June 2011Monthly Archives

Lure Coursing, Waaahoooo!

I know I don’t post that much, and I apologize, but maybe I do more quality than quantity…. hmm? Hehe, I can hope so, anyway.

last weekend our local Sighthound club put together their first local Lure Coursing Ability Test. It was a blast! I entered Jet and Chase and they both LOVED it!

If you do not know, the AKC recently set up a new Lure Coursing test for all breeds. Before it was you had to have a Sighthound only to compete in Lure Coursing. Well a zillion people complained about this because not only Sighthounds like to Lure Course and chase stuff! This is even a titling event, and you know me, always wanting more letters on my dogs’ names. Jet and Chase are my only two dogs that care about chasing things. The Collies couldn’t care less about Lure Coursing or chasing things, though they do like to chase sheep around occasionally.

So here’s video of Chase and Jet doing some Lure Coursing. Jet was so funny. On Saturday I take him and we go to watch, and he’s rolling on his back and being a goof, saying hi to everyone, people and dogs. Not really knowing what we are doing. Until we went down to the field and he saw the lure and he FREAKS out and screams at the top of his lungs at that lure. It’s just a dumb plastic bag goof! LOL. Anyway day two… he’s all business, knows where we are and what we are doing. No fooling around for him on day two. He wanted that Lure!

I only got video on Sunday, not Saturday. The guy running the Lure lost both of the dogs on Sunday. I think maybe he needs more practice running the lure.

The grass was really long, some of the dogs may have gotten grasses in their ears and eyes, which isn’t good at all. Ugh. We checked Chase and Jet all over though and I think they are fine. So that’s good. Maybe they needed some toro zero turn lawn mowers to tackle all those weeds. But alas, the dogs pushed the grasses down okay.

The sighthounds raced first, then the other breeds raced after for the CAT. Chase and Jet both got 2 legs towards their CA titles. How fun. I hope they offer this again soon, we had a blast!

Cynthia

June 30, 2011

Chase, Jet

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Chase, Jet, Lure Coursing

Weave Challenge

Okay since we had some weave issues at the last AKC agility trial I really wanted to participate in Kathy’s Weave Poll Challenge! So here it is!

First I did Jet… he did really well, it’ll be interesting as the time goes by and we move the jump around to see how his entries are.

Then I thought what the heck, why not to Tatum too? She doesn’t really send to anything.. she has no interest in toys, and I haven’t worked a toss/treat bag but I really should. So anyway I did it with her too and she did better than I expected, especially on the call through and the send!

This will be fun. I might be doing it more than once a week to catch up since I’m kinda behind, everyone else started 10 days ago!

Cynthia

June 21, 2011

Agility, Jet, Tatum

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Agility, Jet, Tatum

Troubles in Blackfoot

I learned a lot about running Jet in Excellent A Agility last weekend in Blackfoot, Idaho. We cruised through Novice and Open so fast that I forgot how extremely difficult it is to run clean in Excellent. We only got 1 Q out of 8 runs in Excellent A. (He got his Novice FAST title and a leg in Open FAST but since my goal with Jet is a MACH, I’m not really counting FAST runs in my calculations.)

The good news is that Jet is running extremely nicely. He’s having good forward focus. He’s spotting and taking obstacles. He’s moving quickly and consistently. His contacts are holding a nice 2o2o and he didn’t blow one all weekend. He’s jumping smoothly. He’s weaving nicely for the most part, though I need to drive him a bit more. And, most important of all, he’s having a really good time.

I have a goal for Excellent Agility, and it might be a really lofty one, but after 8 years of struggling with my first two dogs, I think Jet and I can achieve my goal. I want at least a 50% Q rate in Excellent. And if we are not getting it, then it’s time to analyze and train.

I watched the videos from the weekend and I made a list of the things we are having problems with. Here is my list.

Weaves:
- Two Missed Entires.
- One skitter where he missed a couple poles.

Front Crosses:
- Once I rotated too much and sent him to the wrong obstacle.
- Once I rotated too little and sent him to the wrong obstacle.

Rear Crosses:
- In two runs I opted to NOT do rear crosses because I don’t think Jet has strong enough rear crosses, and either missed an obstacle or got an off course obstacle. (Not once did a rear cross cause us an NQ… but I do avoid them when I can.)

Wrong End of Tunnel:
- This only happened once for an off course. However, I know I have to train discriminations better and this is a weakness we have.

270:
- Jet missed the second jump of a 270 once. I also know this is a weakness in our training as I haven’t trained 270s with him much… or, okay, at all.

Out of 8 runs, that about sums up our errors. I think I can fix these things. They are training issues. And I do need to see improvements so I’ll be videoing our training sessions and will attack these problems. Jet doesn’t understand. Once he does, he’ll do what I ask him to do.

I also know that I have a lean-over problem… and I want Jet to understand that when I call him verbally, that will out-weight the body signals I may give him incorrectly. One run I didn’t rear cross him and he took an off course tunnel. I yelled at him to come HARD but he still got into the tunnel before he turned around back to me. I’ll need to reward him for coming to me off tunnels, and other obstacles, even if I’m bending over. After 8 years of agility I think I’m never going to stop bending over, and so I just need to train my dog to respond to me better. Since he’s much easier to train that I am. LOL

Here’s our one Q run:

So now back to work, programming, not doing electrosurgery, though maybe that’d be more fun. I have a couple weeks before our next trial. I hope to get a few of these things worked out before our next trial, so I can increase our Q rate!

Between Agility Trials

Well I just haven’t had the gumption to come update my blog with last week’s trial results. I’m not sure why, because Jet did really well! I messed up a couple of times, so out of 4 runs he only got 2 Qs. But we are in Excellent A now, and so we have to run clean. No more mistakes allowed. So it’s a bit harder.

Jet Qualified in Exc A JWW on Saturday, and Exc A Standard on Sunday. The Sunday’s JWW run he took the wrong end of the tunnel.. so that’s tripped us up twice now. Once in open, and now once in Excellent A. But I haven’t had time to get out and work it… and we have a 4 day trial this weekend. So I’ll just have to see how it goes. I’ve been feeling a bit sick this week too so haven’t really had the gumption to go out and train agility like I should.

Those are his two Sunday runs. The STD Q and the JWW NQ. I am happy with our runs anyway. For him to be doing so well and it’s only his 4th AKC trial… I cannot complain.

We have a chance to get into Excellent B this weekend, and I’m trying not to stress about it. LOL. If Jet gets into Excellent B and earns a speed point, that’ll be my very first AKC Speed point ever. After 8 years of agility, to finally get my firs speed point… I’ll have to frame the darn thing in gold. LOL It either means I’m a dunce to keep trying for so long, or I’m just good and persistent. I’ll interpret it that second way.

Gotta go to Blackfoot Idaho this weekend for four days of AKC agility. Maybe I’ll look at which motorcycle gps would be best, but then I have one for my car, which seems to work just fine. But that reminds me I want to print some maps so I know where I’m going!

Agility Trial June

Jet Weave Polls

So in June 2011 I have six full days of agility. That’s almost a full week. I’d much rather spend a week of agility than a week of work anyday! In July I also have 6 days of agility. So in June and July I have 12 days of agility, but then I’m sure you can add. LOL. I just think it’s fun to see how many days of agility I have so far!

After July, I won’t have anything until September. I’m bummed! Well, I can’t say I don’t have anything. In August I’m gong to a Chris Zinc seminar in Grand Junction, Colorado. That’ll be fun. Then the end of August I’m going to Camp Winnaribbun. In September I am going to DOCNA Championships, too. Mid-sept I have another AKC trial. It’ll be okay to take a break… I guess. I’m just having so much fun trialing with Jet, that I don’t want to take a break!

Anyway back to the present… LOL. This weekend is a 2 day AKC Agility trial. Jet is now fully in Excellent A in both Standard and JWW. And Tatum is in Open in both. I sure hope Tatum can do all 12 weave polls okay! And with Jet, no more mistakes allowed, we have to run clean to Q! I hope we’ll get into Excellent B before these 12 trialing days pass. If not, then I need to seriously reassess our training!

Jet is also in obedience this weekend. I haven’t been thinking about it that much because it’s making me nervous. I don’t really know if he’s ready. His heeling still needs work and so do his stays. But we’ll see. I hope to get video of both agility and obedience.

And we will stay safe, so we won’t need any Bronx Medical Malpractice Attorney, though that doesn’t really apply to agility at this time! LOL.

Cynthia

June 9, 2011

Agility, Jet, Tatum

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Agility, Jet, Tatum

The Tatum Fan Club

Tatum has been doing so well at agility lately that I’m just stunned. In Logan, Utah, a couple of weeks ago, she managed to get a 50% Q rate in Novice and pulled off both her NAP and NJP titles! I was thrilled. I am always so thrilled with how well my silly girl is doing. She came from such a rotten start, lost in a hoarder’s yard with 70 other collies, bad people experiences, and so afraid when she left our house. Well, look at her now. She ran so fast out of the start line she completely took me off guard and I had to run to catch up!

She always had a really fast recovery and so I just though she probably had it in her. And now she loves agility. She’s nailing her weave polls every single time. She’s hardly going around any jumps anymore. And she just loves the contacts. This video is from our DOCNA trial last weekend. I don’t think she’ll every be fast enough to qualify in DOCNA, but we had fun anyway. And maybe if I actually learn how to handle her in changes of direction and crosses, then maybe we could speed up a bit!

A friend of mine was saying, at the DOCNA trial, that at first people didn’t really think she’d be able to do agility, and thought I was a bit crazy. But now I got a lot of comments on how well she’s doing, and how people love to watch her run. And so my friend said now there’s like this little Tatum Fan Club that is rooting for her. She’s my baby girl, with her own fan club. LOL.

At home she rules the house, pushing the other dogs around. She will always have issues, fortunately she’s completely house trained so we don’t need any carpet cleaners raleigh nc. And she does spook more easily than other dogs, and she doesn’t much like people… though she will go up to you now and see if you have any treats. And it seems I’ve had so many people give her treats, that she thinks most everyone does now.

I’m so proud of Tatum. I’m moving her to open for her next AKC agility trial. She can do 12 weaves, and I know she can do the courses. So it’ll be fun to see how she does!

My Dogs Do It All!

So I got these fun vinyl stickers for my car this week. I’ve had the one that says Smooth Collies Do It All for a couple of years now, but it was falling off and some of the letters were missing. So I decided that I really needed a new one. And while I was buying it, I decided that I needed one for Jet, too. (I got these on Decalifornia.com )

Don’t tell the collies or collie people, but Danish-Swedish Farmdogs can, I think, do more than collies. While they can both do herding and therapy, agility, obedience, rally… on and on. One thing that Farmdogs can do that collies can’t is ratting, Go to Ground, Earthdog type stuff. LOL. The collies just don’t really care much about chasing things, unless they are sheep. At least mine don’t anyway!

So I like my minivan stickers. Maybe I also need some cord covers to put in my van, so I have them for hotels since I stay in hotels so much. I do really need a small portable power strip!

Car, Danish-Swedish Farmdogs