agility night ramble

[Justicemom]

I took Diva to agility class tonight and she did really great we had this speed track jumpers course. Long lines of jumps then into tunnels then weaves after all that speed was built up. Diva nailed everything perfect. I barely felt like I was telling her where to go even though there were a couple 180 turns and a 90 degree rear cross after 3 straight line jumps. It was great because only just last year Diva would have never been able to hold her line like that especially with me trailing 2 jumps behind. It would have been a spin waiting to happen.

So as we were leaving I was thinking about the discussion on tugging. I had Diva's braided leash just like one of her braided tug toys so I took it off and I ask her to tug while I was standing about 10 feet from the weaves and a tunnel. She did it and while it wasn't the best effort it was nice. So then I took out a piece of food and asked her to tug, nope didn't happen. Asked again, nothing and then finally got her to take the tug but she really didn't engage with me. Food had her focus.

Put the tug away and fed her a few pieces of food and then with the food in my hand almost right above her head I asked her to weave. I thought as I did it that maybe I was asking too much I mean I was sort of pointed towards the weaves and the food was too close to her face that she was going to ignore me. Nope, she took off like a shot and raced though the 6 poles and back to me. I mean she literally pulled her face away from the food to go weave. She either knew I wasn't going to give her the food if she didn't weave or the weaving was high value. Regardless tugging is not as high value as weaving for Diva as it was not able to draw her away from the food like the weave command did.

Then just for fun I asked her to weave(left hand) to the far end of the tunnel, picked her up out of the near end on my right and sent her to the far end of the 6 weaves(180 right entry) and back to my left hand. Perfect. Diva was quite proud of herself too. I love that dog, now if she could get a handler as good as she is.

[corbinam]

Sounds familiar

Don't you just love those nights in class where everything seems to go right? It makes my day!

[Hurtseverywhere]

You have to love those great night 's at practice when all that effort & hard work finally pays off.

I have never been able to engage Cosmo in any type if tug games or toys either for that matter, if it wasn't for his love of treats we would have have never gotten anywhere. the only time I might be able to tempt him to tug and then only because he is extremely jelous and only till he interrups us is when I start tugging with Storm then he might try it for a minute or so.

[k9kreationz]

What a great night for sure!! And Diva has a good enough handler. Maybe one day she'll just read the numbers and lead you around the course. ;)

Interesting about the tug versus food versus weaves. I wonder if Koji would weave if I had food right there in front of him. I'm thinking he would, only because he knows it's his "reward".

[Toffee's Mom]

love it!
She's got a great handler, don't you forget it! Don't forget she will teach you what you need to know for Birch
this is why we do it, isn't it? Figuring out how it comes together, what motivates our pooches and how to work as a great team!

[SheltieChe]

Originally Posted by Toffee's Mom

love it!
She's got a great handler, don't you forget it! Don't forget she will teach you what you need to know for Birch
this is why we do it, isn't it? Figuring out how it comes together, what motivates our pooches and how to work as a great team!

ha, just wait till Toffee gets a brother... by the time mommy figures it all out with one dog there is whole bunch of new totally different issues with another pup
It is so wonderful that Diva choose obstacle as her reward what a great achievement!

[Toffee's Mom]

Originally Posted by SheltieChe

ha, just wait till Toffee gets a brother... by the time mommy figures it all out with one dog there is whole bunch of new totally different issues with another pup
...

lolll, isn't that the truth!!
As I say on my bumper sticker.. Shelties herd your heart... and keep you humble!

[Meldor]

Good girl Diva! I think your mom doesn't realize how great of a handler she is getting to be ;), let her know she did a great job too!

It's awesome when you are at the point of understanding what motivates your dog the most. I think you guys are an awesome team. :)

[Silaria]

Great going, Diva. Maybe one day we can convince your Mom that she's a becoming a good handler because she's made agility of a higher value to you than food.

[Justicemom]

Thanks everyone.

I realized how far I have come last night when I took Justice to class. There is a UKC agility trial coming up and I wanted to enter Justice because UKC has really long course times and as Justice is a veteran, he only has to jump 8"! Since Justice has his UACH, he would be in Agility 3 and I have never done that. weaves have a 6 ft box around it, pause box too and it is on the floor, alots of weird things.

Anyway, the course, setup was AKC Open, I tried a rear cross and Justice went what? Oops thats right I never did rear cross with Justice because I sucked at them. Couple other times too that with the girls I take for granted and Justice doesn't really know. Wow. My first agility dog and now I see the holes.

UKC was a great venue for him though as it is much more control based and good for a newbie to get their feet wet. I am debating put Ember in too because it is suited for her style and she could jump 8". Ember is 3 weeks shy of being a veteran too and then she would jump 4"(is that even a jump?). Diva nope I don't think so. She would jump 8" and I don't think it would suit her and she would likely kill herself on the swing bridge and plank because she would be going MACH3.