Today was the last class in our 6-week session. In many ways it was great. In other ways it was not.
The minute we got there Jonah was super excited. Like, really super excited. Grace asked how our trial had gone and he just started barking. Not at her, not at me, not at another dog, just barking because he was so excited. I'd get him to stop and then a minute later he was barking again.
Then we got to go warm up and he settled with the general barking, but he and the Standard poodle started barking at each other. Once they ran towards each other but nothing bad happened--both are just excitable. Still, it was a bit of an adventure. I'm not sure we're quite up to working with two other dogs working in the same ring. Talk about over stimulating.
Anyway, once we actually got to run a course Jonah was spectacular. He was flying, and accurate too. His lines were tight and he nailed a tough weave entry even though he had a lot more speed than he often does. All around, it was a great run.
The second time we ran that course he was still super fast but Grace had me handle the weave entry differently and he had more trouble. Here was the entry:
After working through that we walked the second course. Grace was talking us through a tricky spot when the door opened and in walked a handsome smooth collie with its three people. Jonah was tethered at the other end of the ring. I wasn't quick on my feet, but as the dog walked in I thought, "Hmm, Jonah doesn't like to meet other dogs on leash, and he doesn't like being tied to the wall. I bet he won't like this dog walking right past him." So I head over to him. But I was too slow. Right as I'm pulling out some string cheese, the two dogs make eye contact and Jonah lunges. Snap. Suddenly his collar is in pieces on the floor and he's loose, hopping up and down and barking at the dog. It's not like he attacked--he was probably never closer than four or five feet from the dog, but it was an incredibly rude punctuation for the lesson. Grace helped me rig up a slip collar out of his leash and I took him back with me to finish walking through the course. Once it came time to run the course, we had to go near the collie to start, and Jonah's hair stood up on his back, but he got down to business.
He ran pretty well despite the drama. We had a wide turn from the A-frame to the tunnel right beneath it, but otherwise he was fast and flowing, until we got to the table. Then he had no interest at all in laying down, and he kept looking over in the direction of the other dogs. I read somewhere that down is a submissive position and I wonder if that's what his concern was. I don't know, but it took quite some effort to get him down. Then he pulled the next rail, clearly still flustered. The rest of the course ran fast and fun.
Of course, between rounds we had to go wait with the other dogs, including the collie. It seemed like running had gotten his little issue out of his system, and he never had another bit of a problem.
Our second time through the course was also good, but I wasn't able to clean up the wide turn from the A-frame to the tunnel. Not sure what the deal was with that. The second time I tried handling one part differently. Here was the sequence:
Grace suggested pushing to the backside of 2 and then putting in a FC on the landing side of 2 to push to the far tunnel entry. I have difficulty with pushing to the backside and then putting in a FC. That's where he pulled the bar our first time through the course. The second time through, I just sent to 2 and kept him on my right. I didn't say "tunnel" until we were clearly past the first entrance. I pulled him a little bit farther out from the off-course entry than I needed to, but it worked and the bar stayed up. I'm not sure one handling method is definitively "better."
Jonah was moving so fast through his courses today it was really a blast to handle him. I got moving pretty good, myself! He was very drivey. There was one point where we went from the weaves to a tunnel 20+ feet away, driving past an off-course jump. Right from the weaves, I lined up his path so the jump was not in the way and I just said "tunnel" and gestured with my arm. He flew over there at light speed, with me left in the dust. It would have been an impressive gamble! Then the closing line was a jump to the A-frame to another jump. He caught major air over the A-frame. I think he came pretty close to jumping clear from one contact zone to the other. Luckily he did land in the contact zone on the landing side!
So, despite some embarrassing socialization drama, the agility part of our lesson was excellent. I wonder why we didn't have any of the same enthusiasm at the trial last weekend, but I don't think I'll ever be able to psychoanalyze Jonah. He's a puzzle and that's part of what I love about him. At least we'll have another try at a trial this weekend.
I'm not sure if I want to continue with a group lesson or go back to privates, so I've asked Grace for her preference. Privates would allow us to more tailor what we want to work on and Jonah would be more comfortable, but the group is potentially good practice for him in a crowded, doggy environment. If we do the group, we would be moving to the evening class which already has 5 dogs in it--quite the crowd! Anyway, we have next week off from lessons and then the following week would be when we'd start into the new session.
The minute we got there Jonah was super excited. Like, really super excited. Grace asked how our trial had gone and he just started barking. Not at her, not at me, not at another dog, just barking because he was so excited. I'd get him to stop and then a minute later he was barking again.
Then we got to go warm up and he settled with the general barking, but he and the Standard poodle started barking at each other. Once they ran towards each other but nothing bad happened--both are just excitable. Still, it was a bit of an adventure. I'm not sure we're quite up to working with two other dogs working in the same ring. Talk about over stimulating.
Anyway, once we actually got to run a course Jonah was spectacular. He was flying, and accurate too. His lines were tight and he nailed a tough weave entry even though he had a lot more speed than he often does. All around, it was a great run.
The second time we ran that course he was still super fast but Grace had me handle the weave entry differently and he had more trouble. Here was the entry:
The first time we ran the course I had done a landing side FC at 2. There wasn't a lot of space and it ended up being pretty much a 90 degree entry. I was a little bit surprised he nailed it so well.
The second time I tried keeping with him on the right through the poles, but he entered at the second pole.
Next I tried a RC on the flat into the poles. He went in the correct entry but then missed a pole, weaving back to the right at pole 3 rather than pole 2. Grace suggested that he was having trouble collecting since he was coming to the poles with such speed, and then he couldn't gather himself for pole 2 so he thought he'd just try pole 3! Jonah's apparently petitioning for 48" weave spacing :).
Finally I tried keeping him on the right again, but this time I was careful not to push too soon. I waited until he had landed off 2 before moving towards the poles. That way he came into me and had a second to get straightened out before hitting the entry. This worked really well. Good boy, and thanks to Grace for identifying the problem.
After working through that we walked the second course. Grace was talking us through a tricky spot when the door opened and in walked a handsome smooth collie with its three people. Jonah was tethered at the other end of the ring. I wasn't quick on my feet, but as the dog walked in I thought, "Hmm, Jonah doesn't like to meet other dogs on leash, and he doesn't like being tied to the wall. I bet he won't like this dog walking right past him." So I head over to him. But I was too slow. Right as I'm pulling out some string cheese, the two dogs make eye contact and Jonah lunges. Snap. Suddenly his collar is in pieces on the floor and he's loose, hopping up and down and barking at the dog. It's not like he attacked--he was probably never closer than four or five feet from the dog, but it was an incredibly rude punctuation for the lesson. Grace helped me rig up a slip collar out of his leash and I took him back with me to finish walking through the course. Once it came time to run the course, we had to go near the collie to start, and Jonah's hair stood up on his back, but he got down to business.
He ran pretty well despite the drama. We had a wide turn from the A-frame to the tunnel right beneath it, but otherwise he was fast and flowing, until we got to the table. Then he had no interest at all in laying down, and he kept looking over in the direction of the other dogs. I read somewhere that down is a submissive position and I wonder if that's what his concern was. I don't know, but it took quite some effort to get him down. Then he pulled the next rail, clearly still flustered. The rest of the course ran fast and fun.
Of course, between rounds we had to go wait with the other dogs, including the collie. It seemed like running had gotten his little issue out of his system, and he never had another bit of a problem.
Our second time through the course was also good, but I wasn't able to clean up the wide turn from the A-frame to the tunnel. Not sure what the deal was with that. The second time I tried handling one part differently. Here was the sequence:
Grace suggested pushing to the backside of 2 and then putting in a FC on the landing side of 2 to push to the far tunnel entry. I have difficulty with pushing to the backside and then putting in a FC. That's where he pulled the bar our first time through the course. The second time through, I just sent to 2 and kept him on my right. I didn't say "tunnel" until we were clearly past the first entrance. I pulled him a little bit farther out from the off-course entry than I needed to, but it worked and the bar stayed up. I'm not sure one handling method is definitively "better."
Jonah was moving so fast through his courses today it was really a blast to handle him. I got moving pretty good, myself! He was very drivey. There was one point where we went from the weaves to a tunnel 20+ feet away, driving past an off-course jump. Right from the weaves, I lined up his path so the jump was not in the way and I just said "tunnel" and gestured with my arm. He flew over there at light speed, with me left in the dust. It would have been an impressive gamble! Then the closing line was a jump to the A-frame to another jump. He caught major air over the A-frame. I think he came pretty close to jumping clear from one contact zone to the other. Luckily he did land in the contact zone on the landing side!
So, despite some embarrassing socialization drama, the agility part of our lesson was excellent. I wonder why we didn't have any of the same enthusiasm at the trial last weekend, but I don't think I'll ever be able to psychoanalyze Jonah. He's a puzzle and that's part of what I love about him. At least we'll have another try at a trial this weekend.
I'm not sure if I want to continue with a group lesson or go back to privates, so I've asked Grace for her preference. Privates would allow us to more tailor what we want to work on and Jonah would be more comfortable, but the group is potentially good practice for him in a crowded, doggy environment. If we do the group, we would be moving to the evening class which already has 5 dogs in it--quite the crowd! Anyway, we have next week off from lessons and then the following week would be when we'd start into the new session.
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