3.31.2010

Taking suggestions!!

I am going to rename my blog... because well, I am currently training 3 dogs, only one of which is a podengo :) The original intent of this blog was for many pod people to post, but obviously that didn't end up happening. So the new blog is for me and my dogs (Panic - mix of unknown origins, Spry - staffy/lab? mix, and Dexter - Pod) and for my mom to occassionally pop in as well (with Neat - BC, and Fada - Pod).

Any suggestions for a new name? I am so bad at these things.

Spry's Jumping session #8, contact session #7

Outdoors in our backyard.

Did contact board first. Nice job! Had it going off of our 4" table top. I am really happy with her speed and stopping. I think it's time to move it up in height some. I need to review the video and make sure I am doing run-bys... not sure if I am or not. Also probably need to practice me hanging back some. And interestingly, she is stopping with much more of her body on the board than when it was flat on the ground. I'm not too concerned with this, because she is going to do a running AF where the angle of the back is much more affected by stopping like this. Her back won't be too messed up I think by stopping like this on the DW. Opinions?

Next up, jumping. Got her up to 22". she was still ticking some at 20" but wanted to raise so she had to put more effort into it. I'm not sure she knocked any at 22". Interesting to note that this is harder for her than it was for Panic, even though Panic jumps 22" at 17" tall and Spry is 20" tall. However, Panic does weigh 12lbs less than Spry which certainly helps! Also, this session was too long and she got a little bored. KEEP THE SESSIONS SHORTER!!! Or break up with toy play.

3.30.2010

Dexter's weekend trial!

Dexter was entered in a CPE trial (Wild Weavers) at the BRAG building this weekend. We were vending so I entered him in 2 classes a day. Saturday he ran Wildcard and Fullhouse. Fullhouse was up first. In this game, you pick your own course (like the opening to Gamblers). To qualify, you need a certain # of points plus you have to get at least 3 jumps, 2 round things, and 1 5 point obstacle (6 weaves, DW, and a double jump were the 5 point obstacles on this course). I ran a course with Dex that I was exceptionally pleased with!! He ran fairly fast and confidently, doing 6 poles first attempt, not hesitating on the DW, and staying with me! Unnnnfortunately, I forgot the rules and we only got in 1 round thing before time was up. So no Q but a fantastic run with a lot of points.

Second was wildcard. This was not as good. In this game, you run a short course, and at 3 points in the course you have to choose between an easier option (A) and a harder option (B). Dexter is in level 3, so we have to choose one A and two Bs. I started out with an A, and needed to choose B for the next two. The first B was a jump with a tight 90 degree turn to a U-shaped tunnel with the other entrance being if you turned wider. Well I FCd and Dex went behind me for the easier entrance. And from then on it was just ugly :) He stayed with me but I screwed up my handling. Oh well!

Sunday we ran Jackpot - the one class we have no legs in because of silly reasons here and there. Becky Dean was the judge and had a fun "Survivor" themed jackpot. There was a tougher "Immunity" challenge (gamble) you could try for during the opening period, or an easier "Reward" challenge you could go for during the closing period. I walked my course to try for Immunity because if that didn't work we could still try for Reward. The whole time we ran on this one, he was really looking for distractions. Like, I think he was keeping a map in his head and saying "Ok, so later on, if I really don't want to do whatever mom is saying, I know that ring stewards are located here, there, and there, and there is a big piece of fuzz over there.... all viable options!" So we had some wide turns and a few moments of staring around, but he kept coming back and working albeit a little more slowly than Saturday. However, he did the AF first attempt (yay!) and got the immunity challenge with no hesistation :) Yay Mr Dude!!! So finally, a Q in Jackpot for us.

Lastly was snooker, which Dex actually tends to do very well in for some reason (??? not sure why because of his wide turns etc). Anyway he ran it very nicely, did some baby dog things, but we did 7-6-3 and made it through the end and he did 2 AFs in this class.

CAN NOT WAIT for BRAG USDAA at the end of April. I think baby dog is now ready :)

Spry's jump training + DW board training

Had another session at the building last night.

Jump training, session #6. I started her out at 18" and moved up to 20" (same height we got to in session #5). She did well, but needs to push up more with her rear. She is barely making it over the bar sometimes. We need to work on rear strength. Her form is nice though.

Jump training, session #7. Short, at 20". Again I think she did well. She should be ready for 22" next session I think. Might help her to pick her feet up a little bit better too.

Contact training, session #6. Board off of table top (4"). She did really well!! When she'd over-run, I would not reward and try again. She was mostly *adamant* the next time that she would get it right and make sure to stop on the board. So, I think she gets it, she just needs to get it 1st time around :) Also part of this session was with distraction as her friend Dave came in the building, which definitely made it harder for her.

Hope the weather cooperates and I can work on both in the backyard this afternoon!

3.25.2010

Comments on yesterday's training vids

First observation - she is so darn cute! I love to watch her work, she has so much fun :) Also, maybe she's too skinny?? she looks pretty thin in the vid...

Oh and ETA - I loved the part at the end of the 1st contact vid where I throw the toy and she gets it and flips around to put her feet on the board. Tooooo cute :)

Contact board - I am pretty happy with how she is doing on this! I really love when I see the reps where she stretches that leg out nice and far to maintain contact. I think she really understands the criteria. Sometimes her leg kind of slips off the edge of the board but she is trying to maintain contact so I'm still rewarding those. This afternoon I'm going to work again on the ground and then elevate the board up on the table top (4" i think)

Jumping - she worked this one time very briefly back in Nov or Dec as a demo dog, so she remembered to go through the standards. However she is *not* phased clearly by knocking the bar over... so at first I try higher, lower, medium heights, and nothing really seems to work. So, I decided to hold the bar in place so that she *had* to figure out another way to get from one side to another rather than just knocking it. I felt this was safe because I was holding it with my hand, so if she really plowed into it it still did displace, so I wasn't worried about her getting hurt. After a few reps at I think 10" maybe 12" where she was carefully putting all feet over it one at a time, I raised up to 14" and that is where I started to get the jumps. In the second session I got it up to 16" but I am pretty sure she was getting tired towards the end. She is less comfortable jumping from the right side of the vid to the left, not sure why. Not worried, she'll figure it out :)

3.24.2010

Now that it's mostly nice out...

Spry can really begin training!

Vids from today, my comments tomorrow:

Contact board session 1:


Contact board session 2:


Jump session 1:


Jump session 2:

Dexter's vids from Washingtonville CPE

Friday - Colors Level 2


Friday - Wildcard Level 2


Saturday - Jumpers Level 3


Sunday - Jackpot Level 2

excited!

So I built (with Andy's help of course, bc I do not use a circular saw thanks to my experience driving my Dad to the ER after he used one that one time...) my contact board over the weekend and finished painting it last night. Decided to go with full 12' with slats board. Should be ready to start working with it tonight, and looks like the weather will cooperate also!

I'm going to go ahead and start Spry on jumping as well. or weaves, not sure which yet. But something else to break up contact work. So glad I will now be able to work on this in my backyard!

Oh, and my contact zones are painted a lovely shade of magenta :) It was a can of paint someone must have ordered at home depot and never picked up, and they sell those uber cheap!

3.18.2010

First session w/Spry working on 2rto

Tuesday I got to work with miss Spry on some 2 RTO. Haven't done TOO much with this behavior, but I did teach it to her maybe last Nov in the context of a board on the ground. I knew she rememered it bc sometimes when we walk by a board she'll randomly offer it :)

So from working on it Tuesday, she is doing pretty well! She will stop at the end of the board in a lovely position, if she's not moving very quickly. If I add my motion (speeding her up) she either a) thinks she's supposed to run it (which I can't blame her since we have been working on that for a few months!) or b) she stops 4 on the floor. She does do the back up thing then and put her feet back on it. I think she'll get it, and for now we need LOTS of rewards for stopping the first time so I'm going to keep her speed slow. Knowing her I will NOT have a hard time bringing speed back in, and since we did work on those running DWs have to overcome that desire she's built up.

I need to get a board so I can work on it at home. I think a few minutes a day will make it easy!

3.15.2010

Weekend in Review

We went up to Washingtonville for a CPE trial to vend, and I had Dex entered in a few classes. The trial was lots of fun, except for a few things:
1) Panic was sick :( She vomited a few of her meals. Was still eating but not keeping it down. Last night we thought she was better but puked as soon as she ate this morning. Chicken and rice it is!
2) It was the weekend before St Patricks day, so lots of people were going out... Sat night around 315 at the red roof, sooo many noisy people started coming in (and yelling of course while doing it). It had interior halls, so we didn't hear teh car doors at least but the yelling and room door slamming was amplified. This went on for about an hr before I called the front desk. She CHUCKLED and said "Oh they're just getting back to their rooms, it should quiet down soon". I was furious but ignored it... but in the morning I complained and basically got a free night so that was ok.

Dexter ran on Friday night in Level 2 Colors and Wildcard. Q and 1st in both! During colors, I forgot to tie my pants before I ran, so they were falling down the whole itme. Oops. I was pulling them up so didn't cue the tire which he ran around, but we fixed it and it was overall very nice. In Wildcard he started to get zoomies but I got him back. He had fun! Those 2 Qs finished his Level 2 Handler games title and he moves up to level three in both classes for the next trial. Saturday he was only entered in Level 3 jumpers and it was the last class. I of course get the dogs out of crates throughout the day, but since we're vending, they do get limited exercise during the day. He paid me back! He was fast but a little distracted and a little zoomie. But he had fun :) He took one off course, and then we skipped another jump (I could have fixed that, and I think still Qd, but didn't want to bring his attitude down too much). Sunday he ran Jackpot, and started out really fast! But, he got distracted in one corner and got the sniffies. Once I got him out of that corner he was running fast, but PAST all the obstacles intstead of taking them. Oh well, he still had fun.

He gets to run four classes at Wild weavers in 2 weekends, I think Wildcard, Snooker, Jackpot, and Fullhouse.

3.11.2010

Catching up

Well, I think I've made a decision. I'm going to stop working on a running DW for Spry and do 1RTO. I haven't honestly gotten to work on running that much - but that's half of the problem. I don't have the ability to be able to work on it every day, or even 3 or 4 days a week. And I don't think it's very easy for Spry. She has a GINORMOUS stride, honestly. She can go from our walk up to our front door to the sidewalk by leaping through the front yard, and it takes two strides... the yard is, I don't know 25 ft maybe? Anyway, once she gained confidence on the board she started hitting in the middle and striding over the bottom half of the DW. She doesn't seem to have a natural rotary gait on the DW either which doesn't help. So basically, I'm giving up :) I think her 1RTO can still be speedy, and for her will certainly be much more accurate. I'm still going to do a running AF and will start working on that sometime in the spring.

For now, I'm going to work on the DW stop (which she already has learned the position, just have to apply it to the DW board now) and the teeter jungle gym as well as a few other things like the table and chute which I don't think I've taught her yet. Once those things are going well and she is getting the DW, I'll probably move on to the AF and jump and WP training. I don't want to start jumping and WPs until it's nicer outside and we can pretty consistently work outside. Plus, she will be a little older. Who knows how old she is... I would say at the earliest she was born Jan of '09, latest probably end of March '09. So I don't know what I'm going to say for her registrations with the diff organizations.

I have this little fantasy that somehow she is going to Q for steeplechase for nationals... which is nutso. She is just so fun to work with, I am getting excited about running her. But not too much too fast! I just have to keep reminding myself.

Speaking of nationals... Panic has her steeplechase Qs, and will be entering DAM at CCDAC with Bekah and Malibu and at BRAG with Bug and Lannie, so I'm hoping to knock that out, but we have ZERO GP Q's. And I think I counted only 5 trials I am going to... that is not good. Have to re-visit the USDAA schedule and figure out where else I can go!

Dude gets to run CPE this weekend. We're vending at the 4 seasons Washingtonville trial, and he is running Wildcard, Colors, Jumpers, and Jackpot. Cross your fingers for us it goes as well as the BRAG trial did!

Oh, and if you couldn't tell from lack of post-age. Panic didn't get either gamble at Penn-OH so still in the hunt for the ADCH. Friday night was unfortunate, she was taking the tunnel which was the 1st gamble obstacle also, and the buzzer indicating the end of the opening period went off. well, I'm trying to figure out if it went off before or after she went in the tunnel - and if we need to continue the gamble or start it over. I picked to start it over, which was correct, but I was flustered and out of place for her when she came out of the tunnel and she ran by the next jump. On Saturday, I thought we had no chance because once they came out of a tunnel you had to forward send a whole bunch, and she isnt usually so good with that unless I can really back it up with motion cues. Well, I positioned myself to be running towards her/the jump when she came out of the tunnel but I began a half sec too early and had to decel at the line JUST too early for her... she ran up to the last jump and turned around. But I was thrilled she got that far, honestly, and the opening was really nice.

3.04.2010

More socializing

Yesterday Fada was scheduled to get back to work on her nursing home visits. She goes once/week with my brother in law (Mark). He is the Activities Director at a nearby facility. She had been off since November for her maternity leave. : )  Normally Mark comes by and picks her up after lunch, she works the afternoon and he returns her in the evening. We decided to take the pups yesterday, so I went down with Fada & family. Left her in the car and took pups in first. They were wonderful! The residents thought they were adorable, the staff was fascinated, they were quite the hit! We did not visit all residents, of course, and when the babies appeared to be tiring I took them back to the car and left Fada for her afternoon. She was tired but happy when she came home in the evening,and apparently "her" residents were pleased to see her back.

We will be at the USDAA agility trial in Dexter, MI this weekend. Come say "Hi"! Miss neat (BC Momma) is entered. Wish us luck! She is in ALL Masters classes EXCEPT Standard. So, we are playing Masters games on Saturday and the orly class Sunday she can enter is Advanced Stranded so hopefully will qualify, finish her AAD and be ALL in Masters!

Hoping Piper and Drummer handle the weekend as well as last weekend and are as easy at the trial site and in the hotel.

3.02.2010

more on our week

I can't believe how much the little devils have changed. Drummer has grown legs and lost body fuzz, so he's looking totally geeky right now. Piper has really come together this week (doesn't mean she won't be a geek NEXT week, of course!). She really looks like a miniature dog right now, not a puppy. We measured them at the trial. Piper is 6 1/4" at the withers and 3 lb 2.5 oz. Drummer is 7 1/4" and 3 lbs 3.5 oz. 

They are also showing flashes of what may well be their adult personalities. Piper is very bold, doesn't stop to think. Drummer is a little mellower, more cuddly. Both are very bright. Friday night Lianne was entered in the evening trial. We didn't get to the hotel until 9 or so. Piper and Drummer had already had dinner,  Fine (BC baby, formerly "Prancer") was with us and had not. Lianne put her in her crate with her dinner. Piper's crate was next to Fine's. Piper kept looking at Fine eating. Had her nose to the crate door. Then all of the sudden she ran into her own crate and looked at me. Pods get fed in their crates, so she apparently thought if she got in, she would get more dinner. : )

When I raise puppies, I like to give them a lot of different experiences. I take them new places, and at him, introduce them to new items and footings when possible. These guys have gotten the varied footing thing, that's for sure! Outside on snow and ice has been QUITE the experience! And now that it is melting, they like climbing the "hills", and sometimes they fall through. They are handling it well. : ) Also make sure to check out our latest You Tube with the balance board from today!

New video

On You Tube

Drummer ( 9 1/2 wks)

"Dont even THINK you're taking this from me!"