Home Sweet Home

Here are the pictures of the water bowel that attaches to the soft crate. It's the small bowel but they make a big one too. That metal hook goes around the back of the pole and then you tighten it up.

The bowel can be removed easily.

Here is the tripod I bought. It telescopes out to 4 feet tall.

Im finally back home. The last day of camp was great. The weather was wonderful. It was suppose to rain but didnt and the temperature felt great. People were complaining how hot is was but it felt wonderful to me. We finished at 5pm and then I drove down to Cincinnati to meet back up with my husband. Miley was so excited when we got out of the car. She ran up to my brother in-law , who she has only met once, and jump on his lap and started licking his face. If you know Miley, "you no touch me", it was shocking. I dont know if she was glad not to go back to the hotel or to be done with agility. LOL Anyway it was pretty funny. We left Cincinnati yesterday morning it was 71 and raining. We got into Columbia at 5pm and it was 102 degrees. Welcome home. LOL

I have learned so much at this camp. Im so glad I went and I wish I had gone sooner. Things I found out I doing, which to me maybe why Im going off course. One thing that was pointed out, when I send to a tunnel I use my inside arm but my outside leg. That could be confusing the dog. (Hmmm could account for some off course tunnel sends). The next two things I put in the course map above. The first is a pull over two jumps. If there where only two jumps Miley turned tight and came with me. But once we added more jumps and choices she either went very wide and had to pull back into me or she went off course over the jump in front of her. I have to really work on this. ( off course again) The other thing that was noticed was when I was running serpentines. Now the first time I ran it she did it correctly but I didnt give her any cues to take the jumps , like over, call her name ect.. But Linda was ok with that because the jump was between me and the dog and if Im looking at the dog over a jump, they should take it. But then when I ran it with me on the other side, again she did it correctly but I didnt give her any cues to take the middle serpentine jump. So what if I didnt want her to take that jump and wanted to go straight over a jump that was in front of us(not pictured)? She will go off course. See another off course problem. I need to cue the jumps so she knows when to take them and when not to. Those were my three" ah ha" moments.

This was one of the best seminars/camps Ive ever been to. I really like it when there is information given about why you do this and that. What the dog is reading and why. It makes so much more sense then just running sequences and trying to get them correctly. You got information on what you were trying to accomplish then just to get the dog over the correct jumps. I wont lie though, it was a long 4 days and Im so glad to be home. One thing I would suggest if you ever go to this camp is bring a tripod for you camera. I didnt bring one but stop at a RiteAid and bought a very small one that would fit in my backpack. It worked great and Im glad I found it. Next make sure you have a start line stay on your dog. A lot of time was wasted with people having to set their dog back up because they kept breaking. A few people gave up and just had someone hold their dog at the start line. I know this is hard to believe but Miley only broke once that I can remember and I was already in position and when I brought my arm up she broke. So I just went on and didnt reset her. And the big high light was she didnt circle the rest of camp. I cant remember if it was the first day or the second but I was practicing with her inside the building. She went into circle mode. I just walked away and shut the door behind me. I only waited about one minute and then came back in. No circling the rest of camp. No at all. Every time I called her she came into me. WhooHoo. I felt bad for this lady who had a very nice border collie. Im not sure if the dog was stressed or what. But Linda was talking to her about her sequence and the dog took off. Running around the building and even ran into the big barn screen door. Then went out the other door out into the field with the group out back. Then next day she was talking to me saying she hope that didnt happen again. I told her not to feel bad. And I told her about my first day ( she wasnt there the first camp) and Miley circling and circling. I think it made her feel a little better. At least I hope so.

Day #3

Today we met another Miley. She is also a sheltie but tri-colored. She was a fast and feisty little thing. Today went very well. It was suppose to rain but of course it held off until our group went outside. LOL doesnt that figure. But really it wasnt to bad. It was never a down pour. Miley did really well. No craziness and no circling. WhooHoo!! And she hasnt dropped any bars the last two days. Hmmmmm. Do you think its because of better handling. Or could it be that the jumps inside the building are wood. Im sure if you hit those, you know it. But she didnt hit any bars outside either and they are the pvc ones. Im so happy about no dropped bars. I kept thinking maybe she was hurt but I guess it was my handling.
Today was common sequences. We are using all the things we have learned the last two days to handle the courses. We ran a pinwheel but used a lateral send, then a moving front cross, then a blind cross, a rear cross on the flat and a moving front cross. Who knew there were so many different ways to do a pinwheel. I didnt. I hope I remember all these things. Ive been trying to video my turns but today my camera kept stopping. I hope its just a dead battery. I should have charged it last night. I even thought about it because I used it the last two days. But I didnt and so it didnt make it thur today. Of course I cant show any of it to you per seminar rules. But at least I can look at my notes and then see what I did.
My hotel is in a good location even though its about 30 minutes from Linda M. place. Lots of restaurants and stores. There is even a few pet stores. I went in the Petco just in case there was something in there I didnt know I needed. And guess what I found? A water bowl that can be attached to a soft crate. I bought it but was kinda skeptical but it works great. And today, no spilled water in the crate.
P.S. I knew Linda wasnt being mean calling Miley "wild". She was laughing and smiling when she said it. And lets face it, she was being wild. LOL

Ive been having trouble reading peoples blogs. Im not sure why I cant really open them up. Well they come up but then the post wont load. And not everyones. Weird. So hopefully I can catch up when I get home. Im learning lots but I cant wait to sleep in my own bed.

Day #2

Today was day 2 of basic skills. My brain is fried. By 5:30 this evening I wasnt even paying attention anymore. I stopped taking notes and writing down the courses. There is just so much to learn and Im trying to remember and let everything soak in. But its just to much. I hope I feel renewed tomorrow. Saturday and Sunday is "common sequences". So I really want to apply what Ive learned. Its hard for me to use these cues and apply them on course. I hope I start having that "ahaa" moment soon.
Today it wasnt suppose to rain until the afternoon. I figured that was ok but my group would then be inside. Not. It rained in the morning. ugh! It wasnt to bad but I could have done without it. It didnt rain at all in the afternoon. Then when I got back to the hotel around 7pm is was really dark black skies. Sirens were going off. I used my card to get into the hotel and it would open the door for me. That figures doesnt it. So I ran around to the front and had them rekey my cards. At least I made it in before the rain started. I thought the sirens were for tornadoes but the news said it was just thunder storms.
The morning half of the seminar was recall to heels with two jumps. Miley did very well. No craziness but I ran her around and played with her in the field before the seminar started. The instructor said, "Its this the same dog that couldnt collect and was over the top yesterday". I laughed and said yes. I told her about exercising her before class today which I didnt do yesterday.
The afternoon session was on small sequences using what we have learned. I didnt learn anything. LOL Just kidding. Im just having a hard time applying what Ive learn on course. Miley did pretty good. Only one time she was a little over the top. She kept wanting to take the tunnel when the sequence was done. I thought, o'boy not a good sign. The next time I took her out Linda said, "Now what can we have this wild sheltie do". LOL She did set up a harder and longer course for Miley to run. This must have been what Miley needed because she did really well and wasnt crazy at all.
Im really tired and for some reason my eyes are blood shot so Im going to bed.
( those things I put in quotes may not have been exact words but you get the point)

Day one of seminar

I was finally able to up load some pictures of Ricky and Miley. Dont they look cute?
I did find out its hard to photograph a whitish dog and a black dog. The camera doesnt like it.


Todays seminar was great and Im exhausted! We finished around 6:30pm. It was a long day for me but Miley didnt work that hard or much so she isnt to tired. Ugh! The first half of the day we worked outside. We worked on the 6 call to heel positions. (you know, every time I try to type in "Call to heel", I type "call to hell". LOL what do you think that means?) Anyway Miley couldnt collect this morning if her life depended on it. It looked like we had never done any collection work. And if she cant collect on the flat, she wont be able to collect over a jump. Then when we did lateral sends to the tunnel, she was suppose to go thur the tunnel and turn tight and come back toward me. OMG, she couldnt make a wider turn coming out of the tunnel if she tried. Then on the last exercise she broke her stay and I went to bring her back and she went into circle mode. I couldnt get her to stop. The instructor had me stand still. Miley circled me, around and around , coming in tighter and tighter. And just when you thought she was going to stop, she went wide again and started all over again. So they had me walk away and then Miley stopped and came up behind me. I put her in her crate. The instructor said if it were her dog she would just go in the house and leave the dog. Game over. Every time she does it , just walk away, leave her. So I was feeling bad about the morning session. I should have gotten there earlier so I could have played with her to burn off energy.

Then the afternoon session went great. We worked inside on crosses on the flat. I told her that I think Ive confused my dog with my hand cues. We talked about it. So for me all my crosses on the flat were with no hand cues. Miley read them all beautifully. It was weird,she was calm , focused and right on. The only bad thing about it was, then you didnt get much floor time because you did the exercise ok. Dogs are funny. Most of the dogs in the morning session that did great on collecting with the call to heel stuff on the flat had trouble in the afternoon. We also worked on lateral sends and forward sends. I think we will be doing more of that tomorrow. Ive learned so much today. I hope I remember it all.