Mental Game...

On my way home from training Monster tonight (I was stopped at a traffic light) I took a glimpse at Facebook on my phone and realized that it was dog agility blog action day. This time the topic is Mental Game. What I found so interesting was that I had just had my own Mental Game epiphany!

Monster and I generally have good training sessions. The mistakes are usually mine but I also get the chance to teach him new skills. Tonight we went to the training field to work on our A Frame skills a little more and just get a brief workout. I enjoyed our 20 mins of training so much! We ran together and with intensity! If a contact was missed or a jump wasn't committed to, we moved on quickly and kept the connection going :) 

***It's sessions like that that you have to watch yourself with though. You get so high on all the good stuff that you forget to give your dog a break or work him until he's tired. DON'T DO IT! End on a good note and you might have an epiphany like I did!

Ok, so back to my Mental Game epiphany: I was driving back home and thinking about how great it was to run so connected. I started wondering why we don't run that way at trials. Well here's the reason: 1) I am almost always nervous regardless of how well I know my fellow competitors 2) I have self doubt 3) I doubt my dog 4) I don't communicate with my dog in a trial like I do at home!

Man, thinking about all those things had me wondering how we made it as far as we have at trials! How can I doubt my dog when I've seen how awesome he can be?! And how can I doubt myself when I have seen what I've taught my dog to do and we practice so well together? How could I still get nervous in front of the same group of people that I've seen for a couple of years now?

Clearly, it's all in my head. There is a disconnect for me when it comes to training vs. trialing. That, in training, I know I can do it over again but, in a trial, I can't. A sort of pressure is created. Now, I'm not sure how to best rid these thoughts but I have found a tool in my toolbox that's been there all along. My thoughts can take me to other places. They can take me to those moments where everything clicked and we connected in practice. I can imagine myself at practice and find the same kind of excitement I have there in a trial. I CAN DO THIS! 

So, whether I make a fool of myself talking to my dog the entire time we're on a course, or something else goes wrong, I know that we had fun, we ran intensely, and that's all I need to conquer my mental game. Putting these words and thoughts into action is the next step and, from what I understand, it's still gonna take time to meld the two mindsets together. BUT, I have taken the first step by realizing what's been holding me back. 

I am looking forward to testing my new mindset this weekend!

A Brief Rant...

I have been seeing and hearing a LOT of complaining in the agility world and I am FED UP! We all have bad days where it's difficult to spot the sun through all the clouds BUT some people complain DAILY. I have heard several people (technically I have seen it on Facebook) complain about all of the adding costs of going to Cynosport (USDAA Nationals) and it makes me want to punch some one in the face! They complain about the costs as if going to Cynosport is a necessity. I can't even afford to QUALIFY my dog for Cynosport to shut the fuck up! If it's that miserable financially for you, then DON'T GO! You can't take care of your health or life's necessities but thank GOD you can pay more nationals (barely!). 

The other thing I see a lot of that is driving me NUTS is lack of acknowledging your partner after a run, whether it's clean or not. I get SUPER annoyed when the run is great and I find myself beaming but the handler doesn't even look at their dog. I also find it annoying when I feel like the handler made the mistakes on course but the dog is getting zero acknowledgement or connection after the run. NO WONDER you guys had a bad run! 

I see so much hypocrisy in the agility world (there's plenty in the regular world too) in which people repeat mantras such as "It's about the journey", "No matter what, have fun", etc. but they're the ones picking their performances apart and not connecting with their dogs. Their the people that are forgetting to treat their dogs as pets and not just performance dogs. It's funny to me how important titling, Q'ing, and making it to Regional and National competitions is in dog agility when there is NOT a lot of money, if any money, to be gained. Why is it that we spend SO much money on a sport that has not much monetary return? People say it's about running with your dog and connecting and being best friends, lalalalala but it sure doesn't look like fun when I watch them run together. In fact, I find myself self feeling as bad for the dog as I do when I see animal abuse videos. I am not saying they're being abused, I'm just saying it makes me equally as sad for the dog. 

If you are new to agility, be sure to keep videos of when you first started around because you WILL forget what it was like and you WILL get lost along the way. But, if you keep these memories close to you, they will surely ground you again.

Today's Exercise is Sponsered by the Letter "E"!

Part I:
Well, today Monster and I played with the "E" drill from Nancy Gyes' Alphabet Drills. It was pretty fun! One of my favorite drills so far. Lots of things to do with this drill :) Easy to break up into smaller sequences and, at the beginning of the exercise, she breaks it down until you build up to the full drill sequences. Monster surprised me by finding a straight line that I wasn't 100% sure he could see. The jumps were different angles but all 3 of them had a definite straight path to each other. There are still a few sequences that we haven't done with this drill so it will be in the yard all week. 

I chose this drill because, at the LCDA trial, Monster missed a jump that was part of a pinwheel. It was likely handler error but I'd like him to recognize that pattern on a course better. He nailed it! We threw in a few dogwalks to practice our DW criteria and he knew it. Having seen him perform the dogwalk appropriately at home and at the big training field, I know the issue at this recent trial was just a lack of changing habitat. We will continue to practice and hopefully make it to a run thru or two to practice criteria on other dogwalks. We are going to try to go to the big field tomorrow and get some practice in before I leave for a week for my internship. 

I have entered Monster in the November LCDA trial for 1 day only and we will have the opportunity to earn a Standard Q that I'd love to see us get. I know he can do it but we just need to make it happen in a trial atmosphere. We will also be running Pairs so that I don't have the issue I had with Shawty (not entering Pairs ever and ending up trying desperately to earn that Q for too many trials). 

***I have a mini project tonight to build some contact trainers from spare PVC I have for our A-Frame training tomorrow night :D

Part II:

Well, today is day 2 of the letter "E" drill and we have had lots more success. I have been working on "pushes" with Monster as well with this drill. I also threw in some weave poles in one of the modified versions of this drill so that I can encourage more weave independence. I left the guide wires on all 6 poles and then removed the middle. 99.5% success! I stopped handling because he took the poles without my cue and he jumped over a wire when he realized I had "turned off". My boy is so smart though :) 




There are 2 more modifications to this drill that I hope to set up and practice before Friday but we will see if time allows. I have attached a couple of pages, but not all of them, from this drill. I have also attached a photo of one of the modified versions set up in my backyard. 

I think I have underestimated the skills I could teach in my backyard for a long time until now. I absolutely love this book because there are endless training opportunities and it's great for some one like me who doesn't have lots of other equipment besides jumps, weaves, and tunnels!

Decisions, Decisions- Battles Between Heart and Head...

I find myself at a place (I wouldn't say it's a crossroad) where I have what I consider to be a tough decision. I have to decide between waiting to trial again in January to build up my savings or run (limited number of runs) November and December. My heart wants to run but my head says that agility isn't going anywhere and I need to take care of my finances. To a non-agility person it may seem obvious but when you have great runs at trials, like I did with Monster, it can be a lot harder than you think. I have hit a few bumps in the road financially when I thought I'd be in a good place financially for agility trial season. Phil and I have a weekend of zip-lining coming up after my internship and I want us to be able to do something together. I don't see how I can make that work if I also enter a trial that will cost $112 to run every class. I love USDAA and all the class options but it can get so expensive. I might be able to enter just the classes needed to try and finish Monster's AD (Standard, Pairs, Gamblers) for about $70. Tough decisions. I feel like the $70 option is a good compromise and I could even enter for less if I just run one day. That would cost about $42-$56 depending on which classes I enter him in. I don't want to bore anyone with my finances (although this is MY blog lol) but I need some where to vent and talk it out. I also wanted to attach a chart that some one in the agility community made about average costs of getting a championship with a dog in AKC vs. USDAA. Ultimately, the cost per class is cheaper in USDAA but there are more classes offered and required by USDAA to earn a championship. Championships are not on our brains but I still felt like it was an informative chart. As I am typing this, I feel like the answer to my dilemma (one that I can live with) is to enter 1 day of the November trial. That will give us the opportunity to try and earn our AD title and if it doesn't happen then I'll see what I can do in December. 

My dilemma and some recent Facebook newsfeed have alerted something in me. I have seen people who are willing to max out their credit cards, empty their savings, and stretch their funds paper thin to compete in agility with their dogs. I do NOT want to be like that. I've got a boyfriend who has children and a mortgage to pay, groceries to buy, etc. I never want to feel like I have to choose between those things and I feel like I am flirting with that line right now. I never want to catch myself talking about not having enough money for things when I CHOOSE to enter my dogs in agility trials. Agility trials and dog agility in general are not necessary to life and I don't want to find myself feeling like they are. My dogs will enjoy other activities just as much. I am the one who will miss it but can live without it if need be. 

Thanks for listening to me vent! I will keep you posted as to what I decide to do :)

First Trial of the Season! LOTS to Talk About...

Well, we survived the first trial of the season and the first trial since our summer hiatus! LOTS of things to talk about. First, I'd like to say that my boys were great! We had the awesome hospitality of my Aunt Mary Anne and her husband Charlie. They tolerated 3 dogs, a flying squirrel (a baby I am rehabbing), and my boyfriend and myself! A few family members came out on Sunday to watch us run and the agility gods blessed us with 3 great runs for them to watch! 

Saturday started out a little rough and started to feel like the same old stuff from our previous trials. Started picking up the pace in the afternoon and by the time Monster had his standard run he was wild! The sun was blazing and I'd hosed him off a few times before our run so he was feeling frisky by the time we started. I'd prefer to focus on the positive experiences at the trial so I will mostly share Sunday's runs. I was feeling pretty confident about Gamblers with Shawty but I didn't send him very well to the outside jump. I could tell my energy just wasn't there for some reason. He just looked at me like I was crazy and took the chute and the finish jump while I was still standing by the first jump of the gamble! HA! It was super cute. He followed up the day by getting an Advanced Snooker Q in the rain (his last agility run!) and a PII Standard run that was great before that! I chose to retire Shawty after watching him run in gamblers the day prior. I cried afterwards because I hate seeing him overjump to make it. He will have just as much fun playing other games with me! 

Monster was a super star Sunday! He was just getting his footing Saturday so that he could show off his skills on Sunday! He made PI Gamblers look easy with 49 points and a Q! We followed that up with a PI Standard run that had some ups and downs but mostly ups. I realized that we are in desperate need of some aframe training. Then, he decided to earn his PI Snooker title with 51 points and a Q! Finally, we ended the day with a lovely and FAST PI umpers run that also finished his PI Jumpers title! That's incredible! I loved watching the playback of the video and seeing where our foundation training paid off. 

I strongly urge any one who reads this and is wanting to start agility with their dog to work on foundation first! It may not seem as fun as the running agility stuff but it creates such a good relationship with your dog and gives you guys skills that are a MUST in agility! That's probably 
where I see the biggest differences between Monster and Shawty. It's a great lesson that I learned but if I could have known better, I would have done it differently. 

Overall the weekend was a great one and I am looking forward to trialing just one dog again for many reasons. We will be back to LCDA in November. By the way, Kellie Verelli was our judge and she was awesome at designing courses and judging. Her briefings were short and sweet and I look forward to being under her judgement again!

Training at the Big Field!

We were finally able to make it out to the training field tonight. My plan, since Monster has been performing his 2o2o well with the Manners Minder faded, was to use the Manners Minder a couple of times to remind Monster that, even though this dogwalk is taller and longer, his job is still the same. It was so cool to see him excited to run the dogwalk and run confindently and FAST over the dogwalk! I had originally started training him with the intention to have a running dogwalk but he just never seemed very confident and I didn't have a dogwalk or a way to target with food by myself. I finally purchased a Manners Minder but it was after I changed my mind about his dogwalk performance. Even with the training I had started with his 2o2o I still could tell he wasn't confident or sure of himself with it. And, I was no help because I have never taught a dog a true contact performance end behavior. But, I came up with a plan to just place the MM on either end of the dogwalk (making sure I alternated ends in every training session) until it became muscle memory and he knew what his job was. I had tried to back chain by teaching a 2o2o behavior on other objects and shape it with a clicker but he seemed unsure of himself. That's why I turned to my MM. AND IT WORKED! Tonight Monster was very excited to see the dogwalk and I used the MM for about 4 reps. Then I removed the MM and he still maintaing his incredible speed but had more self control at the end (he was a little wild initially). I am so proud of him. He was very confident on the teeter as well with a great stop at the end until I released him (no "target" position). I simply use his "wait" cue and it does the trick :) I moves pretty quickly to the end (almost a slide). We also made sure to practice a few tires and and chutes with confidence. The only, somewhat, surprising issue we had was his weave performance. He had great success for about 2-3 reps of 12 poles and then he just stopped being able to collect himself to get the first set of 2 poles. I will try to do some short sessions with him in the next 2 days to correct the issue. I certainly don't expect perfection this weekend at the LCDA trial but it would be nice to walk away with a few Q's. I think we deserve it and it sucks when that doesn't show in our trial performances. Not to mention the money I've spent :) Either way we will be sure to have fun together and I will appreciate our small successes. 

Shawty didn't do too much new stuff tonight. I know what works with him and I know what skills he has and doesn't have. I also know that the skills we don't have together will take more training than what can be accomplished before this trial so I don't expect much change in those areas. He was fast and lively tonight and I made sure to get him on almost every piece of equipment. No one saw an aframe because the aframe is in the indoor arena. Shawty was his usual reliable self and I love that about him. I know he will push his boundaries and have fun doing it, I know he will run his heart out as long as he thinks it's fun, I know he's the cutest little dog doing agility ever and that is what matters to me. He is my little old man and who knows how much time we have to run together. I noticed some crepitus (sign of arthritis) in his wrists the other day. He hasn't been lame but he has been licking the area lately. It made me realize that this pairs Q is very important. I could throw away all of the Q's we earned previously but I would prefer not to throw those out the window and start over again in PIII. I am trying to get that Q for us in pairs so that we can move to PIII in ALL classes and jump the lowest height possible. That would mean less impact on his joints and more time running together :) X-rays didn't show any major arthritic changes so, until they do, I will not retire him. But, when the time does come, I hope that I will not hesitate recognize it and pull him from agility. At that point, we will stick to swimming and do some hydrotherapy at work. 

Punch didn't get to come to class tonight but he has been doing great with our backyard exercises. He loves running so much that he literally foams at the mouth! He has lots of "squirrel!" moments in between training but is slowly getting more focused each time. The key may be to start with super duper short sessions and then gradually increase the time. That can be hard for me to do sometimes when I am on a roll with a session but I have seen the benefits of keeping sessions shorter vs. longer. It will likely be another year before Punch sees a trial ring and that will probably be a jumpers course. 

We also got our new luggage sack for the roof of my car so that all 3 dogs can travel in their own crates! Woohoo! Thanks to my aunt we can avoid hotel room costs too! I have great family! I had a bad week financially so I am glad to see some savings some where. This may be our last trial until January but I hope things turn around for us. We will certainly find ways to entertain ourselves if we don't trial. Well, that's all folks. Time for bed. This week is almost over!!!!

Last "W" Session and... The Letter "R"!

I was able to come by the house twice this past week and work Monster and Shawty on the "W" drill again as well as working some dogwalks! Much better energy from me so our performances were better :). One thing I found odd/interesting about doing this drill with Shawty was that, even with guide wires on, he still wanted to wrap the outside of the first pole when approaching the weaves from the left (which would make it the wrong side entry). I supposed he was going by memory when he has to wrap the first pole when approaching from certain angles from the right side but it was really difficult for me to figure out how to correct the issue other than to repeat it until he got it right and then give a big verbal marker but urge him to go. I felt like not pulling him form the weaves and charging on after the verbal reward was also a marker for him that he had done the right thing (as opposed to me stopping motion and calling him back to do it again). I think we still need some work in the weave department but we will try to squeeze it in this week. 

I would also like to make a side not that I wouldn't normally work so hard the week before a trial but we haven't been going to the big training field lately and, since I am financially strapped, I want to get the most out of this trial. I am concerned I won't be able to trial in November but am still hopeful. These guys always surprise me too- when I think I need to worry about one thing, something else is the issue. So maybe we will be ok... I am going to try really hard to get out to the training field this week if weather permits (it did not last week). 

Well, on to the letter "R". The "R" drill focuses on difficult tunnel entries- something both dogs have different issues with. This drill helps practice taking the opposite tunnel entry than the line the dog has been traveling. Review the picture below for a better idea:

The letter "R" drill form Nancy Gyes' Alphabet Drills

 The weather is cooling off and I am looking forward to working this drill. It is similar to a drill I worked both dogs in when I was taking Daisy Peel's Foundation Handling course online. In that drill, Daisy asked that we work the drill without verbal or physical cues other than changing our direction (to focus on timing) and to show us how even a subtle cue can be read if timed correctly. I have to keep that in mind when working this drill. There isn't much else for me to say right now because I haven't worked this drill yet, but I will post as soon as we do! Below I have posted pics of the setup in my yard (taken via Pano on iPhone) and of the way I decided to post these drill pages on the side of my house for reference. Since the course is constantly changing, even in one session, I wanted to be able to have a quick reference.

I taped copies of this drill in sheet protectors on the side of the house for easier and quicker reference!

The boys (Monster and Punch) waiting for the drill to start (not happening though)

It's Been A While... The Letter "W"!

One of a few layouts for the letter "W" from Alphabet Drills by Nancy Gyes.

So, it's been a while since my last post. Life, as usual, has gotten in the way a bit :). I have felt the pressure of the impending trial, my impending internship, and a current petsitting that requires me to stay at some one else's home (away from our training equipment) for a week and it has caused a huge distraction for me. I was, however, finally able to choose a drill from our Alphabet Drills book and chose the letter "W":

One additional set up for the "W" drill

I chose this drill to work on adding distance and independence to our weave pole performances. There are many different layouts and a few different set ups for this letter which makes it last a long time. I did find it interesting and confusing that, after phenomenal memory and performance of weave poles in class and at run thrus after our summer hiatus, Monster seemed to have no idea how to collect and forgot his footwork when we started this drill. I am still new to dog training and I have been told this stuff happens with young dogs but I have never understood the timing for issues like this. Regardless, I threw our guidewires back on and even that took a few tries before success. We were able to make it work, and I chose to leave the wires on so that I can reprogram his body to weaving "so to speak" this week. I also decided to leave the wires on when I started working with Shawty because distance in weave pole performance is one of our weaker challenges. We started strong and then, for some reason, he started trying to wrap around the first pole when he was on my left (which is a wrong entry AND guide wires were there) so he had to jump over the first guide each time. Another confusing training "qwerk" that I have yet to figure out. Overall, the rest of the jump handling challenges went well. And, I'm glad I saw this issue in training and not at a trial. Hopefully, we can get it resolved before then. 

Another suggested layout for the "W" drills

As I write this, I also feel like I may have brought less energy and enthusiasm for training that day. I hadn't really intended to train that morning but knew I might not get another chance for a few days. I was tired and stuffy from allergies and as much as I tried to throw out some energy, I don't think I did well. We will attempt the same drill today or tomorrow before I alter the layout. What I love about this letter drill is that Nancy provided a few different ways to set up the "W" drill. I have shared some pictures of those layouts above. One last perk that I wanted to mention earlier in the blog about this book is that in the back is a chart of handling sequences that may challenge handlers and/or dogs and which letters work those challenges the most. It has really helped me quickly choose which letters I want to set up depending on what skills I want to work! :)

Day 1:The Letter "M"

Tonight's training session was great! I love it when I can walk away from training my dogs feeling great even if there were some mistakes. That can be difficult for me to do some times. Today was the first day we tried working the letter "M" from Nancy Gyes' Alphabet Drills. We had many successes but a few failures. Monster nailed the rear crosses. I am sure I wasn't the best at executing them all. After all, these exercises are for me too- probably even more so than for them. I made sure to take breaks in between the tough exercises so that we good do some things that we are typically successful at and to keep it light and fun. We worked a few front crosses, pushes to the pack side of the jump, and some serpentines. Had some good weave poles (only room for 6 in the yard right now) and worked some targeting on the dogwalk. I used the Manners Minder to reinforce a 2 On 2 Off position. I feel so bad for Monster because I haven't been able to make up my mind, but since I don't have dreams of Nationals I decided that we don't need those extra seconds and I feel more comfortable teaching him a 2O2O. I think it will take lots of repetition and some muscle memory to get the best final product but he's remembering the foundation we started with quickly. Overall, I am really happy with how tonight went.

Shawty and I tried working some rear crosses with quite a but of difficulty. But I made sure to take breaks to get/keep him motivated and we had a few successes (not without some verbal directional cues). We will keep working at it until we don't need verbals. Once I can video how sessions, I think I will be able to see how much is my timing and how much is his necessity to see me. I know that this particular issue is not all my handling but I am hoping with more consistent cues from me, he will be able to handle a rear cross better. While we were misreading each other, he sent himself into 6 weavepoles away from me and into a fence!!! I couldn't believe it! I was so proud of him and cheered and screamed and he got a big ol' party! He did it twice! Finally, I had to reel him in so that we could work on what we set out to do. I attempted to work some serpentines with him but he preferred threadles, lol. A lot of it is my handling but some of it is that he stays on handler focus too long and then I am forced to either cue the jump to early and push him to the back of the jump OR I cue it late and have to do a (successful) rear cross. We worked the dogwalk as a running contact to the Manners Minder. I am hoping that with enough repetition, he will have the muscle memory of just running straight through the yellow. I want him looking forward and not at me on this obstacle. We had a pretty great training session tonight. I want to make it clear that none of the comments about our failures are meant to be negative or complaining. I want to keep track of our strengths and weaknesses through this blog so I can look back and see how far we've come. I have every hope and intention to be able to do so. 

Last, but certainly not least, Punch got to do some jumps and tunnels. He is gonna be FAST! That boy can run and he's got drive! We just need to harness it a little bit, LOL. I sent him through to jumps (working a startline stay) and then to the tunnel. I then added a few jumps in different sequences after the tunnel. Had 2-3 instances where he got too focused on the ball I had and barked at me but I made sure not to correct him too much and just keep moving to stay motivated. I learned this from Janet. Less do overs make puppies stay confident while they are learning this crazy sport called agility. Then, I introduced him to the dogwalk with a 2O2O and the Manners Minder (he is familiar with the Manners Minder but not the 2O2O). I only work the last 1-1.5 planks. He did great tonight too and I am so amazed at how different the strengths and weaknesses in all of my dogs are. I think it's more interesting that their breed and foundation backgrounds speak a lot for where their strengths lie. 

Stay tuned for, hopefully, some video of our next training session! I will certainly try to post some video from some point this week. G'night all!

The Letter "M" (Part 1)

In my previous post from today, I talked about choosing a letter from Nancy Gyes' book Alphabet Drills. I chose the letter "M". I chose this letter because 1) It's easy to fit in my space 2) I only have about 6-7 jumps 3) I can work rear crosses which I am not good at and therefore my dogs don't read them well. I also set up the dogwalk that I borrowed from my trainer, Janet. The dogwalk isn't regulation for USDAA but it should suffice for training. I threw in some weave poles so that I can work weave pole independence as well. It'll be nice to switch it up during the week. Hopefully, I can get a few days of training in. I work super early every day this week so the evenings will have to work. I will post some pics of the set up in my yard, a page from Alphabet Drills, and some pics of the pups! This book is awesome!!!

As you can see if you look at my set up below, the rows of jumps should be diagonal from each other. I made them parallel (whoops!) Luckily we haven't practiced it yet!

I hope I don't get in trouble for sharing a page- I just wanted to share the idea  with you guys. There are 2 or 3 more pages to this letter. SOOOO many exercises with ONE letter!

The yard before the sequence setup...

Playing in the freshly cleaned kiddie pool :)

One view of the letter "M"

Another view of the letter "M"

The letter "M"

After reviewing, I may have to make some adjustments. Seems that the 2 rows of jumps are diagonal from one another. But, you get the idea.

Dont Spoil What You Have (September Run Thrus)...

Well, today we went to run thrus and had a pretty good morning. For those who may not know, run thrus are like practice after all of your training in class, home, etc. It helps mimic a trial type setting with the ability to train, reward, and redo certain sequences without any fault. Run thrus are also usually cheaper than a trial and you get to catch up with familiar faces and fellow competitors. They are great for testing skills in young dogs in a new environment because all it takes is a change of location to make all that fabulous training a little shaky. Lots of sounds, smells, and sights to offer distractions. 

The morning started with Monster running a Standard course that is above his level. It's been 3 months since we did anything agility related (with the exception of class last week) and we were pretty rusty. We had done great in class so I didn't expect much but that change in environment told me otherwise. Monster was very handler focused and a little distracted. Of course, the course started with a few obstacles Monster doesn't see often when we are at home (tire to chute). I warmed him up with the tire and we had no issue with it. He came out of the barrel of the chute once he realized it was closed (after getting stuck multiple times in the chute at LCDA at our last trial, he's been a little cautious of it). I brought him back, revved him up and tried to send him again without success. Windi, our host, came over and held the chute slightly open and we had success! Then we did 2 small sequences that I made up to test our chute confidence and he did great! The rest of that first run was a lot of turning around and resending him to obstacles, poor weave pole attempts, and we just weren't in sync. 

Monster ready for more action!

Shawty had a great first run with 100% success in the weaves (we have trouble at this place sometimes because I think the weaves are 20", maybe 22" but they are tighter than what we normally train with)! He ran fast at 8" and I had no real complaints. 

Shawty wondering why I'm bothering him after such a great run thru!

Monster's 2nd run was much more fluid. Windi suggested breaking the course up and rewarding him after short sequences and it was very helpful. We had weave pole troubles but I wasn't going to push him since I believe it was not a performance issue. Monster was much more obstacle focused and excited to run this time!

The one constant that I noticed was that our contacts didn't exist! I'm not upset about it because I haven't really been training them. I am not very fluent or comfortable with contact training but I have to do something about it. That is the lesson I learned today. That's the great thing about dogs. If you listen and pay attention they will tell you where the holes are in your training. They're so honest that way :)

So, Phil (my boyfriend) mowed the yard today and I am planning on putting up a small sequence from Nancy Gyes' Alphabet Drills book up and setting the dogwalk up some where as well. We don't have a standard dogwalk (it's shorter in height and length) but we should be able to train what we need to. On top of that, I am going to start training Monster with an aframe box made of PVC that was can place on the aframe in class. I just need to decide if I want him to run or stop on the dogwalk... Decisions, decisions. Contact boot camp starts tomorrow!

The yard freshly mowed and free of agility equipment! I'll post a pic of the alphabet drill we set up!

Alphabet Drills by Nancy Gyes

Oh, how could I forget about Punch?! Punch got to play with his sister, Vamp, today whil the big boys played agility. After run thrus, I let him do a few tunnels and teeters (the bars were too high for jumping) which he executed naturally and beautifully :)

Punch chillin'

Program Dilemmas and Agility Title Tracking Apps...

So, I decided to post today because I am so very frustrated with myself and the situation. Shawty and I have been competing in USDAA for 3 years now and it took hard work and lots of money to get where we are now... 1 Q away from his AAD (Advanced Agility Dog title). That's a big deal for us. I sent entries for an October trial at LCDA in Charleston, SC and just realized I made a huge error. 

Let me back up and try to explain some things for non-agility folks: In USDAA (one of many agility associations in the US) dogs can run in 2 different programs. The Championship program is more competitive with faster qualifying times needed and some height differences in the A-Frame, etc. The Performance program is more focused on an individual dogs performance and usually has lower jump heights. In championship, dogs jump their shoulder height or higher vs. performance program dogs jump their shoulder height or lower. Plenty of people enter the performance program because they know it would be asking too much for their 17" tall dog to jump 22". The only thing about performance at this moment is that performance program is not available for those who want to go to Nationals. Those dogs can still get the Q's needed but they have to jump higher than they normally do in performance. But that's a whole different topic...

My dilemma is that I have switched Shawty to performance because I am not sure how old he is (at least 9 years old) and I feel like 12" is going to end his agility career sooner than it would at 8". We don't have plans to go to Nationals so there's no harm in giving his short legs a break. The problem is, to switch programs, you must move to the level you are in in Championship. Example: Shawty has his Advanced Jumpers Title and Advanced Standard title which are Championship program titles. He is able to move up to Performance level III in those 2 classes. He only has 1 Q in the other classes (Snooker, Gamblers) except for Pairs. If he had his Pairs Q, that would earn him his Advanced Agility Dog title and he could move to Performance level III in every class. Because he is missing that 1 Q, he has to stay in Advanced (Championship) Snooker, Pairs, Gamblers. He has not earned titles for Advanced/Level II Gamblers or Snooker. 
* a Q is a qualifying run. Certain criteria must be met during a run in order to qualify. Visit www.usdaa.com for more info.

Basically, we are stuck in 2 both programs until we get that Pairs Q. It sucks but I didn't feel like it was worth throwing all the other Q's away and starting back at Level II in Performance, which was also an option when I made the switch. The only reason I discovered this error was when I was reviewing our entries and trying out a new Title Tracker App on my iPhone/iPad. As I entered the results, I realized that we weren't out of the proverbial woods yet. Thank goodness I was able to catch it before it was too late but I am also left feeling deflated. Nothing is a worse feeling going into a trial for me than to realize that our future depends on a single Q. That if we don't get that Q we are stuck in LaLa Land until the next trial. I know every trial is a good experience and learning experience for us but it's so stressful knowing I have to continue to jump him at 12" part of the way and that I have to remember to enter him in both programs when I send entries in. 

I have attached screen shots of the Title Tracker app below. I really like how well it works as a quick reference. Most tracker apps want all the info from each class like the SCT and your dog's actual time on course, how many yards the course was, and that info can be helpful for those training competitively with big goals. However, this app just wants to know what class, what level, and if you Q'd. It does provide a Q rate and you are able to enter how many previous Q's you have with your dog. 


Left: shows number of 
qualifying runs needed to earn a program title.

Right: the area in the Title Tracker app where you can enter previously earned Q's that occurred before you started using the app. 

Left: A reference guide in the Title Tracker app, that can be 

used to see how many Q's are needed to earn each title.

Right: If you scroll down in the Title Tracker app under your dog's titles (above left window) you can see how many Q's are needed to earn a title in each class.

Old Habits...

After having such a great first class, and our instructor being out of town this week, I decided to set up some small jump sequences in the back yard to work on handling skills. I didn't have a goal other than to navigate which ever course we were running and choose the best handling strategy for the dogs. I also use those small courses to find weaknesses in our training. 

Well... we found our weaknesses but I fell into my old habit of just repeating the exercise instead of quitting and thinking of a way to work on strengthening that particular skill with my dog. Shawty and I struggle with rear crosses and that weakness revealed itself in the same spot every time on the course we ran. Monster and I were actually pretty in sync until we had to bypass one entrance of the tunnel for the other. All the dogs were sucked in lol. It could partly be that I suck at recreating courses from maps and there's handler error mixed in. 

But what I realized was it is crucial for me to video tape our training. I know, I know. Experienced handlers have probably done this for years. I'm sure some good handlers have enough self awareness to judge where they've gone wrong handling a course but NOT me. I get frustrated because I think I've changed my handling when I repeat the exercise but I haven't. 

Enter: Coach's Eye. It's an app for sports videos that is available on iPad, iPhone and I believe some Droids. You can import videos that were not recorded using Coach's Eye as well. What's great about it is that it gives you the ability to break your activity down and even put it in slow motion. There are lots of tools for writing and drawing on frames of the video to point out where you were late with a cross or a cue so that you can actually go back and correct your performance when you repeat the exercise. I tend to get frustrated when I can't get something right handling in agility and it makes my dogs shut down and stop having fun. It makes training become unpleasant for all of us. I don't want to continue with my old habits so I am going to start video recording our training. 

The next issue is that I don't have a videographer and the app is on my iPad and my iPhone. I have a tripod but needed an attachment to hold my iPhone. I could import the video like I mentioned earlier but that takes time that I don't want to spend. So, I have ordered an attachment that will hold my iPhone and allow me to put it on my tripod so that I can film our training. 

I am excited about this next adventure and I hope that it improves the way I train my dogs so that we can both have more fun training!

The Beginning...

Today marks the beginning of our training season and I have done a lot of thinking about "goals". I recently read an article by Sylvia Trkman about goals and how she doesn't set any. I thought to myself "well that's easy for her to say because she has all the tools she needs at her disposal (time, money, equipment, space) and she's a naturally optimistic person (I am not though I wish I were). Then I thought to myself "but I just spent all this time thinking about our goals and now I am supposed to just let it happen?". I hear so many contradictory theories in agility and dog training, in general, that I, as a beginner, start to feel confused. Where do you start when there are so many overwhelming choices. Some people start foundation training immediately and others wait until their puppies are older. 

I was able, this week, to think about what I want for myself and my dogs and what I want is to run fairly clean. To feel like we are working in unison and having fun doing it. I don't want to spend all the money I have trying to reach a likely unattainable goal. Some people might say I am being pessimistic and they might be right. But I believe that with optimism you must have realism. I work 8 hours a day, I have a boyfriend who has 2 children, I have 3 dogs, and I have lots of family that I don't see often even though they live within 2 hours of me. I could spend every free minute I have training and goal setting but that's not what I want. I envy those fellow competitors and friends who are able to go further than I will be able to but I have realized I don't want to be them. Not because I don't think they are happy but because it's not what makes me happy. I love my dogs and I love agility but I love other things too. 

I was overwhelmed with the amount of work I thought needed to be done before our first trial in October at LCDA in Charelston, SC. After going to train tonight at our instructor's place I realized that we all still had the tools we had before our 3 month hiatus. Monster weaved like he'd never stopped weaving and regained the level of confidence he had for the chute (which wasn't much to begin with but after getting stuck in the chute several times at our last trial he was shaken up a bit) and Shawty ran with more speed than he had before our break. Punch had more obstacle focus than I'd expected and was able to start learning a new piece of equipment that we don't have at home- the chute. I love seeing the strengths my dogs have in agility because they are so different. I can really see all the foundation work I was able to do with Monster in Daisy Peel's foundation class online and I love remembering how much natural drive my old JRT has (I thought he was slowing down but he's definitely still got some years going!). I love seeing Punch complete a few short sequences when I was wondering if we'd ever be able to get to that point (my pessimism at it's best, lol). 

Look, don't get me wrong, I believe in myself and my dogs but World Championships and Nationals are not on our list of realities or goals. I might like to go to regionals and if we ever happen to get further than that then we will have fun along the way but it's not on our list. I want to accomplish things between my dogs and myself and not between us and the rest of our agility competitors. We will support them, watch them, laugh and cry with them, but we will not compete against them. The journey is about what we can do together and that's how I want it. I want us to test our training and our strength as a team. I hope this all makes sense.

Anyway, the point of this post was to say that we're back! And in the right headspace :) We can't wait to see our friends at LCDA!