Taari and I had two Master Jumpers runs at the K9 Klubhouse trial on July 12th. Here is the video. Taari ran well for me. Need to work on start line stays and being quicker with my cues. A couple of handler errors in the first run. Too bad about the bar in the second run. That run was our fastest jumpers run to date.
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Sunday, 28 June 2009
New Website
I needed to move my website since geocities is closing so I have purchased a domain and started the move. My new website is www.alhenashelties.ca. Some of the links will go back to the old website until I finish the move.
Taari's contact training is still going on. I am finding that props are not working. As I lowered the posts she started to jump. So I am trying to not use any props and just reward her for the right behaviour. It helps to have an extra person when working on them.
I audited a great workshop by Dave Munnings in June. Dave has a great sense of humour and I learned quite a bit. I had been working on left and right and now I have more reasons to. I hope that he comes back to Canada again soon.
Taari's contact training is still going on. I am finding that props are not working. As I lowered the posts she started to jump. So I am trying to not use any props and just reward her for the right behaviour. It helps to have an extra person when working on them.
I audited a great workshop by Dave Munnings in June. Dave has a great sense of humour and I learned quite a bit. I had been working on left and right and now I have more reasons to. I hope that he comes back to Canada again soon.
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Spice a year after his surgery
Spice has been doing pretty good since his surgery. I didn't walk him much during the winter when it was cold and the sidewalks were icy. We did stuff inside the house - ball work, fit disks, ladders, and wobble board. I have been walking him more and doing a bit of agility with him. His front leg can still get sore at times but that is to be expected with the arthritis. Here is video of him doing some jumps and tunnels.
I tried the AudioSwap function at YouTube. I picked a song with a good title but bad lyrics "Catch me jumping". I couldn't get the preview function to work so finally gave up and picked one based on it title.
I tried the AudioSwap function at YouTube. I picked a song with a good title but bad lyrics "Catch me jumping". I couldn't get the preview function to work so finally gave up and picked one based on it title.
Saturday, 30 May 2009
Catching Up Part 1
I have been busy so I haven't been able to keep up with my blog. Here is a brief description of some of the videos of Taari's runs and our contact training.
April 24 2009
This was our first time at a new trial location - Ratpack in Orangeville. This run had some good parts and there are some things that I need to work on. To name a few - start line stays, speaking while she is over a bar, her reaction to clapping, faster catch at the end of the run. I believe that certain sounds cause her to drop a bar. She may also drop a bar when she is racing me.
May 2 2009
First I did some box work on the ground. I lowered the posts on the dogwalk about 3 inches and Taari was still successful. She wasn't successful without the posts though. I also tried the TnT at the end of the teeter. This seemed to help with Taari's confidence and she wasn't looking at me. At the end I did a couple of A-frames with the box - mostly to see what her A-frame currently looks like a roughly full height.
May 16 2009
We did some box work on the ground to start of with. We worked on the teeter both with the TnT right at the teeter and a distance away from it. I put the box on the A-frame as well. The A-frame is close to full height. She is successfully getting in the box but not striding over the A-frame well. I worked 18 weaves with Taari both with and without the TnT as a distraction. Taari popped out of the polls early in a trial.
May 18 2008
Since I was training with a friend I was able to lower the A-frame. It was good to see what Taari would do when it was lowered but the next time she tried a full height A-frame she had problems. I am not sure at this point that a lower A-frame is helping Taari with her striding.
Current status
The dogwalk is progressing nicely as I lower the posts. Without the posts Taari is jumping and I haven't gone back and tried no posts recently.
Taari is able to get into the box when it is on the A-frame most of the time. Her striding over the A-frame apex isn't what I am looking for as she is coming down on her front feet for few steps before taking a longer stride.
Taari has gained more confidence on the teeter with the TreatNTrain at the end of it.
April 24 2009
This was our first time at a new trial location - Ratpack in Orangeville. This run had some good parts and there are some things that I need to work on. To name a few - start line stays, speaking while she is over a bar, her reaction to clapping, faster catch at the end of the run. I believe that certain sounds cause her to drop a bar. She may also drop a bar when she is racing me.
May 2 2009
First I did some box work on the ground. I lowered the posts on the dogwalk about 3 inches and Taari was still successful. She wasn't successful without the posts though. I also tried the TnT at the end of the teeter. This seemed to help with Taari's confidence and she wasn't looking at me. At the end I did a couple of A-frames with the box - mostly to see what her A-frame currently looks like a roughly full height.
May 16 2009
We did some box work on the ground to start of with. We worked on the teeter both with the TnT right at the teeter and a distance away from it. I put the box on the A-frame as well. The A-frame is close to full height. She is successfully getting in the box but not striding over the A-frame well. I worked 18 weaves with Taari both with and without the TnT as a distraction. Taari popped out of the polls early in a trial.
May 18 2008
Since I was training with a friend I was able to lower the A-frame. It was good to see what Taari would do when it was lowered but the next time she tried a full height A-frame she had problems. I am not sure at this point that a lower A-frame is helping Taari with her striding.
Current status
The dogwalk is progressing nicely as I lower the posts. Without the posts Taari is jumping and I haven't gone back and tried no posts recently.
Taari is able to get into the box when it is on the A-frame most of the time. Her striding over the A-frame apex isn't what I am looking for as she is coming down on her front feet for few steps before taking a longer stride.
Taari has gained more confidence on the teeter with the TreatNTrain at the end of it.
Saturday, 11 April 2009
First Indoor trial and Running Contacts
Last weekend Taari had her first indoor trial. I signed her up for one Steeplechase and two Master Jumpers runs. We haven't trialled since October and I had a bad cold. So bad I wasn't sure I would be going to the trial. The venue was quite nice. I liked how far away the last obstacle was from the fence. We had some nice parts to our runs. The last Master Jumpers was our best run. I had taken a 5 hour energy drink in the morning but found that it was wearing off so I took another one. I felt energized and the Niacin flush they warn you about. I am sometimes concerned that Taari will turn back and get in front of me. This happens when she feels needs to tell me that she doesn't know what is next. My defensive response to this is to put out both arms to try to balance myself. I noticed this on the video. I didn't run that last run the way that I had planned. I ended up on the wrong side at one point and we had a tunnel discussion. We were first place in the 16" class with 5 faults. Here is the video.
Today during our agility practice we concentrated on running contacts. Taari's box work on the ground has improved but she is still taking off too early and I missed her only putting one foot in the box a few times. I am a bit late with the Treat N Train. I was trying to be more careful and not "click" bad behaviors. I think that this resulted in me being late. Here is the video.
Then I put the box on the A-frame. I back chained it a few times and then tried Taari on the whole A-frame. I tried moving up the box and using stride regulators to get her to do one hit before the box. It wasn't really working and I need to think about this some more. I need advice. Ideally I would like a solution that doesn't involve putting too much on the A-frame because of group classes. Here is the video.
I am not sure how to fix her apex. I think that she is doing 3 and half hits in the last couple of A-frames as she is walking down on her front feet (more than 3 hits) but her back feet only hit 3 times.
Is it just a matter of doing more work on the ground and more work with the box higher up on the A-frame? Should I being trying for 3 hits or 2 hits? She will jump off the A-frame too high and miss the yellow sometimes in competition.
I decided that the box wasn't working for Taari on the dogwalk. She wasn't comfortable with it when other dogs were around. Since I have been using the PVC hoop in class around other dogs and she is quite comfortable with it I decided to go back to it. I will attempt to fade it by first removing part of the top bar and then the whole top bar. After that I will make the sides shorter. Today I got to the point of removing the top bar. We were practicing by ourselves and she was successful. I am going to try it at class Monday night. I may also try the box on the A-frame as well. Here is the video of the dogwalk.
Today during our agility practice we concentrated on running contacts. Taari's box work on the ground has improved but she is still taking off too early and I missed her only putting one foot in the box a few times. I am a bit late with the Treat N Train. I was trying to be more careful and not "click" bad behaviors. I think that this resulted in me being late. Here is the video.
Then I put the box on the A-frame. I back chained it a few times and then tried Taari on the whole A-frame. I tried moving up the box and using stride regulators to get her to do one hit before the box. It wasn't really working and I need to think about this some more. I need advice. Ideally I would like a solution that doesn't involve putting too much on the A-frame because of group classes. Here is the video.
I am not sure how to fix her apex. I think that she is doing 3 and half hits in the last couple of A-frames as she is walking down on her front feet (more than 3 hits) but her back feet only hit 3 times.
Is it just a matter of doing more work on the ground and more work with the box higher up on the A-frame? Should I being trying for 3 hits or 2 hits? She will jump off the A-frame too high and miss the yellow sometimes in competition.
I decided that the box wasn't working for Taari on the dogwalk. She wasn't comfortable with it when other dogs were around. Since I have been using the PVC hoop in class around other dogs and she is quite comfortable with it I decided to go back to it. I will attempt to fade it by first removing part of the top bar and then the whole top bar. After that I will make the sides shorter. Today I got to the point of removing the top bar. We were practicing by ourselves and she was successful. I am going to try it at class Monday night. I may also try the box on the A-frame as well. Here is the video of the dogwalk.
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Running Contacts March 21 2009
Yesterday I tried the box on a low A-frame (around 4 ft). My box is a bit smaller than the yellow area but I don't really want Taari to hit the top of the yellow zone (before the first slat). Taari did well when I put her on the A-frame. She didn't come back to me promptly as I don't think that she likes being picked up and put on equipment. I also have this problem with the dogwalk. So as soon as it looked like she was ready I had her do the whole A-frame. I was hoping that she would be able to do only one hit on the downside of the A-frame before the box/yellow zone. At one point I tried a stride regulator to see if that would help but it didn't. Perhaps they are not the right shape or I don't have them in the right spot. It may also require further training with the stride regulators to get Taari to stretch out more (gradually moving the stride regulator down). I will have to think about this some more.
After doing the box A-frame I decided to go back to doing the box on the ground. I was quite pleased that Taari seemed to be doing one hit on the ground. I don't have a good enough eye yet as when I looked at the video I missed Taari twice only getting one of her front feet in the box and more obviously there were two times when she hit the box. She seems to be taking off too early over the jump.
A couple of other things that I noticed after watching my video and reviewing the Reliable Running A-frames DVD again was that I am forgetting to give the box a cue and I am late or the Treat N Train isn't responding right away when I "click".
Here is the video.
After doing the box A-frame I decided to go back to doing the box on the ground. I was quite pleased that Taari seemed to be doing one hit on the ground. I don't have a good enough eye yet as when I looked at the video I missed Taari twice only getting one of her front feet in the box and more obviously there were two times when she hit the box. She seems to be taking off too early over the jump.
A couple of other things that I noticed after watching my video and reviewing the Reliable Running A-frames DVD again was that I am forgetting to give the box a cue and I am late or the Treat N Train isn't responding right away when I "click".
Here is the video.
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Progress report on Running Contacts
Last weekend was house league so I didn't get to practice during my regular Saturday time. In my regular Monday class I am still just using the hoops. This week I did some more box work in my basement.
Today I had my regular practice at the dome. Brigs and Spider were also there and I find that Taari is more distracted and we don't get as much done as when we are on our own.
I did some dogwalk box work on the ground and then put the box on the dogwalk. Taari was avoiding the box on the dogwalk and jumping off the side. I was putting her on the dogwalk down ramp (i.e. not having her do the whole thing). This is somewhat strange since she did so well the first day when we had the dome to ourselves. So I got a table and removed the plank from the dogwalk and put in on the table. She did the box well with this setup. The table was the height we use for large dogs - 22" so the incline wasn't as steep as the regular dogwalk.
I worked with one jump and the A-frame box on the ground. Taari did well and seemed to be only doing one hit between the box and jump. I am not positive since I didn't video tape the session.
I am looking forward to being able to work outside.
Today I had my regular practice at the dome. Brigs and Spider were also there and I find that Taari is more distracted and we don't get as much done as when we are on our own.
I did some dogwalk box work on the ground and then put the box on the dogwalk. Taari was avoiding the box on the dogwalk and jumping off the side. I was putting her on the dogwalk down ramp (i.e. not having her do the whole thing). This is somewhat strange since she did so well the first day when we had the dome to ourselves. So I got a table and removed the plank from the dogwalk and put in on the table. She did the box well with this setup. The table was the height we use for large dogs - 22" so the incline wasn't as steep as the regular dogwalk.
I worked with one jump and the A-frame box on the ground. Taari did well and seemed to be only doing one hit between the box and jump. I am not positive since I didn't video tape the session.
I am looking forward to being able to work outside.
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