Storms and class

Poor Miley. Friday was a bust. It poured down rain all day so we couldn't go outside. Then to top it off a storm came through and knocked the power out. So we were in the dark from 5:30-8:30. We lit candles and Miley keep bringing toys for me to throw. I would throw them until she couldn't find it and then she would go get another toy and we would start over. By 7:00 pm my husband and I decided we were board and we hooked up a TV to the battery pack and watched the new Indiana Jones movie. It finished about the time the power came back on.

Saturday I decided to go up to North Carolina and take a lesson and stay for the class right afterwards. It is hard to drive 2 1/2 hours for the lesson and class but I read some one's blog one day that got me thinking. I don't remember who's blog is was but they talked about what were you willing to do to reach your goals ( for agility). I read this quite some time ago. But I always think about it. How good do I want to be with my dog and what do I want to accomplish? How do I plan to get there. What do I want? When I run with my dog, I want people to say, "Wow, I want a dog like that". So now that Ive gotten off track. I took a lesson. I showed "M" how Miley was doing with the board and her 2o/2o. She is doing much better than she was 2 weeks ago. But still had a ways to go. She definitely knows that the board is important. She still hasn't figured out the main goal is her 2o/2o position. "M" gave me some more things to work on with the board and starting to move my position around the board.( Start again with kneeling beside the board and work to standing when first moving postion) We talked about getting Miley to understand to stay on the board until she is released. Using treats, keep giving her treats when she is in the 2o/2o position and then release her. Slowly start adding more time between the treats and then release.

Next we worked on tunnel discrimination. I think I posted before that miley doesn't always take the tunnel right in front of her , she will take the harder entrance. I posted below the set up we used to teach discrimination. It is the sequence on the far right. ( the one with the curved tunnel and 3 jumps, no numbers) . So I'm to practice sending Miley over the jump and into the tunnel entrance. Depending where I am and which tunnel entrance she needs to take will depend on what I do. Say we are on the far right jump and I want her to take the far left tunnel entrance. I will do a false turn as she takes the jump to bring her into me and then send her to the correct entrance. I should probably add a cue like "in" when she comes in and if she were taking the right tunnel entrance I would say "out". I hope this makes sense. Another note is that small dogs have many more strides from obstacle to obstacle. This gives them more time to think about where they are going and what choices they have. Much more chance for an off course. This tunnel -jump set up is also good for working serpentine , threadles, 180's and correct tunnel entrance. We worked on threadles too because I'm having a problem with those . Which "M" says makes sense since a false turn is involved again.

After the lesson , I stayed for the class. First we worked on the sequence at the top of the course down below. Its numbered 7-12 but actually # 7 is really #1 and go from there. The way I decided to run my dog was: I had my dog on my left and was just going to rear cross her when she went into the tunnel. But guess what happened by me running this way with a little lead out. She went over the first 2 jumps and then on to the jump in front of her and didn't take the tunnel. By running the course this way, I was cuing extension and not collection. Collection would have told the dog a turn is coming and I didn't tell the dog that. So I ran it again and did a running front cross b/t #2 and #3. Of course this work much better. The next problem was you needed to be at the tunnel exit to push your dog out to get over the back of that jump.(#10). So you really had to be turning before your dog got over the 2nd jump otherwise you didn't make it to the tunnel exit. The one that worked the best was a "come to heel". Lead out pass jump #2 sort of facing your dog with your right arm out to tell the dog to take those 2 jumps and then lead him passed your feet into the tunnel. This got you to the exit quickly. Next I had to tell Miley "weave" before she even took that last jump so she had time to adjust her stride and know where to go. She didn't have any problems making the weaves or doing all 12 poles. Yea!

We ran the set up at the bottom of the course posted below last. We ran it with all front crosses and all rear crosses. My cross was late which made my dog wide. Also I needed to call Miley's name when she was about 2/3rd through the tunnel so that she turned tight coming out of the tunnel and again not be wide.

All in all great lesson and class, well worth the drive. But Im glad to be home.( please note that the distances in these courses may not be correct)