Sends, Ahead and Fastest

I'm pretty sure this is the first time Tibby has ever run ahead of me on a course. Obviously I wasn't prepared for that! She also had a really nice lateral send on the last tunnel. I didn't have to run her right up to the tunnel. This was the first run of the night.



This was our fastest run of the night (maybe ever) and it was fun :) I started running the wrong direction at the beginning, so Tibby got to go through that first tunnel twice and it made her supafast!

Last Night of Class - Out With A Bang!

Tonight was the last night of class.

Tibby was SO naughty!  She did super amazing great for most of the hour, but for the last run of the last night of class she wanted to remind everyone that she is the ultimate party girl and that AGILITY IS SO MUCH FUN!

Especially if you make up your own course.

She makes me laugh.

I know we have sooo much work to do, but come on! those cute little sits that she pops when I call her back?  Darling!

Ok, yes I had to call her back a few more times than once :P but she eventually came back and did the course.....after she was tired out.  And I guess I have proof that she likes agility!  LOL! 

My Fans Are Feeling Lonely

I love the look Tibby gives to the crowd, "Oh, my fans look lonely over there!  I'd better go say hello and cheer them up.  Be right back Mom!"

Then she comes right back and does the sequence perfectly.  I remembered to spin her - he he he.  Better to do that then what I was thinking about! 

Perfect Or Not So - Not So Please!

So here are 2 videos - The first one was the first run of the night.  Tibby was super flying high!  I was a bit lost.  But it was still really, really fun.  Even though there is a minor visiting episode.  I love how she is following my body language, even when it is all wrong and mixed up.  She is a very good little pup.   She's smarter than me!! 

I did a FC after the tunnel, because I thought it would be hard to pull Tibby into me.  It's usually easier to push her.  But being that it was opposite night she was very easy to pull!  At the end of the night we ran the course again.  Tibby was a little calmer, but I also started out slow and she stayed with me.

Which run do I like better?  Um, well the first one was more fun ;) 

P.S.  I have to say that I get a huge adrenaline rush from running Tibby.  In normal life I'm an extremely calm person (probably good for my work), so it takes a LOT for me to get an adrenaline rush.  It is really FUN and exciting to run with Tibby!!!

How Would You Handle This?

I thought of a lot of titles for this post - 'Everyone Loves A Car Crash',  'Rubberneck Paradise', 'Rough Agility Night', ect. ect. ect.  I think you get the idea :)

There were many, many good things and a few tiny little problems. 

Take a look at the course below (please!) and tell me how you would handle it.  How you would handle it with your dog and also with a dog like Tibby.  Or just with your dog, if you don't know us that well :)
  You'll probably have to click and make it bigger.  It was my first time drawing a course, so it's not exactly drawn to scale. 
(see all the little people and dogs at the bottom? Hmm, how about that?)

Here were the problems I ran into: 

1 - Tibby is waaaaay too fast out of the tunnel for me to beat her for some kind of cross.  Sure if I had a solid go on cue or what ever people train for this situation.

2 - The tire is suddenly SO TEMPTING!!  After ignoring it and going around it....now we like it???  I missed the memo.  Not complaining!  It's great!  Just saying....

3 - Jumping straight into a crowd of dogs and people.  DOGS!! and people.  Especially when said NEW DOG (joy! happiness!) comes in the door at the exact moment that Tibby is jumping straight at the crowd of dogs.  ooooopsy!

Things that I thought were great:

1 - Tibby was speedy!

2 - She was having FUN!

3- She did the tire + offered the weave poles (which didn't make it onto the video - boo) and then did the tunnel for fun.  For FUN?!?!  Yeah!

4- I thought our turn at 5 wasn't too bad.  I was saying tic - not sure if that helped her turn better or if she was just following my body language.

Of course, after 5 it all goes down hill.....:)

Watch the video and then tell me - Does that look like a stressed dog?  After we got done Fay told me that Tibby's zoomies were because she was feeling stressed.  First of all - that was not a complete zoomie.  Yeah it was slightly embarrassing or whatever, but she finished the course (eventually) and she wasn't totally wild.  Second of all - in my opinion she doesn't look stressed.  She looks like she found something more rewarding then me (and my meatballs).

Look At Us, Growing Up

We had agility class again tonight.  Tibby rode in her crate all the way there and all the way home again.  First time ever!  She was such a good girl.  Any one know how to make a crate stop rattling?  After 2 1/2 hours of driving over bumpy roads, Tibby and I are both very over the whole rattling crate thing.  In desperation I stuffed poop bags (new & not used) into all the places I thought were shaking.  It helped, but when the roads are rough like a plowed field, you need more than poop bag insulation.  There are 2 doors, so lots of rattling. 

Well, I had a lot planned to say, but now I'm really tired.  Driving, class, driving.  Make me tired. 

Tibby was great, as usual!  The video is of our "worst" run.  I messed up at the tunnel and didn't connect with Tibby when she was coming out of the tunnel.  I was also too far forward, past the plane of the jump.  This is why it is important to video tape.  But we did a rear cross!!!  Did you see it???  Right before the tunnel.  Our FIRST successful rear cross!!!  I have been doing some foundation games for rear crosses with Tibby, so maybe that helped?  It felt really good.  I like rear crossed too.  I threw in a front cross on one of our other runs,  it was nice too.  I really like front crosses. 

The instructor is having everyone run with their dog on the left side, because they have all done a lot of obedience (with her).  I think the crosses I added made the sequences a lot easier to run.  We had a good time!  The instructor says some funny things to her students, but she lets me do what I want and as long as she doesn't try to tell me what to do.....we'll get along fine :)

One thing is super sad.  There is a dog in the class that has something wrong with its legs.  It hobbles around and looks like it is in a LOT of pain.  I'm not sure what's wrong with it.  Maybe hip dysplasia?  Every time its' owner makes it jump, it knocks the bar, because it can't lift its' legs and then the owner makes it try again.  She also gets upset when it won't heel or sit straight.  Seriously this dog can barely walk.  It's mean.  Oh yeah....it also wears a prong collar.  TO DO AGILITY?!?!

One more thing.  In our first class no one brought treats.  This time a couple people did, but they didn't give their dogs very many.  Me?  I'm like Tibby's personal one armed bandit - she tries lots of things and gets a W-I-D-E variety of different treats.  She never knows what she is going to get or how much.  Except of course when she finishes a course - jackpot!  I also stop when we are running a give her treats after a difficult move or if she stays with me and there is a dog in her face.

  Yes, there are dogs that will do what you say just because you say so, but I don't have one and I haven't met one yet.

And some of the other dogs got into my bag and ate Tibby's treats, when we were running!!!  Oh yeah, they don't need treats at all.

This is Tibby riding in her crate to agility class.  Doesn't it look like she is chewing on the bars?  LOL!  She's just chewing a bully stick!

On the way home.  Someone was tired.

"Mom, I'm trying to sleep here.  Why do you keep waking me up with the flashy box?"

Run and Skip (Jumps)

Tibby and I tried the the extension exercise on some land that my Dad owns. I would love to use it for agility, however I didn't realize 2 things 1 - My Dad took down part of the fence 2 - There are a lot of loose dogs around in this area. Apparently when you bring out a few jumps all the dogs come running. Nothing happened. I managed the environment and Tibby stuck with me.





In other news....I really like the Recallers course. Tibby is learning a ton and I think we are making a lot of progress. At least she thinks I have good treats. She's doing good with the crate on the road too - I took her to my parent's house tonight and she did great in the wire crate. She has the sitting to get the the door open down pat.

There are 2 other Tibetan Terriers in the Recallers course. I always like to see how other Tibetan Terriers train, because....well, TTs aren't like other dogs! It's nice to see your breed in a class learning the same things.


I had a really weird day at work (involving me calling a code for the 2nd time in my life and projectile vomit, not fun), so it was nice to spend time playing games with Tibby. I roped my Mom into playing the Call Once game and the Kids In the Hallway game with us. My Mom thinks it's so much fun. She likes to see Tibby learning things. :)

Recallers Course

I signed up for the Susan Garrett Recallers course.  So far I have been very impressed.  I signed up at the Brilliant level - my budget couldn't handle the Inner Circle ($1000+!!!!).  As it is, the dog walk will have to wait until spring.  BUT last night I had a great reminder of WHY I'm taking this course. 

Last night I was carrying in a big box with a new crate (so we could play crate games).  Tibby jumped over a baby gate, ran between my legs and out the door.  Then she dashed out the open garage door and onto the driveway.  I was very, very lucky that there weren't any dogs or people walking by.  I KNOW that she would have been gone in a second.  She was excited that I was home, so she did come back, but I could tell that she was looking around and thinking about running farther.  This is bad.  My house isn't very far from a street.  Not a busy street, but still dangerous.

I would rather pay to have Tibby learn a recall, than pay to have her fixed up if she gets hit by a car.  Or worse.

This is where we keep track of all our training.  I want to decorate it with some pictures of Tibby.  I'll show you when I get done with it.  I'm also printing out all of the games, so I can re-read them and take them on the road for practice.  It's only when I'm in the middle of a game that I have questions about it. 

The calendar where I'm keeping track of our training.  I know I can keep track of things with the 'big picture' in front of me.  I have a past history of not journaling very well, but I can do a calendar.

The course doesn't start until Monday, but there are pre-games to play. 

One of those games is crate games.

The new crate.  I took the crate pad out.  It was too fluffy for crate games.  I put the crate in the spare bed room, because there aren't as many distractions (and I had the space there).  I can't wait until the basement is done - all that beautiful space for running around.  It's SO CLOSE to being done......but not quite yet.  Although (totallya tangent) I learned how to take out a light fixture and change it out for a new one.  It's not that hard!

The treats I used for our first crate game.

Meatballs, kielbasa, ham, hot dog, cheese (dill jack, ooo fancy).

Susan said to use the highest value.  Here it is!

Tibby did AMAZING.  I can't wait to see how she does tomorrow.  We worked all the way through steps 1-3.  We only played for 30 mins (not 1 hour like the video says), because I felt like Tibby had eaten a lot of treats and she probably needed to get a drink.  I didn't want the treats to start to lose their value. 

I was surprised how well Tibby did with the crate games.  She went in the crate to start the game, stayed in the crate when she was supposed to and exited the crate when she was released.  She turned right around and went back into the crate.

I was especially amazed at how quickly and willingly she figured the game out, because her only other experiences with a wire crate have been very negative.  Wish I had known about crate games when I brought her home!  My vet told me to put Tibby in the crate, leave her there and wait until she stopped barking.  We tried that twice, but after 2 1/2 hours of her barking without stopping the first time and her peeing on herself/acting scared when I opened the crate door the 2nd time I didn't try crate training again.  The last time I put her in a wire crate was at a foundation agility class - she had a 'panic attack' - frantic clawing at the bars/shaking/barking/drooling.

I think the baby steps I've taken with the travel crate have probably helped. 

Later on I found her sitting in the crate (good girl!) and waiting to be released.  What a smart pup!!!