CindyH

Hmm, I was at the RAT trial this weekend, but was learning to scorekeep USDAA, since I don't compete in that venue those accumulator sheets were like Greek to me! Plus I can't believe that all the scoring is still handwritten intead of using a computer program. So I spent my weekend there not watching any runs and in a daze most of the time But the food was wonderful, and I agree that RAT's a great club! I'll be at ZAP on Saturday trying for those last Regular points so Daphne will be all Elite and we can start working on her NATCH. As far as adding to the very complete list of what to bring to a trial...depending on which club is sponsoring......HUMAN FOOD!! Some clubs are great with Hospitality and provide breakfast items through wonderful hot lunches by either donation or volunteering, but some......well let's just say, better bring your own...... Cindy

Hey it was great to meet you too Laura! I saw the very end of one of Wick's runs (last jump) She looks like a fun teammate! Are you going to Chuckanut in October? It's a two ring trial instead of a three ring...much better chance to watch others run.

Nicely Done!! Looking forward to seeing her (and Wicked) in action!

Daphne has been on Diethylstilbestrol for a few years now for incontinence. Same scenario as your girl. Wetting in her sleep but otherwise being completely housetrained. She was not an early spay, but by the time she was approx 3 years old we really had to do something about it. She was started on Diethylstilbestrol once a day for five days, then on a maintenance of one capsule twice a week. She has shown no ill-effect in her bloodwork. We call them her bitch pills About the same time we started her on the medication she learned how to bark, became somewhat snotty with other dogs and generally just came into her own, BUT she was also at that magic age where they start to mentally mature, so I can't say that it was the meds that brought it on. Honestly I think it's just her personality!!

For a minute there I thought he might be Mac who's been listed on the PNW BC Rescue site as lost for about two months. This one has too much black on his front legs though. Hope both get reunited with their families. :-( Cindy

Hi Alaska, I've never competed at either trial, friends of mine do though, and there are good reports for both venues. We're usually out of town during the Mega Dogs trial, but last year I was able to go and watch one day. It didn't seem out of the ordinary madhouse. The big plus for Mega Dogs is it's a three day trial, and since you travel so far it'd give you an extra day! Down side is, it usually fills fast and many people don't get in. I'm hoping to enter this year. Everyone I know that has competed at the Feelgood trials LOVE them and look forward to the next one!! I just read the thread where you're considering not flying with your dog anymore, hopefully Alaska Airlines will take care of the problem and you can continue to trial.

Wow, that's amazing, I think I'd prefer that over the 40-plus that I see here. Our next trial will be the first time competing in Open. Although we're still looking for those last 15 points in Regular, she's got Outstanding titles in Gamblers, Jumpers and Tunnlers. Notice that we are lacking in the classes that require contacts and/or weaves? I've retrained contacts with the clicker, successfully so far, and got competition weave poles for Christmas!!! We're ready to rock!! I had planned on working towards her Triple Superior in every level, but when she turned 7 reality hit me. She's very capable of being a NATCH dog but I don't trial much and I'd hate to run out of time, so we're movin' on up!!

Well then you need to start competing in Washington!! We have quite a few down this way. My best agility friend goes to the Feel Good trials, and she's been "encouraging" me to add that to my list of 'go-to's' this year. And yes, I hear they are alot of fun (and they put on a pretty good spread for the workers, if I'm remembering my info correctly, I obviously have trouble with that ) I've recently made the decision to quit playing around in Novice and go for Daphne's NATCH, it's exciting to have a lofty goal!! I've seen pictures you've posted of Wicked's tongue.......no need for the Humunga-Tunga toy for her

Oops, my mistake, I guess they only compete AAC. We're hoping to make our international debut at their May trial, we need Q's in Regular more than anything else!!

Feel Good Dog Sports hosts AAC trials >feelgooddogsports.com< they might have be able to give you suggestions. Good Luck!

Our team has two tri Border Collies, one Rat Terrier, and two Corgis (one Cardigan, one Pemmie)We did the Agilympics last winter with the same team, it was a hoot!

Hey Stafford, You're coming up for the Agilympics? What team are you on? I'll be sure to look for you. We're "Disney Princesses on Dirt" Just look for wacky costumes and you'll find us!! Daphne will be Ariel the Little Mermaid!!

Thanks everyone, I've been encouraging him to use target plates, and now maybe he'll listen . She was raised for livestock work, has an incredible amount of eye, is quite intense, and got rough enough with the stock that she was given to him since the breeder had her littermates that were better herding prospects. These foundation classes he's been taking haven't moved forward quickly enough IMO and she believes that what she's supposed to do is watch him constantly. It goes way beyond him feeding her by hand. I'll have him check out the Clean Run articles too! Thanks!

A friend has a young dog that he's training for agility. The foundation classes he's been taking has been working on developing focus in the dog. This has really backfired and now she will not work away from him at all. She will go through one obstacle and then turn and come back to him. He's having a difficult time even teaching things like weaves because she is so velcro. Any suggestions to get her working out from him, or even just keeping her going forward?

All the time

Liz, Thanks for the visual, it's priceless I've watched my first run that by some miracle I haven't erased. Aside from slipping and almost landing on my butt, I gave the term flailing arms a whole new meaning!!

This made me laugh out loud, it could be me saying it After being in agility for 5 years, we still compete at the Novice level (thank goodness NADAC lets us) although Daphne could be a National level competitor, I'm certainly still a Novice handler

I agree with you Julie, it's about having fun with your dog!! And believe me, my Daphne has a blast. I compete against the course, not other teams. Heck, my happiest runs have been when we've trained really hard for something and we accomplish that, even if we don't Q! I think we must be thinking of two different scenarios with the running contacts. What I have seen people around here train for, there would be no mistake that the dog was in the contact zone and in control of themselves. The exception would be the NADAC teeter that is very specific about what is allowed and the dog must ride the teeter all the way down with all four feet in contact with the equipment. I, myself do require a stop on all contacts, I know my dog too well, and realize that to her, running contacts will soon become non-existant contacts. My favorite top competitor to watch has blazingly fast dogs and there are off courses, but both her and her dogs come out of the ring with smiles and her dogs know they are the best dogs in the world no matter what has happened on course!! I tend to avoid the winning at all cost people, just not my style

Julie, Running contacts done correctly are easy to see, as the dog runs all the way down the piece of equipment with their head low. If the judge can't see whether the dog hit the contact, it's not what I think of as a true run-through contact. It's goes back to if a toenail gets in, technically the dog has hit the contact, but is it what you really want? It's all about choosing your criteria and sticking with it. Do I use run-through contacts? No. Have I accepted a technically correct contact that's not what I trained for just to get a Q? Unfortunately, yes. But I've trained myself not to accept that now. I walk the course very much like you, deciding where I need to be to keep my dog on course and the flow going, never thinking in mathimatical terms (I hate math). But the truth is that a fast well run course that does flow seemingly easily is technically correct whether the handler thinks about it in those terms or not. Just like the ice skater or dancer that makes it all look so easy, without being technically correct they'd look more like me:) When handlers are trying to shave a fraction of a second off here and there, they are looking for the most efficient path for the dog. That can be in terms of having the dog jump closer to the jump standard to keep the dog from turning wide or even deciding on which side of the obstacle they need to be on. And yes, it's all about communicating with your dog. That said, I have no ambition to compete in Nationals and when asked what goals I want to achieve, I've always replied "To work better as a team and have fun!"

I am fortunate to live in an area where many of the top handlers/trainers in agility live and compete. There is a trend now to teach run-through contacts rather than 2on-2off, especially in NADAC where speed and distance are exemplified. To shave hundredths of a second off handlers are becoming better at analyzing the dog's and handler paths, agility is becoming very technical (and I thought I'd never need geometery in high school). Competitions at a National level may be lost or won by a hundredth of a second. Run-through contacts, trained properly, will bring the dog's head down and create a safer flow than even the stopping action of 2on-2off, in fact stopping on contacts can be detrimental to certain body structures, ie, short legged, long backed dogs. That said, I've never seen a dog previously trained to stop on contacts be consistant with retraining for run-throughs. Although I don't personally know Jef, he's well known to many people that I train and compete with and I have enjoyed watching him run his Lab, Milo, several times. Milo is the Border Collie of the Retriever world and a kick to watch, never seen such enthusiasum from that breed before!! Gael is a rescue that Jef won NADAC Nationals with a couple of years ago. I haven't witnessed or heard anything about him that would make me think he doesn't love or care about his dogs.

I want one!!

Thanks for the advice, and even though it's over the internet I think you've hit the nail on the head. I do have a hard time getting mad at her, her progress in many other areas just amazes me at times and I'm generally very pleased with my little dog! My trainer has told me that the down command is only to be given one time, but I'm not the Border Collie, it takes me longer to learn!! And Charlie, the real reason you're not at National Finals is that you'd rather remain mysterious and elusive!!

Hi everyone, I'm not new here, just usually a lurker, and I changed my displayed name. Used to be OCDBC which was chosen by my daughter as a joke, but it's just not true!! Anyway, just a little history. I started Daphne on sheep at about 2 years old, finances etc changed, and we went on sheep hiatus for over 3 years. About two months ago we started training on sheep again and have been working on building her confidence. Daphne has pretty nice flanks, good balance, and good stock sense. (so I'm told) The last two - three weeks her confidence has blossomed. Yesterday I was able to send her through a gate, to gather the sheep, and bring them back through the gate, the longest outrun she's ever done. Not once did turn back to me and check in. Here's the problem, since she's swimming in confidence now, I can't down her unless I'm almost on top of her, can't slow her down, and she brings those sheep at rocket speed!! Our trainer remarked that when I'm trying to down her that she's not even reacting, not even a flick of the ear, in other words, I'm not even in her world. He suggested that I work on obedience with her in between lessons. Away from sheep Daphne is very attentive, will drop on command, and listens to every word that comes out of my mouth. She is very soft and will grovel if I even look at her wrong. Around sheep, well like I said before, I'm just not in her world. Does anyone have suggestions of what I can do with her away from sheep that will hopefully transfer someday and get her to listen while around the woolies?? Thanks in advance.

Just thought I'd give an update on our progress. This last lesson I really got on her about blowing me off, then our trainer had me lie her down behind the sheep quite aways, me go around to the front, then ask her to walk up. Anytime she came on too fast, got too close, or started to waver off her straight line, I was to lie her down. Then have her walk up again until we had made it across the field. We did much better than I thought we would. This was accomplishing two things, (I am told ) 1. that even if she lies down, she can still come to her sheep. 2. Having her stop when she begins to break the straight line teaches her to use her eye to move the sheep, not her body. Boy, not only is she learning alot, so am I!!

Elizabeth, I usually work her in the pen, and our trainer often works her in the field, I know that he tells her to lie down on the balance, and she doesn't want to lie down then either. Of course when I'm working her, by the time I can get her to lie down, she is off balance. When she blows us off, she does get that worried look, like "I know I should, but, but, but..." I do think, like Barb, that it could be a case that she's worried about the sheep getting away. Our trainer has been pretty easy on her also, trying to keen her up some and she started to really turn on this last week. She's quit caring if he's working her and I'm standing in the field (she doesn't keep checking in with me), and she'll do a longer outrun than before. Barb, thanks for the advice, we have a lesson tomorrow and I'll try the lie down when the sheep can't get away. Of course, I get the feeling he thinks that I need more training that Daphne