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Wall-e was having a bit of trouble with weave entries today. Usually he's good at them but today he missed two or three mild entries (entered at the 2nd pole). The nails are probably frozen in the ground by now so I can't set them back up in channels or 2x2's, but I can still work the first 3 poles by marking the entry with a "Yes!" and then say "Come!" to call him out of the poles and reward. We'll work the entries around the clock this way, a few reps every day.
That could be good for Mika too, considering that her entries need as much work as Wall-e's. You can probably tell that I'm not the best at training entries :) We all have weaknesses, but they give us opportunities to turn them into strengths!
~Nat
Wall-e has been learning 2on2off on the plank in the backyard -- woohoo, I'm staying on track with our winter goals :) I used shaping to train the position, which worked well for him. Right now he can run across the flat plank and stop in 2o2o while barely collecting himself (which is what I want, because it means that it'll help him ease into a running contact eventually). Pretty often, though, he either stops short and stops in a 4-on position, or doesn't stop at all, so he probably doesn't understand the position as well as I thought. Back to basics -- this morning, I began backchaining the 2o2o position again, jumping onto the side of the plank from the ground, which a jump standard on either side to help him. He did really good, and I was already seeing improvement by the end of the 3-minute-or-so session.
~Nat
Our club's training field closed last week, so it's now our "off-season" until it opens again in April. We have no trials until March, only fun matches. So the winter gives us a good chance to work on individual skills!
I remember last off-season my main focuses were preparing Mika for Regionals and Wall-e's foundation training (which both paid off!!). I remember that Mika didn't even know rear crosses last year, that was one thing we trained during the winter. Ha! I wouldn't be able to survive without rear crosses now, she's gotten so much more speed!
This winter my focuses are:
Mika
- Refresh her 2on2off training. Since she's been missing most of her contacts lately (except at our last run where she hit both dog walk contacts and the A-frame!!), I've decided to train a 2o2o on the DW and AF, but only for a couple weeks. Then we'll go back to running. Her 2o2o is awesome on the stairs and on the plank right now, hoping that it'll transfer nicely to the "real" contacts!
- Weave entries. We'll be working on tough weave entries with 6 poles in the basement. She's pretty good at the medium-hard ones, but once they start getting more severe she enters at the 2nd or 3rd pole.
Wall-e
- Finish training his 2on2off. This is actually going pretty good. He can do 2o2o on the plank at speed. I'd like to add a nose touch to it though to help him get his focus off of me.
- Perfect his weaves. Great news! -- WALL-E WEAVES!! He's obsessive about it, too. Whenever I go in the backyard he runs over to me, leaps in the air in traditional Wall-e style, runs over to the weaves, and starts weaving. Crazy dog. They're his favourite obstacle now! He has nice entries, which the 2x2 training helped a lot. The only thing is that he skips poles at the end when he gets really excited (like when I'm using Nature's Variety raw food as a reward!)
Contacts and weaves. We'll refresh foundation training too. Not a lot to work on, and nothing really "crucial" this time (unlike last off-season when I was preparing Mika for Regionals). I plan to teach them a lot more tricks and just have fun with training. Although I'm sure I'll start REALLY missing running sequences and courses soon (since I have a small yard) it'll be a nice winter!
~Nat
Yes, this is Mika's crate criteria! She has to have at least her two back paws in the crate. When we started playing Crate Games last winter this is what she offered me, and I didn't want to correct her (I never correct Mika), so this is what she's allowed to do. She doesn't try to go farther than this anyway before I release her. In this photo I didn't even tell her to go in the crate -- she went in on her own.
No photo of Wall-e's crate criteria, but he has to have his whole body in the crate, and no part of it can stick out, including his head. He's not soft like Mika so he can learn with corrections (by corrections I mean closing the crate door if he sticks his head out, nothing else).
How about Shadow? Well, in her view, her crate criteria is "get out as fast as I can, hissing and scratching!" To Shadow, a crate = going to the vet and suffering the disgrace of a checkup.
Last trial of the year...
Advanced Gamblers
Kept the opening as flowing as possible, with only one or two tight turns. (Hard to plan a Gamblers opening.) At the beginning, I led out and called her over the first jump and the teeter right after, then headed over to the mini (a simple jump-to-tunnel). At first I accidentally pulled her off the tunnel opening but then she ran in a loop back to me, and I flipped her out to the correct opening. After that we did a couple jumps, then the dog walk (she hit the yellow!), over a jump, back over, then the DW again (she hit it AGAIN!). Then we did the tunnel again -- watching the video (which I'll post eventually :) I realized that I handled her at a 15' without even meaning to, it just came naturally, I sent her into the tunnel and then as she raced over to the opening I ran to the next jump to get in position. Wow. The buzzer rang soon after and we headed over to the main gamble: the A-frame, then a tire right after it in a straight line, then a tire then curved away from the gambling line. the handlers had to pull their dogs in after the tire and then send them back out to the jump, which was about 15' away from the line and kind of both a lateral and linear send. So the buzzer rang, and I sent Mika over the A-frame. She's been missing the A-frame contacts at the past few trials (then again we haven't trained the AF since September), so was I ever surprised when she got the AF contact at a distance! And a really nice hit too, all four paws in the yellow!! She zoomed through the tire, and I pulled her back to me, then sent her to the last jump. She ran over with no hesitation, and we were done! A great run, really fun, and got ALL THREE of the DW and AF contacts that we did! our final Adv. Gamblers Q, which means that we'll be in Masters Gamblers next year.
It's been an awesome year of trialing. Mika's drive and speed has increased a TON since last year, and she's having a lot more fun. Our first Regionals and Nationals were very memorable experiences too. I'm very proud of Mika. We have no more trials until March, which will give her body and mind a well-deserved break. Both her and Wall-e have four fun matches this winter, (one each month November to February), but I'll be running Mika in Starters which I'm sure she'll LOVE. What an amazing girl, she deserves to run on some nice flowing courses!!
~Nat
Today's post on Susan Garrett's blog was about preferences for either male or female dogs. I'm not the best person to give an opinion seeing that I've only ever had two dogs, but I found it interesting to read all the comments and thought that I'd give me own experience.
Keep in mind that Mika was spayed at 7 months and Wall-e is intact.
Mika is not "moody," but she does have different moods. Sometimes she'll be in my favourite mood -- happy, cheerful, with her smile that I love, perking up when I look at her, following me around eagerly -- and sometimes she'll wander around aimlessly. She's not always cheerful like Wall-e is, although she can almost always go into a cheerful mood when I give her "Ready" cue (which means that it's time to train). A lot of people who commented on Susan's blog said that their males were more attached to them than their females, but that's not the case at all with Mika...she's very attached to me. Hard to say if she's more attached to me than Wall-e, but she shows it differently. She'll snuggle up beside me and we'll lie together on the couch or bed, she'll come up to me for attention and pets, and she actually stresses if I give attention to Wall-e and not to her. Wall-e prefers to keep his distance and likes his own space, although he loves it when I give him attention. (Although only verbal attention in his case, unlike Mika, who loves both verbal and physical attention.)
I do agree (with the blog) that my female is more sensitive than my male. Mika is very soft and sensitive, always wants to do the right thing, and worries easily. while Wall-e is slightly sensitive but not at all soft. Although I am completely positive in all my training with both my dogs, I don't have to worry as much with Wall-e. If a mistake is made, he can take re-do's without any loss in enthusiasm, although the only time I've ever done re-do's with Wall-e is with weave training (which, by the way, is going VERY well!).
So which do I prefer, boys or girls? I don't think I can really say right now because I haven't had enough experience (and it's hard to compare because my dogs are completely different breeds), but I'm sure that I'll develop an opinion in the future!
~Nat
"Happy Halloween!"
This was a pumpkin at the outdoor museum/farm that actually grew through the wagon wheel into a "head" on the other side!
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