Dylan was so naughty today. Not really sure why and will put it down to his handler not being 100% well. My cold is really persisting!
So the good points are that Dylan is now listening to the "Go find feet" command on the dog walk and doing consistently good (but sometimes slow) contacts. I still need to stay behind him running along the dog walk, but as time goes on I can proof the contact position and should be able to take up a position to tell him to "Go" from. He was quick today and when it went well he was awesome.
The bad points: half way through a 12 weave obstacle he just wandered off for a sniff of something clearly very interesting! I was mortified. I got him going again, but for me the edge was gone, so I really didn't run him good enough. We were on that ring again later for a tricky graded 1-7 jumping, and apart from the fact he just wasn't listening to me from the start, he again went off to find the sniff :-( I ended up just walking out of the ring and he followed meekly, but if he wasn't going to listen and concentrate then he wasn't going to get to have fun jumping. It was a shame to end the day on that note. In fact he has been a little naughty in training too recently. Clearly running him when I myself don't feel well is detrimental to both of us.
So the other courses were really tricky today. tunnels under contact equipment caused Dylan no end of mistakes. I clearly need to train a better command for "on it". Someone today suggested a raised arm to encourage the dog to look up to the dog walk or A frame. I will start incorporating this in training when there is no other choice and go from there. I think I will also start using different words for A frame a=nd dog walk, so demonstrate the difference. I currently use the same "On it" command. I am not certain that Dylan actually recognises words anyway, but it can do no harm!
So the good points are that Dylan is now listening to the "Go find feet" command on the dog walk and doing consistently good (but sometimes slow) contacts. I still need to stay behind him running along the dog walk, but as time goes on I can proof the contact position and should be able to take up a position to tell him to "Go" from. He was quick today and when it went well he was awesome.
The bad points: half way through a 12 weave obstacle he just wandered off for a sniff of something clearly very interesting! I was mortified. I got him going again, but for me the edge was gone, so I really didn't run him good enough. We were on that ring again later for a tricky graded 1-7 jumping, and apart from the fact he just wasn't listening to me from the start, he again went off to find the sniff :-( I ended up just walking out of the ring and he followed meekly, but if he wasn't going to listen and concentrate then he wasn't going to get to have fun jumping. It was a shame to end the day on that note. In fact he has been a little naughty in training too recently. Clearly running him when I myself don't feel well is detrimental to both of us.
So the other courses were really tricky today. tunnels under contact equipment caused Dylan no end of mistakes. I clearly need to train a better command for "on it". Someone today suggested a raised arm to encourage the dog to look up to the dog walk or A frame. I will start incorporating this in training when there is no other choice and go from there. I think I will also start using different words for A frame a=nd dog walk, so demonstrate the difference. I currently use the same "On it" command. I am not certain that Dylan actually recognises words anyway, but it can do no harm!
Course by Ruth Bates
This was our first run, which I could have actually had a clear if I had known what I was doing! Note that jump 16 has the label on the edge of the jump. I had not realised that this meant the jump could be jumped either way round. I had planned a pull round from 15 to jump 16 as indicated on the black arrow. But Dylan prefers to jump left after a jump and he went behind me and over the jump (red arrow). If I had pulled him round and finished we would have had a clear. But I re-did the sequence from 14 and got my pull in and then finished ... this being eliminated!
Lesson learnt - ask the judge what things mean!!
Lesson learnt - ask the judge what things mean!!
G6-7 agility: Red line shows the path I would have liked but didn't get!! Course by Simon Cowley
This was a difficult but interesting course that I was looking forward to completing! Dylan however had other ideas and went sniffing half way through the weaves :-( We did try the twiddly bit, but you needed to guard against them jumping fence 10 again after the tunnel. It was a straight line through as shown, but after guarding I couldn't get to fence 13 in time to push Dylan out round the fence. I had told him "out" but clearly it meant nothing to him ... more practice I think!! | 
Disaster course for us - but interesting. Course by Ian Watts
From Jump 1 there are 4 options for the dog - a jump, two tunnel entrances and the A frame! We almost got the right entrance to the tunnel, but Dylan didn't do a good enough wait at Jump 1! I sent him onto the dog walk, but he took the tunnel! Lovely weave entry, but I pulled away too early & he came out (must watch that!). I managed a turn before sending him into 8 the tunnel. He got the A frame really well. I put a turn in before the tunnel entrance 16, but Dylan went on the Dog Walk - several times! I gave up and asked for a good "feet" stop at the bottom and finished by running him over 10 again! Lots of lessons to learn in this one! |
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