Trials Are Almost Here

Well the trials are looming very close and Yoshi had his private lesson to brush up on normal things he will see in his start of trialing. He did very great in his lesson and I feel like we will have a good start this year. I am WAY excited and I have high hopes for him. The first trial is January 5 and 6... a CPE only about 5 min away from me... should be a great place to get his feet wet.

I can't believe that after sooooo long of waiting for him to be old enough that the trials are soooo close. The days are now zipping by instead of dragging out...lol

If I dont post on here before the trial (if I do post, it will probably just be pictures of Yoshi and Foxy)... I have a new digi cam and video camera as well...so hopefully I can get some good videos and some pics of Yoshi in action. Wish us luck!

Communication

There was some of that going on last night during class, and I was not saying hardly anything. He did pretty good last night. Only one knocked bar, but it was a little of both of our faults and that angle of that jump we will not see in a trial for a long time. Every other jump bar stayed up and I did not say hardly a word around the jumps. By me not saying "over" I was not already saying "Here, here, here" when he was still in the air which was causing knocked bars. Of course he is still barely skimming over the jumps and sometimes tapped them, but they did not go down. He is such a terrible jumper.. I feel sorry for the poor dog.. his front end is so choppy when he runs. We made some really hard weave entrances and he did not need any guidance finding them. If I just stand back and let him have his space, he nails them...well of course in class atmosphere!!! That was our last group lesson for the year. We are going to have 2 privates before his first trial. One next week and one the week after.

Things right now, are looking up for him!

With the exception of him flipping out on the sidelines. I finally had to lay him flat out on his side and be in a firm stay. It stressed him out some, but then made him relax and he actually listened to me more on course. Not to self: need to buy some fabric to cover his crate at trials.

Hair Raising Class

Last night was the night where both me and Yoshi could do no right. It was a mess! He botched his weave poles, messed up everytime on tunnel/a-frame exercises, went off course a couple of times, and knocked more bars. Let's not also forget the wonderful plowing directly into the jump and resulting in a viscious face plant into the ground. Then you have me that literally can not stay 100% still while the dog is moving so then he knocks the bars. Or I am trying to get him to pay attention to me instead of the wrong obstacle and then he'll knock bars.....*sigh* I had to be a lot more firm with my voice in tunnel/a-frame stuff... I hate doing it but he gets so crazy around them and even if I put my body in exaggerated places to let him know "HEY WE ARE 100% SURE WE HAVE TO DO THIS OBSTACLE!" he will do the opposite one. At some time he prefers the tunnels.. then the next lesson he will prefer the a-frame. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! LOL "What we have here is a failure to communicate!"

That is all I can say....

Next time we go out.. it will be better..... I keep telling myself that. I guess this is what happens right before your first trials.. everything falls apart!!!

Fun Match

The fun match went great with the exception of he did knock some bars. I am going to have to tone down my excitment level to hopefully calm him down..the knocked bars are going to kill us if he keeps it up. Hes been more riled up lately..not in a good way, in a "crazy" way sort of. We have less than a month now to try to figure it out.

His colors run was 20 seconds....lots of speed... now if he could put more effort into his jumping lol!

Coursework

We ran a couple of courses at PAWSitive last night. I have learned something that will definitely benefit for our start of trials.... Yoshis first runs are always a bit....err....enthusiastic. I need to remember to stay calm myself so we dont rush obstacles. If we can do this..we will be able to take on anything! I just need to calm myself down a few notches to get Yoshi to calm down a little. Of course, these courses are a LOT harder that hes going to see in Novice and Open.. but we are going to be great out there by the time we hit Excellent.

On a side note for the at home stuff... he still doesnt like being the only dog without any visitors or friends around. But hes coping. I think it has gotten him a little more wound up when we go to classes too, I think it stresses him a bit, but I am not 100% sure that that is what is happening..just a guess!

Things to work on: More weave work to get it as solid as possible, dogwalk 2o2o, fast as possible downs without sticking the butt up first (Thinking that 8" jump height table sort of threw him off though, he usually is GREAT on his regular height or around it), calming down before runs, and not rushing up to jumps so we don't get knocked bars. Silly dog, if he toned it down a notch or two, he could get better footing and probabaly would be faster..oh well he will learn with age..hes still a young dog! =) Even though he acts as lazy as an old senior at home. LOL I guess a dog that has 0% at home and gives 200% out on course is something I cant complain about too much now.

His running a-frame has been great, his speed wonderful, and he is very focused for such a young dog. I have a lot to be thankful for him.. even though he has spoiled me rotten with being such a wonderful dog.

We have a fun match tomorrow night where his first trial will be held at.

The final test for the AKC shows will be how he takes to the dirt. I have ran him at horse arenas before... but he wasnt as fast then as he is now. I think he should be fine because both places keep the dirt in great condition.

Videos

"Videos of a terrible, mean hard handler and a wonderful talented sheltie."

First run is ALWAYS a bit hairy when he gets this hyped up...




Much better =)



Ahhhh hit those weaves..NASTY entrance!