Thursday, June 5th, Update

Thursday, June 5th, Update

A whirlwind week in more ways than one! Big thunderstorms every day have kept us hopping with power outages & dodging for cover and continue. I reopened my agility field, but on a week with a full calendar, and classes every night.

Bungee was feeling ripped off the beginning of the week, her Mon. class canceled, while Guinn started a new one. Poor girl also had to wait out Guinn's regular Tues. night masters class. It was not until Wed. night that Bungee finally got to go to school AND have a class! She loves school, so by the time her class rolled around, she was a thrill-a-minute in class, and brilliant too!

This was the 1st time Bungee's agility class has been held on one of the trial fields. (We've all been in the same boat with restoring the turf quality in our fields after last year's blazing summer and huge winter snowpack to follow). She was in dog heaven, the big leagues now boy! I found out her recall is strong! Really good news there! Of course, I found out "in the fast lane" you could say, as we were also learning how poor (or non-existent) some of her classmates recalls were! Doh!

She not only had "unexpected visitors", but a dog in her face, that "just wanted to say "Hi" *, several times. How glad are we that she's OK with other dogs?!!! :-)))

In my experience, this is a typical group class situation. But I work hard to avoid allowing my dogs such rehearsals. Mine are not 100% perfect, either, but they do have good recalls. Meanwhile, just because it is typical does not make it "welcome". Clearly, it underscores the importance of working a recall early and always.

Though it's not mentioned often, the truth is, your relationship with your dog is what really makes or breaks a great recall!

I am fortunate to have learned early on in my training career, the true value of learning how to create a great relationship with my dogs. Like our other dogs, Bungee has worked through most of Susan's recall training distractions, (click on her name/articles), along with all the other things we've practiced for great recalls.

But as for the "errant teens" in class, not to worry. The dogs are friendly, I know the folks well as friends & long-time classmates and I know they'll get it all under control eventually. :-)) Our instructor Sarah, had a careful eye on everything and knew everything was cool, albeit a little crazy as dogs start working off leash for the first few times. But dogs will be dogs where ever we go and I learned a long time ago to make good use of such distractions and put them to work for us as I can.

We worked contacts, the tire, some bend work, turns, along with the regular stuff like chase recalls, crate games & impulse control. We finished the night off on a high note for all the dogs with some rip snortin' fast and very fun tunnel work. No hesitation there on Bungee's part! She just assaults that tunnel and comes out & finds me like a guided missile!

Turns out the dear husband, (hereinafter referred to as the DH), had fun with my new iPhone while we were busy with class :-)) Using the stopwatch feature he clocked some of Bungee's times (and some of her classmates :-;) and had them all recorded on the phone for me, by exercise, presenting them with the big grin of a proud papa after class. What a guy! Let's just say, we're not ever going to be worried about her making time on course!

I won't always go over what we do in class, these are the kinds of things we'll be doing for awhile. Contacts - we'll be on those a long time!!! Lots to come there.

Some of our homework focus now:
Focus Foward drills (FFD) ***. This is something we've been doing a little of all along. I'm stepping these up more now. Focus Forward work helps the dog learn to find and drive a line.

With my last dog I taught this too early. Then I had a little extra challenge to turn her off a line, until I got really deep into Greg's system, which straightened everything out. Her distance work was amazing however! This time, I have worked it a little with Bungee as we've come along. But I think the time is right to step up the FFD as we have created a strong foundation for our technical skills of turns, respecting my BCBL & deceleration. Time will tell! (BCBL-blind cross body line)

If last night is any evidence, Bungee would really like never to take her eyes off me I think. Clearly, this will not be helpful if she's plowing through jumps not looking where she's going...eeeek!** As we're just now starting to add low jumps regularly, we'll be putting some greater emphasis on FFD and getting some good work in the weeks ahead.

That said, her focus for me in the busy group class environment is amazing! When she is at rest, she doesn't miss a thing that is going on around her. But when we're up to work, she's with me 100%.

Bungee's directionals are just cracking now, but "go on" to just drive out straight is a little weak all of a sudden, but not to worry, the FFD will help there too.

From my viewpoint, Agility is so much a balancing act. Everything must be done with careful attention to it's impact on something else. With dogs being the individuals they are, there are really no two alike when it comes to striking that correct balance of training. (Something I really liked reading about in Jenny Damm's training philosophy as she described what she does with her program).

So, in a nutshell, this is really what I'm learning the most about with Bungee right now. What are her weaknesses & strengths? How to keep my training time both effective & balanced so that all skills are moving forward equally.

Obedience - a little weak on practice this week. Recalls! We did LOTS of recalls!!!
:-))) 4 days to class, we better put it back on a "front burner" from now to then!



*"He Just Wants to Say Hi" is a marvelous article by Suzanne Clothier of Flying Dog Press. I would recommend it to anyone with a dog, but particularly, trainers & instructors. It's a gem. Click on the link to go to Suzanne's web page listing all of her free articles, you will find it there.

**In case anyone is wondering, WE WILL NEVER "PUNISH BARS"! Even if I still used corrections I would not be doing this. In case you haven't heard of this practice, punishing bars is a sad trend in the states these days. For the record, I believe this is one of the most ignorant and despicable practices I have ever heard.

***Focus Forward drills are explained a little bit on Susan Garrett's "One Jump" (click on the link to go there) training video. If I remember correctly, it is mentioned right at the beginning, so it is easy to go past and never think to go back to it, with all the attention on the jump exercises that follow.