A Mixed Bag

This was a mixed bag week. We worked on all 3 events we are currently training for: conformation, obedience, and agility.

Conformation training started the week with a bang on Monday. Gail arranged for Jill Day (the professional handler who handles Uie for Gail when she doesn't show him) to give a handling seminar at the Tri Cities Dog Training Club in Saginaw. I used to be a member of TCDTC back in the 70s and was even their president. But it's a 40 minute drive from Sanford. Their building is very nice though. If we had that building, we'd be able to keep agility equipment set up in one ring all of the time. Sigh...
But I digress: I walked in with Seeker and Jill's jaw dropped. She said, "Where did you go to get her?" (Think she figured out that Seeker wasn't a Blackwater or Starbright dog?) The rest of the night she just kept drooling over her and making comments like, "I'm taking her home!" Here is what I learned:

• Before entering the ring, breathe deeply and evenly and "go to your zone". I already knew this from sports, but she reaffirmed it. The best part was that she admonished Gail for her socializing in and out of the ring and told her to focus! I got a huge kick out of that:) But now Gail will understand when I tell her "I'm in my zone". Jill even taught us how to circle our face with our hands as a cue to ourselves. That will just be my cue to Gail! I love it!
• Go to the ring early and watch the judge's pattern. This I already knew and always do. But what I also learned is to watch to see if any of the dogs show fear around the judge. She says some tall judges or smokers or ladies with scarves, etc. freak out the dogs. By watching, I can be ready to counteract that with an appropriately timed bait approach. Smart! She also said some judges approach from the rear at times and to be ready for this.
  
• Free stack but don't be afraid to hand stack. I've been against hand stacking, because Linda does not teach it to her Oklahoma people. I know this because I've been in touch with Amy Alden. However, I tend to agree with Jill that it is something to teach because I'll need it for pictures when she wins if nothing else! So I tried it and Seeker is fine with it. However, if she resists it in the ring, I will drop it like a hot potato. She has a beautiful natural stack and she is just a puppy. Judges will be forgiving.
• It was a long night and I couldn't believe how focused Seeker was, but at one point she sat down. I told her to stand, but Jill disagrees about having her move forward because you crowd the judge. She said it's better to back her up into a stand. Makes sense.
  
• Seeker is a little poser for the judge. She loves to make eyes with people and Jill says to encourage this big time. Judges will eat it up and remember her "beautiful headpiece".
  
• When I gait her, I tend to run as if I'm running a 5K race: up on my toes and vertical movement. Jill says this causes Seeker to bounce up and down. I must move from my hips and stay low to the ground. When I do this, Seeker floats like her daddy Braego.
  
• On the down and back, she wants me to start out walking and then move slowly. She said I do a great job running in a straight line and lining Seeker up with the judge on the back.
  
• I was thrilled that Jill was easily able to check Seeker's bite. This is a huge improvement from a month ago. Jill says then I should start letting her nibble on the bait while the judge performs the rest of the exam. This was a good tip because Seeker pulled herself forward instead of backward toward her haunches. Jill recommends putting the bait in my mouth during the bite check so that I can quickly get at it for the rest of the exam. It makes great sense and I've seen people do it, but how will I be able to follow the last tip to smile after having liver in my mouth? So I think I'll always have cheese for this portion. I think it will work for "Squeezy Cheezy" and me. That's Lynn's nickname for Seeker.
• Smile, be confident, and work her until the end. Jill says that even though she is a puppy, there are plenty of judges who will put her up and may even give her Best of Breed.
• Jill had us write down all of our dog's good points and bad points and then she went over them with us. She did this so we can accentuate our dog's good points and downplay the bad ones. Right now, Seeker is "close" in the hind and in the front because she is a puppy. That is why hand stacking is important. Other than that, she didn't find any faults with her except that I will need to use a rolled brush and a hair dryer to form her topline. She has so much hair in the butt that it sticks up.
• $25 was a deal for this 2 hour seminar. I am going to Grand Rapids for Seeker's debut with a ton of confidence and hope. If nothing else, Jill says it's important for me to get Seeker out there at least twice a month so judges see her and talk about her. And she says that is exactly what judges do! She says if I am afraid that she will not make the minimum height standard, it's all the more reason to finish her early especially since I'll be showing against large Starbright and Blackwater dogs.

Obedience: I started teaching my new obedience classes on Tuesday night and took Seeker with me. She waited pretty patiently in her crate for most of the night but by advanced class was dying to get out. So I pulled her out and put her in the center of the ring around the 15 dogs and owners in my class. I then proceeded to have her demonstrate the bowl trick on that video I sent you. Mind you, Seeker doesn't spin around as fast as that dog yet, but she is definitely learning to move! Everyone was amazed. I then showed them how valuable it will be to have the dog driving from the rear while maintaining their front feet in heel position. They all decided it will be fun and will be bringing bowls next week. In the meantime, we worked on having them teach "paws up" like Linda does on your leg.
I was so proud of my little demo dog:) The best part was she completely ignored all the other dogs and people and focused in on me!

Agility: this was the low part of our week. Seeker was tired from her lepto shot and was just not that into the whole thing. She worked hard on the dog walk, the pause table, and the A frame, and the rest of the time we stood near the teeter and got plenty of treats while other dogs banged it. At the very end of class, I had her put her back legs on it and I treated her with her frisbee target. We did that twice and called it a night.

Seeker Update

Seeker has hit an impasse in what she can do in agility, so we are going to keep reviewing and having fun by retaking the Foundations II class beginning this Wednesday. This is due to the fact that she is too young to learn the weave poles and the sound of the teeter frightens her. Therefore, we'll take it slowly and have fun building confidence and speed on all the other contacts. I'll miss the people in the Foundations III class, but oh well. Once Seeker gets old enough, we'll see them at agility trials.

In the meantime, I have just started her on obedience training. She knows a lot: sit, down, wait, watch me, come, but we are just starting to learn what "heel" means. She has that cute prance that Dreamer has, so I will definitely work to keep that. So all our heeling sequences will be short and sweet. I am teaching her the tucked sit so that also will take time and patience. On the recall, I don't ask for a sit yet. I want to teach her the tucked sit in heel position before I work on it in front. I have tried this a few times and she does fine, but right now I am working on her stand for conformation and don't want to confuse her too much.

She is entered in her first shows in 3 weeks. If she has fun I will show her again at our regional show a few weeks later. If she gets continually dumped, I'll back off and wait until she matures. But in the meantime, I am looking forward to showing her because it's the only thing we can do right now. And it will be great fun to hear people tell me how beautiful she is:)

The other reason I want to show her as a puppy in conformation is that it will be great experience for her to be in a hotel room, a noisy venue, learning to stay still on the grooming table, etc. My feeling is that it's all part of the training and if I waited until she was mature, I might have other issues.

We are continually working on loose leash walking and she's doing pretty well even with leaves blowing and people walking by. She's learning. We've even added a bit of running and she absolutely loves it. This, of course, pleases me to no end:)

Other than the above, we are busy having fun in the yard. Seeker loves retrieving the tennis ball as much as Remy did. This is a god-send because I can do this with her on the days that I am too tired to take her for a run or walk in the future.

Setting Goals With Shirley

While setting bars at the agility trial yesterday, I also learned a few things about setting goals.

Shirley Stowe, a longtime Terv owner, trainer, and club member, came up from El Paso to help us with the agility trial. I had told her during her last visit that I wanted to pick her brain about obedience because she has been there and done that with Tervs her whole life. She knows what she's talking about.

Because Tervs are sight and sound sensitive, I think we all know that anything goes. You cannot simulate a show environment, no matter how hard you try. Matches don't do it, but they're better than nothing. They're really all you've got to test your dog. Still, the unknowns that happen on show day just can't be predicted or planned.

Shirley came very close to an OTCH with one of her Tervs before hanging it up. She just didn't have the money, time, or interest to keep trying -- and the competition in Texas is fierce. The Goldens and Border Collies show up, and they are just hard to beat. They aren't affected by weird things like Tervs are. I know this to be true. I've seen many of Linda's Tervs acting like freaks about the smallest things. It's in the breed. It's something I've seen in Dreamer, something I saw in Legan, and something I see in most every "normal" Terv.

So there's that. The Terv thing. But Shirley said she knows Karen and has followed Karen's method. She likes Karen's method and thinks private lessons are the way to go for competitive obedience (here, at least; it might be different in Michigan -- our dog clubs suck). So she thinks I'm doing the best thing for Dreamer by training with Karen, and I have to agree. We'll figure out the whole match thing later.

Shirley's best advice was to set my own goals for the dog. It's great to have the lofty goal of the OTCH, but most dogs just don't have it in them. They have to be extra special. I don't have any way of knowing what Dreamer is like in a show, and it will be a long time before I find out, but I do think she has a big heart and a strong desire to work that will only help us. Will it be enough to balance the unknowns? We won't know for a long time.

Shirley's goal for her near-OTCH dog was to get the UD in 3 tries with 3 first places. And she did it. She said her Terv never burned out because he wasn't shown very often. He got all of his titles without busting, which means he was shown only 9 times before the OTCH goal began.

We didn't talk very long, as we were busy volunteering and Shirley had a lot of friends to catch up with, but it sounds like her last Terv was her best shot at an OTCH but just wasn't good enough. Too many things can go wrong, and our dogs are affected when they sense they've done something wrong. I've heard from many people that Shirley is an excellent trainer, and she certainly seems to know what she's talking about. She also mentioned the politics of obedience judges who show their own dogs and know that they might soon show against you, so they let that influence how they score you. I hate the thought of politics being everywhere.

In closing, Shirley said, "I think I remember Dreamer from the regional specialty when Linda showed her as a puppy. She had a big heart. That will help you, but please set your own goals for her so that you are never disappointed in her."

Shirley has a lot of insight. I became so disappointed in Legan for so many reasons, but I wasn't set up with the right tools to do anything with her. Oh, yeah, and Legan didn't care about pleasing me. Dreamer cares, but that might not be enough. I will think about goals to have with Dreamer once we get close to showing. Meanwhile, I will share all of this with Karen to get her take on things. We'll set the bar high with the knowledge that we might need to lower it.

Pilot's Story

I have always believed in giving back to others. I made a vow that when I retired, and our elderly Golden Retriever died, I would raise a Leader Dog puppy. I applied and was accepted as a puppy raiser. Soon, a white binder came in the mail. I read through it carefully and discussed its contents with my husband. He didn’t think he could possibly follow all those rules, so I gave up on the idea. Instead, we got a Belgian Tervuren puppy of our own. Leader Dog kept calling and I kept explaining that our own puppy was too young. In the fall of 2009, Leader Dog called again. Our Terv would be 16 months old and a terrific role model for the new puppy. We said yes (my husband realized he was following most of the Leader Dog rules anyway) and in late November, a little bundle of golden fuzz joined our family. Our Terv, Remy, and our new future leader dog, Pilot, became best of friends.

From the beginning, I could tell that Pilot was a high energy puppy. He just couldn’t relax much. We had set up an ex-pen in our living area, but unlike most puppies, Pilot could not relax when he could see us but not be with us. We had to move the ex-pen to the basement and put him there or in his crate in the bedroom away from us in order for him to settle enough to nap.

He started boredom barking and chasing his tail: both signs of his high energy and inability to relax. But we soon got him over that problem by isolating him when his behavior escalated.

Remy helped him a lot by lying near his crate or teaching him house rules. But 4 days before Christmas, our dear Remy lost his life in a freak ice accident. Pilot most certainly saved my life because if it weren’t for the fact that I was holding him, I would have risked my own life to try to rescue Remy. We were all traumatized greatly by the loss. Remy was not only a best friend to Pilot, my husband and I spent much more time with Remy than we had with any other dog. He ran with me, I showed him in conformation and he was well on his way to his championship. I was training him in obedience and agility and he was an outstanding prospect in those venues. The loss literally threw us all into the depths of depression. As a retiree, I could have become housebound. But a cute little bundle of golden fuzz made me go out into public, train, and answer questions about Leader Dog. I had to smile and go on with my life. And I soon found that Pilot gave me life. He literally kept my pilot light burning. He was challenging, but funny. Although I continued to cry every single day to mourn the loss of our dear Remy, Pilot kissed away my tears and made sure that laughter was also a part of my life. My neighbors mourned Remy’s loss also but quickly became absorbed with Pilot’s progress.

Loose leash walking in the neighborhood kept us all laughing. I did more backing up than walking forward for several months. When Pilot finally mastered the walk, we started adding a bit of running. I can now walk or run with Pilot in our neighborhood with a buckle collar and a hands-free leash.

In some ways, Pilot was an amazing puppy. He learned all the basic obedience commands quickly and easily. He was completely housebroken in 10 days and never had another accident. He has never ruined anything in our house. He is completely trustworthy. Around the house, he is very laid back and calm. He is a tremendous traveler and has been to the Belgian Tervuren National Dog Show in Texas, Remy’s breeder’s house in Oklahoma (where we picked up our new Terv puppy, Seeker), and vacationing in Vermont. He is as at ease in a hotel room as he is at home.

In public, Pilot is a different character. He is a social butterfly, always looking for fun. He is constantly vigilant and aware of his surroundings. It is very rare for him to relax enough to fall asleep on an outing. Each time I think I have solved his boredom barking problem; it sneaks back to keep me on my toes. Pilot is a dog who needs a strong, consistent trainer. Even though I fit that bill, he continues to test me in different situations. We have worked through so many problems with love, patience, and humor. From the puppy who couldn’t possibly control himself when faced with people walking by or meet and greets, he now holds all meet and greets and he can walk through heavy pedestrian traffic. He used to be extremely impatient if I stopped our walk to talk to someone. He’d try to cavort around like a clown, bite at the chain on his collar, roll around on the ground and generally act like an impatient toddler. I smile when I think back to those distant memories. He is getting better around other dogs and this is something we continue to work on. High energy situations cause him to “ramp up” his behavior. Giving him the settle command to relax and be patient in public can cause him to let out random boredom barks or adjust his position so he can try to play with another dog. However, each month Pilot makes strides forward. Although he has not been an easy dog to train because of his high energy; in my humble opinion, Pilot will make an outstanding Leader Dog. He is extremely healthy and fit. He has never been sick a day in his life. He hasn’t met a person or dog he didn’t love. He will walk for miles without tiring. He is very vigilant and will be able to sense dangerous situations. He will continue to make progress in his ability to relax and be patient. He should love being back at school because it will mean learning new things. My guess is that he will tackle each new problem with gusto: learning the commands easily.

In the end, as he matures, I can certainly envision Pilot as a loving, faithful companion who will always be ready for the command, “forward”.