KC Festival:
Last Thursday I headed on down to Long Buckby (about 30mins from the Kc Fest venue) with De and Roxxi, we were staying with a friend which meant we had home comforts after a day at the show which was bliss. The weather was lovely Fri, Sat & Sunday although it was a little warm for the dogs i think. Not really a lot to report on the results side De did a cracking round in the Grade 5 Agility on the Saturday but i dropped my arm at the end which resulted in him dropping the last pole, Demon is working really nicely unfortunately i am either calling to late or dropping arms or commanding to early/ late either way the problems are definitely my fault. We managed a clear in the last run of the day, Sunday, in the Grade 5 agility, although i held his contacts. We came away with a respectable 9th which, considering the held contacts, i didn't think was bad.
I decided with the weather being very warm at times that i would invest in a Cool Coat for the dogs i have see a lot of dogs wearing these and the feed back on them is brilliant and i have heard a lot of people recommending them. So off i went to purchase one, when i got to the stall i realized Hurtta had brought out a new cool coat these came in blue and purple and blue. I really liked these and they seemed to cover the dogs better than the previous model so i chose to get one of these new ones. I must say i recommend these coats and will be getting Roxxi a purple one too (although she needs the size below.)
Roxxi's Results:
So after a nice weekend away at the KC Festival i was please to come home to be told that Roxxi's Hip/Elbow Scores were back....we i was please but nervous at the same time. I now had to make an appointment to go and discuss the results with my vet.
I have been there this afternoon (Wednesday) and am happy to say her Hips are 7/4 = 11 and her Elbows are 0/0 :-) So i'm a happy bunny now and feel better for knowing they're not bad.
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Monday, 8 August 2011
Where to start??......
Well we're now into good old August think my last post was May sometime (bad blogger!)
Cannot remember everything but here goes:
Demon:
Cannot remember everything but here goes:
Demon:
Demon has gone from strength to strength these last few months, sadly, the same cannot be said for my handling.
Demon has had numerous places since my last blog
- Waldridge Fell - Grade 4 Jumping 2nd
- Hinckley - Grade 4 Jumping 6th
- Hinckley Grade 4 Agility 1st!! Taking us up to Grade 5 :-)
In June we traveled to Newton Heath where De really showed what a star he is and came 2nd in the KC Novice Olympia Combined 3-5 Agility....This qualifies us for the semi finals in September at The Birmingham Championship Show.
Video below:
Thanks to Lucy Osborne for this video.
After this i have tried to keep him in Grade 5 as i think we will both benefit from the time and experience, as i seem to have lost the handling part of my brain lol!! De has still achieved some good places despite having me as his handler :-)
- Tuffley - Grade 5 Agility 5th
- Weardale - Grade 5 Jumping 2nd
- Dog Vegas - Grade 5 Jumping 2nd
- Derbyshire - Helter Skelter Combined 5-7 3rd
- Derbyshire - KC Novice Olympia Combined 3-5 Agility 2nd!!!
I'm am very proud of him....which is a bit of an understatement lol!! Lets just hope i can sort myself out before September comes :-s
On Saturday we headed off to the Scunthorpe Agility Show its a fairly local show only being about an Hour and 15 mins from my house at the most.
Saturday was filled with if onlys with use having poles or late commands from me sending him over wrong jumps ect.
Sunday was much the same up until the last run where Demon did it again and Qualified for the Adams Burns Derby 2012 (next September) The first part (contacts, spread, long jump) was lovely, yet the jumping was very hit and miss in the middle, only 5/6 dogs got round this course so i was pleased we got round but it wasn't a nice flowing run so i felt a bit un-worthy of qualifying but hey we got round and i'm lucky DE covers the ground nice and made time up on the bits that did flow :-)
Here is a video of some of his runs from July:
Both dogs had their yearly eye tests done at the beginning of July by Professor Bedford (a specialist in Ophthalmology) Both dogs results came back Clear/Unaffected so a good result all round.
Roxxi:
Roxxi's training is coming on nicely, she has just about got her weaves now and has clicked on alot faster than i'd of expected.....We are using channel weaves which i feel has worked really well with both the dogs. In regards to the excessive barking at training and around the rings it has been a long and very tough round but we have now almost got silence Yay!!! There is still the odd whimper but the reward for Roxxi is far greater when she's quiet and she has sussed this out too!! We reverted right back to one jump during training at home and the reward came quick and often for silent jumping/ tugging ect so she is now working alot quieter too although its not quite there yet. She was entered into the Helter Skelter at both Dog Vegas and Derbyshire at the end of July and worked well in the one at Dog Vegas but got a bit tunnel happy towards the end and i carried her out as that's all she thought about after going through it twice and i got her E'd in the one at Derbyshire by sending her over an extra jump although she worked like an angel <3 <3 All in all i'm very happy with the progress we're making and she has been entered in her first kc show at Gillingham.
Roxxi was DNA tested for CL and Hip & Elbow scored beginning of July, i am still waiting for the Hip/Elbows but have received the DNA Results this morning and she is Clear :-)
I am competing at the KC Festival this weekend and i am really looking forward to it i am kindly being looked after by Sam Clarke and the wonderful Tizzy although i'm not quite sure if they know whats they've let themselves in for with me and the two dogs ;-) We're not really that bad.
Will hopefully update once we return home .......
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
LAE, Dog Vegas & Beacon
Just an update of whats been happening. . . . Not in great detail as i have forgotten most of it :-P
LAE ( 16th/ 17th April )
What a lovely show! The venue is gorgeous and i always wonder why it isnt used more often. We actually travelled there the fri 15th as Roxxi & Demon both had a training session with lucy. Roxxi was in the first class and took it all in her stride she is such an honest dog and i am greatful for this as i am still wondering how i'm gonna keep up with her :-)
She really enjoys working and boy does she let you know!! I was really impressed with how she performed and i really cannot ask any more of her. De was a star as always his contacts were brill and i really love how we've both gelled together.
We came away with a 5th in 4-5 graded Agility (with held contacts) and some nearlys. . . nothing i'm concerned about just a pole or my silly handling (well i may have to sort my handling)
DOG VEGAS EASTER (22nd-26th April)
I entered the Sat, Mon & Tues of this show (spent Easter Sunday with the girls and family) De had some lovey runs again my silly mistakes costing us. We had a cracking round in a Graded 3-5 Agility but my late command resulted in a knocked pole (although de had quickest time, not that it makes any difference but nice to see his times are there)
De did get his first jumping win on the Monday :-) so 1 jumping win on the way to Grade 5! Yay!
BEACON (8th May)
Never been to Beacon show before and was one of the shows that are further away that we are doing this year. It was a nice little show and i will definatly be doing it again as i really enjoyed it. The morning started off a bit wet but soon the weather cleared and we had sun. The first course to walk was the CSJ Qualifier Combined 3-5, this was a nice course but we weren't running till the end. I watched a few dogs run and because of the wet weather the ground was still slippy i saw quite a few slip early on and then watched as alot came off the dog walk at horrible angles. Luckily de wasn't due to run till late on and by then the ground had dried a bit and we'd also run our jumping course by then. . . . Needless to say i was terrible and we got E'd ;-)
We jad a lovely run in the CSJ Agility (well apart from me letting de jump a jump the wrong way, yet it was totally me and he even did that lovely lol) The only thing i realised was de's dog walk was really slow, im not sure why and i had him in the practise ring after and it was still slow, he seemed nervous almost creeping the whole length so wether he slipped or lost balance im not sure.
Next was the Dog Vegas Combined 3-5 Agility Qualifier, de did a lovely round except his creepy dog walk and we finished 7th just out of the qualifying placings (they place up to 5th)
I've not done any training all week with either of the dogs but took them sunday just gone to the local club to do a bit and de flew over the dog walk, prob one of the fastest he's ever done! So maybe i shouldn't worry about it. Also i'm pleased to say Roxxi isn't barking as much as i'm working her now phew!! :-P
This saturday we are travelling to Waldridge Fell, that will be demons first Olympia Qualifier. Will be nice to see what the courses are like and how i (yes me!) handle them.
LAE ( 16th/ 17th April )
What a lovely show! The venue is gorgeous and i always wonder why it isnt used more often. We actually travelled there the fri 15th as Roxxi & Demon both had a training session with lucy. Roxxi was in the first class and took it all in her stride she is such an honest dog and i am greatful for this as i am still wondering how i'm gonna keep up with her :-)
She really enjoys working and boy does she let you know!! I was really impressed with how she performed and i really cannot ask any more of her. De was a star as always his contacts were brill and i really love how we've both gelled together.
We came away with a 5th in 4-5 graded Agility (with held contacts) and some nearlys. . . nothing i'm concerned about just a pole or my silly handling (well i may have to sort my handling)
DOG VEGAS EASTER (22nd-26th April)
I entered the Sat, Mon & Tues of this show (spent Easter Sunday with the girls and family) De had some lovey runs again my silly mistakes costing us. We had a cracking round in a Graded 3-5 Agility but my late command resulted in a knocked pole (although de had quickest time, not that it makes any difference but nice to see his times are there)
De did get his first jumping win on the Monday :-) so 1 jumping win on the way to Grade 5! Yay!
BEACON (8th May)
Never been to Beacon show before and was one of the shows that are further away that we are doing this year. It was a nice little show and i will definatly be doing it again as i really enjoyed it. The morning started off a bit wet but soon the weather cleared and we had sun. The first course to walk was the CSJ Qualifier Combined 3-5, this was a nice course but we weren't running till the end. I watched a few dogs run and because of the wet weather the ground was still slippy i saw quite a few slip early on and then watched as alot came off the dog walk at horrible angles. Luckily de wasn't due to run till late on and by then the ground had dried a bit and we'd also run our jumping course by then. . . . Needless to say i was terrible and we got E'd ;-)
We jad a lovely run in the CSJ Agility (well apart from me letting de jump a jump the wrong way, yet it was totally me and he even did that lovely lol) The only thing i realised was de's dog walk was really slow, im not sure why and i had him in the practise ring after and it was still slow, he seemed nervous almost creeping the whole length so wether he slipped or lost balance im not sure.
Next was the Dog Vegas Combined 3-5 Agility Qualifier, de did a lovely round except his creepy dog walk and we finished 7th just out of the qualifying placings (they place up to 5th)
I've not done any training all week with either of the dogs but took them sunday just gone to the local club to do a bit and de flew over the dog walk, prob one of the fastest he's ever done! So maybe i shouldn't worry about it. Also i'm pleased to say Roxxi isn't barking as much as i'm working her now phew!! :-P
This saturday we are travelling to Waldridge Fell, that will be demons first Olympia Qualifier. Will be nice to see what the courses are like and how i (yes me!) handle them.
Friday, 25 March 2011
Proving People Wrong, Onwards & Upwards
Well last weekend was Demon's first Kc show of the season at BCCoGB (Border Collie Club of Great Britain) Agility Show.
It was a fair weather day....Not as nice as Sat but you cannot grumble as it was dry except for a spot of drizzle half way through the day.......There was also the BCCoGB Championship breed show and North Lincs Open show going on at the Newark and Notts Showground where the agility was held.
Demon's first class was Large Jumping Graded 1-3. I walked the course checked where i wanted to position de for the start line, walked the course again and again and again.....you get my drift. i also walked his Large Combined 1-4 Agility as this was up too. My running order was 293 in the jumping but halfway into it they started calling for dogs as they had no dogs on the line so figured since i'd stood watching for so long i'd fetch de and get it done.
Well!..... He did a cracking round no poles all his weaves etc.....as i was coming on to the home straight i noticed there was a tunnel in the course!!! This tunnel was suppose to be no.5 on the course well dippy here went start (no.1), 2, 3(weaves), 4 and instead of sending him into the tunnel i pulled him on to number 6 and kept going!!! Completely forgot the tunnel was even there :) Demon ran his little heart out and had i remembered the tunnel would have gone clear so i was very please with him yet could of kicked myself...it happens.
We then had a bit of a break till we did our next run, his Combined 1-4 took ages and they were sticking very rigidly to running only when they'd called up to your number, so i ended up walking and running the third class i entered De in, Graded 1-3 Agility first.
The Graded 1-3 Agility course was a nice course for the Grade 3 dogs as i felt it tested them a little bit although for Grade 1/2 it wasn't as straight forward as some i'd seen before for them. Demon did another nice round here as well and i was so proud of him as i felt in both this run and the jumping he was really thinking and listening and none of this barking we'd had such an issue with last year either, we went clear in this class :) I've got myself into the habit of checking de's times after every run he's done....not to see where he's come but it's just something that's always interested me so i've always done it.......22.221 sec's and he was in the lead, although at this point there was still 20/30 Grade 3 dogs to run.
We then went for lunch and i went to walk de, next was his Combined 1-4 Agility nice course crappy handling on my part, got it de's way and was slow calling him in places, due to this he took 2 poles but all in all he ran beautifully.
Me and Lucy took a walk down to look at the breed showing as it was better than standing around doing nothing and waiting for results.
After about 20-30 mins we walked back up to the agility and the Graded 1-3 Agility ring was just finishing.....at this point Lucy's dad Steve came over and said de was in second place, I'd not been over since after lunch so didn't know any different, i was just so proud of de knowing he was running well and when i look back on the few problems we'd had last year that are now a distant memory it makes me realise how far we've come. I can't say i wasn't a little gutted but i was also pleased i could still enter the Alpha 1-3 Challenge @ Lincoln in April so there were good points to it.
We all got ready to walk over and listen to the presentation we i ran into a friend who said 'Congratulations Sarah' i was like 'what for?' and she looked at me and just said for the lovely round Demon had done in the 1-3 Agility and me being me i said thanks and thought nothing of it.
I had De with me so i played with him round the rings just doing waits and releases, they called the results out and got to 2nd and called someone else's name?? I looked over and Steve and everyone were smiling and the winner was called and it was me and Demon!!!!!
What a shock to the system that was :).......A nice one tho. Up we went to collect De's rosette and a black glass-like plaque.
Thankyou to Lucy Osborne for the video x x
It was a fair weather day....Not as nice as Sat but you cannot grumble as it was dry except for a spot of drizzle half way through the day.......There was also the BCCoGB Championship breed show and North Lincs Open show going on at the Newark and Notts Showground where the agility was held.
Demon's first class was Large Jumping Graded 1-3. I walked the course checked where i wanted to position de for the start line, walked the course again and again and again.....you get my drift. i also walked his Large Combined 1-4 Agility as this was up too. My running order was 293 in the jumping but halfway into it they started calling for dogs as they had no dogs on the line so figured since i'd stood watching for so long i'd fetch de and get it done.
Well!..... He did a cracking round no poles all his weaves etc.....as i was coming on to the home straight i noticed there was a tunnel in the course!!! This tunnel was suppose to be no.5 on the course well dippy here went start (no.1), 2, 3(weaves), 4 and instead of sending him into the tunnel i pulled him on to number 6 and kept going!!! Completely forgot the tunnel was even there :) Demon ran his little heart out and had i remembered the tunnel would have gone clear so i was very please with him yet could of kicked myself...it happens.
We then had a bit of a break till we did our next run, his Combined 1-4 took ages and they were sticking very rigidly to running only when they'd called up to your number, so i ended up walking and running the third class i entered De in, Graded 1-3 Agility first.
The Graded 1-3 Agility course was a nice course for the Grade 3 dogs as i felt it tested them a little bit although for Grade 1/2 it wasn't as straight forward as some i'd seen before for them. Demon did another nice round here as well and i was so proud of him as i felt in both this run and the jumping he was really thinking and listening and none of this barking we'd had such an issue with last year either, we went clear in this class :) I've got myself into the habit of checking de's times after every run he's done....not to see where he's come but it's just something that's always interested me so i've always done it.......22.221 sec's and he was in the lead, although at this point there was still 20/30 Grade 3 dogs to run.
We then went for lunch and i went to walk de, next was his Combined 1-4 Agility nice course crappy handling on my part, got it de's way and was slow calling him in places, due to this he took 2 poles but all in all he ran beautifully.
Me and Lucy took a walk down to look at the breed showing as it was better than standing around doing nothing and waiting for results.
After about 20-30 mins we walked back up to the agility and the Graded 1-3 Agility ring was just finishing.....at this point Lucy's dad Steve came over and said de was in second place, I'd not been over since after lunch so didn't know any different, i was just so proud of de knowing he was running well and when i look back on the few problems we'd had last year that are now a distant memory it makes me realise how far we've come. I can't say i wasn't a little gutted but i was also pleased i could still enter the Alpha 1-3 Challenge @ Lincoln in April so there were good points to it.
We all got ready to walk over and listen to the presentation we i ran into a friend who said 'Congratulations Sarah' i was like 'what for?' and she looked at me and just said for the lovely round Demon had done in the 1-3 Agility and me being me i said thanks and thought nothing of it.
I had De with me so i played with him round the rings just doing waits and releases, they called the results out and got to 2nd and called someone else's name?? I looked over and Steve and everyone were smiling and the winner was called and it was me and Demon!!!!!
What a shock to the system that was :).......A nice one tho. Up we went to collect De's rosette and a black glass-like plaque.
Thankyou to Lucy Osborne for the video x x
Monday, 21 March 2011
My handsome boy
Two pictures of Demon at BCCoGB agility show Sunday just gone, update on show to follow.
Thank you to Lyn Coupland for these, they're lovely :)
Thank you to Lyn Coupland for these, they're lovely :)
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Welcome to the world & update
Once again the blog has been neglected although alot has happened.
On Jan 4th we welcomed into the world our beautiful daughter Skylah Paige :) She was a big baby compared to Chloe-Leigh at 8lb 9 1/2 ounces!! But she was happy and healthy and all went quite smoothly so that's the main thing.
The dogs and her big sister adore her, roxxi being the most attentive ever! All she needs to do is stir and roxxi is there :) Demon is his laid back usual self and takes it all in his stride as always.
Weather has been up and down but i have managed to get training in with them both at home, just weaves and jumps mainly although i have loaded the car up with all my jumps, the tunnel and my weaves and headed up to the football field and trained a few times (its amazing what fits in my little corsa:))
The begining of feb me, de and rox headed over to lucy's for some training.
Below is a vid them both doing some exercises, they both enjoyed being back doing different bits. Demon's contacts looking nice for the season and roxxi the little star as ever xx
We have also been to the feb dog vegas where demon came third in Grade 3 Agility the clever little boy!
As i speak i am up-grading my see saw so to speak, it is having new ply wood as the winter hasn't done it any favours and it is also being rubber coated.
Below is a vid of de trying the rubbed coated see saw at Dog Vegas.
I am hoping to enter demon in one or two obedience shows this year so we'll see how that goes, not going to concentrate on it as much as the agility but there are 3 shows near me each year so may do these.
Our next show is Dog Vegas Independent show on 19th March which i will use as training and then we're at BCCoGB on 20th March - 1st kc show of the season so looking forward to that :)
Thankyou to Lucy Osborne for the videos xx http://lucyosborne.blogspot.com/
On Jan 4th we welcomed into the world our beautiful daughter Skylah Paige :) She was a big baby compared to Chloe-Leigh at 8lb 9 1/2 ounces!! But she was happy and healthy and all went quite smoothly so that's the main thing.
The dogs and her big sister adore her, roxxi being the most attentive ever! All she needs to do is stir and roxxi is there :) Demon is his laid back usual self and takes it all in his stride as always.
Weather has been up and down but i have managed to get training in with them both at home, just weaves and jumps mainly although i have loaded the car up with all my jumps, the tunnel and my weaves and headed up to the football field and trained a few times (its amazing what fits in my little corsa:))
The begining of feb me, de and rox headed over to lucy's for some training.
Below is a vid them both doing some exercises, they both enjoyed being back doing different bits. Demon's contacts looking nice for the season and roxxi the little star as ever xx
We have also been to the feb dog vegas where demon came third in Grade 3 Agility the clever little boy!
As i speak i am up-grading my see saw so to speak, it is having new ply wood as the winter hasn't done it any favours and it is also being rubber coated.
Below is a vid of de trying the rubbed coated see saw at Dog Vegas.
I am hoping to enter demon in one or two obedience shows this year so we'll see how that goes, not going to concentrate on it as much as the agility but there are 3 shows near me each year so may do these.
Our next show is Dog Vegas Independent show on 19th March which i will use as training and then we're at BCCoGB on 20th March - 1st kc show of the season so looking forward to that :)
Thankyou to Lucy Osborne for the videos xx http://lucyosborne.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
Silver, Snow & Contact Training.
Well, where to begin. The blog has yet again been neglected. As you will notice it now has a new look, thank you ever so much vicki ( Ruffs Dog Blog ) for this, its lovely! :-)
The blog layout now has added pages one for each dog, results etc and with time will possibly have one or two more added.
Kennel Club Good Citizen
Back in May Roxxi passed her Bronze Kennel Club Good Citizen Test, the amount of test dates at both the clubs i attend for obedience have been far and few and they have not had a Silver test at all! But, our waiting (and training) has paid off and a date was finally set for 17th Nov. I knew Roxxi was ready although, anything can happen on the day. So along we went to the test being held at The East Lincs Ringcraft Society, Sutton-On-Sea, just up the road from us. Roxxi was amazing :-) My clever little girlie didn't put a foot wrong and i'm pleased to say she PASSED!!! So i am a very proud mum :-)
Snow (grr!!)
Don't get me wrong, i love the snow, the lovely white flakes falling gets me in the christmas spirit. It's been really fun watching the dogs trying to catch it as it falls and seeing chloe's face light up at the sight of it and being able to make snow men with her. But, the amount we've had has been rediculous to say the least, the whole country has been in termoil as funny as that sounds. Alot of people have been snowed in and shops have been more or less out of essential bits and bobs ie. Milk, bread and salt funny enough. This lasted around a week and a half - two weeks. Training at most venues has been canceled/ re-arranged for safety reasons with driving. As the snow thawed it became very dangerous as it then froze so we then had several layers of ice. The majority hs dissapeared now and the dogs have churned up the garden with the slush thats been left so i'm in the process of fencing it off in areas :-( And as the good old english weather doesn't like to stay the same too long, just as we thought we were getting over it the weather forcasts are predicting more snow!!
Contact Training with Lucy Osborne
In between the horrid weather and getting ready for christmas i booked both dogs in to do a contact session with Lucy. They've not done any agility training since begining of Oct now i think, although the rest has done them good. So after a glitch with the weather and the sessions having to be re-arrnged we went to Skellingthorpe looking forward to the training ahead of us :-)
Roxxi - Roxxi's class was first and, yes, she was WILD!!! The first dog walk, a-frame and see saw she did she either jumped off (dog walk), flew off (see saw) or (a-frame) flew over the top and only just hit the bottom!! So after the group had all had their first go Lucy took us all back to basics. So with Roxxi we got her targets back out and made her re-value the bottom of the contacts. This consisted of placing Roxxi at the bottom of the contact and rewarding for touching the target then moving her further up the ''down plank'' releasing her then letting her run to the target and rewarding her and finally releasing from the target and rewarding for only releasing on the release command. After all the group had done this we did the full dog walk again, Roxxi flew across! And stopped in position perfectly :-) We then did tunnel - dog walk and then jump - tunnel - dog walk. Lucy then wanted to show us that with a good solid understanding of what behaviour is expected on contacts we shouldn't need to be with the dogs (running right next to the equipment) So. . . . If u imagine a u-shape, we started at the top one end at the jump (with an a-frame behind us) the tunnel is the bend in the u-shape and the dog walk is the other top of the u shape. Lucy placed a pole a metre/two away from the side of the dog walk and explained for us to run along the pole keeping on the outer side away from the dog walk. So over the jump, into the tunnel and keeping our arm outstretched towards the dog walk (arm nearest dog walk) we ran to the end to reward for stopping on the contact. Even though i wasn't running right next to the dog walk she powered on to the contact point at the bottom.
Next we did the same course; jump - tunnel - dog walk. But this time we were on the dogs right hand side sent over the jump, into the tunnel and onto dog walk but instead of running along the dog walk we ran behind the a-frame! Meaning there was the a-frame in between us and the dogs running over the contact. I had my doubts weather Roxxi would do it but to my surprise she did! :-)
We did lots of other small exercises but sending over jumps on to the a-frame, jump, tunnel but us staying behind the dog walk :-) Roxxi worked really well, i was really impressed with what we achieved.
I will update demon's session over the next few days as his session was just as interesting! :-)
For anyone who hasn't done a training session with Lucy before it is something i'd highly recommend. I train with Lucy on a regular basis and also do most of her contact/weave/handling sessions. I always find when training with her that i come away feeling i've achieved something and also knowing my aims/ targets to work on. Her training methods are *always* rewarding to my dogs and i always feel they work up a gear training with her, which is due to her positive and rewarding training methods.
The blog layout now has added pages one for each dog, results etc and with time will possibly have one or two more added.
Kennel Club Good Citizen
Back in May Roxxi passed her Bronze Kennel Club Good Citizen Test, the amount of test dates at both the clubs i attend for obedience have been far and few and they have not had a Silver test at all! But, our waiting (and training) has paid off and a date was finally set for 17th Nov. I knew Roxxi was ready although, anything can happen on the day. So along we went to the test being held at The East Lincs Ringcraft Society, Sutton-On-Sea, just up the road from us. Roxxi was amazing :-) My clever little girlie didn't put a foot wrong and i'm pleased to say she PASSED!!! So i am a very proud mum :-)
Snow (grr!!)
Don't get me wrong, i love the snow, the lovely white flakes falling gets me in the christmas spirit. It's been really fun watching the dogs trying to catch it as it falls and seeing chloe's face light up at the sight of it and being able to make snow men with her. But, the amount we've had has been rediculous to say the least, the whole country has been in termoil as funny as that sounds. Alot of people have been snowed in and shops have been more or less out of essential bits and bobs ie. Milk, bread and salt funny enough. This lasted around a week and a half - two weeks. Training at most venues has been canceled/ re-arranged for safety reasons with driving. As the snow thawed it became very dangerous as it then froze so we then had several layers of ice. The majority hs dissapeared now and the dogs have churned up the garden with the slush thats been left so i'm in the process of fencing it off in areas :-( And as the good old english weather doesn't like to stay the same too long, just as we thought we were getting over it the weather forcasts are predicting more snow!!
Contact Training with Lucy Osborne
In between the horrid weather and getting ready for christmas i booked both dogs in to do a contact session with Lucy. They've not done any agility training since begining of Oct now i think, although the rest has done them good. So after a glitch with the weather and the sessions having to be re-arrnged we went to Skellingthorpe looking forward to the training ahead of us :-)
Roxxi - Roxxi's class was first and, yes, she was WILD!!! The first dog walk, a-frame and see saw she did she either jumped off (dog walk), flew off (see saw) or (a-frame) flew over the top and only just hit the bottom!! So after the group had all had their first go Lucy took us all back to basics. So with Roxxi we got her targets back out and made her re-value the bottom of the contacts. This consisted of placing Roxxi at the bottom of the contact and rewarding for touching the target then moving her further up the ''down plank'' releasing her then letting her run to the target and rewarding her and finally releasing from the target and rewarding for only releasing on the release command. After all the group had done this we did the full dog walk again, Roxxi flew across! And stopped in position perfectly :-) We then did tunnel - dog walk and then jump - tunnel - dog walk. Lucy then wanted to show us that with a good solid understanding of what behaviour is expected on contacts we shouldn't need to be with the dogs (running right next to the equipment) So. . . . If u imagine a u-shape, we started at the top one end at the jump (with an a-frame behind us) the tunnel is the bend in the u-shape and the dog walk is the other top of the u shape. Lucy placed a pole a metre/two away from the side of the dog walk and explained for us to run along the pole keeping on the outer side away from the dog walk. So over the jump, into the tunnel and keeping our arm outstretched towards the dog walk (arm nearest dog walk) we ran to the end to reward for stopping on the contact. Even though i wasn't running right next to the dog walk she powered on to the contact point at the bottom.
Next we did the same course; jump - tunnel - dog walk. But this time we were on the dogs right hand side sent over the jump, into the tunnel and onto dog walk but instead of running along the dog walk we ran behind the a-frame! Meaning there was the a-frame in between us and the dogs running over the contact. I had my doubts weather Roxxi would do it but to my surprise she did! :-)
We did lots of other small exercises but sending over jumps on to the a-frame, jump, tunnel but us staying behind the dog walk :-) Roxxi worked really well, i was really impressed with what we achieved.
I will update demon's session over the next few days as his session was just as interesting! :-)
For anyone who hasn't done a training session with Lucy before it is something i'd highly recommend. I train with Lucy on a regular basis and also do most of her contact/weave/handling sessions. I always find when training with her that i come away feeling i've achieved something and also knowing my aims/ targets to work on. Her training methods are *always* rewarding to my dogs and i always feel they work up a gear training with her, which is due to her positive and rewarding training methods.
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