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?

Close-trophobia

Lately, it seems like Dreamer and I are sticking close together. Whether she's hogging the bed or sitting at my feet when I'm on the sofa, she's right there and is taking over my leg room!

She's like this with our obedience exercises right now too. We seem to be working very close together at all times. Karen has had to remind me many times to keep Dreamer next to me between exercises. She wants Dreamer to learn to stay close to me in the ring, even when we're just moving from one exercise to the next. I get it, but sometimes I forget because I'm too busy thinking about what I want to do next.

Tonight, I remembered to keep Dreamer close and engaged with toys and/or treats. She definitely wanted to be close to me but, if not given the incentive, would have run off or spaced out like young dogs do.

This week, we are working on the Stand command in heel position. Dreamer is sitting in heel position, and I have the leash behind the backs of my knees. I tell her to stand while taking one small step back with my left foot. She pops into a stand, my left foot comes forward to become even again with my right foot, and then I have to keep her there in heel position, increasing her stand-wait time each day. She seems to get it. Karen likes doing the stand command this way for obedience because, with a conformation dog that free stacks, you really don't even need to touch your dog. You can just give the stay command and walk away.

I love my Dreamer, but after taking her to work today, where she played/slept/chewed close to me, I'm ready for a little personal space. I'm getting Close-trophobia with all of this quality time!

Agility Foundations Class: Week 2

Seeker and I missed week one of the new set of classes due to an away tournament for my boys team. I was pleased to see that most of the members of the class are the teams we worked with in Foundations One, with the addition of one team: a Sheltie and her elderly owner. I like it: makes me feel younger:)

The contact equipment is all out at another member's farm for a match this weekend, so Debbie set up jump sequences for us to go through. I watched as they set the bar at 16 inches and the bigger dogs and handlers went through. I was grateful for that because watching and then doing just doesn't come easily for me unless I can see it a bunch of times or actually walk the course and mimic the motions. Unlike my sons, I do not have a map in my head and I'm quite directionally challenged. I must move kinesthetically through something many times until muscle memory takes over. I know that because of tennis. Luckily, Seeker and I were last as the bars were moved down to 4".

Debbie warned the other teams that Seeker is only 4 months old and might wander off so to be sure to watch their dogs and help if needed. I must say, I was wondering what might happen with her being off lead in the ring. But I gave it a shot and sat her in front of the first jump and told her to "wait". I like to use the "wait" command so it is different from the stay in obedience. Lo and behold, she waited and never took her eyes off of me! I really haven't taught her this except with the electronic fence. I would tell her to wait, hold my hand up, and go to the mailbox so I could retrieve the mail or the newspaper. Obviously, she learned it and it carried over. Don't you love training a Terv? They make you look like such a great trainer! So, she waited there in front of the jump while I placed myself between that jump and the next one and then I sent her from that lead out position. She focused right on my hand as I gave her "jump" and "here" commands and went through the first series like a dream! She came very close to my hand, but after all, she is a puppy! I was blown away. We did this 4 more times each time with a more difficult sequence, but on the 2nd series, we had to go first since the bars were at her height. We are a team! No problem. We even did a series with a front cross. Seeker cues in on my body so well that she had no problem at all. Not only that: she is fast, but not out-of-control fast.
Another improvement I noticed: as we wait our turn, Seeker is much more patient. She is either looking at me (hoping for treats) or watching the dog who is running through. But she is no longer pulling on her lead to get to other dogs or lunging toward them as they work. It helps that I keep her busy as we wait doing some tugging, free stacking for conformation or touches, but she is really starting to get the big picture. She knows that if she is patient, she will have her turn to shine and shine she did!
At the end of the night, the elderly lady asked me, "How old is she?" I could tell that she was blown away by the answer.
We went out to dinner afterward and Debbie told Mark that Seeker was better than most of the dogs there: all of whom are much older. I know that Debbie had a few doubts about Seeker moving on to this next class, but the later time works better for me with coaching and I just figured we would not push: I would do what Seeker is capable of. Obviously, she is capable of a lot! I love my Tacara girl!

May I Have Your Attention, Please?

Dreamer and I had two consecutive weeks of obedience lessons with Karen. It was good because I felt compelled to work with my dog every night, a tough thing to do in the Texas heat right now. At 8 PM, it's still 103 degrees and miserable.

Last night, we got a cold front and rain that brought temperatures down considerably, and I have enjoyed working with Dreamer in the cooler weather. She lasts longer! She has a pretty good heat tolerance, though, because she just loves to work.

Anyway, in the miserable heat on Sunday, Dreamer really kicked ass in her heeling. Her attention was spot-on, and Karen was very encouraged and psyched by our progress. I was too. I decided to confide to Karen that Nancy and Panda were at an obedience trial. Nancy told Karen that she was doing her own thing and hasn't been to a lesson for several months, but I'm not sure Karen understood that Nancy was training on her own. I think Karen believed Nancy had just lost interest and quit all together.

Well, Nancy became very impatient with Karen's method, which is saying a lot because Nancy is one of the most patient people I know. Panda is a wonderful dog with tons of potential, but Nancy didn't want to wait to trial her anymore and entered her in a three-day weekend of shows. On the first day, Panda scored 191. On the second day, 190. On the third day, her score would have been 193, but she had an itch on the long down that she had to scratch. That's an Aussie for you.

I don't want to belittle Nancy's achievements because, hey, she's got two Novice B legs on Panda now. But I have to say that her low scores are a pity if you know Panda and what Panda can do. From the sounds of it, Nancy did not have Panda's undivided attention, and it hurt her. I talked to Karen about it, and while she respects Nancy's decision to train on her own, she emphasized the importance of attention and working on it more than anything else.

Re-enter conversation about the belt. As you know, I'm a fan of the belt (even though it looks stupid and is highly embarrassing to wear in public). It has been a very good tool for grabbing Dreamer's attention and reducing handler errors. We will eventually ditch the belt and put the treat on an armband instead of a stick.

Karen told me that it's really rewarding once we get to the armband. She said she will put a treat in her armband at shows (outside of the ring, obviously) and that people take note. They get the idea that they can do that to get great attention. But Karen told me that a treat in the armband doesn't work if you haven't started with the belt. She's all about working through the steps.

I have no idea what's in store for Dreamer and me in the ring. Maybe I won't get good attention with her, even after all of this work with the belt. Maybe Dreamer's scores won't even be as high as Panda's. Eeek! (They all act a little different at the actual shows, for some reason.) But I choose to believe in Karen because I already feel like we've been rewarded a lot by working through the steps of the method. I truly believe that if I can get Dreamer's attention now by working through these painstaking steps, I will have a much easier time with her in advanced obedience. Time will tell, and I'll be paying attention the whole way.

August Update

First of all: Mr. Pilot, the pseudo Terv. Pilot accompanied the team to an away match. He did great on the hour and one half bus ride each way. He even fell asleep on the way home!

The bad:

• he tried to chase the Chesaning boys as they ran by to warm up
• he pulled toward a lady who sat nearby and started eating
• he stole an apple from a blanket on the ground!
  
• he barked at an autistic kid who was roaming around the parking lot area (I think he felt the kid's high energy). After the boy's sister came by to introduce him to Pilot, Pilot calmed down. Hard to tell what is going on in a dog's mind, but I think Pilot realized that the kid was special.
• I gave him to a player to hold and he stuck his face into a bowl of cheese!

The good:

• Pilot sat next to me and watched as all the boys were introduced and shook my hand
• He got a little excited as the Chesaning kids ran down their line slapping hands, but after the first few, he settled
  
• He loose leashed walked next to me for the entire match; sitting or lying down on command as I moved around from court to court.
  
• He walked with Marty's little sisters very well until he got excited and tried to hump them (whoops, that goes in the bad column!)
• He ate his dinner by the bleachers as we waited for the exhibition matches to finish
• He calmed me by loving my petting as I watched the matches
• He gave the boys who were sitting nearby lots of love on the bus
• He showed much more patience than ever on such a long trip (the entire trip was 6 hours long)

I am definitely going to have him hanging out a lot as I coach. It was a great experience for him.

Seeker and I are spending much more time on agility than obedience. This is a huge change from the way I worked things with Remy. I am reversing things because I want her to learn to work away from me first and on either side of my body. It will be easy to bring her back to me later. She already has great focus. We still work on "watch me", sits, downs, stays, etc. but I'm just not doing much heeling with her yet. The agility work is already teaching her to cue into my body movements so I think it will lead right into heeling later on.
We definitely work on loose leash heeling. The command is "by me". She is picking up on this much faster than Mr. Pilot did! We don't have to walk backward much unless there are high distractions.

She has a good prey drive but not an insane prey drive like Remy. It sounds as if she is very much like Dreamer except that she can relax more in public. Remy was like Pilot. It took a lot for him to relax in public.

The absolute best part is how excited she gets when she sees me now. We have truly bonded even with the big yellow dog around. She plasters her ears back and jumps all over me. I love it! Shhh, don't tell Linda:)

Her conformation training is coming along. She easily falls into a natural stack and holds it. Gaiting is more of a problem because she wants to sidewind. We are still working on that and have 2 more months. Hopefully it will come around.

She knows most of the tricks in the book in the book, Puppy Tricks by Kyra Sundance. The funniest story is the shell game. I bought 3 flower pots from the dollar store and taught her to sniff out the one with the treat. It's great fun because there is a hole in the top of each pot and they are heavy enough that she doesn't knock the correct one over when she paws it. Kyra likes the dog to "paw it" to indicate the correct pot. One day I forgot which pot I had put the treat under. To my embarrassment, Seeker knew I was wrong. Imagine my surprise when I lifted the "wrong" pot, almost ready to say, "No, try again" and there was the treat!

We have a lot of stairs in this house and Seeker is now climbing them with ease. She prefers to go down, but she does a good job of bunny hopping up them once I get her started. It won't take long before this is a distant memory.

It took her forever to learn to stand by the door to indicate that she has to go out to go potty, but we finally have that mastered.

Tonight is agility class. I'll blog again tomorrow. You're it!