We actually had a practice session today! It's been so long, I hardly knew what to do! I decided to work on weaving, and I'm glad I did. Emma has forgotten that she is to complete the weaves independently, no matter what I'm doing. She's also unsure of her entries, even when they are correct, and is waiting for a verbal confirmation or a NRM after she enters.
For independence, I used the Manners Minder and sent her to the weaves from various locations, mostly with no motion my part. She's fine if I'm ahead of her, but if I'm near the entry she's unsure once she passes me in the weaves about continuing on. She will also quit weaving if I'm jumping up and down or waving my arms around. We worked on all of this using the Manners Minder, and I quickly went to a set of six since we needed to do so many repetitions. She loves the Manners Minder, even though it only dispenses kibble, and will work happily for it for a long time.
For entries, I reviewed passing through a set of 2 x 2s from various locations. Interestingly, Emma had almost no failures with entries from all over--close, far away, high up on the pie, low on the pie. The problem occurs when there are several gates to choose from; she'll sometimes by-pass the first, entering in the second or third. I think part of the issue is that she doesn't feel like making the effort to collect enough to enter the correct set.
I did some sequences that included two sets of weaves of varying distances (I think the poles were 22" and 24" on the two sets I was using). The sequence included the chute to the weaves, something I like to include from time to time.
We still have a lot more work to do on weaving, but the session was extremely productive, both in diagnosing the problems and working to fix them. I haven't been able to maintain her weave performance in any meaningful way while stuck inside this winter, so I supposed it's not entirely surprising that some issues have cropped up.
We had three work sessions, and in between, I brought Griffin in to work on some rear-end awareness exercises. Afterwards, we went on a two-mile hike in Brown County State Park.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Dayton Dog Training Club AKC Trial, January 30-31, 2010
Emma and I competed on Friday and Saturday of this trial, held on dirt at a large horse facility in Lewisburg, Ohio. I like running on this surface and Emma has posted her fastest times on it. There's plenty of parking and crating space on this huge farm, and tons of space for pre-run warm ups inside and outside.
This weekend, the weather was so bitterly cold we went outside only for potty breaks and spent extra time walking and running in the smaller arena where we were crated to warm up and cool down for each run. It was so cold that I got Emma out about 8-10 dogs ahead of time instead of about five dogs ahead of time for her warm-up.
We entered FAST as well as Standard and JWW on Friday and Saturday. I'm glad I didn't enter Sunday after being so cold on Friday and Saturday. I was just too tired of being cold by Saturday afternoon, and I was ready to go home.
No Q's in FAST for us this weekend. I didn't expect to get the Send Bonus on Friday because it's something we've never tried. Saturday's was possible but just didn't happen for us. That's OK--both runs were happy and speedy runs. I don't take FAST very seriously, but I do like to enter when it's available.
I was planning for some solid Standard runs this weekend. In general, JWW has been going well for us, and I'd like solid skills and a little more speed in Standard. However, since we've been off equipment so long, I just chose a good plan for Emma on each run and focused on cueing her appropriately. On Friday, she inexplicably dropped a bar as I performed a landing-side FC on a 180--that jump was the second to last obstacle! What a heartbreaker. She looked a little distracted coming over that jump, but I never did figure out why. She was headed toward the ringside crowd and exit gate, so perhaps something happened behind my back that I wasn't aware of. I was pleased with everything else on this course, including a 180 soft-sided entry from a jump into the weaves--something we haven't seen or practiced in quite a while.
JWW that afternoon was good. I had a split-second twitchy pause as I collected myself to remember exactly where we were going on course, and I know Emma was aware of it, but we recovered quickly to finish strongly. I just stayed calm and pushed through my momentary lapse, which I was able to do because I never lost confidence. I knew we could do it--it was just a matter of me getting back on track. (For my plan, this course required coming through the same area but changing sides the second time through, and I noticed I wasn't the only one who needed to think about where I was going as the dog came out of the tunnel.)
Our Standard run on Saturday really made me proud. We had tons of speed and drive on this run, which earned us 15 MACH points! Emma's speed of 3.82 yards/second was right in the neighborhood with her fastest times in Standard. I had a good plan for this course and I executed it well, and I loved the feeling of flow we had while running together.
Admittedly, by the time JWW rolled around we were both tired. I found it difficult to muster the energy to get Emma revved up to run. I knew we were both tired, so I opted for a quiet, workman-like run that simply got the job done. I focused on remembering where we were going and showing her each jump early and clearly. I used a small lead-out and probably could have used less of one and released to motion to encourage more speed, but I'm not sure that would have affected our time very much.
There were two run-offs in JWW and I packed up and went home before the official stickers were released, but I know our course time was 32.97 and SCT was 36.00. This puts her speed at 3.75 yps. (Emma's runs are usually close to or just over 5 yps).
Between this trial and our last one, it's clear we need to spend some time refreshing and building weaving skills. I'd like to see more speed through the weaves (yes, we were on the faster 24" weaves this weekend), and we need to review entrances and continuing to weave through distractions. I find things like this fun to train; it's just a matter of creating some lesson plans and then traveling somewhere to get the work done. More speed through the weaves will improve her course times a little bit as well.
I should comment on reinforcement at this trial. I brought several types of high value post-run goodies so I could rotate through them, offering something fantastic yet different after each run. (Emma was clearly surprised and delighted at each new item, which I got a huge kick out of.) After each run I made a point of connecting with Emma, putting the leash on, and requiring her to walk normally by my side (without pulling) all the way back to the crate for the reward. (I left the rewards in the cooler at our crate this time instead of having closer to the ring. I don't think she needs to have them ringside any more, and I wanted to discourage her leaving the ring without me.)
Finally, I should mention that we met up with some long-distance agility friends at this trial. I enjoyed talking to the Fin-tastic Pup's owner and watching her run her Aussies--or, I should say, one of her Aussies. Fin ran a few dogs after Emma all weekend, so I missed all of her runs. I did get to see Dust run several times, and watching those runs gave me a lot of confidence. I found myself thinking, "I know why she did that. We can do that too. Hmmm...I bet I could run Dust! Ooh, she did that really well. I want to handle that section just like that..."
We also spent some time with Misty, who gave Griffin some massage work. Griffin is a hoot to work on, because he is extremely expressive. He lets you know immediately what he thinks about being massaged in certain areas. (He does this in other areas of life too--always has. It's not hard to tell what he's thinking, and it really feels like he's talking to you.) On Friday, he objected to having his shoulders worked on, so Misty held off on that. On Saturday, he was receptive as she gradually worked her way into that area. Griffin and I want to thank her for working on areas of compensation as he heals from his TPLO surgery.
Despite the fact that the temperature was painfully cold all weekend, causing me to order a down jacket and vest from LL Bean today, we had a productive and successful trial. We're returning to this trial site at the end of February (2/26-27), and I'm going to add Sunday (2/30) since I didn't get in to the ACI trial the previous weekend.
This weekend, the weather was so bitterly cold we went outside only for potty breaks and spent extra time walking and running in the smaller arena where we were crated to warm up and cool down for each run. It was so cold that I got Emma out about 8-10 dogs ahead of time instead of about five dogs ahead of time for her warm-up.
We entered FAST as well as Standard and JWW on Friday and Saturday. I'm glad I didn't enter Sunday after being so cold on Friday and Saturday. I was just too tired of being cold by Saturday afternoon, and I was ready to go home.
No Q's in FAST for us this weekend. I didn't expect to get the Send Bonus on Friday because it's something we've never tried. Saturday's was possible but just didn't happen for us. That's OK--both runs were happy and speedy runs. I don't take FAST very seriously, but I do like to enter when it's available.
I was planning for some solid Standard runs this weekend. In general, JWW has been going well for us, and I'd like solid skills and a little more speed in Standard. However, since we've been off equipment so long, I just chose a good plan for Emma on each run and focused on cueing her appropriately. On Friday, she inexplicably dropped a bar as I performed a landing-side FC on a 180--that jump was the second to last obstacle! What a heartbreaker. She looked a little distracted coming over that jump, but I never did figure out why. She was headed toward the ringside crowd and exit gate, so perhaps something happened behind my back that I wasn't aware of. I was pleased with everything else on this course, including a 180 soft-sided entry from a jump into the weaves--something we haven't seen or practiced in quite a while.
JWW that afternoon was good. I had a split-second twitchy pause as I collected myself to remember exactly where we were going on course, and I know Emma was aware of it, but we recovered quickly to finish strongly. I just stayed calm and pushed through my momentary lapse, which I was able to do because I never lost confidence. I knew we could do it--it was just a matter of me getting back on track. (For my plan, this course required coming through the same area but changing sides the second time through, and I noticed I wasn't the only one who needed to think about where I was going as the dog came out of the tunnel.)
Our Standard run on Saturday really made me proud. We had tons of speed and drive on this run, which earned us 15 MACH points! Emma's speed of 3.82 yards/second was right in the neighborhood with her fastest times in Standard. I had a good plan for this course and I executed it well, and I loved the feeling of flow we had while running together.
Admittedly, by the time JWW rolled around we were both tired. I found it difficult to muster the energy to get Emma revved up to run. I knew we were both tired, so I opted for a quiet, workman-like run that simply got the job done. I focused on remembering where we were going and showing her each jump early and clearly. I used a small lead-out and probably could have used less of one and released to motion to encourage more speed, but I'm not sure that would have affected our time very much.
There were two run-offs in JWW and I packed up and went home before the official stickers were released, but I know our course time was 32.97 and SCT was 36.00. This puts her speed at 3.75 yps. (Emma's runs are usually close to or just over 5 yps).
Between this trial and our last one, it's clear we need to spend some time refreshing and building weaving skills. I'd like to see more speed through the weaves (yes, we were on the faster 24" weaves this weekend), and we need to review entrances and continuing to weave through distractions. I find things like this fun to train; it's just a matter of creating some lesson plans and then traveling somewhere to get the work done. More speed through the weaves will improve her course times a little bit as well.
I should comment on reinforcement at this trial. I brought several types of high value post-run goodies so I could rotate through them, offering something fantastic yet different after each run. (Emma was clearly surprised and delighted at each new item, which I got a huge kick out of.) After each run I made a point of connecting with Emma, putting the leash on, and requiring her to walk normally by my side (without pulling) all the way back to the crate for the reward. (I left the rewards in the cooler at our crate this time instead of having closer to the ring. I don't think she needs to have them ringside any more, and I wanted to discourage her leaving the ring without me.)
Finally, I should mention that we met up with some long-distance agility friends at this trial. I enjoyed talking to the Fin-tastic Pup's owner and watching her run her Aussies--or, I should say, one of her Aussies. Fin ran a few dogs after Emma all weekend, so I missed all of her runs. I did get to see Dust run several times, and watching those runs gave me a lot of confidence. I found myself thinking, "I know why she did that. We can do that too. Hmmm...I bet I could run Dust! Ooh, she did that really well. I want to handle that section just like that..."
We also spent some time with Misty, who gave Griffin some massage work. Griffin is a hoot to work on, because he is extremely expressive. He lets you know immediately what he thinks about being massaged in certain areas. (He does this in other areas of life too--always has. It's not hard to tell what he's thinking, and it really feels like he's talking to you.) On Friday, he objected to having his shoulders worked on, so Misty held off on that. On Saturday, he was receptive as she gradually worked her way into that area. Griffin and I want to thank her for working on areas of compensation as he heals from his TPLO surgery.
Despite the fact that the temperature was painfully cold all weekend, causing me to order a down jacket and vest from LL Bean today, we had a productive and successful trial. We're returning to this trial site at the end of February (2/26-27), and I'm going to add Sunday (2/30) since I didn't get in to the ACI trial the previous weekend.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Agility trials
I missed getting my entry in before the draw for an upcoming local trial, and I didn't get in! It's the first time that has ever happened to me. I have mixed feelings about it. While I try to do all local USDDA and AKC trials ("local" meaning one hour away), this particular trial was going to be weekend #2 of three consecutive weekends. Frankly, I'm somewhat relieved to have a free weekend in there instead.
The weather has gotten cold again, and it's snowed since the thaw. I'm trialing at a dirt horse arena I really like this weekend, but it's going to be cold. Extremely cold. The arena is not well heated, and the temperatures are going to be very low this weekend. I'm taking lots of wool and silk, and blankets for me and the dogs.
I've had one trial and one practice session since our break from agility in December. And, the practice session course was a standard course from the trial! Furthermore, that particular course wasn't very technical or interesting.
I intended to have more practice, but I wasn't feeling up to it last week, having spent much of the week fighting off some virus that's going around. I got lucky, and had a minor sore throat and fatigue, dodging the severe sore throat and fever that many others got. And, I was able to continue teaching my two CycleFit classes.
So here we are again, going into a trial with a lot less practice than I would like. If I stay relaxed and don't make unwise split-second decisions, I will handle well, and we will have a good time. Emma ran really well at the CISSC trial even with all that time off.
Griffin is supposed to have some massage work done. Misty has offered to work on the areas that have been compensating for his TPLO leg as it heals. He LOVES to be groomed and massaged, so I'm certain he will enjoy it. I had him walking across the couch cushions (from the old couch in the basement) this morning as an exercise on an unstable surface. I expected it to be a lot harder for him than it was. Emma and Annie had to have turns walking across the cushions as well. Emma was especially funny. She's like the little girl in the front row in pigtails who always knows the answer to the teacher's questions, and desperately wants to answer them. "Me me me! I can do it! Pick me! ME!!!"
Annie had trouble finding her treats when I tossed them on the ground for her. I think her eyesight is going, and I've suspected her hearing is going as well. Poor old girl.
The weather has gotten cold again, and it's snowed since the thaw. I'm trialing at a dirt horse arena I really like this weekend, but it's going to be cold. Extremely cold. The arena is not well heated, and the temperatures are going to be very low this weekend. I'm taking lots of wool and silk, and blankets for me and the dogs.
I've had one trial and one practice session since our break from agility in December. And, the practice session course was a standard course from the trial! Furthermore, that particular course wasn't very technical or interesting.
I intended to have more practice, but I wasn't feeling up to it last week, having spent much of the week fighting off some virus that's going around. I got lucky, and had a minor sore throat and fatigue, dodging the severe sore throat and fever that many others got. And, I was able to continue teaching my two CycleFit classes.
So here we are again, going into a trial with a lot less practice than I would like. If I stay relaxed and don't make unwise split-second decisions, I will handle well, and we will have a good time. Emma ran really well at the CISSC trial even with all that time off.
Griffin is supposed to have some massage work done. Misty has offered to work on the areas that have been compensating for his TPLO leg as it heals. He LOVES to be groomed and massaged, so I'm certain he will enjoy it. I had him walking across the couch cushions (from the old couch in the basement) this morning as an exercise on an unstable surface. I expected it to be a lot harder for him than it was. Emma and Annie had to have turns walking across the cushions as well. Emma was especially funny. She's like the little girl in the front row in pigtails who always knows the answer to the teacher's questions, and desperately wants to answer them. "Me me me! I can do it! Pick me! ME!!!"
Annie had trouble finding her treats when I tossed them on the ground for her. I think her eyesight is going, and I've suspected her hearing is going as well. Poor old girl.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
CISSC AKC trial, January 16-17, 2010
We got back to trialing this weekend! Deb was able to record three out of four runs for us (she didn't need to arrive early enough on the first day, so that Standard run did not get recorded). Thanks again to Deb, Devon, and Page for saving us a crating spot, hanging out with us all weekend, and recording our runs. We had a good time at this trial reconnecting with agility friends.
Although double Q's eluded us this weekend, I really didn't care. We finished Emma's MXJ title and earned 16 MACH points; we still need two legs for the MX. Overall I think we're running well together and working nicely as a team. I think most of the time, my handling choices are solid, but my execution could be improved. I'm still not very comfortable making decisions on the fly, such as when I could choose between two handling options based on Emma's speed. That's especially challenging when you haven't been training or trialing in a while!
Saturday
I should have been bolder on the backy-uppy for the wrap (meaning I could have cued it more quickly and moved on sooner). Also, I really should have waited until Emma landed off the previous jump to start cueing collection.
You can't really see it well because of the post in the video, but my FMFC was a bit abrupt towards the end of the course due to a momentary lapse of awareness of where I was in relation to the obstacles. I like the cues I chose to get through this section; prior to the FMFC, my send and landing-side FC resulted in a much tigher line than most teams got.
Sunday (both JWW & Std in one video)
For reasons unknown even to me, I thought I could get far enough downstream for a FC instead of a RC to cue the turn at the red jump. Oops. You can see in the video how my lack of judgment demotivated my dog, and I felt terrible about it. As a result I didn't handle well through the technical area after this forward line. We earned a Q here I didn't think we deserved...although I'm probably overreacting. We didn't collide, and really, I am pleased that Emma was moving along so quickly. I just felt bad about violating her trust.
The sheltie club elected to run Excellent, Open and Novice JWW, then Excellent, Open and Novice Standard. We had a long wait for standard. Emma wasn't the most willing partner for this run; she was tired and a bit distracted. I noticed this in the weaves when she skipped a pole. She also got distracted going towards the entrance gate as I tried to cue the green tunnel. To be fair, the other issue here was that I over-used lateral motion there to cue the correct end of the tunnel, and she went right past it. (I've had this issue come up in practice, so I should know better--I just didn't remember.)
When I brought her back to try again, she buzzed by a tunnel bag instead of actually finding the entrance; when that failed, she took the wrong entrance. Jeez! I could tell through all this that she wasn't really with me mentally; after she skipped that weave pole, I realized that her behavior was very vaguely reminiscent of one of her early trials where she was just going through the motions. (Do you remember this post from a year ago about Emma losing her mind at a CPE trial?)
Anyway, we had a very brief conversation about just how this was going to work, got back on track, and finished the course very respectably. I loved her teeter performance in the closing line.
One thing I need to think about as far as our trial routine is concerned is our post-run reward. Emma is anticipating the reward now, and it's causing her to speed up at the end of the course. She also needs to let me get her leashed and under control before she is allowed to receive her reward. (You don't see it on the video, but she left the ring without me to get her reward on one of these runs. The judge did not notice.) I need to think about how to address these issues in training and at trials. After she left the ring on her own, I made sure to have her under control at the end of the course and to return to the crate before rewarding her.
It's funny; last August, I thought I was seeing evidence that having the reward at the crate was too far away (although it was a different trial location). However, we were also dealing with what I thought were inhalant allergies and what I now know to have been low thyroid. We will need to continue to experiment to see what works best for Emma.
All in all, it was a fun weekend of time well spent with Emma and my agility friends. Emma and I are not a perfect team, but we are a good team, and we are getting better all the time.
Although double Q's eluded us this weekend, I really didn't care. We finished Emma's MXJ title and earned 16 MACH points; we still need two legs for the MX. Overall I think we're running well together and working nicely as a team. I think most of the time, my handling choices are solid, but my execution could be improved. I'm still not very comfortable making decisions on the fly, such as when I could choose between two handling options based on Emma's speed. That's especially challenging when you haven't been training or trialing in a while!
Saturday
I should have been bolder on the backy-uppy for the wrap (meaning I could have cued it more quickly and moved on sooner). Also, I really should have waited until Emma landed off the previous jump to start cueing collection.
You can't really see it well because of the post in the video, but my FMFC was a bit abrupt towards the end of the course due to a momentary lapse of awareness of where I was in relation to the obstacles. I like the cues I chose to get through this section; prior to the FMFC, my send and landing-side FC resulted in a much tigher line than most teams got.
Sunday (both JWW & Std in one video)
For reasons unknown even to me, I thought I could get far enough downstream for a FC instead of a RC to cue the turn at the red jump. Oops. You can see in the video how my lack of judgment demotivated my dog, and I felt terrible about it. As a result I didn't handle well through the technical area after this forward line. We earned a Q here I didn't think we deserved...although I'm probably overreacting. We didn't collide, and really, I am pleased that Emma was moving along so quickly. I just felt bad about violating her trust.
The sheltie club elected to run Excellent, Open and Novice JWW, then Excellent, Open and Novice Standard. We had a long wait for standard. Emma wasn't the most willing partner for this run; she was tired and a bit distracted. I noticed this in the weaves when she skipped a pole. She also got distracted going towards the entrance gate as I tried to cue the green tunnel. To be fair, the other issue here was that I over-used lateral motion there to cue the correct end of the tunnel, and she went right past it. (I've had this issue come up in practice, so I should know better--I just didn't remember.)
When I brought her back to try again, she buzzed by a tunnel bag instead of actually finding the entrance; when that failed, she took the wrong entrance. Jeez! I could tell through all this that she wasn't really with me mentally; after she skipped that weave pole, I realized that her behavior was very vaguely reminiscent of one of her early trials where she was just going through the motions. (Do you remember this post from a year ago about Emma losing her mind at a CPE trial?)
Anyway, we had a very brief conversation about just how this was going to work, got back on track, and finished the course very respectably. I loved her teeter performance in the closing line.
One thing I need to think about as far as our trial routine is concerned is our post-run reward. Emma is anticipating the reward now, and it's causing her to speed up at the end of the course. She also needs to let me get her leashed and under control before she is allowed to receive her reward. (You don't see it on the video, but she left the ring without me to get her reward on one of these runs. The judge did not notice.) I need to think about how to address these issues in training and at trials. After she left the ring on her own, I made sure to have her under control at the end of the course and to return to the crate before rewarding her.
It's funny; last August, I thought I was seeing evidence that having the reward at the crate was too far away (although it was a different trial location). However, we were also dealing with what I thought were inhalant allergies and what I now know to have been low thyroid. We will need to continue to experiment to see what works best for Emma.
All in all, it was a fun weekend of time well spent with Emma and my agility friends. Emma and I are not a perfect team, but we are a good team, and we are getting better all the time.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Emma earns her MXJ!
Emma finished her MXJ today after a streak of JWW NQs at our last weekend of trialing in November. I was pleased with our run, although I haven't watched the video yet.
We have an almost-perfect standard run, except that I sent to a tunnel before she had exited the chute, and she didn't really see the cue, so she came with me as I moved on. I stopped and sent her again, but she spun first, which earned us a refusal.
We had a great time at the trial! It's fun to be out and about again after our long December break.
We have an almost-perfect standard run, except that I sent to a tunnel before she had exited the chute, and she didn't really see the cue, so she came with me as I moved on. I stopped and sent her again, but she spun first, which earned us a refusal.
We had a great time at the trial! It's fun to be out and about again after our long December break.
Friday, January 15, 2010
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