A Bit Rusty

Split seems to have recovered nicely and can begin to take the workouts! That is the sigh of relief that you heard!

I have spent the last six months working with just Tip and now my timing with Split has gotten more than a little rusty.

This is the course that we worked on this week. I realized when I was walking the course that I had forgotten what Split is capable of and what he is not. Also, I just don’t know what he will still do well and what we won’t. It does feel like running someone else’s dog.

This map has two courses in it. The first, with the pink circles was the least challenging to figure out how to run Split. I started the course with a recall to front, backed up to send him over #3 and then post turned into the weaves. This worked really nicely. The challenge on this course came when trying to get Split turned nicely and through the box 5-6-7. I ended up doing a forward send, getting ahead of him and heading directly for #7.

The next sequence (Green Boxes) was a bit more challenging. I had minor bobbles from 6-7, I had to front cross the AFrame before the tunnel, Split didn't like to pull to the tunnel. 13-14-15-16 is where I spent a lot of time trying to solve the puzzle. What made this sequence a challenge was 15-16. I could handle it really messy and get it, but my goal was to figure out the best way to handle it smoothly. The best solution that I came up with was a landing side FC on 14, send to 15, get the heck out of there, catch Split’s head and release him to #16 when the risk of taking the #2 off course jump was gone. We need to work on some of our foundation skills, sharpen those up and then I will try this sequence again.

USDAA Rocky Mountain Regionals

My little girl, Tip and I accomplished some goals that we had been working on for a while. Our goals aren't really first place ribbons, or beating so and so, etc...Those come as a natural by product of attaining our other goals. The goal of being "present" in every moment of your run. Only focused on the run, the performance of every obstacle, and how your dog is interpreting your cues. I want to be as calm and clear as I can with my dogs when I run them.


Tip and I had an amazingly consistent weekend. I was proud of myself because I hit every start line this weekend with controlled nerves, focused on my dog, and being present for her during the whole run. Tip sat at every start line focused on me and determined to work as a team. I really tried to focus on the courses, reading them and running them the way that Tip would run the best.

The rewards came:
1st Place Performance Team!
1st Place Local Performance Grand Prix
1st Place Performance Team Jumpers
2nd place in Regional Performance Grand Prix to earn a 'Bye' to Semifinals at the USDAA Nationals
Earned a 'bye' to the Semifinals in Performance Speed Jumping

Both 'bye's are for USDAA World Games Championships in Oct. in Louisville, KY!

Volunteering!

I too will join the "call to action" for blogging about volunteering. It hit a special cord today since I got no less than 4 emails from people about needing volunteers for this weekend’s USDAA Rocky Mountain Regionals. These weren't just the please sign up to "work a class", these pleas were "Chief Course Builder", or "All Day Volunteers", you know, the "big" positions.

Also today, Mountain Dog Sports is holding a Course Building Workshop so that they can have plenty of Chief Course Builders to call upon and not burn out the few that she regularly calls on.

Two examples in one day of how volunteering impacts our agility lives!

I am going to speak from personal experience. I volunteer at every trial I go to! Regardless of venue and how many dogs I am running. There are things that make volunteering easier and more fun!

When I am running multiple dogs, it is much easier to volunteer for shorter durations. Maybe that is a partial class, or the smaller classes. I would much rather volunteer three times for 15 minutes each, than one time for 30 minutes. Smaller time frames help me get my dogs walked, myself feed, and enjoy a few conversations with friends.

I love volunteering when there is a spirit of team work! I was at a trial recently where there was not a single call for volunteers. As a matter of fact, the trial chair was getting a massage on the side lines. People just jumped in and kept everything running smoothly. The few "compensated" positions were manned by people who were open, friendly, and eager to teach. That makes a huge different for those who are tentative to volunteer if they are not "experts" in that area.

Small things do matter--chairs and umbrellas in place for jump setters. It makes it comfortable and we can see when that position needs to be filled. Raffles for each time you volunteer. No one polices it, it is on the honor system. Please and thank you go a long way!

Let's not go the way of having to police coupons and actual amount of minutes that you spent volunteering. That belittles the efforts. If everyone does just what they can we will always have more than enough volunteers!

Adrenaline messes with your perspective

Today was Split's first trial back after six months of rehab. I only signed him up for 1 day/2 runs. Trying to take it slow.

His first run was Gamblers. I walked off the course after his run thinking that I had the most wild, out of control, dog not listening type of run. Just for the record I was ok with that since Split LIVES for agility and he was so glad to be going to the start line after six months.

So, I taped his standard run. I walked off that course thinking "ok, that was an improvement, but still out of control". When I replayed the run *in my head", here are some of the highlights 1) the forward send to the double, Split was amazingly wide 2) he leaped his A-Frame. 3) it took forever to get him to down on the table 4) when he was running wildly after the chute, it took 4-5 seconds to get him to come to side.

Well, I put on my big girl pants when I got home and decided to watch the run on video. I was really ready to eat humble pie, take a ton of training notes, and experience the disastrous run.

Here is what I saw 1) nice startline stay 2) beautiful teeter 3) his turn after my forward send was not nearly as bad as I recalled 4) his AFrame was TOO DIE FOR beautiful 5) huge wide turn to the weaves, he didn't read the FC 6) table speed was OK, not perfect, but certainly for six months off, can't complain 7) turn after the chute was completely my fault, I was worried about getting hit 8) beautiful, beautiful closing. Actually he would have Q'ed had I not made a handling error.

So, I find two things interesting 1) when the adrenaline is pumping, how time slows down and everything seems to take on another timeline 2) Shame on me for only recalling the bad! I knew he had a good startline, closing and some parts in between.

So, although I am only running Tip tomorrow my take aways from today are 1) film everything to get things in perspective 2) try to balance to memories of faults and beauty.

And, I will follow up with my training notes and work Split's turns this coming week :)

IHC Standard Course

This course is based off of a course we ran last weekend at the Utah 4-star. The course was designed by Tim Laubach. I had to modify it a little since I didn't have enough tunnels or a chute. #18 was a chute, and #10/#14 was a tunnel. I am sure my changes made it harder.

On the real course Tip did a fairly good job, except she broke her start line (which amazingly didn't set up off course and she had another off course (can't remember where, ops).

Today I focused on running the beginning sequence 1-2-3-4 and 4-5-6-7-8-9. I wanted to play with the different ways to cue the beginning sequence with Tip, who is obstacle focused (this makes cuing easier some times) and Split who is handler focused and if not told to do something, won't do it.

With Tip I could lead out to the landing side of 3, face her and do a cross on the flat to get #3. With Split I had to stay on the landing side of #2 and then move forward to get my cross on the flat for 3. After Split ran the course once, I could cue the same as Tip.

Next I played with how to cue 8 to 9. Tip did this fine in the trial, but I was still curious if it could be done differently. The two ways that worked were jumping her to the outside of 8, bring her to side through the gap and then cue the weaves. The other was to backup through the gap and then to cue 9. I prefer to bring her to side since it was easier for me, but this was risky with some dogs.

Tangle just got to work on individual obstacles. We worked on more introduction of the tire (no you can't touch it when jumping it).

Course from Agility Nerd

AgilityNerd Article

This course caught my eye. On paper it had some challenges that I thought would be really good for Split and myself--forward sends and independent weaves. Those were the challenges, but there was more (of course).

The only difference between my course and Steve's, I exchanged the chute for a tunnel (I don't have a chute) and I had another jump beyond #4 so I would know if I wasn't queuing correctly.

Steve mentions that you should start with your dog so that you can appreciate the challenge of the course. I did start with the dogs as well as lead out (same side as the dog) to the second jump. I wanted to practice non-traditional starts.

In working with Split the first challenge was sending to #4. Since I was so far behind, he came out of the tunnel looking for me and I had trouble getting him out to the jump (Tip, no problem there).

At the weaves I tried front crossing the entry side, but ended up really liking running 4-5-6 like a serpentine. Both dogs could get their entry when I was at the end of the weaves, actually they collected better after 4 with me at the end of the weaves.

#6 is not that clear to the dog. Great thing to practice! Rarely do we see a jump placed like that and both dogs tried out the back side of the jump if I did not clearly bring them into me. Another reason why the serp worked better.

The next challenge was getting the dog to turn toward me after the straight tunnel. Again, I ended up sending to #7 and being at the end of the tunnel to get a better turn for 9-10.

That is as far as we got today. I might comment again tomorrow when, hopefully I can finish the full course.

Great course Steve, thanks!!!

Tangle worked on jumping, weaves (2 sets of six!!!), table, and the dog walk today. He was really motivated and into it. I tried using his favorite squeaky ball. Lovely surprise that he worked really well for it, but could still think well enough to execute things nicely.

A game of chase is all it took!

Tangle is a thinker when it comes to agility. He does not like to fail and sometimes over thinks a problem. These kind of dogs are great to have, but you have to be really careful in a couple of ways with them. 1) Don't let them fail too many times. If they can't get it on the first couple of tries, break down the task. (good practice anyway) 2) If they start loosing interest you can almost be guaranteed they are thinking too much and the fun factor has to be ramped up! Don't let them think too hard!!

Compare this with Tip, who is a do'er! I don't think Tip has ever shut down on me. She is ALWAYS game to play and then play more. She would work until she drops dead. BUT, it is harder to get her into a place where she is thinking "hum, what does she really want". I have to control Tip's excitement level a lot more when training something new. Food when she is learning something new, toys only when she has got it down cold.

So, I introduced Tangle to channel weaves this morning. He has been taught to weave six poles with 2x2 weaves. The channels were a completely different obstacle to him and it was NOT obvious what he needed to do to perform them properly. I noticed very quickly that he was thinking too hard and beginning to shut down. Well I believe strongly in ending on a positive note and it became apparent this was not going to happen.

Stop, breath, and think "how do I end this on a happy note"? C H A S E!!!!

Tangle's favorite obstacle right now is the AFrame. So, I incorporated the AFrame into a game of chance to just get him "do" and not "think" any more. It turned out to be a great decision. I ran him over the AFrame (favorite obstacle), threw the squirrel Frisbee (favorite toy) and while he was getting that, I ran in the different direction and hide behind the shed (chase, favorite game). I had a completely different dog on my hands!!! The speed, intensity, and joy out of Tangle was amazing.

After I had him completely engaged again, we went back to the weaves. First time ran all the way through the channels--we ended there, on a positive note!

Now, I will say as I write this I realize my mistake in introducing the channel weaves. I had them slightly open and I think that is what confused him. I should have started with them closed and then opened them as he gained confidence on another set of weaves. First time I have trained weaves this way and we all live and learn.