Classes

I forgot to mention how smart my dog was on Wednesday.  It was the middle of agility class and the other side was done and everyone was waiting to come to our side to switch instructor.  I was the last one to go so everyone was watching me.  We were to do a serpentine.  I knew how I wanted to handle it but Vada hadn’t been taught that way yet.  I saw it at a seminar and liked it.  So I told the instructer my plan and our history.  Vada did beautifully!  She handled perfectly and kept bars up.  It was very nice!

I taught agility class last night.  The week before was a rough week.  This week they all seemed to do much better and be more focused.  Both levels were on week 5 so they all have 3 more weeks to go for this session.  I did not work my dogs after class.  I was too tired and I wanted to work on “go” and “close” and “side” and I figured I could do that at home.  I didn’t.  Hopefully I’ll have the energy to do some training tonight.  I promised them chuck-it so they’ll at least get to do that.

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Vada’s SchH and Agility Classes

Tuesday night at Schutzhund training Vada worked on the bark and hold.  We put a line on her to keep her clean in the blind.  She punches the helper with her feet so we’re trying to get her to not do that anymore but with keeping me out of the picture.  She also tends to bother the sleeve after awhile of barking.  We had me walk by her to neutralize her to my presence.  She did really well.  Then we did more of the back transport.  If she got wide then I would turn right.  After a few of those she was heeling perfectly.  It was a very good night of training.

Tonight was her agility class.  We did really well.  We had substitute instructors and they both complimented her.  It was a fun class.  She is getting so much better at doing proper contacts and she only knocked a few bars.  So, lots of improvements!  We have 3 more classes left of this session (our second) and then we change to Monday classes and Level 5 (we’re currently in Level 4).

Weekend

It was a busy weekend with no dog training occuring at all.  No Schutzhund on Saturday as most of the club went to Madison for the Regional Training Event.  The dogs were out alot in the yard when I was home.  They really enjoyed that and it tired them out to get so much fresh air.  It was a weekend full of people activities.  Lots of family parties.  We trimmed one of Karl’s ewe’s hooves too.  And last night we went to our second dance class.  It was harder as they added more steps and there were too many people there as we were running into them and had to watch for them on top of remembering the steps.  But it was fun and we learned alot again.  Vada seems to be done with her false pregnancy finally.  One baby has been forgotten and left in the van and the other was destuffed.  The dogs did get to play chuck it again yesterday morning.  They were so happy!  They are quite out of shape though.

Susan Perry and Debi Hutchinson Seminar

I audited a 3 day agility seminar.  It was Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  I was a working auditor for all 3 days so I had to be there at 7am each day to move equipment and set the rings.  I got to try my hand at reading course maps and setting up the course based on it.  I didn’t do too bad.  Just a few things needed to be tweaked.  I learned alot and took alot of notes.  I was able to use one of the skills in agility class with Vada on Wednesday night and it worked!

I was also able to work my dogs over the lunch break on the equipment.  I worked on dog walk contacts with both of them.  I put them into position from the side and then they were able to get into correct position by going over the dog walk.  They both seemed to need that reminder.  They both did great and I was even doing an obstacle before the dog walk and they were stilll hitting it.  I need to remember to practice with the tunnel right next to the dog walk too so they see that picture.  I introduced Copper to front crosses too.  He has great rear crosses.  3 days of working contacts was great for both of them.  Vada did better in class on Wednesday night on her contacts and she did a better job of keeping bars up then the week before.  I worked her without weave pole guides in class and she did great.  She did great 6 pole weaves at SoccerBlast too.

NADAC just changed the Weavers class to only have sets of 6 poles in Novice.  Copper and Vada should be able to get their titles with no problem now.  Copper needs that and 2 Touch N Go Qs to get his Novice Versatility award.  That is my goal with him in NADAC.

 Tuesday night we worked on the back transport with Vada and she was doing beautifully!  Angli was in the middle of the ring with a second line on Vada and was putting some pressure on her to pull her out of position so she had to try hard to stay in heel position.

Thursday night after I taught agility class I taught both of my dogs ‘go’ around a bucket.  Copper did awesome!  Vada did awesome on the left but horrible on the right.  I think it’s because the SchH vorous is on the left.  I also learned this week that Copper thinks food is a higher value then tugs.

Birthday Post

Saturday and Sunday of the flyball tournament went well.  We just ran Vada on warm ups so we could run her with the plexi glass on the side of the box to encourage her to turn tighter.  I video taped some of her box turns so I can watch them once I get time in slow motion to see if I can better understand what needs to be fixed.  I also ran Sonic on the A team and Prozac on the B team.  Sonic’s team took 3rd on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday in Division 1.  Prozac’s team took 2nd on Saturday and 1st on Sunday in Division 2.  I worked a bit on the dumbelll hold with Vada while we had a short break between races.  We did a few fronts and finishes too.  Once we got home I had all 4 dogs out loose in the house.  They were tired and got along pretty well.  Sonic thought he’d lay on me and hog me and Copper didn’t appreciate that.  That was about it.

Karl and I started a dance class last night too.  We had a blast!

Tomorrow I’m helping out at an agility seminar and auditing.  Bright and early!

Friday Night Flyball

Vada ran on the multibreed team tonight.  I thought she’d mostly do warm ups but she ran quite a bit.  Her box turn got better as she wore out.  She’s been having a false pregnancy the past week or so and she’s been lying around all the time so she’s got alot of energy stored up.  I forget how annoying she is around the house.  LOL  She did ok tonight.  She was splatting on the box at first but it got better as the night went on.  We ended up placing first!  The team’s veterans team placed first too.  It was a great night for the team!  I practiced down stays with Vada out in the racing lanes in one race where she only did warm ups.

Copper was feeling good and full of himself tonight.  He could see the racing area from his crate so he was barking alot.  He was barking at dogs walking by his crate that he could see too.  When I let him out to spend some time with him he was jumping on me and biting me and rolling around on the ground and biting me.  LOL  It’s very nice to see the old dog feeling so good and in such high spirits.  I felt bad that he knows what’s going on and doesn’t get to participate.  But it’s for his own good and soundness.  Tomorrow I’ll take him over to the racing lanes and let him bark at the racing dogs a bit.  That’ll wear him out.

Main Topic of Blog

I think I am going to use this blog to record information about my dog training.