NAWS December

We were out of action for November due to suspected kennel cough. Out of quarantine with no coughs of any sort since just before the Nov NAWS, we were ready to go for December. We nearly got snowed off, but a fair few of us made it. Turn out seemed to be about 1/2 normal.

Spike ran really nicely, won the agility and was clear on both runs. His fastest run was about 4 seconds faster than the second. Wow!

Willow won the veteran agility and jumping! We night have been the only veterans there though! We did do 3 lovely clear rounds, I took my eye off her in one run, and she tried to go the wrong side of me. She was up for it and ran nicely.

Had a reasonable run home until quite close to home. Lots of numpty drivers decided they would drive at 15 mph when conditions did not warrant it. Then a bit of a struggle up the hill to home, second gear, spinning like mad seemed to work.

We're all laying about chewing bones now (well the canines anyway).

Nice training

The training classes seem to have swelled in size a bit, nice new people and a few new dogs for Spike to get used to. Spike was good in that respect and trained well in the box work, let down as usual by his human.

Spike developed a bit of a 12 weaves brainstorm at the indoor training. My fault, he ran on to the next obstacle and I told him off, and he kept doing it and I kept telling him. Eventually he stopped part way through and I realised he was shutting down. He did the same thing at home, even lying down in the weaves! Anyway he was OK today, popping out but not shutting down, I'm going to have to build his confidence. He did manage 12 a couple of times, I'll probably put 6 out in the garden and make it fun, and then keep adding 2.

Ben had a go. Just playing ball around equipment really, but that's a good way to start I think.

Sparky has grown so much I did not recognise him, I thought they had got a new "racing labrador". He is a fine dog.

control unleashed

My copy of control unleashed arrived. One of the dogs bit the corner off the packaging. Must have been in their hurry to learn about it. A quick skim reveals exercises in getting your dog to look at the things that make it blow its tiny mind, but to relax at the same time. I've been saying this to people who get me to turn Spike away for ages. Will give it a good read through when possible (PhD getting in the way right now).

scary blouse

While Maggie is away I had a funny thing happen.

I rescued Maggies blouse from a bowl where it was probably going from black and white to grey. It''s fine and I put it very carefully on a towel rack in the bath to dry.

Funny thing is I was reading about "fear periods" when dogs get scared of things for no reason last night. Benny is now in the corridor barking furiously at the blouse in the bath, obviously out of his tiny mind! Funny dog. The only thing that is even slightly frightening is that is vaguely like an animal print.

NAWS

We won class c jumping! I knew Spike was going well, but didn't realise how fast he was going. Actually the best thing was that I handled it mostly from the middle. I had worried that the grade C would be a bit harder than the B that I was in last year. As it turns out it was a helter skelter, and we like those.

Rupert was back with his mum which is great news for all who have spent the last week wondering where he was and worrying about him. He looked really well despite his ordeal and he won his class too!

A lot of the people I know, train with or see at shows all the time did really well too. I won't even think about listing them, in case I miss anyone!

Rob.

New caravan

I have recovered enough from the trauma of getting it home now describe what happened.

I got a good price for a nice, but quite old caravan at an agility show. We agreed we would pick it up at some later date. Maggie had to go to Liverpool airport so since that made a trip to pick it up shorter we rang and arranged that I would pick it up after going to liverpool.

I set off about 4 ish on the day after having worked from early morning. Got there paid for it had a nice cup of tea and a chat, and then went out to set up. I got hitched up reasonably quickly and put all the cables on, everything worked. Off I set. There was a bit of a clonking noise, but we have a trailer that does that so I didn't worry. Anyway after a couple of hundred yards a big clonk and I look in the mirror to see the caravan receding! Turns out I had forgotten to hitch it on, and had just put the hitch on the ball.

Anyway got it back on with minmal damage, and drove for about 4 hours. got all the way home, and cut into the drive. unfortunately I was too tired to think, and did not slow down and check we fitted. The van moved inwards as I turned tight to avoid vehicles opposite the drive and hit the heighbours wall, scraping the heater outlet and wheel trim off the caravan in the process. Ooops! So I put it in our turning circle and went in to sleep.

Next morning I had to move it onto the drive. So there I am reversing it about and I hit the front of the house. Slight dent to van, no damage to house. eventually got it sorted and stable.

I have a new heater outlet and it is all shipshape again, but I have to say we will not be caravanners very long if I keep this up!

Good training

Spike has been doing really well at training. So fast, and often accurate. Any accuracy problems might well be my fault, but don't tell him. Competition soon, now in grade b. Should be fun.

Another "arty" dog

Not quite such nice work, but he's only young.

Put it on a lead

So I was out walking with Spike ad Willow offlead and Ben on until we passed his geronimo wall. Spike was running about and having fun and went off round the corner. I called him back and realised there was a person walking their dog on a lead. Spike focused and would not recall or down. Then he ran in round the back of them. She was upset and waved her stick at him, I think she might have hit him with it. Any way he does his usual and recovers and looks to me. She walked past and said "perhaps you could try putting it on a lead". So I told "it's a he and when I want training advice off someone who hits my dog with a stick i'll ask for it".

Trouble is of course, she was not to know that if I put him on a lead he is worse, and that he hardly ever runs up to dogs anymore. Nor that he has never bitten. I'm not even sure he was running up to the dog actually, he mostly mugs the people they are with for treats, or runs straight past. Anyway I'm a bit annoyed; at me for reacting, at her for thinking she has an instant fix for the dog I have had for 2 years, and at Spike for regressing. It's always frustrating when they ignore you I guess. I think I will be mostly training Spike for the next couple of weeks!

farm training

Felt pretty bad all day before the last farm training session.

Strangely once we got there after a few blips Spikey worked very well. I did lots of obedience with him between runs and he approached calm at some points! He was knocking poles, so I got the timing just right after one pole down and stopped him so he knew I didn't want him doing it. Guess what no more poles down for the rest of the evening. He really does try! I left feeling much better than when I started.

Ben was Ben, and met everybody in his usual relentless way. He is now registered with the KC as Billabong Ben. Pretty pleased to get that name. Oddly someone told me on Tuesday it would be a good name. They claimed not to know I had applied for that about 3 weeks before. Life's strange sometimes.

Went to Rother Valley Dog Agility today. normally it is obedience with a couple of agility courses set up. I do the agility with Spike (if they set it up safe, which they don't always) and obedience with Ben. Willow comes sometimes to chase pebble splashes in the lake.

Today it was their party day. Kids party games, and silly dog games. Spent an hour setting up and could not get an answer to whether there was any training. So I just went home again. Not my scene at all kids parties!

Dashing Dogs

Spike and I were struggling with the higher standard set for grade 3 dogs. Most of the runs were grade 3 upwards, rather than say G1-3. We did a nice round in the G1-3 jumping though, going clear and getting 8th.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oVREtrs46c

Watch

I quite like the black casio watches you used to get from garages. I like them enough to buy them from ebay from America if needs be.

Sadly Ben likes them too; he finds the straps are perfect for chewing!

Benny

Ben will be getting his registration through soon. Good to get it done although at 6 months he is still too young to do any jumping.

I have been taking him out for the morning walk together with the other two, he is behaving much better. He still has not much recall, and he still barks at the other 2 and herds them. He will follow if I run off though,and if I wait the others and charge up to him he allows himself to be put on the lead. The charging is getting less and less forceful, and he sometimes allows himself to go on lead with very running off etc.

He has finished his puppy classes and will be onto bronze soon. Still does not concentrate all that well, but improving.

There were no more incidences of the leg thing, and he is running about during his walkies, so touch wood that problem is behind us.

A couple more clear rounds

And a win! We won G2 agility and came 6th in C1-3 agility at Scunthorpe. So we now go to grade 3. It does not make a huge difference, but at some shows we will be in 3,4,5 or similar rather than 1,2. Should be interesting.

Spike gets some clear rounds

Well actually we got 5th in agility C1-3, 4th in G1,2 jumping and 3rd and 7th in some C1-3 jumping classes. All this with being a bit rushed due to helping when I should have been preparing myself and dogs. We didn't walk the J C 1-3 that we came third in! The agility 5th was with held contacts, so next time I may let rip and see what he can do!

Not bad for my grade 2 boy who has until now been a bit random at shows.

Ben walking separately

I am now taking the puppy out separately. Doing so I realised why trying to take them all is so stressful; I only got about 1/10 th of the way with Ben as with the other when walking properly without allowing him to pull. He is continuing to be very freindly and is trying very hard to do it all right! He was lovely over the weekend at JDA agility show.

Ben has been fine, but I let him off lead with sparky lst night and he started being cautious with his leg again. he is still using it, just a bit gingerly. The vet has given me anti inflams for 2 weeks, now at only 1/2 a pill per dose. He also had to give me anti-biotics because Willow has bitten him again. He is wary of Willow again, but still bold and friendly with anyone else.

Spike has had more medication for his eyes, which are still a bit pink.

We continue to have minor problems, all of which come in under the £50 that triggers he insurance. I do wonder if saving up money each month would be a better way to do this, and then I hear about the dog with HD where they either pay £7k per leg or have it PTS...

hopping Ben

Ben wouldn't put his hind right paw down on Friday. It being Friday and he being a pup I got him to the vets quickly. He had a jab, and some anti-inflam pills. He's putting it down now and looks fine, but not going out on walks or doing anything exciting. He is in his crate and havig lead visits to the garden. He is taking it quite well.

Spooky spike, not so spooky

Looks like if I don't bring Ben with me Spike is much happier to run about. Ben reacts to movement, and Spike moves alot, so perhaps not a great combination whilst Ben is a pup.

Splogy eye

Spike has a splogy eye, and has to have eye drops for a couple of weeks. Not sure what the problem is, but I think Ben had it for a while and has shaken it off.

gala

We have some sort of gala thing in our village annually. A plant stall and bouncy castle and cakes for sale. I took Ben and socialised him a bit, he was bomb-proof. He didn't even give the silver band more than a curious glance and we were sat right under the bandstand.

good training

More good training last night. If we learn by our mistakes, then we are learning loads!

Ben is not very settled in his cage whilst watching. I got him to be quiet and gave him treats for it, but he makes the most noise when uncle spike is running. He does not want to be left out and finds the cage frustrating. Was better with a jumper over the activity side. Oh, and I left the cage there and had to go back for it (doh).

Spike unspooky

No ball, no naughty puppy. Just me, Willow and Spike. He seems much happier. I did trim his front paw hair, but I suspect that was not the problem. I wonder if he has picked up the wrong (inconsistent) message from our woods games? "No" sounds a lot like "go" sometimes, and I said no to him yesterday when he was harrassing Willow and he went flat as a pancake for a couple of hundred yard, maybe more.

obedience

Ben was good at obedience. You can get his attention quite quickly. He played nicely (though in kelpie style). He will be a star at this, and I might try to take him further in obedience as well as the agility.

Been out without the ball and without Ben. Spike was much better. He even got quite animated when we went in a bit of the woods where we don't often go. Maybe there is something about our regular route?

Spooky Spike

He's still spooky. If anything it's got worse.

Proper playing

Spike and Ben have just had 15 minutes of proper playing in the living room whilst I was on lunch. They looked like they were having real fun. Willow thought it looked a bit scary, but stayed in the room.

Spooky Spike

I phoned my mum last Wednesday while out for a walk. She said something so annoying I argued and shouted down the phone. When I got off the phone Spike had disappeared, I called him and he had sat down back down the track. He was a bit spooked for the whole walk, but ok everywhere else. Problem is he is scared of our walk now, and sits or lies down rather than running about fetching his ball like he normally does. I have just realised that I am getting frustrated with him about it, which is making it worse. I'm going to have to be patient. Oh, and he does it to my other half too, she even reckons he looked at the ball wanger a bit warily.

North Derbyshire

They did very well to run the show and keep people's spirits up. It was pretty wet.

Willow go 3rd in agility and 6th in jumping. I had not walked the jumping, so that was not bad. Shows the advantage of a steady dog. Spike did well in the jumping which I ran with him first, but I could not keep cool enough to give good directions with not having walked it. Spike's other runs were wrong courses, but not too much trouble with the contacts (all excellent in fact). Weaves was another story, and I think I might have to get some proper weaves for the garden. Or do I just need more practice with them in courses?

I helped on Saturday. I was down to help Sunday, but had not entered!

Benny boy has had his second jab. He will be allowed out next tuesday evening. In the meantime, he is going to agility training tonight for more socialisation, and he can be touched by people, so the vet says. He also had a chip installed, and has wormer/flea treatment for 4 months.

He barely fits in the cat crate we got him in, and had put on about 25% of his weight since 2 weeks ago!

The three of them are mixing much better now. I'm sure we will continue to have our moments, especially as he gets bigger and stronger. He follows Spike about like a long lost uncle, which is quite sweet.

Any house training issues at present are purely my fault, and the long nights. I think it is better to have him go in his wee tray than to give in to a middle of the night expedition; he might come to expect it.

The previous photos already seem to have a much smaller puppy in them than the one I have now! I took him to agility to watch last night, he seems to be fine with that. Was telling everyone they can't touch him, which they didn't all take well, but it seems to me that people putting thier fingers in his mouth is one of the riskiest things. I'll be glad when everyone can play with him though, he needs the socialisation. They said he could come training pretty much once his jabs are done. He needs his little noddle occupying, because he is already bored.

Grrrrr!

Ben continues to settle in. First jabs done, second due in a couple of weeks. Can't wait to get him out and about, first with training dogs (they have their jabs etc up to date), and then in the woods!

I can say goodbye to any semblance of normality in my life!

Here's Ben

Am trying to decide whether to take on a puppy. A friend has a litter of kelpies. It would work out brilliantly right now, but in 9 months I will be looking for a job. That means leaving a springer, a wsd and a kelpie in the house for most of the day. Sometimes they would be accompanied by my OH, but not all the time.

I have to decide really soon, they are 6 weeks today!

We had a good time at agility nuts. Willow got 10 clear rounds out of 12, one other run was an E due to my incompetence(missed out an obstacle). The other one I missed the class altogether. The let us run on large and she went clear, bless her.

Spike and I were a more random combination, managing to get E'ed from most classes. We went clear in the helter skelter, and won it. We seem to be good at these.

Handling

Was impressed and slightly depressed when my trainer ran Spike a couple of times yesterday. He ran really well for her and it became clear what his big problems is - me!

To be slightly more upbeat we had some pretty good runs and bits of what we did were really nice. I think if we ever go wrong though, it is most likely my fault!

NAWS run

NAWS on Youtube

Doing clicker training in the pet obedience class. Wow! Getting very good attention, and walking by ODs, no problem.

Billy is back next week, so let's see how we cope!

Nomore clear rounds at Scunthorpe Show with Spike. He was a bit giddy. nice contacts, nice wait, missed tyre placed 2nd in line of 5 jumps, weaves poor (out at 11th and going in too fast), nice weave entries, bit lacking in control (straight off dw missing jump and in tunnel). He didn't really concentrate like he can. Good in the queues though relatively speaking.

Willow got 3 clears out of three rounds (spiffing!). She was just inside the course times, but was not exactly in overdrive today. I have not rested her leading up to comp and she loves running about in the woods.

NAWS

Spike got his forst clear rounds in the form of a second in jumping and fifth in agility. Cool! The second was quite close in time to the winner. The fifth was 3 seconds off, but I stopped him on all his contacts.

Willow got two good clear rounds, though she uncharacteristically knocked a couple of poles. She has not been training for about 3 months, so we might need to just do a bit of practice to keep her confident.

Worked a bit on getting tighter turns. Tried sending him over a jump and giving left or right command, then throwing the toy in the line of a tight turn. Seems to work.

Also took a weave pole off and got him to do them a couple of times. Didin't seem to have a problem with the odd weaves. as well as that I put the weaves at the edge and put just one jump ahead so he was speeding into them, he slowed himself down and got them right. There must be a difference with the ones at training. I'll take a tape measure next week! I might even be able to borrow them for a week.

I let Willow have a bit of a run about, still fine on full height, and weaving nicely. She stops on her contacts now too.

Roll on NAWS!

training

He's getting there, much calmer and needs many less treats to keep his attention.

Today's problems:
cutting in and missing last jump in a line.
9 weaves, missed the last one.
weave entry went in nicely then missed no 2. I may need to change my home weaves to give him more idea of what some weaves are like.
a little bit distracted, probably me needing to work him harder.
the usual big wide turns, but I have a plan re: this.

Today's positive:
good wait.
good contacts.
good weaves when he got them.
nice first run on the complex course (clear but withsome huge wide turns).
pulled in nicely when I didn;t get in place for fc.

Willow was glad to see me when I got home. I feel a bit mean not taking her to training, she misses it.

The during the week training was good, but not due to Spike's agility. He was well behaved and did a lot less lunging and barking while dogs were running.

The agility went OK, but Spike was a bit excitable, and I may have been a bit slow with the commands etc. I had to put him back over his contact a couple of times. His weaves were good (12). Once again I let him jump something I did not even think he would, because he works away so well. I must watch that and work him through each obstacle so we both know where he is meant to go.

Every now and then I sneak off from my usual training and drive miles to another class. It is very complementary with the more regular stuff and makes me think about other things in my performance. It helps to have as many pairs of eyes looking for areas for improvement as possible.

Spike seems to take it in his stride and works really nicely. As this is all done in an equestrian centre with lighting so I am really please about how he behaves.

So what did we learn?
1/ Pushing Spike over a jump can be done by standing quite close to it, and making the hand signal quite late. works better than standing off and "just pointing at the jump".
2/ I got him to sit and stay at the side of the arena, and he did it very well. Perhaps he behaves better when I am not right beside him!
3/ "steady" command, to slow them down for tight turns. We did this from in front of the dog with opposite hand, while moving back reasonably slowly.
4/I need to keep moving to commit spike to "go-on" sometimes I stop and wait for him to come back and it calls him off (which might be useful at some point).
5/ I should use left right not here all the time. Good point, otherwise why did I bother teaching them to him!
6/ I could use a close or heel and similar for rhs to call him in here is a bit too vague. (Does anyone know should it be close (static, sitting) or heel (moving), or is it a completely different behaviour really?).
7/ Spike is great! He can even be relatively quiet for a bit of last weeks pork roast!

Took the boy training again. Still a bit bonkers, but settling. I'm sure it must be doing him good, and I look forward to a bit more focus. He failed to do a couple of things I know he can do, but he also did lots right. So essentially we are in a position where we are training inside, under the bright lights. He was quite sociable outside the training rings too.

Towards the end we were right by the end of a course, and he was doing his "look at me" very well.

Just one moment which I was not happy with where I turned my back on him, and he ran off and herded another dog that was running. Just shows I will have to be careful about that. He didn't do much other than try to get the other dog to play, and he recalled straight back to me.

We had a good show at NAWS. Didn't win anything, but given that Willow was (very slightly) lame 4 days before and that Spike is as mad as a turnip, we did OK.

Willow got a clear in each jumping round and jumed nicely. She ran round the first jump in the first agility, I must have set her up wrong, she was clear after that (but it still does not count as clear). I'm not quite sure what happened in the second agility, maybe we missed the DW contact. I have a memory of missing one at some point, so that must be it.

Spike got 5F in the jumping, he knocked a pole. He did it in a very quick time and we might have got a good placing apart from that. The first clear in NAWS still evades us. The second jumping was amusing, jumped a couple then ran the full length of the course and went in the tunnel; he does love them! then a few other little errors. I gave up on that round.

He did OK in the agility. I know a couple of the things we got wrong, and will work on them. The good stuff was, Good waits, good contacts, good directional stuff and call offs, good focus and attitude. We got a special rosette (I think this is for good potential or best improver or such-like, it was like being back at school). He is, of course, special; I have always thought that might not be obvious to anyone other than his owner(and MIF of course).

Oh yes, and the courses were really nice in the B grade, and the show was run efficiently and cheerfully.

Willow seems to have damaged the bottom of her biggest pad. She is doubtful for the next competition sadly. Still Spike will have a go. I am going to learn how to scribe, basically writing down the judge's descisions.

Willow got a minor toe problems (looks like she injured one on something). So no training for her. So I took Spike. His behaviour was much better than it used to be and, of course, he did his agility very well. He is really shaping up. The contacts were really nice, he stopped nicely even with me running on a little. The only one that is not great yet is the seesaw, but he seems to be finding a method that suits him. We seem to be settling on 2o2o. I was told I am racing him a bit over the jumps, so I need to look at that, because I can't win!

Snow stops play

Training has been off for the last couple of weeks. Outdoors fields are covered in snow, and indoor venues are not safe due to ice and snow in the yard. I was lucky enough to be able to attend a session with someone north of Leeds. So although I could not train 3 miles up the road, I was OK 40 miles away! I took Spike and was one of 6 BC/WSD teams training for 3 hours. Did some relatively complex stuff for Spike and me, it went well. Some things to work on, but we did OK.

We had a nice time training. Spike was very well behaved, he had a play wih some other dogs and watched agility without finding it over exciting. He was focused during the training.

We did some weaves, he misses the entry sometimes especially when we arrive from an unusual angle, or at speed. I have to shape him into the entry, but that is not too bad because he really seems to respond to being steered. I time I want to be able to stand like a lemon and give a weave command, and for him to do them independently. He still does them fast!

We also did some work with a tunnel and he was a little slow to respond to commands when he popped out of the straight tunnel, he just went straight over the jump in front of him rather than going left and "down the line". Then he made something else up across some other jumps. We worked on earlier commands, talking to him to keep contact, and repeating commands. I found that if I run further in towards him and gave the left command he responded better (it may have just been the surprise of me not being where I was on the last run). I also made sure he did not enjoy his made up extra bit too much; I've seen enough of people with dogs that do that and find it hard to get control back.

We were in a competition recently and Spike did a couple of things that needed work:
1/ running round the outside of jumps. We will get better at this, but today there was an oportunity to train him a bit on this. He was also layering a set of 12 weaves today, which is good.
2/ Seesaw. He nadn't really seen one in training much. I told him steady on the first round and he was cautious, so I didn't bother on the second. He launched off the end of at speed, and we lucky not to get injured.
3/ Running off the end of contacts. Even though he stopped at the end he did it four off standing rather than 2o2o. He was better in training today. Partly it is judging the speed, and partly over excitement. I generally train on a "toy" a frame, so when we hit full size equipment in a spacious ring he can go much faster. Anyway he was solid in training, so I need to eforce it a bit in the competition ring.
4/ He was distracted by the sodium lights. Not much I can do about this except train where there are similar lights.

I obviously have not updated this for a while.

Adam died about a year ago, he was really struggling for a while, but was a lovely dog to the last.

We now have a new dog, Spike. The two get on much better than Willow and Adam did. Spike is cheeky enough not to get bullied by Willow, Willow tries to snap him, but can't and has decided it is a game. She also now chases tennis balls which she used to ignore completely. Willow has done well in agility, still not very fast. She was fast enough early last year to win an agility class, which means she is now grade 2. This means that Spike is also grade 2.

Spike is fast, and my handling is going to have to step up a gear! He is easily distracted and in competitions indoors gets distracted by the powerful lights. Outside he is better, and trains up at Delinquent Dogz.