ST Foundations: Assignment 1

Lu's serious face and posture when you say "Ready.... ready....!" with
a ball in hand... 

FYI Anybody who reads here- I think I'll jump over to wordpress... meet me there!

The new address is: lifeoflumen.wordpress.com

So Assignment 1 for Silvia Trkman's foundation class is up, and in a way I'm dreading it a bit because it's the thing we're really not that great at, which is sends to wraps.

I watch other people's videos and their dogs dive into the wrap, whip around it, and dive out of it, full speed. I'm lucky if I get a lolling canter into it and around, and usually a sprint out. I can get more speed if I send her from a tunnel but that's not what we're meant to do.
So I'm thinking maybe she's a dog that just does things, but doesn't put 110% effort in... I know she's not a BC, I'm not going to get those low to the ground sprints, but SOME kind of enthusiasm would be nice. Maybe that will come with maturity? I hope so, because I'm feeling very lacklustre right now.
And I shouldn't judge her on this morning- she'd already been zooming around with Mal, she crashed into a wooden fence and hurt herself earlier, and I took her to a new park where we'd never worked before (very sniffy), so of course she's not going to be her best, and I HAVE been getting some better drives into a wrap with a plastic bottle, or the hose or something, but only ever once or twice.

She just doesn't seem to get enthusiastic. Like... when I get Mal out, I say "ready... ready...." and he's dancing on his feet, tensed up, ready to do... whatever! If I say ready to Lu (and we've done plenty of practise with that cue!) she tenses and looks serious, but isn't ready to burst out of her skin to do whatever's about to happen. I wonder if that's experience- she doesn't 100% trust that she knows what to do next so she has to take it easy to figure it out. I know in new situations sometimes she'll stop, observe, walk.. stop, observe, walk... She's a thinker. I think all the thinking is slowing her down.

We're also going to be doing some more tunnel work- I've been curving it gradually over the past couple of tries and I'm thinking the speed is still pretty good (as with her, it could always be better I think - which doesn't bode well for running contacts, but that's another story entirely) so then when she's blasting through, I'll start doing call to hand and turns, and maybe some obstacle discrimination with all my tunnels (fun tunnel-land!).

I just think Lu is so quick and so smart that she should really excel in agility... but I'm just not seeing the best from her right now.
We'll try again tomorrow.

a touch of class

Just a nice picture of the pups for the header...nothing related to the post.

Husband and I have been toying with the idea of me starting my own training classes. I've learnt so much from doing Foundation with Lumen that I feel very confident in being able to pass on that knowledge. 

Agility specific clubs here in Melbourne are full- there's 12-18 month waiting lists to get in with a Foundation dog. Everybody in the agility community knows me and what I did with Mallei so I have a good reputation as a dog trainer already... 

I've recently been doing small-group classes with another trainer and I feel like there's parts missing that I would really benefit from, or, which would be better done as a pre-agility/puppy class, and then a bit more of an advanced foundation class...

So I have lists of what I'd teach, and I feel like it'd be a really successful program that could be tailored for different people, and because there'd be essentially pre-foundation and foundation, you could either do more equipment, motivation, speed and turns in one (which is what we'd like to be doing) and more shaping, tricks, stays, games and playing, etc in the pre-puppy. 

As I'm planning to take a few Silvia Trkman classes, I could also work in what I learn from those to my own sessions, and since nobody here has taken her classes as far as I'm aware, that would be totally new and different. 

I already know people who would be interested in coming, and have access to a large client base through friends and other dog people... I could charge people $20-25 a class, and after a few lots of classes should have paid off the equipment I would need to outlay for (some nice jumps and actual proper tunnels would be a good start, followed by a dog-walk (I'd want to encourage running and it'd be great to have my own DW to practise on before trailing!))... I need to find somewhere that I can hold the classes in the evening- so an oval with lights somewhere, organise insurance... I think it'd be fun...!