WHOO HOOOO Crickets first fun run was a great experience-she did AWESOME for a baby dog, we walked away with a HUGE list of things we need to work on, but I was really happy and excited that the big things seem to be coming together nicely. Running the course was the least of my concerns and NOT my big training goal for the day. My goal was to give Cricket and I a chance to practice waiting for our turn, and see how she would do doing her agility with all the dogs sitting so closely-would she pay attention to what we were doing and stay focused on the task at hand? Would she run off to play with the other doggies or people? NOT TO WORRY-Little Miss Cricket was all about playing agility while we were on the course, I thought she would but it was a real confidence builder for me-HOW COULD I HAVE DOUBTED MY CRICKSTER?. I crated Cricket in the car for most of the runs, but did bring her out for a few runs before our turn each round. I worked on click/treat for quiet behavior and by the end of the fun run she was intently watching the other dogs but able to keep herself from going over the top--VICTORY!!!
We stopped and broke the course up -this was TRAINING and I wanted her to be set up for success. The first run was BEAUTIFUL, and I should have stopped there, LOL, the second run we had a little more trouble with the weaves and the Aframe, but the great thing was that Cricket was really understanding the handling. There was one point where it was a teeter, spread jump, Aframe all lined up in a row, but you needed to do a really tight right hand turn after the spread jump and before the Aframe. The other dogs there had a lot more experience but all the handlers used a pretty heavy call off to get that turn. Both my dogs read the front cross really well, collected over the spread and landed turned the direction we were going, WHOOO HOOO!
Breeze was another story, boy my hamstring was really hurting and I was not able to move well, and the course required a lot of Independence on the contacts to get to where you needed to be. ON a SUPER high note Breeze did fantastic with her contacts, really in dependant spot on contacts, a really straight down at the bottom of her aframe-I have been working on straightening out her position on the four on the floor-well, that looked great. I used a mat as a body target but I was very far away and she got into a great position. UGhghghghghg, all the work on weaves at home and boom she was having a heck of a time picking up the entry at a fun match ;-(. She has done so fantastic in practice I thought for sure we would ace those. Anyway running the course felt pretty sloppy and discouraging-but totally me and my handling.
This was a fun run at our club and it was funny that as I got ready for my last runs I got a really snide question asking if I was going to train this time or run the course? Like really? hahahahhaahah, this was a fun run for TRAINING and it did not count for anything. This particular group has a series of "tournaments" where they all compete and you are not allowed any training....so they have those available-they keep score and compete in teams against each other-so they have those available- but then they occassionally have these fun runs. I did not take a lot of time but I did stop with Cricket at critical points and reward when she got something well, I stopped before the Aframe so Cricket could get collected because we are not doing the Running Aframe in sequences yet...she is not there yet. I stopped at the end of the weaves and rewarded those. I rewarded Cricket holding her contacts. When Breeze was going over the spread jump --the one where she needed to collect and then do a hard right and pull off the Aframe she dropped the bar. I totally had not cued the collection and turn correctly and in time--well, I redid that jump and turn. So yea, I did take a few more minutes then the people just racing through the course. Gosh that is why you go to fun runs isn't it?
I was just surprised for a fun run that everyone did a hard call off with their dogs before the Aframe instead of practicing it and helping the dogs read the front cross there, and I did not see anyone else stop and reward their dog, all the other dogs have 2020 contacts but most people did let the dogs fly through their contacts. I just thought fun runs were for working on those things, sure not worth eroding your training for something that does not even count, this was not the finals in a national competition, no one was keeping score, but that is a super competitive little group. Not competitive in trying to develop more skills but just competitive with each other. On one point in the course they had the 21 in weaves out, and Breeze is not allowed to do 21 in weaves, so I rearranged that part of the course for myself, no big deal but everyone started yelling that I was going wrong on course. I really do not enjoy working in that particular group a lot and I have always had training partners in the past that really enjoy training too...so I don't notice all that type of stuff as much, but boy I sure miss having a friend to work with these days ;-)-WELL I mean a friend other then my two best buddies Breeze and Cricket, hahahaha, they are the best to train with-but some days a person who you can talk to would be fun too! LOL.
VACUUMS AND PROPOSED LAWS TO KILL FERAL ANIMALS
MY PRIVATE WAR ON FILTH-aka VACUUM WOES
We have a war on hair here in the CA desert. With five dogs, all long haired, a long hair cat, the wide open desert out our door, two kids, a PE teacher for a husband, I bet you can imagine the hair and dirt, and sand that is tracked into my house. My house really ought to be the test grounds for vacuums.
Last round of vacuum cleaners we got ended up with us getting a Dyson Animal. The Dyson worked really well for a couple of years, but you know they just don't make vacuums to last forever now days, actually very few things seem to be built to last now days. My husband is a bit....economical he would say, cheap I would say about things like vacuums. When the Dyson broke he tried to get it fixed but the parts would have made it more then a new vacuum. His solution...he went out without talking to me and bought this really cheap stick model vacuum cleaner, I think he really went all out in his mind and bought one that was like $39. Humm, keep in mind the desert, natural landscape back yard (dirt), five dogs, two kids,....You remember.
I was really mad he went out without even talking to me, but we nursed that thing along, and it has never done a good job. How did I know it was not doing well? Picture a nice evening with the family sitting in front of the TV, Breeze who gets pretty OCD about her ball starts drooling and the ball is soon covered with drool, it roles along the floor and is quickly a hairy rubber ball. GROSS! I keep having to chase Cricket down and grab hair ropes out of her mouth, and when Kimmie is clicker training and gets a treat from the floor she coughs and sputters trying not to swallow the hair that came with the treat. My house was embarrassing.
I got tired of the whole thing and was at Target and saw they had a Hoover Pet Vac on sale, so grabbed it on a whim. Not really cheap but definitely not expensive by vacuum standards. It was a really cool vacuum, the accessories were well planned and positioned on the vac and I could not believe how much it was picking up. The beater bar and the little hand vac attachment had rubber type material so it really did well with the hair. About two hours into our whirl wind cleaning session my youngest vacuumed up a sock, but realized it and turned off the vacuum right away but too late, the motor was fried. UGhghghghghgh, no good. So back to Target we went to return that vacuum and get another.
We get the new one and bravely continue the cleaning project. Within an hour that vacuum was smoking and smelled burned. SERIOUSLY! This time I made Bill take the vacuum back. I realize my house is a real vacuum challenge but vacuums are not tissues and not disposable and they should last more then two hours. Of couse Bill had instructions to return it and get a credit, or a refund. He comes home with a third of the same brand.....if you want something done right you have to do it yourself, when will I learn ;-).
Anyway, my hubby has not made peace with his anger at the Dyson for dying.... and I have had an Oreck that just did not get the hair well....so I did not know what to do. I saw a LG Kompactor vacuum at Target and it came with a $50 gift card, and a 5 yr warranty, and was quite a bit less expensive then the Dyson so the very large, heavy Kompactor came home with me.
The funny thing is we continued our cleaning mission...about an hour into it the vacuum will not work. The third vacuum will not work......WTF?????? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I grabbed the manuel and started checking everything and seems.....the filter was clogged and needed to be washed. THE FILTER THAT NEEDS TO BE CLEANED EVERY THREE MONTHS was CLOGGED.....AFTER AN HOUR!!! LOL, like I said my house should be a consumer guide test field for vacuums. I cleaned the filter and we are back in business, so hopefully.......The good news is that I can not find animal hair on the living room floor for the first time in a long time, I am doing the happy dance!
A REALLY SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS
My mom lives in Salt Lake. Usually their city is very animal friendly, and their animal rescue workers are tops. They do a lot of trap and release of wild cats, they trap them, spay or neuter and release them. There are some people trying to make a law that it would be fine to kill any animals a person has a belief are feral, check out what Steven Colbert has to say about the proposed law. Of course it would all be done humamely,....RIGHT!
We have a war on hair here in the CA desert. With five dogs, all long haired, a long hair cat, the wide open desert out our door, two kids, a PE teacher for a husband, I bet you can imagine the hair and dirt, and sand that is tracked into my house. My house really ought to be the test grounds for vacuums.
Last round of vacuum cleaners we got ended up with us getting a Dyson Animal. The Dyson worked really well for a couple of years, but you know they just don't make vacuums to last forever now days, actually very few things seem to be built to last now days. My husband is a bit....economical he would say, cheap I would say about things like vacuums. When the Dyson broke he tried to get it fixed but the parts would have made it more then a new vacuum. His solution...he went out without talking to me and bought this really cheap stick model vacuum cleaner, I think he really went all out in his mind and bought one that was like $39. Humm, keep in mind the desert, natural landscape back yard (dirt), five dogs, two kids,....You remember.
I was really mad he went out without even talking to me, but we nursed that thing along, and it has never done a good job. How did I know it was not doing well? Picture a nice evening with the family sitting in front of the TV, Breeze who gets pretty OCD about her ball starts drooling and the ball is soon covered with drool, it roles along the floor and is quickly a hairy rubber ball. GROSS! I keep having to chase Cricket down and grab hair ropes out of her mouth, and when Kimmie is clicker training and gets a treat from the floor she coughs and sputters trying not to swallow the hair that came with the treat. My house was embarrassing.
I got tired of the whole thing and was at Target and saw they had a Hoover Pet Vac on sale, so grabbed it on a whim. Not really cheap but definitely not expensive by vacuum standards. It was a really cool vacuum, the accessories were well planned and positioned on the vac and I could not believe how much it was picking up. The beater bar and the little hand vac attachment had rubber type material so it really did well with the hair. About two hours into our whirl wind cleaning session my youngest vacuumed up a sock, but realized it and turned off the vacuum right away but too late, the motor was fried. UGhghghghghgh, no good. So back to Target we went to return that vacuum and get another.
We get the new one and bravely continue the cleaning project. Within an hour that vacuum was smoking and smelled burned. SERIOUSLY! This time I made Bill take the vacuum back. I realize my house is a real vacuum challenge but vacuums are not tissues and not disposable and they should last more then two hours. Of couse Bill had instructions to return it and get a credit, or a refund. He comes home with a third of the same brand.....if you want something done right you have to do it yourself, when will I learn ;-).
Anyway, my hubby has not made peace with his anger at the Dyson for dying.... and I have had an Oreck that just did not get the hair well....so I did not know what to do. I saw a LG Kompactor vacuum at Target and it came with a $50 gift card, and a 5 yr warranty, and was quite a bit less expensive then the Dyson so the very large, heavy Kompactor came home with me.
The funny thing is we continued our cleaning mission...about an hour into it the vacuum will not work. The third vacuum will not work......WTF?????? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I grabbed the manuel and started checking everything and seems.....the filter was clogged and needed to be washed. THE FILTER THAT NEEDS TO BE CLEANED EVERY THREE MONTHS was CLOGGED.....AFTER AN HOUR!!! LOL, like I said my house should be a consumer guide test field for vacuums. I cleaned the filter and we are back in business, so hopefully.......The good news is that I can not find animal hair on the living room floor for the first time in a long time, I am doing the happy dance!
A REALLY SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS
My mom lives in Salt Lake. Usually their city is very animal friendly, and their animal rescue workers are tops. They do a lot of trap and release of wild cats, they trap them, spay or neuter and release them. There are some people trying to make a law that it would be fine to kill any animals a person has a belief are feral, check out what Steven Colbert has to say about the proposed law. Of course it would all be done humamely,....RIGHT!
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Mr. Smith Goes to the State Legislature Then Later Possibly Washington - Curtis Oda | ||||
| ||||
Sleep time!
Cricket is a nut, she sleeps on the bed right next to me, and is a real cuddle bug...but she likes to start out the night on her back, perhaps to show off the feckles on her tummy? Does that even look comfy?
meeting the relatives in San Diego this weekend...
some of Crickets relatives, and of course Cricket:
Cricket, Fusion, Twix, Synergy
On Saturday Cricket and I went to the San Diego area where her breeder was down from Oregon attending a trial. Getting Cricket has been a really different experience for me because I only met Cricket through photos before I got her and I had never met her breeder. It was a huge leap for me because I feel so strongly about making sure that anywhere I BUY a dog from is a place that I want to support and comes from dogs I like. Luckily I have some friends I really trust that gave good references, and I saw enough videos I felt pretty good getting the Crickster-but it was really nice to actually be able to meet Brittney-her breeder in person. I was impressed, Brittney was very nice, she seemed very knowledgeable, and we even got to see her run a dog at the agility trial we were at. Brittney had Fusion her dog who I have been watching in videos and have always liked-she is a 3/4 sister to Cricket so it was a treat to meet her in person. There were a few other owners from the area-it was fun to meet Crickets birth relatives and their people.
Some of you may have seen Pam's videos with Twix on youtube, She does some tutorials on tricks with her dogs Bandit, Twix and Isabella. I had emailed her when I heard Brittney was coming down and she came to meet us there too. I have talked to her over the net, but had never met her in person. Emily, who is Kikopup on youtube and does some fantastic tutorials was there with her doggies Splash and Tug. CRICKET LOVED TUG. Tug was the only dog that seemed to understand how Cricket likes to play. She likes to tug with other dogs and Tug seems to really enjoy that game too. I think he is the littlest dog she has played with and think it is safe to say he was a great ambassador for the small dogs. Splash is the sweetest dog ever, I really liked her.
And the BEAUTIFUL Crickster:
Cricket was a bit of a Freak at the trial to start with, boy I thought we had the impulse control stuff down and we have worked so hard on our recall, but there is a lot of instinct kicking in that little girls head and it is so hard for Cricket to resist going after running dogs. When we got there Cricket had been in the car for the 3 hour 20 min drive that seemed to last forever, it was still early morning so Cricket had so much pent up energy and seeing the dogs running agility was getting close to sending her over the edge. I can see some areas we need to work on to get her ready for trialing ;-) and I can see we need to get places and give Cricket a few minutes to settle in before I expect a lot from her. I could see Cricket try so hard to sit and be good, she would really try so hard, but she would get so frustrated she finally had to lunge or turn and bite her leash. I think I am going to work on teaching her to carry a toy so she can chomp down on that when she gets a little frustrated, I think that will help her.
Cricket really wanted to play with Twix and at one point they both pulled out of our hands and both went racing toward the agility rings....YIKES!!!! So much for my recall at that point, LOL. I screamed my "come"command and they did turn and start racing sort of our way...sort of...then Twix caught sight of the pool and headed there. Once he was checking out the pool Cricket figured he was not as much fun when he was not running so she turned and ran into me as fast as she could. I am sure she figured she came eventually.....she was busy when I first called, why didn't I understand that?
Once Cricket settled down she was actually very good. I was able to do quite a bit of one jump work at the practice jump when no one was using it and she was reading rear crosses really well, and some nice front crosses, doing her start line stay practice really well, I was actually really happy with how she did there. She was also able to do some really terrific mat work, so our crate games are paying off there. All in all I think the little Crickster is going to make it, she is still young and learning how to deal with all the stimulation around a trial. It was very unfortunate my zipper on my crate had broke and I did not have time to get it fixed, I think the trial would have been a lot easier for her if I had brought her crate and gave her a little break from the stimulation, but it felt like Cricket was pretty wild while I was there...but once I left and thought about it, she really did pretty good, she let me know some things that we need to work on, but like Susan Garrett says Embrace Your Holes in your training, so guess we got a few holes that we can embrace ;-).
ps, the pictures were taken by Brittney, hope she does not mind I used them!
Cricket, Fusion, Twix, Synergy
On Saturday Cricket and I went to the San Diego area where her breeder was down from Oregon attending a trial. Getting Cricket has been a really different experience for me because I only met Cricket through photos before I got her and I had never met her breeder. It was a huge leap for me because I feel so strongly about making sure that anywhere I BUY a dog from is a place that I want to support and comes from dogs I like. Luckily I have some friends I really trust that gave good references, and I saw enough videos I felt pretty good getting the Crickster-but it was really nice to actually be able to meet Brittney-her breeder in person. I was impressed, Brittney was very nice, she seemed very knowledgeable, and we even got to see her run a dog at the agility trial we were at. Brittney had Fusion her dog who I have been watching in videos and have always liked-she is a 3/4 sister to Cricket so it was a treat to meet her in person. There were a few other owners from the area-it was fun to meet Crickets birth relatives and their people.
Some of you may have seen Pam's videos with Twix on youtube, She does some tutorials on tricks with her dogs Bandit, Twix and Isabella. I had emailed her when I heard Brittney was coming down and she came to meet us there too. I have talked to her over the net, but had never met her in person. Emily, who is Kikopup on youtube and does some fantastic tutorials was there with her doggies Splash and Tug. CRICKET LOVED TUG. Tug was the only dog that seemed to understand how Cricket likes to play. She likes to tug with other dogs and Tug seems to really enjoy that game too. I think he is the littlest dog she has played with and think it is safe to say he was a great ambassador for the small dogs. Splash is the sweetest dog ever, I really liked her.
And the BEAUTIFUL Crickster:
Cricket was a bit of a Freak at the trial to start with, boy I thought we had the impulse control stuff down and we have worked so hard on our recall, but there is a lot of instinct kicking in that little girls head and it is so hard for Cricket to resist going after running dogs. When we got there Cricket had been in the car for the 3 hour 20 min drive that seemed to last forever, it was still early morning so Cricket had so much pent up energy and seeing the dogs running agility was getting close to sending her over the edge. I can see some areas we need to work on to get her ready for trialing ;-) and I can see we need to get places and give Cricket a few minutes to settle in before I expect a lot from her. I could see Cricket try so hard to sit and be good, she would really try so hard, but she would get so frustrated she finally had to lunge or turn and bite her leash. I think I am going to work on teaching her to carry a toy so she can chomp down on that when she gets a little frustrated, I think that will help her.
Cricket really wanted to play with Twix and at one point they both pulled out of our hands and both went racing toward the agility rings....YIKES!!!! So much for my recall at that point, LOL. I screamed my "come"command and they did turn and start racing sort of our way...sort of...then Twix caught sight of the pool and headed there. Once he was checking out the pool Cricket figured he was not as much fun when he was not running so she turned and ran into me as fast as she could. I am sure she figured she came eventually.....she was busy when I first called, why didn't I understand that?
Once Cricket settled down she was actually very good. I was able to do quite a bit of one jump work at the practice jump when no one was using it and she was reading rear crosses really well, and some nice front crosses, doing her start line stay practice really well, I was actually really happy with how she did there. She was also able to do some really terrific mat work, so our crate games are paying off there. All in all I think the little Crickster is going to make it, she is still young and learning how to deal with all the stimulation around a trial. It was very unfortunate my zipper on my crate had broke and I did not have time to get it fixed, I think the trial would have been a lot easier for her if I had brought her crate and gave her a little break from the stimulation, but it felt like Cricket was pretty wild while I was there...but once I left and thought about it, she really did pretty good, she let me know some things that we need to work on, but like Susan Garrett says Embrace Your Holes in your training, so guess we got a few holes that we can embrace ;-).
ps, the pictures were taken by Brittney, hope she does not mind I used them!
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