AgilityCategory Archives

From Novice to Excellent in Three Trials

Jet did awesome in agility again today! He qualified in both of his open runs. This morning he qualified in Open Jumpers with Weaves which gave him his 2nd Q in that level. One more and he’ll get to move to Excellent A JWW. Maybe we can pick that up tomorrow, I can sure hope so! Here’s his run:

He also qualified in his Open Standard Run. This… my dear friends, puts him into Excellent A in three trials! How can I be more proud of my boy? I’m amazed. I know he’s not the fastest dog in the world, but I didn’t train him for speed. I train for consistency and accuracy, and by gum, I think we’ve got it!

I got over being spooked at his being spooked about the sounds, too. And we are working through it. I bought some Great Bait at the show ring and Jet and I went and sat in the grass through one of the excellent runs and every time people clapped he got a super good treat. Every time the GO sound went off he got a super good treat. I also recorded the darn sound so I can go home and play it too so he’ll get used to it.

I’ve been running Tatum too this weekend and she Qd on Friday but she didn’t today. I think she’s getting really burned out. She’s a good girl though and is still trying! I’m not sure I’ll travel with her to 3 day shows, this is mostly a test to see how she does. Now she’s sleeping on the chair in the hotel room, she’s very tired! Maybe a multivitamin would perk her up… or me, I’m due for mine!

Sweet Jet

Cynthia

May 21, 2011

Agility, Jet, Tatum

4 comments

Agility, Jet, Tatum

Agility and Noise

Well today was our first day of AKC agility in Logan, Utah. It was pretty fun.. though I had a moment of total freak out breakdown unfortunately. I’ll tell you more about that in a minute.

Jet’s first run was Open Standard. He did awesome. I didn’t plan on him moving to the side after the chute so we had a refusal on the tire. But he did great and didn’t have any more issues. Here’s his run, it’s his second Open Standard leg:

Next was Jumpers with Weaves. Well, before our run, something spooked Jet. And since he’s deaf in his left ear, sometimes sounds do that. I think it may have been some clapping or something. Ever since we trained in a building in Farmington that is metal, and when empty it really echos a lot, and I clapped in there once and spooked him, now he occasionally doesn’t like a clap. Usually it’s just a sudden sharp clap that he doesn’t like. His tail tucks and he acts like he wants to run.

So today something happened, then the GO noise that the timer machine makes before everyone’s run was spooking him. UGH! It was awful. It totally freaked me out that it was freaking him out. And I near had a meltdown thinking I’ve gotten yet another dog who is not going to be able to do agility. As well as a dog that is nervous around noises and has issues. UGH!!! So I was all spooked myself. Though when we went into the ring, as you can see, Jet looks entirely fine like nothing at all was wrong. LOL. It was me who was so nervous and stressed that I handled him poorly. So we had 3 refusals and didn’t Q. But I’m glad we have the video so I can see how nicely he ran.

So anyway, tonight I’m resting and taking it easy and recovering from my nerves. The fact that I haven’t had much downtime in the last three weeks is also wearing on my nerves. Maybe I can hide in a Marcus nurse uniform and no one will know who I am, or that I can be a total dork sometimes!

Tomorrow will be better. If Jet gets spooked, then we deal with it. I won’t fret about it. I won’t worry. I’ll just deal with it and help him to make it better. It will be okay. I know it will. It has to be.

Jet – NA NAJ

Well Jet has two new agility titles! His first AKC agility titles. In fact, he’s probably the first Danish-Swedish Farmdog with an AKC title of any kind. He got his NA title yesterday, and his NAJ today. Woot!

I didn’t get video yesterday but I did get some today. I’m thrilled with how he is running. I couldn’t be more pleased. So far he has a 100% Q rate in Standard. Four runs, four Qs. At this rate he could be into excellent in our next trial in two weeks. Wow. I’ve NEVER had a dog this consistent. Finally, my third agility dog, possibly I got the training right!

In his Open Standard run I ran out past the weaves too far and so didn’t give him a good entry. But that’s okay, one refusal is acceptable and we Q’d anyway.

In Novice Jumpers he did beautifully. He’s really starting to read my rear crosses well. I’m not quite sure when to cue them, LOL, but I’m learning:

And in FAST he did great. It was an easy send, so we picked that leg up too. I’m not too concerned about FAST and haven’t entered him in FAST in future trials. I just haven’t had the time or motivation to train distance. Once I do, he’ll learn it quickly:

I couldn’t be happier with him. Did I say that already? LOL. I’m on cloud nine and I just adore this dog. He’s perfect for me in every way.

Now I just need some long hdmi cables so that I can watch the video from my new HD camera on my TV and see it full screen! Hmm maybe I’ll go do that now!

From Flyball to Obedience to Agility

Well flyball is done for a bit… though not for too long, since we have a tournament in May that we are going to go to as well. But the next things are obedience and agility the first weekend of May. Jet is entered into his first Obedience trial. It’s AKC and it’s going to be on Thursday May 5.. errr, I think it’s the 5th. Is that a Thursday? Whatever. I think it is. He’ll be in Novice B… Continue reading »

Cynthia

April 9, 2011

Agility, Flyball, Jet, Obedience, Tatum

4 comments

Agility, Jet, Obedience, Tatum

Goal: AKC Agility Nationals

I think I can do this with Jet. It might be really too early to know, since I don’t even have Jet in excellent yet. He’s not even in open yet! He’s just a novice dog and we’ve only done two trials so far in his career. But, I’m being optimistic. And I really think Jet has the potential to make it to AKC Nationals. Hopefully we’ll be invited to AKC Invitationals too, but time will tell about that. Jet… Continue reading »

Tatum Ran!

I am so thrilled with Tatum last weekend! She ran at agility! It was the first time she actually ran at a trial. Usually she does her silly trot. Here is a video of her. I got more video, but I’m having problems getting it off the card, so I’m working on that. She only got 1 Q, in Novice Standard, but that’s okay. She kinda forgot how to weave. But I think it’s more that it’s hard for her… Continue reading »

Successful Agility Weekend

I had such an amazing agility weekend! I entered two of the three days of agility. The other day I was doing UKC conformation. But I have to say, I love agility much more! Here is one of Jet’s runs. He is in Novice. This is his second Novice Standard run of the weekend, and his second Q in that class. I still need to work on that silly sniffing! He’d speed up on the contacts if he wasn’t so… Continue reading »

Jet’s First Agility Trial A Success!

I am thrilled! Jet did awesome in the ASCA agility trial over the weekend. Wow! He definitely lacks some skills for the upper levels, like serpentines, Distance, Discriminations, and his rear crosses are not strong. But over all, he did fabulous. On Saturday he got 3 Qs. Two Standard and One Jumpers. On Sunday he got 3 Qs again, One Standard and Two Jumpers. Here’s one of his videos… this is the last jumpers run on Sunday. So he’s tired… Continue reading »