Tanner's Rally Debut

This weekend, Tanner had his debut in AKC rally obedience.  It was a very small trial with a limited entry held in a building that Tanner is very familiar with.  These factors all added up to create good supportive atmosphere for the two of us to enter our first trial.

On Saturday, I was pretty nervous.  A training buddy came down to help cheer us on and she reminded me to smile at Tanner and to keep my posture upright.  These are the little things that tend to slip when I (and most people) get nervous.  When it was our turn, we did pretty well.  But, we could have done better.

Well, let me rephrase that, I could have done better.  We had to repeat a station because we were out of sync.  A couple times, when he lagged a little in heel,  I turned my head to look back at him.  This made me drop my shoulder back as well which is a signal to him to drop back.  You can see where this is going.  I pushed him back out of position.  As a handler, it is important to keep your body pointed forward, even when you are turning right and your dog drifts out of your peripheral vision.  Looking back at your dog makes the dog lag.

Anyway, you can see the video here:

But, the good part is we still scored a 93 out of 100 which is a respectable score.  The best part is, he earned his first leg towards his Rally Novice title!  Our judge was Sue Cox.  She is a really nice judge.  Her pencil doesn't miss much but she is fair and kind.

On Sunday, we did do better!  I kept myself calm, I remembered to breathe and smile.  I didn't look back and just trusted that he would be where he needed to be.  There were a lot of right turns on this course!  I still had to repeat a station because I sent him to finish to the right instead of the to the left.  Nonetheless, he responded well to his smiling handler and earned lots of compliments.

Here is the video:

We earned a score of 95.  Our  judge, Marsha Carroll Dandridge, was very complimentary on his heeling abilities.  She literally gushed over how wonderful he worked for me and what a great dog he is! Of course, this made me very happy!  I love my boy and it's nice when everyone else loves him too!  We enjoyed showing under Marsha.  Her pencil was sharp as well but she was fair and good to her exhibitors.

We just need one more novice rally leg in order to be able to add RN after his name!  He will be the 4th one in his litter to add a performance title! 

Whisper's Agility Weekend

Along with Lyric I ran Whisper in agility at the three day agility trial in Santa Rosa California. We are trying to get ready for the Nationals in Reno at the end of March. So to improve our time I decided to try to leave Whisper on a stand stay rather than a sit stay. As the videos clearly show she didn't believe I really meant for her to stay so she left early-almost every time. By the end of the weekend I had changed and placed her back into a sit stay-and she held her start.

On the first day not only did Lyric qualify in Excellent Standard but Whisper QQed for her 9th towards her MACH2. The weavepole entry was especially hard but we made it although not graceful.



On the second day in standard we tried a lead out from the chute. Although it seemed like a simple move we had never practiced it in class and she went around it to come to me. It was probably the only time we have failed before we even started the course. Oh well jumpers was fun and she Qed. It felt very strange to have Lyric Q on the course but not Whisper.



On the last day trying to push Whisper to go faster on the standard course I noticed she was not holding her contacts. The dogwalk on the last day was a good example. We didn't get called on it so she earned her 10th QQ(with a little help). It seems like when something improves something else slips. I guess that is why agility is so fun, it is not a static sport.

BISS GCH Aryal Aroi Stoney Ridge VCD1 RE AX AXJ SC

Lyric earned her AX qualifing 4 out of 6 runs and with all 2nd places. The tire jump has been her nemesis-a large part of why she hasn't done standard agility.She always jumps kicking with her hind feet and it scares her. That and the fact she was injured in a tunnel as a youngster has caused her to distrust the agility ring. With enough time and rewards she was willing to try to play the game again. She earned her jumpers titles and it was time to figure out how to overcome the tire jump issue.



I can not figure out why she takes the tire jump the way she does. I have tried changing her take off position, running at it fast, running at it slow, nothing changes how she jumps the tire. I have noticed her jumping style is not the same as Whisper's. In fact when she takes the regular jumps sometimes she jumps normally, sometimes she high kicks. But I did discover how to convince her to take the tire most of the time. Notice my hand coming up to the tire-I am "throwing" and telling her to "go". At home we practice with the actual tire jump and she is more than willing to go through it. Just prior to entering the ring we practice throwing food over the practice jump. So she is hoping food will appear on the other side of the tire jump.



Now my goal with her has been accomplished, an AX and AXJ and with 8 MACH points. I wish her third AX video hadn't been cut short. I was so excited she Qed I started making a huge noise. She got so excited she got the scooties and circled me several times before I could catch her. Anyone who knows Lyric knows what a serious dog she is-she was as excited as I was.

Puppy Tracking

The other week three of the puppies Breeze, Goose and Emma and owners got together for tracking. Generally when I start puppies tracking it is very short and simple with lots of rewards. The puppies follow the food drops to find the glove. Very quickly the puppies learn the human scent leads to the glove and food drops become less important.

I will start with a hungry puppy on a collar and 6 foot leash. The puppy watches the person lay the track. Initially the track is double laid meaning the track layer walks out in the field about 40-50 feet dropping food every few steps along the way, places the glove with food in/on it and turns around and walks back on the track. As soon as he crosses the start line the puppy is started on the track. In the beginning I never let the puppy get more than a foot or two off the track. If and when they start to wander off the track the handler stops walking and redirects the puppy back on the track. At this point a handler should always know where the track is.
Goose demonstrates starting a dog on a beginner track.





Once the dog is excited and pulling forward on the track, it is single laid meaning only walked once. Again food drops are very frequent to keep the dog on course. The dog should be constantly pulling forward at the end of the leash and if it looses the scent, should cast around to find it again. When a dog starts showing this behavior it has started tracking. At this point I take them off leash and collar and put them in a tracking and line.



When the dog is pulling forward tracking I will gradually move back from the dog. In a tracking trial the handler has to be at least 20 feet back from the working dog. In the early stages I am up close to the dog never letting the dog get discouraged and will reshow them the track as many times as it takes for them to be successful. Although Breeze had run a similar track the day before beautifully the track on this day was too hard for her. She seemed confused about what to do on the track. When the jackrabbit popped up in front of her(2 minutes 7 seconds into the video) she had a hard time refocusing. I was constantly pointing out the track and telling her to find it. In training dogs have good days and bad days. They don't always progress the way we want them to progress. Breeze's track is one of those days. Wish I videoed her the day before!

Checking Our Progress

Last week during our obedience class, Tanner and I did a run through of a Beginner Novice routine.  The purpose was to see how well Tanner would work through an entire routine with no primary reinforcement.  We videoed the exercise for later analysis.

I can see that I need to remember to ease into the changes of pace (rather than taking off like a rocket).  I also need to plan my figure 8 better.  You can see that Tanner does not respond to my first recall cue.  Another place for more work.

All in all, I am quite proud of my boy.  I love his attitude and beautiful heeling. He doesn't fade during the routine and seems nonplussed by the lack of primary reinforcement.  Once we were done, we ran over to the side of the ring where I had hidden a jackpot of treats.

 

Isn't he awesome?