Friday, October 22, 2010

Kate: Agility Dog

We have been trialing fools again. Will be out the door shortly for another this weekend.

Little Miss Kate has been doing great! Two weekends ago (has it been that long since I posted?!) I ran only her and did 5 runs per day. All Q’s, although not all pretty ones. Her first run of the day was Jacklers. I set her up at the line and lead out 20 feet or so. When I turned around to release her she wasn’t there! Of course my first thought was that she high-tailed it back to the ex-pen as we were setup pretty close to this ring. Nope! Not Scared Kate, Social Kate. She was in the corner of the ring visiting the pole setter! All up in her lap, little ass wagging, trying to get the pole setter to interact. This is so un-Kate like and so funny. I didn’t re-set her, just started running from there. I had planned, based on her first trial, to do 10 obstacles in our opening. She ended up with 15 and did the gamble like a pro.

Iz Miz Social now. Planning party for next weekendz!
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Last weekend I only did 2 runs per day with her. Again all Q’s. Again, not all pretty ones. She was clearly a little stressed on Sat. Probably because this is not a trial site we are at often. Was much better on Sunday.
More running, less WTF.
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Bella, however, is back to the I-don’t-want-to-do-weave poles thing again. All classed sans poles are great. We had a fantabulous 51 point Snooker run last weekend that was one of those runs that just feels perfect. All smooth, all fast, not even a hint of a bobble. My 86% Q rate dog is now down to a 40% Q rate in Standard because of our weave woes. Although, as before, great everywhere except trials. Booo.

When we get to the weave portion of the course I get this…
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All the other portions, this…
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Seriously Bella? I guess I’ll she how she does this weekend and try to assemble some sort of plan. We do have a UKI trial coming up pretty close to home. Maybe we’ll go run that Since you can run with a toy.

Frisbees make everything better
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Also, the Department of Psychology at Columbia University is conducting a study about communication between humans and dogs. There is an in-person study if you are in the Westport, CT area.
There is also an online one that can be found here: http://www.columbia.edu/~msw2111/index.html
It says it takes about 30 minutes, but it didn’t take me nearly that long. They are looking for all people to participate, not just serious dog folk or trainers, etc.

You don’t even have to have a dog!

8 comments:

  1. How exciting! And how beautiful the pups are! Mom wants to try me in agility soon. We'll see how that goes!
    -Corbin

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  2. Kate, you are so pretty.

    woof!
    Merlin

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  3. (Questions created through a partnership between PetSmart and Suzanne Hetts, Ph.D. of Animal Behavior Associates, Inc. Used with permission.) Required Question *

    This study is affiliated somehow with PetSmart - are we going to get spam?

    is this info going to be shared with both 'partners?

    Suzanne Hetts, I have no problem with. PetSmart, not so much.

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  4. I'm with Paula.

    Weave poles are our nemesis. Before we start trialing I was hoping to perfect them but I don't think that's going to happen. They're great at home, non-existant every where else.

    Congratulations on so many great runs!

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  5. Glad to hear from you again. Even gladder to hear miss kate is becoming a social butteryfly :)

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. Thank you for sharing this wonderful post! I believe that a dog's behavior is reflective of it's owner & your CANINE is as happy as can be! Reading this blog can brighten up anyones day!

    ReplyDelete