We headed out to our third show yesterday, didn't get placed this time, in fact we picked up five faults on our first run, Womble was in pogo mode so I stopped, got her focus by doing a couple of jumps with her at heel and then continued at our usual pace, she did really well after that.
We were eliminated from this one for three refusals.
However, I felt team Womble did so much better, well Womble did! We've been working on confidence and trying to get her a bit further away from me, it didn't work in the middle section but after her exit from the tunnel in to her left turn, she was so much better.
These videos, and training videos, are so helpful, I can see where I went wrong, I peeled away too soon from her second tunnel, why, because I was more focused on how I was going to pick her up from the following jump and get her on the correct side for the next tunnel. Whilst I had a plan in my head, I forget her confidence is still building and she needed a bit more support from me for that second tunnel. Third tunnel, I should have given her the command to jump as she went in to it so she knew where to go on exit, instead she looked for puffing & panting me. She was ready for a walk down in her cool coat afterwards, why don't they make them for humans???
I'm congratulating myself on getting my left & rights correct - you have to take the small wins!
Well, that's it from Womble for a few weeks, she is off for a girlie op tomorrow, so some enforced rest & recovery for her and more time for me to focus on Radar.
First though ...... it's the dog show at Shouldham next Saturday which includes an obedience demonstration with Minky - we are debating who is going to work her ...... maybe we both will - and a challenge the judge session after the dog show.
Hope to see lots of you there!
Couple of weeks ago we went to our first agility show, we did ok and thoroughly enjoyed it, so we went to another one today....... we only got placed 3rd & 2nd in our classes, very proud of Womble and all the work we have put in.
So many dogs were eliminated, I made a couple of observations......
If your dog isn't focusing on you, you haven't done enough training at very basic levels, this should all be done before you decide on any discipline. One dog picked up someone's treat box and bolted off with it, owner chasing and calling achieved nothing.
If you're not prepared and haven't bothered to walk the course, all you've done is set your dog up for failure - as well as wasting the entry money!
I also realised what a fantastic instructor we have. Week in, week out, he pulls me up for not getting my commands in soon enough, or inconsistent use of commands. He asks what route I'm taking then questions why, that makes me think that bit more. I hate it when he points out where I went wrong, but that puts me right! He also did not allow us to compete until he knew we were ready, he hasn't set us up for failure, he's made sure it's all been positive for us.
So, whatever you do in life, learn those early skills, put the work in, prepare and make sure you find a good instructor/trainer/coach.
Added bonus for me today, when George finished training some of your dogs, he came along to support us, lovely surprise for both of us, Womble very happy to see her dad 🐾💕
Today I learnt something........ if you really want to do something, don't let anything stop you!
We had a fantastic first agility show today. Our first event we picked up 5 faults but still got a respectful 7th. Our second event we got a clear round, placed 7th.
I never expected a clear round, I am literally buzzing..... and I nearly sent Womble over the wrong jump🤦🏼♀️
For me agility is more than me and Womble, it's also the people I train with week in, week out, whatever the weather. Its also my fantastic instructor, not sure how he puts up with me when I'm in stropzilla mode, guess like George, he ignores me🤷🏼♀️.
So to Tuesday night training team and Gemgray Dog Training THANK YOU, cakes will be on me this week!
Whatever you do with your dog E N J O Y!
We hired the agility school today because I wanted, and needed, to do some extra work with Womble.
We took the other dogs too so they could all have a little fun.
Minky is 9 now, apart from little jumps in the garden, she hasn't done agility. As you will see, she didn't really know what I wanted, probably because she's so used to being at my heel, here she was being asked to work away from me.
I broke it down into sections for her and with a lot of support, she got it.
Can you teach old dogs new tricks? Of course you can with time, patience, in small steps and always with the favourite reward 🥎.
She's now happily chewing on her bone💕🐾💕
Poodle Pup, Poods and Otter .... just three of his names .... worked with a couple of dogs today, I rounded his day off with a simple little search for him, or was it?
Always start your dog off with easy searches at ground level, progress them by hiding things in harder places and at different levels.
So yes, a simple search for Otter but not a first time search.
It's taken quite a while for this relationship to develop, Minky isn't really one for playing, a reflection of me, a serious girl, so it's really nice to see this play.
What's interesting though, is when Otter decides he would like join the game.
Can you see what Womble is communicating to him, more to the point, how she is making that communication?
I'd be really interested to see what you all think, it's worth watching just to see that communication at the end.
Yesterday I mentioned Womble needing 'brain drain' more commonly known as mental stimulus.
This can be as easy or difficult as you like.
This one is easy/medium. All I've done is scatter broken up spratts in the grass, some of it landed in the longer grass at the edges, some in easier short grass. I then called the dogs, waved my arm across the area and said "find find.
At some points, the girls in particular, walk away from the area, then they return. This is because the scent has weakened, telling them they're going in the wrong direction.
You'll see I chuck a load up, unfortunately it landed on the bare path🤦🏼♀️.
If I want to make it really hard, I hide things under objects, ie tiny piece of spratt under a large stone.
Remember, searching is great for topping up their half empty cup, and, their sniff rate increases from 7 per second, up to 22 per second, no wonder it relaxes them.
An hour ago, this lovely dog would of lunged at me, not to eat me, she thinks everyone is her friend and she should be allowed to drag her mum to greet everyone. However, other people don't see it like that.
Now, you might be say 'you've been working with that dog for an hour, she knows you now'. I would say fair comment. Remember, this dog wants to greet not eat, so it doesn't matter who it is or how well she knows them, we saw this demonstrated with members of her family.
Hasn't this pair done well today 👏
Womble has been returning from her walks slightly hyper. This tells me she needs a bit more 'brain drain', so today, they were given a search to do whilst they were out.
To chill them all a bit more, they get bone chew time now we are home.
Minky can't decide which one she wants💕🤣🐾
Took Radar to agility tonight, it's very much been Womble's thing although something I felt he would enjoy, once he understood what I wanted him to do.
As usual, I made plenty of mistakes, we learn from those, I find it useful to watch videos and see where I go wrong .
He had one session at the beginning of the year when I started the journey with Womble, nothing since then so all in all I'm really pleased with his first proper session, all we need now is a regular slot for him.
You haven't had an agility update for a while! We are still loving it and progressing together.
We always encourage you to keep going with your dog, whatever discipline you are working on.
It would have been very easy to give this up, if I tell you we started in February, it has taken this long to get Womble to run over the dog walk.
For weeks she would only go part way up following a sprat trail! Last week she was comfortable at slow pace but I knew I needed faster. I was overjoyed at the speed she did it last night, not so over joyed at the flying leap at the end but we will work on that.
I've worked at her speed, not mine or the other dogs in the group, HER speed, she has gained in confidence and last night she made me run.
Whatever you're doing, just keep going, like me and Womble, you will get there when the time is right for your dog.
If you would like a go at agility or hoopers, get in touch with Gemgray Dog Training, you won't regret it.
We love our agility sessions, especially when Womble has finally mastered the dog walk! It has taken weeks and weeks of patience and spratts to get there, tonight she totally nailed it.
I let her down at jumps 4 & 5, consequently she was not in the right position for the tunnel, she rescued me (again) and we went on to do a lovely jump 7 with a good turn from me to take her into her final jump, ending up with the A frame.
Tonight the good bits far outweighed the bad, the most important bit though is the fun we have together.
So chuffed with her tonight.
We often break your training down into little segments. Same applies to our training at agility each week.
This one was more for my benefit so that I got my turn right. I had a little bit of spratt on my left hand to encourage Womble round behind the jump, then swapped it to my hand right hand, two reasons for this, I wanted her to follow my right hand but it also helped my body go the right way.
I may have also given her a little "feeding frenzy" before we started the exercise, just to make sure she knew where the spratt was🙃
I was at fault after the second jump but Womble rescued the situation.
We have been working on her driving forward exiting the tunnel so I was over the moon at her run to the final jump.
Not shared any agility progress for a while, we are still loving it ...... even in the rain
For those of you that would like to try agility and are thinking my dog can't do a full course ..... neither can we yet....... here is an example of how we work on different parts.
We need to work on 'wait' but for this exercise we are going over a jump and on to the A frame, making sure our dogs make contact where they should. I have Womble taking this slowly because I want her to get it right as opposed to working on correcting something that's wrong ..... like 'wait'
Second run this evening, not worked out why Womble didn’t jump the second jump, it will be my error, again I went wrong after the tunnel - you will probably see me in the park with my kit practising that - and this time she didn't need my expert ball throwing skills to finish🤣
If you would like to have a go please get in touch with either me or Gemgray Dog Training. If enough of you want to have a go, I'm more than happy to arrange a small group session with them for you.
Not given you an agility update for a while. We are both still loving it. Mistake from me today as Womble came out of the tunnel and I realised running and throwing her ball over the final jump to encourage her to drive forward, doesn't work for me🤣
We had a fabulous afternoon at Shouldham Village Fete.
Always nice to get out and meet new people and some lovely dogs and how lovely to see some children entering too.
Lots of dogs came along to challenge the Judge and we saw a few more more after the show had finished.
Well done to everyone for entering and having a bit of fun with their dogs.
Thank you for inviting us along.
