By popular demand….

Lesson learned:  Never, ever post on Facebook you’re updating your blog.  People think that the new post will be up right away!  Sheesh!

Jasmine’s Therapy Work With SJA

Jasmine and I did our first visit to a local seniors’ home this week.  We were supervised by our mentor, of course, and I think it went well.  We were first sent to one of the meeting areas, where a group of ladies were having their hair and nails done.  We were greeted warmly by all, and Jasmine proved that she wasn’t fazed a bit by the wheelchairs and walkers.   In fact, she surprised everyone by hopping on one of the walkers to get closer to one of the residents.  I was a bit slow on that and the result is the lady knocked her hand on one of the hand bars.  I felt very badly, and will try to be more vigilant in the future.  The lady reassured me that it didn’t hurt at all, but still….

I could see that Jasmine was a bit uncomfortable by the increasing number of people in the room, and was relieved when the activity coordinator suggested we go up on one of the floors to visit other residents.  The home has many francophone residents, which made me more than happy to talk with them.  I’m more comfortable in my first language, and I find I’m much more relaxed when I speak it.  Of course, I was asked the traditional “Tu es la fille de qui?” which translates in “Whose girl are you?” but really means “Who is your father?”.    The resident who asked was a bit disappointed when I answered I wasn’t from the area, but quickly recovered when he found out that I was from the same village than his daughter in law.  I’m giving him a few months before he’ll figure out if our families are related or not.  This *is* Eastern Ontario after all, and most francophone families are related in some way or other.  (In fact, you can say that for the whole French population of North America, but that’s another story entirely.)

Fannie’s Obedience Training

I’ve been attending obedience classes in town, and am very proud to say that Fannie has “successfully completed” the Puppy Obedience level.  Our graduation exercise was to walk to four different stations; each identified by an orange cone, and complete an exercise.  Fannie did very well on the stations, was extremely interested in the cones, but showed poor heeling skills between the exercises.  This was a good test for us as I’m hoping she’ll be ready to compete in a rally o trial before the end of 2012.  This tells me that I’ll have to find a fun match to practice our skills. She has no trouble doing most of the basic stations, but her “cone” issue still needs to be worked on.  ; )

The Keys’ Agility Training

Last week, Jasmine and I attending a “Distance” workshop, and we were eager to practice our newfound skills. 

I was given the opportunity to share my training time in Mallorytown today with another agility handler in the area, and I had fun, fun, fun.  I practiced distance drills with Jasmine, and my goal for her was not only to take the weaves at a distance, but do so with SPEED!  You know what?  She did!  To my great surprise, Jasmine also totally understood the “Get Out” command from the workshop last Sunday.  I hope we’ll have a chance to repeat this tomorrow during our club’s practice.

Fannie did her first 2 jump combination, as well as some distance work with one jump, then two jumps.  I was feeling ambitious, and tried a jump, tunnel, jump sequence with her as well.  We still need to make her less choppy, but she eventually succeeded!  What a change from sensitive little Jasmine.  When Fannie wouldn’t succeed an exercise, she would simply be ready to try it again.  No zooming.  No anxiety.   She just wanted to learn.  She was so eager to work, that when I took Jasmine out of their crate after a little break later on, Fannie snuck out and bounced to the three obstacle sequence and waited for me.  She seemed to be saying: “C’mon Lyne!”  “I’m ready to work and have fun!”.  She’s so funny.

 

 

The speed demon is back!

We went back to Guides canins today, and tried the same exercises as Friday.  Jasmine, the fast little dog, is back!  No hesitation, and no sniffing around.  Conclusion?  My stress during class is rubbing off big time.  Sigh.

Her weaves were great today, but I’m making myself a note to maintain this.  I also tried some obstacle discrimination with a tunnel/A-Frame situation, and although she went for the A-Frame at our first try, she correctly understood my commands after that. 

Fannie has proven that she’s a champion at her start line stay.  This was our first agility club practice, so we didn’t know any of the other dogs who were there.  Well, little miss Fannie kept her stay even when all those different dogs were taking tunnels, jumps, and running circles around her.  Her little head could hardly keep track of all this activity, and her little poodle tail was wagging furiously….but most importantly… she.kept.her.stay.  Good dog Fannie!  As I was trying to teach her how to take a jump, I realised that I wasn’t making it rewarding at all for her.  Result?  She would run to me when I released her.  I went back to the basics, and it worked.  She also did her first tire (at the lowest height).  Congrats Fannie!  Another little milestone!

On another note, Fannie was at her best when she met new dogs, and puppies.  None of them were overwhelming, so that made it easier for her.  I have to remind myself to bring a treat pouch with me now.  I forget that I’m not training on my own, so rewarding Fannie is even more important.  Bad handler!

We had fun today!  I’m looking forward to next week.

Never underestimate the power of peanut butter

For years, I’ve been working with a dog who couldn’t care less about food, so imagine my wonder when I see Fannie ready to do backward flips for a crumb.  I remember the first time I practiced the figure eight with food with Jasmine during a rally-o lesson.  She ignored the food in the bowl, but went straight for the toy.  The instructor thought it was quite funny, and I wasn’t surprised.  Yup, Jasmine is toy driven.  As for Fannie, well, that’s another story.

Friday Agility Lesson

The dog school Jasmine attends ; ) is nice enough to accept visiting  dogs in unused areas of the facility provided they’re kept in a crate, while we’re in class in another room.  Fannie is quite the barker, and although she is quite well-behaved and quiet if she can’t see me working with Jasmine, I didn’t want to take any risks.  I arrived, put up the crate, shoved (yes shoved, as I was in a hurry, but Fannie didn’t need a lot of shoving) Fannie in her crate, covered it with a blanket, and threw in a kong full of peanut butter.  She stopped complaining mid-whine, and lo and behold, I heard very serious slurping behind the blanket.  Then…. absolute silence…. broken by the slurping…. Wow!  This kong thing really does work.  YES!  Now, for Jasmine’s agility lesson.

Where’s my speeding bullet?

Oh boy.  The first half of the lesson was the obstacle course.  Jasmine and I weren’t any worst or any better than the other teams.  My handling sucks in gambler, but that’s ok.  I’m learning.  Our previous weave training seems to have disappeared as Jasmine was slow and hesitant in her entry.   This is not the confident little dog we can see in this video taken a few weeks ago.  No worries!  We’ll work on her hesitant performance in confidence building work tomorrow.

The second half of the lesson was the handling part.  Boy oh boy.  Jasmine was ok, following my handing, but her speed, or lack of it, was pitiful.  Yup!  My plan for tomorrow’s club practice is to re-do the exercises, but first and foremost, work to get her drive and confidence back.  The sequences will be shorter, and my role will be to hype her up and praise her.  I want my little speed demon back.  I miss her.

The miracle of peanut butter

Once the lesson was done, we packed up our things, and joined Fannie in her little corner.  The kong has been licked clean.  I’m still speechless.  During my absence, it seems that Fannie told off a dog twice her size.  The staff told Fannie that she loved to live dangerously, but she didn’t heed their advice.  Fannie, you’ll get into serious trouble someday.  Let’s hope I’m there to get you out of it or train you in time to avoid it.

Looking ahead to the new year, 2012

A new year, a new beginning, a fresh start.  2011 was a very good year for Jasmine.  She’s now part of the Masters Jumpers and Advanced Gamblers families.  She became an honest to goodness therapy dog with the St. John Ambulance team, and got a brand new roommate, Fannie.

Fannie, the new fluffly dog in our house, is sometimes too much for her, but I catch them playing together quite often.  Jasmine has learned that Fannie is here to stay.  She’ll never admit it, but I think she likes her.  : )

On a more personal level, I’ve finally found real joy in agility, which means that I’m much more relaxed and confident in trials.  I’ve learned that it’s alright to make mistakes, and I try to learn from them.  Do I really learn?  That’s another thing entirely.  ; ) 

Goals for 2012?  Here goes….

Jasmine: Earn her ADC title and complete the required Snooker events to get to the advanced level. 

Fannie: Have her do her weaves by December.  I’m waiting until she’s 18 months to start weaves’ training, so that means June.  I hope to have her comfortable on the obstacle equipement as well, but we’ll see.

Lyne: Start liking snooker.  Finish the library course I’m working on for work.

Now, down to current business….

Our first practice of the year was done in one of our favorite facilities which is located in the Brockville area.  I created a video of our best and learning curve moments.  Yes, I am aware that I may not be rewarding the dogs at the right moment, or shouldn’t be at all.  Remember, we’re on a constant learning curve, the reason why I video our session is to spot my mistakes.

Curious?  Here is the video.

I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but my camera had shut down during one of Jasmine’s turn.  We were working on rear crosses as well as distance. We were able to do awesome rear crosses, but ran out of time to perfect the distance exercices.  I’ll be able to continue this project at home in a park.  It’s something I found in an issue of Clean Run magazine, and I’m looking forward in completing it with little Disco Jazz.

For Fannie, we worked on her jumping, acceleration, deceleration, the bang game on the teeter, and control games.

To work on at our next training session at home…

Jasmine: Rally-O moves

Fannie: Focus forward, beginning work on travel plank, directionals, and Startline stays.

Jasmine + AJ = Q!

Back to the fantastic venue in Gananoque.  We entered in Advanced Gambler, Steeplechase and Advanced Jumpers.  The outcome of this day is Jasmine improved considerably since our last trial. 

Advanced Gambler

I should stop underestimating my WFD.  I was so sure that Jasmine wouldn’t do the Gambler, that I was surprised that she did attempt it, and was nailing it, until I didn’t call her at a critical point.  At the exit, she headed straight for the next available obstacle, the jump.  Nothing wrong there as this is what she’s trained to do, and she received no direction from me to head for the next tunnel.

Steeplechase

Many dogs had problems with the weaves entry as the previous obstacle was so close.  Thanks to Jasmine’s cute compact size, she nailed it, twice!  Of course our rear cross was horrible at our first attempt, but who cares?  This just means we still have work to do.. (Sigh).  Beautiful run, except for the last obstacle, the tire.  My fault since Jasmine surprised me yet again by taking the jump with no problem after my clumsy rear cross .  She ignored the tire, as is her logical choice from my lack of direction.  Do we have a recurring theme here?  Her is the video.

Advanced Jumpers

Ah… Our moment of glory.  Sure, there were some hiccups, but they’re limited to my horrible rear crosses.  Yes indeed, we Qd.  As this was the last event of the day, not many competitors had stayed but those who did were victims of my joy!  I actually gave a  hug to a few of them!  I’ll have to curb my moments of happiness since this may be a bit embarrassing for people who barely know me.

Working on the starters’ day events? No prob! We’re in advanced in Jumpers and Gambler.

This is the 2011 edition of the fall Morningstar trial.  It was moved to a new venue, and what a place!  I’m still speechless.  I’m hoping to take more pictures in two weeks.

Our first run of the day was advanced gamblers.  My favorite moment is Jasmine’s confidence on the contact equipment.  No wasted time at the top of the A-frame or just beyond the yellow contact zone for us!  Our hard work this summer has paid off.  My handling is quite horrible, as Jasmine actually blind crosses me at one point, and I also don’t send her to the teeter the right way.  Good thing she’s so forgiving.  Note that she actually barks in excitement during our run.  A barking Jasmine is a happy Jasmine!

There is no reason why Jasmine did so badly in the advanced jumpers 1.  The judge’s reaction to her tunnel choice instead of the next jump is hilarious!  At least he understands my confusion. : )

I’m quite happy with our advanced gamblers 2 on the last day of the trial.  I didn’t do any stretches with Jasmine before the run, and this may be the reason why her weaves are so choppy.  The drive was about 1.5 hours; it was the first the first run of the day, and the arena hadn’t yet warmed up.  Sorry Jasmine!!! 

Jasmine’s run for the A-Frame instead of the tunnel means that I really have work ahead of me so she’ll  see value in it.  : )  Interestingly enough, we had a “dog walk gambler” during our last agility lesson, and we were able to put it in practice today.  Unfortunately, I haven’t yet done discrimination exercises, so there was no way for Jasmine to know she was supposed to take the tire instead of the jump.  More research is required on my part to overcome this handicap…

Our best run, advanced jumpers 2, wasn’t filmed.  That’s too bad as it was our best run of the trial.  Ahhh.  I still have my memories.  : )  We received no Qs, because we were 1.68 seconds over, and we had 1 refusal.  Better luck next time!

This is Jasmine’s first trial as a veteran, which explains my reason in choosing the song for our video.

Fannie simply took in the sights, played frisbee, and just enchanted everyone.  : )

A new trail on a Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving isn’t a holiday observed by all cultures, and I’m a proof of this.  I first learned about it in second grade at school, when the teacher asked what the “horn of plenty” symbolised, and was quite surprised there was actually an answer to this. ; )  My family does get together during this weekend, but it’s no bigee if we don’t.  We do have supper (no turkey, sorry) and pumpkin pie (yum!), but that’s about it.  Sooooooo.  This year, it was a smallish gathering on Sunday consisting of my parents and myself, enjoying a pork roast and yes, pumpkin pie!  I drove back home later in the day, planning to use the Monday for a round of picture taking and walking with the dogs.  Here are the results.

I decided to walk downtown to see if I could take some interesting shots.  Yes, we are in “Scottish” Ontario country.

It certainly made me giggle!

Then, we were off to one of our favorite walking trails.  I haven’t really explored this site since last Fall.  Most of the trials were badly damaged by trucks, or closed to the public.  I then heard that the organisation responsible for this park was doing a lot of work in 2011, which would explain the damage brought by trucks.

Here is a very happy Fannie, leading the way.  I decided to take a different trail this time, and I finally found the creek the park is named after, to Jasmine and Fannie’s joy!  This is the part that was closed to visitors last year.

This is Jasmine’s kind of creek.  It’s shallow, and doesn’t have a strong current.  Yay!  Both dogs smelled the water quickly, and ran towards it.  Once they had splashed themselves silly, they chased each other for a good five minutes.  Needless to say I was looking forward to all the peace and quiet rest they would need to recharge their batteries later on.  ; )

Close to the creek there was this very old tree.  To my great joy, Fannie climbed it and was exploring it.  Here is the shot I took of her.

We we walking, and as I turned on my left to check out what the dogs were looking at, I see this great picture opportunity.  I quickly grab my camera and go “click”.  I was quite proud of myself. 

The look on my face when I notice the yellow ribbon on that tree?  Priceless….

At one point in the trail, you encounter is well maintained area with trees, planted in a neat row.  We took the time to rest a bit, well, Jasmine and I did.  Fannie was too busy explory and playing hide and seek with Jazz.  ; )  Jasmine never budged from her spot.

Yep, this is the missed shot of the day.  I wasn’t patient enough to call Fannie closer to me.  Sigh.  By the way, Fannie caught her first tick in that park….

We still fun!