Training, Training, Training!!!

Firstly I have to apologise for the title of my previous post..........I really didn't mean to bring Summer to such an impromptu end.

The last couple of weeks have been all about training for Reno and I.

Starting with Tues 23rd at NADTC.  This was Dog of the Month night and Allison had set a lovely competition Agility course.  Reno ran beautifully on his competition run getting and completing 6 weaves and stopping/remaining on his contacts until I released him.  Unfortunately I got a bit over excited and sent him to the wrong jump after the A-Frame. 

For the first time ever our next two runs over the course were clear.

Last Saturday we went on the Training Day with Alistair Bray.  I have to apologise to Alistair for saying I had no idea who he was!!  I have seen him competing before but hadn't heard anything of him as a trainer.  I can't imagine why because he is very good.

I particularly liked the way Alistair managed to keep the day moving. He managed to make it informative and challenging even though he had such a diverse range of Dogs and Handlers attending.

So what did I learn from the Day?

Firstly, and most importantly, it was a great reminder of things that I had forgotten.

1.  I have taught Reno to "look" at the first obstacle but I have to remember to remind him.
2.  My foundation training has worked.  Reno does understand my handling but I need to make it a lot clear for him then I do for Kiros.
3.  I am a consistent trainer/handler!!

Our only real stumbling block was (of course) the weaves.  It's obvious that Reno still finds them difficult and as a result, uninteresting.  Alistair talked about Mirroring to help him develop an even rhythm.  The other thing that he observed was that I had (inadvertently) encouraged Reno to not go into the weaves.  His suggestion was to take him back to the obstacle before if he goes wrong so he not only has to get the weaves right but the entry as well.

As expected Reno's contacts were perfect in isolation but when I put them into a course he still self released.  I think the solution to this is just to remain consistent but to help I have decided not to run any more Agility classes in competition until he can get it right in training.

We're of to Chatsworth Country Fair tomorrow.  I love this show as a lot of my friends from club go and as we all get to park together we treat it as a bit of a party.  We had to miss it last year as Kiros was running in the ABC Semi Final at Stoneleigh.

Good Luck to everyone running in this years Olympia Semi's especially Jo who has qualified Keisha, Ronny and Zippy in the ABC, Grace and Kiah in the ABC and Dave and Rusty in the Senior.

I'd better wish Good Luck to my Kelpie friends as well!!  Anne and Kafka and Jay and Tommy in the ABC.

P.S. Sorry about the photo of Reno - I must get some more taken of him jumping as he's much better now:-)

End of Summer

OK not exactly but this weekend WAS the end of the Agility Nuts Summer League for 2011 and, sadly, the last show that will be held at the gorgeous Park Land Stables in Ruddington :-(

Kiros, as always, ran beautifully winning every class that he went clear in and finishing the season as runner up in the Veteran League. He even managed to win the pairs with his pal Kizzy.

So onto Reno's performance!! 

No video's this time.  It's a shame as there were a couple of runs I'd have liked to have seen.

On the whole I think that we have improved since last Nuts but there are still some incredibly frustrating occurrences.

Saturday

Elementary Agility - Judge: Andrew Green - Started Jump/weaves so I took his Ball into the ring in the hope that Reno would attempt the weaves..............he didn't :-(

Elementary Tunnel Torment - Judge: Ann Miller

Although Ann judged this course I actually designed it and knew I'd struggle to keep Reno out of the tunnels.  I wasn't wrong but after I'd extracted him from them I ran 9-end beautifully!!

Elementary Jumping - Judge: Ann Miller

Ann designed this course and from the moment I saw it I couldn't wait to run it.  I knew Reno would do well in it and secretly hoped he'd go into the weaves.  He gave them a try but chose to go and look for his toy instead.  I managed to get him back and after another failed entry he completed them successfully so just 10f.

Elementary Gamblers - Judge: Pen Sensky - Although this was scheduled as an Agility class Pen had set the obstacles in a way that you could choose to do jumps and tunnels only.  This meant that I could amass a good amount of points for us by just sending Reno from tunnel to tunnel taking in the jumps in between.  We didn't attempt the Gamble as it had an A-frame in it but still managed 7th place in this class :-)

Sunday

Elementary Jumping - Judge: Di Polkey - Great start.  Even better finish with Reno working the handling section brilliantly.  Shame he wouldn't complete the 12 weaves in the middle of the course!!

Elementary Power and Tunnels - Judge: Paul Sensky - I can't believe what Reno did on this course.  The Power section started with the weaves so I took him up to them, held his collar and told him "poles" - he still chose to run past them and go into a tunnel!!!  After that he then did all of the contacts with a perfect stop at the end of each of them.  The tunnel section just blew his brain but he enjoyed it.

Elementary Agility - Judge: Jackie Boyd - In the same ring as the mornings Power and Tunnels so I foolishly expected the same behaviour on the contacts.  Obviously Reno can only stop on each contact once in a day.

Elementary Helter Skelter - Judge: Di Polkey - Saving the best till last!!  Lovely clear finishing in 3rd place (so I've been told the top 3 were separated by a very small margin)

The other course that I designed for Saturday was Starters + Tunnel Torment

Only a few more shows entered now - Chatsworth, Agility Nuts KC and Dog Vegas - so depending on the course may not run anymore Agility and just concentrate on Jumping and getting the weaves.

I've booked on a training session with Alistair Bray next Saturday.  To be quite honest I have no idea who he is or how he handles but thought a days training with new dogs in a different venue would do Reno a lot of good.  Wish me luck!!

Dress Rehearsal

Reno and I have decided that this year is just a "Dress Rehearsal" for next year!

2012 is going to be our year so watch out for great things :-)

So the rehearsal continued at the WDSDS Show yesterday.  Just Reno and Kiros competing as Ann has decided to give Harley a break. 

What a nice little show and contrastingly different to the KCI.  The only downside to it was the number of Dogs that left their rings to chase Dogs in the next ring (thankfully on only one occasion resulting in an attack).  Talk on the Forum has suggested that this type of behavior was on the increase but this was the first time I've actually witnessed it. 

Not sure why this show was so affected?  The rings were well spaced.  Maybe the show was frequented by less experienced handlers?  Maybe it was the Small and Large Dogs competing close to each other? (3 of the Dogs running out of the ring were Small) or maybe it's just that at bigger shows it's just less obvious?

Either way you had to feel sorry for the poor Lady that ran just before me in the 1-3 Jumping.  Her Dog was attacked by a Collie that flew in from no-where whilst she was setting it up at the start line and then, after she had composed herself, a Jack Russell ran at her Dog from that next ring whilst she was running the course!

Everyone was willing her to go clear on the re-run but unfortunately her Dog ran past the last jump :-(

Anyway......on to Reno's performance!!

Check out the Start line on all of the runs......they are for real with no editing.  What a difference a week makes?

Graded 3-5 Agility - Judge: Sue Leech - "It's all about the Contacts"!!  Jump, weave start that Reno seems to struggle with and this was no exception.  The pull through didn't work either but we know we have to practice this.  Two really great contacts so I decided to quit and praise.  The A-frame was especially good as Reno found a leaf at the bottom that he thought had to be targeted.

Combined 1-3 Jumping - Judge: Patrick Bray - Really interesting course with off set jumps that could be handled in several different ways.  It's fair to say that we had an excellent start and finish but it was a shame about the bit in the middle.  I really thought he was going to weave in this run but he lost confidence at the last second.

ABC Agility - Judge: Doc Docherty - Naughty See-Saw so repositioned and left the ring.  Probably for the best as we wouldn't have been able to do the bit after the A-Frame!!

Combined 1-5 Jumping - Judge: Anne-Marie Hill - Good start but Reno showed exactly what his problem is with the weaves.  If he gets the entry he struggles to keep going.  I'm hoping that this will improve when he realises that all the weaves he meets will have the same (larger) gaps. The end of the course was completely my fault as, for a fraction of a second, I couldn't work out what jump I was supposed to turn at!!

Kiros ran a lovely Veteran Jumping (unfortunately not on film).  Didn't manage a placing but had a great time.

Agility Nuts is next weekend.  Once more Ann and I are sharing Judging - This time Tunnel Torment Jumping and Jumping on Saturday leaving us Sunday to concentrate on our own Dogs.

My plan for this show was to take Reno's toy into the ring to train the weaves and contacts.  Not sure what to do now as we've had quite a bit of success recently without the toy and I don't want it to be another thing that I have to phase out?

Scunthorpe

My plan from now on is to record on my blog how Reno and I ran in on each course to provide me with something to look back upon and track our progress.  Hope it's not to boring for you...my avid followers!!! :-)

I have to say that this weekend was our most promising to date.  There are positives to be taken from every run. So here goes.............

Saturday 6th August 2011 (Not videoed as I forgot to take my camera to the ring!)

Graded 1-3 Jumping - Judge:  Emma Rouse - I loved this course, really unusual but flowing.  Reno got his weave entry but came out at about the 3rd pole so 5f. I put him back in and he competed all 12 brilliantly then just a refusal further on in the course when I didn't commit him to a jump before back crossing.  10f in total - Not Eliminated!!

Combined 1-3 Jumping - Judge: Bob Sharpe - It was obvious that this was going to be a good course with elements that suited Reno and our way of handling.  The start was tricky for us - two jumps straight into 6 weaves but with two tempting tunnels on either side.  I wasn't surprised when Reno chose a tunnel over the weaves - E!  I got him back on track but called him to early for a turn resulting in him landing in a heap before the jump and the "Three in a row" towards the end of the course didn't work. Reno and I seem to be struggling with this handling manoeuvre at the moment.

The heavens opened at lunch time so we decided not to do the Agility runs as I was going to use them for training.  Luckily there was a practice ring at this show so I was able to do some contact work there.

Sunday 7th August 2011

The first run on the movie is Kiros's Anysize jumping.  As you can see he had an amazing time but knocked the 1st pole.  Only Kiros could knock poles at that height:-)

CSJ C3-5 Agility - Judge: Gary Murphy - This is the only clip that I've included our entire "start line" on to save you getting very bored.  Unfortunately every one this weekend was similar.  After discussing this on our journey home Ann and I have come to the conclusion that I haven't been consistent enough with my "Sit" command and Reno doesn't actually know that it means bottom on the ground until I say "GO".  Homework required!! 

Despite the lack of "Sit" I was very please with this run.  Two lovely contacts and nice weaves.  I decided to quit while we were ahead and leave the ring so we could have a good game of tuggy and lots of sausage:-)

G3-5 Jumping - Judge: Michelle Guerin - Good start but Reno got a whiff of his toy and chose to find it rather then weaving.  My handling went a bit to pot after I brought him back but again his weaves were good.  I must learn when I 'm not going to be fast enough to put in a front cross.

G3-5 Jumping - Judge: Jackie Smith - Another lovely course but probably my worst handling of the weekend.  The only excuse I can offer was that I obviously gave up trying after I pushed Reno into the jump wing, rather then through the gap between the jumps, at the beginning.

Adams Derby - Judge: Bob Scott - Great 2o2o contacts in the "Power" section.  It's a shame they are so slow but I think I'd rather enforce the stop then work on the speed (that I know he is capable of) later.

I hadn't intended to do the "Speed" section.  To be honest I wasn't optimistic about getting through the "Power" but as we did I thought we may as well give it a go.  This was the hardest course of the weekend and although we got E'd I was pleased with how Reno attacked it.  Especially his weave entry even if he wasn't able to stay in them.

Reno was a little distracted at the top end of the course both in the "Power" and the "Speed" sections.  You can't see it on the movie but there was bag at the far end of the ring that must have had some smelly food in it!

Ann tried a few runs with Harley and, although he set of well on some of them, he allowed himself to become distracted after the first few obstacles.  He's such a strange boy as he always comes out of the ring wagging his tail like he's had the time of his life.  Anyone know a good Doggie Psychiatrist?!!

Next Saturday we are off to WBSDS Show.  We've never been to this one before, generally choosing the KCI Festival but as neither of us currently have a Dog that is competitive we thought we'd give something else a go.  Hopefully far less walking :-)