Polly has running contacts!

I was very happy with Apollo's running contacts this weekend! There's some more work to do because he's leaping a bit from the end of the dogwalk and he's not as far down into the yellow as I would like on the a-frame. But overall he did very well and I'm sure if I keep up the practice he'll only get better. He didn't Q on Saturday due to a bar in each course but he got a QQ on Sunday.

If I ever got another boxer there is no doubt that I would do running contacts with him from the beginning (hint, hint Kay).

Countywide DTC - Apollo Sat Std from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.

Countywide DTC - Apollo Sun Std from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.

Icon also had a good weekend, going 4/4. I was very happy with his JWW run on Sunday. He didn't even look a the tunnel after the triple (which many dogs took) and really read my deceleration on the turn to the weaves. Most dogs overshot the weaves and had to come back in to them.

Countywide DTC - Icon Sun JWW from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.

And here is my run with Killy. I ran her in JWW on Sat and Sun. I don't have the Saturday run on tape, but it was a very amusing disaster :). I thought we did pretty well on Sunday (aside from taking that aforementioned off-course tunnel after the triple).

Countywide DTC - Killy Sun JWW from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.

Only 5 more days until I get my yard back

The old couple who live behind me watch their daughter's dogs for 3 weeks every summer. The first few years I lived there it was only this big, sweet, fat golden mix who would occasionally whine at the fence when I was outside to ask for some attention. But in the last 2 years they added a sheltie into their family.

This Sheltie is the most aggressive fence fighter I have ever seen in my live. I mean, when the people next door to me kept a pitbull bitch and her puppies for 8 weeks in their back yard it wasn't even this bad (but that was still pretty bad... the bitch was very protective of her puppies).

But this dog... oh my. The first 2 weeks she was here I was determined to ignore her barking and lunging at the fence. I'm so amazed at how good my dogs are when he does it. They will rush to the fence at the first outburst, but I just have to call them back and they ignore the beast from then on even though he continues to bark, rush and bite at the fence. It's a wooden privacy fence so aside from a few little knots and holes you really can't see through to the other side.

But I let the dogs out to the backyard on Friday after work before leaving for the trial and I noticed that a board of the fence was crooked. The Sheltie broke the board totally off of the fence! I'm sure he could get through the space left too. I stood up on the fence and looked to the other side... all along the fence the Sheltie had torn huge chunks of wood out fence boards and shredded the fence posts. I was very shocked! His mouth must be full of slivers. At least I can hope.

I stood there looking over the fence long enough that the old man came out of the house with his walker to find out what I was doing. He was stone deaf and wouldn't move more than a pace away from his door so we spent about 30 minutes in a conversation with me SCREAMING at the top of my lungs (not because I was pissed - which I was, but because he couldn't hear a word I was saying) and him saying, "WHAT? HUH? WHAT??"

But essentially during that long, inefficient conversation I found out that the dogs are going back next Saturday and I told him he needs to keep his stupid sheltie (I didn't say that exactly, but I probably could have since he couldn't hear me anyway) inside or supervised in the evenings because my dogs will be outside with me. I have no clue if he really understood what I was saying, but nodded and agreed.

So I'll try to fix my fence tonight and see if he keeps the stupid dog inside when I'm home. But if that sheltie gets into my yard it won't be pretty. My dogs are too nice to do anything to it, but I'm sure not.

Field Trip (the graphic novel)

I thought I'd take some photos of Rampage after we practiced. I got a couple of him, but then things got a bit crazy.

Rampage was happy to look pretty for the camera. At first....


He even showed off his artfully tousled hair that male celebrities spend thousands of dollars on hair products to replicate. Rampage's is all natural though. He only adds the occasional cat puke and goose poop to enhance his shine and volume.


But then Apollo grabbed the toy and started teasing him. Rampage wasn't about to put up with that! Look at Apollo dangling the toy right in front of him, only to snatch it away before he could grab it! Poor puppy.


But Rampage is younger and faster than Apollo


And he got that toy back right quick.


However, he made a fatal mistake...

"I'm safe in the tunnel!" Rampage thinks to himself.


"Or AM I???"


"EEK!" Rampage screams. "I guess not!"


(Apollo laughs manically)

Field Trip!

There is a relatively new agility field about 5 minutes from my house. It's been there for maybe a year now and I've always thought about renting it, but never got around to inquiring the owner about it (although I do know her pretty well!). I finally got around to asking her and decided to go with a monthly membership so I can go anytime. Because I go early it's important to keep the noise down so I will only take 2 dogs at a time (probably not Icon and Rampage together for a loooooooong time).

Since Icon has a big practice this afternoon, I took Apollo and Rampage for our first trip to Swiss Park this morning. Apollo isn't in a class anymore, so all of our running contact training occurs in my back yard on the plank. With a trial coming up this weekend I thought it would be good to get him on real equipment and try to get some sequencing in. Putting him on an A-frame would probably help too!

I started both dogs on just the plank set on a 16" table. It's amazing how easy it is to go lower! Both dogs found it ridiculously easy. When I moved it up Apollo went back to his trotting dogwalk performance. Hopefully that will improve as he gets more training on the full dw.

I also tried Rampage on the full sized dogwalk for the first time. I don't think he is ready to move to the full dw in general, but I thought I might as well see what he does with it. The first time he was pretty unsure, the 2nd and 3rd time it looked like he wanted to stop in 2o/2o (maybe the dw reminded him of the travel plan I'm doing foundation work with?). I thought the rest of them looked great though.

And then I put Apollo on the a-frame to see what he would do and he was awesome! He went really deep into the yellow for all repetitions. Will this hold up in competition this weekend? I'm excited to see (but realistic enought to know it probably won't). I haven't done any work on turns at all with him yet, so my fingers are crossed for courses that go straight after all contacts! If not I might make up my own course for him.

The videos... When I say "run!" (my new contact word) I sound like a little yappy dog, especially when I'm working with Rampage. Weird.

080609 - Apollo running dw from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.

080609 - Rammy running dw from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.

080609 - Apollo running a-frame from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.

Seeing clearly

I got a new monitor at work and OMG it's amazing! I went from a monitor that is probably 6 years old (young for border collie, old for a boxer or a monitor :) ) to a 24" widescreen. And here I thought my 22" widescreen at home was awesome. I might just have to upgrade... But I spend so much time on the computer at work I think I deserve it :).

I'm very happy with how Apollo's running dogwalk is coming along. I think I have finally "broke" his 2o/2o. He seems tentative at the start of the dw, which I think is because it's not the most stable piece of architecture around... but he picks up speed a the bottom and runs right on through. I have a 20" jump set out beyond the dw and the t&t beyond that.

073109 - Apollo running dw from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.

I'm still having fun with Rampage on the dw. He's also doing pretty well, but some that he does are really good while others are just ok. I guess I should just reward for the really good ones. I have the jump out before the t&t for him as well, but it's just at 8". I haven't gone back to the running a-frame ground work with him in a while. With Silvia's running dw method, one of the purported benefits is "you get the running a-frame for free." I'm hoping that if I do enough running dw stuff with him before adding the stop to it we will get that a-frame freebie! But if not, he has the a-frame box work foundation to the point where we're ready to put it on the a-frame. So I always have plan B. And I still have 3 or 4 months before I introduce him to the a-frame so I might even come up with a plan C or D during that time.

073109 - Rampage running dw from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.

And here is Icon and then Rampage on the Bosu Ball. Icon is SO much more coordinated. Poor Rammy. Since he is so big, and is really becoming more mature mentally, it's so easy to forget that he is still just a puppy and doesn't know where all of his body parts are yet. It's so funny to see him change over time. One day he moves with confidence and grace and the next day he's tripping over his own feet and stepping on his tail. He's such a funny guy.

Icon and Rampage on the bosu from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.

Blast from the past

Icon's first two agility runs ever! He looks silly jumping 20". Who would have though he'd be a future WT member?

Jump Start

This is just a jump start update to keep me from continuing to stagnate. It's been a while since my last post and I find the longer I wait, the harder it is to post.

2 weekends ago we went to Carmel for an agility trial and I had such a great time. The location was gorgeous and the weather was wonderful. Of course my face got fried the first day because it was sunny but cool enough that I didn't think about sunscreen. I woke up in the middle of the night to get a drink and when I looked in the mirror I almost screamed thinking a demon from hell was looking back at me. My face was bright red, it almost glowed.

Icon had a great weekend. He qualified in everything and won everything except for snooker and gamblers where he finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. Apollo's weekend wasn't quite as good since our 'running contacts' are now getting to the phase where he is missing more often than hitting. But we're practicing a lot at home (well we're practicing the DW, not really the a-frame) so I'm hoping that it will eventually translate to trials! But if not, that's fine.

Apollo has actually improved in leaps and bounds on his running dw over the last week or so. I've had a very hard time 'breaking' his 2o/2o behavior but lately he's been running through (not even trotting!). I now have a jump after the dogwalk and before the t&t. I'm going to try a tunnel next, although tunnels aren't very reinforcing to Apollo since he has to duck to go through.

Rampage is also still working on the running DW. He's doing really well but some days he'll miss few, or at least be very high in the yellow. It's not that he's leaping from the end, his stride just carries him over the yellow at times. I'm still sure that I will not be keeping with the running dw for competition and I'm continuing to train the groundwork for a 20/2o, but the running dw is still so much fun!

My plank is up to 40" right now. I'm 8" away to the full DW plank height but I have no clue how I can get there and keep the plank stable. I'm very tempted to buy a full sized dogwalk (and came very close to it!) but I really don't have enough room in my backyard for it... Anyone want to buy the house next door we can take down the fence and have a huge back yard?

I knew this was going to happen! My jump start became a novella. And I didn't even talk about my new godpuppy, Kahve! Or post photos! Well, next time :) He's adorable in a way that only boxer puppies can be, though.