Spryte and Spark updates

Spryte and I will be going to Luxembourg in September for the Agility World Championships, representing Canada in the medium division.  As you can imagine this means most of our training in the last few months has been for agility.  In this sport it feels like there is always something that needs improvement, and always a new skill that needs to be mastered.

As always my frustration lies in my contacts.  I deeply regret training a 2 on 2 off behaviour on my contacts.  It was great and fine in the beginning when I wanted to Q and didn't need to push my dog too hard.  It was safe and resulted in a high "Q" rate in our early agility career.  Then I wanted more. Spryte was fast, and it made me dream big.  I dreamed of having a world level dog.  Suddenly stopped contacts just wouldn't cut it anymore. To keep this short and avoid a lot of rambling I will sum it up to say that I tried retraining my aframe to a running, I ended up with a dog that consistently hit within the top 1" of the yellow resulting in a low Q rate and a dog that then thought it would be fun to jump ALL the contacts on course.  So now we are back to stopped contacts on everything.

Contact training now means working on getting Spryte to stop on contacts no matter how over stimulated she is.  Working on proofing the contacts for front, rear and blind crosses. Working on having Spryte drive to the end when I am lateral of her (very difficult). And working on having her drive into the 2 on 2 off position with no hesitation on the down plank, and never stopping any where other than the one acceptable spot. We are also working on her only releasing on "GO" and nothing else.  I then have to maintain my criteria at home and at shows.  All this work that I wouldn't have to bother with if we just had running contacts.  It's frustrating and not at all what I want to be training right now.  I wish I had taught running contacts from day one, when I had the time and before Spryte had any history with contact behaviours.  Now my biggest problem is finding the time to train it (raising two litters and upcoming big events put a real time restriction on retraining) and dealing with a long history of stopping or jumping contacts.  When we get back from Europe the retraining will begin. I WILL have running contacts on Spryte or die trying!

We are also working on our handling skills. This is much more fun :)  The team was given three drills to work on to improve mental and physical stamina, as well as technical skills. The courses all consisted of 30-34 obstacles.  The idea is to see if we can stay just as focused and just as fast on obstacle 32 as obstacle 3!  If we made a mistake during the course we were to keep moving and save it as much as possible, not starting again from the beginning.  Saving it is such an important skill. It's amazing how much people want to start all over again when a mistake happens. But in reality at a show you can't just stop and you can't let it affect you. The run isn't over until you cross the finish line!  These drills gave us a chance to practise continuing on after a mistake and staying mentally focused for the whole run. It also tested our ability to remember a long sequence of obstacles.  I really enjoyed the drills and plan to start running longer sequences a lot more often.

Spark and I are mostly focusing on agility skills right now. We dabble in obedience and nose work when we need a mental break from agility.  After reading my rant above it will come as no surprise that Spark is learning running contacts from day one.  I am thrilled with our progress and after only a month of training I have her on full size equipment.  The Aframe we do sparingly (she has had only 3 sessions on it), most of the training is done on the Dogwalk.  I now need to start working on turns off the contacts and anticipate this might go a bit slower.  Below is a short movie of Spark's contact training.

I am also waffling on breeding Spryte one more time on her next heat. I LOVE having puppies and I so
miss raising a litter. I love caring for and nurturing the puppies.  Helping them develop into confident and outgoing dogs.  And I love matching the puppies with loving homes and watching them become a team together and accomplish great things. It is the most rewarding thing I have ever done and it gives me so much purpose.

Originally I was not going to have a litter this year.  I didn't want to take my top competition dog out of training and showing again for 4 months.  It doesn't sound like a long time, but it does make a difference when you are trying to stay at the top of your game.  But I miss puppies.  So I waffle.  Puppies, no puppies.  It will also depend on when Spryte comes into season. It could happen when we are in Europe or shortly after we return. In Europe would be a problem.  When we return home could work.  But if its too late into the fall then it would mean missing Try Outs for next year.  Which would mean no chance at world's for next year.  So it comes down to what I want more.  Puppies or international competitions.  Big choices.  For now I will waffle and wait to see when Spryte decides to come into season again.  Decisions, decisions ;)

Puppy brag updates

Wow it's been over a month since I posted last and there are so many updates from the Hyper Hounds litters that I need to brag about.

First Regionals results.  Both Wendy and "Snap" and Susan and "Cricket" ran in the Alberta AAC agility Regional Championship in June.  This was the first regionals for both dogs.  They both handled it like seasoned agility dogs and placed 5th in their divisions.  Snap 5th in 16" regulars and Cricket 5th in 16" specials.  What amazing placements, especially for dogs who just started competing in March!
Since regionals "Cricket" has also finished her Starters Gamers title in AAC agility too!

Breeanne and "Izzy" participated in the famous Superdog show at the Calgary Stampede and the Red Deer Westerners Days. "Izzy" ran in several relay races, did some freestyle routines and even solved some math problems!  After Bree and "Izzy's" Superdog debut, they then ran in a flyball tournament and earned the Flyball Dog Champion title! What a versatile little dog!

At less than 9 months of age Teresa and "Andy" took part in their first UKC nose work trial.  "Andy" passed the Pre Trial on Birch, earned a leg and 4th place finish in containers and earned two vehicle legs with a 4th place finish, which earned "Andy" his very first title… Novice Nosework Vehicle!  What a superstar at such a young age. This guy has a very bright future ahead of him!

A few more Brags

I have a few more brags from the Ace/Spryte puppies.

Last weekend Susan and "Cricket" competed in a CKC Rally trial and earned their Rally Advanced titles with TWO High in Class wins.  I'm told Cricket loves to heel and has wonderful attention heeling. She is also a bit like her momma Spryte, barking with enthusiasm during her rally runs.  She just can't contain her love of working.

The second brag is for Bree and "Izzy."  Izzy ran in her first flyball tournament last weekend. She was not scheduled to run, but when the team fell short a dog they decided to throw her in and see what happens.  Izzy shocked them all by running perfectly!  She even picked up enough points for her first two flyball titles! Flyball Dog and Flyball Dog Excellent.
   Bree and Izzy also auditioned for the SuperDog's team a few weeks back. They found out yesterday that they have been accepted and will start apprenticing at the show in July.  How exciting for Bree, her and Izzy will be Super Dogs Stars!  They have been working hard on a freestyle routine, agility skills, counting (that's right, Izzy can count!) and skateboarding.
   Congratulations to both Susan and Bree on such big accomplishments with these baby dogs. Keep up the great work ;)

ADC for Snap and Quinn pics

A few updates on Snap and Quinn from our first litter out of Ace & Spryte nearly two years ago now!

A brag from last weekend's agility trial in Calgary… Wendy and "Snap" (Hyperhounds Capture the Moment CGN RN AGN AGNJ) earned their AAC Agility Dog of Canada title!  What a fantastic team these two are!  Here are some picture of Snap from the weekend.

Kathy and "Quinn" are also working hard on their agility skills.  Lots of weekly practises for the pair and wonderful pictures from Annette Young.  Here are a few of pics of Quinn soaring over jumps and having a great time on the agility field.  These two are having a great time together.

UN PT2 Sunday

PT2 for Anise. Spryte at 2:15 in the video with her borrowed handler.  Strider at 3:15 in the video with me handling him.

UN Vehicle search video from Sunday

UN Nosework Trial

Last weekend the shelties and I attended our first every nose work trial in Castlegar, BC.  It was a United Nosework Trial, an organization soon to be taken over by the United Kennel Club. In fact you had to have a UKC registration number to enter the trial. Lucky for me both dogs have been previously registered because we occasionally compete in UKC obedience.

I had no intentions of competing in a nose work trial this year.  We have been busy focusing on agility and moving to a new province.  I was a little disappointed that I would be missing the first SDDA trial in Western Canada, but it fell on the weekend after we planned to move.  So with no plans to compete I haven't been actively training in the sport. In fact we haven't played the game since last fall.

Then one day I was on Facebook and noticed a post regarding a few spots left in an upcoming nose work trial.  It was on a weekend I was free. I started thinking how fun it would be to attend with the dogs. But with so little practise I was thinking it wasn't a great idea.  So I posted on a local Facebook site about where I could get birch odour locally.  No one was sure, but a few people had some scented qtips they would lend me.  So that night I was hooked up with a great nose work kit, and had a nice chat with a local dog trainer.  The wonders of social media :)

So after 2 weeks of practise we headed to Castlegar for our first trial. UN/UKC works a bit different than SDDA (the organization I was currently training for). First their odours are different. They have 5 different odours, the first three levels being Birch, Anise, Clove.  Second they have pre tests that you have to pass before you can compete in their trial. A pretest is a container search with 12 boxes, one of which is the hide box.  You must pass the pre test at the level you plan on competing at before you can play. Third, they have two different formats of trials. A regular trial where you run all 4 elements at once back to back. If you pass all four you get your UN1 title. And an elements trial, which can offer any combination of the elements, but you need two passes in each to earn an elements title (2 container passes gets you a novice container title). When you get all 4 element titles at a level you now have the UN1 title. Fourth, you can only run one dog in each class because they will not move the hide.  If you want to run a second dog you have to get someone else to run the dog for you. If the owner ran both dogs then they would know the location with the second hide and that would be cheating.

The organizing club had a practise room set up with 3 boxes in it, one with a marked odour box. So we could warm up the dogs on odour on the trial grounds before going into our search. Spryte did well with the warm up and I was ready for our PT1.  In we go, we start behind the cones and then when ready I gave her the "search" cue and off she went. She was very focused, search each box, went to the end of the row, didn't find it and started heading back. Then she stops at a box and starts head bobbing. I'm thinking she has it and called alert. Then I heard the most heart sinking word from the judge, "wrong".   I took a few steps away, Spryte hit the next box, head bobbed with enthusiasm and then gave her trained "sit" alert.  She had alerted on fringe odour.  One more box over and we would have had it right. How frustrating! Now we couldn't play in the next event, the container search, because we didn't pass our PT1.

The next PT was held in the afternoon.  My plan had been to run Sprtye in the morning and Strider in the afternoon PT. With the fail in the morning I now had a problem, I couldn't run two dogs in one event. Lucky for me another competitor offered to run one of my dogs for me. I gave her Spryte. She warmed her up on the practise boxes.  Sprtye was in love with the new lady who fed her hot dogs, and then they went in to the PT.  I kept my fingers crossed and waited outside the building for them to return.  Sprtye worked like a champ, knew exactly what to do and gave her "sit" alert, this time at the correct box. Yah she passed her PT in 9 seconds!  Strider and I went in next. He was just as focused on the job and went from box to box stopping and sitting at the last one in the lineup. I called "alert" and got  "yes!" from the judge. Wahoo, Strider passed his PT1 in 11 seconds.

So now we had the go ahead to play in the elements trial. The afternoon's event was a vehicle search. 3 vehicles lined up together all facing forward.  At the first level the hide will be on the front of the car.  From the front wheel well, along the front bumper to the wheel well on the other side.  So the dog can go from front bumper to front bumper without ever having to search the rest of the vehicle.  It was raining, so our judge was nice enough to have the vehicles moved under a covered picnic area for the search.  The judge gives a briefing to let us know the boundaries of the search area and the starting line. Then we all go wait away from the search for our turn.

When Spryte's turn came up we entered the search area, I pointed to the first vehicle and cued "search".    Spryte started smelling each vehicle, very interested in the first one. She skimmed the other two, so I brought her back to the first. She started barking in frustration, she couldn't find odour. So we went down the line of cars again and she started to sniff more heavily at the third vehicle.  It was a jacked up truck, so the bumper was above Spryte's head. She got right under it, sniffing around heavily on the right side of the bumper and then she finally sat.  I called alert and we got another "Yes!".  It felt like we had been working for several minutes (max time allowed is 3 minutes). So I was shocked to hear later when receiving our Q ribbon that the total time was only 1 minute and 34 seconds.

Day two I decided to enter the level 2 PT's with both dogs, having the same lady running Spryte again. I wanted to get these out of the way if I could. Entering a PT on the same day as a trial, didn't work out well for us the day before and it was something I wanted to avoid in the future.  So both dogs tested on Anise and both dogs passed. Spryte did it in 16.22 seconds, and Strider in 19.43 seconds.

The first element of the day was novice containers, again just Spryte was entered.  She was really starting to get into the game. She whined outside while waiting to go in for our turn and barked on the way in. She was having fun now and was getting very confident. We passed the round with a time of 9.43 seconds and earned a third place finish too!

After lunch was another vehicle search. Again Sprtye was way more confident and excited. She crossed the start line, went straight to the first vehicle, was very intense in her search and then sat after sniffing a spot on the front bumper.  It was another successful find and completed in a mere 13.59 seconds. Our fast time earned us a second place finish.  The two successful vehicle finds also meant Sprtye earned her novice vehicle title!

It was a great experience and I'm glad we attended. I now have a  better idea of what a UKC nose work trial is all about.  In fact we had so much fun, we are heading back to Castlegar in three weeks to do the other half of the elements.  A interior and exterior nose work trial. Wish us luck!