A while ago I posted about my favorite dog water bowls… and I was so upset when my aquabowl was left on the stove when the oven was turned on, and a hole was melted in it! I was devastated! Okay maybe not devastated but I was pretty darn sad. I mean, it’s only a thing… but still, it was a very important thing! So off I went to the internet to find out how to get a replacement. And… Continue reading
Training for multiple dog sports is a challenge. Right now I’m going through an issue with training Jet for both Flyball and Agility. It’s not the training that concerns me, it’s the reward. Tug or Ball? First of all, there’s prey drive and there’s fight drive. Fight drive is when a dog is tugging and growling at you. Prey drive is when they are chasing something that is moving. Jet is higher in Prey than he is in Fight. Which… Continue reading
Chase Resting
Well, my goofy Border Collie boy, Chase, got a new U-FLI flyball title last weekend. He reached is 9,500 points mark and now he has his Top Flight Premier Title. Woo! This is much happier to think about than Angel, like my last post… however, thinking of Angel kinda makes me happy too, since I am so grateful she was part of my life. Dang there’s those darn tears again.
So anyway Chase loves flyball. He even held a Stand Stay in the lanes when I had to go talk to the box loader. LOL he’s a goof. It was hard for him and I didn’t make him wait long. Flyball is Chase’s favorite sport by far. Not much thinking, just flat our running in super high drive. I don’t think he’d do very well in medical assistant school even though he’s a Border Collie and is probably smart enough for it. 
So flyball was fun. The weekend of the 24-27th we’ll be in Grand Junction, Colorado, for the DOCNA agility championships. That’ll be fun too. Then in October we are going to the Jumps N Jackpots Flyball Tournament held by Touch N Go. That will also be fun. No obedience for a while, much to Chase’s happiness!
Took Jet out in the rain (it was just drizzling lol) and got some video of him doing the hop over the prop for flyball, and the contacts on the little contact trainer I have. I think he’s got some good foundation work, just gotta make it more solid.
First the flyball. The idea is for him to hop over and back with all four feet. That’s the start of the swimmer’s turn:
Then we did a little bit of the contact trainer. I need to fix the chain as it’s not as solid as it used to be. I’m training the 2o2o (two on two off) for the A-Frame and the Dog Walk with him. The teeter will be a four on, because he’s small and I don’t want him to get flipped off the teeter. We started this on the flat board, and now we are moving to the contact trainer before we move to the full height A-Frame.
So there ya go! 
I’ll be working these much more over the spring and summer!
We had a great time at flyball last weekend… I haven’t posted since then because I’ve been sick, and tired… but mostly sick. And my MacBook is also sick so I don’t have any pictures to post. Bleh.
Chase’s team did really well. On Saturday they placed third. And on Sunday they placed first first in their division. It was fun to race again. Chase loves it, and can just let loose and have a good time. Chase did really well. He was start dog and his times held pretty consistent at 4.5 and 4.7 seconds. Pretty good for my boy.
He sure doesn’t need any life insurance when he goes on his flyball trips he goes so fast! He has fun and so do I and I’m glad it went so well.
Cute Boy Jet
One of the things I don’t have any faith in whatsoever in agility is retraining contacts.
I realize that sometimes you start training them one way and it doesn’t really work out for that dog, so you think maybe it’d be better to train another way. Or else maybe you start out with a Four on the Floor for the A-Frame and your dog learns to leap the yellow and hit the ground without touching the yellow at all, so you want a 2 on 2 off instead. Or maybe the dog isn’t getting the weaves very well so you want to retrain using the 2×2 method instead of channels or something…
Well, one thing I learned in agility from Day One was that the first thing you teach your dog, that is what they are going to do when they are in high drive or when they are stressed. And it’s so true.
I am really really lucky that I had a good foundation trainer for Chase’s weaves and contacts and his are pretty darn good if I do say so myself. Though he’s been known to pop weaves or blow a contact to hit a tunnel… that’s a training issue and not an obstacle issue.
I trained Levi all wrong on the weaves, incorporated a lot of stress in that training, and his whole career he had rotten weaves and it kept us from having a higher Q rate than we did.
So with Jet, my main number one primo ultimate goal is to train the obstacles the right way the first time so we don’t have to redo anything in the future.
So we are doing 2o2o (Two On Two Off) on the contacts, which I love, know how to train, and think is very black and white to me and the dog. We are doing good consistent weaves. And we need to do shadow handling and ground work too and forward focus and distance work.
Rule #1 of Agility: Do It Right The First Time.
Goes for Obedience and flyball too!
Well, we had another great flyball weekend. I’m still recovering… since I have Candida, most likely have Lyme, and my Mono might still be lingering, I have a hard time recovering myself. The dogs bounce right back, of course.
I took Chase, Levi and Jet. Chase was the only racer. Levi came because he’s been grumpy lately because he used to be my main travel dog and now he’s not. And Jet… well, he’s just fun to bring with he’s so happy all the time!
So now I have next weekend off, for some training. It’s getting cooler too, so we need to get stocked up on furnace filters for the upcoming winter.
The following weekend I’m going to Pocatello ID for some AKC agility. That should be fun too.
Well i am down in Hurricane Utah having fun at flyball. Chase is doing really well. He has one more race today and then we are done until tomorrow.
I also have Levi and Jet with. I wanted to bring Tatum too because she is my bratty girl, but three dogs traveling is enough. Levi is with because he has been having some stress because he has not been traveling with me much anymore. And he used to be my main traveling companion. So we are all hanging out and having fun. Thoug at 93F it’s too hot down here. I guess it could be worse.
Chase is having about a 4.9 average being start dog. It’s fub being start dog and Chase has the stamina for it. Though he could lose a couple of pounds.
Anyway gong to see if i can knit some, or maybe zone out until our last race of the day.
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