July 2010
1 post
2 tags
Field Training Class
This was the second week of Riot’s beginning field training class.
He was supposed to take this class last year, but he got sick after the first class and we had to drop. In this case, it probably worked out for the best because I think both of us are a lot more ready for the class this year.
We started out on water yesterday and the first retrieve was of a Doken. We have a doken at home,...
June 2010
4 posts
3 tags
Novice Obedience Week 5
Besides the usual getting a ton of tips to help us improve, Karen said two things that left me on cloud 9 tonight:
We’d be able to qualify in the ring — our score wouldn’t be great, but we could get in the 180s. I told her I wanted to wait until we could get in the 190s and she said that was a good idea because he certainly is capable of it.
She said if he had an OTCH handler,...
3 tags
Novice Obedience Week 4
Tuesday was week 4 of our obedience class. Riot continues to improve every week. I love that Karen always has tips for us on how to improve and as we improve the tips get more and more refined so we’ve never felt overwhelmed with everything we’ve needed to know, but we keep tweaking and refining as we get better.
The highlight of the class was probably how well he did his figure 8. It...
5 tags
Letting Dogs Be Dogs
This morning RIot and I headed out to Purecellville for a Hounds on the Town class. Today’s class was a short hike to practice heeling followed by some time off leash (or on long lines) for swimming.
I didn’t let Riot off leash before we went on the hike. There were some dogs that were already swimming on roaming around off leash when we got there. The whole scene was very exciting...
4 tags
A Busy Week
I still have a few things to catch up on, but we’ll skip over that now to get to this week.
Riot had obedience on Tuesday night and he’s constantly improving. His attention is getting much better and he’s getting better at every exercise. I’m picking up a ton of tips for working on things, so we’re learning a lot.
This week, Karen decided to work backwards and had...
May 2010
2 posts
5 tags
Mary Ellen Barry Seminar
I’m a big behind, but Riot and I attended a foundation sends and recalls seminar with Mary Ellen Barry at the beginning of May.
I had a moment of panic first thing in the morning since Riot was one of the greener dogs at the seminar and most of the other working spots were filled with very motivated border collies. But Riot did really well holding his own. We learned so much and Riot as...
9 tags
Sheltie Trial
This weekend we were at the Shetland Sheepdog of Greater Baltimore Agility Trial. We had never been to the facility before and the surface was a bit older and bit slicker than the indoor turn we’ve seen in the past. The course on both Saturday and Sunday were quite technical and challenging especially for a young green dog — not that excellent courses shouldn’t be technical and...
April 2010
7 posts
6 tags
Riot OA and OAJ!!!
This weekend at the PVGRC agility trial, Riot completed both his OA and OAJ titles!
Saturday
First thing Saturday morning was Open JWW (not on video). The course was nice and flowy. We had a refusal early on on a jump and I’m not sure what happened. I don’t know if I pulled him off of it or he wasn’t paying attention to it, but I managed to pull him back around and we finished...
3 tags
First Mini with Paulena
Riot got to attend a mini session with Paulena Hope tonight. He was on fire tonight — probably the most drive-y I’ve seen him. We did four courses over the two hours and he really did well on all of them.
This is the first time Riot had seen the viaduct and he didn’t miss a beat.
Our first course started out with a big loop that started with the tunnel to a couple of jumps,...
5 tags
Living Up To His Name - PVGRC Speciality 2010
Riot and I had a wild ride this morning. It was the PVGRC speciality and I had him entered in Rally Advanced A and Wildcard Novice. Nothing counting towards any titles because I knew being outside on grass was going to be enough pressure for us.
I knew going in the grass was going to be a challenge, but I didn’t realize exactly how big of a challenge it was going to be!
Riot warmed up...
3 tags
Novice Obedience - Week 6
Riot has really made great strides in this session. He’s gotten a lot better at paying attention to me during class. His heeling is getting so much better. He still had a great recall and his front is getting better at the end. We’ve gotten so many tips on how to improve things and he even let someone examine him on stand for exam.
The last exercise of the night was the class made two...
3 tags
Last Handling 3 Class
For our final class we had two short courses. One was 11 obstacles and the other was 10.
The first course was a little tricky, it was tight and Riot was a little high and was jumping long. I ran him at 24 inches since there were no other 20 inch dogs in class — Since we introduced him to 26” jumps, I’ve been jumping him in class based on what he’ll see at a trial the...
6 tags
CDTC Agility Trial - Saturday April 10
We only did one day of agility this weekend and Riot had a really good day qualifying in all three of his runs!
He got to run FAST for the first time (they don’t offer FAST a lot around here). His first time out in Novice FAST he Q‘d getting the 5th highest point total — I’ve never gone for max points in FAST, just plan for enough to Q and get out. It was a really nice...
4 tags
Mid-Atlantic Agility Showcase
Riot was a rock-star at his first USDAA agility trial. He had 13 runs over the weekend and really did well. I was a bit worried about him having so many runs, but it didn’t phase him. Me? I was pretty exhausted. I can’t remember all the details of the weekend (and that would make for a very long blog post), but here are some of the highlights from the weekend.
FRIDAY
Jumpers - His...
March 2010
12 posts
3 tags
Novice Obedience - Week 4
We actually had a very good obedience class. Our heeling is getting better — still has a long way to go, but there was a lot less forging tonight.
In our group practices of changing of speeds, he actually stayed with me instead of racing to catch the dog in front of him. There was no real attention to me and he was a bit ahead, but it was a great improvement over weeks past. We heeled past...
3 tags
Handling 3 Week 4
Riot was on his best behavior in class tonight. He had gorgeous down stays while I walked the sequences and he was just happy to be working.
Once I put him in a down, I rolled his back end over onto one hip and that seemed to keep his down a lot more relaxed. He wasn’t nearly on edge and I didn’t have to worry as much about those elbows popping up. I’ll have to try this during...
5 tags
PVSSC Rally Trial - Sunday - Riot RA!
You know it’s been a wild ride when the judge hands you your leash at the end of the run and says “Yee-haw!”
Riot qualified today and came in 4th with a 93! A 13 point improvement over yesterday and all 7 points off were for heeling.
Riot warmed up really nicely today — both outside and when I brought him in the building. His heeling was tighter, his focus was better, and...
6 tags
PVSSC Rally Trial - Saturday
We had a wild time at today’s Rally trial. I have so much fun with this dog, but he does keep things interesting.
This is the first time we’ve done rally since we started trialing in agility and I wasn’t sure what that was going to do to us.
I brought him into the building right as dogs started running in his class (there were 7 dogs competing in advanced A). We worked in a...
4 tags
Handling 3 - Week 3
I didn’t get this updated right after class and now I don’t remember a lot of the specifics.
The first two sequences of the night we ran at 24 inches. The first sequence Riot nailed. If I remember it was some sort of box configuration with a figure 8 pattern with one front cross required. Riot read everything beautifully and it was near textbook perfect. Elsie asked if I wanted to...
3 tags
Novice Obedience - Week 2
Tonight was quite the challenge. Riot is still having issues focusing, but I think he’s getting better. I also think I need to bring yummier treats or find a way to work toys in as rewards better — I’ve never been good with toy rewards in obedience classes and Cisco and Berkley would always work for their kibble. Riot was not that thrilled with the pumpkin treats he had last...
4 tags
Handling 3 - Week 2
Tonight Riot jumped 24 inches for all 4 sequences. This didn’t seem to phase him at all after jumping 20 inches all weekend.
The first sequence of the night I had a lot of problems adding in lateral motion where I didn’t need it. Once I stopped moving laterally, the sequence came together nicely. This sequence had a couple of really tight threadles — which were good since Riot...
6 tags
BRDTC March 2010 Agility Trial
Riot was out in the agility ring for just the second time this weekend and he did a really good job. He’s still a baby dog, but his focus and determination in the ring is incredible. I absolutely love running this dog. He is just so much fun.
Friday
We started with Open Standard on Friday and had a really nice run. I babysat the tunnel to the weaves too much and tried to get his attention...
3 tags
Novice Obedience - Week 1
Last night Riot and I started taking obedience classes again. It’s been a while since we took Heeling, Fronts, and Finishes which is the prereq for Novice Obedience, but we’ve been practicing our heeling, our fronts, our finishes and other random obedience moves pretty regularly, so I had pretty high hopes in us being prepared for this class.
Riot had a really hard time settling down...
4 tags
Handling 3 - Week 1
Riot had his first agility class of the session last night. We’re taking Handling 3 again because the sequences are challenging and we can always use more work on handling.
Riot rocked the first sequence. I didn’t have his head after the first jump — need to keep your eyes on the dog at all times. But after we restarted, we ran the sequence flawlessly. The next sequence was a...
2 tags
2 tags
February 2010
3 posts
3 tags
Pre-Comp Week 6
So we ran two courses in pre-comp on Wednesday. Riot did really well. His handler, not so much.
The biggest thing I got out of class this week is we need to work wood/tunnel discriminations. The first course of the night was jump to dog walk with a tunnel discrimination. Riot’s eyes were set on that tunnel before he ever left the start line and he was go.
The first time through the weave...
2 tags
Handling 3 - Week 6
After a week delay due to snow, we finally got in our last class. Since the weather was still kind of iffy, the class was pretty small.
We did two novice level jumpers courses (minus weaves). Riot did really well. The first was near perfect with the exception of him taking out a jump standard on the second to last jump. I was so busy not trying to get left in the dust by him, that I think I ran...
3 tags
Handling 3 Week 5
Week 5 already? Time sure flies when you’re having fun!
Riot had a really good week. This week because of the way the groups were slit up, there were no other 20s in his group, so we jumped 24 for all 4 sequences.
I finding with Riot that he is very body aware and I need to fully support obstacles and make sure he has full committed before going on. Just the slightest turn of the shoulder...
January 2010
7 posts
2 tags
Pre-Comp Week 4
I haven’t written about pre-comp since week one. At this point, I don’t remember week 2 and I skipped week 3.
This week Riot had a very nice, drive-y first run. The only issue we had was a difficult table to jump to tire to weaves sequence. If it was a trial, I would have put a (probably poorly timed front cross between the jump and the tire), but since this was practice a good time...
2 tags
Quick Bumper Session
I worked from home and took advantage of the semi-nice weather and the fact that it was still light out and went out and threw some bumpers for Riot. I really need to get this dog through CC and FF, but I’ve yet to figure out how to work it into my schedule. This is only the second time we’ve been out with bumpers this year. Both sessions Riot would get within 2 to 5 feet and drop the...
2 tags
Distracted Riot
Tonight was handling 3 and the over all theme of the night seemed to be “What’s that over there?”
I have never seen Riot so distracted as he was tonight. He had a little but of this the first time we took handling 1 and there was another dog working at the same time as him, but for the most part, he’s been able to focus on the course despite the distractions around him.
...
3 tags
Private Lesson and Grid Work
We had a great day off. Cisco and Riot had a private lesson with Claudia and Riot worked really well. I learned some new handling techniques and Riot continues to amaze me at how well he can read things. It’s so hard to remember he’s still a baby. I asked Claudia about running him at 26” for USDAA. She didn’t see any reason why he couldn’t, but warned me that some...
2 tags
Handling 3 - Week 2
Riot has become a very motivated, drive-y dog. I’m finding I really need to work on collection with him as he has great extension, but will over jump if I’m not very careful.
Our first sequence of the night was a jump offset to a straight tunnel to a jump offset the same amount on the other side. Initially I led out about a quarter of the way down the tunnel. I knew he could have...
2 tags
Pre-Comp Week 1
We’ve finally gotten to a class where we’re running courses — complete with contacts and weaves! Tonight was our first night of our pre-competition class and we did two courses. I have a few goals for Riot in this class. One is to proof contacts since we don’t get a lot of contact practice and the second is to build confidence.
Our first course didn’t include the...
2 tags
Back in Business
Yay! Classes finally started again today! We were off to a rough start tonight with trouble with the first sequence. It started with a serpentine to another jump into a tunnel and the lead out with the serpentine was not working. He did not want to come to heel and wanted to take the far side of the second jump (basically a threadle with me standing on the wrong side). Finally we got through that...
December 2009
4 posts
2 tags
Private Lesson
We had a private lesson today with Claudia. Finally they got to have some activity — we’ve been out of classes for 2 weeks and it’s been too snowy outside to get any training in.
We ran one course. It wasn’t terribly difficult, but it was quite technical.
We actually did a lot of work on technical skills — discriminations, queuing deceleration and turns, extension...
Happy 18 Months!
The puppy is 18 months today! Hard to believe how fast he’s growing up!
8 tags
Riot's First Agility Trial
Riot, Cisco, and I are up in Cleveland, Ohio for the Crown Classic Dog show. I decided to enter him no realizing exactly how chaotic it was going to be — big noisy building with lots of dogs and people and noise.
Day 1
Riot seemed to have a few ring nerves this morning in JWW. He was looking all around and sniffing the ground and I had a hard time getting his attention. Because of this,...
1 tag
Rock star Riot (aka last week of Handling 2)
I love running this dog! He’s just so much fun to run and running him feels good — I don’t feel frantic, I’m getting more confidence with him, and he always seems like he’s having fun.
Our last class consisted of a course that had 13 jumps — no tunnels, no contacts. It was a mixture of winged and wingless with a double, I handled it with two front crosses and a...
2 tags
First Full Course and Handling 2 Week 5
Today Cisco and Riot had a private lesson with Claudia. My plan was to try a full course with Riot (since he’s only seen a JWW course and not a standard course) and then have Claudia tell us what we needed to work on.
I ran Riot first and he rocked the course. He did better than I expected and left me feeling a lot more confident with him. Our first course was 20 obstacles long and started...
November 2009
8 posts
1 tag
Contacts
Worked some contacts today. They weren’t half bad. He’s not driving to the end as much as I’d like, but for the most part has a pretty solid 2 on 2 off. He does stop short on occasion, especially if I’m behind or not moving. I’ve got a ton of distance on him which is really nice.
2 tags
Handling 2 Week 4
Riot and I had a pretty decent night in class. We had some pretty amazing leadouts tonight and I got some decent distance on him too. He was very driven and worked well for his tug.
For our first sequence (white squares), I tried two different leadouts. First the blue blob facing towards him. He swung wide and didn’t read the turn very well with that one. The second one I tried was the...
2 tags
Practicing Weaves
I realized that since Riot has learned his weaves and we dropped the contact and weaves class we haven’t done a lot of weave pole training. Since the last thing I want to do is have to relearn the weaves, we worked on them in short sessions all weekend.
I’ve only worked him maybe twice outside of class since we learned them and what I observed the last time was he was having issues...
6 tags
Our First Rally Advanced Trial
Riot competed in the advanced rally class for the first time today. We drove up to PA this morning to the Dauphin Dog Training Club for their Rally Trial.
I’ve been working a lot of hours so we haven’t been practicing as much as we should have been so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I pulled Riot out really early. So we could practice some before hand and get his focus on me. Riot...
3 tags
Handling 2 Week 2
Have I mentioned I love this dog? Right now he’s curled up next to me on the couch but earlier tonight he was a rock star in his agility class.
He’s a young male and I think he acts that way, but despite that, he’s really coming along nicely. His jumping was complemented tonight. Both for good form and for being a quiet jumper.
We’re still having lots of distractions, but...
"holy crap"
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...
2 tags
22"
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”
October 2009
7 posts
3 tags
Contacts Practice
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...
4 tags
Last Night of Classes
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...
