Training

We have been doing some work on our house over the last few weeks and this weekend we had planned to finish painting the hallway, luckily one of Steves friends had offered to help him so on Saturday I met up with Jo for a training session, she had already told me she had planned a hard session and she wasn't wrong, I took both Maisy & Dylan and ended up doing 2 hours!! we mainly concentrated on flick flacks, and pull ins. Maisy as usual was a star and Dylan had a great time playing with his football and teaching me the importance of body language! Yesterday I took Maisy to the paddock to continue practising what we had learnt at Jo's and Maisy again was really listening, getting up some good speed through the flick flacks and taking 12 weaves with no mistakes, hopefully we can keep it up for the show at Preston just one more Jumping win to take us into grade 2 for next season... no pressure then.
The Clocks have gone back now so evening training is pretty much out of the question, I hate the dark nights it just seems such a waste of time stuck indoors.. still the months go by so fast it'll soon be Spring and we can start all over again with a couple of exciting new prospects coming onto the agility scene, Hardy who is Clare's GSD puppy, Zippy who is of course Ronny's son and Gabby and Gloria the two boxers how exciting.
Next weekend Amy and I are training at the YKC activity weekend in Newark, I think we are helping out with the Flyball and then I'm organising the Obedience competition on Sunday, I'm only taking Maisy for some company and if I'm lucky I'll get a go on the agility equipment, but at least it will be some one to one time with her as it's her 5th Birthday on Sunday, I can't believe I've had her 4 years I remember taking her to Newark a couple of weeks after I had her for her first Camping experience, we had a tent in those days, I remember it was very cold even with 3 collies trying to keep us warm!! we'll be nice an toastie in the caravan this weekend especially with the heating on!!

training pays off

Yesterday Amy, Alice and I went to T.A.R.R.S agility limit show, it was only down the road and I thought it would be a nice little show to give Alice and Smartie a bit more confidence, in training they have come on really well, I don't think Alice can see how good her partnership with "Smartypants" has become, but hopefully she can now. First of all we had agility, it was a nice course with a few draws, Alice and Amy ran it really well, getting all their contacts I took Dylan and Maisy in and I managed to put Maisy back on the A frame with my body language so we were eliminated!! we somehow missed the presentation but someone we knew said they had heard Amy's name called out so on checking Alice and Smartie had come 3rd and Amy and Summer 4th, we were all extatic. then the Helta Skelta, it was quite a tricky course as it was grade 1 -7 Amy managed 2 clears with Summer and Dylan, Alice just had the last part of the long jump giving her 5 faults. Maisy took 2 naughty poles!! this time we waited for the presentation and were rewarded with Amy getting 2nd with Dylan and 3rd with Summer. Lastly was the jumping, as we walked it I said it was going to be hard, and thats what it was! lots of pull ins and a line of 6 jumps in a straight line at the start, for those of us with no wait on the line and a very fast dog I'm sure you will understand the dilema! Amy and Summer did a grand job only to get flustered at the weaves, Alice (who has a great wait) started off nicely but just moved too quickly on the pull ins resulting in Smartie back jummping, something we can work on and after a silly elimination for Maisy at the start she then flew round listening to all my directional commands, got her weave entrance at great speed and proved once again what a star she is. both the girls and all of the dogs made me very proud yesterday, Well done.

I also hear throughout the day that Kathryn and Ellen had, had a great day and I think I have the results correct: Ellen & Handbag won the agility, Kathryn and Gemma won timefault and out a 3rd in something else and Diesel got a 12th so brilliant news all round.

Motivation training

Well motivation is not something Maisy & I struggle with, I have however come to realise that her over enthusiastic approach to everything is sometimes stress related, she isn't what you would call a stressy dog but the signs do appear particularly when she is being asked to do something new, for example Amy took her to obedience training last night, for Maisy this was a completely alien enviroment with people and dogs she didn't know, to start with she just dug her heels in and bounced all over the place but as the night progressed she settled into some acceptable heelwork, even if she was taking the mickey out of Amy as she went. then it was Summers turn, as Amy warmed her up I noticed that when Amy used her best motivational approach to gee her up it was having the opposite effect and was making her lagg so we tried a new technique which was to have a game and take out the formality going straight into the heelwork, slowing down on the corners to give her time to keep the position and throwing her ball forward to encourage her forward, when she went into her lesson Summer really was stunning, I have never seen her work in such a stylish motivated way, her tail was flying high and she was showing us her cheeky side, Amy is now going to try to develop her own training technique just for Summer which utlises both motivational and clicker, but keeping the voice commands to a minimum which seems to drive her into thinking for herself. I know it has been harder that Amy likes to admit going from a steady dog like Ben to a thinker like Summer, but last night we saw that relationship blossom to the next level, still many levels to go but a great start to winter training.

Looking forward to weekends off

Well, we have finally come to the end of our mad show season, nearly every weekend from April to October has been filled with one dog event or another which I can whole heartedly say we have enjoyed greatly. We only have a few shows through the winter, a few little ones for Alice and Smartie to gain confidence for Amy and Summer to maintain their progress and just to keep Maisy from boiling over. During the quieter times we need to concentraste our training on our weak areas, Maisy's contacts in particular!! I'm going back to basics with her, she seems to get it at home but as soon as I'm on the start line she's off like an uncontrolable rocket, it's down to me just like when we used to do obedience but at least in agility I'm not close enough to keep pumping in those bad vibes. I'll be taking Maisy over to Jo's throughout the winter, having spent quite a number of breathtaking ringside seats watching her run Ronny and Keisha I know she understands the worries I have had in the past and has always got good advice on how to improve, she's not afraid to point out my handling mistakes but most importantly I trust her. Amy and Summer will be spending the winter working mainly on obedience but also enjoying their ever improving agility skills, Sumer has really started to bomb over the equipment, she has become a real little rocket, I just hope Amy has the speed to keep up, although I'm sure she will sicken us all by just having to stand in the middle of the ring calmly giving the odd directional command!!!! I wish... next weekend we are at a little agility show in Hinkley, Alice is there with Smartie too, then on Sunday Amy & Summer have entered the Midlands BC club limit obedience and breed show, updates to follow.