January 28

I need to catch up big time with Morgan's training log. We've done quite a bit of training since our lesson last week and then we had our third lesson today. So I will take it chronologically. After our lesson, I really didn't train at all on Friday but on Saturday, I set up the 2 weave poles and we practice doing them with me rotating 180 degrees around the poles. She was able to dive through the middle no matter where I was standing and as long as there were cookies involved she was happy going after them. We did the jump chute with me NOT dropping my hand and she did it well. We also started doing it with me moving and I was able to get all the way to jump 3. She did great. We did it on both sides and then quit.

On Monday, we went to Tom's house again to practice and he had us drive by the house and Jake was a very good boy and didn't even look up at us. We drove by 3 times. Good boy! After that I took Morgan in and we practiced the teeter. She is way past that part of the training but we still don't have the 2o2o to proceed. we did the weave poles and I tried to use the kix which were kinda yellow but they kept getting lost in the grass anyway. I'm going to need big pieces of something for her to really see the cookies I throw in the grass. That didn't work as well as I had hoped.

We did the pinwheel jumps. Tom says that I wasn't back chaining, but front chaining and I get what he meant. I was doing the first jump over and over. I'm not sure that is what she really wanted me to do but it's what I remember but maybe it got jumbled up inside somehow. To back chain is what we did with the jump chute. We did the last jump first so I think I was really doing it backwards. But, hey, it worked. She was jumping through that pinwheel, bouncing away. I didn't try to get much distance but that is what I'll try to work on this week. I'm not supposed to jump her again tomorrow but on Saturday I'm going to try to back chain it for real. Meagan had us do something completely weird and different today (she called it the devil jumps) but I'll get to that when I write my 'lesson blog.'

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we practiced backing her up on the steps, helping her get in touch with her back feet. I forgot to practice with a ladder but will do that this week. We also have the platform we can use. On Wednesday she was really beginning to 'get it' Tomorrow we'll work those props with her as well as the 2o2o travel plank. The last thing we worked on is 'side' I am trying to teach her to go to my right side. She was beginning to come to the right side when I pointed to it but the left is her default side.

2nd Lesson

Morgan and I had our second lesson on Thursday. It was a rainy ikky day but the lesson is inside in a beautiful building so no problem! Anyway, we didn't practice but one time since the previous lesson so we didn't make much progress. We may have the same problem next week. I had more edits on my book yesterday and today and I have a grant proposal that is due on Monday. Anyhoo, here is the scoop.

Morgan was knocking down bars when she made the turn towards me at the end of the jump chute. I couldn't figure out why but according to Meagan, I was dropping my hand and, of course, Morgan's nose went down with my hand. Duh! When I remembered to keep my hand up, she didn't knock a bar. (It's usually the handler, right?).

I was doing the 2X2 thing wrong too. She was supposed to go through the poles and then I was to throw the food, not being lured by the food by throwing it first. Got it!

Morgan has the worst time on the dogwalk. This was not a problem in the past, that I recall, but now she has absolutely no idea where her hind legs are or that they exist. As a result, it is very difficult to teach her to put just her hind legs on the dogwalk plank. So I'm supposed to put her through her paces with a ladder and her pedestal so that she has more rear awareness. I did that long ago but obviously the lesson did not stick :-) I never was consistent in training this dog. I feel so bad about that.

One thing we did that was successful was the pinwheel with four jumps. Meagan back chains everything so we did the pinwheel with a back chain and Morgan caught on quickly. Once I stopped being so frantic about getting her to look ahead, she actually did it -- "Chill, Mom!"

I've got to teach Morgan to come to my right side. I think I'm going to call it something besides 'place' because it sounds way too much like 'close' which is what I use for heel position. Maybe I'll call it side. It sounds like right so if I teach her directions she won't be that confused :-)

The last thing we did was the A-frame box thingy. Morgan is supposed to pounce in the middle. She is supposed to get in there and then I drop the food for her and then throw it off the front. The idea is for her to pounce in the box and then bounce out. Silly girl spends all her time looking for the cookie. I think I am going to get some of those big cheese balls and see how they work--especially since we're working on grass. I KNOW she can see those things.

Well that's the scoop. I might try to get a little training in before it gets too dark tomorrow after the poodle club meeting.

New Program New Instructor-kinda

Well, I began to fulfill one of my new year's resolutions. That is that Morgan and I had our first agility lesson last week. Yippee! We started everything over from scratch. We won't be doing most of that stuff we've been practicing for the past five weeks but I think that those weeks were worthwhile because it got Morgan to work with me. Today she even gave up trying to get the cat.

Now we are doing 2X2 weave poles. Since we are only working with 2 poles to begin with, she said it is okay to do it with my stick in the ground weave poles. I think this might just be fun for Ms. M.

In jumping we are doing the jump chute but with me standing to the side of the last jump. This worked great at the building but I must have been doing something wrong today because Morgan kept knocking the last jump. I'm not supposed to jump her tomorrow but I want to try one more thing before I give up. Only a couple of jumps in the afternoon.

We are also going to learn running A-frame contacts. It is something she likes to teach and it is something that I wanted to do with my standard poodle. I just think the 2o2o position is too hard on their bodies as long legged as standard poodles are. Anyway, we ARE doing 2020 for the dog walk. Meagan's idea is that you get a little extra time to catch up on the A-frame but not so much on the dog walk. You end up running along side the dog on the dogwalk and they can definitely beat you to the end. She has this cool box that Morgan is supposed to pounce into.

I haven't had any time to practice since our lesson. On Friday I had work stuff to do and then there was the trial set-up and Saturday and Sunday was the obedience trial of which I am chair. So no time for agility. Morgan didn't even go to the obedience trial because she hadn't been groomed and I didn't want to embarrass us :-)

I'm hoping to work a little with her tomorrow and Wednesday so we won't be total screw ups for our lesson on Thursday.

Kathy

Lazy Sunday

I didn't plan on training today but when I decided not to take Morgan for a walk in the park, I needed to do something to compensate. I decided that putting up her stick in the ground weave poles was an appropriate compensation. My hip was KILLING me from lugging all the Christmas stuff back to the garage but I worked through it. I put in two lines of stakes, just about 3 inches apart to simulate channel weaves. When I tried Morgan on them, she just ignored the poles and wouldn't weave through them. I decided that I had the poles too close together since she did them so well yesterday. So I opened the channel one inch. What a difference it made. She whizzed right through them. The problem is that NOW I have to buy one of those little manners minders thingys so that she doesn't get the treat without doing the weaves properly. I don't think she is even aware of the weaves--just the target, right now.

I tried her on the new set up jumps according to Susan Salo method and she did outrageous bounces. I'm very proud of her. Now I have to go back a read about when I can move on to the next stage.

I was tempted to do more on the weave poles but w/o help in guarding the treats, I decided to quit while I was ahead :-)

BTW, it was amazing that once I started training Morgan, the hip pain went away. Now I know the cure for sciatica.

First agility training of the year

I bought several DVD's as a Christmas present to myself and Morgan. One is Dream Weaves with Ann Croft and the other is a 4-DVD set on jumping with Susan Salo. Morgan and I had our first agility training session of the year so I could try out what I learned.

We had been doing our weave backwards -- at least according to the Ann Croft DVD. We should teach the dog to drive from the last pole to the toy or treat and back up from there. Morgan was amazing. She just got faster and faster and didn't pop out of the poles once. We are going to have to move them closer and closer very quickly. These are the channel weaves. Croft next wants us to go to the weavomatic with the slanted poles. Those are hard to do with our stick in the ground weave poles but for now, we will work on just the channel weaves.

On the jumping, according to Susan Salo's program, we had skipped the first step which is to help the dog figure out its footing. So we went to two jumps, the first with practically no height at all and the second with just 16 inches. I think we had the jumps a little too far apart because Morgan was taking an extra step. I will probably move the jumps close together when we practice in our own back yard tomorrow.

Morgan is doing okay on the teeter training but we have GOT to start the 2o2o training. She is all over the little travel board and really does not understand it. I need to hurry up and fix mine (tomorrow's project) and start training on it.

I am very happy with her progress and because we have switched to doing only two repetitions of any exercise, she is more engaged and happy and doesn't turn off. Worked like a charm. We just did circuit training --did two reps on each exercise moved on to the next. After we went through everything, we started from the beginning and repeated each one with two reps. Done. Happy Happy poodle and we go home.

Tom has been very patient with Morgan as we all try to figure this stuff out.