Agility class 09/20/10

Wow Annie has been a busy girl, 2 days of obedience and then off to agility class. Surely all this getting her out will get her distraction proofed!

Today we worked on some interesting exercises. First was jumps in a grid:

___ a ____ b _____c


___ d ____ e _____f

First we did f-c-b-f with a front cross b-f. Annie handled this pretty easily after first suprising me by running over the A-frame that really wasn't part of the picture - I think it commanded a superior view from which to look for the border collies...
A second run through went well.

We then went to b-e-d-a then send to tunnel. Annie handled this well.

We then moved on to a challenging exercise. Here's the course:



Order is jump teeter tunnel jump jump - to be run as if you were coming from behind the first jump and then continuing out on beyond it on the exit. One could cross at teeter or try to call left tunnel and layer the teeter. CAll jump on exit of tunnel, do shoulder pull to second jump.

Annie's distractions got the better of her the first time through -she didn't pay much attention to me. We tried again and it was much better. She doesn't understand left tunnel from the teeter so that can be some homework for us.

Venturing into the Obedience Ring again...

Annie earned her CD in Dec 08 and since then has not ventured into the obedience ring. We've been working on her open exercises but never actually entered a class or show n go.

Saturday we ventured to Pets West and entered our first ASCA Open A competition. A friend of ours, Rose O'hara was judging so I felt this would be a good opportunity to get into the ring and not have to worry about a judge not having a sense of humor.

When our turn came, I walked into the ring to start our heeling exercises and Annie looked confused -there was her friend Rose, why wasn't I taking her to visit her friend? Why was I asking her to sit? I asked her to heel and she just sat there rooted to the spot. Confusion pasted across her face. I turned around and asked her to heel again, and she slowly came up to me. I patted on her and told her she was fine and proceeded. She actually warmed up to it and towards the end of the heeling exercise was not doing a half bad job. I petted and loved on her.

Next was drop on recall -I very happy with her performance of this exercise (2 points). Then came the retrieve on the flat. Again she did this fairly well. If I recall correctly she gazed at the audience a little before picking up the dumb bell (4 points). Then the retrieve over the high jump. She sent out nicely and retrieved well, but came back in crooked -sitting to my right, and then did not finish very straigt (6 points). Lastly was the broad jump. She sent out over nicely but then did not come to sit in front of me-gazing away. I called and she finished (8 points).
Sits and down stays: No deductions.

So all in all not a bad first time out considering her nervous Nellie self.

Today we went to Praiseworthy Pups Show N Go. We did Open B so we didn't have to start with the heel. First was the retrieve on the flat. I threw the dumb bell and it kind of got hidden behind a post. Annie sent out but stopped in front of the post and looked confused. I sent her on past and she was happy to find the dumbell on the other side.

Her high jump was lack lustre-my throw really wasn't quite far enough. She took the jump and hit it on the way back and stopped to my right rather than fronting properly. I fixed her and then we redid this element.

The next time was much better.

Broadjump: She jumped well and fronted pretty well.

Heels: Posts were pretty good -lagged a little on the fast portion. The heeling pattern was pretty decent (I had food!).

Stays: Again flawless.

I am hopeful we can work out our kinks and get our CDX completed in the next few months...

Back to Class

Annie and I finally resumed classes with Elizabeth. It still isn't exactly cool it was 90 or so with a heat index of about 95....grrr.

A few things we practiced tonight.

1st Sequence: Tunnel to a bit of a pinwheel (2nd jump was a bit of a send, then front cross to 3rd jump. Annie performed well if not super fast.

We then did the opening part of the course which involved placing dog at quite an angle to 1st jump to set up for 2nd. Front cross after 3 before tunnel. Elizabeth showed us how she teaches her dogs to "line-up" which means focus, placing the dog between her legs. Helps to ensure dog has proper angle to jump. Lead out with a purpose. Cue dog with dog side hand. Teach dog that turning body into jump means front cross coming.

Annie did this the first time well,and then the 2nd time was focusing on dogs in other ring. Temptation was to rush cue for 2nd jump in anticipation of running to front cross. Wait til dog is comitting and go! When a front cross fails and the dog goes past, call the dog back to the cross to complete it.

Homework: Practice front cross at one jump. Place dog on sit, take 2 steps so at jump standard, release, front cross and get a wrap. Try and progressively tighten the turn.