Training

Took all three to training. Willow went round steady. Then she started barking at me as we waited for the next go, so I did a bit of obedience stuff with her. Anyway second go she went round like a demon, given that she is a run-along-side dog I had to really push myself when I saw what mood she was in and she had a lovely couple of training runs. So I put her in the van and got the sproglet out.

He was in a contrary mood, dancing away with his bally and pulling towards other dogs a lot. He did a good couple of things though including the tyre for the first time. He is getting a bit more confident with the tunnel. He has a bad habit of cutting across me on straight lines of jumps, so worked him on by throwing the bally. He had a good run about with the other dogs there after training.

Spike was good, hampered by me as usual. He now has a 11 weave problem on LH weaves. He was getting the message though, with lots of praise for staying in them. E&M wondered if I do something different of LH weaves, I said not, but knowing me I probably do. A bit of a disappointment because I like to think Spike's weaves are independent (at least to a large degree), but they can't be. I found a similar thing last week when he would not send on to the A-frame without swivelling right round to look at me. I'll have to work on this, I'm sure we used to be better.

Contact speed

Spike had a great training session last time. We went on to more of a free training session where we can each work on what we want to. We had a couple of short 7 jump courses, and the contacts out in a separate section. I noticed Spike is not super fast over contacts, I might have to look at speeding him up over them. On the other hand maybe at shows he goes a bit faster. His weavies were great though.

Benny and the crate

We went to obedience, just me and ben and a crate. He got rewarded for sitting when I opened the door. And for not barking when I did loopy things near the cage. Seems to have had quite a good effect so far.

NAWS January

I've never really understood it when people say they got faults, but they had a really good run. Well maybe I understand it a bit now. Spike did two really good runs in the agility, but got 5f in each. They were still really good runs though. He did even better in the jumping, and got 4th. I am still not sure that his agility runs might have been better, Oh well, welcome to the world of muddled thinking Rob.

We picked up the rosette for Spike's win last time, which was nice. We also picked up two for Willow as she had good clear rounds last time. We got a clear in agility and jumping this time, but no placings. We appear to be in the lead in the veteran league, though in this case it may be owing to my willingness to go to Harrogate in the snow last time! We'll see how well Willow goes in the next shows, she goes well over medium, and could certainly get placed again. Howard is one point behind us.

Sadly I made a mess of walking the agility course. I ran willow over the wrong course simply because on my first walk round I did not read the numbers and missed a couple of jumps. Willow fell into a trap DW (very rare for her) on our first run, so we were already eliminated when I made the error. It was only when I watching competitors from the queue whilst waiting with Spike that I noticed my error, and I ran the correct course from then. It was not the cause of him rolling poles though.

Spike has knocked a few poles recently, not huge numbers, but one or two. I will have to work out what causes it (me probably). Still can't complain he does so much else automatically that it is not too hard to run him (so long as you run fast that is). He was a bit distracted on the last jumping run, and popped out of the weaves at 10, did them fine on a repeat, but started boinging off over all the wrong jumps. Still you can't fault his enthusiasm.

Ben behaved reasonably. Not recalling every time, but OK off lead. Met lots of dogs, and was friendly with everyone. Everyone said how much he had grown. We could not spectate, which is a pity as that would be very good for him, but I suppose it can cause chaos for the show. We did sneak in for a bit (don't tell Brenda), and he was a little barky, but could be brought back to focus with his name. Just about right really, interested but under control.

I helped for about an hour despite my name not being on the list. It's probably the best way to spectate actually, and the pole picking seat was right next to an interesting section for the D class.

More calm Spike

Just a couple of barks in our obedience this time. Lots of good heel work, even with a dog barking and whining a little bit. He is 4 this year, maybe he is maturing. Ben also had a good 1/2 hour, but I am coming to expect that because he is a good boy (apart from when he isn't).

crate games

I got the crate games dvd yesterday, and watched it last night. Garrett's accent may have put paid to my vague ideas of moving to Canada, but I think on the whole the dvd is good. The principles seem simple, but probably hide a lot of thinking and work on creating a consistent system. Greg Derrett has a similarly simple seeming system for agility handling which I loosely follow, and I think there is definitely something to be said for this approach as it stops you over analysing and getting paralysed when you need to be acting.

It would be extremely useful to get Benny trained to chill out in his crate while I work Spike, it may even be possible to do it the other way round. Who knows. I will post on how it goes.

Spike reasonably calm in obedience

I took Spike to obedience last class, rather than taking the other two which is what I normally do. He had a few little grumbles at first, but after that I worked him through 4 15 minute classes off lead. OK he went up to the trainer a couple of times, but also worked very well. This was going past lots of dogs, most of whom looked at him. A couple barked during the classes, but he stayed focused. After the class I left him off lead and him milled and mixed with all the others really well. Great!

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!