emptynest

Another Agility Weekend

2012-01-27T04:25:00.000-08:00

We went to another venue for agility last weekend. Only one run each for both dogs. No videos this time which is a shame because Max's standard run was one where (almost) everything came together - my handling, his fast efficient lines, and he kept his contacts (although he is starting to jump so back to stride regulators in practice). He did have a problem with the weaves again this weekend so that tells me we haven't trained them enough, We have been doing a lot of handling practice involving jumps and turns so it's obviously time for some balance.

I knew I was in trouble with Rylie when he started to vibrate as soon as we entered the building. I spent a fair bit of time before his run playing focus and "still" games as opposed to the revving up I do with Max. I promised my trainer I'd make him hold his contacts and he did so that was the good. That took all of his brainpower though because the rest of the run wasn't pretty. The good - his contacts, he read my decel cue and didn't go flying over the table but stopped and downed. The ugly - during the rest of the run we weren't connected at all - he thought to look for me when he wasn't sure what to do. He did come back when I called when he started heading in the wrong direction though but since it was a starters course he was pretty accurate. Ugly as it was we only had five faults which I'll take the blame for because I didn't verbally cue the turn to the chute. He obviously needs body cues AND verbal cues when he is that high.

I learned that there is no point in taking Rylie to a trial where he only gets to run once because it takes one run for him to find his brain. He's a ton of fun to run anyway - it's like trying to stay ahead of a speeding bullet. Neil heard a comment about his speed and the commenter said "most Cavaliers are pokey". I'm starting to get really offended by those comments because the Cavaliers I know most certainly aren't (and Max ran first and he wasn't - he doesn't look quite as fast because he runs in a straight line instead of doing three times the distance necessary lol). The best way to stop them is to continue to show them I guess ;-).

Weekend Videos

2012-01-19T04:22:00.000-08:00

Agility videos from this weekend. In the first one you can hear me call Max off the chute only to send him through. For some reason I thought he was heading to the dog walk which is why I called him but he clearly isn't.

Towards the end of the second video Rylie leaves the picture. I realized afterward that he was running towards the obstacle in his line (which was the tire jump). I didn't cue him to turn soon enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LireF9Zm_S8

Beaten by the weave poles

Agility Trial

2012-01-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

We were at an agility trial this weekend. I only signed up for two runs with Max and one with Rylie as it's too cold to have them sit in the car between runs. We didn't get any Q's but I was very happy. Max was very fast and had a great time. His dog walk contact was spot on both runs. The first run I messed up and on the second run he popped out of the weaves - I'm not too worried about that as it's never happened before. We haven't practiced weaves much lately so that could be it.

Rylie ran like a wild man - he also popped the weaves in the same spot but chose to turn around and do them backwards! He was so fast he was bounced off of the teeter. Watching the video I saw that he wasn't naughty - my cues were just not timely enough for the streak of black lightning. He had a great time and it shows what we need to work on.

Seminars and a gift

2012-01-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's double box seminar with Rylie was awesome. He was right in the middle of experience level of dogs and he conducted himself admirably. I can really see how our practices concentrating on timing and positional cues have helped us. Three hours is a long time and although he was getting tired of sitting in his chair by the end of it he really did well.

This morning Max and I went to an advanced handling workshop. Again it was great and I was very pleased with how well he did. I think I am learning to trust our training that he will do what he is supposed to do and I don't have to babysit him. He was really speedy today - and has been for the last few weeks. I think it's a combination of the recallers games we have been playing, trick training, and gaining confidence. He was more than happy to tug with me in class but couldn't quite manage tugging with my trainer.

Imagine my surprise when one of the comments on my blog was this:

I'm always surprised when people read my blog lol!

Thanks Debbie

Liebster means “dearest” in German, and the award is intended to help up-and-coming blogs get the attention they deserve. As with any award, there is a bit of ceremony involved. In order to accept the award, we must do the following:

1. Copy and paste the award on our blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who gave us the award

3. Pick our five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award

Our 5 picks in no certain order are:

Life With Riley and Stella
Bark and About
Lessons From and For Four Legs
Agile Dog Training
BaikasBlog

Double Box Seminar

2011-12-31T04:05:00.000-08:00

I'm off to a double box seminar with Rylie this morning. We did one in the fall and since then we've (well mostly I) have been practicing timing so I'm excited/hopeful to see if we have improved. The weather has co-operated and it seems like it will be as warm as we could reasonably expect (and maybe a bit warmer than that) this time of year. Tomorrow it's more of the same (except a bit more advanced I think) with Max. Then formal agility training is over until March. I'm going to concentrate on tricks training and handler training through the winter so that will be okay. We will hopefully continue to get together with our practice group from time to time as well.

Happy Belated Christmas

2011-12-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas has come and gone in the nest and Computer Dude has already flown the coop to head back home. Engineering Guy will be with us for another week and we are enjoying having him home for his last extended stay. Training really suffered over Christmas but hopeful we'll get back in the groove now that our schedules are getting back to normal. Each dog has a half day agility seminar this weekend and then our agility training is done until mid March. We are hoping to get in a couple of trials. I'd like to qualify for regionals with Max this year but since they are so close to home I will be there and volunteer if we can't compete.

Empty Nest - not so much :-)

2011-12-11T06:04:00.001-08:00

Both two legged kids are home this weekend so the nest has been pretty full. Both are leaving again today. Engineering kid is coming back home tomorrow (after his interview for a REAL after graduation job) but has to go back to school to write one more exam, then both will be back for Christmas break. It is lovely having them home - even more so because I know that this will likely be the last time either of them is home for an extended time.

One of the things I was looking forward to was having them help with some of the multi person exercises in the recallers course. That was pretty much a bust. The only males capable of maintaining criteria in this house are the four legged ones! Oh well.

We have been busy with training and practicing and I wasn't planning to enter any agility trials until spring. Our regional competition this year may have to limit entries. If they limit by competition level (which I do think is probably the fairest way) Max will probably not quite qualify. I have to decide if I want to try a couple of trials this winter and hope we've fixed our contact problem or just to wait until next year for regionals. Either way it's only going to be 20 minutes from my house this year so if I don't go as a competitor I will go as a volunteer.

Training

2011-12-04T14:15:00.001-08:00

I mostly post about agility but I do train other things. One of the games we play is giving the dogs the choice to try and steal their own reinforcement (food from the floor etc.) or be rewarded for making the good choice to ignore it. I had played this game with my dogs somewhat halfheartedly since they were pups. They were very good at it BUT they knew when I was playing and when I accidentally dropped something that they could get to before me. I've never really worked too hard to teach a "leave it" command because that assumes that I see something before they do. Last winter Engineering Dad dropped an advil on the floor by accident. Before leave it had left his mouth a dog had scarfed it down. I had both dogs vomit immediately and in for blood tests a few days later. It turns out it was Rylie that got to the pill first as his tests came back with elevated kidney levels. They did even out so all is well. Anyway I decided I had better redouble my efforts with the It's Yer Choice game. Yesterday I accidentally dropped Rylie's probiotic pill - it skittered across the floor in front of both Max and Rylie who only looked at it and did not make a move towards it. Now you do have to understand that Rylie gets this pill as a treat. I was pretty pleased with our progress.

We went back to the dog park yesterday. This is the time of year I tend to go - the weather isn't always conducive to getting in our daily walks during the week and I can stop in there while doing errands - yesterday it was nail trimming. What I forgot was how much rain we got this week. Rylie was a muddy mess and needed to be hosed off. Max needed his feet hosed. Both Engineering Dad and I needed a full change of clothes. We did meet another Cavalier though. He was 10 months old and looked like a Mini Max.

Today was class day. Max and I had class in the morning and then I switched off dogs and brought Rylie to a practice group that we have. One of the other trainers in the group is also doing the recallers course. After practice we played some of the games with Rylie and Jam. I am so stoked that I got to play with Jam. He is a young Golden Retriever (not quite two). He was totally awesome - he came when I called him even though he doesn't know me from Adam and I was even able to call him off his toy. I know his trainer has worked really hard with him and it shows. Rylie was able to sit in his chair while I played with Jam - holy distraction Batman! When it was his turn to play he caught on to the game a bit too quickly. "Gee momma will give me a treat - the nice lady will call me and give me a treat, then mama will call me and give me a treat. Maybe I can make this treat business happen faster if I just run back and forth between mama and the nice lady). He is pretty smart - when we were practicing sequences this afternoon I kept messing up my positional cues. By the third try Rylie had the sequence aced so it didn't really matter what I did! Maybe if I let him watch the video he can get it right the first time!

Recallers

2011-12-02T18:45:00.001-08:00

I'm very excited to be doing Susan Garrett's recoilers course again. What makes it extra exciting for me is that we seem to have quite a lot of Cavaliers on course this time. I know there have been some before but the new course format helps us connect.

I do feel like a bit of a fraud taking a recall course. Cavaliers love their people so much that I don't think recall is usually much of an issue (except for Max and squirrels) but on the other hand I have to work a lot harder than most border collie or golden retriever owners to get enthusiastic tugging from my dogs (I know my own fault - I didn't keep it up as much as I should have when they were pups) so it all works out . It's a wonderful community and really supportive. I feel like I've grown a lot as a trainer since I have been involved in the recallers program.

Dog Park Saturday

2011-11-26T17:17:00.001-08:00

For the most part I am not a huge fan of dog parks. We have a dog park in London that is far above and beyond any other dog park we've been to.

We haven't been to the dog park since early spring but decided to take a trip there today. The dogs get SO excited when we get close. Even though they haven't been there for awhile they seemed to realize where we were going. It didn't disappoint. Had we stayed out of the small dog section it would have been perfect. As Engineering Dad says "Large dog owners train their dogs and small dog owners don't seem to think they need to". While I obviously don't agree with him I will agree that the people who bring their large dogs to the London dog park DO spend time training and socializing their dogs. The closest we've come to having a dog behave inappropriately is occasionally a large young dog doesn't quite realize that they can't play with small dogs quite the same way. This did happen today when a large german shepherd type dog thought Rylie looked like a good play toy. Engineering Dad managed the situation by getting between the dogs (even though Rylie would have preferred to jump into his arms) until the GSD owner called the dog away. The other thing that happened today was a Doberman dared to take Rylie's stick away from him. Rylie was shocked (most dogs follow his rules - if I have it - it's mine) but gamely followed the dobie back to her owner. The owner threw the stick for Rylie while trying to distract the dobie but she chased him down and took it again. Poor Rylie - not a bad lesson for him though and not a nasty word was spoken.

When we were done running around the regular section we ventured into the small dog section. I really don't like it there at all. There was a Min Pin who was continuously being scolded. I think it might have been for trying to escape the park. The owner finally tied it to a bench. I really wanted to suggest that if he just moved away from the entrance and encouraged his dog to engage with him instead of scolding it he might have better success but Neil makes me bite my tongue when other people's dog training methods annoy me.

There were three cute fluffy energetic dogs who were very sweet. One of them was playing frisbee - Rylie thought THAT looked like fun but got told - EXCUSE ME THIS IS MY FRISBEE! Rylie is much better at picking up social cues than he was a year ago so he took the hint. I credit this to the border collie girl in our class. She's pretty crabby.

As we were getting ready to leave Max was attacked by a shih tzu. This dog was probably not even half Max's size but was pretty nasty. Max was such a good boy and didn't retaliate. He's fine - no skin was broken. He's the one who walked beside me the entire time at the dog park and didn't spend any time exploring (no squirrels or bunnies apparently). That's what led Neil to remark on the untrained small dogs. It's strange but the only time we've seen aggression is in the small dog section of the park. We do tend to steer clear of it - my dogs don't really "play" with others and are more interested in people so the size of the other dogs around them doesn't really make a difference. They are happy to say hello and run together but that's about it.

Tricks

2011-11-25T18:42:00.001-08:00

One of my goals for the winter is to learn how to shape a bunch of tricks (primarily without luring). I feel like this will really help my training skills as well as give us more things to do at a trial while we wait our turn. I want to shape some stretching exercises like bow and sit pretty as well as some just fun/silly tricks. To get me started (because I lack imagination) I ordered a Silvia Trkman video. The dogs and I are having a blast. I have shaped them to get into a suitcase (I'll have to get video because it's just too cute), to walk on my feet, and I have shaped Max to jump into my arms. Long ago Rylie shaped me to catch him when he jumps so that wasn't something he needed to learn lol! I'm very excited that Max will do it too now! I'm a bit stuck on the trick we are working on now, pawing at the face (like hiding behind a paw). I actually think I'll give that one up for a bit but it has worked itself into a bow/moonwalk behaviour which I think I will develop. I am beyond excited that the recallers course will offer a shaping section. I have seen Susan shape one of her dogs to do a behaviour picked by a student and she really is brilliant at it. It should help keep us busy this winter anyway.

This and That

2011-11-22T17:12:00.001-08:00

I have persevered with the easy-walk harness and decided that I like them. We did have a bunny run across our path yesterday on our morning walk so I am willing to say that it does help with pulling (bunnies are definitely high distractions for both of my dogs).

Our training has been going well - we have a most awesome practice group that meets on the weekend to go through specific drills. I feel that I am really getting a lot out of it.

Susan Garrett's recallers 3.0 course is getting set to start up. This will be our third time in it and if possible I'm even more excited. Although I'm a little afraid to say it we seem to have turned a corner with tugging in our house and I think it's going to make a difference to how we do the games in the course.

Weekend wrap up

2011-11-08T19:08:00.000-08:00

After two full days of trialing I could hardly be more happy with Max and Rylie.

Max and I kept a really good connection at the start line and throughout. There was only a little bit of stress scratching and watching the videos he is pretty focused on me. I lost his attention once in the middle of the gamblers course but that was mainly due to my position and not so smooth handling. I was able to get his focus back and we continued on. He did an excellent job on both the snooker run (he was second fastest of all the dogs qualifying of any height) and on the masters jumpers (where I caused a fault by getting out of position). We have a POA for his dogwalk because he is consistently jumping over the bottom contact. In training we will put the stride regulator back in. Hopefully that will help.

Rylie and I struggled a bit with contact criteria (as in he didn’t think it was necessary) and got off the table in one run and flew over it in another but those are things we can fix. He ran well and on all but one run his weaves were perfect. I think I could have done cartwheels beside him and he wouldn’t have popped out. His jumpers run was spot on – we were totally connected and I don’t think he took any extra steps.

I struggled in gamblers with both dogs. I think they both might have been able to get the gamble but the first obstacle was the teeter and I don’t think there was any way to send to it without going over the line. With Rylie I totally missed the fact that I was on the wrong side of the line (it was an angled line – not a straight one like I’m used to) so we got buzzed. With Max I sent him to the teeter, realized I was on the wrong side – rear crossed him to get myself on the correct side and that pulled him off the teeter. That maneuver made his next teeter performance tentative but luckily we had a few goes at the teeter and I think he’s good.

Full day trials mean spending a fair bit of time crated. Both dogs are getting more comfortable with this. I'm also lucky in that being inside the venue is relatively non stressful for them. Max can be asleep in my arms and when I say "okay" he immediately leaps off of my lap and is ready to go. Rylie is pretty much always ready to go. I was able to leave Rylie sit in his chair while I walked the course (I always had someone keeping an eye on him so I didn't have to). He was usually first dog in so I didn't have the option of leaving him crated until I was done. I do credit the border collie in his class with his excellent stay. She has taken it upon herself to tell Rylie off when the thought of entering her personal space (which is quite large) pops into his head.

Max isn't quite so good at staying put and needs someone to play a bit more active role. Something to work on.

Saturday Report

2011-11-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

Day 1 of our trial. We did not get any Q's but I was really happy with both dogs. Max and I stayed connected at the start line and he ran fast in all three runs. He missed a dog walk contact on the first run (but my trainer and I have come up with a plan of action for that), took the wrong end of a tunnel on the second run (my fault), and the gamble was just plain hard.

Rylie was a bit of a naughty pants and we had some discussion over contacts as in "Mom you only need me to nose touch in class right? - not here?" which ended up causing us some faults, and a truly evil table placement caused him to fly over it. Also a broken start line in steeplechase. Again - the gamble was hard (same one) he may have gotten it but I started off over the line so we were buzzed off.

Yay for weekends

2011-11-04T18:38:00.000-07:00

We have a two day agility trial this weekend. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to enter the first event of the day both days. This means that I have to get up at dark o'clock. Also that I have to warm Rylie up - crate him in the car - speed walk the course and go back and get him as he is almost certainly the first dog on the line and any folk crazy enough to be there that early will also be running that event so I won't be able to count on having anyone hold him while I walk.

I'm going to put my goals for the weekend out here and then report back. With Max my main goal is to keep connected with him - particularly at the start line. He stresses at the start line (most likely because of me) and our start is often rocky. I'm going to try really hard to keep his focus on me. I'd also like to be able to handle the masters jumpers course as if I'd actually practiced some of the handling before and not just flail around.

With Rylie I just want us both to have fun out there and hopefully have him do his contacts as beautifully as he does them in class. He has been following my body really well lately and I hope we can continue to work as a team in a more stressful environment.

Of course I'd like Q's with both dogs but mainly I just want us to be a team.

Two Tired Dogs

2011-10-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

Today was our first agility day in the barn. It is Max's regular day and Rylie had a makeup class for one that was rained out earlier this week. I have two very tired dogs tonight and one very tired handler.

The transition to the barn is always interesting. There are cats that live in the barn - probably rodents - lots of hay, very interesting dirt (or so the dogs would have you believe), well you get the picture. As the owner had to get in one more time with the hay wagon all the holes hadn't been plugged with hay bales. There was a Rylie sized hole at one entrance so there were a lot of things to watch out for. There was only one other dog in Max's class today so we all had a good workout. Max did really well - he did take off once after something nobody else saw but he stopped dead when I called him and did come back to me. Rylie always stays where he is put in class because the female border collie has told him off on more than one occasion when he wandered (intentionally or non-intentionally) into her space.

Both dogs had a hard time with taking the correct end of the tunnel. With Max it was a pretty hard entry but with Rylie he was just convinced I didn't know what I was doing. Every time I stopped to reset him he looked at my trainer as if to say "you tell the crazy lady I was right and she was wrong".

We have a trial next weekend. I'm looking forward to it. I think Rylie and I are starting to gel as a team and I sense more confidence in Max (which probably comes from me gaining confidence). We have been running a lot of full courses in class and I think that has been helpful to me.

Harnesses

2011-10-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

I generally walk my dogs with a regular harness that clips at the back. I expect my dogs to walk nicely on leash without pulling. They generally do but there are distractions we encounter where they do pull so I prefer to use a harness rather than have them yank their necks. I have tried a head halter on Max when I knew we would be walking around major distractions (squirrels). I have shaped it to the point where he will walk quite nicely with it and it certainly does help hold his brain in place when we encounter squirrels but I'm not very comfortable (both literally and figuratively) in using one on such a short dog. I know the proper technique of sliding your hand down along the leash to the end but the problem is that the end of the leash is only 12 inches off of the ground which means either I need the arms of an ape or I need to bend right over. This takes more time than it would for a large dog and there is the risk that Max will be able to jerk the head halter (and his neck) and/or I will put my back out.

I know the regular harness reinforces any pulling the dog does do so I decided to try an easy-walk harness. I've been using it all week on our walks. I haven't made up my mind about it yet. I'm used to walking with the leash in a "J" position. When I do this with Rylie the leash tends to get tangled around his feet. Even with Max it slaps at his front leg. Not sure what the solution is. I also find the leash itself gets wrapped around Rylie's neck as he is in the habit of changing sides a fair bit so I have been doing a lot more untangling than I normally would have to. Having said that it doesn't seem to bother either dog to wear it. I can't honestly say about the pulling as we haven't met up with any major distractions on our morning walked this week (well until today when I had them in their regular harnesses and they acted like they had never been walked on a leash in their lives).

I'll give it a try for a week or two more and search out some high level distractions before I make up my mid whether I like it or not.

Good News

2011-10-12T20:01:00.000-07:00

Rylie was back at the vet today and his urine test came back good. Infection is gone and so are the crystals so yay! His urine ph is high so I will continue to supplement him with cranberry as I have been doing for the last couple of weeks.

My big boy Max turned three last month. I didn't actually forget his birthday but time got away from be and it had come and gone before I realized it. Nearly three years ago we brought home this sweet little puppy.

He's still just as sweet in my totally unbiased opinion :-)

Gamblers

2011-10-02T18:51:00.000-07:00

Max and I went to a gamblers workshop today. I had second thoughts about it when I realized it was for Master Gamblers and Max has only one advanced Q.

What I found out was that Max follows my body very closely. By making some minor adjustments in my position I was able to give Max the information he required to do the obstacles that I was directing him to. I was really amazed at the difference. I always knew that Max has wanted to do exactly what I was asking so it is really cool to learn how to ask him in a way that he understands. I hope I can carry my learning into the next trial.

Poor Rylie

2011-09-25T05:54:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week Rylie woke up in the middle of the night. When I went to let him out he had already peed in his crate. This is the second time in a month or so that it had happened and I am pretty convinced he was sleeping when he actually peed. He was soaking wet both times when I went to let him out and I'm a pretty light sleeper so I think I would have heard him had he woken up and asked to go out. After the first time we had been very careful about making sure he actually peed on his last outing before bed so I figured that a vet visit would be in order. It turns out that Rylie has a UTI complete with crystals in his urine. The only other "symptom" he had which I didn't think too out of the ordinary until he stopped doing it was lately as soon as we got up in the morning he would ask to go out. My food hounds had always insisted on breakfast first. After a couple of days of antibiotics I try and let him out first thing in the morning and he looks at me like I've lost my mind.

We went to an agility trial yesterday and Rylie ran by ALL of the contacts (dog walk, A-frame, and teeter). This is very unusual for him because they are normally his favourite obstacles. I initially put it down to being a baby dog and nerves on his part but a fellow competitor watched one of his runs and asked if he could have a sore back. Her dog will refuse contacts when his back is sore. After she mentioned that I felt bad for calling him back to do each of the contacts (which he did do on the second pass) because I suppose a UTI could cause back pain. Also he had had a chiropractic adjustment to his shoulder on Friday so it might have been a bit tender.

I think I'm going to limit his activity until our class on Wednesday. By then he should be feeling 100% better from the UTI and if he still hesitates (he's pretty unlikely to refuse outright in a familiar environment) I'll take him back to the chiropractor.

Max did well in both of his runs but we are running into challenges that show what we need to train so we didn't get any Q's. Last week we had done a lot of sending to tunnels and building value for the tunnels at home because nine times out of ten I will have to send him to a tunnel in the gamble. I built so much value for the tunnel apparently that when faced with the choice between tunnel and aflame or tunnel and dog walk he consistently chose the tunnel even though I think I was pretty clear what I was asking for! Next training challenge will be to work on obstacle discrimination!

CFSO Picnic

2011-09-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

We attended the Cavalier Fanciers of Southern Ontario picnic today. What's better than a yard full of Cavaliers? Why new snoods of course! Thank you Mary Beth. Mom also won an awesome prize in the raffle. It was a good day all around.

We were at an agility trial this weekend. Rylie was in his first standard runs and ran awesome - although I can see that maintaining criteria for him will be important. This was the most relaxed and "himself" I've seen him in a trial.

My handling skills (or lack thereof) are just not doing Max justice. I have a plan of action to work on handling because I better get it together before Rylie moves up. While Max is more forgiving of my bobbles Rylie expects clear concise and TIMELY direction from me. If it's not forthcoming he'll make his own choices.

Joint Supplements

2011-09-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

I have been giving my guys Sasha's Blend joint supplement since I took Max to Say Yes puppy camp when he was about 15 months old. I will confess that my reason for using it was very unscientific. Susan Garrett uses it for her dogs from the time they are puppies. Even though my vet felt there was no evidence that using a supplement preventatively will do any good he also didn't think it would do any harm. I ask my dogs to do a lot of jumping and I want to keep them them healthy. I use this instead of the glucosamine chondroitin that I had been giving them. Of course it seemed only fair to give it to Mindy as well (she was 11 1/2 and although she didn't show any symptoms of stiffness or pain I figured it wouldn't hurt). When I ran out of the first batch I didn't reorder right away. What I noticed was that Mindy was a bit slower to get up out of bed and didn't move with quite as much pep. That sold me on using the Sasha's blend and I've used it ever since.

About a year ago I complained to my chiropractor of having a sore big toe. He told me I was probably of an age that taking a glucosamine supplement would be helpful (and yes he said it exactly like that - no beating around the bush from him!). I did and I did find it helped. One day when I was on the website to order my Sasha's blend I noticed the company made a human joint supplement. I decided to live on the wild side and ordered some. Within two weeks of taking the Joint XL the pain in my toe had totally disappeared and I was able to reduce the amount I took. Of course with no pain I sometimes forget to take it ;-) and I get reminded soon enough of why I'm taking it in the first place.

Trial Weekend

2011-09-04T18:57:00.000-07:00

This was the first trial where I ran both dogs three runs a day. I think Rylie is FAR FAR happier being able to do more than one run.

Saturday was VERY hot. I got to use my brand new silver shade sheets. Man do they work well. I covered my mini up with the sheets, left the windows and doors open and it was so pleasant inside with the dogs crate fans going that I didn't even bother putting up the shade tent.

I put Rylie in steeplechase which was the first event of the day. He knocked a bar which surprised me so much we missed a jump but it was a nice run anyway. Both dogs were in advanced gamblers. Both of their contacts were really good but neither got the final gamble. I have to work at sending them when I am stationary. I can't remember much about their jumpers runs but I was happy with their speed and focus. I made a handling error that caused Max to back jump a jump.

Today Rylie's steeplechase was really good but Travis was there and because he is still a bit nervous he decided to go visiting twice. Even with that we were clean and just a couple of seconds over time. His weave entries were awesome and his 2o2o aflame was really good. Next was gamblers. After Rylie and I argued about the course yesterday I decided to let him do the dog walk and we were all happy. He got the final gamble which amazed me because it was tough and we don't have directionals. Max did well in gamblers as well but I couldn't send him to the tunnel which was the fourth obstacle. Max ran a lovely snookers run and that Q gave him his Starters Game Dog title. His jumpers run was lovely but the course I sent him on wasn't quite the course the judge set and we threw in an extra tunnel. Rylie was a very good boy in his jumpers and got a Q there as well.

Tomorrow we have half day seminars for both dogs. Looking forward to it.

Class

2011-08-31T19:40:00.000-07:00

Rylie kicked my butt in class tonight. I so need to run faster to handle him. He's such a good boy. We'll get there.

Another Seminar

2011-08-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

I took Rylie to a handling seminar on Sunday. He did really well. My legs were sore after three full days of agility earlier in the week.

I'm still thinking about camp. My goals are to improve my handling by being more decisive and to give myself visual landmarks on course to help me be where I need to be.

It was also suggested to me that if Max has more value for the individual obstacles he will be more confident when the courses become more complicated. I had to think about that one for a bit because I didn't think he was lacking in value but I realized that he doesn't have the same kind of quivering self control at the start line to that Rylie does.

Agility Camp

2011-08-25T18:02:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a three day agility camp. It was an amazing experience. There were three incredibly talented instructors who each had a slightly different teaching style. I got a lot of great feedback and have some specific things to work on. My fellow classmates were so supportive of me and each other. I've been to a few other camps before but this one certainly topped all of the others.

My dogs were just awesome. I got so many compliments on them and they really did work hard for me.

Another first for me - I drove our motorhome the two hours to camp and back ALL BY MYSELF!

Thunderstorm

2011-08-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

We had a thunderstorm late yesterday afternoon. Max only barked a couple of times. He came right over to me when he heard the thunder so I could do t-touch on his ears. I put the thunder shirt on him while we ate supper. I am so thrilled with how he has progressed and from being a skeptic I have turned into a believer of the bach flower remedies.

We went to Pawlooza in London yesterday. It was wild and crazy. Rylie "almost" tried dock diving. He was so excited but when he ran to the end of the dock (a couple feet high - not regulation) he stopped and said "Are you nuts"? I was going to let Max try lure coursing but they had stopped running by the time we got back to the course. I did talk to a chiropractor who works out of London so I was pretty excited about that. All in all it was a great day and the dogs had fun. When I was finished talking to the chiropractor Neil said to me "You need to come to the booth two doors down" - you have to know him - to encourage me to stay at an event with lots of people one second longer than absolutely necessary is totally out of character. Anyway, I was intrigued so off we trotted. I met a beautiful 9 month old try-colour girl :-). I don't even remember what they were selling at the booth lol.

Tomorrow night the dogs and I head off for three days of agility handling camp. I'm excited and nervous.

You know you're old when........

2011-08-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

The fur boys and I are on our own this weekend. Engineering Dad and Engineering Kid have gone on a golf trip. Last night I settled down to watch my newest video Unleashing Your Dog's Potential and realized I had no idea what settings to push on the remote to get it to play on our new fangled system. Normally the TV is on sports so it's not like I "get" to use it much. To tell the truth I didn't even try - that's what computers are for right?

This morning we walked down to the farmer's market. Both dogs walked really nicely even though the brain suckers (aka squirrels) tried to steal Max's brain he fought back and I didn't have to put on the brain retainer (aka gentle leader).

Next on the agenda is bath and then we are having a celebration for a classmate and her dog who came second at Nationals last weekend! Awesomeness!

Bad Aura?

2011-08-11T17:01:00.000-07:00

I seem to have a really bad bird aura lately. A couple of weeks ago I was walking the dogs in the morning. I saw this bump in the sidewalk. It was a baby bird. Not quite a hatchling but certainly not a fledgling. The poor thing was just sitting there shaking. I couldn't see a nest although I'm sure it fell or was pushed out of a nest in the tree. There certainly wasn't a nest that I could reach. Now I know you aren't supposed to try and put fledglings back in the nest but I'm not so sure what you should do in this situation. I suppose it's natural selection. My dogs wanted to say hello in the worst way but I figured the last thing this poor little guy needed was to be traumatized by monster dogs so we just walked on and left the poor guy sitting in the middle of the sidewalk.

I don't know if my lack of action brought me bad bird karma but last week when we got to agility class I spotted a dead bird stuck in the wire fencing. I very gently disposed of it before the dogs noticed it. Last night I was a bit early for class and was standing outside the field watching my trainer work with her two dogs. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flutter and then this little bird kind of skimmed the grass in front of me and did a face plant right in front of my feet. It's wings fluttered a couple of times and then it stopped moving. I have NO idea where it came from - there were no trees for it to fall out of close by. It seemed to be walking/running rather than flying but there was no doubt it was dead. I think it may have had a broken neck but since the poor thing died right in front of me it was still warm so maybe the neck would be floppy anyway?

I just want to put it out there to whoever is in charge of bird karma that I actually like birds quite a lot and if I felt my intervention would have helped the first baby bird at all I would have picked it up.

I was going to google what it means to have birds dropping dead around you but I decided it can't be good and it might be one of those things I'd rather not know.

Yoda?

2011-08-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

We took the dogs for a swim today. They love to swim and it's been so hot that they haven't had much exercise lately. I think Rylie enjoyed himself.

What do you think

2011-07-29T04:35:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to both save money and be more environmentally friendly I purchased these for my dryer.

Shortly after, Engineering Guy came up from the laundry room carrying one and asked why the dog toys were in the dryer? Apparently those who live in this house think I only buy things for the dogs!

Max seems to be doing better with thunderstorms. I still have to be awake with him but at least he has stopped barking continuously and is down to just random barks. During the second storm last night it was enough that I put on his thunder shirt and let him on our bed. I didn't have to be massaging him so I'd say we are seeing progress.

Yay for Contacts

2011-07-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

I am training Max and Rylie differently on contacts. Max has running contacts. Rylie is learning two on two off contacts (his front feet are on the ground while his hind feet stay on the contact and he touches his nose to the ground until I release him). We are training this way on the advice of my trainer and it's mostly due to the speed of the dogs. I need Rylie to stop at the bottom so I have a hope of keeping up to him. Max will sometimes miss his contact in a trial and I still have to be pretty close to him to make sure he drives all the way down but all in all they were pretty easy to train.

We have been working forever it seems like on Rylie's. It took him a long time to get decent nose touches and then he had a hard time stopping at the bottom. Last week he did the entire A frame and managed to stay on it. This week we added the dogwalk and he did both in sequence. Yay! I'm sure this will be a work in progress but I think the next trial he will be ready for an event with contacts. Which is good because right now he can only do jumpers and he isn't pleased to go to a trial and only get to do one run in.

He had a grand time in class tonight because he got to do all of his favourite things (we were sequencing and I honestly think everything is his favourite )

Fireworks, Thunder, and Agility

2011-07-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

After three nights the fireworks are getting a bit old. Max has been doing really well though. I used the rescue remedy Friday night but only the thundershirt and massage yesterday - even during the thunderstorm and he was fine. The only time we had any real barking was when the fireworks were set off after we were all in bed. We had to bring Max to bed with us both Friday night and last night but a few weeks ago even that wouldn't have helped. Rylie woke up and vomited at 4 a.m. this morning. No idea why - it was only the once and he seemed fine immediately after. He didn't even want to eat grass when I took him outside. Last summer that was always one of my signs that his tummy was still upset. He was fine all day today so hopefully whatever it was has passed.

We went to an agility trial for just a couple of runs on Friday. The best thing I can say about it is that Rylie got his second and last measurement and we no longer have to be places first thing in the morning to get him measured.

Max ran first and his run wasn't bad actually. He took a few off course jumps but we are new at the masters level and both have a lot to learn so I was happy. He was pokey at the start but got in a groove pretty quick.

Rylie had to wait a long time after they set his course. Since he was the first dog I made sure we were ready - but nobody else was! I guess they lost power so couldn't print out the running order and do whatever else they needed to do. Rylie's run started out fine and then I realized at the last second that the tire jump was too high - in truth this probably upset my focus more than Rylie but it meant I didn't get where I needed to be and then he saw Neil and Max watching and ran over in their general direction. We did get to start again because of the tire but I never got his focus back so I just picked him up and left the course when he decided to visit with all the gate stewards. He is usually very focused so this surprised me but he also isn't used to seeing Neil and Max watching him.

Camping

2011-06-30T04:20:00.000-07:00

We had another awesome camping weekend (although I'm covered in bug bites). We took a four day weekend and went to a couple of provincial parks close by. We got in quite a few bike rides (Rylie has decided to complain about the bike trailer) and the dogs got to do a ton of running on the beach and swimming. Max got so excited that he forgot that retrieving anything on land is totally against his policy!

Thunderstorm Seminar

2011-06-23T19:22:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended a seminar on helping dogs cope with thunderstorms/fireworks. It was very interesting and I came away with a few new techniques to try. Sadly (for my husband and son) the thunderstorm happened last night while I was away and they had to deal with Max barking for two hours.

The presenter is certified in Tellington Touch and Bach Flower remedies, and is an animal communicator so her techniques drew from each of these modalities.

Awesome Weekend

2011-06-19T17:13:00.000-07:00

I was really proud of both of my guys yesterday. Today it was just me and Max. We were chasing the elusive advanced standard Q and trying our luck at snookers for almost the first time (the first time we didn't last long before being whistled off).

We have been very close in our last couple of standard runs and I told Max that if he hit his contacts a gave me a good teeter we'd head right to the pond for a swim. He did and we did! He also came first in his class so that was cool.

Our next run was snooker. I managed to plan a reasonable flowy path and it worked well for us. Max was awesome at staying with me - we ended up with more than enough points and finished nine seconds early - another swim in the pond! We had a second snooker run today. The most logical path to rack up points involved taking the teeter multiple times in the opening. Most competitors did this. Since Max has had teeter issues in the past and was tentative yesterday I decided I wouldn't do that to him so we chose another path that only required doing the teeter as the last obstacle. We got a Q and even though he never wavered on the teeter today I think it was the most fair choice.

It was a great weekend - it's nice to see things come together - and in Rylie's case particularly see what we need to work on still.

So tired

2011-06-18T18:03:00.000-07:00

A very long agility day today. First Max had an advanced standard run. I was really happy although we didn't Q - he missed his down contact on the dogwalk - he was a bit pokey but did everything else really well so maybe he was just being thoughtful.

Rylie's starters gamblers was next - Rylie gets very high and then he becomes unsure so he was tentative to begin with - I had to send him a couple of times each to the tunnel for the mini gamble but he did go. By the time we got to the main gamble he was all "I got it Mom - not to worry" - and it was much harder than the mini. We got a Q. Max's advanced gamble was next. I mishandled the gamble causing him to take an off-course and be whistled off but he ran really well and got a ton of points in the opening -getting the mini gamble twice without a blink.

Jumpers - Rylie's advanced jumpers was a wild ride. We are still learning to work as a team - because he's so fast I ran as fast as I could to stay ahead (breaking one of the cardinal rules of agility - always stay connected with the dog). Rylie is very inexperienced so in trying to keep up to me he missed a couple of obstacles. Clearly I need to support him more. He did run super duper fast though. I didn't have great expectations for Max's master jumper run. It was the last class of the day - he is brand new to masters - and we were both beat after a long day. He ran beautifully and not only Q'd but came first in his class. We are really starting to come together as a team. If I had to guess I wouldn't have guessed that Max's only Q would come in his masters class but he always has liked jumpers.

Max and Rylie's new wheels

2011-06-18T04:13:00.000-07:00

This is the bike trailer that allows us to have some flexibility when we are camping. If we are going too far for the dogs to walk they can just pop in the bike trailer. Here they are after our hike last weekend. Funny though - even though "I" was the one who biked 14k hauling 35 pounds of dog THEY were flaked out when we got back to the campsite. I bought it second hand but it had barely been used. I had originally been looking for a child trailer but this is a pet trailer. The dogs enter from the back. Did I mention it's awesome? The dogs seem okay with it so far. They are used to travelling in a crate so it's not that much different for them -except Max tends to let me know (by scratching) when the ride isn't smooth enough for his liking.

I love weekends

2011-06-17T17:13:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went camping in our new (to us) motorhome. It was the first time we've camped in ages and we had a good time. The dogs enjoyed it too. I used my brand new (to me) bike trailer and we went on a 14k bike ride with a stop partway through for a hike.

This weekend we have an agility trial. We've been working hard on training and it will give us a chance to evaluate where we are. I was so happy with both of their performances in the last trial we were in last month. It should be a lot of fun. I was hoping Rylie would be ready for a standard course but his contacts are not quite there yet so he will just do jumpers and gamblers. Along with standard, jumpers, and gamblers, Max and I will be trying to figure out snooker.

Next Wednesday I am going to a seminar on ways to manage a dog's fear of thunderstorms. I'm pretty excited about it and hoping to come away with some new techniques for helping Max cope with the stress.

Thunderstorms and Birthday Boy

2011-06-09T04:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try the thundershirt tighter and get some rescue remedy. Meanwhile I'll continue with the classical conditioning.

I did call the vet's office the other day to inquire and felt better (in a misery loves company kind of way) to learn that all the vet tech's dogs were up all night barking too and they were as exhausted as I was. One of my trainer's dogs broke out of her (wire) crate and she doesn't usually get that worked up. The thunder wasn't THAT loud so it must have had something to do with the pressure change. Anyway - the vet would prescribe a sedative but I'd have to give it before the storm (which doesn't work with the middle of the night ones) and it doesn't last long. So scratch that idea. It did give me another idea though - I might let Max bark and take a sedative myself!

Just over two years ago this sweet little boy (the dog not the kid in case you were wondering) was born and came to live with us 8 weeks later. We wanted a spunky pup because Max was only 10 months old himself and I knew I planned to do agility with him. Rylie is SPUNKY (caps intended). He makes me laugh every day AND he's challenged me to improve my dog training skills.

Rylie has all big dogs in his agility class. They are nice dogs and they all get along fine but Rylie MUST have his own chair to sit in or be in my arms. It finally dawned on me that he needs to feel as big as his classmates so I haul a chair for Rylie to each class we go to.

Thunderstorms

2011-06-07T04:36:00.000-07:00

We had a REALLY long thunderstorm last night. For the last year or so Max barks at thunder. It has definitely been getting worse lately. He doesn't show any other signs of stress (drooling, panting etc.) and he will stop his barking long enough to work for treats however that really isn't practical at 3:00 a.m.

I have tried a thundershirt, classical music - and a combination. I have tried a (little) bit of classical conditioning by playing storm sounds at low volume but he seems to be able to tell the difference. Last night he woke us up barking before we could even here the thunder.

Anybody have any good ideas? I was hoping not to have to go the drug route but I'm fresh out of ideas.

Sunshine

2011-05-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

Woke up to a beautiful (but unforecasted) sunny day. My original plan was to take my bike and ride a 20k trail at our local conservation area. Common sense prevailed however - since I haven't been on my bike for a couple of years and engineering guy just put a new tube in the tire for me it seemed wiser to take a shorter trip, closer to home. I biked to the bank to get money to go to the first farmer's market of the season. I actually biked right by the market but the dogs and I walk down every Saturday morning so I didn't stop.

My farmer's market scores today were asparagus (yummy), homemade bread, organic spinach, and homemade soap. I just missed out on the lettuce.

It occurred to me while walking down with the dogs how grateful I am that I can walk with them. It's something I take for granted nearly every day.

Now I have to choose between indoor work and yard work. I know I'd rather be outside but the dust bunnies are starting to have babies!

My favourite things

2011-05-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night I was telling someone that my favourite "thing" is my iphone. On Saturday night that was true. On Sunday Max and I went to an agility trial in the rain. My favourite thing is now my shiny new black rubber shoes that kept my feet toasty warm and dry.

Sadly my feet were the only part of my body that stayed warm and dry. I didn't have rain pants (I do now!), I don't own a hat and I didn't put my waterproof jacket on until I was already wet (yeah I know it doesn't do much good then).

Poor Max was pretty cold and wet too despite the raincoat I brought for him. I ended up wrapping him in a blanket and sitting with him in the car between runs. We were supposed to be in three runs but pulled out of the last one. Despite the weather we both had fun. Max ran a really good standard run - he did a couple of off course obstacles but all in all I was happy. I wasn't sure what to expect for his advanced gamblers run. It was our first advanced gamblers and our fourth gamblers ever. He was amazing! It was a really lovely course and we racked up a lot of points. I didn't really have any expectation that Max would do the gamble as it was 6 weave poles, teeter, jump. I was really hoping we'd be able to manage the weaves. Well not only did he get the weaves but the same dog who absolutely refused to do a teeter in January did the teeter fourteen feet away from me and carried on to the jump. I was so proud of him!

I took Rylie on Saturday. The weather was much nicer. He had two good runs and Q'd in both his jumpers and his gamblers run. We are still getting used to doing full courses so we weren't without our bobbles but he's a really good boy and pays attention.

We've been doing a lot of agility lately and getting some much needed practice on courses. I'm so pleased with how both dogs are doing. We're having a lot of fun.

MIA

2011-05-06T16:30:00.000-07:00

I've been MIA for awhile. I've been here and reading blogs but life has gotten incredibly hectic.

My nest is no longer quite as empty. Engineering Guy finished his third year (where does the time go) and is home for what will probably be his last summer.

The dogs and I have been participating in Susan Garrett's recallers course which is just winding up. I have been lucky enough to attend a few seminars with Susan in person but I almost think that I get more out of the online courses as there is not quite as much material to digest at once.

One of my deepest wishes is that I had been more aware of positive training methods when my Golden was alive but I am a firm believer that every dog comes to us for a reason and I know that Zeus' legacy to me was to make me determined to have a well trained dog without using force or punishment. I've been so blessed to find my own trainer who is also one of Susan's instructors and who introduced me to Susan's methods.

Did my dog's get better recall through this course - honestly I'm not sure as I think their recalls were already pretty good. I know I have learned a tremendous amount about dog training and how to work through problems. The other thing that happened is that my relationship with Rylie has improved dramatically. Rylie is an awesome dog - he has always been a Daddy's boy. He loves his momma but he follows Daddy around and it's sometimes hard to keep his attention if Daddy is in sight. That has been great for working distractions. This course has changed that dramatically without even trying though. What momma wants - momma gets cause momma is da bomb! Max has always been a momma's boy and I don't notice as much change in him but I have to say I'm super excited in the changes in Rylie.

This week I switched up their classes. I took Max to class with the baby dogs because I wanted to work on his teeter (which he did without a second thought -so go figure). We had a starters jumpers run set up because a couple of the dogs in the prior class were going to be competing in their first trial. My trainer challenged me to get a front cross in at a certain obstacle. I figured not a problem since Max isn't exactly a speed demon - well he fooled me. He rocked the easy course. The second time around I got the front cross in but only because I sent him and let him find three obstacles on his own. He beat me to the finish. My trainer said any time Max beats you consider it an awesome run - and I did!

Rylie went with the older dogs and the sequence was a bit trickier. I found I couldn't send him to the same extent and I couldn't keep up with him either! We do have some work to do but it was great fun.

Both dogs did realy well in class with strange dogs. I love Cavaliers - they are so adaptable.

I love my dogs

2011-04-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

I just have to say how much I love my dogs. They rock! They did great this weekend at our agility trial. Max had his best run since November in the standard class. He refused the teeter so we didn't Q but everything else was spot on and we were connected through the whole run.

Next we did snookers for the first time ever. Again he was awesome. I miscalculated what he would see and he ended up taking an off course jump so we got whistled off but I was happy with what we did accomplish. He did awesome in his jumpers run and did get a Q (and first)

Rylie only had a jumpers run today and I just have to say how much Rylie rocks my world. Our starters run was the most fun I've had since I don't know when. My trainer said the "right" thing to do was lead out three jumps. I asked her if she thought Rylie could handle that because we hadn't really preacticed long lead outs? Her response was "Do you want your Q's in starters or in masters?" I decided to trust Rylie and our training and led out to obstacle four which was a tunnel. When I release Max from that distance he is often tentative because (I imagine) he's not sure he heard me and doesn't want to break his start line. Rylie on the other hand is all "I saw her lips move so she must want me to go". I had two small (but not serious) bobbles at the beginning of the run when I wasn't prepared for his speed and then we both ran like hell! I didn't mess up his Q this time. He was the only dog running at his height but I'm pretty sure he ran faster than most of the border collies (nobody has ever told him he isn't a border collie!).

Agility Trial This Weekend

2011-04-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend the dogs and I are at an agility trial close to home. Today I had Max entered in three runs and Rylie in two. Can you say exhausted? Max ran in the advanced standard class first. He did really well and ran fast. We didn't Q due to two jump refusals - most likely due to my handling - I'll have to watch the video but I was really happy.

Next I had both Max and Rylie entered in Starters Gamblers. There were only four dogs at their height so they were nice enough to move us into the #1 and #4 spot. Rylie ran first. It was a bit of an experiment and I honestly had no idea what to expect. I started him with the weaves because they are his favourite thing but he popped out almost right away. My trainers voice saying "when young dogs are stressed the first thing to go is the weaves" echoed in my ears. Regardless we carried on and ended up with enough points. Rylie didn't get the gamble which was a tunnel and two jumps working 10 feet away from me. That surprised me because usually when he locks on to a line he has it. I'll have to watch the video and see if I pulled him off unintentionally. He thought it was all great fun though and it was a good learning experience for me. I didn't think my brain was capable of remembering two courses so I planned to run Max the same course. Since starting with the weaves didn't work for Rylie I got brave and changed my plan. Max hopped on the teeter and decided he wasn't moving even though he'd done it without issue in the standard run. It wasn't a fault as it was starters so I called him off and carried on. He didn't initially get the gamble but we had enough time that I was able to send him over the jumps and he got a Q.

Next came Rylie's starters jumpers course. He ran really really well and did exactly what I asked of him. Unfortunately what I asked was to go over an off course jump. Oooops. So he didn't get a Q but he didn't care he had fun anyway. He'll get to try again tomorrow. Max's advanced jumpers run was next. I managed to keep my wits about me and direct him around the right course so he got a Q. He's just that bit slower than Rylie that gives me a bit of time to think during the run.

Mindy Part 2

2011-03-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for your kind words about Mindy. She was special and we miss her. She wasn't perfect though. Two of the funniest (now) memories I have of her are:

One night when she was about 4 she got up in the middle of the night. I let her out and very unlike her she didn't come immediately back in. She was a princess and it was the middle of winter. She usually didn't dilly dally about getting her business done. I called her but she didn't come. I put on my Sorels and coat over my pajamas and grabbed a flashlight to see what was up. There was Mindy in the middle of our backyard eating a rabbit! I can only assume she caught it and killed it. Either that or it dropped dead in the middle of our yard. Once I got her in she thought it was a good idea to kiss my face. EWWWWWW!

In her last summer (she was 11 1/2) I heard her barking outside. I went out and she was barking from under our deck. The deck is just about ground level and I had no idea how she got under. I was pondering the fact that I'd probably have to rip off a deck board to rescue her when shooting out from under the deck came a racoon with Mindy in hot pursuit. Max was also outside so he joined the chase. At least Max had the good grace to look at me when I called him (although he decided I just wasn't interesting enough), Mindy didn't even break stride. They chased this racoon around the yard two or three times before he escaped under the fence. He could easily have stopped and fought and taken them both out I think. Needless to say we found the entrance and closed it off so he couldn't get back and the dogs couldn't get back under.

Mindy with Zeus our Golden

Showing who is the Queen of the castle

Again - showing who is top dog

Not even Mindy can resist Rylie's charm but his head is not allowed near her ears (too much ear pulling from puppy Max)

Mindy

2011-03-28T04:30:00.000-07:00

It was a year ago this month that we lost Mindy. She was such a special girl. She was everything a Cavalier should be (energetic, fun loving, loving) and she was responsible for my love of the breed. Mindy was eight months old when we got her and stayed my velcro dog from that day on. In this picture she was 11 and still had a ton of spunk. The only thing I ever trained her to do was sit but she was such a good girl she always did what I wanted without me asking. She would have loved being an agility dog. She will always hold a special place in my heart.

This and That

2011-03-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a little while. Our trial a couple weeks ago was interesting.

The Good
- Rylie was awesome. He got his starters jumpers Q and ran really really well.
- Max got an advanced jumpers Q - he ran pretty slow but that gave me time to think about handling ;-).
- Max did the teeter on the standard run without even a second thought. Silly me for worrying.
- Max was tugging with me in the waiting area before his run - this is HUGE for us.
- Both dogs were awesome travelling and at the hotel.

The Bad

- I felt that Max was pretty stressed. The one video I have does show him wagging his tail but he was moving REALLY slowly all weekend and he left the ring on the one run we had on Sunday. He's never done that before.

I was considering not putting him in next month's trial but we got back, went to class and he was happy as a clam. It might be that he just needs to get used to different venues. I know he picks up on my stress but I didn't feel I was terribly stressed.

Anyway I decided to go ahead and enter him in the trial. My trainer will be there so she can watch us.

Rockin' Recalls

2011-03-10T17:26:00.000-08:00

Last summer the dogs and I participated in a recall e-course put on by Susan Garrett. We were provided with a new game every day for 30 days (among other resources) to help build a better recall. We loved it and I did the exercises with both dogs. Susan has asked those of us who have taken the course to make a video to post on her facebook page to promote the next offering of this course. I thought I may as well share mine here as well. It's my first crack at actually making a video (as opposed to just recording). It was fun. I hope you enjoy it.

More Fun With The Sturdi Bag

2011-03-07T04:08:00.000-08:00

By yesterday I consistently had this - Note the dirty look Max is giving me "I can't believe you want me to lower myself to this!" I had to play with both dogs - I was calling them out of their crates and rewarding them when they ran right back in (or scrunched in Max's case). The first time I did that Max came out, took a look and joined Rylie in the bigger crate. It's big enough for one but not really big enough for two. I had to laugh. When he realized that wasn't going to get him anything he went back into the bag. He's still not thrilled but I think realizing he could get in and turn around was the ah ha moment for him. On Saturday he was backing in - which works fine for me and looked kind of cute actually.

Shaping fun

2011-03-05T06:50:00.000-08:00

I was recently challenged to shape a new behaviour in my dogs. Now I'm not very imaginative, so I was still thinking about what to shape when my Sturdi Bag carrier arrived in the mail. I ordered this carrier based on Sara's review at Kosmo and Faith and the idea that someday I might take my dogs somewhere on a plane lol!

I decided that getting in the carrier would be the perfect thing to work on my shaping skills with. The idea of shaping is not to lure the dog with a treat but let them offer behaviours and reward those you like. Rylie had the first turn and within two minutes I had this.

This is more a testament to Rylie's love of crates than to my skills as a trainer though. Rylie actually stayed in the carrier for 20 minutes later that evening while I talked to my Mom on the phone.

With Max I have been working on a lot of teeter skills - including banging the teeter down and sitting on the tippy board. Our first attempt gave us this:

In hindsight that should have been a very predictable response. One of the cornerstones of this method is that when starting out it should be very easy for the dog to be successful and difficult not to have success so I set up the environment differently for our next session.

My hope was that he wouldn't be as likely to try and flatten the bag with his paws and he certainly couldn't sit ON it. I had to put something on top of the board because that is the board we have been doing the teeter training on. I did learn from my first attempt and I knew his first inclination would be to interact with the board as it has been so heavily rewarded. I soon got this:

By the fourth session I had this:

Now you can see he isn't too relaxed in there and he hasn't got all the way in it again but he will happily put 2/3 of his body in. He is a fair bit bigger than Rylie so I expected this to take longer with him. Since we have no plans to actually need this I have a lot of time and I'm certain he will be able to lie in it comfortably.

Rylie enjoys it so much that I've decided to continue to use it for him. I have been holding it a few inches off the ground (in front of my body so it can't swing away) and he jumps in. He thinks that is an incredibly fun game. I'm fairly certain I could take him on a plane tomorrow and being in the carrier wouldn't stress him out at all.

Double Box Seminar

2011-02-27T15:59:00.000-08:00

Max and I went to a double box work seminar today. I think I took away some awareness on my timing and positional cues that will be incredibly helpful (as long as I can remember it). None of the information was new to me as Max and I had been to a longer double boxwork seminar last spring but I find as we move along in our journey I get different things out of it.

I considered bringing Rylie as well but I didn't mainly because of Max's new stresses about car rides. It was probably just as well. I think Rylie would have done pretty well although he doesn't quite read my cues as quickly as Max he rarely needs more than two attempts at something before he gets it right. There wouldn't have been time to swap them in and out of the car though and when we work at our training arena Rylie barks for the entire time I am doing a run with Max.

The coolest thing is that we met two other Cavaliers. One was a black and tan boy with the same sire as Rylie. He reminded me of Rylie in the way he went hell bent for leather and he was also a face licker. The other one was a tri boy- and I love tri's. It was a bit of a challenge to keep the three Cavs apart. They do know their own breed.

A Golden Lab girl developed a crush on Max. Apparently she NEVER goes off to visit other dogs but wherever Max was she wanted to be licking his butt. He didn't complain but he was a pretty big distraction for her.

We learned a lot and a three hour seminar is probably just the right length for us. Towards the end Max was getting tired of sit stays and starting to wander as I walked the course but all in all he was a VERY good boy.

One little adventure was that my GPS died halfway there. It wasn't as bad as it could have been because I had printed off directions on Google maps. I did go out of my way however because after hearing turn left, turn right, I knew I had another right turn coming and when I got to the next town I realized I'd gone too far. We did manage to get there just in time (which to me=late) and I didn't have time to go to the house and use the washroom so it's a good thing I only had ONE morning coffee.

Training Weekend

2011-02-22T04:11:00.000-08:00

Well our afternoon at the arena was a bit of a bust. To start the afternoon off Max fell off the top of the dog walk (about 5 feet high). He landed on his feet and didn't seem any the worse for the wear. I made a herculean (for me anyway) effort NOT to fuss over him and got him right back up - which he did without hesitation and fed him a handful of treats at the bottom. I thought he might be stiff yesterday but he really does seem no worse for the wear thankfully.

When we got around to the teeter all was going well - we had progressed to the full teeter. I asked my friend to watch and he did it once when she was watching and then just starting stopping in the middle. His tail was wagging and he wasn't acting stressed but he was just not interested in finishing the job. It perplexed both my friend (who has had teeter issues with her older dog) and I. All we came up with is that the continued repetition might feel like poking him in the eye with a sharp object so any teeter work I do I'm going to stop at two reps and move on to something else. I can't wait for my trainer to get back because I seem to be making matters worse.

Rylie of course was Rylie - "just tell me what you want and I'm so there". I'm almost certain he found cat poo to feast on while I was working with Max so I guess I'll have to bring the crate next time.

After the arena I had to go to Petsmart. The arena is about 15 minutes from home - halfway between home and the city. For some reason even though I wasn't rolling around on the dirt floor I looked far dirtier than the dogs! I contemplated going home and cleaning up before heading to a place with people but decided what the heck so off we went. Of course there were many people and dogs to visit with in Petsmart on a Sunday afternoon. I take comfort in the fact that none of them knew me!

My body seems to want to catch a cold - I am hoping I can convince it that it's not a good idea.

I'm Back

2011-02-20T08:13:00.000-08:00

Engineering Dad and I were away for a week in the (not so) sunny south. It was a relaxing holiday but I missed the dogs like crazy. They stayed with a lovely couple who have been taking care of my dogs since we moved here 11 years ago. I'm pretty sure they had a good holiday too. I was thrilled this morning to be able to take them out for a walk without boots or coats (well except for me - I'm a bit of a wuss that way).

I think we are going to head to the arena this afternoon for a bit of exercise and training. I have an idea for Max's running contacts to hopefully remind him he has to run to the bottom as he has been leaping off. He still hits the contact 95% of the time but a more experienced handler told me at our last training session that it's something I'll want to fix before it becomes a problem and I think she is probably right. We'll also see how he feels about the teeter after being away from any teeter training for nearly two weeks.

I'll work contacts with Rylie too and some handling exercises for both.

Tired

2011-02-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

I need to go back to work tomorrow to rest up! It was a busy weekend here in the nest. Nothing exciting - just busy. Saturday morning we went to the arena to train. Max's retraining on the teeter is going well I think. Before we were done I had moved to just an 8 inch table under one end of the teeter and he was going over without stopping (he wasn't running but I'm okay with that because I don't want him getting bounced again). The masters dogs were there practicing so there were a lot of dogs in close proximity. One BC even decided to come and check Max out when he was weaving and he kept in the weaves - Good boy! We were set up close to the weave poles and Max did the same thing to another dog despite my best efforts. I think I'll have to keep him on leash when there are strange dogs around because he's too interested.

The masters trainers were pretty impressed with Rylie's weaves - he really is stinking fast. Rylie is not at all impressed when I train Max and he lets me know about it in no uncertain terms. Yet another reason why they shouldn't be in the same class I guess.

I drove into the city to shop (by myself) Saturday afternoon. By the time I left the mall it had been storming and it was a really miserable drive home. The socks and hand lotion I got weren't worth that drive.

I had a work project Saturday night and Sunday morning - after that we went to the dog park. I think dog parks are Max's favourite place in the world because he just runs and runs. We went back to the arena this afternoon to train by ourselves. I mostly worked contacts with Max since we needed that. Rylie just wanted to run and jump. I tried a decel exercise with him and he caught on the second time. I was pretty impressed by that. Max and Rylie both aced the serpentine exercise I set up from our workshop in December. I hope that had something to do with my timing getting better and not just the fact that they are both brilliant!

I hope both dogs will be tired enough that they will sleep well tonight - I know I will.

Operation Bang for Beef

2011-02-02T09:40:00.000-08:00

That's what I'm calling my teeter retraining project. The board Max is on has a PVC pipe attached underneath to make a mini teeter. When it tips it makes a really loud bang. We've been working on rewarding the bang with a hunk of stewing beef. When I first brought the board back out I thought it was the tip that Max was leery of but after it banged loudly on the floor and freaked him out I realized it was the bang. We went to putting a mat under the bottom to muffle the bang and now we have moved into the kitchen with full bang for the first time. Max is sitting here waiting to be released (after his reward).

I'm also doing this exercise with Rylie a) because Rylie will not be left out and b) I think Max's tentativeness comes a lot from not regularly practicing. He can't eat beef though so he kind of gets ripped off in the treat department but shhhhhh - don't tell him.

Bath Time

2011-01-30T18:04:00.000-08:00

Hopefully you sleep with one eye open Mom - we don't approve.

Training Weekend

2011-01-30T13:44:00.000-08:00

We went to the arena yesterday to train. There were some dogs there that neither Max or Rylie knew so it was a good distraction. We got in some good distance work. Max is still having issues with the teeter - and with the car for that matter. I do have a plan around that. I bought a pound of stewing beef separated it into small packages. I know he loves beef so I'm going to reward him like crazy when he bangs the teeter and gets in the car. You have to know that I love my dog a lot because the thought of touching raw meat gives me the heebie jeebies. I do most of my cooking without ever touching the raw meat with my hands! He's such a good boy - and the way to his heart is definitely through his stomach. I just have to be patient and not rush him.

Rylie was amazing! I wish I had a video camera. When he does the weaves he throws up such a cloud of dust behind him that I think I should rename him Pigpen! He was great at the distance work and every bit as good as Max at following my body signals. He got really annoyed when Max was stressing over the teeter because he wanted to show him how to do it!

Today we went to the dog park in our nearest city. I love this dog park. I don't want to jinx us but we've never had an issue there. All of the dogs appear to be with someone (as opposed to some parks where dogs have followed us around and been annoying to my guys without me ever being able to identify who they were with). Max is Mr. Social and feels the need to say hello to pretty much every dog. Rylie has a strong preference for black dogs. I had to call Max out of one scrum of three much larger dogs play wrestling because I was pretty sure he was going to get squashed by accident.

All in all it was a good weekend.

Max

2011-01-24T04:23:00.000-08:00

Max has always loved going in the car. This week when I took him to the vets he wasn't so keen to get in. He had slipped a little bit while jumping in last weekend so I put it down to that and lifted him in. On Saturday when we went to practice he was his crazy self when he saw me getting ready but then he ran to the car and back to sit at the door. Again I put him in the car but as our drive was a bit longer I noticed that his lip was quivering. The same thing yesterday when we went to get his nails clipped (I know - not something that is likely to relieve his stress) and then to the dog park. He seemed okay on the way home.

I have put this down to being more stressed than I realized in the crating area last weekend at the trial (he rides in his crate in the car). My thought is to take him for short car rides whenever I can (whenever possible to do something fun - but sometimes just to go get gas or go through the car wash) but I'd certainly like to hear any other advice. I also took the flexible crate to the arena and switched off dogs in it on Saturday - neither dog was in it for more than 5-10 minutes at a time - I'm hoping that will help. Both dogs sleep in their wire crates at home and will go in them without prompting whenever I am in the room. I suppose that is the key though - they can always either see or hear me.

Our next agility trial is in March and I shouldn't have to leave in in the crating area because we are visiting my son and the hotel is very close to the venue.

This and That

2011-01-22T19:12:00.000-08:00

We went to the arena today and practiced the tricky bit of the advanced jumpers course from last weekend and the gamble. Even after a few tries I was still bobbling the handling of the jumpers but both dogs were able to follow my handling and both dogs did the gamble we set up. It took Rylie two tries but I was pretty excited. I do think there is something funny going on with Max but I can't put my finger on it. He's just been acting a little off. The workout certainly tired him out but it just seemed to give Rylie more energy!

Rylie is a silly boy. When he wants to play ball he can become quite annoying and bark to get your attention. As a consequence he gets his ball taken away. One day I guess he had all of his balls confiscated so ever resourceful he asked to go outside. He came in with a chunk of ice that he dropped at my feet for me to throw for him. How on earth am I supposed to resist that?

Agility Weekend

2011-01-18T04:32:00.000-08:00

We went to an agility trial this weekend. Max got the final starters standard Q he needed for his agility dog of Canada title. It was NOT a pretty run and we have some things to work on but it was good enough. He also got a Q in his first advanced jumpers class. I was pretty excited about that. I had one handling bobble but Max is a good boy and waited until I figured out what I wanted to do.

Rylie had his first ever run and he did awesome in his starters jumpers class. I thought I could use a rear cross with him but he isn't ready for that so it caused him to have a fault. I was proud of myself that I could change my plan and hustle my not so little butt to give him a front cross at the next arm change. Although he didn't Q he was the fasted of the four dogs in his class. I was pretty excited about how well he ran.

One of the problems with our training facility is that it isn't large enough to set up a whole course so the only practice we get running courses in in trials.

I have a plan for the rest of the winter for both dogs - more contact work for Max and mostly handling for Rylie. We don't have another trial until March.

Sweet Max and Rascally Rylie

2011-01-13T16:18:00.000-08:00

MOM - I put the ball in your boot so you wouldn't miss it!

Weekend

2011-01-09T14:57:00.000-08:00

Well the nest is once again empty of human offspring as we put engineering guy on a train back to school this morning. Computer Dude left on the 29th and has already put in one week of his work term.

Max and I went to the barn........oops I meant the arena yesterday morning. I met two of our classmates there. Peanut the pug/terrier and his handler have about the same experience as Max and I - Peanut is a bit faster though. The other lady has a lovely Sheltie called Maddie May. Maddie is a bit more experienced and her handler has a lot of experience - her older Sheltie is a masters level dog. She set up some gambles for us to practice as Peanut and Max are both in their first gamblers class. She also said she'd walk the course with us next Saturday and help us plan our route. Max and I also practiced the teeter and weaves. The teeter is certainly not Max's favourite thing but I think it's coming along. His weaves were awesome.

Today I took both Rylie and Max to practice. Max and I worked some more on the teeter and I had both Max and Rylie run the (very easy) sequences that someone had set up. I realized that the tunnels have amazing sucking powers for both dogs so I will have to be cognizant of that next weekend. Rylie really is stinking fast and my brain is going to have to work double time to anticipate what he is going to see - there is no doubt he drives a line. He did pull off the tunnel today when I called him though (but I only called him because that was the line he saw in our previous try). The advantage is that the advanced jumpers is the class before starters and they usually aren't terribly different. I will be able to see where Max wants to drive and hopefully handle accordingly with Rylie. All in all it was a fun couple of days in the arena because we could work on the things that we needed to work on.

It was interesting training both dogs together. They haven't both been in the arena at the same time . Engineering Dad was with me but in the end I had to have one dog on a leash while I ran the other because the one not running wanted to get in on the action. I can see if I go alone I'll have to bring a crate because there is no way I'm going to get either to sit on a table and wait patiently for their turn.

Long week

2011-01-07T17:26:00.000-08:00

My training has sucked this week. It's year end at work and I've been putting in longish days. By the time I get home I'm too tired to do a lot in the way of training. I have come up with a recipe box with games from our summer recall course - my thinking is that if I'm stuck I can pull a game out of the box. Over the winter I am mostly trying to work on toy/tug drive and contacts. We did do some targets this week. I am having a difficult time fading the target and still getting the nose touch. I guess that means that we just aren't ready to move on.

Tomorrow Max and I are going to the arena to train. We have entered our first gamblers class at the trial next weekend and it would be nice to get in some distance work. We haven't done much distance work and I have no idea whether Max will be able to do the gamble or not. My mind thinks that the gambles in starters aren't horribly challenging but I will report back if I've changed my mind after attempting one! My main goal tomorrow is to work on the teeter and weaves. Max bounced off the teeter at our last trial. I didn't have him back on a teeter until last week and he was very tentative, so I'd like to go back and make it more comfortable for him. We haven't done a lot of 12 weaves ever so I try and practice whenever I can.

Week 1

2011-01-06T04:31:00.000-08:00

I have been toying with the idea of doing the picture of the week challenge but as some of the blogs I read do one dog a year I had been trying to decide which dog to pick. Max is the eldest but Rylie is the most challenging for me to photograph (because he's black). I felt like I was trying to choose between my children lol! It occurred to me yesterday that since I am the one challenging myself I actually don't have to choose between my dogs - I can challenge myself to post one dog picture a week. Now I will have to confess that the first picture was taken by my son with his new camera (although he used my lens). It captures Rylie's personality so well that I thought it would be a shame not to use it.

Seminars

2011-01-02T16:51:00.000-08:00

Today I went to two seminars that my trainer was putting on. In the morning I took Max to a handling seminar. We did a lot of speed circles and several handling exercises that would be easy to set up for this winter if we were practicing alone. There was a really interesting mix of dogs - there were only six of us, three starter level dogs, a couple of advanced, and a masters dog. Max and Peanut - his classmate that always beats him stacked up pretty well with the more experienced dog/handler teams. We struggled with the serps but otherwise did pretty well. Max was just beat afterwards.

I took Max home and switched off for Rylie for the flatwork/foundation seminar. Two of Rylie's classmates and six other baby dogs were there. It was a review of some of the things we practiced at the seminar I went to last month but it was good practice and Rylie had fun.

I am exhausted. The seminar location was in an unheated barn and I froze this morning even though we were doing a lot of running. Even Max was cold and he doesn't get cold normally. I had him in his fleece coat but finally put him in my lap which helped both of us. When I went home to switch dogs I also put on my long johns and Sorels. I dug out the warmest coat we have for Rylie. He was an angel and didn't fuss at all about being crated between his turns. The coat seemed to keep him toasty - although it did make him look fat. His seminar wasn't as physically intense as Max's and he was still full of piss and vinegar when we got home. I had supper, hot tub, and wine.

We won't have class now until March but we can use the training facility to practice so I think we'll try to do that on a regular basis.

We are in a trial in two weeks - it will be Rylie's first ever. I'm looking forward to seeing how things come together for us and where our holes are.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T08:38:00.000-08:00

2011 has started out lucky for us. It's raining out - which means it has warmed up. Max and I went for our walk this morning with no boots or coat (for him anyway lol)! So much snow has melted that along the way we found Rylie's boot that he lost a couple of weeks ago. Score! Lest anyone think Rylie wasn't allowed to come with us he wants you to know that he is a PRINCE and it is not suitable for a prince to go out walking in the rain! I decided that it wasn't worth the fight today and I'll just throw the ball for him in the house.

A friend of mine has two large dogs and part of their Christmas tradition is that the dogs pull the tree home after they cut it down. This year she took pictures and it inspired me to have Engineering Dad cut down our tree when we were done with it. I thought I'd hook up the dogs and try and make it look like they were pulling it. It wasn't really a successful venture but I did at least get a good picture with my two legged guys who are notoriously camera shy.

All dressed up for winter

2010-12-27T13:36:00.000-08:00

Here are my guys modelling their ruffwear boots and their coats after our walk yesterday.

And Max looking terribly embarrassed.

Winter Gear

2010-12-23T04:15:00.000-08:00

When we go out walking in the winter (at least in town where they salt the roads) my dogs wear Ruffwear boots

or a Canadian product called Invisible Boot

Both seem to work well at protecting their paws from the salt and snow - both have their advantages and drawbacks. The boots have to be put on tightly. It took me a while to really believe this and if anyone helps me with boots we are sure to lose one. I also worry that getting their feathers caught in the velcro will pull their hair and hurt them. Both of my guys sit really nicely to get them on but putting on eight little booties plus coats and harnesses for the morning walk takes longer than the walk!

The invisible boot is a bit messy. It's non-toxic which is good because my dogs love the taste. They don't lick it off their paws but when you are waxing up two dogs there is residue on the floor by the time you get done with dog #2 and both my guys would rather stay and clean the floor than go for a walk at this point. Lately I've been putting the boots on Max and the invisible boot on Rylie as he seems to balk at walking in the boots for the first 50 feet or so.

Unless the weather is such that they get snowballs in their paws it seems that the cold and snow doesn't bother them as they can play in the back yard without a problem. It's just the salt on our town streets.

Monday Morning Ramblings

2010-12-20T04:27:00.000-08:00

Rylie recovered nicely from his tummy problems as soon as we got home. We haven't had class for three weeks now because of the weather so we are all going a bit stir crazy. Our walks have been curtailed too because it's been so cold. We have been out walking for the last few days though. Max is happy but Rylie balks at the beginning of the walk. The only reason I can think of is he remembers having salt on his feet. Once we get going he is fine. He is the one who will stay out forever in the back yard (without a coat) while Max prefers the warmth of the house so I just don't have any other explanation.

Engineering Guy came home on Tuesday. It's nice to have him back for a few weeks. Computer Dude comes home tomorrow so we will have a full house.

Dog Camp Day Two

2010-12-11T18:10:00.000-08:00

I didn't get my butt kicked even once (although I did get called on a couple of sloppy manoeuvres near the end of the day today). Rylie had a blast and showed that we really have been working on foundation stuff quite a bit. I did have him tugging at camp a bit today so I'm pretty pleased with that. We had a table exercise where the tug was supposed to be the reward for offering behaviours at the table. I asked what I should do since I knew there was little chance of getting Rylie to tug on the table. It was suggested I use the exercise time to work on tugging. The funny part is that Rylie loves tables as he has been well rewarded for the table so he wanted to go on the table. My partner suggested that I use the table as a reward so that's what I did - Rylie tugs he gets released to go on the table. A little bass akwards but he was cool with it. He also has the "fake tug" down pretty well as he growls and paws at the toy. My partner would say "release him to the table" as she would think he was tugging and I'd have to tell her he was just faking it lol! He does keep me on my toes.

Tugging is something my dogs will do at home but not consistently in other environments. Susan Garret's training philosophy is based on having a tugging dog and I have seen how it builds drive so I can't argue. I came home with some suggestions on how to build the drive for this as this is the only thing I have "don't wanna don't have to" moments with and I haven't been sure how to work through them.

Flatwork Day 1

2010-12-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

Day 1 was awesome. I was so proud of Rylie - whether it is because the skills in this camp weren't quite such a stretch for me, or I have had that much more training since spring, or just because I met three of the other campers at the B&B at breakfast this morning. Rylie wouldn't really tug at camp but I didn't let it bother me because I know he will do it at home and in environments that are low stress. Eventually the rest will come. My partner for camp was a lady with a lovely poodle (she was very lovely as well)- he was also more food motivated than toy motivated. I realized that some of my criteria for reinforcement zone and crate games has been pretty low but again - that's something I can work on. Rylie was very quick to adapt when I changed criteria on him. The only downer is that Rylie has the runs. I even brought water from home because I know his tummy is sensitive but I guess that is his way of handling stress. I wasn't going to feed him his supper tonight (he had a lot of treats anyway) but he was pretty vocal in his objections to that plan so he got to eat - I sense it might be a longish night. Hopefully he won't have to go out too often.

We got back to the B&B at about 5 p.m. The only restaurants I know in the area are fast food so I thought I'd be stuck with that but when I walked in the door the proprietor informed me that soup would be ready in half an hour. Apparently he always makes homemade soup for the dog camp people so they won't have to pack up their dogs and take them out. Did I mention I might never leave?

I hope tomorrow goes as well as today. Other than the tummy issues Rylie seemed to handle the day well and enjoy it. He's a great partner.

Katie - yes my head often feels like it is going to explode when I go to these multi-day camps. My own trainer goes to these camps (and is at this one) and uses the same systems so the concepts aren't totally foreign to me but you get a lot in a two day camp and sometimes I feel like I need more than what I can get in an hour a week.

Flatwork Camp - The Day before

2010-12-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

The camp Rylie and I are going to is only about an hour and a half from my house. I am an incredibly nervous winter driver so I decided to spend Friday night close by and found a B&B that previous campers I have met raved about. Our little area of the world has been hit hard by storms all week and last night they were predicting another one tonight. Being the nervous nelly that I am I e-mailed the B&B to see if they could possibly fit me in tonight so I could drive down mostly in daylight. I am now sitting on my king sized bed with a complimentary glass of red wine beside me and Rylie on the other side. I was met at the door and my bags carried in. Rylie is allowed to be loose in the house (with me watching of course). There is a fully fenced back yard to take him out in. I wonder if they'd notice if I didn't leave? Did I mention the gas fireplace in my room? This was definitely a good idea - now I can sleep in tomorrow and be well rested for camp instead of getting up every hour to see if the storm had started. For the record the skies were blue on my drive and there is no snow at all here.

I Must Be Crazy

2010-12-04T17:54:00.000-08:00

I am heading off next weekend to an agiity handling seminar. I hemmed and hawed about which dog to bring and I decided to bring Rylie. Max really shut down after the seminar we went to in the spring and I'm not really sure now. I do know that he is much fitter and thinner now and he is able to make a mistake without thinking the world has ended but Rylie is a little less soft. My trainer also thinks he deserves the opportunity to work with me one on one for a weekend. Rylie is also a little less trained and he tends to be quite vocal when he feels he has been wronged (like when I leave him in his crate and walk away or refuse to throw the ball for him) so it could be interesting. I know I'll learn a lot and I think I've gotten over being intimidated by being one of the greenest handlers at the seminar (it just means I have more to learn and will surely get my moneys worth).

Crate Games gone bad

2010-11-24T18:21:00.000-08:00

Susan Garrett's Crate Games DVD is one of my favourite dog training resources and if I could only recommend one resource to new puppy owners that would be it. However Rylie has shown me that it can also be turned around so the dog trains the trainer.

We play Crate Games all the time - my dogs have been well rewarded for going into and staying in their crates. They sleep in their crates in our bedroom. Rylie invented a game where he would go into his crate when I was in the shower in the morning. Of course when I came out he looked so cute he got a treat. By then Max has usually gone into his crate as well so as not to miss anything, so of course I use the opportunity to play by calling one of them out and then the other. Of course they get treats when they are successful. The other day Rylie decided to take the game to a new level. I released both dogs from their crates and went downstairs to make my breakfast. I hear Rylie bark - hubby goes up to see what's up and there is Rylie sitting in his crate. I hear "Oh mom must have forgotten your treat" and of course Rylie got another treat! Impressed with his success with his gullible dad he tried it several times with me after hubby went to work. I may not be able to resist the big brown eyes too easily but the bark is incredibly annoying and not something I want him to learn to do to get what he wants so I just laughed at him and closed the bedroom door so he couldn't play anymore. He keeps me on my toes - that's for sure.

Agility Lessons Learned

2010-11-21T15:13:00.000-08:00

I took Max to a trial today. He was entered in Starters Standard and Starters Jumpers. The standard course was a lovely flowing course. Perhaps a bit too flowing for us lol! It was pretty much a train wreck! We were going great guns until obstacle eight which was the table. Max either flew off or ran over the table - I'm not entirely sure he tried to stop. We haven't done a lot of tables but he has been really good. In hindsight I didn't decel at all so he didn't have enough information. Novice handler with novice dog mistake. Next was the weaves - Max's weaves are solid so I wasn't concerned - well he popped out three times. I chose to handle them offside but that doesn't bother him so I'm not sure what went wrong - then there were three jumps which were lovely and a teeter. I tried to rear cross just as he started up the teeter and he jumped off - I probably had time to front cross and it likely would have been a better move. The teeter had a huge bang - Max either flew or jumped (I think he jumped) off. No big deal but not something I want to encourage. After that it was smooth sailing until the end. The positive was that Max continues to get faster - his running contacts were awesome - he ran right to the bottom of the A-Frame and dogwalk, and even with the table and teeter debacles and the three tries on the weaves we were under time. It was the first time we had done a course without my trainer to walk it with us and Max finished happy.

I was freaked about the jumpers course. It seemed to me to have a couple of really tricky bits where the dogs would have to discriminate obstacles. Also Max was the VERY FIRST DOG to run. That has never happened to us before. Not such a big deal because I don't watch the dogs before us but I had to manage my course walk through. When I walked the course there was only one spot where I thought there could be an issue and that was between jumps three and four - I was confident if we could get that far we'd be home free. I watched the more experienced handlers walk the course to see how they were handling the first four jumps and copied them lol. Max rocked! The dog that I worried about in the spring because he seemed to have lost his zip ran the course clean at nearly 5 metres/second (the standard course time was 2.8 metres per second). At this venue starters is a very small group but I'm told only two of the 26" dogs were faster.

The starters jumpers Q was the one I really wanted because it allows me to run Rylie in jumpers at the next trial we are at and Rylie was born ready! Of course I could run them both in the same class but with the small dogs having such small classes I'd probably have to run the course back to back. I'm middle aged and not in good enough shape to do that!

Wow - This is November!

2010-11-14T18:44:00.000-08:00

We took a drive to see engineering guy this weekend. We decided to take Max and Rylie with us. I had Max at a B&B when we went to camp last year but we've never stayed at a hotel with them. I do have to say it was a great experience. They both travelled really well and our hotel had a patio door so it was easy to take them outside.

The weather was gorgeous! Who could ask for better weather in November? Since we had a fair bit of time to kill on Saturday we went for a hike at a nearby Conservation area. It was just lovely. It was long enough to tire out the four footed ones (and the two footed ones as well!). I love finding new spots to walk with the dogs - especially since we do tend to spend a lot of time cooling our heels when we go. I've walked the waterfront (which I adore) many times and poked into all the nifty little shops so it's nice to find something new to explore.

Agility Weekend

2010-11-07T16:08:00.000-08:00

Max had a great agility trial this weekend. Saturday he was in his first ever starters standard run. He ran beautifully. Sadly for him the team member whose name is not Max tripped over her feet on the dogwalk and fell down. This caused Max to want to jump off to lick her face. To his credit he didn't but it distracted him enough to miss the last obstacle. We came SO close I entered him in the second standard run. He ran beautifully again and I didn't mess up either so he was first in his class with a Q. In fact he was 3rd or 4th fastest of all the starters standard dogs of any height. He was beaten out by a border collie and a golden retriever.

Today on his standard run he also ran beautifully. He was beat out by his class mate Peanut but he was 2nd with a Q.

The starters jumpers was at the end of the day. Each run Max has got faster and I just wasn't prepared for a dog who decides he knows the line and doesn't check in with the momma. Consequently I didn't call him fast enough and he took an off course jump.

I was so proud of Max. This is the first time he's run more than one run in a day. I was worried that it would be too much for him but I think he really enjoyed himself.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T13:58:00.000-07:00

Johnny Depp eat your heart out! Max is supposed to be a space alien but he declined to wear the hood with all of the little blue horns sticking out. "Mom this is SO undignified". You take what you can get!

Back Home

2010-10-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

I got back home Monday night. I missed agility class for both dogs this week because Rylie goes on Monday and we went to Spamalot last night (It was great fun and I'm not even a Monty Python fan). My trainer took pity on me and offered me the use of her yard tonight (Max has a trial next weekend). We had fun. I practiced contacts and weaves with Max. As long as I remember not to peel away from him I think he'll be okay.

With Rylie I was excited to try twelve weave poles for the first time. After doing two sets of six a few times I put them together and he flew through the twelve.

I've toyed with giving my dogs a break from agility for the winter as my trainer is going away (heaven knows how I'd keep Rylie occupied) but it's so good for my mental health I think I'll try and find another class. Although I made a good friend in my obedience instructor last winter and I think she's a fine instructor I just didn't find it a lot of fun. I'd consider giving freestyle dance a try but I'm about as graceful as an elephant stampeding. I won't totally rule it out though if the agility thing doesn't pan out because one of the things I do enjoy about getting older is that I seem to have gained the ability to laugh at myself and do things I'll never be great at just because they are fun.

Max and I have our trial next weekend - for the first time I'm putting him in three runs. Then next month I'm taking Rylie to a two day seminar.

Missing My Guys

2010-10-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

I am in B.C. visiting my parents and as I expected I am missing my guys like crazy. I toyed with the idea of bringing one of them with me but it was a very long day of travelling and whichever one I left behind would have been sooooo lonely. They are probably having a great time wrapping Daddy around their little paws. The night before I left I took both dogs to agility class. Usually they have class on different nights but I switched Max's night so he wouldn't have to miss. They were both content (or at least I didn't hear them) during their hour in the car. Max went first - he really likes the cooler weather. His twelve weave poles were awesome. I was very pleased. The class he went to had two dogs he'd been in class with for a year. For a year he ignored them and their attempts to play (good boy Max) but on Monday night he took off from me as soon as they came in the agility yard to run over and say hello. I'm pretty sure my trainer has never seen him so naughty. I ended up having to put a leash on him but I was glad to see him having so much fun.

When it was Rylie's turn I realized just how much trouble I am going to be in running him! We were doing a sequence and I sent him through a tunnel - I was planning to cross in front of him to turn him before the next jump. Try as I could the closest I could get was getting to the tunnel exit at the same time as Rylie - I had to backstep because he was barrelling out of the tunnel to the next jump! If he could talk he'd say "It's okay mama - I've got it - just get out of my way". I knew I'd have to handle them differently but having back to back class really brings the point home. My classmate and trainer said I looked like a soccer player when I was back stepping to avoid him - in truth I was just trying to stay on my feet and avoid a collision - pretty sure I didn't look nearly as graceful as a soccer player!

I checked the AAC website and Max now has his own page since they put up his Q run in September.

Walk in the woods

2010-10-16T13:00:00.000-07:00

We are lucky enough to live within a few minutes walk of a lovely bush. Today I took my camera along as the doglets and I went for our morning walk. This has to be a current favourite picture. Last night Max and I went with my trainer and her masters dog to an outdoor training facility to practice. Max will be running his first standard course next month and we haven't really done all the contacts in sequence yet. He did really well. I had a couple of handling bobbles but Max is the best first agility dog. At this point he doesn't have blazing speed but that means even if I'm late in my cues he usually manages to take the obstacle that I want him to. He's very thoughtful and attentive. It was a new venue for him and he'd never met my handlers BC - who sometimes doesn't like other dogs at all. She was lovely with Max - she was the one who came up to say hello to him. I think I better start my own training program though.

Canine Olympaws

2010-10-03T05:00:00.001-07:00

We had a great day yesterday at Olympaws. The weather didn't co-operate so it was moved inside. The event was a fundraiser for St. John's ambulance therapy dogs. My goal - other than to support this great cause was to have my two in an environment with lots of different dogs and people. Being Cavaliers, of course they soaked up all the attention - canine and human! The only time Rylie got upset was when the agility club did a demo and didn't ask him. He was pretty sure he could do all this stuff!

After that we headed to an agility demo where Rylie and Max did get to strut their stuff. It was cold and wet and I think nearly all the spectators were also participants but oh well - a good time was had by all.

Max

2010-10-01T16:03:00.000-07:00

I realized today (well okay I've thought this for a little while now) that Max is becoming naughty. The thing is I can't get myself to get too worked up about it. I did get upset when he ran down the street the other night but when he chased the squirrel in the park I just decided that I'd take him back there to train with distraction. Watching him chase birds in the yard today I realized that I'm just so darn happy to see him run that I can't bear to call him off. There were a few months this spring and early summer when he didn't seem to run at all and I guess I was more worried than I even let myself believe. It's so nice to have my Max back.

Decisions Decisions

2010-09-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

I am going to dog camp in December. I LOVE dog camp. I will have two whole days to spend with my dog learning handling skills. The thing is I have to pick ONE dog to take. I signed up with Max - he is the oldest and has actually started competing in agility. There is no doubt though when we went in the spring he was stressed. I'm not sure if camp stressed him out that badly or if it was just the straw that broke the camels back because between March and July he really shut down. So that leaves Rylie. I'm pretty sure Rylie won't get stressed even if I suck as a handler like I did for Max in April. My trainer thinks I should take Rylie because he deserves a chance to experience it too. In the back of both of our minds it that Max is his happy agility loving self again and we don't want to mess with that. Rylie is a little spitfire and he'd keep me on my toes for sure.

WTG Max!

2010-09-19T19:06:00.001-07:00

Shameless brag to follow: Max and I entered our second agility trial today. He was absolutely brilliant in his starters jumpers class (coming second to an classmate) and easily earned a Q. He took all the obstacles without hesitation and looked like he was really having fun out there.

Parent's Worst Nightmare

2010-09-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

As parents when we send our young adults away to school we worry about them. I can't even begin to imagine what the parents of this young man are going through today. http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2756509

This young man passed away tragically before he even had a chance to attend a class. As a parent I have twice been through the worry of sending my young away to school. My heart goes out to Cameron's family, his friends, and his fellow students who he was just getting to know but who will also have to deal with this tragedy.

Bad Blogger

2010-08-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

Boy I am not good at updating this at ALL...... Since my last post Max and I entered our first agility trial. We didn't Q but I was pleased with how it went.

Rylie has developed some tummy issues that we are trying to sort out - but he is still happy go lucky, 100 miles a minute Rylie. I was reading today that spinal alignment can sometimes play a part in gastro issues. Now if anyone is at risk of becoming unaligned it's Rylie! The thing is I'm not too sure I like the chiropractor that I took Max to in April. I might hold out until we have the chance to go to dog camp again and get him adjusted by the chiropractor that comes to camp.

I am really excited because the dogs are enrolled in a recall e-course susangarrettdogagility.com/2010/07/stacking-the-value/

Both my dogs have pretty good recall already so my goal for this course was predominately to build focus and drive. I've been to a couple of Susan's workshops with Max and I have several books and dvd's so I thought I'd give this a try. I'm LOVING it. One of the things that made me hesitate to enroll was the fact that neither of my dogs are great tuggers and I know how much value Susan puts on tugging. Max will tug but it's not a reward for him so I have to use mainly food rewards. Rylie tugs vigorously IN the house only when HE wants to (some might ask who is training who?). Today our exercise involved running and tugging. I thought "Here is where we separate the border collies from the rest of the dog world" but WOW! I had both of my guys tugging enthusiastically. I'm so proud of them. I'm learning to transfer the value of something they value highly (food or me throwing the ball) to something I value like tugging. I understood the concept before but couldn't seem to make it work for me. I've also learned to control the environment to have the best chance of success. I planned our first session for a time when they decided they wanted to wrestle so I knew they were already in "play" mode. It was such a success that we took it on the road and I managed to get both of them tugging at a nearby soccer field. Unheard of for Rylie. I'm sure there will be setbacks but I'm starting to feel like I have more tools to use.

Perspective

2010-04-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

I finally watched some video my partner took for me last weekend. What I noticed was that although I was terribly confused about what I was supposed to do during some of it, Max's tail was always wagging and he happily did whatever I asked him to do. That makes me feel better about doing such an intense weekend with him.

I've been focusing a lot on just playing with toys this week with both dogs. I did have to bring out the food rewards for weave pole practice with Max though. We have just moved up to four weave poles and they are staggered. Today was only the second time we've practiced and he seems to be able to find the entrance without much of a problem. I even tried putting him over a jump and having him find the entrance and he did awesome!

Agility Weekend

2010-04-15T16:56:00.001-07:00

It was good. Intense, fun, great people, incredible dogs. It was a lot for both Max and I to take in. I screwed up a handling exercise so badly (which caused him to knock poles) that Max just sat down and looked at me. If looks could talk he would have said "excuse me lady - I'm not moving until YOU can get your act together" - and that was the G rated version! Being the sweetheart he is he forgave me though and consented to come out and play again when I was being more sensible. I'm afraid this weekend, although good for me may have set Max back but my own trainer doesn't think so. I hope she's right.

I am in a bit of a training meltdown right now though. In an effort to encourage Max to be more playful and build his drive I've let some of my training go - for instance I know let him jump up on me. I am afraid he's becoming a bit of a brat (and he's not anymore playful) *sigh*. Rylie has such a frisbee/ball/stick obsession that he won't play with any other toys anymore. What's more - if any of those are in the vicinity his brain takes a holiday.

I thought training was going so well with both boys and now I think I suck as a trainer and I just have generally good dogs.

2010-04-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

Max and I are going to agility camp this weekend. I'm really excited even though I know that I will be one of the greenest of the green students there. Everybody has to start sometime right?

I'm hoping to gain some handling skills - I tend to get confused easily and Max has the patience of a saint. I love my boy. He did something on class Monday hat I didn't think too much of at the time but impresses me a lot in thinking about it. We were trying to do a complex (for us) sequence - I was waiting for him to look at the jump before releasing him and he wanted to look at me. When he finally looked at the jump I released him - he didn't do the jump but ran to me. My instructor said "Debbie - he wasn't looking at the jump - there was a cat on the bale of hay and it moved". Now I think "Wow - he didn't even consider chasing the cat"! We finally did manage the sequence we were working on.

Rylie

2010-03-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

This poor guy has had a tough week. Just to say I have never seen so much poop in my life! He seems to have turned a corner and got "real" food today for the first time since Monday morning. For a little guy he sure caused his mom and dad a lot of worry. So glad he seems to be better

Training

2010-03-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

I've slacked off on training for the past couple of weeks. I needed some inspiration and today I got out my birthday agility equipment. First of all, I decided that since Max is apparently huge, and will have to jump 16" jumps I had better make sure his technique was good. I popped in a jumping DVD and did some set points. My home jumps are only 12" (I've ordered bigger ones but when they are custom made by Engineering Dad patience really is a virtue). Next I had Rylie doing the same set points but only over 6". From my extremely limited experience I think things went OK.

Later this afternoon we went to the off leash dog park near here where we walked around a couple of loops with two lovely Weimaraner girls and their owner. One of the girls jumped up on me to the chagrin of her owner (I really didn't mind but I understand because I don't like it when my dogs do it). They were lovely and gentle with my boys though. I did find out that as a breed tendency they have separation anxiety and having two seems to make it worse then one.

Fun Walk

2010-03-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

Today after work I met up with a co-worker and her two American Bulldogs (think 80 lbs each) and another co-worker and her large black dog and we went for a walk at our local conservation area. We had a blast. Max went swimming (on purpose). Rylie wasn't having any of that but would wade in about knee deep to steal the stick from Max as he left the water - of course a mad chase ensued. We must have looked quite a sight with three large dogs and two teeny ones but a good time was had by all. My only regret was that I didn't have a camera to take a picture of drowned rat Max. I think his diet is over - I've decided he's just fluffy!

Sleep Well My Sweet Girl Mindy - Feb 98 - Mar 10

2010-03-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

We knew this day would come sooner rather than later but it doesn't make it any easier. Mindy's tumour was starting to make her breathing laboured and we decided she had had enough. She spent the last 12 years attached to my hip. Even though she was the quietest dog the house seems so quiet without her.

Nearly as hard as letting her go was calling the boys. One of the things my own parents do that angers me is not tell me things I think I should know (like when my mom has open heart surgery for instance) and I never want to be that parent. I'm glad Engineering Guy had been able to be home for the weekend.

2010-03-14T13:37:00.000-07:00

Engineering Guy was home for the weekend. It was rather inconvenient for him but he had an interview and the company wasn't willing to do it by phone. It was nice to see him though and we went and picked up Computer Dude and went to The Keg for my birthday supper (my third birthday supper actually - I don't suppose I can drag my birthday on much longer).

2010-03-10T18:02:00.000-08:00

I always said I wouldn't be one of "those" people. I finally broke down and got Mindy a stroller. It was breaking my heart that she hasn't been able to go for walks with us. She just isn't strong enough to walk too far. Here she is in her new chariot - with the two pesky boys waiting patiently.

Miss Mindy

2010-03-04T16:27:00.000-08:00

Miss Mindy is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. She turned twelve last month. She is the most incredible dog. I've never trained her to do anything but she has always done anything I ask. I swear she can read my mind. Mindy has cancer. Her health is fading. She has had a long happy life and been the best companion anyone could wish for. I've promised her not to let her suffer unduly. Mindy has always been a quiet dog but the cancer has taken her voice. She sleeps a lot now but otherwise seems happy. She wags her tail, never misses a meal and insists on having her walk. It's hard to know whether she is suffering or not.

The top picture is Mindy on her twelfth birthday.

2010-03-04T15:57:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd try and resurrect this blog. My nest is still empty of human kids. Computer Dude and Engineering Guy are continuing studies in their respective fields. I'm incredibly proud of them but every time they come home I have to make rules around appropriate dinner table conversation. Some people have rules involving politics and religion. I have rules regarding calculus and physics. Every time our dinner table conversation falls to that level my head explodes. I really don't know how I gave birth to such mathy kids. Oh yeah - maybe Engineering Dad had a hand in the genes.

Anyway - now that my kids don't need my help getting themselves through each day I've had to find something else to do with my free time.

When our Golden passed away shortly after Engineering Guy left the next Miss Mindy and I started agility training. Mindy was nearly eleven. She blew everyone away. Not that she was fast - far from it - but she did every single thing I ever asked of her the very first time. Tunnel? Piece of cake. Teeter? No problem. As my instructor still tells people - the minute she realized there was food involved she would do anything. Agility classes also gave Mindy some time away from the pesky puppy Max, I insisted on bringing home for company. She was all for company but she did draw the line at ear pulling and proved she could still take a round out of a smaller dog. Max was a pretty lively pup - more so than I ever remembered Mindy being so we took lots of obedience training and then started agility training together. Mindy retired from agility after two session of class because doing agility in the summer sun was too much for her. Max loves agility and he loves his momma. He is rarely far from my side and would do anything I ask. He is hoping to become a therapy dog this year. Of course having two such wonderful dogs we (as in Engineering Dad rarely argues with me when I have my mind made up) decided that Max needed a puppy to run off some of his energy. Enter Rylie. Rylie is a black dog. I've never had a black dog before. I don't thing Rylie has stopped moving since he joined our family in August 2009. He is OCD about balls, sticks, and frisbees. He can be an absolute brat in obedience class and have the instructor ask to pick him up to cuddle him because "he's just so cute". Needless to say he has the rest of us wrapped around his little black and tan paw.