Lance Graduate Open

Lance showed one day this weekend in grad open. 

Signals- 2pts
More forging then at the last few trials.  I thought I was going to have to bump him on that first left turn but he read my shoulders and got out of my way.  There were some nice moments of heeling, especially trying hard on the slow time.  Signals were good, I didn't use any verbals but didn't go full distance.  Lost points for forging and the front and finish.

Scent Article- NQ
When I was trying to show Lance the pile being sent out Lance thought I was sending him so happily took off.  When we actually started the exercise Lance went out confidently, searched quickly and then happily brought back the wrong one.  At least this is the most certain Lance has been about the exercise during a trial!  Oh and then he auto finished on the judge's cue, naughty corgi.

Glove- .5pt
Once again Lance wasn't certain where I was directing him to go.  But he did find it and brought it back by a finger.  He didn't even look at the jumps this time :)  Lost .5pt on the finish.

Moving Stand- 1pt
Naughty corgi moved a few steps after I left him.  Also moved another step on the exam.

Go Out- 0pts
While setting up it looked like Lance was eyeing either the glove spot or the jump so I interuppted his gaze and tried to have him mark again.  But then Lance seemed upset that I corrected him and just looked at me so I wasn't sure where he was going to go.  He surprised me by going straight out and touching the gate.  Go corgi, 1st time not going to the glove spot!  No clue why the judge didn't take off points for his touch. 

Directed Jump- .5pt
1/2pt for bad finish

Overall
Well we still need one more leg for his grad open title but I was so happy with his performance today!  Lance seemed much more confident in everything.  He was a bit more distracted in between exercises, I think he wanted to leave the ring for his treats, but at least he came back immediately each time I called.  

Vito wasn't entered due to finances plus I'm still not sure if he's back to himself. The positive side is that I'm not sure how much his attitude today is due to being a green dog in a new environment or the meds.   No longer a zombie at least!

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NADAC agility trial

I wasn't sure what dog I was going to have today as we headed to the NADAC trial.  Vito's still been pretty flat at home as he adjusts to his prozac although he does seem to be doing a bit better.

Open Regular - E
Um wow.  Vito was nuts.  Even at the warm up jump Vito was so focused on the toy in my hand that he wasn't even going over the damn jump.  When he did finally take it he was still looking at my hand so knocked the bar, twice.  We were the 3rd dog in the ring so I said screw it and headed over.

The dogwalk was 2nd and it was a straight approach and straight exit to the tunnel.  Vito falls off for the 3rd trial in a row.  Why does he keep doing this?!!  Thank God he wasn't hurt in any way and wanted to continue.  We redo the dogwalk and he leaps it.  Then we proceed to knock what felt like every single bar on the course.  He misses his weave entrance but then dives back in, hitting the poles hard and popping back out.  I stop to ask him what the hell he is doing and Vito crazily jumps on me.  Then he does a one hit on the aframe descent to land in the yellow.  At least he seemed to be having a blast!  Definitely not the dog I was expecting!

Touch n Go- Q
A nice smooth course and we we went from Vito's worst run ever to one of his best.  Great running aframes and dogwalk and Vito ran over 6yps which is not common for us.

Open Chances- NQ
The weaves are 2nd and we again don't collect for them.  I end up reattempting 3 times before Vito gets them and by then I'm not where I was planning to be.  Vito looks like he's going to send out but then doubts himself and I've already ran out of room and stupidly turned.  We have fun finishing the course together.

Novice Weavers- Q
Not pretty but we did it.  Vito doesn't collect for the weaves as the 2nd obtacle but directs well around the course and does his 2nd set of weaves great.  The last set Vito misses the entrance, then gets it but pops out when I praise him, and again needs a 3rd attempt.  Our title, but clearly we still need a lot of work on weaving in a trial.

Novice Jumpers- Q
We finally get our first Q in jumpers.  Nice course and Vito was feistier at the start line again.  I screw up in the beginning but thankfully Vito pulls off the off course.  He also didn't seem to like my rear cross at the end as he slowed down to focus on me.


Lance
Lance got to play in novice chances and open weavers as we're still retraining contacts.  Novice chances was very easy and we got our title.  He also collected just fine for the weaves which were the 2nd obstacle and normally he blows by them in the beginning of a course.  Weavers I messed up and didn't support a hoop but Lance again got all his weaves :)

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Sunday CDSP/APDT

I decided to pull Vito from his runs today.  He seemed more up then yesterday and would even do a little bit of growly tugging but it still took a lot to maintain his drive.  Vito was perfectly content to lie down whenever and just hang out so I let him.


CDSP- Open #1
Lance moved up to open today and did 2 runs.  He was very excited to be in the ring but actually heeled pretty well!  I chose to do u-turns today instead of about turns to keep him on his toes and because he just likes them :)  I screwed up the running broad jump and it resulted in Lance doing an auto finish.  I realized that I didn't actually tell him to front until he was already going to heel position and Lance is so used to my backing up being a correction for forging, thus backing up=go to heel.  Sorry corgi!  On the drop on recall Lance was excited to try some directed jumping and actually took the broad jump but then downed nicely after.  Both retrieves went well except he ticked the high jump.  And then the best part was Lance doing a fantastic go out complete with a paw touch to the gate!  I was so proud of him!

The judge was very generous to us and didn't take off any points for his bonus jump on the drop on recall since he dropped right away and no points for the touch to the gate although I suppose she might not have caught it.  I know it's not AKC but I was still shocked at getting a 195 for our first leg!

CDSP #2
I was more worried about this run as the ring was set up to be doing 3 of the exercises towards the crowd.  Lance didn't seem to care except for the go out.  He shot off nicely but I don't think he ever locked onto a location since with the busy background.  And then he broke his sit on my return so lost 7pts for his go out.  Everything else went well and there were no jumps in line for Lance to consider taking on the drop on recall :)   We qualify with a 191.

APDT- 1B & 2B
Since I didn't want to waste all of Vito's runs I entered Lance in level 1 and 2 to get a double q.  I'm not all that thrilled with APDT's titling structure as I would rather continue to play in level 3 but figured our runs should at least count towards something.  Lance did very well, scoring 210 in both levels.  At one point he briefly tried to cut behind me and I can't fully figure out why.  I was looking down at a sign and perhaps Lance saw that as a cue I was going to give him a treat which I always do on the right hand side now during heeling.

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Saturday CDSP/APDT

4 Runs today and 4 new titles.  But not all good news.

Lance
CDSP- Novice B
The corgi actually heeled pretty decently.  Wasn't wide on the about turn and didn't show of his forgyness on the haults.  Started to get excited on the last turn as we were heading to a jump but he popped back to me when I halted.  He shot off on the figure 8 as a great example of why I go right.  The rest of the figure 8 went well except for a being a bit wide after the first post.  On the moving stand Lance went on the judge's order to forward and thus was quite the forge when I stood him.

The judge was VERY generous and gave us a 199 and the novice title.  We'll never see that score again! 

APDT- 3A
Several hours later Lance got to play in rally!  He didn't get much of a warmup so was very excited to be in the ring.  Forging wasn't too crazy.  Of course he barks on the back up in heel and practically does it without me.  This was level 3 title.

http://www.yo

Vito
CDSP- Novice B
I could not get Vito up at all before this run.  He would pay attention but we were not connected in any way, he would not tug with me in his typical crazy manner, and while he was eating treats he really wasn't working for them. 

The run itself wasn't horrible.  While he didn't do the fast time, Vito did heel decently with me  for the rest of the (short) pattern.  He was very innatentive at the start of the off leash figure 8 but while I thought he was a bit laggy at the start of each outside turn it wasn't a bad figure 8.  Decent moving stand and better attention at the start.  Recall over the jump had a crooked front but good finish.

I was shocked to hear us call back for a run off as I didn't feel our performance was that fantastic.  Unfortunately Vito did much worse the second time going through the pattern.  Still not horrid but he was lagging even more than earlier.

The judge was very generous and gave us a 197 for our 3rd q and new title.


APDT- 2A
We had several hours before Vito's turn in the rally ring.  He crashed in his crate a good portion of the time and then cuddled with either me or Daddy.  Completely passed out.  I was feeling a bit more optimistic as I was able to get Vito more into his tugging (still not growly tugging like normal) and heeling really nicely for me during our warmup.  He still was flat when not being warm uped, but at least he was giving me a nice performance when training.

Our turn in the ring was not our greatest moment.  Vito actually walked to me on a short recall. He did not want to do anything fast time, not the greatest attention, slow to sit,  and didn't even do his left pivot with gusto and he loves that move.  We did have a few nice moments, but overall Vito was just done.  The food bowl figure 8 really especially seemed to stress him and usually my dogs work harder when distractions are on the floor.  The video doesn't look bad but it's not the Vito I know.

He scored a 203 with 4pts lost for lagging and 3pts for a dropped treat.  This was his 3rd leg and title.  I had planned on moving him up to level 3 but pulled him from his last run.

Moving Forward
Lance for sure will be back playing tomorrow in CDSP doing open.  I'm very excited about the opportunity to reward a go out during a trial!  Depending on how I feel Vito's doing at the trial he could be doing some more rally, otherwise I'll give the runs to Lance.  I am a bit bummed about Vito's lack of drive today but I'm not worried yet.  Hopefully with more time he'll become even less anxious with being left alone and be less sedated.

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Vito SLEPT!

I am so excited!  Today marks the first time that Vito has ever fall asleep while left alone.  Ever.  Here's a picture captured from the video!

It has been 6wks since he has started Prozac and before today I wasn't sure how much it was helping.  We've had some good moments in the past few weeks where Vito hasn't had any melt downs while left alone and is doing ok at work.  But up until today he still hadn't closed his eyes for more then 2 minutes while left.  Today's trial was 1hr and 36minutes and he pretty much slept from the 45minute mark until I came home with a few interruptions from the damn cat and time to eat his foot.  HUGE news!  Fingers crossed he continues to feel relaxed while on his own.

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Happy Birthday Lance!

Happy 4th birthday corgi!

 

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Vito the pointer

Every evening the dogs work for their dinner.  Lance goes first or he starts trembling and is just pathetic.  Then Vito.  And well Chuck gets a little bit of training too.  But Chuck isn't as careful with his kibble as the others.  I guess that whale of a mouth he has just isn't as accurate as it would seem as kibble is always falling to the floor that he misses.  Once on the floor Chuck some how thinks it's a leave it even though I always release him to it.  Bless his tiny lab brain.

Vito watches our training intently.  But he is a good boy and just points to the lost kibble.  Usually I don't know we're missing one until I see Vito staring.

Lance would pounce on any kibble if he thought I wasn't looking. 

 But as soon as Lance knows that I too see the kibble he plays the eye contact game.

Lance will maintain eye contact no matter how much it pains him.

Vito needs a prompt.  And another one.  But then he'll make eye contact for a second.  Lance continues to plead

Sadly this is a post I did a few months ago but never published.  Vito's appetite still isn't back since he started his meds.  The past two weeks we have gotten to him eat most of is meals as we have switched foods for him. His weight isn't back up yet but at least he's not losing any more.  Perhaps he associated the old Clomipramine with his Taste of the Wild and that's why he refuses it.

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March Running Contacts

90% of my training for the month.  I've been diligently going to practice before work at least 4 mornings a week.

The corgi is 75% of full height now but it hasn't been all smooth sailing.  Last week we hit rock bottom and had almost all jumps.  Then he got stressed and started to really shorten his stride which of course only made things worse.  Then Lance actually offered his 4 on the floor.  I know in the beginning I said I was kinda sad he never once offered that behavior I worked so hard on, but I was just kidding Lance!  Three days of crap no matter what height I was at or what techniques I tried to speed him up.  I tried to get him more revved up by throwing food and Lance just got more stressed and thought I was proofing him on leave its.  Gave him a day off and worked our way back quickly in one session.  I think we're on the up again.  Raising the board a little bit actually seemed easier for him to hit lower.  Usually Lance doesn't hit that low no matter where I start him from but I'm trying not worry about that now.  For those of use obsessed with watching dogs run a plank, here's Lance's progress for the month, minus the week of crap.

With the toller I think I finally got a handle on how I'm teaching his turns.  I inadvertently taught Vito that I wanted him to stretch so he landed right at the bottom of the plank.  Usually he was still in the yellow but since we were just doing the down plank I don't think it would be maintainable at full speed without him missing the contact all together.  So I rewarded a whole bunch of crap and finally changed strategy mid month.  Thankfully we were on a semi break earlier so he didn't get a ton of sessions in before my new criteria... just enough of them to make it hard to undo.  I decided to have Vito run on the lowered plank and just move up alongside Lance.  Recently Vito started hitting with one front foot and I started to worry again that it wouldn't be maintainable once he was doing the full dogwalk..  I made a video and submitted it for Silvia to watch and she told me it didn't matter.

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