Snookered

We went to our first outdoor agility trial of the season yesterday.  It was overcast with a breeze but not too cold. You needed a jacket when you weren't running but it was warm enough to run without one. I brought Teddy along so he didn't have to stay home by himself yet again. I don't think he much cared for the collapsible crate, next time I'll bring the really big crate and they can both hang out together. 

Liam was in four events starting with an Advanced Gamblers. In Gamble, you plan your own opening to collect points, each type of obstacle has a point value. The judge can include mini gambles that you can do from behind a line to earn double the points.We had an opening that included a send to a tunnel, Liam got it twice. The main Gamble also had a send to a tunnel but Liam thought "been there, done that" and incurred a refusal on the tunnel. 

Our next event was an Advanced Snooker, if you've read my blog for while, you know Liam has an eyesight issue that makes it hard for him to judge the take off point for a jump and consequently he takes down quite a few jumps. In this Advanced Snooker, obstacles 5 and 6 were combinations and both used the same jump as part of the combination. Obstacle 7 was the teeter and I knew Liam was unlikely to do it so I had to plan a course that gave him the points he needed before we had to do number 7.

Advanced Snooker

I had planned a bit of a risky course. I was using obstacle 5 twice and obstacle 6 once before running the closing of the course, obstacles 2 through 7 as numbered. Liam needed to complete obstacle 5 successfully in the close to have enough points for a qualifying score. That meant he had to do jump 5b four times without knocking the bar, and really he couldn't knock any bars or we wouldn't have enough points. We had a nice clean run and Liam had just put his feet on the teeter when the buzzer sounded for time. He needed 32 points for a qualifying score and we got 39. It was the only event of the day where he didn't knock a bar down.

Our next event was a Standard run. Liam refused the dog walk so again I put my finger in his collar and just coaxed him along, no pressure, just verbal encouragement.  We didn't get to the teeter before the time ran out so after the trial was over for the day I asked one of the club members if I could put Liam on the teeter. He did it just fine, once on leash and once by himself. I should ask at the end of every trial if I can do that. Our last event was an Advanced Jumpers, it didn't look nice on the course map but walked and ran fairly nicely for Liam and me. Some of the handlers of fast dogs had issues with off courses because the dogs didn't turn tightly. Liam seemed rather pokey but our time was quite respectable, we had an allowed course time of 60 seconds and we ran the course in 47.89 seconds but unfortunately we had one bar down.

I think Liam was a little snookered by the time we did Jumpers but we did have our Snooker Q so I was happy with that. Liam now has two Advanced Gambles and two Advanced Snooker, one more Q in each of those games and he'll move to Masters.  

The trial ran quickly as there were two judges and they used two rings so no waiting around for course builds and walk throughs. We were home by around 3:30 pm usually it's much closer to dinner time. Our next agility trial is on 6 June, and we have a virtual Hoopers trial on 30 May.

There was a photographer at the trial. She takes nice photos. I am planning to buy some but it's so hard to chose. Which would you chose? Link to Liam's pictures below.

Znlens Photos - Liam

Red Gate Fun Trial - Apr 2011

Last weekend, we attended another fun trial at Red Gate arena. For a change, the weather cooperated and we had a beautiful spring day; it was so nice to be able to take the dogs outside between runs and not to be freezing all day.

The runs this time were a Standard course and a Jumpers course. In the Standard, I did the Advanced course and then the Masters. Only the first Advanced Standard run was videoed but that turned out to be a good thing as I wasn't happy with most of the Masters run. But then I did go out planning to work on contacts rather than worry too much about the course.  I'll post a video of that some other time.

For the jumpers, we ran the Advanced course both times as I wanted to see if I could get Beckett to do two straight tunnels (obstacles 15 and 16) without having to be right with him.

Advanced Jumpers - Red Gate Fun Trial

You'll see in the video that I don't go as far between the tunnels each time we run. We had never practiced this before and I wondered if he would just come between the tunnels to meet me. 

We also practiced a lead out at the beginning. The opening of the Advanced course was the same as the Masters. My position was critical and since our results were mixed, this will be something we practice more, as obviously I need more work on determining my position.

I really enjoy the fun trials at Red Gate as even when the weather is messy at least we're indoors. I wish Larry and Irene hosted more but next month's fun trial ends the season until the fall.

Beckett Jumping Fool

My young bi-black Beckett was a year old on June 16th. I'm not the greatest dog handler or trainer but in my opinion he seems to be catching on to agility nicely. We started with a puppy seminar this past winter and I had him doing some flatwork and jumps without a bar in the basement until the weather was nice enough to go outside. During that time we also were taking Basic Obedience, I started to notice then that he would pick up things quickly; exercises we barely had a chance to practice one lesson to the next, he still seemed to improve his skill level and understanding by the next class.

We started with a Beginner Agility class and a Two by Two weave class in May. Last week we began the Advanced I class but the instructor moved Beckett up to the Advanced II class. It is an advantage to have most of the equipment in your backyard and to already have an understanding of handling required of the human member of the team. I have been doing a lot of basic jumping skills with only one or two jumps, wraps, lead-outs, go, here, etc. I also back trained the target of the contact obstacles but have to take a step backwards and refresh that skill as right now Beckett seems to have forgotten or lost that part of the contact work.

I was really surprised that he nearly taught himself the teeter. I was back training the teeter and had the teeter lowered and the up end on a small patio table when he started jumping up on the middle of the teeter and running down himself. So I promptly took the table away and made him go up from the end, he showed no fear whatsoever. My teeter is still lowered somewhat but Beckett has done full height teeters at two different locations so he seems to have acquired that skill easily. But as I said we still have to work on the independent target part again.

Two by Two Weaves however have been another story. He doesn't seem to be interested in them at all and rather than getting much better has been getting worse. We had difficulty moving from the first set of two poles and then once we had moved on to two sets of two poles he seemed to do fine. But then all of a sudden he was by passing the first two poles and just doing the second set so it was back to just two poles. We are going try channel weaves and see how he does with those and we'll keep on trying with the two by twos as it is supposed to make the entry a better skill in the long run.

I don't plan to trial with Beckett until he's nearly two so we have lots of time to work on those weaves and other skills. So for right now, he's just my Jumping Fool!!

Early Takeoff Syndrome

I found an article on Linda Mecklenburg's website Awesome Paws that talks about what she refers to as Early Takeoff Syndrome. What got my attention is that she thinks it is a problem with depth perception which is something I have always said I thought was the problem with Ceilidh. Ceilidh jumps the tire, doubles, and spreads usually without too much hesitation but with single jumps especially with the ones with small metal uprights, she hesitates or stutter steps. At 16", her Regular jump height, she would go around and then back jump as if she had to figure out exactly where the bar was. She never did that with winged jumps, doubles, spreads, or tires which led me to believe that those types of jumps have more cues about the depth of the jump. Ceilidh also doesn't like toys (or anything for that matter) thrown in her direction. She also doesn't like it when I take a jacket off over her head. And in poor light, she has trouble jumping off a bed or going down stairs when she is not familiar with them. All of these things indicate she has some problem with her eyes so I had her eyes tested to ensure that PRA was not present. There was no indication of retinal deterioration so I am left believing that it is, in fact, a depth perception problem.

Below is an excerpt from the article on Linda Mecklenburg's web site, there is also a short video clip on the web site of a border collie displaying the hesitation or stuttering just before the jump.

Early Takeoff Syndrome

"Early takeoff syndrome describes a jumping problem seen in some agility dogs where they do just that: they take off too early for the jumps. The syndrome ranges from a subtle hitch on the dog’s final stride to severe stuttering. The dog typically inappropriately chooses to shorten its last stride before takeoff. This results in the highest point of the dog’s jumping arc peaking before the bar and the dog is on the descent phase of the arc by the time it actually clears the hurdle. This should not be confused with simply a long takeoff distance which, if balanced with an equally long landing distance, simply means the dog is jumping with a flat jumping trajectory.

Early presentation of this problem can be very subtle and takes close observation. The faster the dog is, the more likely it is to be apparent because the shortening of the last stride results in a more noticeable change in the dog’s speed. Obstacles with components that extend forward of the jumping element, such as the tire and triple, may cause more problems. Many affected dogs will also shorten their last stride on the approach to the A-frame and/or table. For some dogs, the problem will increase with changes in the lighting on the course.

Diagnosis

If a dog begins to show changes in his jumping habits, the very first step is to rule out any physical problems that might account for it. With ETS, the dogs are physically sound. There seem to be certain breeds of dog and certain lines within those breeds that may be affected. This includes some of the breeds that are known for jumping problems but Shelties and Border Collies can also be affected. I do not know the cause of this problem. I do not believe it is a training issue although as I said a lack of confidence makes the problem worse. It appears to be a problem with vision and/or the dog’s perception of where the bar is in space. Many dogs with this problem have had normal cerf exams and some have even been tested for near and farsightedness (with variable results). To my knowledge, there is no test for depth perception in dogs at this time. I’m hoping with increased awareness and demand from agility competitors perhaps that will change, so that a definitive cause for this syndrome can be identified and perhaps steps taken toward treatment and prevention. "