CCSC Dog Talk

2010-12-27T14:19:00.004-06:00

Boy has it been a long time since our last post!

Not that Robin has not tried to keep us on track but there never seems to be sufficient time. Since I wrote last all the puppies went to new homes except for 2, Aiden (the first born) and Cayla (the third born). Brynn (#2, female) now lives in Memphis, Dara (#4, female) lives in Texas and Flic (#5, female) is in Mississippi. The two puppies known as Elva (#6, female) and Gavin (#7, male) are now known as "Julia" and "Bentley" and having originally moved out to L.A. are both in Washington State being a "terrible twosome" like my Aiden & Cayla (in the picture Aiden is on the far left, Cayla is on the far right; the parents, Jura and Ailsa are curled in the middle).

I always tell students that you-should-never-have-two-puppies-from-the-same-litter as one is always told they will become more focussed on each other and not on the humans. Likely this is true BUT I must admit that Miss C & Master A can be quite happily focussed on humans - especially if they have something they deem worthwhile. In the case of Master Aiden, it is FOOD that is valuable; in the case of Miss Cayla, it is a good word & kind touch that she covets.

I was about to bemoan the lack of time to train and have to take back the thought. Yes, it is true that with 4 dogs one does not accomplish as many things as one would with one dog. Further, letting Ailsa have her litter and having them stay at home until they were 12 weeks old, meant that she missed out on a load of training and performance time but I have to realize that we did make headway this year.

Jura: the is going to be 8 in February and we completed his "companion dog" (CD) titles in both AKC and UKC in addition to his Rally Advanced (RA) and Excellent (RE) in AKC and his Rally level 2 in APDT (RL2). He started working Nosework and began dock diving so there are new activities in his life and we are working on his tracking, CDX and field activities.

Ailsa: is conquering her distrust of jumps (knocking bars can be uncomfortable) and is figuring out her style for weaving (2x2). She completed her UKC AG1 and got her first AKC novice legs. She too like throwing herself into the water and strutted her stuff in conformation to earn her UKC CH in 2 sets of shows. She also passed her CGC and we intend to see if she is ready for her therapy dog certification in January.

Aiden: Is SOOOO the adolescent male - gets himself into trouble with his pater, his mater and his sister on a regular basis but is such a boy. Raised his leg to pee for the first time on Christmas! Nonetheless, he has been training with Josh Freeman - together they took best of breed at the UKC Purina show resulting in a tie for 7th place ESS for 2010 (as of 12/28)! He passed his AKC S.T.A.R. puppy last spring and earned his APDT puppy rally title in November and his first leg towards his AKC RN so I can not complain.

Cayla: The sleeper :) She too was not to be outdone by Brynn or Aiden and passed her S.T.A.R. puppy. Where she excelled was in Dock diving - earned first place and her novice dock diving title at the UKC Gateway show when the others freaked out having a pool to jump in rather than a lake or pond. That same weekend she earned her UKC CH and her first Grand Champion leg so again, I can not complain.

I do try to bring the dogs up to the building and give each one session of undivided attention. Now I need to add in time with each for a walk in the neighborhood - all that we do requires teamwork and I need to focus on my team members rather than the "clutch". If I do that we might not be surprised by what the new year brings :)

Puppies?

2009-10-07T09:08:00.003-05:00

It is official. Miss Ailsa is pregnant and I am nervous. She is pleased as "magic" happened last week - on confirming that she had puppies, her food amount went up from 2/3 c twice daily to 3/4 c.

That is one interesting lesson from the dogs: live in the present. They appear to have memory of good and bad - of actions that bring rewards and people who they do not like but they do not dwell in the past with gripes that they carry around with them and keep them up at night. Nor do they appear to worry about what will happen later today, tomorrow or next week. How delightful to take each moment in the moment. Every smell is new (not always ones I would like!) as is every action.

Right now Colin is visiting with his Mom, Kelcie, and he is parading through the living room with a toy he found in the dog room. To his delight, it has a hole in it already so he is festooning the living room with Kaypok. There is another toy (that I have not seen in months) that has been eviscerated and I see a minimum of seven (!) dead bones that have been carefully retrieved from the basket and brought out to the the living room.

His greatest desire is for his Mom, Kelcie & Ailsa to play but they are being contented snoozers on the sofa digesting breakfast (and cooking babies!). Now I need to bring out the MONSTER machine and clean up the decorations - much to his chagrin (the entertainment, though, is that everybody will be up and moving and he can BARK).

Ginger

What Rally can learn from Agility

2009-09-17T09:07:00.001-05:00

[repost from The Pink Pin]

Rally was originally proposed as a mix between Obedience and Agility. But, most people will say, it really has almost nothing to do with agility. The only agility-like aspects of Rally are the numbered course and the fact that it's timed. Other than that, Rally is very firmly rooted in Obedience. The signs and their performance are all Obedience tasks.

Further, many Rally people have never done agility. They may be new to dog sport, or they may have done obedience or be taking obedience classes. But there is one fundamental way that Rally does relate to agility that many people simply don't think about.

In Obedience, a dog progresses from task to task, with a break in between. Heel on leash. Break. Figure 8. Break. Stand for exam. Break. Heel off leash. Break. Recall. In Obedience, the "between exercises" break time is when the handler can praise the dog, and the dog gets mental and physical time off, even if just for a few seconds. It can be a way to keep the dog relaxed. But it can also signal a mental disconnect, then the need to reconnect as the team moves on to the next segment.

In agility, there are no breaks. You start at the first jump and end at the last, and the rest of the course is a constant flow of multiple tasks. Even on the table, the dog is expected to hold attention and position. In agility, good handlers know to treat the course as a single piece. While novice agility handlers will occasionally handle each jump and obstacle separately, not thinking about the next thing down the line till they get there, that doesn't last long. You quickly learn in agility that if you are not planning two to three obstacles ahead you are not going to be setting an efficient line. And in agility there is certainly no time to stop and see what number you're on, figure out what you're supposed to do there, then do it. In agility, all of the obstacles are well known and trained ahead of time and the handler walks the course until he or she feels confident of what needs to happen to create an overall fluent, fast, efficient, smooth line.

The problem is, too many people treat Rally courses like Obedience with breaks. They heel to a sign, peer at it to make sure they know what it is, sort out the details in their head (reminding themselves that this is the call front with/without a halt, or the spiral with the dog INside), complete the sign, then heel to the next sign and do it all over again. They do not think ahead from one sign to the next, much less about how their speed and line exiting one sign may affect approach and performance of the next. They certainly don't think of the Rally course as a single unit, to be accomplished as one piece. As a result, we see a lot of slow, jerky, and/or hesitant performances. Doing Rally this way is handling piecemeal, and the score and time will reflect it.

In Rally, there are no breaks for praise. The team is supposed to start at the Start sign and keep going until the Finish sign. When you think of it that way, it becomes clear that Rally competitors need to walk and plan their Rally course as they would an agility course. Handling as a single line will produce a much smoother, faster run that is a lot more fun to do and to watch.

The first and perhaps most important thing is to know the Rally rules and signs before entering. Handlers should understand each sign at a glance and have the performance of each sign ingrained so they don't have to actually think about it, and can let their subconscious take over the task. This also means that the dog knows its job. Dog and handler confidence begets smoothness.

If you really know and understand the signs, then your walk through can be focused on pace and smoothness. Walk the course once to make sure you know where everything is and what follows what. Then walk the course with an eye to how the *next* sign affects your line on the sign you are currently performing. How will your exit from the call-front-finish-right carry you to the offset figure 8? How should you pace and angle your jump in order to have a smooth transition to that 270 right? Think ahead. What we learn in agility is that often, a mistake at a jump actually started three jumps prior with a poor cue or a bad line.

Finally, walk the course as many times you can as a complete flowing line. Concentrate on keeping your shoulders back and head up and striding out in a brisk, smooth pace. You have a destination. That destination is not the next sign, it's the finish line.

Like agility, Rally should be a dance between dog and handler moving as a cohesive whole throught the course. Walk and think of your Rally course as you would an agility course, and see how your performance improves.

Long time no speak

2009-09-06T09:06:00.006-05:00

It is interesting how one can become silent when a goal is in sight. For me the goal has been to finish Jura's AKC championship. Some call the "CH" a beauty title, some call it certification to breed (as the dogs are supposed to be judged against their breed standards with the ultimate goal of judging fitness to breed - which is why the dogs must be reproductively intact) - in my case, more than anything else it was fulfillment of a promise.

First of all, Jura finished his CH in Santa Rosa California with me showing him to a British judge on August 20th. At a later date I will write about that experience (but I had to share the photo from the experience - that is GRASS that we are on - no wonder California can experience such nasty fires! It looks like a berber rug.)

Second let me go back to the promise.

Back in April of 2003 I travelled to Scotland to fetch a springer puppy from a breeder I had met some two years earlier.

Sometimes we have to wait for the things we want - Jura was worth waiting for!

At 10 weeks he was a ball of skin with huge paws, a beguiling face and loads of spots (ticking). And he looked REALLY different from the show springers in the US. Before I drove away with this "wee pup", the first of my breeders dogs to leave the country she asked me whether I was planning to show him in conformation. To be honest, the whole conformation world bothers me. The whys and wherefores can wait for a later time. I took one look at her face and I heard the tone in her voice and asked if it was something she wanted me to do (with a sinking feeling inside). She said, yes, that it would mean the world to her if the dog she was sharing with me and allowing to be taken so far from home were to be shown in the US and if he were to get his American Championship. I suspect I sighed audibly and I told her that she was giving me a tall order as the British bred Springers look very different from the Show Springers in the US and differences are not features that are favored in the dog world - that it would take finding judges who would judge the dog relative to the standard rather than relative to what they saw most often in the ring. I knew that my statements were not penetrating when I looked at her face. So I made the promise that I would show him and that I would try to finish his American CH.

Well his first show was as a puppy right before the English Springer Spaniel Specialty at Purina in September of 2003 and we were told that he looked like "an Import" (duh) and that I would never finish him. Uh Oh. Fighting words. His first point towards his CH did not come until December of 2005 when taken into the ring by a professional handler, Santiago Pinto. After periodically going on the road with Santiago, Jura "pointed out" by the end of 2007 (a dog must earn 15 points; of those wins at least 2 must be 3, 4, or 5 point "majors"; the number of dogs to be beaten to win 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 points is a function of the region in which the dog is shown and the history of breed entries in the past year). Santiago thought that Jura needed a better known handler to obtain his "majors" so Jura went on the road for 4 months with a well known Springer handler. The stay was short because it did not work out - they put weight on Jura trying to fill out that skin and all that happened was that he looked fat and different. I took him home, helped to get the weight off, recondition him and he forgave me for sending him away (thank goodness). We showed periodically but had trouble finding shows with sufficient entries to have a "major". Our first break came a year ago at the Kansas City Royal when Gloria Geringer gave us our first major (yea). You'd never know from the show photo that I was elated because I have a great frown on my face (concentration). Over the time hunting for those majors I had put the full 15 points on Jura without earning the CH. I saw that there was a set of shows in August in California that was slated to have 2 British, 1 Finnish, and 1 Australian judge. I thought OK, I will travel to CA and give it one last chance - he has his 15 points and I have given it my best, but it is time that Jura gets on with the rest of his life and performance career.

So August came, and my friend Patti, a repro vet from the Chicago area and co-owner of Jura's love child, Colin, and I loaded up 5 springers and drove to CA. It took 3 days on the way out - day 1 took us through KS and CO to Denver; Day 2 we went north to WY and crossed the salt flats of UT; Day 3 was NV down to CA. Colin showed first on the Thursday with Patti and he was the puppy through & through having a blast in the ring - maybe 3 steps with 4 paws on the ground but who cares! He got a blue ribbon :) Patti's tri-color Springer and Jura were in the open class and when we took first I found myself holding my breath. We stayed in the ring for winner's dog and I really only remember the judge pointing to us and while I knew it was that we had won, I dared not think positively! Even taking the picture did not make it sink in; nor did the next 3 days of shows.

Only when I was entering Jura in agility at the ESS National and going to the AKC website to get his registration number did I get the thing that made me smile: on his data page it said CH Berkenbar Bysanze RN NA NAJ. It was official. The results had been tallied and the second major was acknowledged. We had done it with a win under a British judge, Mr. Robert Jackson. I fulfilled my promise.

My breeder was indeed over the moon, she now has a dog of her breeding that has finished in the US. In fact, the unofficial count is that Jura is the 7th full import dog to finish his CH in the US - and more amazingly, I, a novice conformation person, was there at the end of the leash when he won his majors. When the show photo comes, I'll share (see above- kept another promise :) ).

In the meantime, Jura seems to know that his show career has wound down. We will show at the Springer Spaniel Specialty again at Purina on Saturday in the Best of Winners Class as a finished champion. We won't win, we will still look very different from the other show dogs, but he is still an English Springer Spaniel and a finished dog even though he "looks like an import" (duh).

Mandatory Spay Neuter. Is it a good idea?

2009-05-05T14:53:00.001-05:00

A mandatory spay/neuter could force sterilization of dogs like my Zipper, Ch Regatta It's About Time, OA, AXJ, RS-O, JS-O, UAg1. Zipper is the #5 agility Min Pin in the country.

Columbia's Board of Health, along with the Central Missouri Humane Society, are contemplating passing an ordinance which would require all pets in Columbia to be spayed or neutered.

It sounds good on the surface. We have, according to CMHS and the , a pet overpopulation problem. We need to take care of that problem. If everyone would just spay/neuter, the problem would go away, right? No new dogs and cats being born would mean much less burden on Animal Control and CMHS. The sun would shine, and the birds would sing. All would be right in Columbia.

Or would it?

The first and most important question to ask when contemplating a new law is, will it work? Addendums to that question include, how would it be paid for, who, if anyone, would be harmed, who would benefit, and how would it affect the local economy?

Unfortunately, a mandatory spay/neuter law would not work, which is why similar moves by other municipalities all over the U.S. have failed. Why wouldn't it work? Oh let us count the ways.

First, its totally unenforceable. There is no way to ensure that every pet in Columbia is altered. Inspectors would have to go from house to house on a search. And if it's tied into licensing, that won't work either. People simply will not license their dogs. If people who don't want to spay/neuter know that if they go to the vet they'll be required to do so, they will not go to the vet. Thus more animals will become sick and not get treatment and even more will remain unaltered.

There's no way to pay for it. The costs for such a program would far outstrip any license fees gained, because, see above, compliance with licensing would falter. Of course draconian fees could be instituted for those who wish their animals to remain intact, but that too discourages participation. Even worse, it punishes responsible breeders and forces those of us who DO take care of our dogs to pay for the idiots who don't.

A moment to discuss responsible breeders. Responsible breeders are dog lovers who have a hobby, usually showing dogs and also occasionally breeding. Most breed very few litters (I've bred a whopping two litters since I got my first Doberman in 1981). No responsible breeder ever breeds for money. Responsible breeders have a deep passionate admiration for their breed or breeds, and when they do decide to whelp a litter it's always with the mandate of improving the gene pool of the breed as a whole. It's never, ever for money. Responsible breeders have long waiting lists for puppies. Responsible breeders do not have dogs that end up in shelters, because responsible breeders are willing to take back any dog they have produced, at any time, for any reason, no question asked. We want to know *exactly* what happens to each and every life we produce and we are dead serious about it.

Responsible breeders do genetic health tests on their dogs prior to breeding. They show their dogs to ensure they have correct temperament and structure. It's a hobby. And just like Golf or Fishing, you throw money at it. You rarely if ever get money back. Most responsible breeders are far from wealthy. Finally and perhaps most importantly, responsible breeders are just as concerned as anyone else about the problem of unwanted dogs, and a huge majority of them are involved in rescue in some way or another.

Okay, back to why this won't work. On top of not being enforceable and being very expensive you just can't legislate morality. The idiots down the road from me breeding their pit bulls every six months are not going to obey some law. They're going to keep breeding.

And let's talk economic impact. Columbia holds a large conformation dog show as well as several agility trials each year. Mandatory Spay/Neuter could force relocation of those events, which have a multi-million dollar impact on the Columbia economy. It would also hurt dog training businesses such as CCSC who train dogs for show as well as pet companions.

And the question is, what is the problem in Columbia? Is it truly that there are too many pets and too few homes? Or is it that irresponsible owners are not properly taking care of and training their pets? Is it that too many owners think of their pets as disposable commodities, to be discarded at the first hint of inconvenience? I don't have any numbers (and would be glad to see any) but I bet that the number of actual puppy litters turned in to CMHS is fairly small. I bet most dogs turned into CMHS are adolescents to old age. Which means they HAD A HOME. But that home dumped them. If that's true, then it's not that there are too few homes. It's that there are too few responsible homes. And mandatory spay/neuter, even if it worked, would not even begin to address that issue.

So what is the solution? I think it's three-fold.

First, the city should work together with the University of Missouri Veterinary Teaching Hospital to offer free spay/neuter clinics. Not low-cost, free. No questions asked. To pay for it, grants could be applied for and licensing fees could go up a moderate amount (perhaps $2 or $3).

Second, the city should use the internet and other dissemination that's free or very low cost to launch a publicity campaign to help inform the community and encourage participation.

Third, the city and CMHS should work proactively with training centers like CCSC to offer discounted training opportunities for people with pets. A dog that is trained is far less likely to be given up than a dog who is untrained. Many owners give up their dogs because they simply do not have the tools they need to deal with behaviors they don't want.

Positive proactive action will get results. Punitive laws with no teeth and no chance of effectiveness will not.

AKC to accept Mixed Breeds in 2010

2009-04-17T10:11:00.003-05:00

The great news of the week is that starting in April 2010, the AKC will allow mixed breeds to participate in Agility, Obedience, and Rally. This is a tremendous opportunity for Mixed Breed owners and their dogs.

While there are a number of other organizations that allow mixes in agility, including UKC, USDAA, ASCA, NADAC, CPE, and DOCNA, not all of them are available locally. And even the ones who are seen locally are not numerous. In Columbia, each year we have one UKC trial, two ASCA trials and (starting this June) USDAA. You can find more opportunities in Kansas City and St. Louis, but still not that many per year, maybe a total of 10-15 trials for all those venues combined. In contrast, There are many AKC trials available. Not just the two in Columbia, but many in Kansas City, Lawrence Kansas, St. Louis, etc.

For owners of mixed breeds wishing to do Obedience or Rally, the change is even more striking. They will go from having perhaps one or two opportunities per year in a 100 miles radius to many.

AKC's new program will be a particular boon to our local 4H kids, many of whom have mixes. I'm super-excited about the new program and can't wait for it to start!

Do a demo for us!

2009-04-06T14:55:00.001-05:00

My van, fully loaded. There are two Dobermans and a Min Pin under there, and you can't even see the other tunnel...

Now that it's out of the van, it looks a bit more organized.

Ginger takes a break in a lull between crowds.

Jura goes after a thrown toy as a reward.

Vegas, Mr. Suave and Persuasive. Do you have a treat for me? I am starving you know.

"Come do a demo for us" they say. "It's for a great cause, and you'll get a lot of exposure."

And they're right of course. It is always for a great cause, and it is super exposure for our training center. And we enjoy doing them. So we usually do at least two or three a year, and yet we also turn down several others each year. Why?

Because holy beejeebus, it's a crapload of work.

Today, we had a demo at the MU Veterinary Teaching Hospital Open House. We were set for three performances of 10-15 minutes each at 10:30, 11:30, and 12:30. For this Open House, we spent several hours copying brochures and locating our other paperwork (enrollment forms, business cards, the form for our new summer camp for kids, etc). Then we went to the training center last night and pulled two sets of 6 weave poles, 8 metal 4' solid-base jumps, two 15' tunnels, 8 tunnel weights, poles and bars, 20 sets of ring gates, feet to go on the ring gates so they'd stand up, the CCSC sign (digging frantically in the closet to find the darn thing), one of our exercise balls, rally signs and stands, cones, and chairs. I also made sure we had sun screen, paperclips and clipboards. For the dogs I had treats and their training bags, but that stays pretty prepped.

Then this morning we had to load it all. Two other people had already loaded the gates, rally stuff, and paperwork. I arrived at our building before 8:00 a.m. and loaded the two tunnels, weights, four of the metal jumps, all of the jump bars and both sets of weave poles. All on top of three dogs. I found I couldn't fit the rest of the metal jumps in, so instead went and pulled four more jumps, our freestanding wing jumps.

Off to breakfast, then we arrived at the site at 9:30. After some confusion about where we actually were supposed to be, we now had to unload everything and set up our rings. We started setting ring gates only to find that one Bachelor's Degree (me) and one PhD (Ginger) can't count for snot. We needed 26 sets of ring gates for the size rings we wanted, not 20. But having learned the hard way that at demos you always gate everything, we made our rings smaller instead of leaving gates out. If you don't gate everything, people try to drag their dogs through tunnels and over jumps willy-nilly, willing or not. Since we don't like to see dogs traumatized for life by well-meaning but naive owners, we gate. Today we also had to deal with high winds, so we ended up using tracking stakes from Steve and Jamie's van to help hold things down.

So after almost another hour of setup, we were finally ready for our first demo. And that's always the fun part. Talking to people, especially kids, about a sport I love to do, one that is accessible to all dogs of all sizes, shapes, and types, is great. The crowds were wonderful, the kids asked funny and perceptive questions. We were a bit shorthanded this demo, with Andrea in Omaha and Kathy in Wichita. Steve and Jamie had a dog, and I worked all three of mine, even 11 1/2 year old Viva. Ginger worked both her adult Springers and the 3 month old puppy had a great time with the crowd. Liz showed up with Standard Schnauzer Vegas and he demonstrated the exercise ball. We talked and explained until my voice was pretty much gone.

Our dogs were, I have to say, amazing. They worked the rings and the crowds, allowed innumerable hands to pet them and lots of chirping children's voices over their heads. Viva, the old Dobe, is a pro at this stuff, but Zipper the Min Pin is still young and I was just so thrilled with his attitude and patience. Ditto the Springers, the Weim Faith who was pretty much always mobbed, and Vegas too.

Finally we were finished with demos, but not at all finished with our day. We had vet student help to break things down, but we still had to repack the cars, then haul it all back to the building, take it all out and put it back. Even though our last show was at 12:30, it was almost 2:30 before I and the dogs finally arrived home. Where they promptly crashed into sound sleeps, exhausted by their day.

We do love to do demos, but now perhaps people may understand why we just don't do that many...

(originally posted at http://www.pinkpin.blogspot.com)

A New Venture at CCSC

2009-04-06T14:50:00.002-05:00

Summer is coming (hard to believe on days like this!) and kids will be out of school and fancy free So, some of our instructors have agreed to organize a Kid's and K9s camp.

Your thoughts and suggestions would be welcome as we work out the details. Here are the basics:

-1 week in length per session.

-Mornings (cooler temperature, more active dogs & kids)

-Several activities each day (craft/projects interspersed with basic training & play)

-Children entering 1st grade to 5th (?)

-Basically well behaved dogs (and kids!)

-Small groups of Children & dogs per instructor

Here are questions we are working on: what dates? Just before the summer session in the Columbia schools begins? Not in August? Evening events geared toward kids, dogs & families? Half day activities on weekends that are focussed on 1 or 2 things?

You may answer to this blog or to the CCSC website (www.columbiak9sportscenter.com )

Thanks,

Ginger

Oh Good grief, where does the time go?

2009-04-06T14:40:00.003-05:00

You would think I would be incredibly rich if I had one penny for every good intention to get back to the CCSC blog - I won't add Kathy & Andrea's pennies! WE could own the entire building by now.

Lets just say that like everyone else there has been too much going on with too little time.

What's new?

Lots - lots of new classes and new activities over at the center and good people who have been writing stories about us in the local press - and some new ones to come - and

new dogs - --

Since I last got around to telling anybody anything, Jura became a Dad - he was a "back yard breeder" no less and sired a singleton B&W baby whom we have called "Colin". Colin is now 12 weeks old and just passed the new AKC S.T.A.R. puppy class last week so like it or not, he is on his way. His co-owner is a Veterinarian who also has springers (including Colin's Mum, Kelcie) who lives in the Chicago area and specializes in reproductive medicine - so bringing Colin into this world with Kelcie as a Mum was well within her area of expertise.

The picture you see of Colin is on the back of Jura - who has turned out to be a great Dad and Miss Ailsa has turned out to be a really good Auntie (and Governess - she lets no bad behaviors go by).

Orientation is on Wednesday evening at 6:30 and there are SATURDAY classes now!

More to come - I promise.

Ginger

Liz Hansen featured in Trib

2009-02-02T16:19:00.002-06:00

It's Westminster weekend! That means dogs from all over the country head to Madison Square Garden, and I sit glued to the couch all night Monday and Tuesday night Feb 9 and 10.

Liz Hansen, a local who is attending, has been featured in the Columbia Tribune!

And don't forget the Show Me Canines UKC trial this weekend. Show Me will have obedience, rally, and agility. Come watch, or if you'd like to help contact Kathy.

Pardon our tardiness!

2008-12-09T10:30:00.003-06:00

Blogs can be a bit difficult to keep up with. As is apparent since it's been since October that we last wrote in this one. Fall is the show season and all of us have been hectically busy. It's very odd because I am currently working at home after being laid off yet I still seem to be frantically busy. Why is that? But I promise to do better and to poke the owners more often to get submissions.

As I said, fall is show season. I concentrated on agility this fall with Zipper. I'm starting to learn a bit more about what works and what doesn't. The arenas in Lawrence Kansas have livestock fence barriers that are see through (and runnable-through if you have a little dog). I've realized that right now that's not the best place for Zipper, it's just too visually distracting. At our facility, where he's comfortable and knows where everything is, he shines. He managed a 100% Q weekend at our trial, finishing his Open Jumpers title and getting two Open Standard legs. I moved him up to Excellent A Jumpers for the special show I got to go to in Springfield MA but he didn't do that well there, only to come back and finish his Open Standard title and get his first Excellent Jumpers leg in St. Louis the following weekend. The arena in Lake St Louis has white walls around 3 sides, and he tends to do very well there. So my plan is to keep him in those types of arenas until he's a bit less green.

Now a bit more on Springfield MA. What an experience. I was sent up there to man a booth for the OFA, as they work on trying to get more agility people to screen their dogs (and that's another blog at another time). Since I could fly Zipper under the seat, I decided to enter. This agility trial, done in conjunction with a set of all-breed shows and obedience/Rally, is the largest agility trial in the U.S. Entry limits per day were 2,000. As a comparison, the great majority of shows are either 330 or 660 entries. This is a big, big show. The only thing near it is the AKC Nationals. I was especially boggled to find that there were over 60 Excellent A 8" dogs (around here there are generally 2 or 3 A dogs). My Excellent A 12" class was about 130 dogs. They had to split us into two walkthroughs. The two clubs who put it on are phenomenol. It's amazingly well organized, and though I was definitely the small-town hick come to the big city, everyone was extremely friendly. And the vendors. Oh, the vendors. Clean Run was there in force, with a HUGE inventory. Max 200, other equipment makers, jewelers, it went on and on. The agility arena was definitely the vendor hall of fame and I spent far too much money.

As for Zipper's runs, only two were captured which is too bad, because his final Open Standard run on Sunday was pretty decent. I didn't get to run him in Excellent Sunday because even with running two different rings of Excellent jumpers simultaneously, we wouldn't have run till about 3:00 p.m. and my flight left at 3:30. But if you want to see Mr. Distraction at work, go here!

http://www.hycalibervideo.com/dog-agility-videos-08-10-18-19?filter0=Zipper

After doing agility all fall tracking was a change, and we had a fabulous tracking seminar with Linda Baschnagel this past weekend. Any of you who thought about it and decided not to attend really missed out. Tremendous information in a fun format. I hear she's coming back to do a VST seminar and I can't wait.

Handling two dogs on the same course

2008-10-21T16:32:00.006-05:00

Rae Tanner's AKC Open Jumpers course

My path for Zipper (in pink)

My path for Cala (in red)

This past weekend we had a very complex Open Jumpers course from Rae Tanner in Lawrence, KS. Not only was the course tricky (and you should have seen the Excellent Jumpers course!) but I had entered both Cala and Zipper. So I was running a 12" dog who is green and runs tight to the handler as well as a 24" dog who runs huge, has her own mind, and often goes off course.

I thought you might enjoy seeing the handling paths I took with each dog. I have a picture of the course alone, then with my handling path with Zipper, then with Cala. With Zipper, my handling path mirrored the dog's path fairly closely, with several rear crosses. With Cala, I stayed much farther away, layering jumps and pulling, doing crosses mostly in the middle.

Zipper Qd, after a single refusal on Jump 3. Cala didn't. I failed to call her verbally between 12 and 13, so she jumped the 2/15 jump instead. At the point when she took that jump, I was still between 11 and 12, that's how much space she uses. However, after I got her back we did finish well.

Every dog has a different comfort zone it works in. In most cases the differences between any two dogs you may run won't be this marked. But when they are, you must walk your course for each dog. In my case, I spent most of my time planning my path for Cala because for me that kind of huge space is challenging. But I still had to plan where I would put crosses for Zipper and how to shape his line for the weaves. I knew that if Cala saw the weaves she'd try to hit them, so worried more about trying to get her to collect a bit so she could hang on to them.

Walking the same course for two very different dogs is similar to having to learn two different courses at the same time. Both are challenging, but both can be done. One thing that panics Novice agility handlers is the very thought of having to memorize two courses. It's a learned skill, just like front crosses and rear crosses. If you are having difficulty learning courses, break them down into components. If competing in AKC, use your provided course map to memorize each course on paper before walking, then walk for shaping your line and handling. I never make handling decisions based on a piece of paper though. The actual course often has a very different feel than what you see on paper. A place that looks wide open on paper may be much tighter on the course, and a place that looked like a trap may be fine.

A course like our Jumpers course is especially challenging because it was all jumps, no tunnels. And lots of weaving back and forth (like I say, you should have seen the Excellent course!) All of us have gotten lost on courses. A good piece of advice once you're out there? Don't look up. Just keep going. If you look up and around, you'll lose concentration and be done for!

Whiskers and Wags

2008-10-13T09:46:00.005-05:00

A dog tries the baby tire. At first he wasn't sure, but then walked through with confidence.

Kathy talks about dog training and how to shape behaviors.

Zipper, aka Mr. Boing-Boing, was still boinging at the end of the day.

This past Saturday Kathy, Ginger and I loaded up a trailer with equipment and a van with dogs and hauled down to Jefferson City for the Whiskers and Wags shelter benefit at Memorial Park. There we were joined by Taryn Hodge and Beth Huhs, both of whom showed up and helped us most of the day.

We spent the day talking to people and letting dogs try some baby agility equipment. Kathy also got to give a talk on training, she talked about shaping and clicker methods with Briar as her demo dog. All of our dogs got a lot of socialization.

These events are exhausting for both dog and human but also very rewarding. Some dogs coming through the mini-course did brilliantly, and some were just completely overwhelmed by the whole thing, which gave us a chance to talk about how agility can really help increase a dog's confidence.

I've attached a few pictures courtesy of Lucy Banyan, the capable organizer.

Tracking Update

2008-10-13T09:20:00.002-05:00

Brief tracking update.

I've added corners to Zipper's tracking. First one, then two. Tracks are still pretty short, 100 to 200 steps (normal human steps). I'm beginning to fade food, and I'm starting to teach an article indication.

How do I teach article indication? I click it. In my first session I simply got out the clicker, treats, and a glove. He will see a glove and/or a sock on his real track. Any time I get out treats and a clicker I get Mr. Boing-Boing, but that's a good thing! I simply put the glove on the floor. He ran over to it. Click. (boing, boing, boing). He ran back to the glove, no click. Pawed it, click. (boing-boing-boing-boing). Next, pawing doesn't work. So he laid down on it, click. That's the behavior I want, so I clicked that several times (note, I'd already previously taught him to lie down on a target, so this went quickly, your mileage may vary and you may need to shape smaller increments). I then picked both him and the glove up, and moved the glove to the entryway. I carried him back to the kitchen and told him to go find the glove. Since he knew where the glove was, he ran to it. I waited until he downed on it, clicked, and we were done.

My plan is to do this with a variety of different objects. I will then take several objects out and put them on the track, and each time he gets to one and downs he'll get a click and a treat.

Tracking tonight barring pouring rain!

Tracking update

2008-09-30T08:30:00.003-05:00

A few months ago I posted that I was starting Zipper in tracking. And I did. Only to let it lapse, again.

See, I still have this whole love/hate thing with tracking. My dogs love it. I hate it.

Okay, I don't hate all of it. Actually running the track is fun. But the whole business of plotting a track, laying a track, and aging a track...well that's just boring as snot.

Well Vicki Miller promised to help me if I'd be dedicated. And I made a goal. I want to be able to Certify Zipper at the Show Me Canines certification the first weekend in December. So beginning last month, I started tracking Zipper again. And I'm sticking to a 2-3 times a week schedule.

I'm starting Zipper in very short grass that sometimes goes to bare ground (soccer grounds at Cosmo park). Tracking is harder in short grass and on bare ground than it is in deeper grass, because there's not as much cover to hold the scent; it spreads. But I'd rather start harder and go easier. Right now I'm only doing straight, short tracks. Vicki's philosophy is to only do one thing at a time. So we're on flat ground and working only on learning to scent. The track length is 80-100 steps, always aged 15 minutes. We started with food every step and I am stretching length between treats. Right now I'm starting with the first treat at 3 steps, then 4 steps, then 5, 6, and up to 10.

Another important thing to do at this early stage is for me to learn what Zipper looks like when he's tracking. When he's really into the scent he hunkers down a bit, his tail wags very slowly from side to side and his nose is deep. He does tend to cast back and forth some, but becomes more "serious" the longer the track.

I have a lot to add. I need to start teaching article indication (which I'll do here at home). He needs to do corners and of course much more length as well as taking treats off the track except (eventually) at the last article.

But we're on our way!

Paws in the Park

2008-09-30T08:22:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was Paws in the Park, a race and fun day to benefit Columbia Second Chance. I don't know that every pet owner in Columbia was there, but a lot were.

CCSC was a co-sponsor of the event along with Rock Bridge Animal Hospital. It was a great day, thanks to all of you who visited and talked to us! Cala and Zipper got to run some demos (with limited success, Cala was over the top and Zipper suddenly decided to pretend he'd never seen weaves in his life). We also had TK, owned by Patti Mierzwa, Charlie owned by Sarah Carlisle, and Dusty and Star owned by Barb Petty. And thank goodness for Barb, it was nice to have dogs there that actually knew what they were doing! I even let Viva run a course and she had a ball.

We already have some good ideas for next year. See you there!

Donna Rock, ACE Award Winner

2008-09-25T09:32:00.003-05:00

It was with great excitement that I learned yesterday that my friend Donna Rock and her Doberman Annie have won the AKC's prestigious ACE award for Canine Excellence in the Exemplary Companion dog.

A few of you have met Donna, most don't know her. She's not from here, she's from Louisiana. But her story is astounding and Annie is an incredible dog. Here is what the AKC says about Donna:

Exemplary Companion Dog: “Annie” owned by Donna Rock of Lacombe, LA
Annie is an 8-year-old Doberman Pinscher, who has comforted her owner Donna Rock through loss, given her hope, and provides the assistance necessary to help her achieve her goals. Born without arms, Donna originally purchased Annie to be her companion and to train for obedience competition. The two developed such an exceptional bond that Annie became Donna’s service dog, assisting her with everyday activities. Together, they have excelled at the higher levels of obedience competition, where verbal commands are not allowed and the dog must respond to signals. Donna and Annie have earned numerous Obedience and Agility titles, including the prestigious Obedience Trial Championship (OTCH) and the crown jewel in Agility, the Master Agility Championship (MACH). Their teamwork, skill and performance inspire those at ringside to understand the true purpose of the competition.
In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit, Donna lost her home, belongings, and even her place of work. Donna, who is employed by the USDA, was temporarily reassigned to work in Washington, DC. Through it all, Annie was there for her owner, helping her in the subways, on escalators and navigating through large crowds of people. Annie has loyally remained at Donna’s side, giving not just physical, but emotional support as well. Their amazing bond is the key to their success, not just in Obedience and Agility competition, but also in their day-to-day challenges.

We all sometimes struggle with training and get frustrated when things don't go our way. I'm including two videos below which are incredible and inspirational. The first is Donna working with her new BC Roller and also some with Annie in a training session. The second is Donna's OTCH run from earlier this year.

No one deserves this award more than Donna and Annie. Congratulations.

9/11. Bitter and sweet.

2008-09-11T08:49:00.003-05:00

I think all of us spend some time on 9/11 of each year remembering when it happened. Where we were, what we were doing. And today is traditionally a sad and somber day.

Of course I remember. I was working freelance at home at the time, so I was by myself, in my house. I could barely comprehend what I was seeing on TV. I called my Mother. We worried about my cousin who worked in in the WTC complex (though not in the towers). Turns out he was the last to leave his office but he made it out.

In those days we trained at Jennifer Riess' house and that night was a class night. We showed up. It was sort of, like, what else do you do? We mostly wandered in a daze. We didn't say much. This event was beyond rehashings. It was dazing. Scary. The skies were so oddly empty.

My next big memory of that time was of the weekend after. There was a show in Sullivan, MO. Outdoors on grass, which we pretty much never get to see now, but it was common then. And we all showed up. There were very few absences. Because of the grounding of all flights our judge could not fly in, so a substitute from St. Louis came and joined us. It was a brilliant, crispy sunny day. That weekend the tragedy multiplied because it was the day Ginger's Lily slipped from her crate and wandered into the nearby park road. I'll never forget her scream. She lived and even ran agility again but it was an awful thing to have happen. From then on, that show site always caused me an initial shudder. Now it's gone, they don't have shows there any more. I miss outdoor shows but I'm not sure I miss the Sullivan site, just because of the pervading cloud left from that weekend after 9/11.

Yet this date has one great connotation for me. See, it's Zipper's birthday. Yep, he was born on 9/11/2005. He's three today. And I'm so glad he's entered into my life. I feel somber today yet I could also laugh at the Min Pin bouncing off the head of the dobe in excitement for his breakfast.

I'm sure we all have unique memories from that horrible day back in 2001. Mine are inextricably tied to dogs. And I can't help but think that's not such a horrible thing.

Why we compete

2008-09-03T10:02:00.003-05:00

I came across this video by Susan Garrett a few days ago. While it talks specifically about agility, it exemplifies the journey we all take with our dogs when we choose to share and listen.

Troubles at CMHS

2008-08-29T07:57:00.007-05:00

Molly, a pointer for adoption through CMHS

This past week, the Central Missouri Humane Society announced that they are in dire financial shape and may have to close their doors. CMHS gets about $110,000 from the city and county, but takes in over 9,000 dogs per year, each of which costs at least $100 to house. So they are operating on an almost $1 million deficit.

A good discussion of the issues can be found on the Trib board, and related articles can be found here and here. And what I write here will be a partial repeat of a post I wrote on the Trib board, so forgive the repetition for any readers who may have already picked up the discussion there.

This is mostly a training blog, and I'm not going to get into any discussion here of what I think CMHS can do, or any possible problems with CMHS or their board or way of doing business. I will say that they work very hard for the animals. They have a great foster program, they work with breed rescues, they use PetFinder and are staffed with extremely hardworking, caring people.

In many parts of the country euthanasia rates are way down. In some parts of the country, believe it or not shelters are actually importing puppies for placement because they don't have enough. Why is Missouri and Columbia such an exception? Why does the CMHS have to deal with so many intakes?

It's easy to point fingers and say it's because Missouri is a puppy mill state and too many people are breeding dogs. But that's too simplistic. The truth of the matter is that nationwide we have less of a surplus dog problem than we have a careless, irresponsible owner problem. Most dogs coming into the shelter had homes. So homes are out there. But they're being dumped because owners treat dogs and puppies like a toaster or a stuffed toy, something to get on impulse, use for awhile, then discard.

The truth is, in almost all cases the excuses people make for dumping their pets are just that. Lame justifications for shucking a responsibility they took on when they got an animal. No, dogs are not children. But they are intelligent, living critters who demand very little for what they return. A bit of training, some willingness to invest in vet care, a brushing, and most importantly, affection. That's what dogs need. If we here in Central Missouuri are not willing to give those basic things, then we, as a group, need to not own dogs.

So part of what I see as a general failing in this area is working more on helping owners keep the dogs they get. But it seems like many/most simply don't want to bother with fencing, leashes, spay/neuter, training, or shots. I admit to being boggled by that and at a loss myself on how to influence people to think beyond "oooh, that's a cute puppy let's take it home." CCSC works hard to try to help people in this area, but they do need to come to us before we can help.

As a city, the dog problems do affect us all, even those who do not have or wish to have a dog. Careless dog people let their dogs roam, terrorizing children and other dogs, leaving poop everywhere. They don't give their dogs shots or worm them, so when they're roaming they're spreading disease. They don't spay/neuter or control access to their unaltered pets, so the market is flooded with puppies who are carelessly placed with those people who get a puppy on impulse. Then the cycle continues again.

Rocky, a MinPin mix up for adoption at CMHS

CMHS has some problems I'm sure. But we, as a community, need to point our fingers at ourselves. Nine thousand dogs a year?! That's ludicrous! That is OUR collective faults. So how should we combat it? Here's how you can help stem the supply.

Don't get pets on impulse. Realize that when you get a pet you're taking on an expensive, time-consuming 10-15 year project. Yes, it will puke on your favorite chair. Yes, it will shed on your business suit. Don't want that? Don't get a pet.
Get regular veterinary care for your pet. Shots, worming, exams. Heartworm, flea prevention.
Spay/neuter your pet. Even if your pet is purebred, it should not be bred unless you have a championship, multiple genetic health tests, and working titles (and maybe not even then). Being a lovely pet with a sweet personality is not justification to breed. Ever.
Groom your pet. Keep your pet clean and brushed. He'll be far happier
Confine your pet. Columbia has a leash law. It's pretty specific. On leash at ALL times unless in designated off leash area or in specific training situations. Specific training does not include letting your dog out the door to wander the neighborhood while you watch TV. A fenced yard or a leash. Those are your two choices.
Pick up after your pet. Yes, that's the law too. It may seem silly, but think about it from another perspective. Do you want your kid stepping in dog poop riddled with salmonella and e. coli? I bet not. There are baggies available at most parks, or use a plastic grocery bag. If you feed a quality food, it shouldn't be that big a deal.
Exercise your pet. Dogs are athletic critters. Keep them fit with exercise and they will be healthier, happier, and less likely to indulge in destructive behaviors. A tired dog is a good canine citizen.
Train your pet. Dogs need mental as well as physical exercise. They're incredibly smart. Give their brains something to do. A trained dog is a well-behaved companion. An investment in classes and your training time yields lifetime rewards.
Keep your pet. You chose to get an animal. Even when circumstances change, there's almost always a way to keep your pets. Don't take the easy way out and dump your animal. They ask for so little and give so much. Keep them. Don't dump them.

Brisk. What is it and why should you care?

2008-08-22T08:44:00.003-05:00

brisk

adj. brisk·er, brisk·est

1. Marked by speed, liveliness, and vigor; energetic: had a brisk walk in the park.

I've been going to obedience (and now Obedience/Rally) trials for many years. One of the most common mistakes I see in Rally and the lower levels of Obedience is a lack of briskness on the part of the handler. In straight English, I see a lot of handlers walking at a snail slow pace around the ring, looking at their feet, taking tiny steps. It's usually because of apprehension/nerves.

In Rally, lack of briskness (LOB) is a specific deduction. Enough hits for lack of briskness and a team may NQ (not qualify) on points even if they do all of the stations correctly. In Obedience judges don't have a specific LOB deduction but can and will deduct for a very slow team. Obedience heeling routines have a "Slow", and the handler must slow down perceptibly during this portion of the heel. If the handler is already walking slowly, it's much more difficult to have a perceptible "Slow".

In high levels of competition obedience, handlers learn exact footwork and pacing, often using a metronome. I'm not going into that in this post. For one it would take too long, for another I'm not the person to discuss that, Andrea or Paula are the ones to go to for that. Briskness applies to all footwork at all levels in all situations (except for the Slow), so I'll discuss briskness.

Though the above definition says "speed," briskness in Rally and Obedience should not be a race walk. You should not look like a five year old desperately trying to make it to the bathroom. Lively, energetic, vigorous; those are the important components of briskness as it applies to pace in the Obedience and Rally rings. You should move through the ring as if you have a destination in mind. A place to be. Not as if you're wandering aimlessly through a garden. You should stride out confidently, shoulders back, with long energetic strides. If you have a toy dog don't worry. In almost all cases the dog can keep up quite well unless he's very tiny and you have very very long legs. Even then, you can slightly shorten your stride yet still be brisk. Briskness is an attitude as well as a physical pace.

One thing that helps is to look forward, not down. If you're looking down at your toes you are less likely to be brisk. If you are looking forward toward the next Rally sign (or ring gate) you are more likely to be pulled to it and be more brisk.

One last huge benefit to briskness. If you are brisk, your dog is far more likely to stay engaged and involved. Moving briskly keeps the dog's attention focused and helps them be more up in attitude.

So get out there and be brisk! Practice it with and without the dog, and carry it with you to your next show.

Mr. Boing-Boing and the clicker

2008-08-03T15:10:00.002-05:00

Training the heel.

Get out clicker. Get slab of carver's treats. Get mobbed by Two dobes and a Pinhead, all doing the dog equivalent of, "it's the CLICKER!! THE CLICKER!! My turn first. No, I want to be closer to her, back off! Look! I'm prettiest. Well I sat first. Ooooh, lifting paw here, admire me. I need food because I'm oldest.!"

Shoo two big black dogs into office with some difficulty, finally resorting to pitching a couple of pea-sized pieces of Carver's in then slamming the door to howls of protest.

Am left with Mr. Boing-Boing. "Oooo! It's me! Me, me, me!" (boing-boing-boing-boing-boing). Take tiny treat in my left palm, fold thumb over, hold hand down, two fingers extended downward, and start walking. Boing-whap, boing-whap, boing-whap as Mr. Boing-Boing smacks his head repeatedly against my fingers trying to get the treat. Finally, a momentary boing-trot. Click, treat in position. "ooo! Food!" Boing-whap, boing-whap, boing-whap, "hey, what's that on the floor?" looks down and floor and, amazingly, has all four feet on floor at the same time. Click.

"I get it! I get it! Look at floor, get a click!" Mr. Boing-Boing trots along, staring fixedly at floor, waiting for click. "What's wrong with you! I'm looking at the floor just like you wanted." Stares harder. Glances up at his stupid human to make sure she's watching how good he's looking at the floor. Click. "Okay, this must be it then," look at floor, look up. Look at floor, look up. Down, up. Down-up. Downup-downup-down-up. UP. I wait for two strides of looking up, click. Five more strides, looking up, perfect heel...CLICK!

"Good boy! We're done." "What do you mean we're done. I'm not ready to be done yet. I want more!" Boing-boing-boing-boing-boing! Pick up mid-boing and deposit into office, bringing out Cala for her session clicking for straight backups 90-lefts and come-fores from a stationary sit.

Clicker training makes me laugh.

Joie de Vivre

2008-07-31T10:11:00.002-05:00

From Wikipedia:

Joie de vivre (from the French joie, "joy"; de, "of"; vivre, "to live, living"; "the joy of living") is a term sometimes imported into English to express a cheerful enjoyment of life; an exultation of spirit. Joie de vivre, as one scholar has written, can be a joy of conversation, joy of eating, joy of anything one might do… And joie de vivre may be seen as a joy of everything, a comprehensive joy, a philosophy of life, a Weltanschauung. Robert's Dictionnaire says joie is sentiment exaltant ressenti par toute la conscience, that is, involves one's whole being."

See also: Happiness, Carpe diem

All puppies have joie de vivre. They express such joy to be alive. Adult dogs tend to become more responsible as it were. They are still happy, but not with that bubbly effervescence that says "I'm so glad just to be here and be alive!" Or they have joie de vivre in some situations, like running in the park, but not all.

Some few lucky dogs retain that inexpressible lightness of spirit through their lives and pass it along to their owners. Zipper is one of those dogs, a dog whose tail is always vibrating, who is always happy, and who makes me laugh every day.

Does your dog have it?

Christmas in July

2008-07-17T07:52:00.002-05:00

Last weekend was the Missouri Rhineland Club's agility show in Pacific, MO, and I entered Zipper in Novice. Zipper has his Novice titles, but he needs experience and seasoning. This was a brand new location for him and I wanted to see how he did.

The location, an indoor soccer arena, was, well, interesting. Two-thirds of the arena was taken up with a single ring. The back third was crating for us, and there was a bit of crating around the outside. Truly a tiny facility, much smaller than CCSC. The weird thing was, they only had lights on over the ring itself. The crating area was dark. As in, we all wished we'd brought flashlights dark. Apparently that was to help keep the arena cool, but along with the halogen vapor lights that left triple-shadows in the ring, the entire effect was that you just couldn't see worth a darn. I figured if Zipper did well here, we were in pretty good shape.

Being a single-ring trial, all of Jumpers was run first, from Excellent to Novice. They then brought in the contact equipment and switched the ring to Standard, and ran that Ex to Novice. Which meant a very long day.

In Jumpers, there was a C shaped tunnel to a black tire, and many dogs missed the tire, including Zipper. In the odd light it was just hard to see. Zipper also ducked a couple of other jumps but otherwise had a good run and a very nice last line. No Q of course, but he didn't seem fazed by the arena. In Standard, Zipper ran to the broad jump then screeched to a halt, leaned forward, sniffed it, and jumped back like it had a bag of snakes under it. I circled him and tried again. This time he came up to it, then dodged to the right and gave a little kicking jump as he went by. I thought, "forget it," and went on. The rest of the run was lovely. No Q, but that wasn't why I was there anyway.

I decided not to go back Sunday. I'd learned what I needed to on Saturday, and it had been after 5:30 before they were done with my ring. So I stayed home and was lazy Sunday. At about 7:30 Sunday night, I got a call from Patti. They hadn't left until after 5:30. So I was glad I hadn't come back. Then she said, "and we picked up your ribbon for you."

"What ribbon?"

"Your ribbon. From yesterday."

"Um, Patti, I didn't Q yesterday."

"Yes you did, you got first place!"

"No, I didn't."

"Well wait a minute, it's in the car, I'll go tell you what you won."

Turns out that I got a Q in Standard, even though Zipper never did the broad jump. Oops. The thing is, by this time it was too late to change it. What's even more weird is that I got the Q, but with 90 points, which means I was assessed two mistakes. The only thing he messed up was the broad jump. I mean, if I'm going to get a fake Q, it should be an accurate fake Q yes?

Oh well. Christmas in July. I'm sure at some point in the near future I'll be NQd on a run when I should have qualified. Such is the way of agility.

Sahara: Her Trainer's Tribute

2008-07-03T10:55:00.003-05:00

I've been teaching people to train their dogs since 1985. During that time, hundreds of people and their dogs have touched my life. Some have gone on to become dear friends...others have had a more temporary presence, but a permanent affect.

At a recent orientation for new students, one new student asked a question about her dog. Frankly, I don't remember the question but I do remember the look on her face. Fear. I began to answer her question and then stopped. "Are you crying?", I asked her. "Not yet, but I'm getting ready to." I replied, "Oh, please don't cry! There isn't anything that you and I can't work on with your dog."

Vanette (yes, that's her real name), was enrolled in a class taught by someone else. I asked her if she would switch days in order to attend my class. She did. I gave her my cell and told her to call me when she reached the parking lot. I would come out to her car and help her in with her dog. I promised to take good care of her. All of this...and I didn't think to look at her enrollment form. I had no idea if this was a puppy, older dog or what primary breed of dog this was. I just knew that if things were to the point that a woman would cry in front of 50+ complete strangers...this nice lady needed help. That much, I did know.

At this point, I have no idea what to expect. I mean...no one has ever cried during orientation (that I've seen anyway)! What kind of horrible dog must this be? And, just as importantly, what have I done to myself?

The next week, Vanette phones me as promised and I walk to the parking lot to meet here. There, standing before me is this lovely, year-old female Anatolian Shepherd. A big breed, the Anatolian originates in Turkey and Asia Minor. They live with the shepherds and protect the flocks. The Anatolian Shepherd Dog is a fiercely loyal dog that demonstrates a possessive attitude towards family, property and livestock all the while being suspicious of strangers, reserved when in public. The Anatolian requires an owner who can be a strong, positive leader who consistently requires civilized socially-appropriate behavior.

This is not a pet. This is a true working dog. I was thrilled!! Vanette, the poor dear, was still a bit pale. I met Sahara, spoke to her for a few minutes, and then took her leash. We three, two women and a striking Anatolian, strode into the training arena.

The next 4 weeks witnessed an incredible transformation. Sahara and I trained Vanette. We taught her that Sahara wasn't scary. We taught Vanette about hard-wired breed characteristics of the Anatolian and how to respond. Sahara acknowledges me with a gentle, continuous wag of her tail. Sahara looks at me when I'm teaching her. And, the highest compliment bestowed by an Anatolian Shepherd: Sahara lets me give her hugs. Not just the casual "aw, you're a good dog" hug. I'm talking about the soulful connection that the few lucky trainers like me have with remarkable doggy students. I love that she stands oh-so-still with my arms wrapped around her enormously strong neck while I bury my face in her soft white fur. Then, I kiss her head where the little black patch of fur is on the top of her skull....sort of like an "until I see you again, be a good girl" kiss. You can tell...Sahara and Vanette quickly become not just my project...but a team that I look forward to seeing every Thursday.

The June 26 class was a really fun, unique class. I was ten minutes late and caught Vanette trying to cut out. "Aha!" I called out to her. "Where are you going?" Vanette, smiling, turned back. Sahara had already seen me, and likely noted that I'm carrying the training treats I always supply. All of the rings were occupied, so an impromptu agility lesson was held. Vanette and I taught Sahara the dog walk, the A-frame, teeter-totter, the tunnel, the ladder, buja board and to sit and perch on the table. She did it all! I stood back and watched Vanette and Sahara play on the agility equipment, carefully executing the obstacles. Vanette was cheering. Students were standing ringside to cheer. Sahara was smiling. I swear. That dog was smiling.

July 2, I arrive at dog school to train my dogs. One of our instructors stops me to say that Sahara died. It was if someone punched me in the stomach. I stood there stunned, crying, as Jenn delivered the news. "Vanette says that she'll still come to class this Thursday" Jenn informs me. "She'll still be here, but she wanted you to know."

Vanette has learned, as we all have, that this is the cycle of life. I am reminded of Irving Townsend, who so aptly penned:

"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own, live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached.Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way.We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan."

Sahara was not my dog. Sahara loved her family, but I was not family. I was a trusted friend, allowed into her circle of trusted humans. My friend, Sahara the Anatolian Shepherd, is gone. Vanette remains. My job, my role as trainer-turned-friend is to support Vanette, to understand her loss, to listen. To let her cry. To cry with her.

Tonight, I'll meet Vanette at her vehicle, just as I have every other time. Probably, we'll stay out there for a while and soothe our souls, as we remember the dog who was responsible for our friendship.

I will miss Sahara.
My first Anatolian Shepherd.
What a thrill.
What an honor.
Thanks, Vanette, for sharing her with me.

~ Andrea

The Care and Feeding of an Agility Trial

2008-07-02T10:11:00.002-05:00

Last weekend the Show Me Agility Club of Central MO had our AKC agility trial at CCSC. This was the fourth AKC agility trial that I've served as Trial Chair, which is another way to say "chief finger-pointer, worrier, obsessor, and over-organizer." But an AKC agility trial is a huge club-wide effort and I thought I'd give some insight on how much work goes into the final product of two (hopefully flawlessly run) days of agility.

Agility trials are often planned well over a year in advance. I line up a judge and secure the venue. This was our first time at CCSC. Previously we'd been at the Boone County Fairgrounds. There were a number of differences between the sites we needed to deal with. The Fairgrounds is on a dirt arena, where we can hammer down the obstacles that move easily like tunnels and weaves. Can't hammer into the rubber flooring at CCSC, so we needed to adapt. In this case, that meant that the equipment chair (Kathy) and I collaborated on ordering new sets of weave poles that would work better on the rubber surface. We also had a club work day and made sure all of our tunnel weights (sandbags) were nice and heavy. CCSC would also mean a different ring layout and different duties. We had to establish a grounds chairman (Gary R) to do things like monitor trash and help people park efficiently. As part of our contract, we had to clean the arena before and after the show, which meant a massive vacuuming effort. We vacuumed the entire building on Friday. That's 28,800 square feet of vacuuming. Some of our competitors, coming in early from all over the midwest, actually helped us. Agility people are great. We also needed to get a food vendor in (Jamaican Jerk Hut) as well as snacks for our large corps of volunteers who work the show in exchange for being fed. Patti organized that.

Our club hires a trial secretary because we don't have time to do that ourselves. She gets the Premium (the info people use to enter) done and also actually accepts and processes all the entries people send. She prints up armband numbers and running orders, sends out notices to people that they've been entered, and deals with early withdrawals. She prints up a sheet for each dog to be used on each day of the show so their score and time can be individually recorded. On the day of the trial she processes all of the results, entering the information from each dog's run (time and faults) into her computer. She generates a result sheet and labels which our awards person (Linda in this case) takes and puts on the ribbons for placements of first through fourth and also people who qualified but didn't place in the top four.

Our judge (Bonnie D from the Chicago area) stands in the arena all day both days and makes calls. She's designed the courses for each level (Novice, Open, Excellent) and each type of run (Standard, Jumpers with Weaves). She is the ultimate authority on the show site on things that go on inside the ring. I am the authority over all things that go on outside the ring.

When the trial rings are actually running it's a symphony of motion. Each dog and handler team comes out into the ring and to the start line just as the previous team is finishing. The timer, who runs our electronic-eye system, presses the "Go" button and the team starts. The judge watches the dog and handler and has a series of hand signals to indicate any faults she sees such as refusing an obstacle or jump, going over the wrong jump/obstacle, not putting a paw in the safety zone at the bottom of each obstacle, and/or dropping a bar. The scribe at the side of the ring is intently watching the judge for those hand signals and writes each error down (if any) on the scribe sheet for that dog. When the dog crosses the finish line the scribe flips her sheet over to the assistant, who writes down the time it took the dog to run and then hands it to a runner. Meanwhile the scribe is already doing the next dog, and the runner takes the sheet to the secretary to enter into the computer.

The organization of getting that ring running smoothly belongs to the ever important gate steward. The Gate has a listing of who is supposed to be running when, and exhibitors make sure they're in line so they're ready to step forward to the start. A good Gate steward can make a trial, a bad one can break it. Oh, and I can't forget the bar setters. Each ring has at least 3 people sitting inside the ring to put bars back on jumps in case a dog takes one down. So just for the ring, you have a gate steward, 3 ring crew, scribe, assistant scribe, timer, sheet runner and a leash runner to take each dog's leash from the startline to the finish (dogs must enter and exit the ring on leash).

But that's not all. After a class is finished, Kathy, our extremely capable chief course builder, steps into the ring to build the course for the next class. She also has a crew of people who help her. Kathy's job is to make sure each class is built to the judge's specifications, and those measurements are given to her on a map that tells her exactly where each jump or obstacle goes literally to the inch. So you see her in the ring with a measuring wheel and a 100' tape.

This year we had a few hiccups that were things out of our control, so it was even more nerve wracking than usual. However, on the weekend itself, everything went perfectly. The exhibitors were thrilled with the new location, not upset by having a delay in getting their ribbons and placements on Saturday, and very complimentary. In fact I think it's our first show where no one complained about a single thing all weekend. And agility people are really the best. We had a lot of volunteers who were non-club members. Best of all, we had fun. It was a weekend of teasing and laughter, of great runs and not-so-great ones and some that were a comedy of errors. But that's what agility is all about.

For our November trial, I'll turn the Trial Chair responsibilities over to Deb H. But I'll be back next April or May for our next spring trial. It's a huge amount of work for the whole club but somehow still fun.

Best In Show Liver Cookies

2008-06-26T17:18:00.003-05:00

BIS/BOSS Ch. Jamaica Paint Me Conspicuous TD CGC TDI

My friend Teresa Nash shared this recipe with me. Based upon the number of Best In Shows she has piloted dogs to and that Trip & I were using this EXACT recipe to earn his Best in Show and multiple group placements, the name has been modified to represent its real power!! ;-)

1 lb beef liver
1 lb bacon (cut into smaller pieces and microwave to speed up the cooking time. Drain on paper towels).
1/2 lb shredded cheddar cheese (I usually add more on top before baking)
1 C cornmeal
1 C flour
1 T garlic powder (you can use more/less as you want)
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350F and spray sheet pan with cooking spray. Puree liver in food processor or blender, add 2 eggs and 1 lb COOKED bacon, garlic and continue to puree. Pour into bowl, mixing in dry ingredients until you have a stiff mixture. Add some water to thin so it's easier to spread into the pan (I probably add about a 1/4 C). Should be consistency of drop cookies. Spread out on a greased cookie sheet for brownies. Bake 20 minutes or until dry looking on top. Pat with paper towels to remove grease that may have come to the top from the bacon and cheeses. Cut into pieces and refrigerate or freeze.

Enjoy!!

Andrea & Trip

Tique's Obedience High In Trial Liver Brownies

2008-06-26T17:11:00.004-05:00

There are many variations on this recipe and, while the others may be good, this one is really the absolute best! I think it is because of the texture...it's a great training treat and was one of Tique's absolute favorites. I have to give credit to my trainer AnneMarie Silverton for this one.

2 lbs beef liver
3 C flour
1 C wheat germ
1 t garlic power
2/3 C dark molassas

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Puree liver, mix the reaming ingredients. Pour and spread in greased 8 1/2 x 13 pan. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes. It's done when edges are pulling away from the side of the pan. Cool, cut and freeze in smaller portions.

Frosty Paws

2008-06-26T17:04:00.002-05:00

In keeping with my promise to my students to share Tique-tested and Trip-approved recipes, here is a summer favorite!!

Frosty Paws

32 oz vanilla yogurt
1 mashed banana or one large jar of baby fruit
2 T peanut butter
2 T honey
Blend together and freeze in either 3 oz paper cups or ice cube trays. Serve ala carte!!

Andrea Meinhart

You wanna mess with me?

2008-06-26T11:21:00.002-05:00

I've often said that Viva is the top dog in my house but to look at them day to day, you'd never know it. Last night she proved it once again.

My neighbors have a rather elderly bulldog mix. Generally she's okay, but she has a very bad habit of doing a roaring bum's rush on me when I try to get to my car. Yesterday morning she scared the bejeezus out of me when I was getting ready to go to work and almost got to my feet before she backed off.

Last night I took Viva and Cala with me to pick Zipper up from his Min Pin Play Date. When I load the dogs in the car, Viva goes out off leash and Cala on leash. Viva is 100% reliable. Cala, not so much. I wasn't paying that much attention and I rounded the back of the van to pop the latch when here came Pippi, charging and roaring. Cala of course immediately fired off a series of barks, which Pippi summarily ignored.

Viva hackled up and took two steps forward, positioning herself a bit forward of Cala, with herself between Pippi and me.

Pippi stopped dead.

Viva lowered her head.

Pippi fell suddenly silent, turned around, and walked back onto her property.

Viva huffed a "well that's done" and waited for me to finish opening the hatch. She then hopped in and settled down. Job done. Just another day at the office.

Yep, she's boss bitch. And every dog she encounters knows it.

The new weaves have arrived.

2008-06-26T10:36:00.002-05:00

Viva weaving in her younger days.

Our new weaves finally came in yesterday. It's been a bit of a crazy time trying to get them. Show Me ordered a set and CCSC ordered a set, and they should have been here 2 or 3 weeks ago, giving us plenty of time to practice on them before the trial. Instead they arrived yesterday. So now we have two days to practice on them instead of two weeks.

Why do we need to practice on these weaves, you ask? Because the spacing on these weaves is quite a bit wider than it is on the other sets we own. See, here's the story (and you know I always have a story!) When agility started, people really just sort of threw things together as obstacles. Weave poles were replicating pole bending in horse sports and the originators thought, "well, they need to be spaced tight enough that dogs have to work a bit to get through them." Weave pole spacing (the area between each pole) is now pretty widely variable, anywhere from 18" to 24". Our previous poles were 21".

But the agility world also started noticing something. We had a huge increase in shoulder tendon and ligament injuries in larger dogs. Bicepital tendonitis is almost an epidemic in bigger dogs who have been competing for any length of time. We're also seeing a fair amount of spinal spondylosis. And some of us think these long-term chronic injuries are happening when bigger dogs weave. Especially fast bigger dogs.

When a fast big dog weaves, he single-steps. What that means is, he places one single foot out to the side and shoves against that foot to push through one weave pole. He then does the same thing with the other foot to do the next weave. It's sort of a swimming motion. And it forces the dog's front to do something it's not supposed to do--push the foreleg straight out horizontally from the body. Big dogs also have to really torque their spines going through weaves.

So when we knew we had to have new weaves for this trial, I consulted with several agility lists and an AKC rep, and we decided to go for 24" spacing, in part because it looks like AKC may mandate that spacing in their next set of rule changes (it's been a rule in Europe for years), and in part because I think it's the right thing to do. Short term, we may have a few dogs this weekend who have to adapt their rhythm. Long term, it's better and safer for all the dogs. And when it comes down to it, dogs who know how to weave are going to weave, regardless of spacing.

So a-weaving we will go!

Jump Class update

2008-06-20T09:45:00.003-05:00

If you read my last blog, you'll know that Zipper had decided that jump class was quite boring, thank-you-very-much. And he'd rather be doing something else.

This week I decided to be prepared. I knew that I might need to do some extra lead-in jumps to each problem if he was being draggy, and I brought very yummy treats too.

Well for whatever reason, Zip decided that he liked the class this week. Which is a good thing because his handler had to keep trying one of the sequences because she couldn't get it right, which meant that he repeated just that one sequence four or five times. But he was cheerful about it, which is good.

I've probably written this before, but in agility, the skills the dog learns to physically negotiate the obstacles are important. I've put in the basics on Zipper and he's confident on all the obstacles. He has lovely jumping form and is rapidly conquering the intricacies of weaves. Most importantly, he thinks agility is fun and it has become self-rewarding for him.

Though it's the foundation of what comes later, the dog skill part of the agility equation is just a tiny drop in the bucket of what we will need to learn to become a team. Zipper still needs to learn to read my hand and shoulder cues. I need to learn which cues work best for him and when to use them. Coming from handling a big dog, I've got to totally reset how I think about which crosses to put in where, what his line will be and how to shape it. Where do I need to be on the course in relation to Zipper's position in order to help him figure out what I want? Which hand should I use when? I must guard against stooping and bending over, a very bad habit that's easy to fall into when you have a little dog. Do I need a verbal directional? Or not? I've been training one but haven't yet tied it to jumps, only spins.

I'm learning that Zipper is right footed. That means he prefers to turn right rather than left and that I need to help him be more flexible on his left. Knowing that will also help me know how to run him; he'll probably turn tighter to the right than to the left, so I'll need extra turn space when I need him to go left than when the next obstacle is to the right.

And that's just the start. I usually estimate that it takes two years of actually trialling with a dog before you really start to become a team. Before you're a team, you can have a lot of success but it sometimes feels crunchy or awkward. After you become a team, for the most part you and the dog just KNOW what you're going to do, what works and what doesn't, and when you run, you are extensions of each other, thinking and moving as one.

It's no wonder that newbies to agility have a very tough time with their first dog. This sport is incredibly fun and rewarding, but easy it is not! It looks easy and effortless, especially when done right. But there's an awful lot of training that goes into that looking easy part. New handlers are having to both learn how to train their dog for the skills the dog needs *and* how to learn the separate skills they need. Here I am, on my third agility dog, and I've got to work through all these things too. I have a bit more on the ball than the true newbies on how to train those basic skills, but this biggest part of the puzzle, the handling game, is something I have to struggle with along with everybody else. Because each dog is different and there's always something that may work better with this dog too.

So I'm grateful to my little 10# dog for putting up with me stumbling around last night trying one cross, then another, then yet another. Each time he showed me what worked for him and what did not. Because at the same time I'm training him, he's training me.

He doesn't like it! Now what?

2008-06-18T15:37:00.003-05:00

This class session, I started a new class with Zipper. It's the Jump 3 class. Taught by the eminently capable Deb Heifner, this class is for dogs who basically know how to jump but need to learn some of the more common patterns seen in the agility ring like serpentines, pinwheels, 270s, 180s, etc.

In Jump 3, dogs are starting to cue in on handler motion and how to use that motion to know where to go and which way to turn. It's actually a very cool class and I'm having a blast.

Zipper, however, is not.

The first week, Zipper was very blah at first. He acted hot. And tired. And I could not get him going. Finally he decided to attack a huge toy, and I was able to use that to get him excited and going. He completed the class with verve and style.

But again last week, Zipper was flat. He was distracted, slow, and sniffy. At best he cantered. This time a toy didn't really do that much for him. He got through the class but was clearly demotivated. Once again I wondered if it was conditions. It was warm and he was panting rather heavily. However, when I took him over to the big ring, he suddenly came alive. He flew over contacts and jumps, running flat out, and giving the huffy little steam-engine pants he does when he's happy and having fun.

Hmmmm. So it's not the conditions. It's the class.

What to do...what to do. I love the class. Further, this is stuff Zipper needs to learn and it will benefit us in the long run. On the other hand, he's a young green dog and if he's demotivated too often it may carry over. Zipper has "happy drive," which means he appears to have lots of drive, and he does, when he's happy. But he's soft. He doesn't have the "do it or die" work ethic of my dobes. He does this for fun and because I like it. He likes it too, but not so much that he couldn't turn off to it if he felt too challenged. That's why I've treated him with kid gloves all the way along.

So now I have a decision. Keep going with the class and try to motivate him? Quit the class and just work in the big ring? Quit the class and come back to it later?

For this week, the answer will be to come to class and work with Deb to see if we can light him up. This class IS hard for green dogs. The jumps are tight and they have to repeat things sometimes. He doesn't like repeating. So maybe we don't repeat. And maybe we do a few extra jumps on our way to the problem. I'm sure Deb and I will come up with something, and I'll keep you guys posted.

Comrades in a Storm

2008-06-08T21:13:00.003-05:00

Somehow playing agility on a Friday afternoon is supposed to be relaxing & fun - time away from work, taking a 3-day weekend with the dog - something that makes them "smile" and time with friends rehashing the last run, a run last week, or "Remember when we were at that trial in ..."

Well, this week it was the start of a 3-day trial in Glen Carbon, IL, at "The Game". Perfect conditions - relatively small trial, air-conditioned, on soccer turf. The part that is not mentioned in the premium for the trial is the weather. As all of us know, this spring/summer has been an active weather season. I left Columbia in the morning in a deluge - and I was a bit tired from waking and then staying awake with the line of storms that went through circa 3 a.m. Arriving in Glen Carbon and unloading the 3 crates for others arriving later, the sheets, the water containers, the chairs, the training bag, the leads, setting up and letting Baker have his beloved crate, it started to rain. No big deal, we were inside and the trial had started.

The afternoon was peppered with periodic rain and it got warmer & more humid. Baker had a nice Jumpers run - until he met his nemesis, the weaves. It was an off-side entrance (his preferred) and he went along nicely for 5 of the 12 poles and then decided to skip one, make 2, skip another and ended up in the wrong place as he finished. The consequence (apart from seeing the judges hands go up for a Wrong course and then a Failure to complete an obstacle) was that he was in the wrong place for the next jump - which he missed. Oh, well.

The focus for us shifted to the Standard ring (the course with the A-frame, dog-walk, teeter, etc.). This time instead of being entertained by the dogs competing at the other jump heights, "stuff" began to happen. The lights went out, the thunder rumbled and clapped overhead. some dogs began to yodel and some to whine and some to howl, some dogs were nervy with the storming when it began to hail (on a metal roof, it was loud) and then the sirens sounded.

The Game is your basic open structure so the big question was Where to go? The building sits on the edge of a flat set of filed (now with corn only 2-3" high and standing pools of water). You can see all the way to downtown St. Louis and the Arch. The consensus was to move the "interior": a set of men's and a women's locker rooms.

I chose the Women's as the door was directly behind my crating area. Apparently the Men's locker room became co-ed. Baker & I picked a corner on the floor with a bench to our left. The room rapidly filled up - in an orderly fashion.

By the time all was said and done, our area held 25 women and 35 dogs. From what I recall among the breeds packed into this space were Golden Retriever (Golden), Bearded Collie (Beardie), Brittany, Shetland Sheep dog (Sheltie), Border Collie (BC), Beagle, Labrador Retriever (Lab), Australian Shepherd (Aussie), French Bull Dog (Frenchie), Belgian Malinois (Mal), soft-coated Wheaon Terrier (Wheatie), Boxer, Papillon (Pap), Cocker Spaniel (Cocker), Beagle, and my English Springer Spaniel. Large and small, male and female, intact and neutered, all quiet and contained. Waiting and wondering (all of a sudden the great big building didn't feel particular substantial.

I have no idea how long we were there - at least 3 but less than 15 minutes. The air-conditioning was off and it was hot and stuffy, but the dogs and their owners were remarkable for their ability to share a limited space. It reminded me, among other things, that we can expect more from ourselves and our dogs than we presently do. The dogs are not "born bad" and they can,even in trying times, coexist with each other If the expectation is that they WILL be civilized and they WILL behave.

After the line of storms passed the competition resumed. Mr. B was still of a mind to enter the weaves and then slip one. Oh Well! Tomorrow is a clean slate (and hopefully without a weather feature).

Ginger

Of intelligence and memory

2008-05-16T07:08:00.005-05:00

Viva, UAG2 BJF Renejade Debt of Honor, CD, RA, MX, MXJ, EAC, O-EJC, TNN, WAC, TT, ATT, FFB, CGC

Dogs are not very smart. Scientists and researchers assure us of this. They are not anywhere near the intelligence of the greater apes, they say. When confronted with a sleeping dog who has REM and is giving off soft yelps while his feet twitch, scientists will say that absolutely is NOT dreaming because dogs aren't smart enough to dream. Dogs are so stupid, researchers and some trainers will tell us, that they can't remember why you're mad at them if they peed in the corner 2 hours ago. If you don't catch them in the act, they won't remember what they've done.

The great apes use tools, scientists will say, and tool use is the hallmark of upper level brain function. The great apes can even, with years of work, be taught sign language, so they may tell us what they want and need.

I think those scientists and researchers have never lived with dogs or if they do own dogs, have never bothered to open their eyes and actually pay attention. Do dogs use tools? Well no, they don't pick up sticks to dig for ants like the famous chimps that Jane Goodall observed years ago. Instead, when she's hungry, Cala will go get her metal food bowl, bring it to the living room, pick a spot on the hardwood, and drop said bowl. Loudly. Then she'll flip it upside down, put her front feet on it and scoot it around the room, all the while giving me pointed looks. "Hey. Lady. I'm hungry. Yo. Are you stupid? How much more obvious can I be?"

See, dogs, they don't need a stick. They have the bestest tool ever. Dogs learn that if they go to a door and sit and scratch or bark, their special handy-dandy tool will haul itself off the couch and come turn the knob. If that tool is a bit sluggish, a dance and a yip will hurry it up nicely.

Dogs don't need sign language. Why the heck try to speak or get your paws to work? Just sidle up to the human and put an appropriate look on your face and presto, that special itchy spot gets scratched just to your liking. The human stops too soon? Head butt them and they'll start again.

Dogs can plot and plan too. I once watched a fascinating interchange between Cala and Zipper. Zipper stole one of Cala's toys and took it to his crate. She instantly wanted that toy more than anything in the world, and he was not having any. He had the advantage, being on home ground where she couldn't circle around. So after several unsuccessful tries at outright taking it back, Cala stepped back and stood there a minute. Then she left the room. When she returned, she was carrying a different toy. She set that toy on a chair in full view of the crate and left the room again. Nothing stirred for five minutes. But sure enough, a Min Pin nose poked out of the crate. He looked around. No Cala. Out he came, and hopped up on the chair to steal the other toy. And the moment he cleared the crate, there was a big black blur. Cala was in the room, into his crate, snatched her toy, and back out of the room before he could do more than turn around and watch.

I spent yesterday in Warrensburg, at the United Doberman Club National. It's actually going on all week, but I only had the one day to go down and visit old friends and watch breed and obedience. The breed judge was May Jacobson. May bred Viva's sire, and for the first 18 months of Viva's life, May saw her often though Viva never lived with May. Then Viva came to live with me. For the next three years, I'd take Viva to a National and she would, astonishingly, recognize May. Even though they never lived together. Even though she would only see her once a year, for about 15 minutes. The last time May saw Viva was about 5 or 6 years ago.

One of my reasons for going down yesterday was to take the now 10 1/2 year old Viva down so May could see her, a living tie to Bro, her sire, that May loved so much who is now gone. I admit I was curious. Would Viva remember? That would be quite a feat after all these years. And the answer is, yes, she absolutely did. Viva is cordial but reserved with people she doesn't know, or, if they have treats, she backs up and strikes a "please feed me now" pose. But after a few seconds of sniffing May, Viva suddenly reared up and gave her a great kiss, squeaking in pleasure, then proceeded to do very un-Vivalike puppy wiggles, tail stub vibrating madly.

Call dogs stupid. Go ahead. I dare you.

Today, I am sad

2008-05-07T10:06:00.007-05:00

Lis' and Diva

The agility world is large, yet small. The sport has always been especially supportive of people. There are surprisingly few egos involved. And thanks to the internet, a lot of us "know" each other, even when we've never met.

Over the years I've had some great conversations with a lady from Texas who runs Chinese Cresteds (yes, Chinese Crested dogs, the little bald dogs, do quite well in agility). Lis' and I have not always agreed, in fact sometimes we've clashed. But I've always respected her opinion. And I was shocked, along with the rest of the agility world, to get the following message on April 14.

"To all of my fellow agility competitors and friends, Last Tuesday I was admitted to hospital, for eight years I have fought breast cancer. I have been diagnosed now with AML Leukemia and have been given approximately three weeks to spend on this wonderful earth.

I have chosen not to do any more chemo as I believe I have received and given all this life has to give and take. With the help of my dear friends in Dallas we were able to talk the Dr's into spring me out of hospital today. Tomorrow at the Dallas Agility Working Group's trial I will run my darling Chinese Crested Diva for the last time - it wont be pretty, no one will be able to guess who's handling style I will use and I don't even know myself - just staying on my feet will be an achievement and to run with my very best friend and to be among friends will be enough to give me the energy I need to get through the day. ...

If you want to do anything for me pray that Diva and I can achieve a super Q, it is all we need to become ADCH together, but even if we don't get it - I know I am blessed to share what time I have with my dogs and my friends. Please wish Angela Lancaster all the very best with my dogs in the future, she is going from the cheesiest Yorkies to a couple of naked Cresteds and I know my dogs will continue to be well loved and respected and they will be in the agility ring again at some time to play. Many thanks for all your love and support over the years, I am indeed one of the lucky ones that get to say thanks in 'person' before my time.

Remember this weekend to enjoy your friends, dogs and should success come, enjoy and embrace it, if it doesn't never forgot the love of this game and the friendships we have forged. Thanks to everyone who helped me with my journey I sure do appreciate you all. Run Fast, Run Happy--Lis' Kristoff"

Lis did indeed run Diva that very weekend for her ADCH. That run can be seen here:

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

Just yesterday, we got a message from one of Lis's friends. Diva was only leaving Lis's side for food and to go outside. And today, Lis' is gone. She passed away at 9:00 p.m. last night. Her positive voice will be missed.

When dogs get older

2008-05-02T08:43:00.002-05:00

Viva is 10 1/2 now. She has arthritis in her feet. She has spondylosis (arthritis in her spine) which she's had for several years now. Some days she's a bit lame, even with glucosamine.

But she's also a tough old bird. She still chases Cala and plays growly-games with Zipper. She still gets steaming mad at me if I bring her to the training building then don't actually work her, because she thinks she should work. Most people who meet her have no idea she's over 10, though just this year she's starting to get a very few flecks of grey in her muzzle.

It's a sad fact that dogs age far more quickly than we do, and larger breed dogs faster still. Any Doberman who lives over 10 is considered to be older than the norm, and I do have a lot of hope that Viva will live several more years yet. But I'm also seeing some other old-age changes. One of them is that she doesn't always make it all night any more. No, she doesn't go in the house. Instead, she goes to the kitchen door and barks. Until I wake up. Now mind you, there's a dog door in the basement she could use. But she also now refuses to go down the basement stairs at night. She'll go during the day. She'll come back in the basement door and up the stairs when I let her out the kitchen door. But she's decided she's not going down those steps at night, I need to let her out. Her eyes are fine, she just doesn't want to do it.

And I've noticed something else this spring. She's starting to be more reactive to storms. It's an odd thing I've heard happening in older dogs, especially older Dobermans. Throughout her life Viva has always been bomb proof about storms. Doesn't even notice them. Sleeps through them. The only time she ever reacted was when we were about to get an extremely severe or tornadic storm. She'd be a bit restless until the wall cloud passed and the pressure dropped, then she'd be fine. I can't tell you how many times it's been hailing with 50+ mph winds and both of my dogs have been sacked out, dead to the world. But now Viva seems to be getting more sensitive to the storm's approach. This morning she was anxious and panting. I do think it's tied to pressure, and perhaps to the beginning of diminshed hearing.

You know what? I'm just thrilled that I have an older dog who is doing those old-dog things. My most long-lived Doberman prior to Viva died just a couple of months past his 10th birthday, and I've had Dobermans since 1982. I've owned, loved, and buried seven others during that time. None of them made it to 10. It's a fabulous breed that's unfortunately riddled with health issues.

I bless each and every day I have with my old dog. I'm sure that in coming days I'll have to make more adjustments for her. She'll become less flexible, both mentally and physically. It's a small price to pay for the things she has given me since she entered my life those years ago.

A sad, cautionary tale

2008-04-28T13:53:00.004-05:00

Viva popped open the chute end by rearing up, which sometimes meant tangles. When possible, dogs should be trained to run low and straight through the chute fabric. Unfortunately Viva never learned that method, but she was never seriously tangled.

This morning I heard a very sad story on one of my agility lists about a young up and coming agility dog in the Dallas, TX area. It seems that these folks have agility equipment in their backyard, and let their two dogs out in the morning while they got ready for work. The following is reprinted with permission from the post.

"After some time, Sue went to bring the dogs in the house, but Mattie was gone. With help from neighbors, they scoured the area but couldn't find her. When they got back to the house, they noticed that the agility chute in the backyard looked funny. The fabric had been bunched up in the barrel. It was typical chute fabric, not a tarp. Sue found Mattie's body tangled up in the chute. She had gotten twisted tightly in the fabric and suffocated. They tried to do CPR, but it was too late."

What a terrible tragedy for all. And it reinforces my opinion that dogs should never, ever be allowed around or on agility equipment unsupervised. The potential for injury is very high. Not just from getting tangled in a chute, but dogs could get legs caught on teeters, have bad dogwalk falls, have a tire or fall on them. If you let two dogs out to play, what happens if one flies up the teeter to slam it down and the other one is standing underneath it? I used to be so afraid of that happening with my little dog that even when we let dogs play supervised in Kathy's agility field, I'd go tip the teeter over on its side.

In addition to accident and injury, allowing dogs to run around unsupervised doing equipment can end up really sabotaging your training. If your dog learns that running down the dogwalk and leaping to the ground from four feet up is fun, and he does it repeatedly when he's out playing, how successful are you going to be at teaching a stopped contact? If your dog's favorite place to view the world is standing dead still on the top of the aframe, how fast will his aframe be? Besides. Having unlimited access to equipment diminishes its value. Having unlimited access to equipment without the owner nearby fosters lack of respect for teamwork.

So please, please do not allow your dogs unfettered access to agility equipment. It's not a play gym. It's a game for our dogs to play with us, using teamwork and rules. Not something they should be doing by themselves. It's one of the several solid reasons we at CCSC do not allow non-agility students on agility equipment.

Fruit & Nuts: a new game from Jura & Ailsa

2008-04-26T09:37:00.004-05:00

Those who know Jura know that his most favorite game is to drop an object (ball, soft toy, yogurt container, stick, what-ever-comes-to-mouth-if-none-of-the-above-are-available ) on the ground and to stand over it and stare at it until some obliging mammal with a hand picks it up and tosses it in any direction so that he can retrieve it and begin the cycle all over again. Some of us are particularly obliging and indulge his silly habit indoors (particularly dangerous depending on object dimensions & direction of toss), outdoors in any weather. With his propensity to re-injure his lower back this game was banned for the last 8-9 months.

His journey to VetHab to remove his excess poundage and re-condition his body, though, has had an bonus benefit - he can play his game again (albeit the biped who feeds, trains & plays with him a) has to be more sensible about the limits on the game & b) he is to be warmed up BEFORE playing the game).

I usually shower as one of the last of my morning activities which means the dogs are exercised, fed and have usually performed whatever morning training will occur on that day prior to my being able to attend to my needs. They hang out in the vicinity of the bathroom and one is usually on guard lest I happen to go down the drain during this dangerous activity (Not bloody likely - but they have to check behind the curtain just to be sure). Sometimes one of them (Jura) gets bored and has taken to dropping a object into the tub. I pick it up and toss it out, he catches it (more points for leaping up and snagging it before it hits the floor), and he repeats the cycle.

This morning the object was an artichoke from Planet dog - it is chewy, fits a springer mouth and has a very eccentric bounce. Ailsa wanted in on this game but was summarily excluded. So she went off and returned with the eggplant which is even more unusual in its ability to bounce. Luckily, Jura was not interested in swapping objects as that can be very boring. By the time she was playing the game, I had removed myself from the shower, was dressed and completing the teeth cleaning routine, but my job as tosser is usually not complete and it ended up that the eggplant was deposited in the now empty tub - great distress for Ailsa as she did not know how to get it. At this point I was interested because she can jump objects higher than the rim of the tub (agility table, for example and even up on to the bed) but she had not generalized about the tub rim. Jura had the artichoke in his mouth and dropped it and I tossed it into the tub (well on our way to making ratatouille). He popped in, rejected the eggplant and fetched his artichoke and popped out. She - being smart at watching the older guys - did the "Ah ha!" and popped into the tub and picked up her eggplant. Interestingly, she could not easily jump out with the eggplant in her mouth so she dropped it out of the tub over the rim and then jumped out of the tub.

While I completed the morning ritual she made a new game for herself - pick up eggplant, drop into tub, watch it roll around, when it stops, jump into batch tub, pick up eggplant, drop over rim, watch it roll around the floor, jump out of tub, repeat until Mother leaves the bathroom. Baker, who usually presides over bathroom duty from the threshold, was sufficiently intrigued to sit up and watch from just inside the door (his job appears to monitor who is in and who is out of the bathroom).

We will see if the game exists beyond today - I will add pictures but we are off to CCSC for fun & games.

Ginger

Reciprocal Actions

2008-04-20T14:13:00.003-05:00

Way back in January I told the story of how Ailsa (at just over 6 mo) had taught Baker (just shy of 7 years) how to use the new dog doors and how she had been imparting the wisdom she had learned from her Scottish Mum in helping Baker to "get a dog life". Well there was an interesting interaction last week when the tables turned.

We (Ailsa, Baker, Jura - he's home!, and I) and Robin's crew (Cala, Viva, and Zipper) decided to let the dogs get their "yayas" out at Bradford on Wednesday after work before the weather changed back to that dismal rain and cold. The 6 dogs had a super time running free, hunting up voles, eating corn cobs, and sitting in muddy puddles. We started out down the lane, then cross country until we were south of the big lake. Baker and Jura both raised their heads, smelling the water and took off like a shot - Robin and I laughed that it was the first certain sign of spring that the dogs knew they could go swimming.

Indeed, as the rest of us came to the top of the rise we could see the two springer boys swimming in the lake. Ailsa on seeing her house brothers ran down to the water and allowed herself to go in roughly to the point where she could float but also touch down her paws - about 3 feet off the edge and she was content. The three emerged from the water, shook wildly and then trotted further along the edge past a dock that was added last summer. Not thinking, I tossed a frisbee into the water causing not just Baker and Jura to leap in, but also Ailsa. They moved rapidly out to the floating object without trouble, Jura got there first and the three turned back toward the shore. Oddly enough it was at that point that it dawned on Ailsa that she was a good deal further than 3 feet from dry land and she began to flail.

When a dog panics in the water they start to do what is described as a "doggy paddle" and it is not fun to watch - the head and torso rise out of the water and their front paws slap at the water quite ineffectively. Worse, they become like sticks with a minimal volume with which to float - usually the next thing that happens in that they tire and go straight down.

Given that the worldly wise Ailsa is but a puppy and not practiced in the water and given that I do not want her worrying about water and swimming, I began to strategize about how I was going to get her out of the water, how cold it was, what clothing would need removing, how many towels were in the van, etc. etc. My rapid planning was interrupted when I saw Baker.

He had been just ahead and to her left when she panicked. When she started to flail he looked back and then slowly turned in the water toward her. When Baker swims it is with incredible ease - he always carries his back level and his head barely out of the water - looks more like a partially submerged submarine with a nice clean wake. He drew along side her and slowed until his head was near hers, the picture of calm and confidence. When she caught sight of him it was amazing as she almost instantly quieted and sank back into the same position that he illustrated thereby making herself an excellent floating object.

I swear that he was smiling as he escorted her ashore, quietly, efficiently, and, best of all, with huge confidence. Once back, she rapidly removed herself and had a great big, terribly wet shake. I thought that she would stay away from swimming again that trip, but no, a few 100 yards further along she was back in the water (YEA!) albeit very close to shore. When we go out again today, I will be interested to see how they both approach the water.

I can not tell you how proud I was of Uncle Baker for sharing one of his strongest talents with Miss Ailsa.

Ginger

Dogs being dogs

2008-04-18T07:58:00.003-05:00

Those of us who train and do dog sports with our dogs expect a lot of them. Our dogs are pets and beloved companions first and foremost. But they go far beyond that. Our dogs are athletes. We demand a tremendous amount from them both physically and mentally. Agility in particular requires both peak athletic effort and the ability to think and react very quickly to a huge number of human body and voice cues. Many agility dogs will turn left or right on a verbal alone, know to come tight to the handler when their hand drops to their side, know each obstacle by name and have the ability to pick which obstacle to take based purely on that. And these dogs are letting all that information click through their heads while running 30+ miles per hour around a tight little course.

Of course getting that end result means a lot of training beforehand. It usually takes performance dogs in any sport 1-2 years to get ready to show. There are hundreds and hundreds of training hours in every dog you see in the obedience ring or agility field. Most of us train several times a day in tiny spurts (heeling while the coffee brews, hand targeting while the bread's in the oven, finishes when the commercial is on), with more intensive training 3-4 times a week. Then, of course, we're also doing physical conditioning. Some people use the treadmill at the building. Others of us go on long hikes, or have the dogs carry a backpack or pull a cart.

On top of that, our working dogs are in the public a lot. We demand that they be good canine citizens in all they do. We give a lot of demos and of course show on public property. We can't have a dog that goes all wingnut if somebody wants to touch them or a dog gets too close.

If all this sounds like a lot for the dog, it is. However, our dogs love to work. Very few breeds of dogs actually do not like to get out there and exercise their brains and bodies. Just like people our dogs love having something to do. I'd venture to say that our working dogs are probably far happier and well adjusted than many dogs. I promise they're way better off than that poor dog hanging out on a chain or in a run in somebody's back yard, more lawn ornament than functioning, thinking canine.

But sometimes we dog trainers start feeling like over-ambitious soccer-mom types. Every waking moment of the dog's life to be managed, directed, groomed. And you know what? Sometimes dogs just need to be dogs.

Part of how we let our dogs be dogs is to take them to a safe area and let them run off leash. They hunt, they get muddy, they run. And run, and run, and run (hey, added bonus, physical conditioning!). But Zipper, who has been perforce raised in a big-dog world, also gets an occasional added bonus. Yesterday afternoon was such a day. It was warm enough that he could go back to his breeder's house where he was born, and be part of a Min Pin pack. He and his dam stayed all afternoon in a big fenced paddock, with his brother and various other relatives in the next paddock over. They ran around and sniffed and barked at each other and did Min Pin things.

Last night I took home a happy, tired, and self-satisfied little dog who got to spend time just being a little dog in a little dog world.

Let's talk sex

2008-04-15T07:57:00.004-05:00

Xander and Zipper playing

Okay, let's not. At least, not the way that sounded. But I do want to discuss some things about male dogs and female dogs, and I'll be using the correct word for females, which is bitch. (Want to know if someone is deep into dogs? If they are totally blase about throwing around phrases like "oh, she's a lovely little bitch," and "I've got a bitch in the classes" while sitting at a restaurant munching on won tons.)

I was at a 3-day AKC agility trial in Glen Carbon, IL this weekend. I traveled with a good friend, and left the two Doberman girls at home. She has a 5 year old intact male German Shepherd. Xander weighs just short of 80 pounds. And I had Zipper, also intact male, a Min Pin weighing in at a whopping 10 pounds. Let's put it this way. Xander's head is bigger than Zipper's entire body.

Zipper managed to collect two Novice Jumpers legs and one Novice Standard leg. In English, that means that he now is 2/3 of the way to his Novice title in both of those styles of agility. Jumpers is a numbered course where only jumps, weaves, and tunnels are used and Standard is the other common course type used in AKC. It involves everything in Jumpers plus contact obstacles; the dogwalk (thin plank raised 4' off the ground), teeter-totter, aframe, and pause table, where the dog is to sit or down for 5 seconds during the course to show control.

But all that aside, there were two things that struck me over the weekend. And both involved boy-dog stuff.

There are a lot of stories about intact male dogs. They're aggressive. They'll fight other male dogs. They'll go insane if a bitch in season (ready to breed) is anywhere within a 5 mile radius. Basically, they're dangerous and should be neutered at the first possible moment.

But Xander and Zipper? They don't read those stories. Xander, who could easily kill Zipper with a single bite, was exaggeratedly careful. Slowly, he play bowed. He gave teeny-tiny Shepherd kisses which were still big enough to soak Zipper's head and neck. Zipper, meanwhile, buzzed around Xander like a tiny bee on crack, wiggling and squirming in delight, throwing himself onto his back to flail his legs in the air. Not a tooth shown, not a hackle raised, just two intact males having a ball playing together each night at the hotel. So my foremost and best big memory of the weekend was of the two male dogs playing happily together.

The second thing I'll carry away from the weekend is starting to learn how to deal with a male dog when a bitch in season is indeed nearby. Because there was one at the trial, almost certainly being shown even though that's strictly illegal in agility. At the trial site Zipper was very distracted and very, very interested in the floor. He refused to down on the table Friday, too busy sniffing it. Had the same problem Sunday, and he spent a lot of time whining. It was an unmistakable sign. "Girl here! Really, really good smelling girl!" But though I did have more trouble with him than usual, he did manage to work, and even got those qualifying scores I mentioned above. Another myth down the drain, that male dogs can't think at all if there's a bitch in season nearby. They can and do learn to deal with it.

I'm all for neutering any and all dogs who are pets, who are mixes, who are not going to contribute to improving the breed as a whole. I absolutely agree that all adopted and rescued dogs must be altered before placement. But let's not assign blanket stereotypes to un-neutered dogs. Not all intact males are aggressive idiots, and for those that are, I hate to say it, but neutering probably won't fix it. Those of us with intact males DO have an extraordinary obligation in both training and management. We must teach our dogs what is acceptable behavior and what is not. We also must be 100% committed to never, ever allowing our dogs out of our direct control for a single moment. No wandering the neighborhood, ever. Always securely confined within a fence, in a crate, or on a leash. Period.

But please don't make the assumption that if our dogs are intact they are dangerous. Xander and Zipper would laugh at that one. Or maybe not. They'd be too busy playing to bother.

Living with Cala

2008-04-07T19:49:00.003-05:00

Most of us who do agility want a dog with what we call "Drive." The word Drive is sort of a catch-all term, and it means different things to different people and can be applied differently to dogs. As an example, drive in a sporting breed could be tied to birdiness—the overwhelming desire to hunt/flush/point/retrieve birds.

In agility, we're a bit more generalistic. I think of drive as focus, intensity, speed, courage, desire, and resilience (ability to bounce back rapidly from adversity). The dog we're looking for in agility is not footing, body, or sound sensitive. The dog should have a "damn the torpedo's, full speed ahead" attitude. Who wants to work, and who is not happy without work. This is the dog who will fall off the dogwalk and immediately scream to get back on. The dog who wants to always go faster and will get impatient if you don't keep up. The dog you have to watch, because sometimes their drive will write checks their bodies can't cash.

Viva, Cala's dam, has drive in spades. She's retired now (shhhh, don't tell her). Over the years her drive has led to so many injuries I can't name them all, and now her body can't keep up any more but the spirit and the will to work is very much still there. Viva also has another critically important quality. It's called an off switch. She's a dog who could be sound asleep in the sun ringside. I'd wake her up, walk to the line, and by the time she got there she'd be screaming to go. So in spite of what she always looked like in the ring, she's easy to live with.

Now Cala, she's got insane drive. I've talked about that before. She's got all the intensity and speed and resilience. But focus? Not so much. And off switch?

Tonight I took all three dogs for a long run. Cala ran full out for a good 40 minutes or so. I came home, got their supper and mine and settled down to watch Dancing With The Stars (I love it, so sue me!). During Pricella Presley's waltz I was also being serenaded by pig grunts from the Cuz toy Cala was thrusting into my hands to throw for her. I kept putting it down, she kept giving it back. I finally got her to give that up. She wandered off. Came back and shoved a postcard into my hand. An invitation to a party at Rock Bridge Animal Hospital. I took it away from her. She wandered off again. This time it was a dog food coupon. Took that away. The next item to appear? Zipper's metal food bowl which she summarily dropped to the floor and stomped on. So much for a relaxing night watching TV.

This is pretty much how I spend my nights. She will eventually settle down, which is an improvement over when she was a puppy; she was six months old before I ever caught her laying down except when crated.

Living with Cala is endlessly amusing and also infinitely tiring. And now I must go. Cala is picking at Viva, she loves to nibble on Viva's head and Viva hates it.

Be careful what you wish for if you ever see Cala at the building and wish your dog had drive like that...

Since it's been requested...

2008-04-03T15:35:00.002-05:00

Since Ginger mentioned it, I'll brag a little bit on the Pinhead's performances last weekend at the local ASCA show.

There are three types of agility courses in ASCA agility. Regular (Standard, with the contact equipment such as the aframe and dogwalk) , Jumpers (jumps and tunnels only) and Gamblers which I'll describe another time. I entered Zipper in Regular and Jumpers, which added up to him doing 3 agility runs Saturday and 4 on Sunday. That's a lot of runs for a young, green dog; in contrast, at most AKC trials you have 2 runs per day, one Jumpers and one Standard. AKC does have a new class that's gaining popularity, but not all clubs offer it.

When I started Zipper last fall, I was having a lot of issues with him being distracted. He'd stop, or sniff, or take off around jumps. Once he even left the ring. I think the causes are a combination of stress and uncertainty (sniffing is a classic stress behavior), not being quite sure what I want, and frankly, being an intact male Min Pin who is very visually oriented and sometimes has the attention span of a flea.

So I was especially thrilled with his progress last weekend. He stayed with me. We had some wrong courses, and his Jumpers run Saturday was very distracted. But for the most part he did really well. He ended up earning two titles, his Novice Regular and Novice Jumpers titles. And he got his weave poles in three out of four runs where weaves were present. One of his jumpers runs was especially fast and smooth and I started to get the feel of how we'll be working together as a team long-term. Best of all he managed to retain focus all the way through Sunday afternoon. By 7:00 p.m. Sunday night the little guy was done. I noticed he wasn't in the living room. He'd taken himself to his "big-dog" crate, a dobe sized Varikennel, and put himself to bed. Literally. He'd crawled under the blanket and was out like a light. A big exciting weekend for a very little dog.

Of winning and losing, triumphs and defeats

2008-04-02T08:38:00.004-05:00

Zipper with his UKC Agility High In Trial winnings

I'm in the midst of a discussion on the Rally-Obed yahoogroup, and it's brought up some thoughts I want to share about what it means to do dogsport, on newbies and experience, on winning and losing and the effort therein.

This particular discussion is about the A versus the B classes. The A classes, such as Novice A, are for people who have never put an AKC obedience or rally title on a dog. The B classes are for people who have either put a title on a dog or the dog is co-owned by a person who has titled the dog. And at the moment we're getting a lot of cries of "unfair" because sometimes true newbies ended up being slotted up against much more experienced teams.

Let's say you buy a dog from a breeder who does obedience, and you buy on a co-ownership (both your name and the breeder's name are on the registration papers). You've never even owned a dog before and have certainly never trained one. Yet when you do train your dog and enter a show, you will have to enter the "B" classes. As such, you may be competing against people who have showing for years and have put OTChs (Obedience Trial Championships) on their dogs. Heck, the dog you're competing against might *be* an OTCh.

In another situation, a person may have competed extensively in other venues. Let's say they have a UKC UD and an ASCA CDX but have never entered an AKC show. They will get to compete in Novice A, because the AKC doesn't recognize titles from other organizations. So even the Novice A class, meant for those new to showing dogs, may hold some teams that are very experienced.

Some people feel this is unfair. That newbies shouldn't have to compete against these more experienced teams. That it's too hard for them, and that it's demotivating for them to lose. They deserve to not have to struggle so hard to get placements and they can't possibly win against those who have titled other dogs.

My reply to that is bullhockey (well, bull-something else, but this is a family blog).

I think that kind of attitude does a disservice to everyone, but especially those new green teams. It seems to be a general thought today that everyone should win just because they enter. We strive for mediocrity because that's all we need to do. Everybody gets a gift at the kids birthday party just for coming. Why should we work hard to when we can get a title just for showing up? Lord forfend there's any sort of real competition. It's not fair that we have to be in the same ring as those really experienced teams. We'll get beaten for sure.

The truth is any worthy endeavor is one that takes effort and struggle to attain. In any dog sport, (or any sport) what you put into it is what you get out of it. If you don't want to work hard, don't know the rules and don't train your dog, you're probably going to get beaten. Sometimes you will work hard and you'll still get beaten. If you won all the time, then winning would be boring. In order for us to truly appreciate winning, we need to understand that effort must be put forth.

We should never ask others to descend to our level of mediocrity in order for us to succeed. Instead, if we want to succeed, we must rise to a level that makes that a possibility. And that means that we're going to work hard. We're going to fail along the way. We may struggle. That makes success all the sweeter.

In most of dog sport, you really don't have to beat any other team to be successful. Your ability to "win" is tied directly to the amount of work and effort you put into your team. Very few titles (the OTCh is an exception) require you to get a first or second place. Instead, you simply have to meet a minimum score and get a qualifying ribbon. Get three of those under two different judges and you get a title. You've won. If you want a class placement (first through fourth place) on top of that well, then, you have to work for it. Whether or not somebody else has a multi-titled dog and is competing against you is totally immaterial. Any person can place first in any class at any show on any day IF they put the time into making that happen.

If you don't want to work very hard to get that title? That's fine. Just know that you aren't going to get the same score as people who were willing to train. It's not a level playing field. It's never going to be a level playing field. But it doesn't matter. How you do depends entirely on YOU.

Oh and I have seen some Novice A teams get out there and kick butt. Because they worked at it. You can do it too, but if you want to be great you have to be willing to put in the time and miles to get you and your dog there.

Progress for Jura

2008-04-01T12:11:00.002-05:00

Thank goodness this week was significantly quieter, albeit busy & wet, than last weekend. Indeed between replacing license, bank card, and losing cards with contact information there has been minimal time to train with the kids. It shows that Ailsa has had her brain addled with hormones - at retriever class last week she first could not seem to find the bird dummies - ran right over them and when she did come back and find them she looked at the dummies like they were evil, smelly hunks of plastic to be brought back holding on to the least offensive piece with the incisors only (mind you, this is the dog who will fetch a dog poop bag fully loaded from the back yard and bring it through the famous dog door to deposit it proudly on my computer key board). After watching Faith at work she seemed to regain some of her focus.

In the meantime, Jura has been off at VetHab being worked on a daily basis come rain or shine. When I last reported he was safely in Raleigh, weighing in at 53 lbs. During the first week they were able to get him working on the treadmill underwater so that he could work for 15 minutes without running out of steam. He dropped 2 lbs. At the same time his ears cleared up as did the staph infection on his head.

The week of the 17th when I called he was plateaued at 50 lbs but he was now working alternate days with an 30 minute endurance run at 5 mph on one day and a strength run at 12 degree incline 3 mph, in 3 15 minute sessions.

This last week that hard work was apparently paying off as they reported that he is down to 48 lbs and "Back to his old self". In this week they have added a weight day where he runs with a pack containing 8 lbs. In addition, apparently the cracks in his pads are healing and they have been making sure that his coat is brushed daily as he runs in water up to his upper thigh (to add resistance). When I pick him up, I will have to groom him to remove the dead fur - springers have a double coat - the outer layer has the guard hairs which are relatively long and soft; the inner coat is "woolier" and when stripped out looks like liver fluff. This inner coat keeps them relatively dry and maintains body temperature but left in place it can make those nasty mats that some dogs get and the color of that material fades in the sun and on exposure to chlorine in the water.

Which remark made me happier last week? The fact that his weight is back in the 40s or that "the Old Jura we know and love is back"? Well, to know that "Jura" is back says boatloads - a) it reminds me that the staff at VetHab and Jura have a relationship, b) they know him, c) he likes to work and be active. Jura is basically a low maintenance dog in that he is inherently content so it is easy to forget he is there. On the other hand, if one engages him, he will light up and respond but the initiative has to come from the other person/dog. Left to his own devices he would happily go about life without people and be a couch potato - if he had a choice of activity, it would be to be in the field working birds! But if they are not there he is content to be content. It is pleasant to have a dog like that but I now appreciate that I have to watch out or I will forget he is there just because he does not demand my attention. I think that is what almost happened when he was out on the road.

I hugely miss Jura in the house and in my company - I derive a certain strength from his calm demeanor. It is just 2 weeks before I get to bring him back and I am already starting to plan how to make sure that he remains in the fit condition that he will be in from his 5 weeks in NC.

He will be surprised by the pretty sassy young bitch in the house - she was a true puppy when he left - now she has that young adolescent air about her. I think Ailsa will happily include Jura in her social duties as she is indeed pushy and unwilling to just lay around. Already she makes Baker play every evening; adding Jura to the mix will be more fun for her and I will be trying to figure out how to keep the yard from covering the floors of the house!

Here is hoping that Robin & Kathy share the super runs they had with Zipper & Briar respectively last weekend during the ASCA trial because I want to brag on Mr. Baker but he can wait :)

This is the last week of classes this session and bitter sweet as I love having watched the progress of all the dogs and knowing that some will not be coming back :( as their owners have accomplished what they wanted from classes.

Breakthroughs—Cala

2008-03-27T09:28:00.004-05:00

Okay, compared to Ginger my month has been really boring. No intact girls, so nobody in season. No 16 dogs in the house, no wallet being stolen (thank goodness!) I have, however, made some nice training progress with both Cala and Zipper. I'll detail Zipper in a different post.

As I described in the blog on fighting fire with fire, Cala can be a very challenging dog to train. I've been following through with the toy game with her, and I'm thrilled that it's having really amazing results. She's listening and following direction. At the Columbia show she was able to handle Rally Excellent well and take the jump twice, both days, without screaming. Her dumb handler (that would be me) blew by a sign on Saturday so no Q there, but she got a 96 and a first place in her Excellent A class on Sunday.

Right now I'm working on refining some skills with Cala. Cala has difficulty with the halt, side-step right, halt. In that exercise the dog is sitting in heel position and the human steps directly to the right one step with their right leg, then brings the left leg over to meet it. The dog should get up and also step directly right (no forward motion). When we started, Cala was coming over to the right with her head and front but mostly leaving her butt where it was, so that she ended up sitting crooked and wide. We have progressed to her coming over with her front end then swinging her back end in to sit mostly straight. That's satisfactory for Rally standards, but I'd really like to see if I can get her to sidepass. What I would like to see is her getting up and moving both her front and rear to the right at the same time in one motion, then sitting down. And recently she's done this a couple of times with a fun leap to the right. So I'm marking that with a click and a reward.

Another problem spot for Cala are straight fronts, especially from heel position. In Rally signs #41 and #42, the dog halts and sits in heel position, then must move to front (sit in front of and facing the handler) without the handler moving. So the dog has to get up, move forward, and swing around to face the handler then sit again. (The other lower-level Rally call-fronts allow the handler to step backwards several steps to help the dog get straight, this one does not.) Cala either gets up then sits right back down or she gets up and sits sort of facing me but really crooked. She loves left (swing) finishes so she tends to sit at about 9:00 or 10:00 when I want her to sit at 12:00. I had been using my left hand, the one nearest her, to signal for the front. Recently I started switching to my right hand. I take the right hand with a treat in it, bring it to just in front of her nose, then tell her to front while simultaneously drawing that hand out in a big clockwise circle then back toward my right side. It's helping tremendously and her fronts are much better. This is a classic luring scenario, but I will be able to drop the lure quickly and just use my hand at a real Rally trial.

In agility, the riot stick game is working beautifully; when we can work. At the end of February Cala jammed a toe when we were training contacts. So she was off of agility for 3 weeks. In her first training session back I did a single jump, the aframe, and she came running back to me with a bloody foot. She'd cut a toe pad on a different toe. Sigh. So it's really just been this week that I've done a bit more agility training in preparation for the ASCA trial this weekend. I'll let you know how we do.

Partnership Progress for March - Baker, Ailsa and the visiting Astra

2008-03-26T13:35:00.003-05:00

Good grief - it is not possible that so many days have gone by without time to write a post. Lots has happened since the first of the month - perhaps there will be time to fill out the bits & pieces.

March 2 Jura left for North Carolina and his rehab/conditioning in Raleigh NC; Ailsa developed a cough

March 3 Ailsa in Season & diagnosed with Kennel Cough; 10 days of antibiotics & quarantine from the building & other dogs; Kathy's guys immunized against Kennel Cough; all of the sheets, crate bedding, etc. washed & hard surfaces sprayed with disinfectant in the buildings.

March 4 Astra also appears to be coming in season so she came to live with Ailsa & Baker & me.

March 5 Baker may be neutered but his brain still remembers what it is to have girls around in season; the girls are more than pleased to have Uncle Baker to play with.

March 6 Astra has a cough; Ailsa no longer coughing; still taking antibiotics, though. The old black lab from across the street has broken through a slat in my fence - he may have arthritis & bad hips but the fine aroma of girls in heat revives his own inner passion; I construct a fence-within-a-fence on the deck.

March 7 Astra given cough medicine after seeing the Vet; long day because we had the building open for practice from 6-8 (or was it 9 -anyway it was late!)

March 8 Columbia Kennel Club dog show and Surprise of Surprises, Ailsa wins her puppy bitch class, goes winners bitch, then gets best of winners and best of breed and the two of us have earned her first point. Only two majors and 14 more points to go ........ Needless to say we made no progress in Groups but we had fun and got a picture to prove it. In Rally, Mr. Baker had a good time and did not know that his mother lost her way on course (absentminded professor type). Oh and I stewarded for obedience in the afternoon - watched a really great Novice A class as a result & we had the building open again in the evening 6-9 but I was really bad and shooed the last two people away at 8 when there had been no one for the previous 45 minutes and it was cold and we were really tired.

March 9 Second day of the Kennel Club show. First I was a steward/timer for the rally Excellent class. Then, Baker earned his second leg towards his Rally Advanced title and even got a placement ribbon (3rd, I think) - his Mom remembered the course. He had just as good a time as the day before. Finally it was time to show in conformation again with Miss Ailsa who MOST definitely was in season - She was a happy girl with a lilt in her springy step and we won our puppy class but she went reserve for the bitch class losing to the bitch who took breed. No problem as it meant we did not have to wait around for groups which was good because standing on the concrete was really hard on my feet! That evening the troops fell out and poor Astra had no company.

March 10 moderately quiet - recovery - Astra still coughing & not into her food; Ailsa ready to play, Baker going mad.

March 11 more of the same

March 12 I disturb everything by packing & leaving to give a lecture in Canada; my grad student Josh takes over the dog duties until I get back on Saturday March 15 (Having been supposed to get home Friday! Helps if the airlines send an airplane to Canada - I am grateful in any case because they still had snow on the ground well above knee level). In the meantime, Josh got to deal with the marauding labrador who had taken out 3 planks on my outer fence and knocked the inner fence down twice. The panels were in the dog door (thank goodness) and the virtue of the girls maintained. Chastity belts perhaps? Needless to say, any excursion outside was on lead into the inner sanctum under supervision. Astra was seen by the vet and given her round of antibiotics which cleared up her cough, restored her appetite, and energy levels by the time I got home.

Sunday March 16 Got the chance to track Baker along with Briar, JJ, and Jamie's Weimeraner puppy, Faith at Bradford Farms in the morning. Mr. B was most pleased to be away from the hormones and with Mom for the morning and did a super job. I was pleased to not be traveling and super pleased with his work - more on that later. In the afternoon the "girls" got to have their go - Kathy & I were joined by Josh and we walked Ailsa, Astra & Baker out at Bradford - needless to say, the little girls were on flexi leads but they had a real run and "airing"

Monday March 17 St. Patrick's day and Cardiovascular Research Day at MU so the kids were in their crates most of the day without much of my time except to have their meals

March 18 - more of the same - Ailsa by now has finished her antibiotics and Astra, while asymptomatic, is still getting hers.

March 19 another full day but I have created some attention games for the girls - Baker got to come up to the building for Jump 4 class

March 20 Wow! In the evening my friend & colleague, Dr. Meiser DVM came into town on her way to a Springer specialty in Dallas, TX. Her adult dogs are taking part in an ongoing study at the University and had photographs taken of their retinas; she also had a litter of 6 puppies with her - some on their way to their new homes, some will be coming back. In any case there were 14 dogs in the house over night (they were quiet) Good thing the puppies had their X-pen & I have plenty of crates - Astra was outnumbered 13:1 but the puppies were her size.

March 21 Bright and early as Dr. Meiser was reloading her passel of pups, Mr. James & company came to remove my fence (hey, if an old lab could take out 3 planks there was not much life left in the structure) - it did not take them long. Problem was that I felt REALLY vulnerable with NO fence and just my "inner sanctum" and it did not take long for the lab to realize the vulnerability. In the late afternoon new beds arrived & old mattresses were removed (you know you need a new mattress when you sleep better away from home than at home....) In the evening I took the dogs with me to get groceries and do chores so they at least got out of the house. Good news - Astra's last pill and all 4 of us slept well on the new mattress - even if it is way up there! PANIC, though, No fence as there was concern that the concrete might not have set....

March 22 Holy Saturday and I paid for taking the dogs out on Good Friday evening and sleeping very, very well - somewhere in transporting them back into the house, making sure they could potty unmolested, bringing in groceries, getting everyone fed & bedded down for the night, I failed to lock the car door. Further, apparently my wallet had slipped out of the pocket of my sweatshirt while I was in the car so, in addition to having the van rifled & all coins & small money that was in the variety of slots removed, my wallet went too. SIGH. I came out of the house just after 7 to take the guys tracking to see the hatch wide open and my heart sank. Thank goodness I had leant my GPS to Dr. Meiser so I did not lose that too. We took a big deep breath & joined the tracking party for breakfast up at the 63 diner after Kathy and I first set two tracks for the more experienced dogs. After breakfast we ran the tracks with Cindy, Vicky, Kathy & myself - both the experienced dogs and the little girls. The Easter miricle was that Mr. James and his crew put in the fence! No labradors invading, room for the kids to romp - not to mention that they are both coming out of season!

March 23 Easter - a day for Celebration (and cold, and gray and snow). In the afternoon we took the dogs up to the building to clean up for next weekend - vacuuming up the fur and dust from the last month. In the meantime, Ailsa and Astra had run of the entire building and they ran and ran and jumped and tugged and ran and played for what seemed to be hours. Needless to say, they slept well.

March 24 Nothing much of note as I spent more time with Kathy cleaning the building and a quiet evening with the kids - all three now know how to have a good play session.

March 25 - The day to send Astra home with Kathy as she and Aisla seem safely past their "prime". Baker had his jumping class, Ailsa had her hunter/retriever class - the hormones seem to have interfered a bit with her attention span but this too shall pass.

So that brings us up to date - the Australian Shepherd Club of MidAmerica will have competitions at the building this weekend - Conformation (Aussies only), Obedience & Agility (all breed, registered dogs) - see the web site for hours. My intention is to get one more update on Mr. Jura and I'll tell you how he has faired since the start of March.

Ginger

Clicking the heel

2008-03-19T09:11:00.002-05:00

It's been awhile since I posted an actual training post. I've already written several on the theory behind the clicker as a tool for training, and writing something about actually applying the theory is long, long overdue.

I'm using the clicker to teach Zipper to heel. Zipper presents some special heeling issues because of his size. I want to teach an attention heel, but having him heel and watch me in the eyes will not work, because he's too small. To look in my face he would have to forge forward out of heel position and also turn sideways. So I need to teach him a different focus point. I am also a trainer who is more interested in attitude than in precision. Zipper will probably only compete in Rally Obedience, where half-point errors are not counted. I want him to think heeling is really fun and exciting and I want him to be somewhat accurate, but my goal is not a 200 score.

To that end, I'm using a technique I found on the Mighty Mite Dog Gear Forum, a news forum addressing issues (including training issues) specific to small dogs. I decided that I wanted Zipper to target my left hand in the heel, and that I would drop my hand down and keep it fairly still to act as said target.

Now Zipper already knows to target my hand with a nose touch. I needed something to help him learn to target on my left that I could fade. At first I tried carrying a toy balled up in my hand, and clicking and dropping it when he was in heel position. It turns out there were problems with this. First, it was difficult to get even a small toy bunched up in my hand, especially with a line attached. And if I didn't have a line attached, when I dropped the toy he'd just run off with it. Training session over. Second, Zipper is extremely toy motivated....sometimes. If he gets at all stressed he will not play with toys, and if he's distracted he also will not play. So toys weren't working. He's always food motivated, but food also had one problem; the frantically boinging Min Pin. I'd walk along and I'd have Mr. Ping Pong Ball. Boing!-Boing!-Boing!-Boing!-Boing! I could not get all four of his feet to stay on the ground long enough for me to click.

Enter the paint stick. It just so happened that when we last painted the dogwalk, we had a couple of those cheap wooden stir sticks left over. I dipped the bottom 2" of each stick in green paint to provide a color/smell contrast. Next, I started to click Zipper for putting his nose on the stick. I only clicked if he nose-touched the painted part. I knew that I would not want him actually touching the stick but rather following it, so the minute he understood that the stick was the target, I went ahead and put it in my left hand and began walking with it.

Wait. Back up. Let me describe that a bit because it's taken some juggling to get all the components right. I put the paint stick in my left hand, pointing down, flat side in front of Zipper. I also put the clicker in my left hand, flat against the paint stick, so that my thumb curls around and can click. I have to squeeze a bit to keep them both in there, but I don't want to tape the clicker to the stick, because I want to be able to slide the stick up over time. In my right hand are treats. When I click, I rapidly sweep my right hand over and treat in position.

At this point I've done three heeling sessions with Zipper, each about 5 minutes. We always start with Mr. Boing-Boing Dog, but by continuing to move forward and clicking when he's following the target with all four feet on the ground I'm already having progress. As of last night, he was moving forward and I was able to bring the stick up so it's no longer exactly in front of his nose but slightly above it. Over time, I will slowly withdraw the stick into my hand, so that my hand then becomes the target.

I also discovered another weakness in our training. Zipper thinks sits and downs are to be done facing me. I don't physically position Zipper (try to push or hold him in position with my hands) so I'm addressing this too with the clicker. At first every time I moved he'd get up. Again I realized a training weak spot--even when I've been working stays (very little so far) I've been doing so with him in front of me. So I worked a bit on me just moving back and forth, clicking when he stayed in position. I also worked on sliding sideways into him. If he accepted the slightest position that removed me from in front, I clicked. In essence, I have indeed taught him to watch my face when sitting and downing, so that's what he wants to do. I need to help him learn he can sit and down facing the same direction I am.

I'll update his progress over time.

Dining Out for Animals Today, March 18

2008-03-18T10:59:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Matt Heger, my friend from CoMoWhineandDine, for this information:

Today is the annual event "Dining Out for Animals" during which many Columbia restaurants dedicate a portion of the day's dining proceeds to the Central Missouri Humane Society.

If you are going out to eat today, please consider stopping by the following:

Lunch (11-1):

Campus Bar and Grill
Flat Branch
Harpo’s
Village Wine & Cheese
W.G. Grinders – downtown

Dinner (6-10):

Addison’ s
Bambino’ s
CJ’s
Flat Branch
Grand Cru
Heidelberg
Jack’s Gourmet
McNally’ s
Pasta Factory
Sophia’s
Thai Kitchen
Village Wine & Cheese

Dog show weekend

2008-03-13T14:31:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it's Thursday already. Time has definitely gotten past me this week.

Last weekend was the annual Columbia Kennel Club dog show. I hope some of you got to attend. There were many of us there, including quite a few of the instructors and all three owners. Kathy was chief bottle-washer and help-recruiter for Obedience and Rally. Ginger showed Ailsa in breed and Baker in Rally. Andrea showed Trip in breed. And I showed Cala in Rally.

I didn't know whether I'd be able to show or not; Cala had jammed a toe in agility practice the week before and obviously if she was still lame I wasn't going to ask her to jump, even the two low jumps she would have to negotiate in Rally Excellent. But that cleared up in enough time for me to get a bit of polishing-up practice done, so I felt we were ready. Or at least I thought we were ready until Saturday morning when I let myself get in a state over a bunch of stuff and only managed to walk the course twice (and even then I was anxious and upset). I ended up blowing right by a sign. There are many things that are forgivable in Rally. But not even attempting a sign? NQ. Not Qualified. Big fat zippo. Oh well. The good part was that Cala did the jump, both times, without going into a Cala-screaming-frenzy. This was really, really good news since I had thought I might have to retire her from Rally due to this loud overenthusiasm. Screaming like a demented banshee is perfectly okay in agility. In Rally, not so much. Very bad form. Missing signs was the order of the day. I was hardly the only one; in fact probably a majority of the competitors missed at least one sign. The judge had designed for one size ring only to get there and find it 10' shorter. So there were a load of signs jammed down on the end, and for some you had to go by one to get to the correct one. Lots of people missed or got lost.

Sunday I managed to get myself sane and we did finally get an Excellent leg.

This week seems to be medical week. Zipper went to get his teeth cleaned and x-rayed for submission to the OFA for hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, and legg-calve-perthes. Viva and Zipper both had acupuncture treatments today.

And my beloved Cala, on equipment last night for the first time since jamming her toe, took a chunk out of the pad of a different toe. We walked into the ring. She jumped two jumps and did the aframe, and came dashing back with a bloody foot. No vet for her, it'll heal. But big sigh nonetheless. Fortunately I only entered her in Jumpers at the ASCA trial the end of this month. Because it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to get much training in.

Partnership responsibilities, nails!

2008-03-07T09:05:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I got an email from Zipper's breeder. "Can you come over tonight and help me do nails?" She's getting ready to head to a National then the Louisville cluster and the kennel needed nails done. And since Zipper's also needed doing, I carted him along too.

Zipper tends to think of his breeder's house as a cool day-camp, where he gets to romp around and play with all his Min Pin friends. Poor guy, if only he'd known! We did him first, then two Poms, two Norfolks, and six more Min Pins. For the most part the dogs tolerated it as a less pleasant but survivable part of life. A couple were less happy but we all escaped with fingers and toes intact.

As I was reading Ginger's excellent blog about partnership responsibilities today, it occurred to me that nails are another really important partnership responsibility; and one that is too often ignored by owners.

Yes, teaching a dog to tolerate nail trimming can be a bit of work. Yes, you can take the dog to the vet or groomer. But I prefer to do nails at home. It's not only cheaper, but if I do them myself it happens more often. Further, if I have taught my dog to tolerate nail trimming then it's not such a huge hassle. I think we all know dogs that have a screaming hysterical fit at nail time, mostly because they have been terrified and hurt in the past. And they've been terrified and hurt because some vet or vet tech or groomer is having to deal with dragon nails and is intent on getting it done as fast as possible, regardless of the trauma to the dog.

The trick to getting a dog to tolerate nail trimming has several facets.

1. Start young if possible. A young dog will not be able to struggle as hard (and they all do struggle right at first) and you can get the upper hand more easily.

2. Use food. I do not reward AS I am clipping a nail, but I do bring out the food (good food treats!) before I start, show it to the dog along with the clippers, then give a small, soft treat AFTER each and every nail done. Tolerate a nail being trimmed, get a treat.

3. Regularly touch and grip your dog's feet even when not doing a trim. I am constantly "fiddling" with my dogs as they're on the couch or bed. I pet them, I look in ears, I open mouths, rub muzzles, and grip feet. I also gently pull toes apart. You should handle feet firmly without squeezing too tight. Feet are ticklish, so don't lightly brush. Just grip.

4. Be calm. Do not make a huge production of it. It's best if you catch the dog when sleeping or tired, and I think it's best to clip nails alone. Two people ganging up just makes it worse.

I like to trim nails on my couch. It's soft, the back helps prevent the dog from being able to escape, it's more comfortable for me AND the dog.

I use a combination of clipping (I use a Resco gillotine clipper) and a dremel for rounding. I clip first, then buzz the edges smooth with the dremel. With a puppy, I may start out just doing one foot per session or if it seems horribly traumatic, just a single toe. If you're rehabbing a dog that's been hurt before, you may spend weeks just getting the dog to let you handle their feet. Do not do nails yourself until you can handle your dog's feet without them levitating to the ceiling. Do not do nails if you're convinced your dog will bite you. You can use a muzzle, and/or work longer on the foot part. Handling feet, then handling feet with the clipper on the table, then handling feet with the clipper 6" away, then handling feet and touching with clipper, etc.

There's a lot of great information on doing nails at DoberDawn's website.

Optimally, nails should be done every couple of weeks or so. Because especially for agility, we want nails short. Long nails are not only uncomfortable for the dog (they force the bones of the foot backwards) but they're also dangerous. Dogs can rip them out on slats and it makes doing the dogwalk and aframe painful to say the least. As a general rule of thumb, if your dog's nails click on the floor, they're too long!

Good luck and happy trimming. Tonight it's Viva and Cala's turn. Neither of them love nail clipping time but they run to the couch when I get the clippers out because the treats are worth it!

Dang- Partnership Responsibilities continue

2008-03-04T08:35:00.004-06:00

Jura is my first English Springer Spaniel from Scotland. He came with me to the USA at 8 weeks of age. There were a constellation of reasons that I went abroad to get a springer rather than here in the US or Canada - so many that I might well blog on choosing a dog in the future.

Anyway, Jura, while an English Springer Spaniel from English show lines and pedigrees to match, looks very different from Springer spaniels in the show ring in the US (subject of another blog :) ). My goals for Jura are varied including having him do field work, for which his breed exists, to playing the agility game, doing obedience, tracking, and putting him in to the conformation ring. Robin has spoken about the conformation show sponsored by the Columbia Kennel Club to be held at Boone County Fairs grounds this coming weekend. The reason for conformation dog shows is to have the breeding stock evaluated by judges and to show the stock to other breeders. I promised my Scottish breeder that Jura would be shown in the conformation ring even though I warned her that Jura looked different from the population of English Springers in the US.

With the help of a handler, Santiago Pinto, who was living in town Jura went out to shows and, under judges who were used to the way Springers looked in this country 30 years ago, he earned 10 of the 15 points he needed for the title of "Champion". Two of the wins making up the 15 points must be "majors" worth 3-5 points. Points are based on the number of dogs entered and the region of the country. As of last summer Jura was considered to have "pointed out" and he needed his two majors. Santiago was no longer living in Columbia and we decided that it would be good to send Jura out with a professional handler known for their prowess showing Springers. Indeed that handler has an exceptional reputation with the breed and has completed Championships on imported springers. Further, Jura was madly enchanted with her assistant who was the person to show him but there was an element that I left out of the equation that harkens back to earlier blogs: "Partnership responsibilities".

I left out the needs of my dog (duh). He has been out "on the road" since New Years - he has been to Florida and to South Carolina and Georgia, Michigan, and Illinois when I caught up with him in Chicago 10 days ago. He did not make any headway towards getting his majors and when I saw him in Chicago I knew at least one reason why. He was looking well groomed - long ears, flowing coat but he was also moving without spirit. The boy was a zombie and unfortunately, he was fat! Standing still he looked OK, but moving he looked awful with a large rolling, lumbering gait and there was no spirit. Bottom line he was not being abused - he was well cared for, but I put him in to the wrong environment from him. He was a good boy, played well with the other dogs, ate his meals, etc. etc. but not a happy, fit dog.

Although he was already entered in more shows with the possibility of those elusive majors, I brought him home. He slept for almost 2 days straight and he played with Miss Ailsa (she took him on as her second dog project splitting her time between Baker & Jura). He came up to CCSC and got to run around the building, checking out the rings, crates of the other dogs, running over the agility equipment but he was still what I would call "sad".

This weekend we had a super seminar with Dr. John Sherman and his wife Chrystal Crawford who established a fabulous canine rehabilitation program in North Carolina. Jura has been a patient at VetHab so he was one of the "demo dogs" for the seminar as he knows how to run on a treadmill, how to do a number of the flexibility exercises, etc. That was when the next cross road of the canine/human partnership was encountered. What was made clear to me in the form of slow motion analysis of this apparently healthy dog was the fact that not only was he carrying extra weight (during his road time his mass had been increased by 25% in 3 months) that looked "OK" standing still was hurting him when in motion. He gait had to change to accommodate the extra pounds of fat putting extra curvature on his spine at the bottom of the rib cage and just above the pelvic girdle (read back ache). In addition he was carrying his weight to the front so his shoulder was already hurting and he was carrying his head down.In addition it became evident that Jura had also lost muscle from his rear as he no longer was being run like we do when he is here. Basically he is out of shape and he hurt and while nothing irreversible has happened yet my responsibility was to reverse the process.

I made a choice when I became aware of the situation for Jura. I let him go back to North Carolina with the Shermans for 5 weeks of rehabilitation/conditioning. They called Sunday evening to say that he had settled in and he has started his work on the underwater treadmill yesterday. The water in the treadmill allows the dog to work while experiencing less of the the weight on the spine and shoulders - so as the dog is losing the extra pounds and building muscle they can work without being damaged by the extra fat.

Do I miss him? Terribly.

Is it inexpensive? No, it is expensive - but I was paying comparable amounts in pursuit of the "Champion" title and I was responsible for hurting him physically and emotionally.

Was the handler responsible? No, not really - my task will be to provide the handler with the information as to why the treatment of Jura, which while fine for the majority of dogs in their care, does not work for the athletic dog.

Will Jura ever complete his Championship? There is no telling. I will make his completing the "CH' a lower priority as people who know their Springers and their breeding programs know who he is and what he has to offer and the presence or absence of a title will not change that, per se. If there is a show that likely has majors and an appropriate judge I may consider entering Jura if it does not conflict with our other goals. First and foremost, he is my partner and my companion with whom I expect to be living for at least 8-10 more years.

Will he "forgive" me? Likely, once he is back, fit and not hurting and if I take him to work birds and take him swimming and throw balls and bumpers and let him play with his girl friend Ailsa, and let him get muddy, and invite him to sleep on the bed, and....

I'll keep you posted as to his progress!

Ginger

Testing....testing...

2008-03-03T09:38:00.005-06:00

Zipper decelerating from a dead run into a left turn. Even little dogs need to be athletes!

I'm getting my paperwork together to have Zipper tested for the genetic health disorders of Hip Dysplasia, Elbow Dysplasia, and Legg-Calve-Perthes (LCP) through the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA). He already has been cleared of any genetic defect in his eyes, (CERF), heart, (Cardiac), and knees (Patellar Luxation). When I'm done, he'll be one of the most tested Min Pins in the U.S., if not the most tested. Most Min Pin (and toy dog) breeders don't do much in the way of genetic health testing. In some breeds this would be bad but as a breed Min Pins are incredibly hardy and healthy, often living well up into their teens and with very few health problems. Other than LCP, which is usually obvious by the time the puppy is seven or eight months old, the concern is mostly patellar luxation. So why am I doing all this testing?

Well part of it is because I do own an intact male and he may end up being used at some point. I also come from a breed (Dobermans) where there are a number of huge genetic problems which has shortened lifespans and quality of life. So genetic testing has been drilled into my head for decades and now I just can't turn off the compulsive need to make *sure* he's okay.

There's another reason I test and encourage anyone doing dog sports, especially agility, to test. I test because the sport I do with my dogs puts incredible physical stresses on their bodies. I want to know that their bodies can handle the pressure they're being put under. I think hips and elbows should be evaluated on every agility dog, and knees in smaller dogs or breeds prone to patellar luxation. Eyes should be examined to make sure the dog can see where's he's going and judge depth properly. And I submit everything to the OFA because I feel a commitment to supporting research and data which help breeders battle these diseases, so maybe sometime in the future we won't have to deal with them any more.

Mix or purebred, intact or neutered/spayed, it doesn't matter. If you are going to be training in any sport you need to know what's going on. And unfortunately these diseases are not limited to the purebred population. Certainly your dog does not need to be purebred to get an OFA certification.

Knowledge is power. If your dog does turn out to have one of these diseases, the world will not come to an end. In many cases, your dog may still be able to compete successfully for many years. And in fact, the fitter your dog is, the less likely he is to break down early from arthritis associated with things like hip dysplasia. So I always tell people to YES, train that dog with hip dysplasia. But educate yourself on the disease and work with your veterinarians to set up a training program that supports the dog. And listen to your dog.

Humane Society overwhelmed

2008-02-28T15:27:00.002-06:00

Due to several surrenders, the Central Missouri Humane Society is currently overwhelmed with dogs. Read the article in the Tribune here:

http://www.showmenews.com/2008/Feb/20080228News007.asp

Listening and watching

2008-02-28T12:28:00.004-06:00

That header sounds like this will be a training blog, but it's not. It's about listening to what your dog is trying to tell you, and learning to watch your dog's body signals. It's about lameness.

Many years ago I took Equestrian Science at William Woods. There, in addition to learning to ride horses that were often either rank or sour, we dealt with a lot of lame horses. I don't know how it's done now, but in those days all the horses used at WW were donated, and nobody was going to donate a horse that didn't have problems of some sort or another. We had structure and gait analysis drummed into our heads and I could still wrap a leg if I needed to. Once I moved into dogs I used to spend hours sitting at a corner of the breed ring where I could see both sidegait and the down and back. I'd play the "solve the puzzle" game of why a certain structure produced a certain gait. I'd link a dog with flying elbows to a short upper arm or a crabbing dog to too much rear angulation. And I saw a lot of lameness.

I'm rarely around the breed ring any more, spending most of my time with my obsession with agility. But I am constantly shocked at how many dogs I see in the agility ring that are lame. Some of it is caused by structure. And some of it is injury related. I see owners berating dogs for not jumping when the dog clearly can't, or cheerleading their dog around the course when it is wincing with each stride. And I don't think owners are cruel. I don't think they are doing it on purpose. I think they don't know. They don't know what to look for and how to catch it. Or maybe they see a really small limp and think it's minor and it'll go away. They are not listening to or watching their dogs in a meaningful way.

Dogs as a species are incredibly stoic. Way back in their hindbrain is the knowledge that if they get lame or unfit they will be ostracized from the pack or even killed. So they hide it as much as they can. And unfortunately, not taking care of lamenesses when they're minor very often leads to a major problem down the line. So the trick is learning first how to SEE lamenesses, then how to treat them. Often when a dog has a minor limp there's very little a traditional vet can do. But a canine acupuncturist or chiropractor may be able to work wonders.

Right now, I have 3 dogs, all of which are lame.

Cala either jammed or broke a toe Monday night training at the building. I already know that just like with people, there's not much you can do for a dog with a broken toe. But I'm taking it seriously; I've pulled her from agility training and may have to pull her from next weekend's Rally show. The limp is very mild most of the time. Would you have noticed? I did.

Last week I saw Zipper carry his right hind leg for a couple of steps. Time for an appointment with our genius acupuncturist, Sherry Russell DVM. Turns out he's got a back injury. Not major, but enough for a treatment. It's the kind of thing, Dr. Russell told me, that's easily fixable at this stage but could have caused big problems if I hadn't addressed it. My bet is, most owners wouldn't have even seen it.

My old girl, Viva, hasn't been any more lame than usual for a dog with spondylosis in her spine and arthritis in her feet, but she's had lick sores that have been getting worse. And it turns out she's in far worse shape than I thought. Dr. Russell wasn't sure how she was getting up and walking. That will take several treatments over a series of months. I almost dismissed it as old dog syndrome.

So please do your dog a favor. Learn how to look for lameness and make it a daily habit to watch your dog move. When something changes, even if you don't know what it is, something is probably wrong. And if you need to learn how to look at this stuff, Dr. John Sherman, founder of the renown canine rehabilitation clinic VetHab will be here in town Saturday giving a seminar. If you want more information, go to our website, www.columbiak9sportscenter.com.

Going to the Dog Show

2008-02-27T08:45:00.003-06:00

As I said in my last post, the Columbia MO Kennel Club will be holding its annual show on Saturday and Sunday, March 7-8, at the Boone County Fairgrounds.

The event is open to the public. I think there's a fee to get in but it's very minimal. And it's a really great place to go if you love dogs or if you are thinking of getting a dog. There are two main types of competition at this show, Conformation and Obedience.

The largest number of dogs will be entered in Conformation, which we call "breed." This competition is the same thing you see at Westminster each year (well, except with lots less glamor, and Westminster is a show of Champions only, whereas most dog shows have everything from puppies on up). Each dog is measured against the standard of its breed. Each breed's written standard is designed to describe the physical attributes that the breed needs to do its job. So the Doberman is a short-backed galloper with a deep chest, designed to be nimble and quick but with enough heft to stop an attacker. The Greyhound has a long, arched loin for speed. The Border Terrier's chest must be spannable (you must be able to put hands around it and touch fingers bottom and thumbs top) because they need to be able to go to earth and hunt prey.

In breed competition, there are "Class" dogs, who have not yet attained their championships, and "Specials," who are Champion dogs competing for Best of Breed, Group and Best in Show wins for rankings in the show world. Class dogs compete in a variety of classes for best male and female (Winners Dog, Winners Bitch). Those two dogs get points toward their championship. How many points they get depends on how many dogs they compete against, but the most they can ever win in a single day 5 points. It takes 15 points to get a Championship. Winners Dog and Bitch also get to compete with the Specials for Best of Breed. Whoever wins that can enter "Groups," which are divisions loosely based on function or type (i.e., Herding Group, for all herding dogs, Hound Group, for all Hounds, Working Group, for dogs who work/pull/guard, etc.). Then whoever wins each Group gets to go on to try for Best In Show. As many of you know, Uno, the Beagle who went Best In Show (which is the Daytona 500 and Superbowl combined in the dog world) is owned in part by Eddie Dziuk of the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals in Columbia. Oh, and a note about the Groups and traditions. One Group has a really odd name: Non-Sporting. Does that mean it's for reject dogs who don't show a proper sporting attitude? No. Back when dog shows first started there were two groups. Sporting, for the dogs who competed in sporting events such as hunting; and Non-Sporting for all other dogs (such as toy dogs, etc.). Over time more groups were added, but the Non-Sporting group remains as sort of a catch-all for breeds that don't easily fit in other groups. Here you will find breeds like the Shar Pei and Chow Chow, the Dalmatian and the Standard and Miniature Poodles.

In addition to all the Breed dogs, there will be an Obedience and Rally competition at the show. For this competition dogs need only be purebred and registered with the AKC. No specific physical look is needed. There are three levels to both Obedience and Rally, and at the upper levels there's a lot of really great work seen like scent discrimination, directed retrieves and jumping, heeling backwards (Rally), etc.

There are just a few rules to keep in mind if coming to the show. This particular show doesn't allow strollers because of crowded conditions. No unentered dogs are allowed. Always, always ask before petting any dog. Some dogs aren't that friendly and some have had a lot of grooming before going into the ring and need to not get their "do" mussed. If you're watching Obedience and/or Rally, please stay a few feet away from the rings and no food within 10 feet or kids hanging over gates.

It's a great place to check out dogs and breeds you might be interested in, but try not to corner someone just before they go into the ring. You might ask when a good time to talk to them about the breed might be. Most people are very generous with their time, but a few may be grumpier than the dogs. Just remember they get stressed and nervous too. It's not you.

You can find when the breeds will be in various rings at the Onofrio site: www.onofrio.com/jp/COMO1JP.pdf

See you at the show!

—Robin

The attention heel, what and why?

2008-02-25T08:59:00.005-06:00

Ginger teaching Baker to heel in 2005. Photos by Jennifer Riess.

On March 7 and 8 the Columbia MO Kennel Club will hold its annual show at the Boone County Fairgrounds. Traditionally, this show has always had a large Obedience entry, and some of the top Obedience competitors in the Midwest and the U.S. will probably attend.

Some of the most common comments we hear about the top competition obedience teams have to do with what we call the attention heel. "Why do they do that odd thing with their heads?" "Why are they watching you all the time?" Indeed, in almost all top obedience teams, the dog will heel on the handler's left side looking straight up at the handler. They don't look where they're going, the don't look down or out, they look up. Some people call this the "pretzel heel," or just plain weird. To a lot of people it seems stupid. "I wouldn't want my dog to do that, he'd fall in a hole and break a leg!" "My dog is of a breed that's supposed to be alert to his surroundings. No way should he be staring up like that." "Those must be robot dogs."

But there's a real and valid reason for the attention heel, and that's why you see it so often in Obedience. It helps to first understand that Obedience is a sport, and like many sports there are some aspects of it that have only vague connections to real life. In real life, you're not likely to have to run full speed then throw yourself down on your belly or back to slide into a small object on the ground, but if you're on a baseball team you need to learn that skill. Being able to bounce a black and white ball off your head and not only that, get it to go a specific direction is quite useful in soccer. In your living room, not so much.

In Obedience, dogs may not need an attention heel for a walk around the park, and most handlers teach a separate skill called Loose Leash Walking (LLW) for those casual times. Yet even outside the obedience ring an attention heel can be useful, especially when moving through crowded areas.

Which comes to the "why" of the attention heel. The reason why we use the attention heel in competition obedience (and in Rally) is because when the dog is focused entirely on you, the human, it's a lot easier for them to react instantly to turns and speed variations. So their performance is more precise. Obedience is a game of precision. Further, when a dog's attention is focused entirely on you, her focus is NOT on that kid dropping an ice cream cone right outside the ring, or that dog of the breed she irrationally hates, or the birds above or the ground squirrels below. And believe it or not, most dogs really like the attention heel because your attention is also focused 100% on them. It's a two-way communication, a dance of subtlety.

We teach the attention heel in many different ways. The photo above is of Ginger and Baker, taken 3 years ago, and she uses food to teach the attention heel. In the horribly unflattering photo below, I'm using a toy (riot stick) with Viva. I'm holding it on my left shoulder with my right hand. With Zipper, because he's very small, I will not teach him to focus on my face but my hand. I'm doing that by teaching him to target a small stick held in my hand and follow it with his nose (a game he loves so much that at the moment he spends more time boinging up and down than going forward).

So if you come to the fairgrounds in a couple of weeks (and we hope you do), watch the Obedience and look at those top teams. See how the dog and handler move as one, with the dog always in the exact right place. And enjoy watching that attention heel.

—Robin

Snow, snow, go away!

2008-02-22T11:06:00.003-06:00

I think we're all really sick of winter at this point. Actually I'm sick of winter by November 1, but that's me. While I don't like the 100s of August, I'm really much more a summer girl than a winter girl.

It's compounded by having short-coated dogs. This time of year, especially with snow and ice on the ground, it's very hard to get the dogs out for even the smallest run. Sometimes we think of dogs as impervious to weather. But my dogs not only have very short coats, they have no undercoats. Their bellies are completely bare. It's no more suitable for them to go out in really frigid temperatures than it is for me to. Zipper in particular I have to be careful of. He doesn't have enough body mass to be able to keep heat going even when he's moving. And his feet can literally freeze. He loves snow but if he's out very long his feet freeze up and cramp which is really painful of course.

The thing is, the dogs don't really understand the whole not-getting-to-go-run thing. They cope as well as they can, but things are getting a bit stir-crazy at my house with random eruptions of madness. Everybody will be normal then suddenly there are dogs leaping everywhere, barking and wrestling and knocking things over (not to mention making me deaf).

I have some hope for the weekend. It's supposed to get in the 40s on Sunday. So maybe we'll get to go blow off some steam.

Fighting Fire with Fire

2008-02-16T08:53:00.004-06:00

Cala running with her Riot Stick.

Cala is a National 60-weave Champion and was on NBC in 2006. Cala is the smartest dog I've ever owned. Cala is the most driven dog I've ever known. Cala has an unofficial fan club. At every show I attend at least one person comes up and asks me about her, or points her out as "she's really cool, you need to watch her run," or "That dog is the 60 weave champion."

Cala is the most difficult dog I've ever had to train, and at almost 6, only has one Open Jumpers leg and not a single Excellent Standard leg. I had to stop doing Rally with her after she got her Advanced title. Cala flips very easily from drive and focused to drive and complete meltdown. She stresses UP not down. Instead of slowing down and shutting down, she flips into an overaroused state. Focus is always tenuous at best. She screams. And I'm not saying that as any sort of exaggeration as any who read this knows if they have ever been in the building when I'm trying to train her. She has a shrill, squealing, bark-yodel. It's piercing. It's maddening. It fires up every single dog that hears it. It causes instructors to cover their ears. It drives me bat s**t crazy. Not only does she scream, but when she loses control she is incapable of listening to me. She literally cannot hear me. She goes into hind brain (or as Brenda Aloff says, lizard brain) and begins taking as many jumps as quickly as possible as her way of trying to blow off some of her excess of hectic drive. Since she can't listen, this means that often she just gets out on the agility course and goes nuts, taking everything in sight.

The reason I had to quit doing Rally after Cala got her Advanced title is because Rally Excellent has two jumps. Even though they aren't in sequence, two jumps equals agility. Agility equals screaming. Screaming equals not just an NQ, but also causing the Honor dog to NQ. Not acceptable.

For the past year, things have pretty much gone from bad to worse. Every attempt I've made to try to get some sort of calm control have failed. Trying to do one-jump training escalated her frustration even faster. I tried heeling around the ring, asking for attention. Worked, but didn't translate. I tried calling her back to me between each jump. More screaming frustration. It's not that she doesn't want to please me. It's that she can't figure out how, and she can't find a way to control her overarousal. So she knows that I'm not happy, and that in turn triggers more and more extreme reactions. We are in a Catch 22 situation. And frankly, it's become a dreaded chore to train her. So I train her less and less because it's so difficult for both of us.

Earlier this week I had what might be sort of an "ah-hah" moment. Obviously trying to calm her down was not working. So instead, I decided to rev her up. Cala's favorite toy in the world is her Riot Stick, a length of stuffed rubberized hose with a handle. She goes absolutely crazy for it. It's always been the toy I used when I really wanted her to get excited. It's the toy I used when she was a puppy to introduce weaves and shape contacts. And part of the Riot Stick game has always been to down in order to get the toy.

So I went back to basics. I got two Riot Sticks out, and let her know I had them. And we started training. It was the most eerie thing, because the toy that is the one that gets her the most excited actually calmed her down. It was as if she was saying to me, "I KNOW THIS GAME! In this game I offer you some control and I get my toy!"

I've had two of the most productive practice sessions I've had in the last year this week. Suddenly Cala has her contacts back. She's watching me like a hawk instead of making her own course, because I have the toy. And though she's still noisy, she's not frenzied.

Could this be the answer? Fight fire with fire? Use her highest value toy to actually calm her down? The jury is still out but for the first time in a long time I can't wait to get her into the ring and try.

Of wins, losses, and hard lessons learned

2008-02-15T08:53:00.003-06:00

Last weekend was our local UKC agility and obedience trial. UKC trials are fun because they're really relaxed and laid back. Because we hold two trials a day, there's actually a chance of a title in a weekend. And UKC is a really good place for young green dogs and young green handlers.

Such was the case last weekend when we had a young, first-time agility competitor enter with a first-time dog. This team has been taking classes since last summer. They've made good progress and have already overcome a big obstacle; the dog's deep fear of the teeter-totter. All of us who teach are actually really proud of both the young man and his dog, but especially the young man, for sticking to it and continuing to train.

So imagine how happy this kid was when he and his dog qualified on their very first run on the first day. And when he got the blue ribbon he really didn't know what that meant at first. A couple of us explained that he had not only qualified and gotten a leg toward his title but he was also the fastest in his class and so he got a pale blue Qualifying ribbon plus dark blue first place ribbon.

Except he didn't. Unfortunately there was a mixup in scoring and instead of first, he got second place. A red ribbon instead of a blue. And being a teenager, he went from not even knowing what first place meant to anger that his win was taken away.

A couple of hours later, I caught him walking up to his Mom waving the red ribbon and asking where the nearest trash can was. He was, he said, going to throw it away. At which I (being the oh-so-diplomatic person I am) fixed him with a gimlet eye and barked, "you most certainly are NOT going to throw that ribbon away. Do not EVER throw away any ribbon you receive." Poor kid, he got the deer in the headlights look but bravely asked why not. "Because it shows disrespect for the sport and disrespect for your fellow competitors and disrespect for your dog." I stomped off, thoroughly disgruntled.

But then I realized something. We'd helped this young man develop and train his dog, but we really hadn't talked to him about what shows were like or what was expected of him at his first show, much less what he should expect of himself or his dog.

So I caught him at a quiet moment, and me, the Queen of Tact (not), gave him a talk.

"What were your goals when you came here today."

"To do good."

"But what did that mean? Did you have anything beyond that?" A blank look. No. Of course not, because we hadn't taught him how to set real goals and attain them. "Okay," I said. "You came here wanting to do well. And you did really, really well. You qualified your very first time ever in the ring. And it sucks that you had to give the first place ribbon back, but that stuff happens sometimes. That placement was not the most important thing. You will learn that in agility what's really important is the teamwork you have with your dog. She's out there working hard for you. Don't let her down."

In his second run, the kid's dog decided the teeter was scary and refused it. As is typical with dogs, she was feeling some stress. And when dogs are stressed they tend to fail at their weakest point. This teeter was our show teeter, not our training teeter. It's actually far more stable than our training teeter. But it was different, and the dog said no. So now, there was no qualifying run. Big difference from a Q and a second place.

The next morning I pulled the young man aside again. I wanted him, I said, to set two goals for the day. One had to be a goal for his dog. One had to be a goal for himself. And neither goal could have anything to do with qualifying or getting a leg. I let him think about it. But just before his first run I asked him his goals.

"My dog goal is to get her to do the teeter. My goal for myself is to praise her more and support her, so she does the teeter."

Wow. What great goals. In his first run, the dog again refused the teeter and also the dogwalk. But we gave him some tips and he came up with some ideas on his own. And in his last run on Sunday, he and his dog had a super performance. She did both the teeter and the dogwalk. This time as they came across the last jump there was a huge celebration from a young man who had learned a whole lot in just two days. He'd learned how to win. How to lose. How to deal with losing. And how to set some fair goals that changed the definition of what "winning" meant and made it incredibly sweet when it happened.

--Robin

Uno Wins Westminster!

2008-02-13T11:51:00.002-06:00

Hopefully at least some of you have been like me; glued to your TV for the past couple of days watching Westminster.

Westminster has been a yearly TV ritual for me since the 1980s. And Columbia has produced a lot of good dogs during that time. Liz Hansen, who teaches our conformation classes, was in the Working Groups for several years with her great Standard Schnauzer Seasar. And Pam Dziuk went to the Toy Group a couple of years ago with the Min Pin Nancy.

This year it was Eddie Dziuk's turn. I've been hearing all year how great Uno was doing with his handler as he racked up Best in Shows at a dizzying pace. And last night we all saw why. How cool is it that the owner of the most famous dog in the world right now lives right here in Columbia!

Way to go Eddie, way to go Uno. He deserved the win, it brought down the house. David Frei, who has been the TV host of Westminster for 19 years, said he'd never heard anything like it. I've certainly never seen a winner get a standing ovation.

What a ride!

Being Pretty is EXHAUSTING

2008-02-09T16:59:00.000-06:00

This past weekend (Feb 2, 3) was Ailsa's first experience in the conformation ring - that is the dog competition where the dog is judged against the standards of the breed - first against dogs of the same breed (for Best of Breed). If they win, the best of breed dogs compete against they others in their group (e.g. dogs bred for the same job - herding, sporting, working, etc.).

Finally, if they win Group they compete against the other group winners for Best in Show (the judge decides which of the Group winners best exemplifies the standard for their breed rather than "I like the toy breeds better than I like Terriers").

At this show Ailsa was entered as a 6-9 month old puppy so she ended up competing against other puppies up to 18 months old. There were 4 shows: 2 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. She was 3rd in Group in Show 1 (Group 3) which was fun and she was shown 2 times: in Show 2 she was 1st in Group so she competed for Best Puppy in Show and she was Reserve Best Puppy ( a fancy way of saying she was second - no complaints, mind you - she got a big ribbon (see the picture below)). So in Show 2 she was in the ring 3 times under one judge and then 2 judges so for the day she had been examined by 3 judges and had to go through her paces 5 times. When we got home she was pooped and slept well.

On Sunday she had the opportunity to repeat the process. She was already to go in the morning - apparently she knew that the day involved treats and she rather enjoyed getting to play with some of the other dogs. The day went well - she was first in group in both shows 3 and 4 so we had to wait for the end 0f the day to compete in Best in Puppy competition. Wow - much to our surprise she too Best of Show Puppy in Show 3! About 20 minutes later it was time to go back into the ring for Show 4 and Miss Ailsa had had enough. In Show 3 there was a puppy who would not move and it was asked whether anyone had a toy or a treat so we gave over a small squeeky toy and it helped. Well noises from the toy appeared during the competition for Show 4 and it was more than Ailsa could stand - she wanted her toy back so she sqwiggled and squirmed and twisted and would not stand still. When it was time to move she jumped up and down and and galloped (e.g. she acted like a puppy!) So guess what - we did not repeat our win. The judges came over saying "but she was so good earlier - what happened?", "She fell apart", Well, I know what happened - she was pooped - it was a lot of work for a little girl. 5 examinations on Saturday and 6 on Sunday by all 4 judges in various combinations. Sure enough she was very quiet as I packed up - not even one spin in crate on the way home - stopped eating half way through her supper and when I sat on the chaise, she fell out:

The How To of Agility

2008-02-09T16:12:00.000-06:00

How Not to Qualify (get a scoring run, leg toward a title, and a chance at a placement) in AKC Excellent Agility.

1. Dog goes around or by whatever obstacle or jump he is supposed to take next in line.

2. Dog takes the wrong obstacle or jump.

3. Dog spins or otherwise turns away from a jump or obstacle within the last 1/3 of the distance to the obstacle/jump from the last obstacle jump.

4. Dog drops a bar on any jump.

5. Dog does not get a toe in the yellow on the down contact of a contact obstacle. Applies to all contact obstacles.

6. Dog does not get a toe on the yellow of the upside contact of the dogwalk.

7. Dog pulls out of the weave poles before completing them.

8. Dog "slips" or misses any weave pole even though they stay in them.

9. Dog slips, skids, or jumps off the table, even if it's a wet day and the table is slick and the dog can't help it.

10. Dog does not complete a contact obstacle start to finish (i.e., jumps off the dogwalk, teeter, or aframe before completed.

11. Dog stops or hesitates more than a fraction of a second before taking an obstacle or jump. The judge gets to decide what that fraction of a second is.

12. Dog enters wrong end of the tunnel.

13. Dog enters correct end of the tunnel but turns around and comes back out that same end.

14. Dog leaves the ring.

15. Dog is aggressive to handler or judge.

16. Dog attacks another dog.

17. Dog nips at handler excessively.

18. Dog eliminates (urinates, defecates, or vomits) in the ring.

19. Handler curses in the ring.

20. Handler inadvertently touches dog at any time the dog is in the weave poles.

21. Handler touches dog or dog touches handler at any time the dog is on the table. This includes dog giving the handler a loving swipe of the tongue.

22. Handler trains in the ring. This includes harsh corrections or retaking an obstacle already taken once.

23. Handler and dog bump into each other inadvertently, and the bump aids the dog in correcting its path to the next obstacle.

24. Handler bumps dog deliberately to correct its path to the next obstacle.

25. Dog runs without any of the above faults but is over the set Standard Course Time.

26. Dog runs out of the ring without the handler after the run is complete (i.e., not under control).

27. Handler leaves dog at the start before the timer has said "Go."

28. Handler holds up the trial by not coming to the startline when requested.

How to Qualify in AKC Agility Excellent

1. Run without faults and under the Standard Course Time.

How to Qualify and get First Place in AKC Agility Excellent.

1. Run without faults and faster than anybody else.

Now you know. When we say agility is a difficult sport, we ain't a-kiddin'. We tend to be a humble lot.

--Robin

UKC Agility/Obed at CCSC this weekend

2008-02-08T08:24:00.000-06:00

This weekend (Feb 9-10) the Show Me Canines club will host a UKC Obedience and Agility trial at CCSC.

A bit about UKC. The UKC is not as old as the AKC, but it was founded in 1898. So it has a lot of history. The UKC has always sort of catered to working/sporting dogs and sponsors beagle hunts, coonhound events, etc. The UKC has always marched to the beat of a different drummer, and its agility and obedience events reflect that.

UKC obedience differs from AKC in a couple of significant ways. First, the UKC has an Honor Down, where one competitor's dog "honors" the next competitor by being on a down in the ring while the next dog works. It's a great real life exercise. There's also a jump on the recall in Novice. Open and Utility rules differ even more, with a walking steward in Open (a stranger who walks the opposite path to the heeling dog to show the dog's ability to work with distractions) and two glove exercises in Utility. There are other rule differences, but those are some of the major ones.

UKC agility is hugely different than any other agility venue. That's easily seen in the type of obstacles in the ring. In addition to the "normal" aframe, dogwalk, and teeter, there is also a hoop tunnel, pause box, sway bridge, swing plank, platform jump, and crawl tunnel. In Novice, the only different obstacle is the hoop tunnel, which looks like (well it IS actually...) a bunch of hula hoops looped together for a large, open sided tunnel. The other obstacles are in Ag 2 and Ag3, the more advanced levels. There are also many more handler behavior rules in UKC agility--a handler is faulted for passing his hand over a jump for instance. Finally, there is a lot more time to complete a course. UKC agility is a great place to start kids and young dogs.

If you plan to come this weekend, please keep a few things in mind.

It's free and open to the public. The entry is a bit small, so mornings would be the best time to come. Please leave your own dog at home. There is no smoking on the property, inside or out. And dress in layers, it's supposed to get really windy and cold Saturday and Sunday. Though the big building does have heat, it can't keep up well with extreme temperatures, especially when it's windy!

It's all about Want To...

2008-02-06T12:52:00.000-06:00

Cala demonstrating "I WANT TO!" on the startline. (Photos by Cindy Noland)

I'm privileged to say that Cindy Noland is a friend of mine. Professional dog sport photographer, accomplished artist and probably the best motivational trainer I've ever seen. She's had a Doberman who was in both the Obedience and Agility Top 20s in the same year, she finished a Schutzhund 3 on a young intact male while he was going for his MACH. I should hate her freaking guts. But she's too darn nice. So alas, I can only sigh with admiring envy.

Cindy wrote a post on a dog list today that I thought was so good it deserved to be shared. So with her permission, here it is. The "her" in this post is the dog.

Agility is NOT about "have to." Agility is about "WANT to." Instead of focusing on telling your dog what not to do, think of ways to convince them to WANT to do it. Instead of trying to tell her something is not acceptable, try to think of a plan that will prevent the unwanted behavior from happening in the first place.

First of all, I would make sure that she totally enjoys doing all of the obstacles. That all you have to do is point her at one and she will run to it as soon as you release her. Make it easy for her to earn the reward and make sure she knows how happy you are with what she did. Happy handler equals good things for dog! You are now conditioning her to your praise, so that it has some value. Praise should always predict reward, so then the praise itself will become rewarding. If she tends to stick with you, sometimes throw the treat and tell her to GO get it.

In my experience, people new to the sport do not spend enough time with the obstacles and making sure the dogs know how to do them and that they thoroughly enjoy doing them. It is natural to want to hurry up and start putting things together, but then this weak foundation will crumble. The handling in between obstacles should just be some effort on your part to point the dog toward the next thing that it really wants to go to. And your dog should also be taught handling maneuvers without equipment, so they can learn what all of your movements, arm signals, and verbal commands mean without being attached to equipment. Again, sometimes reward at your side and sometimes throw the reward and release the dog to get it. And coming to you also needs to be very rewarding, so just handing them a treat is sometimes not enough. Lots of dogs find the control of the handler to be stressful and they avoid it. Watch dogs in the ring, most of them who stress and either shut down or run off do s after the handler tries to change their direction.

So with a lot of foundation practice and repetitions the dog now loves the obstacles, understands your various cues for direction, and also enjoys coming close to you when needed. It should then be easy to start stringing things together. I have found toys easier to work with, the dogs tend not to get so focused on the handler that they cannot return to obstacle focus. And you can also throw them and the dogs can see them easier than a treat and don't continue to sniff for more. The old rule is "toys for action, food for position."

But with either toys or food, they should NOT be used as lures. The dog must be taught to understand that sometimes they must move away from the reward in order to earn it. Try holding the reward in your hand where the dog can see it and ask them to perform an obstacle that they like. Does the dog run to the obstacle, or do they continue to stand there and stare at the reward? If you have paired the two together enough, she should run to the obstacle with the understanding that that is how to earn the reward. This is accomplished simply by consequences. If the dog goes through the shortened tunnel they earn the reward that is still held by you. If they offer to jump up onto the table when you move toward it they can earn the reward still held by you, etc. Move farther away from the obstacle and see if the dog can think about it and do what earns the reward. Then ask for two behaviors in a row before reward is available. Sometimes they do more, sometimes less and now your reward is being put on a variable reinforcement schedule. Also important is that when you want the dog to come to your for reward, you actually call them. Many people just quit what they are doing and when the dog comes to them on their own they give the reward. Then the dog has to guess when the reward is available.

But I cannot stress enough the value of making the obstacles themselves rewarding. I hold my reward, a toy or small ball, in my hand while I run my practices. The dogs know I have it and it is visible. I will tease them with it before asking for a behavior. I pound Fever's ball on the floor to wind her up and then ask for a sit and point her at the obstacle we are going to do. Through repetition she knows to go to the obstacle and not directly to the ball. Inci tries to pummel me into giving up the toy a bit more, but when that is not successful she knows what she needs to do. The toy is both a reward and a distraction in one. But they do not rely on it's presence to be able to perform. It is not used as a lure, therefore it is not part of the cue to do the equipment. I do not NEED to show them the toy in order to get them to do the equipment.

The only cue they need is the sight of the obstacle and my release word. They know just by looking at it what they need to do. And once they do it, my further cues tell them if we are stopping or continuing on to other things. Cues such as whether I am standing still or moving, what direction I am facing, what arm positions I have, and if I am calling them to come to me or not. They WANT to continue on, but they know it is also fun to come to me if that is what I am cueing.

So you see there is an awful lot for a dog to learn before going in the ring to compete. Putting your dog in over it's head is a sure way to build stress. And then expressing displeasure with them only escalates it. So take a step back and look at your training. Make sure you are being fair to your dog and that you have properly taught them everything you expect them to be able to do. Make sure YOU have held up your
end of the teamwork.

Cindy Noland
www.nolanddogart.com
Inci and Fever
In Memory of:
Britta, CDX,MX,MXJ,WAC,BH,CanCD,UKC Ch.,U-AG2
Tagi, ScH3,MX,MXJ,WAC,AD,EAC,UKC Ch.,U-Ag1
Maverick, AmCanUKC Ch,UDT,ROM,CanOTCh
Paradise,CD Aura, UDT, Ajay, CDX, and Magnum, CDX, CanCD

--Robin

Partnership responsibilities continued

2008-02-04T23:51:00.000-06:00

So cool! Resolution. I could not stand it that Baker had to wait until the middle of February to have his tooth fixed - it became infected, the pulp was exposed, and he had to go on antibiotics. I was able to get him an appointment with a Veterinary dentist in St. Louis and we went a week ago Monday.

Poor guy had to be anesthetized to have X-rays and evaluated to determine whether the molar was removed or got a root canal. His treatment took all day, ending up with his tooth remaining and my shelving the notion of replacing my kitchen floor! Miss Ailsa was less than pleased to have her house brother away for the day. To ad insult to injury, while she was enthusiastic when he came home, he was in a foul mood having had a nerve block and not willing to play. She was smart enough to read his obvious lip lifts and barked her displeasure from the safety of the coffee table.

By Tuesday morning, though, he was ready to play. For her part, Ailsa was not sure that he really was telling the truth given his demeanor of the night before - it only took a few major play bow invitations for them to start rip-roaring around the house. She was delighted. The chase involved the all-too-famous dog doors, up and down the stairs to the basement, around the yard, and then a big Springer tussle on the floor trying to snatch each other's ears and paws until they were exhausted. While there was no Dog school on Tuesday evening both dogs played again in the back yard; Wednesday brought a good training session and Thursday was a second chance to rip and roar in the snow while we prepared the building for the IABCA show. Finally on Friday, it was my turn to play with Baker. We finally got to play agility games in Lake St. Louis - the first competition since the start of December.

We had a blast - too bad he has a less than super handler - during the Standard run he popped out of the 8th weave pole and apparently I directed him back into the 9th pole so he ended up weaving 11, rather than 12 poles (oops). He did not know that we failed - He was a happy springy boy who then whipped through the FAST class - not only did he qualify, he placed first in his class winning a stuffed toy for his house sister, Ailsa. The drive back to Columbia was a delight - he snoozed (snored) contentedly in his crate while I drove into the sun set - his blue & green ribbons hung from the rearview mirror - both of us enjoying having had the opportunity to play together with him not having a painful mouth and me thinking of his happy, bouncy, self.

Ginger

It's better than Crack. Don't tell the DEA

2008-02-04T09:01:00.001-06:00

I walked into the arena, Zipper tucked into my right elbow. His little feet rested on my hip. I snapped off his leash and handed it to the leash runner then sauntered slowly out toward the first jump. The ring crew was still changing heights from 16" down to 12". Zipper was the first 12" dog. Fine dust hung in the air. The rings had been well wet down at the beginning of the weekend but now, on the third and last day, the surface was drying up and loosening. I had tasted dust all morning. I kept cleaning my glasses off in a vain attempt to see more sharply through the haze.

I was doing my best to appear relaxed, but my knees were trembling a bit. Okay. What's the course again. I mentally went through it one last time. Two big imposing wing jumps straight out. There was a third big heavy wing straight ahead, but it was a trap. Jump three was actually a small, nondescript non-wing jump on a hard left turn from jump 2. A lot of teams were having trouble with the turn to jump 3, with dogs going over the trap jump or circling wide and losing a lot of time. The course then swept away and up, turning right and right again and coming back toward the start before a left turn that went to a long tunnel, then out across the back of the arena to weaves and a final two jumps and out. All this was swirling through my mind. Oh shoot. Wait. I want Zipper to be on my left at the start. I shifted Zipper from my right arm to my left. The ring crew was still fiddling with the last jump. Time was stretching. My stomach jumped and Zipper yawned; a big, jaw-cracking effort, his tongue curling stiffly. He was feeling my nerves and trying to calm both of us.

It looked like they finally had the timer done and I set Zipper gently on the ground, my index finger in his green and navy greek-key patterned collar. It almost glowed against his deep russet coat. I pointed to the first jump with my right hand, my finger trembling just a little. "Look Zip, it's Jump-jump" I whispered.

GO! said the mechanical timer voice. I took a breath and stood up, releasing Zipper and starting forward, my legs feeling like jelly, my left hand gesturing. "Jump!" I said, and he took off.

Over the first jump and I switched to my right hand, turning my shoulders left. He flew in front of me and reading my signal took jump 2 at an angle and headed straight left to jump 3, totally ignoring the trap jump. And suddenly we were both in the zone. My focus narrowed to Zipper's body, stretching and gathering. All sound vanished. The dust, the watching crowd, the judge in the ring all disappeared. I could feel Zipper's thoughts and hear his happy huffs as he hit the ground with each stride. We turned right as one and went up the curve of jumps, then right again. Zipper was running 10 feet ahead. A casual gesture with my right hand and another shoulder turn to the left and he responded immediately, not even head checking as he sliced a wing jump and disappeared briefly from sight behind the wooden palisade, ignoring another trap to fly into the tunnel.

"Good boy!" I told him when he was in the tunnel, and he came out even faster, at a dead run now. Now I just said, "Go!" and he was over the next two jumps. I checked my stride and said "Weave!" Zipper, who still doesn't really understand weave poles, flew past the weaves and went to see what the number in the ground was. I called him back and asked him to weave again. He started, but then ducked out.

"Okay buddy, let's try one more time." This time he did three weaves. We were qualifying. Should I keep trying? No. I came out of the zone enough to remember that I was only allowing myself two tries at the weaves.

"Good try, let's go!" and off we went, flying over the last two jumps.

"Good boy, what a good boy!" Zipper wiggled around my feet, panting happily, tail wagging so fast it was vibrating. I swept him up and grabbed his leash from the pole by the exit. "Let's go get some treats. You are the best boy ever."

****
And that, folks, is why we do it. It's those few magical seconds of time when person and dog move and think as one entity, flying around the ring in perfect sync. It doesn't happen every run. I've had clean runs that felt awful. And I've had runs like yesterday's that were so good I'll remember that high forever. Who cares about the Q. Being in the zone is the Crack of agility.

IABCA show

2008-02-01T08:28:00.000-06:00

For those of you in town this weekend, there's an IABCA show at CCSC. The International All Breed Canine Association holds shows where dogs are judged according to the standard of the country of origin. Written critiques are given to each dog.

I won't be there. Vicki and I are heading to Lake St. Louis to the Equestrian Center where we'll play agility. Zipper is entered in Novice. He's really not at a stage yet where I expect him to qualify. Our trip is what I call an "expensive fun match." I want to see where he is in training and get him out in a new place. My goal for the weekend is to try to keep his attention around the course and not have him go gadding off to explore something. I'll be thrilled to pieces if he jumps the broad jump, and even more excited if he does the weaves. I'll probably only try to do weaves once, maximum twice. I see so many people shut their Novice dogs down by trying weaves over and over. Not worth it!

The whole next month is sort of crazy. This weekend is IABCA here, AKC agility in St. Louis. Next weekend is the Show Me Canines UKC Agility and Obedience trial at CCSC. The following Monday/Tuesday some of our Columbia friends will be at Westminster in New York--watch for them on the USA Channel. Then some people head to Kansas City for four days of agility (not me). Then there's a week off, then John Sherman comes to CCSC to teach us about canine sports rehabilitation. The very next week is the Columbia Kennel Club show at the Fairgrounds.

My head, it spins!

What's the best leash?

2008-01-31T08:04:00.000-06:00

We get this question a lot. People want to know what kind of leash they should get, and how long a leash they should have.

Part of this answer is fairly simple, part is more complicated. The simple part is the kind of leash you should get to work in Obedience and/or Rally. The answer is leather. Whether it's flat, braided, wide or narrow, leather is your best answer. A quality leather leash will last you forever and only get more supple with time. I had a leather leash that I bought in 1981 and used until 2001, when it disappeared during an agility training class. It's probably still being used somewhere (and I still miss it!).

Those cute lupine nylon leashes with patterns and stitching can work for small dogs that don't pull much, but they tend to burn your hands and wear/tear over time. And chain leashes? No. Absolutely not. Too heavy, too easy to hurt yourself or the dog. Flexi/retractible leashes are also a big no-no when training. It's just impossible to properly manipulate the lead when you have that big plastic handle, and if a cord gets wrapped around your finger you're likely to be minus a digit. Neither flexis nor chain leads are allowed at CCSC. We do allow nylon leads, but far prefer leather.

Slip leads (with the leash and collar attached) are acceptable for agility but not for obedience.

If you have a larger/strong dog, you probably want a nice wide, flat leather lead with braided or riveted ends and a good sturdy snap. You can also go with a braided lead, which may give you more places to grip. Be sure to get a leash that's smoothly finished on all sides. Leashes that are "raw" leather on one side will chafe your hands. For smaller dogs and dogs who don't pull, you can go with narrower widths.

As for length, that totally depends. It used to be that a six-foot leash was required in AKC Obedience. That is no longer true. A six-foot leash is required for the Honor portion of AKC Rally Excellent, but is not required for Rally Novice. For your classes at CCSC, you'll need a leash of sufficient length to drape down and form a gentle "J" shape with the clip hanging straight down from the dog's collar when the dog is sitting by your left side in heel position. Unless you are a tall person with a tiny dog, this means a six-foot leash is overkill. In many cases, a 4-footer will work perfectly. For the smaller dogs a 5-foot leash may be better, but you need to judge that for yourself, or have an instructor help you.

And I have to end this post by putting in a plug for Rick Gallione of Master's Pride, who I think is the finest leatherworker in the U.S. I get all of my leashes and collars from him. For the quality you get they are quite reasonably priced and he will work with you extensively by phone to make sure he's making what you want. Here's Zipper wearing his custom-made Master's Pride collar. What you can't see is the back side, which has decorative hand stitching.

Happy leash hunting!

Capturing, Shaping, Modeling, Luring

2008-01-28T07:54:00.000-06:00

Sounds like something a metrosexual would lisp provocatively on America's Next Top Model doesn't it? With Madonna's Vogue as the theme song. Believe it or not, Capturing, Shaping, Modeling and Luring are all dog training terms and describe ways we teach our dogs skills.

Capturing, Luring and Modeling are the easiest skills to learn. Shaping the most difficult but also the best way to really harness the power of the clicker. But what are they?

Luring
Luring is using food as, (duh) a lure. You stick a cookie in front of your dog's nose and use it to get the dog to do something, whether it's come (pull treat toward you) walk forward in heel (hold treat in left hand at nose level and walk), or sit (lift treat up and back so dog naturally wants to sit). Like a fish following a lure, the dog's body follows the dog's nose and the dog's nose is following the treat. Luring is easy to do but also very easy to abuse. It's really easy for the dog to expect that treat to be there and part of the picture. And because the dog is simply following his nose, he's not necessarily really thinking of what you want. He may not even notice he's now in a sit or following you, he's just following his nose. So lures should be very quickly faded into rewards. A lure is used to PRODUCE a behavior. A reward is used AFTER the dog offers the behavior.

Capturing
Capturing is pretty easy too, as long as you keep a clicker and small treats really close and handy. Capturing is when you just happen to catch a dog doing what you want and click for it. So you're sitting around watching TV and you have your clicker and some small treats you just carry in your pocket. Your dog doesn't like to down on command, but you know your dog knows how to down--all dogs sleep sometime! When your dog lays down, you click and pitch him a treat. Capturing is also a really great way to put fun stuff on command. Kathy has taught Kip to "commando crawl" by capturing. He likes to crawl forward on his belly, back legs dragging. She captured it by clicking it when he happened to be doing it. You can capture things like yawning, sneezing, begging—pretty much anything your dog does that you think it really cute.

Shaping
Shaping is more difficult but very powerful. Shaping is rewarding incremental steps to a final behavior. With shaping, you start global and go local. Shaping requires understanding your dog's body language and good timing, because you need to be able to click just at the right moment. Shaping also requires that the dog understands the clicker game, but dogs catch onto the clicker game really fast. The clicker game is that the dog knows that he can offer things and get a click/treat.

You can use shaping to, say, get a dog to pick up and hold a dumbbell. You can first click for the dog looking at the dumbell, then up the ante to having the dog touch it with his nose, then licking it, then taking it in his mouth for a moment, then holding it, then picking it up from the floor. All without pain or trauma, and the dog understands the lesson. Shirley Chong has a great detailed page on clicking the retrieve.

And here's a video of shaping from the Karen Pryor website.

Modeling
Modeling is the option least used by clicker trainers. Modeling uses physical positioning to teach. As an example, pushing a dog into a sit to teach the sit command. I try to avoid modeling if at all possible, because it's the slowest and least effective way to train since the dog is being physically put into position, which requires no brain power on his part and may be either scary or painful. It's always best to get the dog to freely offer a behavior rather than forcing the behavior on the dog.

--Robin

Pay up!

2008-01-23T08:29:00.000-06:00

A younger thinner me on the left in about 1984, with Blue and my friend Cheryl Davis. We were teaching a 4H dog class in Callaway County.

Way, way back when I was much younger I trained my first dog, Blue, from a book. (Okay, I know. A dog named Blue. Because he was a blue Doberman. Original, no? I've never been great at naming dogs. We all have failings.)

But I remember the book, and you can still find it today. It was The Koehler Method of Dog Training. Now since that time I've met some people who knew Bill Koehler. And they assure me that he was a genius at reading dogs and that he was a sweet and humane man. I've also heard that when Koehler (pronounced KEE-ler) wrote this book he was angry at someone. I don't know if that's true or not. But I think the Koehler book has done more harm to dogs and the dog training world than any other book written to date, and that's saying something. (The alpha rolling nonsense in the Monks of New Skete book so popular with a certain TV personality is probably in 2nd place).

In the Koehler book there's a discussion right up front about what he felt were namby-pamby cookie pushers. In Koehler's world, dogs never worked for food. They worked because if they didn't they would regret it big time. The verbal praise earned by avoiding corporal punishment was apparently enough. Koehler's method centers around the "obey me OR ELSE" philosophy. Some of the "or else's" described include hanging the dog, hitting it with rubber coated dowel rods, submerging its head in a hole filled with water until the dog was unconscious (apparently to stop digging). The Koehler book haunts us today because people still feel it's perfectly acceptable to badly abuse their dogs in the name of training.

And a lot of people still feel that giving treats to a dog in training is cheating. That if you do so, you are the dreaded cookie-pusher or (gasp) human pez dispenser. Which is deeply weird when you really think about it. Because in our real lives, we give tangible rewards for good behavior all the time.

Let's think of it a bit differently. What if you did your job and your boss was pleased and he came by and said thank you often. But when payday came, he just shrugged and smiled and said, "I'm really pleased with you, but no check, my praise should be enough." Huh? No paycheck? I bet you'd quit trying so hard (if not quit the job entirely), because though praise is nice, most of us work for the money not just out of the goodness of our hearts. Then there are the rewards we dispense to others. When a co-worker does something unexpectedly nice, sometimes we buy them lunch or a small gift. Most of us give our kids allowances. Good grades are sometimes rewarded with cash or presents.

Now, if you quit giving your kid anything but praise for cleaning his room would he stop loving you? Of course not. Would he be as quick to clean the room next time? Well maybe, but adding a cash incentive is more likely to get him to clean his room more often and with less prompting.

So why on earth do we deny our dogs a tangible paycheck? Yes, they like praise. Yes, they do work for love of us. Trust me, if they didn't love us they wouldn't put up with a quarter of the crap we visit upon their heads. I mean, the whole bath thing? And have you ever met a dog that loves getting its anal glands expressed? That's love baby. Using food in training is just a way to give a real reward they understand for a job well done.

Of course like anything else, there are proper ways to use food and ways to abuse it. Food should be a reward not a lure, and food should reward progress. A good instructor can help you figure out when to reward.

As for what kind of food, it needs to be small, soft, smelly, and yummy. It should be something out of the ordinary they don't get every day. No hard crunchy treats. And by small I mean tiny. I give my Dobermans pea sized pieces of frozen Bil Jac and they will turn themselves inside out for them. Other good choices are string cheese (take tiny pieces off), or a rotisserie chicken with bone and skin removed, chopped fine. Hot Dogs can be sliced into thin rounds and microwaved on Medium until leathery. Treats Unleashed has Jurassic Bark and also carries Zuke's Mini Naturals, a perfect size and texture for treats.

So be ready to pay up! Reward your dog with praise and food. You'll progress much more quickly and have a dog that is an enthusiastic worker.

--Robin

A Kiss for Luck and You're on Your Way

2008-01-21T15:18:00.000-06:00

During a last minute strategy session, Trip (Belgian Tervuren) sealed his agreement with a kiss. At a recent dog show in Mississippi, a local newspaper photographer captured this picture of Trip...a split second before he bestowed upon me a big, wet, make-up smearing kiss.

As it turns out it was a kiss for good luck. He garnered back-to-back Group III's both days in a competitive Herding Group.

Atta Boy...

The Lovely Music of a Partnership

2008-01-21T08:26:00.000-06:00

For those who know me, the magical relationship I shared with Tique' was unique. Our dances together in obedience and agility garnered scores which were recognized with multiple high in trials. Tracking with her was relaxing for me...Tique' was an honest worker and never, ever led me astray. During herding, she managed me quite neatly...I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time and she worked in spite of me. When Christopher was born, he became her responsibility and slept under his crib. A dog of great sense and sensibility, Tique' was perfect in absolutely every way.

A glimpse into my house...into the office building at dog school...into my binder containing two decades of training notes...my adoration of her is prominent.

So, you can imagine, and my friends know first hand, that the loss of Tique', at 14+ years of age, was a blow that brought me to my knees. Literally.

At the blackest time of my life, people who loved me surrounded me...my veterinarian, Candace Stormer, DVM of Rolling Hills, my soul-sister, Chris Zink, Ph.D. DVM, http://www.caninesports.com/ Ginger, Kathy, Robin, Patti, Paula...all of my girlfriends supported me for months.

I'm not without dog. I have two really, really nice Tervuren...Reeva and Trip. However, I just couldn't bring myself to train either of them...my music had stopped. My partner was gone.

But, I'm not interested in rehashing my loss - we've all had them. My message to you is to celebrate the gift of your past companions...then get to work enjoying your current companions.

It took me a year to be able to enjoy Reeva and Trip. My breakthrough with Trip was herding with Jerry Rowe http://www.twincreekherding.com/. It was remarkable; Jerry advocated for Trip. "He loves you, Andie and is trying to figure out the game. You, dear, need to be worthy of him. Get in the game." From that moment on, the connection between Trip and I was forever changed for the right reasons.

With Reeva, it took a bit longer. Ironically, it came to me during a class I was taking. I love taking classes at CCSC and enjoy learning new skills. It was Patti, who teaches our jumping classes, that gave me reason to pause. After a challenging jump course, Patti came up to me and started listing all of the ways that Reeva "saved me" on that jump course. Reeva has an elegant jumping style and due to her great structure can make difficult maneuvers appear effortless. She also adores me. Those were the things that Patti pointed out to me.

At a dog event this weekend, I visited a photographer's booth and, surprisingly, discovered that she had used two of Reeva's jumping photos in her advertising display. I stood there and looked at the familiar face of Reeva...the dark, inquisitive eyes. The thrill she experiences when working with me...being my partner.

We can all name dogs from our past who were remarkable companions in a variety of ways. I'm suggesting that when we are blessed with a dog that we call 'once in a lifetime', that may be a disservice to those who follow in years to come. Don't waste the years you have with your current dogs. Take them for walks. Play a lively round of "tuggie", give them plenty of peanut-butter stuffed kong toys. Snuggle with him/her on the bed. Teach them skills. Make the best of the time you have together. Regardless of how long your dog lives this life with you, it won't be long enough. Trust me.

I'm a fully engaged partner of Trip and Reeva. At this point, they are my focus and the construction of each unique relationship is a journey that I relish. I want to be the kind of teacher that they so richly deserve. That's my goal.

There are times tho, that they move over and let the memories Jacques, Maverick, Rocket and Tique' come back and work with me. I give Trip and Reeva credit for being smart enough to let me indulge in revisiting the companionship of those who shaped me into the trainer I am today.

Don't walk. Run.
Go. Now. Hurry.
Your dog is waiting.
For you. Only you.
She is waiting.

Enjoy the journey -
~Andrea Meinhart

Teaching the Teacher

2008-01-20T09:18:00.000-06:00

Cala (left) and Viva the day Viva retired from Rally Obedience after completing her Rally Advanced Title with a first place. Cala got her first Rally Advanced leg with a first place.

At CCSC we offer a pretty wide variety of classes. And as I've mentioned before, our instructors vary a bit in approach and training philosophy. All the instructors have a lot of experience actually competing in the sports they teach, and all instructors share a commitment to positive training. But we do differ in how we train certain skills.

Another thing you'll notice if you take many classes at CCSC. We instructors also take classes. You may have an instructor in your class. Perhaps even one that teaches that class in a different session. After all, we are also trying to train our own dogs at the same time we're teaching you how to train yours. And if you look carefully, you may see us take the same class more than once.

As an example, I own three dogs. Viva, at over 10, is retired from competition. I very occasionally bring her into the building and do a bit of heeling or let her run an agility sequence over 8" or 12" jumps because she loves to do it and hates sitting on the couch doing nothing. Viva's daughter, Cala, is almost 6. Though she has several titles she's a real training challenge for me and while you may see her in a Rally class, we train in agility on our own because she's loud and gets very amped up. Cala, by the way, has taken the Jump 1 class at least 4 times because she hates to collect her stride and I keep having to remind her that she can do it. Zipper is my young dog, and has been progressing through classes. He's taken Agility Foundations (twice), Jump 1, Handling and Sequencing (twice).

Now you might think we teachers have enough training experience to "not need" to take classes. But that's not true. Taking classes has many benefits. It helps our dogs learn how to deal with other dogs and distractions. It helps us get valuable outside insight and input into our handling. And taking classes from a friend who may have a different training method or philosophy can also help open us up to new ideas and methods.

So look around next time you're in class. You might see someone beside you who may be teaching you in another session.

4-H Jamboree at CCSC

2008-01-19T17:10:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Baker's bad tooth keeping us home from playing agility games in Lawrence I ended up over at CCSC for the day. What I got to do was to help out with the first 4-H Jamboree. It turned out to be a great way to spend a bitterly cold day watching over 80 kids and their dogs from all over the state partake in a variety of dog activities. Most of the participants were from outside of the Columbia area which made me aware of the fact that we take our access to facilities to work with our dogs for granted.

The organizers; Gretchen & Sarah Carlisle and Julie & Liz Holle focussed on 4 activities: Obedience (with Andrea),

Rally with Jamie & Steve, and Joyce below:
and Showmanship (with the 2 Lizs),

and Agility with Sarah (the one activity that I failed to photograph thanks to a dead battery).

The kids were grouped into four sections according to experience which helped the instructors to pitch the training to maximize the experience for each team. In addition the kids were lucky to have their experienced instructors aided by Jamie, Steve, Jenn, Judy, and Vicki. The support staff inside preparing hot drinks and food and setting up parking of Barry & Beth & Mike & Terry & Gary, to mention a few illustrated how the dog community is just that - a community. It was super to see the kids and their dogs learn one new thing after another. In spite of the chilly conditions in the building (a little hard on the heater units to keep up with constant opening and closing of the doors in addition to single digit temperatures and wind outdoors) they and their parents kept up a hectic pace. I suspect that there will be a number of tired pooches and handlers this evening!

These guys are the future of dog sports. Their ability to develop a relationship with their dogs will teach them skills that they will carry forward in life: including caring, responsibility, the joy of learning, patience, unrequited love, and the satisfaction of starting something new.

Partnership responsbilities

2008-01-17T22:01:00.000-06:00

Poor Baker, he has a toothache thanks to a slab fracture of his molar and he can't get in to the veterinary dentist until the 11th of February. We were supposed to go and play agility this weekend in Lawrence starting with Excellent Jumpers on Friday and then Jumpers, Fast and Standard classes on Saturday and Sunday and it was to have been our first chance to compete in the new year.

Baker has been making great progress working with me and having fun in the agility ring and I was looking forward to our getting the chance to play together. This morning, though, when we got up his third eyelid was covering most of his eye and his hawes were down and he looked miserable. An acupuncture treatment helped to relieve the immediate symptoms and he is now on antibiotics but I knew when he laid his head on my lap before the day started that we will not be going to Lawrence.

Am I disappointed? Yes.

Is it the smart thing to do? Yes.

How so? Obviously, if he is hurting he can not be expected to focus on the game. And while he was credited as being a "stoic" with respect to not responding to pain, I know that he is not in top form - we all saw it in Jump 4 Class on Tuesday evening when he would not move quickly, did not want to jump, but we all gave it different excuses. We saw it again on Wednesday after Foundations when he started out well and then pulled up. Just think of how your head feels with a tooth ache - dull, unrelenting and the dogs can't tell us to leave off. Apart from the fact that the venue in Lawrence is a dirt arena and Baker's eyes are already inflamed it is my job to be the responsible human partner and not let him hurt, become worse, or, more seriously, equate pain with training and competing. So we will stay home, keep working on the dog room, let Baker sleep and be cuddled, let Ailsa practice tracking, have JJ as a guest so that he won't freeze in Lawrence with the Border Terriers, and help out with the 4-H Jamboree. Actually, none of that sounds so bad (might even sleep in on Sunday morning....).

Time that the troops got healthier!

Ginger

Lordy it's a good thing they're cute

2008-01-17T16:49:00.000-06:00

Or dogs just wouldn't last long with us, would they.

Zipper's been fighting some sort of something all week. I thought he was getting better, so today I had lunch out and didn't come home at noon. Hoo boy. What a mistake.

Came in the house to the smell of "uh-oh, he didn't make it." Poor little guy had been all kinds of ill. It's truly amazing how much matter a 10 pound dog can expel. Since he stays in a 400 sized (doberman sized) crate during the day the damage was contained...but also concentrated. And of course he was mortified at his "misbehavior." So he's looking at me like I'm going to beat him.

Meanwhile there's a big load of doggie blankets in the wash on the "Extra Large, HOT" cycle and I've disassembled his crate, cleaned, and reassembled. He's drinking, has appetite, nice pink gums, and while not his usual self is moving around fine so I'm going to watch him for another day or so. But no supper for you buddy boy.

See, yet another advertisement of the glories of crate training. Just think if he'd been loose all day. I'd have an entire house (and probably my own bed) to clean, not just one spot.

--Robin

First Time Blogging

2008-01-17T00:08:00.000-06:00

Kathy here, the fourth member of this group FINALLY contributing to the CCSC dog training blog (after friendly reminders and friendly threats from Robin). I’m teaching several agility classes this session at CCSC – two weave pole classes and a contacts class. I also have 4 dogs of my own that I am training—3 border terriers and 1 whippet. Despite generalizations that are made about the behavior and trainability of breeds, I've always found that each dog I've owned /trained or helped in a class to be an individual, with their own quirks, strengths and weaknesses…

My intent is to use this blog as a report on training my 4 dogs and to bring up things I've been noticing in classes at CCSC. I have been training and showing my dogs in a variety of sports, including agility, tracking, obedience, rally obedience, earthdog, lure coursing and conformation. As for progress in training my dogs, let me introduce them…

KIP: 7 yr old male border terrier –
Kip has become the most accomplished dog I've worked with since I “got into” dog training. He is titled in tracking, agility, earthdog, and obedience. He is enthusiastic, but a bit soft sometimes, and has always been easy to distract. I’ve had to do so much retraining with him over the years to correct stuff that I didn’t quite teach him correctly the first time! (Everyone, it’s mostly our fault how our dog turns out!) However, as a team we’ve accomplished SO much despite my mistakes in training him. Currently, I’m showing him at the EXCELLENT level in AKC agility and I am trying to get him ready for showing in the open level of AKC/UKC obedience (we’ll see how that goes) and doing variable surface tracking (tracking on concrete, asphalt, gravel, around buildings) with him. He’s also a therapy dog with TDI (Therapy Dogs International).

BRIAR(aka Briar Brat): 3 yr old female border terrier—
Briar is a small BT (11 inches at the shoulder) and I’ve been working her in agility, tracking and earthdog. She’s softer than Kip in some ways but tougher in others. She can worry but doesn't act particularly guilty if caught doing something she shouldn't. I think/hope I have made fewer training mistakes with her than I have with Kip. She along with Kip have shown me that most terriers don’t seem to “grow up” until they are about 2.5 – 3 yrs of age. So I’ve taken her training more carefully, trying to build a better foundation, especially in agility, than I did with Kip. I didn’t show her in agility, tracking and earthdog until I thought she had matured enough to handle the stresses associated with showing. She enjoyed her conformation career but putting her in the agility ring caused a lot of angst (for her and me!) early on. However, one trains through all that stuff and as a result in the past year she has earned her novice AKC agility titles (NA-novice agility and NAJ-novice agility jumpers), her TD (tracking dog) and her JE (junior earthdog). Currently, she’s working at the open level ofAKC agility, training toward a TDX in tracking and doing some competitive obedience training. This fall she became a therapy dog through TDI and will get to start visiting places in the new year.

JJ: 17 month old male whippet—
JJ is a whippet from racing lines – in whippets (and some other sighthound breeds) there are amateur straight track and oval track racing competitions. As sighthounds also participate in the sport of lure coursing, where they chase a plastic bag around a field. The dogs really get to RUN, which they love and JJ is FAST. He started agility training this fall, with a focus on weave poles, contacts and jumping. He has been making steady progress on these skills. JJ has been a pleasure to train and VERY different than the terriers (I get into that another time). He also has been tracking since last winter. He also has been tracking since last winter. He certified for the TD test in September and got into a December test, but it was SO cold (<20 F) with snow, that he would not track. So I’ll be looking for tracking tests this spring to enter with him.

ASTRA: 6 month old female border terrier
The puppy is just that! A wild and crazy BT puppy. Outgoing, friendly, exuberant, energetic. She bounces EVERYWHERE! She’s been in “basic training” since she arrived in the household this September—house breaking , crate training, grooming, coming when called (that one needs much more work!). She’s been through a puppy class and a conformation class. Currently, she’s enrolled in one of the CCSC Agility Foundations classes and is having a blast! At her age, everything is kept positive, she’s learning her agility skills—walking on and through weird new stuff, going through tunnels, walking on moving weird stuff--and basic obedience skills—sit, down, stand, attention, walking on a loose leash--with clicker training. She’s also just started to learn tracking over the last two weekends. She was started on hard surfaces for tracking instead of grass (which I have done with my five previous tracking dogs) and has started out great. Since she was the pick of the litter she will be shown in conformation--probably starting this spring.

Enough for now.

Kathy

Silly Season

2008-01-16T10:48:00.001-06:00

Whew! The first week of the new session of classes at CCSC is over! I don't know about you, but I've started thinking of the last week of registration and the first week of classes as "Silly Season."

All the people who've been wanting to take classes but keep forgetting to enroll suddenly realize it's almost too late, so the last week before Orientation is full of emails and questions. My inbox goes from getting a message or so a day to 15 or more. We get everyone sorted out and at Orientation go over the basic rules and what equipment we want everyone to bring.

The first actual week of class is sort of like your first day at high school, except that not only are you dealing with your nerves but your dog's nerves too. Students are getting sorted into rings, instructors are evaluating dogs and everyone is excited and jittery. Often new students have forgotten to bring the requested leash or have an inappropriate collar on the dog, so there are cries of "Oh no, I forgot!" It's loud and chaotic. Even though we've reassured everyone that it's normal, people are sometimes horrified at their dog's behavior on that first night. "He's never this way at home!" Of course not, but he's not at home. He's in a place with lots of strange dogs and people with a lot of noise and visual stimuli, not to mention the smells. Canine and human adrenaline soaks the air.

And I'll walk around and mutter, "Oh my God, Silly Season," in dire tones while secretly, I really like it. I like the energy. I like looking at all of those bright dogs and knowing that if their owners just stick with it, they'll be seeing huge progress.

By week 3, the classes are amazingly calm and organized. Most of the dogs have settled and are attentive but not hysterical. Owners have realized this is something they can do and that instructors really do understand that dogs don't come pre-programmed.

A few of the dogs though, are still pretty over the top. And sometimes owners get embarrassed, decide their dog must be untrainable since everybody else in the class is doing great and they've still got Mr. Bark At Everything on the end of their leash. And unfortunately, even though we assure them that they're normal, some of these students drop out.

One thing we instructors do have to stress continually is that if your dog was perfect, you wouldn't be spending the money to come to CCSC. You'll hear us say it in person and probably write it in this blog again and again—each dog is an individual. All dogs learn at different rates. One reason why we don't put "Beginning" "Intermediate" and "Advanced" in our class titles is because sometimes dogs need to repeat a class, and owners need to know that it's perfectly fine to do so. It's far less pressure to say "I'm taking Pet Manners 1" than it is to say "I'm still in Beginners" like you flunked grade school or something.

And let me tell you something else. Those over-the-top dogs? The ones that have tons of energy that you don't know how to direct? Well they may require more time and effort from you up front, and they will challenge your abilities and knowledge. They will make you work. But if you stick with that dog, if you will just keep coming to class and working each week, that is the dog that often has the most potential to be successful should you decide to do agility or any of the other dog sports. Because that dog has drive and attitude and spark. And I love that kind of dog. Give me an overeager brat who occasionally gets into trouble over a plodder any day.

The first week is over. We're starting to buckle down. Sooner than we think the last week of class will be upon us. And I bet you'll be shocked at how much difference you can see in your dog in these six short weeks.

Happy training!
--Robin

Young dog teaches old dog new tricks

2008-01-15T17:46:00.000-06:00

A recent project at my house has been the conversion of my garage that does not fit the van into a well used dog room. The project has been underway in one form or another for a few months and is coming close to being finished. One of the things I wanted to correct was the dog door. It is nice to let the dogs come and go when they need without having to have accidents at the back door or getting up and down - especially with more than one dog. The bad thing, that I wanted to fix, was the fact that once the doors with the plastic flaps age, they no longer fit the opening properly - meaning in the summer one lets cool air out and in the winter, frigid air (especially as the door is on the North side of the house) streams in past the flap. The other thing is that the draft was particularly bad around the dog crates. I don't even want to think what the hole in my door was doing to the heating bills!

Like any savvy consumer I hit the internet to research different designs and finally settled on an industrial job (Heavy Duty Dog Door™) with a hefty plexiglass panel set into

an aluminum frame and sporting two industrial springs. The first evening when I got home after the doors were installed in my office and the dog room, I let Ailsa and Baker out of their crates. They did what they always do: Bark, leap, scamper around, Jump, Bounce, Bark,

and fly outside, through the door. Well! What a surprise for Baker when the door smacked

him on the butt and made a huge BANG. No way he was coming back inside. Ailsa was not so put off - mostly surprised that the door had changed between morning and evening. As I had classes to teach at CC

SC, I let them back in and off we went. Later in the evening I opened the door to let them out and neither volunteered to try the door again.

Thank goodness Ailsa did not need to go out during the night. Next morning, thankfully, it was not too cold so I had the chance to work on door skills. I let them out and armed myself with some REALLY good treats from the fridge - left over beef tenderloin from Christmas (grief, the things we do for the dogs). I then settled down on the floor inside the door - they were still outside. Since the door is a big plexiglass window, they could

look at me and I at them and I carefully took a big juicy chunk of meat and ate it right in front of them. Baker came to the glass to see but would not touch the door. After I had eaten another piece, Ailsa screwed up her courage and came in and experienced a yummy reward. Then she did the puppy thing - sat - and looked at Baker. He remained stuck outside.

She looked at me and then looked at him and then very carefully, while looking at him, walked up to the door from the inside. She then took her right paw, lifted it and pushed against the plexiglass while continuing to look at Baker. Then she slowly, deliberately placed her

head along her outstretched fore arm and rocked forward through the

door bearing the weight of the door flap on the back of her neck,

then slipped herself outside.

Once outside she placed herself next to Baker and looked up at him. Before I could hold out another piece of meat, she repeated the process from outside to inside. Of course, she was rewarded for her prowess with a yummy piece of meat which she relished. She then turned and faced Baker again. Still he did not move. Now she surprised me again by carefully illustrating the exit form, sitting next him outside, then repeating the entry form, got treated, sat, waited, sighed (it was hard not to laugh) and repeated the process again. and again, and again - I think it was 6 times over all but I was mesmerized watching the deliberations and patience and Baker's obvious agitation. In the middle of one of the times where I was treating Ailsa there was a huge commotion as a brown & while blur came hurtling through the door.

I was quick to make sure that he got a great big morsel of beef given to him over a good 20-30 seconds. Baker had screwed up all the courage he had and burst through the door for his piece of meat. Then I quickly opened the door and they both went out and I closed the door again. Needless to say, Baker was less than pleased, but Ailsa put her teaching hat on again and repeated the process of going in and out of the door until Baker came again (at this point Ailsa is getting 6 times the number of treats than Baker). We repeated the process of teaching Baker twice again before breaking for breakfast. I had a small giggle a little while later when I heard the door being used and when I got up to see, there was AIlsa punching the flap with her paw - just entertaining herself with the power to decide if she was coming or going. Baker did not try the game.

What was stunning was that the single lesson of how to use the door was taught by a 6 mo old puppy to a soon-to-be-7 year old dog. Now, 3 days later, they are both using the doors as if that was all that had ever been at the house before. And - I am pleased to report that there is no longer a howling gale at my back door!

Ginger

Follow your nose

2008-01-15T07:53:00.000-06:00

Okay Ginger and Kathy, stop laughing right now. Yes, I'm going to blog about tracking. No, I don't really know what I'm talking about. And, okay, yes, I am the person who really honestly does not like tracking.

For me, tracking is just almost as exciting as watching paint dry. Okay, running a track with my own dog is fun. But the whole planning, plotting, laying track, aging, flagging, etc. etc. is, well, boring as snot. And when you are getting together with your helpful friends and multiply all that planning, plotting, tracklaying, and aging by 4 or 5, well you're gonna be there awhile. I think the truth is I'm just too impatient for tracking.

Unfortunately my dogs like it. Zipper is especially good with his nose. Which just sucks because frankly, I'd rather pretend this one dog sport didn't exist.

Every once in awhile Ginger helps me get re-enthused about the sport (which means I move from 'Oh my God please don't make me do this' to 'Oh....All right....I'll meet you there' [martyred sigh]). Hence, you get to see pictures of Zipper tracking hard surface. I have it on good authority (i.e., not my own) that tracking hard surface is the most difficult kind because scent spreads and dissipates rather than pooling and settling in as it does in grass.

Zipper, he thinks it's pretty darn easy, especially when there are shreds of turkey to hunt. Darn it Zipper, for once can't you be bad at something so I can weasel out?

--Robin

Overcoming stereotypes

2008-01-13T08:16:00.000-06:00

Zipper, Ch Regatta It's About Time, tells the rats that darn it, if that cage wasn't there....(no rats were harmed!)

I was re-reading my "too dumb to learn" blog, and I realized I'd left something out. It's the "that's an XXX. They can't do squat!" excuse.

In the past few years, the public, pushed by various Animal Rights groups, has been slowly brainwashed to think that purebred dogs, especially purebred dogs of certain breeds, are all stupid genetic nightmares. If they convince us of this, they can continue their campaign to eliminate all dog breeding of any kind, thus ridding the world of companion animals all together. (Don't think it's true that the Animal Rights movement wants to eliminate companion animals, both dogs and cats? Read some of what Ingrid Newkirk, who owns PETA, has said on the subject).

Those of us who own purebred dogs have always heard these things, especially in regards to some breeds, and show-quality animals of those breeds. Irish Setters can't find their way out of a field they're so stupid. Those "beauty-contest" dogs are so riddled with genetic disease it's a miracle they make it around the ring. Those snobby show people, they ruin breeds. They just breed for looks.

Happily, those stereotypes are very wrong in many cases. I bought my first purebred dog in 1981. I did everything wrong. He was from a puppy mill, and he sure wouldn't have won anything in the ring. But he had a super temperament. And I did do a few things right, because I met several people who introduced me to the world of dog shows, both obedience and conformation, what we call "breed". My first mentors taught me a tremendous amount about dogs and showing and responsible breeding.

Dobermans have their own set of stereotypes. Vicious, mean, will attack anything, turn on their owners. The most famous is the "brain grows too big for their head" theory, in which apparently at some point their brain grows so big it squirts out their pointy little ears, causing them to kill every living thing in a 50 mile radius. It's a miracle any Doberman breeders exist!

And now I have a Min Pin. Miniature Pinschers are a tremendously old German breed, used as ratters and small vermin hunters from the 1600s on. Not only do I have a Min Pin, but he's an intact male. And not only that, but he's a breed champion, from a long line of dogs who have done nothing but be beautiful. Champions right, left, and center. According to the pundits, this dog should be a) stupid, b) untrainable, c) riddled with genetic disease, d) have no native working instinct at all e) spending every waking moment trying to breed a female, thus unable to learn any skills whatsoever.

Somebody forgot to tell him that. Zipper is starting to show in agility. He's a natural tracker, and loves to learn and puzzle through problems. He's also a determined vermin hunter, and is the only Min Pin to get a Novice pass in AWTA Earthdog. Though his breed isn't at this time eligible for AKC earthdog, we're working on it, and he's working at a Senior Earthdog level.

I guess my message here is that no matter what dog you have—from Champion purebred to champion pet, from small to large, from young to old, your dog can learn. Sure, some dogs have genetic physical and mental limitations. Some will be very shy/soft, some over-hyper. Some will pick up concepts very quickly, some will take longer. But they can all learn and have fun doing it too.

--Robin

I'm Operant. How about you?

2008-01-10T07:53:00.000-06:00

A lot of people who clicker train talk about having "Operant" dogs, or say they train "operant." And they're right. They are training using Operant Conditioning.

However, like I said in my other post, ALL dog training (and pretty much all people training too) is done using Operant techniques. Koehler, the Monks of New Skete, Diane Baumann, Bernie Brown, Karen Pryor and Sue Ailsby all use operant techniques, just based on different parts of the Operant spectrum. So a smart trainer understands the theory behind the foundations of our dog training.

Operant Conditioning means behaviors have consequences. And B.F. Skinner described four main quadrants of Operant training. It's really important to remember that the words we use for these quadrants are used with scientific definitions, not layman definitions. In other words, they don't mean what you might think they do. The four words are positive, negative, reinforcement, punishment.

Positive = adding something. (it does not mean pleasant, pain free, or happy)

Negative = subtracting something (it does not mean unpleasant or bad)

Reinforcement = increase repetition of a behavior (again, not necessarily pleasant, just an increase)

Punishment = decrease repetition of a behavior (does not mean painful or what I always think of, being spanked or hit)

The four quadrants of Operant Conditioning are:

Positive Reinforcement: Adding something to Increase a behavior.

Negative Reinforcement: Subtracting something (taking something away) to Increase a behavior

Positive Punishment: Adding something to Decrease a behavior

Negative Punishment: Subtracting something (taking something away) to Decrease a behavior

That's plenty of gobbledy-gook for this post. Suffice it to say, that for the most part, clicker training operates more in positive reinforcement and negative punishment than the other two quadrants. But all training does encompass all quadrants at some time or another.

—Robin

Dog Jobs

2008-01-09T09:34:00.000-06:00

Monday was the start of a new session at CCSC and Monday was the first Monday of the month so it was time for Baker and Me to visit the Adult Day Care Connection at MU in Clark Hall. Baker is the third of my springers to visit on Mondays and we introduced the puppy, Ailsa, to the activity. One of the reasons I link our visits to Dog school is that I hear people saying that their dogs are bored or their dogs "need a job" and I realize that we agree that dogs need to do more than sit in the back yard or sit in the house.

Usually when this topic comes up we talk about getting the dogs into an activity such as Obedience or Agility or Rally that involves coming to class and can be done by any and owner. Depending on the breed of dog there are other activities which maximize the purpose of the dog breed - for example, the terriers as a group were bred to help keep the rodent population under control - that meant having a feisty personality that would not be cowered by coming face-to-face with a rat, for example. Further, these guys have coats that offer protection from the sharp teeth and claws of rodents and their body shapes tend to facilitate getting into small spaces. A terrier without a job can end up leaving the owners with several shredded shoes, holes in the yard (and under fences), etc. As it happens there are earthdog events which allow the trainer to employ the talents and structure of the smaller terrier breeds. Likewise there are herding, hunting, weight pull, lure coursing, and working dog or "schutzhund" as examples of activities make the most of specialized breed work. What about the "basic dog" or one who might be a pure bred but not "into" these activities.

Well that is where we get back to Mr. Baker - and the realization that I, for one, forget to tell trainers coming with their dogs and families to class - that they can contribute hugely to the community at large by participating as "therapy dogs". Depending on the organization (Show-Me Canines, Ann Gafke's Teacher's Pet, and PALS (Pet-Assisted Love and Support at MU Vet School)) there are different venues where the dogs go. Basically, the dog and trainer are expected to have a solid relationship that includes the skills of the Canine Good Citizenship (CGC) test plus the ability to deal with situations (noises, equipment, movements) that might be encountered in a school, hospital, public demonstration etc. In mid-Missouri we are fortunate to have CGC evaluators at CCSC and Teacher's Pet who are also certified as evaluators for Therapy Dogs International (TDI). There is a great feeling of accomplishment having the dog pass the TDI as it is the dog who becomes a member of TDI (the handler comes along for the ride ;) ) and it is especially wonderful to discover how the dogs literally get into their visits.

I recognize that Baker gets a hint that the first Monday of the month has come around again as he gets a bath and grooming on the Sunday evening before. Then, the next day I come home earlier than usual, and I usually I grab his special leash and collar and perhaps a toy, if not a seasonal bandana (Santa hat for Christmas, Flowers for Spring, Red, White & Blue for July 4, etc.) to top it off. He moves enthusiastically (spring, bounce, spring, bark, bark) to his crate in the back of the van and rides intently over to Adult Day Care.

When we arrive he makes a quick stop outside and then walks into the building in a most stately, calm manner turning first to go around the room to greet each client in a counter clockwise direction. He knows who would prefer to only look at him and he them; he knows who needs him to tuck in closely so that they can pet his head, who needs him to get up on the arms of the chair for a closer scratch, who likes to pull on his ears and who thumps his head. Never have I seen him pull away, be impatient, or object! In the wide-wide world, no way does he allow his ears to be pulled! What is fascinating is how serious Baker is at his job - for no other activity does he devote such attention and energy. Even though we are scheduled for only an hour, by 45 minutes I see him begin to flag and at the end of the hour he is ready to sprint to the van and into his crate. While it only takes me 5 minutes to drive back to the house he is always sound asleep by the time I pull up in the drive way.

Baker comes by his enthusiasm for his therapy work honestly: both his mother, Lily and his Great aunt, Shelley were similarly involved. Shelley, my first black & white springer, had a favorite person at elder care. Every week she would break all the rules. After having made her round of the clients she would go to her favorite person and quietly insinuate herself up into his lap. Then the two of them would snooze until the hour was done. In those days there were other dog/trainer partners so her devotion to a single person was not a problem. She continued in her therapy job for a good year after she had retired from other dog performance activities in spite of her arthritic hips and loss of sight because of her interaction with this one person. How did I know this with such certainty? Well the Monday came when her friend was not there. She made her rounds and sniffed his empty chair and walked, with an air unique to Shelley, straight to the door. I was told that the client had died a week before and I did not think of it until the next month.

I came home to get Shelley and Baker's mother, Lily. Lily promptly got into her crate in the van but Shelley did not even lift her head from her nap making it quite clear that she was now officially retired to the couch. She had given plenty and I did not argue. Lily had a different enthusiasm: children. She really like the library program in Ashland where children a the library would read to her. She would lay herself out on the floor and let them crawl all over her while they read their books. She would move her head following their fingers; provide little licks; even appear to nod in appreciation. It was uncanny.

It looks like the tradition will go on from Baker to Ailsa as she has now come along for a few short visits and it is hard to believe that she is a 6 month old puppy when she made her rounds following Baker's example. It is a pleasure and a privilege to go along with these dogs as they go to "work" and worthy or realizing that there are multiple venues for dogs outside of the house.

Ginger

Click what?

2008-01-08T15:49:00.000-06:00

Several of us at CCSC train using a method loosely called "clicker training." It's one of the training methods used in some of our classes, so I thought I'd start a bit of a conversation about clickers and what they are and what they can do. Before getting into the subject though, it should be pointed out that there are many positive training methods out there, and clicker training is just one of those. One of the fun things about training is exploring different methods to find ones that work best for you and your dog. As an example, though I clicker train, I also use voice rewards, toys, play, etc. in my training. It's all about having tools in the toolbox.

Clicker training as a subject is far too big for a single post (and besides, I know that the rest of our crew here on CCSC Dog Talk will also weigh in). But I'll start the ball rolling by describing some of the science behind the clicker. Hopefully you won't doze off, because it's actually pretty cool.

I think everybody has heard of Pavlov's dogs. You know, hungry dogs, salivating for dinner. A bell was rung before dinner was served and pretty darn quick, the dogs began salivating just at the sound of the bell, even when food wasn't present. The type of training that was called is Classical Conditioning. And the device, the bell, was a classically conditioned tool. The bell told the dogs to expect something--food. The bell meant that one thing and only that one thing. The dogs knew it, they understood it.

Well there was this other guy, too. By the name of B.F. Skinner. And back in the 1930s he published research into another type of learning, called Operant Conditioning. Basically, Operant Conditioning means that behavior has consequences. And all dog training and is based in some form of Operant conditioning. We humans also learn this way. I'm not going to go into detail about Operant Conditioning today. Just remember the term, because you'll hear it if you train dogs with a knowledgeable trainer.

The important thing to remember is that once a dog has learned that a certain sound always means food, he can learn that certain of his behaviors can have the consequence of getting to hear that sound; which will reward him with food. In other words, he learns to work for that sound.

Today we don't use a bell (they can clang when you don't want them to and don't fit real well in a pocket). We use a clicker. The clicker makes a sharp, audible sound. We use it to mark a behavior we want to reward the dog for doing. As an example, we could click the dog for sitting, or for watching us, or for a correct weave entry. Lots of things.

Why a clicker? Why not just praise?
Some trainers, including some of the instructors at CCSC, use only voice and are extremely successful. But clickers may be more effective than voice to mark a dog's success. Why? Because it's not voice. I know that sounds weird. But dogs have been bred for thousands of years to be exquisitely sensitive to our voice inflections and tone. And when we praise, we always put emotion into that praise. Unfortunately, the praise or "Yes" we say when we are happy and energized and training is going really well is often quite different than the "Yes" we say when we're tired and everything has gone wrong. It's just the way we humans are. And dogs read the real emotions behind the words. So when we grind that "yes" out with our teeth gritted, they know we still aren't happy.

The beauty of the clicker is that it is entirely black and white to the dog. It says one thing and only one thing. "This is what I wanted. You get a treat!" Because it's so unambiguous, and because it is divorced from emotion, dogs really get it. And because they understand it completely, the clicker becomes a tremendously powerful tool.

The second reason why clickers may work better than voice is timing. Studies have shown that we can click with our thumb (or finger) faster than we can process a verbal word, send it to our brain, have the brain send it to our vocal cords, and voice it. Dogs also process it much faster. Instead of having to figure out what word the human is saying, they get this brief noise with a very clear meaning. There's some evidence that clicking may connect directly to the dog's limbic, producing a stimulus response (see Karen Pryor link by clicking here).

Karen Pryor's site is a great one to start with if you want more information on clicker training.

—Robin

The scoop of the Poop

2008-01-06T20:00:00.001-06:00

CCSC instructor Cindy Jansen and CCSC Owner/instructor Ginger Huxley beside part of the haul from Grindstone. Both Cindy and Ginger are also members of the Show Me Canines Club that orchestrates cleanups.

Sometimes scooping the poop means getting all the best gossip. Sometimes it means, well, scooping poop!

Today Show Me Canines went to Grindstone Park and did clean up duty. We do this several times a year, in part to help ensure Grindstone continues to be viewed favorably by the city as an offleash dog area. Today the area was particularly dirty. We probably hauled out well over 200 pounds of poop, most of it from around the Grindstone and Capen entry areas.

I really try to keep my sense of humor about most things, and believe it or not there are many worse things than spending an unexpectedly warm January day walking the trails of Grindstone, even dragging a cart and doing the stop and stoop to pick up cold gelatinous dog doo. But it's not so funny that so many Columbians seem to think it's fine to let their dogs go all over the park (and each other's yards, and wherever) and not clean it up.

There are lots of reasons why you should pick up after your own dogs. The most obvious is because it's the law in Columbia. But I think most people don't really care about that. To a lot of people, picking up is stupid and gross, and they just don't want to do it. Besides, it's nature, right? All that poop will just break down anyway. Why pick it up?

Here's why. First and foremost, because it's good for the ecology. Yes, dog poop is a natural thing. But a heavy load of carnivore dung, such as what we found in Grindstone today, is hard on ecosystems. Dog feces can carry e. coli, Salmonella, and worms among other lovely items. These wash into our creeks and streams. Grindstone and Hinkson creeks are already polluted enough.

Secondly, nobody wants to step in it. I've seen toddlers running barefoot through the lush grass at Grindstone. If they step in poop, it could make them sick. Heck, it could make your dog sick if he steps in or inadvertently ingests another dog's poop. Then there's the great fun of getting into your car and discovering it's ground into your brand new Brooks Adrenaline running shoes you just paid $100 for at the Starting Block.

So come on Columbians. Put us out of a job. Pick up your dog's poop and dispose of it in the trash on your way out of the parks. It's the right thing to do. It's time for more than a few of us to step up to the plate to make sure it gets done.

Vole Wars revisited

2008-01-05T17:08:00.000-06:00

Took a few pictures today of the Tag Team Vole Warriors in action.

Zipper exploring one burrow while Cala digs a new one

The 10-pound dog shoves the 65-pound dog out of his way

A satisfied and muddy-nosed Zipper back at the car.

Switching gears

2008-01-05T09:07:00.001-06:00

Sometimes dogs teach us things we didn't necessarily think we needed to learn. And Zipper, my youngest, greenest, and smallest dog, has been teaching me a lot.

I've always sort of been the weave person around CCSC. Agility weaves, where the dog enters a set of vertical poles from a specific entry (first pole by left shoulder) and weaves through them rapidly, is one of the most difficult skills for a dog to learn because unlike jumping and tunneling, it really isn't anything dogs would do naturally. Back years ago when I started Viva, my first agility dog, I decided I wanted to teach her how to weave using a then new and revolutionary method called channel weaving. In channel weaving, we offset every other pole so that there's a hallway or "channel" going down the middle between the poles. We then pattern the dog to want to run down that channel quickly for a toy. Over time we make the channel narrower and narrower until the poles are finally a single line, and the dog weaves through them.

Channel weaving is the weaving foundation given to all dogs at CCSC. It works really well. And I'm good at teaching it. Not only have I taught quite a few students at CCSC to have fast, accurate weave poles, my Cala won the 2005 Purina IDC for 60 weaves, completing the weaves in just a bit over 13 seconds.

So along comes this little dog. And he doesn't like the channel method. I tried doing channels with him, and unless there was a second person actually standing at the end, he didn't get it. And not only that, but he didn't get the poles moving together. The minute the poles got close, he'd try to weave each individual pole instead of going down the middle.

I had two choices. I could either force him to fit my method, or I could change my method to fit him. I decided to do the latter. So Zipper and I are now exploring teaching weaves with the clicker and weave wires, the weaves inline from the very start. We've had some stumbles along the way and his weaves aren't as far along as I'd like them to be. On the other hand, he showed me from the very first practice that this made more sense to him than channels. And I'm confident he's going to end up with good weaving skills.

The moral of the story? Sometimes you have to switch gears and go into the land of uncertainty to train your dog. Sometimes the dog teaches you instead of you teaching him. Good trainers are not so wedded to a specific method that they have to force the dog to the method. And while I'm sure I'm making mistakes teaching this method to Zipper, overall the learning of it and the road we are travelling together makes me a better trainer both for Zipper and for all the other dogs I will teach and train.

Good Training is Disciplined Play

2008-01-04T17:44:00.000-06:00

Rival, the only daughter of Tique' (Andrea), shows her "Obedience Trial Championship" style of working the scent article pile.

Rival is proof that a cherished companion can be a salty competitor and she inspires me to teach toward the goal of a devoted relationship. I hope that your dog inspires you!

Happy Training,

~ Andrea

Wonder what was going through Baker's head? Benefits of Crate Training

2008-01-04T15:26:00.000-06:00

This morning I had the opportunity to be at home while work is going on at my house to convert my garage into a dog room so the dogs were out and about in the living room with me while I worked on the computer and work proceeded in the garage.

The carpenter, Paul, came at his usual time, greeted Ailsa & Baker and while Ailsa was super pleased to see Paul, Baker was more reserved, but calm. Fine. I am pleased that Baker no longer looses his chips sounding like a mad man when Paul comes in the morning or when he comes and goes during the conduct of his work. Usually, if I am not home, the dogs are in their crates. They learn the "crates-are-great" game when they are puppies - Ailsa took to it in 2 days.

Basically, I always give them a treat for going into the crate. Period. Even if I put them in, treat leave, come home 30 minutes later, let them out and leave again a second or third or fourth time, going in the crate means they get a biscuit. As a result they will go bonkers to get into the crates and will all pile in one crate if the doors to their crates are closed (creates quite a picture). I know that some people don't like to treat their dogs as often as I do, but it is a personal choice - my guys get less in a meal to make up for what they get training. Also they get a treat NOT a meal.

I have also learned to play another game with the troops - the "I-must-not-scream,-bark-and-carry-on-to-get-out-of-the-crate" game. In this case, when I get home, which ever dog is not carrying on gets out first. She or he who is still carrying on is ignored (I stand still, say nothing and contemplate the fact that the ceiling of the office needs dusting). At first it seemed to take FOREVER before they would calm down, but as soon as one does, I calmly say "Good quiet", lean over, and open the door. You can imagine that at first the very act of either saying something, or leaning over, lead to resumption of the chatter. SOoooo, I'd stand up, say nothing, look at the ceiling some more... and try again. Given that one dog is already out (Jura) and has been outside, done "his business", come back inside and now has a toy (a ball - Lord knows where he found another one), there is great impetus to conform amongst the ranks.

The remainder of the ranks are getting good at the game - now Ailsa is usually the second one out and finally Baker. Given that it is usually in the evening that they are "bad" about coming out of the crates under control, it happens that the next activity once they are free is either to go into the crates in the van to go to Dog School (Super Yea) or to go into the kitchen to prepare supper (Super, Super Yea) - either way these are activities that they see as gigantic rewards. Their better behavior is a reward to me for finally deciding to not raise my voice, spout out useless commands, etc. as all that did was escalate, rather than extinguish, actions that were driving me mad and exhausting all of us. Having "the puppy" Ailsa in the house is especially good as it is making me be less complacent about behaviors that reinforce a lack of self-control in the dogs.

Back to this morning - when the man came to install the window shades Ailsa was all waggy tail and Baker insisted on checking him out and then both retired back to the living room with me and let the work proceed. About an hour went by when the most ferocious growling and barking erupted. I got up to find that the nice guy from Scoop-n-Doo had come to work on the backyard (Yea) and apparently Baker took singular exception. I was shocked that Baker was not willing to accept him even with my being there, our speaking, letting him smell him, his not engaging him by direct line of sight, Ailsa thinking he was cool.

Consequently, I suggested a cooling off period and invited Baker in his tizzy to take to his crate, which he did without a further ado (and he got a biscuit). At that point it was not worthwhile analyzing his behavior or trying to fix it; it was better to give the dog a safe place where he could perceive no harm, do no harm, and quietly settle down. One of the other workers in the house who had watched the whole set of events commented that it was neat that Baker thought of his crate as a safe haven and that he calmed down so quickly. I thought "Touche´" - that is one reason we have crates - to provide safe havens - Had anything happened it would have been Baker who paid the ultimate penalty. After the yard was made clean of their "poo" and Ailsa had happily escorted the Scoop-N-Doo man to his truck we went back inside and let Baker out where he remained happily in a supervisory role until I went into work.

On leaving the house again, as I was putting on my coat & gloves, I found both Springers in their crates waiting for me to hurry up and go so they could eat their biscuits. OK, OK, I know my role!

From Andrea's Book of Beloved Quotes

2008-01-03T15:45:00.000-06:00

"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words." Anna Sewell

Too dumb to learn?

2008-01-03T13:06:00.001-06:00

Anybody who teaches dog classes hears them. The excuses. People are so earnest when they tell us why they can't possibly take a class.

"My dog is dumb as a rock. He could never learn."

"She's so stubborn!" (also substitute obstinate, stupid, lazy, spiteful)

"You can't teach an old dog new tricks."

The people who tell us this are very well-meaning and sincere. They are usually quite intelligent themselves, but have failed to teach their dog to do (or not do) certain things. Ergo, the dog must be stupid.

But the thing is, dogs are not dumb. Dogs are one of the most amazingly intelligent creatures walking the earth today. I have a theory about dogs, firmly supported by the College Of No Data Or Research. My theory is that when dogs decided to partner their lives with ours, there were advantages to making themselves useful; doing jobs for us. And to be useful to the 2-footed critter with the most evolved and convoluted brain in the known Universe, they needed to evolve a tremendously powerful brain of their own. In many ways, dogs actually outmatch us. For instance, they are far better at reading humans and interpreting human-speak than we are at reading them. Scientists are just now finding that dogs outperform chimps in some tasks.

Obviously there are ranges of intelligence in dogs, just as there are in people. But what most people see as "stupid" is really biddability, or lack of it. Some dogs have been bred to work extensively directly with man. They have been bred to want to please us (biddability). They are generally seen as quite intelligent. Most of the sporting breeds, many of the herding breeds (especially Border Collies), and some of the working breeds like Dobermans and Rottweilers are good examples.

Other breeds are hardwired to be focused on something *other* than us. A Bassett hound's world is his nose. Terriers are bred to hunt vermin. Sled dogs are bred to pull. All of these breeds were deliberately selected to NOT depend so much on humans, but to use their instincts independently or within a pack of other dogs. They are often seen as "dumb." They aren't stupid at all. They just sometimes need different motivators to want to work with us.

Above all that, is training technique. The reason we instructors are here is not to train your dog for you, but to give you the tools to train your dog yourself. A lot of failures in training are simply because owners don't know the right technique or have the right motivational tool to vest their dogs in performing a specific behavior.

But trust me. Your dog is actually pretty amazing in the brains department. He can learn. And guess what. You can learn how to train him too. It's not as hard as you might think. Try it!

--Robin

Perfect Puppies

2008-01-02T14:44:00.000-06:00

I love teaching puppy classes! For the most part, puppies come to me during that 'window of learning' opportunity and I am excited to be able to help the owner help their new companion be the best she can be.

I have discovered that, as a general population, puppy owners make similar mistakes, without really considering the long-lasting ramifications. I'm not going to go thru the Don't Do list, but I will give you a list of things that you should consider in order to get your puppy off to a great start.

1) Crate train. I encourage you to sit with your puppy on the floor in front of a open crate door. Give the puppy some high value treats and then place one just inside of the crate. The first one will be close to the door...just enough for your puppy to reach her head in. The next will be a little farther back...and so on. Pretty soon, you'll be tossing treats in against the back of the crate and your pup will be racing in to eat the goodie. If you find that there is a point where your puppy won't go in, toss another one...just a bit closer to the front (i.e. make it easier). You'll likely see her go for the first, see the second, then gobble that one up as well. When she is going into the crate, give her the verbal command "crate" in a kind voice. Pretty soon, your puppy will be racing to the crate every time you grab a cookie. I always give my dogs a cookie for getting into the crate. Always. You should too.

2) Don't be a sucker. Puppies are going to cry, wail, scream, bark and be a general noise nuisance for a while. Make sure they aren't calling you for a bathroom break!! After that's addressed, you are not going to acknowledge their complaints. Doing so is giving them attention...which is what they are demanding. Remember, to a puppy any attention, be it good or bad, is attention and they'll take whichever you are handing out. Don't yell "shut up" (that means nothing to your dog and sounds ugly to others who can hear you) or go bang on the crate. If you can't stand the noise, move the crate. This lesson is more painful for you than for your dog. Stay firm and it will pass and you'll be the envy of everyone else who caved.

3) Puppy-proof your house. My motto is "it's fair game if the puppy can get to it." Pick your shoes up, close closet doors, move the antique dining room table. Remove all temptation for your new puppy to chew on the wrong thing. They don't know the difference...and that guilt you see on their face as you are yelling? It's not guilt. It's fear. Knock that off.

4) Feed quality food. The dog food I feed is a food that my dogs do well on...which may be the same or may be different than what your dog does well on. Check out (better yet, get a subscription to) The Whole Dog Journal. Considered the Consumer Reports for Dogs, they conduct an awesome dog food (dry/wet) review published every February. Beg, borrow, steal or subscribe (it's cheap!)...you will be amazed and astounded.

5) Potty train the right way. Offer to go outside 1o minutes after eating/drinking and keep an eagle on the puppy while wandering around your house. I take my puppies out every thirty minutes and make a big deal of "going outside"...we race for the door, throw the door open and dash into the grass. My neighbors think I'm nuts as I chant "good, go potty" for my dogs (Reeva and Trip appreciate the feedback) but all of my dogs have been housebroken as babies. If I don't have "eyes on" my puppies, they are resting (quietly) in their crates. If you do it the right way, it's nearly foolproof.

6) Play with your puppy. I roll around on the floor, play hide and seek, let them crawl on me, play figure 8's around my legs (as I sit on the floor), play keep away, hold them like a baby. I also let my puppies play with SAFE DOGS. You decide for yourself what safe means and what dogs are safe. I can tell you that both of my dogs are puppy safe and are often seen playing with puppies in class. Some dogs are reliable that way...others are not. It is your duty to not let anything scary happen to your puppy.

7) Don't coddle and don't hover. Let your puppy explore his new world from the safety of a 6' leash. That way, if you see trouble brewing, you can reel him back in to you with a cookie as a treat. I let my puppies do just about anything to anyone...including being a general nuisance. They are figuring out what it's all about right now...you can shape their behavior/responses a little later. For now, back of and let him work it out.

8) Don't go to dog parks. Scary dogs can be there as well as dangerous illnesses. Save that for adulthood.

9) If your puppy is carsick, pop her a pepcid 30 minutes before traveling. No more foaming and no more queasiness. Most will outgrow this but if you don't help her thru it, her distaste for traveling will last a long time.

10) Say her name, frequently and offer lots of praise and cookies when she looks at you. An immediate response to his name and his ability to maintain eye contact will put you ahead of the pack.

Enjoy the journey -
Andrea Meinhart