Pyper has her AKC Number!

Well we are now official in 3 different organizations. AKC, USDAA and NADAC! We recieved Pyper's AKC number just in time to enter her in the Fort Bend Kennel Club trial on November 14th and 15th. The deadline for entries is tomorrow! Phew that was close. Amy is going to hand deliver both our applications today....thanks Amy!

2x2 Training continues and Proofing Pyper's Contacts!

Training sessions at my house are split between all 3 dogs. This is how this weekends session looked:

Saturday: The 2x2's and the staight weaves made their way to the driveway (because we have had so much rain lately the back yard is soggy!)

Pyper's session was first, So I set the weaves to make a set of 12. I had her run these about 4 times, the first time I gave her a nice easy entry. Then I added a jump off to the left side, this proved to be a little hard for her as she entered backwards. So we tried again and BAM we got it. Then I moved the jump to the right. No problem. I then decided to work with some harder entries. I also decided to remove the second set of weaves, this set is made of pvc pipe and were sliding around on the cement so it was better to practice without them. We worked both sides of the weaves, by the end I had the jump beside the weaves, she would take the jump in the opposite direction of the weaves, then make a 180 approach to the weaves! Pyper loves this game. One of the key elements in Susan Garrett's 2x2 training is getting your dog to drive the line, to do this you need to throw a toy or something down that line to make them get after it! Because Pyper is such a food motivated dog and not very toy motivated we have become rather creative with our rewards. What we have found to work is very simple....I keep my treats (Frozen Bill Jack) in a zippy bag....all I do is throw the entire bag (sealed of course). She LOVES this!

Hallie's session was next. We worked on her entries to the 1 set of 2x2's. Since we were working in the driveway I could throw the treats directly down the drive line for her to get an instance reward! We worked the entire spectrum for entries, making them rather difficult @ times. Her success rate was about 60%. Pretty good for her 3rd session. I think she will need one more session like this before we move on.

Mia was patiently waiting her turn! First we practice her sit stays. She did really well. I had her sit @ the top of the driveway and stay. I then moved about 20 paces way and called her to me! She did fantastic! We also practiced some sits, downs, get in left and right! All of this in the front driveway off leash! Good girl.

Well that was no the end of the training session, keep in mind this only took about 1/2 hour, next we moved to the back yard to work on the teeter.

Pyper started things off, we did 2 perfect teeters were she stuck her touch while I ran fast past and forward! Good girl. I thought it was so good I went and got Crystal to show her, which of course jinxed us! She missed her next few. But then she figured out she was not getting the reward when she did this and got back on her game!

Hallie also got to practice teeter, her practice was simply take the teeter and touch, to target. She did great.

Mia was up, so she wasn't left out she go to go on the teeter to feel it move. She wasn't really sure about it, but she did it.

Sunday: We took Hallie and Mia to the PetFest in Old Town Spring. This was a training session all in itself. Both girls are very different; Hallie is a barker and a nipper and Mia is a scaredy cat (dog)! But to their credit they did very well! Mixing with all kinds of dogs, from 2 pound Yorkie's to 150 lb Hounds! They also recieved treats from all sorts of strangers, treats we gave them of course. On that note it is kind of funny, these people (the ones who got to give the treats) always thanked us for letting them interact with our dogs, and we always thanked them for doing it. I guess we both won!

Since Pyper didn't get to come along to the PetFest, I decided to give her a one on one training session. Just a quick/short teeter session. We did the same session as above, but this time we did it successfully all 5 or 6 times! I am really happy with her progress.

We discovered yesterday that we have not yet taught Mia how to shake a paw! So while Pyper was in a down stay and Hallie was in a time out (for not listening) Mia and I worked on Shake a paw. It took her several repetitions to understand what was going on, but once she figured it out she was on it!

Well that is what a couple of training sessions look like @ my house. My timing is very random and in the moment and the sessions are always short. All in all these sessions would totally about 1 hour of my weekend.

First USDAA trial this weekend!

This past weekend Crystal and I went to watch an AKC trial in Crosby, we have never been to an AKC trial so we wanted to go check it out. Up until this point we have only competed in 3 trials, all NADAC. We went to the trial Dog-less....it was nice! Plus, it was a good to go visit and cheer on friends! Go Cisco, Go Ende!

Pyper's AKC PAL/ILP registration has been mailed! As soon as she has her number we can start to compete in AKC! Woohoo! Was hoping to have the number in time for the Fort Bend Trial in mid November, but I didn't get my stuff together in time! oops! Oh well there will be more trials!

Well Pyper and I are officially entered in our very first USDAA trial this coming up weekend. I decided to enter her in Performance 12"; Jumpers, Regular and we are being daring and entered the Speed Jumping competition. Should be interesting! We are really excited about this weekend for a couple of reasons: 1st - it is an agility trial silly, why wouldn't we be excited!. 2nd - Linda Mecklenberg will be competing @ the trial, it is going to be great to watch her work! 3rd - we are taking the camper! Who doesn't like camping!

Fun Fun!

Well everyone have a great week!

Started Training Hallie on 2x2's!

About 2 months ago Hallie started her Beginner Agility class @ J-Canine. The class covered all the obstacles; Jumps, Tunnels, A-Frame, Teeter, Dog Walk, Chute, Tire, Table, and Weave Poles. Hallie loved it; she just loved to be out there playing with Mommy, having some one on one time. She has some good focus and follows’ my lead rather well, she has a lot of growing to do but I think she is doing rather well for a 15 month old puppy. Having said that, the baby class is now behind us and it is time to start getting a little more serious with her training.

This past Monday night was Hallie and I's first class with Renee. At first I was a little concerned on how she would do, I think it is the same concern I had with Pyper her first day....but all in all she did really well. Areas that we need to concentrate on are: contacts and weaves. Her contacts are so, so...on the teeter and the dog walk she can stick her 2-on 2-off ok, but the A-frame she flips her butt over. I just need to do some more practicing with her and she will be fine. Now for weaves....I had already decided a while back that I would be training Hallie on Susan Garrett's 2x2 Method....


Well she has officially started her 2x2 Weave Pole training. We had attempted to start about a month ago, but in the first session I knew she was not ready yet. Needed to do some more shaping exercises. So we have been working on that for the past while, we have taught her things like, touch, shack a paw, wave, Role over, and bow.


So last night was session number 2; 1 set of 2x2's set @ 2 o'clock and 8 o'clock. At first I started with throwing the treat so she would drive down the line, she liked that. After a few successful tries like that I started throwing a treat bag for retrieval, she really like this. For everyone who does not know the 2x2 method I will explain what this session looked like in more detail. First off see below image to see what 2x2's look like...

The idea is to train your dog to enter the weave poles correctly no matter what angle they approach from and to drive through them in a straight line. See image below. The outside Blue line is the spectrum in which you practice driving your dog into the weaves, start off simple near the weaves, then expand to make it harder and harder. The red line is the drive line.We completed our session in about 5-8 minutes, nice and short, and we finished with Hallie wanting more. That is really important in any type of dog training, if they get bored or frustrated you will struggle in your training.

SHAG - NADAC Trial is over and I am exhausted!!

Well the weekend is over and we are all exhausted! We had a really nice weekend, visited with all of our friends, made some new friends and had some really great runs. Saturday was good, but not as good as I would've hoped as I was not feeling well! Sucks!
First thing in the morning we ran Weavers, Pyper did great; she hit her last set of weaves perfectly! Second run up was Jumpers; we had a great run, first place Q! Third and Fourth runs were Regular, we did ok but I was really starting to not feel well so we were not successful. We had 2 more runs left for the day, but I decided to pack it in for the day to go home and get some rest to see if I could kick the bug!

Sunday was a much better day. We started off with Tunnlers, we did great, Pyper followed me perfectly, maybe a little too perfectly! I tried to leave her a little more than normal but didn't give her the right body language to send her to the tunnel, so she followed me! Good Dog! We Q'd in this run which was also our Tunnlers Title.

Second Run: Jumpers, another fantastic run, for some reason Pyper goes around the last run, I am still not sure why, but besides that it was a great run. You can't see it on the video but I lead out past the 3rd jump.

Third Run: Chances. I am really happy with this run, we did not succeed but she hit her weave poles first try and she did everything great.

Fourth Run: Regular. Well this was a different story, she started all new bad habits, she missed her contact on the A-Frame, very weird! Then she took the Tunnel instead of the dog walk, not as weird, but when she did take the dog walk she bailed; which if I watch the video doesn't exactly look like her fault. We were asked to "go on". Also a first for us.

Last Run: Touch N Go. Usually Pypers favorite, but it was the last run of the day, I think she was a little tired. It took us about 4 attempts on 1 hoop! I was almost ready to throw her through it! She finally went! The run was good but we went over time. All in all I was happy with it.

We did have a bit of a surprise this weekend. I had the judge measure Pyper in hopes that we could get her permanent height card, we already have 2 judges sign off at 16"....but Pyper has lost some weight as she is now in great shape so the judge could not sign off on 16, she measured at 12! This would not be that big of deal, except that we were going to try and compete in USDAA, AKC and NADAC. AKC and NADAC she would be 12 and USDAA she would be 16....what to do, what to do?

J-Canine Agility Demo @ Sugarland Dog Park Grand Opening!

This past weekend the Sugarland Dog Park "Pawm Springs Dog Park" had it's Grand Opening. J-Canine was there to promote the kennel and dog agility/obedience training programs. They asked some of their students and instructors to come by and run their dogs so it could help showcase the agility program. It was a great opportunity for us to get on the equipment in a different environment with different disctractions.

We had a really great time. Pyper and I were there from about 9:30 to 1:00; we ran a few times, just having fun! Pyper did great with all of the distractions, she even had an interaction with other dogs and did not have any issue. I am so happy.

There was a photographer at the event and she was so kind to send some of her photo's too us. Her name is Rebecca Romo with Posh Pet Portraits.

SHAG - NADAC Trial this weekend.

This weekend Pyper and I will be running in our 3rd trial. We are really excited, this will be the first trial that we have entered all the events. We have 6 runs on Saturday - Weavers, Jumpers, Regular 1 & 2, Chances and Tunnlers; then we have 5 more on Sunday - Tunnlers, Jumpers, Chances, Regular, TouchNGo. I am a little concerned that Pyper will get too tired and peter out by the end runs each day, but I figure I will not know unless I try, plus it will be good for both of us.

If all goes well Pyper will title this weekend, she currently has 20 points in Jumpers, Tunnelers and TouchNGo. We are also really excited about that! Wish us luck. I will be sure to post after this weekend with pictures and videos.

Weigh In Time!

I weighed the girls this morning.

Pyper - 20.5 lbs - age - 6 yrs 9 months
Hallie - 17.7 lbs - age - 15 months
Mia - 15.6 lbs - age - 7 months

Pyper has lost some weight since we have started agility. She is in great shape. Hallie is about right! Mia is a little heavy but nothing to worry about since she is a puppy.

New Wheels!

On August 26th, Crystal and I picked up our new camper! 

We have been planning on getting a camper for a while now.  We have several motives for getting one but it is mostly because of the dogs.  We want to use it for traveling; with a camper we can bring the dogs which will save money on kenneling, plus we will not have to pay for a hotel!  We also wanted it for going to trials!  So that is exactly what we did, September 12th we entered our second trial.  We loaded everyone up in the truck, hooked up the camper and set out for College Station for another New Hope Agility Group NADAC trial.  This time we entered 6 runs and Pyper Q'd again!  Plus she placed!  We came home with:

Jumpers - Q-10-1st

TouchNGo1 - Q-10-3rd

TouchNGo2 - Q-10-2nd

Tunnlers - Q-10-2nd
Boy were we happy!

Simple Overview!

Well as I said in my first post, Pyper and I started Agility in March of this year. We started by taking a class @ J-Canine that introduced us to the equipment. We had a blast. Martine was our instructor, she's great! After the 6 week class was up we started an Intermediate class, also with Martine, but after class one we were asked if we wanted to bump up to the Advanced class, apparently Pyper and I were doing rather well. We decided to move up, mostly because it would be more challenging for the both of us.

The following week we were in our new class...it was kind of scary simply because I wasn't exactly sure what I had gotten myself into. I questioned if I had done the correct thing. By the end of class 2 I was totally on board and have not looked back since!

Our instructor, Renee, is fantastic! She figured out right away that I am a little competitive and that I like to learn and push myself; so she pushes extra hard, just the way I like it.

In August we went to College Station to a New Hope Agility Group NADAC show, just to watch. That Saturday afternoon Liz convinced me to enter in a couple of runs the next day. Now that was a rush! I am not really very good at doing things on the spur of the moment; I prefer to analyze things to death before I take the plunge. So On Sunday August 9th we entered our first run….and we Q’d! What an even bigger rush! That day we ran in 4 runs, 2 Tunnelers and 2 TouchNGo, we Q’d in Tunnelers. Here is a picture of her with her first ribbon.

We had so much fun @ this match, not just because we won a ribbon, but because we were surrounded by people who were becoming really good friends. This is the other reason we love doing agility so much, we get to socialize!

Why Not?

Well here I am....blogging. Totally didn't see this coming! I thought I would start this blog as a kind of journal that will allow me to look back to see how far we have come. In March of 2009 Pyper and I started taking Agility classes. Just the basic stuff, learning all of the equipment. March 16th, 2009 both Pyper and I fell in love with our new sport! Another thing we did not see coming...

I will try and update soon with all of our progress, to get the blog up to date....stay tuned