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!!

L. M. Seminar

I spent the weekend at a Loretta Mueller seminar and had a great time. The first day was at Meagans house which is a 2  1/2 hour drive from my house. Miley and I were going to the Master's seminar.  On the way there I started thinking, I should have brought Java and then stayed over night in Charlotte.   The second day was inside and closer to home but still a 1 1/2 drive. So lots of driving  for the weekend. But it turned out to be not so bad.   The first day was beautiful. Not to hot so very nice.

Here's Miley kinda relaxing. Miley isnt good at relaxing. I think she is either watching the sheep or the guard dog. Im not sure which.

These are Meagan's sheep. They are so cute. I wish I had time to take more pictures. I hope Meagan isnt mad about me posting these. (I made enough people mad this weekend)

OMG, to freaking cute!!

I wish I could have gotten closer to this guy. Cutie pie!!

We worked on lots of things in the seminar.  Cue early and run. Get moving, quit watching your dog. Make your dog move out with pressure, dont cave cause your dog is pushing in on you. LOL, who knew I was caving  to my dogs pressure. If you want your dog to turn tight on a jump and come back toward you, dont go pass the plane of the jump.  If you want your dog to go, dont look at him, look where you want him to go. All of these things we know but for some reason keep forgetting when running courses.





I love watching and listening to Loretta figure out dog issues and what the person needs to do to fix it.  Very cool to watch it start working in a short amount of time. I think that is what is the best part of working with her.  She wants to work on your relationship with your dog, how to improve it. She helps you understand why your dog is doing what its doing. She give you the tools to fix it. When you work on this relationship, you will become a better team and there for do better in the ring ( if thats your goal).    I took lots of dog pictures at the end of the day. Im not going to post them here because they arent my dogs. I wish I took some in the morning  but I just wasnt relaxed enough to take pictures when things first started. 
On the drive home I think I saw Mitt Romney.  There was a car with a plastic crated tied to the roof. OMG, I hope there wasnt a dog in there.

Sunday was the novice day. It was closer to home and inside.

I dont think Java felt like she was worked enough.  She was very excited. By the end of the day she decided this was just how it was going to be. Short burst of activity an in  between you do this.

She looks fat in this picture but she isnt.

Lots of things I still need to work on. I thought I was but she still isnt turning tight out of a tunnel. More"call to hell", I mean "heel" work.  My one big down fall is I usually can only see one or two ways to handle a course. I just cant see the other options and Im not sure why. So frustrating. It puts me at a disadvantage when walking a course. Because a lot of times I dont pick the best way. Ugh. And sometimes I can see it but think its not right. Either I think the turn is to hard for the dog or I cant get to where I need to go from there. Of course Im wrong. Ugh!!  I really need to work on this.   Anyway Java did really, really well.  One time she  decided to just run full out and not listen to turning cues. LOl  I think she was saying, "I just need to run". LOL  But then she got it together.

Here is her video clip.

L. M. Seminar

I had a wonderful weekend at the Loretta Mueller seminar.  The weather was great, even though we were indoors. LOL  You know what is cool. That she could set once course all weekend and work on may different skills. We ran master and novice dogs on the same set up just running the sequence differntly.  Even for the  private lessons . It was the same set up.  Saves your body on dragging equipement around. 
I did the master seminar on Saturday with Miley. Miley was awesome. She didnt stress and run around the building once. We worked on using body motion to cue  where you are going but then also using verbal if your body motion doesnt support what you are doing. Like you send and go the opposite direction.  I need to learn to send and go. Trust my dog. Run it like I mean it. I tend not to do that. Miley needs me to act like I know what Im doing. Be sure of myself even when things start to fall apart.  And keep going.   It was a great day. I didnt stress that my dog was going to run around every time I made a mistake. ( I think Miley was just happy Java wasnt there taking "her" turns. LOL)

Sunday was Java's turn. We did the 'Drive and Motivation" seminar the first have of the day. Then the novice/open handling the 2nd half of the day.   Java did great. She kept her drive all day. Loretta helped me fix Java's start line. I really didnt know how to make Java stay.  I tried to go back and reward with treats but she would only tolerate that once and then say "screw it , Im going".  LOL  The treats were no incentive for her. I really didnt know what to do. Loretta told me if she breaks, just set her back up. Just keep setting her back up, until she stays. She wants to run. Well if she want to run, she will have to stay. And it worked. She broke three times in a row, and after that she stayed. LOL (I hope it was ok to post that)  There is some more to it that I will have to work on but  thats the beginning of  getting her to stay at the startline. 

Then Monday I had a private lesson. I wish I had done two private lessons. I really learned a lot.  I do think it helped that she had seen us run the last two days and could see all the problems.  So I think it is good to do both seminars and lessons.
The bad part was I woke up Monday morning at 2:30am in lots of pain. I really tried to stay on top of this because I know doing agility all day and driving will  usually cause me to have more pain. I was freaking miserable.  I really thought I was going to have to cancel my lesson.  But then around 5am, I was feeling better. And Im so glad I was able to go. I got such great insight on my problems and fixing them. I have a list of things to work on:
Lateral and forward sends
Tight turns out of a straight tunnel.
call to  heals
tight turns with speed
Start lines in front of a tunnel for Java
Keep working through the whole course and not stopping no matter what happens.
Trust Miley, send her and go.
Make Java take the jumps when she runs by. Java is responsible for taking the jumps. 
Dont say tunnel when dog is over the bar.

Man, to bad Loretta cant come here every month. If you have a chance to work with her I say, "just do it!"