Catching Up

It's apparently been awhile.  We've been busy, kinda.  And also very lazy.

The things.
Dock Diving
Zumi and Vito went to a dock diving competition 4 weeks ago.  Much better experience than our first time.  This one was hosted by a club and everyone was very nice and willing to answer questions.  Plus having an actual briefing before the event started was helpful.

Vito only had 2 jumps at 11.5ft and 11ft.  Both jumps were larger than the other competition and more consistent.  He kinda did a stay for me on the dock the second turn but wouldn't at all on his first turn.

Zumi wouldn't jump.  I had hopes of her jumping since she finally made it to the dock when we were at Purina Farms.  But no such luck.  I took her 2 official turns and went straight to the ramp.  Even on the ramp she was a bit hesistant to actually enter the water, but of course super excited both before and after.

Then today I drove a ways to actually practice.  Their 3rd offical practice session, first time at this location.  No idea how far Vito jumped but he looked a lot better.  And actually stayed for me during his second set of turns on the dock.  Due to crowdedness each dog only got to have 2 sets on the dock.

Zumi and I just went to the ramp and never tried the dock.  The good news is that she didn't do any of the hesitancy she showed at the actual competition and it was the same setup of above ground pool.  The bad news is she made zero progress from jump 1 to the last jump.  Still eagerly running the short distance to the ramp and then going down the ramp until her feet touch water.  THEN jumping.  She's so happy.  And I don't know how to get her to progress from there.

Disc
Zumi went to a disc dog seminar a few weeks ago.  Had a blast!  We worked primarily on flatwork and teaching me how to time my throw with her striding.  Also taught me a better way to throw flip throws, and a few other little moves for Zumi.  If you're interested in disc, the presenter Sara is now at Fenzi Academy teaching her first class this session!  I'm hoping it will motivate me to actually practice disc.

Agility
Vito is back to going to agility practice, alternating weeks with Zumi in class.  His brain hasn't come back yet since his break.  Seriously, he's an idiot.  Stays are hard for him.  Actually following my handling is hard for him.  All the things are hard.  But wow is he excited.  Certainly not my nice consistent dog who almost never goes off course.
At home Vito is doing better with the listening department but he's still an idiot with jumping.  I don't think it's due to his shoulder still as whenever Vito is over the top excited he has always knocked bars.  Vito has a very hard time with arousal levels.

Zumi is doing pretty well.  We aren't practicing too much at home so haven't made much progress with her aframe turns since last posted. Actually I don't think I've touched the aframe.  We have done a few little sequences at home though, trying to kinda keep up with the online class I have been taking this summer.

Obedience
Zumi and Lance went to a WCRL rally trial and CDSP obedience trial last weekend!  I had plans to show Vito but when I looked at where it was held I knew that Vito wouldn't be entered. It's just too crowded of a site and usually very difficult to actually get into the ring.  Lots of pressure usually from people watching and the crating area.  It turned out that this trial was light on entries and with a surprisingly large amount crating from their car I think Vito could have handled it.  But better safe than sorry.

Lance was entered in 2 runs of level 3 rally on Saturday, and just 1 on Sunday based on his last trial in April of being tired on day 2. That held true this trial as well.  Very sassy and barky corgi in rally!  A bit naughty, but always such great focus and attitude.  Sunday he was still sassy but visibly tired so I was greatful he only had the one run.  I would have loved to entered him in utility obedience at this trial but realized that without regular practice it wouldn't really be fair to him.  He's such an experience dog that he could easily handle novice and open without practice, but utility really takes a ton of confidence in the exercises.  Articles, signals, go outs I feel are a little unfair without practice.  So the corgi won.  He has always loved rally more than obedience anyways.

Little Duck got to play in level 3 for the first time!  She had 2 runs in level 3 each day and qualified in all.  I was very proud of her focus in all runs.  She earned her title easily :)  And beat her way too sassy corgi brother


And then I decided to be brave and enter her very first obedience trial.  We did one run of starters novice on Sunday when I realized there was no stand for exam.  She had a few tiny moments of attention lapses but overall I was very proud of her run.  Her stand for exam was the biggest point loser in that it took an extra cue to get her to stand (CDSP judges this portion, AKC would not have).  

I've also been trying to practice Zumi's stand for exam when I take her to the club before I teach on Wednesdays.  She is really doing well.  Now if only I can start finding new people to generalize it to.

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Sport Camp!

It's been awhile since I've posted!!  This last week was spent driving down to Missouri for the Fenzi Dog Sports Camp.  It was my first experience attending and I chose to volunteer my time helping the other instructors.

The atmosphere alone was worth it.  So many positive trainers in love with competition obedience and other dog sports all in one spot.  You just can't replicate that inspiring environment!

I took Zumi with me (non working spot) as I thought she could benefit the most from experiencing such a loud and busy venue.  An amazing coworker took Vito in for several days and swore to have no life so that I could actually go.  And Lance stayed at home with Adam.

Zumi did great.  Mostly she was in a crate but she got to come out and play during lunch and at the end of each day.  I was impressed with her ability to offer engagement in a crazy place and I mostly too advantage of the ring to do some ring confidence games.  Enter the ring and party!  We also did some setups and heeling up to people for leash removal.

And I learned that Zumi is not ready for obedience trials. Yet.  I was proud of how she could offer great focused ring entries without a toy on me.  She could even play in the ring with me, no toy.  But what she couldn't quite do was transition from work to play to work again without that toy in a smooth matter. Sure she could do it, but not without a bit of disengagement and wondering about that reward.  Before Zumi is ready to trial those transitions in the ring need to be seamless.  The exercises are the easy part, the in between stuff is the hard part!  At home she might be fine, in a new place she was just not quite there.
So I made it easy on her and rewarded frequently.  The new environment was not the time to work on more delayed rewards.

Zumi also had the opportunity to try dock diving again!  Her 3rd attempt at the sport with her other two tries never quite getting her to the actual dock.  This time it was an outdoor pool which I think helped her quite a bit.  There was still no actual ramp to practice on but there were some stairs leading into the pool.  I spent her first turn just working her from the stairs to try to build her confidence.

Her second turn I warmed up with the stairs again and then decided to try the dock itself.  Some hesitation but she jumped!  Well plopped in really.

But repeated it!  And then I ended our turn.  I have hope that if she gets to try it again she will be off the dock after a quick warmup.  And maybe would actually jump instead of plop.

I had a blast at the camp and I will write a separate post about the most important concepts of sport that were repeated again and again throughout the camp.

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First Dock Diving Trial

Vito was scheduled to compete in his first dock diving competition yesterday.  That was before his little injury of course.  Timing just sucks.  I decided to take him and have fun anyway though.  Maybe we will regret it, maybe not.  He's done a few laser treatments this last week and has more scheduled and of course zero issues seen since he hasn't done any agility work.

So we went, good plan or not.  Vito has only had the 2 practice sessions before, back in mid March.  Dock diving isn't really something I plan on seriously training for, we just want to dabble.  It was an interesting experience as I haven't been a newbie at a competition in a long time.  Completely clueless on not only how trials run but really the sport in general too!

Unfortunately I thought it was a really sad experience for a newbie.  I've remember my first obedience trial, rally trial, agility trial, and disc dog trial and this was by far the least welcoming.  It's sad when an AKC obedience trial is more helpful and welcoming than this!  I love obedience, but man I know AKC trials aren't exactly new exhibitor friendly!  Really my negative experience wasn't with the sport itself though but with this particular organization.

We were one of the first to arrive at the trial and after finding a place to setup, I walked Vito around the site and went to check in.  It was in a parking lot of a shopping center so I'm sure they had many visitors, but I clearly had a dog in tow and was looking for help.  I was ignored and wasn't sure I was even at the check in table.  I guess I was as eventually I was turned to and was checked off a list.  I excitedly shared that I was brand new(!) and all I got back was crickets.  Shuffled back to our setup to wait for the pool to open for warm up jumps of which I had no clue when that would start.

Vito was actually doing really well with everything.  Until he saw one of the organizers jumping their dog.  Then he began his Toller Screaming!  Was able to keep him mostly under control and calm-ish at the crate.

Eventually heard the announcement that the pool was open for warm up and went to stand in line.  Left Vito with Adam so that he didn't have to lose his mind just standing in line.  Finally Vito's turn!  We went up the stairs and I didn't even know there was a little gate that slid across to prevent the dog jumping off the ramp part until I saw others using it.  Luckily Vito didn't need it!  I really thought he would be hesitant at first so I had him all the way at the edge for our first throw.  Vito screamed his head off and leaped in :)  And then he proceed to keep accidently pawing his frisbee and pushing it under water.  The guy had to get the pool scooper to grab the toy and Vito wouldn't come up the ramp, instead he kept freaking out over his sinking toy and/or trying to get to me up the dock itself.  I apologize several times and state that I'm new but the guy doesn't say anything back really.  I just promised that I'd use a different type of toy later.

After hauling Vito out I get back in line to try again once I see everyone has gone.  But then exit when I can tell there won't be enough of a break before Vito runs for real.  He's listed as second.  Second, but apparently it's really first as the first team is the owner's dog and I don't realize it's not one of the practice jumps.  There's no briefing or anything like at other sports I've been to, we just start.

First throw I hold Vito maybe 8ft back from the dock and release him as I throw it.  He goes 10ft!  And apparently that's 1in over the novice division!  Yay Vito!  I used a bumper toy as I didn't bring any other type of frisbee  and don't really know if another disc would work better with Mr. Flaily or not.  Vito is the only dog around that I see in a life jacket :)

Throw #2 I try having Vito back a bit further and pretty much release and throw again.  But the toy doesn't really get out ahead of him before he takes off and Vito's jump is 8ft 6.

Then we wait.  It would have been nice to get some pointers but nobody talked to us or even gave a welcoming smile.
I didn't have Vito registered for any jumps at the next hour as I wasn't sure what was normal and thought a break would be good.  But since Vito was having a hard time fully relaxing in the environment I thought I would go see if he could move his jump up.  I waited until it looked like the score table was done announcing awards and looked free.  Apparently I was wrong as when I asked my question I was snapped at and told to wait until everyone had picked up their awards.  So I sat on the curb right next to the table and waited.  And waited.  There was a bit of activity but then pretty much nothing.  Finally after 15min of being ignored but obviously waiting I stand back up.  I am at least turned to now and asked if I have a question (not in a polite manner).  Apparently the answer was it's full so we waited.  Vito did relax for a little while before he started getting antsy.  It reminded me of his first few disc dog events where Vito didn't yet understand the structure.  Vito likes rules and routines so it didn't take long for him at disc events to understand about turns and relaxing when it wasn't his turn.  I'm sure that if we go to more dock diving events Vito would start to get it.

Throw #3 I tried to have Vito wait in a down stay. Didn't work so well!  And I'm not great at splitting my focus ahead of me vs on my dog and had the worst throw of the event.  Way to low.  Vito jumps 6.5ft I think.  We just keep getting worse!

Throw #4 I try the down stay again.  Still from a very short distance.  Vito does a bit better job and while my throw is late it's at least higher.  Somehow he managed to jump 10ft again!
Since that 1in puts him out of novice and into open we have zero chances at ribbons.



I would do it again.  But maybe with a different organization.  Both Vito and I tried our hardest even though neither of us knew what we were doing.  And this was also a great reminder to smile and be welcoming to newbies at every event I'm at.

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Dock Diving Trip #2

Took a drive down on Friday for some more dock diving practice with the tollers!

I was thrilled to see Vito pick up right where we left off.  No hesitation at all from the start about jumping off the dock for his toy!  I have no idea what I'm doing with this sport but I tried to work on Vito's upward jump and getting him to catch, or think he can catch, the disc.
This was his second turn on the dock and I think he almost doubled his starting distance from the first turn.

Zumi remained skeptical of jumping into the water.  She says sliding in where her feet can still touch the bottom is much more sensible!  We basically started from step 1 again and re-built our way back up to where we ended the last visit.

I still have hope that once we finally get there she will be awesome at it.  Unlike Vito, Zumi loves to jump for the sake of jumping.  And she still has a strong toy drive even if it's not so obsessive like Vito's.  Not sure I'll be able to take any more time to drive down to the pool though.  Best bet is trying to find a dock by a lake to jump in this summer even though I know dog's view it easier than jumping into a pool.

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Dock Diving Adventures

I've always wanted to try out dock diving with the dogs.  Not really as a main sport to train for but just the occasional fun event.  There isn't really any place in the cities that have a dock or even just a pool to rent (surprisingly!) but there's a pretty cheap rental place less than 2hrs south.  I took the tollers along with 2 other people/dogs to see how they would do today.

I've long believed that Vito would absolutely be in love with the sport (water! toys!) but be horrendous at it.  I envisioned a screaming brick that would just plop right in, straight down.
But Vito surprised me!  Lots and lots of screaming the entire time we were there, even when crated.  But he jumped!  All cute and of course almost no distance this first time.  But he still shocked me at actually trying to jump out!
Video!

Zumi on the other hand I thought would be awesome.  Maybe a little apprehensive at first but she lives to jump!  So of course she was a big baby.  At first she jumped in the pool almost instantly from the side as she watched Vito and another dog splash around.  Then when it was her turn to use the dock she screamed and screamed but was certain that actually jumping would be suicidal.  So I took her to the side and did a few throws from just the ground.
Video!

And then the pressure was apparently to much as her next turn she was worse.  Wouldn't even jump in from the ground level unless she was at the shallow end and knew she could touch the ground as she basically fell straight in each time.  For her 3rd turn we re-built back up to basically where we started.  But certainly not even running + jumping from the side!

But Ducky was having fun.  She loves to swim and unlike Vito she actually is a really nice swimmer. I'm sure that with more exposure to a pool she will work up to doing the dock just fine.
I hope to go back again!

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