Cik/Cap

Well I finally have it spelled the Silvia Trkman way. I downloaded her video yesterday and watched it once. Then I did a small amount of work with both of my girls. Annie who is almost 10 and hasn't had much clicker training says I can turn in a circle by myself why is that stupid cone on the floor. On Silvia's video she shows a comparison of her dog with extremely fast and tight turns and another dog that is fast on the flat but wide on the turns. Her dogs turns are impressive. I'll work with this one for awhile. Annie is pretty tight on the turns as long as I cue her correctly. I want Juice to be also.
Stay tuned for more...................

Weaves and Kap

Just finished a great session of 6 weave poles with all different angles on the wrap side with both Annie and JDawg. Also, finished off with some wraps to the left that I am calling Kap which is different from a left turn. Another great day of practice. I love all of the piece work of agility.

Teeter Pieces

Last night I played the bang game, 1RTO, and some nose touches with Juice. I am liking the 1RTO right now and it may translate into a pseudo running contact. It might be an alternative to a touch end behavior with a stop. I'm thinking it could be a slight slow down to make sure she stays in the yellow but not a total stop. We shall see.

We also worked the Kap of Kip and Kap. It is a wrap around the left side. I am hoping to practice some weaves this afternoon as long as it doesn't rain.

Kip/Kap

I started this with both Juice and Annie. It will mean either wrap to the right or wrap to the left. I'm not sure that I will need it but why not learn it. Juice knows left and right. Annie only knows left at the present time. I just spent some time in the back yard with the girls. I also had them both work 6 weave poles. Hopefully it doesn't rain tonight or tomorrow and we could do a little work in the yard. I'd like to practice some tight rear crosses into the weaves. I messed Annie up in Grand Prix by rear crossing as she entered the poles. I'd also like to practice some running down a plank with the 1RTO.

Morning Teeter, Evening Teeter

By the time she is actually running a true teeter it should be really good. I practiced this morning at 6:30 and then again when I got home. The focus is still piece work and an occasional unexcpected drop down of a full height teeter to a tug. I started Kip/Kap today. My focus was on Kip. I will teach Kip first and then Kap.

I can't wait until I can get to some private sessions with Deb Frank. I need to start working the dog walk at a low height and get back to Rachel Saunders running A-Frame.
Later................

Indiana USDAA Trial

What a great weekend for me and Juice. We were unable to move up in Gambler's since last weekend. She got a 4th Starters Gambler's Leg. It really was good that we couldn't move up because Advanced Gambler's had the dog walk in the gamble. We are not anywhere near ready for the dog walk. I have stopped trying for the running contacts and have taught her the 1RTO during the winter.

Her jumper's run was FABULOUS! She watched me and my cues and ran without error. I was so impressed. I heard some of the people watching saying OMG because she was so fast. She ran a 28 second course in 18.16 seconds and took 1st place. I was so happy with her and myself. To be continued................

Chicago USDAA Trial

Juice got her 3rd Starters Gamblers Leg and took first place. Her first title ever. We had to take a 2nd try at the weaves but she did them and we moved on. We missed on her Jumpers leg but it was better than we have had before. She is starting to look at me instead of "see jump take jump". I had one run with her on Saturday and one on Sunday. I feel positive that we are improving.

Morning Session

It is 6:30 am and we just worked the teeter. The teeter still lives inside. The ice is about all gone. There is still some in the back yard and then it will be muddy for awhile. I did some work with Juice pushing off of the couch and then flying up the teeter. Sometimes I let her drop it down but other times she expects it and hesitate a bit. So I only let it drop when she doesn't expect it too. Today was really good. I used the tug instead of food so she really was psyched. I have been doing all types of piece work with the teeter. It is at full height now. Stay tuned!

Later today I will write about our fabulous weekend in Indiana.............

Wow, what a teeter!

I had a couple good runs with J and learned more about what to do next time. On her Jumpers run I pulled her off of a jump because I pulled away from a wing jump. I didn't put my arm out far enough to push her. She followed me instead. After that she did everything else really well. We would have had a Q but ........I don't really care about the Q. I care more about getting better.

You should have seen her first teeter ever. I have been practicing at home but have never put all of the pieces together. I liked the way the course was laid out and the teeter was after the weaves. I figured why not try it. I would either like it or not. I loved it. Even though I loved it I am back to the piece work at home again. She wasn't expecting that teeter to drop with the speed she had going. She landed it and did not fly off. I'm not sure if I will have her do it again this weekend. It just depends on how I feel in the moment.

She did well on her weaves but I had to send her twice. It as usual was my fault. I did not give her cue fast enough.

to be continued.................

Along for the ride

Juice is coming along just to hang out and get acclimated to the agility enviroment. She is entered in Gamblers on one day and jumpers on the other day. I am going to look at the course and decide if we just do a part and get off the mat and celebrate or if we do more. I'm thinking just part right now. We will see what things look like and I will decide from there. I want her to be successful. Stay tuned..........