Sept-Oct. 2014

It's not October yet, but so close I thought I will probably only get this post in before it's here and not much has been going on except a trial last weekend and another coming up this weekend.  Kiah and Keegs were a bit goofy during their runs at the trial most probably because we haven't been to a trial in a while and haven't been to classes in a couple of weeks.  I wasn't at my best either but we did have some great courses and lots of fun running them. 

Going to start Thor in AKC at a Match in Oct and a trial in late Nov. if he does well at the match.  I am nervous and excited to start running with him.  My biggest concern is the noise and commotion close to the start line, he get very nervous. I plan to take him up to the running area this coming weekend to see if I can get him used to it and calm him down.  More later......

October 24-26, 2014 -Kiah is retiring, she has had enough of agility trial stress so we will stick to classes, tracking and the fun things she loves.  I think Keegs is going thru his second childhood, he has a blast this weekend running around the courses doing his own thing.  Maybe it is the chillier weather but he sure is feisty.

Thor had his match on Sunday, what a fun, fun time running him. He did really well, there are things we need to work but we are beginning to read each other. It was a small match so not a lot of people or noise; Thor did so well with meeting new people and being friendly. Not a huge step but an improvement and I am so happy with it.  Pulled out of a trial with Kiah and Keegs so entered a CPE trial that weekend with Thor to give him a bit more experience before the larger AKC trial in late November.

October 12, 2014 - More training at the club today, it was a fun course that was left up from the run-thru on Friday.  Thor and I also did two runs during the run-thru, he did pretty well but not as much attention as I would prefer plus he kept going too fast and slid off the table.  Have to use "easy" with him like I did with Kiah.

Keegs and Kiah got to run at the course too on Sunday.  Kiah ran with a friend and I have asked her to run Kiah at an upcoming trial to see if I can get her out of her funk.  I think she is feeling better, hopefully the supplements are helping her with the arthritis in her ankles.

Thor pounds the a-frame when he gets on so I put a hoop to teach him to run it from the bottom.  I am hoping that will help. The club has only 1 so we ran it both ways so he can get his contact too.  Really pleased with his progress but still have a lot of work to do before we communicate really well.

October 5, 2014 - Thor and I did some training at the club today.  No course was setup but someone had setup some jumps; a line of 5 and a pinwheel with 3 jumps.  The a-frame with a tunnel underneath and the dog walk with a tunnel were still there from the Wednesday class.  There were also weaves set off by themselves.  It worked out extremely well, much better than I had expected.  Learned that I need to give Thor signals earlier for turns; he is starting to understand "go" to continue to the next obstacle and "out" to go out to a jump that is out of line.  We worked on front crosses, rear crosses and even did a "Ketschker" which he read like a pro.  I offset the jumps to make them more difficult and worked tunnel entrances.  So proud of him during the training session but still need to work with him on focus when we first start training.  Once he settles down he is great.