We had a great time at the show today. Ribbon worked really well, but no Q's. In the first trial we started with go-outs. She had never been in this ring before (at the match she was in the other ring). So I was curious to see how she would do. When I set her up for the first go out, she marked her location immediately. The judge was getting in position and was just telling me the order of the exercises and Ribbon took off to do her go out. I took that to be a good sign!! Her go outs were beautiful. She glanced away once she was in her sit, so I had to hesitate before giving her the signal for the bar jump. The second part of the exercise was really good. I must be standing with my weight forward because her fronts are further away than normal. Moving stand, articles and seek back all were quite nice. The further into the routine we got the more she focused on the job at hand. She seemed quite interested in the judge and all the stewards coming and going in the ring. The final exercise was signals, she heeled beautifully, dropped like a stone, sat up like a shot and then ... no response to the recall signal. I think in fairness to Ribbon, I did the signal too fast because she was looking right at me. Overall I was quite pleased.
When I came out of the ring I did another set of signals and rewarded her for doing the recall. I also did the same thing just before going into the ring for trial #2.
For the next trial (which was about 25 mins later) We had routine #5, which begins with the moving stand. Ribbon heeled great, but during the exam the judge was really leaning over her almost to the point of resting her chest on Ribbon's back, this was too much pressure for Ribbon, so she took one step to the side. I had the same issue with my fronts in this trial with her sitting too far away and slightly to my left. The rest of the exercises went really well. Directed Jumping was awesome, she looked so confident and just flew over the jumps. She did jump the jump on the seek back but made her way back on line to get her front. The last exercise was scent discrimination. The first article was at 12 o'clock. The judge was standing quite close to the pile and I think because of what happened on the moving stand, Ribbon didn't want to go close to her. Instead of starting to scent at 12 o'clock which is her standard pattern, she came in through the middle, searched and grabbed a metal article (it should have been wood) and brought it back to me. Game over. The last article she nailed with no problem at all.
So overall I am really, really pleased with our weekend. Our next set of trials are in the same building in a few weeks. Very fun for me to back in the utility ring. Can't wait to do it again.
Happy Training!
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Friday, May 23, 2014
Update on Jilly
Our new girl is fitting in nicely in our home. She gets along with everyone and is starting to settle into the routine. She spent the first few weeks tethered to me so that she didn't have any accidents in the house. But now she hangs around and is comfortable with waiting until the other dogs go out and when her walks are going to be. She has discovered the fun of a tennis ball and other toys, but the ball is her favourite. She is very sweet. I am really enjoying her.
Herding is going well. I still need to work on my whistles and Viki has given me some skills to work on to improve our driving skills.
We have entered our first trial. It will be in Indiana at the end of June. I am not expecting much but my goal is to build our teamwork and get some experience under our belt. She is very talented and incredibly willing. I am looking forward to a long career with this girl.
Herding is going well. I still need to work on my whistles and Viki has given me some skills to work on to improve our driving skills.
We have entered our first trial. It will be in Indiana at the end of June. I am not expecting much but my goal is to build our teamwork and get some experience under our belt. She is very talented and incredibly willing. I am looking forward to a long career with this girl.
Match at Swansea
Ribbon did a fantastic job tonight at the match. I had a plan in my head for each exercise and we managed to pull it all off. She was relaxed, interested and animated. ALL good things. I did use food and the first go out I used a target and did it half of the distance. Although from her reaction I don't really think she needed the help. Her signals were BEAUTIFUL!! It felt really good to heel with her around the ring. I think I did a nice job of handling her. I remembered to keep my knees together and stand up tall during all of the heeling. It felt smooth and Ribbon and I felt very much in sync.
I am so excited for Sunday. Swansea is one of my favourite trials of the year. The club works very hard to make the trial fun. They always have a good judging panel and the ring stewards are fantastic! They have lots of things like a spot prize. They use a card that you find on your kennel or your chair that says you have won a prize. When you go to the prize table they ask you to put the card on someone else's kennel. I usually try to pick someone in Novice A. They also have poop raffle and the "woulda, shoulda" award. If you NQ in a trial, you get a ticket and there is a draw from all the other people that have suffered the same fate. Takes some of the sting out of it!
Wish me luck
Happy Training
I am so excited for Sunday. Swansea is one of my favourite trials of the year. The club works very hard to make the trial fun. They always have a good judging panel and the ring stewards are fantastic! They have lots of things like a spot prize. They use a card that you find on your kennel or your chair that says you have won a prize. When you go to the prize table they ask you to put the card on someone else's kennel. I usually try to pick someone in Novice A. They also have poop raffle and the "woulda, shoulda" award. If you NQ in a trial, you get a ticket and there is a draw from all the other people that have suffered the same fate. Takes some of the sting out of it!
Wish me luck
Happy Training
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Jill the Sheepdog
We have a new addition to our house. Her name is Jill she is a 2 year old Border Collie. She came to live with us on April 23rd and she is fitting in really well. She has been very nicely trained and is clearly a very talented dog.
She has never lived in a house before and this is interesting and challenging at the same time. It is difficult to stay in house training mode, when visually you see an adult dog. She is currently laying at my feet with a leash and collar on, so that I don't let her slip out of my sight. It was quite funny to watch her navigate stairs and be fascinated with the t.v. She is getting along well with all the other dogs and much to Gali's delight, played with him this morning.
I have worked with her 6 or 7 times now and things are going along nicely. She is very biddable and doesn't take the stop command as a punishment. I had two days of lessons with Calvin Jones, he explained what to do with her for the next 3 or weeks, so that we can start to build a relationship without putting Jill in a situation she is not use to.
I have entered her in a trial in Indiana at the end of June, we also have a trial at Shepherd's Crook in July and a shedding clinic with Michael Gallagher. So we will be quite busy.
This should be fun learning experience.
I must go and practice my whistles!
She has never lived in a house before and this is interesting and challenging at the same time. It is difficult to stay in house training mode, when visually you see an adult dog. She is currently laying at my feet with a leash and collar on, so that I don't let her slip out of my sight. It was quite funny to watch her navigate stairs and be fascinated with the t.v. She is getting along well with all the other dogs and much to Gali's delight, played with him this morning.
I have worked with her 6 or 7 times now and things are going along nicely. She is very biddable and doesn't take the stop command as a punishment. I had two days of lessons with Calvin Jones, he explained what to do with her for the next 3 or weeks, so that we can start to build a relationship without putting Jill in a situation she is not use to.
I have entered her in a trial in Indiana at the end of June, we also have a trial at Shepherd's Crook in July and a shedding clinic with Michael Gallagher. So we will be quite busy.
This should be fun learning experience.
I must go and practice my whistles!
Counting Down
Ribbon and I are entered in Utility in a few weeks. The plan is to go to the match on Friday night and then do both trials on Sunday. This will be our second attempt. We were entered in the trial held at the training hall on April 15th, but we didn't have any Q's. She did some really nice things, heeled beautifully, worked her fronts and finished. She struggled with someone standing behind her for signals and anticipated one half of directed jumping. I have her in a class, hoping to work more around other distractions and have someone to place articles and call commands for me.
She worked well today, had some issues working on different go-out locations. She always wanted to return to the last place she had been rewarded. Which makes perfect sense, she just needs more experience. There is only one way to get it!!
She worked well today, had some issues working on different go-out locations. She always wanted to return to the last place she had been rewarded. Which makes perfect sense, she just needs more experience. There is only one way to get it!!
Saturday, December 7, 2013
First Utility match
I took Ribbon yesterday to her first utility match away from home. She had so much, I laughed almost the whole time! We are nowhere near ready to go, but all of the pieces are there. Her signals were great, quick and snappy- but I was only 10 feet away. She also crept forward a little bit on the drop (about 3 inches I would guess)
Thing to work on #1: continue to build distance on signals and drop in place.
Her articles were a little messy, and I had to help her find the article pile. She seems to think that "find it" means go and look around for something, instead of going to the obvious pile in the middle of the floor, she looks around at the walls to see if something is hidden there. I think that is just carry over from some of the games we play at the training hall and in the house. Also once I placed the first article on the chair then she wanted to go back to the chair to get the same article. Once in the pile she worked for different lengths of time to retrieve the correct article. She did pick up and put down the wrong article a couple of times, but she never left the pile with it. Once she had brought me the article I sometimes threw it for her to chase or I just played with her. Her attitude was fantastic! I may need to consider doing the turn and sit before sending to the pile
Thing to work on #2: More formal set up for articles with a chair and the jumps out.
Her moving stand was great, I just need to remember to keep my signal up really high, or she will read it as moving down (from rally). I have also gone back to my original command of "Wait". She is stopping really quickly and has no problem with the judges examining her. I loved how she pushed off from the standing position to do her recall.
Thing to work on #3: Keep her happy on this exercise, get other people to pet her, play games.
In the past Ribbon has hesitated after the heeling to get her glove. It is as though she isn't sure she can break eye contact. Yesterday that was much reduced and she flew out there grabbed her glove, shook it and cantered back to me. I was happy to see her start to put this exercise together. I have also been incorporating my cue word for the exercise when I ask her to nose bridge. For the seek back, when I set up for heeling portion I lower my two fingers for her to touch and I say, " Gonna get your glovie". I am hoping this will help her realize that this is heeling drill with a retrieve at the end. I have also been doing the same thing for signal, but as she is touching my fingers I say, "Gonna do your signals." My other thought is that I want to keep her heeling strong I don't want her first thought to be wrapped around the end of the heeling, but I don't want to cause her stress at the end of lovely heeling pattern because I leave her or ask her to retrieve. So far it seems to be working.
Thing to work on #4: Clean up pick up and carry of the glove
For directed jumping I put out her target, it was leaning against the white wall (the target is black). This is the first time Ribbon has done her go-outs away from home, so I wanted it to go well for her so I made the target obvious. She was fabulous!! She marked (looked out to the target) on command, the first time when Mary was giving the "judges spiel" she looked at Mary but then refocussed on her mark. When I sent her out she went without any hesitation, I ran out to feed her the first time and I think I also followed her so that I was only half the ring away when I gave the sit command. She sat in place looking like she had been doing this her whole life. The directed jumping was awesome, the jumps where further apart than she has seen in a while, but she had no problem. On the other go out, I stayed in place and sat her (beautiful turn and sit in place), praised her and then sent her to the other jump. I also did some other go outs with the target flat on the ground so that she couldn't see it. That didn't faze her a bit. All in all I am extremely pleased with how she is doing this exercise. Being in a new place didn't throw her at all. LOVE MY GIRLIE!!
Thing to work on #5: New places, longer distances on go outs, maintain all the pieces of the go out (marking, touch target, sit and sit touch target)
Other things to work on: fronts and finishes - ALWAYS! and keep up her heeling with games. I need to practice my handling so that I feel smooth.
Happy Training!
Thing to work on #1: continue to build distance on signals and drop in place.
Her articles were a little messy, and I had to help her find the article pile. She seems to think that "find it" means go and look around for something, instead of going to the obvious pile in the middle of the floor, she looks around at the walls to see if something is hidden there. I think that is just carry over from some of the games we play at the training hall and in the house. Also once I placed the first article on the chair then she wanted to go back to the chair to get the same article. Once in the pile she worked for different lengths of time to retrieve the correct article. She did pick up and put down the wrong article a couple of times, but she never left the pile with it. Once she had brought me the article I sometimes threw it for her to chase or I just played with her. Her attitude was fantastic! I may need to consider doing the turn and sit before sending to the pile
Thing to work on #2: More formal set up for articles with a chair and the jumps out.
Her moving stand was great, I just need to remember to keep my signal up really high, or she will read it as moving down (from rally). I have also gone back to my original command of "Wait". She is stopping really quickly and has no problem with the judges examining her. I loved how she pushed off from the standing position to do her recall.
Thing to work on #3: Keep her happy on this exercise, get other people to pet her, play games.
In the past Ribbon has hesitated after the heeling to get her glove. It is as though she isn't sure she can break eye contact. Yesterday that was much reduced and she flew out there grabbed her glove, shook it and cantered back to me. I was happy to see her start to put this exercise together. I have also been incorporating my cue word for the exercise when I ask her to nose bridge. For the seek back, when I set up for heeling portion I lower my two fingers for her to touch and I say, " Gonna get your glovie". I am hoping this will help her realize that this is heeling drill with a retrieve at the end. I have also been doing the same thing for signal, but as she is touching my fingers I say, "Gonna do your signals." My other thought is that I want to keep her heeling strong I don't want her first thought to be wrapped around the end of the heeling, but I don't want to cause her stress at the end of lovely heeling pattern because I leave her or ask her to retrieve. So far it seems to be working.
Thing to work on #4: Clean up pick up and carry of the glove
For directed jumping I put out her target, it was leaning against the white wall (the target is black). This is the first time Ribbon has done her go-outs away from home, so I wanted it to go well for her so I made the target obvious. She was fabulous!! She marked (looked out to the target) on command, the first time when Mary was giving the "judges spiel" she looked at Mary but then refocussed on her mark. When I sent her out she went without any hesitation, I ran out to feed her the first time and I think I also followed her so that I was only half the ring away when I gave the sit command. She sat in place looking like she had been doing this her whole life. The directed jumping was awesome, the jumps where further apart than she has seen in a while, but she had no problem. On the other go out, I stayed in place and sat her (beautiful turn and sit in place), praised her and then sent her to the other jump. I also did some other go outs with the target flat on the ground so that she couldn't see it. That didn't faze her a bit. All in all I am extremely pleased with how she is doing this exercise. Being in a new place didn't throw her at all. LOVE MY GIRLIE!!
Thing to work on #5: New places, longer distances on go outs, maintain all the pieces of the go out (marking, touch target, sit and sit touch target)
Other things to work on: fronts and finishes - ALWAYS! and keep up her heeling with games. I need to practice my handling so that I feel smooth.
Happy Training!
Friday, November 29, 2013
This year is almost over
I haven't been doing very well writing on this blog. There always seems to be something else that MUST be done and then the day is over. I know it is only November, well tomorrow will be December, so I guess I am not too much ahead of schedule saying that the year is almost over.
Ribbon and I had a lot of fun trialling in Open this year. I learned a lot about how to warm up at trials with her. She certainly is enjoying her time in the ring. The sit stay has plagued me a little bit. But to be perfectly honest I haven't had much time to work in a group of dogs or get to many different locations. We have been working on utility and having a blast!! We have done two matches and although Ribbon is not completely sure what she is being asked to do (as in the order), her little eyes light up and she runs out and does it. My plan is Utility trials in April. There is a club that is hosting a trial at the school, so it seems silly not to have her ready for that. I also have entered Gali in it. Closer to the trial I will work him and if I feel confident about his vision I will try for that last leg. If not I will pull before closing. Otherwise Gali is his normal happy bouncy self!
I got to do quite a bit of herding with Maddie, it was such a great learning experience. I am so lucky to have her. We haven't done anything in a couple of weeks and she is getting pretty bored. I have two lessons booked in December and maybe I can get out on my own over the Christmas holidays. Viki is currently looking for a nursery dog for me ( Nursery is a class for dogs under 36 months). It would be great to have him/her over the winter to build our teamwork (and learn to whistle) and then be ready for the trials in the spring. Maddie will be 11 in January and while she is very healthy, I am not comfortable asking her to do those big outruns, what if she steps in a hole and blows a cruicate? My gut is telling me to stop so I am going to. She can still do lessons and barn chores and maybe some setting out at trials, she doesn't care as long as she gets to work.
I finally finished all my criteria for obedience judging!!! It took almost 5 years!! I have done my first assignment and I think it went well. Once I was judging I felt confident. I was glad to have utility first, so that I could take my time and get my ring set up, measured and not feel rushed at all. The trial filled (in fact overfilled so Ted Leslie had to judge some dogs for me) so I didn't want to feel under the gun about going over the 7 hours of judging, which I didn't. A few days after the assignment was over I was feeling an adrenaline let down. After all the hype of getting ready to do my first assignment, now I have to wait for the next one in February. I guess it will get here soon enough. The final step is that I still need to judge 7 Novice dogs and then once I hear from the CKC that I have judged all the numbers (10 Novice, 8 Open and 7 Utility) then I can accept other assignments.
Happy Training!
Ribbon and I had a lot of fun trialling in Open this year. I learned a lot about how to warm up at trials with her. She certainly is enjoying her time in the ring. The sit stay has plagued me a little bit. But to be perfectly honest I haven't had much time to work in a group of dogs or get to many different locations. We have been working on utility and having a blast!! We have done two matches and although Ribbon is not completely sure what she is being asked to do (as in the order), her little eyes light up and she runs out and does it. My plan is Utility trials in April. There is a club that is hosting a trial at the school, so it seems silly not to have her ready for that. I also have entered Gali in it. Closer to the trial I will work him and if I feel confident about his vision I will try for that last leg. If not I will pull before closing. Otherwise Gali is his normal happy bouncy self!
I got to do quite a bit of herding with Maddie, it was such a great learning experience. I am so lucky to have her. We haven't done anything in a couple of weeks and she is getting pretty bored. I have two lessons booked in December and maybe I can get out on my own over the Christmas holidays. Viki is currently looking for a nursery dog for me ( Nursery is a class for dogs under 36 months). It would be great to have him/her over the winter to build our teamwork (and learn to whistle) and then be ready for the trials in the spring. Maddie will be 11 in January and while she is very healthy, I am not comfortable asking her to do those big outruns, what if she steps in a hole and blows a cruicate? My gut is telling me to stop so I am going to. She can still do lessons and barn chores and maybe some setting out at trials, she doesn't care as long as she gets to work.
I finally finished all my criteria for obedience judging!!! It took almost 5 years!! I have done my first assignment and I think it went well. Once I was judging I felt confident. I was glad to have utility first, so that I could take my time and get my ring set up, measured and not feel rushed at all. The trial filled (in fact overfilled so Ted Leslie had to judge some dogs for me) so I didn't want to feel under the gun about going over the 7 hours of judging, which I didn't. A few days after the assignment was over I was feeling an adrenaline let down. After all the hype of getting ready to do my first assignment, now I have to wait for the next one in February. I guess it will get here soon enough. The final step is that I still need to judge 7 Novice dogs and then once I hear from the CKC that I have judged all the numbers (10 Novice, 8 Open and 7 Utility) then I can accept other assignments.
Happy Training!
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Last day of vacation
It has been a long time since I have blogged, but here I am on the last day of my vacation. I have a bought of insomnia and I am in our trailer with Chad, Aydon and the six dogs - did I mention that it is 3:55 am, so it seems like a good time to write something down.
This year so far has been pretty great. I have done some obedience trialling with Ribbon in Open and she is doing amazing. I am working on her utility - which she is really enjoying and coming up in September we are entered in some more Open trials, plus the HIT of HITS, which is being held in Ancaster this year. Ribbon is competing in the Novice division, even though she qualified in Open as well. - More about that event later
I have been doing some herding with Maddie and we even have some placements from the Pro Novice class. Make no mistake here with our team I am not the Pro!! However we did have one run that everything went great and I felt like we were a team. We were sitting in first for a long time, but ended up in 5th out of 46 dogs, so not bad really! It felt good to see it all come together. The other runs had some great parts and not so great bits - if only I could remember the correct flank commands!! I am also on the quest to learn how to use my whistle. I have learn how to use it and also be able to produce the whistle commands that Maddie is already trained for. I didn't really think it would be so hard.
Maddie is really healthy, fit and so much fun to live with. She has been with us for over a year now and I can't imagine life without her. We have a few trials coming up in the first week of September and then we are going to try a AHBA trial, since there is one only 20 mins. from my house.
Gali is doing great, we haven't been showing very much, just lots of walks and demo time at the training hall. We hope to finish his RAE before the end of the year. I haven't been pushing too hard to finish it, since it gives him an opportunity to go to more dog shows and enjoy himself
We are in Kincardine, camping. We go home today and I am looking forward to my own bed, but it has been fun. The dogs have enjoyed walking on the trails and swimming in the lake. Ribbon has dumped all of her coat this week, but boy does she love to swim! Maddie even joined in on the swimming. She would rather stay on the shore or just in the shallows, but because of the sand bars she would come out further and then swim a little and return to the sand bar.
Lastly the new book is almost done. We have one more photo shoot and then all the laying out stuff can start. So with fingers crossed I hope it will be out by October. Officially it is called Rally On - Second Edition.
Happy Training!
This year so far has been pretty great. I have done some obedience trialling with Ribbon in Open and she is doing amazing. I am working on her utility - which she is really enjoying and coming up in September we are entered in some more Open trials, plus the HIT of HITS, which is being held in Ancaster this year. Ribbon is competing in the Novice division, even though she qualified in Open as well. - More about that event later
I have been doing some herding with Maddie and we even have some placements from the Pro Novice class. Make no mistake here with our team I am not the Pro!! However we did have one run that everything went great and I felt like we were a team. We were sitting in first for a long time, but ended up in 5th out of 46 dogs, so not bad really! It felt good to see it all come together. The other runs had some great parts and not so great bits - if only I could remember the correct flank commands!! I am also on the quest to learn how to use my whistle. I have learn how to use it and also be able to produce the whistle commands that Maddie is already trained for. I didn't really think it would be so hard.
Maddie is really healthy, fit and so much fun to live with. She has been with us for over a year now and I can't imagine life without her. We have a few trials coming up in the first week of September and then we are going to try a AHBA trial, since there is one only 20 mins. from my house.
Gali is doing great, we haven't been showing very much, just lots of walks and demo time at the training hall. We hope to finish his RAE before the end of the year. I haven't been pushing too hard to finish it, since it gives him an opportunity to go to more dog shows and enjoy himself
We are in Kincardine, camping. We go home today and I am looking forward to my own bed, but it has been fun. The dogs have enjoyed walking on the trails and swimming in the lake. Ribbon has dumped all of her coat this week, but boy does she love to swim! Maddie even joined in on the swimming. She would rather stay on the shore or just in the shallows, but because of the sand bars she would come out further and then swim a little and return to the sand bar.
Lastly the new book is almost done. We have one more photo shoot and then all the laying out stuff can start. So with fingers crossed I hope it will be out by October. Officially it is called Rally On - Second Edition.
Happy Training!
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Hamburg in a nutshell
I came home yesterday and taught all day today (which was really fun! Great group to work with). This is my first chance to think about how the last three days of Hamburg went.
One of the best things about Hamburg was that about 10 of us went. We had more laughs than I can count. During the dog show we were all very supportive of each other, making sure everyone got videotaped and shared in the treats that were plentiful! Each night we went out for dinner and laughed and laughed!
Day two for Ribbon was fantastic. She worked really great - ended up with 198 and tied for High in Trial. We lost the run off to a very experienced OTCH dog who worked great. But I was so proud of us. We worked really nicely as a team. Ribbon was upbeat and enjoyed her time in the ring. Obviously our stand got fixed!
Day three was under a new judge for Ribbon. It was James Ham who I have shown my dogs to for years. I knew he liked a happy dog and doesn't miss much. We had a couple of little mistakes, wide about turn and forge on the slow and the finish was slightly off. That left us with a 197.5 and another first place. That completed our title and I headed off to fill out the move up form for Open.
Day four was a great bonus. Ribbon and I moved up to Open B and got to play with the big boys. We got a routine which starts with drop on recall, then heeling, then retrieve over high jump, broad jump and then retrieve on flat is the last exercise. Everything was going great, minor things but we were having a great time. While moving to the retrieve on flat exercise I notice some guy carrying a really large camera. This guy decided to run down to the other end of the ring where Ribbon would pick up her dumbbell. I tried not to worry about it, Ribbon is not particularly bothered by things like that. She ran out great and picked up her dumbbell. As she turned around she noticed the cameraman and gave him a really wide berth ( I mean really wide!). She eventually made it to front. I took the dumbbell and when I asked her to finish she only moved a few inches, it was obvious that she was checking out what that guy was doing. I was very relieved when the judge said "Let's redo that exercise". I was happy because Ribbon got an extra retrieve and she would leave the ring with a better feeling. She nailed it!! Got a perfect score on that exercise. She ended up being 4th in the class and now has 1 CDX leg.
Very fun, can't wait to go back next year
One of the best things about Hamburg was that about 10 of us went. We had more laughs than I can count. During the dog show we were all very supportive of each other, making sure everyone got videotaped and shared in the treats that were plentiful! Each night we went out for dinner and laughed and laughed!
Day two for Ribbon was fantastic. She worked really great - ended up with 198 and tied for High in Trial. We lost the run off to a very experienced OTCH dog who worked great. But I was so proud of us. We worked really nicely as a team. Ribbon was upbeat and enjoyed her time in the ring. Obviously our stand got fixed!
Day three was under a new judge for Ribbon. It was James Ham who I have shown my dogs to for years. I knew he liked a happy dog and doesn't miss much. We had a couple of little mistakes, wide about turn and forge on the slow and the finish was slightly off. That left us with a 197.5 and another first place. That completed our title and I headed off to fill out the move up form for Open.
Day four was a great bonus. Ribbon and I moved up to Open B and got to play with the big boys. We got a routine which starts with drop on recall, then heeling, then retrieve over high jump, broad jump and then retrieve on flat is the last exercise. Everything was going great, minor things but we were having a great time. While moving to the retrieve on flat exercise I notice some guy carrying a really large camera. This guy decided to run down to the other end of the ring where Ribbon would pick up her dumbbell. I tried not to worry about it, Ribbon is not particularly bothered by things like that. She ran out great and picked up her dumbbell. As she turned around she noticed the cameraman and gave him a really wide berth ( I mean really wide!). She eventually made it to front. I took the dumbbell and when I asked her to finish she only moved a few inches, it was obvious that she was checking out what that guy was doing. I was very relieved when the judge said "Let's redo that exercise". I was happy because Ribbon got an extra retrieve and she would leave the ring with a better feeling. She nailed it!! Got a perfect score on that exercise. She ended up being 4th in the class and now has 1 CDX leg.
Very fun, can't wait to go back next year
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Hamburg - Day One
Well it wasn't the start I wanted but we got our first leg today in Novice B. Our score was a 191. We were third in the class. If am being perfectly honest I am a little bit disappointed. Just like any time that my dogs and I don't show to our potential. I haven't had a chance to see the video yet, but here is my take on it.
Heel on Lead, We entered the ring together and Ribbon set up great, did her nose touch to set her head in the correct position, first halt was great, on the left turn it felt as though she stopped (there was a large sun patch there and it was a little blinding) and then caught up. She was also a little wide. Everything else was fine
Figure Eight - was lovely - no complaints at all!
Stand for Exam - I warmed this up earlier in the day and she was great. She stood on her signal great, everything was fine with the exam and then on the return she started to turn with me, which she has done from time to time. We lost major points for that ! (3) This is was I am disappointed about!
Heel Free - I was working on keeping her up and making sure that I pushed through my left turn so that I didn't have the same error as on lead. However, I don't think I cued halt clearly enough, her response was slow and she ended up wrapping around me. On the left turn she hesitated again but in a very minor way and the rest was fine. We also had a little bit of bumping.
Recall - When I turned to face her, she was glancing around. This is very unusual for her. However her response was great when I called her name, she immediately looked at me and then came on her recall command. Front and Finish were both slightly off.
We are in the same ring tomorrow with the same judge. Trust me I will be working on my stand!
Now to watch the video.
Heel on Lead, We entered the ring together and Ribbon set up great, did her nose touch to set her head in the correct position, first halt was great, on the left turn it felt as though she stopped (there was a large sun patch there and it was a little blinding) and then caught up. She was also a little wide. Everything else was fine
Figure Eight - was lovely - no complaints at all!
Stand for Exam - I warmed this up earlier in the day and she was great. She stood on her signal great, everything was fine with the exam and then on the return she started to turn with me, which she has done from time to time. We lost major points for that ! (3) This is was I am disappointed about!
Heel Free - I was working on keeping her up and making sure that I pushed through my left turn so that I didn't have the same error as on lead. However, I don't think I cued halt clearly enough, her response was slow and she ended up wrapping around me. On the left turn she hesitated again but in a very minor way and the rest was fine. We also had a little bit of bumping.
Recall - When I turned to face her, she was glancing around. This is very unusual for her. However her response was great when I called her name, she immediately looked at me and then came on her recall command. Front and Finish were both slightly off.
We are in the same ring tomorrow with the same judge. Trust me I will be working on my stand!
Now to watch the video.
Friday, December 28, 2012
"Early" Morning Training
I say "early" because we got together at 10, which is the earliest I have been up and at em all Christmas season. Being dressed, fed and dogs walked done by 9:30 was an achievement all by itself. Chad and I stayed up late watching a movie on Net flicks so I REALLY didn't feel like getting up. Anyway Bonnie, Denise and I worked separately and then got together for a set of stays. Chad was in the hall doing some odd jobs that included being up on a ladder. In the middle of our down stay, we heard a big thump and turned around to find that the ladder had slipped off the agility table and fell onto two kennels (with Bonnie's dogs in them!). Chad was now hanging onto the ladder. We all ran over to stabilize the ladder and get Chad off of it. Chad was fine, Bonnie's dog's were fine and when we turned around our dogs were still doing a down stay!! Good dogs... That took care of the proofing and distractions element of the training session.
I did articles with Ribbon again and she was perfect. On one article she picked up a wrong article and carried with her while she continued to search and switched it when she found the correct article. Again today I did fronts and finishes, about turns and recalls. I also did some broad jumps and retrieves. All in all I am really thrilled with how she is working and getting more and more excited about our upcoming trials.
Once training was done Bonnie and I took our dogs on the trails at the back of our property. The dogs were tired, covered in snow and perfectly happy.
My plan for the rest of the day is to watch the junior game (taped - please don't tell me the result) and then I also have some taped tennis to watch. Good Day!
I did articles with Ribbon again and she was perfect. On one article she picked up a wrong article and carried with her while she continued to search and switched it when she found the correct article. Again today I did fronts and finishes, about turns and recalls. I also did some broad jumps and retrieves. All in all I am really thrilled with how she is working and getting more and more excited about our upcoming trials.
Once training was done Bonnie and I took our dogs on the trails at the back of our property. The dogs were tired, covered in snow and perfectly happy.
My plan for the rest of the day is to watch the junior game (taped - please don't tell me the result) and then I also have some taped tennis to watch. Good Day!
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Holiday training
Today was day one of four days in a row of training that I have planned. After Christmas and all the holiday eating and sitting around, it was hard to get going, but Ribbon was pretty keen so once we started it was really fun. We started with articles - which are completely loose!!! I always find that stage rewarding and exciting - she is a big girl now!! She made one mistake, but she did bring back the last number I had scented, so understandable that she would be interested in that. Other than than, she was terrific!! Growled and bombed back to me with her metal article - made me laugh out loud! We practiced heeling, fronts, finishes (which are coming along great, nice lift out of the front position and tonnes of attitude). I did some open stuff (retrieves and broad jump). For heeling games I have been teaching a weave walk, which I have never bothered to do before, but because Ribbon is little I thought I would try it. She seems to find it fun, but I need to speed it up so that I can keep walking while she does it. Currently I have to pause as she is doing it. I am also teaching her to drive upwards on her about turns. I was thinking about how I can improve this turn, as it starts to get a little loose from time to time. So I have decided to teach Ribbon that on her about turn head cue that she may be asked to jump up as she drives around me. It is going quite well.
My only problem is that my right knee is really bothering me and I am finding that my handling is suffering. I feel like I am drifting into my dog all the time. Tomorrow I am going to take Advil before training and see if that helps. I would also like to video tape tomorrow's training session.
My only problem is that my right knee is really bothering me and I am finding that my handling is suffering. I feel like I am drifting into my dog all the time. Tomorrow I am going to take Advil before training and see if that helps. I would also like to video tape tomorrow's training session.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
a done deal
Well, I finally wrote my obedience judge's test. I wrote it on Friday before Christmas. I was studying like crazy and was getting myself quite bent out of shape about how it would go and how I would feel if I failed any part of the test. The test is made up of 4 parts; General, novice, open and utility. I was most worried about the general section, which sounds silly but because I have not been a member of any clubs, I have never served as trial secretary and I don't pay much attention to what is on the cover of the premium list or what is inside it. I had spent a lot of time putting all the principle features and different level of deductions on a spreadsheet and found that to be really helpful. On my way to the test I was getting quite nervous then on the radio was a dedication to the children and adults that were killed the week previous in the school shooting. I was very moved by the dedication and it also made me put things in perspective. If I failed the test, I would just take it again. But I still had my husband and son to go home to that afternoon when some people didn't. I was being silly.
The test went rather well. I think I passed every section. You need to get 85% to pass. I don't think I got it perfect but I am feel pretty confident that I will be able to move onto the next stage, which is the oral test. My CKC Rep. thought that I would hear by the end of January. Fingers crossed. It was nice to have it done with. I got to read my novel and not feel guilty that I should be studying. I actually fell asleep in the bath reading the rulebook and it got all wet!!!
Now back to training my dogs. Ribbon is entered in a few weeks and both she and Gali are entered in Feb for more trials. If Gali passes both his trials in rally that will put him halfway to his RAE.
I have some plans to train tomorrow and then again on Friday, mixed in with taking down all the Christmas decorations in the training hall and getting ready for classes in the New Year.
Happy Training!
The test went rather well. I think I passed every section. You need to get 85% to pass. I don't think I got it perfect but I am feel pretty confident that I will be able to move onto the next stage, which is the oral test. My CKC Rep. thought that I would hear by the end of January. Fingers crossed. It was nice to have it done with. I got to read my novel and not feel guilty that I should be studying. I actually fell asleep in the bath reading the rulebook and it got all wet!!!
Now back to training my dogs. Ribbon is entered in a few weeks and both she and Gali are entered in Feb for more trials. If Gali passes both his trials in rally that will put him halfway to his RAE.
I have some plans to train tomorrow and then again on Friday, mixed in with taking down all the Christmas decorations in the training hall and getting ready for classes in the New Year.
Happy Training!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Getting ready for Hamburg and other things
It feels odd to be thinking about trialling again, but we are entered in Hamburg, NY for four days starting on Jan 09th. It feels weird to be thinking about showing on a WEDNESDAY... I wonder what the vibe will be like? Will it be quiet like we are all playing hooky and don't want to get caught or will it feel like a vacation day?
We had our Christmas party at the training hall on Saturday and it was really fun. Loved spending time with the people I have gotten to know over the years and only get to see for a hour or so each week. Now we are starting to decorate the house and get ready for Aydon's birthday party. At some point I should start Christmas shopping?!?! So in the middle of all of this I am organizing my training plan to get Ribbon ready for her American CD. We are entered four days in a row, so I am hoping that she can complete her Novice title and then I can move her up to Open for the last day. I know she will enjoy doing her open work and it will be a nice change from three days of novice. And why waste one trip in the ring to a forth novice leg when she could easily get her first Open leg?
My plan includes:
Spontaneous games while heeling to increase attitude and duration
Turn work with a few of my pylon drills. These also build teamwork
Games for finishes - this is one area that I would like to improve on with Ribbon, her finishes are adequate - she is brisk and accurate, but I want her be quick and accurate!
Recalls, I want to make sure she doesn't drop on her Novice recall. With the bigger ring size in AKC I can practice some really long recalls and have some fun with her.
Ribbon has decided to dump all of her coat, so she won't be very fluffy, but she will always but cute and fun to work with.
Other things that are going on include:
Day of Drills - I have organized three dates (two of which are already full) to concentrate on games along with proofing and distractions. I am tailor making the day's plan based on what people tell me they want to work on, so we should get a large variety of things to work on. One day in Novice and Open, the second day is Novice and Utility and the third day is going to cover all levels. This last date is in February and is the only one with space in it.
Belleville seminar - This is Feb 2/3. I think this is my forth year visiting this club and I am really looking forward to seeing everyone again. I believe we are doing run throughs the first day and I am going to critique handling and then build the content for Sunday based on Saturday. Should be A LOT of fun!
HDOC/LOC Trials - These will be Ribbon's first trials of the year at the Open level. Our plan is to trial one weekend every month, while we get ready to do utility, hopefully in the fall of 2013.
New edition of Rally On - I am almost done this version of my rally book. I am looking towards a March publishing deadline. This book will include CKC and AKC. This first edition was published before CKC rally even existed. Can't wait to see it in print - always exciting!
After that it will be spring and maybe I can get to some herding trials with Maddie!!
Happy Training!
We had our Christmas party at the training hall on Saturday and it was really fun. Loved spending time with the people I have gotten to know over the years and only get to see for a hour or so each week. Now we are starting to decorate the house and get ready for Aydon's birthday party. At some point I should start Christmas shopping?!?! So in the middle of all of this I am organizing my training plan to get Ribbon ready for her American CD. We are entered four days in a row, so I am hoping that she can complete her Novice title and then I can move her up to Open for the last day. I know she will enjoy doing her open work and it will be a nice change from three days of novice. And why waste one trip in the ring to a forth novice leg when she could easily get her first Open leg?
My plan includes:
Spontaneous games while heeling to increase attitude and duration
Turn work with a few of my pylon drills. These also build teamwork
Games for finishes - this is one area that I would like to improve on with Ribbon, her finishes are adequate - she is brisk and accurate, but I want her be quick and accurate!
Recalls, I want to make sure she doesn't drop on her Novice recall. With the bigger ring size in AKC I can practice some really long recalls and have some fun with her.
Ribbon has decided to dump all of her coat, so she won't be very fluffy, but she will always but cute and fun to work with.
Other things that are going on include:
Day of Drills - I have organized three dates (two of which are already full) to concentrate on games along with proofing and distractions. I am tailor making the day's plan based on what people tell me they want to work on, so we should get a large variety of things to work on. One day in Novice and Open, the second day is Novice and Utility and the third day is going to cover all levels. This last date is in February and is the only one with space in it.
Belleville seminar - This is Feb 2/3. I think this is my forth year visiting this club and I am really looking forward to seeing everyone again. I believe we are doing run throughs the first day and I am going to critique handling and then build the content for Sunday based on Saturday. Should be A LOT of fun!
HDOC/LOC Trials - These will be Ribbon's first trials of the year at the Open level. Our plan is to trial one weekend every month, while we get ready to do utility, hopefully in the fall of 2013.
New edition of Rally On - I am almost done this version of my rally book. I am looking towards a March publishing deadline. This book will include CKC and AKC. This first edition was published before CKC rally even existed. Can't wait to see it in print - always exciting!
After that it will be spring and maybe I can get to some herding trials with Maddie!!
Happy Training!
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Ribbon Rocks!!!
This weekend Ribbon made her Open debut. Obviously based on the title of this post she did quite well for herself. I am so proud of her I can't even express it. Here is the rundown of the events of the weekend.
Saturday - Trial One
Ribbon warmed up very nicely. We were starting with routine number 3, it begins with retrieve on the flat, followed by drop on recall. I knew things were going to go well as soon as I set up. Ribbon made full eye contact as if she wanted to know what exercise we were going do. I showed her the dumbbell. This exercise went perfectly, Ribbon came in crooked and straightened herself out into a perfect front and followed that up with a perfect finish. Her drop on recall went really, really well, only losing 1/2 point on a finish. By the third exercise I realized that we were in the middle of a REALLY nice run. I kept her up by playing between exercises and not leaning over her while interacting with her. This tends to push her away from me and I have to learn not to do this. Her heeling was spectacular and her broad jump was PERFECT! We only had stays left and that went fine, even though when I left her on sit stay, she started shaking her head so I thought we might be in a bit of trouble. The end result was a 198.5 and she had to win a four way run-off for first place!! This also gave her a HIT. The ribbon is bigger than she is!!!
Saturday - Trial Two
It was getting late in the day, we were the second last dog of the day. I knew Ribbon was tired so decided to use a new motivator. My friend Susie had some steak, so I used some in my warm up. I had her playing on her leash and she was really pumped up, then the judge had some questions to answer and a few second delay turned into almost two minutes. I put Ribbon back in her kennel and when we finally got to go in, I had lost her a little bit. Once we were in the ring she worked quite nicely. On the very first exercise, the retrieve on flat, as she was approaching front, she let out a big burp and the dumbbell fell out of her mouth (I blame Susie for this !!!). However, she quickly picked it up and gave me a perfect front. The rest of the run went okay. Her heeling was a little loose, but she did give me another perfect broad jump. For whatever reason she ticked the jump on the return. So we ended up with a 194.
Sunday - Trial Three
The judge had selected routine #5, which begins with retrieve over high jump, followed by drop, the flat retrieve then heeling, then broad jump. On the high jump we had a crooked front. All the other exercises went quite well, her heeling was quite good. The floor was quite slippery and Ribbon slipped on take off for the broad jump and ticked it on the landing. Many dogs completely wiped out, so I was lucky that it was only a tick, but it did cost us a point. I was disappointed to find out after the stays that she only got a 196.5. I thought it should have been higher, but it was her CDX and I was still really happy with my dog.
Sunday - Trial Four
We were going to do routine #2, which is the traditional routine backwards and the judge had set up the ring in the formation of a fan, which is one of my favourite ring set ups. The rings were running close together, so we did our run within about 10 minutes of our other run. I took her out for a pee, made sure her feet were dry. Watched the pattern and then we were in. I had her do some elevated retrieves, so that her rear legs were warmed up for jumping and in we went. A perfect broad jump started us off nicely. Crooked front over the jump, flat retrieve was perfect and then on the drop she didn't sit on the front. This is really unusual for her, so I may have been leaning over her - that cost us two points and a had a small lag after the left turn on the heeling. Then we were up for the last set of stays a few minutes later. I was worried that she was tired and she might lay down, so I played with her and got out a new motivator - the TIM BIT!! She was pretty happy about this. She was great and ended up with a 196.
I am so proud of how steady Ribbon worked in the ring. She did show some of her inexperience, but that's okay because she is inexperienced.
Our next venture is our American CD in January and then my plan is to show in Open one weekend a month for 2013. That should give her lots of experience. What a great girl - I am so lucky!!
Saturday - Trial One
Ribbon warmed up very nicely. We were starting with routine number 3, it begins with retrieve on the flat, followed by drop on recall. I knew things were going to go well as soon as I set up. Ribbon made full eye contact as if she wanted to know what exercise we were going do. I showed her the dumbbell. This exercise went perfectly, Ribbon came in crooked and straightened herself out into a perfect front and followed that up with a perfect finish. Her drop on recall went really, really well, only losing 1/2 point on a finish. By the third exercise I realized that we were in the middle of a REALLY nice run. I kept her up by playing between exercises and not leaning over her while interacting with her. This tends to push her away from me and I have to learn not to do this. Her heeling was spectacular and her broad jump was PERFECT! We only had stays left and that went fine, even though when I left her on sit stay, she started shaking her head so I thought we might be in a bit of trouble. The end result was a 198.5 and she had to win a four way run-off for first place!! This also gave her a HIT. The ribbon is bigger than she is!!!
Saturday - Trial Two
It was getting late in the day, we were the second last dog of the day. I knew Ribbon was tired so decided to use a new motivator. My friend Susie had some steak, so I used some in my warm up. I had her playing on her leash and she was really pumped up, then the judge had some questions to answer and a few second delay turned into almost two minutes. I put Ribbon back in her kennel and when we finally got to go in, I had lost her a little bit. Once we were in the ring she worked quite nicely. On the very first exercise, the retrieve on flat, as she was approaching front, she let out a big burp and the dumbbell fell out of her mouth (I blame Susie for this !!!). However, she quickly picked it up and gave me a perfect front. The rest of the run went okay. Her heeling was a little loose, but she did give me another perfect broad jump. For whatever reason she ticked the jump on the return. So we ended up with a 194.
Sunday - Trial Three
The judge had selected routine #5, which begins with retrieve over high jump, followed by drop, the flat retrieve then heeling, then broad jump. On the high jump we had a crooked front. All the other exercises went quite well, her heeling was quite good. The floor was quite slippery and Ribbon slipped on take off for the broad jump and ticked it on the landing. Many dogs completely wiped out, so I was lucky that it was only a tick, but it did cost us a point. I was disappointed to find out after the stays that she only got a 196.5. I thought it should have been higher, but it was her CDX and I was still really happy with my dog.
Sunday - Trial Four
We were going to do routine #2, which is the traditional routine backwards and the judge had set up the ring in the formation of a fan, which is one of my favourite ring set ups. The rings were running close together, so we did our run within about 10 minutes of our other run. I took her out for a pee, made sure her feet were dry. Watched the pattern and then we were in. I had her do some elevated retrieves, so that her rear legs were warmed up for jumping and in we went. A perfect broad jump started us off nicely. Crooked front over the jump, flat retrieve was perfect and then on the drop she didn't sit on the front. This is really unusual for her, so I may have been leaning over her - that cost us two points and a had a small lag after the left turn on the heeling. Then we were up for the last set of stays a few minutes later. I was worried that she was tired and she might lay down, so I played with her and got out a new motivator - the TIM BIT!! She was pretty happy about this. She was great and ended up with a 196.
I am so proud of how steady Ribbon worked in the ring. She did show some of her inexperience, but that's okay because she is inexperienced.
Our next venture is our American CD in January and then my plan is to show in Open one weekend a month for 2013. That should give her lots of experience. What a great girl - I am so lucky!!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Newest Addition
In July an opportunity came up to "adopt" a fully trained Border Collie. After talking with Chad about this, I drove to the Kingston area and came home with a 9 1/2 year old female. Her name is Maddie. She has competed in Open (which is the top level). The idea behind this was that I could learn to handle through a course and simply learn about the sport of sheepdog trialling. With Ribbon we were both newbies and it was like trying to learn dressage on a green horse.
Maddie met all of the dogs and although she was a little subdued (which is probably smart walking into a house of 5 dogs) she seemed fine. Less than 18 hours later I had my first lesson with her. One problem I quickly came across was that I don't know how to whistle. So I need to learn how to whistle and also to learn Maddie's whistles (oh boy)! I will admit to being a bit star struck as I watched her do our first outrun together. As the lesson progressed my instructor had to remind me that she needed direction as to where to put the sheep - "Marie your dog is awaiting instruction - the sheep are at the fence" At least she laughed. I had never driven sheep that far, I didn't know there was a fence in that field!!!
As days and weeks passed Maddie settled into the routine of the house and started to initiate play with Apex or Gali. She was enjoying her walks (which were frequent as I wanted to get some weight off of her and build up some more muscle tone). Her personality started to come out more, things such as barking at me on the walks and nipping at my boots if I was not paying any attention to her. She also selected a favourite toy. Oddly, Maddie chose a 2 pound barbell to play with. I don't even know where she got it. But she would roll it around and pick it up and drop it and shake her head back and forth (not very fast mind you) with it in her mouth. Maybe this was her contribution to her fitness routine?
Our lessons went along pretty well from my view, we started to develop some teamwork, she taught me things and she started to listen to my commands (even if they were wrong). I asked Viki if should thought I could enter the fall series of trials, Chad was going with Apex and was chomping at the bit to stand at the post!!
Something I have on my bucket list is "Stand at the post and say Away to me."
I held my breath while Viki thought about this for few seconds and her reply was - "oh sure, but be prepared that it will only last 15 seconds." Meaning that the sheep would bolt for the exhaust and my run would be over. This was a chance I was willing to take!
More about my first sheep dog trial in my next post.
Stay tuned
Maddie met all of the dogs and although she was a little subdued (which is probably smart walking into a house of 5 dogs) she seemed fine. Less than 18 hours later I had my first lesson with her. One problem I quickly came across was that I don't know how to whistle. So I need to learn how to whistle and also to learn Maddie's whistles (oh boy)! I will admit to being a bit star struck as I watched her do our first outrun together. As the lesson progressed my instructor had to remind me that she needed direction as to where to put the sheep - "Marie your dog is awaiting instruction - the sheep are at the fence" At least she laughed. I had never driven sheep that far, I didn't know there was a fence in that field!!!
As days and weeks passed Maddie settled into the routine of the house and started to initiate play with Apex or Gali. She was enjoying her walks (which were frequent as I wanted to get some weight off of her and build up some more muscle tone). Her personality started to come out more, things such as barking at me on the walks and nipping at my boots if I was not paying any attention to her. She also selected a favourite toy. Oddly, Maddie chose a 2 pound barbell to play with. I don't even know where she got it. But she would roll it around and pick it up and drop it and shake her head back and forth (not very fast mind you) with it in her mouth. Maybe this was her contribution to her fitness routine?
Our lessons went along pretty well from my view, we started to develop some teamwork, she taught me things and she started to listen to my commands (even if they were wrong). I asked Viki if should thought I could enter the fall series of trials, Chad was going with Apex and was chomping at the bit to stand at the post!!
Something I have on my bucket list is "Stand at the post and say Away to me."
I held my breath while Viki thought about this for few seconds and her reply was - "oh sure, but be prepared that it will only last 15 seconds." Meaning that the sheep would bolt for the exhaust and my run would be over. This was a chance I was willing to take!
More about my first sheep dog trial in my next post.
Stay tuned
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Update on Ribbon
In May Ribbon got her CD at the Swansea trial in Etobicoke. She passed 4/4. Her scores were okay. She had one 198, which was quite nice. She had a minor blip in her first trial on the heel free she noticed the judge move her clipboard and she paused for a second and then caught up immediately. But I could feel she wasn't totally focused and her heeling got a little loose. But overall I was pleased with her work ethic. She was pestered by a fly a couple of times on her stays and had another dog come over to visit on another set of stays, so other than my high blood pressure during all of that, Ribbon was just fine!
I had also entered Ribbon in 2 more trials the two weeks following Swansea. I looked over my videos from Swansea and worked on a few things I wanted to clean up. Namely her fast pace and about turns. Both of these element got loose during the trials. I realized that when I play with Ribbon I tend to run around and play with her, she jumps up and chases me. It occurred to me that she looked almost the same when I did my fast pace in the ring. I decided that I needed to give her a better picture so that she would know how to respond by continue heeling and not seeing it as play. I decided to lengthen my stride and keep my left arm quiet against my body. It worked really well in training. For about turns I decided to try a longer head cue and look more to my right, instead of just to the outside of my right foot like I have done with all my other dogs. She immediately responded to that and it felt really good. We had fun training together and I was really looking forward to the trials. The day arrived and Ribbon warmed up really well, she was relaxed and focused. We walked into the ring and she was fabulous- her figure 8 was to die for!! (although all of her figure 8's were really good). All the things we worked on were rock solid!! It felt really, really good. There were only a few dogs left in the class and then stays. She was great and when we walked out of the ring, they were waiting for us in the next ring. I did a quick warm up and played with her for a second and off we went. I was so proud of her, because in a span of 20 minutes she did two runs and both sets of stays and came out a 198 and 197.5 and both HITS!!!
Yeah Ribbon!!!
We are working hard on our CDX and I have mailed in my entries for 4 trials December 01/02. Ribbon is REALLY enjoying open. I have been working on proofing drills and continue to work on making our heeling perfect and fun!
I had also entered Ribbon in 2 more trials the two weeks following Swansea. I looked over my videos from Swansea and worked on a few things I wanted to clean up. Namely her fast pace and about turns. Both of these element got loose during the trials. I realized that when I play with Ribbon I tend to run around and play with her, she jumps up and chases me. It occurred to me that she looked almost the same when I did my fast pace in the ring. I decided that I needed to give her a better picture so that she would know how to respond by continue heeling and not seeing it as play. I decided to lengthen my stride and keep my left arm quiet against my body. It worked really well in training. For about turns I decided to try a longer head cue and look more to my right, instead of just to the outside of my right foot like I have done with all my other dogs. She immediately responded to that and it felt really good. We had fun training together and I was really looking forward to the trials. The day arrived and Ribbon warmed up really well, she was relaxed and focused. We walked into the ring and she was fabulous- her figure 8 was to die for!! (although all of her figure 8's were really good). All the things we worked on were rock solid!! It felt really, really good. There were only a few dogs left in the class and then stays. She was great and when we walked out of the ring, they were waiting for us in the next ring. I did a quick warm up and played with her for a second and off we went. I was so proud of her, because in a span of 20 minutes she did two runs and both sets of stays and came out a 198 and 197.5 and both HITS!!!
Yeah Ribbon!!!
We are working hard on our CDX and I have mailed in my entries for 4 trials December 01/02. Ribbon is REALLY enjoying open. I have been working on proofing drills and continue to work on making our heeling perfect and fun!
Monday, October 29, 2012
Update on Gali
Sorry it has been so long since I wrote, but I have been busy writing the new edition of "Rally On". It is in the final stages and just about to go for proofreading. Hopefully it will be ready for print in the new year.
Gali and I have not been out much this summer. We do have 3 AE legs in rally, but this summer has been so busy that I could never quite get organized to get to the local trials and with the price of gas it seemed silly to spend all that money for what amounts to 6 minutes in the ring (on a really bad day, I might add!) I am hoping to finish his title as Ribbon is out being shown at the end of the year and into next year.
We didn't ever get our last leg for our OTCH. I was seeing signs of stress in a dog that LOVES to go to trials and bee bop around the ring. I will admit to being haunted by the fact that I couldn't finish it. In August I actually started to lose sleep over this - did I give up too soon - am I losing my ability to train a dog? - I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. In August I lost 3 days sleep over this and decided it was crazy that I was going to put him in one more trial. I entered one of my favourite trials, knowing that there would be a match the night before. The deal I made with myself was that I would see how he worked at the match and decide if I would run him the next morning. I kept the fact that I had entered him to myself. One of my thoughts was that I was putting too much pressure on myself and not doing my best job with my dog. This thought was a large part of my not sleeping for 3 days!
The night of the match Gali's heeling, front/finishes, articles and signals were really, really good!! I was having fun with him and he was having fun with me. He was a little hesitant on his go out and didn't take the first jump, but I really felt like I had given my signal too fast for the bar jump and I had also said over instead of bar. I redid it and he was really good, the jumping looked nice and he seemed comfortable, the second half was fine. We did glove last, when I sent him out for the glove, he went straight out looking for the glove and he couldn't see it!! The glove was located about 6 feet to his right. He stopped for a few seconds, put his head way up in the air and started air scenting to find the glove, which he did quickly and returned to me.
I felt my heart sink - these cataracts really are affecting him! I pulled from the trial the next day and ran him in rally only. I am at peace with this now. I would never want my dog to get hurt doing the sport I chose for him. That is that!!!
Gali and I have not been out much this summer. We do have 3 AE legs in rally, but this summer has been so busy that I could never quite get organized to get to the local trials and with the price of gas it seemed silly to spend all that money for what amounts to 6 minutes in the ring (on a really bad day, I might add!) I am hoping to finish his title as Ribbon is out being shown at the end of the year and into next year.
We didn't ever get our last leg for our OTCH. I was seeing signs of stress in a dog that LOVES to go to trials and bee bop around the ring. I will admit to being haunted by the fact that I couldn't finish it. In August I actually started to lose sleep over this - did I give up too soon - am I losing my ability to train a dog? - I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. In August I lost 3 days sleep over this and decided it was crazy that I was going to put him in one more trial. I entered one of my favourite trials, knowing that there would be a match the night before. The deal I made with myself was that I would see how he worked at the match and decide if I would run him the next morning. I kept the fact that I had entered him to myself. One of my thoughts was that I was putting too much pressure on myself and not doing my best job with my dog. This thought was a large part of my not sleeping for 3 days!
The night of the match Gali's heeling, front/finishes, articles and signals were really, really good!! I was having fun with him and he was having fun with me. He was a little hesitant on his go out and didn't take the first jump, but I really felt like I had given my signal too fast for the bar jump and I had also said over instead of bar. I redid it and he was really good, the jumping looked nice and he seemed comfortable, the second half was fine. We did glove last, when I sent him out for the glove, he went straight out looking for the glove and he couldn't see it!! The glove was located about 6 feet to his right. He stopped for a few seconds, put his head way up in the air and started air scenting to find the glove, which he did quickly and returned to me.
I felt my heart sink - these cataracts really are affecting him! I pulled from the trial the next day and ran him in rally only. I am at peace with this now. I would never want my dog to get hurt doing the sport I chose for him. That is that!!!
Monday, June 4, 2012
Gali and Ribbon
So I am sure you may have guessed that since I haven't posted that Gali didn't pass on Friday. He worked hard but came up short on his second go-out and in Gali's defense he was short by inches. However it was a fail. He did his jumps, he did his signals. His articles were quite nice and his heeling was very good, some bumps on left turns. He did struggle with his fronts; he really wanted to fade off to the side, which is unusual for him. What made me a little sad was to see him get stressed. He walked in on his moving stand and I think he walked in on his first article. He wasn't jumping up on his start ups. All of these things made me decide that I am going to call it quits. For now or forever I am not sure, but I am going to stop and concentrate on Ribbon. In my heart I can't come to terms with asking him to do this if he is struggling because of his eyesight. Throughout his career Gali has always been and an honest, happy go lucky dog and I just can't take that from him because I want to put some letters in front of his name.
I have had a chance to go through my videos of Ribbon's first weekend out and have come up with a plan for training for the next two weeks leading up to the two trials I have her in on Father's Day. She routinely got distracted and fell out of position on the last about turn. I have been working on heeling into barriers and have people call commands for me. One thing my friend Kelly noticed tonight was that Ribbon seemed confused between whether she should stop or turn when I heeled really close up to a chair. My reaction was to slow down my steps and let her make the decision to complete the turn and praised like crazy when she made eye contact (and was also back in position). Kelly's opinion was she thought Ribbon wasn't getting a big enough cue to turn. So we repeated the exercise and I cued by looking about 6 inches outside my right foot (usually I look at the baby toe of my right foot). This made all the difference in the world. Ribbon accelerated into the turn, maintained eye contact and gave me lovely heel position. We repeated the same drill heeling towards a wall and had the same result. Thanks Kelly!
This morning in my Novice class (Susie teaches so that I can train my dog in a class environment) we did run throughs and one of the things Susie thought I was doing was taking too long a stride on my slow and she thought that Ribbon was bumping me because she had to reach so far forward on each step. When I tried the slow again and focused on a more controlled stride length I got a much smoother transition from normal to slow and from slow to normal. Thanks Susie!
During my run through I did have to deal with Ribbon making some bad decisions about looking away and going wide on some turns. With Ribbon I do a freeze correction, which means that I stop and hold her in the position she shouldn't be in and then ask her to return to proper position, praise and then continue. She usually has several steps on being unsure of continuing and then regains her confidence and continues on in position. At that point I praise her and or reward with food.
My goal for these last two Novice trials is to go for a HIT. I have one male and one female judge and I am excited about getting her back out there and learning more about how to best handle her and develop our teamwork!
Tomorrow my training will include Chad calling commands for me, more work on stand for exam, putting into play the things I learned today and mixing it up with some Open and Utility exercises.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Ups and Downs
First the good news... Ribbon did a fantastic job her first weekend out. She passed all four Novice trials. She also won three of her four classes. Her highest score was a 198.5. It was really hot and the days were long. She was a real trooper – which isn't a surprise, given her strong work ethic. We did have a few hiccups along the way. On our first run, during the off lead, something the judge did caught her attention and she lagged quite badly and I gave a second command, and then she recovered nicely and completed her routine with style. Her second trial was her best, she still had a little problem with the end of the heel free routine, but that was the only thing that occurred through the whole routine. On Sunday morning, this was day three in the heat; she did a really nice job. We got heeled into the stewards table on the heel free so she stopped to have a look at the table and then ran to catch up. She also moved on the stand for exam. I also got hit for bumping during my on lead heeling. Which is disappointing since Ribbon never touched me. So I had a bad feeling walking away from that class. However Ribbon did a nice job! Our fourth and final trial of the weekend was under the same judge we had the first time. I was curious to see if Ribbon would have any kind of reaction to her. And in hindsight I should have warmed up my stand for exam, given that she moved during the morning trial. However, I was sort of running between rings with Gali in utility and missed that opportunity. Her heel on leg and figure 8 was really, really good (in fact Ribbon got 4 perfect figure 8's). On the stand she moved ever so slightly, I thought it was more of a move, but on the video she barely moves her foot. However, when I returned to heel position, she stepped forward. So two points lost there. When I released her from the stand she started to move forward but not with me more towards the gate as if she wanted to leave or move away from the judge. I took a moment to call her back to me and asked her to set up into heel position and then heeled towards the set up point for the heel free. As we were moving along together I praised her and got a nice level of intense attention. I felt like we were back together as a team. During the heel free she certainly noticed the judge, but held it together much better with only minor flaws. Her final score for this class was a 195 and she lost 2 marks on the stand, she is right there for another couple of high scores and hopefully a HIT. I have her entered in two more trials in a few weeks and I have a pretty clear picture of what I will be working on.
Oh and on her stays she twice got attacked by a fly (which she really, really hates) and had a dog come to visit her on the down stay, but she remained in position and looked really solid.
Okay, now Mr. Gali – Our first trial was not good – period. He didn't get his second jump, so it was pretty much over before we even started. But I didn't do a very good job over letting it go so the rest of our run suffered. He didn't get his signals either. I don't think the lighting was good for him.
The second trial, I had gotten myself together a little better and was concentrating on each task at hand. I also took some advice from Susie about doing the signal even more away from my body so that he would have a better chance of seeing it. He got his directed jumping, but I held my signal for longer and on the second half I used a verbal command as well. This helped push him towards the jump for sure. It seemed like at one point he almost stopped, figured out where the jump was and then continued on. Our heeling was not our best, Gali missed some sits, but he got his signals and glove and moving stand. So all that was left was the articles exercise. He has always been pretty solid on this exercise so I was feeling pretty good. However, the obedience gods had other plans. As I turned to send Gali to the pile, my foot went underneath the mat and flipped it up, so that it lands on Gali's pasterns. He stopped and didn't know what to do. I didn't want him to worry so I gave him a second command and that was the end of that utility leg – Can you believe it!!!!! His second article was perfect – so good for him!!! I think the judge could have given us a redo, but she didn't. I feel somewhat cursed....
We have one trial on Friday and I have a plan of working him each day and putting the jumps out wider and doing more sequences to give him opportunities to be rewarded during a routine instead of only during training drills. So by 9:30 on Friday he will either have his UD or we will be done – maybe forever maybe just for a few months.
Oh Boy!
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