The park and stuff

Today we hiked at the state park. We havent been there in a long time. I just wanted to see what Miley would do on the hills.  That one time she was injured and she didnt really want to climb any hills. She had no problems today. I was wondering if her not stopping on contacts had to do with being injured. She isnt really dropping any bars. Which she usually does when she is injured.  At the USDAA trial, she didnt drop any bars. Thats unusual for her. She usually drops some bars. Then at the seminar, she didnt drop any bars the first day and I think only one bar the second day. 
Her contacts are getting worse. I have no idea what is going on. I took her to the field last night, where ever there was a tunnel after the contact, she jumped and ran on. If there was a jump after the contact, she stopped. Weird. Maybe Im stressing her will all the contact work Ive been doing.

Here is the jump sequence Ann Braue had me set up. Its so you can practice stopped contacts without having to run the whole a-frame. You add in the tunnel ( to add speed) and you can front cross and send them over different jumps next to the a-frame. You start out by bringing them over the jump, toward the a-frame, give them a treat. You may have to lure it at first to get them to understand what you want. The you lure them on to the aframe. After a couple of times, they get it ( to do jump, aframe). Then you start a couple of feet back from the jump and do jump, a-frame. Then add more distance to the jumps. If they keep getting it add in the tunnel. Make sure you do both side. ( use wing jumps next to the a-frame)



Last night I took the dogs to the field. I worked Java's running DW contact. Ive been angling the jumps after the DW.  Many times she goes around the jump to get the Ready treat.  Last night she didnt do that once. I think she if finally getting it.  Then I just did a short sequence with jumps and tunnels. I wanted to see how fast Java was going. So I first timed Java. She was 8.6 seconds. Then I timed Miley, she got the exact same time. LOL   I know Java should be faster because she is 2 inches taller. But Im having to manage the jumps more for Java. Also Java is  jumping higher than she needs to, so I think her speed will get faster.

 Java's recalls at the park were horrible so she had to be put back on leash.

Its becoming very hot now, so we stopped at the river. Everyone was dunked in a deeper part of the river.

I really tried to get Java's picture on these logs but everytime she turned toward me, she jumped off and came to me. Ugh. Still working on that wait command.

Our practice today

I know that practice didn't look that good but it didn't feel terrible. On the last part of the video you cant see the last pole pop out because of the tree. I think I'm going to lay off the weave poles for a few days and work on handle skills for the next several days. I took Miley to a friends house again yesterday and the weave pole thing started again. She has channel weaves. Maybe Miley just doesn't like them. I didn't use a toy today but yesterday I traded a toy and food a couple of times with out problems.

Miley's 2o/2o and rear crosses

Ive been having a very hard time with the 2o/2o board. Miley just doesn't get it if I just stand there and vary my position. So I decided not to use it any more. I'm going to just train her on the contacts. Its not like I don't have the contacts in my yard. So this video is of me and Miley doing the 2o/2o. I did put a clear target at the end of the dogwalk. The only time I baited it was the very last run because we were starting all the way at the other end and I wanted to make sure she stopped. Anyone can give me their opinion of what I'm doing and what you think. I know on the last run , one of her back legs was off the side of the dogwalk.

The next thing Ive been working on is rear crosses. I haven't been very successful with them when there is more than on in a row. I think I've messed up my dog by having to many failures and it has slowed her down. I worked today on putting her in a sit and then stepping behind her to check for a head turn . I wanted to make sure she was reading the rear cross. And she did it correct every time both ways. But when I ran her in the yard she would get the first rear cross but not the second. I think I made her unsure of herself because she kept head checking me. And then when I had her run a straight line of jumps, I beat her to the end. Not good. So after that we did a lot of play and running just a couple of obstacles with lots of rewards. I'm not going to work on the rear cross stuff for a while and give it a break. I want to get her confidence back up. How dumb am I????????

new way to teach 2o2o

Well, I've been trying to teach this 2o2o now for about a month. And she is just not getting it. If I try to move my position at all she curls off the board on the side. I have also been doing a little work with a hit-it board. She really likes the hit -it board. She will drive to the board, hit it and move on. So that got me thinking. And Ive decided to teach the 2o/2o this way. ( Sorry "M" ) Im using a target and will fade that after I think she really understands her job. This is the third day Ive been teaching it this way and Im having much more success. She seems happier too. (Im trying to up load the video. )

Storms and class

Poor Miley. Friday was a bust. It poured down rain all day so we couldn't go outside. Then to top it off a storm came through and knocked the power out. So we were in the dark from 5:30-8:30. We lit candles and Miley keep bringing toys for me to throw. I would throw them until she couldn't find it and then she would go get another toy and we would start over. By 7:00 pm my husband and I decided we were board and we hooked up a TV to the battery pack and watched the new Indiana Jones movie. It finished about the time the power came back on.

Saturday I decided to go up to North Carolina and take a lesson and stay for the class right afterwards. It is hard to drive 2 1/2 hours for the lesson and class but I read some one's blog one day that got me thinking. I don't remember who's blog is was but they talked about what were you willing to do to reach your goals ( for agility). I read this quite some time ago. But I always think about it. How good do I want to be with my dog and what do I want to accomplish? How do I plan to get there. What do I want? When I run with my dog, I want people to say, "Wow, I want a dog like that". So now that Ive gotten off track. I took a lesson. I showed "M" how Miley was doing with the board and her 2o/2o. She is doing much better than she was 2 weeks ago. But still had a ways to go. She definitely knows that the board is important. She still hasn't figured out the main goal is her 2o/2o position. "M" gave me some more things to work on with the board and starting to move my position around the board.( Start again with kneeling beside the board and work to standing when first moving postion) We talked about getting Miley to understand to stay on the board until she is released. Using treats, keep giving her treats when she is in the 2o/2o position and then release her. Slowly start adding more time between the treats and then release.

Next we worked on tunnel discrimination. I think I posted before that miley doesn't always take the tunnel right in front of her , she will take the harder entrance. I posted below the set up we used to teach discrimination. It is the sequence on the far right. ( the one with the curved tunnel and 3 jumps, no numbers) . So I'm to practice sending Miley over the jump and into the tunnel entrance. Depending where I am and which tunnel entrance she needs to take will depend on what I do. Say we are on the far right jump and I want her to take the far left tunnel entrance. I will do a false turn as she takes the jump to bring her into me and then send her to the correct entrance. I should probably add a cue like "in" when she comes in and if she were taking the right tunnel entrance I would say "out". I hope this makes sense. Another note is that small dogs have many more strides from obstacle to obstacle. This gives them more time to think about where they are going and what choices they have. Much more chance for an off course. This tunnel -jump set up is also good for working serpentine , threadles, 180's and correct tunnel entrance. We worked on threadles too because I'm having a problem with those . Which "M" says makes sense since a false turn is involved again.

After the lesson , I stayed for the class. First we worked on the sequence at the top of the course down below. Its numbered 7-12 but actually # 7 is really #1 and go from there. The way I decided to run my dog was: I had my dog on my left and was just going to rear cross her when she went into the tunnel. But guess what happened by me running this way with a little lead out. She went over the first 2 jumps and then on to the jump in front of her and didn't take the tunnel. By running the course this way, I was cuing extension and not collection. Collection would have told the dog a turn is coming and I didn't tell the dog that. So I ran it again and did a running front cross b/t #2 and #3. Of course this work much better. The next problem was you needed to be at the tunnel exit to push your dog out to get over the back of that jump.(#10). So you really had to be turning before your dog got over the 2nd jump otherwise you didn't make it to the tunnel exit. The one that worked the best was a "come to heel". Lead out pass jump #2 sort of facing your dog with your right arm out to tell the dog to take those 2 jumps and then lead him passed your feet into the tunnel. This got you to the exit quickly. Next I had to tell Miley "weave" before she even took that last jump so she had time to adjust her stride and know where to go. She didn't have any problems making the weaves or doing all 12 poles. Yea!

We ran the set up at the bottom of the course posted below last. We ran it with all front crosses and all rear crosses. My cross was late which made my dog wide. Also I needed to call Miley's name when she was about 2/3rd through the tunnel so that she turned tight coming out of the tunnel and again not be wide.

All in all great lesson and class, well worth the drive. But Im glad to be home.( please note that the distances in these courses may not be correct)

Last freestyle class and other things

Guiness had his last freestyle class on Monday. Everyones dog is calm and patient except mine. Barking and wanting to work, unable to relax until its his turn. Anyway, she gave us a short routine to music. We first practiced it without the music and then added the music. It was difficult. Its very hard to keep your dog going to keep up with the music. Most people get stuck in getting their dog to do the trick and then get behind in the music. Guiness did well. He feels more comfortable on my left then on my right. We did a heeling pattern with a spin to the left and then into a heel again. Then you brought he dog all the way around in front of you and around to the right side. Then heeling on the right with a spin to the right. Left side was much more successful than right. At least in agility you get to go at your dogs pace or your pace. In freestyle you go at the music's pace. Guiness does things fast. So his circles are really wide because he is covering more area but needs to keep with the music. He probably needs faster music but the teacher said you should start with slow music. Also she said that when she first started, she copied someone's routine. Once she learned it, then she started changing parts of it until she made it her routine.

Miley's 2o/2o is getting better. She is understanding the feet on the board and off the board. Now I just need her to understand that she cant release until I tell her. This weeks practice has been on and off. Tuesday she was on fire but yesterday she seemed a little slow to me. I tried to work on making the table more valuable. I guess I did to good of a job because she started by passing obstacles just to get to the table.

I took the dogs to the park the other day. I walked them in the middle of the day hoping to avoid the bicycle people. We did good until we got back on the main trial. I didn't hear the bicycles coming before it was to late. So now I have rope burns across my knuckles from trying to get Guiness under control. I usually don't use a flexi-lead at the park because of this but that day I thought I was safe. Usually the bicycle people ride in the morning and evening but I guess that's not always. So now when I get on the main trail , I need to lock the flexi-leads so they are short.

More 2o/2o work

(sorry for the annoying dog barking in the back ground of the video. ) Since Miley seemed so excited when doing the board work in the yard, we decided to take the board inside. I also cut some of the board off to make it shorter. I think she is getting it now. I did notice that my clicks are still late. It doesn't feel late when I'm doing it, but when watching the video it seem really late. Today we practice the teeter game a couple of times. That really brings her to the end of the board. We ran some short sequences that went pretty well. There were some problems, like not reading the pinwheel and starting to lift up off the table before I said ok. So we worked on both those problems. We also did some weave poles. I added two poles to make it eight poles and she stayed in the poles until the end. So that was good. The last thing we did was practice some of the flat work on the "bridging the gap" video. I had her in a sit-stay and walked by her, jogged by her and then ran by her. And she stayed until the verbal "ok". I was surprised. I really thought when I ran by she would break, but she didn't. Yea!!

On a sad note, the birdhouse bark deterrent stopped working. It poured down rain yesterday and last night. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. Its suppose to be weather proof. So I took it inside for tonight to see if it needs to dry out. I hope it starts working again because things were great for a while.

Teaching 2o/2o (warning , the video is boring)

Ive been doing the contact training with Miley on the board. It felt like a terrible session. I'm not sure why. I felt like she just doesn't get it. And the way I was standing wasn't right. But I was video taping it. When I watched it, I was surprised to see her go into a 2o/2o before I started. To bad I wasn't paying attention. So she didn't even get rewarded. Ugh!!! How did I miss her doing that? Also as I watched, it didn't look that bad to me. She did lots of circling. That has me concerned too. The other thing we practiced was tunnel entrances. I'm not sure why but she seems be to taking the wrong entrance. We will be running and the tunnel opening will be a straight shot, and she goes off course and takes the other entrance. To get her in the right opening, I had to go all the way to the tunnel almost like a block. I'm going to have to work on this and maybe video tape it too. Maybe I'm doing something with my shoulders that causing the off course.

Private lesson for Miley

So yesterday was a great day. It finally stopped raining and drizzling and the sun came out. It had been rainy and over cast since Tuesday. I was Lucky enough that "M" would meet me in Charlotte to give me a private lesson. She was there at a trial and said that she could give me a lesson when she was done running her dog. So we met at someones house. I wanted her to help me with my training of my 2o/2o. She asked me to show her what I was doing. I'm sure she wanted to bust a gut when I showed her how I was training Miley. But she didn't say anything bad. She showed me what I should be doing. I want Miley to hop on the board, into the 2o/20 position from the side. I will need to lure her around and then onto the board. She made it look easy. But when I practiced tonight, it didn't flow easy. But its just the first day and Miley doesn't really understand what to do yet. Once I get Miley into the 2o/2o position , click and treat. The treat should be given to her low and press back into her a little so she puts her weight on her back legs. I should do this for the next to weeks. And once Miley gets it, start restraining her on the board so she wants to drive into position. Take the board to different places so the dog can do this position any where. She also told me to order the video, "Bridging the Gap" and practice the stuff on the flat. She showed me her dog doing is 2o/2o and how he held his contact as she ran by and said different words like banana and bingo. The dog didn't release until she said ok. He loved that contact . Every time we were just talking he would run over and get into position.

We also worked on the teeter. She showed me how to play the teeter game. You have your dog in a sit stay several yards from the teeter. You put yourself in front of the teeter right up next to the board facing the dog and have treats in your hand. Call your dog to you keeping your hand on the teeter so it cant drop until the dog gets to the edge of the board. When your dog gets all the way to the edge of the board you give the treat and drop the board. You can also lower the board with your hand under it if your dog isn't ready for the board just dropping.

We practiced this set up that she had used in her last class. I'm not sure its set up correctly but you get the gist of it. ( I hope she doesn't mind me posting this) So I did a lead out to the tunnel and Miley did a straight shot from #1 into the #3 tunnel. Then I backed up in front of jump # 4, stayed to the right of #5 and #6 then rear crossed after 7 and brought her in on 8 ect. We practice this course several different ways. Lead out to the inside of #2 and lead out to the outside of #2. We also tried front crossing after #5. I didnt do to well with that. I think there was another we tried but I cant remember what it was.

"M" spent a lot of time with me. I was very thankful that she did. She helped me alot. I was expecting an hour lesson but I think we were there almost 2 hours. I hope I gave her enough money. Ill have to ask her. After the lesson she brought out her 2 puppies. A jack Russell and a border collie. They were very happy and excited. Miley thought about playing but was to scared. She watched from every ones legs. Then she started getting growly when they tried to get her to play. Silly dog. She has no problem irritating the dogs at home to get them to play. Funny how things change when the shoe is on the other foot.

And.......... I came home today, let the dogs out and no fence fighting. Peace and quiet. (The dogs can bark outside. I have the birdhouse thing set on the lowest setting which is 15 feet. So the dog get to run and bark in the other parts of the yard just not next to the beagle. )