New Blog.

I'm making a new blog right now. I've imported all the posts from this one. But there might be missing some videos, I'll check up on that later. I will probably keep this one anyway, but I will start writing in the other one from tonight. So you can change your bookmarks or bloglists!


http://vazyaila.wordpress.com/

The update from tonights training will be there instead!

Searching and agility

Today I went to meet Jessi at the club in Kista to train a bit before the agility-group practice.
It went well with the object search. I had 5 different objects this time, out to about 40 meters I think. She got them all. But a bit tired from the really warm weather.. I also tried the sending to the square with Vazy. And she does go forward, but like to stay near the cones... We'll just have to work more on that.

Then I practiced some more slalom with Aila, and some heelwalking. She's getting better at the slalom and can go just a bit faster..

After that the TG training started. It was fun as usual and I got to try the new stuff I learnt. It worked well. But on the movie I'm using another "technique" (I tried two different things there, 2nd jump after the slalom).. too bad she missed the entrance of the slalom!

When everyone had finished, I tried the track with Aila, and she was amazing! I was shocked, she had gained some speed and managed the whole slalom and all. Super good! Then I practiced some on the flat tunnel, and a girl from the group helped me. That was nice!

Here you've got the clip...

I suck!

Haha!
Today I got up early, after a night out 'til 1 (eventhough I didn't drink. I can tell you I was tired after having been up since 4am). I was heading for Aila's agility course. When I got there it was empty. I went for a walk. When I came back it was empty. 9.55, 10.00.. No one showed up! So I phoned Sofia with the Kelpie Ester, and I found out that it's next weekend!
So when I was already there, I decided to do some training.
I started going to the big field for a walk and then I did some object search, since I've decided to start all training (I can) with that. Today I made a 20 x 25 (or 30?) m square (zig zag) and had 4 objects. I took an empty toilet roll as well, for her to understand that she's supposed to get all kinds of objects. So she still loves it and she's good at it! She just has to practice holding and giving the objects to me, 'cause she rather throws it on the ground in front of me, ready to go out again. Today I didn't have to repeat the search command (but I still say it again after every object, so that she understands that there are more out there). First time she brought in the 3 toys, but didn't understand that she was supposed to get the toilet roll. So I followed her out, and when she found it and took it in her mouth I clicked. So next time I put out the 4 objects, she got them all straight away. So good! I filmed a small part of it... Sorry for the quality, it was with my mobile phone. For a bigger version; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxPxpFiG8uw


Then I went to do some agility training. First I was teaching Aila to go into the slalom from all directions (shaping). She gets frustrated and "barky" when I do shaping with her. But I just ignore it, cause I know it will go away as soon as she knows what to do. She managed to take the slalom from all directions. And she could make the whole slalom eventhough I was one meter from it, at least. Good girl!

Then I did some crazy combinations with Vazy. I'm going to draw them. I tried to figure out more about the "threadle". And I'm not sure I do it right. But I managed to get her to go perfectly on all kinds of different combinations. She had really tight turns around the jumps, and managed to go into the slalom when jumping from the right. See drawing.. I've only drawn some combinations, because I can't remember everything I did...
I was working on the same jumps with Aila. But mostly to try to get her to take the jumps without having me 2 cm from her side. So I put a bowl in the middle first. Then one after two jumps in a row. Then after two jumps with a turn.. It worked out pretty well...

I'm happy about my training.

I think I'm going to train more tonight with Jessi. First I have to sleep for a bit! The funny thing with Vazy is that the more we train, the more she wants to train. She never seems to get tired of it...

Oh, I'll just add one more combination that I really liked (starting on the top).. I'm really happy to be able to steer her like this now. Because usually she's just going straight on the closest jump. But now I think I've figured out a bit more how to handle her. We'll see if it gives results at training tomorrow..

I'm proud of Aila!

We came in 8th place (of 18 I think...)!
She got a 7/10 on everything. Some was a bit of barking that pulled it down. But she made all the things, eventhough she had only done the jump on thursday for the first time (jump-sit-jump)

Inkallning 25 m - 7p
Läggande - 7p
Apport - 7p
Fritt följ - 7p
Hopp-sitt-hopp - 7p

I'm really proud of her. She kept a good contact all the time, and she was walking super well on heel.
It was all done in a weird order (look above) and that changed my plans a bit. If they would have started with the heelwalk (fritt följ) she would have calmed down and not barked at the come (inkallning) and probably got a 10. But she was super good! I'm planning on starting her in class I this fall, or as soon as she knows the "stand".

Then Jessi was training all the three dogs at once. It was so funny! Vazy was the one that wanted to do the most.. She never tires of training. She just loves it!

I'll put some pictures from that here. A friend of Jessi filmed us, so maybe I will put that up later, but I'm not sure. You'll see...

Waiting for Jessi at ten to five in the morning.

Well. Here I am. Waiting for Jessi early in the morning. The sun is soon coming up!
Wish us good luck for today!

Gävle, here we come!

Sometimes training makes me forget...

..that I'm acctually sick.. Or even if I'm feeling depressed, it all goes away when I'm training the dogs. That's great. But now I feel really tired.....

Today went quite alright.
The square was not the best with Vazy. She'd forgotten all about it and only wanted to go to the cones. I have to train it more often!! But I should, because she really likes it. She's crazy about training. When me and Jessi were talking, she just ran to the square.. She always tries different stuff.
I did the object search again. And it went just as well today.. It's fun though!

With Aila I have some problems with the fetch and jump. Haven't practiced it enough, so she might not make that on the competition. But we're gonna meet up again tomorrow to see if we can do something more about it...

It's funny. She's great at walking on heel now, and she does nothing but! 70-80% of the walks she's coming up next to me, wanting to walk on heel.. Ofcourse she gets rewards for her efforts. So the heelwalk was looking really good today! The "down" is good too.. We'll see if she remembers tomorrow, what we've done today.
It's hard with her sometimes, cause differently from Vazy, she's a bit scared of doing wrong. So sometimes she kind of "blocks" when she doesn't get her reward often enough. Maybe it's her age too. But I can still see a difference. And then she gets much more frustrated when she doesn't know what to do, that's when she starts barking.. I can't see that in Vazy to the same degree. Speaking of barking.. She was much better today! I guess she wasn't as excited, since we were training agility for hours yesterday night. Good!

More updates tomorrow.... I'm not hoping for great results at the competition, but we're gonna manage some stuff anyway! She's still so young, that I don't have to feel any pressure, and I'm not putting any pressure on her either. We're just gonna have some fun!

Agility and "object" search

Back from the club.
It was fun!! But I'm so tired now!
I went a bit early to have time to take a walk and do something with Vazy. So I did, for the first time, a search for objects. Vazy LOVED it!! I haven't seen her so happy to do something for a while. I love that she works so hard and never gives up. She managed to bring in three objects, 3 times. First I made a zig zag pattern, inspired by Jessi and the course I had last week. Maybe 10-15 meters out. I put the objects far back to get her to run out. She remembered where I put the last object (a ball), and ran straight out to get it. Cause now in the beginning I'm letting her see when I put the objects out. And then she had a hard time understanding that she was supposed to get more objects. So she just looked around me. But then I went out with her for a bit, and clicked a few times when she got the object. So next time around, I made the same thing, but a few meters further back. Then she easily got all 3 objects! Third time around, I did it just because she thought it was so much fun. Then I made it even further, and I've must have been at 20 meters or maybe 25. She ran straight out and got the ball, then the other object. But the third that was futher back, took a bit more time. The wind was blowing towards her, so it was easy. That was a really good start. Gonna continue this.

Aila was really good at the agility. She seems to think it's really fun. We did some slalom, some "box exercises" and a small and easy track. She managed everything. She needs to get more distance from me though, she's staying too close. But she really understood the whole staying on the right, if I have my right hand out. I can't say that's working with Vazy. She always wanna come in on the left, no matter what. Have to train more right handling with her.
We also did the flat tunnel, which she's never tried before. She's such a wuss! As soon as it touched her back, she got all weird and didn't wanna do it again. But still, she did it quite a few times, and I guess it's just like with the A etc. She just needs time..

Tomorrow I'm gonna train with Jessi for the competition.

Oh yeah, there's a nice girl with a kelpie at the course. She's also training obedience, maybe we'll get another member to out "training group" that would be cool! 3

You gotta do what you gotta do...

Eventhough I'm sick, the dogs had to go out. And I had also promised to walk Sacco again. So I gathered all my strength and went out. It was amazing weather and really nice.
Sacco was already happy to see me when I came. He was also happy to see my dogs, and Aila didn't bark anything!
He's already getting used to my rules. Not going out of the door before I'm telling him and all that. But I on the way, I noticed that he could go out into the street all of a sudden (luckily I saw it and could quickly get him back). So I practiced a bit of "don't cross the road until I say so". It went well. My dogs are used to that, so I don't have to keep them on leash all the time. But now I know I have to watch out and train a bit more with Sacco on that.
Then I walked with him on leash over to some nice fields next to a lake. When we were far enough from the road, I let him go ( I only let him go on fields where I can see if any animals are coming, since I heard he chases them sometimes...). He ran like crazy with Vazy. Aila didn't care so much. Vazy gets so upset that she can't catch up with him (he's fast!). But he calmed down after a while. Then he came to me and wanted to do some stuff. That's funny, I love that my dogs come to me when I sit down, and chill around me. And that they follow me and come and take contact with me on walks all the time. But it was super nice that Sacco did that too! As I sat down, he was staying next to us. And same when I was walking. He came running super fast when I called him. So no problem having walks with him.

On the way back I noticed a Rune stone, and then it all of a sudden turned into a sightseeing tour. I love the rune stones! They are amazing, and thinking of how old they are.. It amazes me every time! Maybe people around here are used to them, but I'm not. So, we got a nice tourist picture with the dogs next to it. Nice huh?

Now I have to rest, 'cause tonight we're going to Kista for Aila's agility course...

Sick

The poor dogs are getting neglected at the moment. Too sick to train or do any long walks... Tomorrow I'll hopefully feel better. I have to since it's agility course for Aila! I'm going, no matter what... I guess I just have to stuff myself with painkillers and nose spray....

Walk in the rain

The walk went really well!
A very nice dog! I could even let him off the leash a little bit on a field, 'cause he loved my reward so much (ham-cheese on tube). He always came when called, and after a while he just sat next to me, hoping for some more..
It's raining and raining now. I'm getting a bit sick.. Damn!

Playing petanque (boule)

Yesterday the dogs were a bit neglected, I have so much to do for my course at university at the moment..and then I also had the basic obedience course again. Yesterday they got to try different scent exercises. It was really fun and it inspired me to do a bit more of that..! This summer I would like to start training "area search". we'll see...

Anyway, afterward we went to a park in town playing petanque. The dogs got a small walk as well. While we were playing I had put them lying down in the shadow. And they stayed there for the whole game (and even 2). About an hour or so.. ! Even with dogs, people, bikes passing. People playing freesbee next to us.. They're amazing! And Aila didn't bark! She only let out one little bark when an Amstaff came running towards them. But they didn't get up! So proud of my little doggies!

Today we're gonna have a "dog-day". First I have class, but after that I'm going to walk a German Shepherd called Sacco. My dogs will ofcourse come with us. Then I'm planning on going a bit early to the club to train Aila and some obedience before the training group in agility.. We'll see if it starts to rain, because I'm getting a bit sick I think.. so I better stay in if it's raining too much (but I'll still go to the agility training)..

If anyone feels like training some area search with me, just give me a shout! I'd really like to try it out....

Film clips - competition and training

First I have to thank Jessi for filming and giving me the right to put them on the blog!



Here is the "down-stay". It's always a 10 for Vazy. But she's still a bit onfocused at certain times there. But I don't mind.



I could practice this some more. She could sit and stay. But I still got a 10, so it doesn't matter.



Heelwalk was nice. Too bad that it was itching so on her side. I also know that she can keep more contact, during the whole walk. Which she didn't do. She got some good smell in her nose and looked forwards at certain times. But I'm really happy with it anyway. She's so nice in her heelwalk!



The "down" was a bit slow. But otherwise it was perfect. I think I'm not gonna get to the competition as early next time. So that she's got a bit more energy. I felt her a bit tired, but still focused.



She's not sitting straight. But I don't mind. I think the speed is more important! She's faster now than she used to be!



The stand was good too. She was staying standing when I came, that was super good! I think it's the same here. When she has more energy, she's faster at the "stand". But she's often taking a few steps. Looking good otherwise I think..



The "fetch" (still don't know what it's called!) is good here! She's got a broken tooth and doesn't like to take the object any more. So this is really good for her. I think that she'll like it even more when we can remove her tooth. At the training a few days before she did it even better.



She loves the jump! It's sometimes hard to get her to not go and jump straight away. But she made a good one here..



Here is Aila's heelwalk where we are at the moment. I still have to practice more right turns. Been focusing too much on the left ones (because I think they are harder) that she's too used to "only" turning left. Haha! But as you can see it gets better after a few tries. She was a bit over excited, that's why she was barking..



Really good. I just have to walk and train her a bit more before so she's not so excited (barking..).



Here is the "come". She's doing it really well!



The "stand". She doesn't know this yet. So we're working on it. Some work to do still. She has to learn to stay standing. And she has to learn a command etc. Right now I'm just making a small movement and we'll see how it develops..



The "fetch" class I. She's really good! She just needs to stop chewing...



The fetch, class II. She's really good here too, a part from the chewing again...


That's all folks!

Jessi in Skarpnäck

Today I was working, when I got home I heard Vazy barking in "her" room. Damn! Well. I don't think she's barking all the time.. Hopefully.

Anyway. Jessi came just after so I went out training on the field just outside. With Vazy I practiced the "come-stand" with a target in the middle. That was working quite well. She LOVES the target. I don't understand how that could be so funny. But when she sees it she wants to do nothing but run there and jump on it. So that's good, cause she gets good speed to it. But that should be really fast to learn, the hard part, that I always struggle with, is to take it away..
I can send her like 50 meters out to a target if I want, but as soon as it's gone, she doesn't understand what to do any more. So I think I might mix this technique, with the one I did yesterday (target behind her, where she can go when she stops, like a reward behind her basically).
Then we did some distance training (sit-down-stand) and that was about all I had time for with her (that I can remember).

Then I practiced some stuff with Aila. Just went through the obedience class I program. She does most stuff quite well. But today she had a tendency to bark, cause she was so excited and wanted to train too much. And I still have to practice the "stand" which she doesn't know yet. It will come.. The fetching went well, but she still chews a lot. Any ideas how to get rid of chewing?

Next weekend we're going to Gävle to compete in "Lapphunds SM" (laponian dogs swedish championships). Gonna be interesting since she's not really ready. But we're doing it for fun mostly, and we'll see how we'll manage...

Tomorrow I'll post the films from the competition, and Ailas training today..

Have a good weekend!!

Course and training

Today I helped one of the instructors at the club with her course (it's the 3rd time now). It's just "every day obedience" with a nice group. It's so fun and interesting to see peoples different relations with their dogs, and how they develop during the course. It feels great to be a part of that. To see them change and to take in the little tips and tricks given to them.. Interesting.

I went there early to have some time for my own dogs. Went for a nice walk where I made them search for treats. I made a "square" of 15x15 meters. Where I only put treats at the end at first. It was great to see that both of them went out 15 meters straight.. Then I threw some more around, and I think they found them all. I think I'm gonna continue like this. But I will start to hide the sweets within gloves and other things. Then I will try and make them search for things to bring back instead. Like toys or other stuff. Gonna be interesting to see how that goes.

Then at the club I was training a bit. There were two girls training freestyle and obedience with their amazing dogs. They seemed nice so I asked if I could "borrow" their square made with cones (not the same as the ones we've been training with before). So I tried some with Vazy. She didn't get it. Cause there were toys spread out, and she rather went to them. Then I thought of what I read in Marlene's blog, about only trying once, then doing something else and so on. So after the 3rd try (when she made it), I did some heelwork. And then sent her back. She was quite confused. But went towards the square anyway (but stopped next to the cones instead of in the middle). Then I just called her back and made some more exercises. And then tried again, from different distances, not always straight at it and all. And she made some perfect ones in the end! Got quite a way to go before she's ready for competition though. She needs to learn the command more, so that she knows that she needs to look for the cones when she hears that.

I also trained some heelwork in all directions. The walking to the left is still hard (I mean when we're both facing forward, but still going to the left).. Right and back, no problem!
Then she did some really nice distance training (sit/down/stand). She does it now without moving forwards.

Then I also tried the target training with the "come-stand-come". It didn't work at first, cause I called her in two times without making her stand. Then she forgot about the target. So I made it easier, and just walked around, and told her "go on" when she could go to the target. She really loves the target, so she always turned straight away. I think we might get there one day. Just need more training.

With Aila it's great! She's great now after having finished her heat. She wanna do nothing but walk on heel, even on our regular walks. She comes up to me every one or two minutes, looking at me and walking perfect on heel, then sitting perfectly when I stop. Wohoo! Then I did some "down" and "stand". The down is great. The "stand" is not ready yet. But she stops quite well when I do a movement with my hand.
I also did some fetching (apport). And she can take it from my hand, hold it until I take it. I can also throw it, and she gets it perfectly when I give her the command. BUT, she's a little chewer. Damn... But it seems like it's getting a bit better. It seems like she chews less when running. I will see how it develops. If it gets worse, I have to do something about it...

I was supposed to train some agility too. But then the agility training group (class II) started, so I couldn't really. But then it was only 20 minutes left until the course started..
Then they've been nicely sitting in the car. Poor dogs huh?

186 points, 1st prize and 2nd place!

So. Now we're back!
It went really well. But I think there was some deer smell in the wind. Because she did a better heelwalk just before going in. But then she got some wind in her nose which made her a bit unfocused. But she still got a 9!
Jessi has filmed it all, so it should come up on the blog later on.

These are the points; (I'll write it in swedish, can't be asked to translate!)
Platsliggning; 10
Tandvisning; 10
Linförighet; 9
Läggande; 9
Inkallande; 10
Ställande; 8 (tog några steg)
Apportering; 9
Hopp över hinder; 10
Helhetsintryck; 9

---------------------
186 points, 1st prize!

Wohoo! One 1st prize away from the LP title! (I'll hopefully get that on the 30th of May). I came in second out of 17..
The one who was placed first was from the club and got 191 points (or something). I never saw their turn, but they must have been really good!

Well, I'll post the movies later on....

Have a nice night!

Feeling great!

I feel great today. Like nothing can go wrong!
It's gonna be fun. I'm rested, calm. Vazy has got a lot of energy and she seems motivated....

Wohoo!

Obedience class I, training

Well. For the competition on Wednesday I've been training a bit.
It seems good. She's got some postition problems sometimes, but I can take that. And she also wants to sit before command on the "stand". That sucks, I can't believe that I told her to sit before when I was training. If you're doing that, don't! If you know that they know sit, don't do it when training "down" or "stand" for the class I. Maybe in a different situation if so, 'cause smart dogs learn fast! otherwise she got some good speed at the "come" and she's almost smashing in to my leg. Who would have thought?!....
I also did some quick "sit-down-stay", where I put a bowl behind her with some treats. She was quite distracted by the treats, but she surely did not move forwards. So that was good. I think that for next time I'm gonna have a friend or someone treat her whilst standing behind. A really smart tip I got from Jessi, but that I never got around to doing..

Anyway, I also trained a bit with Aila for the "Lapphunds SM" that's in 2 weeks. She managed the whole "apportation" almost perfectly (apart from the chewing but...). Amazing, I haven't done that much training! It's hard to make her jump forwards, but I'll continue training with balls and other stuff. The heelwalk is alright, and so is the "down" and "come", so we should be alright for the competition! In agility she knows the jumps and all, and she follows my command which is good. She's not so fast yet, so I think we might be able to manage..... We'll see! We have the agility course again next week. We'll see how it goes then...

So tomorrow it's agility group training and then it's resting day on tuesday (gonna be the most boring day of the year for the dogs!), and then on wednesday I'm gonna go before the competition and play and walk and have fun!

Hoping for the best now!

Aila lost her freedom part 2.

Well. As I said before, I was doing pretty well with Aila's "not-hunting-training". But today we're back to square one!
We went for a nice walk in a national park. In the beginning all went well. She was gonna hunt, but I shouted quickly at her, and she came back and got loads of treats. But then I looked away for one second and she was gone. Just after we saw an elk 50 meters away. And I guess Aila must have hunted off another.. So now she's lost her freedom again. Because she can pass animals very well when she's at my side, but not when she's 20 meters ahead.
She was away for about 10-15 minutes, and we could hear her barking way off in the forest. Luckily there were no roads or nothing, and she came back fairly quickly. She walked next to me for the rest of the walk without any trouble.
It's not so much fun that I can't give her any freedom, but.. That's life I guess!

I also have to add that Vazy was amazing! She saw the elk, and smelled it. But chose not to go after... Luckily I don't have two hunters!

I had a dream...

I have to tell you about the dream I just had. It was really strange, but maybe my subconcious is trying to tell me something here... Please read and write a comment.. Is it true? It's not someone I want to be, and I'm not aware of me being like that, but maybe it's the way it is??

Anyway, I was with a friend out somewhere, it was a friend from England. I'm not sure exactly where I was. But I had been to a kennel and bought a puppy. It seemed like I didn't have Aila, but only Vazy, and I had bought a finnish lapphund. I remember bringing stuff in the car, and remaking space for the pup with Vazy... Then I don't remember so much.. We were walking outside, met some weird people. Mathieu was around somewhere, but I can't remember what he did. There were a lot of my friends around...

In the morning my friend was very drunk, we must have been out partying. She said she was going training, I think it must have been at the gym..
Anyway, then I can't remember what happened. But after a while a girl from my Agility training group phoned me. And she was really pissed off. She said "I can't believe how you can ruin a whole course like that." and continued talking about how I had been the worst pain ever at this agility course. Everyone had hated me and even the instructor didn't like me. Ofcourse I was really hurt by this, but I couldn't even remember which course it was, or what we had done. Or what I had done to deserve that everyone thought I was a pain. She tried to tell me why. I had been taking over the whole thing, talking too much, seeming like I knew most and only demanding stuff for my own sake. I had said something like "Thats great, now I will save 10 days of training".. and my agility friend had said that with a voice that made it seem like that would have been a stupid thing to say. Then I said how much I had taken over the course and only thought about myself. That I had never given anything back to the group. Everyone was always helping me, and I was never helping anyone. I answered that it was because I didn't know enough. That everyone that helped me was better than me, and I didn't know what to say to help them. I said that I would probably get better and would be able to help someone later on..I can't remember what she answered to that, but I have the feeling she didn't agree...

The more she talked, the more sad I got, because I didn't know, or couldn't remember what I had done. Then I had told here that I was really sorry, that I was really ashamed and wasn't sure I would dare to come to the next course that was like the next day or something. I started crying on the phone, and as soon as I could talk again, I realized she had hung up the phone.
Then some stuff happened in between. My friend woke up after the party, she was sleeping in this really big and weird bed. And someone else was there... I was still really sad and upset. Tried to think back at what could have made them feel that way..

Then I went to the next course anyway. Then I said I was so sorry to everyone, and they just looked at me like I was stupid. One of the course leaders came up to me (And it was my grammar teacher, in real life), and she told me that I shouldn't go to courses like this, because I only ruin them. That I should keep to language courses (?!) because I would fit in better. I can't really remember everything else that she said. But more things like that. When the course was about to start, I walked around to everyone, and said I was so sorry... Everyone looked at me in a disgusted way. Like they had been talking about me all weekend and that it was all bad stuff they'd been saying.

There and then I decided not to say anything any more. So I went to sit down. It looked exactly like a lecture hall at the university. I was sitting by myself but then more and more people came. A lot of people were talking loudly. It was totally normal that it was an Agility course, eventhough, by the peoples outfit and looks, it seemed more to be a normal university class. Then some people behind me was listening to music when the teacher came in. And they were talking loudly and didn't shut the music off..

Then I hear "Åsa, you shouldn't be here. You always ruin everything". Eventhough I hadn't done anything, I had been blamed for something someone else did, just because they had not liked the way I was last time.Then I woke up...

There was something in between there where I regretted taking the puppy, and I was going to go all the way back to it (which was really far), because I felt I had to work on myself and Vazy. To change. And that a puppy would take a lot of time, that I could have used for change...

It's all from my point of view in the dream. But I had this feeling, of having taken over the class and been very selfish. I'm often very self concious and think a lot about what other people think. And I know that I often talk too much, and I want to stop doing it. But it's the way I am, so I can't really, if I want to be myself.

This dream made me think back at loads of stuff. And got me scared. Is this the way people percieve me, only that I don't know it? I find it scary. I don't want to be like that but, as in the dream, I have no clue..

Am I really like this? I mean, you can tell me. Because I'd rather know so that I have a chance to change.......

German shepherd

Today we've met a German Shepherd and his owner Elisabeth. I got in contact with them because she's looking for someone to walk him. He was really nice and friendly and went on well with the dogs. So now I'm probably gonna walk him a few days a week. Maybe you'll get some pictures of him later on.. I'm really tired tonight, so no training. Hopefully I'll do some training this weekend. Needed for next week!

Amazing morning walk..

This morning I woke up at 4.30 for some reason. I couldn't sleep and got up around 5. I read some stuff for uni and then I had some extra time to walk the dogs. It was so nice!
Morning sun and warm with birds singing everywhere. The water all calm and glittering in the sunlight. Nice!
I can also give you an update on Ailas hunting. It's going really well. Since 5 days I've managed to let her walk more freely. She hasn't been hunting once, eventhough she has been tempted by some birds. I yelled at her, then she stopped in her pace (only ran less than a meter) and came to me. Then she got LOADS of praise and ham-cheese on tube.. We still haven't met any deer at close distance since the time she walked next to me and didn't run. So that will be a challenge. I hope that she will stop running and come to me in that situations too.. We'll see. I'm sure I can manage to make her as good as Vazy!

(Ps. I would like a phone with a better camera. I love to be able to catch snapshots of nice moments like this morning. But it sucks that it's so bad quality on the photos I get now. I always bring the phone, so it would be nice to be able to take better pictures with it...)

First agility course for Aila, and some training with Vazy

Started off towards the club (Kista) around 3.30 (or was it 3.45?) after having decided to meet up there with Jessi. It was CRAZY traffic and I didn't arrive until around 5 I think! Crazy!
Then we went for a nice walk over the fields. After that I left Aila in the car (she was going to train later) and went training only with Vazy. Yesterday at the club I noticed that the come-stand-come was hard to get with external reward (Playing like crazy with Jessi), because she's not used to external rewards and gets too sucked towards me.. I've tried it that way quite a few times without any big result.
But then I got the idea to put some treats on something behind her, and get a realease command when she stops nicely. That worked well.
But today I switched it to the target. What a breakthrough! She loves the target and ran like crazy towards it when she got the release command. Wohoo. I did some calling in without stopping her, throwing the ball behind me to get some speed and "suction" towards me.
It was great not only because I can do it on my own. But also because it's so easy to mix normal come and come with stand. Sometimes I throw the ball behind, and sometimes she gets to go to the target, where she also gets the ball. Great speed in the two directions, and she can never know which one to get. But after a few repetitions she got a bit slower, so I stopped. But that's defintely something I'm gonna work more on! And I have to have her favourite ball as well....

Otherwise we did some "square" work. And she was a bit confused, but she always chooses to go to the middle eventhough she sometimes takes a little tour before. I'm quite happy with that. I also put a greater distance between the square and me. I have to work more on that.. She's good at finding the middle eventhough we're changing place of the square. Looking good.

We also did some "down-stay". And she was great as usual. She stayed even when Oliven got her little sausage balls thrown at her!

Then it was time for agility course for Aila (time flew today!).
She didn't start barking eventhough there were loads of dogs nearby. Wohoo! She was quiet most of the night, and I'm really proud of her! She was the best! We got to go through the tunnel, easy! Then we got to jump. One, then two jumps in a row. She did that perfectly. Then We got to call her in over the two jumps, she didn't sneak! Then I put a bowl infront of the two jumps, and she jumped them both when I stayed. She managed to take a jump then a tunnel. Then I tried to send her on the jump and then the tunnel, staying behind. That was a bit harder, and the first time during the course that she wasn't sure what to do. She got a bit frustrated and started barking. But I was patient and only stayed put until she got into the tunnel and got her reward in the bowl. Wohoo! Then I did that again, and just after I managed to send her over the jump and through the tunnel. Nice one Aila!
Then we did some slalom, and she did the whole slalom both from the left and the right side. But she's still really slow.. She just needs to learn a bit better what to do, and then I'll speed her up with some balls and playing.

I was really happy about the course, because most people were really good and already knew the obstacles. That puts a higher level on the course! Yay!! I'm so lucky! The two courses I've been taking it's been the same. In the puppy course, everyone was so good, and now it's the same. It's inspiring the ones that haven't practiced so much as well. So everyone gets so much better.

Looking forward to next time....

Tomorrow I'm helping instructor at an obedience class, and I'll have to show some tricks with Vazy. She will probably do; Rolling, Backing, Target and Slalom between the legs.
I will hopefully get a little bit of time to train my own dogs before the course. Need to get ready for the competition next week!

Good day!!

SSBK, Jessi and Oliven

It was raining when I came to the club. But luckily it stopped during our walk, so eventhough it was cold, it was still bearable.
I trained Vazy a bit for the competition next week. She was a bit distracted at the heelwalk. But otherwise she was doing well as usual! I have to train the jump a bit more, because she doesn't sit straight. And the "apportation" she did great!! She took it straight on command and thought it was super fun. Yay!
For Jessi and Oliven it also went really well I thought. I hope that she can compete soon. You can read more about that on her blog I think.
Aila was also alright, eventhough she's a bit barky sometimes. She enjoyed training. She was a bit confused at the heelwalk and wasn't sitting straight. But that's alright. And she manage to come back with the "object" she's supposed to get (damn. still noone that knows a site for dog sport names in english?!). She loves it and all. We also practiced jumping a bit.
I also met some Australian Sheperds and their owners! They were super nice, maybe I'll get to train with them some more, that would be fun!!
Well. Tomorrow it's agility course for Aila! Gonna be interesting!!

TG1 monday

So, today we've been to training agility again.
I'm feeling quite tired and a bit down and confused. So I wasn't doing so well.. I don't really know what's happened to me, but it's not so much fun...
Anyway, it feels like Vazy is so good, and I'm so bad. I really have to learn more, but I don't know how to. She's both fast and accurate, but I'm falling behind, confusing her with the wrong moves...
I hope I feel better 'til next week. I've also done some agility with Aila. She's good and she loves it. I think she's gonna be a good agility dog...

Have a nice night.

Nature reserve

Today Mathieu and me went to a nature reserve near Nyköping. It's super nice!
We chilled in the sun for hours, and Vazy got a nice swim...
But then the night ended badly with a parkingticket (900 kr!!), so I think I can forget about those new clothes I wanted.....
But here are some pics from our otherwise great day..

(The one with the dogs on the bridge is kind of funny. Cause the bridge was moving, and you could see all the way down to the water. So Vazy was kind of scared of walking on it, but she always does it anyway.. haha! )

(And the tree was really weird too. It was like two trees stuck together, but one had lost it's roots.. Weird!)

30th of April

Yesterday some friends and I went for a little adventure walk with the dogs.
Vazy learnt how to jump from stuff in to the water. First time she ever made it!
Then we went climbing a bit in the rocks, but it was to steep at the end, so we had to turn around and walk another way to get to the top to watch the view. Great weather and a cool place!
Then we went home and played "Brännboll" with some friends after eating tacos. Super fun! And the dogs were really on our team, making life miserable for the other team by herding them when they were running, and catching the ball and running away with it so we couldn't get "burnt". HAHA! They didn't do stuff like that to our team though, that was funny!
Then there were a lot of fireworks. But it went super well! It went on for a long time with really loud bangs. But I was playing football with Vazy like crazy, so she barely noticed. And when I was too tired to run, I fed them with sausages and chips. So they were really happy and didn't seem too bothered. The ate and played, so eventhough they sometimes looked in the direction of the fireworks, they didn't seem to mind so much! I'm gonna continue like this, and just do loads of fun stuff and then they can get to eat good food and all when there are loud noices. Maybe they will even start to like it?

They were nice and tired later at night.

Today it's another great sunny day, so we'll see what we'll do today....

Enjoy!

(Ps. Vandraren Represent!)
(Ps 2. Internal joke, so I can see why most people are not gonna understand. hehe!)

Passed the test

Aila passed the test ofcourse! So now we're probably starting the agility course next week! Wish us luck!!

The only problem is that Aila is barking more than ever! I'm going crazy! She's got a new kind of bark, the one when nothing is happening and she's excited. So annoying! But at the moment I'm just lying her down far away and ignoring her until she stops. But the training is going so slow when it's like that!!

Tomorrow it's no training, but a day out with friends. We're gonna hang out on the field infront of our flat and play games and chill. gonna be nice! I'm also meeting up with Sara for a nice walk. Have to remember to get a Scalibour collar for Aila though. But I haven't seen any tics so far....

Have a good night!

Tracking

Today Vazy and Aila got to try some tracking with Jessi. That was fun but quick. Vazy started off really good! She managed the whole way, but the second time she lost the track and got confused. Aila was too crazy, I also think, as Jessi said, that it was too easy for her..

They've also been playing with some dogs at the dog-park next to our house.
Tomorrow Aila and me are going to do a test to get in to the agility course that's starting soon. Gonna be fun! Hope to be able to start her in TG1 (TG= training group) before fall.
I'll tell you how it went tomorrow.

Now I have to write a long home exam..... argh!

TG1 monday

Well. I'm home from yet another monday-agility training. It was as good as usual. Many good tips, and I got to try some new handling "moves" (threadle). They were fun and I will probably develop them more with Vazy. Maybe this was the missing link?
Vazy seemed a bit tired still from this weekend, and she had some trouble with the slalom because it was a flat tunnel, then the slalom to the right but where she had to enter left. If I went on the left side of the slalom, she took it well, but then it didn't work afterwards. And if I switched behind her, she turned around in the slalom. But finally I had to stand further down and already on the right side, and then it was alright.. The end of the track went really well and she's going forward really good and fast! I would like to take a handling course to get better at handling.

I also trained Aila a bit. She thinks it's really fun at first and does it really well. But she gets a bit bored after a while.. So I think that I have to do a lot of different combinations all the time, and try and go fast. She likes that. And now she already loves going up on the zone obstacles. So that's great! (What a change in like a week...)

Now I have to finish watching a movie for my course.
Sleep well!

Eliminated again..

Well. It was really fun today too, but I got eliminated again in both races. The first one went super well! The whole way until a hard combination where I had been focusing too much on the really hard part, that I kind of lost it on the one I thought would be easier. It got a bit too tight and she missed a jump and went straight to the slalom.
But I was super happy with that one, cause up until there, it went perfectly. Fast and correct! The other ones did well too. One with a few faults, and the other one eliminated too (but doing a really nice race anyway!)
Vazy had to stay in her cage quite a lot today, cause I was also working. That tires her a lot, because she can't relax at all. I think that's why she was SUPER tired at the last race. The jumping. She fell asleep next to the track not long before our race. And when it was our turn she did a good beginning but was unusually slow. Then she seemed a bit too tired to jump properly and she "sneaked" the tyre jump. That got us eliminated. But.. I'm still happy. It was super fun and she was really good! I think it would be easier with a track that's acctually on our level, Class I, because this one was more a Class II track.
For the other team members the jumping course went amazingly well! One was making it fault free, and the other one with 5 faults. Super good!!

I'll put some pics from the competition. Some of me and my team members (with the duck tolling retrievers) and some of another team from my training group (the poodles)...


(ps. I shouldn't blame it all on Vazy being tired, I was really tired too. And I'm a little bit dissapointed that I didn't make the goal of my weekend, of making a track without getting eliminated. But I think I must really do something wrong, because I never manage that actually. Anyway. I hope we'll get better by training some more...)