Flower of the Week

Indian Paint Brush

This and other wild flowers were viewed on our climb up to the top of Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rock National Monument outside of Santa Fe.

Wednesday May 18, 2010

Class, I will be there, it's so hard to tell what the weather is going to do. If you chose not to come I will understand. Donna

Flowers of the Week

Can you name which flower is:

Wild Rhubarb (Curly Dock)

Scorpion Weed

Coyote Willow

Happy Birthday

Rollo

is

1 year old

today

Flower of the Week

photo by Sydney Nazario

Bearded Iris

Sam'n cookies

For those who were at class on Saturday, this is what

Sam'n cookies look like.

Sam plays his version of "It's yer choice" with the dogs. Check out how well young Ube did last summer waiting his turn!

Saturday's Class

photos by Sydney Nazario

As you can see the dogs were very athletic!

March Winds & April Showers!

photo by Jennifer Burns

Bird of Paradise

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for the wind and rain to stop.

Flower of the Week

photo by Sydney Nazario

Sparaxis (harlequin flower)

Saturday Photos

The dogs enjoyed jump grids and some play time afterwards.

photos by Donna Golemon

Kerry & Ube share some shade and water with Coffee.

Flower of the Week

photo by Jennifer Burns

Remembering Derby

Derby was Donna’s 2^nd Aussie. April 14 would have been his birthday. Derby loved eating the plums off this tree! If the branches weren't low enough, he would put his feet on the rail and stretch to pull the plums off. Absolutely EVERYTHING Derby did he did with great enthusiasm!

Now when you pass this tree you can be prepared to - Be enthusiastic, work hard and reach for the stars!

P.S. Derby is the "dirty" face Aussie in the Tandem photos at the bottom of the blog.

Value and Reinforcement

This is an exercise for the beginning class but anyone can play the game.

Value and Reinforcement - The VALUE is for building value for ONE JUMP. The REINFORCEMENT is for the staying and releasing at different distances from the dog. Below is a video for the VALUE. We are having technical difficulties with the second video.

VALUE - To built value for the jump you want the dog to take the jump, without luring the jump. If you were to lure the jump you would throw the cookie or toy over the jump prior to the dog looking/moving towards/looking away from you. We are not doing that. Instead, we want to reward the dog for moving forward over the jump and not looking at you. Start by doing some type of relationship value exercise (tug, touches, crate games, etc.). Then walk over to the jump, turn your shoulders towards the jump and wait to see what the dog does. If the dog just looks at you, wait, when the dog looks away at anything, toss the treat over the jump. Try to toss so that the dog sees the treat. Continue until the 10 treats are gone. Watch the video for help.

The next exercise is the video we are having difficulty with. Here is the description and we hope to get a video up soon.

REINFORCEMENT - We are teaching the dog to follow the line of jumps and to STAY while the handler gets into a lead out position. This is where you are building value for the dog STAYING until released no matter how far away you are. There are three positions with this, dog is sitting - 1. toss toy ahead, release and move with dog to toy; 2. leave dog, drop toy even with you, release dog to toy, no forward motion by you, you are already even with toy; 3. toss toy behind dog, release dog to toy REMEMBER IN ALL THREE SITUATIONS THE DOG IS TO BE LOOKING AT THE TOY OR TREAT before the release. If the dog does not look at the toy, be quiet and wait for him to look in it's direction and then say your release word. Put a leash on the toy if your dog like to play "keep away".

Remember in two weeks we will be moving on to the next step of the one jump. So built that value.

Happy 3rd Birthday

to Coffee Bean.

Yum!

Do I get cake?

Flower of the Week

photo by Donna Golemon

Red Ribbon Dogs

Helen Marie has a word of advice. "Never leave an agility trial without checking your score". At the Vallejo trial when she asked the scribe she was told she didn't make time in Ex Jumpers. Looking at Lorie's site this week she found out Merlot earned a second leg with a 2nd place and 1 second to spare!

At today's trial in Santa Rosa, Zorro earned his 2nd Open Jumpers leg with a clean run under course time.

CONGRATULATIONS

to Merlot & Zorro.

Hope you get some

"Easter Biscuits"!

Flower of the Week

A Spring Day

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend!

Beautiful Babies!

Yesterday Striker and Rollo competed at their first conformation show. Their handlers said the dogs were very comfortable in the ring and showed well.

Rollo took Winners Dog and 2 points towards his championship!

Congratulations to all.

This Saturday

More Contact Work

Congratulations!

Sunday

Peanut took 1st place in Jumpers at the CPE trial. Sue said there were 4 pugs at the trial, all black, and they were all silly in the ring! Surprise, surprise!

AKC Events

Merlot took a 1st place ribbon in Excellent for her 2nd Standard leg. Don't they look happy.

Zorro made Christy proud earning his 1st Open Jumpers leg on Sunday. Too bad the sheep sculpture wasn't the prize!

photos by Charlie Rose

Chudleigh hit all his contacts on Saturday to earn his second Standard leg in Novice. He was 1 1/2 seconds faster than the 2nd place dog so Christy got to pick out a BIG prize for him. Hope he doesn't hit Rollo in the head with it!

Good Luck this weekend!

Have Fun

and

Hit the Yellow!

Sunny Saturday

Today was the last day of Session 1 for both classes.

The next session will be another 4 week Saturday one. Dates are at the top of the blog.

After the May 1 (Sat) class we will switch to 6 week Wednesday evening sessions.

Enjoy a dry weekend!

Belated Birthday Girl!

Merlot has such a sweet baby face, who would have guessed she is 9 years and 2 months today!

Happy Belated Day!

P.S. Don't forget to respond to post below or bring note on Saturday.

Saturday Class March 13, 2010

First Class - Hopefully you have been working on your stays, we will see how everyone is doing in class and hopefully move on to the next step. WORK THOSE STAYS!! If you need a review look at the video of Ube a couple of weeks ago.



Second Class - This Saturday we are going to be doing contacts. Please respond back with a comment or bring a note to class about your contacts. How do you want you dog to perform contacts? Is you dog having a specific problem with the contacts? For example my answers for Inc would be for contact 2o/2o with head down, and no we are not having any specific problems.


Let us know, we will be watching, no comment we won't know if you like what your dog is doing or not.

See you Saturday!! Have a good rest of week!!

Congratulations Merlot!

Merlot earned her first leg in Excellent Standard on Sunday. Helen Marie had kept her out of Standard for a year to work on the "Two C's" - confidence and contacts. Looks like it paid off!

Congratulations Chudleigh!

A Blue Ribbon

for

First Novice Jumpers leg

Weekend Wishes

Good wishes to those heading to Dixon this weekend.

May Your Skies Be Blue,

Your Ribbons Green

But Above All

Have Fun!

Belated Birthday Girl!

Happy 2nd Birthday (plus 1 month) to Lea on Wednesday!

Saturday Class Cancelled

Next class will be March 13. Check the blog, we may give you some training ideas. Session 2 dates are revised above.

Birthday Boy!

It's hard to believe Inc will be 5 on Saturday.

The puppies started arriving about the time

The Incredibles won the Oscar for best Animated Film!

I think Donna singled him out from the start!

Happy Birthday!

Beginning Class Exercise and Susan Salo

Beginning Class - Last week we started working on stays using either a toy or your bait bag. The attached video shows you a progression to work on. We hope to see improvements from last week on your stays. See you Saturday!!

Susan Salo - we would like to see if there is enough interest for us to try to bring Susan Salo in for a seminar. We can't give you a cost until we speak to her, but it is roughly $100.00 (+) each day. If you are interested would you attend a one day seminar or a two day seminar. Please give it thought, as we don't want to invite her if there is not enough interest. Thanks for responding.

1st Title!

Helen Marie reports that baby boy Striker passed the 10 exercises required to earn the AKC Canine Good Citizen Certificate. At 5 months old it looks like he has a long career ahead of him! Congratulations to Striker and his owner/trainer!

For a description of the 10 exercises check out: http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/training_testing.cfm

Oh My! ANOTHER Puppy!

Her name is Tess.

What breed do you think she is????

Guess who she belongs to??

She's a liver colored Brittany and she belongs to Sue and Mark Ingalls!

More puppy breath with a wiggle butt and stubby tail.

How wonderful!

Congratulations!

Birthday Boy!

Can you believe that Ube is one year old! His class had fun.

Let us know your dog's birthday so we can honor them on the blog. If you have a favorite photo send that as well. If not, we'll try to take photos in class.

For those of you who did not take the last quiz, Donna posted the answers in the comment section.

Check out the next session schedule at the end of the header above.

Saturday's Class

Class #2 should arrive by 10 in order to work a short exercise prior to the start of your 10:15 class.

This week it is tire to the weaves. If there are several of you waiting, rotate through so that you practice this approach three times.

Another Little Quiz

Don't be bashful, give it a try and take the quiz. Just email your answers to Donna and Sydney and we'll tell you how you did. Come on now, it's fun!!!

1. You have just left your dog in a stay and lead out. Your dog stands up. You go back to your dog, tell them to sit and give a cookie for doing this. Is this:
A. good to do ---------- B. Bad to do

2. Same as above except yo go back to your dog have then do a touch, then treat. Tell the dog to sit and lead out again.
A. Good to do ---------- B. Bad to do

3. You have just left your dog in a stay and you want to reward them for staying. You can throw a toy or bait bag back to the dog to reward the stay. Should the dog stay in position until release or is the thrown object a release.
A. stay until released ---------- B. The throw is the release

4. In the above scenario, when you throw the toy/bait bag to the dog does it matter where it lands.
A. Yes ---------- B. No

5. How many repetitions does it take for a dog to learn something?
A. 100 ---------- B. 250 ---------- C. 500 ---------- D. 50

Congratulations Chudleigh!

We received the following news from Christy:

Saturday Chudleigh competed in agility for the very first time at the Vizsla trial up in Santa Rosa. He took an off course in jumpers, but managed a 95 and a first place in standard! There were 6 dogs in 24" novice B, and Chuds was the only qualifier. He had a great attitude and actually listened to me, unlike what Zorro tends to do.

Blue Sky & Matching Quiz

Looks like more rain in the forecast, so here's a photo of blue sky to remind you what it looks like.

Seems like no one but Helen Marie read the blog this past week! She was the only one that took a stab at the mix and match quiz that Donna posted. The quiz made you think and HM took up the challenge. The three of us had a good exchange of e-mails. Helen Marie will be rewarded for her effort. She should enjoy the visual prize!

Matching - have fun

Greg Derrett is the system we use in class, can you match these up?? Send us am email with your answers and we'll let you know how you did. Don't be chicken give it a try.


Derrett System Matching


1. Flick

2. Front Cross

3. arm-change

4. Send (deceleration)

5. primary cue

6. Rear Cross



A. Inside arm until commitment then outside arm.

B. Cue always means to turn towards the handler

C. Inside Arm

D. Arm-change

E. dog turning away from reinforcement zone

Who Is That Little Guy? - Girl!

Saturday Weather

It's hard to say what the weather will do for the 10:15 class. You can call Sydney's house if you are in doubt.

Saturday Class Exercise

If in doubt about the weather, you can check this blog or call the house. A decision will be made by 7 a.m. Rain during the night won't be an issue because the field has been draining nicely.

1st Exercise:

There will be a "set jump" at the barn under the trees. It is the same exercise that we did last class but using a double. Please review the description that was posted the 5th. The double should be ascending (first bar lower than the back one). Don't worry if the jump bar is not level because of the slope.

When pottying your dog, be courteous of those working on the set jump. Come up by way of the driveway.

New Title!

Helen Marie had a late day at the Santa Rosa trial but it was worth it. Merlot earned her Open Standard Title with a CLEAN RUN for a beautiful blue ribbon plus toy. HM reports that Merlot earned those three legs in a row with placements. CONGRATULATIONS on a job well done! Welcome to Excellent!

This Weekend

Good Luck to those attending the trials in Santa Rosa this weekend. If you find a particularly tricky sequence bring us the course map. Stay warm and dry and have fun with your dogs.

New Puppy - Guess Whose!

10 week old Zelda

Class January 9th

This weeks focus will be on getting the dogs back to jumping. We will be doing Susan Salo jump grids. When you get to class, please start by warming your dog up with a set jump exercise. We have done this many times in class so you should be able to do it on your own. But here is a reminder and also a video of what you should to:
1. Know your dog's jump height; place your target on the ground. Remember the target should be slightly raised.
2. Rep. 1 - Set the jump ar 4 inches below the dog's jump height, dog does jump
3. Rep. 2 - Raise the bar two inches, dog does jump
4. Rep. 3 - Reais the bar two inches, should be at the dogs jump height now, dog does jump.
5. Rep. 4 lower the bar to the height you started with, dog does jump
6. Done

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thanks to Donna's creative design, we start the year with a fresh new look to the blog!