Recent training

I have mostly been working Venus on her a-frame. Here is the first video of just seeing what her aframe is like when I run and do crosses. This run is what I do while training her. This is her natural aframe performance.


This next video is a little of Bacchus. Look at him focusing with the dog barking! I am so pleased with the focus I got from him that night. His first trial will be in September at the Samoyed National. We'll be doing JWW and FAST if they offer it. He doesn't know contacts yet. If we do FAST we will avoid the contacts and just run for experience.
The next part if working Venus on the aframe again. You will see her tail is down while working. She is nervous there sometimes because there are dogs in a fence that bark at her. At trials I generally don't relax and just run with her aframe like I do at practice. I figured since I can't seem to get that through my head maybe I can train her to my stupidity! First you will see me slowing/stopping. You may notice most of the runs are from the right to left side of the screen. That's because the woman who owns the equipment has a pvc square on one side. Since Venus understands that I wanted to see her aframe without that square involved. To get that on the down side we had to go right to left. The first run is the wrong direction and I think she responded to that box. 2nd and 3rd runs you will see she comes off high and to the side. 4th-6th runs are nice. She goes right to the end of the board.
Then I switched to leads outs at the aframe. The first one wasn't much of a lead out and it was a very nice run. That is her aframe that I love! The next one she came off high. Next 2 are good but one going the wrong way with that box.

We did one more training session with the aframe on another day. This time I worked bending over as she comes down. Thats another thing I tend to do at trials despite the fact I know it makes her jump instead of go down the contact. The first time she jumped off high. The next time was in the yellow but higher than I wanted. The rest were clean.

I'm going to try and video a game we play in the house tomorrow. It is a way to work agility in the house some without actually having obstacles in the house. It is how Venus has learned some things like "go around". I was shocked at how well she understood it at a jump when I had never used it that way before.
Brandy

I've been slack!

I haven't posted in a while but there really hasn't been much going on. Venus was entered in a trial last weekend but she came in season. :(
I've been working Bacchus on his weave poles. Here's the latest video:


I'm entering trials tonight so I'll post in a few days what trials we're going to.

Lots going on.

Ok so I've decided to start training Bacchus for agility. Clover is also doing some training, since I am interested in running contacts and she is retired I figured she'd be a good one to experiment with. I will post videos of them as I go.

Venus was supposed to have a lesson with Ronda last week but the weather was so bad that it was cancelled. She hasn't gotten to train in a while now.

We had a conformation show this past weekend and Clover was Best of Breed both days and made a cut in the group. That was nice for my first show of the year.
We leave on Thursday for Perry, Ga for conformation and agility. It's always a busy weekend but this will be my first attempt there at juggling both despite the fact I've said I'm never doing conformation and agility at the same show again. I never learn.

A friend of ours was hit by a car last week while he was walking. Of course whoever hit him didn't stop and kept going. Both of his legs are broken and when he gets out of the hospital he's coming to stay with us. This will be a chance to put Venus' talents to good use. Venus will pick up anything and bring it to anyone. She'll even get coins of the kitchen floor and bring them to us. Since he will be in a wheelchair and in bed if he drops something he can use Venus to get it for him. I hope she'll listen and work for him. It'd be helpful for when he's here by himself. I'll see if I can get video of her working that tonight.
I don't think I've shown this before but it's an example of things Venus likes to do and learn.
Venus loads silverware in the dishwasher. This video was after 3 or 4 days of training.

Brandy

Charlotte, NC trials

Ok so there is a reason that I call this blog agility laughs. If you are running a Samoyed in agility you have very few options. Mainly, laugh with them or turn red, hide your face and never appear at an agility trial again. (I actually did the 2nd choice after an obedience match with one of my Sams many years ago.)
Venus did her most Sammy like performance this weekend. She is still trying to listen and she doesn't seem to mean to be bad but she was out of control. If I got too close to the ring gate while walking by she would try and drag me into it. I love the enthusiasm with this dog!
We ended up with 4 NQs this weekend. I wasn't surprised. Her behavior about agility lately has been crazy. She's just so excited she does things like flying off the a-frame or wildly doing the teeter. We had lots and lots and lots of weave refusals this weekend. I'm going to see if I can go to someone's house and work weaves where she'll be excited enough for there to be issues.
There were handler issues also, again not surprised. For some reason I don't seem to be able to get it through my head that I can't push Venus off away from me. It just doesn't happen at this point. I need to do a cross of some sort so she knows where to look next. Eventually I will have that ingrained in my mind and remember to do it.
Run first, think later. Examples: flying off the top of the a-frame, crazy out of control teeter at our lesson, literally running into the tunnel at the trial. Hopefully the thought will come back soon. Our next trial is March 23.
Here's a fun video for everyone.

Brandy

Venus NAJ!

Yay Venus! The runs were much better on Friday and I didn't feel like such an idiot running her, lol. We had a little bobble in JWW where I didn't give her enough information. She ended up with a nice time and 3rd place. In standard she had a very nice run, held her dog walk contact yay, and had a little bit of issue with the weave entry. She ended up with her first 100 and a 1st place in the Novice B 20' class! We just need on more leg in standard for her NA. Venus is 5 for 5 in AKC so far.
Look at her a-frame, I really hope she will keep that and it will stay her natural striding on there.

We have no more agility until March, ahh!!! March 2 we have a seminar with Silvia Trkman, March 3 a lesson with Ronda, and 8 & 9 an AKC trial!
Brandy

No Lesson but Practice

Our lesson with Ronda was cancelled this week. I was stressed about not getting one more practice in before the trial so Beth let me come out on Monday. She gave me a few sequences to work.

Venus held her dog walk contact well which is what I was worried most about. Bars stayed up, weaves were good, and she was paying attention. She is actually starting to look for obstacles so I was able to do have her do a pinwheel while I stayed to one side of it. I then worked her on just the serpentine part of it so that I could get either or out of her.

Sunday is our trial and I'm very excited. I had been so pumped for the trial back in Nov when Venus came in season and we haven't had a chance for an AKC trials since then. This will be Venus' first standard AKC run and her 2nd AKC jumpers run. Wish us luck! I plan on posting as soon as we get home and hopefully I can get someone to video.

And just for fun, Venus' newest trick:


Brandy

Happy New Year!

Venus and I went to a Show and Go on the 1st at Doglogic again. The course was hard and Venus and I struggled on it. I have a video of her doing one run on each course. She refused almost every tunnel that day which is odd for her. She had a hard time with the weave entry on the standard course so we worked that after it was over. Again she didn't want to hold her dog walk contact there. I am hoping it is just that equipment and that it isn't going to occur at trials. I was thrilled with the weave entry on the jumpers run!
Here's the video from the show and go.

We have a few things coming up this month:
Jan 14- Lesson with Rhonda
Jan 20- AKC Trial
Jan 25- AKC Trials

Brandy

Monday's lesson

Our lesson on Monday with Rhonda went well. It was Venus and 3 excellent level BCs lol, kind of an interesting group. Venus can be fast but she doesn't compare to the speed of those dogs but she did have the advantage of tighter turns. She will wrap around a jump to switch directions beautifully if I just hang back a little.
There was a sequence that was the dog walk to 3 jumps. I decided to send her on the dog walk and I would get on the other side of the 1st jump and do a front cross. She didn't pull off the dog walk even though I was moving away from her. I was very happy to see that. She did hesitate to make sure where I wanted her but as soon as I told her to go bottom she did and held it until I released her.
We have to work weave entries! We worked a very similar thing Monday as we had in the weavers course on Sunday- a 90 degree right turn to the weaves. She was entering from the wrong side. Once she entered correctly she did a great job doing all the weaves. She doesn't seem to be one to pop out of the poles, yay.

This Saturday I'm going to try and make it to a show and go. I think they will have excellent and novice courses set up so I may try Venus doing the excellent courses. I'm also going to try and see what I can get her to go there.
Brandy

NADAC Toys for Tots Fundraiser

I took Venus to a NADAC trial yesterday in Youngsville. We ended up Qing 3 out of 6 runs. I'm very happy with her overall performance yesterday.
Our first run was Weavers. I wasn't thinking or something but decided to start at the start line with her. Well there were 3 tunnels and then the weaves. By the time I got past the 1st tunnel she was in the 3rd lol. We were over time in weavers so no Q. She attempted to do all weaves correctly but she forgets she has to slow down to enter the weaves. She tends to fly into the entry and miss curving back for the 2nd pole. So she ends up weaving the 1st and 3rd poles. She did that at the first two sets of weaves so we had to fix that. Then the 3rd set she entered on the wrong side. She started to head the wrong way out of a tunnel at one point and I told her to "come". There was a tunnel kinda between us that she was supposed to take next. She headed for it and it was like she realized I didn't tell her tunnel so she came back to me. Even though it isn't what I wanted it was what I said so I was very happy she listened to me. We ended up with a 2nd place.
Tunnelers was next. Venus had a beautiful confident run in there. She wasn't hesitating like last time. The run was clean and fast so Venus got a Q and 1st place.
This week I kept telling myself to remember to make Venus hold her 2o2o for a while at the trial. I released her very quickly at the last trial and that's not what I want to do. The first regular run was set up nicely so I could do a front cross while she was holding her contact on the dog walk. She did it beautifully! At the start line I accidently pushed too hard and pushed her off the tunnel she was supposed to take, whoops. The rest of the run was nice and she got her first regular Q and a 1st place. The second regular run was the same course in reverse. She missed one jump that I had to send her back to do. Everything else was going well until we got to a jump that had timers on it. Somehow she jumped between the jump standard and the post with the timer on it. So I made her go back and fix that one. Again she held her contact very well and I left her on there and went on to the next jump and then released her. We didn't Q that run because of time but we did get another 1st.
The next run was jumpers and it was a wonderful course. It was basically an S with one more curve and line of jumps on it. I decided to use this course to try running ahead of Venus like Rhonda has said. It worked great. By the 4th line of jump where we were headed towards the finish line I just took off and told her to go! Another clean fast run for a jumpers Q and 1st place.
Our last run was Chances. Venus struggles on distance so I thought it would be a good thing to work with her. Since it was our 6th run of the day and we'd been up since 5am she was exhausted. The more tired she is the closer she likes to stay for me so I figured she wouldn't Q this round. It started off well but when we got to the distance part she didn't want to do it. I finally convinced her to go over the first jump, she missed the 2nd one because she'd moved back close to me but she did do the 3rd one. The rest of the run was nice.

Overall I was so happy with her performance. She was very focused, had no wrong courses, and no knocked bars! I definately think she'd ready for some AKC trials.
Tonight we have our lesson with Rhonda. Hopefully Veni has rested enough today to really be on tonight!
Brandy

New A-frame and Lesson change

If you were wondering what Rio's comment about a new toy was about, we are building an a-frame! It's not done yet but is slightly more complete than what you see in the above picture. We have slats on one side now. Each side is 9x3 and is too heavy for me to move much.
Rio is one of our Sheltie buddies, go poke around at the Agility Addiction blog. That's his owner and her wonderful Shelties that are very good at agility.

With it being dark and cold by the time I get home Venus hasn't gotten to practice much lately. We have a lesson with Rhonda next Monday and Venus will be working in the advanced group. I hope we're ready for that. I'm very excited because I love watching that group work. My novice Sammy with the excellent BCs, it might be amusing. We'll see what happens, I will keep faith in Venus and myself.

Lesson on Monday

I have been wondering hwen I would have time to train Venus away from home again before next weekends trial. I had forgotten we have a lesson on Monday so I will hopefully work some stuff out there. Venus and I take a monthly private lesson with Rhonda Carter and we are going to a 3 hour workshop of hers the following week.
So here's my list of things to work on:
1) Venus not cutting me off, if she isn't sure where to go next she zips in front of me and jumps up. She almost tripped me at the trial several times.
2) Me giving commands earlier than what I have been
3) Me actually using commands that I know she knows, I tend to forget and give her less commands that have broader meanings
4) Weave entries when she's excited

I am going to move my weave poles along with a jump and tunnel into the front yard. We've never trained out there so I think it's a good place for her to work on focusing and she should be excited enough to go fast. I'll set that up tonight or tomorrow at lunch and get a video.
Brandy

The First Post

I decided to call this blog agility laughs for several reason.
1) Agility should always be fun and if it isn't it's time for a break
2) I run a breed that is known for their smile, they also enjoy laughing at things
3) Those same dogs generally enjoy being laughed at so if they find something entertaining to do they will do it

So on to info about me and the dogs. My name is Brandy and I live in North Carolina. I have been involved in dogs my entire life (23 years) and have grown up training them. I started competing in conformation shows when I was 4 years old and it is still the dog event I'm most active in. I have found agility interesting for years but never really had the right dog to do it with. By the time I saw agility I had several old dogs and a young, stubborn, lazy one.
In 2005 I competed at my first agility trial. I have been getting more and more involved since then but I am still very novice.
I run Samoyeds and they keep it very interesting. I never really know what to expect from them at each trial but they are fun. I mostly do AKC but I have really enjoyed NADAC and won't hesitate to enter their trials.
The Dogs:
Clover- Am. Can. Ch. Wintersong's Lucky Charm NAP, NJP, HCT, CGC
Venus- Ch Doubletake's She's Got It
Bacchus- Doubletake's Mighty Fine Wine

Brandy
Doubletake Samoyeds