Weekend Plans

I was supposed to go to an agility trial this weekend- but the arena it was in flooded. As in under water for the last week or so. We just found out on Wednesday it was cancelled though. I guess they were hoping that the two feet of water would evaporate in a few days, or something. In any case I managed to get a last minute working spot in a seminar on Saturday instead! I am pretty stoked about it- I had looked at it when the information came out but had already entered this trial. So it must have been meant to be or something.

The seminar is being taught by Cheryl Bartlett from Saskatchewan. She has been doing agility forever, and seems to have kept up with the trends and such. I know she and a few other well known canadian instructors do a big Puppy Camp thing every year, and I have heard good things about her sessions. I figured this would be a good opportunity- only a few hours away, and for a good price.

I am signed up for the morning foundation seminar, and the afternoon distance seminar. I am going to take Brit in the morning- which is exciting!!! I am sure it will be lots of the same things that I have been doing, but it will be good to see how she does in a class setting, and maybe get some pointers for her obsession with moving things.. (we won't talk about the recall that almost wasn't-  last night when a sheltie ran by...lol)

 And Pixel for the afternoon. I may bring Wicca as back up in case the dogs are worked a lot. Pixel doesn't do well with lots of agility. I have until morning to decide. Pixel definitely needs the distance help though- she is not overly confident with her gambles, and my timing needs to be better with her. She doesn't react as fast as Wicca at a distance so the last few gambles have been NQ's because of me. I am hoping to get some good pointers.

Sunday will be spent doing laundry, and yard work. Going to put away the shovel. :)

Control Yourself!

Someone commented on yesterdays post and asked if I could talk about the impulse control games I am playing. I have just started the very basics of foundation training with Brit. Mostly we are focusing on building a relationship. But one of the things we do every day is work on impulse control. Brit came with none. In fact I think that some of her bad habits were encouraged. (dog chasing, cat watching, her inability to sit still..lol)

She is very motion sensitive and could not focus on me if the cats, or Pixel were moving around. She is also very distracted by food and likes to sniff the floor. She did not understand that when I said her name she was to look at me.

With work she is coming along though- and has made lots of progress in the past few weeks.

Here are a few things we are doing:

The Name Game: Say the name, feed the dog. Now Brit will look away from anything- moving pixel, the cats, food- on just her name.

Crate Games: This is a huge way to build up impulse control, and increase excitement for working. We are at the "your in, your out" stage right now.

No Mugging: (see photo above) The dog needs to learn to have patience to get what they want. This was very difficult for Brit as she is VERY food motivated. The second part of this will be teaching her to maintain position (i.e a sit) and not move her feet, or lean forward or up to catch a dropped cookie. This may take a while.

Stay: Pretty self explanatory but basically she needs to learn to stay in position- sit, stand, down and not move until she hears a release word. We can proof this with thrown toys, dropped food, my motion, the other dogs motion etc.

All of these games will help her to learn to stay focused in exciting environments. We are also doing other games to increase motivation, toy drive, body awareness, and all that kind of stuff. So far I am doing the exact same thing I did with Pixel when she was a baby. :) And I know that it created a good working dog the first time around so I am pretty sure it will work a second time!

Brit Update

Brit and I are just having fun figuring each other out right now. Everyday we have two or three play sessions, just us. And then we invite the other dogs out. She is able to stay focused on me now even with Pixel zipping around- which is a big step.

We've been doing lots of super basic stuff- collar games, crate games, nose touches, perch work, recalls, and the ever important impulse control (of which she has none...)
I've also been trying hard to get some photos of her that actually show some expression other than "I am a border collie, look at me stare..." It is difficult because that is pretty much how she is all the time. Her other favorite expression is the "I'm so cute and happy, and please touch me..." The problem with that is she is usually an inch or two away at that point...so no photos. ;)

But I won't give up! Now that she has a solid stay it will be helpful. I am looking forward to the time when I can take her off leash with the dogs- we are almost there!
In the mean time here are some more "I'm a border collie, look at me stare" photos taken in the backyard...

on the perch...she can circle left and right, and we've just started some pivots...

in a down stay while the ball is thrown for Pixel...otherwise known as torture...

Stand. Stay. She is not solid on this yet, but at least is starting to understand.

look cute...

and look very cute. :)

Worth Reading

An agility person in my area posted a blog yesterday about agility and trialing, and training and I thought I would share it here. It is a thought provoking post, that will likely cause a few upsets among the agility folk- but worth the read anyway.
Shape Up Dogs

First off I agree 100% about the sniffy, bored, distracted dogs in agility- starters especially. We've all been in starters of course, but I know for myself I didn't put my dog into a trial until they were ready. And by ready I mean able to run a full course and stay focused on me, and on agility. I believe that sniffing is mostly an avoidance behaviour- so what is the dog avoiding? The nagging owner, scary equipment? Either way and there is some training to do at home. I realise that not all dogs come with drive for agility- but you need to build that- away from the ring. And I do know (from personal experience) that agility is not for all dogs. But if your dog consistently loses their focus, leaves the ring, then you need to be doing something about that!

I also agree that there are people who take all the fun out of agility- trying to be perfect, to train and handle to a "system" to the extent where they analyze every little thing. I am not like that. At all. Yes, I like to be consistent with my dogs and do follow a system- but I try not to stress about what to train, or how to handle, or what to do if there is a part on course that *gasp!* doesn't allow me to handle to my system. I am not outside the ring analyzing how to handle a course for an hour, nor do I stare at a piece of paper for hours. I think that when you are over analytical about agility you take all the fun out of it. Training aswell often takes hit in the fun department- let the dogs be dogs. Let them have a chance to play with other dogs if they want, let them play with a ball for doG's sake!!! You can still allow your dog to play- without you once in a while, and have a dog who loves agility, works hard, and pays attention. All of my dogs play ball, the play with each other, they play with toys without me, and are just dogs for the most part.

I play agility because it's fun. My dogs and I have moderate success. I am proud of my dogs for sure, but I don't think about agility every waking moment. There are times when i would much rather just play with my dogs than train agility- and often I do just that.

Anyway, just some thoughts for a Wednesday morning. :)

Scenthurdle Debut

Scenthurdle was exhausting. LOL. It started around 6 after Best in Show, and didn't end until close to 11. Serious. That is a very long day.

But it was worth it and a lot of fun. It was our local teams Debut run and although it was a bit rocky to start the dogs improved as we went along. At first the dogs were a bit confused as to what they were supposed to do. It was like they'd never been trained or something. lol. We had some crossing over to the other dogs lanes, we had incorrect retrieves, we had missed jumps, we had extra jumps, and just about everything that they could do wrong they did. :) But ya gotta start somewhere!!

Once they got their groove they were great. Pixel was super and just had a few little flubs. I think with the excitment she had a hard time scenting and brought back the wrong dumbbell once, and another time didn't find hers in our box so went to look in the next lanes box. Ooops. lol

We came away with lots of great tips and ideas as to how to make our dogs more confident, and some good training ideas aswell. We are going to set up some practices with some Flyball people as they are the most similiar sport to Scenthurdle. That should at least duplicate the double lanes!

Anyway here is some video for you viewing pleasure. :)

Wicca is on a Southern Alberta team called Due South. That team is made up of half old pros (like Wicca) and newbies so we were a bit more succesful than No Nonscents. Wicca was on her "A" game and didn't make an error all night. She did second guess a few times but never brough back the wrong dummy. I am not sure how many points she earned. I imagine I will find out this week sometime.


And Pixels team- No Nonscents. Check out our fancy vests. :)


And some No NonScents Bloopers to make you laugh..

p.s the cardigan at 1.26 on the bloopers video in the close lane is related to Wicca. They have the same sire. His name is Henry and he is super cute!

Another Use for Ribbons

High In Class Version II, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

For the sake of a few photos I let Wicca play with one of her High In Class Ribbons on Saturday. She had a great time rolling around on the thing, throwing it in the air, and we even played a bit of fetch. :)

Jolene was horrified. lol

Weekend Thoughts

I am still recovering from such a busy weekend. I could sleep for another few days easily. :)

The weekend went so well, I so proud of my dogs, my training, and my friends!

Jolene and Kort have come a long way- and he is a completely different dog than he was a year ago. Patience, and training have made him a happy, focused worker in the ring. I am so proud of Jo for sticking it out with him, even when he was a monster. :) We don't always get the dog we had hoped, but sometimes the dog we get is better than we imagined.

Kim and Bosley earned a leg towards their CDX with a beautiful run. (and High in Class!) Bosley is another dog who has not been an easy dog to train. Everyone was talking about his brilliant drops, and his retrieves, oh, and his heeling- he is a beautiful heeler when he wants to be!!! It is really starting to come together for them, and I am proud of Kim for being such a great trainer.

And my friend Donna and her dog Epic had their Novice debut and did pretty great! Epic is a whole lotta' dog and Donna does a great job with him. He earned two legs towards his CD.

Scenthurdle was a blast- we have lots of training to do, but at least we can say now that we've done it, and we know what we need to work on. We are going to train with some flyball dogs just to get dogs in the next lane as that really was the issue.

I love dog show weekends on a whole too- the visiting is always great, I had a chance to visit people I only see once in a while. It was nice to talk dog. :) And traveling with Jolene is awesome. She is seriously the funniest person I know. She carried on a conversation in french with the radio. The thing is she doesn't know french. Uh Huh. This went on until I couldn't breathe and threatened to pee my pants unless she stopped. It helps that our dogs get along so well too- hanging out in the room was fun!

And I also need to mention a thanks to my friends who watched my other dogs. Jen and I traded dogsitting so she got Brit this weekend. I was a little worried to leave her but Jen said she had a great time. I think it is good for dogs to spend the odd time away from home so I am sure it was a good experience for her. And the boys went to Wendy's where Vito was a pest with the cat(s), and Boone became a snowman. :) Check out Crazy and Little for fun pics.

Thanks Guys for taking such good care of the beasts! I appreciate it!

Pixel RA!

Pixel earned her Rally Advanced title this weekend with two 98/100's and two Second places. Both times coming second to big sister Wicca. :)

I am so loving this happy, bouncy Pixel. I really think that she is starting to feel comfortable in the ring and I think that all this rally is going to make her performance in Open all that much better. I am just thrilled with how she did this weekend. She tried very hard, and I am so proud of her.

On to Excellent, but first we need to learn to back up in heel position. :)

Perfect Score

Wicca earned another RAE leg today by qualifying in both Excellent and Advanced. She did it with two High In Classes- one perfect score, and one 99/100. I am incredibly proud of this dog.

High In Class 13/52

High In Class 13/52, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

:)

So far the girls and I have had a great day.

We still have to go back for scenthurdle, but we are taking a break at the hotel.

Wicca earned a High In Class in Excellent B this morning! She scored a 99/100 and was a very good girl. She went on to earn a 98/100 in Advanced aswell which I think is her fourth or fifth RAE leg. (and she earned a second place)

Pixel was super this morning and was the happiest I have ever seen in the ring. The judge, and the crowd thought she was the cutest thing ever. :) She earned a 98/100 aswell- her second advanced Q. I am so proud of her. I have had to work very hard to get her up and motivated and am pleased with the results today.

Tomorrow we are in again. Wish us Luck!!!!

After-Bite

On Tuesday afternoon Pixel's nose looked a bit swollen and red. I gave her some Benadryl and left her at home for class. She seemed fine by the time I got home so I thought nothing of it. Still seemed fine Wednesday morning. I got home from Work and her nose was a bloody mess. She must have been rubbing and scratching it all day!!!  I cleaned it up, gave her more Benadryl and kept a close eye on her. The swelling went away, but of course now she has rubbed her nose so much that it is raw and sore. Poor Girl.

I suspected a bug of some sort. Pixel likes to stick her nose where it doesn't belong. And for the benadryl to have worked I was guessing that it had to be a reaction to something like that. Yesterday we were puttering around in the yard and she got bit again!!! This time I heard her yelp and run for the house so I know the general area she was in. She has three more large bites on the other side of her nose now.  I raked the area she was in and picked up all the sticks and debri from the trees, and then sprayed the crap out of the ground with bug killer, and used an xpen to block the area..... Some people have suggested that it could be wasps coming up from the ground, or maybe a nest of Spiders or something. Whatever it is they are mean! Poor Pixel.

photo taken with my iphone....

She is still on Benadryl to keep the itch away so she doesn't make her nose worse- but it looks awful. Thankfully the swelling is all gone now though- she was looking a bit like a bull terrier for a while...

Of course we are heading off to a Rally Trial this weekend. :( Other than how it looks she is fine- her usual spunky self. She was a little reluctant in the yard last night, but today she has forgotton all about it and I saw her snuffling through another pile of leaves....

Outside the Box

Last night at class I was telling students to be sure to think outside the box, consider all options, don't just blindly do what the person ahead of you is doing, think for yourself. It is great advice, for agility, and for just real life. (I should add that that does not mean putting in crosses just for the sake of putting in crosses...sometimes it is as simple as it looks...)

The students did pretty great with that advice, and I could see them really pushing themselves and their dogs. It may not have been comfortable at first, and it certainly wasn't easy- but the effect on their dogs was noticeable. Sometimes trying something that is new or difficult can be scary- as humans I think our first reaction is to say no and stick with old faithful. It is easy to fall into the doing the same old thing...

In any case I was thinking about that more last night as I was walking the dogs- I think it is important to not only challenge ourselves on a regular basis but to think outside the norm on a regular basis as well. Sometimes when you step outside of your comfort zone great things can happen. 

Take for instance the fact that I have signed up for a tracking seminar. <gasp!> I have never been all that interested in tracking, nor am I sure that I am interested even now- but I figure that it could be fun, I am sure to learn some new things, and if I can come home with one bit of information (even to apply to other areas of my training) then it will have been worth it. I am trying to broaden my horizons so to speak. Agility is great fun, and I do love it but it isn't everything and it is nice to "get out of the box" once in a while. In any case it will be nice to try something new! 

I am going to challenge myself to think outside the box more, and be open to new ideas and things, even to try something new- maybe a non dog related activity?! Scary. :)

This weekend we are off to Red Deer to do some Rally, and Scenthurdle. I am very excited and looking forward to racing. The Rally will be fun too, but the main point is Scenthurdle. I am hoping to snag a bystander to video our teams races so will have some video to post on Sunday! 

Have a good weekend everyone! (oh, and just so you all know that winter is coming back to alberta already. they are calling for 21CM tomorrow...that is nuts. I guess our one day of spring was all we are getting...)

Brit

Brit, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

Just a pretty portrait of a pretty dog. :)

Ears

Pixel had an ear trim the other day.
The fringes were outta control. :)
 I think the trimmed ears make her look more serious, and a little less crazy.
 It always takes me a few days to get used to the new look though.

and speaking of ears. Brit has uber crazy ears that never do the same thing twice....

Scenthurdle and Bath Day

Today was our last scenthurdle practice before our first official race next weekend. All the dogs are doing pretty great and I am feeling pretty great about our team. I took a few photos today with their fancy racing vests one. :)
 Pixel is so cute in her little vest. I think she is the cutest. :)
After scenthurdle both Boone and Pixel were groomed. They both hate it so it wasn't very fun for me or for them. But it had to be done. Pixel was beginning to look like a Papillon with those ear fringes! She looks all pretty and trimmed now- I even did her feet. :)
Boone just had a bath and blow dry- no trim. I couldn't resist taking a photo of the torture. These were taken with my iphone so excuse the crappy quality. He is so miserable the whole time, but the drying is the worst. He hates the sound, and doesn't like the feel of the blowing anywhere near his head. It makes trying to dry him ridiculously hard.  But he survived, and he looks super puffy right now. I probably should have trimmed him a bit, but in a few days it will start to curl up a bit and he won't look so funny. :) No after pics of Pixel. I was in a hurry...

Stalker

Stalker 12/52, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

Brit has a nickname already. Stalker. She is pretty creepy about it too. She likes to stare at things. Like all the time. The dogs, the cats, me. Seriously- I can feel her staring at me as I type this. lol

I have been managing her motion sensitive stuff pretty well though and already I am seeing a difference in her behavior.

Here is what we are doing.

For the dogs- she is not allowed out in the yard with them until they are settled. (they run out all excitedly and that makes her obsessive).

For the cats- she is learning what leave it means. I use a spray bottle. Also the cats have been spending lots of time outside because of the nice weather so that is helpful too. She will call away from them though- with just her name, but the draw is still there.

She and Wicca are really good friends- it is very strange. They play quite a bit. Brit is already very attached to me and is always at my feet or on my lap. She has wicked recalls, and is just a very fun dog to have around. I am having a blast training with her.

She is learning things at an amazing rate. I am trying really hard to be as clear as I can for her as I know that once is a habit with a border collie. I've started a training log for her, and every day we work on stuff. We've started circle work- and she is starting to understand to run beside me, and not bounce off of me....

For my own use here is a list of things she knows, and things she is learning

Solid (nearly 100%)
Sit- she sits for her food, to have her halti/leash on, to come out of the crate, and will sit during play
Down- she has a very fast down (it was the very first thing I taught her), and it is her default behavior.
Touch- nose touch my hand, any position, and working on repetition now
Stay- in both sit/down position. We are proofing this now with motion and toys...
Okay!- release word
Tug- i had to work at this one! she had zero interest in tugging/toys when I got her
Come- she has a wicked recall and is very fast. she has no brakes though...it hurts.
Her Name- instant check in, eye contact

Learning Stage
Leave It
Stand
Shaping to run around a pylon/jump standard
Get In (heel position)
Off! (she has horrible manners. lol)
Impulse Control Games- no mugging, crate games, etc.

She has loads of things to learn still but I think we've made decent progress in just two weeks.

A Great Day

Wendy, Jolene and I made a quick trip to Calgary to check out the Pet Expo today. We had a good time- there was quite a bit of shopping and things to look at, we watched some of the demos, and just wandered around for a few hours taking in the sights. I bought a few books, and a T-Shirt in support of the Pets aren't Products/Actions Speak Louder campaign that is going on in Calgary right now. They are actually trying to ban the sales of Puppies in petstores- which is awesome! I am excited to wear my shirt! I also bought a toy, and a wonder walker (which is like a halti/leash in one) for Brit. I restrained myself and didn't buy any collars though!

Once I got home I took the dogs out for a walk/run. The sun is shining, the birds are out in full force and it is a wet, muddy mess out there- but the snow is almost gone! The dogs are drying in their kennels right now...




Brit continues to be awesome. She is playing with the dogs way more than stalking them now...



Pixel looks pretty happy that the sun is out too...

Boone likes all the puddles and makes no effort to go around them...tomorrow is grooming day so it's okay!

Vito celebrated the sun by actually fetching the ball...once. :)

and Wicca apparently wants to taste the sun. :)

 

Loser Like Me

I am not ashamed to admit that I watch Glee and totally enjoy it.

Although I hated high school it is interesting to watch. lol

This is their original song from last week. I've listened to it a few times...okay, a lot...



I wonder if shows like Glee are helping all the "loser" kids in highschool to fit in more. I know that I certainly fit into that category and High School, okay all school, was hell for me. We can hope at least that maybe Bullying isn't quite as cool as it was...

Bits and Pieces

When I train my dogs (and others) I try to make sure that I am splitting things up into little bits during the learning process. Making sure that the dog understands what I am asking of them before I start putting things together. I have been careful about this especially with Pixel- who can get overwhelmed if she is not sure of what to do.

Why then does my dog not really understand Front? I should clarify- why doesn't she know front coming from the left, or from across the room, or with a dumbbell in her mouth. I went back and looked at my training logs and really am not seeing where I have missed a step.

But it is obvious that it is me as Wicca has similar problems with her front. Crooked, too far away, sometimes not even bothering. It is frustrating for me, and I am sure it is frustrating for the dog to not understand what I am asking of her. Sure if I ask her again, or again, or maybe even once more she will eventually get it. But I want it right the first time...

Last night we did fronts around the clock- the handler stands in the center and the dog is put in a stay in various "clock" positions and is called to front. Pixel did very well coming from the center, or from the right. The left was a whole different thing as she did not make an effort to swing her butt over to be straight.

At home we've been using the perch to work on fronts. Theoretically this should be teaching her to stay in the center wherever I move to. We just started this however, but I can see that it has helped already just from the exercise we did last night. A few weeks ago she wouldn't have done that. So I am excited about the bit of progress but still wonder if there is something else I could be doing.

I see all these fantastic obedience dogs with these killer fronts- I want that. Sometimes it is frustrating living in this city where there is such a small group of Obedience enthusiasts. We have no one really to help us except each other, so we are pretty limited sometimes.

The Destination

“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same.

Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”

~Don Williams, Jr.

I know I've posted the middle photo already, but I seriously love it. It was actually on EXPLORE on Flickr which is super cool. I am never sure how Explore works but not many photos make it on there! In any case I am going to get all three of these photos printed for my back porch.