Monday, December 30, 2013

Growing Up

Yet another year has gone by, and yet again I've failed to post about his birthday ON his birthday.

"Baby Dog" turned 3 on the 22nd. My Christmas baby <3 

It's like she doesn't love me ... never timely posts


This was a pretty big year for Spencer. Regionals, Nationals, up to Masters in AAC Trials. Camping, Swimming in a Lake, Nieces and Nephews. Lots of firsts and lots of accomplishments. Slowly but surely we're overcoming challenges (and then finding new ones!)

Love my spazzy little black dog!




Friday, December 6, 2013

Mish Mash of Goals & Ramblings

Ugh. Winter.

Our least favorite time of the year. The cold, the dark, did I mention the cold?

Winter looks almost pretty here, but it's a lie ...

During the blizzard on Monday/Tuesday this week I had to put pee pads down in the garage because neither of the Chi’s could go out in the crazy wind and potty in the back yard. Poor little naked dogs.

Winter is terrible, she puts coats and boots on me!

Winter isn’t very inspirational for dog training, especially since I like to work on things that are “fun”  (ie lots of motion and excitement – like agility!) However, in the name of being a better dog trainer and having dogs that are a little more well-rounded, this winter is going to be a little different.

Instead of being sad that I really have no where to train in the house (and no where to train outside of the house because it is too freaking cold and snowy) I have re-vamped the carpeted living room that really wasn’t being used for much into an area to use for training. Some of our agility equipment will even fit!

The focus this winter tho, will be going back to the basics with all 3 dogs. Foundation fun! Actually working completely through some of online course material I haven’t and participating in the Puppy Peaks Challenges. It’ll be good practice to work on training the foundations BEFORE I look at getting another puppy – so I can do it right then, or at the very least, more right =P

Last weekend I worked a CGN test put on by Kim & the Flyball Team. I’ve never actually seen one before and being me, didn’t want to enter the dogs in one without having watched one first. Now I’m a little sad that I didn’t at least bring Baxter to see where we are on things – may not have passed, but it would give me a good idea of where he is at, especially with being handled/groomed by a stranger. Ahh well. Having now seen one (and how basic it really is) I would like to work towards getting it – which means I really have to fix loose leash walking (among other things!)

This week we hit the local Pet Planet and worked on loose leash walking/attention and being happy in new/scary places. 

Anyone who has only met Agility Baxter doesn’t realize how uncomfortable he is in some places (like Pet Stores.) Tail down, unresponsive and trying to pull me out the door – seriously.  The reasons why he is stressed don’t particularly matter here, but I had 100% improvement over that  in one session with a clicker. Some good walking and attention. Some good choices in when to pay attention. Oh, and happy boy. So happy, me and treats and a clicker, he’s a happy dog, and he tries. 

(Just a note of interest here- the clicker is integral to a happy Baxter, I’ve tried to counter condition using a verbal marker in the past and treating for the same things I did this time, but he still wants to leave and doesn’t care about the cookies, the clicker seems to override that worry and give him something else to think about ?)



Spencer tried too. He is more uncomfortable in strange spaces and will take more work than Baxter to overcome that. So we’ll work on new environments and trusting me. Different stage of the journey, same path eventually tho! Also need to work on loading value into the clicker - or discontinue it's use with Spencer - he is uncomfortable with it being in my hand.

This weekend also marks the start of Spencer’s “Specials” agility career. We’re in the 2x4 Trial at WetCreek and I’ve got both boys running in 6” Specials. 

If we don't freeze to death in the -30 degree cold it should be a good time.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Back on Track

I'm not sure who is more excited, the dogs or I. After almost a 4 month break from any formal agility we're shaking the rust off and getting back into the swing of things.

Monday night classes started up in the barn again 2 weeks ago and have been a absolute riot.

First class was awesome - I almost face planted when I tripped in the sand and then almost impaled myself on a jump standard messing up a front cross. I wish I had video to post of what a gong show it was!

After that near disaster I figured I should probably hit the training field one more time before the snow flew. Just to work the kinks back out of my handling so I can run and tell my dog what to do at the same time! So out to Wet Noses we went. The boys were SO excited to be playing. Baxter especially is super enthusiastic and happy to play after some of the relationship and enthusiasm building things we've done on break.

Second class went much better. The boys also didn't play fetch for a hour during the day before class so Baxter actually ran, did single stride weaves and was pretty darn quick. Spencer is doing awesome as well. Still some odd baby dog moments but I'm doing all that I can to build enthusiasm and confidence with him. Currently out of the 3 runs we get in class, Spencer gets 2 - first and last. I've been starting him at 6" and then jumping him at 10" for his second run. He seems happier at 6"? I might just drop him to Specials and be done with it. There really is no reason to jump him 10" especially with his knee.

We FINALLY actually attended a trial as well! As a warm up before we get back into full weekend trials we hit the Oct Wee Wed at WetCreek, running Master Standard and Team Relay.

Happy boys

Spencer was funny, but happy and confident running FEO at 6" Some more silliness on course where he didn't listen to handling and blind crossed me to take a off course a couple times. But I can work with that. I'd rather the confidence to take something of his own accord than for him to be worried that he's wrong.

Baxter tho, he was on fire! Such a happy boy! Standard was a nice, fast run, with single stride weaves 4.21 yps - WITH weaves. Fastest course/best yards per second yet!

Running goobers @ Summer Lake 

It was really nice to have people come up to me after and remark on how much faster he has gotten. Hopefully we can keep it up. He doesn't have the best structure for weaves with the longer back and short, stubby legs. But we've worked on speeding them up and making sure he has good core strength so that he hopefully doesn't hurt himself either.

Team relay was also really nice, although we didn't end up qualifying. Fun thing I haven't thought of before though - if the dogs have a huge height discrepancy  (like 26" and 6") you shouldn't end up with the dogs taking off course jumps (hopefully!)

Getting excited for the CAA November trial next weekend!

Laters!


Monday, October 21, 2013

Worth 1000 Words: V

So warm today, reminded me of summer ...

Loved, loved, loved camping with the dogs this summer! They loved it too.

While we were camping at Farragut State Park back at the end of July the boys were crazy active. I couldn't keep weight on Spencer and Baxter lost 2 lbs that I didn't think would ever come off! Penny was active, but didn't want to spend her entire day at the beach playing fetch.

Love having little dogs that like to swim. However, I don't feel very comfortable with them swimming in water with much of a current. The lake was perfect!

Tugggggg!




Shake


Not just hair.

Hot'n'happy!

Princess' prefer sun worship, rather than water!


Happiest little campers!




Monday, October 14, 2013

Giving Thanks

Today I am thankful for my furry little family. I wouldn't trade them for the world.



My journey and life would not be the same without them. Through thick and thin. Despite unexpected detours, dead ends and occasional 4x4ing off the beaten track of normalcy, they've absolutely been worth it and made it all worth it.

Despite their little quirks and oddities. Despite fears and ingrained temperament issues. Despite everything.

It's not about the destination, it's the journey that matters. I might not know where I am going, but it'll be interesting to find out when we get there!

Good dogs <3















Saturday, October 12, 2013

Generalization in Training

 aka what they learned isn't always what we taught (or thought we taught.) Look what I found! Or in this case, remembered. More things I was going to blog about and then completely forgot.

Oh weave poles. Where to begin?

Since weaves were very difficult for me to teach Baxter, they were actually the first obstacle that Spencer learned. I figured if he could learn that, he could learn anything and possibly actually play agility - he LOVED them, and the rest as they say is history.

By that time I had 2 sets of 6 weaves, 1 set of 3 2x2's and 1 set of just 6 weaves, making 12 poles altogether. They have the thin little bases (about a inch across?) not heavy duty weaves by any means. Heavy duty weaves are the ones you will sometimes see in trials, depending on how much money the club has sunk into their equipment. Most of the clubs around here (2x4, Training Troop and Calgary Agility Association) have heavy duty weaves. The bases are a couple (3?) inches wide and the metal is way thicker, so that when the big dogs go through the weaves they don't bend all over the place and rip the stakes out
of the ground.

After I started trialing with Spencer I noticed that he was often very worried about the weaves, to the point where they are a least favorite obstacle (teeter and chute rank right up there too.) Which I found odd, as he LOVES them at home, and in the different green spaces I go practice at.

Not quite this amount of drive for weaves at a trial ...

Sometimes at practice or in trials he would be fine and other times not so much. I couldn't narrow it down to figure out the issue. Is it his leg/knee causing the issue? The angle of entry? Onside, offside, indoor venue, outdoor venue? What?!

Then Regionals. We'd done a few lessons prior to them and I had some good suggestions that were working well on improving his weaves in practice. At Regionals he was fine - however, that was the first time I noticed a correlation in between the weave bases and his performance. All 3 rings at Regionals were running thin weaves.

Fast forward to Nationals, or specifically the warm up ring at Nationals. The weaves had thick bases. My baby dog acted like he'd never seen a set of poles before in his life. At the time I didn't realize that toys are okay in the warm up ring, so I had nothing with me to use as a reward. Tried a few obstacles, then the weaves. Nope. Not weaving on those to save his life. We spent the entire time in the ring trying obstacles - weaves - more obstacles - more weaves. Nope, nope, nope.

Weaves? What weaves? I've never seen these before
After the debacle in the warm up ring I also had Steeplechase, just to warm both dogs up to actually running at the venue. Spencer's ring had thin weave bases, so I thought we'd be alright even if the course was 2 x12 weaves. Nope! Since the last time I tried to get him to weave was on those weaves with the bases that were apparently going to kill him, he refused twice on the poles the first time through until he realized that they were thin bases and then all was well. 2nd time through the weaves, not even a moment of hesitation since he knew they were "safe."

So, on to making the weaves at home harder and the bases more noticeable so that the don't phase him in a trial - and then to take that show on the road!






Thursday, September 19, 2013

Fluff vs Squiggles


Sidney (aka Squiggles) is my parent's dog that they got to replace Baxter after I kidnapped him that fateful long weekend some years ago. She isn't the easiest little dog to get pictures of, but these didn't turn out half bad. There is more about Sid in Replacement Baxter. But really, you can't just replace Baxter, he is irreplaceable!

I don't mind Shih Tzu crosses, although I will probably not own one. My childhood dog growing up was a sweet Shih Tzu mix with a little smush face. He was cute when his fur was longer and he looked like a teddy bear - he was less cute when shaved bald like a rat with a fluffy tail. Calvin was a good little dog. Sid isn't quite my idea of cute, but she has a good heart and is a friendly little thing when she stops alarm barking at it.

In the end, I think my parents (or at least my Mother) is happier with this deal. Baxter sheds, Sid doesn't. Mom hates fur!


Full Frontal ... 


















Tongue shot!







Little faces



















I love my goofy Fluff!



Thursday, September 12, 2013

Bronze Award of Merit & Trial Review

Oh wow, so this is 2 months late but, better late than never, right?!

Baxter earned his first post ATChC title, the Bronze Award of Merit at the Nationals warm up trial on 20-July before we left for vacation and I didn't even realize it. He also finished his ExSt Bronze at the same time. I might not have even realized it now, except someone told me at Nationals!

In my defense though, I didn't realize that Challenge Q's can count towards Standard runs once you are into post-ATChC titles. I knew he only had a few more standards to go, but I thought we still needed 3 to finish both those titles. Hyper Hounds trials are good luck apparently.



 I guess it's good that we got something out of his 1 qualifying round out of the 6 we were entered in.

They were nice courses. There are some judges out there who just make some really nice courses, there is still a challenge, don't get me wrong, but some courses are just more fun than others. These were nice courses. Baxter ran well and should really have come away with 3/6, but he was called on a dog walk contact that I thought was alright and then he was over time on a jumpers course. Either way there were some nice moments in all of them, some good distance on gambles (just not on the main gamble of course) good weaves on the standards.

This is the second time that he has been over time on Jumpers and it concerns me a little. There were no obvious bobbles or sloppy, loopy lines/handling. Maybe I could have been faster, I'm not sure? Maybe it was just that he was a little tired coupled with how crazy hot it was. Maybe I'll have to make the move into vets sooner rather than later. Hopefully it was just too hot for him.

I had also entered Spencer in the 6 runs, which I should have known better. He doesn't have very good heat tolerance and I usually only run him in 3 a day at a regular trial. Why I thought 6 was a good idea is beyond me looking back it it. I also didn't fully realize how bad he is in the heat, so at least this showed me exactly how little heat tolerance he has when working (as opposed to chasing a ball in a field) before we went to Nationals. I ended up pulling Spencer from his last 2 Jumpers runs because he was not looking happy at all. I know I can probably drag my unwilling dog around the course, but I want him to run with enthusiasm and be happy out there!

So we pulled. But I learned a few things. That's what it's all about right? The journey. Slowly we're getting there, my baby dog and I. He's getting more confident as time goes on. Kind of reminds me of this article I recently saw posted on Facebook. No we're not perfect, but we're learning as we go.

We also had fun hanging out at the BBQ after the trial. Spencer got to play, or at the very least interact appropriately off leash with 6 Shelties. Baxter was okay with it until we went in the house and he was supposed to stay outside, and Penny didn't get lost (she's tiny, it's often a concern!)


Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Time Flies



Today was Training Troop's Aug Wee Wed Trial. Steeplechase and Master Jumpers. 2 years ago about this time Baxter and I entered our very first AAC agility trial (first dog performance event period) and got his first Q ever in Starters Jumpers.

It would have been nice to have gone to the trial, however, agility (trialing at least) is on a bit of a hiatus at the moment.

It's certainly amazing how time flies. It certainly doesn't feel like I've been playing this game for 2 years!

2 years of learning how play with my best little fluffy buddy in a meaningful way, to teach him, motivate him and to grow my relationship with my dog to where it is now. The changes  and personal growth in the 2 years have been pretty amazing.

I was looking back on old emails, and found the one for our first dog class. 15-Jul-2009 started us on this journey. It's been an amazing 4 years so far and I'm so lucky from a "pet dog" person perspective to have found positive training and gotten onto a better track.

I couldn't have asked for a better partner to learn with either. Thanks Fluff. <3












Friday, August 23, 2013

Children and Dogs

A phrase that strikes fear, or at least a healthy sense of caution, into the hearts of some dog owners - especially when they're not your children! Everyone seems to envision those wonderful heart warming moments; the child with their dog. Timmy with Lassie and so on. But often reality falls a little short of the TV portrayal.

Pretty as a picture: a dog and a kid

Small children are noisy. They behave in a incomprehensible and erratic manner and move very quickly. In short, they are just about every reactive dog's worst nightmare as a trigger. Most interactions with children are not positive for the dog either. Hair gets pulled, the dog gets squashed, gets woken up when sleeping, gets poked or scared or just bothered.

For the most part, segregating dogs from children works nicely - especially if you have dogs, but you don't have children. It eliminates the opportunity for the dog to practice and rehearse those unwanted behaviors with children or for the child to inadvertently do something to hurt/scare the dog. However, it also doesn't address any of the existing issues, such as reducing the dog's fear of children. My dogs aren't particularly children friendly and I'm fine with that. My house isn't children friendly either - it's dog friendly!


I do however have family, who have started their own families. Doing things with family means the dogs are exposed to little children (3 under the age of 3) who have their own dogs - and therein lies the problem. Auntie's dogs are not like their dogs, despite being small like their own dogs. (Auntie's dogs come with a whole LOT of special rules.) Christmas and special occasions are not much of a problem, just don't bring the dogs. The problem lies with things like camping. I want to go camping, I also want to bring my dogs camping. I go camping to spend time in nature with the dogs.

The dogs are not require to like strange children. If I am not engaged and interacting with the dog(s) when the kids are around, the dogs are kept safely away from the kids (this means I'm not watching TV "supervising" them.) I will not let them be put into a situation where they could bite. I do however expect them to behave in a appropriate manner with nieces and nephews, who in turn will behave appropriately with my dogs. To that end we've been working an array of behaviors, mostly with my 3 year old niece.

The standard counter conditioning - look at a kid at a distance, click and treat. Look at the kid from less distance - click and treat. Hang out while kid plays - click and treat. Kid does something noisy/scary - click and treat. Working with one dog at a time, or in a group. See? She's not that scary. Good things happen when she's around. 

More counter conditioning with the kid providing good things once the dogs are no longer reacting to or worried about her presence. Putting the dogs into a sit,  then get her to feed them treats or put dinner bowls on the floor and release them to eat. Oh look! Not only is she not that scary, sometimes she gives you good things! Yummy good things!

Conditioning Err, teaching the kid how to behave with dogs, or at least my dogs. Don't tease them or try to take their things away. Don't chase them. If he looks like that (eye's rolling, lip licking, freezing) you scared him and we should just stand still or be quiet and move away etc. Give them treats like this and so on.

Finally I've been building value IN the kid with the dogs. We'll play ball with them. Penny is still a work in progress, but Baxter and Spencer will play fetch with the devil if he's throwing that ball for them! This kid is great! She will throw that ball for hours. I love the kid, she throws my toy for me!

Might be the devil, but still will throw my toy!



All the dogs were very good with my oldest niece while we were camping in Farragut. (The other 2 aren't walking yet.)

Baxter was just brilliant with her though. He walked very nice with her when we went on walks. Calm, quiet. He walked beside her and didn't try to pull her around - and in turn she didn't yank him all over trying to make him listen. He played fetch with her at the beach. It was adorable, and appropriate!



At agility trials, one of the highlights for me is watching junior handlers with their dogs. It's just adorable. Everyone cheers the kids on and it is just heart warming. Like Timmy and Lassie, but better - because it's real!

I got into agility because I fell in love with the Superdogs when I was a kid. I wish my parents would have gotten me into agility when I was a kid. Watching Baxter with my niece was like watching the dogs play agility with their kids. It made me wonder if maybe one day one of the kids might want to play agility with one of my dogs.

For other excellent reads on dogs & kids try:

http://www.robinkbennett.com/2013/08/19/why-supervising-dogs-and-kids-doesnt-work/

http://www.dogsandbabieslearning.com/

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Agility Photos - From Nationals

Since I've gotten a Nikon DSLR for Christmas I'm slowly figuring out how to work it and get decent shots with it. Nationals with all the down time after the runs was a decent time to try it out - the downside is that I want a new lens more than ever before! Well that and an editing program.


Dash

Reo


Coolhand Luke



Kaluah

Valor

'Mess

Swagger



















I wish this had been in focus, because this would have been a really nice photo!