snow fun & 2x2s & ear infection & agility fun run/classes

Lots of stuff here. First of all, Ellie's had an ear infection but she's definitely healing up. We've got her on a very low dose of prednisone and ears cleaned out with a solution every day for ten days, but it's been ten days so we're just doing once every week now.

Second, I've started Ellie with 2x2 weaving since I'm not too crazy about channels. We're making a lot of progress but the snow, my next topic, is really slowin' us down! With her 2x2s, we're almost at 4 poles completely straight. Yay!

Third, SNOW!!! We got snow Friday night and it's stayed the whole weekend, though it's melting. It was only about 2 inches but Ellie and Teddy had such a blast out there, running around and eating snow. Got lots of pictures up on my Flickr after that.

Lastly, early January we're going to be starting agility classes! At DogLogic, same place we took our Obedience classes. Cannot wait! My limited setup, well, really limits our training, so I'm excited. Problem is I can't decide what class... Intro, or Beginners. They are both at opposite ends, while we're somewhere in the middle, leaning closer toward Beginners. Also, on New Years Day, January 1st, we're going to our first fun run at DogLogic! I can't wait. It's free, too, yay!

Pics from our snowy adventure...

run-away tunnel & weaving woes

My tunnel is gone! Which means no tunnel work until Christmas, since I'm getting a competition tunnel (in pretty teal, yay)! We need one badly as Ellie's scared of the real tunnels. She's a goofy girl. I think it's cause they don't let in light like our thin fabric one did.

Well, I've gotten weaves and we've been having... issues. Not really with Ellie as she's doing good weave-wise the problem is me! I'm training her channels but I'm not sure if I'm doing them quite right, oh well, she's my first agility dog, it's supposed to be about trial and error, right?!

6th obedience class

This was yesterday. It didn't go so well. I mean, it was okay, but there was a new dog in class. A very barky Australian Cattle Dog, who just kept barking and barking at Ellie. Which I think majorly stressed my sensitive puppy out. We were working on mat exercises and she just shut down totally. Ugh I hate seeing her like that. She rolled on her back, tail clenched between her legs, feet in the air. She peed a little, too. It was kind of embarrasing especially since I wasn't quite sure what in the heck was causing it.

My trainer came over and though Ellie was just doing a really good play dead! Hah i wish. But I told her, no, that she just shut down and wouldn't move or even take treats. So Karen (trainer) suggested it was probably because of the ACD barking so much that just caused sensitive little Ellie Bellie to stress out. We took her out side and she perked up immediately. She got some water, we talked, and planned to take her back in but away from the Aussie Cattle Dog.

So Ellie and I stayed by this little stairway block thing that kept us farther away and pretty much out of sight from the ACD. I just comforted Ellie and didn't really do any training after that. Karen explained what happened and we all took a break.

So not a very good class, but I have been noticing that shaping is really starting to "click" with Ellie. Also, stay tuned for a weaving post a little later, to the few that read this blog hehe (:

5th class & a good agility session

So we had another fun obedience class this morning, and Ellie did great as always! We worked on the "look" cue which isn't horribly important for Ellie NOW but I know it will help down the line. We also did the mat behavior a bit more, and we're aiming for an instant down on the mat, eventually building up distance. So I finally started luring her down and she's getting it FAST! This dog never ceases to amaze me (:

We also did some target work... which we had already started but practiced kinda sparingly. I used a lid and was aiming for a nose touch as it will (hopefully) help us down the line once we get into contact work. She's doing well, we just need to progress so she'll nose it when it's on the ground instead of in my hand.

In other (agility) news, we did a fifteen minute session of the usual three jumps and a tunnel. She did well! There was some communication issue with the "get outs" to the tunnel, but we've only just introduced "get out". She knocked one bar, which is HUGE for us! She had been doing well but had a bit of a setback, and is back to going well again! Let's hope it stays this way! (Of course, we're still working on jump form! She just regressed a little but it's looking brighter now)

My dad also ordered some channel weaves from affordableagility.com! Can't wait, hopefully we'll be able to get some good practice in before our very first fun run on December 12th!

weavin' machine!

Through my legs, that is! Hah!
Hopefully soon we'll be able to brag about REAL weaves soon. (:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVBFBJwSiiM&feature=subtivity

4th obedience class & more jumping

So our 4th class on Saturday went pretty well, I think! We had fun, we worked more on touches and introduced leave it and boundry training. They both went well, infact leave it went a little too well... When I threw treats as her reward, she didn't want to get them, thinking she had to leave them. At this point she was definitely getting discouraged... So I just reached over and hand fed them to her. After this, she started to perk up again. (:

Karen (trainer) told me to just teach her a "get it" cue, which seems easy enough. Will be working on that and what we've been doing, of course. I'm also really going to town on the leg weaving! We're almost there, Ellie's doing so well.

After the class ended, we let the dogs off leash for some play time. Ellie's really gaining confidence, while she spent more time hanging with the people, she also played well with the other dogs! She actually played this time, too. We practiced recall during this time, and of course- great as always.

Have also done some some jump work these past days! Gah, she's doing so well, in the two sessions we've recently done, only one knocked bar.

We're going to possibly attend a Fun Run at DogLogic after our Saturday class! We'll probably just enter JWW and just skip the weaves.

jump work

I've really had to work on Ellie's jumping lately since she's been knocking bars like heck. It was rainy yesterday and "misting" today so it was wet out. I didn't really want to go out just to work on one jump so I just set one up inside. I set it at 22", and had her go over it a few times. She hit it a couple of times, and I think it's because she's taking off to late, she just needs to watch her feet better.

I then set it at 24", just to see. No knocked bars! Hurrah! I think we're going to slowly build our way up to a sequence all over again to see if that will help, starting with them all in front of each other, then work on odd angle jumping with just one then start adding more.

I also worked on her distance since it's sometimes difficult for my velcro dog to comprehend. (x She did excellent actually, only needing a re-do like twice and we did a lot from all different angles.

I'm so proud of my girlie. (: Can't wait to start weaving her! Haven't decide on 2x2 or channels...

boat dog

We went out on the boat Sunday, and of course brought along Ellie. Enjoy ;)

3rd obedience class

It was our third obedience class today, and Ellie did well. As usual. :) I take classes at DogLogic (doglogictraining.com), and love it there. First thing we warmed up with some hand touches, and she's doing excellent at that. Now our trainer suggested that we start doing some 'advanced' hand touch work by using them to get her to weave through my legs. Boy, that dog catches on quick!

Next was "go to your mat". We had only introduced it last class and I hadn't practiced since (bad me!) so we're still in the reeeallly early stages of just clicking when she puts few feet on the mat and gets interested in it. Gonna keep working on that until next class just so I don't screw anything up haha.

Then we did some loose-leash walking... Eeek. Well, it wasn't that bad- but I really had to reavaluate my rate of reinforcement since she was getting way too distracted. So we're going back a step, with a click and treat pretty much every step. We *tried* to play a little LLW game, but it didn't go so well with any of the dogs in the class. They all had the same problem- to distracting!

But overall it was good, and Ellie likes going there, I can tell. It's a great experience for both of us. ^_^

doolin sunnyglen doctor's orders

Elliott.

The dog I thought I wanted, the dog I now know I needed. She's teaching me everything- one paw step and tail wag at a time. We have our good days, and our bad days, but nothing can stop us now.

Onto the fun part.

Ellie is my crazy Golden Retriever who's got some issues but also a lot of heart. We're working at agility training, just the basics and lots of shaping/positive reinforcement training. She's catching on quick, and while she can be a challenge as I sometimes don't know her limits- we make a pretty good team. :)

This blogs purpose is to mostly have pictures and tales of our adventures, no matter how big or small.