Working on that Snooker Super-Q

SUMMARY: Steps I'm taking.

So, for the first time in many, many months, I've had the energy and enthusiasm to focus on improving Boost's agility performance in hopes of getting that danged last Super-Q.

I've actually been working on bar-knocking in the yard.

I actually rented the big field last saturday morning and again this coming saturday morning to practice just having Boost drive ahead over jumps. Basically I dropped toys in various places around the field where I could drive her over 2, 3, 4, or more jumps to get a toy. I felt that Saturday went well--she's very happy to drive ahead when she thinks there might be a toy out there. I noticed that she knocked bars when she wasn't sure where the toys were going to be, hmm, something to think about.

It was pretty warm, even at 8 a.m., so we rested quite a bit between runs.

Tika wanted to bark while I was running Boost--this is a no-no, don't want to disturb the neighbors, but if I ran her through 5 or 6 obstacles and then gave her treats, she'd be quiet for a while. Not sure what I'm going to do this weekend--have been instructed "NO barking," so we'll see whether it's cool enough that I can leave her in the car.

Anyway, will work on more of the same this Saturday morning--I decided to sign up ONLY for Sunday of this weekend's 3-day USDAA trial in Woodland, because that's the only day with a Snooker, and I just don't want to be out in the heat in the central valley for 2-3 days.

Tonight in class, there were only 2 of us! I asked whether JB would be willing to do some private lessons/evaluations on snooker, and then we agreed to spend most of class trying to do various snooker-like runs. Boost didn't knock a single bar! And she got all her weave entries! I made a few handling errors, but got no refusals, either. I hope this carries over to Sunday's competition; would sure be nice.

My back is still a mess, but my core muscles are getting stronger as I do my exercises (not as often as ideal, but enough that I notice a difference) and I've been doing some exercycling in lieu of hiking to try to let my foot continue to rest but still work my legs and cardiovascular system. I felt pretty good in class tonight, but with only two of us, I turned into a pumpkin before the full class session and came on home.

But, in other words, the enthusiasm that I've had in the past but not for a long while is back. Trying to hold onto it and keep on going.

Tika and Boost

SUMMARY: Resting, playing, training.

Tika doesn't seem to have any side effects from the new meds so far; whew!

This evening marks the first time that she has wanted to play since last Wednesday evening. At the time I thought maybe she was sulking or confused because I wasn't playing "properly" with her, but in retrospect, I realize it's because her butt hurt so much. Glad that she's now feeling a bit better.

So now I had to go back to not playing properly with her while at the same time throwing the toy enough for Boost to chase. The challenge with dang Boost is that she won't play with a toy while Tika is--she wants to watch us. So I can't distract Tika with one toy while I throw another one for Boost.

On the other hand, the last few days where I've been able to work with Boost while Tika hung out inside the house of her own volition, it's been so much easier to practice some agility things that I know we need to practice.

It's a reminder that I used to be adamant about the not-being-trained dog staying up on the porch while I worked with the other dog, and have let that slide a bit; and also that at the moment I'm actually enjoying working with Boost on a few issues:

* Send to the opposite end of a tunnel
* Rear cross tunnel and turn in the opposite direction
* Rear cross curved tunnel
* Blast out of tunnel and go straight ahead over a jump with me way behind
* Dang weave entry approaching from the left, and some from the right to keep it balanced.

And we've got 3 months to just casually practice stuff like this before our next competition. Sigh--just hit me again that Tika won't be competing. It has been a very, very long time since I've deliberately run only one dog in agility. It'll be odd, but maybe good for a while.

So things are, at the moment, relatively at peace.

Practicing Contacts

SUMMARY: Hey--I practiced!

I did about 5 minutes with each dog on dogwalk contacts with a target at the end and clicking and tossing treats on the dog's far side (not facing me). Actually practiced! Whether that will make any difference in either dog's contact performance remains to be seen, after years of gradually decaying criteria.

In fact, after a whole bunch of fast, rewarded contacts in a row, I removed the target and Boost immediately came down with her front feet off the side towards me again. Gads.

But at least we practiced *something*!

Mixed Weekend Ahead

SUMMARY: Agility and hiking.

Aaaaaannnnnd we're off again. Very very early rising to drive 2 hours for a one-day USDAA trial in Santa Rosa. I'm likin' this one-day thing; do it every january. Not so much the early rising or 2 hour drive, but that's pretty typical for trials.

I've continued to have no ambition at all to practice, so we're going with exactly two class sessions (about 5-6 runs each) since our last trial mid-November and other than that no practice on anything at all. Could be interesting.

Because some of our trials have been losing money (fewer people/dogs participating? Odd last couple of years), the club has been trying to find ways to trim costs. For this trial? No masters placement ribbons! I am not a happy ribbon camper. I like my placement ribbons. Yes, I take photos of them, I keep them, I take them home, I hang them on my wall for a year. Grumble. But maybe with no practice we won't place in anything, anyway.

Then we're spending the night with my cousin in Richmond (about halfway between there and here) and getting up in the morning Sunday to do some off-leash hiking in Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, despite the threat of overwhelming quantities of ticks--they seem to be crazy bad in all the parks at the moment. I'm hoping we can do about 6 miles before packing up and heading home.

Where I've left my renter in charge of NOT eating all the birthday cake that my company had at today's meeting to celebrate January birthdays. (Mine among them; I took one large chunk home with me, after eating 2 very small chunks of this rich chocolate fudge cake with buttercream frosting at the meeting. Good thing I'm getting exercise this weekend!)

Temps are hitting record highs for this time of year (low 70s F, 20s C). Should be two beautiful sunny days after the early morning chill (low 40s F, 4.5ish C) and fog clear away.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.