Today I took Spot to Glencoe Farm in Plainville, MA for the New England Terrier Club Earthdog fun day. I was excited because they were offering a non-sanctioned test including Masters level. Spot finished his Senior title in August. We had never tried Master and I thought this would be a good opportunity to try him out.
The rules for Master are that the dogs are tested in a brace, which means 2 dogs at a time. The first part of the test is the "walk up." The two owners walk with the judge and the two dogs off leash through the woods on a pre-determined path that has been scented in a few areas and has one false den. Your dog must show that they are hunting by ranging in front, behind and along side the trail, sniffing and investigating. You must also be able to call the dog back to have them check areas you indicate. The dog must investigate the false den.
When you reach the tunnel, the dog needs to find the entrance and mark. The rats are placed behind bars at the entrance of the tunnel. Once both dogs have marked the entrance, the first dog is allowed to enter the tunnel while the second dog is tethered and required to "honor" the working dog. After the first dog finishes, they switch places.
The Master tunnel has a couple extra obstacles. It has a constriction which makes the tunnel narrower for a short section and it has a roller, which the dog has to crawl over. The dog has 90 seconds to reach the rats and then has to work the rats for 90 seconds. Then you have 15 seconds to remove the dog from the tunnel.
Spot did really well at the fun day. He stayed with the group, while investigating the area and hunting with the other dog. He came when I called and investigated the false den when I pointed it out. The only weird thing was that when we exited the woods into the field where the tunnel was Spot stayed really close and I had to tell him to go look for rats. He was second to mark the tunnel so he had to honor first. That was tough for him. He was barking and I had to give him treats, which wouldn't be allowed in a real test. Once he entered the tunnel he had no problem finding the rats in time. He worked the full 90 seconds. The only hitch was removing him from the tunnel. He backed up when the cover was removed and it took me 19 seconds to remove him. Overall not too bad for the first time and he had a lot of fun. Hopefully we will be able to practice a bit in the Spring.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Worst...Weekend...Ever
It's been a while since I posted. September is a really busy month and I had to take time off from agility.
This weekend I entered Shelby in the Bo Gee CPE trail in Deerfield NH. On Sat we were entered in Jumpers, Snooker, Jackpot, and 2 rounds of Standard.
The temperature when I arrived Saturday morning was 31! Brrr. I had my Winter hat, gloves and scarf on for the first walk.
Jumpers started out ok. Shelby went wide at a turn and I had to call her back. We got going again and were going pretty fast and she got ahead of me and ran around a jump. When I called her back she backjumped it. So we had one off course, but we got a Q and 4th place.
I was excited for Snooker. It was an interesting course. We got 1 red, the tunnel, second red and the Shelby took a pee on the course. That was a first for me.
Jackpot was next. Shelby wasn't really feeling it. I had to cheerlead her through the course. I just tried to keep in front hoping it would motivate her to keep up. It worked pretty well. When it came to the gamble it was jump, tunnel, jump, table. She did the jump but blew past the tunnel. I called her back and she got it and got the table, but we were over maximum time by 5 seconds. That really sucked because it was a short opening of only 30 seconds, rather than the possible 35. So we could have Q'd if we had just a little more time. We did get 3rd place.
Then came Standard Round 1. Again Shelby was slow and I was the head cheerleader. I really had to work hard to get her around the course. The A frame was super slow, the teeter was super slow. Our time was almost 90 seconds, so no Q. Round 2 was the same thing. We were a little quicker with a course time of 78 seconds, but still too slow so no Q.
I was disappointed with the day overall, but Shelby worked with me and paid attention. She just wasn't very motivated.
On Sunday we were entered in Standard, Jackpot, Fullhouse and Snooker. Our Standard run was crazy. Shelby missed contacts, ran around jumps, etc. I knew she wouldn't like the opening because it was a jump to the dogwalk, which was slatless. She tends not to like that I think because it looks like a teeter when you approach head on. Yesterday she hesitated, but I encouraged her and she continued. On Sunday she started, then bailed. We kept going and I had her for a while over a few jumps and a tunnel. Then we tried the weaves 3 times and she just wasn't even really trying, so we went on. At the end she ran around the last jump and left the ring. I called her back and she backjumped it and before I could get her over the right way the whislte blew, so we had an NT.
Next was Jackpot. I had a nice course planned with 2 jumps to the A frame, which Shelby usually likes. She took the 2 jumps and then went around the A frame to see the judge, which she never does. Then I tried to get her back and she went around 2 more jumps and then into the tunnel. But then she went off again, so I called her over and picked her up and we left the ring. I was really disappointed because Shelby was mentally checked out. I felt like I was putting in 90% of the effort and she was only doing 10%.
After that I decided that since Shelby wasn't feeling like doing agility, we were going to go home. I knew it would be a lot more fun for me! I was really frustrated to the point of tears. It's so frustrating when you know you are capable of so much more than what came out on the field. And it's not because of stress or nerves, it's simply a lack of desire. I know some people will say that I just have to find a better way to motivate her, but I'm doing all I can and I don't see what else I can do. So if Shelby needs more to compete then I'm obviously not the handler for her. We entered the All Dogs trial in Nov. Not sure if we got in. If we did, I'll be interested to see how she performs there. I really hope this was just an off day.
This weekend I entered Shelby in the Bo Gee CPE trail in Deerfield NH. On Sat we were entered in Jumpers, Snooker, Jackpot, and 2 rounds of Standard.
The temperature when I arrived Saturday morning was 31! Brrr. I had my Winter hat, gloves and scarf on for the first walk.
Jumpers started out ok. Shelby went wide at a turn and I had to call her back. We got going again and were going pretty fast and she got ahead of me and ran around a jump. When I called her back she backjumped it. So we had one off course, but we got a Q and 4th place.
I was excited for Snooker. It was an interesting course. We got 1 red, the tunnel, second red and the Shelby took a pee on the course. That was a first for me.
Jackpot was next. Shelby wasn't really feeling it. I had to cheerlead her through the course. I just tried to keep in front hoping it would motivate her to keep up. It worked pretty well. When it came to the gamble it was jump, tunnel, jump, table. She did the jump but blew past the tunnel. I called her back and she got it and got the table, but we were over maximum time by 5 seconds. That really sucked because it was a short opening of only 30 seconds, rather than the possible 35. So we could have Q'd if we had just a little more time. We did get 3rd place.
Then came Standard Round 1. Again Shelby was slow and I was the head cheerleader. I really had to work hard to get her around the course. The A frame was super slow, the teeter was super slow. Our time was almost 90 seconds, so no Q. Round 2 was the same thing. We were a little quicker with a course time of 78 seconds, but still too slow so no Q.
I was disappointed with the day overall, but Shelby worked with me and paid attention. She just wasn't very motivated.
On Sunday we were entered in Standard, Jackpot, Fullhouse and Snooker. Our Standard run was crazy. Shelby missed contacts, ran around jumps, etc. I knew she wouldn't like the opening because it was a jump to the dogwalk, which was slatless. She tends not to like that I think because it looks like a teeter when you approach head on. Yesterday she hesitated, but I encouraged her and she continued. On Sunday she started, then bailed. We kept going and I had her for a while over a few jumps and a tunnel. Then we tried the weaves 3 times and she just wasn't even really trying, so we went on. At the end she ran around the last jump and left the ring. I called her back and she backjumped it and before I could get her over the right way the whislte blew, so we had an NT.
Next was Jackpot. I had a nice course planned with 2 jumps to the A frame, which Shelby usually likes. She took the 2 jumps and then went around the A frame to see the judge, which she never does. Then I tried to get her back and she went around 2 more jumps and then into the tunnel. But then she went off again, so I called her over and picked her up and we left the ring. I was really disappointed because Shelby was mentally checked out. I felt like I was putting in 90% of the effort and she was only doing 10%.
After that I decided that since Shelby wasn't feeling like doing agility, we were going to go home. I knew it would be a lot more fun for me! I was really frustrated to the point of tears. It's so frustrating when you know you are capable of so much more than what came out on the field. And it's not because of stress or nerves, it's simply a lack of desire. I know some people will say that I just have to find a better way to motivate her, but I'm doing all I can and I don't see what else I can do. So if Shelby needs more to compete then I'm obviously not the handler for her. We entered the All Dogs trial in Nov. Not sure if we got in. If we did, I'll be interested to see how she performs there. I really hope this was just an off day.
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