meta grete

Final Run of First Course on March 24th, 2012

2012-03-25T09:43:00.003-07:00

Second Run of First Course on March 24th, 2012

2012-03-25T09:43:00.001-07:00

Grete on Feb 4

2012-03-25T09:42:00.003-07:00

Grete on 1/14/2012

2012-03-25T09:42:00.001-07:00

Videos!

2011-08-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

Four new videos!

I'll add commentary on these later. I'm just so excited that I finally (1) have something to upload and (2) actually remembered to upload them!

Trouble with Serpentines!

2010-10-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

And now that I'm all caught up on posting.... Here's today's video!

Unfortunately, I forgot to charge the Flip video camera so there's only one.

This might have been the hardest and longest course we've run to date! I was completely out of breath at the end.

Also... I'm sporting the ugliest hat known to man. It's winter, sho'nuff!

3 runs with 3 different quirks

2010-10-30T22:29:00.000-07:00

On the 23rd, I had a special guest videographer with fancy new equipment. :-)

Here's our first run of the day - from up in the balcony:

(We were just warming up... ;-P)

And our second - from down on the ground:

(We have the darnest time with front crosses where Grete has to jump into me. Also, Jason accidentally left the camera running at the end. It should stop about 2 minutes in. :P)

And our last - also from down on the ground:

(I tried giving her treats at each of the uncomfortable front crosses. This was almost perfect except for the really hard end where I try to pull her to the left to catch the third to last jump.)

All I can say is... Snooker is weird

2010-10-30T17:36:00.000-07:00

Here are four videos from early October of us attempting our first "snooker" course. I still can't say I understand snooker courses well enough to explain them, so I'll see if the internet can do it for me.

From: Wikipedia

Snooker: Loosely based on the billiard game of Snooker. The course has at least three red jumps, each numbered 1, and six other obstacles numbered 2 through 7. The dog accumulates points based on the obstacle's number. This also has two parts, an opening sequence and a closing sequence. In the opening sequence, the dog must complete a 1, then any obstacle numbered 2 to 7, a different 1 and any 2 to 7 obstacle (including the one already performed), and yet another different 1 and another 2-7 obstacle. For example, the dog could perform the red on the left for 1 point, the 7-point obstacle, the red in the middle for 1 point and then the 7-pointer again, then the red on the far side of the course and the 7-pointer one more time, for a total of 24 points in the opening. After successfully completing this, the dog must complete the obstacles 2-7, in order, for an additional possible 27 points. Failure to follow these rules exactly (such as knocking a bar or taking 2 reds in a row) results in the dog and handler being whistled off the course.
Strategy and entertainment value: The dogs might have to negotiate between other obstacles without taking them or make a difficult entry to the obstacle, often combined with a longer distance between the reds and the 7 so that it consumes more time to do the higher-point obstacle in the opening.

The fact that we're running snooker is why Cloudine is counting loudly and talking about buzzing me off course and futzing with her cell phone to time us. All in all, I think it could be fun if you're good at math, course analysis, and running really freaking fast, but it was our first time so go easy on us. :-)

Grete the Ring Bearer

2010-10-30T17:15:00.000-07:00

Despite being insanely busy for the last few months, Grete and I have continued to do agility. We've graduated to the morning advanced class that runs more courses, so I have more than a handful of videos from October.

But first, you might ask what we were insanely busy doing. May I present - Grete the Ring Bearer. (Jason and I got married at the end of July, and Grete was our ring bearer. That's my leg in the green dress. :))

What's this? A VIDEO?

2010-04-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

Huge thanks to Chad for taking this awesome video of Grete's goofy run today. She really wanted to take the chute instead of the tunnel... backwards. Cracked. ME. UP!

She's 6? Seriously. She's 6.

2010-04-03T19:21:00.000-07:00

Too bad I didn't even know agility even existed when I was 6.

HD Video

2010-01-31T10:47:00.001-08:00

BTW, those two videos are HD from my new Flip Ultra HD. However, it looks like YouTube has to change the width in that case, so now I need to fix the layout... Erfh!

Twisty Turns and Discrimination Tests

2010-01-31T10:41:00.000-08:00

Twisty Turns and Discrimination Tests

Saturday's course contained a discrimination test at the very beginning (the tunnel versus the dog walk) and some twisty serpentine moves.

Grete and I did pretty well on both our runs. The first one I didn't call her to me enough so she blew past the second jump toward the tunnel/dog walk, but she got the really hard part of the jump sequence. (You can hear Cloudine say "Good puppy" right after she gets it.)

On the second run, we tried to work on those first two jumps. I think it was a little stressful for Grete. She hates jumping into me, and I need to work on that. After the stress, she started sniffing around and Cloudine zerberted her a bit and that got her little fire running. She and I missed the hard part of the jump serpentine, but that was due to my timing.

the course from the 16th (part 2)

2010-01-25T23:24:00.001-08:00

two weeks ago, cloudine broke out the hard courses. (one week ago she eased up a bit)

this course was super tricky. the turn from 5 to 6 to 7 got me every time.

heck - looking at it now - i'm not sure i labeled it right. (on flickr, i've added notes with the obstacle order numbers.)

good thing i finally broke down and ordered a flip video for future reference!

the course from the 16th (part 1)

2010-01-25T23:22:00.001-08:00

the "easy" part -- although grete didn't like starting with the tire

Updates and play dates

2010-01-05T21:18:00.001-08:00

So much has changed in the past few months... I've switched jobs so Grete no longer comes to work with me. I had surgery in late October so I was out for a week of agility. Then I hurt my ankle and I was gimpy for a week. Then Grete cut her paw in early December so she was out for two weeks of agility. Then Christmas and New Years... and -BANG- here we are in 2010.

Because of the job change and because of Grete, I tried working a shorter day in the office and tried to work from home more, but that was hard on both of us. She doesn't understand working from home. And she really don't understand why she's not with me 24/7. To be honest, some deep emotional part of me doesn't understand it either.

We've hired a dog walker to give Grete and our neighbor's adorable little puppy some R&R / playtime in the middle of the day.

And the good news for you, my dear reader, is that our dog walker blogs so you can continue to get your Grete fix when I've been slacking!

You can read about Grete and Rusty's play dates here: http://www.little-furry-things.com/grete-and-rusty/.

More on our agility exploits in 2010... I promise.

Video! (08/21/09)

2009-09-13T20:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry we've been so silent lately.

Hard to believe we've only been training with Cloudine for 1 year, 3 months, 8 days. It seems much longer because we've come so far.)

Even harder to believe that Grete is 2 years, 4 months, 19 days old. She seems much older and wiser. :-)

(Cloudine had a perspective student stop by class this Saturday, and while we were talking the subject of how long I had been training came up. I totally thought it had been 2 years at the time because I'm terrible with dates.)

Every week I vow to buy a video camera for class OR find my old point and shoot and bring the GorillaPod. I have no idea where my old point and shoot is (and the Nikon D90 doesn't do a good job of focusing on moving targets) and I still haven't bought one... but a couple weeks ago, Cloudine brought her camera and thus we have... wait for it... A VIDEO!

(To be honest, I really, really wish I had a video this last Saturday. The course was harder and we did so much better... IMHO.)

But here you go... A VIDEO!

Tentative Teeter Totter

2009-05-13T22:11:00.001-07:00

I made a teeter totter prototype tonight. I'm pretty excited about it for lots of reasons. First, I did it all by myself. Second, Grete seems to "get" that pulling down the board is the first step. That was huge and exciting. She even put a paw on it. I think she likes it. (I hate to say it, but just writing that makes me think of that Beyonce song... "if you like it then you shoulda put a ~~ring~~ paw on it")

The pivot is pretty close to center, and so it moves nice and slow without weight. I do need to make it shorter in height overall because it is pretty wobbly, and I think I'm going to upgrade the legs to the thicker PVC pipe. (What you see in the pictures is all re-purposed jump parts from around the basement.) I also want to figure out a way to add some tension to it. Right now, the pivot is a larger piece of PVC with a smaller piece sent through it. I think if I can slide some material in-between the two pipes, it will help it feel more solid.

In any event, behold my handy-girl-ness.

Teeter-totter Temptations

2009-05-11T22:54:00.001-07:00

Grete and I are having trouble with the teeter or see-saw. Since we don't have one at home, our practice (and thus our progress) is limited. For a while, I tried putting the board across the two couches at home, but even that was too scary for her. (Too much wobble?)

I did some research online tonight, and I'm still not sure what to do next. We might make our existing 8' board into a mini teeter with a 12" pvc base similar to this but without the ability to disassemble the board. That might help, but eventually, Grete is going to have to learn that a competition teeter isn't a scary thing.

However, real teeters are huge. They're normally 12 feet long.

This is why I'm just lusting after the one that Dog Agility USA sells.

It folds down! I could carry it. $450 is still a really, really steep price tag though. Belated birthday present for Grete's 2nd birthday?

I also like the seriousness of the J&J Dog supplies competition teeter. The base is $265 so that is a little better. We would have to make a new plank though. Maybe we could make a nice heavy plank that folds and locks with rubber chips and still come in under $300?

Both of these serious teeters here have tension adjustment. I think that might be super useful someday, but I'm not sure.

Video!

2009-05-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

Wow. Looking at this, it was a pretty darn good run, and my trainer is completely right. Grete followed my accidental body cue on the back corner jump. I thought she had committed to the jump, but she had not. Gotta stay with her longer.

BTW, that first jump was the first panel jump Grete had ever seen. They covered them the week before, and we missed that practice. It totally makes sense that Grete would have second thoughts about the first jump because it wasn't a jump to her - it was a wall! (That was also our first broad jump in the middle too!)

What the world needs now...

2009-04-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

The world needs...

* A Chuckit made out of Nylabone. Someone should make that.

* More agility videos. I can provide those.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pDgx4-tAwI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfTxT7rq9gg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWAZXVpnykU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnroF1GHNis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mz_1vIGqX8

Nothing really exciting so I'm not bothering to embed them. Just some jump grids and a fairly simple tunnel course.

Life is better with a cameraman

2009-03-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

Jason came to practice on Saturday and manned the camera for everyone. You should head on over to his blog and check it out. Agility Class @ iStrain.

Saturday Practice iPhone photo

2009-03-07T21:21:00.001-08:00

I was lazy today and didn't bring the D90 to practice. Actually, it was more than that. Since the D90 only takes 5 minute videos and since they're huge, I have soon found two things to be true:
(1) Running up and down the loft stairs takes away from the time I can spend listening to my instructor do her instructy thing.
(2) I can only really record my runs. One card is not enough for everyone. (That's how my first video got cut off.)

Jason promises to come to practice one of these days and be my camera man. :-)

In any event, here's my iPhone photo of Val and Luna zipping to the tunnel. This was after a table stay for a start, and 4 wing jumps set on a diagonal line. This was a lot harder than it looked because of the wing jumps. All the dogs wanted to go to their handlers and were a little hesitant to go away from the handlers to take the jumps.

That said, this was super fun because it was the first time that Grete and I really got to RUN together. As in, I had to RUN LIKE MAD. It was seriously fun. I wish we could do this more. I totally need a barn in my backyard!!

Big Weekend in Dog Land

2009-03-03T22:32:00.000-08:00

Seattle:
http://www.seattledogshow.org/

Sumner:
http://www.dogsworldtraining.com/pdfs/03-08-09agilityfunrun.pdf

Los Angeles:
http://www.luxurypetpavilion.com/index.shtml

(Too bad I'm on-call and really can't get away that much.)

I have a passion for potty training

2009-03-03T20:03:00.000-08:00

A co-worker wrote to the pets list asking for advice. Normally, I try to stay out of non-work email threads because I can get sucked in, but I failed this time.

Here's the email:

My girlfriend and I got another dog so that our dog has a playmate. She’s 5 months old, and the breeder said she was potty trained, but I don’t see this as being the case. We’re having some problems with her:
1. Its hard to pick up a 60lb malamute and carry her outside when she starts peeing on the carpet. The stains are also a LOT bigger.
2. She seems almost determined to go in the house. I took her and our dog for a 6 mile walk yesterday. During the course of this walk she did not go to the bathroom. As soon as we got home and I let her off the leash, she bolted for the bedroom and peed on the bedroom floor.
3. When she does go outside, I treat her. She’s learned how to go in and out the doggy door, but still prefers to go inside the house. I’ll stay outside with her for an hour or more and she’ll sniff around and play, but she wont go to the bathroom.

Any suggestions on:
1. Breaking this habit
2. Carpet cleaner to make sure there aren’t any stains.

(After the initial email, it was established that she doesn't go in the crate.)

Here's my essay:

First, the good news: Given that she doesn’t go in the crate, you probably don’t have to take her to a vet or a behaviorist. Yay!
Second, the bad news: This is might be hard, but you can do it!

RE: Breaking the habit in the bedroom:

Move the crate to a clean unsoiled area of the house. Don’t let her into the bedroom anymore until you have completely cleaned the carpet. Serious cleaning. If you can, rent a cleaner. Run it until clear.

Then, apply an enzyme cleaner heavily. (e.g. Buy at least a gallon of Nature’s Miracle or Simple Solution, and don’t be shy. Petco has both. SS is supposedly better than NM, but NM worked for me with time and persistence.) Put garbage bags and heavy things on top of the sopping wet carpet to SLOW the drying process. You want to really let the enzymes REALLY work before drying out.

This isn’t so much for your landlord but for fixing the behavior. Worry about the stains once you fix the problem. (Renting the cleaner will probably help anyway.)

My experience with repeated indoor urination comes from a confused (and stubborn) cat, but the same principle applies. You have to make the room “new” again. I moved the litter box back upstairs and cleaned and dried and cleaned and dried and cleaned again. Only once ever last molecule of urine was gone would my cat use the litter box downstairs instead of the painted concrete floor. One accident can put you back to step one, so you want to be fairly serious about this process. (BTW, Never ever use kitty litter or sand to stop flooding in your basement with a cat in the house. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Stupid in hindsight.)

RE: When you want her to go:

Go to the SAME SPOT in your yard outside.
Give your command.
Have really, really good treats. (See below.)
Wait 15 minutes AT MOST. This isn’t sniff and play time. It’s business time.
Come inside.
Wait, but watch.

At the FIRST sign of ANYTHING (sniffing, squatting, looking concerned, the faintest whimpering, even breathing a little different), grab cooked chicken or roast beef and lure her to the door ASAP. Run if possible. (BTW, buying roast beef at the salad bar in PacMed is cheaper than most grocery stores.)

Go immediately to THE SPOT. Give your command.
Treat only if she goes. (Again, waiting no longer than 15 minutes.)

Party with the beef or chicken or better-than-gold treats and “good potty” like it’s 1999 and there’s no tomorrow if she goes. Duration of the party is important as well as quality. Tear up the treat and give her praise and treats for at least 5 full seconds. Longer treat parties really make an impression.

If she doesn’t go, tell her “too bad” and go back inside. Wait. Repeat. (The “too bad” is optional. Light negative markers sometimes help.)

Heck, if you’re into clicker training, use a clicker when she goes outside – and I bet you’ll get a dog that goes on command faster than you can say “Do your business.” (NOTE: You have to “charge” the clicker first! Don’t just click outside if she’s not familiar with the clicker. )

Sadly, I would also abandon the doggie door until she really “gets it.” I might also consider leaving Candie inside just to reduce stress and increase focus. Then again, Candie might add to the motivation. You could try it both ways. 

The 6 mile walk should be a reward for when she goes in THE SPOT.

As an aside, I bet she was holding it the whole walk waiting for the bedroom. Not out of spite or anything, but because she just hasn’t grokked going outside at her new home. Somehow she got the idea that pee belongs in the bedroom. It’s in the carpet, I bet. (See cat story above.)

BTW, you’re totally on the right track by leashing her to you. Keep up the good work. It’s all about managing the behavior inside by catching it before it happens if at all possible.

Good luck, and I really hope this helps!

I feel your pain. Really, I do.