Earlier this week I posted three of the four courses we ran at Hamilton Dog Training Club's AKC trial in Ohio last weekend. I had never run under these two judges, and while their courses were pretty tough, I enjoyed them and wouldn't shy from trying them again.
LaMesa's weekend:
In Standard on Saturday, I did not start that line very well--I don't trust LaMesa on a start line stay for tunnels or chutes yet, so I tried running with her. I discovered I was not fast enough to beat her to push for the fourth jump, so she took the first three and went up the A-frame. I should have handled that differently, but you live and learn! I can't remember what else happened on the course, but it was fun.
In Jumpers on Saturday, she started out so well--nailed her weaves and was working with me. However, she ran by a jump due to me doing a poorly placed front cross. I don't know why I didn't just run with rears because I seem to be having trouble with my front cross timing.
But then again, I tend to have bad timing with rear crosses, as was evident on Sunday's Standard course. I pushed her out too much for the rear to the jump and the dog walk. Everything else she handled really well, until the pull to the weaves. I see from the video that my body was pointing towards the table, even though I was saying "Weave!" and she bypassed the weaves for the table. LaMesa is so sensitive to my body!
Jumpers saw another great start, until she popped out of the weaves. It's frustrating to have that problem continuously pop up at the trials! Merinda said she thought maybe my change in speed of running by her in the weaves caused her to hurry and pop out, but I'm not sure I see that much of a change. You be the judge below.
Overall, I was happy with how LaMesa handled the tough courses. I really wish we could have squeezed out a Q, but at least the runs weren't all complete train wrecks. It was a reminder that we're not 100% there like maybe I was starting to think, and that we still have a lot of work to do.
Dally's recap is next!
The trials and tribulations of training a Pembroke Welsh Corgi and Swedish Vallhund for agility.
Showing posts with label weaves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weaves. Show all posts
Friday, September 27, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Dusty, Dirty, & Chilly - Ohio Agility Trial
This weekend found the Stump Kids and me in Springfield, Ohio, at the Gem City AKC Agility Trial playing in the dirt at the Champions Center. It was two days of lots of dust and dirt, with some chilly breezes outside. The arena's heated (thankfully), but the crating area was still a little chilly, which meant the dogs all felt good when it was finally their time to run.
The trial was running tall to small, so Jodi and I headed up Saturday morning. We took our time, but apparently we didn't take enough time, because when we showed up at 10:30, the 20-inch dogs were still walking the course! Needless to say, it was a long day--I didn't get to do my first run with LaMesa until 2:30 on Saturday.
The one thing I hate about this trial is how it runs. One ring is always behind while the other is always ahead. Both Saturday and Sunday was a day of waiting, waiting, waiting, then hustle! I'd run LaMesa in Standard and watch my friends run 8-inches, then hurry to get Dally to run. After Dally's run I'd have to get her back to the crate quickly (no Corgi Cooldown) and hustle over to the Jumpers ring because they were walking the 12"-4" class while we were still finishing up in the Standard ring! So we'd be done within a couple of hours, after spending many hours waiting all day! Way too crazy.
Anyway, LaMesa's runs on Saturday weren't as good as I had hoped they'd be. I was still on a high from our weekend in Nashville, so I was hoping she'd repeat with solid weaves. Both runs saw her slipping in the loose dirt and coming out of the weaves. (She'd nail her entries, though.) Both times I stopped, froze, waited for her to offer the weaves, and then we'd start the weaves over, and she'd do all 12 just fine. So, no Qs on Saturday, but she handled things very well.
Sunday I made sure I decelerated more for her weaves in hopes she wouldn't slip/trip out of them like the previous day. We got our first Excellent Standard Q on a great run (and first place) with a 44.64/68! The second to last jump I heard her tick and I was afraid that meant the triple (last jump) was going to come down, but every jump stayed up!
In Jumpers, I ended up losing her behind me as she tried to go back to the weaves a second time (she was solid in them), but I called her back to me (no refusal) and sent her to the next jump. Unfortunately the next jump was the double, and her rhythm was off, so down came the jump. Otherwise, it was a great fast run, and I was happy with how she handled everything. It just goes to show that when you train weaves so much, they'll always want to go to them on the course! ;-)
Dally's weekend was one of mixed emotions as well. She Qd in Masters Standard on Saturday, but with a rather slow time, coming out with only 8 PACH points (she usually averages around 15 in Standard). I had to take her back to her crate quickly, which meant no cooldown or tennie toss (but I did give her some SPAM), so I could walk the Jumpers course. She must have not approved of that because when it came time for her to run in Jumpers, she walked out of the weaves. So, I sent her back in them again and after about 8 she just came out of them. I didn't know what else to do, so I just took off running and made her run. It was a great opportunity to work on some blind crosses, though, so I'll take that as a learning opportunity.
Sunday saw a faster Dally in Standard--she was rocking it and came out of the ring with 25 PACH points! She even weaved quickly and looked like she was having fun. This time I made sure to take a little extra time with her afterwards (but not too much, unfortunately) and let her eat some SPAM and get a little extra love before I had to put her in the crate and rush to walk Jumpers. I had hoped that'd fix everything, but in Jumpers she once again walked out of the weaves. I was at a point where I wasn't sure if I should put her back in the weaves, pick her up and walk out, or just run. I just ran and made her keep up with me.
If anyone knows my history with Dally and agility, it's been a long road to have her enjoy agility and to run happy. She's a soft dog (though that Corgi exterior tries to cover that), so it's a fine line to try to tell her she was wrong in what she did. I watched my videos--I didn't do anything out of the ordinary for her to come out of the weaves. If this wasn't our last trial before AKC Nationals, then I probably would have carried her out of the ring and hope that we could work through the problem at the next trial. But, we aren't going anywhere until we head West to Tulsa, so I wanted last experience in the ring to be a positive one. So from now until Nationals, I'm going to be doing a little more intensive training with her and hope she'll have her act together by the time we step in the ring. She was naughty at our last trial before Nationals last year and then made up for it in Reno, so let's hope she does the same this year...
The trial was running tall to small, so Jodi and I headed up Saturday morning. We took our time, but apparently we didn't take enough time, because when we showed up at 10:30, the 20-inch dogs were still walking the course! Needless to say, it was a long day--I didn't get to do my first run with LaMesa until 2:30 on Saturday.
The one thing I hate about this trial is how it runs. One ring is always behind while the other is always ahead. Both Saturday and Sunday was a day of waiting, waiting, waiting, then hustle! I'd run LaMesa in Standard and watch my friends run 8-inches, then hurry to get Dally to run. After Dally's run I'd have to get her back to the crate quickly (no Corgi Cooldown) and hustle over to the Jumpers ring because they were walking the 12"-4" class while we were still finishing up in the Standard ring! So we'd be done within a couple of hours, after spending many hours waiting all day! Way too crazy.
Anyway, LaMesa's runs on Saturday weren't as good as I had hoped they'd be. I was still on a high from our weekend in Nashville, so I was hoping she'd repeat with solid weaves. Both runs saw her slipping in the loose dirt and coming out of the weaves. (She'd nail her entries, though.) Both times I stopped, froze, waited for her to offer the weaves, and then we'd start the weaves over, and she'd do all 12 just fine. So, no Qs on Saturday, but she handled things very well.
Sunday I made sure I decelerated more for her weaves in hopes she wouldn't slip/trip out of them like the previous day. We got our first Excellent Standard Q on a great run (and first place) with a 44.64/68! The second to last jump I heard her tick and I was afraid that meant the triple (last jump) was going to come down, but every jump stayed up!
In Jumpers, I ended up losing her behind me as she tried to go back to the weaves a second time (she was solid in them), but I called her back to me (no refusal) and sent her to the next jump. Unfortunately the next jump was the double, and her rhythm was off, so down came the jump. Otherwise, it was a great fast run, and I was happy with how she handled everything. It just goes to show that when you train weaves so much, they'll always want to go to them on the course! ;-)
Dally's weekend was one of mixed emotions as well. She Qd in Masters Standard on Saturday, but with a rather slow time, coming out with only 8 PACH points (she usually averages around 15 in Standard). I had to take her back to her crate quickly, which meant no cooldown or tennie toss (but I did give her some SPAM), so I could walk the Jumpers course. She must have not approved of that because when it came time for her to run in Jumpers, she walked out of the weaves. So, I sent her back in them again and after about 8 she just came out of them. I didn't know what else to do, so I just took off running and made her run. It was a great opportunity to work on some blind crosses, though, so I'll take that as a learning opportunity.
Sunday saw a faster Dally in Standard--she was rocking it and came out of the ring with 25 PACH points! She even weaved quickly and looked like she was having fun. This time I made sure to take a little extra time with her afterwards (but not too much, unfortunately) and let her eat some SPAM and get a little extra love before I had to put her in the crate and rush to walk Jumpers. I had hoped that'd fix everything, but in Jumpers she once again walked out of the weaves. I was at a point where I wasn't sure if I should put her back in the weaves, pick her up and walk out, or just run. I just ran and made her keep up with me.
If anyone knows my history with Dally and agility, it's been a long road to have her enjoy agility and to run happy. She's a soft dog (though that Corgi exterior tries to cover that), so it's a fine line to try to tell her she was wrong in what she did. I watched my videos--I didn't do anything out of the ordinary for her to come out of the weaves. If this wasn't our last trial before AKC Nationals, then I probably would have carried her out of the ring and hope that we could work through the problem at the next trial. But, we aren't going anywhere until we head West to Tulsa, so I wanted last experience in the ring to be a positive one. So from now until Nationals, I'm going to be doing a little more intensive training with her and hope she'll have her act together by the time we step in the ring. She was naughty at our last trial before Nationals last year and then made up for it in Reno, so let's hope she does the same this year...
Friday, February 1, 2013
Ending the Q Drought!
So if you're a regular reader to my blog, you know LaMesa and I have had some struggles in the past year--missed weave entrances, popping out of weaves, dropped bars, etc. And you know we've been working through those issues with the weave pole bootcamp and Dawn Weaver seminar. Well, I'm so happy to say that hard work is finally paying off!
LaMesa's weekend was definitely more successful than Dally's weekend in Nashville. Saturday we started off in Standard. She knocked the second jump, but nailed her weaves!! I was so excited to see her drive to the weave poles and nail all 12 (THE FIRST TIME!). Then we had a little bobble on the teeter--not sure what spooked her, because normally she loves to make the teeter bang, but oh well--she nailed the weaves!
Next came Jumpers--and we were clean! No knocked bars! Twelve weave poles in a row, the first time! After she cleared the triple jump (which tends to be a nemesis of ours some times), I took a deep breath and sent her into the weaves after the tunnel. She drove through them like she was on fire, even hopping out at the end like she was just as excited as I was. Now I was just holding my breath, willing her to jump just a little higher so she wouldn't knock a bar. I even changed my plans on the serpentine because I didn't want to risk her shortening her stride. As she got over the second-to-last jump, I could feel it, but I knew we had one more jump. Once she took off and she landed with that bar still up, I had tears in my eyes and I was hopping up and down--so proud of my little Vallhund! As Merinda says in the video, yes, I did cry a little. It was such a relief, and she ran so beautifully!
Sunday's runs were very successful, but we didn't come away with any Qs. In Standard LaMesa came out like a rocket--she was moving so fast I couldn't get in a planned front cross (which you can see in the video). Then coming off the table, she moved so quickly to the teeter, I couldn't pull her back to jump the triple. Still, we regrouped and continued, and she nailed the weaves yet again, and then rocked an awesome 4 jump serpentine.
In Jumpers LaMesa wasn't moving as quickly as I thought she would be for me to do a rear cross, so I pushed her past a jump. But she still left all the bars up and again drove through those weave poles.
I'm feeling so much more confident handling LaMesa now. A few friends were saying, "No more worrying about those weaves!" But I know differently--there's always a slight worry about the weaves, and the jumps, and everything else. Dally has taught me to never take a clean run for granted and to always continue to train and push for a faster, clean time.
Our next trial isn't until the end of February...ugh!
LaMesa's weekend was definitely more successful than Dally's weekend in Nashville. Saturday we started off in Standard. She knocked the second jump, but nailed her weaves!! I was so excited to see her drive to the weave poles and nail all 12 (THE FIRST TIME!). Then we had a little bobble on the teeter--not sure what spooked her, because normally she loves to make the teeter bang, but oh well--she nailed the weaves!
Next came Jumpers--and we were clean! No knocked bars! Twelve weave poles in a row, the first time! After she cleared the triple jump (which tends to be a nemesis of ours some times), I took a deep breath and sent her into the weaves after the tunnel. She drove through them like she was on fire, even hopping out at the end like she was just as excited as I was. Now I was just holding my breath, willing her to jump just a little higher so she wouldn't knock a bar. I even changed my plans on the serpentine because I didn't want to risk her shortening her stride. As she got over the second-to-last jump, I could feel it, but I knew we had one more jump. Once she took off and she landed with that bar still up, I had tears in my eyes and I was hopping up and down--so proud of my little Vallhund! As Merinda says in the video, yes, I did cry a little. It was such a relief, and she ran so beautifully!
Sunday's runs were very successful, but we didn't come away with any Qs. In Standard LaMesa came out like a rocket--she was moving so fast I couldn't get in a planned front cross (which you can see in the video). Then coming off the table, she moved so quickly to the teeter, I couldn't pull her back to jump the triple. Still, we regrouped and continued, and she nailed the weaves yet again, and then rocked an awesome 4 jump serpentine.
In Jumpers LaMesa wasn't moving as quickly as I thought she would be for me to do a rear cross, so I pushed her past a jump. But she still left all the bars up and again drove through those weave poles.
I'm feeling so much more confident handling LaMesa now. A few friends were saying, "No more worrying about those weaves!" But I know differently--there's always a slight worry about the weaves, and the jumps, and everything else. Dally has taught me to never take a clean run for granted and to always continue to train and push for a faster, clean time.
Our next trial isn't until the end of February...ugh!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)