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!
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!




