This is all just random stuff from our Monday adventure that I finally got around to taking off the video camera.
The video is of Lizzie when we first took her in the big pen with the sheep. She did a little herding of the sheep but mostly she was investigating the fence, checking for holes under the fence, trying to jump in the water bucket, smelling and sniffing, and finally she settled on rolling in some delectable smelling goo, yep, I got to ride home with her, and it did smell. Thank heavens we stopped at the beach, I made sure she got completely into the water, LOL.
After our herding lesson and the beach we went to Andrias a little seafood place I love to go to but usually dont have time for. Such a pretty place to sit and have lunch.
I got a short video of Breeze, she was out playing in the water and some dog showed up. I have had reactive dogs, so it always worries me when a dog just runs up to us, I never know, are they nice, what is the story? I put Breeze on the long line and was nervous because I could not see an owner ANYWHERE. Like come on, not all dogs like other dogs running around and the beach was deserted, so how does the owner know my dog is ok with other dogs. Anyway, the owner finally meandered by and did not even say a word, didn't ask if the dogs were all right, didn't call her dog, nothing. I was not even sure it was her dog, but he finally did follow her. Anyway, lucky Breeze is ok with other dogs and this did turn out to be a nice dog ;-).
Well, we had another herding lesson today, but this time I did not video the whole thing because I got to actually do the handling for a lot of the lesson.
First off when we got there Robin said that Lizzie has told her she wants more room to work, so we were going to the big ring. Whoooo, hooo, PROGRESS. We got in the big ring and we got stressed out Liz, running around checking out every inch of space and rolling, A LOT in a LOT of sheep poo or pee, who knows what it was, I just know that she was stinky and filthy. Robin said she thinks dogs do that because sheep are prey animals, and the dogs might be camoflaging their scent, smelling more like sheep so they can get closer to them??? Sounds like a good explaination to me, as good as any I would come up with. I just know Lizzie enjoys stinking and is very offended when I work hard and make her smell good. So after a few minutes in the big ring which did not seem to go so well, Robin said, well, how about we go back to the small round ring. LOL. Well, so much for progress and feeling like we were moving along.
When we got to the small round ring again Robin said she thought it would be a good time for me to try my hand at the herding. Anyway, I should have got video because I am sure it would have been good for a few laughs, and I am positive it would have made anyone else who has tried herding feel pretty good. There is a lot going on when you are herding with an inexperienced dog, especially when you are inexperienced yourself. The first big challenge is staying on your feet, you are supposed to sort of walk back wards and the sheep follow you, you walk back wards so you can watch the dog and guide them. Then while you are trying to do that there are BIG SHEEP. Those sheep are big. They get in your way and they do not want to move and apparently I am a pretty easy mark for the sheep. I have been told many times to just move them-shove through to where I need to be, to hold my ground, to not let them get me spinning in little circles, all things that are easier said then done when you are me. Then you need to watch where the sheep are going and where the dog is, when the dog moves up too far forward you need to dive through the sheep and move them out of your way so you can get where your dog is going and put your flag in front of them or let them know they are too far forward. Of course as the dog is rushing in the sheep are butting into your knees, and usually about that time the dog rushes in for a cheap shot at the sheep which makes them all stampede whildly into your knees (they like the knees), and this all happens as I am backing up and trying to stay standing. Then when the dog gets too far ahead you need to change your direction and quickly back into the center of the ring, there is a lot going on. You need to get a sort of dance going and my dance is still looking like a funky chicken, not a very pretty dance yet. I do think I did pretty well, as evidenced by my survival, and I remained standing, LOL. I do think I did slightly better then last time I tried, so I will take my successes where I can.
SIGNS OF DOING GOOD; Robin suggested we aim for our first trial run, just the beginning level run, but she said we could really do one now but she wants us to go in and look GOOD -she felt that we could aim for the trial in our area the end of January. By then she is thinking we might be able to go in there and really look like we know what we are doing. So that would be fun.
WE GOT OK'D FOR PRACTICING ON OUR OWN! Yippie, we got the official OK to come and rent the sheep and practice on our own. She said what we need to do now is just the practice what we are doing, so she felt we could not mess ourselves up too badly right now by practicing on our own, so that is exciting. She showed me how to get the sheep out of the little holding pen if I am there practicing and how to get the sheep back into the holding pen when I am done. Did I mention sheep can be big animals and they do have minds of their own? LOL.
We got homework: 1. practice walking backwards, YEP that is really our assignment. Seems I throw like a girl, I run like a girl and I walk backwards like a girl. So the secrete is to step back and put your toe down, then put your heel down. Toe, heel, then pick up your foot, toe goes back and hits first on tip toe, then you set your heel down. Girls apparently shuffle their feet backwards and the heel is down first. Problem with that is that you can not feel something behind you until you trip ;-), convinces me to practice that skill. 2.teach Liz to follow me, meaning she has to stay behind me, using the flag to keep her from going ahead. I think that is to teach her to respect the flag and to get used to following something, because that is something she is not really comfy with. Not sure how that fits in with my agility training, where I try to teach her not to be behind me.
It was a full day, we were up and out of the house early to get to herding, then we went to the beach and played in the ocean ;-), that was MARVELOUS and we had the whole place to ourselves, we went to Andrias, my favorite seafood fast food type of restaurant, and then home to get ready for agility class. A HUGE day for Liz.
I brought Breeze so we could run over the dog walk a few times and so she could play in the ocean. I do not know what happened but at herding I parked way away from the ring so Breeze could not hear us working. I left her in the car in the shade, and left her some chewies. Well, she did her seperation anxiety panic and chewed through all sorts of things she pulled into her crate. She got a really cool Spiffy dog collar-Liz skull and cross bones one, she got two long lines and chewed them in half and then chewed all the tails off my water wubba so we did not have that to play with in the ocean. Bad little Breeze.
Well, today a very kind person offered to come WAY out of their way to give me a ride to the show n go, it was a super nice offer but I deceided to just take in a movie instead. I went and saw Amelia, it was very good. Lately I do not go to the movies too often so when I do I usually treat myself to some popcorn, I usually get the kid movie meal, and then I of course want butter on the popcorn, and it always makes me quesy by the time the movie is over. So why do I continue to do that? LOL.
I spent the afternoon watching videos, and going through notes and books to figure out how I want to handle some of our training issues that we are working on and actually felt like it was a productive afternoon and I have some plans, YIPPIE!
To work on the start line, reviewing all that I can find on stress and start lines I think I just need to start at basic levels with the stay even though Breeze is great at a stay, she obviously is a little stressed even if she holds them. I think I need to play games with it and just start by being close to her, then add duration and distance and then distractions. I am going to do more clicking and marking for the behavior when I am away and have other people move in to give treats AFTER I have marked the behavior (I am hoping that helps so she is not just running willy nilly to others for treats, this still keeps it a game between her and me, but she still will be guessing when a treat comes and having a treat whithout me having to go back to her). I am TERRIBLE about reinforcing about 60% of the time by going back, and sometimes releasing her to a ball or treat thrown behind her, so got to get better about all of that. I also have some games that she is good at where she knows if she wants to get a ball she has to stay while I throw it, so maybe I can do that in class at the start line, do it by the equipment at home, and just make the whole thing seem a little more clear and try to make some new associations where she views the start line as a little more fun. A little hodgepodge of solutions I suppose.
To work on Breeze understanding how to switch from handler focus to object focus and back, I am going to play some games that Wendy Pape talked about in her Games DVD. Basically you play tug with your dog so they are very focused on you, while you are playing drop a second toy-the dog should not really be seeing where the toy is, then when they are very focused on you-you use your body position to show them where to go to get the toy. They get that toy, you can tug and get them focused, and you get the picture. I also am setting up some sequences starting with the tunnel and then hopefully involving the weaves so she can get some good rewards in short sequences for figureing out how to switch from handler focus to looking for her obstacles. Hey I hope it works.
For Liz who is being a little butt with Chloe, or maybe it is Chloe being the butt, but who ever is responsible they are not being nice, so we are going to strengthen our crate games, get them both to stay in the crate with the door open, move the crates into the same room, side by side, then facing each other, then move that stay to a mat and move their mats closer. Liz especially is terrific at crate games so we should be able to move through the first steps pretty quickly just strengthening everything and cleaning it up so that the next steps go really well. Susan Garrett says that works for getting two dogs desensitized to each other and getting along better, so I am going to give it a whirl!
To help work on my trialing, and my performance, I am setting up sequences in the back yard, I use my cute little cones and then walk the course or sequence I am going to do. I leave and that afternoon or the next morning I go out and run the whole thing-without walking it again and remembering my plan. It is nice because it gets me used to remembering and being more comfy with that, makes me really plan my training sessions so when I walk out with the dogs I am not fiddling, I know what I am going to do and I concentrate just on my dog. Hopefully when things get harried in a trial too that will give me a few more skills and more confidence so we will handle those things better ;-).
Today I was really looking forward to going to the agility trial and watching my training buddette Denise and her dog Kodi run, and about an hour form my home the car broke down in the middle of the freeway. UGhghghghg, LUCKILY the car would go about 20-30 mph (on the freeway, yep I got some looks and flipped off quite a few times even though I was in the slow vehicle lane) I was able to limp up the Cajon Pass which is a very steep summit-I was sweating that stretch of the road-but we did make it home. I was so happy we did not have to call the tow truck, in addition to the hassle of calling and waiting for a tow truck- I had Breeze and I know she would have wigged out getting in a truck with a guy she did not know. I am just glad I did not have to find out.
I know I have complained about it before, but I have really been feeling a little lost losing my classes/privates after two years of having that sort of centering point during the week. It sort of leaves me not knowing where to go with my training. That night was not just a night to go and run a few courses it was my time during the week that I went and shook off all my responsibilities, I got out of the house,went out to dinner, there was no talk of house work or kids, or bills, it was the only time that was purely my own time, and being a stay at home mom, it really was something I really looked forward to. I think in the two years I only cancelled one night because I was really sick. On the other hand I have really been enjoying training with my best agility buddy Denise, she is terrific, and I LOVE Deanna who teaches at PawPrints--she is not using the same handling system as I have been working on, so that can make it hard sometimes, but she will help me figure it out as much as she can, and she always makes her classes fun, she is always totally into the person that is running, and she always just seems totally into the class, so I never go to a class that I am not able to just leave my cares at the gate and totally get into playing with my dog. If only they were not getting ready for their big winter break from classes. I just need to find an instructor/back up person that is using the same handling system as I am, a resource for when I really get stuck, and I will feel much better. I just want someone I can schedule a lesson with if I feel really stuck, like I started working on the back yard courses from Clean Run and at times I just wanted to ask someone elses opinions about them as I was trying to work them out. It is a good thing to be taking classes in a new place in some ways. I am finding holes where I just have not known we were lacking in our skills, and then I am finding places where Breeze can do way better then I thought. I guess mixing it up is good sometimes. I just wish those classes were not going to be over so soon.
THURSDAYS CLASS FOR BREEZE HANDLERS 2 OVERALL BREEZE WAS AMAZING!!! I mean really surprisingly amazing. Why didn't I video that class???? LOL. The course we did in class was soooo fun. Breeze was about sixty five obstacles ahead of me from object 7 until the teeter, I was seriously so far behind her in the dust, LOL, but by yelling "teeter" way back at the end of that serpentines she just took off to the teeter like a bat out of you know where. She also surprised me reading that serpentine as well as she did. After our trials this weekend I was not sure how her contacts would look but she nailed the aframe contact each time, it was gorgeous. I was surprised that I ran that course almost entirely with front crosses and I was not having trouble getting to the spot I need to be so that was a shocker to me!
I really noticed though that Breeze does not do well at all switching from handler focus to obstacle focus. So if I sent her to the side of the tunnel which was on her line I can send her from WAYYYYYY back, but if I need to pull on her line a little bit which switches her to some handler focus for a second....then she falls apart and can not figure out how to look back to the tunnel. I looked at her tunnelers tape from last weekends trial and she did it there too, and I know she did it in her jumpers run, and I think that is part of the reason we do not get weave entries sometimes. So.....I am going to set some things up in the back yard and hope she figures it out soon, although I am not really sure how to teach that, or is that something a dog just figures out with experience?
Another thing I wanted to work on was my start line because Breeze just looks so uncomfortable. I had some people treat her so she got a treat while I was away....well, I did not think that would be a problem because Breeze at first would not even take a treat from others, ....but about ten seconds later she was over that and every time she saw a person that gave her a treat she would veer off to go and see if they forgot a little tidbit. LOL. goofy girl. I am going to have to figure out how to lesson her stress at the start line, I think unless I nip that in the bud now it will haunt me in the future.
So apparently not only am I meant to be homeschooling my kids....guess I am going to be homeshooling my pups! Humm, hope I am up for that and I hope I have learned enough to continue my journey with new training partners and instructors! There are a few more classes at PawPrints so I can be weaned off having a good instructor-Deanna is an excellent instructor, but they do not have classes all year. Unfortunately I think PawPrints is going to be changing instructors next session at to someone I do not think is going to mesh with my dogs so those classes will not be an option if Deanna has to move ;-(. My other ultra wonderful instructor who has worked with us for two years doing privates, has been a terrific friend has fired me as a student-LOL, and I am super bummed about this turn of events-the field we were using became unavailable and I think she was pretty much done teaching all of us. I hate when things have to change. I am nervous about continuing to train Lizzie, who can not just pop into any type of class. Mostly I will miss having my instructor around who has been a good friend and training partner as we both trained our dogs together. It is just always fun to work with a partner with the someone working on the same goals, with a lot of the same challenges, and of course I learned a ton about handling from her. OOH well, it will all work out. I am just feeling a bit sad about it today, but now everyone should watch out because I am going to be on the lookout for more training partners, and I have talked to a friend from the Acton classes and I think we are going to set aside a night every week to work together. Without my privates and the classes in Acton the week feels like I have so much time. On the plus side I am not missing the driving and the time I spent behind the wheel every week!!!! Guess like all of life, the only thing that remains constant is that everything changes eventually!
ON TO TRAINING: Diana http://4dogcraziness.blogspot.com/posted her work on the back yard sequences from Clean Run, in the November issue on page 8-the courses are posted on her blog. She made it look like so much fun I decided to set it up myself. You know looking at the tapes, she has such a pretty little backyard she is working in, with the fall leaves, and then I look at my dirt....oooh well-guess I am feeling bad for myself today. LOL. I have three dogs that can do agility so I thought, hummm, how fun would that be to try to work out the same things with three different dogs with three very different styles and timing that is totally different for each dog. I did the first exercise with Liz and wanted to try it with a front cross instead of just doing a 180, and then that made me need a rear cross, then I ran it like the magazine showed it, then I ran it with Breeze, and then little Chloe who has not done agility in awhile. I did a lot of practice with her on serpentines-way back when- and she just read jump 2-3 as a serpentine, so I had to go into the pocket and wrap her to get her to take that jump from behind, and guess if I was going to trial her we would have to do a lot of training on that-it is weird when ever she sees two jumps side by side she just ignores me and does serpentines, LOL. Doing that little wrap instead of a front cross made me have to do a rear cross with Chloe, but it all worked. Somehow on Chloes tape I did not get all the jumps in the frame, ughgghg.
It was fun to try to run this sequence with three such different dogs. Liz runs like a freight train, she is very fast and sometimes almost too responsive and you have to be very clear and fast, Breeze is fast but not as fast and she just feels different to run and Chloe, boy she alternates between being very velcro and slow and then all of a sudden will just take off and totally ignore me, so it always makes it interesting to run her, LOL, she is a cutie. I
Liz had her class tonight. Actually this is her first class she is the only dog I am working and she is doing marvelously....for her ;-). It is funny she does much better going around the yard and to the line off leash, something I would never trust her to do before because of her zoomies. She is so responsive when she understands what I want--translation when I am clear with my cues and she is doing something she understands, and if she does not understand and I try to fix things....she is LOST and really frustrates easily. So the box sequences was one we did tonight on this side of the yard that Lizzie works best in, except where I was out of position she did gorgeous work, and when I was out of position she did what I told her, even if it was not what I wanted, LOL. The object discrimination exercises on the other side of the yard was the side of the yard that has more shadows, the pee area, the empty pool and required me to try a few things with her ... that were a lot tougher to keep her happy and not frustrated, I lost her once, but the next exercise she was back working again. All in all, Liz is coming along, her handler....well, to tell the truth I think I am coming along too, LOL!
BREEZE GOT HER FIRST TITLE, she is now CP's Blew Breeze TN-N, whoo hooo!!! It is a tunnlers title, but we will take it. She has done three nadac trials and they only have one tunnelers course in each of our trials...so she has Q'd in all three. HEY, at least we can be consistent in something, TUNNELERS!
So I had worked on all day on making her happier at the trial, this was last run of the day, I got all confused because everyone was in an uproar trying to get the trial done and someone yelled to be set, I thought I heard the judge say good luck, she was way far away, and so I took my leash off, well, apparently she had not said it, so I got yelled at because of that, which starting things off bad. I chose not to even tell Breeze to stay because she had been stressing at the start line so bad, so she took off way before I would have liked, so I started off behind, LOL. The only thing I really would have liked to do better was to keep running straight into her line out of the second to last tunnel until she committed to the last tunnel, then start heading for the end, there was no need I had to worry about getting to the end it was a tunnel, what I did was take off for the end before she committed to the last tunnel, thinking I could push her out with my arm, but using body motion....how much better would that have been?
SOOOO back to the first of the day. Yesterday Breeze had stopped playing with her ball before the second run, and was not prancing to the gate. Hummm, she did not want to down at the start line and she was sniffing, which is unusual for her.
Next run she was walking slowly and not pulling to the gate, and would not take food, YIKES, and then would not stay at the start line and was really worried when I tried to leave her. She ran slow the first three obstacles and then got happy and excited as the run went on. She would not play in the yard a couple of hundred feet from the agility field.
So I went home and thought what am I going to do? I knew it was a start line thing, and possibly the gate area, and I knew I had to change the picture for my dog. So today I went to the trial way before I needed to and several times during the day I went and got Breeze out of the crate, got super good food and bagged the toys she was not playing with anyway, took her to warm up, did the practice jump and took her to the gate, did a lot of tricks, gave her a lot of treats and did everything like I was ready to run. I went and looked at the board, we stood in the throng of people waiting (we of course made sure we were not in anyone elses way or bothering any other dogs...). Then I would be happy and excited and then go and put her back in the crate. I would even wait until there were not people right waiting to go in and I would do some tricks at the gate opening. So by the third time Breeze would play in the field again and was pulling to go in the ring. So I know we will have to work more on making the start stay less stressful.....but I feel like we made some good progress, and good thing we did this show to find out that there are more things to work on. I also made sure there was someone at the end of the run with ROAST BEEF, something I think Breeze will only get at the end of a run. Anyway, I think we got some EXCELLENT work done at this trial.
So our other run of the day was a jumpers. Breeze was happy going in the ring, WIN #1, she downed at the start line and looked happy about it WIN #2, then she did NOT hold her start line stay, not a surprise and not something I was going to really stress on at this point-I felt I had bigger fish to worry about and that was the stress at the start line, and so far that goal was being accomplished. That said, check out the line of jumps all in a straight line. What happens with a border collie and a straight line of jumps, THEY GO FAST, and what happens with a really slow handler......THEY GO FAST WITHOUT THEIR HANDLERS-leaving their slow handlers in the dust, LOL. So anyway, I got her around until the jump before the first tunnel entrance and I knew I had to get over for my front cross, and she was so happy and fast, and so I just decided to go with it and keep her happy and moving. We did not get a Q but we got a second.
So the final tally: 1-first place and Q in Standard-my whole reason for entering. A big ol' E in the second standard run-but we got our contacts, a first but no Q in the next jumpers, the next day a second in jumpers with No Q, and then a second and a Q in Tunnelers WHICH GOT US OUR TITLE.
We got some great work done in training, some areas we need to work in, I got to sit and talk with the nicest people ever that talked to me a lot about their border collies and the breeder they got them from-so a good connection for the future.... And I have to send our a HUGE THANKS to Denise and her Mom for coming to support me, cheer me on and tape my runs on Sunday afternoon. That was so great of them to come, and it really made me feel TERRIFIC.
ONE Q and a FIRST IN STANDARD, and some learning opportunities!
This was the first course we ran. WHAT check out the tunnel/dogwalk discrimination. I looked at that when I got to the trial and wondered how that was going to happen. We trained that one night, it was aweful that night, and then I was working on the dog walk and getting contacts so I did not throw in any more of the discrimination with it. Whoops! Anyway, when I was coming back from that tunnel, I kept running straight into her line and did not turn to the dogwalk when I normally would, yelled tunnel, and the little sweetie did it. We had a super fast time, a Q and a first place. AND SHE GOT ALL HER CONTACTS!!!!-the whole reason we did the trial was to test that. As a bonus we got the weaves first try! Great start to the day. Novice Standard Run Course 2 If you have not done NADAC before there are generally two standard runs, or at least there are at the ones I have been to. They run the first course then they reverse the course and run it again. So this was try two. I was worried again about the tunnel/dogwalk. Breeze was a little stressed this run, she would not play with the ball while we were waiting, and I brought her in and she was sniffing the ground. When I went to put her on the start line she would not lay down (her position at the start) and just tried to do a bow. YIKES!. So we go and she does awesome, at the dogwalk/tunnel discrimination I do a little RFP (which I have never shown her), and she got the dog walk. Whew!!! She got to the end of the dog walk and could not stick the contact and sort of bounced off. I looked at her and thought, my goal was to work the contacts so I just popped her back on, but I knew that was OK in NADAC but it also gave me the big E---not E for excellent, E for ELIMINATED, LOL. I did not know if she would recognize the hoop and drive for it at the end but she did fine. This time Breeze did her usual lately and missed the weaves the first time but did gorgeous as soon as I took her back and had her start again. Check out where the Aframe is facing, I am sure that made it much more tempting for Breeze to blow that contact but she did it wonderfully and actually she usually has a tendency to lay down at the bottom of the Aframe sideways, but with the tunnel in front it worked like when I put the ball down to release her too and it was the prettiest contact she has ever done!!!
Run Three JUMPERS!!! After the stress signs Breeze showed for the last run I was glad we were doing jumpers. It looked like a SUPER SIMPLE, really flowey, really super easy course. When I walked it it still looked terrific. Breeze was not going to play with the ball on our way there so I took some food and started doing some tricks. That made her happy but when I said "speak" to see if I could get her happy, the gate steward started screaming at me. I did not think of it at the time but there were dogs all along the sides of the ring barking, so WHAT??? Anyway, Breeze went in and went to the start line, lay down and the minute I walked out, just a few feet she was up and looking very unsure. DRATS! I told her down, and then released her, well, she had moved a little too close to the first jump so she ran around it. I could have fixed it but at this point I just wanted to work on her stress, so I kept running. The rest of the runs we felt like one, when I was running I did not feel the difference between her and me, but this run, boy we did not feel like we were on the same page at all. So we finished, there was a little spinning, but if she had not gone around that first jump, or if I had fixed it we would have Q'd, but I deceided that was not the goal for today.
So why did Breeze stress? She has done that once or twice at trials before, and she has not done a lot of trials, so I do think it is something I need to figure out. We were sitting where it was hot, and the shade was not great. The only place we could find shade was by this RV and they had this little kid running all over it, he was a nice, cute kid, but kids make Breeze nervous, so I shielded her the best I could and after the second run I took her and left her in the car until the last run so she would not have to worry. I took Breeze out a lot and played with her and tried to give her down time. I was trying to use the ball which is her favorite thing before the runs, but on the third run I switched to treats which seemed to make her way happier before we went into the ring. So not sure what the deal was. Tomorrow we have jumpers and tunnelers so we will see.
