Get on the Ball--the end (for now)

This weekend we are traveling to Charleston and will be returning our friend's "Get on the Ball" products.  I've really enjoyed using them with the dogs, and once we're making a bit more money will definitely be looking into purchasing at least one balance ball (my favorite was the balance disc--the one in the video-- because it's not too huge, and easier to use) for the dogs.

I think they really helped Bentley regain his strength, and REALLY improved Lexi's rear end strength.

Of interest to me, as usual, was the difference in how my dogs approached the balls.  You can even see in the video how hesitant Bentley is.  Even after using the ball for a few months (and yes, I admit we were not as diligent as we should have been) he is hesitant to jump on, and still isn't comfortable getting into a sitting position.

Lexi, on the other hand, would just throw herself on and hang on for dear life.  Most of the time she managed to hang on (giving herself a great work out in the mean time!) but she kept the disc rocking quite a bit.  Despite the motion, you could tell that she was very much aware and in control of her weight distribution and easily progressed to being able to do "dog pushups" on the ball.  If I had it for longer, I would eventually get her to sit up as well, but that would take a bit more work.  Even though she is moving the ball more as she is on there, her legs rarely shake (as opposed to Bentley's), and every time we take the disc out she jumps right on it!  I was also able to get her to rotate around on the ball without too much trouble.

Monday morning happy

Anyone else feeling bummed about going to work this morning?  I am!

Here's something that will make you smile:

This is Lexi and her absolute favorite toy, BRB (Big Red Ball)!

Indoor BRAG trial

We competed in our first indoor trial on Saturday.  Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I expected.  It was certainly the best Lexi has looked indoors.

If I remember I'll try to post the course map for Steeplechase (there were none for Adv. Standard...which is sort of annoying since they didn't have any at the last trial either) if I remember.

It was also a tough trial because we only had the dogs entered in a couple things, but we didn't want to get their too late.  There was no masters (due to the rule regarding size of ring, they can't hold it indoors at this venue) but there was only one ring so it went really slowly.  

First up was Lexi and Advanced Standard.  I'm one that loves to agonize over the course maps, so I felt a little off when I just had to walk the course to see the numbers.  It was probably the toughest Adv. Standard course I've seen.  That is not an excuse--they are definitely skills Lexi should have!  She just doesn't :) At one point there was a 3-way discrimination between an a-frame, a jump, and the teeter.  I made eye contact, but dropped too soon and she took the a-frame.  The second time we came around she didn't take the teeter.  But other than that, I saw some really nice stuff!  No insanely wide turns, and she was one of the few dogs that got into the correct end of the yellow tunnel.  Oh, and how about that weave entry?!?!  We've been working on them, and I was so proud!  (I should note that no dogs Qd on this course).

Next up was Jonathan running Lexi in Steeplechase.  Again, I feel like steeplechase courses are getting more technical, but Lexi was up to the challenge!  Just one mistake at the end (darn those tunnels!)  I think that if she had been on grass she wouldn't have gone out so wide coming over the jump at the end and would have made the turn.  The same I think is true for the weave entry.  I saw a lot of dogs miss that entry or not be able to hold onto it coming around that turn.

And lastly was Bentley's steeplechase run.  I wasn't sure what to expect since he hasn't run in over 3 months!  But, he ran pretty well.  I was a little disappointed that I didn't get at least one 2o2o, but his contacts were much better.  The second time he even slowed down coming down, just couldn't quite figure out the correct position.  Definitely more work to do, but at least he is aware that there is something he should be doing there! :)  And he took that off course because I accelerated over the broad.  He has a tendency to nick the broad (or tumble over it!) so I wanted to push him over, and I pushed him too far.  Darn!  

Lexi's worrying patterns; flyball version

We've had a tough couple weeks the last two times we went to flyball.

Basically Lexi's turns at home are great.  I took her to class and even without the ball, and without the trigger, she just doesn't want to put 4 feet on the box.  I'd get 2, or 3 (with the third way down at the bottom).  I don't think she put 4 on a SINGLE time.  I had her out there with treats and she just wasn't doing it.  She was revved up and excited, I tried running with her, sending her, etc...nothing doing.

So, I decided to work on something else.  I started with triggering the box myself and throwing treats out.  Lexi did not appear worried about the noise at all, and was very excited about the sound since it would immediately lead to treats.  So, I started having her trigger the box and I would throw a ball--awesome, no trouble (she was just pushing with two feet, but I figured that was okay since I was just working the noise/feel).  Then I had her actually triggering the box to get the ball.  She did it about 3-5 times, was excited, up, happy, etc...and then all of a sudden, she wanted nothing to do with it.  She went from triggering the box and fetching the ball to refusing to put any feet on the box at all.

We took a long break, then I went back just a few more times and had her trigger the box for a cookie, and we called it a night.

This reminds me of what she did with the teeter.  No issues that we could see, but one day she would just refuse it.  We must have retrained it 3 times.  Looks like a similar pattern with the box.

Lexi's flyballs turns

Have been working Lexi's turns this week.  They aren't half bad!  I hope she's able to make them translate to the box with a ball.



The hardest part for her I think is going to be the noise of the box.  She tried it last week, took the ball off three times when it triggered, and the third time she decided it was scary and didn't even want to put one foot on it.  So I put her back on it without triggering it until she was jumping on it again, and then just triggered it and threw food at Lexi so she wouldn't be worried about it.

Rubber matting

I think I've talked before about how poorly our dogs perform on rubber matting.  I created a little video of Lexi slipping on the rubber matting at our Stuart seminar.

I guess I should point out that my handling stinks (I was being lazy, and was upset after a pretty frustrating day) so that accounts for a good portion of her wide turns...but she goes wide, slips, and goes out even wider.  It's like she tries to control herself, finds it too difficult, and floats out as she slips.

We are trialing indoors at the end of  the month, but the dogs are only entered in Steeplechase, and Lexi is in Standard, too, and just on one day.  I was thinking of trying some of the spray or wax to help with slipping, but I may just not worry about it.

I was feeling really frustrated in the video because of Lexi's performance...she has gotten SO much better in terms of turns and collection, and we've gotten better in terms of cuing her, but we were just terrible at the seminar.   I'm a bit emotional in general, but at the end of the day I thought I was going to cry because it seemed like we hadn't made any progress at all.

My thought is that we've worked so hard to get tighter turns and collection on grass (we're getting there...sort of), and then we go on rubber and it's a whole different beast...I almost want to say why bother?  And just not trial indoors.  I know we're limiting ourselves, but we're just a bad team indoors and it's demoralizing.



Also keep in mind that during this run I was told to run the perfect dog, so I wasn't supposed to go back and get her, or correct her, just keep going.  I was also being given some instructions as I ran.  Basically, don't get hung up on the handling, it sucks.  Just check out Lexi's slipping.

WW--Louisville