Serpentines-good
Weaves-difficulty with entries a few times.
Front crosses-suck
knocked bars-moderate
focus-good
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
agility again
After a six month hiatus from class and a twelve month hiatus from trialing, our first trial of the summer is in two weeks. Class has become an exercise in frustration. it's not Griff's fault. I take full responsibilty but the problem is I don't feel like I am getting the feedback I need to correct my mistakes. My instructor is constantly on my ass, which is embarrasing. I know he is a talented dog and that I am the weak link, but I'm all he's got, so i'd really like help improving my handling. i'm tempted to find another class since I'm not working and see if fresh eyes can give me a hand.
For example I am stymied by front crosses. He doesn't read them well , i don't time them well. It would be nice to be given some drills to improve my timing and his understanding of the front cross. But instead, I get vague advice about how I am late, etc. I know I'm late, I just can't seem to get the timing right. GRrr.
Plus, there are so many people in class right now, we get three run throughs at most in an hour. Hardly enough to improve. I imust admit, I feel a little written off.
We practiced on Sunday. Good weaves, a really nice line of six jumps as serpentines. He was executnig them brilliantly by the end. We'll see how tonght goes.
i've got success wth one jump and grid work to do at home; too bad my wonderful half acre is gone!
More later, regarding Guinness, jobs and puppies!
For example I am stymied by front crosses. He doesn't read them well , i don't time them well. It would be nice to be given some drills to improve my timing and his understanding of the front cross. But instead, I get vague advice about how I am late, etc. I know I'm late, I just can't seem to get the timing right. GRrr.
Plus, there are so many people in class right now, we get three run throughs at most in an hour. Hardly enough to improve. I imust admit, I feel a little written off.
We practiced on Sunday. Good weaves, a really nice line of six jumps as serpentines. He was executnig them brilliantly by the end. We'll see how tonght goes.
i've got success wth one jump and grid work to do at home; too bad my wonderful half acre is gone!
More later, regarding Guinness, jobs and puppies!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
a long break from training...
just finished the NAVLE, meaning if I mananged to pass, and manage to pass my next rotations, I'll be licensed in June. However, the past six months have wreaked havok on most everything elese in my life, including dogs and dog training.
Griff missed the last two agility trials due to me not getting myself in gear in time to get him enrolled, and we've had to miss alot of class as well due to my hellish schedule. however, there's overall been deterioration of my dogs' manners lately and I need to tighten up and increase overall obedience training. It's hard with one old man who can barely sit comfortably on command anymore, and one ten year old who thnks she's nine months, and one aussie who if he doesn't get excessive work becomes a terror....
time for a new training approach. I long for some method that is more fair to the dog than traditional trainers but is more stringent than positive only methods..wish I knew of a good balanced trainer that can help me get the results I want.
Griff missed the last two agility trials due to me not getting myself in gear in time to get him enrolled, and we've had to miss alot of class as well due to my hellish schedule. however, there's overall been deterioration of my dogs' manners lately and I need to tighten up and increase overall obedience training. It's hard with one old man who can barely sit comfortably on command anymore, and one ten year old who thnks she's nine months, and one aussie who if he doesn't get excessive work becomes a terror....
time for a new training approach. I long for some method that is more fair to the dog than traditional trainers but is more stringent than positive only methods..wish I knew of a good balanced trainer that can help me get the results I want.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
tunnel zoomies
I want to trial!
Next one isn't until mid-June, and I don't know if I can go as it will be in the middle of my small animal med rotation.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Trial three (aka, snooker fail)
So third trial this weekend. First trial away from home court. The venue had two rings running simultaneously, one for standard runs (two per level), the other for games.
First run was jackpot. Really nice course. We needed 32 points for level 1, we got 49. Amazingly we missed 1st by one point. Some overachieving border collie got 50 points. Griff was on, on, on, focused, ready to roll. No hesitation due to the new location, no sniffing or dawdling at all.
By the time our next run(s) came up, both snooker and standard were on our level. I had walked both courses, but totally fudged the snooker course as I really didn't have a good plan. I ended up planning to start where my instructor started, which was the first mistake. Then we had to walk standard, and it was basically stand around and try to predict which ring would get to us first. As it happened, it was snooker.
I have heard about the two second snooker course, and ours was not over that fast, but basically 10 seconds and 4 points later, we were whistled off. After the first red jump, he took a tunnel instead of the aframe, which would have been fine except I didn't have a good plan to deal with it. Then, on the second red jump, I screwed him up and he back jumped it. Whistle and out!
I was pretty frustrated. He had already far exceeded my expectations by staying with me and rocking the jackpot course, but I totally could have predicted and done better had I not gotten flustered and messed him up. We then had to immediately go run standard, and I almost pulled him from the run. Good thing I didn't, as it was his best run of the day and earned him a first and Q.
The last two runs both had minor bobbles. The second standard course he went into the wrong end of a really tight tunnel, which earned us 5 faults. The wildcard run he backjumped again!!! so we got 5 faults from that as well, but both runs Q'd. He's now finished his level two standard title and we are one stupid snooker Q away from his entire level 1 title.
So, overall, not nearly as clean as my first two trials, but way better than it could have been. My main concerns are 1. backjumping, 2. he seemed to be a bit distracted at the end because he was tired, and 3. obstacle discriminations. I really need to be happy about how it went tho, as I wasn't even sure he'd stay in the ring with me.
Now I want to start competing in another venue because there isn't another CPE trial until July close enough for me to run it....I've apparently been bitten by the bug! I also wish I could find a second class or another practice facility so we can work somewhere new.
(And I want another agility dog ;))
Snooker. I hates you.
First run was jackpot. Really nice course. We needed 32 points for level 1, we got 49. Amazingly we missed 1st by one point. Some overachieving border collie got 50 points. Griff was on, on, on, focused, ready to roll. No hesitation due to the new location, no sniffing or dawdling at all.
By the time our next run(s) came up, both snooker and standard were on our level. I had walked both courses, but totally fudged the snooker course as I really didn't have a good plan. I ended up planning to start where my instructor started, which was the first mistake. Then we had to walk standard, and it was basically stand around and try to predict which ring would get to us first. As it happened, it was snooker.
I have heard about the two second snooker course, and ours was not over that fast, but basically 10 seconds and 4 points later, we were whistled off. After the first red jump, he took a tunnel instead of the aframe, which would have been fine except I didn't have a good plan to deal with it. Then, on the second red jump, I screwed him up and he back jumped it. Whistle and out!
I was pretty frustrated. He had already far exceeded my expectations by staying with me and rocking the jackpot course, but I totally could have predicted and done better had I not gotten flustered and messed him up. We then had to immediately go run standard, and I almost pulled him from the run. Good thing I didn't, as it was his best run of the day and earned him a first and Q.
The last two runs both had minor bobbles. The second standard course he went into the wrong end of a really tight tunnel, which earned us 5 faults. The wildcard run he backjumped again!!! so we got 5 faults from that as well, but both runs Q'd. He's now finished his level two standard title and we are one stupid snooker Q away from his entire level 1 title.
So, overall, not nearly as clean as my first two trials, but way better than it could have been. My main concerns are 1. backjumping, 2. he seemed to be a bit distracted at the end because he was tired, and 3. obstacle discriminations. I really need to be happy about how it went tho, as I wasn't even sure he'd stay in the ring with me.
Now I want to start competing in another venue because there isn't another CPE trial until July close enough for me to run it....I've apparently been bitten by the bug! I also wish I could find a second class or another practice facility so we can work somewhere new.
(And I want another agility dog ;))
Snooker. I hates you.
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