A photographer caught one of Summit's weave pole exits at the Colorado Kennel Club AKC show...

YIKES!!!!!

Training

I've been asked to post more about my training sessions. Originally, I started this blog just to keep up with all the competition and title updates without having to edit my website.

I have a 75 x 110 foot field behind my house and pretty much all the agility equipment minus the chute. However, I never set up full courses to run. I tend to set up short drills to work on specific skill sets. Some of these skills are natural progressions of foundation work and some are weak areas that show up while running full courses in competition.

This is what I set up this weekend.



Saturday I worked tunnel - teeter with Summit (teeter is weighted). Then we worked just the tunnel to jumps. Extension and collection, send out to the pinwheel, turn, and then cue extension over the jumps to the tunnel. Then back down the line of jumps, deceleration and lateral motion for a 180 vs. pinwheel. Summit did very well and did not drop any bars while jumping extended down the line of jumps towards the tunnel as well as collecting nicely out of the tunnel for a tight wrap around the first jump, back into the tunnel and down the line to the pinwheel/180.
I did not work the teeter with Sage but did practice the four-on-the-floor at the bottom of the dogwalk as well as the deceleration cue for her stride collection on the downramp. Then I dropped the bars down to 16" for her (she jumps 16" in training) and we had fun running down the line of jumps into the tunnel and then deceleration to cue collection for a FC or post turn at the jump before the tunnel. Because she is hearing impaired (she can only hear out of her right ear), I find it is often best if I run her without verbal directional cues (not even her name). This way I focus much more on what my motion (forward, lateral, decel.) is telling her.
This morning we worked on convergence with motion - something that I need to work on more with Summit. We've done a lot of RTH work but I have only lately added more motion.
Sage got another session on the dogwalk and more extension/collection drills using the tunnel to jumps.

Sage and Summit's JWW run CKC

On Sunday we had a nice jumpers course with a serpentine. Sage's time was 25 sec. and Summit's was 23 sec. I think Sage placed 7th or 9th in Ex. B. Summit won Ex. A and his time would have put him second place in Ex. B (100's of a sec. from first).

Sage



Summit

Sage Double Q's again and Summit earns his Ex. FAST title

This weekend was the CKC AKC trial at the Denver Coliseum. Three rings, three judges, and three classes equaled tons of FUN.

Both Sage and Summit were running nicely. Sage double-Q'd on Sunday and also earned a leg in Ex. B FAST. The Send was jump to a-frame and then into the tunnel under the AF. I was pretty confident Summit would get the Send since he has independent contacts and a verbal command for the tunnel but was not so confident about Sage. But she nailed it. She had a nice running A-frame and then responded well to my pressure and redirected into the tunnel and then over the last jump.

Summit had one OTT run in Saturday's standard class but then came back to win the Ex. A Jumpers class that afternoon. He also earned the last leg he needed for his XF title with a second place.

Summit's JWW course times are consistently 2 full seconds faster than Sage when both run clean. What is interesting is I am for the most part, starting to handle the course exactly the same for both dogs. Which I guess means that I take advantage of forward and lateral Sends in order to get downstream to execute those front crosses.

Another thing I'm realizing is that the calmer and less "rushed" I am when handling Summit, the smoother he runs and the bars stay up. Saturday was a good example. We had FAST first thing Saturday morning. Summit had no collection or focus and was all about go, go, go. After he came blasting out of the tunnel, completing ignoring my lateral movement towards the next obstacle, I recalled him to my side to try again and he nipped me on the leg (thigh). He hasn't done that in a very very long time - boy was he high! I gave him a moment to calm down and then I finished the gamble and then sent him through the weavepoles on our way to the finish jump. I had less than 10 minutes until I had to run him in standard. I lead out with a simple LOP, he had a good startline stay but then blasted over the jump, ignoring my collection cue and landed at least one stride behind me. The rest of the run was pretty much the same, no collection, missed his weavepole entry twice and stopped at the bottom of the dogwalk with 4 feet on the ground (but he did wait). I found myself rushing with him to get around the course, my handling was not smooth.... I was totally hooking-in to his OTT behavior.

That afternoon in Jumpers I ran Sage first (before Summit). The run was beautiful and so smooth. The Ex. A dogs ran next. I wondered if my baby dog would have a brain this afternoon. I decided that no matter how crazy he acted, I would run him exactly as if I was running Sage. I put his morning behavior out of my mind and focused on handling him smoothly and keeping my body quiet.

Well he had a beautiful run, didn't drop a single bar and executed a serpentine perfectly. He won the class with a time of 23.04 seconds. His time would have put him in 2nd place in "B" but only 100's of a second from 1st place.

Videos will be posted as soon as I get them from Don.

Hiking without Mtn. Lions

Sunday, Jen and I met at the Four-Pines trailhead for a nice long hike with the dogs and were met by signs posted everywhere informing us that there were lion sightings and all dogs were to be on leash. As we were standing there discussing what to do, a woman hiked by with two dogs on leash and told us that there was a family of Mtn. Lions that had been sighted during the day (Mtn. Lions are usually nocturnal).

So we packed up the dogs and drove down to another trailhead at lower elevation in the attempt to enjoy a hike with the dogs off leash and avoid encountering lions.

Here is a picture of Summit and his younger brother, Bode. Bode is named after the ski racer, Bode Miller. Very appropriate name for this dynamic red boy!

Sage Double Q's and Summit holds his contacts!

This weekend we were in Monument, Colorado for AKC.
Saturday was beautiful with warm temperatures. Sunday was freezing!

Sage had a great Standard run on Saturday and then a wrong course jump at the very end. In jumpers, I experimented with layering and she had two wrong courses. I don't like to layer with her because when we have too much distance between us, we lose that connection. But what the heck, the run was for fun so I wanted to try it.

I did do the layer with Summit (who I ran after Sage), and it worked beautifully. Different dog....

Summit held ALL his DW and AF contacts and waited for the release cue. I was so pleased!
And Sage did not miss a single contact all weekend.

On Sunday, Sage had a beautiful and fast run in Standard and won the Ex. B class. The jumpers course that afternoon was tricky for a hearing impaired dog. I knew we would have to work hard to qualify on that course. I did almost lose her to an offcourse tunnel but I was able to get her back and we had a very nice finish for 3rd place and a Double Q!

Summit had a very nice jumpers run but I overhandled a jump/tunnel discrimination and sent him over the wrong jump.

So a very good weekend and with several training/performance goals achieved.

DSA AKC January 17-18

This trial was at JeffCo and 5 minutes from the house which was really nice. The judge was Jean Munger from Chicago. I liked her courses but boy were they tough!

I was so pleased with Sage's runs. No wrong courses on some very tricky sequences. Saturday I pulled her out of the weavepoles by moving laterally too soon and that afternoon in jumpers, I did the same thing again (I KNOW better). Otherwise, she had beautiful runs on Saturday. I was very thrilled with her Saturday Standard run because the course began with jump, dogwalk, tunnel (the correct entrance NOT in the dog's path). This has always been very difficult for us since Sage has running contacts and no verbal directionals. I collected her slightly at the dowside of the dw, let her run through the contact and at the same time, moved laterally towards the correct end of the tunnel. She read that perfectly.
Sunday's standard run was nice too. The beginning was two off set jumps into the weavepoles. Many dogs missed the entry. I decided to stay on the right side and rear-cross the weaves. I led out to the second jump, held my position and as soon as she got the entry, I rear crossed. Later, she was called for a missed AF contact but other than that, the run was very nice. That afternoon she had a smokin' fast Jumpers run and she placed second.

Saturday Standard




Sunday Standard



Sunday Jumpers




I am so proud of my girlie! I have been following Linda Mecklenberg's handling system since last Spring. I was looking for a better way to handle Sage since she is hearing impaired (left ear) and does not triangulate very well (especially indoors). It has taken awhile for me to learn and apply it (Sage already knew it of course:-) but it is really starting to come together and Sage is very happy that I am finally speaking her language.

Summit had two nice Jumpers runs (but with two dropped bars in each). He did have the fastest time in Sunday's jumpers run of all classes combined.
He never made it past the dogwalk in both standard classes since he is releasing himself from the contact. Since this is behavior I am only getting in the ring, I made the decision to leave the ring when he does this. I have gone back to the basics in training to make sure he really understands the release. I am confident he understands the 20/20. So that has been one of our training goals this week. Also, it has been awhile since we've done any jump training so it's back to some foundation jump drills as well.

Other than the dropped bars and dw contact, he had good wp entries and solid startline stays all weekend.

CSPC AKC trial - January 2009

We were in Castle Rock again this weekend but for AKC instead of USDAA.
Saturday was a good day. Summit qualified in Ex. B Standard with a 4th place and Ex. A Jumpers with a 1st place (is that a "baby" double Q? :-)

Saturday's Standard course was very difficult with a lot of challenges. Sage had two wrong courses. I was amazed Summit ran it clean although I ran him second so changed my handling a bit after seeing the mistakes I made with Sage.

Sage did qualify in Jumpers with a beautiful run (might have been 6th or 7th place). Summit's time would have put him in 2nd place in Ex. B. Not bad! Here are the videos of Summit's Ex. A jumpers run and Sage's Ex. B jumpers run. I handled the course the same with both dogs. Summit's time was 22.06 and Sage's time was 23.94.

Sage:



Summit:


Sunday's standard course was FUN! A perfect course for Sage! I saw a QQ in our future. Not to be... I rotated too slowly during a front cross at the bottom of the a-frame and sent Sage over the wrong jump:-( Other than that, she had a beautiful run. Again, I ran Summit second and chose not to front cross at the bottom of the a-frame and other than a missed wp entry (the only one for that weekend), he too had a nice run.

Sage missed a wp entry that afternoon in Sunday's jumpers run. But I was really pushing her for speed and put a little too much pressure at the weavepoles and she went in at the second pole.

Summit had a nice jumpers run but dropped the second to last bar. His time would have been the fastes time in both Ex. A and Ex. B classes.

Sage didn't miss a single contact all weekend and Summit got all his wp entries except one. His starline stays were solid and he is collecting better at the table and when I cue front crosses. He is stopping at the bottom of the A-frame with 20/20 and is waiting for the verbal release but is releasing himself at the dogwalk. He also is starting to come off on the side of the contact whenever I move laterally from the dw. Still in the contact zone but not driving to the end like I want him to. So we'll be working on that in our training sessions. I may need to get the target back out to reinforce the bottom position.

FRAT USDAA with DAM Team

Well it was an awesome three days for us!
First, Summit's DAM team placed 4th (cut off was 12 teams). Summit was teamed with Liz and Deuce and Jennifer and Jane. Deuce is another young, blazing-fast BC and Jane is a 4-year-old smooth and steady BC.

This was Summit's second DAM team Qualification for 2009. Sage was not entered in team since she already had two qualifiers.

Saturday, both dogs qualified in Steeplechase! Sage had an amazing Steeplechase run. It was absolutely flawless and her running a-frame contacts were both beautiful. Part of the Steeplechase course was a long line of single jumps to the broadjump and straight into a tunnel where the dog's trajectory over the broadjump sent them to the wrong end. Of course, this is where every handler used their dog's name or "come/here" to directed them into the correct entrance. Not having this verbal cue with Sage, I decelerated slightly to get her attention then moved laterally and cued the correct end of the tunnel. She read it beautifully and didn't even hesitate. I really wish I had a video of that run. Summit also had a nice run but released himself from his 20/20 at the first A-frame (I do make him wait even in tournaments), so I had to get a bit forceful with my verbal cue "You GET it!" I think it really made an impression on him as he waited for the his release from the second A-frame contact - yeah right. (LOL!).

In Grand Prix Sage popped out in the middle of the weavepoles and barked at me - don't know what was up with that - then missed her dogwalk contact (more on that below). Summit had a really nice GP run but dropped a single bar.

Summit also qualified in Advanced Jumpers (2nd place) and Advanced Standard (1st place). So now only needs one more Standard leg for his AAD! He and his Partner, Pika, qualified in Pairs. He was not entered in Snooker or Gamblers since he already has legs in those classes and with him running team, I tried to limit the number of runs in the regular classes.

Summit nailed EVERY SINGLE weavepole entry!!!! One entry he got was totally amazing. It was team gamblers and I turned him 180 degrees off the teeter and towards the weavepoles but before I could straighten him out for a nicer entry, he took off for the weaves. I was fully prepared to call him back to retry but then he nailed the entry! He actually had to slide and pivot back to get the correct entry. It was pretty impressive and I was thrilled to see our three weeks of training wp entries paid off.

Sage had an impressive day on Sunday. She qualified in all three classes (Masters Standard, Pairs, and Snooker). She now just needs one more Standard leg for her MAD.

The most exciting part of the weekend however was Sage only missed ONE dogwalk contact out of the 5 classes she was entered in. My strategy of using deceleration as a collection cue on the downramp of the DW seems to be working. It collects her just enough for me to get her attention and then I cue the bottom of the contact zone. We've been practicing this at home (in addition to the down at the bottom). I did not ask for the down in competition. Even with a sharp turn off the dogwalk to the next obstacle, she was collected enough and focused on me that I did not lose her to an off course obstacle at the dog walk exit as I do when I let her run through at top speed. She was still fast on the dog walk (the collection is simply a break in stride) but now I feel I have the ability to catch up, get her attention, and be able to use a physical cue for the contact zone.

We have an AKC trial this weekend so I am excited to experiment with this. It is not easy, my timing has to be just right (the one time she missed the contact, I decelerated and collected her way too soon and when I released her, she was still very far from the end and strided over the contact zone).

So a very good, successful weekend for us.

Couple of videos from the November AKC trial

Just received these videos from the trial in Black Forest in November. The first one is Sunday's Standard run (Excellent B). Nice run with one refusal (weaves). The second run is Saturday's Open Jumpers.




In hindsight, I would have liked to have led out from the table to front cross the landing side of the jump before the tunnel which would have put me ahead of Summit as he came blasting out of the tunnel into the weaves. The tunnel was off-set enough that when the dog exited, if the handler was too far behind, the dog curled into the handler and away from the poles. A lot of experienced dogs missed the wp entry. Overall, I was very happy with this run. Summit had a good startline stay and contacts. I am glad that I've been incorporating sprint intervals in my daily runs:-)





This past month I've been training weave pole entries with both dogs. I set up a set of 6 poles in the middle of the field and have been working on round-the-clock entries, forward sends, lateral sends, rear crosses, pushes, and pulls into the weaves. I've also started to bring both dogs out to train at the same time. The dog that is not working waits on the pause table. I really like this as I can train longer by rotating back and forth between the two dogs. I usually train 5 minutes or so before switching out dogs. Sage is a very good girl, waiting patiently and calmly on the table. Summit is also good when it's his turn to wait on the table, although he can get a bit vocal sometimes.

This weekend is the 3-day USDAA trial in Castle Rock. Summit is on DAM team (Sage is not entered in DAM since she already has two DAM qualifications for 2009).