Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Drive

Before I talk about drive, Ill talk about the beach.  We drove down to the beach on Sunday.  We had to clean up a water leak at the condo.  The hot water heater has a pipe going to it that brings the water into the heater. That was leaking. My husband just happened to be there last weekend for a Marathon that was at Kiawah. He was a volunteer and some of his friends were running in the race. So they used the condo. He walked into the closet and didnt have shoes on and felt the wet carpet. So he pulled the wall out that hides the water heater. Had a maintenance person come over to fix the  pipe. Then ran a fan to dry the carpet. Then we had to go back to put the wall back up to hide the water heater. Not a good design but I didnt fell like changing it at this point.  We got there at 9:30am and took the dogs for a walk on the beach.


This picture would have been cool but it was into the sun. I wish I could figure out  how to take pictures into the sun. Anyone know any tricks?  Most of the time the dogs seem to be into the sun when I wanted to get a shot.





Here is a little canal of water that forms when the tide goes out.

Here is Miley trying to figure out how to cross that little canal of water without getting wet.  Its only about up to her wrists deep. LOL


These people were riding horses on the beach. Lucky we could see them coming and leashed the dogs up.
I wanted to get some cool pictures of the horses running through the water but it  didnt happen. I wasnt in the right place for the shots and I didnt  think they would want me taking pictures of them. So this was the best I did.

They must have gotten some new alligators for the ponds. Now there are three out there.
This is taken from our deck.

It was a nice day. Beautiful sunshine but a little chilly. But nothing that some extra clothes didnt take care of. It only felt chilly on the beach because of  the wind.

Now onto drive.  I took Java to the club last night. A friend asked me to meet her there to work on young dog things.  I got there first.  Java did well when I first got there.  She isnt really fast about doing things. She may just be thinking, Im not sure.  I can put her in a tunnel and beat her across the room. But the room isnt that big so maybe she doesnt feel she needs to run full out.  Going around the cone, shes got that but never does it fast.  I taught it  with shaping and maybe thats why she doesnt do it fast. Im not sure. Ive been working on the chute. Because I was by myself, I did it different then I usually do. I lifted the end of the chute and threw the cookie into the chute (backwards). Then called her and let the chute fall as she came out.   This technique seemed to work better then  holding the chute open and calling her threw. (which I tried when my friend got there). So here she is going through the chute for the first time, all  by herself without help.



So how do I increase her drive for agility?  I dont know. Im trying to make it fun. But she doesnt look like she is having fun does she?   She seemed nervous when the other ladies dogs were out. She worked, each of us took a corner. But then when I decided to stop and we sat down, when  a yorkie would come over to see her, she would hide under my legs.  Weird. She hasnt acted like this at all in the classes.  She got better during the night but never seemed comfortable around the yorkies.  One even kept trying to get her to play. Java thought about it but never did.
Im signed up for a puppy camp in January called, "Drive,Drive and more Drive".  Its taught by Ann Braue.   Im hoping that will help me.   She likes to run and chase stuff like Miley and squirrels. I just need that to transfer to me and agility.

12 comments:

Chris and Ricky said...

Sorry about the leak at your condo but at least you got to spend more time on the beach and you got some good pictures too!

Ann Braue's drive seminar sounds awesome! I bet she gives you tons of advice for Java.

K-Koira said...

For the pictures-into-the-sun thing, my photo editing program has a button that says "backlight" which helps alot in the editing stage. It also has a backlight mode on it, but I generally use the sports mode for the dogs.

Sophie said...

The pictures are adorable :) I'm kind of traumatised by seeing the alligator though!

For drive, she'll likely increase her speed anyway when she gets more confident.

In that video she looked pretty overstimulated to me. Her tail was quite low, and only tentative, and she was panting after the chute when she wasn't beore. I'd tone down the firm petting and the loudness of your voice - you could try to be softer and squeakier with her. If she likes toys, you could always try to get her to go through for the toy instead. :)

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

Have you tried when you are shaping once Java has something like going around a cone then just selecting out for average or faster speed trials, if she does it slow, good job but no big click and if she really does it fast then there is a party. I am sure you already are doing the restraint going to things, or sensitizing her to collar grabs. Silvia Trkman and Susan Garrett do an exercise where they put out a bowl and pull back on the dogs harness or collar-once they like collar grabs, then pull back and let go and say GET IT. I did that with Crickets food for a couple of weeks in the mornings when I was doing the recall class and it teaches they to drive toward something and that it is ok to be a bit pushy running up and getting something, and helps teach a great release. I know with my dogs they started getting a lot more excitement when I RAN whenever I delivered a treat, dong a lot more chase-maybe she is a dog that likes chase? Michael Ellis talks about when puppies are uncomfortable and he says to take them lots of places but for very short times, you get out of the car and you run into a place and PLAY, just right away for a few minutes around the environment, then you leave so eventually the dog just gets to a new place and looks to you for what ever to start and they are associating being around that stuff to really fun things, I have not tried it but it sure sounds like it makes sense. Those are just some of my ideas on things I might try, but at the end of the day all of my dogs have gone through weird periods of being freaky, or uncomfortable at somewhere around that age so it might be some sort of fear period too. I can not wait to hear what ideas you get at the puppy camp, it should be terrific!

Anonymous said...

About the drive.... maybe it will come out more when she gets the "game". I spent a lot of time working obstacle performance stuff with Hannah and she just got bored of it. She did not seem to enjoy learning the individual obstacles. She definately did not show drive when just working a single obstacle. But once we started to sequence, she got it. I'm sure you will get some good tips at the seminar.- Diane

Sara said...

Love the photos!

Maybe Silvias new video would be a good one for info? Can't remember the title, but it has something to do with increasing speed.

I agree with Kathy about the freaky stage. Chewy went through a weird phase (can't remember how many weeks old he was), where he was pokey about everything. Then a couple weeks later, he was nuts again.

Dawn said...

I think the whole sequence thing might be right, but I have no experience. I do know Katie loves to run and when we put some stuff together she gets to run more and it's more fun.

Liked the horse pictures and of COURSE loved the dog pictures!

corbinwooten said...

I did a lot of restrained recalls with Lexi...that seemed to pump her up. I also started using a really specific "get excited" phrase that I use only when she gets really excited.

I'm sure you probably do all those things already.

It sounds like maybe Java is more of a thinker, and less of a "throw herself into it" kind of gal--there's nothing wrong with that! :)

Anonymous said...

I didn't think she looked bad especially if that was her first time through the chute on her own. You did say she likes chase though, I wonder if you could use a "chase-it" toy as a reward? Andrea always reminds me to reward and encourage movement and speed with movement. Maybe if you could keep her moving as she's coming out of the chute to catch the toy it would help build more speed?

Can't wait to hear about the Ann Braue puppy camp though. It sounds like lots of fun!

Amy / Layla the Malamute said...

I'm sorry about the leak! We're having plumbing issues too - toilet won't stop running unless you jiggle the handle, it's hot water and not cold, etc. So annoying.

As far as Java, I don't think it's an issue of "drive". I think once she gets a better understanding of what you want her to do, and once it's more fun (I can't imagine one obstacle being very much fun) she'll pick up speed. She's probably confused up to a point.

Morganne said...

With Soleil, I always played a game of tug before asking for a behavior (even if I intended to reward with food). I began a training session with play (sometimes a game of chase me) and ended with play.

If you look at some of my early training videos of Soleil's first sequencing, she is not that fast. Very methodical. The more she is in the ring, the faster she has gotten.

She did look a bit overfaced in the video. Maybe stop next time you notice this and just play with her. Did you try having someone open up the chute (no drag) and have her chase you and reward with a game of tug?

She sure is a pretty girl!

Nicki said...

That's the million dollar question isn't it?