What the girl wants...

I was just going through and deleting some crap photos from our walk the other day and laughed out loud when I saw this. Brit loves Pixel- well, I should specify she loves Pixels movement and hyperness. And I think the tail is a big part of that. It's exciting, and Brit often goes into Border Collie slinky mode as soon as Pixel (or her tail) start moving. You can see in this photo Brit is trying hard to stay in her sit...but from her expression there is no doubt that she really wants to chase her..

Training for Tricks

Saturday I am participating at a Childrens Festival in an assortment of dog demos for the kennel club. I will also be working my rescue booth- but thankfully have found enough volunteers that I can just go back and forth, and not have to try to be in two places at once. :)

Anyway the dog demos are going to be a lot of fun. The festival runs all day so we have a bunch of stuff spread throughout the day.

The obedience demo is going to be fun, although probably a tad bit unorganised. But kids won't care. :)

The agility demo will be fun- although I still can't find the demo CD so will have to make a new one...

The scenthurdle demo is going to be great for our dogs- we are going to race against kids!

but it's the trick demo that is going to be the most fun for me. I love teaching tricks- and my dogs know quite a few. Choosing what trick and when is the hard part! Boone's tricks are all motion/movement type tricks- spins, back ups, go outs, weaving through my legs, running backwards around me, jumping over my leg. I still havent' found a song that I like though- but we've been training to the Cars theme- Life is a Highway. If I can't find anything else that will be it. I thought putting the tricks together would be hard, but really it is just about flow and I think we have it. Now, wether or not we will have it in front of people is different. Boone does get stage fright. I am hoping that I will be able to keep him happy...

Wicca's tricks are super funny. She does the standard dead dog, rollover, wave, weave through legs, but she also does things with props- she can put a ball in a basketball net, she can push a soccer ball into a goal net, she can ride a skateboard (although i could only find the small one so she just kind of pushes herself on it), and best of all she can spell!  We did it for the first time last night and she was awesome. I can't wait to video it. lol Until then you will all have to wonder what I am talking about.

I am looking for song suggestions- kind of faster paced, kid friendly, I was thinking Disney but haven't found anything yet!

The Cats are enjoying spring aswell...



Brothers Bruce (grey) and Robbie (orange)



Bruce says brothers are awesome...

This is what he does to suck you in to pet him- as soon as you reach out to him he's savage..



See! Savage ears....

(p.s Yes, those are skates hanging from my neighbors tree. Don't ask me why...)



and for once, not so fast...

Sunshine 14/52, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

Wicca is 7 years old now. And I notice. And it makes me sad.

Mostly it's small things- she naps more in the day/evening now. She tires out sooner. She actually slept flat out at training last week when Pixel had her turn! She likes to sleep in now. She likes to cuddle (I attribute that to her mellowing out due to age as she certainly didn't cuddle before..) And I can see it in her colors aswell. You can see in this photo quite well how the white is creeping up on her muzzle and ears...

I wish there was a way to keep them young forever.

Fast

Off the Ground 4/12/Vito, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

Vito can be fast when he wants to be. Usually about once a week. :)

Spring Walk

Some more photos from our walk today. The dogs were flithy by the end but had a great time playing around in the river. Brit is the only one who actually went in- the others just paddled around in it. Pixel totally idolizes Brit and likes to follow her around, it is very cute to see the relationships building between the dogs.

fancy footwork... lol Boone cracks me up.

look! an expression other than the creepy border collie stare!

she ran to the river and immediately lied down. It was strange. lol

tilted by the wind...

some coulee scenery for you.

wicca's a rebel





pretty pixel

vito on the lookout for birds...

Family Foto

Family Foto, originally uploaded by manymuddypaws.

Today I have the whole day to do what I want at home. It has been awesome. I even managed to sleep in until 8:00!!

I took the dogs for a nice long walk at the riverbottom and had a good time. It seems as though spring is finally here in Alberta- there are tons of birds out, and you can see the hint of green in the coulees now.

The dogs had a blast getting muddy. :) I have many more photos to post, but thought I'd tease you all with a boring posed photo first.

I believe this is the first official family photo since Brit came.
------------

Out Takes:

happy sunday!

Seminar Review

The day started early- we were on the road at 5:45. It was sucky. lol. But it was a good day. :) The morning was spent mostly with talking about basic dog training and behaviour, and then she talked about some of the games she does as part of her foundation training. Mostly we talked about her version of the No Mugging Game. She does it a little different than what I am used to- actually giving the dog a verbal cue as permission to take the food from the hand, and breaking it down more to extinguish any mugging/bumping before the hand is even open. She also goes even further and works with the food on the ground quite a lot- again using a verbal cue to tell the dog to take the food. She had some good points about her reasoning behind this. We also talked about a game she teaches to help mulitple dog owners, or dogs that resource guard. She calls it the turn game. Using the dogs name to release only that dog, or allow that dog to take the food, the toy, whatever. It was interesting to watch her dogs- as soon as she said "Fido's Turn" the other dog noticeable relaxed and was okay with waiting for their turn...For a dog that is a resource guarder I could really see that working well. The afternoon was supposed to be distance- and I was hoping for some help with Pixel. She is just not super confident away from me, and my timing really bites. lol. It was very basic though so I didn't really get the help I was looking for. We talked first about the differences between Go On, Out, Left/Right, etc. And then she showed how she trains it. Really all she does is to teach the dog the equipment so well that no matter where it is the dog will find it. Once the dog will drive towards the obstacle no matter where it is and what your body is doing (nothing to start) then she will start adding in a physical cue. We each got a few turns to practice sending to tunnel on verbal only from across the room, and then from a chair, and then we did the same thing with a jump. Pixel was a rock star. Like I said, very basic. Still I am happy to have come away with a few new things to try. The thing with seminars is you never really know what you are going to get- it's a crap shoot. But I have learned to have an open mind, try new things, don't disagree (lol), and take what I like and forget the rest. :) On the plus side Brit was awesome on her first little road trip. She travelled well (although didn't sleep at all on the way there) and was great in the nw building with all the new dogs/people etc. She was able to work and focus right away, although was not interested in the toy at all. We still have much work to do with the toy drive stuff...

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...)