Thursday, February 25, 2010

Wednesday Classes


In last nights Turbo puppy class Myth did her first sequence (wish I would have had someone get it on video), it was tunnel, plank, tire, pinwheel of 3 jump standards (no jumps for the small puppies), tippy board…..WAY FUN!! No hesitation went right around. She is really working well and having fun. After everyone had a couple of turns the puppies got to do a very low A-frame and Dog Walk. Myth is just like her mom, she loves the A-Frame – must the be the mountain dog in them ;-). A great A-frame is where the dog actually “floats” over the apex in a natural stride, Josie has a great A-frame, Suds not so much, he kind of pulls himself over, Myth is going to have a great A-frame. The puppies also did a low Dog Walk, Myth likes it also, not as much as the A-frame, but I think she may have been getting tired.

Josie’s Master class is after Myth’s class. I believe class is for trying things you normally would not try in a trial….this class was full of opportunities. The diagram below is one of the courses we did. I was able to get quite a bit of distance from some of the obstacles, especially the send from jump 5 to 6, I was able to stay on the other side of jump 7 and send her to 6 without hesitation, it was awesome. I was able to rear cross (my path crossed Josie’s behind her, more on rear and front crosses in another post). We still need to work on her teeter speed but the weaves have improved.


It was a very good evening for all………

~Melissa

“When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either”. Leo Burnett

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Projects

Last weekend, I had no trial, no show, no activities planned….what to do with myself, yeah, right. Errands, chores out of the way, I had a couple of projects I had wanted to start. I had recently gotten on sale, a very nice outfit for conformation shows (finding outfits for conformation is a whole blog or two) but it really needed some accessories ;-) so off to the bead store I went, and this is what I created………really turned out pretty.


















The other project was for Suds, he has always had trouble with the triple jump. The issue is because triple jumps are made to fit all heights, with the spread increasing as the height increases, when you get to the lower heights the front rail is set back from the front edge of the standards. Suds thinks he needs to take off from the front edge of the standard, which makes the spread for him much wider than he needs to jump and sometimes causes him to come down on the back rail. So, I needed a triple jump for us to experiment and practice on………holy cow, expensive. I would have liked to buy a regulation one, but they run over $200, yikes! So, I made one. To buy one just like the one I made, it would have run about $140, materials from Menards less than $20, a couple hours and voila…..turned out pretty good. The most expesive part was the tape to color the rails ;-)

















Here are a couple of Josie trying it out;















~Melissa

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

You Make Me Feel Like Dancin'

A while ago, I read a blog and comments on what music best captures your own dogs’ personality? At the time, nothing really came to me, sure both Suds and Myth have songs for their registered names, neither really “fits”, and I never could come up with anything for Josie or Ella. Recently each one has acquired their Theme Song;

Suds' registered name Suds-in-the-Bucket is a country song by Sara Evans, an OK song and while Suds’ name fits him the song not so much….but “Don’t Worry Be Happy” IS Suds.

Josie, well, truly what else could she be but “Born to be Wild” ;-)

Ella, sweet little Ella, who just wants everyone to be happy and get along, “I’d like to Teach the World to Sing”.

Myth = MeLou Shambhala, Shambhala by Three Dog Night, and a “Myth”ical kingdom in the Himalayas, geographical region where the Lhasa originated. Myth has been tough. When I leave for work in the morning I leave the radio on for the dogs, they get a variety; some days big band, some days classic rock, talk, etc, this morning I flipped on KOOL 108, oldies, and playing was You Make Me Feel Like Dancin’…….yeah, so it’s a campy 70s song, but I think it may be Myth’s theme….
Here is a very entertaining version, ;


~Melissa

“Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.” unknown

Monday, February 15, 2010

Canine Faces


SUDS






























JOSIE
























ELLA
























































MYTH



























Lovely Saturday

Saturday morning was nice a lazy, sleeping in –around here that is about 6:30 ;-)
Mid morning met up with several dog people at Pet Junction for a little conformation training. I brought Myth, she is coming along really nicely.
Here is a little clip of her; I asked Val to take her around so I could see her, and to get someone other than me on the lead. She looks pretty good and this was at the end of the hour.



After conformation training Josie had a contact and weaves seminar. Went really well, the training center was divided into 5 sections with an instructor in each. We were in groups of 5, and would rotate. Each section had a different focus; A-Frame and teeter, 2x2 Weaves, short sequence working on weave entrances, short sequence with varied weaves (12 & 6 pole) and a Dog Walk race course – Josie’s favorite. Very intense workout for the dogs, Josie handled it great, we took a little break during our 3rd section, and ended with the Dog Walk race course tunnel-DW-tunnel – she loved it. It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

~Melissa

Friday, February 12, 2010

Turbo Puppy

Myth had her first Turbo puppy class this past Wednesday. She has started her in all the basics, she had puppy kindergarten, Power puppy agility class, I have been shaping behaviors since she was weeks old, so she is waaaay ahead of where Josie was at this age. Anyway, Turbo puppy is a class Jacque is teaching at On The Run Canine Center www.ontheruncaninecenter.com for people who have trained a dog for agility previously. Lot of familiar faces in our Turbo puppy class….first night was basic stations; lots of wobble boards, the table, tire, jump standards and short contact board. Myth had great fun on everything, our ultimate goal will be an automatic down on the table, but currently she thinks it is fun just to be upon things, she also likes to crawl onto my shoulders…little mountain dog that she is. Ended the class with some restrained recalls to each side – very fun for the puppies. Myth’s attention during class was was really good, worked with me 99% of the time, there were several other classes going on at the same time, so lots of distractions.

Josie’s master class followed Myth’s class. We are working on our starts, lately her speed has been very slow until about the 3rd obstacle. I worked on getting her excited yet maintaining her start line stay….work in progress. Her overall speed was really good – A-frame was awesome, Jacques said she had some serious air over the apex.

Very good evening for the girls…..

~Melissa


Even if you are on the right track, you will still get run over if you just sit there.
Will Rogers

Monday, February 8, 2010

"Q"uite the Weekend


QQ weekend for the MeLou Lhasas……
Suds and Josie had an agility trial this past weekend, both dogs were Awesome.
Suds only did one run on Saturday, and boy was he on his game. His class didn’t start until about 2pm, I was a little worried about his energy level as we had been there since 7am. Well, worry not, he was ready ! Not only did he Q with a first place, but even with having to restart the weaves, he came in almost 10 seconds under course time, – which is huge for Suds, since when he first started is was not uncommon for him to have time faults. WHooHoo Suds !!!
Here is his run;




Josie had a perfect weekend, meaning her Q rate was 100%. On Saturday, she also earned her MX title with a first place ! She also Q’d in her Jumpers run, so she hit the halfway mark to her MACH (Master Agility Champion). Sunday she started out a little slower in her Jumpers run, but she did still qualify and placed 3rd.
Here is her Jumpers run from Sunday;




Her Standard run Sunday was really good, still needs to speed up her weaves and she wasted a second our two giving me attitude on the table, little stinker- we missed first place by 1.5 seconds about the time she wasted on the table ;-). This was Double Q number 11 (needs 20 for the MACH title) and she has about 500 points (needs 750).
Here is her Standard run;


~Melissa



Friday, February 5, 2010

Thursday morning 2/4

Thursday mornings Suds & Josie have a private lesson with Jacque, yesterday morning Myth came along as she needs to work on self-control in her crate while I work another dog. Well, it didn’t quite work out as planned, as we were unloading to go in, little miss Myth jumped back in the van (um, yeah, she likes to go for rides) as I was sliding the door closed, yikes, caught left leg, ugggh, BIG drama. After letting her walk it off a bit, she seemed fine. She was very subdued while I worked Suds and Josie, not sure if it ended up being good or bad…gonna have to take her again next week….On another note, Suds was fabulous, he is running faster and he nailed the weaves both times and with speed. His nemesis seems to be the triple, he is miss judging his take off point, seems to think he needs to take off at the edge of the standard….will send a post out to the Lhasa training group for suggestions.….Josie was pretty good, but still slow on her weaves. We worked the weave separate, by breaking the set of 12 in to two sets of six, worked her on one set of six a couple of times then had her do the sets consecutively (set of six space of about 10’ and another set of six) she did get faster, but still not to where we would like ‘em.
Something to work on I guess ;-)

~Melissa

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. Thomas Paine

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Bloggin'

Ok, so I finally get around to a blog……I have enjoyed reading other blogs, maybe there is someone who will enjoy mine.
The main purpose is to help chronicle the progress or lack of my latest agility prospect Myth. Of course, the way my thought run, a little of this and that will be included.


I am MeLou Lhasas, regularly exhibiting my Lhasas in conformation and agility.
With the help of Julie Timbers and Debby Rothman of Fleetfire/Timbers (FFT) I successfully bred and whelped my first litter of Lhasas June ’09. The puppies out of my Agility star Josie (her picture is in the blog header) and FFT’s Edmund have all started in their conformation and agility training. 2 girls, Myth (MeLou Shambhala) and Moka (MeLou Shot In The Dark) and 1 boy Elliot (FFT MeLou Spill The Wine).


Myth (MeLou Shambhala) is my keeper, this blog is mostly to chronicle her agility training progress and conformation showing. We have started our agility training with Jacque Hoye of Red Hot Agility dogs http://www.redhotagilitydogs.com/ . I was lucky enough to stumble upon Jacque when I decided to enroll Josie in a puppy agility class to expend a little of the energy she seemed to generate (a story for a later post). Myth is doing awesome….. I started shaping Myth, along with her littermates when they were weeks old, Boy, does it make her eager to try new things and think for herself. Fun, fun fun. Next week we start Turbo Puppy Agility foundation class……it is a puppy foundation class geared towards handlers who have previously trained a dog for agility, I am really looking forward to it.


~Melissa
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves. ~Abraham Lincoln