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RHR USDAA Trial Wrap Up

  • Feb. 8th, 2010 at 11:48 PM
Jo and the Boys
A fun weekend with great weather and good friends!  Of course the big excitement of the weekend was finishing Kirby's APD title.  This will probably be the only championship title Kirby and I will ever accomplish together since we aren't consistent enough to get all the double Q's in AKC.  This was a very special moment for us and I am very proud of my Kirby!  Kirby knew he had done something good and he was strutting around acting extra full of himself.  He is so cute!  In his other classes, I didn't even attempt the Gamble for Kirby as he would have had to take a line of jumps away from me and with a teeter between us.  Kirby loves teeters so I didn't want to frustrate him by trying to keep him off of it.  When the closing buzzer sounded, we were on the teeter and I just ran him out over the last jump to stop the time.  Kirby thought he had done marvelous and he had.  :-) In Standard we got a bar gift from the judge to earn a Q.  The bar came down very softly and the judge didn't notice until the ring crew reset it after the run and he was nice and let it go.  I think Kirby should always get a one bar handicap per run.  ;-)  I didn't enter him in PNS since he already has 2 Q's for this season.  We did run in PSJ and Kirby Q'd with a third place in both rounds (one bar down in each run).  In P3 relay our partner BJ had a refusal and Kirby had a bar but both dogs were still speedy enough to Q so that was nice.  I am so happy that Snooker was the first class of the day on Sunday as I really think that helped Kirby keep all his bars up since he was fresh.  In Standard on Sunday we had 2 bars down when I pushed for a front cross and then he missed his dog walk contact.  I scratched Kirby from Jumpers as he seemed like he was getting tired and I didn't want him to over do it.Read more... )

 

Kirby Accomplished Performance Dog!

  • Feb. 7th, 2010 at 7:48 PM
Kirby nationals jump
My little big man did it!  He kept all his bars up and we finished the Snooker run!  We did 3 out of 4 reds and took the tunnel the 6 direction each time to avoid any unnecessary bars.  In the closing, 3 through 5 A and B were jumps and when he finished that last jump and I got him into the 6 tunnel, I started tearing up.  Then he made his 7 weave entrance and finished in time!  I am so proud of my Kirby!  He is all heart and makes up for his body not really being made for agility by going out there and giving it his all.  I LOVE KIRBY!!!

We're Weaving!

  • Feb. 5th, 2010 at 9:42 PM
merc stand
I put the 4 poles in a straight line yesterday and Merc weaved!  We mainly worked at the top of the arc and the more we worked down the arc, the more confused he got.  We ended on a good note and stopped.  Tonight, Merc was much more confident and had good success working down the arc on the right side of the poles.  He had more trouble working down the arc on the left side but we had some success.  I added a jump when working at the top of the arc to make that part a bit harder and he did great.  He really likes to work the poles and even after we've moved on to another exercise, he seeks out the poles and offers to weave.  We'll stick with the four poles for the next session and continue working the arc with the jump and do more rear cross work.  Then we'll move to 6 poles.  He's getting confident enough with his weave behavior that I am able to encourage more speed from him and it doesn't pull him out of the poles.  I moved the teeter up to full height for the first time tonight and Merc had no problem with that, although he is trying to figure out the added height and where to ride it down.  I worked on getting him to move farther down the board before riding it down.  Then we did straight line "go on" work from the table, through the straight tunnel and over 2 jumps to a target plate.  This boy can move out and I'm really going to need a "go on" with him since I won't be keeping up with him and his long legs on straight stretches. 

Dog Related Book Reviews

  • Feb. 5th, 2010 at 1:25 PM
Jo and the Boys

I'm not a big reader, which would make my Dad shake his head in dismay if he was still alive since he was a reading specialist for much of his teaching career...  I enjoy reading but I don't take the time to just sit and read.  It is easier to turn on the TV and get a bunch of little things done around the house while watching.  So, the stack of books that I would like to read keeps growing.  I rarely read anything "deep", mostly just fun books, a few that are somewhat educational.  I will never be accused of being a "well-read" person.  I'm a simple girl. 

Read more... )

 


Thinking Good Snooker Thoughts...

  • Feb. 5th, 2010 at 10:11 AM
Kirby tire jump
We have a USDAA trial this weekend and Kirby needs one regular Snooker Q to finish his APD (performance ADCH).  We aren't the most consistent in Snooker so I'm not holding my breath, especially since this is our first trial since December.  Kirby has been crazy practicing agility lately; he can be such a nut. Kirby loves his agility.  Fingers crossed!

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Almost Weaving!

  • Feb. 3rd, 2010 at 9:19 PM
Merc front
I got lucky with the weather and got out to work Merc with the 2x2s before it started pouring rain.  My two sets of 2x2s are almost in a straight line.  I worked on crossing behind Merc more tonight while he "weaved" and he was OK with that.  He's still not 100% all the time from lower in the arc so I won't put all the poles in line just yet.  Getting so close though!  And he's trying so hard to get it right and having fun!  Exciting!  :-)

Kennel Cough Final Chapter (knock on wood)

  • Feb. 3rd, 2010 at 9:14 PM
Jo and the Boys
No coughing from Merc since Saturday and only a couple of brief coughs from Steam on Monday and nothing since then.  No coughing from Slider and Kirby at all and we are approaching the 2 weeks since first exposure so incubation period is nearing the end.  If they didn't get it right away from Merc or Steam then I think they won't get it at all - fingers crossed.  I just took Slider to agility class last night and didn't let any other dog drink from his water bowl and kept him away from other dogs as much as I could.  Slider was in heaven to get to have class time all to himself.  :-)  Obedience classes were cancelled this week again.  Given that it will have been a week since they finished their medication and finished coughing, I am feeling OK about taking Steam and Merc to the USDAA trial this weekend.  I think they are "safe" now to be around other dogs.

Progress

  • Jan. 31st, 2010 at 10:07 PM
Jo and the Boys
I love these practice trials where you get a late time slot. :-)  I slept in today, did a couple things around the house and then headed down to Fido's Farm at 11:30 am for the double-lift practice trial.  Slider and I don't really need to practice double lifts as I doubt we'll ever be trialing at that level, but it is fun to give it a try.  The open runs and the pro-novice runs had the same distance outruns but with the second group of sheep for pro-novice, they brought them over a bit farther so it was less of a dog-leg fetch.  Slider did his first go-bye outrun pretty darn nice!  He stayed out pretty much all the way; he came in a bit flat at the top but there wasn't much room at the top to get in behind perfectly.  He lifted OK and was pushy as usual but he did lie down when I really sounded like I meant it...  sigh...  I tried the whistle but I still can't whistle calmly (or better stated, I can't stay calm enough to whistle properly) so I gave up.  We made the fetch panels and Slider listened better than he has at previous trials, maybe we are getting somewhere!  I had him bring the sheep pretty much all the way to me and let them drift off so they wouldn't be a huge distraction for him.  I asked him to look back and it seemed like he spotted his sheep but his gaze kept flitting back and forth between his first set and trying to find his second set so I stepped forward to him and took him by the collar and asked him to settle and look for his sheep.  He seemed to spot them (thanks to Marvin who moved them around a bit to make them easier to spot) so I sent him on another go-bye (too much water in the lake to send away which would have been the proper thing to do in a double lift) and he started off quite nicely.  At the top of the field there is a bit of a dip where the dogs lose sight of their sheep and he started coming in too soon.  Just as I asked for a lie down is when he saw his sheep again.  He was a good boy and took the lie down and redirect very well.  The sheep were a bit reluctant to leave the grain pan but he did a good job and took the flank commands to get them through the other fetch panel.  Once he got the sheep to me, I sent him for his first group of sheep and got them together in front of me and then brought them around the post for a right hand drive.  Slider did OK with the drive, made the panels but was looking at me a bit much on the cross drive, just a slight lack of confidence.  I should have shed before trying to pen 6 sheep but I wanted it to be more like a regular trial where they seem to pen and then shed (although I don't think they always do that).  Anyway, we got most of the sheep penned and then one little lamb squirted out when I rushed it a bit, thinking they were all going in.  Lesson learned...  We played with the pen a bit more but then I moved on to the shed so we could practice that before our time was up.  We got a few sheds done (not sure if they were "proper") but I still haven't been able to convey with Slider the importance of driving off the two shed sheep, he wants them all back together, something to work on at our next lesson with Karen.  

After our run, we went to practice more in Chicken field.  Slider really is improving with more practice, imagine!  ;-)  I need to come up with a different away whistle, I don't like the one I'm doing as it doesn't come out easily.  More practice needed as I drive to work.  I only brought Slider today as he needed some best boy time.  Although I love all my dogs very much, I miss all the road trips alone with Slider, that was a very special time for us.  

When I got home, it was Merc's turn for progress. We moved on to the 1 and 7 o'clock 2x2 stage (stage 7) with the two bases competition-spaced.  We'll stay at this stage for a couple of days.  Something in Merc's brain has clicked on and he is starting to have a better understanding about his job and he is really trying hard.  He didn't need any food rewards to keep him motivated today, he worked great for just the tossed toy and tug.  Previously I only played with the 2x2s with Steam and Slider who already knew how to weave so it is interesting teaching a dog to weave this way.  I was very encouraged today.  

2x2 Compromise

  • Jan. 29th, 2010 at 9:39 PM
Jo and the Boys
I used a combination of tugging and food tossing to work Merc with the 2x2s this evening.  I tugged with him, sent him to the poles, tossed a hunk of string cheese on the reward line, then called him back to me for a rousing game of tug.  This seems to be working well for us so far, Merc is much more motivated to work for food rewards.  It had sprinkled a bit so no contact work but we did work on jumping with positional cues plus weaves for the other boys.  Although the agility break was nice, we also all missed playing agility together.

A Little Bit of Raw

  • Jan. 29th, 2010 at 2:50 PM
Jo and the Boys

I have thought about feeding a raw diet to my dogs but:
a. I do not want to have to prepare it myself which would be the most economical but what a pain in the ass and it would take time I don't have.
b. I can't afford to feed a commercially prepared raw diet to all the dogs (wish I could).
c. Traveling with dogs on a raw diet seems like a pain in the rear when you don't have your own RV since you are dependent on motels that have refrigerators in the room and then stuck trying to keep things cool while on the road. 

Recently on the Performance Corgi email list, diets were being discussed and a friend of mine (yes, you Shelley) shared the diet she uses.  She uses the same dry food I do (Orijen) but adds a prepared raw diet to it (Nature's Variety).  That got me thinking about adding raw again so I started looking around at the various prepared diets and decided I did like the convenience of the Nature's Variety medallions.  I don't mind handling raw meat but if I don't have to deal with that mess then so much the better.  The medallions I can spoon out of the bag to put in another container to thaw in the 'frig and then spoon the thawed nuggets into the food when I am preparing it.  I am starting out by decreasing the dry food a little and adding one medallion per meal for the BCs and 1/2 per meal for Kirby.  After we see how they do and how much their weights change (I'm glad I just weighed them all last week!), I'll figure out approx. how much more this is costing me and if it isn't too bad then I can increase the raw a bit, or not.  By keeping them on some dry, it won't be a drastic change in their diet to drop the raw for a few days when traveling (if needed). 

I usually mix a bit of water and canned pumpkin in their diets to make them feel a bit fuller but I may go back to frozen green beans, or rotate between the two.  I used to use green beans but got out of the habit when my old girl Chelsea got sick and wasn't digesting them so they came through pretty much whole, just when a certain perfect tri puppy was going through the poop eating phase...  so we switched to pumpkin so there were no more special treats to be found in the poop.  OK, sorry, TMI.  :-)

Anyway, so far, no big surprise, the dogs love having the added raw.  We just started with this new diet this week.  The cat is looking very jealous so I may start giving him some too. 

One funny thing from the diet discussion was when people would say, they fed XXX brand of kibble and their dogs do just fine on it and it is less expensive to buy.  However, the amount they fed their dogs was 2-3 times as much as those who were feeding more expensive kibble so they weren't really saving that much at all.  I didn't bother pointing that little issue out but I wondered if they would get it.  Oh well.

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Kennel Cough Part 2

  • Jan. 29th, 2010 at 10:34 AM
Jo and the Boys
So far, so good, Kirby and Slider have not started coughing.  Merc is mostly done coughing with just a few hacks every now and then.  Steam has a couple of good coughing bouts each day but seems to be feeling OK.  They are both happy I put away the thermometer.  ;-)  I did some training with all the boys last night, the first time this week, other than working on the balance discs.  Merc and Steam did OK but they were both a little bit different than usual so I don't think they feel great yet.  I kept both of their training sessions shorter than usual.  I need to keep working on Merc's 2x2s so if it is dry tonight, we'll probably do a bit more work but not too much. 

Edit later in the PM - I haven't heard Merc cough at all since I got home and his training went well.  Steam really wanted to work but he kept coughing so his training time was cut short.  Poor boy.  :-(

Happy Boys!

  • Jan. 28th, 2010 at 10:48 PM
Jo and the Boys
The agility break for Kirby, Slider and Steam has been declared over so the boys got to do some actual agility tonight for the first time since the RAT trial before Christmas.  Time to get them ready for the RHR USDAA trial in a week.  The boys were ecstatic to get to play agility again!  They gave me some of the fastest and most accurate contacts I've seen from them, it will be interesting to see if we can keep that going.  I love how much the boys enjoy the game.  Merc got to work too.  He was a little weird about his 2x2s tonight, he really wasn't that into it until I gave up on tossing the toy as a reward and started tossing cheese, then he decided to really start working at it.  I think he is part corgi, well at least his stomach and ears, definitely not in the leg department.  We'll still keep working with the toy too but I am for whatever motivates him the most to problem solve his way through this method. Trying to get that all figured out wasn't a great way to start our training session but he bounced back and did a nice job with his 2o2o on the full contacts.  I am really, really happy with the contact training method I used this time, I think it has given him a good understanding of what his job is which gives him the confidence to do his job quickly.  Still keeping my fingers crossed that I don't mess it up somehow.

Travel Plans (or the lack there of)

  • Jan. 28th, 2010 at 4:26 PM
Jo and the Boys
With the announcement that the USDAA nationals would be in Kentucky this year, initially I thought it might be a fun trip to combine going to Kentucky with the BCSA nationals in St. Louis.  I checked into getting the time off from work and found out I could get the time off.  I even mentioned the trip to Russ to gauge his response (somewhat positive).  Then my enthusiasm for such a big trip waned and is now gone.  I have been to the USDAA nationals twice and the BCSA nationals once and I enjoyed my time at both of them, but I just can't get my enthusiasm up to go this year to either of them.  After deciding not to make that big trip, I started thinking about a smaller trip, maybe Bay Team regionals over Labor Day weekend and then hit the AKC Eugene agility trials on the way home.  That idea barely lasted a day.  I don't know if I'm burned out or what but we have so many trials in this area that I can't get excited about traveling to shows.  So, my one trip (farther than 2 hours) this year will be to Prineville for the BAAD USDAA trial as I really like going to that trial.  I'm bummed that Russ can't go with me this year but he can't get the time off.  I would also like to go to the WAG Brownsville trial but my co-worker has already asked for that time off.  I'm not ruling out a Labor Day weekend trip yet, we'll just have to wait and see how I feel.  I am curious to see where the AKC nationals are going to be in 2011, maybe I can get excited about that.  And then we will go to the BCSA nationals in Albany in 2011.  Who knows, maybe in a couple of years I'll feel like making that trip to Kentucky.  Never say never.

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Kennel Cough

  • Jan. 27th, 2010 at 4:23 PM
Jo and the Boys
Kennel cough is something you hear about but hope it never happens to your dogs.  Well, it has now happened to my dogs.  On Thursday, 21 January, Merc started coughing like he was hacking up a hairball with a retching sound at the end.  Odd but given that he's always eating something he shouldn't, I thought he might have scratched his throat.  He seemed to be feeling OK and was certainly eating normally.  When we did some training on Friday night, he was fine but at the end of his training session he went under a jump bar instead of over and started coughing a bit so I ended his session.  He wasn't coughing very much really so I didn't really think kennel cough as I thought a dog would cough more persistently if they had that, and Merc was just coughing every now and then.  And none of the other dogs were coughing, yet...  I had already made vet appointments for Kirby and Merc to have their annual exams on Monday the 25th so at least I could get him checked out then.

On Sunday, as I was taking Slider and Steam out to the field for their practice gathers at Fido's, Steam coughed, but he was also pulling on his leash so I thought he had just choked himself a bit.  He didn't cough again while we were working.  Then Sunday night when we were home he started coughing more.  He was very cozy Sunday night in bed and wanted more attention than usual (even though he is quite the bed bug), and more coughing, sounding just like Merc.  Great.  Something is definitely going on.

Our vet appointment on Monday wasn't until later in the afternoon.  I busied myself working around the house, getting caught up on things.  I had hoped to do some training before the vet appointment since it was such a nice day but I ran out of time.  I put all the dogs in the van and drove to the vet clinic.  Merc seemed fine all day and was his usual cheerful and busy self.  I told Dr. Evelyn about his coughing and how Steam had started and she presumes kennel cough, although of course Merc doesn't cough at all while we are there.  However, Dr. Evelyn took his temperature and it was 104 degrees!  Yikes!  I had thought about taking his temperature at home but forgot about it since he seemed to be feeling fine.  Kirby's temperature was normal and he got his exam and foot x-rays done.  Merc got his exam but we certainly won't be giving him his booster vaccines until he is feeling better.  Dr. Evelyn sent us home with antibiotics for Merc and Steam.  I took Steam out of the van so we could check his temperature and he was normal.  Poor Merc!  I'm so glad I ran out of time for training as the big goober would probably have worked for me even though he was not well. 

Since we haven't been trialing this past month, my dogs haven't been near that many dogs.  And I don't remember any coughing dogs.  As I pondered about the source, I emailed my obedience instructor to let her know why we wouldn't be coming to obedience class this week.  Well, it turns out that her elderly dog Sparky had developed a cough.  Her vet thought that Sparky just had an old dog type of cough, not kennel cough.  Then Linda's other dogs developed the cough (at the same time Merc did) so then she realized what it was.  Merc loves Sparky and likes to say hi to him when we are at class which explains why Merc would have gotten it first.  All obedience classes were canceled this week and the training building is being disinfected. 

So far, knock on wood, Slider and Kirby have not started coughing.  I told them if they were going to get it they needed to start soon so they'd be done before the RHR USDAA trial in a week and a half.  Merc's temperature was back to normal yesterday and Steam's was still normal.  Merc is coughing less.  Poor Steam is still working through it. 

Here are a couple of informative websites about kennel cough:
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/kennel_cough.html
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2096&aid=452 

Merc and Steam have had productive coughs like in the video but certainly not what I would characterize as "frequent fits of coughing" or "lots of coughing" which is why I didn't think it was kennel cough at first.  The other possibility is that it could be canine flu but I would think they would feel more ill if they had that and they really do seem fairly normal and are both eating well. 

For now we are taking it easy and trying to keep them somewhat quiet.  No training for another couple of days.  We need to let this run its course and then we can get back to business.

Kirby's Foot

  • Jan. 27th, 2010 at 3:38 PM
Beach Kirby

Back on 18 January, I wrote about our visit to the dogs' chiro vet, Dr. Salewski, who noted that the outer toe on Kirby's right front foot showed evidence of a chronic sprain.  This past Monday, 25 January, I took Kirby in for his annual exam and I talked to our regular vet Dr. Evelyn about x-raying Kirby's foot.  She agreed that it wouldn't hurt to see what was going on.  On the x-rays you could see some soft tissue swelling but nothing major going on with that toe, phew!  In fact his right elbow and wrist all looked good, except those little corgi bow legs, which are normal for an achondroplastic dog, but they still look so weird on x-rays.  Dr. Evelyn called with the radiologist's report last night and he noted the soft tissue swelling and mild arthritic changes (but not bad for an almost 10 year old dog).  So, good news, not a career ending injury, we'll just need to take care of him and hope he doesn't keep tweaking that toe.  And at least I know what he is tweaking now.


Practice Gathers

  • Jan. 24th, 2010 at 8:01 PM
Jo and the Boys
Fido's Farm held practice gathers today which means they had someone holding the sheep on a pan of grain so you could practice your outrun and lift like you would see in a trial situation.  This is something we don't do nearly enough of since I'm often practicing on a day when there aren't many other people herding plus I'm not good about asking for help.  So I signed both Slider and Steam up for the practice gathers.  Steam has never taken sheep off a set out person and dog and I thought it might be difficult for him.  I was wrong.  I did fairly close outruns with him so I could be close to help him.  He didn't need no stinkin' help.  I sent him away, he did a lovely outrun, stayed behind the set out dog, came in for his lift, he laid down when asked and calmly lifted his sheep off the grain like the dog and person weren't there.  I was talking to the set out person afterwards and she said Steam lifted his sheep calmly and authoritatively.  Steam's work was a very pleasant surprise.  After he fetched the sheep to me, I tried to work on his driving as we took the sheep to the exhaust pen without much success.  Steam is a gathering fool; we have lots of driving work ahead of us.  We swapped turns gathering with 2 other people so both Slider and Steam got several practice gathers.  I had Steam gather from both directions and he continued to do well, nice outruns, calm lifts.  I was being a bit mechanical with the lifts and asking for lie downs which often meant I asked for one at the wrong time (since my timing sucks on that) when the dog was still trying to balance and then I was stuck on getting the lie down.  I need to work on my timing and be more flexible, rather than just sticking with my plan.  

I started Slider with an away outrun and it was beautiful; he listened well to my lie down and lifted well.  On the next outrun to the go-bye side we had a bit more of a battle as instead of flanking around obstacles like panels and pens, Slider usually chooses to flank inside and then slice.  He took the first lie down/correction and corrected his path a bit.  As suggested by Karen during our last lesson, I gave him another lie down to push the point home and he ignored me.  I ran in and called him off the sheep and back to me.  Then I sent him again and his attitude was better with no slicing so I let him finish.  Today's practice gathers were just what we needed!  Slider continued to do fairly well.  For our last gather, I let him do a longer one and with my sucky depth perception, I didn't realize that although it looked like he had gone deep enough, he then came in a bit flat.  He was probably anticipating the normal draw to the gate but with the sheep on grain, that draw wasn't as strong so he needed to flank around more.  I was too late in realizing what he was doing so I didn't correct it soon enough.  This is all goes hand in hand with Slider not feeling his sheep very well.  We'll keep working on it.  

After the practice gathers I took the boys out to Chicken field to do a bit more work.  We worked the triangle exercises that Karen gave us and worked on whistles.  I did a bit more driving with Steam but not a whole lot.  Both dogs had already worked quite a bit so I didn't want to over do it.  I ended up with the corner exercise where we put the sheep in the corner and I ask Steam to come up close to them.  I think it really has helped Steam get over his apprehension about working close to the sheep.  He also did much better about flanking between the fence and the sheep; he's still reluctant but he will do it and will lie down and not just dash through to get away from the pressure.  Slowly but surely, he is gaining confidence and turning into a sheep dog!

Encouraged

  • Jan. 23rd, 2010 at 9:45 PM
merc stand
Friday night, I got brave and finally added Merc's 2o2o to the full contacts.  I had him get on the down ramp of the A frame and asked for a 2o2o a few times and then had him do the whole A frame to a 2o2o and bam, there it was.  I jack-potted the crap out of it and did it a few more times with more jack pots.  Once he had too much speed coming over and couldn't stop quite in time but he tried.  I didn't make a big deal out of that one, just put him back on and asked for a touch.  I started out with his touch plate but after a couple of times I removed it and he maintained his nose touch to the ground.  Sweet!  Then we moved over to the dog walk and repeated the process; a few 2o2o from just the down ramp, then a full dog walk to a touch - lovely!  More jack pots, removed the touch plate, good nose touches to the ground, good speed over the contact and down ramp - I am very happy!  For both the A frame and the dog walk I used the hoops on the loading end to make sure he doesn't get in the habit of leaping over any up contacts, plus I don't want him slamming into the up side of the A frame.  We also worked on his 2x2s and a little bit of jumping.  Slider and Steam worked on their obedience.  I worked with Kirby to shape him placing his back feet on a bucket lid.  I need to do this with Slider and Steam as well so I can start shaping them to put their back feet on the balance disks.  I had already worked on this with Merc during his puppy training so he is ahead of his brothers in working on the disks.  I was going to work with the boys after work today but when I got home and just didn't feel like it. There is always tomorrow!

More Merc Agility Training

  • Jan. 20th, 2010 at 1:22 AM
merc stand
Some of our agility training over a couple of days.  Each time I watch this I add more to my list of things we still need to work on.  I guess it is about time to add the 2o2o to the full contacts.  I keep putting this off but the time has come.  I just hope I don't mess it up.  Wouldn't you know the dog I don't even try to do running contacts is giving me nice full length running of the contacts?  Yes the hoops are there but even the hoops didn't stop Steam from leaping his contacts and smashing into the hoops.  BUT, I really don't want to mess with all the repetitions it takes to do running contacts so Merc will be doing 2o2o on the dog walk and A frame with the hope of a quick release/modified running on the A frame eventually.  I'm liking how he is doing the teeter but not sure if that performance will hold up on a full height teeter.  He's so big, it doesn't take him long to tip the teeter so if he continues to stay in stride and shift his weight back a bit to get the tip and then run off, I kind of like that. We shall see!


Merc's early 2x2 training

  • Jan. 20th, 2010 at 1:04 AM
Merc front
I just filled out Merc's first agility trial entry.  Guess I'd better get cracking with the training!  ;-)    The trial isn't until the end of March (he'll be almost 18 months old then) so I have some time.  If he isn't ready then I'll pull his entry.  I'm excited though!  Here is some video of his beginning 2x2 work, we have a long way to go.  We're definitely not on the 12 day plan but hopefully in 2 months we'll be able to get 'er done.


Training Daze

  • Jan. 18th, 2010 at 9:40 PM
Jo and the Boys
So nice to have another nice day to train!  I feel like I'm cramming though, trying to take advantage of the good weather.  Today I worked on Merc's jumping and a bit more 2x2s.  I took more video but will have to work on that tomorrow, I'm busy watching 24 again tonight. :-)   I took a few photos of Merc today, unfortunately I didn't think about it until the sun was gone so I didn't get many good ones.  Merc is 15 months old now.  My agility life flashed before my eyes today when Merc jumped into my leg and my knee bent backwards a bit.  It hurt for a bit but now it is fine, a bit stiff but OK.  I'll be taking some Repair Gold along with Kirby to make sure.  Lesson learned, don't let a pony smack into you!