Tibby or not Tibby?!

That was the question. However, the CKC agrees with Tibby and I've finally gotten Baxter's PEN!

C'mon easy agility! Erm, did I say that out loud?! Excellent may not actually be easier, but at least to get there is quicker than moving up to Masters in AAC. Fewer skills to master as well. No distance skills (Gamblers) or crazy handling (Snooker) needed. Just Standard and Jumpers with Weaves.

Last night at Wet Creek was not so easy agility. I struggled with all sends in Gamblers. Obviously I'm doing something he doesn't understand in a trial. Or maybe he was just hyped and thrown off by the venue. We've also gotten to point where Baxter's 12(ish) obstacles in the opening is going to be really close for qualifying points in masters and I need to work on being able to send to mini's, which he also struggled with. When working on our distance skills I'm also going to work on obstacle value.

On the positive side though, his weaves in gamblers and in relay were good, and quicker! Not quite single striding but not plodding through the poles either. I'll absolutely take that over a Q!

He was doing very nice in Snooker too, until my brain melted and I didn't think on the fly. I didn't try to pull him off a wrong obstacle with motion (ie serp arm) as well as a verbal. He might have pulled off of the wrong tunnel if I had thought to stop forward motion and pull him away from that entrance with a serp. I'll have to try to set that up again out in practice sometime. I find I'm also a little hesitant and look sort of lost in videos, which doesn't help him be confident of what I'm telling him to do.

I also discovered I use Baxter's nick name more than I thought.

I was talking to some people at the trial who were in town from Vancouver. One of them was a younger girl and she introduced her Sheltie, Bonny and then said "And this is Snickers, right?" Close and a cute name, but not quite! The thing is, I seem to be calling Baxter "Snackers" a lot.

In my defense, he came to live with me with that nick name, thanks to the rest my family and his fondness for food. It also starts with a S ... so when I screw up on course and call the wrong dog name Snack and Spence aren't terribly dissimilar, right?!? Maybe they don't notice! (yeah right!)

My boys! <3

The Grass is Greener ...

Like the title says, Grass isn't always greener on the other side; it's greener where you water it. (thank you Justin Bieber)

But seriously. Things just don't fix themselves. If you want what someone else has, you've got to work at it! And isn't the journey just as important as your destination?!

Working at it, we have been. I recently discovered drop in outdoor training at Wet Noses. It's fairly close and convenient to get to with nice equipment, 2 agility rings and a great online reservation system. It is CKC heights (4, 8, 12") not AAC (6, 10, 16") so the dogs are jumping some funny heights and equipment is a little different but it's close enough. We've been heading out a couple times a week to play.

Spencer's running contacts are a work in progress, but at least he isn't afraid of the equipment. Teeter games are also progressing. So far I have just been using toys with him, but I think next time out I'm going to start using food in tossable containers  to see if that changes his focus and enthusiasm at all. Right now he's still a little spooky with it being a strange place. He will offer play, but it isn't with the same insane enthusiasm as he displays at home so transferring value to agility is not a quick process.

Baxter's weaves are getting better and faster. Hopefully this will carry over into trials. We work on various gambles as well. His running contacts are solid, I just hope to speed up the performance a little.

Yay weaves! (picture by Jay Collins from spring Fionavar K9 trial in Olds)

Penny is surprising the heck out of me. She's doing really well playing on the agility courses! Working on manners during walks has had some positive carry over in other areas. Being rewarded for giving me attention and not sniffing the ground for food or alarm barking is finally paying off. It's quite cute to see. She'll even play ball in the backyard with her tiny little hollee roller ball - the only ball I've found that is small enough to fit in her mouth.

We went to the Go Dog Go games trial last weekend. I'm a little sad that I couldn't do the camp, but the trial was fun. Baxter ran well despite the heat. We got another Jumpers Q, last run of the day, so that was lovely! I managed not to get lost on course and handle like I walked it, so I was happy with that.

Starting over with a puppy might give you a different starting point and make things "easier" in the beginning, but in the long run you will likely end up right back where you are if you don't change what you're doing to cause the issues.

I'll just keep thinking of that as I read Hyper Hounds updates on Spryte's first litter of puppies! I might be a little jealous of how good of a start those puppies are getting, but now was really not the time for a puppy. Everything that Kim plans to do with those puppies to give them a great start as stellar little dogs may cement Shelties as the next breed I get - specifically one of her puppies. It would be nice to start a puppy without a socialization/confidence deficit for once!

Silhouette Girl

High Five

Strech!

 When I saw these silhouettes of my girl the corny commercials for the yogurt that helps you loose weight, specifically the silhouette brand, just sprang to mind. Penny could absolutely be a model for how the silhouette of a chihuahua should look. They are actually supposed to have a waist! Not look like an overstuffed sausage on legs. When she was in to be spayed, the vet gave her a nasty body condition score of 1 - emphasizing that she was REALLY thin, which she is not.

She carries her extra weight on her shoulders/chest like a Boston will and starts to chunk up there before her ribs ever get any more fat cover. Lean is not skinny/starving/underfed. You can't see hip bones or ribs through her coat, you can just feel them - as opposed to not being able to find them under the fat.

Wiggles

Dog-gone Long Weekend

Am I ever late in posting this, but better late than never! Without further adue ...

If I would have planned it right, I would have sent the paperwork in for Baxter's CKC PEN a long time ago and entered the AKC (Alberta Kennel Club) show that was at Spruce Meadows this weekend. As it was, I still went and visited/watched but the dogs weren't entered in anything. I wish I would have been though. Nothing like watching agility to make you want to do it more - or to comment in your head how your dog could absolutely do that course! Plus it was a gorgeous venue.

CKC agility starts off a lot easier than AAC agility not having weave poles in novice standard. It makes me a little jealous. Jump heights are a little different though, so Baxter is likely going to have to be jumping 8" instead of the 6" he jumps in AAC. It was interesting seeing some of the people who are regular fixtures at AAC trials in a different environment as well as all the different people and breeds.

Saturday evening I took Spencer out solo for some urban training on the boardwalk by the lake. He did fantastic. Even when a small dog was growling and barking at him from about 10 ft away as its people dragged it along he just sat beside me and alternated eye contact/watching the dog. We also practiced some impulse control games that we do with yellow ball on the off leash portion of the path.

The part I was happiest about though was when a crowd of people walked by. I had put Spencer into a sit off to the side of the path through the off leash area because sometimes he is weird with strangers, especially if the strangers aren't dog people. He had his leash on and I was standing on the end of it just in case he reacted badly. But he didn't move, just glanced at them and then back to me. The people commented on how well my little guy was trained. Woo hoo! I'm not just imagining progress!

To top it off, since it was late and the boat launch was deserted, I took him over to see if he would swim. I didn't have to encourage him at all, just waded out with his ball and he was right there paddling away. You could have knocked me over with a feather - and not just because of the super slippery algae covered cement ramp I was standing on! Good dog!! Out of my immediate family's 8 small dogs, I have the only 2 that will swim without being put in the water.

As I commented to one of the vendors at the AKC show, I have chihuahua's but they're not the Paris-Hilton type dress-me-up-and-put-me-in-a-handbag-landsharks. They're real dogs, just shrunk!

With that in mind, Penny came out to agility practice at Wet Noses on Monday. Sometimes I feel a little guilty that I spend a lot of time and effort training the boys while she gets less attention. I make a effort to do one on one things with her and have little Penny-adventures, but she doesn't play like they do or come to agility things like they do. For having never seen full size contact equipment or a 12 foot chute - she did really well. She was sniffy, which is her norm, but she actually ran with me and had a good time getting cookies.

All in all it was a dog-tastic dog-gone long weekend! Way too hot, but still a lovely 3 days off.