Spirit Joy

Whoops, I just realized I have the title wrong. Should be Dog Agility COMPETITION of Florida. Still very proud that we were placed on the team because our school usually does very, very well at this venue. And no matter how hard someone works, they won't put a dog on their team who is not ready to go out there and excel. No sympathy placements here!
 
Cara Sandler said:
Spirit had agility camp today, and apparently had a wonderful time! Her BFF was there at camp with her so they got a chance to play as well. I'm still waiting for the trainers to send the videos, but they showed me on their phones when I picked Spirit up. There are 2 different teeters at the school, and one is much shakier than the other. The shaky one is the one that scared Spirit last month. Well, today, she was running up it and riding it down, no problem! She's sequencing with the teeter and everything! So very proud of my brave girl, working through her fear and bouncing back. Hopefully she'll be ready in March to do a Standard run! But if not, as least she's making progress. I was really worried that she was always going to be afraid of it. The down side of a smart dog who remembers everything is that they also remember what scares them :-( But it looks like she's a trooper and will push through :-)
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You drop them off at the camp? You aren't there working with them? Tell me about it. It sounds interesting. What do they do with them at camp without their handler?
 
Lanie said:
You drop them off at the camp? You aren't there working with them? Tell me about it. It sounds interesting. What do they do with them at camp without their handler?
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The camp is awesome. I drop her off in the morning at about 8 and pick her up at 5. It's not the same as doggy daycare - at camp they go on "field trips", which are dog friendly stores so the dogs can work on life skills and behavior in different environments, or they take them swimming to help them build up strength. They work with them on the agility equipment and different handling. They put the dogs in shopping carts and roll them around the stores to help the dogs become comfortable being on moving or unsteady surfaces. They do have some supervised playtime but are closely monitored to make sure it is a positive experience for all the dogs. At the agility camp, they basically get to do agility all day (with appropriate breaks, of course). They also work closely with fearful or anxious dogs - Spirit's BFF (Wonder) went to camp with her last week, and that poor dog has a lot of separation anxiety. So everywhere they went, they kept Spirit and Wonder in the same group so that Wonder would feel more comfortable, and so that she will start to learn how to handle separation. Spirit is a very confident dog, so when she goes to agility camp they work on more advanced handling - Spirit will run for anyone. She doesn't care who her handler is. They videotape everything and send us home with homework. It's really a terrific opportunity for the dogs to advance.
 
Cara - I think it's truly amazing that you can do this. :yes:

I could never get over my heart to leave my dogs to other people (I know I am extremely protective) :wink2: and not at all if they had to train them. :no:

People may not even do sit or down to my dogs - if they will do it anyway - for the most part, I would say:
" if you want to command with dogs -then you must buy your own dog" :sadsmile:

I admire truly that you can do it. :yes:
 
Hanne said:
Cara - I think it's truly amazing that you can do this. :yes:

I could never get over my heart to leave my dogs to other people (I know I am extremely protective) :wink2: and not at all if they had to train them. :no:

People may not even do sit or down to my dogs - if they will do it anyway - for the most part, I would say:
" if you want to command with dogs -then you must buy your own dog" :sadsmile:

I admire truly that you can do it. :yes:
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I got really lucky that we have this opportunity - and these are Spirit's trainers, so I've known them for close to a year and a half - plus I get video so I know exactly what happens while I'm gone. I would never leave her to be trained with anyone else :-)
 
Cara Sandler said:
The camp is awesome. I drop her off in the morning at about 8 and pick her up at 5. It's not the same as doggy daycare - at camp they go on "field trips", which are dog friendly stores so the dogs can work on life skills and behavior in different environments, or they take them swimming to help them build up strength. They work with them on the agility equipment and different handling. They put the dogs in shopping carts and roll them around the stores to help the dogs become comfortable being on moving or unsteady surfaces. They do have some supervised playtime but are closely monitored to make sure it is a positive experience for all the dogs. At the agility camp, they basically get to do agility all day (with appropriate breaks, of course). They also work closely with fearful or anxious dogs - Spirit's BFF (Wonder) went to camp with her last week, and that poor dog has a lot of separation anxiety. So everywhere they went, they kept Spirit and Wonder in the same group so that Wonder would feel more comfortable, and so that she will start to learn how to handle separation. Spirit is a very confident dog, so when she goes to agility camp they work on more advanced handling - Spirit will run for anyone. She doesn't care who her handler is. They videotape everything and send us home with homework. It's really a terrific opportunity for the dogs to advance.
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kinda jealous- that is so awesome:pop
 
Cara Sandler said:
The camp is awesome. I drop her off in the morning at about 8 and pick her up at 5. It's not the same as doggy daycare - at camp they go on "field trips", which are dog friendly stores so the dogs can work on life skills and behavior in different environments, or they take them swimming to help them build up strength. They work with them on the agility equipment and different handling. They put the dogs in shopping carts and roll them around the stores to help the dogs become comfortable being on moving or unsteady surfaces. They do have some supervised playtime but are closely monitored to make sure it is a positive experience for all the dogs. At the agility camp, they basically get to do agility all day (with appropriate breaks, of course). They also work closely with fearful or anxious dogs - Spirit's BFF (Wonder) went to camp with her last week, and that poor dog has a lot of separation anxiety. So everywhere they went, they kept Spirit and Wonder in the same group so that Wonder would feel more comfortable, and so that she will start to learn how to handle separation. Spirit is a very confident dog, so when she goes to agility camp they work on more advanced handling - Spirit will run for anyone. She doesn't care who her handler is. They videotape everything and send us home with homework. It's really a terrific opportunity for the dogs to advance.
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That sounds amazing! I've never heard of anything like this where I live.
 
Well, last night at practice, Spirit was still a little tentative on the teeter, but at least she's doing it. BUT she did a freaking amazing weave entry - she went through the tire, then did a 180 degree turn to the left (so she turned completely around) and into the weaves. I did NOT think she was going to be able to hit that entry. What a good puppy :-)
 
Today was Day 1 of Spirit's agility weekend. I entered her in FAST, Standard, and JWW. First of all, today was very warm, with the high temp reaching the low 80s, so poor Spirit was really hot (even though she has a cooling pad in her crate, a crate cover that is supposed to keep the temperature down, and a fan).

I decided to let her try her contacts again this time in FAST. There was no dogwalk but there was an a-frame, and she did a GREAT job with her 2o2o. She also did the send without any problem - she just focused straight ahead and didn't even glance back to see where I was. So she got a Q and first place :-)

Then onto JWW. Strangely, she knocked a bar towards the beginning (when I watched the video, it looked like maybe she slipped), so the rest was just for fun knowing there would be no Q. She hit the weave pole entry very well but was going so fast that she just skipped the 3 pole entirely :-( I sent her back in and she did them perfectly - until about pole 9, when I for some reason thought she had entered from the wrong side and called her off of them. The judge was very nice and just said, "oh, your dog did it right"! and smiled. What else could I do but laugh and send poor Spirit back in a third time - and she did awesome. The rest of the run was beautiful, with some tricky handling, but Spirit was awesome.

So, I decided we would do the Standard course (minus the teeter). By then, we had been at the trial for 7 hours and we were both sort of tired. And really, I knew that Spirit didn't want to do the run, and I should have listened to her, but I really hoped she would get out there and adrenaline would take over and she would be fine. She wasn't :-( She popped out at the 3rd weave pole, yelled at me, then regained her composure. But then at the table she broke her down after 3 seconds and jumped off. She did a great job on the a-frame and did the tire correctly but by the end she was DONE. Onto the dogwalk, she blew her contact, took the last jump without waiting for me, and headed over to her leash. Guess I should have listened to her in the first place :-( Ah well. Live and learn. Tomorrow is another day. I'm still so very proud of my baby girl. And I'm also ordering her a cooling vest ASAP :-)
 
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