Training Troop - March St. Paddy's Day Trial

It has been a LONG, LONG time since I've done a Training Troop Trial. Over 2 years I think!

Last weekend the boys and I did their March Trial. So happy with the dogs. Less happy with my own mental game and connection with the dogs. As always, things to work on. But then, when aren't there?!?

Trialing is exhausting ...

Baxter ran full time, 8 runs for the 2 days. I completely forgot that I intended to drop him into Veterans starting this year, so he ran Specials. I'm also questioning dropping him and then questioning my questioning of it.

I just need to send the papers in and stop thinking too much. Really it isn't making that much of a difference, it'll just improve his Q rate. If it dropped him a jump height it would be a no brainer, but since it just buys us some extra time I'm not sure of how much of a point it is?

Spencer ran 7 out of 8 runs, so in everything but Challenge. Which almost doesn't make sense. He LIKES international stuff that involve a lot of handling, but sometimes the environment shuts him down, so I don't want to drag him around the course.

Baxter was running pretty good, but 2x 12 weaves put us overtime by a couple seconds on Sunday Steeplechase. He made a few funny little mistakes on runs. Took a couple front sides of jumps blatantly blind crossing me when handling clearly indicated backside/throwback threadle. So not sure with BC's and the Fluff, some proofing to do. I might have disconnected a bit? Assuming that my dog, who has this behavior cold would do it, so naturally he does not. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Next time!

We ended up Q'ing 3/8, which is about our usual ratio. Timed out in Snooker, Overtime in Steeplechase which would have both been Q's if we were Vets instead of Specials. He did get 2 mini's in Gamblers but the main was a teeter directly away from the handler not even parallel, so I was pretty sure that one wasn't going to happen (and it sure didn't.)

We did get 2x Standard though, which is exciting, since he just needs the Standard's for his Silver Merit now and we're getting closer! We also picked up another Jumpers. He loves his Jumpers =)

Baxter's EXJ Silver Title Ribbon from Dec

What I need though, is more "presence" on course. I tend to run quietly, but in practice I notice I talk more to the dogs. At the trail I don't think I did, and that might have been why Baxter did strange things. More energy. So I think I'm bringing a iPod next time and during walk throughs I need to tune everything out, concentrate on my dogs, their courses and what I am saying/cueing when. Memorize, visualize and then execute. Because we've TRAINED this. We KNOW this. We CAN SO DO this!

I was so super proud of my baby Black Dog! He was so BRAVE. All weekend. Moments of worry. More moments of irritating residual reactive behaviors from the issues with the prospective new dog that didn't work out. But SO MUCH brave. Enough so that I had a dog to run for all 4 runs on Sunday.

We had teeters! We had a DW breakthough!! Where he was worried it was the teeter one run and paused on the up ramp and the next he JUST DID IT. Even though we had done the teeter first. I was slowing down to support him on it and he just blew past me and nailed his contact. SUCH a brave little black dog! We had so much awesome!!

I did this trail with him waiting/hiding in his kennel at the start line until the last second before we went into the ring. We played crate game, nose touching, even got some barking at me before the run (while hiding in his crate, but still!) He needs to feel safe to be happy and with all the environmental sensitivities and crowding at the gate he just doesn't. The crate helps so much! So we'll see.

Spencer Q'd in everything that Baxter did, picking up 2 Standard and a Jumpers to finish his Expert Bronze Jumpers title.

EXJ Bronze

I lost him on a jumpers course on the easy part, where of course he did the part Baxter did wrong flawlessly. If it's not a straight away, Spencer can't drive a line at a trial because I am not handling "enough" in his mind.

Pinwheels are his worst enemy (Baxter's too now that I think about it.) Spencer worries that he is wrong and will pull off a jump somewhere, or just creep around the pinwheel at a walk. Now that I think about it, this bit us in the butt big time at Nationals in 2013 when it knocked us out of the ribbons due to some silly refusals on a pinwheel in Standard 2.

So. We're working this pattern at home and when I can at classes, but I'm also adjusting my handling for the little black dog. He needs more "me," I can do that! Not the most orthodox handling, and not necessarily what I would suggest for another team, but Spencer is special and sometimes you need special handling for that!

Spring has Sprung

The grass has ris, and the dogs are covered in muck!

Ahh yes, spring, the season of REALLY dirty dogs. (Not particularly dirty in these pictures, but poor Baxter is just covered in burrs.)

Officially "spring" is still a few weeks away, but the longer days and the warmer temperatures make it seem like it's here now. 11°C?! Awesome, don't mind if I do! It's especially nice that it's still light out after I get home from work and can go do something with the dogs who are bouncing off the walls.

In the winter, we're all of the same opinion. Dark is time to sleep. Now that the days are longer the dogs are bonkers. Very cute, but crazy!

So much crazy!

This spring is going much better than it was last year. The dogs and I are so much happier. We've kept up on Agility practice through the winter. I LOVE working handling drills with them and I'm super happy with the barn rental group that I practice with.

We've got our first trial of the year coming up in a couple weeks. The March St. Pawddy's Day Trial put on by Training Troop. Super excited to see how the boys do!

I've also started teaching foundation agility classes with 2 Paws Up a local positive reinforcement school. It is so much fun! Love all the puppies and the young teams just starting to learn the game. So many talented teams! I want to steal the puppies as well, or have my own to start training. It seems to be the season of Puppy Fever, not Spring Fever.

Tiny, but sadly not a puppy. OMG, puppies!!

I do need another sport dog prospect, Baxter is already 7 and Spencer just turned 4. With the assortment of issues I have between those 2 I am really ready for a competitive agility prospect puppy! After the failed attempt at a "puppy" this fall who had with behavioral issues and caused a lot of headache and heartache with Spencer and in general, I'm set on a baby puppy that comes without ingrained bad habits.

Still a crazy, even at 7. 

Extra crazy, bad little black dog!

So. We shall see. By the end of this year hopefully!

Top Spot Agility Fundraiser

What to say when there isn't much you want to actually put out there for the world to read?

Contrary to what the blog looks like, we've actually been doing things the past few months. It hasn't even been so crazy that I couldn't blog.

But I'll leave that for the next post.

This weekend was the first trial for a new agility group in our area as well as a fundraiser for one of our local competitors going to the WAO.

I was totally excited to enter this trial since both dogs were in a position to get new title ribbons from a new club if the stars had aligned for us.

It was a great weekend (Sunday?) for us, and an awesome way to end the holiday week. Both boys did wonderful. I think it has really helped that we've been working some drills and skills at an arena rental on the weekend as well as our usual running the course and working the rough stuff in class.

Spencer has lots of moments of brilliance and gave me some enthusiasm after nearly shutting down several times, so progress. He did have a moment in his almost clean and lovely standard run where the dog walk was too scary, but I'm attributing that to teeter issues.

We didn't get a refusal on the jump wrapping back to the A-Frame and the K-Turn over the wing into the weaves wasn't terrible (it's better in training than in competition) AND I still had a dog left after we conquered the scary DW. I'm also proud of how I handled him missing that last jump (not caring.) We're going for confidence and enthusiasm! I do need to stop flapping my hand to "throw" him over the jumps though. Out and forward, no flapping!

He managed 4 runs, 2 standard and 2 jumpers. In his first jumpers I didn't have a lot of enthusiastic Spencer to work with, and we were a little over time. However he pulled it back together for the last jumpers run of the day and not only ran with some enthusiasm, he also qualified!

Baxter was a furry little rock star this weekend going 3/4 and placing first in his runs. He jumped a DW contact in his second standard, reminding me that if I'm going to get his contacts by managing them (since he just is not understanding when he is wrong during retraining) I'd better actually MANAGE them, not just flake out!

Baxter managed one more title in 2014, finishing his Expert Jumpers Silver (25 Master Jumpers Q's) this trial. Sadly, we didn't get a title ribbon from a new club yet, Fionavar K9 sponsored the ribbons for this trial, but it was still awesome! Love my little Fluff! Love both of my agility boys really, they're very different dogs but good little dogs!

 It's amazing how together we can look when I actually practice handling drills with my dogs!

All about that "Baby" Black Dog! Spencer earns his ATChC!!

After all the work with fear issues, then training and trialing and more fear and confidence issues, Spencer earned his ATChC (Agility Trial Champion of Canada) and MGDC (Master Gambler Dog of Canada) titles at the November Calgary Agility Association Trial under Judge Darcy Bennett on 9-Nov. Such a good little black dog!

I had decided this year to focus on getting some "life things" sorted out and dealt with, so trialing was to take a back seat this year, priority wise. Then I decided that I'd enter the outdoor Flashing Canines trial in September just to give it one last shot at finishing up some of the boys' titles this year and then give it a rest for the remainder of this year.

Spencer could have finished his ATChC that weekend if he Q'd his Gamblers and Snooker runs, but some bone-head handler messed up his Gamble and shot that down. It would have let us finish his ATChC at the trial and with the club he first started trialing with in Sept 2012, but that was not to be.

I wasn't sure I wanted to enter this trial. I hummed and hawwed and waited until about a week before the closing date to actually bite the bullet and send in the entry form. The huge deciding factor was that there were 2 gambles, one Sat and one Sun. But because I waited so long, we were wait listed with probably 15 dogs ahead of us which was okay with me, since I figured I would just leave it to fate if we got in.

A week before the trail, I get an email, did I want to play still? Holy cow, they got through the wait list! I guess fate said yes!

On Saturday the dogs and I were having a rough day, just a little out of sync and not connected. Out of my 6 runs (2 dogs, 3 events each) we didn't manage to qualify in anything. Baxter forgot how to weave, Spencer took random backsides, I lost all sense of timing on course. It was a gong show, a happy one, but a gong show none the less! The gamble on Saturday was geared to wider turning, larger striding  dogs, my guys didn't even see the distance obstacle. Strike 1.

On Sunday, I manged to pull it together a bit, just in time to panic about being able to get enough points in the Gamble run to qualify. The mini wasn't bad, but arguing with a confused dog to take the mini is demotivating, so unless it's something pretty easy I don't often try them. I try to get my 28 points in 11 or 12 obstacles, well, that wasn't happening this time. I'd need to finish 15 obstacles on my planned path for those points - or try to get that mini and maybe shut my dog down for the final gamble.

I opted to run it. The yardage wasn't bad, I figured I'd be in a good spot when the buzzer went and this gamble was geared to smaller striding dogs (although it did have a mostly independent AFrame in it.)

Baxter was up first and Spencer was the 3rd dog in the event. I thought about switching their order, but decided against it. Baxter did well and got his only Q of the entire weekend. The buzzer didn't go when I thought it would, we did 3 more obstacles after it so hopefully Spencer would be good time wise. Spencer also will send out to a tunnel better than Baxter has in the past, so the gamble is totally do-able. But man, running the second dog when on the adrenaline high for the first one is rough!

Spencer rocked it even after some silly (unclear) handling on my part right before the buzzer went.

Thrilled with my little guy. Who would have thought that the 8 week old puddle of terrified trying to melt into the floor would be able to get a championship performance title?

Sunday was all about Spencer. With his new (and lucky!) neon green agility leash from our friend Christina at Silvarado Dog Gear. He qualified in all 3 of his Sunday runs as well!

Love my bad little black dog!

Out Takes - Pictures are hard stuff, and so is posing with the pole!

"I'm surprised they aren't fat"

It's a shame that dog "training" shows on TV send the same, erroneous message. Or at least they did - I'm not sure if they still do, I've stopped watching them.

Using treats as a reward to train a dog does not automatically make the dog fat. Humans are supposed to have the higher functioning brain, use it! If you're using treats to teach your dog and your dog is gaining weight there are many options when it first starts happening.

1) Exercise your dog(s) more. A 10 min walk a day really isn't enough exercise for your hamster, let alone your rescue Shep X. No. I'm serious. Do you know how many miles hamsters put on those wheels at night?!

1b) Putting the dog outside in the yard is not considered exercise. You need to be out there with them DOING something. Just think you and the dog are both more active, it`s like killing 2 birds with 1 stone!

2) Cut down on the food to compensate for feeding more treats. Remember to give more than a passing nod to nutrition though - treats are just that, you want to balance the "junk" with more nutritionally complete foods - or feed better treats.

2b) The recommended amount to feed as stated on the bag of dog food is just that. Some dogs burn more calories than others. If your dog is getting fat on the amount you feed it - regardless what the bag says, modify (<- that means reduce!) the amount you feed. A border collie and a basset hound might weigh roughly the same, but you can bet that the border collie working sheep all day is going to burn more calories than the basset holding down the kitchen mat for 8 hours while you're at work.

3) Train with their meal. No where is it set out that you need to feed your dog it's dinner from a bowl! Make them work for it!

Not fat, and working for it!

After you can't find your dogs ribs anymore even when digging around in that layer of fat so that Fluffy is eyeing you with annoyance and is seriously contemplating snapping your finger off is not a good time to start addressing weight gain.

I'm assuming most of us pet our dogs on a regular basis - you know, like every 10 min or so. Okay, maybe your dogs are less insistent about attention than mine are.

But there is always that nice cuddle on the couch before bed ... or the Thank doG I lasted the day at work, I'm so happy to be home to see you pet and play session. When you're petting your dog, check them out. No strange lumps and bumps? No mats in that pesky ear fur or eye goobies that need wiping?

Can you still find their ribs? Little more padding over their ribs, having to dig a little to find a bone is a good indicator to cut back on the food now rather than in 6 months when you visit the vet for your annual wellness check and get to have that awkward conversation with the vet about Fluffy's weight. No one likes to be told their dog is fat - but that isn't all just fur all the time!

If your dog doesn't have a waist and looks like a rectangle on little sticks, you've got a problem.

Good pet weight!

You really don't even need to weigh them. Seriously. Just pet them, more ribs = maybe up the food intake, or it's a sign you're reaching your target weight. Fewer ribs = reduce the food. I'm honestly not sure what my dogs weigh, but I can feel their ribs easily!

I was working one of my dogs, for about 5 minutes at a family function this weekend. Just simple stuff. Send to mat despite distractions and then speedy recalls. A family member was obliging enough to provide the post title. This wasn't even Baxter who someone could think might be chubby because of his coat and build. This was Spencer, who you'd be able to count some ribs on if his coloring didn't hide them!

Very not fat!

Speedy, and not fat!

Treats don't make dogs fat - their owners do. Do your best friend a favor and make sure you aren't. Reality TV really isn't - you should know that from shows about people, apply that logic to animal/dog shows too! Instead of watching those shows on TV go take your dog for a walk or maybe attend an actual dog training class with a positive reinforcement dog trainer who helps you learn and implement humane dog training theories grounded in science!

Josaphine Falls & Lilly Lake

Down river

Josaphine Falls

From our hike to Josaphine Falls and then Lilly Lake near Elkford BC. A gentleman ended up at the trail head the same time we did, he had been down to the information center first and they warned of bear activity in the area. He wasn't going to hike because of it. As we were a large group (5 adults and 4 dogs) we did the hike anyway. Didn't see any bears, but we were a little worried walking through all the berry patches!

The dogs were a little sad that they had to stay on leash for this hike, but I wasn't chancing them taking off after a bear, or dragging one back to the group.

 Lilly Lake

 Elkford lookout point

Fireweed. We did this hike late Aug/early Sept - I want to do it earlier next year when this is really in bloom. It's amazing. Apparently Fireweed only grows where there has been a fire. Sure makes the clear cut areas look WAY better.

Lilly Lake

Mooch

From the blooper reel. Poor Penny, just not the most photogenic dog. It's usually her that is an issue in my group photos. From eyes shut, to looking in the wrong place, to odd placement of the dogs. Ahh Peeper!

Hey. You! Over here dog.

I didn't quite mean sit like that ...

What we've been up to?

This has been the year of changes and challenges, with dog training and agility moving to the back burner a bit (but we have worked on some things like beginning Nosework.) Moving forward with life instead of just treading water and running in that proverbial hamster wheel.

Camping for a week down at Farragut State Park in Idaho for the usual summer vacation. Hit some hikes and explored some stuff we never have before this year. Saw the Roosavelt Forest of Ancient Cedars - just gorgeous!

Spending time camping, and hitting the "cabin" (my parents 40ft 5th wheel on a leased lot out in the Crows Nest Pass.) Hiking and other fun things with the dogs. Taking a break from training etc.

Conditioning, conditioning, conditioning! Happy, fit, and tired dogs. Off leash runs out in by the canal and swimming in the lake several times a week.

Hit some tourist traps, and common hikes out in the Pass. Miners Path in Coleman. Josephine Falls & Lilly/Lost Lakes out in Elkford. Chinook Lake just outside Coleman. It's been fun!

We did a summer indoor trial out in Millarville and poor Spencer shut down. Completely. At the end of day one, when he was entered on Sunday too. He's been running so well, and doing so well with Trial Applications class that it really threw me how badly clapping would affect him. So back to the drawing board a little on that one.

Revisited some old hobbies. Picked up some new ones, like a better camera lens and photo editing programs - now to get better with both of them!