Jesus Christ, Where Is the Dumbbell?

Well, it's been over a month, and we have yet to receive our custom-fit dumbbell from Joe "Jesus Christ" Feist. At our last lesson, I asked Karen how long it typically takes her students to get a dumbbell from Joe. She said the average is 5 weeks! Jesus Christ! I hope I don't have to call him again to check the status. I don't have another potential 40 minutes to kill, listening to him jabber and curse on the phone.

However, there are plenty of other things we are working on as we wait for the dumbbell. Yesterday, I worked Dreamer on the snooted pinch, and our trouble spots seemed a bit easier. We were both a little bored with the regular routine, so I reverted back to the old "To" exercise that Dreamer loved as a baby. I placed a treat on her Frisbee and took her 30 feet away from it, then sent her to get it. She raced out to her "To" spot, grabbed the treat, and raced back to me as though we were back in Tervletville and had practiced that exercise every day. They never forget a thing, you know? We both had a great time! I just didn't feel like using her box to practice the "To," and I'm sure Karen wouldn't mind us going backwards for a day if a lot of fun is involved.

We're working on finishes a lot these days, trying to wean Dreamer off a stick that she hops up to get a treat from before doing her circle around me. I thought we had weaned her off the stick at our lesson in two tries because that's just how quickly she learns, but I could tell she was a little confused when we practiced at home. So I went back to the basics and used the stick for two finishes, then went to practice some downs, and came back to finish her twice more without the stick -- and she totally understood what was expected of her. She is such a good girl!

Now if we could only get our dumbbell. Jesus Christ!

My Little Prodigy

Seeker and I missed agility class last week because of her swollen foot. I did not tell the instructor, Debbie, the real reason because she works at the vet's office. Both she and our vet are really big time worry warts and a visit would have cost me big bucks and more headaches. So I blamed our absence on my coaching schedule. Trust me, if Seeker had been limping, Debbie would have noticed. So when she didn't notice anything, I was even more secure in the knowledge that Seeker is completely healed.

Apparently, Debbie set up the class exercise for last week knowing that Seeker would shine. And then we weren't even at class! I guess she was talking a lot about it with the Foundations I class. Several of the students in that class have been my obedience students. So when we showed up this week, they hung around to watch! The agility equipment is still at the show site, so Debbie had set up jump sequences again. This one involved the dog moving away from you as you direct them to jump 2 or 3 jumps in a row. This made me nervous because I wasn't sure how Seeker would handle this. Then I remembered that when Debbie and I used to get together at her house to train Remy and her young pups, we used my frisbee as a target with food on it.

Seeker knows this well. So, while I waited my turn for the first sequence of 2 jumps, I did some frisbee target work to warm her up. No problem. And then it was our turn. She sure knows how to make me look good! One of my students who stayed to watch said, "It's like the college math professor who teaches calculus to her kindergartner!" I laughed and explained that Seeker comes from working lines of many MACH dogs and that it's in her blood. That is the truth. Other than the work Debbie and I did with Remy last summer, agility is new to me. I have never run an agility course.

The sequence of 3 jumps wasn't a problem either. Seeker just loves agility! Then Debbie set up the exercise that they worked on last week. It involved using a tug toy. She restrained Seeker while I went out about 10 yards away and called her to my left side using the tug to go around a tunnel. I had to be sure to keep my right arm still. That's hard when you are running. Then we went the other way. Finally, I sent her out with the "go jump" command over a bar on the ground by tossing the tug over it after we came around the tunnel. No problems. I'm excited to practice this type of exercise with her at home because she can practice her "wait" command while I run away. That will be good for her. Then she'll get the reward of running to catch up to me and tugging.

It was really cute after she did the "go jump" and came back to me with the tug because I could tell that she was trying to spit out a tooth after tugging and sure enough, I found the tooth on the floor and pocketed it! (I now have a collection of 6 of her teeth). The class just chuckled. I then said "Now her tug will be all bloody." And it was. I think they are all amazed at how well I know my dog, but heck, of course I do! She's my baby girl.

I think the thing that amazes me most is that Seeker is so focused. She can focus on me and she can focus ahead on the obstacles. She blocks out the other dogs and handlers. That is so un-Remy like! It's such a pleasant surprise to compare and love things about her that she does even better than he did:)

Last night we went to conformation drop-in class. In the beginning, she wanted to check out the other dogs in class, but I used the leave it command and then rewarded her with treats. That worked very well to get her to focus on the job at hand. I also was able to gait her in between other dogs. The agility work we have been doing seems to help her focus back on me and ignore the lead out dog and the dog behind her. I'm sure this will continue to be a bit of an issue as we show because the other dogs in the ring will be Tervs, but hopefully I can get her to focus as well as she does in the agility ring. Her free stack is coming along very nicely. She does not like me to show her bite so I will concentrate on that a lot more in the coming weeks. She does hold for the stand way better than Remy did. She has a problem with sidewinding at times, so I'm hoping she outgrows that. Again, I'm using an agility command to get her going straight again. Anything that makes sense to her is fine with me. After all, she is still a baby...my baby girl:)

Pinch Me

Dreamer and her Tacara Terv Trainer have been pretty good about fitting some training time in lately. The slightly cooler weather probably has something to do with it.

We had a really good lesson with Karen yesterday, who is really happy with our heeling but is now looking for absolute precision and perfection. Karen is going to let me try her snooted pinch collar this week. I had never heard of a snooted pinch. If you haven't heard of it, it's basically a pinch collar with a fabric cover that dampens the pinch. The snoot, or cover, is made of swimsuit material.

We put the snooted pinch on Dreamer during our heeling exercise, and Dreamer didn't seem to notice it. I did, though! The pinch has small links because Karen doesn't believe any dog needs them to be bigger. We just need a little bit better control. It's not that I don't have control over Dreamer, but I think the snooted pinch is actually going to help make some things come together more consistently. We still have some problems with back-sits, and it's amazing to try this pinch collar and see that it really does help get Dreamer into the correct position with less effort -- and seemingly no pain to her. Karen told me that a pinch collar without the snoot is a last resort, which made me feel like we're failing or something. But when I asked her if she felt we were slipping behind, she assured me that she uses snooted pinch collars on all of her clients. She then said that Dreamer, at 2 years of age, is starting it later than most of Karen's clients because of her willingness to work on the buckle collar. The Beardie puppy, whose lesson is right before ours, is getting his snooted pinch at 7 months!?! He's crazy, though.

That's when Karen started talking about what she expects from me going forward. She said it's important that I learn how to read Dreamer and that Dreamer is very easy to read. I agree. Dreamer doesn't give me that "screw you" attitude that Legan did. It's very easy to see when she understands something or is thinking about it, and it's equally easy to see when she's confused. It's not that she doesn't want to do something; it's that she isn't sure what I want. I don't think I've had many problems reading Dreamer during training, but it's always good to get this feedback from Karen and keep it top of mind.

Karen also told me that I need to work harder on Sit-Down-Stand combinations in the box so that we can move on and learn hand signals. Dreamer loves her box, so I got it out today and worked her in it. We'll just have to work on these things more often so that we can progress to new things, but I sure wish I knew the full method and what we're trying to achieve. Then I could think ahead and know what I need to focus on. Karen will probably never get those DVDs of the method to me, though. She just forgets to bring that stuff to class.

In any case, I think the snooted pinch is going to help on a lot of the little clean-up items and details that frustrate me. It's like the belt, which solved so many problems for me. Somebody pinch me -- we might actually be making progress here!

P.S. Panda got her CD on Friday with a 190.5. The next day, she showed again and got a 196. Now THAT is more like it! Too bad the high score came after the title, but that's an Aussie for you.

Taking a Break

Seeker and I are taking a break, but not because either of us wants to. She is injured! We don't know how it happened, but I think she injured herself thrashing around in her crate. We have never had a dog who bumps around while in her crate, but she does! Eileen says Tower is the same way. She has been limping since Sunday. I heard her thrashing and went to check on her. She was standing in her crate, holding her left rear leg up. Each day she gets better, but as an athlete and coach, I know the RICE method is best. She has been very tolerant of the ice and elevation and I have not given her any meds, but the R for rest is driving her insane and she really misses playing with Pilot and training with me. Poor baby:(

I called Linda on Sunday night to ask about taking her to the vet and she finally called back last night. We had a great chat, but of course, as always, she had me worried and I didn't sleep well last night. She did reassure me that all a vet would say would be to keep her on leash outside and give her lots of crate rest. This is exactly what we have been doing. But she made me uneasy when she said that this is a rare problem! I'm wondering if it just doesn't happen more than she knows about because other owners don't call her?

She warned me about having her jump up to catch or retrieve, but Seeker doesn't do much of that. I'm sure she thought that's why it happened, but I don't think so.

We did have a nice talk though where I told her more about Seeker and she could not stop the compliments coming about how beautiful she thinks Seeker is. That blew me away! She said she thinks Seeker has the best of both sides of her lines. She was particularly impressed by the pictures since she said that 4 months is the "ugly stage". I agree with that! I've been comparing Seeker's pictures each month to Remy's and he really did go through an ugly stage at 4 months! I sure hope she's right about Seeker. Finishing her would be a dream. Finishing her easily would be even better. When I described her personality, she said that she sounds like Savoy: Braego and Via's mom. Via has the same personality: laid back but easily riled up. She said that Lina is all go - go - go. Apparently Remy and Dreamer inherited that from Koda also. Personally, I love both types of pups, but I must admit that Seeker is a lot easier to deal with; especially now that she is injured and can't do anything!

Even though Linda said it is rare for this to happen to a pup, she said that she hates when her husband tells her that one of her dogs must rest for 2 weeks and be on a leash in the yard. She said her dogs are rarely on leash. So, apparently, her dogs must get injured too! Linda is a mystery, isn't she?