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| Working Trials; Does anyone compete? | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 28 2008, 05:15 PM (1,199 Views) | |
| Red Rascal | Feb 5 2009, 07:06 PM Post #76 |
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Reading about the Adventures of Dill is the one thing sure to have me laughing, :D what a fantastic character he is. :yes: So glad he is well again, must of been a very scarey time when he was ill for you. :hug: |
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| RJL | Feb 9 2009, 12:37 PM Post #77 |
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Training again yesterday :yippee: We kept it to a proper training session with lots of fun and rewards! Something I have learned about Dill is that he has a disturbingly puritan work-ethic sometimes. He will not play with his tuggy toy until he has done his work. If you throw it too soon i.e. before he has achieved something, he gives you a rather harsh look, as if to say 'I am not indulging in any frivolity until you have done some proper work - you reckless hedonist of a handler! :angry: ' There is also not much point in trying to work him when I am already in a bad mood. I thought I knew all about dogs being affected by the handler's frame of mind, but Dill is a little different to an Irish Terrier! If you start to get down around an Irish Terrier, he is likely to do his best to coax you out of your mood by doing something incredibly funny (it might be something only an Irish Terrier could find funny - like running onto a golf course and doing a poo on the green while 2 golfers wait)- or if all else fails, go all soppy and give you a hug. If you lose your patience and shout (not that I ever do, of course :ph43r: ) all Logan ever heard was 'oh you are handsome!' no matter what I actually said :rolleyes: Dill is not as adept at coping with anything but unbridled enthusiasm for work. If he gets a sniff of bad attitude from me, he does the canine equivalent of phoning his lawyers to discuss custody of the squeaky rubber fish, or shutting himself in his room and listening to Coldplay (thank goodness he isn't a man :lol: ) If he ever actually develops a taste for 'meaningful' (misearable) music, I will confiscate his tuggy toys! Anyway - fortunately, 99% of the time, things go well and they went really well on Sunday. We did our sausage-march around rabbit skins - which was a great way to stay focussed and had a discussion about heelwork styles. Apparently, of you do the 'hernia' heelwork where you grasp your abdomen and adopt a pained expression with the dog actually leaning on your leg and touching you in trials, you can lose marks :yay: After that, we did a tracking exercise, halfway through which a very fine looking big brindle staffie cross almost came bounding over, but fortunately, my esteemed coach ran over to ask if they minded keeping off the track and they were very good about it. Amazingly, Dill kept focussed and kept on tracking. A few months ago he would have lost the plot. It gave me confidence too :) No jumps as it was too frosty, but we did a couple of sendaways - on the edge of the wood, but he dropped like a little United player :P exacly when he was told (but without all the writhing around, clutching his leg) After that, he got his ultimate reward - manwork :yippee: Our coach only had the training bite-pad, so he held it in front of him, at about waist height. Dill went charging in and flung himself with all his might............right into his crotch :yikes: before bouncing up again and grabbing the bite pad. Who says pastoral breeds don't have a sense of humour?! (well, me usually) As usual, after some serious tugging games, I had to call him off. That's the bit where I shout 'leave!' and Dill lets go immediately :) before whipping round and sitting at the criminal's left side because the criminal has the reward :doh: We finished by letting all the dogs off to play and Dill played like a maniac with his ball on a rope - which he had studiously ignored at the start of the session! A dog who regulates his own rewards! Whatever next?! I'm sure really it is all because he needs to get going and release lots of endorphins before he can shake off his puritanical pastoralness ;) |
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| hannahb | Feb 9 2009, 02:48 PM Post #78 |
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I love hearing about Dill's exploits :wub: |
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| Tafia | Feb 9 2009, 09:41 PM Post #79 |
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Total Gas Bag!
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Same here. Absolutely love it! |
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| RJL | Feb 15 2009, 08:51 PM Post #80 |
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Today, it was cold again and spitting. However, we bravely set up all the jumps and markers while our pampered dogs sat in the cars. When it was time to release Dill, he flung himself at the door of the crate and did his egg-laying noise - a sure sign he is ready to go :hyper: The sendaway went well, although there is something very comical about watching a heeler trying to sprint over really wet, muddy and uneven ground. His friend, Scooby the lurcher just flies around gracefully with a sort of happy hippy look on his face no matter what the occasion or the terrian. To Dill, some of the ruts were half way up his little legs! A search square was being set up behind the jumps, so of course, being a nosey little beggar, Dill had to keep glancing back to watch the proceedings! He lined up beautifully, flew through the air, landed (eventually: he has the muscles to launch himself without the sufficient mass to land sometimes on the long jump :unsure: ) but after one perfect round, his curiosity got the better of him and he attempted to try something clever and turn his head to look behind him while in mid-air. This resulted in him somehow floating off-course half way over the long jump and landing way out to the side. I have no idea how me managed it! He defies science sometimes. His sausage-marching is coming on a treat, although his silly handler still had to learn left from right. It is such a relief to be enjoying heelwork again and doing it in a way that makes sense to me. The best news of all :yippee: he managed the 10 minute down-stay out of sight. This amazed me so much I lost track of time and before I knew it, I had less than an hour to get back to the house, have lunch and drive down to the shooting ground :yikes: However, as Dill had been so good, the bite-sleeve came out and he got to catch his criminal. First, he had to find the criminal :ph43r: who was hiding behind the scale - and bark. Usually this goes smoothly but someone ( :doh: ) had dropped a treat by the scale, so he went from doing his best big fierce dog impression to 'oh look! :) - I'll just eat that and then I'll bark again!' After that minor hiccough, the criminal made a run for it and was duly caught :yay: by a flying heeler. His leave command is really good now because he has actually consented to sit by my left leg and not the criminal's ;) Poor little doglet then got bundled back in his box and subjected to my awful driving before being deposited in his pen in the kitchen while I went off to attempt to be trained in the art of clay-shooting. I just wish I could say I pick things up as quickly as my dog, or had an ounce of his focus. I have to resort to Irish Terrier tactics and smile and try to look appealing (difficult when you are in a wooly hat and wellies) so at least the poor man who has taken it upon himself to try to teach me laughs at me rather than shouts :rolleyes: ;) |
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| Tafia | Feb 15 2009, 09:47 PM Post #81 |
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Total Gas Bag!
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I think you might have to start a Clay Shooting thread as well as Working Trials, it could easily turn out to be equally as much fun to read! |
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| RJL | Feb 17 2009, 11:31 AM Post #82 |
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I think my instructor is embarrassed enough by me :ph43r: I'm sure there is a clay shooters' site somewhere full of blokes leaving him sympathetic messages :rolleyes: |
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| Tafia | Feb 17 2009, 03:14 PM Post #83 |
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Total Gas Bag!
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Well if you find out that's the case please post a link, particularly like to find out how the instructor interprets your IT impersonation! |
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| RJL | Feb 18 2009, 02:40 PM Post #84 |
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I'll ask him on Sunday - he'll think I've totally lost it then :woohoo: (not that I have ever had to resort to sticking my nose or paws anywhere too unseemly, you understand!!!) :devil: |
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| Tafia | Feb 18 2009, 06:20 PM Post #85 |
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Total Gas Bag!
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Not yet anyway ..... ;) |
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| RJL | Feb 19 2009, 12:13 PM Post #86 |
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:ph43r: send me ten pounds and a signed Maude Earle (or a Mick Cawston, or an Arthur Wardle) and I'll give you his number :P |
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| PaulaK | Mar 3 2009, 05:22 PM Post #87 |
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I took Tom on a Working Trials tryout day, all I could think of was this thread :lol: Tracking was good, apparently he has talent although how she could tell this when he was weaving all over the place I'm not sure - she said he was air scenting which was fine and he did find his toy every time to he couldn't have been that bad and he did drag me along the track which is supposed to be a good thing. Retrieve - well not a HUGE success as although he would go and pick up his toy he would only get one and then wanted to run around with it and play and ignore the other stuff. Barking on command - could I get the usually noisy little bugger to bark could I heck, we tried teasing him with treats/toys and me running awqy from him while the instructor restrained him - nothing. Put him back in the car to go for a cup of coffee and he barked the bloody place down. Sendaway - Well this is where his talent really lies I think, he picked it up in about 5 minutes unlike Dudley who did it at obedience for over 2 years and would never lie down on command. We didn't do the scale or long jump as I didn't want to undo all the work I've done getting his patellas right and she hadn't got any ammo so we could do any gun work but i really enjoyed the day and would love to have another go. The best thing was that I was th eonly person to turn up so got 1-1 training. |
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| Tafia | Mar 3 2009, 09:13 PM Post #88 |
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Total Gas Bag!
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That must have been incredibly interesting. You get to ask as many questions as you want without feeling you're hogging the session! |
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| zandd | Mar 3 2009, 09:17 PM Post #89 |
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Paula that sounds like great fun. |
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| RJL | Mar 4 2009, 12:19 PM Post #90 |
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:yay: it is enormous fun, isn't it? Brilliant to hear someone else is enjoying it as much as me and Dill :yes: We went to a trail a fortnight ago and :doh: just missed out on qualifying! Dill marched into the field confident and primed for his nosework - a retrieve and an article search and guess what little trick the judge had up her sleeve? The 2 minute sit-stay :yikes: to be completed while Dill's friend Sylvia who was stewarding set out the search square.... :hyper: Dill was aghast at being told to sit! I had to turn, walk away and stay for 2 minutes with my back turned! No way!!! I managed not to turn round, but I was convinced the rustling noises I could hear was Dill trying to 'help' with the square. As it turned out - it wasn't - but then I hard a HUGE sigh and a small thud :rolleyes: With 40 seconds remaining, Dill had staged his own little heeler protest and flung himself into a rather stroppy down :ph43r: The retrieve went really well (9/10) and we found 3 articles within the time (although we lost a few marks and he took it upon himself to have a speculative chew on the wooden one) Our heelwork was less then perfect - but the agility went as well as usual. We lost half a mark for Dill's attempt at sitting without his bottom quite touching the ground at the other side of the scale. The sendaway was not good at all - the object was a bath in the hedge and Dill had no idea where he was being sent! He trotted dutifully off and then turned and gave me a very blank look :unsure: before deciding a large tuft of grass looked an excellent place to cock his leg and forget all about the trial :P The 10 minute down out of site went amazingly well :yes: Right up until the time was up and teh steward said 'right, that's it' and started to come towards us poor handlers, hiding round the corner of a barn. Dill - being Dill - heard her - saw her break the stay and thought 'well, if she says it's over - I can find that :x: handler of mine' So just as a very relieved bunch of handlers made their way back to the field, a little black and tan head popped under the gate to welcome us :doh: So that was a fail - 10 marks down the drain (but a heeler who looked very pleased with himself 'just had to come and find you to tell you I did it!!!!') ;) I was actually really pleased with his work, in spite of the mishaps. He managed at least not to go bombing off investigating the square in his sit-stay and his down was so nearly right :rolleyes: His sendaways are usually really good - but so far we've always used tall, thin markers, so that is a good reminder to start to vary the objects. He did the best on the article search he has ever done. Anyway - it's only our 2nd proper competition... Heelwork :yikes: well - we are making progress and the fault is all mine here because I do :yawn: struggle with the motivation sometimes when we are being watched. Funny - we were good at it until that :x: obedience competition - in fact we got the highest marks in our first trial. We will get there though :yes: |
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12:12 PM Nov 23
