Snoking Agility Trial at Argus, Sky had 4 runs this weekend and still no Q's, although they did come very close in both Open JWW runs.
On Saturday's JWW run there was a jump straight in line with the end of the weaves, but they had to turn sharp left and enter a tunnel. Stephen knew that if he left Sky early to cue the tunnel he would pop out of the weaves and he also knew that if he stayed with him all way he'd take the jump that was straight in front of the weaves. On the run he tried to cue the tunnel and sure enough Sky popped out at the very last pole. Stephen made him repeat the weaves, stayed with him all the way and he took the sucker jump. After that Stephen pulled Sky back on course and did the rest of it the perfectly. Sky was still one of the quickest dogs in the class even though he did the weaves twice and took an extra jump. At least Stephen now has something that we can work on in class on Thursday.
They came even closer to Q'ing on Sunday - Sky was really flying but unfortunately just clipped the second jump (a double), everything else was perfect. Again Sky was super fast and wasn't barking or mouthing Stephen at the end :-)
STD was all about missed contacts. Sky made 2 out of 3 on Saturday but only 1 out of 3 on Sunday.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Five runs this weekend and no Qs
At Puget Sound Labrador Retriever Association Sky did 5 runs without a Q :-(
Stephen admits that 3 of the NQ's were his fault. On Saturday they started with Open Fast - the Send was incredible easy - two jumps in a straight line, he positioned Sky in line with the jumps in a sit, walked to the other end of the arena and then called him, he did both jumps plus another that wasn't part of the send. He did the weaves perfectly too, but then Stephen proceeded to mess up his run, Stephen got him to do the A frame for 8 points (on which he missed his contacts) and ignored the teeter (7 points) and tunnel (9 points) which were (with hindsight) easy. They scored 50 points - not enough to qualify and Stephen was very cross with himself as this was the easiest Fast source they have run and Sky would have got his title if they had Q'd.
On Sat Open Jumpers there were two parallel paths "home" and Stephen sent Sky down the wrong one - 3 off-course jumps and another NQ. Again very annoying as he had successfully completed the hardest part of the course with style.
They didn't Q on Novice Std either - but this time it was Sky's fault - he missed both the dog-walk and A-Frame contacts, but did the teeter perfectly.
Stephen says that they seem to have hit a wall. Sky can't or won't make his contacts, and Stephen's not handling him very well either.
One thing he did discover is that Sky only knock's bars over or barks at Stephen when he doesn't give Sky clear guidance where Stephen wants him to go. Sky ran Saturday's Open jumpers and Novice Std course silently because Stephen gave him clear direction where he needed to go. Sky barked liked mad on the two Fast courses and today's Jumpers course because Stephen believes he did not give Sky clear instructions.
Stephen admits that 3 of the NQ's were his fault. On Saturday they started with Open Fast - the Send was incredible easy - two jumps in a straight line, he positioned Sky in line with the jumps in a sit, walked to the other end of the arena and then called him, he did both jumps plus another that wasn't part of the send. He did the weaves perfectly too, but then Stephen proceeded to mess up his run, Stephen got him to do the A frame for 8 points (on which he missed his contacts) and ignored the teeter (7 points) and tunnel (9 points) which were (with hindsight) easy. They scored 50 points - not enough to qualify and Stephen was very cross with himself as this was the easiest Fast source they have run and Sky would have got his title if they had Q'd.
On Sat Open Jumpers there were two parallel paths "home" and Stephen sent Sky down the wrong one - 3 off-course jumps and another NQ. Again very annoying as he had successfully completed the hardest part of the course with style.
They didn't Q on Novice Std either - but this time it was Sky's fault - he missed both the dog-walk and A-Frame contacts, but did the teeter perfectly.
Stephen says that they seem to have hit a wall. Sky can't or won't make his contacts, and Stephen's not handling him very well either.
One thing he did discover is that Sky only knock's bars over or barks at Stephen when he doesn't give Sky clear guidance where Stephen wants him to go. Sky ran Saturday's Open jumpers and Novice Std course silently because Stephen gave him clear direction where he needed to go. Sky barked liked mad on the two Fast courses and today's Jumpers course because Stephen believes he did not give Sky clear instructions.
