Rule Changes and Match

Jolene and I travelled to Cowley this morning for an info session about the new CKC Obedience rule changes, and a match afterwards.

The CKC has changed quite a bit this year- apparently trying to follow in the AKC program... here are just a few things that stood out for me. I am going to download the new rules and read them through. And the below is from memory and not be accurate. lol

1) You only have to be in Open B if you've earned a UD.
2) Open B exercises will be in random order. Announced only 30 minutes before the trial.
0) The judge will signal the drop on recall- no more telling people, or specifying an area
3) No leash for Novice Stand for Exam
4) Which means that you could use a 4 foot leash if you wanted to.
5) No pinch collars near the ring (woohoo! no more watching dogs be yanked around before they go in the ring!) The actual rule is somthing like "collars that are not permitted in the ring cannot be worn outside the ring either"
6) Food must be kept 3 feet from the ring entry. No feeding until you get to the ring, and leaving your food on the table for some other dog to be distracted by...
7) Dogs can wear tight fitting, plain jackets or sweaters. This is one that has caused lots of issues already. This means both for warmth, and for cool. So at an outdoor trial you could have a cool coat on the dog in the stays, or if it is cold the poor little IG's and the Weims won't freeze to death, shivering on the floor for three minutes... This does not mean Thundershirts. They were very explicit with that. Which is funny- because really- if a thundershirt works to destress a dog, then any tightfitting sweater will have nearly the same results. I know with Boone it does. He often will wear just a shirt on a walk, or his winter coat just to help him to be a bit more settled. Anyway, I found the whole rule rather interesting.
8) If a dog bites a person, or judge, or dog they will be disqualified. Which is VERY different than excused. To be reinstated you have to go before a committee etc.. I want to read up more about that to see what they mean exactly...

There were lots of other things- lots changed for prenovice, and the intermediate classes. And some changes for Utility aswell. I have the worst memory in the world though, so will have to read the rules again.

After lunch I judged Pre-Novice, and Novice. And I want to say that I wish that trainers would prepare their students better, or better yet tell them not to enter if the dog is not trained for it. I almost kicked this woman and her poor dogs out of the ring. Instead I just failed them both. But it was painful for me, and for the dogs. Mean people shouldn't have dogs.... Back to the match. After Novice (which had LOTS of great working teams), it was Pixels turn!

She did really great. She actually forged on her heeling! Which is a good thing! lol. She was up and happy, I loved it. She flubbed up her drop on recall though- she hesitated and sat. I asked her to down again and she did- so much improved than before. Her retrieves were good- she did attempt to veer off on the ROF on the way back. So I redid the exercise and she was better. And her broad jump was perfect!!! I was so excited we just ran out of the ring as soon as she came front. Yay!!!  Oh, and her finished rocked. She didn't miss one. ;)

Brit got to come out and play a bit too. She had never been to the Cowley Hall but wasn't phased at all- we worked on fronts, and attention, and played tug on the matted floors. She had good manners in the xpen and didn't make a peep all day.

So yeah, a great day. Tomorrow I am going tracking in the morning with Wicca, and I may take Boone too...maybe he'll like it?!

A Mouthful

Pixel totally cracked me up on our walk this afternoon. She insisted on carrying this huge frisbee for most of the walk-
even though it was super windy, which made it difficult to carry. She's a funny dog.

Medicine Hat Obedience/Rally Results

I am so proud of the girls. They worked very hard, and had a great weekend.

To summarize all the stuff below Pixel earned her RN title, Wicca earned two legs towards her RE title, and came close in Open. And I am very happy. :)

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Pixel qualified in all three of her Novice Rally runs- earning her first real title! She is now Cornerstones on Second Thought RN! Her scores were all in the high 90's- a 96, and two 98's. She came in second all three times, although one of those was a tie for first place (only losing by a second) She wasn't phased by the ring or the atmosphere at all and looked like a pro. The courses were not easy either and I am very proud of how well she did. We do have some things to work on of course but mostly she was great!

Wicca started off a little rough- Friday she was lethargic and kind of strange. It actually seemed like she was stiff. Looking back I think she was adjusting to the heat. It was SO hot- outside, and in the building. To go from Winter to Summer temperatures in a week can be a lot for a dog.

Friday morning she was in Open and was sluggish- her heeling was off, she was stressed and uncomfortable. She did however STAY for her long sit out of sight. I was thrilled. She tried very hard for the down out of sight- but the steward brought us back to early and when we left again she got up. The judge was kind and didn't fail us for that, but we failed anyway due to her sluggish routine. Her recall was in slow motion and fronts were non-existant.

Friday afternoon was better and we earned her first Excellence leg with a 98. She did really well and was definitely more "up" in the ring. She earned High In Class with that score.

Saturday morning we went into the Open ring and rocked. She nailed every exercise and scored 143.5 out of 150. That is how good she was. And then she went down on her sit. Sigh.

Rally in the afternoon was awesome. 99/100, losing one mark for an out of position sit. And then I blew the honor exercise. Notice I said "I"....somedays I think that I am a jinx to my dog. Seriously. So things are going well. She is in a sit beside me waiting for the painfully slow dog to finish the course and then I hear Pixel barking like mad in the benching area. I turn to give my friends "the eye" to go and see if she is okay, and I dropped my arm. Wicca jumped up to see if I had a treat. And Poof. There goes High In Class. Sigh. I was so mad at myself. Wicca rocked that course and I blew it because I was worried about something I had no control over...

Sunday there was no obedience- just rally. It was nice to have the coolness of the morning for Rally. Also because Wicca was the last dog in her class she got to be the first honor dog- which was awesome because she wasn't hot from just doing the course and was very focused on me. It was a long minute and half I must say! But it was worth it. She nailed the course and was the only dog with a perfect score. It was pretty and smooth and she worked so well.

On top of all that my friend Jolene finished her Collie's Championship, and also got High In Class in Novice Rally on Sunday. She has worked very hard with him and his accomplishments are well deserved! Congratulations Jolene!

So all in all it was a great weekend spent with friends and great dogs. I am pretty tired, and need to go shopping for summer clothes. Not sure what I was thinking wearing Jeans all three days....

I will have Videos to post tomorrow sometime, so until then you all will just have to imagine how awesome my dogs were. :)

I can't hear you

I can't hear you, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

because I have no ears.

would have been a great shot if her ears were up.

She has very soft ears, totally my fault I am sure. I stopped taping too soon because I couldn't stand the tortured look anymore.

still a pretty photo though.

Obedience

Next weekend I have the girls entered in Obedience and Rally.

Wicca is going to compete in Open Obedience, and Excellent Rally.

She really loves obedience and is a happy, confident worker. Last night I did a bit of training with her and she did really well. We did lots of heeling as after the funmatch last weekend I needed to get the forging under control. :) Her fetching, drop on recall, and broad jump are all perfect. She is getting more confident with her long stays out of sight, and because of that I am getting more confident with them too.

I've gone through and read all the Excellent signs and we can do them all. Her back up beside me isn't pretty, but she gets it done.

Pixel is going into the Rally ring for the first time. It's going to be so cute. Her heeling is really great, and at the suggestion of a friend I've changed my hand position and now it's even better. No more wide turns and sits. We practiced finishes, and stands last night- both of which have improved a lot in the past few weeks.

I'm really looking forward to the show- it should be fun!

There are no Cardigans entered in Conformation, but I think there will a few in Rally.

Mountain Climbing

i was cleaning up my computer and getting rid of photos. I take so many that are crap, but I keep them for doG knows what reason. Anyway, I found this one and laughed out loud. She looks like some sort of strange mountain goat...

She really is a very athletic dog. She has a much lighter frame than Wicca and has better balance and agility in general. She can hop onto the bed with one leap, and has no qualms at all with attempting to jump onto the kitchen table. (naughty, but athletic no?)

Pixel's Debut

Pixel ran her frist two events a trial today and did awesome. She wasn't nervous, or gawking around, or at all bothered by the judge or pole setters. She just did her job. She is seriously cute.

The first class was snooker and i found a nice flowy path for her. We did awesome and I was stoked to get all the way to 7 before the buzzer went. And then I found out I forgot part of the #6 combination so we didn't get enough points. We were short 3 points for the Q....all because I didn't pay attention in the walk through! :o)

The second class she was in was Jumpers and she did great- more confidence this time, and had pretty decent speed. She was very focused on what she was doing and moved ahead nicely. I am very pleased with how she did. She may not be fast like her big sister, but makes up for it in accuracy. She earned her first Q!



oh, and I apolagise for the cheesy music on Pixels video- I couldn't get iMovie to recognize my iPod for some reason...so had limited choice. :)

Wicca will get a blog post of her own tomorrow...but it pretty much will consist of Wicca being a jerk....

Pixel Update

Just a quick update about training and such.

She can weave four poles in my yard. Why four? Well, I only have four...off to get more today.
Working on leadouts, positional cues, and fast set up games. She thinks this is pretty fun.
Working on finishes. Trying to get some flair into her swing finish and so far it is looking pretty cute.
Working on Stand. As in stand for exam. This is the only thing I have to train for her CD.

Our agility equipment is back outside so that is pretty exciting. It means that I can train more. I really need to get contacts into some sequences.

And that's all the updates in the world of Pixel. She is still cute as ever, and is looking very grown up these days. Oh, and she loves fetch.

Fail

Fail, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

Pixel has never really caught on to the whole catching cookies thing....

*photos by Paws on the Run Photography. (i just made the collage)

the torture continues

Pixel had a bath yesterday, and hated every second of it. But she looks so wonderful now- all fluffy and soft.




She has the most amazing amount of coat in her pants and tail. Seriously it is so thick that it took double the amount of time to dry!


She won't stay clean for long of course but was long overdo for a little clean up!

Vito and Pixels Night Out

Wicca and Boone are on a break from agility for a few weeks so last night I took Pixel and Vito to the arena for agility training.


Vito had SO much fun. He showed off all his little tricks, and got lots of hot dogs, and got to work for a goodie container. That is all fun according to Vito. We worked on getting excited at the startline, and running fast. :) It was a perfect night to bring him as one of the stations was a speed circle. He had lots of fun with that and was running full out. He's pretty much the cutest thing.



Pixel had a good night too. Her frame is coming along very nicely and I am getting much more speed out of her. Last night we built up to doing the whole frame and she was great. I am still using the MM mostly, but next time will vary the reward more. We worked on lead outs, and starts. I haven't been doing many start lines with her as I found that she is slower if I lead out- but it is a skill that she is going to need so we did that a bit last night. She is still not super confident jumping 10". I only ended up doing a small amount on the speed circle as she just didn't seem that into it.

training pixel (and boone)

I took Pixel to training last night and didn't get greedy! Yay for me.

We did two sets of ten reps of half way up the frame. Two times she went into a 2on2off- I think it was my position that cued her to do that so we started again and I made sure to to try that position again. She was really driving off the frame last night so I think next time I will build up to the top of the frame.

She also did the full teeter a few times- out of a tunnel. She is very confident on it and runs to the end to wait for her cookie. All the surfing and bang it games totally paid off and she has no issue with the movement or the noise.

Boone also got to come and we worked on his teeter, weaves, and some handling. He was smokin' last night and had great weaves. I only did a small amount with him because of his busy weekend, and we have a trial this coming weekend too. I mostly wanted to get him on the frame because he had some weirdness at the seminar. Last night it was no problem though- so that's a relief!

Traditions

We started a tradition last year- a New Years Day walk. . I think there were 11 dogs and six people. It was really nice and the dogs had a blast. I took Tripp, Wicca, and Pixel. Boone is a complete wuss in the snow, and Vito is a jerk and likes to bark. :o) and I was worried about Ally is such a large group of dogs. So they got to stay home with a bone instead.

Wendy took some great photos of all of our dogs, In no particular order here are some of my favorites.
looking for critters

tripp looking cute as always

a group photo..although there are a few missing...

Wicca looking slightly crazed.

Did someone say critters? Seriously, that's what she does the whole walk.

Pixel, coming at you!

The chase is on!

Critters?

Tripp hoping for cookies...

and Tripp, looking all cute again.

Happy Monday everyone! This is my first day back at work in almost two weeks...and surprisingly it is going pretty well so far!

Training Pixel

I haven't posted much lately about agility with Pixel so thought I'd post an update.

Pixel is doing really well and is learning so much. She is very smart and is what I would call a thoughtful dog. She wants to get it right the first time. She is quite a lot different than Wicca that's for sure. I make sure to rev her up before each turn, and that is paying off. I would say her speed has been increasing steadily. I use high value toy rewards much more than food and that too helps to keep her "high." She is a very happy dog even in training- her tail wags all the time and there is always a smile on her face. There is nothing very serious about this dog. :o)

We have been doing small sequences for the last 8 weeks or so. She has learned all the basic patterns (pinwheel, 180, 270, and serpentines) She recognizes them right away and does them with no hesitation and quite a lot of speed. She also has learned about lead outs and is able to do a three jump lead out pivot with no problems. We are working still on all of these of course- increasing distance, and speed.

Pixel is a very nice natural jumper. I have done some grid work with her, although I wish I was able to do it more often. She understands what to do with her body to get over the bar, and jumping has a pretty high value for her. We are still working on "finding a line" and taking what's ahead of you. She will still sometimes go wide around a jump or fly blindly ahead where she thinks the toy might be thrown- but it is a work in progress.

I have spent a lot of time working on handling with her- I really do not want to have to go back and "retrain" something because I skipped it. She is very good at understanding what my motion (or lack of) means. She understands exactly what an arm change means and has no issue working close, or far away. At this point everything is broken down of course, but as I am starting to piece things together she has no problem with it.

Weave poles are coming along really well. She can find an entry from just about anywhere, and is starting to find a rhythm. I found that she had a hard time initially figuring out what to do with her body, but just in the past few weeks I think she's got it sorted it out.

Contacts are my issue. Not hers. She is quite willing to do whatever I ask. But the problem is I have been really indecisive about what I want. She has a great nose touch, and drives into position really nicely. We've been doing lots and lots of backchaining. I think in total she has done maybe three full dogwalks, and two full frames. I have decided though that I am not going to ask her to stop on the frame. I think that I will have a little hesitation at first because of the backchaining into 2on2off position, but once she understands that the reward comes for moving I think she'll get it quick. I am bit worried to give up that control, but I think in the long run it will prevent a lot of stress for me (and for her body). I am still going to ask for a 2on2off on the dogwalk- there is no way I will EVER beat her across...the angle is a lot less severe, so I am not worried about her body as much. I have a plan now about how I am going to teach the running frame. There is SO much information out there it is quite amazing. I have decided though that I am going to use Silvia's method mostly, and modify it for my own needs. It means lots, and lots, and lots of repetitions on a really low a-frame to start. I'll try and remember to post each session on the blog.

And that's pretty much it. I am excited for how well my training has paid off so far...I remember being SO stressed out about doing everything "just so." I do know that without the help of Kim, Terry, and of course Sarah I'd probably still be playing crate games... :o)

Oh, one of my other "goals" for 2010 is to be more organised on my blog. I am going to start tagging all my posts so I can look back and find trial results, training posts, and photos...