Jemma:
Well we had the team course from crufts set up for us and it went erm well ok i guess!! We had a bit of trouble with the weaves first time but in my favour I did apparently walk/run the course I right - there is a first time for everything!! :P I was pleased with her speed though - she seemed to be really powering forward :) Lesley did take a video of our last run of the course which I have posted below, there was just one pole down because I moved slightly too early, however on watching it back I think she could have done with tightening up after jump two and I needed to watch her after jump three as she looks at the jump rather than the see - saw to start with.
Elliot:
Well, yet again we spent most of the lesson doing weaves, and consequently we spent at least the first 15mins of the lesson tearing our hair out as he would get it once and then despite us changing nothing he would then get it wrong like 10 times. After much watching and contemplating we then decided that he thought it was coming out between the last two poles was the important thing and so he went to just running down all the poles and through the last two. Anyway out break through was that when doing it right we said very quietly as he was doing it "good boy" and this seemed to be the encouragment he needed - it needed to be said quietly and calmy otherwise he picked up speed and lost concentration but once we started this he only got it wrong about three times so it really seemed to help his understanding of what it was he was getting rewarded for! Fingers crossed we are getting there!!!
Friday, 19 March 2010
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Just Elliot this week!!!
Jemma has been signed off work for at least a week and on metacam for at least four days as she has done something to her back leg again!! We are not sure exactly what as she doesn't really give much indication of what hurts, all we know is that she cannot extend her back right leg at all!! :(
This meant it was just Elliot that went to agility this week. His jumping was really nice, we had some trouble with him going under a jump on a tight corner, so I just had to alter my handling to push him out just a tiny bit so he could see the jump earlier. Hmm, we then spent most of the rest of the lesson doing weaves!! Well, he did 8 weaves twice beautifully, nice and fast with a nice movement, however that was it, he then couldn't do it again!!! We dropped it to five, still couldn't do it, after probably at least 20 times we took it down to three and then he finally did these on the third attempt so we left it at that!!! We ran out of time to try our contacts!!
I have since done one session at home with Elliot on the weaves (for the first time since before Christmas which proabably explains why he is struggling!!) - I just had four and was determined to get them right 5times in a row (optimistic I know!). After it not going too well to start with I decided to change tactics and use fish treats instead of a toy and to have my friend rewarding him instead of me, because after studying him carefully I decided he was watchin me for his toy being thrown and trying to run to go get it instead of thinking about what he is doing! As soon as I changed to fish he did the five right in a row straight off!! think this will be the way forward!!!
This meant it was just Elliot that went to agility this week. His jumping was really nice, we had some trouble with him going under a jump on a tight corner, so I just had to alter my handling to push him out just a tiny bit so he could see the jump earlier. Hmm, we then spent most of the rest of the lesson doing weaves!! Well, he did 8 weaves twice beautifully, nice and fast with a nice movement, however that was it, he then couldn't do it again!!! We dropped it to five, still couldn't do it, after probably at least 20 times we took it down to three and then he finally did these on the third attempt so we left it at that!!! We ran out of time to try our contacts!!
I have since done one session at home with Elliot on the weaves (for the first time since before Christmas which proabably explains why he is struggling!!) - I just had four and was determined to get them right 5times in a row (optimistic I know!). After it not going too well to start with I decided to change tactics and use fish treats instead of a toy and to have my friend rewarding him instead of me, because after studying him carefully I decided he was watchin me for his toy being thrown and trying to run to go get it instead of thinking about what he is doing! As soon as I changed to fish he did the five right in a row straight off!! think this will be the way forward!!!
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Flyball
Elliot
He took the place of Smartie in the Rockets as she was lame and he isn't going to be there at easter which is when the teams first competition is. Well, what can I say, it was like he was born to do flyball. He had no issues with change overs at all and had beautiful box turns, so much better than the last time he did full runs (at the competition in october!!). Nat has a video of all the turns of his team - i shall post a link when it is online, i can't wait to watch it again!!
Jemma
Well, bless her she had the right hand lane to herself. It was netted for her too. The first full run she did she decided to run round the netting at the box end across to the other lane, Nat just happened to be standing between the two lanes at this time and grabbed her, well, this gave her the shock of her life, especially as nat then picked her up!!! Nat then put her back in front of the box and didn't let her go until she was looking at the box and not me (she is a wimp and wanted to get back to her mummy cuz she had been shouted at by Nat!!), anyway she then did a lovely box turn and came back to me. After that she didn't go out of the lane and although she spent her whole way up looking at the other lane she did actually notice the box before she ran into it and actually did her usually lovely box turn :) I got Nick to record her time for me because I have never really been able to get a time for her doing it properly as she normally prats around a bit - he got her at 4.9/5.0 which i was a bit disappointed with but then have to remember she still wasn't concentrating fully, and as Nat reminded me I was letting her go from less than 10ft from the start gate so this would make her time slower, also it was her last two runs that we recorded and so she was a bit tired!! We shall see what she gets next week - we are going to try
and get single times for them all so will be good to compare her and elliot!!
Here is a link to the vid of Elliots box turn, he is number 3 :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlsGnYo2ap4
He took the place of Smartie in the Rockets as she was lame and he isn't going to be there at easter which is when the teams first competition is. Well, what can I say, it was like he was born to do flyball. He had no issues with change overs at all and had beautiful box turns, so much better than the last time he did full runs (at the competition in october!!). Nat has a video of all the turns of his team - i shall post a link when it is online, i can't wait to watch it again!!
Jemma
Well, bless her she had the right hand lane to herself. It was netted for her too. The first full run she did she decided to run round the netting at the box end across to the other lane, Nat just happened to be standing between the two lanes at this time and grabbed her, well, this gave her the shock of her life, especially as nat then picked her up!!! Nat then put her back in front of the box and didn't let her go until she was looking at the box and not me (she is a wimp and wanted to get back to her mummy cuz she had been shouted at by Nat!!), anyway she then did a lovely box turn and came back to me. After that she didn't go out of the lane and although she spent her whole way up looking at the other lane she did actually notice the box before she ran into it and actually did her usually lovely box turn :) I got Nick to record her time for me because I have never really been able to get a time for her doing it properly as she normally prats around a bit - he got her at 4.9/5.0 which i was a bit disappointed with but then have to remember she still wasn't concentrating fully, and as Nat reminded me I was letting her go from less than 10ft from the start gate so this would make her time slower, also it was her last two runs that we recorded and so she was a bit tired!! We shall see what she gets next week - we are going to try
and get single times for them all so will be good to compare her and elliot!!
Here is a link to the vid of Elliots box turn, he is number 3 :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlsGnYo2ap4
Friday, 5 March 2010
Just Jemma!
Elliot had another fit this morning so missed out on his agility training and I left him at home with my flatmate to sleep.
Today Lesley set out a nice "easy" grade 1-2 course for us to work on. Well needless to say it didn't go quite to plan!! Although Lesley has now pointed out something else I do wrong - I forget that Jem only just measures into large and therefore that she needs more help doing the corners so that I let her go a little bit wider than I would perhaps like but this means she keeps the pole up because it gives her the room she needs to get over it! She also did some lovely weave entrances - we need to work on her looking for them when I say weave rather than looking at me and forgetting where she is going - just had a thought, maybe next time I will try not saying anything at all, although then I need to be careful, because when it is a short stride from the jump before - hmm, I am sure Lesley will sort me out lol!! Her contacts were OK, oddly they are much better and faster when I run the course as if I was in a competition, so running properly rather than just dawdling!! All in all was quite pleased with her and felt I had improved by the end of the lesson too!!!
Today Lesley set out a nice "easy" grade 1-2 course for us to work on. Well needless to say it didn't go quite to plan!! Although Lesley has now pointed out something else I do wrong - I forget that Jem only just measures into large and therefore that she needs more help doing the corners so that I let her go a little bit wider than I would perhaps like but this means she keeps the pole up because it gives her the room she needs to get over it! She also did some lovely weave entrances - we need to work on her looking for them when I say weave rather than looking at me and forgetting where she is going - just had a thought, maybe next time I will try not saying anything at all, although then I need to be careful, because when it is a short stride from the jump before - hmm, I am sure Lesley will sort me out lol!! Her contacts were OK, oddly they are much better and faster when I run the course as if I was in a competition, so running properly rather than just dawdling!! All in all was quite pleased with her and felt I had improved by the end of the lesson too!!!
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Blackdown 21-2-10 - oh dear!!!
There are videos for you to watch of our actual runs, so I shall just put my thoughts in writing!!
Jemma
Agility
Jemma
Agility
Well, i feel very guilty about this round!! At the end of the dog walk I thought she just slipped off a little bit and so carried on, I didn't understand why she didn't get the jump after it - if you watch the video you will see why she didnt, bless her!! I was then very confused why the judge said it was a shame when she recovered so well, and caught the contact on her way down when I was trying to finish the course!! Anyway, we ended up just bumbling our way out because by this point I had lost the plot - had I seen what Jem had done I would have put her back over the dog walk and left it at that!!
G1+2 Jumping
This was her weaves that let her down, I was annoyed at myself for sending her at the angle I did and not working it so she came back through the gap between the second and third jump rather than the third and the next jump - i was then anooyed with her at not doing them despite making her sit. It was then annoying she didn't go on to the second jump after the tunnel, probably my fault but I am not sure why!!
Helter Skelter
Well, this went wrong perhaps because I was a bit to far ahead of her when she was supposed to past the tunnel, but she was bad because she went in the tunnel despite it meaning that she went behind my back!! After that I think I propabaly pushed her round without meaning to, but she enjoyed taking her own line!!!
G1-3 Jumping
Something else for us to work on - go on after the tunnel, although I think this was my fault for not running because I was being lazy because I knew she was coming back my way, naughty mummy!! Why she then went the wrong way after the tunnel I am not sure, probably because I left her to her own devises and didnt call her, again, naughty mummy!!!
Jems video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSCLE95hBFo
So all in all not a great day but hey she had fun and her mummy learnt lots of things she needs to work on!!!
Elliot
Agility
We didn't do this course as there was no way I could miss the contacts out.
G1+2 Jumping
I was really bad and let him go even though he broke his wait - this meant he knocked the first pole and then we were all out of sink - I had planned the little bit at the end so that we avoided the weaves and I felt he did the flick flack nicely :)
Helter Skelter
Helter Skelter
Again I was bad and let him break his wait!! I then turned too early which is why he missed three, not sure why he went under a few but I was pleased that I managed to avoid the tunnel with him :)
G1-3 Jumping
Again, bad mummy - I can see a bad pattern emerging here, I need to be much stricter in competition - I guess I can work on this in the agility classes when he isn't going to run the rest of the course anyway!! He is so good in training!! I was shocked that he went under the second jump, this was what he used to do before a tunnel, I guess the excitment just got the better of him!! I also have looked at the videos again and I think I dropped my arms - bad mummy!! I then pushed him round jump 11 so that was my fault too!! I wasn't relaly happy with how I handled this course with either dog but I was very confused when walking it and ummed and ahhed a lot!! What i did, in regard with the tunnels worked, although it was slow!!
Elliots video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhpzwh3dP7k
G1-3 Jumping
Again, bad mummy - I can see a bad pattern emerging here, I need to be much stricter in competition - I guess I can work on this in the agility classes when he isn't going to run the rest of the course anyway!! He is so good in training!! I was shocked that he went under the second jump, this was what he used to do before a tunnel, I guess the excitment just got the better of him!! I also have looked at the videos again and I think I dropped my arms - bad mummy!! I then pushed him round jump 11 so that was my fault too!! I wasn't relaly happy with how I handled this course with either dog but I was very confused when walking it and ummed and ahhed a lot!! What i did, in regard with the tunnels worked, although it was slow!!
Elliots video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhpzwh3dP7k
At least there is plenty for us to work on after today :D And I did learn that with Elliot, when queuing, it is actually better for me to queue with him than to get somebody else to queue and me to wait outside. when waiting outside he does all his tugging and then sitting/lying down outside and then when it he is next we go in but this then breaks his concentration from me and we get the excitement back for going inside but I then have no time to distract/work with him!! - if you watch the video I have a (slightly!!) better wait at the start on the last run than on the other two!!
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