THANK YOU EDDIE FOR COMING TO CT!!!

Let's get fired up people! When I say "EV", you say "CT".

This place has been dead the last few days it appears.

Anyone doing anything good this weekend?

You kids with your Xbox and Social Network...none of that stuff makes any sense to me. I got a moral opposition to video games and facebook, but I hope you guys have fun this weekend nonetheless.

Good luck with the car shopping unlost. I hate going through that process. But beers and supper at the marina club sounds fantastic. Enjoy! And Sailor and Tess only get 1/2 hour? Is that enough to get them going?

FenwayFaithful wrote:

You kids with your Xbox and Social Network...none of that stuff makes any sense to me. I got a moral opposition to video games and facebook, but I hope you guys have fun this weekend nonetheless.

Good luck with the car shopping unlost. I hate going through that process. But beers and supper at the marina club sounds fantastic. Enjoy! And Sailor and Tess only get 1/2 hour? Is that enough to get them going?

Thanks bud!

I find that the unlost dogs do best if we train in small bursts, frequently. No more than 15' at a time for complicated tasks.

In this weather I have to be careful that they're sufficiently warmed up and cooled down since our training facility is unheated. They're doing a lot of running, jumping and climbing, so even in the 15 minute sessions, I stop them and have them catch their breath and relax a bit.

Mostly this weekend we'll be reinforcing the contact zones. There are three obstacles that require the dog to hit a specific part of the obstacle in order to qualify. It's the "contact zone" and it's painted yellow. At least some part of the dog's paw must be within the contact zone on the descent.

Unfortunately Sailor firmly believes that the contact zone is electrified in competition, so he will run down, stop just before it, and then joyfully leap off. That earns us a major fault and automatic disqualification. It's funny, because he does it perfectly in training.

Tessie's contacts are generally quite good, but she's been cutting it close in our most recent trials so we need to go back to basics.

Here is Tessie at her second-ever trial. She's nervous, hits the contact perfectly and is looking up at me for approval. She's a lot more confident now and tends to run down, landing maybe two paws in the zone before taking off.


Below is Sailor on the teeter. The dog has to ride the teeter down until it touches the ground, while touching the yellow zone.

FenwayFaithful wrote:

Look @ them go! You have such awesome doggies. Good for them.

So they must run up to the top of the teeter, make the exchange until the other side touches, then proceed downward, and the zones are on the top and bottom or just top? Am I understanding this correctly?

I bet EV would love watching them do their thing on the course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_a8ZGoOPpo

Here you go...
In the venue we compete in, they only have to hit the contact zone on the way down. Other venues judge the zone on the way up as well.

The teeter and the weaves are the hardest thing for them to do. The teeter because it's scary, and if they have a bad experience it can hurt. Like, if they hit it too fast and it slams down, it would sting their paws. Or if they don't exit it quickly it could go back up in the air and hit them in the butt, which would be startling.

The weaves, my God it takes a while for them to pick up that skill.

I think you're right, Eddie would get a kick out of agility. Especially how I run it with my dogs. It's a failure to me personally if we leave the course and their tails aren't wagging and I'm not smiling. I don't care what they do, or if they qualify or not, as long as they're happy. It's a lot of fun for us.

damn....unlost.... u got my hopes up... i thought it was a home video starring Sir. Sailor.

But your right, Ed and all the boys would love this. Maybe they'll have free pup passes for the PJ weekend with a dog sitting facility for show time (wishful thinking ).

Kudos to you tho. Its good to know that your in it for the fun. And for the dogs' fun...cuz to me, thats most important... It worries me that some people do the dog shows, etc. just for the money, or for themselves, while not really thinking about if the dog is actually having fun or not. I watch lots of Animal Planet and I like to watch the AKC dog shows, etc...and sometimes wonder, are the dogs having fun doing all this or do they hate every second of it - traveling, living in crates, not getting to be DOGS. (You know, curl up on the couch next to your human and cuddle kind of dog). Great to know your dogs have the best of both worlds!!

Tessie and Bugsy would get along so well.