When Will They Ever Learn?

SUMMARY: #6 (and final--I think) of several posts about this weekend. Ellen never learns her lesson.

How many times--HOW MANY--do I have to remind myself: To pull a dog off an obstacle and to a closer one, it's a reverse-flow-pivot plus "Tika!", NOT a turn with the dog and "COME!"? How many timesssssssss? How many times do I have to post about it here in my blog?

BOTH of Tika's non-Qs this weekend were the same dagnabbed thing, and BOTH of them I walked the correct way, and BOTH of them I did wrong when I got on course and got moving.

Crud crud crud.

But at least she was fast.

Standard Level 4/5/C, Saturday evening

Here's the Standard course where I blew it with Tika. (Boost didn't stick her start line--for the first time in 11 runs--so we left the course.) I walked it repeatedly with an RFP and "Tika!", but she didn't stick her dogwalk, so I was way behind her, so I reverted to doing the wrong thing. I think that an RFP and "Tika" would still have worked from way behind her.

This course presented lots of handling challenges:

• Opening #2-4. I have no idea why almost everyone handled it with the dog on their left. Almost no one got the dog into the #2 tunnel and still made it out to #3 to push them over the double. Some dogs were off-course to the Aframe because the handler moved too soon; many, many dogs came in past the double and had to be taken back around to get over it; some went past it into the #4 tunnel for an offcourse. A couple of people led out to the left of the #2 tunnel entrance, but not past the A-frame(!), so the dogs looked for them to their right as they came out of the tunnel. I led out on the left until I was past the plane of the Aframe. As Tika committed to the tunnel, I raced across the face of the Aframe, calling her name the instant she went into the tunnel, and front crossed between the tunnel and the double. It worked beautifully. You had to be able to hustle your buns, but much less than trying to go up the right side and push your dog over the double.
• #5/6: Offcourses from #5 to #7, or they called the dog back to them as the dog came off the dogwalk so that they could catch up with them. I tried to drive forward with my shoulders and focus towards the #6 jump; Tika didn't stick her dogwalk and flew over the correct #6, and this is where I was barely at the end of the dogwalk, turned my shoulders to the left, and yelled "Come!" She blew straight into the right side of the tunnel without hesitation. I KNOW that an RFP and/or "Tika!" would have gotten her to the right place, dagnabbit.
• #7/8/9: Dogs came out of the tunnel and back over #6 for an offcourse, or over #8 and straight up the dogwalk. People went through all kinds of gyrations to get through that space to the teeter. Because I was behind Tika and pissed off at myself, I ended up on the wrong side of #8 and we handled the path to the teeter by having her jump around my feet while I pushed her in front of me. Very professional-looking.
• #12/13: I watched team after team either take an offcourse to #20 after #12 or pull the dog off #13 to the right and have to go back for it, or the ones who got it, really push their dog OUT after #12. I couldn't figure it out when I walked the course--it was a straight line for the dog from the weaves across those three jumps. I think what happened is that the handlers had to go in to the very end of the weaves, so to get around #11 and #12, they had to veer outwards, which pulled their dog past #13 on the right if they were behind the dog, or if they were ahead of the dog, they had to go out around #12 and turn suddenly in towards #13, thereby pushing the dog over #20. If you were laterally out from the dog about 5 feet at the end of the weaves, you could run in a straight line lateral to the dog and go straight over those 3 jumps, and it worked great for those of us who did it.
• #13/14: Wide turns. To shave time off, it would've been nice to get a front cross in before #14. I couldn't get there with Tika. A couple of the fast handlers with fast dogs tried it and still got a wide turn, barely pulling their dogs in around them before getting into the weaves.

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Do I Ever Learn? And Tika's Foot Fetish

SUMMARY: Say the dog's name, not "come". And watch those feet.

How long have I been doing agility? How long does it take things to sink in?

At the NAF USDAA trial in June, I reported the following incidents with Tika:

...in the Standard on a place where I knew there was an off-course possibility, I yelled "Come!" and when she wasn't coming, I yelled "Come!" louder and she still went off course. I know better than that! Especially after telling my teammates during the walk-through to use their dogs' names!

...then, in the Jumpers course, where I knew there was an off-course possibility, I yelled "Come" really loudly and then when she didn't, I yelled "Come!" even louder and she still went off course.

But here's the worst part. While looking for a post about when Tika first grabbed my feet in competition, I found this from April of 2003:

...P3 gamblers: Dag nabbit--[Jake] carried out *too* far and didn't come in when I said "come come come come COME!"

As for an actual post about when Tika first grabbed my foot in competition and I took a head dive because it came out of the blue...it must have been during the couple of months immediately preceding and following Remington's death, because there are no mentions of it before that (and she was just starting to compete then, anyway), but lots of mentions after that. You can read one typical post from June, 2003.

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Manchester-Derrett Seminar

SUMMARY: Boost and Ellen learn some things in the oppressive heat.

Laura Manchester-Derrett discussing the no-go zone.

Greg Derrett has been coming out from England to teach seminars at Power Paws Agility for several years. I've taken his seminar(s) with a couple of my dogs, plus I've been in his sessions at Power Paws Camp in years past, PLUS Power Paws incorporates his ideas into their training. Not to mention that a lot of what they teach is also taught by others to whom I'm been exposed, and I'm not even sure where all of the ideas come from originally. So I'm reasonably familiar with their material.

I basically understand the "no-go-zone" or the "blind cross zone" or various other names for it--essentially, if you draw a line extending out through your shoulders to either side of you, the dog should never go into the zone behind that; they should be driving at all times to get into the zone directly in front of you, loosely defined by the same line but more specifically directly in front of you in the direction you're going.

This is illustrated with a simple situation: Set the dog in front of three jumps in a row. Walk out and stand just beyond jump 2 but about 10 feet to the right, facing he same direction the dog is facing. Release the dog but don't otherwise move. (That's a lateral leadout.) The dog should drive forward over the two jumps and then curve in and stop in front of you.

In theory, this is why front crosses work--you direct your body forward until the dog is committed to the obstacle ("committed" meaning there is nothing you can do to pull them off that obstacle), then turn your body, so dog wants to drive out of no-go zone and drive to get in front of you again.


That also shows what happens when you turn too early--before the dog is committed: The dog ceases her forward motion and strives to get out of the no-go zone and back in front of you. I had been basically aware of this concept relating to why Boost has so many refusals on course. (Keep in mind that you don't really teach the dog not to go into the no-go zone--you reward them for driving in to your side and for driving in front of you; the lines and the zones just make it easier to understand why some things are happening.)


However, I hadn't managed to make the connection, until Laura pointed it out in yesterday's seminar, why Boost has started making the occasional blind cross--which I've *never* taught and done everything to avoid--at the same time that she's getting fewer refusals. Which is that, in my rush to not be too late on my turns, which is a perennial problem for me with both dogs, and to "turn and get the heck out of there," which is also a perennial problem for me to do, I have started turning TOO EARLY (before the dog is committed to the jump, and yet still trying to insist that she still go over the jump (because I said "hup!") rather than responding to my body position.

So, basically, if you HAVE to make a mistake, it's better to cross late (which could give a wide turn or, ok, possibly an off-course if you can't correct for it) than to cross early (which teaches a handling pattern that can affect you for a long time to come).

There was, of course, a lot more in this seminar, but for me, this was the most revealing insight.

Walking a double-box course on Power Paws' small lawn.

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Miscellany

SUMMARY: Agility blogging, agility training, agility entries, agility knee

Saw my orthopedic surgeon Tuesday for the last time; he said there's absolutely no fluid in the knee which is awesome considering where I'd been for months before the surgery, and gave me a 100%-go-for-it rating (no restrictions of any kind), just suggested that I keep on with my physical therapy to build those danged quads.

Went to class with Tika last night for the 2nd time since arthroscopy. Knee is still a bit stiff but the big problem is that I don't feel that I'm moving anywhere near full speed. I need to practice running, but of course running is the worst thing that one can do now that one has had confirmed that one's knee has begun arthritis. Just HAVE to get back to walking, at least, and maybe jog around the back yard a couple of times a day--I'm sure that 100 feet of jogging will be helpful--

Tika, however, did very well. She was even pretty close to trial-fast. (Where I can't normally get her revved to full excited speed in class, then she takes off like a rocket at trials. It's exhilarating at trials but wish I could practice our living-on-the-edge running a bit more often.) I had trouble with a couple of trick round-about-front-crosses-after-270s kinds of things that we were doing, but Tika had no trouble with some tough weave entrances that others were challenged by. So I guess we're all getting something out of the class.

Agility blogging, for me, was solely an attempt to keep my own diary of my dogs' lives and progress. It has turned into this social thing. People actually read it. And of course I'm intrigued by the thoughts and experiences that other agility people go through, especially in different parts of the country. In class and at trials we don't usually talk about our day-to-day experiences, our fears, our hopes, our deepest challenges (well, ok, I talk about my deepest challenges all the time to anyone who'll listen, usually right after I've screwed up another run). One of the blogs I've been reading for a while (Flirt the Squirt) just pointed me to yet another agility blog, this one Colorado based, and the writing is entertaining: Days of Speed and Slowtime Mondays: How Not to Train for Triathlon and Dog Agility. Just what I need, more blogs to follow. :-)

It's been 2 months since I was last in class with Boost, and today's the day (if we don't get some surprise rain or, they're predicting for san jose, snow flurries (!!). At the moment it's sunny and 30 degrees, quite cold for 9 a.m. She's been blasting around the equipment in the back yard, where I mostly send her rather than run with her, looking ever so much like her superstar mama. But our problems on courses were showing up to be my inability to judge when she had actually committed to an obstacle and pulling her off constantly, and not signalling soon enough on tight turns. I mean, Tika's fast, but-- well, I think Boost could beat Tika, and Tika's speed is right up there. Maybe Tika and I have just gotten used to each other, and Boost's still just a baby competitor. Although she'll be 2 in just 3 weeks! Can you believe it?

So anyway I said "yes" (with some arm twisting) to a classmate's suggestion that we try for a two-dog private lesson with Nancy on Sunday. I can use all the field time I can get with The Booster for now. Especially since I've started sending in those entries with the highest hopes, and wanting to get Qs instead of feeling like I'm wasting my entry fees.

And there's where the money comes in (aside from lessons, I mean). Bay Team's first trial is one day Masters, one day Starters/Advanced, and I had two $50 gift certificates, so I had to pay only about $20 for that weekend (plus I guess I'll need to stay in a hotel; no sleeping in my minivan in this weather). But I also sent in my entry for the following weekend for VAST. Five runs per dog Saturday, four-per Sunday, for a nondiscounted total of--gulp--$248. PLUS gas to get there and hotel in cold/wet weather. This is why I have no money. This is why there aren't very many younger competitors. I'm signing up for trial committee jobs that earn me free entries left and right, but that still covers only a small portion of my entry fees.

If it weren't so much danged FUN.

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