Big breakthrough for Dex!

Last night in class, we had the teeter as part of our sequence. You may remember, last week I tried teeter w/him before class and he got scared, and then proceeded to shut down completely in the first station. Well... he ACED the teeter last night!! He did it great the first time, so I jackpotted, but at the same time was really thinking in my head "he must not have realized it was a teeter... NEXT time we'll see how it goes now that he knows..." well Dude just had to prove me wrong He did it perfectly two more times! I am so proud of him.

I think it might have helped that we are currently borrowing Neil's teeter at home, to get him on a different one than the one he learned on at our house, and he was definitely a little scared of it at first. But, he got to work through that fear in a comfortable location, so maybe now it makes all teeters less scary? who knows. All I know is I am *thrilled* with his progress and how everything is going right now.

Oh, wing jumps. That has been a problem for him, so Andy built some wings (thanks best husband ever!!) and of course he had no problem with them at home. But good practice. At class last night he was fine w/the few wings we had, and one wingless jump was set up next to a pole with probably a 12" diameter. He hesistated to take that jump the first time(because I was on the other sie of the pole), but the next time he was great!

Can't wait til October!!

CH Diddle Dude

We went to a UKC conformation show this weekend in Columbus, IN. Dexter needed two more wins with competition as well as 29 points... he got them and finished his Championship on Saturday! Woohoo! So he is now Ch Ketka Smooth Operator :)

Fada got a win in the Champion class on Saturday to get a 2nd win towards her GRCH, and a 3rd on Sunday. So only two more for her! Unfortunately Luna won the champion class on Saturday show #1, but there were only 2 Chs so it didn't count :(

On Sunday, Dexter moved up to the Champion class, and while Fada won, he got reserve! Luna was being a goon-bug so I'm not sure the judge got a good look at her. But I was really pleased with how he showed (and with no bait!)

It was weird being done at like 2 pm on Saturday... we went back to the hotel, read/worked and then napped for a few hrs before dinner :) But I think I would get very bored finishing up that early in the day very often! I like how busy agility keeps us.

Dexter update!

Ok I know this blog is called "Podengo Agility" and lately it has just been faux-po agility!

Well, I took the summer off from BRAG classes, and skipped weave/teeter class as well as beginning handling with Mr Dexter. I figured I wasn’t teaching teeter like we do at BRAG so there would be no point to that class (just had to teach them at home), and beginning handling I figured, we practice some at Mary’s and I have enough experience to be able to skip it. So, we just worked at home on weaves and teeter. The one thing I really need to work on still though is *winged* jumps. Makes a big difference for little dogs!

Last night was the first night of Intermediate Handling. It was so much fun!! Before class, I worked with him on the BRAG teeter outside of the ring. He has a really good teeter actually, but he is afraid of the big wooden BRAG one. It didn’t go to well, he was still pretty scared. Then, we started class. Our first station, he meandered up to the first jump and stood there and stared blankly like he couldn’t jump. Then he laid down in front of it!!! I couldn’t believe it. I did run a course at 8” with him the other week, and he has been weird about 12” since then. Hmmm. In any case, we ran it once at 8”, once at 10” (with him being very hesitant at both heights), and then I was able to do 12” with no problem. He actually perked up more and more throughout the class, with the last station being the *most* successful for him oddly enough. He doesn’t tend to do very well in the heat so I thought he’d be pooped by the end of class. I decided that maybe our teeter work was still putting him off at the beginning and that’s why the odd behavior… who knows though really.

Other than that strange first station, I couldn’t have been happier with him last night. He stuck with me perfectly, even though Fada is also in our class and he *so* wanted to wiggle his way over there. His contacts were beautiful and perfect. His weaves were beautiful (all 12!). I have to work hard to remember he is a BABY dog and not do FCs too early. But once I remember this, we work pretty well as a team.

After our class, I taught a class, which went really well. After my teaching class, I got him out and worked on the teeter again (on the training floor this time which allowed me to do a few obstacles leading up to it). It went *much* better than it ever has at BRAG! He is still worried about it, but he was doing it. At our house, at Mary’s etc, he really runs into the contact and lies down while it drops. At BRAG he goes to the tip point and kind of hesitates, sometimes backs up a little, and works his way down. However he did get more and more confident with each rep. If I could have worked him longer I imagine it would have kept going better. But it was late, and he and I were both tired.

I sent my entries in for his debut trial on Tuesday!!! We are going to be at the Cleveland All-Breed show in North Olmsted Oct 9-11. Believe me, when he stopped and stared at those jumps in the first station I was kind of wondering what the heck I was doing entering a show… but the rest of class told me I wasn’t insane for doing it. Of course I have this fantasy that we’re going to come back with our NA and NAJ… but I realize that is highly unlikely. He *may* even stare at jumps if I get nervous and it makes him feel weird!! But in any case, I am excited to see what we have and where we’re at as a team. Feels like a million years away but I know it will be here soon. Can’t wait!

BRAG trial wrap-up

Judge: Dave Hanson/Val Olezyk
Dates: 8/8-9/2009
Location: Powell, OH (outdoors on grass)

Our club’s trial was this past weekend. Weather was forecasted to be miserably hot… we got off lucky on Saturday – it ended up being very overcast and even drizzling in the morning. Sunday, it was muggy, sunny, and HOT. I was glad it was a small trial, it was just getting to the hottest point of the day when we were done.

Panic had an ok trial. I found myself not very focused this weekend, which didn’t help us.

Saturday
M Gamblers – this was a VERY doable gamble for us!! Chute-jump-push out to a jump-jump. It was one where you could use your motion well to show what you wanted. Of course, I say “Here!” after the chute. Why the heck would I do that??? No clue. I suck at mental management for gambles!! Opening was not so good – she got 3 0’s for missed contacts on DW and Aframe.

Grand Prix – We disconnected on this one. I can’t even honestly remember exactly what happened, but I know we E’d!

M Standard – Finally a Q. She ran this one pretty well, not as fast of a down on the table as I’d have liked. GREAT DW. 3rd place.

Steeplechase – Overall good run, but I did a FC at the bottom of the AFrame and I lost her. We managed to fix it. Unfortunately not on tape so I’m not sure what happened really. 3rd/Q

M Snooker – Good run! Pretty nice flowing plan – 7, 6, 5. Most people did 7, 6, 4. We finished through 7 and won the class, our 7th Super Q and 14th Q.

M Jumpers – Fun course to run, lots of handling options. She ran it pretty well but I could tell she was getting tired, I felt like I was pulling her around and I put 2 extra front crosses in to keep my motion going. Q, no placement.

Sunday
M Jumpers – She did really well except I totally pulled her off of one jump. So another E for us!

M Standard – I was also very happy with this run, although she dropped one bar. Not sure what caused the bar to drop, from the video didn’t look like anything I did but I’m sure it was!

M Relay – we ran with Wendy Haas and Lannie. I completely forgot where I was on course and she went off course :( Dumb me. Wendy did a good job with Lannie though!

Steeplechase finals – well, it was a great run! Unfortunately, I looked to the timer to see if they were ready for us, they said “Go” and Panic meandered off to the first jump and over to see Andy. Then she came right back, and I put her over the first jump again. Unfortunately, this was of course an E. So, we would have won if she hadn’t done this (from looking at our time). Bummer!

M Snooker – Planned two 7s and two 5s. Great, flowing course. But in the close, she knocked one of the bars on 5, so we just got 37 points and the Q. My plan did work though as the winning plan for Tim and Viper! This was her 15th snooker leg, for her Snooker Bronze title.

Fancy also ran this weekend! The old sheltie girl had a great time. She ran in jumpers both days and had a blast. I was so excited to have her out running again. She Q’d on Sunday! I am going to enter her at Frank’s September CPE trial (we’re vending) so she can run a bit more. She will hopefully have fun then too!

Next up – Pawsitive Partners in Indianapolis this coming weekend!