Love Class

Videos from Tuesday's class

I remembered that I took a couple short videos of Lexi from our last class.  (The reason I'm never in any videos is because I'm the only one who ever remembers to videotape!)

Here's one of Jonathan running half of the course with her.  You can see him getting frustrated.  Being there I felt Jonathan's frustration, but in watching the video, Lexi really had some nice moments!  I will say that the beginning was much cleaner the first time he ran.  This time, he pushed her out way too far and RFPd to the weaves, when he really shouldn't have had he cued a turn from the beginning.



Here's a video of our trainer using Lexi as an example to show us how to properly cue not only the threadle but the push to a forward send at the end as well.

Good and needs to improve!

We've had so much rain the past week or so that outdoor training has been tough.  So, I'll just give a quick update.

Hopefully my last post wasn't too intense.  I certainly didn't want to convey arrogance or put any pressure on myself or Lexi.  I am just proud of her accomplishments and love for the sport, and want to invest in that!  If she never makes it out of Advanced, so be it, as long as we keep improving and keep enjoying ourselves.

Tonight we ran a tough course.  Jonathan ran Lexi and I ran Bentley.  Poor Jonathan and Lexi had a tough night.  I could see him getting frustrated as he was having to do portions of the course over and over again.  The course was set to practice the different sends and recalls that we've been taught over the past few classes. When we left class, I made us both make a list of 3 things that each dog did well (to remember the good!) and 2 things that they needed improved upon.  Here are the lists we came up with:

Lexi:
Good:
1.  Serpentine recall to heel to the weaves.  Didn't over jump either 2 or 3, and nailed the weave entry every time!

2.  Directed jumping was excellent!  She didn't cross behind between 3 and 4 but moved quickly to the next obstacle while we were able to direct her over 3 and then move to 4.

 
 3.  Weave entries every time, and when cued correctly, understood the behavior at the threadle.

To improve:
1.  Lexi was feeling VERY pushy this evening and broke her 2o2o regularly.  She would get into position, but then break quickly thereafter.
2.  Timing on our end--making sure that we're cuing at the right times to give Lexi the time to react (especially true at the threadle)

Bentley:
Good:
1.  Directed jumping (in the second sequence listed above).  The first time he took the back side of 2, but that was entirely my fault as I stood too close to 3 when cuing the directed jumping.

2.  Dogwalk contact.  Though it wasn't always quick, he got into his 2o2o position both times and waited!  He also didn't really creep, just came to the bottom and took a second to get both front feet off.  Thrilled!

3.  Connection.  Bentley and I stayed connected the entire night.  He has had a tendency to lose connection with me and cut behind me, run ahead of me, or go away from me to grab what he thinks is the next obstacle.  Tonight we were connected on the entire course!  For the directed jumping section I made sure to make eye contact and cue him to stay on my right side, and he did.  I was also a bit concerned that he would  skip the 3rd jump in the first sequence, but I said his name and made eye contact and he did really well.


To improve:
1.  270 recall to heel.  I placed Bentley on the table and then lead out to a jump and asked for him to collect over the bar (I was reaching over the bar), however he chose to come around the wrong side of the jump.
2.  A-frame when excited.  He jumped the contact (though still touched the yellow) both times in sequence.  It was good, though, since the course simulated a trial-like environment and I marked the mistake and put him back on (he got into his 2o2o position the second time).

Tough night

Not a great night in class tonight.  The dogs were off last week since we were out of town, and they haven't done any work this week since it has been raining all week...tonight we had class and I ran Lexi the whole time.  It went poorly.  And it wasn't her fault.

I know that the sequences are meant to be challenging, but I can't help but feel like I am failing in my training.  Lexi made multiple mistakes on every sequence, and they were all my fault.

I felt like no matter what I did, I couldn't get her to get it right until the 3rd try.  I would accelerate to push her to a jump (that was out at an angle), and then from that jump to another with a forward send, but she wouldn't read it because of all the acceleration from the earlier push.  But if I didn't accelerate, I'd miss the push to the first jump!

Or I'd have to accelerate to get ahead of her so she could read my deceleration, but then she would decelerate before the obstacle and miss it altogether.  Everyone says that when running a fast dog, timing is critical, but I'm starting to feel like timing is impossible.

I'm feeling like I'll never get it right!  I've been wanting a third dog, but really, I can't even handle the ones I have!