Wordless Wednesday

A Fall Day

We went to the state park today. I wasnt sure how much leave colors we would have and it was cloudy when we got there.

To get the colors in the back ground, I had to take picture with the dogs on the ridges. There is no real color on the ground yet from leaves falling.

This area was great. But the path is narrow and you can't see people coming because its high up and both ends of the path curve. So not great with trying to get dog pictures if you have one dog  that thinks taking pictures is boring.

My husband is taking the shots while I was trying to get Java to "pay attention". LOL The dogs are looking at me.

This was the best we got.

Oops!

"Looks who's not paying attention now?"

Then Guiness fell in the water. Well, just his back end. Java went to help him out. He could have just gone a little ways down and got up on some shallower rocks  but he was freaked out and just kept trying to get up in this same spot.

"Help me up Java".   

Dont worry, I pulled him up.

"Notice she couldnt put the camera down to help me out, sheesh"

"Crazy lady!!"

Tried again to get all three in the picture. I guess Guiness is still mad. LOL

 Then we went home.

Front crosses , ugh!!

I took the dogs to the field to work on handling. I also ran Java over the dogwalk a few times.

Ive been using the Sourcebook 2 from clean run. Its has three different ways to run the course. One is novice,  then intermediate and maters. I can always run the novice with Miley.I can usually can run the intermediate. But I have yet to run one of the Masters once clean on the first try. But this time the master course kicked my butt. I took me forever to finally get it right. It was all m fault , not Miley.

First I ran Miley through the novice course. No problem. Then Java. I dont think we ran it right once. I couldnt get my front cross in soon enough after #6. I tried front cross after #5 but that just didnt work.   Then she kept going around #12. So we worked on that. Then a she kept going over #14, I rear cross and she wasnt reading. And  would go off course over #6 and into the tunnel. LOL.  So we worked all those little things and never got to run the whole thing right.

The masters course with Miley, getting her to go between #8 and 9, I had to be right there to manage it. Then I was behind the whole time and cutting her off with front crosses. We finally got it right in the end but it still didnt look pretty.



I like this book of courses. Espeically since I can work both dogs on the same course. Now, how to I fix my crappy front crosses???????

Weave poles

I bought a new set of Weave a matics.  I had made my old set and I just couldnt adjust them well as they are getting close to closing up. The new poles arrived yesterday. Yea!!


The base is really heavy. Ugh. But they fold in half so thats nice.   Now, hopefully I can get the poles straight up soon.

Oh yea, I said I had a trial this weekend. Oops, I thought is was this weekend. It is next weekend. Good thing my friend said something to me or I may have gone this weekend. LOL

I have been having A LOT of fibromyalgia pain since school started. Its been really bad.   Its hard for me to get motivated to do anything. I havnt been walking the dogs much either. Poor dogs. It was everything to get through the work day.  Im not sure how I even continued to teach the classes for the club. I went back to the doctor 2 weeks ago. She did a bunch of blood work. When she called me in the morning at work and said all my blood work was normal, I wanted to put my head down on my desk and start crying.  What the hell??   But this week, I went 3 days with no pain. 3 whole freaking days. Whoohoo. It was great. So I took the dogs to the park yesterday. It was warm and sunny.  The water was a little high and the dogs had to swim across, which they didnt like, put they got over it.

This tree was going to get us but my dogs saved me. LOL

There was lots of jumping!!

Poor Miley, she has trouble opening her eyes in the sun.

Most of my pictures had shadows on them .ugh. I hate shadows.

See more shadows.  I was just trying to get some fall pictures. Im standing in the water during most of these pictures. The water was very murky (sp?)   and lots of green algae on the rocks in the water. So it was hard to see in the water where I was stepping. So I couldnt go where I wanted because I couldnt see the bottom. Im not sure why the water was like that. Usually the water is very clear.  And of course I was worried about snakes.

I tried and tried to get a good shot of this. So you could see  how pretty it was. I tried a filter too. I just  couldnt get it right.

Reflecting

I took this picture this morning. It was pretty cold out, I think 47 degrees. I know you are probably laughing but that's cold to me. I had to walk back to my car and put some more clothes on. On the picture above , to bad that electril box is on the middle of the bridge. They should have put it on the other side.

This picture was taken looking straight down into the water. So its a complete reflection, thats why it isnt as clear of a picture.

Meagan came down and taught lessons here this week. It was great. I didnt have to drive that far and I didnt have to put out any equipment or put any equipment away. LOL  You know what the biggest thing I learned with my lesson?  Java isnt Miley  so dont try to run her that way. LOL   I know you are probably thinking, didnt you know that. Yea I did but I wasnt running her that way. When you run Miley, she needs lots of turning cues and dont give to much forward motion or she goes off course.  With Java, I can run to the jump without sending her three jumps down the line. When I turn just a little, she turns.   I decelerate just a little and Java turns. Meagan said to think if it like this. Runny Miley is like running a mack truck, but Java is like  a sports car. LOL

Im still working on Java's weaves. Hopefully that will come together. I started on Java's turns off the dogwalk. She is doing well.  As long as I can send to a tunnel, I can beat her down the dogwalk and cue the turn. Things dont go so well sending to a jump, so I need to work on that.  The video is all sends to a tunnel so thats why Im so far ahead. Java was running fast even thought it doesnt look it in the video.



Next weekend I go to an AKC trial. There are only 28 people in excellent standard.  That is total, not just my jump height. I guess it will be a fast trial. Thats always  nice.  Its only one ring so, it wont be that fast.  They are having a b-match at the end of the trial Saturday. So Im going to put Java in that. I wont do any weaves, I just want to get her ring experience and she how she does.  The weekend after that the  Loretta Mueller seminar.  Im so excited!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Weave pole and things

Im still working on Java's weaves.  We are getting closer but if I try to close the poles she pops out.
Here is were we are at. Dont watch the whole thing. Its all really the same. Once you have seen the first couple , you get the idea.



The more mistakes she makes the slower she gets.   Im having a problem adjusting these poles. I can only get them so close and then they have to be straight up. So I ordered some new ones. I made these. The new ones will fold in half so I can take them different places.

The other thing Im struggling with is teaching rear crosses.  She just isnt getting and  when I was working her, she just refused to move forward or jump. The jump was only set at 8 inches.  So we went back inside the house for me to figure things out.  I went out later with Miley. So I could change dogs up  and use Miley to keep Java wanting to work.  I tried several things to try to teach a rear cross. 

I tried the first set up with throwing a toy  to the left toward the tunnel. It sorta work but didnt help her understanding. The I tried the second one, where she had speed taking the jump. This allowed me to move more into her path as she took the jump.  So I think I'll try this one a few more times and hopefully she'll start really understanding it.  Ive had a lot of trouble getting Java to understand what I want when teaching her things. She likes treats but its over the top crazy for them like Guiness and Miley. And she dosent like to be wrong. She quits working if she is wrong to many times and not even if they arent in a row.  Keeps me thinking. Then I watched my weave pole video. Look how many times  I do a rear cross. Lots!  So a rear cross into the poles is different then on a jump. Ive probably been confusing her. Poor dog.
Stephanie came home this weekend just for 24 hours. It was nice. I think she was  a tad home sick. She picked up a bunch of clothes. We went shopping and out to lunch. It was nice.

Ive been really tried lately and havent been walking the dogs. But this weekend I walked them both days. I dont know how Java got that grass wrapped around her nose. She and Miley were playing chase and she slid into some grass and flipped around. I just caught the picture in time before they took off running again.

Some how Java got into a bunch of stickers but not Miley. It was a long walk back to the car with Java stopping every 2 minutes to try to pull the stickers out.  There were just to many for me to try and get them out. ( I did try). I had a brush at the car that worked much better.

Then we came upon this squirrel. Poor thing. Something must  have gotten him. He seemed ok, lively and eating, he looked terrible.

Sorry its blurry. I was using one hand with a long lens. I should have used my other hand to hold the camera still. Plus it was in the shade.

I ran into the friend at the park today, she helped me teach agility foundation classes for the club. She had her 3 big dogs with her. Java growled a couple of times. I could tell she thought this was very bad. But she didnt keep her dogs back. She kept letting them step into her space. I worked with Java by treating, saying yes for being calm and looking at the dogs. Then she took her dogs off leash. Why did she do that??  She is a very nice person but I think she thinks all dogs are friendly and like other dogs. Java is fine unless a dog gets in her face.   Java has been around a lot of dogs. As long as they dont care about her she seems fine.  She been at a house with 12 other dogs running around and was fine. So Im not sure what it is about the park that sets Java off. I work on it every time I go.

Just Dolphins

The dolphins were the most active Ive ever seen them. Strand fishing a lot. Jumping out of the water. To bad I missed those shots. Always to late, and just a picture of the water splashing.