July 7- Yoshi's first fun match

On July 7 (prevented that it doesn't rain out) we are going to take Yoshi to his first fun match. We are going to have to leave out the teeter and the weaves, but she said it would be fine just so I could get Yoshi used to everything. I'm excited and I hope it will be a good experience.

I bought my tunnel and teeter base... now just waiting for them to come in and waiting on it to quit raining so I can start painting again.

I bought a tunnel with 6" pitch...I hope it will be fine because I know most places use 4" pitch. Hes only 20 lbs so I guess it doesnt matter that much as long as I have something to hold the tunnel down on its ends......

We have class tonight too..hopefully we will have some fun

Simple Work and New Horse

Yesterday I put together a tight little course of jumps and just worked on crosses and getting him to respond to how my body turned and such. I really emphasized on everything and after a few oopsies he really tuned into me. Hopefully I will start getting that focus right off the bat after a couple more months. He did really well and I even did a tire and jump discrimination and made sure I really exaggerated my body movements to motion what I wanted him to do and he did great. There was a simple sit stay then go jump, 180 left turn (where I do a rear cross...we are working on these) to tire, then 90 left turn to jump off away from me over another jump where i do another rear cross and call him to my leg. He did the exercise great.

My mom also picked up a new horse yesterday. He is a 16 H 6 year old bay Saddlebred gelding. Very unusual pick (I prefer the psychotic Thoroughbreds myself), but she wants to do dressage and he does have the movements (he is not gaited). So I have a new project because he needs a LOT of work. She hasnt done much riding under a professional, so I am going to have to get his initial training done for her. He needs to move forward a lot more... this is going to be interesting. I am used to already forward horses haha.

CGC and California Hear I Come

Well Yoshi got his CGC today! He did great and was very calm through the whole test. We had no mistakes and now I dont have to worry about getting it before we move up to the next level in a few weeks.

Oh yeah... yours truly should be in California in a few weeks.... MTV is flying me out to do a live tv show!

Updates!!!

I think this says it all:




Tuesdays class: We worked on turning away from me over an obstacle so I can do a rear cross... he was confused at first but today he got it down a lot better. We will continue working on that.

Thursdays class: We worked on entrances into channel weaves. We did a small sequence: weaves to table to tire to chute. Yoshi did good on that. We also worked on his 2o2o on the plank as well.. anyway the picture says the best about how hes doing...... lol

We might be going for our CGC on Saturday..hopefully it wont get cancelled..wish us luck!

Private Lesson #4

Well Yoshi's last scheduled private lesson was on Monday before he starts at the Tuesday night class at Bellecreek next week. He did very good, but I can definitely see that having a dogwalk at home is going to be helpful to reinforce my 2o2o training.. he is realy patchy in wanting to come straight down to the base. We did some jumping exercises first with a front cross...which made him shoot through some weave poles nearby (weird because the dog doesnt even know that obstacle much) He just shot through two poles really. So I guess I will have to emphasis "come" when jumping near weave poles. With the rear cross though...no problems! He did great. I think it is because I typically did rear crosses with him through his early jump training. Anyways... When I jump him I need to remember to try some front crosses because he does get confused with those still. We also did flatwork exercises... I had to send him out around two cones and go further and further away... turning with me and away from me. Also I had to walk with him right at my leg and then stop and try to get him to stay right with me unless I send him off... I think its going to work brilliantly. We also did work with the channel weaves...we made them just a bit tighter and he had no problems running through(I pray for fast weaves one day!) I am giving Yoshi a little bit of time off this week (Tuesday and Wednesday) Then he will have class on Thursday (unless it pours down rain there or something) and then over the weekend he might visit the beach. I think I might work him once and then just give him the other days off so he doesnt get burned out. He will have a class on Tuesday night anyway so he might start having regular two classes a week (depends on the plan at the place in pearland..this week is the last class for the 4 week session I paid for)

Yoshie's Jumpers Course and 2nd Day of CPE Trial

The 2nd day of the CPE trial went beautifully... I am so glad I got back into the sport of agility because everyone was so appreciative of us helping out (in racing everyone could care less what you did) Everyone was so helpful and nice and I have not had this much fun in a long time. When the trial was over...I went and ran Yoshi over the Level 3 Jumpers course at 8"...... he did......BEAUTIFULLY!!!!!!!!!!! I have never had him run so great, he pointed and clicked..he ran fast, charged into the tunnels (banked in them too), and was attentive to where I sent him. I was SO EXCITED!!! Im such a proud mommy!!!

PS Thanks to the A!Woof group (especially Kathy!) for the fryer for me and Dustin when we get an apartment =) it will be to a lot of use for us

We might be in College Station in a couple of weeks..depending on if we can get the money to go or not!!

First Day of CPE Trial

It went really well! I was a scribe the whole night (what a "first trial" experience!!!). There was a standard, snooker, fullhouse, and color class. Yoshi did pretty well with the atmosphere, he mainly stayed in his crate but I would let him out in between classes and get him to concentrate on me.. he did great =) I tried him out under the wickets and he did pretty well under them..he relaxed enough that he could have even jumped the 12" class last night (of course if he was old enough..lol) I am about to leave to go there again to help out tonight. I really like the CPE organization and I hope they have a lot more trials in this area in the future!! Im not sure what classes are going to be offered tonight (I think Jumpers is definitely tonight)..Anyways.. I will type more later!

Whoops!!

We went to practice tonight where the CPE trial is going to be this weekend and Yoshi did great...until he tripped on his feet and fell off the dogwalk (not a bad fall)! He was just running on the middle section and it just happened out of nowhere (right after Dustin asked if I had ever had a dog fall off the dogwalk) I just acted suprised and said WHOOPS!!!! and had him go right back on it.... I made him go back and forth a few times and then after 20 min of rest I sent him back over it and he did fine...just hope he doesnt get scared next time we go out. The look on his face was kind of humorous... he looked at me like WTF?!?! I think it didnt scare him too bad.. I guess he wouldnt have gone back over it the times I had him go back over it if he was that scared. Poor guy!! He also did his first banking turn in the tunnel tonight. =)

We are going to be at the CPE trial this weekend helping out and letting Yoshi get used to the trial scene.. I wish we could do a FEO run in level 1 (no teeter or weaves) but Im not registered with the CPE yet and someone said he might have to be at least 15 months old... we have a while to go if thats the case.

A Few Videos

Heres a few videos over the new jumps!

Where Did This Come From????

The last two days when I worked Yoshi over the new jumps....he just flew. Yesterday I worked on some jumps in a circle and also them lined up where I could get him to go in an X-Pattern..I barely had to go anywhere he just went where I pointed......and went there in a hurry!!!!! I was soooooooo proud because he hasnt shown his speed in a while.

I ended up buying the stuff to build a tire jump and the frame is built and waiting for the rest to be done. I have 3 more jumps also waiting to be finished. Most the jumps just need jump cups (I dont think Dustin likes making those...)

The table just needs two coats of pink on the top (with the sand to make it have texture) then its done. It looks kind of cloudy today so I might hold off until tomorrow.

We had to postpone the beach trip so we could build the stuff.... I really want to take him but my parents are renting a beach house in a couple of weeks so I will get my opportunity soon enough.

The internet has been awful so I have been having to come over to my parents to use their dial up...which is excuse for my lack of posting of the new videos I have of Yoshi.... I have quite a few waiting to be loaded!!

New Agility Equipment for Yoshi!

Well we built some new jumps and also a table! We used the designs from the beginners guide to dog agility (in the back they have some build your own equipment deals)... Anyways..they came out great! I have three jumps (minus cups...still waiting on Dustin to cut those) And Im going to run to the hardware store to get some more stuff for a couple more jumps. Surprisingly...Yoshi was excited about his new stuff...a new found speed let itself show when I let him jump over some baby 4" jumps (they are that high without the cups and poles in place)...hmm maybe this might be a break through..... He might have just gotten bored with the old jumps in the same area everyday. Anyways..I put some primer on my table bottom and I am waiting for it to dry so I can put the second coat on. Then I'll flip her over and prime the other side..then I can paint my table PINK (yes I know I am weird)! Soon I will be buying the stuff for my dog walk base (think I am just going to order a kit) and I am still deciding on if I should build a tire jump or just buy one. Also I will be buying a tunnel and I might buy a chute as well. Since he is still younger (almost 9 months now) I will probably wait for 2-3 more months before I try to buy a set of weave poles. I need to figure out if I need to buy some to make the channel weaves or what. It depends on his progress in the next couple months what I will do with that. Anyways...I am getting excited more and more because now I actually am going to have equipment of my own and no more cinderblock jumps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also we are going to probably go to the beach (if the weather is nice) and take Yoshi..so hopefully I will have some pics of that. I will try to get the videos up in the next couple days of his course run from the place a week ago.

Yoshi's way of frustrating me.............

Well last night we went to go look for some new shoes for Dustin (without success...they dont make the same style of shoe that he likes. This is going to be fun...) We get home and there are party paper plates, napkins, bags, and CANDLES all chewed up in Yoshi's crate. I have NO idea how in the hell the dog got to the stuff (I didnt even know it existed in the vicinity) but somehow he did and chewed it all up. Also somehow he got into a Koolaid singles pouch (that were way over on top of something) and ate it up....AND got koolaid stuff all over his crate pad and on his white legs...................... I was soooooooooooooooooooooo MAD!!!!!!! I didnt want to put stuff up against the crate because I didnt want him getting too hot..but looks like I have to if hes getting into stuff. I have some stuff blocking (at least I hope) his reach of anything around the crate. All together now.......UGH UGH UGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Class was rained out last night as well..... hopefully next week it wont be the same story.