Guiness is laughing at Miley

">

Things Im working on

Here is a course I set up in my yard tonight. Not much time to work on things since I got out of work late and rain was coming. When we first started she , for some reason, couldn't get into the tunnel from the jump to the left or the right of the tunnel. Every time she jumped on and off the table. So is she confused, unsure of herself? I don't know. But she finally got it. When she did, then she could go to the tunnel or the table, which ever I called.






Next we practice sending to the table. I didn't put any jumps in front of the table. I just wanted her run and get on the table. At first every time she took one of the jumps before going to the table. Not sure what that's about. Avoidance? And many times if I'm standing still she cant make it to the table. Is it fair to send to the table without movement? No movement would cue your dog to pull back toward you, which is what she does. Then I had both Guiness and Miley out together, Guiness drove to the table and Miley did not. So I really treated Guiness and Miley didn't get anything. That got her thinking. The next time, no problem, right to the table. So then I started playing a game of sending the dogs alone to the table. That worked pretty good. If Miley messed up and didn't drive right to the table, oops no treats and its Guiness's turn with big rewards. Again that got her attention. Then it started raining.

Ive been trying to get a Christmas type picture with the dogs but I don't really like any of them yet. I ll just have to keep trying.




">

">

We are home

">

">
( This is Miley checking out the dogs that are on the other side of the fence)


We got back from Savannah yesterday. Its nice to visit family, but its so nice to come home. Two adults and 4 dogs in a double bed makes for a long and unhappy night. I realized last night that my dogs usually don't sleep in the bed except for Mickey. Miley sleeps on the ottoman next to me (its used for the dogs to jump on and off the bed). Roxy sleeps on a pillow that is on the hope chest at the end of the bed. And Guiness sleeps on a bed that's on the floor. But for some reason everyone has to sleep in the bed at my mom's house.

Last night both the ferrets looked really bad. The one with the insulin problem was laying there drooling. I don't think Ive ever seen the ferrets drool before. I couldn't get her mouth open to get the medication in her. I did the best I could. I checked her later and she was down by the food bowl but just laying there in her urine. I guess she couldn't make down to the litter pan. The other ferret looked bad too. She was lying there unresponsive. Her legs were curled under. I couldn't get her to move at all. I thought about video taping her but I wasn't sure why I was thinking that. Now I wish I had. My son was with me while the ferrets were acting this way and even he said it seemed mean to keep them alive and I should put them to sleep. So I made the decision to put them to sleep. I went up there this morning and both of them seemed perfectly normal. Bright eyed a bushy tailed. I took them to the vet anyway. The vet checked them and he felt they weren't sick enough to put to sleep. Hmmm, he should have seen them last night. They tested their blood sugars. The sick one had a blood sugar of 23. He told me to increase her dose twice a day. If in a month her sugar is still that low, he will put her to sleep. The other ferret's blood sugar was normal. He felt she was a healthy ferret. Healthy ferrets try to run around and play. These ferret just lay there all the time. Fine I took them home. I really feel that one ferret is having seizures. That's why I wish I had video taped them to show the vet. This evening the insulin ferret is so much better. She fought me a lot with the medication. The other ferret is about the same. I guess will just keep going along.

I took Miley to the field this afternoon. Its been almost a week since we have done any agility. Its been raining alot and then with Thanksgiving, no time. First we worked on the table. I started with the chuck-it and trying to get her on the table before throwing it. She did pretty good with a couple of failures.



">


We then worked on the jumps to the table. She did ok but still didn't drive to the table if I'm standing still and we are out pass the second jump.

Then we worked on a jumpers run that I messed up a couple of trials ago. I would post the video but its been a pain to post tonight.

When I was out at the field the sheep got out to where I parked the car. So the owner came out with her dog and I figured she was going to practice herding. They moved the sheep into the field next to us. The sheep were driving toward us. I wasn't paying that much attention because I was setting a course up. Miley drove straight to the fence to get the sheep. She made the sheep move all the way across the field. Of course she couldn't get to them because a fence divides the fields. I felt terrible. The lady was trying to work her dog and Miley goes and messes it up. I told her I was really sorry. She was very nice and just laughed. She said it was ok, Miley just wants to be a sheep dog. I was so glad she wasn't mad. But then she went back inside with her dog. So maybe she wasn't going to work her dog and she just wanted to put the sheep back in the correct field. I hope thats what it was.

Happy Thanksgiving!

">

">

">

Just for fun

These pictures always crack me up. So Im posting them again. The chihuahua's look cute in the second picture.


">">

Lesson and more

<">

I drove up to Charlotte today for a private lesson and then a class about gamblers.
Meagan set up some small sequences with table in them. She used this page from the Clean Run Exercise source book.



I had the most trouble with the second one (E) set up. To keep Miley out of the tunnel I had to stand pass the tunnel, facing the dog and stand between 2 and 3 ( probably around the 45 foot mark) I hope that makes sense. Then I had to call her to front ( so she came straight to me) and then turn and send her to the tunnel. I would have never thought of doing that. Then to get her back on the #5 table I had to rear cross her on the flat coming out of the tunnel. I tried sending her into the tunnel with me staying at #4 end and then calling her out of the tunnel but she kept turning the wrong way. I think Meagan must have done some other set ups with this but I cant remember what they were.

Next we worked on table sends.



We did this set up with me standing next to the dog at #1, then send to the table. No problem. She went right to the table. Next, I put Miley at the #2 position and sent her. Guess what, she took the jump and turned back toward me. She never drove to the table at all. So this is my homework. To work this set up. I may need to move in to help her but the goal is to be able to send her to the table from the last jump (#4) with out me having to move. When ever the dog makes it to the table , of course reward , then send on to another obstacle like the a-frame or weaves.


After all that I stayed for a Gamblers class. It was lots of fun and Miley did really well. She did self release herself off the a-frame 3 times in a row. I had to finally put her back on in the 2o/2o postion to get it right. Then did the sequecne again. She was trying so hard to nail it, her whole back end came completely up in the air and back down onto the contact. Poor dog. But she got the idea.

Pictures

">

">

">

">

">
"How many times do you think she is going to make us do this?"
I dont know but Im thinking of biting her."


After getting an email from a friend who gave me a few suggestions about the table trouble, I pulled some old Clean Run magazines to look for some articles. I pulled "Training Terrific Tables" from March 09 and "Confessions of a Mat Freak" from Oct 06. Both had some good ideas in them. So can my dog do a down on obstacles in other places. Like the park bench , the bridge,a tree log ect.. No she can not ( as I found out today). So we worked on that. Jump on the item and down. In the article the person talked about you being able to do a cartwheel. You would probably be ok doing it in the yard or at the gym. But what if someone asked you to do one at a restaurant. So I will now be practicing jumping on to items and getting into a down EVERYWHERE. I also took the table to the park and put it out in the middle of a field. We had never spent any time at this field. But I guess it wasn't exciting enough because she nailed it every time. Sending, recalling and me running by. The other thing I may try and reteaching the table using the info from the "Mat Freak" article. I was thinking of presenting the obstacle in a new way. Like using a PVC box and getting her to stop in it and they slowly make the transition to a table. ( you think I'm getting obsessed with this.LOL)

Not much

I haven't done much this week. Monday and Tuesday I just took a break with no training at all. Well, except I have been trying to teach Miley a moving down. Meagan thinks this will help when Miley gets into her running circles in the ring. Ive been teaching both Guiness and Miley. Guiness is getting it faster than Miley but I think that's because I'm using a lure to teach it. Guiness does better with luring and Miley does better with shaping. Anyway we have a long way to go on the moving down. Then Wednesday and Thursday I work on the table. Guiness can get very excited running thur the yard and then Miley gets excited chasing him. Wednesday she did really well with being able to pull off chasing Guiness and then getting on the table. Even when someones dogs were running loose and came up to the fence. All the dogs barking and excited. I was still able to get Miley to get on the table. Thursday she was pretty consistent so I decided to up the anty (sp?). I had my husband ride his bicycle pass the front of the house. This made Guiness very excited. Running thur the yard while spinning tight circles and running again. So of course Miley's excitement level went way up too. She was chasing him full speed and I couldn't pull her off no matter what. To much to soon. I'm not sure how to increase the excitement just a little because the bike seems to be an all or nothing type thing. I'm sure I'll figure something out.

At the trial last week the water bucket spilled in the crate so everything was wet. I brought it inside to dry out. I guess Roxy figured this was a good way to use the crate. She has been sleeping up there all week.

Happy Birthday Stephanie!

Stephanie is 17 years old today. I thought I would post some picture of her that I think are cute. In the top picture she is holding flip-flops made out of duct tape. Duct tape really is the all around product.

I'll never be a vet

Or for that matter a vet tech. Last night I went up to check on the ferrets. The one with the insulin problem has been doing really well. The other one has been getting really fat. I'm not sure why but she has. Anyway, I gave them some fresh water and the lighter ferret (the fat one) got up and got something to drink. Every thing seemed good. I went and sat on the couch. I then heard banging around in the cage. That's weird , so I went to look. The light colored ferret was having difficulty walking and kept falling over. I took her out but she just kept trying to get away from me and I was afraid if I let her go she would get under something and I wouldn't be able to get to her. So I put her back in the cage. It was tortuous to watch as she flailed around in the cage and finally landed in a heap in the bottom corner of the cage. Her head and neck all distorted. It was horrible and I figured she was dying. I shut the cage and went down stairs because I just couldn't watch this poor thing die. I text my husband who was at a dinner meeting and told him he had to come home and help me because the ferret was dead. So he came home and I got a box. We went back up stairs and the ferret was now sleeping in its bed again. OMG, it wasn't dead. I couldn't believe it. It must have just been having a massive seizure. I'm sure my husband thought I was an idiot. There didn't look there was any thing wrong with her. So now what do I do. These poor ferrets , what next. ( That's why I couldn't be a vet, I cant even tell when an animal is dead). When my cat dead a few years ago, she just keeled over and that was that. I still took her to the vet to make sure. I told them," I'm 99.9% sure my cat is dead but can you make sure."

Im so mad!

The dogs were playing this morning and some how Mickey got his dew claw caught. So it was bent out and bleeding. I cleaned it up. I have to be at work by 7am so I asked my husband to drop him at the vet and get the nail clipped off. I knew my husband didn't want to wait at the vet so that's why I said to just do a drop off. First they call and say Mickey is due for all his shots. I told them I didn't think that was correct. I had him there is summer for his yearly and he wasn't due for any thing. I told her I would have to call my husband and him pull Mickeys file at home to see when he last got his shots. Well then she says she is sorry, she now sees he isn't due for any thing but I had to give him kennel cough vaccine because I dropped him off. Well we all know that the kennel cough vaccine wont cover him for today. But fine. I told her I just need the dew claw clipped. She said they might have to sedate him. What? He does this about once a year and they have always just clipped it and he is fine. She will call me back if he needs to be sedated. They never called and I go to pick him up this afternoon. The bill is 100.00 What???? I'm sorry to complain but I usually don't mind paying the vet for their services. I know it cost a lot of money to run a business but this I feel is over the top.

Exam 44.00
prep and or debride/flush wound 25.00 ( wound?, what wound?)
bandage 20.00 ( you've got to be kidding me right??)
toe nail trim 15.00
neo-pred with tetracaine powder 35.00
kennel cough vaccine 15.00

I'm sorry this is the most ridiculous thing I have every paid for. When I took my dogs to Bandfield and Mickey did this. The vet tech took him and clipped it , wrapped it and gave him back to me for free. Not that I think I should have this for free but 100.00. Rip off.
Next time I'll just take care of it myself.

Trial Day2

What did I learn Sunday? Run the whole course and work even the parts you think are easy. I focused so much on the hard parts and worried about them, that I messed up the easy stuff.

My first run was Exc JWW. I did a 2 jump lead out with a call the heel but I didn't lean back far enough and Miley missed the 2nd jump and then things fell apart for a few seconds. I didn't know what to do, so I just started running and Miley came. The rest of the course she did great. I wish I hadn't messed up the beginning. I was so worried about the double pinwheels and making my front crosses that I didn't worry about the beginning.

Then I was was watching the Exc Standard. The big dogs were running. So after I watched Meagan run, I figured I would get something to eat. I didn't eat yesterday and went 12 hours before I ate. So I wanted to make sure I ate today. I walked over to the stand. No one was in line. I ordered a hamburger and walked back to the agility ring. Crap, they were already walking Open standard. How did I miss it? They couldn't have rebuilt the course already. I guess they didn't have to change anything. When I got down to the ring. They blew the whistle to make everyone leave the course. Crap. I missed the walk thur. I did get to run it once very quickly between jump height changes. Anyway, once again the things I wasn't worried about, I had problems with. We missed a jump, I should have made sure I pulled Miley toward me on that run of jumps after the a-frame. Then she didn't go off course into the tunnel after the dogwalk. So that was good. She got into the weaves but her legs slipped out from under her and she came out of the weaves. I felt bad for her. She was trying so hard. Lots of dogs slipping this time unlike the last time I ran here. But this is a 4 day trial. I think last time I ran the first few days and not last one. It must get slicker as the days go by. Anyway it was then chute to the table. I would be in front of her for the table. I really thought she was going to get on and stay on. She slowed way up and got on, then she jumped off and I caught her. It really was just a reflex. All of a sudden I realized I had touched my dog on course. I think I had surprised look on my face because the judge started laughing. And we walked off the course. I wish I had thought to quickly put her back on the table but I didn't. I'm not mad a Miley, I really wish I could make her understand she has to stop on the table.
">

Trial update

We are at an indoor trial this weekend. The good news is Miley didn't break her start line. She didn't move one little bit. WhooHoo. Open Standard and Exc JWW , 12inch , walked at the same time and were running at the same time. So I walked both courses and asked to run 1st in the jumpers ring. She didn't break so we got to run the course correctly. I was so excited. I did a lead out pass jump two and then into the tunnel. I'm not sure how, but we missed jump four. I didn't get video because i thought she was going to break and I would have to leave the ring. Anyway, she missed jump 4 ( I think she came in to tight when I called her name while she was still in the tunnel) and I think went in at the 2nd weave pole. But other than that she was perfect. I ran it just the way I planned. I heard someone yell, "great run". So that made me feel good. She was fast too. When I looked at all 50 , 12inch dogs she was tied for 2nd fastest time. 29.92 Yea!!
Then came standard. My plan was to try and catch her if she did a touch and go on the table. It was teeter to the table. But I just missed her. Ugh!! She took huge laps around the ring. I walked off. She came to the finish line. Im sure she was thinking, "Hey whats wrong?" Silly dog. I tried a couple of times to bring her to my side but she was just over the top. So that's why I walked off. I'm not sure if its the right thing to do but that's what I did. I think she just doesn't understand that she cant do that. But how to I make her understand. Hmmmm.
I had to laugh, I said thank you to the judge as I walked off. She said, " she's a great dog. I bet you in Exc Jumpers. (She laughed )What kennel did you get her out of?" Then she asked me about her again later when I was working the novice class. I guess things aren't as bad as they seem if people still want to know who I got my dog from. Lol

">

">">

Sorry but here are some more pictures from last weekend. Last week photobucket was having problems so I couldn't upload them all. I know , another tress picture. Sorry but this tree was really cool looking. And I really wish Miley had been looking at the camera on the second picture.

I took Miley to the field tonight. I just wanted to do a short work out. Some people were already there, so a course was set up. WhooHoo. Makes life easier for me. We had a good workout. Someone there gave me the suggestion of using the chuck-it to get Miley excited at the table. So if I called Miley to my side and then released her to the table,she got on. But if I let her loose and tried to just send her to the table while holding the chuck-it , she was just way to excited and did the touch and go thing. At least now I have something that can get Miley really excited, which must be what is happening at the trial. To high to stop on the table. Now to fix it , hopefully.

Table Sends

I watched lots of our trial video trying to figure out if I was doing anything that is causing Miley to jump on and off the table. I first watched the whole thing. Then just the dog and then just me and then the dog again. Things I noticed. 1. Me hanging back and sending to the table. 2. Late calls to the table. 3. Miley turning the wrong way and having to turn back to get to the table and then doing a touch and go. 4. Miley zigging and zagging ( very slight movement I hadn't see before) when going toward the table. 5. Head checking when going to the table.

All of these things point to my dog not knowing where she is going. And not knowing her job. So I decided to run a test in my house. ( Its very muddy in the back yard). I brought the table into the hallway so I could send the dogs to the table . I could send to the table from as far as the crate. Much farther back and Miley didn't know to go to the table. Which means she doesn't understand her job. That's not that far, she should have been able to drive to the table. Her and Guiness had about the same performance. Which is odd , since I never train him in agility any more.

Table thoughts

So Ive been thinking about my table issue. One thing I have realized is that when I'm on course at a trial, I tend to hang back when I send her to the table. I know it doesn't look like it on tape but I feel it. And then I watch her to see what she is going to do. The whole time worrying, is she going to do it? Maybe I need to attack it. Run at the table, run like I mean it. It may not make a difference but it couldn't hurt. And hey, maybe I can catch her if she does a touch and go.

The next thing Ive notice that Ive been doing has to do with staying. When I tell Miley to wait ,when giving out treats to all the dogs, she will scoot around trying to get a better position. Not move a lot but just a little. I haven't corrected this because I wasn't really "training" anything. But Ive notice she does this in a lot of little places when waiting for a reward. Hmmmm... You get what you reward. I'm trying very hard this week not to let any little movement go. She moves, no reward.

Im so excited.

You probably cant tell from this picture but this is a mini ball chuck-it. Its the smaller version of the chuck-it so the pole is shorter. But its for little balls. I've been looking for this forever. Miley gets very excited over the chuck-it. So I usually have to slide the chuck it up my shirt sleeve so she cant see it when we go walk. Its kinda uncomfortable walking with this long hard plastic tube in your sleeve. I knew they made the shorter chuck-it for regular size tennis balls but was hoping they had it for little balls. Yesterday I was at Wal-mart. I hate Wal-mart, not sure why, and try to never go there. But I went looking for a new soft crate . I didn't find a crate but found this instead. WhooHoo. We ha vent used it yet because its been raining. We've had about 4 inches of rain in the last 2 days and I think we are suppose to get 2 more. I wont be able to use my yard this week. It will be a swamp for a while.





After my last run this weekend, a friend was waiting for me at the end of my disastrous run. She said, "You have got to fix your start line". She also gave me the list of reasons why. I'm not sure why but it made a huge impression on me. Its not like I didn't know it was a problem but it really just struck me like a big neon sign. I really respect this person and she would give me advice if I asked her. But she would never just tell me things. I'm really glad she did this.





I did drive up to Charlotte yesterday for a lesson with Meagan. I wanted to work on start lines, tables and tunnels. We had three people in the lesson so Miley would be excited, especially when other dogs run. She didn't break her start line. I don't think she creeped at all. I practiced walking pasted her, running passed her, saying different words and trying to remember to either move first then release or release and then move. That way she doesn't release on motion.


No trouble with the table. But that only seems to be problem at trials. Do you think she knows I cant catch her so she does touch and go? I'm not really sure what to do about the table.



Here was one of the courses we ran. This is to the best of my memory so I'm not sure its correct with distances and stuff.



I did a 2 jump lead out. I am the red person. I did a call the heel type thing and sent her over #3. It did work for me. But Meagan said I should have been more forward, the green person, to give the dog better information and not have the potential of dropping the bar. Also the dog should have been farther back and more of a slice then what I had my dog. ( the red and the green people should be farther to the left on the course but to late to fix it now, hopfully you get the point.)

Next problem was the #6-#7. If you rear crossed behind #6 it would pull your dog over #13. You really needed to cross behind #7. But I was so far behind my dog I just couldn't get there. So I think I crossed behind #6 and ran behind #13 , to get closer to the correct tunnel entrance. As my dog was about to take #8, I was to tell her "tight" and do a false turn to bring her in to me. That worked perfect and she go into the correct tunnel entrance. ( of course Meagan had to tell me this because I didn't tell her "tight" the first time and just tried to do the false turn. She took the wrong tunnel entrance.)

Next problem was #12-#13. I wanted to do a post turn but that wasn't enough of a cue for Miley to turn and she went off course. I had to do a front cross and really call her name to keep her off that #5 jump. I shouldn't have run so close the the jump and held back a little more. I had to much forward motion. We did finally get it. The rest wasn't a problem.

Pictures from the weekend

Photobucket is having problems. I wish these had turned out better. I couldn't get the sun out of Miley eyes without having to much shadows on her face.

">

">





">

BKC , Day 2

Last night Miley must have been really tired. It was about 7pm and I was talking to my parents when I realized Miley wasn't around. My mom went to look for her and she was sleeping in my bed downstairs. Very unusual for her. She slept until 6am this morning when I got her up. Also unusual, she is the one always up and ready to go. Then she wouldn't sit when I had her food bowl. I had to make her sit. I put the bowl down and she wouldn't eat. Wow, not Miley at all. I took a shower and when I came back , she was eating. Then after that she seemed back to normal.
We went to the trial. I didn't go early so I missed the Open Fast run. But that was ok. Ok here was the problem. I had to walk Open Standard and Exc. Jww at the exact same time. So I was stressed. I guess I'm not in good shape because it was hard for me to run both the courses. I tried to give equal time to both courses and it wore me out. How pathetic is that. First was Open Standard.



I thought Miley broke her start line but looking at the video I cant tell. I think I didn't trust my dog and gave her the release. So after the second jump , she was off course. I should have done a two jump lead out with a call to heal to the teeter. We got back on course after the tunnel and then everything was great. I wanted to get in front of her after the dogwalk to pull to the left so she would take the correct tunnel entrance. It worked. Great weaves and then the touch and go on the table but I just kept going. So at least no circling.

">

So after that run I went over to the Jumpers ring. I was up in 4 dogs. Just not what I needed. She broke her start line for sure here. She just kept creeping until she broke. Then I wasn't in the correct place and we were off course. She took the pinwheel backwards and I'm not sure why she didn't get into the weaves. Everything else is on video. It was a bad run. I don't know how all these people run all these courses and conflict's. Ugh! I cant handle it at all. What I should have done was concentrated on the Standard run. Then in Jumpers , when she scooted all the way to the bar, I should have pulled her from the course.
I probably shouldn't be posting all these bad runs but maybe it will make someone else , who had a bad run, think hey my run wasn't to bad.




">

And then after all that, I broke my crate.

Exc. JWW course from Saturday

Ricky's mom asked me to post the Exc. JWW course map. Here it is.

BKC trail

I can't believe I was worried it was going to be cold. It was a beautiful sunny day. I was probably over dress. I could have used a short sleeve shirt. Our first run was Open fast. She was awesome.




">

She earned 71 points. WhooHoo! 1st and Q. But to be fair there were only two 12 inch dogs. My plan was to take the a-frame at the end but she took the tunnel instead. O'well, it still looked good.

Then the wait started. Ugh! 4 1/2 hours later our second run, which was Open Standard. Sorry I don't have it on video. It started out great. She was on fire. The surface was very deep sand and hard to run in, but she was flying. I did a precue at the double to turn her into the tunnel and she didn't drop the bar. She got the correct tunnel entrance. No stopping us now. But she did a touch and go on the table and took THREE HUGE LAPS around the ring. Ugh!!!! I think the judge was getting ready to blow the whistle and I sent he into the tunnel ,skipped the table and went straight to the weaves. Once again she was on fire. All the way to the end. I couldn't have pictured a more perfect run if I tried except for the table crap.


Last was Exc JWW. I really didn't get much of a walk thur. I walked it a couple of times at the general walk thur but it was packed. After our Open Standard run, I went to cool Miley down. When I came back they were doing small dogs walk thur. I handed my dog off to someone and got to walk the course once when they whistled everyone off. For some reason Miley and I weren't connected. I couldn't even remember what happened during the run. She just didn't feel like the dog I usually run and I'm not sure why I felt that way. When I watch the video , she doesn't look slow. Someone told me she couldn't get lift because of the deep sand and it caused her to drop some bars. The whole run just didn't feel right and it shows. To bad , I was really looking forward to my first time ever in Excellent.



">


I decided I'm not going to do open fast tomorrow. I'm visiting my parent in Savannah and I'll just go for the last to runs. That way we don't have to wait so long. Will see if that makes a difference with Miley's run.

"Shorties" again

I drove up to Charlotte for a lesson with Meagan. She is just so great for the ego. She has such nice things to say about me and my dog. So when I get to the lesson she has a surprise for me. She set up the "shorties" sequences from "Clean Run" magazine that I had such trouble with. I had to laugh because I had also brought my magazine with it open to the "shorties" page to ask her how to handle it. She told me to pick the one I had the most trouble with. It was #3. Of course when she showed me what to do , it was a piece of cake. Just like in the picture, front cross between the weaves and jump #3, then kinda post turn from #3-#4 but get into the pocket between the jumps as your dog is turning ( I guess its like a front cross but not really). As the dog takes #4 precue with your outside hand. Tell the dog "tight" ( or "in" or"'wrap" what ever your word is for a tight turn) and call your dog dog as your going toward the tunnel. I know this is very confusing. If I have time I will post video tomorrow. Watch tomorrow I wont be able to do it. Lol. We also practice rear crosses because sometimes I pull Miley to tight with the rear crosses and she misses the outside jump of a pinwheel. Of course tonight she did great. That just shows you what nerves and frustration do to your handling. The only bad thing was Miley did a lot of circling behavior. When ever we would stop to discuss the course or something , Miley would start running big circles around us. I think it was just that she had been in the crate all day. She was out maybe 30 minutes when I go home and then back to the crate for the car ride. I think she just had a lot of energy she needed to release. She was great during the training it was just if we stopped. Stopping is boring, lets run.

The ferret is much better today. Yesterday was really bad. She hasn't been able to get herself out of the bed in the crate. Her tail was sticking up in a weird position and she couldn't use her back legs. I was feeling bad. Maybe it would be better to put her down . But they said it would take the medication a week to start working and it hasn't been a week. Today when I went to give her the medication she got up and got out of the bed. Then tonight when I got home. I went to let her out and she got up and walked down the ramps to the bottom of the crate. Maybe things will get better for her now.

Backyard dogs sequences

I worked this backyard dog sequence #1-4 in the Nov 09, Clean Run magazine.


The first video is of course #1.
">

Here is course #2
">

Now here is #3 and #4. #4 is where we struggle. ( don't worry Roxy didn't get stepped on. I didn't even realize she was there until I watched the video)

">

To much arm flapping but I didn't know how to cue her without it. Hmmm. Feel free to criticize my runs. She was rewarded a lot during the session but I edited it out.

The ferret is up and down. Saturday evening she wasn't doing well. She couldn't use her back legs at all. She was just dragging them behind her. Then Sunday, I walked in the room and she was lying in the middle of the floor. Ferret usually sleep in the dark, hidden some where. I thought she was dead. I went over to her and touched her and she moved. Ok, not dead. Now today she seems better. Who knows. They said it would be up and down like this. Poor Ferret.