Elliot
Graded 1-2 Agility
Wow, what lovely contacts!! He was very creepy but he stopped at the bottom of all of them, including the seesaw and didn't budge until I told him to go :) I managed to get him a refusal though as I tightened him up on a bit that didn't need tightening and so he came inside the jump, I then stupidly sent him the wrong way after the seesaw so instead of having one jump then 6 weaves I did four jumps then weaves so needless to say he didnt get them first time, second time he did a beautiful set though :) So, first run of the day and I was annoyed at myself as I messed it up twice for him :(
Team
He was VERY wound up by this and he was last, Lel was running him though and the course was really tricky so she just did two jumps and a-frame as we had already spectacularly eliminated ourselves and he ran to the bottom of the a-frame but didn't stop so lel put him back on and then left as she didn't want to break his contacts!!
Graded 1-2 Jumping
He made a very baby mistake and ran under the second jump which was on a short stride and before a tunnel. He did it second time though and did the rest of the course nicely, he just knocked a few poles because I messed up the handling (again!!)!!
Jemma
Graded 1-2 Agility
Now this run left me feeling like an idiot and very annoyed with myself all day and still now!! She was flying round, beautiful contacts and really tight turns (confirmed by lel) and then I did the one thing I specifically wrote on Friday that I wouldn't do and I said weave instead of steady and so she missed the second pole, to say I was gutted would be an understatement as I think she would have really stood a chance in that looking at the winners time, what an idiot!! Hopefully though it is enough of a lesson that I won't do it again!!
Team
We went third and she was well and truly wound up and so needless to say didn't get the second weave pole despite me saying steady this time!! The rest of the course didn't go too badly for saying how difficult it was, however I kept forgetting how I had walked it and doing back crosses because I forgot my front crosses, the best one being when I crossed behind the a-frame and jem looked round to check where I was as she was coming over the top and then got very confused as I wasn't where she expected to see me but then I called her, and then she looked so shocked to see where I was bless her, she then trundled happily to the bottom of the contact though :) She then had a little mishap and went out the ring behind a banner (which a lot of dogs had done), however jem managed to get tangled up in all the equipment behind it bless her!!! She did some very nice lefts and rights though :)
Graded 1-2 Jumping
Yay, our one clear round of the weekend :) She finished 8th with a time of 20.482, 1.698 seconds behind the winner, she is never going to do that well in jumping because I cannot get her to really power on because then she knocks poles, so in this course for example on the last line of jumps I couldn't really power it with her, but hey we got our one rosette for the weekend :D
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Friday, 25 June 2010
Bad blogger
I seem to have turned into a bad blogger when it comes to rambling about my lessons!!
Jemma
We have spent both lessons this week working on tightening her turns up, with a very nice effect I must say :) Weaves have also been looked at and have also been improving, I have completely scrapped the command "weave" now and just use "steady" because it was well and truly proved today that weave doesn't work but steady does!! We also worked on her contacts, making sure she is stopping at the bottom when I run on ahead of her and then stop as she was stopping just above the bottom, she was much better by the end of the lesson :) All in all a good week for her so fingers crossed for tomorrow!!
Elliot
His weaves seem to be back, he struggled a bit with 12 on tues when the middle was in shadow but we managed a nice set to finish on :) His contacts are pretty damn good now, he still pops off occassionally or stops just above the bottom but hey, they are better than before, I think we may need to go back a little bit over the winter to reinforce the position to improve it for next season but for now hey I can do a full agility course with him so who cares!! :) Today we tried putting six weaves after some jumps and we had probably an 80% success rate when it was just two jumps into the weaves, but when we tried adding a little course of jumps before them he wasn't breaking enough to get back in the second gap, I think more work is need on where I command him and where I stand as this seemed to be affecting him quite a lot. We also worked on having a second set of weaves at a 45 degree angle after the first (with a gap between) and he was pretty good at getting these, after an initially period of being a bit confused and checking back a lot and so missing a pole!! Again all in all a good week for him too, looking forward to tomorrow - lel had a practise with him tues night in case she has to run him in the team tomorrow, it could be very amusing!!
Jemma
We have spent both lessons this week working on tightening her turns up, with a very nice effect I must say :) Weaves have also been looked at and have also been improving, I have completely scrapped the command "weave" now and just use "steady" because it was well and truly proved today that weave doesn't work but steady does!! We also worked on her contacts, making sure she is stopping at the bottom when I run on ahead of her and then stop as she was stopping just above the bottom, she was much better by the end of the lesson :) All in all a good week for her so fingers crossed for tomorrow!!
Elliot
His weaves seem to be back, he struggled a bit with 12 on tues when the middle was in shadow but we managed a nice set to finish on :) His contacts are pretty damn good now, he still pops off occassionally or stops just above the bottom but hey, they are better than before, I think we may need to go back a little bit over the winter to reinforce the position to improve it for next season but for now hey I can do a full agility course with him so who cares!! :) Today we tried putting six weaves after some jumps and we had probably an 80% success rate when it was just two jumps into the weaves, but when we tried adding a little course of jumps before them he wasn't breaking enough to get back in the second gap, I think more work is need on where I command him and where I stand as this seemed to be affecting him quite a lot. We also worked on having a second set of weaves at a 45 degree angle after the first (with a gap between) and he was pretty good at getting these, after an initially period of being a bit confused and checking back a lot and so missing a pole!! Again all in all a good week for him too, looking forward to tomorrow - lel had a practise with him tues night in case she has to run him in the team tomorrow, it could be very amusing!!
Sunday, 20 June 2010
Training and Golden Valley
This is gona be a long one I think!! There will be vids of some of the runs to follow when I get them :)
At training on Friday they both did a lot better than on tuesday, jem did some really lovely contacts and weaves, as did ellliot, he managed 12 weaves again and 6 with entrances :) We started teaching Ellito wing wraps and Jem an out command too and I was really pleased with both of them by the end of the lesson :)
Golden Valley - Saturday
Jemma
Agility
Very nice a-frame, I ran away from the dog walk and so she stopped just above the contact and just looked at me so I had to go back towards her to get her to go to the bottom!! She did a very nice see saw though :) I then let her down because I umm and ahhed about whether to say weave or steady and consequently said nothing and she she missed the entrance, foolish mummy!!
Pairs
She was paired with Jo's spaniel Fluke who did a very nice clear round, but then jem decided she wanted to do the medium jump straight on after the tunnel and not come right to me to do the larg jumps, the rest was really nice although she did knock one pole but I think this was beacuse I was being lazy with my handling!!
Jumping
This was a really beautiful round (despite us turning up just as they were about to close the class) however the weaves were set at a 45degree angle and I went to straighten her up but over did it and so pushed her wide :(
Agility
I can't really remember this course, but I have a feeling she knocked a pole and then didn't do the weaves!
Elliot
Agility
He ran under the first jump and so I took him back and started again, he then ran off the aframe because there was a tunnel after it but I put him back and he waited nicely, the judge was then very kind and said I could continue but could not put him back on any more contacts, thankfully his dog walk was amazing, he stopped and properly waited, despite there being a tunnel after it (albeit one he wasn't supposed to do) and his seesaw was good too, he didn't do waiting but he went when I said go, which was early because I knew I couldn't put him back! He then struggled with the 12 weaves but got his entrance so I just did the last 3 jumps :)
Pairs
He was paired with Charlie, a BC that Jo runs, and he ended up doing the same thing as Jemma but luckily Charlie hadn't gone clear either!! I had to do wing wraps with him which were really nice (the training on fri paid off!)
Jumping
He knocked pole two but the rest of the round was really nice, apart from the 12 weaves again but I carried on anyway and he finished the course REALLY nicely!!
Agility
From what I can remember (for some reason this course is very hazy!!) he missed the aframe and so I put him back and then on the dog walk a bike decided to go up the side of the ring which he saw so he stopped just above the bottom, when I then tried to encourage him down he lay down but eventually we got there :) He also didn't manage the weaves
Golden Valley - Sunday
Jemma
Agility
I can't really remember this course, I think she knocked a pole early on as I vaguely remember working the contacts, she got her weaves too, first time so we just powered it over the last 3 jumps so she knocked one but I jsut wanted to reward her for doing the weaves :)
Jumping - Combined
Yay, a clear round for the jembe, she even managed a 45degree angle weave entrance and 8 weaves with just a steady command :D and she finished 5th, with a time of 21.764, 1.594 seconds slower than the winner, not bad for jumping for jem :)
Jumping - Graded
Yet another course that she did REALLY nicely but didn't manage the 12 weaves that were the second obstacle!!
Elliot
Agility
He had AMAZING contacts in this course (there was no seesaw) and he properly stopped and just stood there until I said go, it was great!!! He then managed 8 weaves first time with me just calling him back from them and sending him again (ie without actually sitting him) :D
Jumping - Combined
Yet again it was the weaves that caused us problems bless him, the rest was very nice though.
Jumping - Graded
Yup, you guessed it, the weaves caused us problems and he did knock a couple of poles.
So all in all, although we only came home with one rosette it wasn't all bad, and the thing that caused both dogs the most problems was those pesky weaves which is so frustrating as Jem can do them much better in training!!! Elliot on the other hand was let off his weave problems this weekend, especially as his contacts were MUCH better! Lets hope one day Jem manages to sort out those weaves!!!
At training on Friday they both did a lot better than on tuesday, jem did some really lovely contacts and weaves, as did ellliot, he managed 12 weaves again and 6 with entrances :) We started teaching Ellito wing wraps and Jem an out command too and I was really pleased with both of them by the end of the lesson :)
Golden Valley - Saturday
Jemma
Agility
Very nice a-frame, I ran away from the dog walk and so she stopped just above the contact and just looked at me so I had to go back towards her to get her to go to the bottom!! She did a very nice see saw though :) I then let her down because I umm and ahhed about whether to say weave or steady and consequently said nothing and she she missed the entrance, foolish mummy!!
Pairs
She was paired with Jo's spaniel Fluke who did a very nice clear round, but then jem decided she wanted to do the medium jump straight on after the tunnel and not come right to me to do the larg jumps, the rest was really nice although she did knock one pole but I think this was beacuse I was being lazy with my handling!!
Jumping
This was a really beautiful round (despite us turning up just as they were about to close the class) however the weaves were set at a 45degree angle and I went to straighten her up but over did it and so pushed her wide :(
Agility
I can't really remember this course, but I have a feeling she knocked a pole and then didn't do the weaves!
Elliot
Agility
He ran under the first jump and so I took him back and started again, he then ran off the aframe because there was a tunnel after it but I put him back and he waited nicely, the judge was then very kind and said I could continue but could not put him back on any more contacts, thankfully his dog walk was amazing, he stopped and properly waited, despite there being a tunnel after it (albeit one he wasn't supposed to do) and his seesaw was good too, he didn't do waiting but he went when I said go, which was early because I knew I couldn't put him back! He then struggled with the 12 weaves but got his entrance so I just did the last 3 jumps :)
Pairs
He was paired with Charlie, a BC that Jo runs, and he ended up doing the same thing as Jemma but luckily Charlie hadn't gone clear either!! I had to do wing wraps with him which were really nice (the training on fri paid off!)
Jumping
He knocked pole two but the rest of the round was really nice, apart from the 12 weaves again but I carried on anyway and he finished the course REALLY nicely!!
Agility
From what I can remember (for some reason this course is very hazy!!) he missed the aframe and so I put him back and then on the dog walk a bike decided to go up the side of the ring which he saw so he stopped just above the bottom, when I then tried to encourage him down he lay down but eventually we got there :) He also didn't manage the weaves
Golden Valley - Sunday
Jemma
Agility
I can't really remember this course, I think she knocked a pole early on as I vaguely remember working the contacts, she got her weaves too, first time so we just powered it over the last 3 jumps so she knocked one but I jsut wanted to reward her for doing the weaves :)
Jumping - Combined
Yay, a clear round for the jembe, she even managed a 45degree angle weave entrance and 8 weaves with just a steady command :D and she finished 5th, with a time of 21.764, 1.594 seconds slower than the winner, not bad for jumping for jem :)
Jumping - Graded
Yet another course that she did REALLY nicely but didn't manage the 12 weaves that were the second obstacle!!
Elliot
Agility
He had AMAZING contacts in this course (there was no seesaw) and he properly stopped and just stood there until I said go, it was great!!! He then managed 8 weaves first time with me just calling him back from them and sending him again (ie without actually sitting him) :D
Jumping - Combined
Yet again it was the weaves that caused us problems bless him, the rest was very nice though.
Jumping - Graded
Yup, you guessed it, the weaves caused us problems and he did knock a couple of poles.
So all in all, although we only came home with one rosette it wasn't all bad, and the thing that caused both dogs the most problems was those pesky weaves which is so frustrating as Jem can do them much better in training!!! Elliot on the other hand was let off his weave problems this weekend, especially as his contacts were MUCH better! Lets hope one day Jem manages to sort out those weaves!!!
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Agility on Phenobarb
Jemma
She was a good girl today although her dog walks have slowed up a little, shall have to sort that out, although we never have that problem in competition!! Weaves were good when I managed to get myself in the right place for her coming out the tunnel!She didnt knock many poles today and she was doing some pretty nice turns although she seems to be getting her lefts and rights mixed up so need to remind her of them again!! All in all a good lesson from her with help from Gail :)
Elliot
Sadly he had to go on phenobarbitone yesterday for his fits as they had got to be every month :( He was fine in general but he really struggled with the weaves to start with this lesson, he kept missing the entrance when we were just doing them by themselves. He was determined that he needed to go in the second gap but we worked on it and after a few goes he got his weaves back :) we worked on six with a jump and then two jumps before and he managed them really nicely with only one mistake when I was in the wrong place! His jumping was really nice, but he really does land long, I think we need to work on his tighter turns and wing wraps as he went was doing back jumping again! His contacts were OK but not great, he kept stopping with his feet just on the end of the dog walk/see saw and not on the ground and he went off the bottom a couple of times before I said, more work needed again :) All in all a good lesson with him too, thanks Gail :D
She was a good girl today although her dog walks have slowed up a little, shall have to sort that out, although we never have that problem in competition!! Weaves were good when I managed to get myself in the right place for her coming out the tunnel!She didnt knock many poles today and she was doing some pretty nice turns although she seems to be getting her lefts and rights mixed up so need to remind her of them again!! All in all a good lesson from her with help from Gail :)
Elliot
Sadly he had to go on phenobarbitone yesterday for his fits as they had got to be every month :( He was fine in general but he really struggled with the weaves to start with this lesson, he kept missing the entrance when we were just doing them by themselves. He was determined that he needed to go in the second gap but we worked on it and after a few goes he got his weaves back :) we worked on six with a jump and then two jumps before and he managed them really nicely with only one mistake when I was in the wrong place! His jumping was really nice, but he really does land long, I think we need to work on his tighter turns and wing wraps as he went was doing back jumping again! His contacts were OK but not great, he kept stopping with his feet just on the end of the dog walk/see saw and not on the ground and he went off the bottom a couple of times before I said, more work needed again :) All in all a good lesson with him too, thanks Gail :D
Sunday, 13 June 2010
Thames Day 2 - not so good
Hmm, the keeping the posts short thing didnt really work, sorry about that!!
Jemma
Graded 1-2 Agility
Doh - mummy set her up a long way back and so she knocked the first pole :( She then didn't weave first time and it took 4 attempts to get her too - she was after sniffing something on the ground!! I worked her contacts - she stopped just off the dog walk and then stretched her back feet back to get it right!!! Her a-frame was good but I think she went before I said go and he stopped just off the seesaw!! What a shambles!!
Combined 1-2 Jumping Part 1
Another beautiful round messed up by mummy - the cloth tunnel, second from the end wasn't straight to the last jump but I didn't realise this and so just said go and so she nearly ran past it so I paniced and then ended up sending her round and round instead of sticking my arm out or giving her a left command!! - lel got a video of this course so I can get annoyed at myselft when watching it - she was 2.355 seconds behind the winner though and finished 11th - I shall see how much better I could have done had I not been a numpty!! Lel said the person next to her when she was filming was commenting on how amazing her weaves were - two complements in one weekend, they must be improving!!
Combined 1-4 Jumping Part 2
Uft, silly mummy AGAIN!! I forgot to do my second front cross at the beginning and so had to cross behind and play catch up - however she did a really nice and long go on :) I then crossed behind her when she was in the weaves, which I decided when walking it was too risky and I would cross afterwards but I forgot this when running it and she came out of the weaves - not sure if this is why but I shall have a look if the two things coincide and if they do I shall be even more cross with myself - run the course how you walk it muppet!!!
Elliot
Graded 1-2 Agility
I was really twitchy about his waits and so I didn't push this one as far as I should have and so did crazy things at the bottom of the dog walk such as stopping when by the last tressle and so he ran off the bottom, I put him back just on the bottom and he still went a little early but he did wait a while, he then sadly couldn't get to grips with the 6 weaves and after 3 attempts I had to give up :( He then ran the seesaw again so I just calmly led him out the ring!!
Combined 1-2 Jumping Part 1
Another stupid mummy moment - he rocked pole number two and number 3 went splat but then I went completely the wrong way and tripped him up, anyway we made it back on course and did jump tunnel jump weave (with no pause because I thought we would try it after already messing up) and although he got his entrance he didn't get the second gap, I then went to take him back to just do the weaves again but he had other ideas and did jump tunnel jump weaves again but this time did all 6 weaves correct :D he then finished the course very nicely!! :)
Combined 1-4 Jumping Part 2
I pushed his lead out much more this time and he was fine, I also remembered my second front cross however he really struggled with the 12 weaves and so after three attempts I just took him by the collar and made him sit before the next jump, we then carried on and he finished very nicely, only knocking one pole because I was running really fast to give him a nice final blast!! :)
All in all a pretty good weekend, I just wish I had handled things a bit better today but hey ho we had a good day yesterday so we can't be greedy!!
Jemma
Graded 1-2 Agility
Doh - mummy set her up a long way back and so she knocked the first pole :( She then didn't weave first time and it took 4 attempts to get her too - she was after sniffing something on the ground!! I worked her contacts - she stopped just off the dog walk and then stretched her back feet back to get it right!!! Her a-frame was good but I think she went before I said go and he stopped just off the seesaw!! What a shambles!!
Combined 1-2 Jumping Part 1
Another beautiful round messed up by mummy - the cloth tunnel, second from the end wasn't straight to the last jump but I didn't realise this and so just said go and so she nearly ran past it so I paniced and then ended up sending her round and round instead of sticking my arm out or giving her a left command!! - lel got a video of this course so I can get annoyed at myselft when watching it - she was 2.355 seconds behind the winner though and finished 11th - I shall see how much better I could have done had I not been a numpty!! Lel said the person next to her when she was filming was commenting on how amazing her weaves were - two complements in one weekend, they must be improving!!
Combined 1-4 Jumping Part 2
Uft, silly mummy AGAIN!! I forgot to do my second front cross at the beginning and so had to cross behind and play catch up - however she did a really nice and long go on :) I then crossed behind her when she was in the weaves, which I decided when walking it was too risky and I would cross afterwards but I forgot this when running it and she came out of the weaves - not sure if this is why but I shall have a look if the two things coincide and if they do I shall be even more cross with myself - run the course how you walk it muppet!!!
Elliot
Graded 1-2 Agility
I was really twitchy about his waits and so I didn't push this one as far as I should have and so did crazy things at the bottom of the dog walk such as stopping when by the last tressle and so he ran off the bottom, I put him back just on the bottom and he still went a little early but he did wait a while, he then sadly couldn't get to grips with the 6 weaves and after 3 attempts I had to give up :( He then ran the seesaw again so I just calmly led him out the ring!!
Combined 1-2 Jumping Part 1
Another stupid mummy moment - he rocked pole number two and number 3 went splat but then I went completely the wrong way and tripped him up, anyway we made it back on course and did jump tunnel jump weave (with no pause because I thought we would try it after already messing up) and although he got his entrance he didn't get the second gap, I then went to take him back to just do the weaves again but he had other ideas and did jump tunnel jump weaves again but this time did all 6 weaves correct :D he then finished the course very nicely!! :)
Combined 1-4 Jumping Part 2
I pushed his lead out much more this time and he was fine, I also remembered my second front cross however he really struggled with the 12 weaves and so after three attempts I just took him by the collar and made him sit before the next jump, we then carried on and he finished very nicely, only knocking one pole because I was running really fast to give him a nice final blast!! :)
All in all a pretty good weekend, I just wish I had handled things a bit better today but hey ho we had a good day yesterday so we can't be greedy!!
Thames Day 1 - Seconditis strikes again :(
To try and stop my posts from being tooooooo long I have split the two days into two posts :) There will be some videos posted once I get them from lel but I shall just do rambling for now - and proabably some more when I post the vids as my memory is a little hazy right now, especially for the runs on sat :)
Jemma
After deciding to go on points I felt a lot more relaxed running her and she felt much more like she does in training which was good :D
Omnipro Combined 1-2 Agility Part 2
I was generally pleased with this run although I felt her contacts could have been faster, especially the seesaw, however, bless her she finished second yet again, although this is the first combined class it has happened in!! She seems to be getting closer and closer each time though, the winners time was 25.018 and jem's time was 25.471, so only 0.453 seconds in it this time!!! Thank god for being able to go up on points is all I will say!!
Graded 1-2 Jumping
She knocked pole number 3, the one before the long jump, not sure why, think it may have been because I was conscious of the long jump and put an extra spurt of speed on?!?! but anyway the rest of the course was AMAZING, she even did TWELVE weaves first time (she did also knock the last pole but this was because I got excited about the weaves too early!!) but the best bit to top this round off was the judge commenting on her "amazing weaves" as I left the ring - Jem ?!?! amazing weaves?!?!? well, what a complement, it shows all this hard work is paying off :)
Graded 1-2 Agility
This was another lovely round for jem but she had to come of the seesaw and do a jump at 180 degrees to it so I was really conscious of her knocking this pole so planned on sending her wide, however because of this she did a proper little detour off to the back jumps and so finished 4th with a time of 26.945, 2.06 seconds behind the winner, damn the little detour!!
3 out of 3 weaves done first time today - :D The difference in me was that I just told her "steady" in a firm voice and gave her no weave command?!?! maybe this is the new trick, who knows?!?
Elliot
Omnipro Combined 1-2 Agility Part 2
The first contact in this course was a seesaw and he ran off it so I put him back over the whole thing and he did it much better :) however the judge then asked us to leave the ring so we didnt get to practise any other contacts, I didn't mind I would rather do this and put him back than let him carry on!
Graded 1-2 Jumping
He went really really well around this course until the corner before the weaves (3 from the end) when I dropped my arm so he went under a jump, he then noticed a bike and so didn't manage the weaves first time, he did them second time, did the next jump but then didn't go over the last one - I felt bad about this afterwards as I thought it was because he wanted to chase the bike (something he normally forgets about when doing agility) but it turned out it was because he needed the toilet because he had a poorly belly, sorry mr e :(
Graded 1-2 Agility
This course had the seesaw first too which he ran off again but he did try to stop and so after a few seconds dithering I decided to carry on as I didn't want to have to leave the ring again without doing the other contacts, this then meant though that he had a pause before the next obstacles which just so happened to be jump weave so I didn't pause him and he went straight into the 6 weaves and did them right first time :) His a-frame was good and he waited nicely until I told him to go, he did then run off the dog walk but it was two from the end with a tunnel in front of it so I let him get away with it so he could have another clear round as a reward for doing such good weaves - bad mummy!! He ended up finishing 17th with a time of 31.292, not that I am that worried about his times at the moment, getting clears is something I didn't think would happen for a very long time and the fact that they are in agility classes is something I didn't think would happen for even longer!!!
Jemma
After deciding to go on points I felt a lot more relaxed running her and she felt much more like she does in training which was good :D
Omnipro Combined 1-2 Agility Part 2
I was generally pleased with this run although I felt her contacts could have been faster, especially the seesaw, however, bless her she finished second yet again, although this is the first combined class it has happened in!! She seems to be getting closer and closer each time though, the winners time was 25.018 and jem's time was 25.471, so only 0.453 seconds in it this time!!! Thank god for being able to go up on points is all I will say!!
Graded 1-2 Jumping
She knocked pole number 3, the one before the long jump, not sure why, think it may have been because I was conscious of the long jump and put an extra spurt of speed on?!?! but anyway the rest of the course was AMAZING, she even did TWELVE weaves first time (she did also knock the last pole but this was because I got excited about the weaves too early!!) but the best bit to top this round off was the judge commenting on her "amazing weaves" as I left the ring - Jem ?!?! amazing weaves?!?!? well, what a complement, it shows all this hard work is paying off :)
Graded 1-2 Agility
This was another lovely round for jem but she had to come of the seesaw and do a jump at 180 degrees to it so I was really conscious of her knocking this pole so planned on sending her wide, however because of this she did a proper little detour off to the back jumps and so finished 4th with a time of 26.945, 2.06 seconds behind the winner, damn the little detour!!
3 out of 3 weaves done first time today - :D The difference in me was that I just told her "steady" in a firm voice and gave her no weave command?!?! maybe this is the new trick, who knows?!?
Elliot
Omnipro Combined 1-2 Agility Part 2
The first contact in this course was a seesaw and he ran off it so I put him back over the whole thing and he did it much better :) however the judge then asked us to leave the ring so we didnt get to practise any other contacts, I didn't mind I would rather do this and put him back than let him carry on!
Graded 1-2 Jumping
He went really really well around this course until the corner before the weaves (3 from the end) when I dropped my arm so he went under a jump, he then noticed a bike and so didn't manage the weaves first time, he did them second time, did the next jump but then didn't go over the last one - I felt bad about this afterwards as I thought it was because he wanted to chase the bike (something he normally forgets about when doing agility) but it turned out it was because he needed the toilet because he had a poorly belly, sorry mr e :(
Graded 1-2 Agility
This course had the seesaw first too which he ran off again but he did try to stop and so after a few seconds dithering I decided to carry on as I didn't want to have to leave the ring again without doing the other contacts, this then meant though that he had a pause before the next obstacles which just so happened to be jump weave so I didn't pause him and he went straight into the 6 weaves and did them right first time :) His a-frame was good and he waited nicely until I told him to go, he did then run off the dog walk but it was two from the end with a tunnel in front of it so I let him get away with it so he could have another clear round as a reward for doing such good weaves - bad mummy!! He ended up finishing 17th with a time of 31.292, not that I am that worried about his times at the moment, getting clears is something I didn't think would happen for a very long time and the fact that they are in agility classes is something I didn't think would happen for even longer!!!
Friday, 11 June 2010
Good training session today :)
Jemma
Wow, she had amazing contacts today, they were all really fast and she was just slamming the brakes on at the end, it was amazing to watch and to run, i loved it :) Her weaves were a little wobbly today but better than they have been recently so that was good too :) Her jumping was good too, apart from at the end when she was tired and when I left her in a long lead out with it starting jump, tunnel (I was past the long straight tunnel) when she kept knocking the first pole - as soon as we changed it to a wooden one she didn't knock it at all, just made a real effort not to knock it!! All in all I was really chuffed with her today and just hope she runs the same this weekend :)
Elliot
We did quite a lot of weave work with him today - he was doing two jumps then straight into six and then on to two jumps :) the first two jumps were also at an angle at one point and I would say we had a 90% success rate :) we then moved on to doing tweleve, on their own to start and then with a jump before and I would say we had an 80% success rate on these but that was mainly because the tunnel was after them so he kept trying to go to that too early, it was good to see though that they don't need much more proofing with such a high success rate in the circumstances. We then worked on his contacts and I worked on proofing these too by running full pelt with him and past the end and he stopped at the bottom EVERY time (despite nearly falling off the down plank of the dog walk first time bless him)!!!!! So again, a good session with him too, fingers crossed with some weaves early in the courses this weekend!!
Wow, she had amazing contacts today, they were all really fast and she was just slamming the brakes on at the end, it was amazing to watch and to run, i loved it :) Her weaves were a little wobbly today but better than they have been recently so that was good too :) Her jumping was good too, apart from at the end when she was tired and when I left her in a long lead out with it starting jump, tunnel (I was past the long straight tunnel) when she kept knocking the first pole - as soon as we changed it to a wooden one she didn't knock it at all, just made a real effort not to knock it!! All in all I was really chuffed with her today and just hope she runs the same this weekend :)
Elliot
We did quite a lot of weave work with him today - he was doing two jumps then straight into six and then on to two jumps :) the first two jumps were also at an angle at one point and I would say we had a 90% success rate :) we then moved on to doing tweleve, on their own to start and then with a jump before and I would say we had an 80% success rate on these but that was mainly because the tunnel was after them so he kept trying to go to that too early, it was good to see though that they don't need much more proofing with such a high success rate in the circumstances. We then worked on his contacts and I worked on proofing these too by running full pelt with him and past the end and he stopped at the bottom EVERY time (despite nearly falling off the down plank of the dog walk first time bless him)!!!!! So again, a good session with him too, fingers crossed with some weaves early in the courses this weekend!!
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Demo
The A-sit blog (link on the right) now has the video from our demo on. The demo went really well despite there being some treats dropped by the weaves :P
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Exams are done so back to agility training :D
Jemma
She was good today, we worked on her contacts and she was doing them all really nicely and really fast once we had sweeties out so, hopefully she will keep this up at the weekend :) She was also just working really nicely in general and really following my body movements :) Her weaves were really good too, she only got them wrong twice I think all session, even with doing tunnel weave and some long run ups to them :) After the tunnel she was doing the weaves the fastest I have ever seen her do them, it was very nice to watch and made me a very happy mummy :)
Elliot
It was really nice today, at the end Gail got to see him run and I think all four of us in the field (me, lel, Gail and Tasha) were proud to watch him :) His weaves were really good - he is really thinking about what he is doig now, he is a little cautious because he is worried about getting it wrong but for now that is good as it is meaning he is getting them right :) He was even doing tunnel weave without stopping in between and after a few goes was getting it right very consistently :) His contacts were also good, he only ran off the first seesaw which was because i commanded him late, oops!! Towards the end of the lesson he kept wondering off the end of the aframe sniffing stuff but I think this was because it was very muggy and he was tired!! He is creeping down the contacts because he knows he has to be careful and stop but for now that is so much better than him jumping off from a quarter of the way down and me having no control - our job for the winter will be to speed these up :) His jumping is also get much better. So again, all in all a good lesson for him :)
We are doing a demo at uni tomorrow for a puppy reunion they have which should be fun :)
She was good today, we worked on her contacts and she was doing them all really nicely and really fast once we had sweeties out so, hopefully she will keep this up at the weekend :) She was also just working really nicely in general and really following my body movements :) Her weaves were really good too, she only got them wrong twice I think all session, even with doing tunnel weave and some long run ups to them :) After the tunnel she was doing the weaves the fastest I have ever seen her do them, it was very nice to watch and made me a very happy mummy :)
Elliot
It was really nice today, at the end Gail got to see him run and I think all four of us in the field (me, lel, Gail and Tasha) were proud to watch him :) His weaves were really good - he is really thinking about what he is doig now, he is a little cautious because he is worried about getting it wrong but for now that is good as it is meaning he is getting them right :) He was even doing tunnel weave without stopping in between and after a few goes was getting it right very consistently :) His contacts were also good, he only ran off the first seesaw which was because i commanded him late, oops!! Towards the end of the lesson he kept wondering off the end of the aframe sniffing stuff but I think this was because it was very muggy and he was tired!! He is creeping down the contacts because he knows he has to be careful and stop but for now that is so much better than him jumping off from a quarter of the way down and me having no control - our job for the winter will be to speed these up :) His jumping is also get much better. So again, all in all a good lesson for him :)
We are doing a demo at uni tomorrow for a puppy reunion they have which should be fun :)
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Mad Mutts - Hearing Dogs
Jem was a bit naughty to start with today, she was really eyeballing the other lane but she didn't run across thanks to lots of shouting from me - apologises to anyone on the line whilst we were racing!! The morning started eventfully with me falling flat on my arse in the warm up and then later in the morning elliot somehow managed to run smack into Lisa and she did a spectacular flip over the top of him - luckily both were OK, Lisa was just a bit winded and Elliot bless him was really confused and thought he had be grabed to do a re-run so went up the lane after jamie, got very confused as to why he didn't have a ball when he got back to the box, but he came back down the lane again without it!! Jem was much better in the afternoon and was running up and back nicely without looking at the other lane :) We gave her some warm ups in the red lane but didn't brave racing her in it - not sure when we will do this, hopefully one day but it is hard to know when as we don't want to subject the other team to her interfering if she does decide to be naughty, but equally we wont know unless we try - unfortunately today both times we were in the red lane the other team werent warming up and this meant she didnt have the other dogs to look at anyway!! Elliots boxes were a bit rubbish to start, but got better after Nat did some turns with him and apparently for some unknown reason they are even better when I run him :) I was much better on my starts and changeovers today as well and jem even did a rerun without eating jamie on his way out, and to top the day we won all our races and finished first :) All in all a great day, and hopefully one of many more for us and flyball :)
Thursday, 3 June 2010
SWAT Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3SsORx68d8
Here is the video of our Agility run, my face cracks me up every time!!
No training this week as I have exams!!
Here is the video of our Agility run, my face cracks me up every time!!
No training this week as I have exams!!
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