Riot had his first class of this session tonight. He’s taking handling 2 again. I probably could have moved him up to handling 3, but I think the sequences in handling 2 are still plenty challenging (usually taken from AKC Open or USDAA Advanced courses) and we can still learn a lot — heck, even Cisco has taken this class again on occasion to work on handling.
We have one border collie in our group this time. There is also one terrier, and then 3 goldens and a poodle. Riot at the BC we competing to see who could move the tunnel the most.
We had 4 runs tonight. The first one went pretty well until he noticed the other group working on the other side and then he stopped right in front of a jump and watched them. He was very interested in what was going on, but I easily got his attention and he worked really well for me from there on out. The first sequence he finished with an extra tunnel and jump. The second sequence was picture perfect and I called him off the tunnel he was getting ready to take after we were finished. Normally I’d let him take the tunnel, but I wanted to see if he’d call off and sure enough, he did. On our way back to get his leash, he tackled the weave poles along the wall.
The next two sequences were a little more difficult. We started with slicing a jump and the angles of all the jumps were skewed. Our first time through I was not far enough ahead of Riot and wasn’t able to push him out to the middle jump in the pinwheel. Our second attempt, I thought I was prepared, but he took off even faster than the first time. So my reaction besides having to speed up myself was to exclaim “holy crap.” Yeah, that dog can move. Despite being caught off guard with the speed, we did the sequence quite well.
Our last sequence of the night was the toughest. The opening was the same, but varied after the first two obstacles. A slight hesitation on my part resulted in Riot taking obstacles 3 and 4 from the previous sequence. I think it’s going to be very easy to get off courses with Riot — if I don’t make the next obstacle clear, he’s taking whatever is in front of him (which saved me earlier in the evening when I was lost). Our second attempt at the sequence was near perfect.
Right now our problem is I’m still babying him. We’re in this place where I think he knows more than I think he does, but not as much as I think he does. The more we work the better it’ll get. I’m having so much fun running him.
Oh and I got what I’d consider an awesome compliment from Elsie. She said she’d like to pair Robber and Riot in USDAA pairs.
Riot got measured this weekend at the HVGRC agility trial. He now has his temporary height card saying he’s 22” tall. Yay for just barely being able to jump 20”
Our contacts are coming along. I took the boys over to ACA to work contacts for a little while this afternoon. Riot nailed all of his contacts in his first working session.
After I worked Cisco, and brought Riot out for his second session, he was a bit more amped. I wrapped him around a jump and he took the dog walk without me giving him a command. He completely blew off the contact. I’m not sure if it was him being amped or the fact I didn’t say “walk-it” that caused him to blow it off. The next time around, he again stopped a little short of the bottom. Over compensation of before? Other than that he hit all his contacts the second session. I also upped the jump to 22 and 24 inches on him and he didn’t have any problems with that either.
Like always, eventually things seem to come together with Riot. It’s not necessarily that I need to fix things with him. It’s more I think he needs to understand and sort it out in his own head.
I’m looking forward to seeing how he does on a standard course. There are a few run throughs in November I’m going to try and take him to to get him used in running different environments.
Last night was Riot’s last Contacts & Weaves and Handling 2 Classes.
Contacts and Weaves
In contacts and weaves we practiced measuring since I (along with a few others) requested practice. Fortunately Riot should probably measure under 22 inches. We were getting between 21.5” and 22.25” depending on how wiggly and relaxed he was. He is taller than I thought he was going to be, but not as tall as I feared he was last week.
He had some nice grid work. And his weaves were pretty good. Elsie had us doing a set of 10 followed by a set of 6 and vice versa. We didn’t get a chance to do any teeter work, but we’ve been working the newly resurfaced teeter in the basement some this week.
As for his contacts, they’re getting better. They’re actually looking really nice when I’m on the left. He’s still not driving into position from the right that has everyone scratching their heads.
Handling 2
For handling 2, we did a novice jww course last night. It was the first full course Riot has seen. Riot didn’t do too bad. We had some issues with the lead out (I think more handler than dog related). And Riot broke his start line stay for the first time. I’m pretty please with the way he did.
We’re taking Handling 2 again next session. It’s a really fun class and we get to work on some pretty challenging sequences.
In Contacts and Weaves we spent a lot of time dissecting his contacts problem. He’s got a great dog walk and teeter when he’s on the left, but on the right, he’s stopping a few feet short of the bottom. Eventually we got him driving to the bottom. The a-frame he was more hesitant on than usual. He was pausing at the top and driving towards the edges on his way down. Overall I was very happy with our progress tonight. We also did some practice on our weaves. I layered a second set of weaves between the poles he was working and myself and he stayed in. We also did a bunch of practice on the tire while we were waiting our turn. I was getting some very nice distance on that too.
Next was our handling 2 class and the sequences were from last weekend’s open or excellent jumpers run. Riot did really well. I made a handling mistake on the end of our first sequence and then he was not trilled about repeating and things kind of fell apart. Our second sequence I had thrown the leash in a place that I thought would be out of the way, but Riot did the first two jumps and decided to bring me the leash. He was fixated on the jump with the rest of our attempts with that sequence.
The next one we did fairly well, he lost focus between two of the jumps, but I called his name and got him right back on track. I got extra tickets for doing a good job of keeping my eye on the dog and keeping moving.
Our last sequence we nailed. We did it as a distance exercise and Riot had no problems with it.
Tonight there was a double and a triple in our sequences. This was the first time he had seen either and there weren’t any problems with them.
We had no dog events this weekend and nothing planned.
It was mostly a low key weekend, but we worked the teeter and did some board work on Saturday and today we threw some bumpers. For a dog that doesn’t always want to bring them back, he sure does have a love for the game.
Up until now I’ve thrown only three bumpers and quit with Riot as not to overdo it. Tonight, since he was so wired and amped up for the game, we did 7 (and he’d probably have done more if I let him). He brought back all 7 much closer than he usually does and even hand delivered 3!
Riot also is responsible for recycling our plastic bottles. We’ll hand them to him and he’ll happily cary them into the kitchen for us. I need to get him some place to put them, but for now we take them back from him. Today, I decided to see what would happen if I told him to sit. He’d immediately spit out the bottle and sat.
I’m looking forward to force fetching him… well, maybe not the process, but the result.
Highlights of contacts and weaves: rockin’ 12 weave poles, fabulous grid work, and awesome table, decent dog walk. Low lights: we still need lots of work on contacts. tunnel under dog walk == scary. Introduction to the broad jump — needs some work.
Handling 2 I thought was going to be easy in comparison to past weeks. All the exercises were box exercises, but we had our fair share of issues. But we also had some moments of brilliance. This is the first week we’ve jumped 20 inches in class and he did fine with that.
Favorite moment: Elsie telling me I need to get out of the habit of using 2 commands because I’m not going to have time. He’s going to be fast. :-D
I’ve mentioned before that a lot of times if we have trouble with something, we go back to it another day and Riot has it figured out. Well we had trouble with serpentines in handling 1, we had trouble with them when I tried to fix them in our backyard, and we had trouble with them when we saw them in handling 2. If you had seen us today, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you we were having problems with them. First of all, they were beautiful and second of all, all but one were handled from the right side. They felt good too. Not as good as Cisco’s who has had a beautiful serpentine for years, but like from a dog far more experienced that Riot is.
I had taken the boys over to ACA to work contacts outdoors and someone was nice enough to have left a beautiful serpentine out among the contacts. We did work contacts and did a pretty good job. We still need some more work with driving into position. I probably didn’t do as much work as I should have, but I was having so much fun with the serpentines.
Riot is turning into such a teenager. I’ve never had a dog who wants to pee on everything before. And he’s very distracted by things outside. The shelties across the driveway barking at him provided a good distraction — too good at times.
He did much better today outside than last week outside. So I have have hope we can regain out focus.
Today was the PVGRC’s field training. Riot actually brought back a bumper on land!!!! This is the first time he’s brought back a bumper at a field training day.
He brought the first bumper back on a short mark which we made shorter. The second mark was longer. I probably should have shortened it up more, but I didn’t. He ran out to the bumpers multiple times, but failed to bring it back.
On water, he seemed timid. He did eventually bring back three bumpers, but on the longer swims he’d go out a little ways and look confused and start heading back.
Overall I really can’t complain. I think he’s getting the concepts, he brought back some bumpers and once I force fetch him, I think we’ll have something happening.
I always find it interesting how excited he gets for all this until he gets out to the bumper and then he’s like, eh… it’s not big deal.
We have seen progress at every field training day, so I really can’t complain. We’ve got one more day next month. So hopefully we’ll continue to see improvement there.
We’re having so much fun in classes. Contacts and Weaves is getting old. It’s a class I’ve taken probably 10 times with Cisco over the years and always gotten a ton out of, but with Riot, I’m not getting as much out of it as I’d like. His weaves are coming along really nicely outside of class and different environments don’t seem to be effecting his ability to weave. Because of all the additional activity, it’s hard to work entrances which is what we need the most work on. We do need more work on contacts, but I don’t think we’re getting enough time on the equipment in class. He’s weak on the right side of the a frame and is much more likely to pop off than on the left. I really need more than 3-4 times over the a-frame in a class to work on this. He has no fear of the teeter which is great. And he has a really good dog walk.
Handling 2 is becoming the class I love and hate. For being as young and inexperienced as he is, he is doing really, really well. I’m getting much better at timely corrections when he tries to switch sides on me and he’s starting to work better on the right. Serpentines are still our weakness. Looking at his start line stay, you’d think he was part border collie — he’s just raring to go! We’ve got some great looking lead-outs. He’s also teaching me a lot about handling along the way. This weeks sequences were taken from this past weekends steeplechase openings. They were pretty challenging and lots of fun.
Last night we threw bumpers since I got home late and didn’t have time for much else. Riot is doing really well, he’s got great enthusiasm for the game. I finally figured out that if I turn around and run just a few steps then I can turn around and ask him to give me the bumper and I’ll have it delivered to hand. If I stand still, he drops it 5-10 feet in front of me every time. Amazing what a difference a couple of steps can make. I know force fetch should fix this issue, but at the same time, I do want him to get used to the concept of giving them to me and not dropping. We have field training on Saturday. It’s the first one we’ve made since the Gaylan’s reunion in August. I’m hoping he’ll decide to bring a bumper back to me and that he picks up a duck instead of rolling on it.
