From last weekend. These are all easier to see if you hit the HQ
button, looks less like a small fuzzy brown dot and more like an actual dog.

Zipper's Saturday Jumpers run, a bit slow through the weaves but
otherwise it was a great run. This is the first run I've had since Viva
where I felt the dog and I were actually fully in tune with each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW_u6U-1VSI


Sunday's Standard run. I made a big mistake right off the bat with this
one. Just before we went in he started showing signs of stress. I should
never have made him stay while I did a lead out. I had to command him
twice, and what you can't see on the video is that he's sitting but he's
got a foot up; a sign of uncertainty. Everything else that happened in
that run was a direct result of that. The shake off, and the sniffing,
even, I think, the run by the weaves. He did have a lovely finish
though. I learned a really good lesson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0hQJcwJIXY

Sunday's Jumpers run. Again with some weave sniffing, but he accepted my
front cross (he tends to want to duck behind my back) and I was so
pleased with the run overall. This was for his Excellent JWW title. It
was a lot of winding around and I almost got lost just before going to
the double and the line that led back to the second tunnel. The last
line out was four jumps in a row and a couple of years ago no way would
I have made that line without being half-dead. Yay gym!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1Fko_9ANPI

"Robin Nuttall" wrote:

Zipper's Saturday Jumpers run, a bit slow through the weaves but otherwise
it was a great run. This is the first run I've had since Viva where I felt
the dog and I were actually fully in tune with each other.

You both look good! What a nice, smooth run - the weaves look more like
he's being a bit careful with his feet than lack of confidence. (My dogs
have always seemed to run a bit conservatively on astroturf, incidentally.)


what you can't see on the video is that he's sitting but he's got a foot
up; a sign of uncertainty. Everything else that happened in that run was a
direct result of that. The shake off, and the sniffing, even, I think, the
run by the weaves.

Yeah, a good 2/3 of that run is textbook "stress sniffing" - although
it's not impossible he's tracking a previous dog.

I learned a really good lesson.

I learned that one with Morag... sometimes it's much better to go right
WITH the dog. It did help that she had excellent distance once running,
which reduced how much ground *I* had to cover. :-)


Sunday's Jumpers run. Again with some weave sniffing, but he accepted my
front cross (he tends to want to duck behind my back) and I was so pleased
with the run overall.

Another very nice one! Looks to me as if your higher fitness level is
giving you more physicial confidence, which in turn is giving Zipper more
confidence.

sionnach wrote:
"Robin Nuttall" wrote:


Another very nice one! Looks to me as if your higher fitness level is
giving you more physicial confidence, which in turn is giving Zipper more
confidence.

Not just more confidence, just flat out more ability. I really had no
clue how unfit I was until I started getting fitter. Now I'm hooked
thank goodness. I had thought I'd really be huffing down that long last
line in that last Jumpers run but I wasn't even breathing hard, it was
easy. A lot of other handlers had trouble.

"Robin Nuttall" wrote:

Not just more confidence, just flat out more ability.

That's sort of what I meant. g

I had thought I'd really be huffing down that long last line in that last
Jumpers run but I wasn't even breathing hard, it was easy. A lot of other
handlers had trouble.

Motivation for keeping as fit as possible is one of the many reasons my dogs
are good for me. :-)

(As a side note, I'm curious - did you get a chance to look at Cen's
videos?)

sionnach wrote:
"Robin Nuttall" wrote:


Motivation for keeping as fit as possible is one of the many reasons my dogs
are good for me. :-)

Just running my dogs and going for walks didn't do it for me though.
I go to the gym 5 days a week and right now I even have a personal
trainer. She's helping me with strength and balance as well as a
persistent rotator cuff issue and my torn calf.


(As a side note, I'm curious - did you get a chance to look at Cen's
videos?)

I did, and I thought I'd commented. Just in case I didn't, I'll say he
seems to be coming along brilliantly. For a first trial that was great.
With Zip, the zoomies went away fairly quickly. What I think with these
little guys is that over time they just gain more and more confidence
and get faster and more focused.

"Robin Nuttall" wrote:

Just running my dogs and going for walks didn't do it for me though. I
go to the gym 5 days a week and right now I even have a personal trainer.
She's helping me with strength and balance as well as a persistent rotator
cuff issue and my torn calf.

Rotator cuff injuries - whether chronic overuse or sudden impact - are
nasty. (Saw a lot of that type stuff in my judo days.)

I did, and I thought I'd commented.

If you did, it hasn't shown up on my server yet...

Just in case I didn't, I'll say he seems to be coming along brilliantly.
For a first trial that was great.

I couldn't be more pleased - he actually did far better than I expected; I
thought we'd have a much higher distraction level overall (day 1, of
course, we did have the MICE!!, but even that he worked through well).

With Zip, the zoomies went away fairly quickly. What I think with these
little guys is that over time they just gain more and more confidence and
get faster and more focused.

I have no doubt Cen will go that route. :-) What I'm *particularly* pleased
about is that all his zoomies were either induced by MICE! or by my
mistakes.
Even the circles at the beginning of the first run are due to him missing
the jump because I didn't pull him towards it. After a couple of re-watches,
I realized that he came out of the tunnel headed to the right due to the
fact that it was slightly curved, which put him too far to the right to get
the 2nd jump.

sionnach wrote:
"Robin Nuttall" wrote:


With Zip, the zoomies went away fairly quickly. What I think with these
little guys is that over time they just gain more and more confidence and
get faster and more focused.


I have no doubt Cen will go that route. :-) What I'm *particularly* pleased
about is that all his zoomies were either induced by MICE! or by my
mistakes.
Even the circles at the beginning of the first run are due to him missing
the jump because I didn't pull him towards it. After a couple of re-watches,
I realized that he came out of the tunnel headed to the right due to the
fact that it was slightly curved, which put him too far to the right to get
the 2nd jump.

It's nice to actually be able to see the video isn't it. On my second
Jumpers run, somebody on another list commented "nice front cross," and
actually, no, it was a fairly crappy front cross. I was late, and I did
what I always tend to do, stop dead. He stopped too. He's very attuned
to my movement which is great and also bad. I can easily pull him or get
a really tight wrapped turn by delerating, but on the other hand, I
can't decelerate and send him ahead. And of course if I want him to run
like hell I too have to run like hell.

Coming from big dog to small dogs, I also love my sense of having TIME
with this little guy for him to grow and develop. With the big dogs,
you've got a window in which they will be at top competition form, which
usually starts drawing to a close at 8 or so. They start slowing down
and start having some wear and tear physical issues. Knock on wood and
all that jazz, Cen and Zipper should be able to compete at top form to
way past 10, which means we can bring them along slowly and not feel the
pressure to push.

Robin Nuttall wrote:

I chuckled over him in the weave poles - he runs the course
hell-bent-for-leather, and then goes through them so deliberately!

Looks like you both were having a lot of fun.

FurPaw

--
Don't believe everything that you think.

To reply, unleash the dog.