Extra Practice

I noticed I haven't posted anything in over a week, so here's an update on what we've been up to since the last post. We continue to begin practices with a few wall turns and then move to the box (without a ball). At this point, we are still using the strider to help shape the turn.

During the last week, I noticed that he'll turn wide sometimes and ignore the stride regulator on the recall. Since then, I've added some poles on the ground, parallel to the lane, to force him to come straight back. He's gone wide a few times since, but he doesn't get to tug when he does that... so he seems to do it right after that. I'm realizing, again, that I need to move closer to the box with him and not move back until he's solid with what we are doing.

We've added another team practice Friday to see if we can't work on some things together. I'm helping train Jeep, so it's exciting to see him making progress. I think he's the fast height dog we desperately need. The sooner he's running, the sooner the other dogs won't have to jump 11 inches.

Stride

In considering Zio's turns during the demo at Twister Agility, I've decided to go back to using a stride regulator rather than the jump board. This was also influenced by a video review of the past year in which I watched him do a few perfect turns in Memphis over Memorial Day weekend in May.

In reflecting on how I was training the turn prior to our Memphis trip, I had determined that he was too dependent on the prop being there as a cue. I had started training him to do his turns without the jump board so that he would realize that he needed to do a turn whether it's there or not. I think I went back to the board because it was easier to use in practice with other dogs running.

Zio can turn correctly all day long with the prop in place, but put him in a race situation without the board... he completely reverts back to punching the box. The strider has the same affect on his turns (for the most part) but is less visual than the board. The last two evenings went well with just the stride regulator, so we'll try this for a while and see how he does in practices.

I've been playing around with a new simplified team logo that will be easier to silk screen onto a red shirt and this is what I've come up with so far.

Twister Filming

We spent yesterday morning at Twister Agility. Local TV station KSBI was there to film some footage of agilty and flyball to be used during Pat Willis' new television show. Pat really goes out of her way to help promote canine sports and was a wonderful hostess. She even provided a great lunch for everyone!

We really need to work on our demos though. Although Zio wasn't one of them this time, we had some dogs crossing over almost every time until we switched the lineups around. I hope they got enough footage to help promote the sport. More passing with Cody is needed too. We can now add Wisp to the list of dogs that have gone around jumps to avoid him.

Gums

As we were practicing and tugging yesterday, I noticed that Zio wasn't clamping on to the tug like he usually does. Checking his teeth and gums, I noticed he has a small slice in the gum above one of his upper teeth that was bleeding. Earlier in the week, he was bleeding from catching a well chewed frisbee that is now in the trash. I'm guessing this is the same injury. He's going to the vet Monday to see if it should get stitched or just let it heal naturally.

I took the goofball for a walk this morning in the 24 degree, blustery weather. I normally let him go off leash when we get to the area that has a large pond. The geese were too much to take for a border collie and he took off running after them. He only got his feet wet before I stopped him. A few minutes later he took off and was neck deep, swimming after them! The water was actually freezing on his outer coat within minutes as we walked back home. After rolling in the grass and shaking numerous times, we came in to thaw out. Needless to say he smells like pond water now.

UPDATE: The vet said his gum should be healed in a few days on it's own. We'll hold off on any tugging for a few days.

More Turns

Not really doing anything new. We have continued our sessions with a few wall turns, move to the box without the ball, and then finish with one or two half runs with the ball. Some of his turns are really, really good. I know he would be running 3.9's if he did those turns and recalls in tournaments. We'll keep at it.

I've been going back and watching videos from the the 2010 tournaments and it's good to see the progress he's made since some of those early ones. His return is better now than early in the year too.

Sunday

We had a good indoor practice at Canine Sports Academy yesterday with everone seeming to make progress with their dogs. Zio was pretty rock steady and was doing good turns with the jump board in place. We did run one exercise without props when we added Cody into the Speeding Sheepdog team. Connie said that Zio's turns were good without the prop... so I'm hoping that continuing to practice turns will solidify his turns in a tournament. It's good having the practices a little more planned and organized.

We also took Zio to A1 Pet Emporium and he got a Christmas picture taken by the their tree. They had a Santa to pose with, but Zio wasn't having anything to do with the guy in the scary red suit. For one, he was wearing scary dead things on his feet (leather boots) and that is an immediate warning sign in his mind. Heck, he won't even come to me if I'm wearing dead things on my feet. Second, the guy came over to try and be friends and Zio does much better if he can check things out while the person isn't paying attention.

Box Work

After a few days off, we did some wall and box work last night in the back yard. I was sending him to the wall from about ten feet and he is really pounding off the wall fast and hard! We moved to the box and basically mimicked what we had just done on the wall and he was really punching off the box well. I considered adding a ball into the mix, but preferred to keep this success going. We are only using the box and a ten inch jump board.

Sure Shots had mentioned in conversation that we would be welcome to head to Dallas some weekend and practice with them. I would like that for Zio because he needs the practice of doing his turns while racing. It may not be fair to the others though because they may not want to travel. That might impact the quality of their training and I hesitate to do that. I guess I'll waiting to hear back from some that haven't responded to know whether we can get that done during January some time.

Vet Trip

Zio started with diarrhea Sunday morning and continued through Monday evening. I had heard that a few tablespoons of plain canned pumpkin mixed with their food will help, so I decided to give it a try. His symptoms never improved so he headed to the vet yesterday to get some meds he's used previously and to get a bordetella booster.

He ended up getting a bag of fluids pushed into him instead because of dehydration. I know many would have probably waited, but I have a hard time not worrying about him. I'm sure glad my wife took him in. The good news is that he has already firmed up again. He'll go back later for his bordetella shot once he's hydrated again.