June 13 & 14, 2011

nice work with both girls on single striding weaves at 24 inches........good fast teeter with a nose touch............nice cip/cap at 16 inches........

Backyard School 6/11/2011

I put up 6 weave poles in a straight line at 24 inches to work on single striding. When she first learned we used 22 inch spacing. Last winter we worked at 23 and now I am trying 24. I want that single stride with 24. It looks so cool! I worked Annie and Juice using a tennis ball as a reward and they both looked good. I re-read Susan Garrett's 2x2's this morning while waiting to get my car repaired. Might do some teeter work today.

still workin' the parts

After the last couple of trials I realized that I am not helping Juice by entering her. I need much more work on cueing her quickly instead of standing still. I need motion and I have been afraid to run because she is so fast. I need to work all of the skills I have been learning in class and use them appropriately. I have a great foundation with her so I just have to get me on board. It is not the dog. She is awesome! I had class with her on Wednesday and we worked the A-Frame low with a running contact. I was able to walk, run, and jog and she landed where she was supposed too and took a jump. She is running down the end of the dog walk and nailing her nose touch and not looking up until I release her over a jump for a high value reward. If she is not successful we give her another chance and if she is incorrect we help her understand what is wanted. We also worked collection cues to help her understand to read my body language. It was one of the best classes I have had and it gives me much to build on.

Great Private Lesson

I had a great class with JDawg yesterday. She hit the teeter at full speed and landed it! Impressive. I still do much piecework with the teeter. We play the Bang game at home and games of tug from the down side and make sure her feet don't come off. I also have her run up the teeter at full speed without it dropping down and feed, feed, feed. We also play the Bam game with is her digging her nose in the ground. Quite amusing and funny. She ran the down end of the dogwalk at normal height. She doesn't know what to do with her speed right now so she about does a flip at the end if she runs the entire dogwalk. We also focused on the end behavior so she did not come off with my movement. We worked the A-Frame at a very low height. If I am behind her or slightly facing her she lands beautifully in the box. If I am in front of her she does not collect and jumps over the box. Deb helped me work with her in small steps and the end result was very good. I need to continue slowly. This dog is friggin' awesome. One day just wait and see we will be kickin' some dust. I'm just sayin'.

Collection

Just did a quick session with J on collection with speed. I saw improvement. She is reading it better and figuring out what to do with her body. This agility is so friggin' cool.

Running A-Frame

JDawg had class this morning and worked the A-Frame at 2 1/2 feet. She had 2 jumps before the frame to give her speed and one jump after. I was very happy with how she looked. I will slowly raise it. There is no hurry. She also ran the dog walk at full height. She is trying to figure out how to do the nose touch at the end. She had so much speed a couple of times she almost did a handstand. :)I wasn't to excited about the dog walk. While we were in Council Bluffs Iowa she ran the dog walk at 2 feet and ran it fast with a nice nose touch. We will get there.

Still been working Sylvia Trkman's cik/cap. I am starting to work again on collection with speed. Juice doesn't collect but I didn't teach it with speed. I see so many fast dogs that don't collect. There is such a waste of time with all of that speed. I am determined to teach Juice to know when and how to collect by me giving her the appropriate cues.

Much work to do!

I went to a workshop in Council Bluffs Iowa a couple of weekends ago. It was a good time. Juice was all over the place and did not even pay attention to the hand that says collect. It was just a reminder of how green she and I are. We did refreshers on recall to heel. I worked them much last year but didn't incorporate all the speed she has. So I am going back to the basics and then will add speed. I am working it with both girls. I am working cip/cap by Sylvia Trkman again with both girls. We are also doing refreshers with the rear cross.

At the last trial Juice got her 2nd Jumpers leg. She was all over the place though the day before. I'll get it. Anything worth having is worth working for. I am dedicated and persistent.