July 18 & 19 Class Notes

Keegan's pre-novice class
Since Keegan zoomed so much last week in the new area, I probably over compensated on our first run by keeping really close and grabbing his collar.  The second run was better, he had settled down and I gave him more freedom.  We also worked on our weave entrances, he is doing much better.

Kiah's class
Just a little bit of a zoom on the first run after the tunnel but she came right back and we had a great rest of the run except I missed part of the course.  I guess it was one of those senior moments as my sister calls them or it was a part of the course I wanted to forget, LOL!  The second run I got it right and so did Kiah, an awesome run for her.  Words can't express how pleased I am with her and how she is progressing

The heat has been so bad we don't practice or play outside very long, can't wait for this heat wave to be over.  We are doing the Cream City Trial in New Berlin on Friday and Saturday, I sure hope they have good air conditioning.  We are running FAST, JWW and Standard both days.  Lots of people from the club will be there and will be bringing my 11-year old great niece along too!  My sister and her husband may come to watch us on Saturday and my niece with the rest of her family plan on coming Saturday too.  It is going to be a lot of fun.

I had planned to take Keegan but with the heat it is best for him to stay home, he will be well taken care of by my nephew's family, I really don't think he misses us at all.  Hopefully Sitka (Flat Coated Retriever) will be out of heat and they can play inside in the AC.

Thougts after watching video of WAG trial

After watching the video from Friday I find that I run trials differently then I do in class.  My expectations in classes is that Kiah will follow me since that is what she normally does.  It appears in trials I don't expect her to follow so I slow way down and wait for her.  I will have to test this at the trial this week to see if it makes a difference in her runs.  I also noticed I am not giving her commands as quickly as I should.  I love videos, it is such a help to actually see what I am doing, my mind goes blank during the run.  Two other things to remind myself; more praise (have a party as my trainer says :-)) and stop clapping so much (didn't even realize I was doing it). 

I am still really proud of the progress we have made; I know we will continue to learn and get better.

WAG 7/15/11 Tial Results

No Q's but I feel we are making progress.  We got there a bit later than I had wanted, the GPS sent us on a wild goose chase but we finally got to the trial just as they were getting ready to walk Novice JWW.  Got Kiah settled and went to walk, it was a nice flowing course.  The class was large so I had time to take Kiah out to potty and then we had some time for both of us to relax before we had to run.   Didn't really have any expectations just wanted it to be fun and no pressure on her.  I was so proud of her, she listened and came back to me, seemed like she was having fun too.  The Standard course had a lot of chances for off course obstacles and she did some but still was up and came back to me.  No total refusals except the weaves but I am still happy with her run.

I will post the video in a bit but I want to find another for comparison so you can see her progress.

OK, here is the video from WAG, a video from a class session and below them is a video of a couple of our spring trial runs.  Watch the differences in Kiah attitude and how she focuses in the different settings.  I hope some day that she will be as comfortable in a trial setting as she is at class.

At the end of the first WAG video my niece thought she was supposed to keep the camera on me, Kiah did do all of the last 3 jumps with just me yelling "go" for each jump.  I just couldn't keep up.

Obedience, focus session with JoAnne 7-14-11

Thank goodness for my trainers; JoAnne helped me realize that Kiah associated the "bottom" command with running the obstacle and not the 2-on-2-off position; made so much sense once she explained to me.  Just the few minutes we practiced Kiah started to understand but still need to practice so it will become natural to her. JoAnne also gave me some great advice when Kiah zooms; I need to yell "wait" since Kiah does so well with the "wait" command.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

July 11 & 12 Class Notes

Keegan's pre-novice class
As I mentioned earlier the club has expanded and we are now using the new area with turf.  It is much larger than the training area we were in previously.  The only time Keegan has been on the new turf was for a play time when we were working on the flooring.  Last night in class he thought it was play time again, he zoomed and ran around, had a great time.  Looks like a lot more focus & obedience training for him too!  Once he settled down he did pretty well, I can really see progress in his weaves and he is also doing pretty well on the dog walk contact. We do need to do more work on his a-frame contacts, he doesn't jump off but does not stop with his 2-on-2-off.  I don't have that equipment at home but now I can go to the club and practice when there are no classes.

Kiah's agility class
Kiah's class is tonight and I hope to get some video's of her in the new area.  I will add to this tomorrow.
Started off the night with a zoom, got her under control but she was still really flying when she hit the dog walk; ended up losing her balance and coming off the top.  She didn't seem to be hurt although she was pretty slow going through the weaves so maybe she was sore.  This morning she seemed to be just fine, thank goodness.  The rest of the runs she did really well and I am really pleased with her contacts on both a-frame and dog walk.

Tomorrow we will work on focus with JoAnne (my trainer who is helping me work out some problems, she is great) and Friday we go to a trial. My goal is to make this really fun for her but still keep her focus while we are going thru the course.   I have to keep my nerves in check and focus on her, keeping her up and happy.  Wish us luck.

7/8/11 Run-Thru

NO ZOOMS!!!!  WooHoo Kiah!!!!  She did pop out of the weaves around the 10th pole a couple of time so we worked on that and she did all of them twice. Other than that her errors were due to the handler :-)  We have a trial next Friday and I am excited to see if our training will carry over.  Have to remind myself to relax and keep it fun for both of us.

Keegs isn't quite ready for run-thrus yet but maybe by this fall.  Looking forward to taking both of them.

7-5-11 class

Our club is expanding and this weekend we put down the flooring (turf) in the new area, it looks really great.

Due to the holiday Keegan didn't have class on Monday so nothing to report for him.  Kiah had her class tonight on the turf, it was wonderful. She did zoom a couple of times; the first time she came back pretty well but the second time she didn't come when called.  I was able to catch her and she settled down for her last two runs.

She knows I can't give corrections at a trial or make her redo something but this is so much like a trial environment it may help keep her in line (one can only hope).

June 27 & 28 classes and notes

Keegan's pre-novice Monday Class - June 27th, 2011
I am really pleased with the progress Keegan is making during class.  One problem we are having is the teeter, the noise of the teeter doesn't seem to bother him. It appears to be the motion, he wants to jump off the teeter as it is going down.  I don't have a teeter at home but we do practice on the wobble board but that has limited motion.  I am confident with time and practice he will become more comfortable on the teeter.


He is starting to get weaves, Yay!!!!  The absolute best thing; he is proud of himself and is having fun.  Part of that may be all the treats he is getting, he loves string cheese  :-)


Kiah's Tuesday Class - June 28th, 2011
With Kiah it is hard to judge her progress since she behaves differently during class then she does at a trial.  I believe we are making progress with focus and personally feel that I am more confident in my handling.  We continue to work at home almost every night and I notice she is focusing on me more even when not training.

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I feel one of the biggest hurdle we need to overcome is to make it fun for her again.  I know she can be an awesome agility dog but I became very frustrated during trials in the past. Kiah is very sensitive (and stubborn) so she either zoomed or refused obstacles.  The longer we trialed the more frustrated I became and the more depressed and stubborn she was at trials.  Now I have to say she gets really excited when we go out to practice.  We do a 5 -10 minute obedience or agility session and finish with a fun play time or we will do a practice, play, practice, play session.  I am trying to bring that excitement into class and hope that it will carry over to trials. 
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Please feel free to make suggestions or comments about our training.