We finally had a chance to go to agility practice tonight! After a huge hiatus, I was worried that Duncan would be completely oblivious, but it wasn't so bad. We had a 15 obstacle jumpers course with 6 weave poles, one tunnel, and TWO concentric spiral things. Craziness. Mostly it was handler error - as usual. Duncan got a little barky and I switched out his blue ball for some treats to help focus him.

For the first time ever, Duncan ran off course!! There was a whining dog, which is a particular weakness for The Sheriff. The Sheriff did not like it when I picked him up and replaced him to start, but we did fine after that. He even did well on his weaves given we haven't practiced in a looooong time.

Overall, I am satisfied. I got a good cardio workout and Duncan got out some of his hyperness. We'll see how next week goes!

Last night, we tried the outdoor Flyball session. It worked beautifully! Duncan had so much room to run and was very eager to hit the box. When I had Thane as a box loader, I was able to leave balls around our starting point. Duncan got a bit ball crazy and would run back, holding one, and then drop it and bring me three balls before I could really catch him. It was really cute. After the initial 8 ball round, Thane pulled Abigail out to play fetch. She is really doing well at that. Another few weeks and I think we'll be where we can start some flyball work. I worked with Dunc again, doing some more specific box work with the board. It worked nicely to force all four feet onto the box.

No triggering this time!

Total time: 30 minutes including all the fetch breaks and equipment set-ups and such

Tonight, we tried it again. The sequence was: taunt Duncan with the ball (well, rev him up), load ball onto velcro, grab him and carry him away from box, set-up him up, reeeaddddyyy, seeettt, GO, repeat. We did this over and over again (his reward was me tossing the ball and him bringing it back... he is truly ball CRAZY). Duncan was bursting from my hands, flying to the box, then either barking at it or gingerly grabbing the ball, and then loping back. He was reliable with his recall and got some nice speed both ways. I figure, when he is slamming the box, then we'll trigger. Until then, let's build that confidence. I think I'm having a patient day. Give me a few more and I'll lament why we aren't already done with the box training!

Duncan's box turn is not good at the moment. Re-training the direction has really thrown it off. I don't like using the shelf because it is thick wood. I will see if I can borrow a jump. I don't want an accidental injury! It is pretty cool to see his confidence blooming with this home practice.

Total time for today: about 20 minutes

After our two great practices and a loooong week at work, we took Friday off. Most times, when we take a break, we do great at our next practice. Not so this time.

This evening Duncan was balky and my patience was thin. We lasted in our very warm (may have had something to do with it) garage for almost 10 minutes. It wasn't fun. Tomorrow, I want to take the box outside. More room to run and I can always chuck the ball for a few minutes of fetch to break up the practice. I need to come up with a way to make hitting the box SO fun that he is eager at the sight of it.

Sigh.

EDIT:

So later this evening and Duncan is feeling playful. I had watched some videos of Flyball training and remembered our brief stint with the jump (Hup-Back method). First I took Abbie into the garage (which had cooled down a bit) and played fetch. She isn't great, has no speed, but is building confidence. One day I hope we can start Flyball with her. Duncan was jealous.

I switched pups and set up the board away from the box. Hup-Back! Over the jump, hop back in the same motion. It mimics the box turn I'd like him to have very well. He did that a few times nicely, gaining interest. I dropped the ball on the other side and told him to get the ball. He got it hopped back. Okay, awesome.

The board was moved to the box and I had to experiment with how far out it went. The goal was for Duncan to hop over the jump, grab the ball, turn around and jump over in the same motion. It turns out that the jump has to be about seven inches away from the box. Any closer and he puts only his front paws over, grabs the ball, and comes back without putting all four paws on the box.

Without his harness on, he was happier and more ready to go. He was definitely obsessed with the ball again. It felt nice to be working as a team and working with the ball. I triggered the box once during the session. It took two runs to go off. Duncan didn't freak out and he brought me the ball. I set it up again and he hesitated toward the box. I re-built his confidence and called it quits while we were ahead.

I think tonight's lesson is to find something that works for us and adjust as necessary. The harness got Duncan over the cusp of his trigger fear, but it is still there and needs other methods, too. The harness is not helping his ball drive or either of our enjoyment of the sport so much. We can go back to having fun and being patient. I need to be reminded every now and then.

Total time for session two: 14 minutes

Another day, another practice.

This time, Duncan went for the door once. I don't think he understood it was practice time because as soon as he caught a whiff of the turkey dog, he was all in! Harness and training leash were attached.

I had the box set to trigger from the beginning. We worked the turn over and over until finally it popped! Did Duncan react? Not a single bit. I set it again and we triggered it once more tonight. That is our record in a day. Two box triggers! Go Duncan! He is definitely building his confidence. You can tell because his speed and excitement escalate through the practice. This has taught me to really rev him up before I release him to run.

Total practice time: 12 minutes

I continued the new method tonight. The first three times we took off for the box, Duncan went for the garage door that leads to the house. :( I was patient with the first two and re-set him. After the third time, I told him "No" in a firm tone and re-set him up. This time, I revved him up for the box with a full "Reeeadddyyyy, Seeett, GO!" It worked. He got up on the box with little prompting. Three times later, he was doing a nice little box turn eagerly. It was nice.

I let him gain some confidence driving toward the box and set the trigger. It took about three box turns to trigger it. Again, he didn't even notice it and was focused on his treat. We didn't trigger it again tonight. We ended while he was excited, positive, and happy.

Total time training: 15 minutes (maybe less, but I'm rounding up)

Sunday we went with our team to a Flyball fun day. It was advertised as very green dog friendly, but I could disagree with that. Perhaps the information got jumbled in passing. Either way, while I had a good time, it wasn't the most useful of Sundays ever.

This was how it went: We got the lane while another dog or team worked in the other lane. Duncan balked at the box. He wouldn't put a paw on it. So we did recalls after getting dirty looks and giving up. Repeat three times. The last time, I ran him last after the other dogs, sprinting next to him (gosh he's fast!!!), tossing the ball at the end, and going back. In my head, pattern work was better than nothing at all.

After this last run, I walked up to a spectator. He has been doing Flyball for a very long time and I was recommended to him to ask for advice by one of my team members. He told me that I was training the wrong thing. I agreed. I shouldn't have been running. I got so frustrated that I let my desire to just run get in the way of best decisions for my pup. I spoke with him on various techniques to defeat this box fear. He had good advice.

Basically,
-Don't do any running until he has the box. Once he has the box, back chain to the end.
-Don't go back to the ramp now that he has it. Work with the box only.
-With box work, keep Duncan on leash until he is doing it on his own. Get the motion, add the ball.
-If he can't trigger the box (once he has patterned the turn), have someone hold him back and do a restrained recall while I run to the box. Let him go while I'm still running. He should have enough momentum to trigger the box.

Tonight started practice. We did less than ten minutes of work, but I can see the beginnings of awesome box turns ahead!

I put Duncan's forgotten flyball harness on tonight, clipped the training (4') leash to it and started. We didn't touch a ball. First, I re-taught going around a cone to be a left-hand turn, since that's what he has switched to. Then, I moved the cone in front of the box, got him ready, and went toward the box. Duncan balked and I kept moving, all the while luring with my left hand. The balk last for about 1/2 a second and then he did a box scramble. Three times later, he was doing a beautiful box turn. A few times after that, I triggered the box to see where we were with that. He triggered it and didn't react AT ALL!!!!! Holy moly!!! We stopped while we were ahead and Duncan was having fun. I think we'll go back to 10 minutes every day to build confidence. And I need to get the new regimen approved by my captain.

I have a training for work tomorrow (Ethics... hehe), so no agility again this week. But next week we will have some video and lots of updates!

Yesterday, we had a great practice.

We didn't even whisper the word T-r-i-g-g-e-r near the Golden child. I guess is worked.

I started doing some pattern work (was bored waiting for everyone to potty their dogs - storm was rolling in so they wanted to get them out one last time) with the jumps. Go, go, go!!! Toss ball, turn and point to first jump. Sure enough, he was hitting every jump and staying in the lanes even with things going on around. I'm hoping this means we won't have many problems with him breaking out of the lane later.

We started with the ramp, since he had such a time last week. He was dynamite! We did one run without a jump and then moved back one jump each time until he was doing the whole thing. Not only was he doing it, but he was running for the ball AND doing a little box turn on his own.

Duncan has maintained his direction switch. So his turn to the right is now a turn to the left. Craziness.

During the other dogs runs, we sat behind a little partition and watched together. Duncan got over his trigger noise quickly with other dogs to bark at and try to chase! He settled easily enough and was not aggressive in his interest.

Our second go around, we worked on the box, putting the ball on the left side (no t-r-i-g-g-e-r). We also put up the cone (which didn't make a lick of difference). The captain was saying "He may not even touch the ball on the box tonight" when he pounced up, grabbed the ball and wagged his tail. It was so funny! We got him up a few more times and then practiced on the ramp (not wanting to push it too far). Duncan's recalls are still beautiful. Turns out, his drive to be with me outweighs his love of treats or balls. Shelties are awesome.

For as badly as last week sucked, this week was pretty awesome. I'll need to remember that in the future when I have down moments. November is looking like the perfect time for a debut, but if it isn't to be - I'm good with that, too.

It has been a little while since an update. School started for the year, so my attention has been focused on my students. It's time for the teacher's pet to get some extra attention! Ah-ha.

The golden child has not been living up to his moniker with the training. We haven't had much success at home desensitizing the box. Class gave me some hope, though. Our instructor is going to 'put him on ice' for a few weeks to let him really gain confidence with the box.

Today, we did box work and recall work.

The box work was on the ramp, not a real box. We are going to NOT EVER (if I can help myself) trigger the box at home for the next week. The weird thing was that Duncan was turning to his left, which is opposite of normal for him. We're going to switch his turn as well and see if that works for him. He dropped the ball multiple times, too. I hope the joke about shelties is true and that at 14 months, you get their brain in the mail. Duncan is 14 months exactly today!! I'll check the mail again later.

The only thing worth mentioning during the recall work was that I took a nasty spill. It was hilarious and mortifying. Part of me is sooo grateful there wasn't a camera around. Part of me wants to watch it back.

So our homework this week is to work on the box with the ball velcro-ed to it. Work on the turn, work on the recall, NEVER triggering. Even desensitization is out. Sigh.

Is it horrible that I'm frustrated and quite ready to be competing? I love my baby though and will go at the pace he needs.

On a side note, we're trying to get Abigail (older Sheltie sister) interested in the ball. We're starting by teaching fetch. If it is a stuffed toy, she'll play all day long. As soon as we switch for a ball, though, she gets bored.

Also, we aren't doing the Oct 1/2 tournament, so the pressure is not so bad.

Lastly, there will be no agility updates for the next two weeks due to Open House and then a training I have to do. But on the third week - you bet you're getting an update!

I do not believe in the law of averages. It isn't a thing. Duncan disagrees. Therefore, our wonderful day yesterday was followed by an awful day today.

He wouldn't get the ball off the box. The trigger noise scared the crap out of him. He was barky and a little crazy, more interested in every thing else in the world. It was horrible. I tried to remain positive, but it was so, so hard.

That's the bad. The good is that my dog loves me, so his recalls are awesome. AND he beelined over the jumps without gates up. We did put up chairs on the last jump, but that was expected.

I am seriously wondering whether or not he will be ready for the tournament in October, but I must let him progress at his own pace. I've also got to find a way to make this more exciting and rewarding for him.

Sigh.

Tonight's agility class went really, really well.

The first run was tire, jump, rear cross, jump, double jump, dogwalk, tunnel. We did a few variations, mostly with which side of the tunnel to enter and sometimes came all of the way back. The instructor droned about menial things for about 10 minutes while the half of the class with her got increasingly frustrated at her blabbing. I get it, she is experienced. However, I am hands-on with this and really just wanted to try it and then get comments. During our run, which was really good up to this point, she interrupted us to chastise me for not feeding on the ground. I was frustrated and got a bit defensive and even offended when she grumbled about wasting money on trials. Ugh. Oh well, I was having fun with my dog! And Duncan was AWESOME.

Move on to the other half of the club with the other instructor, who I adore. A-frame, teeter? No problem! A-frame, wrap tunnel? Fine! Table, triple jump, tunnel, A-frame? Wonderful! Table, triple jump, tunnel, teeter? Great! When we did A-frame starts I had to hold onto my Dunc after I took off his lead, or he would zoom to them! Smart little guy heard her call the order and took off after it. Sigh. I can't exactly be mad though. I just learned to have a firmer hold of my slippery pup.

We did good, but I didn't even attempt the weaves. We beat the tire, the double jump, and the triple jump. What more could I ask for?

Small brag, our "Go" and "Out" are really good. Thank you, Flyball!

So this past Sunday, I carted Duncan and Thane to a flyball tournament. My team was awesome. I mean, not just the running, but everyone was helpful and so sweet. We had a few frustrating moments. However, even then people showed that they were compassionate people. It felt like the team bonded and really solidified its commitment to good, clean runs.

I hope to have Duncan ready for the next tournament, which is October 2 and 3. He will be a much needed height dog. This means that my focus has to switch from agility to flyball for the next month and a few weeks. I know this might set him back in agility. We won't give it up completely as it teaches focus, how to think through excitement, and is great conditioning. Still, now that I borrowed a box from my team, we can practice much more.

Currently, Duncan will run the whole lane back and forth most of the time, but still has frustrated moments where he doesn't understand what I want. Also, he still hasn't triggered the box. We've triggered it a few times for him and I wasn't sure whether the noise bothered him or he was like "I don't need any help." I think this will solve itself with more speed. Once he has the box down (hopefully with his beautiful box-turn he is learning), adding in the full lane shouldn't be a problem.

It's the other dogs. Duncan can either be very non-reactive to dogs or he can be in a playful mood and just want to herd everything in sight.

So, lots of change in his training routine. Wish us luck.

In The Zone:


In The Open: (I'm box-loading!)

This week was interesting. We didn't have the magic we did last week, but we did a decent job.

Duncan would get really focused on the ball one run, then get distracted on the next. His recalls were blazing, though. Yay!

The box... we didn't load it like we had wanted to because Duncan hadn't retained last week well. Poor guy, he tried. He also can't be to blame because it's not like we could practice! I got him to do nice box turns, without grabbing the ball. Then we added the ball, just to confuse the heck out of him. We ended on a positive note - good box turn with a ball grab. Then more perfect recalls.

Good news - we got to borrow box! It is one of the older ones, but at least we can work at home. And I might be able to get some video. We will also be working with a T (picture soon) to get the box turn motion. Duncan is little, so he's really going to have to smack the box to trigger it. We aren't there yet.

Goals are nice!

Also, there is a tournament this weekend that I may go to. If so, I will link to all the pictures and videos.

My agility Duncan did great! Well, you know, two months of practice great. He was a little wild, barky, and spastic. I tripped, forgot the jumpers course, and made thousands of other mistakes.

I don't have any video of the Standard runs. We did two jaunts through the course. The obstacles were a little dirty and Duncan was very interested in something dumped in the overgrown grass. We did good contacts! Tunnels were a bust until I just took the time to really reinforce one.

The Jumpers course was awesome. There was only one tunnel and one set of weaves. I thought it best to just skip the weaves entirely. So we replaced it with a jump. The second run-through was more fun than the second. I got away with some difficult crosses in some places and not others. Oh, Duncan... must we be velcro-ed?



Overall, we had fun - which is what is important. People told me varying things. The most overwhelming response was that Duncan loves agility and that he is going to be awesome. I agree. The other comment was that I am too hard on myself. Probably true.

Enjoy! Oh, and no agility class this week.

Really quickly, as I didn't have time to post until now.

Flyball class went very well. We got Duncan on the box (without the trigger) and he did the full run from the start line (not on the trigger box, though).

Duncan was so very smart when I put him to the box! At first, he was like, HUH?!?! Then I did some shaping sort of work to get him on the box. In just a few minutes, he was doing a great swimmer's turn. Yay!

Anyway, I need to work on getting the drive to go away from me when I shout "GO!"

Ugh... I need to post right after a practice!

This was a hard, boundary pushing class. There was a 19 obstacle course laid out with every obstacle they have. We got a chance to walk it for a few minutes and then did a cold run-through. We broke into groups and worked on pieces (with alterations from the original course), then did the course again.




Weaves, the stupid double jump, and the friggin tire. That's all I have to say. Duncan was in a very vocal mood, which didn't really help matters. Other than those three obstacles, though, we did pretty awesome. Once Duncan got off the dogwalk a little early (I think he had one paw in the yellow), but that is because I stopped and said "Am I going the right way?" or something to that effect.

2o2o is going very badly, so I've tried to teach creeping down the obstacle. He is doing well for the dogwalk and I think starting to get it a little on the A-frame.

The weaves need more practice and I need to make sure they are widely set during class. Our channel weaves at home are set pretty close, but Duncan doesn't generalize to the weave-o-matics. I would much rather have a set of those, though! When he does get them, he bounces through nicely. I also coyly moved to his right side, as that is the side where he has the most success with the weaves. We are working at getting all angles at home.

The double jump... that would require two jumps at home. I have one built, the PVC for another, and need to get jump cups for both. So that's bust for the moment.

I actually worked on the tire at Flyball this week. There just happens to be one, so after class I did some work with it and Duncan is much improved. I wouldn't like something that moved when I jumped through it either.

Duncan graduated into the next level of Agility! I was nervous about our first class. It is a bit different than Intro. You have drop-in cards and come when you can. This is nice for scheduling issues. Last night, there were five dogs present.

First: jump work!
          We did wraps first. I had done something similar with Duncan before, so this was fine. After we got bored of that, we moved to Start Line Stays (or in our case, Waits). I'd say we have about 85% good waits. The issue is that Duncan is slow to Sit for me. I have to say it pretty sternly for him to listen. This is something we should work on at home. After that we worked on Sends. As long as I gesture nicely, Duncan is fine. He is so much more visual than auditory. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

Second: individual obstacles
          I was determined to do the 2o2o for the A-frame. We've been working on an inclined plank at home, so I thought we could generalize that easily. Nope. Duncan kept turning his shoulders and spinning off the bottom of the frame to look for his treat. When I dropped the treat at the end, he seemed to be able to do it. Definitely need to get more work on this. I think next class, I'll see if we can lower the frame at first to really key that in.
          Switching to weaves, I was happy to note that Duncan was doing great. He even got his small-dog-hop going! I like the Weave-O-Matic poles they have. The channel poles at home seem harder to me. Only thing to do for this is practice!
          The dogwalk was a cakewalk. Hahaha. Sorry. Anyway, Duncan was fine with it set to the height of my elbow. He went as fast as I went. Sometimes I had to race him to the end to get the treat set up at the end. I will work on getting further out from the dogwalk.
          Duncan took a bit of his own weight with the teeter. I let him start to tip it before I slowed the descent. The only thing he is grumpy about on it is not being able to fly across. I am going to have to force myself to take the teeter slowly.
          There was a small set-up of jump, jump, jump curved tunnel. I let Duncan do the tunnel once to make sure that he could succeed on such a curved tunnel. Yay! He did it! Then we ran it with great success. Then we were told to do it backward. Duncan was held (sweetly) at the end of the curved tunnel and I was to run and call him through it. The instructor gave Duncan a little push and he was off, chasing me down the way and missing all the jump. The next time, I smacked the second jump with my hand right before Duncan was going over it. As he landed, he started barking at me and I didn't even grump about him missing the last jump (my fault!!!). Then, the instructor held him back as I ran the original direction and I got a small crowd as Duncan FLEW over the jumps to get near me. I swear he went up on the side of the tunnel as he barreled through.

Last: a course - jump, jump, jump, curved tunnel, teeter, tire, dogwalk, broad jump, A-frame, weaves
          Jump, jump, jump, tunnel - fine! We even got a good and solid lead out from the start. Teeter - decent. I didn't readily have a treat, and Duncan gave me the most pitiful look. It was like he said, "I'll do it just for you, mom, but I really think I deserve some yummy." I dug one out of my pouch and popped it into his mouth. Tire - After the teeter, I should have made him wait to better get set-up for the tire. He rear crossed ME and passed it entirely. I called him back and made a much bigger signal (remember, visual!). Problem solved. We rounded the bend for the dogwalk, which he liked. The broadjump confused him. I ended up putting him in a sit-wait (sit took a bit to calm him down enough for it) and called him over it. He sniffed it before he jumped and that was that. A-frame, fine if you consider he hit the contact. Not fine if you were expecting a 2o2o (which I wasn't). He popped out of the last weave, and we were so exhausted we didn't go back and fix it.

Ah, Flyball... A class got canceled and then this week's got moved to tonight. Scheduling might be funky over the next couple of weeks but I've got my fingers crossed for *gasp* two classes in back-to-back weeks!

Duncan did awesome (with no video evidence...sorry). He went and grabbed the ball without me doing the psych out throw thing. When we were right before the first jump and beyond, he needed me to toss the ball. Our first round was pretty nice. Duncan's strong suit is his recalls. He wants Mommy and her gob of string cheese! I am a tiny bit disappointed in his tugging drive, but the food is working well.

When we were at the end of the line, it was interesting how Duncan reacted. I'd try to set him up the same as always. Procedure: crouch, pull Duncan close, kiss on long nose, take a hold of harness, whisper things like "See the ball? Let's get that ball", and then send him with a "Go!!" Most times, Duncan would fly away for a few steps, get over a hurdle or two, and then whirl around and bark at me. Ugh. He even dropped the ball before the last jump a couple times. I think that I can get those things worked out with some work at home, though. I just need to enlist a little help... hmmm.

Good news! We're going to try Duncan on the box next time. That's the spring-loaded contraption that shoots the ball out that they actually use in competition. My only grump about this is that there is no real way to practice at home. Grr.

So, we are rolling along with the Flyball. Duncan is coming out of his shell and gaining so much confidence, which is very awesome. Oh, and my little sable bugger - everyone loves you there.

Tonight was a great last class. The format of the class was to go around and showcase each dog having success at each obstacle. We all gathered around one, two, or three in a row and applauded whatever happened. I have to say that any mistakes are all mine. Duncan was great. He did get over-excited, but I think he was just correcting some bad handling.

The video:


The one thing that sticks out to me more than anything else is that blatant missed contact on our first ever full run-through. If I had been on the fence about 2o2o training, I have now fallen over it. It is too dangerous to have that kind of high-impact jump. I'm sure that will take up a good deal of our time for the next few weeks - at the very, very least.

Other than that one glaring error, the others are very minor. Not slowing before the weaves, underestimating how far I needed to go with a front-cross, and forgetting I had to brace the teeter (thankfully I got that one in time!).

Positively, I think that I have a future agility maniac on my hands. Duncan loves to run and enjoys every obstacle we do (now, of course). High points are tunnels, jumps, the A-frame (considering our starting point), dogwalk...

I am enthused to start our Basic Agility class soon.

I can't believe that there is only one more class left in this round! I feel like we have come so far in this time. Mostly, I am really proud of Duncan. For such a little dog, he has gained so much confidence. I'm sure I'll have more to say about this next week. Let's get to the good stuff.

Class went really well. I had JUST explained to one of the instructors that I thought Duncan might need some more contact work when he surprised me. After luring him over the A-frame once, he got it! I think he realized that if he flew over it, it wasn't all that bad. The instructor wanted us to attempt 2o2o (two on, two off). I keep bouncing between wanting to do this and not liking it. I'm going to rig something to practice it at home.



Notes:

It was obvious to me and everyone there - Duncan loves to run. He can't wait to get started. When he gets past a certain threshold, he can't sit for the start and I have to work with what I've got. I varied a few running starts with the waits. I think a Sit-Wait will be our goal. When I felt he wasn't giving me good focus, I walked around the obstacle (well, was instructed to!) and came back to him. I liked this approach. Since Duncan really wants to rrruuuunnn, I think he will quickly get the point that focus and a good wait get him what he wants.

2o2o - ugh. If you watch the very last run, we had a blast and no danger of jumping off the contact zone. Should I just watch it and risk having to re-train? Or should I put in the effort now so that later I am grateful? There is one clip where you can hear Thane say "fault" as Duncan clearly goes well into the contact zone. We had to watch it together to settle that! Too funny.

After a certain point, Duncan turns in to Mr. Barkerson. I ignore the best I can. The little happy barks are completely different and so, so very cute. Mr. Barkerson, however, doesn't listen or watch. He just hops around yelling about my bad handling.

Teeter - We need a trotting start for him to really get the feel. Also, I think we estimated the tip point too close to the fulcrum, when it needs to be out a bit more. Each time was a little worse because we went slower and slower.

The chute was a huge success. We finally got that one down pat. Yay for Duncan!

Can you say velcro dog? On the list to work with on the field: go, out, left, and right.

Overall, I was extremely happy with my Duncan. We have a long way to go, but man it was great to feel like we were getting somewhere! On of the instructors came up to me at the end of class and said, "You have an agility dog now."

Things went waaaayyy better than yesterday. I felt like Duncan wanted me happy and he had really great ball drive to make things even better.

We got two sessions at the box. The first time we went at it, I had the fleeting feeling Duncan had forgotten everything we had learned previously because it had been two weeks since we had been to actual practice. A few 'good boys' later and it seemed to click. We worked him further and further back from the box. Every time, I had to get the ball from him, have a happy dance, then reset up for the next run - and toss the ball back. If Duncan doesn't see the ball go from me to the box, he doesn't want it. Definitely something to work on next round.

And we did. We did a couple 'fake-out' throws to get him going. Eventually, I want him to learn that the box has a never-ending supply of balls. The first time I did it, Duncan took a step, turned around, and barked his head off calling foul. It brought up a few issues like going ofter balls not on the box and such, but I think we did great for our second class.

I need to remember to tug with Duncan or at least offer it to him. The first couple go's, he didn't seem to want to do it so I just tossed it aside. I think I would have gotten more out of him if I had redirected some of his over-the-top energy with the tug.

Without further ado, a video of a few runs.


A side note:
We took Pierre to see if he had any natural talent or inclination to do Flyball. He is really smart, but man is he stubborn. He was not afraid of the box. In fact, he go right up on it, trying to get to the box loader for some love. He did not want to touch the ball, smell the ball, look at the ball. I started talking for a moment and looked away and Duncan strutted down the running aisle and took every jump at his own sweet little pace. If only we could get him ball motivated AND have him listen... he would make a great sporting dog. But alas, we have a Toy.

Weeellll... tonight was definitely not one of our shiniest moments. Thane had play practice, so no videos - not that I would want evidence of the evening to survive.

We have been working and working on tunnels, weaves, and jumps (with a little plank thrown in) in the heat, with distractions. We've even gotten some pretty good distance work for our level. For the first 50 minutes of class, it felt like all of it was for naught.

As everyone was getting settled, I tried to run Duncan through a curved tunnel to warm up. He loves them so at home. He refused it. I gently put him at the beginning and tried to call him through. Nope. I stuck him in and crawled after him and he seemed to enjoy running through. One more time and he seemed warmed up, besides - the set up was being announced.

The instructors had four lines of three obstacles each set up for us.

Line #1 - Tire jump, teeter, weaves
      Tire jump is no issue if I put Duncan in a wait and call him from the other side. We have yet to get a Go. Working on it!
      Teeter... this is where my stomach sank a little. He wouldn't get on it unless I was constantly feeding him a turkey hotdog. Then when he was on, he walked to the end like nothing was a problem (instructor was guaranteeing a slow descent). The weird part? As soon as he was on, he ignored the food. That's right, a Sheltie did not want food. We tried it again and a few steps up he stopped. I tried every call, whistle, and thing I could thing of to entice him up. The instructor lowered the teeter before he passed the fulcrum hoping to encourage him down. Eh, he said, I guess I have to meander down this thing now...
      I suddenly remembered the tug! Oh, please work... It did a little, but his nose was still stuck to the ground. He got one or two really good weave passes before we moved on to the next line.

Line #2 - Wait table, dog walk, curved tunnel
      The wait table isn't a problem. I imagine we'll actually do more with it when he's actually running, but for now - no biggie.
      The A-frame is a contact, therefore Duncan did not like it today. His nose was glued to the ground. I tried running start, placing a line of hotdogs up the ramp, enticing him with his tug, and even tried to trade treats with classmates... nothing. So I picked him up and put him on the flat top part. What does he do? Saunter down the other side. I put him a little further back and get the same nice result (if sassy). I put him on the top of the first ramp and he goes down fine. But will he get on the contact of his own free will? Absolutely not.
      We did the tunnel just a few times, as Duncan was pretty good at this, if slow and distracted. The only time he really paid attention to me was to go in the tunnel (I guess because he did it) and the the two seconds afterward. Even if the 'party' was still going on, he was done with it. When we had a successful go of it with a little more attention, we headed back to the dogwalk. One of the other students (a terrier thing) snapped/growled/attacked a lab and was getting some direction while I was doing the tunnel, so we got a little more time on this line.
      A-frame again, why? Masochism. Duncan would not look at me, listen, wait, or sit because there was this spot on the floor that HAD to be licked or at least you MUST pull and try. I don't like having Duncan on leash for practice, but understand the necessity with anything with height. He never really pulls - ever. Until tonight. An instructor came over and I mentioned that ever since I've been treating on the ground rather than from my hand, my pup had had a preoccupation with the floor and his focus is gone. so no more ground feeding. We'll fix the eyes-glued-to-hands later. I was grateful when he had to switch.

Line #3 - Chute, A-frame, jump
      Chute? Nope, it's shoot! I called 'tunnel' as we ran up and Duncan went in. Yes! Wait, where is he? Oh... backing out and prancing toward me. I put him in a wait, went to the end and lifted the chute, and called him. He went around. Several more attempts later, and an instructor comes over to help. Thank goodness! She held him and I went around and repeated it. He ran through. We redid it several times until he went through the chute on his own. He really wanted the tug. Things were starting to look up...
      ...To the A-frame. We run up, I say "Up on it" which tends to just be what spews out of my mouth, and he diverts at the last second, avoiding the dreaded contact. We had a repeat of the dogwalk but worse, much worse. I felt like I was going to rip my hair out but was quite determined to have FUN and to get a success and to not show Duncan how grumpy I was at the world.
      The last jump was fine. Duncan will jump for me. I used the last few minutes to tug with him and try to raise his bruised ego, as I know I was not as peppy as I could have been on the A-frame.

Line #4 - Weird slanty jump, looooooong tunnel, jump
      The first jump was fine, I guess. Duncan did a decent wait but would not look at me. I got tired of waiting and called him over. It worked. Bad me for not sticking to my methods.
      There was a sign on the ground (where Duncan's nose was) in front of the tunnel: Tunnel refusal is much more fun than actually going through it. Duncan believed the sign. The instructor was trying to help me, but Duncan was being particularly uncooperative. She said, "Walk away and ignore him." Holy moly, it worked. He really wanted attention. Through the tunnel he went! He tried to goof up again and I walked away, playing bored. He followed like a puppy (haha... sorry). When I knew I had his attention, I put him in a wait and walked 10 feet in front of him. I was feeling a bit defeated and fully expected him to stare at something, move out of wait, or start smelling the bleeping floor again. Nope, we got our first three obstacle run of the night. Jump, looooong tunnel, jump, tug, tug, tug. It was awesome! We ran it like 10 times (okay, like 6), reveling in the glory of connectedness. We love tunnels.

At the very end, we were asked to do our least favorite then our most favorite things and end with a party. A-frame... not so good. Running a tunnel... very fun. It was a nice way to end that gut-wrenching class.

The heat and rain has not let up a bit, but we've still managed some practice.

Our most notable foray was with astounding amounts of distractions. My backyard is actually communal between all the neighbors and many of them have the fishing bug. So, when I set up the equipment and Thane brought out his fishing pole, there was a high level of interest. The tug was simply not enough to lure Duncan away from the people, fish smells, and bait.

Between breaks where I brought out Pierre and Abbie (Duncan's rescue Sheltie sister) for socialization where Duncan got to cool off in the A/C, we did quite a bit. We started with weaves. This is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Duncan starts to pop out if I move the poles too fast, so I am having to show major restraint and just inch those poles in sloooowly. Then, we did weaves and the plank to get Duncan re-familiar with contacts. I really wish I had an actual contact to work with, not just a plank. Then we did weaves, tunnel, plank. At first, Duncan got barky with the combo but soon had the drive to power to the end - many times ahead of me (if I remembered to ask him to!). Gosh, he loves that tunnel now!

I felt like Duncan was tiring of the weaves, so I traded them out for a jump. I worked with the jump significantly to the left and right of the tunnel and worked him through both directions. Honestly, I feel like I learned more about where I need to place myself in order for Duncan to have the most successes. I very much want to work on directionals, but I'm not exactly sure how. Wouldn't you just call the obstacle name? If Duncan were to go over the jump and the tunnel was to the left and the weave to the right, I think it would matter more that I said "tunnel" if he needed to go left. Things to ask my instructor!

Overall, we are making steady progress with the equipment we have at our disposal. If our club allowed you to come practice on the equipment between classes, I could easily see myself there 2-3 times a week other than class night.

This week has been miserable, so we haven't gotten to do much training. My house isn't that big, so we really don't have space to do it inside. I am petitioning Florida weather to pick somewhere between the 100+ temps and the pouring rain!

The following video sums things up nicely.


As you can see, Duncan is doing great at the home weave set. I like the channel weaves quite a bit. We're at just over half a turn (about 95 degree turn from original open position). As you can ALSO see, we got rained out. I barely got everything inside before the onslaught began! The tugging is working nicely for at home training if it isn't too hot.

Moving on to class. Thane took some video sporadically. We did much more than chutes, weaves, and tunnels. Duncan balked a little at the contacts. He just wasn't focused tonight, but I don't think I was either. Not sure, but we weren't clicking as well as last week. Probably due to lack of practice. Oh well!

Duncan hasn't really had an issue with chutes until today. We finally dropped the cloth all of the way and he got confused. We backed it up and I think he'll do better when we have amazing tunnels. Speaking of tunnels, the few times on the video were some of our best for the night. I think he's confused because for tunnels and weaves, he isn't right next to me. I need to work on distance with him, but I'm afraid of doing too much, too soon (especially considering we are doing two sports with him).

See that pitiful weave? Hear my strained high pitched voice? Gah. That kind of summed up the practice. Duncan found everything he wanted on the floor and only thought about me if I was a lunatic. I think I'm going to pick up my Control Unleashed book again and work on focus exercises.

Brag that isn't on the video: Duncan did the teeter three times without even a flinch! I lured him the whole time with turkey hotdogs and the teeter was smoothly dropped to a medium high wait table by an instructor. We didn't want to over do it, so we left it on a success. I was so proud of my baby.

Sad news - no Flyball tomorrow. It got moved to tonight and we had Agility. I'm going to get some practice in anyway, though!

First - Batteries charged as of this afternoon, so I've got some pictures!

At our last Flyball class, Duncan was not interested in treats. He was panting and a little hot and just too excited. We were given some felt to make a tug. Sounds easy. I haven't been on here long, but you should know I'm a little OCD about things. I tried two different types of braid and was disgusted at the results. I un-wound each time and started again. Then I remembered these key chains we would make in high school and this bracelet I made for my husband out of a ton of thread.

The result:


I tied off the one end with a hair tie because we might thread a tennis ball through. That end isn't very long, though. If we don't do that, I'm going to finish the spiral sequence. The macrame pattern is called something 'lanyard' and I alternated square and spiral for effect and because I wasn't sure Duncan would be able to latch onto an end.

I was a little worried about the use of the tug because Duncan has great bite inhibition. When we play, he might mouth me, but he never bites down and if he gets too mouthy (haha) I squeal and he stops. He tried to steal the felt fabric while I was braiding, so there was some hope!

When it came time to put it into practice, I had just finished a set of PVC channel weave poles. (Pictures to come!) Being super excited to use them, I set the poles wide open and sent Duncan through them. He trotted through just fine and looked to me for his reward (smart dog). I put down the tug and amazingly, he latched on and started pulling! I really let him get riled up with it, so he had good memories and feelings associated with the tug. Then, I said "Mine" and took it away. He barked at me in protest, but worked with me very well for that tug! We got the poles all of the way to half closed (90 degree angle from the start point). I must put the caveat that Duncan is an 11.5 lb, 13 inch (recent measurement) Sheltie, so he still didn't touch the poles or even have to twist any. One run, he bounced through small dog style, which is where the dog hops with both feet on one side of the pole and alternates. We did extra tugs for that.

We ended that portion of the training with high spirits. It was about 95 degrees F outside (not including heat index), so we took a break and headed into the air conditioning to hydrate. After a few minutes, Duncan bothered me for some more training and I thought it was a good opportunity to do jump work, as we haven't in a little while. Once back in the heat, he was less than enthused about it. Tugging wasn't paying off as well. I got him to give me a few really good jumps and then we went inside. It was just too hot!

I highly doubt that the tug will be enough to replace treats for everything. Teaching something is waaaaayyy easier with treats if it is something nearly stationary - pause table, entrances to a jump - or something very difficult - for Duncan, contacts. However, when he is hot and has just run (Flyball or Agility) a tug seems perfect.

Bad news about the camera. One of the pups (my bet is Duncan) chewed the charger cord. Fortunately, no singe marks on any of them. Thane got shocked when he unplugged it, though. Guess that means no visuals until I get myself to finding a new one.

Flyball class was very fun. Our intro to the class two weeks ago was eye-opening and we were given lots of homework. Duncan doesn't have an issue at all with recalls, but he wasn't comfortable with the box. We used one with velcro to hold the ball instead of the spring loaded one because we aren't there yet! You have firsthand knowledge of our homework and how we did it. The work ended up paying off, even if it looked a little helpless at the start.

At first, Duncan (and I'll admit - I) was fairly distracted by the other noises and everything else going on. We did some box work trying to get him comfortable with the surroundings. It helped me to get him interested in the ball then toss it to our instructor, who 'loaded' it in the box. After a few times of this, we went to a smaller area to work up his interest of the ball because Duncan was still a bit off. I knew he could do better because we'd done better at home. It was just keying into his "zone."

In the back area, Duncan remembered what we'd done and was going after the ball as I tossed it or rolled it. He was shy of a table in the corner. We worked on the ball drive until the next dog was done with a few runs. This little terrier is SO good and already doing full runs only a few practices into her career.

We then went back and worked on recalls. Duncan likes chasing me down the lane. Our instructor released Duncan from the box as I went over the middle jump (they only have three jumps set up due to space). I tried not to look back too much, but I couldn't help it. I ended up smacking into the wall at the end once. Very funny, but my keeping on running sped Duncan up. I REALLY want a video of his pace. We did this 5-6 times and then stopped so we didn't fully tucker him out. A curious thing happened with the running. He didn't want his tiny sliver of turkey hotdog as a treat after his run. He seemed to be self-satisfied just having run. I am thinking something like tug will be a great way to reward him for running.


We got a rest and watched the others on the team do some runs/races. There was a Papillon that Duncan couldn't keep his eyes off. He looks almost exactly like Duncan's older (smaller) Papillon brother Pierre.

After a few runs, Duncan got to do some box work again. He finally caught on and grabbed the ball off the box and came right for me!!! We even got him to grab the ball and run it down to the start line. It was very exciting to see the work paying off. We're going to keep working on this with him at home. Until we get a box, I'm thinking I could use the target plate and an amazing down/stay. (We shall see if it stays amazing!) Again, Duncan didn't want any treats.

Then I did ball loading for a bit. It was interesting to see a dog almost ready for competition. He was very interested in the other dog in the other lane. I wonder how Duncan will react to that!

We were given some felt material to braid (macrame) into a tug. Duncan already showed interest in it while I was constructing it.

Take care!

Tonight, Duncan was definitely 'Most Improved' in his class. Sorry, no videos. My camera batteries died on me. They are being recharged tonight. Hopefully next time, I'll get video evidence.

We started on the A-frame, a previously unattempted stunt due to Duncan's reticence on the dogwalk and other contacts. First, we did it flat. No problem! Over the next three (that's right - THREE) height bumps, Duncan was great. It wasn't full height, but very nearly there. I stopped him while he was still excited about running up and down and not at all scared. It was like he suddenly decided that contacts were good things.

When we switched to the dogwalk, my Dunc got a bit weirded out at the entrance. It is so much thinner than the dogwalk, so he needs to have accuracy. I ended up picking him up and running him off the end a few times, backing him up until he was comfortable running down the end. This seemed to clear that up with him and he could run the whole thing without a problem. The height was maybe a foot and a half high. Still low, but Duncan is definitely getting used to it.

We did the wait table once. Duncan hopped right up and someone else wanted to use it, so we moved on.

Next we did a few jumps, loosening up. Duncan had a barking fit to which I responded by just looking at him and not doing anything to praise him. When he was done, I took him over to the chute and we did that a few times. Duncan was getting pretty good and could have the chute almost to the ground (someone was holding it up and dropping it after each successful go).

We did some tunnel work after this. We were asked to do the tire jump. Duncan would not sit for me, so I asked him to jump through using a 'come' and he did. After this point, Duncan would not sit for me again that night, even if he was attentive and doing well. We were able to do some tunnel/tire jump combos very successfully.

There was a little course of four jumps, the tunnel, then a jump and the chute that we were to try. Duncan refused the tunnel time and time again. First, the instructor asked me to start treating on the ground, since Duncan is SO hand-focused. Duncan still wouldn't enter the tunnel, but if she held him, he would fly through it. Then, my husband Thane came to the rescue. We called Duncan back and forth between us, treating for when he would duck into the tunnel. A few minutes of that seemed to solve our problems.

Duncan ended on the high note of the chute, barking madly the whole way. Believe it or not, that took an hour!

We did not do weaves or the teeter tonight. I want to build some weaves to work with at home. The teeter can wait until Duncan is fully confident with contacts.

Overall, we were very pleased with the work we did tonight and so was everyone else!

Yay - videos! All are shot by a neighbor's very young daughter. Her comments are interspersed and pretty cute. Oh, and it was about 96 degrees F outside.



This first video shows some of the jumps. They are set just under 8 inches, as Duncan is still young. First jump, Duncan had a nice wait and no hesitation. I upped the ante the second time, asking for a figure eight. He hesitated on the second loop, but got it. I thought I'd try the sequence again. He did nicely.

I need to learn to click better! Should I click as he jumps or as he lands? I think as he jumps, but I have a delayed reaction. Also, I need to consistently say "Over"... I said 'up' a time or two. Goal - distance work!



The second video shows contact work. The shots are a little everywhere, but Duncan is really getting this. I didn't add the PVC today, as he isn't fully confident with it. I am thinking I will work on sending him over the plank before creating a new monster. A few times you can see me trying to get Duncan on my left. I feel more confident with him there, which means I need to work the other side, too.



The last video isn't a good representation of our Flyball work. It LOOKS like just fetch, but the ball actually stops for a moment before I release Duncan to get it. Duncan is tired from all the training and had just completed some beautiful runs with as much at a 10 second wait before lunging to get it. I'm trying to work up to having him go get a ball that magically appears (I need a second person and more balls for this), rather than run after a ball. Maybe next time!

All of our work is in the early stages, but I feel like there is a lot of good happening. If you have tips or comments, feel free.

Targeting - Duncan is getting very good at running to a target. I have the issue of him looking right back at me once he hits it and coming to me. I think putting the treat on the target will solve this problem.

Plank (the 1" x 12" x 6' variety)- When we've got speed, we can fly over it perfectly. If I give him time to think about it, Duncan will side-step the plank entirely. I made the mistake of putting a PVC pipe under the plank too soon. He was wary, but I removed it and now he's fine. I'm doing slow introductions to the addition of the PVC... won't attempt to cross it until he's willing to get on it.

Flyball work - Duncan is about 70% awesome at bringing the ball back to me if I toss it while holding him back by the harness, revving him up, and releasing after it has stopped. When he doesn't bring it back, I'm trying to ignore it as best as possible, start over, and throw a shorter distance.

Goals:

Distance on targeting. Confidence on contacts. Me finding the right time to click. Getting Duncan to go for the ball without me having to throw it first.