Puppies Due at Smoketrail!

I am so excited to say that little princess Hoax is expecting! She has been scanned by the wonderful Sam Wilkinson for four puppies which is the same as her previous litter- perfect size. Could have done with one or two more as we have such fab homes lined up!

She is definately bigger than last time but guess this is probably because her body already knows whats going on. She is also a bit saner (not much) but a bit. She just knows this time I am sure of it.

I have started buying all the things we will need and have just ordered the new vetbed (I like to have new bedding for each litter). In a few weeks time I will setup her whelping box area and den so she can get used to it. I think I will keep in in the same place I did last time as it worked really well and she was more than happy to have her puppies in there.

I love my little merlie and am missing working her but the others are keeping me busy. Happy Days :-)

Here is Linda Smiths Brooke: one of my fav Reef puppies x

Puppy Homes and poor Detour

So lets start with the positives. We have some fantastic homes lined up for these (maybe) pups, it lifts so much stress and worry associated with breeding to have such wonderful people intrested in a Smoketrail puppy. My previous litter each ended up with the most fab and dedicated owners and homes, they are worked, walked and loved and I couldnt be happier with Yvette, Tracy and Kim & Dan- you guys are awesome! From the looks of things this litter should be very lucky little babies too. I ask my prospective puppy owners to fill out a questionnaire so that I can really make sure i understand what kind of home it will be and what kind of puppy will best be suited for them. Everyone takes so much time to complete them and put thought and care into what they write I cant even say how much that it is appreciated.

Hoax however is as mad as ever... she surely is showing no signs!

Onto Detour, well it was all going so well. No bad experiences with other dogs and although we still had a long way to go before he was relaxed around other dogs at agility I think he was improving. Tues nights training and we were working a speed circle using jumps and tunnels, D comes out the tunnel- as he takes off for the jump- big black dog hits him side on, biting at his shoulder and knocking him out of the air and into the jump wing. The dog called straight back and D thankfully didnt react back, I went over to D but didnt fuss. I was so annoyed at the time that even though the owner was apologising profusely I couldnt just say it was ok. Once the dog was back under control I repeated the excersise with D throwing the toy over the jump that the incident happened on. Thank god that he was fine and wasn't even worried the second attempt- so proud of him! The next day and no obvious mental or physical scars although I think his fear of dogs at agility is going to be an ongoing battle. I have also asked one of our trainers to let the other owner know that D was ok.

I am so happy with my little black and white, he is a star and a sweet dog, I cant protect him from everything but I can help him move on from bad experiences and keep him loving working with me. I appreciate each of my dogs for everything they do for me. I have recieved so much joy and pleasure from my dogs, I so hope Hoax and Boos progeny, give their owners the that much too. That is what makes me a proud breeder :)

So again, a quick thanks to my current and prospective Smoketrail owners. Not forgetting everyone out there with a Boo baby- I have met a lot of you, and you are all fantastic!

xxx



Happy D driving back with his toy :-)



Hoax is home, Bowerlands & Life Lessons

Well Hoax is back from visiting Reef, Lauren, Matt and family in Devon. She looks so well and has obviously had a lovely time. Bowerlands (Laurens home) is so beautiful that I wish I was closer, but I don't think I would ever leave!!! I have booked a weekend away in February at Bowerlands (Hayloft) which I am so looking forward to, two of my lovely friends are coming along and we are planning on chatting, training our dogs and sampling the local pubs!

I love Laurens dogs and puppies and to have a chance to see and cuddle Reef and his newest offspring was amazing, it makes me even more excited than ever for puppies and I know how fantastic they are going to be. The socialisation that Laurens pups get is brilliant: with different people and dogs through the door all the time they can't help but be outgoing little things.

Mark Lakers Sports Psychology seminar was brilliant. It was about how to cope with the mental aspect of training and competition and rings so true to me. We also talked about negative influences and comments and how they affect you and your performance. 'Joe Bloggs' comment last year of how your dog doesn't jump well through a tight line (for example) sticks with you in your subconscious and pops up at the most inconvenient times and affects your performance. Things like that can also affect your life and decision making. My New Years Resolution is to try to surround myself with those wonderful friends who offer support and 'constructive critisism' and point out the positives. And try to build a little resistance to those who make negative comments either directly to myself or 'on the grapevine'. Also to be more aware of how my comments can affect a life or a handler for a long time to come. Labels truly build labels; if I tell everyone my dog is a pole knocker, everyone will believe my dog is a pole knocker... the next time I see that person and they ask how my 'clumsy' dog is: that reinforces my negative belief that my dog is a poor jumper. Mark has wonderful methods on how to change and improve your mental state and this in turn along with well written training plans, short term and long term goals will improve your performance in training and in the ring. If you havent attended one: do! It could well change your entire agility career!

Sports Psychology Seminar

The MOST exciting news!!!

We have decided to breed from my beautiful, fantastic little Hoax again. This time for a bit of a change I decided to use a different stud dog. I had no idea if she would accept something outside her 'pack' however it appears that she absolutely fell for the handsome man from Devon, and we are hopefully expecting puppies around the end of January 2011!

Introducing Hoax' new love... Reef (Darleyfalls No Feer)

Reef

I think this could be an awesome combination, Hoax is compact and nippy (if she was a car she would be a little sports coupe) she is  real highly strung lady (unless she is cuddling on the sofa). Reef is tall and lean and very powerful and is pretty much a big softie. Both dogs are very driven and bright. Myself and lovely Lauren really think there will be some extremely special puppies from these guys.

Have a peek at my site http://www.ourcollies.co.uk/ all my photos etc are all on there :-)

Hoax

Videos

Couple of vids of Detour at this weekends training day- he is just the most fantastic puppy :) Love you BabyD

Thanks Toni Dawkins for the training- fab as expected. Thanks Don for the videoing and thanks Yvette for taking the time to upload x

Little Update

The dogs are all really well and training is progressing with Baby D.

Detour
Well he just continues to be fabulous and brilliant. He is really starting to love agility now and his level of excitment around it is now having to be carefully monitored. A few woofs have passed by when i have been otherwise occupied so I will have to quickly deal with that. I really dont want a barking dog at agility again (after Boo). His weaves continue to improve all the time, just some more proofing to do now. He is single pacing through the open 2x2s but reverts to double when straight lines, I am just going to keep working both so he hs the oppertunity to pattern single striding. Jumping is looking good, his head is still quite often too high and if he is unsure about something new he reverts to bad jumping but mostly he stretches out well and selects some nice bounce strides for me. Turns are also going well, major and huge thanks have to go to Toni for showing me the cone wrap game (well its a game to D) he just LOVES this and gets so much drive for his turns and jumping. Contacts are still a work in progress but have improved since last time! He is so willing and fun how can I not totally adore him!

Hoax
Not much to report, we are working on more extreme angles into weaves and independance over contacts, also her 'here' which should draw her to me past obstacles. She is improving all the time clever little merle. She has however now come into season so  rest for the little lady.

Boo
I have been trying to get Boos athletic abilities up so have been working some more grids with him and also working on his contact performance which as far as independance goes has deteriorated a lot since i havent really been training him. He is so funny with his bend grids, he really struggles with them.We have also been playing the cone game to remind him of and strengthen his wraps. I dont think Boo will ever really turn well but if he can prepare for the turn more efficiently then it has to be easier on his body.

Kaos
Yes KAOS I dont speak about him much here as he is actually Nics (hubbys) dog. He has however been pulled out of retirement for a good friend of ours Neill to work. Neill is  relative newcomer to agility but her enthusiasm and excitment for agility is exactly what Kaos loves. They have spent time bonding and working together and hopefully will start competing together next season! Kaos feels so special to be working again!

Tonight I am adoring my dogs and family!


Kaos being spolit at Neills place



Good Trainers

There have been lots of blogs lately talking about good students and good/ bad teachers. I have been having a think about this and wondered what I think makes a good trainer...

I have gone away from training sessions feeling negative sometimes and always assumed it was more about me than the trainer but i dont actually think thats always the case. Flip comments from a trainer can really affect a student, comments like... 'he's jumping badly', 'that turn was wide' or 'his contacts are a bit dodgy tonight', 'he is sniffing a lot today' are all damaging... WHEN NOT followed by a solution or suggestion. If the trainer said... 'he is sniffing a lot today, why dont you crate him during class next week so he cant rehearse this while waiting for his turn'. then even if you leave training with a less than perfect performance you can at least feel positive in a plan to move forward.

I also find some trainers don't like to share failures. Showing everyone your awesome contact performance is all fair and well, but it is actually much more helpful to share your problems and progression along the way. It also makes you more 'human' and attainable.

Finally don't ask too much of your students, if they are stuggling to grasp the basics, dont throw too much at them... it just makes them feel that they can never reach the standard expected.

Enjoy training and look for the dogs/ handlers good points, they all have them and sometimes a little praise goes a long way!

Of course it couldn't last...

So, after our great successes last week, this week has been a bit more of a challenge...

Firstly contacts, as i suspected switching to a longer plank was a problem with D, he stuck to his two strides criteria and ended up leaping off the plank at the end. I experimented with different heights for the plank and different distances and finally started to get some good ones with him restrained bout 15- 20ft away and a very slightly raised plank. See vid below. I am worrying about them a bit though as he has had TONS of failiures and therefore a lot of non rewards (negative punishment). I feel frustrated as I cant break down the performance into smaller chunks and make it easier for him, have given myself two more training sessions on the low plank, if he still has such a high failure rate I think I might turn back to two on two off, it simply isnt fair for him otherwise.

His weaves are going well, we continue to proof them in different enviroments. However he is still double footing the poles. I have opened the 2x2s up at home now and he still opts to double step the poles... hmmm all I can do is keep trying and hope he finds single pacing and picks this for more comfort, also a bit of proprioception work will help.

However, his jumping is looking good, he is starting to extend and stride out now and creates some lovely shapes over jumps. He still jumps badly at times but I am trying to revisit grids more often and it is showing great improvents in D. He is also really seeing the fun in it all now... the odd woof escapes from his mouth when he is watching a really fun dog work...

I must say though, sometimes i think blogs get misinterpruted. Please dont for a minute think that I am in any way disapointed in D or any of our training, he is the loveliest dog I have trained, he throws me challenges, but every dog does. I absolutely adore him, his sweetness and desire to please really are a joy. Besides which... he gives great cuddles :)

Hope yesterdays not far away...

Well I think yesterday was one of the best agility days I have had with Detour so far! What a star he was.

Finally we went to twelve poles on his 2x2s, after a few failed attempts.. ok a lot of failed attempts I started to wonder if he would ever get it and if I would have to split back to two set of six (which he had been awesome with) finally he weaved the full 12! Whoo clever boy. I am not giving him hard entries while he gets his head around this, just letting him find some comfort within that big ole set of poles.

His running contacts were also looking great, I raised the plank again and think he is still striding well through the contact. The main concern I have is that he seems to have picked his criteria as two strides on the plank, when we go to a full length DW this will obviously have to change. I dont have a longer plank here at all and dont really know what to do... but for now he is fabulous.

Finally we had class last night.. he was fast! Much quicker than he has been before and really enjoyed himself, so proud of my boy. I broke down most of the sequencing we did as he hasnt done straight lines to turns yet, only turns into straight lines and I dont want him to either lose speed or turns. I hope he keeps this enthusiasm but we will have to see!

Admiring Munchy!

The grass is dewy in the mornings and the dogs come back soaking from their walks. I love seeing them dashing around herding and just being collies.

I took a few shots this morning, I am no photographer but like to see happy faces :)

I also met a lovely lady with two collies, when we started chatting I found out that she knows Yvette and is a massive admirer of Munch the red merle I bred in our Smoketrail Litter! I had Hoax and Detour (Munch's Mum and Brother) with me so pointed them out too. It is always so nice when you meet someone who loves a dog you have bred, so today I am a very proud Nana!!!

What makes a good trainer?

We trained with Toni Dawkins on Friday, I LOVE to train with Toni so worked both my dogs and I was not dissapointed...

Toni had a huge bunch of G7 handlers, some Novices and one or two very new handlers, as always she engaged every single person, made them feel worthwhile and shared ideas, knowledge and even some funny turn things ;-) Every person said the sessions flew by and they all took new ideas home with them. There are many people running training days and so on, but not all of them are asked to revisit time and time again. Toni is so likable, has so many great training methods and knows how to enertain a training group. I loved watching how much everyone enjoyed it.

I was really pleased with both BabyD and Hoxey and have put a little vid of DD on here (I am wearing a black top with white strips down the side) he was lovely but dont be fooled, he looks a lot faster on video than he is ha ha :)

The things I really took away with Detour is: I can nearly work everything I need with one jump: Great Go Ons- Throw toy be loud! Wraps: throw toy tightly round wing- be quiet! Pivots: Work far wing of jump. Also using a cone/ wing for startlines. Use 'D' for keeping him tight on a wrap!

Hoaxey: Stay Close for pivot turns (using far wing again), keep distance for wraps. Quiet for turns. Loud for Go Ons. Drive the lines and dont hang on the turns for too long.

There was so much more aswell but I dont want to give all Tonis secrets away ;-)

Enjoy the vid (also on here is Becca & Dish, Susie & Oz & Anna & Ref)

Bad Maths

2x2 equals 12!!!

Ok well it doesn't and I'm not quite there yet, but on my way. Detours drive for them is upping all the time and I am really impressed with the method.

Here is a video on two sets of six uprights, the second set is the 2x2s and the first is a solid base. He is much more comfortable through the second set. I think the 2x2s have a little more space between them and this just is easier for the dogs. I always think that dogs in the States look so much more fluid in their weaves and I am sure the wider spacings are preferable to ours.

His footwork is pretty shabby in the weaves but I think as he gets more confidence this will improve, also I will open the 2x2s up a little once we are on twelve poles so he can single stride (hopefully)!

Still Lovin' the 2x2s!

Winter is Here

Its soooo cold now! Winter is definately here and the motivation to go out in the cold to go training is hard to find.

However I am so pleased with how both my dogs are working. Detour continues to improve, his focus is really good and I have finally got him back working in a class enviroment, he is quite nervous about it but will hold his waits and play well even with that. 2x2s and contacts are going well. I was really pleased that when we went to the park yesterday, he kept focus and weaved six straight poles there too! He cant however stick to criteria with his running contacts and I cant do any weaves as they are using channels so, I find myself doing very little. The first week I managed about six jumps in a curve and this week just two straight lines, but, the experience of a class is invaluable! I think although I find the whole thing hard work and quite dissillisioning at times, it is worth it, and Detour needs it.

Loved this little vid of Baby D playing- he is so cute!


Hoaxey is a star at the moment and I am really enjoying working her, she is so much fun and really is so wonderful right now. Ha Ha, just re read that and think you all got the drift that I am having fun with her!

Toni Dawkins training Friday with both dogs- cant wait!

Heres Ds contacts at the mo

All Good Here!

So make the most of these videos as I know it won't last! :)

The dogs are working really well at the moment, here are a few more videos.

Detours 2x2s have been looking good but he started to slow down, I think I was overchallenging him and I need to try to remember not to add too many criterion at once. This was my morning session before I had the 'think' thanks Jo ;-) He was much faster by the last session (which I didnt film)



His RCs are looking good. The reason I have gone back to a flat plank after it being quite raised is that I got more and more jumping as it got higher. Looking back I think although front feet were ok, his rear foot placement was incorrect. and he was bouncing through with his rear feet instead of striding (split feet). So I have upped my criteria on the flat plank since yesterday (have a look and you can see he splits his stride with front feet but bounces his rear feet). His running ones were all good today though :)



Finally I worked some entries and proofing with Hoax and Boo- didnt think to film Hoax but here is the gorgeous Boo :)

Few Videos

As requsted I finally pulled some video from my camera- it's all I have got but hope you enjoy!

The animals went in 2x2...

Well, Detour did anyway!

I have started training 2x2 weaves with BabyD and I am finding it fascinating. I love how he works through each challenge I present him with. The whole point of the 2x2s is to allow the dog to fail and to work through problems, once the dog understands the behaviour you will see increased confidence and speed.

We have struggled with a few things but I think I am finding it harder than he is. He isn't a high kind of dog in general so to keep coming back from failiures is what I find tough. He will always try again but slightly slower, a lot of his weave performance is quite steady. But heres the intresting bit, you can see the speed increase quite a lot after just one or two sucesses! This is almost the tough bit, as soon as you start to see that understanding and high success rate then you give them a new challenge (more movement from you, rear cross, extra poles, jump before weaves etc) so just as soon as I see him start to drive he gets a new challenge and slows up again. I think that as his understanding of how to weave improves, his speed will increase too.

Every now and again, I feel myself getting 'sticky' with something to allow him to succeed, e.g my forward motion pulls him out of the poles or makes him skip some so I end up getting a bit static. However I can't really totally 'perfect' that at this stage otherwise I think I would be hanging around on four poles for a long time, I just have to make sure he succeeds MOST of the time and move onto other and new challenges.

Today I just added two more poles as a slightly open gate at the end of the four straight poles. So he is almost weaving six poles straight up from pretty much any entry after about nine days (prob less then thirty minutes of weave pole training). Considering I am new at this and D is a wuss I'm so pleased with BabyD.

The Trials and Tribulations of training Detour instalment II part IV (final)

“Get up, get up and get down… jump around”.


It’s all very well training your contacts and foundations well but as at least 60% of a course is jumping I thought we had better make sure he can do this too.

Not a natural, Detour can be a little ‘gazelle’ like. He has plenty of power but without the knowledge of how to jump uses that power to go up instead of forwards.

I won’t go into specifics but if you have never attended a jumping foundation session do it now! It is not only invaluable, but totally necessary for the dogs safety and longevity.

I have always worked little grids with D and have no doubt that without them he would really struggle with his jumping. The Grids equal value and confidence for jumping. Detour loves to jump as much as he loves tunnels and contacts, for a dog which struggles with it physically and lacks confidence this is quite something. Why does he love it so? Because the grid work builds so much value for the jumps and it gives him drive to do more and more! Specifically for D, the set point and ladder/ extension grids have been wonderful and have improved him so much.

Detour made a great choice one time early on in his jumping education. I was running a short sequence (not a grid) and he tried to take a stride between two jumps and ended up crashing the second jump. I reset him and fully expected him to shorten his stride this time. Instead he chose to lengthen his stride and bounced the gap instead! This was such a great choice, for a sensitive small dog, it showed me his value and confidence with jumping was pretty good. I was so very proud!

His jumping is improving all the time, he still gets caught out at times and jumps much worse when he is unsure about where to go. I am constantly amazed by how much our handling affects a dogs jumping style, unsure dogs jump poorly. For different reasons, usually because they are looking over their shoulders… but this is a whole other article!

I have started to move him up to full height much more quickly than I have done with previous dogs for a few reasons. I have always stuck for a long time on medium height jumps when I start to add full height, the dogs opt to go under/ crash jumps.

Knowing what I do about jumping now I think this is for a few reasons. A/ Not enough value in the actual hurdle (dog isn’t looking for them). B/ The dog doesn’t know how to prepare body to jump therefore challenge is too great. Next, Detours training is little and not very often, at this age, Boo had been attending two classes every week plus training days and probably had about forty hours of agility under his belt, I would be surprised if D has more than ten, therefore I need to keep challenging him to actually move forwards and for us to not drift, train every now and again, gaining very little. I find it is very easy to become static when training your agility dog- maybe it’s just me… I like comfortable!

Even though Detour has only done a tiny amount of sequencing (no more than about six sessions) he does have a foundation of jump training (albeit not as much as he should). He has had a chance to work a single full height jump probably once a month (one attempt each time) since he was about thirteen months. With this, he has played grids every now and again he seems to cope well. He is now fifteen months old and I gave him a new challenge this week. A bounce grid into a tunnel, straight into a 17 “ jump onto a 26” jump set about eight feet away from this. He worked so well and shifted his weight back to allow him to take the full height jump on a bounce. I was so proud of my boy!

Overall I think I am asking much more of Detour than I did with my previous two at the same age. If I sequence something new then I will keep the jumps on medium for now but I am keen that he doesn’t just learn to ‘blither’ over the jumps. For the first time I am not scared about a dog being slow, he needs to be slow to be thoughtful and I always see more speed once he understands. And if he comes out a little steady, it will be quite nice to have a dog I can keep up with for once!

All in all the last few months with Detour have been fascinating and wonderful. He is full of energy and a determination to succeed and please. We may never set the world on fire but with our own aims and targets, we will keep improving: failing and succeeding and learning an awful lot along the way…

Next stop 2x2 weaves!

The Trials and Tribulations of training Detour instalment II part III

Cool Runnings

So, where on earth do I start. This is the first time I have discussed publically the fact I am attempting to train Detour running contacts. I think I have shied away from telling people as I really do not think I have a good chance of successfully training them and I so hate to fail publically. Also I like to discuss them with fellow competitors without bias. However, a failure doesn’t make you any less of a dog trainer, in fact I think we need to try new things, succeed and fail to truly keep moving forwards.


Detour having a rest after a training session



I decided to try training these for a few reasons. Firstly I have successfully trained two dogs stopped contacts with nose target method, they are fast and accurate and at four years old Hoax has never missed a contact. So why change? Honestly… I am a bit bored of doing what I have always done. New challenges motivate me so why not try it, there really isn’t anything to lose. I know that I can always retrain Detour to a stop if I want to. Secondly, I didn’t think D with all his sensitivity would be keen on shoving his nose on the floor and being lifted/ manhandled on contacts, I also thought he was liable to be ‘too’ thoughtful with his targets and not have that mad drive to throw himself down the plank. I guessed if we could create a smooth running action instead that it would be much more motivational. Leading onto the final reason, health. A smooth running contact has to be physically less impact on a dogs joints than coming to a sharp stop (especially on the AFrame). The force on a dogs carpus and shoulder joints must be huge. If you get a chance have a peek at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naV09_uRpmI which is a smooth running AFrame and compare it to this nose target one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWBLbydx8nE&feature=related  

So, having made that choice where do you start. Well Sylvia Trkman has a training system on her website for it but here’s how it has gone for me.

Firstly we had to get Detour running a flat plank to his toy without jumping. At twelve months old however he would ‘bounce’ along the ground to finally pounce on the toy, none of which is suitable to obtains that flat smooth running action. At this point he would still jump off the end of a flat plank on the ground. You wouldn’t expect them to, but try it sometime, you will see that naturally they want to launch off the end.

Because of Detours action to a toy I switched to food in a bowl as a target at the end. If he jumped at the end of the plank I would say “Uh oh” to mark the incorrect performance and call him off the food bowl, sometimes he would get the food but I wouldn’t worry just wouldnt praise him at all. He wouldn’t run at full speed to the bowl but at least he started to get the idea. For a good contact with no jumping I would run up and praise and give him extra food in the bowl. For a quick, great contact I would go crazy with praise. I knew that the speed over the contact was an issue, I needed him running at full pelt so now he understood to try not to jump, we went back to the toy.

All was looking good until I started to raise the plank, we then started to get jumping again. I watched him carefully and saw that he didn’t seem to know hw to collect his body to hit the end of the plank, his front feet would hit the contact high and where his back feet should hit the middle of the contact he actually got off balance and would do a little ‘skip’ with his back legs then extending and ending up jumping.

I made the decision to take him away from his contacts totally for a few weeks and work on proprioception instead. He worked on reversing, balance ball, wobble board etc until he seemed to have greatly improved.

Back to training and he is going well, we have had setbacks (ear infection affected balance and we got jumping again). He is now running a slightly raised plank and I want to make sure he has got this before we move it higher.

Training running contacts has huge ups and downs, one day you think you have cracked it, the next it looks as though you have never trained the dog. You have to be good at analysing and working through problems and with very few dogs successfully trained on them in this country you don’t have a lot of references. You also need access to a plank, space to do it and the chance to do them little and often, there is a rare day gone by when I haven’t trained them. It certainly isn’t something I would recommend to just anyone. After all this work I suspect we still may not ever get there and all this, will just be chalked up to experience… but you never know… it just might work!

The Trials and Tribulations of training Detour instalment II part II

'Starting’ off on the right foot

In the meantime I was having an issue with Detours startlines. His waits at home and in the park were really great, but were weak in his classes. I know now that the stress of working with some of the dogs in the class were seriously affecting this and knew this was the cause at the time but hoped we could work through it.



Detour holding position in the face of temptation



I had spent a long time proofing his waits so felt quite frustrated that it didnt look like I had even taught him one when we were in class.We had played the 123 game, crate games, dealing with distractions/ motion. It seemed that he could deal with the self control side of it but not the nerves.

One training class his waits were non existent. I took him into the park the next day. His waits were terrible! Intresting as the prior park visit they had been great. It seems that the stress that caused him to break at training had transferred into stress in the actual behaviour, regardless now of location. Fantastic news as it meant I could fix them!



I worked on building distance from BabyD slowly. Firstly I worked on self control in holding position so he could understand the behaviour without dealing with his personal issues of me leaving him alone. I also at this point decided to work on his sit instead of stand as I thought it may make him feel less ‘exposed’ and with me not having to be so picky with foot movement meant I could reward more. So, with D in a sit I would try to tease and cajole him out of position, could he hold it with me bringing food to his nose, how about a toy almost in his mouth… once we had this in the can we built his distance up, slowly his confidence returned and he was once again holding a startline beautifully. I still think under great stress he won’t be ok hold position for me to lead out, and for now I simply won’t ask him to.

Waiting for his release while 'evil' Mommy holds food on his nose

An Alternative Route Part II

So I haven't written in detail on training Detour for quite a while. I thought it was time for an update. There are four sections to it and I have decided to post a section every few days so as not to bore anyone. Here we go.

Detour Herding the pack

The Trials and Tribulations of training Detour instalment II

How emotional is training your dog for agility? For me, it is a very emotional time. We have fears, hopes, highs and lows. With Detour I can honestly say I have rarely felt low with him, always taking away a positive from training sessions or at least trying to find a way to turn a poor session into a step forwards.

A raw deal
In my previous article I mentioned working Detour through the stress he experienced with barking, lunging dogs. I was happy to work through this, as I know that he will have to deal with that behaviour at competitions. I hoped that he would realise that regardless of the other dogs behaviour, he was safe and could stay focused on his work.

Unfortunately a few bad experiences caused me to rethink. The first time one of these ‘high’ dogs managed to get free, it ran over and nipped Detours face. Instead of making a fuss which would have reinforced any fear or aggressive response I encouraged Detour into a game of tug. I knew he hadn’t been hurt and by distracting him it helped him deal with a scary situation. We had a few more similar occurrences and dealt with them well.

Then, I had a ‘bad Mom’ moment one week at training. The ‘high’ dog involved in most of the instances managed to break out of its collar during D starting a sequence, knocking into D who just flattened it nipped him while he was on the floor. After this, I couldn’t get D to do any agility or even play with me, he was just too nervous. I popped him back in the car and waited till it was just myself at the venue. I took Hoax out of the car and worked her for a short time. I knew D would get a little high and jealous. I got him back out and did about two minutes just tug games and a few tunnels then put him back in the car while he was still excited. I wanted his last agility experience to be positive.

On the way home I felt very low. I can’t blame the other dogs owners as they do all they can to keep the dog on a lead and protect the other dogs. However, I know how easy it is to knock a dogs confidence or create an aggressive dog, and felt terrible. I had knowingly put my puppy in that situation, and instead of teaching him that barking was not a response to be feared, was actually proving the opposite. I decided from that point that I would not work him in classes that contain dogs that are liable to physically hurt him, it isn’t fair on any dog to deal with that and I still haven’t completely lost my guilt in not protecting him more at the start of his career. Once a plan had been formulated I felt a million times better. Our next trip to agility was fast, fun and built more confidence in D than I thought possible in such a short few minutes. What a dude :)

Prestbury Park happy and sad

Prestbury Park is a lovely show, beautiful venue, well organised and pretty close to home. I was determined to handle Hoaxey properly and for once did so. She worked really well coming 2nd in pairs with Carol & Mali and winning both her individual classes 1-7 jumping and 4-7 Agility. Couldnt have asked more of her that day.

Sadly though this season, esp last few shows I have lost my groove with Boo. Admittedly on the run up to the semis with Hoax I havent done any training sessions with him bar the odd grid but it still makes me sad. I try to run him like I always have but forget things. He doesnt turn like Hoaxey and simply doesnt 'do' steering from behind which Miss H does so nicely. I used to do bizarre things on course with Boo like layering a set of weaves and seesaw so that he knew where to go, I quite simply dont see those anymore and forget that I pretty much need to front cross everything to get a good turn. Boo's greatness comes in the independant stuff he can do- when I forget that it all falls apart.

The good news is I can get him back into training now and hopefully remember and refresh in my mind and responses how Mr Boo runs, although how I am going to find time to keep running my household, raising our toddler, caring for five dogs and trying to train three for agility including one baby dog I have no idea... ideas on a postcard please or even better... lifestyle remote control so I can pause everything right now and go off and train my dogs... :)

Olympia Semis :(

Hoaxeys Olympia semi didn’t start until 11.30am with the morning warm up so we took a leisurely drive to Stoneleigh feeling a bit nervous but excited!


With all the best medium dogs in the country strolling around including the current world champion I felt proud to belong to that group regardless of whether we qualified or not. I really wanted to show what Hoax can do though.

Warm up first and it was a nice fast course with a few little traps, Hoaxey did a neat, quick run with trained contacts. I should have remembered that it is fatal to do well in the warm up! This was also the first time she had seen walls and wishing wells and she didn’t even blink!

The semi course as below was flowing and fast with a few tempting traps. The dogs were all timed and the commentator would announce their times as they reached the seesaw so the crowd knew if they were on for the top ten. Natasha and Dizzy ran sixteenth and had reached the seesaw in just over fifteen seconds!

I set little Hoaxey up on the start line and stopped and looked back at her over the well. Her chin dropped onto the floor as per her startline routine I waited for a few seconds, looked at those blue eyes and released, she streaked off the startline and I could tell she was on form, tight wrap into the first pipe tunnel. I scooped her across my feet and watched her flying straight into the weaves, tight wing wrap at number eight and collect after the tunnel, she went sprinting past me towards the seesaw and I could hear the commentator “this is a very fast little dog… reaching the seesaw in about sixteen seconds…” now all I had to do was drive the line and pull into the tunnel. Hoax forte was tunnel pulls, something we have practised a lot. I gave Hoax her verbal “steady” on the jump before and started to pull her, I could feel her start to pull with me and I relaxed and started my cross to the AFrame… suddenly she picked up on my slight movement and all too quickly she had flicked back and picked up the wrong tunnel entrance. That was it, the end of Olympia dreams for this year and my fault completely.

However, I couldn’t have been more proud of my merlie. She held her own against the best dogs in the country (and world). The speed of the best mediums is incredibly fast now. To give you an idea, the winner was Natasha and she ran the course in 28.? seconds. With 20 obstacles on the course including three contacts and a set of weaves that’s quite impressive, the next two dogs ran at just over 29 seconds.

I went home feeling gutted but fabulous too, I am really feeling like me and Hoaxey are getting connected now and regardless of our blip, still am amazed how far she has come this year.

Nerves

Just two days left before Hoaxeys Olympia semi final and I am quite looking forward to it. I am a tiny bit nervous but not anything really. When I ran Boos semis I would get nervous weeks before, I dealt with my nerves just fine but they were sure there.

I think it was a bit of an expectation thing. I knew Boo was good enough to qualify and that if I could keep it together he probaby would (and did). With Hoaxey she could do anything, sometimes she forgets her weave entries, or even her final position (which she does know)! Sometimes we simply aren't on the same wavelength. I really don't expect to qualify. I am so proud to be there and will give it my best shot but I know if we meet the wrong course or if my attention slips for even a second we will be out of it.

The medium dogs attending are all very good dogs, who knows who will end up qualifying and who just won't make it- I am sure you could pick out the consistent winners who we all expect to make it and surely deserve to.

Guessing my next post will let you all know!

BFN and good luck to everyone at semi finals this weekend xxx

Motivation

Over the last few weeks I have found it difficult to find the motivation to go to training, with the dark rainy nights I just don't really feel like going out. I have however had the chance to do a few bits with all of mine at a friends venue which has just been fantastic.

Nothing very exciting to report, Hoaxey continues to get better and better. We managed to get Ed at the CSJ final but in the rain, wind and a non Hoaxey type course I had a feeling we wouldnt make it round, she was quick and confident though so I was very happy :)

Finally I had a chance to do what I have wanted to for ages with D, some drive to tunnels work and just simple jumping speed work. I dont really get the chance to do this anywhere else and he really needs some confidence and to just have fun. That he did, when I went to pop him back in the car he lay down in the middle of the agility field and just wanted more jumping!

I know that BabyD isnt going to be ready to work competitions for a long time yet but thats ok, we arent in any rush- I am having great fun with my lad, thats what it's really all about!

No shows left really!

So I seem to have not entered any shows for the end of the season! I have done nothing since Agility Club and have one KC show left  for the year which is Sunday of Prestbury Park! I don't really mind as Hoaxey has done more than I expected this season. I still have the CSJ final, Olympia semis and Thatcham UKA show so more than enough to keep me focused. After this I hope to have Hoax spayed, I am a bit worried as she is due in season around now so may end up missing my semis after all!

She has been working really well in training, flying around and turning tightly, she is still much slower in the ring and although I find it a little difficult I am trying not to worry and keep working her consistently and smoothly in the hope that the confidence and therefore speed will come.

Detour is so lovely to train, he really is the sweetest, kindest, cleverest dog. He might never set the Agility world on fire. Boo is getting older and me and the boys might never be at the top, but who cares, I adore my Booman and my Boobaby and they give me more by just being my dogs then all the winning in the world.

Champ Classes here we come!

had a great few days. Friday I took little Hoaxey to UKA as she had qualified for the Tug E Nuff final, she was a total star and ran neat and clear. It was good enough for 1st place! We got a fantastic trophy, rosette and prize money! I then took her onto Agility Club show, I only did two runs with her here, teams and G4-6 jumping, clever girlie ran clear in both. She won the G6 jumping which gives her the last win towards G7! I am so happy as there are no more champs this year that I might be tempted to enter so I can work on things like her weave independance and contact performance over the winter in the hope we have some extra control next season :)

Detours training is going well. Today I started some box work with him and he is reading my body language pretty well, driving ok and slowing when I do, he is a real sweetheart to train and works hard to get things right. Contacts are going pretty brill at the mo... they are a lot of work but I am so enjoying it ;-) I do love my little Boo baby, he really is a lovely, lovely boy.

Our garden is almost done now, we are setting up a seperate dog area to the main area as we are fed up of our lawn being in such a state. The dogs will still be allowed in the main garden, just when supervised and when it isn't wet outside- I am so excited to get it done in time for Ethans BDay party this weekend!

Feeling Odd

Well today I am off to my first ever individuals final with Hoax. (Tug E Nuff) I am nervous as I never really know what she will do and if we will be 'on' that day. When I work her I have to be 100% on the ball or she picks up on it and gets nervous and steady or just gets Ed very quickly LOL!

I also have Ethan with me which makes it a bit harder as I worry about him too.

Oh well, think I will just have to go and enjoy it and do what we do!

Semi Finals here we come

Hoaxey qualified for the Medium Olympia semi finals at Rugby show! She was a little star on Sunday and ran really nicely in both her classes. She won the jumping (I always like Don Curtis' courses), and came 2nd in the Olympia qualifier. The top two qualify for the semis at the end of September!

I didn't expect this much of her this year so don't expect to qualify for Olympia itself but I am so proud of her and am looking forward to going and competing against the best medium dogs in the country :-)

Yay for my sweet little girl. She is working so nicely at the moment, just a few weaknesses we really need to work on- will worry about them over the winter.

Oh Lucky me!

I forget to mention sometimes how blessed I feel to own and live with dogs. They are loyal, sweet, funny creatures who entertain, dole out tons of affection and complete our little family.

I can't imagine life without them really, our house would be an emtpy place.

This post is just to remind us all how lucky we are :-)

Happy Days

Well no shows since my last post but I did have some fabulous training with Tasha Wise. Anyone who hasnt trained with this lady is missing out. Tash was brilliant, she has always been good but I took away just so much from my session this time.

We started with an hour with Detour and Cute, some flatwork picked up some turn weaknesses in D and Toni got a good proofing excersise for pivot turns. It was great to see D driving down a line to Tash, he wouldnt bounce the distances Cute did but thats fine, he jumped beautifully!

We then went on to Minx and Hoax, they were actually good girls, we did some tricky stuff and Tasha gave me a great few handling tips and reminded me of some stuff I knew but had let get slack.

I have a list of things to work on and am really excited to have a game plan again. Training with Toni and Minx always motivates me to work specifics with Hoax, and Tash pointed out some things that we can improve on. I even managed to fit a pub lunch in with Toni afterwards so we could have a natter and write down everything Tash had said. Fantastic day- wish I could do it more often!

Ok so I have been a bad blogger...

Such a long time since I blogged so must get off my butt and add some updates.

My dogs have been working well although Detour has had time off for foot injuries. He still is doing very little agility wise but what I do know is that I do not have a naturally skilled jumper on my hands. He puppy boings over jumps instead of a nice stretched arc. I am not worried as Boo used to do that and fixed himself eventually. With the jumping foundation work i know about now I can help D figure out how to gather that body together to jump proficienly. He is a year old now and an absolute sweetheart.

Miss Hoaxey is actually feeling pretty fab... at training this week, I think she was actually, dare i say it, the most consistent dog! She has started to get better at shows aswell, we had our first two wins towards G7 last week and the week previously. I was probably the most proud of that first win as our best achievment so far as she worked really nicely, quick but listening and neat stopped contacts and still won by a few seconds. We are so lucky in mediums (not counting G7) that we can stop our contacts and still get good places. I think in Large G6 classes you mostly can't? I certainly remember all of Boos wins in the old Intermediate classes were absolute guns blazing runs and won by maybe 0.3 of a second or so.

However saying that a few assumptions around rings are driving me crazy.

A/ It is easy to win in mediums. Ok, so in the lower levels if you have a decent dog you will win up quite quickly, the classes are smaller therefore there will be fewer competitive clears so you do have a better chance of winning up. Once you hit G7 there are more dogs with running contacts than in large and the courses... hmmm

B/ If you have a medium BC you have it easy, have you tried running one? No airtime= no thinking time.On top of this a lot of medium courses are built without thought of the BCs in them. Some of it is so tight that it is below legal distances and off courses can happen in a bounce stride.

C/ There are just a few good medium dogs in the country... So not counting the ones that are still working their way up through the grades (watch this space for possible storming mediums out next year from Tracy Flower, Lauren L and Sian Illingworth to name a few). We have the current world champions Tash & Diz to compete against- (what other heights can say that)? Toni & Minx, (who won into senior at old Large heights), Sian & Jazzy, Helen and that amazing Kelpie, Heather Mcleans BC, Stuart Miltons two quick BCs, Jo Frasers very fast tiny collie, Neat nippy OBay shelties etc etc etc. I am sure I have forgotten some amazing ones but this isnt just a few ay?

Anyway, I am proud to have a medium and can honestly say I have worked just as hard, if not harder in some ways than I had to with a large dog.

Quadpaws & Spring UKA

Ok, so it's our own show but if you didn't go you missed out on a fantastic week, waking up each morning to the sun rising over the river, four rings so very social and friendly, some evening training sessions and even a 'Masters' class for the most competitive of us. Evenings spent swimming the dogs (some even swimming with their dogs) and sipping wine or having a BBQ. Dogs were good with little Hoaxey qualifying for the Tug-e-Nuff final and CSJ final in top place in each :) she also won up to Senior in performance in the few runs I didnt do NFC :) Pleased to be home and comfy again... next stop Thames show!

Tunbridge Wells

Dogs were fantastic but it was just not meant to be!

Hoax was the closest, she only had two runs and a knocked pole in each but brilliant runs. So we werent clear but she is running almost as fast as training now, she still didn't have that extra sharpness and speed that she has in training but I was so happy that she is getting there- yay for my little merlie :)

Vyne

Dogs were on form but I wasn’t perfect the first few runs. Boo popped a pole in Champ Ag and I pushed Hoax out the weaves in her Olympia class. I set off to my next few runs with a new determination to improve my handling.

Champ jump and Boo ran so well, just a hesitation before a jump cost us a 5R. Onto G3-5 medium jumping and Hoaxey did a nice run, I nearly lost her in the tunnel so we had a big turn but we still ended up winning the class! Shortly after that we went onto G5-6 Agility, a tight course with some handling needed. She worked well again but did have to stop dead before a jump as it was the wrong one- honest Hoaxey came round it and finished the course to win that too!!!

This takes us into G6 and I am so, so happy. We still have yet to run a ‘neat’ clear and her speed still isn’t like it is at training but we are getting there. Today I am very proud of my little merlie.

Ps my angel boy Boo also went clear in Olympia qualifier but at over a second and a half off the top dogs, just wasn’t fast enough- who cares when I am running my healthy, perfect man. I so love that dog!

I also got to meet the Smoketrail puppies- we got pics and they all had a run and play! I was proud of every single one of them- a few wussy moments but no manly hormones and bolshiness- good puppies!

Detour Article

I wrote this about D a few months ago and though you might like it :)

An Alternative Route


The Trials and Tribulations of training Detour


I decided to write this article when I had a training breakthrough while out walking Detour at eight months old. We tend to forget the amount of work we put into our puppies once they have grown up. We see, as others only see, the finished or at least much improved: mature and trained dog.


Detour is so called as I was not planning on keeping a puppy from Hoax’s first litter. I didn’t feel I had the time to put into a pup with a year old baby and four other dogs to care for. However, as they do, situations change and we took a route that was certainly not planned: our Detour.


From the time the other puppies left I knew I had ‘the sensitive one’. The first Agility show I took him to (along with his brother Buzz) he wouldn’t move one step on lead. I carried him to the rings instead. Everyone loves a puppy, but little D, so very worried in my arms, couldn’t cope with the squeals, scrunching and kissing that people gave him. So we found a bit of space, by the ring and sat down together, letting him make his own investigations, he was soon starting to step outside his own shell a little.


As time went on we had other fears, getting in the car, then once finally in- getting out the car, new dogs, his harness, strangers, odd objects etc etc. One thing I knew early on was that forcing this puppy to do anything would make things so much worse. Force would make this puppy just shut down and not trust even me. I needed to be his haven and security. It was sometime around then, that I decided I would become a ‘shaper’ and not a lurer. (I had mostly lured before: hence an alternative route)! This little lad needed the confidence to think for himself and to be allowed to fail, and know it was simply a step closer to success.


One of our first challenges was that he would run up and woof at strange dogs. Whenever I worked with Detour on this I always took just one (confident) dog along with me and D. I made sure I always took him somewhere I had a good view of what was coming so we wouldn’t be ‘surprised’ by sudden appearances. I started by asking him to tug intermittently during the walk which he did nicely. I then waited till we spotted a dog and I asked the same thing, he thought about choosing the other dog but it was far enough a way not to worry him so he chose me and the toy. I always made sure early on that the other dog wasn’t getting so close as to worry him. Oddly enough once we were right next to them, he wouldn’t worry. We built this up with different locations and proximity and now he is pretty good, he spooks very occasionally but mostly looks to me.


I spent some time shaping new behaviours which was a challenge for us both. I really had to think about how to shape directional cues and waits. He showed so much confidence for all of it I know shaping was a brilliant choice to make.


We went through many early challenges, he stopped tugging properly when he was teething and even after wasn’t as crazy, so we went through Susan Garretts play drive tips. Played crate games for drive and waits and socialised as much as we could. He showed good skill and promise on balance and co ordination work which pleased me greatly.


By seven months old, at the time we attended our first Pre Agility session he had improved greatly, or so I thought.


He started off working quite well but as the lesson progressed I felt him retreating into himself. Barking, lunging dogs, new challenges, strange dogs/ people and odd environments created for a tough situation. By the end I had a puppy who was just hiding his head in my arms and couldn’t focus to perform: fear and stress had overridden all my training. However I went away with a huge positive: he played: regardless of his worry he still tugged enthusiastically. I had a lot to work on but still went away with that huge positive.


I realised that another problem for him was his lead being put on and taken off, and even though in the lesson I always let him choose to come to me, it was on his belly and took time. So we did shaping sessions for collar grab/ lead on/ off. By the next week he was offering me his neck and it took a lot of worry out of the session for him.


Each week, although he always threw me something new to work on, he improved. The last lesson we had offered a real insight into shaped dogs and the confidence they have to figure things out. The dogs were asked to walk along a flat plank. I walked D over and he was nervous to go near it, less than a minute and a half later he had chosen to walk along it. Not once did I so much as tighten his lead or lure him towards it. I was one proud momma! He spent the rest of the lesson trying to pull me back to it.


Detour has given me challenges most people never even think about. Putting a lead on/ getting out the car/ walking past another dog etc etc. By letting him choose and never forcing him he has grown in confidence. I am sure if I had made him do any of those things he would have lost trust in me and our relationship would have been damaged.


Today in the park we worked on waits. Boo was barking his head off and strange dogs were running around the park. I left D in a stand- wait and moved off, teased him and watched him drive towards me and the toy with focus and confidence. Today I am so very proud of my sensitive boy and of what we have achieved so far.


22nd Feb 2010 (to be continued…)

Clever, wonderful dogs!

WBSDS this weekend and a good one it was!

(Photo of Hoax in her Swamp Cooler vest- really not impressed)!

Hoax worked so, so well all weekend, she got every single weave entry (wooowooo)! The split second timing/ thinking I needed with a fairly quick medium dog was a little lacking (from my part). It cost us in every run be it in time or faults. She ended up with two clear rounds. We were clear in G3-5 Med Agility but with trained contacts and an 'almost' E towards the wrong obstacle she came in second, still a proud Momma! Next was G1-7 jumping, we had a very big/ wide turn when I thought I'd lost her totally and then she got stuck in the collapsible tunnel so I assumed I'd blown our chance of a place. I was delighted to come Second with her- how proud was I! She beat at least four or five good G7 dogs and was only beaten by the current medium world champion!

Boo worked well as always, His Mom wasn't of form with him really- must pull my finger out next weekend for champ but I so love working this dog, I dont really care how we do I just smile and feel so proud just to own and work such a sweet, funny, happy dog. Most importantly he ran like nothing hurt- and nothing beats that feeling :)

Detour was mad and a bit crazy on his socials around the ring and I was so happy! He wasn't scared or shy- I know it sounds like nothing but he has come so far already- I was very proud of him too.

So all in all a great weekend, I came away with the three best dogs at the show- what more could I ask for!

Lovin' the sunshine

Well, I am loving the longer days and warm weather. My garden is finally dry enough to train on which makes me very happy.

D and Hoaxey are progressing well and it is so nice to be able to do little bits in the garden that I need to focus on. D needs wait practise which is what I have been focusing on for the past week or so and Hoax needs.. well everything. As always she seems to constantly throw me curve balls with a new training challenge :)

Last Friday I met up with a friend to work our dogs, at mums field. It was fab as I have a lot of the same problems with Hoax as she has with her medium collie, it's nice to see how she works through problems and to not feel like I am the only one with certain issues. I think Hoax and her dog are secret twins- they are even alike away from Agility :) I do have one hope though, if Hoaxey ends up anywhere near as awesome at agility her secret twin I will be very happy!

I did go away a bit sad though... Boo isn't right, even with all his physio and chiro stuff he still isn't jumping properly, he isnt extending and therefore loosing time but more than that, if he is jumping that way I am worried he is physically uncomfortable somewhere, either that or it's a habit from last seasons pains. I think I need to investigate more.

WBSDS this weekend coming- cant wait to catch up with my friends!!!

Chippenham Show

Well, interesting show for me. I had great hopes for Hoax after the way she has been working recently.


First run was a very simple jumping course she was going well until a curve after a straight line and she just went straight past a jump! Ok, maybe my fault, maybe I drove instead of turning too much?

Next a tricky agility which I fancied... nice startline wait... straight past the first jump... which was in front of her...

Finally, another nice agility course, fantastic fast contacts... missed her simple weave entry!

Grrr... I am sure the merle will come good sometime, after all the work I have put in over the winter I feel a little despondent. She has taken a lot of work so far and still is hard work! Difficult little one.

Onwards and upwards- will put it as indoor show nerves/ stress from Hoax and look forward to WBSDS :)

Crufts 2010 & Ajaxs

Well it's all over for another year. I've had a great time at Crufts this year and so hope I can get back there next year.

The medium teams course was a tough one. On paper it was very tricky and in reality was only slightly better. For a fast collie team it was going to be a massive challenge- and that it was, we picked up three Eliminations. It was a shame watching people going into the arena feeling negative about a course and seeing dog after dog go wrong, I wonder if the judge thought in the end that the course was inappropriate for a team relay, a wait startline would have made a massive difference.

However, Hoaxey worked well and a hesitation after the collapsible allowed me to keep control in the tricky section. She did me proud and ran clear. I am lucky to have supportive team mates and had a great groom for the day. All in all we had a very good day!

Sunday we decided to pop over to Ajaxs show and Boo isn't fit yet so I just ran Hoax. Nov Agility first and she ran ok but not quite herself and doubled up her weave entry. Went onto a jumping course that I really liked, bar a handling error on my part which she saved me from she ran well and clear. Finally P&S and she felt more like my proper Hoax, she did a really nice run in this one. She won both classes that she went clear in :)

I feel like we are starting to get it together in a partnership now and she is really trying hard to get it right. We have some way to go yet but I am looking forward to a good season!

Crufts Preperation

Well, I have been working hard for Crufts but who knows if the prep will be enough? You can't prepare for every course and every eventuality.

I worked on Hoax's biggest weakness of last season- her weave entries but who's to say on the day she won't slip, hit a strut or just find the atmosphere difficult to focus in. I have done two practise sessions on the astroturf surface which has helped me with my timing and helped Hoax to figure her footing out a bit but she can still slip or my timing can be off on it.

I hope I don't let my team down but at least if we are the ones to go wrong I feel that I have done what I can to prepare. I love my little merlie girl and hope we are on the same wavelength tomorrow.

Watch this space for my report!

ps Hoax mum Wispa is in the medium teams too running for Kidderminster so watch out for her!!!

ideas for proofing waits

Ok, so new ideas needed for proofing waits at home. I am finding it hard to trick D to move now, I have tried:
throwing/ dropping food & toys
putting food inches away from his nose to tease him
running away
running towards
walking behind
playing 123

the biggest challenge for him is new enviroments but I am limited with that each day coz of Ethan so trying to find as much as I can to do at home.

Bet I still end up with a twitchy startline :D

Biological or ?

Does anyone have experience of having an entire bitch and her own entire dog puppy together?

Hoax is in season now and flirting like a mad thing with thing with the boys and throwing herself at Boo. However she is still acting completely motherly with Detour who shows no intrest in her either. I am keeping them apart when I am out the room anyway just in case but they couldnt be less bothered.

So- anyone else experienced anything simular?

Big jility now!

Today I took D into the garden for his first proper jump bump grid, we only worked it three times but it was enough...

Puppy D keeps running to the back door and staring at me his crazy look says: 'Mama- wanna do more jility like the big dogs... now"!

proud momma

Dontcha just love it when you have a training breakthrough or something that really shows a dogs understanding?

At our last pre agility lesson we worked the puppies accross a plank on the floor. Baby D went from being nervous to go near it, to offering to walk along the entire plank and pulling me towards it. All this within about a minute and a half, with no luring or help from the lead. He built value into it within seconds and developed his own confidence. I was such a proud Momma!

Lets here it for shaping :)

Physiotherapy

Boo has started seeing the physio now. We had an hour appointment today and I was pleased. She gave him a general good bill of health but did remind me he IS classed as an veteran now.

She worked on his carpals as theere wasnt the expected flexibility, he also has a sore toe. He got a great, full massage including abdominals. We talked warm up/ cool down and training plans and I came away with a fresh and more thoughtful view with Boo's agility for the year.

* I think trying to avoid reps on contacts will help, the speed and velocity at which he hits them worries me and Donna agrees. In training I will avoid doing lots of reps, the odd contact will be fine but I am quite happy to just work on his FP instead.

* I am not going to enter Agility classes unless they are teams/ qualifiers or the odd UKA training round.

* Keep a focus on grids and jumping work to keep him flexible and muscled.

* Take extra time to warm up/ cool down and keep using his back on track coat to aid this.

As far as working on him at home goes, Donna has asked I dont work on him this week so she can see if any of the small issues she found get better/ worse etc. Next week is Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy :)

Training Giggles

I am so enjoying shaping BabyD, he keeps making me giggle. I have been working on his reverse and one session I somehow accidently shaped him to bow (a trick I have never taught) it made me laugh and really respect how dogs learn and how key timing of reward is :) I have read something simular on another blog before, but what tricks have you acidentally trained with your dogs?

I am constantly stepping up his distractions during waits at home, we were throwing treats towards him and holding them centimeters from his nose and I can see him peering up at me from under his eyebrows as if to say ' you cant fool me momma...' he knows that if he breaks he gets nothing but if he resists my teasing he gets tons of food and play- it's such good fun, I have never enjoyed teaching waits before always trying to stop the dog failing so I can reward the good, it's great to be trying to make him fail- he sees the fun in it too!

Sportsmanship and Jelousy

ne of the things that has always niggled me at agility is the nastiness that appears so often. I read a website from a 'top handler' recently talking of the WCs last year. The comment was made that the top medium dogs were over the allowed height and that it was about how big a dog dared be entered. It hit a chord with me for various reasons, of course my own Hoaxey is right on the limit of medium height (not that I am planning on the WCs) and our own Tash Wise won the WCs with medium Diz. Unless the handler measured each dog personally how can a statement like that be made? I am sure it caused offence to anyone concerned as to me it read an accusal of cheating. Not only that but why make a public statement like that? Is that really a show of good sportsmanship? Imagine if one of our Winter Olympians posted something like that on their blog, there would be uproar!

I hear this kind of thing so often, usually from people 'lower in food chain' than those that are the target. We all like a good gossip every now and again but often you hear people saying really libellous and deeply hurtful things. Next time you choose to impart a snippet of gossip about how **** starts training their young dog at five months old five times a week make sure you KNOW all the information and think how much you might hurt that person if they caught wind of it.

Ok off my soapbox now... :) x

Smoketrail Puppies

Just a note to mention how pleased I am that I found such fantastic homes for each of my Smoketrail puppies.

I am so proud of them all, Buzz passed his bronze good citizen test at just six months old, Ajaxs has been invited to be part of a KC Good Citizen scheme display at Crufts 2010 and Munch has passed his KC Puppy Foundation Cert and is on his way to his bronze!!

I get updates, photos and cuddles (from the pups lol) and most importantly I know how much those babies are loved. Thanks Yvette/ Don, Tracy/ Sue and Kim/ Dan. You guys are the best x

Now here are some gratuitous photos of them all...

DETOUR

MUNCH

BUZZ

AJAXS

Bad Manners

Why is it that some dog owners think it is ok for their dogs to have no manners?

Detour has been fantastic lately with strange dogs/ people and not being spooked by them so I decided to venture to the common with him and Linx. It is a new enviroment for DD so I knew it would be more of a challenge. I spotted a very big chocolate lab coming towards us and kept a close eye on D, he clocked the dog and didn't worry but it started rushing towards us so I quickly reacted and distracted D until it got closer as I know once they are close by he is fine. The entire and pushy dog proceed to to dash around after both dogs, nose inches from their butts, shoulder barging and hackles constantly up, Linx warned him with a lip curl a few times but to no avail. By this time the owner was way past us, calling the dog who was ignoring her totally. Eventually the dog barged at Linx when he was next to Ethan and the pushchair, Linx snapped in his face and the dog left us.

Surely an owner must know/ see how threatening that behviour is to other dogs/ people? Poor Linx had to resort to snapping and only when he felt me and Ethan were involved. If I had a person shoving me and bothering me like -OI YOU... OI YOU... I would probably hit them a lot sooner :)

Anyway, as disappointed as I was with the owner as proud as I was with my boys- thanks god for dogs with manners :)