Day #3

Well, its really pass day 3 but I was really tired last night, so I didnt feel like writing.  My back was much better Sunday.  I didnt use any heat on it Saturday night, only ice.  I also didnt sleep with my foot up on pillows.  It was 200% better Sunday.  I didnt sit down most of the day so my back wouldnt start hurting.  But Sunday night my foot was swollen so I slept with my foot up again. I woke up at 4am with my back hurting. Ugh!  I just got up and after feeding and talking Miley on a walk, I drove home.  It was a painful drive home. My back is just so irritated.  I got home by 12:30 in the afternoon. So that was nice.  Now hopefully my back can go back to normal or I will need to see the doctor.  Here I was worried about my foot making it throught the camp.  My foot was no problem at all. LOL
Sunday it was suppose to pour down rain starting at 12noon. But we were so lucky, it never happened. Our group worked with Jenn Pinder.  We work Lateral motion.  Funny, the easy exercises I had trouble with and the harder ones we got. Maybe I take things for granite when its seems easy to me. Ill have to keep that in mind when I walk and run courses. One of the things she pointed out was, I wasnt cuing jumps but miley was taking them and they were the right jumps.  So I still have work to do. We had lots of off courses in Jenns class.
Here are just somethings that were talked about. A dog that has problems leaving your side ( runs with you) she would never give treats from her side.  She would use a throw and treat bag and work from there.  Make sure when you throw the tug and treat to keep going with your motion.  There was a very slow sheltie in our group.  After Jenn worked with the sheltie, she was 2 -3 times faster  when running with Jenn.  It was amazing to watch. Next running with your arm out, slows your dog down.  Pump your arms, use your arms with sends and turns. It was amazing to watch how much faster dogs got when they followed this advice.  One lady,who had a great PWD, could not stop running with an arm out. So Jenn had her hold one water bottle in each hand. Just so that she would be aware of  what her arms are doing.  The lady couldnt do it. While running she would put both bottles in one hand so that she could use her arm to guide her dog.  It was so funny to watch.  We get into habits and its hard to change.  One of the things Jenn works on first with dogs is "sends", so your dog will learn to move and drive ahead.  In our group, 1/2 the dogs were slow.  So today was very hard for them. The handler is so use to being head of there dog that the dog was uncomfortable moving ahead of the handler. For this class, she made the dogs move ahead.  It was so interesting to watch.  One man had a slow border collie. I cant remember what he did but she said, "I think that is why you are getting refusals at trails".  He said, "We've never gotten a refusal at a trail". ( I thought uh oh, never say never). She said, "I saw you get three this weekend. Oops, never say never. LOL

Here is one of the lateral motion exercises, it was a lateral push.  And we were actually successful.  I really thought , one she wouldnt stay and two, I would push her off.  But as long as my shoulder were showing the right line of motion, it worked great.  ( Im not sure the distances are correct on my course map I made). In the video there is a chute to the left of her when I set her up and she keeps thinking she is going in there. Even when Ive lead out in front of her, you can still see her leaning toward the chute.



Everyone liked Miley.  Jenn Pinder told me several times how much she liked her.  Another lady in my group told me I needed to make up cards that I could just hand out because everyone kept asking me where I got her from.  People would try to guess what kennel she came from and then come up and ask me  which one of them was right.   Its funny because there are lots of cool dogs at camp.  Jenn Pinder's black and white sheltie was a spit fire.  I really liked her. She was lean, which I really like.  Sometimes shelties are kinda on the big bone side, if you know what I mean.
Miley did well with not getting to stressed. No huge circling but a couple of times would start but came when I called her.  Jenn told me not to let her do that. On the last sequence of the day, she dropped the first bar and then we had a refusal and she started to circle.  She told me to reward Miley right away. Dont let her think she was wrong. For one thing she wasnt wrong, she was following my motion. Just reward her and keep her with me, then figure out what I did wrong.  She also told me it would be very helpful for Miley to play with toys on course. That it would really help get rid of that adrenaline she has built up.  She also told me to use her name when getting to the correct tunnel entrance. Miley thinks she know where she is going, and thinks she's right too. I need to get her attention to get her in the right tunnel entrance.

Over all it was a great camp. My hotel was nice. It was on the Indian River. Which looks like its on the ocean but behind a barrier island.  It was very quiet. So Miley didnt bark at all, once we went to sleep.There was a park next to the hotel to walk the dog. It was a  really, really small park but better than nice.   They weather was warm but not  hot. It was very windy but I think thats why it didnt feel hot. Even Sunday when it was 80 degrees out.  But it was so windy it knocked my camera over. Ugh.

This is my favorite picture from the weekend.