A Great day of Distance!

Trapper and I travelled up to Olds, Alberta early yesterday morning for a distance seminar with our friend Lynda.  It was such a huge success in so many ways!  First of all - all of the paticipants were great, nice "dog people".  It was a great group to train with.
I've been to quite of few seminars in my brief time of doing agility - some were great, some ok - but I have the attitude that if I learn 1 thing (yes - only one thing) that is an "a ha!!" moment and I'll put that in my training "tool box" and use it in the future for training - then the seminar was a success for me.  Well in that case - this seminar was awesome for me as I had many "a ha" moments through out the day!
One of my goals for 2010 was MUCH more distance with Trapper.  So I couldn't wait for this seminar!  Another goal that is huge for Trap and I is motivation!  I got both a plenty on Saturday!!  He showed tremendous drive when I tugged with him and then sent him to do his excercises.  We sent the dogs to drive forward through the chute and then over a jump with and then without driving up with them.  It was awesome to be able to send Trap through the chute and yell "GO JUMP" and he blasted through the jump without looking back to me!
We also worked the dogwalk - getting the dogs to drive down to the contact position with the handlers hanging back.  Then sending them straight to take the jump from our position behind them.  Trapper did a grrreat job!!!
We worked a serpentine from a distance and all of the dogs did great at this - including Trapper!!  I was actually surprised that I have as much distace as I do with him!  When you don't really work a lot of distance except for a Gamblers course in an actual trial - it's hard to judge what kind of distance you have with your dog.  Oh - I have a long way to go with Trap - and we have lots of work to do - but his distance is really coming along!!
One of my FAVORITE exercises was learning the "flip" from a contact.  It's when the dog reaches the bottom of the contact point and you then have to "flip" them away from you into the tunnel.  It was great and I can't wait to practice that!
The last part of the day was that a Gamblers course from last years Regionals was set up!  At the regionals Trapper and I tried the serpentine "Mini" gamble - we didn't get it.  Well - we got it this time!!  Trap was amazing.  Now - this was the last run for him during a VERY active day - and even though I got so much out of the "distance" part of the seminar - a big accomplishment for Trapper and I was that he was still so motivated at the end of the day.  I've really been tugging, tugging, tugging with him and he loves it so much that it has so helped with his motivation.  Needless to say he was fried last night and was snoring up a storm on the couch all night!

Another bit of good news though - I got my confirmation last night for the Calgary Agility Trail being held in 2 weeks.  Trials have been filling up so fast and sometime you can't get into the local trials!
Can't believe that tomorow is already February 1st!!!!  Wow - time really does fly by so fast!!!

 

Targeting Trapper part 2 / Seminar Time!!

TARGETING - Thursdays class was the first one since Christmas break.  We are continuing with Trapper's "targeting the course" plan as I explained in a recent post!  My instuctor Keri set a target after every obstacle and they were loaded with a treat.  I said "GO" and then "GET IT" as he got to the treat and went on like that through the whole course!  He loved it and and whipped through the course with great motivation!  We did that a few times and then the real test came - We left all of the targets out there but didn`t load any of them!   I only said `GO`at the start but that was it.  I ran and directed him through the course as if there were no targets set - he stopped and sniffed at the first few targets only - but then incredibly he focused and never stopped the rest of the course and we ran through it beautifully and he was very motivated!!  SUCCESS!!!  The only bummer is that my class is every 2nd week.  I`d love to have this class every week - and if it wasn`t winter - I could train on my own in my backyard - I miss summer!

Seminar - I had an afternoon `Building Value for Obstacles`` seminar with Sue Charlton and loved it!!  Trapper is food and toy motivated so that was the easy part!  Too much detail to really write here - but we were shown how to build value for jumps - tunnels - rear crosses into tunnels, weaves and all contacts.  Especially for the teeter as Trapper does the teeter - no problem - but way too slow!!  Some great tips and advise and once again I just wish it was summer so I could practice more in the backyard!  It was honestly one of the best seminars I`ve been too!  Trapper was fried after it last night and was snoring up a storm on the couch!! He was soooo cute!!

Well - it`s a beautiful Sunday morning and I have to take the kid`s for a walk at the offleash park and start all my housework and laundry - I`d rather play with my dogs all day!!!!

1st trial of 2010 - Success!!!!

I'm so happy after this weekends trial!  Trapper ran so well and my little new pre-run routine seems to have really worked!
Before each of his runs I took him out right after I finished walking the course to potty him.  I played with him and connected with him by giving him treats and doing some tricks for me.  I put him back in his crate and went back to get him around 4 dogs before his turn.  I tugged with him and would playfully scratch and poke and massage him all over and it got him really hyped up!! 

The first run on Saturday was Advanced Gamblers - Trap was fast and focused and we got it baby!!  It was his second gamblers Q - 1 more and we're in Masters!!

We ran our first Challenge class ever but Trapper knocked a bar - but I was so pleased with him - it was a tough little course!  I think we did well for our first attempt!

Next up was Masters Regular and we rocked!!  Trap was smooth and really listened to me - our connection was great!!

Lastly on Saturday was our Master Jumpers run.  I didn't follow my new pre-run routine. It was late and I was tired and tought he'd be fine - well - nope!!  He seemed great on the start line and as we took off - Trapper just trotted over the first 5 or 6 jumps!  I threw in a few extra front crosses that I hadn't planned on just to speed him up and that worked awesome!  He ran so much better the last half of the course that I felt great - but no way we Q'd though because of the slow start!  Well - when I got in Sunday morning and checked our time - we Q'd by 1.9 seconds under time, how close can you get???  - I was shocked!!  He really did pick it up at the end!!  And this was our first Q in Master Jumpers!!  Yippee!!

So for the first time ever in AAC Trapper Q'd 3 out of 4 runs!  Awesome!!

On Sunday we blew our Steeplechase run - but in a good way!  We started off nice and smooth - got through the first set of weave poles great - on the way back to hit the weave poles for the 2nd time - Trapper stopped and started to jump around me - like he does at the off leash park when he's really happy and playful.  He was so cute I started laughing!!  I got him to finally enter the weaves and he was fast!!  We finished the course fantastic - but we were over time like I thought!

The next 2 runs were Master Standards and both were excellent, but Trappy blew his dogwalk contact in each run and missed the teeter contact in one of the runs.  The first time in a long time he's blown a contact!  But he ran fantastic and quick and we were so connected it felt great!!  Gotta tune up those darned contacts now!!  The training never ends!!  :o)

Now - his last run was Advanced Snooker - I reved him up good and it was go time!  We smoked it and got our 2nd Advanced Q!!  One more and then we're in Masters Snooker!

So get this - this is why I know I love the sport and teamwork of agility and I don't need the Q to feel like we're a success as a team!
Saturday we had 3 Q's - Sunday we had only 1 Q - BUT - Sunday was our best day in my mind - because Trapper was so happy and motivated and for all 4 runs - he worked so hard and truly seemed to be having so much fun which made me feel fantastic!  The weekend seemed like a breakthrough for us!  Can't wait to see what happens at the next trial!

This coming Saturday I have a seminar scheduled with Sue Charlton on Building Value for Obstacles!  I'm hoping that helps even further with Trappers motivation!!

Break Time's Over Trapper!! 1st trial of 2010!!

I've read lot's of articles about having an "off season" for agility.  They say dogs need a break.  I agree!  I also think us handlers need a little break here and there!  Trapper and I haven't had a trial in close to 6 weeks.  We've done no agility since early December - no practice or classes - nothing except for walks and lots of play time - and boy do I miss it!
I love Training Troop trials and am anxious to see if I can keep Trappers motivation level up for the entire trial.
Hunter is not in the trial - but I'm going to enter her in a few runs at the February CAA trial in Calgary.  Wow - when you think about it - Regionals are just around the corner!!

Can't wait to see how the weekend goes!!

A New Year - A New Plan and a look back!

Wow - 2010. Time passes by so fast as we get older! I can't believe that Hunter will be turing 7 this April and my baby Trapper will be 4 in March!! How the heck did that happen???

First I want to take a quick look back at 2009 agility wise. It was a huge success for us as a team!

It was my first full year trialing in AAC (I also did several NADAC trials). During the year - Trapper is now in Masters Regular and Jumpers. He's in Advanced Gamblers and Snooker. A job well done!

Trapper Qualified for the 2009 NADAC Championships - but we did not attend as they were too far to travel! He won a few "Top Dog" awards along the way and our NADAC high for the year was him winning "Top Elite Dog" in a 3 day trial in Victoria BC this past August!! He was consistent and motivated the whole weekend - which was fantastic since there was 14 runs all in all!

2009 was our first AAC Alberta Regionals ever! I was soooo excited! You need 350 points in order to qualify for the AAC Nationals. My goal for Trapper was to get 300 points as I don't have a lot of distance with him so I knew we wouldn't get a lot of points in Gamblers.
Well the little man surprised and impressed me so much~we acheived 408 points and did indeed qualify for Nationals! He was amazing! Ottawa was too far to travel as I don't fly with my dogs - I would have to drive so we didn't attend but just qualifying was my agility highlight since I've been into agility!!

Hunter just recently acheived her ADC in AAC agility - I was so proud of her as she was so quick and focused during that last run - she was great!!!

So - now we look forward to a brand new year and a few goals to try and acheive!

1- Qualify for Nationals with Trapper. They're in Calgary this year so of course it would be awesome if we can acheive this!!!!

2 - I need more distance with Trapper! This will be my priority to work on this year! Along with this I will be working on better teeter and dogwalk performance. I need them both to be quicker!

3 - In an earlier post I wrote about Targeting Trapper to get him more motivated in agility. In addition to this I signed up for a seminar with Sue Charlton from Edmonton to build value for obstacles. I'm really looking forward to this. I really want to make agility more fun for Trapper!

4 - This is a soft goal - meaning I truly don't mind if it doesn't happen. I would like to trial Hunter a little more in AAC this year and enter her in Regionals. I have to see how she does and be cautious with her. I have to see if she can stay focused and not sniff and be distracted at times. I also have to work on her weaves. Actually - her entries are fantastic! But she pops at weave number 10 at times! I'll be doing some re-training with her and try to get her weaves more consistent.
If she does well in training and I decide to enter her in Regionals and she does stay focused then this will be a huge success (she doesn't have to qualify for Nationals at all - this is expecting too much).

5 - Is for myself! I've always been a bit of a jock all my life! I love sports and was always pretty good at them! For my age - I think I'm still in pretty good shape - but I would like to lose some weight before Regionals. I know that people who know me may think I'm crazy because I guess I'm not really overweight - but in the last 10 years I've gained about 10 pounds. So it's not huge - but I definitely want to lose a solid 10 pound before Regionals. They are held in June (around June 20th I believe) so that would only be about 2 lbs per month I would have to lose.
I would feel better and I would be a bit quicker on the agility course.

So there you have it! Above all - I want to have fun with my dogs in everything we do this year - agility related or not!!!

Happy New Year!!!!!!!