Saturday Agility 2

Yesterday's training was a lot of fun. We started off with some basic playing like always, just tugging to get the dogs into it. It's early and they have lots of energy!

For most of class we ran sequences as we learned new skills. We started with a setup of tunnel, weaves, and table down the length of the room. We first just ran weaves, table, weaves, tunnel. Even with the guides, the first two times Addie kept popping out of the last weave. Finally my trainer told me I needed to not rush ahead and push her, but stay back at her shoulder and let her drive through them. Sure enough, she thought it through and finished all the weaves!

Then we added the tunnel first, so tunnel weaves table weaves tunnel. I sent Addie through the first time and lead out to the weaves a little as she was coming out of the tunnel, so even though I called "Weave" as she came out, she followed my momentum right past the weave entrance. My trainer told me to wait for her to drive for them and sure enough, when we tried again, she got the entrance perfectly.

All the handlers got a nice reminder that our dogs are all still learning, and thinking through the obstacles. We can't rush them, because they make mistakes when we do. But when we allow them to do what they know how to do, without us pushing them, we can work as a team. It amazes me already how much the dogs pay attention to us, and what seems like the littlest thing to us makes the biggest difference to the dogs and how they respond. I'm thinking that I really need to work on and think about how I handle Addie, as I think she'll be ready to trial before I will!

Next we did some jump work. There were for jumps set up in a line. We did a series of 2 jump figure eights all the way down - starting with the first two, then continuing to the 2nd and 3rd, then the 3rd and 4th jumps before running all four the length back. All of us had a few handling issues we had to work out, since it was a long sequence and the footwork is hard. But eventually we all got it, and Addie did awesome following my cues! She's learning to watch me and to take the jump I tell her to. She's fun to run with.

Then we worked more on "See Wood Run" on a lowered A-Frame. It was set up as jump, Frame, jump down the room, so we'd run jump, Frame, jump, tight wrap around the standard and come back over the frame and the last jump. Addie did very well as long as I handled her correctly. She runs quickly over the A Frame and really drives for it, so that's good.

Lastly we ended class with beginning to backchain the A-Frame. We just started with our trainer holding the dog's collar a little ways up the Frame and us standing at the end, calling them to the 2on2off position. Addie of course rocked it, as she offers the behavior all the time at home. She even snuck over there later while my trainer was talking and jumped in 2o2o, little stinker!

Altogether it was a good class. I learned some really good things and we definitely made progress. I wish I could practice in a bigger area with some more equipment or at least some jumps more than just when we're at class. I'll have to ask around and see if there's anyone who lives near me with equipment. It's that I need to work on handling Addie more than she needs to work on the obstacles.

I'll have to see if I can drag anyone with me to class relatively soon and get some good pictures and videos of us running. If/when I do, I'll be sure to spice up the training posts with them. Also, some really exciting news is that my trainers were talking to me, and said we will probably be able to start competing at a trial over Memorial Day weekend! It seems so far off, but it's really soon! I'm nervous, but at the same time, I can't wait!

Saturday Agility

Today we had agility class. It's been about 3 weeks since we've been to class, since we had some time off for the holidays. Addie was pumped! I told her we were going to class and she spun in circles and jumped for joy she was so excited. Now Addie's not a puller, or a whiner, but once we get in the room that we do agility, she starts pulling hard on her leash, and whining...like, Please, please PLEASE can I go play?! I love it.

Today started off like every other day - restrained recalls. We do this to build drive, mainly, but also to get the dogs to follow us and we often add obstacles. Today we worked both sides of the dog through tunnels. One of the trainers holds our dog's collar, while the handler takes off running. When the dog is pulling after their handler, the trainer lets go and the dog follows the handler. Addie goes nuts for this game, she's pulled a trainer over before - and she only weighs 38 lbs!

After this we split up and the big dogs, including Addie, went to the A-frame. We are doing See-Wood-Run with the dogs and Addie is getting fast. We worked hard with the hoops on the ground, so she knows to stay on the Frame when she sees them. We also worked the frame with a tunnel - frame, tunnel, come back on frame. I think in a week or two we will backchain the A-Frame and start running it for real, with 2 on 2 offs and everything. Addie will do well, I think; she LOVES the 202o. She does it everywhere - stairs, ottomans, etc. We shouldn't have any trouble!

Then we switched with the small dogs and worked on jumping. We learned a one jump figure eight, and a two jump figure eight. Addie was pretty tired so I used her tug instead of treats, and she did pretty well. She still needs more drive for jumping, surprisingly, as she doesn't seem to really love it.

Finally we finished off with some weaves. We are training the dogs with channel weaves and have them set pretty close together already. We do a sort of restrained recall style - holding the dog's collar, getting them pumped up and pulling toward the weaves, then releasing and calling "Weave" as we run for it. Then we'd go through the tunnel at the end, and come back through the weaves on the opposite hand. I'm learning that Addie doesn't like working on my right. She goes through perfectly on my left hand, but coming back, she gets the entry, but hops over the guide wire after the first pole. Thankfully, she did it perfectly the last time, so we ended with a success. When we get our own weaves I will work her on the right a lot. I still haven't found any channel weaves that I really like that aren't ridiculously expensive.

Addie loves going to agility. It's a small class of only 5 dedicated dogs and handlers. We were a "guinea pig class" as our trainers decided to try a new series of classes, called Performance Puppy. We began in July of last year with a rather large class, working on all sorts of foundation on the flat, drive, and impulse control. We did this for 4 months before starting to really work the equipment. As we progressed through classes, the number of people steadily decreased. Time has a way of weeding out the dedicated from the not so dedicated. So our class is composed of 5 females - but they all get along very well. They're off leash much of the time, so they have to.
Aspen - Bichon Frise
Rudy - Blue Merle Aussie
Alon - Red Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Kia - Blue Heeler mix (rescue)
And Addie, of course. We've been having so much fun and I can't wait until the spring - we move our training outside and really start to run things.

...And Resolutions

This year, I made a few goals and resolutions for myself and Addie.

1. I want to spend more time with Addie regularly. I'm usually pretty busy, and I play with Addie all the time, that's for sure. But I want to go for walks, play agility, practice obedience, play ball, etc. more regularly each week.

2. I want to start competing with Addie in agility this year, hopefully this summer. My goal is to earn at least one title. It would be awesome if we could earn more!


3. On Flickr, I joined a group called 52 Weeks for Dogs. It's a project where you post one photo a week of your dog, for the whole year. The goal is to not post just quick photos, but something a little creative, different, outside the box; something that stands out. My goal is to commit to this project for the year. I will likely be posting many of them here.


4. I would like to use this blog more effectively. I am going to try to post weekly, with plenty of pictures and tales of our adventures. Hopefully all of you people will enjoy this, but I also like having a sort of "electronic journal" of Addie. It's fun to go back and look at what we've done.


5. Along with that, I will try to post more about our agility adventures and training. There probably won't be many pictures, but it will be more for me than anything. It'll help me remember what we've done, too!


This is all I can think of for now. Happy New Year, and good luck with your goals and resolutions this year!

2009 In Review

January: Addie and I were in Basic 1 Obedience. Still learning things like heeling, fronts, comes, and etc. We played in the snow and kept ourselves entertained inside as well.

February: Of course, more snow. We got some good stuff to play in and Addie and I had fun with it. Addie learned that it is fun to catch snowflakes. We started Basic 2 Obedience, training for the Canine Good Citizen test.

March: Okay, I cheated... Early this year, I was still trying to get the hang of grooming adult Addie, and in March I cut her rather short and I'm not happy with how she looked. So I didn't take many pictures and they were all bad. But we celebrated my birthday, and started to do more outside as the snow melted.


April: This month, Addie turned 1 year of age! Unfortunately we didn't get to have a big birthday celebration because I had a big rehearsal that evening.. We spent more time outside playing ball, and continued Basic 2. We practiced all the time.


May: It was a busy month, since my sister got married. This blog also began in May! We began Intermediate Obedience, with a small group of dogs perfecting their obedience skills and working to continue on to greater things. We also took and passed the CGC test, and Addie became Ali-Ann Inspired Addiction CGC.


June: We welcomed the summer by playing outside all the time. Lots of ball, playing with friends, and going to the lake. Addie also experienced boat rides and began to enjoy the water a little more. She met some new doggie friends and we visited the park a lot.


July: We played in the yard all the time, especially fetch. We also went out on the boat more and just enjoyed the summer sun. I watched a few agility trials near us, and Addie and I started our agility foundation training.


August: This month, we discovered a dog park pretty close to us. We visited a few times, and Addie loved it. However, we decided to maybe try again next year as Addie loves other dogs just a little too much. We continued our agility training and really got into it this month.


September: Addie got to play with her good friend, Clara. Previously, she'd been too small to play with Addie but they now get along great. We tried to get outside as much as we could while the weather was still warm.


October: My life got pretty busy, as it usually does in the fall, so we didn't have as much time for adventures. But we still trained for agility and got to know our classmates even better. We enjoyed a short-lived snowfall at the beginning of the month, and dressed up for Halloween and greeted trick-or-treaters.


November: Since this month was uncharacteristically warm, we spent plenty of time playing ball outside and going for walks. We celebrated Thanksgiving and Addie enjoyed her own treat. We also went to get our Christmas tree as a family, and Addie was able to run free around the big farm and meet lots of new friends, both human and canine.



December: We finally got the snowfall we'd been waiting for. Much time has been spent brushing and drying Addie's coat after she collects snowballs on her hair. We've played with lots of friends and played in the snow all the time. Then we celebrated Christmas and have been relaxing with the holiday season.

2009 was a great year for us, filled with plenty of walks, friends, dogs, fetch, grooming, training, and agility. We hope it has been the same for you, and wish you another fantastic year with your dogs. Here's to a new decade with the beginning of 2010 - Happy New Year!

Help Me!

All you blogger people are a smart bunch; want to help me find some things?

1. Flickr. First, for the Flickr users, how do I post pictures to my blog that link back to the Flickr page? I tried to post pictures from my Flickr to my blog, but they didn't link. PS my Flickr username is SmartPoodle. : D

2. Treats. I am having the hardest time finding good treats that I like and enjoy training with for Addie! All the treats are either very expensive, or very unhealthy! They need to be:
1. SOFT, not crunchy or crumbly
2. TASTY obviously
3. HEALTHY what should I look for, as far as ingredients go?
4. SMALL preferably. Either that or easy to cut up
5. INEXPENSIVE I know Zukes are good, but I can't afford $6 a bag!
Any recommendations, and where do I buy them?

3. Weaves. I need good quality channel weaves for agility. I do not want the ones made strictly out of PVC; ones like these: http://www.weybridgeagility.com/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=113&zenid=3189a2c380fa23ea002137eeb6356de1 Obviously, inexpensive is best, but they do need to be good quality. Agility friends, where did you get your weaves?

4. Camera. I know a lot of you are in to photography on some level... I need a new camera! All I have are crappy point and shoots. I'm tired of them. I want a nicer camera, but I don't know that much about them. Here's what I want:
1. $250 or under is what I'm thinking for price.
2. A crossover, SLR-like point and shoot
3. The bigger the better, so it gets more light in. (I think!)
4. Something that takes good motion/action shots... Poodles move!
5. Something that takes good photos without the flash... Flashes and black dogs don't mix well.
6. Good quality pixels!

Any help at all is appreciated for any of these things! Just fyi, even if I haven't been posting too much, I do read almost all of your blogs! I just don't always have time to comment or post myself. That is all!

Training Update July-August

Wow I haven't posted in a while. Sorry guys, this summer has been busy for Addie and I. I was out of town for a couple weeks in July as well.

We've been training a lot. We're enjoying our agility foundation classes a lot; Addie's learning so quickly. We've been working on 2 on, 2 off end position a lot, at class and at home on stairs. She's doing super well. We have also been doing recall work with tugs, work on exercise balls to build the dogs' balance and core muscles, stuff with wobble boards, crate games, and other things like that. Addie loves it.

Addie is obsessed with the tunnel. She's crazy. We were standing in the middle of the room at class and our trainer was bringing out the tunnel and she started pulling on her collar to go through it. Good thing she was the first dog!

I wish I had a picture or video to show but I don't. But she's nuts, I think she did the best out of the dogs I watched in class...she has so much drive for the tunnel! And she is so fast. I can't wait to run with her for real.

This class has relied heavily on the use of clicker training, which has been a new challenge for us. At first I felt really uncoordinated, trying to click at the right time and place the treats in the right spot and have everything in the correct hands...it was a lot to remember. But we've both gotten used to it pretty well, and Addie responds quickly now. She knows what the clicker means and aside from stuff we're working on in class, she's starting to learn some new tricks and skills I'm teaching her for fun with the clicker. It's been fun.

This past week, I also started having Addie do a little work on a ladder on the ground... she has terrible hind-end awareness and I'm afraid that when we learn the dogwalk, she'll fall right off because she has no idea what her back end is doing! So I've been walking her over a ladder lying on the ground, and I'm hoping in time, her awareness will improve. Anyone have any more suggestions?

That's about it for training so far, sorry I don't really have any good pictures to post. Hopefully in the future I can get someone to take some for me while we're training.

Welcome

Welcome to the blog of Standard Poodle Ali-Ann Inspired Addiction, known as Addie to all. This blog will share my journey through training and on to (hopefully) competing in Rally obedience and Agility, as well as just being a dog.

A little about me... I was born on April 20, 2008 and I'm just over a year old. I am still a puppy and love to play and run, but I also love to work and train. I am in Intermediate Obedience and have been training since 11 weeks of age. My next classes will be a puppy agility class, and rally obedience classes. I will be taking the AKC Canine Good Citizen test sometime in June. Enjoy the blog!