Everything but weaves

Well, Shelby is doing really well in agility class. I can work with Shelby off lead now and she will not be distracted too much by the other dogs. I finally found the treat that will motivate her-ham and cheese!

She can do all the obstacles, except the weave poles. Right now we only have 4 poles set up, and they are further apart than usual, so she goes through them, but only has to weave a little bit. We will start setting them up closer and closer together so it's more like weaving soon.

We had a pretty good run through on Tues, but I think Shelby had to pee and was a little distracted, because I lost her once.
The set up was 3 jumps, then a quick front cross to a tunnel, which we handled no problem. :-) Then another set of jumps where we tried to send the dog out away from us a bit, which Shelby did, but then I kind of lost her attention for a second and fudged the next jump. From there, we did the A frame with no hesitation, to the tire and then a curved tunnel, which we bobbled a little. I think because my hand was pointing to the left entrance, but my feet were pointing towards the right entrance, so Shelby wasn't sure what I really wanted, but I adjusted and she took it correctly. From there, it was on to the dog walk, which I messed up by running too close and pushing Shelby away from the entrance by mistake. We recovered and went from the dog walk to the table, which Shelby did well on. The problem with the table is they have to stay in a down position, and Shelby does that, but then the instructor has us feed for the stay, but when I do that, Shelby thinks the down stay is over, and sits up. So then I have to put her in a down again before we can get off the table. After the table was another tunnel, which was no problem, then 2 more jumps to finish. I thought I had a lot of bobbles, but I was first so I couldn't tell how the others would do. I actually did the best out of the class, which was nice. Everyone else in class had problems with the opening jumps and front cross to the tunnel. I think I have good innate handling skills, just because I get fewer corrections, and they tend to be on refinements like when to say the command rather than body positioning. Maybe Shelby is just a better body language-reader!

The funniest thing I've seen in a while

I saw this today when I went out at lunch. This was the first time I've seen this. It was a Subaru wagon with antlers and a red nose on the grille. I think it's a great idea. Way better than putting a wreath on the front of your car.

http://www.cargetups.com./
Apparently they have bunny ears for Easter and bat wings for Halloween. This is a silly idea that is going to make someone a lot of money. How come I didn't think of it?

Petedge, how I love you...

Thank god for the Petedge outlet in Woburn. They have really good prices in their catalog, but at the outlet, the prices go way down. And you all know how I love a bargain! Today I got 10 of these Halloween themed toys for $4, total. They were $.40 each! They cost $1.89 each in the catalog. Amazing. I've learned my lesson and try to get toys without a lot of stuffing, because that is the first to go. Spot and Shelby like toys they can play tug with, and these stretch in the middle.


Also I got 2 packages of pressed rawhide bones for $1.29 each. There's 4 bones in each pack, so those were only $.32 each! The pressed bones last a lot longer than the rawhide pieces, and there's less chance that they would bite off a big hunk and get an intestinal blockage or something.

Wow-this is cool

Maybe someday I can get Spot or Shelby to do this! I wouldn't even know where to start.
This is impressive because most dogs have very little idea what their back feet are doing, so this would be a real challenge.

Agility Class Videos!

Holly came to class last Tuesday, so I asked her to take some videos.
Here are 3 videos of our run through at the end of class.

In the first part, I get Shelby set up to take the chute, but she misses it, so we try again. Then there is a jump and a tunnel.



In the second part, we come out of the tunnel, then we have 2 jumps, and the tire, which is a rear cross. After the tire there is another jump which requires another rear cross, but we don't do it correctly so we have to try again.





In the third part, we have another tunnel, but Shelby doesn't want to go in because there is a wet spot on the floor in front of the entrance where another dog peed or someting in an earlier class. Then I lose her for a second and have to get her attention to take the last jump.



This was really helpful to me because I feel like Shelby is lagging behind and I have to slow down for her, but really she is right behind me, so I should try and go as fast as I can.

Some videos to entertain you

Here are some videos I took with my camera phone earlier this summer. Just basically playing in the yard.

Here's Shelby trying to get Cara to play with her. She basically jumps at Cara's face until Cara tries to smush her with her huge paw.

A trip to a new groomer

On Saturday, Spot and Shelby went to get groomed. Thankfully, since they are terriers, this is more for my convenience than anything they "need", so they only go every 6 months or so. When I wash them at home, I just can't get them as deep down clean as a groomer can. And the clean dog smell lasts a lot longer than when I wash them too.
Unfortunately, our wonderful groomer in Arlington closed, so I had to find a new place. I wasn't all that impressed with the new groomer. First, she mentioned shaving. Now, with a wire coated dog, you don't shave them, you strip the hair. I mean, my two are not show dogs, so I'm not all that into their appearance, but it's not like a poodle or an arctic breed that might need shaving in the summer to stay cool. Also, I didn't like that I couldn't actually see the grooming area. I liked the other groomer because you could see everything. Third, they trimmed the dogs' nails, and they trimmed Spot's nails too short and he started bleeding when we got home. This never happened before.
So, I think I might look for a different groomer next time.

Agility is challenging

I thought by now, we'd be breezing through agility like champs. Instead, it seems we're regressing. I just can't find the right way to motivate Shelby to pay attention. I bring a variety of treats, and I make sure she doesn't eat before class, but she still always is looking around for treats left on the floor. In her defense, there were tons of treats from the Halloween thing all around. At this point, I'm not sure filet mignon would get her attention.


We did well with all the obstacles, but when it was our turn for a run through, it turned into a nightmare. For some reason, she didn't want to do the tire-she's had no problem with the tire at all before this. So that will need some attention next week. Also, we need to work on the table, I think. Again, she ignored me at a couple points and went off on her own, so I had to either run around to get her to chase me, or run and hide, so she had to find me. I was sweating by the time I was done!



This was a challenging course because it required all rear-crosses, as opposed to front crosses, which we have been doing. A front cross is when you send your dog to a jump, then when they are landing, you cross in front of them to redirect them to the next obstacle. For a rear cross, you send the dog to the jump before you, but then cross behind them to direct them to the next obstacle. So, the body language and positioning is much more important, because you're not physically creating a barrier in front of the dog to tell them which way to go. They have to figure out from your body language where they're going next, and sometimes that means they go the wrong way. With Shelby, because she is small, she tends to look more at the direction my feet are going, so if I change my foot direction at the wrong time, it gives her incorrect signals and she doesn't take the obstacle I intended her to. It's really challenging to think about the info your dog is getting and the info you are unconsciously giving.


Here are some diagrams. You can see the dog, and the other icon is an arm, representing the arm you have out directing the dog where to go.


Here is a front cross:






It's a little hard to tell, but what's happening here is that the dog is on your right going over the first jump, then before the second jump, you cross in front of the dog and pivot so that now the dog is on your left to direct them to the second jump.

Here is a rear cross:

Here the dog is on your right going over the first jump, then you send him to the second jump and as he's jumping, you cross behind the jump, and switch hands so the dog is now on your left going to the third jump. This doesn't really show the rest of the body, but the shoulders and feet would already be going in the direction of the third jump, as you're pointing at the second jump with your left arm. You need to use your shoulders and feet as your going towards the second jump to tell the dog he's going to be going to the right and taking that third jump, because in a competition, there may be another obstacle to the left or in front of the second jump, and the dog might take that by mistake.

Simple, right? ;-)

Here is a homemade video. It is slow at first, but picks up. It is kind of long, but at around the 37 second mark, she does a front cross after the first jump, then does rear crosses for the other 2. Also notice that in the first couple sequences, at the last rear cross, the dog spins back toward the jump, which is wrong, but catches on and turns in the right direction after a few repetitions.

Happy Howl-o-ween

On Sunday, Gemini Dogs had a Halloween open house and I took Shelby. She was dressed as a pumpkin. Holly came and brought Cara, who was dressed as a bunny. Cara was a big hit-everyone wanted to say hello to her. There were a lot of dogs there, so it was a little bit stressful for them, I think.

We showed off our agility training and did a short course. Holly and Cara did some obedience games, and Cara did well considering she only really had puppy training. Unfortunately we had to leave before the search and rescue dog demonstration, but we all had a great time. I took some pictures, but I'm having a problem loading my camera software on my new work computer. Hopefully I'll get to post them.
Here are some pictures of some of the other attendees: