Long time no post

Yoshi was finally able to go to two AKC trials in the last month and a half and he did very well. He Q'ed 4 out of 5 runs the first trial and then Q'ed 5 out of 6 runs the second trial. He got his NA and his NF and has two NAJ legs. He already got his first OA leg too. I am thrilled with how he did.

His distance is getting really amazing. We have been able to accomplish a lot of layering and distance sequences I never thought we would do. Its awesome. I am really looking forward to see what he can do in 2009. I still cant believe he is running again and doing it so well since at the beginning of this year I thought his career was done with before it ever began. Lets keep hoping that the good luck keeps coming.

There are videos of the runs on my Youtube channel. My user name is FASTSheltieAndBC

Yoshi Does...

distance work?

You're kidding right? Noooo I am not. Yoshi did DISTANCE work AND layering! Yes jaws are dropping. I about had a heart attack right then and there. Little maniac is finally doing his job.....

No I didnt get it on film......typical.

But he did it!

Ummmm....

My manic dog just let me do a rear cross into the weaves tonight.......three times......

I might have to go back tomorrow just to get this illusion on video....

Im pumped...time to really get with it...and Foxys training is going to be going up a notch too.... I got my game face on now =) LOL

Dont be suprised if theres video tomorrow.......wooooooeeeeeeeee

Last night

Heres from last night. I think we are starting to improve, and we will definitely be ready to hit the rings again this fall. We have been improving fairly fast since hes only been back a month. Still need a few things to work on, but we have at least 3 months left before I would send in an entry for a trial. His jumping has gotten a lot better, hes not flying off the teeter, his weaves are getting better, hes great on the a frame and dogwalk, and now all we really need to keep at is more foundation jumping, more weave work, and work on "out" and then getting him to come in to me.

Video

Video of things I said we needed to work on. He was lagging a little more than normal due to it being so hot. I added some running contacts to the end just so I could see them for myself..lol

Here We Go Again

So Yoshi's class had some good points and bad points again..lol

Lets start with the bad to get those out of the way:
1. Still needs foundation jumping training, but I will continue this for a while..so its not exactly "bad" but just something I need to work on with him through a period of time.
2. I totally have to retrain weaves, he has forgotten how to weave 12 poles. So back to the channels we go.
3. He has no "out" for get out. He is very hard headed and stubborn with this and this is going to be a very difficult process.
4. Still need a little bit more control.
5. He refuses to come back in to me to gather control... so heeling work..which he totally hates and will shut down almost everytime I try to work with him on it..
6. We need work on the teeter. As of now, I havent done any 2o2o with him on the teeter, but Im starting to have to easy easy easy him constantly on it.... soo I need ideas...if I need to teach him to slide the teeter into 2o2o, or hold it while it goes down (this is what he somewhat does...but might need to teach holding a little longer if I do this option)
7. Can I still wish for no barking????

BLAH on Shelties lol jk

The good points
1. Starting to raise a few bars up to 16"
2. He jumped absolutely beautifully one time over a 16" jump. It was textbook perfect...I wish I had a picture of it.
3. He got some somewhat difficult courses when I could figure out where to be as a handler.
4. He does pretty well when I "pull him away from an obstacle to take another." This option is started to be very accurate for us..so I will always have to remember that when course walking.
5. He is running great with no lameness and not acting sore at all. Once I do some of this retraining, he is going to be ready for the rings in fall I am assuming.

Before we trial we definitely have to get our weaves back, do foundation jumping up the wazoo, go back to being able to jump all 16" jumps on course, be a little more solid on teeter, and get a little bit of progress on coming in and going out. I think that we definitely have enough time to work on that...3 months or so before it starts cooling down (I plan on September maybe start trialing). He will be in great shape, and hes coming back really easily with everything else. We just are going to brush up our 2o2o and the things I mentioned above and I think we will be back in the game again.

Yoshi Class

Yoshi has his Tuesday class, and he did really well during the first part. Some of our "old stuff" started coming out, and completed a sequence beautifully. However, he started falling apart little by little, and totally tried blowing me off for threddles, or whatever they are...so we really need to work on those. The worst moment we have was our weaves, he just started skipping them so badly... that I had to keep trying to take him through and he started shutting down on me. So we need weave work again.... BLAH.

The foundation jumping work I think is really going to help, his worse thing about jumping is he doesnt know where to take off, he takes off too early or too late about 75% of the time.

Next week, we are going to get a little more intensive with the foundation jumping stuff.

Class Last Night

So Yoshi's class last night was errr...interesting.

Still knocking 12" bars down..pathetic..but we are clear to start using the agility facilities for our Foundation Jumping exercises an unlimited amount of time. Sooooo our jumping issues will soon be getting resolved.

He ended up blowing me off big time (big shocker huh?...ha) I ended up having issues with getting him to even pay attention to me to do a 270..he kept barking and going way far away to another jump...even calling his name wasnt working. I eventually had to turn my back on him and ignore him. He then realized that he had to pay attention to me and he listened fine the next time. =) I learned something new...he hates me "quitting the game" like that... Now I can have that trick up my sleeves if he decides to start doing those antics again.

However, we did have some pretty nice moments. He's still fast as hell and sometimes I wish he was slower, but when hes paying attention and not barking his fool head off, he had some great moments. His running contacts are still par. We even attempted a gamble (which Yoshi is TERRIBLE with distance and doesnt even know "out") which he didnt get totally, he started going back to me but I was able to push him out (even with the dog walk between us as a "barrier")

I put a Gentle Leader on him while we were on the sidelines. I was able to get him to be more controlled there and I had a lot better results with this. The Gentle Leader is now having more than one purpose for me. So Yoshi needs his own. I will be using this until he learns to settle down a bit better while he has to wait.

As for the at home stuff, his barking at people has become a problem. I have resorted to spraying him with a water bottle. It for the most part has worked, but we still have awful moments. Everyone thinks hes a dog that wants to bite now because he barks like he does (not dog people...non dog people think this)

If I dont get any more improvement here soon. I will have to resort to a citronella spray collar. I just cant have him barking like that over here right now. When a house is bought, I have a feeling he will be a lot more settled and wont be as freaked out since we will have some more privacy. Lets keep our fingers crossed that a house will be coming to me in the near future. He just has gotten really reactive and jumpy at the apartment setting.

Yoshi's First Real Class Back

Yoshi finally went back to his regular Tuesday class, and while he ran great. I am terrified of how he runs right now. I only jumped him 12" and he just flings himself and doesnt regard the bars as much. His speed is actually even FASTER than it was before, which I really didnt want. The dog doesnt have much distance, he ends up barking if I put too much distance away from him unless its a jump or tunnel. We have a LOT of work cut out for us. A good point about the crazy speed he was showing. The first time he blasted through the weaves, I was actually amazed. Fastest he has ever done twelve poles, and I saw some single strides in there. Weird dog I am telling you.

Things to work on:
-JUMPING- he is flinging himself badly, we are NOT going to do the tire jump until he shows better jumping style. STRICT Foundation Jumping gridwork 3 times a week.
-DISTANCE
-DISCRIMINATION
-QUIT BLOWING ME OFF AND BARKING AND WASTING TIME- he is so busy wasting his time barking at me that it messes him up big time. I never have encouraged barking and I am really fed up with it. He was way overstimulated last night. I am almost thinking of giving the dog Ace the chill pill or something...sheesh!!!
-CONTROL- I have no clue yet how we are going to achieve this.

I am trying to work out a deal with Rachel where I set up grids for his foundation jumping exercises at her place. I really think he is going to end up jumping a lot better if I really stick to those exercises. We will wait and see. Hopefully I can work something out with Rachel! I cant afford to buy the metal jumps that work best for these exercises so we will see what I can get worked out!

Wish us luck..we are going to need it!!!

Of course, I am thrilled he did do what he did. I never thought wed be back doing agility... it was great to be back..(I am completely lost as a handler now...figures..lol)

Waiting...

..On our strengthening DVD to come to us! We will be plenty busy when it comes. He is still doing great (with the exception of skin allergies which when we have a slow day at the vets office then I will get him looked at and get him on some antibiotics)

I am also waiting for that $70 jumping DVD to come out..its got Yoshi's name written all over it.

Can I say BLAH again on how frustrating my life is and how stupid I am??? Ok I thought so =) lol