I kicked myself in the butt and went to the agility center with Harley.

The room was set up for tomorrow in house competition, can't go because I got to work.

The courses were posted so we tryed a few. It was fun! up to 16 elements. I also re inforced the weave some more and the dog walk as last time Harley sliped while there was a shadow on the dog walk. Today he was very good about it.

We got all contacts very well, good auto down on the table and ok speed in the weaves.

I don't have the energy for Dexter, I am still very emotional about my mare and can bearly function. The day 11 x-rays were not good. I know the dead bone has been degraded and all but was not expecting the damage to be that bad. We are now looking at 1 year off and 60% chance of recovery.





Sorry about the different rotation yes it is the same foot! top image is day 11 and botom is on the day of the accident.

Looking at those xrays makes me hurt. How did she get injured? Is she a sport horse?

Sorry to hear about your horse. I feel your pain.

Been there with a crazy young horse laid up. It is the PITS. I had only had my horse a year & was training him for X-country. He was almost turning 5. Not an injury...he delevoped EPM...way before they knew much about it. Lots of different anitibiotis for many months. Lots stall rest & hand walking hoping that you don't get kicked,trampled or killed by the 2nd week, never mind by the 10th week! He did recover, but it was almost a year before he was back to the fitness level he was before he got sick & back in full training.

How did she injure herself? Hopefully, she will surprize the vets & have a full recovery. Hang in there. Lots of good thoughts coming your way.

Pretty darn good tracking this morning, followed by some long-distance downs (not solid at all) and some pretty intense long downs with increased pressure, including a cap gun. She's a little sharp with gunshots, fireworks, thunder, etc, so she broke the first long down, but was okay after that.
The added pressure affected her a little. She wanted to go home when we got back to the truck. Did one easy dumbbell retrieve to get her upbeat again, then took her home.

Now, we're dyeing Easter eggs and making potato salad for tomorrow's visit with the Grandbaby and her daddy (my son), and, oh yeah, the rest of the family, too. I think my helper must be worn out, or she's mad at me for not letting her lick the dye off of the eggs.

River and I played fetch, which is something we were doing before the snow was on the ground and stopped because she was too distracted with the white stuff. She did great and remembered the command 'give' (put the ball in my hand). After playing for a bit we went for an off lead walk so she could burn off whatever she had left and she found a tennis ball. We played fetch a few times and then she offered a focus heel all on her own! I was super excited about that, so we did some practice for a few minutes and her reward was YES! and to fetch the ball for me. Her offer was sloppy so I encouraged her to do it the right way and by the time we were done she knew what to do.

That's the first time she's ever offered a complex behavior. That's also the first time she's ever given me so much of her focus OFF LEASH outdoors. My heart was exploding with pride.

agility class day, all new dogs and Harley could not care. This class is a melting pot of all sort. We have a micro chi that is very advance but goes so slow, like walk and snif, a papillon very well train but can't function in the presence of other dogs. 2 bouvier des flandre, nice but super advance but again slow and slower. The setter (gordon?) is a real goof ball and loves to sit at random places like at the top of the A frame. the huskie cross has super good ob but as soon as it is in the agility ring goes wild and does its own thing.

And there is Harley too fast for me and turns like a speed boat. Actually the footing is slippery and makes it hard for the faster dogs.

It is going to be challanging not to get lost in the course and to do all the crosses.

Dexter is back to his summer attitude, sleep in the sun and sleep some more. I can get him to play/work a bit but he quits easily like he is bord and just want to snooze. So I play with him only every other day or so. that works better.

man it seems like years since I posted. i have been swamped. Dog trainer school and women's retreat have kept me hopping. Anyway, this is what we have been working on:
Bindi- smooth heeling for Rally. She does well, but we practice the turns and the moving downs, and working on her backing up straight. She is also working on some behaviors I was shaping. So far I have taught her to: wipe her feet, look right, lick her lips when I say "yum". She has done well, she is a great little dog. I am going to be training her to look down and crawl.
Cody- fear issues, I rented some bat training videos and hope they will help me to help him move on. healing, place, and when I cue him to "pack it up" he goes into a box and lays down. Started on finishes with him as well. Have taught him to "ring the bell" and he goes over and rings the bell with his foot. He is great at picking things up for me, closing the cupboards and drawers.
Terra- healing, waiting (she has trouble staying still, but is doing better), Terra is my least trained dog and needs everything. I have felt a little better so I am trying to get back into a training schedule.
spring is coming so I will be working on my new schedule for all three pups! Need to find a nice place to walk them. Been taking them to petsmart and working them inside. They have made quite a few human friends and everyone knows them when the come in, which they love!
Great to hear how all of you are doing. Keep up the good work!
Love sharon and her pups, Terra, Bindi, and Cody (in order of how they appear on the picture.)

"spring is coming so I will be working on my new schedule for all three pups! "


What's the new schedule?




PS
I like to read the posts here and see how dedicated folks are.

Edited by Connie Sutherland (04/05/2013 01:33 PM)
Edit reason: ps

delete duplicate

Sadie is in heat, which makes tracking not fun, and I'm working 7 days/wk currently, so training has been limited. Club training rained out Wed night, but I don't bring her when she's in heat anyway.

Mind up my mind yesterday to do some brushup work to avoid getting too rusty. We worked on long distance downs during her run, then did a couple of short send-aways (she's still in the learning phase and there's no speed yet). We then did some work on focus in the fuss, which is showing very little improvement, and down-in-motion.

We did our very first stands out-of-motion. Sadie would stand fine initially, but then follow, so I added a "stay" command, which I will phase out after I have the desired behavior shaped. Later, indoors, we worked on solidifying the stand and focusing when entering the fuss.