I had the best class of my life last night - for me, I was fast! Mom set me up at the startline each time and said "Ready, set, go!" and I went (not super fast, but fast for me)! We did some really fun sequences with harder jumps and weave entries. I got a weave entry with mom doing like a post turn from maybe 4:00 (not sure if I am describing it right) - and I got it on my first try and everybody in my half of the class cheered! Then they cheered when I got a lateral send to the tunnel and when I ran full out on a straight line jump sequence to end a set! I was pretty happy and mom was ecstatic! We think agility rocks!
In our Monday class, we ran a JWW course - set up for people who are competing in excellent. So it was much more difficult than what we are used to. It was very fun and challenging. The worst part was that mom had trouble remembering the course - but in fairness to her, she didn't have much of a chance to walk it.
Mom sent in the entry for our next AKC trial - April 4th. We decided to just do one day again. Mom says she has trouble writing out the check for two days of trialing! We just don't know how people run multiple dogs!
Mom tried practicing measuring with me at the class last night - she thinks she got a measurement under 14" - but she wasn't sure she was doing it right. At least she got me to relax a little during the process. I have definitely lost some weight - maybe that is helping.....
Time for my morning walk and then mom has to go to work!
Gotta zoom!
Ricky
Showing posts with label class 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label class 2. Show all posts
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Cabin Fever (and agility and tricks too)!
Sorry it's been so long since I posted anything! The weather has been so COLD and mom and dad have been working a lot, so I've been doing almost nothing! Mom and I are real diehard walkers, but Thursday morning I cried "Uncle!" because the ground was all snowy and the temperature was 8. I'm tough but my paws just couldn't handle it. So yesterday morning and now today we haven't even tried to walk - yesterday was -12 and today is -5! The good news is that today's high should be 20+ and mom says we'll walk in the afternoon!
Enough about the weather! Thursday night was our second class in advanced agility. We missed practice on Wednesday morning since mom had to work, so I was raring to go on Thursday night! We did a lot of sequences again and worked a lot on rear crosses again. It was really good for mom - she learned more about how to keep her shoulders straight approaching the jump and to use her dog-side arm to push me over the jump while she then rotates her shoulder in the new direction and moves laterally in the new direction. Homework is to practice rear cross on the flat so we've been doing it several times a day.
We'd like you to know that we finally mailed in our entry for our first trial - we decided to run on just one day - February 14 - JWW in the morning and the Standard course in the afternoon. There is another trial two weeks later and we might run both days then. We'll see how it goes!
To keep busy in the house, we are still working on tricks - here is our latest:
Hope you all have a great weekend! I hear that I am off to visit grandpa and grandma! Yay - finally some action around here!
Gotta zoom!
Ricky
Enough about the weather! Thursday night was our second class in advanced agility. We missed practice on Wednesday morning since mom had to work, so I was raring to go on Thursday night! We did a lot of sequences again and worked a lot on rear crosses again. It was really good for mom - she learned more about how to keep her shoulders straight approaching the jump and to use her dog-side arm to push me over the jump while she then rotates her shoulder in the new direction and moves laterally in the new direction. Homework is to practice rear cross on the flat so we've been doing it several times a day.
We'd like you to know that we finally mailed in our entry for our first trial - we decided to run on just one day - February 14 - JWW in the morning and the Standard course in the afternoon. There is another trial two weeks later and we might run both days then. We'll see how it goes!
To keep busy in the house, we are still working on tricks - here is our latest:
Hope you all have a great weekend! I hear that I am off to visit grandpa and grandma! Yay - finally some action around here!
Gotta zoom!
Ricky
Friday, November 7, 2008
Class 2 and a rare bird
Yesterday morning mom read on a birding list that there was a rare bird - a long tailed duck - sighted at a small pond in a metro park about 15 minutes from here. So since dad and mom had never seen that duck, we drove to the park to see if it was still there. To me it was rather boring. This park doesn't have any pet trails and birding is not really my thing. Now if we were there to herd the bird, that would be a different story! I was a good sport about it though and hung out on the dock while mom and dad and several other birders ooohed and aaahed over this duck way out in the middle of the pond.
Unfortunately this is the best photo that dad could get. This long tailed duck is a female and only the males have the long tails. They are diving ducks and can dive as deep as 200 ft. to forage for food! Sounds crazy to me!
Unfortunately this is the best photo that dad could get. This long tailed duck is a female and only the males have the long tails. They are diving ducks and can dive as deep as 200 ft. to forage for food! Sounds crazy to me!
Then last night I went to my second agility class of this session. I was lucky and got put into a group with just one other dog - a cattle dog that was in my class last time and that I think is pretty cool! Things went well - in our first section we had the broad jump for the first time in the class. We have something like it at home and mom has been practicing with me so I jumped it and didn't try to walk on it at all. I also did the triple jump - wow, I really have to jump far out for that one! I also did the full-height teeter again and am not startled much by the noise of the bang when the teeter falls back down after I get off. I attempted the chute once and as it is my M.O., I ran right into the opening and then didn't move until mom lifted the end just a little bit. It was the longer chute this time. I'm sorry, but I like to see just a little bit of light at the end of the chute!! In the second section we practiced start line stays and front crosses. After trying the stays a few times to prove that I could do them, mom switched back to running with me because that always makes me more confident and faster. After that we went to contacts and I am getting faster on my dog walk and a frame. We did a little work with tunnel and dog walk discrimination and this time I wasn't afraid to do the walk just because there was a tunnel underneath it. Our last section of the night was weave poles. We worked on 90 degree entries. Mom has to line herself up across from the first pole and then send me into the entry. We did pretty well and were excited to really start working on this. Yay, something specific to practice at home! My instructor was very excited that my weaves in class were faster last night. She was cheering and so was the cattle dog's mom. Boy if they only saw how fast I am at home with my stick-in-the-ground poles!
Gotta zoom!
Ricky
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Beginning Intermediate Agility Class 2
Tonight was our second class and mom didn't like this week's class nearly as much as last week's. First of all, we went early so we could hear about how to train a running contact on the a-frame. We had to start with trying to get me to run up and over the a-frame as fast as possible. So with my leash on mom ran and I ran up and over, but not fast enough. We tried again and I started jumping from the top of the contact zone to the floor. We lowered the a-frame height and tried again. But I still didn't want to run very fast. (Mom told our instructor that I had not been on an a-frame very many times in my life). Apparently, after a dog starts running fast, you put something like a swimming noodle across the apex and as the dog runs up you tell him to jump and then he lands halfway down the other side and then his stride takes him into the contact zone. Then you move the noodle a little ways down from the apex (on the landing side) and the dog jumps a little farther and then really increases his chances of hitting the contact zone. We tried having the noodle up there but I wasn't running fast enough to make a difference. This may be impossible to do without a full-size a-frame at home or access to one frequently. Any way, mom thinks she tried to get me to do it too many times (similar to my introduction to the chute) because I started refusing to go up the frame. Not again!!!
Then the class started. Today there were only eight dogs so 2 in a group. We started at the teeter again but it was up higher than last week. I was surprised by the sound and by how fast and heavy the board is compared to mine at home. So I couldn't control a 2o2o at first. I got better at it the more I did it. The chute was also in this section and I went in without coming back out and mom would run and hold up the end so I could see her waiting there for me and I went through. So at least there is a little progress!
Next we did jumps working on front crosses and pulls (when it looks like you might do a front cross but you don't and there is no side change for the dog). This went ok except mom still sometimes gets confused about how she is turning. I think she gets so excited and forgets to think about what she is doing. Front crosses seem to speed me up. That's a good thing!
Then we went to weaves. This was one of the parts mom didn't like. There were wires for the entry and for the exit. The instructor said we had to do the weaves with the wires because in the next level class, those two wires would be on so we could practice entries - apparently if the wires are off, too many entries are wrong and then the dog is just learning wrong. Mom said I had never seen wires and she didn't want to mess me up. The instructor told her to try it and that I probably wouldn't even notice them! (Doesn't she realize I notice EVERYTHING!) Mom told me to weave but the wire freaked me out and I skipped the first two poles and the last two poles. When the wire was taken off, I got all my entries right, but did the slowest weaves ever (well, I was worried about where that wire thing was!). Now mom doesn't know whether she is going to have to re-teach me with wires or what in order to be able to go to the next class! It looks like it is difficult to come into a class where everyone else has been learning the same way and we haven't. We don't really fit in any where.
The last part of the class was contacts. I did really slow dog walks but stayed really well in my 2o2o position. I also refused to do the a-frame. I guess I figured I had already done enough of those and mom didn't push me to do it this time.
It seems like we still have a lot to learn about classes. Mom fears that she is being labeled as "difficult". I was easily distracted and slow tonight. The instructors think I lack confidence. And that the noises and activity in the building will take some getting used to. It's strange but I was never leery about any equipment until that class in beginning agility with the chute. Some how I apparently lost a lot of confidence that night. And that night made me not enjoy agility classes all that much. Mom thought we got some of the joy back with the private lesson and last week's class, but I don't know. I am much faster and better in my own yard. Too bad trials can't be held in the privacy of your own home!
We came home and went outside and I did speedy weaves with 90 degree entries. Tomorrow we're going to take the day off from agility....supposed to rain any way. We'll see what happens in class next week.
Gotta zoom!
Ricky
Then the class started. Today there were only eight dogs so 2 in a group. We started at the teeter again but it was up higher than last week. I was surprised by the sound and by how fast and heavy the board is compared to mine at home. So I couldn't control a 2o2o at first. I got better at it the more I did it. The chute was also in this section and I went in without coming back out and mom would run and hold up the end so I could see her waiting there for me and I went through. So at least there is a little progress!
Next we did jumps working on front crosses and pulls (when it looks like you might do a front cross but you don't and there is no side change for the dog). This went ok except mom still sometimes gets confused about how she is turning. I think she gets so excited and forgets to think about what she is doing. Front crosses seem to speed me up. That's a good thing!
Then we went to weaves. This was one of the parts mom didn't like. There were wires for the entry and for the exit. The instructor said we had to do the weaves with the wires because in the next level class, those two wires would be on so we could practice entries - apparently if the wires are off, too many entries are wrong and then the dog is just learning wrong. Mom said I had never seen wires and she didn't want to mess me up. The instructor told her to try it and that I probably wouldn't even notice them! (Doesn't she realize I notice EVERYTHING!) Mom told me to weave but the wire freaked me out and I skipped the first two poles and the last two poles. When the wire was taken off, I got all my entries right, but did the slowest weaves ever (well, I was worried about where that wire thing was!). Now mom doesn't know whether she is going to have to re-teach me with wires or what in order to be able to go to the next class! It looks like it is difficult to come into a class where everyone else has been learning the same way and we haven't. We don't really fit in any where.
The last part of the class was contacts. I did really slow dog walks but stayed really well in my 2o2o position. I also refused to do the a-frame. I guess I figured I had already done enough of those and mom didn't push me to do it this time.
It seems like we still have a lot to learn about classes. Mom fears that she is being labeled as "difficult". I was easily distracted and slow tonight. The instructors think I lack confidence. And that the noises and activity in the building will take some getting used to. It's strange but I was never leery about any equipment until that class in beginning agility with the chute. Some how I apparently lost a lot of confidence that night. And that night made me not enjoy agility classes all that much. Mom thought we got some of the joy back with the private lesson and last week's class, but I don't know. I am much faster and better in my own yard. Too bad trials can't be held in the privacy of your own home!
We came home and went outside and I did speedy weaves with 90 degree entries. Tomorrow we're going to take the day off from agility....supposed to rain any way. We'll see what happens in class next week.
Gotta zoom!
Ricky
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