CPE Games Seminar-Fullhouse and Wildcard

Saturday was the third and last CPE games seminar at Gemini Dogs. We reviewed Fullhouse and Wildcard.

Fullhouse is a game in which there are 2 requirements needed to Q. You need to accumulate a specific number of points, depending on your level, and you also need to complete 3 single jumps (three of a kind), 2 circles, which are tunnels, chutes and tires (two of a kind), and one contact, either the dogwalk, A-frame or teeter (joker). You have either 30 or 35 seconds, depending on jump height, and then 5 seconds to hit the table and stop the clock. At my level, which is level one, all we need to do is 19 points, or 3 jumps (3 points), 2 tunnels (6 points), and two contacts (10 points), which can be the A-frame twice, etc.

We did really well at Fullhouse. It's a fun game, because no matter what your dog does, it's pretty much ok, as long as you get the correct mix of obstacles in, and pretty much everyone can, since they give you 35 seconds to do it. Shelby was super fast off the line. I try and do a fast opening with her if I can, since she really likes to run and catch up to me.

Next was Wildcard, which presents 3 spots where you need to chose an obstacle. The obstacles are either 1 point or 2 points. Level 1 and 2 need two 1 point obstacles and one 2 point obstacle. This is really a test of the dogs obstacle discrimination skills and how well the handler can adjust if the dog takes an incorrect obstacle. I have to admit, this game confuses me the most. During this run through, I didn't really plan the course that well, and dogs for the next class had come in, so Shelby was nervous and distracted. But we did ok. It was still fun. A lot of people had trouble, so I didn't feel bad at all.

One *very* exciting development! There was a litte white dog in the class. It had long white hair like a Shih Tzu, but a terrier face, so I'm not 100% sure what it was. But we sat down only about 5 feet away from it and Shelby looked at it really hard for a minute, but I got her attention and asked for some tricks, and she was fine. Never gave the dog a second look. We also had a couple instances where another dog started growling and getting worked up and Shelby started wanting to join in, but I got out the food again and treated her for paying attention to me and she settled down really quickly. To me, that's even better than performing well at agility!

Apparently there will be an all day seminar with video taping on April 19th. Yay! Can't wait.