It has become apparent that if I've got any chance of running two dogs next season I'm going to have to get fit! this week I have really had some breakthroughs on the training front, it's a shame the dark nights are here as I could really do with a few more training hours in the week.
I'll start with Rupert - I introduced the dog walk to him at quite an early age, let him trot over it on low height and shaped the end, then I left it for a few months but when I went back to it he had obviously grown so much in confidence that he just raced over it (reminding me of Maisy AAARRRGGGHHHH) so I took him back to the beginning, I really wanted him to think of the dog walk only as the end position, I don't want to have to give him a command to stop, but be confident when I look back at him he will be two on two off. so over the past few sessions i have just played around with the end position, then on Saturday morning I let him run the whole thing, at first I would look back and he would be standing with all four feet on the contact so I just waited and he corrected himself to get his click. After only a couple of attempts he was racing into the correct position without any help at all, so far I have only run straight past him, but next week I'm going to move out to the side and add some a jump and a tunnel at the end, this should really test his position.
At Jo's yesterday we put the jumps up a little bit, at first he ran under them, but with a little bit of tweaking he was soon jumping them nicely and ended up doing a sequence of 15.
Maisy - Thursday night was contacts at Chippy, and I have to say Maisy and I seemed to start off really well, but we lost it right at the end, I think we were both just a bit tired, yesterday at Jo's she was brilliant, after her initial mad moment, she settled down and I felt we really made some progress.
Summer - Amy and Summer had their 2nd lesson with Joy on Saturday afternoon, and again Amy was really pleased with how it's going. It's really lovely to hear Amy getting so excited about training and next season, but with a cracking little dog like Summer it's not really surprising at all.
Monday, 22 November 2010
Monday, 15 November 2010
Discover Dogs 2010
This year we took 3 Darians with us! so having booked parking under Earls Court in advance we arrived on site at about 9:30. all three dogs walked into the halls totally unphased by their surroundings, Rupert decided that he was going to bagsy the bench and promptly settled himself in. We had originally planned a days shopping in anticipation of my sister's new arrival! as Ruperts little half brothers and sisters have finally arrived and Sara is an expectant Darian mummy! but unfortunately the day turned out to be non stop, Alice and Smartie gained a very respectable 5th in the Dogstable with Amy being 3rd in her catagory and both girls did a sterling job in their handling classes. Unfortunately as is sometimes the case the handling judge was obviously a breed judge and didn't really understand the complexities of a handling class, meaning that some very obvious handling errors were missed and all castrated dogs were dismissed! a bit dissapointing considering this was a Kennel club event which resulted in a crufts qualifier for the lucky child. Still you win some, you lose some! Amy was thrilled with Ruperts performance in the ring, he hardly flew his tail at all and actually looked like an old pro.
The top 3 from each dogstable age group went into the main ring for a final, and as Sara and I had been a bit naughty sitting right by the ring making Summer lose concentration and coming to say hello! in her first round we managed to stay out of the way for the main event, Summer and Amy worked much better together and to our suprise won the final.
All owners and dogs were very tired at the end of the day, the traffic getting out of the venue was as normal a bit of a nightmare but once we were back on the main A4 we were soon back home. Thankfully Steve had decided to make a lovely beef stew which was ready as soon as we walked through the door, so after feeding the pack we were able to settle down on the sofa with a lovely dinner and a bit of reality TV - Can it be true the Wagner is still somehow in X Factor!?
The top 3 from each dogstable age group went into the main ring for a final, and as Sara and I had been a bit naughty sitting right by the ring making Summer lose concentration and coming to say hello! in her first round we managed to stay out of the way for the main event, Summer and Amy worked much better together and to our suprise won the final.
All owners and dogs were very tired at the end of the day, the traffic getting out of the venue was as normal a bit of a nightmare but once we were back on the main A4 we were soon back home. Thankfully Steve had decided to make a lovely beef stew which was ready as soon as we walked through the door, so after feeding the pack we were able to settle down on the sofa with a lovely dinner and a bit of reality TV - Can it be true the Wagner is still somehow in X Factor!?
Monday, 8 November 2010
More Training & Fireworks
It's amazing how depressing the winter becomes once the clocks go back! I can't even rush to the paddock after work. I have thought about trying to make it before work but that really isn't possible so I will have to make do with Thursday nights at Chipping Norton with Maisy and weekends with Rupert, which to be fair is probably just enough to keep us ticking over. Maisy had a brilliant session last Thursday, the week before had been a bit of a shock to both of us as we now have a new trainer, but this week it seemed to come together again and I could see plenty of positives.
On Saturday I took Maisy to a training Day with Lee Gibson, I love Lee's training, he puts so much energy into it and makes things so clear you can't help but come away motivated that you are heading in the right direction, and unlike so many trainers he doesn't charge the earth, which just goes to prove he is passionate about what he does and not just in it to make money! we started off with some obstacle discrimination where he had placed the see saw next to the dog walk, and with just a tweak to our handling styles all the dogs managed easily, we then moved onto some tricky jumping sequences and contact training, Maisy was good with the jumping but extremely naughty with her contacts, probably the worst she has been outside competition! but it did give Lee a great opportunity to give me some great advice which I will be following to the T for the next few months. Finally we ran a course which had the weaves set in between two tunnels! and again once we had remembered the techniques we had learnt throughout the day our dogs found the weaves easily, just proving that our dogs are far more capable than we give them credit for.
Unfortunately I haven't managed to get to Jo's for a couple of weeks, but she has kindly given me some homework for Rupert to be going on with, so now he is able to do both left and right handed stars into a straight line and is more than happy to take the line of jumps so long as his toy is at the end! as far as contacts go, we are still on the very lowest height and reinforcing the two on two off position, I want him to think that the end position is what that piece of equipment is all about and that getting there is incidental, I think he is on the right path as he doest seem to be thinking about anything else and just happily races to the position, so fingers are well and truly crossed.
Amy and Summer have been accepted by Joy Costello for training and start next Saturday, Amy is all fired up to get started as it has become impossible for her to train at our paddock due to the close proximity of the ponies, Summer just hates them and sits by the car waiting to be let back in, this just puts the wrong slant on training so we won't force her to do it, its all about fun and I know she will have a ball away from home.
For the past 3 nights all the dogs have slept indoors, Rupert was not happy but due to the amount of Fireworks about I didn't feel it fair to leave them outside, but thankfully tonight they will be back in their routine, Summer even has new PJ's so they will all be snuggly and Rupert can stop looking at me with his grumpy face at bedtime.
On Saturday I took Maisy to a training Day with Lee Gibson, I love Lee's training, he puts so much energy into it and makes things so clear you can't help but come away motivated that you are heading in the right direction, and unlike so many trainers he doesn't charge the earth, which just goes to prove he is passionate about what he does and not just in it to make money! we started off with some obstacle discrimination where he had placed the see saw next to the dog walk, and with just a tweak to our handling styles all the dogs managed easily, we then moved onto some tricky jumping sequences and contact training, Maisy was good with the jumping but extremely naughty with her contacts, probably the worst she has been outside competition! but it did give Lee a great opportunity to give me some great advice which I will be following to the T for the next few months. Finally we ran a course which had the weaves set in between two tunnels! and again once we had remembered the techniques we had learnt throughout the day our dogs found the weaves easily, just proving that our dogs are far more capable than we give them credit for.
Unfortunately I haven't managed to get to Jo's for a couple of weeks, but she has kindly given me some homework for Rupert to be going on with, so now he is able to do both left and right handed stars into a straight line and is more than happy to take the line of jumps so long as his toy is at the end! as far as contacts go, we are still on the very lowest height and reinforcing the two on two off position, I want him to think that the end position is what that piece of equipment is all about and that getting there is incidental, I think he is on the right path as he doest seem to be thinking about anything else and just happily races to the position, so fingers are well and truly crossed.
Amy and Summer have been accepted by Joy Costello for training and start next Saturday, Amy is all fired up to get started as it has become impossible for her to train at our paddock due to the close proximity of the ponies, Summer just hates them and sits by the car waiting to be let back in, this just puts the wrong slant on training so we won't force her to do it, its all about fun and I know she will have a ball away from home.
For the past 3 nights all the dogs have slept indoors, Rupert was not happy but due to the amount of Fireworks about I didn't feel it fair to leave them outside, but thankfully tonight they will be back in their routine, Summer even has new PJ's so they will all be snuggly and Rupert can stop looking at me with his grumpy face at bedtime.
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Crufts Qualifier
I had forgotten that on Saturday afternoon Amy had a Handling qualifier at Newark YKC weekend! so after shuffling my classes around I managed to be finished by 12:30 in time to travel up to Newark with her, I somehow managed to end up driving too! anyway the weather was kind and as we sat watching the other classes had decided this may have been a wasted journey as we watched the opposition getting ready to enter the ring! I know this sounds like we were pot hunting but to qualify you have to win the class and Newark is a fair distance to go for 20 minutes in the ring! so I sat by the ring with Rupert and Watched as Amy and Maisy went in. Maisy is not a natural handling dog, she is an excitable border collie who has 2 speeds, 100 mph and stop! luckily she was in a listening mood and gave a great performance ably steered around the ring by Amy. and to my surprise they had won the class so this means Amy will now take Rupert into the YKC ring at Crufts and I must say after watching them practicing in the ring on Saturday I think they may do a good job.
The picture above is of Rupert and the place card - he is not a fan of rosettes but he had better get used to it!!
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