And finally, this is the actual run. You can see the massive recall I had to do after the second tunnel. I thought she was faulted for that, but she didn't technically run past the next jump (see the blue line in the previous post). It was a messy run and I still can't believe we won it 😂
What a weekend! We spent 3 days at Wessex Agility Show and had a fantastic time. Results are below, but the main highlight was winning into Grade 4! Olive did a cracking Agility run, winning the class. She then won another Agility class the day after!
And not only did she win into Grade 4, but she collected the last of the points she needed to get the Silver Agility Warrant! So she can use the title AW(S) now. It's lovely she did those two things at Wessex as we did their show in September where she won into G2 and got the last points for her Bronze Warrant.
Friday:
Jumping C1-3 8th 5f
Agility G1-3 4th 5f
Agility C1-3 8th 10f
Steeplechase C1-7 2nd Clear
Saturday:
Jumping G1-3 3rd Clear
Agility G1-3 1st Clear
Steeplechase C1-4 3rd Clear
Sunday:
Agility G1-3 1st Clear
Jumping G1-3 4th Clear
Jumping C3-4 Clear
Agility G1-3 5th Clear
This video was her winning run yesterday. 29 seconds and working so far away from me, lovely contacts and pulled off a really nice rear cross which is something she's only recently got the hang of. Coming out of the ring I felt elated by that run, she did everything I asked and more. Even at the end of the 3 days she gave it her all in every run. I can safely say she genuinely loves Agility :)
(This run was rapid but I think Facebook speeds up the videos on this page!)
Another mixed day at Tunbridge Wells Agility Show. Only 3 runs on offer today.
Run 1:
Clear, but at 2 points where we lost time meaning we weren't fast enough to place. Olive waited for me atop the A frame 🤦♀️ I should have been the other side but I was trying to protect the jump after and send her into the tunnel without being E'd. Then I just didn't send her on enough to the next jump so she was lucky not to get a refusal on that. It's a shame it was a combined run as she was the fastest Grade 3 clear, so if it was graded she would have won it but nevermind.
Run 2:
An unfortunate and not usually be common fault missing the contact on the dog walk. I've actually bought a Running Contacts book to learn how to do them so I think this might be a winter training project for later in the year. I then called her in too early making her run past a jump picking up another 5 faults. Knowing I may as well trash this run I pushed the last bit of the course with some layering I probably otherwise wouldn't have tried and she did that well.
Run 3:
Less said about this the better 😂 From very first opportunity it went wrong! Olive Brook her wait (she never does!) so I wasn't where I needed to be and she failed to do a backside jump from such a distance so we almost immediately E'd. She just went bananas and kept running at absolute top speed to any obstacle in a straight line, not really listening at all as she was having too much fun making up her own course 😂 It was full of long runs ending in sharp turns.
Positives: Her seesaw was spot on in both Agility runs, something she recently had been taking too fast and jumping off twice in previous competitions. And her weaves continue to be very consistent and fast, 6 months ago she was occasionally a bit hit and miss sometimes.
Oo I didn't post Olive's jumping run. Just a clear here as it wasn't that fast and a lot of dogs ran clear on this one. Was a nice flowing course and I managed two blinds one after the other, something I need to get braver at when I'm competing! (I feel like I'm running quite fast when I'm actually in the ring but watching this back I can't believe how embarrassingly slow I look 😂😂😂 I must put more effort into getting faster!)
Olive's Agility run. Managed a rear cross into the first tunnel, rears are something we're not great at so I was pleased to get one in. This run went smoothly but could have been a bit faster. I wanted to do a Ketschker instead of a pivot on the jump after the second tunnel but chickened out for some reason. And I'll need to sort her A frame out as she very narrowly missed the contact on that. If you slow down the footage you can see she does make it with the toes of a back foot but only just. I applaud the judge for having such a keen eye to notice that! This is the run she came 3rd in.
Since Facebook only let's me post one video at a time, this is our jumping run. A shame we lost some time infront the tunnel because I wasn't far enough along, I assumed she'd just take it but she needed a bit more support. Otherwise, probably could have been a bit tighter in places but it was a lovely flowing course and suited her well :) (really pleased she got the weave entry as shooting out of two tunnels builds speed and I thought she might overshoot the entry but she went in fine).
Nice day at Agility Ability KC Show in Norfolk, one I've not been to before. Absolutely freezing, -5 degrees when we arrived at 8am and didn't get above zero until about lunch time...
Now...this run...it was a combined grades 1-3 class and laden with traps. An interesting challenge. It was the first run of the day and Olive was extra excited (she's often a bit loopy at indoor shows). She almost fell for nearly every trap, of which there were many, but she listened just in time to be pulled off and do the next obstacle in the correct order.
The bit just before the weaves was rather messy. I should have been further down the line towards the a frame as I got in her way a bit and I could have blocked the A frame better. She very nearly got eliminated for touching the A frame but just about like back enough for me to calm her down and reset her towards the weaves. Then I pulled her towards me before the seesaw which I don't think I needed to do in the end by I was worried she would do the start jump as that was more obviously in her line. And finally, she very very nearly did the last jump before she shouldn't have after flying out of the tunnel but we saved it just about!
This was a hilariously messy run and somehow it was a clear round! In fact, the only clear round so in a hollow victory she won the class with this 😂
She got another clear round but didn't make the placings and her other two runs were E's.
One more Agility win to get to Grade 4 and 94 more points to get the Silver Agility Warrant...
Last weekend we went to DBDT Agility show. Olive is certainly picking up speed lately, but it's coming with her assuming the next obstacle is whatever she thinks it is lol. In some cases I now need to get my cues in earlier, and I'll need to start practicing more technical courses so she doesn't assume they're all flowing with straight runs. She's got the confidence to be independent and do some lovely distance work, but I need to support more closely her and connect with her a lot more in our runs now to stop her making it up as she goes along. Still, we managed a clear 4th place in the Jumping (video below). I got us E'd in the other Jumping run by forgetting the course 🤦♀️ Then in the Agility she just went BERZERK. It was actually pretty funny to be honest, she had the best time, she thought she did brilliantly anyway 😂
Then today we did Kelluki. Again a bit wild in the Agility so we took a breather, reset and ran the last half of the course fine after being E'd. She managed a nice calm and clear 3rd in Jumping, a lovely clear in Steeplechase (it was a nice, straightforward course as you'd expect in Steeplechase which makes a nice change from the unkind "Steeplechase" courses I've seen recently!) and it all grades so a lot went clear. I think they placed to 8th and Olive was 10th, so just off the placings.
There was also Hoopers there. She came 1st I'm two of her classes, got a fault in another and E'd in another because of a mistake I made. The one with the fault was interesting though. The timer didn't work and she ended up running that 4 times before they finally fixed it! Unfortunately she picked up 5 faults on the first run, and in Hoopers if you rerun it the faults get carried over. If I'd remembered that I wouldn't have let her run it again.
She does absolutely love competing. When we arrive and she realises where we are she looks all happy, smiley and waggy. I think we've only got one Agility show between now and the end of January if I e
Olive Agility run
A mixed day at WAG Agility show yesterday. Only 3 runs. Our first run was ok, Olive was a bit concerned that the lead collector (the person that takes your lead and anything else from you at the start of your run) took away her bag full of treats and kept looking where them before we set off 😂, but once released from the start line she ran fairly well apart from missing the weave entry, which was slightly tricky entry from the jump she has to come from, and having to make a second attempt because of it.
It was about 3 hours until the next run, but worth the wait as she went clear with a nice time, just outside the placings with an un placed 4th where it was placed to 3rd. It was loopy course with a wind wrap on the first jump and a tricky-ish weave entry.
We didn't run the last course until 6pm...it was a long day. This is the run in the video. Probably the longest Agility day I've done! This run had a very difficult and fiddly beginning where we had to navigate a plethora of traps in the few obstacles. It also felt a bit crowded. However, I enjoyed the challenge and it definitely made me think about how I'd handle that next time. Olive unfortunately fell fowl of the seesaw being very close to the jumps and had a bit too much value in targeting that particular obstacle. You can see she keeps trying to get to get it, even coming off an obvious line into the tunnel to do so. Although this caused her to be eliminated early in the run, it meant I relaxed and took risks with distance handling. I was really pleased with how the rest of the run went. She was the most drivey she'd been all day and seemed really keen and happy to be in there. She sometimes slows up on pivots (this is something I'm working on), and there were a lot in this course! But she drove on nicely and didn't go too wide which was also good. I was particularly pleased with her entrance into the weave. There was a huge distance between the tunnel and the weaves. A tunnel often increases the dogs
Olive Steeplechase
I set out this week's course with some skills in mind I wanted to test. I made it a bit harder than intended but it was fun to rise to the challenge and finally get that tricky serpentine-y bit in the middle. It did take a few attempts with Olive, here's the clear round. Pancake happened to go clear on this first time! But of course I didn't film it 🤦♀️
Simple Steeplechase training
Reflecting on recent competitions I've decided to try getting Olive to push out and enhance our distance handling. She tends to do well with distance and layering on very flowing courses like the beginning of this one, which is where we begin to build confidence. She manages the initial spiral here as well as I hoped and we got some layering in. I could/should have got across quicker to do that blind but I was pleased how she pushed out to the triangle at the back, enabling me to simply do a front cross wing wrap combo before the final stretch to the end instead of having to do another blind on that stretch or an awkward rear into the tunnel.
Olive Steeplechase
We went to a UKA show yesterday! I usually do KC competitions, and it was nice to get to know how UKA works. It was relaxed and friendly and geared up to be accommodating for the handlers. I will still mostly do KC shows in order to strive towards our Agility Warrant and there aren't many UKA shows in a reasonable distance.
First time for Olive to compete in rings that were only roped. I was slightly wondering if she'd get distracted and say hello to a dog that lurked too close to the edge of the rings but didn't stray once.
Our first run was lovely apart from getting 5f for a jump refusal as she ran past it, possibly targeting her lead which left at the start still in the ring. So a frustrating error there but she did well otherwise.
The second run was also a bit frustrating and is the one in this video. We picked up 5f but I wasn't sure where. After over-analysing the video it looks like the judge gave 5f a couple of jumps after the first tunnel but then retracts it. The results still show 5f so I can only think she gained it at the very end when she span infront of the last jump coming out of the tunnel. I cropped that off the video as I want to remember the good bits!
Next run was Agility, I didn't get time to walk the course and I E'd her because I got lost 😂 Otherwise a reasonable run apart from at one point she got a bit distracted as she possibly targeted my friend who was standing outside the ring ha ha. Something we need to work as I don't want people to have to hide when I run her!
At this point, I was tired, aching and a bit bummed we hadn't had a clear round yet (although I pleased Pancake did get a clear!) The last run we finally ran clear and even placed 3rd! I felt like we were a team again and who doesn't like going home with a rossette 😂
Agility
I haven't posted in a while. Olive's second birthday is coming up next month! I've got a whole host of agility shows lined for her and big list of training exercises I've outlined for her to practice the things we need to work on.
Aside from specific technical things we need to practice such as rears, ketchkers, blinds, weaves entry, rears into weaves, wrong end tunnel entry, wing wraps, layering...the list is long! We need to work on our speed. At a competition in her first couple of runs she's usually pretty fast. In the last two runs of a competition or at the end of a training session she does flag. As do I! We both need to improve our stamina and fitness so I'm in the process of thinking of something we can do together away from Agility to help with that. Some kind of beep test maybe 😂 It would be awesome if there was swimming pool nearby where dogs and people could use it together!
Agility
Another day, another Agility competition. We went to an independent show yesterday and Olive had a blast and I was pleased with how she ran. First up was an Agility course and she blasted that, just about getting the weave entry (this is something I need to work on, she's fine in my field but rarely gets the entry first time in other places as she's so excited to run) and ran clear, placing 3rd. Next up was Jumping, which she so nearly went clear but I didn't give her a clear enough signal on a wing wrap and she back-jumped it, eliminating herself. It was a nice run other than that. Finally, Steeplechase (in the video). Absolutely gutted she knocked a pole for taking off too soon, this is something she'll hopefully judge better with more experience and a bit more grid work training. Otherwise this felt great to run. I'm pleased I managed to get some layering in (tunnel at back towards the end of the run). Really enjoyed running her. She was focussed and enjoyed it which is always the main thing.
Agility Training
Training this morning. Really enjoyed running this course, it felt smooth and comfortable. As always, I like to analyse my videos!
🐕 Bit wide on the 1st wing wrap
🐕 Pleased with the weave entry (although it's an easy entry)
🐕 Needed to tell her to go on sooner on the 2 jumps before the dog walk
🐕 She stops too long on the dog walk contact, need to work on the release and maybe begin to learn running contacts
🐕 Course was 26 obstacles which is a bit long!
We've one more competition before the end of the year, just an independent, then 2 (maybe 3 if the entry is still open) KC shows in January. I'm hoping she gets her weave entry at a competition at at least one of those shows. She's much more excited and therefore faster at a show, which means she sometimes can't quite hold in her excitement enough to complete the weaves lol. She got better by the end of the last show so fingers crossed for a clear Agility round at some point :)
Olive Steeplechase
With this Steeplechase course I aimed to include some layering and object discrimination opportunities. She handles the easy bit of layering well (middle of the course where I send her to an outlet jump whilst standing behind another). She's taking her cues from my position and I'm blocking the jump I'm standing behind so it's quite obvious to her where she should go. With more training I hope to be able to stand further back so I can get into position for the next bit sooner so she's not slowed down by me being too far behind.
There a few points where I ask her to turn in a different direction that pulls her away from an obvious obstacle (e.g. when I ask her to wing wrap at a jump infront of a tunnel). She does have a habit of belting towards what she thinks is the next obstacle because that's what's infront of her. I need to get my cues in earlier too, and really think about my positioning (e.g. that front cross infront of the tunnel probably should have been a blind as I only just got there in time and I nearly interrupted her line. I would have had more time with a blind, I'll need to get us both good at those to give me time to get into place!).
There was an accidental object discrimination opportunity at the third jump where she runs really wide. Out of shot there's a Hoopers hoop at the side of the course she thought she should take, probably because my body language is telling her to go too far out and I turned too late.
I like to film training. It's interesting to analyse and helps me to see more clearly where to focus the next training session.
Olive's First Agility Show
Olive competed at her first ever Agility show today!
It was just a small independent show but good to get some practice in. She ran with enthusiasm and excitement in all three of her runs, definitely enjoying doing Agility. She was so over excited in her first run she ran very wide in places or just took the wrong equipment. Her second run was a lot better and she just about managed a clear round with a 6th place. She still ran wide and fast, sometimes guessing which way to go but she had just about enough focus to listen to me. I did have to employ use of her strong recall a couple of times! Her third run had some good bits but it was a super tough course for a brand new inexperienced dog.
I've learnt more about which things we will need to work on going forward. Tunnel traps, rear crosses between jumps without tunnels, getting my cues in nice and early, making my body language more obvious and accurate for what I want her to do, multiple direction changes and getting her to calm down enough to process my input 😂 That last one should come after she gets a few more shows under her belt but I'm really pleased she's so enthusiastic. She really does love her Agility.
This is a little montage of our better bits from today. She's such fun to run even if we did get 2 E's, but super proud she got a clear round at her first show at 18 months old :)
