Here's just a quick look at what we have ahead of us for tomorrow:
Round 1: Fullhouse Level 3
This should be a good class to open the day. My plan is to have a nice, motivational flow where we pick up points on easier obstacles at first and then we move onto tougher things. I'm hoping there's a teeter out there, but we'll definitely try to hit some contacts so they're not new equipment when we get to Standard. There's one other dog in our height class.
Round 2: Standard Level 2
These courses aren't usually that difficult, but the new place and the outdoor environment might be tricky in themselves. I'm just going to focus on not taking anything for granted and really supporting him through the contacts and turns. Again, there's one other dog in the class.
Round 3: Wildcard Level 2
Again, this shouldn't be too difficult a course, but I need to be clear about which of the options I'm taking so he can really know what his job is. This would be our last Wildcard Level 2 leg if we qualify. There are two other dogs in this class.
Round 4: Snooker Level 3
Snooker's my least favorite game but I hope I can come up with a good plan. I don't want to get greedy. We're the only dog in our class, so I don't need to try to be competitive; I just am looking for our first Level 3 Snooker Q.
Tomorrow will be a big day for us and I have no idea what to expect. Judging from our session today, he could be great. There are lots of new things to be concerned about, though. Joan told us on Wednesday that lots of dogs who are used to doing agility inside just can't focus at all outside the first few times and act as if they don't know what they're doing. I'm going to hope that's not us! Dave said he would video some runs, so hopefully you will get to see how we do.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Run Thru
Today Jonah and I went to Grace's new facility, Dogstar Activity Center, where they were having an agility run-thru. It was a super experience for us. I just wanted to take him to a new place and have a positive time where he could learn that he can work in an unusual environment.
I got there, went in without Jonah at first and got the tour. It's a nice facility. They've put in blue rubber mats with jigsaw connections so there aren't any gaps between the mats. The footing felt good and Jonah ran well on it. It's a relatively small space (40'x80') as far as agility goes, but I was very impressed with the courses they had set up.
They didn't have a dogwalk, poles or a chute up but they had everything else and some nice jumping questions. When I got there a cute terrier was running but he was the only dog there at the time (The run-thru was 3-7 and I got there just after 3. I bunch of people were arriving as we were leaving. I was glad we had a quieter time there just so Jonah could be more relaxed). When that dog was done, I walked the easier course and went to get Jonah.
He went in cautiously but obediently. I walked him around the perimeter of the room once just to get him a little sense of where he was and I banged the teeter so he could hear it before he was on it. Then I took him over to the start, had him do a few tricks to focus in on me, and I took off his leash. As soon as I took the leash off, he was excited. I roughed him up a little and then sent him into the tunnel to start. It was a pretty basic course, but he was pretty much perfect. Not the fastest he's ever been, but about his average speed. He didn't look nervous although I'm sure there was an element of that in there somewhere. The teeter and A-frame didn't give him any pause and he cruised around everything in lovely form. Good boy!
After that we took a break while the terrier ran again, and then I walked the harder course and ran that. It was a much more difficult course, including a tight wrap, a push-back and some other tricky lines. Once again Jonah was fantastic and ran the whole thing clean. I think Grace said she'd adapted it from the hybrid course at nationals last weekend, so that's pretty cool that we can do some of those same questions! Again, Jonah wasn't as fast as a dog in finals of nationals, but the fact that he ran clean and confidently in a new location was a big accomplishment.
I'm really proud of him and we're looking forward to this weekend!
I got there, went in without Jonah at first and got the tour. It's a nice facility. They've put in blue rubber mats with jigsaw connections so there aren't any gaps between the mats. The footing felt good and Jonah ran well on it. It's a relatively small space (40'x80') as far as agility goes, but I was very impressed with the courses they had set up.
They didn't have a dogwalk, poles or a chute up but they had everything else and some nice jumping questions. When I got there a cute terrier was running but he was the only dog there at the time (The run-thru was 3-7 and I got there just after 3. I bunch of people were arriving as we were leaving. I was glad we had a quieter time there just so Jonah could be more relaxed). When that dog was done, I walked the easier course and went to get Jonah.
He went in cautiously but obediently. I walked him around the perimeter of the room once just to get him a little sense of where he was and I banged the teeter so he could hear it before he was on it. Then I took him over to the start, had him do a few tricks to focus in on me, and I took off his leash. As soon as I took the leash off, he was excited. I roughed him up a little and then sent him into the tunnel to start. It was a pretty basic course, but he was pretty much perfect. Not the fastest he's ever been, but about his average speed. He didn't look nervous although I'm sure there was an element of that in there somewhere. The teeter and A-frame didn't give him any pause and he cruised around everything in lovely form. Good boy!
After that we took a break while the terrier ran again, and then I walked the harder course and ran that. It was a much more difficult course, including a tight wrap, a push-back and some other tricky lines. Once again Jonah was fantastic and ran the whole thing clean. I think Grace said she'd adapted it from the hybrid course at nationals last weekend, so that's pretty cool that we can do some of those same questions! Again, Jonah wasn't as fast as a dog in finals of nationals, but the fact that he ran clean and confidently in a new location was a big accomplishment.
I'm really proud of him and we're looking forward to this weekend!
Lesson Time
Sorry I'm late posting. I'll have to have a few posts tonight to catch things up to speed. Some day school will settle down and I'll be able to commit more to agility and this blog...it looks like that might be some time in June.
Our lesson this week was very good. I brought my new goodies and Joan helped me figure out what to do with them.
1. The bait bag. The bag I got from clean run is a small pouch with a clip to hook onto your pants, and it comes off that clip via a strip of velcro. I got the small pouch because I have the fanny pack that I've been using and it's bigger. I know, fanny packs are generally thought to be much out of style, but a college teammate of mine is really working on bringing them back as a classy accessory:
I can't say I wear mine with quite as much swagger, but it's done the job in our agility adventures thus far. The small, new baitbag is now a device more for throwing than for storage. I would just put a few cookies in it for each run and throw it at the end of a sequence. Then I would run to it, open it and walk backwards while he ate out of it in motion. Once it got stuck on his nose. He didn't mind; it smelled delicious.
2. The other new thing from clean run was the food tube. First off, luckily the package came with two, because I think I broke one before I even put anything in it. The clip is a long plastic device with a stick in the middle. I thought you were supposed to fold the tube and slide the stick between the folded sides of the tube, but once I did that I can't get it off! With the second one, I kept the stick of the clip on top of the folded tube and it seals just fine. I'll be able to get it off now. Sorry if that description didn't make any sense.
Anyway, I filled the unbroken tube with a delicious mix. I melted some peanut butter just a little bit so it was soft and then mixed it with apple sauce to thin it out a bit. Jonah thought it was fantastic!
To use the food tube, I could just squeeze it so a little bit came out and let him lick the good mush, or I could throw it like the pouch at the end of a round and he would go chase it. I'm not sure which of the two he liked better. He was excited about both.
Aside from our Clean Run goodies, I stopped at Trader Joes before class and got some dried chicken and some beef jerky treats. He loved them both. Basically, I was thinking that his lower levels of motivation might be improved by better treats, and it seemed to work.
As for the actual agility in our lesson, Jonah was mostly good, although there was one turn where he went behind my back to get to the dogwalk. He did that a couple times and then the next time I went to actually grab his collar and not let him get on the dogwalk. Well, he's faster than I am and got a few feet on the dogwalk and I accidentally ended up pulling him off it and he landed scrambling. Then he pouted at me for a minute. He wasn't hurt at all but his confidence was clearly shaken. Sorry, bud. You could have just not gone behind my back...
After that little episode he was himself again. We worked on some discriminations, wraps, etc. It was not a perfect day for us and we had some other mistakes here and there, but overall his motivation was a lot better than it has been, so that's a big plus.
Our lesson this week was very good. I brought my new goodies and Joan helped me figure out what to do with them.
1. The bait bag. The bag I got from clean run is a small pouch with a clip to hook onto your pants, and it comes off that clip via a strip of velcro. I got the small pouch because I have the fanny pack that I've been using and it's bigger. I know, fanny packs are generally thought to be much out of style, but a college teammate of mine is really working on bringing them back as a classy accessory:
I can't say I wear mine with quite as much swagger, but it's done the job in our agility adventures thus far. The small, new baitbag is now a device more for throwing than for storage. I would just put a few cookies in it for each run and throw it at the end of a sequence. Then I would run to it, open it and walk backwards while he ate out of it in motion. Once it got stuck on his nose. He didn't mind; it smelled delicious.
2. The other new thing from clean run was the food tube. First off, luckily the package came with two, because I think I broke one before I even put anything in it. The clip is a long plastic device with a stick in the middle. I thought you were supposed to fold the tube and slide the stick between the folded sides of the tube, but once I did that I can't get it off! With the second one, I kept the stick of the clip on top of the folded tube and it seals just fine. I'll be able to get it off now. Sorry if that description didn't make any sense.
Anyway, I filled the unbroken tube with a delicious mix. I melted some peanut butter just a little bit so it was soft and then mixed it with apple sauce to thin it out a bit. Jonah thought it was fantastic!
To use the food tube, I could just squeeze it so a little bit came out and let him lick the good mush, or I could throw it like the pouch at the end of a round and he would go chase it. I'm not sure which of the two he liked better. He was excited about both.
Aside from our Clean Run goodies, I stopped at Trader Joes before class and got some dried chicken and some beef jerky treats. He loved them both. Basically, I was thinking that his lower levels of motivation might be improved by better treats, and it seemed to work.
As for the actual agility in our lesson, Jonah was mostly good, although there was one turn where he went behind my back to get to the dogwalk. He did that a couple times and then the next time I went to actually grab his collar and not let him get on the dogwalk. Well, he's faster than I am and got a few feet on the dogwalk and I accidentally ended up pulling him off it and he landed scrambling. Then he pouted at me for a minute. He wasn't hurt at all but his confidence was clearly shaken. Sorry, bud. You could have just not gone behind my back...
After that little episode he was himself again. We worked on some discriminations, wraps, etc. It was not a perfect day for us and we had some other mistakes here and there, but overall his motivation was a lot better than it has been, so that's a big plus.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Ground Work
Things have been pretty crazy around here lately. We've been dog-sitting a friend's dog and it turned out to be a bit more of a commitment than I'd anticipated. He didn't settle into our house very well and his nervousness led to a number of accidents, even right after we'd taken him outside. Aside from the housetraining, this dog was a big puller on the leash, barked a lot and was generally not very obedient. It made me really realize how lucky we've been with Jonah in so many ways.
On the other hand, a trip to a dog park yesterday, some walks this weekend, and my reading the Clean Run magazine is making me think we have some real basics to be working on. At the park, it was very clear that Jonah's social skills are poor. He would want to join in with other dogs playing, but he doesn't seem to know how. His response was to bark repeatedly at the group of dogs. After 10 minutes or so he got more involved and would run with the other dogs, but it took quite a while. Some of the dogs looked startled when he barked at them. I know that he's not going to attack them, but he doesn't sound very nice, and I don't think the other dogs know he won't go at them. I know their owners don't.
Then, both yesterday Dave and I took Jonah for a leashed walk around the neighborhood. Most of the time he was wonderful. He walked beautifully on the leash, met people and dogs happily and didn't mind when cars drove by. Most of the time. Actually, he was good on the leash all the time, but he barked at one large man we walked by (who jumped back and was clearly frightened), lunged at a large pitbull, and jumped at a few cars. At this point I'm thinking that having good behavior 90% of the time or so isn't good enough, because the 10% of the time he's not good he's pretty bad.
Today Dave and I took him for another walk, just along the road (there's a nice sidewalk). Every time a car would go by, I would ask Jonah to focus on me and do tricks. There were still a few episodes of him losing focus and lunging towards the cars, but in general I think it was an improvement. We're going to keep doing that until he doesn't blink an eye at a passing vehicle. It's nice, too, to work on the car issue before we focus on other dogs and people, because the cars are never afraid if he barks at them.
We're also going to make an effort to take him to more off-leash dog parks so he can work on his social skills, too. He's much better meeting dogs off-leash.
Anyway, I don't know when our wonderful little dog has become semi-reactive, but I'm hoping we can rid him of it. It's interesting that, at this point, I can tell what dogs he will get along well with and which he might bark at.
We have a trial this weekend, but then we're entering a time of a big break between trials while I'm out of the country, but I really want him to be better with these things by late June when we trial again. He's manageable now, but it would be a lot less stressful if there were fewer 'issues' to manage. It's nice to have a real focus, and especially when the weather's good and it's fun to go for walks and to parks!
On the other hand, a trip to a dog park yesterday, some walks this weekend, and my reading the Clean Run magazine is making me think we have some real basics to be working on. At the park, it was very clear that Jonah's social skills are poor. He would want to join in with other dogs playing, but he doesn't seem to know how. His response was to bark repeatedly at the group of dogs. After 10 minutes or so he got more involved and would run with the other dogs, but it took quite a while. Some of the dogs looked startled when he barked at them. I know that he's not going to attack them, but he doesn't sound very nice, and I don't think the other dogs know he won't go at them. I know their owners don't.
Then, both yesterday Dave and I took Jonah for a leashed walk around the neighborhood. Most of the time he was wonderful. He walked beautifully on the leash, met people and dogs happily and didn't mind when cars drove by. Most of the time. Actually, he was good on the leash all the time, but he barked at one large man we walked by (who jumped back and was clearly frightened), lunged at a large pitbull, and jumped at a few cars. At this point I'm thinking that having good behavior 90% of the time or so isn't good enough, because the 10% of the time he's not good he's pretty bad.
Today Dave and I took him for another walk, just along the road (there's a nice sidewalk). Every time a car would go by, I would ask Jonah to focus on me and do tricks. There were still a few episodes of him losing focus and lunging towards the cars, but in general I think it was an improvement. We're going to keep doing that until he doesn't blink an eye at a passing vehicle. It's nice, too, to work on the car issue before we focus on other dogs and people, because the cars are never afraid if he barks at them.
We're also going to make an effort to take him to more off-leash dog parks so he can work on his social skills, too. He's much better meeting dogs off-leash.
Anyway, I don't know when our wonderful little dog has become semi-reactive, but I'm hoping we can rid him of it. It's interesting that, at this point, I can tell what dogs he will get along well with and which he might bark at.
We have a trial this weekend, but then we're entering a time of a big break between trials while I'm out of the country, but I really want him to be better with these things by late June when we trial again. He's manageable now, but it would be a lot less stressful if there were fewer 'issues' to manage. It's nice to have a real focus, and especially when the weather's good and it's fun to go for walks and to parks!
Clean Run Order
We got some goodies from Clean Run this weekend:
1. A small bait bag that I can throw for Jonah
2. Food tubes for liquid treats
3. A Clean Run magazine focusing on motivation
I haven't gotten to use the bait bag or food tubes yet, but the magazine is great so far. Thanks, Clean Run!
1. A small bait bag that I can throw for Jonah
2. Food tubes for liquid treats
3. A Clean Run magazine focusing on motivation
I haven't gotten to use the bait bag or food tubes yet, but the magazine is great so far. Thanks, Clean Run!
Congrats, Grace and Zer!
Grace, our trainer from Four Paws, was at AKC nationals this weekend. They posted the results online so we could follow along, and she did fantastic! Only the top 7% of dogs made the final (in her case, 8 of the 111 dogs jumping 24" made it). She not only made it to the finals, but she finished second! Wow! It's fun to know someone having such big success.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Weekly Lesson
Jonah was a completely different dog this week at his lesson. Last week he was dull and slow, but this week he was eager and speedy.
Our first course went pretty much perfectly. He was fast all around, took nice lines and didn't make any mistakes. After we finished, there weren't even any parts we wanted to do over.
Then Joan gave us a harder course, and it did us in a little bit. First off, I got lost, which never helps things. Even once I figured out where we were going, though, Jonah had some trouble with some of the discriminations. He had A-frame suck. I think it took us 3 or 4 tries to get it right, and I had to pull hard and call his name to get him to un-bid from the A-frame. Good learning experience for us.
In general, Jonah's enhanced speed made him a little less focused on me. That meant that any little bits of unclear handling on my part allowed him to go take whatever was in his sight. It was really good for me because it brought out a bunch of bad habits that I have which I've always been able to cover for when he's slower. This mostly came across in the placement of my front crosses. If I was moving at all in the direction of a jump I didn't want him to take, he would take it. I really had to position myself for the next obstacle. Also, I can work more on making his line as short as possible by really asking him to jump a small part of the bar rather than always approaching the middle of the jump.
Good stuff. School is really picking up for the big grind, so agility is a little bit on hold, but I'll keep you posted with any news we have.
Our first course went pretty much perfectly. He was fast all around, took nice lines and didn't make any mistakes. After we finished, there weren't even any parts we wanted to do over.
Then Joan gave us a harder course, and it did us in a little bit. First off, I got lost, which never helps things. Even once I figured out where we were going, though, Jonah had some trouble with some of the discriminations. He had A-frame suck. I think it took us 3 or 4 tries to get it right, and I had to pull hard and call his name to get him to un-bid from the A-frame. Good learning experience for us.
In general, Jonah's enhanced speed made him a little less focused on me. That meant that any little bits of unclear handling on my part allowed him to go take whatever was in his sight. It was really good for me because it brought out a bunch of bad habits that I have which I've always been able to cover for when he's slower. This mostly came across in the placement of my front crosses. If I was moving at all in the direction of a jump I didn't want him to take, he would take it. I really had to position myself for the next obstacle. Also, I can work more on making his line as short as possible by really asking him to jump a small part of the bar rather than always approaching the middle of the jump.
Good stuff. School is really picking up for the big grind, so agility is a little bit on hold, but I'll keep you posted with any news we have.
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