Ugh I haven't blogged in a while. I need to catch up with what all has been going on.
June 2- Lesson with Ronda
I had a slow unmotivated dog all night. It was hot but I don't think that's what her problem was. After she comes in season she seems to have a false pregnancy a few weeks later. She acts really odd, gaurding toys, won't play with the other dog, not very interested in food.
June 8- Sanford Trial
I had the same dog that I had at practice. It was a mess, and it just didn't go well. She was unfocused and just not with me. We weren't a team at all.
June 16- Another Lesson with Ronda
It started off with the slow boring dog. She came around a jump instead of jumping it and just looked bothered to be there. I pushed her through one course ok and it's like a switch flipped. Oh yeah, agility! I know how to do this!
The rest of the evening was much much better.
June 21- NADAC trial
Our first run was tunnelers. The one class that we could title in if it went well. I didn't warm her up at all. We just went in after watching Border Collies (her favorites to watch) and I got her revved up and let her go. It started off well until I fell after the 3rd tunnel. She was zipping around me considering diving on the ground to cuddle lol. The rest of the run was nice and she Qd!
The next run was Chances. She has been really clingy lately so I wasn't sure if she would be able to do the gamble or not. No problem, and she ran the course wonderfully.
The next runs were jumpers and regular. Qs in both of those runs. I was happy how both went and she was running nicely. I felt like I had my dog back.
Last was weavers. I didn't stay to see if she Qd or not but I think she came backwards out of a tunnel. It just didn't look right when I saw her heading for the last tunnel. She did 2 of the 3 sets of weave poles correctly on the first try. She ended up weaving 5 times and getting all but the one correct with one try. Yay Venus!
4 Qs out of 5 runs last night, I'm thrilled.
Brandy
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Upcoming trials
We had a lesson on Monday. Venus did very well especially considering she was in season and hasn't worked in a while. We had weave pole entry issues again. *sigh*
Upcoming Trials:
June 8th- AKC- Sanford, NC
June 21st- NADAC- Youngsville, NC
July 3-6- AKC- Concord, NC
Update on Bacchus:
OMG this dog is so cool. After 7 days of training the channel method he has amzing weaves. This was filmed on the 8th day. He even is letting me do rear crosses!
Upcoming Trials:
June 8th- AKC- Sanford, NC
June 21st- NADAC- Youngsville, NC
July 3-6- AKC- Concord, NC
Update on Bacchus:
OMG this dog is so cool. After 7 days of training the channel method he has amzing weaves. This was filmed on the 8th day. He even is letting me do rear crosses!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Perry, Ga trials
So we went down to Perry, Ga for the agility trials and conformation shows. The conformation shows sucked for us all weekend. It was one of the worst weekends we've had in a long long time. Oh well.
With Venus being so brainless lately I thought I'd use these trials as training. Friday morning started early and Venus had to be measured. She ended up measuring 21 3/4 for her final measurement. I don't have to stress about that anymore.
Our first run was Open JWW and I knew it was going to be bad. It started at the warm up jump, Venus was barking as she was jumping. Then when I was walking her into the ring she was hopping on her hind legs to get to the start line. Venus jumped 2 jumps and then plowed through the third one. I downed her and we left the ring. She looked shocked that I had stopped the game so soon. Then we did down stays outside the ring, she wasn't happy.
That afternoon was our standard run. The run started off ok except Venus missed her a-frame contact. Since she doesn't have a command or specific behavior for it I let it go because she doesn't know anything different. All the more reason for me to quit being lazy and get my a-frame painted and together for her. We had a little problem at a tunnel under the dog walk. It was teeter to the further tunnel entrance. I don't think I rotated enough for her to see the tunnel entrance. The tunnel was u shaped under the middle of the dog walk. When I sent her to it she saw the dog walk. She gave me a weird look since it was a bad angle to get on the dog walk from but she tried it. I got her off the dog walk but she stepped on it again to get back to the side I was on and then into the tunnel. It was a sit on the table and that went well. No sliding off the other side! Then we got to the weaves. Venus weaved! She hit the entry and weaved 12 poles like she's never had a problem. Blew my mind completely.
Saturday we started with JWW again. It was a very nice run and I got to play with my handling a little bit. Again Venus hit her weave entry without a problem. She did pop out at the 10th pole but I started her again and she was fine. Next was a jump to the tunnel and then to another jump. Instead of running to and along the tunnel with her I stayed on the other side of the jumps. I sent her over the jump and to the tunnel and I stayed on the landing side of the next jump. It was beautiful but I tend to get excited about things like that and forget we still have more of the course to run. Luckily Venus picked up the next jump and we were back on track. I rear crossed the 2nd to the last jump and caused her to knock the bar. Ahh we were so close to that Q.
In standard we had teeter to the far end of the tunnel again. Venus headed straight for the wrong end of the tunnel after the teeter. I called her off but her head was already in the tunnel so I think we got a fault for that. She did come back though and I got her around to the other end of the tunnel. Of course by then she was thinking I was nuts, she was going in the tunnel, I called her away, and then sent her into the tunnel lol. Then we had issues at the dog walk to a tunnel. It was one of those where the tunnel went from beside the down side of the dog walk and came out on the other side. She had no clue what I was trying to get her to do after she went down the dog walk. She went back on the dog walk once and probably had a refusal there too. She hit her weaves again no problem and weaved all 12. The table was close since it was a down. She wobbled on the edge some but didn't fall off. It was a straight line to the finish and we were running and for whatever reason she didn't take the last jump. Since she had been so good otherwise (no missed contacts, good weaves and table, no bars) I didn't go back and make her do it. I just let her jump in my arms and be happy.
Sunday morning we started with our standard run. We had the same dog walk to tunnel thing again that day. We do the dog walk and into the tunnel and it went great. As we are running I start hearing a whistle. I look at the judge and hear her say just let her keep running. I had no clue what had happened and I'm racking my brain trying to figure out what we did wrong. We got to the weave poles and again Venus hit her entry and was weaving. Unfortunately she had to stop and sniff something so we got a refusal. I started the weaves over and she did fine. Another sit on the table that went well, then we finished up the course. OMG, we did it, our first open Q! I was so excited but nervous because what had the whistle been about?
The judge came over and it was because the e-timers had messed up. They told me I could take the time they had which was wrong or I could run it again. I was going to run again because I thought it would be good for Venus. They told me all I had to do was complete the course, bars, contacts, refusals, etc didn't count. The problem with the timers turned out to be that when a dog would start in the excellent ring it would start the timers in the open ring. The more I sat there and stressed while they worked on the problem the more nervous I got. What if I couldn't get Venus to weave and we went way over time and lost our first Q. I decided to leave it alone and take the time we had. We were 10 seconds under course time even with the timers starting early. Yes it might knock me out of a placement but I'd still have my Q. We ended up with a 3rd place anyways! The 1st and 2nd place dogs had no faults so we couldn't have beaten them with a faster time anyways.
We had a 6+ hour drive home so we decided to leave after conformation and not worry about the JWW run.
Sorry I have no video because I thought every run might be a down and leave the ring after a few jumps like our first run Friday.
Brandy
With Venus being so brainless lately I thought I'd use these trials as training. Friday morning started early and Venus had to be measured. She ended up measuring 21 3/4 for her final measurement. I don't have to stress about that anymore.
Our first run was Open JWW and I knew it was going to be bad. It started at the warm up jump, Venus was barking as she was jumping. Then when I was walking her into the ring she was hopping on her hind legs to get to the start line. Venus jumped 2 jumps and then plowed through the third one. I downed her and we left the ring. She looked shocked that I had stopped the game so soon. Then we did down stays outside the ring, she wasn't happy.
That afternoon was our standard run. The run started off ok except Venus missed her a-frame contact. Since she doesn't have a command or specific behavior for it I let it go because she doesn't know anything different. All the more reason for me to quit being lazy and get my a-frame painted and together for her. We had a little problem at a tunnel under the dog walk. It was teeter to the further tunnel entrance. I don't think I rotated enough for her to see the tunnel entrance. The tunnel was u shaped under the middle of the dog walk. When I sent her to it she saw the dog walk. She gave me a weird look since it was a bad angle to get on the dog walk from but she tried it. I got her off the dog walk but she stepped on it again to get back to the side I was on and then into the tunnel. It was a sit on the table and that went well. No sliding off the other side! Then we got to the weaves. Venus weaved! She hit the entry and weaved 12 poles like she's never had a problem. Blew my mind completely.
Saturday we started with JWW again. It was a very nice run and I got to play with my handling a little bit. Again Venus hit her weave entry without a problem. She did pop out at the 10th pole but I started her again and she was fine. Next was a jump to the tunnel and then to another jump. Instead of running to and along the tunnel with her I stayed on the other side of the jumps. I sent her over the jump and to the tunnel and I stayed on the landing side of the next jump. It was beautiful but I tend to get excited about things like that and forget we still have more of the course to run. Luckily Venus picked up the next jump and we were back on track. I rear crossed the 2nd to the last jump and caused her to knock the bar. Ahh we were so close to that Q.
In standard we had teeter to the far end of the tunnel again. Venus headed straight for the wrong end of the tunnel after the teeter. I called her off but her head was already in the tunnel so I think we got a fault for that. She did come back though and I got her around to the other end of the tunnel. Of course by then she was thinking I was nuts, she was going in the tunnel, I called her away, and then sent her into the tunnel lol. Then we had issues at the dog walk to a tunnel. It was one of those where the tunnel went from beside the down side of the dog walk and came out on the other side. She had no clue what I was trying to get her to do after she went down the dog walk. She went back on the dog walk once and probably had a refusal there too. She hit her weaves again no problem and weaved all 12. The table was close since it was a down. She wobbled on the edge some but didn't fall off. It was a straight line to the finish and we were running and for whatever reason she didn't take the last jump. Since she had been so good otherwise (no missed contacts, good weaves and table, no bars) I didn't go back and make her do it. I just let her jump in my arms and be happy.
Sunday morning we started with our standard run. We had the same dog walk to tunnel thing again that day. We do the dog walk and into the tunnel and it went great. As we are running I start hearing a whistle. I look at the judge and hear her say just let her keep running. I had no clue what had happened and I'm racking my brain trying to figure out what we did wrong. We got to the weave poles and again Venus hit her entry and was weaving. Unfortunately she had to stop and sniff something so we got a refusal. I started the weaves over and she did fine. Another sit on the table that went well, then we finished up the course. OMG, we did it, our first open Q! I was so excited but nervous because what had the whistle been about?
The judge came over and it was because the e-timers had messed up. They told me I could take the time they had which was wrong or I could run it again. I was going to run again because I thought it would be good for Venus. They told me all I had to do was complete the course, bars, contacts, refusals, etc didn't count. The problem with the timers turned out to be that when a dog would start in the excellent ring it would start the timers in the open ring. The more I sat there and stressed while they worked on the problem the more nervous I got. What if I couldn't get Venus to weave and we went way over time and lost our first Q. I decided to leave it alone and take the time we had. We were 10 seconds under course time even with the timers starting early. Yes it might knock me out of a placement but I'd still have my Q. We ended up with a 3rd place anyways! The 1st and 2nd place dogs had no faults so we couldn't have beaten them with a faster time anyways.
We had a 6+ hour drive home so we decided to leave after conformation and not worry about the JWW run.
Sorry I have no video because I thought every run might be a down and leave the ring after a few jumps like our first run Friday.
Brandy
Monday, April 7, 2008
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
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
Monday, March 24, 2008
Good Dog/Bad Dog
Yesterday we did the AKC trial in Youngsville, NC. Venus got her first official over 2 years old measurement! She measured 21 1/2, yay. Venus has always measured at 21 1/2, we measured her at that at 9 months old, at 17 months at her first trial, in Jan her under 2 by the VMO, and now her 1st over 2.
So now onto the runs:
Open Standard- There were so many nice things about this run. I started with a 2 jump lead out, she was so excited but stayed like a good dog. The tunnel entrance was beside the dog walk on the far side from me. I didn't really want to have to run all the way with her because I would be stuck and she'd get out of the tunnel and I wouldn't be in a spot to tell her where to go next. I decided to use "get out" and it worked great. She went into the tunnel no problems. She missed her weaves on the first try but we got all 12 on the 2nd try, yes! That is a big improvement over what we've done at recent trials. She did great on holding her contact at the bottom of the dog walk but almost messed up the table. I told her go table and she blasted full speed at it. I yelled table again hoping she'd think about the fact you can't blast onto it. She flew up, slid across, and wobbled on the edge, somehow she stayed on. Lol, someone told me later that my dog has good brakes. After the table was the broad jump, yes in open. Venus ran right across it, silly dog. I had been so nervous about that in novice and we had no problems, of course we had a brain when we were in novice also. The rest of the run was nice though.
Open JWW- It was a very tight course and I had no clue if Venus would be able to control herself or not out there. The answer is no but I never got to really find out on the tight part. She crashed the 2nd jump on the course and I was mad. I didn't do a front or rear cross there, I wasn't in her way, and I didn't say her name. I saw no reason for her to do that other than out of control craziness which I don't like. I called her back to me and told her down. She looked shocked that I asked her to do this in the middle of an agility trial. She dropped her head and tail and I again told her down. Lol, she laid down and rolled over and looked pitiful. I thanked the judge and we left the ring. He might have let us keep on running but I wanted to make a very clear point to her. Since it was only the 2nd jump she knew I wasn't happy and I was ending the game very early.
Whenever we've finished a course she loves to jump into my arms and have me hold her. It works out well because I think it's cute and I can't be upset with her when she's up in my arms. So even after a messy run we are both happy. Well there was no jumping in the arms so another clue to her that I wasn't happy.
At the last two trials I have gotten lots of very nice compliments from people about Venus. Mostly from people who saw her at the seminar. There are two things I keep hearing again and again; they've never seen a Samoyed that has as much speed/drive/motivation as her, and that I should be happy with the wild and craziness and that it will get better as far as me knowing how to handle it.
Brandy
So now onto the runs:
Open Standard- There were so many nice things about this run. I started with a 2 jump lead out, she was so excited but stayed like a good dog. The tunnel entrance was beside the dog walk on the far side from me. I didn't really want to have to run all the way with her because I would be stuck and she'd get out of the tunnel and I wouldn't be in a spot to tell her where to go next. I decided to use "get out" and it worked great. She went into the tunnel no problems. She missed her weaves on the first try but we got all 12 on the 2nd try, yes! That is a big improvement over what we've done at recent trials. She did great on holding her contact at the bottom of the dog walk but almost messed up the table. I told her go table and she blasted full speed at it. I yelled table again hoping she'd think about the fact you can't blast onto it. She flew up, slid across, and wobbled on the edge, somehow she stayed on. Lol, someone told me later that my dog has good brakes. After the table was the broad jump, yes in open. Venus ran right across it, silly dog. I had been so nervous about that in novice and we had no problems, of course we had a brain when we were in novice also. The rest of the run was nice though.
Open JWW- It was a very tight course and I had no clue if Venus would be able to control herself or not out there. The answer is no but I never got to really find out on the tight part. She crashed the 2nd jump on the course and I was mad. I didn't do a front or rear cross there, I wasn't in her way, and I didn't say her name. I saw no reason for her to do that other than out of control craziness which I don't like. I called her back to me and told her down. She looked shocked that I asked her to do this in the middle of an agility trial. She dropped her head and tail and I again told her down. Lol, she laid down and rolled over and looked pitiful. I thanked the judge and we left the ring. He might have let us keep on running but I wanted to make a very clear point to her. Since it was only the 2nd jump she knew I wasn't happy and I was ending the game very early.
Whenever we've finished a course she loves to jump into my arms and have me hold her. It works out well because I think it's cute and I can't be upset with her when she's up in my arms. So even after a messy run we are both happy. Well there was no jumping in the arms so another clue to her that I wasn't happy.
At the last two trials I have gotten lots of very nice compliments from people about Venus. Mostly from people who saw her at the seminar. There are two things I keep hearing again and again; they've never seen a Samoyed that has as much speed/drive/motivation as her, and that I should be happy with the wild and craziness and that it will get better as far as me knowing how to handle it.
Brandy
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
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 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
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