A blog for kiwi agiliteers
I noticed a couple of weeks ago that Able has a strong preference for turning to the left (versus the right) when he grabs his tug toy and turns around to come back to me. This is bad enough that he’d rather make a 270 degree left turn than a 90-degree right turn – not something I want him doing on the agility course when he’s turning towards me.
I asked our animal physio about it and she suggested I try some cookie stretches to work on his flexibility in both directions.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been taking Able along to my club’s agility training on Wednesday nights. I train my older dog Rik in the 7:30 class, but I try to arrive before 7 so that I can get Able out and do some things with him before then. It’s important to train a youngster in lots of different environments, so I try to get him out and do something with him wherever I go.
Earlier in the spring we were training on the margins of the main agility field, as we needed to be under lights. This was a great opportunity for Able to practise his basic skills – sit stays, retrieves, agility handling on the flat, jumping lanes – in a more stimulating environment, with other dogs running a course ten metres away. There was a noticeable deterioration at first, but by the third week he had his little halo on and didn’t put a paw wrong all night.
And then daylight savings started and I moved to a different space behind the clubrooms, where we had more room to get moving and chuck some toys around. I decided this was the ideal time to start on Able’s more formal handling education, and I started coming to club each week with an agenda of sexy stuff I was going to work on.
Things Go A Bit Pear-Shaped
Last week was, of course, Guy Fawkes Night. The one magical night a year when people let off fireworks to celebrate some political intrigue I don’t quite understand that happened 400 years ago in another country.
I say “magical” because Guy Fawkes Night defies the normal laws of time, in which a Night is shorter than a Week, and much shorter than a Month. In fact, any random moment of time can be Guy Fawkes Night, if somebody just wishes it to be so (and blows up the dodgy parallel imported fireworks they’ve been storing next to a petrol can in the shed for the last few months).
I am very lucky with Rik that she does not mind loud bangs like fireworks or thunderstorms. I am now doubly lucky with Able. When the first firework went off he sat up, looked around the room for 30 seconds, glanced over at Rik, and flompfed back onto the floor to resume his nap. By the end of the first week of Guy Fawkes Night, he wasn’t even opening his eyes when another fire hazard went zooming off above our heads.
This week I tackled something I’ve been meaning to do for a month or so, and taught Able to wrap around a cone. This is a skill that a lot of people teach to their puppies while they’re quite young, but I worry a bit about the impact on the shoulders of repeated wraps, especially for a fairly large puppy like Able.
Continue reading “Guy Fawkes and Fun with Cones”There’s one exercise that has come up and over and over again in my ongoing agility learning this year. It was featured heavily in multiple presentations in the 2021 Lemonade Conference, and I’ve seen it pop up elsewhere too. It’s not something I’ve ever put much effort into training before, but I guess that’s about to change.
It apparently improves your dog’s balance, his strength, his movement and his endurance. It’s low-impact and you can do it anywhere, even in your living room during a Level 4 lockdown.
I’ll reveal what that exercise is soon, but first it’s story time. I took Able for a walk last week, and we were accosted by a stray dog. I am used to this being a stressful situation, as my older dog gets very wound up about other dogs in her personal space. However, Able was absolutely delighted to make a new friend, and soon they were happily play-bowing at each other while I tried to move Able along. It soon became clear that his new friend was going to follow us, so we went home for the dogs to have a play-date in the back yard.
Well … I brought home a bitch in season for my intact male ten-month-old puppy to play with. They had a delightful time playing chasie around the back yard before I realised – and fortunately the penny never dropped for Able. I guess he isn’t quite all grown up yet, but it’s a very important lesson for me in the perils of owning an intact male dog. I was worried about whether I would be able to fence him in securely – not about bitches throwing themselves on him as we walk down the street!
Now, back to that magical exercise that will turn your dog into a super athlete. What could it possibly be?
Continue reading “2021’s Hottest Dog Fitness Trend, and Able’s New Friend”