Monday, December 29, 2014

2014 Goal Review


It is that time of year, when I like to publish how I did meeting the goals I set a year ago:

Joker - 12.5 years old
- keep him healthy! – after declining gradually all year, we had to let him go in mid-October at almost 13.5 L.

Sonic - 2 years old
- Show in Novice B for CD and ring experience January-early April – We showed 17 times total in Novice B, with a wonderful four High in Trial jaunt to Lakeland, Florida in February the crowning glory.
- Show her in conformation as often as possible when she's got hair! – Earned 1 whole point in several attempts. She was bald a lot L.
- Show for last time in Novice B and first time in Open B at FCRSA National in June in Oregon - this will only be possible if she comes in season before entries close... – did not go, and was rewarded for that wise decision with her coming in season 2 days before the start of the National.
- CDX in fall – completed CDX in early October
- Start matching in Utility by late spring – did first one in February, just before she finished her CD. Utility was going well enough that we moved up to Utility 2 weeks after she finished her CDX, as it was for the once a year trials held in my training building. While she didn’t pass either day, she came within one exercise each time of passing, and also finished her Graduate Open title that weekend.
Best of all, she finished her UD on December 7, with a 197.5, good for 2nd place and 4 OTCh points! We earned 2 more bumper legs the following weekend at the difficult IX Center in Cleveland.
She is the first of my 9 UD dogs to go from CD to UD in one calendar year, and she is my youngest-ever UD, finishing the title at 3 year 3 months. 
- Compete in AKC Classic in Orlando in Novice - again, will depend on her heat cycle – opted out of this, as the chance of season was too great. Instead, we stayed closer to home and finished her UD up the first weekend in December, then went to the Cleveland IX Center trials for 2 bumper legs.
- Start running Master tests with her - June at National if possible, July at Ft. Detroit test if not. – ran test dog at Ft. Detroit in July, Flyways in August, and entered the Marshbanks test in August. Had a great first series, including lining the land blind, but bombed on the water blind in the 2nd series. Pretty much returned to obedience after that test.

Little - 3 years old
- Work on skills for MH when she's with me. – Did this, with mixed success. Not sure where we are going at this point. She went back to Helen when baby Jag came home, mid-June to mid-July, then in mid-August so they could work on obedience.

New puppy - I am hoping to have a new Border Terrier puppy by late spring...
-       get puppy well started on obedience foundation
Riverside Jaguar came home at 9 weeks on June 11. Jag has been super rewarding to train, and has already done a few matches, one in rally and a couple of Novice obedience ones. He learned to retrieve a dumbbell by the time he was about 12 weeks old, and has a pretty good grasp on scent discrimination, having done “Around the Clock” with him starting at 7 months. He is well started on all of the Open exercises and bits and pieces of Utility, as well as quite a bit of Rally and Beginner Novice exercises. He already has a fan base on YouTube J. Also has already earned 3 point in conformation.

Myself
- Website
   o implement Paypal for product purchases (finished in January)
   o implement Paypal for class signup (just never got going on this L)
   o plug away at desired additions - set monthly goals at beginning of each month – did some additions, but drifted away from website work again
  o Do GTD "weekly" reviews more consistently - goal is at least 24 for year
-       By no means did 24, but I did them more often than in previous years and mostly felt caught up enough
- FlyLady work
   o keep up with kitchen – Fritz’s new early morning schedule has made this goal come true
   o Zone work – not as good at end of year as beginning, but much improved. Google doc that both of us can refer to about what house chores are needed has helped a lot.
- Get back to some form of aerobic exercise. Goal: 100 purposeful aerobic workouts in 2014, 15+ minutes (biking with dogs, Nordic Track, walking dogs, snow shoeing) – I really rocked this goal, with 200 and counting workouts for the year. Having an every-50-workout prize to work for has been incredibly motivating for me, as was having a FitBit Flex.
Two of my prizes - a gorgeous braided whistle lanyard and a custom leather collar for Sonic.







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Sunday, January 5, 2014

Momentum and Cookie-Toss Retrieves

My new email signature for the month:  "If you train a young dog for momentum, precision will arrive. If you train for precision, demanding perfection, momentum will depart." - Rex Carr

Momentum is a term thrown about more often in retriever training than obedience training, but it certainly applies to obedience. To me, Rex's quote is all about training for the big picture by building in the speed first. I have always worked for a flashier performance with my dogs vs. a robotic one. Don't get me wrong; I want precision. But I also know if I work on precision too much before instilling the speed I desire, it is harder to get the speed later.

In obedience, we are judged on the speed our dog returns or comes to us: a brisk trot or gallop is required. Anything less should be penalized in some way. While a brisk trot is acceptable according to the regulations, I still strive for a gallop whenever as I can.

Earlier this week while training Sonic, I realized she is rarely slower than a brisk trot as she returns but she wasn't consistently galloping on her returns on her retrieves or on her jumping for the Open jumps. Given the sometimes scary speed with which she returns from a field retrieve–harder driving than any previous dog I've trained–I know she is capable of more speed. I just haven't explained that component well enough to her.

With that in mind, I've been working cookie-toss retrieves with both the dumbbell and gloves: as she picks up the object, I might run away from her, or command her to come, then throw a cookie through my legs when she is almost to me. As she goes through my legs, I race to the other end of the area, turn around and repeat. Sometimes she has already picked the object back up (she drops it to get the thrown treat) and is running back. Sometimes she needs a come command. I'm whooping it up with her, cheering her on, and we are both getting in some wind sprints. Since my wind needs all the help it can get, it is a valuable side-benefit of the game :-). We have been doing about 6 retrieves of the dumbbell this way, and 6 glove reps, adding in pivots and marking. It is not an overnight fix, but I think the long-term results will be very pleasing.

How is your dog's momentum?

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

2014 Goals

Myself
- Be thoughtful about what new projects I take on
- Website
   o implement Paypal for product purchases (January)
   o implement Paypal for class signup (January-February)
   o plug away at desired additions - set monthly goals at beginning of each month
- Do GTD "weekly" reviews more consistently - goal is at least 24 for year
- FlyLady work
   o keep up with kitchen
   o Zone work
- Get back to some form of aerobic exercise. Goal: 100 purposeful aerobic workouts in 2014, 15+ minutes (biking with dogs, Nordic Track, walking dogs, snow shoeing)

Joker 12.5 years old
- keep him healthy!

Sonic - 2 years old
- Show in Novice B for CD and ring experience January-early April
- show her in conformation as often as possible when she's got hair!
- show for last time in Novice B and first time in Open B at FCRSA National in June in Oregon - this will only be possible if she comes in season before entries close...
- CDX in fall
- start matching in Utility by late spring
- compete in AKC Classic in Orlando in Novice - again, will depend on her heat cycle
- start running Master tests with her - June at National if possible, July at Ft. Detroit test if not

Little - 3 years old
- work on skills for MH when she's with me

New puppy - I am hoping to have a new Border Terrier puppy by late spring...
- get puppy well started on obedience foundation