more training and swimming updates

I had a great training session with Sizzle on Tuesday at Pachesham. I didn't realised it was the last one of the block and thank God, Eleanor said she is happy to continue to do another block as all the dogs in that class are doing so well! YEAH! We have 3 miniature schnauzer and 2 shelties. Sizzle is the youngest in the class, he just turned 11 months old and the second youngest is the other sheltie Ricky who is 18 months old.

We did a big loop of Jumping round with A Frame and pipe tunnel mixing in between. Some of the jumps are slightly off angle, for me, it was a good way to teach the dog to take the obstacle in front of him as I am facing a problem with Sizzle not taking the obstacle in front of him. Sizzle is a reasonably fast dog (well, he is definitely faster than Sing and Saturn), so when he shot down the jumps in speed, most of the time he will avoid/ignore the off angle jump, Eleanor has to break the big loop into 3 to 4 parts depending on the dog's needs. After a couple of tried, he actually tear around the big loop without missing out any jumps! I am really happy with him. The best thing is after so many rounds the big loop, he was still motivated and not slow down at all. And, I HAVE NOT use any treat at all! Just toy!

Also, we have tried something new for Sizzle, the see-saw (teeter). I now realised I cannot tell Sizzle to go up the SEE-SAW! You try this: Sizzle, see-saw! Just imagine, when you are running around and after a few jumps and other things, I don't think I possibly can say this: Sizzle, see-saw! So, I have to practise this at home: Sizzle, TEETER! before the next session.

Yesterday, we have Ian took over the class as Eleanor has taken Sophie to Crufts. Ian was our trainer when I first started Sing in agility training, I can't remember how and when Eleanor took over but I enjoyed both Ian and Eleanor's teaching.

Sing wasn't quite himself yesterday, he was sick in the car on the way to Pachesham, so I did a little training with him then put him away. Saturn was good and bad. Good thing, he was keeping his good speed and enthusiam, very keen to run but not as accurate! The other good thing was he did some very nice tight turns which I have never expect him to do so, I thought it was just a one-off but he did that most of the time when we trained. The BAD thing was he missed all his weave entry, emmm ... I can't explain that!

We have done a few difficult entries and he missed every single one of them!!!

I like this weave entry. I have tried to handle it from a few different ways; the first one was to stay behind jump #4 and sent him, he went into the third pole the first time, then we tried again, he went into the 2nd pole, so we tried again and he finally went in the right pole! The other way I have tried is to stand in front of the jump #4, I think that was the bad way as I BLOCK his view to the weave, so he actually got lost finding where the weave poles are! Then, I moved myself halfway between jump #4 and the weave, that is even worst, I was totally in his way! I did tried to swing him into the weave and he did managed to go into the right weave pole but not the way I would prefer! I will need to work harder to send him from behind jump #4. That's something for us to work on.

This is another interesting entry. It looks simple but if you stand in the wrong place, the dog still go into the wrong pole. I have tried to run past jump #3 and that turned Saturn wider into the weave entry! We worked better if I stand between the see-saw and jump #3. That gave him a clear guide that I want him to turn left after jump #3 into the weaving pole.

Again, this doesn't look like a bad entry but we didn't get it the first time! Saturn was too focus everything straight ahead instead of turning left and right. He thought he will finish at jump #9.

I forgot to mention something which I think it is quite important ... Saturn actually goes faster on the down plank (A Frame)! I have taken Lee Windeatt's advice to praise him much quicker (once I see his two front paws hit the ground) and release. I don't bother to treat him when he does his 2o/2o because by the time I praise and treat, then it will be too late and he was on that 2o/2o position for too long. This method seems to work well so far but he sometimes is a bit "naughty", if we were to do the A Frame many times in the training, he choose to release himself before I release him, so I need to watch out for that but for the time being, I rather him not creeping down instead of release himself early while he is still on the target area.

After the training, I took the dogs to Oxshott Common for a long walk before the swim. The weather suddenly turned very cold lately. Eventhough it was sunny but it was freezing cold. You can see in this picture that the dogs struggled to open their eyes in this sunny weather!

Just a quick update on Saturn's hair growing process ... his coat is definitely growing, maybe not as fast as I want them to be. He looks very much like a puppy now. I am hoping he will grow back into his dark shaded sable, it may take a year or more but I am looking forward to a full blossom Saturn. I am not bias but he is a very handsome boy!

sorry for these two low quality silly photos taken with my mobile. I just want to share with you that his coat is growing, you can see more clearly in the picture below (his tail), the middle bit is the new growing coat and the longer one is the old coat. Just imagine is he hasn't lost his coat, he will have a very long thick coat!

Swimming update:

We had a great successful swimming session with all the boys yesterday. I didn't put a life jacket on Sizzle and I don't need to go into the pool with them either! I have changed and be prepared but I only sit by the pool side throwing the balls for them to fetch. All three were very keen to go in, so I just sat there enjoyed watching them. I must bring the camera next week!