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!