It was SOOOOO fun to be back at flyball! Man it's been a long 5 months since the last tournament. During the time off Raven was spayed and I worked on her box turn. She was rounding the box and she would come off wide. We worked on getting her to spin more and based on how she looked this past weekend it seems to have really helped, she had very few wide turns. Even in the last race of the day on sunday she was still turning well and putting in 4.4 times. She had as many 4.4's this weekend as she probably had all of last year. I can't wait til she really gets in peak condition. I know we're going to hit some 4.3's and cross your fingers for some 4.2's!! I think she's really improved how to handle her feet and position herself on the box to get the ball, during a race she didn't bobble at all during the whole weekend.
Mr. Rush thought flyball was both fun and stupid. Stupid because he had to spend most of the weekend in the crate in the car, but really really fun when he got to go in the building. I stood next to the lanes and propped him on my feet like he was going to start, then screamed READY RUSH!!! He was whining and jumping to go. Once he was all worked up in a frenzy then I gave him his tug and let him take his frustration out on it. Don't get too close to him when he is giving it the death shake. It really hurts when it whips around and catches you across the legs, arms or face!
Hopefully we'll get to practice flyball Friday night. On Saturday, Raven and Cherish are in an AKC agility trial at Purina Farms and then on sunday only Raven gets to go back. It is the Aussie National Specialty show and on sunday the trial is for Aussies only. I'm hoping she does really well there. Tonight I set up two sets of 6 weave poles about 12 feet apart. With both dogs I worked each set of 6 separately; starting between the two sets, rewarding between the two sets, rear crosses and with Cherish practiced moving away from her at an angle while she was weaving. Good Girlie! She stayed in and finished them even with me moving away. I didn't want to tempt Raven with that. Looks like we'll be out there every night this week - rain or not!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
We're not gonna make 12 :((
Once it started raining this afternoon it has not stopped. There's not gonna be ANY weave work tonight.
On Tuesday Cherish did well and Raven didn't but last night it was the opposite. I started with Raven and the two sets were still 12 feet apart. Worked them the same way that we did Tuesday night and she did really well! Alright then! Let's move them to 6' apart. She did really good and made very few mistakes.
When I brought Cherish out I left the poles at 6' apart. She started out really and we worked up to sending all the way through both sets of poles. She did it the first time I sent her but after that she kept missing the entry on the first set (she would enter at the 4th pole). I thought 'no problem' we'll just go back to rewarding between the two sets for a couple of reps. Well that's what I was thinking but now she was totally missing it EVERY TIME. I took a couple of steps away from the poles and just played for a bit then set her back up and sent her. She entered correctly so I rewarded between the two sets and went off and rewarded her with more play. Not how I really wanted to end the session but I took the success while it was there.
I actually did wake up earlier with the intent of going out and getting another session in, but it was STILL DARK! Maybe saturday when we get home from the trial we can sneak one in in preparation for moving up to open on sunday. This is of course since I'm POSITIVE that Angie is going to qualify on saturday. NO pressure ANGIE!!!
On Tuesday Cherish did well and Raven didn't but last night it was the opposite. I started with Raven and the two sets were still 12 feet apart. Worked them the same way that we did Tuesday night and she did really well! Alright then! Let's move them to 6' apart. She did really good and made very few mistakes.
When I brought Cherish out I left the poles at 6' apart. She started out really and we worked up to sending all the way through both sets of poles. She did it the first time I sent her but after that she kept missing the entry on the first set (she would enter at the 4th pole). I thought 'no problem' we'll just go back to rewarding between the two sets for a couple of reps. Well that's what I was thinking but now she was totally missing it EVERY TIME. I took a couple of steps away from the poles and just played for a bit then set her back up and sent her. She entered correctly so I rewarded between the two sets and went off and rewarded her with more play. Not how I really wanted to end the session but I took the success while it was there.
I actually did wake up earlier with the intent of going out and getting another session in, but it was STILL DARK! Maybe saturday when we get home from the trial we can sneak one in in preparation for moving up to open on sunday. This is of course since I'm POSITIVE that Angie is going to qualify on saturday. NO pressure ANGIE!!!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Okay, Okay! Finally a new post!
Let's see . . . since my last post . . . we had a trial the end of February that didn't go well, so we won't talk about it. I went to the Susan Salo jumping seminar in Council Bluffs, IA, which was GREAT! On Saturday, Rush spit the ball out for a frisbee (YAY!!) and on Sunday Chris and Angie ran Raven and Cherish for me at agility. Chris had two decent 'practice' runs with Raven. The plus side is that she ran for him and din't leave the ring to come look for me, the downside is that she didn't stay in the weaves on either run. Cherish however, had perfect weaves and qualified in both runs along with first place finishes.
When I came home tonight I went out and put a second set of six poles at 12' away from the first set. I went back to the 2x2 book and followed it. I'm going to work both Cherish and Raven, hoping that it will help Raven learn to stay in and complete them no matter how many there are. I started between the two sets and rewarded at the end of the second set, making sure that I sent from both my left and right side. Then we sent from the beginning and rewarded between the two sets. Raven was not as consistent here and we had to do it a couple of times. For the last step I tried sending her from the beginning all the way through. The first time I was late telling her 'weave' again to go into the second set and she missed them. Then when we tried again she kept blowing by the first set so we went back and rewarded a couple more times between the two sets. Once she did both sets successfully we had a big reward.
I repeated the same steps with Cherish and she never missed. If the weather were to cooperate and hold off the rain that they are calling for, I really think she might be weaving 12 by Sunday. If I could get myself up an extra half hour earlier, I could get a session in in the morning before work and another at night. Yeah, we'll see how that works out for me.
When I came home tonight I went out and put a second set of six poles at 12' away from the first set. I went back to the 2x2 book and followed it. I'm going to work both Cherish and Raven, hoping that it will help Raven learn to stay in and complete them no matter how many there are. I started between the two sets and rewarded at the end of the second set, making sure that I sent from both my left and right side. Then we sent from the beginning and rewarded between the two sets. Raven was not as consistent here and we had to do it a couple of times. For the last step I tried sending her from the beginning all the way through. The first time I was late telling her 'weave' again to go into the second set and she missed them. Then when we tried again she kept blowing by the first set so we went back and rewarded a couple more times between the two sets. Once she did both sets successfully we had a big reward.
I repeated the same steps with Cherish and she never missed. If the weather were to cooperate and hold off the rain that they are calling for, I really think she might be weaving 12 by Sunday. If I could get myself up an extra half hour earlier, I could get a session in in the morning before work and another at night. Yeah, we'll see how that works out for me.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
