Working Together is Success!

I am so lucky to have such a sweet dog!  Jefferson is such a joy and pleasure to train and I am thankful every day for the world of dog agility that he has opened up to me.  He is my first dog...EVER and I feel like I hit the doggie jackpot.  Over the past few months, our training relationship has gotten closer and the results are evident whenever we run an agility course.  I have learned how to better communicate with Jefferson and he has learned how to better trust me to tell him where we are going next on a course.  During our Sunday agility “marathon,” we practiced some difficult handling moves, including my blind crossing between jumps, on the flat and not at the exit of a tunnel (an easier move to say the least!)  I was so proud of my boy for reading the blind so well (and me for making it to position!) and feel comfortable having this in our handling “bag of tricks.”   I may just become the “blind cross queen!”  In order for me to get into position and better advance the course using the blind cross, I layered the weave poles and the teeter.  This advanced handling move allowed me to get into position and Jefferson read it like a dream!  So proud of my boy and how far we have progressed.

I have also learned to execute more post-turns, especially whenever I am choosing a handling move at the end of a running dogwalk.  Performing a front cross at the end of a running dogwalk is pretty tough, especially since Jefferson has gotten so much faster and I have not!   Again, dog agility is all about options and being able to recognize the various methods of handling your dog on a particular course.  I am getting better at doing this, but am still a work in progress and learning during every run.  But, I welcome the challenge and look forward to stretching my handling abilities.

Agility has taught me so much – how to train a dog, how to train a handler (ME!), how to be patient and calm, and most importantly, how to enjoy every minute both Jefferson and I are healthy enough to run an agility course together and connect as ONE team. 

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
~Henry Ford

Short but Sweet....

Rough week at work.  GREAT week at agility.  This seems to be the theme for the month so far.  Last Friday we received our Starters Jumpers certificate in the mail - making it "official" that we have moved into the Advanced class.  Jumpers was an elusive event for us for many, many, MANY months.  We would go through many a trial with an "E" in Jumpers because I would not handle very clearly, Jefferson would shut down and then we spiral downward from there!  Most say that Jumpers is an "easy" event, one that a competitor "should" move up in quite rapidly.  Well, I could not disagree more.  We struggled and struggled until I learned how to become a better handler.  But now that I am more confident in how to handle a Jumpers course by giving Jefferson clear handling cues, I look forward to facing the challenges of Jumpers.  

As a result, I would not trade all the time we spent in Starters Jumpers because that time gave me the opportunity to learn to be the handler that my dog deserves and needs. When we move to Masters (notice I did NOT say "IF"), I will be able to handle all those fancy handling moves like the blind cross, the backy-uppy, and if I am really feeling fine, the World Team favorite, "the Ketschker's turn!"  So here's to another fun night of agility that helps me get through another rough week at work...


 "Brevity is the soul of wit."
~ William Shakespeare

Back to the Future!

This past weekend the LowCountry Dog Agility club celebrated its 20^th anniversary.  We attended the party and had a great time learning about the history of dog agility in Charleston.  It was eye-opening to hear all the hardships the early club members had to overcome in order to enjoy agility with their canine teammates.  It really made me appreciate the convenience of our practice field, quality of our fancy equipment and dedication of all our founding club members.  Here are some examples of the equipment from 20 years ago:

Old-style spring weaves

Jump made by member

The field today with rubberized contacts, 24"weaves, break-away tires and wooden fencing!

After we enjoyed our agility cake and sharing our love of agility with our friends, Jefferson and I had the opportunity to run an Advanced/Starters Standard course.  I was excited to try some new handling moves I have been practicing over the past month.  

Here is our run:

The opening sequence consisted of tunnel, jump, jump (off-course dogwalk), jump to teeter.  Unfortunately, the first three obstacles were not on the tape, but I did manage to get into the correct position.  I was concerned about Jefferson taking the off-course dogwalk so I knew that I had to be in position to front cross after jump #2 so he would have a clear path to the jump and teeter.  In the past, I would have waited until Jefferson completed the tunnel to move up course, but now I am trusting him to know his job so I immediately moved into position once he committed to the tunnel.  This way, I was already advancing the course and clearly showing Jefferson his path.  I was pleased with how well this handling move worked and am more confident to trust in Jefferson during our future runs.

The next challenge was the table.  We had worked on the table extensively over the weekend (and he made a liar out of me – getting every “down” on the table, even during some pretty rowdy distractions!) but I still am apprehensive with our table.  Again, he made a liar out of me and performed a fast down, so I rewarded him with lots of cheese (under his chin so he would stay down).  My next training of the table will consist of table performance WITHOUT cheese.  Hope this goes well!

 

From the table, we had another challenging sequence – dogwalk, jump, tire, A-Frame.  My first concern was his hitting the down contact on the running dogwalk.  He has been running so fast that he is in such a hurry to get to the next obstacle, so he leaps past the yellow contact.  I have been practicing converging the line about the time he gets to the yellow in order to apply pressure to hit the yellow contact.  But, I wasn’t moving quite fast enough and was not there to apply the pressure so he jumped the contact.  It is a bit close, but I bet a judge would call it a missed contact.  

Then, we had the tire to A-frame, with the tunnel being the off-course.  I was very concerned about Jefferson taking the tire and then the A-frame so I had planned to front cross the tire.  Again, I was not in position for the front.  Instead, I cued extension and Jefferson headed straight for the tunnel.  Good boy…bad handler!  Looking back on this run, I should have decelerated before the tire so he would have read my lack of movement rather than reading the acceleration from my moving to get into position for the front cross.  My timing was off so this resulted in an off-course.  Sure beats him standing around any day, though!

Finally, after the A-frame, there were two jumps (tunnel off-course) before a sharp right turn to the weave poles.  I was worried that Jefferson would head for the tunnel, so I called his name to get him into handler focus so he would turn right and get the weave pole entry.  Because my timing was off whenever I called his name, he knocked the bar (he rarely does this…ALWAYS my fault!) but got the right turn and nailed his weave poles.  Yay!  I even performed a “fancy” handling move and front crossed his weave poles.

Overall, I was so pleased with Jefferson’s enthusiasm and speed with this run.  I made a few handling mistakes, but am able to recognize them so I will not make them in the future (or less likely!)  I am learning that I need to cue him MUCH faster and go advance the course once he has made his commitment point.  Basically, I need to keep working on getting our timing right.  But, it is great to watch our runs and see us working together as a team – moving fast and confidently – even if it is a “wrong" course.  

I sure do love my fast little agility dog!

"Timing is everything."

~Tommy Shaw

Oxymoron of Agility: Pumped Up Kicks and Deceleration

Jefferson admiring my pumped up kicks!

Since the last trial, we have been trouble-shooting a few of our handling moves, specifically deceleration.  Here is a three-jump exercise I used (I added a tunnel on the other side of the two jumps as a distraction....got this from http://baddogagility.com/versatile-setup-for-small-spaces-beginner-drills/):  

First - Run fast with your dog to cue extension

Second - Stand at the 2nd jump to cue deceleration

Third - Run with your dog to cue deceleration

Jefferson did well with these drills and I believe working on these type of set-ups will help us better communicate during our runs.  These skill will better help me determine the better handling movements to use whenever I tackle different courses.  For example, I am still using a running start as opposed to a start line stay in order to keep Jefferson better engaged in our runs.  During last Thursday's class exercise, it was very difficult for me to get into position for a front cross so I had to rely on our deceleration cue and that did not go very well.  Now that I have gotten past Jefferson shutting down during his runs (knock on wood!), he is now running quite a bit faster so I am having to work harder on communicating deceleration.  We are still a work in progress and have much left to learn about making better handling choices for our team.  I am more excited about our agility journey than ever before....and about trying out my pumped up kicks!!

"The stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes."
~Jonathan Swift