Lucy's agility blog

Last post

2009-11-28T21:48:00.000-05:00

I've made the leap and integrated all of Lucy and Walter's blogs into one single blog. So from now on, updates on Lucy's agility fun will be at www.muttsandaklutz.blogspot.com. Hope to see you there.

Chris Zink seminar

2009-11-22T18:58:00.002-05:00

Lucy came out to play at the Chris Zink seminar today. Details are over at Walter's blog.

Morning Star trial

2009-11-13T09:03:00.003-05:00

The way the schedule worked out I decided to enter Lucy in only one event, Advanced Standard which was a nice course. Lucy was definitely on the slow side and though she did have a few loopy moments there were no zoomies. I'd rather see her in fast mode even if it means the crazy offcourse zoomies come out! Note to self: Must practice having her ignore the timer and scribe when they are located right next to her at the start line. She broke her stay to go visit them. Little miss socialite. A couple other distracted moments, one of which took her over an offcourse for our only faults of the run. Great news is she did a nice 2o2o on all her contacts, unlike at Dream Fields a few weeks ago.

Would have liked to run a few more classes with her this weekend but it just didn't work out. But no worries, if she stays healthy and well there should be lots more runs to look forward to next year.

Dream Fields trial - Day 2

2009-10-25T19:45:00.006-04:00

Today was Lucy's first time at Dream Fields on Masters day!

Although she was there the whole day for only one run, I think/hope it's good for her to spend time there just getting more used to the place.

So anyway, her one run was Jumpers which was the third event of the day. Overall, I'm quite pleased with how it went. A great start, including a part where she had to turn 180 away from the direction of the exit gate. That was a great success. A bit later, I did a bad job of cueing a tunnel, but she came right back which is another success. But then a weird part where she crossed behind me and then went to check out both exit gates. Great timing on the part of the gate wrangler in closing the gate! But, she did finally come back, so that's good. Pressed the reset button and finished with the last line. Nice that there were no contacts to blow which probably accounts for why I liked this run a lot more than yesterday's.

Q or no Q, it sure is fun running her when she's in a good mood. Love how she dives into AND out of that tunnel at the back! Walter felt so slow when I ran him right after. But, he's my good boy, always wants to do the right thing. Love running them both when they're feeling good.

Here's the video, Lucy followed by Walter:

Dream Fields trial Day 1: Deja-vu?

2009-10-24T18:24:00.005-04:00

Started with Advanced Team. We were supposed to be paired with our friends, but there was a mix-up so we ended up in the draw. I would never put Lucy into draw given where we're at right now, so I felt bad for my partner! But she was totally understanding, and it turns out neither dog went clean, phew. Lucy didn't do 2o2o on the frame, but she had touched the yellow so there was still a chance of a Q, so I kept going (another reason not to do Team regularly yet!). Missed the weave entry coming out of a chute, and then popped toward the end in her rush to go over the offcourse jump into the box of our teammate, not sure if it might have been related to the dog being a very handsome intact male, or just "because". She came back quickly though and we finished the last two jumps.

Our second and last run of the day was Advanced Standard. She had a good opening line including happily holding 2o2o on the teeter, but then she didn't do 2o2o at all on the frame, same as in the Team run except this time she went running ahead toward the exit gate and the rest of the run was a "bit" of a mess. Oh and I would have redone the dogwalk but was sure we'd run out of time any second, so didn't. Anyway, the video speaks for itself:

Sigh. I don't mind NQ runs -- I was thrilled with her NQ Standards a couple of weeks ago at Morning Star -- but when the exit gate is a magnet for her, it's just not fun. Although, she doesn't look too unhappy in the video... I don't think? Perhaps it's more that she's eager for her treats rather than she's eager to be out of the ring? That will be my optimistic interpretation. But the whole exit gate magnet thing has been a recurring theme for her at Dream Fields.

I'm disappointed at today's exit gate magnet issue, but not discouraged. I don't think Lucy has ever had a single nice run at Dream Fields, not sure why, but we'll keep trying. Hopefully today was just a minor blip and she'll be back on track again soon!

Of note, she hadn't done any agility since Morning Star, so I think I need to take her for a practice a few days before every trial for the next while, to remind her about contacts and get in some weave practice too.

Correction

2009-10-12T12:09:00.001-04:00

Was just entering the weekend's results into my database and realized Lucy's yps in the Advanced Jumpers was 5.47, which rounds up to 5.5, not 5.4... Even more awesome!

:)

Morning Star trial - OMG!

2009-10-11T21:06:00.008-04:00

Perhaps Lucy's best ever trial!!

(As background to this post, note that the last time Lucy ran at this facility, in March 2008, my blog post was titled "A-frame shame"... It was not a fun time.)

Originally Lucy was signed up for just one run, Advanced Jumpers on Saturday, first thing in the morning.

Well. She kicked that course's butt!!!! It was I think our best ever run together. She was bouncy and hyper before the run, so I knew she was feeling good and would most likely be in FAST mode. So I prepared to run like stink! And run like stink I had to! She was just booting it. Unfortunately the run didn't get on video, but I must have done a half decent job of giving Lucy timely information on where to go next because she didn't run off zooming and instead stayed on track the whole way. It felt just great. One of those runs that you feel you're flying by the seat of your pants, teetering on the edge of chaos and brilliance. The best kind of run. Granted, there were only 11 dogs in the whole event, but her time of 27.7 seconds was the fastest clean time, and she was less than a second off the fastest dog. Her yps was 5.4, which according to my (incomplete) trial results database, is the fastest yps that either she OR Walter has ever posted on a clean run. I know lots of dogs are way faster than that, but dang she really impressed me. With this Q, she now moves up to Masters Jumpers! (She's in Advanced everything else.) Since there is no video, my special memento will be the course map:

Since Lucy was feeling so happy both in and out of the ring, and since the trial hosts were accepting additional day-of entries, and since her a-frame re-train is complete, I added her to an Advanced Standard. She was slower for this run, but ran really well. One weird moment where she ran right past a tunnel and then went to tea with the timer and scribe, but she promptly came back and finished the run, woo hoo! A few more glitches with the rest of the run, but whatever, she was happy. She stuck all of her contacts, and I did something I've NEVER done before, which is to pet my dog on course. What's a mere 5 faults for the chance to really let your dog know they did something special? Not sure why I've never done that before, and in fact after this I did it a few more times this weekend with Lucy, and even once with Walter for sticking his dogwalk. Here's the video:

I know I should have left well enough alone and called it a day, but... the Masters Jumpers course at the end of the day was in the enclosed ring... and it was a gorgeous course, flowy with lots of front crosses... and Lucy was still bright and perky hanging out in her crate... So, I threw caution to the wind and threw Lucy into the run! It was the first time I ever got to run both Lucy and Walter in the same trial run, well except for K9 Kup which is a just-for-fun thing. They were running tall to small, so Walter was first. I forgot to call him coming out of a tunnel but made sure to fix that for Lucy. She was quite slow and hoppy, not much gas left in the tank! But, she still looked like she was having a good time. Her running and jumping style in this run reminds me of her look-alike, Tippy Toes, who runs in 10" vets. They are both very cute :)

So that was Saturday.

Since I don't want to run Lucy in the ultra-distracting wide open ring until we are firmly back on track with each other, I limited my options of what runs to add for her on Sunday to what was offered in the enclosed ring. There were two Advanced Standards early in the afternoon, so that's what we did. I'm very glad I resisted the temptation to put her into Snooker as well - we need to keep far away from Snooker for a while yet. So anyway, for some reason, she ran around the first obstacle (or two) for both of today's runs. Weird! And there were other goofups too, like me forgetting she's a baby dog (in agility, not chronologically - she's almost 7) and needs a bit more guidance than Walter, and also some distracted moments. But really I'm sooooooooooo, sooooooooooo happy that she was happy out there! I love watching these videos and seeing her happy face on all her contacts and the table. YEAH!!! A far, far cry from her last time here (see link above).

This is the face Lucy wore all weekend. Relaxed and happy, tail a-waggin'.

What a fantastic weekend. This is the Lucy I once had, the Lucy in the photos at the top of this blog. I lost her for a long time, and dreamed of getting her back.

Dare I say it? I shall.

Lucy is BACK!!

Krazy Kanines fun match

2009-10-04T15:26:00.002-04:00

Ran Lucy at today's fun match hosted by the agility club we belong to. She was nice and peppy for the first two runs (a straight-forward Advanced Standard), but for the third run (a curvy Starters Jumpers) she was quite slow. So for the last run I just took her through a few easy lines and threw her food tube.

Also had a try at running a friend's shelties: the vet Tucker (who often does team with Walter), and the crazy spinning Ceilidh. So much fun!

Hmmmm.

2009-10-03T20:02:00.003-04:00

Got a chuckle from seeing the confirmation for our next trial. Poor Lucy, so neglected.

Walter All Canadian 12558 MA5 MA6 MJ1 MA7 MS2 MJ2 MJ3 MS3 MA8 MA9 MA10

Lucy All Canadian 13091 AJ1

Dream Fields trial (in which Lucy does her best kite impression)

2009-09-26T15:32:00.004-04:00

[Warning: Long post. How I manage to write such long posts about single-run trials is beyond me!]

Well, dang, I messed up today and Lucy was not in forgiving mode so she stressed as high as a kite during her one run, Advanced Jumpers. The course looked nice, there were a few spots for potential offcourses or run-bys but I wasn't worried about that, hoping just to have a good connected run with her, who cares if it would be clean or not. She looked good before her run as we hung out, relaxed and focused with a happy look on her face. Put her over the warmup jumps a few times and she was pretty peppy. A nice non-sniffy start-line stay followed by a good opening line, faster than I was expecting, then she went for the offcourse tunnel. Just as well because my front cross there would never have worked -- I had been expecting the pokey Lucy from our last two trials in which case the front cross may have worked but on second thought, probably not. No pokeying about today though. Then coming out of the offcourse tunnel the poor dog never saw my front cross so she didn't know what to do next -- and I lost her.

Zoomy time!

My videographer stopped recording at this point figuring she'd save me from the horror of having to watch footage of crazy Lucy, so the rest is a bit of a blur, but my best recollection is that she (Lucy, not the videographer ;) ) did a few laps, taking some jumps and tunnels on her way. We did get back on track for the last two closing lines during which she continued to fly like a bat out of heck. On the homestretch line she totally left me in her dust -- NO WAY can I keep up with her on a straight line when she's running like that.

Don't get me wrong, it's fun running Lucy when she's in fast mode even if it means we don't go clean, but it would be a lot more fun if she were running fast because she's having a good time rather than because she's in frantic stresscase mode.

Watching the video back it looks like Lucy totally locked onto that tunnel, suggesting she was somewhat stressed to begin with (she'll tune me out and become obstacle-focused), but then it's totally my fault that I lost her after that with the front cross that she never saw.

Sigh.

Okay, so here's what i'm thinking for next time to reduce the chances of Lucy going frantic:

Take her for a good walk before the trial to hopefully take some nervous energy off;
Plan the course for FastLucy just in case it's she who makes an appearance; and
Always be in the right place at the right time. Sooooo much easier said than done as we all know...

Walter's turn tomorrow. I'm very lucky that he's so predictable, and forgiving...

Hanging out at Guides Canins

2009-09-06T23:50:00.003-04:00

Lucy was a good sport and a pleasure to hang out with at Guides Canins for Walter's trial this weekend. She's entered in a few trial runs later this fall but not at Guides Canins as it's just toooo distracting with so many little critter smells everywhere.

ADC video posted

2009-08-24T19:57:00.001-04:00

The video of Lucy's ADC run has been posted.

Woo hoo! HADC at last.

2009-08-23T15:29:00.009-04:00

I am very pleased to announce that at today's Dogz trial, six-year old Lucy earned the last Starters Standard Q required for the Agility Dog of Canada title! But more importantly, she ran the course in happy mode! I give you Lucy, HADC (Happy Agility Dog of Canada):

The last time Lucy ran Standard in a trial was... oh my, over a year ago, in May 2008. I knew it had been a while but didn't realize it had been that long. We'd taken a break to fix her a-frame and work on getting our agility groove back.

Although she had been licking at her feet in her crate earlier in the morning (no raw spots or anything though), while we sat around before her run she seemed really relaxed and comfortable, with a nice perky look on her face while I handed out treats.

The course was extremely easy, even for a Starters course, but hey, no complaints from me. Only two changes of side which were at the table and a tunnel, and only six weaves.

So in we went, I set her up in her stand stay and led out just a few feet (the video's missing just the first little bit), then off we went. At the contacts I waited for her to offer eye contact before starting off again. She gave me her nice happy face each time, woo hoo! Afterward it occurred to me that waiting for her to offer eye contact on the contacts is something I should probably do every time as it's a nice opportunity to reconnect. It's also a great way to gauge how she's feeling because when she's stressed out she either doesn't do 2o2o, or she does 2o2o but doesn't look at me. A new meaning to the term "contact" obstacle! Granted, it can eat up a lot of time -- she was just a few seconds under SCT -- but taking the time to check in with her is worth it.

Some trouble in the weaves, but Starters rules are pretty forgiving so there are no faults for having to restart them.

I must say, I'm not thrilled about the impact on her front end when she hits 2o2o on the frame. A few years ago after I saw video of Walter doing 2o2o I changed him to a ~~point-and-pray~~ running a-frame. Soon after I did the same for Lucy, but in her case this led to stress issues since she no longer understood what her job was. But, since Lucy has a lighter build, and since she really likes knowing exactly what her job is, 2o2o it will be. She'll never have a heavy trial schedule anyway, and I'll limit how many frames she does at any given practice or trial.

So, that was our day, just the one run. She was also entered in the second Starters Standard, but since she had run so well and it was starting to get pretty hot, we opted to go for a nice walk in the woods instead.

Oh and the best part is that Lucy's favourite dog buddy, Sammy, also got her ADC title on the same run! Lucy and Sammy have both had their share of issues in the trial ring, so the ADC title was a few years in the making for both of them.

Looking much better!

2009-08-22T11:53:00.008-04:00

This week Lucy went for three practices at the place tomorrow's Starters trial is being held. We didn't work anything specific, just did two runs on a Standard course each time. Did our pre-run routine and treated our time in the ring like a real run except for giving food rewards. Yesterday and today her enthusiasm level was great! Nice speed on the dogwalk and weaves, no walking through them as she did at her last fun match. It was like running the old Lucy!

Here's a step back in time, a course we ran at the K9 Kup in July 2007. If you can get past my atrocious handling, the video is a nice example of the enthusiasm Lucy used to have in the trial ring and which I hope hope hope we can get back to. I love her happy wagging tail and her expectant face on the contacts. She's just so darn cute and bouncy. :-)

Practice

2009-08-16T11:02:00.002-04:00

First time doing any practice in over a month! Her feet are looking better these days -- still licking at them, of course, but no raw spots.

A short practice consisting of a brief contacts/mini-table/weaves refresher and two runthroughs of a simple Standard course. She was a willing participant, stuck all her contacts, no weave issues aside from one 10th pole popout, but she wasn't overly excited about the whole thing. Hopefully that's just because it was pretty hot: 22 degrees, 30 with humidex, and this at only 9am. Crazy hot weekend this is.

Scratched (licked?) from trial; allergy woes

2009-06-28T09:15:00.008-04:00

Darn, darn, darn. Lucy's foot-licking issue has been getting worse this week to the point she's got a sore spot on her left back foot now, between two toes. So, I scratched her from today's Dogz trial where she was entered only in Advanced Jumpers. Too bad, since this is a place we train at so I was looking forward to the chance to trial her somewhere she's comfortable. But she wouldn't have been comfortable with her foot in the state it's in, so it's a moot point.

Poor dog. She's pretty much always tended to lick at her feet and she gets recurring ear infections. Vets have suggested both may be due to an allergy (maybe food, maybe environmental) so last fall she started on a strict allergy diet where she ate NOTHING but a certain type of kibble for three months; no change so we did the same thing again with a different type of kibble; still no change. So, at the vet's recommendation we started her on an Omega 3 oil thing about a month ago; no change. Now that it's been getting worse lately I started her yesterday on benadryl since that's something we haven't tried yet.

Hopefully she's not allergic to the cats! ;-)

Fun match

2009-06-21T15:24:00.003-04:00

Lucy shared a spot with Walter at the fun match, taking the two Standard runs.

Her first run was decent, but she entered the weaves a few poles in and was uncharacteristically slow on both the dogwalk and table. The table might be because she's used to the 22" table and hasn't yet been trained on the short mini table.

Her second run, her start line stay was very distracted and she ran around the third jump which told me something was off. I was going to stop the run but the judge gave me a timbit to reward her with and she immediately pepped up, though her reward up to then had been dried chicken which I thought should be pretty good.

I really need to figure out what is going on with Lucy's right back foot. She gets this skin condition on it; I thought it was looking better but I'm pretty sure it's still bothering her. I wouldn't want to run and jump if my foot was sore either. Offer me a hundred bucks to do it and yeah I might pep up a bit but that doesn't make the discomfort go away. Sigh.

On the bright side, her a-frame is looking nice with her happily sticking 2o2o.

Woot!

2009-06-14T19:29:00.002-04:00

Today at All Dogs Lucy ran in her first trial in nine months. Just one run, Advanced Jumpers. No contacts or weaves to worry about. She had been doing well in practices so I decided to give it a go, especially since this class was the first of the day so it wouldn't be too hot. She ran in specials for the first time -- she seems happier with the lower jumps and at 6 years old she's almost a vet anyway.

I just watched video of her last trial run which was in this very same ring last September (K9 Kup): there were four separate instances of her running distractedly past obvious obstacles, plus she sniffed at the fence. Well, I am VERY pleased to report that there was none of that today!

Her run was the highlight of my day :D

Dogz fun match

2009-05-24T18:22:00.004-04:00

Lucy's first fun match at this great venue since last spring because last year most of the dates coincided with K9 Kup.

There were a few attention lapses and sniffy moments, one of which was rewarded by her finding a treat on the ground - d'oh! Her sniffy moments felt like ages at the time but actually they were pretty short. Ah, the benefit of video. Thanks again L.L.!

An unfortunate moment in her second Standard run of the day where she stung her toes on the second jump which was right before the a-frame. By the time I heard her crying, she was already on the frame. She was fine after a few seconds, but sheesh, this is not exactly the kind of thing we need given the a-frame issues we've been working through. Oh well, not the end of the world.

She had no weaves to speak of today. She kept flying past the first six poles. This is something Walter sometimes does, but out of character for Lucy. When I switched to offside she did a lot better but popped. Actually come to think of it, she hasn't practiced weaves lately since the ones at our practice field are all wonky.

Fun match!

2009-05-16T22:17:00.007-04:00

Today's fun match at Red Gate was Lucy's first agility event since last September, and her first fun match since way too long (July).

For the most part I broke the runs down into segments with lots of food rewards.

I couldn't have asked for more: She was focused and engaged and stuck all of her contacts, including an a-frame which she naughtily snuck over and did when we were supposed to run past it since we're not done with the re-train yet. Still I'll happily take that over her refusing the frame which she started doing last year in conjunction with our a-frame criteria chaos.

A few off courses where I had failed to provide her with a road map, but it was no big deal and she got a treat for being so innovative. Weaves were good, just one last-pole pop which I didn't bother fixing. She wasn't particularly fast today, but looked pretty happy.

We did just three of the four runs since she had done so well and I didn't want to push it.

Rather than bore you with the full runs on video, I'll just bore you with this compressed version:

Club practice

2009-05-13T18:09:00.003-04:00

At tonight's club practice we ran one of the Standards from the 2006 Nationals. Broke it into chunks for Ms. Starters Lucy, and didn't do the frame since it was at full height. She seemed happy. Several off-courses at a couple of tricky spots, but only one brief episode of running off. Good dog!

A-frame practice #2

2009-05-11T21:16:00.003-04:00

Quick practice today, second session back on the a-frame:
- first time asking for a full a-frame since last fall. not yet at full height - currently on link 25. happy 2o2o. threw in a few short sequences: tunnel to frame, frame to tunnel. (tunnel in front of a-frame, not snaked underneath)
- practiced some lead-out pushes. how nice to have a dog who calmly holds a sit-stay.
- tried some rear crosses but she wasn't driving ahead so it was awkward. need a new viewtainer as our old one broke today.

The verdict is in

2009-05-03T17:20:00.004-04:00

2o2o it is for Lucy's a-frame retrain which officially began today!

After much thought and flip-flopping, I decided on 2o2o because Lucy adores knowing exactly what her job is and I'm just not convinced that our main alternative, the a-frame box method, would be as clear for her. And, it should require many fewer reps since she already knows the behaviour from the dogwalk and teeter, so the down side of it maybe being more uncomfortable to perform than a running contact is countered by the up side of not having to do a lot of frames. Lucy will be in specials from now on, so the frame will be lower which should hopefully make 2o2o more comfortable.

Today was Day 1 of the retrain. We started by putting the table next to the dogwalk and having her hop onto the table then go down the ramp into 2o2o since she already knows 2o2o on that obstacle though we never did this table backchain thing before. Then we did the same thing with the table next to the a-frame. She does it in Princess Mode, certainly not diving into 2o2o with any speed but then I don't think I want her charging down into position due to the physical aspect of it, so basically, whatever speed she chooses is fine by me, like Walter on the dogwalk. She seemed happy enough doing this today, though not overjoyed. Too bad due to her allergy diet she still can't have any treats, but I tried to make up for it with jackpots.

We also worked on rear crosses (one of our weak spots for sure) at the teeter and jumps. She surprised me by reading them pretty well!

Fun at Red Gate (again)

2009-04-15T20:30:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Lyne we got some nice video of Lucy at Red Gate tonight. It was the first time Lucy came to this group practice session. She ran well but I should have capped it at two runs instead of four as she started to slow down and lose enthusiasm after that, though she stayed engaged nevertheless. Here's some video from her second and third runs, and some of Walter thrown in too:

Practice at Red Gate

2009-04-13T21:57:00.002-04:00

Lucy had a great agility practice today. We worked on most of the exercises Walter did and I managed to remember to use a more baby dog approach with her. She was feeling great! This is the kind of Lucy I hope to see in the trial ring again some day: happy and engaged. She's just so darn cute when she's having fun. Here's some video:

Lucy's long lost cousin?

2009-03-15T13:53:00.005-04:00

Lucy spent the weekend hanging out at the trial with Walter. I finally got around to taking a photo of Lucy and her look-alike, who has her Bronze and Silver and is working towards her Gold!

For some reason Blogger doesn't want to show the photo any bigger than this, but clicking it brings up a larger image.

Both dogs were rescues from local humane societies, and both are hounds through and through, though her look-alike is a few years older. She's one of my favourite vet dogs to watch, especially when she's feeling especially spry like she was yesterday.

Practice at Red Gate

2009-03-09T21:08:00.004-04:00

Had the day off so took the dogs to Red Gate. Set up the video camera just for fun and I'm glad I did; it's nice to watch it back and see happy agility Lucy again. Didn't really work on any particular skills and didn't do the frame at all except for a couple of times when she went out of her way to take it without being asked.

Note to self: Throw reward more often so she's not so handler-focused!

Boy could Lucy ever benefit from a jumping program!

The camera battery died so I couldn't film Lucy and Walter's playtime at the end chasing each other round and round. It was so much fun; they went zooming through tunnels and over jumps while taking turns chasing each other, all the while Walter carrying his flying squirrel. That was the best part of the practice.

Anyway, here's a little video from today, just because. :-)

Quotations

2009-01-31T09:19:00.002-05:00

Andrea over at Agility Addict posted some really nice quotations. Several of them hit home when I think about Lucy and where we're at in agility right now. Thanks Andrea for the inspiration :)

Back to agility practice

2009-01-25T19:55:00.003-05:00

Lucy had a nice long break from all things agility until recently. She joined Walter's every-other-week practice group today and last time. Not working on anything specific right now, just basic stuff, front crosses, simple lines.

However, she won't be touching an a-frame until we've done all the pvc box groundwork. Depending on how that goes, it may mean she will have had a full year hiatus from a-frames as her last one was in September!

Lucy's new sport and blog

2009-01-18T17:55:00.002-05:00

Lucy has started rally-o. So, of course I had to start a new blog for her rally adventures. :)

A-frame box resources

2009-01-16T20:25:00.025-05:00

Mentioned some of these a while ago, but have come across a few new ones too, so here they all are in one place. If you know of more a-frame box resources, let me know and I'll gladly add them here.

Rachel Sanders' Reliable Running A-Frames DVD
Agility Nerd's review of Rachel's DVD
TajMuttHall blog's overview of Rachel's method: Part 1 and Part 2
Chilean blogger Marcela's overview of Rachel's method (in Spanish!)

The following links take you to people who are training or have trained their dog's frame with the a-frame box. Interesting to see people's different experiences* and the variety of breeds working with the method.

tegansmom2's You Tube videos. See her golden retriever, Cheetah, in training here and here.
Emily Snider's You Tube videos . See her border collie, Josie, in training here and here, and at a trial here.
PoodleGrrrl's You Tube videos. See her miniature poodle in training here and here.
DogSportz's You Tube videos. See her rat terrier, Spring, in training here.
ShapeUpAgility's You Tube videos. See her kelpie (I think), Rogue, in training here.
MelanieOwl's You Tube videos. See her border collie, Elf, in training here.
LeeMayaApache's You Tube videos. See her standard poodle in training here and here.
DonnaNPups' You Tube videos. See her border collie, Siryn, in training here.

*Disclaimer: Although these videos use a pvc box on the a-frame, the methods shown may or may not follow the method/criteria outlined in Rachel Sanders' a-frame box program.

Running frame DVD

2009-01-16T19:57:00.004-05:00

During Lucy's a-frame hiatus I've flip flopped a lot in my thoughts about what to do with her frame.

One option would be to drop her to specials where she'd have a lower frame, in which case maybe I would go back to 2o2o since she loves knowing exactly what her job is, and 2o2o really fits that bill. But, she never really seemed comfortable performing 2o2o so maybe that's not the best option.

Briefly experimented last spring with a hoop and running frame but realized it would take hundreds of reps and would she really understand what the criteria is when the hoop is removed?

Rachel Sander's article last spring Clean Run describing her a-frame box method looked interesting. I made a box and started a bit of flatwork with Lucy last summer but had some problems even at the beginning stage so we didn't make much progress. Then her DVD came out and after thinking about it, finally decided what the heck, why not get it and learn more about the method. So, I finally got around to ordering it and got it this week.

Watched it through once the other day and really like the program. Will watch it more closely again when we start to work through it. One drawback to this method is there is a prop which will need to be faded, BUT there is the benefit of having what seems to be a clearly understandable criteria, without the need for hundreds of repetitions which some running contact methods seem to require. There's definitely no room for an a-frame in my house or yard and we can't get to the practice field every day, so anything needing lots of reps isn't an option. Compared to 2o2o, which also has the benefit of not requiring a lot of reps, I can see Lucy digging the box method a lot more than 2o2o. So, I've pretty much decided to go with this option for her frame re-train.

It will be a lot of work, but hopefully I can get in gear this year and give it a go!

Goals yesterday and today

2009-01-01T08:35:00.000-05:00

These are the goals I set for Lucy last January:

Regain her worry-free teeter and dogwalk (she had freaked herself out on a teeter which translated into dogwalk fear as well)
Woo hoo! Done.
Add tunnel/contact discriminations to skill set
Nope, didn't work on that at ALL.
Add "out" to skill set
Nope. Hardly worked on that at all.
Add soft weave entry to skill set
Nope. Didn't work on that at all except for maybe a few living room sessions.
Take time out (from trials) at some point to train a running frame
Procrastination won out despite Lucy telling me loud and clear that she needed this. Unfortunately I didn't listen until she had to practically scream it to me. She has been on trial and a-frame hiatus since September.
Achieve fully independent contacts
Nope. Hardly worked on that at all.
It'd be nice to get her up to Masters in some events to reduce ring conflicts with Walter.
Nope. She got partway there in Snooker and Jumpers, except with the new rules now she'll need two more Qs before moving up. (Which is fine by me.)
To keep her agility tail wagging.
Nope. She kept her happy table, thank goodness, but a combination of a-frame stress and a general lack of practice led to quite a few stressed out, unhappy runs that I'm not proud of. My poor dog!

Well, 2008 sure was a good lesson that things don't always go as planned. With the exception of that last one and the frame issue, I'm not bothered by any of our failed goals because the plain fact is Lucy got next to no practice last year, which was really focused on improving Walter's skills. (For most of our green fee season it's too hot to leave a dog in the car, and it can be a hassle to dig out the big clunky metal crate from the bottom of the trunk every time, so most of the time I brought just one dog to the practice field and 9 times out of 10 that dog was Walter.)

Moving on to goals for 2009:

To get her agility tail wagging again.

Yep, that's it, that's all! : )

Lucy and Walter 2008

2008-12-19T19:33:00.002-05:00

Our second annual compilation video:

I had a lot of fun making the video as a little souvenir of our year.

Hmmmm, Lucy seems to have gotten the short end of the stick on this one. Well, at least she has the dignity of not appearing in the bloopers section!

Practice

2008-10-05T21:04:00.002-04:00

A great, fun practice with Lucy. Just short jump/tunnel sequences with lots of reinforcement. Was great to see her so happy and into the game again. I'm glad she's not entered in any more trials this year and am in no rush to get back to trials. Maybe next fall but we'll see, no deadlines, no expectations, just want to see the super-happy and confident agility Lucy again.

All Dogs trial

2008-09-13T18:56:00.003-04:00

Three runs today:

Advanced Team: Signed her up for this back when I was feeling more optimistic :-D Fortunately, our draw partner who has a nice little Pyr Shep was totally easygoing and both our dogs totally screwed up so no one let anyone down. They took the first part which meant that Lucy didn't have to do the frame and that I wouldn't have to deal with getting a hold of her in the box. Well, Lucy had her sights set on the nearby offcourse dogwalk on the opening line. We must have had a few other goofs but I didn't write it down and now the day's details are a fuzzy blur. Oh but I do remember that she held 2o2o on both dogwalks (the offcouse and the legit one) but she was sniffing the ground both times while in 2o2o. Good news is that she happily waited for me before exiting the ring.

Advanced Snooker: Just what I was hoping for: There was no frame on the course, yay! Our opening was the #7 teeter twice and the #2 tunnel. Lucy was slow and unpeppy but somehow we made it through to the end of the closing even though she *walked* through the weaves. So a Q for Lucy but not exactly our best ever performance.

Advanced Jumpers: This was at the end of a long day. If only my dogs would be able to sleep in their crates/xpens during their downtime. Anyway, let's just say man did my pom-poms get a workout. Halfway through the course, however, she went to the fence and started sniffing at the grass. Clearly she was not into this run so I put an end to the torture for all involved and signalled to the judge that we were done. Lucy's fence-sniffing was strange behaviour as usually when she's stressed or just not into a run she heads straight for the exit gate, but the fence she went to sniff at was at the opposite end of the ring and even when we went running to the exit I had to really cheerlead her to get her to break into a canter.

Later at home I looked at her feet out of curiosity and noticed a cut on her left rear pad which was definitely sensitive to the touch. No idea when or how she got it as it wasn't there a few days ago when I trimmed her nails, and she hadn't been limping. Surely to goodness this injury played a role in today's performance, my poor Lucy. She has gotten strange cuts like this before including once shortly before a trial from which I therefore scratched her, $45 down the drain but obviously the right thing to do. So, I vow from here on to inspect her feet before every single run to make sure there are no cuts.

As usual, she was a joy to hang out with, and she even got some compliments on her sweetie-pie good looks from a very nice woman who was taken with her. Lucy loves everyone so she was glad to soak up the lovin' and it was nice that for once it was her instead of Mr. Fancypants Walter who got the attention of a stranger. :-)

Practice - Discovery!

2008-09-11T19:24:00.005-04:00

If I haven't been blogging much about Lucy's agility practices this year it's because, well, we haven't been doing very much of it. I've been really focusing on developing a number of skills with Walter this year so as usual Lucy's agility training has taken a back seat. Taking both dogs to practice at the same time involves digging out the heavy crate from the bottom of the trunk and setting it up and I've just been too lazy this summer. So I take her out with Walter from time to time when it's cool enough and shady enough that the dogs can wait in the car while it's the other dog's turn. We've done simple little sequences but that's about it, haven't worked on skills development at all. Sad but true. (But, she is my main focus in flyball, and I would love to get into rally with her at some point... so hopefully it all evens out in the end?)

Anyway, today I decided to see what would happen if at one of our usual practice fields (BF) I treated it like a trial run: We did our typical warmup exercises and I left our treat bag outside the ring, no treats inside the ring. Then we ran a simple standard course. Well, lo and behold, we had the same issues we have at trials! Where she seemingly tunes out now and then, running around aimlessly for a bit; where she sometimes locks onto obsacles in front of her instead of turning with me; where she runs toward the exit gate.

So, could it be that the issues we've been having simply come down to a lack of practice? Geez when I think about it she gets a heck of a lot more flyball practice time and flyball is the same darn thing again and again and again, none of the complexity and variety that's found in agility.

Looking at it that way, it all makes sense. Too bad it took me to the end of the season to figure it out. Oh and there is still the frame retraining issue which will need to be addressed.

Hopefully next year I'll get back on track with her as Walter has made good progress on his skills development this year (weaves aside, ahem!!) so he can take more of a backseat next green fee season.

Guides Canins trial

2008-08-31T22:44:00.008-04:00

Our first time at the gorgeous Guides Canins facility in Saint Lazare. Lucy was entered in only two runs, one Saturday morning and one Sunday morning. No expectations, just wanted to give her some ring time and see how she'd do at a different venue.

Saturday morning: Advanced Jumpers

The opening straight line went well but after that we fell to pieces, both of us completely discombobulated. I got lost on course for the first time ever but didn't realize it until we were on the closing line when I thought hey, how come we never got to the chute? and the bunch of jumps before and after the chute? woops :-) From watching the video it looks like Lucy had a combination of excitement and stress, but at least she wasn't stressed to the point where the exit gate became an irresistable magnet. Oh and she had a strange stumble on the turn after one of the jumps towards the end. Here's the video:

Sunday morning: Advanced Gamblers

Wanted to enter her in just one run early in the morning. Since Jumpers wasn't until late in the day, our choice was between Snooker and Gamblers. While we would have stood a better chance at Qing in Snooker (since we never practice distance), I figured Gamblers would be the better choice for us as the Mean Yelling Snooker Handler in me would not get the chance to take over. Some good news is she did the 12-weaves, yay! However, I made the mistake of putting her over the frame since it provided a way of continuing a nice line. The frame faced the exit gate so then off she went to the exit... then she came back in the ring, and soon after the buzzer went, at which point she ran right back to the exit and visited the scribe and timer, BUT the good news is she eventually did come back so we tried the gamble. She took the wrong end of the tunnel (no surprise there) and then made no attempt whatsoever at 2o2o on the dogwalk (actually she jumped clear over the yellow) and left the ring. We would have had nowhere near enough opening points to Q even if she had done the gamble. This run didn't get caught on video so we are all spared from having to watch it again.

Later on when I was discussing Lucy's issues with someone, she suggested that Gamblers is not necessarily a good event for a dog with stress issues because often the obstacles are not laid out in a way that you can design a nice, flowing course. I hadn't thought about it that way but totally see her point.

Lucy had a nice massage by the on-site dog masseuse afterwards which she quite enjoyed.

I have to say, while I'm not sure what the future holds for Lucy's agility "career", she is such a wonderful dog to just hang around the show site with. Easygoing, quiet, and knows how to kick back and relax in the sun. The only thing I need to keep an eye on her about is to make sure she hasn't, isn't, or isn't about to stick her snout in someone's unmonitored treat pouch or lunch bag :-D

August K9 Kup

2008-08-17T20:48:00.002-04:00

Mixed results on this one. Standard wasn't too bad; I think her lapses were more excited in nature rather than stress because she was quick to come back to me; however, her fabulous go line (which I didn't ask for) at the end seemed stressy and she ran out of the ring by herself. Snooker was going well until she took back to back reds, but she seemed happy enough so I don't mind. Gamblers was ok, except I accidentally put her through Walter's opening instead of hers which called for the teeter instead of the frame. She didn't seem happy on the frame and paused at the top. Again, a stressy line at the end where she ran out of the ring by herself, missing the last jump of the gamble, too bad!

In retrospect, it actually looks better (i.e. Lucy looks happier) on the video than it felt while we were running.

A-frame box practice

2008-08-13T21:07:00.002-04:00

Re-read the first steps of the Clean Run article and realized I've been missing the step of throwing the treat into the box before throwing a treat outside of the box. So we gave that a try at the field today (box on ground, now with additional sponge at corners for slightly better visibility in grass). She was having fun, but when I back up from the box she tends to come to me, then upon getting no reinforcement she turns around and goes into the box but it's from the side rather than the "top". Hmmm. Might just be worthwhile to buy the DVD they're putting together on this training method.

A-frame box update

2008-08-11T19:45:00.002-04:00

We gave it another go with the pvc box on the ground at the agility field today. The problem last time we tried this was that the box disappeared in the grass. So, I attached a little sponge at each corner thinking that would help raise it and make it more visible. Well, while the piddly little sponges make it perfectly visible on the living room carpet, they do next to nothing in the grass. So, back to the drawing board; I'll have to put a few sponges on each corner I guess. Oh and the other problem that we don't have at home on the living room carpet is I can't throw our usual treats in the grass because they disappear and it takes Lucy forever to find them. Ok, so our action plan is to (1) find a way to raise the frame a bit higher off the ground so it doesn't get swallowed up in the grass, and (2) find some large, light-coloured treats for throwing.

As the days get shorter and the end of green fee season starts to approach, I concede that Lucy's frame retraining will not be finished this year. Heck we've barely started it! So, my plan is to really get the groundwork part of it down pat over the fall and winter and next spring be ready to put it to the equipment. Trialing-wise, I'm encouraged by following the current thread on the Clean Run mailing list about Rachel Sanders' pvc box method: it's ok to keep trialing as long as you're still on the groundwork part of it. It's once you start putting the box on the frame that it's a good idea to take some time out from doing frames in trials.

Check out Emily Snider's You Tube videos for some neat footage of her border collie's progress with the pvc box method. Here's her most recent frame training video:

Dogz Advanced trial... in which Lucy has a 100% Q rate!

2008-08-04T15:08:00.008-04:00

Ok, so she was entered in only one class. ;-P She ran the Advanced Jumpers course. Didn't put her in the other games because of the frame retraining and not wanting to overdo it with her at trials.

She ran very attentively and stayed with me the whole time, yay! But, her happiness level wasn't at full-on 100% Happy Girl. I'd give her a 3.5 or 4 out of 5 on the Happy scale.

Couple of things I noticed from the video... I rely way too much on the off arm, such as to bring her in after a turn to avoid her running past the next jump... and, holy moly I can't cue a tight turn to save my life. Actually that kind of thing (efficient turns) is the last thing on my mind both when walking a course and running it. But jeez maybe it's time to start eh!

Practice

2008-08-03T18:30:00.004-04:00

Quick practice to work on rear crosses in anticipation of possibly wanting to use one or two at tomorrow's Jumpers run. She doesn't really "get" rear crosses because, well, I haven't worked on them much with her. Poor Lucy, always the neglected one. She spun at first but after a bit of work she was picking it up better.

Also, put her through the 12-weaves at the field with the good weaves and she was looking great: excited and happy!

Krazy Kanines fun match

2008-07-27T14:36:00.001-04:00

Today was the Krazy Kanines (our agility club)'s first ever fun match. Lucy ran a starters and advanced standard and the starters gamble. I ran her at 16" instead of 22" because, well, just because. It was fun and the bonus is that some photographers took a bunch of photos of everyone and their photos are free to use as we please. So, here are a bunch of Lucy.

Club practice

2008-07-23T20:32:00.002-04:00

Tonight for the first time I asked someone to run Lucy for a bit, just to see how she'd do with that. Sure enough, all it took was a bit of pre-run bonding involving a cheese string or two, and she subsequently followed her new handler around like magic. It was neat to have an observer`s perspective on her for a change. She's such a funny dog, so bouncy and happy when she's having fun.

K9 Kup!

2008-07-20T16:55:00.012-04:00

This was Lucy's first K9 Kup of the year, having missed the June one due to an ear infection. K9 Kup consists of a series of unsanctioned agility matches held over the summer, with a team-based approach, geared towards novices with all courses at the Starters level. We have a great bunch of teammates so it's really fun :-)

I've been looking forward to running her in K9 Kup because it's a lot easier to not stress myself out too much since each run costs about $3 in contrast to $15+ at a sanctioned trial. So it's easier to really just think of it as a fun outing as opposed to a Q being at stake. So yeah of all of this to say I was hoping that Lucy would appreciate the less stress-inducing vibes from me :-)

First was Jumpers, in the wall-less ring. I led out one obstacle to help with a tricky opening, and she did only a wee bit of sniffing the ground around her while waiting to be released. Then off we went, and she was feeling great! She was with me the whole time and didn't get that stressy look I've come to know, yay! She even came to me as we exited the ring, like she did last summer before the stressiness started, rather than running out by herself (as she did in the following run, Gamblers). I was thrilled that her happy agility face came out for this run. Oh and I really must practice that lead-out thingy, not sure what it's called (not a lead-out pivot... you can see it better on Walter's video...); I was in the wrong place and super late on it with both Lucy and Walter. Hey here`s a brag: Lucy`s time was bested by only a handful of bcs. But the fact that she was running happy is far more important to me :D

Next was Gamblers. My plan kind of went to pieces and I made the mistake of not going with her flow so she started to get that stressy look and our connection kind of went out the window, but at least she didn't go running around aimlessly too much or head for the exit before we were done. She did however run out of the ring by herself at the end, something she typically does when she's had a stressful run. Man it's tough being a dog eh. Especially the dog of a handler who doesn't know what they're doing.

Last was Standard. Another really good run with none of her stress symptoms (other than mild startline stuff), yay! At one point a third of the way through the course had us heading towards the exit gate, and I think I saw her briefly consider exiting as an option, but she chose instead to take the tunnel and keep playing with me, yay!

Sorry for all the yay!s but I am very happy that Lucy was happy in the ring today, back to her old self.

Note, her happy runs (Jumpers and Standard) were the ones that she ran clean in and her not-so-happy run was the one where she deviated from my plan even though it really wouldn't have mattered (Gamblers). I really must learn to go with the flow with her because when she knows she made a mistake is, it seems, when she starts to get stressy.

Frame-wise: I know we probably shouldn't be doing the frame while it's being retrained, so we didn't do it in Gamblers but I let her do it in the Standard. Bad me.

Videos of our runs:

A-frame box update

2008-07-19T18:30:00.002-04:00

We've done several sessions in the living room over the last few weeks. The first part went fairly well with C&Ting for going fully in the box, then throwing the treat outside the box. Found it a bit cramped when moving to the part where I stand several feet away from the box in various positions, so we brought it outside. Outside it didn't go so well; after being released from her sitstay she would come to me instead of going to the box. I wonder if part of the problem is that my box doesn't have the riser corners so it kind of disappears in the grass. To fix that I have bought some sponges to put at the corners so it sits a bit higher up. Haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

Running a-frame, take two!

2008-06-29T17:13:00.006-04:00

If I haven't been blogging about Lucy's running frame lately, it's because we haven't been working on it (last running frame practice was mid-May). About the same time as I started with the pool noodle hoop frame back in May, there was a discussion about running contacts on one of the agility lists I'm subscribed to. The age-old debate about the physical effects of running contacts vs 2o2o contacts (on the frame specifically) came to the fore. Someone suggested that perhaps the act of 2o2o was more physically stressful than the act of a running contact, BUT if in the process of obtaining a reliable running contact the dog has to do hundreds if not thousands of repetitions to get the muscle memory thing happening, then in the end which one has more of a potential impact on the dog's wellbeing?

That question got me rethinking Lucy's frame re-training plan, hence our timeout. The hoop thing seems to me to be very much a muscle memory thing, where the dog gets used to lowering their head as they run under the hoop. Not much learning/understanding going on as it relates to the performance of the actual obstacle. I still like the idea of a running frame, but perhaps a different approach should be considered.

Enter the May 2008 edition of Clean Run in my mailbox, featuring a detailed article by Rachel Sanders about her running frame training method. (Click here for an overview of her method.) The more I thought about it, the more I could see the merits of her box method compared to the hoop method. To me the big benefit is it seems to be a concept that the dog can really understand, since unlike the hoop method they're not *forced* by the prop to perform the criteria; rather, either they hit all fours inside the box and get a reward, or they don't hit all fours inside the box and consequently don't get a reward. Also, in her article Rachel recommends doing only four to eight frames per training session and only three to four sessions per week, raising the importance of quality over quantity.

So I finally dragged my butt out to the store this week and bought the pvc to make our a-frame box. Couldn't find the 3-way corners her article mentions , but hopefully that won't make too much difference. Here it is being tested on the frame before gluing it together:

It's great that the article comes with step by step instructions, and I especially love that we can do the first few steps in our living room, especially given all the rainy weather we've been having lately. Looking forward to getting started with it; the glue is drying as I type. :-)

Dogz fun match

2008-06-14T19:49:00.000-04:00

Lucy ran the starters standard and starters gamblers course once each.

Standard: I'm trying a different way of starting the course. Instead of having any kind of start line sit, which is where her stressing out begins, we sort of walk around for a few seconds and then just go. Did an easygoing run with lots of praise and treats. She had a couple of sniffy moments but overall seemed fairly content.

Gamblers: Decent run actually, but she's still not back at her excited-and-having-lots-of-fun level of engagement.

In summary, a step in the right direction...

Camping at Sandbanks Provincial Park

2008-06-14T12:31:00.002-04:00

Photos of Lucy on her first camping adventure are over on Walter's blog.

All Dogs trial; Lucy destined to stay in Starters forever?

2008-05-29T21:58:00.006-04:00

Ok, I know I said Lucy would be taking a time out from trial events involving frames. I actually had emailed the trial secretary shortly after making that decision, to cancel her entry. Well, all of a sudden two weeks ago I received an email confirming her entry in the trial. It would seem that my email to them got trapped in a spam filter or something. So, rather than complicate things for them I just let it go with the hopes that maybe, just maybe, it was a sign that she should be in the trial and would maybe, just maybe, end her ever-lengthening non-Q streak and get her Starters Standard title.

Well. In fact, perhaps I should have paid more attention to another sign, a potentially ominous sign indicating that maybe, just maybe, Lucy is destined to stay in Starters Standard forever.

What, you ask, is that ominous sign? This is what the entry confirmation said:

Trial Date: May 8, 2029

# Event Name Event # Judge

1 Starters Standard 1 1 John Willis

2 Starters Standard 2 2 John Willis

Yup, apparently Lucy will still be trying for her third and final Starters Standard Q in 2029. Simple computer program glitch, or sign of things to come? Time will tell! But hey, if she's still doing agility in 2029, Starters or not, I'll be thrilled. ;-D

Down to business. In Standard #1, she had actually a pretty good run. However, I was in spectator mode watching Lucy hit the yellow on the #4 frame (using the highly trained, highly respected method commonly known as Point and Pray) and my delay in directing her to the next jump caused me to lose her to several seconds of sightseeing, refusal-incurring, and backjumping.

In Standard #2, I lost her after the second jump. I think I have figured out that one of our problems is that if my handling isn't at least close to being spot on or if I'm late in cueing the next obstacle unless it's right in front of her, I lose her. She goes off on a little stress sightseeing (not groundsniffing, and not really zooming, just loping around in a most unfocused way, looking at everything except me). So back to Standard #2, there was a front cross after the second jump which I must have bungled, because off she went. She regrouped fairly well for the second half of the course.

Also, I noticed that at the end of both runs, she was quick to leave the ring. Last year, she used to check in with me at the end of the runs and we'd leave together.

So, darn darn darn. I was hoping that our stroke of bad runs at Dreamfields and Morningstar was due perhaps to those facilities being indoors which maybe she didn't like too much. Blame it on the roof, yeah, yeah... Blame it on the walls... that shut her in... Whatever you do... don't put the blame on you... There's your Milli Vanilli fix of the day. Anyway, nope it's not the roof because I don't think I've ever seen her as zoned out and unresponsive as in her little "zoomy" in the second run today.

I really really hope we can get back to the place we were last summer when she was awesome and really having fun out there playing agility with me.

As a pick-me-up to remind myself of Lucy's enthusiastic agility year last year, here's a repost of Lucy's 2007 agility compilation video. See, there are benefits to doing such little projects. :-)

Running frame resources

2008-05-05T12:53:00.005-04:00

FYI, here, in no particular order, are a few online running contact resources/blogs (using a variety of training methods).

Sylvia Trkman's running contacts FAQ and videos

CFlyRun blog: running contacts diary (includes videos)

TajMuttHall blog entries on a running frame technique: Part 1 and Part 2

Elite Forces of Fuzzy Destruction blog post, "Thoughts on Running Contacts" (lots of thoughts to think about there)

Agility Nerd: Stride Regulators (includes videos) (he uses two on two off, but the stride regulator aspect is very interesting)

Agilty Nerd: Contact Hoop and Contact Wicket

Days of Speed and Slowtime Mondays blog (overall a very neat agility blog and she is switching to running contacts which you can read about in some of the posts)

Dogpatch.org training notes

Running frame training session #1

2008-05-05T11:57:00.008-04:00

Lucy's first time at the new practice field. Brought along our pool noodle and started our running frame training. Caution: I am very much a novice trainer and recognize that by doing this training I could be totally messing up my dog and/or spending a lot of time on something while not accomplishing anything, so it is not recommended that you try this at home!

- The frame was set as low as I could set it without squishing myself.
- The first few times I carried the food tube in my hand and threw it after she passed under the hoop. After that I put it on the ground several metres ahead and she seemed to drive ahead better. Next time I'll put the food on a target so she can eat it right away and not have to wait for me to give it to her.
- Didn't want to do too many reps since I couldn't tell what her frames were looking like; thank goodness for tripods, cheap digital cameras, and slow-mo on the computer replay!

Here are the results from running frame session #1:

Geez, seeing the shoulder impact in slow mo when she hits the frame I wonder if I should't put a hoop on the upside too? Also of note is that on her 4th try she jumps the apex, which is great, but it looks like she doesn't actually hit the yellow.

After a few more sessions like this and more close video review (she won't do a frame without it being caught on film for the foreseeable future) I'll try to decide if stride regulators will come into play as well.

At this point I don't plan to do any of this with Walter's frame because his stride seems to naturally carry him into the yellow, and if I'm messing up Lucy with this training (although I'm not sure how much more messed up her frame can get than it already is) there's no point in messing up both dogs at the same time. :-D

Dream Fields trial (in which I traumatize Lucy but she forgives me)

2008-05-03T19:00:00.011-04:00

First class of the day was Advanced Team. This was Lucy's second ever try at a Team event, the first being Starters Team back in September. Given all the issues she's had over the fall and winter (teeter fear, dogwalk fear, lack of focus, etc) I didn't dare put her in team again until now. She took the first half of the course, which went well except for me wayyyy overmanaging the weave entry. Oh, and she totally did NOT stick her teeter 2o2o but instead went diving into the tunnel right after it. Then, it was time to get her under control in her box, then give the a-ok to our partner. Note, this was the first time she's run first in team so it was all new to both of us. Well, poor Lucy: I was too hasty and rough in trying to get a hold of her and she yelped. Lucy is a drama queen who screamed bloody murder the first many times I approached her with nail trimmers (maybe she had a bad nail trimming experience in her previous home?), and yelps in terror if the vet so much as looks at her (well ok, slight exageration, but you get the picture), so I really should have been aware of that fact and taken my time to calmly and gently collect her in our box. So, we got eliminated, a rule I totally understand and agree with. Lesson learned! A Big Huge Sorry to my very understanding and forgiving partner (and to Lucy!).

Then it was Advanced Snooker. I used this run to try to get Lucy more comfy as lately she has seemed a bit on the frantic side. Fast I like, but frantic I don't. So we walked out calmly to one of the reds on the far side and played around, taking our time. Made it through the opening and the whistle went just as I was trying to remember where the heck the #2 was.

Next up was Advanced Jumpers. I was really glad about this run as the franticness did not seem to be there. She did have yet another la-la moment facing the in/out gate and incurred a refusal, but overall it was a good run.

Finally it was Starters Standard. She saw me accidentally drop a few treat crumbs in the ingate just as we walked into the ring and as I was setting her up she tried to go back to get those gold nuggets. Once we got going she did fairly well, and this time she totally stuck 2o2o on the dogwalk and teeter, yeah! Another slight la-la moment facing the ingate, but no refusal incurred. Good table. All was looking good until the third last obstacle: the frame, and she gracefully sailed right over the pretty little yellow bit. Totally understandable as anyone who has been following this blog knows that I have been a very bad human and have kept running her in trials knowing full well that she NEEDS time out to retrain her frame since we've abandoned 2o2o. So that darn frame bit me in the butt clear as day today.

So, Lucy's non-Q streak continues to be alive and well. I hereby decide to run her ONLY in Jumpers until her frame has been retrained. I was hoping to get that last Starters Standard for her title before retraining, but clearly it's not meant to be. We have our work cut out for the summer!

Lucy is Jennifer Lopez

2008-04-25T19:20:00.002-04:00

Just for fun: Which celebrity is your pet?
Jennifer Lopez
Dressed to Kill

Una bomba inteligente autentica, Lucy is super-fly girl Jennifer Lopez!

Curvaceous and sassy and always more than willing to pawticipate with a few moves on the dance floor, Lucy moves and grooves with the best of them. But that doesn't mean it's all fun and salsa for Lucy-discipline and structure are key ingredients that have helped to put Lucy on a fur-lined fast track. Family is of utmost importance for Lucy , and she takes care of her brothers and sisters with the same dedication that she gives her little 'uns. To see and to be seen are significant parts of Lucy's daily activities, and the real-life Cleopetra makes her rounds with confidence and flair, always preferring to hang with the more bold and beautiful members of the pack.

Dream Fields trial

2008-04-12T19:02:00.002-04:00

The real Lucy is back! She was feeling great and ran well at today's trial, although we took no letters home with us today.

Advanced Snooker: The opening was designed for flow and went according to plan, but after #2 of the closing, a jump which faced the out gate, she took the red right after it -- tweet. But, as with Walter's non-Q snooker at the last trial it really was FUN! She was running so fast. What has come over this dog lately?

Advanced Jumpers: A nice run except she ran past one jump and my timing was really messed up at one point.

Starters Standard: Another nice run except after the dogwalk she got distracted by the nearby out gate causing a runby on one jump. She's definitely getting faster. I used to be able to keep up with her on straightaways; not so anymore! She had no dogwalk, teeter, or frame issues, yay! and her table was a happy tail-wagging one.

It was wonderful to see her running fast and a HAPPY fast at that, woo hoo! But, if only she would slow down so that my timing wouldn't be so off. ;-)

Red Gate fun match

2008-04-05T20:27:00.001-04:00

Lucy and Walter shared a spot at today's fun match. Lucy ran the two standards, and Walter took the two gamblers runs. You get two minutes in each run to do whatever the heck you want. I chose the Starters version for both of Lucy's runs.

She seemed a lot happier out there than at her last two trials, now that her ear infection has cleared. We had some difficulty with the weaves today for some reason (tended to miss the entry). Might be because she was distracted by the nearby teeter on which she has been rewarded muchly and deliciously in recent history.

Good news, no problems with any of the contact equipment today.

She got a compliment when someone who hadn't seen her in a while said she looked to be running faster than before. Cool, but now I need to figure out my handling with her because I'm often way late on my cues for her.

It must be summer

2008-04-02T18:18:00.002-04:00

What should stare me straight in the face today as I walked into the mega-grocery store but boxes and boxes of pool noodles. Having more or less decided to use a pool noodle hoop (and/or pool noodle stride regulators... not sure yet) in the retraining of the dogs' a-frames, I was happy to pick one up. It fits perfectly onto my weave base: just slip it on and it stays put, at least in my non-windy living room.

Tried it first with Walter (on the flat of course), free shaping and he quickly figured out that running under it gets a click and treat. Then I tried it with Lucy but she kept offering to bite it or paw at it so rather than risk her destroying our brand new $1.99 pool noodle I went to the luring method.

Got some strange looks and a witty remark from the bus operator on the way home. Unfortunately we still have at least two feet of snow on the ground so despite what the mega-grocery store says, it's not quite summer yet.

Dream Fields trial

2008-03-22T21:11:00.002-04:00

Poor Lucy. She's such a good girl, running for me (or trying to, at least) when she wasn't feeling well...

Advanced Snooker
I picked a relatively flowing course for her and despite my handling goofs we made it through to part of the closing, but I lost her after she came out of the #4 tunnel when she went off on a zoomy tangent to check out the nearby in/out gates and incurred a refusal. However, the great part is that she did two teeters in the opening with no problem, yay!

Advanced Jumpers
I bungled a front cross in front of the double so she knocked it, one of the few bars she's ever knocked in competition. Later on, she ran past a jump but I didn't bother going back to fix it. Then, when she did a nice rear cross into a tunnel I said "yes" or "good girl" or something and the classic tunnel bungle happened: she popped back out the entry end, d'oh! Overall it wasn't a terrible run but certainly not our best.

Starters Standard - Did not run
Lucy had been shaking her head a lot and scratching her left ear and a friend observed she was even holding her head at an off angle while running. Sure enough, she has an ear infection, poor girl. So I scratched her from Standard because she was obviously quite bothered by it and the last thing she needs is a bad experience on the dogwalk due to feeling off balance.

I have a feeling this ear problem may have played a part in Lucy's "scatterbrain" runs last weekend. I can't wait to get her all cleared up and get this girl back on track! She's so much better than her performances this weekend and last. Didn't get a chance today to see how her frame is doing since there was no frame in the Snooker course and she didn't do the Standard.

So no Qs for either of my dogs today, but we Q'd vicariously when one of our flyball teammates, a rescue who is working hard to overcome her issues, got a Q with a great Gamblers run. Woo hoo!

In completely unrelated news, Woo hoo! to Canada's own Jeffrey Buttle for delivering the goods at the World Figure Skating Championships, taking home the gold medal after today's fantastic free skate. I remember seeing him for the first time when I had tickets to the Canadian National Championships here in Ottawa in 1999. He was just a baby-faced teen at the time and even though he finished well out of the medals, everyone could see his promise even then. Talent, charisma, and great sportsmanship all the way to becoming World Champion! Wonderful to see someone who seems like a nice guy (of course, he could be a nasty, snobby creep in real life, but let's give him the benefit of the doubt...) come out on top. You can watch his gold medal winning free skate here.

Ahem... we now take you back to our regularly scheduled dogs-only programming.

Short and sweet practice

2008-03-18T19:25:00.001-04:00

Well, as sweet as canned dog food is or isn't. After our flyball team's supplementary practice at K9 Sense this evening, I secretly placed a closed margarine tub full of canned food at the bottom of the specials-height frame where Lucy couldn't see it. Then, ran her through a tunnel and a few jumps before sending her over the frame. She took the frame with no refusal or hesitation, and after she discovered the delicious reward awaiting her she was even happier to do the frame again. Used the canned food to reward the 12-weaves a few times too, which she did with great enthusiasm knowing the sweet reward that was on the line. Next time I'll raise the frame to full height.

Trial; a-frame shame

2008-03-15T18:41:00.005-04:00

Lucy ran in five classes at Morning Star today. Walter stayed home because I find it much more relaxing and enjoyable having only one dog to worry about when running in two different rings.

The first event was Advanced Jumpers, held in ring 1 which is very wide open. She ran in this ring once before, back in January and was a total scatterbrain. Well, history repeated itself and we were both total scatterbrains, with no connection whatsoever. I had to keep calling her name to try to keep her with me, and having to worry about trying to keep her with me didn't help me remember where we were going on course. It wasn't much fun for either of us and we sure gave that judge's arm a workout.

The rest of her runs were in ring 2 which has solid walls on three sides unlike the wide-open ring 1, and normally she's done fairly well there.

First up in ring 2 was Starters Standard #1. She did well except she ran past the frame and took a snaked-under tunnel to come back to me, incurring an off-course.

Next up was Standard #2. Again, she ran past the frame but I called her back and she took it without getting an off-course, and since refusals on contacts don't count in Starters she picked up a Q.

Then it was Starters Snooker. I went for a fairly flowing course rather than points, doing the #4 tunnel twice followed by the #7 12-weaves which she really slowed down in, popping at the last pole. (I just popped her back in to finish them off.) In the closing, she ran past the frame but came back and did it, but pausing at the top. We would have made it through to the end of the closing except she kept entering the weaves at the second pole. Anyway we had just enough points for a Q which finishes off her Starters games title.

Finally it was Steeplechase. What a disaster. It started off on the wrong note when two teeny bopper girls volunteering as ring crew right next to the start line were giggling and looking at Lucy just as I was finishing setting her up. So of course when I released her, what did she do, run right over to them with wagging tail to see what all the fun was about. Sigh. Ok, pick her back up and off we go. All was going well until we got to the frame. The frame was in the course twice, and both times she refused it. The first time I had to resort to the "look what I have" method to get her to take it. The second time, as soon as she saw it was the frame she went running off down a line of jumps. Would have been an amazing "go" line for a gamble, wow. When she came back she clearly wasn't interested in the frame so we didn't do it and finished the last two obstacles of the course. Oh yeah, and she wasn't into the weaves in the Steeplechase either.

I've known for a while that Lucy needs to take some time off from trialing soon to retrain her frame since I've abandoned 2o2o but haven't trained anything proper in its place. (That's what I meant by a-frame shame -- bad trainer, bad, bad trainer.) I've been hoping to just sort of wing it until then.

At this point I'm not suspecting her a-frame stress/avoidance is due to injury. In class a week or two ago she was doing just fine on the frame (although it may have been at specials height). She was also doing fine on the 12-weaves in class.

I think what's happening is (a) she's not fond of the regular height frame, especially doing 2o2o on it; and (b) she's not fond of the lack of any kind of performance criteria so the frame is a big cloudy uncomfortable mess in her mind. Throw in the general stress of a trial situation and she's not a happy a-frame camper. Also throw in that five classes in a day is too much for her at this point. (She was sleeping in the car between runs which is great but she didn't seem to fully wake up towards her last runs.)

It's too late to withdraw from her next two trials so we'll give them a go. Before her next trial I'm going to try using her Most Favourite Reward Ever (canned dog food) in conjunction with the frame and see what happens. Canned dog food worked wonders in getting her happy on the teeter and dogwalk (with which she had absolutely no issues today, yay) so we'll see what it does for the frame. Of course, the canned dog food is just a bandaid until the end of this round of trials at which point I promise her she gets a time out to retrain a happy frame (there are some great training ideas here and here).

Stats:
Classes entered: 5 (Advanced Jumpers, Starters Standard 1 and 2, Starters Snooker, Steeplechase)
Qs: 2 (Starters Standard 2 and Snooker)
Bars knocked: 0
YPS: didn't track it
Title earned: Starters Games Dog of Canada (SGDC)

The trial that wasn't (well, for me and Lucy anyway)

2008-03-09T08:48:00.007-04:00

While bloggers in gentler parts of the world herald the welcome arrival of spring, Mother Nature dropped over 50 cms of snow on us from Friday afternoon to this morning. On top of that, today there are also strong winds, gusting up to 50 km/h, doing just a dandy job of blowing all the fresh snow all over the highways.

Here's what the highway looks like in town where there's enough traffic to sort of have one decent lane in each direction; I don't want to think about what it looks like in the rural section I would have been driving today. Is that an ambulance driving toward the west side of the photo? The trial Lucy was signed up for is an hour and a half's drive on a good day, probably double that with today's road conditions. Normally I wouldn't be opposed to a drive that long except for the defensive driving stuff drilled into my brain from years back stating that everyone else on the road is an idiot, so drive accordingly. Today, that means don't drive at all. There goes $70 out the window as she would have run in two Starters Standards, her first try at Starters Snooker, and Advanced Jumpers. Sigh.

So instead of posting videos of the amazingly spectacular agility runs it's doubtless she would have put in today, here's a little video of the dogs going out for their morning pee (and since snow is so exciting, zooming back in to play living room zoomies). Somehow it doesn't look like 50 cms of snow -- I thought they would be swimming in it more. Geez, for all the trouble the snow brings, the least it could do is look a little more dramatic.

I supposed the good news is, skijoring season will be extended that much longer; too bad most of my upcoming weekends are already booked with other stuff. Ok I'll stop whining now!

Lucy's last lesson for a while

2008-03-06T08:42:00.002-05:00

Lucy was bright-eyed and chipper for her last lesson. Like Walter, she needs a lot of work on collection and turning tightly. I don't know but at this point I just like to get out there and have fun with her and I'm not particularly fussy about the details. Is that typical of people's attitudes with their first agility dogs? Just want to get out there and play and hopefully pick up a few titles along the way?

So yeah, unfortunately no more lessons for us for a long time as there are other spending priorities that need to be addressed.

Lesson and Lucy's European heritage

2008-02-14T18:48:00.007-05:00

Lucy's start line stay is starting to deteriorate! Oh my she broke a million and one times tonight. That'll teach me for taking it for granted.

In other news, Lucy's true heritage has finally been discovered! I was looking through the hounds on wikipedia and came upon some photos of Polish Hounds, which I had never heard of before. Check out these two photos of Polish Hounds, also known as Ogar Polskis:

And here's Lucy (this photo is kind of washed out):

If the breed wasn't on the rare side, I'd almost think she was of Polish Hound heritage. The markings seem spot on. But, her ears don't have the rounded beagly look, her muzzle is too fine, her tail too fluffy, at 46 pounds she's on the lightly built side for this heavier set breed which is supposed to be 50 pounds and up, and I'm sure a million other differences that my uneducated eyes don't see. Ok, who am I kidding, just about any hound/shepherd mix could pass for the same thing. I guess Lucy's just a mutt after all ;^D

Lesson: Distance Challenge, part 2

2008-02-07T20:09:00.000-05:00

Worked on the same DC setup as last week, a few of the same exercises plus some new ones. Never even tried to use the harder green line, and sometimes stayed with the easier blue line and sometimes went past it. Figure 5 (3 to 4 in particular) went much much better this time. Figure 7: 2 to 3 was a bit hard at first, but after some patterning she did pretty good. Figure 8: Ok, but gauging the best amount of "here" to use from 3 to 4 was hard. I think we skipped Figure 9. Figure 10: She was feeling pretty good, getting more comfortable with it all. We stopped there.

Two of the dogs were absent today, so we let Sammy and Lucy play and chase each other a few times during/after the lesson. They had the most fun creating games with the tunnel, sometimes playing King of the Castle, sometimes diving into it in tandem, sometimes running round and round. The instructor pointed out the high drive level she had with the tunnel while playing with Sammy and to work towards having that drive all the time.

Stage One Distance Workshop with Jane Newman-Ralph

2008-02-02T19:45:00.000-05:00

Jane is a 65 year old woman based out of Kingston, Ontario or thereabouts who runs agility with a very fast border collie and relies extensively on working at a distance. While I like the running part of agility, it never hurts to have some nice distance skills, so I signed up for a working spot with Lucy. I chose Lucy over Walter to accompany me for this workshop because the prerequisite is a dog with a good start-line stay, which Walter most certainly does not have.

I must say, it was an excellent workshop. It was limited to six working spots, and we sure got our money's worth since everyone was working practically the whole time. I really liked how the exercises were broken down into their most basic components, and we had lots of time to work through each one. A really nice feature was that we received an extensive handout including all of the layouts and exercises we had worked on plus more, so no need to try to work your dog and take notes at the same time.

Tried a new toy today: a food tube! Actually it's a Viewtainer, available from your local hardware supply store. It was a great tool, being easy to throw accurately and, being fabric-free, it didn't get all grungy from the dirt floor. The down side is it broke after two hours of Lucy pouncing on it in subzero temperatures, but at $3.67 I think I can afford another.

Lesson - Distance Challenge

2008-01-31T19:16:00.000-05:00

We worked on the first four exercises of the Distance Challenge in the January 2008 Clean Run, working with the easier blue line. The exercise in Figure 2 didn't pose much problem. In the Figure 3 exercise, I had trouble doing the flip/rear cross between 2 and 3 and in a moment of desperation used both arms to send her out to the tunnel. Heh. For Figure 4, as suspected, Lucy's lateral out is very weak to nonexistant, so we cut the exercise to end at jump 4 with the instructor tossing the treat tug for her. Finally, for Figure 5 I had trouble with the flip/rear cross from 3 to 4.

I'm curious to see how Walter does on the same exercises at Sunday's lesson. He does have, or least I think he has, a basic lateral out thanks to all the playing we do with the soccer goal posts at the dog field.

Lesson

2008-01-26T18:30:00.000-05:00

The teeter and dogwalk were used in today's sequences, and I was glad to see that Lucy showed no hesitation at all on either. But, she did a terrific job of demonstrating that her dogwalk contact is nowhere close to being anywhere close to being independent.

One of the sequences involved a tunnel which was snaked under the dogwalk, followed by the dogwalk. Thing is, the exit of the tunnel was set back from the dogwalk upramp, so the question was how to give a good line for a safe dogwalk. The following detailed graphic illustrates the setup, where the "o" represents the tunnel exit and the "l"s represent the dogwalk:

l
l
lo
l

The following was suggested as an option for handling this: after exiting the tunnel, the dog circles around behind the handler and is then lined up for a straight approach to the dogwalk. A benefit of this handling is that while under full acceleration after the tunnel, the dog can continue to accelerate while circling around the handler, like a horse doing barrel racing. The instructor had seen several teams handle such a setup this way at a trial and it worked brilliantly for those teams. So, homework is to practice the dog circling around, pretty much like a finish in obedience but driving ahead afterward.

Lesson

2008-01-17T22:17:00.001-05:00

This week I wanted to see how class would go if she got lots of exercise before class (she had basically zippo exercise before last week's lesson) so this afternoon she ran around offleash at the local dog park and got chased by some dog friends for 20 minutes. Her concentration was much improved over last week so I'll try this strategy again next week.

Worked on some fun sequences using jumps, tunnel, and tire. I have such an untrained agility eye it's not funny. Our classmates would do their sequences and it looked awesome to me, but then the instructor would have all kinds of suggestions on how to make it better. Frankly if a dog does the obstacles in the prescribed order and with some degree of flow, I'm bound to be impressed! I'm not to the point yet where I notice how wide a dog's turn is or isn't. Just not sure if I'll ever be a technician in agility, but that's fine by me.

I was reminded that Lucy needs a lot of work on finding her line when I lead out laterally. She kept coming in to me instead of taking the obstacle in front of her. But, she did some decent turns with me being quiet, so it seems she's getting ahead of Walter in that department (I've started trying to wean myself and the dogs off of verbal cues in cases where it makes sense).

Oh yeah one last note: jumps were at 16" (not 22") this week which I think she appreciated. She has enough to focus on with the handling aspect without having to worry about jumping on top of it all. So to speak.

Back to lessons after a year and a half

2008-01-11T21:07:00.000-05:00

How time flies. Just realized Lucy's only ever had one session of agility lessons, and that was back in May 2006. She has really taken a back seat to Walter in the agility department. Poor pup!

At today's lesson we worked on handling a sequence of jumps, tunnels, and weaves. She was a bit scatterbrained at the start but eventually pull herself together. Need to work on her driving ahead more, especially for rear crosses. Oh and we did that thing where the dog is in a stay in front of a jump and you "lead out" parallel and face the way opposite from the jump and the dog takes the jump in front of them. Never tried that before and she didn't understand at first, but a well placed toy helped her catch on.

Morning Star trial

2008-01-05T18:49:00.000-05:00

Well, the good news is -- no, the GREAT news is that Lucy had no teeter or dogwalk hesitancy at all. Woo hoo!!! And, she was 100% on all weaves. In fact she loved the weaves so much today that she earned an offcourse in one of her Standard runs by going and doing them instead of the nearby correct tire.

Starters Standard #1: Late cue and/or a momentary distraction resulted in her running past a jump. Also, she scored an offcourse at the weaves.

Starters Standard #2: Got another refusal somewhere but the rest was fine.

Steeplechase: This was her first time ever in the other ring of this venue, so I predicted she might be a bit scatterbrained. Darn, I should have predicted she would be brilliant, because my prediction came true. The first half of the course she kept getting distracted (but not in a sniffy way) and took several offcourses. But she pulled it all together for the second half which she ran clean including a difficult weave entrance.

Regardless of the NQs she reminded me how fun she is to run. Clean or not clean, brilliant or not so brilliant, sometimes she just makes me laugh. :-)

Stats
Classes entered: 3 (Starters Standard 1 and 2, Steeplechase)
Qs: 0

Home practice: Weave entries and "out"

2008-01-01T11:16:00.000-05:00

Soft entry
I had started training Lucy on the soft entry earlier in the fall, but after not seeing much success I abandoned it for the easier wrap entry. Now that she seems to have the wrap entry under her belt, I guess I'm forced to go back to the soft entry. :-) So here we go. Today, she did very well with the 2-weaves, but when I introduced a third pole she entered at the second gate. If I stood on the other side opposite the first gate she got it, and I was able to gradually move away from that position. Must remind myself that with all things weave-related, patience is key.

"Out"
Took advantage of having a couple of jumps in the house this week. Did the same exercise as with Walter but when I added the second jump she wanted to take the closer one. Must remind myself that she's not as advanced at Walter at this and take some things slower with her.

Goals past and present

2008-01-01T11:03:00.000-05:00

This time last year I set some agility goals for Lucy. Here they are along with a progress report and followed by some goals for 2008.

Review of goals for 2007

Weave uprights consistently
Yay! Done. As a bonus, she can now do the wrap entry pretty well, at least in the living room weaves. ;-)

Improve and proof 2o2o
Ok on the dogwalk and teeter if I'm babysitting, but haven't done much proofing. Frame is messy right now due to my inconsistent expectations.

Work on distance work
Started on this but lots more to be done. Won't be entering her in Advanced Gamblers until her contacts are totally independent.

Faster down on the table
Once I found out that the table becomes essentially extinct once you reach Masters, I kind of threw this one out the window :-) Her down's not lightening fast, but it's good enough for me.

Participate in more fun matches!
Done.

Possibly compete towards the end of the year.
Done!

Goals for 2008!

- Regain her worry-free teeter and dogwalk
- Add tunnel/contact discriminations to skill set
- Add "out" to skill set
- Add soft weave entry to skill set
- Take time out at some point to train a running frame
- Achieve fully independent contacts
- It'd be nice to get her up to Masters in some events to reduce ring conflicts with Walter.
- Oh and how can I forget: To keep her agility tail wagging. :^)

The year in summary

2007-12-23T13:25:00.000-05:00

Here's a compilation video of Lucy playing agility and flyball as well as doing some skijoring, in 2007. She's been so much fun to play and learn with and I look forward to further developing our skills together in 2008.

More weave entry practice

2007-12-17T20:41:00.001-05:00

Eeeps! I'm pretty excited -- she's now doing 90 degree entries to the left. She's 100% if I'm standing at the end of the 3-weaves but needs more practice with me at other stations.

Here's an ultra-short video to celebrate this success. Of course there are a million things we need to do to proof this, but that will come... there's only so much space in the living room. :-)

Note the feline at the top of the cat tree in the second clip. I can't tell if he's preparing an ambush or simply being thoughtful enough to provide some distraction training.

Home practice: weave entries

2007-12-16T17:12:00.001-05:00

Have been working her off side entries, or wrap side entries, whatever it's called, when they approach from the left and have to wrap around the first pole, at home every once in a while but not very religiously. Being all snowed in at home today I felt like bringing the weaves out again (only using 3 poles). Well, she is really getting it now. She's getting the correct entry with her at about 8 o'clock (assuming the poles are at noon) while I stand at various places. It's exciting to see her progress and she has fun too. With her terrific enthusiasm for treats she would make a great trick dog if only I was more inspired. Speaking of inspiration, check out www.silviatrkman.net/videos.htm for some very neat stuff.

Guides Canins trial (Montreal Olympic Stadium)

2007-11-25T08:45:00.000-05:00

Lucy sporting red in the blue province
LUCY WINS FIRST PLACE AT THE OLYMPIC S(tadium)!

(Sorry, just couldn't resist that one :-)

Guides Canins hosted a trial in conjunction with the Salon National des Animaux de Compagnie, a huge companion animal exhibition held annually at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal (host city for the 1976 Olympics). Along with the agility trial was a flyball tournament, disc competition, obedience competition, show dog competition, and tons of exhibitors including many who gave away free samples of stuff, woo hoo. It was pretty funny, you could easily tell who was there to compete in flyball/agility vs. those competing in the show dog thing. Some pretty fancy pants in that ring!

We stopped in Friday evening to do a couple of runs in the show'n'go, and she handled the dogwalk and teeter well. Then on Sunday, the real fun began.

Starters Standard

Given Lucy's teeter and dogwalk history, I was going to scratch her from this class because the dogwalk was right up against the edge of the ring along which most of the audience gathered. But, luckily the class ran before the arena opened to the public, so there was no audience to speak of. So, we gave it a go. She didn't look happy descending the frame so I decided once and for all to stop insisting on 2o2o for the frame. Come to think of it, she was quite comfortable with 2o2o on a Specials height frame, but has never liked it at the regular height. So.... really need to take some time out at some point and train a proper running frame... Anyway. She was slow and hesitant on the teeter but I let her figure it out on her own and she did it, yay! Then, only a tunnel separated it from the dogwalk, which she was very hesitant about. Took her around again to get a fresh approach and she did it, yay! She held 2o2o on both obstacles. She had a nice run but all of the hesitation ate up time and we ended up .3 of a second over.

Starters Jumpers

She was looking not very energized as we went into the ring and didn't seem to be running at her fastest, but turns out her YPS was 4.4 which isn't bad. Despite feeling slow, she had good focus and ran well, taking the only Q and therefore first place out of the 8 dogs in total who ran the course. On her post-run walk she was quick to do a #2, so that could explain some of her slowness in the ring, poor girl!

Steeplechase
The crowd for Steeplechase.
Wow, by this point the crowd was at a max and the atmosphere was really fun. Luckily for whatever reason in agility I generally don't get nervous about being watched, because there were hundreds in the audience. So, off we went. The weaves were the third obstacle, and she *walked* through them. I had no idea she was capable of weaving so slowly. Walter can't weave at all unless he has some speed. So it was no surprise that she popped at pole 10. Fiddled around to get her to pass through the last two poles. For the rest of the run her speed was very decent. A couple of goofups including one in perfect time to the music (spin in front of a tunnel) and taking the scenic route around another tunnel, purely to entertain the crowd, I'm sure. It was a really fun run.

Lucy's Steeplechase run

A few more photos:

Competitor's eye view

Checking out the crowd in the overhanging seating area

Ready to play!

Apologies for the wonky image/caption formatting but it's the best I can figure out right now.

In summary, it was a fun venue and Lucy handled herself really well. I like to think her flyball experience at a variety of tournaments and facilities where the sounds of dozens of madly barking dogs echoes round and round helped prepare her for playing agility in a wildly distracting environment like this one.

Stats
Temperature: about 5 outside, but pretty warm inside (~20)
Classes entered: 3 (Starters Standard, Starters Jumpers, Steeplechase)
Qs: 1 (Starters Jumpers)
Time/SCT: 74.3/74 (Starters Standard), 25.23/34 (Starters Jumpers), 59.95/43 (Steeplechase)
YPS: 4.4 (Starters Jumpers)

Morning Star trial (Quarry Sportsplex, Kingston)

2007-11-17T20:01:00.000-05:00

Lucy, Walter, and I piled into the car dark and early at 4:30 this morning for a road trip to Kingston. Lucy had only two classes today, both Starters Standard.

Venue

The venue was one we've never been to, one of those gigantic bubble buildings used for soccer and other sports. To maintain the air pressure in the building (or something like that), the only door available for use is a revolving door and the change in air pressures causes the ears to pop. Both dogs handled the door situation and articificial turf just fine. It was quite a nice venue and the atmosphere in the Masters ring was pretty cool with the lighting and all. The Starters/Advanced ring wasn't so fancy but still did the job.

Starters Standard #1

Her run was going pretty well (aside from an unheld frame contact) until I called her to me to try to collect her before the teeter. The intention was to prevent another scary teeter incident. Well, this was the wrong strategy to employ because immediately after responding to my call, she shut down and went into about 20 seconds of stress paw-licking/biting (not related to her now-healed paw cut which was on a different foot). That's her default stress behaviour in general, but I had never ever seen her do it in agility. Eventually she came out of it and we continued. Did the teeter just fine and had a great tail-wagging table. She skipped a pole late in the weaves but got them on the retry. She ran past one of the jumps in the closing line but we just kept going anyway. Oh, and she held 2o2o on the dogwalk which was the second obstacle of the course.

Starters Standard #2

Well this was a very different Lucy from a few hours ago! She seemed a lot more confident and was having more fun. I made no issue of the teeter and what do you know, she handled it just fine. Nice confidence on the dogwalk too, far improved over the first run today. On the down side, no sight of 2o2o on the frame or dogwalk. Understandable for the frame because earlier this fall I briefly experimented with not requiring a 2o2o but later decided to stick to 2o2o until I can properly retrain to a running contact, so no wonder she's confused about it, poor dog. But the dogwalk contact expectation has always been 2o2o. Will have to take advantage of the training allowed rule next time... but this time the Q was just too darn tempting since the dogwalk was the second last obstacle. So she got her first Starters Standard Q, taking second to a sharp young border collie.

Starters Standard #2

Some stats...
Temp: mainly sunny, 5 degrees outside but a toasty ~18 degrees inside
Pre-trial exercise: none
Classes entered: 2 (Starters Standard #1 and #2)
Qs: 1 (Starters Standard #2)
Time/SCT: 101.06/68 (Starters Standard #1), 49.87/67 (Starters Standard #2)
YPS: 3.01 (St St #2)

No trial for Lucy this weekend

2007-11-11T17:03:00.000-05:00

Had to scratch Lucy from this weekend's trial due to a little cut on one of her foot pads that didn't quite heal in time. She would have run in Advanced Gamblers, Starters Snooker, and Steeplechase. Oh well. At least it's an "easy" injury that should heal quickly.

Practice (home) - weave entries

2007-11-04T19:06:00.000-05:00

Determined to do some good work towards "challenging" (ie anything other than pretty much straight on!) weave entries this winter, brought out the living room weaves for the first time in a long time. Set up four poles and worked the soft side entry. Did two short sessions today and by the end of it she looked to be getting more confident at it, with her at about 4 and a half o'clock. (Earlier in the day that was too much for her as she'd enter at the second pole.)

Fun match (Dream Fields) - Teeter success!

2007-10-28T18:15:00.000-04:00

Dream Fields held a fun match in conjunction with an AAC judge's clinic, which was a fabulous opportunity to test Lucy's teeter confidence. It was at Dream Fields earlier this month that Lucy had a big scare on the teeter, and since I don't train there and they rarely have fun matches as far as I know, this was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. My single goal for the match was for her to do the teeter (and dogwalk, of which she was also afraid after her teeter scare) and hopefully to do it with confidence.

The dogwalk (which is the springiest of the dogwalks she's ever been on) was the third obstacle of the Standard course, and as she began to climb the upramp she slowed and looked very unsure, but she continued up with no encouragment needed. Later in the run, I collected her after the tunnel which preceeded the teeter, and then - the moment of truth. She did the teeter with only a slight hint of hesitation, again no encouragement from me was needed. A nice tasty treat for Lucy got us whistled off the course, but since they were encouraging participants to break the rules for the sake of the judges-in-training, they allowed those of us whose rule-breaking resulted in elimination to have a rerun. For the rerun, she had no hesitancy at all on the dogwalk, and again did the teeter with full confidence. No treat this time since we had used up our treat-giving quota.

For Gamblers, I was planning to not even attempt the dogwalk or teeter since she had already had four successes. But then, while I was trying to position her for the gamble after the whistle blew, she decided she'd rather do the nearby teeter instead. Well, that was just fine with me and we ended the run with that. :-)

Non-teeter/dogwalk related notes:
- While on the table she noticed the judge doing the count down and became nervous about him. She stared at him and had an uncomfortable air about her, as if wondering what the heck he was staring at her for, and why he was apparently talking to himself. This was extremely strange behaviour for Lucy, who's a total social butterfly with people, men included.
- On one of her Starters courses, she kept entering the 6-weaves at the second pole. We retried them two times but she kept doing it so I just kept going.
- Both Standard courses were good overall, as was her first try at the Gamblers, but on her Gamblers rerun (due to timer malfunction) she became a bit scatterbrained, running past obstacles left right and center.

Anyway, I'm just extremely glad (and relieved!) that she did so well on the teeter and dogwalk.

Practice (K9S)

2007-10-21T13:45:00.000-04:00

A short practice throwing the teeter into some sequences. What a difference over last Sunday -- no teeter hesitation at all today.

Practice (KK9)

2007-10-17T10:22:00.000-04:00

Today was Lucy's first time on the KK9 teeter, which is quite different from other ones she's been on in that it's made of lightweight aluminum. Anyway, after warming up I took her to it as the last of a little sequence and she was on the hesitant side, but completed it with no urging from me. Ran to the setup area for some super duper treats. Did it several more times and she showed increased confidence, no hesitation. Later on, I moved it to another area of the field and it happened that now she was near the fence when taking it, looking out onto a busy scene with construction machinery and kids playing (how's that for an odd combination of distractions). The first time, she hopped off before it started to tilt. I said nothing, let her wander around for a second and then encouraged her to try it again. This time she succeeded; party time as before, and she was fine on it for the rest of the session.

Practice (BF)

2007-10-16T10:21:00.000-04:00

Today we played a game with the teeter. She was rewarded with the super duper treats, but this time I left the treats at our setup area. So she had to do the teeter, get a regular treat at 2o2o, then we ran to get the super duper treats. Also I've started using the teeter cue again. She's fine with this teeter again, and the hope is that when she hears "teeter" at a new place, she'll eagerly do it and know that she'll be well rewarded for it even if I don't have the goods right there with me.

2007 entries to October 14th

2007-10-14T10:19:00.000-04:00

Lucy's 2007 agility journal entries to October 14th are archived here.

2006 entries

2006-05-31T10:12:00.000-04:00

Lucy's 2006 agility journal entries are archived here.