Class and snakes.

I had two lessons with Meagan this week.  Its funny. I set stuff up and we have no problem running it. Then I go see Meagan and it takes me multiple times to get it right.  But I guess if I could do it, then I wouldnt need to go see her.
Both days we did stuff from Clean Run exercise articles posted on the web site . Kathy Keats March 2011.

I had Meagan video this one because of the off arm cue to turn the dog.  I think I  first tried just rear crossing everything but that didnt work. It was just to tight.

I need to work on cuing early so she knows ahead of time where she is going. I need to send her over a jump and trust her to do it, and then I need to get to my next position.  Send her and go. But also remember to work every jump.

I went to class on Thursday too. Well , two classes. The first one was novice. I was able to do those courses without a problem.  Good thing or I would just have to give up. LOL
In the Masters class we work some more on the same Kathy Keats set up just numbered differently.

 I ran this differently than everyone else. Of course my way didnt work. LOL  I think thats why I cant stay on course. I cant seem to see the correct way to run the sequence.  I  front crossed between 3 and 4.  Then ran to the left of my dog for #4-#6.  I felt like this gave her a direct line to number 6. But what happened was as I fell behind her , she curled in a slight bit after number 5. That caused her to miss number 6.  So when I ran on the right side of the 3-6, when she curled in after 5, because I was behind, it was ok.  That actually set her up nice for #6.  I need to work a little on sending her down a line of  angled jumps. So when I get behind, and I say "go on" she will drive to the next jump.

I had the same problem here on 5-8.  I got behind as she drove down the line and she wouldnt take the  #8 jump.    I had to really push an say "go on". 

I was beat as I drove home. The good thing was , I stopped at Chick Fil a. They now have ketcup that you can dunk in.  A little plastic tray. It worked great while driving.  Love it. But I hit traffic 3 times. They were working on the road.  I know they cant work on the road during the day but really. When its 10:30 at night, its soooo frustrating sitting and waiting.  I do remember sitting in traffic in D.C at 12:30 am , after getting off evening shift at the hospital. And just wanting to go home. Nope, just sitting going crazy.

Miley is doing much better at going to the park. Today so only lagged behind 3 times.  And she left the car area without a problem. So thats good. Look, she is crossing the river by herself.

The river is down a little . So I thought I would go to this huge rock and take some pictures.

I wanted both dogs to get to the top of the rock. 

 

But Miley wouldnt go to the top with just a verbal command.  I couldnt get around the rock because the water was deep there. The only thing to do was to climb up the rock a little to show her what I wanted.  When I got up on the rock and looked over the other side. This is what I saw.

So no pictures on the big rock.  These people came over toward me to go on the island, then out to the other side. I couldnt decide if I should tell them about the snake. I didnt tell them. No sense freaking them out.  They werent going toward the snake.

We left that area.

Of course Guiness needs to dry off. I mean he just gets soaked going thur the water. NOT!

Then  I tortured them by making the walk several times thur the larger river crossing.

I had them do this several times.  One for exercise.  The water had a pretty good  current going, not dangerous.  And two,  to cool them off. Its pretty hot out now and it was 3pm in the afternoon.  So even though Miley doesnt look happy, I think she was ok with it.  There were rewarded a lot.

And then right when we where leaving the park path  there was this.

This one was tiny.  Maybe  6inches long.  I cant believe I didnt step on it.

3 for 1

Yesterday I went up to North Carolina for a lesson with Meagan. To get the most bang for my buck, I first had a private lesson, then took the "weave and contact" class and then took the "control unleashed" class. So I left here about 3pm and got home around 11pm. And that kicked my butt and I'm beat this morning. I was suppose to go with my husband down to the beach this morning. He had a meeting down there but I just couldn't get my act together in time to go. Poor Lou.

The second course above is one of the sequences we worked on. It was from a regionals course, I think that is what Meagan said. My first problem was between 3 and 4. First I did a post turn. What do you think happened? Yes , she went into the wrong end of the tunnel because that is what my shoulders told her to do. Then I tried a false turn, and it was a good concept, but I wasn't being very effective. So we worked on using my left arm coming up( arm furthest from the dog) which cues the dog that we are turning, telling her "tight" so she wraps the jump, and then once I get her head, flip back into the correct tunnel entrance. But Meagan did say with Miley she probably would just do a front cross there but I still need to know the other skill. Next problem area was 8 to 9. Trying to get Miley into that tunnel entrance was not happening. I either made her turn right back onto the dogwalk or sent her into the weaves. I needed to release Miley, take a step back and then pull her toward me to send into the tunnel. Something else I need to work on.

The top course is a continuation of the bottom course but I couldn't remember what was in between the weaves to the a-frame so I just made a new sequence out of it. Again I had the same problems. Going over jump 2 she then flew over the double #5. So again I was to use my outside arm, get her attention and then send to #3. Then I started pulling her in to much. At least I know what I need to work on.

We also work on the circle of death for serpentines, treadles, 180's ,front crosses and post turns.

Very good lesson. The weaves and contact class was very good too. She set up some more sequences to challenge weave entries. Maybe later I will get around to posting those. Last was the "control Unleashed class". I took Guiness to that. He was so excited to be there. I think he thought he was going to an agility class. Poor guy. I will do another post on that class which I learned a lot to help both Guiness and Miley.

Back to Agility

I made it to a class last night. I should have taken a private lesson but me and my infinite wisdom thought there wasn't anything to work on. ( Now that you have picked yourself up off the floor because you were laughing so hard you fell out of your chair) I know , what was I thinking. Anyway, in the class first we ran numbers 1-8. I didn't have any real problems. Except the fact that Meagan asked me how my contacts were going. I said, "there great, she has good speed and is stopping on all the contact even with me behind." LoL, she didn't stop on one contact in class. Miley made me a lier out of me again. Meagan said I just need to work on the contacts in as many different places as I can. Then we ran 9-18. Here is where the trouble began. Jumps 11-13 I just couldn't get. I tried a front cross at 11 and 12 but she went way wide coming over 12, like she was going to the weaves. My cross was late, I tried it again, same thing. Then we ran the whole course. This time I move laterally to soon and pulled her off the #2 tunnel. So I restarted. Success. Then doing jumps 11-13 I tried being in front of jump 11 and then post turn #12 but again Miley went way wide. So Meagan said that I either needed to said in the pocket ( where the red man is on the course map) and work it all from there to keep the dog tight. Or I need to front cross where the green man is on the course to bring the dog in tight and collected. I was front crossing to close to jump 12. Miley didn't get into any of the weaves until the third pole but weaved all the was down. I didn't fix any of that. It was dark on the field even with the lights on. Plus weave entries is something I need to work on at home and not waste class time on it. She did stop on the A-Frame. Most of the dogs struggled with 16-18. It was tight coming off the a-frame to jump 16. But the dogs were mostly big dog with long strides. Miley didn't have a problem with that. So it was a good class and I know what I need to work on at home. ( The course map above is just an estimate of the spacing. Meagan designed the course. It just an idea of how the obstacles were laid out. If you set the course up you will have to adjust it.)