The Bug & Agility Class

As a favor for my good friend Julie over at Molasses Ain't Got Nothing On Us!, I've volunteered to try handling her CWC, Bug, in the breed ring. Unbeknownst to me, she video taped me at our very first handling class together! Surprise! Anyway, you can see the video here.

I think I need to gait him a little faster next time, but all in all, we looked pretty good. I was not sure if he was going to work with me at all, or just freak out because I took him away from his momma. Though he showed some signs of stress (drooling, panting) he worked through it really well. What was interesting to note is that he performed best when he could still see Julie. Once we moved to a part of the building where he could no longer see her, he refused to bait and got visibly upset. As long as he can keep an eye on her, he's a happy camper!

Towards the end of the class (which you can see on the video) he actually gave me ears! Hooray! I'm looking forward to working with him some more. He is very different than Tessie or Strata, but reminded me of some of the shelties I've helped handle in that he's doing the best that he can without knowing all of my signals/body language/mannerisms.

On another note, last night was the first of two handling classes that I'm taking with Amanda at MasterPeace. I brought both dogs, but ended up only running Strata. This class is right up his alley. Julie blogged about it a bunch here and even provided the course map.

Again, I was impressed with Strata's increased maturity in a class setting. I saw a distinct improvement from the class we took a few months ago (and it's not like he was -bad- at that class, just a little... juvenile). He paid very little attention to the other dogs in class and was able to watch other dogs from his crate. He barked once -- a very barky corgi had just run, and his handler was getting further instruction, and the corgi stood there barking at her like crazy. I think Strata barked because he felt left out from all the noisemaking! ;) I covered him after that one bark, just to make sure it didn't become a "thing". I also confirmed that he is totally in love with Amanda, but I was pretty sure that was already the case. She can run him any time!

The first sequence was a straight line of jumps that had been off-set, so the dog had to veer somewhat to the right, then the left, then the right, but it was still a line. The purpose of the exercise was to encourage the dog to look for the jumps and take what was in front of him -- perfect for a babydog.

He did pretty well, but I need to keep a watchful eye on him and be prepared to more strongly cue a jump. Sometimes he just gets a little goofy and doesn't really LOOK for stuff to take. (Too much handler focus, not enough obstacle focus.)

He also decided at this point that it would be super funny to shoot into a C-shaped tunnel going 100mph, travel about 2' into it, then turn around and pop out with a big grin on his face. Total dork! We will have to work on that (and beware of curved tunnels at his next trial).

The next sequence involved 270s. We've been practicing those -- Amanda assigned it as homework at our last private lesson. I saw definite improvement over his behavior at the private -- he was starting to look for the second jump in the 270, and I did not have to support it so strongly and babysit him through it. Progress!

Next week will be serpentines and threadles, which will be a hoot. I LOVE both of those skills. (270s? Eh, not so much, but I know they are a valuable skill, so I train 'em anyway.)

Strata also did another weave pole session today. We are now working on distractions. Here is a super short list of what we have tried. There is still LOTS of stuff on SG's distraction list that we haven't gotten to yet!

I can:
--squeak his toy (loud, over and over again)
--wave his toy around
--shout "go, go, go!" as he weaves
--front cross before the poles
--stand still
--run like hell
--send from up to 4'
--move laterally up to 12'

I can't:
--kick a soccer ball
--rear cross as he weaves
--send from farther than 4'
--move laterally farther than 12'

Distraction training is lots of fun, because you get to think up all sorts of wacky stuff and see if your dog still knows his job. I LOVE proofing Tessie's stays with all sorts of things. She's a tough cookie, it takes a super distraction to make her break!

Sheltie Service Announcement

mr. strata here! i would like everyone to know that, although i looooove doin' weavies, i love them even MORE when i have not seen them for a day or two.

just sayin'. perhaps practicing mediocrity every day is not as good as practicing awesomeness every two or three days. not like there's not other stuff i can learn. like broad jumps! broad jumps hurt when you crash into them, just so you know. i tried it so you don't have to.

we now return to your regularly scheduled programmings. :)

Or Not

So, Strata and Tessie aren't entered in the agility trial coming up. Apparently someone moved the entries far, far away from where they had been sitting, leading me to believe they had been picked up and mailed, and I stumbled across them today and started flipping out. They are due tomorrow. I can't really drive to NH and hand-deliver them.

Of course, they could've been mailed ages ago if people wouldn't go into my dog binder and take my freaking stamps.

Or if the mailman would actually TAKE the outgoing mail out of the mailbox, instead of just leaving it there to get totally soaked for 4 days. (Can you tell I've tried this a few times?)

I think God does not want me to take these dogs to an agility trial, or something. The next one I'm going to is at the very end of August -- the ESS trial. This sucks. The dog is ready, can I show him now?!?!

/rant

Keep It In Your Head!

Good news: Strata did his first set of 6 poles on the standard, upright base today.

Bad news: He hurt his eye doing it! I walked him into the house and he was squinting his left eye in a painful manner. Couldn't find anything in there, so I flushed it with Visine and left him to his own devices. I figured if he was still squinty in 45 minutes, we'd call the vet. He was fine.

I'm guessing that he hit his face off a pole. He is a VERY aggressive weaver thus far. The reason why I switched him to the solid base is because he is -pushing- the 2x2 sets out of his way as he plows through the poles. (See?! I TOLD you all that he was part Border Collie!) Dork!

I think I'm going to have to start teasing him with that line from A Christmas Story... "You'll shoot your eye out, kid!"

A Good Weekend

The dogs and I had a very good weekend.

Dan took us all to the Yankee Classic shows in Springfield, MA on Friday and Saturday. Tessie picked up her first two Rally Advanced legs, both with a score of 84. It's a lot easier for Tessie to do well in the advanced levels because you can't get point deductions for a tight leash if there isn't a leash on to begin with. ;) She was having some nerve issues on Friday, but per usual was better the next day. Saturday she was clearly giving me some sass -- staying *just* out of heel position, and slowly responding to some cues but flying through her personal favorites (like 'finish left' and 'call to heel'). Somebody needs more training!

I groomed for Vicki and Terri as well. Eileen, their other assistant, was also there with a couple of her dogs. We had a great time grooming together. Eileen's young pup took RWD to a major on Friday which was awesome -- he's in the puppy 6-9 class and was really just out for experience. He is a super cute sable boy and has that great, playful, Strata-ish personality. Saturday was even better, with Strata's brother Ice taking RWD to a major and winning classes with a couple of our bitches. The icing on the cake was the male Beardie client going BOW for the crossover -- there was a major in bitches; he was the only male entered, so he needed to beat the WB for the major. We all left happy!

Most of my family is from the western side of the state, and every year there is a 4th of July cookout at my aunt's house. This is the first year I brought the dogs. Usually the car is too crammed to fit dogs, but since Dan and I came seperately, we were set. Strata had a blast playing with all of the children. I thought he was going to pass out from retrieving his toy over and over and over again! Tessie made a short appearance -- she was very tired from the show, and isn't the best dog to be around plates full of food. ;) Not everyone appreciates the 'springer staredown' like we do!

Today I put Strata through his poles. We did a set of 6 straight (still the 2x2s, I haven't switched bases yet) and I added a jump before the poles. The first few run-throughs were quite successful. I then noticed that he is pushing the poles out of his way! Well, holy crap! Time to start stakin' those poles down. He then decided that keeping the bar up was negotiable, so it became more of a jumping session than weaving. But I was glad to see all of his enthusiasm, and his focus on sequencing -- going over the jump, he was totally fixated on the poles.

Next, I'll have to stake the poles down! I'm going to do a couple of days of just jump work to get him thinking about *horizontal* bars again, and then re-introduce the "sequence". After that, it will be a matter of moving the jump around to work different entries that way.

We have only about two and a half weeks before his agility trial debut. None of the classes he's in require poles, but I'd love to try them in Gamblers if they're ready. :)

Registered!

Hooray for not procrastinating any longer. Strata is now registered with USDAA -- you can now do it online, with a credit card. Very handy.

I'm entering both dogs at the Bo-Gee USDAA trial in Hampstead, NH in July. Tessie will do PII Standard and PII Gamblers both days, attempting to hunt those elusive Standard legs (needs 3, has 0) and to finally turn all of those Gamblers near-misses into a Q. Strata will be doing PI Jumpers and Gamblers. I was going to enter him in Snooker, but I don't think Dan is coming to this show, and with impending unemployment at the end of July, I need to pace myself.

Strata is definitely ready to do a PI Jumpers course. (There are no weave poles in USDAA Jumpers.) I haven't really trained for distance/discrimination, so I don't have my hopes up for a Gamblers Q, I just entered him for mileage. If his weaves are looking nice by then (which they should be), I can try weaves. If his A-frame continues looking nice, I can try an A-frame. If he's having issues with the whole 'holy crap, I am at a trial' concept, which I doubt -- but you never know -- then we can just do jumps and tunnels and chutes and easier things.

I can't wait to run the little dude. We're going to have so much fun!

Canned/FD Tripe?

I know several of my readers feed raw/natural diets. Have you heard anything, good or bad, about using freeze-dried or canned tripe vs. frozen tripe?

Several companies make freeze-dried tripe including Bravo, a company that is well-respected by most in the raw-feeding community. There are also a few companies that sell canned tripe -- I know ZiwiPeak does, and I'm pretty sure Solid Gold does it too. Now that I've really cut back on Strata's portion sizes, the amount of offal he gets on a daily basis is itty-bitty at best, so I'm wondering if freeze-dried is a good option. However, if most of the "good stuff" in it is removed by the drying process, it's not really worth it to me.

Thoughts?