What can you do with dogs in the rain?
I know there are some people, I read this, that bring their agility stuff in the house. I love reading articles that start out, "I just brought 6 weave poles into my kitchen, and every time I am whipping up nine thousand batches of cupcakes with hand drawn portraits in powdered sugar on each one, I just send my puppy through the poles. Worked great!"
So there are like the Martha Stewards of cooking and phage, and the Martha Stewarts of dog agility. I am neither. I have tried. Sort of. I have wished. But I am no Martha. I sure like the design of her magazine though. We like to look at the pictures. Thanks Martha!
I think it's sort of an overachiever thing. Like, obviously, the Martha people are overachievers. You've seen their Christmas snowflakes. You know who you are. Some of you are my friends. You still love me even though I am sloppy. I know there are a lot of agility overachievers. This last weekend, people were talking about how they are training their puppies. I am hearing how people have their puppies already discriminating scent articles! (My puppy chews on pens!) Their puppy can be on a down stay while 2 border collies are having a frenzied tug game. (My puppy is outside with his head in a hole he dug barking at squirrels under the grass!) Their puppy can speak 3 languages already! (My puppy may not even be a puppy, he is an untrained adult dog!).
I have never been known to be an overachiever. I'm always busy, and I work real hard, but I am also sort of a slacker at heart. Remember the movie Slacker? Some of my friends are in that. Really. I have so many things to do and I have focus issues. I need to work on my website! I need to draw some pictures! I need to take some pictures! I need to clip the horse! I need to sew a purse! I need to rip open my roof! I need to buy a ranch! I need to do all of these things at the exact same time! And then my wheels spin. Somehow the bathroom gets remodeled and the dog gets trained but maybe they don't happen as good as the Martha's. Martha Stewart, you have a nicer bathroom than me! That's just how life is. So I shouldn't complain when I am not the USDAA Rockstar Champion. Perhaps the term is Quirky. I am the USDAA Quirky One with Somewhat Unfocused Dogs.
But look, there's Gustavo on his contact trainer, which takes up much of the backyard. That was his idea to get up there. And we did do some targets in the rain! The weave poles are under a tarp, so didn't do those. I'm sure not bringing them in the house. I did a load of laundry. I figured out how to make crummy little videos. So I have hope. Don't write me off yet.
7 comments:
Wow! Too cool! What hard courses!!! Now I'm gonna be late for work.
The way I made these videos was, um, somewhat non-traditional. So it is hard to see and stuff but it brings some of the action packed weekend right to your computer screen. Customer Service! That is Ruby on the first run in Team Snookers (so I invented that hard course to get the points and do the fewest amount of slow weave poles) and Otterpop's Team Standard run (complete with her one teeter fly off of the weekend!). I am now part of the Web 2.0 Generation with my own YouTube account. Thanks rainy day and total hooky playing from work!
Wow -- that Otterpop is a little speed demon!
I did find myself wondering if the first run was one where your goal is to rack up points -- I noticed how you set up those jumps and I remembered you writing about that type of run but I had forgotten the name - Snookers - got it now.
Thanks Laura -- that video gave me a needed dose of small dog agility this morning...
My days can sometimes feel like a dog agility run (especially Snookers) Jump over this jump -- OK now - through the weave poles! Quick!!! Get in the tube (suspense... will there be an exit when I turn the corner??!?!) back over another jump...
Yeah-the snookers, you rack up points but you have to also always take one of 3-4 "red" jumps before the high point value things, then do a prescribed course at the end in a set amount of time. So it makes for a weird course. I had to do a very weird one, since the weave poles and that tunnel next to it had the highest points, but Ruby is slow in the poles so I didn't want to do that too many times. You are so getting the dog agility!
Nice video! I still haven't really understod what snookers is about. We only get jumpers and standards in FCI...
Ah -- so I should have written... Jump over this jump -- OK now - through the weave poles! Quick!!! Jump over this other jump -- Faster!!! Get in the tube (suspense... will there be an exit when I turn the corner??!?!) back over another jump...Ohmigod I'm running out of time!!!! Better get to the stuff I *must* do to legally get through the run...
I can see how easy it would be to miss a weave pole I can see it now... it's like when a dog is on a wood floor, goes flying around the corner, spins out and hits the fridge... -- if I were a dog I would go flying out of the weave poles for sure...
Maybe Ruby's right to go slow through those...
The thing with weave poles, you practice and practice them til the dogs just know them. Otterpop associates weave poles with FRISBEE is GOING TO BE THROWN SOON!!!! and she just goes for it. Ruby, on the other hand, had her ouchy soundness issues that I think maybe actually came from the poles, and even though hers are accurate and can be fast, she just either gets sore from them or just knows she used to be sore from them and kind of blows them off. They aren't always THAT slow, but based on how fast they used to be, back in the day, they are slow now.
The driveway training yard is working on a secret weave pole speeding up plan right now. When it's not raining. We'll see if it makes any difference. It's a long term plan. We've got time.
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