Today has been a nearly perfect day in my opinion. I took a run this morning with my best bud Sandy Carman, after which Dave and I ran a few errands, had lunch out and then returned home early in the afternoon. I took Stetson out to work obedience and agility in the yard for the first time in a couple of weeks. The rain and gooshy conditions have been relentless around the Atlanta metro, so today was a hell or high water day for me - we were going to do something outside together.
We began by working on "go outs" and then some "directed targets". He just had the fastest "go out" and he gets so excited for any kind of brain work. "Directed targets" went pretty well, but he tried to break his stay a few times - again, he's fast, fast fast and that I want to continue to reward and build on. I finished up our obedience work with some "recalls" and then "finishes" both around my back, and also with him bouncing up to my left hand, then pivoting "close". When we finished with obedience I moved onto the weave poles.
He likes agility, but it's not the same level of drive and determination that I see in him for obedience, so I decided to use obedience as our entry to the less interesting weave pole training. Again, we haven't had the opportunity to use the poles and wires for a couple of weeks - so he really had some issues with 6 poles. If he'd consistently slipped under a wire or jumped a wire and if it were the same side/pole...I would have been able to fix it pretty quick, but he was all over the board today. I finally stopped him and put him in a sit so I could think this through. I decided that the catastrophic results I was getting were simply a green dog that hadn't seen poles enough to really understand them, and then what he did know, we hadn't rehearsed for almost fourteen days. Fair enough; I pulled three poles and the wires that went with them dropping the set to three. He quickly skipped over a wire, so I raised it; then he ducked under it, so I lowered it - after those two attempts, he did it perfectly, so he got a small jackpot party. We repeated the process a few times "on side" (dog entering poles from my left side) and he continued to navigate three and was able to find the entrance from some vairation in angle. Then I moved "off side" and he was successful again twice. I put the other three poles back with their wires and he got it right every time for many repetitions both on and off side. I finished him with a big jackpot on the patio and some good hard rubs. When I opened the back door for him to go in, he turned and trotted back out to the poles and stood staring back at me, clearly ready to work some more. I put him up anyway, I choose to say when...and control the work environment as best I can. But wow, I could get used to this!
Tomorrow is a run day for us. Hopefully he'll be able to go out with me for awhile on the road, but who knows what this weather will do. Regardless, I am enjoying the merging of my triathlete and runner lifestyle with some dog sports. It feels good to have this much balance, although negotiating time between activities can be daunting at times.
My calendar is a nice mix of Agility Trials, Sprint Triathlons and a Half Marathon this fall. It has taken some planning, serious priority setting and even saying "no thanks" to some offers that would confict with either my training or his; but now that I've got myself on a schedule of sorts, I am enjoying the mix beyond my wildest dreams.
We began by working on "go outs" and then some "directed targets". He just had the fastest "go out" and he gets so excited for any kind of brain work. "Directed targets" went pretty well, but he tried to break his stay a few times - again, he's fast, fast fast and that I want to continue to reward and build on. I finished up our obedience work with some "recalls" and then "finishes" both around my back, and also with him bouncing up to my left hand, then pivoting "close". When we finished with obedience I moved onto the weave poles.
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| The eyes of focus |
He likes agility, but it's not the same level of drive and determination that I see in him for obedience, so I decided to use obedience as our entry to the less interesting weave pole training. Again, we haven't had the opportunity to use the poles and wires for a couple of weeks - so he really had some issues with 6 poles. If he'd consistently slipped under a wire or jumped a wire and if it were the same side/pole...I would have been able to fix it pretty quick, but he was all over the board today. I finally stopped him and put him in a sit so I could think this through. I decided that the catastrophic results I was getting were simply a green dog that hadn't seen poles enough to really understand them, and then what he did know, we hadn't rehearsed for almost fourteen days. Fair enough; I pulled three poles and the wires that went with them dropping the set to three. He quickly skipped over a wire, so I raised it; then he ducked under it, so I lowered it - after those two attempts, he did it perfectly, so he got a small jackpot party. We repeated the process a few times "on side" (dog entering poles from my left side) and he continued to navigate three and was able to find the entrance from some vairation in angle. Then I moved "off side" and he was successful again twice. I put the other three poles back with their wires and he got it right every time for many repetitions both on and off side. I finished him with a big jackpot on the patio and some good hard rubs. When I opened the back door for him to go in, he turned and trotted back out to the poles and stood staring back at me, clearly ready to work some more. I put him up anyway, I choose to say when...and control the work environment as best I can. But wow, I could get used to this!
Tomorrow is a run day for us. Hopefully he'll be able to go out with me for awhile on the road, but who knows what this weather will do. Regardless, I am enjoying the merging of my triathlete and runner lifestyle with some dog sports. It feels good to have this much balance, although negotiating time between activities can be daunting at times.
My calendar is a nice mix of Agility Trials, Sprint Triathlons and a Half Marathon this fall. It has taken some planning, serious priority setting and even saying "no thanks" to some offers that would confict with either my training or his; but now that I've got myself on a schedule of sorts, I am enjoying the mix beyond my wildest dreams.
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