A blog to track the training and activities of my border collie, Jedi.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
NADD Trial #2 - The Dog Tank
I've been slacking on the blog the last week! Apparently I never even updated after we went to Camp Bandy for an AKC trial last Sunday. I stuck Jedi on the table to measure him and he had sprung all the way up to 19.25". He's had quite a growth spurt in the last month. At the AKC trial we also wandered around and looked at the horses, sheep, and chickens, and Jedi got a chance to play on the warmup jump outside when nobody else needed to use it. He barked at a really fluffy Shepherd -- a reactive bark that I've never heard from him. Yesterday he barked at a Terv, so apparently Jedi is starting to have a thing for hyper-excited fluffy Shepherd breeds. Hmm.
Jedi continued to work on his agility skills this week, mostly because it's the main way I wear him out every day. Since I still don't feel like he can fetch without hurting himself, we have structured exercise in the form of sending around/through stuff in the yard. For the most part hoops, wings, and cones are in the yard with no real pattern and we just play. We go until Jedi starts including a dip in the pool as part of his victory laps. One night this week I made Jedi's day and brought out a tunnel. I put the puppy cannon in the middle of a circle of stuff, with cones on either end. We worked on sending, switching, tandem turns, tight turns out of the tunnel, and a tight rear cross pre-cue into the tunnel. I was pretty impressed at how quickly Jedi picked that one up!
This weekend we got to go play up at The Dog Tank for our second NADD trial. This one was a "normal" event and not a qualifier for nationals and it was a lot more laid back than the last trial. At the qualifier event the atmosphere was pretty charged and the dogs all fed off that (some in a good way, some not so much). There was none of that this time and that, coupled with some serious wind, likely affected Jedi's jumps a bit. He still managed to get all six of his qualifying scores in the Senior division, but we topped out at 17'6" as his longest jump on Saturday and 17'3" for his longest jump today. The rest of his qualifying jumps were in the 16's with one in the 15's yesterday. The picture here was posted on the Leerburg Facebook page to advertise the trial this weekend. I was like, hey! It's Jedi! I got video of most of Jedi's jumps, just missing the first wave each day.
Jedi did well in the van, but I largely opted to keep the door shut on him this weekend since it was cool enough to do so. There were a couple of times when I forgot to shut the door and quickly realized my mistake and went back to shut it, then he was fine. The format for this weekend was "go when ready," which was really a little unfortunate for Jedi. He doesn't do well waiting in line for his turn, it's a lot easier to walk up at the last minute. Today I brought his harness so that he at least wouldn't continue to gag himself. There was a lot, and I mean a lot of screaming while we waited our turns. Today during open dock time we went straight from the dock back into line (to wear Jedi out before going home) and I was able to keep him tugging on the bumper, but in general he cannot be redirected to the toy when he gets that frantic.
Jedi had a "quiet day" on Friday, with his only real activity of the day being a trip to PetSmart to go pick up more bumpers for the weekend (we ruined two more on our last trip to The Dog Tank and only had one whole one left). I think this actually made him way over the top for his first wave on Saturday (so much screaming), so last night when he wanted to play we went to town. The circle circuit was still up in the yard (minus the tunnel) and I just had him run and run until his little brain was happy and tired. What I learned is that Jedi doesn't need (nor perhaps benefit from) quiet days like my other dogs before events -- Even after a day of jumping and then running at home last night, he was still loonytoons today and ready to go.
I'm not sure when the pool will close for the winter -- I think we're still waiting to hear if there might be an option to move it inside somewhere for the cold months (wouldn't that be awesome?). Jedi is going to be sad if we have to wait until spring to start jumping again, although won't it be fun to see what happens with a bit more growing and muscle-building under his belt! Next Saturday Pier Pups will have their pool in Madison for their last event of the year. I don't currently have anything planned, but feel like we should stay home for a weekend after putting on over 400 miles this weekend. If the weather is nice we just may have to go, we'll see.
I've been slacking on the blog the last week! Apparently I never even updated after we went to Camp Bandy for an AKC trial last Sunday. I stuck Jedi on the table to measure him and he had sprung all the way up to 19.25". He's had quite a growth spurt in the last month. At the AKC trial we also wandered around and looked at the horses, sheep, and chickens, and Jedi got a chance to play on the warmup jump outside when nobody else needed to use it. He barked at a really fluffy Shepherd -- a reactive bark that I've never heard from him. Yesterday he barked at a Terv, so apparently Jedi is starting to have a thing for hyper-excited fluffy Shepherd breeds. Hmm.
Jedi continued to work on his agility skills this week, mostly because it's the main way I wear him out every day. Since I still don't feel like he can fetch without hurting himself, we have structured exercise in the form of sending around/through stuff in the yard. For the most part hoops, wings, and cones are in the yard with no real pattern and we just play. We go until Jedi starts including a dip in the pool as part of his victory laps. One night this week I made Jedi's day and brought out a tunnel. I put the puppy cannon in the middle of a circle of stuff, with cones on either end. We worked on sending, switching, tandem turns, tight turns out of the tunnel, and a tight rear cross pre-cue into the tunnel. I was pretty impressed at how quickly Jedi picked that one up!
This weekend we got to go play up at The Dog Tank for our second NADD trial. This one was a "normal" event and not a qualifier for nationals and it was a lot more laid back than the last trial. At the qualifier event the atmosphere was pretty charged and the dogs all fed off that (some in a good way, some not so much). There was none of that this time and that, coupled with some serious wind, likely affected Jedi's jumps a bit. He still managed to get all six of his qualifying scores in the Senior division, but we topped out at 17'6" as his longest jump on Saturday and 17'3" for his longest jump today. The rest of his qualifying jumps were in the 16's with one in the 15's yesterday. The picture here was posted on the Leerburg Facebook page to advertise the trial this weekend. I was like, hey! It's Jedi! I got video of most of Jedi's jumps, just missing the first wave each day.
Jedi did well in the van, but I largely opted to keep the door shut on him this weekend since it was cool enough to do so. There were a couple of times when I forgot to shut the door and quickly realized my mistake and went back to shut it, then he was fine. The format for this weekend was "go when ready," which was really a little unfortunate for Jedi. He doesn't do well waiting in line for his turn, it's a lot easier to walk up at the last minute. Today I brought his harness so that he at least wouldn't continue to gag himself. There was a lot, and I mean a lot of screaming while we waited our turns. Today during open dock time we went straight from the dock back into line (to wear Jedi out before going home) and I was able to keep him tugging on the bumper, but in general he cannot be redirected to the toy when he gets that frantic.
Jedi had a "quiet day" on Friday, with his only real activity of the day being a trip to PetSmart to go pick up more bumpers for the weekend (we ruined two more on our last trip to The Dog Tank and only had one whole one left). I think this actually made him way over the top for his first wave on Saturday (so much screaming), so last night when he wanted to play we went to town. The circle circuit was still up in the yard (minus the tunnel) and I just had him run and run until his little brain was happy and tired. What I learned is that Jedi doesn't need (nor perhaps benefit from) quiet days like my other dogs before events -- Even after a day of jumping and then running at home last night, he was still loonytoons today and ready to go.
I'm not sure when the pool will close for the winter -- I think we're still waiting to hear if there might be an option to move it inside somewhere for the cold months (wouldn't that be awesome?). Jedi is going to be sad if we have to wait until spring to start jumping again, although won't it be fun to see what happens with a bit more growing and muscle-building under his belt! Next Saturday Pier Pups will have their pool in Madison for their last event of the year. I don't currently have anything planned, but feel like we should stay home for a weekend after putting on over 400 miles this weekend. If the weather is nice we just may have to go, we'll see.
That photo is awesome!!!!!
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