Herding in the Rain.

I chose to take Party herding today as Beth has a drop in group every Sunday morning. It was raining but rain never hurts. It was quite an interesting experience as Party has never been herding with a group of dogs, only Beth's dog Pogo. When we got there, there was an Aussie herding with her owner; the owner was very quite as was the dog. I brought Party in and lied her down about 10 feet from the ring where she watched intently. Which was my purpose for having her next to the sheep pen.
It was now our turn to go work the sheep. She really did a wonderful job. What I noticed though was she was very aware of the gentleman watching us. A few times she looked worriedly as if to say "why are you here?" When two more people came she again looked worried looking over at them. She never stopped working but she was very leery of them at the fence watching.
It continues to amaze me how talented she is with livestock. She was walking up and moving the sheep beautifully. She also lies down in puddles, mud or whatever, which I noticed was an issue for some other dogs.
After our turn was done we went and laid about 15 feet from the fence, so Party could watch. The next dog to work was a young Catahoula that was very boisterous. When the dog came through the gate Party went nuts barking I was stepping on her leash so she remained in a down position after a moment she quieted down and simply watched. While this dog worked sheep on line Party was fine. However when the dog was allowed to drag his leash circling with the owner yelling and swinging her arms; Party became very upset looking away from the team, yawning and so on. Upon seeing this I took Party another 10 feet back. She was more comfortable at this distance however preferred to lay in a position behind me. I was trying not to look straight at Party but rather keep her in my peripheral vision. I noticed she was still very interested in the sheep.
I am hoping that her confidence level increases with more exposure.
I will keep updating on our progress.

Masters Foreeever!

I am very happy that Party is now in Masters for all classes. I can't say that it was our prettiest run but we got the job done.
The weekend of June 6-7 was Riverside's USDAA trial in Nashua. During this trial Party was very freaky regarding the tent that the computers and PA were under. Freaky to the point of fight or flight reaction. I got her to work through her anxiety by leaving the area and asking for simple hand touches. Since this trial we had a AKC trial in which she was also freaky. At this time I am going to do much more herding and lots less agility. I will have Party in a few that I work for and train her through her anxieties. I hope.
My hope is that by going back to herding she can gain more confidence in the real world. Which should help in agility also.

Mixed feelings and ACE

I started this blog to help with my training but then got upset with myself when things did not go my way. Shame on me....did I think this blog would fix my problems? No, of course not. So I am here to update my success with Party along with my disappointments.

We went to ACE this weekend and I told myself that I would hold my criteria on the contacts. I was going to tell Party to Touch and Wait and simply talk to her more to reassure her. Well I did just that and it worked. Once she slowed coming off the Aframe but stopped on the ground so I lightly praised her and we continued the course. In the other classes she stopped as she does in practice (2o2o) and I praised her emphatically. In one of our advanced standard runs the weaves were going directly toward the judge and Party had a hard time popping out at pole 6 but she got through it and then stuck her Aframe.

Some of our success's include, an advanced gamble leg, a masters snooker Q, and our 3rd advanced pairs leg. Yup, we are now in Masters pairs ;o) Now we just need those two advanced standard legs and we will be in Masters everything!

My disappointment she stressed in the poles and slightly on the table in standard.

The video is of my standard run I loved hearing the comment on the end ;o)

We still have Attitude

We go to the start and woof, woof, her ears are on top of her head and she has attitude! As I lead out she stands in anticipation, I ask her to sit without returning to her, she does. As soon as her butt sits I say Good girl and release her. The break was a "lets go Momma" I lead out to the take off of #2 but was not timing the moving push correct so I continued to get an off course to #5 so we broke down the moving push so that Party and I understood it better. Well, mostly me! Once I got it right she understood without a problem.
I set her up at the landing side of jump 1 I made sure i was positioned so that my body was facing her, I moved lateral as I released her and did not rotate/close my shoulders until she was over 2 I then closed my shoulders indicating #3 I rotated to #4-5 while having my left arm out indicting the jumps, I sent to #6 while moving away straight towards #12 to get #7 and the correct end of the tunnel (#8) the first 2 times I rotated to quickly buying me the wrong end of the tunnel, I then held her longer being more patient and she got it I then signaled #9 with the claw holding it while backing to #10 and pushing her to 11 I then picked her up as she exited the tunnel indicating 12 I drove toward the wall and on the take off side of #12 said SShhh she rocked and nailed her poles I rewarded her with the tennis ball being thrown and she was thrilled. Yahoo Awesome job

Goals....and 1st run

I finally figured out how to up load course maps Yahoo!!

I am sitting here at the seminar today with one of my favorite presenters. I am excited to work with her today as the last time I worked with her was in November and I want to know if we have improved. I know we have but am curious what she says. But I have one goal today and that is to keep Party with attitude. This means I must maintain my job. The seminar will start in about 45 minutes, people are arriving with their dogs. I have Party in the chair laying down behind me, 2 Porties just came in and walked inches from us, Party simply ignored them. :o)

She is back in the chair with me about 3 dogs prior to our turn, she is totally relaxed, ears on her head forward with no signs of stress. Its our turn; I go to the start jump ask her to sit, then woof and lead out to the take off side of 2 Jen has suggested that I do a moving push (my body open to Party moving to the obstacle laterally then releasing her and rotating my shoulders as she takes it) initially I did it incorrect as I took her head to draw the line. But I should have opened my shoulders as i stated above, the result was a knocked bar.

She sits at 1 while I lead out to the take off side of 2 I release her with a moving push over 3 and rotate into the pinwheel my right arm is open on the landing side of 5 then lateral to 6 I raise my left arm to indicate a front cross wrap to 7, throw to 8 running for the DW then I am lateral to 10 release over 10 and into the tunnel, I stay on the back side of the tunnel and have my right arm out to indicate 12 -13 when she comes out, then its climb, touch, (which became a running a frame the first time) the second time I ran it she did her 2o2o while I went to the landing side of 15 said OK to release and celebrated after 16! "Happy, Happy" We went outside to play and she really understands and loves this ritual she is jumping up and grabbing at the toy, play biting me as we go to the field and play with enthusiasm!

Another Adventure Hiking

Party and I joined Seth and Otto for a hike in the rain today. I have not taken her in a few weeks because the ice has been so bad. She did quite well, at first she was a bully to Otto but I asked her to lie down when she did this which she readily did. Then she started to relax with him.
I was totally surprised when she actually played with him! To me this was a monumental thing, as she has always been very worried about black dogs so for her to play with one was a huge step. We then met 3 dogs out on the trial one was a very happy black lab puppy, another a very, very, happy yellow lab and a mix that we have met before. Party charged, then immediately came running back to me as they were very happy to see her, which of course she was horrified about. I had tons of cookies in my hand and kept talking to Party while giving her cookies. The lab puppy was cute as a button but relentless wanting to play with Party so I ended up picking him up as Party was very worried and the minute he was picked up her worry ceased and she simply sniffed him. However, a moment later the yellow lab came running over who was the most happy, play with me lab I have ever seen. Party however thought he was rude and obnoxious. I took him by the collar so Party could have a break and she seemed to say "Thank You". Now that means that I have a puppy in my arms and a lab by the collar while I am telling Party what a good girl she is. It was pretty comical... The owners were visible and on the way they just couldn't get there fast enough. This was not a bad thing though because as I am there with the "new dogs" Party was much more relaxed and was sniffing them in a most appropriate way, something she rarely has a chance to do because the new dogs do not allow her to with all their "Happiness" which she finds overwhelming.
I am very proud of Party even though she initially charged I believe alot was learned in our hike today.

Team Snooker and Relay

Team Jumpers and Standard Videos

Steeplechase and Team Gamble Videos

Wow! What a weekend!

There are so many awesome things that happened this weekend that I really don't know where to start! First I am thrilled that for the first time Party and I felt like a team all weekend not just for one or two classes. This is huge in my opinion because we have never felt like an absolute team all weekend! I am going to have to put this together by class so I can keep my thoughts together. So lets backchain and start with Relay.
I looked at all 3 pieces of the relay and decided that they were all very do able, so let teammates Ray and Laurie decide which half I would run. They thought I should run the last piece which was awesome. I had walked it doing a landing side front after #2 but after seeing dogs off course after the chute I changed my stratagy. I instead chose to hang back and rear cross #3 which pulled her over #2 nicely then into the tunnels and up the Dogwalk I was sure to tell her touch on The Dogwalk and she slowed down but didn't stop, I drove to the #7 jump being careful not to pull away from it as I wanted to be sure to set Party up for a nice weave pole approach it set a nice line and I just did a small blinker to get her to jump it tight and she did great nailing her poles! The whole thing was awesome. Of course thats my humble opinion.....

Party Grand Prix Run

I am absolutely thrilled right now as we had a great run. Of course, there are areas that need some help but over all the run was great. I felt that we ran as a team and she listened great. But best of all I stuck to my plan. I used all the things that I have been learning to walk the course and boy they really paid off. Thanks Lo! I will continue to work hard so that I may improve. The bonus is this was a Q!

Hampton Beach FUN

We had a blast at the beach today The pictures speak for themselves and I must say a disclaimer right now. Rev and Party love to work each other but not once have they ever touched each other. Just love running and making LOTS of noise!

Jump Handling Seminar Crib Notes

It's Sunday morning and I am at Lo's jump handling seminar. I am excited as I know I will get a lot of great info from this seminar. I took notes the best I could but I tend to have issues taking notes and getting info from the seminar.
The first thing I need to remember is this:
What are my 5 turning cues?
1-Lateral
2-verbal
3-shoulders
4-Decel
5-Help me out here I cannot remember the other cue!I
then I need to look at a course and think which jumps are taken in collection and which are in extension. This is not as easy as it sounds. I will start walking courses with this in mind. So to really break it down Collection is where a turn will occur. Extension is when the dog moves out with no turn. Of course, there are variables to these but I am not getting into that now.
A few basic things I need to remember: When running the course I need to remember to make the steps a dance and smooth them out. Always draw the line of where the dog is going. Hips and feet must face the direction your dog is going. A blinker is a quick right here cue with the opposite hand to tell the dog you need them to follow and turn, not a long drawn out one. The long drawn out is a backy uppy or the claw. When training, placement of reinforcement is crucial. A front cross (FC) is a change of sides moving in front of your dog. Put the FC on the plane of the two obstacles you are between. This is your front cross line. Do not back up into a FC or move out of your dogs way (within reason).Give your dog the space they need, giving to much space will make them wide. A rear cross (RC) is driving your dog ahead of you and changing sides.
The amount of info in this seminar was intense, but I have been taught this before and now really need to retain the information. There are things mentally that I plan on doing also to help myself. I will have a plan in my head before I walk the course. When walking the course I will know which obstacle is taken in collection and which is extension. I will walk the course to know it and handle it. After walking the course I will run the course in my head then shadow handle if I feel its necessary. I have a USDAA team event this weekend and plan on using everything I know there. It is kinda of a self test on myself. I want to run the courses the way I have walked them. So I will be taking notes and then checking to see if I stayed with them. Of course games are different. But thats for another time.

Hiking Fun! (and we meet 2 dogs)

Party and I had the opportunity to get out and hike today so we took it!
This is one of the beautiful scenes.







Such a pretty girl resting after having so much fun!

Somethings in there and I want it!

I'll lead the way Momma.....

I can hear them but what are they?

I've got it but I scared Mom in the process.

See I got it!

Here I come, look out!

We had a wonderful time hiking. Its been a while since we've been able to go due to ice. We did have a big learning opportunity on the way though. As we were going down the hill we meet up with a Golden and Airdale both are good dogs as we have meet them on leash before, but Party had a slight over reaction. Not huge like I would have thought, but she did much better then I expected. She was able to tolerate the Golden but the Airdale was very upright and in her face. His body was very flirty and not threatning in my opinion. She stood her ground after a moment of running in circles trying to get away. However she was giving every calming signal in the book licking her lips, turning her head, etc. He was not threatning but just very forward. When he pushed just to far she snapped her teeth and he backed off for her. It really was amazing to watch. I did not stop but kept moving slowly to encourage then to keep walking on. But I kept watching to be sure everything would be OK of course. The owners were awesome. Party passed her first real test on the trail. In the past she has always had another dog to back her up, she is braver when not alone of course. The owner of the Airdale leashed him after a moment but the Golden's Mom had no leash. He was very appropriate non threatning in everyway and Party just sat or stood while he sniffed at her. She was taking cookies from me and while worried not at all overly so. This entire episode lasted maybe 2-3 minutes and we were on our way to have lots of hiking fun. I am very proud of her for this.

Oh, what a lesson to learn!

Just got in from a great lesson. I learned that I need to treat a trial just like a lesson and trust that Party will do it. She has done everything so beautifully in the lesson because I must say I am relaxed! So I am going to be more like "The Little Engine That Could" I think I can, I think I can. I am going to put myself in a very happy place and imagine that I am at a lesson with Lo in a relaxed atmosphere and just let it happen. No stress no worries and go from there.

I Can Do It!!!!

Shaping

A few weeks ago I started to shape/teach Party to weave between my legs. The behavior I wanted is simply me in a stationary position with my legs set apart and Party doing figure eights between them. I picked this behavior entirely because I felt it would be good for start lines and I could do it anywhere.

When I first started Party was very reluctant to go through my legs at all. It took a lot of luring and coercion to get her to even walk through. It took several training sets for her to start to become comfortable. She did not seem to like the pressure of it.
Once she was comfortable it was getting easier for her to wrap around one of my legs, although it was still being lured. After a few reps of that behavior I started to introduce wrapping the second leg. At first she was confused and would do the original behavior then lie down. So I lured her with a high reinforcer and got the behavior. At this point she is wrapping both legs very well. However, my dilemma is this; she will not offer the behavior. I have the cue down to a tap on the leg alternating legs to keep her going but she will not offer or keep going without it. I made the mistake (or not) when she was younger of not making her operant. I tried this morning to wait her out and had some success. The interesting thing was she lied down, barked at me, shuffled her feet, all operant type behaviors but not the one I wanted or one I could reinforce. If she had come forward at all I could have started shaping it. I will continue to get her to understand that she does not need a cue to keep going but can think for herself.

AKC Excellent A Jumpers at AK9C

AKC Excellent A Standard at AK9C

As I wait to go in I have Party barking. Doing this helps her to keep focused and not to worry. She seems to have a great attitude. We walk in as the dog prior to us goes over the last jump. The leash comes off, I ask for a sit which she readily gives to me. I lead out with confidence to between #2 and 3 as I started to turn to pick up Party’s head to release her she was over the second jump I quickly ignored it and sent her over the #3 jump and then over the frame. The judge (Terry Brown) was on the same side as I was (left)and as Party went over the top she barely took a stride and leapt off the side to me. The yellow was one rung below where Party jumped. I collected her to me asked for a sit and stated "Oh my" before releasing her to the jump. She sent to the teeter nicely but I felt like I was struggling. I cued her to go over the jump to the 180 which she went wide on I am sure its me. She went to the box nicely and sat the judge laughed at her which she did well with a large yawn. She is having issues coming off the box I clawed the jump to the poles. Which she did great in until pole 10 where she came out and jumped up to bite me. I ignored it and said tunnel she hit the tunnel driving up the dog walk with confidence As she was over the top I said touch again, she rocked back slowed and I released he. Off into the chute I slowed up and called her to the 180 she turned and I believe overly so as she had to pop to get over the jump she finished the 180 beautifully and over the triple. Her attitude was good although I was told she broke her stay due to stress. Her aframe wasn’t stress it was fun as the judge was next to me. So the question I ask myself is what do I do to keep her attitude good without having these behaviors.
So as she jumped out of the poles to bite me I have to ask why? Did I do something to cause it or was it just her having fun.
After speaking with Lo we have decided to look and praise her for staying if she stands I will ask her to sit then release. If she pops out of the poles I will swing her around and complete them all the while I am going to be positive positive positive showing no negative at all.

I just viewed the video of the run which I just described and my handling was very detached, I could feel it while running but after watching the video "Oh MY" there were lots of wide turns and when I thought she was with me I realise now it was only because I called her not because she was listening to my very bad body language. Well, I will try harder next time....

I'd be happy to if you were clear.....

Ever wonder what language your speaking? Apparently Party has to wonder at times. Thankfully I have been pretty consistent with my handling with her. However, at my lesson tonight she was not responding as she should have to a rear cross.
Lo was having me do a rear cross with a slight easty westy motion to it going into a pinwheel, throwing her out to the jump while then clawing the 3rd jump rotating to get the last jump and coming out of it to a see saw. Party continued to lock onto the see saw not seeing or reading the rear cross. Lo was awesome (after me trying several times with little success) and took Party to work her and broke the entire exercise down in to pieces for Party and viola Party saw the light and was reading the crosses.

One of the exercises we did ended in weaves. Party was nailing her entries but skimming in the middle. I was a bit to far ahead of her and once I stopped driving so far ahead she did great. I need to remember for the time being that I can only be one or two poles ahead. Something else to work on when the snow melts.

We worked on gamblers some, layering 2 jumps while having her drive out to a see saw that was parallel and then out to a tunnel. She was awesome; totally nailing it.

Overall the lesson was great. I am really trying to retain everything that is being taught. Goodness knows I have the best and most patient instructor. With any luck this blog will help me retain the knowledge better.

I am off to an AKC trial tomorrow and am hoping that Party and I present ourselves as a team. Wish us luck.

I want to Thank Donna Kelliher for allowing me to use some of the fabulous pictures she has taken of Party. Like the one here.Thanks a million!

I am going to have a lesson with Lo this afternoon. Won't do alot of running due to having oral surgery this morning. However, I am confident that I will be able to work on many aspects of handling. Stay tuned...

Practice, Practice, Practice!

Practice, Practice, Practice!
I spent the good part of an hour with Kathy working on my handling. I hesitate to practice my handling independently as I feel like I do things incorrectly. Therefore confusing my dog, so for now I have someone I trust watch me.
I worked on handling threadles and felt like I was getting a good feel for them as I progressed. My problem with threadles is I have always used an open shoulder approach of handling them (inviting her in) and have since found that Party reads…oh my, I don’t know what the method is called! For lack of better words; Iuse the “claw” or backy uppy.. any way Party reads this much better. Because of this she gives me a much nicer tight turn.
We also worked on layering obstacles for gamble purposes. Party read this very well which made me ecstatic as we have had issues with this in the past.
Kathy, Thank you for helping me simply by watching and giving me feed back.

Easy..It's my first time!

Interesting that I would choose this method of writing all my training notes and thoughts. But here we go.

I had a lesson with Lo on Wednesday February 25 and of course it was awesome. However, just prior to the lesson I realised that I have a very difficult time knowing what cues to give Party as I am walking the course. Not that I don’t know what cues, but more that Idon’t choose the correct cues. I have made bad handling choices in the past and truly do not like it. I spend enough money on lessons and my dog is very well trained but alas I seem to have a learning deficit when it comes to handling. I discussed this with Lo and she gave me some different course to walk, of course with choices on how to handle it. After discussing the whys of it she had me run them. Boy, do I have to brush up on my knowledge base. Actually what I need is to remember the various cuing scenarios. i.e. lateral send, lateral push, and so on. So some of my homework is to collect all this data. My other homework is to collect course maps and know how i want to handle it before i get on course. YIKES I never do that and after finding some maps on line i found out it really, really hard for me! Guess I will be doing a whole lot of this