First of all, I just wanted to let you know that Boss and Omi are showing steady progress in Silvia’s Foundations class…..thanks to the great start they got with you. Thank you!! 😀

The warm weather has finally arrived. Our training sessions will have to be shorter now, particularly for Lyric who doesn’t tolerate heat well at all.

As you suggested, I moved the cone a bit on Omi’s DW exit. I think the transition needs to be gradual, as he is quite happy to exit from the side of the contact. 🙁

We also did a little more tunnel work with obstacle discrimination. I’ve never really used a soft turn cue up to now but would like to begin teaching it. Certainly we should have for DW exits. Also AKC courses often require tunnel end discrimination. None of my dogs pulls well to a tunnel entry on course, even if I cue it on time. If I’m behind, I have no way to cue the entry at all.

Thanks, Polona!

Because I’m working on foundations with Ice and Boss, I thought I would use the same setup to review a little obstacle discrimination and cth. Well clearly it wasn’t a review for Omi lol!! I guess we can work on this for a while 😀 I’m really happy with their attitude, though. Omi is always pretty happy, but Lyric was very unenthusiastic about agility for quite a while. She’s having a blast with these games….and is super-proud of herself! Normally she won’t work for a ball and has never really interacted with a Hol-ee roller. Today it was her new best friend.

I think the cone makes a huge difference for Omi. He popped the weaves twice, but as soon as I introduced the cone he was fine.

“About pooping – yes, I imagined that was the case, some dogs are really poop-shy. But try to take her out an hour before the run and really make her active. When the system gets going they have to poop – that is why she is doing it in the weaves. And if you want you can let me know before the next trial and we can make a feeding and walking schedule and see if we can make the right combo for a poop free runs.”

Thanks, I would like to try that. Sadly, I don’t think we’re likely to have trials any time soon. Bermuda never had more than 4 trial weekends a year, and since COVID we have none. We used to travel to trials in the US about every 6 weeks. It’s a short flight to Boston or Philadelphia – I could leave from work late Friday and fly back Monday morning. Now COVID restrictions on international travel would make that impossible. My biggest worry, though, is the requirement for testing before flying home. Although we’re both vaccinated, there’s always the risk of testing positive and facing 14 days of isolation in the US…….pretty disastrous if you’re traveling with dogs.

Thanks, Polona!

Omi started out with his usual flying leaps off the DW. I asked the helper/videographer to move beyond the end of the DW to remind Omi what hits are. The helper then moved back to the side and dropped the ball if Omi successfully hit and wrapped the cone. Unfortunately I can’t really see if he hits without turning into him, but happily he was mostly hitting. 🙂 By the end he was starting to get the idea of the wrap……and we were even able to add a jump and static toy. Next time I might put the ball in a dish so he can find it 🙂

I didn’t do a lot do weave work with Omi this session. I need to remember to ask for an obstacle after the weaves. Omi has less independence than Lyric in part because he’s totally fixated on his red ball.

Some entries are still hard for Lyric, but I think she’s gaining more confidence. By the end of this session she wasn’t bothered by weaving toward the side of the tunnel. My cues need improvement, but Lyric was a good girl!

With regard to pooping in the ring……Lyric hates to potty at trials, in new places, where other dogs have potted, etc. It’s difficult to get her to poop before a run…..but even if she does, she still may poop in the ring if she’s stressed. That of course stresses her – and me – more and it spirals from there.

Thanks, Polona!

Lyric loved the weave-cone game! The video angle wasn’t optimal, but I was layering the jump in the foreground. It didn’t bother her at all 🙂 In trials she’s not nearly this consistent in the weaves.

I tried the target with Omi. As usual, he was very happy with his efforts 🙂 ……me, not so much! Despite months of mat work, I don’t believe Omi ever understood the target. He learned to stride the down ramp correctly with the stride regulator, but I don’t think the “target” as such ever really registered with him.

Finally today we had a short break in the weather, so we took the opportunity to head to the training field.

I did some rear cross/turn away work with Ice, then tried incorporating it into the first sequence. We had a spin on the jump, but he got the rear into the tunnel :).

With Boss I ran the full sequence again to try to smooth things out. I think it was more fluent this time.

We haven’t done weave poles in a while and it shows! We had closed the channel, but both boys had trouble staying in the poles. Once I reopened it a bit, they did much better.

Sorry for posting again with waiting for a reply to the last post……but I wanted to share this.

Today we had a fun match – the first local agility event in over a year. Ice and Boss have never been to a class and have never run agility outside our own training field. They have never run with other dogs around (except Omi and Lyric). I didn’t have high expectations, but was pleasantly surprised 😀

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Maureen Burke.

Thanks, Polona!

I ran one of the longer sequences with both Ice and Boss. We need to work on independence and crosses, but they both tried hard.

We also worked on the turning drills and stays. They are both much better in the house – lots of distractions outdoors 🙂 Right turns are hard for Boss