We got to train. In our own backyard! The weather finally allowed it (may be short lived with rain in forecast every day this week).
We trained six or seven times over the three days. The one thing that struck me the most was that Shasta's speed in the back yard was very inconsistent. It was consistent within a single session but inconsistent between sessions.
As for the training itself, we did quite a few triples and she approached them all confidently, hopefully that will translate to comfort in a show. We also started proofing weave poles, mostly me getting away from them. She could easily do them with me gently getting more lateral distance and she could handle me veering away with a little abruptness but not extreme veering yet. She also seemed comfortable with me doing early front crosses while she was in the weaves.
Strangely, her weave entries from the wrap side were not as strong as her entries from the entry side. From a harsh wrap she would enter second pole.
We also worked on our turns on the flat (mostly from landing side of a jump). She was initially confused by it but we made great strides, she seems to now understand the cue again.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Small Disappointment Explained
I mentioned being a little disappointed by Shasta's errors due to missing obstacles on the finishing stretch to get to the exit/treats. I shouldn't be disappointed, I fully expected it to be part of the process. I think there are two reasons I was.
One, there was small disappointment in the fact that we almost qualified multiple times in excellent but didn't. And it wasn't the course challenges that we missed on. I imagine it's a bit like how it feels to NQ because your dog left the ring. It shouldn't feel different than any other mistake but somehow it seems more avoidable.
The second reason is that I don't feel like there is much I can do about it in training or in handling. I'm sure there are many trainers better than me that think it absolutely can be fixed/avoided through training. But I see it more as gaining the necessary ring experience (fun matches and run-throughs are rare around here). To me, it's frustrating if I can't do much about it in training or handling. Again, it shouldn't be, most of our berners have gone through it and I expected it.
I can do something about how I react to it and train in the show and I am not very happy with myself with that part as I missed a couple of opportunities to help Shasta. The first few times I didn't encourage her back to do all the obstacles which gives her reason to be confused. She probably wonders, is it ok to skip those obstacles or not? Hopefully I can be more consistent in future shows, if it happens more like I expect it to.
One, there was small disappointment in the fact that we almost qualified multiple times in excellent but didn't. And it wasn't the course challenges that we missed on. I imagine it's a bit like how it feels to NQ because your dog left the ring. It shouldn't feel different than any other mistake but somehow it seems more avoidable.
The second reason is that I don't feel like there is much I can do about it in training or in handling. I'm sure there are many trainers better than me that think it absolutely can be fixed/avoided through training. But I see it more as gaining the necessary ring experience (fun matches and run-throughs are rare around here). To me, it's frustrating if I can't do much about it in training or handling. Again, it shouldn't be, most of our berners have gone through it and I expected it.
I can do something about how I react to it and train in the show and I am not very happy with myself with that part as I missed a couple of opportunities to help Shasta. The first few times I didn't encourage her back to do all the obstacles which gives her reason to be confused. She probably wonders, is it ok to skip those obstacles or not? Hopefully I can be more consistent in future shows, if it happens more like I expect it to.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Little Picture Disappointment, Big Picture Encouragement
How can dealing with a part of the process that I knew would happen be disappointing? I guess deep down I had hope that Shasta would exceed my already high expectations for her.
Shasta developed the case of "heading home-itis" that all of our berners have gone through. I had hope with her focus ability that maybe we wouldn't have to go through it. But her food drive is insane so I shouldn't be surprised. We went 1 for 5 this weekend and of the four NQs, three were late mistakes that might all be attributable to "heading home-itis". All were late, all in the same area of the ring heading to the exit. That was the little picture disappointment.
The courses were not easy courses this weekend. Not overly tough and certainly not unfair, but tougher than many we will see. And she handled the sequences great including some "in-your-face" wrong course challenges. She also had a great, clean open jumpers run to finish her OAJ title. That was the big picture encouragement.
Her speed was not as good as the previous weekend but wasn't bad. Not sure if it's the location or some other factor. There was also signs of confusion on the 2on2off criteria.
The WORST March/April continues. 8-10 inches of snow last week, maybe 8-10 inches tonight. April 22nd. I feel like life is conspiring against Shasta and I right now, not being able to train.
Things to focus on, if I have get a chance to train, essentially still the same as a week ago:
Shasta developed the case of "heading home-itis" that all of our berners have gone through. I had hope with her focus ability that maybe we wouldn't have to go through it. But her food drive is insane so I shouldn't be surprised. We went 1 for 5 this weekend and of the four NQs, three were late mistakes that might all be attributable to "heading home-itis". All were late, all in the same area of the ring heading to the exit. That was the little picture disappointment.
The courses were not easy courses this weekend. Not overly tough and certainly not unfair, but tougher than many we will see. And she handled the sequences great including some "in-your-face" wrong course challenges. She also had a great, clean open jumpers run to finish her OAJ title. That was the big picture encouragement.
Her speed was not as good as the previous weekend but wasn't bad. Not sure if it's the location or some other factor. There was also signs of confusion on the 2on2off criteria.
The WORST March/April continues. 8-10 inches of snow last week, maybe 8-10 inches tonight. April 22nd. I feel like life is conspiring against Shasta and I right now, not being able to train.
Things to focus on, if I have get a chance to train, essentially still the same as a week ago:
- 2on2off, specifically A-frames.
- Weaves, entries and getting distance.
- Triple and other jumps.
- Getting a non-puppy sit on start line!
- Moving front crosses.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Run Analysis
I can't imagine anyone is finding this blog interesting, it's really for my own note taking. And I really, really can't believe anyone would want to see my analysis of each of Shasta's runs. But I am doing that again for my own note taking, at least for a while, early in her career. I was posting it on this blog but decided it was confusing this blog a bit so I went with a new blog only for run analysis.
shastabernerruns.blogspot.com
shastabernerruns.blogspot.com
Couple Weeks of Shows and Training
In this, the WORST March/April ever, there is still no training in back yard and it doesn't look close. It's driving me crazy mostly because I want to work on things with Shasta.
A week and a half ago were the Cavalier shows at OTR. She was three for three in open jumpers, two for two in open standard and NQd her first excellent standard run when she avoided the aframe.
A great Q rate but there were a number of signs of issues. Most obvious was the aframe. She was getting more confused of her job each run to the point on Saturday of sitting on the apex. So it wasn't shocking when she avoided it all together on Sunday. Two tries and she refused them both and I went on. Speed also wasn't yet what it could be. And she had a few issues of freezing in the run when she was near the entrance/exit side, I think she was stopping to say, "c'mon dad, let's go get our treats".
With Kris' help I addressed the aframe issue as much as I could with no back yard. We set the aframe up in our pole barn and I did them Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights. Did a couple in class on Wednesday. Kris took her to the Inn during the day on Thursday and took her to SPDTC at night to do aframes. I focused on rewarding the release and not the "stick" of her contacts in class but that was all I could address anything else.
This last weekend was SPDTC. Not a good Q rate, 1 for 6, but she actually ran much better. First, addressing the aframe worked great, at least for now. Three great aframes, came down confidently and stuck her 2on-2off. But what was really much better was her speed. Much better! I am convinced the speed cost us most of our NQs as the increased/unexpected speed caused me to make the wrong handling choices and she got a couple of wrong courses. She also knocked a couple of bars that I think was because she wasn't as good at timing jumps at the increased speed. For no training reason, maybe it was just a better location for it, we didn't have any "freezing" or distraction issues.
So, the three issues from the weekend before, with only meaningful training on the aframe, and all three things were not issues this last week. Interesting.
But this week brought it's own issues. One, we were only 2 for 6 on weaves. I still don't believe it's stress and I'm still fairly confident I'm not looking at a long issue, but she did miss three entries and popped once. I need to spend more consistent training time on them again. There were the wrong courses that came when I was trying to move into a front cross. And she is not as comfortable as I would like on the aframe.
When I get a chance to train, I need to focus on:
A week and a half ago were the Cavalier shows at OTR. She was three for three in open jumpers, two for two in open standard and NQd her first excellent standard run when she avoided the aframe.
A great Q rate but there were a number of signs of issues. Most obvious was the aframe. She was getting more confused of her job each run to the point on Saturday of sitting on the apex. So it wasn't shocking when she avoided it all together on Sunday. Two tries and she refused them both and I went on. Speed also wasn't yet what it could be. And she had a few issues of freezing in the run when she was near the entrance/exit side, I think she was stopping to say, "c'mon dad, let's go get our treats".
With Kris' help I addressed the aframe issue as much as I could with no back yard. We set the aframe up in our pole barn and I did them Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights. Did a couple in class on Wednesday. Kris took her to the Inn during the day on Thursday and took her to SPDTC at night to do aframes. I focused on rewarding the release and not the "stick" of her contacts in class but that was all I could address anything else.
This last weekend was SPDTC. Not a good Q rate, 1 for 6, but she actually ran much better. First, addressing the aframe worked great, at least for now. Three great aframes, came down confidently and stuck her 2on-2off. But what was really much better was her speed. Much better! I am convinced the speed cost us most of our NQs as the increased/unexpected speed caused me to make the wrong handling choices and she got a couple of wrong courses. She also knocked a couple of bars that I think was because she wasn't as good at timing jumps at the increased speed. For no training reason, maybe it was just a better location for it, we didn't have any "freezing" or distraction issues.
So, the three issues from the weekend before, with only meaningful training on the aframe, and all three things were not issues this last week. Interesting.
But this week brought it's own issues. One, we were only 2 for 6 on weaves. I still don't believe it's stress and I'm still fairly confident I'm not looking at a long issue, but she did miss three entries and popped once. I need to spend more consistent training time on them again. There were the wrong courses that came when I was trying to move into a front cross. And she is not as comfortable as I would like on the aframe.
When I get a chance to train, I need to focus on:
- Weaves
- Triple
- Moving front crosses
- Aframe
- Speed off start line and contacts
Friday, April 5, 2013
Last Weekend - Our Second Weekend of Shows
Overall I was quite pleased with how our second weekend went as well. Friday was T2B only, Saturday was novice and thanks to Qing both, Sunday was our debut in open for both classes.
I was happy with some lateral and forward distances and how well that went. Her focus was not quite as strong as the first weekend but I was still pleased with it overall. She did have two visits to bar setters in her open standard run on Sunday (we still Qd). It was almost like she finally noticed they were there. I also had a couple of extremely brief moments of disconnect. But that's it, it was all focus otherwise.
There are a few things that I need to focus on if we ever get a chance to train in the yard again (worst early spring EVER in Minnesota). She is confused with her job on the aframe. She came down extremely slow in T2B, has been methodical on the others and has not stuck her "bottom" a few times. Overall, definitely confused on it. We still need to work on more drive from any release although it might have been a touch better than the first weekend.
We did have two more runs where she was kind of re-chewing her treats at the start of her run. I have to mix up the treats, figure out which one is causing the issue.
Focus and willingness to enter and complete the weaves continue to be amazing for a very young dog. Speed on them needs to pick up. But in some ways it's more amazing to not lose focus while weaving when weaving slower.
I was happy with some lateral and forward distances and how well that went. Her focus was not quite as strong as the first weekend but I was still pleased with it overall. She did have two visits to bar setters in her open standard run on Sunday (we still Qd). It was almost like she finally noticed they were there. I also had a couple of extremely brief moments of disconnect. But that's it, it was all focus otherwise.
There are a few things that I need to focus on if we ever get a chance to train in the yard again (worst early spring EVER in Minnesota). She is confused with her job on the aframe. She came down extremely slow in T2B, has been methodical on the others and has not stuck her "bottom" a few times. Overall, definitely confused on it. We still need to work on more drive from any release although it might have been a touch better than the first weekend.
We did have two more runs where she was kind of re-chewing her treats at the start of her run. I have to mix up the treats, figure out which one is causing the issue.
Focus and willingness to enter and complete the weaves continue to be amazing for a very young dog. Speed on them needs to pick up. But in some ways it's more amazing to not lose focus while weaving when weaving slower.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)