November classes & trials

With Thanksgiving and everything else going I have a lot to catch up with.

Classes - We didn't do classes the week of Thanksgiving but did have classes the week before.  In Keegs class we practiced distance and more rear crosses.  I can't get too far from Keegs or he will come to me so I know what we need to work on.

In Kiah's class we practiced front crosses and 270's, really a fun and productive class.

November 19th we went to a trial in Libertyville (WAGS), was not a good day for us.  I will say Kiah did most of the obstacles but in JWW she zoomed, it took me a while to get her back.  I think we finished the class over by almost 20 seconds.  In standard she was her pokey self again and finished that class over too.  It was a very disappointing day.

The Thanksgiving weekend trial at Cudahy was so much better.  Kiah went off course in Standard but we Q'd JWW on Saturday.  We also did T2B but were overtime both days so got whistled off.  On Sunday we would have Q'd in Standard but Kiah ran out of the ring and got whistled off.  She did come right back in and it was a great run so I am still really happy.  In JWW we got whistled off, I swished my hand in front of her face to get her attention because she was sitting there scratching; the judge thought I touched her.  I looked at the video and can see where the judge may have thought I did but it you look at it slow motion you can see I didn't.  I have the videos from this weekend and will post them at the end of this post.

Next weekend is our FCDTC trial and am keeping my fingers crossed we do as well.  Kiah has 1 Q each in JWW, Standard, and FAST now.  I would love to have at least one title to end the year with but if we don't that is OK too.  I feel good with our progress so far, as long as it continues and we are having fun I will be happy.

Classes the week of 11/7/11

Keegs pre-novice class-We worked on rear crosses tonight and do we have a lot of work to do on sending Keegs out ahead of me.  He stays with me too close and when I try to rear cross he stops right before the jump turns to look at me and can't figure out what he needs to do.  He is doing really well on his contacts so that is a good thing.  For some reason he just wasn't in much of a mood to do agility, perhaps it was something I was projecting since I was tired.

We didn't make it to class for Kiah, they were talking about black ice on the roads and I wasn't in the mood to mess with it for the 40-45 minute drive to class.  Next week the weather looks good so I should be able to make it to both classes. 

Sunday practice

On Sunday took Kiah and Keegan to the club to practice agility and obedience.  Kay took a couple of videos for me so I will post them later.  It was their last runs and Keegs was getting bored, he had done really well the run before.  I will have to remember with him not to overdue or he will begin to hate agility.  Kiah did well except for the handling errors on my part, had one area just couldn't send her right which you will see on the video.

Kiah did OK in the obedience practice, there were some others working their dogs in obedience while we were practicing.  We have only worked at home and once at the club in the agility area so it was really good for her and me to have the distractions.  I really need to work on keeping her close to me and paying attention.  I am having a tough time with getting her to stand from a sit so a lot more practice on those for us.

Here's the video from Sunday

Classes the week of 10/31/11

Keegan's pre-novice class-Last night we practiced lead-outs, front crosses and lead-out pivots.  On the first run Keegs did a zoom after the first couple of jumps and decided he wanted to play with the boxer puppy Addie.  Once he settled down he did really well except for the two times he wouldn't do the tire.  Not sure he has quite figured the tire out yet. No contacts were up so no contact work this week

Kiah's novice class-Great class, we did similar to what Keegs class did on Monday but more front crosses, pivots, etc. at the end of class we ran a full course.  Kiah did really well, a bit distracted at first but then got her focus.  I had a problem with one of the front crosses, couldn't keep her in the correct direction and missed a few times.  It is a nice break to focus on just handling skills and then try to use them while running the course.