Jemma:
She was a really good girl today and worked the course really nicely (when I did it right!!). We worked on the weave angle which involved us cutting it down to six weaves (which she managed fine) and then putting it back to 12!! Her see-saw contacts were better, her dog walk contacts were brill and her a-frames suddenly got really quick and she forgot to stop but then we managed to get some fast ones with a nice stop too :) We also did a little work on her waits with jumps with two poles on and her waits were really good, she struggled a bit to start with with the double poles (mainly when the two poles were close together) but then was good by the end :)
Elliot:
We did some jumping with him which he did very nicely. We then did quite a lot of work on his weaves, and introduced a jump before them, he is definately getting there with them and probably did 50% correct but they are still a little wobbly!! I would like to have a solid set of six with an obstacle before them before we move on to 12 because at least this gives us some chance in the jumping classes. We finished on some contact work, again he is improving loads here and doing them off lead, but we can't start building up the amount of equipment he is doing until Lel can pick him up!! We might try him on doing the whole seesaw on tuesday as he doesnt need to be lifted up to do that :)
We have flyball this sat and agility on mon so a nice busy weekend for us :)
Friday, 30 April 2010
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Sunny Day!
We have now started training twice a week as I thought we needed it to try and get Elliot to the point that i havn't wasted my money entering him in all the shows!!
Jemma:
She only had 20mins today as she was really struggling with the heat bless her. We did some work on her seesaw and she did some really nice ones at the end :) We also did some weave work but she is still really struggling when the entrances are at an angle, the plan is to work some more on angles/doing them at speed - we will get these weaves sorted eventually!!! She also did some really nice a frame/dog walk contacts with tunnels at the bottom to try and make he carry on but she didnt :D (apart from the one time i told her to go go go - oops!!) Think that was it for her :)
Elliot:
Hehe, I don't know if I dare say this on here but I have now officially crossed to the dark side to join Lel in the hate channel weaves party!!! They didnt work for either of my dogs and infact i think have caused me more problems than good!! So anyway, I have taken Elliot right back to the beginning again and gone to luring him, at the moment he keeps trying to go faster than me but he was getting a lot better towards the end and was even doing 12 (on both sides). The reason I have gone to this way is because the way we were doing it he wasn't improving as the weeks went on, he just saw weaves as something to run at/through and just wasn't learning the movement needed to bend throuhg them!! We then moved on to contacts and I definately think we will have these cracked before weaves after todays lesson. We were really pushing the proofing today, with me running past him with him off lead and he is really getting it, the odd times when he jumped on to the end but missed he looked so confused and straight away sorted himself out :) It is great to see the improvements in him so quickly and he is now ready to move on and practise at home :)
We shall be back training again on Friday when it will hopefully be a LITTLE less hot so Jem can manage for longer!
Jemma:
She only had 20mins today as she was really struggling with the heat bless her. We did some work on her seesaw and she did some really nice ones at the end :) We also did some weave work but she is still really struggling when the entrances are at an angle, the plan is to work some more on angles/doing them at speed - we will get these weaves sorted eventually!!! She also did some really nice a frame/dog walk contacts with tunnels at the bottom to try and make he carry on but she didnt :D (apart from the one time i told her to go go go - oops!!) Think that was it for her :)
Elliot:
Hehe, I don't know if I dare say this on here but I have now officially crossed to the dark side to join Lel in the hate channel weaves party!!! They didnt work for either of my dogs and infact i think have caused me more problems than good!! So anyway, I have taken Elliot right back to the beginning again and gone to luring him, at the moment he keeps trying to go faster than me but he was getting a lot better towards the end and was even doing 12 (on both sides). The reason I have gone to this way is because the way we were doing it he wasn't improving as the weeks went on, he just saw weaves as something to run at/through and just wasn't learning the movement needed to bend throuhg them!! We then moved on to contacts and I definately think we will have these cracked before weaves after todays lesson. We were really pushing the proofing today, with me running past him with him off lead and he is really getting it, the odd times when he jumped on to the end but missed he looked so confused and straight away sorted himself out :) It is great to see the improvements in him so quickly and he is now ready to move on and practise at home :)
We shall be back training again on Friday when it will hopefully be a LITTLE less hot so Jem can manage for longer!
Sunday, 25 April 2010
WBSDS
Jemma:
Agility Graded 1-2
Sadly this course started with a jump with two poles and for some reason Jem doesn't like them (I think she gets confused!) so she knocked the top pole! She did then do six weaves nicely and after that we just worked our contacts - beautiful dog walk, really bad see-saw, admitedly there was a tunnel straight after it but she thought she would stop half way between the two!! I then forgot where we were going and sent her round a tunnel. She then redemmed herself and did a beautiful A-frame and waited on it until I released her from the last jump :)
Jumping Graded 1-2 (ring 8)
Well she worked this course really really nicely until the weaves (3rd from the end), they were on a 45 degree angle and i slowed down to much so she went in between the first two but then looked at me instead of carrying on, but at the angle she went through this gap she wouldn't have been able to wrap herself around enough anyway!! She then thought she would just do 8 of the 12 weaves and then go running on - mummy had other ideas!!!
Jumping Graded 1-2 (ring 7)
Can't remember if she did her weaves or not in this course (and it was only 5 hours ago!!), I get the feeling she didnt. Anyway, I then for some unknown reason forgot to keep my arm out for one jump and stopped running so she stopped, looked at me and came round the jump - doppy mummy!! I then nearly ran into the wing of the jump after the tunnel so consequently she knocked this pole and the one after it!!
Jumping Combined 1-7
Well, this was definately not a course aimed at grade 1s and 4th obstacle was the tunnel, of which jem went in the wrong end!! However she worked the rest of the course REALLY nicely, she even did 12 weaves first time and we got to practise our right command - it worked!!
So, three main things with Jem to work on after today, 12 weaves (still!!!), see-saw contact and not going behind mummys back, even if there is a tunnel to look at!!!
Elliot
Agility Graded 1-2
I didn't put him in this course as the judge specifically said in his briefing that you were to train at your club and not in his ring!!!
Jumping Graded 1-2 (ring 7)
Well, we started this course with me taking one step and elliot taking the jump, the long jump in the middle of the course, then coming back over the long jump (the wrong way) to sit at the start line and start again, all at 100 miles an hour!! Anyway, the course started jump, weaves, and there was no-way he was going to do 12 weaves so we kind of ran past them and he did the rest of the course REALLY nicely, with no going under any jumps, even ones before tunnels!!
Jumping Graded 1-2 (ring 8)
He ran this course really nicely too, we had a nice two jump wait, no going under any jumps before tunnels and no going under tyres!! We did have one point where because mummy forgot her second front cross because she was too busy admiring the fact he had worked away from her nicely on a three point star and not gone under the last jump which was before the tunnel, I had to back cross (in a really stupid place) and so he wasn't sure if he was supposed to do the next jump or not!!. Sadly again we couldn't do the 12 weaves so just missed them out.
Jumping Combined 1-7
Elliot had a different course to Jem (he was in part 1 and she was in part 2) and luckily his course was more flowing than hers!! Again we had a nice wait, and no going under jumps!! I think he did knock one pole in this class which was because the weaves were on a long straight run and so I lost a bit of control after the long run of him not doing anything. So we sat him down and started off again more calmly - mainly me!! - and he finished the course really nicely!!
So, two things to work on with elliot after today - weaves and contacts!!!!
Anyway, I best go, got my dissertation to finish ready for hand-in tomorrow!!!
Agility Graded 1-2
Sadly this course started with a jump with two poles and for some reason Jem doesn't like them (I think she gets confused!) so she knocked the top pole! She did then do six weaves nicely and after that we just worked our contacts - beautiful dog walk, really bad see-saw, admitedly there was a tunnel straight after it but she thought she would stop half way between the two!! I then forgot where we were going and sent her round a tunnel. She then redemmed herself and did a beautiful A-frame and waited on it until I released her from the last jump :)
Jumping Graded 1-2 (ring 8)
Well she worked this course really really nicely until the weaves (3rd from the end), they were on a 45 degree angle and i slowed down to much so she went in between the first two but then looked at me instead of carrying on, but at the angle she went through this gap she wouldn't have been able to wrap herself around enough anyway!! She then thought she would just do 8 of the 12 weaves and then go running on - mummy had other ideas!!!
Jumping Graded 1-2 (ring 7)
Can't remember if she did her weaves or not in this course (and it was only 5 hours ago!!), I get the feeling she didnt. Anyway, I then for some unknown reason forgot to keep my arm out for one jump and stopped running so she stopped, looked at me and came round the jump - doppy mummy!! I then nearly ran into the wing of the jump after the tunnel so consequently she knocked this pole and the one after it!!
Jumping Combined 1-7
Well, this was definately not a course aimed at grade 1s and 4th obstacle was the tunnel, of which jem went in the wrong end!! However she worked the rest of the course REALLY nicely, she even did 12 weaves first time and we got to practise our right command - it worked!!
So, three main things with Jem to work on after today, 12 weaves (still!!!), see-saw contact and not going behind mummys back, even if there is a tunnel to look at!!!
Elliot
Agility Graded 1-2
I didn't put him in this course as the judge specifically said in his briefing that you were to train at your club and not in his ring!!!
Jumping Graded 1-2 (ring 7)
Well, we started this course with me taking one step and elliot taking the jump, the long jump in the middle of the course, then coming back over the long jump (the wrong way) to sit at the start line and start again, all at 100 miles an hour!! Anyway, the course started jump, weaves, and there was no-way he was going to do 12 weaves so we kind of ran past them and he did the rest of the course REALLY nicely, with no going under any jumps, even ones before tunnels!!
Jumping Graded 1-2 (ring 8)
He ran this course really nicely too, we had a nice two jump wait, no going under any jumps before tunnels and no going under tyres!! We did have one point where because mummy forgot her second front cross because she was too busy admiring the fact he had worked away from her nicely on a three point star and not gone under the last jump which was before the tunnel, I had to back cross (in a really stupid place) and so he wasn't sure if he was supposed to do the next jump or not!!. Sadly again we couldn't do the 12 weaves so just missed them out.
Jumping Combined 1-7
Elliot had a different course to Jem (he was in part 1 and she was in part 2) and luckily his course was more flowing than hers!! Again we had a nice wait, and no going under jumps!! I think he did knock one pole in this class which was because the weaves were on a long straight run and so I lost a bit of control after the long run of him not doing anything. So we sat him down and started off again more calmly - mainly me!! - and he finished the course really nicely!!
So, two things to work on with elliot after today - weaves and contacts!!!!
Anyway, I best go, got my dissertation to finish ready for hand-in tomorrow!!!
Friday, 23 April 2010
Left & Right
Jemma:
Well we had some nice horrible anlges to practice today and we made a nice mess of them to start with!! We then worked on lots of things with the course, and by the end I was a very happy mummy!! First thing we improved on was my confidence in leaving her at the start line and this helped us with the next few tricky bits of the course! The one problem that jem was really struggling with was checking herself enough so that she could wrap around the second weave pole, and she kept coming out at number 10 again! We did work on this but she still wasn't 100%. The thing I was most pleased with her was her Lefts and Rights, she has definately learnt these in the past week and we managed to use them in the course - although I have been reminded I am not allowed to use them to be lazy, they are for emergencies only!!! Her contacts were also pretty good today, especially when I remembered to give my stop command in the right place!!
Elliot:
Well, trying to do lefts and rights in the field is very exciting and we had the same problem as when i tried to do it jogging at home, as soon as the excitment levels increase he wants to run at a distance from you and can't concentrate on what he is doing!! We did a little bit of jumping and he was brill, no going under jumps :D We did some work on his weaves - he is soooooo fustrating, he will do it right and then not do it right again for ages, not quite sure what the plan of action is wiht him next but hopefully we will find something that works soon, or the penny will drop for him, he is too worried about doing everything at 100miles an hour!! We finished on some contacts and he made up for his pooey weaves - after about 10mins of doing it he stopped at the bottom by himself and just waited for his treat even with me wondering off and not waiting with him, who knows, maybe we will crack the contacts before the weaves!!
Well we had some nice horrible anlges to practice today and we made a nice mess of them to start with!! We then worked on lots of things with the course, and by the end I was a very happy mummy!! First thing we improved on was my confidence in leaving her at the start line and this helped us with the next few tricky bits of the course! The one problem that jem was really struggling with was checking herself enough so that she could wrap around the second weave pole, and she kept coming out at number 10 again! We did work on this but she still wasn't 100%. The thing I was most pleased with her was her Lefts and Rights, she has definately learnt these in the past week and we managed to use them in the course - although I have been reminded I am not allowed to use them to be lazy, they are for emergencies only!!! Her contacts were also pretty good today, especially when I remembered to give my stop command in the right place!!
Elliot:
Well, trying to do lefts and rights in the field is very exciting and we had the same problem as when i tried to do it jogging at home, as soon as the excitment levels increase he wants to run at a distance from you and can't concentrate on what he is doing!! We did a little bit of jumping and he was brill, no going under jumps :D We did some work on his weaves - he is soooooo fustrating, he will do it right and then not do it right again for ages, not quite sure what the plan of action is wiht him next but hopefully we will find something that works soon, or the penny will drop for him, he is too worried about doing everything at 100miles an hour!! We finished on some contacts and he made up for his pooey weaves - after about 10mins of doing it he stopped at the bottom by himself and just waited for his treat even with me wondering off and not waiting with him, who knows, maybe we will crack the contacts before the weaves!!
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Mad Mutts - Acremead
Both dogs were on the Rockets today with Smartie, Jamie, Piper and Perry. There was quite a lot of swapping dogs in and out but Nat only ended up running Elliot for one and a half races because the rest of the time there was only ever one of my two running :) I was really really pleased with both dogs today. Elliot, had one wobble in our second race when we had moved from the blue lane into the red lane and missed out the first two jumps before he realised he was supposed to go over the jumps in this lane this time bless him. Other than that he was brill, box turns were sooooooooooo much better than last comp, he needs to try and get his back legs up a little bit more but hey, that will come :) He also did an amazing turn around after getting a light, has he ran to get his tuggy I managed to grab him, turn him around and let him go!!! As for Jembear, she only ran in the blue lane, just doing warm ups in the red lane and we had NO running across to the other lane :D We had one moment when she came of the box that she thought about it but I managed to call her back in and she manged to just get over the first jump but that was it, the rest of the time she was really really focused!! :D She also had a little bit of a confusion moment when she came through the gate and dropped her ball and so she went to go and pick it up but everyone was shouting at her (we all thought she was going to go back up the lane chasing!) and so she ended up just standing right in the way looking very confused as to what to do but it was fine because Nat still let elliot go and he just ran round her bless her, luckily I managed to get her before jamie was released! I still need to improve my change overs as I kept being late, however I did manage a 0.00 start time with Jem :) I will leave Nat to fill you in on times etc but we finished fourth :D
Friday, 16 April 2010
Contacts again!!
Jemma:
We did some work on her contacts today and where I was tellnig her to stop, me being ahead of her/continuing to run and by the end she was doing some nice contacts :) We also did some work on our weaves, our entrances definately need work, she doesn't slow down enough to allow herself to make it back through the second gap if she at a dodgy angle. We then did some pull throughs which she did nicely when I got it right :) Started off a bad lesson with the course going horribly wrong, finished with a nice course and it all going nicely (apart from the weave angle still - definately something to work on!!)
Elliot:
We did some jumping with him and he was a good boy, didnt go under any today, I learnt as well that he is not the same as jem, if i move away from a jump move he has taken it he comes too whereas jem would take the jump and then come, he just needs a little more encouragement at the moment to build up his confidence. We worked on ten weaves and he is soooo much better!! just need to work on the entrance and pole 5-6 (I think) as he likes to always miss this one, does the rest though, i think his striding just gets out so he has to miss one to get back in (if that makes sense). Then, for the final 5 mins we started training contacts again :) We are training him with stop contacts because I feel he is too literal to do target training, he sees target and thinks "touch target with nose" he doesn't think "touch target with nose with two feet on and two feet off the contact" so we shall see how we go :)
My homework with both dogs is to teach them left and right as I noticed Easter weekend a few occasions where these verbal commands would have come in handy!!
We did some work on her contacts today and where I was tellnig her to stop, me being ahead of her/continuing to run and by the end she was doing some nice contacts :) We also did some work on our weaves, our entrances definately need work, she doesn't slow down enough to allow herself to make it back through the second gap if she at a dodgy angle. We then did some pull throughs which she did nicely when I got it right :) Started off a bad lesson with the course going horribly wrong, finished with a nice course and it all going nicely (apart from the weave angle still - definately something to work on!!)
Elliot:
We did some jumping with him and he was a good boy, didnt go under any today, I learnt as well that he is not the same as jem, if i move away from a jump move he has taken it he comes too whereas jem would take the jump and then come, he just needs a little more encouragement at the moment to build up his confidence. We worked on ten weaves and he is soooo much better!! just need to work on the entrance and pole 5-6 (I think) as he likes to always miss this one, does the rest though, i think his striding just gets out so he has to miss one to get back in (if that makes sense). Then, for the final 5 mins we started training contacts again :) We are training him with stop contacts because I feel he is too literal to do target training, he sees target and thinks "touch target with nose" he doesn't think "touch target with nose with two feet on and two feet off the contact" so we shall see how we go :)
My homework with both dogs is to teach them left and right as I noticed Easter weekend a few occasions where these verbal commands would have come in handy!!
Sunday, 11 April 2010
Flyball!!!
Elliot:
Well I can't really say much about him as Nat ran him because we were running the teams for next weekend and both my two are on the same team as I am only going one day (My dissertation is due in in two weeks!!). From what I saw though, after a few dodgy box turns he then sorted himself out (after taking himself off to do one from close up!!) - I will make sure at the comp that he does a close up one when warming up!!
Jemma:
Hmmm, well!! We only had the one lane set up this week so I gradually moved her back so she started closer and closer to the other dogs and then she was going from with in them. She did really well, with only one really wide run up to the lane as she was looking at smartie!! Then, on our last run - same place as before she launched at smartie as we went past and bit my knee instead!! I took her out and made her lie down, although she didn't seem that bothered!! When I let her go I was running between her and the other dogs to act as a barrier and try and focus her but I think I am going to have to rethink this now!!! At the comp she is mainly going to just be doing warm ups, perhaps with the odd run in the red (I think!!) lane depending on how she is behaving!! Either way I shall be letting her go from closer to the start gate, not too close but so that she is not standing with the rest of our dogs!! Wish us Luck!!!
Well I can't really say much about him as Nat ran him because we were running the teams for next weekend and both my two are on the same team as I am only going one day (My dissertation is due in in two weeks!!). From what I saw though, after a few dodgy box turns he then sorted himself out (after taking himself off to do one from close up!!) - I will make sure at the comp that he does a close up one when warming up!!
Jemma:
Hmmm, well!! We only had the one lane set up this week so I gradually moved her back so she started closer and closer to the other dogs and then she was going from with in them. She did really well, with only one really wide run up to the lane as she was looking at smartie!! Then, on our last run - same place as before she launched at smartie as we went past and bit my knee instead!! I took her out and made her lie down, although she didn't seem that bothered!! When I let her go I was running between her and the other dogs to act as a barrier and try and focus her but I think I am going to have to rethink this now!!! At the comp she is mainly going to just be doing warm ups, perhaps with the odd run in the red (I think!!) lane depending on how she is behaving!! Either way I shall be letting her go from closer to the start gate, not too close but so that she is not standing with the rest of our dogs!! Wish us Luck!!!
Friday, 9 April 2010
Training with Gail :)
Our lesson today was with Gail because Lesley has fractured her elbow :( (the sad face is for Lesley fracturing her elbow, not for us having Gail!!)
Jemma:
The contacts she did were nice today, although I let her go a little early on the seesaw (naughty mummy!!) We worked on her weaves a little, and decided that once she is in them and on her way she will carry on if I run on, so I need to work on getting her them first time and her finding her rhythm quicker so that I can move on and she doesn't come out at the end because she is wondering what I am doing just waiting around!! We also worked on her jumping quite a lot, on her getting used to me getting close to her and pushing her over the edges of the jump when back crossing rather than leaving her to take the middle of it with lots of space and room and then end up doing a huge arc. She really didn't like this at the start and would knock the poles down all over the place but at the end she was much better :) Still lots of us to work, all just fine tuning for both me and her!!
Elliot:
We started with our weaves and he did six really nicely from a long start and at quite a speed, we then pushed them up to eight (the first of the six was a bit wibbly wobbly) and he tried them all all the time, once he was in he would (except for once or twice) go to the end, he was just picky about where he went in. We then did some complicated jumping with him and he started going under the poles on the corners so we took him back out to long straight jumps and he was fine, as with Jem he doesn't like me encroching on his space but he also struggles with the short strides between jumps. We worked on his jump-tunnel starts and discovered it is his distance from the jump that affects whether he goes under or over it - the further away he is the more likely he is to go over it - we shall work on this, gradually getting him closer because at the momment he needs to be a distance away that you would rarely get in competition. We then went back and finished on some weaves and a little course - on guiding him to the first weave pole he did them all beautifully, dont think it will be long before he is doing them in a course on his own :) However, he again got worried about the course because it was a bit twisty, we got over this though by me being really encouraging and excited all the way round and he only went under one jump (it was a different colour to the others and had to go down to small for him to see it!!)!! Am looking forward to continuing to work with him and see him grow and develop into a cracking little dog :)
We are back to flyball on sunday ready for our competition next weekend :)
Jemma:
The contacts she did were nice today, although I let her go a little early on the seesaw (naughty mummy!!) We worked on her weaves a little, and decided that once she is in them and on her way she will carry on if I run on, so I need to work on getting her them first time and her finding her rhythm quicker so that I can move on and she doesn't come out at the end because she is wondering what I am doing just waiting around!! We also worked on her jumping quite a lot, on her getting used to me getting close to her and pushing her over the edges of the jump when back crossing rather than leaving her to take the middle of it with lots of space and room and then end up doing a huge arc. She really didn't like this at the start and would knock the poles down all over the place but at the end she was much better :) Still lots of us to work, all just fine tuning for both me and her!!
Elliot:
We started with our weaves and he did six really nicely from a long start and at quite a speed, we then pushed them up to eight (the first of the six was a bit wibbly wobbly) and he tried them all all the time, once he was in he would (except for once or twice) go to the end, he was just picky about where he went in. We then did some complicated jumping with him and he started going under the poles on the corners so we took him back out to long straight jumps and he was fine, as with Jem he doesn't like me encroching on his space but he also struggles with the short strides between jumps. We worked on his jump-tunnel starts and discovered it is his distance from the jump that affects whether he goes under or over it - the further away he is the more likely he is to go over it - we shall work on this, gradually getting him closer because at the momment he needs to be a distance away that you would rarely get in competition. We then went back and finished on some weaves and a little course - on guiding him to the first weave pole he did them all beautifully, dont think it will be long before he is doing them in a course on his own :) However, he again got worried about the course because it was a bit twisty, we got over this though by me being really encouraging and excited all the way round and he only went under one jump (it was a different colour to the others and had to go down to small for him to see it!!)!! Am looking forward to continuing to work with him and see him grow and develop into a cracking little dog :)
We are back to flyball on sunday ready for our competition next weekend :)
Monday, 5 April 2010
Agility Photos
These pics show that Jem is struggling to extend her back legs still, although she is having a great time :)
Some evidence Jem can weave if she tries!!!
I will put the others in another post as they wont all fit in this one!!!
Dog Vegas Easter 2010 - Day 4
Fiona kindly took some videos today, so there should be less waffle :D
A link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbQllPnQq4Y
Jemma:
Agility Graded 1-4 - 2nd Place!!!
I am so annoyed with myself for this round – she missed out on 1st by half a second, her time was 29.972 with the winner having a time of 29.589 and 3rd place having a time of 33.043!! The ground was really slippy (as you can see from the vid it was very rainy!!!) and I didn’t feel I had time to front cross the bit where I back crossed and she twiddled, on walking the course I knew she would twiddle if I back crossed (after what she had been like the rest of the weekend!) and looking at the video I had plenty of time to do the front cross, I spent a lot of time dithering, although she did only just get her contact so who knows. What I could/should have done is done a longer lead out and got to the jump after the dog walk but nevermind, we live and learn, our turn will come!!
Agility Graded 1-3
Well, if only she could distinguish between weaves and a seesaw facing the wrong way we would have been alright!! I was really pleased with how well she work on the two big turns as if she had been going clear until the bit before the a-frame i was going to back cross as i didn’t think she would work that far away!
Jumping Graded 1-2
I don’t know what was going through my head at the beginning, I was going to pivot lead out on to the weaves and then kind of forgot what I was doing, I think I then dawdled too much when she was in the weaves!!
Elliot:
I didn’t take him in the first agility class as I couldn’t easily do a course with him, I did however take him in the second one – he broke his wait, didn’t do the six weaves (for some reason known only to myself I didn’t put him back and do them again) he did the jumps before the dog walk lovely, I then thought I would let him do one bad contact as it was the only way to get him to the finish, and it was very bad, he jumped off half way down, i did however put him on the bottom and make him wait before he went over the last jump!!
Jumping Graded 1-2
Don’t know where his wait has disappeared to!! I don’t think it will be long before he is weaving, he is desperate to do them!! I was really pleased with his jumping – just got to sort out these jumps before the tunnels!!
All in all it was an eventful weekend and has given us a lot to work on, my list that I can think of right now (I will probably add to it!!) is as follows:
Jemma:
Weaves, with her coming at them at speed and at angles
Contacts still
Back crosses!!!
Waits, so that i can do really long lead outs – i think she would do this the majority of the time, but is those minority times that stop me doing them, maybe I just need more confidence in her!!
Elliot:
Weaves
Contacts
Waits
Jumps before tunnels
A link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbQllPnQq4Y
Jemma:
Agility Graded 1-4 - 2nd Place!!!
I am so annoyed with myself for this round – she missed out on 1st by half a second, her time was 29.972 with the winner having a time of 29.589 and 3rd place having a time of 33.043!! The ground was really slippy (as you can see from the vid it was very rainy!!!) and I didn’t feel I had time to front cross the bit where I back crossed and she twiddled, on walking the course I knew she would twiddle if I back crossed (after what she had been like the rest of the weekend!) and looking at the video I had plenty of time to do the front cross, I spent a lot of time dithering, although she did only just get her contact so who knows. What I could/should have done is done a longer lead out and got to the jump after the dog walk but nevermind, we live and learn, our turn will come!!
Agility Graded 1-3
Well, if only she could distinguish between weaves and a seesaw facing the wrong way we would have been alright!! I was really pleased with how well she work on the two big turns as if she had been going clear until the bit before the a-frame i was going to back cross as i didn’t think she would work that far away!
Jumping Graded 1-2
I don’t know what was going through my head at the beginning, I was going to pivot lead out on to the weaves and then kind of forgot what I was doing, I think I then dawdled too much when she was in the weaves!!
Elliot:
I didn’t take him in the first agility class as I couldn’t easily do a course with him, I did however take him in the second one – he broke his wait, didn’t do the six weaves (for some reason known only to myself I didn’t put him back and do them again) he did the jumps before the dog walk lovely, I then thought I would let him do one bad contact as it was the only way to get him to the finish, and it was very bad, he jumped off half way down, i did however put him on the bottom and make him wait before he went over the last jump!!
Jumping Graded 1-2
Don’t know where his wait has disappeared to!! I don’t think it will be long before he is weaving, he is desperate to do them!! I was really pleased with his jumping – just got to sort out these jumps before the tunnels!!
All in all it was an eventful weekend and has given us a lot to work on, my list that I can think of right now (I will probably add to it!!) is as follows:
Jemma:
Weaves, with her coming at them at speed and at angles
Contacts still
Back crosses!!!
Waits, so that i can do really long lead outs – i think she would do this the majority of the time, but is those minority times that stop me doing them, maybe I just need more confidence in her!!
Elliot:
Weaves
Contacts
Waits
Jumps before tunnels
Sunday, 4 April 2010
Dog Vegas Easter 2010 - Day 3
No videos from today I am afraid so just lots of waffle.
Jemma:
Agility Graded 1-4
She missed out the second weave pole and then I lost the plot, not waiting until she was commited to the tunnel before doing the next bit as I was worried about getting in the right place to do a very optomistic front cross, it then completely fell apart so we retired gracefully - half eight in the morning is definately not my time to run!!
Agility Graded 1-2
This round was beautiful, she ran really well, I actually handled properly for once and it felt really good to run. Sadly she went charging at the weaves and although she got the entrance she couldn't wrap to get back in the next gap, although she tried REALLY hard!! Both in this run and the run on Friday if you take off the time it took us to redo the weaves she was faster than the winner - one day we WILL get our weaves right!!
Jumping Graded 1-3
Again, she cocked up the weaves, coming out at 10 and then after that we totally lost the plot and so between the two of us put together did some shambles of a course to get us to the end!!
Elliot:
He had a bit of a pants day really, I didn't take him in either of the agility classes as one started jump tunnel and after yesterday I decided it wasn't worth trying to get him to do it and not succeding and the other one started jump, dog walk and there were no other jumps/tunnels around for us to use!
Jumping Graded 1-3
This was at about half 3 and as he had had no other runs he was a bit manic. It started tyre, jump and he released himself and went under the tyre so we started again, this time I didn't go so far and he waited until I told him to go but still went under the tyre, but I decided to carry on, however it was a bit of a difficult start for him as there was a straight line of tyre, jump, weaves, jump but after the jump (before the weaves) you had to pull them round a 270 degree angle to do another jump before doing jump number two again and then going into the waeves. Well Elliot bless him took off to the weaves three times, got his entrance every time!!!!!!!!!!! but then because I had stopped came out, although on the third one I decided to jsut carry on with him because I didn't want to discourage him from doing the weaves at the moment, however he was then very hyped up and very confused, the next bit of the course was a bit all over the place but jumps 14-20 were done beautifully :D
Jemma:
Agility Graded 1-4
She missed out the second weave pole and then I lost the plot, not waiting until she was commited to the tunnel before doing the next bit as I was worried about getting in the right place to do a very optomistic front cross, it then completely fell apart so we retired gracefully - half eight in the morning is definately not my time to run!!
Agility Graded 1-2
This round was beautiful, she ran really well, I actually handled properly for once and it felt really good to run. Sadly she went charging at the weaves and although she got the entrance she couldn't wrap to get back in the next gap, although she tried REALLY hard!! Both in this run and the run on Friday if you take off the time it took us to redo the weaves she was faster than the winner - one day we WILL get our weaves right!!
Jumping Graded 1-3
Again, she cocked up the weaves, coming out at 10 and then after that we totally lost the plot and so between the two of us put together did some shambles of a course to get us to the end!!
Elliot:
He had a bit of a pants day really, I didn't take him in either of the agility classes as one started jump tunnel and after yesterday I decided it wasn't worth trying to get him to do it and not succeding and the other one started jump, dog walk and there were no other jumps/tunnels around for us to use!
Jumping Graded 1-3
This was at about half 3 and as he had had no other runs he was a bit manic. It started tyre, jump and he released himself and went under the tyre so we started again, this time I didn't go so far and he waited until I told him to go but still went under the tyre, but I decided to carry on, however it was a bit of a difficult start for him as there was a straight line of tyre, jump, weaves, jump but after the jump (before the weaves) you had to pull them round a 270 degree angle to do another jump before doing jump number two again and then going into the waeves. Well Elliot bless him took off to the weaves three times, got his entrance every time!!!!!!!!!!! but then because I had stopped came out, although on the third one I decided to jsut carry on with him because I didn't want to discourage him from doing the weaves at the moment, however he was then very hyped up and very confused, the next bit of the course was a bit all over the place but jumps 14-20 were done beautifully :D
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Dog Vegas Easter 2010 - Day 2
Well they day started badly with me getting a puncture and having to wait for the AA to come and change my tyre. This meant we were an hour late arriving and missed walking the first course! I therefore decided as it was agility to only run Jem in it and not worry about Elliot. This was also the only run that we managed to get on video as my classes either clashed with Pen/Paul running or I forgot the camera so again, most of this will just be my waffle!!
Jemma
Agility Graded 1-2
Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_meJU7JPHP0
I forgot the front cross I had planned to do in this and that was why we had the little dance and then the problem with the weaves. I was pleased with her contacts although not really sure why she knocked the pole that she did!
Agility Graded 1-4
This course had a lot of traps in it, with the tunnel being under the dog walk, the weaves running along not far from the a frame, a bad anlge on to a long jump etc., however Jem ran it really nicely, lovely contacts, went up the dog walk and not into the tunnel, got the 45 degree weave angle, did all tweleve weaves, but then sadly went over a jump instead of into a tunnel - I think to stop this I should have said here/jem instead of tunnel as she came out the weaves pointing towards the jump. She did however then finish the course beautifully, not knocking the long jump this time!! :D
Jumping Graded 1-2
She was really naughty in this - it started two jumps in a straight line but then a 180 degree turn to no 3, despite me looking at jump two and pointing at it, she decided to go behind me and over jump three, all because I took a step that way before she was committed to the second jump, I know that is kind of my fault, however it doesn't excuse her going behind me!! Something else for us to work on!!
Elliot:
Agility Graded 1-4
This course started jump, cloth tunnel and after about 5 attempts of getting him to go over the first jump and not under it and straight in to the tunnel we gave up - I tried putting him at an angle and all sorts but it didn't work so I decided it wasn't worth letting him continue to do this as he was self rewarding himself with the tunnel and so was just learning to go under the jump - definately something we need to work on as he likes to do this in the middle of a course as well if the jump is closeish to the tunnel. His wait however was perfect every time :D
Jumping Graded 1-2
Again a beautiful wait but sadly he knocked the second pole, this was because he was focusing off into the distance and then as he was taking the pole I started moving right and he turned to look at me and see where I was off to!! He then did some lovely jumping and I thought I would try just running him at the six weaves - he missed the entrance and went in the next gap and then missed the next but he tried all the way to the end and was really happy so we just carried on rather than worrying him by doing them again. He then went on nicely but sadly came in the box on a corner because I moved off before he was committed - he was only doing what I had told him, however he then ran the rest of the course beautifully and did some really lovely jumping so I was really pleased with him.
When I got home I did some weaves withi him and he managed the six eight times in a row with me on the left and sort of running at them, he struggled a bit on the right but got there after a few minutes :) Hopefully this will help a bit for tomorrow, and I plan on doing some more tomorrow night to help for Monday :)
Jemma
Agility Graded 1-2
Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_meJU7JPHP0
I forgot the front cross I had planned to do in this and that was why we had the little dance and then the problem with the weaves. I was pleased with her contacts although not really sure why she knocked the pole that she did!
Agility Graded 1-4
This course had a lot of traps in it, with the tunnel being under the dog walk, the weaves running along not far from the a frame, a bad anlge on to a long jump etc., however Jem ran it really nicely, lovely contacts, went up the dog walk and not into the tunnel, got the 45 degree weave angle, did all tweleve weaves, but then sadly went over a jump instead of into a tunnel - I think to stop this I should have said here/jem instead of tunnel as she came out the weaves pointing towards the jump. She did however then finish the course beautifully, not knocking the long jump this time!! :D
Jumping Graded 1-2
She was really naughty in this - it started two jumps in a straight line but then a 180 degree turn to no 3, despite me looking at jump two and pointing at it, she decided to go behind me and over jump three, all because I took a step that way before she was committed to the second jump, I know that is kind of my fault, however it doesn't excuse her going behind me!! Something else for us to work on!!
Elliot:
Agility Graded 1-4
This course started jump, cloth tunnel and after about 5 attempts of getting him to go over the first jump and not under it and straight in to the tunnel we gave up - I tried putting him at an angle and all sorts but it didn't work so I decided it wasn't worth letting him continue to do this as he was self rewarding himself with the tunnel and so was just learning to go under the jump - definately something we need to work on as he likes to do this in the middle of a course as well if the jump is closeish to the tunnel. His wait however was perfect every time :D
Jumping Graded 1-2
Again a beautiful wait but sadly he knocked the second pole, this was because he was focusing off into the distance and then as he was taking the pole I started moving right and he turned to look at me and see where I was off to!! He then did some lovely jumping and I thought I would try just running him at the six weaves - he missed the entrance and went in the next gap and then missed the next but he tried all the way to the end and was really happy so we just carried on rather than worrying him by doing them again. He then went on nicely but sadly came in the box on a corner because I moved off before he was committed - he was only doing what I had told him, however he then ran the rest of the course beautifully and did some really lovely jumping so I was really pleased with him.
When I got home I did some weaves withi him and he managed the six eight times in a row with me on the left and sort of running at them, he struggled a bit on the right but got there after a few minutes :) Hopefully this will help a bit for tomorrow, and I plan on doing some more tomorrow night to help for Monday :)
Friday, 2 April 2010
Dog Vegas Easter 2010 - Day 1
Video Link for their runs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9uF2PLcsFk
My thoughts on their runs:
Jemma
Agility Graded 1-2 - 20th Place
I know why she knocked the long jump - because I had rushed off to get down the long straight and she was trying to catch up - this is the same problem as normal with tunnels, so completely my fault!! As for the last two weaves, not really sure, think she may just have got bored!! She also seems to have got quite bad with going the wrong way when I back cross - I best work on this!!
Jumping Graded 1-4 - 4th Place
I knew she would struggle to pick up the weaves, despite me telling her to weave when she was in the tunnel, didn't realise she was goinh to be quite so silly though!! :P The only reason I can think she went off towards the end was becaues she saw the end timers and went off, any other suggestions as to why will be gratefully recieved!!
Jumping Graded 1-3
She just mis judged the first jump I think, not sure why though. Again, didn't want to complete the 12 weaves but I was naughty, letting her get away with it - I clearly dithered about what to do though!! I stuck with her this time between the tunnel/jump and that worked to get her to keep that pole up!!
Elliot:
Agility Graded 1-2
This one wasn't on the video as the second I let go of his collar he took off like a rocket, so I put him back as planned and then I got a two jump lead out on him and he did the five jumps I wanted :)
Jumping Graded 1-4
He had a beautful wait for this one :) It was a shame about the few jumps he went under, I can't really see why, apart from the fact they mainly seem to be on corners. I was really really really pleased with his weaves (after his little trip back down the tunnel!!) - it was really nice to see that he can actually do them!! :D
Jumping Graded 1-3
I was really pleased with his attempt on the 12 weaves for saying we havn't trained 12 straight weaves before, at least he tried all the way to the end!! I am not sure then what happened to the vid but I sent him the wrong way and then went under quite a lot of jumps, especially the last one which was odd as it was at the end of a long straight line!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9uF2PLcsFk
My thoughts on their runs:
Jemma
Agility Graded 1-2 - 20th Place
I know why she knocked the long jump - because I had rushed off to get down the long straight and she was trying to catch up - this is the same problem as normal with tunnels, so completely my fault!! As for the last two weaves, not really sure, think she may just have got bored!! She also seems to have got quite bad with going the wrong way when I back cross - I best work on this!!
Jumping Graded 1-4 - 4th Place
I knew she would struggle to pick up the weaves, despite me telling her to weave when she was in the tunnel, didn't realise she was goinh to be quite so silly though!! :P The only reason I can think she went off towards the end was becaues she saw the end timers and went off, any other suggestions as to why will be gratefully recieved!!
Jumping Graded 1-3
She just mis judged the first jump I think, not sure why though. Again, didn't want to complete the 12 weaves but I was naughty, letting her get away with it - I clearly dithered about what to do though!! I stuck with her this time between the tunnel/jump and that worked to get her to keep that pole up!!
Elliot:
Agility Graded 1-2
This one wasn't on the video as the second I let go of his collar he took off like a rocket, so I put him back as planned and then I got a two jump lead out on him and he did the five jumps I wanted :)
Jumping Graded 1-4
He had a beautful wait for this one :) It was a shame about the few jumps he went under, I can't really see why, apart from the fact they mainly seem to be on corners. I was really really really pleased with his weaves (after his little trip back down the tunnel!!) - it was really nice to see that he can actually do them!! :D
Jumping Graded 1-3
I was really pleased with his attempt on the 12 weaves for saying we havn't trained 12 straight weaves before, at least he tried all the way to the end!! I am not sure then what happened to the vid but I sent him the wrong way and then went under quite a lot of jumps, especially the last one which was odd as it was at the end of a long straight line!!
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