Stella Trial Updates

Well it has been a busy spring for Stella and I.  Regular viewers might remember how we were robbed of our final conformation point due to an administrative screw up so in February we ventured back into the show ring and the dog-show gods smiled upon us and we got that last point (AGAIN!).    We also needed to take a new picture.  Probably should have had her standing on the ground as the platform makes it hard for her to be comfortable in a real stack so her butt is a bit wacky here but it is still evidence we achieved that goal!

CH Varazs Kedvesem Final Dance, PCD, RA, CGN
CRA-MCL, CRNT

In May we headed out with a friend for a trip to Kelowna to attend a CARO rally trial.  This was the trial that last year ended in tears of frustration when my dog clearly expressed to me that she was not interested in working with me (see blog  Is-that-same-vizsla?).  That marked the start of a year off from trialing to develop a new training plan.  Well what a difference a year makes :).   I was super pleased with how the trial went.  My dog was engaged and we achieved our CARO Rally Advanced title with scores of 191 (my error), 197 and 198.  We also got another leg on our Rally Novice Team and finished up that title this past weekend. The video below is from the Kelowna trial.

I have a very loose goal of heading into the obedience ring to attempt our CKC Novice Obedience title in November.  That will depend on lots of things :).  Stella just turned three so we have lots of time and I am in no rush.  We are actively training the open and utility exercises while we also work on developing lots of ring skills, focus and confidence.   I plan to do lots of matches and attend venues like CARO rally that allow rewards to create lots of good associations with competitive settings.  Stella is not an overly sensitive dog as far as environments but she also is not a "high-drive" dog that loves to work and compete.   It will be a balance to keep her happy and engaged when competing at formal obedience and I want to make sure we are both as ready as possible.

Is That The Same Vizsla?

You know your round the previous day was really, really bad when after your round the following day the judge asks if that is the same V I was trialing the day before!

Two weeks ago we traveled with a friend to Kelowna to compete in a CARO rally trial.  The plan for the weekend was to attempt an advanced title and also a novice team title.   The first round was novice team and it went well.  Stella was a little distracted but I was pleased with some of the choices she made.  We had been working on some of the attention stuff since the trial a few weeks before that and had made some good progress.

Things went steadily down hill from there.  It was a very long day and the facility was stinking hot (around 35C).   Our first round of advanced was awful.  There were a few moments of lovely work but the majority of the round was very distracted despite the fact that we can use food (with rules).  CARO rounds are about twice the length of most CKC rally and that combined with dirt floors was to much for her.  The second round of advanced was even worse and I opted to pull us out part way through the round.

It was the end of a very long day and I'm embarrassed to admit that I ended up in some very tired, frustrated tears.  We are capable of beautiful team work and this trial and even the CKC one before that were showing a disconnect that was getting worse.  Yes I believe Stella is going through a "teenage brain" phase and she is very young but this is pointing out some big holes for us.   We need to start to build duration, reduce the reinforcement schedule and be a lot stronger about maintaining criteria.  I also need to figure out how to do all that while keeping things fun and reinforcing for both of us.  Currently her ability to concentrate in a stimulating environment seems to come in about 12-15 second increments.

So after my mini-meltdown a new plan was created.  I would do two rounds on Sunday.  The first was an on leash round for novice team.  Unfortunately my friend's dog was lame so she had pulled from competition the day before.  They found me a partner and we had a good round.  We didn't Q because our partner missed a station but I was happy with our result.  The next round was advanced and I opted to go FEO (non-competitive) and use the round for training.  We went on-leash and I rewarded good choices.  It was a very good decision as it kept her from rehearsing more bad stuff and helped to end the weekend on a positive note.  We also kept the day shorter and headed for home after that instead of waiting until the end of day for our final runs.  Bad days are never fun but they are valuable learning experiences!!!  

I will now take some time to work through all of this.  This past weekend we participated in two CKC Rally Advanced rounds where I was already registered.  The rounds went very well thanks to the practice match on friday where we were able to get some good training rounds in the facility.  I had a clear plan for our rounds and was rewarded with a 98 and first place on saturday.  Stella also did great on sunday but I screwed up and turned incorrectly losing 10 points and also had one re-do (3 points - my fault again) so ended with a respectable 87.  I hope to train in lots of different environments and practice matches over the next months and re-evaluate competition plans in the fall.

              

Defining Success

This past weekend was a road trip with Stella and a friend with her dog to attend a CARO rally obedience trial in Kelowna.  We had successfully completed three rounds of novice at a trial a month ago but need to trial under a second judge to get our novice title.  I decided to enter Stella in two novice rounds and two advanced rounds.  

Saturday morning was our first novice round and Stella did very well scoring a 190/200 and successfully completing her novice title.   This was a new ring for her and a dirt floor so she was interested in the smells but otherwise was good and I was pleased.   When we had received our trial confirmation information I was informed that the facility is not heated.   Luckily CARO permits dogs to wear coats but I was still worried that she wasn't going to complete any "down" stations but she did them!

Saturday afternoon was the first advanced round.  I had minimal expectations of passing this but figured since we were there to try the rounds for the training experience.  Advanced is off leash which we have not done in competition and it has harder stations such as sending over a jump from a distance, stand for exam, moving down, recall front while running away etc.  A failed station in CARO will NQ the entire round.  I have just begun training the jump but we have not worked up to any distance.  The handler sends the dog from 10 feet in front and must stay six feet to the side of the jump.  The facility was very cold and we had quite a long wait prior to the second class so I took Stella out for a lot of running around and playing tug before our round to make sure she was physically warmed up and comfortable in the cold.  When we went into the ring I was blown away by the wonderful attention and attitude Stella had.  We NQ'd on the jump as expected but otherwise would have had a 195/200.  

Our last few trials Stella has done well and qualified with good scores but she has also been distracted by the surroundings and the smells.  I knew she was capable of a much better performance and felt we weren't connecting as well as I hoped in the ring.  I was super excited to have her connect with me on this round especially as she was off leash.

Sunday morning was even colder!  I did the same warm up routine for her and we went into our second novice round of the weekend.  Stella was fabulous and had the same wonderful attitude from the previous round.  I was an idiot handler and side stepped on the pivot so NQ'd us but otherwise we were headed to an almost perfect score.  Live and learn but honestly I was still so happy I almost bounced out of the ring.  At this point it had become fairly obvious to me that the warm-up routine of playing lots of silly tugging and running around was working for us :). 

Our final round was another advanced round and the first half went very well.  Unfortunately half way through our round we had a major visual distraction that Stella was pretty sure everyone in the building needed to be told about.  I did get her back but when we headed back towards that same line I opted to excuse us and end on a mostly good note.  The total at the end of the weekend was one qualifying round for four total attempts. A lot of people would count that as a failure but I left the weekend absolutely THRILLED with my dog.  Success for me was that connection in the ring that I wanted and feel that now I can just build on that.  This dog sport stuff is supposed to be fun and I had a wonderful time with my dog and she really enjoyed working with me. 

CARO Rally Trial

Last weekend Stella and I participated in our first Canadian Association of Rally Obedience (CARO)  trial.   CARO is an option to CKC and trials are open to all dogs.  The judging requirements tend to be much stricter and there are time limits.  If a dog NQ on an individual station it will automatically NQ for the entire round.  Food is allowed but under strict guidelines (no luring!) and can only be used at the end of a stationery position.   There are some minor differences in the stations although not much at the novice level.  I find the advanced and beyond levels of CARO very interesting and think they would be a very good challenge compared to the advanced and excellent CKC rally.  A qualifying score in CARO is 170 out of a possible 200.  Unfortunately CARO trials are not very easy to find in our area but there are one or two per year that are within travel distance.

This was my very first time competing in CARO.  We entered in three novice trials and we did very well with three qualifying rounds.  The trials were all under the same judge so we weren't able to qualify for our novice title.  Trial one was a score of 197.   My pace should have been a touch faster to help prevent any sniffing opportunities but Stella did great!

Trial 2 was a score of 187.   We lost ten points on the sit, down, sit station because Stella did a "vizsla - don't want my belly to touch the ground" down.  I did notice that she hadn't gone all the way but from my angle it looked closer.   I should have done a re-do of the station.  When I viewed the video it was quite obvious and obviously the judge agreed :).   I probably should have asked for a down on the hip versus a sphinx drop down as that would have been more reliable.

Trial 3 was a score of 183.  In hindsight I should have only entered for two trials.   I was a little surprised when the judging schedule was released and the three novice rounds went one right after another.  I had expected more time for breaks in the schedule for the other levels to compete.  Stella is still very young (15 months) so by the third trial she was quite distracted.  This round had two stations with a down position which she wasn't thrilled with so we had two re-dos and one double command.   There was also a baby making some noises close to the ring gates which she found very distracting.

Overall I was very happy with our performance.  She had some beautiful positions in her fronts, sits at heel, left turns and pivots.  There was also some nice moments in heel work but that is a work in progress.  The trial showed me some areas I need to work.   I need to work on duration both in heel and holding positions before rewards.  I could see when watching the video moments when she seemed to expect rewards and then started to lose focus when she didn't get it.   I need to transition from working individual positions with rapid reinforcement to more incorporating those positions with other things and lengthening the reward schedule.  That should also improve with time and maturity.

The trial was in Nanaimo so we attended with our friend and her dog and went over the night before.  This was Stella's first experience in a hotel room complete with her first elevator ride.  She did hear something at 4 a.m. which needed her muffled barking from her cozy position underneath the covers on my bed but otherwise she handled things like a seasoned pro. 

Stella's aunt Shandy also completed a leg of her excellent title at this trial.  One of her cousins also had a very nice effort in Novice. Way to go to the relatives!   It it so nice to attend trials with friends and get/give friendly support.

Life With Riley & Stella has a page on facebook for anyone who is interested.  Please follow the link to like us Facebook - LifeWithRileyStella.

Here's my crazy puppy a year ago playing with her toy.

CKC Rally Novice Title

Today Stella completed her third and final leg of her CKC rally novice title.  It was her second trial and also my very first outdoor trial.  The conditions were terrible!  We arrived and within minutes the pouring rain started and it didn't stop.  We had thunder, the ring had puddles and I was soaked.  There was also a nearby blueberry farm shooting off a bird cannon consistantly through the day.  I was very grateful that those noises don't bother her.

We were registered for two rally novice classes and the first didn't go so well.  We were scheduled to be third in the ring but the first dog cancelled last minute and the next had a ring conflict so we basically got thrown right into the ring without a proper warmup.  My happy bouncing bean girl was not amused with the wet conditions and didn't want to do any downs so we NQ'd on that round.  I can't say I disagreed with her thoughts and I probably wasn't the best handler for her either on that round.

Our second round went much better.  The rain had dropped from a downpour to more of a light rain and we had warmed up properly.  She did awesome and we scored a 93 which was high in class.  Very proud of my girl!  She was distracted with all the activity and smells of the outdoors but still worked well for me. 

We also completed our first leg of pre-novice obedience.  This class is marked as a pass or fail and is an introductory class leading up to novice obedience.  It is a great way to get some ring experience for both of us and she was very good.   During the heelwork she was a bit distracted by some birds flying by but settled down more as the class progressed and we finished up very strong and passed.  I was especially pleased with how well she is starting to work for some happy praise and hand claps.

Outdoor trials are not very common on the west coast as most people prefer to trial indoors.  This was a good (although very wet) experience for both of us and I would do an outdoor trial again but hopefully be a little better prepared for bad weather.  We had had some lovely sun this week and the forecast I saw was for possible showers.  I really should know better being a good west coast camping girl but lessons learned.  We met another pretty Vizsla girl there today and the rain actually seemed to bond the participants in shared misery so there was some fun and laughter. 

We head out today for two weeks of fun and recreation camping in Oregon.  I'm looking forward to minimal communications with the outside world and lots of relaxation.  I leave you with a pics of a previous Oregon trip with a year old Riley. 

A trial and bad news

Last weekend the dogs and I headed over to Victoria for a dog trial.  This was Stella's very first trial.  I had originally planned to just take her along to introduce her to the environment and see how comfortable she was with the crating, noises and other dogs.  Last minute as I was submitting the entries I decided what the heck I would enter Stella in one round of rally novice each day.  Once I entered her there was a few mild moments of panic when I checked the exercises and realized I had a few things I had to teach quickly.

Riley has been injured the past month or so and had aggravated that injury the weekend before so he also had basically no training or work in the time leading up to the trial.  Needless to say I didn't hold high hopes for our success. We headed over on friday night in time for the "correction" matches and to set up all of our gear.  During the practice with Riley he slipped on the floor and again seemed quite sore.  I was all set to scratch him for the weekend but after a nights rest he seemed more comfortable.  He wasn't quite his normal self and his sits were slow but we did manage to finish off his pre-novice title and his final two rounds of Rally Excellent title so I was very proud of my handsome dog.  We moved up for a round of novice obedience which didn't go so well but considering he wasn't feeling great and there was a lot of distractions I wasn't that disappointed.  That same weekend there was a confirmation show and a horse show on the same grounds as our trial.  The trial was indoors but it was hot so all the doors were open and we shared some areas with the outdoor confirmation show.

Stella was wonderful in her two classes.  Her first round was a 96 and won her first place in the class.  She would have had a 99 but I screwed up and mishandled a turn.  I even managed to screw it up again on the redo!  Riley reads my body language better so I didn't provide the extra information she needed for the about turn.    Her second class also went very well and we scored a 95 and second place.  I was very proud of my happy, bouncy bean because even though she was a little distracted she was happy, comfortable and worked well in the ring with me.  I am even starting to see a few moments of lovely attention heeling with her which I have only just begun to start working.  She also seems quite at ease in all the chaos and other dogs which makes me very happy!

Here is the video of our first rally round.


It was a nice weekend away and on our return home we were all exhausted.  This week I took Riley in for his xrays and received the horrible news that his left hip is quite dysplasic.  I am still trying to digest that information and process all that means for the future.  I'm generally a pretty accepting person but when my furries are hurt I get all knotted up. I've had quite a few crying moments while this has been happening but will post later this week with more information.  Please keep my wonderful big dog in your thoughts.

Pass, Pass, Pass, Fail

Riley and I competed at a trial last sunday.  We were registered for two rounds of CKC Rally Excellent and two rounds of Pre-Novice obedience.  He did awesome in both his pre-novice rounds and we passed (they are no score just pass or fail).  This felt great because when I tried last year he broke his sit stay which was only 30 seconds but he really wasn't comfortable in the line with other dogs.  I had taken the stay for granted because he normally had a great stay in our outdoor classes but that didn't generalize well to the indoor trial environment.  This time he was very solid and seemed like he should be fine with the increased novice times when we trial that in the next few months.  He also did very well with the required honor stays in our Rally rounds.

Our morning Rally Excellent round wasn't our best round.  One of the stations is an offset figure eight and there was a ball on one side and food on the other.  Riley tweeked on that ball being there the moment we walked in the ring.  He didn't touch it but his focus was not great.  We managed to get through the round and we were one of only two rounds to qualify. 

The afternoon RE round was basically a disaster.  It had been a very long day and the afternoon course also had an offset figure eight but this time there was a big, squeeky stuffy toy on one side and basically poor Riley's head exploded and he could not focus.  The dog LOVES a stuffy toy!  He couldn't care less about the food temptation but toys are a whole other story.  He didn't take the toy but oooooohhhhh was he tempted!  He watched that toy the entire round and made sure in every station that he was positioned so he could keep it in sight.  BRAT!  Anyway, it is really my fault because I obviously have not trained that enough.  When I work at home with him he will ignore stuff and work but something new just sitting out there is way to big a distraction.   The plan will now be to get some new toys and train this in lots of different environments until we can work through it.

When all this happened I basically just laughed at him and moved on when we left the ring.  I could have been mad or frustrated but I wasn't.  He can do every one of those stations beautifully so this obviously wasn't the outcome I had hoped for.  It wasn't great but it did give me great feedback on what we need to work on just like how those broken stays on the last trial gave me good information. 

Stella was registered to do her Canine Good Neighbour test at that same trial but she is in her first heat so we elected to defer that for now.  We might try for that in may if the scheduling works out.