Starting with a new group in Intermediate Agility

Well, next week is the last class in the current cycle of Intermediate Agility. I think this is our 2nd or 3rd cycle. The Advanced Beginners are going to be moving up to Intermediate in the next cycle, which will be a huge change, since all the dogs in the class are really big. There are 4 Bernese Mountain Dogs and a Great Dane. They all seem pretty young and rambunctious too, so Shelby might need to be back on a leash during class, or else she'll be running all over trying to play with everyone. I think I will be the most advanced in the class, which will be weird, but I think it will be ok.

I hope I don't see this guy again...

A couple months ago I pulled into the driveway and there was this guy, just hangin' out, enjoying the sunny day... he was in no rush to go anywhere, so I had to wait to get the dogs out of the car, because I knew they would want to go after Mr. Gopher.
Then I saw this video on YouTube. I won't embed it here, since it is pretty graphic, but don't worry, no blood.
Click here to watch it.
This is why I can never have a cat, ferret, bunny, etc. The prey drive in Jack Russells is very strong. At least with Earthdog they never actually get the rat, but a couple people have suggested maybe buying a mouse from the pet store to get Shelby worked up and then let it loose to see if she will catch it. I don't think I could do that.

Upgrades at Willards Woods

Willards Woods is a 100-acre conservation area in Lexington widely known as a place to take your dog where they can be off leash. There were problems earlier in the year because some residents were complaining about the amount on traffic and cars parked on their street. Visitors really had no other choice because the parking lot was always closed. Well, the Conservation Commission decided to open up the parking lot to see if it helped the situation. It did, but the dirt parking area became a muddy mess almost always and had a few dangerous rocks that could damage the undercarriage of your car if you weren't careful.
Happily, I went to WW last week and the parking area had been upgraded! They filled in all the huge puddles and covered up the rocks. Much better!
Here are a before and after pic:
Before

After

Bay Colony Dog Show

This Saturday, Holly and I went to the Bay Colony Dog show held the the Bayside Expo Center in Boston. This was my first dog show and it was pretty low key. There were lots of dogs there and a lot going on, but everyone was pretty relaxed and things seemed to run well. We went to see the agility competition. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the novice standard class. They start that class at 6am (!) before the doors open to the public so that the dogs and handlers are less stressed. We got there around 8:30 and saw the 20 inch standard class. It was interesting. The course was pretty easy I thought, except for a tough discrimination between the tunnel and dog walk. A few people got caught by that. Then later we came back and watched the novice jumpers with weaves. It's similar to the standard class, but there are no contact obstacles. I took a few vidoes. One dog was so stressed that it peed in the ring. That's an automatic disqualification unfortunately.





I was hoping these videos would be clearer, since I used the high resolution setting. Oh well.

OMG!

If you are ever in need a slice of cutie pie visit www.dailypuppy.com.

It's out of control over there!

Regulation height teeter and serpentines

Last night at agility class, we put the see saw up to the correct height. Up until now, we've had it low so Shelby could get comfortable with the concept. To ease her into it, we put the table under one end, and held the see saw down for her to get on. Then she could walk across and make it move all the way down to the floor. At first she was like "what am I doing?" but then she caught on. At one point she didn't even wait for me, she just jumped on it.

We also worked on serpentine jumps. Basically, you have 2 or more jumps lined up in a straight line, and you have to send the dog away over one jump, then bring them back over another jump. If the dog is on your left, you use your left arm to send them over jump 1, then as you approach jump 2, you drop the left arm, and switch to the right arm to pull them back towards you and over the jump.
Here is a visual for you.



The last one shows how NOT to do it-if you keep your arm out there, the dog misses the jump. You want to try and make the dog's path as flat as possible, not really the big curves shown here. Keeping the path flatter saves time on course.

Flyball disappointment

Well, I dragged myself out of bed at 7 am again last Sunday to go to flyball. Again, it was a disappointing day. It seems lately, the team never has all the equipment with them, etc. It used to be we had two lanes set up, so the experienced dogs could practice on one, and the new dogs on the other. Lately, we've only had one lane and one box. One time, we had one box and only 2 jumps. So Spot and Shelby each only got one turn on Sunday, which is really not worth my time of getting up early, driving 25 minutes there, then being there for 2 hours, not really doing much, then packing up and driving 25 minutes home. I know they are hosting a tournament next weekend, so they are probably wrapped up in that, but it's really not fair to me, when I'm paying them for lessons. If this continues, I'm going to have to contact another team to see if I can learn from them.