Regionals Prep Class: Week 4 [March 28th, 2012]

As usual, class went pretty great! There were a few things that I had abit of issue with. Here are the courses:

So, this was the first course. Shyloh did pretty well with this one. The mess up points were a bit of confusion from 5 to 6, because of the fact that there are 2 tunnel ends between the proper one. I'm not sure if they were considered refusals, but both times she was a little confused there. I don't blame her. Then from 8-9 there was a bit of mess up both times running the course. Everything else up to 14 was great. At 14-15 there was a bit of confusion, but I'm going to be working on that. I know of a way I should've handled it, but didn't. So, I know what to do for that. The rest was straight forward. First run I took her off course before 16 because I thought she needed to poop. But when I for real ran it during the 2nd time, she was under time with I think 30 faults, which is still good for qualifying for nats if she did that in both standards and did good in jumpers. Overall, I was proud with her performance on this course!

This was the second course that we ran. 1-2-3-4 was pretty nice :) First time my front cross between 3 and 4 was VERY late and we had a tad of a mix up. Second time it was very nice :) I believe she missed both contacts on the a-frame in this run, but that was my fault entirely. I did a rear cross at 5-6 during the first run and she hit the weave entry perfectly, but I got too excited and she popped the poles and jumped back in in the wrong spot, so it took 2 tries to get the weaves right. She just gets too excited. Then 7-8-9 was good, then Shyloh took the wrong side of the jump at 10, but that was my fault. So I went on to 11 and the rest of the course was ran smooth and nice :) She handled 13-17 VERY nicely. I was happy with that part. During my second run, the weaves were also a bit of an issue again and once again got it right on the third try. Then the rest was nice, but she got confused by me right before #9, and ran around a pole in the weaves. Then we had a bit of a problem from 9-10 because of the fact that I just wasn't clear enough with my handling and Shyloh did not understand that I wanted her to go to the back of the jump. So Christina (coach), came over and gave us some great guidance and then I finally got it and continued on. She took the wrong tunnel because I just didn't call. Then we got it right, but then I messed up before jump 14, so I went back and re-did jump 13 and got the rest perfect and she handled it nicely :) 


Overall, I was very proud of this day at class, and Shyloh had proved me wrong once again by actually speeding up and enjoying herself. I'm quite proud :) I have a trial next weekend (Easter weekend, April 7-8) and I'm hoping for that standard Q to get my ADC title!!! This is the barn she Q'd 4/6 runs though the first time we trialed there.. so I have high hopes =D It's going to be very fun!


Anyways, here's the video from class!

March 24th, AAC Trial!

So on March 24th, I had an agility trial :) It was an OC Agility trial. I had 3 runs only. 


The runs were:

1. Advanced Snooker
2. Advanced Gamblers
3. Starters Standard

So, I went in with no expectations really :) All I know is that she is getting much more confident in this barn. It's the same barn a lot of my trials are in AND regionals prep is in this barn :) 

I ended up getting Q/1st in snooker AND Q/1st in gamble! :) That's so very awesome! Now I need 1 more advanced gamble Q to get into masters! That's awesome, Shyloh LOVES her gamblers! Standard ended up being a bit of a mess, but not really. She ended up jumping out of the ring towards a dog, and then came back... But I totally did not know that a dog can still Q after jumping out of the ring and she came back and jumped over the wrong side of a jump. So, since I jeopardized that Q anyways, when she started to slow down and goof off before the teeter, I petted her and asked her "READY?" to get her more pumped up and it REALLY made her go :) I am very proud in the speed she had overall in that whole trial, and the whole confidence she had. My next trial in on April 7-8, but I have 6 runs :) and it's a 2 day trial for me! 

Video:

Regionals Prep Class: Week 3. [March 21, 2012]

So, this week was pretty good :) I was a bit goofy =/ I was off, and I'll admit that. Sorry for the late post too... UGH I'm horrible at my blog! I will really start to be better and update more close to the actual day that the event happened. But anyways... The courses:

So this here is the first course we did. I was relieved because it was an easier course first! Sure it does have parts that are more tricky that others but generally I really like it. First run was goofy... I wasn't enthusiastic enough and plain out just didn't even care, which is a very shitty attitude to have! But, anyways... It was clean except for one jump refusal at jump #8. She started sniffing a bit, and ran past it. She had a bit of sniffy problems during the run, but that's like most first runs when I go out. She did it pretty nice, and hit her 2o2o on the dog walk. She hit the weave entries nicely both times we ran the course too. I'm SO proud of that. Second run was very quick and she was very into it :D! Yay! Not to mention, clean as well! 

So this here ------> would be the second course we did that day.... When this course was set up, I was angry xD!!!! The first course was so chill, then we get THIS! LOL. Well, it was actually not too bad :) The start was pretty good, then we get to 5, 6 and 7... I thought that might be pretty difficult, but it turned out to be very simple, and Shyloh had no problem with it. Then 9-10 Shyloh did nicely as well, but the only REAL problem we did have was at 13-14. I kept not pushing her enough to 14 so she'd take it more like a serp rather than like a threadle would be. Once I pushed her with my body more, she took the right side and completed the rest of the course very nicely :) I was very happy with her! Shyloh is such a good girl :)

Here would be the video :)

2o2o.

Yes, you read my title... I'm switching to 2o2o! If I had the contacts to train on, I would definitely would HARD on running contacts. I really wish I had the contacts, but I REALLY don't. So ANYWAYS, yes I'm doing 2o2o. I feel as if Shyloh will be MUCH more confident with 2o2o now, rather than what she was before. She actually would shut down of the position. Now, she's enjoying it a lot. Today was the 4th session of 2o2o. She is driving to the plate a LOT better than the 1st day even! I'm definitely going to keep this up. I'm REALLY not sure what I'm going to do for the a-frame, since it's the incline she doesn't like... I will definitely be trying at class this Wednesday to get her to stick the contacts. I noticed at the last 2 agility events type things we've done (fun match, and class), that she is missing the a-frame contact very consistently. This is absolutely not her fault. It's because I never formally trained a contact, and she's gaining speed so her strides are a LOT larger than before so her footing is off. She's also leaping the apex, so this affects it (where she was slower before and would walk over it). 

Having so much trials coming up, AND regionals in a few months... I've decided I NEED to start working on contacts and get it in her brain. Anyways, next trial coming up on March 23! I only have 3 runs, Gamblers Snooker and Standard but that's all I need right now. On April 7/8 I do have 6 runs (2 day trial). Anyways, I only need one more starters standard Q for my ADC title. I really want to get this and try some harder courses in a trial environment. So let's hope I do! I can't wait to have a rosette :D hehe! 

By the way, the 2o2o session videos are being posted to my FB at the moment.

First and Second Day of Regionals Prep!

So, I totally suck at updating my blog. 

First Day of Regionals Prep Class!

So my first class of Regionals prep was on March 7th. Shyloh did pretty good! I'm so not used to running harder courses, so it's something to get used to haha!

<--- So this was the first course we did. When we walked it... my face was ":o" the whole time. I'm not SO used to this at all. I was okay with MOST of it, but I was definitely unsure of the dogwalk entry. Which is funny cause this dog walk entry is NOTHING compared to the of the course below. I got to practice with my lead outs from 1-3 and a blind cross from 6-7. I wasn't TOO concerned with the entry to jump #9. She did SO well. All I had to do was flick my hand and say walk it and she ran right to the dog walk very nicely. After that, the course was pretty simple. It went nicely. First run was a a distracted run but clean, and second run was clean and pretty speedy for Shyloh! :D

This course was a BIT more difficult in my eyes when I walked it. 1-4 was really nice!, but when I saw 5 I was like "how the eff do I handle this?" at first, and then we talked about it and I figured it out a bit. It's so difficult walking a course with 2 sides of your dog in mind. It's either Shyloh walks, or RUNS. So, I mostly have to walk planning either side of her. But, no it was great. 4-6 was a bit tricky, considering that wrong tunnel end is very visible to the dog. THEN, you have that NASTY dog walk entry. Shyloh got the wrong tunnel end first try and then went into distraction mode and then quickly got back into it and ran the rest clean :) Her second run at it was pretty speedy and only had one tunnel refusal at tunnel number 4. :) She did wonderful! Good GIRL!

Video to that first day of class is here ^^^^^

Second day of class!

Once again, Shyloh did amazing. But by amazing... I don't just mean AMAZING... I mean... AH-MAZE-ING. I have not seen her that happy, confident, OR speedy in a trial environment before. Absolutely AMAZING. I was even asked what I fed my dog before class xD. This was also the class that made me decide for surely that I'm going to do 2o2o contacts with Shyloh. I do notice that since she is faster, she has been missing contacts consistently. It's because of her larger stride, where-as before she walked... 

ANYWAYS! Here are the two courses we did this class:

So, to the left is the courses we did this class. We did the course in the white bubbles first. A LOT of things made me go ":o" in this course. Well, not a LOT... but a few. Mostly it was the tunnel and a-frame entrances being SO close. Especially how there was 2 entrances on the one side of the a-frame. Keep in mind, I'm not used to the courses of this level and I've never had much of a change to teach tunnel vs contact discrimination before. I planned on doing it once the snow melted. Hell, I even was telling Savanna in the car before this class that that's the ONE thing I haven't had much of a chance to do and want to this spring. And what do you know... we walk into the class to see that xD. Christina read my mind before class xD haha. Thats pretty funny. 

Anyhow, I thought 1-2 would be alright... I mean it's not TOO difficult to clearly point out the tunnel. That went over great. In the first run it was 1-5 really nicely. Then when I went to send her into the tunnel (6), she ran up the aframe... OOPS! So i sent her back down and intoo the tunnel. Then, I was too far ahead for 7 and she took the tunnel again and then went onto 7 right after. 8-9 was a threadle, and I wasn't toooo concerned, but Shyloh was a bit distracted and turned really wide, no big deal. 9-15 was nice. Then we needed some lateral distance on the teeter, so that we could get ahed while sending dogs into 16.... NOWWWW THE HARD PART.... 16-17... Oh my goodness. Walking this I thought how the hell? But when I ran it, it wasn't all that bad. :) Then for the second time doing that same course, Shyloh ran it all ALMOST entirely clean. On tunnel 17, Shyloh hesitated for about 5 or so seconds in front of the tunnel and put a paw onto the a-frame. ONLY a paw, SO close to being clean! Good job though :)

For the second course, labeled in the red bubbles... I was a little less nervous. The course presented itself as pretty easy compared to the first one. There were a few parts that were a little more difficult, but that's no big deal. Shyloh knocked a bar on both runs, sadly. But that's alright! In the first run, the weaves were messed up first try and a bar was knocked. Then once we got to jump 11, she got distracted and ran off to take a tunnel right before it. Once I got her back, the rest of the run was nice! In our second try, she ran the COURSE clean but missed the a-frame contact and knocked the bar before the a-frame :D! I think she did VERY well. 

Video for the second day of class ^^^

I'm learning so much from these classes and am enjoying it SO much! I can't wait for next week and to avoid a REALLY long blog post, I will remember to post every week after class. If I don't, call me out on it xD!

Classes Start Tomorrow

So, my regionals prep classes start tomorrow. They run 8:30-9:30 PM on every Wednesday night for 7 weeks. I'm taking them with a good friend (Savanna who owns Pilot and Amy, if you know her). I think it will be fun to run some regionals courses and get to know the feeling. Hopefully Shyloh is up to it and actually makes the effort and has fun. I believe she will, as she is getting so much more confident in that barn..
OH, not to mention... The classes are in one of the barns most of the trials are at here during the winter and colder months. Hopefully this will help gain her confidence in the barn as well! I can't wait to go the classes and try it out, and see what happens.

Video will be posted!

Fun Match and Trial!

So, I neglected the blog... Darn *facepalm*. I promise, I will write more! I will write about every agility event/practice, etc!

Last post I mentioned being "not even excited" about my fun match on February 11th 2012. Well, I was sure wrong to think that because when I got there... Shyloh was the fastest I have ever seen her in a barn (I THINK). Which is amazing, considering she shut down at the last fun match I did (December 17th, 2011). Well, she didn't shut down but she sure was not in tune with me and wasn't at her full potential. But wow, the latest fun match... she was AMAZING. I can't believe it. I did 2 standards and 2 jumpers runs. Her standards weren't as good because I was lacking handling skills to the extreme. That is way obviously because I'm not used to handling her when she's so fast! I really wish she would always run that fast, just so I could get used to it. However, the jumpers runs rocked and we would have Q'd them both if it was a trial run! :D What a good dog! Just amazing.

Also, we went to a trial on February 18th. It was K9 Korruption's first winter trial I believe. It was absolutely so much fun even though there were no Q's. I only did 2 runs with Shyloh. I did Advanced Gamblers and Starters Standard (trying for our title we need!). Gamblers was great! She needed to poop so she was very very distracted but she did so amazing for needing to poop! She actually was speeding up and she still listened for the most part even though she was super sniffy. She would have easily got that gamble, but she stopped after the chute and stood there because she REALLY needed to poop! So, I took her outside after the run.. she had her poop and I played with her :) Ended the run positive! Then, we had Starters Standard. I know exactly what I did wrong. I should have led out further and either stand in front of the 3rd jump and then push her to the tunnel entrance OR I could have stayed to the left of the 3rd jump but point my body to the correct tunnel entrance and then pull her towards it. I know exactly what I did wrong. I led out only to the 2nd jump, and then had a late front cross with not enough of a call off and then she took the wrong tunnel end. Otherwise, it was a wonderful run! At the end of that run, we went outside and played in the field and I left the trial on a VERY positive note with lots of playing and car ride! I can't wait to trial again.

Videos for both the fun match and the trial are shown here:
February 11th, 2012 Fun Match!
February 18th 2012, K9K Korruption Trial!