maybe intermediate agility doesn't rock quite so much...

Well, last night was disappointing. I keep having a problem where Shelby is more interested in seeing what treats are lying around on the floor than taking the treats I have for her. It's not like I don't have good stuff. I have lunch meat, and cheese, and organic chicken treats, etc. I don't think she's so hungry when we get to class that all she can think about is food. I have to figure out how to be the most interesting thing in the room I guess.

On a positive note, we did start doing the whole A-frame, which means we get to run up and over the top!

But Shelby did have a strange issue with the tunnel. I was trying to send her to the tunnel, but she kept wanting to sit between my feet in the "ready" position. She usually loves the tunnel...

Oh well. Maybe she picked up on my vibes of not really being that into it this week.

Onward and upward!

We're having a sleepover...

Our friends Tanya and Jeremy, who were so great to watch Spot and Shelby while I went to Las Vegas, are going to Buffalo to see the NE Patriots this weekend, so their dog Halle is staying with us.

Halle is an English Cocker Spaniel. She is black and white. She is a little bit bigger than my guys, but not much. She loves to swim and has a great howl when she is excited.

Shelby loves to play with Halle, but Halle sometimes needs a little time to warm up, and is a little sensitive to Shelby getting in her space, especially when treats or attention are involved.

Halle loves to hang out with Spot, but he really couldn't care one way or the other. He will sometimes run around in the yard if everyone else is too. He likes to bark at Shelby and Halle when they are roughhousing.

Intermediate agility rocks!

I am really enjoying the intermediate class. We get to "do" so much more now that we have the concepts down. The first 30 minutes is practice on individual obstacles, but we only spend 4 minutes on each one and then we switch, so there's not a lot of time to get bored. Then the last half of the class we get to do practice runs and the teacher gives us pointers. That's the best part! Shelby was pretty slow I thought, but she did all the obstacles correctly. I did everything I was supposed to do too. ;-)
The teacher says it's good that Shelby takes her time and really looks at each obstacle-it will pay off later as we get more experience.

Flyball again

Well, this Sunday flyball was not so great.

Spot regressed and didn't do the turns all that well. But he is still very enthusiastic. When we first started, he would get all revved up, but not really understand how to channel it into running and getting the ball. He would get all jumpy when I would try and handle him. Now he gets it and sometimes I barely get a chance to set up before he's off on his own.

Shelby was distracted by all the other dogs. The way it is set up, they have two runs next to each other. The beginner run has fencing around it, but the other one doesn't. Shelby is small enough to jump through the holes in the fencing, which she did while a Yorkie was practicing on the other run. She actually got aggressive and was growling at the other dog, which Shelby has only done once before. It does happen every once in a while at flyball practice, so no one freaked out or anything. But Shelby couldn't really recover, so we only practiced the recall, having her chase me, which she is really good at. ;-)

We have no practice for 2 weeks, so I should be able to get in some training with retrieving the tennis ball.

Advanced Beginner Agility-Done

Tuesday was the last night of our 6 week advanced beginner agility class. We started at the beginner level and over the past 3 months have learned a lot. These classes are as much about me learning the best way to communicate verbally and with my body language, where I want Shelby to go, as they are about teaching Shelby how to negotiate the different obstacles.
We've learned to jump through a tire, go over single jumps, through a tunnel and the chute, which is a tunnel with fabric on one end that they have to push through, the pause table, the weave poles, the teeter totter, and the A frame. We'll definitely be working more on the weave poles and the teeter and the A frame in the intermediate class starting next week. Sometimes I feel like we are going too slow, with the backchaining method used by the instructor, but in the end I think that method does work well. Backchaining means you learn the end of the sequence first, so that when you add a new part onto the beginning, you always know the next step.

The last thing we did on Tues was a run through of a full course with 8 obstacles. We were the last to go. Everything was going great-we started with the tire, then a tunnel, then another tunnel, then 3 jumps in a row and another tunnel-and then that's where things went out of control. We had 1 last obstacle, the table. As Shelby exited the tunnel, instead of coming to the table, she ran off, up the stairs and totally ignored me! Then she came back, but she was going around the ring to where another dog was sitting. Now this dog is very reactive and doesn't like other dogs too much, so I was worried. The instructor had me run in the opposite direction all the way to the other end of the ring. That got Shelby's attention! She came tearing over and we were able to run to the table and finally complete the course, providing much amusement for my classmates.

Flyball!!!

Yesterday Shelby had her first flyball class. Unfortunately it was at 8am. Ugh. Who would have ever thought I would get up that early for my dogs? It seems like all the trials and things start around 8 am and are usually about an hour away. Thankfully this class is only about 20 minutes away at that time in the morning.

The Weston Whirlwinds, a local flyball club, offer 6 weeks of lessons held at the same training center where I take Shelby for obedience and agility. (www.geminidogs.com) I think she was a little surprised when we got there and the agility equipment wasn't set up!

I took Spot to flyball classes last winter, and he loves it, so I figured I might as well give Shelby a shot too. Shelby did very well running and jumping over the hurdles. She wasn't super interested in chasing the ball-well she chased it a bit, but didn't pick it up and bring it to me, so we'll be working on that this week.

Spot was super excited to be there. We haven't been at all this summer because the team has tournaments and we've been at Earthdog trials, but he didn't forget anything he learned before. He picked up right where we left off. He even got his swimmers turn a little better-he was actually jumping on the box with all 4 feet, which is great!

I'll see if I can get someone to take some pictures next week.
Here is a really good video from a tournament in TX, where you can really see all the elements involved.

I love snow!

Snow is the best. Here I am playing during the last snowstorm we had.

Welcome to our blog!

Thanks for checking out our page.
To get you up to speed here are a few pictures of Shelby over the last year or so.

Here I am at my breeder's house. I was about 5 weeks old.

Here I am my first day home sleeping after a long day. Spot is sleeping too.

I learned where the toys were pretty quickly.

Here I am at 9 months-my hair is growing!

And here is my 1 year old birthday-of course I had to have a cake.

And ice cream!