Elise+Hudson

Google calender synced to the iphone, that way I can always check it :)

Yeah it has really helped with my handling, getting to see how other people handle is great! But its also helped so much working with Hudson in a distracting environment and still getting him to work for me. I could not have done that 6 months ago at all, he had to be on lead with other dogs working close by or he went to visit! I will keep at it for sure, this is my first dog so its all a big learning curve for me. First dog showing, first dog to train at all and I had no prior agility experience - only had horses prior to now! He is a clown that is for sure :) And thank you, I think he is gorgeous too, particularly now he almost has all his hair back after the scare with his paralysis tick in October. But I really do think our relationship is improving as he matures, I am sure only better things to come from here.

Thanks everyone for the advice :) I have been trying very much just to run with him and have some fun, the jumpers course we did after this was just like that.. very quick and I was running as fast as I can! My silly dog likes jumps instead of tunnels though and pulled off a tunnel to do a big lap of the course doing zoomies, but when I got him back we made 17 obstacles only missing the last jump on the finish as I just could not run fast enough to support him for the last jump! So Contacts, weaves and "go on" will be the things to work on in training in the next month. I really appreciate the help and support guys :) I get a little discouraged sometimes because of how long it has taken us to get here, and the fact he still takes off to do zoomies or visit other dogs, but I also see moments of brilliance where I think somewhere we are doing the right thing! Being able to train with a club for the past few months has made a huge difference in our training, can't wait to learn how to handle him better! Maybe I will have to figure a better way of handling direction change with him. Once the courses are not quite so fast and straight lines I think I will have a better shot, but for elementary/novice they seem to be much more straight lines.

Having a ball :) Was really nice to watch the video and see how much fun Hudson is having too, I really do think he enjoys it!

Thought I would share a quick video of Hudson and I at the mock agility trial today. This was the first run, and the first time in 12 months he has faced a full course. Still SO much to work on! We really need to work on our contact behaviour before we trial and continue working on our weaves (the neverending task) but I really need to time my handling a bit better (or work on teaching him better rear crosses) because when we are running straight lines like this it is hard to get in front so I don't have long to do my front cross. But it was SUCH a great learning experience to video this and have some great help and feedback from the others who were watching. I wish I had the 2nd run on video after making a few small changes to the way I handled we ran this SO much better! But hey.. I think we are making big improvements but we are still learning a lot! And just for fun if people are bored.. haha This is us training 12 months ago, I think I can see an improvement :) I guess it's just not as much as I would have liked, but we will keep working and hopefully keep my crazy boy 'inside' the ring for a change!

Thanks guys :) If I manage to keep his attention on me we have a much better time of it for sure, I think part of the problem the other night was for whatever reason he was not interested in tugging or his toys so was looking around a lot more. Maybe I should try covering his crate and only bringing him out for our turn and back away again. I do tend to have times where I have him out while trying to keep his attention by doing tricks etc, but there is some time where he can look around and get distracted. Yeap I usually call him Huddy or Hud for short. He is getting much better and I am sure he will turn the corner one day! Agility is just SO exciting to him it puts him up right up to his maximum level of arousal where I think he stops thinking quite so much! Most of the time we had run off issues we had completed the short sequence I had stopped to offer him a treat (as he wasn't interested in the tug) and he would almost come back to me and right before he took the treat/I could grab him, he went looking for more fun! haha Sunday will be a massive test for us Tony, but super excited about it anyway! :) Will keep working on getting him engaged, have been teaching him a nose/hand touch at obedience and he is really starting to get it now.

Sadly I am yet again asking for some help with the recall - we were going so well, but tonight at training he had a great time running off on me and for the first time in ages he wouldn't come back when called. He was super excited and working in a really high arousal state - doing 4 jumps straight flat out with another dog working in the distance, but even though he is working SO well now, I get discouraged by the fact I can't keep him with me and wonder how we will ever make it round the ring! We did SG recallers and it did help, but I still don't have that reliable recall (wish I could go back and do recallers again but sadly I don't have acess anymore) Any other ideas of games or things I can try to help get a reliable recall with him? I don't want to lose that drive and fun he has doing agility, but its just disheartening to me to have this still keep happening after all the work we have been doing, he looks like such a disobedient dog!

I have chickened out on entering the trial, will wait till a little later in the year when we are more prepared! :)

Thanks for that, I will do it a little slower and see if that will help - just seems like he gets lazy with the lower bars not picking up his feet, but then doesn't seem to notice when I put it up. Will try again tomorrow a little differently and see how we go. Might try and video too (eek!) so I can see what I might be doing wrong.

Wondering if anyone can give me some advice regarding dropped bars in training, since working more on teaching Hudson some turning signals and send to the back etc with one jump work, he has started hitting bars all the time I have been working on the turning cues with the jump very low to make it easy for him, but when I do put it up just to see if he was getting lazy the same thing happens. I am guessing some grid work maybe to help with his jumping style? Just not sure how to go about it as it only seems to be when he is turning over a jump he is knocking bars.

TSD I know exactly how you feel, except my Aussie seems to be the punching bag for any dog who isn't quite feeling right that day. The number of times he has been lunged at, growled at or even bitten is getting a little out of control - enough he has started getting a bit nervous/wary about a few particular breeds which I am so upset about as he is the nicest natured dog and wouldn't hurt a fly! I have not entered a trial yet, but I am so nervous about the stays!

I am having the opposite problem with Hudson - at least for short stays (we are only preparing for CCD at the moment) he sits like a rock for the sit stay, but either pops up to a sit in the down, or rolls onto one hip (which is not as bad..) but the sitting up in the downs is definitely a tough one for us at the moment!

Been a while since we have been posting in here. The working dog trial looks so interesting!!

Forgot to mention too that we are so close to weaving 4 straight poles now at home! YAY Last night at training he surprised me by diving straight into the correct entry on the weaves with me on the left hand side! (mind you I had tried to call him back, but he was driving forward after just taking a broad jump) So even though he didn't make it past the entry, I am still thrilled that obviously some of that 2x2 training is working for him!

I love it when my good dog comes out to play :) He is completely exhausted now though, fast asleep at my feet! Also love that I am starting to work out what mistakes I am making which are confusing the poor dude! I see why some people say you ruin your first dog.. I am determined to keep at it - I will not ruin him!

Just started with a little bit of the handling system today. Started work on circling the PNU, starting to teach the check check + backside of the jump (lala) commands. Hudson was such a good boy today both in our private lesson and then we had our first hour of training at club entirely off lead and he only once in the very first run had a little circle around, no serious running off and then was brilliant for the rest of the night! I made quite a few mistakes which threw him off, but overall had such a good afternoon!

So glad to hear Astro is doing well :) Having to treat many parvo patients I know exactly the ups and downs and heartbreak it causes. I just wanted to note as has been said previously in this thread, but you will have to be very vigilant in future with unvaccinated or young dogs on your property. F10 works wonders on surfaces, but parvovirus can survive in the soil for anywhere between 7 and 10 years and sadly nothing has been proven to get rid of it from the soil.

I am really looking forward to doing this handling course. I am not at the stage yet with Hudson that I need to get out in front as we are still training and not running full courses yet, but he is like lightening and while I am young, I am not super fit and have never been able to sprint well, so I know this will become an issue eventually. I like the idea of being able to communicate better with him what I expect with each obstacle and we might have less 'make your own course' moments. Tony I am so excited to hear that BAD seems to be using a few bits and pieces from this. Can't wait to get back next week!

Thanks guys for the advice so far! I won't be able to film today sadly as have both an agility private and club training so will do some obedience tomorrow and see how I go filming that! Some great new ideas for the platform work from this and also some youtube searches.. feeling much more hopeful about training again - sometimes I get a bit disappointed with how we are going as a team, but just have to think back 12 months ago when things were a lot worse!

So can you pat your side for heel? Or would this be considered luring? Yes sadly I have done almost all my training in obedience on lead at either private training or in a club situation. I will have to use my longer lead and put it in my right hand so I am not so tempted to use it!

I was surprised we did the offset figure of 8 at training on Monday and he didn't even look at the toys! He is only really distracted by other dogs, not so much food or toys. I will do a bit of work with him tomorrow and see if I can film it. I might enter this trial anyway, the biggest problem we will come across I think is the tight lead - I tend to use a bit of tension on the lead to remind him he needs to pay attention - particularly when doing the left turn 270's etc. Will have to keep that in the front of the mind for the next week or so in training! Can you hold the lead in your right hand, or does it have to be held in the left?

I will film a session tomorrow and see if anyone has some ideas for us :) That is a good idea! It's more than likely something I am doing wrong. I went to a new obedience club the other day and the head instructor was so lovely, and he told me that Hudson is ready for CCD, I am not quite up to speed with him yet! haha

Hudson is almost ready to trial CCD and there is a Rally O comp coming up in a few weeks and I am not working! So thought it might be fun to have a go. His heeling could obviously improve, but depending on how distracted he is on the day I think we would be fine to make an entire run out. I have really struggled with the rear end awareness on the disc, Hudson tends to crank his head right around and not move at all till he kind of falls of the side of the disc.. funny boy!

I have recently had my first taste of rally-o at a new obedience club and really enjoyed it! There area a few trials coming up soon and I would love to have a go at some stage. What things do you guys practice at home for Rally trials? And is there any advice for the 270-360 left turns and getting the dog back? as well as how to train the finish left? We have only been learning an obedience finish around the back of the handler, so this is different for him!

I loved watching the videos Tony, such a shame I could not come to sticky beak and take some photos! He looked so happy!