Let’s not waste this good weather so I joined the weekly practice at the Krazy Kanines Dogs Club. Environment Canada is forcasting rain for tomorrow. My goal is to attempt Gregg Darrett’s diagrams 3 and 4 (see previous posts). I also remember CB’s advice to always keep Jasmine within my sight.

Please note that I’m not including the images of the diagrams from the DVD because, quite frankly, I prefer to respect the copyright.

Diagram 3 & 4 from the DVD "Great Dog, shame about the handler".

Diagram 3, 1st attempt: Success

Diagram 3, 2nd attempt: Jasmine leaves me to zoom so I take her in my arms and give my spot to someone else.

Diagram 4, 1st attempt: Everything goes well, except I set up my front cross too soon between jumps 3 and 4 so Jasmine doesn’t complete her 180 but follows my body and does a threadle instead. In my opinion, that’s worth a “screw-up cookie”. ; )

By the way, I’m now knowledgeable enough in the sport to understand why she didn’t do her 180. Wow! I’m getting good at this eh? (wink, wink) I take a few minutes to pat myself on the back.

Ahem, Ahem.

Diagram 4, 2nd attempt: Success!

I finish the practice with a 2 x 2 session. The poles are set in the 8 o’clock and 2 o’clock position. I use the command “Allez” to signal Jasmine to cross the poles.

Success: When Jasmine is on my right and must cross the poles from the left.

Must improve: When Jasmine in on my left and must cross the poles from the right.

Note: We were at the field maybe 1 hour but worked maybe a total of 8 minutes. I gave Jazz a lot of breaks in her crate.

Slowly but surely...

Another plateau has been conquered I think. CB kept us very busy during our lesson yesterday, but with great results! Last winter, we had attempted Diagrams 1, 2, and 3 from Greg Darrett’s “Great Dog, Shame about the Handler”. At that time, Jasmine wasn’t capable of doing more than 2 to 3 jumps without zooming.

What changes winter and practices can bring. Yesterday, we did those same diagrams. I was so confident that Jasmine would zoom away, that I didn’t take the time to program my head to remember the sequence after the third jump. Was I ever wrong! Yet again, I underestimated my mutt and sure enough, she zoomed away alright, but only after I hesitated in the sequence.

At our second try, Jasmine leaves me to join one of her boyfriends, Fidget, who was working close by. She had to say hello, didn’t she?

We hit jackpot at our third try. I don’t lose her and we completed the sequence.

Reason for our success: Keep my eye on her and don’t hesitate.

What a great day!

Other improvements :

She can now keep her balance on two dyna discs.
She comes back to me when I call her during a zoomie.

Must work on:

Jasmine has trouble staying in her crate when the door is closed (or open for that matter). She even tore the netting on the crate. Bad Jasmine!
We’re still having trouble with the basket. Yes, CB, it’s a new one with lower edges.
Keep an eye on Jasmine during sequences. Always.

Anecdote:

I think I’m now part of the hard core agility crowd. The lesson was outside and we kept on working even when it got dark. The moon was out and here I was taking notes by the light of the barn, which isn’t very useful by the way. If there’s no movement, it shuts off.

Homework for the week (time and venue permitting)

Keep working with the basket
Find an extra dyna disc from someone
Try diagram 3 from the DVD
Try the exercice CB explained called « slicing ».Start working on the 2 x 2
More crate games

Flyball, have we conquered the plateau?

I haven’t added an entry for a while because… well, nothing was happening. Nada. Rien. Nil. Until this morning that is. You see, Jasmine decided to pick up the ball on the box once more. Why? That’s where it gets interesting. Last weekend, I had the chance to run a “point and shoot” Border collie for the flyball team, Doggone Ballistic. At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it, but by the end of Sunday afternoon, I was sold.

A Border collie runs FAST, let me tell you. Her name is Skye and when she was coming back from the box, she would look me in the eyes while running at least 45 km/h. I had the feeling she was saying “Givemethetug, givemethetug, givemethetug”. That’s very unnerving if you ask me.

During the runs, my friends took care of Jasmine. Generous of them isn’t it? I could see her little black eyes over the blue curtain which was separating the lanes from the spectators. I was told later on that she was standing on her two hind legs to watch me. Yes, she saw me with another dog, in other words, her rival.

During this morning’s practice, I think she tried to cheat once. But overall, I’m very happy with the result. I can’t wait to see what she has planned for next week. ; )