more grids

Sony has become the queen of how not to do a grid :) she doesn't want to extend, she will add steps and if I make it to tight she just goes around or throws herself. smart little dog. I spent the last week working on different set ups to get her to use her rear with out cheating :) 1 thing I did was go back to Linda M one jump work that helps her a bunch. some susan salo stuff, 1 in particular helps but only at low heights. so I took that one shortened it to 3 jumps instead of 5 and played with the distance and height. I also play with where I set her up, far back or close. just did a bunch of them and she was real good. she has a trial this weekend and I put her back to 16 she has another trial in 2 weeks but 3 days of flyball next weekend. fortunately she is not a full time dog and rivet is her back up so I can pick and choose depending on how she is.

Judy and sony

22"

well Sony did her first run at 22" and didn't do bad. she ran GP and had 1 bar which she barely touched. popped the WP after I talked to her , which she should be used to me doing but apparently she doesn't like anymore :) she also ran around the tire which was 2nd to last but came off a turn and I don't know if I pushed her off which I saw a few dogs do or she refused it cuz she was a bit tired. the course was nice but had alot of jumps at the end of it and I think she was a bit tired. so decided to put her in 16" this weekend . will keep working her and see about her next trial in 2 weeks if I do 22 or 16.

Judy and Sony

more zingers

Sony still is not that good in the grids however working her on courses she has been very good jumping well, even the spreads. so after Talking with Mary Ellen we think it may just be a confidence thing in the grids. she also had another acupuncture treatment yesterday since she had such a zinger last week, she had the same think another zinger. so we might do it more often until it settles down. she has a massage today with David in PA and we leave on Friday for the trial. wish us luck at the trial her first back in 22" !

Judy and Sony

no pain no gain

I have been trying to get Sony up to 22" and its been a bit of a challenge, she isn't consistent in jumping almost stutters and adds strides something she is not known for doing. I set up a grid and at lower jump heights she did good but if I raised it she either added strides or a few times ran around a jump. Since I felt she is fairly fit enough I took her today to CSC and worked her and Rivet. I did a few short sequences using all the equipment not just jumps. nothing more than 7-8 things. jumps were 20 and 22. she started out by adding in strides and actually pulling herself over the jumps with her front almost like she was being lazy. she had a few bars down and I was slightly hesitant on marking them but decided she still needed to pay attention. well she actually started putting forth some effort and jumping better and even left out strides I thought she would add. a week ago she refused the tire, today she sailed through it. so I have decided that I am going to continue to work her at 20-22 as I think she needs to develop the muscles to jump the bigger jumps, I am going to keep her classes at trials limited but will bump her up to 22" CH . we will see how she handles it.

more trialing and 22"

Sony has been in 2 more trials at 16" , down at TAG in VA. and ACE, but Nick ran her at ACE.
at TAG she was great, winning round 1 of PSJ and should have won Rnd 2 but she stuck a foot on the long jump. no bars and she looked and felt even better that at riverside in July. she was equally as Good in PNS however when she nailed a difficult WP entry I praised her and she came out barking at me. Apparently telling me to shut up and let her do her job :) . I left that show feeling very good about her comeback.

the following weekend I let Nick run her at the ACE starters/adv/JH trial she had 3 classes one day and 2 the next. she did just fine. Nick ran her in STd Gamblers and JH on Sat and Snooker and Std on Sunday. he did just fantastic with her. running clean in JH & both std Classes something he is thrilled about and although he got the gamble with her, he ran out of time. snooker was not bad, she is not an easy snooker dog and she will teach him alot !!

we then left for Vacation and Poor Sony had to spend the week with Melanie. who took her to work and let her work on the UWTM and let her swim in her doggie pool at home. the poor dog !!!! Tuesday I had her to the office for an adjustment which she barely needed and some acupuncture as she was over due. about halfway through she started to wince and held her RH up in the air. this is actually a good thing it means her energy flow was blocked and the needles released it. its such an amazing thing to see. she has been feeling real good and is back down to her normal weight of 34.5 #. so I started working her more at 22 she is not thrilled about extension and not 100% comfortable over the spreads but I think its more confidence and actually using her muscles than pain. she also got to play some flyball last Sunday for a bit. its been 18mo since she last saw a box. a few minutes of warm up and she ran the entire lane with a perfect box turn like she has been doing it all along. she certainly isn't as fast as she used to be (YET!) but she was her usual consistent self..

so the fall is looking good for her. I plan on entering 2 classes a day and at 22" CH. so we can start getting qualified for 2010 nationals. she is also going to the Flyball Classic in INDY and will share a spot with Rivet. I think the more she does the better she will be. she is about 1/2 way to where I would like her but its going to be difficult over the winter to get her to 100% strength. I will keep updating about her trials, the next one is K9Logix in a few weeks, then Contact the following weekend, then INDY then Keystone and Fair hill.