After the Curly Nationals I don't have anything super special planned as far as shows go. I have a few weekends off and a few local shows planned. But nothing as special as the week long National. I guess it's for the better since my checking account is drained and my credit card bill is not going down fast enough...
But I do have some special goals planned for this year...and it's almost HALFWAY OVER!!!!!!!! YIKES!!
Anyways me and the girls have been busy training. I am trying not to sit still at night when I come home from work. No TV allowed! The sun sets later each night and the weather is PERFECT right now. Still cool enough to run them hard without having to worry about overheating. The pond is finally warm enough to play around in it too(a favorite with the hairy beasts). The field across the road isn't too tall yet either!
The Turkey(Bell) is working hard on everything. For Field she is getting ready to run in Senior. It's a bit step for her from juniors. She has to be steady to a double retrieve. She has to focus alot on doubles cause she can sometimes go crazy on marks. She needs to run a bit before she runs marks or else she is zoomin around like a nutjob hunting for the birds. I Like to put sound effects to her like a NASCAR race. ZOOoooooommmmmMMMMMMZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZOooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm She races around crazy and dosen't mark well. But being steady and doing doubles is goin well! She also is working on her "handling" for Blind retrieves which is birds she did NOT see fall. I have to direct her with hand signals and the whistle. She is starting to get the jist of it. I have to do lots of drills to get her to understand the hand signals and stuff. She likes to use her nose and she kinda blows me off when she smells birds. She thinks she knows better...so we are working hard at convincing her otherwise.
For agility she is working on contacts...I guess I failed to remember how I stopped training them since we don't compete much with contacts...well in NADAC we do, and now that she decided the teeter ISN'T such a bad thing, we will start running a few AKC shows. So I need to refresh her memory that stopping on the bottom is worthwhile and a good thing. It's going well. She is doing the teeter at home with GREAT Gusto. I want to haul it down to the pond and jackpot her with a bumper in the water..her FAVORITE(next to liver sausage). Her weaves also need work. She slows down so much at shows and I need to trust her more with exits. Her entrances rock, she can hit it from anywhere. LOVE THAT!!! But she can pop out at the end, so at shows I slow down to save the Q and she slows down too. So I gotta trust her and push for more speed.
And finally for Obedience I am working her hard. Going for an OTCH is NO small task. She has to win. So to be fair to her I have to keep her sharp. She can pass without much training......but to WIN she needs LOTS of work. Her heeling has been VERY nice lately. I think she is understanding to hug my leg and to keep her head up on about turns and I am trying to move fast enough that she doesn't pace. And I have been touching up all the other Obedience exercises. She has a 3 day show this weekend that I am excited for. I am very happy with where she is at in her training. She typically does OK at this place. It's very distracting and lots of other dogs don't do well. But we will see. It's just another dog show.
For the Qwiksta I could go on and on......she needs so much work.
For field we are working on marking...she tends to look away from the birds before she is sent for them...I dono what started all this...maybe the obedience???? But it's going well. I am working on having her look at cheese chunks I throw on the floor and adding the cue "MARK!" to it. I think she is getting it. I am also working hard at building her drive to retrieve up. She likes it...but then she doesn't. I dono what her deal is sometimes. She likes birds but is pokey picking them up. Shes great with bumpers. And she really really really likes birds! So that is a task in itself. And water....she has been refusing water....AND SHE LOVES WATER!!!!!!!! We did lots today on her "issues" and I was happy with her attitude and drive and willingness to work. Hopefully she remembers for our Field lesson with Kyle Thursday.
For Agility I am working on building value for jumps....she can tend to go around them. If she is by a jump now she will take it cause she likes it! Not for the cookies and stuff. YAY. And also handling. She is doing well figuring out rear crosses. Weaves we are working on speed and her footwork...going really well. And all the other equipment she needs work on. But she retains all the stuff I teach her well. So I just keep building her understanding up for it! Cool Cool
For Obedience I have her entered in a few Rally shows. This weekend she is entered Saturday and Sunday in Advanced Rally. Off leash and lots more exercises, it will be interesting. I cannot say enough bout this girl for obedience. She rocks! I LOVE her understanding of heeling. She is so darn cute! I am working on the NOVICE regular obedience exercises. She is doing well. I don't want her to make a fool of me or herself in the regular Obedience ring. Rally is one thing...Obedience is another.
SO that's that. I had 2 weekends off from showing..man was it nice to sleep in on a Sunday for once!!! LOVE IT! I am slowing down on showing and trying to stick to local stuff and ones that I like and typically do well at. Its so darn expensive! But I will keep this blog posted! I just sent in my order for pictures from nationals. I will post them here when I get them! And also some video. My computer wont let me load any video. So I dono what the heck to do!
