She did it

I was so excited when Java read this call to heel that I did in the DP handling sequence.



Then I came home and all these "One Mind" agility videos are posted on FB. (there was a seminar in Fl. last week)  Then my small little accomplishment seemed silly.  Ill never catch up to everyone. LOL

Another Snow

Its started snowing on Tuesday morning.  Half way through the school day it really was coming down. Parents were coming to school to get their kids. So they decided to let the kids go at 1pm.  By 3pm it had stopped. But more was coming. For us it was suppose to be an ice storm. Lucky most of it was snow or sleet.  A lot of sleet.

  The wind would blow and all the sleet would slide off the roof like water falls. It made big piles around the house.

Java thought the big piles were there just for her.

 The dogs always have a good time.

Roxy hasn't gone outside in days.  Mickey did go out. The shelties tried to get him to play. He wasn't amused.

Guiness did a lot of this.

And this.

Then over night the ice came.

 

 

I haven't been able to do any of my DP class assignment. Not sure it will get done either. Snow still on the ground and now rain coming tomorrow. Ack.
Im teaching two classes for the club. A beginner obedience class. Its really just a basic class with sits, downs, hand touches and loose leash walking. There is wide range of dogs in the class which makes it hard. One beagle that is over the top, always straining at the end of his leash. Its a smart dog but I think the owner is frustrated. He wants to force the dog into a down but pushing it down. Well you know how that works. Then there is a very nice husky that never wants to leave its mat. It has no enthusiasm for anything. Not food or toys.  So I told them to watch there dog this week and see what he is happy about. There has to be something that gets him excited.  So will see if they do it and what their list shows.
Then next class is a contacts and sequencing class for people who have finished the foundation agility class.  Sorry to say I haven't been enjoying this class. Two of the dogs , when ever they are let off leash, run around and they run as fast as they can at other dogs in the class. The dogs don't have good recalls. Ive talked to them about how to work on this. We'll see if it works.  The other person has a very nice border collie that is nice but doesn't like being charged by these other two dogs and gets upset.  Im scared there will be a fight. I don't think the other two people were ready to come to this class.  A requirement should be a good recall on your dog.  I don't have a problem with peoples dogs running around but they cant charge other dogs.  So the class has been stressful for me.   I think this is the last class I teach.  And Ive had to cancel almost all the classes due to weather. So this class is going on forever!!  Ive talked to the club about have consistency but its just not happening.   People teaching the classes don't have the skills they need to teach.  The one person , Ive never seen run agility for all the years Ive been with the club.  The other person has been to two agility class and started running her dog at trials.  One class she taught, she told them that your arms are what turn the dog on course. Ack!!  And that rear crosses are hard on your dog because he cant see you. What??   So I don't think she understands about handling. I know that Im not great but  I so understand what turns my dog even if I cant execute it very well.   So anyway its been very frustrating.

Guiness says its time for this crap to go away.  It will be in the 70's next week. Yay!!

Post trial write up

Last weekend I went to a trial up in the up-state of South Carolina.   It was suppose to rain all weekend but it didn't rain at all. It was freezing in the morning but then warmed up during the day.  It was indoor but pretty cold inside. I know Im wimpy, I had hand warmers in my gloves and in my shoes. LOL  I drove up Friday night because my walk thur started at 7:40am.  I left the house and kept thinking I forgot something. When I got there, I realized I forgot to pack any pants. LOL, so I only had the pants I wore up there.

First up was standard. It didn't look hard.

So many dogs couldn't do the weaves.  The weaves were angled and the fence line came in on them. Multiple dogs popped the weaves, including Miley. weird, I really didn't think it would be a problem. Also dogs curling in after the chute and not being able to do that the number 7 jump.  In the 12 inch group, only 4 dogs cued. I don't remember how many 12 inch dogs there were. I know there were a total of 224 master/excellent dogs. There were 49 , 16 inch dogs.

Java did all the weaves, but broke her startline. I did BAD training and let her run. Ugh!!  I don't know why I did that.  She flew off the teeter, so  I did pull her after that.

Next up was jumpers.

Miley had a nice run but dropped the bar at #2.   Java didn't read my rear cross at 3 to 4.  Lots of dogs  curled in after the 2nd tunnel and went off course. Including Java. I was able to redirect Miley over the #16 Jump.

T2B

Miley had a nice run. She took 2nd place.  Her slow a-frames kill us time wise.  Java, broke her start line and we left.

The next day, started with Standard.

Miley Qed but took 4th (I think).  Java didn't even let me get pass the first jump, the tire, before she broke. So we left. Ugh!!

Next up jumpers.

 

Miley dropped a bar. She took off way to early. Otherwise nice run.  One dropped bar from a double Q. Ugh.  Well better than an off course.

 

Java was running beautifully, then I flung my arm up in between 17 and 18 and she went off course. I dont know why I did that. Man, so close. LOL   Even with the extra yardage, with the extra jump, she was over 5 yards per second.

 

 

Agility Seminar

I went to a Loretta Mueller seminar this weekend.  They only had one day of Masters, so I only signed Java up. Ive been so excited about this seminar but just had a hard time getting moving this weekend.  Im don't know why. My husband was like, "Whats wrong with you, you've been waiting for this".  I don't know.  But I manage to get there and have a great experience.   I wish she did on-line classes because I would sign up in a second.  She always helps me figure out big problems Im having.  Here is a video of some things we did, the good and the bad.



I think sometimes to many attempt of me trying to get it right,  made Java try different things , thinking I must want something different.  Like the tunnel thing. She just didn't want to go in and then jumped on top and went around. It took a while for her to get what I wanted. And that was after doing it correctly multiple times. Silly.
 What I found out this weekend is Java has trained me well. You know how Ive been having trouble with Java not turning or not turning tight in my DP handling class?   DP felt like Java was not engaging her rear enough when running and  turning. That I needed to work more on call to heel stuff. Some of it was Java just running and not listening.   Well Loretta hit it on the head.  I keep compensating for Java going wide and adjust what Im doing to help her.   And its more work for the dog to turn, so she would go wide and I would back up or kinda scoop her in with my arm when  cueing the turn.  So the more I gave, the more Java took.  See, she trained me well.   I need to hold my ground. If I told you to turn here, you  turn here.

The course was longer than this but I just wanted to show you the beginning.  I knew when I  walked it , that getting the number 4 jump was going to be tough for us to get. It looks simple, doesn't it?  I didn't want to say anything because that would be negative, but really I knew we wouldn't get it. I was right.  It took me multiple times of running to get it. Ugh. And I was the only one this happened to. Some people did miss it the first run but then next time , they got it. Not me, it took many attempts to get it. Ugh. I don't know if the course map above it exactly correct but its in the video.    We finally did get it but good lord it took a lot. LOL So lots of things for me to work on with Java.  I was so happy I went to this seminar.  Im not sure Ill ever get better at running agility.  But the only thing is keep trying or quit.  And I think about quitting a lot but I would really like to be some what successful, so I keep hoping ......and trying.

I cant remember what day I took this but it was getting dark. I had to crank the ISO on my camera up to over 6000, other wise it was blurry.  The owl was on the side of the creek bed, I think he had sometime but we spooked him and he flew up onto this tree. So I tried to stay low and wait him out to see if he would go back to it.   Im in the woods, on this little hill. All of a sudden a bike comes. The dogs go crazy and pull on the leash. I fall back wards down the hill with mud getting inside my waist band of my pants. Ugh!!  I bet that biker thought I was going to the bathroom in the woods. LOL If he only knew.  The owl flew away.

 Then there was this blue herring. Can you see him in the middle of the picture through the tress? The tree is a log across the river.

While I was trying to be quite, walk into the woods and get a better shot, a lady jogger with a jogging stroller came by.  Java let out a little "woof" and that's all it took. The blue herring flew away. At least I didn't fall down and get mud down my pants. LOL

 

Then last but not least, the river otter.

 

He was so cute. He kept going under water when hearing my camera clicking away.  But would come back up again. I was shooting into the sun with it reflecting off the water. There was no way to really get in a different position but I kept trying. I was trying to be quite and get into the woods  to move the sun off  to the side. Well, I guess you can figure out what happened.  A bike came by and  the dogs went crazy.  The otter when under and didn't come back up. Ugh!!