Home Practice - I am sick

Well, I skipped class tonight because I am just not feeling well. I am not sure if it is because of the pollen/smog or if I am just getting a cold. No matter. I stayed home with the dogs tonight but Flex was driving me crazy (I think he was bored) so I practiced weaves for 10 minutes with him. We are working on shaping his entries but when I try to get him to be on my right side and enter the poles he always turns to the left and not the right. I tried luring him a few times but this didn't seem to work. He was also super hyped up because we tried new treats tonight. I parboiled some chicken breasts last night then chopped them up and then baked them. Flexi went nuts for them!





I did about 5 minutes with Gus on the poles too. He does fine with the poles at home so we did not practice for too long.

Practice this morning

I took Gus to the park this morning to work on his jumping. I have 5 of the Ready Jumps and they are awesome for practicing anywhere. We practiced the Set Point Exercise from Susan Salo in various iterations this morning and Gus did pretty well. He also did well on stays. I am not sure why he gets so stressed when he is asked to stay. It is surprising to me that he finds that so difficult. Anyway, we was pretty successful with the jumping - only knocking the bar 2 out of 25 attempts. On the slice set point work I did not take the bar above 10" this morning however because he was struggling with that work. We did not get to the bend exercise because I did not want to over tax him.


Check out the videos from FCI Championships and watch some awesome handling!

Beginner's Class - Week 3

This week we did the following exercises:

Set 2

• Sit/stay practice: He does very well with his sit/stay (much better than Gussie) and I am able to get 10' to 15' away from him.
• Recall to heel: Flex has been working on this for weeks with me at home so this exercise was very easy for him. He understands that he should come to the hand that I present him.
• Waltz to FX - He also has been working on this for a number of weeks so this exercise was also pretty easy for him.

Set 3 - This set is for teeter training. Flex remembered the drive across the board to the target and did it very well. While we were reviewing this exercise (with the board on the ground) I also worked on his sit/stay by leading out to the end of the board. Again he did very well. After about 5 minutes of review we introduced the board on cement blocks. I was pretty sure that Flex was going to need a little help with this modification but it did not phase him in the least. He hopped right up on the board and confidently ran across to the target. For the first couple of attempts I had the instructor leave the target on the board to ensure he understood the exercise. I was really proud of him!

Set 4 - This set is the tunnel and the weaves. Flexi is doing well with the entries as long as I stay on the onside of the weaves. If I cross over the plane to being offside he struggles with understanding what I am looking for. I really need to practice these at home with him for a little while everyday. He is getting easily distracted by the other dogs at this set. I think he may be getting a little tired by the time we get he but he is definitely showing some stress signs. We also started the tunnel introduction. Flex has been really reluctant to take tunnels so when he went right through without any hesitation I was thrilled!

Set 1 - This is the jumpers set. This week we continued with the phonebook/perch work. Flex does well with and is responding to both pressure and invitation.

Saturday Fun & Games - September 27th

This week we ran a USDAA style Snooker course and Gus did OK. His handling was beautiful and but his obstacle performance was poor. He basically knocked all the jump bars and would not weave.


For our first turn I mapped out a course that started out at the red jump closest to the tunnel. After he took that jump I sent him to the tunnel and then sent him over the jump between the tunnel and the tire. After that jump he did the tire, the final red jump and then the teeter. After the teeter he started the closing. Again, we handling this sequence very well up to the weaves, but he knocked all of the bars. On the weaves he got the entrance but pulled out and headed back towards the tunnel.


On our second turn I left his leash on and just asked him to weave. He was very amped up still and would not complete all six poles (popping out at 4 repeatedly). I need to spend time before we run to tire him out before we start. He really needs to expend the extra energy before he gets on the course. he can't engage his brain otherwise.


As for Flex, well he had the zoomies for his first run. On his second run, I kept his leash on and had him do the two red jumps and the tire between them. He did that very well! I also treated him after each obstacle which I think he really needs still.

Handler's Class - Week 2

Gus had class on Monday night and he did OK. The first we worked on was weaves and again I had Gus stay on leash to perform the weaves. He was popping out of the poles at the 10th pole repeatedly.

On the second set he was supposed to perform v-sets and RFPs to get the dogs into the correct tunnel entrance. He did very well on this exercise (Except for the dropped bars).

The 3rd set was a how would you handle this set and we had quite a few problems here. He went off course at a number of locations, specifically from 4 to 5. He kept taking the number 3 jump (backwards)rather than pull towards me for 5. He also crossed behind me on a couple of occasions going from 6 to 7 and took the off course, wrong side entry to 11. This was very unusual since Gus almost never crosses behind me. I am going to work on this with him.

On the final set he was just a bar knocking fool. In addition I was working on his sit stays so he lost quite a few turns because he refused to sit. I am trying to enforce this in class now - he must sit and wait otherwise he loses his turn. Nothing else seems to work; he must learn some self control otherwise he will never be successful in agility.

As a side note I have posted the link to the FCI World Championship Blog under the agility links. They will be posting video from the competition and course maps so check it out.

Beginner's class - Week 2

Well, Flex had his second beginners class this week and he did really well. The first set we went to was flat work and Flex has seen all of these exercises before so he did very well with this work. We worked on the sit/stay (which he was very good at - 15 feet lead outs) and the Greeting Game. He did really well at this, changing direction with me fairly quickly. The other dog we were working with was very reactive and Flexi responded very well. The final exercise we worked on was The Waltz. Again he has done the exercise many times and he responded very well.


The second set that we went to was the introduction to the plank. We shaped the performance to interact with the plank and eventually built up to walking across the plank. Flex has not seen this exercise before but he did very well. By the end he was driving across the plank to the baited target with speed and confidence.


The next set was the weaves. We have been working on shaping the weave entry already so this set was pretty easy for him. He was however getting very hot and tired so he was only able to focus for about 7 minutes. Once I lost his focus we went and got some water and I picked up his tennis ball and we played for a few minutes. This helped him regain some ability to focus so when we got to the last set he was able to work again for a few minutes.


The final set was the jump set. We were doing perch/telephone book work. Flex already knows this activity so he did very well with it. I also started to work with Flexi to place pressure on him to get him to move his rear legs away from me while keeping his front paws on the book. This is more advanced than the rest of the class but since he has been working this for a few weeks I didn't want to hold him back too much.


Overall, Flexi had a good class. I am hoping that as the weather cools he will be better able to focus for the full hour. I also think I need to work on his general conditioning because he seems to have limited endurance right now.

Saturday Fun Run

Above is the course we ran on Saturday. The areas we had difficulty with were the sequence 5,6,7,8 & 9 and also 15,16, &17. I pushed Gus out past jump number 8 repeatedly because he was jumping 7 very long. I also could not get into position to correctly perform a front cross between 15 and 16 so I was trying to rear cross 17 and Gus kept turning towards me rather than doing a rear cross.

I am not sure why I keep pushing him past the plan of the correct jumps, but I have a theory. Since I have lost so much weight and I can move faster I am able to get to positions more quickly and he is interrupting this as forward motion past the obstacle I want him to take. I will start trying to test this theory in class with him over the next few weeks. I also really want to get him out to the Pudgy Pup this Thursday night so that we can practice some independent weaves at speed on 12 poles.

Flex just wasn't interested in running this course. He was very stressed and kept leaving the course. We need to work on his zoomies.

Handler's Class - Week 1

So Gus and I started our new class last night. He moved up a level (even though he is not ready) because we need an instructor for the Tuesday night class he usually takes. There were 4 exercises that we did and we did OK. We started at set #3 which was on front crosses (FC) after the weaves. Gussie was too excited to perform the weaves properly so we just worked on his weaving with his leash on (dragging on the ground behind him). For some reason he can focus much better and perform the task with his leash on him. He did OK then. On a couple of his turns he gave me beautiful foot work and completed all 12 poles without popping. On a couple of turns he left the poles after #10.When he was successful with the poles, I let him take the tunnel which was the obstacle right after.

On Set 4 there was the introduction to the V-set. I lined him up straight to the first jump and converged on his path on the approach to the second and then cut to the right dramatically to get his path to change. The timing was off on a number of his turns because he is just so fast. Because I was left cutting right I got wide turns at jump #2 but he did not take the off course chute that was right in front of him.

Next we rotated to set 1 which was a course analysis exercise. Gus and I struggled here. Not so much on the analysis part but the execution of the FC. My timing and motion were totally off almost every time. Gus also missed his A Frame contact a couple of times too. I think part of the reason my timing was off on the cross was because I was worried about his contact performance.

Finally we went to Set 2 and worked on the send and run exercise. Gus was successful at knocking all the bars on every run. Attached is a small video of him taking a single jump in this exercise (sorry for the poor quality - it was my phone). He was really struggling with taking off at the proper point and he is not getting enough lift I think. You may need to watch the video a couple times to get a good handle on the take off point.

Practice Session

So Flex and I worked on his targeting today. He did significantly better than yesterday. I sat on the floor with him and moved the target around. By the end he was moving towards the target and noise touching it with no prompting. We practiced for about 5 minutes.

Beginner's Class with Flex

So Flex had his first beginner's class on Saturday. We were required to sit for quite a while during the overview and rules of the class. During this time I worked on Flex's focus on me, clicking when he would sit or laydown and look at me. There were quite a few other dogs their and he was definitely interested in them. Also, he did a great job of allowing other handlers come near him and touch him.



As for the other portion of the class, Flex struggled with focusing on the tasks at hand. We did some targeting work and he acted like he had never seen a target before. In addition we played the "Whiplash Game" and he was completely unable to focus with me behind him. We need to spend some time on working on his trust issues with me.

Saturday Fun Run

This was the course Gus & I ran on Saturday. It was very difficult for us. He ran the more difficult white course. Besides knocking most of the jumps and refusing the weaves we ran into a few handling challenges. First I tried to perform a front cross between jumps #6 & #7 and this pushed him off 6 going around it. I got him back on course but he again went wide around number 10 and I am not sure why. He had a beautiful rear cross over 12 to 13. I made the mistake of blind crossing the exit from the #16 tunnel to jump 17 which put me on the outside path. By doing this Gus looked seriously at the off course jump number 13. On our second run I stayed on the inside of the loop and he never looked at 13 and drove forward to 19.

Flex also run the black course. He does not yet have the forward drive so he is very dependent on me to signal each jump and also keeps crossing behind me. I am trying to correct this behavior and work on his forward momentum on course. He also had a small case of the zoomies but came back on the first run. On the second run I got the impression that he was struggling physical (his leg may have still been bothering him) so I let it go and finished up with him.

Fun Run last night

Well last night we had a Fun Run that was supposed to be "tryouts" for the upper level classes at my agility club. Well, Gus stunk the place out! He was so hyper that he could not focus on anything.

The course map is shown to the left. I lead out past the first jump and ran past #2 to perform a front cross to get him into the correct side of the tunnel. Unfortunately he completely ignored the turning cues and headed directly into the off course side of the tunnel. He then proceeded to knock the bars at 4, 5, 6, & 7. Rather than take the dogwalk he went off course to the #16 jump. Once he was back on course at 8 he did pretty well through 13 but when I pushed myself to get into position for a front cross on the landing side of 14 he pushed out around the jump. I am pretty sure that my forward body motion prevented him from seeing that jump. Anyway, once I got him back into position for the #14 jump he took the obstacle discrimination perfectly (one bright spot) and then start to herd me through the difficult path cross area from 15 to 16. At that point I was just too frustrated to continue so I pulled him off of the course. Due to lightening we were unable to get a second run, but I did put him on the teeter twice (between other people's runs) and he did the aframe/tunnel loop a few times before we put away the equipment. Those were both very nice. He had good contacts and the teeter was fast but well controlled.

In Gussie's defense he had not been to agility class at this location for over a month so his focus was way off due to the excitement of being back at this location. I also could not work on his focus with me because a number of people had questions for me and that was distracting. I need to be better about focusing on him during these pre-run periods and not allowing others to interrupt his time.

Agility Seminar Day 2

Today at the seminar Gus worked as the demo dog again for teeter, flat work and weaves. He did really well on the teeter. He got on the higher Buja board for the first time. It was approximately 6" off of the ground. At first he noticed the height but he quickly dismissed it and started to play on it. After that section was over, he continued to try to play with it. Then we moved to the full height teeter. Traditionally Gus tends to hesitate at the pivot point and jump off the end of the contact as soon as it hits the ground. We have been working on his performance a little bit this summer but not too much because our major focus has been his jumping problems. Anyway, on the first attempt he did not hesitate and went directly to the end of the board to ride it down! He did however bail off of the teeter (to the side) to avoid the board on the bounce back. I need to continue to work with him on this. We played the Bang-It game (which he loves) and the Drop Zone. I worked on rewarding the 2o/2o position with him while my assistant (Amy) simulated the bounce back of the board. This game is supposed to increase the dogs rear end strength because they should be pushing the board back down to the ground with their rear legs. Gus was definitely pushing and I think with repetition he will get this and will understand that he can control it and does not need to perform the teeter so unsafely.

We also worked the 12 poles with gates. At first he was very hesitant with the weaves because he has not seen the gates on the poles before. Once he understood that he could get through the poles, he started to drive forward with some speed. On the first couple of attempts his footwork was atrocious. Then he started to perform the bouncing through the poles and he became slightly faster. It was towards the end of the poles that he was able to make this foot work adjustment but he was making the adjustment. With more repetitions I think this performance will improve also.

Tomorrow night we will be video taping his runs at class and I will be posting them to this site. I want to see if he is able to translate the jump work that we have been doing into full speed course work. My guess is no but I want to see it.

Agility Seminar Day 1

Gus, Flex and I attended an agility instructors seminar today. Unfortunately Flex was injured on Friday morning by my other dog Izzy so he was not able to participate in most of the activities today. He is actually on crate lock down until the swelling has gone down and he is able to walk and run without limping.

Gus however spent most of the day being the demo dog on the jump demonstration. He did absolutely beautifully on the set point work. He did not knock any bars nor did he even touch them. He did numerous repetitions of this exercise. In addition, he performed the grid progression exercises. He was very successful. He rarely knocked the bars and he also had some amazing stays (up to 5 jumps out). Many people in the class who have seen Gus' jumping performance before were amazed at his improvement. He has come a long way in a short period of time. I am very optimistic that this method will help us fix his problems. Tomorrow Gus will be helping again on the weave & teeter demonstrations.

More Set Point Work

Well, tonight each of the boys worked again on their set point exercises. Tonight we did it with a double jump instead of a single. I started both of them off at low heights and then increased the difficulty for each of them on each successive jump. They both did about 20 jumps. Flex knocked the bar once (he took the double before I was able to lower it and I don't think he was expecting the depth of the jump). Gus did not knock any bars (except the stride regulator when he was goofing around). He did hit the bar at 12" the first time he saw it there, but did not touch it again afterwards. I am really seeing good take off position and leg tucking with Gus on these exercises. I am really hopefully that these exercises will improve his jumping performance.

Set Point Exercises

Flex performed 20 of these jump set point repetitions and only knocked the bar once. It was at 18" not his normal 16" jump height. Part of Susan Salo's example is to take the bar higher than the jump height and then back them down again. I only did 2 repetitions with him at the 18". I really wanted him to be successful so after the knocked bar my goal was to get him to perform it successfully and then back him down to 16" and then 14".

Gus performed the same exercise at 10", 12" and 14". He was successful on all 20 attempts. He did however audibly tick the bars on 5 of the attempts. To adjust this I brought him closer to the stride regulator for his starting position so he was not taking any steps before he got into the work area. This dramatically improved his performance. We also worked on his stay in this exercise and he only broke his stay twice. I am extremely proud of his efforts on this. He is doing a fantastic job of listening and being calm. He did show a little bit of stress with the exercise about 2/3 of the way through. I lightened up the tone of my voice and jackpotted him a couple of times which seemed to help. Classes start in 2 weeks so we will see how he does with the extra distractions and excitement.