Saturday's trial...

[mainegsd]

Our first run was JWW, and did not go very well. Axle knocked 3 bars
Here's the video. I should've known from the start line it was not going to be good....

YouTube - Axle Novice JWW 051411

YouTube - Axle Novice JWW 051411

[WarrantsWifey]

Did Axle have fun anyways?! That looked like fun to me. I'd like to try agility with our next dog. I'm sorry things didn't go better. Maybe next time!?

[rjThor]

Axle still did great for his first one, he's a good lookin fella. Keep up the great work with him.

[Rerun]

Sometimes it's hard to read tone on an internet forum.

But the way I'm reading it - you're mad at the dog (you used the "mad" smilie, not the embarrassed or what have you) for knocking 3 bars. I'm sure the experienced agility people can chime in, in regards to handler errors that may have caused that. Or could've just been an off day for the dog, it happens in any sport.

I do think though that your dog needs a lot more fundamental training. For example - "stay." I've never seen someone give a dog so many commands. You should be able to just tell your dog to stay and walk off. If you have to go through that whole ordeal and he still gets up, it's clear the command doesn't mean much to him. JMHO

[mainegsd]

Maybe I used the wrong smiley, believe me, I don't get mad at him. Thought it was the "arrgh" smiley. The knocked bars were handler error, so it was more towards myself than him.
I should've corrected the stay at the start line, he doesn't usually break it. I do typically give one stay command and walk, but, as we all know, when you do it differently than usual, the outcome is different. Maybe it was nerves on my part, not sure. I do have a bad habit of talking to him alot when we run, and am working on it... now for the good news, he did qualify in his standard run, took third place, and got his Novice Standard title. overall not too bad of a day....here's the video of the standard run. notice i pulled him on the first jump, hence the refusal and back jump. but the rest was clean...and he ran 20 seconds under course time

YouTube - Axle Novice Standard 51411

YouTube - Axle Novice Standard 51411

[JakodaCD OA]

hey not bad at all,,was this in RI? The course looked familiar a friend of mine did her aussie there yesterday Not sure if this was the place my sister was at to

Anyhoooo, I wont' critique because you know what you should and shouldn't have done,,he's a NICE jumper tho, and looked good to me Congrats on the Novice title

[Stosh]

He is a nice jumper! Since Stosh hates taking his feet off of the ground, I'm envious. Good job

[mainegsd]

thanks guys. yeah, i do know what went wrong, and will continue working till I get it right. Diane- yes, this was in RI. Absolutely beautiful facility, though takes getting used to running on artificial turf (it's very soft underfoot).

[PaddyD]

You have a beautiful dog and you have done a great job training him.

[MaggieRoseLee]

I agree w/Paddy you have done a great job training with a wonderful dog.

Plus the #1 most important thing to show this is your dogs attitude which was fabulous! Both your runs were really great and you should be proud of your training and your dog!

I'm getting ready to trial Glory for the first time at the end of the month, and I know for me, I am not going for the Q's. I'm going to get on different equipment in different locations in a different venue with my agility nerves and see how that affects Glory.

Since I'm not going for the Q......... what I am going for is smaller pieces to test my training and see how it holds up. These are my goals:

1. Startline stay. But I will ONLY leave her for the distance I KNOW KNOW KNOW she will stay, and I'll keep that eagle eye on her, and I set her WAY WAY WAY far back from that first bar/obstacle so I have the time to see the millisec her behind comes up so I can get it back down onto the ground! My goal is for her to get her 'stay' at a trial and me have the time to manage it if she gets up.

2. Weavepole entrance - many many fast dogs miss this at all levels cause it means they have to SLOW and collect. They don't want to slow they want to go go go! So I just have to stay back and not rush myself so that may help, and then calmly 'fix' it if I have to. I will NOT switch sides though if my dog has a favorite side to weave. It's vital from the start my dog will know to weave from my left and right....

3. Contacts!!!! Whatever I train in class, however I train in class it's 100% vital for Glory's agility career for me to do it exactly the same at a trial on all 3 obstacles. However I mark it in class. Where ever I stand in class. If I have to stand at the bottom of the aframe while she takes 3 obstacles before realizing I'm missing and THEN comes back, then that's what I need to do. I train 2on/2off so my management would be different from yours (you have running contacts I'm guessing? so they looked fine).

4. The Table - This is another place the dogs have to slow/collect/stop moving so they may tend to find it invisible at a trial gaining refusals. I had a HUGE problem with Bretta for about 6 months at trials going AROUND the table and jumping up on the back side (refusal!) for this reason. She would PREFER to keep running and do something else. So for GLORY I'm changing this up at classes and she ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS gets a treat in class so she loves the table still. I also do an automatic down so she'll collect enough not to tear up and slide off the far side!