Brave

Brave, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

I took Boone to the outside training field last night for the first time this year. And he was great! He was very excited to get there, and was happy to do some tricks and follow me around. He was a little nervous at some of the louder traffic but he didn't run away once.

Sarah helped me and we did some recalls, and she ran around with him a bit. He was more than happy to work for his supper out there. Although it doesn't sound that exciting it is a pretty big step for him.

Every summer we train out there, and every summer he starts with lots of meltdowns, and gradually builds up tolerance. By the end of the summer he is pretty good.

I don't think he will ever be oblivious to the traffic and train noises- but after last night I am optimistic that we will have a lot of success training this summer.

I am always careful not to put neurosis on my dog, and try to be optimistic about how he is going to do in situations like this. I figured he would be okay (it was SUPPER! afterall) but he was even able to do a little work- and he didn't drag me back to the car after. That is great progress.

Progress in the form of Bravery is a great thing!

Dude! 18/52

Dude! 18/52, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

This is my photo for last weeks 52 weeks FLICKR challenge. There was an actual "challenge" last week which was fun...and challenging! It was just "Pop Culture." I had a few ideas, but this one turned out the best!

---------------
Boone has always reminded me a bit of a stoner. He is kinda forgetful, always hungry, and generally happy...or paranoid. :) AND he always has this kinda stoned look on his face. The tongue and the hair totally make the shot...

This was taken with a wide angle lens, and the only processing was a higher saturation.

oh, and no gel was needed - he was having a natural bad hair day....

Uploaded by manymuddypaws on 9 May 10, 2.27PM MDT.

A Hitch in his step...

Boone has always had a hitch in his back leg. Not always noticeable and he doesn't do it all the time but it happened often enough when I got him to talk to the vet about it. He had looste patellas, but nothing major.

A few months ago (Feb) he started refusing the aframe and acting weird at agility. And then Sarah noticed on a rally video that he seemed to be hitching more, and then I started noticing more hitching too.

I am not sure what happened or if the pronounced hitching was a gradual change. Regardless I've been giving him lots of crate rest and restricted exercise for about three weeks now.

This past week I have seen very little hitching and he is able to do the alternate leg lift without falling over. :)

I am going to start rebuilding muscles and increase his exercise gradually and see if the hitching comes back.

There are lots of rear end exercises I can do with him, combined with supplements I think he will be back on track in no time.

He is currently on Arnica twice a day and a higher dose of Recovery. Also he gets Salmon Oil once a day.

I am going to make an apt with the vet just for a check up. If the hitching comes back with increased exercise I will ask for a refferral to western vet (where I take wicca)

But I am hopeful that the rest has allowed whatever it was to heal. I do know that if it is a patella issue that it is unlikely that plain rest will fix it, but I am hoping that it was a strain or pulled muscle. We will see!

52 weeks and Thanks

Flirt 14/52, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

This is my submission for this weeks Flickr project. I chose it because that's pretty much how he's been most of the week. :o)

On that note, I want to thank everyone for their suggestions about his behavior. I am going to get a blood panel done and at the very least it will let me know if it is a physical issue, or a pyr shep issue.

Pyr Sheps are not your average dog. I have met a fair amount of them and of course talk to people online about them. They are full of quirks and often have set backs.

I am pretty sure that that is what has happened. Maybe the "excitement" with Luna pushed him over, or maybe my neighbors have been banging at the door or floor. Who knows.

I have started all of the things on my list, so will take a look in a week and see if we've made any progress.

Thanks again for everyones input.

Acting Out

Boone has been naughty these past few weeks, and not just a little naughty, but a lot naughty. I don't know what the cause is, but I do have some suspicions. He has been getting progressively weirder over the last few weeks and doing things that he hasn't done in a LONG time... First, let me tell you what he's doing.

He is barking. A Lot. When I am not home especially. I got a complaint again this morning from my neighbor. I am annoyed. I've been leaving him and Wicca loose during the day which eliminated the barking/spinning in the crate. They get a stuffed kong when I leave and I hide random treats/kibble around the house. My neighbor said that it sounded like one of the dogs was screaming. Which was probably Boone if Wicca was trying to steal his kong. Sigh.

So my wonderful father went to get them to bring them to me at work. Instead of just running out the door when my dad called them Boone ran back to his crate. Now, my dad is not a dog person, and didn't always get along with Boone (when i first got Boone he bit him) but they haven't had a problem at all since then....until this morning. This is not the first time my dad has gone to get them from my house and brought them to me so I am not sure what the issue was but Boone almost bit him. My dad is pissed and doesn't want anything to do with him now. Boone arrived at work a quivering mass of nervousness. From what my dad said Boone ran into the crate and wouldn't come out even for a cookie so my dad turned to walk away and Boone rushed out to bite him on the leg. I am sure my dad yelled and/or kicked out at him hence the nervousness when he got here...

I am annoyed that Boone was barking in the first place. It should be mentioned that he wears a citronella collar for that reason. Apparently he doesn't care much anymore about it. One option is to try an electric collar although I have a feeling that he will freak out and either a)bark louder b)melt into a pile of nervous pyr shep. So yeah. Not really an option. Must figure out what to do about the barking.

I am annoyed that Boone and my dad are again at odds now. My dad won't easily forgive Boone which will make things difficult. And I am not sure why Boone is reacting that way to him. When I am around he loves my dad and often will sit near him and jump up for petting.

He has also taken to spinning in his crate again- even when I put him in there to eat, or whatever. And he is spooking again at loud noises. We walk one of three routes every day and he acts like he's never been those particular ways before. Startling at traffic, gawking around, and acting nervous.

He is frustrating me, and that is part of the problem. He is very sensitive to moods and body language. So when I am annoyed at him he acts even weirder. We both need to chill out apparently!

My plan is to

a) take him new and old places again. one new place or route a day.
b) collar game review with me, and with "friends". I think that is part of the reason he snarked at my dad was he probably tried to grab him (although he is not admitting it)
c) bring him to work every day. frequent rewards for quiet and calm behavior in the crate.
d) more obedience work. I've been slacking on the obedience department with all of the dogs, not just him
e) more exercise...I already walk them on leash every day, but can't always get out for an off leash run. Will have to find a way to increase his exercise.
f) find a new place to live............
g) new food puzzle toy for crate only. he loves food and will work at a kong forever. keeping him busy in the crate is half the battle.

Hopefully these things in part or in whole will help. I am open to other suggestions though!

Oh, and i should remind you all that he is one of the most normal Pyr Sheps around. The Pyr Shep people think there is nothing wrong with him...I can't expect him to be "normal" but I do expect him to listen, and to be able to handle real life...

no title can explain......

It is only Wednesday and I am exhausted. I've worked exrta long hours at work for three days now. And teach in the evenings- often for 3 or more hours...Today will be my fourth day of this...

Not that being tired is an excuse....but obviously I am not thinking straight.

I still have Luna (the rescue corgi) although she is going to her new home soon!!! She is in season right now which has been interesting. She had just come into season when we got her so we had to postpone her spay..anyway, I don't remember Vito ever being this obsessed before...he is in love with Luna and I've had to keep them very seperated or strictly supervised. He drives me crazy with the panting and the pacing and the mounting attempts...

And right now Luna is super trampy and shoves her butt at any of the dogs (and even the cat). Boone hasn't seemed to noticed her at all...that is until last night...

I got home and because the dogs had been crated so much had everyone out together. Vito was driving me nuts so when I went on the computer I crated him. A short while later I hear yelping...I go into the living room and there is Boone and Luna tied...(Seriously I am not really a bad dog owner...) Yeah. Boone is freakin out trying to get away so I grab him and her and hold them still until he's done. he's still screaming by the way... Thank god it was only a few minutes. I think Boone really freaked himself out so it was short. I feel like such an ass. I knew that a neutered dog would still try and breed but I didn't give Boone a second thought. He is so not a "boy" kind of dog. I've learned my lesson however so Luna is banned to a crate unless the boys are away or on a leash. Thankfully there is only a few more days left...

At least no one (Boone) wasn't hurt....Now at least I can laugh about it but still I feel like a tool.

Oh, and this morning after my shower I came out of the bathroom to see Pixel humping Luna....

Geez. my week has been getting better and better.

Promise not to laugh...

training pixel (and boone)

I took Pixel to training last night and didn't get greedy! Yay for me.

We did two sets of ten reps of half way up the frame. Two times she went into a 2on2off- I think it was my position that cued her to do that so we started again and I made sure to to try that position again. She was really driving off the frame last night so I think next time I will build up to the top of the frame.

She also did the full teeter a few times- out of a tunnel. She is very confident on it and runs to the end to wait for her cookie. All the surfing and bang it games totally paid off and she has no issue with the movement or the noise.

Boone also got to come and we worked on his teeter, weaves, and some handling. He was smokin' last night and had great weaves. I only did a small amount with him because of his busy weekend, and we have a trial this coming weekend too. I mostly wanted to get him on the frame because he had some weirdness at the seminar. Last night it was no problem though- so that's a relief!

Frosty

Remember a few weeks ago when I was trying decide who to choose for my 52 Weeks photo project? In the end I chose Boone even though I knew that he would be a challenge.

I took him (and the others) for a walk around a quiet park this afternoon- in hopes that he'd relax enough to get a nice photo of him and the amazing frost we have right now...

Well, I got some pictures of the frost...and a scared Boone. Neither of these pictures were posed, I was trying to get him to play fetch, or interact with the other dogs...or something. But no. He said he'd rather stand like a statue until the torture is over.




It's strange because we've walked around this lake a lot, and he's always pretty happy. But the moment I stop and ask him to engage with me he isn't able to. I have a lot of work ahead of me this year...

Outreach Day 2

Day two of outreach was just as good as the first. The main focus was on Contacts and Weaves. I did the whole first part of the day with Boone as he needs most of the help with Contacts.

We started off timing all the contacts, and the weaves...then added challenges and compared the time. This was to see what was the weakest handler position for the dog. Boone is a "stand by me" kinda dog- I already knew that before the seminar. :o)

I worked Wicca in the weave portion and she had a really hard time with entries...some of it is my timing of course, but most of the entries she missed were straight ahead, on side entries. I don't think at this point much is going to change this- although I will shape those entries more at a trial...

On the handling front I had an AH HA! moment regarding commitment point...it changes. Duh. If Wicca is moving fast it is going to be farther from the obstacle than when she is unsure or slower than normal...drawing the imaginary line in the dirt really helped me with my timing on some lead out pivots...

Overall it was a pretty good weekend- there was a lot of really good review, (you can never hear the word consistency too often!) and my dogs had fun. Boone had a bit of a melt down and let me know when he was done (poor guy actually pee'd on the dogwalk in a 2on2off position...talk about stage fright!) but I was proud that he did as much as he did! Wicca was good, and I just really need to work on my timing, and my memory...the weave sequence just about killed me...

It was very nice to not feel completely overwhelmed after outreach- that must mean I am getting it finally right?

Outreach day 1

I am typing this on my blackberry, so I apolagise for any spelling errors. It likely has more to do with the itty bitty buttons than my ability to spell.

Anyway, day one of outreach is over and I am tired- but again came away with some great reminders.

Interestingly enough I never even considered bringing Boone to the seminar until Sarah asked me about it. Turns out today was perfect for him! He did very well, and I got some pretty good ideas for him.

We started with a challenge course from a recent trial. It was very tricky and beyond Boones skills, but we did pretty well. He had a hard time weaving- I think it is the bases on the crappy poles...

After that we talked about handling and what we expect from our dogs. We talked about specifics like the differences between motion, physical, positional and verbal cues. It was a great discussion and really helped some of the new people understand more.

The next exercise was focused on decel and basic handling...this was a perfect exercise for boone as he doesn't always pick up on my decel. He did pretty well although had a hard time with really tight rear crosses.

My favorite part of the day was the last two exercises- we did some double box work focusing on positional cues. Boone had had enough and was pretty flaky. I didn't get through all the exercises with him. I brought him back after a break with a higher value reward and worked through it- but I could definitly feel my frustration rising and his focus dissapear.

The very last exercise I brought Wicca out for- she was a little wild and smashed almost every bar the first time...the second time she was better and so was I. Kim pointed out some valuable tips about rear crosses, and we ended with some pretty good success. It had a pretty simple layout but lots of handling choices. It was fun.

It felt like a really long afternoon and the dogs and I are pretty tired. I think we will sleep good tonite!

I wasn't going to blog tonite but am not tired enough to sleep and thought I might aswell get it out while its fresh in my mind!

Boone AADC

Boone's Advanced Q from the weekend. I was thrilled with his weaves, and his focus!

Thanks to Sarah for the video!

Boone 1/52

-20 on the Prairies 1/52, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

I ended up choosing Boone for my 52 weeks project. I wanted a challenge...and well, he will be one! He is pretty hard to photograph, but I will just have to become a better photographer then won't I?

I am pretty happy with my first shot, but you should all know I've been trying every day this week and it's Thursday... :o)

Anyway, I will post his 52 weeks photo every week for my blog readers to enjoy...I kind of wish I had done that with Pixel's photos more often.

The write up below is my post from Flickr about the photo.

==========================
-20 on the Prairies

It is winter in Alberta, which means cold, cold, and more cold. Boone is a fair-weather dog and doesn't appreciate the cold (hence the booties.)

This is my second year in the 52 Weeks group, and Boone's first. Last year I used my young Cardigan Corgi and this year it is Boone's turn.

Boone is a Berger Des Pyrenees or Pyrenean Shepherd. They are a rare breed but are gaining popularity in the agility world. Pyr Sheps are a french herding dog that were bred to work along side the Great Pyrenees.

I got Boone as a rescue two years ago and I can't imagine life without him. He is a dog with great work ethic, and a great sense of humor. He is a fun dog to train and an easy dog to live with. He is however hard to photograph. He doesn't like to pose, and is easily spooked in new places. It will be much more of a challenge for me this year! But, I hope to be able to capture all his little quirks and the essence of Boone.

It will be an interesting year for sure!

Uploaded by manymuddypaws on 7 Jan 10, 4.55PM MST.