Happy 2013!

Happy New Year everyone!

Today I went to my first agility class in a year and a half! It felt like we had never left. I went right in and did warm up tricks with mom. Some of the dogs and people we knew from other classes and some were new to us. The theme of today's class was front and rear crosses on the flat. We talked about how a cross on the flat can really set up a clean line for the dog.

The first sequence started jump, dw, fc on the flat, pinwheel, weaves. I had to go first!! I showed everyone how it was done. My first dw and set of 12 weaves in a long time, but I did them like a pro. I am still a very thoughtful dog out there but I knew what I was doing. :)

Mom had a good time too! I am so glad we are back to classes!

Maybe we'll ask someone to video next week!


Gotta zoom!


Ricky

Class

Jenn had turf installed in her training building last month and it is really nice! Here is a little video of me from our class this week.

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Not a Wordless Wednesday

Yesterday we went to our last class of this session. We ran a short course and then did sections of the course again and I jumped 8". I didn't have any trouble jumping but there were no spread jumps for me to try. There were some interesting handling challenges - especially for big dogs who ran fast. I did a couple fast weaves and one real slow set of weaves and some fast dogwalks. Sorry for not describing the handling and the options etc. I know I am letting you guys down if you were hoping for a lesson. Maybe next session there will be more concrete stuff to talk about. It starts May 17th and the new turf will be in the training building.

It just rains and rains here so we haven't been any where and haven't done any practicing outside. Last Thursday we had a one-day break in the weather - the sun was out, the sky was blue, the flowers were blooming, and mom and I went to the park. We also took some pictures from our garden. The first three photos are from here and the rest are from the park.

Our Easter was very nice! It was cloudy and cool but it didn't rain non-stop so Wilson and I did get to play our version of fetch a few times. It was fun but exhausting! That Wilson loves his tennis ball and I love to bark at him!

Hope it is dry and sunny where you are!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Tuesday's class

Jenn's mom Susan taught our class today! We hadn't been in a class of hers since two summers ago. It was great to see her! We had a course to run so we did sections of it first that involved 270s and weave entries. I did ok but was not fast at all (slower than last week). I jumped the triple but thought about it a lot first.

Susan suggested to mom that maybe I should jump 8" - (like several of my good blogging friends did). So on the course run-through I did jump 8". It did not speed me up all that much, but they thought I handled the jumps better. Susan says it will take awhile for me to trust that the jumps are easier to clear. She also said that once a dog (like me) knocks a few bars, it hurts and makes us afraid to jump. We're going to keep trying me at 8" in class and see how I do.

The course started with the chute and I had no trouble with that! Yay for me! Not too long ago I would've totally refused to do it. And I had a few very fast dogwalks!

Susan had a lot of good advice for each dog/handler team. She is great at figuring out how to help over-the-top dogs as well as more careful ones like me. We appreciated her advice so much and she made us feel lots better!

For the past few days mom and I have been working on the foundation stuff for treibball. I can go around the ball to my mat from each side and I am learning to nose touch the ball with enough weight to push it a tiny bit. I have to work more on lining myself up on the opposite side of the ball from mom so that once I do push it, it goes in mom's direction. It is fun so far and I am really enjoying it!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Tuesday's class

Mom says thanks to all of you for leaving such supportive comments about my horrible trial day on Saturday. We appreciate all of the advice and support and love so much.

Today at class Jenn was sick and we had a classmate as the substitute instructor. He did a great job! Only three other dogs/people were there (no barking dogs either). So it was nice and quiet and we got to run more sequences than usual and move at a faster pace. Maybe all of this contributed to making me feel like a completely different dog than I did on Saturday!

I got to warm up on tricks, jumps and a tunnel. More warm-up time than usual. I was flying into and out of the tunnel. Our sequences had a lot of really tough 270s. We got some of them but not all of them. Mom had to really push me around to the back of the second jump in order to keep me from coming through the gap. But during the class I did some really fast weaving, a super fast dogwalk (mom moved laterally away from me and layered the chute while I was on the DW) and it made me go so fast! I had very little trouble jumping (but there were no spreads today) but I did skip the aframe once (I just wanted to stay right next to mom). One of mom's favorite moments was when she messed up and had her shoulders pointing toward the tunnel (instead of a jump) and I flew past her and into the tunnel!

Any way mom signed us up for the next class session since I enjoyed today so much. Jenn is adding another building for classes which will have matting and the current agility building is going to be redone with turf! So now I will finally have a chance to practice on the same kind of surface that I see at most of my trials. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for me to get comfortable with it.

For now we are not doing any more trials though. We're going to try to enjoy classes and maybe get to some run-throughs and keep trying to get better on the things we can improve - drive, speed, focus. Jenn still claims that I have ETS (early take-off syndrome) and that it won't get better and that there really isn't anything we can do about it. It's hard to not worry about this and to stay positive and keep going with the training BUT I feel good right now and that makes mom happy. We'll just have to see....

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Tuesday's class

I am sorry but I didn't learn anything today! We focused on weave entries as a drill and then various entries in sequences. There were no spreads for me to get weird about. I did the chute. That's about it.

I decided since I am gypping you all on a lesson that I would just share some random pictures. (the endless green grass is out at my grandparents')

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Tuesday's class

We went to class today - two weeks in a row - woohoo! Today we had to do zig zag lines. I had never practiced them before. They were based on Linda Mecklenberg's zig zag exercises from the section starting on page 185 in her Developing Handling Skills book. Our exercise had four jumps - at least three were winged (maybe all four were) and they were zigged and zagged. Technically the dog should take the jumps that are within four feet away from him and his handler (four feet is the length of a jump bar) without his handler having to use an arm signal or say jump. For our class today handlers were allowed to use those signals. Oh and the handler runs in a straight line (not moving in and out to help the dog). I did pretty well but I did not like the winged jumps and stuttered a little. Jenn says mom should make some wings for me to practice with at home. (We already found a plan to make them).

Other than that, not too much else to report. I did well but was not super fast or anything. Oh, today there was a tunnel that had a table in its curve and as we approached it, mom said "Ricky" to get me to take the tunnel entrance closest to her and I came towards mom and then headed for the tunnel. Mom was happy and did not make sure I was committed to the tunnel before she started to move to meet me at the other end of the tunnel and I thought she was showing me that table and so I hoped up on the too-high table. Ha! So something new to work on! :)

There was a cool part of a sequence that involved the broad jump on a turn and then a tunnel and Jenn showed everyone how they should send their dogs to the broad jump and run behind the tunnel. If we can, we will try to demonstrate this later in the week as it was pretty cool and we want to remember how to do it.

We have lots of daffodils blooming now and these are pretty but the stem came up out of the ground about 2 inches and then it bloomed. Wonder why it is so short? Although flowers and birds think Spring is here and the calendar says it is a fact, we are supposed to have highs of 40 and lows in the 20s with possible snow showers by the end of the week. Hmmm... not what we call Spring exactly!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Tunnel within a Tunnel

The other day we set up the tunnel inside the curve of another tunnel exercise that we practiced in class last week. We have a 6 ft real tunnel and then two kids' play tunnels we put together to be the bigger tunnel. It made the entrances more obvious but we could still practice the skill. The dogwalk was just there to keep the tunnels from rolling backwards.

This was edited down from 9 minutes (you're welcome - LOL) and I did make mistakes but cut those out! I caught on pretty quickly though. The handler should say the dog's name for the entrance nearest her and say tunnel for the farther entrance. The handler should also run straight toward the middle of the smaller curved tunnel for that tunnel. I am thinking mom's handling leaves a lot to be desired! :) (also cut from the video was mom's often repeated "don't eat it" to me for wanting to eat the corn gluten she put on the yard for fertilizer/weed control - I can't help it if that stuff is like manna from heaven to me!)

Last night and tonight I did - get the dumbbell, sit, down, sit, stand, sit, and sit up pretty - all while HOLDING it!! There is hope!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Tuesday's class

Believe it or not, we went to class today!! It was the first class of a new 7 week session. I think we only went to 3 classes last session. Ridiculous. But today we got back on track. I was a very good boy. Mom warmed me up on the triple - I refused it the first time and then did all the rest including every one in the sequences. What is up with that first time? You only get one chance in a trial so mom keeps telling me.

Just one real thought from today. We did a 90 degree weave entry drill. Two jumps to the entry with dog on the left. The handler should drive straight forward to the second pole and let the dog find the entry on his own. At first the handler was allowed to go as close to the poles as she wanted but then she had to stay back farther each time. I got all my entries!

We did some sequences with a curved tunnel that had a smaller curved tunnel in the curve. So two tunnel entrances on each side! That was interesting. Mom needs to practice that with me (we only have one real tunnel but Jenn says to practice that's all you need - you just start bringing the entrances closer and closer together)- we didn't get it perfect but I want you to know that when Mom said, "Ricky!" I responded to my name!!!!!!

Now that the weather is finally improving (well it's raining but I guess that IS an improvement), videos showing fun elements from my class will be coming back so stay tuned! LOL!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Tuesday's class

We were on our way out the door yesterday when we got the call that our class had been canceled due to weather! No, not again! We had freezing rain and some snow the day/night before but although our neighborhood streets were very icy, we assumed the main roads would be fine. Guess not.

Any way, back to those few nice days from last week (before everything was covered in snow yet again). We made a video of the 180 exercise from last week's class. It didn't go all that great - I was not very fast and mom's handling was not very good - but at least you can kind of see what the exercise was and we can remember it for practicing in the future.

Mom and I don't make fancy edited videos much any more - we just stick it up on YouTube - so here is what we tried to show you -

First we did the 180 with a backy uppy a couple times (mom didn't mean to do the rear cross or anything before the 180 but due to poor planning she was on the wrong side of me).

Then we tried the serpentine version.

Then we did a couple with double front crosses (my favorite).

In class we did a curved tunnel to the DW and then into the 180. At home we just used that straight tunnel but it didn't propel me forward like it should have.

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Tuesday's class

I went to class yesterday even though it was my birthday and I would've rather just been out chasing squirrels or something. Mom says I am still young enough to learn new things so off to class we went.

Class was about backy uppys, serpentine recalls to heel, foundation recalls, and double fronts with some obstacle discrimination thrown in. We warmed up at one jump with the BU, SR, and FRTH. (abbreviations by me). Mom chose to use the triple and double jumps for me just to get me more exposure to them. I did fine and did knock any bars or anything.

Then we had to do sequences that included those handling skills. The first one was jump to aframe but there was a straight tunnel next to the right side of the aframe. Mom knew I would want to take the tunnel and while most people started with a lead out and the dog on their right and just said, "Frame" and the dog went up the aframe, mom ran with me on her left and tried her hardest to block my access to the tunnel (planning to rear cross me as I went up the aframe as there was no room for her to get around the right side of the tunnel). Well I could not be thwarted and took the tunnel any way! Yay for me! I love tunnels! And it WAS my birthday. Then I did double, triple and I was supposed to look at mom and run by the big gaping obvious right end of a curved tunnel and follow her around to the far-away left end of the tunnel. Mom called my name and I blew past her and into the wrong end. But I was very happy about it - I had a huge grin on my face (and I have to say again it was my birthday)! Jenn was NOT happy about it and she said to mom (and I quote) "He is extremely unresponsive to his name!" Well. So there.

I also ignored mom on a serpentine recall involving a 180 and preferred to go and do the chute! Yes, somehow the chute and I have become good friends!

At the end of class we did a timed experiment to see what would be the fastest way for each of us teams to handle a 180 - backy uppy was first, then serpentine, then the double front. It was fun and of course I was fastest with the double front. This will be a good exercise to try again in our yard and to video for you guys some day! We will try to remember.

After class I got to go to my favorite pet store and they gave me lots of treats and I got a new bully stick - I love to chew on them and they are really helping to clean my teeth! Also they had a Nino Ottosson Dog Magic game out on the floor of the store and I got to play with it -

I had it figured out in no time and had a blast moving those silly bones out of the way and getting the FOOD underneath. Mom was glad she didn't have to bother to buy me a new toy!

It has finally warmed up around here - today was 59! So most of the snow is gone and we just have a little ice in the grass where the sun never shines on it to melt it. Our yard is all soupy muddy puddley now. But in the very back of the backyard the ground is drier so mom set up my table with a straight tunnel right next to it and we practiced jump to either table or tunnel and sometimes mom called me off - and guess what? I was responsive to my name! Ha! It felt so great to be outside doing agility again. AND our daffodils are starting to peek up out of the ground. We know winter is not completely over but this is such a nice and welcome break from all that snow and cold!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Tuesday's class!!!!!

We went to class yesterday!!! Finally after three weeks of missed classes in a row. I was surprised they remembered us!

Class was about straight tunnels as turning obstacles - the straight tunnel is a turning obstacle because the dog can get information on which way to turn before he enters the tunnel. With a curved tunnel (a non-turning obstacle) the dog completes the obstacle independently and then learns which way to go (like with DW, AF, teeter and weaves). The chute is also a turning obstacle.

Any way, we started out with an exercise where we performed most of the skills you would do with one jump with the one straight tunnel - so we did forward send, rear cross, FMFC, foundation RTH - I think I forgot one but you get the idea. It was important with the forward send for the handler to decel and keep shoulders toward the tunnel opening, with the rear cross there needed to be some lateral motion into the dog's path before the dog went into the tunnel so the dog could turn in the correct direction when exiting, and with the FMFC the handler had to show the dog the outside arm before he went in the tunnel also to show that there would be a turn coming up. I read mom's body language well!

Then we did several sequences that incorporated straight tunnels. I had a good time and was quite fast. I like classes better when they start with some kind of drill - it gets me warmed up and then I run the sequences faster. Mom concentrated on being confident herself and on giving me early commands so that I knew what was the next obstacle before or as I was doing the one I was on.

All in all it was a great class and we were very happy to be there!

At home mom chipped my table out of the snow and ice and thawed it out and brought it into our living room/agility training room! So I have been working on faster downs on the table. The table is hard and I would prefer to do my fast down on a rug or pillow. Think they might change the table in USDAA to be a cushioney one? :)

Today I think we are going to practice at our club. It is super cold out (10 degrees) with a wind chill minus zero. So we won't be outside much today. But the weather forecast says it should be in the 40s on Sunday! Wow. I'll believe it when I see it! After practice we're going to visit grandma and grandpa. Should be a fun day!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Is there a conspiracy against us?

Class was cancelled today due to freezing rain!! No way, come on!

Yesterday was the calm before the storm. We actually saw the SUN for a little while. And we went walking at the park because mom knew it might be our last walk in a long time. She was right - this morning it is so icy I can barely get in position to potty!

We practiced weave entries in the living room yesterday too. The darn sun (LOL) made it hard for me to see the poles. Mom should've closed the blinds to make it easier on me.

Mom wants to take all the furniture out of the living room/dining room and put in rubber matting - what do you all think? ;)

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

If you are looking for my class post.....

I had to miss my class today again (for the second week in a row) because mom had to WORK! Bummer. I am getting so far behind. Last week they worked on forward and lateral sends and the handler moving downstream for a front cross. I don't know yet what they worked on today.

Tomorrow we are planning to go to practice at our club. Finally I can do some agility!

In the meantime, we've been pretending that it isn't cold and snowy and going out to walk at my favorite park. On Sunday, it was sunny and 17 degrees. But mom bundled up and we went out. We had an awesome time! Apparently even though the city does not plow our neighborhood streets, they do plow the bike path through the park. I got to be off-leash on the bike path (which could never happen during nice weather due to all the joggers and bikers). Believe it or not, there were still some diehard joggers out and I was a good boy and sat and stayed while each one passed. But I also got to run ahead and come back and go ahead and come back - it was FUN! Then we went yesterday too and did much of the same thing except that it was cloudy and 25. Today felt like a heat wave at 38 but I was stuck inside most of the day while mom WORKED!

Mom is studying her Developing Handling Skills book and really enjoying it but it is slow going. She fell into classes with Jenn and the APHS and never taught me that stuff from the beginning so the book is filling in a lot of gaps in her knowledge. But we think it is an excellent system and makes sense - all based on a dog's natural ability to read motion. Some times it seems to mom like there is so much to remember but really it is a lot of common sense. One of the big rules is not to say "Here" or "Come" or use the dog's name as a turning cue. Why not, mom always wondered. Well because if you use verbals to get your dog to turn then it starts to override the dogs ability and desire to watch your motion and negates all you have been trying to do. Put that way makes lots of sense to us!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Tuesday's class

My class posts aren't very interesting any more. I can't get outside to make demo videos and we are refining our skills - going back over handling moves and trying to make them better - so there isn't a whole lot to talk about. Today we worked on forward motion front crosses again - this time making more of an effort to think about whether we wanted true collection (the FMFC placed your jump height away from the landing side of the jump), relative collection or more extension. And we were reminded that of course the handler has to be ahead of the dog to do the FMFC and also has to get her outside arm up and ready before the dog commits to the jump. FMFC are really just recalls to heel in motion so think about that especially when practicing them at one jump.

I did pretty well - I did refuse the double in my first sequence but did it after that. I read mom's FC well etc. After mom and I ran a longish sequence and did it right, one lady in our class yelled out some thing like, "Well it's easy to do if you have a slow dog!" Mom yelled back (half teasing but half serious too) - "Shut up!" I mean mom sounded like she was kidding and she doesn't go around telling people to shut up. But seriously, we were sort of hurt by that comment. We know that my slower speed allows time for mom to get information to me but if we do something well, can't we just feel good about it?

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Back to Class on Tuesday

We finally went back to class yesterday! It was fun to be there again. Tuesday's class was all about rear crosses - not our favorite thing. Our warm up was startline stay exercises and I BROKE my startline at least twice - mom was thrilled! Each handler had their dog stay at a jump and then had to play tricks on the dog - jump up and down, pound on the ground, run past the dog, call the dog with a word like"pizza" instead of the release word, etc. We had done those before and I never moved a muscle. Yesterday I broke and I didn't get rewarded with a treat but I could tell mom was happy that I was so excited to play!

Our rear crosses went ok. The first drill was jump, rear cross, jump, and then either the dogwalk, the teeter or another jump. We were working on different kinds of rear crosses - driving forward for more extension or decelerating for collection. We are now supposed to think about the forward or lateral components of the RC and not just about the mechanics of doing one. I got to jump the double a bunch of times and mom made sure to run with me and to keep me straight going over it.

The most exciting thing that happened at class was I tugged with my sock toy twice!! I have never tugged on a toy there ever before! Mom was ecstatic! She is hoping that some day she can get me to tug before running in a trial - that is a LONG way off but at least I tugged a little between my turns.

I am sad to report that I am having another bout of diarrhea - it started last night and I had mom up at 4:30AM. This afternoon I really didn't feel good and wanted to cuddle with mom so she knew something was really wrong. Dr. Jan just went back to work at the clinic so we got an appointment. Apparently I have clostridium bacteria in my system again - from eating too much bunny poop! Mom always tells me to leave it because it will make me sick and darn it if she wasn't right! I am on an antibiotic now and we are hoping I will feel much better soon. Diarrhea is no fun (especially with a furry Sheltie)!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Tuesday's class

Today was our last class of the year and of this session so we ran two courses. There was a double jump that was repeated in each course and I did all of them. Mom supported me and didn't take off running too fast and didn't try any fancy handling - she presented the double to me as well as she could each time and that helped. I didn't fly freely over it but I didn't refuse it or knock a bar or anything.

It is super cold outside so there won't be any demo video this week. And there are only a few points that mom wants to try to remember from today. One is that she is not thinking enough about setting a line for me. Like if a handler is doing a lead out, she should think about the line she wants her dog to take and that will tell her where to stand (or where to do a cross if she is not leading out). With all the things that mom tries to think about, she still is not really looking at MY line! Also the handler has to go past the plane of a jump to encourage the dog to follow and not to back jump (this really needs video to show what we mean but hey, not this week - LOL!). And finally, what about lead changes? Every time Jenn brings up something about the dog being on the left lead or right lead or changing leads mom hears, "LaLaLaLa" and her eyes glaze over. So during the three week break from classes, maybe mom will study that a little bit and then she can help me even more out on the course.

At the end of class we started to try some "bombproof" weave drills. First one, put your dog on a stay and go to the end of the poles. Recall your dog through the weaves and as your dog starts towards you, you walk in the direction the dog is coming. Disaster!!! I thought I had done something wrong when I started weaving and then saw mom coming towards me - so I stopped weaving and wouldn't go any farther. (Mom wishes she wouldn't have even tried this one with me as I was a little demotivated and bummed by it). Oh well, we won't be practicing that one but it might be good for some dogs. Then next drill was the handler leads out or just gets ahead of the dog, the dog starts weaving and the handler runs through the poles to the other side (like around pole 8). We were good at that one. Another one which we didn't get time to try is moving one set of 6 poles at an angle (little bit at first) so that eventually the dog does 6 poles and keeps going into the other 6 but they are angle at maybe almost 90 degrees. Sounds interesting and we'll try it some day.

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

A Special Monday Edition of Tuesday's Class

Yes, that's right - I went to my Tuesday class today! Mom can't take me tomorrow so we were lucky enough to get to go today. Different group of people and dogs but the same level class. It was good for me to have class with dogs I didn't know.

Today we just ran parts of an international course (Jenn has some try-out soon). The sequences were pretty difficult and lots of times mom couldn't really see what to do and made stuff up as she went along. So we don't have a lot of concrete ideas to share this week. One thing that we need to work on - keeping me from cutting behind mom to do the weaves! Several times I thought it would be fun to weave instead of go where mom was headed! So I guess we will be proofing that! :) Also the double jump was out and I refused it. Then when mom had me try it again, I stuttered stepped and finally jumped it.

We made a very brief video of the end of one of our sequences from today with a few different ways to handle it. There was a line of jumps before the first one in our video and dogs flew out of a tunnel and down the line so fast that mom couldn't even get ahead of me! HA! Any way, the third jump is taken towards the tree (so it's not a 180 from 2 to 3). The first and second times we do a serpentine (mom didn't see that option at all in class until Jenn mentioned it and then she really liked it), third time is a front cross between 2 and 3, fourth is a push - I'm not sure if that's what it's called - and the last time a rear cross at 2. Oh and by the way, Sara, mom got her hair cut so don't be all distracted by that and try to focus on me - LOL!!!

Remember back in September when I had those awful runs at a trial where I refused jumps and even the weaves? Then Dr. Jan found that my back was sore. Mom thought that would be the answer to my problems. But we didn't tell you all that at that trial, Jenn suggested that I probably have ETS (early take-off syndrome). Mom didn't believe her - but that is why she has been watching my every move - especially when we practice at home - and asking you guys if you see anything when I jump off to the side of a jump or when I face plant, etc. Today at class after I refused the double again, Jenn said something like I have ETS and mom will have to always help me with the doubles and triples (ie. support them and manage them). Mom did not realize that the verdict was in in Jenn's mind and that it was now a foregone conclusion that I definitely have ETS until today when Jenn made that statement. And we have not talked much to Jenn about it. But mom is totally freaked out. We haven't researched it much but there is no test for depth perception in dogs. I don't know that you can get a clear diagnosis. Any way, I can still do agility but the faster I go the harder it is for me to judge distances and depths then. When I knock bars, it undermines my confidence and makes my problem worse so that eventually I may not be able to do agility. We don't know. There is a lot more to my relationship with mom than agility but still.....

Any way, not sure what else to say about it.

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Finally - Tuesday's Class!

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! I spent the day with my Cousin Wilson! It rained almost nonstop all day but around 2:00PM we had a little break and mom took Wilson and I outside to play. Wilson fetches the ball and I herd Wilson. Very fun!

Any way, finally a post about my class this week. I was very good again and did everything right! The only problem (not a problem for me, but...) was that I am still scanning the floor for food (of course) and while I keep going and don't actually stop (yay for me), Jenn says it is slowing me down and mom really needs to work with me on it (oh no).

Our skills drill for this week was working on the teeter and independence. I have a good but excruciatingly slow teeter. But I can be recalled over it and can be rear crossed, front crossed, blind crossed, and continue to do it when mom is a long way away from me laterally. So if I ever learn to tip it faster - look out!

The main theme for this class was box work. It was not a very tight box set-up and we did well with it. We also had some tunnel entrance discriminations in the sequences we ran.

We made a video of the part of a sequence that we most want to remember. The first time we did it, mom did a forward motion front cross (fmfc) and it worked well but she needed to remember to get her outside arm up sooner as that is what is cuing me to the turn. The other way to deal with this sequence was to do a lead out and be in the directed jump recall position. I didn't know this but this recall is named after the directed jump exercise in open obedience. Now it makes more sense! Until Tuesday, we didn't really know how to do it (even though mom had studied it).

Here's what we tried in the video:

1. FMFC - late outside arm

2. FMFC - better outside arm cue

3. Directed jump recall - mom is standing behind the right-side jump standard of #2 and trying to face forward where I would be enroute to jump #2

4. FMFC

5. Directed jump

6. Directed jump - mom finally trusted me to take #2 and moves out of position earlier - this is really how it should be

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Sequence from this Tuesday's class

I am finally getting around to posting a video of a sequence from class this week. It is not earth-shattering or anything, but something mom wanted to think about, practice, and hopefully remember. Ok, first of all, imagine that the tire is a teeter and the jump/weaves in the background is the dogwalk (that's how it was set up in class). When everybody ran this, lots of dogs were turning wide after jump #2 (the teeter/tire is #1) and looking at the dogwalk. Most of the handlers were moving laterally after the teeter/tire and sending their dog to #2 and then front crossing close to #3 on the landing side. This was causing the dogs to turn wide and possibly even think that #3 was to be layered. So Jenn said for the handler to send the dog to #2 and move laterally and run close to the take-off side of #4 and do the front cross there (downstream). And Bingo! All of us dogs turned nice and tight and not one of us came through the gap between #2 and 3! I think this is a good skill to have and one that could be easily forgotten or overlooked by relative newbies like mom!

Did you all see me coming over the last jump and kind of swerving and aiming for the side of the jump to go over every time? Why do you think I am doing that?

Gotta zoom!

Ricky