Last weekend saw our first mad dash to Geraldton for the year to complete two days of agility trialling. Entries were a little bit lower than normal as quite a few of the regulars were overseas watching and competing in the IFCS Agility Worlds in the UK which meant I had to get up there a little earlier to make the first event. Sonic, Lexi and I left Perth at 5am and with a pretty good run on the highway made it to Geraldton by 10am. The course was in the middle of being set up when we arrived so we didn't have much time to do anything other than stretch our legs and get the dogs toileted.
I didn't hold up much hope for our first class (Open Agility) and was expecting it to be a bit rough, however I couldn't have been more wrong. Sonic ate the course up, handled the distance challenge like a pro and ended up not only going clear, but taking out first place. The rest of the weekend followed a similar theme with a total of six clear rounds out of nine starts. Sonic is starting to get confident reading my body and it's making a huge difference. My favourite run of the weekend was a Masters Jumping run on the first day. He moved out beautifully and on some parts of the course was really powering on. There is still room for improvement but he is definately getting closer. Agility on the whole is good. His contacts and weavers are solid but he's not moving out between his obstacles as much as I'd like. Although I can see that his confidence is growing I can also see that he is still cautious in between obstacles and isn't really driving out between turns. There are moments when he does but it's not consistent.
But even being my normal overly critical self I have to say that Sonic was fantastic. It is so great to have reached a point where we are having some really solid performances and starting to find that groove where we are reading each other successfully on course. And he was really trying his little butt off for me and having a fab time in the process. It's hard to ask for more than that. On the training agenda for the next couple of weeks will be continuing with the revision of Crate Games. I'm working on Stage 3 which includes doing collar grabs and the dog coming out and going into the crate. Seems to be going well and Sonic is getting really amped up when I grab his collar. It was something he really didn't like before. I'll also keep working on him driving out of turns because that is still what costs us the most time. I was watching some of the IFCS Worlds and you see the dogs just hit the ground after an obstacle and they power straight off. Most definately something that I aspire to having Sonic do!
Riot has also had to contribute to the household over the last week filming a commercial for the Sids for Kids Red Nose Day annual campaign which is 25th June 2010. Better Pets & Gardens are sponsoring Sids and Kids as part of Red Nose Day so Riot teamed up with Shannon MacGuire who is the Sids and Kids ambassador for this year with her gorgeous son Marley. Shannon is totally stunning and both her and Riot made for some beautiful footage. Riot was a good boy and was as compliant as ever. There were no great training demands on him other than to look handsome but I had to chuckle when he was trying to offer behaviours to the sound boom as it hovered overhead. He obviously thought it was a target stick and managed a well timed paw wave so hopefully it will make it to the final cut of the ad. I even make a brief cameo as I stroll through the BP&G store....
Sonic the Border Collie and Friends
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Agility Nationals WA 2010
Oooops.... (photo by Robyn Evans)
I think all of the WA agility community has released a collective sigh of relief. The 2010 National Agility trial is complete. Peace has been restored.
The ANWA organising committee did a spectacular job. I know they copped a really hard time over how the different heights were going to work but to their credit it all worked amazingly over the four days. Having separate heights for a National was long overdue. Now we just have to hope that future states take on the challenge and continue to make it even bigger and better. The Dogs West grounds looked brilliant with all of us parking around the edge of the rings which gave it a real carnival atmosphere.
Sonic was brilliant. Never did I think that he had the maturity to compete for four days solid and give me everything he had in every run. I have been frustrated by his inconsistent focus so I tried to improve our transitions when I was preparing him for our turn in the ring. I did the usual routine where I get him out of the car get him relaxed, build up to a game of tug followed by focus games but this time instead of walking into the ring and then losing him when I get to the start line I tried really hard to keep the connection going by talking to him with his “rev up” words. It means pretty much ignoring the judge until the very last minute but so be it. He did glance around a couple of time but they were more quick flicks and then back to me rather than gazing into the distance and me having to call him to get his attention back. I will continue to work on it though to try and get him not looking back at all.
Another awesome picture by Robyn Evans
His contact behaviours were spot on every time, straight down to two on two off, no creeping or stopping in the colour. I didn’t hold him in position but released as soon as he hit position. Ever since his contacts got broken at ADAA where the judges chase the dogs down the dog walk to check the colour, then proofed them (thanks Simone!) at training, they have been absolutely rock solid. I can’t wait until I can do early releases to help improve our course times but right now I just don’t think he’s ready. It’s certainly not worth wrecking his contacts at this early stage of his career. After the first two days of perfect contacts and no reinforcement I did take him to the practice ring and give him a couple of belts over them with high value rewards just in case I wore them out!
In the end Sonic came second in Novice Gamblers, seventh in Novice Snooker (all dogs that placed higher than him were competing at the last Nationals almost two years ago, some in Novice Snooker…), second in Novice Strategic Pairs (no thanks to me and some seriously dodgy handling) AND the big one, made the Masters Jumping final!!! Considering the calibre of the dogs in Masters Jumping I thought that it was a pretty special achievement for a baby dog. Masters Jumping was the very last final on the last day. I was a little nervous but didn’t feel any pressure as I had no expectations of grandeur, rather I just wanted to see how he’d cope. The ring was totally surrounded by onlookers and the atmosphere was very different to a normal trial. I did my set up routine and got really great focus from him. Sonic got up from his sit position when I led out but didn’t actually break so I didn’t go back to him to reset. It was naughty but he was so keen. We made it to obstacle 18 which was a broad jump without error, but unfortunately I think his legs were going quicker than his brain was so he hit it good and proper. Then he knocked the second last jump. Other than that it was a great run with his speed building as we went. I actually didn’t handle jump 4 to 6 the best. I used a rear cross when a front would have tightened him up a lot more. It probably cost me at least a second, maybe more. In the end the winning time was 27.64sec and an awesome run from Julies and Mac’s Disco Diva, with Sonic coming in at 30.23. Taking into considering my sloppy handling and his stumble it was a super achievement. Once Sonic matures and I am able to get him powering out of his turns and tightening up more I have no doubt that he will be a force to be reaconed with.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
When he was good he was very, very good and when he was bad.......
Agility trialling mayhem in Perth continues with the State Trial won and run with some seriously awesome agility on display by my fellow competitors. I managed to qualify Lexi in the Masters Agility State final which I was very pleased with but I couldn't quite get it together with Sonic. We had some very close calls but managed to be thwarted between bad timing on my behalf or not being able to get him focused and having an absolute disaster.
This weekend we had our first group of eastern state competitors join us in Perth as we build up to next weekends Nationals. It was great to say hi and catch up with those that we haven't seen since the 2007 Nationals in Victoria. There was some great runs on some pretty challenging courses. Sonic and Lexi both started very badly and not a brain cell could be seen functioning for the first couple of runs. I didn't even complete the Masters Agility course with Sonic. They did settle in though and Sonic even managed a fifth place in Masters Jumping. I was impressed with the placing, firstly because it would be enough to get him a run in a National final, the fact that we had a lot of eastern staters running so the class was bigger than normal and it was a far from perfect run. He was driving nicely around the course but was wide and almost ran past a couple of obstacles that would have cost us time. His afternoon Masters Jumping run was actually much better but he unfortunately missed a jump which was a bit of a shame.
Then on Sunday we had a really good day with Sonic going three out of four clear! That finished off his Open Agility title and gave us our fifth Masters Jumping leg, and fourth Masters Agility leg. His runs were very solid. I thought I handled him probably better than I have in a while too which kinda helps. I was very happy with his contacts and weavers but I do find his lack of focus at the start line frustrating. Mind you he is in good company with his siblings with regard to that annoying habit! One thing I also noticed was he tends to decelerate into tunnels. He's driving out, just not in. I shall add it to the list.... Overall I was really chuffed with him. He is such a cool little boy and I'm having a ball with him.
I have to make note of two special things on the weekend. Firstly, Lexi did the most stunning Masters Jumping run. She was absolutely flying and I couldn't have been prouder of her efforts. She is well and truly back to the great way she was running last year before she went on maternity leave. I'm thinking that a puppy from her could be just what I need as my next agility dog.... :-)
Secondly, Sonic's big sister Secret got her Novice Agility title with a really nice run on Sunday. She even controlled herself when there was a magical, mythical fast kelpie running in the next ring. Congratulations Kriszty and Secret!
So now its time for the Nationals. Good luck to everyone involved.
Super Lexi's awesome run on the weekend!
This weekend we had our first group of eastern state competitors join us in Perth as we build up to next weekends Nationals. It was great to say hi and catch up with those that we haven't seen since the 2007 Nationals in Victoria. There was some great runs on some pretty challenging courses. Sonic and Lexi both started very badly and not a brain cell could be seen functioning for the first couple of runs. I didn't even complete the Masters Agility course with Sonic. They did settle in though and Sonic even managed a fifth place in Masters Jumping. I was impressed with the placing, firstly because it would be enough to get him a run in a National final, the fact that we had a lot of eastern staters running so the class was bigger than normal and it was a far from perfect run. He was driving nicely around the course but was wide and almost ran past a couple of obstacles that would have cost us time. His afternoon Masters Jumping run was actually much better but he unfortunately missed a jump which was a bit of a shame.
Then on Sunday we had a really good day with Sonic going three out of four clear! That finished off his Open Agility title and gave us our fifth Masters Jumping leg, and fourth Masters Agility leg. His runs were very solid. I thought I handled him probably better than I have in a while too which kinda helps. I was very happy with his contacts and weavers but I do find his lack of focus at the start line frustrating. Mind you he is in good company with his siblings with regard to that annoying habit! One thing I also noticed was he tends to decelerate into tunnels. He's driving out, just not in. I shall add it to the list.... Overall I was really chuffed with him. He is such a cool little boy and I'm having a ball with him.
I have to make note of two special things on the weekend. Firstly, Lexi did the most stunning Masters Jumping run. She was absolutely flying and I couldn't have been prouder of her efforts. She is well and truly back to the great way she was running last year before she went on maternity leave. I'm thinking that a puppy from her could be just what I need as my next agility dog.... :-)
Secondly, Sonic's big sister Secret got her Novice Agility title with a really nice run on Sunday. She even controlled herself when there was a magical, mythical fast kelpie running in the next ring. Congratulations Kriszty and Secret!
So now its time for the Nationals. Good luck to everyone involved.
Super Lexi's awesome run on the weekend!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Progress - Just In Time?
Last weekends ADAA trial was good. For the first time in a while I felt really positive about Sonic’s performances. ADAA have created their own NFC (Not for Competition) entry that waaay surpasses our own WA created ANKC NFC entry. You basically enter the class as normal but when you go up to the start line you let the judge know if you want to run as NFC. You can pick any class you want on the night. It’s up to you whether you run the set course or do your own thing for the duration of the standard course time. You can also take a toy into the ring to reward your dog, as long as the toy isn’t thrown. How awesome is that!
So my plan with Sonic for the night was to pick a couple of agility classes to run as NFC. I wanted to run them as if we were competing but if he performed a contact particularly well or drove hard through his weavers I wanted to be able to reward him with his toy. Or on the other extreme, if he didn’t hold a contact I wanted to be able to put him back on. I’d actually been working through some distraction training and proofing on the contacts the couple of weeks before so it ended up being all about me being able to reward his performances.
The brilliant thing that happened is that you could see his confidence grow every time he got his toy for doing great weavers or hitting a great contact. I’ve taught him to tug while still in two on two off position so that came in really handy as well. His runs still need a lot of work and handling skills are a work in progress but he was confident, fast and happy so I’m pretty pleased with the outcome. I also thought that I handled him better than I have in ages. With our State trial this weekend and the Nationals two weeks away it gives me some small semblance of hope that they will go OK….
Sonic and Axl also had their first attempt at running an ADAA teams event together. Mmmmmmm, was an interesting experience! Simone ran the course with Axl first and he was great, powering around with a perfect clear run. While Axl was running Sonic was getting more and more wound up. I couldn’t get him to sit at all and when Axl came past to do a couple of obstacles Sonic wanted to go and chase him off. Somehow I managed to get him back and then it was time for our half of the course…. Well, he may have been with me in body but definitely not in mind. Somehow I managed to get him around the course clear after about five almost-off-courses. Poor Simone having to watch, it would have been horrible! Axl and Sonic are entered in Novice Strategic Pairs at the Nationals so the moral of that story is that Simone and I need to get Axl and Sonic used to working close together otherwise that may not be very pretty or fun experience. Both are highly charged “get dat damn utha dog offa my course” kind of boys.
We have a massive few weeks of trialling ahead. I'm really looking forward to getting on with it all. It feels like the last Nationals was forever ago. You spend so much time getting your dogs and yourself prepared for these things that now I just want to do it!
So my plan with Sonic for the night was to pick a couple of agility classes to run as NFC. I wanted to run them as if we were competing but if he performed a contact particularly well or drove hard through his weavers I wanted to be able to reward him with his toy. Or on the other extreme, if he didn’t hold a contact I wanted to be able to put him back on. I’d actually been working through some distraction training and proofing on the contacts the couple of weeks before so it ended up being all about me being able to reward his performances.
The brilliant thing that happened is that you could see his confidence grow every time he got his toy for doing great weavers or hitting a great contact. I’ve taught him to tug while still in two on two off position so that came in really handy as well. His runs still need a lot of work and handling skills are a work in progress but he was confident, fast and happy so I’m pretty pleased with the outcome. I also thought that I handled him better than I have in ages. With our State trial this weekend and the Nationals two weeks away it gives me some small semblance of hope that they will go OK….
Sonic and Axl also had their first attempt at running an ADAA teams event together. Mmmmmmm, was an interesting experience! Simone ran the course with Axl first and he was great, powering around with a perfect clear run. While Axl was running Sonic was getting more and more wound up. I couldn’t get him to sit at all and when Axl came past to do a couple of obstacles Sonic wanted to go and chase him off. Somehow I managed to get him back and then it was time for our half of the course…. Well, he may have been with me in body but definitely not in mind. Somehow I managed to get him around the course clear after about five almost-off-courses. Poor Simone having to watch, it would have been horrible! Axl and Sonic are entered in Novice Strategic Pairs at the Nationals so the moral of that story is that Simone and I need to get Axl and Sonic used to working close together otherwise that may not be very pretty or fun experience. Both are highly charged “get dat damn utha dog offa my course” kind of boys.
We have a massive few weeks of trialling ahead. I'm really looking forward to getting on with it all. It feels like the last Nationals was forever ago. You spend so much time getting your dogs and yourself prepared for these things that now I just want to do it!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
The Elusive Q Card
I've been having a bit of a play with the blog. I just wasn't inspired by the template I picked after the New Year. Every time I checked it out it seemed to be lacking something. I did go briefly to green but apparently that wasn't met with great joy by some of my blog readers....
You have no idea how hard this photo was to get...
Agility, agility, agility. Been lots of it lately. Training has been positive and for the first time in ages I've been coming away feeling like I've achieved something good. I jumped Sonic on 600 last week with ADAA on the weekend and I thought he handled it really well. Certainly it seems to make him think about his jumps a lot more. He only knocked one bar at the ADAA trial where as last time he knocked at least one in each run. There had also been some great little sequences set up where I was able to challenge some of the handling that needs to improve.
The last couple of trials, both ANKC and ADAA have delivered me a few qualifying cards. The old Q card had been somewhat sparse on the ground for a while. Sonic managed to get his very first Snooker and Gamblers passes at a rarely seen Games Trial hosted by Gosnells Dog Club. Most clubs in Perth seem to have an aversion to running Games trials so if I'm lucky Sonic may achieve his games titles by the time he's about ten. Not that I'm a huge games fan. More often than not I find that I may have a great opening sequence and then right at the very end I blow it. So it seems a lot of hard work for very little. I do think they are a great opportunity to fine tune skills though. Then the ADAA trial I went to on Friday night provided us with another two Q cards which means that he now has achieved his very first ADAA title.
The fact that we got Q cards makes it seem that we must of had some good runs but there was some rather naught stuff going on through the process. Not so much at the Games Trial but at ADAA some of Sonic's runs were nothing to celebrate. It all started when Lloyd high tailed it along side us to check Sonic's down side dog walk contact. Sonic just powered on through it and then all subsequent AF and Dog Walk contacts from then on quick releasing every time. I tried to use Gamblers to get them back but failed dismally. With Nationals four weeks away it's a little disturbing. His focus for the first three or four runs was pretty good but the last couple were atrocious. He was either screaming at the dog running before him and then completely unfocused or if I could keep him with me at the start line he then vagued out in the middle of the course. Sonic also got up or shuffled his skinny little butt at almost every start line. I do have to accept some blame doing my usual late front crosses for some crappy turns AND I should have put him back on every single contact that he blew me off on. I am definitely guilty due to my desperation to get some Q's. Boy do we both have some stuff to work on... My plan this week will be to break his contacts as much as possible to try and reinforce some good ones.
Last weekend saw the last of the Better Pets and Gardens dog training workshops. They seemed to be very well received and most attendees were dead keen to get home and try some of the things that I showed them. It does surprise me how little the average person understands about why their dogs do what they do. All kudos to those that came to the workshops to try and improve the relationship that they have with their dogs but I have to wonder about how the hell they got where they were in the first place. Especially with the amount of information available with the click of a button over the internet these days. People seem to think that you have to be a dog trainer to have a well behaved dog. There was certainly a lot of surprised faces when I showed them how simple stuff could be as long as you used something that is reinforcing to your dog. Sonic and Riot were my assistants and showed everyone how easy it is to teach your dog to work to earn rewards instead of working to avoid punishment.
You have no idea how hard this photo was to get...
Agility, agility, agility. Been lots of it lately. Training has been positive and for the first time in ages I've been coming away feeling like I've achieved something good. I jumped Sonic on 600 last week with ADAA on the weekend and I thought he handled it really well. Certainly it seems to make him think about his jumps a lot more. He only knocked one bar at the ADAA trial where as last time he knocked at least one in each run. There had also been some great little sequences set up where I was able to challenge some of the handling that needs to improve.
The last couple of trials, both ANKC and ADAA have delivered me a few qualifying cards. The old Q card had been somewhat sparse on the ground for a while. Sonic managed to get his very first Snooker and Gamblers passes at a rarely seen Games Trial hosted by Gosnells Dog Club. Most clubs in Perth seem to have an aversion to running Games trials so if I'm lucky Sonic may achieve his games titles by the time he's about ten. Not that I'm a huge games fan. More often than not I find that I may have a great opening sequence and then right at the very end I blow it. So it seems a lot of hard work for very little. I do think they are a great opportunity to fine tune skills though. Then the ADAA trial I went to on Friday night provided us with another two Q cards which means that he now has achieved his very first ADAA title.
The fact that we got Q cards makes it seem that we must of had some good runs but there was some rather naught stuff going on through the process. Not so much at the Games Trial but at ADAA some of Sonic's runs were nothing to celebrate. It all started when Lloyd high tailed it along side us to check Sonic's down side dog walk contact. Sonic just powered on through it and then all subsequent AF and Dog Walk contacts from then on quick releasing every time. I tried to use Gamblers to get them back but failed dismally. With Nationals four weeks away it's a little disturbing. His focus for the first three or four runs was pretty good but the last couple were atrocious. He was either screaming at the dog running before him and then completely unfocused or if I could keep him with me at the start line he then vagued out in the middle of the course. Sonic also got up or shuffled his skinny little butt at almost every start line. I do have to accept some blame doing my usual late front crosses for some crappy turns AND I should have put him back on every single contact that he blew me off on. I am definitely guilty due to my desperation to get some Q's. Boy do we both have some stuff to work on... My plan this week will be to break his contacts as much as possible to try and reinforce some good ones.
Last weekend saw the last of the Better Pets and Gardens dog training workshops. They seemed to be very well received and most attendees were dead keen to get home and try some of the things that I showed them. It does surprise me how little the average person understands about why their dogs do what they do. All kudos to those that came to the workshops to try and improve the relationship that they have with their dogs but I have to wonder about how the hell they got where they were in the first place. Especially with the amount of information available with the click of a button over the internet these days. People seem to think that you have to be a dog trainer to have a well behaved dog. There was certainly a lot of surprised faces when I showed them how simple stuff could be as long as you used something that is reinforcing to your dog. Sonic and Riot were my assistants and showed everyone how easy it is to teach your dog to work to earn rewards instead of working to avoid punishment.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Twelve Months On
As of the Western Classic weekend it was officially twelve months since I started trialling with Sonic! It has been a very interesting first year of our competition journey and although we've come such a long way, we have a loooong way still yet to go. I'm loving the fact that he is getting confident and powerful around the course but it is like we are two individuals when we are out there. It always feels like I'm on a knifes edge every run that we do and the run could go either way. I need to work really hard on us being a team and getting a much better feel for him. I'm still really happy with all three of his contact performances but his weavers have slowed down again. At the Classic and on the weekend at the teams event he wasn't pushing forward like he has been. So for the next month I'm going to focus very much on handling, handling, handling with a small splash of weaving thrown in to see if I can bring back the drive. At the seminar Lynda talked about working on your weaknesses and not over doing the things that you are stronger at so that is what I shall dutifully do!
It's been an incredibly busy couple of weeks since I returned from Melbourne. Last weekend I did my first ever dog training workshops for Better Pets & Gardens which was really fun. I actually feel really lucky to have the opportunity to try and get across positive dog training methods to the Average Joe. Most people just don't know anything about the philosophy of reinforcement builds behaviour and after both sessions I got fantastic feedback from the attendees. Hopefully they will go away and try some of the things that I told them about and their dogs will certainly be better off for it. A few people mentioned some of the other methods they'd been told to try on their dogs and it seriously made me cringe. I have two more workshops to do this weekend. Sonic and Riot were my very capable and well behaved assistants who managed to provide some very enthusiastic demo's showing how much enthusiasm and joy you get from positively trained dogs.
And how can I not mention, it was Soda's THIRTENTH birthday last Friday! I cannot believe another twelve months have past again in my old girls life. Soda is still as gorgeous as ever and celebrated in style hosting her own birthday party for one in my walk in robe while I was at work where I had inadvertently left my dog training backpack on the floor. By the time I got home she had thoughfully removed every dog single training halter and harness from the backpack in her treasure hunt to find her special birthday present (treat bag FULL of liver treats) that she no doubt thought I had left specially for her. Firstly I stumbled across empty butter menthol wrappers, followed by the training gear, then the clicker that was attached to the treat bag which was nestled amongst Colin's shoes, and some dog treat wrappers. But where was magical treat bag? It took a bit of searching but I eventually found it, very empty, tucked up in the back of Riot's crate. What a lovely birthday surprise!
Soda - thirteen years young
It's been an incredibly busy couple of weeks since I returned from Melbourne. Last weekend I did my first ever dog training workshops for Better Pets & Gardens which was really fun. I actually feel really lucky to have the opportunity to try and get across positive dog training methods to the Average Joe. Most people just don't know anything about the philosophy of reinforcement builds behaviour and after both sessions I got fantastic feedback from the attendees. Hopefully they will go away and try some of the things that I told them about and their dogs will certainly be better off for it. A few people mentioned some of the other methods they'd been told to try on their dogs and it seriously made me cringe. I have two more workshops to do this weekend. Sonic and Riot were my very capable and well behaved assistants who managed to provide some very enthusiastic demo's showing how much enthusiasm and joy you get from positively trained dogs.
And how can I not mention, it was Soda's THIRTENTH birthday last Friday! I cannot believe another twelve months have past again in my old girls life. Soda is still as gorgeous as ever and celebrated in style hosting her own birthday party for one in my walk in robe while I was at work where I had inadvertently left my dog training backpack on the floor. By the time I got home she had thoughfully removed every dog single training halter and harness from the backpack in her treasure hunt to find her special birthday present (treat bag FULL of liver treats) that she no doubt thought I had left specially for her. Firstly I stumbled across empty butter menthol wrappers, followed by the training gear, then the clicker that was attached to the treat bag which was nestled amongst Colin's shoes, and some dog treat wrappers. But where was magical treat bag? It took a bit of searching but I eventually found it, very empty, tucked up in the back of Riot's crate. What a lovely birthday surprise!
Soda - thirteen years young
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