These days mom has really been pondering the question of how to make me a faster agility dog. After my slow starts at our last trial and then a pretty slow and ho-hum class last Wednesday, mom is looking for advice! Seems like the magic meatballs are not so magic any more. Don't get me wrong - I still like them! But they don't always motivate me. I am super fast when mom gets me to lose my mind. I don't do that very often when I know it's time to do agility because I treat agility like a job that I should do and do correctly. That's just the way I am! So mom experiments with trying to get me to do tricks before a sequence (or even just a jump) but I won't do it because it's time for agility. Or she tries to get me to tug and I won't - same reason.
Then mom started thinking about things that excite me (mail, paper towels, keys) and she made a toy out of rolled up paper. I had never seen such a thing and got so excited we practiced for awhile without treats and with me going very fast to "get the paper"! When mom tried to use treats and the paper, I wouldn't have anything to do with the paper.
Yesterday mom found some articles about agility online at
Front and Finish (THE obedience magazine like CleanRun is THE agility magazine). She read a couple about speeding up dogs. Here is an excerpt about using a target to teach a dog to blast-off from the start line (please forgive the informal method of quoting and giving credit to the source - it's been a long time since senior english class):
"If you decide that running with your dog from the start line is best, then
train your dog for a blast-off start. The best way to do this is by
using a target. Place a target, such as a plastic lid, in front of
your dog. Put a treat on the target and hold the dog back until
he is squirming to get free and pick up the treat. Give your dog
a take-off command such as "Ready, set, go!". Release your dog
and let him eat the treat from the target. Gradually increase
the distance that your dog must travel to get the target. Always
restrain him until he is really struggling to get free before you
give him the take-off command and release him. This will teach
your dog to blast off with a fast start on your command."
from Speeding Things Up - A Success Story by Webb and Leslie Anderson published in the February 2000 issue of Front and Finish.
We thought this sounded like a great idea and tried it for the first time today. Mom put a target with a little piece of chicken on it about two feet away from me and held me back and said, "Reeeaaadddyyyy, go!" And I got the chicken - what an easy and fun game! Mom found out that I didn't like to be held back and would wait next to her until she finally said, "GO!" We increased the distance to the target and eventually added jumps one at a time until I did three jumps really fast on my way to the target. We're going to try this some more and in different places and with some other obstacles and see how it goes.
Mom also read another article called Agility and the Small Dog - Speed Challenged Agility Dogs by Gerianne F. Darnell from the October 2000 issue of Front and Finish and the author told this story:
"A few years ago I had the good fortune of walking out of a ring and
having Linda Mecklinberg talk to me for about 15 minutes
about my slow dog. I will always be grateful for this talk,
because it forever changed the way I looked at a course. Linda
told me that I would often need to run a course like nobody else
would run it. I would have to find "unnecessary" places to cross
in front of my dog, in order to keep him moving. She said somebody
might watch me run a course and say "Now, why in the
heck would she do that?" but that I had to forget about what
other people thought, and do what my DOG needed me to do.
She said I had to constantly be looking for a half second here,
and a second there, and that if enough of those seconds added
up, my dog could make time in excellent jumpers. For example,
she told me to meet my dog at the end of the chute and turn
him immediately to the next obstacle, don’t wait for him to
come out to tell him where to go next. He should know before
he comes out of the chute what I want him to do."
Now one of our instructors had already given us this advice, and we actually ran our jumpers run the other day with this in mind, but it was good to hear someone else talk about running a course like no one else would.
Any way, we just wanted to share these thoughts and also keep track of them for ourselves. It's been a long time since I posted something without pictures or video! I have made progress on my stand in the corner trick, so I'll try to get mom to make a vid to show it off!
Gotta zoom!
Ricky
The photos just don't do it all justice - every where you look there is another spectacular display. Unfortunately it doesn't last long. Yesterday's wind brought a lot of leaves down and soon you won't be able to see the yards, sidewalks or streets because they'll be completely covered with fallen leaves. But for now it's like a fantasy land!
Then we headed off to another park. This one I had been to several times but we always have fun there. The only problem is the trail around the lake starts off next to a busy road. Even though I saw that Wilson didn't care about the cars, I still had a hard time not barking at them and lunging at them. Mom doesn't have fun at this park until we get well away from the road.
Mom made me and Wilson pose (I think aunt Laura said something to us about treats and Wilson totally fell for it!):
Another forced pose:
Wilson has a big tongue:
The weather was so nice that Wilson got a bath (I would laugh but mom made me get a bath on Tuesday so I really knew how he felt):
My cousin Jeff turns 11 today and we celebrated with him on Wednesday. He had an all Wii birthday!
My cousin Meredith (she's 8) just got her braces off:
Wilson and I like each other but we're guys and don't want to show it:
We went for a walk at the park with the lake on Thursday morning too. Then after lunch mom and I drove back home. I was exhausted. I like to go there to visit but I never really relax when I am around Wilson. Oh, I almost forgot, - Wilson hurt his foot - he ripped his dew claw - and so he and I couldn't play our game of fetch where he runs to get the ball and I run after him and bark like a maniac. That's our favorite thing to do together. Maybe next time.
Tomorrow I am going to visit my cousin Wilson! I saw him a few times over the summer when he was at grandma and grandpa's, but I haven't been to his house in a long time. I don't think I told you but we lost my cousin Sandy very unexpectedly in June. She and Wilson were visiting at my grandparents' and Sandy collapsed! My aunt and uncle took her to the emergency vet right away and the vet said it was cancer and that they probably couldn't get her stabilized enough for surgery and if they could, surgery would not prolong her life for long. So Sandy crossed over the bridge that very afternoon. It was so sad and shocking that I couldn't write about it at the time. So when we visit Wilson tomorrow, it will be our first time there without Sandy and we will really miss her!
Ok, then the big wait! Mom had high hopes that this would be a short trialing day but we waited 4 1/2 hours for our STD run! Grandma was good company though and we also talked to some of our agility friends. And it was cool in the building (cold mom says) which helped me out a lot. I had a little nap in the car but spent most of my time just hanging with mom and grandma. Finally it was my turn to run again! We got video this time but we're also including the course map. Having a couple jumps at the beginning and then a tunnel was good for me to get going. Mom made sure she slowed down and got me on the aframe (no sniffing!) and then I strutted very proudly over the dogwalk (I love the dogwalk now!) and also sat proudly on the table (also no sniffing!). Then mom got very animated and sent me into the chute (I did my fastest-ever-at-a-trial chute!) and then fast-for-me weaves and then mom was worried about the tunnel/DW discrimination so she slowed down to make sure I went into the tunnel and then we were home free!
Sorry we haven't been posting but we will soon! Lack of inspiration, I guess.....
