Advanced Games Dog Title

It was a exhausting weekend but we did it! Baxter finished his Advanced Games Dog of Canada title on Sunday.

Baxter thinks it was a exhausting weekend too, but he still likes agility.

Yes, that is a collapsed tunnel that he is sleeping in.

He might have gotten the gamble on Sat if I had trusted my dog and his training. The gamble was a teeter, jump out to a tunnel under the A frame, back in over the jump and then out to the chute on the other side of the teeter. Baxter did the teeter and jump fine, but I sent out to the tunnel off of the jump instead of calling him in and then sending him out to the tunnel with a straighter line. He went out but I second guessed him and thought he might go for the wrong end, so I called him resulting in a spin in front of the correct end of the tunnel and a refusal. Oops! I didn't realize that it was a refusal either, so I was really confused when the whistle blew and I thought I stepped over the line.


Baxter ran really good all weekend, but that was our only Q in 7 runs.

Saturday had me pretty frazzled. First Jumpers run was really twisty with a lot of backsides/serpy (yes, that is a word!) stuff I was worried about handling a specific sequence right and didn't want to mess it up. So when running, when I got to that part of the course I forgot that there was a jump in front of the challenging sequence and ended up taking a decoy jump that wasn't really a decoy for the dogs, but more for the handlers. The judge later commented that she didn't think anyone would have taken that decoy - never say never, lol. He was smoking though, running at 4.15 yps! I realize for sport dog people that isn't fast, but this is a heavy boned/bodied short legged breed and it's pretty zippy for him  =P

Our second Jumpers run was clean and fast until the last obstacle. The final 3 obstacles were a actual serpentine, Baxter read the rear cross perfectly off the first jump, read the serp cue back over the second but instead of just pushing him over the final jump the way I walked it, I rear crossed again with bad timing and he went wide around the final jump.

I'm honestly not sure what happened to his master standard runs. He has been running them well, except for hitting his weave entries with speed, which is almost always my fault for not telling him to weave soon enough. So we'll have faults on our masters runs but we've never had time faults, even when having to fix weaves. This weekend, course times were super tight. Baxter was running really well and not overly wide on turns, no obstacles obviously slow and creepy but both runs were over time. His clean run was over by 1.53 seconds and the other run where it was only 6 poles (x2) he only missed one weave entry and was still over by 1.19 sec.

Weekend observations

• Work serpentines and pull/push through handling drills. I pulled Baxter off of a jump on 3 separate courses by not having practiced this enough. Either I am not holding position long enough for commitment, or he isn't experienced enough to read and understand it clearly. Likely it's a combo of the 2.
• Still work on rear cross drills - yeah I don't do them often because they demotivate him but when they are the only handling option that isn't a messy disaster it helps if the dog still can read and understand them ...
• Directionals. Left and right, not just a switch. Master gambles are HARD, the more tools in the tool box the better your chances are.

Relax

Remember to take some time to smell the flowers - or roll in the grass as the case may be!

Project puppy, but not "broken"

I have to let Spencer's past go. Yes he had some issues when he was a puppy and that was sad. I don't want remembering that to subconsciously change how I treat him and hold him back from what he is capable of. He isn't my "broken baby puppy." What's in the past is in the past. Maybe he's a bit of a project dog, but aren't they all? It might just take a little longer to teach him some things, that's all.

Who, me?

I need to expect more out of him, in respect to just general behavior. He can absolutely do it. The other day at agility class he was wiggling and rolling on the ground for people who were essentially strangers to pet him and rub his tummy. That's huge!

Instead of waffling and dithering about what to do, we are going to go out and do things instead of just thinking about them.

1) Once a week Spencer and I are going somewhere to work on focus for work. Could be a pet store, or a mall parking lot, or something - but if I want him focused, relaxed and not worried about his environment it means I have to teach him to generalize.

If I can get play and tug, that's fantastic. If that is too much to ask initially, then nose touches (he loves them) and eye contact is good enough. Work through shut down if possible and then reward by leaving that environment. And then jackpot with playing fetch. He is crazy obsessed with playing ball, to the point of turning down food.

2) Get serious about his agility training and focus on foundation work. Left, right, switch, go and get out. Working on him reading my handling (double box work.) Contacts. Wait for the teeter for now.

3) Body awareness tricks and games. Teach these, don't just think about them! Perch work. Backing up. Sit pretty. Ladder work. For all 3 dogs not just Spencer.

4) Record keep and stop being a slacker.

5) Do my job and keep him safe from other dogs. He needs to trust me to protect him from them, and I need to not drop the ball this time or ever again.

In on it

 Eye nose what you are up to ...

I know, that was terrible! I love it!

Summer fun

aka a outdoor agility trial in 30 degree heat (with no breeze) and mosquitoes. But no, really, it was a lot of fun and a great time!

This weekend was Fionavar K9's "Woofstock at the Beach" trial out in Olds. We were only entered in one day - but it was a most awesome day.

On his cooling mat under my desk. Too hot in the house for him to sleep after we got home

1) Baxter worked for me. In that heat. He was fantastic! It's always kind of a concern of mine how he would handle the heat because of his coat. He had his cooling mat to lay on but I haven't gotten one of the metallic shade tarps (you know the woven metal ones that block more sun and keep the tent cooler and still let in the breeze.) I brought lots of water to soak him down before and after runs too. I think it also helped that the tent was pitched in a soggy spot, so the ground was nice and cool.

2) Did I mention that he worked for me in the heat?! So happy with my little guy. Not only did he work in the heat, but Jumpers was the last run of the day and he ran his little legs off in the omg-so-hot-I-think-my-brain-melted to Q in Jumpers at 4.03 yards per second (which is really fast for him.)

3) Technically we only Q'd in 1/3 of our runs. However, he did SO GOOD that I don't care, it was a huge success.

Standard went well. There were only 6 poles (done twice) but he likes that better than 12 poles anyway. He missed the first weave entry, initially I thought it was because I didn't babysit it - but now I think I was also late telling him to weave. I didn't hold position on a front cross into a tunnel long enough for him to commit, resulting in a refusal for that one. I need to work on this with him in drills, seems to be a weakness of ours. I either need to support better or build in a little more value for tunnels. Other than those 10 faults we did good, and under time. More importantly, I handled it the way I walked it, for the most part it worked and I didn't get lost!

I thought that Advanced Gamble was going to be a donation run once I saw the course map. It was a tough final gamble.

It doesn't help that I've never sent him to the backside of a tunnel to find a entrance either. One of the other competitors was a huge help suggesting I send him into a tunnel in the opening to show him that there is a tunnel entrance there. I was only a little in front of the gamble line sending him through the gap in the tunnels to the right entrance of 2 and he took it like a pro, no hesitation whatsoever! The rest of my opening was a little helter skelter, but we were mostly in place when the buzzer went to start the final.

The blue line is the path he took. HE DID THE FINAL GAMBLE!! Staying out, and not coming back in around the back of 2! Sadly, the buzzer went while he was in the tunnel 3, and we missed qualifying by 0.09 of a second ... story of our agility career, lol.

It's bloody difficult to do these gambles with a short dog who doesn't move the tunnel much, I couldn't see him once he was near the tunnel mouths so I didn't know when he went into 3 or if he was looking but not in etc. I don't even care that we "didn't" qualify. I think the only other Adv dog to get this gamble was Flash, who isn't handled or trained by someone new to agility. Distance skills class is working (and in more ways than one, the small drills and good rewards are building drive really well too.)