Split

Split is back!

It occurred to me today that this weekend will be Split's first 2 day (almost all the runs) trial since 2/2011 when he was diagnosed with arthritis and an iliopsoas pull.  The doctors nor PT people were hopeful that he would ever be able to do agility again.  They just didn't think that he could come back strong enough.

It was really hard to come to terms with that news!

I set my mind on getting him rehab'ed with the goal that he would keep jogging with us and doing some "puppy" agility in the back yard for the rest of his life.  He needed to know that he was not forgotten or any less of a member in our house.

I think that this mind set was perfect for today's outcome!  I never envisioned that he would be as strong as he is today.

It wasn't until about 8 months ago that I realized that he really recovered well.  So I set my sights on getting him retrained and seeing were he could go.

While Split was injured but before I really realized it he began to develop some bad habits--mostly popping weave poles and wide turns.  Much like someone who has been limping for years, getting the problem fixed, you have to re-train the body/mind to stop compensating for a problem that no longer exists.

So, I believe that we have the weave pole issue much improved, his turns are much tighter for the most part, his AF has been converted to running, he has stopped (mostly) running a muck on course out of happiness and we are beginning to be a better team again.

He won't ever have a full trial schedule again, but really that is fine, I just want him healthy and happy. 

So, we will see what this weekend brings.  I don't care if we cue, I don't care if we place, I really don't care if he becomes a little too enthusiastic on course.  All I care about is that we can run together again and when the end of the day comes he still feels good and pain free.

I am happy to be running Split again and with a very conservative approach, hopefully we can continue for a long while!

Weave Entries

20/20 hind sight is a beautiful thing!

Tangle has been struggling with his weave entries over the last several weeks. Not sure what happened since they were AWESOME before my injury. I say "before my injury" since I suspect that my injury had it's impact on Tangle. The weaves being one of the casualties.

Before the injury I was able to move with Tangle, meet him at the end, and have a huge game of tug. I didn't do this all the time, but obviously enough that it made it really fun and worth the challenge to hit entries. While my motion was still very limited, just throwing a toy at the end didn't seem to be enough for him.

So, over the past week, I went back to just 4 poles, worked entries, threw a HUGE party if they were correct! When I first started this approach, Tangle was getting his entries but thinking way too much. Slow, methodical, and not having a ton of fun! I am not sure what made me realize this, but I started to tug with him at the end of the weaves and I saw a dramatic shift in his motivation to hit the entry and to drive through the weaves! Sometimes you don't realize what you are doing to motivate the dog. You have to retrace your steps, examine every motion and figure it out.

All of dogs have switched from time to time what motivates them. It takes me a day or two, but eventually I catch up and realize that I must shift the reward to the "reward of the day". This is exactly what was going on with Tangle's weaves. This morning Tangle was back to being "on fire", hitting his entries, driving with passion through the weaves and tugging for his reward.

When given the proper motivation it is amazing the speed at which Tangle can hit his entries and drive through the weaves!

Switching gears - Handler challenged courses

I find that life has forced me to switch gears in terms of my training plan for the next three months or so. I was running Tangle last week and heard a loud pop, yep, partially ruptured a tendon in my foot. Big boot on my foot, no running and fairly limited movement for the next two weeks, then gradually over many, many weeks I get to add more movement.

It is not my style to sit around and wait for time to pass. I try to switch gears as quick as I can and find the activities that will fit in with my current limitations.

Here is my first handler challenged course. My physical limitations this week are 1) I can only take a couple of steps while handling to dog 2) I can't take them fast

I decided to work on the subtlety of cues. In this design I am showing the dog the difference between a forward send, a 180, and forward motion cues. Although I only diagrammed the dog on the right, I did work both sides.

This actually turned out to be a good exercise for Tangle. We have worked all of these configurations in the past, but as he has gained more speed and excitement for agility it proved to be a good reminder.

I can't imagine that I will heal quickly so I am guessing that I will be designing a series of these course in the coming month or two.

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 :)

Woo Hoo!

Many of my friends are busy posting their agility winnings and accomplishments on FaceBook and YouTube. I am very proud of them and feel happy for them that they are all doing so well. Really, I am. I do have Tip to run and she continues to turn in stellar performances, but it is not what is making me bust at the seams right now.



I am going to post a HUGE accomplishment of mine here today. It feels like we just ran a marathon and came in with a personal best time!! Split finished rehab today. His physical therapist is super happy with his progress and doesn't want to see him again (except for maintenance work). This is very much like a marathon for me. It has been 4 months off from our regular routine, 2 months of that with very little activity. Then SLOWLY introducing agility back into our lives for 2 months and we aren't done yet, but we can begin to see our first trial date in sight.


So, when you run your dog and they are healthy and happy, kiss them and thank them for the gift of another great run!

Jumping skills

I really wish I could find the instructions for improving dropped bars!! Anyone? Anyone?

In the last several trials of Tip's the dropped bars have kept her from qualifying in everything. She is to the point where she has the most amazing runs, fast, on course, but it is always a dropped bar that keeps her from qualifying. I am beginning to get a little disappointed running her and that is not fair to her.

This moring we worked on jumping skills. I am starting with what I believe to be the foundation of jumping ability, are the muscles built up right? We worked on lines of jumps, I am out ahead and have no motion going on. Just call her too me.

Then we worked on turning jumping muscle building.

She did fairly well on the straight line of jumps. She had two shortened strides inbetween each jump (4 in a row). When she kept them all up, I threw a party and awesome game of fetch (low throws, don't freak out). When she dropped them, I was quiet, picked up the bar and we started again. My goal was to have her successful almost the whole time. Will she make the associated between parties and bars that stay up? We will see. I am not too worried about the muscles involved with straight jumps since we do a lot of that, jogging, ya know straight-line activity.

Next we worked on turning and jumping. Today was mostly teaching her the drill. Two jumps set side by side, the bars on the inside are set at 12" and on the outside 20". We worked on jump, turn, excellerate out of the jump today. I did see weakness on left turns which made sense. That is the side that has the arthritis. We will work these muscles sparingly but consistently to see if we can build some strength and stability.

Stay tuned...In the meantime if anyone comes up with answers or suggestions I am all ears!!

Injuries

I had the privilege to run Tip again this week. What a sweet run that was! I had thought that 8 weeks ago was my last run with her and I didn't even know it would be my last run.

I guess I didn't blog about this. Not sure why, maybe that the news changed everyday and I kept waiting for the 'definitive' answer to what was wrong.

We came off our last run of the weekend and Tip was limping just a tad bit. Once we walked a little it went away. I decided to go to the vet and see what they thought the issue was. The vet (ortho surgeon) said that she had a partially torn ACL. He was not recommending surgery, just give it a while and we will see what happens. I can't even begin to describe how I felt. I knew at some point she would have to have the surgery and that would end her career. I am not one of those people who would do the TPLO (adjust the geometry of the dog) kind of people.

I won't drag on the story too much, but we went for a second opinion up at CSU vet school. The head of Ortho diagnosed it as a sprained hock with arthritis. Much better news!

So after 8 weeks of bed rest, physical therapy, Tip is back on her feet so da speak. I have bringing her back slowing--long walks, hiking, then slow jogging, low straight jumping and finally this week a full course. The jumps were only at 12 inches.

It was sheer pleasure to run her. What an honor to have my dog back!

Haven't posted in a while, not because I have not been working with the dogs.

Tip's progress has been amazing. Since we put her on 'bed rest' I have not seen signs of her injury except for the other day. She had to be restrained to get blood drawn for heart worm and I think she stressed the leg (Split took it like a man). It is back to normal now. We are beginning to increase her activity. She gets to go for very long walks, and very modified agility (no leaving the ground or sudden starts). She is very happy that she gets to do this.

Split remains an awesome little puppy (2 years old now). He has caught onto the 'driving' through the course concept, almost achieving NADAC distances at times. I need to go back and review collection with him now. Weave poles still remain a challenge in strange places. I am beginning to think it is about confidence. If this is the case, patience and practice will be the key.

Well, Monday morning, 8 inches of snow, I guess my only choice is to go back to work!

Its not easy being green

Well, Tip (my experienced dog) is on rehab rest for a couple of months so Split gets all my attention.

We just came off of a week vacation to the Pacific NW and had a grand time. Thought I would take Split out to brush off the dust and get ready for next week's trial. What I realized in practice, he is an AWESOME dog! I already knew that, but the universe just keeps reminding me.

Practicing with Split today gave me the following list of things I need to always remember (I know them, I just keep forgetting to practice them):

1. It is really about what the handler needs to practice/learn
2. Deceleration gets him to turn in (the more dramatic the tighter the turn)
3. Pausing ( like declaration) gets him to adjust his path into me
4. Take your time out on course
5. Sometimes it is the dog that chooses what will be worked on that day

The short story behind each of these bullets...

1. Since Split is my second dog I knew better how to train the foundation skills. I am just beginning to realize the value and wisdom of what I have taught him. I taught them, but didn't completely understand how to apply them. So, now when I am practicing with Split, the practice is really about what I need to practice in order to follow the rules that I taught him. He follows the rules when we run and when I follow them too, we have an awesome run. This covers my first three statements.
2. Although Split is smarter than I, he is still green. He needs my support. If I can just remember to lengthen the 'moments' in each run, it will go better. For instance, take my time, point out what I need him to do (it only takes a split second) and then move on to the next thing. Split, unlike Tip needs permission to do each obstacle. So, if I take the time to give permission it will build his confidence. In time, permission might be just a glace at the obstacle instead of a hand pointing at it for a full second.
3. The fifth statement was one that I didn't have to learn so much with Tip. Tip is always motivated, and not much shuts her down. Split on the other hand is motivated, until something shuts him down. Sometimes you can spot what is it quickly...like me getting too intense. Sometimes the horses in the next field could have scared him. So, when he is shutting down or being scared, what gets trained that day is what he finds fun! Or how it gets trained is totally different. I am learning that if he has no issues, the Frisbee might be too much stimulation. If he is having issues, the Frisbee is just right! It brings the fun back and distracts him from his troubles. The other part of this statement came from today's practice: he forgot how to sit! OK, we all know that he didn't forget, but that is what it was like. So, instead of fighting that today (cause that shuts him down), I just changed how we did things in order to keep the games going. For instance, put a table on the start line and he would 'sit' on it. So, that is what we did. We will work on sit in other ways this week.