The Spotted Devil

Em and I have had a wonderful 2nd weekend of retrieving trials. Saturday was rather warm but there was plenty of shade to be had and it was quite lovely near the water. First run was a mark from left to right - the dogs had a clear sight of the arc but lost sight as the mark came down in heavy cover. Em took a bit of time to settle at the peg but followed the line of the gun. I think she saw it pretty well in the end. She headed off and was put off by the very tall grass. When she continued she kept veering right - something a lot of the dogs did - I couldn't see her at all and, as I suspected she was way off course, said as much to the judge. He had a better view than me and told me she was through the fence! I called her in and sent her again and she did exactly the same thing. Apparently that is a common pattern for an inexperienced dog when they miss the fall and, in fact, happened a week ago when I was training with a friend. So clearly some more practice needed on that concept. The (very patient) judge told me to walk her out to the mark, which was interesting in itself as the game had landed in a thick tuft of cover - Em was hunting within half a metre of it but couldn't pick up the scent because the breeze was going straight over the top. It wasn't until she sighted it that she picked it up and trotted back with me - she was as pleased as punch so that was a nice note to end the run on. Around half the dogs went out on that run! We were allowed to do the second run (water mark) and she picked that up with a little encouragement to get in the water - it was full of heavy lilies, which spooked her a bit but got there in the end. I opted out of the 3rd run as I suspected it was too much for her - instead I grabbed a couple of birds and tossed them in lots of different environments including the water lilies, thick mud, weedy areas and over logs until she was really, really enjoying herself. In the process, I managed to break her delivery - the game was pretty yuck by then and she wasn't keen on delivering to hand but I can fix that. The payoff was her increase in confidence. LL won the trial with her girl Sunday wasn't quite as hot but became a bit humid as the day went on. The cover on the property was heavy, lots of trees and LOTS of prickles/burrs so it wasn't easy for the judge to find novice runs - especially on land. The first run was a land mark - very, very short cover so that part was easy. Lots of trees but the dogs could sight the arc of the fall above the tree line and hear the thump to the ground. I was thrilled with Em. She was incredibly excited but was steady as a rock and flew straight out, picked up the bird and bolted straight back. Not unsurprisingly she dropped the bird a bit out from me but I persisted in telling her to fetch it up and present it. I wasn't at all bothered because I knew that the extra training on the Saturday had caused it. The judge was really good actually - chatted to me for quite some time after our run and said some really nice things about Em and some constructive criticism about my handling. So! Into the next run - a big thing for a newbie handler :D The judge continued to come out with some classic one liners to keep us all laughing and finally it was time to start the second run. I wasn't sure how we would go.....between the pegs we were instructed to treat it like a proper hunting expedition and were required to take the long route and pause several times to look for game. After we stopped the 2nd time Em was exasperated with me :laugh: but it probably did her the world of good to build up more excitement/frustration. We were low down (in a classic hunting scenario apparently) and the thrower was on the high side, the bird thrown from right to left into the water. I had my heart in my mouth - how would Em react to the long swim, water lilies and what seemed to be logs under the water line? Lots of factors for her to overcome. The dogs had a good view of the mark but the bird was difficult to see in the water. The run was set up so the dogs had to trust their nose with the breeze blowing the scent beautifully towards them. Em took off like a shot, entered the water confidently, swam straight through the lilies, scrabbled over the logs, kept swimming hard, picked up the bird (I couldn't see it at all in the water) and headed straight back. I asked the judge if he would take marks off if I swore He thought that was most amusing and then gave me an even harder time when my eyes welled up with pride. By the time she brought the bird back (after dropping it ;) ) I was in tears of joy :laugh: Little devil was SO pleased with herself. A couple of comments from the gallery about the wake that formed behind her as she powered through the water - most of the dogs could leap through the water but Em had to swim the whole way. The third run was a mark landing over the river - the dogs could run through the water but the bird landed in the mud, the dogs had to run through lots of mud and there was a lot of timber in the water too that sucked the dogs in. Em took off straight through the mud but the timber was like a brick wall and she just couldn't work out how to get through. I tried pushing her back but it was just a bit too much and I ended up calling her in. Had some constructive feedback from the judge as to how to handle the gun better to help the dog out and all in all I was wrapped with our day. The judge gave us an encouragement award - for the vertically challenged dog who had an epiphany in the 2nd run and the teary handler who was mentally challenged between the pegs :laugh:

Congratulations one and all - what an outstanding weekend of brags

Dally has free run of the house - he went back to bed before I left home this morning. Springer is transitioning from a large crate to the living area as she has developed a good off switch and sleeps all day. No access to bedrooms or study as she will collect shoes, socks and cat toys. Currently crated as I'm pretty sure she is on the verge of coming into season. I do a lot of training and exercise with my dogs. They are more than happy to relax once I'm out of their hair :laugh:

Congratulations LP and Kinta Let me know when they want extra cuddles :D

That's great megan! Deb said your Fergus is a cutie pie :D

What a huge day Congratulations

Em doesn't have much chance because I never leave things lying around or forget to shut the gate to the bedrooms. Mr TSD is not quite so conscientious and one of the cats, who plays fetch, brings all his toys over the baby gate. Her favourites are....dish cloths, sponges, tea towels, socks, shoes and as many cat toys as you can discretely stuff inside a soft Springer mouth! Oh, and the occasional live gecko.

Talk about setting the standard for 2012 You must be delighted with Brookie! Congratulations!

Love the enthusiasm OSo How cute is he!

Good point AD. We do a lot of tug around the weaving poles too which might help - tug, give, tug, give, weave!

One thing that really improved Ziggy's weave entries was lateral distance. I have been working on that at entries and then angling off at different points with him learning to focus forward. I've noticed at training and trials that I don't try to baby (or inadvertently pressure) him as much on entries now and he has improved out of sight.

KC described it really well. I agree about the 'lumping' - front crosses have never felt really comfortable for me (very rushed) and it's probably because I was doing them incorrectly!

Hastings dog club is a bit further away but is good value. I used to train there several years ago before I moved.

KC explained it much better :laugh: megan_ I originally had planned to go but, on a post grad student income I couldn't justify both buying equipment and attending the GD seminar.

From what I gather with my clunky attempt last night, you position yourself right near the upright and the turn is not as important but tends to be later, on your way to the next obstacle. Positional cue is the key along with accel and decel. Much easier if someone shows you in a box set up and it does take some getting used to. Probably a real advantage for faster dogs - I will work on it regardless as Zig is getting faster and I expect Em will be a zippy little thing. It's also critical that you don't have to baby a 180 in order to practice this. Zig REALLY surprised me and didn't need any remedial 180 work.

I know!!!! By the time I get my head around this no doubt he'll change it again

No expert here either - I just do what works. I taught nose touch to hand, then to a clear plastic lid, then put it on the ground, added a cue and then tossed it into the travel plank mix. That works well for Ziggy. In terms of rear end awareness and planks for 2o/2o, I waited until Em was really flying along on the phone book stuff before I started on the travel plank. I lured the 2nd behaviour because she was trying so hard and running through hundreds of behaviours with no success - as soon as I lured it she got it in no time. Now she knows immediately which one we are doing, even with different objects for both (e.g. phone book, balance disc, steps, plank). She actually offers a drop at the end of her see-saw contact which works incredibly well for her body type, particularly with the new small obstacle so I'm very tempted to leave it as is. Will see what happens when we start on A-frame and dog walk in the next module. We went back to agility this week. Em was so excited to see all the equipment on Sunday and was just throwing herself through tunnels, tyres, weave poles, over jumps, see-saw etc. She's getting some really good speed up and is very sensitive to my body language. She nearly fainted when she accompanied Zig and I to agility last night :laugh: but it wasn't her class so we just did some obedience to the side. Ziggy was so enthusiastic - a few things we've worked on over the last month have really paid off (lots of fitness work, building motivation and independent weaving poles!!!) but, as the Derretts have been in town, there were a few new things to concentrate on - OMG he's changed the front cross We were all like complete newbies trying to put that together but our dogs saved us from complete embarrassment so clearly it's much harder for us than it is for them!

I use a verbal "go" and physical "running motion" (i.e. arms pumping) which means take every obstacle in front of you - I teach it by throwing cubes of cheese along the line of straight jumps - the second Zig commits to the final jump I throw the cheese and he just gets faster and faster :D If I'm parallel to the obstacles I'll hold my arm out but if the dog is in a loop running away from me I just keep my mouth shut and meet him at the other end. Every time I use it on course I'm surprised at how well Zig understands it :laugh:

kathq that is simply AWESOME!!!!! Congratulations We all know how hard you've worked with this. Very well deserved!!! Nice one Coco and Pip too

Mine are quite hard on their crates and the vebo ones are still going strong! Shipping was very reasonable That's good to know! When you have a working line pup who has never even looked like chewing a soft crate I figure it's a good idea to point that out :laugh: Agree - shipping was excellent.

They work fine for me. Are you clicking on the dates or headings? The heading links seem a bit mixed up, but the dates work fine. Thanks Vickie - yes, I was having trouble with the heading links. Didn't even try the dates Long week :laugh:

I'm very happy with the Vebo crate I purchased. It came from Sydney - postage was fine and cheaper than anything I've seen in Melbourne. I don't travel with it much (although it has transported a couple of goats!) and it looks as good as new. ETA: I should add that both my dogs are very soft on crates.

Anyone else having trouble with those links?

If it survived Christmas Day you've got a top gazebo on your hands I'd say :laugh:

It really was fun! The Springer Devil has had a quiet day at home - she has spent half the day sleeping and the other half doing zoomies and giving Ziggy the sh!ts :laugh: I haven't had it quite so easy!