body posture is pushing her back - i have to keep my hips straight even on the turn.

drops were nice, were just playing games for the time being. did retrieves and she has nice take its and holds, but she was tired and when i tossed it, she ran out but got distracted coming back. SAME WITH RAH - so i have to follow her out and make sure the thing she thinks about first after she picks up the db is GET BACK TO MOM.

worked bj - kathy helped me there. need to toss her cookie quickly so she stops looking ahead for her cookie and get a nice tight turn. she's doing really well - flies over it.

then kathy took me aside to work her set ups with touches, which i think will help make her much peppier and lively when we do them (and left finishes) - very good advice.

rah in utility - started with articles and rah wasnt thinking. got metal but couldnt find a leather - terry thinks i need to get him a tie down mat now. im not sure about it, im still thinking. by now he understands his job - he just gets crazy and doesn't think. ironically the fronts with the article were great!!!!!!!!!!!!

did dueling directed jumping - one dog at one end, another dog at the other end and sent them to opposite jumps. rah did well here. moved to signals and he's moving just a tad (better than before) - need to keep perfecting this.

gloves - rah isnt thinking on his way back to me either, so i need to stop retrieving the gloves and just do recalls with them. with just a recall he isn't shaking to kill!!!!!

moving stand was nice, but he's moving his front feet all of a sudden...

go outs were perfect.

so home work for the week - berlin retrieves, berlin set ups with touches, and rahs recalls with db to the front. and of course, drivework with both.

now the crappy news - somehow in a freak accident mercury sliced his leg open and severed his achilles tendon. he was non weight bearing because he couldnt extend the leg to support himself - this morning he went to see a specialist and he had surgery to repair it and has an external fixator to immobilize the leg. so he's out for the season for agility and obedience.

hectic and stressed, thats me.