jumpin4agility

Really?

2009-06-03T18:39:46Z

Why don't teachers ever e-mail their students back on time?

>.<

Don't Shoot The Dog

2009-05-28T19:10:06Z

I have been so stressed these past couple weeks. The reason being because I had two school presentations to do this week. I have never done presentations before and was so nervous! I just finished the 2nd one today though, and as you can see, I survived! I am SO relieved that they are over with. I can relax some now. I'm within the last couple weeks of school now. Not just this semester, forever! (Well besides college :P). I graduate in June and as nervous as I am about starting college, I am so glad to be past high-school.

On another note..
I ordered the book 'Don't Shoot The Dog' by Karen Pryor. Anybody read it? I've heard it's really good so I finally decided to get my own copy. I had to do a project for school about my future career choice, I (of course) chose dog training and behavior. While doing the project though, I realized just how much I don't actually know about training and behavior (particularly the latter) and how much I WANT to know about them. I love, love, love agility training and will always keep an open-mind and learn as much as I can about it, as well as continue to run my dogs, but when I really think about it, my true passion lies within behavior. It may have something to do with the fact that I have a dog that I just can't figure out and it kills me. I want so badly to be able to understand the behavior patterns of dogs. I want to figure out the reasons behind why dogs act out, or understand the way they communicate with other dogs and animals more efficiently. This is why I am taking it upon myself to learn as much as I can from now on. I don't ever want to stop learning about it, there is always new and different things you can figure out and I want to be able to do that.

If anybody has any suggestions for books, articles, etc. on behavior, please let me know. I want to read them!

What's new...

2009-05-20T22:33:02Z

Sakari is officially:

Chinak N Trinity's Sakari OA OAJ, with 2 legs toward her AXJ!

I believe since the last time I posted we have had two trials, one back in March where she earned her OAJ and had our very first Exc (A) run, it was JWW, and got her first OA leg. Our last trial was May 9-10. There we earned our OA, having qualified in standard both days and our first 2 Exc A jumpers q's. We even got 4 nice 1st places to go with them! She was amazing and I couldn't have been more proud of how well she did. Her running contacts looked great, too.

We also attended the first two sessions of a courses class at Wild Weavers, she did so well. I have never done just a 'courses' class, and it was actually really fun. I'd love to do more. I ended up having to pull her out of the rest of the sessions though, because she came in heat over the weekend. It was a bit early for her, but I'm okay with it because it opened up a June trial for us to enter.

I really haven't done much training at home. There has been a lot of playing, letting them run the yard and going for walks. Just being normal dogs for a little while. I think they need it. I really hope to be able to take them down to Hocking Hills sometime this summer. They would love it so much, and it seems like we never really do anything like that for them. It would be great for all of us.

On a side note...
This is my last month of school; I will be graduating next month and will officially be DONE with high school! Woot! =)

Been Awhile!

2009-03-16T19:11:37Z

Wow, it's been awhile since I have posted anything. Figured I would give a little update on how things have been and what me and the dogs have been up to!

I spent most of my winter teaching Sakari a running dogwalk, we used Silvia Trkman's method. It could still use some work, especially with turns, but overall I am proud of the results, now I just need to learn how to keep up with her :P

We also had our second trial back in February (14-15). We ended up going 3/4 with all first places and earning our NA Title. She is now in Open in both JWW and STD! We had our first runs together in open JWW and Q'd in both, so we need only 1 more leg for our OAJ. We have a trial this weekend so we're hoping to get it then. She could have moved to open STD on sunday if we Q'd on saturday, but she ended up missing her a-frame contact. She just got going way too fast and her rear came so high that she ended up having a lot of weight and pull coming down it, which then shortened her two strides and she flew off. It was still SUCH a great run, so I was proud. She was so much more focused and a lot faster this time.

Logan has just been enjoying being a normal dog lately, especially through the winter. I just recently started doing some simple jumping with him, and wow has he gained a lot of drive. His form isn't the best, but I'm not worried about it since he isn't a competition dog. He's just having fun with it and it's keeping him in good shape.

I have a few lessons with Jenn coming up, so I'll try and upate one how those go, as well as how our trial this weekend turns out.

Sakari's First Trial: Day Three!

2008-08-18T15:50:08Z

This was the last day of Sakari's first trial:)

JWW:
Beautiful run! Missed the weave entry, but that was easily fixed! We finished in a time of 26.03, Q'd and took 1st place!!
This was our NAJ title run!!

STD:
Not the best.. It was the last run of the weekend so I think she was a little nutty. She had a refusal and an off course, but we still managed to Q!! Just no placement, which I'm perfectly fine with! She now only needs 1 more leg to get her NA!

I couldn't be more proud of how well she did for a first trial.

Our final Q count was 5/6, 4 of which were with 1st places!

Chinak N Trinity's Sakari NAJ :)

Sakari's First Trial: Day Two!

2008-08-17T02:04:10Z

Day Two of Sakari's first trial:)

JWW:
The most AMAZING run I have ever had!!! We had absolutely no mistakes, finished the course in a time of 20.02 AND took 1st place!!!!! I really could not have asked for anything better from a 17month old dog at her first ever trial ;D

STD:
Wasn't our greatest run :P Started off great, had the best startline, awesome weaves, but then after the 5th obstacle something caught her eye and she ran off and I couldn't get her to come back. I was still extremely proud of her though!!

So far we've gone 3/4, which is extremely good for a first trial! I really could not be more proud of how well she has done!
We need 1 more Q to get our NAJ! We still have tomorrow, so hopefully XD

Chinak N Trinity's Sakari 1/3 NA 2/3 NAJ:)

Sakari's First Trial: Day One!

2008-08-16T01:06:38Z

Sakari and I had our first trial together!! I am absolutely thrilled with how well she did!

We ran Novice A JWW first, it was a really fun course actually, I liked it. She held her stay perfectly (I was a bit afraid that she wouldn't!), she had a refusal at the 4th jump, not sure why, but she quickly recovered and we were able to fix it. The only other problem was that she missed the weave entry, which was totally weird for her! Though she came back we got it fixed, and she finished the run great! She even jumped in my arms at the end ;D
We qualified and got 1st place!!

Then we ran Novice A Standard. I really hated this course.. If you ask me it was a bit too tricky for a novice course. We did it though! She didn't hold her dogwalk contact, she decided sniffing the ground was better, but she did hit the contact :P Her running a-frame wasn't the best, but she got the contact on it as well, so that's all that matters. She *almost* ran out of the ring, but when I called her she came back and we went on. The rest of the course was awesome!
We qualified and got 1st place!!

I still can't believe how well she did! For her first trial ever, and her first two runs ever, Q'd in both AND got 1st places!
How awesome is that?!

Soo extremely proud of my girlie:)
Can't wait for tomorrow!

Sakari's Class/Logan 08/05/08

2008-08-06T01:16:32Z

Class was tonight with Sakari. We worked mostly on rear crosses. Boy was she so ON tonight!! She did amazing with them!! There were a lot of off courses in the sequences as well, she didn't even look at them! I'm so proud of her =) (But also myself because that also means my handling was good on them too! haha)

There was only 1 sequence where she went silly on me. She popped out of her weaves (weird for her!), but Jenn said it was because I had turned my shoulders too soon (preparing for the turn after the weaves). Then she turned the wrong way on the RC because I moved laterally too late. But then.. She decided taking the off course jump was more fun, then running off into a tunnel that was way off from where we were, then came RUNNING back over another jump to bark at me =) haha, gotta love those whacky sheltie pups ;D

We did some work on the dogwalk as well, had no issues there :P

So proud of how well she's coming along!

Logan got brushed yesterday, and holy cow did he need it! He's shedding his coat right now, we seriously could make a toy breed with how much fur we got out of him! haha

Also, he somehow, did something to his paw. He came into the house yesterday getting blood all over the floor. I can't tell if it's coming from his pad or nail, but we cleaned it up and it seems fine. He wasn't limping or anything either. Who knows, but he's all good now XDD

Sakari's Trial Countdown!
9 days!!!!

Sakari's Class 07/29/08

2008-07-30T03:14:46Z

Well tonight we had class. I must say that Sakari did wonderful =) We worked a lot on the 'dogs responsibility'. As in, them working to take an obstacle. We had a set of 4 jumps in a zig zag pattern. Basically, we, the handlers, had to run in a straight line not pushing or pulling or using any directional commands, only running straight and saying the obstacle name. The dogs had to learn to work at it and go out of the way a bit to take certain jumps, such as the ones that were away from us. Sakari did a great job on it!   The only one she had a problem with was when we had a pinwheel. I did everything that I was supposed to in order to present the jump to her, but because she went a little wide on the jump before it she took the easy way out and went around it, instead of working at it and coming back in to take the jump. Just something we will have to work on.

She did for pretty much everything else, respond perfectly to my body language. There was one particular sequence that I think we handled so well. I was really proud of the way she did on it.

I had to decelerate in order to prepare her for the turn to the dogwalk, but then I had to immediately take off in order to beat her to the end and get that front cross in. She listened perfectly to my deceleration for the turn and made a perfect entry onto the dogwalk and we finished the last two jumps of the sequence with ease! Simple yeh, but it was just perfect, gotta love those runs!

Also, her a-frame is really coming along! She did just beautiful with it in class tonight! She does it perfectly with 2 hits on the downside then off, as long as I run and don't hesitate! Which I did once tonight because of a part of the sequence that I was a tad worried about, so when I did hesitate she took an extra stride, but still hit the contact. Just something for ME to work on, she's doing great I just need some practice ;D

Logan and Bess came along, just to hang out. Logan was so good! He got along perfectly with another sheltie there, and even 2 border collies!  He only growled once at 2 dogs, but one has aggression issues as well, and the other was a big black poodle! :P Very proud of him!

Sakari's first trial countdown:
16 days!

Run, Forest, Run!

2008-07-28T01:47:50Z

Extremely proud of myself (and Sakari :P)! I went out today, had 3 jumps (2 single and 1 tire) and a set of 6 weaves, pretty much in a straight line, but they were angled enough to get some good crosses in. We have a tree in the yard that is about 8ft from the first jump. Sakari knows how to go around it on command. I sent her around it and immediately took off to put a front cross in after the first and second jumps! The angle to the weaves was pretty hard, so it wasn't easy to get a front cross in after the tire, but I did it once!! Sakari has beautiful entries on the weaves, so it wasn't extremely hard with her ;D

For awhile, it was pretty hard for me to be ahead of her enough to get front crosses in like that, but I've been getting a heck of a lot better at it! Practice makes perfect =)

Another good note, Logan for the first time in probably over a year, jumped 20"!! His full competition jump height =) With the help of Linda's book, I've been working hard to fix his jumping, he is definitely coming along. He's starting to look so nice. It used to be very hard for him to jump 20", 1) because of his knees and 2) he didn't have as much drive as he does now. So, I'm very proud of him!!

No videos from today, but I will try and get some tomorrow! :D

Jumps, Jumps and more Jumps ...

2008-07-25T20:16:37Z

Ever since Logan had his surgery back in September of 07', his jumping has been horrible. I had to jump him low again to slowly gain back his strength. All that low jumping created a horrible flat jumping style, not just a flat arc, there was nothing round about it. Sakari's hasn't been the best either. I didn't know I was going to keep her, so I never trained them the way I would have liked to. She does a nasty donkey-kick, and her front legs will tuck in, but not toward her chest, more like to her side. It is extremely strange.

I got Linda Mecklenburg's new "Developing Jumping Skills" book. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but so far it is great! I love how well she explains things. Most importantly the actual method. She doesn't 'dance around' the subject, she gets right to the point and explains how to go about doing it.

I was working on a collection grid today with both of the dogs. Sakari did the best, but she has had prior training with Linda's method, Logan has not. He was taught the old fashioned 'lure them over the jump' way :P I have gone back to the beginning of Linda's method with Sakari quite a bit, she's my main competition dog so she really needs it. I'm not so worried about it with Logan. The grid I believe will help him enough to do some NADAC here and there. =)

Here's a video of some of the work we did with that: